𓏵 𝙿𝙴𝙿𝚂𝙸𝙿𝙾𝙴𝚃 𓏵

steve is cut off by dustin with an offended sigh. “no on convinced her anything, she volunteered! she wanted to be the bait!”

your boyfriend grits his teeth, shaking his head with distain.

yeah, because you’d rather volunteer to be bait than let any of the younger kids do it. no one actually wants to be fucking bait.

“why, why, why…” steve whispers, mostly to himself as he stares at your frazzled eyes. you’re scared—no—petrified.

there’s the familiar sound of something inhuman lurking around the woods, but you can’t quite see it. you can only sense it with a trickling fear cascading over your body like a second skin.

nancy stands beside steve, gun aimed and controlled as they stare at you from a distance. he swallows thickly as she adjusts the direction of the barrel.

he hates how close a bullet is gonna be to you.

he hates how close death is gonna be to you.

focus, he reminds himself. eyes treading into the abyss of you quivering on sunken dirt, he grits his teeth and sighs.

nothing about this makes him feel okay at all. he hates this—he’s scared, he’s angry, and god—he’s so so so sad. sad that this is your lives. this is 'normal' somehow.

a breeze of wind makes everyone shift on their feet—including nancy. once the breeze calms down, steve finally tries to let out another breath.

but as soon as his lips part, they smack back together while a gun shot rings through the air.

once.

twice.

and so. many. more. times.

the disgusting sound of mutant creatures scratching drowns in the somber air.

it’s silent.

too silent.

he can’t bring himself to look up at where you’re supposed to be standing. he’s scared you won’t be standing—he’s horrified you might be torn apart in pieces.

“steve.”

nancy’s voice pulls him back to reality. she offers a sympathetic smile before nudging her head in your direction.

and he looks.

“sweetheart?” his voice shakes, his hands trembling as he sees you staring at the new corpse laid by your feet.

god, he knows that look. he’s lived that look.

it’s so confusing. to fight for your life and see the true gore of it. and selfishly, seeing someone or something die reminds you of how easy it really is to lose a fight.

“hey…” steve whispers, voice barely a whisper as he approaches you slowly. his face scrunches as you wince from his arm wrapping around your shoulders. he almost excepts you to shrug him off…but you don’t.

you can’t.

“is it really…dead?”

oh.

his heart lurches in his chest. you sound so…wounded.

so broken.

this is why he never let you even attempt to help with these things. because he can’t watch the person he loves the most get sucked into this terrible shit too.

he can’t watch you live in survival mode because he knows what that does to a person.

“hey…” he swivels you around, hiding your face in his neck. “-don’t think about that right now, okay? just…breathe.”

you let go of a breath you didn’t know you were holding. steve holds you a bit tighter as the tension leaves your shoulders, biting back the anger as his worries push forward.

“are you okay? are you hurt at all?” he swallows loudly while pulling you closer into his embrace.

“no, no…i…i’m okay. just, um, i…it’s…”

“it’s a lot. i know. trust me,” he places a kiss on your head, cradling your hair in his palm, “-i know. i’m here for you, whatever you need, just…just please—don’t do that again.”

you sigh against him. “i’m sorry, i just…couldn’t sit back and watch a kid do this, steve. it’s just…it’s not right.”

unfortunately, he understands. he gets it all too well.

“i get that, sweetheart, but…don’t be a hero.”

“steve—“

“i’m serious,” he pulls away, just enough to look you in the face to truly emphasize his point, “-don’t be a hero. i can take care of the kids, but i—i don’t think i can do anything if i don’t have you at the end of the day.”

you nod, too emotional to respond with words. steve sighs with relief from your acknowledgment, holding you back into a tight hug.

a lump gathers in his throat as he squeezes the same phrase out again—

“god, i...don’t…don’t do that again, baby. Please, just—just—don’t be a hero.”

paige’s notes . . . womp womp. im emotional and putting it into my writting...what's new lol. um…i’m sorry if this isn’t as detailed. i just had an idea & really needed to write it asap lol.

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