My Best Friend's Ex | Steve Harrington x Reader

Season 1 - True North

The basement was silent. We all sat, thinking, trying to figure out where Will was. Now we knew for sure that he wasn't dead, but if we didn't do anything, and soon, then he could be.

"Like home..." Mike repeated Will's words. He sat on a lounge chair next to the couch that El laid down on. Dustin sat on a stool near the stairs with my head against his knee, and Lucas sat nearby on the floor.

Mike stood up and began to pace. "Like home... But dark?"

"And empty," Lucas added.

"Empty and cold," Dustin said.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Wait, did he say cold?"

"I don't know," Lucas sighed. "The stupid radio kept going in and out."

"It's like riddles in the dark," Dustin rolled his head back in frustration.

"Like home," Mike said, still pacing. "Like his house?"

I sat up, raising my head from Dustin's knee. "Or maybe like Hawkins?"

The party and I stared at each other, our confusion beginning to subside.

"Upside down," Eleven muttered from the couch. I stared at her, trying to figure out what she meant.

"What'd she say?" Lucas said.

"Upside down..." Mike said, his voice almost a whisper.

"What?"

"Upside down!" Mike rushed to the D&D table and flipped the board upside down. We all got up to see what he was getting at. "That night when (Y/n) wasn't there... When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember? Upside down."

I exchanged a glance with Lucas who seemed confused.

"Dark. Empty."

"Do you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas said to no one in particular.

"No," Dustin said.

"Not a clue," I shook my head.

Mike huffed. "Guys, c'mon, just think about it. When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?"

"Yeah," Lucas' eyes were sceptical.

"And he wasn't there," I said.

"But what if he was there?" Mike said. "What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side?"

Mike flipped the board again, this time to the playing side.

"What if this is Hawkins and-" he went to the black side. "This is where Will is. The Upside Down."

"Like the Vale of Shadows," Dustin said, referencing the board game. My lips parted. For the first time since this whole mess started, things were starting to make a little sense.

Dustin then reached behind him and got the D&D playing manual. He slammed it down onto the table and began rapidly searching through it.

"'The Vale of Shadows,'" he read aloud once he found the right page. "'A dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters. It is right next to you, and you don't even see it.'"

"An alternate dimension," Mike mumbled.

"You really think this 'Vale of Shadows' place is real?" I said, more nervous than sceptic. "I- I mean, it's from a game."

"You said it yourself, (Y/n)," Lucas said. "'If this chick has powers, anything's possible.'"

My mouth tightened into a thin line.