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stevie-petey · 2 months

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episode six: the spy

Steve looks like a kicked puppy as you storm ahead of him and Dustin, putting enough distance between you guys so that you can’t hear their conversion that follows. “Shit…” “You’re awful with women.” Dustin says, now continuing to walk. He doesn’t bother to follow after you, knowing that you need your space to cool down. “I wouldn’t follow her, by the way. Let her cool off.” Steve sighs, now walking as well, “Yeah, I know.”

Summary: dustin and steve haggle a butcher, you throw some meat at steve and then have a weird conversation about love, you stop dustin from becoming an incel, and then you wrestle some demodogs like any real woman would. side note: steve is hot protecting the kids.

Rating: general, violence and swearing

Warnings: fem!reader, use of y/n, violence and swearing, blood mention and ptsd mention, weapons, fire, probably more

Words: 17.1k (i fear how much longer these next few chapters become)

Before you swing in: its here !!! god, this chapter was ROUGH. the conversations between bug and steve took many rewrites and editing. i wanted to get it just right, and finally i think im satisfied with where they landed. bug and steve aside, i absolutely loved writing this chapter with the kids. i sincerely hope you guys enjoy, this chapter took blood, sweat, n tears lmao

You’re the first to break the silence as you all stare at the hole Dart created in the wall in shock.

An obnoxiously loud yawn escapes your lips, and Dustin and Steve shoot you simultaneous weird glances. You feel your face heat up in embarrassment. “Sorry… It’s been a long day.”

Steve huffs. “Yeah, no kidding.”

Dustin clears his throat before standing up. He wipes off some dirt that got on his jeans and then offers you his hand so that he can pull you up as well. You accept it and stand, your bones a deep, weary type of heavy that only comes from pure exhaustion.

“Okay,” Dustin begins, and you can already see a plan forming in his mind. “Steve, you’ll spend the night here so that way we can all get up bright and early to start our search for Dart.”

Steve attempts to argue, but Dustin puts his hand up to shush him and continues with his speech. The older boy throws his hands up in the air and gives you a look of disbelief over your brother’s antics. You stifle a laugh, which he only rolls his eyes at. Steve, whether he likes it or not, will have to get used to Dustin’s… Dustin-ness.

“If he escaped through the tunnel, then we have to assume that there’s an opening somewhere above ground.” Dustin finishes.

You nod your head slowly, still unconvinced. “Okay, but how do we find him? Better yet, what happens when we do? It took Nancy with a shotgun, my knives, Steve’s batting skills, a ton of fire, and almost dying a bunch of times to take down the Demogorgon.”

Dustin lets out a tired sigh. “I’ll figure it all out, alright? For now, let’s just get some sleep. Maybe it’ll come to me in a dream or something.”

“A dream? Seriously?” Steve looks at the two of you as if you guys will start laughing and tell him it’s all a giant joke. Unfortunately, it isn’t.

Steve spent all last year and most of the summer getting to know you. He’s used to your quips and soft spoken teasing, but Dustin? He’s uncharted territory and you’re secretly relishing in seeing Steve fumble around him. You’ve never had anyone else interact with your brother before, only Jonathan, so this change is odd, but welcomed.

Dustin pays no attention to you and Steve as he begins heading up the steps, back to your home. Once he disappears, you nudge your shoulder against Steve’s. “You know you don’t actually have to spend the night, right?”

“Ya know, I can’t quite tell if the kid will let me leave or not.”

You laugh. “He’s harmless… Mostly. I promise I won’t let him bite, but I also understand if you want to leave.”

Steve looks away, sensing the undertones of what you’re saying. You’re giving him another out, one last chance to leave and go back to pretending like everything's okay. You wouldn’t blame him, and you get a sense of deja-vu from that night at Jonathan’s. When you tried coaxing Steve to leave, to spare himself from everything he inevitably ended up suffering from.

After a minute or so, Steve shakes his head. “I’ll stay. You need my help.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say need–”

“Shut up and let me help you, Y/N.”

You sigh. There’s no arguing with him, he’s made up his mind and your truce that you shook on ten minutes ago burns your hand. He’s staying.

“A ‘please’ would’ve sufficed, but fine.” You link your arm around Steve’s and make your way up the cellar steps. “C’mon, Dustin is probably waiting for us with some new insane plan for where you’ll sleep.”

–

You know that your mom is safe, off at the other side of town, searching for your dead cat, but it’s still lonely walking into your empty home. Dustin is standing in the living room waiting, but you can see that it makes him uneasy as well.

Steve follows behind you and takes a look around. When he spots the lumpy, old, sagging couch in front of the window, he frowns. It’s barely bigger than he is, his feet would definitely hang over the edge. “This my bed for tonight?”

“It’ll have to be, unless you want to come snuggle with me in my bed.” Dustin says.

“I wouldn’t, he kicks in his sleep,” you tell Steve, attempting to make light of the situation.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” he snorts. Then, as if he’s done this a million times before, Steve flings himself onto your couch and his feet do indeed hang over the edge. “Oh, yeah. This will definitely be cozy.”

You wince. “I’m sorry, you’re still free to go home. I completely understand and–”

“Unless…” Dustin begins to brighten up and he wiggles his eyebrows at you. Pure horror washes over you; you know that look on his face. He’s scheming.

“Dustin, whatever is about to come out of your mouth–”

“Y/N has this giant bean bag in her room. Practically takes up the whole space, and, luckily for you, my new friend, it’s Steve-sized.”

Steve whips his head to face you, a curious look on his face. “You don’t say, Little Henderson?”

Both boys look at you, a matching glint of evil in their eyes, and you realize you’re trapped. When did they manage to sync up to make you miserable?

You weigh your options against your morals. On one hand, it’s your room and you and Steve are still warming back up to each other. However, on the other hand, Jonathan has spent countless nights on that bean bag himself.

Dustin’s right. Steve would fit perfectly.

Damn him.

You shuffle your feet, averting Steve’s eyes. “I mean, I guess you’d fit.”

“You guess? Steve, she’s had Jonathan sleep on that thing like a bajillion times.” Dustin waves his arms out, gleeful that he’s won. “In fact, I think our mom specifically bought it just for him.”

He now steps closer to Steve and eyes him up and down. “I’d bet money that you two are about the same size, so as I stated earlier: it’s Steve-sized.”

“I’m actually taller than him, so…” Steve mumbles to no one in particular, but quickly clears his throat and changes the subject. “And I’d finally be able to see Y/N Henderson’s room? Count me in.”

You blush furiously. He’s getting a kick out of all of this and he’s such a little shit, honestly. You’re not sure why the thought of having Steve Harrington in your room, eager to be in your room, makes your stomach flutter and your cheeks burn painfully.

Steve sees your blush and he wiggles his eyebrows at you. “C’mon, Y/N. It’ll be like a sleepover.”

“You’re far too pleased about all of this.”

“We can pretend to be back at Bookstrordinary. I’ll even stack some books that you definitely have in your room.”

Dustin stands between you and Steve, his face alight with joy and curiosity. “Can I please know when you two became best friends?”

“No, you hid Dart from me.”

“I’m not gonna live that down, am I?”

“Nope.”

Steve clears his throat, clearly amused by your banter with Dustin but still unsure about everything going on. “So… What do ya say, Y/N?”

You bite your lip and look at him. He’s pathetically too large for the couch, it wouldn’t be fair to just force him to sleep there because of the weird way he makes you feel as if you’re floating yet falling all at the same time.

Exhaling, you give in. “Fine, but do not touch any of my books in the room.”

“Yes!” Steve high fives Dustin and you roll your eyes at them both.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. It’s late, can we please just go to bed now?”

Dustin sends you a wink, which thankfully Steve doesn’t see. “Sure, sis. Have a good night.”

And with that, probably because he senses you’re about to throw a shoe at him, Dustin flees the living room and runs to his room. As soon as he’s gone, Steve bats his eyelashes at you and playfully teases, “Take me to bed, Y/N.”

You snort, despite how exhausted you are. “Never say those words to me again.”

He laughs and stands up, following behind you as you guide him towards your own room. A part of you feels like you should give him a house tour, but logistically it’d be useless. You can’t imagine that Steve would be over at your house again once the Dart situation is handled.

You have to remind yourself that there are still roses for Nancy, currently wilting, in the backseat of Steve’s car.

They’ll work things out eventually, or maybe they won’t, but Nancy Wheeler still has Steve Harrington’s heart. He is her’s entirely.

Lost in thought, you almost miss the turn to your room and have to grab the back of Steve’s jacket and yank him towards your bedroom door.

“Hey–”

“Sorry, my room is here.”

“You Hendersons are just a delightful bunch, ya know that?”

“Be thankful you don’t have to meet our mother, honestly.” You fling your bedroom door open and gently push Steve inside.

As soon as he’s in your room, you watch as he takes it all in. His eyes scan every corner of the room, and you hold your breath as you wait for them to land on the Spider-Man poster he gave you for Christmas last year.

When Steve sees it, he smiles shyly at you. “I see you kept the gift.”

“Duh,” you walk over to your bed and sit down. “Still one of the best gifts I’ve ever been given.”

“One of?” He asks, tone light but curious.

Unconsciously, your fingers go to your bee necklace from Jonathan. You play with the pendant and smile softly. “Sorry, Jonathan kinda beat you to it.”

“I figured,” he shrugs, shoving his hands in his pockets, uncomfortable. “I noticed the necklace the day I gave you the poster. Didn’t want to, uh, assume. I guess. But the necklace was from him?”

“It was,” you clear your throat, talking about Jonathan with Steve has always been such a foreign feeling for you.

Steve seems to be thinking the same thing and starts to wander around your room instead. You silently thank whatever god is up there for giving you the motivation to clean your room earlier that week. Normally you’re a neat person, but ever since Will started showing signs of post-traumatic stress, you’ve spent more time obsessively researching rather than tidying up.

Therefore, there’s still books strewn across your desk alongside some comics. Steve sees a Spidey one and holds it up with a laugh. “He’s everywhere.”

“He is.” You say proudly, now getting up to go into your closet to pull out the blankets and pillows usually reserved for Jonathan.

Steve wanders around some more as you dig through your closet. He lingers in front of your dresser, which holds photos of you, Dustin, and Jonathan.

“Here,” you hand the bedding to Steve and motion to where the bean bag is.

He looks up from a photo of you and Jonathan from last year. It’s your favorite of the two of you, he stands behind you in the picture with his arms wrapped around your waist and his chin on your shoulder. You’re both smiling widely at the camera, the moment captured by Will because he wanted to try out the camera Jonathan had gotten that summer.

“You guys are really close, huh?” Steve asks.

You nod, although confused by his question. He spent half the summer with you and Jonathan at your job. You had conversations about your friendship together, but you suppose it’s different seeing the excess of love you have for the boy within your room. Jonathan is everywhere, if you look hard enough, you’ll find him.

Steve pauses for a second, as if he wants to say something else, but shakes his head and turns towards the bean bag. He arranges the pillows so that they’re flush against the wall facing your bed, which you think is an odd choice, but say nothing. Once he’s arranged the pillows and blankets, Steve turns to you and clears his throat.

“I hate to ask this, I really do, but I also don’t want to sleep in these jeans,” he waves his hands over his pants, which have always been a bit together than you thought was necessary. “Any chance I could wear something of Jonathan’s?”

You think for a moment and dig through your dresser. “I’m not sure, but if I can’t find anything of his then I think my old camp t-shirt can fit. As for pants, won’t your boxers work fine?”

Steve’s face turns red and he clears his throat once more, speaking in a slightly squeaky voice, “Y–yeah, I guess so.”

He’s stumbling over his words, which makes you pause. There’s no possible way that he’s nervous right now. He’s usually so confident and comfortable around you. Hell, last summer he offered to be your first kiss (by kissing his fingers and pressing them against your lips, but still).

“Are you shy right now, Steve?”

“What? No!” He scrambles to the other side of the room, putting as much distance between the two of you as he can.

You raise your eyebrows at him, but your cheeks are flushed as well. “Okay then, whatever you say.”

It’s painfully quiet after that as you continue looking for something for Steve to wear. You swear that Jonathan has left behind some of his things, and right before you lose hope, you spot a pair of gray sweats and an old The Clash t-shirt of his.

“Here,” you toss the clothes to Steve without even checking if he’s looking. You hear a crash and know that he, in fact, had not been looking.

“Gee, thanks.” He says sarcastically, but you giggle.

“No problem,” you begin to gather your own pajamas before pointing towards your door. “There’s a bathroom to the left, down the hall. You can change there.”

“Then our sleepover can commence?”

You wave him off, but you smile anyway at his question. You missed his boyish charms. “Sure, buddy. Go change.”

Steve salutes you and then leaves the room, softly closing the door behind him. You change while he’s gone and tie your hair up. After a few minutes, you assume Steve has had enough time to change and make your way over to the bathroom so you can brush your teeth. You’re so excited to go to bed.

However, the door is closed when you approach, meaning Steve is still changing. You knock on the door, “Are you almost done in there?”

“I’m having… problems.”

Your hand hovers over the door, mid knock. “Problems?”

There’s only silence for a moment, almost as if Steve is contemplating elaborating. Finally, after several seconds, he says “I’m definitely taller than Byers.”

You roll your eyes and begin knocking again, just to annoy Steve, until he finally swings the door open. Before you can even stop it, a loud laugh escapes you. The sweats are at least five inches too short on him, while Jonathan’s shirt is a size too small. He looks absolutely ridiculous.

“It’s not funny!” Steve whines, his face once again red. “I thought you gave me Jonathan’s clothes, Y/N!”

More laughter escapes you, making your ribs begin to hurt. Every time you try to speak, you laugh even harder, and it’s impossible for you to get any words out. Steve watches, not amused in the slightest, and crosses his arms as if to appear more dignified.

“I’m sorry,” you manage to gasp out, more laughs threatening to spill from you. “I guess they’re clothes from when he was fourteen.”

“I’m reconsidering our truce from earlier.”

This gets you to stop laughing, and you gasp and smack Steve’s chest. “You wouldn’t dare!”

He sighs, hanging his head low. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Exactly,” his admission makes you giddy. “Now, either make yourself cozy in the bean bag or watch as I brush my teeth. Your choice.”

Steve shrugs and steps to the side so that there’s room for you to enter the bathroom. It’s a tight fit, but he ends up sitting on the edge of the tub and just watches as you begin the process of brushing your teeth. “I didn’t actually think you’d stay, ya know.”

“I know, but I’m bored and you’re here.”

You spit into the sink. “Fair, I guess.”

“Plus,” he picks at his nails, trying to look disinterested while wearing Jonathan’s too small clothes. “We still need to have that talk.”

You pause, toothbrush hanging from your lips as you stare at Steve, wide eyed, in the mirror. Honestly, you were hoping he would’ve forgotten about that. It’s not that you don’t want to know whatever he has to tell you, but you’re tired and still reeling over the fact that he’s spending the entire night in your room.

“Oh, right.” Turning the faucet off, you finish brushing your teeth and awkwardly wipe your face. Steve watches quietly, and once you’re done, you motion for him to follow you back towards your room.

As soon as you’re back in your room, Steve immediately curls himself upon the bean bag and brings the blanket all the way up to his chin. Dustin, as always, is right: the bean bag truly is Steve-sized. “Cozy.”

You laugh at him as you crawl into your own bed. “Yeah, I’d hope so. Jonathan has slept in it for years now.”

“Well, uh. Speaking of Jonathan…” Steve sits up a bit so that he can properly look at you. “I wanted to talk. Ya know… About you and him. Nancy, too.”

He pauses, furrows his brows, and then adds. “Actually, I want to talk about what really happened this summer. Everything. I want to know everything.”

“Everything is a lot,” you dodge, turning away from the boy.

Steve sighs. “Y/N… I missed you.”

Missed.

“I want to be friends again, be how we were before, but… I don’t know. There was a lot unsaid between us. Even from the start. I mean, I understand. I do.” His eyes never leave yours, despite how much you try not to look back at him. “You’re, well–If we’re going to be friends again, I want to start from the beginning.”

“The beginning?”

Now Steve is the one who looks away. “I don’t know, it’s stupid, I guess–”

“It’s not stupid, Steve.” You reassure him. He’s trying, he’s inviting you in after everything you did to him, and it’s all you could’ve asked for.

But you’re fucking terrified.

You and Steve became close before, sure, but it was something more surface level. An act between the two of you. While Steve was able to read you over time, learning and asking and paying attention to you, there was still so much you never let him in on. What you haven’t let anyone in on, besides Jonathan.

If you start from the beginning with Steve, someone you know has come to view you as this selfless and kind person, you’re scared that it’ll change the way he sees you.

But Steve is looking at you from the bean bag, looking ridiculously cozy with the blanket wrapped around him and his usually carefully curated hair has fallen in his eyes; his gaze is open and trusting. There isn’t a pressure behind it, he would understand if you backed down, but you promised him you’d try.

To try is to be human.

And you really, really missed Steve.

“I moved here when I was twelve. My family and I had moved all the way from Virginia after the divorce. I remember being really mean, back then. An angry kid with all this hurt within her that she perpetually displaced upon everyone else.”

“Angry?” Steve asks, his voice soft.

You shift uncomfortably in bed, but you remind yourself that you agreed to this. If you’re going to begin again with Steve, then he deserves to know the true person he’s befriending. “Angry. I didn’t take the divorce well. At all. I acted out a lot, closed myself off, and was just a fucking awful person.”

Shifting again, you take a deep breath. “My anger got to the point where Dustin, who was nine, had to practically plead with me to be nicer to him. He was a kid.”

“So were you,” Steve gently chimes in, but you roll your eyes at him.

“Being a kid didn’t give me an excuse to abandon my loved ones like I did. Like my father did. It wasn’t until Dustin called me out on my bullshit that I realized the irony of the situation. There I was, blaming everyone else for my own problems and running away, because I was so hurt by my father doing the same to me.”

Steve clenches his jaw, and you know he wants to say more, but you watch as he exhales deeply and decides against it. “Okay, so you were mean and then you became kind again after something traumatic… So what?”

“I’m sorry?”

“I mean,” the boy sighs. “I was a dick for like, ten consecutive years. It took losing a fight to Jonathan, embarrassing myself in front of Nancy at least five times, losing my bullshit ‘friends’ Tommy and Carol, and some blonde guy with a fucking mullet before I was even able to become a decent person.”

You frown. “What’s your point?”

“My point is that you came back.” Steve shrugs. “The second someone you loved asked you to, you came back to being the selfless angel that you are. Which, by the way, is an impressive feat in itself.”

He says this as if it’s obvious and that the months you spent hurting everyone around you can be redeemed. As if you haven’t spent every waking hour tirelessly devoting every piece of yourself to those around you to make up for them. To repent for your anger.

Steve takes your silence as more defiance, and he runs a tired hand through his hair. He’s merely a few feet from you, at the foot of your bed on the bean bag, and yet it feels as if he’s inches yet yards away. “I know I can’t change your mind, but… I think that’s what matters the most in the end, ya know? You became kind.”

“So did you,” you finally say, not quite ready to accept what he’s saying.

Now it’s Steve who looks away. “Still working on the whole ‘kind’ thing.”

“Isn’t that what matters in the end?” You tease, feeling yourself warm with pride when you get him to laugh.

“Touche.”

Silence falls over the two of you, letting the tension lazily slip away for now. Your body hums with energy; the only other person you’ve told about your father to is Jonathan. You both have long since bonded over shitty father figures. However, even when you had whispered these truths to Jonathan back when you were thirteen, you don’t remember feeling quite so saw and vulnerable as you do right now with Steve.

“I meant it, you know,” you catch Steve’s eye. “Back when you first drove me home last year. You’re alright. Not too shabby, honestly.”

This time a full body laugh cascades through the boy, He clutches at his stomach as he doubles over, breathless with joy. “Thanks, Y/N.”

Steve is still laughing and this is the happiest you think you’ve seen him in months. The realization makes all the warmth you’ve felt earlier, vanish. You remember the hurt on his face earlier this week on Halloween, the tears in his eyes when he confessed that Nancy didn’t love him.

You know how plagued Steve is about never being good enough, and for the first time since you’ve truly gotten to know him: you understand him in that very moment.

Your eye catches on Steve’s adam’s apple as he swallows. It’s a tragedy, really, how attractive he is. You suppose it’s what caused his downfall, in the end. A pretty boy, rich and popular yet easily able to be taken down; it must be a lonely life with all that vulnerability.

“Can I tell you a secret?” You whisper, voice cutting through the darkness of your room as Steve seems to remember where he is, why and how the conversation started in the first place.

“Always,”

“I’m scared of the compulsive need I feel to take care of everyone. It’s like… I don’t know, this debt that I feel I owe for existing, for the fear I feel because of my father leaving. I overcompensate for this fear now, terrified I’ll become mean again.”

Steve stares at your ceiling. “The whole ‘debt’ thing, I understand. Believe me. Rather than being a perfect angel, however, I just try my fucking hardest not to disappoint everyone around me and make them leave.”

Nancy, as she always seems to do, lingers between you and Steve now; you both can feel her presence without him having to say her name. He told you what she did to him, you tried to reassure him that it hadn’t been his fault, but Steve isn’t an idiot.

Nancy never loved him. He knows this, now.

You don’t say anything, you don’t think he’d want you to. Giving him some time, you allow Steve a few minutes to collect his thoughts, sensing he has more to say. Then, softly, he whispers back to you, “Can I tell you a secret?”

“Always,” you echo.

“I just want to be loved.”

With just one confession, a string of six words in succession, Steve Harrington crushes you.

The words come crashing upon your chest and you wish you could tell him how easily you see yourself falling for him. How, even if you can’t admit it just yet, you’re already falling for him. You think you have been for some time now.

Somewhere, in between him driving you home last year and the way the summer sun kissed his face months later, you began to fall in love with him.

While you’re thinking this, Steve is laying in the bean bag, absolutely terrified of the words that have come out of his mouth. He’s always had the fear, deep down, that he was unlovable, but to admit the fear out loud… He’s never felt so weak before.

You’re silent and Steve thinks he’s finally done it. His pathetic need to be liked and loved by everyone around him has finally scared you away. How couldn’t it scare you away? You so naturally are loved by everyone while Steve compulsively demands it because he’s still that scared ten year old boy with a father who never showed him love.

Then, because you’re an angel, you give Steve the response he hadn’t even known he needed to hear. “It’s natural to want to be loved. We all do. It’s human.”

He exhales at your words, still staring at the ceiling as if to somehow lessen the impact of what you’re telling him. There’s something there, hanging in the air after your words have disappeared, that Steve can’t quite understand.

It almost sounded like you were trying to reassure yourself, as well.

“What’s the deal with you and Jonathan?” Though Steve’s voice is steady, you can tell that he’s trying not to sound too interested.

The question is a simple one, but it’s the hardest question you’ve ever had to answer. Everyone asks you, sooner or later, if you and Jonathan are together. You never blame them for asking, because ultimately the two of you are closer than the average friends, regardless of gender.

It doesn’t make the question any less painful to answer, though. It doesn’t make hearing Jonathan’s laugh cut any less deeper.

As for Steve, he’s asked this question before, albeit with teasing and disbelief whenever you’ve told him there’s nothing there. Despite the numerous times you’ve corrected him, he’s never quite believed you.

This time, it feels different. There’s a weight behind Steve’s question, and your silence is all the answer that he needs. “You love him.”

The words aren’t a question, and they harbor no malice. He says them as if they are a fact; you suppose that it is. You don’t say anything, but you do nod your head at him. “I do… I think I’ve always loved him, honestly.”

You’ve never, ever said those words out loud. Not to anyone.

And now, you’re confessing them to Steve, who doesn’t have to ask you why your voice now holds melancholy within it. He knows, he’s always somehow known. Jonathan doesn’t love you, a fact in which Steve has never been able to wrap his head around. He’s watched the two of you for years, how easily you love one another, and yet somehow the love never blossomed into something more.

Everything stills between you and Steve, allowing both your confessions to surround the two of you. “I’m sorry.”

Steve’s apology only causes you to shrug. “He’s still mine, at least for now. Is that so bad?”

“I mean, I guess not, but… Doesn’t it get exhausting?”

“God,” you squeeze your eyes shut, finally able to voice all you’ve been feeling to someone who can understand. “It feels like this crushing weight upon me every time I see him smile, like it’s a burden, carrying all this love within me without being able to express it freely. I just… I never thought that love could be so exhausting. ”

As the words start to come out, you find that you’re unable to stop. “I grew up with Jonathan, I learned the way he breathes and the way his hands feel pressed against my skin, but so much has changed and…” Your breath hitches. “He’s not someone I reach out to first anymore. It almost feels like I can’t. I love him, I do, but I also miss how it used to be before I realized everything.”

The pressure of tears builds behind your eyes and forces you to stop talking. If you say anything else, you’re afraid you’ll start crying. While Steve has been so lovely tonight, it wouldn’t be fair to ask him to console you so pathetically.

Steve seems to hear the tears lacing your voice and speaks for you, having finally pieced together everything he’s been unable to articulate since November of last year. “With Nance, it feels like I’m always somehow two steps behind her and her feelings. Constantly playing catch up while the rules keep changing on me… I get the whole ‘love is exhausting’ thing.”

Though you know Steve means well, his words fucking terrify you. If he feels the same way towards Nancy, a girl who never ended up loving him despite how much he poured his heart out for her, what does that mean for you and Jonathan?

For the first time, you question if the exhaustion you feel surrounding your love for the boy is really something else. Something different, disguised as exhaustion.

You wonder, deep down, if you’ve started to fall out of love with Jonathan.

Who are you if you have?

The boy has become so intertwined within your life, the threads and strings and lines have tied you to him indefinitely. He’s the reason behind your everything. If you no longer love Jonathan, then who are you, really?

The realization washes over you like cold rain in the middle of winter. It spills over you and pricks at your skin and you suddenly want the conversation to end. While you’re so relieved to be talking to Steve again, the conversation has left you with more realizations than resolutions.

“It’s late,” you fake a yawn, desperate to cut the conversation short. “We should go to bed. Knowing Dustin, he’ll have us up at the crack of dawn to start looking for Dart.”

Steve sees right through you, he knows he’s somehow crossed a line and that you’re once again retreating. You’re closing yourself off from him again, but he’ll take whatever he can get from you. You’ve told him more than he ever thought you would, so for now he’ll play along.

“Goodnight, Y/N.” He says, watching as you reach for your lamp and turn the light off. Then, as soon as you’ve rolled over and closed your eyes, you faintly hear his final words. “Don’t we make a pathetic pair?”

You remember, before drifting off to sleep, feeling relief wash over you that Steve once again considers the two of you a pair.

–

You wake up the next morning to the faint sounds of Dustin getting ready. His shower can be heard from your room, and through the years it's become your morning alarm. Yawning, you roll over and rub your eyes and take a few minutes to let your brain wake up.

Bits of yesterday’s events come back to you.

Dustin confessing about Dart.

Locking the Demodog in your cellar.

Radioing everyone in the party for help and getting no response.

Going to the Wheelers for Mike and coming back with Steve.

Dart going missing.

And, most importantly, your bizarre conversation with Steve last night.

The boy in question lets out a loud snore from the bean bag, blankets haphazardly twisted around his legs, and you stifle a laugh. Even in his sleep, Steve Harrington somehow catches all the attention in the room.

You throw your blanket off and get out of bed, tiptoeing so as to not wake up the sleeping beauty, and head outside to your kitchen. If yesterday was any indication of how long today will be, then you need all the coffee in the world to get through it.

The coffee has just finished brewing when you hear Steve stumble into the kitchen. His eyes are bleary and his hair is the worst it’s ever looked. “I guess even Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington can’t escape bed head, huh?”

Steve acknowledges your quip only by grunting, still stumbling around through your home. So he isn’t a morning person, you think with a smile while bringing your coffee mug to your lips and taking a careful sip.

Eventually Steve makes it to your kitchen table and plops down, letting out a loud yawn and smacking his lips. He looks pathetically endearing, really, especially given his outfit that looks even worse after sleeping in it. The shirt has ridden further up, exposing a bit of his stomach (which you divert your gaze from, feeling yourself blush), and one of his too-short pant legs has ridden up to his knee.

“You really are a natural beauty in the morning, Steve.”

“Ha,” he says boredly, looking around the kitchen. “Do you guys have any food? I’m starving.”

You toss him an apple from the fruit basket on the counter, and Steve only just manages to catch it in time to avoid it hitting his face.

“Christ!” He exclaims, glaring at you when you chuckle at his reaction. Maybe it was a little mean, but you see the small smile he tries to hide.

“Is this all I get? An apple thrown at my face?”

You walk over to the table and set your mug down. “Were you expecting a home cooked meal?”

“You’ll have to earn a Y/N Henderson breakfast,” Dustin says as he enters the kitchen and joins the two of you. His hair is still wet from his shower and he drips onto the counter, which makes you cringe. He’s such a boy, sometimes.

He makes his way over to the fridge and rustles around, looking for something to eat. Truthfully, the reason you threw the apple at Steve is because there’s no food in your house at the moment. Your mom normally goes to the grocery store on Saturdays, and in her frantic rush to find Mews she hadn't left any money for you to go to the store.

“There’s no food,” you inform your brother.

He sighs dejectedly, grabbing a banana and then plopping himself next to Steve at the table. “All right, are you two awake enough to discuss the plan?”

You nod immediately at Dustin’s question while Steve slumps further into his seat, groaning. You run a hand through his hair to try and settle down his theatrics. Dustin sees this and raises an eyebrow at you, but you shake your head and motion for him to keep quiet.

“So,” he takes a bite from his banana and begins speaking with his mouth full, which you make a face at. “I was thinking we lure Dart with bait to a secure area that we can catch him in.”

“Wait,” Steve sits up a bit in his seat, careful to not knock your hand off his head. “That’s all you got? That’s the entire plan?”

“Yes. Is there a problem?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he begins eating as well, his mouth also full and disgusting to look at, “Do you know how we’ll lure him? Or where? Better yet, how will we even catch him?”

Dustin narrows his eyes. “Okay, so it’s a working idea. You got anything better?”

Steve opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. He pauses for a second before seemingly drawing a blank and closing his mouth; he sinks back into his seat in defeat.

“That’s what I thought.” Dustin says smugly.

You take another sip of coffee, enjoying the mug’s warmth around your fingers. “Well, we at least know what Dart likes to eat.”

“We do?” Steve questions, looking up at you.

“Oh, just wait until you hear this,” you motion over to Dustin. “Go on, tell Steve what you’ve been feeding Dart.”

Now it’s your brother’s turn to sink into his seat, embarrassed. He mumbles something that Steve can’t quite hear.

“What?”

He mumbles again, only a tiny bit louder this time.

“Little Henderson, I can’t understand you.” Steve says, smirking when he feels you laugh against him.

“I said he eats Musketeers Bars!” Dustin shouts, now incredibly defensive.

In sync, you and Steve share a look. While you have an exasperated fondness on your face, Steve looks like he’s questioning every choice he’s made in his life. It’s cute that he thinks this is the weirdest things will get.

“Okay…” Steve looks over at your brother. “Unless you plan on buying out an entire candy store, we need something else for bait.”

In the corner of your eye you see Mews’ cat bed laying against the window, and an idea pops into your head. “Dustin, did Dart only eat the candy bars before he killed our cat?”

“Yeah, why?”

As you walk over to the kitchen sink to place your mug in it, you begin explaining. “Then clearly he’s outgrown his sugar needs and would probably eat just about anything with flesh on it.”

Steve wrinkles his face with displeasure, not enjoying the thought of going after this monster that craves meat. He’s already done that, and call him crazy, but he really doesn’t want to experience anything like that ever again.

Dustin’s eyes light up, following along with what you’re saying. “Raw meat! You’re a genius, Y/N!”

“And then we can follow the train tracks to that old junkyard, the one that El brought you guys to last year. It’s a straight shot, Dart won’t get lost, and then we catch him.”

Dustin squeals. “That’s perfect!”

He stands up to hug you, which you gladly accept. “Yeah, yeah. We Hendersons are known for our genius,” you gently push your brother away and start exiting the kitchen. “I’m going to go shower and get ready. Steve, you’ll take Dustin to the butcher and see if you can haggle some raw meat out of him.”

“Uh… can I change first?” He asks, running a hand through his hair with displeasure.

Only now does Dustin notice Steve’s appearance and he lets out a loud cackle. “Oh, I think you look great!”

You shoot your brother a warning look, not wanting to upset Steve too much. He’s the only one with a car, and the party still hasn’t responded to Dustin’s calls, so he’s all you have right now. Plus, after last night’s conversation, you’re sure he’s feeling just as wound up and tense as you are.

“We can swing by your place on our way to the train tracks. Your house is right next to it, anyways, and Dustin and I can scout the parameters while you shower and get yourself all pretty. For now, just go to the butcher's shop, please.”

“But–”

“Please, Steve?” You pout, daring him to argue with you again. Steve is only able to stand his ground for about five seconds before he groans and nods his head.

“Fine–” You quickly hug him before running towards the bathroom to get ready.

Once you’re gone, Steve searches for his keys while Dustin stands in the kitchen, shocked. “I so need to know when you two became such good pals.”

“Go wait by the car, Little Henderson.” Steve waves him off, though he’s secretly pleased with how the morning is turning out so far.

–

“C’mon, man. It’s just chunks of raw meat, it doesn’t even matter what, uh, body parts they are, I guess.” Steve argues with the butcher, having no idea why you’ve sent him on this journey with Dustin. Neither of them have any idea about butchers and meat, so they’ve been arguing back and forth for a solid ten minutes with the guy.

“And I already told you, it’ll be $15. Take it or leave it, pretty boy.” Pat, the butcher, says.

Steve scowles at the name, “That’s insane for five pounds, you realize that? It’s just a bunch of meat chunks from god knows where, it’s not like we want prime rib you dirty sack of–”

Dustin cuts him off, snatching the boy’s wallet from his back pocket and pulling out a twenty. “Ignore him, please! Here, thank you so much for your lovely service, good sir.”

Pat narrows his eyes at the boy, and for a split second Dustin is afraid that he’s trying to figure out the best way to skin them alive, before he simply grunts and takes the money.

Relief washes over Dustin and he scrambles to grab the bags of meat, tugging at Steve’s sleeve in urgence until he gives in and begins to help as well. Within a few seconds, they’ve gathered all they need and head towards the car.

“Keep the change!” Dustin calls out behind him.

As soon as they’re in the car, he yells at Steve to step on it. It’s already been twenty minutes since they left the house, and he knows from experience to never keep you waiting.

“Okay, okay, god.” Steve complies, pushing down on the gas and speeding away from the butcher’s shop.

The smell of raw meat immediately infiltrates the car, so Steve rolls down the windows and sighs. This is definitely not the weekend he had in mind. He thought he’d apologize to Nancy, kiss and hopefully make up, and maybe even swing by your place to tell you the good news.

Instead, he has buckets of raw meat in his car and his head is swimming from his conversation with you from last night. While he’s happy it happened, there’s still so much Steve feels like you aren’t telling him. To top it all off, he hadn’t been able to sleep in his own bed, but rather a bean bag that Jonathan apparently has slept in a million times before.

As Steve is moping, he realizes that there actually wasn’t even a real need to spend the night.

“Hey, Little Henderson,” Steve gently hits Dustin’s shoulder to get his attention. “Why did I have to spend the night at your place?”

“Oh, you didn’t.” Dustin says as if it’s no big deal.

Steve turns his head towards him, “I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah, I didn’t think you’d actually spend the night if we’re being honest. I just thought it’d be funny to mess with you.”

“I tried arguing with you, but you shushed me!” Steve exclaims, putting both hands back on the steering wheel aggressively.

The younger boy shrugs, “What are you, seventeen? Eighteen? Why would you listen to a thirteen year old?”

“Well, I–” As much as he wants to, Steve really can’t defend himself on this one. Shit. It’s not like he can tell Dustin that he mostly stayed because his sister is pretty and makes him feel safe.

Dustin smiles, happy to have won the conversation at hand, and decides to really rub it in as they pull up to the house. “I also thought it’d be hilarious to pair you up with my sister. Hope you two made smart choices last night.”

And with those words, Dustin springs out the car, leaving a speechless Steve behind. He turns the car off and sits there for a moment, completely at a loss for words. He’s only spent a total of sixteen hours with the kid, and already he knows he’s in for a world more of trouble.

If you’re Hawkins’ sweetheart, then Dustin is the town’s horribly terrifying weasel.

Meanwhile, you’ve just finished lacing up your shoes when Dustin walks in.

“Where are the rubber gloves that mom likes?” He asks in lieu of greeting you.

“In the closet, second shelf, next to her cat figurines. Where’s Steve?”

Dustin rustles around the closet and pulls out three sets of gloves, “In the car, moping.”

There’s a crash and then he tosses two buckets onto the carpet. You crouch down and grab the buckets, placing them on the table. “Why is he moping?”

“Why is who moping?” The man in question walks in, throwing himself on the couch and narrowly dodging the third bucket that Dustin throws out. “Why do you guys keep throwing shit at me, jesus!”

“Language! There’s kids around,” You snap your fingers at Steve, who quickly cowers in shame. “And if it makes any difference, the bucket wasn’t intentional. The rest were, though.”

Just as Dustin is finishing up in the closet, you spot a can of gasoline and an idea sparks in your head. If you learned anything at Jonathan’s house last year, it’s that these Demogorgon things really hate fire. “Hey, grab the gasoline as well.”

He does as he’s told, no questions asked, and then hands it to you. You add it to the pile on the table, along with two backpacks from your brother and your beloved switchblade.

Steve gets up from the couch to investigate your stash, nodding approvingly. “Not bad, guys. What are we going to put in the backpacks, though?”

Dustin goes into the kitchen and begins grabbing the few items within it. The remaining fruits in the basket, a few pieces of bread, a bag of chips, and some water bottles. “One bag will have our food, the other will have our weapons.”

And with that, you guys are all set to head out. While Dustin is distracted with grabbing his backpack, you run towards Steve’s car and throw yourself into the passenger seat. Every man for himself.

“What– Y/N!” He calls after you, but he’s too late. You’ve already buckled yourself up by the time he and Steve get into the car themselves.

“She beat ya, buddy.” Steve teases, flashing you a proud smile.

Dustin grumbles in the backseat, unamused, and for a moment you think he’ll leave it at that. However, because he’s Dustin, you see from the rearview mirror as his eyes spark with revenge. “So, Steve.”

The tone in his voice terrifies you.

You place your head in your hands and sigh, mentally preparing for whatever your brother is about to say.

“Yes, Dustin?”

“How long have you been friendly with my sister?”

“Dustin!” You whip your head around, lunging towards the back seat to swat at the boy, but he quickly scoots over to Steve’s side and avoids your hands.

Steve, however, surprises you by simply shrugging and taking the question in stride. There’s no embarrassment on his face, no ounce of hesitation in his voice. “About a year now.”

“A year?” Dustin exclaims, having completely not expected such a response. “Y/N, how could you keep this from me?”

“She didn’t hide anything from you, buddy.” Steve defends you, eyes focused on the road. “I convinced her to be my friend after I saved her life–”

“You saved her life?”

“And then bought you boys snacks at the hospital afterwards. Then, because I really wanted to be her friend, I basically stalked her at work every day and annoyed my way into her life. We’ve been pretty close ever since.”

Dustin’s jaw is practically on the ground after Steve’s quick explanation, left speechless for the first time in his life. As for you, you’re admiring the way the early morning sun causes Steve to glow. You’ll never be over how often his beauty distracts you; you wonder how Nancy, or really anyone, could deny him love.

If you didn’t know Steve, if you passed by him on the street one day as complete strangers, you’re sure that a part of you would fall in love with him.

Even with pieces of his hair standing all over the place, his shirt still being too small, he was a delicate kind of handsome that made you feel a certain warmth.

“Did I forget anything, Y/N?” Steve’s voice breaks you from your thoughts, and you quickly divert your eyes away from the way his arms look while holding the steering wheel.

“No, uh.” You clear your throat, still recovering. Steve seems to be in good spirits for once, it’s a breath of fresh air seeing him so content, and yet it also serves as a stark reminder that you made the right choice when you first distanced yourself from him. He’s just too easy to love. “I think you pretty much covered everything. Unless Dustin has any questions?”

“Give me three to five business days to process this, please.” Your brother mumbles from the backseat, which you and Steve laugh at.

The rest of the ride is relatively peaceful after that, and a few minutes later you arrive at Steve’s house. It’s different in the daylight, only ever having seen it late one night driving the boy home from the Halloween party.

It’s a beautiful home, the smell of chlorine fills your nose. The pool, you remember Nancy mentioning his pool when she explained what happened to Barb. You shiver, now aware that you’re in the same place that your friend took her last breaths at, just a year ago.

“The tracks are just over on the other side of the street, and I shouldn’t be too long, so you Hendersons can start figuring out the plan in the meantime.” Steve instructs you and Dustin, getting out of the car and entering his house.

Dustin begins getting out as well, so you unbuckle your seatbelt and follow. Thankfully you decided to wear jeans today with a simple tank top and cardigan with your knit socks; though it was late October, it’s unusually sunny outside and the walk from Steve’s to the junkyard was easily four to five miles.

The two of you walk over to the tracks and you survey the area. You’re not sure what exactly you’re looking for, but you figure it’s best to look focused in case Dustin yells at you.

“We’ll need to go that way,” Dustin points in front of you, and you nod as you follow along. “We can drop the meat chunks every few sleepers so we don’t waste any of it.”

“Sleepers?”

“These.” Dustin’s shoe scrapes against the bottom wooden planks.

“You would know what they’re called.”

“Ha ha, any more quips or can I continue?”

You put your hands up in surrender and Dustin begins to speak again.

“Then once we get to the junkyard, we can dump whatever meat is left in a pile and put the gasoline on it. Once Dart is distracted and eating, we’ll light it on fire.” His words catch a bit at the end, and you suddenly feel bad for him. He clearly still cares about Dart, but you know your brother understands the risks of letting the Demodog live.

Without saying anything, you reach over and pull Dustin in for a hug. He fights it at first, but after a couple seconds he gives in and hugs you back. You aren’t the most affectionate pair of siblings, but you love your younger brother fiercely. Not for the first time, you wish you could’ve done more to prevent him from discovering the Upside Down.

You know it’s irrational to blame yourself and feel guilty, but maybe if you’d been more involved last year, then maybe he wouldn’t have so many nightmares.

“I’m sorry about Dart,” you say softly against his hat.

Dustin breaks away, shrugging his shoulders. “Gotta protect the party, right?”

“Right.” You flick his hat. “C’mon, let’s go back to the car and start putting the meat in the buckets.”

True to his word, Steve is ready to go after about twenty minutes. He walks out of his house, freshly clean and put together, right as you and Dustin finish preparing the bait. He approaches from behind you, and you can smell his cologne. Memories from when he’d have his arms around you and you’d smell the familiar scent now wash over you.

Clearing your throat, you turn to hand him gloves and a bucket, but almost drop it when you see him.

He looks good. Like, frustratingly good. His hair is back in its usual style, but he’s wearing a dark blue polo and a gray jacket that fits him criminally well. You almost feel underdressed standing next to him with your ratty old cardigan, which you know is ridiculous to be concerned about. Plus, you’ve always known that Steve was attractive, so it’s stupid to be affected by it suddenly now.

You guys had one emotional conversation.

“Y/N?”

Steve’s staring at you quizzically, and you quickly snap out of your thoughts and hand him the bucket full of bait and instruct him to put the gloves on. He listens, dutifully putting them on and placing the bucket on the ground and starts searching for one of the backpacks in the trunk. He’s seemingly in a much better mood now, which you’re thankful for.

“Dustin! This is Lucas. Do you copy? Dustin?”

Lucas’ voice rings out from Dustin’s walkie, and you perk your head up, relieved that he’s okay. The radio silence from the party was something that unnerved you immensely. With Dart on the loose, Will’s increasing episodes, who knows what else is happening in Hawkins at the moment?

“Well, well, well, look who it is.” Dustin responds, placing his hands on his hips like a disappointed mother. You chuckle at him and continue helping Steve unload the trunk.

You hear Lucas sigh into the walkie. “Sorry, man. My stupid sister turned it off.”

“Tell Erica I say hi!” You call out, knowing Lucas will hear you. He always resented the fact that his sister is so nice to you. You’re the only living person who didn’t receive Erica’s insane insults, which is something you’re very proud of.

“Y/N?”

“Hi, Lucas!”

Dustin shoos you away and continues to speak. “Well, when you were having sister problems, which really aren’t that hard to handle–”

“Says you,” you butt in.

“Dart grew again, he escaped, and I’m pretty sure he’s a baby Demogorgon.” Your brother finishes. By this point, you and Steve have pretty much unpacked everything in the car.

“Wait, what?” You’d kill to see the look on Lucas’ face right now.

“I’ll explain later, just meet me, Y/N, and Steve at the old junkyard.” As Dustin wraps up the conversation, Steve shoves his bat into the bag and you watch him with disappointment. He’s trying really hard to make it fit, and you almost pity the boy. Bless him.

There’s a pause before Lucas asks, “Steve?”

Dustin doesn’t elaborate, instead instructing his friend to bring his binoculars and wrist rocket. You suppose it’s a good idea to add more weapons to your arsenal. Better safe than sorry.

“Steve Harrington?” Lucas asks again, this time even more confused.

“He’s a friend,” you say, shoving your own weapons into the bag and slinging it over your shoulder.

Steve closes the trunk and says, “Damn straight I am. Alright, let’s go.”

You follow after him, saying goodbye to Lucas as Dustin tells him to be at the junkyard stat.

Dustin stashes his walkie in his own bag and then the three of you are off. Your brother and Steve walk a bit ahead of you as you all throw the meat chunks onto the ground, doing as Dustin instructed. It’s slow work, but you’re happy to have some time to yourself while the boys are distracted with each other. Their friendship wasn’t something you’d expect, but you’re incredibly happy about it.

You love the party, you’d do anything for them given all that you’ve been through together. However, as they grow older, you can’t help but notice how much they’re changing. Mike hasn’t been himself since El disappeared, Dustin is now hyper focused on science, Lucas is becoming his own person, and poor Will is just trying to recover from the trauma of last year.

It’s been hard watching them grow apart, in a way. Nothing will ever be the same after the Upside Down, you know that, but watching the party slowly drift makes you sad for your brother. You’re glad he’s seemingly found someone like Steve to bounce jokes off of and feel appreciated by. You know that someday the kids will all come together again, it’d be impossible not to with how strong of a connection they all have, so you try not to worry too much.

You shove the thoughts down, you need to keep focused on Dart and contacting the rest of the party. So, you dutifully place the bait down and follow behind the boys and feel the time pass by. After about an hour of nonsensical conversation between Steve and Dustin, you hear the older boy finally ask the question of why your brother even hid Dart in the first place.

“It’s complicated, okay?” Dustin defects, clearly uncomfortable with the change in conversation.

You keep your distance from them, but you keep an ear out just in case you need to intervene.

“You claim you wanted to get famous off of it or whatever,” Steve drops meat onto the tracks and kicks his foot. “Call me crazy, but you don’t hide something that supposedly makes you famous.”

He has a point, and Dustin scrunches his face up. He casts a glance your way and you do your best to appear distracted by the job at hand. You know Dustin’s guilty face well, so whatever he’s about to tell Steve will be good. When Dustin shuffles closer to Steve and lowers his voice, you get closer as well so you can listen.

You’re his older sister. It’s your damn job to be nosy.

“It was for this girl.”

Simultaneously you and Steve react. He hums in approval, almost proud, while you scoff. “I knew it.”

Dustin turns around, horrified. “You knew?”

“Duh, you’re awful at hiding things from me. After Max was just conveniently outside the AV room when Dart originally escaped, I pieced it together immediately. Also, side note: you’re too young to be impressing girls. I told you to just be yourself, dummy.”

Steve lets out a snort. “Pretty ironic coming from you, Y/N.”

Suddenly you feel uncomfortable with his attention on you.

“I’m sorry?” Your voice is steady, but you can feel your hands shaking as you continue throwing the bait.

“Ya know, your massive crush on Jonathan ever since you were twelve.” He laughs, as if it’s the funniest joke in the world.

Dustin clears his throat aggressively, pointing to your hands. Steve sees the way that they shake, the tension you now carry in your shoulders, and he’s become familiar enough with you to know your anger cues. The teasing smile that had been on his face drops. He runs towards you so he’s now by your side, and Dustin sighs in disappointment.

“I didn’t, like, mean anything by that, you know. I–uh, I was kidding, Y/N.” Steve tries to catch your gaze, but you pointedly stare straight ahead and clench your jaw. He’s stumbling over both his words and the tracks beneath his feet, trying desperately to appease you. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

“You’re an asshole, Steve Harrington.”

“Y/N, please, I said I was sorry–”

You finally face him, grabbing his elbow to ensure he doesn’t move. “I told you that stuff about Jonathan in confidence. You don’t get to throw it back in my face, joking or not.”

It doesn’t help that you’re already confused enough as it is about the boy and your feelings towards him. To have Steve tease you about it, especially because he knows how painful jabs about Nancy are… It really fucking hurts.

Steve looks like a kicked puppy as you storm ahead of him and Dustin, putting enough distance between you guys so that you can’t hear their conversion that follows.

“Shit…”

“You’re awful with women.” Dustin says, now continuing to walk. He doesn’t bother to follow after you, knowing that you need your space to cool down. “I wouldn’t follow her, by the way. Let her cool off.”

Steve sighs, now walking as well, “Yeah, I know.”

They walk in silence for a little while, Steve hanging his head in shame and Dustin leading the way, frustrated by being stuck with two overly emotional teens.

After a while the silence eats at Steve, so he decides to continue the conversation from earlier. “So, this girl… is she someone you’ve known a while?”

Dustin shakes his head, “No, she’s new at our school. She’s super cool, though.”

“I remember back when I based my attraction to girls on their coolness.” Steve mumbles.

“And look where basing it off their hotness has gotten you.”

“Ouch,” Steve rubs at his chest, wounded.

Dustin laughs and flings some bait at him. “I thought that if I showed her Dart, she’d think I was cool, too, and like me.”

Steve sidesteps the thrown bait and tries to comprehend what the younger boy is saying. “So, you kept something that you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who… you just met?”

“Alright, that’s grossly oversimplifying things. And anyways, who are you to give me girl advice? My sister is literally three hundred feet ahead of us because you pissed her off with one singular sentence.” Then, almost as if as an afterthought, Dustin adds, “congrats, by the way. I’ve never seen someone piss her off so quickly.”

“Look, this isn’t about me, okay? Sure, I messed up with Y/N, but it isn’t like I was hitting on her to begin with,” Dustin makes a disgusted face as Steve quickly continues, panicked. “So she doesn’t count. I just feel like you’re trying way too hard, man.”

“Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, alright?” Dustin grumbles.

Steve shakes his head, slightly amused by the boy’s antics. He’s so much like you, and yet so different, and Steve is realizing it’ll take a lot to keep up with the kid. “It’s not about the hair, dude. Chicks dig more than just a good hairstyle.”

“You’re literally known as Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington.”

“Hey, ‘King Steve’ is also there.”

Dustin flings even more bait at Steve, now annoyed with him. “Whatever man, it’s not like you’d be any help anyways.”

“Oh really? Well, Little Henderson, I’m about to blow your mind: the key to girls is just acting like you don’t care.”

“Even if you do?”

“Yeah, exactly.” Steve now brightens up, happy to finally be getting through to the boy. For Steve, he’s long since learned that the best way to avoid getting hurt is to pretend that he doesn’t care. “It drives them nuts.”

“Then what?”

“You just wait,” Steve looks ahead, watching you and feeling like a complete dick. He really hadn’t meant to hurt you, hell the two of you were finally starting to get somewhere and yet… Steve fucked it up. As always.

He can see that your shoulders are still tensed up, you’re walking faster than you need to be. He feels a heavy weight in his stomach, one that he’s never felt before; he doesn’t like it. “You wait… until you feel it.”

Dustin furrows his brows. “Feel what?”

Steve tears his gaze away from you and turns back to Dustin, beginning to explain the electricity between someone you’re interested in. Being the geek that he is, Dustin turns it into a scientific discussion and Steve does his best to steer the conversation back.

“No, like sexual electricity.” He explains.

As soon as the words leave Steve’s lips, you whip around and shout, “Are you seriously talking to my little brother about sexual electricity?”

Both Dustin and Steve freeze in place, dumbfounded. You let out a loud groan and continue stomping away, now even more aggressively throwing the chunks at the train tracks.

“How did she even hear me?” Steve whispers, terrified.

“I don’t know,” Your brother whispers back, also equally frightened. “Sometimes I think she has powers like El.”

Once you’re a safe enough distance away from them, Dustin hesitantly brings the girl conversation back up. “Hypothetically, what do girls like?”

Steve takes a second to answer, carefully rolling the question around in his mind. “It depends on the girl. Some girls want you to be aggressive, ya know? Go in for the kiss, make them feel protected. Strong, hot and heavy. Like a lion.”

Dustin hums to indicate he’s following along, but ‘like a lion’ has him a little worried about the reliability of the conversation. He knows that Steve is a lady’s man, but he’s also never seen him with any girl besides Nancy, and the one time he saw him with you, he had immediately pissed you off.

So for all Dustin knows, it could be lies.

Steve continues his confusing explanation. “But others? You gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy… like a ninja!”

“Okay, what type is Nancy?” Dustin asks, hoping to get the teen to stop making stupid analogies. Lions, ninjas… maybe it was all lies.

The question catches Steve off guard and he stumbles a bit, feeling the familiar sense of protectiveness, insecurity, over the girl as well as a new sense of loss. What type is Nancy? If he had been asked this a week ago, Steve would’ve told Dustin that she’s a nice girl, a girl he could happily bring home to his parents and proudly wrap around his arms. Now? He’s not so sure.

Not when he can still see the anger and disgust in Nancy’s eyes that night at the party.

“Nancy’s different,” he recalls his conversation with you from last night, how he’d confessed to always feeling two steps behind the girl and how exhausting it all is. “She’s just different. Let’s move on to the next question.”

Dustin notices Steve’s change in demeanor but doesn’t say anything. He supposes that you and him have a lot in common, then. “Okay, what type would you say Y/N is?”

Once again Steve isn’t expecting the question Dustin asks. “What–” he trips over a twig and just barely manages to catch himself. “Why would you ask me that? She’s your sister, and I don’t even like her–”

“Relax, Romeo. She’s just similar to Nancy and the girl I like, and I figured you’d know Y/N well enough by now considering you guys slept together–”

“I slept on her bean bag–”

“And have been friends for like, a year. Plus, she’s in love with Jonathan, you’re in love with Nancy, and coincidentally they’re in love with each other. Figures that there’s some type intermingling between the four of you.”

How the hell does everyone know about Nancy and Jonathan? Steve thinks bitterly.

He’s silent for multiple seconds, absolutely at a loss for what to say. He doesn’t know where to begin or what to even deny. Technically the boy is right, as much as it hurts Steve to admit. He’s all but lost Nancy to Jonathan, and you’ve lost Jonathan to Nancy.

In an extremely messed up way, you and Nancy do have the same type. On top of that, both you and Nancy are close to Jonathan, so it’s safe to assume there’s similarities to the both of you that Steve doesn’t even want to touch on right now.

Even more importantly, Steve has yet to really decipher why your presence alone can make or break his entire day. Why, after months of not talking, it now feels like he’s finally come home again with you back in his life.

He looks at you again, still angrily throwing your bait, and he supposes that you’re a lot like Nancy in certain aspects, and yet completely different from her. “Y/N is also different, I guess. She’s incredibly intelligent both emotionally and academically. Isn’t she like the top of her class?”

Dustin nods, proud of the Henderson intelligence, and Steve continues.

“Right. I’d say she’s like Nancy, except she’s softer?” Steve cringes at his own words, suddenly uncomfortable with comparing the two of you. In his mind, you’re both your own separate entities that infatuate him in different ways.

You both burn Steve; Nancy is like a shot of whiskey, the thrill that follows the burn. But you? You’re a fireplace after hours of being out in the cold, the burn of it warming his bones.

“Y/N is just… she’s special, but everyone knows that. Your sister is the most caring person I’ve ever met, and I know I’m a lucky son of a bitch to be someone she trusts.”

Dustin snorts. “Yeah you are.”

Up ahead, you finally slow down and face the boys, now waiting for them to catch up and call out, “C’mon, ladies! The sun sets soon, I don’t want Lucas waiting in the cold all alone.”

“Looks like I’ve been forgiven.” Steve says, relief evident in his voice, something that your brother doesn’t miss.

Dustin lets out another loud snort, patting him on the chest, “Oh, my sister may be forgiving, but she never forgets.” With that, he walks away to catch up with you.

“Well, isn’t that ominous.”

You greet the boys with a tired smile, knowing there’s no use holding resentment towards Steve. He couldn’t have known about your mixed feelings towards Jonathan, you know he had only been trying to get along with Dustin.

Things are still weird between you two, despite the conversation from last night, but it’s hard to stay mad at Steve and honestly, you don’t really want to be mad at him. It’s been so lovely having him around again, and your own confusing feelings can wait.

Steve leans in close to you, gently grabbing at your hand so that you don’t walk away. “Hey, we okay?”

His eyes are full of concern and his voice is sickly sweet like honey. With the honey, the remaining bits of anger vanishes. “Of course we’re okay.”

Steve exhales deeply and you giggle at him before remembering that Dustin is quite literally a few feet away from you two. Coughing, you hold up your bucket to point out how it’s almost empty. “I guess in my rage, I flung more than I intended. How are your buckets holding up?”

The two boys hold their buckets up, giving you a mock solute to indicate that all is good. You laugh, impressed by how synched they’ve become in such a short time.

“Alright, then. Let’s get going.” As you all begin to walk in line again, you ask, “What were you guys even talking about, anyways?”

The boys glance at each other in a conspiring way, which causes you to roll your eyes. They’re acting like you asked for their deepest and darkest secrets. They seem to have a silent conversation for a couple seconds before Steve finally speaks up.

“I was just giving Little Henderson some girl advice. Nothing serious.”

You raise your eyebrows, your heart swelling a bit at the idea of Steve giving your brother advice. It’s sweet, really. “Girl advice, huh?”

“Yeah, why do you sound so skeptical?”

“Because you’re terrible with girls.”

Dustin now butts in, “He told me to be aggressive.”

“I did not!”

“He also said that you’re softer than Nancy.”

You make a face. “Thank you? I think?”

Steve tugs at his hair in frustration. “You two are the worst people I’ve ever met. You know that, right?”

In unison, you and Dustin reply, “We get that a lot.”

Steve stares at the two of you with slight horror in his eyes. “Yeah, alright. I’m out.”

You grab at his sleeve, gently stopping him from storming away. You give him an apologetic look and pull him close so that your chest bumps against his. “You’ve gotta get used to the Henderson humor, Steve.”

He looks surprised by your tugging at his sleeve before he lets a smile cross his face. He doesn’t do anything else, but he also doesn’t back away, either, and you find yourself blushing a bit under his gaze.

You clear your throat and let go of his sleeve, stepping back a bit. “Anyways, why don’t you tell me what wise advice you have for my brother.”

The smile that was just on Steve’s face vanishes as he looks away from you. “I was just telling the kid to not fall in love with his little crush. He’s too young for heartbreak and all that other shit.”

“I’m not in love with her!” Dustin exclaims in disgust, but you’re too distracted by Steve’s words to assure your brother that you believe him.

“Well, I believe that love is something beautiful.” You say, your words only meeting Steve’s turned back. He doesn’t acknowledge you, but you know his indifference holds no malice. He’s still hurting, still in love with Nancy Wheeler. “Dustin, you may be too young to be in love, but don’t listen to Steve. To love and be loved is the luckiest thing we can ever do, regardless of how it ends.”

Dustin blanches at your words, grossed out now. “Okay, okay, stop! Love is gross. I get it.”

You softly mumble sorry to him, now suddenly remembering that he’s only thirteen. When you were his age, the idea of love also grossed you out. Now, love is a concept that you’ve found a comforting warmth in, even if it's burned you a few times and has left you more exhausted than exhilarated. One day he’ll understand (in the far off future, hopefully).

For now, you flick your brother’s hat and follow after Steve, finishing the rest of the bait journey in silence.

–

By the time the three of you get to the junkyard, it’s already about midday.

It’s different from how you imagined it, filled with old cars and a giant school bus. It’s more open, too, not as “junkyard” as you assumed.

You, Steve, and Dustin stand at the top of the hill, surveying the area. Your feet ache from the walk and the sun is hurting your eyes. Seeing you squinting, Steve wordlessly hands you his signature Raybans and motions for you to put them on.

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, this will do. It’ll do just fine,” He says, satisfied as he begins to walk down the hill. Then, as an afterthought, he says to Dustin, “Good call, dude.”

Dustin beams with pride and you fill with so much happiness, seeing the boy getting along so well with Steve, that you almost regret not having them meet sooner. However, there’s no time to wallow in what-if’s and you put Steve’s sunglasses on to follow after the boys.

Immediately you and Steve get to work, working seamlessly together side by side, months of him joining you in Bookstrordinary finally being put to use. While you and Steve silently scatter more meat and grab supplies, Dustin surveys the area.

Just as you’ve dumped the remaining meat in the middle of the field, you hear Lucas’ voice call from a few yards away, “I said medium well!”

The boy is with Max, who looks slightly displeased, yet curious, to be here. Despite her still obvious hesitation, you still feel excited seeing the girl. You’ve been meaning to talk more to her, she seems like such a lovely girl.

“Who’s that?” Steve asks you.

“Max! She’s great, and–” You start gushing about the girl, eager to go and say hi, before you see the crestfallen look on Dustin’s face when he realizes why she’s with Lucas. You remember, then, the weird tug-of-war between the boys over her. Shit.

You grab at Steve’s hand and pull him aside. “Actually, Steve, why don’t we start finding some panels to cover the bus?”

Steve gives you a questioning look, but when you silently motion towards Dustin and he sees his despair as well, he catches on and just nods, following along. Without having to tell him, he understands that you want to leave Dustin alone so he can talk to Lucas.

As always, you’re forever thankful that he can read you so well.

After guiding Steve away, you and him begin to prep the junkyard alongside Max. While the boys are talking, you take this as an opportunity to get to know the girl better.

“So,” you begin, helping Max carry a large piece of wood over to the bus. “I see you’re back again.”

“Looks like it,” she shrugs, not really feeling like talking. Seems like she’s still mad at you for yesterday, taking Lucas’ side over hers.

You sigh. “Well, I’m glad you’re here.”

“That’s a first.” Again she deflects, but you know she’s doing it out of hurt rather than maliciousness.

“I know you don’t really like me right now, which I totally understand, I just wanted to let you know that while I don’t like that you’ve been dragged into this mess, I’m happy you’re here.”

Max frowns at you. “You guys act like I’m going to like, die or something.”

A scrap of metal that you’d been carrying slips from your hands. Steve hears this and comes rushing over to help, but you gently wave him away and focus on Max. “I don’t know what Lucas told you, but it’s all true. It’s dangerous, being here, and I just… If you ever get hurt, any of you kids, then it’d be on me and I’d never forgive myself.”

“Way to be a buzzkill, Y/N.” Steve nudges you, trying to get you to smile before your ever-present guilt bears down upon you.

Max bites her lip, still disbelieving, but she recognizes the pained look of protectiveness on your face. It’s not something that someone can easily fake, and from what she’s heard about you, your kindness is one of the few genuine things in Hawkins.

Before she can say anything else, Steve lets out a huff and grabs a chair to bang on the car that Lucas and Dustin are talking behind. “Hey! Dickheads! How come it’s only Y/N and some random girl helping me?”

“Language!” You chastise.

Steve sends you a thumbs up, not really listening. “We lose light in forty minutes. Let’s go!”

Dustin and Lucas reluctantly start helping, both calling Steve an asshole and throwing him dirty looks, which you can’t help but laugh at.

Lucas sees you laughing and points at you. “Are you the reason Harrington is here?”

“Mhm,” you respond, nailing another piece of wood to the bus. “He’s done more to help than you have, so either pick up some metal and help or go sit in a corner and sulk. Up to you.”

Steve high fives you. “Yeah! What she said!”

Lucas’ shoulders sag, completely at a loss as to how any of this has happened. “This is so weird.”

“Dude, I’ve spent all day with them. Imagine how I feel,” Dustin groans. “I think I died a little when I found out they’ve been friends for like, a year.”

“A year?” Lucas gasps.

“Guys!” You throw pebbles at the two boys to break up their little gossip session. “One, I’m incredibly hurt you two didn’t think I had any friends besides Jonathan. Two, start helping before I throw more rocks.”

“Yes ma’am,” both boys grumble in unison, which Max finds pretty impressive.

After that, the five of you get to work. You guys use every item available in the junkyard to secure the bus, hoping that with enough stacked against it, you’ll be safe from Dart once he’s lured. Barrels are rolled, more sheets of metal are placed against the bus, and within the next hour or so you’ve successfully managed to build a decent base.

All that’s left is to pour the gasoline trail, which you help Steve with as the kids watch from inside the bus.

“I’m getting major deja-vu right now,” you mumble as Steve pours.

“Gasoline at Jonathan’s?”

“Mhm. God, he wouldn’t believe what we’re doing right now.” You know he would’ve loved this bizarre interaction. You, Steve, and the kids all in a junkyard trying to lure a baby Demogorgon.

You’ve definitely had better babysitting days, and Jonathan would have a field day with this one.

Once you’re done with the gasoline, you and Steve return to the bus. He waits behind you, making sure you’re securely in the car, before he heaves the old bus door closed. As soon as the door is closed, you and Steve exhale together.

You share a look, both in silent agreement to keep the kids safe no matter what. It’s your guys’ job to keep them safe, to fight for and protect them.

Deja-vu again. You’re back in Jonathan’s house, holding a switchblade while Steve wields his bat.

“Ready?” He asks you, extending his hand out for you to grab.

You interlock your fingers through his. “When am I ever?”

Steve laughs, dispelling away any remaining uncertainty and fear. You know, that no matter what, that he’ll be by your side to help. With this in mind, you join the kids further into the bus.

Lucas climbs the ladder up to the top, something you’re not fully okay with, but he’s the one with the binoculars and you the switchblade, so it makes the most sense. As the boy climbs, you sit down next to Steve as he flicks his lighter on and off. You’re pressed shoulder to shoulder, his presence grounding you.

Dustin paces, and all you can do is watch him as you try to settle your own nerves. Max has seated herself at the other end of the bus, her arms crossed as usual.

After a few moments of silence, she finally speaks. “So, you really fought one of these things before?”

Steve nods and you hum in agreement. “Unfortunately.”

“And you’re, like, totally, 100% sure it wasn’t a bear?”

“I mean, to be fair I also had that same thought last year–”

Dustin cuts you off. “Shit, don’t be an idiot, okay? It wasn’t a bear.”

You roughly grab at your brother, yanking him towards you to shut him up. “Dustin–”

“Why are you even here if you don’t believe us?” He sneers at Max, something you’ve never, ever seen your sweet brother do. “Just go home.”

Max clenches her jaw and you send her an apologetic look, but she rolls her eyes at you. “Geesh, someone’s cranky. Past your bedtime?”

“Max, wait–” She ignores you and climbs up the ladder to join Lucas. You groan once she’s gone, now more than ever wanting to strangle your brother. “Dustin, what the hell was that?”

“That was good, Y/N!” Steve says, a proud smirk on his face. “He showed her he didn’t care, just like I told him to.”

“Oh, so it’s your fault my sweet, innocent baby brother is now some woman hating misogynistic piece of–”

“I don’t hate women, Y/N.” Dustin tiredly says, before directing his next words to Steve. “And I don’t care.”

Steve winks at the boy, but immediately flinches back when you raise your hand to smack him. “Yeah, cower away, you idiotic and moronic–”

“Y/N, stop overreacting and Steve, stop winking at me.”

You raise your eyebrows at Dustin’s tone and he quickly clears his throat and steps away from you. Steve puts some distance between you two as well, scooting away a bit so that he’s out of hitting range.

It’s quiet again, both boys now scared of your anger, and you anxiously wait for Dart to show up.

Steve goes back to flicking the lighter, Dustin paces again, and you tap your foot nervously. The silence is killing you, it’s always been your least favorite part of the Upside Down. The waiting, hoping you’re prepared for when all hell inevitably breaks loose.

You flick your own blades out, admiring the way the blades catch in the moonlight, when you hear a loud growl come from outside. Instinctively you raise your blades to your face while Steve and Dusin scramble to peek through the metal sheets to look out the window.

“You guys see him?” Dustin asks as he crouches next to you.

You shake your head. “No,”

There’s nothing outside, only a thick haze of fog that has settled over the junkyard.

“Lucas, what’s going on?” Your brother calls up to his friend.

“Hold on!” The boy responds.

Your heart begins to beat faster, your blades never straying away from your face, poised for a fight. Steve sees the way your knuckles whiten over your weapon and he grabs your spare hand, gently coaxing you to calm down.

Your fingers tighten around Steve’s and you remember his words from last night, promising you that he’ll be there, and you believe him.

From the bus’ roof, you hear Lucas call down, “I’ve got eyes! Ten o’clock–ten o’clock!”

There, in the haze of fog, you see a hunched figure stalk its way towards the bus. Seeing Dart, you’re filled with complete dread. He’s grown again, much bigger than you’ve ever seen him.

He’s practically the size of the Demogorgon from last year, the same one that almost killed you and Steve.

“What’s he doing?” Dustin asks, as if anyone else would have any more information than he does.

“I don’t know,” Steve sighs, his eyes never leaving Dart.

You squeeze his hand again and hold your breath as you watch the Demodog. He slowly approaches the bait, inspects the area, but he doesn’t seem to be interested in it. You send a silent prayer to whatever god is above that your plan will work.

It has to work.

However, Dart starts to back away from the bait and Steve leans even closer to the window. “He’s not taking the bait. Why isn’t he taking the bait?”

“I don’t know,” you want to cry from exhaustion and fear and defeat.

Dustin looks over at you. “Maybe he’s not hungry?”

Something seems to click, then, for Steve. His eyes light up with an idea, and before he can even get his words out, you grasp at Steve’s arm and try to talk him out of it. “No, absolutely not. You’re not going out there.”

“Maybe he’s sick of cow.” Steve tries to make you let go of him, but you quickly tighten your hold on him and fight back. “Y/N, let me go, I can run fast and–”

“You can’t just use yourself as bait!” You plead, but Steve has always been stronger than you and he drags you behind him as he makes his way towards the bus door. “Steve, listen to me!”

“Steve? Steve!” Dustin finally catches on to what’s happening and he grabs at the teen as well. “What are you doing?”

Steve ignores you both and with a quick jerk of his arm, he frees himself from you. As soon as you’ve let go, he runs towards the door and snatches his bat from the ground. You curse, knowing there’s no way in hell he’s going out there alone, so you follow after him.

Dustin sees this and panics. “Y/N, please don’t tell me you’re going–”

“Stay put!” You command, scrambling after Steve, who has now begun to open the door. He tosses you the lighter, which you toss to your brother. “Just get ready, Dustin!”

“Y/N!”

“I love you!”

Dustin continues to shout, his pleas laced with more fear than you’ve ever heard from him, but you force yourself to leave. Just as you’ve stepped outside and re-closed the bus door, Dustin pounds against the glass that you’ve locked, tears in his eyes.

You look away, despite how fucking hard it is, and it takes everythin within you to leave.

Steve saved your life last year.

Now it’s your turn.

It’s tense outside as you and Steve walk back to back, weapons out. He twirls his bat a few times, a move that you find yourself smiling at due to its familiarity. With your back against his, you whisper to Steve, “You look for Dart, I keep an eye for anything else?”

He nods, and together the two of you slowly follow the sound of Dart’s chittering.

“C’mon buddy,” Steve taunts, beginning to whistle.

“I know we named it a Demodog, but I don’t think whistling will help.”

“We could be about to die, and you’re seriously questioning what I’m doing?”

You shrug, eyes now on the skyline as the fog slowly thickens. “Habit.”

Steve chuckles, which brings some comfort to the fucking awful situation at hand. He whistles some more, continuing to taunt Dart. “C’mon. Dinner time.”

“Again with offering Dart meals while we’re near him,” you shake your head, not at all liking where any of this is going.

“What? At least human tastes better than cat.” Steve responds, now at the pile of raw meat.

You both stop here, Steve facing the bait and you facing the bus, still scanning for literally anything else that could possibly go wrong. Because you’re Y/N Henderson and nothing can ever, ever go right for you.

Dart lets out another growl, now having spotted Steve, and the teen swings his bat around. You spare a quick glance behind you and see Dart, who has placed all his focus on you and Steve.

Well, at least the live bait plan is working.

You turn away again, and as soon as you do, you see the other Demodogs now suddenly appear. Your blood runs cold when you see the two up ahead, one directly in front of you and one on top of the cars.

For a moment, your words seem to fail you and no sound comes out when you try to speak. All you can do is stare at them, overcome with fear. You’re back in Jonathan’s once more, the fear strangling you as the memories paralyze you.

From the top of the bus, Lucas yells, “Steve! Y/N! Watch out!”

“We’re a little busy here!” Steve yells back, eyes still on Dart.

The Demodog in front of you starts to approach, which finally seems to break you from your spell. Shakily, you tell Steve, “There’s more.”

“What?” He tries to turn around, but you shove at him to not lose sight of Dart. You can’t distract him now. Another Demodog has joined.

“Three o’clock! Right in front of Y/N!” Lucas screams, his voice cracking with fear.

“Y/N?” Steve fully turns around now when he realizes that you’re also in danger, and when he sees the three other Demodogs, he lets out a curse. “Shit.”

Suddenly, you and Steve are surrounded by Demodogs, more than you ever could’ve imagined. More than the two of you can even fight on your own.

Back at Jonathan’s, it had taken guns, fire, knives, and bats to kill a grown Demogorgon.

You don’t think your knives and Steve’s bat will be enough for Demodogs.

“Steve! Y/N! Abort!” Dustin has flung the bus door open, screeching for the two of you to get out of there.

It’s too late. Dart has opened his mouth and is running towards you two, his friends joining as well.

“I go left, you go right!” Steve has just enough time to direct you before Dart lunges.

You dodge, going right as instructed while Steve flings himself on top of a car to avoid the monsters. As Steve hits Dart with his bat, crouched against the car, you narrowly avoid the other Demodog and drop to the ground as it jumps over your head. “Shit!”

Steve swings his bat again and tries to make his way over to you, but you’re off the ground in a heartbeat and run to him instead. Two of the Demodogs are on him now, and there’s only so much damage his bat can do. Breathless, you run over and stab at their backs, doing everything you can to give Steve an opening to run.

Faintly, you hear the kids in the background cheering you guys on, urging you two to come home.

One of the Demodogs lets out a harsh screech as your blade pierces its skin. It crumbles to the ground, giving Steve just enough of an opening to begin running towards the bus. When he goes to run, you notice one of the Demodogs eying him, and before you can even process what’s happening, you’re throwing yourself in front of him and you feel nails tear at your ribs.

You scream, clutching at your side in agony, feeling blood quickly beginning to spill from your wound. “Fuck!”

“Y/N!” Steve starts to run toward you, pale with fear.

“No!” You shove him back towards the bus; you can’t let him get hurt because of you. “Go, I’ll be fine!”

He tries to argue, but you take a deep breath and grip his jacket tightly, practically flinging him inside the bus just before Dart lunges again. Together, the two of you stumble up the steps and barricade the door.

As soon as it’s closed, Dart begins slamming against it with his entire body.

Steve uses his legs to hold the door closed while you lay sprawled on the ground, trying to steady your breathing as more blood spills from you. The room is spinning and you’re pretty sure you can taste blood in your mouth.

Awesome. Cool.

The kids are screaming and Dart’s body causes the entire bus to rock as his friends now join, throwing their own bodies against the bus as well.

“Are they rabid or something?” Max screams, but everyone ignores her.

Steve, quick as ever, finds a spare piece of metal and wedges it against the door and uses his legs again to hold it in place. He looks over at you on the ground and feels his heart jump to his throat. You’re pale, a sheen of sweat now dotted across your forehead, and there’s now a concerningly large pool of blood where you lay. “Dustin, go help your sister!”

Dustin looks up and finally notices your injury and almost faints at the sight. In a daze, he runs over to you and kneels down, terrified of how much blood there is. “Oh my god.”

“I’m fine,” you wince, trying to clench your teeth and bear through the pain. “Honestly, this is like a paper cut.”

“Y/N–” The sound of glass shattering cuts Dustin off as a Demodog breaks through the window. Everyone screams, and your brother grabs your arms and drags you further towards the back of the bus to avoid any glass getting on you.

Wearily, you watch as Steve does whatever he can with his bat, and a part of you wants to laugh. He looks like he’s playing the hardest game of wack-a-mole ever.

Meanwhile, Lucas and Max have joined you and Dustin. When they see you, Lucas lets out a choked scream while Max covers her eyes.

“Are you okay?” Lucas kneels over you as well, and you find his sincerity endearing. He’s always been the sweetest in the group, the most comforting.

“Never been better,” you wheeze out.

Dustin instructs Lucas to stay with you while he tries to radio for help. “Is anyone there? Mike? Will? God? Anyone!”

“God would be pretty nice to have.” You remark, pain making you even more delirious than usual.

Max looks at Lucas. “She’s losing it.”

“I think I’m doing great, all things considered.”

Dustin continues to scream into his walkie for help while Lucas tries to stop your bleeding. Max is running around, looking for anything to help, and Steve is still stuck at the front of the bus playing wack-a-mole with Demodogs.

The situation is so fucking grim, and you’ve never wanted to laugh more.

Then, to make matters even worse, the ceiling of the bus starts to creak. You see the faint outlines of what suspiciously looks like Demodog footprints on the roof. In slow, agonizing footsteps, Dart makes his way over to the emergency exit on top.

He leers over, and Max, who is at the bottom of the ladder, screams.

Steve shoves the kids back and you try to get up, but Lucas pushes you down and shakes his head at you.

“You want some? Come get this!” Steve places himself between Dart and you and the kids, screaming at the thing and waving his bat around, and you’ve never been more attracted to him.

Dart lets out a blood curdling screech, his mouth full of rows of razor sharp teeth that killed your cat just the other day, and you cling onto Lucas’ hand. Another screech, and just before Dart strikes at Steve, it jumps off the bus and runs away.

Everyone freezes, unsure what to do, as more distant growls and howls can be heard from outside. Steve and the rest stand up, and you notice Lucas holding Max’s hand, and at least something good came out of this hellhole of a day.

“Any help here?” You finally ask after a minute or so, still lying helplessly on the ground as you bleed.

“Shit!” Steve drops his bat. “Where did it get you, where’s the bleeding? Dustin, did we pack any bandages, or–or an EMT stretcher or–”

“Steve,” you grab his hand, urging him to calm down. “It scratched the fuck out of my ribcage, but I’m not dying. I promise.”

“You’re not?” Dustin asks, tears in his eyes.

“I’m not. I just…” you shift, wincing at the pain. “I just really need a bandage and I’ll be good as new.”

Steve swallows, a frenzied look in his eyes, and nods. Without thinking, he tears a piece of your bloodied cardigan off and gently lifts your body up so that he can wrap the shred of cloth around you. He weaves it tight, his movements slow and delicate, his eyes never leave yours.

You can feel his hands shaking as he tends to your wound and ties the cloth with a knot. When he’s done, even though you’re aware of the kids’ eyes on you two, you bring his hands to your lips and kiss them. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” He whispers, brushing a strand of hair out of your face. Dustin coughs, which seems to make Steve remember where he is, and he clears his throat. “Right, well. Try not to lose any more blood, yeah?”

“I’ll try,”

Steve nods and stands back up, knowing Dustin and Lucas will want a moment with you, and makes his way back outside. He knows that they’re all still in danger, even if for some reason the Demdogs seem to have left.

Once Steve is gone, Dustin and Lucas help you stand, and as soon as you’re up, both boys try their best to give you a hug without hurting you.

“Don’t do that ever again,” Dustin sniffs, squeezing your uninjured side tightly.

“What he said,” Lucas sniffs as well, though he tries to hide his tears from you.

You laugh, your own tears evident as you hold the boys tight. “I promise.”

“You saved Steve,” Max notes, though her tone is neutral, you can see she’s impressed.

“I had to even out a debt.”

“Guys,” Steve calls from outside. “The coast is clear.”

Slowly, you and the kids make your way out of the bus. It takes some help from both Dustin and Lucas, but eventually you’re able to walk on your own, holding your side, and walk down the steps.

“You okay?” Steve is by your side as soon as you’ve stepped down, holding you so that he’s not touching your cut. You’re thankful for his support, the pain still making you feel woozy.

“We’ll talk later,” you motion towards the kids, not wanting to worry them any further.

He nods, although he hates that you feel like you can’t focus on your own safety.

“What happened?” Lucas asks the group.

“I don’t know.” Max looks around, and you think she’s finally starting to understand what she’s gotten herself into.

Dustin points to you and Steve. “Maybe they scared ‘em off?”

“No,” Steve shakes his head. It couldn’t have been that easy. “No way.”

“They’re going somewhere.” You finish for him, confirming your worst fears. Suddenly, more pain shoots through you and you wince again, squeezing your eyes shut.

Steve bends his head down, guiding you a bit away from the kids so that they won’t hear. “Hey, we don’t have to follow them. We can go home, you know.”

“We can’t.” You clench your jaw as pain rings throughout your body. The goddamn Demodog got you good. “We have to follow. It’s all connected, Will and his episodes, Nancy and Jonathan with the detective, and I’ll be damned if I back down now.”

“So we follow?” Steve asks, trusting whatever call you make.

You nod, knowing you have to do this. While you guys are safe for now, you know that everyone else has to be in danger; you have to protect them. “Unfortunately.”

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#steve harrington x henderson!reader #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #stranger things #steve harrington fanfic #stranger things rewrite #slowburn #angst #wtlws #m's writing #this chapter almost killed me #but bug and steve FINALLY TALKED !!!!#also ilu lucas ur my baby

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theoreticslut · 2 years

Text

「 like she hung the stars 」

steve harrington x fem reader

summary: although you’ve been with steve for nearly a year, you can’t help but wonder if he’s using you as a stand-in for nancy.

requested: yes

word count: 3.1k

warnings: pretty angsty but it has a cute, fluffy-ish ending; mentions of alcohol consumption & being drunk, insecure relationship, pet names (baby, babe & sweetheart), mention of future relationship, mention of marriage & children

a/n: this request was so cute!! i had to write it asap, & i’m lowkey in love with it if i do say so. it’s really kind of angsty the entire way through, but there’s a cute ending. i really have a hard time leaving a fic ansgty. it’s a weakness of mine. anyways, i hope you all like this! Xx

It’s been well over an hour since you and Steve arrived at this house party, which has given you plenty enough time to drink your fair share of the spiked punch. It was potent, but it was drinkable, and it got you drunk which is all you wanted.

You hadn’t ever told Steve that you felt insecure in your relationship, mainly because the reasoning behind it felt silly. He had asked you out a few months after he and Nancy broke up last year, which shouldn’t be of any concern, but you had seen them while they were together. It was clear that Steve loved her - deeper than you’d ever thought possible.

Having noticed this, you couldn’t stop the thought of him still loving her - even though he was currently with you - from settling in the recesses of your mind. You couldn’t stop the thought from tormenting you late at night, even when he slept beside you.

Within the last few months the thought had only become more incessant, tormenting you not just late at night anymore, but throughout the day as you went about your classes and your clubs, even when you sat around talking with him and his friends. It was exhausting, but you couldn’t easily ignore it anymore. Not when you’ve been finding Steve staring at her more and more whenever she was around.

Hence why you’re getting drunk off of shitty punch at some house party that you’re not even sure who’s throwing. You were simply tagging along with Steve, and even he had wandered off from you.

At first it was fine, you knew he was popular around school and it had been a few months since he graduated. You figured he was just catching up with old friends and classmates.

Within the last half hour though, you spotted him chatting with Nancy and her boyfriend, Jonathan. You didn’t want to think anything of it, knowing they were trying to be friends, but as you watch him laughing and smiling at Nancy, you can’t help the ache that settles in your heart.

Not thinking much of it, you find yourself taking a deep breath before cautiously making your way over to the small group. You didn’t want to come off as insecure or jealous, but you couldn’t sit back and watch the scene any longer. Figuring that you’d test the waters by nonchalantly approaching them, you do just that.

Although worried that Steve might get upset with you joining them, you’re relieved when he smiles as you come up next to him. Wrapping an arm around your waist, you let your head rest on his chest as he continues talking.

“No, th-that’s really cool, man. I hope you like it.” Steve comments, replying to something that had been said before you came over.

“Yeah, I-I do. It’s nice. Pays decent enough, you know?” Jonathan mumbles, chuckling awkwardly as Steve nods.

Without even being a part of the conversation you can tell it’s been awkward like this for some time.

“Nance is actually, uh, looking to apply there this summer too.”

“Really? That’s awesome. I mean, y-you do like journalism. I’m sure it’ll be, you know, a great fit.” Steve mentions, Nancy nodding politely with a terse smile on her lips.

“‘M gonna get another drink, Steve.” You murmur, wanting to leave the awkward aura of their conversation. That and you really don’t care to hear how much Steve knows about Nancy.

“You’re not done with this one though?” He questions, having noticed your cup was still about half full when you first came over here.

Tilting it to make sure he hadn’t seen it incorrectly, he frowns when he realizes it’s actually more than half full. Only then does he notice just how much you’re leaning against him for support while your eyes are half closed.

“Baby, are you drunk?”

“No, just tired.” You huff, your speech sluggish as you answer him.

As you do so, though, you attempt to take a step back to look at him, but you stumble and spill your drink all over yourself.

“Shit. Let’s get you cleaned up, baby. Yeah?” He questions, taking the cup from your hand as he holds you up.

“Sorry guys.” You hear him apologize to Nancy and Jonathan and you can’t help but feel a little hurt.

You know it’s irrational, he’s essentially just excusing the two of you from the conversation, but in your intoxicated state you feel like he’s ashamed of you - like you’re an embarrassment he didn’t want them to see.

As the thought settles in your head, you pay no attention as Steve leads you through the crowded house to find the bathroom upstairs. You don’t even realize you’re in the bathroom until he closes the door behind the two of you, starting to look for a cloth he can wet and dab your shirt with.

“I don’t know how you’ve been drinking that punch all night, sweetheart. Shit’s strong.” He chuckles as he crinkles his nose at the smell of the cup as he tosses it out.

“Not that bad.” You mumble, staring at your hands as you sit on the sink counter while he continues searching for a cloth.

“Aha, found it.” Steve smiles, not even acknowledging that you said anything. Truthfully you’re not even sure he heard you, but it doesn’t matter.

You watch as Steve wets the cloth, squeezing the excess water out of it before he brings his attention to you and the stain on your shirt.

“You liked this shirt, too, babe. You gotta be careful.” He comments, voice gentle as he begins to dab at the stain, holding the material away from your body as he carefully presses the wet cloth to it.

You figure he’s just talking to fill the silence so you let him, not worrying about responding.

“‘M not sure how well this is going to come out, but we’re going to try, okay?”

~.~

Steve frowns lightly when he doesn’t hear anything from you. He wasn’t expecting a long answer of any sorts, in fact he wasn’t even expecting a single word, but he did expect a little hum or something from you.

Bringing his attention to your face, he realizes you’re staring at your shirt as he works, but that your mind is somewhere else entirely.

“What’re you thinking about, sweetheart?” He murmurs, continuing to work on the material in his hands, using a hand to lift your chin to look at him briefly.

“What’s on that pretty little mind of yours, huh?”

He can’t stop the small smile that comes to his lips as he glances up at you, taking a moment to realize just how pretty you are sitting here.

“Nothin’.”

“Nothing? You sure, baby?” He frowns, having noticed how your shoulders dropped when you answered him, not to mention the fact that you started wringing your hands together - a nervous habit of yours.

He doesn’t like the idea of you keeping something from him, especially if it’s something that upsets you.

“Do you love me?” You suddenly question, voice seeming scared.

“Do I lov-? Of course I love you, y/n.” He splutters, not sure where this would have come from.

“Why would you think I don’t, sweetheart?”

“You’ve just, you’ve been watching Nancy a lot when she’s around.” You mumble, still wringing your hands together as Steve settles his hands either side of you on the counter, a soft sigh leaving his lips as he frowns.

He can’t help the ache that begins in his chest as he listens to you already sounding defeated. Scanning over your face, he can’t help but sigh deeper when he realizes you won’t look at him.

“Will you look at me, y/n?”

~.~

You can feel him watching you still as you softly shake your head, being too anxious to do so if he’s going to study you, which you know he will. He may have portrayed himself as an asshole most of his life, but deep down he’s always been a softie, taking great care to notice things about those he cares for.

He doesn’t like hurting people, which is why he’s so meticulous when it comes to reading others emotions. He doesn’t want to miss something.

“I’ve seen the way you look at her, like she’s the moon on an otherwise dark night. You look at her like she hung the stars in the sky…” you start, needing to get all of this off your chest.

You can’t hold onto the ache any longer without some sort of an answer. You can handle the hurt that would come if he does still love her, but you can’t bear this ache of not knowing if he actually loves you like he says he does.

“It’s…it’s the same way you looked at her when you were dating. When you loved her.” You murmur, feeling your throat tighten up with the threat of tears.

Taking a moment to breathe through the onslaught of emotion, you will the ache of threatened tears to fade away so you can finish your thoughts. You need to tell him how you’ve been feeling, not smother them into coercion.

“I can’t shake the feeling that you maybe still love her. That I’m just…a placeholder until you can have her again.”

A silence falls in the small bathroom as you get the words out, only glancing up to him to see if he’s still listening. At the extended lull of conversation, you feel your stomach start to twist with dread.

You had a feeling that you were simply a distraction for him, but you didn’t want to admit it, afraid that if you did it’d make it a reality.

“I’m not going to lie…” he starts, clearing his throat.

“I do still love her, and I think a part of me always will. She woke me up from the dreamworld I lived in for so many years.”

You nod, a fat, unannounced tear falling from your eye straight to your anxiously-tangled hands.

“But I’m with you, sweetheart, and I plan to stay with you until you get sick of me.” He smiles, grabbing one of your hands in his and squeezing to let you know he’s there with you.

A moment passes without a word before he lifts your chin up with a finger of his free hand so he can meet your eyes.

Finding them filled with fat, unshed tears, he frowns with an aching heart. Wiping the tears away as they begin to fall over your lash line, he brings his lips to your forehead with a soft kiss.

“I am so sorry to have made you feel this way, sweetheart. I never meant to make you feel so insecure in our relationship. I love you, and I don’t ever want you to feel like I don’t.”

“Nancy and I are in the past and I know it. I accept it. I wasn’t what she wanted, and that’s okay. She left me so I could find you, and everyday I’m happier because of it. You make me happy, baby, and I don’t want you to forget that.”

“I-if that’s true, then why have you been watching her so much? Why are you so awkward around her?” You question, sniffling as occasional tears still roll down your cheeks.

“I watch her because I do still love her and wonder what would have happened if things worked out, but I know she’s happy with Jonathan so I let it be. Her and I are done, y/n, I promise you.”

“If she were to say she still loved you too, would you go back to her?”

“I don’t know.” Steve sighs as you nod, heart feeling as if it’s cracking a little more as you drop your head back down to look at your lap.

“I’m not sure she ever really loved me if I’m honest. I was a shit boyfriend to her, baby, and she realized that. She’s the one who ended the relationship in search of something better, and I don’t blame her one bit. I needed a wake up call and she gave me that.”

“She gave me the push I needed to change myself and be a better person so I can be better to you. I want to be better for you, and I don’t think I could leave you just because of her saying she still loves me. You mean the world to me, sweetheart.”

~.~

Steve simply watches as you nod at his words and he can tell you don’t believe him. He doesn’t blame you, knowing how ruthless invasive, insecure thoughts can be. He especially knows how hard it is to let go of them when you’ve got actions to back them up.

It pains him to think he was feeding into your insecurities of the relationship by watching Nancy. He never meant anything by it. He was simply thinking of the “what if’s,” but he never once thought about leaving you for those daydreams.

He knows that they’re irrational anyway. Him and Nancy don’t work, and even after he’s bettered himself, he’s positive that it still wouldn’t work between them.

You and him on the other hand? He can see you two working out. He can see himself marrying you and settling down here in Hawkins - or wherever you want to go. He can see the two of you having children together, both of you running around outside with them with wide smiles on your faces.

He can see himself making you coffee before you’re even awake only so he can wake you up with it and a kiss day after day for the rest of his life, and he can see himself loving you even when the two of you are old and gray. He can see himself with you, and he only hopes you can see it too.

Watching you sit here, though, heart breaking in front of him on the counter in the bathroom of some long-forgotten house party, he can’t help but feel like he’s screwed everything up. He loves you and yet you so easily believe that he loves someone else.

“Y/n, I love you. I love you more than I ever thought possible, and it honestly scares me.”

He can see you let out a shaky breath even though you’re refusing to look at him. He’s sure his words are simply going in one ear and out the other because you’re already convinced that he doesn’t love you even though he’s been trying to prove otherwise.

“I can see us getting married sometime down the road, you know?” He mentions, voice soft as he lets himself be vulnerable with you.

Sure he’s been honest with you about everything so far, but he hasn’t been vulnerable. He’s been trying to reassure you with empty words instead of letting you see how he actually feels.

“I think about our wedding quite often actually,” he chuckles, embarrassed to admit that fact.

“I think of how it’ll be filled with everyone who loves us and wants us to be happy. I think about that first dance we’ll have together, and how I’ll say something cheesy just to get you to smile and laugh as we pretend there’s no one else in the room.”

“I think about all the planning we’d have to do for it, and how I want to be there for every part of it. I don’t want you to do all the planning and stressing when it’s just as much my day as it is yours. I mean, it’ll be the day I marry the love of my life. How could I leave all the planning for such an important day to one person when I’m the only one who can answer for what I want?”

“I mean, what if you choose seat covers with a bow and I want simple seats with personalized place cards?” He asks, smiling when he hears you chuckle at the absurdity.

“I can see us sharing that first kiss as husband and wife, and it makes me all jittery inside at the sheer happiness it brings me.”

~.~

“I can see this, y/n. I can see us, and I never once saw it with Nancy.”

“With Nance, it was more of a ‘I see us sitting at lunch together’ thing than it was a ‘I see us, still married at the age of 85’ thing.”

You can’t help the little snort that leaves your lips as you think of yourself and Steve at 85 years old. It surprises you, but you find it easy to see the picture yourself. You’ve never thought much about it, too afraid that it’d be getting your hopes up, but you can see yourself marrying Steve and it makes your stomach tingle and your chest feel light.

“All the big stuff, though? I see you at my side for all of it, y/n.” Steve finishes and you take the risk to look up at him.

Meeting his eyes you catch a glimpse of uncertainty within him. He can see this, but he worries that you can’t, and for some reason that’s enough for you to believe him.

Laughing at how pitiful you must look, you wipe at your cheeks before you grab one of his hands, playing with his fingers as he watches you. You love him, and for the first time in a long time you believe that he loves you too.

“Just for the record,” you start, blushing a bit as you think about the words about to leave your mouth and the sheer absurdity of it all.

“I think specialized place cards are a must, and that seat covers with bows are terribly tacky.”

Looking up at him as you pause your anxious playing with his fingers, you watch as a smile breaks out on his face, wider than you’ve ever seen from him as he laughs in disbelief.

“I love you, y/n. I love you so fucking much.” He smiles, not hesitating to bring his hands up to your jaw as he kisses you fiercely and yet still so soft.

You can feel all the heartache he was feeling at your admission through the kiss, just like you can feel all the happiness inflating him now. He wants you, and you’ve never felt more sure of that fact.

As he keeps his lips on yours, although the kiss grows softer and more smiley, you feel your heart slowly being glued back together, and you can’t help but smile at the realization that all you needed was a little bravery and honesty in order to feel so secure with him. It’s a new feeling, but one that’s pleasantly welcomed as you let yourself completely melt into the kiss - and into Steve - for the first time since he asked you out.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

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ladykailitha · 22 days

Text

Across a Crowded Room Part 4

Just one more chapter after this and I've decided to release a chapter a week for a story and post a different story each day of the week except Wednesdays (it's too hard to post on that day because of WIP Wednesday, it's overwhelming).

In this one we have Wayne being wise, Eddie picking the perfect thing to cheer Steve up and just being cuties, and Robin figures out her housing problem.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

****

Eddie went back to his hotel and stewed about it for awhile. He knew Nancy was rough around the edges. That was what he loved most about her. She smart and funny and yeah, if Eddie had been straight and she hadn’t been with Jonathan he would have tried for a relationship with her.

But now, knowing what he did, all he could taste was bile. He knew he could call her up, bitch her out, never speak to her again. And even though Steve didn’t tell him he couldn’t flip out on her tonight, it was advice he was going to take anyway.

Plus, it may have only been 8pm here, it was nine where she was and he knew she went to bed early so she could be up at four to write.

He went out to a gas station to get a pack of cigarettes and some beer. It was going to be long night and he need to relax.

When he got back to the hotel, he stood out in front and lit a cigarette. He called the one person who could make sense of everything that happened tonight.

Wayne.

“Hey, kiddo,” Wayne greeted. “How goes things with your boy?”

Eddie let out a shuddering sigh. “Have you ever been so wrong about something that what you thought was a mole hill turned out to be the tip of an active volcano? Like you have this friend that had rough break up, but you got to be real good friends with the ex so you just kept telling the friend to get over it and move on. Only to find out she cheated on him and lied about it?”

“Oh Ed.”

Wayne had met Nancy and liked her well enough. She was smart and tenacious but she had this coldness to her that rubbed him the wrong way. But Eddie really liked her so he never said anything.

“Is Steve okay?” he asked.

He told Wayne everything that happened earlier.

“Steve is being a fucking saint about the whole thing,” Eddie barked bitterly. “And now I just want to call her and yell at her. Like how could she continue to hurt Steve that way? Because she had to know it was, right?”

Wayne hummed his agreement. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I’m going to wait a couple of days to calm down before calling her,” Eddie said after taking a drag from his cigarette. “Might even wait until I get back to LA, because I don’t want her cloud hanging over Steve and me.”

“Sounds about right,” Wayne said. “I didn’t know she cheated on him, but always thought that how quickly she moved on was a little suspicious.”

Eddie frowned. “What do you mean?”

“They break up and two days later she’s with Jonathan?” Wayne said. “Come on, son, you don’t stop to wonder about that?”

Eddie ducked his head in shame. “She always said that it was a mutual understanding between her and Steve that since she was in love with Jonathan, she should be with him.”

“Ah.”

The story had always been that Steve broke up with her and told her to be with Jonathan because she clearly loved him. But in light of her cheating on Steve, he doubted the conversation was as cut and dried as all that.

“I just feel like I’ve let Steve down after all these years because I never asked him what his side of the story was, you know?”

“I can understand that,” Wayne said. “But follow his lead on this. Don’t beat yourself up for something if he’s truly moved on, alright?”

“Yeah...” he breathed out and all the tension and worry just flowed out his body. “I think I’m just going to have a couple of beers and go to bed.”

“You take care now, ya hear?” Wayne said.

“You, too.”

Eddie hung up and finished his cigarette. He tossed the butt in the appropriate ashtray and went up to his room to crack a couple of beers. As he opened his door, he got a photo from Steve.

It was of him curled up on the sofa with a large blanket and a tub of ice cream. Eddie smiled down at the image. He pressed and held on the imaged and gave it a heart.

-Love you, baby. Take care yourself and we’ll meet up tomorrow.

-Love you too sunshine.

Eddie gulped down the hard lump that had formed in his throat. God did him love this man.

He got into his pjs and sat down on the bed, legs stretched out. He pulled out his phone to plug it in to charge, and looked at it a moment.

He wasn’t going to call Nancy. He had already made that decision. But there was one more person he could talk to.

Jonathan. Maybe he had some insights to all of this that the rest of them just didn’t.

After a good conversation with Jonathan, he hung up feeling a little better about the whole thing.

Then he settled down to read. He had this book that he had been trying to read for the last couple weeks, so he pulled it out to read it. There was a Netflix show about it that he moderately liked and wondered if the source material was any better.

He looked up at the clock on the wall with a frown. He hadn’t gotten too far into the book, but it was already after one.

Sighing, he put the book down and sent a message to Steve to tell him good night, like he had the night before.

Eddie wasn’t expecting a message back, but he got one anyway.

-:*

He shook his head and got under the covers, letting himself drift off.

****

Steve woke up early the next morning and stretched. He felt a billion times better from his quiet night in. He loved Robin and Eddie. They were his best friends for a reason. But they were loud and over the top. Hell, that was why Steve was so in love with Eddie. But he needed soft last night and he could get that better on his own.

Not that Eddie couldn’t be soft!

He didn’t want to suggest otherwise, but he needed the time to decide what he really wanted with Eddie. They had gone from friends that only talked on the phone and barely visited each other to a relationship and sex in zero to sixty.

And as crazy as it all was, Steve was even more invested in going all in with him.

Because he respected Steve’s wishes. Because he sincerely apologized. Because he felt like shit about it. They could have not believed him. Blown him off, telling him it was years ago. Him and Robin both.

But they didn’t.

He had barely turned on the coffee machine when his phone rang.

“Ello mellow,” he greeted absently.

“Steve!” Robin cried. “You’ll never guess what happened last night?”

Steve chuckled. “Yeah?”

“I was talking to Kendra and she has this cousin who’s moving out to New York next week to do ballet and while her parents bought the apartment outright want her to take a roommate to help with the utilities and shit. So we called her and talked. And now I have place to stay, stay and I don’t need to crash on Nancy’s couch. Hell, I don’t even have to tell her about what happened between you and her and I can just phase her out of my life. Isn’t that amazing?!”

She hadn’t even taken a breath throughout the whole speech.

Steve laughed. “That does sound amazing. What’s her name?”

“Chrissy Cunningham,” Robin said. “Steve, she’s like gorgeous and a ballerina and funny and I’m going to die but I’m going to die happy about it.”

“I’m happy for you, Robs,” he said. “You call Nancy yet?”

“No,” she replied grumpily. “I wanted to talk to my bestie first.”

Steve chuckled. “Bestie informed. Now go tell her of your changed plans.”

“Love you, dingus!” she said with a kissy noise. “Call you back soon!”

Steve stared at his phone for a moment or two in just sheer awe. Like if Eddie hadn’t gotten the record deal out here, none of this would have happened.

It probably would still turned out all right, but now things were going great.

He got his coffee and made him a bow of cereal. He was going to have to go grocery shopping. He was a little lower on things than he thought he was.

He had finished rinsing out his bowl when he got a call from Eddie.

“Morning, babe,” he said softly. Fondly.

“My glorious Stevie!” Eddie greeted back. “I have decided that because yesterday was shit, we are going to the zoo today.”

Steve blinked. He didn’t think he’d ever been to the zoo out here in Chicago. “Sounds like fun. Should we make a picnic out of it?”

“Yes!” Eddie cried. “That’s perfect. I get the drinks and sides and you bring the sandwiches?”

“Sounds good,” Steve said. “The best supermarket is on...” he listed the address and texted it to him. “Why don’t we meet there in an hour and do our shopping together.”

“Yay!”

“See you then, Eds.”

“Bye, honey!”

Steve did the sniff test and decided he’d shower when he got home. He was about to smear sunscreen all over himself and figured it would be easier to get just one shower today.

He went to the cupboard and pulled out their sunscreen. Robin being the cute freckled thing that she was burned in sixty two degree weather in severe overcast wearing a large hat and covering up the rest of her so he had the good stuff.

He checked his balance and satisfied he had enough for the zoo and groceries, he went and got dressed, applying the sunscreen under his clothes for maximum effectiveness.

Steve grabbed his keys and wallet and locked up.

****

Eddie found the place easy enough. The problem was that he arrived twenty minutes before he said he would meet Steve. So he left early to make sure he could find the place and not leave Steve waiting, so sue him.

He was finishing his second cigarette when Steve pulled up next to him and hopped out.

“I hope you haven’t been waiting long,” Steve said with a smile.

Eddie pulled him in close. “Just a few years, but that’s okay. I’d wait forever if it meant I would get you in the end.”

“Sap!” Steve teased, but he threw his arms around Eddie’s neck and kissed him deeply. “You don’t have to wait anymore, sunshine. I’m in it for as long you want me.”

Eddie’s smile was bright. “Mmk.”

They walked into grocery store and got a cart. Steve pulled out his phone and got the stuff on his list. Then they got the stuff for their picnic.

“I’d make my potato salad if I had the time,” Steve lamented when Eddie threw in a tub of the store bought.

“You have a potato salad recipe?” Eddie cackled. “Is it yours or Claudia’s?”

Steve clutched his chest and placed the back of his hand on his forehead. “I’m wounded to think that I would steal Claudia Henderson’s potato salad recipe! She uses Miracle Whip, the heathen!”

Eddie threw his head back and laughed. “There is nothing wrong with Miracle Whip, babe.”

“I like to add my own seasoning and that stuff throws off the whole balance!” Steve protested.

Eddie kissed his cheek. “If you say so, Stevie.”

Steve blushed and they finished their shopping.

They went back to Steve’s so that they could put away his groceries and make the sandwiches.

They stood side by side as they made their sandwiches. Then they packed the cooler.

Steve bullied Eddie into putting on sunscreen by telling him that he need to strip for it.

Eddie was naked in no time at all and moaned the injustice of it all when Steve told him he already had some on.

They loaded everything into Eddie’s rental and sent off for the Chicago zoo.

Eddie was most excited to see the primate enclosure, while Steve wanted to see the wild cats. He couldn’t call them ‘big’ cats because the African Blackfoot was the size of house kitten. And that wasn’t included the manuls. Or Pallas’ cat. Grumpy faces, short little legs, and fluffy as hell.

Eddie pointed to one of the manul kittens. “That one looks like Dustin!” he cackled.

Steve laughed. “It really does!” He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture.

He sent it to Dustin with tag, “I didn’t know you were at the Zoo today!”

The response he got back was a single eye roll emoji.

“You know,” Eddie said looking over Steve’s shoulder, “I swear that butthead has gotten less fun over the years.”

“I know, right?”

They got to the aquatic part of the zoo and there was this little boy who couldn’t have been older than two or three just glued to the otter exhibit. He had both hands on the glass as the otters swam and splashed as if they were showing off for just this little boy.

“I think they have to be that cute at that age to avoid you murdering them when they go on a tear in their underwear smearing poo on the entire hallway,” Eddie said with a grin.

Steve laughed. “Let me guess there are pictures of baby Eddie doing exactly that?”

Eddie pursed his lips and rocked back on his heels. “I plead the fifth.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t burn them when you turned eighteen.”

They moved on to the elephants.

“I tried!” Eddie cried. “Wayne won’t tell me where they are. He says he wants to show them to my future partner so he can see if they pass the litmus test.”

Steve kissed his knuckles. “And what test is that?”

“Whether or not they’d except the crazy with the sane,” Eddie murmured.

Steve pulled him in close. “I prefer the crazy to the sane, baby. The crazy keeps me from getting too far into my head.” He kissed the tip of his nose. “Okay?”

Eddie gave him a quick hug. “It’s no fair, because Wayne already loves you, so I don’t get to watch him get all protective and shit.”

Steve gave a half shrug. “I think I got enough of the protective father figure when we first started being friends, Eds. I think he actually growled at me once.”

Eddie threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, my god, I forgot he did that.”

Steve just smiled as they took their time through the whole zoo, just holding hands and being with each other.

Finally it was time for lunch and Steve went to go get their cooler while Eddie found them a picnic table.

****

Part 5

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loove-persevering · 2 years

Text

Grand Gesture (Steve Harrington x reader!) S4 SPOILERS!

Description: REQUEST! Steve Harrington x Reader where the reader is seeing how close Nancy and Steve are and the looks they give. When the Reader goes to Eddie Steve gets confused and a little jealous because he actually has feelings for her. It is a fem reader x Steve as that's how I normally write and it wasn't in the request!

NOTE*** This DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS for season 4 the ENTIRE season! If you do not want to see a spoiler DO NOT read. I also tried to be as neutral as I could in the writing with trying not to use descriptions of appearance. If I slipped up at any point I sincerely apologize!

_____

‘’I mean it’s like he doesn’t even care that I am around,’’ You say, flinging your hands in the air. ‘’I may as well be nothing compared to her, I try so hard to get him to notice me and all he does is play this game with Nancy.’’ You tell Eddie. ‘’Like am I not good enough?’’ You ask him completely laying out your feelings.

Eddie and you had history but not the romantic kind. You used to live right next to each other and would hangout from time to time when you were still in highschool. He would try to explain D&D to you but you would never fully comprehend that game. When Max told you about Eddie being with Chrissy the night she died you knew he was innocent, you knew enough about Eddie to know he could never do such a thing.

‘’You’re great Y/N,’’ Eddie assures you.

‘’He’s been giving me such mixed signals, when Nancy isn’t around I truly think he likes me and has feelings for me but with all this happening it’s like whenever she is around I am like-It’s like he doesn’t even see me.’’ You tell him. ‘’I make it pretty damn obvious that I like him too,’’ You tell him. ‘’Am I talking too much do you want to talk about, well uh your situation?’’ You ask gesturing to the boat house you were in.

‘’Yeah I know you do,’’ Eddie says teasingly. ‘’And not really, kinda nice to get it off my mind for a bit.’’

You glare at him, ‘’Hey you said I could talk to you, you’re not suppose to judge me while I do it.’’ You tell him and begin to pace around again. ‘’I mean what else can I do?’’ You ask him. ‘’Like how can I compete with Nancy Wheeler?’’

‘’You don’t compete with her,’’ Eddie says to you. You were confused an opened your mouth to yell at him that he was being absurd but he beat you to it holding a finger up to you, ‘’Here me out, you and Nancy Wheeler…’’He pauses, ‘’Two different ballparks.’’ He says bringing his hands up crossing them over one another. ‘’Think about you and Nancy what do you have in common besides this,’’ He says waving his hands all over the place, ‘’Whole thing.’’

You cross your arms over your chest trying to think about what he was asking. You and Nancy were completely different. ‘’I don’t know,’’ You admitted to him.

‘’Steve has already dated Nancy right?’’ Eddie asks and you nod. ‘’And she left him for the Byers kid right?’’ He asks.

‘’Jonathan yes,’’ You answer by clarifying the name.

‘’So there are unresolved feelings, he doesn’t know what could’ve happened had they stayed together.’’ He tells you. ‘’So you just need to show him that you are the better option.’’

You groan your head falling back in response, ‘’But I do Eddie!’’ You say walking over to him, ‘’I literally do everything I can to get that boy's attention, I take extra shifts for him, I clean the bathrooms at work,’’ You pause. ‘’Both bathrooms,’’ You emphasized to him. ‘’Both.’’

‘’Have you ever done anything with him outside of work?’’ He asks you.

‘’Well no,’’ You tell him and he gives you a look, ‘’But we did last night.’’ You tell him. ‘’When we came here and found you.’’ You tell him.

‘’So the first time you hangout outside of work is when you go to hunt the accused town killer?’’ He asks, ‘’Not exactly an environment for a budding romance’’ He gestures around to the dirty boathouse. ‘’Let me tell you exactly what you need,’’ Eddie says, pointing his finger at you, ‘’A grand gesture.’’

You sit down in the nearby stool and rest your elbows back against the counter watching Eddie, ‘’A grand gesture? How do I even do that?’’ You ask him.

Eddie gestures for you to come closer to him, you groan getting up walking over to him. When you finally step in front of him he grabs both sides of your arms and stares at you straight in the eye as he says it, ‘’You look that son of a bitch straight in the face,’’ He begins to say and you begin to laugh breaking eye contact with him, ‘’Straight in the face Y/N!’’ He tells you to shake your arms only to make you laugh more. ‘’And then you-’’ He begins to say but he’s cut off by the door slamming open, startling you both.

Dustin walked in first bags in his hands as he looked to where you and Eddie stood, everyone else followed in just after him and you noticed the look of shock on Steve’s face as he saw Eddie with his hands gripping the sides of your arms, both of you standing pretty close to one another. Eddie immediately drops his hands against his denim jeans. ‘’Delivery Service!’’ Dustin says cheerfully.

‘’Are we uh-interrupting?’’ Steve asks his eyes specifically focused on you, he glances at Eddie a moment after.

‘’No!’’ You and Eddie both yell simultaneously. ‘’No we were just talking,’’ You explain walking over to Steve.

‘’About what?’’ Robin asks, giving you an amused look.

‘’Ya know, stuff.’’ You say realizing how much of an idiot you sounded like. As Dustin walked over to Eddie opening the grocery bag you found yourself standing next to Steve. ‘’Hey,’’ You say simply, your fingers intertwining behind your back.

He nods his head, ‘’Hey,’’ He says simply. You purse your lips unsure of what to say next watching Eddie and Dustin exchange words over one of the things Dustin got him to eat. ‘’I went to your house this morning to pick you up, your mom said you left already?’’ He asks you.

You turn your head to him shocked by what he had said, ‘’You went to my house?’’ You ask him and he nods, ‘’And talked to my mom?’’ He nods again. ‘’I have a car, you know?’’ You tell him.

He shakes his head acknowledging the fact, ‘’I know, I know.’’ He pauses. ‘’I just thought we could ride together.’’ He tells you. You nod your head accepting that he had wanted to actually pick you up first and talk with you. ‘’Your mom was really nice.’’ He mentions it to you.

You roll your eyes at him, ‘’Yeah she probably said something embarrassing about me didn’t she?’’ You ask resting your hand on your hip staring up at him.

‘’No,’’ He says a sort of mischievous smile on his face, ‘’She didn’t say a thing,’’ He says but you could tell he was lying out of his ass with the smile on his face. He takes off walking over toward everyone else who was sitting around Eddie who was completely submerged in the food he was eating.

‘’Steve!’’ You yell at him jokingly wanting to know exactly what your mother had said.

Before you could say anything else to Steve, Dustin interrupted. ‘’Alright Eddie do you wanna hear good news or bad news first?’’

‘’Bad news, always bad news first.’’ He says taking his hand and scooping up another handful of honey comb cereal.

‘’Well we tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they’re definitely looking for you. Also they’re pretty convinced you killed Chrissy.’’ Dustin tells him.

Max speaks up next, ‘’Like a 100% kind of convinced.’’ She tells him.

‘’And the good news?’’ Eddie asks.

‘’Your name hasn’t gone public yet,’’ Robin tells him. ‘’But if we found out about you, it’s only a matter of time before others do.’’ It was true, it wasn’t going to be that hard and all your calls all over town to find him probably didn’t help. ‘’And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow minded mother is gonna be gunning for you.’’ She admits to him.

‘’Hunt the freak, right?’’ Eddie points out.

‘’So before that happens we need to find Vecna, kill him and prove your innocence,’’ Dustin says as if it was no big deal.

It was only a few seconds later after Steve had explained to Eddie that El was a girl who normally helped us when things came up in Hawkins that the police sirens got closer. ‘’Get under the tarp!’’ You yell to Eddie pointing at it, ‘’Tarp!’’ You tell him. Eddie quickly pulls it over him sinking into the bottom of the boat pulling the tarp over him.

With everyone else you ran over to the windows looking outside, they completely ignored the gravel driveway you had anticipated them coming down zooming down the street to wherever else. It was only a few second later two more cars came down the same road, ‘’Why would there be so many cop cars now?’’ You ask.

‘’Another murder.’’ Robin says.

___________

‘’Woah, woah Nance. Nance!’’ You hear Steve call out pausing as you open the car door. ‘’Where you going?’’ He asks her.

She turns around to face the rest of you, ‘’There’s just something I wanna check out first.’’ She says vaguely.

‘’Something you maybe wanna share with the rest of us?’’ Dustin asks. You all look at Nancy expectantly waiting for her to tell you exactly what she was heading off to do especially with whatever this thing was going around killing people.

‘’I don’t wanna waste your time. It’s a real shot in the dark.’’ She says.

‘’Yeah, okay. Are you out of your mind?’’ Steve asked, sounding bewildered she would even try and leave the group alone. ‘’Flying solo with this Vecna on the loose? No it’s too dangerous. You need- You need someone to-’’ He begins to say and you watch him expectantly becoming more hopeless the more he talked with Nancy.

Turning around to you Steve takes his keys throwing them to you, you fumble as they hit your hand confused as to what was happening. ‘’I’ll stick with Nance.’’ He says and it felt like a punch in the gut. ‘’Take the car, check out that shrink.’’ He says staring straight at you.

‘’You want me-’’ You pause. ‘’To drive? Steve I don’t-’’ You start to say but Max cuts you off.

‘’I can drive!’’ She says casually.

Steve had an immediate reaction, ‘’No, never again. Please anybody but you, no.’’ He says pointing at her.

Robin looks back at you and so does Dustin. Both of them noticed how flustered you were by the situation. Why would Steve want to stick with Nancy so willingly? ‘’This is ridiculous.’’ Robin says, grabbing the keys from your hands and walking over to Steve putting them back in his. ‘’We will stick together and you four stick together, Unless you think we can’t handle that?’’ Robin asks Steve.

You watch as Steve and Nancy glance at one another as if they were both slightly disappointed that they couldn’t do whatever it is she needed to do together. ‘’You just gonna stand there and gawk?’’ Dustin says to Steve as he watches them both walk away.

Steve groans turning back to Dustin, ‘’Shut up.’’ He says and you just wait at the passenger side door unsure of what to do next. ‘’Shut up and get in the car.’’ Steve says simply.

‘’What was that?’’ You ask him as he sits down in the driver's seat. He looks over at you confused.

‘’Nothing?’’ He says defensively. ‘’It was nothing-’’ He explains.

You don’t bother acknowledging him, you just turn your head to the road putting on your seatbelt. You knew you weren’t the only one thinking Steve was being weird around Nancy but you weren’t sure how much more you could stand to watch.

____________

Abandoned houses weren’t creepy. Abandoned houses weren’t creepy. That was what you kept repeating to yourself walking around the old Creel house. It was something about this house that just made you on edge, the story behind it was just eerie.

Everyone for the majority split up but you stuck with Robin not wanting to be alone in the house, ‘’This place is cobwebs galore.’’ You tell her ducking under another one, ‘’This house probably used to be so beautiful.’’ You say running your hand along a wooden piece of furniture, the dirt sticking to your hand, you quickly wipe it off on your jacket.

‘’Yeah,’’ She says, turning her flashlight up toward the ceiling, taking in all the cobwebs above. For a moment you and Robin stay in one of the rooms upstairs, both of you inspecting different items trying to find anything that could help you. ‘’You okay?’’ Robin asks you shining her light at you.

You shrug your shoulders, ‘’Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?’’ You ask her. She gives you a knowing look, ‘’I’m fine really he can be with who ever-’’ You begin to tell her but the sound of breaking glass and a cry aloud made you both stop your conversation. You look to one another and then both head to the door walking in the hallway.

Steve and Nancy stood in the hallway upstairs, she had her hands pulling out cobwebs from Steve’s hair. ‘’Don’t go in there.’’ He tells you and Robin both. You nod still staring at Nancy picking the webs out.

‘’If there's a spider in there you’re never gonna find it. Not till it lays eggs and the babies spill out.’’ Robin says so casually as she walks past them just a few feet behind her.

‘’What’s wrong with you? Steve says not missing a beat. You walk next to Steve making eye contact with him before quickly breaking it. ‘’Robin, seriously.’’ Steve says. ‘’She’s got problems,’’ He says, referring to her.

Their voices get quieter but you can still hear them in the next room. You hear the conversation between him and Nancy as he assures her that he and Robin are just friends, and then she asks him about you and he says the same thing. ‘’We just hangout at work and I’ve known her for a while.’’ He says.

You could see how close they were from in the room you and Robin had just walked into. ‘’Y/N.’’ Robin says, calling out to you. You look at her humming in response, ‘’You’re staring,’’ She says her voice hushed. You glance back up at them and then back to her muttering an apology.

‘’I think I am gonna head out-’’ You tell her. She looks up at you immediately. ‘’My mom- she’s gonna be worried if I’m not home.’’ You admit. It wasn’t completely a lie but it also wasn’t completely the truth. ‘’Plus I might swing by to give Eddie some food.’’ You admit to her and she nods.

‘’What’s going on?’’ Steve says walking in the room.

You glance up at him, he had a worried expression on his face looking from you to Robin. ‘’I’m gonna go home.’’ You tell him. ‘’My mom, she'll be worried.’’ You tell him. ‘’And I was gonna bring Eddie dinner.’’

‘’Oh,’’ Steve says. ‘’Well- you shouldn’t- How are you gonna get home?’’ He asks.

‘’Well my cars outside- I met you here remember?’’ You ask him. You had gone home last night to get your car then went and stayed at the Wheeler house all night helping keep watch of Max. ‘’It’s not that far of a drive.’’ You tell him walking toward the doorway, ‘’I’ll just see you guys tomorrow?’’ You ask and Robin and Nancy both nod.

When you turn to leave an arm catches your wrist gently. ‘’Be careful going home,’’ Steve tells you. ‘’Just go straight there, don’t make any stops.’’ He sounds serious.

‘’Aye aye Captain,’’ You say to him. He gives you a half hearted smile but he still looked as if he was worried.

You did exactly what Steve said you went home and didn’t stop. You ate dinner with your mom and after she fell asleep tired from her shift at work you slid up the window in your room with a plate in hand as you speed walked to your car. You put the plate in the passenger seat, throwing your backpack which had a big blanket for Eddie in the back of the car. You were careful to not turn on your light when you pulled out of the driveway to your house scared the lights would wake your mom up.

It wasn’t a long drive to the boat house, when you pulled onto the gravel road you noticed an unfamiliar car parked outside. You parked off to the side near the trees not exactly next to the car but still close enough in case you needed to get out quickly. Noticing there was nobody around, you warily got out of the car making your way to the boathouse whose door was wide open. ‘’Eddie?’’ You whisper out into the open. ‘’Eddie it’s Y/N.’’

As you were about to step in you felt a hand clasp around your mouth preventing you from yelling, you thrashed against the body realizing they were soaking wet. ‘’Shh,’’ the voice says, trying to calm you down. ‘’Shhh.’’ You finally push yourself away from the body with all your strength turning around to see a bewildered Eddie, his eyes wide with panic. You were about to say something but he again put his hand over your mouth stepping closer to you, he shook his head at you taking his other hand and raising it telling you to be quiet. ‘’Not here,’’ He says just barely a whisper and you nod. He takes your hand and pulls you with him through the dark woods.

_____________

Out of all the things that had happened in the past few years there was a lot of scary shit. But seeing Y/N’s car parked at the boathouse with cops surrounding it was one of the scariest feelings for Steve. Steve listened closely, holding his breath practically the entire time that the cops made their statement, they had found a body. A body that could be Y/N’s. Steve got as close as he could to hear the statement, ‘’Patrick Mckinney.’’ The officer said. A wave of relief flooded knowing it wasn’t you. ‘’We found a vehicle belonging to Y/N Y/L/N. Right now the reason is unknown as to why she was here but we have not found her and police are actively searching for her as we speak.’’ He says. ‘’We are doing everything we can to find her and bring her home safely.’’

‘’We have also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson.’’ He announces. ‘’Anyone with any information should please come forward.’’

Steve couldn’t handle what they were saying anymore he walked away putting a hand over his eyes as he could feel the tears coming on. He should’ve checked on her last night, he should’ve drove by and seen if she was home when they left the creel house. He walked away crouching on the gravel road before him holding his hand in his head unsure of how he should feel.

‘’Dustin?’’ A voice calls out through the walkie. ‘’Can you hear me? Wheeler?’’ Steve recognized the voice as Eddie.

Dustin fumbles with the walkie pulling it off his back pack. Steve stands up walking over to where Dustin was. ‘’Eddie holy shit!’’ Dustin says into the walkie. ‘’Are you okay?’’ Dustin asks him.

‘’Nah, man. Pretty..pretty goddamn far from okay.’’ Eddie says, answering truthfully.

‘’Where is he?’’ Robin asks.

‘’Did he see Y/N last night?’’ Steve asks, looking down at Dustin.

‘’Where are you?’’ Dustin asks him.

‘’Skull rock, you know it?’’ Eddie asks him.

Steve takes the walkie out of Dustin's hands, ‘’Eddie is- is Y/N with you?’’ He asks. There's a moments pause from when Steve asks, ‘’Eddie is Y/N with you?’’ He asks again, speaking as clearly as he could.

‘’Steve?’’ You say into the walkie. ‘’I’m here, I’m with Eddie, I'm fine.’’ You tell him. The words were like a relief to Steve he let out a deep breath the second he heard your voice through the walkie. ‘’Just hurry.’’ You say to him.

‘’We’re coming just-just stay there.’’ Steve says his hands are already fumbling in his pocket for his keys.

It was just a little while later that Steve navigated the way to skull rock. ‘’In your face man. In your stupid cocky little face.’’ Steve says to Dustin slightly out of breath, he had practically jogged here wanting to see for himself that you were okay. ‘’Even with it staring you right in the face, you can’t admit it.’’

The thud of the ground made Dustin and Steve turn around, ‘’I concur. You Dustin Henderson are a total butthead.’’ Eddie says.

‘’Geez man, we thought you were a goner.’ Dustin says walking over to Eddie giving him a hug which Eddie reluctantly but eventually gives him back muttering he also thought he was a goner.

‘’Steve?’’ You call out. The blanket was wrapped around your shoulders, Eddie had insisted you take it after he heard your chattering teeth throughout the night. Steve turned around immediately, the relief of seeing you was proof enough but he walked over to you embracing you in a hug. It took you a moment to register what he was doing, but when you did you gave in hugging him back with an equal if not greater force.

‘’We got the the boathouse and your car-’’ He began to say pulling away from you hug his hands still touching the sides of your arms, ‘’Your car was there and they found a body.’’

‘’I found Eddie after-’’ You pause glancing at Eddie ‘’I’ll just let him tell you.’’ You sigh completely exhausted, Eddie had explained it to you when you made it far enough away from the boathouse but you didn’t want to have them miss out on any details that weren’t important.

With Eddie's explanation and Dustin's connection with the compass and something about mordor you found yourself once again fleeing through the woods. Steve had stayed behind with you the entire time, ‘’So you and Eddie?’’ He asks you.

‘’Me and Eddie what?’’ You ask him confused as to what he was insinuating.

He gestures up to Eddie with a nod, ‘’Are you two a thing now?’’ He asks. ‘’You just seem to spend a lot of time with him.’’ He points out his eyes looking anywhere but you.

You let out a sarcastic laugh, ‘’Me and Eddie?’’ You ask him. ‘’Never.’’ You point out. ‘’He just needs someone right now,’’ You point out to Steve. There was a log in front of you and Steve steps over first pausing as you take your step over. ‘’Nothing going on.’’ You tell him. ‘’What about you and Nancy?’’ You ask him the same question.

He shrugs his shoulders in response, ‘’Jonathans not here I am, I’m not really sure what’s going on.’’ You could tell he was being truthful with his response.

You wait a moment before asking the next question, ‘’Do you still have feelings for her?’’ You ask him.

‘’It’s complicated.’’ He tells you. ‘’I don’t think I do.’’ You glance up at him muddled by his response. ‘’I’ve had this thing for another girl for a while and I don’t wanna mess that up anymore than I already have.’’ He tells you.

You didn’t know what was worse, him liking Nancy or him liking whoever the other girl was. ‘’Do I know her?’’ You ask him.

‘’I think so,’’ He says, readjusting his backpack. ‘’She’s really cool, has a good sense of style, a decent sense of humor.’’ He begins lifting off attributes.

‘’Sounds like a winner,’’ You say your voice comes out more harsh than intended.

The daylight had surpassed and it was already dark again, the woods becoming more and more eerie as it got later in the night. ‘’Holy shit,’’ You say, stopping behind everyone else your flashlight illuminating off the water of lovers' lake.

‘’You’ve gotta be shitting me,’’ Steve says aloud,

‘’Lover’s Lake,’’ Robin points out. ‘’There’s a gate in Lover’s lake?’’ She asks.

‘’The demogorgon always left an opening,’’ Nancy points out. ‘’Maybe Vecna is the same way.’’ She says.

‘’Only one way to find out,’’ Steve says.

Five minutes later you, Steve, Robin, Nancy, and Eddie were paddling out along Lover’s lake to Dustin's displeasure. It was about halfway out when Robin noticed the compass going absolutely crazy. ‘’Dustin, your compass is going berserk out here.’’ You say talking into the walkie.

You were too busy looking at the compass to notice that Steve had begun to remove his clothes, ‘’What the hell do you think you’re doing?’’ You ask him as his eyes meet yours.

He says like it was the most obvious thing in the world, Someones gotta go down and check this out.’’ He says. ‘’Unless one of you three can stop being a Hawkins High Swim co-captain, and a certified lifeguard for three years.’’ He pauses taking off another sock. ‘’It’s gotta be me. No complaints, all right?’’ He says not really asking.

‘’Like hell you are, we don’t know what’s down there!’’ You say to him.

‘’Exactly why we need to find out.’’ He says standing up. He lifts his shirt over his head exposing his back and you couldn’t help but Gawk at him, and not only you but Nancy as you caught her looking as well.

‘’No complaints here,’’ Eddie says, pulling out a bag. He stuffs a light in it handing it off to Steve, ‘’Goodluck.’’

Just as Steve turns around bracing himself for the water, ‘’Steve?’’ You call out to him.

‘’Be careful.’’ You say staring straight at him, the tone of your voice as serious as it could be. He just nods in response, turning back to the water. A moment later he had dived in, it was pitch dark across the lake you couldn’t see a thing.

‘’Robin let me see your flashlight,’’ You tell her and she hands it to you, trading you for the compass. You move around the boat making it rock small complaints from everyone else.

‘’What are you doing?’’ Nancy asks you.

You sigh completely unsure, there was no way the light would help you see down that far in the murky water but you wanted to make sure if Steve came up quickly you could help. It felt like forever waiting for him to come back up, you waited and waited until finally you saw the bubbles coming up from below. ‘’He’s coming!’’ You tell them trying to prepare yourself for him to break the surface.

You jumped when his hands grabbed the edge of the boat, almost pulling you forward into the water, Steve hung on the edge of the boat. ‘’It’s more of a snack sized gate than a mamma gate. But still, it’s pretty damn big.’’ He explains.

It was that moment that Steve’s head dunked underwater, everyone being rocked by the boat. ‘Steve get up here,’’ You tell him cautiously, scared to bring your voice even barely above a whisper. A split second later he was completely pulled under his body not coming back up. Everyone began screaming as the boat was rocking back and forth and you pushed yourself back closing your eyes. You squeezed them tightly unsure of what to do, you had to go get him, and you had to do it now.

‘’Y/N,’’ Eddie says seeing you stand up, ‘’Y/N what do you think you're doing?’’ He asks, watching you unbutton your flannel exposing the worn down t-shirt below it. You wrap the flannel tightly around one arm before securing it tightly.

‘’A grand gesture,’’ You say and before Eddie or anyone could protest you jump in. The cold water meets your skin and you can still hear them yelling from the surface. You can see Steve being pulled down just as he makes it to the red entrance way, his arms wailing around terrified. You push with your arms down further and further into the lake until you reach the bottom of it, the red glow illuminating your face. You had no idea where the hell this thing was going but you knew for certain Steve was on the other side of it alone and that terrified you more.

You take your hand pushing it through the red opening and like a vacuum you felt the rest of your body being jerked through, it wasn’t as gentle as you hoped and you shot up out of it landing on your shoulder groaning.

You heard the screeching from the air which made you pull yourself together realizing where you were as you glanced up at the clouded sky. You could see Steve a few yards away his body flailing as he was trapped by his neck with one of the tentacle-like structures. ‘’Steve!’’ You yell out pushing yourself off the ground, you run toward him but stop just before as the bat-like creature slams its face into his side. You look around trying to find anything to use as a weapon, on the ground next to you lay a broken Oar but it was just long enough that you think you could use it. You run over to Steve careful trying not to slip on all of the vine-like things on the ground.

You swing the bat once and it hits a bat knocking it away from Steve, just for the other one to bite down on the other side. Steve screamed out in pain as the bats just kept swarming his body. You took the oar once again hitting the bat with it and just when you went to hit the other one another bat knocked it already. You turn to see Nancy next to you with a bat in her hand, more and more bats are coming surrounding the area. You kept hitting the bats so they detach from Steve and eventually they do. You didn’t even recognize Robin and Eddie had shown up as well, both of them with weapons of their own in hand.

‘’Steve,’’ You whisper running over to him, throwing the oar down to the ground. You lean down on your knees noticing the fleshy wound along his abdomen. It wasn’t much longer that you heard more of the creatures screeching in the sky, they swooped down quicker than you had anticipated. Steve gorans pushes himself up and you reach back grabbing the only weapon you had, and you just start swinging, hitting a bat that had swooped down dangerously close. Everyone was fighting off the bats; they just kept coming out of nowhere. You knocked a bat to the ground slamming the oar into its face, blood splattering around the ground. The moment you stop you look over to see Steve pulling apart the creature, blood spilling out of his mouth as he spits out the taste. ‘’We need to get out of here, we need to find a place to hide!’’ You tell them and they all agree.

Steve was limping slightly clutching his side, you couldn’t imagine which hurt worse since both sides were gushing blood. You all ran as quickly as you could. You stayed behind Steve in case another attack was on it’s way. You found solace in the tree lines heading into the wooded area where you could probably find better coverage.

‘’Under there!’’ Robin yells pointing to the large rock, it was an open area but from above the bats wouldn’t be able to see you. You glance behind you, noticing there were hundreds swarming the sky now, ‘’Come on! Come on!’’ She yells running. You move forward quickly sliding your body under Steve’s shoulder, he glances down at you doing so a small smile at the gesture was all he gave. You doing so helped quicken his pace just enough to make it under the rock.

Steve hissed from the pain in his side as he rested his back against the rock, ‘’Gosh Steve,’’ You say your hand touching his abdomen just above the wound. You unwrap your flannel from earlier around your arm, ‘’Sit up a bit please.’’ You tell him. You rewrap the flannel around your hand using it as a glove of some sort, ‘’We need to stop the bleeding.’’ You tell him your voice laced with concern, your hands pushing against his abdomen and Steve jumps his hand resting on your arm squeezing it tightly.

‘’Nancy,’’ You call out to her needing more than just the thin flannel you had. ‘’Do you have anything we can use?’’ You ask, turning your head, everyone's attention was now on you and Steve.

Robin looked terrified and her mouth formed an O shape as she saw the wound on Steve’s abdomen. She walks over crouching down as she sees Steve’s open wound. ‘’So the good news is I’m pretty sure dizziness is not a symptom of rabies?’’ Robin points out the odd fact. ‘’Do you feel Woozie?’’ She asks and Steve squirms as you put more pressure on the wound. You notice Nancy pulling at her pants getting more fabric to secure the wound.

‘’Yeahh,’’ Steve says letting out a rigid breath, ‘’I do.’’ He says. Nancy hands you the fabric and you tell Steve to stand if he can, he pushes himself up and Robin and Nancy come to his side helping to hold him up. You ask him if he’s ready and he agrees reluctantly, ‘’Just do it,’’ He says, holding his breath, he flinches when the fabric touches him.

‘’I’m sorry,’’ You tell him. Trying to secure it. You finally get it tied and he breathes a sigh of relief, ‘’You okay?’’ You ask him. ‘’He needs to rest for a minute,’’ You tell them both and they agree.

‘’Yeah, yeah.’’ He says his breath is still rigid. You glance over to everyone else who had moved away from you and Steve looking out into the forest of the Upside down. ‘’Are you okay?’’ He asks and you look at him confused. ‘’You were here right after me, right after.’’ He says. The conversation behind you was going on but neither of you were engaged in it.

‘’Yeah, yeah.’’ You repeat his word verbatim, making you both laugh slightly. He clutches his side as he laughs, ‘’Sorry,’’ you say to him. He stops laughing and looks at you just for a moment, both of you not saying anything, you smile softly feeling his eyes on you. ‘’We have to get you home, get you back to that girl.’’ You say trying to avert his mind something more positive.

‘’That girl?’’ He asks you confused.

‘’The girl you told me about,’’ You tell him looking down at his torso adjusting the wrap once again. ‘’The one you have a crush on?’’ You say it as more of a question.

For a moment he doesn’t say anything and you just fixate on the wrap, the sounds of bats screeching from overhead, ‘’The girl,’’ He says, making you look up. ‘’Is you, it’s you Y/N.’’ He says.

You stare at him completely shocked, it was you? How was it you? ‘’Me?’’ You ask him. ‘’I don’t understand.’’ You say puzzled.

He takes a deep breath, ‘’The girl I have a crush on is you,’’ He tells you. ‘’It’s been you for a while..’’

‘’But you and Nancy?’’ You ask him confused, your tone much lower, scared she would hear you. ‘’You guys have been- you seem like.’’ He tells you.

‘’You and Eddie seemed so close, I was jealous and Nancy was giving attention. I thought it would get yours if I played into it a little,’’ He says and you nod understandingly. ‘’It was dumb. Immature I should've just told you.

‘’Steve this entire time I’ve been talking to Eddie about you.’’ You emphasize ‘’I’ve been trying to get your attention for months.’’ You tell him. ‘’Eddie has had to hear all about it the past two days,’’ You admit, making him laugh once again.

‘’Then when we make it out of here,’’ He pauses, ‘’We’ll go on a nice date? Whatever you want.’’ He tells you and you nod smiling at him. You push yourself forward planting a quick kiss on his cheek, if you were going to kiss Steve Harrington for the first time it was not going to be in the upside down while he was bleeding out it was going to be a real kiss on a date. ‘’Deal?’’ He asks as you pull away.

‘’Deal,’’ You say to him.

You hear feet thump on the ground and it finally grabs both of your attention looking back, everyone smiling at the two of you, even Nancy. ‘’What did I tell you?’’ Eddie asks. ‘’Grand gesture.’’

_____

Thanks for reading! I am sorry if it felt like I skipped around a lot I started writing and got so far in and when I Read it back I was like omg I skipped around too much but I have a bad problem with doing request and never posting because I re-read and hate them too much. SOOO here we are I hope you liked it and didn't hate it haha! Again sorry for any mess ups!

Please send more S4 request! Also if you request and want it outside of the plot of season 4 PLEASE let me know I have such a hard time making scenarios in my head that don't follow the plot.

#steve harrington imagine #king steve #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x reader angst #steve harrington x reader fluff #robin buckley #eddie munson #stranger things spoilers #nancy wheeler #dustin henderson #max mayfield #lucas sinclair

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delta-piscium · 1 year

Text

I wrote this in September and it’s been collecting dust in my docs and staring back at me with judgement whenever I post or write something else so here

“Steve” a familiar voice shouts across the room.

Steve turns around, and there, on the other side of the crowded room is Tommy. It really shouldn’t be as big of a shock to see him as it is. Steve is at a house party on a Friday night, it would have been weirder if Tommy wasn’t here. But still, that doesn’t mean he’s prepared to see him, they basically haven’t talked in three years, ever since Steve ‘chose’ Nancy over him and Carol (aka finally dropped them because they were horrible and didn’t drop Nancy because she isn’t).

Still, he plasters on a smile, making it as polite as he can, and waves. Hopes it will be enough but of course, it isn’t. Tommy starts weaving through people, pushing and elbowing his way toward Steve.

“Its been ages,” he says clapping his hand on Steve’s shoulder, “how have you been man.”

Steve resists the urge to shrug his hand off, but it’s a close thing.

“It has.” Steve doesn’t add ‘because you’re an asshole and I hate who I am around you’ and he feels very mature for it. “I’m good.” He very deliberately does not ask Tommy how he’s been.

“Me too, me too.” He responds anyways, at least he finally removes his hand from Steve’s shoulder which makes him relax marginally. “Still dating Nancy?”

And, okay yeah, he and Tommy haven’t really spoken since he and Nancy were still together but Hawkins is a small town and he’s sure Tommy knows that Nancy had both broken up with Steve, gone on to date Jonathan for two years, and recently broken up with him as well. Actually, he thinks he remembers a shower conversation with Billy just days after she dumped him and went off to Murray with Jonathan, a conversation that Tommy was also present for.

“No, we broke up years ago.” He dutifully replies anyways, because what else can he say?

“Yeah, heard she dumped you?”

Steve is gonna remain calm, play along in whatever game Tommy is playing, and not react.

“She did,” he agrees easily.

“And got with Jonathan right after? Should have listened to us and stayed away.” He grins as he speaks, grins as if Steve is gonna agree with him.

“We’re still friends,” Steve shrugs, letting the fall of Tommy’s smile bring one to his own lips.

“Was for the best that we broke up, we’re much better as friends.”

Tommy squints a bit, his hackles raising and Steve only notices because he once knew him so well. Why he’s still getting defensive talking about Nancy Steve doesn’t know.

“Oh Stevie, you still hung up on her huh?”

It’s deliberate, he’s trying to press Steve’s buttons. ‘Well, tough Tommy-boy.’ Steve thinks, ‘those ones don’t work anymore, have been defunct for ages. You’re gonna have to do better than that if you want a reaction.’

“Nah,” he says, lets his smile be a bit more genuine when he continues, “she’s great but I’m dating someone else.”

“Rebound?” Tommy whistles, “she hot?”

Why Tommy is convinced Steve is still pining after Nancy he can’t say, or maybe it’s the only angle he has on Steve nowadays? Except they basically lived in each other's pockets all through high school and if Tommy really wants to get under Steve’s skin there are other things, better things. Things he has used against Steve before and seen the effect of. Why he isn’t he using them now when he clearly has some agenda Steve can’t say.

Steve is about to respond, has his mouth open and ready to speak when someone calls his name again. Thankfully this time the source is a lot more pleasant.

Tommy turns around to see who it is, completely exposing his back to Steve. It’s probably the last few years of fighting hell monsters that has ingrained a distrust in Steve. Making him hyper-aware of his surroundings and never willing to leave his back open like this to people he doesn’t trust. He knows this but still, he thinks there should be some primal instinct in Tommy to stop him from making himself so vulnerable to Steve, the action speaks of leftover trust that Steve isn’t ready to face.

“Munson? You know Munson?” He turns back around, an incredulous look on his face.

It snaps Steve out of his thoughts and reminds him Eddie had called for him. He leans to the side, stretching out so he’s visible behind Tommy, catching Eddie’s eye and waving him over.

“I do, yeah.”

Tommy’s face twists into something Steve can’t immediately place. He recognizes it, knows he’s seen Tommy make that face before. It’s not disgust or confusion but maybe something in between? Before he can figure it out it clears.

“Oh, King Steve getting drugs? Who would have thought?”

Steve rolls his eyes, the only reason he had stopped smoking weed for a while in high school was because athletes got tested. Why Tommy is pretending Steve ever had some moral issue with it now is beyond him but not much of this interaction has made sense to him so far so what’s one more thing?

“What Steve doing drugs? He’s a very responsible young man and would never” Eddie says, twisting past the last couple of people.

“Right Stevie? You wouldn’t touch the stuff?” Eddie–knowing very well that Steve would in fact ‘touch the stuff’–asks.

“Not with a ten-foot pole.” Steve–who smoked yesterday–deadpans.

“Knew I could trust in you to stay a good boy.” Eddie coos as he steps into Steve's space and kisses him despite where they are. It’s quick enough that no one who isn’t watching would catch it though and the only one who is watching is Tommy. When Steve looks back at him his face slack with shock.

“Hagan,” Eddie says with a short nod.

“You-?” Tommy looks between them, that same look as before flashing on his face, still just out of Steve’s grasp.

Steve contemplates what he should do for a second but Tommy already saw them kiss, already knows. And honestly, Steve doesn’t really care what he thinks and he knows Tommy won't say anything. Steve has too much dirt on him.

“Oh sorry, Tommy this is my boyfriend.” His voice is deceptively sweet as he introduces Eddie as if that’s what Tommy had been getting at.

Steve turns to Eddie, “baby, you know who Tommy is right?”

He’s laying it on thick, asks despite Eddie greeting him by name two seconds ago. Knows others' unabashed confidence and being on the outside are things Tommy can’t handle.

“I think so,” Eddie plays along, “you were friends once right? Before you found better people?”

It’s mean but Steve wouldn't have thought too much of it if it weren’t for the wounded noise Tommy makes. When Steve looks at him again his face is cracked open and it finally clicks what that expression is.

“Aw, you jealous?” Eddie says in a mocking tone, hitting the nail on the head because that’s exactly what that expression is, jealousy.

It’s the same look he had whenever Steve told him about a new girl, the look he’d have when Steve started bringing Nancy around. It’s deeper though, not only jealousy. He also looks like he did when Steve told him and Carol to leave him alone. He doesn’t just look jealous, Tommy looks heartbroken.

He tries to pull it together, scrunching his nose up in disdain, and scowls at them. Quickly looks away from Steve when their eyes catch and his mask falls a bit, instead focusing on Eddie who raises one eyebrow in response.

“Hardly,” he scoffs, it comes out strained, “I would love to stay and chat but-”

He doesn’t elaborate, just turns on his heel and disappears into the crowd.

Steve is frozen to the spot, a war going on in his head. Puzzle pieces he didn’t know were missing falling into place.

“Come on, let's get out of here.” Eddie grabs Steve’s wrist and starts pulling him outside, away from the party. He gets them in his car and doesn’t try to speak to Steve, probably sensing he’s having some earth-shattering realizations right now.

“He liked me,” he finally manages to say. “That’s why he hated Nancy so much. He was...” he trails off, knows it’s true but can’t quite say it.

“Jealous,” Eddie finishes softly.

“You knew?” Steve asks because Eddie doesn’t sound or look surprised at all.

He shrugs, “I had my suspicions.”

“But how-”

“We looked at you the same,” his smile is wry, self-deprecating, “I recognized it.”

And Steve can’t really process this right now even though he knows it’s true so he grasps at straws, “Carol, he was with Carol?”

Eddie reaches out one arm and cups his face in his hand, glances at him quickly before he looks back at the road with a sad smile.

“If you’re in love with your best friend, your male best friend who you believe is straight, you do what you need to do to push it down, to hide it. Especially in high school and in a small town.”

“In love?” Steve rasps because he’d said ‘like’.

“Yeah, sweetheart. In love.”

Eddie brushes his fingers under Steve’s eye and he realizes it’s because he’s crying.

“I’m sorry,” he says, “I don’t know why I'm reacting like this.”

And it’s true, he really doesn’t understand why it feels like a big hole has opened in him. He never liked Tommy, not like that, yet it feels like he’s lost something, fucked something up.

“He used to be your best friend, it’s a big thing to realize.” Eddie parks outside of his trailer, turns to Steve making no move to get out of the car. “Kind of changes everything, or at least puts it in a new context, explains some things.”

Steve feels the blood drain from his face because he’s suddenly remembered something and oh god does it put it in a new fucking context.

“Baby?” Eddie asks when Steve sits frozen again.

“We used to get wasted and make out,” he whispers the words, shame coursing through his veins.

Eddie goes still and Steve rushes the explain.

“Not often and not after he got with Carol, just,” he takes a shallow breath, “It happened a few times. We’d steal my dad's whiskey and get so beyond drunk and, well, kiss a lot.”

He’d smile at the memory if he wasn’t so horrified by it at the moment.

“The first time Tommy had never kissed anyone, asked me to teach him so he wouldn’t fuck it up when it mattered. Then after that it just kind of continued to happen. We’d get drunk, make out, and pretend like nothing. It stopped when he started seeing Carol, he tried but I stopped him. Told him he didn’t need to practice now when he had the real deal. We never talked about or even mentioned it.”

Steve sees Eddie’s arms shake and when he looks up he sees Eddie holding back laughter, eyes filled with barely concealed amusement.

“Are you laughing right now?”

Eddie stops holding back, letting the laughter burst out of him and Steve is so confused because he thought Eddie would be mad at him. He’s not sure why, it’s just that this has been such a deeply buried secret wrapped in shame for years with a big ‘do not talk or even think about it’ sign placed in front of it. That it would be met with laughter was never a possibility.

“I’m sorry,” he gasps through it, “It’s just such a cliche.”

Steve’s confused face only makes Eddie laugh harder. When he calms down he takes Steve's face in both his hands holding him firmly and looking him in the eyes.

“Steve, baby, sweetheart. Tommy used the oldest trick in the book on you, asking you to teach him how to kiss and you did it multiple times because what? he needed practice? That’s the flimsiest excuse to gay kiss your best friend and it’s also fucking done, it’s a cliche.”

Steve blinks, realizes that while he never had feelings for Tommy he had definitely found him attractive, had enjoyed kissing him. Had very deliberately not thought too deeply about his or Tommy's motives because that would have made it something he would have had to face.

“Oh,” he says.

Eddie smiles, wide and warm, “yeah, oh.”

“You don’t think I used him?” Steve has to ask, “if he had feelings for me and I didn’t have any for him.”

“No,” Eddie says, “not more than he did you. And you were kids, just messing around and trying to figure yourselves out in a not-very-accommodating world.”

Eddie squints a bit in thought, “though he probably thought you were more on the same page, that you could continue even though he was with Carol. Must have stung to be rejected.”

Steve snorts, “wasn’t really interested in helping anyone cheat, even under all the pretenses.”

“I know.”

Eddie's eyes are soft, looking at him with so much warmth that Steve momentarily forgets what they were talking about until Eddie's mouth twists into a sly grin.

“I can’t believe your first gay experience was with Tommy fucking Hagan.”

Steve gives him an unimpressed look, “at least I didn’t come in my pants ten seconds in, like some people I know.”

Eddie draws back, clutching his chest with his hands, “harsh words, love. It was at least a minute.”

#the amount of times i used the word realize- Steve in this and kylie jenner in 2016 #🤝 realizing so much #listen Tommy being in love with Steve and them kissing as teenager just takes up such a specific part of my brain always #like look at them- they would okay #don't ask me what this is beyond that #Steve and Eddie are assholes together b #but only (mostly) when it's deserved #Dels steddie thoughts #My writing #my post #stranger things #eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #steddie fanfic #steve x eddie #tommy hagan

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justmeinadaze · 5 months

Text

Secret Sinners Part 3 (Steddie X You)

A/N: I have been thinking about this chapter and excited to write it since I came up with idea for Secret Sinners. After a rough therapy session my brain went to town so you're going to have a lot of angst and feels in this one but I hope you enjoy it because I did <3.

Warnings: Demon Steddie X Human Fem Reader, SMUT, DP, this time they are softer with her due to the angst, FLUFF, they love each other, Readers dreams are gooey with fluff :)

ANGST, they are put through the test Nancy mentioned in the last chapter and its not fun, all three deal with different insecurities, Reader sees visions of her demons as who they were before they were trapped as well as how they would be if they were like their dads, she does get hurt (slapped, demeaned verbally but brief), Eddie deals with the consequences of running, and Steve deals with his fear of being alone and trapped again.

Bit of a rough angst but not like my toxic steddie fics :)

Word Count: 8691

Series here

You smile from your place in the auditorium as you watch your mom dance on stage with some of the kids from her class. When you were growing up, you loved seeing her do her steps. She was always so graceful when she moved, as if ballet was the easiest thing in the world.

Taking a hold of a little boy’s hand, she holds it in the air as he spins in fast circle with a big grin on his face as his long wavy locks slap his face. When he stops, he falls to the floor and giggles, scrunching his nose as he grabs his tummy.

The music stops and you promptly clap your hands making your mom smile as the children head backstage. The little boy she was dancing with waves excitedly at you before following his classmates.

“Thank you, my love.”, she beams as she saunters towards the edge of the platform and jumps down to sit beside you. “So are you ready for this next adventure?”

“I am but I’m a bit nervous. Nancy said it would be rough and I don’t want to see them in pain. They’ve already been through enough.”

“You have to, baby.”

“I know, mama, but I can handle it.”

“Could you handle losing them?”

Her question startles you as you fully turn to face her.

“Why would you ask me that?”

“Really think about that, Y/N. Could you handle not having them in your life in whatever capacity that may be…”

Your eyes snap open as you are met with the sound of whooshing and clinking as your demons continue to practice their sword fighting. Eddie pushes his weapon out of the way with his and grabs Steve by the throat before slamming him to the dirt below.

“Wow, you really do suck now. Don’t ya, big boy?”, he teases.

The other demon growls as he wraps his legs around him and spins him around until he’s straddling his partner underneath him.

“I’m just rusty. I’m getting better again though.”, he grins before leaning down to kiss his lips. “Hey baby. Are you alright?”, Steve asks when he glances your way and sees you awake.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just another weird dream.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, Eddie, like I said I’m fine.”

Both demon’s blink as they glance at each other, sensing something in your tone.

“Alright then, well, do you want to get something to eat before we get a move on?”

“No, I’d like to go to this place where this witch is. I’m tired of wondering and would rather just find out what we need to do so we can do it.”

“Babe, we can’t go in there with that mindset… the let’s get on with it ideal. Jonathan said he’s the only one that’s walked out with that potion. We have to be care—”

“I know what we have to do, Steve! You think I don’t worry about this 24/7! It’s been a week since we found out we need to do. Can’t we just go do it!?”

Both their eyes narrow in your direction as they try to control their tempers. Fully prepared to have a verbal fight with you, Eddie steps forward but stops when he notices your head turn away to hide the single tears that begin to fall.

“Y/N, sweetheart. What did you see?”

“My mom. She asked me if I could handle losing you. She’s the second person to bring up losing one or both of you. Why?! I don’t get it. Haven’t we been through enough?”

Tugging you into his arms, the long-haired demon presses you to his chest as he rests his cheek on your head.

“Edward, I’m scared.”

“I know, baby. We are to.”

“Y/N, if getting this thing requires us to separate or for you to lose us then, honey, we’ll just leave. I’m not letting go of you or Eddie. I don’t care what anyone says.”, Steve tried to comfort.

“We’re going to do this together, princess. Everything will be alright.”

################

Clinging to your hand, you and Eddie follow Steve as you pass through into this new realm. Because it wasn’t as hostel as the others, they both felt you didn’t need a disguise but because they weren’t sure what you would be walking into they still brought all their weapons.

“What is this place called?”, you asked.

“Uh, Espejismo.”

“Huh. Are all the realms named after something in Spanish?” The demon flashed you a questioning look so elaborates. “Espejismo means Illusion and Malvado is Evil.”

“Maybe just a coincidence?”

“How do you know Spanish?”, Eddie asked.

“My dad. He used to travel a lot of his work so he learned the basics for most languages.”, you smile softly at the memory. “Where are we headed to again?”

“Jonathan couldn’t give me details but he said we would know it when we saw it.”, he replied as he continued to look at the instructions the demon slayer provided him.

As they walked down the street, something familar caught your eye. Without thinking, you crossed the area and stood outside a little shop as you watched a class of ballet performers do their warmups. You smiled to yourself as you watched the kids hold the bar and do their best to bend their knees the way they should.

“Y/N! Baby, you can’t leave like that.”, Steve scolded as he followed your eyeline.

“After my mom got sick, she taught classes like this. I would go with her sometimes during the summer and watch. I always asked her if she missed performing and she said that training new minds fulfilled her more than the applause ever did.”

Eddie softly smiled as he petted the back of your head before kissing your temple.

“Hi there. My adult class isn’t until later.”, the teacher announced as she opened the door to her studio.

“No, I’m sorry. I was just telling them about how my mother taught ballet.”

“Oh wow. That’s amazing. Do you dance as well?”

“Ha, no ma’am. I was born with graceful feet and trip when I walk normally so…”

The woman chuckles as her eyes scan over the three of you. You’re not sure if it’s because of her occupation or her kind demeanor but you feel safe with this person as if you could tell her anything.

“Why don’t you guys come in and watch the rest of the class. They are supposed to perform acts from plays and pieces they enjoy.”

“We don’t want to impose.”

“Nonsense. Please! Come in.” Your demon’s apprehensively follow as they take in the surrounding. “I’m sorry we don’t have chairs but feel free to sit on the floor here.” After doing as she asks, the young lady turns to address the children in front of her. “Alright, kids. You have a bit of an audience today but please just behave normally and do your best. Show them what we got.”, she giggles before turning to you. “Are you ready for an adventure?”

Your smile falls as her words echo that of your dream.

“Y/N? What’s wrong, honey?”, Steve whispers when he feels you stiffen beside him.

“What’s the name of this realm again?”

“Espejismo. Why?”

Your hands immediately grab theirs as the lights in the studio go out and the kids begin their performance. Sullen music begins to play as a young lady dances into frame while another reads from sheets of paper in her hand.

“Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, strong girl who worked every day being a mother to the realm around her. She made money at a job she hated to care for her father who was sick with a disease that also claimed her own maternal parent.”

Your demon’s eyes shot forward as they gripped tighter to you.

“She slaved away in her day to day feeling lost and alone until she found a gem that housed her future. What she didn’t know yet was that this stone was home to two evil demons who were trapped by a deity who utilized their kind for certain tasks through the realms.”

Two of the younger boys danced out in front, grabbing the girl’s arms, and spinning her about.

“They whispered lies to her.”, murmured the kid reading the story in a low deep voice that gave you chills. “They told her they loved her—”

“That isn’t true! We do love her!”, Steve shouted rising to her feet. The girl tilted her head as she glared at him. One of the young men that had been portraying him in their dance spun in circles till he transformed into a vision of the demon’s father.

“How can that be when you are incapable of love?”, the girl asked.

“Steven! What the fuck are you doing, son? Do you want to die? You have to keep your hands closer together if you want to hit your target!”, his dad growled. The other performers transformed as well displaying themselves as himself as his mom.

“Bill, come on. He’s just a boy.”

“That’s no excuse! He’s MY boy and I won’t have a kid who can’t fucking fight on the battlefield!”

“You were trained to fight, Steven.”, the girl continued. “Not love. Why do you think Nancy left? Or why you and Eddie were captured?”

“STOP IT!”, you screamed. “You’re hurting him!”

The lights flash and the teacher takes over telling her stories as an image of Chrissy bleeding to death appears in front of you and Eddie.

“What about you, Edward? It’s your fault all the bad stuff happens right? You’re the reason the princess was murdered, why Steven had to kill a fellow solider and flee with you, being trapped in that stone as he lost his mind… even before you became a solider you were a problem.”

Eddie’s mother appears in front of him, sobbing on her knees as his dad towers over her. A tiny version of him runs to place himself between them holding up his fists, prepared to fight.

“I swear to God, boy, you are always in the fucking way.”, his father grunted in anger.

“And I always will be if you touch her again!”

“Do you think you can really beat me, you little punk?!”

“I think I can try, asshole!”

You run to the woman with Steve’s bat in hand ready to end their pain but as you swing a light blinds you before the world goes dark.

***

“Y/N!”, Eddie screams as he finds himself in the castle back home that he had maneuvered around so many times. “STEVEN!?”

“Geez, would you stop fucking screaming?”

The demon’s eyes widen as he turns towards the voice that he heard behind the locked door next to him. As he peers into the room through the window in the door, he sees his father chained to the wall, bloodied and bruised.

“I already get tortured every day. You don’t need to add to it.”

“Fuck you.”, Eddie spits. “You deserve what you got after what you did to us and then running, you coward.”

“Oh, I’m a coward? Excuse me, son, but didn’t you run to? If anything you’re worse than me. Not only did you run but you took your best friend down with you.”

Tugging on the handle, the demon finds that the room is accessible and stomps in coming face to face with this man he resents.

“First off, I’m not your fucking son. Wayne and my mom helped raise me, not you.” That made his dad laugh sarcastically. “Secondly, I ran because I didn’t do the thing they accused me of.”

“You didn’t? You didn’t get Chrissy killed?”

“No.”

“So you weren’t sneaking around with her behind her father and fiancés back? You weren’t planning on running away with her the night before her wedding? Funny, I heard a slightly different story.”

“That’s…that’s not why she was killed. That wasn’t… I didn’t…”

“You’re doing it again, you know. Being selfish and looking for this potion is going to get Y/N or Steve killed. Could you handle that?”

“EDDIE!”

Turning at the sound of his voice, the demon ran out of the room and down the long corridors as he listened to Steve scream his name. Bursting through a door, he froze when he found you both on the floor. You were in the exact same spot Chrissy had died in and his heart shattered.

“Y/N? Baby…no, no, no. Please…”, he sobbed as he tenderly touched your face. “Wake up, sweetheart, please. Not again. Not again. Not—”

“Edward…”

Placing you gently back down, the demon crawled around the bed to find a limp Steve bleeding from his torso and his beautiful lips.

“Steven, everything’s going to be alright, baby. I promise.”

“I-I-I tried to save Y/N but—”

“Shhhh…”, the long-haired demon cooed as he caressed his cheek and ran his fingers through his hair. “Don’t think about that right now, ok? We’re going to get you some help and then…”

The sound of clanking metal caused Steve to wince as he rolled to his side and grabbed Eddie’s shirt roughly in his hands.

“Run, honey. If they catch you they’ll kill you this time. RUN!”

“NO! I’m not leaving you two. You both saved my life so many times. I’m not going anywhere! If we die, it will be together!”

The door banged open as guards pointed their weapons towards him.

“Come on, Edward. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

Rising to his feet, he extended his arms out to them so he could be restrained.

“I won’t.”

***

“Y/N! Eddie!?”, Steve shouted as he wondered the forest he had walked so many times growing up.

“Steven.” The demon jumped at the sound of his mother’s voice. “Come on, son.”

Talking his hand, she guides him to his childhood house he had grown up in and leads him into the living room.

“Baby!”, he cried excitedly as he fell to his knees in front of the chair you were sitting in and took your hands in his. “Honey, everything is going to be ok, alright?”

“No, Steve. It won’t.” Your eyes glanced behind him and he quickly turned to see your parents, Wayne, and his father enter the room.

“What’s going on?”

“Don’t you remember, sweetheart? We’ve been looking for a way to get Eddie out of the stone and—”

“Y/N, what are you talking about? Eddie isn’t in the stone anymore. YOU saved us by giving Maeve Henry.”

“No, Steven.”, Wayne sighed. “Y/N was able to make a deal with her to let you out but Eddie had to stay. Knowing my nephew he probably insisted on you going.”

“No…No! I never would have left him there alone! I love him and—”

“What does that mean? You love him.”, his dad sassed.

Steve glared at him as he stood to his full height again and clenched his fists.

“I mean I love him, dad. We have dates, we talk, kiss, and fuck each other. I. LOVE. HIM.”

Bill growls as Steve’s mother tries to calm him.

“Maybe we should let the little shit stay in the stone then.”

Taking ahold of his hand, you pull him down next to you as you kiss his cheek.

“Steve.”, your dad grins softly in his direction. “We all wanted to talk with you today because it seems a new deal was presented to Y/N today. She talked to Maeve and there is a way to set Edward free.”

“Thank goodness.”, he sighed as his eyes continued to scan the room.

“The thing is, Y/N would have to take his place.”

“Fuck that. Are you fucking kidding me?!”, Steve roars as he rises to his feet. “No! Plus Maeve needs Demons and Y/N isn’t one.”

“For now.” His head swivels to look at you as you speak. “Baby, if we find that potion I would be strong enough and can take over.”

“No! We’ll find another way, Y/N.”

“There is no other way.”, Maeve confidently announced as she entered the room. “The deal is simple, Steven. Either she replaces him or joins him. Would you rather lose one or both?”

***

“Edward!? Steven?! I swear to God, if you hurt them!”, you shout as you continue to search for them.

The sound of screaming fills your ears and you hastily turn around to see a small village go up in flames. You remember this from the vision they showed you of one of their summoners.

“Lizzy.”

A young woman cackles as she throws the torch in her hands towards another building and it promptly bursts into flames. Slowly backing away, you bump into something hard, coming face to face with the demon’s you love in their demon form. Their red eyes glared forward with small smirks on their faces as they watched the area burn.

“You see? I did it!”

“Good job, princess!”, Eddie grins as she runs into his arms and kisses his lips.

“No.”, you whisper. “This isn’t how it happened.”

Elizabeth scoffs as he places her on her feet and she saunters over to you.

“Excuse me. This is my memory and I know what happened. I was there remember? You think demons sent to force people to kill others didn’t enjoy innocents being murdered?”

“They didn’t. Edward and Steven never wanted to kill beings they didn’t have to.”

Their eyes glow as they turn to face you, growling in your direction.

“Look at you. Brave soul to use their real names.”

“Because it’s who they are! I love them for them.”

“What if who they are is a lie? They lied to you a few times, right?”

“They lied to protect me.”

“Hm. I wonder what else they are protecting you from.”

Elizabeth snaps her fingers and your body is thrust back into a different home near a forest you very much recognize. Your hands were covering your face and you removed them to find yourself kneeling on the ground with huge boots in your purview. Lifting your eyes, you gasp at the sight of a much larger demon standing over you with red glowing eyes. Raising his hand, he hits your face so hard you fall to side.

“This is what Edward Munson is meant to be, Y/N.”, a female voice echoes through the room.

Quickly getting to your feet, you try to run but you aren’t fast enough as rough palms grab your arms and turn you around allowing you to come face to face with an angry Eddie.

“You’re so fucking pathetic, Y/N. No wonder our son is weak!”

He hits you again before tossing you through a door where you fall into a much nicer mansion style study. There’s another demon in the room, back to you as he leans over a desk with maps and papers spread out everywhere. The glass in his hand clinks as he turns around and you’re met with an equally annoyed Steve.

“Fuck me, Y/N. How many times have I said not to bother me while I’m fucking working!”

“I…I didn’t…”

“I…I…really? Just get the fuck out of here and let me focus. I swear, honey, I love you but you’re just never going to be good enough if you don’t use your fucking brain. Now go check on our son and make sure he’s actually doing what I told him to.”

Your heart sank as you got to your feet and watched him sigh as you listened to the sound of Eddie stomping around as he shouted.

“This is what Steven Harrington is meant to be.”, the voice spoke again.

Shaking and completely unsure of what to do next, you threw your head back and screamed as loud as you could.

When you finally opened your eyes again, everything around you had disappeared and everywhere you turned was blank space until abruptly a woman you had never met appeared at your side.

“Sh-Show me…the truth… I don’t need your tests or your fucking tricks! SHOW ME THE TRUTH!”, you shouted at her as tears fell down your cheeks. “Let me make the right decision for myself.”

***

Clenching his jaw, Eddie held his head high as he was pushed to his knees in front of the king.

“I see nothing has changed. First you kill my daughter and now a high-ranking official’s son?!”

“We also found the body of a human female as well, sire.”

The king scoffs as he absently gestures every which way.

“I don’t care about one nothing human. She’s not one of our people.”

“But she was one of mine.”, the long-haired demon growled, wincing when he was hit in the shoulder.

“Just always a troublemaker, aren’t you?”

“I’ve been known to fuck up from time to time but I assure you, sir, Chrissy wasn’t one of them.” Something hit Eddie hard in the side as he toppled over in pain.

“I’m going to love the sound of your screams for the rest of your miserable existence.”

“Good. I’ll take anything you got because nothing is going to change the fact that I loved your daughter and she loved me! I would have done anything for her!”

“Like run?!”

“I fucked up!! I shouldn’t have run off. I was fucking terrified but to be honest with you, sire, if I hadn’t of run I never would have found Steve or Y/N.” One of the guards kicks him causing him to howl in pain before he continued. “Steven always says I kept him sane but the truth is he did that for me. The first time we made love, I’ll tell you, sire, I never felt fucking safer. He’s always afraid I’m going to leave him but the idea of not having him here…fucking kills me.”, he cries.

“Y/N is the most gorgeous human I’ve ever met and I don’t just mean that physically. Her kind is despicable and selfish. We spent over 3,000 years watching mankind do unspeakable things but she’s different. She’s selfless almost to a fault. She’s brave and funny and so fucking smart. She absorbs everything we say and patiently explains things to us we may not understand. If she really is dead then I know she’s back in heaven because she was definitely an angel in her world!”

“So, if you want to torture me then FUCKING DO IT! Because I’m ready, sir. I’m not running this time and if they are gone then I’m ready to join them.”

The guards behind him aggressively lift Eddie to his feet and guide him away from the king before roughly pushing him through the double doors.

***

Steve heavily exhales as his brain overloads with all the information he’s being provided.

“Sweetheart.”, you coo as you run your fingers through his hair. “I’ll be ok. This is originally what I wanted remember? You two to be free and together.”

“Y/N, no. It will NOT be ok. I told you before that it would be hell for you because you would be alone and then it would be hell on earth because we would burn it down to set you free.”

“Hm. That feels vaguely like a threat.”, Maeve sasses.

“Because it is.”, he counters as his eyes glow.

“Steven…” Grabbing his cheeks, you force him to look your way. “Then, maybe, I can go in there and stay with him. You can live your life and go home.”

“NO! I’M NOT LOSING YOU BOTH!”

“So you’ve made your choice then?”, the deity asks.

“No, goddamn it. Give me a minute and let me think!” Taking hold of your hand, he pulls you to the corner of the room so you can talk. “Honey—”

“It’s ok. I promise you. I love you so much and you both changed my life. Let me do this for you.”

His eyes scan yours before cupping your cheeks in his hands and passionately kissing your lips.

“Tell Edward I love him.”, he whispers, tearing himself away from you and glaring at Maeve. “Take me.”

People in the room gasp at his response as you rush forward placing yourself in front of him.

“Steve, no. You hated it in there.”

“I know. That’s why I won’t allow you to go and I won’t leave him there. Take me.”

“That wasn’t the deal, Steven.”

“Then make a new one, Maeve.” Her head tilts at his newfound attitude with her. “These are two people I love with all my heart. They’ve always been there for me especially this woman right here. I refuse to let her suffer for the rest of her life in that purgatory. She and Eddie have been through enough in this life—”

“And you haven’t?”, your mom asked him.

“Oh please. What hardships has he gone through? Leading an army and being a mentor in a vacation house. That stone would be a nice reprieve I bet.”

Steve smirked as he bent down and placed his hands on his knees like he used to do with some of the children he trained.

“Well, dad, why don’t you take Eddie’s place?” His father scowled at him, angrily turning away to avoid his son’s hard gaze. “Yeah, that’s what I fucking thought. You know, you always said I was weak and a coward but the truth is you are. I worked hard to get ahead and yet it was never enough. I found two beings who love me for me and I’d do anything for them.”

“You won’t get to see Eddie to say goodbye. As soon as I do this there’s no going back.”, Maeve warned.

Steve’s bottom lip quivered at the thought of not even being able to see the man he loved but Eddie would understand. Turning towards you, he caught you as you jumped into his arms.

“I love you, Y/N. You are an amazing, beautiful woman. You’ve shown me so much, baby. I wish I could have spent the rest of my life with you two.”, he whimpered his last sentence as he kissed your forehead before shoving you backwards and hastily moving forward. “Do it, Maeve.”

The last thing he heard was you shout as white light blinded his eyes.

***

They passed by you so fast as you stood there and took in all the memories. Eddie protecting his mom when his dad was drunk and enraged. Steve feeling inadequate as his father called him names and belittled him. You saw Wayne break as his nephew took his place in their militia.

“Edward, I can’t let you do this.”

“It’s done, Wayne. I already did it and the king approved. I start training next week.”

You saw Steve catching Nancy as she packed her bags to leave.

“That’s right, Nance. Just fucking run like the coward you are.”

“Steve, this isn’t my fault, okay?! I didn’t choose this. It just…is.”

“I thought you loved me…”

The training and combat were glimpses of things you had already seen including them meeting and their kills on the field. What was new was watching Eddie appear out of nowhere as the enemy soldiers were relaxing and playing his guitar, lulling them into a false sense of security while Steve and his team killed them.

“Always amazing, dude.”, Robin beams as Eddie bows.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Congratulate him later and make sure none of these assholes are moving.”

“Yes, sir.”, she salutes sassily making him smile.

There were things they hadn’t told you that appeared before you.

Eddie played his guitar making the girl in his bed swoon.

“You don’t have to keep wooing me, sir. I’m already here.”, she giggles.

“Hey, maybe I’m serenading my best friend and his date. Not everything is about you, babe.”

Steve chuckled through a breathy moan from his spot on the floor in front of the bed as his head fell and he thrust harder into the girl underneath him.

It amazed you how much cockier they seemed before their time on the run. You had never meet this version of them and a part of you thought if you had…you would have hated them. You assumed the memories of Chrissy were purposely skipped because you had seen them all before including the memory of Steve finding him and deciding to run with him.

The memories that hit the hardest were the ones that involved their suffering. You saw them accidently bleed on Maeve’s gem and watched their first angry night in captivity.

“Fuck! Are you fucking kidding me!? We run and we still end up in a fucking prison!”, Steve shouts as he throws something across the room. “What the fuck do we do now?!”

“I mean…at least we don’t have to run anymore right? See different parts of the world and watch beings kill other beings.”

They lay side by side staring at the ceiling after their first time being intimate.

“Eddie?”

“Hm?”

“Did I, um, are we…what was this?”

“Honestly, I’m not 100% sure. Since you initiated it, what would you like it to be?”

“Did…Did you like it? Being with me, I mean.”

“Did I like the sex or did I like being with you?”

“Um, both, I guess.”

Eddie rolled on to his side, capturing Steve’s face with his palm, and placed a tender kiss on his lips. After pulling away, he gently ran his thumb along the man’s bottom lip.

“Yes.”

They watched as Arthur’s father screams at his son, Steve glancing towards Eddie as he flinches. While his back is to them, the demon scoots closer to the long-haired boy and delicately pushes some of it behind his ear.

“Are you ok?”, he whispered.

“Yeah. He just reminds me of my dad. It got me thinking if he ever talked to you that way if he found out about us.”, Eddie growled.

Steve softly smiled as he kissed his cheek.

“I love you, Edward.”

“I love you to, Steven.

When you made it to their memories with you, you could barely view them through the haze of your tears. The three weeks they were tied to you they had so many conversations about things they wished they could do with you and show you back home. They constantly talked about how much they loved you and wanted to spend the rest of their lives with you.

A few memories you hadn’t seen with your own eyes did stand out to you. You witnessed Steve tear Noah apart, them murmuring things to each other while EMS came to take your father, and a heated debate the night you asked them to leave you alone when you found out they had lied.

“We should have told her the truth. Now we fucking lost the best person we’ve ever met.”

“Maybe this is good, Steve.”

“What the FUCK are you talking about?!”

“The angrier she is at us the easier it will be for her to let us go. We’re going to lose her anyway.”

“Eddie, I love her! I can’t stand her last memory of us being us breaking her fucking heart.”

“We’re going to break her heart when we disappear!!”, he roared.

Their conversation ceased as they listened to you cry on the other side of the wall.

“That’s our fault, Edward.”

The long-haired demon swallowed the lump in his throat as he quickly looked away.

“I know, Steven.”

The last memory you see is you freeing them before you’re sounded by a white once again.

“You say you love them for who they are but do you really understand what that means?”, the woman by your side muses as she begins to slowly walk around you. “They are killers, Y/N, and violent ones at that. In their world, that was praised as well as their lust for women of their kind. I imagine in the beginning being able to fuck a summoner was something they enjoyed greatly.”

“That was their past. They aren’t like that now.”

“You’re very forgiving. You forgave the man who cheated on you with your coworker while you were at home taking care of your father. Hell, you forgave that coworker and even allowed her to push you around. You forgave the heavens even though you prayed constantly that both your parents would get better and forgave all the people that abandoned you after they got sick. Let me ask you something. How do you know Eddie and Steve aren’t like those other people? How do you know they aren’t taking advantage of you?”

Her intensely beautiful eyes scan you over as you cry harder and shrug.

“Because they’re still here.”

The woman waits patiently for you to collect yourself so you can explain.

“I freed them from their prison and even I thought they would want time alone to travel but they insisted on staying by my side. They found out they could finally go home and I begged them to go back but they knew doing that would mean they couldn’t be with me. I told them to do whatever makes them happy even if that doesn’t involve me yet here they are putting themselves through God knows what because they want to be with me for the rest of their lives. They love me and I love them…EVERY PART of them.”

The woman stops walking and gently smiles in your direction before gesturing towards some double doors.

“I’ll be right in.”

#############

As you walk through, you come face to face with your demon’s hugging each other tightly.

“Oh my god. Look at your face. What happ—“, Steve interrupted himself when his eyes met your swollen, tear-filled one. “Y/N?! Baby, what happened? Are you ok?!”

Your knees buckled and Eddie quickly caught you as he winced himself, falling with you to the floor.

“It’s ok, sweetheart. I know. We’re real, baby. I promise. It’s ok.”

Steve circled his arms around you both, rocking you along with Eddie.

“Everything IS ok.”, the woman from before grins as she glides into the room and sits behind a desk gesturing for you three to sit in the chairs in front. “I’m Mirage by the way. If you couldn’t tell by the name of the realm.”, she grins.

“What did you do to her?”, Steve growls as they both stand and place you behind them.

Pushing them aside, however, you dry your eyes and take a seat, ushering for them to do the same.

“I genuinely am sorry for the pain I caused especially to you, Y/N. You do seem like an extremely kind soul. You have no idea how many people come to me asking for this potion and the kind of people they are. I have to be very careful which is why I push so hard. I’ve only ever met one person I felt deserved this and now I’ve met two.”, she smiles handing you the black bottle. “Keep it safe. A regular human shot glass will keep you alive for a thousand years and make you strong like them. I feel I should also tell you—”

“I can get pregnant.”

Both their eyes whipped in your direction as she sighed, flashing you another soft smile.

“Humans can’t impregnant demons which is why I didn’t say anything to Nancy and Jonathan. If you drink that potion that will now be something to take into account.”

You nodded before laughing under your breath.

“You already know, don’t you? That’s another reason you showed me them being like their dads.”

“You did what?”, Eddie snarled as his hands gripped his chair tighter trying to control himself.

“Would I have survived the birth if you didn’t give me this potion?” Her eyes lock with yours and you can’t help but laugh again. “Sounds like you need some tests of your own if you would knowingly leave a boy without his mother. I did everything I could to keep my parents here and if I had known someone knew a way to save them and didn’t… You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“I live in a universe by myself, sweetheart. I create the world around me and none of it is real. Trust me… I amashamed but we do what we have to do to keep the peace.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”, you spit as you get to your feet and grab the bottle off her desk. “I want to go home please.”

Steve nods as he quickly creates the portal and guides you both through.

#############

After stepping through, you silently walk towards your car where you three had left it and drove with them to the nearest hotel where you all crashed in bed wrapped tightly in each other’s embrace.

The following morning you and Eddie felt extremely sore, Steve doing everything he could to take care of you both. Throwing his shirt to the side, Eddie waited patiently, flinching when the ice pack touched his body.

“I saw you both die.”, he abruptly announced. “Y/N, you had a knife in your chest…you were…already gone.” Your eyes became glassy as you scooted closer to him when his voice cracked. “The guards were coming and Steve told me to run but…I didn’t. Not this time. They kept hurting me while I faced Chrissy’s dad.”

“In mine, you were still in the stone and Y/N made a new deal with Maeve. It was either she takes your place or join you. Either I lost one of you or…both.”, Steve whispered his last word, clearing his throat before he continued. “I told her to take me. She said I wouldn’t get to say goodbye to Eddie or ever see you guys again. I made the same choice…take me.”

They both glanced your way but you avoided their eyes as you kissed Eddie’s shoulder.

“You said…she showed you us being like our fathers?”, Steve urged.

“She showed me a lot of things…”, you whispered.

“You can tell us, honey. It’s ok.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Help us to, baby.”, Eddie cooed gently as he turned his body to face you.

“I’ve never…been afraid of you. When you first appeared from the stone, I was scared of your appearance but… I saw Elizabeth and you both were happy she killed all those people. Mirage said you were evil…that’s who you were meant to be. Eddie, you grabbed me and hit me…told me I was pathetic and that I was the reason our son was weak.”

The long-haired demon closed his eyes as he tried to control his tears as his body shook beside you.

“I ended up in this study where, Steve, you were going over maps and papers. Y-You said I was bothering you and that I was never going to be good enough if…”

“…you don’t use your fucking brain… Yeah, my dad said that to me and my mom a lot.”

“I’ve never been afraid of you before.”, you repeated as your voice trembled. “I, um, screamed at her and demanded she show me who you really are and allow me to make the choice for myself. I saw everything… you two killed so many beings…”

“It was our job, Y/N.”, Eddie murmured.

“Was it your job to sneak up on defenseless soldiers with your guitar so Steve and Robin could kill them?”, you asked in an angry tone that had both their heads hanging. “Or how about all the demon women you both were with that you disrespected constantly? I wonder how Chrissy and Nancy got so lucky to get the versions of you before you were trapped.”

“Nancy was part of the reason I was like that.”, Steve growled. “No one had ever fucking hurt me the way she did but we were younger, Y/N. All we knew was death and sex especially Eddie and me. You saw how we were raised! Every day was a fucking war while we were there.”

“Did she insinuate that we enjoyed being trapped those first few years because we got to see people get killed and fuck the summoner if we wanted?”, Eddie asked, chuckling sarcastically when you nodded.

“I heard you say it…on your first night.”

“I was trying to calm him down. Truth was we were both terrified but I needed to keep it together for him.”

“You didn’t have to take on that burden, Edward.”

“Yeah, well, I did, Steven.”

“What was your test?” When you didn’t immediately respond, a rumble immitted low from Eddie’s chest as he rose to his feet. “Was it if you would still love us and stay with us if we were those monsters you saw?! If we treated you like trash would stay?!”

Rising to your feet, your chest bumped his as you glared up at him with termination.

“No, it was if I would still be weak like I was with everyone in my life if you two were using me like they had!” You shook your head as you flung your arms in the air angrily. “My ex, Carol, my boss, friends, family that disappeared, hell even fucking Henry thought they could use me because I never said anything! I never fought back! I had already been through so much and each time I got my hopes up even a little bit I got fucked over! The first time I ever fought back was when I saved you two!”

Eddie’s demeanor softened slightly at your admission as you continued.

“You could have left a long time ago…but you haven’t. You could have gone home. I TOLD you to go home but you’re still here. I know you’re not like your dads or even how you were before…everything. I know that because if you were or I thought for one second you didn’t love me…I wouldn’t be here.”

To prove your point, you popped open the bottle of potion and chugged a good amount of it back before putting it back on the dresser.

Cupping your face in his hands, the metalhead pulls you in for a rough kiss that has you both groaning into each other’s mouths. You cringe as the formula runs through you as you cling to his shoulders.

“It’s ok. It doesn’t hurt as bad as last time.”, you grunt through the pain.

“Y/N, I would never hurt you like my dad did. I would never lay my hands on you or Steve like that. I swear, princess. You’re both safe with me.”

“And our son?”

Eddie breathily laughed as he rested his forehead on your own.

“That was real?”

“How do you know, Y/N? How do you know she wasn’t fucking with you?”, Steve asked with a small shake in his voice.

“She could have had you guys say kid or child. In my test you both mentioned our son. I’ve also…seen him…in my dreams.” Standing off the bed, the demon lifts you in his arms and lays you flat on the mattress behind you. “Is that ok? How do you both feel about that?”

Steve passionately kissed your lips, his tongue gliding across your own as the other demon comes to lay beside you as well.

“Scared but ready. Hopefully, he’s more like you than us.”

“In my dream, he had your hair, Edward and Steven’s smile. He was dancing with my mom and having so much fun.”

You started to cry again causing them to panic slightly as both demon’s wrapped their arms tightly around you.

“I’ve never been afraid of you before.”, you repeated again. “I’m sorry. I know it wasn’t real but I didn’t like it. Even worse, I know it was real for you two because you went through that.”

“No reason to be sorry, honey. I’ve been to many different realms but none like that one. Baby, I swear, I will never talk to you, Eddie, or our son like that. I love you three so much. Like he said, you’re safe with us.”

Tenderly moving you onto your back, Eddie kisses your tummy and up your body, kissing the bruising that was beginning to form along the side of your face.

“Me to, princess. I love all three of you.”

Reaching over you, he unbuttoned Steve’s pants and helped him slide them down his legs as you lifted your own over his hip. Changing back into their demon form, they both groaned at the feel of your skin against theirs as Eddie spit into your cunt before taking hold of the other demon’s cock and guiding it into your entrance.

As he slowly thrust into you, your arm circled around his neck and mewled as your fingers ran through his hair while his lips kissed your own.

They were both being incredibly soft with you and you appreciated the change especially with everything that happened. The truth was they needed that just as badly as you did. Both demons thought they had lost you and the other feeling utterly helpless. They needed to feel every part of you and each other to remind themselves that THIS was their reality and not what they were shown.

Placing himself between your legs, Eddie’s tongue flattened as he licked along Steve’s cock as it pumped in and out of you while also taking time to suck and flick the muscle along your clit making you moan.

“Fuck, that feels so fucking good.”, Steve whimpered as he rested his head against the side of yours. “Can you see him, honey? Eddie knows how to take care of us.”, he grunted as quickened his pace.

As you tilted back to kiss him, Steve’s palm tangled in the other demon’s hair, pressing him further into you causing you to pant heavily as you tried to focus in on all the sensations you were feeling.

“Please…please don’t stop.”

“Mmm—cum, pretty girl. Cum on Edward’s tongue, baby.”

After sliding his cock out of you, it was promptly replaced with Eddie’s tongue and expert fingers moving at a blistering pace till you screamed his name as the coil in your tummy snapped while grinding your hips against his motions.

“Good. Good girl.”

They continued whispering praises to you as the metalhead climbed the length of your body and the other demon positioned you more on your side with your back against his chest. Eddie whimpered as he guided himself into your dripping, sensitive core as Steve hissed while pushing his length into your ass.

You desperately clung to them with their heads falling on either side of your nook as they thrust their hips at a slow but firm rhythm. Their eager pants warmed your skin as they pumped their cocks impossibly deep with you, moaning as you dragged your nails down Eddie’s back over his tucked away wings.

As your fingers ran through Steve’s hair and along his horns, they both leaned over you to exchange a kiss as they began pounding into you.

“F-Fuck, please.”

“I know, baby. We—shit—we can feel it. Cum, sweetheart.”

Both demon’s lips attached to your neck as Eddie reached down to massage your clit while your eyes rolled back and whimpered their names. To your surprise (and delight), the long-haired demon came with you, filling you up as your cunt clenched tightly around him.

Steve’s hand clasped around your neck lightly as he chased his high before his rhythm faltered and grunted as he released his seed inside of you.

You did everything you could to keep your eyes open for them but with the heaviness of the day and them making you feel good, the tiredness overtook you as you fell asleep in their embrace.

***

As your eyes opened, you were still in bed at the hotel but you were wearing one of Eddie’s shirts with Steve’s boxers tucked tightly under the covers. Freeing your arms to stretch, an extra weight in the bed moved startling you slightly till you noticed the little head with black curls.

Grinning, you scooted down so your face was level with his as you watched the little demon sleep. Your fingers gently traced along his face making your smile grow when his skin didn’t cause you any pain. Your hand moved along his back, feeling the tiny growth of wings that were beginning to sprout. When he opened his eyes, they were red with a hint of your own color shimmering up at you with nothing but love.

“Hi, mommy.”

Your chest caved in as a cry escaped your throat at the sound of his voice. It wasn’t deep like theirs but soft like your own.

“I’m sowwey, mommy. Did I make you sad?”, he asks as his little hands reach up to dry your eyes.

“No, sweetheart. You didn’t make mommy sad. You’re just so handsome!” When he giggled at your compliment his mouth opened wide like Eddie’s as a loud cackle exuded from him. “How are you, baby? Are you alright?”

He nods, scrunching his little nose in thought.

“Mommy, are my daddy’s nice like you?”

“Of course, honey. Why do you ask?”

“I only know you.”, he responds as he touches your stomach. “An granma an granpa.”, he chuckles as he points at the light outside of the window.

You try to contain your tears of joy so you don’t frighten him again.

“I wanna meet dem but they don’t have a door like you.”, he says as he points to your forehead.

“Yeah, your mommy’s weird.”

“No, mommy!”, he laughs making you smile.

“Do you want me to tell them something for you?”

The small demon’s nose scrunches again as he thinks.

“Tell dem Ellis says I love you!”

Your eyes flutter open as light pours into window of the hotel and you feel gentle hands running along your arms.

“Hey, princess. You alright? You were kind of mumbling in your sleep.”

“I saw him again… our son.” Steve lifts his head and rests his cheek on your shoulder from behind you. “He looks like both of you. How can that be?”, you whisper.

“Honestly, baby, this is kind of out of bounds for us. If we had known you drinking that would have gotten you pregnant… I guess like Maeve said, ‘When you meddle in the abstract…’”, Eddie murmured back as he caressed your face.

“Maybe someone back home would know. I mean maybe the little buttheads can find something.”, Steve teases making the two of you laugh softly. “Tell us more about him, Y/N; our son.”

After describing what you saw, they both smile as they paint a picture of him in their heads.

“I wish I could talk to him to.”

“He said he’s tried but you two don’t have a ‘door’ like I do.”, you emphasis by tapping your forehead. “I guess that’s a unique way to explain my gift. He wanted me to tell you something. He said, ‘Tell them Ellis says I love you.’”

At the mention of his name both your demon’s locked eyes as Eddie released a heavy exhale.

“Baby, when we were trapped, we talked a lot about so many different things. One night, I asked Eddie if we ever had kids what would their names be. I told him I didn’t have any preference because I don’t have any family I’m really close to except him even before. He said if it was a girl, Elizabeth, because that was his mother’s name. If it was a boy—”

“Ellis because it’s close to that. Fuck…”, he cried as you tilted forward to kiss his lips. “You guys didn’t have to do that. Y/N has family and stuff we could have named him after.”

“We can do that next time.”

Again, his head shot up to look your way.

“Y-You’d want more kids with us?”

“I mean, yeah. I’m not exactly sure if I can after this one. Like you said this is new territory but if we can…”

Both demon’s cling to you like little kids as they smile and kiss your face.

“So, now I get to see your home?”

“Yeah, baby, you do.”

######################

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