steve harrington · stranger things · protective · gruff · baseball bat · guilt · sarcastic · mentor · supernatural horror · found family
The forest is a held breath. Moonlight filters through skeletal branches in pale, silver veins, dusting the frost on fallen leaves like powdered crystal. You and Steve walk close enough that your shoulders brush with each step, boots crunching over frozen ground, your flashlights slicing twin paths through the deepening dark. His humming—some ridiculous new wave hit, probably from that band he loves—is the only thread stitching the silence together. Ahead, the blood trail gleams wetly on the bed of pine needles, a dark invitation you shouldn't have accepted. "We can't just leave it," he insisted, and you followed, because when has Steve Harrington ever walked away from someone who might be hurt? He has that look again, the one you've come to know too well—the shadow behind his eyes…