just what I needed - part one
in which the girl of steve harrington’s dreams visits hawkins and their worlds collide.
steve harrington x original female character
(if you would like an 'x reader' version of this story please let me know! I am more than happy to write it that way!)
summary: as he tries to recover (again) from his nancy-induced heartbreak, steve meets ginger, a pregnant girl his age who is visiting hawkins to help her grandparents move out of town.
(set in the canon stranger things universe and timeline, after the events of season 4. also this is meant to be a multi-chapter story so it's a bit of a slow burn, but I promise it'll pick up in part two.)
content warnings: pregnancy, mentions of sex/sexual acts (in relation to pregnancy/conceiving), steve having mommy/daddy issues, minor use of explicit language (but nothing major that I can think of), please lmk if you find any more that should be mentioned.
word count: about 3.9k-ish (this is so long I'm sorry)
author’s note: so this is a concept I’ve been thinking of and wanting to write for awhile but I wasn’t really sure what to do with it/if people would want to read it (this is my first time posting writing/a fanfic on tumblr). I mainly write screenplays so this was a bit of a change for me, but I had the absolute best time working on it! I'm a bit nervous to post this just because it's my first time posting writing on here, but I really really hope you enjoy it. please let me know your thoughts and tell me if you’d like to read more of this story (I was planning on making it three or four parts total maybe if people are interested in reading it). your feedback is important and much appreciated! thank you so much for reading! <3
steve harrington was in a pickle— not that he hadn't been in this exact same pickle before. he's been pining over nancy wheeler (again) because, as he’s put it about a hundred times to his friends robin and dustin, she was just one of a kind. steve was particularly heartbroken this time around though, as he had recently revealed his deepest, darkest secret to nancy while they were on the brink of death together; he told her he wanted to have six children with her. six. children. with her. her response was more than disappointing for steve— she reconciled with her boyfriend right in front of him, as if she were rubbing it in his face that she loved jonathan and not him. never him. just as he thought he finally had another shot with her, that he was maybe finally good enough for her, reality hit and his RV dream came crashing down around him, the girl he so badly wanted to share it with leaving him to pick up all the pieces. steve was, to put it plainly, absolutely heartbroken. heartbroken and lonely. he had even stopped bothering to ask any of the girls who came into family video to go out, because every date just left him feeling lonelier than he did before. and he didn’t go off to college like he thought he should have, so he was stuck in this small, haunted town until further notice. he had his friends, of course— robin and the kids— but they would all grow up and graduate and, he figured, leave town someday much too soon, leaving him behind. but on a crisp tuesday in september of 1986, when he least expected it, things began to look up for steve harrington.
“ginger, honey, hurry up— we’re leaving,” was the last thing twenty-year old ginger rodgers (a funny coincidence of a name that she never quite forgave her parents for) heard before strapping into the backseat of her mother’s mercedes. she and her parents were headed to hawkins, indiana to help (but it was really more like force) ginger’s grandparents move, because— as her parents kept saying— the town just isn’t safe anymore and isn’t what it used to be. after a tragic fire at a shopping mall and a freak earthquake, the midwestern town was hardly the same quaint dwelling that ginger’s parents had grown up in. as for her own childhood, ginger’s upbringing was pretty white picket fence— full of spring break trips to disneyland, carefully curated christmas card photos, and backyard barbeques— but she had since grown apart from her dear mother and father due to, as they liked to put it, her challenging lifestyle choices. in other words, ginger had fallen pregnant. it was a pretty standard college fairy tale: her boyfriend (who wasn’t even really her boyfriend, they’d just gone on a few dates, but she had benevolently insisted to her parents that he was her boyfriend when recounting the story) had failed to succeed at the apparently tried-and-true pull out method, leaving ginger to miss her period, throw up in the dorm bathrooms, and scurry off to the pharmacy around the block to discreetly buy a box of pregnancy tests (she made sure no one from any of her classes was in the store at the same time, just incase they wanted to sneak a peek at her shameful purchase). when the dreaded little pink plus sign menacingly appeared on the test stick as she sat anxiously on the toilet the week before finals, ginger knew her life would never be the same. she didn’t tell her not-boyfriend before leaving for winter break, never to return to campus in the new year. after a holiday spent in silence with her bewildered parents, who couldn’t seem to understand how their baby girl had gone off to college just a few months prior and come back to them with child, ginger opted not to go back to school for the time being. she would stay in her hometown and find a job, as at the time, her parents seemed to have slightly shunned her, and she didn’t expect them to help with the costs that this lovely new adventure would bring (even though they could definitely afford it). but despite the freshly minted cracks in their relationship, when ginger’s parents told her about their impending trip to hawkins to help her mother’s parents leave the apparently scorned town, she jumped at the chance to escape her currently mundane reality of retail work nightmares and weird stares from neighbors she’d grown up with. a change of scenery will do you good, her father had said when she inquired about the trip. a change of scenery, it would turn out, was just what ginger needed.
“honey, here, why don’t you stop lifting things like I keep telling you and organize these,” ginger’s mother gestured to a disorganized stack of boxes that was really starting to pile up at the bottom of the stairs. helping her grandparents move was proving to be more challenging than ginger had initially expected— sure, she was pregnant, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t lift a measly box.
they were currently setting up for a yard sale (ginger’s grandmother had refused to let them call it an estate sale because that’s for old people) and despite her family’s badgering about how she shouldn’t be lifting anything too heavy and should just leave the big boxes for dad and that neighbor boy and his little friends who were coming by to help later, ginger felt useless. she had come all this way to help her grandparents move, and they wouldn’t even let her lift anything. never in her life had ginger wanted to carry a box so badly, so when her mother quickly became occupied with another yard sale matter, she decided to pick up a box that was probably too big and carry it out to the yard. as she carefully made her way outside, walking slowly but surely, she was caught red handed by an unfamiliar voice.
ginger could barley see over the humungous box that was nearly toppling out of her arms, but from what she could see, the voice belonged to a handsome young man who looked to be about her age. he approached her, his legs making long strides, his long— and beautiful, ginger mentally noted— hair flopping with every step he took. she had almost forgotten about the box that was weighing down her arms as he came closer.
“oh, no thanks, I got it.” she politely turned him down as she placed the box down by the other yard sale stuff, hoping it seemed like she had carried the box with ease (it hadn't).
steve was finally able to get a good look at ginger without the giant box in the way, and his eyes almost widened as he took in the sight of her pregnant belly that protruded through her sweater— how old was she? he had thought that she was probably somewhere around his age based on her face (which, he thought, was unmeasurably beautiful) but was she older? and where was her husband? and why didn't dustin tell him that he had such a gorgeous neighbor? ginger’s sweet voice, which steve had decided in that moment was unforgettable, interrupted his frantic train of thought:
“thank you for the offer though,” she said as she herself got a good look at him. he really was beautiful to look at, she thought, especially his hair. she thought about running her fingers through it, wondering what it might feel like if it touched her skin.
“I’m steve— I’m dustin’s friend. I guess he isn't here yet but he said his neighbors needed some help moving stuff for a yard sale today, and I thought maybe there would be some things that could be useful for the earthquake relief center. I’m guessing… you’re the neighbor?” he cut himself off, hoping he wasn’t rambling too much, not wanting her to know that she was making him nervous.
ginger was too preoccupied with her own spiraling thoughts to notice, however. wasn’t dustin in high school? why was his friend so… manly? where were the little friends her mother had mentioned earlier?
“oh, um, this is actually my grandparents’ house— I don’t live here. I’m just in town to help them move. I’m ginger, by the way,” she formally introduced herself as she stuck her hand out to him. he graciously took it, trying not to worry too much about whether his palms were sweaty or not.
“nice to meet you. how can I help?”
“well, there are a ton more boxes inside that I actually probably can’t lift myself. here, follow me.” she led him through the front door and into the house. "thank you so much for helping out, that's really nice of you. I didn't realize how nice people were here," she turned back to look at him, smiling. steve wanted to look at her smile for the rest of his life. he hadn't felt this way about anyone in awhile, especially not after knowing them for less than five minutes.
"oh, it's really no problem. dustin loves your grandma, and any friend of that dingus is a friend of mine, apparently." shit, he'd just referred to a child-- it was dustin, but still a child none the less-- as a dingus without even thinking. he prayed that she wouldn't hate him. to steve's utmost delight, however, his comment had made ginger crack up with laughter. he decided it was his new favorite sound. maybe he should record her laugh on tape incase vecna decided to come for him next.
now high off her laughter, steve continued to trail behind ginger as she made her way to the pile of boxes by the stairs, which had only grown since she last saw it.
"so this is all yard sale stuff. but if you'd like to see if there's anything you could take to the relief center first, please, be my guest." she gestured towards the boxes. "what kind of things do they need over there?" she knelt down, starting to shuffle through one of the boxes.
just as steve was about to answer, ginger's mother waltzed down the stairs, carrying even more things in her arms. her eyebrow quirked when she noticed steve.
"oh, no, mom, this is steve. he's dustin's friend, he came to help us out. isn't that so nice?" ginger quickly corrected her mother before steve had a chance to say anything, which was probably a good thing because his brain felt like it was short circuiting at the sound of her voice saying his name. he might not ever be able to get over it, he thought.
"that is very nice. thank you steve!" ginger's mother beamed at him.
"it's no problem at all. it's nice to meet you."
"likewise." she smiled as she added more unwanted things to the yard sale pile. "did your parents grow up here? I swear you look just like someone I went to school with... is your last name harrington?"
"guilty as charged." steve smiled awkwardly, hoping he didn't look as uncomfortable as he felt at the mention of his family.
"I knew you looked familiar! wow, isn't that something. you look just like your dad. but I bet you get that all the time."
steve grimaced at the mention of his father, trying hard not to show his discomfort. he hated that he couldn't escape the harrington name. and he was never close to his father, to say the least.
" yeah, sometimes." he forced a smile.
ginger's mother smiled, oblivious. "well, thanks again for helping us out. I've got to go see how things are going upstairs. your grandmother is supposed to be going through her closet but she's refusing to get rid of anything." she rolled her eyes jokingly as she ascended back up the stairs.
"I'm sorry about that," ginger said apologetically to steve once her mother was out of earshot. he looked at her almost as if to say why? but he knew that she'd already read him like a book.
"oh, it's okay. I do get that a lot, actually. benefit of living in the same town your parents grew up in, I guess." he tried to laugh it off but ginger saw right through his charade. she knew what it was like to have to pretend.
"yeah. I guess I'm lucky my parents moved." she gave him an apologetic smile and steve only fell harder for this girl he had literally just met. she decided to change the subject as she held up a set of bedsheets, showing them to steve: "could you take these to the relief center?"
"yeah, those are perfect, actually, thanks," he reached to take them from her, and as she passed them to him, their hands touched (just as he wished they would). steve wasn't sure if ginger had noticed (or cared), but she most definitely had (and she definitely cared). for some reason, the way his hand brushed up against hers had made her feel bashful, almost insecure. there's no way a guy like him could want her-- had she forgotten how pregnant she was? why would he be interested in a pregnant girl, especially when he looked like that? he could probably get any chick in this town, she thought to herself.
ginger sighed as she went back to the box she was sorting through, trying to exhale the butterflies that her new acquaintance had put in her stomach. she wanted to evict them but she couldn't seem to get over just how nice steve seemed. and looked.
"hey, is this you?" steve's voice, which sounded like how honey tasted, ginger thought, interrupted her stressful sorting. he held up an old photograph of ginger as a toddler; she was wearing a cowboy hat, her tiny arms squeezing a plethora of stuffed toys, her smile almost too big for her face. the memory made ginger smile fondly.
"oh my god, yes, that is me-- how did this get in here?" she laughed breathlessly as she took the photo from him, their hands unfortunately not touching this time. "my grandma must've forgotten to take the photo out of the frame or something."
"you were a really cute baby," steve said, though he wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say. was that a weird thing to say? he hoped to every god in existence that it wasn't.
they shared a smile before a loud knock on the door interrupted their fleeting moment. steve continued going through the box he was working on as ginger went to answer the door.
she opened it to reveal dustin, who's eyes widened when he noticed ginger's pregnant belly.
"you're pregnant?!" he exclaimed before even greeting her, not at all intending to be rude. ginger laughed.
"no, I just had a huge lunch." she smiled as she moved aside, allowing the teen to come in.
"I take it you've met harrington, then? I saw his car out front." dustin inquired.
"oh yeah, he's right in here, actually. he's been so helpful," ginger confirmed as dustin followed her to the foyer where steve sat, sorting through some old sweaters. his eyes lit up when he saw the younger boy, which ginger thought was extremely sweet and only made her like him even more.
"henderson! you didn't tell me your neighbor's granddaughter was so cool," steve stood to greet his friend.
"yeah, she's the coolest. it's been too long," dustin looked to ginger. "but I still can't believe you're pregnant. like, you're literally with child," he went on excitedly in his very teenager way.
the mention of ginger's pregnancy made steve stand up straight. obviously he knew she was pregnant-- he had eyes, after all, and her protruding abdomen was nothing that could be hidden. but in the few minutes he'd known her, which felt kind of like a tiny lifetime to steve, the topic of her pregnancy hadn't come up. he wasn't sure if they were purposefully avoiding it or if it really just hadn't come up in their conversation yet. the dreaded fact that she probably had a significant other came flooding back into steve's brain, making him uneasy again.
"yup, I'm having a baby. it's not that big of a deal." ginger brushed off the teen's remarks.
"not that big of a deal? um, you're bringing a human into the world, I feel like that's kind of a big deal," dustin argued with her, totally oblivious to the fact that she clearly didn't want to talk about this right now.
"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, yeah?" ginger tried her best to end the conversation. she picked up a box, holding it out to dustin. "could you be a dear and take this outside?"
"on it, boss." he took the box from her and retreated, leaving ginger and steve alone again.
"I'm sorry about him," steve broke the impending silence, feeling like he should be a man and address the situation, or something like that. but he really wasn't sure what to say at all.
"oh, dustin? it's okay, I expected him to be shocked." ginger smiled as she said it, but it was different than the smile she had shared earlier with steve. more forced somehow.
"why would he be shocked?" steve inquired cautiously. he had never been in a situation like this and really wasn't sure what to say. he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable or like she had to tell him something she didn't want to share with someone she'd just met.
"I mean, I'm a bit young to be pregnant, don't you think?" she smirked at steve almost jokingly as she said it, doing the thing that she did where she tried to make light of something that bothered her deep down.
steve didn't know what to say. he let out a small sound that was almost a stutter, but he just couldn't seem to find the right words.
"it's okay, you can say it. I'm too young to be pregnant."
"no, no, that isn't what I was going to say at all. I just... I don't know what I was going to say. I'm sorry, I'm not usually this awkward." he was telling the truth, he wasn't usually this awkward. he was never this awkward, actually. he was supposed to be cool and calm and collected. he had been king steve once upon a time, after all. but she made him feel like his stomach had turned inside out, in the best of ways.
"it's okay. I'm usually kind of awkward so I can't say the same, but I get it." ginger smiled at him. "I am too young to be pregnant, by the way. I think twenty is too young. but I mean, it's not like I did it on purpose."
she almost laughed at her own sentiment as everything clicked in steve's head. she was his age. she wasn't married, she wasn't even wearing a ring. he must be stupid, he thought. but then he felt bad for feeling excited about the newfound information-- who was the father of her baby? did he leave her high and dry to raise a child on her own? what a shitty thing to do. how could someone do that to her? steve decided that he hated whoever did this to ginger.
"I don't think twenty is too young," steve tried his best to sound unwavering, empowering. "I mean, I know we kinda just met but you seem really responsible to me. and really kind. you'll make a great mother, I'm sure of it." he believed every word he said. even though he'd only just met her, steve knew ginger wouldn't treat her kid how his mother treated him. her kid would be in good hands, that much he knew.
"wow, um, thank you. that's so sweet, steve. you don't know how much I needed to hear that." ginger tried her best not to tear up. maybe it was hormones, maybe it was her new crush on steve, or maybe it was the fact that nobody had ever said anything like that to her before. and she had really needed to hear it.
steve smiled at her before remembering the reason he came over to ginger's grandparents' house in the first place. he quickly began shoveling the pile of things he'd set aside to take to the relief center into a random empty box as ginger spoke again.
"it's been kind of hard, to be honest. going through this alone, I mean," she gestured to her baby bump. "it's just... I don't even know what it is. it's one of those situations that you hear about but you never think it'll happen to you until it does, you know?"
"yeah, no, totally," steve nodded, trying not to short circuit as his brain processed the fact that she was single. he tried to quickly convince his eager mind that he had no chance with her. and even if he did, she probably didn't want a relationship right now. she was pregnant, for god's sake. he had to leave her alone. but his stomach still fluttered none the less.
just in the nick of time, dustin came padding back into the house, holding a wad of cash.
"some people just bought a bunch of stuff! I know the sale hasn't officially started yet, but I didn't wanna turn them down. look at all this cash! here--" he handed ginger the money. "give this to nana."
"we're close." dustin clarified. he had grown fond of the older woman over the years of growing up next to her. since her own children were grown up and her grandchildren didn't live nearby, she had sort of adopted dustin as a surrogate grandson of sorts.
"I should probably get going, I didn't see the time. I have to get this stuff to the relief center and then get my ass to work--" steve, who had become frazzled after realizing he was almost late for his shift, totally didn't mean to swear in front of his new friend (who he really really liked). he wanted to come off as classy, not crude. he made a mental note to ruminate on it later.
"oh, yeah, I'm sorry to have kept you so long! thank you so much again for all your help, seriously." ginger said as she walked him to the door.
"how long are you in town for?" steve bravely inquired. why would he ask her that? did he think she would want to go out with him? he really didn't mean to ask, the question just slipped out.
"I'm not really sure, it's kind of open-ended at the moment. until we get my grandparents and all their stuff out of here, I guess." ginger shrugged.
"would you want to hang out sometime? with me, I mean. if you're too busy or if you just don't want to I totally get it. but I thought I'd ask just incase you wanted to hang out with people your own age while you're here. or whatever." he rambled off his invitation as he mentally slapped himself. people your own age? why would he say that? he hoped it didn't sound rude or presumptuous.
"yeah, I'd love to. you know where I'll be!" ginger smiled at him as they stood in the doorway. she noticed how pretty his eyes were and she liked how they looked when he smiled. she knew he had to go to work but she didn't want him to leave yet. she could talk with him forever, even if it was awkward.
"o-okay, cool. I guess I'll see you around then." steve said as he made his way out of the house, starting down the driveway.
"see you!" ginger waved as she watched him stride to his car. he was really wearing those jeans. she tried her best to take a mental picture so she could remember the sight later.
steve almost dropped the box he was carrying as he attempted to smoothly hold it in one arm and open his door at the same time. ginger found the dorky moment excruciatingly endearing. she hoped that she really would see him around.
steve had the same thought as he drove away from the house. he wished he could have spent all day with ginger. hell, he would have settled for even five more minutes of time with her. nothing seemed like enough.
he didn't care that she was pregnant. he didn't care about anything other than seeing her again. he had to see her again. and he didn't know it then, but ginger was just what he needed.
hi again! if you made it this far, thank you so much again for reading! I hope you enjoyed. please let me know if you liked this and/or if you'd like to read another part of this story :) xoxo
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