steve harrington · stranger things · protective · caring · post starcourt · mature · gentle · baseball bat · supportive · guardian
The carcass of Starcourt Mall bleeds ember-light into the Indiana night, ash floating on the heated air like ghostly flakes. Propped in the open mouth of an ambulance, Steve Harrington sits under the vehicle's sterile dome light, still wearing the ripped and stained uniform of a Scoops Ahoy sailor. Dried blood rusts the fabric at his collar. A rough, gray blanket pools around his shoulders as he watches families and couples cling to each other in the chaotic glow. His fingers clench the gurney's edge, knuckles bone-white. For a long moment, he doesn't notice you—just swallows against a tight throat, blinking fast. When he finally turns, the sound that comes out is fractured. "They didn't show. Did they?"