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The light filtered into the janitor’s closet in horizontal stripes, barely illuminating the narrow space. With every breath you drew in, you could feel your chest constricting, your heart beating so loud that there was no chance that they didn’t hear it. You were going to get caught, you could feel it—there was no avoiding it now.
What the hell had you gotten yourself tangled up in?
You knew the answer, to some extent: something involving a girl with powers, monsters from another dimension, the end of the world maybe, and the secret-agent-type guys hunting you down at that very moment.
Hence why you were hiding in a closet with Steve Harrington of all people.
He’d changed since high school—it felt like you were looking at a different person now. The Steve you had known would never have hung out with a bunch of kids on the weekends, much less have fought actual monsters for them. And yet there he was, someone completely new and yet so, so familiar.
You liked it—you liked him.
That wasn’t anything new, as much as you tried to deny it and beat it back and push it to the furthest depths of your mind. You’d liked him so much in high school, it was ridiculous. Even though he was an asshole, and a complete idiot, you had still liked him because he seemed different when he was alone, sitting to your right in biology class instead of being surrounded by his little clique. You had tried to talk yourself out of it, and when that didn’t work, you figured that going away to college would help you get rid of it for good, but apparently not.
You were back in Hawkins for the summer, and now all your progress was ruined, just because Steve decided that he didn’t want to be an asshole anymore. You were proud of him, very much so, and you couldn’t deny that seeing him interact with the kids earlier hadn’t reawakened some sort of feeling in your chest that you swore you’d lost long ago, but you wished it wasn’t all so inconvenient—there was no way that he would ever go for you, not when there were girls like Nancy Wheeler around.
It was a stupid thought, and you knew it, but you couldn’t help but feel like there was a grain of truth to it. You liked who you were, and you wouldn’t change yourself for a guy, of all things, but a part of you wondered what it was like to be wanted, to know that who you wanted wanted you back.
You could hear heavy footsteps to your right, further up the hallway outside the closet. You could see Steve tensing up across from you, the dim light illuminating his face just enough for you to see his eyes narrow and his eyebrows furrow as he concentrated on listening for any other sounds.
The footsteps were heading towards you, a lone pair of boots making their way towards your hiding spot. You could feel Steve shift in the small space, his eyes finding you in the darkness. He held the eye contact, bringing a finger up to his mouth slowly as the footsteps came even closer.
You leant your head back against the wall behind you, praying that whoever was there would just walk by, allowing your presence to go unnoticed.
The footsteps were right next to you now, continuing on their path down the hall. You fought the urge to breathe a sigh of relief as they passed by, before the footsteps stopped again. They seemed to be turning back around towards the closet, and you felt bile rise in your throat as panic began to set in.
You made eye contact with Steve again, trying to see if he had a plan or something else that might help you, only to find that he was already looking at you.
Once he met your eyes, he shifted closer to you, leaning close to cup your face in his hands.
What the fuck was he doing?!
The footsteps were close again, almost right next to you, but you could hardly focus on them with Steve so close.
“Do you trust me?” he whispered, his face so close you could feel his breath on your skin.
You could only nod—the footsteps had stopped again, and you could see the shadow of someone on the other side of the closet door.
Steve leaned even closer, his eyes searching yours for…something, before he spoke again. “Can I…kiss you?” he asked, his voice even softer than before.
Your eyes widened, and you nodded your head slightly. You did want to kiss him, but now hardly seemed the best time—
Just as the figure outside pulled the door open, Steve leaned forward more, pressing his mouth to yours. His lips moved against yours, distracting you from the situation in general, until a gruff voice cut in, startling you back to reality.
“The hell are you kids doing here?!” The figure began, startling Steve just as badly. He whipped around, his fists raised, before gently pushing you behind him, as if to protect you.
You finally had a good look at your pursuer, only to realize it wasn’t who you thought at all.
“Chief Hopper?” you asked, stepping forward to get a better look.
“Yeah, that’s me,” the figure responded. You could see it was Hopper now, even though he looked different than you remembered him—he was in some sort of uniform, and he held a cap in his hands that would have hid his now-shaved head. “now can I ask why you two are making out in a closet when we’re in the middle of a goddamn crisis?”
Steve ran a hand through his hair, laughing nervously. “It’s a…long story.”
“We thought you were one of those weird secret agents,” you added.
“And your response was to make out in a closet?” Hopper asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
You and Steve didn’t respond, instead exchanging sheepish glances.
After a moment, Hopper shook his head. “Fine, whatever. I’ve gotta find Joyce, and then we’ll find my daughter,” he began, turning around and making his way back up the hallway he came down.
Steve lingered next to you, fiddling with his jacket zipper as he thought of what to say. “Sorry about…back there, I didn’t want to—“
You could feel your heart breaking, but rather than dwell on it, you decided on storming after Hopper, but not before looking back at him one last time.
“I thought you changed, Steve Harrington, but you’re just as much of an asshole as ever.”
“Wait, I didn’t—I didn’t mean it like that!” he said, rushing to catch up with you. Catching your arm, he turned you around to face him. “I really wanted to kiss you, I have for a while! I just never thought that you felt the same. You’re out of my league and all, since I can’t even manage to get into one decent college and—“
“You’re a dumbass, Harrington,” you said, cutting him off.
You were about to kiss him again when Hopper interrupted you, again.
“Are you two coming or not?” he yelled down the hallway. “Because I’m leaving right now, and I’m not going to wait around for you!”
Steve watched as Hopper turned the corner ahead before turning to you with a smile on his face. “I guess we’ve got to get going—I’d hate to get on his bad side,” he said, reaching out to hold your hand. “We can continue this later, right?”
“Of course, dumbass,” you responded, before running after Hopper, dragging Steve by the hand. “Now c’mon, before Hopper leaves us here to fend for ourselves!”
“I like those odds,” he replied, making you both laugh as you hurried to reach Hopper before he abandoned you for good.