My Best Friend's Ex | Steve Harrington x Reader

Season 1 - Friends Don't Lie

I wetted an old rag that I found in the Wheeler's basement and led Eleven into the washroom. The light was better in there, so I could clearly see the dirt on her face. I wiped it off gently, taking care not to scrub.

"That's better," I sighed when her face was clean. She stared at me for a moment before turning to the mirror and looking at herself. Her eyes seemed almost tearful as she rubbed the little hair on her head, missing the blonde wig that had somehow come off in the forest.

"You don't need it," Mike said from the doorway, noticing her sadness.

"Still pretty?" She asked us.

I smiled. "Of course."

"Yeah," Mike chimed in. "Pretty."

I felt butterflies fill my stomach at the boy's stare. He looked at El as if she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"I'm gonna go see what Dustin's up to," I said, pushing out of the small bathroom past Mike and into the basement, closing the door behind me.

When I got out, Dustin was sitting there, fiddling with a walkie talkie.

"What's wrong?" I asked when his eyes narrowed.

"A voice keeps coming in and out of range," he told me, just as a static-y voice started talking urgently.

"Hold on," I said, coming closer when the signal didn't go back out. "Is that... Lucas?"

Dustin's eyes widened. He got up from the couch and slammed the radio down onto the coffee table before running over to the bathroom. He swung the door open.

"Guys!" Dustin announced to Mike and Eleven. "It's Lucas. I think he's in trouble."

The two trailed after Dustin as he ran back to the coffee table where I now sat, trying to decode what Lucas was saying.

"Do you remember how he said he was looking for the gate?" I said.

"Yeah..." Mike thought back to Lucas's house.

I stared at the three. "What if he found it?"

On the radio, Lucas's shouts got louder and louder, his voice becoming more and more frantic. Mike picked up the radio, trying to hear the voice but not understanding anything that was said.

"What's he saying?" Mike said.

"I don't know," Dustin said hopelessly. "He's way out of range."

Mike pressed the button on the side and started speaking into the mic. "Lucas, if you can hear us, slow down. We can't understand you."

Lucas then proceeded to shout a stream of inaudible things.

"'Mad hen,'" Dustin repeated with confusion some words Lucas had called out. "Does that mean anything to you? Like code name of something?"

Suddenly, Lucas shot into range, his voice becoming as clear as day.

"The bad men are coming!"

"Bad men," Mike's eyes grew wide. He put the radio down and turned to El. "Stay here."

He ran toward the stairs, Dustin and I on his heels. We all went to the front window and crowded around it. Outside, a few houses down, sat a Hawkins Power and Light truck.

"What's that guy doing?" Mike asked, noticing that the man inside was staring directly at the house.

"You don't think..." Dustin said.

"Are they here for El?" I said, my voice barely a whisper. Mike then turned around and ran into his kitchen while Dustin and I stood, watching the truck.