#brief stancy

[hairmetal666]

TW for internalized homophobia and related bad decisions

Steve is 12 and he thinks about finding his soulmate all the time.

You're supposed to find them through touch; your life together will flash in front of your eyes. They're rare, though, soulmates. So rare that most people never find theirs. So rare that some people say they're made up.

Steve wants to be one of the lucky few. He wants it to be a true, unbreakable bond, a love he gets to have forever.

He wonders if he'll find his soulmate at school. He's popular, he thinks. Tommy would say they were popular. But Tommy's definition of popular mostly has to do with the number of kids he can get away with being mean to, and that's not really Steve's deal. Tommy is like a prey animal, the way he can find weaknesses.

There's a new boy at school. Steve doesn't know his name, but they have English together. He's too thin, with huge brown eyes, and all his clothes are too big. His head's been inexpertly shaved and he never looks anybody in the eye. It's only a matter of time before he catches Tommy's interest, and Steve wishes he could stop it somehow, but he's never been good at going against Tommy.

The day comes, of course. They're standing in the hall, the new boy walking towards them, head down, as always. Tommy nudges Steve says, "What a loser."

And Steve shrugs, starts to ask Tommy about football, if the Colts can make the Super Bowl, but the boy is nearing and Tommy is cackling.

"Watch this." Tommy sticks his foot out.

The boy doesn't react fast enough. He falls forward with a bitten off yelp, and Steve moves without really thinking, only knows he can't stand to see him fall. He catches the new kid beneath his armpits, Steve's thumbs brushing the soft skin his arms.

The world around him falls away at the touch.

---

He's sitting on the floor in the band room, Eddie--the boy's name is Eddie--next to him. Eddie's hair is a little longer and Steve's in a green polo he doesn't recognize, and he's never been in the band room in his life. They're leaning into each other and laughing and Eddie's so beautiful.

---

They're in the woods--Skull Rock, Steve thinks. Eddie's hair is curled and frizzed around his chin, and he's laughing, his cheeks pink, his dimples prominent. He tries to pull his hair in front of his face, but it's not long enough yet to reach. Steve is overwhelmed, wants to kiss him so bad. He's never had to wait to kiss someone, or been unsure, or--

He wants to kiss Eddie.

So, he does.

It's hard, desperate, not the first kiss Steve expected, but then they've been waiting for so long.

---

Steve stands in the hallway of Hawkins High. He's wearing a striped, beige short-sleeved polo, and flirting with Nancy Wheeler.

He likes Nancy, she's pretty and smart and fun. And it's easy. He can hold her hand. Can introduce her to his parents. Can take her on dates and kiss her in public.

She bats her big blue eyes at him, and he can't help but kiss her.

He pulls away gently, brushing his thumb against her cheek, and when he looks down the hall, Eddie is there, frozen. His mouth is wide, his eyes glassy.

Steve thinks the way his heart stutters must be what dying feels like.

---

He's sitting on his diving board, facing away from the pool. He smokes a cigarette and there's a bat studded with nails at his feet, what the fuck. Music thuds, shrieks and laughter seep into the cool night air.

He should be playing the gracious host. He should be having a good time. Instead, his eyes search the woods and he taps another smoke out of the pack.

"Harrington?" The voice makes him jump, hand flexing around the bat handle. "It's freezing out. What are you doing?"

He recognizes the voice now, doesn't turn, doesn't respond, can't stand to see another person he let down; another person who could call him bullshit and be 100% correct.

"Do you not have a jacket? C'mon, man."

Something warm settles over his shoulders, and he inadvertently breathes in weed and leather and cedar. He squeezes his eyes shut, like that will make the comforting, familiar scent go away. He'll have to move to shrug off the jacket, though, which would mean acknowledging Eddie's presence.

"Can you at least say something, Harrington? You're freaking me out."

"I'm fine, Ed--Eddie." The nickname falls from his lips too easily. He doesn't miss how Eddie flinches.

His hair is long now, down to his shoulders, brittle looking in the cold. He's wearing a t-shirt and worn flannel, arms wrapped around his chest for warmth now that his jacket is draped over Steve's shoulders.

Steve is an idiot. He's such an idiot. Chasing after Nancy when Eddie is--

"I'm sorry," he says. He turns to face his soulmate, then. "I'm sorry about Nancy, I--"

Eddie jerks back like he's been hit. "Fuck you, Harrington," he snarls.

---

He sits in the back of an ambulance, eyes swollen shut, face throbbing. He's wearing a sailor suit for inexplicable reasons, which is almost more upsetting than the ambulance. He smells like puke and something toxically sweet.

A girl is with him, one he doesn't recognize, but he feels deeply, instinctively protective of her. He holds her shaking shoulders tight, tries to whisper comfort to her through his busted and bleeding mouth.

He's pretty sure he has a concussion.

"Steve!" Someone screams over the sounds of the EMTs and firefighters, of the building burning and collapsing behind them.

Eddie bursts through the gathered onlookers and past the ring of police cars enclosing them. He's falling into the ambulance before Steve has a chance to react.

"Sweetheart," Eddie sobs. He tries to cup Steve's face, but his fingers flutter around the damage. "Sweetheart, oh my god. I came as soon as I heard. Are you--what can I--"

Steve stares at him--his hair falling from its messy bun, his cutoff Metallica tee, concern and love leaking from those brown, brown eyes--and bursts into tears.

---

They sit on the roof of his house, sharing a joint back and forth. It's chilly, bordering on cold, winter just on the horizon. They're laughing, leaning into each other, and Steve is--he's happy. Elated. Could float away with it.

Robin--Robin-- is in the bathroom, or maybe in the kitchen for snacks, and it's just them for now. They're looking at each other, smiles wide, eyes bright.

They're taking it slow. Steve knows it's important, after what he did. They talked about it, his abandoning of Eddie for Nancy, chasing what his dad told him was normal and expected.

He doesn't want to cross any boundaries, wants to do this right. How Eddie deserves. But they're leaning into each other and they're smiling, and he's so in love. Intoxicated with it, lost.

In the end, he doesn't know who makes the first move, just that they're kissing and it's like coming home.

---

He's in a building, a shed or something. It's musty and dirty, smells like oil and gasoline and a building left closed up too long. Eddie's in his arms and he's talking through hiccuping sobs.

"I didn't save her, Steve. I didn't help. I just left her there! She was broken in pieces and I--I--"

Steve holds him close, tight, squeezes his eyes closed to stop his own tears from falling. He never wanted this for Eddie, never wanted him involved. Thought he could protect him from all of Hawkins's terrible things.

They aren't alone. Robin is there, coming up to hold Eddie too, plus a redheaded girl and curly haired boy he doesn't recognize.

"We'll figure this out, Eddie." The boy promises.

"We won't let anyone hurt you. We know you didn't murder Chrissy," the girl says.

---

Steve is in a world he doesn't understand, and Eddie is his arms. Eddie is in his arms, and there's blood everywhere. He's not awake, he's not--his heart beat is soft and slow, too slow, and his breathing stutters, and Steve can't--

"Baby, stay with me." He begs as he runs across the dead and rotting landscape. "Eddie, please. Wake up, okay? Wake up for me. I need to--I need to know that you're alright."

Eddie stays limp in his arms.

"Please," he begs. "You can't leave me. We promised, remember? We promised we'd be together forever. The rest of our lives. Me and You. Our six little nuggets. You promised."

The portal back to Hawkins is less than a dozen feet away, he's so close. Eddie gasps to consciousness, but his eyes are still hazy.

"Hi, sweetheart," he mumbles.

"Hey, hi, you're doing so good. We're almost out, okay? We're almost out and we'll get you to the hospital."

Eddie reaches out a weak hand, touches the edge of Steve's jaw. "Love you, Stevie," he whispers. "Glad you were mine."

He goes still in Steve's hold.

---

The images come faster now--

A hospital room at Hawkins General, Eddie hooked to machines. Steve holds hands with an older man. They wait in terrified silence

Eddie propped in a bed, a bunch of kids around him, Steve and Robin at his side. His eyes keep sliding to Steve, like he's making sure Steve's real, that he's still there

Their bodies tangled together in a bedroom Steve doesn't recognize

Steve down on one knee in a marble room lit only by black and red candles, Eddie standing in front of him

Hand-in-hand on a cliffside overlooking the ocean. The Chief of Police, Jim Hopper, stands in front of them with tears in his eyes and a beaming smile on his face

In a big, green yard behind a cozy little house. A little boy with Eddie's eyes and curls riding on his shoulders. Eddie sprinting around with a tiny girl giggling after him, perfect imitation of the King Steve hair-do on her tiny head

In a park, surrounded by family and friends. Steve has a little bit of a paunch and wears glasses. Eddie's hair streams around his shoulders, going grey at the temples. There's a banner strung between trees proclaiming 'Happy 20th Steve and Eddie!' They're surrounded by everyone they love and it's perfect

---

The images flash too fast for Steve to catalog after that, seconds-long glimpses of a shared future, and then he's back in his body in the hallway of Hawkins Middle, still holding too tight onto Eddie's arms.

Eddie rears back, face pale and terrified, and Steve is too shocked to do anything but let him go.

Tommy's yelling, but Steve only has eyes for his soulmate, who scrambles to his feet and throws himself down the hall away from them.

"What the hell, Harrington? Why'd you catch him? That was about to be funny as hell! I bet he'd have broken his nose--you ruined it!"

Steve isn't listening. He's trying to hold on to the memories of their life together, the ones that are already fading.

The last thing he remembers is that, sometime in the not-too-distant future, he'll find his way to the band room, Eddie Munson, and the rest of their lives.

#steddie #steve x eddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #ficlet #soulmate au #fluff #angst #angst with a happy ending #childhood sweethearts #canon divergent au #everyone lives/nobody dies #glimpses of the future #getting together #break up #getting back together #first kiss #brief stancy #platonic stobin

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Robin walks into Steve’s house, where he's cuddling with Nancy. There was a baby on Robin's hip.

Robin: I heard you were extra broody, Steve, so I found this random baby. Here you go!

Steve: *jumps up* What?! Robin! You can't just go around stealing random babies!

Robin: *mock confusion* I can't?

Steve: . . .you're fucking with me, aren't you?

Nancy: How often does this happen?

Steve: *hands on his hips* Pretty often. I mean, not the baby. . . Who's baby is that?

Robin: *sigh* My cousin's. She came to visit. I got a little annoyed with everyone cooing over her, so I told my cousin: "We get it! You had sex!" Anyway, mom wasn't too pleased, so now I'm looking after her. Aw, Steve, she's reaching for you. I think she wants you.

Steve: *taking the baby* Aw.

Robin: *drops the diaper bag* Alright, I'm out of here. Got a date with Vickie. See ya!

Robin ran out of the house before Steve could catch her.

Steve: Robin! You didn't even tell me her name! *looks at baby* I don't suppose you're going to tell me?

Baby: *blows raspberry*

#stranger things #steve harrington #robin buckley #lesbian robin buckley #robin & steve #platonic soulmates #nancy wheeler #nancy wheeler x steve harrington #stancy #brief mention of #stranger things vickie #rovickie #incorrect stranger things quotes #rueleigh writes

[lunar-years]

The pro-St*ncy argument “Steve could change his mind about some or all of his dream over the next several years, making his plans more compatible with Nancy’s” is frustrating to me. I don’t fault anyone for imagining it would go like that and that they’d both be happy, but some people act like it’s wrong to give his current plans any weight even though the show puts them front and center. And they don’t extend the same logic to other characters. Jonathan being evasive about college and being afraid to leave his family and getting high sometimes are fixed character traits, even though he’s clearly going through something. I’ve also seen them be snotty about non-canon gay ships, like nobody ever explores their sexuality during young adulthood. And do they want Steve to have to change so much about his perfectly fine goals? A lot of them don’t seem to like Nancy that much so I don’t get it.

Yeah. I mean the nice thing about fandom is that there’s space to both debate what we actually think is going to happen canonically on the show and also to go beyond canon and have fun and ship whomever we like. If people want to imagine st*ncy riding off into the sunset with their suddenly perfectly aligned plans…I mean by all means go for it! One thing I’ll readily admit is that if jancy doesn’t end up together in canon I’ll be right here on tumblr headcanoning that they reconnect and do get back together somehow, someway, lol.

That said…when we’re talking about the context of the show, it definitely is important to put weight on their current plans and what’s being presented to us in canon, and I’m not sure how people could say otherwise? And what’s currently being presented is that Steve envisions himself with six kids and a Winnebago, and Nancy thinks that six kids sounds like a nightmare and is still expecting to go to college with Jonathan. We probably know the least about Jonathan’s plans, because yeah, he’s lying to Nancy about Emerson, but it’s also unlikely that the Byers are going back to Lenora for him to go to LCC, and underlying all of that, he didn’t seem to be making either of those choices for himself in the first place. So it’s unclear what he himself actually wants for just himself.

The writing for the love triangle is s4 was a little all over the place and I’m honestly not sure where they’re planning to go with it. But you’re very correct that people never give Jonathan the same benefit of the doubt they extend to Steve. Even with being sidelined, Jonathan does have an arc happening here and it is clear that he’s going through something. He’s not just lying to Nancy for fun and getting high all the time for kicks and giggles, he has a lot of familial and personal issues he still needs to work through and he’s been coping with that in not the best ways. But yeah, some people will just reduce all of that to “Jonathan’s a going nowhere stoner now” and then make excuses for Steve telling an ex he dated in high school two years ago (who’s currently in a relationship with someone else, mind you) that he wants to have six kids with her. And then somehow also say that really Nancy doesn’t deserve either of them? It’s all very frustrating.

People being snotty about non-canon queer ships is a whole extra can of worms that is a problem in no way limited to pro-st*ncy fans, so I don’t want to get into that . But it’s very true that many pro-st*ncies can be particularly unfair to Jonathan and as you point out, *some* don’t even seem to like Nancy, or claim they do but then push aside what we do actually know about who she is and what she wants in favor of fitting her better with Steve.

#anti st*ncy #anti stancy #jancy #stranger things #I’m sorry this got so long I’ve never been brief about anything ever in my life #that’s enough discourse for the day sorry folks

[the-case-book-of-fanfiction]

Bob Seger

Ship: Steve Harrington x fem!reader

Summary: Is there a handbook for what to do when your crush walks into your store to buy a gift for his girlfriend? There should be!

Word Count: 5,432 words

Warnings: Stancy, Steve being deeply in love and then getting his heart broken, brief mention of Steve's asshole dad, pining reader, hurt/comfort, Tommy & Carol, language, innuendo

Note: Inspired in part by Steve's rendition of Old Time Rock & Roll.

☟ Continue below the fold ☟

Nancy hadn't been herself, not since Barb disappeared, and her mood had only been getting worse every day. Steve could feel her retreating into herself, hiding from the world and from herself and from him. He could feel Tommy and Carol getting progressively more frustrated with her (and with him for putting up with it) with every passing day.

And it's not like Steve blamed Nancy. Her best friend had gone missing while Nancy hung out with people Barb wasn't the biggest fan of. And, to rub salt in an open wound, Nancy had been having sex with Steve while Barb disappeared.

Steve felt a little guilty, to say the least. He'd had the thought of If I hadn't wanted to sleep with Nancy so bad, she would have gone home with Barb and they'd both be safe. But after a while, he wasn't so sure about that. The longer he thought about it, the more he became convinced that if Nancy had gone with Barb, they both would have gone missing.

Whether it was through his own guilt or because he wanted to make Nancy feel better, he wasn't quite sure, Steve found himself driving to the record store just off Main Street after school got out. He'd blocked out the noise of Tommy and Carol bickering, Tommy in the passenger seat and Carol leaning forward from the back seat, too busy trying to remember which bands had played from the radio the night he was studying at Nancy's house, and whether or not Nancy had actually liked them. He didn't want to screw up his little surprise by getting her music she wouldn't listen to—or a vinyl she already owned. Maybe he should have discreetly snooped through her pile of records before he'd made up his mind to do this...

Tommy sharply elbowed Steve in the ribs. Before Steve could snap at him, he said, "You're overthinking this, man. She's either gonna pretend to love it and not actually care, or she's just gonna not care."

Behind them, Carol giggled. It sounded far more sinister than it should have.

Steve glared at him for a second before he made the turn into the store's parking lot. "You're no help, you realize that?" He parked the car and turned to the two of them. "You're gonna stay here and wait, got it? And don't do anything stupid, I'll make you clean the back seat this time."

Carol grinned. "What if it's the passenger seat?"

"Or the driver's," Tommy added, leaning back to kiss Carol, before Steve could snap that the passenger's seat was Nancy's seat. Steve felt his throat constrict.

"Do not get it on in my fucking car," he warned, "or I'm never driving you anywhere ever again."

He got out, slamming the door behind him, and sent a warning glare back over his shoulder. Tommy flipped him off through the windshield. Beside Steve, an elderly woman gasped in offense and Steve winced.

"Sorry about him," he muttered, but the woman was already scurrying off into her own vehicle. Steve sighed and pushed open the front door to the record shop.

A little bell above the door chimed once as he swung the door open, and then again as it closed behind him. Steve had only been in the store a handful of times, but he loved it more and more with every visit. The walls were plastered in old vinyls, displayed so that the name of each band was readable. No vinyl was the same color, some of them blue, some red, some multicolor, but all of them were different. A small gold plaque designated the oldest vinyl the store had on the walls, which was a reddish Vocalion from 1922 and was positioned directly above the door.

Rows and rows of alphabetized vinyls spread throughout the store, which was bigger than it looked from the storefront. In the lefthand corner nearest the door, a cashier's desk was set up, though there was no employee behind it. A plastic sign read I'm in the back! I'll be back soon!

Steve headed for the aisles of vinyls, then recognized what was playing over the speakers—Bob Seger's Night Moves.

Humming as he flipped through the stacks, Steve didn't notice the door to the back open, or you walk out of it and back to your desk.

"Mmm, sweet summertime, summertime," Steve sang, keeping his voice low, still embarrassed by his voice, an instinct his father made sure he would never shake.

But you heard it, even with the volume of the radio. You looked up from the desk, gaze scanning the rows. You spotted the back of Steve's head and recognized him immediately. That hair was unmistakable.

Heat burned in your belly. Suddenly, you really wished your coworker hadn't gone home just ten minutes earlier, complaining of nausea. If she'd just stuck around a few more minutes...you wouldn't have to face your long-time crush who was absolutely not available, happily dating Nancy Wheeler and unlikely to leave her any time soon.

You resisted the urge to hide your face in your hands. Sure, you'd liked him since middle school, long before he'd become part of the popular crowd and back when his hair was still a mess that hid his eyes from the world, and yes, you had two classes with him, but it's not like he'd know who you were, right? You'd keep relative anonymity and he would remain none the wiser of your long-standing admiration of him.

But then the song changed to The Fire Down Below and Steve was shimmying where he stood, singing the line "Here comes hot Nancy, she's steppin' right on time" with the hugest grin on his face.

You sighed. The school, your best friends, the entire senior year was right—Steve Harrington was down bad for Nancy Wheeler.

The tiniest bit of hope that he might one day notice you was dashed every time you heard that loving croon of his voice every time he sang Nancy's name.

This is why we don't get our hopes up, you told yourself, echoing a sentiment your best friend had drilled into you ever since Steve became the ladies' man that made him so popular in high school. Not that it erased the previous middle school years of drooling over Steve, back before anyone else had really considered him attractive.

You watched as Steve meticulously went through every record in the store, clearly searching for something specific. You normally would have gotten up and approached a customer taking this long, but it was Steve. You knew the instant you got up from your stool, your legs would give out underneath you. And if that didn't happen, you'd walk into a shelf on your way over to him. And if that didn't happen either, you'd start stuttering the moment you tried to talk to him. And if that didn't happen, you'd turn bright red and combust on the spot when he either asked for your help or turned you away.

Too stuck in your head, you didn't even realize the record had stopped playing until you heard Steve's singing stop. A pang went through you at the sound of silence—Steve's voice was almost more soothing than the music itself.

You turned around and dug through your pile of vinyls the store let you play until you found another Bob Seger—the album he'd released last year. Steve had been singing Bob Seger, and you desperately wanted him to keep singing.

You cleaned off the record before placing the needle down. A few bars into Even Now, you turned back around and squeaked, jumping in surprise.

Steve was standing at your desk, a pleasant but awkward smile on his face.

"Uh...hi," he said. "Sorry if I scared you."

You blinked at him and cleared your throat, hoping your voice didn't come out squeaky. "It's...it's fine. Can I help you with something?"

"Uh, please, I'm looking for—" He snapped his fingers. "You're in my chemistry class, aren't you?" You nodded, meekly adding that you were also in English together, and he beamed. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere!"

"Yeah, uh... Hi, Steve," you said. "You said you were looking for...?"

Steve shook himself out. "Oh, yeah, um... I'm trying to find a record for Nancy, my girlfriend, because I want to cheer her up after...everything. I'm sure you've heard about it."

The tiredness in his voice surprised you. But you nodded without bringing it up. "I have. How's she holding up?"

Steve sighed. "Not...fantastically. That's why I'm doing this, I want to get her something to take her mind off things."

You raised your brows. "So you decided on a record?"

Steve shrugged, his cheeks turning a soft shade of pink. "I thought it would be something we could dance to, and that that might make her feel better."

Your heart squeezed. How are you so sweet? "Alright, makes sense. What does she like to listen to usually?"

Steve shut his eyes as if thinking for a moment, then said, "She likes ABBA and Michael Jackson, she has a Fleetwood Mac tape but only ever listens to Rhiannon, but she sings under her breath every time Journey comes on the radio, doesn't matter what song it is. She's got Madonna, Bowie, Blondie, and The Beatles already as tapes and vinyls, so I don't want to get her those."

You blinked at him. "You really do pay attention to everything, don't you?"

Steve smiled shyly. "I...I guess so, when it comes to Nancy."

You left the back of the desk, hoping you weren't visibly shaking too much. "Let's go find you a Journey vinyl, okay? They just released a new album a few months ago, I'm pretty sure we've got it on vinyl..."

Steve followed you to the J section and the two of you started flipping through, both of you softly singing along to Love's The Last To Know as you did.

Halfway through the song and completely through the Js section, you interrupted the song with a gasp.

"I know where it is! Wait here," you told him, and hurried into the back room. You dug through the most recently delivered box of records until you saw the familiar blue album cover of Frontiers, letting out a victory cry as you grabbed it.

Steve was leaning on the shelf, still singing "We lost our way and our love's the last to know" so mournfully you wondered what heartbreak he'd been through before.

"I got it!" you said, grinning and holding the record aloft.

Steve beamed. "Thanks! I really appreciate it. I know I was kind of...out of my depth for a bit there."

You shrugged. "Eh, that's nothing. I've had people come in here demanding records we don't carry from bands that only just released music." You rolled your eyes. "'No, sir, we don't carry Metallica, and even if we did, the album came out last week, so we wouldn't have it yet anyway!'"

Steve snorted with laughter, handing you cash to pay for the vinyl. "Let me guess, it was the Munson kid."

"The Munson kid," you confirmed.

"Thanks again," Steve said, though he didn't seem inclined to head out the door.

"Any time," you said, instantly regretting the words because if you saw Steve at your workplace more than this, you were going to have a heart attack, but you paired the words with a kind smile anyway.

"See you in class tomorrow," he said, stepping out the door and waving goodbye. You watched him go, putting the record in the back seat, snapping at Tommy and Carol in his car, and pulling out of the parking lot.

You let go a tense, nervous breath. The pain in your chest eased. Well, at least Steve knew of you now. And even if his dedication to Nancy was unfailing, at least you might get to talk to him now, even if it only worsened the ache in your heart.

~❊~

Steve skipped third block.

The entire school seemed to be talking about why—or at least, his entire gym class, who had told a story about Billy Hargrove getting in his face the entire basketball game, and then Nancy dragging him out of the class to "talk" about something. At first, everyone had assumed they were banging in the locker rooms, until somebody reminded them Nancy hadn't been in first block, and she never skipped, and that Steve usually drove her to school—but he hadn't missed first block. Then when he'd come back, upset and angry, from his talk with Nancy, people started to put a story together.

You weren't sure you wanted to believe the story, or the many versions of the story, that were floating around you chemistry class. It didn't line up with what you knew of Steve, or what you knew of his relationship with Nancy, most of which you heard straight from him.

But then again...

You shook yourself out of your head, your gaze straying back toward Steve's empty seat. You sighed, pulling your notebook toward you and copying down the notes on the board as neat as you could—undoubtedly you'd need to give them to Steve when he decided to come back to class.

But when your best friend came into the class, handing your teacher a doctor's note, her wide eyes already told you Steve wasn't coming back today.

She sat down beside you, hissing your name. You looked at her. "What? What's wrong?"

"Is there a reason I just saw Steve Harrington crying in his car?" she whispered to you.

Your eyes went huge. Whatever had happened between him and Nancy, it wasn't good. "Keep your voice down and don't tell anyone else about that," you said.

She flipped her notebook to a blank page and started writing. "You better fill me in on everything I missed today," she said.

"Obviously, but only once I know exactly what happened," you said. "Which means only once Steve tells me what happened. However long that takes."

~❊~

It became painfully clear that Steve didn't want to talk—to anyone. He snapped at anyone who tried to bring it up with him, and his mood was waspish. The situation was made worse by the rumors spread by Tommy and Carol—that Nancy had only been with Steve for his money and the sex; that she left because Steve wasn't good enough for her; that she was cheating on him with Jonathan.

You knew that the jibes about Jonathan hit Steve a little too close to home. The same rumor had circulated last year when Will and Barb went missing, but this time, you were almost positive they were true.

Nancy was entirely unbothered by the whole thing. Seeing her prance around with Jonathan, not caring that doing so was hurting Steve more than anything, made your blood boil.

On your way to the record store for another one of your slow closing shifts, a week after Steve skipped chem class, you saw the two of them walking together along the sidewalk. You rolled your eyes at them. You had once thought Nancy to be the luckiest girl in the world: smart, pretty, and dating the hottest man Hawkins had to offer. Now you were certain she was the most careless, throwing it all away for a mediocre man.

Steve's car was in the store's parking lot when you arrived. You parked next to him, looking over to find him in the driver's seat, staring into his lap.

You got out and knocked on his window. "Steve? You okay?" He looked up, sporting red-rimmed eyes. You could hear Bob Seger's Comin' Home playing quietly on his radio. "Oh, Steve..."

Steve got out of his car. Voice quiet and rough, he asked, "Can I hang out for a while?"

"Yeah," you said. "Whatever you need."

His lip trembled. "A...a hug?" His voice as meek and barely there. But you heard it and the request made your heart break. You enveloped him in a tight hug, letting him soften into your hold. You remained that way until Steve decided he was done, not caring how many of your classmates walked by, staring in wonder at Steve clinging to you, new gossip already burning on their tongues.

~❊~

A good day meant boppier music at the record store as soon as you started your shift and shoved your coworker from the mid-afternoon shift out the door. So you swapped out all the mellow music in the stack of records beside your record player with music with a good beat that you could dance to while you restocked and reshelved.

Not even half an hour into your shift, the Naked Eyes record spun into Always Something There To Remind Me. You turned up the volume as high as you could without destroying the speakers and being chewed out by your managers, singing along and dancing by yourself while you worked.

"Well, how can I forget you, girl? When there is always something there to remind me!" You finished stacking your records in the aisle and turned back for a new pile. "Always something there to remind me. I was born to love her, and I'll never be free, you'll always be a part of— Steve!" You careened into his chest, grateful you weren't holding anything, because it all would have dropped to the floor. Steve's arms looped around you, stopping you from falling. "Don't sneak up on me, you scared me!"

"The doorbell rung!"

"Well, I didn't hear it!" You finally looked up at him, heart beating wildly out of your chest at the feeling of his chest against yours, his arms around your waist. You realized he looked downright miserable. "What happened?"

He sighed. "Remember how I said I was gonna try and patch things up with Nance?"

"Yeah..."

Steve's lower lip started to tremble. "It...it didn't go well."

Your heart dropped to your feet. "Oh, Steve, I'm...I'm so sorry."

He sniffled. "It's, uh, it's over. She...she doesn't love me, has never loved me, I'm still bullshit, and she's been sleeping with Jonathan. So..." He heaved a heavy sigh. "It's over. Completely, totally, officially over."

"Steve," you whispered. "I'm so sorry, honey. Is there anything I can do?"

He smiled, lips trembling and eyes watering. "Change the song?" The words came out with a little hiccup and a laugh.

You realized what the song was about. "Oh! Yeah, sure, right—sorry. It's such an upbeat song in the actual music, I didn't even think about the words!" You untangled yourself from his arms to change the record. "What are you in the mood for?"

"Nothing romantic, please," he said, sitting down on your stool. "And, after you're done..."

You looked at him, sensing his hesitation. "Yeah?"

"Can I have another hug?"

You smiled at him, looping your arms around his back where he sat. He fell into you, burying his head in your shirt. "Of course, Steve."

You held onto Steve as tightly as he held onto you, praying he wouldn't notice the fast beat of your heart while he wallowed in his grief. It was a strange feeling, for Steve to be hiding from the world, form Nancy, from his broken heart in your arms, all while you harbored a horribly deep crush on him and a secret, guilty delight that it was over with Nancy.

"I just..." Steve huffed, clearly trying his best not to sob into your shirt. "I don't know where I went wrong. I don't know why I wasn't good enough."

Without really meaning to, you put your hand in Steve's hair. "Does there need to be a reason? Some people just aren't meant for each other, Steve."

Steve looked up at you with his red rimmed eyes, tears on his lash line. He hesitated a moment and then said, "If I tell you something...promise me you won't just...laugh at me."

Your heart broke for him. How many times had he told Tommy or Carol or, what the hell, even Nancy something, only to be laughed at, for him to ask that of you? "Of course I won't laugh at you, Steve." You squeezed his shoulder. "Why would I laugh at you?"

He didn't answer your question. "I know it sounds...ridiculous, but...I just—" He sighed. "I thought Nancy was the one. I've never been happier with a girl before, and she was honest, she was smart, she was determined, she had goals, she was nothing like the girls I was with before, and she made me feel alive! I thought for sure that I was... That I was maybe gonna spend the rest of my life with her."

You bit your lip. "There was no maybe about it, was there, Steve?"

He sighed, letting his head fall back into you. You muffled your grunt as he hid his face in your stomach, his arms sliding up your back and hold you closer to him. "No," he mumbled into the fabric of your shirt.

You smoothed your hand through his perfect hair and kissed the top of his head. You froze, hearing his tiny intake of breath. "Oh, I'm...I'm sorry, that was kind of...automatic, I guess?"

Steve peeked up at you and tugged you closer to his body until your feet hit the legs of your stool he was perched on. "It's okay. Um... Can you...keep doing that? With my hair?" Pink tinged his skin. "If you don't mind."

"I don't mind," you whispered, rubbing your fingers across his scalp. He sighed, pushing into your touch. Heat bloomed across your body.

"Sorry," he whispered. "I know this is...weird. But, um, Nancy never... Never really touched me or— Or held me or anything, so..."

"You don't have to explain yourself," you whispered. "Not to me, not to anyone. Okay?"

"Okay," he agreed, slowly relaxing in your arms.

"I've got you, Steve," you assured him. "I've got you."

~❊~

Before he'd even pulled into the parking lot, Steve was mentally apologizing to you. You'd told him time and time again when he visited you while you were working that you enjoyed your slow closing shifts. It meant there was no one to bother you while you were in the middle of a restock, making you forget where you were; it meant there was no one to complain about the music you played, so you could listen to whatever you wanted; it meant your final hour was spent just closing up shop instead of shooing customers out the door—except for Steve, who had become a regular and always stayed until you left, sometimes to give you a ride home and other times just to have a friend around.

But today, he wasn't coming alone. His car was full to bursting with young children: Dustin, Max, Lucas, Mike, and Will, all of whom he'd been tasked with picking up from their after school activities for the day. He had tried to get them to go home quickly, but his attempts to rush them out of his car had led them to discover that he was seeing a girl, which they all took the wrong way, of course.

Sort of.

Now that Steve was prowling the world alone again, he'd realized his initial estimation of you—pretty, smiley, shy with new people but confident with your friends—was right, but it was a muted reality compared to how you really were. It was like he'd been looking at you with sunglasses covering his eyes this whole time. Now that those glasses were gone, the record shop girl had become more than just his best friend.

And he was really hoping the kids were not about to point that out.

As per usual, you were playing Bob Seger when Steve pushed the door open. He'd yet to figure out if you played Bob Seger so much when he came to visit because you loved Bob Seger, or if you had (correctly) pinned Steve as a fan.

(Not that Steve had ever told anyone he was a fan; he let them think the only reason he even knew about his music was because of Carol's obsession with Risky Business.)

You weren't at your desk like Steve had expected; you were carrying a huge stack of records in your arms, shelving them as you walked along the rows, singing along to Sunspot Baby without a care in the world.

"Sunspot baby," you sang. "She sure had a real good time."

"I looked in Miami, I looked in Negril," Steve joined in. You turned with a grin, heading back to your desk. "The closest I came was a month old bill."

You noticed the kids as you put down your stack. "You brought company today, I see."

Steve gave you a look while the kids were still behind him. You stifled a giggle. "Uh, yeah, these are the kids. Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Max Mayfield, Will Byers, and Mike Wheeler."

Dustin walked straight up to your desk. "So you're the girl Steve talks about all the time?"

"All the time, huh?" you said, smiling in a way that suggested you were sure Dustin was exaggerating.

"Every time we see him," Mike groaned. You stared at the younger Wheeler in surprise.

"Oh, really? Is that so, Steve?" you teased.

He rolled his eyes, unable to stop his blush. "Sorry to interrupt your quiet shift. They wanted to stop in and grab some records."

"No we didn't—we just wanted to meet you," Lucas said. Steve's calm expression became painfully forced.

The young redhead snorted. "Speak for yourself." She looked up at you expectantly. "Do you have any David Bowie?"

You grinned. "I like you, you have good taste. Back side of the first row."

Max grinned and dragged Lucas with her.

You looked back at Steve. "Do you have enough room in your car for one more?"

"Need a ride when you leave?"

You nodded.

"Yeah, I've got room. I'll just make the kids rearrange."

You laughed. "You don't have to do that," you insisted.

Steve leaned across the counter. "Don't worry about it—I want to. I'd feel terrible if I left you to get home on your own."

You smiled at him, noticing Dustin nudging Mike and Will and pointing in your direction out of the corner of your eye.

~❊~

Somehow, the kids' presence lightened up the rest of your shift. Time passed quickly with them there, adventuring through the store and asking you question after question about the vinyls lining the walls.

You waved off Steve as he tried to get the kids to leave you alone. "They're fine, Steve. It's okay. You wanna help me get everything packed up? I've gotta lock up soon."

"Oh, yeah, sure." Steve took the vinyl off the record player and slipped it back into its case. He glanced over his shoulder and called to the kids, "Hey, guys! We're gonna head out soon."

You ran through your closing tasks as quickly as you could, anxious to head home for the night.

"Alright, everybody out. Got everything?" you asked, ushering the kids to the door and taking out the key. You set the alarm system for the building and locked the door behind you.

Steve put a hand on your back. Warmth bloomed through you from where he touched you. "You're all ready to go?"

You nodded, not trusting yourself to speak.

The kids opened the doors of Steve's car, jumping in quickly. Dustin made his way to the passenger's seat. Steve stopped him, gently shoving him toward the back seat with everyone else.

"Hey—move it, Henderson, she's got the passenger's seat."

You stared at Steve. "No, no, it's okay, he can—"

Steve shook his head, holding open the door for you. "Come on, it's fine, just..." He gestured into the car. The kids whispered and giggled at him. He sent them a glare and Dustin's annoyed face shifted into a gleeful smirk.

You got in the front seat, unaware of the glances being exchanged in the back or the glare Steve was giving them.

"Seat belts!" Steve said as he got into the driver's seat. You giggled at him as the kids groaned. You caught the way his face lit up when he looked at you, and butterflies tickled your insides.

Once the kids had listened and all were buckled, Steve pulled out of the parking lot and started his way through Hawkins, dropping them off one-by-one: Will first, on the outskirts of town, his mother waiting at the door; Max, who was relieved the Camaro wasn't in the driveway; Dustin next, his new cat sitting on the front step; Lucas, who was immediately met with his snarky young sister; Mike last, Nancy already at the door—saying goodbye to Jonathan.

You glanced at Steve. "You alright?"

Steve looked at you, releasing a deep sigh. "I'm okay," he said. "I...I'm doing better now."

"Good," you said. "You deserve it."

Steve gave you a curious look before he said, "Let's get you home, right?"

"Right."

And if Steve drove slower the whole way back to yours compared to driving the kids home, you weren't going to say anything.

When he got back to your house, Steve pulled into the driveway and sighed. "Well. Home sweet home," he said.

You looked at Steve with a smile. "Thanks for the ride home." You picked up the bag you had put on the ground. You got out, then stopped yourself before you could close the door. You crouched to look at him in the car. "Hey, Steve?"

"Yeah?" Was it just your imagination, or did he sound nervous?

You took a deep breath. Now or never.

"I talk about you all the time, too."

For a moment, Steve processed your words. Then his eyes went wide. Hope bloomed on his slack-jawed face. "You..." He bit his lip, holding back a smile. "You mean that you..."

"Yes, Steve," you said, voice quiet. "Always have. Just ask my friends—they'll give away my secrets just as quickly as Dustin gave away yours." You drummed your fingers against the roof of his car. "Do with that what you will. It's up to you if...you want to even acknowledge it or not." You closed his door and started for your front door.

A door squeaked and then slammed shut moments later; running steps approached you.

"Wait!"

You turned as Steve's hand fell on your shoulder, pulling you close to him. He yanked your body close to his, his arms sliding around you, his hands gripping your shoulder blades. For a split second, you reveled in his hug, noticing the difference in it, relishing in the love in his arms instead of the misery.

Those few seconds became nothing as Steve pulled back. You gave a sound of protest, quickly squashed by Steve's lips.

Your heart had stopped beating, but was simultaneously pounding. You moved on instinct, looping your arms around his shoulders, yanking him down to you. Never once did your lips part from his as the two of you grappled to hold each other in the best way possible.

Thunder boomed overhead. You gasped, pulling apart.

"Was it supposed to storm?" you asked.

"I didn't think so," Steve said.

You kissed him again. Steve smiled into the kiss.

"You should get home before it pours," you whispered against his lips. But neither of you made any move to let go of each other.

Steve adjusted so that his head was against yours, his mouth at your temple. "See you tomorrow in class, then?"

You hummed. "Yeah. Tomorrow."

Steve pressed a kiss to your forehead. "I don't wanna leave."

You looked up at the sky, watching the already-grey skies grow darker as storm clouds rolled in. "We're going to get soaked if we stay out here, Steve."

Steve squeezed you tightly. "Tomorrow, then." He kissed your forehead again. "I'll see you tomorrow...sweetheart."

You beamed at the nickname while Steve blushed while he gave you the moniker.

"And to think," you whispered. "You'd known me all this time, but this? This happened all because you stopped in my store one day."

Steve hugged you tight to his chest. "I wish I'd noticed you before, sweetheart, really I do."

You kissed him. "Well, you've noticed me now." Light rain started, dusting Steve's hair until it sparkled. "Now go, before that pretty hair of yours gets ruined."

He grinned, brushing his hand through it. "I knew you liked my hair."

"Always have." You pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. "Always will."

☞ ❊ ☜

Stranger Things // Steve Harrington

part 2? lmk!

Taglist: {comment and let me know if you'd like to be added to the S.H. taglist!} @ohatropa@nix-rose@live-the-fangirl-life

#stranger things #steve harrington #steve the hair harrington #king steve #season 1 steve #stranger things season 1 #nancy wheeler #stranger things au #stancy #stancy breakup #stancy angst #steve harrington x nancy wheeler #steve x reader #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington x you #steve x y/n #joe keery #tommy and carol #carol stranger things #tommy h stranger things #record store #80s music #record store romance #poll fic #poll results #season 1 #season 2 #friends to lovers #mutual pining

[supernovafics]

𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐄

pairing: exboyfriend!steve harrington x fem!reader

word count: 3.2k words

summary: in which you and steve run into each other at a party. it’s been months since you two last talked— which was during a conversation that had ended on the sourest of notes— but now here you both are at a party that neither of you really even want to be at. just for a moment it feels okay to pretend that everything is fine between you two, but then it gets too hard. and instead, it’s unspokenly decided that perhaps this is the chance for you both to get that closure that neither of you got all those months ago

warnings: steve’s pov, explicit language, cigarette smoking, mentions/slight descriptions of a toxic/bad relationship, brief mentions of cheating (not reader or steve), brief mentions of stancy, lots of angst

author’s note: i really really enjoyed writing this and it made me realize that i would love to do more stuff in steve's pov,,,, also now that this is up that means that the folklore series is finally finally done! thank god! (full "folklore" album series masterlist here!)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“our coming-of-age has come and gone. suddenly this summer, it's clear.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

He told her that he was going to find the bathroom. 

What Steve didn’t tell her was that it wasn’t because he actually needed to use it, but because he just wanted to use any excuse to get away from her for a bit. 

Jill was really nice, but this first date proved that they had absolutely nothing in common— the dry conversation during dinner and the disagreement on the movie choice when they made it to the theater were prime examples of that disconnect. 

Steve had assumed that after the movie she would want this date to end as much as he did. But then they were exiting the theater and she was saying that they should go to this party, and he said, “Sure, why not?”

Now he wasn’t sure if said the right thing.

She knew a ton of people at the party, and so did Steve, but the difference was that there was no one that he wanted to engage in any sort of conversation with. It had barely been two months since he graduated, but a part of him hated going to parties now.

He wandered around the house— he wasn’t even entirely sure whose house this was— and pretended to search for the bathroom even though he was actually headed nowhere in particular. In his mind, he told himself that he would walk around for five minutes and then go find Jill again.

He walked upstairs, following the quietness and letting the loud sound of music and never-ending conversations fade away. All he wanted was silence and a moment to himself, maybe to think of some excuse to tell Jill about why he was going to head home and she should stay and keep hanging out with her friends if that was what she wanted to do. He was very well aware that the guy he used to be in high school would call him a loser for leaving a party on a Saturday night when it wasn’t even ten o’clock yet. But, Steve didn’t care, and that was what he would call progress. 

He opened the door to the first random room he spotted and immediately saw someone sitting by the open window in the corner. He didn’t even give himself a chance to see if he recognized the person before he started closing the door. He quickly figured that if someone was sitting in a room by themselves during a party, it was probably because they wanted it to be that way; it was what he wanted right then.

“Shit, my bad,” Steve mumbled half-heartedly. 

Your quick and unbothered, “It’s okay,” came out loud enough for him to hear before he could fully close the door and it made him stop midway.

It had been so many months since the last time he saw you, since the last time he even heard your voice, but he was still able to recognize it immediately.

He looked at you again. You were slightly illuminated by the moonlight and streetlights outside, and he was surprised that he didn’t notice it was you from the moment he opened the door. 

Your name fell from his lips in a whisper, but you heard him almost too clearly. 

“Steve,” You breathed out, turning your head and squinting at him in the darkness. He noticed your demeanor change; you sat up in the chair you were sitting in and pulled your legs off of the one that was across from you. It was easy to tell that you were surprised to see him. “Hi.”

“Hey.” Steve wasn’t sure if he should walk over to you, he was feeling the same way you were in that moment, but he did so anyway. 

He sat down in the chair that was now empty across from you. He noticed the cigarette in your hand and watched you take a quick drag of it. 

“Um, can I bum one?” He asked. He had quit smoking months and months ago, but he was perfectly okay with bringing the old habit back for a night if it meant getting to talk to you for a little bit longer; although, maybe that was something that he shouldn’t have wanted to do.

“Mhm,” You nodded at him and pulled your pack of cigarettes out of your jacket pocket.

Steve grabbed one from the pack and then took the lighter from your outstretched hand as well. “Thanks.” 

Right then, everything somehow seemed easy, normal even; the silence that filled the room didn’t feel unbearably awkward or weird. Just for that moment, it felt okay to pretend that everything was completely fine; like there wasn’t such a messy past between you two.

It was easier to do that than to talk, or even think, about the last conversation you two ever had with each other, which happened days before you left to spend Spring Break with your Aunt in Texas. It was a conversation that could more so be described as an argument— the worst one you two had ever had— and it led to the most tense and abrupt ending to your relationship.

You left early for Texas the next day and never came back. Steve had to find out from one of your friends that you decided to stay and finish out the last few months of your Senior year there.

Maybe it actually wasn’t so easy to not think about the past and pretend that everything was normal. 

“I, uh, I didn't know you were back in Hawkins,” Steve said, taking a quick look at you and then going back to staring out the window. 

“Yeah, I just got in this morning. My mom wanted me to come back for the Fourth of July fair thing this week,” You quickly explained and then took another, longer drag of your cigarette before continuing. “I’m also, um, not leaving again… My mom knows someone that’s opening a bookstore at the new mall, so I’ll be helping out there for the time being. She really wanted me to come back here and I think she knew that books would be the only way.”

I also really wanted you to come back. Steve wanted to say that, but he didn’t; it would’ve only shifted the conversation in a direction that wasn’t at all lighthearted.

“I also work at the mall,” He told you instead. “The ice cream parlor; Scoops Ahoy.” Right as the words left his mouth, he immediately wanted to take them back. Just for a second, he forgot about how completely embarrassing his current job was and once he remembered, he wished that he never brought it up. “Actually, please forget that I just said that.”

“Why?”

He sighed. “Because I have to wear a sailor’s outfit as my uniform, and I don’t want you to ever see me wear that.”

You let out a laugh, and Steve forgot how much he missed hearing that sound; he loved it.

“Okay, when’s your next shift? I wanna make sure to see you in that outfit as soon as possible.”

Steve shook his head and instead of answering your question, he changed the subject. “Anyway, I’m surprised you decided to come to a party on your first night back here.”

“I was dragged to this by Ally, and then was promptly ditched by her when this guy started flirting with her,” You told him, leaning back in your chair and crossing one leg over the other. “What are you doing here?”

“I'm actually on a date right now,” Steve answered. For some reason, he decided not to mention that the date had been bad.

You nodded at him after a moment of letting his words linger in the air of the bedroom. “Cool. That’s nice.”

Hearing you say those words in this moment, immediately reminded Steve of the first time you two had ever talked, because those were the same words that you had said to him at a completely different party. And in this moment, they even sounded the exact same as they had back then too.

That night all those months ago on New Year’s Eve, Steve sat down next to you on the couch in Kyle Thompson’s living room and said, “This is one of my favorite movies;” Risky Business was silently playing on the TV in front of the two of you. You simply looked at him for a second before saying, “Cool. That’s nice,” and things probably should’ve ended there. There was something about your entire vibe right then that made him think that you didn’t want to talk to anyone, but that only made him want to talk to you more.

And somehow him changing his approach and not trying so hard to be charming— and instead simply being honest and nice and just himself— worked. You and him ended up talking the rest of the night; both of you had just gone through break ups so the conversation almost immediately went to that. Your breakup— which involved you catching your boyfriend cheating on you in the library at school— happened only a few weeks earlier and it was the reasoning behind your melancholy at the party. You hadn’t been in the mood to talk to anyone, let alone a guy. 

But, Steve noticed how your sadness and cold demeanor managed to fall away as you two kept talking; being vulnerable in ways that usually never happened between two strangers. But, the fact that you two could relate on something that had happened so recently in your lives made you not feel entirely like strangers. 

When the clock struck twelve, signaling the start of a brand new year, you softly kissed his cheek and he did the same to yours. He had desperately wanted to slot his lips against yours, but in that moment that kiss on the cheek felt like enough. 

That night was the first time that he truly felt happy since he and Nancy broke up barely two months earlier.

Now you were cold again and that probably meant that this conversation by the window should be over. But, just like the last time, Steve still wanted to talk to you. He wanted to spend the entire rest of his night with you instead of Jill, and he knew exactly how much of an asshole that made him. 

“How was Texas? The new school and everything,” Steve asked, he was both curious to hear about it— there were so many moments over the past few months where he would wonder how you were doing there— and he also just wanted to keep talking to you right then. 

“It was really nice, and it felt good to have a fresh start for a bit,” You started. “My Aunt works at the high school in town, so that made it a lot easier for me to enroll and finish out my last months there. And the school was pretty much the same as it is here. Much to my surprise, not everyone was wearing cowboy hats and boots everyday to class.” The joking tone in your voice was very evident and it made Steve smile. You looked at him just for a second before focusing your eyes out the window again. “How were, um, things here?”

For some reason, that was actually a hard question for Steve to sum up in one easy answer. Mainly because the completely honest answer was a long and complicated one. 

During the entirety of his Spring Break, which he spent mostly at home and going to one stupid party, Steve thought about how he could fix things between you two once you came back— he didn’t believe that the way things ended that night, that argument, truly marked the end of everything forever for you two. 

And then those first few days after Spring Break when you didn’t come back, but he still thought that maybe, hopefully, you would, were absolute hell— he was confused and upset, equally at himself and at you. Once he finally found out that you definitely weren’t coming back, he convinced himself that maybe you and him were something that wasn’t supposed to be fixed. 

And forcing himself to accept that actually made things feel a little bit better for him. 

“Good. Pretty boring. But, overall, good,” Steve finally said, deciding to keep his answer short because it just felt easier to do so. 

You took a final drag of your cigarette and then flicked the butt out the window before looking at him. “We’re both happier now, right?”

Steve considered your question for a moment.

He definitely knew that he was a better person now than how he was before, he was definitely healed from all of that past shit— what happened between him and Nancy and what happened between him and you. But, he wasn’t exactly sure if he was happy that you weren’t in his life anymore. 

Before anything had even happened yet between you two all those months ago, you both had kept telling each other that you were better off as friends and that you both shouldn’t rush into another relationship so soon. But, neither of you listened to one another’s excuses, even though perhaps you both should’ve.

He was kissing you only three weeks after the new year’s party— standing outside the front door of your house, the prettiest smile on your face when he pulled away— and days later, you were calling him your boyfriend and he was the one smiling so damn happily.

Steve finished off the rest of his cigarette and then met your gaze. “I think things are better now, but I don’t know if that really makes me happier.”

“I think I missed you a lot while I was gone. Even though I kept telling myself that I shouldn’t,” You told him and he was a little surprised by your honesty right then. “Sometimes I would wish that I didn’t run away from you. At least, not like how I did. I’m sorry.”

Steve hated that you were saying sorry to him in that moment because he felt like he was the one that had more stuff to be sorry for. Or, at least, he was equally at fault with how quickly everything fell apart between you two. 

“I'm really sorry too,” He said softly. 

That relationship that you two had, as brief as it was, was something that probably should’ve never happened in the first place. Neither of you were remotely ready to be in something serious again. But, Steve thought that this time and this relationship would be different— better than the past ones— and so did you. 

He was so convinced that he didn’t need to worry or even think about really processing everything that happened with Nancy, the heartbreak he felt from that, because he was going into something new that felt as if it was simply meant to be. 

However, that was almost immediately proven wrong. At times, the relationship was worse than your previous ones. He’d get jealous over the littlest of things, and you couldn’t find it in you to fully trust him about almost anything.

Breaking up was inevitable and it definitely was for the best, you both were inadvertently hurting each other. But, what made it all so much harder was that the feelings you had for each other were real; he loved you and you loved him, so much, so deeply— you both just had shitty ways of showing it. 

You stood up from your chair then, breaking your gaze from Steve’s. “I’m gonna go.”

“Wait,” He stood up too and followed you to the shut door. 

You turned to look at him again. You didn’t give him a chance to say anything before you started speaking. “And what I said to you that night during our argument, I didn't mean it.”

Steve couldn’t help but look away from you then because being reminded of something that he had tried his hardest to forget about made him inwardly wince.

Before tonight, your last words to him had been, “I hate you. I can't do this anymore.” Those eight words had hit him so fucking hard, they felt like the worse punch to the gut. But maybe the comment was warranted because he had just accused you of flirting with some guy at a party the two of you had gone too earlier that night.

“I know. I didn’t mean what I said that night either,” Steve responded. You were about to turn around again, but then he asked, “Can you stay? Can we talk some more?” 

He wanted to ask you more about Texas. He wanted to hear about even the most mundane things you did there. He wanted to playfully make fun of the fact that he could hear that you now had the tiniest hint of an accent. 

Steve wanted to do a lot of things right then, but he especially wanted to ask you when you were starting your job at the bookstore because maybe that would mean he’d get to see you again after this moment. And he didn’t even care that if he saw you at the mall, it would probably mean that you’d see him in that dumb fucking sailor’s outfit. 

For a second, you just looked at him, before saying, “You’re on a date right now.”

He reluctantly nodded at your words. “Yeah.”

“She’s probably looking for you.”

“Maybe.”

“You should go find her.”

“I should,” He nodded again and then shook his head as he softly said his next words. “But, I don’t want to.”

You were so close to each other right then, and it seemed as if you both realized that at the same time. Sitting in the chairs had been different, you were still somewhat close to one another but also far enough that the thought of crossing any lines wasn’t on either of your minds. 

Now there was barely a foot of space between you two and it almost felt like second nature to touch one another.

Steve took a tentative step closer to you, gauging your reaction for a moment, and you seemed okay. And then it was almost like a ping pong match started, both of you going back and forth with making some sort of move. You closing the rest of the distance between you two, Steve’s hands gently finding your hips, and then yours circling around the nape of his neck with your fingers running through the grown out hair there. Somehow that small touch felt amazing to him, he missed the feeling of your hands in his hair. 

At this point, he wouldn’t have been afraid to admit that he missed everything about you.  

And maybe it was dumb of him to think, but he also found himself even missing the relationship. The communication between you two had been bad at times, horrible even, but everything else was always so good.  

He still loved you, he was realizing that now, and now he wondered if that would ever change. A part of him didn’t feel entirely scared to say that to you either, even if you no longer felt the same.

Steve tilted his head down a bit, letting your noses brush and ghosting his lips over yours. 

Your mouth was just a breath away from his and he could’ve sworn that you were gonna do it and press your lips against him. But then you were pulling away and slipping out the door. Your voice was soft as you said your last words to him.

“See you around, Steve.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“no, i could never give you peace.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

let me know ur thoughts<333

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fic #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington x you #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington smut #stranger things fluff #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington x reader smut #stranger things fic #stranger things imagine

[findafight]

Nebs' Stranger Things Fic Masterlist

I'm finally making a masterlist for my fics/headcanons! hazzah! with brief descriptions) Compiling this I have realized I have written a LOT of stuff?? holy doodles. tumblr fics under the readmore (eventually I'll put them on ao3)

My Writing tag: Finda writes stuff

Ao3 Fics

Robin and Steve's Epic Platonic Soulmate Mixtape WIP. Robin and Steve become friends just after s1, friendship shenanigans as wells as Upside Down s2 (so far) ensues. RaSEPSM tag

Tennessee Ham and Strawberry Jam Complete. Sue Sinclair and Claudia Henderson childhood best friends + Goodbye Earl fic. Standalone but in same series/universe as RaSEPSM

You Don't Fool Me Complete. Steddie, Steve thinks they're dating, Eddie is a bit confused.

Visions of the Things to Be Complete Steddie. Eddie loves M*A*S*H. turns out, Steve also loves it. Eddie's a bit pissed about that.

Starfish on the Beach WIP platonic stobin, steddie. Steve dies instead of Eddie s5 fic, based on my own post

Tumblr Fics

Steddie Focused fics

Stobjargyle and Corroded Coffin au (tag)

Steve's mixtape of government banned songs

Demiro Steve

Addams!Steve (I will def continue this one of these days)

Rockstar Eddie and ~homosexual~ rumours

Human Steve and Spn Human Steve (tags)

Miraculous Au (tag)

Eddie Tweets AU (tag, only one post but will have more)

Baby Eddies checklist to get steve to fall in love with him

BNF Steve ramble

Stobin Focused Fics

Studio Era stobin lavender marraige au (lavender's blue au tag )

Upsidedown death Timetravel au (eventually will continue)

demiromantic steve

QPR stobin in their 40's

Best Hugs

Swimmer Steve au (tag) (possibly stonathan? idk yet tho)

Pjo au (tag)

Post Starcourt haha

Venom!Stobin (tag)

Steve is Seven au

Stobin post order66 au original post (that I'll eventually expand) Dustin realizes Robin and Steve are jedi. Stobin help train Dustin and Eddie is here now

Telepathic Stobin concept

Soulmate Words au snippet

Dream team Steve au prologue p1 (Steve is drafted to the NBA fic with qpr lavender marriage stobin

Misc posts

Steve dragging everyone's taste

Gay Jonathan Byers

Big Brother Steve (tag) original post

He picked up the bat

unrequited Byler p1 (part 2 eventually)

Erica Sinclair post StarCourt

Afterschool care steve

One sided ronance (for Nancy)

Steve doesn't want to be his mum

Bad timeline no Upside Down stancy

#stranger things #steddie #stobin #finda writes stuff #I'll try to keep this update oof

[consistentlyamess]

We'll see about that - Chapter 1⎮Open with me, oh, we could be honest

[4.4K-ish]

pairing(s): steve harrington x fem!reader

summary: You just wanted a fresh start but you might get more than you bargained for when the sleepy town of Hawkins lives up to its reputation.

warnings: takes place after season 4, 18+ , MDNI, slight age gap (reader is like 2 yrs older than Steve), canon typical violence, mentions of a lonely childhood, mentions of difficult relationship with parents, underage drinking, swearing, eventual smut, abusive relationship, brief stancy storyline, strangers to friend to lovers, pining, slowburn

A/N: I HAVE VERY LITTLE IDEA ABOUT WHAT I'M DOING AND I'M TERRIFIED. but I did get about 10 more likes than I expected, and I've been thinking about this story for so long, that so far it's kind of flowing out of me. so here's chapter 1!!! I probably won't be able to keep this pace up, just a heads up. *hides under a rock immediately after posting* just please bear with me while I figure out what I'm doing here, I guess. idk if it's a warning or not but english is not my first language and it's not beta-d. so. it is what it is . 'tough girl' is a very conscius nod to mizz @loveshotzz who had me on. the. floor. with AIRWIY

💜💜💜 TY for reading!!!! 💜💜💜

Fic Masterlist

Previous Chapter I Next Chapter Coming Soon

---

You woke up with a pounding headache. Sometimes they still came. Mostly like this, in the morning, out of nowhere and it takes about two or three aspirins for them to go away.

This is the first hiccup. The last time you had a headache like this, it was about finals time back in Bloomington. You just wanted to get out, you wanted it to be over, barely slept, barely ate, so the headaches were no surprise really. Then after graduation, when you were leaving one cursed town for another, you thought you left the headaches behind as well. Which very obviously was not the case. But they passed pretty easily compared to the previous ones.

The week passed in a blur mostly. You hung out at Family Video quite a lot and when you weren’t there it was mostly just getting used to the town. The first couple of days you find a diner where you can have coffee in the morning. The second morning you run into Steve. 

‘Hey, stranger, how are you doing?’ He says with a boyish smile. 

‘Just getting my morning coffee, trying to show this lovely town that I’m just like them, you know, coffee, pancakes, the works.’ 

‘Good thinking, you would be truly terrifying otherwise.’

‘You think?’

‘Oh, absolutely! 5”6 woman with a killer smile and - and I quote - decent cooking skills? Dangerous.’ He’s flirting with you but you pretend to be oblivious.

‘Well, wait ‘till you see my reward sticker collection. The lack of teachers shows, stacked up some pretty great stars and flowers and whatnot. Those kids won’t know what hit ‘em.’

Fine, maybe not that oblivious.

‘Wow, bringing out the big guns early, huh? How does one earn those stickers? Would some A-grade guacamole do the job at a dinner party?’ 

‘We’ll just have to wait and see, I guess.’ 

‘Guess so.’ You reach the coffee shop and he’s opening the door for you with a sly smile. Oh, boy. 

As you get to the counter, you see that a tiny brunette is already balancing some coffees and pastries there. 

‘... and I’ll also take like four of the cheese sandwiches.’  ‘Coming right up! Hey, give those pastries back, I’ll get you a bigger bag.’ 

‘Thanks, Al.’ 

You don’t miss the way Steve stiffens a little beside you.

‘Having a party Wheeler?’ He says. 

‘Oh, god, you scared me.’ The tiny woman said, clutching at her chest. Her big eyes and tiny pointy nose made her look very cute.

‘You know exactly that’s for those assholes in the office.’ She says with a frown. 

‘I know, you looked very cute though.’ She smiles shyly at that, looking down at her feet. Oh, boy, indeed. 

‘Hi, we haven’t met before-’ you reach out trying to cut the tension.

‘Oh, I’m sorry, I was so occupied with those goddamn sandwiches.’ She shakes her head and takes your hand immediately. ‘I’m Nancy, Nancy Wheeler. You must be the new girl. Robin told me all about you. Went on a tirade actually. You’re starting in Hawkins Elementary, right?’ 

‘News travel a little unsettlingly fast here.’ You let out a nervous laugh. ‘But yes, that would be me.’ 

She glances up at Steve, who suddenly finds something very interesting on the menu above the counter. He runs a hand up his neck and squints at the menu. Subtle, Steven, really. Seamless. 

‘So, she told you about the dinner on Saturday as well?’ 

‘A little more actually, she invited me.’ She frowned again and it made you laugh again.

‘Good! That’s exactly what I was about to do.’

‘Great! She told me she was gonna bring a pie but I’m betting my left arm she’s gonna burn it, so we’ll bring a back-up.’ 

‘We?’ 

‘Jesus, what a fun bunch we are. My boyfriend, Jonathan, is coming too. But only if it’s okay with you! He's staying for a while, finally. A little socialization we’ll do good for him.’ 

OH. BOY. So many alarm bells go off in your brain you can’t even count them. 

‘Next!’ Al shouts out. 

‘Sorry, one sec.’ You excuse yourself and you count your lucky stars that it immediately snapped you out of it. You’re not sure you could’ve contained your face.

‘Hi, Al! Can I get a black coffee to go please?’ 

‘If you ask this nicely, you can have anything, sweetheart. Comin’ right up! Anything else for you? The muffins are fresh.’ 

‘Oh, I wouldn’t miss that! Please, throw one in!’ You smile sweetly and he smiles back. On another day, in another café you might have suggested something very different this guy could do with his fresh muffin but you needed this town to like you. If anything happens or if you run out of gas in the middle of the road, you need to have friends. People looking out for each other. Looking out for you. That’s what these small towns are all about, right? 

‘Jesus, keep it in your pants Al.’ Steve mutters to himself and both you and Nancy raise an eyebrow.

‘Okay, I totally forgot, I have an appointment with the…’ Shit. You’re blanking. ‘... the, uh, the school counselor!’ You say a little more loudly, you’re so proud of yourself. ‘So, I’m off.’ You slap a two dollar bill on the counter and start moving toward your exit.

‘Who? Miss Kelly? Isn’t she on vacation, still?’ Nancy asks. ‘I haven’t seen her in like a week.’ 

‘Well, I have an appointment with someone, maybe it’s not the school counselor. I didn’t, uhm, write it down. But I’ll see you guys on Saturday, right?’ You wave your goodbye and your lungs feel less tight right away as you get out of the diner, leaving a little dumbfounded Nancy and Steve behind you. Whatever you walked in the middle of, you want no part of it. No matter how boyish his smile or homely brown his eyes are.

***

Staying away proves to be way more difficult than you thought though. Robin is way too nice to say no to, and more importantly, you really like her. It also doesn't take long until you meet the other members of the party. You met Jonathan one time at the library you visited. He was with Nancy, looking for something they didn’t elaborate on. A very endearing stoner Argyle, a gloomy kid, who visited his not-a-girlfriend friend in the hospital every week, Lucas, his quippy and lovebly snappy sister Erica, a kid with the smartest mouth on him you’ve ever seen, Dustin, Will, who’s very soft spoken is really fast to become one of  you favorites, not just because he’s really into art, Nancy’s broody brother Mike and of course the shy and sweet El. Or Jane. You’re not sure and nobody else seems to be either. But, hey, who were you to complain about weird nicknames? But all of that came with a lot of Steve on the side and keeping the flirting to the minimum was a real challenge. Especially ‘cause you liked it. He knew what he was doing and he was good at it. But it was impossible to miss how he softened when he saw Nancy, how something akin to hope flickered in his eyes.

It was also impossible to miss that they were hiding something. At one time Mike referred to the mall fire with air quotes and Robin immediately kicked him in the shin. Whenever Will touched his neck, everyone became tense. El kept looking around and spacing out sometimes, until Mike brought her back with a gentle tug on her hand. You’re not stupid, you pick up on these things. But you don’t ask too many questions. They’ll tell you if they want to. Or not. That’s also fine with you. Everyone has secrets and it’s not a surprise that a town like this may harbor more than one. 

The second hiccup does come at the dinner though. You were nervous all day. And of course cooking and cleaning all day. You made lasagne and your favourite salad with grenadine seeds and walnuts, and some chocolate chip cookies, just to be safe. You bought wine and soda, a bunch of scented candles, you cautiously put up fairy lights, the first thing that made the place look more cozy, more yours. Your chest tightened at the thought a little. This is okay, this is your place. This is what people do when they have a place. You were just renting, of course, but the owners made it pretty clear that they’re not planning on coming back anytime soon, so they gave you the all clear on any makeover your heart desired. You didn’t know what your heart desired. Not yet anyway. You were so focused on just getting a place, any place, you would’ve taken a room in an attic without lighting. You’re a little startled by the doorbell as you get lost in your thoughts while tossing the salad. 

‘Shit’ you mutter to yourself. You haven’t changed, your hair is a mess, you’re a little sweaty from all the work you’ve done and of course the table is not set yet. Great going, Peach. One hell of a first impression. Well, it wasn’t a first impression, not really, but still. The doorbell goes off again. 

‘Coming!’ As you tear the door open it presents a bickering Robin and Steve. 

‘... I took my eyes off of it for one second, Steve-’ 

‘Yeah, well the recipe clearly stated that you have to watch it very closely! Constantly!’

‘Oh, my go- Peach!’ Robin rasps as she notices you standing there. She basically throws herself in your arms. ‘I burned the pie.’ She says in a sad voice that reminds you so much of a kid who was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. ‘I failed you, I’m so sorry!’  ‘Oh, honey, it’s okay! I made some chocolate chip cookies, Nancy is bringing some pie as well, we’re all good sweets, don’t you worry!’ You tell her, hugging her tightly and laying a kiss on the top of her head for good measure. ‘And next time just call me, my pies are the talk of every Thanksgiving. I can give you some tips and tricks.’ 

‘You’re an angel.’ Robin sighs. Above her shoulder you lock eyes with Steve for a minute. He watches the two of you with the most doughy eyes and smile you’ve seen on him so far. He waves a little and huffs out a quiet ‘hi’. You take one of your hands from the girls back and wave back to him. He keeps watching and you can’t take it. You pull Robin away, grabbing her shoulders. 

‘Alright, early birds get the worm’ you clap your hands ‘which means, you guys get to help me with the finishing touches, while I go take a shower and change, because I may smell like an onion but I have so much flour and butter on me that if you put me in the oven for 20 minutes on 350º I might come back as a pie as well.’ 

You make them laugh with that and the little laugh that comes out of Steve makes you want to run away into the woods and scream, it's so sweet. For the love of GOD, girl, get it the fuck together. This time Robin’s prodding finger in your ribs is what snaps you out of your state. 

‘You're the boss! We’re at your service, m’lady!’ she bows theatrically.  ‘Band kid?’ 

‘Trumpet’ Steve says with a shit eating grin. Robin seems a little uncomfortable at that. 

‘Figures. Band kids are always the best.’ You wink at Robin. ‘Stamina and nimble fingers. Exactly what you need in the kitchen.’ Wow, you’re staggeringly bad at this not flirting thing. 

‘Well, damn. If you were recruiting I’d never even look at a swimming pool or a basketball.’ Steve counters with the beginnings of that same shit eating grin. 

‘Jock?’ You ask, turning to Robin.

‘But a reformed one at that. Did some penance for his sins.’

‘By driving 12 year olds around town?’  ‘And by bringing wine and some beer to your dinner party, smartass.’ As he says it, he starts moving around you, already having rid himself of his coat and shoes. He leans close and almost whispers the last word in your ear. It makes the muscles in your neck flex. ‘So, where do you need us?’ Robin’s eyes ping-pong between the two of you so you turn around.  ‘Right. Plates are in the cabinet above the sink, cutlery in that drawer, glasses are already on the counter and you have some napkins on the table already. I’ll turn myself into a human again and be right back! Don’t break anything, please, I barely have enough stuff as it is.’ 

Your turn to make your way to the bathroom but you still catch the sound of Robin’s swat that probably lands on Steve’s arm. They hiss something at each other, but you try not to eavesdrop more. Not my circus, not my monkeys, not my circus, not my monkeys, not my circus, not my monkeys. 

By the time you make your way back, Nancy, Jonathan and Argyle are all there. The letter with suspiciously narrow eyes and mellow smile. You make a mental note to ask him about that sometime. As you make your way to the table, still drying your hair with a towel, Nancy gasps. 

‘Oh, my god, I love your dress!’ 

‘Thank you!’ You answer as you reflexively look down at yourself, before hugging her. ‘It was my mom’s in the sixties. Real flower child shit, I love it.’ The dress is almost floor length, it has a warm, orange-ish shade thanks to the thousands of tiny flowers, but it also has a dark, almost black undertone. It hugs your hips and has small buttons running up all the way on the front, top three still hanging loose, revealing some of the lace underneath. 

‘Hell yeah, brochacha, I dig your style.’  You giggle at Argyle’s antiques as you hug the two boys shortly as a greeting. 

‘Hey, do you have a corkscrew somewhere in here?’ Steve calls from the kitchen without turning around. ‘Uhm, that’s a good question actually. Let me check!’ You make your way to the kitchen, and plop the towel on the counter temporarily.  ‘I- oh’ Steve says the moment he turns around and sees you. You’re suddenly very aware of those top three buttons. You should’ve buttoned them. ‘Wow, you, uh, you look really nice.’ He says, running a hand up and down his neck once. So, it is a nervous tick.  You hope to any higher power if they're there, that you don’t blush.  ‘Thanks.’ The smile you can’t hide. You know it’s there, he knows it’s there. Well, fuck. ‘So, have you checked the bottom drawer? I think that’s usually the bastard drawer.’ ‘Bastard drawer?’ He asks with furrowed brows but still not taking his eyes off of the tiny flowers.  ‘My mom used to call it that. It’s the drawer you just kind of throw shit in, shit you don’t know where else to put. It's kind of rude, now that I think about it.’ You grimace to yourself as you zero in on it.

He watches you as you move toward said drawer. He likes the way the dress sways with each step you take. It’s a slow, almost magical movement of fabric in his eyes. A mix between a witch and some sort of fairy. He likes that you’re still barefoot, you look at home, even though you’ve only been here for a little more than a week. He likes the way you tuck your wet hair behind your ear as you crouch down. He likes your wet hair too, if he’s being honest with himself. 

‘Uh-huh! The bastard drawer never disappoints.’  ‘Way to go flower child!’ Argyle chimes from somewhere in the living room. Steve shakes his head at that. But you can tell, he’s hiding a smile.  ‘Thanks dude!’ You shout back as Steve moves towards you. You think he’s going to help you up, but then Robin storms in.  ‘Hey, Peach- oh, come on, I’ll help you up.’ Something flashes in Steve’s eyes as he leans back on the counter.  ‘Do you need help with anything else?’  ‘You can help me bring in the drinks if you’re up for it. The lasagne need another 10 minutes but we can have some drinks until then.’  ‘Really? Me too?’  You snort. ‘I’m not your mom, babes, of course you can.’ 

The evening goes well after that. You get to chatting, you talk about uni, very briefly but you mention that you had a failed relationship as well, you gush about your favourite teacher and ask them about the children of Hawkins. They tell you about the town, about how they met, how they became closer when tragedy after tragedy struck. Robin mentions clumsily that Nancy and Steve used to be a thing, which in turn makes the whole table uncomfortable. Except for Argyle, who, god bless his heart, chimes in with a ‘This lasagne is schmashing dude’. Which eases the conversation again.  ‘It is really good, Peach.’ Steve emphasizes, tongue darting out to lick the corner of his lips. ‘When did you learn all of this?’ 

‘Well, growing up it was just my mom and me. We didn’t have a perfect relationship but she loved cooking. That was really the only thing we did together. Then she had to work more, so I had to do it on my own more and then when I was uni, it was comforting to do things we used to do together.’ You shrug a little almost as a sign that you don’t know what else to say. You do that a lot, Steve notes to himself. As well as the fact that your cheeks and chest get a little pink after two glasses of wine. Just some notes. You don’t know if it’s the wine or the fact that you haven't felt this calm, since what feels like a lifetime, but this sudden openness catches you off guard. But Robin jumps to the rescue again. 

‘Oh, my god, that is so sweet!’ She squeals and she grabs your hand. ‘By the way, I never asked you about how that kind of date went?’ 

Now she is the one with the deer caught in the headlight eyes. 

‘Duuuuude, you had a date? That’s awesome! How did it go?’ Argyle joins your inquiry.  ‘Oh, it was… well, we- uhm’ she gets caught off by the ring of the phone which she seems very grateful for. You? Less so.  ‘Who is- sorry, I’ll go get it.’ As you get closer to the phone, on the other side of the wall, your stomach starts to knot. No one is supposed to know this number. Maybe the school. Please, god, let it be the school. As you reach for the phone, you know it’s not the school. You’re so sure it makes you nauseous. Panic crawls up your throat, your hands are shaking but you know you can’t not answer. Normal people are not afraid to answer phone calls. 

‘Hello?’ You call but nobody answers. You swallow with a big gulp. ‘Hello?’ You try again, this time squeezing your eyes shut and balling your hand into a fist. And that’s when you hear it. Breathing on the other side. You panic and slap the phone back on the wall. 

‘Is everything okay?’ Steve asks and you hear the slide of a chair on the floor, and you start moving further into the kitchen.  ‘I- Y-eah’ you call with a crack in your voice. You take a deep breath, trying to stady yourself. ‘Just ah, a wrong number. I’ll go heat up the pie!’ You try to think about the cold metal of the Colt on your night stand. It’s okay, you’re safe here, you can protect yourself, you made sure. 

You’re already leaning against the stove when he finally catches up to you. 

‘Do you need help?’  ‘No, no, I got it’ you call back over your shoulder, without turning around. You crouch down in front of the oven and open it. The heat comes rushing out but it’s still not enough to warn you. You grab onto the sheet with reckless abandon and promptly burn yourself. 

‘Ouw- Fuck-’ ‘Shit, are you okay?!’ Steve comes rushing towards you as you hear the muffled sound of the others fussing in the living room.  ‘Shit, come on, come here.’ Now he helps you up, one hand holding your wrist, the other settling on the small of your back as he guides you to the sink. ‘We have to put some cold water on it, so it doesn’t blister.’ 

You can only nod. The panic of the phone call is still at the back of your throat but now the burn of your palm feels a lot more urgent, so you will your body and your mind to work together and prioritize here. As the cold water hits the burn, you hiss and Steve apologizes. 

‘No, please, it’s what you’re supposed to do.’  ‘So much for the pie tips and tricks, tough girl.’ He smiles at you a little mockingly.  ‘I never said anything about kitchen accidents. You got nothing on me Mugsy.’ ‘Alright-’ Before he can really get going, Robin clears her throat loudly in the kitchen door, standing with crossed arms.  ‘You guys okay in here?’  ‘Yeah!’ You say, pulling your hand away from Steve as gently as you can. ‘Yeah, just burned my hand. Nothing life threatening. But I will need someone else to put the pie in the oven for me after all.’  ‘I got-’ ‘I can do it.’  ‘Really, Robin? So, I’ll have to take care of two burns?’ Steve says, turning around with his hands on his hips.  ‘Oh, calm your tits mom, I can put a pie in the oven on my own you-’ ‘Both of you can shut up, I’ll put it in.’ Nancy says as she pops in and comes directly towards you and looks at your hand with a concerned look. ‘Are you okay?’  ‘Guys, it’s just a sheet that was a little too hot. I’ll live.’  Nancy nods but you know that she can see that you’re still shaking. She moves to the oven and Steve takes the opening to make his way back towards you.  ‘Do you have some ice? You should put some ice on it for the night.’  ‘Hey, Steven!’ Robin calls out a little too loudly and a little too sharply. And you make a mental note to send her a gift basket because now that the panic and the pain are subsiding, you really don’t want to feel his breath on your cheeks and his fingers moving your wrist so carefully, like you’re made of glass. ‘Would you be a darling and help me open a bottle of wine.’  ‘You’re a big girl, you can open a bottle of wine on your own.’ He quips back.  ‘Oh, now I can do things on my own?’  ‘It’s a bottle of wine not a piping hot oven, Buckley, there is a difference.’  They continue arguing but you can’t make it out anymore under the sound of running water and Nancy and your laughter.  ‘They are literal children.’  ‘It’s cute, really. I always wanted siblings.’ You confide in her. How can you not? Her blue eyes have this shade to them. A shade that sees right through you. A shade that tells you there’s no use in lying. Or hiding for that matter.  ‘Are you sure, you’re okay?’ She asks, quiet, sincere.  ‘Yeah, I’ll be fine. Had much worse.’ You smile at her and she doesn’t push. You’re thankful. 

You almost can’t believe it but the rest of the dinner goes by without any more accidents. You guys come close when Robin wants to cut into the pie but Steve takes the knife out of her hand.  Everyone wanted to help clean up but you swatted them away, insisting that you were the host and it was fine. You pack a box of leftovers for Argyle and he’s out the door. Nancy and Jonathan are the next, thanking you and even Jonathan shooting you a smile that tells you, he really did enjoy himself. By the time you close the door behind Steve and Robin, you almost forgot about the phone call. Almost.  Not even a minute passes when there’s a knock at your door again. You huff out a laugh. ‘I told you, dude, that’s all the cookies I have, there’s- oh, Steve.’ You’re stopped in your tracks. ‘I- did you leave something here?’  ‘Yeah, I,uh, can you check if my wallet is on the counter, for me?’ ‘Sure, come in, I’ll be just a sec.’ You check but there’s no wallet. ‘Sorry, I couldn’t find it! Are you sure it’s not in the car, or-’ When you arrive back he’s leaning over the small dresser next to the door.

‘Oh, shoot! You know what?’ He says, feigning a realization. ‘It was in my back pocket. So forgetful sometimes. Night, tough girl!’ You’re a little confused but that doesn’t keep you from quipping back.  ‘That nickname’s gonna stick, isn’t it?’ ‘Depends. Maybe I’ll think of something better.’ He says with a wink and turns on his heels.

After locking the door you glance down to the dresser. There’s a note on the block of Post-its you have there. 

I’m very used to spending nights on my own in an empty house. If something spooky happens again or you need some ‘tips and tricks’ just give me a call. 

There’s nobody there to see but you still feel like you have to hide your smile by trying to bite into your lower lip as you study his number.

Fucking hell. You really should’ve finished those goddamn buttons. 

#steve harrington fic #stranger things #steve harrington #stranger things fic #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington slowburn #robin buckley #robin stranger things #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #nancy wheeler #nancy stranger things #jonathan byers #jonathan stranger things #argyle stranger things #we'll see about that #WSAT #WSAT fic

[maladaptive-day-dreams]

Think of Me

Steve x gn!reader, angst, 1k words Inspired by the song Think of Me by Madi Diaz (song lyrics are bolded in the fic!)

CW: cheating (Stancy), mention of s3x/infidelity, yelling and fighting, angry reader, despondent but also undisturbed Steve (he’s accepted what he’s done and doesn’t care at this point)

Author's Note: omg wow I'm posting again whaaaaat. First person bc I didn't feel like going and changing it to you/yours, soz. I got a lil sad at this as a relatively new Stevie gal, but pls enjoy (also imagine this as the angsty kind of sad boi to follow...but don't feel too bad for him bc he cheated).

I know that something is wrong. Steve has been off for the last few weeks but I don’t know why and he hasn’t said anything. He’s been distant, less affectionate, only brief kisses on my cheek when he’s leaving versus the usual heady lip-locking. I can’t remember the last time he initiated sex, but I can remember the last time I heard him jacking off in the bathroom even though I told him I was up for it. Or the last time I heard him leave the house and come back three hours later smelling clean, but sweet.

It has me anxious. Like all of my atoms are under attack. But I don't wanna say nothing so I don't react.

I’ve been silent, haven’t brought it up or made it known that I felt him pulling away. No, I don't even notice him.

He’s in the kitchen and I’m in the bath.

“Yeah, I can't play normal and you can't pretend,” I say through the open doorway. I know he can hear me. I see his back tense as he pauses washing the dinner dishes.

“What are you talking about?” he scoffs.

“I can’t pretend that I don't know where you go, anymore.”

He turns, his face marred with a question but his eyes know what I’m saying. He wipes his hands with a dish towel before closing the distance between us and leaning against the bathroom door. I lean on my arms atop the side of the bathtub.

“Am I not enough?” I ask. Before he can interrupt I keep going. “Is it because of what happened last spring? With Vecna?”

He tenses. His eyes focused on the tile floor in front of him.

I continue.

“I know where you go,” I laugh, throwing my hands up and sinking back into the lukewarm bathwater. “I know where you go. Do you think I don’t notice? How you leave in the middle of the night? How you only to come back to bed hours later with damp hair and smelling like Mike?”

He looks at me at that.

“Are you that daft? I buy your body wash. It’s always the citrus one because you can’t stand any other scents, they give you headaches. But when you come back to bed you smell like Irish Spring. I know that’s what Mike uses because that’s what his mom buys him when she comes through my line at the grocery store.”

“You’re crazy. I go to the park and run and then sneak into the pool showers and that’s what people leave there. You know I have nightmares and that running helps.” He starts to turn around, back towards the kitchen

“Then how do you explain your clothes smelling like her room.”

He hesitates. And I stand up in the bath.

“I’ve been in her room before, I know her perfume. For fucks sake we made out for the first time on her bed two years ago at her Halloween party, of course I know what that room smells like. We made one of my favorite memories there that night.”

He doesn’t say anything. I dry myself off and put on my pajamas that were sitting on the toilet lid.

“I hope you fuck her with your eyes closed. And think of me.”

“Y/N,” he whispers, hand reaching for mine when I pass him as I leave the bathroom.

“No. I hope you love her with the lights low and think of me. Think of me waiting here staring at the ceiling, checking the clock for when you come home.”

“Please. You know we have history, you know that.”

I turn and face him. His eyes are watery, red, sad. “Yeah, yeah I do. But I thought you loved me? I thought you were over her? I thought you were just friends now?”

“We’re bonded,” he says grabbing my arms. “With everything we’ve been through, there’s no way I can live without Nancy in my life.”

I stare at him, waiting for him to continue his attempt at redemption.

“We never expected it to happen. We didn’t want to fall back into it but it just— We just did. It was familiar, it was comfortable, it was comfort for us.”

“Being with me wasn’t comfort enough? You had to go back to her?”

Angry tears dampened my cheeks. I ripped my arms from his grasp to wipe them away.

“I hope you fuck her with your eyes closed," I repeat. "I hope looking at her makes guilt burrow into your stomach. Put the shame off with some Benzos, swallow the feeling while you walk home. And think of me. Always.”

Steve’s staring at the floor again. Refusing to look at me.

“You aren’t even denying it anymore. All of the color has drained from your face.”

Nothing. No apology.

“I’m sorry and I love you is noise that you make now. Nothing more, they don’t sound like they used to. Like any feeling you had behind them has disappeared."

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Y’know at first, no, I didn't even notice you stayin' out—Stayin’ out all night. I didn’t think you’d be in her bed, running your fingers down her thighs. Lickin’ your lips in the low light. No, I didn't even notice you come home and kiss me with her chapstick on your lips. I didn’t think you’d do that to me. To us.”

“I-”

“We talked about marriage, Steve!” I yelled, storming into our shared bedroom. He doesn’t follow. “Kids! A life outside of this hellhole!”

I’m throwing as many clothes and things as I can into my duffle bag.

“But now?” I ask, slinging the bag over my shoulder and shoving my feet into my sneakers.

I walk back to the kitchen. He looks defeated. He’s not even trying to save this, to fix this.

“Fuck you, Steve.” I spit, anger mixing with heartbreak. “I can’t-I hope you fuck her with your eyes closed and think of me.”

It’s all I can think of now. I have no words, no defenses, no pleas. Just: “I hope you love her with the lights low and think of me. I hope you fuck her with your eyes closed, put the shame off with some Benzos, swallow the feeling while you walk home and think of me always. Think of me, think of me always.”

I slam the door behind me as I leave and head for anywhere but here.

#steve harrington #steve harrington one shot #steve harrington oneshot #steve harrington stranger things #steve harrington fic #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington drabble #steve harrington angst #steve harrington angst fic #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x gn!reader #steve harrington x reader #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fic #stranger things angst

[hoonphobe]

personally i don’t think the duffers want us to ship stancy. the general audience can clearly tell that they aren’t meant for each other and that them getting back together makes no sense so why would they push for their relationship?

nancy is having relationship problems with jonathan and is clearly using steve as a rebound for a very brief moment. and why would nancy get back together with the guy that made her feel guilty about barb dying?? i don’t think nancy will make any advances nor accept steve’s in the future because she’s more levelheaded than that. it took jonathan being across the country for her to acknowledge steve again so i don’t think she’d suddenly be with him again.

as for steve it’s clear he’s been trying to find a girlfriend and hasn’t been successful. nancy is someone he’s already had an intimate relationship with so it’s easy for him to rekindle these feelings and he’s hoping she’s feels the same way. i highly doubt he’s still in love with nancy. and as soon as she got with jonathan he backed off and went on dates and sorta tried to get with robin before discovering she was gay.

they’re just convenient for one another at this point and life or death situations can bring anyone closer in the heat of them moment. i think the duffers are trying to show this so we can see some obvious growth from their characters later on.

#steddie #ronance #steve harrington #nancy wheeler #stranger things #st4

[jancys-blue-bayou]

How far the Duffers had to reach to stretch out the Jancy/Stancy “love” triangle into s5

Just thinking about how Jancy’s chemistry + Stancy’s absolute lack of chemistry and compatibility meant that to be able to stretch the long dead, tired and played out “love” triangle into s5, which they for some reason decided to do, for s4 the Duffers had to:

- Keep Nancy and Jonathan physically separated into two different plotlines on opposite ends of the country AND invent a reason for them to not be able to contact each other by phone or anything else either.

- Out of nowhere invent a new communication issue between Jancy even though learning to communicate better as a couple was supposedly the relationship arc in s3.

- Stick Nancy and Steve into a plot together and intermittently have them look at each other with non diegetic music playing over to really try and force some feelings into it.

- Have random characters who doesn’t know Nancy at all comment on how she must love Steve.

- Have Steve completely onesided confess his out of nowhere rejuvenated feelings for Nancy.

- Not let Nancy have a voice in the matter of her thoughts or feelings surrounding this.

- Make sure Nancy is interrupted before she can respond in any way besides a horrified look.

- Hold off on resolving the issue this season imposed on Jancy’s relationship.

Had they let Nancy actually respond to Steve, or let Jancy have more than a few minutes of screentime together and let them really talk about the issue raised between them in s4, the so called love triangle would’ve been blown to smithereens. Even just the brief Jancy reunion we got made it obvious how things stand. But for whatever reason the Duffers are hellbent on dragging it into s5 so they wouldn’t resolve every little thread.

#jancy #anti stancy #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #steve harrington #stranger things 4

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Steve sighed as he sat down in the club, a drink in his hand as the women went to go refresh theirs. He couldn't help but smile at Nancy and Robin. He was glad they were friends now. They were the two most important people in his life, and he was glad they were able to be a part of his life at the same time. Nancy was still figuring things out after her dramatic breakup with Jonathan, in which she found out about how he didn't apply to the same college like he had said he wanted to and that he lied about. Of course, she was halfway through yelling at him when she realized that she didn't really care and that she was relieved that they were going to the same college. They both realized that they hadn't really cared for a long time, and there was this weird sort of laughter between them that gave Steve hope. She needed time to figure things out, though, and he was willing to give it to her.

"They are very cute," a woman beside him said.

"Pardon?" Steve asked.

"Your friends. . .how long have they been together?" the woman asked.

"Um. They aren't," Steve said with a confused expression.

At least, he didn't think they were. No, Robin would have told him.

"Are you sure about that?" The woman asked.

Steve watched them. Nancy laughed, and as she did so, she touched her arm. No, Robin definitely would have told him. She tells him everything. She even calls him in the middle of the night to tell him that her period had arrived during the night. Even though she never asks, only calling to complain, he always drops everything to give her the things that she needs. And vice versa. . .well, not a period but a nightmare. She would always answer, and they would talk for hours. No, Robin would have told him. He wasn't sure though, and suddenly, the jealousy he felt whenever he looked at Nancy and Jonathan started to bubble up.

"They aren't," Steve insisted as he turned to face her fully. "The woman on the left is my ex-girlfriend and the other woman is my best friend. . ."

The woman scoffed and gave him such a stink eye that it startled him. Who was she to judge him? They were staring at each other and Steve could feel the bitch rise within him. They didn't even notice when Nancy and Robin started coming back to the table.

"So that means that they're not allowed to date? You know, it's men like you who held back women back for decades, who held lesbians back - " she started to lecture.

"Hey, if you would just let me finish. You don't even know what I was going to say!" Steve exclaimed.

"I know exactly what you were going to say. Because she's YOUR ex-girlfriend and YOUR best friend, they're not allowed to do what makes them happy. Wouldn't want to hurt that frail male ego of yours," she sneered.

"Hey! You're making snap judgments about me, and you don't even know me!" Steve exclaimed.

"All men are alike. . .always telling women what they can and can't do!" She snapped.

"Lady, I don't know who hurt you, but even if it was true, I wouldn't have a problem with them. If they wanted to be together, I would set aside my feelings. . . No matter how much it hurts because I just want to see them happy. That's all I ever wanted for both of them," Steve said, his eyes stinging with unshed tears.

"Right, it's so easy to say that. You men with your pretty words. . . Master manipulators," she scoffed. "Don't you men understand that we would be better off without you. They're better off without you."

The last part hit him like a blow to the stomach. It's something he always secretly thinks about the people in his life, and it started at home. . .wouldn't his parents be better off without him? Deep inside, he thought that way too with his new, better family.

"Hey!" Robin shrieked, and Steve jumped, backing up. "Not you, dingus. The bitch right there."

"I'm only trying to help," she scowled.

"The only person you're trying to help is yourself," Robin said. "And I'm not some helpless little princess who needs rescuing. This princess has helped herself on more than one occasion."

"Lesbians like us - " the woman started to say.

"Hmm. Pretty presumptuous of you. How do you know I'm a lesbian? I could be bisexual or pansexual, a term I recently learned about. Hell, I could be a friend supporting a friend. You got it right. I am a lesbian," Robin said and scowled. "And this lesbian doesn't agree with man hating lesbians like you."

"You don't need a man - "

"That's right. I don't need a man. I want a man. I want this man in my life. He is my best friend, my platonic soulmate, and I have enough lady balls to admit that I would be lost without him, just like he would be lost without me," Robin said. "Never in a million years would I be stupid enough to throw it all away by dating his ex-girlfriend."

"Lesbians can do whatever - "

"Within fucking reason. I mean, sure lesbians can rob a bank, but the question is, should they? Morally, I mean. It's not just the rich folk who keep it there. It's the hard-working folk who are trying to make ends meet who keeps it there, too. I mean, sure, if they were desperate enough, but just because you understand it doesn't make it any less wrong. The question is, how desperate are these lesbians? If they're not desperate and they rob the bank. . .they're greedy. . . But if they're desperate. . .well, who knows what the reason is. To sum it up, I'm not desperate, and I'm not looking to rob banks. I'm not going to date someone just because I can. I'm going to date someone because I want to, and I'm going to do it without hurting my best friend because how can I be with someone if it hurts Steve? I would never be happy in that relationship."

"That's just - " and she scowled as she tried to form words.

"Oh. I'm sorry. Did a Robin get your tongue?" She asked. "Just because a lesbian can do something doesn't mean they should. You're capable of murder too. Should you go on a killing spree just because you can? Everyone's choice has a consequence to it, including lesbians. My life is not better off without him, and how dare you come over to him to tell him that? How dare you try and make him feel guilty for existing. . .for having feelings that matter just as much as mine?! Men are a part of our lives, sweetheart. Suck it up and move on. Now, leave before I decide to start talking with my fists."

The woman huffed and stormed off. Steve and Nancy stared at her in shock.

"Wow," Steve said.

"Lesbians like her give lesbians like me a bad name and a bad taste in my mouth," Robin said as she drained her glass. "Ugh. How dare she put her nose where it doesn't belong? She doesn't even know us."

"You know, If you ever decided to - "

"I know, Steve, and that's why I love you so goddamn much. I need another drink," she said and started to sing as she walked away. "Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never going to turn around and desert you!"

Nancy plopped down in the seat next to him, her own glass still full.

"She's awesome," Nancy said. "That was amazing."

"Yeah," he said.

"I'm glad you finally have someone who will fight for you, not that you ever really needed, but I'm still glad you have it," Nancy said.

"Yeah, me too," Steve said with a grin.

"You know, I fought for you in the beginning. I really did whenever everyone was trying to tell me who I am and that sleeping with you would be a bad idea. And then Barb died, and maybe it wasn't the bad thing everyone was probably thinking about, but something bad happened, and I couldn't see past that. I tried to fight it, but all I could see was Barb dying. I don't anymore, for the record. I just think I needed some time and perspective to really see how I feel about you. It's always been you, Steve. I know I've probably waited too long, but I want to fight for you too," Nancy said.

Steve smiled, his heart pounding in his chest. He took her hand in his.

"I want to fight for you too," Steve said.

Suddenly, Robin came back to the table and squealed at the sight of their joined hands.

"Hey, didn't we come here with another couple?" Robin asked. "Where are Eddie and Chrissy?"

Suddenly, they burst through the crowd, giggling maniacally. Eddie's shirt was off, and Chrissy's face was smeared with someone else's lipstick.

"I finally kissed a girl!" Chrissy squealed.

"Uh, aren't you two still together?" Steve asked.

"We have a very open relationship, Harrington," Eddie said.

"Where's your shirt?" Nancy asked.

"Sometimes, you don't have all the answers to life figured out. When my shirt is ready to be found, it will be," Eddie said.

"You have no clue where it is, do you?" Robin asked.

"None," Eddie shrugged.

They all laughed, and the bitterness and the excitement from what just happened faded away into the distance. Accepting the fact that men and women are always going to be entwined was proof amongst their tight-knit group. Robin and Steve were more than okay with it. No one was going to split them apart, not even each other.

#stranger things #robin buckley #lesbian robin buckley #steve harrington #robin & steve #platonic stobin #platonic soulmates #platonic with a capital p #nancy wheeler #robin & nancy #platonic ronance #nancy wheeler x steve harrington #stancy #brief appearance of #eddie munson #eddie stranger things #eddie munson lives #chrissy cunningham #stranger things s4 #chrissy cunningham x eddie munson #stranger things fanfiction

[thestobingirlie]

Read St Steven part 4!

Cards on the table; I usually have a bit of a hard time with Nancy - or at least, how the show writes her. I don’t really care for Stancy either.

Nancy immediately ejecting tape, wanting to destroy it AND watch it on repeat forever was like a knife to the heart.

BARB! It’s *so* interesting (and such a twist of the knife) that Steve and Barb are so intrinsically linked in Nancy’s history and emotional landscape. The way she’s looking back, almost like she lost Steve the same time she lost Barb.

And Jonathan…I honestly wasn’t expecting him to come up in Nancy’s sections - and yet his absence still felt like a gut punch.

(I don’t know if this is something you’re gonna write, but I am curious how Jonathan is dealing with this - if he sees it as anything to be dealt with, except for how it effects Nancy. Is he worried that she’s retracing the same steps she took with Steve in season 2?)

I love all of it, I just needed to sing particular praises to your Nancy/the Stancy stuff.

And to let you know that I am once again picking Mike up and rattling him like a Christmas present. What is going on in your head, Michael? I need to know!

Anyway, hope this ask finds you well, despite the BS RE; Eddie’s book. X

thank you so much!!!! i’m so glad you enjoyed the fic, and my interpretation of nancy!

barb and steve as these two totally different people that haunt nancy in very similar ways is sooo interesting, but especially in the context of, like, nancy only had the both of them together for a very brief time, and though steve lived longer than barb, stancy’s relationship was so bogged down with trauma that it almost becomes unrecognisable to what it was at the beginning of s1. in other terms, (like you said) she lost steve when she lost barb, it just took him another year to die.

jonathan (and jancy) is really interesting to me in an au where steve dies, because you just know he haunts that relationship. i am gonna focus on the repercussions of steve’s death on the relationship (though probably not from jonathan’s pov. at least not for a long while), so i won’t spoil anything too big, but steve is essentially the barb of that relationship. except steve wasn’t her best friend, he was her boyfriend. and jonathan now has this unchangeable, can’t ever do wrong figure to be compared to… and that’s never gonna be a healthy relationship lmao.

mike just wants to help nancy 🥺❤️ he doesn’t know how but he’s trying baby.

#saint stephen #nancy wheeler #stranger things #asks #anon

[lesbianrobin]

what are your opinions on all the popular st ships?

gonna try and be brief! sorry if i forget any

mileven: very cute, they need to relax tho

byler: i'm apathetic about the ship itself but a lot of the shippers r. insufferable.

lumax: LOVE. SHOULD BE MORE POPULAR. this should be THEE ship among the younger set honestly.

elmax: they r my babies i think they're So cute together

jancy: they have such divorce energy

stoncy: booooo

stancy: BOOOOO

ronance: i Hate ronance so much nancy is just so mean to robin for No reason i cannot get behind it

steveddie: i Love steveddie as a ship obviously i post ab it a lot but a lot of the popular content is so annoying. like a lot of it has that Default Two White Guys Ship energy yknow? but the ship itself 💕

jopper: they should have fucked raw onscreen

#asks #stranger things

[scoopsgf]

okay i’m a big stoncy shipper and so i obviously love both jancy and stancy, but what i don’t get about the whole “jonathan lied to nancy when he said steve asked him to drive her home from the party” debate is that like, there’s no way that steve could have known jonathan was the one to take her home unless they talked about it. he had no idea jonathan was at the party or that he was even coming, and yet

“no, that was your other boyfriend, that was jonathan.”

this is said definitively. it’s not “that must’ve been your other boyfriend.” while i don’t wanna outright discount the possibility that jonathan did lie and steve left her there, i also think it’s well within the realm of possibility that there was a brief interaction at that party between jon and steve, and jonathan wasn’t actually lying. anyway tl;dr we shouldn’t be so quick to assume steve would just abandon her.

#stranger things #stancy #jancy #fr tho i love both ships and i love all three of them together #jonathan has flaws and has done horrible shit to nancy too tho. same as steve. #but people on either side seem to forget that. they can be rlly myopic when it comes to either ship #which i get but i just… it doesn’t seem like steve. i think the duffers threw that line in there to establish that #steve didn’t leave her. that jon wasn’t lying. #no offense to charlie but his delivery can be off sometimes bc he’s playing a socially awkward character so like #analysing his body language and speech patterns is so hard sometimes LMFAO

[infestedguest]

For your tagging post...

Cross tagging is really annoying, especially if it's not friendly to your ship. And I agree, tagging within the "other" tag section with minor/past [ship] does better. Especially if it's just mentioned and not gone into a whole lot. But I also think that sometimes, if the fic does go into detail about that past relationship, it should be tagged with the ship even if it's not endgame. Tags are for sorting/filtering, and only tagging endgame ships would be detrimental and not give a clear picture of the fic for sorting. Same goes for one-sided fics. They need to be tagged (and can be tagged as one-sided [ship] in the relationships bar but that also just puts it in the main tag I think, so putting it in the list of other tags is good, and is easier to filter) otherwise they wouldn't be properly tagged.

Fics that are not friendly to a ship, but explore that ship, should still be tagged as such. It sucks to see, but I think that's tagging properly. Fics that include mention, or brief background ships need to put those in the "other tags" section so readers know what's inside and they don't clog a tag. If that makes sense.

You’re definitely making sense, and I technically agree with you, at least to a certain extent.

I should’ve probably clarified this in my original post: my problem isn’t with fics that explore the ship and portray it in a negative light. Most of the time that kind of shit is like crack cocaine to me.

The problem here is that most of these fics don’t explore stancy. They explore a different ship, with stancy as background dressing or as a narrative device. It’s used as way to further the progression of the ship the fic is actually about. In the case of it being a past relationship, there is almost always little to no detail.

It’s all about that different ship, which is fine, but it doesn’t belong in the stancy tag.

#also thank you for the long ask it was a really engaging read/gen #crosstagging #fandom meta #fanfiction meta #stancy #stranger things fandom #stranger things fandom meta #stranger things fanfiction meta #anna talking about stuff

[consistentlyamess]

We'll see about that ⎮Prologue

pairing(s): steve harrington x fem!reader

summary: You just wanted a fresh start but you might get more than you bargained for when the sleepy town of Hawkins lives up to its reputation.

warnings: 18+ , MDNI, canon typical violence, eventual smut, abusive relationship, brief stancy storyline, strangers to friend to lovers, pining, slowburn

A/N: I HAVE VERY LITTLE IDEA ABOUT WHAT I'M DOING AND I'M TERRIFIED. so just please bear with me while I figure out what I wan to do here, I guess. 💜

Fic Masterlist

Next Chapter

---

Rolling into the small gloomy town didn’t have any of the mysterious bravado you were anticipating. No roaring clouds or looming men in black coats. But it wasn’t exactly comforting either. The sky was a little weird, dark smoke coming from somewhere. But people were outside, some cars running by, it wouldn’t have felt off in the slightest if it were the beginning of November. It was the end of August though. Granted you weren't counting on the same busy streets you were used to in Bloomigton but a few kids running around, school supplies here and there, something that indicated the start of a new school year would’ve been nice. But there was nothing like that. After the “Welcome to Hawkins HELL” sign it was like you entered a different dimension completely. The end of summer shouldn’t have felt like this. Filled with gray and goo and oozing with uncertainty.  

It did come in handy with the accommodation, not many people want to rent rooms in a town where teenagers and children go missing (if they’re lucky) on a regular basis, malls burn down and weird natural disasters seem to occur out of nowhere. You glanced at the map that was nearly dry now after having coffee spilled on it a few hours ago. Finding the street should be easy at least. The realtor lady gave an unnecessarily long-winded explanation to where you could find the house. Like she was worried that you might turn around and leave if it took more than five minutes to find the house. You wouldn’t have turned around of course. This was precisely what you were looking for. Somewhere no one else is looking for. 

The low prices, the ever vacating spots in the elementary school also worked in your favour. You were just out of college, nobody in their right mind would’ve given you a full-time teaching spot. Unless of course they desperately needed someone. It was elementary but still, it was a teaching job. A real teaching job. And it somehow seemed that maybe an earthquake or two is worth the fresh start. God knows you needed it. 

Unpacking wasn’t hard at all. Two boxes of belongings, journals, pens, paper, you still needed to buy a pair of scissors that was for sure. A box of kitchen supplies, although the lady did say that the former residents left in a hurry so there’ll be plenty of stuff left for you. About two suitcases filled with clothes and your pillow. That was about it. Packing in the kitchen you also made a note to buy some new kitchen towels. When you were finally done, you were exhausted. You considered for a minute that maybe you should just read a little and call it a day. You had a week to adjust and discover the town, but somehow you still felt restless. 

Picking up the car keys, setting out to get some dinner and maybe grab a movie, you were out the door again. Spending more time in the town, you started to get that mysterious bravado you were expecting. People were out on the streets, yes, but nobody would look you in the eyes and you could swear everybody was staring at your car when you stopped for gas. Maybe it’s just a small town, you thought, it takes time for people in places like this to get used to a new face, right? And after all, they were probably shaken by the recent tragedies that seemed to have a perverse fascination with the small town in Indiana. There was this tense atmosphere, really everywhere you went. The convenient store was a little empty and the cashier looked at you like she just caught you cheating on a test. A little suspicious, a little apprehensive, a little scolding. She didn’t even say a proper goodbye, just kind of hummed. Even though you made it a point to be very polite. Sometimes your black clothes and eyeliner throw older people off even if you're nowhere near a goth or metalhead vibe.  

Next stop was the grocery store. Get some dinner, get some breakfast and then get back home. Maybe discovering the town at this specific moment wasn’t that great of an idea after all. 

You were checking out the snack aisle, debating whether you should stack some stuff up or maybe buy just enough for that day and the next, so you would have to come back. Maybe if they see you more frequently they’ll get used to you faster. Lost in your thoughts and eyeing if they had Pringles you were alerted to your surroundings with a loud bang of your basket. 

“Oh, shit.” You said in tandem with the girl you bumped. “God, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking- 

“Oh, fuck, I can’t believe this, why do I have to be so clumsy all the time!” The girl with the dirty blonde bob exclaimed. 

You both scrambled to your knees and gathered your stuff, mostly helping the other person. 

“I’m so sorry, I was just thinking about what I should be wearing tomorrow because I have this date thing. Kind of. I don’t even know if it is a date. We’re going to the movies, but friends can go to the movies, right? So, where does that leave me? Do I put on mascara or is that trying too hard? Do I wear a skirt? I don’t even own a skirt! I could always borrow one from Nancy, but the mere thought of pink and ruffles makes me want to hurl and- Jesus, and now I’m rambling and you don’t wanna hear this and- I don’t know you.” 

You chuckled a little. 

‘It would be weirder if you did. I just arrived today, and you didn’t bother me at all. This is like the third place I’ve visited today and you're kind of the only person who’s not acting like I’ve already committed a crime when I wasn’t planning on doing that for at least two more weeks.’

She stares at you with a little crooked smile in the corner of her mouth and wide eyed. 

‘I’m joking of course.’ You tried to backtrack immediately when you didn’t get a reaction. ‘I’m not planning on committing any crimes! Unless you guys consider returning a library book too late a felony.’ She was still just staring and blinking at her. ‘Also a joke, sorry. God, I’m on fire today.’ You muttered to yourself. 

‘Oh, my God, I haven’t said anything in so long! Those were good jokes, just- I’m just- why are you here?’ 

You were taken aback by the question. So that’s it. This is what everyone's thinking upon seeing you here. That there must be something wrong with you. Or you have some ulterior motives for moving here. Not like they’re wrong, but jeez, they could cut a girl some slack. 

‘Wow, very straightforward.’ You chuckled again awkwardly, trying to delay your answer as much as possible. 

‘No, I mean, I’m just surprised. We don’t get a lot of new residents these days.’ 

‘Fair enough.’ You took a deep breath, contemplating what to say exactly. ‘Well- 

‘Oh, Robin. Robin Buckley.’ the girl said, giving her a little wave. 

‘Well, Robin, I just finished university and my training as a teacher. I have a fuck ton of student debts and believe it or not, not many schools are looking for a teacher with no experience. So, here I am. The children of Hawkins Elementary will have to make due with yours truly. And besides, I don’t scare that easily.’ You tried a little mischievous smile and much to your surprise and delight, it worked. The freckled girl lit up a little and gave her a good, full mouthed grin. 

‘Okay. I think you’ll fit right in.’ 

You laughed at that. 

‘Sorry, what was your name again?’ 

You reminded her that you never really told her your name, which now you did. 

‘But my friends usually just call me Peach. I used to talk a lot about peaches when we realized I’m allergic to them, and it just kinda stuck.’

‘It was very nice to meet you, Peach! If you need any advice on the coolest spots or the lamest ones, maybe in a bookstore or something, just ask.’ 

‘Actually, I might take you up on that right now. I wanted to rent some movies for tonight and I heard there’s a video store in town but I haven't found it yet.’ You haven't tried that hard either,but she doesn't have to know that. The first person who was nice to you all day. You need this.  

‘You, my friend, have come to the exact right place! Come on!’ She just headed for the cashier. 

‘Well, I guess no Pringles for me then.’ You whisper below your nose.

‘Shit, sorry, I didn’t even ask if you were done!’ Robin turned around and rushed back. 

You found her very endearing. She was younger. Not by a lot, but just enough that you could feel it in her tone, see it in her gangly limbs and hear it in her rambling. She was like a puppy dog that was still trying to find its footing in the world. 

‘You’re okay, just gonna grab some Pringles.’

‘That’s my favourite too!’ She exclaimed again and this makes her look even younger. Finding such joy in such a simple thing. Something you don’t remember doing in a long time. 

‘Great, then I’ll know who to blame when they run out’ you said jokingly.

‘God, you’re good.’ Robin grinned once more and you felt like this town might not be so gloomy after all. 

***

‘Oh, and there’s of course Lovers Lake but...’ she trails off for a second there. ‘Yeah, no one really goes there since the, well, you know the murders last year.’ 

‘Okay, so Enzo’s is a yes, Family Video is a yes and Lovers Lake is a ‘you really should know better’. Sounds about right?’ 

‘That’s exactly right!’ 

Robin has been catching you up on the town’s intricacies for the past 10 minutes as you walked towards the video store. 

‘And what kind of movie were you thinking?’ 

‘Oh, I don’t really know. I’m a little wiped from the drive, so nothing heavy. No double features. I live alone and haven’t really gotten used to the place yet, so no horror either. Just the thought of romance currently has shivers running up my spine, so a strong no to that too. I’ll have to go with some action or comedy, I think. Back to Future and Ghostbusters never disappoint.’ 

‘Bad breakup?’ 

‘Huh?’ 

‘You just said romance makes your spine tingle or whatever. Bad breakup?’ 

‘Uhm, yeah, sort of.’ You don’t wanna say anymore but you also don’t want to look like you’re hiding something. It’s not even that. You’re just trying to forget. ‘But it’s a long and not exactly happy story.’ 

‘No, I get it. Breakups are a bitch. Not that I know that much about it.’

‘I mean, how much do you really have to know? You loved someone and they loved you and it’s not like that anymore. It sucks whichever way you cut it.’

Robin hummed at that and became very quiet. You were worried that maybe you struck the wrong chord with what you just said. 

‘If you haven’t broken up tho, we probably never would’ve met, have we?’

‘That's a good point Robin.’ You smiled at her and looped an arm in hers. ‘Now come on, show me where the goods are!’ 

‘Please, don’t get your hopes up too much, we don’t have anything that isn’t at least two months old and our manager is a bit of an asshole but I’m sure you’ll find something and Dingus is not half bad at this anymore either.’ 

‘Dingus?’ 

‘You’ll find out in a second’ she said pushing in the door.

‘Sorry, we’re closing in five minutes. Please come back tomorrow or be very quick ‘cause I have to pick someone up. Thank you!’ you heard someone calling from the back. 

‘Calm down Dingus, it’s just me and my new best friend.’ 

A messy brown haired boy popped up from behind the counter. 

‘What?’ 

‘Peach, this is Steve, Steve this is Peach. Peach is new in town and Steve’s a dingus.’

‘Hey!’ the boy said, indignant.

‘She’s gonna figure it out sooner or later, might as well get it out of the way.’ 

The way they talked to each other was very sibling-like. You didn’t have any yourself but your best friend in high school had three and this was mostly the way they communicated with each other. Not very veiled insults and teasing. Classic. And also highly entertaining for everyone involved, if done correctly. 

‘Sorry, I don’t wanna keep you away from your date, I just wanted to rent a movie for tonight.’ 

‘Oh, he’s not going on a date’ the moment the frackled girl spoke up, Steve started to give her his best ‘please shut up’ eyes, but she didn’t notice. Unlike you, who definitely did. He wasn’t subtle. ‘He’s just picking up his other friend, who happens to be a 14 year old.’ 

You couldn’t not chuckle at that even though you really tried, seeing as the boy in front of you had a pained look in his eyes and a bit of a blush on his cheeks. 

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. Also, I’m not one to talk. I chose a whole ass career that requires me to spend hours upon hours with children, so…’ you shrugged as a way to indicate, you didn’t really have a good closing thought for that sentence. 

‘Are you a babysitter?’ The boy asked with furrowed brows and a tilted head. He didn't look unlike a goden retriever puppy.

‘No, dude, she’s a teacher! Isn’t that awesome?’ 

‘A teacher? Aren't you, like, way too young for that?’

‘You guys have very little scrupulous about what you can and can’t say, huh? But to answer your question, yes and no. I just graduated, but this place was losing teachers so fast, they needed an arts teacher, like, yesterday, so here we are. Also I did everything early.’ 

‘How old are you by the way, if you don’t mind me asking’ Robin chimed in now.

‘I’m 23. I have a good 10 years before I start being precious about my age, I think.’

He let out a light laugh and you took it as all clear for the laugh earlier. 

‘Okay, so did you guys just come here to annoy me or can I help you with something?’ 

‘Oh, yeah, sorry, I was looking for a movie for tonight and Robin offered help.’ 

‘Great, what’s the mood, what are we thinking? Winding down after a long day with a glass of wine? Or are you looking for some excitement? Maybe a date night?’ 

This time you’re the one to miss the curious glint in the boy’s eyes, while Robin catches it and squints at Steve’s sneaky inquiry. 

‘Oh, first one for sure. I’ve had enough excitement for one day and if I had a date I’d either need a lot more or a lot less snacks. So, just some classic entertainment for me today. You know, Risky Business, Raising Arizona, Back to the Future, something like that.’

‘Really? Back to the Future?’ 

‘What? You didn’t like it?’ 

‘It’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s just a weird movie.’ 

‘Okay, the mom falling in love with her son part gets a little dicey at places but I love the concept, the DeLorean is a crazy cool car and Michael J. Fox is a total cutie. It’s a future classic.’ 

‘Huh, maybe I should give it a second chance.’ 

‘I might be biased but you definitely should. But only after I brought it back.’

‘Of course, ladies first, always.’ Now he smiles with something more than a little mischief. ‘Uhm, I’ll go get it for you, just stay here.’ It's not lost on you that the boy is pretty. But you know his type. It's the type you have stay cautious with. The dangerous type. At least for you.

‘So, what are your plans for the week?’ Robin asks as Steve disappears between the rows. 

‘Not much really, just wanna get a little more situated and used to the town before starting school. I still have to buy some supplies, I’m big on reward stickers, I have to make sure, I always have them on me.’

‘And there we go, one Back to the Future for you’ he smiles. ‘Now I just need a couple basic information from you. Full name, address, date of birth aaand a phone number.’ 

You give your info to him and he rings you up. 

‘Well, it was lovely meeting you guys, and you know, I guess I’ll see you around.’

‘Sure, and if you need help with anything else-

‘Enzo’s is a yes, Family Video is a definitely and Lovers Lake is a ‘you should know better’, got it.’ 

‘I mean, Lovers Lake gets a bad rep, but as long as you don’t want to swim it’s a great spot for a picnic or just hanging out’ Steve chimes and Robin squints again. 

‘Huh. Alright, well, I guess I’ll just have to see for myself.’ You say your goodbyes and you start heading for the door but turn back as you suddenly think of something. 

‘Hey, if this is too much, just say so, and I’ll go and we don’t have to talk about this ever again, but would you guys want to come around for like a housewarming dinner sometime? I know it’s probably too early but I don’t have any friends, or know anyone here, really, and you guys seem cool. I’m a decent cook and I can buy alcohol absolutely legally and I don’t have any board games, but I can buy some, or charades or whatever’ you knew you were rambling, but you couldn’t help it. You were tired and you hated to admit it but also a little bit lonely. You went out on a limb here, something that you arguably maybe did too much. But to your surprise they perk up.

‘Yeah’ Steve says with a hint of a smile. ‘What time were you thinking?’

‘How about Saturday, say around 7?’ 

‘It’s a date, we’ll be there, right Robs?’

‘Sure, we’ll bring desserts and oh, we could introduce you to a couple of our friends? Or maybe that’s too overwhelming. But it’s just a couple people and they’re all great, I promise. I mean, they’re little shitheads sometimes but they’re great.’

‘Yeah, oh my God, that sounds awesome! Can’t wait! And you have my address now, right?’ You raise an eyebrow at Steve. 

‘Y-Yeah, we do, see you then. And just for the record, I can buy alcohol legally as well.’

‘Hm. Good to know.’ 

You’re giddy with your plans and have a spring in your step as you walk back to the car, blissfully unaware of Robin scolding Steve behind you.

‘Stop that.’

‘What? I’m not doing anything.’

‘Is it a date night? Lovers Lake? We don’t ask for anybody’s phone number and then you sign off with ‘it’s a date’? You’re not slick Harrington.’ 

‘Oh, shut up, those were just… I was just making conversation.’

‘Uh-huh, sure thing Casanova.’ 

‘Okay, maybe I was testing the waters a little. So what? I’m single, from what I understand, she is too, it’s not a crime.’ 

‘You’re also in love with Nancy. And she seems way too cool and way too nice for you to break her heart. Not that Brenda deserved to get her heart broken, but she was always a little mean in high school, so I’m biased.’

‘I didn’t break Brenda’s heart, she just liked Nate more and I’m not in love with Nancy.’ 

‘Fine, but you’re sure as shit not gonna break hers either. And don’t tell me, you’re not still hung up on Wheeler, cause I can see the look in your eyes, every time that obnoxious pizza van rolls into the parking lot. Also I think she might just have gone through a rough breakup or something.’

‘Who? Nancy?’

'No, Dingus, Peach!' Robin says as he swats at his chest.

'Oh.'

‘Yeah, she didn’t like say it-say it, but mentioned something in the parking lot that sounded a lot like it. So, just, you know, tread lightly, okay? 

***

As you drive back home, that spooky feeling and mysterious bravado strike again. It wasn’t dark just yet but the sun was much lower in the sky and the empty streets felt colder somehow. You usually loved sunsets but there was something unnatural about the hue of orange and red today, and you did not like it one bit. 

‘This is okay, you’re okay.’ You muttered to yourself, as you looked into the rearview mirror. ‘This is exactly what you came here for, you’re not chicken shit, you’ve dealt with much worse, just get it together.’ 

You rested your head against the steering wheel for a second. Almost unconsciously, as a routine or a mantra you reach for the glove compartment. Opening it, you reach inside and immediately relax as you find the Colt in there. You let out a long exhale and finish the routine with checking the bullets and the safety. You shove it in your bag and head inside the house.

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