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harringtonheartache · 3 years

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Daybreak | Chapter Twenty-Three

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Lab Escapee! Reader?

Summary: Let’s go home. Nice things are waiting.

Word Count: tiny bit less than 4,000

Warning(s): Cussing

A/N: This is like when someone brings you a cake to make up for something bad they’ve done. Here is my cake. I’ve missed you. Sorry it’s been a while.

Hopper had won another argument. A short exchange — neither player combative enough for the conversation to reach its full potential — but an argument nonetheless. The day’s events had wrung both Hopper and Steve dry. And yet both of them trudged along — literally, trudged, as they were still ankle-deep in water — one of them with a teenage girl slumped in their arms, the prize of the argument.

Steve, arms empty, pawed his wet palms against his jeans. He staggered, having taken an awkward step, then sprung forward with extra vigor in his hops. Pushing himself to his toes and then walking on them for a few steps to get a steady look, he peered over Hopper’s arms at Nine. His eyes tracked her breath for a moment, and he fell back on the flats of his feet after he was sure there was both a rise and a fall somewhere underneath her clothes.

His lack of true energy caught back up to him, his momentary escape like a failed run from a captor. He fell back into pace with his past self, slugging a few steps behind the other two he had entered the void with. He went off-road and landed behind Joyce, her own unconscious person draped over her arms and tight to her chest. Steve placed a hand against her shoulder, and smiled at the woman when she turned back to look at him.

Jonathan sat tensely on his living room couch. The gun he had used in the battle of two hours ago was cold and greasy in his hands, and his eyes drifted around the room ever so often before snapping back to the black void in front of him. The house was ominously quiet, dressed like a crime scene with furniture tossed and broken around him. Maybe he should have straightened things up a bit. It would be more ideal for Will to return home to a familiar sight, and he wasn’t accustomed to seeing his house wrecked and littered with his own missing posters. In Jonathan’s routine glance around the room, he eyed beneath his feet the papers printed with his little brother’s face and kicked a few backward to be concealed beneath the couch.

Suddenly, like an unexpected shout, he was no longer alone in his house as Steve appeared staggering through the hole in the wall. Jonathan stood promptly, like a soldier reporting for duty, and his wistful eyes blinked hopefully as he waited for more to arrive. In his uncoordinated arrival, Steve tripped half-way, catching himself with quick feet and moving aside to make way for the others. He looked to Jonathan and Jonathan looked back. All Steve offered was an honest smile.

Joyce appeared next, much more steadily, and with a child-sized bundle in her arms. Was it really Will? Jonathan just starred for a moment, paused. Loading. Could his missing brother really just materialize before him like this, a return as curious as the disappearance? Joyce stepped slowly around Jonathan and leaned down to lay Will on the couch. It was then that he managed a look at the bundle’s face, and surely saw his brother. Drained of color, his face was a startling grey and his hair a wet slap across his forehead. He barely looked like his missing poster anymore — not that anyone else could have found him anyway. It was Joyce’s embrace that managed to pull Jonathan from his still position looming over Will. “He’s home,” she said in his ear.

Hopper swung his right leg into the Byers’ home and then pulled his left behind him slowly to keep his balance. In his arms the girl stay quiet, silenced by an unconsciousness strong enough to ignore the bumpy ride. Her legs dangled over his arms as he turned swiftly to eye the wall behind him. As he took a few steps backward, the black void began to shrink and he sighed. “Yes, please. Go,” he said restlessly, dropping his head and then picking it back up to look for a place to set Nine down.

Jonathan turned to look at Hopper as he fumbled around the living room. He tossed the girl up a little to keep her from sliding out of his arms.

“Is-” Jonathan dropped an arm from around his mom. “Is that Nine?”

Nine woke up feeling worn. Her hands reanimated before the rest of her body and felt around aimlessly, confined beneath tight sheets. She managed to open only one eye at first, but then the second blinked open and she was lying in a bedroom that looked abnormally still. The lights were off, but it didn’t feel as though they were that way for sleeping. The space seemed empty. Whoever was here last must have hit the light switch on their way out, assuming they were leaving it uninhabited. But I am here, Nine thought, and then she looked down at herself to confirm. There was a figure of some kind underneath the blankets and so she assumed it must be her body. The room was a dull color, modest window light turning it that way. A cool breeze wandered over her cheeks and she looked forward, waiting for a fog to roll into vision around her as it had in the void.

Surely that was where she was. The concept of her own presence became a vague idea in her mind and she closed her eyes again to let it be. Against her better wishes, her brain was committed to consciousness, and more thoughts began leaking through the barrier of sleepiness. A little bit more coherent, each one, until she pieced together a name: Will.

Nine lifted her head and then her shoulders, sitting up on her elbows hastily. The tiredness had washed away in an instant. Her vision blurred as if to punish her for such sudden movement, and she reached a hand to her shutting eyes to rub sight back into them.

“Nine,” a voice said. It was quiet, but unexpected, and for that she flinched. Turning toward the sound, she blinked rapidly, now demanding her eyesight back. She began to make out a chair at her bedside and a person occupying it. How had she missed this before?

Her sight now clearing, she saw Steve staring widely back at her.

She turned her head to look for the fog, certain it had to have formed around her by now. “Fuck,” she muttered to herself, sitting up fully. Her hands were pulled from her sides and she placed her palms against her eyes as she hunched over herself, begging — for once — reality to set in.

“Hey, you okay?” the voice asked and she turned to see Steve standing up from the chair. She had flinched again. Looking over the boy she was convinced existed only in her mind, Nine held her breath.

They were both confused, Nine more so in a daze while Steve dealt with the responsibility of full clearheadedness. He looked at her, himself both awkward and unexplainably nervous, and opened his mouth, sure he should speak. Not another word left him however, and he blinked at her as he stood still, painfully uncertain of himself.

With an unsteady hand, Nine reached in front of herself to touch Steve. Expecting him to turn to mist, she gripped his shoulder tightly when it stayed solid beneath her hand. Her fingers brushed his skin where it crept out from his shirt’s neckline. “You’re really here?” she asked, her voice delicate.

“... Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I’m really here.”

A smile cracked on Nine’s face and Steve appreciated it for a moment before he was pulled forward. Arms around his neck, she hugged him tightly and let out the breath she’d held. “Holy shit,” she whispered into his skin. A hand absentmindedly clenched onto the fabric of his shirt as if to keep him from floating away. Wrapping himself around her back, he laughed lightly at her words.

Nine laughed too, and then let him go to lean back and look again at his face — more real now than before. She tried to pull herself together — sniffing, wiping her wet eyes — and Steve gave her the privacy of pretending not to notice. “Where is… here?” she asked, her voice more confident now as she chuckled at the absurdity of it all.

“Oh, um, the Byers’ house. This is Jonathan’s room, he offered it to you.”

Nine smiled as she looked over the room. It seemed more luminous now than it had when she first awoke. Posters on the wall, a record player by the window, a camera on the nightstand. Things appeared to her now that hadn’t before.

“He’s Will’s brother,” Steve clarified, realizing he’d be nothing more than a name to her.

She looked back to him. “And… and Will?”

“He’s here, too. He’s safe.”

Nine grinned widely and let out a huff of air so deep in her chest she felt hollow when it was gone. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Steve grabbed for her hand and held on tight. “You’re both safe,” he said, the words sweetened by his delivery. Letting herself fall back against the pillows, Nine’s eyes danced across the ceiling as she squeezed his hand.

“You’re remarkably good at saving me,” she drawled.

“As are you at saving others,” he spoke back gracefully.

Nine made a noise of disagreement, sitting up and shaking her head. “I can’t take credit for Will, we’d both be gone if you didn’t show up to pick me up off the ground.”

Steve laughed. “Mmh. Yeah, you can’t win this argument.” He bowed his head and smirked. “You sacrificed yourself to a mysterious force within a black void. Please. Take credit.”

The two laughed.

“Team effort,” Nine responded.

“Fine, whatever you say,” he murmured softly, raising his eyebrows in mock compliance. “but you carried the weight.”

Nine smiled. His charm had a way of healing her, settling into weak spots and turning them whole. She just smiled.

“Hey, um…” Steve started, letting go of her hand. A breeze from outside drifted across his skin and it almost startled him — he had forgotten the window was open. “Can I, uh. Can I tell you something?”

Nine navigated so that her legs were folded in front of her. She looked at him curiously as he sat before her: eyes drifting away from her own, expression unreadable. Like a cut from a dull blade, anxiety began to set in.

“Yeah, of course,” she said, her voice a little quieted.

Still sitting on the edge of the bed, Steve shifted so that he faced her more easily. A buzzing sensation on the back of his neck forced him to continue.

“I like you,” he said, choked and fast like the words had been squeezed out of him.

“Um…” Nine’s response drifted off. Of course he likes her, she thought this had already been established. He likes her and she likes him, this was surely not a confession. “I… like you too,” she told him, brows twitching, her answer more or less a guess as to what kind of response would be appropriate. Her face was tinted with confusion, and Steve looked away from it and to his lap as he considered how to continue; how to correct. He thought for a moment, eyes trained on his hands, and let himself imagine dropping the conversation here, unsure if he had enough bravery in him to mend his ambiguous delivery.

“Well, um, that was- that was bad… wording. Um- what I mean is that…”

What did he mean, exactly? He liked her. His original wording floated around in his head, and he cursed himself for trying to simplify his feelings. It was more than a quiet fondness, he knew that, and his initial choice of confession suddenly felt entirely elementary.

“I don’t…” he swallowed, trying to clear his throat and therefore his mind. He still watched his hands, and they started to fold together in a slow restlessness. “I don’t know how to explain it,” he admitted, and Nine dipped her head as she picked up on his nervous solemnity.

She began to fear a little, and twisted herself further in an attempt to get a look at his face.

“I like you in a different way than how a friend likes a friend,” he started. God, he hated how juvenile he sounded. There had to be a better way to put this. “I just-”

He pulled his head up now, and gazed up into her eyes from his still folded composure. He just looked a moment. At her; her face and her cheeks and her quirked eyebrow and her eyes. “I love you,” he finally spoke. It came from his mouth soft, sweet, saccharine. So calmly it could only be a fact.

His eyes gleamed with an anxiousness she’d never seen in him as he blinked at her. But he smiled, a soft twitch of his lips, and it only further authenticated his words.

“And I know,” he started, his eyes retreating to his lap. “I know that might be kind of confusing. Or- or maybe it’s obvious, I was told that it is, but I wanted to tell you,” he said, eyes dragging back to her face now. “I wanted you to know.”

Nine watched as he looked away from her yet again. Her lips parted lightly — unsure — and she almost began to panic. A necessity from within rose: she wanted to grab him, save him from a retreat. Wait. A silence settled that from the outside looked serene; an open window, the silhouette of two sitting side-by-side, calmness. But neither of them were calm.

Steve’s hands still tangled with one another, and it reminded Nine of herself. She reached out cautiously, like she wasn’t sure it was the right move, but placed a hand with purpose overtop of his own. They stilled, and she won back his eye contact.

“What does that… mean?” She didn’t want to ask, felt she had done enough of that in her time out of the lab, but she needed to understand. This wasn’t a conversation that she could just nod her way through, smile in fake understanding and ponder it later. There was a weight to the words Steve spoke, and while she felt like she did understand somewhere she couldn’t pinpoint right now, she had to be sure of it.

Steve smiled at her. Facing the window, the sun lit half of his face in a yellow beam, and without words he looked over her face for another moment.

“I love you,” he said again gently, whispered almost, and with another smile. “By every meaning.”

Nine’s mouth cracked into a small smile, too; knowing, coy. Her eyebrows dipped in a moment of lasting curiosity.

“You showed up so unexpectedly, just standing in front of my car. And I was so confused. I didn’t understand any of what was happening but I wanted to help you,” Steve said admiringly. His tongue curled in his mouth, apprehensive for a second until he was lost in the story, dedicated again.

“So I hid you in my house, under my bed. It seems so goddamn ridiculous now”.

He grinned to himself, a huff of air close to a laugh leaving him.

“And we went shopping, and we went to the arcade. You met the kids. Yeah, the underlying situation was a bit abnormal but things felt right. Like you were supposed to end up standing in the road in the pouring rain and I was supposed to almost- almost hit you with my car.” Steve chuckled, wiped his nose with a sniff. His eyebrows drew in for a second, like he had just remembered something troubling.

“But at some point, all of a sudden, it wasn’t about helping a random girl, anymore.”

He dragged his bottom lip underneath the grasp of his top teeth, raked the two together as he shook his head.

“I don’t even know when it happened, really. It was something like an alarm going off in my head; I realized that I wasn’t just being a good samaritan, I genuinely cared about you. To the point where it started to scare me. And maybe it still does, but you were here with me and then gone so quickly. Just ripped from my life. That first time it happened — when they grabbed you right from my car — Jesus, I couldn’t believe how fucking petrified I was. How angry at myself I got.”

Steve paused, pulling himself back to shore before he drowned in his own sensibility.

“And no one else, besides Dustin, would even know. I had no power, no assurance that I’d see you again. It’s like, Hawkins’ didn’t know about you before, so what would stop you from disappearing? My parents, friends. No one would even know someone so important to me was gone. I’d have to live with that- that hard pit in my stomach that I knew where you were, I knew what they were doing to you, and I couldn’t fucking do anything about it.

And then we got you back.

Hopper wanted to question you, and I guess what else would a sheriff do in that situation? But I just wanted him gone. I didn’t want him to bother us. Or bother you, specifically. I just wanted to watch movies and sleep until noon. Wake up to you. Act like there were no problems because the idea of something else happening where I couldn’t shield you or you were put in a situation where- where you were in pain… that wasn’t something I could handle anymore. I mean, fuck, you were gone for a day and when I saw the bruises on your arms from when you were dragged away…”

Steve stopped, as if catching himself from saying too much. Which was ridiculous, he realized, because he seemed to be spilling everything in his head.

“Then you were taken again. From here. I didn’t even know if you were alive. I had to tell myself that you were, just to keep going long enough to find out. I was angry at myself again, thought I should have given Hopper an easier time. Maybe he could have figured something out, done something before we got as far as we did, I don’t know. I was angry at myself and I was angry at him and I felt like… ‘this is the end!’.

But it wasn’t, and now that you’re back…”

Steve drifted off, searching for a way to verbalize the feeling he’d been sick with.

“I don’t know. That alarm has been blaring in my head for a long time, and I’m not good at ignoring it. I can’t keep hitting ‘snooze’. It happened so quickly, but I can’t go back to living without you.”

The buzzing on the back of Steve’s neck faded. With the conclusion of his confession, feeling a little tipsy on adoration, he looked to Nine.

She blinked once, eyes wide, mouth twisted as if she couldn’t decide if she should smile or frown. Steve had only a moment to feel sorry for himself before she stole his attention from his rushing thoughts with the most tender, closed-mouthed grin. Dimples poked holes in her cheeks and his face reddened.

“I love you, too,” she said. And she was sure she did, because she understood now.

“I was terrified of you, at first…” she continued with a smile. “I was terrified of everything. Being sent back. Waking up and realizing that I had never escaped. But it became obvious that you didn’t- that you wouldn’t hurt me. That you were good. I let myself relax, and I began to feel content for the first time. Happy.”

Nine’s cheeks were red now, too. Feeling the warmth on her face, she looked downward. Steve’s eyes followed, head tilting, unable to help himself.

She shook her head as less pleasant thoughts arose, keeping her gaze on her lap a moment longer.

“We went into the woods: you, Dustin and I, and you got hurt by that thing. I felt like it was my fault. I started to think everything was my fault. If I’d never gotten out, that monster wouldn’t have either. Will wouldn’t have gone missing. You wouldn’t be forced to hide me in your room and you wouldn’t have been attacked by that thing that night. I was endangering you and everyone around you. But at the same time, the thought of going back was still… horrifying. It felt like I couldn’t safely belong anywhere.

But you seemed like you wanted me here. Not to use me or to- to study me or something. That was scary, too. You told me that you didn’t care that you weren’t safe because helping me was that important to you, and I didn’t know how to handle that.”

With a look of honest worry, Nine returned her gaze to Steve’s eyes for the first time since she started speaking.

“Sometimes it’s easier to be feared, you know? It certainly felt more fitting. And it was all I had been up until that point.

But I realized how much I cared about you, too. I didn’t… understand why you reciprocated that feeling, and until then I was able to brush it off like you didn’t.”

Nine chewed at her tongue, looking off to give herself a chance to collect her thoughts and find her place in her head again.

“I was taken back there and all I could think about was what you were doing. Part of me kept telling myself you were better off, that I was selfish for wanting to go back, but being at the lab was so much worse after feeling so liberated. It wasn’t just that I had escaped, it was that I had found you.”

She paused, finding Steve’s eyes again.

“...The second time — the void — I woke up in that dark place and called your name. I knew you weren’t there, but I said it out loud anyway. More than once. I need you, too. I love you, Steve.”

Sickly-sweet was the smile that bloomed on Steve’s face, and Nine mirrored the expression with love-filled eyes. A few seconds passed, silence from both of them as they let one another’s words fill the space.

“Have you… ever been kissed?” Steve asked quietly, almost embarrassed by the question. Nine grinned again, drawing in a gentle breath before shaking her head ‘no’.

“Can I kiss you?”

There was a single beat of silence before she responded.

“Yes,” she said earnestly.

Steve leaned forward, raising a hand to brush his fingertips gently across Nine’s jaw. He looked to her eyes and then her lips, and they twitched into a delicately-strung smile. Her cheeks were still rosy from the heat of it all, and the sight brought upon Steve the sudden urge to tell her how beautiful she was. Maybe he’d realized he had never been brave enough to let her know sooner. “You are so beautiful,” he whispered affectionately, adjusting his hand to better cup her face and closing in with a kiss before she even got the chance to think about his words.

With too much passion between the two for shyness, the kiss was long and rich with love. Their lips pressed together, tender yet heavy, and Nine tasted something implacably sweet on Steve. They separated from one another and caught their breath.

“So are you,” Nine whispered, their faces still close, eyes fluttering to focus on one another.

“Hmm?” Steve purred faintly.

“I think you’re beautiful, too.”

Steve felt a slanted smile stretch across his lips before he returned them to Nine’s in a loving encore.

---

A/N: Finally, amiright? (;

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#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fic #steve x you #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things imagine #ST fanfic #st fic #*spoiler* jonathan while two teenagers confess their love for one another on his bed: 🧍🏼#ps tell your man he's beautiful friends he deserves it <3

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harringtonheartache · 3 years

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operation: touch the hair // steve harrington x reader headcanons

summary: meeting steve at scoops ahoy and catching his eye would go a lil smth like this—

- on the day you walk into scoops ahoy, steve is like - not having it - he’s already been rejected three (3) times in the span of like two hours and doesn’t know if he can handle another condescending giggle - there’s a lull in business, and he’s griping to robin in the back about how miserable he is - “i’m telling you, it’s the hat!! why else would they be turning me down?” - “sure, whatever you say, lover boy” - and then - and then - robin hisses “twelve o’clock!” and steve whirls around to see you walking into the shop - INSTANT PANIC. - his mind immediately shuts down because holy shit—you’re literally the most beautiful thing he’s ever laid eyes on - he whirls back toward robin with scared eyes - she just makes a go get ‘em gesture and he gulps - he’s gotta make the perfect first impression, so to hell with company policy—the hat comes off - he whirls around just in time to catch you walking up to the counter - “ahoy there!! what flavor voyage can i help you set sail on today?” - his voice is too loud and he doesn’t know what on earth possessed him to say,,,,, that,,,,,, - but the words have already left his mouth and there’s no going back now - robin has her marker uncapped and poised over the you suck column because let’s face it - you are wayyyyy out of his league - there’s a moment’s silence and steve’s heart sinks (haha get it?? nautical theme??) - and then you giggle - and steve m e l t s - “do you have to say that to everyone?” - “uh, no, just uh—just when i’m trying to be friendly!” - robin’s marker inches closer to the board - “aww, well i’m honored then!!” - nervous laughter - while steve is making said nervous laughter, you take a few moments to get a good look at him - his hair is glorious - like absolutely stunning - you have to touch it - you’ve seen him in the hallways sometimes, but never this close - has his hair always been this shiny? or his eyes this brown? or his mouth this— - “do i know you from somewhere? i feel like i’ve seen you,” he asks, and you break out of your daze - “uh, maybe. i go to hawkins,” you shrug. “we’ve probably seen each other around.” - “yeah, yeah, cool! i feel like i would remember someone like you, though.” - “oh?” - “yeah i mean—god, you are so pr—“ - he trails off and makes awkward eye contact - “yeah, anyway, flavor of the week is cherry. that interest you at all?” - you wish he were still talking about anything but ice cream, but you scrunch your nose up as you try to make your decision - he notices and his soul almost leaves his body - you make your choice - “wow, cool! that’s my favorite!” - (he would have said that regardless of what flavor you picked) - you laugh, saying something along the line of “twins!!” and he makes a decision then and there - “y’know, i’m gonna make this one on the house” - you start to protest - deeeeep breaths, stevie - “if you’re so set on paying, how about you spend some time with me this weekend?” - emphasis on spend - (please help he’s trying) - another earth-shattering giggle - “yeah, okay.” - “really?” - you just laugh again. “really.” - robin’s jaw is on the ground as she slowly draws a vertical line under you rule - you scribble down your number on a napkin, writing for telling me when and where - with a tiny heart!!!!!! - steve almost dies!!!!!!!!! - good thing he’s in a really cold room bc he is burning up!!!!!! - he barely manages a “t-talk to you later” as you walk out with one last smile - turns around in complete shock to see a smirking robin - “nice job, dingus” - GOD your first date is so cute!!!!!! - you were originally going to walk around starcourt (because what else is there to do in hawkins?), but on the way there, you pass another ice cream shop and steve’s eyes narrow - “we’ve gotta check out my competition” - you order the same flavor you did at scoops ahoy and joke that it doesn’t taste nearly as good as it did before - “maybe it’s because a cute boy didn’t scoop it for me” - cue some sort of nervous, stuttering “oh, stop” - when you head out, a group of kids comes riding up on their bikes - (yes it’s the gang) - they all hoot and holler and ask who you are - “someone special” - dustin wiggling his eyebrows at the two of you and whispering that he knows all sorts of secrets about steve - steve watches you laugh as you interact with the younger kids and - shit - yeah, he’s definitely a goner - they bike away a few minutes later, waving goodbye and yelling joking comments at the two of you - now that you’ve met the kids, steve makes a decision - “hey, i know this is the first date and all, but do you mind if—“ - “please,” you cut in, and meet him halfway - omg the man’s kisses are SO LOVING,,,,, - you tangle your hands in his hair like you’ve been dying to ever since you saw him - he definitely moans a bit bc his scalp is so sensitive - he walks you home and is a complete gentleman - “i’ll call you tomorrow?” - “i’ll be waiting” - big long sweet hug!!! forehead kiss!! longing glance back at you after he turns to leave!! - and it’s the start of something so so beautiful:)))))

#omfg I LOVE this 🥺#perfect op

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