Love Is A Battlefield (A Stranger Things/Steve Harrington Fanfiction)

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Close Gate

"Something's hurting them." I said quietly. Suddenly the screeching stopped, and it went silent for several moments.

The silence was broken by one of the creatures crashing through the window, causing us both to scream and jump away from it, Dad stepping forward with his gun at the ready, Steve and I flanking him on either side. When it didn't move, I slowly crept towards it.

"Riley, don't-" Dad started. I held a hand behind me, walking towards it and reaching out with my ax, gently poking at its head with the end of it. It didn't move, aside from me pushing it.

"Its dead." I confirmed. The door creaked across the room, causing us all to look towards it and raise our guns again. Suddenly the lock clicked open on its own and I furrowed my eyebrows, stepping forward. "Wait, lower your weapons."

"What?" Steve asked. The chain slid off of the door.

"Put them down!" I yelled. They all did as I said and I turned forward again as the door came creaking open, revealing a figure on the other side. It was the clothes I noticed first; White high-top converse with rolled up jeans, and a black t-shirt and jacket. Then I noted the dark eyeliner and the gelled back hair, and if it hadn't been for the door unlocking on its own and the dead demogorgon on the floor, I might not have even recognized the girl that stepped into the house.

Mike stepped up beside me in shock, and they stared at each other as blood dripped from her nose. They slowly walked towards each other.

"Eleven."

"Mike." She gasped tearfully as they threw their arms around each other, hugging the other tightly as they were reunited after not seeing each other for a year. I smiled, but immediately found myself wondering what she was doing here or why she looked like this, because none of what she wore was mine, that much I knew.

"Is that..." Max whispered. Dustin and Lucas nodded as Mike and Eleven pulled back to look at each other.

"I never gave up on you," He said, "I called you every night. Every night for-"

"Three-hundred and fifty-three days." She answered for him. "I heard."

"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were ok?"

"Because I wouldn't let her." Dad spoke up, causing Mike to turn around and look at him. He stepped towards her, and Mike moved around him. I took the opportunity to do the same. "What the heck is this? Where you been?"

"Where have you been?" She shot back. He answered by pushing her up against his chest and hugging her.

"You've been hiding her," Mike realized, "Both of you have. You two have been hiding her this whole time!" He shoved Dad.

"Hey, hey!' Dad turned around, grabbing his shirt. "Let's talk. Alone." He dragged him back into Jonathan's bedroom and I walked over to stand in front of Eleven. I put one hand on her shoulder, wiping the blood off of her nose with my sleeve.

"Hey," I greeted, "Are you ok? Seriously, what's up with this?"

She didn't answer, just wrapped her arms  around my waist and hugged me. I hugged her back.

"She's been living with you this whole time?" Steve asked. I turned around, crossing behind her and wrapping my arms around her shoulders, hugging her from behind. My eyes travelled over Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan.

"You were right...I didn't need to look after my Dad." I said.

"So all those times you left early...you were looking after Eleven." Nancy realized. I nodded, letting go of her as she rushed towards Dustin and Lucas and hugged them.

"We missed you." Lucas said.

"I missed you too."

"We talked about you almost every day." Dustin told her as they pulled away. El reached out suddenly, putting her thumb in Dustin's mouth. He pulled back from her.

"Teeth." She said.

"What?"

"You have teeth." Dustin and Lucas shared a smile.

"Oh. You like these Pearls?" He made a purring noise, causing her to look at him in confusion. Steve stepped up beside me.

"So everything you told me the other night wasn't the whole story of what was going on with you?" He asked. I shook my head and he sighed. "Dang, Barbie. Your life is more complicated than I realized."

"Still wanna be apart of it?" I asked. He looked up at the ceiling.

"Let me get back to you on that." I shook my head, shoving him and causing Eleven to look at us. She walked over again.

"Steve?" She asked, pointing at him. I smiled, nodding.

"Yeah. Steve." She raised her eyebrows.

"Still just friends?" She asked, shooting me a knowing look. I sighed, returning her look with a pointed one.

"No...not just friends."

"Eleven?" I looked up as Max came up behind her. She turned around to face her. "Hey. Um, I'm Max." She held out her hand for Eleven to shake. "I've heard a lot about you."

She ignored her hand, walking past her and over to hug Joyce. Max looked down.

"Don't worry," I said, causing her to look up at me, "She'll come around."

"Hey, sweetheart." Joyce said as she hugged her. "Hey." She pulled back, putting her hands on El's face and smiling at her.

"Can I see him?" El asked.

Joyce led her back to Will's room, only to come back out a moment later and walk into the kitchen, where Eleven looked down at the cardboard with 'Close Gate' written on it.

"You opened this gate before, right?" Joyce questioned.

"Yes." We all came into the kitchen, crowding around them. 

"Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?"

She nodded slowly.