liasinthemoon

[liasinthemoon]

fuck I love a whiskey sour

[liasinthemoon]

Gossip in town

Steve Harrington x fem!reader

Summary: You and Steve love a good gossip. There's some joy in talking about other people's misery to distract from yourself from your own miserable dating life, right? Besides, that's what friends do. Right? 'Cause that's what you are. Friends.

CW/Disclaimer: Uhhhh some s m u t. Other than that just romance, banter, cute shit. Maybe the cute shit deserves a warning too.

Author's note: We love to say that Steve enjoys to gossip, so I figured I'd drabble something out. Turned a little longer than planned!

Words: 4983

“You need to make him stop coming in here, he’s ruining our brand!”

As you heard Romaine, your colleague, complain, a smile plays on your lips. That could only mean one person.

Steve.

Romaine glared at him from behind the table she was folding clothes at and he raised his brow with little interest. His sailor outfit was a stark contrast to the high-end fashion you sold in the store you worked at and you thought it was the funniest thing ever. The first week, Steve had been too embarrassed to even leave the ice cream parlor. By now, he couldn’t give two fucks. And knowing Romaine hated it only made him come by twice as often.

“Y/N, Y/N!”

His impatient calls made you giggle and you revealed yourself from around the corner to put yourself into his field of vision. He gave a nod of recognition and then started to approach you with big steps.

“I’m taking my break,” Romaine announced, in an attempt to keep you from going anywhere. One person always needed to be in the store, and it was just you two that day. Steve knew about this rule by now, so he rolled his eyes, grabbed your wrist and pulled you towards the fitting rooms.

“Still technically in the store,” he mumbled, flashing you a grin as he took note that none of the fitting rooms were being used. With one smooth move, he pulled back a curtain, nudged you inside, followed and closed the curtain again behind him. He was a little out of breath, either from excitement or because he fucking jogged to your side of the mall. Must have been a sight for sore eyes.

“You were fucking right,” he hissed, not wasting a second as he spilled the tea. You covered your mouth to prevent a gasp and he pulled your hand away as he nodded. He needed not to tell you what, or who it was about. It had been the main topic of your latest gossip, so it was obvious he was talking about Ben Swimmer, one of his old classmates. Steve rested his palm flat on the wall behind you, kind of locking you into the corner of the fitting room.

“Yes, yes keep that mouth open, cause there’s more.”

His excitement was mixed with disgust, given by his expression. His fingers tapped a rhythm on the wall. You swallowed. Not sure if that had to do with the story at all, as you looked up at him.

“No… What is it?!” you asked impatiently. Steve smirked, loving to keep you on edge, and leaned a little closer because that’s what you do when you gossip.

“He wasn’t just cheating on Tessa with Vivian, but also with Brenda…”

“No…” you whispered, giving him a look of disbelief, mouth in fact still agape. Steve cocked his hip to the other side and nodded several times in a quick motion.

“Oh yes. He came into Scoops with her just now, in broad fucking daylight. And guess who also popped up at the mall?”

“Tessa. Of fucking course.”

Steve nodded.

“Tessa. So they’re sitting there eating their ice cream with two spoons, all gooey and sickeningly adorable if he hadn’t been a dick… when Ben sees Tessa, but she hasn’t seen him yet. So I’m watching, right, and suddenly Ben looks at me and tells me to let him go out the back with Brenda.”

“Oh now he wants to talk to you. Dick.”

Steve clapped his thigh with his free hand and made a gesture.

“Right?! So I said that was against company policy and that I unfortunately couldn’t help him. And then I walked forward and accidentally knocked a chair over,” he grinned as he replayed it in his head, “gathered a bit of attention, so weird,” his eyes widened as he spoke, “Tessa’s attention too. You should’ve seen it. I wish you could’ve seen it.”

His sigh filled the small space as he leaned his head back against the thin wall of the fitting room. He knitted his brows together and dropped his hand from the wall to your shoulder, closing his eyes momentarily as he let his brain catch up with his mouth. He seemed a little lost in thought, with his hand gently massaging your shoulder and his chin tipped up towards the ceiling. He didn’t move his head as he looked down at you and you wondered if he had any idea what he looked like right now. Somehow all the adorable-ness his outfit gave him was taken away and replaced for something else by just that one glance along the bridge of his nose.

“Was she mad?” you asked.

“Oh, she was seething. Shouted all sorts of shit at him. I had a lot of cleaning to do after she threw her milkshake in his face, but it was worth it. According to Ben I’m dead by the way. So now you know who to name as a prime suspect, should I ever disappear.”

“He better not.”

Steve shrugged.

“Would be worth it.”

—

The bell above the door of Family Video clanged as you rushed in. Robin lifted her head but was clearly still counting some tapes in her head as she gave you a vague greeting and immediately focused back on her task at hand. Steve on the other hand, immediately poked his head above an aisle and approached you even before you could reach the counter.

“Jake’s gonna ask Trisha to marry him after graduation.”

You gasped and immediately punched his chest, causing him to “oomph” and giving you a look of disbelief. Before he could ask why you punched him, you gave him the answer.

“I came all the way here to tell you that! How’d you even find out?!”

Steve grinned and grabbed the hand you punched him with as he noticed you were subconsciously rubbing your fingers over your knuckles.

“Overheard Brenda and Kate talk about it here earlier,” he said with a nod towards the romcom aisle.

“Ugh,” you groaned, “for once I thought I would have something good to tell you…”

Your pout deepened as you crossed your arms, shaking off his touch. Steve simply replaced it by putting his hand on top of your folded arms, his fingers walking a path from your elbow towards your wrist.

“You did! I just knew it already,” Steve said with a chuckle. He watched you pout for a little longer as his fingers played with the hair tie on your wrist absentmindedly. You were too focused to keep up the play that you didn’t notice his hesitation.

“Hey, wanna watch a movie tonight?”

Just then, as if on cue, Robin poked her head above the horror aisle.

“Yes!”

Steve glanced backwards and smiled softly at Robin, though as he nodded his expression looked a little off. He was chewing on the inside of his cheek until he saw you nod and released some of the tension he was subconsciously holding.

“Yeah let’s. Which movie?”

Steve shrugged. He hadn’t really thought of that. By now he had watched too many to count and there were only so many times you could watch the same movie in a week. He picked up the hair tie between his fingers and let it snap back on your wrist as he bit back a smile. You glared at him playfully, looking for something you could do in return. For a moment, he watched you in stunned silence as you brought your hand up to his neck, trailing your fingers through until you reached the back and yanked at it. Steve gasped and grabbed your hand, twisting you around until he had both your hands behind your back, his chin tucked into your shoulder.

“Caught you.”

As you relaxed in his arms, his breath tickled your neck. Somehow, neither of you had noticed Robin rounding the aisle and as she stopped in front of you, an impatient huff left her lips.

“Well? What movie, guys?” Steve froze around you for a moment and you slowly felt his grip loosening until he stepped aside to check out some of the movies they had.

“Uh…”

You held onto your own arms, realizing your cheeks were heating up and you took a quick few steps towards the door.

“I’ll let it be a surprise, see you tonight! Your place, I assume?” you asked Steve without looking at him.

“Yeah, sure.”

You left and Steve busied himself browsing through the movies with his fingers without remembering any of them.

“You seemed disappointed when I joined movie night.”

Steve gave her a harmless glare.

“Huh? No I wasn’t.”

Robin gave him an empathic smile.

“If you say so.”

Steve shook his head with a laugh.

“We’re just friends, Rob. It’s not like that.”

—

3 years later

It was a Saturday night and you sat on the couch in Steve’s apartment, where you spent so much time you should honestly start paying rent. Not to mention all the products that you had in his bathroom, and the spare set of clothes in his closet. It was a little much, but your home was cramped, and it had been hard to find a place of your own that you could actually afford.

Steve had found a part time job as a basketball coach and filled the rest of his time either with you, Robin, the kids or his failed dates.

But mostly you.

“Do we really have to watch this romantic piece of bullshit?” Steve groaned, flipping over the tape in his hand. It looked small when he held it, somehow.

“Hey now,” you shushed him, “just because Jillian didn’t let you get into her pants doesn’t mean romance is a no go now. Besides, it’s my day to pick.”

You got up to put the tape in and when you sat back, his arm was already waiting for you. His blunt fingernails teased your shoulder as you settled against him.

“She would’ve let me, I was so sure of it. But after she came back from the bathroom she suddenly acted so fucking weird…” Steve mumbled as he thought back on it.

“Maybe she suddenly got her period?” you opted. That surely was something that could make you want to flee out of nowhere. Steve rolled his eyes.

“So? There are pads and tampons,” Steve sighed. They were yours, or so Steve had said when you had asked why there were pads and tampons in a little basket in his bathroom. So you didn’t have to bring your own all the time, had been his reasoning. It was sweet.

“Yeah, well, I don’t know.” “Or maybe she thought you had a girlfriend you were cheating on,” you offered gently. Steve groaned and leaned his head all the way back on the headrest.

“Robin said the same. But if I had had a female roommate no one would bat an eye, so what’s the big deal you’ve got some of your stuff in here?”

“Well, because you don’t have a roommate, I guess?” you suggested with a shrug. His fingers lay flat on your shoulder now, giving it a light squeeze on occasion as he was thinking.

“Whatever. I don’t want a girl that can’t communicate anyway. Like, remember that whole ordeal with Nigel and Yessica? All that drama when it could’ve been solved if they had just asked each other rather than leaving it up to the town’s gossip?”

“Yeah, well… at least it gives us something to discuss.”

Steve nodded, but it seemed that he already was too lost in his own thoughts.

“I want someone who’s straight forward. Honest but kind. Funny. Warm. Also witty, sarcastic… just someone I can spend all day with without being bored. Where I can fully be myself without worrying about anything,” Steve mumbled.

“They’re out there, Steve, I’m sure of it.”

He glanced at you, face a little too close for comfort.

“What about you, then? When was the last time you dated?”

“Uh… Rick.”

Steve scowled.

“Rick.”

“He was fine.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Oh please. If you told me he had bodies buried in his garden I’d believe you.”

This time you rolled your eyes, sitting up a little so he had to remove his arm.

“Yeah, of course you would, because you hated him for no fucking reason.”

Steve’s lips thinned a little but he gave you your space. Leaned back a little, though he kept his thigh against yours.

“I had many valid reasons. For one: He sucks.”

You laughed dryly and shook your head.

“That’s an opinion, not a reason. You basically chased him away.”

“For the better! You know I’m right.”

“If it were up to you, none of the guys are a good fit for me.”

Steve watched as you got up from the couch to grab a beer and wordlessly asked for one too. You sat down on the far end of the couch, away from Steve. He took a sip without removing his gaze from you and lifted one leg on the couch so he could turn to face you.

“Because they’re not.”

“So it’s me.”

Steve frowned and shook his head. Somehow he had shifted closer on the couch without you noticing. His knee touched your thigh.

“What? No. It’s all of them.”

“My standards are just too high, I guess.”

Steve shook his head, his hand finding your knee.

“Shut up, they’re not. You deserve someone who actually appreciates you. All of you.”

A silent implication there, considering he knew all about your dating life. After Rick, you hadn’t even bothered. You dated them only to numb the pain of listening to Steve’s date stories. And since for some reason Robin refused to listen to them, you were the designated person to tell.

Thanks, Robin.

“Yeah, well, so do you.”

He gazed into your eyes, his face so much closer than you had anticipated when his finger lifted your chin gently.

“I appreciate all of you,” he said softly. You watched him silently as you connected the dots of his earlier spoken words to his current ones. His thumb caressed your cheek as he chewed on the inside of his cheek.

“You’re… we’re friends,” you said softly, too scared to trust what his words implied.

“Can’t we be more?” Steve asked, his voice soft as silk.

“Can we?” you whispered.

Steve nodded, his gaze dropping to your lips as he leaned in closer.

“Yeah.”

He cupped your jaw a little stronger as he kissed you, as if he was scared you’d slip from his fingers the moment his lips brushed yours. You leaned forward, his hand resting on his chest. He let out a sweet sound when your fingers happened to brush his nipple and you used that leverage to swing your leg over his lap. His hands found your waist easily as he teared away his lips from yours to explore your neck.

“Ah, Steve,” you whispered, encouraging him to continue. You let your hands roam over his chest until that wasn’t enough and you let them dip under the hem of his shirt. He broke his attack on your neck to look at you hungrily as he lifted his arms above his head to take off his shirt, followed by a hesitant brush of his fingers along yours. With a nod, you gave him the permission to take it off and the look of appreciation at the sight made you feel warm inside. His hands found your waist again as he buried his face in your chest, licking the crevice of your boobs all the way up to your neck.

You felt how hard he was when you shifted your lips and a groan left him.

“Steve… when you said, more, what did you mean?” you asked softly.

Steve leaned back to look at you, eyes searching your face with urgency.

“I— Like, everything? Sorry— Did I… is it too much? Am I too much?” he rambled, a sudden nervosity taking over his system as his hands dropped from your body.

“No! No, Steve, you’re never too much, silly,” you told him quickly, smoothing out the frown in his forehead with your thumb. “I just wanted to make sure this isn’t like a… friends with benefits thing, for you,” you grunted out, cheeks heating up.

Steve let out a relieved sigh and his hands found your waist again, gently digging into your pliant skin.

“I’ve been your friend with benefits for all I can remember. Your kindness, sarcasm, wit, humor, honesty… all of that and more I have benefitted from for the longest time. I just… I’d want, like, to be your boyfriend with benefits. To have it all but to have all of you as well. Want you to be mine, Y/N. Mine only,” he told you sincerely. His eyes slowly turned a little mischievous as your smile relaxed and he moved his hands up to squeeze your boobs as he bit down on his bottom lip with a smile.

“And if that means I also get to, kiss you and stuff, all the better,” he said with a cheeky grin.

“And stuff, huh?” you mumbled affectionately, your thumbs finding his nipples to rub slow circles. Steve’s eyes rolled back and he nodded as he bit back a groan.

“Uh-huh,” he sighed, “god, keep doing that.” A beat. “Please.”

You smirked and rolled your hips slowly against his.

“So polite,” you murmured as your lips found his neck.

“I - ah - would like to say I was raised that way but I guess I’ve just always had it in me,” he said with a chuckle while his hands toyed with the sweatpants resting on your hips still. You laughed softly and hummed in agreement.

“It’s a little too hot for these sweats, don’t you agree?” he asked then, a finger teasing along the waistband.

“Yours too.”

“Can I keep my socks on?”

You leaned back and gave him a glare as he burst out laughing.

“See?! Rick was not fine at all.”

“Shut up. What about Layla with her “call them mommy milkers” spiel?”

Steve bit his lip with a smile.

“That never happened, actually. Tried to make you jealous and failed.”

“You thought that would make me jealous? It just made me reconsider my crush on you.”

“Ouch?”

“Just not big on the whole mommy thing.”

“Yeah, well, me neither.”

Steve kissed your collar bone and let his hands slide down your back to grab two handfuls of your ass. You let out a sweet noise, edging him on.

“Back to point one…”

“Back to Rick with his Star Wars socks during sex…”

He pushed you against him, rolling his hips just in time. Not even Rick with his socks on could ruin this feeling for you. Steve moaned softly into your neck as he found just the right angle for the best amount of friction.

“He came within a minute.”

“Assumed as much. Could tell you were lying your tits off when you said it was somewhere between two and five minutes. As if anyone times that.”

“You said you could last fifteen.”

“Cause I can!”

“So you timed it,” you told him dryly.

Steve rolled his eyes and pushed down your sweats, making you get up to take them off so he could do the same.

“I can last as long as you need,” he promised you, “and look, my socks are off.”

“Still wearing too much clothes,” you mumbled as you snapped the waistband of his boxers. Steve laughed and turned you around so your back was facing the couch. His lips traveled down your chest as he unclasped your bra with one hand, not wasting a second to circle his tongue around one of your nipples as his fingers squeezed the other not too gently, eliciting a yelp from you. You yanked at his hair and he laughed breathily around your nipple.

“Like it when you do that,” he admitted. “Nearly had me chub up when you did it that one time.”

He didn’t need to tell you which time. It had been the one and only time you both had let it come a little too close for comfort. At least, too close to keep up the pretense that you weren’t into each other.

“Could tell. Your cheeks turned pink.”

Steve’s lips explored your stomach while his hands squeezed and fondled your curves. He hooked his fingers around your underwear and easily pulled them down while his lips followed the fabric until there was nothing covering your pussy. He barely let you step out of them before he pushed you down on the couch and lifted your legs over his shoulders. He took his sweet time kissing up your thighs, though you could feel through the tremble of his fingers that he was as impatient and nervous as you were. You had been watching him worship your thighs with his eyes closed, but the moment his lips wrapped around your clit he gazed up at you through his lashes.

“Steve…”

He grinned against your skin and slowly licked a stripe along your swollen lips, gathering juices to slicken up your clit with. Your hand was back in his hair before you knew it, his head bobbing as he started to eat you out hungrily. Noisily. Hands digging into the plush of your thighs as he opened them wider for better access. That fucker knew he was good at this.

Your hips bucked up to grind against him in tune with your moans and he strengthened his grip to keep in control of the pace, which he then brutally slowed down. You were about to complain when suddenly he went to town on you at full speed, his nose hitting your clit just right. The grip on his hair was none too gentle and you felt his warm moans vibrating against you. His tongue lapped at you impatiently, eyes focused on your flushed expression. He relished in the feeling of your thighs tightening around his face when you came all over his tongue.

He bullied your clit a little longer, smirking against your thigh before kissing it as you pinched his cheek to stop him. When he got back on his feet, you noticed his boxers had disappeared without you noticing. His cock was hard, the head slick from precome.

Wordlessly, you shifted on the couch and grasped his thighs to pull him close. He cupped your cheek, unable to hold back a moan as you wrapped your lips around the head and sucked none too gently. Soon enough, his hand was holding your hair in a makeshift ponytail despite letting you decide on the pace. You loved taking control. When you looked up as you bobbed your head noisily, he threw his head back with a groan. He needed to look away if he wanted this to last longer than a goddamn minute. You smirked around his cock and picked up the pace, relentlessly taking more and more of his length until your nose brushed the coarse hair above his base.

“Jesus Christ, Y/N…”

He couldn’t help himself, his grip tightened on your hair and you felt him quickly thrust his hips. You let him and absently realized this was the first time you enjoyed the salty taste of his come in the back of your throat. He broke it off halfway, giving your cheek a sweet caress before turning around to grab a condom that he apparently stored in the drawer of the coffee table. You impatiently slapped his ass, making him yelp and accidentally tearing the first condom.

“Menace, that was a perfectly fine condom,” he complained with his back to you, and you could tell he was smiling. You shrugged and leaned forward giving the spot you slapped a kiss instead. And then a nibble.

“Your ass looks biteable, y’know that?” you mumbled, kneading his ass with a longing sigh as you remembered all the times his ass had looked so good in his jeans.

Steve laughed.

“Yeah, well, so does yours.”

He turned around, condom wrapped and ready, though Steve seemed to hesitate.

“Second thoughts?” you asked, unable to filter your worries.

Steve scoffed and shook his head.

“Of course not, silly. I just— Come on.”

He grabbed your hand to pull you up and started guiding you to the bedroom.

“Want you to be comfortable,” he explained, and if that didn’t make you melt…

He propped up some pillows just perfectly and made sure you were comfortable before he positioned himself above you.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said softly, leaning down to kiss the part of your body that covered the heart that carried so much love for him. His hand slipped between you two, playing with you some more so he was certain you’d feel good once he’d go inside. He kissed you deeply, slowly, really taking his time compared to your first kiss. You both loved kissing. It was one of the many things you had shared complaints about when your dates weren’t into it as much. You had lost count how many times you had mentioned you could kiss for hours, secretly thinking of the other person.

Steve gazed into your eyes as he pushed inside slowly, his breath hitching as the sensations overtook his body. He moved without a rush, relishing being able to watch your expression as he fucked into you. His moans escaped from his lips whenever your lips weren’t against his to silence them. His tongue darted out to lick your ear and a gasp left you as he moved down and bit your neck. Your nails scratched his back as his thrusts became harder, your moans no longer contained by the press of your lips. You wrapped your legs around his hips, allowing him to fuck deeper. Sweat dripped from his forehead, mixing with yours as droplets found a way into your hairline.

“Y/N… baby, fuck…”

Slow, hard thrusts helped him ride out his orgasm while his hand flicking over your clit got you clenching around his cock until you knocked over the edge. The muscles in his arms were shaking as he kept himself from collapsing on top of you, so you poked his side to make him collapse anyway.

“Oof,” you groaned, followed by a laugh.

“I was trying not to crush you,” Steve mumbled into your neck, humming pleasantly as he inhaled your shampoo.

“Maybe I wanted you to crush me. Needed some pain to know if this was all real.”

“Sure hope it’s real. Never came this hard.”

You snorted.

“It didn’t take fifteen minutes, though,” you told him, even though you had no idea.

“I told you I’d last as long as you needed me and uh, by the way you tried to clench my dick off I think I did just fine,” he responded cockily through a giggle.

“Touché,” you mumbled.

“Mmmm.”

Steve gave you a kiss, slowly, sweetly. He rested his head next to yours, slowly moving his body off of you in favor to pull your leg over his waist as he cuddled you close.

“Would it be too soon to tell you that I love you?” Steve asked, looking at you with what you could only describe as love in his eyes.

“Normally that’s a definite red flag, even you said so,” you said teasingly as you combed your fingers through his damp chest hair. “But if I said I love you too, then that would make two red flags, and two negatives is a positive, right?”

Steve shrugged, a smile spreading on his face.

“I’m sure there’s an argument against that, but I was never good at math anyway.”

“Me neither.”

Steve smiled and put his hand on top of yours.

“I love you.”

You leaned in for a soft kiss.

“I love you too.”

He watched you quietly, content and happy. At least, until a frown formed on his forehead and he cursed softly.

“What is it?”

“I lost the bet.”

You pushed lightly against his chest.

“This better not be one of those movie plots where you pretend to fall in love with someone for a bet and then supposedly actually fall for them and shit,” you tell him with narrowed eyes, although you knew Steve would never do that.

Steve laughed and shook his head.

“Nah, Robin bet me that I’d sleep with you the moment we’d confess our feelings to each other, and yes I say each other because she was convinced you liked me too and I did not believe her. So I said bet, because I thought this,” he said as he gestured between you both, “was never gonna happen. So… yeah. Well. No regrets, though, obviously,” he mumbled, stealing another kiss.

“What did you bet for?”

“Taking her shift every Saturday, even if that means a double shift for me,” Steve groaned, “and you know what she said? She said: ‘It will be for the better, because I know you two. I don’t wanna be around when you fuck like rabbits in the adult section.’ as if we’d ever—”

You gave him a look.

“Okay, she was probably right but still! Ruthless, that one.”

“She’s gonna be soooo smug…” you mumbled.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be hell.”

“I’ll just ravish you on a random Tuesday to torment her,” you shrugged and Steve laughed.

“I like the sound of that.”

“Thought you would.”

His hand wandered over your thigh and he smirked slowly.

“Wanna take a shower? There’s a girl who left basically all her toiletries here so I’m sure there’s something you can use.”

“How convenient.”

“Very.”

Steve’s gaze was absolutely smitten, and you were pretty sure your expression matched his perfectly.

FIN

If you enjoyed reading this, please know that comments and reblogs are highly appreciated :) Likes are lovely but sadly do nothing to spread the fics around! Help your favorite writers (not saying me - in general) out like that so you can continue to enjoy consuming the free work they put out, it's a win-win.

[liasinthemoon]

STEVE HARRINGTON | why don’t you have a license?

[liasinthemoon]

Steve's hair in season 4 is just so fucking phenomenal

[liasinthemoon]

so work crush and I are basically just friends who occasionally kiss on the mouth and I'm so fine with that

[liasinthemoon]

POOKIE ALERT

[liasinthemoon]

what's in the coffee in Ireland that everytime I have some I proceed to take the biggest shit of my life

[liasinthemoon]

Peaches X Joe Keery

Inspired by the peach and Bathroom from TSITP.

MasterList

Stranger Things and Cast Masterlist

The late summer sun was too warm, the kind of heavy heat that clung to skin and made the air shimmer. I was perched on the porch steps of the beach house, bare feet stretched out, a plate of fruit balanced on my knees. A bowl of peaches sat between Joe and me, their golden skin glowing in the fading light.

He’d rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, forearms dusted with the faintest freckles, and there was a looseness about him tonight hair a little messy, voice low from hours of laughter. We were supposed to be waiting for everyone else to come back from town, but the truth was, I didn’t want them to. Not yet.

Joe reached for a peach, his long fingers brushing against mine for the briefest second. Just a graze. Nothing intentional. But I felt it like a spark beneath my skin, and my breath stuttered.

“You’re staring,” he said, smirking as he twisted the peach in his hand.

“I am not,” I shot back too quickly. My voice sounded defensive, thin.

He leaned closer, so close I could see the flecks of amber in his brown eyes. “You are. Don’t worry. I don’t mind.”

I rolled my eyes, pretending the heat in my cheeks was from the sun, not him. The peach slipped in my fingers as I tried to cut it, juice sliding over my thumb. Typical. Elegant as always.

“You’re butchering it,” Joe murmured, watching me struggle. He leaned in, prying it gently from my hands, his touch brushing my knuckles. “Let me.”

He made quick work of it, slicing through with a pocketknife he must’ve had in his back pocket. The skin peeled away in strips, sticky juice dripping onto his wrist. He didn’t seem to notice, or maybe he just didn’t care.

“You’ve done this before,” I said, trying to sound casual, though my voice had gone softer, like it couldn’t quite handle the weight between us.

He shrugged. “Grew up around peach trees, remember? Summers back home.”

I nodded, but I wasn’t really listening. I was too busy watching the way his lips parted as he bit into a slice, the way the juice clung to the corner of his mouth. For a second, I had the insane urge to reach out and wipe it away. My hand twitched in my lap.

He noticed. Of course he noticed. Joe always noticed more than he let on. His gaze lingered on mine, heavy, before dropping to the fruit still in my hand.

“Go on,” he said quietly. “Try it.”

I lifted the slice to my lips, careful, though it didn’t matter. Juice still ran down my chin, and I cursed under my breath, fumbling for a napkin.

Before I could reach for it, Joe moved. Instinctive. Quick. He leaned in, thumb swiping at my skin with the hem of his shirt. His movements were gentle, almost reverent. The fabric brushed over my chin, dragging against the sensitive skin of my throat as he tilted my face up.

“There,” he murmured, voice low, almost husky. “Got it.”

I froze. My heart was hammering, a steady drum against my ribs, and all I could think about was how close he was. His knee brushed mine, his hand still holding the hem of his shirt dangerously close to my jaw. For a moment, neither of us moved.

My mind betrayed me flashes of what it might feel like if he just leaned in, if he pressed his lips where his shirt had been, if I let myself want what I shouldn’t.

This was Joe. My friend. My… not mine. Not like that.

But God, the way he was looking at me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered it made it impossible to breathe.

“Joe…” I whispered, though I didn’t even know what I wanted to say. Stop? Don’t stop? Please?

He blinked, eyes darting to my mouth for just a fraction of a second before he pulled back. Too quick. Too abrupt. The air between us snapped, leaving me cold.

“Sorry,” he said, shaking his head as if to clear it. He leaned back, running a hand through his hair. “Didn’t mean to...”

“Yes, you did,” I cut in, surprising even myself. My voice trembled, but the truth hung heavy between us.

His jaw tightened. He didn’t deny it.

The silence stretched, filled only by the distant crash of waves against the shore. My heart pounded so loudly I was sure he could hear it.

I fiddled with the peach slice still in my hand, the sweetness now tasting almost too sweet, too much. I couldn’t meet his eyes. Because if I did, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop myself.

“We shouldn’t,” I said finally, though it sounded weak, unconvincing.

“I know,” Joe murmured. His voice was low, rough around the edges, like it cost him something to agree.

But then his hand brushed mine again, deliberate this time. Just the faintest touch, a ghost of contact. It wasn’t an accident. It was a question.

And my heart answered it before my head could.

I let my fingers curl around his, just slightly, just enough. The smallest rebellion.

The porch light flickered on above us, and in the distance, I heard laughter the others, heading back up the drive. Joe pulled his hand away quickly, the loss immediate, sharp. He stood, wiping his palms against his jeans, as if nothing had happened.

But everything had.

I stayed seated, staring down at the half-eaten peach in my hand, pulse racing. There was something between us now, undeniable and dangerous. Something that couldn’t be shoved back into the box, no matter how hard we tried.

When the others finally appeared, carrying bags and chattering about their night, Joe slipped easily into the noise, laughing at some joke, his voice steady. If anyone noticed how his gaze kept flickering back to me, lingering just a second too long, they didn’t say a word.

But I noticed. And I knew he did too.

And God help me, I wasn’t sure I wanted to fight it anymore.

The kitchen was too small for the two of us, though that hadn’t stopped Joe from wedging himself in beside me while I tried to chop vegetables. The others had gone into town, leaving us with the noble task of making dinner.

“Admit it,” he said, leaning lazily against the counter, “you volunteered because you knew it meant avoiding the supermarket run.”

I snorted, reaching for another tomato. “And you volunteered because…?”

He grinned, his hair flopping into his eyes. “Because I knew you’d need supervision.”

“Supervision?” I scoffed. “I’m perfectly capable.”

His gaze dropped to the chopping board. “Capable? You’re massacring those tomatoes.”

Before I could protest, his hand closed over mine, steadying the knife. My breath caught at the contact, the warmth of his skin bleeding into mine. He guided my movements, slow and deliberate. Too slow. I could feel every callus on his fingers, the way his thumb brushed against my knuckles.

“There,” he murmured, voice pitched low, as though it was some kind of secret between us.

I swallowed, hard. It was nothing. Just him being… Joe. Friendly, tactile, playful. He was like that with everyone. Only it didn’t feel like that. Not when his chest brushed against my shoulder. Not when I felt his breath fan across my neck.

I stepped back too quickly, nearly knocking the chopping board onto the floor. He caught it, of course, with that infuriating grin. “See? Supervision.”

“Shut up,” I muttered, cheeks hot.

We settled into an easy rhythm after that, him slicing peaches for dessert while I stirred pasta. But the space was too close, our movements constantly brushing. His hand on the cupboard door just above my head when he reached for a pan. My hip nudging his as we both went for the salt. Little things. Stupid things. And yet each one left me buzzing.

I told myself it was just in my head. That he didn’t mean anything by it. That I was being ridiculous.

But then the knife slipped.

I hissed, dropping it with a clatter as a sharp sting bloomed across my finger.

Joe was on me instantly. “You okay?”

“It’s nothing,” I said quickly, cradling my hand. But the blood welling up betrayed me.

His jaw tightened. “Sit.” He tugged me gently towards a chair, his movements brisk but careful. He rummaged through the drawers until he found a clean tea towel, then crouched in front of me, taking my hand in his.

The world shrank to that point of contact. His hands dwarfing mine, steady as he pressed the fabric against my finger. His brow furrowed in concentration, lips pressed into a thin line. He looked… worried. Really worried.

“It’s just a nick,” I whispered, my voice shaky.

“Doesn’t matter,” he muttered. “You scared me.”

The words hit harder than they should have. My chest tightened, something hot and unwelcome swirling low in my stomach.

When he looked up, our eyes locked. And just like that, the air changed. The noise of the house, the ticking of the clock, even the ache in my finger it all fell away. There was only him. The way his pupils had blown wide. The way his thumb lingered against my wrist, pulse beating steady beneath his touch.

It was too much. Too intimate. I should’ve pulled back. I didn’t.

He noticed. God, of course he noticed. His gaze dropped, flicking to my mouth for the barest second before snapping back up. My breath hitched.

If he didn’t kiss me, I was going to combust.

The tension stretched, unbearable, until finally he moved.

His lips brushed mine like a question, soft and tentative. I answered before I could think, leaning in, pressing back with all the force of weeks of stolen glances and almost-touches.

The kiss deepened, urgent, greedy. His hand cupped my jaw, tilting my face to his, while my fingers curled in the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer. The tea towel slipped to the floor, forgotten.

It felt like drowning and breathing at once. Like relief and ruin all tangled together.

When we finally broke apart, gasping, foreheads pressed together, neither of us spoke. There was nothing to say. Everything was written in the way his thumb traced my cheekbone, in the way my chest heaved against his.

But reality pressed in quickly, heavy and unrelenting.

“We… we shouldn’t,” I whispered, though my voice betrayed me, trembling with want.

“I know,” he said hoarsely. His thumb stilled, his hand dropping reluctantly. “But I couldn’t… not anymore.”

The silence that followed was thick, uncertain. Neither of us moved, suspended in that fragile, dangerous in-between.

And yet, even as my pulse thundered with panic and longing, I knew one thing with blinding clarity: there was no going back.

[liasinthemoon]

Remember this? So it hasn't actually happened but I thought I could use the potential experience as inspiration for a Steve fic 😌

My best friend and I are planning on sleeping together just for the plot

[liasinthemoon]

Joe Keery as Gator Tillman Fargo, 5:06, The Tender Trap

[liasinthemoon]

I need more Djo/Joe Keery moots

[liasinthemoon]

Protector X Steve Harrington

MasterList

Stranger Things and Cast Masterlist

If there’s one thing I inherited from my dad, it’s stubbornness. Stubborn to the point of stupidity, Robin says. My dad Jim says it’s grit, like steel in the bones. Personally, I call it survival.

That stubborn streak is probably the only reason I haven’t strangled Steve Harrington yet.

“Careful, princess, wouldn’t want you to ruin those combat boots you oh-so-stylishly paired with your dad’s hand-me-down flannel,” Steve mutters, holding a branch aside with his bat as we trek deeper into the Upside Down woods.

I shoot him a glare sharp enough to cut glass. “Wow, thanks, Harrington. I’ll treasure your approval forever. Maybe even embroider it on a pillow.”

Robin snorts from behind me, trying to mask it as a cough. Nancy rolls her eyes, and Eddie, of course, eggs it on with a dramatic gasp.

“Y/n Hopper, don’t tell me you don’t secretly adore King Steve’s fashion critiques,” Eddie teases, swinging his chain like it’s a lasso. “What’s next? You two going to start a fashion column in the Hawkins Post?”

“I’d rather set myself on fire,” I mutter.

Steve tosses his hair like the smug bastard he is, though I catch the way his shoulders stiffen. He loves needling me, and for some reason, I keep giving him fuel.

It’s been like this since day one. Since the Scoops Ahoy days, when Robin introduced me to Steve like, "This is Y/n, my best friend, try not to be a dick."

I took one look at his hair and smug smile and thought: nope. And he, apparently, decided immediately that I was fun to irritate.

But right now, in the middle of the Upside Down, our little sparring matches feel sharper. There’s too much tension, too much adrenaline, too much… everything.

The air smells of metal and rot. The vines pulse underfoot. Every sound has me on edge.

We’re quiet for a while, the group moving as one, until I hear it: that shrieking screech that makes my blood turn to ice.

Demobats.

“Shit,” Steve hisses, already gripping his bat with nails.

I spin, heart pounding, as a cluster of them swoops from the trees. Robin yells something, Nancy fires, Eddie shouts, and I...stupid, stubborn me charge forward with my knife.

One of them barrels at me, claws scraping. I slash, barely nicking its leathery wing, but another blindsides me, its screech in my ear as teeth snap inches from my throat.

“Y/n!” Steve’s voice.

Then his body slams into mine, knocking me to the ground just as the bat whips past. My knife flies from my hand. The world flips upside down. Literally. And I realise he’s on top of me, shielding me with his whole body as the demobat crashes into a vine and shrieks away.

For a second, it’s just breathing. His chest against mine, heavy and fast. My fingers clutching his jacket without meaning to. His eyes locked on mine, so close I can see every fleck of hazel.

“Are you...are you okay?” he breathes, voice low, urgent.

“I...” My throat is dry. My brain short-circuits. I never short-circuit. “Yeah. I think so.”

He doesn’t move. Neither do I. His hair brushes my cheek, his nose just inches from mine, and it’s like the whole rotten world fades out. The vines stop pulsing. The screeches blur. All I can hear is his heartbeat hammering in rhythm with mine.

God, if someone doesn’t interrupt, I might do something incredibly stupid. Like kiss him.

“Uh, not to ruin the rom-com in hell moment,” Eddie’s voice cuts through, “but there are still, you know, bats trying to eat us alive?”

Steve jerks back like he’s been electrocuted. I scramble upright, face burning, brushing dirt from my hands as if that’s the most important thing in the universe.

“Thanks,” I mutter quickly, not looking at him. “For… you know. Saving me.”

His jaw ticks. He nods, too fast. “Yeah. Sure. Whatever.”

I bolt for Robin before my heart explodes.

She gives me a look. The Look. Eyebrows arched, lips twitching, the kind of look only a best friend can deliver.

“Don’t,” I warn.

“I didn’t say anything,” she sing-songs.

“You were thinking it.”

“Oh, I was definitely thinking it.”

We keep moving, but my head won’t stop spinning.

Steve Harrington just saved my life. Not that he hasn’t saved people before, it’s practically his thing now, but this was me. He didn’t hesitate, didn’t think twice. He threw himself between me and a monster like it was instinct.

And that moment, that impossible heartbeat when he was above me, breath mingling with mine and I can’t shake it. I keep replaying it, against my will. The heat of him. The way his eyes softened for just a fraction of a second, like he wasn’t mocking me, like he actually…

No. Stop. It’s Steve. Steve, who calls me princess, who drives me insane with his smirk, who’s been my favourite person to fight with for years. He doesn’t like me. And I definitely don’t like him.

Except maybe I do.

God help me.

Later, when we finally pause to catch our breath, I sink onto a rock, rubbing at a scrape on my arm I didn’t even notice until now. Robin plops beside me, offering her canteen.

“You should’ve seen your face,” she says, nudging me. “When he tackled you. I thought you were going to combust.”

“I wasn’t going to combust,” I grumble, taking a sip. “I was surprised. That’s all.”

“Surprised at how close his face was to yours?” she teases.

I groan, shoving her shoulder. “You’re insufferable.”

She just grins knowingly.

Across the clearing, Steve’s pacing, bat still in his hand, jaw set. Eddie’s telling him some ridiculous story, and Nancy’s reloading, calm as ever. But Steve’s eyes flick over, just for a second, catching mine. And I swear, the tension tightens all over again, like a taut string between us.

Robin follows my gaze and smirks. “Oh, you’re screwed.”

“Shut up,” I mutter.

But deep down, I know she’s right.

My boots crunched on the ash-dusted floor as we moved through the dimness, weapons clutched too tightly in sweaty palms.

Robin was muttering something under her breath about how much she hated all of this, Nancy was walking ahead with her usual cool determination, Eddie was humming what I assumed was supposed to be “comforting battle music,” and Steve…

Steve Harrington was walking right beside me.

Because of course he was.

It didn’t matter that there were literally three other people he could pair up with...no, he just had to stick himself next to me. Like some kind of personal torment designed to test my patience.

“Try not to trip over your own feet this time,” Steve whispered under his breath, leaning down just enough for me to hear him.

I narrowed my eyes, glancing up at him. “Thanks for the reminder, Harrington. You know, after you nearly got strangled by vines last time, maybe you should be the one watching your step.”

He smirked, the kind of smug little curl of his lips that made me want to smack it off his face. “I was distracted. Saving your life tends to get in the way of watching where I’m walking.”

Heat rushed up my neck before I could stop it. He just had to bring that up, didn’t he? His arms around me, the way my chest had been pressed to his, our faces so close I’d felt his breath fan across my lips.

I shook the memory away quickly, gripping the bat in my hands tighter. “Please. You were just in the right place at the right time.”

He didn’t answer, but I caught the glint in his eyes. He was enjoying this.

Of course he was.

We kept moving, the group falling into tense silence as we crept through the decaying streets of Hawkins’s shadow self. It was familiar but twisted, like walking through a nightmare you couldn’t quite wake up from.

Nancy raised a hand suddenly, signalling us to stop. We froze.

The clicking came first. High-pitched, shrill, and all too close.

My stomach dropped.

“More demobats,” Robin mouthed, her face pale.

Nancy gestured frantically towards a half-collapsed building to our right. We bolted, ducking into what looked like the ruined shell of an old shop. The walls were caved in, dust and ash everywhere, but it was shelter.

“Quiet,” Nancy hissed, ushering us further in.

The bats swarmed outside, their wings a sickening flutter that made my skin crawl. My heart pounded so loud I was sure it would give us away. We had no choice but to cram into the narrowest corner of the rubble.

Robin squeezed in first, then Eddie, then Nancy… which left me and Steve pressed together in a space that was far too small for two people.

I ended up half-pinned against the wall, Steve’s chest flush to mine, his breath ghosting across my cheek.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I whispered.

“Not my fault you take up so much space,” he murmured back.

My eyes widened, outrage sparking. “Excuse me? You’re twice my size, Harrington, don’t even start...”

“Shh,” he breathed, his hand suddenly covering mine on the bat. “They’re right outside.”

Sure enough, shadows flickered against the broken wall. I froze, my body going rigid against his. His hand stayed on mine, grounding me even though I hated to admit it.

Every second stretched unbearably. I could feel his heart thudding against my ribs, his chest rising and falling against mine. His eyes flicked down to meet mine, and for a terrifying moment, all the noise outside disappeared.

It was just me and him.

Too close. Too intense. His brown eyes darker in the shadows, fixed on me like he was trying to read every thought in my head.

I swallowed hard, breath shaky. “Steve…”

“Yeah?” His voice was barely audible.

But before I could even figure out what I was about to say, Eddie’s voice cut through the silence.

“Wow. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I just stumbled onto a soap opera. You two wanna kiss now, or should we wait until the monsters aren’t listening?”

I shoved Steve back so fast we both nearly toppled into the rubble. My face burned as I stormed past him, deliberately planting myself between Robin and Nancy.

Steve cleared his throat behind me, muttering, “You’re welcome, by the way. Saved your butt again.”

I didn’t even look at him. “I wasn’t the one about to kiss someone in front of a demobat welcoming committee.”

Robin leaned close to me, trying and failing to hide her grin. “Sooo… what was that, exactly?”

“Nothing,” I hissed. “Absolutely nothing.”

But the truth was still humming under my skin. The truth was the way my body had betrayed me heart racing, breath short, staring into his stupidly handsome face like I’d forgotten how to think.

Nothing, I told myself firmly.

Except it didn’t feel like nothing.

Later, when the danger passed and we kept moving, Steve hung back to walk beside me again. Typical.

“You know,” he said softly, “for someone who claims to hate me, you sure looked pretty interested back there.”

I shot him a glare sharp enough to kill. “In your dreams, Harrington.”

He only smirked, like he knew something I didn’t. “Maybe. But you were definitely looking.”

My cheeks flamed, and I spun on my heel to walk faster, determined to ignore him.

Behind me, I could hear Eddie whispering to Robin, “Told you, soap opera.”

Climbing through the disgusting ropes of the Upside Down gate is just grim. I can hear Eddie swearing about “gravity-defying freaky portals,” and Robin muttering about tetanus shots. Nancy, as always, is stone-faced determination.

Steve insists on going first. Of course he does. “I’ll make sure it’s safe,” he says, puffing his chest like some kind of knight in shining armour.

I roll my eyes so hard it hurts. “Yes, Harrington, because what could possibly go wrong? Falling onto a mattress? Truly heroic.”

He gives me that signature smirk, the one that makes me want to slap him and maybe laugh at the same time. “Someone’s got to set the standard.” And then, with a mock salute, he hauls himself through.

We all look up to the gate, watching him fall like Alice tumbling into Wonderland. He hits the mattress with a grunt but bounces up with that cocky grin. “Perfect landing. Who’s next?”

One by one, they go through. Robin, Nancy, Eddie. Which leaves me.

I hesitate just for a second. My legs feel like jelly, and not because of the fall. It’s the idea of going from hell to… well, another kind of hell. But Robin gives me a thumbs-up from below, and I take a deep breath before lowering myself in.

The world tilts. My stomach lurches. And then I’m falling

Strong hands catch me before I hit the mattress. I slam into a broad chest, arms wrapping around me instinctively.

Steve Harrington.

Of bloody course.

My breath comes out sharp, because his face is right there, closer than it should ever be. His hands linger on my waist like he doesn’t trust gravity to do its job. I can feel his heartbeat, fast and steady beneath me.

“I didn’t need you to catch me, Harrington,” I manage, voice a little breathless despite myself.

His mouth quirks, infuriatingly smug. “You’re welcome.”

I scramble out of his arms like they’re on fire. My cheeks burn. Before I can string another sarcastic retort together

“OH. MY. GOD.” Dustin’s voice cuts through like a megaphone. “Did we all see that?!”

Eddie throws his head back, laughing. “Oh, I saw it. Harrington playing the knight in shining hair. And our girl here practically swooning.”

“I was not swooning!” I snap, glaring daggers at them both.

“Sure, sure,” Eddie says, wagging his eyebrows. Dustin nods vigorously beside him. “The tension in this room? You could cut it with a sword.”

I let out a noise somewhere between a growl and a scream and storm out of the trailer before they can get another word in.

The cool night air slaps me in the face. It’s a relief, but it doesn’t cool the heat prickling across my cheeks. Bloody Steve Harrington. Always there, always smug, always...

“Hey, wait.”

I freeze as a hand lands gently on my shoulder. Not forceful, just enough to stop me walking off.

I turn, and there he is. Steve. Hair a mess, dirt smudged across his cheek, eyes softer than I’ve ever seen them. The cocky grin is gone.

“Sorry,” he says, and it sounds… real. Not sarcastic. Not teasing. Just him. “About catching you. About them… taking the piss.”

I swallow, unsure what to do with the sudden sincerity. For a beat, I just stare at him. His hand drops away slowly, like he doesn’t want to scare me off.

“It’s okay,” I say finally, my voice quieter than I expect. I look away, fiddling with the cuff of my sleeve. “I just… don’t like being laughed at.”

He tilts his head, studying me. “It’s not that they’re laughing at you, you know. They see something else.”

I know exactly what he means, but I’m not about to admit it. Instead, I breathe in deep and let it out shaky. “It’s just...” My throat tightens. “It’s been hard since Dad… ”

Talking about him feels like glass in my chest.

For a long moment, there’s silence. Then Steve shifts, his voice low, steady. “You don’t have to explain. I get it. Losing him like that… I can’t imagine.”

My eyes sting. “He was… everything. Stubborn, protective, always there. Now it’s just gone. And I can’t… I can’t seem to move on.”

Steve steps closer, careful, like he’s approaching a wounded animal. His hand hovers near mine but doesn’t touch. “You don’t have to move on. You just… keep going. And I know that doesn’t fix it. But you’re not on your own. Not while I’m around.”

I look up at him, surprised. The sincerity in his eyes is disarming. No jokes. No smugness. Just Steve.

And for the first time since dad died, I don’t feel completely alone.

“Thanks,” I whisper.

He gives me a small smile. “Anytime.”

The silence that follows is heavy, but not uncomfortable. For a moment, I let myself just breathe, standing there with him under the stars.

Of course, the trailer door bursts open and Eddie’s voice cuts through. “Oi, lovebirds! You done with your dramatic heart-to-heart?”

I groan, bury my face in my hands, and mutter, “I hate him.”

But Steve just chuckles softly beside me. “Yeah,” he says, eyes still on me. “Me too.”

And somehow, that makes me smile.

When we came back the air in the Upside Down was thicker than ever, like breathing through damp wool. Every step crunched against ruined debris and twisted roots spreading out from Vecna’s lair. My lungs were burning, but my grip on the axe in my hand was tighter still. We’d stocked up on whatever we could find from the weapons stash in the real world, but it still didn’t feel like enough.

Steve was walking ahead, flashlight beam cutting through the dark. Robin was muttering quietly behind him, and Nancy moved like a woman with a mission steady, collected, determined to see this through.

Me? I was somewhere between determined and terrified.

“Stay close,” Steve murmured over his shoulder, eyes flicking back to me. He didn’t even bother directing the words at Robin or Nancy. Just me.

I rolled my eyes, mostly to cover the way my stomach twisted. “I am close. You want me to crawl up on your back or something?”

“Wouldn’t be the worst idea. At least then I’d know you weren’t wandering off trying to be a hero.”

“Heroics aren’t really my thing,” I muttered. “That’s your gig, Harrington.”

He smirked at that, and for a moment even with the vines pulsing under our boots I thought I caught a flicker of amusement in his eyes.

Nancy’s whisper cut through. “There. The attic window look.”

Through the broken panes of the Creel house, Vecna’s red glow leaked into the black. The whole structure looked like it was rotting from the inside out, the vines clutching tighter and tighter around the wood as if it were alive.

Robin whispered, “We’re really doing this, huh?”

I forced my voice steady. “No turning back now.”

Steve glanced at me. “You stick by me.”

“I already said I would,” I shot back, a little sharper than I meant.

But he just nodded and tightened his grip on the nail-studded bat. “Good.”

Inside was worse. The smell hit me first like burnt flesh and mould. The floor groaned under us as we climbed the stairs. Every step brought us closer to Vecna’s lair, and I could feel the hair standing up on the back of my neck.

And then the screech hit. High, sharp, inhuman.

“Demobats,” Nancy hissed.

“Shit,” Steve muttered, pushing me back behind him instinctively. “Stay low.”

The bats swarmed down the hallway, wings cutting through the air like knives. Nancy fired, Robin screamed curses, and I swung with the axe, heart hammering. One of the bats came straight for me, claws out

And Steve’s bat smashed into it mid-flight, knocking it against the wall. He didn’t even look at me, just gritted out, “You’re welcome.”

I scowled, adrenaline fizzing. “I had it!”

“Sure you did, Hopper.”

But his hand brushed mine as he shifted closer, the smallest touch grounding me when everything else was chaos.

By the time we reached the attic, my arms ached and my throat was raw.

And there he was.

Vecna.

Suspended in his grotesque trance, vines webbing across the space, his skin pulsing as if something beneath it was alive. The sight of him made my stomach twist.

Nancy raised her gun. “Now.”

She fired. The shots tore through the silence, and Vecna jerked violently. The vines shuddered, screaming like living things.

“Move!” Steve barked, grabbing my arm as a vine lashed toward me. He yanked me down with him, the two of us crashing hard against the floor. My breath caught his chest pressed against mine, his face inches from mine.

For a moment, the battle fell away. His breath was ragged, eyes burning into mine, his hand still locked around my arm like he couldn’t bear to let go.

I swallowed, heart hammering louder than the gunfire.

Then a vine slammed into the floor beside us, and the spell broke.

“Shit!” I scrambled up, Steve dragging me with him, shoving me behind as another vine slashed across his arm. He hissed in pain, blood blooming instantly.

“Steve!” I panicked, grabbing his arm. “You’re hurt”

“I’m fine!” He gritted his teeth, swinging his bat again. “Just keep fighting!”

But I couldn’t stop glancing at him, at the blood, at the way he still shielded me even as his own strength faltered.

The room shook as Nancy’s bullets landed true, Robin hurling Molotovs that burst across the vines in flames. The stench was unbearable, but it was working.

“Y/n NOW!” Nancy shouted.

I tightened my grip on the axe, spotted a thick vine writhing across the floor, and swung with everything in me. The blade sank deep, severing it with a wet crunch.

Vecna screamed.

I stumbled back, chest heaving, and nearly fell only for Steve’s hand to catch my waist, steadying me.

“Easy,” he murmured, his face close enough for me to see the sweat glistening on his brow.

“Don’t” My voice cracked. “Don’t you dare get yourself killed, Harrington.”

His eyes softened, just for a moment, even with chaos raging around us. “Wasn’t planning on it, Hopper.”

And then he let go, launching forward again with his bottles of Flaming alcohol, like the big dumb hero he always had to be.

By the time Vecna finally fell blasted back by fire and bullets and screams I thought my heart might never slow down again.

The four of us stumbled out of the Creel house, coughing, shaking, covered in grime and blood. Steve’s arm was bleeding worse now, and I couldn’t stop hovering at his side, even as he brushed me off.

“I said I’m fine,” he muttered.

“You’re bleeding everywhere, Harrington,” I snapped, clutching his arm tighter. “That’s not fine!”

But instead of arguing, he just gave me this tired little smile. “You sound like your dad.”

The words hit me harder than I expected. My throat tightened.

And maybe he noticed, because his voice gentled. “Hey. We made it out. You’re okay. That’s all that matters.”

Robin stumbled up beside us, wheezing. “Barely. But yeah, okay, sure. Totally fine.”

Nancy reloaded her gun with steady hands, already scanning the horizon. “We need to regroup with Dustin and Eddie.”

Steve nodded, then looked at me again really looked. “Stay close, yeah?”

And for once, I didn’t argue.

The smell of smoke and blood clung to the air like a punishment, coating my throat every time I tried to breathe. My legs burned from running, lungs stinging as Steve, Nancy, Robin and I pushed our way back through the Upside Down’s broken ruins towards Eddie’s trailer.

We knew it before we even got there. Something in Dustin’s scream, tearing through the silence, ripped the truth right into my chest before my eyes could see it.

By the time we stumbled close enough, I stopped dead.

Dustin was crumpled on the ground, arms around Eddie’s limp body, sobbing so hard it shattered something inside me. His voice was hoarse, almost broken beyond recognition, calling Eddie’s name like it could pull him back.

I froze stomach twisting. My heart was hammering, not from the run, but from the sheer unfairness of it. Eddie. The one who had been branded a coward. The one who had finally proved to everyone including himself that he wasn’t. He’d done the stupidly heroic thing. He’d stayed behind. And now...

Robin was the first to move, tears streaming silently as she knelt beside Dustin, whispering gently, coaxing him to let go just long enough for her and Nancy to pull him away. Dustin fought it, clinging to Eddie with a desperation that made me want to look away, but eventually he collapsed into Robin’s arms. Nancy was there too, supporting him on the other side, their voices soft and steady even through their own grief.

And then it was just me. Me and Steve and Eddie’s body.

The silence was suffocating. My vision blurred before I even realised the tears were falling. I dropped to my knees beside Eddie, my breath hitching as I looked at his face pale, still, far too quiet for someone who was always laughing or running his mouth.

“God, Eddie…” I whispered, choking on the lump in my throat. “You bloody idiot.”

I hadn’t even noticed Steve kneel down next to me until I felt his hand brush against mine. Gently, cautiously, as if afraid to startle me. When I turned, his eyes weren’t their usual cocky shade of smugness or irritation they were soft. Quiet. Hurting in the exact same way mine were.

A tear slipped down my cheek, hot and traitorous. I reached up quickly to swipe it away, but Steve’s hand moved faster.

“Hey, hey,” he murmured, thumb brushing just under my eye. “Look at me.”

I did. Against my better judgement, I did. And it felt like my heart was split in two.

His eyes held mine, steady and grounding in a way I didn’t realise I needed. His voice stayed low, like it was just for me, shielding me from everything else for a fleeting second. “Don’t get lost in it, okay? We’ll… we’ll make sure his sacrifice meant something.”

I wanted to say something back. Something witty, sarcastic, anything to deflect the way my chest was caving in under the weight of all this but nothing came. Only another tear, another ragged breath.

Steve’s hand stayed there, thumb still brushing the corner of my eye. And suddenly I was aware of how close we were his knee against mine, the warmth of his palm against my face, his breath mixing with mine in the choking air of the trailer.

The tension was sharp enough to slice through the grief for half a heartbeat. I couldn’t move. Didn’t want to, even. His gaze flicked down to my lips, then back up to my eyes, and for a terrifying, electrifying second I thought...

But no. Not here. Not now.

I swallowed, forcing myself to look away, blinking hard as I steadied my voice. “We should… we should get him out of here. Give him… give him peace.”

Steve’s hand lingered for the briefest moment longer before he nodded and pulled back. “Yeah. You’re right.”

Together, we moved Eddie. Together, we worked in silence, the weight of grief pressing down heavier than the dust in the air. But I couldn’t shake the feeling of his hand still on my skin, the way his eyes had begged me to look at him.

And I knew then grief or no grief, Eddie or no Eddie something between me and Steve Harrington had shifted.

A few days later, the air was thick with the sound of boxes shutting, car doors slamming, and the soft shuffle of everyone trying to pretend like things were normal. Hawkins looked broken, the world scarred by fire and ash, but we were all doing our best to pack up and get out before the next wave of chaos hit.

Steve was by my side, helping me shove the last few bags into the trunk of Dad's old Chevy. Eleven hovered close, her quiet presence both grounding and fragile. Mike and Will were bickering about whose turn it was to sit in the middle seat, and Jonathan and Nancy fussed over what little food was left.

Steve brushed a bit of dust off his jeans, giving me that small half-smile he always did when he caught me overthinking. “You’re good, don’t worry. I’ll make it fit,” he said, wedging the last bag into the trunk like some kind of packing magician.

I opened my mouth to answer, but the distant sound of tyres crunching on gravel snapped my head up. Everyone stilled.

A beat later, a car pulled into the driveway. The door opened...then another.

Joyce.

And

“Dad?” The word tore out of me, raw and disbelieving. The box I’d been holding slipped from my hands, scattering clothes across the ground, but I didn’t care. My legs moved before my brain could catch up, carrying me across the yard.

Hopper stepped out, thinner, almost gaunt, but he was smiling really smiling for the first time in what felt like forever.

“Kid,” he said, and that was all it took. I slammed into him, arms locking around his shoulders, clinging so tightly I was half afraid he’d disappear again. His laugh rumbled low in his chest, uneven but so achingly familiar.

“You’re so skinny,” I blurted into his shirt, pulling back just far enough to look at him. My tears blurred his face, but I could see the rough stubble, the sharp lines where weight had dropped away. “What did they do to you?”

He chuckled, rough and warm, brushing a hand over my hair. “Doesn’t matter. I’m here now. And I’ve got you. That’s all I care about.”

Joyce joined us, wrapping her arms around both of us, and for a moment it was just family again whole in a way I thought had been stolen forever.

I pulled back, wiping my face quickly, suddenly aware of the group behind us.

Steve stood a few feet away, watching with a softness in his eyes I wasn’t sure I deserved. He gave me the smallest nod, like go on, be with him.

Dad’s gaze followed mine, and I could feel it sharpen just a little. He already knew Steve knew his antics, his charm, his way of making everyone roll their eyes but the way he looked at us now was different. Protective. Alert. Like he could tell something had shifted between us.

“Hmm,” Dad muttered, folding his arms. He gave me a long look, then Steve, then me again, his expression a mix of amusement and that familiar, bordering-on-annoyed protective edge. “So… you two, huh?”

I groaned, dragging a hand over my face. “Dad”

Steve grinned, shifting slightly closer to me, that stupid Harrington confidence lighting up his features. “Hey, don’t worry. I’m not causing trouble.”

Dad’s eyes narrowed playfully, but the corner of his mouth twitched like he was fighting a smile. “I’ll be the judge of that. Just… don’t hurt her, Harrington. You hear me?”

Steve held up his free hands, mock surrender. “Noted. Loud and clear.”

I groaned again, burying my face in my hands. “Kill me now.”

Steve smirked, leaning closer to whisper so only I could hear. “For what it’s worth… I think he already likes me.”

I shot him a look. “You’re delusional.”

“Maybe,” he said, shrugging. “But you didn’t deny it.”

[liasinthemoon]

mentalpolaroids -> liasinthemoon

[liasinthemoon]

A shoulder to cry on

Steve Harrington x oc!Maren Hopper

Summary: Maren hasn't opened up about the grief of losing her father, and after weeks of burying her emotions, she finally starts to feel like herself again, only for the Upside Down's unfinished businnes to come back to threaten Max's life, which sent her back into a panic spiral over trying to protect the girl. The whole time, Steve tries to protect Maren from her own demons and is there to help her find herself again.

Warnings: S03 and S04 spoilers, angst, loss of a parent, depression

a/n: sort of a rewrite of S04E03 and 04; I hope you enjoy Maren, I think she's lovely. Also, absolutely no hate to Hopper, I looooove Hopper, but I wrote this from a daugther-with-an-emotionally-absent-father perspective for the sake of the plot; I was trying to avoid making this a 2 part fic but it just started to get so long so you'll just have to wait a bit more for the good stuff

..................................................................................

Maren and Max’s friendship started when Billy, for the first time in his prime, got rejected by a girl he had asked out. Well, not rejected at first, she did accept to go out with the new Hawkins High heartthrob, but one day after school, crossing the parking lot to her car, she noticed the Hargrove siblings not too far from where she was standing. Billy wasn’t exactly yelling, but his body language was aggressive in the way he was talking to the girl, who had her head down, hair falling like a curtain covering her face, her posture tense in fear. Survival. 

Maren knew the feeling very well, right after her little sister Sara died from cancer and her mother left, her father used alcohol to cope and his oldest, and now only, daughter to deal with his pain. As the years went by, Maren knew when to stay quiet and let the man be. Parenting herself came with the understanding that none of that situation was fair for neither of the Hoppers, and now as an adult, she understood the pain Jim went through but, as a daughter, she felt like she deserved better. 

That’s why after that moment in the parking lot she decided she didn’t want to go out with someone that made people feel the same way she felt under an egotistical man’s stare. She immediately had this big sister instinct to protect Max from growing up under the same circumstances. 

The next day Maren approached Billy and told him she changed her mind and wasn’t interested, her tone firm and prideful when she saw his charming smile falter. She then walked up to Max and bought her lunch, a gesture that for her didn’t feel like a big deal, not enough even, but to the ginger girl it was like getting slapped in the face with an alternate reality that showed her there were still kind people in the world, and that it was possible to experience kindness herself. From that day on, the two grew closer, even more when Max became part of Dustin, Lucas and Mike’s party, to then getting involved in Demodog hunting, and the older girl eventually got dragged along and teamed up with Steve Harrington to keep the kids safe. A fact that took her a while to process and understand how the King of Hawkins got involved not only with Dustin Henderson, but with an alternate dimension as well. 

An unexpected friendship formed after those events and, suddenly, Maren and Steve started hanging out outside of babysitting duties, as they agreed to call it. Every time the Hopper girl would drive Max and El, an added member to her family and a relief to the ache of missing her little sister, to the Starcourt mall, she would wait at Scoops Ahoy for Steve to finish his shift so they could hang out. In between those waiting times and too many tastings of ice cream, Maren grew closer to Robin and both fell into this vendetta against the Harrington boy over his tragic attempts at getting girls. “Please stop saying it like that, it sounds gross and desperate.” Maren would complain. 

Things turned around when Dustin came back from camp and insisted he had caught on a secret Russian code, and that was the start of another involvement with the Upside Down that led to a series of more painfully unforgettable memories: Steve and Robin being tortured, El losing her powers, Billy dying in front of Max, Hopper sacrificing his life. Maren felt like her own had been sucked away and her body pushed into a dark hole. She remembers finding everyone outside of the burned out remains of Starcourt, running to Steve first thing when she saw him alone sitting by an ambulance. She remembers Joyce rushing towards them, interrupting the embrace Maren had on Steve only to be embraced in the woman’s arms. El was behind her, the tears running down her cheeks a silent confirmation her father was gone. She remembers how frozen she felt, breath irregular, mind blank, heart beating as fast as her hands shook. But still, no visible reaction or understanding of how harshly her life had just changed. She remembers looking for Max, desperate to console her, but her mother eventually arrived and took her home. Joyce insisted Maren stayed with her and El, and despite the emptiness she felt inside, she still used kind words to decline the offer, saying she would stay with Steve even before asking if it was okay with him. She knew he had no one and could use the company. So could Maren, and she knew Joyce and El’s would only intensify her dread to accept the fact her father was dead. That she was alone. No more family. 

After a lot of insistence, Joyce caved and drove them to the Harrington’s house. That night, they didn’t exchange a word the whole time she looked after his wounds, helped him shower, got dressed to bed, laid down next to each other. He was watching her the whole time, searching for any hint of emotion behind her eyes, waiting for a reaction, for her to break down, to lend his shoulder for her to cry on. But it never came, and during the weeks that followed, she never talked about it and became a master at dodging questions and changing the subject of conversation. 

Joyce wanted Maren to move with them to California, but the girl politely refused, saying she wanted to stay and keep an eye on Max, but promised to call everyday and stay in touch with El. 

Steve and Robin managed to get employed together at Family Video, and when Maren got the news, a genuine smile was brought to her face because she happened to be working as a waitress in the diner just across the road. They would visit each other frequently, Maren bringing food over to the video store for both of them, which earned her loads of praise and heart eyes over her kindness, or Steve and Robin would ask for a table in advance so they could have dinner there after their shift. Then Steve would drive them home, dropping Robin first. Everyone knew Maren was living with Max and her mother at the trailer park, what they didn’t know, besides Max and Susan, well, when the latter was sober enough to notice her absence, was that Maren would switch her stay every once in a while and crash at Steve’s, sometimes for a full week straight, only stopping by during the day to check on Max.

The more time they spent together, the more Steve looked at Maren in a different light. For weeks, she didn’t smile, barely spoke a word unless she was spoken to, and would isolate any chance she got. The only times she would come out of her shell was to invite Max in. They both lost someone in their family, so it felt like they were the only ones who understood one another. Still, Maren’s kindness and care for others never ceased, and Steve had a huge admiration and appreciation for that. She was still looking after Max’s grief despite her own eating away at her soul, she was still bringing food home, both Max’s and Steve’s, for them to have despite the fact she didn’t get the chance to properly eat all day. She was still caring for others despite her idea that no one cared for her. That’s when Steve came in. He was making sure to remind her everyday how incredible she was, how everything she did was appreciated, how she was allowed to feel and cry and talk about her troubles. He knew everything she was doing for others was a distraction, caring for others was a way to avoid facing her own needs. 

Little by little she started smiling again, laughing at jokes, teasing Steve alongside Robin, picking up Max after school and convincing her to spend some girl time together. She seemed more like herself, but only because she learned how to stuff her trauma deeper into the corners of her mind. 

And then it all started again, the Upside Down bullshit was back and even more threatening, and Maren felt that dark hole opening up again when Max’s life became a target. The night Chrissy died, Maren was staying at the trailer park, and the following days, after finding Eddie’s whereabouts and explaining to him what could potentially be going on, she refused to leave Max’s side. It was hard enough leaving her alone in a normal situation, and if it wasn’t for Max’s insistence she would be fine and that Maren deserved to get a break from worrying too much, she would stay at the trailer every time. So, with a potential killer on the loose, specifically in the trailer park, it was indeed hard for Maren to not worry too much. 

..

They followed the ambulance and the cop cars until they reached the trailer park, where they met with a frantic Nancy. They all sat down at a picnic table as they listened to Nancy explain what had happened with Fred, and Dustin shared his theory that all of it could be related to the Upside Down. Nancy was skeptical. 

“No, Fred and Chrissy don’t make sense. I mean, why them?”

“Maybe they were just in the wrong place? They were both at the game.” Dustin replied and Max jumped right in. 

“And near the trailer park.”

Maren looked at her quickly, panic starting to build in her chest.

“We’re at the trailer park.”

Everyone started looking around, uneased. 

“Uh, should we maybe not be here?”

“There is something about this place.”

Maren and Max shared a look across the table over Nancy’s words, and Steve, seating next to Maren sensing her uneasiness, placed a hand on her knee and kept it there as Nancy continued talking. She explained how Fred was feeling on edge on their way to the park and Max added that Chrissy was feeling the same way at school, that she even found her crying in the bathroom. 

“Serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right?” Robin spoke, “So, maybe Fred and Chrissy saw this Vecman-”

“Vecna.” Dustin interrupted. 

“I don’t know about you guys but if I saw some freaky wizard monster, I would mention it to someone.” Steve looked at Maren, she nodded in agreement.

“Maybe they did.”

Max agreed, “Yeah, I saw Chrissy leaving Ms. Kelley’s office. If you saw a monster, you wouldn’t go to the police. They’d never believe you.” she paused, and looked at Maren “But you might go to your-”

“Your shrink.” Maren and Robin completed at the same time, and that’s how they decided where to try their luck next. 

The group started walking towards Steve’s car except for Nancy, who was walking in a different direction. Maren was the first to notice.

“Nancy! Where are you going?” 

The Wheeler girl turned around, and so did the rest of the group now looking at her, curiously.

“Oh, there’s just something I wanna check on first.”

“Something you wanna share with us?” Dustin asked.

“I don’t wanna waste your time. It’s a real shot in the dark.”

“And you really think that after what just happened we’d let you go by yourself?” Maren interjected, remains of panic from the whole situation still making her heart beat faster than normal.

“Yeah, are you out of your mind?” Steve agreed, standing next to Maren, “Flying solo with this Vecna creep on the loose? No, it’s too dangerous.” 

“I’ll go with you.” Maren offered, but before she could take any step closer to Nancy, Steve grabbed her arm.

“Whoa, what? No, no way.”

“Steve, it’s fine-”

“It’s not fine, are you insane? I'm not letting you out of my sight!” at that, Maren raised an eyebrow, as if daring him to speak to her like that again. 

“You’re acting insane.”

“Wha- Am I?” he scoffed, not understanding why she was so eager to go out there and risk putting herself in danger, “Look, here,” he turned to Robin and threw his car keys at her and turned back to look between Maren and Nancy, “If you wanna go with Nancy then I’ll stick with you two.”

“What the hell, Steve, Robin doesn’t even drive!” Maren was known for being stubborn, but her best friend has always been a good competitor about who would have the last word.

“What?” he turned to Robin, who seemed lost in what was going on.

“Yeah, I don’t have a license.”

“Why don’t you have a license?”

“I’m poor.”

“I can drive.” Max interfered but immediately got told off by Maren and Steve.

“No!”

“Never again, please. Anybody but you!” he pointed at Max, hoping to get his point across. Maren was holding back a laugh at his parental scolding, until she saw Dustin make a suggestive face.

“Absolutely not.” she fired quickly.

“Oh come on.”

“No-”

“Alright, this is stupid.” Robin finally interfered and, as she moved towards Nancy, she grabbed one of the walkies from Dustin’s backpack and joined the girl, “Us ladies will stick together. Unless,” she looked at Steve, with a playful spite in her tone, “you think we need you to protect us.”

Maren smirked and looked at Steve, crossing her arms. They were wasting time and that whole banter felt a bit unnecessary, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy seeing Steve’s overprotectiveness being put in its place. He smiled sarcastically and turned back to Maren, silently asking what she would do. She sighed.

“I’ll stick with you, so you won't babysit alone.”

Steve only hoped he didn’t seem too relieved to hear that. 

..

The girls got out of the car parked a bit further away from Ms. Kelley’s house and walked up to the front door. It didn’t take long for it to open after ringing the doorbell.

“Girls, hi.”

“Hi, Ms. Kelley.” Maren spoke and then shared a fake concerned look with Max, “We’re really sorry to bother over break but, huh, we were just walking around and then Max started feeling a bit anxious and I didn’t know what to do and, you know, we were close by so I thought we could come and talk to you, if it’s okay?”

The woman seemed, in fact, a bit bothered but she still let them in. 

“Um, yeah, of course. Of course.”

Back in the car, Steve and Dustin kept an eye on the girls as they disappeared inside. While waiting, Dustin decided to bring something up. 

“So, are we gonna talk about… it?”

As if still distracted with the absence of the sight of his best friend, it took Steve a while to process the question. 

“Huh? Sorry. talk about what?”

“Your temporary insanity earlier today when you basically threw yourself at Maren?”

Steve rolled his eyes.

“Okay, first of all, that’s not what happened.”

“Pretty sure that’s what happened. It was pretty public, there were, like, a lot of witnesses.”

“Are you implying that I have a thing for Maren?” Steve started to feel irritated, only because Dustin was right and he hated to agree with him in that particular subject. Mostly because he was still figuring his feelings out himself, and having someone else figuring it out for him was a bit overwhelming. 

“No. I’m not implying. I’m stating. And, as it relates to your steadfast refusal to date anyone else, which is weird and unusual, it’s pretty much the only logical explanation.”

“Well, I was just trying to protect a friend.” Dustin smirked at the fact he didn’t deny the observation, “A friend, Henderson. Okay? I don’t wanna find her with her eyes sucked out of the front of her skull by this Vecna creep.”

Laughing, Dustin interrupted.

“You’re bright red in the face right now.”

“No, I’m not. I don’t wanna talk about it!” but, he did in fact keep talking about it, “And besides, even if I did have a thing for Maren, which I don’t,” Dustin rolled his eyes and muttered a sarcastic right, “there’s no way she would go out with me like that or date me or whatever, not right now, she has a lot going on and the last thing she needs is some idiot pestering her around.”

Back inside Ms. Kelley’s place, her and Max took a seat as Maren stayed a bit behind. 

“Sorry to bother you again, would you mind if I used your bathroom?”

“Not at all, Maren, just up the stairs, to the left.”

The girl thanked her and made her away in the direction she was given, leaving Max to proceed with their plan of distracting the therapist while Maren took the keys to her office. After actually using the bathroom, she came back downstairs quietly and lingered in the kitchen to look for the keys. Once she had it, she waited for Max to “be done with the last minute therapy session” so they could leave. 

“Thank you so, so much for your time. Have a lovely day!” the overexcitement in Maren’s voice made her cringe but the adrenaline of stealing from her therapist wasn’t helping the rational thinking. They quickly walked back to Steve’s car. 

“I can’t believe we just did that.” Max said, panting, as she got into the car, followed by Maren.

“Wait, did what? What did she say?” Steve asked, turning around to face the girls.

“I’ll explain on the way, just drive.” Maren rushed.

“Wha-”

“Drive!”

“Okay, okay! Jesus, woman.”

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Part 2 coming soon

[liasinthemoon]

Didn't want to make this a 2 part fic but it's just soooo long already yall gonna have to take it bit by bit I fear

[liasinthemoon]

new favourite content on tiktok is "if stranger things characters had tiktok"

[liasinthemoon]

me but I went from obsessively writing OBX fics to obsessively writing Steve Harrington fics

I’ve seen the strongest minds of fic writers on here destroyed by new hyper fixations