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thetargaryenbride · 1 year

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Nail To The Coffin - S4 - Chapter 5

Warnings: trauma, some blood, memories of s3lf h@rm, Vecna

Pairing: Steve Harrington x f!Byers!Reader

Word Count: 8099

𝐀𝐍: 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮 - 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴, 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘮𝘢, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴~

𝐀𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐟 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐎𝐎𝐂 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵! 🖤 🥀

Masterlist || Chapter 4 || Chapter 6

“Honey, can you stand?” you asked softly and the girl nodded, slowly getting on her feet with some help from Lucas and you.

“What do we do now?” said Eddie wobbly. “Should we-should we investigate or?”

“You guys can go…but I think I’m just gonna go home. I’ve had enough for today,” whispered Max.

“I hope that by ‘home’ you actually meant to say ‘at your place’ because we surely aren’t letting you go back to the trailer park alone,” you crossed your arms and she nodded.

“Yeah, sure, that’s what I meant. Let’s go.”

“You guys get started on the dinner. I’ll just…go take a quick bath and will come help you,” you sent the group a firm smile before you hurriedly went to your room to get a bathrobe, and then headed for the bathroom.

You turned on the faucet and sat on the edge of the tub, staring into the rippling, almost translucent, water that was slowly filling the pearly porcelain vessel, tuning out the noisy group in the other room as you waited.

You discarded your clothes and shoved them in the laundry basket before testing the water’s temperature. You let out a sigh once you sank in and rested your head on the towel you had previously folded and placed to act as a pillow.

Suddenly, even through your closed lids, you felt the lights give a flicker, which propelled you to open them and look around.

It was the same bathroom. Only, the energy had somehow shifted and the noise your friends were making as they chaotically prepared dinner had disappeared without you even noticing, until now. It was deadly silent, almost as if you’d been locked in some kind of sensory deprivation room.

There was a slight gust of wind that ruffled your hair a bit and you didn’t know what prompted you to look to the side but when you did, your eyes widened when they landed on a razor. You didn’t know for how long you had a stare-down with the piece of metal until you finally reached out and took it.

It felt so familiar in your hand.

So tempting.

You gulped, eyes boring into it. You tapped your finger against the blade a couple of times and you got filled with the sudden urge to slide it over the blade. It would be only a tiny cut. Nothing major, right?

“Go on, do it,” provoked you a calm, silvery voice, making your heartbeat increase rapidly, and you actually accidentally ended up slicing your finger on the blade. It made you hiss in pain and drop the blade in the water as you brought the finger to your mouth and pressed it against your lips in an attempt to soothe the ache.

The small droplet of blood that had fallen into the water did not stain it but somehow you still felt as if you were submerged in dirty waters.

Then, you felt the most overwhelming wave of energy that almost blew you away, and your head snapped up to look at the door, only to see it creak open, revealing a figure in the dark. You straightened up and shivered when the air hit the damp skin of your shoulders, collarbones, and back, chilling you more than it usually did.

The figure stepped forward, bathing itself in the light and revealing a tall, lean man with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. He had on a charming smile but there was some form of malice behind it. In fact, his whole presence oozed it, despite his calm demeanor.

“I didn’t take you for such a coward,” he clicked with his tongue in a pitying manner.

“Who are you?” you found the strength in your voice as you spoke out and he smiled at you as he stalked closer and sat on the edge of the tub, by your feet.

“Just someone who wishes to help you,” he shrugged with that knowing smile of his never leaving his face, unsettling you even more.

“Help me? Whatever do you mean?” you furrowed your eyebrows as you tried to slide away from him but your back quickly hit the wall of the tub and you realized that you couldn’t get away from him.

And you felt so very exposed, figuratively and literally.

“I just want to put an end to your suffering. You seem to be very persistent in your attempts at denying help considering you were desperately seeking it not so long ago,” he spoke calmly and just before you were about to ask him what he meant, you saw his gaze flicker to the razor at the bottom and it all became clear to you.

The little boy you had been seeing. This man you were seeing now. The disfigured monster Max had told you she’d seen…it was the same person.

It was Vecna.

He was the monster preying on you.

Your demon.

He was trying to break the little you had managed to piece together and heal so he could take you. A part of you, the unhealed, seemed to be ready to submit already. But the little piece that held everything together was, as he said, persistent.

“I don’t want your help,” you grit out, albeit a bit shaky, and his smile grew.

“You do…you’re just afraid to finally admit it…you’ve always been afraid. That’s why you couldn’t do anything even though you tried a couple of times. You couldn’t do anything alone, that is,” his smile transitioned into a smirk and you pursed your lips in an attempt to stop them from trembling. “But I can help you this time. If you just surrender.”

“And I told you…I don’t need your help.”

“Why do you fear death?” he asked, tilting his head. “You want it so badly…but you’re afraid to go through with it. Ever since last summer.”

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear,” you answered instead. “-and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown,” you stared right into his eyes and saw them crinkle as he grinned.

“Ah, Howard Philips Lovecraft,” muttered the man, almost proudly, and you held his gaze. “You sure know your…horror literature, smart girl,” he winked as he stood up and put his hands behind his back, stalking closer to you and eventually crouching by your side, too close for comfort, making you rigid as you tried to move as far away as you possibly could. That only made him chuckle as he lifted a hand and caressed your cheek with his knuckles.

“You should know…that you can’t escape me,” he drawled huskily.

Suddenly, you felt a sharp prickling sensation all over your body and you slowly turned your head to look down, only to see that the water had vanished and in her stead there were numerous razors, each sharper than the other, cutting into you, bleeding you, hurting you, even if you barely moved. You gasped as you sprung up and clumsily exited the tub, falling right into Vecna’s arms.

You trashed against him but he wouldn’t budge and you felt so utterly helpless that tears began rolling down your cheeks and you couldn’t contain the choked sobs from escaping. He caressed your hair and hushed you as you finally gave up and went limp in his arms, blood dripping all over his white uniform and the white tiles, and you felt that this was the end.

Then, the last thing you heard and felt was his whisper against your ear and the mocking kiss he placed on your temple.

“No…not yet. I want to play some more before that. Makes it more fun doesn’t it?”

“Don’t you think she’s been in there for quite some time now?” asked Nancy as she kept glancing at the bathroom’s door and Robin followed her line of vision.

“She did say she’d be quick about it,” agreed the girl with a sinking sensation and Steve’s brows furrowed as he abandoned the potato he was peeling and washed his hands, wiping them on the towel that had been resting on his shoulder before he threw it on the counter and marched towards the bathroom, stomach churning as bad foreboding washed over him.

“Y/N?” he called out as he neared the door and knocked. “Are you-Jesus Christ, what the-“ he got startled when he heard the sound of squelching and looked down, only to see there was water coming out of the room and he had stepped onto it. “Shit!” he exclaimed, drawing everyone’s attention, and threw open the door.

The sight was alarming, to say the least.

The tub was overflowing, flooding the space, you were lying on the floor, on your side, almost curled in on yourself, back turned on the entrance, hair sprawled and rippling back and forth because of the water, body almost nude, donning on only your underwear and a top. It seemed you had fainted while in the process of taking off your clothes.

“Y/N,” Steve called out once again as he pretty much threw himself onto the ground next to your form and grabbed you by the shoulder, turning you around. His eyes widened when he saw your nose bleeding profusely, staining your lips, your neck, your collarbones, and even the water and floor beneath your head. What worried him the most, however, was how still you were. “Hey, hey, don’t do this to me, baby,” he spoke frantically as he shook you before he clumsily took off his jacket and wrapped up your torso, mostly your hips and upper thighs, with it.

“What’s going on!?” asked Eddie panicked after he had stormed into the room, and didn’t waste a second to kneel on your other side while the others stayed standing nearby, giving you some space. “Jesus, what happened!?” he yelled and Steve ran a hand through his hair in frustration and helplessness.

“I don’t know! I came to ask if she was okay and found her like this! I don’t know!” he yelled back as his hands grasped your face, fingers caressing your cheeks and wiping the blood. “Y/N, c’mon, don’t scare me. Just open your eyes,” he pleaded and Eddie’s fingers flew to your neck.

“Steve, it’s okay,” he let out a breath of relief and Steve looked up questioningly. “She’s okay, I feel her pulse,” he informed the boy and he let out a long, shaky exhale, the others mirroring him.

“Then why did she faint? Why is her nose bleeding?” asked Steve and Eddie shook his head.

“Could be the stress and the lack of sleep,” he suggested. “Could be Vecna,” he muttered, spitting out the suspicions everyone had in mind.

Steve cursed silently, and shut his eyes in despair, hands going to rub his face. Sneaking his arms underneath you, he lifted you up easily and headed out, the others moving away to let him pass.

“Steve,” you murmured as you stirred awake, and he halted, looking down at you with wide hopeful eyes.

“Y/N!” he exclaimed and the others’ faces and rigid postures relaxed. “Can you hear me?” he asked and you nodded, opening your eyes. “Can you see me?” again, you nodded. “Good…good,” he smiled widely and wobbly before rushing into your room and gently laying you down on the bed.

“What happened?” asked Nancy softly as she came to sit on the bed by your side, taking your hand in hers, and you shook your head.

“I just…” you gulped. “I guess I felt dizzy all of a sudden and…then everything turned black,” you explained and she shared a look with the others who had quickly followed Steve and surrounded the bed.

“What about visions? Did you have any visions?” asked Max anxiously. “Did you see…did you see a monster?”

You hesitated for a bit before you gave her an answer.

“No…No, I didn’t.”

When you woke up, you weren’t in your bed anymore. Instead, you felt your bare arms being caressed by the blades of lush green grass.

You shot up into a sitting position and your eyes stared ahead, wide in confusion and fear, at the scenery. You were in a meadow of sorts. It kind of reminded you of the fields surrounding Hawkins that you frequented with your brothers when you’d go on picnics, walks, or just in search of picturesque spots to photograph and paint.

Suddenly, the sound of squealing to your left pierced your eardrums, and you got startled, not having heard it beforehand. It was a hare and its leg was tied by a rope. It seemed to have fallen into a trap and now it couldn’t escape, never mind how much it trashed and struggled against it.

Your heart fell to your stomach and you felt as if your whole body sunk as you watched the poor creature, suddenly getting reminded of all the times Lonnie had forced you and Jonathan to hunt rabbits.

You rushed to the animal and did a quick work of untying it. It immediately sprung away from you but didn’t run into the tree line nearby. It stood there expectantly as if beckoning you to follow it.

So you did.

You followed it into the woods.

You tried not to trip on the overgrown roots as you ran deeper into the forest where the trees seemed to be ancient, towering above you, looming eerily, showering you in darkness with only a couple of sunbeams being able to peek through the multiple thick branches. Suddenly, you didn’t think it was a smart choice to follow the animal. You kept feeling as if something or someone was watching you from behind the trees.

Shadows.

“You don’t need to be afraid of them,” chimed an all too familiar voice and you almost tripped as you halted in your steps, whirling sharply to face the blonde man that had tortured you with a vision merely a few hours ago. And now he was back, wanting more? “Shadows are actually children of light,” he explained as he stalked closer to you and you took a step back in return. “They are born from light.”

“But they are controlled by darkness,” you retorted. “You are that darkness,” you frowned and he smiled.

“Don’t be like that. Just come to me.”

You stared at him for a while before you turned your back on him and marched away.

“Y/N!” he called after your retreating form but you ignored him and quickened your pace instead. You didn’t want to give him the pleasure of seeing how scared you actually were. You didn’t want to give him the pleasure of looking deep into your eyes and seeing the way you were actually hesitating – tethering on the edge of agreeing to succumb to him. Although, he seemed to know everything about you already. He seemed to know your mind more than you knew it yourself.

It was pointless to hide.

Shortly after the encounter, you stumbled upon the hare once again. It was standing in front of a large tree with a hole at its base, big enough to fit a person. It sprung inside and you followed it with little hesitation this time, wanting to escape Vecna more than anything, praying that this hole would take you back to the land of living.

Then you found yourself falling.

And it felt like you were falling forever. All kinds of patterns surrounded you – twisted, deformed clocks whose chime you heard resonate through the dark void, whites, and blacks, swirling, checkered patterns accompanied by kings and queens and bishops and knights, endless skewered staircases that led to who knew where, and it felt like you were trapped in an infinite portal of illusions that you couldn’t escape from.

When you finally landed on the ground – mind you, you didn’t fall and break anything, but rather you stopped right before you hit the floor, and then some invisible power let you drop gently onto it – you found yourself standing in a huge spacey hallway with multiple doors.

But while they were all blank and plain, ordinary and colored black and white, there was one right in front of you that stood out.

A door much resembling the entrance of your own home back in LA.

It had a stained glass window with a gorgeous rose in the center.

“Beautiful, isn’t it,” hummed the blonde man, appearing out of nowhere yet again, and you huffed.

“I didn’t know someone like you could appreciate the beauty in things as simple as stained glass.”

“Even simple things have a deeper meaning than you give them credit for,” he shrugged, looking at you with his piercing blue eyes, but you just looked ahead at the door and tried your best to ignore him because you felt that if you looked at him, you’d give up on the bravery and make way for weakness and acceptance.

“Oh, really?”

“Take the stained glass, as you so kindly pointed it out as an example… People, are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within,” he drawled.

“You’re ugly,” you pointed out.

“Am I?” he asked with mock hurt.

“You may look…handsome on the outside but…on the inside you’re rotten. Disgusting and disfigured. And I don’t doubt I’ll soon get to see it all reflect on the outside…your true form,” you mumbled and he let out a breathy chuckle.

“Trust me, darling…when that time comes…it will be the end for you. So don’t be too eager to meet my true form,” he said quietly, warningly, and you gulped but showed none of what you were feeling on your face. Even though he probably knew what you were feeling.

And even though you had been so curious, and desperate to escape, at the end, you couldn’t see what was on the other side of the door.

It’s like Vecna had purposely blocked your path.

You knew he wanted you to see something. He wanted to show you something. But perhaps the time wasn’t right yet.

The Following Morning

“So, Eddie and I, uh,” began Steve. He had hovered over you since the moment you woke up, guarded you while you were bathing, was almost tempted to join you, actually, and was now making you company while you were getting dressed, casually sitting on the bed, sprawled, and tossing a bouncing ball at the ground which hit the wall and returned into his hand continuously. “We have prepared your walkman and tapes of all your favorite songs. You know, just in case,” he muttered deflated, looking at the floor then back at you, and you sighed, pulling your jeans up and zipping them.

No one had been able to sleep that night. Everyone was worried about Max and you. It was only during the wee hours of the morning when you had been able to get some shut-eye, only because Steve would’ve killed you with his glare if you hadn’t, insisting you needed to rest so you don’t faint again. If only they knew what happened was because of Vecna and not fatigue, they would be freaking out even more than they already were. They didn’t need that on their mind. They had to focus on Max. So you kept your tongue behind your teeth. Of course, they still had a suspicion but it was better than knowing and freaking out.

“Steve, I told you, I’m fine. I’ve had fainting spells before. They haven’t made an appearance in some time but…I guess all the stress and lack of sleep lately are doing a number on me. I’ll be fine,” you sent him a smile as your hand went to rub his arm up and down soothingly, and he shook his head.

“I know. But still, I have to consider the other possibility, just in case…better safe than sorry, right? I’m not going to risk your well-being…I’m not going to risk your life. Not again…” he said seriously. “Besides,” his frown then switched into a knowing smile. “I didn’t think you’d resist Bon Jovi,” he smirked knowingly and you eyed him up and down, eyes narrowing a tad bit. “Or ABBA,” he added as he grabbed a tape. “Or Madonna,” he waved it teasingly in front of you. “Or Queen.”

“Okay, you convinced me now,” you snorted, unable to resist a smile from forming, and took the cassette from his hand.

“That’s my girl,” he stood up and placed a kiss on your temple as you headed for the living room.

“Hey, how are you holding up?” you asked gently as you put a hand on Max’s shoulder and she sent you a small smile.

“So far so good, I guess. And you?”

“As good as you are, I guess,” you muttered and she and Nancy, who had just joined you by the table, shot you sympathetic, understanding looks. “Hold on…what’s that?” you asked with furrowed eyebrows as you inspected what the girl’s been working on since last night and she looked down at her drawings.

Last night, after the yet another incident in the bathroom, Max hadn’t wanted to leave your side for a second, so she hung out in your room and briefly told you about some of the things she saw. She asked if you had any painting supplies and you had given her some paints and Will’s forgotten crayons to use. She had stayed up all night drawing at your desk and had eventually moved to the kitchen table.

“Is this what you saw?” asked Nancy and she nodded.

“I mean, it’s supposed to be. I thought it’d be easier to draw it out than explain it, but…maybe I should’ve asked you to draw it instead. I just didn’t want to bother you,” she told you and you shook your head.

“You could never bother me,” you said as you slid into the chair close by and took a paper into your hands. “Let’s see. Maybe if I take a good look at these and if you explain the imagery you saw with more details, I’d be able to draw-” the words died in your throat and turned into a poison ivy rope that stung and choked you when you saw a drawing of two people, stuck in what seemed to be a prison of vines.

“Is that…” you asked but you couldn’t bring yourself to finish the sentence. You didn’t need to. They knew you meant Chrissy and Fred.

“It was like…they were on display,” began Max hesitantly. “And then there was this red fog everywhere. It was like a dream. A nightmare.”

“You think Vecna’s just trying to scare you?” asked Nancy.

“With Billy? Yes. But when I made it here,” she pointed at the place she had drawn. “I don’t know, something was different. He seemed surprised, almost. Like he didn’t want me there.”

“Maybe you infiltrated his mind,” butted in Dustin, almost startling you with his sudden appearance. “He invaded your mind, right? Is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his? Like Freddie Kruger’s boiler room.”

“You know, he has a point,” you hummed, crossing your arms and biting the nail of your thumb. “Maybe you formed a connection in the moment of invasion. Maybe you unlocked a backdoor to his world.”

“Exactly,” agreed Dustin. “Maybe the answer is in this…incredibly intricate drawing,” he drawled and your eyes widened when they landed on something very familiar.

“Hold on…This door…I’ve seen it before,” you blurted out as your hand grasped another piece of paper. The familiar door with the stained-glass window glared right back at you.

“I’ve seen it too,” said Nancy and the two of you shared a look before you began taking drawings and folding them in certain ways, lining them together. Your minds worked as one in that moment and you quickly formed a perfect image by piecing everything together.

“It’s pieces of a house,” pointed out Max while you were outlining some parts with a black marker.

“Not just any house,” breathed out Nancy.

“Isn’t that…the abandoned Creel house?” Steve asked and all of you looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. “What? Everyone knows about it but nobody goes there because it’s haunted. Except, of course, if someone dares someone to go and-“

“Let me guess,” interrupted Eddie as he casually strolled over and crossed his arms. “If you refuse to go, you won’t be as cool. You’ll be known as a coward. It’s all about reputation. Nothing scarier than losing your popularity,” he wriggled his fingers, trying to convey spooky energy and Steve rolled his eyes.

The Creel House.

Everyone knew about the creepy abandoned building. Everyone knew it was haunted. But nobody cared to learn of the terrifying events that had taken place there. Not even you, the ever historian, had bothered looking into it. It just didn’t seem like anything interesting or important. People died every day and their houses became relics. It wasn’t anything worthy of your attention.

How the tables have turned now.

This house suddenly became the center of everyone’s attention and probably the core of the problematic situation you were currently facing. And maybe, if luck was on your side, it would be a trump card up your sleeve that you could use against Vecna.

Suddenly, there was knocking on your door, and everyone’s heads snapped to look at it, anxiousness gripping at their guts.

"You stay where you are. I'll go answer it," you waved off Steve and Dustin who seemed ready to bolt for the door and greet whoever had come to visit you.

But what made you kind of suspicious and had you narrow your eyes, was the way the person was not actually knocking but banging on the door with urgency. At first, you thought it might be Calvin, coming to give you bad news, so your pace quickened and you harshly threw open the door.

What surprised you, or more likely unpleasantly shocked you, was that it was not your uncle Calvin who graced you with his presence. It was Jason Carver.

"Jason? What are you doing here?" You asked as you tried to keep the door halfway closed, hiding half of your body behind it and by extension hiding the other occupants from his line of vision.

"I came to check if Eddie's here, by chance," he didn't beat around the bush, or bother with pleasantries, and came out with it immediately, you could give him that.

"What makes you think that Eddie is here?" you asked, trying to stall, as your arm that was hidden behind the door made a couple of signs to the party, signaling them to hide or get out of the house.

They understood right away and scurried after having heard Jason's voice. Eddie in particular had almost fallen off the armchair and had dropped his mug, thankfully on the carpet, spilling its contents, making Robin, Dustin, and Steve, who were the ones who saw the whole thing, wince and scrunch up their faces in worry that Jason might have heard the sound. Apparently, he hadn't, probably because the carpet had muffled it.

"Don't play games with me, Byers," frowned the boy. "You and Munson are buddies, aren't you? It's only normal for him to hang out at your place," he stated while placing a hand on the door strategically and pushing lightly. "Be a good girl and just tell me where he is."

You were thankful for one thing - at one point in the past day or so, you had persuaded Eddie to ditch his van and park it somewhere else, not too far from your house but also not too close, because you knew that something like this was most probable to occur. He had hesitantly agreed to leave and conceal it and squeeze in Steve’s car instead.

It's true you had told to Lucas "Fuck Jason, we have bigger problems. We'll deal with him later" but you never forgot about the potential problem he could cause. You kept him at the back of your mind and you were grateful for it because now, unable to see Eddie's van, Jason couldn't possibly assume he was at your place. But of course, you still signaled the others to get out of the house and hide somewhere at the back, just in case you were unable to stall Jason's advances and he decided to storm into your home to investigate personally.

“Jason, listen to me very carefully,” you began. “I know you’ve gotten one too many balls thrown at your head but surely you can still get some of this through your thick skull. Eddie is not guilty. Plain and simple,” you blurted out and his eyes narrowed dangerously, body tensing.

“Don’t defend him just because you’re friends. If someone does something wrong, friend or not, you turn them in!”

“I’m defending him because he is truly innocent. He was with us the whole time that night! He wasn’t home when the murder happened!”

“I don’t believe you,” he spat out and you took a deep breath, trying to keep yourself from blowing up in his face.

“Believe what you will. We already went to speak with the Chief and told him everything that happened. If the police declared Eddie innocent, then why are you mingling in things that ain’t your business?” you bit out in return and he glared at you poisonously.

“Because how can I be sure that you told the truth to the police, huh?” he countered, and suddenly you felt nervous, your spine stiffening. “I know you’re close with the Chief. I know he’d believe you above anyone else. You grew up before his eyes,” he threw his hands in indignation. “I know you’d do anything to protect your friends, including lie to the police. But maybe this time you’re also trying to protect yourself. Maybe you’re the same as Eddie. Maybe you’re a devil too. I’ve seen you wear one of those Hellfire t-shirts before. Just because you’re not part of our high school anymore doesn’t mean you ain’t part of that satanic club,” his words grew heavier and harsher with each second, as did his rage, and his body language became more aggressive.

But so did yours.

You couldn’t remember when was the last time you felt such boiling, hot rage fill you up – rage that was caused by another human being that is, and not an alien monster – that you were struggling not to unleash on Jason.

“And I ask you one more time,” you murmured lowly. “What makes you believe all this bullshit?”

“Because Chrissy would never interact with this freak!” he shouted. “And because she would never get involved with drugs. She’s perfect in every sense and her life is amazing! Why in the world would she reach out for that crap? It’s not possible! The only explanation is that she was forced to go to the trailer and was most probably forced to take drugs before she was murdered. But who am I explaining to!? A cocaine whore like you would never understand!” he yelled and just as he was about to spill out more, you interrupted him by giving him the biggest slap you’ve ever delivered. It was so loud that probably the whole neighborhood heard it.

Steve, who, the moment he heard Jason’s insults, had been ready to bolt to your side and pummel the boy, causing him to be held by Dustin and Lucas, relaxed when he heard the sound and his scowl turned into a proud smirk.

At that moment, you saw red.

You blew up.

“Oh, so you think you know Chrissy because you’ve been her boyfriend for what? Barely a year!?” you began shouting back at him and his eyes widened, not expecting such an aggressive outburst from you, because never before had he heard or seen you so rabid. “Newsflash! I’ve known her for much longer than that! And I know for a fact that her life was far from perfect! So don’t stand here and paint her life as a fucking heaven on Earth! She was so not the person she tried to present as in front of everyone else! She struggled so fucking much at home because her mother is a cunt!” you screamed and gesticulated angrily. “I have tried so much to help her but every time we’d make progress and get better, every time she’d take a step forward, her mother would throw her a couple of steps backwards and ruin everything! Do you have any idea how goddamn devastating it is to be stuck and not be able to move on and heal from your trauma!? Have you been in such a situation, Carver!? Because Chrissy for sure was, her entire life. She used to visit the school counselor back when I was still in high school, and her visits became more frequent these past months! She’s been suffering from heavy headaches, nosebleeds, vivid nightmares, but I doubt you knew about any of this because you never cared about anything or anyone else besides your abnormally large, arrogant ass, and your stupid games,” you roared as you took a step forward and he took a step back, shrinking under your glare and harsh words. “You never cared enough to dig deeper and get to know her more! I told her back then, to not go out with you, to not become your girlfriend, because you loved only what she was allowing you and everyone else to see. You look only at the bark of the tree, and not the entire forest because you are an entitled, blindly self-righteous, dumb cunt! You’re so fucking unreliable it hurts! So, no, I don’t blame her for reaching out to Eddie and wanting to dull the pain with some Special K! A ‘cocaine whore’ like me understands very well what it means to see no light in the tunnel so you want to take a fucking sedative to calm your jumbled brain! If only you could see things not as black and white but explore the complex, grey morality, you wouldn’t be standing here on a bloody headhunting, trying to deliver your own personal view of justice! You call Eddie a freak but you are a fucking psycho!” you ended your rampage with a shriek, chest heaving as you glared at him, hands and body shaking with rage. You were ready to pounce on him and he could read it in your body language, so he chose not to engage further.

“You’re lucky I came alone,” he finally uttered, gulping the lump that had stuck in his throat. “You won’t be as lucky next time…this isn’t over. We’ll find Eddie. Here or wherever he’s hiding,” he spoke, trying to sound and appear threatening and intimidating but all you could see was a scared piece of shit who tried to play it macho. He could never even step on Billy’s little finger. It was pathetic.

“Oh, I’d love that,” you quipped. “Then I’ll be able to properly show you just why I was sent to the police station three times, and who knows, maybe you can follow Nathaniel Hale’s fate,” you grit out and he gulped, nose scrunching up, before he finally left the vicinity of your house and jumped into his car, driving away.

You slammed the door shut, rattling it so harshly and loudly that for a second you thought it might fall off its hinges.

You were just so angry.

He really managed to rile you up badly. You hadn’t experienced such intense emotions and anger since the time when your brothers would get bullied and you’d beat up their bullies.

“You okay?” asked Steve as he put a hand on your shoulder and you jumped startled, making him lift his hands in the air. “It’s me. It’s okay.”

“Oh, Steve,” you let out as you gave him a hug and he rubbed your back soothingly.

“It’s okay. The bastard’s not gonna bother you anymore.”

“I hope he doesn’t come back with his little friends and search the house forcefully,” you grumbled and Steve shook his head.

“That’d be illegal and you’d be in your right to call the police on him. Then he and his friends would be arrested for some time and we’ll be left alone to do our job in peace,” quipped the boy and you pulled away, looking at him with wide eyes.

“That actually…sounds like a great idea, Steve,” you breathed out and he chuckled.

“Always the tone of surprise. I’m smarter than I look, you know,” he smirked and you snorted, ruffling his hair playfully and stepping away from his personal space to avoid his swats.

“Well…we’ve lost some time dealing with this waste of oxygen so I suggest we hurry.”

“Well, that’s just incredibly eerie,” you breathed out and everyone looked at you questioningly.

“What do you mean?”

“This house is…well, let’s just say that our house in LA is pretty similar-looking to this one. It’s…it’s creepy,” you shuddered and everyone’s faces scrunched up in what seemed to be sympathy.

“What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?” asked Steve minutes later while he was de-nailing some of the rusty nails that kept a huge wooden plank up and covering the front door.

“We’re not sure,” sighed Nancy. “We just know this house is important to Vecna.”

“Because Max saw it in Vecna’s red soup mind, right?”

“Basically.”

“Great.”

A short conversation about the possibility of you finding a clue about Vecna later, you were breaking and entering, flashlights on and lighting every corner as you crept inside cautiously.

“They just…left everything,” commented Nancy somewhat sadly as she and Robin explored what seemed to be the living room.

“I guess a triple homicide isn’t good for resale value,” added dryly Robin.

“Hey, guys,” called out Max and everyone went to her side. “You all see that, right?” she asked as she pointed her flashlight at the grandfather clock and you gulped.

“Yeah,” you, Steve, Dustin, and Eddie responded simultaneously.

“Is this what you saw?” inquired Nancy. “In your visions?”

“I mean…it’s just a clock…right?” muttered Robin as she pushed past everyone and wiped the dust off the glass lid of the clock. “Like a normal old clock.”

“Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?” Steve shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe he’s, like, a clockmaker or something?”

“Or, or,” Eddie snapped his fingers and pointed at the boy. “He’s a time traveler and different clocks are gateways to different timelines!” exclaimed the metal head excitedly and you and Dustin looked at them with aggravation.

“Could you guys save this for later?”

“No, Y/N, let them be. I think they just cracked the case,” said Dustin sarcastically and you hummed in agreement before the two of you turned away simultaneously, leaving Steve and Eddie to look at one another with confused expressions.

“Okay, guys,” Nancy drew everyone’s attention. “Everyone stay in groups of two and let’s spread out,” she instructed and no one hesitated to follow through with it.

Nancy and Robin headed upstairs, Lucas and Max went to the living room, Dustin and Eddie stalked towards some other room, and you and Steve followed after the girls, climbing the stairs carefully.

For some reason, you felt compelled to go to a certain room you established as the bathroom. Steve followed you with furrowed eyebrows but didn’t say anything as you crouched down by the vent and took off the intricate top. Your breath hitched when you saw a couple of jars inside.

“What’s this?” asked Steve as he crouched by your side and took a jar to inspect.

“Black widows,” you whispered as you looked up, only to see a spider crawling on Steve’s shoulder.

You let out a scream as you swatted it away, startling Steve in the process and making him drop the jar as he fell on his butt, the glass shattering loudly.

“What was that!?” he yelled panicked.

“A spider!”

“What!?”

“I got rid of it,” you attempted to calm him down while his head shifted from side to side in a frenzy to check if the insect was still on him, causing the light from his flashlight to dance wildly across the floor and the walls. “It’s okay, it’s not on you anymore.”

“Jesus,” breathed out the boy and you sent him a sympathetic smile.

“What happened!?” exclaimed Nancy worriedly as she rushed into the bathroom and you waved a hand dismissively.

“Nothing, we’re good. It was just a spider.”

“Yikes.”

“Mhm.”

Steve quickly stood up and reached out for you. You gladly took his hand and he hauled you up on your feet, the two of you exiting the bathroom and shutting the door.

“Don’t go in there,” Steve told Nancy as he shot one last suspicious look at the door as if it had personally offended him before he headed for the mirror nearby to take a look at his hair.

“If there’s a spider in there, you’re never gonna find it till it lays eggs and the babies spill out,” quipped Robin with a shit-eating grin and Steve deadpanned.

“What’s wrong with you!?”

Suddenly, you felt a familiar gust of energy and whirled on your heels.

“What is it?” asked your boyfriend but you answered not as you marched back to the staircase and saw the lights downstairs flicker.

Max looked up at you and even in the dark, you could see the fear in her eyes that she was trying so hard to conceal. After that, you spread out in order to look for Vecna. Steve didn’t feel comfortable with letting you go on your own at all.

“Hey, uhm, I know I’m probably being paranoid but, can you just, put these on?” he asked as he handed you the walkman and the headphones and you let out a breathy chuckle, wordlessly taking them off his hands and putting them on. He sent you a small smile before everyone went on their own way to explore the house more and to follow the different flickering lights in an attempt at locating Vecna.

But something kept you nailed to your spot and you felt a strong energy coming from a door to your right. You opened it and a narrow staircase was revealed in front of you.

You gulped and pressed play and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears rolled.

[I picked Lorde's version because it's more eerie but feel free to listen to either version :) ]

“Welcome to your life

There's no turning back

Even while we sleep

We will find you…”

You took a shaky breath as you began climbing, not being able to see or hear the door closing behind you. Barely a minute later, you found yourself in the very same attic you’d been dreaming of for the longest time. You almost expected to see the little boy, holding a jar full of spiders. You almost expected the room to get flooded and swallowed by the ocean as it often happened in your dreams.

But none of this happened.

“Help me make the most

Of freedom and of pleasure

Nothing ever lasts forever

Everybody wants to rule the world.”

“Hello, Y/N,” sounded a familiar voice you could hear over the music as if it was resonating inside your head, and your eyes widened when Billy stepped out from behind the clutter, looking just as bloody and disheveled as he did during the battle at the mall, veins protruding, blood black as tar coating his whole body, holes from the monster’s vines visible even with the black substance running over them. He was a living corpse, standing in front of you. “I’ve been waiting so long for you.”

“No,” you whispered. “This isn’t real. It’s just another hallucination.”

“Is it?” he asked as he strutted closer and you took a step back. He took one forward, and you took another back, and just like that, you entered a dance of steps that eventually ended when you hit a wall and he cornered you against it.

The song replayed and you wondered if maybe you should’ve chosen another one because this one didn’t seem to be getting you out of the situation you had fallen into.

“You, you, you,” muttered the boy with his typical angry grin, running his tongue over his lower lip as he leaned and placed a hand by your head, which made you turn your head to the side, not being able to face him. “You abandoned me,” he spat out angrily and you shut your eyes tightly, fingers curling and nails digging into the wood you were pressed against, wishing it could swallow you. “You had the opportunity to save me…twice…and you just let me die.”

“I promise I tried,” you whispered and he lifted the hand that had been resting next to your head and curled it into a fist. You thought he’d hit you, but he just hit the same spot again. Nevertheless, it still made you flinch.

“No,” he growled. “You didn’t try hard enough. None of you did! You abandoned me… Do you know what it felt like? Chugging toxic chemicals? Your insides turning into mush? And being alive through it all, feeling every burning sensation? I was rotting and I was alive throughout it!” he roared and your lips trembled as a choked sob tore out of your throat. “And afterwards, what? What, what?!” he asked with a mocking grin as his other hand grabbed your chin and forced you to look at him. “What, you think that surfing for the both of us and enjoying the ocean is something to cherish my memory through?” he bit out and you gulped, eyes watering. “You think I’d be happy that you got to live and enjoy doing things I used to love doing? That it would somehow make me feel at peace? Or were you just trying to make yourself feel at peace!? To lessen the burden of guilt,” he barked out, some of the blood landing on you and making your stomach churn with nausea as if you weren’t feeling sick enough already.

“I’m sorry,” you muttered shakily and pitifully and he snorted.

“If you’re so sorry…then just come to me,” he drawled and your eyes widened. “That’s where you belong anyway. That’s where you’re supposed to be. You just got lucky and escaped death, but you can’t run away forever.”

“Y/N!” someone was calling you.

“You want to finally ease that guilt and self-hate? Get rid of them for good? Just come with me,” he whispered and you gulped.

“Y/N!” the voice was more clear now, sharper, and you looked at the attic door before back at Billy, features contorting into disbelief when you saw he wasn’t there.

You felt like you were going mad.

You pushed yourself off the wall and took a step forward, eyes darting wildly across the room in search of the bloodied ghost but there was nobody. You were alone. And then you came to your senses and piercing pain shot through both your hands. You lifted them so you could inspect them and found some of your nails broken and bloody, one of them you had even managed to tear off its nail bed.

“Y/N!” shouted Steve as he ran up the stairs and when he finally saw you standing at the center of the room, he let out a shaky breath of relief before he marched to you and took you into his arms.

"There's a room where the light won't find you

Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down

When they do I'll be right behind you"

“Where the hell have you been this whole time!? We all gathered in the living room and when you didn’t come-” he cut himself off. “I swear you’ll drive me crazy one day,” he exclaimed as he pushed a hair strand behind your ear and placed a couple of kisses on the side of your head while you stood there, barely responsive because you were still in shock after everything that happened.

“We were calling for you but you were nowhere in sight,” added Eddie breathlessly, the panic still noticeable in his tone and demeanor. “Thank God Max here noticed the attic door.”

“Are you alright?”

“So glad we've almost made it

So sad they had to fade it

Everybody wants to rule the world

Everybody wants to rule the world.”

Tags: @anxiousbeech @ashstorm24 @leireggsworld @burns-in-the-sun @ooenjoythesilenceoo @we-out-here-simping

#stranger things fanfiction #stranger things x reader #stranger things reader insert #steve x reader #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fanfic #eddie x reader #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fanfic #will byers x reader #reader insert #reader #max mayfeild x reader #billy hargove x reader #Spotify

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