જ⁀➴ this love
steve harrington x fem!reader fluff
a part of my this love au !
cw: plot inaccuracies (for the plot, sue me)
how every member of the party realized you and steve were in love, true love. this time, it was will.
you and will weren’t really that close. you joined the party only after the whole upside down thing unfolded.
when you took multiple beatings in an underground russian base, refusing to let a single piece of information slide, he realized you were strong. not physically, but where it really matters.
he really saw it after vecna picked max as his next victim.
everyone was sleeping over at the wheelers’, staying close, eyes on max. everyone was in shambles; max was one of their best friends—she was a member of the party.
you, miraculously, held it together. not for yourself or for your own sanity, but for the kids that found themselves roped into unfortunate circumstance after unfortunate circumstance.
you didn’t make will feel weak when you caught him crying, you did the exact opposite. you didn’t tell him to wipe his tears and man up, in fact, you encouraged him to let it all out. “there’s no shame in feeling.” you told him. “feeling means you’re strong. don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.”
and he took your advise to heart.
you thought everyone other than you and steve were asleep.
will wasn’t.
will didn’t have many good male figures in his life—well, other than his moms boyfriend, bob. he died before will and jonathan could fully accept his presence. will understood that he was an objectively good man, but he didn’t truly feel it.
he was wary—of course he was! it’s not easy to accept that good men exist after his own father turned out to be a grade A asshole.
he loved steve harrington and trusted him with his life. but boyfriend steve? he was waiting for him to mess up. waiting for something to happen. he knew it was wrong to feel that way, but it’s all he’s ever known. his father royally fucked up, bob died, hopper died, everything always ended badly in relationships and it was always in the hands of the man. all the deaths were sacrificial. they knew the hurt they would cause, yet they still went through with it, and will resented them just a bit because of what they put his mother through.
he was drifting off to sleep but forced his eyes open when he heard you and steve talk. your voices were almost drowned out by dustin’s snores and the low hum of the water heater tucked away in the corner. will strained his ears to catch the end of steve’s sentence.
“i’m just so scared.” steve admitted, swallowing the huge lump in his throat.
will heard the vulnerability in steve’s voice, something he’s never heard before. in retrospect, will shouldn’t have assumed steve was just constantly strong and level-headed, but it seemed impossible for steve to ever.. be scared.
he knew steve harrington to be many things, but never scared.
“she’s just a kid.” he added after a shaky exhale.
will was wide awake now. it shook him to his core to hear steve admit to being scared.
“i know,” you sighed, rubbing his back. “but she’ll make it out. she’s the strongest person i know. even stronger than me.”
“she’s strong, but never stronger than you.” steve acknowledged, pressing a kiss to your temple as he shifted you onto his lap and pulled you close.
will contemplated closing his eyes. it seemed like a moment too intimate for him to witness. he saw you in a way he’d never seen you before.
your jaw wasn’t clenched like you were bracing for impact.
your eyes weren’t darting around cautiously as if you were waiting for something to jump out of nowhere and attack everyone.
your shoulders weren’t tense like you were carrying the weight of the entire party—even though, in your defense, you kind of were.
there was one thing that still remained, though. the furrow in between your eyebrows. he’s never seen you without it. it got so bad that during the summer, you got tan lines in between your eyebrows.
steve smoothed his thumb over the wrinkle and you melted into his embrace, cheek smushed against his chest. “don’t want another tan line over there, do we?” steve hummed.
“just shut up and hold me, harrington.” you grumbled.
“whatever you want.” he pressed a kiss to the top of your head. “whatever you want.” he repeated, pulling you in even closer.
you snuggled in to his chest and your eyes fluttered at the sound of his steady heartbeat.
you sighed contentedly, somehow melting even more. your bones felt like jelly and you could swear you felt your spine decompress. the pressure you always carried in your lower back gone.
“i don’t know why people do yoga when they can just sit in their boyfriends lap.” you murmured. “i can feel my back untense.”
untense and wasn’t a word, and will was confused on why steve didn’t comment on it. he found that you made your own words up sometimes, and steve always went with it. sometimes, he even starts using them.
steve looked at you with eyes will has never seen him deploy. not with nancy or with anyone before. “i’d morph into a yoga mat if you’d ask.”
you smiled at him—really smiled. a smile will hasn’t seen on you since way before the russian base. a smile you now reserved for steve, and steve only. “i think you’re fine as is.”
“you think?” steve scoffed jokingly.
“i know.” you corrected, pushing yourself up to press a kiss to his lips.
he leaned down so you weren’t holding yourself up. will thought his position seemed so uncomfortable. it probably was, but steve would rather die than have you putting in an inch of unnecessary effort.
“i’m gonna marry you one day, you know.” he said solemnly.
will shut his eyes. yeah, he definitely shouldn’t be tuned in. this was a conversation between you and steve only.
he couldn’t help but listen on.
“oh yeah?”
“yeah.” he said firmly. “i’d do it right now.”
“do it.”
“you only deserve the best and most grandest proposal.” the end of his sentence was muffled by his kisses.
“i don’t need all of that.”
“i want to give you all of that.”
the next morning, will found you two in the same position; you curled up in steve’s lap, and steve twisted in a way that had to be unbearable but it gave you the most comfortable position to sleep in.
when you woke up and set a plate of pancakes in front of will while waiting for the rest to wake up, he couldn’t help but ask. “how’d you know steve was the one?”
you paused for a moment, “he’d do anything for me. i’d do anything for him of course, but he’d do quite literally anything. you know, last night he offered to morph into a yoga mat.”
“what,” will let out a breathy chuckle, pretending not to have witnessed the entire encounter. “that’s so weird.”
“he offered, though.” you shrugged. “he also never ever makes me cry. the only time i do is when he treats me so good i start feeling so much and i don’t know how to correctly portray my feelings. he beats himself over it because ‘a tear is still a tear.’”
“you love him?”
“so much.” you emphasized.
“and- and how can you be sure he won’t hurt you?” that was the dreaded question.
“i don’t. but i know steve doesn’t have a single bad bone in his body. he wants to act all tough but deep down he’s marshmallows and rainbows.”
“hey!” steve’s raspy voice rattled through the kitchen. will tensed. this was it. he managed to cause the first fight between you and steve. you two were gonna break up and it was all his fault.
“i’ve got a reputation to uphold, missy!” he put his hands on your hips and pulled you in for a kiss. it wasn’t demanding, just soft.
you parted your lips with a click! you turned back around and poured pancake batter onto the pan. fresh for your boyfriend, because that’s nothing short of what he deserves. “come on! the kids know how much of a sap you are for me.”
“yeah.” he nodded, wrapping his arms around your waist and nuzzling his face into your neck. “just for you.” he repeated ‘love you’s into your neck until you pushed him away giggling saying it tickled.
will realized that maybe not all men are bad. especially steve.