𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 ★ steve harrington²

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 : killer queen

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 : 5.4k

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𝐌𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐆𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐃 Owen's protective stance, immediately wrapping Eleven up in a teary-eyed embrace. Seeing the two of them reunited felt like something out of a dream, or maybe even a movie.

The moment of warmth and endearment didn't last long for Owen before it was being broken up by a whisper from her left. "Who's that?" Steve asked her in a volume only she could hear. Her face morphed into a frown as she turned to face him, hoping and praying that he was just joking around. "Are you serious right now?" she hissed. But the wide-eyed look of confusion on his otherwise pretty face told her everything she needed to know.

Owen sighed. "Her name's Eleven. Hawkins Lab experimented on her and she has superpowers. We thought she died last year killing the demogorgon," she rattled off, quietly. She turned back around to face the gelled-up super-kid, eyeing her in amazement. "But apparently, she didn't actually die at all," she finished, watching as Hopper tucked Eleven against his side in a fatherly hug.

"You've been hiding her," Mike said in realization, intensely staring at the chief's back. "You've been hiding her this whole time!" he snapped, roughly shoving Hopper from behind. Owen's brows dipped confusedly, having missed what led to this revelation while she was explaining who Eleven was to Steve.

"Hey!" Hopper huffed, grabbing Mike by the collar of his shirt. "Let's talk. Alone," he insisted, before using the leverage of his grip on the boy's shirt to drag him into one of the back bedrooms. Mike stomped along with him frustratedly, looking like a kid who was getting in trouble. Muffled yelling could be heard through the house, even once the bedroom door was shut. All everyone could do was peer around nervously, not having expected a reaction like this out of the boy.

Dustin and Lucas were the first to put a crack in the room's awkward tension. They both stepped forward, engulfing Eleven in her third welcome-back hug of the night. Owen listened as they murmured sweet greetings to one another, clearly just happy to be back together again.

The sound of footsteps rounded Owen's periphery with Max coming from behind her back at last. A rare, shy smile had even graced Max's lips as she approached Eleven and the boys; Owen could hardly believe the sight. "Hey. Um, I'm Max," she paused, stretching out a hand for Eleven to shake. "I've heard a lot about you."

But instead of extending her own hand to meet the new girl's, Eleven acted as if she hadn't even heard her. Wordlessly, she pushed past Max, effectively brushing off her act of kindness. Although, Owen didn't understand the strange reaction, she certainly didn't expect to be the person Eleven approached instead.

The two girls stared at one another for a second, studying the differences in each other's appearances after a year apart. "Your hair," the younger girl breathed, examining the now-auburn strands.

Owen couldn't help but chuckle. "Your hair," she quipped, still growing accustomed to the longer style. This even made Eleven's lips turn upward in a soft smile, one that had Owen reaching out to tug her into a tight hug. "It's good to have you back," she mumbled with her cheek pressed against the hardened gel covering Eleven's hair.

The two girls had barely even pulled away from one another, their arms still wrapped loosely around each other's frames when Eleven's gaze drifted to Steve over Owen's shoulder. She took a moment to really analyze him, trying to really feel out this unnamed, new addition to the group. Steve just stood there awkwardly, allowing her glare to rake over him before she eventually gave up and moved on to hug Joyce.