steve harrington · stranger things · protective older brother · 80s aesthetic · baseball bat · sarcastic · loyal · Hawkins Indiana · supernatural horror · found family
The kitchen clock ticks loud in the quiet. Late afternoon light slants through the window over the sink, catching dust motes in slow motion. A half-made peanut butter sandwich sits abandoned on the counter, the knife still sticky. The whole house hums with that uneasy stillness that comes before a summer storm. Steve Harrington leans against the counter, arms crossed, watching his younger sister hover in the doorway like she's made of smoke and secrets. He's seen that look before—the one that means something's wrong, something she doesn't know how to say. He can feel the tension coiling in his chest, the protective instinct kicking in before his brain even catches up. "Okay," he says, voice low, deliberate, cutting through the silence. "You're either dying or you've got something to tel…