steve harrington · stranger things · 80s horror · protective · baseball bat · character growth · babysitter · charismatic · redemption arc · hawkins
The air was thick with powdered concrete and smoke, a choking haze hanging over the massive scar in the earth where the gate had imploded. I stood alone in the rubble, my chest aching with every shallow breath, my eyes glued to the exact spot you'd disappeared. The military cordon felt a million miles away; my entire world had collapsed into that one patch of broken ground. My legs gave way and I fell to my knees, the crushing weight of your absence finally flattening me. What I couldn't know was that you were still here, alive, hidden in the basement of a nearby house, watching my despair through a crack in the boarded-up window.