Finally Together
Summary: Steve Harrington x fe!Reader -> In the aftermath of the end of Venca, you and Steve finally get together...eventually.
Disclaimer: Spoilers for the Finale. Friends to lovers, heavy on the one bed trope, Steve becomes a coach/teacher, reader is on their way to being a lawyer, Steve and Reader practically being parents, yearning, a little flirting, nightmare trope, Steve takes care of Reader, spooning, Steve with chest hair, platonic!robin, fluff, domestic fluff.
For the twentieth night in a row, Steve heard your footsteps quietly making their way down his hallway before stopping outside of his door.
Steve didn’t really know why you had been doing it – but he could take a pretty good guess.
The military had moved out of Hawkins just over a month ago. The town was getting back to normal, albeit very slowly. The ground was recovering from the split, Mother Nature was doing her best to brighten things up and people were either coming back or moving away for good.
In that time, you had been with Steve helping the others bring down Venca and the Mind Flyer, as well as the rest of it. You’d been with Joyce and the others when Steve drove into the Upside Down and had gone radio silent for too long.
You’ve never hugged him tighter than you had done the minute he got back to the Squawk.
Actually…that was a lie.
There was one time after that. Just after Jonathan had pulled him back up the tower, mere seconds after he thought he was about to fall to his death.
From just outside of his door, he heard you move on and continue to the stairs, then to the kitchen. The sounds of the pipes rattled at little as you turned the tap on for a glass of water.
Three minutes and fifty five seconds later, you stopped outside of his door again before moving back towards your room.
Since your folks had decided to take a vacation and go and visit family for a while, it meant you had your house to yourself. But, after everything, you didn’t want to be alone.
So, Steve helped you pack a few boxes and drove you straight to his home. His parents wouldn’t be back for a couple of months and he had his house to himself, too.
For the first three weeks, he barely heard you. Quite frankly, it was the easiest he’d fallen to sleep in a while. It still wasn’t great, but knowing he wouldn’t wake up alone helped ease his mind.
But after three weeks, you had your first nightmare.
You didn’t know Steve knew. You hadn’t woken up in a screaming state of terror. Cold sweat? Sure. Heart racing? Most definitely. But you barely made a sound.
At first, each nightmare was different. Almost like your mind was trying to find the one that would scare you the most.
And the moment it did…well, it never left.
Steve would find you in the mornings, already up before him. Dressed and ready for work, or ready for your college classes. Either way, you seemed put together. But he still saw the tiredness in your eyes. He still saw the distant look you gave when there was a loud noise or an ear piercing scream of car tyres.
Ten days after the first nightmare and your mind had found an image to settle on, you started getting out of bed. You needed sleep. You knew you did. But you couldn’t settle until you found proof your nightmare was wrong.
Every bone in your body wanted to knock on Steve’s door and ask if you could stay with him, but each time, you chickened out. Guilt, embarrassment and fear weighed heavy on your shoulders each time you stood outside of his door.
So, you settled for listening out for his breathing.
If he was breathing, he was alive.
If he was alive, he hadn’t fallen from the tower.
If he was alive, it meant your nightmare was wrong.
Once you knew for certain that he was okay, you went back to your room and tried your best to get some rest. And, if Steve knew, he never brought it up.
After a month of constant nightmares and essay deadlines, you finally got some semi-decent sleep. For a few weeks, at least. Until the unveiling of the memorial post in the centre of town.
That night, you might as well have been back in the Upside Down watching Steve get bitten by bats, watching Eddie die so many times it seemed like your mind was a broken record and then, finally, watching Steve fall from the tower.
Only, this time, Jonathan never caught him and he just continued to fall. Robin’s scream pierced your ears, Dustin’s cry of Steve’s name as he fell 500ft to the ground settled so deep into your soul, you knew they’d never leave and then you felt your heart break so deep, you knew it would never mend.
When you woke up, you tried to catch your breath through the tears and adrenaline.
Kicking the covers from your legs, you planted your feet on the cold floor before rushing over to the window and throwing it open.
When the air had finally dried your tears and let you catch your breath, you looked over your shoulder. Steve.
You made light work of it, moving down the hallway and standing outside of his door. You almost knocked.
Almost.
Instead, you moved to the wall and slowly slid down it until you sat on the floor. You didn’t know how much time had passed, but it was enough for you to stop hearing your own heartbeat and start hearing the steady breaths exhaling from Steve’s chest.
He was alive.
He was alive.
He was alive.
He was alive.
He was alive.
Letting out a long breath, you eventually stood up on weak legs and moved back down the hallway towards your bedroom. But you couldn’t sleep. So, instead, you sat on the window bench.
Outside of Steve’s house, there was a tree that had been growing for a while. Somewhere in the back of your head, Steve said his dad and uncle had planted it when his dad first bought the house.
The leaves were in full bloom.
No doubt Steve would wrangle you and Dustin to help with the clean up in the Fall. Not that you minded.
A soft breeze was blowing through and catching on the light curtains you’d had Steve help you hang up only a few weeks ago. It was fresh, but there was still an edge of warmth to it letting you know it wouldn’t be long before the sun would start to wake.
For a moment you shivered, feeling your body temperature run cold after running hot on adrenaline for the last hour or so.
“If you’re cold, you should close the window.”
You nearly jumped out of your skin when you heard Steve’s voice in the doorway.
“What are you doing awake?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
You looked at your bed with slight trepidation. “Couldn’t sleep,” you told Steve.
Steve just watched you in the quiet for a moment. You broke eye contact first, turning to look back outside the window.
“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked as he took a few more steps inside.
“Not really.”
“Okay then,” Steve agreed quietly. He stood beside you, resting his hand on your shoulder. “You need to get some sleep.”
“I’m fine.”
“Come on,” he said, quietly, before you turned and looked at him. Feeling his gentle pull, you followed him. “We can keep the window open.”
Straightening out the covers on your bed, Steve sat down first before shuffling over to take the side closest to the door, all the while pulling your hand gently to join him.
You didn’t say anything about him staying, and part of you hoped he wouldn’t bring it up. Talking about it meant it was a thing. And things could end.
“Is this okay?” Steve asked as he settled his arm over your middle after he’d pulled the covers up.
Your back was to him, but you nodded anyway. “Yes.”
Then, in a quiet gesture, you laid your hand over his as he held onto you. “It’s okay.”
There was a little shuffling on Steve’s side, but the noise quickly subsided and through the anxiety, you tried to calm your nerves enough to sync your relaxed state with Steve.
Listening to the soft wind helped.
Before you knew it, you were slowly waking up to a bright light, a warm feeling on your back, and a secure arm around your middle holding onto you in case you were the one to fall 500ft away.
Somewhere outside, a car door slammed shut and the sound of children laughing as their parents called their names to slow down as they, presumably, ran inside their house, echoed through the street.
Managing to move a little, you caught a glimpse of the alarm clock beside your bed. It was the first time in a long time that you saw 11:09 am without having seen the hours previous to it.
There was a small rush of panic before you realised it was the weekend and neither you or Steve had somewhere to be.
Steve.
Almost on cue, Steve’s arm tightened a little around you. From the steady movements of his breathing, he was still asleep, completely unaware of the fact he wouldn’t let you go further from him than enough to turn onto your other side.
Rather than fight his sleeping frame, however, you stayed where you were.
It was the best night's sleep you’d had in a long time and, selfishly, you weren’t ready to let that go. Or let Steve let you go.
Not that he did when he finally woke up, which wasn’t long after you. Instead, he just pulled you closer to him. Or maybe pushed himself closer to you?
“You awake?”
“Almost,” you answered.
“What time is it?”
“After eleven,” you told him. “How did you sleep?”
“Honestly? Really, really good. Sorry if I…” Steve noticed his arm that still hung around your middle, but from the way your thumb was softly swiping over the back of his hand, he made no move to remove it from you.
You shook your head a little. “No,” you said, softly. “It was nice.”
“Yeah?”
You nodded and looked at him, a tired smile on your lips. “Yeah.”
Steve smiled back but hid his face from the light of the nearly-mid-day sun. A laughing groan escaped him as he tensed his arm around you and held you a little tiger for a second before looking back at you.
For a while, you both stayed like that, in the gleam of the sun, well-rested but still tired.
“What?” You asked him after some time had passed and his gaze on you turned from happy to slightly curious.
A cloud moved over the sun for a moment. “Why didn’t you come inside?”
“Inside? When?”
Steve took his time in explaining himself. “I’ve heard you a couple times, when you’re outside my door. I don’t really sleep all that good anyway but…you always stop outside my door. And last night…you could have come in. You didn’t have to stay on your own.”
You eventually broke your eye contact with him and looked at the ceiling, almost struggling to swallow. But your hand didn’t move from his on your stomach, so that made him hopeful he hasn’t upset you.
“Why didn’t you…”
“Fear,” you answered honestly. It was easier to look at the ceiling as you told him. “I…I didn’t want you to be angry at me-”
“No,” you heard Steve whisper in shock.
“-or annoyed because I’d woken you up. It’s bad enough I can’t stay at home on my own anymore, because I should but I just-”
Steve shook his head and sat up to face you. “No. Never. Y/n, after everything we’ve been through, staying on your own is really fucking scary.”
“Steve-”
He shook his head. “No, let me just- can I please just tell you this?”
You sat up slowly and nodded. And then you listened.
“I would never be angry, or annoyed or even judge you for coming to me. Or anyone, for that matter. What we’ve been through…nobody would ever believe us but…if it happens again, and I don’t care when, and you want to be with someone, please don’t be afraid to come to me?” Steve pleaded with you. “We’ve had enough to fear in this world. I don’t want you to fear me, too.”
“I don’t fear you, Steve.”
“No, I know, I just…I don’t know how else to…” Then something small hit Steve, right in his chest. “I don’t like being alone, either. Honestly, when you said you didn’t want to stay at home, I offered you to live with me because, yes, we’re friends and I’d rather know you’re here and safe. But, also…I didn’t like being alone, either. And as for sleep, and the nightmares and…my point is that I know how it feels and last night it was…”
You chuckled through the tears you didn’t realise had come forward. “Best night’s sleep?”
“Yeah!” Steve laughed a little, then he reached over and held his hand on your cheek, catching the tears. “If you don’t want to be alone, just come to me. Whether it’s just for five minutes or for the whole night…just…come and find me?”
Steve’s pleading eyes said more than his words ever could. They said enough to make you feel safe enough to nod and agree.
“Okay.”
It was three nights before you had another nightmare, waking up in bed alone, staring at your ceiling. And, after thirty minutes of debating with yourself, you pushed against every screaming voice that was telling you to not go and find Steve.
His door was already open by the time you reached him, just enough for you to push it open without it making too much noise. You didn’t have to say anything. Being careful to lift the other side of the covers, Steve woke for a moment, but didn’t freak out or shout.
Instead, he helped you hold them open and waited for you to lie down before he held you close to him.
“You okay?” He asked you, quietly.
You nodded softly, “Yeah.”
Steve didn’t say anything but scooted a little closer to you and when he felt you finally relaxed into him, he smiled into your hair and fell into a deep sleep beside you.
Over the following weeks, it started to happen more often than just once every couple of nights. And you weren’t the only one getting up in the middle of the night anymore.
Some nights, Steve would slide in beside you. You’d wake for a moment, feeling the bed dip in its familiar pattern before you felt him beside you, bringing you under his arm.
Eventually, it stopped feeling weird or awkward or scary because of the original reason for climbing in beside Steve and visa versa.
To put it simply, you both slept better together than apart.
And it hadn’t gone unnoticed by the group either.
Weekend film nights, late night study sessions, evenings you helped them cram for their practice SATs, summer afternoons you tutored Max in order to speed up her graduation date.
They saw the way you and Steve had adapted around one another.
It started small. You’d come back from work carrying the groceries through the door as Steve was on the sofa with Dustin whilst Lucas and Max sat on the floor, all looking at the TV screen.
Steve had jumped up to help you.
But that wasn’t the thing that was different. It was how you both acted after it. Steve helped with the groceries, talking to you and asking about your day as you took your coat off and locked the door. You said ‘Hi’ to the kids who waved in your general direction. Steve chuckled at the kitchen doorway before looking at you and hugging you tight. From there, you both put the groceries away and Steve started making dinner whilst you both just talked and laughed.
It was all so domestic.
Later that night, you’d fallen asleep against Steve and, in turn, Steve had put his arm around you and fallen asleep, too.
“You don’t think?” Lucas asked quietly.
Dustin shook his head, a little in denial. “No…no? No. Steve would have said-”
“If they’re not now, they will be.” Max had said.
The next thing was a glass of water and a hand across your shoulders during your tutor session with Max and Will. The two had looked at each other with a noted and shocked look, all the while you and Steve were making doe eyes at each other.
After that, it was a carpool ride into the city, an emergency study night – at that one, you’d fallen asleep before Max had come knocking on Steve’s door in a rush.
She had a test the next day and if she didn’t pass it, it could mean doing the year over again. Something she didn’t want to have to do, like, at all. But, you’d been cramming for an essay based exam all week, having finally taken it that morning.
There was no chance of waking you up until the morning.
That night, Max watched as Steve lifted you from the sofa without a struggle – almost like it had been rehearsed a thousand times – and carried you upstairs to bed.
He came back down after that and helped Max study. He wasn’t as academically smart as you, but he’d managed to graduate high school so he could at least try and help Max.
Max had held her tongue all evening, but just as he dropped her back off at Lucas’s house, she turned back to the car. “Are you guys dating?”
“What?”
“You and Y/n. We can all see it but Dustin’s getting kinda pissed that you might be keeping a secret from him but he’s too chicken to ask. And-”
“We’re…we’re just friends.”
Max watched Steve for a moment. “I know a good lawyer.”
“Call all the lawyers you know,” he told her. “My statement won’t change.”
Max kept her glare on Steve as she stood up slowly. “We’ll see,” she said before adding. “Thanks for helping me.”
“Anytime.”
He waited until she was inside before driving away and coming back home to you. Within ten minutes of him getting home, he was laying beside you in bed, ready to fall asleep, all the while Max’s question swirled around in his head.
Finally came the morning when Robin helped the kids ‘break-in’. Their final summer before their graduation year was just starting and they didn’t want to waste a second.
Which meant making pancakes and the perfect summer breakfast in the only kitchen that had enough space to fit them all.
Steve’s.
And, now, yours.
Your parents had made the move permanent outside of Hawkins but still kept your childhood home. You might not have been living in it, but they didn’t have to know that.
Steve’s parents, if they stayed, it was usually as far away from Hawkins as they could get.
And neither you or Steve had made a move in any direction that wasn’t staying together.
“Guys! Come on! We’ve been yelling for like thirty minutes.” Dustin’s voice carried down the hallway, quickly followed by Robin’s.
“And before you say, it’s technically not breaking and entering since- I have a key.” Robin finished her sentence slowly as she joined Dustin at Steve’s bedroom door.
Inside Steve’s bedroom, both you and Steve were lying together on top of the covers. The night had been too hot to have anything other than a crocheted blanket you’d made the summer before, draped over both of you.
Thankfully, to the prayers of both Dustin and Robin, you were both clothed. You were wearing Steve’s old Squawk t-shirt and a pair of shorts, whilst Steve just wore shorts.
“Guys!”
Both you and Steve groaned. Robin smiled. “Like a married couple already.”
“Henderson,” Steve grumbled. “Robin-”
“Since when were you so hairy?” Robin’s question fell from her lips quicker than she could stop it. “Seriously, dude.”
“If it’s before nine in the morning, I’m gonna kill you both.” You grumbled as you hid from the light in the room.
Dustin checked his watch. “It’s just after ten. But come on, please! It is the first day of our last summer before we graduate and have to spend our summer packing up for college. We have no time to waste!”
You heard Steve take a deep breath. “Alright. Alright, we’ll be down soon.”
Dustin scurried away and back downstairs to the others whilst Robin stood in the doorway with a light smirk on her face. “Nice t-shirt, Y/n. Could have sworn Steve owned the same one.”
“Alright, thank you, Robin.”
Robin shrugged at Steve as she turned down the hallway. “Just saying.”
As Robin disappeared and went down the stairs, Steve turned to look back at you. Your eyes were still closed, your forehead a little scrunched and you just looked so…
Beautiful.
“Come on,” Steve said as he leaned down and kissed your head. “We should get up before they come back.”
“Or you could lock the door and we could go back to sleep,” you offered. “They’re kids. They’re meant to be sleeping till noon.”
“Those are normal kids you’re thinking of,” Steve told you. “Not ours.”
You hummed. “You’re right, I almost forgot.”
“I’ll make you coffee.”
You groaned a little as Steve started to sweeten the pot. Coffee, some fresh pancakes and the promise of getting the first choice of tape in the car.
“You drive a hard bargain, Steve Harrington.”
Steve chuckled as he sat beside you on the bed, softly caging you in as he looked at you. “I sure do.”
Quickly, he leaned down and pecked a kiss to your temple and stood. “But I’ve got to find a t-shirt first. Somebody stole mine last night.”
You shrugged. “Finders keepers.”
Steve chuckled, reaching into his drawers before lifting out a white on and throwing on a pair of shorts. “It’s alright, looks better on you anyway.”
You sat up on your elbows in bed and cocked your head. “Are you flirting with me, Steve Harrington?”
Steve just shrugged and made his way to the door. “See you downstairs.”
He heard your small laugh as he closed the door behind him. You walked downstairs, still dressed the same but a little more put together – rather than pajama shorts, denim ones, and a bra underneath the Squawk t-shirt you’d worn to bed.
“It really does look better on you,” Steve whispered in your ear as he handed you your coffee. But the flirting was put on the bench for a moment.
“Robin’s about to set fire to the pan,” you told him as you took a sip of your coffee.
“No, she’s- oh, my god.”
Chuckling to yourself, you turned and took your seat at the breakfast table with the others, talking with Robin as Steve banned her from the kitchen stove.
Later that day, Steve drove everyone to the video store where they disappeared for at least an hour, renting different movies, buying snacks, before he drove back home and the backyard was turned into a baseball/swimming arena where, for a bunch of nerds who had spent most summers playing D&D, had pretty decent skills in sports, too.
It helped that they were still competitive as hell.
Thankfully, the afternoon passed by without any bleeding noses or cuts. And, by the time the movie section of the evening came around, the kids including both Robin and Steve were tuckered out from the running and swimming.
As you were taking a short break in the silence of the kitchen, washing off plates and other dishes, you felt a familiar hand coast under your shirt and across your stomach.
Steve soon laid his head on your shoulder.
“Hey,” you smiled and spoke softly. “Tired?”
“Exhausted. But, in like, the best way.”
You chuckled. “I’m glad.”
“Needed some silence?”
You nodded. “I love their noise, but I’ve been so used to just the sound of pen against paper or the computer for months. It’s taking my brain a minute to adjust.”
“You don’t have to worry about it.”
“Enjoy the calm, enjoy the chaos.”
Steve smiled as you spun in his arms. “Only the good chaos.”
“Good chaos?”
Steve hummed. “Something Dustin told me about D&D. There’s good chaos and there’s bad chaos. I figure,” Steve took a breath as his fingers slipped through the belt loops of your shorts. “We’ve had enough bad chaos to last us a lifetime. This time, we just keep the good chaos.”
You smiled. “Good chaos? I like it.”
Steve smiled and looked at you. “You really do look much better in this t-shirt than I ever did.”
“I’m starting to think you’re no longer flirting with me,” you told him. “But you’re just jealous that I look better in your old uniform.”
Steve chuckled. “That’s exactly what it is.”
You shrugged. “Same you had to give up your Rockin’ Robin radio gig. You could have printed more colours, maybe some hats.”
“Hats?”
You nodded. “Then your baseball team out there would have something more efficient to shield their eyes with.”
Steve chuckled. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Did you hear back from the coaching job?”
Steve couldn’t stop the smile on his face. “I did.”
“And?” You asked, already hopeful.
“You’re looking at the new sports coach of Hawkins education,” Steve beamed.
“Oh, my god!” Reaching up, you hugged him tight. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“I only found out this afternoon. Just before I dragged you into the pool.”
You gasped. “I knew it hadn’t been Mrs Byers on the phone!” You whisper-shouted. “You were being way too cryptic.”
Steve nodded. “Also, I’m the new Sex Ed teacher.”
You nearly laughed. “What?”
“It’s part of the gig.”
You chuckled. “You…you are aware you’re gonna have to teach our kids about Sex Ed next year?”
“What?” Steve had gone from overjoyed about the coaching job, to slight anxiety and fear over your statement.
You nodded. “Don’t worry about it, you’ll do great.”
“I-I can’t talk to them about…that.”
“Steve,” you said. “If it makes you feel any better, they probably already know how a condom works, how to prevent pregnancy and avoid STDs.”
Steve relaxed a little, but only for a moment. “Well who taught them that?!”
You just laughed. “Come on, Steve. Where did you learn?”
“Oh. Right.”
Stepping out of his grip, you turned back to the dishes. “They’ll be okay, Steve. And so will you.”
Steve smiled, trying his best to ignore the awkward conversation he was just a few months away from having with the kids he’d practically helped raise. “What about you? Have you heard from the Board yet?”
You shook your head. “Not yet. I won’t hear about my results until the middle of August.”
“You don’t have to wait, I can tell you now that you’ve passed it all, and you’ll get the job at the Firm.”
You nodded, trying to push your anxiety behind you. “Thanks.”
“I mean it. You’re crazy smart and, knowing all of us, we’re gonna need to know a good lawyer or two.”
You smiled and leaned back into Steve as he gently knocked your shoulder with his.
A few hours later, the kids were either in bed or asleep on the sofa. Meanwhile, you and Steve headed upstairs to bed, climbing under the crocheted cover once more.
“Steve?” You asked once the quiet had finally settled over both you and Steve.
He hummed in response. You could feel the tired gravel of his voice rattle in his chest, under your hand.
“This morning…when you were flirting with me…”
He hummed again, but not as relaxed. Leaning up to face him in the moonlight, you took a moment. His heartbeat under your hand sped up a little.
“If that was you flirting…” You took a quiet breath. “I want you to know that you don’t have to flirt with me to get my attention.”
Opening his eyes after a silent moment, he looked at you.
“You don’t,” you confirmed.
It wasn’t the first time you and Steve had a conversation between a simple look. And you doubted it would be the last.
“Really?”
He sounded…hopeful.
You nodded. “Yeah.”
The arm he already had wrapped around you lowered down your back until his hand hit your hip. He squeezed it gently three times before letting his other hand reach out to cup your jaw.
“C-can I?”
You swallowed and nodded in the quiet. “Yes.”
For the first time, Steve Harrington kissed you.
And rather than being weird or confusing or starting feelings of uncertainty about your friendship with him, it just felt…
Normal.
Almost like
Finally.
Sitting up a little further, Steve pulled you closer to him until you were straddled over his thighs and he could feel every part of you against his own.
“Finally,” he breathed as his hand tangled in your hair and he rested his head against your own.
You had no words. His kiss had left you speechless.
Literally speechless.
“And,” Steve swallowed, his heart hammering in his chest. “For the record. I’ll never stop flirting with you.”
You felt yourself blush as you smiled. “Good.”
With his gently holding the side of your neck and jaw, he pulled you in for another breathtaking kiss.
When you and Steve decided to officially tell people three weeks later, neither you nor Steve had planned for such loud and celebratory screams to come from both your kids, as well as the baseball team Steve started coaching for the summer.
