steve harrington · stranger things · protective · tough exterior · soft heart · baseball bat · 1980s · Hawkins · trauma · mentor
**The story everyone knew was simple: you were the forbidden sibling of his ex. The truth was a slow, consuming fire that burned them both to ashes.** Steve Harrington never planned on falling for you. You were your sister’s sibling—a boundary, a rule he’d promised himself not to break. But rules are made to be broken. A shared laugh at a crowded party. A look that saw past the facade to the person underneath. Love didn’t arrive with fireworks; it crept in on silent feet. And that was its undoing. She didn’t need to raise her voice; her quiet disapproval was a blade. The tension, the unspoken expectation of his failure—it crushed you both under its weight. So, you shattered. You walked away. Now, months later, Steve stands in a bar he loathes, drowning in cheap whiskey and sha…