His Favorite Flavor//Steve x Fem!Reader//Stranger Things

Erica

{WORD COUNT: 1,356}

TW: CUSSING, MENTIONS OF MURD3R, MENTIONS OF D3ATH

    "Okay. I wanna run through it one more time." Nancy said and turned around to face the rest of us. "Phase One." she said. "We meet Erica at the playground. She'll signal Max and Lucas when we're ready." Robin told her. "Phase Two." Nancy continued. "Max baits Vecna. He'll go after, which'll put him in his trance." Steve told her. "Phase Three?" She continued. "Me and Eddie draw the bats away." Dustin added. "Four. We head into Vecna's hopefully new bat-free lair, and...flambe." Robin finished, shaking around a glass bottle of kerosene. "Nobody moves on to the next phase until we've all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?" Nancy asked. "Got it." we chorused seconds between each one. We walked out of the trailer and into the trailer park, making our way toward Eddie and his Uncle's dirty, but cozy trailer. We walked inside, stealthily, like ninjas. Steve flipped on the light and we made our way to the gate. "Be careful." Dustin told Steve. "Thanks, buddy." Steve deadpanned and got ready to climb the sheet rope. "Here goes nothing." he sighed and started up the rope. He made it to the gate and sat for a second before letting go and landing on his feet. He looked at us and motioned his hands as to tell us it was easy as pie. "Ohh. What does he want us to do, applaud?" Robin mocked. "All right." Steve said as he dropped the mattress below the gate in the Upside Down Hawkins. "Let's go." he told us and Nancy got ready to climb up. Robin got down on one knee to help her up. Nancy used her as leverage and climbed up the rope and fell onto the mattress. "Gotcha." Steve said as he helped her up. We through Nancy's stuff up and Eddie climbed up after. We dropped his stuff into the Upside Down, or shall I say tossed. Robin climbed up after and fell onto the mattress hyperventilating her *ss off. Steve and Eddie helped her up and Dustin, Robin, and I's stuff were thrown up. Dustin dropped onto the mattress and Eddie and Steve grabbed him by the collar and threw him off the mattress. I slowly climbed up, praying my headset wouldn't fall off. I hit the mattress with a thud and felt my headset fall onto the ground. "Sh1t. Get the headset!" Steve yelled and gave me my Walkman and headphones back to put on. Nancy slammed the door open and we walked outside. The air was freezing and it was nothing but dark and creepy. "Hey, guys, listen. If things here start to go south, I mean, at all, you abort. Okay? Draw the attention of the bats. Keep 'em busy for a minute or two. We'll take care of Vecna. Don't try to be cute or be a hero or something. Okay? You guys are just--" Steve told them as he got cut off by Dustin. "Decoys. Don't worry. You can be the hero, Steve." Dustin mocked. "Absolutely. I mean, look at us. We are not heroes." Eddie emphasized. "But you can be. Just not this time." I told them. Steve turned around to walk away and was halfway to Robin, Nancy, and me when Eddie called for him, "Hey, Steve?" Steve turned back around to the boys. "Make him pay." Eddie told him and they nodded to each other. The four of us walked away and the boys stayed at Eddie's trailer. Lightning rumbled in the background and all I could do was think about if I would d1e today or not. I knew Max said she would be the one to do it, but if my headphones fall off for even a second now, I could be in real danger.

    We walked through the woods to Vecna's lair and childhood home. Every step we took, the closer and closer we got, the more my stomach turned in complete anxiety. "Uh...I don't mean to freak anyone out, but I swear we've seen this tree before." Robin shrieked. "That's impossible." Nancy doubted. "That would suck, right? If Vecna destroyed the world because...cause we got stuck in the woods?" Robin questioned, her voice shaky. "We're not lost, Robin." Nancy reassured her. Robin chuckled nervously. "Robin, hey. Watch out for the vines! Hive mind. Remember?" Nancy called as Robin wandered off.  "Thank you!" Robin called back. "Uh, don't worry about her. She's just stressed. You know, scared." Steve told her. "Yeah. Yeah. I...I  know. It's just..." Nancy faltered. "She's a super klutz?" Steve asked. Nancy chuckled and I sensed the feelings between them. Only, I knew they were all past feelings. Yeah, you don't get over someone just because you stop being with them. I always knew he still loved her. I still love Jason, even after our breakup. But those feelings aren't as strong as my love for Steve. I know how dumb and cliche it sounds, but it is true. I loved Steve more than anyone and anything in the world. "She did tell me it took her longer to walk than most babies, so..." Nancy laughed. Steve chuckled, "I really shouldn't laugh. When I was a baby, I actually crawled backwards." he told her. "Crawled backwards?" Nancy puzzled. "You know, I'd push with my hands like this. Beep. Beep." he explained as he motioned his hands as if he were crawling backwards. "Always in reverse, you know? I mean, hey, come on, it makes sense. You push to move, right?" he questioned. "No, no, it doesn't make sense." Nance laughed. "Well, it did to my tiny little Harrington brain. That is, of course, until I reversed my baby butt down a flight of stairs and thumped my head really good. Yeah." He continued. "Wow. That explains...so much." Nancy joked. "Yeah." Steve chuckled. "I think it kinda does. I think, like, right out of the gate, like, I'm super confident. But I'm also, like, an idiot. Which is just...I mean a brutal combination. But, I mean, the goods news is, I get a big enough thump on my head, I can change, you know? I can learn. I can...crawl forward. Listen, I guess what I'm trying to say in a really stupid, roundabout way is, um...is thank you." he told her. "Thank me?" she perplexed. "Yeah." he answered. "For...?" she puzzled. "For giving my head the biggest thump of its life two years ago. I needed it." he told her and we kept walking. "It's changed my life. And now I'm crawling forward. Slowly. I just wonder sometimes...you know, if...some other girl had given me a proper thump before we'd met would things have been different? Like, if we were meeting together for the first time right now, part of me...I dunno, part of me thinks we would've made it." he told her. "Steve...you have a wife." Nancy reminded him. "I know, and I'm happy I have her in my life. I think, as awful as it sounds, ending things with you led me to my soulmate. That's why I wonder, had I met another girl who thumped me on the head, would we have made it making me never date Y/n. The girl of my dreams, my soulmate, my world, my girl, my absolute everything." he told her. "I'm happy you found someone, Steve. She suits you well." Nance smiled. "Hey, guys! You guys! Awesome news!" Robin yelled as she ran toward us. She started talking to us, as she panted heavily. "Looks like we weren't going the wrong way after all." she told us. We all stood in silence for a second. "Come on." she smiled and we started following her. "Let's go." she cheered. "Okay." Steve emphasized. "Ro...slow down! Ro...Robin!" Steve called as Robin ran full speed ahead and we walked our way toward her. We stopped at a clearing revealing Henry's/Vecna's/One's childhood home. Bats swarmed the top of the large building, screeching at the top of their tiny little lungs. A light was illuminating the bottom of the play structure and we knew exactly who it was. "Erica." Steve grinned.