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Alright. Come on, Steve. Just… walk up to her, work your charm and… shit. Steve finds himself fidgeting uselessly with his hair, pacing back and forth over the same patch of dry soil. What if she doesn’t like you back? Like Nancy didn’t, like Robin didn’t. Sure, the jock’s on good terms with them, but their rejections always stung in his chest. Damnit.
Quite frankly, Steve Harrington is shit at love. He can get anyone he wants, whenever he wants, but those flings never really had any meaning. Something actually serious is something nobody ever has in store for Steve, and when they do, it’s short lived. He doesn't blame Nancy however, Jonathan Byers is… something else. Thinking about the other man makes his chest clench in a way that makes him more nervous than it should. Steve misses Jonathan, and he knows Nancy does too. He just hopes Byers was here with them, as fucked up as that sounds. It's probably for the best; they were here and Steve hates to imagine how much Joyce would miss her baby and Will his big brother.
Steve didn’t have many people that would miss him, besides the gang of kids and Dustin. His parents never gave a shit about him. They’d probably think he ran off with some money to do some crazy shit in another part of the country. Steve didn’t notice he was clenching his fists until his knuckles had turnt white. “Don’t think about that now, idiot.” His mind promptly told him and Steve inhaled sharply. Another time. Now, he was going to finally get his shit together and ask out Cheryl. Quickly making his way back to the campfire’s treeline, Steve carefully peaked out from behind a tree to spot his target.
Cheryl had caught Steve’s attention the moment she stepped into the campfire, from her grungy black hair to her spunky but wise remarks. She had the fierce, outspoken determination Nancy had and in a way, Jonathan’s withdrawn intelligence. Steve felt like he could fall into Cheryl’s depth if he stared long enough. He wasn’t the most perceptive person, but he could tell when someone had endured something real bad. He saw the same look with Nancy, but with Cheryl it was… something more. Something that unsettled Steve and only drew him in closer.
Steve had to take the shot.
Mentally hyping himself up, Steve stepped out from behind the tree, slicked his hair back (with an adequately spit-covered hand, the Entity only rarely gave them any form of hair product) and walked the confident gait that only Steve “The Hair” Harrington could pull off.
You’ve got this, hot stuff. Come on. You can do this. Just say some shit. Hot shit. Things girls like. Girl things. Oh shit hot girl-- His mind blasted on loop as he approached Cheryl, who was sitting on one of the logs around the campfire and idly chatting with Felix. Anxiously standing before the pair, Felix flashed Cheryl a small smile before leaving the two teenagers to themselves. Cheryl shot Steve a glance and raised a brow.
“Oh, hey Steve. You-- uh.” Cheryl paused, inspecting Steve’s increasingly sweaty frame. “You good?”
“Yeah! Yeah, totally. Never felt better. You know, uh, so I was thinking…” Steve started, his words starting to become increasingly incoherent and quick to even understand. Shit, when did Steve become such a pansy?
Cheryl simply watched him sputter, her brow furrowing in concern.
“You wanna- uh. Maybe…” Steve gulps, grimacing. His flushed face was failing him, until he managed to spit out: “Go out with me? There isn’t much to go out to- but… we could date? Like a couple.”
Steve wiped his nose, hand moving to hold his hair as he watched her reaction. Cheryl’s face slowly cracked into… a grimace. Was she hurt? Heart dropping to his stomach, Steve croaked out:
“W-What’s wrong?” He dipped his brows, dejection starting to spread over his features. Memories of a certain party flash before him.
“Steve, uh.” Cheryl held her arms, looking away from him. “I’m dating Feng Min. Have been for a while. I’m into girls.”
Steve’s face went deadpan. Memories of Nacy’s rejection were promptly replaced by a hazy bathroom talk with Robin. Furrowing his brow, Steve moved to sat down next to Cheryl before speaking up, voice clearer;
“Feng Min’s pretty badass, huh? Granted, she left me to bleed out and taunt the killer and then died herself, but still, pretty badass.” Steve remarked, Cheryl shooting him an amused glanced in return.
“Yeah, she's a badass. My badass.” She proudly proclaimed before cheekily retorting: “Probably had a good reason to leave you, though.”
Steve snorted, and suddenly the atmosphere had gone from overwhelming to lighthearted and friendly.
“You know, this is the second time that I’ve been turnt down by a lesbian.”
“Holy fuck, really?” Her eyes widened in disbelief, in awe at Steve’s misfortune. “Wow. That’s shitty.”
“Thinking I may be cursed with the ‘doomed to get turnt down by lesbians’ curse.” Steve joked, promptly causing the two to erupt in laughter.
“That’s not a thing.” Cheryl snickered, playfully punching the former jock’s shoulder.
The two teens spent some more time taking playful jabs at each other before a chilling fog creeped up to collect the both of them for a trial, whisking them away from the campfire.
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After the trial had ended (the Trapper got subsequently crushed by the survivors and had to chase him and Cheryl out of the gate, both of them leaving the killer a flip of the bird before disappearing into the fog) Steve found himself with Nancy at a pond in the forest surrounding the campfire, kicking a pebble into the dimly lit water for sport.
“So yeah. I got turnt down by another lesbian.”
"Steve Harrington, you've got shit luck."