Alone, No More (Harringrove)

Chapter 2//Daddy Issues

CHAPTER 2
The rest of the school day blurred by, it almost felt like a sick dream. Like once Steve got home, he would be attacked, or he'd get a phone call from one of the kids that something had happened. People filed out of the school and into the cold where everyone's breath formed clouds.

"Hey!" Steve yelled at the curly haired boy walking towards Jonathan's car where he and Nancy sat, too engrossed in their own conversation to notice. "Mike!"

Mike stopped but didn't turn around, strange,  so Steve ran up beside him and peered down at him. The boy's face was emotionless and he had began to gnaw through this bottom lip.

"Yo, Mike, what's going on?" Steve continued to prod the boy, Mike's conflicted features freaking him out. "Why is she staying with you guys?"

"Look, I need you to promise to keep this on the down low," Mike looked around and Steve did too, noticing only a few people left to file into their cars and drive away, "because we don't want to start a...a thing, okay?"

Brows knit together, Steve nodded and encouraged Mike to continue. Mike knew there was no point in hiding things from Steve, who always seemed to have his nose in their business.

"Hopper...he's...he's disappeared," Mike said so quietly, Steve had to lean in to hear.

"What?" Steve grabbed the boy's shoulders and shook him a bit in an attempt to shake out any other information.

"Don't freak, yet, El thinks she knows where he is, but we need more time before the others know and want to take things too far," Wheeler informed, meeting his senior in the eye. "Please keep this between us, okay?"

Even though Steve was a man of action, especially when it came to Hopper who had done so much for him and the kids, he chose to trust Mike and El. They were smart kids and had done this before, and while Steve had barely dealt with the psychology of The  Upside-Down, he knew to leave it to El and Mike. Of course, that didn't mean he wouldn't worry, or annoyingly check up on the two to see if they were okay. 

God, Hopper being gone was a weird feeling; he was the father that their group had never had and protected them through everything with the upside down and the lab. Steve felt uneasy about him being gone.

"Okay kid, but you better keep me in the loop," Steve almost begged the boy in front of him.

"We will, Harrington," Mike promised quietly. "We may need your brawn again".

Steve let out a humorless laugh and patted the boy on the shoulder. His fingers itched to grab his trusty bat from out of his car's trunk and keep it on him at all times, just to feel some sort of safety.

Mike walked around him and to Jonathan's car, then hopped in, behind Nancy. The three watched Steve from the car as they sped off, each with varying levels of concern in the eyes, making him feel like some mental case.

"Shit," Steve groaned while driving home. He still couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Only a week ago was the dance, just after EL closed some portal in the lab, and yet something felt very, very wrong. Almost like the portal had never been closed.

I wonder if Hopp went back to the portal for some reason? He thought to himself while driving up his driveway and parking. After parking He rubbed down his face; he hadn't been sleeping much anymore.

His house was quiet. Both his parents had gone off again to who-knows-where, so he was left in an empty house with only his bat to keep him company. Speaking of, Steve rounded his car and took the spikey wooden object out from the trunk, constantly feeling the sense of security it provided, then made his way into the house.