Surrender // Steve Harrington x Reader

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗

"Steev-uh." You roll the name out over your tongue as he retracts his hand once he'd realised you weren't going to take it. "Just Steve," He chuckles awkwardly and you meet his glance, the softness to his eyes and his smile taking you by surprise. 

Needless to say it wasn't returned as your brows knit together in a small frown, leading his smile to drop a fraction before he clears his throat, shuffling in his position on his knees as though it were uncomfortable.

"Can I take you home now?" He asks quietly and you could tell from the tone in which it was spoken that he didn't want to make you feel pressured to move from your spot on the cold concrete. A smattering of wispy fog had begun to roll in, the vapor of the water seeping past the layer of filth and into your stolen clothes. 

Your slow nod preludes a gentle shiver as the cold begins to affect you. You liked to think you could handle it pretty well considering the other place had been consistently cold, but this was something different entirely. The atmosphere here was nothing like what was on the other side of the glowing veil. But then, this was an entirely different dimension. 

You just had forgotten most of what you knew about this place. Raised inside, locked away, only to disappear into some other world... You were sorely lacking in your knowledge of the real world. You wished Henry had prepared you even just a little, but he despised talking about the mundane attributes of normal life on this side of the gate and there had been no time before you left to discuss it.

"I don't--" You begin, throat raspy as you speak, avoiding Steve's gaze as it attempts to offer a look far too comforting to handle. "I don't... have one..."

His shoulders slump and his face contorts in a pathetic display of sympathy that hits a nerve within, one that makes you want to slap the look right off his face. You didn't need pity, especially from someone as weak and helpless as him.

But, you had a mission. A mission that made you need to ignore your better judgment, the judgment you'd been raised by Henry to have, and act the damsel in distress you needed to be to complete your task. "Do you?" You ask him before he has a chance to pry further, hinting at your desire to go there and hoping he picks up on it.

"Y--Shit, yeah. I do. But I don't know, do you really want to come with me? I'm a stranger after all, maybe it would be better to--"

"Steve." You cut him off with a quiet expulsion of his name, though it was loud enough to eat into his rambling. He talked a lot. It was annoying. "Take me there or leave me here."

Steve simply stares at you for a long time, and then directs his glance over his shoulder once more, as if still searching for some relief from the fresh trouble he'd found himself in. A low sigh relaxes his shoulders as he returns his gaze to you, nodding slowly. "Screw it. Okay. Can you stand?"

Despite you confirming to him with a sharp nod that you could, he stood first so he could hunch over with his hands stretched out, not touching you but supporting the air around you as you slowly lift yourself to your feet, as if he weren't able to let you simply do it on your own but didn't want to touch you after you'd flinched away from it earlier.

At least he was respectful of your boundaries. It was more than you could say for ... Well, literally any other man you'd had the displeasure of meeting. 

Once you're up, he cocks his head in gesture to his car which was still idling on the road just behind him, and you tentatively step towards it. You'd never been in one before. The machine from earlier had been scary enough, you dreaded to think how you would cope with this.

He steps in front of you once he's convinced you won't fall, though only to pry open the door of the passenger side for you. It hangs open and creaking in the gentle breeze, Steve's hand resting atop it as he politely smiles at you, waiting for you to slip inside.