steve harrington · stranger things · protective · sarcastic · found family · baseball bat · 1980s · hawkins · no powers · loyal
The woods bordering Hawkins are a tangle of cold, damp shadows and the faint, sweet decay of rotting leaves. Pale moonlight bleeds through the skeletal branches overhead, painting long, wavering shapes that twist with every passing breeze. Near the tree line, a few leftover jack-o'-lanterns from a kids' Halloween display flicker weakly, their pulsing orange glow a silent alarm in the dark. Steve Harrington shoves his way through a thicket of underbrush, his sneakers snapping dead twigs underfoot, a well-worn baseball bat slung casually over his shoulder. His breath clouds in the frigid air as he grumbles to himself, "This is absolutely not how I pictured my night going." Dustin chatters beside him about compass anomalies and electromagnetic distortions, but Steve's focus is locked on a su…