#&. queue.

On the surface, anyone would have clocked why Steve came looking for Will. Steve Harrington, the babysitter, showing up for the group. Steve Harrington, the one who looked out for them, wielding bats and shifting gears to get them out of danger. He'd face the whole world and take a chunk out of it before he let anything get to them. Steve Harrington, the King whose crown fell to reveal that his truest feature was his heart. It wasn't a joke. It never was. He did care about these shitheads, even with their sass and closed off responses.

And yet, there was another reason Steve came looking for Will today-- one that stayed guarded close to his heart. It was why Max came to him in the first place. Why she knew it had to be him.

'If you want to talk to him, he could use it right now.'

So Will knew he wasn't alone.

"Uh, no, I don't think so," Steve answered, voice firm, yet kind. "Not this time. Max came over mad as hell after what happened. She's worried about you, man. And before you get mad at her for telling me, she told me to remind you that 'they don't get to win.' Got it?"

His mind was running a thousand words a minute, but the words blurred together, and Steve struggled to focus. Get knocked in the head and starved for air a few more times, Harrington, and see what happens. Eventually, after a beat, the concentration softened on his face, along with the concerned knot along his brow.

Look, man," Steve said a bit more softly. "What I'm trying to say is you can feel all the emotions you want about this. Nobody's stopping you. But ashamed shouldn't be one of them, alright? There's no shame--"

Get the words out, Harrington.

"There's no shame in being attracted to guys."

            clicks  tongue  to  roof  of  mouth  ,  grinds  teeth  --  rage  overrun  by  grief  :  caught  in  mourning  .         ❛     .  .  .  i  think  it’s  better  off  this  way  .    ❜

As we know, when the demobats attack Steve, one wraps its tail around his neck and traps Steve in a choke hold, which allows the other bats to start biting into his torso. The demobat at his neck is the most persistent, and it takes a significant amount of time (and additional back up help from his friends) until it lets go and Steve eventually kills it. For part of the series, we do see evidence of the bruising/cuts around his neck.

Days later, Steve gets attacked by the vines in Henry Creel's house (upside down version) with Robin and Nancy, and the vines also wrap him in a choke hold for an extended period of time.

When considering just one of these instances independently, the trauma was enough to, at minimum, render Steve's voice hoarse, cause pain and/or difficulty in swallowing and speaking, and induce neck swelling/bruising as short term effects. Long term effects, especially when considering Steve's head trauma (see details in link above), would also include memory loss, difficulties with concentration/focus, vision complications, and even difficulty with communication.

When you pair the fact that Steve suffered two consecutive choking trauma incidents within a narrow window of time, he didn't get the appropriate recovery. While his body was trying to heal, the trauma happened again, which will not only set back his recovery, but also increase the likelihood of the long term effects.