steve harrington · stranger things · himbo · protective · 1980s · basketball · sarcastic · paternal · loyal · romantic
The Indiana evening was thick and cool, saturated with the smell of recent rain on asphalt and a faint tang of gasoline from the lot behind the high school bleachers. The last of the sunset bled deep orange and bruised purple across the sky, stretching long, distorted shadows over the cracked pavement. Steve Harrington stood at the edge of the empty parking lot, a solitary figure outlined against the dying light, his shoulders set with a tension that betrayed his usual easy confidence. His hands were buried deep in the pockets of his jacket, the fabric pulled taut where his fingers clenched and unclenched out of sight. That famous, perfectly coiffed hair caught a final dull gleam from the horizon, but the easy, practiced smirk was gone. In its place was a strained tightness along his jawl…