Chapter Text
As soon as the thing—monster, there really is no other way to describe it—disappears from the hallway and the lights finish twinkling, Nancy and Jonathan head straight for the car parked in front of the Byers’ house. She says something about needing to check in with their brothers and the other kids, and Steve is barely registering a word and he knows he’s babbling like an idiot, but he can’t help it because holy shit monsters are real. Still, Nancy sends him on his way with a promise that she’ll call him and explain everything later. It’s only after they’re gone that he realizes he’s still holding the baseball bat with nails in it.
She does call, and a few days later he hears the whole story about the experiments at the Hawkins Lab, the scary upside-down dimension, the monster (which is apparently called a Demogorgon), the girl with psychic powers, and what really happened to Will and Barb. It’s a lot to take in, and Steve can admit he doesn’t really understand any of it the first few times Nancy explains it. Hell, he’s not even really sure he understands it now. But he knows what he saw that night, and so he tries to wrap his head around alternate dimensions and psychic children while he's expected to carry on with his life as if nothing has changed.
Some things have changed, though. For one, he’s not hanging out with assholes like Tommy or Carol anymore. They avoid him at school and talk shit behind his back, but Steve can’t find the energy to care considering everything he knows about the world now; in the face of interdimensional horrors, shitty high school ex-friends seem to pale in comparison. And without them around, Steve likes to think he’s doing a much better job of not being an asshole himself.
Other things settle back into place, like his relationship with Nancy. Things seem to be going a lot better now that he isn’t worried about his image and she isn’t keeping secrets. With their budding relationship, Steve finds himself spending quite a lot of time at the Wheeler household. He meets the parents and stays over for family dinner like a good boyfriend should.
It’s during these dinners that Steve first notices how troubled Nancy’s little brother, Mike, seems. He’s withdrawn and moody most nights Steve is there, barely speaking or eating the whole meal. This apathy is countered only by Mike’s explosive anger, which seems to be set off by the smallest comment or action. One night, Steve is talking about taking Nancy to the upcoming junior prom, and her dad says something about Mike needing to find a girl to ask to the middle school dance.
“Why don’t you just leave me the hell alone?” Mike bites out suddenly before getting up from the table and marching upstairs.
“Michael!” His mother calls after him, but the only answer is the sound of a slamming door.
Nancy had told him, of course, about the psychic girl named Eleven. Had told him about how Mike and his friends had found her, hidden her in the Wheeler’s basement for days, and helped her escape the government agents searching for her. Had told him, too, about how she had destroyed the monster and died in the process. After the incident at dinner, Nancy tells him she thinks Mike had feelings for the girl, and that he had been there when she’d fought the Demogorgon and disappeared.
Steve feels bad for the kid, he really does. He has some unpleasant memories from middle school that he’d rather not revisit, but he’s pretty sure none of it comes close to being hunted by the government or watching your first crush die. He wishes there was something he could do to help, but what the hell can you say to a kid in a situation like that? Plus, Steve doesn’t think he’s the sort of person Mike Wheeler wants a pep talk from.
At least, that is, until spring break. He and Nancy were hanging out in her room, as they often did, when she mentions something about an album of her baby pictures. The very idea of it puts a grin on his face, and he teases and pesters her until she finally relents and tells him to fetch it from the basement closet.
As he heads down, he can hear the indistinct voice of Nancy’s little brother coming from the basement. Steve swears he isn’t trying to be stealthy or anything, but Mike must not hear him coming down the stairs. When he reaches the bottom of the landing, he can see the kid tucked inside a little blanket fort, a walkie-talkie held up to his face.
“Are you there? El? Come in El, it’s Mike,” he says, his voice laden with something that sounds a lot like desperation. “It’s day 147. Are you there?”
Steve has seen Mike in a variety of bad moods, but somehow this sad and desperate one is the worst one yet. Maybe that’s why he clears his throat and shuffles his feet so that the kid knows that he has an audience to… whatever this is.
Mike jumps a bit at the noise, which makes Steve feel a little guilty for scaring him. That is until Mike looks up at him, and suddenly Steve is faced with the angriest-looking twelve-year-old he’s ever seen.
Barely a second passes before Mike is snapping, “What the hell are you doing down here, asshole?”
“Oh, uh, I was just looking for a photo album.” Mike continues to glare at him. “…you know, for your sister?” It comes out as a question, though he’s not entirely sure why.
The kid just scoffs and rolls his eyes, turning away from him. Steve figures the smart thing to do would be to find the album and get out of there, but he’s never really excelled at doing the smart thing. Plus, he figures he should at least try to get on his girlfriend’s brother’s good side, if it’s even possible.
So he extends an olive branch, “What about you, man? What are you up to?”
Mike hesitates, eyes narrowed suspiciously, before eventually deciding to answer. “I’m trying to call one of my friends.” A pause. “Her name is El.”
“Oh, like Eleven? That’s the psychic girl your sister was telling me about, right?” That gets a nod. “I thought she, like, died or something.”
“She isn’t dead!” Mike yells, his anger suddenly back. It fades just as quickly in a way that is becoming familiar to Steve, replaced by that forlorn sort of desperation that is also becoming familiar. Mike says, his voice quieter this time, “She just can’t be dead. I mean, I know she disappeared, but there was no body. That means she could have survived and she’s just out there all alone.”
Steve isn’t really sure what to say to that, so he tries, “Well, I hope you find her then.”
“You don’t think I’m crazy for thinking she’s still alive?”
“I don’t know, man,” Steve says, rubbing the back of his neck subconsciously. “A coupla months ago, there were a lot of things I would have called crazy that I now know are very, very real. And I never met the Eleven girl, but from what your sister says, she sounds like a badass. So yeah, maybe she could have survived.”
“El was definitely badass.” Mike smiles a bit but deflates again. “Everyone else thinks I should just give up. That if I haven’t heard from her by now, I’m not going to.”
“You know, in basketball, there have been times when the team is down and there are only a few minutes left on the clock, and I know there are players who just wanna give up, call it, but I still believe we have a shot at winning. So I don’t give up, and I keep playing as hard as I can and I make those last minutes count.” Steve is rambling again and based on the look Mike is giving him, his ill-thought-through sports metaphor is not doing as well as he’d hoped.
“What I mean is,” Steve tries again, “If you don’t feel like you’re ready to give up yet, then don’t. Sometimes all it takes is one person on the team to believe you can win for it to happen.”
“Huh, that actually… kinda makes sense.” Mike sounds genuinely surprised, the little asshole. “Maybe you aren’t such a douchebag after all.”
“Well thanks, kid. I appreciate it,” Steve mutters. “Anyways, do you know where the baby photo albums are?”
Mike rolls his eyes again but helpfully points towards a closet in the back corner of the basement. “Third shelf down.”
As Steve heads back upstairs with his freshly retrieved goodies in his hands, he can’t help but smirk a little at the thought that his goal of winning Mike over might be working. Hell, if things keep going like this, the kid might actually end up liking him.
Mike calls after him, “Have fun making out with my sister, asshole!”
Then again, maybe not.