Summary: In March of 1994, Robin and Steve are living in Chicago when they receive the invitation to Nancy and Jonathan's wedding which will take place in Hawkins. Of course, Steve is terrified of going back and seeing how everyone still considers him a childish loser. Robin proposed the idea of Steve pretending to have a stable romantic life to prove he'd changed and Y/N got cast for the role of fake girlfriend; it's just bad irony that she likes Steve Harrington.
Pairings: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader.
Rating: General.
Warnings: there would be characters from the TV show ER (John Carter, Mark Greene and Doug Ross), mentions of typical-period diseases and issues, fake dating, slow-burn, all up until the end of season 4 had happened (Eddie's dead and Max's blind, sadly).
Note: Steve was born in 1966, so he's 28 here. Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan were born in 1967, so they're 27. Dustin and the other kids were born in 1971, so they're 23. As for Y/N, she's 24 here, so she might've been born in 1970 to keep with the story.
Chapter One.
Chapter Two.
Chapter Three.
Chapter Four.
Chapter Five.
Chapter Six.
Chapter Seven.
COMPLETE
Now also aviable on AO3 although I've changed the Reader for an Original Female Character and I've rewritten some parts. It's a 'Nancy's Wedding' 2.0 fic.
Nancy’s Wedding | Steve Harrington x Reader (ch.5)
Series Masterlist
Chapter Four – Chapter Six.
Pairings: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader.
Word count: 6413
Nancy's Wedding | Chapter Five.
The air was thick and dense around her, weird snowflakes floated like gravity was nothing to them, and the sky had the darkest clouds she'd ever seen. Her bare feet sunk into the dirt, and she didn't feel anything. A small child covered in dirt and dried blood appeared before her eyes; the girl had big bags under her eyes that were injected in blood with exhaustion. She seemed cold and hungry, her lips blue and her body shaking; there was no fear in her eyes, not anymore.
Some sound made both jump, the little girl and the woman. The last one opened her eyes, finding herself in a very cozy bed with an alarm ringing on the nightstand, her breathing was fast as if she'd been running a marathon, her heartbeat drumming in her ears.
A dream. It was a dream. Oddly enough, the girl in the dream seemed familiar. The place in the dream seemed familiar.
Turning off the alarm, Y/N got out of bed in the same pajamas she wore in Steve and Robin's apartment. As she opened the door to go to the bathroom, she found Steve doing the same. His whole hair was a disaster like he had some kind of fight with the bed and lost. She couldn't help it, she laughed hysterically.
"This is gold. Shit, where's my camera? I need to take a picture of you, Steve. This hair… Oh, yeah, this hair is the best thing I've seen in my life."
Instead of shying away, Steve moved his hand as if a hand-puppet was talking and walked towards the bathroom at the end of the corridor. She kept laughing, and the moment Steve reappeared without having brushed or retouched his hair, she gave him the sweetest smile.
"Seeing that you like it so much, I think I can humor you for breakfast."
"How kind of you, Your Grace."
He winked at her and disappeared. If his ears were bright red she wouldn't have mentioned it.
Once she got into the kitchen, Steve was seated on top of the counter with a mug of coffee between his hands. She made her own coffee leaning against the counter, just by his side but without touching him.
"That's all you're going to have for breakfast? It's the most important meal of the day!" Maggie scold them. She had just awoken, her hair was a bit messy and there were still marks on her cheek from the blankets. Steve had never seen her in such a state in front of guests.
"We have a brunch with the others in a couple of hours. We'll eat then, Maggie. Do you want something for breakfast? I do the best toast in Chicago."
"No, Y/N, please, this is my house, I'm the one who should be doing the cooking."
"Nonsense. I'll make you my special breakfast if you're up to it. The last time I spent the night at Steve and Robin's apartment they didn't let me cook."
Reluctantly, Maggie accepted the offer and she had the best breakfast she'd had in a long time. Steve knew his mother wasn't used to just sitting there and being taken care of; when they were all home she woke up earlier than any of them and got breakfast ready, always. The only time she didn't have to cook was when she was at hotels following her husband. Y/N wasn't just kissing his mom's ass to get her approval, she was being properly nice; she understood that as far as she was a guest under Mrs. Harrington's roof, she wouldn't be a burden.
As she asked for the details of last night, Steve and Y/N explained every tiny bit to her. Sometimes lingering in the outfits of the other guests, sometimes describing the food with precision, and, of course, pointing out Mrs. Wheeler's behavior.
"I can't say I blame her. Nancy has always been her baby, she had these big expectations for her, and all mothers dream about their babies finding happiness. A wedding is just a way to celebrate it. I'm sure Karen wants Nancy's wedding to be as big and spectacular as she wished her own wedding was."
For the brunch, Y/N had decided to wear something more comfortable; that's why she had some high-waisted jeans on with her boots, and an ochre wool vest on top of a dressing shirt. Her makeup was toned down in comparison to the prior night, but she kept painting her lips with brown lipstick. Steve was wearing a dark yellow sweatshirt that looked amazing on him, his looks as casual as hers, almost as if they had arranged their outfits to match.
"This is more like the you I know," Steve complimented.
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Just a statement. I thought I knew you pretty well–"
"Hardly. Although I'll say that in the last few weeks we've got to know each other pretty well, the only thing I was hiding was my fashion sense. And, of course, my total refusal on buying new clothes until I had to come to Hawkins and do a charade."
"I'm glad I helped."
Inside the car, Y/N waited patiently for Steve's patience to burn down. She'd been looking at him since they got in, and was determined to not tear her eyes away until he broke the silence. Surprisingly enough, he held it pretty well; it wasn't until they were outside Robin's house waiting for her to get out that he stared back at Y/N.
"What?" Steve sounded so desperate that it was very hard not to laugh.
"I miss the golden hair."
"What are you– Oh… Why all that mocking on my hair?"
"Because you love it way too much, Steve."
"Don't I look good now?"
"Sure. It's funnier when it's all messy, though."
As she was saying that, she reached her hand to Steve's hair slowly, giving him time to back away if he wanted to. He stayed, holding his breath, waiting for her action. She ran her hand through his hair, just from the temple to the nape of his neck caressing the outside of his ear, pretending not to notice the shudder that overcame his body.
"I like your hair, although I don't think it's your best feature, as you say."
Steve was too shocked to speak. She leaned in and kissed his cheek and that seemed to wake him up. "What's my best feature, then?"
"You have pretty eyes." She shrugged as if it was nothing.
Robin entered the back seat like lightning, apologizing in a quick rambling for her delay.
The brunch was taking place in Ronnie's, a new establishment that worked in the remodeled Benny Hammond's business, Benny's Burgers. Although Jane Hopper wasn't too happy about the place of choice, as her frown was telling, she kept herself close to Max and Mike. When they saw the trio coming through the door, Dustin did one of his bubbling sounds and Mike pulled a face as Nancy was trying very hard not to laugh.
"What?" Steve was genuinely confused.
Y/N showed her best impression of innocence taking a seat at the same time Robin noticed the brown lipstick mark on Steve's cheek and gasped pointing at him. Blushing furiously, Steve cleaned the mark with the napkin Vickie offered him. Now that she thought about it, she had never seen Steve blush so many times as she had seen him do now that they were in this weird scenario.
The brunch was for the younger and closer friends of the groom and bride, no parents involved. A lot of pancakes, waffles, french toasts, scrambled eggs, bacon, orange juice, coffee, tea, fruit, and some mimosas, of course. Robin drank mimosas like water, and by the end of the brunch, she was all flushed and dizzy with an easy laugh.
"Yeah, that's how I got a story published in The New York Times just a couple of months ago. I wished I worked for a bigger newspaper, but working in Indianapolis isn't so bad and I still can send my stories to other papers. Investigation and research are the things I love to do the most," Nancy was explaining to Y/N, who was listening and asking questions politely. "Times had been trying to scout Jonathan as a photographer. I keep telling him that it's a great opportunity and I don't care to move, but he insisted on waiting after the wedding."
"I just think that if I had gotten the job we would have to postpone the whole thing and your mom– I mean… I love you, you know that, don't you?"
"I'm going to let it pass that you were about to say a bad thing about my mother, Jonathan, just because I want to say it as well."
A waitress approached their big-ass table, "Excuse me, there's a phone call for Steve Harrington. It's Chief Hopper."
"Yeah! Thank you. I'll go get it, don't tell my girlfriend embarrassing things about me, please."
"Like the outfit you wore at Scoops Ahoy?" Mike asked.
"What kind of outfit he wore at Scoops Ahoy?" Y/N sounded too intrigued for Steve's own good.
Hopper wanted to meet him in an hour, he sounded excited about the things he had found and refused to talk about it over the phone. Steve promised that he would be there, at a bar next to the bank, after dropping Robin and Y/N off.
*
Steve pulled the bar's door open and was pushed to blink several times to get his eyes used sooner to the change of light. Inside the bar, the light was dim, and as deep he went in, as darker it was. In a booth, he found Hopper and Doctor Owens. He sat down next to Owens, in front of Hopper.
"So, what have you found?"
"What do you know about Y/N's life?" Hopper asked.
"Um… Well, she says her dad abandoned her and her mother before she was born. Her mom developed schizophrenic paranoia and made them move around the country all the time, she barely slept and developed a drug addiction that hit so hard that she started selling everything they owned until she died of an overdose when Y/N was seventeen. At the time, she was living in Chicago and started working at The Silver. She barely remembers anything from when she was little and doesn't have pictures or anything; the only thing she keeps are a bunch of drawings. Drawings from 1979 with a demogorgon in them."
"Let's start for the beginning, shall we?" Owens produced a file from under the table placing it before Steve as Hopper spoke. "I did some research and found a missing person report on Y/N in April of 1979. Mr. L/N and Y/N went missing. Mr. L/N worked at Hawkins Lab," he pointed to the file Steve had already opened.
"As you may guess, he worked for the government. I hate to admit that when the first gate opened was a shock, but Brenner knew how to contain it until it went out of hand in November 1983, Jane left and the gate became uncontrollable."
"When did the gate open?"
"We're not sure. Jane can't remember how old she was; until she met us her knowledge about time and years was scarce," Hopper explained. "We guess it must've been in 1979. Is our best guess now that we have Y/N's record. The point is that Mr. L/N and Y/N were just doing some excursion in the woods, as Mrs. L/N explained in her declaration. That's when it happened…"
"Three months," Owens stated. "They were missing for three months, and suddenly she reappears. Alone. Brenner called me and– Well, he kept Y/N inside the lab as it was some hospital facility just to make sure she didn't remember anything. From a very young age, Y/N had shown to have an eidetic memory and Brenner thought it could be useful. Mr. L/N wasn't pleased with Brenner's interest in his daughter, as you can guess. Anyway, Brenner wanted to know what she had seen on the other side, what had happened, and if she was a loose end for his business. I had to evaluate her and treat her.
"She was with us for nine months and, of course, her mother was there too. Y/N showed no sign of recalling what had happened, she couldn't even remember what had happened to her dad. Goddamit, we showed her a picture of him and she didn't know who he was. I stated that the trauma she'd experienced was so intense that she wouldn't be able to remember anything.
"That didn't please Brenner that suggested we– He suggested we should make her come back to the other side, and if that didn't work… electroshock. I was against it, so I helped Mrs. L/N to run away with Y/N."
"If they kept running and Y/N's mom was so paranoid it wasn't because of some mental illness, it was because they were being hunted down. I moved some strings and talked to the coroner that did the autopsy. The drugs Y/N's mom took were mostly stimulants to keep her awake and in a hyperawareness state." Hopper explained lighting his third cigarette. "With her mom gone, Y/N stopped running and the government found her."
"They didn't want to do much noise, not after all that happened until then. Not after the California fiasco of hunting down Jane and all the Vecna business. That's why they evaluated her secretly and decided that she didn't remember anything and that she wasn't a threat or a possible asset.
"It's amazing to know that she's able to recall and draw every detail of the monsters and places she saw when she was a child. That means that her eidetic memory is intact, but the trauma had become a big wall that makes it impossible for her to actually remember anything, although now that she had gained that drawing skill, she can express and unlock those memories. It's fantastic!"
Steve swallowed a thick lump in his throat. "How– How did she survive for three months in the Upside Down? There's no food, no water, no shelter…"
"We don't know. We think her dad had something to do with her survival, and I don't know what kind of things she had to do to be alive down there… Her trauma might be linked with the monsters, the place, or– Well… We think her dad died helping her to get out by opening a gate."
"Was she found in my house?" The older man shared a look at his question.
"Yes. Your babysitter found her next to your pool and called the police. Your parents weren't home at the moment."
If she showed up there, she must've come through a gate in the woods by his backyard, just as the demogorgon took Barbara and scared Nancy. Three months… Just the idea of being inside the Upside Down for three months made his skin crawl. The scars on his abdomen, his back, and his upper arms started to itch like a compulsion. Flipping pages of the file he found old photos of Y/N; from before going missing there was the photo they used in the pamphlets, and then, just behind it, there were a couple of photos of the nine-year-old girl covered in dirt and dried blood, her hair and clothes a mess, her lips purple from cold, her eyes injected with blood in exhaustion, photos from when they found her.
*
Steve hid the file in the trunk of his car. He knew he had to tell Y/N everything, and he somehow felt good and bad about it at the same time. On one hand, Y/N was now the only woman he could share his true story with, the only woman there was no need for him to lie to. On the other hand, knowing that she got inside an interdimensional gate to a dark place full of monsters, that she survived there for three months, that most certainly her father died trying to give you an out, and then nine months of being locked up like a prisoner… yeah, it wouldn't matter how thick and tall her trauma wall was, knowing the truth could make it collapse and then she would remember everything and it would be his fault and she would not want to see him again and– He was spiraling.
Quietly, although he didn't intend to, Steve got inside the house that was, for the very first time, filled with laughs. Understanding that either his mother not Y/N had noticed his presence, he approached the living room door where the two ladies were sharing a sofa, giving him their backs.
"When was this one?" Y/N asked with interest.
"Oh, this was the Halloween of 1977. Steve wanted to be a cowboy so I sew his costume myself. I used to do that a lot. Look at him with his cowboy boots and his cowboy hat." The love and affection in his mother's voice sound oldy familiar, yet strange.
"He was adorable as a little boy."
Of course, they were looking through the photo albums! Of fucking course!
"Oh my God! Steve looks so cute in this one. Look at that smile! Ow!"
"This was on Christmas. His tooth fell just on Christmas Eve and my husband told him that the tooth fairy didn't work on Christmas and Santa would not change a tooth for money. Steve was heartbroken that night because the tooth fairy was not going to take his tooth, so I changed it anyway. Instead of money, I put a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie and a little note, very tiny, that said 'Thank you for the Christmas present, Steve. Here you have a little thing for you too. With love, the Tooth Fairy'. I still remember it because I spent hours trying to come up with something, and then more time trying to figure out some calligraphy that didn't look like mine at all. Steve would have noticed, you know? He's very attentive. There's no need in saying that my husband thought it was a waste of time because he wanted to tell Steve that all that was fake but look at his face. He was so happy…"
"I wish I could have a copy."
"Said and done, honey. I'll make you a copy and send it to you."
"Oh, no, Maggie, there's no need."
"Nonsense. Tell me if there's any other one that you like and I'll make you a copy. Uh! Look at this one. This album is from high school. He was the captain of the swimming team and the basketball team. My Steve was always amazing at sports. Look, this one was his first game, he played since the beginning, no bench for Steve. Oh, and this is his graduation. I have to say that this is my very favorite."
"Jesus Christ! What's he wearing?"
"A sailor's outfit. It was the uniform at Scoops Ahoy. His very first job. He felt so humiliated when he saw the uniform, my poor thing. But, you know, you have to start somewhere, right? Plus, that job allowed him to meet Robin and to get something on his resume for when he applied to Family Video. My husband was very mad at him because he wanted Steve to follow his steps, but I understood the need to get to know himself better and then take a decision.
"Robin sent me these. Steve doesn't take that many photos anymore, or at least he doesn't share them with me. Robin is kind enough to send me photos of my baby when he gets another job or changes his hairstyle… This, this is from when he went to Saint Louis. He worked there in another video renting store. Then they moved to Kansas City, see? Steve worked at a grocery store here; he looks very handsome, doesn't he? This is from when he started working at a dinner in Denver. Then, all of a sudden, Robin sent me this photo of him behind a bar in Chicago. Look closely, you're there."
The photo showed a very bright Steve due to the flash, drying some glasses as Y/N was a few feet away, covered by the shadows but still recognizable, pouring alcohol. If someone looked closely, they could still see the swollen bump on Steve's cheek. It is evident that Robin couldn't send Maggie a picture of her son all beaten up.
"I'm very proud of him, you know? He's strong and brave and he doesn't hesitate to take on new challenges and change cities and just fight his way up. He has principles, which is the most important thing, and he's good. Y/N, Steve has such a big wonderful heart so full of love… He deserves so much better. So much better…"
"May I ask you something, Maggie?"
"Of course!"
"You don't have to answer. This is going to be very personal, but– Why are you still married? You don't seem very happy with your husband."
There was a moment of silence in which Maggie Harrington admired the photos of her son right before her eyes. "I was like him. I was just like Steve. I grew up in a very small town and I was the first one in my family to go to college. I studied law. I wanted to be an attorney. I had these big plans for the future… Things were different back there, you know? I met my husband in my last year and he seemed to understand my wish to be an associate in a law firm. We were in love. I was so blind with love that when he asked me to marry him I said yes, believing that it wouldn't change a thing.
"Turns out that my husband was more worried about what people might think than what I would. As a man, back in the day, and still nowadays, if your wife has a better job than you and makes more money than you then you've failed as a man. That's what a lot of men thought and still think. He had his business, which made good money but I was making more. And when people asked about our jobs, when he said that he was a businessman they just took it for granted, and when I said that I was a lawyer they always gasped and complimented me. I don't think it was because I was a woman, it was more of the fact that my job had more competition than his. In the end, his business was the only one of its kind.
"When I got pregnant I still had this idea that I could be a mother and work at the same time. I wanted to do it, although my mother was against it. She said I was thinking like a lesbian, just to make you understand the minds from the past. Anyway, my husband and I got into a huge argument because he felt that I was making fun of him, that I wasn't taking him seriously, and that I didn't love him anymore. So– So, I left my job. We moved into Hawkins and I gave birth to Steve. I became a housewife. Why? Because I was so in love with my husband and I thought that he was under such an amount of pressure just for being a man that– Look, I know, now I remember things and it's just stupid.
"That's why I understand when Steve gets angry at his father, you know? My husband only talks to him when he wants to tell him that at his age he was already a husband and a father and had a big business and a lot of stupid things. Our time wasn't the same as your time is, and your time wouldn't be the same in twenty years. We evolve… We change…
"Steve was ten when I found out that my husband cheated on me. I guess he'd been doing so for a long time before that, but it was the first time I faced him about it. He started to make some incredible excuses about the male needs or something, I don't know, but I just made myself very clear. Since then, every time he was out of town for a congress or a meeting or something I was going to be with him. That's when we started to leave Steve alone.
"Why don't I get a divorce? I'm not financially stable, that's for start; I also don't have any experience to put on my resume and I'm too old right now to find a new job. There's also the fact that I still love him. Why? I don't know. And when I'm not around him, when I don't have his shadow over me I feel so free and happy and strong…
"That's why I'm so proud of Steve. He never allowed his father to cut his wings, cage his soul, to make him his puppet. No. Steve is free and independent and every time he shows it to him I feel prouder and prouder. I don't know why I'm opening my heart so easily to you; maybe it's because you're the only one who actually asked me anything. Let me tell you something, I might regret a lot of decisions in my life, decisions that I made due to insecurity and blindness, but the only thing I don't regret is my son. My son, my baby, is the best thing I've ever done."
Too caught up in his feelings, Steve went outside as quietly as he had gotten inside. He needed a few more minutes before coming in again pretending he hadn't listened to any of that. Steve always thought he had been neglected because he had, but he never stopped to think that his mother had been neglected as well.
For the next time he got inside, he made sure to make some noise. The laughing was present again and when he made his entrance into the living room, the two women were standing up with their hands behind their backs and very suspicious smiles.
"What have you done?"
"Nothing," both of them asked at the same time.
"Are those the photo albums? Mom!" He decided to wine like a child just to humor his mother, who went to him patting his back promising there were no compromising photos.
"What do you think I showed her? And also, it wouldn't matter if I've shown her the pictures of you in the bathtub using the soap foam to make a cool hairstyle, I'm pretty sure she'd seen all that's about to see about you all grown up."
"MOM!!"
"I wasn't born yesterday! Are you going to tell me you two have been dating and haven't had sex? Please! Do you think I'm stupid?"
"He also does the hairstyles with foam in the shower now," Y/N lied with a grin not knowing how true that really was.
"The death of me. You are going to be the death of me!"
"Such a drama queen."
*
The brush caressed her eyelids putting a bit of color on them with a pinch of glitter. The mascara was last, carefully applied after curling the eyelashes. She took a look at herself and she was certainly pleased with her reflection; she decided that because the Saturday party was going to be at the high school gym, there was no need for her to look fancy, therefore she wore a short sequin black dress with a mini-skirt and long sleeves, and for the shoes, she wore some fashionable closed shoes with thick heels and a strap on the ankles.
As might be expected, Steve's reaction was priceless. Someone must've thought that he would be ready to find her wearing something amazing, but he was not. In fact, he thought she couldn't look any better, and then, there she was, walking down the stairs and looking incredible.
Hawkins High School had been very pleased to do Karen Wheeler a favor, maybe because not many old students wanted to celebrate something in that building unless it was the ten-year reunion, for which not many people waited with passion. There was no theme to the party, at least not one that could be seen at first sight. As Robin, Steve, Dustin, and Y/N entered the place, they immediately saw a buffet kind of space for people to get the food they wanted, round tables they could use to eat, and a long table the main function was to be the bar. The dance floor was already full with the parents and older guests of the wedding enjoying themselves way too much. Ted Wheeler wasn't much of a dancer, but he didn't mind standing there sipping on his drink as his wife, Karen, did all the job.
Y/N held Steve's hand pulling him towards the dance floor. He followed pretending to be reluctant, although once on the dance floor he gave it all. Steve did stupid faces or movements knowing Y/N would laugh and follow his lead. They were having so much fun. Vickie asked Robin for a dance, and she was enjoying her moment as well.
With the offer of Y/N in mind, Steve started drinking. Not too much, not too strong. He was sipping on his drink, nibbling on his food, and seated at a table while Y/N was dancing to what was supposed to be her last song before eating with Dustin and Jane. Nancy sat next to him following his eyes to see what he was watching so intently.
"I'm very happy for you, Steve."
"Huh?"
"She's the one. I can see it. You too fit so perfectly that it seems impossible, you know?" A pang of guilt made him swallow his drink like a shot. "I'm going, to be honest with you, I was afraid that you could feel uncomfortable with the wedding. I know, it's silly, but– I don't know. I'm just happy that you have gone so far."
"What do you mean with gone so far?"
"Well, when we met your friends were Carol and Tommy. You did stupid things and, most importantly, you didn't have a personality of your own. With time, you left them behind, you left your King Steve era behind. Dustin did good for you, and then Robin. And now, her. You're surrounding yourself with good people because you are a good person, Steve, and you deserve to be loved."
"Do you think she loves me?"
"Yes! It's so obvious that you love each other. I–"
"Nancy! Nancy, darling, go dance with your dad."
"Sorry, Steve. We'll talk later."
He did a gesture with his hands and got up to get himself a proper drink properly alcoholic.
The moment she sat down with Dustin after grabbing something from the buffet. They engaged in a conversation about the X-Files with such passion that they didn't notice Steve drinking too much too fast.
Y/N excused herself to go to the bathroom. She was having so much fun with Steve's friends and with Steve. As she looked at her reflection in the washroom mirror she decided that tomorrow night she would tell Steve how she felt, because maybe he felt the same way, and that possibility was stronger and stronger as time went by. She didn't want to say anything at the moment because rejection was also a possibility and she'd rather not make things uncomfortable and awkward for both of them when the wedding was just a few hours away.
While she was gone, Dustin talked highly of her to Steve. He was very happy and proud for Steve to be with someone like her, and he liked her very much, he felt like they were friends forever. Steve couldn't say anything, just drink trying to fill the black hole that was growing inside of him, consuming him.
As Y/N went out of the washroom she found Robin way too drunk. Her face was flushed and her blinking was uncoordinated. She helped her walk to the table where Steve and Dustin were talking.
"Steve, I think Robin is too drunk. We should call it a night and go home."
"Sounds good to me," Dustin smiled.
"Bullshit."
"What?"
"This is bullshit," Steve dragged out the words with a sleepy tongue. He was drunk as hell. "This– This relationship is bullshit. It's fake. We're not even fri– friends. We're not. Never been. It's bullshit. You– You are bullshit. Bullshit. I'm bullshit too. We are all bullshit. But you too. Bullshit. It's all bullshit. All fake. Because these are not your friends. They are my friends. They will never be your friends because you're bullshit."
"Steve, buddy, come on." Dustin tried to make him shut up. Steve had talked so loudly that people were looking at them. Y/N only smiled, she knew that the worse thing she could do at the moment was to show how much she cared.
"Steve, shut up!" Robin cried, also drunk.
"No. No. You– You don't belong here. You shoul– shouldn't be in Hawkins. Leave. Go away. I don't want to see you. Ever. Tomorrow. I don't want to. Leave. Go!!"
"Alright, Harrington. I'll leave. But first, let's get you and your friends home. You cannot drive now, can you? Come on."
"But you leave."
"I'll leave."
"You're bullshit."
"Sure, Steve."
She helped him walk towards the parking lot feeling the stares of the other guests stabbing her, hearing their whispers and speculations. Steve was right, though, it was all fake, all bullshit. Dustin and her seated the drunk people in the back. Steve kept muttering the word bullshit with his eyes closed, more asleep than awake, while Robin sobbed begging for Y/N to not leave and forgive Steve.
"I'm so glad one of us has a license," Dustin claimed.
"I don't have a license," Y/N answered turning the engine on.
"You what? Why does Steve let you drive his car?"
"I told him I know how to drive a car, I didn't tell him I had a license."
"He's going to be so pissed."
"What makes you think I care about that, Dustin?"
"Good point. Shit, where did you learn how to drive?"
"My mom taught me. Sometimes we had to move driving for several days and it was faster if we took turns."
"Steve tried to teach me. I crashed his car. Since then I'm not allowed to touch the steering wheel until I have a license, but I'm too busy to get one and public transportation is more efficient where I live now."
"Makes sense."
They dropped Robin off at her house. She was soberer now, and before getting out of the car she asked Y/N to not leave and give her a call in the morning. She just smiled at the other woman.
Stopping the car in Dustin's entryway after following his directions, Y/N expected the young man to get out, but he started scribbling on a piece of paper he took out of the glove compartment. He gave the paper to her.
"This is my number and address. I'm going to do a doctorate in physics, so I'm still going to be there studying. Please call me or send me a letter, will you? We can talk about the X-Files!"
"Dustin…"
"You're cool, Y/N, and I want to be your friend. Don't pay too much attention to Steve's words tonight. Steve's not the kind of guy to hurts people, really. I'm certain that he was trying to hurt himself more than anything else. Look, he'd been talking about you for three years. About your beautiful eyes. About how you antagonize him. About how stupid he felt when he wasn't able to perform just like you explained him to. He likes you very much. I'm sure he will apologize in the morning and I know that tonight was–"
"Humiliating?" She supplied his lack of words.
"Yeah… Humiliating. But I assure you that he would do a great gesture tomorrow night to redeem himself. Really."
"Dustin… Do you really think I can just show up tomorrow? After everyone knew that my relationship with Steve is fake and that we're not even friends? Yeah, no way."
"Okay. Okay, that's fair. I– just give him a chance to explain himself. I'm not saying you should forgive him and accept it but just listen to him. I think something is happening inside his head and he– he needs time and a chance."
"Alright."
"You're not leaving then?"
"Oh, no. I'm leaving. If he needs time to figure out whatever is going on, I think he would also need space. And, in full honestly, man, I don't want to see his face right now. So– I'll go home. I'll listen to his excuse and then I'll see. Because, right now, what I want to do is punch him."
"He has a very punchable face." Dustin hugged her and went out of the car, but his head stuck inside before closing the door. "I'm happy we got to know each other, Y/N. Whatever the situation with Steve ends up being, call me and write me. We are now friends and I'm not going to let you ghost me, understood?"
She smiled, honestly for the first time since Steve's outburst, and nodded.
Maggie Harrington was deep asleep when she showed up with Steve leaning on her, too dizzy to walk straight. She took care of him helping him to get into his bed, taking his shoes and jacket off, she made him take ibuprofen with a huge glass of water.
"Leave," Steve muttered.
"I'm leaving, Steve."
"It's all fake. All fake."
"I know, Steve. I know… I'm putting this can here; use it if you want to throw up."
"Leave."
With the door to her room closed, she saw her reflection in the mirror that was on top of a small dresser. The same mirror that showed her a very powerful woman a few hours ago, was now showing her a laughing stock.
To be continued…
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Nancy’s Wedding | Steve Harrington x Reader (ch.4)
Series Masterlist
Chapter Three – Chapter Five.
Pairings: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader.
Word count: 4342
Nancy's Wedding | Chapter Four.
Although their drive was meant to be about less than four hours, they got stuck in traffic for about twenty minutes before they could finally get out of Chicago and they stopped at a gas station in Indianapolis because Robin really, really, really needed to pee. After that little stop, Y/N and Robin changed seats; it just made sense, Robin was going to be dropped off at her house before Steve and Y/N resumed their drive to his. That's why Robin got out of the backseat when they were in front of her house; Steve helped her with the suitcase and waited in the car until his friend got inside her house.
"Was that Robin's mom?" Y/N asked about the woman that had opened the door.
"Yup. She didn't know about Robin yet."
"My lips are sealed."
Hawkins wasn't so bad. The number of trees was overwhelming but she loved it. Even if she had drawn Steve's house, she wasn't expecting it to be so big and so alienated from any neighbor. They even had a pool!
"You didn't tell me you were rich, Harrington!"
"That's because I'm not. My parents are."
"Am I going to meet my in-laws?"
Rolling his eyes, he locked the door with all their luggage already out. "I called beforehand to ask if they were going to be here. My dad has a business convention in Idaho, I think. They won't be here."
"Did you tell them you were coming?"
"Of course not, I'm not an idiot. If I had told them that– Mom?"
With his keys still in hand, blocking the entryway, Steve was facing his mother. She had her hair loose for the first time since he could remember, and she somehow looked happier all of a sudden. She opened her arms and hugged him like a mama bear.
"Oh, my baby! Why didn't you tell me you were coming? I'm so glad I found Mrs. Wheeler at the grocery store… She told me you were coming down for Nancy's wedding with Jonathan. And with a girlfriend! I told your father I wouldn't accompany him this time. I'm sure he's enjoying his freedom very much. Come on in, come on in. Don't let your girl wait outside. Hi, sweetheart, I'm Steve's mom; please call me Maggie. No Mrs. Harrington between us. Oh, look at you! I thought you were going to look more like Nancy…"
"Mom–"
"I'm not saying I don't like the change. You are gorgeous, honey. Come on in. This is your house now too. How was the trip? Do you want to see your room? I didn't know if you two lovebirds had planned to sleep in the same room or not, so I arranged a guest room just in case."
She had stopped taking her pills; that, and the freedom of having the house by herself for the first time in God knows how many years, had Maggie Harrington in such a good mood. He had learned about his mother's depression when she was already recovering, with therapy in Indianapolis two days a week and some pills. Today she seemed euphoric and kind of nervous, she was trying to make a good impression and Steve could tell.
"I'm sorry to intrude. I thought Steve had told you we were coming."
"No, honey, no intrusion. Let me show you around while he gets your luggage upstairs. I'm dying to show you all the photos of Steve as a baby."
"I'm dying to see them, Maggie." She shot a mischievous grin at Steve.
"No embarrassing photos! Mom! MOM!"
With the idea of hiding all the photo albums he could find, Steve got upstairs with his backpack hanging on one shoulder, her duffle bag on the other, and a small suitcase in each hand. His mother had prepared the room right in front of him for Y/N's use, so he put her luggage there, by the end of the bed. His bedroom hadn't changed since he moved out, although it didn't have much personality to begin with, just like his bedroom in Chicago. At least this one had small car pictures framed on the wall, a reminiscence from his childhood. After unpacking, he looked through the window. The views hadn't changed much, the trees in the forest might've gotten bigger, and now Y/N was standing by the pool, alone. Barbara's face flashed in his mind; his body moved before he noticed. He ran downstairs, making a beeline to the backyard door, only stopping when he was finally next to her.
Her eyes were lost in the pool, her mind was absent and although she had registered his presence, she didn't talk for a few minutes. Steve was kind of freaked out, trying to recover his breath.
"You know, this looks more and more like an X-Files situation. Like… Shit, you're going to think I'm insane, but, I feel like I've been here. It's like I remember it. It might've been a dream for sure, a nightmare because– because in my memory this place is exactly the same, but darker. The pool is empty, plant roots or vines cling to its sides, alive. There's a permanent storm with red lighting. There's a growling sound that vibrates out of the woods. It's… it's spooky, isn't it?" Her eyes finally found him. She was back for whatever memory she was recalling and the moment she finished her sentence her tone found life again.
"That would be an amazing zombie scenario," he tried to sound casual.
"I know, right? Your mom seems nice."
"That surprised me as much as you. Come on in, let's eat something and have some rest."
*
At five in the afternoon, Y/N took a glance at her reflection one last time. For the rehearsal dinner and the official 'meeting Steve's friends' situation, Y/N had decided on a velvet deep-green colored dress that had long sleeves but the back basically naked, long to her feet with an opening on one of her legs. She'd been reluctant to buy such a dress, but Denny had claimed with much fervor that she looked amazing. It fitted her body too tightly, although the fabric wasn't oppressive and mostly felt like a second skin; very comfortable. As for the shoes, she wore the most comfortable sandals on earth; they were black sandals with a platform that went up slightly on the heel, thin stripes, and looked so fancy with the dress that made her feel powerful. She fixed her own hair like one of the latest actresses she'd seen on a red carpet, with shiny clips that looked like little pearls on her hair.
The moment she descended the stairs, she forced herself into hiding the smile that was fighting for occupying her face at the sight of Steve, in a suit, getting his tie fixed by his mother and looking like a child. She was about to arrive next to him when he finally looked at her, his mouth hung open.
"Oh, Stevie, close your mouth, sweetheart. And you, you Y/N look like a princess. Doesn't she look amazing?" Mrs. Harrington pushed them together at the bottom of the stair, produced a camera from somewhere, and took several shots without much of a warning.
"Cat got your tongue, Harrington? At least you could compliment your girlfriend, don't you think?" She muttered as they made their escape through the door.
"Like you don't already know you look stunning. Seriously, what's wrong with you?"
"Are you ashamed of my outfit?"
"That's not– Shit, they're going to take a look at you and see you are the fuck out of my league!"
"Don't be stupid. You wanted a girlfriend that seemed the kind of person you would fall in love with and introduce to your family and friends, and let me remind you that just yesterday you asked me if I had proper clothing items for this shit. Let me warn you, though, I might need your jacket by the end of the night."
"I can get inside again and–"
"I did it on purpose, Steve. It's romantic! Come on in, I don't want to be late."
The rehearsal dinner was taking place at the new hotel in Hawkins, The Royale. The building was just by the main road and its wedding hall was so big and beautiful, so tastefully decorated that Mrs. Wheeler felt the urge to rent the place for both the rehearsal dinner and the actual dinner after the wedding. On their way there, they stopped to pick Robin up. They complimented each other on their looks. As they got out of the car in The Royale's parking lot, Robin gasped dramatically.
"What the fuck happened to your dress?"
Y/N took a look at her body and shrugged, "Nothing?"
"It's the other way around, isn't it? Like, where did the fabric on your back go?"
"Don't you like it? I like it." To prove her point, Y/N made a turn to show better her outfit, even pulling from the fabric to show the cut on her leg.
"Y/N," Robin took a serious tone, closing the distance between them, "are you sure you're straight? Because let me tell you, if you have doubts– If at any moment you have doubts, please call me. I'll help you. I'll– Ouch! Dingus, that hurt! Be careful with my hair!"
"Don't be a vulture, go find Vickie and leave my girlfriend alone."
"As much as I like Vickie, she could never pull off a dress like that."
"Leave."
Robin sprinted towards the door. Y/N linked her arm with Steve's and smiled sweetly at him.
"Robin liked the dress."
"Robin liked it too much."
"Are you jealous, Stevie?"
"No." He didn't sound convincing running a hand through his hair.
"Whatever. It's showtime, pretty boy. Are you ready?"
Instead of going inside, he stopped and looked at her eyes. "You look amazing. The dress is very pretty."
"And my hair?"
"Looks amazing."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah…"
Something was happening. Something between them was buzzing, ready to strike if it just had a few more seconds. Steve's eyes were diving into hers carelessly. The door burst open, breaking their moment, just like that.
"Steve!"
"Henderson!"
Steve and the intruder hugged each other with little jumps before doing a very dramatic handshake with a lot of gestures. It was the nerdiest and most childish thing she'd seen Steve Harrington doing; she considered to hid her smile, but decided otherwise, smiling as wide as she could with a mischievous light in her eyes.
"Robin got inside and you didn't and I was like what. Oh my God, man, you look amazing! Old, but amazing."
"Yeah… Yeah… Great hair, dude. What do you use?"
"Uh, the new product for curly hair I told you about. Smells incredible too. Smell me."
"It smells amazing!"
"I told you."
"You're not wearing the brackets anymore!"
"Surprise!! I thought about telling you, I took a lot of work for these pearls to get into their proper position, you know, but then I thought it would be better to show it to you. What do you think?"
"Awesome, man. Great smile!"
"Thanks, buddy." He did then a bubbling sound with his mouth that sounded half like a growl and half like gargles.
"Don't do that."
The intruder finally looked at Y/N, still with a big smile on his face that made his shiny eyes smaller. That man smiled with his whole soul. She approached with a hand extended.
"You must be Dustin. I've heard a lot about you. I'm Y/N L/N."
Shaking her hand he looked at Steve with amazement before refocusing on her, "Holly shit!! Really? You're Y/N? I've heard a lot about you too! Man, I didn't know you actually got the girl. Good job!"
"Shut up." He covered Dustin's mouth with his hand and pushed him, causing him to walk backwards through the door. "Don't listen to him, he's already high or drunk. He's not making any sense."
"Did he talk good or bad about me?" She ignored him. Dustin gave her a thumbs up and a wink. "Oh, Stevie, you've been talking about me? Since when?"
"I have not. He's making it up. Shut it, Henderson, or I swear to God something very bad would happen to your hair."
Dustin gasped, "You wouldn't dare."
"Try me."
"Guys! Guys, look who's here!"
As he turned the topic and attention towards Steve's arrival, a bunch of people came to meet them. They hugged Steve or punched him in the arm. Robin had told her so many things about the group that she quickly named everyone on her mind. Max was clearly the blind redhead that walked with a limp; Lucas and Erica Sinclair were the siblings always arguing; Mike was the lanky man, taller than Steve, that looked like the only one who didn't really be there; Jane had her arm linked with Mike's with her big eyes paying attention to everything.
When the commotion calmed down a little, Dustin offered Y/N his arm for her to take and changed the focus from Steve to her.
"And this, guys, is Steve's girlfriend… Y/N."
"No way!"
"The same Y/N that the one in the bar?"
"Like that Y/N?"
"She's too good to be with Steve."
"Steve's good!"
"Sure, but not that good."
She didn't know what was more fun, knowing that Steve Harrington had been talking about her with his hometown friends, the fact that the man was blushing so hard he was about to combust, or the noisy discussion that was taking place just before her eyes.
A woman in a very beautiful dress in the best Audry Hepburn style came towards them. She looked a lot like Mike, with sharp edges and very skinny. Steve immediately smiled at her.
"Hey, Nance. Congratulations!"
"Thank you, Steve. I'm so glad you came," she hugged him as she spoke. "Is this your girlfriend? Robin had been talking to me about her since she arrived. You must be Y/N."
"Nancy Wheeler," she responded to the salutation, "is a pleasure to finally meet you. Congratulations, too. I'm dying to meet the groom."
"Oh, yes. Jonathan is with his brother and his mother getting some last details done. I'm hiding from my mom, mostly."
"You can't hide from her, she'll go insane," Mike complained.
"Why can you hide from her and I cannot, Michael?"
"Well, maybe because this whole getting married was your idea, not mine. I'm already suffering enough! She woke me up at the crack of dawn just to try out ties! Ties, Nancy!"
"It's not my fault!"
"I beg to differ."
"Good to see some things never change." An old man, bald and with a thick mustache, approached them and clasped a hand on Steve's shoulder giving him an affectionate squish. "Karen's looking for both of you. Go hide elsewhere."
"Chief," Steve stopped the man before he could leave, "can I have a word with you?"
"Sure, son. What do you need?"
"Um… Just– Hey, Y/N, do you mind hanging around with them for a couple of minutes? I promise they're good people… mostly."
"Go. I'll be fine."
"Yeah, we'll take care of her," Lucas guaranteed with such earnestness that Max elbowed him on the ribs.
"Don't get mad when she falls in love with me, Steve." Dustin, in a very gentlemanly fashion, accompanied Y/N to keep meeting people.
Steve just waited until he was alone with Hopper and walked him towards the bar where the bartenders were too busy preparing things to pay attention to them. It was weird to be on that side of the bar counter after three years of work at The Silver.
"What can I do for you, son?"
"Could you run a check-up for Y/N? Investigate a little."
"That's your girlfriend."
"I know. I know what it sounds like, but listen, I think she lived here for a while and I think she not only saw a demogorgon, she went to the Upside Down."
He explained between whispers about the drawings and the description she'd made of his pool from the Upside Down. He wasn't sure what was there to find, but it was worth the shot, nonetheless. Hopper wrote down the name and year to take a look at the old files, he wasn't in Hawkins in 1979 so he couldn't remember anything important for that time.
Mrs. Wheeler's voice calling everyone to their assigned seats made their conversation finish. Steve found Y/N already seated next to Dustin, who was talking about his Suzie. It was impressive that the kid was still dating her although her family was against the relationship.
"How went the things with Suzie's father?" Steve asked, giving Y/N a little touch on the back of the hand as an apology for leaving her alone.
"They're improving. Yes, the last time we met he threatened me with ending my life, but that was a good sign. Up until that moment he had just growled at me, refusing to acknowledge my existence. I think he's growing fond of me."
The rehearsal dinner went well. Their pretending didn't include much more touch than what they were comfortable with, and it was easy to answer the questions they threw at them. In the end, they just banter non-stop like children, always ending it with Steve running a hand through his hair in defeat or crossing his arms across his chest.
A boy with a very thick mustache and short hair was introduced as Will, Jonathan's little brother and best man for the wedding. The young man held a cup and pronounced a very interesting speech in which he thanked his brother for always being there for him, always supporting him, and always encouraging him to be his true self instead of hiding in conventionalism, he thanked his brother for being on his side when he finally found the words to come out to his mom and thanked Nancy for be the person Jonathan could rely on.
"Damn, that kid had grown a lot," Steve muttered.
"Feeling old, pretty boy?" She teased.
"Will Byers used to have a buzz cut, be all small and skinny… I'm not exaggerating if I tell you that the first time I spent any time with him he was as tall as my waist, and he was about eleven or twelve. These monsters had grown so much so fast but he… Jesus, he's all buff and big now. I can't grow a mustache like that!"
"Of course, you can't, you'll look like a pedo."
Mike, who was overhearing their conversation as the others, laughed so hard while he was trying to drink that the liquid came out of his nose. Y/N handed him a napkin with a smile that made him blush.
"Yeah, now that I think about it… You would look like a sexual predator with a mustache, Steve." Lucas nodded.
"And you find that out now?" Max snorted.
"I hope you're enjoying the lapidation I'm suffering." Steve seemed stern, but the light in his eyes showed joy.
"Very much, thank you."
The engaged couple opened with a little dance that Mrs. Wheeler insisted on making happen. Joyce Byers —Jonathan and Will's mother— was just enjoying how many states of emotion Karen Wheeler could cover without losing her mind. Hopper didn't lose time and asked her to dance with him the moment other couples started to join on the dance floor.
Robin found Steve and Y/N, she was wearing a gloomy aura around her. Apparently, she'd been excited about the wedding to meet Vickie again, a crush she had ages ago in high school, and that, also apparently, had gone to the wedding with her new boyfriend.
"I should've brought a date."
"Were you expecting something to happen with her?" Y/N asked her.
"No. Well– I don't know. Maybe?"
"Hum… Well, I'm here as Steve's girlfriend and I'm no Vickie, but if you want we could dance until you feel better."
"No. It's fine, you two go have fun."
Y/N shared a look with Steve, who nodded. Each of them took one of Robin's hands and dragged her to the dance floor where the three of them had their best moment just jumping to some old rock song. Robin laughed and forgot about Vickie.
When the first slow song hit the speakers, Dustin, in the most smooth fashion, offered Robin his hand asking for the dance like a British gentleman from the regency era. Robin did a little bow just for fun and went with him. Steve asked Y/N if she was up to the challenge just with an arch of his eyebrow, she pursed her lips to avoid smiling and put her hand on his shoulder. He put his hand on her lower back, his skin suddenly burning with the touch of her skin; damn dress. Option number four of slow dancing took place at that moment. If it felt perfect at Steve's living room apartment, it felt fucking magical on a dance floor full of people.
With the event finished, the gang gathered at the exit in small groups talking about different things and plans for the next day. Steve saw the way Y/N's skin broke into goosebumps the moment the cool April air touched her; he took off the jacket of his suit and placed it on her shoulders.
"Such a gentleman," she smiled.
"Steve!" As someone called his name, both of them turned around to see Jonathan walking fast toward them. Without prior notice, Jonathan hugged Steve awkwardly but with affection. He smelled of a bit too much alcohol and his face was all flushed. Nancy, was right behind him, with Will and his boyfriend. "Tonight was a total– a total something, dude. Like there was no time to stop and say hi to people, you know? Dude, and you know, Argyle's plane got delayed. He wouldn't be here tonight. Obviously. I– I want to thank you for coming here, man. Means a lot to us. Really. I know we didn't understand each other pretty well when we were young and that, but– but after the– after the thing you've always been there for the kids, you know? Even for my brother! Like, it's my brother, right? And I thought that you would– you would hate him or something, but no, and you treated him so well always… Dude, you're cool. Cool. Cool. I never got to thank you for the camera that Christmas. I know you felt bad because you broke the other one I had, and– and let's be real here, what I did was way out of line, and if– if I found someone had done that I would do the same thing at least, you know? You– Steve Harrington, dude."
"I'm so sorry. My mom's being kind of a nightmare to both of us and he had too much to drink."
"It's fine, Nance. Go home, Jonathan, you need to sleep."
"Yeah! Sure! Oh, but first, you–" he pointed to Y/N with his index, not very steady on his feet. "You better take care of him, get it? He's Steve. Steve's family. We– We don't hurt Steve anymore. Steve's cool. Don't hurt Steve."
"Noted."
Alone again, Steve sighed leading the way towards his car.
"We work surrounded by drunk people. How is it that it still hits differently when it's someone we know?" Steve was definitely curious. "I mean, he's not like that at all. And I've seen him high as a plane, but drunk is a totally different feeling."
"Was it weird for you not to drink tonight?"
"Not really. I'm more used to pouring drinks than actually drinking them."
"I'm not much of a fan of alcohol, it makes me sleepy. If you want to drink tomorrow just let me know, I know how to drive."
"I'll think about it."
The silence inside the car was comfortable and nice. Recalling the night, Y/N was glad she accepted Robin's stupid plan of pretending to be Steve's girlfriend.
Oh…
Oh, there it is.
It was all pretending, wasn't it? She forgot about it. She forgot it was a lie and really felt like she was dating Steve, being introduced with affection to his friends, befriending Robin… She liked Dustin, he seemed very sweet, and they kind of clicked, what would he think when Steve told him that they broke up (a fake one, of course, just as fake as their relationship)? Oh the other hand, Steve had been talking about her with them for some time now, not like his girlfriend but like herself. Was it possible that Steve had feelings for her as she had feelings for him?
"Thank you for tonight," Steve talked after dropping Robin off at her house. "With Robin and the others, with me. It meant a lot, thank you."
"Well, you're going to clean the washrooms at The Silver for a whole year, aren't you?"
Steve sighed as he looked at her for a moment, not wanting to lose focus on the road. "Would you have done it without that incentive?"
"Pretending to be your girlfriend? No. Pretending is much work."
"And if I had just asked you to come with me, no pretending involve?"
"But you didn't, did you?"
"Would have you said yes?"
Y/N stared at him, his face barely illuminated by the lights of his own car from outside. She enjoyed that her silence was making him more and more anxious. "I would have said yes, Steve, if you had asked without the pretending bit."
He glanced at her, probably to see if she was playing with him or being serious. He saw something there that made him nod.
"I like Dustin. He seems nice."
"Dustin Henderson is amazing."
Just like that, she changed the topic and he accepted the change.
To be continued…
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Nancy’s Wedding | Steve Harrington x Reader (ch.6)
Series Masterlist
Chapter Five – Chapter Seven.
Pairings: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader.
Word count: 4522
Nancy's Wedding | Chapter Six.
The room was dark, darker than it had ever been. The television was the only source of light; it was showing a reporter right in Steve's backyard, next to the pool. The woman started talking.
"On the last weekend of April, a Saturday 30th, the body of a young woman was found next to this pool. Y/N L/N was only twenty-four years old when a monster from the Upside Down came crawling from the woods I have on my back. The demogorgon sought revenge, still thirsty for the blood of the victim he once lost. Here, in Steve Harrington's house, the police had found the remains of her body, next to the remains of Eddie Munson, who went missing in March 1986, and Barbara Holland, missing in November 1983 and marked as dead in 1984.
"But what's the link between the victims and Steve Harrington? They died because of him. It was his fault.
"If he had made sure Barbara went home safely that night, she would still be alive. If he had proved to Eddie that he wasn't a coward, Eddie would've never felt the urge to become a hero and die. If he had looked for a job somewhere else he wouldn't have met Y/N, he wouldn't have asked her to the wedding and she would've never had to face her trauma in the same place her dad died.
"Also, the humiliation that Steve made her suffer while copying Nancy's drunk speech of the Halloween night they broke up. Yes, it's his fault, there's no doubt about that, and–"
"Jesus Christ, Steve, cut the pity party, it's pathetic." Eddie Munson turned the TV off and suddenly the room had more light. "You know none of that it's true, big boy." Eddie took a seat in front of him.
"It's my fault. I'm bad. I–"
"Dude, when you made me the voice of your positive conscience I thought you had issues, but, man, this is something else. Come on, dude, you can't beat yourself up like that!
"Yes, you are going to give her the bad news, but you're also going to give her her past, her truth.
"What you did with the bullshit speech was fucked up, and you have to apologize, but you already knew that. You can't just push aside the people you care and love, dude, that's the real bullshit."
"Eddie–"
"Now is time to wake up!"
"Eddie, listen–"
"Rise and shine, big boy!"
With a groan, Steve opened his eyes, finding himself, all dressed up, in his bed. His head was pulsing with a headache, his mouth dried and cottonlike. He felt nauseous and the memories of last night rushed into his mind like loud music. God, he was so fucked up!
Stumbling to his feet, uncoordinated and still dizzy, Steve ran to the room Y/N had been occupying just to find it empty and clean like she was never there. He went downstairs calling for her only to find his mother in the kitchen, sipping her coffee with a sad expression.
"Now you're looking for her?"
"Mom–"
"I drove her to the bus station half an hour ago. She told me what happened. Steve, I thought–"
"I fucked up. I fucked up and I know it, alright? I know it." He sat by the kitchen table messing his hair with his hands, feeling completely lost. "I– I liked her since the beginning, but she didn't seem interested in making friends, you know? She was always suspicious of people. Then– Shit, then Robin suggested I ask her to go with me to Nancy's wedding like asking for a favor and it worked because we got to know each other, and I– I fell hard for her. Mom, I've never fallen harder… We spent six weeks talking and getting to know each other better and better and I thought she liked me and then– then everyone was so happy about us, they were so happy for me and it was all a lie. And I found out what had happened to her dad and I have to tell her and she's going to hate me and she'll–"
"Take a deep breath, son."
"Mom," he was now sobbing, "I just wanted to make her hate me, because then when I told her, her feelings for me wouldn't change because she would still hate me."
"That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard, Steve. Especially since she doesn't hate you. She's upset and angry, but she still loves you; she still cares for you. I can tell."
"I'm such an asshole!! I'm just like dad, a grade A asshole."
"Don't say that about yourself. That's not true. You're nothing like that man. You know you fucked up, and you're going to fix it."
"I should call her. What time is it? It would take less than four hours to go to Chicago by bus, right? I need to call her. I–"
"I think it's better if you talk face to face, Steve. I also think that she needs time to digest what has happened. You do too."
*
With a sigh, she decided it was time to get out of bed. She'd been all night trying to sleep and getting very little rest; to be honest, she was thinking over and over about calling Spencer and Dewey and telling them she wasn't going to go to work.
It was Monday, May the 2nd. Robin and Steve were supposed to be in Chicago at noon so they could rest for a few hours before starting their shift on The Silver at five in the afternoon. She got to Chicago on Sunday morning and cried her heart out in her own bed remembering how for the last few weeks she deceived herself into thinking she was having friends, that Steve with all his blushing and flirting might've been interested in her. She had been so hurt and low on the spirit that she showed up at work that night; she talked to Spencer and Dewey not getting into details and without throwing Steve under the bus because the last thing she wanted was for Steve to lose his job.
She was a grown-ass woman, she could suck it up, put a smile on her lips and do her job; she could always cry later, at home.
Therefore, she finally went out of bed when the light through her window was shining brightly. She found Denny eating cereal on the sofa while watching cartoons, and they greeted each other with a grunting sound. She glanced murderously at the phone and resumed her walk to the bathroom. The fact that Steve hadn't called was revealing; he wasn't that sorry about his drunk speech and he was very glad she had left on Sunday. At least that was what she understood after he went radio silent on her.
Even her reflection seemed to be scolding her for trusting them. Her mother always told her people must not be trusted, and she was right.
That morning she did her laundry, went to Denny's record store, and returned to the apartment by lunchtime. She wasn't in the mood to eat anything and she was still tired thanks to her sleepless night, so she took a quick nap getting up with the time to get her clean uniform on and run down the stairs of the building.
If only she hadn't run…
As she ran down the stairs of the building she lost her balance, one of her feet didn't land properly on the next step and her body fell. She tried to hold herself somewhere with her hands only to get hurt. She fell and rolled until she got stopped by the wall. She was unconscious, bleeding from the hit she got on the back of her head.
She wasn't unconscious for a lot of time, maybe a minute or two if she had to guess. She woke up with a jump, her heart drumming in her chest, her head pulsing. A few bumps here and there, maybe some bruises. Her right wrist hurt like hell, but not as much as if it was broken which was a good sign. When she got up she felt all fuzzy and unsteady on her feet, that's when she felt the blood drenching her hair and dyeing the white shirt of her uniform. She started to feel like when the elevator at The Shining just opened up before her.
On one hand, she knew she should call an ambulance. On the other hand, she probably had a concussion that prevented her from thinking straight. So, yeah, she went into the subway holding a handkerchief against the wound on her head. She went down to the County General Hospital stop, they were pretty close to the stairs.
That was a challenge. Going down those stairs took her way too long. Her limbs weren't moving as she wanted to, her head was all fuzzy and she was seeing double and blurred. Not great signs, to be honest. Cursing and blaming all the gods on the universe, Y/N regretted not having called The Silver to tell them she wasn't going to work. What now?
Once she was finally on the ground, she walked stubbornly to the ER entrance. Just by the spot the ambulances stopped, Doctor Ross was playing basketball with a young doctor. The moment Ross saw Y/N, limping, moving wobbly, and with the collar of her white shirt covered in blood, he ran towards her.
"Hey– Hey, Y/N. What the hell happened? Carter, go get a chair!"
"I– I fell… from the stairs."
"Were you unconscious?"
"Yeah, I think so." It was difficult for her to keep up with the conversation.
Ross was helping her walk carefully towards the door as they talked until Carter came back with a chair where they sat her and drove her to an examination room. They helped her get into bed, Carter took an IV in her left hand as Ross listened to her lungs and heartbeat.
"And how long were you unconscious? Can you tell?"
"One or two minutes, I think…"
"Let me see the cut on your head." Both men looked at it and Carter hissed in sympathy.
"We need to run some tests and see how your brain is doing. This is John Carter, the one I told you about–"
"The cute med student?" She interrupted him.
"Precisely. Carter's going to suture your cuts and give you fluids and he is also going to be sure you don't have more injuries. Are you feeling alright?"
"A bit nauseous."
"If you feel like you're going to throw up on him, call me first, I want to watch."
"Kinky," she mocked.
Ross gave her one of her smiles and took a look at her eyes with a flashlight the size of a pen. He took Carter to one side, giving him instructions as a nurse known as Haleh was already connecting a bag of saline to her IV.
She might've lost consciousness again, or maybe she just went absent. The point is that when she was present again, Carter was suturing the back of her head very carefully.
"Do I look like a freak," she asked with interest.
"A freak?"
"I guess you shaved part of my head to do the thingy you're doing."
"Just a bit. The thingy I'm doing isn't too big; don't worry, it won't stand out."
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it. So, may I ask you a question?"
"I guess."
"Why did you come here by yourself?"
"I– I don't really know. I was expecting you to ask about what Doctor Ross and Doctor Greene told me about you."
"Mark too?" He sounded surprised. "I mean… Um… No, it's fine."
"They said good things."
"Yeah?"
"Uh-huh. They said that you have potential and soul, you'd be a terrific ER doctor."
"But I want to be a surgeon."
"Oh, yeah, they know. Why do you want to be a surgeon? Is it because it's the most difficult specialty and you want to show off or prove your point to someone?"
"Wow. You nailed it! Are you a psychic or something?"
"Bartender. We have a sixth sense."
There was a rush outside the examination room, some emergency. Carter and Y/N looked up to see the commotion through the windows. When Carter resumed his sutures he was a little down.
"For Heaven's sake! You med students are really junkies aren't you?"
"What do you mean?"
"That you obviously want to have difficult and interesting cases to work on, and not a girl who fell down the stairs and would most probably throw up on you."
"Luckily for me, you're facing the other way now. And… there you go, all closed up. Come back in ten days to remove them. Now, to the wrist…"
"It can wait. You can go see if they need you over there. They seem busy."
"Ross would kill me if…"
"Go, Carter. Tell him I made you leave."
"I'll be right back. Promise."
"Have fun!"
And for some reason, John Carter blushed.
She waited in the examination room for ten minutes next to an unconscious man who was recovering from something. When she threw up she was glad Carted hadn't seen her. He was just as cute as the doctors had said, with his fluffy hair, his brown eyes, his sweet smile…
Doctor Greene entered the room making a beeline toward her.
"I saw your name on the board and I thought it was a mistake. What happened?" Greene asked her, very concerned.
As she explained it to him and answered his medical questions, he checked her up and started to wrap her right wrist. It was just a sprain. When Carter came back, he balanced awkwardly behind him making excuses about why he was absent, but Y/N cut him soon making it all her fault.
"Mr. Carter would take you to the x-rays, and once everything is clear you can go home."
"I can't go home. I have work."
"You have a concussion and–" Greene started to scold her.
"You don't understand. There's this whole situation with Steve and if I don't go to work they might think I'm a coward. And I'm not."
She explained the whole situation and Greene listened, shaking his head in disapproval.
"Going to work is not a good idea."
"I'll show up and if I feel bad I'll go home. At least they would see I'm a motherfu–"
"I'll go look for Dough. Take her for x-rays."
Carter did as he was told and he waited with her. That's when they started talking because the rays' technicians were very slow. Carter shared stories about his past and how he had resorted to fake dating just as a pretext to actually date the girl she liked.
Apparently, they shared some taste in music and both of them were obsessed with the X-Files too. He was a year younger than her and his family was loaded which meant that for them, the fact that he was becoming a doctor was more a black spot than something to be proud of. He didn't even know why he was telling her things he had never told anybody, but there he was.
Once she was back in the examination room, Ross, Greene, and Carter looked at her x-rays and the other tests and understood that she wasn't in imminent danger of dying. They weren't too happy with her decision to go to work, much less when she explained that she was going to take the subway.
"Are you still nauseous?"
"A bit; not too much."
"Are you dizzy?"
"I wouldn't say dizzy per se."
"Are you a stubborn child able to lie to us in our faces just to prove her point?"
"You got me there, Doctor Ross."
"The moment you feel bad you call an ambulance, you hear me? No more taking the train while bleeding. And– Carter, your shift is over, isn't it?"
"As long as Doctor Benton is here, I have to be here."
"Good, because he left twenty minutes ago. You're going to drive Y/N to The Silver, explain what happened to her boss and make fucking sure they understand that at the moment she looks off, they're calling an ambulance."
"Come on, Doctor Ross! He's not a babysitter!"
"He's doing it or he's going to spend his next shift doing rectals," Greene announced.
"That's abusive."
It didn't matter that she fought for Carter's freedom, the doctors were as stubborn as she was and Carter didn't seem against the idea. Therefore, she waited for him to change and then followed him to her Jeep.
"Jesus, you weren't lying when you said you had money, Carter."
"You can put whatever you want on the radio," he kindly offered.
"I don't want much noise right now."
"Should I remind you that the best option for you would be to go home?"
"Is that a sly way to ask where I live? Creepy."
"I wasn't intending anything!"
"Ross says otherwise."
"Oh, so he's been talking like that about me too."
"Are you really surprised?"
Instead of going inside The Silver through the personnel entry, Y/N and John Carter used the main entrance. It was almost nine already and the place was full. Spencer was covering her place on the bar and when he saw her, a glass slipped through her fingers. Steve was right next to him going to the end of the bar she was closer to.
"Sorry I'm late, I had an issue."
"Is that blood? Are you alright?" Spencer went out of the bar to check on her. She smiled at him, ignoring Steve as much as she could.
"Doctor Ross made me bring the med student with me as a babysitter so he can explain."
Carter did just that, insisting that she should be recovering at home. Spencer started to agree with him, but Y/N's eyes were fiercely staring at him.
"Fine! Stay! Work! The moment you feel off I drive you home myself. And I'm giving you a week off too, are you listening to me?"
"Yes, Mrs. Spencer."
"Not funny. Thank you, for bringing her safe and sound and I'm sorry for the trouble," he told Carter.
"It's not a big deal. Um… I'll be going then." As he turned towards the door, he went back to her, giving her a business card with his personal phone number. "I'm off until tomorrow at ten in the evening. Call me at any time if something happens, alright? Don't hesitate, just call."
"That's very kind of you, Carter."
"Take care. Seriously, take care or Mark and Ross are going to kill me."
He gave her just the look Ross had described. With his head a little lower, he looked up at her through his eyelashes with half a smile. All coy and shy in a very orchestrated way. The glance that he gave Steve with the wink he gifted her was enough for her to know that he was being extra flirty on purpose. She smiled at him and waved him goodbye.
She reassured Spencer on her way to the locker room to change her bloody shirt for a clean one. As she was finishing, Robin burst in, caging her into a bear hug.
"Thank God! Spencer said you fell down the stairs, are you alright?"
"I would be."
"You shouldn't be working!!" She scolded.
"Steve's alone at the bar right now, I have to give a hand."
"Wait, Y/N, I–"
"I don't want to talk about it right now, Robin, I have a concussion."
The shift went smoothly. The clients weren't too chatty on Mondays, Steve and Y/N went back to their 'too busy to talk' state pre-fake dating, and she felt almost fine for the first few hours. As closing time was getting closer, her dizziness, her headache, and her nausea came back hitting her stronger. She just wanted a dark and quiet place to sleep.
In their absence, Dewey had convinced Spencer on closing sooner, therefore it was five in the morning when all the remaining clients were kindly walked out of the club. By six, the club was all clean and the official shift was over, so Y/N went straight to the locker room to pick up her ruined shirt and her bag. She was just getting out when Robin entered, staring shockingly at her the moment she saw she was ready to leave.
"Don't leave yet. We'll drive you home."
"There's no need."
"Y/N–"
"Bye, Buckley."
May's morning air wasn't still warm, although it most certainly wasn't cold. The breeze helped her nausea to restrain itself. She took a moment by the employees' door to get used to the new light and air before walking towards the metro stop. The stairs were closer and closer. The first step and–
"Y/N!!!"
Steve was there, behind her, gasping for air with his hair a mess, his backpack open and he had put on his sweatshirt the wrong way.
That was something she wasn't expecting.
"Hi, Steve. How was the wedding?"
And that was the only thing that came to her mind at that very moment. She really wasn't in the mood right now for more bullshit. Ha! Bullshit.
"Awfully long. I– I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things and–"
"That's my train. Bye, Harrington," she ignored him, getting up the stairs as she made the turnstile move with her token.
Steve followed her, going through the turnstile as well, but not allowing her to get inside the train. He seemed desperate and she had a concussion, which was more an excuse than anything else to stop and listen to him now that the train had gone with the people that were at the platform, now empty.
"What do you want, Steve?"
"I want to apologize. I–"
"You could've called. All Sunday, not a call. Monday? Nope. What do you really want? Apologize for what? You humiliated me, and that fucking hurt because there was no need to do so. I already know that we're not friends, that you don't want anything to do with me, there's really no need to just emphasize that!"
Steve groaned, "That's exactly what I'm talking about!! I didn't call because I thought it was better to talk about this face to face!"
"And didn't you get to the conclusion that calling me to tell me you wanted to fucking apologize would have, at least, smooth the fucking mood for you, you asshole! And stop screaming, my head hurts!!"
"You're screaming too," Steve supplied with a concerned look and lower voice.
She closed her eyes for a moment, massaging the point between her eyebrows. Steve took advantage of the situation, he approached her and started talking to her in a low tone.
"This wasn't fake. This isn't fake. I like you, a lot. You said so yourself, more times than not I'm incredibly awkward flirting, and with you, it was like being a fly crashing over and over against a window. It didn't matter how hard or often I tried, you just weren't catching anything, and when the wedding invitation came in Robin suggested the stupid plan. She'd seen too many rom-coms, I can't really blame her."
"You don't know me, Steve."
"I know that you have a yellow umbrella that you love just because it's yellow and it stands out when you use it on rainy days. I know that although you're an adult, you still drink Nestquik from time to time. I know that although you haven't noticed, you have some predilection towards the many shades of the color green. I know that you've read Persuasion ten times. I know that you scrunch your nose when you see something you don't like, but you don't make it obvious because you don't want to be impolite. I know that your most honest smiles are the ones in which you bite your lips or the inner part of your cheeks to avoid smiling.
"I– I know that you have nightmares. I know that you were born in Hawkins. I know that your father worked for a lab that belonged to the government. I know that in that lab they were experimenting with children with abilities and one of them opened a door to another world."
"Steve, what are you–"
"I know– I know that the flower-face monster took you and your father, dragging you to the Upside Down. Remember when you said you remembered my pool but empty and with something that looked like roots but that was alive? Yeah, that's the Upside Down. You were there for three months, hunted by the monsters that live there. I know that your father died there, and I know the trauma was so strong on you that you cannot remember it properly, but you still have nightmares."
She had no idea what to say because as he was talking the pain in her head increased, and pictures and scenes flashed in her mind. Steve took a thick file from his backpack and gave it to her; it had a big stamp of TOP SECRET on the lapel.
"I know what this is going to do with your sanity and I– I just don't want to hurt you in any way. I thought that if you hated me it would be easy for me to give you this because you are going to hate me after this. The truth is that I don't remember how was my life before you paid attention to me, before we were friends, and I don't want to remember it. Tonight was the longest night in my time working here. First, you were late, you weren't answering your phone and Spencer freaked out. I freaked out! And then you show up covered in blood, I– Then the silence for the whole shift, and you run away."
"I wasn't running away."
"Yes, you were. You don't have to forgive me. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do and if you want to call that Carter or whatever and date him, fine, sure, I get that I lost my chance by being a complete idiot because I could have just asked you out in March. What can I say? I'm stupid. Just– If you remember anything and it's too much if you want to talk about it, I want you to know that we had also gone through that. Robin, Dustin, Mike, Nancy, Jane, Hopper, me… We know what it is."
A new train stopped, "I want to go home now, Steve." Her face showed how much her head was hurting.
"I'll visit tomorrow," he promised as he walked her to the train but stayed on the platform.
"Steve–" she started to complain when the doors shut down.
Steve waved at her on the other side of the door. The train started moving and she could still see Steve standing there, on the platform.
To be continued…
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Nancy’s Wedding | Steve Harrington x Reader (ch.3)
Series Masterlist
Chapter Two – Chapter Four.
Pairings: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader.
Word count: 3657
Nancy's Wedding | Chapter Three.
"Ouch."
"Sorry."
"Ouch!!"
"I'm sorry! Look, this is a disaster."
Throwing her hands in the air in a dejection motion, Y/N built room between Steve and her.
They hadn't started the whole slow dance practice right away, no, they had enjoyed a couple of hours of chit-chat and Robin's monologue about the movies she had picked for the night, as well as all the typical songs that could need a slow dance. Every Breath You Take was marked down as a song Nancy and Jonathan would most definitely choose for their wedding, which led to a conversation about how creepy the song was. It was a stalker's song! Steve agreed and Robin finally admitted that yes, it was a stalker's song, but if the groom and the bride found it romantic then it was fucking romantic. End of discussion.
Moving the furniture out of their living space, they made room for dancing just in the middle. Robin took very seriously the role of coach, explaining the technicalities of slow dancing. Steve, on the other hand, talked to Y/N ignoring his friend; he explained that not all slow songs could be danced the same, they had to follow the rhythm.
Option number one of slow dancing: leave room for Jesus. At least that's what Robin called it. Both of Steve's hands were on her waist while her hands were on his shoulders, close to his neck. Their bodies weren't close and the movement was awkward. One step to the right. One step to the left. One step to the right. It was stupid and childish.
Option number two of slow dancing: fuck Jesus. In the same position as option number one, Steve closed the distance, their bodies touched and the movement became organic, fluid, and intimate. That also meant that Steve's feet were too close to Y/N's and she started to step on him, no matter how many times he tried to make her understand that for this kind of dance she didn't even have to lift her feet from the ground, just slide them from one side to the other.
Option number three of slow dancing: like in the movies. One of Steve's hands rested on Y/N's lower back, holding her hand with the other. Her free hand had to be resting on Steve's shoulder. This position allowed them to do turns using their linked hands, get separated, and then be reunited again. It was the kind of position that people showed in the movies and that always looked beautiful. As might've been expected, that also meant that Y/N crashed against Steve's chest and stepped on his feet with more strength.
"I'm the one being tortured. Come on, let's try again."
"No. No, this is ridiculous, Steve. I'm awful at this. We can always hide on the slow songs and Robin can tell your friends that we went out to make out or something."
"You're panicking…"
"I'm not!"
"... there's no need to panic. Come here, let's try option number four."
"Steve!"
"I think our food should be ready by now," Robin chimed in. They had phoned a Chinese restaurant down the street that did not deliver but that could have their food ready for them to pick up. "I'll go get it. Don't kill each other, kiddos."
Steve flipped her the bird as she was leaving. Facing Y/N again, he placed his hands on his own hips like a mother ready to scold her child.
"Alright, let's try option number four." Scratching his nose, Steve turned to the stereo system changing the mixtape. Time After Time started to play, "Now, relax. You're too tense to slow dance."
Option number four of slow dancing: like in the movies, but romantic. Their position was very similar to option number three although this time there was no room between their bodies. Steve's arm was around her back, his fingertips just pressing against her other side. Her arm was on his back, her hand resting on his shoulder from behind. Just like they were hugging. Their other hands were linked to one another, but this time, Steve held them both close to his chest, making them rest there. The movement was barely there, a rocking come and go of their bodies barely following any rhythm.
"Relax, Y/N."
She took a deep breath to do as she'd been told; Steve's smell was too strong all of the sudden, in a very good way. She looked up at him and he smiled at her with a nod, she was less tense now. Her feet were barely leaving the floor. It was… It was too much. She rested her forehead on Steve's shoulder, just next to her hand; as if it was a mechanic movement, Steve rested his cheek against her head.
"See? You're doing it great now," he whispered.
"Isn't this too embarrassing?"
It took him a moment to answer. She felt his intake of air and how his body practically melted as he breathed out. "I think it's perfect, actually."
How the fuck was she supposed to respond to that?
Her whole face and ears felt a rash of warmth. They danced using option number four with a few variants as they were growing comfortable with each other. When it finished, another one started; it could still be considered a slow song although it had a little more rhythm, and without giving her a chance to refuse, Steve changed from option number four to number three, made her do a turn, and speed the rocking movement to fit the rhythm. He also was singing under his breath, and that, with her more relaxed spirit, made her laugh and play along. She didn't step on him this time, she didn't even crash against his chest when he separated them just to pull her forcing her to roll until she had her back against his chest and both her arm and his around her body.
"Hey! That was smooth!"
Robin broke the magic.
"I think we already have the slow dance covered," Y/N stated.
"We might need to refresh the lesson before going, though."
"Steve's right! We still have two weekends before the wedding. Everything needs to be perfectly tied up. Now, let's put everything in place again, and let's eat. I'm starving!"
Said and done. They had their food while watching one of the so many tapes Robin had rented, although they weren't paying any attention, too absorbed in their conversation about nothingness. Just after dinner, Robin put Gremlins on the VHS and they argued about whether or not it was a Christmas movie. Thanks to that movie they found out that Y/N could draw.
"I'm not too good, but I like it. I'm awful at drawing people, I don't know why but all the proportions are always wrong and the eyes never look good. Animals, flowers, and monsters on the other side… I'm very pleased with the result. I'm still working on improving my shadows, they always look too rough."
"Did you take any lessons?" Robin seemed properly interested.
"Couldn't afford it. When I was little we moved a lot, I mostly drew in notebooks and such. Landscapes and things like that. Dreams, probably. I don't know. They're the only thing I keep with me from before The Silver."
"I want to see them. Can I see them?"
"They're in my apartment, but sure, why not?"
"Yes! We have a plan. Tomorrow, when we drive you home, you show us your drawings."
"See what she just did? I live with that since I was eighteen. Help me. Please."
To Steve's words, Robin threw him a napkin.
After Gremlins, they watched Jumpin' Jack Flash with Whoopi Goldberg. The part where her shiny blue dress gets trapped in the paper shredder had always been Y/N's favorite and she was glad to see that she wasn't the only one laughing at the scene, as Steve and Robin were also too absorbed with the movie that laughed and gasped with Whoopi's performance. Oh, boy, the part at the facial care store? Robin, who had never seen the movie before, twisted over herself, tears on her face, as she laughed so hard her abdomen and cheeks were hurting.
Time to go to sleep. Y/N changed in the bathroom into some pajamas. She didn't own much, to be honest, she found it a waste of space to own more clothes than you would ever wear, and for pajamas, she liked some clothes she could still use outside in she went short for laundry. That's why her pajamas consisted of gray soft-cotton sweatpants with cuffs on the ankles, kind of on the bigger side, and a navy blue sweatshirt with 'Chicago' written over the chest in white. When she got out, she found Steve already fixing the couch with blankets and pillows, he was wearing plaid green pajama pants and a well-worn t-shirt two sizes too big for him.
"I can take the couch, you know? There's no need for you to give up your bed."
"Seriously, when was the last time someone did something good for you and you didn't complain?"
"I'm not complaining."
"It sounded like a complaint."
"It wasn't."
"Then go lay on my bed."
A beat. "Oh, Harrington, you're going too fast, aren't you?"
Blushing, he positioned himself on her back and pushed her towards his bedroom until she was inside. "Shut it." Whit that he left closing the door.
Y/N touched her neck looking for her pulse, it had never been faster. She took a good look at the room, only illuminated by the small lamp on the bedside table. There wasn't much change from the other time she only took a glimpse of it. She knew she shouldn't, but her feet drove her to the desk where the most untidy spot in the place could be found. She didn't go through the papers, she wasn't going to intrude on someone else's privacy like that; she did look at the pages on top finding it was some sort of story.
—He knew he shouldn't have trusted Timmy and Charlotte to begin with, but he couldn't help it. Now that Nina had opened his eyes, he was very aware of the man he'd been until that moment and he didn't want to be like that anymore. The first thing he did, after he found his resolution, was to go to the movie theater where he had helped Timmy write that Nina was a bitch and clean the mess.—
Then there were a lot of words crossed out until they were unreadable, and it started again.
—He'd never been in a fight and his dad, although he was a loud bastard, had never laid a hand on him. Joshua's hits hurt him more than they should, maybe due to the remorse he kept feeling. Were there any chances that Joshua was interested in Nina? Of course, but who would know Nina and not like her? The point is that it did not mean that Nina felt the same way towards him and the fact that Joshua's baby brother and Nina's best friend had gone missing in the same week could be what was keeping them together.—
Another set of crossed-out sentences.
—He went to Joshua's house solely to apologize for his behavior, not even expecting to be forgiven. Not really. That's when he found it. Nina and Joshua were in that house ready for a battle he didn't know was going to take a good part of his life.—
That's when the page ended. It seemed like a bunch of sentences and ideas to build a story, maybe a novella. Y/N had never expected Steve could be the kind of guy interested in writing, he most certainly didn't seem like the kind of boy who enjoyed reading. She had been mistaken and the ordered pile of books borrowed from the public library, neatly positioned on the desk, showed her that he'd been reading Stephen King, Philip K. Dick, and Patricia Highsmith lately.
A part of her wanted to keep reading those pages, but she knew she had no right to do so. Steve had put clean sheets on the bed, she could feel it as she crawled inside, how crisp they were. Turning off the light, she faced the ceiling in the darkness.
She dreamt about monsters that night, monsters she knew too well.
*
Denny wasn't in their apartment when she got inside with Robin and Steve. She thanked all the ancient gods that she had just cleaned the place before going to the other's apartment. They had a big window from which they could see the metro line. As both bedroom doors were always closed, Y/N invited her coworkers to follow her down the corridor to the last door, her bedroom. Its walls had framed movie posters, the bed was neatly made with a bunch of cushions to look fancy. She wasn't as tidy as Steve, but she wasn't like Robin either. She showed them her big desk, full of pens, pencils, colored pencils, and other drawing materials. The wall before the desk had some drawings pinned down and next to the desk were a couple of boxes full of old drawings.
She was rambling about something, not paying actually attention to Robin and Steve's reactions to her drawing. That was the most frightening thing for her, to show her work to somebody that would just hate it. She had an excuse for not being very good, she was self-taught and she didn't practice much, but none of them sounded good, really, she had improved a lot since she started, and she kept improving every day.
Robin pointed out a big drawing in A3 about one of her favorite monsters.
"Steve, look."
"When– What's this?" Steve asked Y/N, who finally stopped her rambling to look at her draw.
"Oh. That's the flower-face monster. I know I need a better name, but what can I say? I started drawing it when I was little and that was the only name that sounded appropriate."
The monster in question had the body of a man with exaggerated limbs, and long fingers that seemed like claws as sharp as knives. Instead of a face, the monster's head opened like a flower with a bunch of tiny teeth. All covered in some sort of mucus. The A3 sheet of paper had a big ass flower-face monster in the middle and some parts more detailed in close-ups around the corners of the paper. She was quite proud of it.
"You started drawing it when you were little? When?"
"Why?"
"I don't know," she looked at her coworkers finding they seemed pretty pale. "Um… I think I have the first draw here, just a sec." After some rustling, she found a Crayola drawing of the monster. At the bottom of the picture was the date, April 14th, 1979. "I was nine. Now that I remember, I had this whole story about the monster living inside a tree… A-ha!" She showed them another Crayola drawing with the monster coming out of a tree. "Yeah. Kids' imagination, am I right?"
"Looks dope," Robin complimented. "Have anything else?"
"Sure! Um… I have these ones, these are recent."
She showed them a composition of different Gremlins, some drawing with characters from Never Ending Story, ghosts, monsters, mummies… Steve started looking through the boxes after asking for permission.
"Hey, Y/N, are you sure you've never been in Hawkins?" He asked absently, his attention focused on a couple of landscapes he had in hand.
"Yeah! I mean, pretty sure, but I don't remember all the places I stopped by with my mother. Why?"
He showed the drawings he was holding to Robin. "No shit!"
"Why? Guys, you're freaking me out."
"This is Hawkins town hall. This is Benny's Burgers. And this, right here…" Robin looked at Steve in amazement.
"That's my house."
She felt a chilly air surround her. "Come on, guys! April fools were weeks ago."
"When did you draw these? They look better than the demo– I mean than the monster from 1979."
Taking the option of not asking Robin about what she was going to say that started with 'demo', Y/N answered that those landscapes were kind of new. She'd had some dreams lately and looking through her old childhood landscapes she found those and thought about giving them a makeover. She didn't even know that one, they were real and that two, they were from the same place.
"Is this some sort of X-Files kind of situation? Because that would be terrifying and kind of awesome at the same time."
"I think it's an amazing coincidence. What do you think Robin?"
"Yeah!! Totally a coincidence. I mean, if you were in Hawkins in 1979, that was ages ago, of course, you don't remember. Girl, your memory is amazing. The amount of detail… Wow! Love the drawings too. Have you thought about being a tattoo artist? People love to get monsters tattooed."
Robin was trying so hard to move the topic that Y/N felt under the obligation of doing so. It still felt like an X-Files scenario. However, if it was an X-Files situation, Robin was clearly Scully and Steve was Mulder; at least on a physical level, because on an emotional and spiritual level, Robin was clearly the Mulder in the relationship, she sure believed in Martians. That left Y/N with the role of the person affected by the situation of the episode of the week, and that didn't feel right. She saw herself more like a Jessica Fletcher in this situation, ready to investigate until the truth was found, but also too polite to make her suspects uncomfortable. Yeah, yeah, she was Jessica Fletcher.
*
On their last night of work before going to Hawkins, Steve finally asked Y/N if she had proper clothes for the wedding.
"What kind of human being do you think I am, Harrington? Do you expect me to show up in military boots or something?"
"Should I be honest?"
"I have clothes. I have proper clothes for all the fancy events this long-ass wedding has planned. Who celebrates from Friday to Sunday? Honestly, who?"
"I'm sure it was Mrs. Wheeler's idea."
"Ew, she knew she's not the one getting married, doesn't she?"
"You're getting out of the point."
"I am not. I think I answered perfectly fine. Did I not answer his insinuation that I don't know how to dress up, Spencer?"
"Why are you having your lovers quarrel, here? I don't want to know. Nobody wants to know."
"I find it interesting, Mickey. Young love…"
"We're not together." Both of them pointed out at the same time.
"Give them time," Robin staged whispered to Dewey.
The truth is that she had already had the 'I don't have clothes for a wedding' break down and Denny had been kind enough to go shopping with her. She had a lot of proper stuff for the weekend. From dresses, shirts, and shoes, to new tights in two different shades. She even bought a small suitcase so her new clothes wouldn't wrinkle in her duffle bag.
Their shift ended on Thursday morning, and Steve had planned on leaving Chicago on Friday morning. In a little more than three hours, they would hit Indianapolis and from there it was a blink to get to Hawkins. He expected to be there by lunchtime, which allowed them a few hours to rest from the drive before the event of that afternoon.
As Y/N got to her apartment that morning, she packed her clothes, and a book, leaving room for her toiletry bag to be filled in the morning. She was nervous… No, she was anxious as fuck, that's what she was. She spent her Thursday trying and falling to sleep, unable to stay put for more than two minutes, and with a strong feeling of failure nesting on her chest.
What would happen after the wedding? Will Robin and Steve hang out with her just as they did for the last few weeks? Will they just go back to how they were before? Oh, God, what if during the wedding Steve finds out that she likes him? That would be terrible!
Luckily for her, exhaustion kicked in on Thursday night allowing her to have a perfectly dreamless eight hours of sleep. With the idea of giving a good first impression from the beginning, she dresses up for the show. She put on a thin turtle-neck long-sleeved shirt under a corduroy dress with thick straps and a very short skirt. Just for the game, she also wore the most expensive boots she owned, a couple of black Doctor Martens. She had to wear tights and thick socks, but the look was so damn worth it. Y/N even used a bit of eyeliner, mascara, and brown lipstick as it was fashionable nowadays.
The moment Steve saw her walk down the stairs of her building on Friday morning he blushed.
"Hello, boyfriend," she smiled sweetly at him.
"What the fuck are you wearing?"
"Clothes. And that was rude, dude. Do I or don't I look fucking cute and awesome? Robin?" She spun and the other woman nodded from the passenger seat. "See? I have her approval."
"I'm not saying that you look bad. It's just–"
"Just what? Finish the sentence, big boy."
"Jesus fuck, you're going to be the death of me," he muttered under his breath, clearly not pretending for her to hear. "Get in the car, you look amazing and I shouldn't have insinuated that you had no idea how to fucking dress up."
"Thank you! To be fair, you had only seen me in my lazy-day clothes or my uniform. Not my best outfits, Harrington."
The drive started; the next stop: Hawkins, Indiana.
To be continued…
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Nancy’s Wedding | Steve Harrington x Reader (ch.2)
Series Masterlist
Chapter One – Chapter Three.
Pairings: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader.
Word count: 4612
Nancy's Wedding | Chapter Two.
Steve and Robin's apartment wasn't what Y/N expected. It wasn't much bigger than the one she shared, but it seemed bigger. It had very little furniture, all well placed and with a purpose, everything was clean and spotless. Their bedroom doors were open when they invited her in, and that's why she got a glimpse of their insides. Robin's had its walls filled with different posters, she had a chair with a bunch of clothes piled up on it, and the sheets on her bed were undone; it was as chaotic as her. Steve's, on the other hand, didn't have any decorations on its walls, the bed was perfectly made and the untidiest spot in the place was a little pile of papers on top of his desk. Y/N would have never marked Steve down as a neat guy, but now that she saw it she thought it made sense because he also took very special care of his car.
Robin closed both doors in a quick movement as she kept talking about the building and neighborhood in a rant nobody was paying attention to. Steve took Y/N's coat from her to hang it next to his and picked Robin's from the back of the couch as a habit. Their dynamic was very interesting. As Robin kept buzzing around, offering things, and having ideas, Steve just gestured in silence for Y/N to take a seat and handed her a soda from the kitchen before taking a seat next to her on the couch. Running out of energy, Robin sat on the floor facing the other two.
"Why am I here, Robin?" Y/N cut the other woman before she could start rambling again.
"We need a story and we need for you two to actually know each other in case the others ask something."
"You've seen too many movies," the man sighed, relaxing in his seat with boredom. He was trying to hide his anxiousness, and if Y/N hadn't been paying attention she would've been fooled.
"What kind of story?"
"Well, how did you two meet, for starters."
"Lies will only mess things up. I think the truth a little spiced up is good enough. We met at work when you two came in looking for a job."
Turning towards her, Steve was now visibly paying attention. "And when did we start dating?"
"When was the last time you complained about being single with one of your hometown friends?"
"New year's eve. I think… Yeah, I told Dustin I was upset I didn't have a date to kiss at midnight."
"Nothing after that? Not even for Valentine's day?"
"Nope. I haven't complained to them."
"Lucky them," Robin mumbled under her breath. Steve shot her a killing stare.
"Fine, then we started dating by the end of January. That explained that you haven't complained about being single anymore and the fact that you're willing to take me to a wedding as a formal introduction."
They spent hours talking. Robin threw a few questions at them at the beginning so they started to know each other properly, but she soon became a mere spectator, drifting her eyes from one to the other, pleased with what she'd accomplished. Y/N and Steve talked about their childhoods and their time in high school, their relationship with their parents, and the circumstances that brought them to be in Chicago working at The Silver. It seemed quite superficial, nonetheless. With the heavy talk going away, they discussed movies, TV shows, and music. As might be expected, Steve Harrington was a Top Gun and Lethal Weapon fan, he'd seen every Tom Cruise movie to date too. She was nerdier, she loved science fiction and the kind of adventures that mixed history with myth, like Indiana Jones, for example. A point they had in common was their passion for Steven Spielberg's work. Steve seemed reluctant to admit that he cried with E.T. but Y/N knew just how to press the right buttons to have him confess.
Steve was a huge fan of Magnum P.I. while Y/N was more of The A-Team. They spent forty minutes just arguing about the plot of both shows, counting the pros and cons for each one.
"Okay, fine. Forget about action shows. Golden Girls. That's the best show in the history of television," she stated.
"I haven't seen it."
"Don't lie, Steve! He loves it," Robin made her small intervention.
"Betty White is a treasure. You should be ashamed of not admitting her amazing acting abilities, Harrington."
In their praising of actresses, they ended up confessing how much they both loved Murder She Wrote. When Y/N mentioned the X-Files, Steve started complaining about he knew everything about the show just because his best friend, Dustin Henderson, kept calling him and writing him just to talk about the latest episode that aired. It was so fun to see him all fed up with his friend; Steve talked with the affection of a brother, always complaining about the behavior of his young sibling, but loving him anyway.
With music, Steve was open to new things and wasn't as judgy as Y/N expected; he even liked songs from bands that he didn't enjoy fully and she could understand his position. It was easier to just like songs than bands. Still, he was more of an eighties rock type of guy. He liked Queen, Bowie, Tears for Fears, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Journey, and The Police mostly, he also knew every Madonna song thanks to Robin's obsession. Y/N also liked some of Steve's favorite bands and that was something they started talking about how sad they were when Steve Perry left Journey in 1987. His voice always fits perfectly with the band! She also liked The Offspring, Metallica, Dio, AC/DC, and as for guilty pleasure: A-Ha. A very intense mix of music tastes.
It wasn't intentional, but the moment she mentioned her music preference, Steve and Robin shared a sad look. They recovered soon and pretended it hadn't been there, so she just ignored it. She decided that her music taste must've remembered them about someone from their past, maybe someone who wasn't there anymore, and she didn't want to push it.
"Are we expected to dance at the wedding, Harrington?" She tried to break the layer of ice that was building between them.
"Sure. I'm a pretty good dancer."
"He's not. He just loves himself too much."
"Well, I can dance even if I'm not good. A slow dance is a different topic. If you want to have a slow dance we'll have to practice or you'll end up with your feet destroyed."
"You don't know how to slow dance? What did you do at the prom dance?"
"I never went to one."
"Really?" Robin sounded shocked.
"Not even middle school."
"You most definitely need to practice," the woman sentenced.
"Cool, now I have homework," Y/N sighed. "By the way, do they know about you in Hawkins?"
Steve and Robin shared a look before staring at her like she had grown another head, "Know what?"
"That you aren't straight." To their silence, she looked up at both of them, "What?"
"How– How do you know?" Robin was very pale.
"Don't look so scared, Jesus! I don't think people at work know, I just pay attention. The moment you see a woman you like, lo ogle her just like Steve does."
"You've known since the beginning?" The other woman was having trouble processing the information. Steve had tensed when the conversation started, but the moment Y/N proved that she didn't mean any harm he had relaxed picking some chips from a bowl.
"Pretty much, yeah."
"And you still change next to me in the locker room?"
Arching an eyebrow, Y/N stared right into Robin's soul. "Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know." Robin, on the floor, hugged her knees against her chest hiding her face.
"To think that just a few days ago you were claiming to be too old…" Y/N came down from the couch to the floor, kneeling next to Robin she hugged her. "Come on, Buckley, you certainly didn't expect me to hunt you down, did you? We've met for three years!"
As Robin let her emotions overflow her, Steve explained that in general terms the town didn't know about Robin, but their closest friends did. Therefore, at the wedding, there would be people that know and people that don't know.
Steve offered to drive her home. They had spent a lot of time talking and planning their sham for the wedding and Steve felt the duty of compensating for her time investment somehow. However, she declined the offer as she had the feeling that it would push her luck. She'd had a great time with them and for the first time, she really thought they were just friends hanging out. She almost forgot that it was all fake.
"Jesus Christ, Y/N, you make it very hard for people to do good things for you, you know? Fine! I won't drive you, but I'm walking you to the subway stop."
Proving that was his final word, Steve put on his coat and got out of the apartment. Y/N followed. She wasn't accustomed to being treated kindly without a hidden aim. Spencer and Dewey and Doctor Ross were the only ones who had done it and she never knew how to respond. Steve was trying, apparently, but he also wanted her to pretend to be dating him for his ex-girlfriend's wedding so…
"Why are you doing this, Steve?"
"Doing what?"
"Offering me rides and walking me to the train station."
He gave her a weird look frowning.
"I'm just confused. In these three years, you and I hadn't really bonded. We work in silence, mostly, and when we talk we banter."
"You don't think we're friends," it was a statement more than a question, but the tone was skeptical.
"Are we? Don't get me wrong, it's just that my knowledge about friendship came from the movies."
"I got my first real best friend when I was eighteen and he was thirteen. I'm in no place to judge you, but I've been trying to befriend you. Robin too. And sometimes it looks like we're building something, then you close yourself."
"Hmm… Yeah, Denny points that out a lot. I'm sorry, I don't do it on purpose."
He dismissed her apology with a gesture, "Who's Denny?"
"My roommate."
"Since when?"
"Since the beginning. Did you think I could afford an apartment by myself?"
"No… No. It's just that you never mentioned him. That's all."
"Her."
"What?"
"Denny as in short for Denise. She works at a record store. We barely see each other. Best roommate ever."
"You're weird."
"Still you don't say it as if it's a bad thing, you say it as a compliment."
"Because it is one."
"Liar."
She pushed him with her body. Laughing, he pushed her back softly. After a beat of silence, Steve complained about the weather and their conversation became empty of depth but full of intentions. They were building something, and now she knew it was meant to be built. Steve waited until she used the subway token to get inside the platform, and although she couldn't see him, he waited until the train arrived.
*
The band was still giving it all on stage, some punk rock from the new era with a woman with her short white-blond hair in spikes as the frontwoman. It was good, and Y/N bounced her head to the rhythm as she dried the last glass in her hands.
It was busy at The Silver when the most regular customer of all walked his way to his favorite stool with a friend right behind him. They had to push and fight their way between already drunk people, they even had to make people who were already on the stools.
"You're here early, Doctor Ross," she smiled politely.
"I'm treating a friend here. Mark, this is my guardian angel, Y/N."
"We've met before. How's your wrist?" Doctor Greene offered his hand, so Y/N gave him hers and he moved it, flexing it. "Healed well."
"I certainly hope so. What can I offer you, doctors?"
"I want a Flowery Miracle. Mark would take a Silver Sin." Ross' smile showed mischief.
"What the hell is a Silver Sin?"
"One of our best cocktails, Doctor Greene. Kind of sweet," she explained as she started to mix their drinks. "How's Carol doing?"
"She's at home now. Don't know much more. Hey, did I tell you about our new med students?" His change of topic was revealing.
Greene locked eyes with her and shook his head. As far as she knew, he was Ross' best friend and had the patience of a saint, as Ross had told her.
"What about the students?"
"They're third-year students and they think they know it all, but there's this particular student that's driving us crazy."
"He's not that bad. He has potential."
"Has he?" She half listened, still working on their drinks.
"Well, he's Benton's student. He wants to be a surgeon, you see, and for doing that he must be soulless."
"You just want him on your ER team, Mark."
"He's good with patients. He still has a lot to learn but he has potential."
"He's also cute. Thank you," Ross smiled when she gave him a long glass with a neon yellow drink and a straw.
"Oh, yeah. Very cute." Greene nodded to her, eying weirdly the grayish, sparkling drink in his voluptuous glass. "John Carter is the new toy for the nurses. Until now Dough was the most handsome doctor at the ER. Although I disagreed on the matter. Now is Carter."
"How cute is he?"
"I think you would like him. He's cute and he knows it. Carter always looks up; he lowers his head so he can look up through his eyelashes with his brown puppy eyes. He even wears suspenders!" Ross complained.
"Oh! Oh, this is good. Very good." Greene complimented the drink.
As she moved to serve other customers she found Steve looking at her; she winked at him. The night ran before them, Ross asked for some scotch for him after his cocktail but pushed Greene to try a different one. She overheard parts of their conversations and they asked her opinion on stupid subjects as the alcohol was working its magic. Mark Greene was leaning his head on the counter, his hands playing with a straw as he mumbled about how his wife kept pushing on the matter of him changing the ER for private practice. Ross wasn't even listening to him now, looking at a woman on the other side of the counter that wasn't paying attention to him.
"Should I call you a cab, Doctor Ross?"
The older man blinked several times in an effort to focus his eyesight, he smiled on a thin line deepening his chin against his neck. "Yeah. Yeah… That'll be good, kid."
"Same taxi for both of you?"
"Sure. I have to take care of this big baby over here."
"No. No. I have– I have to go home. Jen– Jen's going to be pissed. I– I'm really drunk." He laughed so hard he fell from his stool. Ross tried to help him up, falling too.
"Don't be ridiculous. She went to her parents' house, remember? With Rachel, for the weekend."
"Oh… Oh! That's true! That's so very true! You're a terrible friend. You got me drunk!!"
"Only a little bit."
The rest of the night went by with its usual flow. A couple of drunk boys tried to have her number, although they were too drunk to see her clearly. A group of secretaries that had Sunday free approached Steve after having ogled him for hours from one of the booths; he talked politely to them, showing his charm without really flirting.
The clock struck six o'clock and the place was empty. The waiters were already mopping the dancing floor and Steve and Y/N were finishing the bar. Robin got out of the kitchen dragging her feet as if they weighed a few tons each.
"I. Am. Exhausted." She groaned.
"You look like shit." To Steve's statement, Robin flipped him the bird. He returned the gesture with a smile.
"We still have half an hour to close up. What's wrong with you, people?"
"Mickey, we might start to think of closing sooner."
"Listen to him," Y/N claimed, pointing at Dewey. Spencer gave her a stern look. "Sorry, Mr. Spencer."
"Why do you just call us mister when you want to mock us? I'm getting old with these workers, Vincent."
Y/N shared a complicit smile with Dewey.
Spencer went behind the bar counter to look for the tip jar and do the equal piles, but he was so tired that he decided he wanted a glass of water first. He took one of the recently dried squared glasses, put it under the faucet, and filled it. The moment he was about to drink, his hand shook and contracted against his will breaking the glass in his hand. As he cursed, Steve approached to help him.
"Get away!" Spencer and Dewey yelled at the same time.
Y/N gave Spencer a rag, "I'll take of this. Go clean it up."
"Be careful," the owner pleaded.
Steve didn't understand why his boss was fine accepting her help, but not his. She crouched under the counter, took out a box of latex gloves, and put on two in each hand before picking up the glasses pieces that rested on the floor and sink.
"I– What's wrong?" He looked confused at Y/N and Dewey.
She knew the answer, of course she knew, but she would never tell a secret that was not hers.
"Michael is seropositive," the old man explained. "The last tests showed up that his transmissivity of the virus had decreased, but we still need to be careful. I know this is kind of too much. There's no way you'll get infected by touching someone else's blood unless you had an open wound, but…" Shrugging, Dewey faced Steve for the first time. "Better be safe than sorry."
"I have this under control, boss, you can go with him." To Y/N's proposal, Dewey nodded and left.
She was scrubbing the blood with bleach with the same sentiment as someone who had just committed a crime and wanted to destroy the evidence. Steve waited for her to get up again before talking.
"I– I don't understand."
Taking the gloves off, she gave him a skeptical look. "They've been together since the seventies. Together, together. Spencer and Dewey. They have a business together and they share a house, not an apartment, a house. Did you really not connect the dots, Harrington?"
"In his defense, I didn't do it either," Robin confessed under her breath.
"Well, yeah. They took me in when I was homeless at seventeen. I lived at their house until I was twenty-one, really. We found out about Spencer's five years ago. If I'm telling you this is only because Dewey agreed; if you want details, ask them."
Making a beeline to the office, Y/N left Steve and Robin to their thoughts. Spencer was seated in his chair as Dewey took care of the thin cuts on his hands wondering out loud if they should go to the hospital or not. She informed them that everything was clean and that Buckley and Harrington might have questions before disappearing.
Robin and Steve were sharing a whispered conversation with the counter between them.
"Hey, Harrington! The washrooms aren't going to clean themselves. Come on, you take one and I take the other."
In less than fifteen minutes the ladies' restroom was spotless, its walls and floors so clean that they reflected the light, and the mirrors were free from finger marks, dried water spots, and lipstick. Why use lipstick on the mirror? She'll never know. The place had a particular clean smell, a mix of cleaning products and bleach. Usually, it would have taken her a little more time, now, however, she had used the spike of adrenaline that the broken glass gave her to finish the five stalls, five sinks, five mirrors, doors, walls, and floors in less time. Thank God Steve was doing the other restroom, her adrenaline spike had left her and she could barely keep her eyes open with exhaustion.
Robin had been waiting outside and gave her a tired but anxious smile.
"You done? As we have tonight and tomorrow night off, I thought that maybe we could do the slow dance thing. What do you say?"
"I say I want to go home and sleep, Buckley." She led the path towards the locker room, closely followed by Robin.
"Steve will drive you home, and he will pick you up this afternoon. Just after lunch. We can have kind of a sleepover at our place!"
"Aren't we too old for sleepovers?"
"How many sleepovers did you have as a child? See? None. I had two before meeting all the gang. You can sleep in Steve's bed, he'll sleep on the couch."
"Now that seems just mean."
"He offered. Come on, say yes. Please. Please. Please!"
She sighed leaning her forehead against the cold material of her locker's door, "When I was little I wanted a dog. I've been trying to convince Denny of adopting one. Since I've met you I have that experience covered."
"Is that supposed to be an insult or a compliment?"
"A statement."
*
Just as Robin had told her, Steve Harrington was waiting outside her apartment building at three o'clock in the afternoon. He was leaning against his car side, legs crossed by the ankles, arms crossed across his chest, his hair allowing a perfect lock of hair to fall down to his forehead, and sunglasses. Damn, he was hot! He looked like the main character in a romantic movie from the eighties and there was no way he didn't know it. She loved it. She was screwed.
With her approach, he closed the distance offering his hand to take her duffel bag and put it in the backseat while he explained that he had done some grocery shopping for the sleepover and the bags filled the car trunk. His movements were smooth and clean, so calculated that he didn't leave room for her to open the passenger seat door to get inside, he was the one who opened it instead. Steve gave her his most shiny smile, pleased with her efforts for not smiling herself, pursing her lips, and biting the inside of her cheeks. She wasn't subtle.
The car ride was filled with Steve talking about how Robin had insisted on renting some tapes at the video store, which led to how he worked at a video store with Robin in Hawkins called Family Video.
"I honestly had no clue of movies and the manager was Keith. We belonged to different species in school, you know, he was the nerdy type and kind of creepy too, if I'm honest. He worked at the Arcade for some time and he never told us why he changed to Family Video now that I think about it, but there I go, with a poor resume basically begging him to take me in. Robin helped me get the job, I owed her. Keith's like this movie freak that wants you to know all the little details and remember all the names… Dude, I just watch a movie to enjoy it not to analyze it."
"And to make out with your date."
He gave her an offended look, she tilted her head to the side so he sighed nodding. "Yeah, that too. My point is that my only working experience was at an ice cream shop at the new mall of Hawkins, and that fucking mall blew up in July. I had nothing, and Keith was asking me about my favorite movies. I told him about the Star Wars movies."
"Really?"
"Yeah. What? Do I not look like someone who would enjoy some space battles?"
"You watched them with that friend of yours, Dustin, didn't you?"
"You're a demon and I hate you."
"That's a yes."
"Yes. It is, in fact, a yes. The movies were good, and I liked them. Dustin and I even had a secret handshake, you know? Pretending to be using the lightswords and all." He sounded very pleased with himself.
"Lightsabers."
"Whatever. Do you know what Keith asked me?"
"What?"
"To name the movie. I didn't fucking know they had different names!" And just with that, Y/N was laughing so hard tears were falling from her eyes. Steve enjoyed it, discovering there that it was the very first time that he had seen her laugh so truly. He did that. "I told him I liked the one with the teddy bears better."
"You did not!!"
"He wasn't going to give me the job. I assure you that even if I had had the same knowledge that him, he would still refuse. The guy hated my guts, man."
"Because you were popular in school and he was not?"
"Precisely. Also, the fact that I was an asshole in school didn't help my case."
"You were? I mean, I guess that it's just something that goes hand to hand, popularity and idiocy."
"In my defense, I'll say I was young, stupid, and had terrible friends. Although I doubt we can call them that. Robin would be pleased to explain my assholery behavior."
"Were you the kind of guy to mess with others?"
"Hell no. No. I didn't make fun of people but I didn't stop Tommy and Carol. And there's one time in which I broke Jonathan's camera. Bad time."
"Oh, my God! Did you bully the soon-to-be husband of your ex-girlfriend? Dude!"
"I know…"
"Dude!!"
He couldn't help but laugh with her. A comfortable silence settled between them afterward.
"So, what did Robin tell Keith for him to change his mind?" She reoriented the topic.
"That if he hired me, hot girls would come inside the store at all times."
"Big promise."
"I'm charming."
"You know, there's one thing that really fascinates me about you."
"Only one? Ouch."
"You're handsome. You're cute, you have the looks and the charm, and you know how to use it. You know the tools you have at your disposal. However, with some women, you use them perfectly and with most of them you just–" she snapped her fingers. "Man, I don't know how to explain it, but it's like you're all suddenly shy and awkward, and like you have zero confidence and, although it's very cute, it's also like watching a car crash."
Steve nodded as if he was considering her words. "That might be because I really have zero confidence," he confessed with a sad smile. "I don't do rejection well, and it's all I know which is ironic. Let me tell you, though, that all I'm going to remember of what you just said is that you think I'm cute."
"I don't."
"Yeah, you do. You said I'm cute, twice."
"That doesn't mean I think you are."
"But you do."
"I do not."
"It's alright, kid, I know I'm cute."
"Bite me!"
"Only if you ask nicely."
The fact that he gave her the same comeback she had given him before only made her want to smile more. Fucking Steve Harrington!
To be continued…
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