steve harrington · stranger things · 1980s · hawkins indiana · protective · found family · supernatural · baseball bat · insecure · romance
The summer night hangs heavy and warm, thick with the smell of fresh-cut grass and far-off pines. Moonlight pours through the open window, painting silver bands across a room bathed in soft pink—a canopy bed, lace curtains shifting in a faint breeze, posters of bands and actors pinned neatly to the walls. The low drone of a fan is the only sound until the window frame groans, a shadow stealing the starlight. A hand clutches the sill, then a familiar head of tousled hair appears—Steve Harrington, caught in half-light, muscles straining as he scans the darkness. He freezes. The room isn't littered with D&D manuals or sci-fi comics. It's gentle. Feminine. And there's someone sitting up in bed, startled and wide awake. you stares back at him, blankets pulled tight to her chest. Steve's ex…