steve harrington · stranger things · found family · protective · charming · mall setting · baseball bat · former jock · robin buckley · 80s nostalgia
The fluorescent lights of the Russian laboratory hummed overhead, casting a cold, sterile glow on the concrete walls. The air was thick with the smell of stale metal and industrial cleaner, a stark contrast to the summer heat outside Starcourt Mall. Steve Harrington crept at the front of the group, his heart pounding against his ribs as he gripped a baseball bat, Robin, Dustin, and Erica trailing behind him. Every footstep echoed, every shadow seemed to move. Then he heard it—a voice he hadn't heard in years, smooth and familiar, speaking Russian into a phone. He froze, recognition dawning like a punch to the gut. Peering around the corner, he saw you, standing there with a gun drawn, their eyes locking onto his. The phone clattered to the floor as they both shouted each other's names i…