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djotimee · 3 months ago

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My reputations never been worse - S.H

Steve Harrington x female!reader

Steve can’t leave his reputation behind but it’s okay because there’s one girl who likes him for him

A/n: king steve, anxious!reader

Warnings: kissing

Word count: 3.6k

The whispering wasn’t hard to miss, no matter how hushed it was intended to be. Her eyes fell over to him, she didn't mean to but it was obvious that it was the brunette boy in the middle of the wine section, that was the topic of the conversation.

He stood stiffly, hands around a dark bottle of something that looked bitter. He looked tired, Steve Harrington had never looked bad a day in his life but pretty didn’t have to mean happy. He caught her stare fairly quickly, she guessed he was used to it.

She smiled, as softly as she could and he almost looked like he was going to smile back, before the laughter of the group behind her stole their attention. They couldn't have been more than a few years younger than her, they were probably in their last year of school, standing in the store and gossiping about king Steve before disappearing.

Either the horrible, cruel hearted version, or the rich, heartbreaking version. There wasn’t much else to say about him apparently, his reputation spoke for him and often against him, which never seemed fair.

“Is it any good?” He was holding a bottle of white wine, the kind with a name no one around here could pronounce. He was talking to her, there was no one else left in the aisle anymore so he had to have been. She just wasn’t sure why, but then again she was never sure why.

“I’ve never tried it, sorry.” She wasn’t that sorry that the particular wine he had picked hadn’t ever touched her lips before, what she was sorry for was the way those kids had looked at him, like they knew him.

He got to smile at her this time. The corners of his mouth turned up and his eyes smiled right along with his lips too, he looked less tired now. It must’ve been the lighting above them. He tapped his fingers on the neck of the bottle, stepping past her as he said, “I’ll let you know.”

“Bye Steve.” She called back, making him turn around. Her name slipped from his lips as he said goodbye and she felt seventeen again, passing him in the hallway, getting a quick smile. He said her name the same way he said it back then and it kept her warm the entire walk home.

She always saw Steve like that, around town, with someone else's eyes on him. Hawkins had always been a small town, a gossiping town where one mark on you stained forever. She expected someone like him to leave the second he finished high school, but he never did.

The next time she saw him it was late, it must've been around midnight. He was standing outside some restaurant, smoking with his head resting back on the brick wall. It was one of those expensive restaurants, the kind you took a first date.

She would’ve kept walking, she was on the other side of the road, holding her coat tightly, it felt so much colder tonight. But just as she had noticed him, he had seen her and under a flickering street light, he smiled at her. It wasn’t real but it made her cross the street anyway.

“There she is.” His throat sounded sore, but that could’ve just been the cigarette, she hadn’t ever tried it, so she couldn’t be sure. Maybe he was just getting sick. His eyes softened over her and there was something sweet about his gaze that made her feel warmer.

It was different from the kind of warmth she felt when anyone else looked at her, it didn’t feel like her skin was burning and she had nowhere to look but the ground below her. Instead it made her head fuzzy, it gave her pins and needles all over and she couldn't look anywhere but right back at him.

“Bad night?”

He smiled with his head tilted to the side, it felt very boyish, the way he smiled. She must’ve missed something but it was hard to wonder what had made him smile when she was so busy counting the freckles on his cheek.

“Something like that.” He scuffed his shoes across the pavement, his sneakers scratching against the gravel. He didn’t want to talk about it, that was obvious to her.

His secondhand smoke had eventually started to bother her and she couldn’t help scrunching up her nose a little. He put it out with the bottom of his shoe the second he realised.

It was probably one of the sweetest things anyone had ever done for her.

Steve hadn’t given his actions a second thought. If his lingering addiction had made her go away he would’ve hated himself all night. No one in this town was as sweet as her and she only deserved that back. He’d probably find himself quitting in the morning now he knew it bothered her.

She glanced down the street. She was heading home, most likely from work, most likely anxious to get inside, to get warm and cosy. He had never been inside her house, but from the outside it looked inviting enough, and if someone who wore cardigans and fluffy socks that poked out of her boots lived there, it had to be comforting.

The idea of her walking home with cold hands tucked into her pocket and frost bitten cheeks, made him sick. It didn’t matter the time of year, she should've had a boyfriend to pick her up, to keep her warm. He had never seen her with one, a fact that made him smile, just a little.

He was contradicting himself completely, because did he really want her to be with anyone that wasn’t him?

“It’s late. Can I walk you back?” Maybe he wouldn’t be as bold to take her hand, but he could still steal a little time from her, if she let him. He stepped closer to her, away from the wall he had been hoping to sink in to for god knows how long now.

His night, his date, it had all been terrible but it wasn’t so bad now he had seen her and this time he actually got to have a conversation with her, so really he was the luckiest guy in town, even after some girl had ditched him.

Steve could see her clearer like this, just a few steps closer, he could feel the gold sparks across his skin as he counted the colours in her eyes. He always saw her in passing, across the street, or in some store, at some town event, even back in school he never sat close enough to her, so he never got long enough to map out the features on her face.

She nodded, biting her lip like that wasn’t painful for him to see.

He switched sides with her, making sure he was next to the road, not her. He wasn’t sure why it just felt right and it also just felt right to let her set the pace, to slow down his walk a little and step to the side so she could avoid the puddles.

Most girls he went out with never noticed that kind of stuff, the things he did because he was brought up right, he didn’t mind because that wasn’t the point but there was something about the sweet smile she would offer him when he went out of his way to keep her shoes dry that made him struggle to remember that he had to breathe out, not just in.

“You shouldn't walk back on your own.” He didn’t know how he had slipped up and said it, he had no right to tell her what to do. His mind wasn’t communicating with his heart because it was too busy racing over the fact he was walking home the girl he had liked for far too long.

She looked at him and they almost stopped for a moment but she decided to keep walking. “I know.” He was shocked she had agreed with him, that she hadn’t started a fight over what he said, that she hadn’t taken his words the wrong way.

“It’s just cold and you should be warm.” He could’ve hit himself. It had been years since he had tripped over his words and acted a fool in front of a pretty girl. He was better than this, he had to be smoother than this, right?

“If it’s ever really cold out, you can call me.” She stopped, the coincidence of his words being spoken when they had also reached her street, her house, feeling too creepy. She wasn’t sure if he was doing it on purpose or if he was just accidently looking her up and down like he wanted to fall into her and never get back up. Without looking away, he added, “I’ll come get you.”

She shook her head, eyes falling on the ground. She was going to politely turn him down, and he was meant to let her just slip through his fingers again, but he couldn’t, not when just walking her home had made him start imagining fireworks behind them. He had checked when they crossed the street, they weren’t there.

“Oh Steve you don’t have to-” It wasn't fair to expect that of him, just because she knew he was a gentleman didn't mean she needed to exploit that, and she didn't know if she could take sitting in his car or walking with him, or just being in his presence on a regular basis. Her weak heart wouldn’t be able to last.

His hands slipped in the pocket of his jeans and he pulled out this torn up crumpled piece of paper, it must've been an old receipt or something. Whatever it was, it had black ink all over, writing out a phone number.

She didn’t have to know he had wanted to give that to her weeks ago and that he had just kept onto it since, with every wash and change of clothes, he kept it right in his pocket just in case he might get the chance to finally give her his number after all these years.

He held it out to her, placed between his fingertips, a shinny watch with worn leather sitting on his wrist. It fitted him, oddly, like if she had to imagine some jewellery that would belong to Steve Harrington, this watch would be it.

She shook her head, even though her hands were burning to take it. She had his mothers number scribbled down somewhere in the back of some old address book and his number had been written on the side of a pay phone the second he moved out, but this was different, he wanted her to have his number.

Her eyes were fixed on his hand, on the tiny piece of paper that was giving her a headache. A headache that could easily be confused with love-like dizziness.

“Please take it.” His voice had softened to a point she didn't think possible, whatever he said to her right now she was going to do, almost like he had swallowed a bottle of fairy dust and how his words were law. “If you catch something and die it’ll be all my fault.”

She took it, getting a fuzzy feeling from just holding the scrap of paper. Her hand pressed to her front gate, mostly to just keep her standing but also because the walk home was over.

She hadn’t imagined she could ever feel so sad to come home as she did right now. What wasn't helping was the mysterious fact that Steve had gotten more good looking in the last five minutes. It must’ve been the street lights.

“That’s a little dramatic don’t you think.” She unhooked the gate door, the latch was cold and harsh but she hadn’t released till now her fingertips were burning hot. She closed it behind her, leaving the short little wooden fence as the only thing keeping them apart.

He nodded like he was considering her words but somehow she knew he wasn't.

“I thought it was romantic.” Steve walked backwards, his head cocked to this side and some kind of smirk playing on his lips. His hands in his pockets reminded her of a film she had seen before, where the guy walked the girl home and left in love.

He waited for her to call. He was practically stitched to the phone cord by the pockets of his jeans. He picked it up a few times, only to realise he foolishly didn't have her number. It was strange being the one waiting home for a call, but since it was this girl, he was enjoying the anxious feeling more than he thought he would.

And when it finally rang, he hoped no one saw the way he dashed across his floor, slipping down the hallway in socks, crashing into the counter top where the phone sat innocently, ringing.

“Hi, Steve.” Her sweet voice made his shoulders drop. He hadn’t released how tense he was when he went without seeing her or hearing her. He hadn’t realised someone's voice could make him feel seventeen again, all without the bad parts.

Steve grabbed his shoes and his keys before she could even finish asking him to come get her, he would’ve been out the door as well if there wasn’t a phone cord keeping him inside the house. He told her he’d be there in five minutes, and by god he would be.

He spun his car keys around his finger, feeling the need to hum one of his favourite songs, two things he did that girls and his friends had mocked him for relentlessly but it was clear now that he had a crush and that took over his ability to care if he looked stupid.

A crush. Wasn’t there a better name for it, something more grown up. Maybe she knew what to call it.

She was standing under the little glow the street light gave off, no jacket, her arms crossed, eyes looking for him. And she smiled when she saw his car, it was the same car he’d had since he was fifteen, it made him easy to spot.

He pulled over, a bleeding grin on his lips that he wouldn’t notice till he looked in the rear view mirror. “Hey.” He felt it a little when he spoke but it was just as she slipped into his passenger seat so he still hadn’t caught on. He had seen this before, her getting into his car, soft thighs pressing into the seat, it just wasn’t awake.

“Thanks for this Steve.” She had to stop saying his name, he still had to safely drive her home yet. She twisted in her seat, making herself face him, it hardly looked comfortable but he had seen her at the movies once, legs tucked up under herself so it must’ve just been a her thing. “Really, I didn’t know if I should’ve-”

He didn’t want her thinking this was an imposition, he would’ve driven out every night just to come get her, he would’ve switched his entire day around just to spend some time with her. Just passing in the street wasn’t enough anymore. He couldn’t go back to that.

He pulled out of the slight ditch on the side of the road he had pulled into to pick her up, finally glancing in his mirror. His hair was slightly out of place and he looked less put together then he would’ve liked but none of that mattered. “I told you to.” He glanced at her, thinking over and over if he actually wanted to say his next thought. “I wanted you to.” Something about her eyes let him say it.

She hadn’t expected him to say that. That much was clear from the look on her face. She felt like touching the dashboard, turning on the radio, just to check it was all real. Almost in a bid to ground herself, because Steve wanted her to call.

She had spent days not calling, staring at the phone. Recounting everything he had said or had done the last time they spoke, thinking about how in seven years his smile hadn’t changed one bit. It was even the same now, as he watched the road.

“Were you busy?” The lines pressing between his brows made her bite the inside of her cheek, and the confused glance made her feel like she was falling way too fast. “When I called?” She added, trying not to stare at him too much, trying not to analyse his every expression, as perfect as they all were.

“No, no. I mean I wasn’t doing nothing or anything-” He seemed nervous, desperate to say just the right thing and it left her with a headache because how could this Steve, end up with such a terrible reputation.

He took a deep breath, a blood-like shade of red hinting through his cheeks. “I was just hanging out.” He shrugged, head dipping to check behind him before he turned left.

He was lying and she had no clue how she knew, she just did. His hand was gripping the steering wheel tighter, his other tapping against his thigh, with his jaw tight like he was angry. She wasn’t sure if that last thing had anything to do with lying, since she had seen it before, when he used to get into fights at school.

She looked over the dashboard, his windows were slightly fogged up at the corners and it gave her something to pretend to focus on. Maybe he was with someone and he lied to not make her feel guilty for dragging him away, or maybe-

“I was sitting by the phone waiting for you to call.”

There was something about the way he said it, the way no other boy she knew would ever admit that, and the way he laughed softly after, it all made her feel like she had been caught. Sitting in his passenger seat and wondering how anyone could not think the world of this boy?

“That’s cute.” She muttered under her breath, unaware if she had it outside of her head until he grinned. She wouldn’t have said it to anyone else, she doubted she would even think it, but something let her to tell him that him waiting on her was unbelievably cute.

She was glad her heart cut off the unbelievably. Cute was enough. Then he did that thing. That stupidly perfect things boys did, he tilted his head, looked at her instead of the road and said, “Yeah?”

He walked her to her door not just because he was tired of that one rumour that said he dropped girls off without even stopping the car, but also because she shouldn’t have to open the gate and stand alone in the cold looking for her keys. Steve was trying to be a better man and that meant staying until the lights were flicked on and the door locked behind her.

He left his car door open but he could work on that.

She had her hand ghosting over the door handle, only hesitating to turn back to him. Almost killing him right on her doorstep for all to see just because of how pretty she looked under the porch light.

He thought her eyes couldn’t get any softer but yet- “You’re very sweet.” She whispered, not that anyone was around to hear her, and it wasn’t like she was embarrassed to admit it, a comment like that just deserved a certain lightness.

It surprised him, it made the little thumping beat on the inside of his wrist ridiculously loud but only to him. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him. Sweet. He could let himself believe he was sweet as long as she thought it.

Steve was never known as someone who said the first thing that came to mind, only his closest friends knew that sometimes, if a thought was loud enough, he just said it without second thought. “If I stand here any longer, I’ll want to kiss you.”

Then he had the nerve to walk away from her like that was a normal way to leave a conversation. To just say that then leave her like this, frozen on her doorstep, his name on her lips as her mind tangled itself over the word kiss.

He muttered something as he walked back, something that sounded remarkably similar to stop saying my name like that. She didn’t even get the chance to defend herself, to stutter out all the questions she had because the second he reached her again he was kissing her.

He held her, hands expanded over her neck, keeping her head tilted up just enough so that he could kiss her exactly like he wanted to. Only pulling away to push right back in again, hardly giving her a second to catch her breath, just constantly kissing her like it was all he ever thought about.

She would’ve tripped back if he wasn’t holding her so intently, she could feel him everywhere and that alone was already overwhelming, but then he had to press himself up against her, like she wasn’t already drowning in him.

A soft pathetic sigh left her lips when he finally pulled away and he grinned, looking down at her with that look she had heard so much about. “Call me again tomorrow?” He nudged his nose against hers, waiting for her answer.

Softly smiling, hitting him right in the chest, she said, “I'll let you know.”

#LOVE!!!!

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