brutally soft | st agere one shots

three.

cg!nancy
little!steve
tw: mentions of abuse/lots of harsh words / someone gets punched
requested by: bananasforstevee

steve had only came to nancy's to talk about the current situation plaguing hawkins, barbara holland and where she could have possibly went. though steve's intentions were pure, he was quickly dismissed by jonathon and nancy with false accusations and harsh statements.
he'd never been so scared in his life, really. he felt just like he did when he was a kid and his parents would scream in his face about how he'd never live up to the family name and be worth anything more than a janitor, which steve never understood what was even bad about being a janitor. but now, he was back in his bedroom, hiding under the bed as his parents screamed obscenities as they searched for him.
—-
"steve, just get the fuck out, man!" jonathon yelled, arm gesturing towards the door as he walked closer and closer to steve with nancy right behind him.
"listen, steve! just listen!" nancy screamed, cutting both jonathon and steve off before they could say another word. "i am tired of you causing me problems! you made me lose barb! you aren't going to ruin anything else, and i mean that!" tears threatened to spill from nancy's eyes and her face was now shaded red with anger.
she stared at steve for a second, then looked back at jonathon. things got dead silent and without even thinking about it, nancy got closer to steve. close enough they could feel each other's breath, and she could feel steve's breath becoming short and erratic.
"i meant it when i said it was bullshit." was the words that left her mouth, the words that broke the dam for steve.
he looked at jonathon, then back at nancy before looking down. he wasn't going to say anything else, he didn't want to argue with jonathon anymore. he turned to walk away, but was quickly stopped by jonathon grabbing ahold of his collar forcefully.
"do you really think i'm gonna let you just fucking leave after you humiliated me? huh steve?" he screamed, though steve said nothing back.
he tried his hardest to get away from jonathon, squirming and wiggling and pushing the best he could as jonathon continued to scream harsh insults in his face.
"please just leave me alone!" steve wailed, eyes frantically searching the room for nancy. he knew that she would help him, even if she was mad at him right now.
"since you wanted to act so big and bad, stand up and fight me like a man then, steve." jonathon said in a deadpan voice that rang through steve's ears and made his bones crawl.
before steve could even get away or stand up, he felt a harsh blow to his right cheek and he yelped in pain as he fell to the floor once again.
much to steve's surprise, nancy happened to hear the commotion from the back bedroom and decided to come investigate. she was taken aback when she saw what was going on, and she felt awful when she looked closer and seen steve wasn't fighting back this time.
concerned and curious, nancy yelled.
"jonathon, stop! stop right now!" she pleaded, trying to pull the older male away from steve. "you're scaring him and you're hurting him! i said fucking stop!" she grabbed him once again, this time with much more force and anger.
"why? isn't this what you wanted?!" he screamed in nancy's face, before turning around and abruptly leaving. he slammed the door as hard as he could, and nancy was sure the screen door must be broken now.
she knelt down, facing steve. "hey, steve, what's going on?" she wasted no time asking, though she was confused when she was met with incoherent babbles and anguished, confused crying.
it clicked for her. she knew better than anyone that steve had a rough childhood and she definitely knew better than to scream at him like that. even worse, jonathon hit him when he'd done nothing wrong this time.
"oh, is...is it stevie with me now?" nancy smiled as warmly as she could, her eyes softening as steve nodded sadly.
"nanny, 'm scared.." steve sobbed, looking up at her as he slowly backed out from the corner behind the couch where he'd been when jonathon was there.
nancy had taken care of steve before, but it had been a long time. she was sure she could probably make him feel better, but she knew how scared steve was and how upset he would be if he really was hurt.
"you're okay, buddy. come out and let me see you." nancy spoke softly, holding her arms out for steve to come closer. once he crawled over, she began inspecting his face for bruises.
"aw, stevie, let me see.." nancy spoke softly and kindly, gently brushing steve's hair back to find a black eye and a pretty big bruise on his cheek. she sighed sadly, motioning for steve to turn around.
she checked his torso and back for bruises, feeling a pang in her chest when steve would cry out or try to wiggle away from her.
"okay, up we go." she stood up, gently pulling steve to his feet and grabbing ahold of his hand. she led him up the stairs, keeping a tight grip on his hand when she noticed how much he wobbled.
she opened the door to her bedroom, quickly rushing the two of them inside and locking the door just incase jonathon came back. she led steve to the bed, smiling fondly as he sat down on the bed.
"okay, let's clean your face up first," she squeezed steve's shoulder reassuringly as she left the room to grab a bowl, a wash cloth, and some bandaids for the cuts and scrapes on steve's arms and legs.
as she got closer to the room, she heard hiccuping and rushed to open the door. she frowned sadly, quickly abandoning the supplies she'd brought in and walking over to the bed.
"stevie, why are you crying, sweetheart?" she spoke gently and warmly, opening her arms for steve to come sit on her lap.
the regressed boy sniffled, wiping his nose with his sleeve as he hiccuped once more. "it gon' hurt, nanny!" he whined, motioning to the wash cloth sitting on the nightstand.
"i'll be extra gentle," she paused for a moment, "and you can even have ice cream after! and we can watch whatever you want!" she exclaimed, holding her pinky out to steve to seal the deal.
"mhm, nanny!" he wrapped his pinky around hers, locking them for a second before situating himself so nancy could clean his face. she was very thankful that steve was so shy and reserved when he was regressed, it made cleaning his face a lot easier.
he whined nervously, sticking his thumb in his mouth as nancy began gently wiping his face with the soft wash cloth. she pulled his thumb from his mouth, biting back a laugh when he angrily huffed at her.
"no, stevie. that's icky." she shook her head, ruffling his hair gently as she placed bandaids under the cuts on his eyes and cheek.
"shh, you're almost done, and then we can eat ice cream!" nancy gasped, very gently tickling steve's belly, careful not to hurt any injuries or sore spots.
steve looked up at nancy, smiling innocently. "t'ank you, nanny." he mumbled, wrapping his arms around her torso and hugging her tightly.
she giggled, hugging him just as tightly and patting his back rhythmically as she swayed them back in forth while singing a little song she'd made up to cheer steve up.
"we have ice cream now?" steve tilted his head, giving nancy his best puppy eyes.
to no one's surprise, the puppy eyes done a number on nancy and she was back with two bowls of chocolate ice cream and a crate that was filled with the vhs player and many different children's movies.
"pick whichever one you want, little man." nancy sat the crate down, sitting in the floor and motioning for steve to do the same.
he crawled into the floor, making grabby hands for his bowl. "please?" he asked sweetly, looking at nancy with fuzzy, soft eyes.
nancy handed him the bowl with a smile, going through the crate of tapes with steve as they ate their ice cream.
steve finally decided on the fox and the hound, proudly handing the tape to nancy. "this one?"
"anything you want, bub." she smiled, helping steve back onto the bed before taking the finished bowls of ice cream downstairs.
she walked back in to see steve curled up in the blankets, chocolate covered around his mouth. she cooed at the sight, grabbing the wash cloth from earlier off the nightstand to clean his face up, once again.
"you're very messy, you know that?" nancy booped his nose, grabbing the remote control and pressing the play button.
steve curled up beside nancy, eyes fixated on the tv and sleeve in his mouth.
—
about half way into the movie, nancy decided to look down and check on steve. she smiled at the boy sleeping curled up beside her, one sleeve in his mouth and the other hand holding onto nancy's.
even though it was her fault, nancy knew she'd always be there for steve. she could never hate someone as sweet as steve, and she'd always be there to fix it. she swore she'd never hurt him like that again, and she definitely intended to stick to her word.

a/n
i hope you enjoyed this!!