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A haunted house, in your professional opinion is a terrible fucking idea.
It’s not because you were scared, but… okay maybe you were just a little scared. It’s mostly because you had been voluntold that you would be chaperoning the six hyperactive teenagers through the most populated Hawkins halloween attraction.
“It will be fun, I promise.” Robin has told you. “You’re both the most responsible adults we know.” Dustin had added with that shit eating grin that honestly should have told you something absolutely shady was gonna happen tonight.
Ultimately Steve had been a traitor. Having shrugged his shoulders at the kids and said. “Sure kid, why now?”
That’s how you got to be standing outside the old Creel farm attraction that had fake fog that was curling around your ankles, and being able to hear the distant screams and shouts echoing through the October cold night air.
You folded your arms against your chest tighter, “I want the record to show that I objected to all of this.” You mumbled, with Steve standing beside you in one of those dark green sweaters and denim jacket smirking at you. “I just want the record to show that you’re already doing that pouty thing with your lip.”
Your brows furrowed. “I am not pouting!” Steve just nodded, “You absolutely are.”
You turned to glare at Steve, the words you wanted to say just ended up getting stuck in your throat. Steve looks unfairly fucking good, under those orange and purple string lights. The cold October air had made just the tip of his nose a little pink.
Then there's smiling at you, that easy, almost familiar way that has always made you go warm in your chest. “You’re staring.” He says softly like he didn’t want the children to hear. “I’m not staring, I’m thinking about… how much I wanna push you into the fog machine.” You manage to come up.
“Violence on Halloween, nice.” He says with a grin. Before you’re able to snap back at Steve, Dustin comes out of fucking nowhere barreling just in between the two of you. “RULE TIME.” Dustin shouts from between the two of you towards the rest of the kids.
“Nobody gets lost, and nobody goes punching people, and if you hear Steve screaming you go record it asap!” Steve looks miffed, “I don’t ever scream,” He tries to define himself against just three out of the six kids. Max snorts loudly, “I literally heard you scream when that raccoon fell out from your trash can a few weeks ago.”
“That was different. He shouldn’t have been in the bin, and it was dark.” Steve tries to defend himself. Lucas grins beside Max, “You know it’s gonna be dark out here too, right man.” Steve utterly betrayed all these kids. “Who’s side are you tyrants all on?” He asks.
“Ours, Steve.” The kids all shout in unison. Impressive you think to yourself. You stand there laughing before you can stop yourself. Steve glances over at you, and for just a single second his face goes soft and the teasing fades into something quieter. “See.” He says with a flex of his brow. “It’s already worth it.” Your stomach does a little flip, and dips making you feel giddy for a second.
The line is moving faster than you had expected. Within just a few minutes, a staff member who’s dressed like a shitty zombie is waving your eight member group through and towards the entrance. “This is the last chance to back out.” He murmurs to you, “You first, Steveie.” He groans, “Never.”
The kids all rush ahead of you, almost right away ignoring the rules that they had established at the start. You and Steve just follow behind them at a slower pace. You both step into the hallway where the lights flicker and that wallpaper is peeling with fake blood smeared up against the walls.
There' s a loud bang that comes from overhead, you jump automatically, and Steve takes an immediate notice, “You’re not scared, right?” “Oh, be quiet.” Steve grins, and you hate how the smile brings you racing heart down.
The first room was easy. Just some creepy dolls, the rattling of ‘fake’ chains, and a single man in a mask that had popped out from behind one of those dark curtains. The kids were screaming and laughing ahead of you, and kept moving further into the haunted house.
You stayed close by Steve… mostly because the hallways were small and narrow and not because you liked being able to feel him behind you.
Nearby a hidden speaker crackled to life. “GET OUT!” It shouted, and you startled again, jumping and bumping into Steve shoulder with your own. “You know,” And you know where this is about to go. “For someone who’s claiming to be not scared at all, you’re very jumpy.”
“I’ll have you know, I’m not jumpy. I’m alert.” You say with a finger pointing at Steve. “Right… exactly. You’re doing that whole tactical awareness thing.” You nod, “Exactly!” he looks absolutely delighted by your answer. The banter between you and Steve always has come easy to the both of you.
You end up about halfway through the attraction when the group of you manage to make it to the maze that is hidden behind tall black hanging curtains. Again the kids go ahead and disappear in front of you immediately. “DUSTIN!” You shout out, “THIS WAY!” He shouts backs, his voice echoing so badly that you know you won’t be able to locate him. Steve sighs from next to you, “Those are some famous last words.”
You push the curtain aside, and nearly walk right into him when Steve suddenly stops. “What?” You ask, “Just listen.” Steve hums, suddenly the music changes. Going from a low hum that fades into utter and complete silence.
Then the lights in the maze all go out. Everything succumbing to darkness, someone… Erica probably shouts “Oh, NO!” A few of the other kids' laughs can be heard but now echoing with a little nervousness.
Whatever it is it makes you freeze, it’s not that it’s haunted and dark. It’s the suddenness of it all. The way the entire world around you had just vanished in seconds. In just a few seconds later a hand finds yours.
Warm
Immediate
And Certain
Steve intertwined your fingers together like he had just reached out for you without even thinking about it. “Are you okay?” He asks softly, his voice so low in the darkness. Your heart is stumbling around in your chest. “Yeah.” You manage to get out.
His grip on your hand tightens anyways, “Stay close, yeah.” He mutters. There's emergency lights that are flickering on dimly around you, the curtains are painted in a deep dark red. You realize in that moment that you and Steve are still holding hands, and it seems like Steve notices too at the same time.
Neither of you let go.
Ahead of you you find Dustin yelling. “IF WE ALL DIE IN HERE, I’M GOING TO HAUNT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU SPECIFICALLY!” Steve shouts back “JUST KEEP MOVING, DUSTIN!” After that his attention is brought right back to you. “You sure you’re okay?” Steve says doubly checking. You can’t help but look down at your joined hands, “Yeah.” You say again, softer now “I’m good.”
For a second Steve just stares at you. The red light of the emergency light catching the edges of his hair there’s surprise on his face. Then he’s smiling, but it’s not the cocky Harrington smile he throws around sometimes. It’s something far softer, and it makes your heart stutter, and flutter in your chest.
The maze finally comes to an end in a room that is decorated to look like an abandoned hospital. There are fake corpses sitting upright on a gurney that you end up having to pass. You barely react to it, all too aware of Steve’s hand still holding yours.
The kids of course notice, because nothing can get past teenagers.
Max’s eyes go narrowed. Lucas is smirking, and Dustin just looked down at your joined hands as if he’s just been given the best, juiciest gossip of his entire life. “OH, my god.” He whispers, all too dramatically.
“Don’t you even start.” You warn him with a tight jaw. “I haven’t even said anything yet.” “No, but you're thinking about it.”
Dustin squares his shoulders at you, “I was just going to mention how very responsible Steve is at being a chaperone.” Steve gives your hand a slight squeeze and looks as if he’s trying not to laugh. “See? Henderson even supports me in this endeavour."
“You’re being a traitor.” You mutter quietly to him. Dustin grins wide, with missing teeth. “I’m in support of romance. I’m a romantical man.” “Dustin.” you snap, at the same time as Steve.
The kids fall into cackles and of course run ahead again. You groan, “You know they’re never gonna let us hear the end of this right?” You say. Steve shrugs his shoulders, “Probably not.” There’s a pause, like space has gone still between the two of you. “You can let go of my hand, by the way.” You say softly.
Steve takes a look down and it's as if the man had forgotten entirely that he was holding your hand. “Oh, yeah right.” He mumbles, but he doesn’t let go of your hand right away, instead his thumb brushes lightly ever so over the tops of your knuckles. “Do you want me to?” He asks quietly as if anyone is around you right now.
The question is asked quietly enough that nobody can hear, and you meet his eyes slowly. The noise in the haunted house starts to fade into the background. And of course because you have a brain that just abandoned all and any type of self-preservation you answer Steve honestly.
“No.”
Steve's expression changes once again, and it’s the same surprised kind of softness that you were met with in the darkness of the maze. This time it’s a little warmer though. “Okay.” he says, and just like that you can feel something newer, growing between the two of you.
The last section of the haunted house was the absolute worst. Somewhere behind you there was a chainsaw that was revving, causing you to yelp and move closer to Steve. He laughed softly under his breath. “You’re enjoying this too much.”
“I’m enjoying watching you being scared.” Steve said to correct you, “I’m not scared.” He hummed, and nodded his head “Is that why you were just about to climb into my jacket.” You scoffed at him, “It… I thought it was strategic.” You huffed out.
He hummed again. The actor with the said chainsaw charged past the both of you. Causing the kids to go screaming and running towards the exit. You followed, laughing breathlessly. Most of the fear had just ended up dissolving into adrenaline by now.
By the time you had managed to finally burst out into the cool nieces air, the group had all but scattered towards an old cider stand. Steve and you were slow to stop near the fence line, your hand still very much interlocked.
Once again neither one of you mentioned it, and for a moment you simply stood there together catching your breath while the orange, red, and yellows leaves fell and scattered across the rock parking lot. Steve took a chance and looked over at you. “So?” He asked, “So?” You echoed back to him.
“I’m glad we survived that.”
“I’d say we barely made it out alive.”
He smiled at you, this time it lacked a certain type of teasing nature to it. “Can I tell you something, but you’ve gotta make sure you won’t make fun of me?” Steve asked with the most amount of seriousness since the drive to the attraction. “Well that one hundred percent depends on how embarrassing it's gonna be.”
Steve chuckles, “When all those lights went out…” He stops, and glances at your hands again. “I just grabbed your hand without a single thought.” Your chest goes tight with emotion, “And?” You whisper quietly. “I think I have been wanting to do that for a long time now.”
All the noise around you seems to fade away. You stare at him, and you become suddenly very aware of just how close you two are to get each other. “Steve Harrington.” You say oh so softly, “Did you just use a haunted house as an excuse to flirt with me?”
You’re in part teasing him, and not at the same time. Steve pretends for just a moment to be offended, “I’ll have you know that I’m very good at multitasking.” He winks. You laugh fully, with her head falling back and the sheer sound seems to have Steve relax. His shoulders dropped just a little.
“I am serious.” He says. “I know the timing is a little ridiculous, and the kids are definitely most definitely going to make our lives hell, but… I really like you.” The words Steve speaks are simple, it’s not a grand speech, and holds no practiced charm. It’s just straight honesty. Somehow it makes all the feelings hit even harder.
You step closer until your joined hands are rested in between you. “I really like you too.” Steve blinks at you as if the answer that Steve had just received wasn’t at all what he thought he would get. “Yeah?” He mutters, “Yes, Steve.” There’s a large grin that takes over his face. Bright, and disbelieving in every way.
“Wow. Okay. Um… okay.” He mutters, “You’re being very smooth, Steve.” You tease. “Listen… I had a whole thing planned out in my head, but then the kids wanted to go to this damn haunted house.”
“The same house that terrified me?” You question. “The one that got me to hold your hand.” Steve corrects you again. You end up rolling your eyes at him, but smiling a little too hard for the gestures to have any real meaning behind it.
Steve looks at you just a second longer. Then quietly, almost entirely under his breath asks. “Can I kiss you now?” His question sends a warmth through you that you haven’t felt in a long time. You nod quickly.
Steve leans in slowly, giving you every chance to leave and change your mind, but you don’t. The kiss with Steve is soft, and just a tad slow at first. As if the man was trying to make sure that this in fact was real.
Your free hand gets caught up in his jacket, and he smiles against your mouth. The kiss deepens just enough that it makes your heart skip a few beats, before Steve is pulling back. When he does you’re both staring at each other, and grinning like idiots.
“Well.” he says, a little breathless. “That was better then that fucked ass chain saw room.” “That’s some high praise, Stevie.” Shocked, Steve presses his free hand over his heart. “I will let you know that I am a man with refined standards. Thank you very much.”
Before either of you had continued your teasing, Dustin's voice rang through the entire parking lot. “OH MY FUCKING GOD, THEY JUST KISSED!” The two of you jump apart like kids getting caught with their hands in the candy bowl. Every single kid is staring at you from across the cider stand.
Max looks entirely too smug to be a teenager. Lucas is looking around like he won a bet and is waiting for his prize money. Erica is holding out her hand, and waiting for the slap of money to land it from Dustin who looks like he’s deeply disappointed.
“So worth the twenty bucks.” Erica declares a little evil like. Steve covers his face with his free hand. “You know.” He mutters to you, “I fought some pretty fucked up, interdimensional monster for thise children.”
You giggle, “And this is how they repay you.” You mutter back. “Cruelly.” Steve huffs. You laugh so much that your stomach hurts, Steve looks at you with a little bit of embarrassment in his face, but still smiling proudly. His fingers still laced in with yours.
Except this time he doesn’t let go when the street lights come on, Steve holds on because he wants to, and as the kids continue to shout, and tease, and demand cider and sugary food. You come to the realization that being voluntold to take these ungrateful, but fun children to this haunted house was probably the best thing to ever happen to you.