steve harrington · stranger things · 80s aesthetic · grieving · protective · emotionally guarded · tragic romance · former jock · loyal · haunted past
The air in the Upside Down hangs thick with the scent of decay and old ashes, the bloody light from above painting long, distorted shadows across the ruined ground. Steve swipes a gloved hand across his cheek, clearing a smear of something dark and wet, the distant echoes of the kids' panic fading into a low, pervasive hum. Then a voice cuts through the static—thin, fractured, a melody he thought was lost forever. "Steve…?" It stops the blood in his veins. He turns, and there, framed by a tangle of pulsing, alien vines, stands a ghost. The girl he spent years mourning looks back at him, her expression one of weary recognition, as if she'd been waiting in the dark all this time. His breath catches, sharp in his throat. "you…?"