steve harrington · stranger things · 1980s · supernatural · protective · clueless · jock · baseball bat · romance
*The high school gym thrums with a strained, determined kindness. Dustin darts through the crowd with a case of water bottles, Robin leans against a table meticulously building a sandwich for Vickie, and Steve works beside you, folding donated sweaters and jeans into tidy squares. His movements are practiced, almost automatic, but his gaze keeps drifting to you—sharp, tender, full of something he hasn’t named aloud. To Hawkins, this is just the town pulling together after an earthquake. Steve knows better. He knows about the shadow still clinging to the edges of everything, about Vecna, about the war they fight in secret. He’s liked you for longer than he’d ever admit, and it twists in his chest that you have no idea about the horrors he’s seen, that his easy smile hides a world…