My Best Friend's Ex | Steve Harrington x Reader

Season 2 - Down in the Tunnels

I stared at him. "You're... Not?"

"You really haven't been paying attention today, have you?" I kept staring at him and dropped my hand back to my side. "(Y/n), if I was only doing this for Nancy, I'd be long gone."

"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice catching.

"I mean, those kids are growing on me," Steve said with a swallow, his gaze shifting from me again. "And, you know, you."

My lips curled into a smile as butterflies filled my stomach. "You're not so bad yourself."

Steve's bruised eyes flickered down to mine, a shit-eating grin slapped across his face. Just as he was about to say something else, Dustin's shout made us spring apart.

"(Y/n)! Steve! Let's go!"

With one last look, I slammed the trunk and we headed toward the kids.
~~~
Steve was the last one to drop down into the tunnel via the rope tied to the front of the car. I had been the first one in to make sure it was safe before I helped the kids down, one by one. We all wore our protective gear to keep the strange particles floating in the air out of our bodies.

I had never actually been in the Upside Down before. The closest I had gotten was in the lab with Nancy and Jonathan, and even still, it was so much worse than I'd expected. It was cold and damp and dry all at the same time and sent shivers up my back.

We were all spread out slightly around the area, but none of us were going too far yet.

"Yeah," Mike called to us from a bit up the tunnel, shining his flashlight onto his makeshift map of the tunnels. "I'm pretty sure it's this way."

"You're pretty sure, or you're certain?" Dustin yelled back. The tunnels were full of echoes and made it hard to hear one another without raising your voice.

"I'm 100% sure," Mike told him. "Just follow me and you'll know."

Mike turned around and began walking away, but Steve caught up to him and grabbed his arm.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Steve said. "Hey, hey, I don't think so."

"What?" Mike said.

"Any of you little shits die down here," Steve said, shining his light at everyone but me. "(Y/n) and I get the blame. Got it, dipshits?"

The kids all turned to me, looking for some sanity, but I simply held my hands up in surrender. "Steve's right. Just... Everyone stay close, okay?"

Steve nodded and snatched the map from Mike. "From here on out, I'm leading the way. Come on, let's go."

He began walking, all of us in a trail after him. I stayed at the back with Dustin, with Max and Lucas in front of us. The tunnel ground was uneven, like tree roots growing into a path except they were slippery vines. As we went farther in, it began getting colder, meaning we were getting lower underground.

After a few minutes of winding through the tunnels, we reached a room-like place that was bigger than the rest of the tunnels. The walls and ceiling were lined with more root-like strands, intertwined with slime and strange engravings.

"Holy shit," I said, shining my light around the room and slowing down.

"What is this place?" Max said, subconsciously inching herself closer to Lucas.

"Guys, come on," Steve pushed, making us all walk again. "Keep moving."

Everyone began moving again, so I followed, but was quickly stopped when I bumped into Dustin who was standing still.