Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader
Tags: (real) slow burn, enemies to lovers, angst, shared trauma (?)
Synopsis: Sophomore year starts just like any other year. You hang out with your friends, scold your little brother, and keep up your grades. But one night, Will Byers disappears and after that nothing is ever the same. Soon, your entire world begins to spiral and you find yourself dragged into a nightmare you can’t seem to escape.
Warnings: Nothing that doesn’t already happen in the series
Notes: listen, i know i’m advertising this as a Steve x reader fic, and i promise we’ll get Steve content. I guess i didn’t realize how much lore id have to get through by choosing to insert the reader in the actual plot of the show lol. So yeah, this is gonna be a real slow burn, but bear with me, we’ll get to the good parts soon (i hope). Meanwhile, enjoy a chapter all about the girls, because female friendships matter ✊🏻 also, justice for Barb. enjoyyyy :3
Chapter 3 - Torn to pieces
The morning starts going bad when I get to the corner where me, Barb and Nancy usually meet and they’re not there.
Actually, no. Things started going bad when i got home last night and remembered that i wasn’t supposed to come home at all. I was supposed to sleep over at Nancy’s. So i had to sneak through my window, which i had thankfully left open a sliver, and sleep in my own bed without my mother finding out. And then sneak out through the window, come to the front door and pretend that i was just “passing by quickly to grab some things before school”, as though id been out all night. Not easy.
So i pace around the pavement, looking down the street, but there is no sign of either my red head or my wavy haired friends. I huff, anxious, and look at my watch. If i wait any longer i’ll be late to Mrs. Larson’s class. And there is nothing i despise more than being late. So i give up.
I have to run the last few minutes, and manage to sit down just as the bell rings and our teacher comes into class. Nancy is already in her usual seat. She turns to me as soon as I touch the chair
“Have you seen Barb?” She whispers. I quirk my eyebrow at her.
“What do you mean, have i seen Barb? Didn’t she sleep over at yours?” I whisper back
Nancy looks sheepish. “I..I stayed over at Steve’s. I told her to go home, not long after you left.”
My mouth hangs open “Seriously Nance? And you haven’t heard from her since?”
Nancy shakes her head. I feel a pit of unease form in my stomach “I’m sure she’s fine. Maybe she doesn’t feel too well, so she stayed home, we can look af-“
“Miss Henderson and Miss Wheeler! If what you’re discussing is so important and urgent, I suggest you either share it with the rest of the class, or take it outside!” Mrs. Larson’s stern voice makes us jump in our seats.
“Sorry” we both say in unison.
Nancy and I exchange a look, then turn to Barb’s empty seat. The pit in my stomach grows.
“Are you sure we should phone the Hollands?” I ask Nancy, both of us walking briskly towards the public phone.
“Who else do you want to phone?” Nancy asks back. I don’t have an answer. She picks up the handle and dials Barb’s house. I cross my fingers.
“Come on, come on, come on” Nancy whispers to the phone. “Hi, uh, Mrs. Holland, it’s Nancy.”
Mrs. Holland must have asked her how she is, because Nancy answers with, “Good, I’m good.”
I look at her and raise my eyebrows. She speaks again “Um, I was just wondering…is Barb there?”
I can’t hear what Mrs. Holland is saying, but the answer must be no, because Nancy looks at me wide-eyed. She stutters into the receiver, “But she did…she came home right? After the vigil?”
Immediately, i know this was the wrong move. Like me, Barb wasn’t supposed to go home last night. Mrs. Holland must have questioned Nancy’s slip, because she quickly tries to cover up again
“Right, yes. She did, sorry. I meant, did she come home this morning? I think she left some textbooks and she was gonna go pick them up” Nice save, Nance. I nod my approval. But Nancy’s face falls again.
“You know what? I just remembered…she’s at the library.” Mrs. Holland says something else and then Nancy ends the call with “Yeah, I will. Sorry to bother you.” She puts the handle back in place and sighs, looking at me.
“Mrs. Holland hasn’t seen her. She didn’t go home.” Nancy bites her lip. I put a hand on my head.
“Ok, let’s not panic. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all of this.” I say, taking a deep breath to curb the panic rising in me.
“Oh Bunny, you don’t think something happened to her, do you?” Nancy grabs my arm.
“Im sure she’s fine Nance. Look, what if we go look right after school?”
“I can’t, I got….Steve has a game, or something” Nancy looks around, eyes darting everywhere. I sigh again.
“Ok, well. I’ll go check then, around Steve’s house. Then we’ll see what we should do next”
“God, i really hope she’s alright”
Nancy ends up ditching Steve’s game and coming with me after all. We walk as fast as we can to Steve’s house.
“I wish i still had a bike, we’d get there so much quicker” I groan, trying to keep the pace.
“Me too” Nancy puffs. She goes quiet, and I can tell by her face something is bothering her.
“Hey, are you alright?” I touch her arm softly. She looks at me, then back at the ground.
“Something happened. With Jonathan” she begins. My eyebrows shoot up
“Yeah. Apparently he was…spying? He was looking at us last night, from somewhere around Steve’s house. He took some pictures” she explains
Im really confused by this. “Jonathan was spying on us and taking pictures? Why?”
“Oh, I don’t know. But Steve got really pissed, and broke his camera. Some of the pictures…some of them were of me. Up in Steve’s room.” She continues
“Oh. Yeah. that’s kinda weird, we have to admit that.” I say with a face. I can’t fathom why Jonathan would do something like that.
“Yeah, I know. But i’m not mad though. I don’t know why.” She pauses for a bit, and i can tell she’s debating on whether to speak again or not. She ends up choosing to speak.
“He also had an incredible timed photo of you falling in the pool” she looks at me slyly
“Oh God, don’t remind me of that. That was so humiliating” i groan, covering my face with my hands
Nancy stops walking and turns toward me. “i’m really sorry about yesterday, Bunny. I was really stupid, and should’ve stopped Carol and Tommy. I’m sorry i forced you to go too.”
I stop as well and look at her. My best friend. “Oh Nance, it was awful, but don’t blame yourself for it. You can’t help it that they’re assholes.” I say, and pull her in for a hug.
“I’d love to see that picture” i say into her hair, and start laughing. She laughs too
“i wish you could see it. Steve ripped all the photos” she says
i sigh “i guess i can’t blame him for that”
I pull out of the hug. “Come on. Let’s go find our friend.”
“Look! Barb’s car is still here” I point to the blue car in the street.
Nancy looks at me “She never left”
We run to Steve’s house, going straight to the backyard.
The gate to Steve’s backyard swings open in the wind. I close it, to stop it from creaking.
“Barb?” I call too. Nothing but silence. Nancy and i look at each other, apprehensive.
“If she’s not here…” i start
“…where could she be?” Nancy finishes.
I look beyond the backyard, into the woods. Maybe she wondered off, hurt herself somehow, perhaps she’s still lying there. I start walking towards the tree line.
“Barb?” I keep calling. I hear Nancy follow me, and we both walk slowly through the bushes and branches.
There’s something eery in the air, a stillness that seems unnatural. Nothing’s around, and yet, I feel observed.
A branch breaks. I jump, looking at Nancy. It wasn’t her, because she’s looking at me the same way i’m looking at her. Frightened.
“Nancy, i think we should -“
Something runs past us, making us stumble and fall to the ground. I whip my head and gasp in horror.
We scramble to our feet and sprint out of there as fast as we can, without even sparing a word. We only stop when we’re well into the house lined streets of our neighborhood.
It’s only after we both stop panting, hunched over and grabbing our stomachs, that i notice we’re crying.
“What the hell was that??” I ask for the hundredth time.
Nancy and i are both sprawled on her bed. We have no clue what to do next, but right now we’re pretty shaken.
“I have no idea. It wasn’t a person, we can be sure of that. Right?” She’s looking at her ceiling, trying to make sense of what we only caught a glimpse of.
“No, it wasn’t a person. It didn’t have a…there was no…” I try to say it, but the words won’t come out
“It didn’t have a face” Nancy says quietly.
I nod, disturbed. “But it wasn’t any kind of animal i can identify. No bear is that…hairless” I say
“Besides, when’s the last time we’ve seen a bear so close to home?” says Nancy
We stay quiet for a few moments. Suddenly, Nancy jumps up.
“oh my God, how could i forget??” She starts shuffling around, looking for her school bag. I sit up too, intrigued by her restlessness.
“The picture! The picture Jonathan…oh there it is!” She finds her bag and sits back in bed, spilling its contents. Pieces of a torn picture float out.
“I saved one of Jonathan’s pictures.” she starts putting the pieces together, using the tape lying on her bedside table to hold them to each other. The final product is an image of Steve’s backyard, from the perspective of the tree line. In the corner, you can see Barb sitting on the diving board, looking down. She has her feet in the water. She looks sad, and lonely. My heart aches for her.
Then i notice something else, something behind her.
“There. What is that?” I point to it. Nancy gets closer, trying to see better.
“I can’t tell. It’s too blurry, right in the corner of the picture.”
“But it’s something. And i bet it has to do with Barb disappearing.”
“Well…what do we do about it?”
As soon as she says it, Nancy and i look at each other. We’re thinking the same thing.
