I love comic books, super heroes, power puff girls, candy, movies, the beach, and outdoor gardens. I love to write whatever just comes to mind and if I could I would sleep until I couldn't anymore. I also LOVE Sterek. It's so sweet.
Iāve kept my favorite color a secret from most people. I usually just say black since I wear that a lot and people accept it.
And I keep it a secret cause my father once said, in passing but still very vehemently in disgust, that my favorite color was the ugliest color and everyone he was with agreed.
But since I started working as a pre-school teacher; I find it really easy to tell my kids that I love orange.
ā” Steve touches you as if he can press the truth directly into your skin.
Warnings : 18+ / MDNI! ⢠Enemies to lovers, hurt/comfort, angst (blood/injuries, fear of losing someone), smoking (cigarette), smut (unprotected sex, fingering, semi-public ie outside), emotional vulnerability, protective Steve Harrington, praise kink(?) with themes of trauma, self-worth, and comfort throughout
Pairing : Steve Harrington x impossible girl!Henderson!reader
Word count: 7.3k
Summary: After yet another failed crawl leaves you trapped beneath collapsing concrete, Steve Harrington finally snaps. Forcing you to confront what you really mean to him.
Chefās Note: yes, the glasses stay on. Send any tips to this customer @roseswebcornerĀ (Order in comments) ā”
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Rain spits against the windows of the station, turning the parking lot outside into a smear of neon reflections and black asphalt. The āWSQKā sign buzzes red against the storm, flickering ominously over puddles and the van which Steve had abandoned at an angle near the curb, one wheel half up on the pavement.Ā
Wind rattles the broken gutter overhead, and through the rain-streaked glass you can just about make him out, standing beneath the awning. Barely sheltered.Ā
Head tipped back against the brick. White t-shirt damp beneath his cord jacket where the rain had soaked through. Hair curling at the edges, pushed back off his forehead evidently from running his hands through it. His wire-framed glasses catch the red every few seconds, briefly obscuring the exhausted look underneath them before the light flickers away.Ā
Steve.Ā
Steve with blood drying across his knuckles.
Steve with a cigarette between his fingers despite the fact he told the others heād quit months ago.
You push open the station door and step out into the damp night air, the storm immediately swallowing you whole. Instinctively wrapping your jacket tighter around yourself.
He spares you the briefest of glances when you step out, closing the door behind you. His eyes catch yours; sharp for half a second before he drops his gaze back to the cigarette between his fingers, jaw tight behind the slow curl of smoke.
You cross the narrow space between you and lean against the wall opposite him, back against damp brick. Rainwater drips steadily from the edge of the awning between you, hitting the pavement in uneven taps.Ā
Neither of you speak. Steve just takes another drag; choosing to focus on that and not the fact that you followed him out here.
āYou know those things kill you, right?ā you say eventually, voice so uneven you're not sure you sound like yourself.Ā
He lets out a humorless huff through his nose. āThink Iām aware.āĀ
The stick glows orange between his fingers. You just watch his hand.Ā
Swollen knuckles.
Split skin.
A faint smear of blood slowly drying near his wrist.
Without really thinking about it, only really to distract yourself from the way your stomach twists, you reach forward and pluck the cigarette from between his fingers.
Steveās eyes flick to you, but he doesnāt move to stop you.
You take a drag before you can think it through, the smoke burning harsh down your throat. For a while no words pass between you. Just the cigarette.
Until eventually you realise you havenāt stopped staring at his hand.
The way his fingers keep clenching and unclenching at his side. The almost imperceptible wince every now and then that he doesnāt even realise heās doing it.
āYou should probably clean that up.āĀ
His jaw flexes.
āYeah?ā he says flatly. āYou think?ā The way he looks at you when he says itātired, angry, something rawer underneath āmakes you swallow harshly.
Steve takes the cigarette back from you, shoulders tenser than youāve ever seen them. Then, quieter but just as sharp, he adds, āMaybe you should stop giving me reasons to punch things.ā
āThere it is.ā You knew that was coming. The blame. Is it warranted? Probably. Do you want to hear it? No.Ā
You tilt your head back against the brick, forcing your voice to be lighter than you feel, forcing yourself to say your next words. āThat wasnāt my fault.ā
His head lifts slowly, eyes finding yours before skirting over you just as slowly. Rain-dark hair plastered messily around your face. Mud streaked across the knees of your jeans from where you hit the ground. The tiny cut near your cheekbone you hadnāt bothered cleaning.
Something sharp flashes across his face so quickly it looks physical.Ā
He grits his next words out. āYou ran in there alone.ā
Your jaw tightens instantly. āI had it handled.ā
Steve actually laughs out that. Cutting. Slightly mocking. āYou did, did you?āĀ
A flashlight beam disappearing around the corner before he could grab your hand. Your voice crackling through the radioāIāll be fine, just cover the other sideā
Then static.
You flinch. You donāt need reminding.
The floor giving out beneath your feet. Rust and concrete collapsing inward. Your shoulder slamming hard enough into the wall to make your vision spark white.
You force yourself to shrug anyway. āBut I got out.ā
āBecause of me.ā Steve steps forward as he says it, the words sharper and louder than everything else heās said tonight before he visibly catches himself.
His voice lowers again, words scrapped raw. āYou got out because I got to you in time.ā
His eyes lock onto yours and donāt move. Donāt even blink.
And for a second neither do you. Like you're in a trance.
Rain continues to hammer down around you. Neon red flickers across the sharp line of his jaw, catches against the lenses of his glasses, turns his soaked white t-shirt pink for half a heartbeat before fading again.
You look away first.
Your jaw aches from how hard youāre clenching it. Steveās breathing hard now, not from exertion but from whatever ugly thing heās been trying to hold down since you all came back up.Ā
āYou know what I heard?ā he asks.
You donāt answer. He doesnāt give you time to.Ā
āYou telling me to shut up, a loud crashāā His voice catches suddenly, wavering around the next part like he physically hates saying it out loud. āYou scream.ā
His eyes lock back onto yours, he swallows, hard, before continuing. āAnd then nothing.ā
The words hit harder than they should.Ā
Because, yes, you remember it too.
The static swallowing your voice mid-sentence. The sick drop in your stomach when the tunnel floor gave out beneath you. The impact. Dust choking the air so thick you could barely breathe around it.
And then silence.
Deafening. All-consuming. Terrifying.Ā
Steve drags a hand through his hair, frustration bleeding through every little move he makes. āDo you have any idea what that was like?ā
You hate this.
Hate the way heās looking at you. Hate remembering the panic clawing up your throat beneath all that concrete. Hate remembering how helpless you felt down there. Hate the fact he saw you like that.
So you default to the only thing you know how to do in a moment like this: deflection.
āIām standing here, arenāt I?ā
Steveās expression hardens instantly. āThatās not the fucking point, Henderson.āĀ
You cross your arms tighter over your chest like a shield; voice raising to match his. āThen what is?ā
For a second he just stares at you like he canāt actually believe youāre asking. As if he genuinely cannot comprehend how you donāt get this. And in your rational brain, maybe you do. A little. But understanding something and letting yourself feel it are two very different things.
He just laughs, again. This time itās softer. Not quite so mocking anymore.
In fact it sounds a little wrecked.
Actually, it sounds completely and utterly wrecked.Ā
āI found you trapped under concrete,ā he says, rough and low, every word a struggle for him to say. āAnd you were still trying to joke with me.ā
Your stomach twists, you feel your hands grow clammy and shake by your side because suddenly youāre back there.Ā
Steve dropping to his knees beside you so hard the impact echoed through the building. Blood already running over his knuckles from the door heād punched and kicked through to reach you. His hands shaking while he shoved broken debris away from your leg.
And you, dizzy and hurting and terrified in a way you didnāt want to name, still forcing out:
āTook you long enough, Harrington.ā
Steve had looked at you like the joke physically hurt him.
And now, eyes glassy behind rain-speckled lenses, cheeks flushed, his jaw flexes the exact same way.Ā
āYou looked at me like-like it was no big dealāā
You swallow harshly, cutting him off. āIt wasnātāā
āHow can you say that?ā His voice cracks this time. Barely, but you hear it.
āJesus Christ, do you think I wanted to not be able to fucking answer Dustin when heās screaming down the radio that youāre not answering? Cause I didnāt know why you werenāt. Cause you had decided to go off alone. Again.ā
Rain rattles violently against the metal awning overhead. Steve looks away suddenly, dragging a hand over his mouth before shaking his head once.
āDo you think I wanted to be the one to tell him that youāā His voice catches hard enough that he has to stop. āThat youā¦ā
He canāt say it.
You realise with a horrible twisting ache that he physically cannot force the words out. Like saying them aloud might make them real. Might drag you right back beneath the rubble where he found you.
The storm presses in around you both, so loud now that it almost feels intrusive. Like the night itself is listening.
Steve stares out into the rain, chest rising hard beneath the damp white t-shirt, cigarette long forgotten.Ā
You donāt know what to do with this version of him.
Steve annoyed? Easy.
Steve sarcastic? Easy. Typical.
Steve looking at you like losing you wouldāve broken him? That hurts.Ā
In a way you don't understand. In a way that makes your chest actually ache.Ā
āHe wouldāve been okay,ā you say quietly, and you almost believe yourself.Ā
But Steveās head snaps toward you so fast you instantly regret it. āWhat?ā
You shrug even though the motion feels stiff. Defensive. False. āDustin. He wouldāve been okay.ā You nod as you say it; like that will make it true.Ā
For a second Steve just stares at you.Ā
Then something furious flashes across his face.Ā
āNo,ā he says immediately. āNo, he wouldnāt have.ā
You open your mouth to say-to sayāyou donāt know. You donāt know what to say, what to do, where to look.Ā
āNo.ā Steve shakes his head once, sharp and disbelieving. āNo.ā
You look away on instinctāthe look in his eyes, the rawness of his voice suddenly all too much. You try to make yourself smaller somehow. Fold inward. Retreat back behind the walls that usually keep people out before he can force his way through them.
But he won't let you. Not anymore. Not after today.Ā
Heās moving before you can.Ā
One second thereās space between you. And then the next there isnāt.Ā
Rain clings to his lashes. His glasses sit crooked from where he shoved a hand through his hair moments earlier. His chest rises hard beneath his soaked t-shirt as he steps into your space like he physically cannot stand this distance anymore..Ā
And then before you can even blink his hand is grasping your jaw. Firm. Unwavering. His fingers curl against your skin and drag your face back up until your eyes are on him. Only on him.
No chance to run. No chance to hide from this. From him.
āHarringtoāā
Your voice doesnāt sound like your own. Too thin. Too breathless. Like youāre begging for something you canāt even name. For him to stop. For him not to stop. For him not to make you stand here and let him see you like this.
āNo. Youāre not listening to me.ā His thumb presses sharply against your jaw as frustration bleeds through every word. āYou keep saying this shit like people would just get over it. Like losing you wouldn't-wouldn't mean anything.āĀ
Your pulse stumbles hard against your ribs.
āYou think Dustin wouldāve been okay?ā he says incredulously.
āYou think your brother wouldnāt spend the rest of his life wondering if he couldāve stopped you from running in there alone? That if he had done even the slightest thing differently that you would still be here. Going over and over and over it in his head wondering where he fucked up?ā
āYou keep acting like youāre expendable,ā he says, voice cracking around the last word. āAs if it wouldnāt matter if you didnāt come back.ā
You try to pull away instinctively, discomfort clawing up your throat too fast, but Steveās grip tightens slightly before immediately softening again when he realises it.
Not letting you go. Not letting you disappear.Ā
āAnd me?ā Itās not only his voice that has broken but his expression, as he struggles to speak. āYou think I wouldāve been fucking okay?ā
Heās staring at you like he needs you to understand this. Like it matters more than his pride. More than winning any argument. More than whatever this thing between you has become.
It's almost like heās trying to show you something in his words, in his face, in the desperation in his voice. Something heās been trying to show you for a long time now and you just keep refusing to see.Ā
If he can just make you see itāreally see itāmaybe he can stop you from slipping through his fingers next time.
Your breath catches painfully in your throat. Because the worst part isā
Some part of you thinks you do see it.
That maybe you always have.Ā
And that is infinitely more terrifying than pretending you donāt.
āWhy?ā you croak out before coughing lightly and trying again. āWhy?ā
The question seems to knock the air out of him for a second. His brows pull together hard as he almost spits out āWhat?ā
āWhy would you care?ā You mean for it to sound sharp. Defensive. Detached.Ā
Instead it comes out small. Confused.Ā
Steve, for all his frustration and anger, just stares at you.Ā
Itās still raining heavily, wind now pushing cold mist beneath the awning, but all you can feel is the warmth of his body standing so close to yours.
Then he laughs once under his breath. But it's devoid of any humour.Ā Ā
āJesus Christ,ā he mutters, swiping the hand not cupping your jaw down his face and through his hair, shaking his head. āYou really donāt know.ā
Immediately your defenses slam back into place. āKnow what?ā you say quickly, trying for sarcasm mixed with anger and missing completely. āAll I do is annoy you.ā
āWe fight constantly,ā you cut in, words tumbling out faster now because if you stop talking you might actually have to hear what heās trying to sayāwhat heās been trying to say for years now. āI drag you into insane bullshit, I nearly got myself killed tonight, I got you injured, I make your life harder basically every time Iāā
Suddenly youāre cut off.
Not by more words.
But by a forceful pressure.
Specifically, Steve's mouth on yours.
He crashes into you. Moving like he's been holding this in for yearsālike if he doesnāt do it now, heāll drown in the weight of it. Like he cannot stand hearing one more terrible thing leave your mouth.
It's not soft. Not careful.
Itās desperate and angry and messy, his lips pressing hard enough to bruise, his fingers digging into your jaw to keep you there.
You gasp against him, and he takes full advantage, slanting his mouth over yours again, teeth scraping, breaths mingling sharp with the almost addictive combination of nicotine and rain.Ā
You stumble back a step, shoulders hitting the wall, but he doesnāt let you retreat. He uses his body instead of his words to cage you in, one hand still gripping your jaw, the other braced against the wall beside your head. His glasses dig into your cheekbone, the frames cold where they press against your skin, but you donāt pull away. You are not sure you could.Ā
You finally snap out of the shock of it, and in that moment all you want is him closer than humanly possible. Your hands fist in the damp cotton of his shirt, dragging him closer with a desperation that surprises even you. .Ā
Steve lets out a ragged moan against your mouth, the sound muffled by the sharp press of teeth and lipsāhalf frustration, half surrenderābefore he mutters a broken, "Fuck," against your skin.Ā
Itās all hands and teeth and the dizzying press of bodies.Ā
His hand slides from your jaw into your hair, gripping just tight enough to tilt your head back, exposing your throat to the scrape of his stubble.
You gasp at the feeling, and he fully takes the opportunity given to him to deepen the kiss, tongue hot and insistent, like heās trying to rewrite every argument, every sharp word, every moment youāve spent at each otherās throats.Ā
All in this one kiss.Ā
āYou think I donāt care?ā he murmurs against your mouth before kissing you again immediately. āJesus Christ.ā
Another kiss.
Another sharp inhale.
His lips drag against yours slower this time, but no less desperate.
āI punched through a fucking door for you,ā he says hoarsely, words breaking apart between kisses. āWhen I heard you screamāā His voice catches roughly. āWhen I saw you trapped down there alone I-I couldn't breathe.āĀ
Your chest aches so hard it feels unbearable.
āNot till I knew you were okay.ā His hands are still shaking even as they hold onto you.
Steve kisses you again before you can speak, like he already knows youāll try to argue your way out of this too.Ā
Heās not wrong.Ā
āNo,ā he mutters against your lips, thumb trembling where it rests beneath your jaw. āNo, you donāt get to do that anymore.ā
Steve touches you like he can press the truth directly into your skin; then you might finally believe him. āYou matter to me,ā he breathes against your mouth.
And then, quieter. Rougher. āSo fucking much.ā
Another kiss, slower now, but somehow just as devastating.
āMore than youāll ever know,ā he says hoarsely against your lips. āMore than you ever could.ā
Your throat tightens dangerously. And for the first time all night, maybe ever, you donāt call him Harrington.Ā
.āSteveā¦āĀ
The name leaves you like something fragile, like it physically hurts you to let him hear it.Ā
Hearing his name said by you, like thatāsoft, fractured, stripped bareādestroys whatever last shred of restraint heād been clinging to.Ā
Steveās breath stutters against your lips, his grip tightening in your hair reflexively. The sound of his name in your voiceānot Harrington, not king Steve, not something thrown at him in anger or challengeādoes something violent to his chest.Ā
He doesnāt just kiss you this timeāhe devours you.Ā
He drags you impossibly closer, his teeth catching your lower lip hard, his tongue sweeping in long before you can recover. Thereās absolutely nothing gentle about itāthis is Steve memorising your mouth like it's proof youāre real.Ā
That he didn't lose you before he ever got the chance to have you.Ā
āBeen trying not to do this for so long,ā he admits roughly against your mouth
Surprisingly, that brings a smile to your faceāa real one, small and disbelieving but thereāand you feel the tension in your chest loosen just enough to breathe. Maybe itās the adrenaline still humming in your veins, or the way Steveās hands are trembling where theyāre tangled in your hair, but suddenly you canāt help it.Ā
You tilt your head back to break the kiss, lips brushing his as you murmur, āYouāre telling me Steve Harrington, King Steve, has been pining after Hendersonās big sister? All this time?ā
Steve freezes.Ā
For a second, he just stares at you, rain dripping from his lashes, mouth slightly parted like he canāt decide whether to strangle you or kiss you again. Then his grip tightens in your hair, tugging just enough to make you gasp.Ā
āYouāre fucking impossible,ā he grits out, but thereās no anger left in itājust exasperation, fondness, something raw and aching beneath the words.
The grin tugging at your mouth only widens. āYou need to work on your moves.ā
Steve blinks at you, mouth not even an inch away from yours.. āExcuse you?ā
āYou heard me,ā you murmur, lips still brushing his. āThatās a little bit embarrassing, donāt ya think? And not for days, or weeksāyears.āĀ
Steve lets out a disbelieving laugh.
āYou made me your enemy when really you just wanted to have me.ā
Steve goes absolutely, completely, still.
For one glorious second Steve Harrington actually looks completely and utterly, beautifully speechless.
The wind changes direction causing the rain to hit the both of you. Rainwater slides down the side of his face as he stares at you, jaw flexing hardāactively trying not to react to that sentence the way he wants to.
You can practically feel the moment his patience snapsāhis fingers twitch, his jaw sets, and his gaze narrows. āYou,ā he grits out, thumb tapping your chin, voice rough, āare pushing your luck.āĀ
You grin up at him, tilting your head to make his grip shift. āAm I?āĀ
His thumb presses into the hinge of your jaw, tilting your face up further. āYeah. You are.āĀ
Thereās a beat of silenceāthen you hum, deliberately slow, eyes flicking down to his mouth and back up. āI donāt think I am.āĀ
Steve exhales sharply against your lips, the heat of his breath mingling with the chill of the rain still dripping down his face. His fingers twitch where theyāre tangled in your hair, grip tightening just enough to make it hurt. āWe shouldnāt be doing this,ā he mutters, voice roughāhalf protest, half plea.
You meet his gaze, eyes innocentāunaffectedārainwater catching on your lashes. āThen stop.āĀ Ā
His jaw flexes. He doesnāt move. Doesnāt blink.Ā
His thumb drags slowly along your jawline, pressing just shy of painful when it catches on the curve of your chin. Then it traces your jawline, slow and deliberate, before his fingers drop lower. Curling into the damp fabric of your shirt, then dragging downward until they catch on the waistband of your jeans.Ā
His gaze locks onto yours, challenge burning behind rain-speckled lenses. "You wouldn't care?" he murmurs, voice rougher than the storm overhead.Ā
You tilt your head, feigning indifference even as your pulse kicks violently against your ribs. "Mm?"Ā
He flicks the button open, fingers hovering over the zip. "So if I justā"Ā
His gaze is locked onto yours, daring you to stop this. Daring you to stop him.Ā
The zipper rasps open under his touch, cold air biting at exposed skin as his hand slides in. His fingers trace the dip of your hipbone, rough and warm against the bite of the wind.Ā
"You wouldnāt care if I went back inside?" he murmurs, voice scraping low.
Your breath hitches. You should push him away. Should say something sharp, something defensive but all you can manage is a shaky exhale as his fingers dip lower, skimming the edge of your underwear.Ā
Steve watches you with a focus that borders on predatory. His fingers pause, testing, waiting for you to bolt or shove him back. When you donāt, his lips twitchānot quite a smirk, but something darker. Something hungrier.Ā
"Guess that answers that," he mutters, and then his hand is sliding fully into your pants, palm hot against your stomach.
Steveās fingers slide beneath your underwear with a precision that shouldnāt be possible given how badly his hands were shaking moments ago. His fingers dip lower, finding you already wetāimpossibly soādespite the cold, despite the argument, despite everything.
His breath hitches against your throat. āFuck,ā he mutters, half to himself, half to you.
You gasp, sharp and involuntary, your hands scrambling for purchase against his rain-damp jacket as your legs threaten to give out entirely.Ā
Steve doesnāt give you the chance to collapse.
His free hand slides around your hip, fingers digging into the curve of your ass, hauling you up against him like you weigh nothing. Your thigh instinctively hooks around his waist as he pins you against the brick wall.
All the while he doesnāt stop, his fingers working you with a rhythm that borders on punishing, his palm grinding against your clit with every upward stroke.Ā
You bite down on a moan, forehead dropping against his shoulder, nails raking down the front of his jacket, his neckāreally anywhere you can reach. .Ā
The angle is awkward: the wall digging into you, his glasses still digging into your cheekbone, but none of it matters. Not when his thumb circles onceāhardāand your vision whites out for a second, hips jerking against his hand.Ā
āFuckāSteveāā The name tears out of you, ragged and broken, as his fingers curl just right, pressing deep.
Your gaze catches briefly on the split skin across his knuckles where his hand grips your hip. āCareful,ā you breathe instinctively. āYour handāā
Steve lets out a rough, disbelieving laugh against your throat, forehead dropping briefly to your shoulder like the concern physically hurts him. āDonāt care,ā he mutters.Ā
Before sinking his teeth into the curve of your neck hard; claiming the space between your pulse and your collarbone. Then his tongue follows, slow and hot, soothing the sting in a way that makes your knees threaten to buckle again.Ā
All the while, his fingers donāt stop moving inside you; dragging a choked, alien noise from your lips.
āStill think I donāt care?ā he mutters against your skin. His thumb circles your clit again, deliberate, relentless, and you choke on absolutely nothing.Ā
You donāt get a chance to answerānot that you could even form words right nowābecause Steveās mouth is back on yours. Fingers working you faster, rougher, until your breath comes in sharp, uneven gasps against his mouth.
He continues, this time his breath fans your ear, āStill think I hate you?ā he repeats.Ā
You whineāitās high, desperate and patheticāin the back of your throat. His palm grinds against your clit; everything is too much and not enough all at once.Ā
āHoneyāā Steveās voice cracks around the word, rough with something that isnāt just frustration anymore. āI could never hate you.ā His fingers curl inside you, pressing deep enough to punch out another pathetic whine.Ā
āYou annoy the absolute shit out of me,ā he admits hoarsely. āYou drive me insane. You never listen to me, you throw yourself into danger without a single thought about yourself, and every time you do I just wanna grab you and shake some sense into you.ā
His thumb strokes your cheek almost unconsciously as he says it. The softest he has ever touched youāby far.Ā
āBut hate you?ā Steve lets out a breathless laugh, the idea utterly ridiculous to him. āJesus Christ.ā He cuts himself off with a ragged exhale, forehead dropping against yours as his thumb circles your clit in slow, deliberate strokes.Ā
āYou walk into a room and suddenly I canāt think properly.ā
Your stomach flips violently.
āYou argue with me about everything.ā
āI do notāā
āYouāre literally about to,ā he says immediately, kissing the corner of your mouth when you glare at him.
It pulls the smallest unwilling laugh from you but you still canāt help but roll your eyes.
Steveās expression softens at the sound instantly. And then more seriously, even more sincerely:
āI know what kind of mood youāre in by how hard you slam a door. I know when youāre lying by the scrunch of your nose.ā His jaw tightens slightly.
āI knew you were in trouble tonight before anyone else even realised something was wrong.ā
Your chest aches.
Steve swallows hard, eyes flicking over your face like heās trying to make you understand something impossible. āYouāre not forgettable,ā he says quietly.
The words hit harder than they should.
His thumb brushes your cheek almost absently, tenderness bleeding through every movement now.
āYou walk into a room and people look for you when you leave it.ā His voice roughens slightly. āYouāre loud and difficult and stubborn as hell and somehow you still make everything feelā¦ā He breaks off with a frustrated breathless laugh, shaking his head once. āFuck.ā
Your pulse stumbles beneath his hand.
Steve presses his forehead against yours again before finishing quietly:
āYouāre everything.ā
Your breath catches to the point where you think you might stop breathing.Ā
He closes his eyes briefly as if he didnāt mean to say that part out loud. But when he looks at you again, he doesnāt take it back. He doubles down.Ā
āAnd I need- I need you to believe that.ā
āI tried not toāā He cuts himself off with another rough laugh. āI really fucking tried not to do this.ā
āBut then you smile at me,ā he says softly, almost accusingly. āOr you say my name and suddenly Iām done for.ā
You stare at him speechless.
Steve brushes his nose against yours gently before kissing you again, nowhere near as frantic this time but somehow all the more intimate for it.
āSo no,ā he murmurs against your lips. āI donāt hate you.ā
A pause.
Then, quieter:
āI think-ā he pauses, taking a deep breath, his fingers slowing, āI think-Iāve been in love with you for a really, really long time.ā
You whineāhigh-pitched and completely brokenāas Steveās fingers thrust just right, pressing deep, and suddenly the world fractures.
Your back arches off the wall, thighs clamping tight around him, nails biting into the damp fabric of his jacket as pleasure crashes over you in waves so sharp you actually canāt breathe.
And Steve? Steve doesnāt let you ride it out in peace. His mouth finds yours again, kissing you through the aftershocks. His tongue licks into your mouth just as his thumb circles your oversensitive clit, dragging a sob from you that he swallows greedily.Ā
"That's it," Steve murmurs against your temple, lips brushing damp skin as your hands scramble clumsily over his shoulders. "Good girl."Ā
The praise sends yet another shudder through you, legs still trembling from the aftershocks. You're barely lucid, fingers twisting in his soaked shirt as you press impossibly closer with a whineāhigh and needy, the sound muffled against his collarbone where your mouth rests.Ā
"Steveā" Your voice cracks around his name, raw from earlier shouts now reduced to breathless pleading. "Pleaseā"Ā
"What, baby?" His fingers stroke gently through slick heat, coaxing another weak jerk of your hips. Rainwater drips from his hair onto your flushed cheeks when he leans down. "What do you need?"Ā
You can't answerānot coherently at leastājust rut against his hand with a broken noise, oversensitive but desperate for more after he just gave you the best orgasm of your life.
His chuckle is dark, warm against your ear as his free hand slides up to your jaw, cradling it. āGonna need you to say it baby.āĀ
The words shouldnāt wreck you the way they do. They absolutely shouldnāt send heat coiling low in your stomach all over againābut they do.
They absolutely do, and Steve absolutely knows it. You can see it in the way his eyes darken behind his glasses, in the way his thumb presses just under your chin, tilting your face up slowly.Ā
āSay it,ā he murmurs, lips brushing yours, the ghost of a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. āTell me what you want.ā
You swallow hard, your throat working around nothing, because god, this is torture.Ā
The way his fingers are still inside you, curled just enough to tease but not enough to give you what you need. The way his breath fans over your lips, warm and uneven, like heās barely holding himself together. The way his glasses are fogged beyond repair, rainwater clinging to his lashes, his hair a mess from where youāve dragged your hands through it god knows how many times.Ā
You hate the way you soundāwhining, desperate, voice cracking around his name like some lovesick idiotābut god, you donāt care. Not now. Maybe later.Ā
"Steve," you murmur again, hands fisting desperately in the soaked fabric of his shirt, vying to drag him closer even though thereās not an ounce of space left between you.
He hums, considering, like heās weighing whether to give ināand for one stupid, hopeful second, you think he will. But then he pulls his fingers out of you with a slow, deliberate drag that makes your hips jerk forward instinctivelyā chasing the loss, the sudden emptinessāonly for his free hand to press flat against your stomach, holding you firmly against the wall.Ā
He lifts his fingers to his mouth, tongue curling around them in a slow, obscene lick that elicits a moan from your throat before you can stop it.Ā
You could kill him. You will kill him. Later. After.
His gaze locks onto yours, dark and unreadable behind rain-speckled lenses, as he cleans every last trace of you off his fingers with agonising precision.Ā
Your face burns, your thighs twitch, and somewhere in the back of your mind you know you should be embarrassedāshould really shove him away or snap something sarcasticābut all you manage is a weak, "Fuck."
Annoyingly causing Steveās mouth to lift into a smug little smile.
āWant you,ā you whisper helplessly, forehead knocking lightly against his shoulder. āIdiot.ā
"Thatās not very nice, now is it, baby?" Steve murmurs, lips brushing the shell of your ear.Ā
You huff, fucking hellāwhat more does he want for you?Ā
His thumb presses into the delicate skin beneath your jaw, tilting your head back until you have no choice but to meet his gaze. āCalling me an idiot," he continues, voice dropping lower, "after I just let you come?"Ā
His other hand slides up your side, slow and deliberate, until his palm rests over your hammering heartbeat. "Youāre such a brat," he mutters against your lips, breath uneven. "Always have been."
Steve exhales sharply before he relents. His hands dropping to his belt in rough, jerky movements. The buckle clinks too loud, his fingers fumbling slightly with the button of his jeans before he finally shoves them down just far enough to free himself.Ā
He doesnāt give you what you want, though, not quite yet. Instead, he presses the hot, heavy length of himself against your thigh, rocking forward just enough to make you gasp at the contact, the friction maddeningly light.
"Say it," he murmurs, lips brushing yours as his fingers tighten on your hipānot guiding, not forcing, just there, holding you in place while his cock twitches against your skin. "Say you believe me."
You bite your lip hard enough to taste blood, hips jerking involuntarily against nothing, desperate for more. For him.Ā
Steve doesnāt let you. His forehead knocks clumsily against yours, his breath coming in ragged bursts between kisses that are more teeth than anything else..
"Say youāll think twice next time," he growls, dragging his mouth down your jaw to nip at your pulse point. His hips roll forward again, the head of his cock catching against your clit for one devastating second before he pulls back, leaving you gasping. "Say it."
You whine, nails scraping down the skin of his neck as you try to pull him closer, but Steve resists, his grip ironclad.Ā
His laugh is dark, uneven, his lips curling against your throat while you buck against him fruitlessly. "Nuh-uh, sweetheart. Not until youāfuckā"
His words cut off abruptly when your teeth sink into his shoulder, his hips stuttering forward instinctively before he wrenches himself back with a muttered curse.
His grip tightens in your hair, tilting your head back until you have no choice but to meet his gaze. "You think this is a joke?" he murmurs, thumb brushing your swollen lower lip.
"You think I donāt fucking mean it when I say I canāt lose you?"Ā
You arch toward him instinctively, but Steve doesnāt budge. Just watches you with that same unreadable expression.
"Tell me you believe me," he whispers, voice rough with something that isnāt just want anymore. "Tell me you know how much Iā" He cuts himself off abruptly, fingers flexing against your hip like heās physically restraining himself from finishing that sentence.Ā
But itās the look in his eyes that finally undoes you.Ā
Not the way his hands shake where they grip your hips, not the ragged edge of his voice when he says your nameāno, itās the raw, unfiltered fear behind those rain-speckled glasses. .Ā
Steve Harrington, whoās spent years pretending he doesnāt care about anything, looks at you like youāre the only thing left in the world that matters.Ā
And something inside you finally breaks.
Your hands move before you can stop them.
You grab his face hard enough to push his crooked glasses further up his nose, fingers cold and shaking against rain-damp skin as you drag him down toward you.
āHey,ā you whisper, voice cracking badly enough that Steve immediately stills. āHey.ā
Your forehead presses against his.
And for the first time tonight, you stop trying to pull away from what heās giving you.
You let yourself feel it.
The fear.
The relief.
Him.
Your eyes burn suddenly, embarrassingly, and you let out one sharp, frustrated breath that sounds dangerously close to a laugh.
āIām here,ā you whisper brokenly, trying to convince the both of you.
Steve makes a wrecked sound at that. His hands tighten on your hips almost painfully. āYeah,ā he breathes instantly, nodding quickly. āYeah, youāre here.ā
Your throat tightens so hard it hurts.
And suddenly, the words are there before you can stop them.Ā
āI do.āĀ
The confession slips out in a whisper, barely audible over the storm, but Steve goes utterly still.Ā
His breath catches audibly, fingers twitching against your skin like heās been shocked. For one terrifying second, you think he might pull awayāmight bolt like a spooked animalābut then his forehead drops against yours with a shuddering exhale.Ā
āSay it again,ā he rasps, voice cracking. His thumb traces your lower lip, smearing rainwater. āPlease.ā
āI do,ā you whisper again, voice cracking. His breath stutters against your temple, his fingers trembling where they grip your thighsālike heās afraid youāll take it back.
Then he moves.
Thereās no finesse to it, just raw emotion.Ā
Just Steveās hands gripping your thighs hard enough to bruise as he presses into you with a ragged groan that gets lost in the rain. The stretch burns briefly before giving way to a fullness that steals your breath.Ā
The sound punched from your throat is half-sob, half-laugh, the words spilling again without thought: āI do.āĀ
Steveās hips jerk uncontrollably at that, his breath hitching like the confession is a physical blow, and then heās moving in earnest. No rhythm, no ounce of control, just raw, shuddering need.Ā Ā
Every snap of his hips drives the words from you again, fractured and breathless: āI doāSteveāI doāā His name cracks on a moan as he angles deeper, one hand sliding up to fist in your hair, tilting your head back to expose your throat. His teeth finding your pulse point, biting down just shy of pain as his pace turns punishing, the wet slap of skin lost beneath the stormās roar.Ā Ā
Youāre babbling now, nonsensical; repeating it like a mantra between gasps, each thrust wringing the words out like heās starving for them.Ā
Steveās grip tightens, his other hand splaying over your ribs like heās counting each ragged inhale, each stuttered āI doā that spills from your lips.Ā
The world fractures as pleasure crashes over you in waves so violent they steal your breath.Ā
Your back arches off the wall, thighs clamping around Steveās hips, nails biting into his shoulders as you shatter with a sob he swallows greedily.
Steve follows with a groan so broken it barely sounds human, his forehead dropping against yours as his hips jerk erratically, his fingers tightening in your hair.Ā Ā
For one suspended moment, thereās nothing but the ragged sound of your breathing, the rain still hammering against the awning above you, Steveās pulse thundering beneath your lips where they rest against his throat.
Then reality rushes back in all too quicklyāthe cold brick against your back, the damp fabric of your clothes clinging uncomfortably to your skin, Steveās glasses digging into your cheekbone where theyāve been knocked askew.Ā
He doesnāt pull away.Ā
Neither do you.Ā
Instead, his hands slide up your back, slow and unsteady, smoothing over the rumpled fabric of your jacket. āYouāre okay,ā he murmurs, lips brushing your temple. Whispered so quiet you know he doesn't mean for you to hear it.Ā Ā
One hand rises to card through your tangled hair, fingers gentle where they work through the knots. āYouāre okay.āĀ
The words are less a statement than a plea, repeated like a prayer as his breathing gradually slows.Ā
When you tilt your head back to look at him, his glasses are fogged beyond recognition, rainwater and sweat streaking down his flushed cheeks. He looks wrecked. Beautiful.Ā
Your fingers rise to push his glasses up his nose, clumsy with exhaustion, and Steve catches your wrist before you can.
His thumb brushes over your racing pulse, his gaze dropping to your swollen lips, then lowerāto the mark blooming on your collarbone, the rumpled state of your clothes. Something dark flickers in his eyes before he exhales sharply, forehead dropping to rest against yours again.
āāM okay,ā you murmur softly, fingers brushing back his rain-damp hair where itās plastered to his forehead.Ā
Steve exhales sharplyāhalf laugh, half sobāhis breath warm against your lips as his hands slide up to cradle your face. His thumbs trace the hollows beneath your eyes with a reverence that makes your chest ache.Ā
āYouāre not,ā he counters, voice cracking, glasses still crooked, but you can still see the raw fear lingering in his gaze.
His fingers tighten fractionally, like heās physically willing you to understand. āYou were under a building, you idiot.ā The words crack on the last syllable, his forehead dropping to rest against yours as his breathing stutters.Ā
You can feel him shakingāfine tremors running through his arms where they cage you against the wall, the rapid flutter of his pulse beneath your fingertips when you touch his throat. Itās unnerving. Steve Harrington doesnāt tremble. Steve Harrington doesnāt falter.Ā
But he is now.Ā
Under your fingertips.Ā
His glasses slip further down his nose when he tilts his head to press a kiss to your templeāclumsy, unpracticed, achingly tender. āChrist,ā he mutters against your skin, voice thick. āYou scared the shit out of me.ā
Your chest aches at the honesty of it.Ā
Steve Harringtonāloud, stubborn, impossible Steve Harringtonāstanding here shaking in your arms because of you.
Your sworn enemy.
The bane of your existence.
The boy who could rile you up with nothing more than the arch of an eyebrow and one stupid smug look.
And yet here he is, holding you like losing you wouldāve destroyed him.
Slowly, carefully, you reach up and straighten his glasses for him. Itās the smallest thing. Basic decency, really.
But it hits him anyway.
You see it happen in real timeāthe way his breath catches softly, the way his eyes lose some of that frantic edge as they search your face. As if he canāt quite believe youāre touching him so gently.Ā
Steveās gaze drops briefly to your mouth before lifting back to your eyes again, softer now than you think youāve ever seen it.
āCāmere,ā he murmurs quietly.
This time when he kisses you, it isnāt desperate.
No teeth.
No frantic grasping.
No fear.
Just warmth.
His hands cradle your face carefully, thumbs brushing your cheeks while your fingers curl into the damp collar of his jacket. The kiss is slow enough that you can actually feel it this timeāevery soft press of his lips, every shaky exhale against your mouth, every lingering second of him choosing you.
Like coming home after being lost for a very long time.
And for onceā
you donāt fight it.
You let yourself be held.
P.S. I do not recommend engaging in this type of behaviour after having a building collapse on you. Please seek medical attention first. Lots of love, the chef ā”
Billy celebrating pride month in his own way in hawkins because heās not as safe as he was back in california. thereās no parade in hawkins, no gay bars having events and definitely no one even acknowledging the fact itās pride month in the first place. So he canāt sneak off to the parade like he did before but he can write a short essay on the AIDs epidemic currently happening in a class and he can walk around with a handkerchief hanging out of his pocket in hopes someone will understand and he can read āa boys own storyā while he waits for basketball practice to start.
Yāknow what Iāve been recently thinking about, in regards to Billy Hargrove?
His Camaro has California license plates in season 2.
That means, that to get it from California to Indiana, he wouldāve had to drive it there (because shipping a car would not be something Neil Hargrove would pay for).
And itās a near certain possibility he drove it there on his own - Max was probably with Susan and Neil (whether they were flying, or also driving).
So Billy wouldāve been by himself. In his beloved carā¦driving to a state and town he knew he was gonna hate.
And I just wonder how many times he considered driving in a different direction entirely, or turning around and going back to Californiaā¦going literally anywhere elseā¦.
But maybe he thought about how Neil might track him down eventually, and how mad heād beā¦
Or maybeā¦he thought about Max. And even though he didnāt have boat loads of affection for the little twerpā¦there was something inside of him that told him that he couldnāt just leave her alone with Neil
So he kept drivingā¦to Hawkins-fucking-Indianaā¦
Criminal how Steve had such gorgeous begging to be pulled hair in s3 and Billy never got to pull it
Like youāre telling me he never came into that fucking ice cream shop even once, reached over the counter and pulled Steveās hair just a little, to hear him whimper? Pretty homophobic if you ask me