HIGHER and HIGHER - Steve Harrington x Reader

xxxix - creel house

— 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 —

"HOW'S KATE Bush treating ya'?" I ask Max from behind her as she sits at the desk.

She looks up at me and shakes her head.

"I'm worried I'm gonna get sick of the song, then it's not gonna be my favorite song anymore." She says.

I chuckle at her and look back at the group. Everyone was taking naps, even though Dustin was supposed to be on Max and (Y/N) watch.

"I think I heard the Wheeler's up there. Did you want to come up with me?" I ask Max, turning back to look at her.

I see her face lighten up, slightly and she quickly nods her head.

"Please, God. I can't stand being down here any longer." Max says.

She gets up from her chair and we start to walk towards the stairs.

"How do you think I feel? I lived down here for a period of time." I say.

"You have more courage than me." Max remarks.

We make our way out of the basement and are immediately met with Mrs. Wheeler.

"Oh, morning kids! I'm just making some breakfast, you can go ahead and sit at the table with Holly if you want." She says to us.

I nod at her and give her a small smile and Max walks over to the table. I walk with her and take a seat.

"Hi Holly!" I say, waving my hand at the littlest Wheeler.

She smiles and covers her face with her hands and I giggle at her interaction. I notice Max grab a paper from Holly's side of the table and takes some crayons, starting to draw a picture.

"Whatcha' drawing, Maxie?" I ask her.

"Trying to get that place we saw onto paper so it gets out of my head."

I nod and stare at the paper for a moment as she makes strokes on the paper. I then reach over and grab another paper from Holly's side of the table and turn to Mrs. Wheeler.

"Mrs. Wheeler, do you happen to have a pencil I could borrow?"

In the blink of an eye, Mrs. Wheeler was in front of me with a pencil in her hand. I jumped at her sudden urgency and she smiled. I thanked her and she went back to cooking.

I look back down at the paper and decide to put my art skills to use. I start to sketch out a person, but not just any person, the person who was burned into my head. Some time passes by as we sit at the table drawing with Holly, when I hear hurried footsteps make their way up the basement stairs and into the kitchen.

"Morning, guys." I hear Mrs. Wheeler say, "Everything okay?"

I turn around and see the worried, yet relieved, faces of Nancy and Dustin. I give them a small smile and Dustin gives me a small wave.

"Yeah." Nancy says, letting out a relieved sigh, "Yeah, everything's okay."

"I think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this." Mrs. Wheeler says.

"You could try sticking together at a different house for a change." Mr. Wheeler says.

Nancy starts to make her way over to us and I turn back around, adding the finishing touches onto my portrait. Nancy sits down at the table, next to me, and I hear Max click off her Walkman.

"Hey." Max greets her.

"Hey." Nancy responds.

I continue to finish my sketch, trying to avoid Nancy's stare.