Steve Fic - Tumblr Posts

*crying in Swiftie*

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐍

pairing: professor!steve harrington x professor!fem!reader

word count: 6.8k words

summary: in which it had been twelve years since you last saw steve harrington. and you never thought about him, mainly because you’d forced yourself not to. but, suddenly, it was hard to avoid thoughts or reminders of him when after all of those years, you finally saw him again. it was an abrupt moment that oh so quickly brought back memories and old feelings that managed to do a number of things; confuse, scare, and worry you. after everything that happened between you two, you fully believed that you would never want to talk to him again. but maybe that was the exact thing that needed to happen.

warnings: explicit language, mentions of cheating, a bit of fluff, implied smut, a shit ton of angst but with a happy ending

author’s note: this took forever and it's insanely long but i love the way it turned out<33 the rest of the trilogy will be out next, so "august" and then "betty" coming (very) soon!! (full "folklore" album series masterlist here!)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“and when i felt like i was an old cardigan under someone's bed, you put me on and said i was your favorite.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Fall Semester 1996

You rarely ever thought about your life pre-Rhode Island. Mainly because you never wanted to, but also because it felt so far in the past that there was never any reason to focus on what used to be. 

You segmented your life into two phases. One, before you left your hometown, and, two, the moment you drove past the “Leaving Hawkins” sign and never looked back, refraining to listen to the part of the sign that told you to “Come Again Soon.” 

It had been nearly twelve years since you left the small Indiana town, and there wasn’t one moment where you ran into anyone that you once knew from that “before” life, which, in turn, meant that you never had any reason to think about Hawkins.

Until you did run into someone. And it was probably the worst possible person you could’ve ever run into. 

Steve fucking Harrington.

You would’ve rather seen Simon Gardener— your crush from sixth grade who you’d thrown up in front of when the two of you got paired up on a Science project— than Steve. 

But, now here he was, standing barely twenty feet away from you. You’d nearly dropped the coffee you’d waited almost twenty minutes for from your favorite coffee shop. Instead, you spilled some on your hand and only inwardly winced at the feeling because you didn’t want to draw attention to yourself. 

You almost turned around and walked out of the building you just walked into, but your office was right down the hallway that Steve was currently standing in the middle of along with the head of the English Department, Dan. And now that there was spilled coffee on your hand you really needed to go in there and rummage through the drawer of your desk that contained a bunch of leftover napkins from random nights when you’d order takeout to your office.

Before you could contemplate further about what your next course of action should be, Dan spotted you and called your name, waving you over to where he and Steve were standing. 

“Hi, good morning,” You greeted him, expertly avoiding eye contact with Steve because you didn’t want to see his reaction to seeing you for the first time in what pretty much felt like forever.

“Let me introduce you to the new addition to the History department upstairs,” Dan said and then gestured to Steve, which forced you to finally look at him. “Steve Harrington.” 

You could tell he was surprised to see you, but he hid that surprise by smiling at you, and you hated that even after all of these years, his smile still managed to do something to you. 

Now that you were closer to him, you could see some minor differences about him. His hair was a bit shorter, nothing too crazy or dramatic, but you noticed how his “iconic” hair was a bit more tame compared to how it used to be. And somehow he managed to get a little taller, only a couple of inches, but still you noticed that too. 

He overall looked older, which obviously made sense because twelve years would do that to a person. However, there was still something all too familiar about him. That same boyish presence that you had gotten so used to seeing still lingered on him. Behind his eyes, you saw exactly that boy you fell in love with that one summer. 

The summer that you never really thought about; in fact, you’d forced yourself not to think about it. But, now with him right in front of you, random flashbacks to moments from that July and August, especially August, were the only things circling your mind. 

Your loud laughs and wide smiles as you swam in his pool and let your body wrap around his underneath the water, your drunken talks until the sun came up, the makeout sessions in his car that almost always led to doing other things in his bed since his parents were never home. 

You pushed those memories far away, just as quickly as they resurfaced. 

“Hi,” You said to him and forced a small smile. 

You could tell that he was studying you just as you had been studying him, taking note of what you looked like now and comparing that to the version of you that he used to know. Whatever differences you had, you felt like they were subtle like his were, and just came with the territory of aging twelve years, but maybe he saw something else. He was the only person who you felt was able to actually look inside of you; he had known the ins and outs of who you were.   

“She’s a Professor in the English department,” Dan told Steve, and you were insanely grateful for Dan’s presence at that moment because you knew that it would be hell if you had been alone with Steve right then. “Oh, what happened to your hand?”

You looked down at your hand, somehow you had actually forgotten about the spill that happened only moments ago. 

“Little coffee mishap,” You said with a small, awkward laugh. “I have some napkins in my office, though, so I’m just going to head in there.” You looked at Steve and directed another forced smile at him, you had a feeling you’d be doing that a lot now. “Nice to meet you.” 

You mentioned something to Dan about seeing him at a faculty meeting later and then headed to your office, which was only about ten feet away. 

When it was just you alone behind the shut door of your office, your brain could finally process everything that had just happened. 

Steve was here. Not Hawkins, not Indiana, Rhode Island. And not only was he simply in Rhode Island, but he now worked at the college you had been working at for the past two and a half years. 

The only word you could think of at that moment was “Fuck,” and then you couldn’t help but mutter it under your breath. You took a sip of your coffee and let the familiar sweet and slightly bitter taste soothe your nerves.

Barely thirty minutes later— after trying your hardest to finish up the planning for a lecture you had been working on for the past few days but failing miserably because your mind couldn’t help but wonder why Steve was here of all places— you were stepping out of your office and almost crashed right into him.

“Jesus Christ,” You yelped; once again so surprised to see him. 

“I swear I was about to knock and this is just freakishly weird timing,” He quickly told you. “I wasn’t being a creep and waiting for you to come out.”  

“Okay,” You said with a small nod. Somehow his nervousness at that moment made you feel less nervous. “Um, what’s up?”

“Can we talk, maybe?”

“I have a class in fifteen minutes, so I can’t now,” You told him as you glanced down at the watch on your wrist. “But, um, maybe soon, yeah?” 

You were completely lying, there was no way you were going to talk to him soon; at least not about what you assumed he wanted to talk about. You refused to do that.

Luckily Steve couldn’t see through your lie, or if he did, he didn’t call you out on it. Instead, he nodded at your words before you walked away.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“'cause i knew you. steppin' on the last train marked me like a bloodstain. i knew you. tried to change the ending peter losing wendy.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Somehow, and much to your grateful surprise, you rarely ever saw Steve. And when you did, because he was only just upstairs so it was sort of inevitable, there were only quick passing glances shared between you two along with tight-lipped smiles and small waves; both of you too busy to have any kind of actual conversation with one another.  

However, you did manage to learn a few things about him over the past month he’d been there. You heard through the grapevine— said grapevine being various faculty members that seemed to grow a quick liking to Steve— that he was taking over Tamara Wilson’s two Early European History classes for the rest of the Fall semester because she went on maternity leave, and in the Spring he’d be teaching it again along with a U.S. history course. 

None of that information answered the one question constantly running through your mind, though. 

What the hell was he doing here?

Because you had to admit, you were so curious to know about all of it. How he was here, why he was here, how this coincidence could’ve happened. 

But, you also really didn’t want to talk to him because you had the strongest feeling that the conversation would also involve the past, that summer, and how much you didn’t want that to happen outweighed your curiosity.

Therefore, on the night of the college’s annual Winter Gala, the first instance that could actually allow you two to talk to one another, you still tried your hardest to avoid him. 

You had always hated these kinds of events because they were solely used to schmooze alumni and other donors to get them to give the school money, and even though you understood the need for that, you still didn’t enjoy attending. However, you knew that you always had to show face, at least for an hour or two. 

And you made it nearly an hour and a half without having to see Steve and you were almost certain that you actually wouldn’t see him. But, moments before you were about to make your final rounds and say goodbye to people, mainly Dan so you could prove to him that you’d shown up, you felt a tap on your shoulder. 

It was almost too easy to know that it was Steve because it was only his touch that ever managed to send something equivalent to an electric shock through your body. And with the strapless black dress you were wearing, his hand making contact with your bare shoulder immediately made surprised goosebumps rise to your skin. 

“Hi,” He said, offering a small smile. Somehow the first thing you noticed about him was the bow tie he was wearing. He was also wearing a black suit with a white button-up shirt, but the bow tie caught your eye first. You were immediately reminded of a memory of him saying how much he hated bow ties, but you had told him how great he looked in one. In this moment, you hated how right you still were. 

“Hey,” You responded with a smile of your own, and you sincerely hoped he couldn’t see your nervousness through it. He opened his mouth to say something but you jumped in before he could. “How’s your first month here been so far?” 

“Good,” Steve answered with a nod. “A little weird just jumping in at the middle of the semester and trying to go along with what Wilson already set on the syllabus. A weekly quiz was on there, and I immediately told the students that we wouldn’t be doing that anymore.”

“They probably love you for that.”

“Yeah, I got a round of applause on my first day.” 

You couldn’t help but smile at that, you were only fifty percent sure that he was joking, but either way, the thought amused you.

You wanted to ask when he got into history and into teaching, but maybe that question would open a can of worms that would lead to other topics of conversation you wanted to stay away from. 

“I can guarantee that at least half of them will want to be in your class next semester,” You said instead of asking what you really wanted. “You’re gonna be doing U.S. History, right?”

“Yeah, and I’ll still be taking over for Wilson, so I’ll have three courses next semester, which should be interesting,” Steve nodded, and then a look crossed his face as if he just remembered something. “But, that probably sounds like nothing to you because I heard that you’re currently doing four American Lit courses and one British Lit course. Oh, and you’re the only person in the English department teaching that many courses, which sounds insane but that’s also pretty cool.” 

You pretended as if now knowing that he had asked about you didn’t affect you at least a tiny bit. And you also pretended that hearing the admiration in his voice didn’t affect you at all either.  

“Yeah, I’ve only been teaching here for a little over two years, so I still get stuck with most of the basic courses. Which isn’t horrible, but it’s pretty boring and easy, so I always do a lot,” You told him with a small shrug. All of the work that had been on your plate for the past few years sounded like a lot— maybe even too much— but in your mind, it actually wasn’t as crazy as it seemed. Because you liked drowning yourself in your job, it made you feel useful, and you’d spent so much time before and right after you left Hawkins feeling the exact opposite that you’d do almost anything to make sure you never felt that way again. “But, next semester I’m doing an advanced Creative Writing course for the first time, in addition to only two American Lit courses, so I’m pretty excited about that.”

Steve smiled at you. “That’s nice.”

This small talk felt okay to you, it was bearable. It was also mundane and a little trivial, but you’d rather that than talk about the past. Apparently, Steve had other plans, though.

“I had no idea you moved here.”

You pulled your eyes away from his and focused on your half-empty flute of champagne that you’d gotten when you arrived at the event and was probably disgustingly warm by now. You contemplated for a few moments whether or not you should avoid Steve’s question or allow the conversation to go in the direction that it was inevitably meant to go in. Maybe it was stupid to think that you’d be able to pretend as if your past, which Steve was quite involved in, never existed. 

“Yeah… I went to college in Massachusetts and then I went to grad school here in Rhode Island but in a different part of the state, a little more north. And I always just stayed here, always finding a reason to stay around, some small internship or job, and then I ended up at this college because a friend who was already working here recommended me. I had never done any teaching before, but I actually like it.”

You didn’t tell him that the main reason why you always found a reason— more so desperately searched for reasons— to stay in Rhode Island was so that you never had to go back to Hawkins. But, maybe that was obvious, at least to him, because he was a huge factor as to why you knew that you needed to leave that town and never look back. 

You silently wondered if he had been gone from Hawkins for a long time too, and then you realized that with the turn the conversation had taken, you could actually ask that question.

“When did you leave Hawkins?” 

“Almost ten years ago now,” Steve said, and you had to admit, you were kind of surprised by that answer. To you, he always seemed like the type of person that would want to stay in the small town. “Decided it was time for a scenery change and my parents, especially my dad, were more than happy to send me anywhere.” He let out a dry and slightly sad chuckle, and you were all too quickly reminded of why you had always despised his parents. “He pulled some strings at this small college in Ohio, so I went there and actually liked it a lot, and I haven’t been back to Hawkins since.”

You two were sitting at an empty table now, somehow silently agreeing to migrate to that spot as you continued your conversation. You placed the glass in your hand on the white tablecloth and turned to look at Steve. 

“When did you get into history?”

“My first semester I had this professor for a World History class and he was really great; Richard James. It was probably the first class ever that I actually cared about what was going on because of how he was teaching everything and I became pretty interested in history. I took a couple more history classes with him and some other professors too, and still really liked it so I changed my major to it. And after I graduated I started TA-ing for some of the advanced classes he was teaching.”

There was a smile on your face that you wanted to get rid of but couldn’t because it was just so nice to hear how happy Steve was as he talked about the past almost ten years of his life. You hated to admit it, and you’d probably never do so out loud, but there was still a part of you that cared about him so much, and you were glad that he was happy. 

“And then I ended up here because last month Richard was supposed to do a talk here, but he got sick last second and asked me to fill in for him. And for some reason, the head of the History department really liked me and offered me a job.”

You had never been the biggest fan of history so it wasn’t that surprising that you had missed the first time that Steve had been here, but your mind couldn’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if your paths had accidentally crossed then.

“I want you to know, though, that if I would’ve known that you also worked here, I wouldn’t have taken the job,” Steve told you, somehow pretty much reading your mind and answering your unasked question. “Because I know you left Hawkins because of me. Because you never wanted to see me again, which I completely understand.”

His words right then surprised you and you had no idea what to say in response to that; your thoughts started running a million miles a second and you could only look down at your hands in your lap. But then you didn’t have to say anything because Steve kept talking. 

“I’m still really sorry about everything that happened.” 

You were so close to telling him to stop talking about it. You were fully ready to make up some lie about how the past was in the past, and how you were over everything that happened twelve years ago. 

But, right then you actually didn’t want to lie and pretend that none of it mattered. You didn’t want to avoid the past like a plague, as you’d been doing for the past decade, and like you especially had been doing for the past month since Steve showed up in Rhode Island. 

However, it couldn’t happen here. In the school’s basketball court that had been transformed for the evening into a ballroom-type of elegant space. No one was paying attention to either of you, but the potential for someone to come up at any moment while you were finally having this conversation with Steve worried you. 

You finally let your eyes meet his again. “Can we talk about this outside?” 

Steve nodded as you stood up and he followed you out the nearest door. 

It was dark outside, the time now nearing on ten o’clock, but the many lamp posts brightened up the emptiness of the quad. You found a bench and sat down, the cool metal against your back calmed your nerves a bit. 

You were suddenly reminded of the last time you and Steve talked to each other before you left Hawkins, which was about a month into Senior year at a random party at Rachel McKenna’s house. It was barely even a conversation because you refused to listen to him and his slew of apologies back then. And then you also refused to talk to him for the entirety of the school year. 

You were still unsure if you had any regrets about that. 

“I really don’t even know where to start,” You said now with a small sigh. “I always forced myself to never think about us; about that summer and the aftermath of it too. For the longest time I pretended as if none of it really mattered. Because I knew that we no longer mattered to each other.”

“You always mattered to me,” Steve told you and it was almost too easy to hear the honesty in his tone. 

Still, you were quick to shake your head at him. “Stop, you can’t say stuff like that.”

“But, it’s the truth.”

You bypassed that softly spoken statement because even though you could hear that he was being honest, you didn’t want to acknowledge it right then. So, instead, you focused on something else that he previously said. 

“You’re right. You were the main reason that I left Hawkins, not the only reason but definitely one of the big ones. But, it’s also funny because you were one of the reasons why I almost wanted to stay.” Your next words sat right on the tip of your tongue, but they were almost too hard to get out. You cleared your throat and took a quick breath before speaking. “Because I loved you, I literally loved you. So much. But, I knew that I couldn’t, or that I shouldn’t, because nothing could actually happen between us. That summer we were living in a dumb fairytale that could never become a reality. And it was so fucking stupid of me to ever think that we could actually be something real.”

“I wanted us to be something real,” Steve said and you had to bite back the scoff you wanted to let out in response. 

“Yeah, weeks after you told me that what we were doing would have to be over because it was the end of summer and Nancy was coming back to town,” You said, trying hard not to let yourself get thrust back into that memory because the exact words he had said to you that day were still etched in your mind. “But, when we abruptly ended, it finally put everything into perspective for me. I felt like such a shitty person because of what we did and how it was a fucked up thing to do. And then immediately having to pretend as if none of it ever happened made it all feel so much worse. I hated you, but I hated myself so much more for everything that happened. That’s why I never wanted to see you or talk to you again, especially at that stupid party.”

You hadn’t realized you were crying until a soft look took over Steve’s face and you suddenly felt the wetness on your cheeks. You haphazardly wiped them away and averted your eyes from his, feeling immensely embarrassed because you hated that talking about all of that, things from years and years ago, still made you cry like you were that seventeen-year-old girl all over again. 

“I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry you felt that way,” Steve told you. “But, it was all so much more my fault than it was yours. I was the one that cheated on her.” 

“But, I knew. I knew about Nancy, and I knew that what we were doing was wrong.” But, I still did it because I wanted you so bad, and I loved that you wanted me too. You didn’t say that part because you hated the way it would make you sound. 

“Still, it will always be more my fault. I was such an asshole back then. All of that ‘King Steve’ stuff really got to my head and I did a lot of shitty things,” He said, and you could tell that he wasn’t proud of that part of his past and he really did feel bad about it. “But, I don’t regret you, or us, or that summer, though. And maybe that still makes me somewhat of an asshole, but that’s okay because it’s true. I don’t regret you. Not at all.”

Somehow hearing him say those words made you realize that you didn’t regret any of it either, which was a thought that actually made you want to cry harder. Because even though you should’ve regretted everything because of every single thing that happened after— the hurt and shame you felt so strongly for months after— you knew that you’d let yourself do it all over again. 

You’d still stupidly talk to him for the first time ever outside “Ralph’s Sandwich Shop” after he mocked you on the fact that you liked to put potato chips inside your sandwich and then praised you once he tried it and realized how good it was. And you’d definitely still let him kiss you for the first while swimming in his pool in the middle of the night after whispering to him, “Are you sure?” and his answer being a small nod and his lips pressing against yours that led to the chain of events that brought you both to where you were now.  

You wholeheartedly knew that you’d do it all over again. And because of that, it made you say your next statement.  

“I don’t want to be angry and upset with you anymore, or pretend you don't exist. I want us to be okay with each other.”

“I want that too. I want us to be friends,” Steve said, and although being friends was a lot different from simply being okay with one another, it actually didn’t sound like too crazy of an idea to you. 

You nodded at him. “Okay. Yeah, me too.”

You held out your hand for Steve to take, which he did, and the two of you shook hands to seal this “deal.”

Your gaze broke from his and you glanced down a bit. “Nice bow tie, by the way.”

“I remember someone told me that I looked good in them and I believed her.”

“She’s still right.”

“Good to know.”

You both smiled at each other and then laughed, and it may have taken twelve years, but it finally felt like the past was really in the past.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“but i knew you. dancin' in your levi's, drunk under a streetlight. i knew you. hand under my sweatshirt, baby, kiss it better.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

Spring Semester 1997 

It was during the most random of moments that you were startled by how close you were able to become with Steve again, and how almost too easily it was able to happen. 

Joking around with one another actually felt normal to do, and even talking to each other about anything and everything somehow felt like second nature all over again.  

Steve was the one person from your “before” life that you had wholeheartedly believed you never wanted to see again, and now you were glad that he was in your life again. Those stark lines between “before” and “after” that you had drawn twelve years ago were now completely smudged.

Sometimes when the two of you were in your or his office late at night simultaneously working on whatever you needed to while eating takeout from random places, you were hit with the thought, “Holy shit, I can’t believe I’m here with Steve fucking Harrington right now,” and when you would tell him that random thought, he’d laugh a bit and agree that this sudden turn of events did feel at least a little unexpected. 

But, he liked how things changed these past few months, and you really did too.  

Now it was you asking to use the shower in his hotel room that once again made you feel surprised by how comfortable you were with him. 

“Can I use your shower? The one in my room doesn’t get hot for some reason,” You had said and then immediately laughed because of how insane the request was, but of course, Steve didn’t mind. 

“Yeah, sure,” He answered with a nod of his head, opening his door further to fully let you in the room.

“Thank you,” You said, smiling at him as you walked in, a towel from your hotel room next door in hand along with a change of clothes. “I’m gonna tell the front desk about it tomorrow. I would do it now, but after the four-hour drive today, I actually feel disgusting and am in dire need of a shower.”

The two of you along with a handful of other faculty from the English, History, and Theology departments were in upstate New York for a small weekend-long conference. Things like that were definitely one of your favorite parts of your job. Hearing talks from the authors of books that you loved, and then being able to pick their brains afterward. It felt like you were a student all over again, but in a better way because you were only listening to the stuff you cared about. 

It was also pretty endearing seeing how excited Steve was about everything too. He’d gone on and on about a lecture on World War II that was scheduled for tomorrow for at least an hour during your car ride together, and his happy rambling somehow made you want to go to it too.  

“I haven’t taken a shower yet, so I actually don’t know if mine works either,” Steve told you as you headed toward the bathroom. 

“Oh God, please don’t say that,” You responded and went to turn on the shower. You sighed in relief when you felt the water get warm on your hand. “Okay, we’re good!” 

After your shower, you joined Steve where he was sitting at the foot of his bed. It probably would’ve made sense to head back to your room, both of you had to be up fairly early in the morning, but you didn’t necessarily want to leave just yet; even though the two of you had just spent the past four hours holed up in a car together. 

He was clicking through channels on the small television placed atop the dresser, trying to decide on something to put on, before settling on a movie that looked quite familiar to you; Footloose. It was the movie that the two of you watched the first time you went over to his house that summer.

“Do you remember this movie?” He smiled at you and it was hard not to laugh at his question.

You met his gaze. “I definitely remember, but do you? Because you fell asleep during it.”

“I eventually got around to watching it,” He responded and you smiled at that.

“Good,” You told him as you pulled your eyes away from his and turned your attention back toward the television, the movie was close to the end. 

When the credits started rolling ten minutes later, you were about to say goodnight to Steve and finally head back next door to your room, but he started speaking before you said anything. 

“Do you ever wonder how different things would be now if we had ended up together back then?” He asked, and the vulnerability and genuine curiosity laced within the question made your heart constrict. “If I hadn’t been an idiot and gone back to Nancy at the end of the summer. If I realized earlier that I really wanted to be with you.” 

His words actually managed to surprise you because, over the last few months of you and Steve becoming friends again, that part of your deeply intertwined past was something that neither of you talked about. What the two of you used to be to each other, so deeply and utterly in love, hadn’t once come up in your conversations. Maybe it was the elephant in the room that had yet to be addressed. However, a part of you also felt that it was unnecessary to talk about it because, just like everything else, that was also in the past. 

“Things would’ve definitely been different,” You ultimately said, words feeling unsure because you now felt so confused. Your next statements came out rushed as you leaned back on the bed, your back hitting the comforter and your hands covering your face because you were purposefully avoiding eye contact with him. “Sorry, I don’t really know what to say right now. I didn’t expect you to say that, and now my mind is kinda spiraling a bit.” 

The question became a broken record in your mind. 

Do you ever wonder how different things would be now if we had ended up together back then?

You actually had never wondered about that because, for the longest time, you had forced yourself not to think about Steve, or that summer, or even Hawkins in general. But now your brain was spiraling in a thousand different directions with potential answers to the simply stated but insanely loaded question. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. That was a stupid question. I don’t even know why I asked it, honestly,” Steve responded, words coming out rushed just as yours had. Something about his current sudden nervousness reminded you of the first encounter you two had in the hallway when you learned that he lived in Rhode Island. “Please forget I said anything.” 

You didn’t want to forget, though. 

“It would’ve been good, I think,” You said softly. You could feel Steve’s eyes on you, but you still didn’t want to meet his gaze. “I think we would’ve been really good together. I wouldn’t have spent almost every day working at the library, and instead, I would’ve gone to your basketball games and swim meets, and I’d actually enjoy it all because I was watching you. And we would’ve gotten drunk at parties on the weekends, and then the next morning you’d still drive me to my shift at the library and stay the entire time because there was nothing else that you wanted to spend your Sunday morning and afternoon doing. Maybe after graduating, we would’ve chosen colleges somewhere close to Hawkins, or even somewhere so far away from the small town. Probably someplace far away. But that part of it doesn’t really matter because we would’ve been together, and that’s all that would have mattered.” 

There was really no doubt in your mind that that would’ve happened, or a different but similar version occurring that also included you and Steve simply being happy and in love with one another.

You felt the bed shift a bit after a few moments of your previous words lingering in the air of the hotel room and settling heavily over Steve, and you finally pulled your hands away from your face to look at him. He was now also leaning back against the bed and staring up at the ceiling.

“God, I was such a dumbass,” He muttered, and you could hear the sadness in his voice.

You turned on your side to face him. “We both were. I wish I let myself forgive you at that party.” 

“I didn’t deserve your forgiveness then,” He responded as he turned on his side as well and met your eyes. “Sometimes I feel like I barely deserve it now.” 

There was so much you could’ve said in response to that but words didn’t feel right in that moment. So, instead of saying something along the lines of, “Please stop beating yourself up about it. You’re a good person,” you shimmied yourself closer to him, closing the small gap of space between you two, and pulled him in for a hug. 

The position was awkward, one of your arms was sandwiched underneath him and you knew that it would almost immediately fall asleep and cause some discomfort. However, any and all awkwardness faded away when you felt Steve reciprocate and his arms circled around you. 

“It’s okay, okay? I promise everything is okay between us,” You whispered, almost certain that your words got lost in his neck, but when you felt him squeeze you tighter you knew that he was able to hear you clearly. And not only that, but he believed you. 

And then it felt like almost second nature for you to make a joke to make things feel light again. “Actually, I’m still offended that you fell asleep during Footloose the first time we ever hung out. I don’t forgive you for that.” 

You felt his body shake with laughter which made you smile, and after a few moments, you pulled back from the hug to find him smiling softly at you. 

“I’ll redeem myself when the sequel comes out,” He said. 

“It’s been twelve years, I think the sequel ship has sailed.”

He laughed again. “Okay, yeah, that’s true.”

You should’ve taken the newfound silence as your opportunity to say goodnight to him and head next door to your room. However, you couldn’t find the will to fully pull yourself away from him. His arms were still around you, like yours were, and your faces were dangerously close. But, the current proximity didn’t feel dangerous or worrisome to you. Instead, it simply felt right; which was an abrupt feeling that should’ve confused you, but somehow it didn’t. 

“I really missed you,” He told you, breaking the silence with a statement that only cemented that “rightness” you were feeling at that moment. 

“I missed you too.” Your four words somehow felt so effortlessly honest. Even though you had pretended that he and that summer never mattered by forcing your thoughts away from it all, Steve always still held a place in your heart. Deep down inside of you, something that resembled a yearning for him almost always lingered. “I constantly tried to tell myself that that wasn’t true, but I really did miss you… And I’m so glad we’re here right now.” 

“Me too.” He looked at you so softly that you felt yourself slowly melting under his gaze.

In your mind, which now suddenly felt so clear and the farthest thing from confused, the next thing you wanted to do seemed like the best thing to do. In fact, it was something that you felt like you needed to do. 

Your hand that was resting at the nape of Steve’s neck moved to his cheek as you dipped your head just a tiny bit closer to him. 

Steve closed the small gap some more and his lips ghosted over yours for what felt like a fraction of a second before he pulled back a little and looked at you. “Are you sure?”

“Now that sounds awfully familiar,” You joked, referring to that moment in his pool all those years ago, and although he cracked a smile at your statement, you knew his question was serious. 

You weren’t kids anymore. The two of you couldn’t just kiss and let it mean nothing in the end. 

But, you truly didn’t want it to mean nothing. 

You couldn’t have a good ending back then, but did that mean that you still couldn’t have one now? 

“I’m so sure about this,” You told him and before he could potentially respond with anything, you let your lips find his, and how quickly Steve kissed you back nonverbally told you how he felt about it all too.

You were completely done for, you knew that for certain. There was nothing that could compare to this and there would never be anything that could compare to this— Steve’s lips on yours for the first time in years, but it feeling like the last time it happened was only yesterday. It was all so innate and easy, probably the easiest thing you’d ever done. 

The way his hand found your waist to pull you even closer to him, which made you inwardly smile, and the way you let your fingers settle in his hair and lightly tug on the brown locks, which elicited a soft sigh in contentment from him— you still knew every part of each other so well. 

Two people that had been apart for so long finally coming back together. It was a statement that technically summed up you and Steve, but in your eyes, that felt too simple and didn’t accurately summarize the hurt, pain, and turmoil that had accompanied the past twelve years. And it especially didn’t correctly encompass the current part of it all, the “coming back together” part. 

Because that part felt indescribable. 

A part of it felt similar to watching a movie that ended just the way you wanted it to, or having someone right there to help you get back up and patch up your wounds after you’d fallen off your bike. A feeling that said that even though everything had once felt so uncertain and the complete opposite of perfect, it wasn’t that way anymore. 

Things quickly felt so good and right, and both of you were already making internal promises— promises that you’d later whisper to one another while wrapped up in the sheets of Steve’s bed— to never let each other go so easily again.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

“​​and i knew you'd come back to me. you’d come back.”

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

let me know ur thoughts<333

(august coming soon!)

She is seriously one of my role models as a writer.

THE PROMPTS • REQUESTS CLOSED THE BOYS THE BIG FICS THE EVENTS FAQ KO-FI ♡

WIPS & UPCOMING FICS

A COUPLE DAYS IN (I CALL YOU BABY) PART 3/3 on hold.

BAD FOR BUSINESS: ENEMIES TO LOVERS MINI SERIES posted every monday.

MEET ME IN THE AFTERGLOW: CAMP STEVE SEQUEL.

I'm already writing about this, but I NEED to write 2023 version 😈.

Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Billy Hargrove.

Hello, dear companions in the darkness! The horny month of Kinktober is quickly approaching and to celebrate, we’ve concocted a few vampire-friendly prompts for you to have fun with.

This event is organized by and for Vampire Chronicles and AMC IWTV fans, and we are open to any and all fan works: fanfiction, gifsets, edits, whatever makes your creative juices flow. 

Please see below for the full list of prompts, and check out the rules and guidelines here for more details on the event.

We can't wait to see all your sexy creations! ♥︎

Prompts

Day 1: Biting

Day 2: Masturbation

Day 3: Praise Kink

Day 4: Voyeurism/Exhibitionism

Day 5: Bondage

Day 6: Nipple Play

Day 7: Free Use

Day 8: Blood Play

Day 9: Striptease

Day 10: Coffin Sex

Day 11: Dom/Sub

Day 12: Cockwarming

Day 13: Toys

Day 14: Roleplay

Day 15: Knifeplay

Day 16: Lingerie

Day 17: Body Worship

Day 18: Double Penetration

Day 19: Threesome/Orgy

Day 20: Edging

Day 21: Tongue

Day 22: Breathplay

Day 23: Fucking Machine

Day 24: Mirror Sex

Day 25: Sensory Play

Day 26: Impact Play

Day 27: Religious Play

Day 28: Feeding Kink

Day 29: Clothed Sex

Day 30: Dirty Talk

Day 31: Sex Pollen/ Aphrodisiacs

Alternative Prompts

A. “You look so beautiful like this.”

B. “Have you ever done this before?”

C. “We have to be quiet”

D. “Open wide.”

E. “Harder!”

F. “How does it feel?”

Choose me | Steve Harrington x Fem! Reader.

A/n: I just wrote this on an impulse, it's a little late and my brain doesn't process what I write very well, but at the time it looked good, so here it is lmao.

Summary: The remorse and guilt of cheating on your husband begins to eat you up inside, but Steve is not willing to let you go.

Warnings: Cheating, Mentions of smut.

You knew it was wrong what you were doing, that every time you walked out that door at night it broke your relationship with your husband a little more, but you couldn't stop, common sense didn't work when it came to Steve.

You never wanted to hurt James, he was a wonderful man, he cared about you, he loved you, he gave you presents and he was always there for you. You thought you loved him, but by the time you realized it was too late.

Now, after you had kissed Steve's fluffy lips, felt his hands touch every corner of your body, heard his sighs and his I love you's, you could only think of how much you would hurt him, that make you realized the monster you never wanted to be.

Steve rested one of his hands on your bare back, pulling you out of the same inner speech you were giving yourself every single time.

"What's wrong, why are you so quiet?" He whispered close to your ear, his hands moving up to your hair, beginning to tangle it around his finger as his lazy eyes lingered on yours.

"We did it again" you moaned in torment, sitting up in bed and covering your naked body with the white blanket from Steve's bed. Your vision was beginning to blur and your lips ached from biting them. "How am I supposed to look him in the face again, Steve?".

With a heavy sigh, Steve mimicked your gesture and leaned his shoulder against yours, his gaze seemed lost, perhaps pensive, you didn't know, you were too distraught to think about that.

"I don't know" Steve muttered in frustration, pulling his hair back. He looked just as distressed as you did, and no wonder, how would you feel if you slept with your best friend's wife?

"How could we do this to him?" with your voice breaking and between sobs, you reached for your clothes, ready to leave there with your heart in your hand, hoping to get home and see James sleeping.

"Y/N, wait" Steve quickly got up, putting on his pants and coming over to you. You were already wearing your dress when he grabbed your shoulders and forced you to look at him. "Don't go, not this time, please."

Steve's eyes were just like those of a lost puppy, just like you felt. Having to choose between what is right and what feels right is difficult, especially when the emotions of others are involved, in essential when your future is at stake.

You were good at lying to yourself, you were much better at convincing yourself that Steve was a one night stand, at ignoring the tingling in your stomach, the flushed cheeks and the uncontrolled heartbeat. You were good at ignoring the fact that you never loved your husband, at least not as a man.

"Steve, this is wrong, you know it, I know it, and luckily James has no idea" you said quickly, stumbling over the words because of the anxiety you felt. "I don't want to hurt him, he loves me."

"But you don't" he took your face carefully, the desperation in his gaze was clear, he needed you in his life, as much as you needed him. "I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, I know you too have thought of a future by my side, as much as I have imagined mine together with you."

You swallowed hard, trying with all your might not to cry, not to even think about staying here for the rest of the night.

"Please stay with me, I promise that you will be happy, that I will make you happy, I just... I really want to love you."

Nerves on edge, you cast a glance at the bedroom door and then at Steve. You had two choices; in one, you went back to your dream life together with your perfect boyfriend, and in the other, you started from scratch together with Steve, together with the one you really loved, but with whom you had nothing secured. You thought about it for a few minutes, minutes in which you didn't even look Steve directly in the eyes, unable to see his face of disappointment, you knew what you wanted, but you were afraid to say it, that this fantasy would break in a single second, to lose everything, to lose the love of your life.

It was your time to choose.

Masterlist

I want, I need

Neighbors to Lovers Prompts

The apartment she moved to has a beautiful, well-tended garden. After a while she finds out that her neighbor is the one tending to the plants and she decides to help him out one day.

One neighbor is an actor, playing out dramatic scenes, but the walls are so thin that their neighbor thinks they are in trouble and tries to rescue them.

This cute person runs around the neighborhood every morning and their neighbor has a crush on them and decides to start going on runs themself.

Their neighbor's dog has an obsession with them, even if they are in a different part of town, suddenly this big fluffy thing is coming up, trying to lick their face.

Construction workers dug up a bomb that didn't go off in the world war, which means that everyone has to evacuate their buildings and spent the night in a school gym. That gives them the chance to get to know their neighbors better.

They asked their neighbor to water their plants while they were gone and the neighbor keeps sending them selfies of them with the plants, and when they come back the plants look much healthier than before.

When they are having a barbecue in their garden with their friends and family, it only feels right to invite the new neighbor over.

One of them getting a new dog, leads to two neighbors going on walks with their dogs twice a day together.

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Spooktober Prompts Masterlist 2020

#580: You never know how many people actually live near you until you’re in a zombie apocalypse and you have to go through them all. {Submitted by: this-victoria-has-no-secret}

#581: A family moves into a new town. But something doesn’t seem right about the residents.

#582: A group of university students decide to start a coven, because they like the aesthetic.

#583: “You’re smiling and I’m scared to find out why.”

#584: Waking up in your dark bedroom is nothing out of the ordinary. Finding the door and the windows all boarded up definitely is.

#585: The nation celebrates the video interviews of the first crew on Mars. But suddenly all the astronauts are found dead - on earth.

#586: People in a small town are getting phone calls from their dead loved ones, that are becoming increasingly more desperate.

#587: It’s all fun and games until the Ouija board starts calling you out.

#588: In all of her years, she had seen famine, war, a slew of various horrors that the human mind could never pretend to comprehend- and somehow, the figure that stood before her, that figure the ghost of someone she’d once known, was the most terrifying thing she’d ever seen. {Submitted by: x-sinnamonqueen-x}

#589: “You said you were an angel!” “Oh, I was. I must have forgotten to tell you about the ‘fallen’ part.”

#590: A widowed woman is playing the piano alone in her house, but when she finishes she can hear clapping. {Submitted by: howlingwolve}

#591: Her head was tilted to the side a hair too much, eyes a sliver too large, and her teeth pearl white. “Tilt your head to the right a little? Yes- and if you close your mouth you almost look human.” “Ah, how helpful.” The Fae smiled with closed lips. “A perfect mimicry is so hard to achieve.” {Submitted by: antique-rain}

#592:  A young girl goes missing. Her parents find a doll in her bed that has a frightening resemblance to their daughter.

#593: After waking up from a coma due to suffering injuries from a car accident a woman asks for her brother. But not even her parents seem to remember him ever existing.

#594:  But now I look upon a field with bodies stretched out and I feel nothing.

#595: A stranger comes into town and it’s like a powerful spell was cast. Men and women alike can’t help but fall in love with them. Every adult in town is affected and soon a ruthless fight for the stranger’s affection begins.

#596: You have always heard stories of an unnatural being that transforms into anything or anyone. But everybody always tells you it’s just an urban legend. Until one fateful day, when you’re reading about that urban legend, it suddenly appears in front of you. {Submitted by: mythicalphoenix14}

#597: “How did you never notice that there was a gateway to the underworld in your closet?!” “Easy, I never go in there long enough to hear the screams of agony.” {Submitted by: welcome-tothe-mystery-shack}

#598: An object found in a pawn shop or on the road is calling to your character. What does it do? Do they buy/take it? If not, does it show up in their path again? {Submission by: systemfailure99}

#599: Teenagers find a shipwreck on the ground of a small lake with no access to the sea.

#600: “What do you do when a ghost has a crush on you? Asking for a friend.”

#601: When all the stars in the night sky become swallowed by clouds, beware: your head may be sucked into a black hole as you sleep.{Submission by: amarantine-amirite}

#602: In the deepest dark of night, a woman waits for her demon lover. {Submitted by: feralshinycat}

#603: “Out of the all the demon’s I’ve exorcised… Why won’t you budge?” “‘Cause I’m not a demon, Father. I’m a God.“ {Submitted by: kyuhyun-kei}

#604: Imagine hurrying over a cemetery at the darkest hour of the night and almost stumbling over a fallen head stone. You look up and realise that all graves look as if monsters have teared them open. And suddenly ice-cold fingers claw at your feet and start pulling. {Submitted by: ouilah}

#605: This had a body count now and they couldn’t ignore it any longer.

#606: Your character wakes up in a “haunted house” only to realize that the house is alive. It mistakes your character for its original owner and traps them inside, promising to keep them safe and to never let them go ever again. {Submitted by: funstorytimestudios}

#607: You’re sitting at breakfast reading the newspaper, when you come across an obituary - the date of death is not in the past but the following day. And the deceased is sitting right next to you, eating their breakfast.

#608: A normal class reunion wasn’t supposed to take place at a funeral.

#609: A group of friends decide to watch a horror movie together. At first they are excited that the movie was filmed like a livestream. Makes it look more real. That is until they suddenly recognize their house in the video - and see their own silhouettes in the window.

#610: You’re a student who has to interview a frontliner for an assignment. You contact the person and ask if you could interview them. They say yes. It’s days before the deadline, and after a few practice runs via calling with the person themself, one of your classmates ask who you are interviewing. Your classmate is bewildered because, the person you were going to interview died years ago. {Submitted by: error-snow}

Bro I highly recommend this story so far so good

SUBURBAN PLEASURE MASTERLIST

18+

sex worker!steve au.

series status: ongoing.

series summary: hibiscus Iane is a pleasant place to live. hardly anything worth mentioning ever happens here. say, have you seen the handsome man who just moved into number 99?

series warning: sex worker!steve x housewife!reader, adultery, mentions infertility, fluff, angst, smut, depictions of rough sex inc. bdsm, mature themes.

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