Synopsis: A reader insert where the reader is Mike’s oldest sister, who has already graduated and works at the police station. She has always been infatuated with Hopper, and he seems to be quite taken with her as well. This part takes place in season 1 episode 5
Word count: 4.2k+
Warnings: swearing probably. Talk of funerals and dead bodies. A character learns how to shoot a gun, in probably too much depth. My bad writing/different writing styles from different times I added to the chapter. Age gap relationship. And eventual Stranger Things canon gore.
A/n: It has been a very long two years since my last update. I was honestly so uninspired because the show wasn’t on and I wasn’t getting any new content. Besides that, I was busy with school and life, as well as not knowing how to end this chapter. But here it is. Let me know if you no longer want to be tagged in this, or if you’re new and want to be added to the taglist. I’m already a few paragraphs into part 5.
After a restless night, I barely slept a wink because I was too busy thinking about the Byers’ and Hop, my alarm goes off informing me that it’s time to get ready for the funeral. Will’s funeral. A part of me keeps thinking that he’s not actually dead, especially since Mike seems more anxious than upset as he fidgets at the breakfast table.
I put on my black dress and heels in a blur, not even registering that I’m going through the motions until I’m standing fully dressed in front of my mirror. Mike comes in a few minutes later and asks me for help with his tie; dad was choking him and he says it still doesn’t look right. Very few words are exchanged throughout the family this morning, everyone is just going through the motions.
The funeral is a bit better, I have to help Jonathan with his tie too. I stand behind his seat, hand resting on his shoulder as the Priest speaks, and I glare at Lonnie as he tries to act sad that Will is ‘dead.’ Mike, Dustin, and Lucas are whispering amongst themselves, further fueling my theory that they know something about Will that they aren’t telling me.
As the service continues I start to glance around the crowd in hopes to find Hop, we didn’t part on good terms last night but he said he’d be here. As much as I hate to admit it, especially if all of this is fake and Will is still alive somewhere, I need Hop. I need him by my side, intertwined pinkies, or wrapped up in his side as he speaks soothing words, even if he doesn’t believe what he’s saying and just reiterating the fake reassurances that my mom has told me a thousand times already.
He’s still not here by the end of the service, making me extremely anxious that something did in fact go wrong last night. The nerves in the pit of my stomach are wound so tight that I feel like I’m going to vomit. After the line of people telling the Byers’ the cookie cutter ‘I’m sorry’s,’ and the ‘if there’s anything I can do’s,’ I walk over to Joyce and Jonathan to see if they’ve talked to Hop at all.
“Have you guys seen Hop?” I ask Jonathan and Joyce quietly, trying my hardest to ignore Lonnie.
“Hopper is a no good drunk, you’d do better without him in this town,” the man I was attempting to avoid rolls his eyes at me.
“Oh fuck off Lonnie!” everyone still at the gravesite turns to look at me with shocked expressions, except Jonathan who’s trying not to laugh. “Go back to your cheap whore.”
“(Y/N) (Y/M/N) Wheeler!” mom says sharply from behind me, Mike is audibly laughing.
“We were all thinking it!” I defend, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Someones got a crush on Jim, huh?” he gives me a sickening, sleazy, smile that I just want to slap right off his face. “I thought my son would have found some courage and asked you out by now, no other reason to keep you around.”
“Hopper is my boss, I work with him at the station,” I’m seething. Who does this man think he is talking to me like that? “Jim Hopper is a surprisingly thoughtful boss who is good at his job, and someone I respect very much. And, for your information, Jonathan and I are best friends. Neither of us has ever felt anything more for the other. And Lonnie, we both know that whenever you get whatever it is that you want, you’ll be tearing out of Hawkins with no regard for Joyce or Jonathan, so quit acting holier than thou and just leave.”
I swiftly turn on my heel and head to the car, thankful that I drove seperate from my parents this morning; I took my mother’s car and the other five took my father’s. My heart is pounding, I can hear the blood pulsating in my ears as I start to drive away from Lonnie, from a possibly fake body, and away from Jonathan without properly talking to him. I can always go see the latter later tonight and talk with him then. I’m racing down the streets of Hawkins like a bat out of Hell, finally coming to the edge of town where Hop’s trailer is located.
Pulling up to his trailer I’m shocked to see him outside looking around in circles, the barrel of his gun pointed towards the sky. He looks like hell; messed up hair like he just rolled out of bed, his cream colored henley has sweat stains around the collar, in his armpits, and down the back. He has a crazed look in his eyes, he looks traumatized.
I jump out of the car with no regard for my well-being, he isn’t right in the head at the moment and he could very well shoot me thinking I’m the bad guy. Lonnie’s words are still fresh in my mind; maybe Hopper went to bed drunk and high on too many of his pills. No! Snap out of it, he’s not like that. He hears my footfalls crunching on the gravel; he whips around pointing his gun at me.
My hands immediately go up in the air in surrender, I need to be careful about my next actions. My eyes widen as he keeps the gun up longer than I thought he would. All of a sudden he seems to snap out of it realizing it’s me and not some threat. He looks at me guilty as he lowers the weapon.
“(Y/N)?” he asks, his eyes and voice telling me that he’s unsure that I’m actually real.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I try to soothe him like I would a wild animal. My voice is soft and I slowly step closer to him, hands outstretched and palms facing towards him so he knows I won’t attack. “You weren’t at the funeral, I came to make sure you were okay.”
“I missed the funeral?” he asks, still confused and disoriented. I slowly, gently, reach forward and take the gun from his hand. He doesn’t protest, pushing the weapon into my palm once he realizes what I’m doing.
“Yeah you did,” I take a careful step back, heels sinking into the dirt under my feet. “I was worried because of where you went after you dropped me off last night. I was scared you were hurt, or worse…” I trail off at the end, not wanting to admit out loud that deep down I was worried that Hop got killed last night.
My words seem to remind him of why he was outside with a gun in the first place, he takes off running back inside without a word. I follow him in confusion, he’s tearing apart the living room as I walk through the door.
“Hopper, what are you doing?” I ask in horror, Lonnie’s words run through my head yet again. Is it possible that Hop was on a bender before he went to sleep and he was still drunk when he woke up?
Instead of responding verbally, Hop takes two long strides across the entire living room area to get to me, putting his hand over my mouth so I can’t talk again. He puts the index finger from his free hand to his lips as a sign for me to stay quiet, before pointing around the room. I frown as he leaves his hand on my face for a few seconds too long.
I watch as he finally pulls back, observing him tearing apart the cushions for his couch and pulling his phone apart piece by piece. I glance around the room, noticing the spilled pills on his coffee table. Frowning, I set Hop’s gun on the table and put his pills back in the bottle as well as tidy up the empty beer cans strewn on it.
Hop rushes to the bathroom as I start to tidy up the mess he created in the living room. I can hear him taking apart the light fixtures in there and my worry for his sanity starts to grow. I sigh and sink down onto the ground, the living room is a mess and I don’t have the heart nor the energy to continue cleaning. First we bury Will, or whatever that was, and now Hop’s losing it, how can this day get any worse? I bury my head in my hands as I hear him rush from room to room, tearing them all apart.
Hop comes back into the living room like a hurricane, tearing apart anything he missed the first time around. I let out a squeak as he throws a light bulb to the ground, it smashes into a million pieces less than a foot away from me. I don’t want to make it worse and get in the way; but I also don’t want him to hurt himself as he destroys his home.
The last thing untouched in his entire house is the ceiling light in his living room. His shoulders are tense as he unscrews the bolt to take off the glass covering the bulbs. My eyes widen in shock as he pulls down a listening device, or more commonly known as a bug. What the hell did Hop get himself into last night? Hop grits his teeth in an angry sneer before grabbing a book he threw from his room, and smashing the bug repeatedly until there was no way it was still functional.
“Hop?” I finally dare to ask, raising from the floor carefully avoiding the broken lightbulb. “What happened last night?”
“I went back to the morgue,” Hop runs his fingers through his hair, pulling briefly on the ends. “I-I cut into the body, and it wasn’t real. It was stuffed just like a teddy bear, or some shit.”
“Oh my god,” I murmur under my breath, not expecting to get a response from the man in front of me.
“So then I snuck into Hawkins lab, got pretty far too,” he continues with his story like I didn’t interrupt. His eyes keep darting around the room like he’s expecting something to hop out at him. “I found a room with a stuffed animal and a kid’s drawing on the wall. The basement- the basement had weird white things floating in the air, there were vines growing out of a glowing hole in the wall. I was surrounded by men in white hazmat suits, next thing I know I’m waking up on the couch; my pills are spilled on the table with lots of empty beer cans that I didn’t drink.”
“Will’s still out there, probably in that glowy viney thing,” I cover my mouth, suppressing a sob. I’m not sure what’s worse; Will being dead, or him still being out there and being held somewhere in Hawkins lab. “We’ve gotta save him Hop, and I’m not letting you do anything by yourself again. I’m not having you die on my watch, not when I can be there to help you.”
Hop is opening his mouth to protest you helping him, you can tell by the scrunch of his face he’s not thrilled with your idea, but tires on the dirt path outside stop him. He yanks me away from the window, grabbing his gun off the coffee table, he pushes me behind him and away from danger. Two pairs of footsteps clomp down on the stairs leading to the front door, and Hop rips the door open before the people can knock.
“Hello? Whoa! - Hey!” Callahan exclaims when Hop steps out of his trailer, gun in hand.
“Jesus, Chief,” Powell looks at Hopper warily. “You all right?”
“What are you doing here?” Hop’s body is positioned just so that someone would have to be looking intently into the trailer to notice me behind his back.
“We tried calling but,” Powell’s voice trails off at the end.
“Yeah, phones dead,” Hops voice is gruff and his answer clipped. I can tell he wants the two idiots on his front porch to leave, so he can continue to talk to me about what happened and where to go from here.
“Whoa, (Y/N), what are you doing here?” a shiver crawls up my spine as Callahan gives me a once over. Hop subconsciously- or consciously, I’m not quite sure which- moves in front of me completely to block Callahan’s pervy gaze.
“Hop wasn’t at Will’s funeral, so I came by to check on him,” I push Hop out of the way and step beside him on the small porch, shutting the front door behind me. It would look a lot worse, and far more suggestive, if Hop was hiding me from view. This way it looks like we aren’t hiding anything- hiding me being there- well, except hiding the torn apart living room from the two doofuses.
Both Callahan and Powell give me disbelieving looks, Powell more so because he saw the way I was with the librarian who slept with Hop the other day, but neither of them voice their opinions on the matter. Instead Callahan starts telling Hop why they showed up in the first place, two more people in town are missing. The naive men in front of us think that everyone’s on edge because of Will’s death, but Hop and I are both thinking that it has to do with whatever is happening at the lab.
“You go back to the station,” Hop tells the men to go back to the station once he finds out that the men went hunting near Mirkwood. My heart stuttered a bit hearing Hop himself call it that, it makes me wonder if I’m rubbing off on him, or just the boys and this case. “(Y/N) and I will look into this.”
“Are you sure?” Callahan looks awkwardly between Hop and me. I assume he’s unsure if he wants to leave me alone with Hop, especially with how wild and out of it the Chief looks to an outsider.
“Yeah, leave it,” Hop insists, pushing me slightly as a way of telling me to open the door.
“Oh, hey. Uh, they found Barbara’s car,” Callahan continues before I can open the door.
“What?” Hop and I ask at the same time, blood draining from my face.
“Barbara Holland’s car, seems she ran away after all,” Powell adds, finishing the revelation for his partner. “Staties found it late last night at a bus station.”
“Funny, right?” Callahan adds, almost seeming to catch on that something is majorly off. “They keep doing our job for us.”
“Funny, right,” Hop and I say at the same time, this time he’s more forceful with shoving me towards the door. I quickly open it and he guides me inside, slamming the door shut behind him, putting distance between us and the prying eyes of our dense coworkers.
Once the door shuts I start to clean up the living room again, sighing at the knife made rips in the apoulster of his couch, too long for me to even consider sewing back up for him. I know he was freaking out, but there’s literally a zipper right there in the back, he could have used that instead of stabbing them. While I sweep up the broken light bulbs and try to salvage anything he threw across the room earlier, Hop focuses on fixing his phone, even going as far as to duct tape the mouthpiece back together.
Once the living room is clean, or as clean as I can get it at this particular moment, I head to the bathroom to clean that up too. I avoid his bedroom though, I know how private and personal someone’s bedroom is, that’s why I threaten Nancy and Mike anytime they go snooping through mine. By the time I’m finished in the bathroom Hop has the phone fixed and is using it to call someone. Normally I wouldn’t snoop, he deserves his privacy, but my feet feel frozen in place when I hear a woman’s voice coming from the other side of the line.
“I know, I know, I know I shouldn’t be calling you,” Hopper sighs into the phone, playing with the bracelet he made from Sara’s hair ties. “I just wanted to…I just wanted to say that, um…even after everything that happened, I don’t…I don’t regret any of it. And those seven years, they were…everything to me.”
My heart breaks at his words, and it continues to break for him when his ex wife asks if he’s been drinking again. I didn’t know my heart could ache for him anymore than it already did, not until I see Hop’s body tense when he hears a baby start crying from the other end. She’s moved on and he hasn’t. She gets a second chance at that happily ever after bullshit, and Hopper is the Chief of Police in a small town that seems to be overtaken by some crazy powerful and dangerous outside enemy that isn’t afraid to kill anyone in it’s way.
“You know what, actually, I have been drinking, I’m sorry,” I frown as he starts to shut her out, it’s like I can see the walls he’s built over the years start to be reinforced. “Just take care of yourself, okay? Say hi to Bill for me.” Hop slams the receiver down, hanging up on his ex wife before she can respond, setting the phone on the coffee table in front of him.
“Hop,” I sigh, holding my dress in place as I slide down the dividing wall between his kitchen and living room next to him.
As soon as my butt touches the ground his phone starts to ring, I glance between him and the aforementioned phone wondering if he’ll pick it up. He doesn’t, he makes no move to answer it, just letting it ring. He does, however, slide his left hand across the floor and close to my right one. Hops left pinky lifts off the ground, hooks around my right one, our hands resting on the floor with our pinky’s tightly entwined. We sit like that for what feels like a long while, at least twenty or thirty minutes. I start to wonder how many times Hop’s ex wife would have called had he not ripped the phone from the wall after the second unanswered one.
“How ‘bout I teach you to shoot,” Hop turns to me, I can’t quite read the emotion in his blue eyes, but it’s almost like they’re pleading with me to say yes. I nod back and he stands, pulling me from my seated position.
“Should I take my heels off?” I glance down at by black pumps while Hop digs the empty beer cans, the ones the people from Hawkins lab left strewn about his coffee table, out of the trash.
“Yeah, you’ll need good balance,” Hop heads for the door, beer cans cradled in his left arm, grabbing his firearm off the coffee table with his right hand as he passes it.
I take off my heels as I start to head towards the door, tossing them carelessly behind me in the general direction of the ruined couch. Rushing in front of Hopper, now barefoot, I open the door for him so he doesn’t have to worry about shifting the beer cans around and possibly dropping any. I follow him out the door, towards the back of his trailer and the pond behind it. Hop drops the beer cans on the grass, grabbing one and setting it on a stump of wood, the gashes on the top of the wood lead me to believe that he uses this stump to chop wood.
Hop hands me his police issued handgun, stepping behind me once I take it. Instinctually I wrap both of my hands around the handle, my dominant hand resting slightly higher, trigger finger on the side of the barrel. I have this much knowledge of holding a gun from observing Hop, for far too long, any time he has his weapon drawn. Hop gently kicks my right foot out so my feet are shoulder width apart, I move my dominant foot forward a tad, raising my arms in front of me.
“‘Kay, now use the little bump out on the top as a guide,” his hands rest on my shoulders, before sliding down slightly to help me aim. “Line it up with the beer can and pull the trigger.”
I take a deep breath, anchoring myself to the ground for the blowback, pointer finger moving to the trigger and pulling it. I didn’t anchor myself well enough, falling back into Hop’s chest slightly. I’m too embarrassed from this new position to hear the sound of metal ripping through tin.
“You did great kid,” Hop whispers into my ear, sending an involuntary shiver up my spine, a shiver I can’t hide from him since we’re still pressed together. Hop slides his hands from my upper arms to my forearms, pushing slightly to lower the gun towards the ground.
“Oh my god! I did it!” I screech louder than intended when I look up to the empty stump. The can is behind the wood, a bullet embedded in the center of the logo, I hit the target on my first try!
I set the gun on the ground, turning, and jumping into Hop’s arms. My arms are tightly wrap around his neck, and his easily slide around my waist. He holds me close for longer than necessary, but not nearly long enough for my liking: every touch from Hopper is like an itch that can’t be scratched, every time I think I’ll be satisfied but it always leaves me wanting more.
Once Hop unwraps himself from my hold, he moves to put another beer can on the stump. This time he stays off to the side, I’m left wondering if the hug is the cause of the new position or if Hop just wants me to try alone. We go through ten more empty beer cans, I hit every single one on the first try. Hop also teaches me how to load the clip and the gun, as well as unclip it and put the safety on.
After Hop finishes teaching me how to protect myself, he grabs my heels when he goes inside to grab one of his coats and hat, and I grab his police department jacket from my car to wear. After grabbing the aforementioned things we get into his truck to warn Joyce that her house may be bugged too, and to let her n\know that Will is probably alive somewhere lost and confused.. Hop keeps glancing my way the entire car ride, and I just nervously play with the hem of my dress. I really don’t want to see Lonnie again, and I especially don’t want him to see Hop. If Lonnie says one bad thing to Hopper in front of me, I may just deck him.
Once we pull up to Joyce’s house, Hop finds an old takeout menu in his car and grabs the pen sticking out of my jacket pocket to write a note telling Joyce to be quiet. Hop finally opens his door and I practically sprint out of my side of the car, having forgone putting on my shoes, and up to the Byers front porch. I’m pounding on the door before Hop has closed his own car door.
“Go away Lonnie!” I hear Joyce yell from inside the house. I wonder if Joyce has kicked Lonnie to the curb again, finally, as I continue to aggressively pound on the door. Hop joins me on the front porch just as Joyce rips the front door open. “Seriously? I am going to murder-”
Hop and I hold our fingers to our lips to shush an ax wielding Joyce, in Hop’s other hand he’s holding up the old take out menu with the message written on it. Joyce looks confused and a little scared at our random appearance on her doorstep, but she doesn’t fight us when Hop pushes his way into the house.
“Oh Jesus,” Hop grumbles while I let out a quiet ‘shit’ at all of the Christmas lights hanging in the Byers’ house.
Hop and I get to quickly unscrew every christmas light, thank God he’s being a lot more calm about it here than at his own place. After what feels like hours Hop unscrews the last light bulb only to find that there were no bugs planted in the Byers’ house. The two of us let out a large sigh as we plop down right next to each other on Joyce’s couch. Hop’s knee rubbing up against mine is all I can think about as he explains what happened to him the night before. I do start to tune back into the conversation when Hop tells Joyce that she was right all along.
I don’t think I have ever seen Joyce more happy than she is at this moment, at least two people believe her and now there’s undeniable proof, at least to the three of us, that Will is still alive. Joyce pulls me up from the couch and into a bone crushing hug, the hope and joy she’s radiating is infectious.
Remember when episodes of shows dropped weekly and everyone could watch it in their own time because it was just one episode and everyone can chime in whenever they want and discussions lasted a relatively long time because there was a constant drip feed of content that kept the hype and conversation going? Yea no that sucks ass let’s blow up the runtime of everything and release it all at once so people have to spend ¼th of their weekend watching this shit so they join the conversation because if not everyone’s gonna get spoiled. Fool-proof strategy that won’t backfire at all. Hey why are our stocks dropping
“With nine scripts, over eight-hundred pages, almost two years of filming, thousands of visual effects shots, and a runtime nearly twice the length of any previous season, Stranger Things 4 was the most challenging season yet, but also the most rewarding one. Everyone involved is incredibly proud of the results, and we can’t wait to share it with you.
Given the unprecedented length, and to get it to you as soon as possible, Season 4 will be released in two volumes. Volume One will release on May 27th; Volume Two will release five weeks later on July 1st.
So that’s the good news. It’s coming soon. And it’s bigger than ever.
It’s also the beginning of the end.
Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things. At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four, but—as you’ll soon see for yourselves—we are now hurtling toward our finale. Season 4 will be the penultimate season; Season 5 will be the last.
There are still many more exciting stories to tell within the world of Stranger Things; new mysteries, new adventures, new unexpected heroes. But first we hope that you stay with us as we finish this tale of a powerful girl named Eleven and her brave friends, of a broken police chief and a ferocious mom, of a small town called Hawkins and an alternate dimension known only as the Upside Down.”
STRANGER THINGS 4 coming May 27th and July 1st STRANGER THINGS 5 to be the final season
do you ever think about joyce waiting on the steps of her house 7PM friday, hoping he’ll be there, hoping he’s alive and ready to take her out on that date????
Steve Harrington x Reader. Season 3 finale spoilers.
The floor was cold, the atmosphere chaotic. The screams of your friends were drowned out by the fireworks and snarls of the mindflayer. Despite the noise, you clearly heard Billy, or the Mindflayer rather, whisper, “Stay still, it will all be over soon,“ his words sent ice through your veins. You struggled against his grasp, but it was no use. Realizing the imminence of your demise, you felt an overwhelming sadness, not even for yourself, but for Steve Harrington, the first and apparently last love of your life. As the “flaying” began, he was the only thing on your mind. You hoped that he would survive this, that he would get out of Hawkins, that he would be happy. You hoped-
“Y/N!” Steve screamed as he blew his cover to run to your side.
This caught the attention of Eleven, who managed to use her powers to throw Billy away from you. She fell back against Mike. The rest of the kids were still blasting the mind flayer with fireworks. Steve used the opportunity to pick you up and carry you away from the action.
“Y/n? Can you hear me? You gotta wake up okay? I did not survive being tortured by Russians only to have you be flayed before I could even-” his voice broke, and before he could continue, he was rounding the corner to where Dustin was.
“Shit. Is she okay?”
“I don’t know. Billy - the mind flayer- how do we know if she? What if she was?” Steve tried, but his heart couldn’t even handle the idea of you being lost to him.
“She wasn’t flayed.”
“How do you know?” Steve asked reluctant to be relieved.
“The hive mind is activated, she would be awake and trying to kill us if she was,” Dustin explained.
“Then why isn’t she waking up?”
“I don’t know Steve, but we have bigger problems right now,” he said gesturing to the fact that they were almost out of Fireworks.
Steve hesitantly left your side to help the others and watched in absolute shock as Billy sacrificed himself. It was only moments later that the mind flayer collapsed. It was over. Jonathan hugged Nancy, Mike went to Eleven, Lucas held Max as she cried, and both Steve and Dustin turned towards you.
“Y/n wake up!” Steve tried shaking your shoulders. He lowered his head to your chest to hear your heart beating and feel your breathing, “Y/n, c’mon, I need you to wake up,” he tried again, sounding more desperate.
Before he could continue, the FBI came running in and they were all escorted out. Steve barely managed to convince the EMT to let him ride with you. He was stuck in the waiting room for what seemed like forever, shrugging off the nurses who offered to check out his injuries. Dustin, Mike, Nancy, and Jonathon came in, gathering in silence waiting for any news. The worst part for Steve was when your mother showed up, he had never felt more guilty than when he lied to her about what happened.
Eventually, the doctor came out with a flustered look on his face. He asked for your mom, and Steve quickly stood to join them. The doctor protested, but your mom assured him that Steve should come with her.
“So, I don’t know how to tell you this, but as far as we can tell there is nothing physically wrong with your daughter. She is seemingly in a coma with no cause. As such, there is nothing medically we can do other than sustain her condition if you choose to do so,” he then turned to Steve, “Can you run me through what happened again?” Steve managed to recount his story, trying to ignore your mother’s sobs. As soon as he finished, he exited the room in shock, he sunk down to the floor, struggling to breathe, replaying the doctor’s words over and over again in his head. His chest was filled with immense pain at the thought of losing you.
He sat there a while trying to calm himself down before forcing himself off the wall and back to the waiting room, where Will, Mrs. Byers, and Eleven had joined the others. All eyes went to him expectantly, but with one look at him Dustin said what they were all thinking, “Shit…”
Steve repeated what the doctor had said, Nancy pulled him into a comforting hug. While the others started brainstorming. There was an hour of outrageous theories until finally, Will realized something, “She wasn’t completely flayed, but the process was definitely initiated.”
“Obviously,” Dustin chimed in.
“But what is flaying? It’s like your identity being ripped away from you and replaced with the host mentality,” Will continued.
“So maybe Y/n’s soul or whatever was separated. Nothing medically wrong with her, because that’s not a physical connection” Mike added.
“So in other words, we have to jumpstart the connection again,” Lucas agreed, and then all eyes shifted to El.
“Do you think you could try to find her? Like you did Billy or Heather?” Mike asked.
“I can try,” El nodded.
Dustin walked over to where Steve was laying with his head in Mrs. Byers’ lap. She ran her fingers through his hair like she had for her sons so many times, mind wandering to Hopper. Steve looked so broke, like he had given up any hope.
“We need to get into Y/n’s room, we think we know how to fix her,” Dustin announced.
It was like that swiped a switch in Steve, and he popped up at once, “What do you mean?”
Dustin explained everything to Steve and Mrs. Byers, and then again in layman’s terms. From there the whole group formed a plan. Mrs. Byers and Nancy would go distract your mom. Dustin, Mike, and Will would distract the nurses. Steve and El would sneak into your room, while Jonathon kept watch. For once, everything went smoothly.
El was searching the cabinets for something to cover her eyes with, and Steve handed her the red ascot from his Scoops uniform. She went to your side and took your hand, instantly being transported into your consciousness.
It was dark, unlike anything she had ever experienced before. Every step she took was echoing, the entire reality was glitching in and out, but there was no sign of you.
“Y/n?” she called out.
The blackness would flash to a scene of you and then back to the nothingness, “Y/n, can you hear me?” El tried again, “I need you to focus on my voice, and I can bring you back. I’ll bring you back home, back to Steve.”
At the mention of Steve, the glitching stopped and El could see you know for the first time, you laid on the ground folded into yourself. You were pale and shaking, looking only a moment away from death. As she got closer she could hear you softly repeating, “Please don’t, I’m sorry.” There was no indication that you knew she was there. She touched you lightly on the shoulder, but it didn’t phase you.
“Y/n? We need to get out of here, I need your help,” she tried, again receiving no response. The glitching started again, each time putting more and more distance between the two of you. El knew that you wouldn’t survive it much longer.
In the hospital room, Steve watched as blood trickled down Eleven’s face. He didn’t know why it was taking so long. He tried to get an idea of what was happening through the one-sided conversation that he was hearing, but even that was being drowned out by his fear of losing you, What if this didn’t work? The lights started flickering, the machines in the room going nuts, and then suddenly Eleven called his name, “I need you to talk to her, to bring her back.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Steve, we don’t have time, just talk to her!”
“Okay….Uhm…Y/n? It’s Steve. Your boyfriend,” he started, feeling extremely uncomfortable, before his emotions took over. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t there to protect you. I’m here now though, and I need you to come back to me. I need you to wake up, cause you are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I don’t want to lose you. Not now, not ever. Please Y/n. I love you so much, please wake up.“ As he finished, everything went black, the entire hospital lost power.
In your head, every nightmare you had ever had was playing through your mind. You were cold and afraid, feeling lost beyond anything you have ever felt. Whatever was happening to you it was killing you, you could feel it draining you. A strange numbness started to overtake you. You weren’t giving up, you were running out of fight. Just as you were trying to prepare yourself for whatever would come next, you heard a familiar voice, “Okay….Uhm…Y/n? It’s Steve. Your boyfriend.” Hearing his voice made everything stop. A warmth filled you, and you forced your eyes open, seeing Eleven.
"El?” you asked weakly.
“You’re going to be fine, I’m here,” she reassured, moving towards you and taking your hand.
The next thing you remember was hearing Steve’s voice, “Are you okay?” he asked, you forced your eyes open to see who he was talking to.
“I’ll be fine,” Eleven reassured him, wiping her nose.
“Everything was going crazy in here and then the power went out…Is she okay now?“
Suddenly Eleven’s face lit up, “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”
You had never seen Steve turn around so quickly in his life, a wide smile on his face as he practically dove onto your bed holding you like his life depended on it. “Nice to see you too,” you laughed. God did he love that laugh, and that smile, and you.
“I am so glad that you are okay,” he sighed, allowing himself to relax a little for the first time since he had found out about the Russian code from Dustin.
“Are you okay?” you asked running your finger lightly across his cheek. His eye was swollen and undoubtedly painful. His lip was busted and his nose was also bruised and swollen. In other words, he looked like he got into a fight with his hands tied behind his back.
He put his hand over yours and pulled it down to his chest over his heart as he had done so many times before, “It’s worse than it looks, I promise. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
You were going to ask him what happened but were interrupted by the kids coming in excitedly. They were vividly telling you everything that happened after you were “Semi-flayed” as Will had coined it. You listened to every word, happy to know that it was all over. Their commotion gained the attention of the nurse, who proceeded to kick everyone out. Well, everyone but Steve who was practically glued to your side.
She went back to find the doctor and notify your mother, promising to bring back the ice that you requested for Steve’s eye. There were more happy reunions, followed by another round of tests, and finally, you were discharged. Joyce took Will, Jonathan, Dustin, and Lucas home. Nancy took Mike and Eleven back to her house. Your mom went back to your house and you went with Steve to his.
You both were exhausted but found it hard to sleep.
“What happens now?” you asked innocently.
“What do you mean?”
“How do we move forward from this? I mean nothing can ever really be the same can it?”
Steve thought for a moment, “I think we grieve and heal, then we start looking for the little victories again until this is nothing more than a memory.”
You nodded, “I love you, Steve Harrington,” you spoke softly.
You missed the grin that spread across his face before he kissed your forehead, “I love you too.”
You laid like that for a while, it didn’t take Steve long to fall asleep. You thought about what he said. Tomorrow would be hard, and the day after that too, but eventually your life would become some type of normal again. You shifted to look at his face, careful not to wake him. You felt a sense of relief, knowing that as long as the two of you had each other, you could work through the rest.
This is my first Stranger Things imagine, it is Steve Harrington x reader. It’s a concept I might flush out into a mini-series, maybe… For more of my writing check out my masterlist here.
It was just a little fall, you were hanging up a welcome home poster for Dustin who was finally returning from his camp when you lost your footing and bumped your head. It was no big deal and honestly, if his mom hadn’t come out to check on the noise you made, you probably would have just iced it and called it a day. But she insisted on taking you to the hospital in case you had a concussion. She called your parents and your mom was going to meet you there. You didn’t even want her to do that, but at least she agreed to let you tell the boys.
While in the waiting room, you used a payphone to call Will and let him know you’d miss the surprise. He asked if you were okay, and you gave him a purposely vague answer not wanting to have the party freaking out about nothing. You were about to call Steve when the nurse called your name. You were slightly relieved, you knew that Steve would feel obligated to come make sure you were okay even though he absolutely hated hospitals.
It was just a little fall, you explained to the nurse. But regardless, she was running rounds of tests to make sure that there wasn’t any brain trauma or other hidden injuries. What should have been treated with a bag of frozen peas was now turning into a whole ordeal. You were really starting to understand why Steve disliked hospitals.
It was just a little fall, you whispered as the doctor told you and your mom that they had found something far more serious through your scans. As to the what and the how, you didn’t hear any of what the doctor was saying. Once the words terminal and nothing we can do, came out of his mouth your brain shut off. The next thing you heard was “months, if she’s really lucky, a year.” Your eyes shifted up to your mom’s which was a mistake because seeing her completely breakdown was not helping you at all.
“Okay, so are we done here?” you spoke calmly.
“Y/n, I know this is a lot to process. I can get a psychologist in here to help you talk through things. We can-”
“I mean you said that I am dying and that there is nothing to be done about it, so what else is there to talk about?”
“Y/n-” your mom tried.
That was enough of that for you, you had to get out of there. You ignored your mom calling after you and made your way out to the front. Now the question was where to go from here. You could head to Steve’s, to the mall, to see the Party. All you knew was that there was absolutely no way you were going home.
You started walking towards Steve’s house, knowing that he was working and his parents were out of town for the weekend. You hoped that you’d be able to keep your head down and try to figure out the best way to tell him and the rest of your friends the news. However, you saw your mom’s car on the next street over and quickly changed your mind ducking into the Henderson’s house, glad to see that Dustin’s mom wasn’t home.
“Hey Henderson, how was camp?” you greeted.
“It was great! I met this girl, she’s totally awesome and we are doing long distance. We are actually heading to set up a satellite to talk to her now. Do you want to come with?”
“Of course I do,” you agreed, allowing Dustin to fill you in on everything else that had happened in the last month.
“Sounds like you had a good time,” you add, trying to focus on the conversation and not everything else that was on your mind.
You allowed your mind to drift, until Will’s voice brought you out of your thoughts, “Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just been a weird day,” you answer.
“You know you could talk to me, I mean any of us really, if something was wrong?” he asked.
“Of course I do. And you can talk to me about anything.”
Will knew that there was something that you were hiding, but he decided to let it rest for now. The two of you made it up to the top of the hill and started helping Dustin set up Cerebro. He tried to contact Suzie, but it was radio silence on her end. El and Mike left claiming that El had a curfew. Max and Lucas left shortly after to catch a movie. That left you, Will, and Dustin. Will stayed for a while and the two boys talked about new DnD campaign possibilities. But soon even he left. Dustin was clearly upset both about Suzie not answering him and his friends leaving so easily.
“Hey, it’s okay, she probably went out to eat with her family or something. And things will get back to normal with the Party in no time,” you assured him, “Why don’t we call it a night and go see Steve, we can all watch a movie together and you can stay the night or I’ll drive you home after.”
Dustin’s face lit up, and he started packing up so the two of you could leave. The two of you started talking carelessly and for a shining moment, you almost forgot that the first half of your day had even existed. The two of you stopped by his house so he could get a movie, you also had him leave his mom a note telling her his plans and to call Steve’s house if she needed him. You had almost made it out when the phone rang. Dustin was quick to pick it up.
“Hey Mrs. Y/l/n, yeah Y/n is-” your eyes went wide and you shook your head wildly at Dustin. Luckily he caught on, “I haven’t seen her since she stopped by earlier. I’ll let you know if she comes back, but she is probably just staying the night at a friend’s house. It is a Friday night. Bye,” he said quickly before hanging up the phone, “Are you going to tell me why I just lied to your mother?” he questioned.
“I- I’m - It’s just that-” you tried, but the words were lost on you. How were you supposed to tell him that a little fall had turned into you finding out that you were dying? As in no more Y/f/n Y/l/n. For the first time since that little fall took place only hours ago, tears escaped your eyes. And just like that every shred of calm and collective, of unaffected and indifferent, melted away. You were crying uncontrollably in front of one of your best friends, truly feeling the implication of the doctor’s words for the first time.
Dustin was at a loss for words, in the entirety of your friendship he couldn’t remember ever seeing you cry. He decided to pick the phone back up and call Steve.
The phone barely rang twice before Steve answered, “Hey man, Y/n’s mom just came to my house. Apparently, something happened and they haven’t seen or heard from her. Her mom’s a wreck, I’m on my way out to look for her, do you think you could walkie-talkie the Party and see if any of them have seen her? If not I thought I’d pick you up and we could go check some of her favorite spots. I don’t know what’s going on but it’s apparently really serious. I’m freaking out.”
“She’s here. But she doesn’t want her parents to know. Whatever happened, it’s bad man,” Dustin replied.
“How bad?”
“She’s bawling her eyes out on the couch, avoiding her parents, and hasn’t said a word about it, so I’d guess it’s pretty bad.”
“I’ll be there in 5,” he said before hanging up. He grabbed his keys and left without another thought. For the entire time that the two of you have been dating, hell, for the entirety of your friendship he couldn’t remember seeing you cry. And you adored your parents. His internal freak out was escalating as he pushed harder on the gas pedal. He needed to get the Henderson’s house and get you in his arms, where he could keep you safe from whatever this big bad terrible thing was.
Dustin went to you and put his arms around you trying his best to comfort you, “It’s okay Y/n, whatever happened we’ll figure it out. Steve’s on his way, just try to calm down and breathe.” He was wondering what the hell could have happened to upset you so badly. He was extremely thankful when Steve came through the door. He excused himself debating whether or not he should alert the rest of the Party. Ultimately, he decided that he needed to fully access the situation before getting them involved.
He wandered back downstairs to see Steve repositioning himself behind you on the couch and wrapping his arms around you. He was honestly a little afraid of what could have happened to make you this upset. But no matter what it was, it was going to be okay. You would get through it and he would be by your side every step of the way. Hell, whatever this was, it probably would be easier to survive than demogorgons, mindflayers, and the upside down and you both made it through that.
“Y/n, I love you and everything’s going to be okay. Just calm down, focus on my voice and try to take deep breaths. I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere, I promise. Shhhh, it’s okay just to breathe in and out. I love you so much,” he spoke softly.
“It was…only a…fall,” you muttered in between sobs, “I don’t…I can’t…It was…I barely fell…”
“Y/n? Are you hurt? Did you fall and hurt yourself?” Steve asked softly, making eye contact with Dustin who shook his head.
“I was hanging up the poster…I fell and… Mrs. Henderson wanted to… make sure I didn’t have a concussion. The hospital…But then the tests…and my mom wasn’t helping… The doctor said that I…but it was only a fall…” you explained miserably as tears rolled down your cheeks, your breathing starting to return to a less alarming pace..
That was definitely not cohesive enough for Steve to figure out what happened, but Dustin was starting to piece it together. Steve refocused on trying to calm you down when Dustin stepped forward, “Y/n, what did the doctor say?”
Instead of answering you started crying harder again. Steve shot Dustin a death glare before it clicked in his head what he just asked you and his stomach dropped. He just wrapped his arms around you tighter hoping to god that his idea was way off-base.
Eventually, you calmed down enough to talk. Steve moved so that he could look you in the face, Dustin offered you some tissues before sitting down beside the two of you. “Y/n, what happened at the hospital?” Steve asked softly.
“The doctor told me that I’m sick. I’m sick and I’m not going to get better and there’s nothing they can do about it,” you explained defeatedly, avoiding eye contact with either of them, “months maybe a year if I’m lucky,” you answered Dustin’s question before he even asked it. There were so many more questions that he had, but a look from Steve told him that now was not the time. You got up to go to the bathroom, leaving the two boys sitting in disbelief.
“Dustin, what time will your mom be home?” you asked, breaking the silence upon returning.
“Shit! Literally any minute.”
“Okay, Steve, can I crash at your place?” you asked, already knowing the answer.
“Of course. Dustin, do you want to come too?” he asked.
“I think I should stay here, call Y/n’s parents and let them know she’s okay, being vague about her whereabouts, etc.”
“Understandable, just do me a favor and don’t tell the Party. Not yet, I just need a little time to process everything and then I’ll tell them myself, I promise.”
“Of course, scouts honor,” he replied causing you to smile before Steve all but ushered you out the door.
Once the two of you were alone in the car and far enough away from the Henderson’s house not to worry about running into Mrs. Henderson, he turned to you, “Do you wanna talk about it?”
“I think I’m all talked out for tonight,” you answered honestly.
He nodded understandingly. It was a few more minutes before you arrived at his house. You both wordlessly made your way up to his room where you took out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that you had left there, making your way to the bathroom to change. You didn’t waste any time climbing into bed where Steve soon joined you. He wrapped his arms around you a little tighter than normal, as if he were afraid that you might slip away from him. You didn’t mind though, you enjoyed his warmth and presence. You dreaded the next day and all that you knew would come with it. Instead, you tried to focus on the solace you found with Steve. This, you thought, is what I’m going to miss the most. A single tear made its way down your check before your exhaustion took over and you fell asleep.
This is my first Stranger Things imagine, it is Steve Harrington x reader. It’s a concept I might flush out into a mini-series, maybe… For more of my writing check out my masterlist here.
It was just a little fall, you were hanging up a welcome home poster for Dustin who was finally returning from his camp when you lost your footing and bumped your head. It was no big deal and honestly, if his mom hadn’t come out to check on the noise you made, you probably would have just iced it and called it a day. But she insisted on taking you to the hospital in case you had a concussion. She called your parents and your mom was going to meet you there. You didn’t even want her to do that, but at least she agreed to let you tell the boys.
While in the waiting room, you used a payphone to call Will and let him know you’d miss the surprise. He asked if you were okay, and you gave him a purposely vague answer not wanting to have the party freaking out about nothing. You were about to call Steve when the nurse called your name. You were slightly relieved, you knew that Steve would feel obligated to come make sure you were okay even though he absolutely hated hospitals.
It was just a little fall, you explained to the nurse. But regardless, she was running rounds of tests to make sure that there wasn’t any brain trauma or other hidden injuries. What should have been treated with a bag of frozen peas was now turning into a whole ordeal. You were really starting to understand why Steve disliked hospitals.
It was just a little fall, you whispered as the doctor told you and your mom that they had found something far more serious through your scans. As to the what and the how, you didn’t hear any of what the doctor was saying. Once the words terminal and nothing we can do, came out of his mouth your brain shut off. The next thing you heard was “months, if she’s really lucky, a year.” Your eyes shifted up to your mom’s which was a mistake because seeing her completely breakdown was not helping you at all.
“Okay, so are we done here?” you spoke calmly.
“Y/n, I know this is a lot to process. I can get a psychologist in here to help you talk through things. We can-”
“I mean you said that I am dying and that there is nothing to be done about it, so what else is there to talk about?”
“Y/n-” your mom tried.
That was enough of that for you, you had to get out of there. You ignored your mom calling after you and made your way out to the front. Now the question was where to go from here. You could head to Steve’s, to the mall, to see the Party. All you knew was that there was absolutely no way you were going home.
You started walking towards Steve’s house, knowing that he was working and his parents were out of town for the weekend. You hoped that you’d be able to keep your head down and try to figure out the best way to tell him and the rest of your friends the news. However, you saw your mom’s car on the next street over and quickly changed your mind ducking into the Henderson’s house, glad to see that Dustin’s mom wasn’t home.
“Hey Henderson, how was camp?” you greeted.
“It was great! I met this girl, she’s totally awesome and we are doing long distance. We are actually heading to set up a satellite to talk to her now. Do you want to come with?”
“Of course I do,” you agreed, allowing Dustin to fill you in on everything else that had happened in the last month.
“Sounds like you had a good time,” you add, trying to focus on the conversation and not everything else that was on your mind.
You allowed your mind to drift, until Will’s voice brought you out of your thoughts, “Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just been a weird day,” you answer.
“You know you could talk to me, I mean any of us really, if something was wrong?” he asked.
“Of course I do. And you can talk to me about anything.”
Will knew that there was something that you were hiding, but he decided to let it rest for now. The two of you made it up to the top of the hill and started helping Dustin set up Cerebro. He tried to contact Suzie, but it was radio silence on her end. El and Mike left claiming that El had a curfew. Max and Lucas left shortly after to catch a movie. That left you, Will, and Dustin. Will stayed for a while and the two boys talked about new DnD campaign possibilities. But soon even he left. Dustin was clearly upset both about Suzie not answering him and his friends leaving so easily.
“Hey, it’s okay, she probably went out to eat with her family or something. And things will get back to normal with the Party in no time,” you assured him, “Why don’t we call it a night and go see Steve, we can all watch a movie together and you can stay the night or I’ll drive you home after.”
Dustin’s face lit up, and he started packing up so the two of you could leave. The two of you started talking carelessly and for a shining moment, you almost forgot that the first half of your day had even existed. The two of you stopped by his house so he could get a movie, you also had him leave his mom a note telling her his plans and to call Steve’s house if she needed him. You had almost made it out when the phone rang. Dustin was quick to pick it up.
“Hey Mrs. Y/l/n, yeah Y/n is-” your eyes went wide and you shook your head wildly at Dustin. Luckily he caught on, “I haven’t seen her since she stopped by earlier. I’ll let you know if she comes back, but she is probably just staying the night at a friend’s house. It is a Friday night. Bye,” he said quickly before hanging up the phone, “Are you going to tell me why I just lied to your mother?” he questioned.
“I- I’m - It’s just that-” you tried, but the words were lost on you. How were you supposed to tell him that a little fall had turned into you finding out that you were dying? As in no more Y/f/n Y/l/n. For the first time since that little fall took place only hours ago, tears escaped your eyes. And just like that every shred of calm and collective, of unaffected and indifferent, melted away. You were crying uncontrollably in front of one of your best friends, truly feeling the implication of the doctor’s words for the first time.
Dustin was at a loss for words, in the entirety of your friendship he couldn’t remember ever seeing you cry. He decided to pick the phone back up and call Steve.
The phone barely rang twice before Steve answered, “Hey man, Y/n’s mom just came to my house. Apparently, something happened and they haven’t seen or heard from her. Her mom’s a wreck, I’m on my way out to look for her, do you think you could walkie-talkie the Party and see if any of them have seen her? If not I thought I’d pick you up and we could go check some of her favorite spots. I don’t know what’s going on but it’s apparently really serious. I’m freaking out.”
“She’s here. But she doesn’t want her parents to know. Whatever happened, it’s bad man,” Dustin replied.
“How bad?”
“She’s bawling her eyes out on the couch, avoiding her parents, and hasn’t said a word about it, so I’d guess it’s pretty bad.”
“I’ll be there in 5,” he said before hanging up. He grabbed his keys and left without another thought. For the entire time that the two of you have been dating, hell, for the entirety of your friendship he couldn’t remember seeing you cry. And you adored your parents. His internal freak out was escalating as he pushed harder on the gas pedal. He needed to get the Henderson’s house and get you in his arms, where he could keep you safe from whatever this big bad terrible thing was.
Dustin went to you and put his arms around you trying his best to comfort you, “It’s okay Y/n, whatever happened we’ll figure it out. Steve’s on his way, just try to calm down and breathe.” He was wondering what the hell could have happened to upset you so badly. He was extremely thankful when Steve came through the door. He excused himself debating whether or not he should alert the rest of the Party. Ultimately, he decided that he needed to fully access the situation before getting them involved.
He wandered back downstairs to see Steve repositioning himself behind you on the couch and wrapping his arms around you. He was honestly a little afraid of what could have happened to make you this upset. But no matter what it was, it was going to be okay. You would get through it and he would be by your side every step of the way. Hell, whatever this was, it probably would be easier to survive than demogorgons, mindflayers, and the upside down and you both made it through that.
“Y/n, I love you and everything’s going to be okay. Just calm down, focus on my voice and try to take deep breaths. I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere, I promise. Shhhh, it’s okay just to breathe in and out. I love you so much,” he spoke softly.
“It was…only a…fall,” you muttered in between sobs, “I don’t…I can’t…It was…I barely fell…”
“Y/n? Are you hurt? Did you fall and hurt yourself?” Steve asked softly, making eye contact with Dustin who shook his head.
“I was hanging up the poster…I fell and… Mrs. Henderson wanted to… make sure I didn’t have a concussion. The hospital…But then the tests…and my mom wasn’t helping… The doctor said that I…but it was only a fall…” you explained miserably as tears rolled down your cheeks, your breathing starting to return to a less alarming pace..
That was definitely not cohesive enough for Steve to figure out what happened, but Dustin was starting to piece it together. Steve refocused on trying to calm you down when Dustin stepped forward, “Y/n, what did the doctor say?”
Instead of answering you started crying harder again. Steve shot Dustin a death glare before it clicked in his head what he just asked you and his stomach dropped. He just wrapped his arms around you tighter hoping to god that his idea was way off-base.
Eventually, you calmed down enough to talk. Steve moved so that he could look you in the face, Dustin offered you some tissues before sitting down beside the two of you. “Y/n, what happened at the hospital?” Steve asked softly.
“The doctor told me that I’m sick. I’m sick and I’m not going to get better and there’s nothing they can do about it,” you explained defeatedly, avoiding eye contact with either of them, “months maybe a year if I’m lucky,” you answered Dustin’s question before he even asked it. There were so many more questions that he had, but a look from Steve told him that now was not the time. You got up to go to the bathroom, leaving the two boys sitting in disbelief.
“Dustin, what time will your mom be home?” you asked, breaking the silence upon returning.
“Shit! Literally any minute.”
“Okay, Steve, can I crash at your place?” you asked, already knowing the answer.
“Of course. Dustin, do you want to come too?” he asked.
“I think I should stay here, call Y/n’s parents and let them know she’s okay, being vague about her whereabouts, etc.”
“Understandable, just do me a favor and don’t tell the Party. Not yet, I just need a little time to process everything and then I’ll tell them myself, I promise.”
“Of course, scouts honor,” he replied causing you to smile before Steve all but ushered you out the door.
Once the two of you were alone in the car and far enough away from the Henderson’s house not to worry about running into Mrs. Henderson, he turned to you, “Do you wanna talk about it?”
“I think I’m all talked out for tonight,” you answered honestly.
He nodded understandingly. It was a few more minutes before you arrived at his house. You both wordlessly made your way up to his room where you took out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that you had left there, making your way to the bathroom to change. You didn’t waste any time climbing into bed where Steve soon joined you. He wrapped his arms around you a little tighter than normal, as if he were afraid that you might slip away from him. You didn’t mind though, you enjoyed his warmth and presence. You dreaded the next day and all that you knew would come with it. Instead, you tried to focus on the solace you found with Steve. This, you thought, is what I’m going to miss the most. A single tear made its way down your check before your exhaustion took over and you fell asleep.
