The Babysitters: Steve Harrington x Reader

chapter 6

For the first time in a long time, I slept fitfully. Steve's presence did more to help me than I'd like to admit. I definitely just didn't want to be alone, that's all.

The problem was, when I woke up, he was gone. The vodka bottle was put back up in the cabinet, and the pillows and blankets he slept on folded on the couch by my feet. I smiled to myself. How thoughtful.

My leg was stiff, but it didn't completely hurt to walk as much as it did yesterday. After checking that mom was still asleep, I limped to the bathroom. Sitting down on the tile flooring, I pulled open the cupboard and grabbed the first aid bucket. Then the door exploded open.

"Holy shit, you scared me Dustin!" I said as I jumped.

"Y/N Henderson, you have some explaining to do!" He said, arms crossed over his chest. "Why was Steve Harrington asleep in our living room? And what the hell happened to your leg?" Dustin sat down across from me on the floor, closing the door behind him.

I dragged my hand over my face and sighed. "Well, Nancy, Johnathan and I pinpointed the general area where the Demogorgon sightings were, and decided to check it out. Then Nancy found this... Portal or something-"

"You found a gate??" He asked quickly.

"Yeah sure, a gate... why?" My eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I'll tell you everything after you're done."

"Ooook then," I dragged. As I spoke I continued putting medicine on my leg and wrapping it up again. "Anyways, Nancy just crawled right through the gate thing like a complete idiot. She wouldn't even listen to me. So when she started screaming for help, I crawled in too."

"That's badass."

"No it was stupid. Don't take after me alright?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah continue please?"

"I stood face to face with it Dustin. The demogorgon. That thing... It's insane. Unlike anything you could imagine."

"Shit, that's terrifying."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"And what about your leg?"

"Yeah well, as I tried to crawl back through the gate, it grabbed me. No reason to worry about it though, I'm totally fine. It doesn't even hurt that badly," I reassured him.

He nodded. "Well I guess it's my turn, huh?" he smiled and his dimpled showed. "Yesterday at the funeral, Mr. Clarke and the party discussed the plausibility of traveling to other realms. It's like an acrobat on a tightrope. We are acrobats, and in our realm, we can only move forwards and backwards. But Eleven and the demogorgon are like a flea. They can travel forward and backwards, but also... Upside down." He said the last word with a flourish of his hands for emphasis. I was too busy paying attention to his words to roll my eyes at his dramatics.

"So how the hell did Nancy and I get there?"

"I'm so glad you asked. You see, there is a way for a bridge to be formed between worlds. It would take a lot of power, but it's possible. These rips basically make someone capable of traveling between them."

"Uh I think that makes sense... Yeah I think so."

"Ok so, then we were like, 'how the hell do we find a gate?' and then I thought: It would take a lot of power to make a gate right? Maybe enough to disrupt the electromagnetic field in the area? So I went around asking for everyone's compasses and lo and behold I was right! The compasses weren't pointing to true north! They were pointing in the direction of the gate!"