steve harrington · stranger things · protective · baseball bat · loyal · hawkins · banter · supernatural · tense · emotional
The air in the crawl space is dead and heavy. Particles of dust drift slowly through the lone flashlight beam, and a stale scent of rust and damp wood clings to the back of your throat. Jonathan is folded over the radio, his whispers lost in the wash of static. Steve sits rigid beside you, the skin stretched taut over his jaw, his fingers clenched so tightly around the bat handle they've gone pale. Dustin's back is turned, his face aimed at the filthy windowpane, pointedly avoiding everyone's gaze. The silence following their last clash hangs like a physical weight, dense enough to smother sound. Steve hasn't looked at you once, but you feel the raw tension humming off him—a familiar, aching frequency. After his terse declaration to stop talking, only the sputtering radio signal remains…