Stranger Things - Imagines

Steve Harrington X Sinclair!Reader - Stressed Out

A/N - This chapter was inspired by the song Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots. Reader is Lucas and Erica's older sister. I hope you all enjoy it.

It felt like all you had been doing for the last couple of hours was sitting and waiting, keeping a close eye on Max in the process. She'd been sitting at the desk in the corner of the Wheeler's basement writing out letters for each of you, jotting down anything she could think of whilst you quietly prayed that you would never need to read the one she'd scrawled for you.  

You let out a soft sigh, shifting slightly to rest your head on Steve's shoulder, eyes still focused on Max on the other side of the room. 

"Hey," he murmured, drawing your attention up to his face, offering you a soft smile. "You alright?"

You shrugged. "Do you ever wish that you could turn back time and never get involved in all of this?" you uttered, gesturing at the group of kids in front of you. "Just forget any of it had happened and live a peaceful life without the Upside-Down and monsters and evil Russians?"

He shifted in his seat, lifting an arm to rest it around your shoulders, letting you lean further into him. "Not really," he hummed, his fingers drawing gentle patterns into the bare skin of your arm.

"You're mad-"

"No," he corrected softly. "If I hadn't got involved I never would've met you," he pressed on. "And you never would've given me the time of day-"

You felt a small smile pull at your lips, lifting your hand to rest it on his stomach, picking at a loose thread on his t-shirt. "We would've met eventually," you murmured. "I would've ended up being dragged into Scoops with Erica and I would've fallen head over heels the second I saw you in that little sailor suit-"

"You think so?"

"I know so," you uttered. "Always thought you were cute when we were at school, but you were with Nancy. Kinda thought you'd never look my way when she was your type."

He snorted. "You're kidding, right?" He paused for a moment, and then looked down at you in sheer horror. "Baby, I always thought you were the most incredible girl in the world. But you always had the guy from the wrestling team hanging around you. Didn't want to get the shit beaten out of me for hitting on his girl-"

"I was never his girl," you interrupted, sitting up a little too quickly, and letting out a startled chuckle. "He probably would've hit you though; Cole was a little weird about guys hitting on me."

Steve clicked, pointing at you. "Cole. That was his name. God, I hated that guy."

"Well, Cole was never my boyfriend, Baby. Which means you could've asked me out way earlier than you did and we could've saved ourselves all of the hassles of being involved in this mess."

"What? And leave these idiots to deal with everything alone? No chance. They wouldn't last a week-"

"Hey," Lucas interjected. "We were doing just fine before you guys got involved."

You chuckled, shooting your brother a soft smile. "Sure you were. Except, Steve is your designated driver. And If I wasn't here doing all the work behind the scenes, you'd all starve and/or murder one another when you get cranky."

"We don't get cranky," Lucas murmured. 

"My mom only lets me out with you guys if I tell her Y/N's going to be there. She says she's the only sensible one," Dustin muttered from his spot on the floor, shooting you a toothy grin. 

"See," you hummed. "You need us."

Steve pulled you back to him, pressing a kiss to the side of your head. "Nah, I wouldn't give up knowing these little shits for anything, Baby." 

"You know," Max muttered, twisting around in her chair to face the rest of the group. "You two are kind of like everyone's honorary mom and dad," she told you, giving a small shrug. "I mean, you're always taking care of us and keeping us out of trouble-"

"Keeping us out of certain types of trouble," Lucas corrected. "We definitely still get into trouble."

Max shot him a warning look. "What I mean is, you guys are the ones looking out for us when we're off fighting monsters and saving the world. We wouldn't be able to do it without you."

A small smile pulled at your lips as you looked at her, your head tilting to the side. "Yeah, I guess we kinda are the parents, huh?" 

"Don't go getting broody on me, Sweetheart. We aren't even married yet-"

"Yet?" Lucas interrupted, eyes wide as he looked between the two of you. "Are you guys engaged?"

"No-"

"Yes-" Steve uttered, before freezing.

"Steve," you bit out, shaking your head. "We aren't officially engaged. More like, engaged to be engaged, if that makes sense?"

Max was smiling, like actually properly smiling as she stared across the room at you. 

"But we weren't telling anyone yet," you added, patting Steve's knee lightly. 

"I wanted to get the ring before I actually asked, but I didn't have enough cash and my boss wouldn't give me an advance on my pay. And I couldn't exactly ask my Dad, he's always lecturing me about spending outside of my means-"

"But," you interrupted, brushing his hair back out of his face. "He asked, unofficially, and I, unofficially, said yes." 

Lucas was watching you very carefully. "Do Mom and Dad know?"

"He asked Dad's permission first. I know he doesn't look it, but Steve's pretty old school-"

"And he said yes?"

Steve practically recoiled at the question. "Of course he said yes. Why would he say no?"

Lucas held up his hands in self-defence. "I was just asking."

"No, you sounded surprised," Steve started again, and you couldn't help but roll your eyes, slipping out of his embrace and moving across the room to perch next to Max. 

"You good?"

She nodded. "Happy for you," she uttered. "Just worried that I might not be able to come to the wedding-"

"Don't say that. You're going to be there in one of the most hideous bridesmaid dresses you've ever seen, you hear me?" You quickly pulled her into a tight hug. "I'll need you there to keep Lucas from doing something stupid," you added, feeling her relax into your touch. 

"He wouldn't even dream of doing something stupid at your wedding. I'd kill him."

You pulled back, holding her face in your hands. "I know you would. Which is why we're going to kill Vecna. I'm not losing you to him." 

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