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First stranger things fan fic ever and first time posting here since last year ! I had to write something about them ! I have been obsessed with them since day one and I was craving to write something as a writing exercise, to see if I was able to do it ^^". I don't think this will be a very longue fic, maybe five chapters maybe more that depends on my motivation tbh x)).
Anyway I hope you will like my version of the Steddie romance, please let me know if sometimes the characters were out of character, that's truly one of my biggest fear x)).
p.s : English is not my main language and I am almost sure that they are tons of grammar mistakes.
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Steve “the Hair” Harrington never had luck with ladies. Even when he was still the “king” of Hawkins high and girls were crawling at his feet. But never his relationships lasted.
He had gone in tons of dates but every time he found a way to mess up everything. Abby, Tammy, Caroline, Carol, Dolores, Mary, Nancy… He almost dated the entire alphabet and not once things had worked out with them.
Well it wasn’t entirely true, there was this one girl who he thought was the one… It was stupid but he had even planned his entire future with her. Their couple lasted almost a year ! A record for the so called “King” Steve Harrington.
They could have lasted longer if he hadn’t been a douch with her and if they didn’t live in a cursed town where a year couldn’t pass without any supernatural stuff happening ! First Will Byers, then Barbara Holland (that’s when their couple started to crumble) and countless deaths followed throughout the last three years.
How did he managed to stay alive until 1986 ? He didn’t know. It was probably the work of some God who was enough cruel to protect him but never help him to have a good relationship with a girl.
After Nancy, Steve tried to be better with girls and avoid tagging on movie theatre’s panel insults about his dates. He established rules in his mind that he reminded to himself out loud every time he had a date. He would sat in his car and recite the rules while fixing his hair : “Be nice with her. Be polite and a perfect gentleman. Ask questions about her and be interested in what she says. Don’t make it about yourself unless if she insists but don’t be too long.”
Robin once caught him doing that and mocked him about it for a week. Every time at work they’d be together she would start mimicking him and repeat the rules. Steve would always answer her mockery by teasing her : “haha very funny Robin you should try it for Vicky”, but she never got annoyed by this and she would always answer “oh you bet I will Stevey boy” with a wink.
That’s what he was currently doing, fixing his hair while repeating the rules. He thought about Robin and with a sight stopped what he was doing.
“You’re ridiculous man stop it” he told to himself out loud as he closed the sun visor. For the first time in weeks he had a date that night. The girl was a regular costumer, one of those girls with rosy cheeks, perfect lips, amazing brown hair and incredible green eyes and many more great physical attributes… She was the kind of girl who would rent every two days a rom com or a musical : Grease, Risky Business, Sixteen Candles, Annie, Flashdance… By now, Steve knew and watched them all many, many times.
It had taken Steve a month to ask her out. Robin would always tease him about how he would drool every time she would walk in the video shop and of course she would also pretend to be really busy so Steve would take care of the beloved customer. Her name was Cheryl and she was very beautiful, like Jennifer Beals beautiful. He flirted with her like he was always flirting with any other girls, with cheesy catchphrases and jokes about the movies she rented, and it worked as always. Which baffled Robin every single time who would come up to him and asked “how is it even possible ? Those were lamest things I’ve ever heard and I’ve heard some pretty stupid shit” and Steve would answer “I don’t know to explain it to you Robin, it’s probably due to my amazing hair and my natural charm” and she would snort as always.
He had finally asked her on a date on a Tuesday evening as she was returning a copy of The Blue Lagoon for the third time this month. After he finished typing the informations on the computer, he had turned to her and he repeated in his mind what he had rehearsed earlier in the backroom. “So Cheryl… I was wondering if maybe you would be interested to go watch a movie this Friday night ?” He had asked while scratching the paint of the desk. She had chuckled, it was a not so very pleasing sound but Steve decided to not care while he heard behind him Robin’s muffled laugh. “Steve Harrington asking me out on a date ? She said with a smile, sure ! You can come pick me up at 8.” And then she had winked at him and left giggling like a little girl.
“Well that went great.” He had told to himself as the door closed behind her. Robin had then came back from her hiding place mimicking Cheryl’s chuckle but Steve ignored her and continued attending the customers.
Now it was the big night, his hair were perfectly brushed in the back, he had put his favorite cologne, the one that was supposed to make all the ladies fall on their knees, though the only thing it had done so far was pushing Robin away because it apparently smelled like “her dad”. And finally, the flowers he had picked up earlier from someone’s garden was resting on the seat next to him. He let out a last sigh and got out of his car with the flowers.
Cheryl’s house was a completely normal suburban house like you find anywhere in Indiana. At the front door, he fixed is hair again as if he little walk had messed them up and then rang the doorbell. As soon he pressed the button, the bell could be heard through the door which was followed by the barking of a dog that Steve assumed to be a big dog which made him shivers. His encounter with Demodogs two years ago had left him traumatised by dogs, no matter the size. He had now a ridiculous fear of dog so the thought of meeting one right now didn’t appeal him especially if it was his dates’ dog. Then he heard shouting approaching the door, he recognised Cheryl’s voice and the other one must have been her dad’s voice. Suddenly the door opened on Cheryl who closed it right after stepping out of the house. She was stunning, she was wearing a silk pink shirt with a bow made with the ribbons attached to it and a creamy skirt. Her curly brown hair were tied in the back in a small ponytail, letting her face free while also letting her to have her hair free.
She kissed Steve on the cheek leaving there a mark of red lipstick, and when she saw the flowers her eyes dazzled. She chuckled and Steve handed them to her.
“I saw them at the flower shop and they reminded me of you so I picked some” he said with his charmer voice.
“You shouldn’t have ! They’re so pretty thank you !” She said as she was smelling them
“Shall we go ? The movie starts in about 20min and it would be a shame to be late.”
They both left the porch, everything was exactly like Steve has planned, it was great so far.
Cheryl talked throughout the entire drive to the cinema, she talked about school, college, her family, movies, books… And Steve was listening to her, trying to memorise everything but he was also thinking about the rest of the night “we are going to watch The Fly. A horror movie is great for a date ! She’s going to be freaked out and I’ll be there to reassure her” he told to himself.
But he didn’t planned that Cheryl was a big fan of horror movies because she never rented one. “Damn it Steve, why did you made assumptions based on what she usually rents” he cursed himself.
At the movie theatre, they ordered popcorn and as they were walking to the room, he spotted in the corner of his eyes a familiar figure.
Dustin Henderson was jogging toward the couple, he had maybe grown two inches since Steve last saw him and his smile was as cheerful as ever.
“Steve !” He shouted which Steve replied with a cheerful “Henderson !” And then went on to make their famous handshake. But he quickly remembered with who he was and stepped back from his friend to be closer to Cheryl, to the disappointment of Dustin.
“How are you man ?” He simply asked to his friend , “by the way this is Cheryl, Cheryl this is Dustin.”
“Aw that’s the boy you used to babysit like you told me?” She asked
“It is him, the one and only” he answered with an embarrassed smile. he didn’t plan on Dustin showing up here tonight, what was he doing here ?
The teenager arced an eyebrow to his friend
“Babysit ?” He asked as if he didn’t hear correctly.
Steve let out and unease laugh, he had told Cheryl that he used to babysit in order to have good points with her but obviously Dustin didn’t know about that.
“What are you doing here on this special night Dustin ?” He asked but he didn’t need an answer because his eyes met his tee shirt which made him understand why he was here.
He was wearing the hellfire club tee shirt, the one he was wearing almost everyday since he entered the D&D club back in October. He looked behind Dustin’s shoulder and saw the entire club hanging out next to the arcade games. They were all gathered around one game in particular, Steve saw that Mike Wheeler was also there but no sign of Lucas Sinclair.
Steve didn’t need to see who was playing because he already knew who they were all cheering for.
Another big cheer and the player finally look up from his game with a fist in the air like Rocky. Eddie “The Freak” Munson, Hawkins High School’s biggest weirdo. He was wearing the same jackets he wore when Steve was still in high school with him but maybe they were a little more patches and pins since last time he saw him. He hadn’t changed a bit, he had still this devious smile and his eyes were still screaming “crazy”. Though his hair had grown out a bit, they were now longer than Cheryl’s hair.
He let out a big dramatic victory shout and they all cheered again for him. People avoided them as they walked past them in fear of being attacked by those crazy satanic teens. Eddie checked his friends but then he stopped for a moment and seemed to look for something. “Where’s Henderson ?” Steve heard. The guys all turned to his direction but no one met his gaze, except for one and suddenly it was like a bubble had formed between the two. The sound and the background went blurry, there was just the two of them. The heart pounding, Steve was out of breath and mind, he couldn’t think of anything else but “what the hell is happening?”.
This felt to him like this lasted at least a minute when in reality it only lasted less than a second.
Eddie cut out the short staring contest to look at Dustin who didn’t know what was happening behind him.
“Hey Henderson, you coming ?” He asked loudly
Dustin turned to the group then back to Steve “I’ve got to go, it was nice talking to you Steve” he said slightly annoyed as he left the two young people.
Steve was still a little bit stunned by what had just happened but when he met up Eddie’s eyes again, nothing happened.
The metalhead looked up at Steve again and for a split second, the young man swear to have seen his facial expression changed for a serious face but it was quickly replaced by his usual grinning face.
Steve didn’t look away, neither did Eddie. A sort of tension was being created between the two young men, Steve could feel it. And as Dustin finally reached the group, Eddie gave Steve a wink and turned back to his friends.
The young man stared at him for a couple more seconds, still wondering what had just happened, but then he turned to his date that he had completely forgotten about.
“Let’s go, the movie is about to start”he said as he turned around, his arm around her waist.