Steve Harrington x pregnant!Reader
Summary: Steve and the reader take the party out for a fun day to celebrate all of them passing their midterms.
The morning starts with Steve standing in the kitchen in socks that don’t match, flipping pancakes with the intense focus of someone defusing a bomb.
You watch from the table, one hand wrapped around a mug of decaf coffee, the other resting on the very round curve of your stomach. The baby shifts, and you smile without even thinking about it.
“Do not,” Steve says without turning around, “tell me to relax.”
“I didn’t say anything,” you reply innocently. Talk a small sip from your mug to hid your smile.
“You breathed in a judgmental way.”, Steve expressed.
Dustin snorts from across the kitchen, about to grab a box of cereal from the cabinet.
“Dude, I’m cooking you breakfast right now!”, Steve said incredulously.
“If yo are cooking it, then it won’t be edible.”, Dustin deadpans while fixing a bowl of cereal.
You just laugh from your spot at the table.
Meanwhile, Mike is half-asleep at the other end of the table, chin propped in his hands. Will is sketching quietly at the table. Max is on the couch watching tv while Lucas sits beside her reading the newspaper like an eight year old man.
It’s a slow morning. A morning only God knows that they’ve earned. After Vecna, after everything, normal is something you protect with your whole heart.
“Okay,” Steve announces, sliding a plate of pancakes toward you first, always first. “Everybody listen up.” Six heads turn. Yours included.
“Today,” he says, pointing the spatula like a weapon, “is a reward day.”
Mike lifts his head confused and still half asleep. “What?”
“Like a full day out, irresponsible spending, fun having, Steve Harrington approved reward day,” Steve explains.
“Okay what did Robin, Erica, and I tell you about referring to yourself in the third person. It’s not as cool as you think it is,” Dustin says with a mouth full of cereal.
Steve rolls his eyes and huffs. Max straightens. “What’s the occasion?”
“So you want to reward us because we passed?” Will asks softly.
“Not just passed,” you say, pride blooming in your chest. “You all did really well.”
Lucas grins, rare and wide. Will exhales like he’s been holding his breath for weeks. Dustin pumps his fist. And even Mike’s an Max’s eyes shine a little.
Steve leans against the counter, arms crossed, watching them with that look he gets. The one he tries to hide. Like he can’t believe they’re still here. Like he can’t believe he is.
“So,” he says, clearing his throat, “get your shoes. We’re going out.”
The party all get up excitedly and run to get shoes on.
The day stretches like a gift you don’t want to unwrap too fast.
First is the arcade. Steve hands out quarters like a rich uncle, insisting it’s “an investment in joy.” You sit on a bench nearby, Steve’s jacket draped over your shoulders, watching the kids compete, argue, and laugh.
Dustin insists he’s unbeatable at Dig Dug. Max proves him wrong, again. Mike tries joins in on Dustin and Max’s bickering talking about a “technicality”. Lucas cheers so loud security looks over. Will smiles the whole time, soft and real.
Steve slides closer to you, wrapping his arm around you and pressing a kiss to your temple. “You okay?”
“I’m perfect,” you say, meaning it.
At lunch, it’s greasy burgers and milkshakes. Steve keeps stealing fries off your plate until you swat his hand. He pretends to be wounded.
“Need I remind you I’m eating for two already? No one else needs to be eating from this plate”, you say while eating a fry.
“Okay, okay. I won’t eat any more of your fries as long as I can get a kiss,” Steve smirks.
The kids groan. “You’re disgusting,” Mike mutters.
“I think it’s sweet,” Max smiles.
“The sweetest thing here is you,” Steve says to reader with love in his eyes.
“Oh my God. Steve that is the worst line I’ve ever heard,” Will laughs.
“If Will thinks it’s bad, then you know it is really bad,” Lucas says while pausing from drinking the rest of his milkshake.
“Well, excuse me for loving her,” Steve replies.
You put your hand on Steve’s chest and lean your head on his shoulder. “Aww it’s okay baby. I thought it was good”
“You are legally required to like his dumb jokes,” Dustin deadpan.
Everyone just laughs and keeps talking about everything under the sun from old memories to what they all did that week.
Later, there’s a movie, something dumb and loud. You don’t remember the plot because Steve’s hand is on your stomach, feeling every little kick, his thumb tracing absent-minded circles.
“She’s active today,” he whispers.
“Or he,” you murmur back.
He grins. “Future athlete.”
“Future menace,” you correct.
By the time the sun starts dipping low, everyone’s tired in that good, bone deep way. Steve loads them into the car with mock complaints.
They end up at the park without really planning to. The old one that somehow survived everything Hawkins threw at it.
The kids sprawl out on the grass. Steve grabs a bench, patting the space beside him. You sit slowly, carefully, and he immediately adjusts, arm around your shoulders.
For a moment, no one says anything. You all take in the moment. A moment of peace. There’s no Vecna, no sorrow, no deadlines, and no need to rush.
Then you speak. “I’m really proud of you,” you say. They look up.
“All of you.” Your voice wobbles just a little, and you don’t fight it. “I know senior year is supposed to be… normal stress. Grades, college, the future.” You swallow. “But you’ve carried so much more than that. And you’re still here. You’re still trying. You’re doing it.”
Dustin blinks fast. Will’s eyes go glossy. Max and Mike both looks at the ground, jaw tight. Lucas reaches for Max’s hand.
“You didn’t give up,” you continue softly. “Not on school. Not on yourselves. Not on each other. And I need you to know how much that means to me. To us.” Steve squeezes your shoulder.
“You’re going to graduate,” you say, smiling through the ache in your chest. “You’re going to leave this town someday.”
For a second, it’s quiet. No one knows if everyone is just processing the weight of your words or simply waiting for someone to speak and break the thick air growing around them.
Then Mike’s voice cracks it open. “El should be here.”
The words fall heavy. Like a stone dropped into water.
Your breath catches, sharp and sudden. Steve’s hand tightens on your shoulder, grounding you as Mike stares at the grass, jaw clenched so tight it looks like it hurts.
“She worked so hard,” Mike continues, voice small now. “She saved everyone. And now she’s just… gone.”
Will shifts closer to him without a word. Dustin’s bravado fades completely. Max doesn’t look up, but her shoulders tense, and Lucas’s hands tightens around Max’s.
You push yourself up from the bench just enough to kneel in front of Mike, slow and careful, belly pulling tight as you move. Steve immediately stands, ready to help, but you shake your head gently. You’ve got this.
Mike finally looks at you, eyes red rimmed and angry and grieving in that quiet way that never really stops.
“El left because she chose to save the world,” you say. “She left because she needed to save all of us .”
“She shouldn’t have to. She should have been able to be normal like us, graduate with us,” he whispers.
You nod. “You’re right. She shouldn’t have to. And it’s not fair.”
You reach out, brushing your thumb over his knuckles. “But she wanted to because she saw something in this world that was worth saving. She thought you were worth saving. And I know loving someone doesn’t stop just because they’re far away. But she’s still part of you. Always.”
Mike swallows hard, then leans forward hesitant, like he’s afraid he’ll hurt you, and presses his forehead against your shoulder. You wrap your arms around him.
“She’d be proud of you,” you murmur. “So proud.”
Steve watches, chest tight, as Mike finally breaks, just a little, and then pulls back, wiping at his face with the heel of his hand like he’s embarrassed by it.
Before anyone can say anything else, Max speaks.
“I didn’t get a goodbye.” Her voice is flat. Too flat.
Steve stiffens beside you. You feel it immediately.
“I didnt get to say a proper goodbye to El or…to Billy,” she continues, staring straight ahead. “One second he was yelling at me, and the next” Her voice wavers, and she presses her lips together hard. “And I pretended like I didn’t hear it, but everyone kept saying he was awful. Like that was supposed to make it easier.”
You shift, turning toward her as much as you can. “Max…”
Steve steps forward then, slow, deliberate, like he’s afraid of saying the wrong thing, but his voice is steady when he speaks.
“Billy wasn’t a good guy,” he says gently. “He hurt people. He hurt you.” Steve reaches his hand out to Max’s shoulder.
Max flinches, but she doesn’t pull away.
“But,” Steve continues, swallowing, “he didn’t deserve to die like that. And you didn’t deserve to watch it happen. Her eyes finally lift to his.
Steve shifts to sit more comfortably on the ground and rubs a hand over the back of his neck, exhaling. “When I got your letter, before the fight with Vecna” His voice cracks, just slightly. “It hurt more than you’ll ever know.” Max’s breath stutters.
“You shouldn’t have had to write something like that,” Steve says. “Not at your age. Not after everything you’ve already lost.”
At this point, everyone is silently crying. Lucas moves to pull Max into his chest. She clutches his jacket like it’s the only solid thing left in the world.
You reach out, resting a hand on Max’s back. “You’re allowed to miss him,” you say softly. “You’re allowed to love him. And you’re allowed to be angry at him too.”
She nods against Lucas’s shoulder, sobbing now.
Steve crouches in front of her, careful, earnest. “What he did at the end mattered,” he says. “And so does what you survived.”
For a moment, all of you just sit there, grief layered over pride, loss braided with love.
Then Dustin clears his throat loudly. “Okay,” he says, voice shaky but determined. “I don’t know who authorized this many feelings at once, but I’m emotionally overwhelmed.”
That earns a weak laugh. A sniffle. A breath.
You smile through tears, pressing a hand to your stomach as the baby shifts again, alive and strong.
“You’re all still here,” you repeat softly. “And I know you will all be okay.”.
Will’s voice cracks. “You promise?”
You lean forward as much as your belly allows. “I promise.”
They pile in around you. Not all at once, awkward and careful of your stomach, but close. Steve stands to the side, watching, one hand pressed to his mouth like he’s trying not to cry outright.
“You’re stuck with us,” Max says quietly.
“Good,” you reply. “I’d be offended otherwise.”
Later, driving home, the kids fall asleep one by one. Steve’s hand finds yours across the console.
“You’re incredible,” he says softly.
“You’re biased,” you smile softly.
“Extremely,” he agrees. “Still true.”
You glance back at the party. They’re safe, breathing, alive, and then you look down at your stomach.
And for the first time in a long time, the future doesn’t feel scary. It feels full. And warm. And real.
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