reading english fanfiction written by british people kind of kills me sometimes because why are you guys just casually dropping "twat" and "reckon" and "pyjamas". Like I found out that "mug" is british slang for a face from reading a Steve Harrington x Eddie Munson fanfiction. No joke. Love this cultural exposure but goddamn.
tags: fluff, banter, steve being steve, some angst, some gore - like in the show, s4 canon adjacent
a/n: no summary since this is pretty self-explanatory. hope you have a good read! feedback is appreciated!
one.
The Wheeler basement is warm, separated from the world, the Upside-Down, the lab. Shielded from trouble. A distraction from whatever danger lies ahead. The kids are sitting around a table with Eddie, who is making a face at them — they're engrossed in what seems to be quite a stressful game of DnD. You don't try to pretend that you understand it.
Nancy is half-asleep on Robin's shoulder who is reading the latest "Teen Beat". Beside you, Steve's busy shooting daggers at the kids table, one of his arms curled behind you on the couch. Not quite touching you, but close enough that you remember it's there once every few minutes.
"Do you want to kill your only best friend?" you ask and Steve pries his eyes away from the group to look at you, eyebrows still furrowed.
"Wha— look, it's just that the kid barely tells me anything anymore, okay? I'm just a little — "
"Jealous?" you interrupt.
"— worried," Steve finishes, mouth twisting into a frown at your words.
You pout at him. "Aww, that's sweet. Mama's worried."
Steve shoots you a look. "Tease all you want, but if something happens to that little shit, it's on me, you know?"
"Aw, I'm sure Dustin loves you too."
Steve gives you another stink eye, then turns back to the kids. You try your best to suppress the smile that tugs at the corners of your lips.
A beat passes before Steve quips again, absentmindedly picking at some loose threads on the arm of the sofa, still gazing at the kids.
"I mean, I worry about the other kids too. About all of us. Robin, Nance. You."
You try to ignore the warmth that mushrooms across your chest.
"Should I be scared that you're worried about me, Harrington?"
He looks back at you. There's a twinkle in his eyes, that flares up that new found feeling in your stomach. You don't want to acknowledge it but it begs for your attention.
"Maybe."
two.
Steve walks eight paces under your window before deciding that he's going to do it. He finds a small pebble in the yard and tosses it at the window, praying to anyone who's up there listening, that you're awake.
Much to his relief, you open the window a minute later and peer down at him in the darkness. You seem to stare at him for a moment— understandably so, given the ungodly hour— and then gesture for him to come up.
Two tries later, Steve is tumbling through the window and into your room.
"Shhhh," you mutter to him in the dark, and he freezes, stilling himself beside your desk.
"What are you doing here?" you ask, voice an octave lower than usual and Steve realises with a start that you had been sleeping after all. If your slightly puffy eyes and pink pajamas are any indication.
"You look like hell," you add, looking him up and down. He hadn't changed from his slacks and white t-shirt and his hair was probably rough from all the tossing and turning. Thankfully though, you don't seem mad. Only confused.
"Right, um," he begins and then shuts up. Now that he's here, he realises how terribly pathetic it is for him to be doing this. How cowardly, how very unmanly.
"Steve?" you ask, reaching out to grab his shoulder. You're so warm, he almost sighs out loud.
"Shit. Yeah. Hi. So, I did come here," he says, but stops again. Because how can he say what he wants to say? How do you tell someone that your house it too big, too empty? That the halls go on forever without a soul in sight? That he lies awake at night, wondering what he would do if he found himself all alone in the world much like he is in his house?
"Earth to Steve," you call again, and now there is concern seeping into your eyes but Steve really, really doesn't know what to say. He simply looks back at you, something cold unfurling in his chest.
"Uh, can I sleep here?" is all he can muster. He braces himself for your reaction, for you to call this weird and refuse but you only tilt your head ever so slightly.
"Of course," is all you say too. There's some recognition in your eyes that leaves him feeling bare but he is grateful that you don't say anything else. He watches you plop into bed and pull one pillow to the corner that is by the wall and fluff it up.
"Okay," he says glancing around your room, "Just give me a pillow, a blanket and I'm good to go."
You stop in your journey of trying to find one edge of the blanket and look up at him, eyebrows knitted.
"Good to go where?"
"Sleep on the floor I mean."
You look at him like he has grown two heads and then pat the space on the bed beside you.
"Don't be stupid. Sleep beside me, there's plenty of room."
three.
"Find it?" Steve calls from beside the bed just as you spot the locket under a couple of envelopes in your drawer. It a pretty large thing— you're not sure how you had missed it the first time. You open the locket to reveal a set of pictures. One of Max, when she was about nine, and other, of your mother.
"Yeah," you answer, putting your arms around and behind your neck to try and clasp the chain together. The darned thing is too small unfortunately and your arms grow sore before you know it.
"Jesus. Here," Steve mutters, having spotted your struggle from where he had been trying to find the necklace under your bed. Without waiting for your response, he gently plucks the delicate chain from your fingers and moves behind you.
The chain clasps together with a satisfying click. As he lets go of it, the tips of his fingers brush ever so gently against your spine and you watch him in the mirror as his eyes move from your neckline to your face.
"All done," he whispers, breath warm on your neck. You can feel his silhouette behind you — those broad shoulders and arms that you don't want to imagine being held by.
But you do anyway.
"Thanks for doing this with me," you whisper, without taking your eyes off of him in the reflection of the mirror. He doesn't look away and your heart skips two beats.
Your fingers fidget with the locket.
"I'm just worried about Max," you say and then bite your tongue, surprised by your own admission. Something in his eyes— it catches in your chest and coaxes your concerns out of you.
"Hey, hey," he says softly, turning you around to face him, his hand slipping into yours. The touch sends a spark up your arm, but it warms you.
All this while, you had been trying to put on a brave face for your sister. But standing in your house, being faced with memories you only think of on the coldest nights— the reality impales you with a terrifying finality. A tear escapes the corner of your eye.
You don't want to see the ruth in Steve's face as he tilts your head towards him with a soft Hey. His eyes are round but far from pitiful.
"She's going to be okay. We're going to make sure that she's alright."
four.
Steve's throat is closing up. A demobat's tail wrapped firmly around his neck restricts all airflow as a swarm of its siblings sink their fangs into his sides. Metal coats his mouth, the agonizing pain sending a shockwave though his body. He can't even scream; the sound builds and dies in his throat. The incessant attacks provide him a surge of adrenaline to thrash at the bat's tail, but in vain. Its grip is too tight. He can already feel the energy start to drain out of his arms as his brain begins to shut down.
If it has to end this way, Steve thinks, he wants to see you before it does. The Upside-Down starts to dim before his eyes as he tries to picture your smile. Radiant, warm. Everything this hell-hole isn't.
Then suddenly, the demobats are screeching around him and his sides are not being torn apart anymore.
Steve's eyes shoot open, to find you looming above him — cheeks streaked with tears and grime, fending off the incoming swarm of bats with a boat paddle. Your presence seems to give him a bolster. He tightens his grip on the bat's tail and bites off a chunk. The wretched creature screeches, instantly loosening its grip on his neck and the oxygen rushes into his throat — almost choking him, but it is a welcome pain. Feeling returns to his fingertips in the form of a faint buzzing.
Standing up and swaying slightly, he swings the creature around by it's tail, slamming it to the ground with a final thud before using his foot to rip it in half. The blood streaks across his slacks but he is too tired to care.
Three things register in his head. One) You are here, in the Upside-Down. So are Robin, Nancy and Eddie. Two) He is alive. Three) You're throwing yourself at him and he immediately wraps his arms around you, shaking. You are trembling too, and a sob bubbles up from your throat.
"What—" he pants into your hair, "What are you doing here?"
You pull back and reach for his face, cupping his cheek. It is too dark to be entirely sure but save for a couple of scratches you seem mostly unharmed. Your eyes are swimming with tears and he desperately wants to comfort you but his on hand is shaking so badly, he is glad you're there to steady him.
"You didn't come up for 3 minutes," you run your thumb across his cheekbone.
"How could I just leave you?"
five.
"You okay in there?" Steve's voice jolts you from your thoughts.
Nancy and Robin trudge several feet ahead of you, Robin's flashlight swinging wildly as she talks animatedly. You look up at Steve, and try to gauge if you should lie or tell the truth.
"I'm just thinking about what pizza I'm getting after we torch this asshole," you quip after a moment and Steve laughs. A good laugh— the kind that travels up your chest and warms your being.
"I'm assuming it's classic margherita?" He asks, slowing down to keep up pace with you. He swings his torch around, keeping an eye out for any movement.
You scoff. "What do you take me for, Harrington? I have taste, alright?"
He laughs again and it is a truly wonderful sound. "Alright, alright. Then what is it?"
"Well, we'll find out if we all make it out alive, eh?" You regret the words as soon as you say them. A silence falls between you again, cold and clammy, much like the surrounding air or lack there of.
A moment passes before Steve nudges his shoulder into yours. "The first thing I wanna do if I make it out alive is talk to this girl."
You turn to look at him, puzzled, but he's looking at the ground, gaze trained on the light thrown by his torch in front of him.
"Tell her how I feel."
You feel your heartbeat rise just ever so slightly just as a branch snaps under Steve's foot. He kicks it aside and steps over a vine.
"She works at Family Video with Robin and I. I only met her a few months ago, but I feel like I've known her forever, you know? She gets me, and I know I am a little stupid about somethings but I get her. She is the only thing that makes complete sense to me. She's so smart, so brave, so beautiful and she— she makes me laugh. She makes me laugh so much."
Steve jumps over a wide log, and you feel like your heart has grown wings and fluttered it's way out of it's cage.
Every word of his feels like it's filling you with air, lifting you gently off the ground. It feels too much, like you're dreaming and might wake up anytime soon, crying about losing something so perfect.
"Steve," you manage, but your voice is weak and croaky. If Steve hears you, he doesn't look at you.
"We've been through so much together, in such less time and I don't think I could have made it this far if it wasn't for her. I don't.. I don't want to share this with anybody else. If I don't make it out alive... my only regret would be not telling her this. And telling her that—" he pauses in his tracks and finally turns to look at you. The expression on his face knocks the wind out of you. Nobody has ever looked at you this way.
"That.. I love you," he says, voice soft as silk and all you can do is close the space between you two to pull him in for a kiss.
You didn’t think, not for a second, not when you had first realised you liked him, that Steve Harrington would return your feelings that you kept so well-guarded. You imagined that friendship was as far as it would go, and tried your best to be indifferent to the growing feelings in your heart.
But the truth was, Steve got you like nobody did. Saw you like nobody else did.
When Steve pulls back, his eyes are shining with something so fierce, you think you might burn under his gaze.
"I love you too," you whisper against his lips and he sighs as if a humongous weight has been lifted off of him. You kiss him once more, then twice and rest your forehead against his. The smile on his face fills you with a newfound courage to face the impending doom.
KC Foster is new to Hawkins and has attracted the attention of one Steve Harrington. But as the two get closer, Steve learns that KC perhaps has just as many secrets as he does.
Genre: Angst, fluff, hurt, comfort, Steve Harrington x OC x Jonathon Byers
Content Warnings: alcohol, drugs, self harm, sexual assault
-he definitely has adhd!! he stims a lot by playing w his hair and his rings, his adhd is also part of why he did so badly in school. often he was just unable to focus or would forget abt school work since it didn’t interest him.
-despite how bad his grades are he’s always been rlly good at creative writing ever since he was a kid. he was definitely the type to have grown up reading multiple books a week when he was younger. he’d always get marked down in english classes for going “off topic” in essays or exceeding the page limit.
-he kind of has a thing for preppy jock guys and he HATES it lmaoo. he likes to pretend he’s above them all and their superficial charm but rlly he’s just crushing on them.
-he’s very close with wayne, who is pretty much his dad at this point. when wayne found out eddie was gay he was accepting and had suspected it beforehand but it worried him that it could make his life more difficult. They don’t talk about it all that often but whenever it comes up eddie feels comforted by wayne’s support.
-eddie gets along with kids really well, not just at the highschool but in general. despite this he thinks that he’d be a shitty dad bc of his father but deep down he wants to have a kid some day, even if it feels unrealistic to him.
-his favorite holiday is Halloween, partly because of the dressing up and overall theatrics and horror but also because he loves handing out Halloween candy. every year since he was 14 and deemed too old to trick or treat he dresses up and stands by the door with a bowl and waits for the kids from across the trailer park to show up. he always compliments their costumes and asks them about it. over time he memorizes most of the local kids’ favourite candies and always gives them extra.
-eddie started dealing drugs when wayne got fired from his old job. he rememebred his dad doing it after getting laid off when he was a kid. it was supposed to be temporary until wayne got hired somewhere but once he started it was hard to stop. he feels a lot of guilt over it.
-him and nancy get along really well. they both admire each other a lot and have this unspoken respect between them. they’re both bookworms and annoy tf out of steve and robin by talking abt whatever they’re reading for ages. sometimes they’ll buy two copies of the same book for the other so they can read it at the same time and talk about it. nancy in particular really likes reading books with eddie, she and barb used to do that all the time.
-robin and eddie are also great friends, they have a very similar sense of humor and will commit to a bit for wayyyyyy too long. one time eddie joked that robin was his wife and they acted like an old married couple for almost a week. they also have the same taste in movies and tv shows and watch a lot of stuff together. robin is also eddie’s most successful case of trying to introduce everyone to metal. she likes some metallica and judas priest but not iron maiden.
-eddie’s love language is physical touch and so is steve’s which means that both of them are super annoying and not very subtle in front of any of their friends. steve in particular is surprisingly clingy and always has to be touching eddie if they’re in the same room. like there will be an entire couch for the two of them but they’ll be smushed in one corner by the arm rest.
-wayne isn’t naturally a very affectionate guy but since he was a kid eddie has been big on hugging him. it was something his dad never did but when wayne took him in after his dad got locked up without thinking he ran and clinged to him. wayne didn’t push him away, just stood there and let the kid hold onto him, awkwardly patting his back a bit. since then wayne has gotten used to it. eddie’s leaving the house? he hugs wayne goodbye. he’s awake when wayne comes back from work? eddie hugs him to say hello. eddie passes a test? he hugs him to congratulate him. it’s one of the things eddie loves the most about his uncle, he may be quiet and have this tough exterior but he’s always there for him, he always communicates in the way he knows eddie needs.
-eddie is really talented when it comes to guitar, often he’s able to figure out chords and notes by listening to a song a couple times and picks it up really quickly, he never took any actual guitar lessons, when he was younger wayne gave him an old acoustic guitar and showed him the very basics to give eddie something to do while he was at work. since then eddie has been playing almost everyday.
Harringroveson band au would be so good though cause like Eddie and Billy could be in a band and they're looking for a vocalist but then they hear Steve one day in the music room singing whatever pop song and they want him so bad but Steve has no interest in rock music.