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elevenharringtons · 5 years ago

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Babysitting El; Part Two

Not me releasing the second part months later.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader (kinda)

Summary: Max and El help the reader prepare for their date with Steve.

Warnings: Profanity

Word Count: 2.9k

So sorry for the wait. On top of returning to work, I hit a major writer’s block for the ending. Honestly, I started working on other ideas before finishing this one, so that’s part of it. It’s not quite what I had in mind, but it’s a nice little closure nonetheless.

PART ONE HERE

“Do you all even know what you’re doing?” You ask as the girls sit you down on a stool in front of the mirror. Max had found your bag of toiletries and promptly dumped it all over the counter of El’s dresser. She handed El a compact of pressed powder, taking the applicator in her own hands.

“How hard can makeup be?” Max scoffed. She dabbed the applicator into the powder, roughly applying it to your cheeks. You watched in horror as an ungodly amount of powder fell from the compact and onto the hardwood floor.

“Easy there, tiger,” you say under your breath, happy that the girls wanted to help you look your best, but also a little terrified watching as two tomboyish teens did your makeup for you.

“What’s this?” Max asked, taking a break from forcing powder into your pores and holding up a black eyeliner pencil. “Your makeup bag is an odd place for colored pencils, you know that right?”

“Why don’t I handle doing my own makeup?” You say, avoiding her statement entirely and grabbing the pencil from her hands. “I think Hopper has boxes of some of my mom’s old clothes somewhere in here.”

“Why would you wear your mom’s clothes?” Max scrunched her nose.

“You really want me going on a date in pajamas? Or how about my best aerobics class outfit? Total date vibe, right?” You quipped.

“There’s a door under Hopper’s chair,” El says.

“Okay fine! We’ll look through the clothes and you can do your makeup, but we get to do your hair!” Max replies.

“We’ll see,” you shrug, dragging your bottom eyelid down to apply the liner. Both El and Max gave you a look of disgust and confusion before shuffling out into the living room. Quite frankly, you didn’t know why you were putting so much effort into your makeup anyway. The girls were your only motivation to dress fancy for the night because they were so happy to get their mind off of stupid boys. But in your mind, there was no way Steve was putting as much effort into this as you were. You couldn’t be sure that he took extra clothes to work with him. For all you know, you would be sitting in the backroom of Scoops Ahoy over a USS Butterscotch talking about stuff you’d rather not bring up again with you dressed to the nines and him in a dorky sailor outfit. Not that you wouldn’t mind sitting in the backroom of Scoops talking over ice cream. Your mind was cloudy. Boys are complicated. Maybe Max is onto something.

“We couldn’t pick, so we brought you options!”

Max and El came bounding into the room, both with arms full of clothes, promptly dropping the clothes on the floor when they saw you. Looking at the pile on the floor, you would’ve guessed they tried to pick the ugliest clothes possible, but then again, they weren’t totally in tune with their own sense of fashion yet, so you let it slide. You picked up a dress from the top of the pile and examined it. There were layers upon layers, cumulating into a mess of chiffon and floral print that reminded you of the wallpaper that was in your childhood home.

“So my mother’s prom dress from the sixties qualifies as high fashion?” You raise an eyebrow.

“Prom?” El asked.

“It’s kind of like the Snowball, but for high schoolers,” Max explained, and El nodded in response. “El picked that one.”

“No, it was Max,” El said defensively. You looked at both of them several times before they both busted out in laughter.

“Okay, okay, it was me. But! What about this?” She held up a pair of bell bottom jeans and a printed blouse with padded shoulders. The print on the blouse wasn’t akin to wallpaper, so you weren’t mad about it, but something about dressing like a wild child from the early seventies didn’t seem like backroom Scoops Ahoy attire.

“Pants, a hard maybe. The blouse is a no. Next.” The girls scrambled to find another top to go with the pants.

“What about this?” El asked. She held up a black off-the-shoulder top. You were about to agree with her choice when Max butted in.

“She needs more color!”

“Actually I-“

“Here.” Max grabbed a suit jacket from the pile and threw it over the top. The simple look transformed into a regional manager position in two seconds. You sighed. You knew you had to let them down gently.

“Max, El. I love you all, I do. But, I think I’m going to go with the bell bottoms and the black top. I doubt Steve brought anything to change into after work and I don’t want to overshadow him for a date that probably isn’t even a date,” you say. El was excited about your choice, while Max just shrugged.

“Suit yourself. One day when you get married to him, I’m going to tell him that I tried to get you to dress better for your first date.”

“Max!” El quipped. You weren’t sure what your face looked like after her comment, but you knew your cheeks could melt steel with how hot they were.

“What? Just the truth. You know what? Take this,” she pulls a red scrunchie from her back pocket. “For good luck. And, you know, a pop of color.”

You slide the scrunchie over your wrist, grateful for the kind gesture from the redhead. You looked at both of the girls with a smile before gently closing the bathroom door to change. The jeans fit perfectly. The shirt was a bit baggy, but nothing a quick tuck couldn’t fix. You took a moment to stare at yourself in the mirror. How much you reminded yourself of your mother. Your uncle. You thought about El and how she was settling into her new life with Hopper. She was making friends, sure, but with this secret mission that Hopper was on, you weren’t sure how long her happiness would last. You shook the thought from your head and opened the door. The two girls gasped.

“You look amazing!” Max said.

“Pretty.” El smiled. You twirled around to give them a view from all sides.

“Now, about your hair,” Max began. “I was thinking larger than life. Tons of hairspray. You know, like the front of the latest Cosmo!”

“Cosmo?” El asked.

“It’s a magazine. I’ll show you one of my mom’s later,” Max replied and El nodded.

“Max, I appreciate wanting to go over the top, but I was thinking something simple. Maybe half up, half down? You can still go crazy with the hairspray if you want,” you say, and a wicked smile spreads across both of the girls’ faces.

“Maybe not too crazy,” you clarify.

“Aw, come on, Y/N! Lighten up! This isn’t my first time doing hair, you know,” Max said, grabbing a comb from El’s dresser. She gathered up half of your hair before motioning for your scrunchie. You obliged, letting her slide the velvet accessory from your wrist and watching as she secured your hair with it.

“Now, we tease.”

You watched in horror as the teen started running the comb forcefully through your hair. She started calling for hairspray from El like you were a surgery patient. Max sprayed the hairspray around your half teased hair before continuing with the rest. She was halfway around your head before she stopped short.

“What’s wrong?” El asked.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have teased it this much.”

“It looks fine to me.”

“Yeah, but, maybe I shouldn’t have teased the half part?”

“Max, it’s fine. I promise,” you smile. “Can I see the comb?”

Max let you take the reigns for a minute, watching as you teased the rest of your hair to match what she had already done. You motioned for the hairspray, which El handed you, and applied liberally.

“Now, I just need a soft bristle brush. There was one in my bag,” you say, and before you can give further instruction, Max has returned with it.

“Do I just brush it through?”

“Yeah, brush it through,” You say, and watch as she gently runs the brush through the teased tresses. The end result is a fabulous style that your mom would’ve been proud of. You grin at the mirror at the two girls.

“Thinking about your date?” Max breaks the silence.

“No. I’m thinking about how I look like Olivia Newton John in this outfit,” you laugh. It elicits a giggle from Max, but a raised brow from El.

“Grease,” you and Max say simultaneously, and El nods. The clock chimes, signaling that a new hour was upon you. You glance at the clock to see it was 7pm.

“Okay, I gotta head down there,” you say, moving through the girls and waving for them to follow you. You fling open the refrigerator door to nothing but cheap beer cans and a pack of sliced cheese singles. The freezer was no better, just an opened box of waffles and a plate of frozen chicken, which made you think that you probably should’ve put that out on the counter when you got here this morning.

“We’ll be fine,” Max assures you.

“You can’t leave the house, or Hopper will have my ass,” you reply. “I’ll just bring home something from the mall for dinner after I meet Steve.”

“We can just eat snacks for dinner. What if you go home with him?” Max wiggles her eyebrows at you, which El giggles at.

“I’m not going home with Steve tonight. We’re just catching up. I don’t even know anything about him other than the fact that he was nice to me in elementary school. It’s nothing like what you think it is,” you gather your purse and car keys before double checking that the girls had snacks in the cupboard to even eat. You’d talk with your uncle about proper nutrition later.

“Whatever you say,” Max says.

“Yeah, whatever you say,” El echoes, and the girls high five.

“Just promise me you won’t leave the house? Or get yourselves into some kind of intergalactic trouble?”

“Intergalactic is a strong word,” Max says.

“Max, just promise?” You have the door half open at this point, trying to make a deal with a teenager who probably doesn’t realize the scope of Hopper’s protectiveness over El. The girls both nod and hold their pinky fingers in the air before you exhale the stress of the entire day. Once you close the door, you make sure you hear the girls locking all of the locks on the front door and windows before you make your way to the car and head off to Starcourt.

*******************

Starcourt was prettier at night than it was earlier that day. The bright neon hues of pink and blue cut through the standard fluorescent mall lighting. You wouldn’t say that it was impossible to find Scoops Ahoy, it was easy to see the boat and the gimmicky marquee lighting, but it certainly seemed that it was a competition between all of the storefronts to see who could have the brightest lighting.

The mall was still relatively full of people grabbing last minute purchases or seeing a late showing of Back to the Future. You careen through a group of teenagers taking their time on the escalator. They aren’t too happy with you needing to go faster than them, but it doesn’t phase you. The anxious knot in your stomach continued to lead you to Scoops, your brain not fully processing everything that was happening in the moment. You couldn’t figure out why you were nervous to talk to a boy you didn’t see growing up. You were both completely separate entities from your younger selves, both with different life experiences. Still, your stomach continued to twist and turn as you could see the navy and white wallpaper ahead. The frosted glass window that led to the back room was closed. You could see his coworker manning the cash register, an unenthusiastic expression on her face.

“Hi, I’m Y/N,” you say as you approach the counter.

“I’m Robin?” She responds. “What can I get for you today?”

Before Robin even gives you the chance to respond, there’s a loud knock at the window causing both of you to jump.

“Oh, I’m not here for, um...is everything okay back there?” You stutter. She holds up a finger to you as she turns and shouts through the window.

“Hey, dingus! Keep it down back there, would you?”

The glass slides open, revealing Steve on the other side. He’s still dressed in that dorky sailor outfit, but his hat is missing from his wardrobe, his hair a somewhat styled mess. You can’t hear the banter going back and forth between the two, but it ends with the glass shutting again abruptly and Robin turning back to you with a shy smile.

“Sorry about all that. I lose track of all the girls that Steve brings in,” she says.

“Does that happen a lot?” You ask.

“No. So, as you can see, I’m in a little bit of shock right now. You can go in the back room through there. We close at nine, though, so whatever it is you all are doing, make it quick because I want to get home on time at least once this summer.”

Your cheeks flush a bright shade of red as you make your way to the back door, waving your thanks to Robin in the process. Steve was there to meet you at the door.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” you reply, looking over Steve’s shoulder at the break room table that had a single red rose in the center. “What’s all this?”

“Oh, you know, just...table decor. We keep it classy here at Scoops Ahoy,” Steve says, leading you to your seat at the table. The chair is cold metal, but you don’t seem to notice too much. Steve sits across from you, a slightly awkward silence settling in the room as you both steal glances at each other.

“So, how are things?” You ask, breaking the silence. He leans back in the chair, catching himself as it nearly tips over.

“You know, just…stuff. Making $3 an hour at an ice cream shop wasn’t necessarily the plan, but, you know…” Steve trails off. “Who am I kidding?”

“I mean, it’s not the worst thing in the world,” you add, trying your best to cheer him up. “I mean, you get free ice cream whenever you want. I’d say that’s a summer well spent.” Steve smiles a little halfway smile that makes your heart pound out of your chest.

“Okay, okay, enough about me though, you’re the one who hasn’t been here in forever.”

“Forever is a strong word,” you retort.

“How else would you describe a moving van getting the hell out of this town?” He stops himself. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

“Same here,” you say. It was quiet again. “It’s not all that, you know. Life outside of Hawkins. It’s just the same old bullshit, just a different town.”

“I don’t know about that,” Steve says. You cock an eyebrow in anticipation of what was to come. He hesitates, nervously laughing as he runs a hand through the hair in his face.

“I mean, it’s not like aliens have descended Earth and threatened to take over,” you say.

“That happened?”

“No. I’m just saying, whatever happens in Hawkins is probably not as bad as what happens in Indianapolis,” you reply.

“I mean, your uncle is the Chief of Police, you probably know everything,” Steve says.

“Not exactly,” you respond. Steve leaned in towards you at the table, motioning for you to do the same.

“Okay, you can’t tell anyone about this, got it?”

*******************

Steve had told you everything you already knew about Eleven, the Upside Down, and then some, including how Dustin Henderson had intercepted a Russian translation and how him and Robin were helping Dustin figure out the meaning. It was fascinating, and slightly scary. You knew that the Russians were causing Hopper some trouble, but not to this extent.

“Wow,” you say.

“I hope that doesn’t scare you off,” Steve says jokingly.

“Quite the opposite actually. I’m in.” You reply.

“Wait, what?”

“I want to help decode this thing,” you say.

“Y/N, no, it’s dangerous,” Steve leans in again, realizing he might’ve said too much.

“It’s dangerous for you too! Like I’m really gonna let you do this alone. Safety in numbers, right?”

“I guess,” Steve says warily.

“Plus, it’d give us a bit more time together,” you say, and a smile spreads across his face.

“So, you’re staying?”

“I guess it’s you’re lucky day,” you smile. Steve leans into you at the table again, but a knock at the window catches you both off guard.

“Hey, dingus! Your children are here,” Robin yells from beyond the glass.

“Children?” You ask.

“They probably want to sneak in the back to see a movie,” Steve says. He opens the partition to reveal Dustin, along with Max and El.

“What are you doing here?!” You and Steve say in unison.

“Heard you were on a date, just wanted to check in, see how it was going,” Dustin says. Eleven and Max are behind him, giggling softly.

“How’d you even get here?” You ask.

“Skateboard,” Eleven replies.

“Come on, I gotta get you all home before Hopper finds out,” you say, placing a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Thanks for everything.”

“See you tomorrow?” He asks.

“Tomorrow, yeah,” you smile, cheeks flushing a shade of red as you walk towards the giggling girls. You can hear Steve in the background telling Dustin that he would drive him home, too. You smile to yourself.

It was good to be home.

#stranger things #stranger things fic #steve harrington x reader #elmax #eleven #max mayfield #robin buckley #dustin henderson #steve harrington #stranger things 3 #stranger things season 3 #stranger things imagines

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elevenharringtons · 5 years ago

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Babysitting El pt. 1

Pairing: None (but leading into a bit of Steve x Reader)

Summary: Hopper, exasperated by having to deal with monsters invading Hawkins and having a teenage girl, has asked you to come babysit while he investigates for the night. Max shows up (unannounced, to you at least) and proposes a mall day to cheer everyone up. However, things don’t go as planned, and you find yourself an accomplice to Mike and El’s breakup.

Warnings: Profanity

Word Count: 3.3k

This is a two-parter! This part is based on El and Max’s shopping trip. It’s not exact, considering El was the one to seek Max out, but nonetheless, you’ll read some familiar scenarios. Just some good ol’ girl time and bonding over stupid boys. Part Two should be out sooner rather than later, considering all the time that has suddenly found itself on my doorstep. Stay safe out there, y’all.

***UPDATE: There will be a taglist for the second part, so if you’d like to be on it, let me know!

“I’ll be there.”

“If that Wheeler kid shows up here one more time-“

“Calm down! She’s a young woman now, she’s doing what she’s supposed to be doing” you say, twirling the yellowed telephone cable between your fingers. This is the third time this week that your uncle has called you upset that El was dating the second youngest Wheeler. Hopper hadn’t necessarily been on good terms with Mike, considering he found ways around Hopper’s rules, especially rules that were crafted for Eleven’s safety. Grumbling ensues on the other line.

“What time are you going to be here?”

“8 o’clock,” you reply almost confidently.

“Sharp?”

“8 o’clock...ish?” Hopper was good at seeing through your facades. Your mother was a pro at being fashionably late to things, a habit that you’re not too happy that you picked up. “You know it takes at least 15 minutes to get back to Hawkins, and then at least another 20 to remember which turn into the woods I have to take to find your cabin-“

“Save it. Just...promise me you’ll take care of this?” Hopper pleaded. You could hear someone rapping on the door in the background and assumed it was Mike trying to get back in to see El.

“I’ll do what I can. Bye, Uncle Hop.” You hear indistinct chatter on the line before it cuts to a dial tone and chuckle to yourself, continuing to pack a small overnight bag full of clothes and other essentials needed to ‘babysit’ Eleven. Hopper had to deal with a special assignment that you had specifically chosen not to ask him about, knowing it must be a continuation of the strange events that kept happening in Hawkins the past two years. Your mission was to stay with El until Hopper returned, however, now that El was a teenager, that was no easy task. Boys, best friends, and fighting intergalactic monsters had El in more directions than you remember when you were her age. Then again, you didn’t have to deal with the intergalactic monster part.

The morning drive wasn’t as bad as you thought it was going to be. Surprisingly, you remembered exactly where to turn into the woods to find Hopper’s cabin. The ground was wet from a rain storm the night before as you tried your best to maneuver your mom’s old Buick through the slippery terrain. El was standing outside on Hopper’s porch, her eyes lighting up for a quick second before diminishing again. She turned and headed back inside the cabin before you had the chance to get out of the car. Hopper met you at the door.

“What’s her deal?” You ask, closing the car door and moving to the trunk to grab your backpack.

“I, uh, may have had a hand in that,” Hopper replied.

“What’d you do”

“Joyce told me to have a talk with her and Mike, but instead, I told Mike that his grandmother was sick and that he should go be with her instead of with El,” Hopper couldn’t meet your stare. You laughed out loud.

“Seriously, Uncle Hop?”

“She doesn’t know!”

“And what made you think that was a good idea? What advice did Joyce give you that made you do that? Couldn’t have been that bad, it’s Joyce!” You’re leaning against the car door, arms crossed over your chest. You weren’t letting your uncle off that easy before he left you with a moody teenager.

“She just said to set some ground rules, to talk to them,”

“The three inch rule?” You quip.

“Well, El doesn’t always adhere to the three inch rule, that’s why I had to do something about it,” Hopper replied.

“So telling Mike Wheeler that his grandmother was sick even though she isn’t is how you’re handling this?”

“Why do you think you’re here?”

“Oh, so I’m the diffusion? She needs to be a teenager, Uncle Hop! Explore! Kiss a guy! Kiss a girl if she wants to! Fall in love! Get her heart broken! You were a teenager once, weren’t you?” You say. Out of the corner of your eye, El reappeared on the porch.

“Y/N?”

“Hi, El!” You smile and wave as El does the same. Hopper runs his hand over his face before leading you to the cabin. He grumbles under his breath as you walk.

“Look, just make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid. No one can find her out here, it’s dangerous.”

“I’ve got it under control, Hopper. She won’t leave my sight,” You assure him as you walk up the stairs to wrap El in a hug. Hopper watched as the both of you headed inside the cabin before starting his truck up and driving away.

“So, Hopper has you on some…guidelines, huh?” You say once the door is closed, taking in the cabin. It wasn’t as messy as you would have guessed it to be, definitely not like the lake house that you had practically grown up in. You put your bag down on Hopper’s armchair before leaning against the couch, watching El as she paced around.

“Guidelines?” She asked.

“Oh, um, rules. Like how he won’t let you out past a certain hour?”

“Or how he doesn’t let Mike over,” El nervously played with her hands. She was still pacing, clearly worried that Mike had abandoned her.

“Hey,” you say softly. “He doesn’t hate Mike, you know? He just…isn’t ready for you to grow up yet.” El was trying to take in what you were saying, but a knock was at the door causing the both of you to jump. El looks to you for permission to open the door, which you grant. She gets up and crosses to the door, standing on tip toes to peer into the peephole.

“It’s Max,” El says, almost disappointed.

“You can let her in,” you say. The door swings open to reveal the fiery red head, who doesn’t stay outside long.

“Lucas dropped all of our plans today for some family thing he forgot last minute,” she says. “So I told him that we were on a break.”

“A break?” El asks.

“Yeah. Like not a break up but you want to break up? Kind of?” Max says. You stare wide eyed at the two of them.

“I’m sorry, you told Lucas you wanted to take a break because he had to do something with his family?” You ask.

“Look, he pulls this last minute shit all the time. He’s probably at home playing with his stupid walkie talkie or at Mike’s. It’s better to take a minute to show him that I’m mad by taking a break than to dump his ass altogether,” she plops herself into Hopper’s armchair and right on top of your stuff without missing a beat. El sits stiffly beside you on the couch.

“Mike’s grandmother is sick, so he’s probably not at Mike’s,” you say, trying to go along with Hopper’s false narrative as truthfully as you could. Max rolls her eyes.

“Sounds like some last minute bullshit to me.”

“Last minute,” El says thoughtfully. “Mike didn’t call this morning.”

“Then dump his ass,” Max says matter-of-factly. “He keeps you on the line way too much for you to keep putting up with that.”

“I don’t think it’s Mike’s fault,” you say under your breath. Max doesn’t hear you.

“Dump his ass?” El questions.

“He’s obviously hiding something from you. Don’t put up with it,” Max shrugs.

“Nobody’s dumping anyone. Look, you can’t just break someone’s heart because they can’t do something with you,” you say. You may not have a lot of experience in the dating department, but you also could recognize human mistakes from lies. Plus, you had your uncle’s fake storyline standing over your shoulder, so it was best that El not make any hasty decisions.

“I’m just saying, El, you could do a lot better,” Max says. “In the meantime, though, we should give you a makeover and show him what he’s missing. Let’s go to the mall!”

“Whoa, El’s not allowed out. You know that,” you say, standing now between El and Max’s line of vision.

“Hopper’s not here is he? Plus, you’re here. Nothing bad can happen if you’re with us,” Max retorts. She had a point. Having an adult around two teenagers in a mall cramped their style, automatically making them less of a target to the bad guys. Right?

“Technically, I’m not supposed to have you here,” you reply. Max rolled her eyes.

“Y/N, can we please go to the mall?” El asks. Her shimmering brown eyes are enough to make you cave. She knew just how to push your buttons.

“Fine,” you say, “but you guys can’t leave my sight.”

“Deal,” Max and El say together as they race outside to your car.

“I said don’t leave my sight!” You yell, running after them. How bad could this be?

**********

Two hours later and you’ve become the stereotypical pack-mule “boyfriend” to your two teenaged counterparts. Max had insisted El buy a new wardrobe to make Mike jealous, so her muddied shoes and ragged plaid shirt were stuffed in a tiny bag from The Gap while Max made El try on several brightly colored combos. Then, El wanted Glamour Shots, so you watched as her and Max put on oversized pearls and lavish feathered hats, posing ridiculously for the camera. You’d bought each of them a keychain sized version of their favorite picture, adding another bag to your hand. Max had careened into JC Penney without your knowledge, taking El with her through the winding racks of aerobics wear and puffy jacket vests. You managed to find them, though, because Max was trying on bright red sunglasses in the mirrors right next to the entrance.

“What did I tell you about running off?” You say. Before Max could protest, El had walked out in a black romper with neon shapes plastered all over it. She was stumbling around on two inch heels, her stark white socks making it obvious that she’d never worn anything else besides sneakers. However, the smile on her face distracted you from the fact that she could fall and break her ankle at any moment. She stopped to pose in the mirror before turning to you.

“What do you think, Y/N?”

“I think it’s a winner. You look beautiful, El,” you say, her grin growing wider. Chastising them for running off could be saved until later. Or until something actually~ happened.

“That’ll show those stupid boys not to mess with you!” Max exclaimed.

“Maybe not in those heels, though,” you say, choosing to ignore Max’s comment. Not that you were doubling back on your whole “give Mike another chance” mantra, just that you didn’t want to ruin El’s confidence. You motion for Max to help you get the heels off of El before slipping her new Nikes back on her feet.

“Can I wear this out instead?” El asks.

“And ditch those cute yellow suspenders?” You quip.

“Come on, Y/N!” Max joined in. “What’s another bag? Another swipe of the old Visa?”

“This is the last time I bring you out shopping,” you sigh, watching as the two girls squealed, jumping up and down like they were front row at a concert. Max agrees to gather El’s other outfit from the dressing room while you take El to the register to pay. Then, you’re off again into the bustle of the Starcourt Mall. As you’re walking out, though, you spy Mike and Lucas, along with Will Byers, stepping out of a jewelry store in a heated discussion. Max and El giggled beside you, blissfully unaware that you had just caught both of their “men” doing the exact opposite of what they should be. You silently curse Mike for being this stupid. You careen then girls onto the down escalator.

“Where are we going?” Max asks.

“I saw a food court downstairs. Figured we’d go refuel for a little bit,” you say, not entirely sure the girls would fall for it.

“Oooo, can we get ice cream?” Max replied.

Mission accomplished.

That was until you had taken your eye off them for two seconds after looking at the time on the big yellow clock in the center of the food court. Max had taken El by the hand and bounded down the escalator, into the sailor themed eatery, Scoops Ahoy. You pushed through a group of teenagers balancing ice cream cones, finding the two girls receiving ice cream from a brunette boy in a ridiculous bright blue uniform. You couldn’t shake the familiarity of his face, like something you had seen in dreams. It wasn’t until you were inside of the shop, shivering from the slight temperature change, and smelling the sweetness of the treats before the name had come to you.

“Thanks, Steve!” Max said as she and El grabbed a strawberry and vanilla cone from the boy’s hands, blissfully unaware of your presence as they enjoyed their treats.

Steve Harrington. A name you hadn’t heard since you were in grade school. You remember him being the troublemaker, the one who had stolen your new pack of crayons when you weren’t looking and the one who was every teacher’s nightmare. But you also remembered him being the sweetheart. The boy who stood up for you when Tommy H was making fun of your bangs in second grade. The boy who tried to kiss you on the cheek by the swings when no one was looking. The last time you saw Steve Harrington was when your parents’ moving van was careening carefully down Main Street as you all were moving cities once you completed fifth grade. Steve was riding his bike, stopping in front of Melvald’s General Store before locking it to a rack and walking inside. Since then, Steve had become a memory, someone who would appear every once in a while as a nameless face in a dream.

You stood speechless at the counter, his back turned to you as he cleaned the ice cream scoops before meeting his next customer. There was no way he was going to remember you, your mind was racing. Years of never even thinking of him and here you were a nervous wreck. And for what? Shaking thoughts from your head, you reached into your bag to pull out three dollars for the girls’ dessert. The sound of change clanging on the counter caused him to turn. Shit.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. They come here all the time.”

You looked up to meet his brown eyes, hands still nervously reaching for the change that had fallen out of your hands. You watched as something in his mind clicked.

“Y/N?”

“That’s me,” you reply, shoving the money back into your bag, trying to avoid an awkward conversation that probably neither of you wanted. “Sorry that they ran in here like that.”

“Jesus, how long has it been? What brings you to town?” Guess he wanted an awkward conversation.

“Oh, my uncle, he, uh, wanted me to come watch El for him while he figures out…you know, normal Hawkins police stuff.” God, why are you like this??

“How long are you here?” Steve asked, catching you completely off guard.

“I mean, I only packed an overnight bag,” you say.

“Oh, cool,” Steve replies. The spark that was in his eyes when you’d first connected had vanished.

“But, uh, Hopper never said when he was coming back, so, maybe the weekend?” You tell him, watching the corner of his mouth curl into a smile.

“Would you maybe want to catch up sometime? Like, tonight after I get off?” Steve asks. You could feel your cheeks getting hot. It was your turn to smile now. Instinct struck, though, as you turned away from him and noticed El and Max were gone from the place that they were sitting not too long ago.

“Uh, yeah, sure. I have to…go. Because the girls are…yeah. I’ll come here tonight,” you ramble as you rush out the front towards the escalator.

“See you…later,” Steve called after you. You waved a hand as you bounded up the escalator past several angry mall-goers. You couldn’t even process that you were having a “date” with someone that you hadn’t seen since elementary school, someone that you subconsciously always thought about. If you couldn’t find El, though, it would be your ass. You could already hear Hopper yelling at you at length over the phone when you spot Max’s slender frame standing out front with a melting ice cream cone in her hand. She was watching something, hopefully something to do with El, but you couldn’t figure out why Max wasn’t standing right next to El. Then it hit you.

El found Mike.

You pushed through the front door as quietly as one could push through a heavy glass door. Max’s expression went from supportive to nervous wreck once she had laid eyes on you. The “why did you run out of my sight you dumb idiots” conversation could wait a few minutes. You heard Mike trying to come up with a good excuse as to why he was out at the mall with his friends when El’s quiet voice cut through the palpable tension.

“I dump your ass.”

Max chuckled, mouth agape in surprise. You tried to keep your composure, especially considering you had told the girls not to just dump the boys over “nothing”, but you were proud of El for sticking up for herself. Mike, Lucas, and Will were stoic as El turned dramatically, hair bouncing, arm linking with Max. You heard the boys mumble to themselves as you ushered the girls away from the mall and into your car. In the rearview mirror, you watched as Max gave El a high five, offering to switch ice cream cones with her.

“Don’t think I haven’t forgot that you all ran away from me,” you half-smile. Their faces fell. “I’m not mad.” You scramble to say, just to bring that little bit of happiness back to them.

“Look, we got ice cream and then caught two lying ass boys. It’s not our fault that we fell behind flirting with the sailor boy,” Max said under her breath, taking a bite of El’s ice cream. Your cheeks grew hotter than they were in Scoops Ahoy.

“I wasn’t flirting…”

“Oh, please, I had to sit through weeks of watching El flirt with Mike. I think I know what flirting is,” Max said.

“How did you even-“

“We were sitting in a booth practically behind you. Then El saw Mike and I had to chase after her. You’re welcome, by the way. I should get some of the money that Hopper is giving you for watching her.”

“First of all, I’m not getting paid. Second, thanks, I guess?” You shake your head. “Plus, my love life is not something we should be discussing right now. Didn’t you both just dump your boyfriends?”

“Boys are stupid,” El said matter-of-factly. She wasn’t wrong. Max gave El another high five as they switched ice cream cones again.

“So are you going on a date with Harrington or not?” Max asked.

“Yes, but-“

“Great! I’ll spend the night, and El and I will help you get ready,” she said. El nodded in response, too enticed by her ice cream to give verbal recognition.

“I thought you were against boys?” By now, you had turned down the pathway to Hopper’s cabin. You put the car in park, turning to look at the two girls in the back seat.

“Those boys. Helping you nab Harrington is a different story.” Max said, grabbing her JC Penney bag and bounding out of the car. You helped El carry all of her belongings into the cabin before plopping it into Hopper’s armchair.

“Makeover?” El asked once everyone was inside and settled.

“Oh, yeah,” Max replied. They each took your hands and led you to the bathroom.

What were you about to get into?

#stranger things #stranger things fic #steve harrington x reader #elmax #eleven #max mayfield #stranger things 3 #stranger things season 3 #stranger things imagines

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