Summary: Steve has one year left to get you to talk to him, and he doesn’t realize how much he loves the game until you let him win.
Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader
Steve Appreciation Week Day 7 Prompt: Song lyrics - “Living love in slow motion” - 18 by One Direction
Word Count: 2032
A/N: My final entry for Steve Appreciation Week! I loved writing for one of my favorite characters, and thank you to everyone who read my pieces! Hope y’all enjoy this last one x
It was the first day of senior year, and the last thing on Steve’s mind was love.
This year was his last at Hawkins before moving on to bigger and brighter things - hopefully outside of Indiana - and he wasn’t going to let anything distract him from the ultimate dream: graduation.
Glancing down at the note in his hand, he made his way to his first class of the day - English Lit.
Name tags were on each desk, and Steve wandered around the room trying to find his. Finally finding it on a desk in the back, close to the windows, he dropped his books on top of the laminate and sat down.
Glancing to his right, he saw a familiar face sitting next to him.
“Funny finding you here,” He whispered, his eyes concentrating on the writing across the chalkboard.
You snorted, saying nothing.
“We’re doing this again?” He looked over at you, grinning cheekily as you kept looking straight ahead, avoiding his gaze.
Ever since freshman year, you and Steve shared one class together, without fail. And somehow, you always ended up sitting next to each other, at one point or another.
Every single time, Steve would try to provoke a response out of you, but you refused to give in.
You knew “King” Steve, and you weren’t really up for his distracting antics during class. Thus, you never responded to his questions or whispered commentary during class discussions.
Steve had made it a goal of his to get you to answer him at least once before graduation, and he was reminded of that as he settled back into his seat as the final bell rang.
Game on.
Just before the bell was supposed to ring, Steve slipped you a note, his gaze concentrated on the teacher’s lecture. Eyebrows raised in confusion, you flipped the scrap piece of paper open, keeping a straight face as you read his chicken scratch handwriting.
Shall we make a bet out of this ‘not answering me’ charade of yours?
If I get so much as a LAUGH out of you, you have to come to one of my house parties. I need you to have a life out of school, dude. Deal?
As the bell started to ring, you scrawled your answer on the back of the paper, tossing it on Steve’s desk without a second glance.
He picked it up and read your reply, a wide smile dawning on his lips as he made his way out of the room, tucking the piece of paper in his pocket.
Game on, Harrington.
Steve made sure to get to class ten minutes before the bell, giving himself an ample amount of time to try and get a reaction out of you before class began.
And every day, without fail, you managed to keep a straight face and wired shut lips, your eyes not even sneaking a glance at the ever-frustrated Steve falling back in his seat in defeat.
“How long can you keep this up?” He whispered to you, his eyes watching the teacher as they paced back and forth in the front of the room. He glanced over, and saw you were diligently doing your work, your eyes following the glide of your hand across the paper.
Shaking his head, he turned back to his own worksheet, an unstoppable smile spreading across his lips as he got to writing.
It was February now, and Steve still had no luck when it came to you.
Friday was Valentine’s Day, and that’s when an idea struck Steve.
Valentines.
Enlisting Dustin’s help, the two of them spent the whole night bringing Steve’s idea to life. All that was left was making sure it got you to laugh.
The clock struck 7:45, and the first warning bell rang out in the halls. Making his way to the classroom, Steve pulled out the green envelope that had your name written across it.
Setting it on your desk, he dropped his books on his desk and headed out to the bathroom.
You walked in, handing in your homework to your teacher before moving on to your desk. Noticing the green envelope from afar, you glanced around the room, looking to see where Steve was.
Not here. Weird.
Placing your books on the desk, you pulled out the card nestled inside the envelope. You glanced up to see if Steve had walked in, but still, nothing.
On the front of the card was a pink dinosaur, smiling while surrounded by a bunch of doodled hearts. Opening it up, you found another version of the dinosaur holding a sign. It read “I’m en-Raptored by you!”.
You bit your tongue back as you smiled at the Valentine’s card, shaking your head as you slipped it back inside the envelope.
Right then, Steve walked back into the room, and spotted the green stationary in your hand. He dashed across the room, almost tripping over his own two feet trying to get to his desk.
You looked over at him, smiling dissipating as he met your gaze.
“Please tell me you didn’t open it yet,” he said, eyes wide as he waited for you to answer.
You said nothing as you merely opened up one of your books, and slipped the envelope in.
“Seriously? Nothing?” He groaned in frustration, the ringing bell drowning out his anguish as you turned back to face the board, trying your best to fight back the smile threatening to take over.
So close.
Graduation was only a couple weeks away, and Steve was getting nowhere with you.
Every day, he showed up to class with a few jokes up his sleeve, and yet, nothing.
At one point he questioned if you had a heart and a soul, which still earned him no response.
As he grew more and more desperate, you began to wonder if it was time to end his torment.
After all, it had been four years. Graduation was only weeks away, and you figured maybe it was time to make good use of Steve’s bet.
Another Friday morning, and Steve was about thirty seconds away from giving up.
But just one more time. It’s all or nothing, Steve thought to himself as he saw you walk in. Sitting up straighter in his seat, he ran a hand through his hair, focusing his gaze on the chalkboard as you took your seat next to him.
“Never seen you come in so close to the bell - you pick up some new friends at the bookstore last night?”
“No, but I’m sure you could do with some.” As Steve’s jaw dropped at hearing you fire back at him, you didn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing your facial expressions as he laughed, shaking his head.
“I thought I’d be dead before I heard you talk to me!”
“When’s the party, Harrington? I need to get this over with,” You were focused on your planner, but you could feel Steve staring at you.
“You being serious? You’ll actually do it?”
You glanced over at him and nodded, smiling as you heard him congratulate himself on succeeding.
“My place, 9:30pm, tomorrow night. Solid?”
“Yeah.”
The last thing on Steve’s mind as graduation loomed overhead was love.
And yet here he was, anxiously waiting on the edge of his seat for you to show up at the party.
The music was blaring, people were drinking, and all he could think about was how elated he was that he’d finally gotten something out of you. A smile and a sarcastic remark, all in one.
How lucky was he.
After all this time, and he’d finally won. Steve was still a little hazy as to why this made him feel so… content, but he pushed away the thought as he downed the last of his drink.
As he set down his cup, he heard the doorbell ring.
Everything around him seemed to freeze in motion as he made his way to the door, his heartbeat loud in his ears.
On the other side of the door, he found you with a twelve pack of beer in one hand, a bag of chips in the other, and a flower tucked behind your ear.
“I come bearing gifts for King Steve,” You said loudly, gently shoving the twelve pack into Steve’s grasp as you walked into the foyer.
“You know me so well!” He said, rushing to catch up to you as you threaded your way through the loud crowd of drunken classmates.
Propping yourself up on the kitchen island, you watched as Steve put away the beer in a cooler, his cheeks flushed red from the rising temperature of the growing crowd.
“C’mere,” He shouted over the loud music, taking your hand in his.
You didn’t protest, following him up the stairs, his grip tight as he tried not to lose you.
He pulled you into his bedroom, and for a moment, you almost started to panic.
“Harrington, what’re we doing-”
“Here,” He pointed to the window opposite you. “Figured if we were finally gonna talk, we might as well do it where we can hear each other,”
Steve opened the window and stuck his leg out, gathering balance before sticking his hand out to you.
“You scared of sitting on the roof or what?” You shook your head now, and took his hand.
Leaning right up against the ledge of his window, you finally sat down next to Steve, and handed him the bag of chips you had been holding this whole time.
“Is this my prize for winning the bet?” He asked, grinning when you rolled your eyes.
“Your prize for winning was me coming to this party, Harrington. The chips are my way of coping with the fact that I’m actually here now,”
As the two of you each took a handful out of the bag and looked up at the starry night sky, your mind couldn’t help but wonder why Steve was so adamant about talking to you.
After all, it wasn’t like you’d ever said or done anything that could’ve piqued his interest.
Dropping the last chip in his mouth, Steve dusted off his hands on the sides of his jeans.
“You wanna know something?” he asked, his eyes still star gazing.
“Sure,” You replied, poking a finger at the remaining chips in your palm.
“I can’t believe it took me almost seven months to get a smile out of you,” he chuckled softly, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he dropped his gaze from the sky. “I don’t even know why I cared so much,” he whispered, running a hand through his hair.
“Because you just had to win, Steve,” You mumbled, laughing gently as you hugged your knees to your chest, resting your head on top.
“It’s… it can’t be just that though, can it?” Steve sighed, brushing back a stray piece of hair off his cheek.
“Well, what else could it be?”
You looked over at him, and he looked at you, and for a brief moment, everything around you; the sounds of drunk teenagers, insects, and blaring music ceased to exist as you looked at one another.
As if you were mesmerized by each other.
Without hesitation, you both leaned in, your eyes still focused on one another’s; Steve’s breath mixing with yours as your foreheads met, barely touching.
“Living love in slow motion, are we?” You whispered breathlessly, your lips brushing against Steve’s as he laughed.
“Let me kiss you already,” He retorted, not letting you answer him as he finally pressed his lips against yours, his hands suddenly pressed to your cheeks, your hand resting on his chest.
You break away first, cheeks flushed with heat as you tried to catch your breath.
“By the way… you won in February. I… I just didn’t say anything because I thought you’d get bored of me,” You shrugged your shoulders, dropping your gaze from Steve’s as he just tilted his head.
“I could never get bored of you, sweetheart,” He said, cupping your cheek gingerly as he leaned in and gave you another kiss. “After all, the night is still wide open.”
can’t tag everyone as i’m in a rush but here’s a few:
A/N: Steve Week Day 4: Crossover. Stranger Things meets How I Met your Mother. Characters are of legal drinking age since HIMYM basically takes place in a bar.
“All right, Harrington. Are you ready to play our favorite game?” Robin asked.
“And which game is that again?”
Robin smirked. “Have you met Steve?”
“No,” Steve said almost immediately. “The last time we played ‘Have you met Steve?’ I ended up with a drink thrown in my face.”
“Yes, but today is a new day, my young Padawan.”
“Okay, seriously, you have to at least try to stop with the Star Wars references.”
Robin raised her drink. “Do, or do not. There is no try.” Steve groaned as she downed her drink. Robin turned to you, tapping your shoulder. “Hi! Have you met Steve?”
“Um, no I haven’t,” you said to the brunette. You looked over at the guy she was talking about. “Hi Steve. I’m Y/N.”
Robin slipped away, causing Steve to roll his eyes. “I’m really sorry, Y/N. My friend over there was just playing a dumb game. You can go back to whoever you’re here with.”
“I’m actually here by myself. I just moved to Manhattan, so I don’t really know anyone yet.”
Steve slid onto the stool next to you. “Well then Y/N, can I buy you a drink?”
***
The pounding on the door woke Steve from his slumber. He groaned, rolling onto his stomach.
“Go away!”
“Not until you tell me what happened last night!” Robin shouted from the other side of the door.
Steve continued to ignore her, but minutes later Robin was leaning over him.
“What the hell!?” he shouted. “I didn’t even hear the door open.” He walked past her. “And it’s still locked! How did you get in here?”
Robin scoffed. “Please.”
“You’re terrifying sometimes. You know that, right?”
“Thank you. Now, tell me everything. You’re sad love life is my only form of entertainment since Game of Thrones ended.”
Steve sighed. “If you must know, nothing really happened.”
“Ouch, a swing and a miss.”
“I mean, I wouldn’t say that exactly.”
Robin’s ears perked up. “Oh? Do tell.”
He looked at the floor, trying to hide his smile. “I don’t know, we hit it off pretty well. Had a few drinks. Talked about random stuff. And then she gave me her number and told me to text her sometime.”
Robin clutched her chest. “Oh, my baby boy’s all grown up.”
Steve rolled his eyes, still smiling as he left his bedroom in search for breakfast.
Jonathan and Nancy were sitting on the couch, feeding each other pancakes. Ever since they got engaged, they had become insufferable. They were in a constant Honeymoon phase that was disturbing for anyone else to witness.
Steve walked into the kitchen with Robin trailing behind.
“So, are you going to see her again?” Robin asked.
“I was actually gonna text her after breakfast.”
“Woah, slow down there cowboy. You met this girl last night. You can’t text her the morning after. You’ll send off some super creepy vibes,” Robin said as she stole one of Steve’s pancakes when his back was turned.
“Well, that’s your opinion,” he said.
Nancy had overheard the conversation between Steve and Robin, and made her way into the kitchen.
“Robin’s right,” Nancy said. “It hasn’t even been a full day since you last saw her. You’ll come across as clingy.”
“Jonathan was clingy when you first met,” Steve said.
“But we met in college and lived down the hall from one another. It’s not like we could avoid each other,” Nancy responded.
Jonathan strolled over when he heard his name mentioned. “I think it’s sweet to text the next day,” he said. Nancy and Robin turned to stare at him. Jonathan shrugged his shoulders. “Steve and I can’t help it. We’re hopeless romantics, unlike you two.”
“It’s settled then. I’m texting her,” Steve said, taking his phone out of his pocket.
Robin shook her head. “It’s your funeral.”
Steve typed out an invite to lunch and sent the message, but after several hours came and went, there was no response.
“Sorry, Steve,” Nancy said as she flipped on the TV.
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. There’s plenty of other girls in New York.”
Nancy patted Steve’s shoulder. “Hey, this’ll cheer you up,” she said, pointing at the TV. “A dog just stopped a robbery at the convenience store a few blocks from here. Oh look, he’s being interviewed!”
Steve glanced up at the TV to see your face on the screen beside the dog. “That’s her!” he shouted.
“That’s who?” Nancy asked.
“Y/N!”
“She’s a news reporter?”
“Yeah, I remember her mentioning it last night. Something about having to do the cutesy-type stories until she gets promoted.” Steve’s eyes widened. “Wait, you said this was a few blocks from here?”
“Yeah, that little store next to the pizza place we always go to.”
Steve jumped off the couch, grabbed his keys, and sprinted out the door. He pushed past all the people on the sidewalk until he finally arrived at the store.
Your eyes locked with his as he came inside. Steve waved, making you smile.
After you had finished your segment, you turned to your crew. “I’ll see you guys back at the station.”
Steve came up to you, his hands in his jacket pockets.
“What are you doing here?” you asked.
“Oh, I just wanted to see the dog that saved the day. Thought maybe he could sign something for me.”
“You’re out of luck; Pickles isn’t giving out any autographs today.”
Steve clicked his tongue. “Darn, that’s too bad.”
You giggled. “What are you really doing here?”
“I wanted to see you again. I texted you this morning, and I thought I blew it by coming off as too clingy. I mean, Nancy and Robin said I should’ve waited to text you, but Jonathan told me to go for it. But then I saw you on the news and—”
You put your hand up to stop him. “Take a breath, Steve.”
“Right. Sorry.” He scratched his head and released a deep breath. “Do you want to go to lunch with me? Actually, I guess it would be dinner at this point.”
You beamed at him. “I’d love to.”
***
“And that, kids, is how I met your mother,” Steve said to your twin babies who had fallen asleep in his arms during the story.
“You know they can’t understand you yet, right?” you chuckled, leaning against the door frame.
Steve smiled up at you. “I know. I’ll just have to tell them again when they’re older.” He laid both babies in their respective cribs and slowly closed the door, following you out of the room.
You intertwined your fingers with his as you dragged him into your shared bedroom and pulled him down onto the bed. Steve was hovering over top of you, your hands resting on his shoulders.
“When they’re older, and you tell them about our first date, you should probably leave out the bit at the end,” you told him.
“Do you mean this part?” Steve pressed a slow kiss to your lips before pulling away. “Or this?” He trailed more kisses across your jaw towards you ear to whisper into it. “Or what about this?” He pinned your wrists above your head with one hand while the other hand wrapped your leg around his hip.
“Steve…” you whispered, before he collided his lips with yours once more.
He released you momentarily to undress himself as you stared up at him.
“Definitely do not tell them about any of this part.”
He chuckled before hovering over you once more, speaking softly against your lips. “As you wish, Mrs. Harrington.”
