#strsnger things

10am.

You awoke to the shade of the sky matching your mood. Grey, bleak, null of anything that may have inspired color in your life. It was another day of waking up without Steve next to you. You’d think after 2 months of his absence it would have gotten easier.

You let your eyes fixate on the gloomy clouds before inhaling sharply and rolling to your back. You rubbed your hands over your face and let out a groan, already dreading having to get out of your fortress of blankets to face the world.

There was a crawl today. One you had promised Robin you would go to. You stared up at your popcorn textured ceiling.

You could fake the flu. ‘Tis the season, after all. Maybe food poisoning?

You groaned again and threw your green comforter over your face.

You’re not sure how long you stayed like that. Maybe 10 seconds. Maybe 10 Minutes. When you removed the covers and turned your head to the alarm clock you sighed.

10:15.

You begrudgingly threw the covers off of your body, letting the cold chill of the mid fall air wash over you. You trudged to your bathroom and turned your shower on with a loud squeak of the nozzle to cut through the silence that you’d unfortunately grown too familiar with in Steve’s absence.

Stepping into the shower, you faced the water and braced your hands onto the cold pink subway tile.

The scenes replayed in your head the same way a masochist would indulge in their own pain for their twisted pleasure.

“Steve, this is insane! And not to mention, incredibly juvenile!” You shouted. You were standing in the kitchen, leaning the back of your hips against the counter with your arms crossed as your eyes flicked between your boyfriends.

“It’s juvenile to give a shit about something?” He questioned.

“No, what's juvenile is that you think that diving head first into a dangerous situation is some kinda act of bravery, when really, it’s just got stupid written all over it! What is so hard to understand about that?!”

“Okay so…insane, juvenile, stupid…” he counted down the insults on his fingers, making you internally wince at the realization of how harsh you were being. “Anything else you’d like to add to the list or does that about do it?”

You brought the tips of your fingers to your temples, massaging them in order to keep your composure as you took a deep breath. “I never said you were stupid, Steve, I said the idea was stupid.”

“The idea of keeping Eleven, the only one who's really able to end all of this shit, out of Vecna’s line of fire is stupid to you?”

“When it involves you possibly getting killed, yeah, it is.” You shrugged your shoulders and tilted your head as your eyes bored deeper into him.

“This is so-”

“So what, Steve?” you cut him off.

“There’s no point in arguing with you because you’ll never get it!” He was starting to raise his voice.

“What don’t I get?!”

“This is the only way!” He was fully yelling now.

You looked down at your feet and stuck your tongue in your cheek, nodding your head incredulously. “You know what? You wanna go and get yourself killed? Fine. But I want nothing to do with it anymore.” You moved past him and grabbed a wine glass from the cupboard next to his head and moved around the kitchen to grab the wine bottle from the fridge.

He watched you closely as his shoulders slumped. “You’re not serious.”

You looked up from the glass you were pouring your red wine into and placed the bottle on the counter with a loud clank. “Do I sound like I’m not being serious to you?” You raised your brow.

He scoffed and turned his head, shaking it like he couldn’t believe what he was actually hearing. “If you’re trying to break up with me, then just say that.” He mumbled, adams apple bobbing thickly in his throat and still refusing to look at you knowing his eyes were starting to well with tears.

You softened looking at him and let out a shaky breath. “Steve.” You whispered barely audible.

When he still refused to look at you, you straightened your back. “If you’re gonna go through with it, then yes. I’m breaking up with you.” Your voice cracked, betraying you.

He bit his lip and shook his head, finally directing his gaze back into your eyes, a single tear rolling down his cheek as he let out a humorless scoff. “Fuck this.”

He walked quickly past you. The sound of his keys scraped sharply against the counter. His footsteps thudded hard against the wood floors and then the door slammed.

You sucked in a harsh breath of air. You brought your wrists up to your eyes with your hands balled into fists as you let out loud sobs in the middle of your kitchen.

You blinked the tears and steaming shower water out of your eyes. You’ve gotten to the point that you had chewed your lips raw as the taste of metallic blood washed over your tongue. You stayed in the shower for as long as your body would let you. Your skin pruning and the water starting to run cold from how long you had been standing there. You weren't sure anymore if you were trying to wash your body or scald away the memories of Steve.

11 am.

You sat on your couch mindlessly watching your tape of Stand By Me for the millionth time as you ate a bowl of parfait you threw together to ease the uncomfortable growling from your stomach. Just as you were finishing up, you heard your phone start to ring and you sighed as you paused the movie and dragged your feet to your kitchen to pick up the receiver.

“Hello?” You asked less enthusiastically than you usually do.

“Hey! I’m sorry if I’m calling at a bad time…” Robin's voice carried through the line. “I just wanted to make sure you were really coming tonight? I miss you and you need to get out of that house. It’s not healthy to sit and sulk all day, you know. I read about it.”

“Yeah, honey about that, I just-”

“Do not cancel on me again. I’m not too proud to stand here and beg until you finally say yes. I can do it for hours.”

“Rob-”

“Fine, have it your way. Please please please please please please please-”

You pulled the receiver away from your ear and squeezed your eyes shut. You knew she was missing you, but God, did you have to go to a crawl to see her?

You pondered as you heard her pleas still coming through the speaker. You sighed loudly before putting it back to your ear.

“Alright! Alright, Robin. I’ll go.” You said with a hint of annoyance in your tone.

“Promise?” She asked skeptically.

“Yeah, I promise.” you sighed again.

“Meet at the station at 6pm sharp. And no tears! You’re too pretty for that!”

You rolled your eyes and hung up the phone. You slid your back up against wall and bumped the back of your head softly against it cursing yourself for saying yes. You knew he would be there. You hadn’t seen him in months and now you just agreed to being shoved into a small room with him and all your friends.

You felt like you were on a tightrope between two skyscrapers with nothing underneath to catch you. You turned around and leaned your forehead against the wall and closed your eyes.

Maybe you could skip and just apologize to Robin another day. Afterall, could she really be that upset with you? She knew how painful your circumstances were.

Just as you sat back on your couch, a knock came at your door.

“Jusus fucking christ.” You looked at the time on your wall.

11:23

You stood back up and sauntered over, yelling whoever it was on the other side before you even got to the door.

“I don’t care about what you’re selling! I didnt want it last week and I don’t fucking want it now!” You shouted as you ripped open your front door.

And you froze.

Your blood ran ice cold.

There Steve was. Shoulders slumped, eye bags dark, hair a mess on top of his head. Rain drizzled softly behind his tall figure and landed gently onto his jacket.

“Um…” You whispered and looked down at your feet as your teeth caught you raw lip once again. You brought a hand up to the nape of your neck and scratched it. You stepped aside to let him in, not looking back at him yet. It felt far too dangerous to do so.

He cleared his throat and stepped in. He looked around the house. It looked skeletal, empty in metaphor, like its bones were trying to hold onto the warmth that once filled its four walls.

The door closed with a soft click behind him and you stayed facing his back, waiting for him to make the first move, not having any idea what was happening.

“Heard you were coming to the crawl.” He spoke softly.

“Word travels fast.” you replied, your tone matching his. “Do you wanna sit?”

His eyes flicked to the couch. Your knitted blanket thrown haphazardly over the cushions. He nodded and made his way over. You followed.

You both sat on opposite ends of the couch. He smiled gently to himself when he noticed your favorite movie on the screen.

You, however, sat with your legs pressed tightly together and your hands on your knees. Sitting up impossibly straight.

“I uh, I just wanted to say, I didn’t want you feeling uncomfortable. At the crawl I mean.” He started

“Why would I be uncomfortable?” you tilted your head towards him, still haven’t looked at him since you opened the door.

He spoke your name barely above a whisper. “You won’t even look at me.”

You shrugged.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered. Like if he spoke any louder the house’s foundation would crack and the whole place would tumble on top of you.

You turned your head to the opposite wall and nodded. Your breath was shaky. Your throat almost betrayed you by beckoning you to let out a choked sound. But you forbade it. You swallowed it harshly.

You felt his weight shift on the couch as he moved closer, sitting on the cushion directly next to you, leather cracking under his jeans. “Please. Please look at me.”

You could hear it in his voice. He was fighting tears just as you had been. You shook your head no and sniffled.

He placed his warm hand on your shoulder and rubbed it. You exhaled a breath you didn’t know you were holding. And maybe you had been holding it since he walked out the door 2 months ago.

Every fiber of your being tried to stop you from leaning your cheek onto the top of his hand. Your brain was screaming for you to run as your heart and soul leaned in closer. The soft wet skin of your cheek meeting the calloused skin of his. His thumb swiped your tear and you finally turned to meet him, his hazel eyes turning a brighter green from the threat of tears that soaked his lash line.

“You could never make me uncomfortable.” Your voice cracked. Your throat was scratchy from all the times you refused yourself a pity party. “Maybe just a little sad.” You somewhat joked.

He exhaled a laugh quietly as he nodded and rubbed your shoulder more. It was his turn to sniffle now as a tear slipped down his cheek. “I’ve heard I have that effect on people lately.” He joked back and you genuinely laughed. Letting yourself ease back into a comfortable rhythm that no longer existed.

Silence washed over the room again save for the sniffles and the ticking clock. 11:47.

“I’m sorry too.” You whispered, pouting as you leaned into his hand more.

“Don’t be. I was being stupid.” He shook his head.

“No you weren’t. I was the stupid one. I let you just-“ You let out an exasperated sigh as you motioned your arm to the door before letting it fall to your thigh with a slap.

“I was being stubborn. I let my own big head get in the way.” He sniffled again.

You exhaled a laugh. “It is pretty big.” You pursed your lips before smiling. And he laughed. That laugh that you missed filling your hallways more than you could explain.

Steve laughed with you. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against yours with a boyish smile plastered on his face. He brought his hand to your cheek, rubbing small lines across it with his thumb.

11:55

“I only have a couple minutes before I gotta get to the station.” He huffed

“Well no one knows how to squeeze a chicken quite like you.”

Steve hummed in response. “I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah.” you nodded in confirmation.

Steve looked into your eyes and let himself linger like he was trying to memorize the color and claim it as his new favorite color. He swallowed roughly, adam’s apple bobbing. “Friends?”

Time froze.

For a brief second, you flinched. You felt as if the world had just been knocked completely off its axis. Choking on air as if it were poisoned.

Your jaw tightened, blinking a couple times as the word settled deep inside your chest and down to your stomach.

“Friends.” you strained.

a/n: I hope you enjoyed! this is my first time writing steve so bare w me it’ll get better lol. more to come!

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