Steve Harrington x M!Reader

Chapter One

Finally finished this after a month going back and forth rewriting and shit!!!!!

('josh james' if ur reading this LEAVE or I will show up at ur doorstep)

Sorry if it's sloppy but the first chapter is always the most difficult, at least for me.
Enjoy gays

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(Just before the start of season 3)

It was the beginning of June 1985. M/n carried a box full of his things into his new residence. It was an average sized house in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana. 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, the works. He was 18 and moving in with his dad after some circumstances made it so living with his mother wasn't an option anymore. His dad helped him bring in the rest of the boxes and they went inside to go set everything up.

A couple hours and some showering later, M/n came to the garage, where his father was. "This is the car. If you need it, I don't go out after I come back from work. At least not by car," F/n told him, then went back inside. M/n nodded, but he knew he'd be doing most of his traveling by bike.

M/n went to his room. It wasn't much smaller than his old room, easier to sneak out of, though he wouldn't need to. It was June 9th, a Sunday, so he figured he'd go out and check out the town while people were still out.

Walking around a town, no matter how small and lively it was, was boring all alone. It was 3 PM and lots of people were out and about, especially people his age. It would've been simple enough to go up to anyone and try to get to know them, if M/n wasn't so anxious all the time. He decided it was pointless to be roaming around like this, so he went to see if there were any malls around.

Starcourt Mall, a big attraction in Hawkins. Half the population had to be there, it was so crowded. M/n heard people talking as he walked around, "That dress compliments your eyes," "Who's that, never seen him before," and "I love ice cream". Too much noise and too many people for his comfort. 'I'm not making any friends here,' he thought, grimly. He was about to go home when he saw a sign saying 'Help Wanted'. A job. At least one good thing would come out of this suffocating experience.

~Time Skip~

M/n met two other people who worked at the ice cream place, Scoops Ahoy, who needed help. Other, as in, he now was, too. It would've been a total win if it wasn't for the godawful uniforms, but it was what it was. The two others he met, doomed to the same fate, were a 17 year old girl named Robin Buckley and a 19 year old boy named Steve Harrington. He was hoping they'd go from acquaintances to friends, because, where else would he find some in this godforsaken town. There was something off about it, he just didn't know what...

M/n got home, immediately bored. The first couple days would probably be the most difficult, seeing as he didn't know anyone. Although it was only 7, he decided just to have dinner and go to bed. He didn't see his dad and assumed he was out. Maybe tomorrow he could ask him about popular places in Hawkins, if there were even enough people for any place to be considered popular.

~Time Skip (again bc im lazy and unmotivated)~

Time went by quickly. M/n had checked out all the best, most popular places which didn't take long since there were about five of them. He walked by a high school, thank goodness he had just graduated. The kids hanging out there seemed mean, even to his grown ass. Instead of walking around aimlessly as he had done for the past few days, he decided to go get some food. It was a small restaurant, but nice. There weren't a lot of people there, so he went looking for an empty booth. To his surprise, the guy he met at the mall, Steve, was sitting there, alone. "Mind if I join you?" Steve looked up and simply said, "Nah." M/n sat down across from him. "You're new here, right?" M/n nodded, "If you weren't here, I'd probably have gotten takeout and eaten in that mall parking lot." "Lucky for you, I am here-" They were interrupted by a waitress coming up to them. "Ready to order," she asked, but in sort of an impatient way, so it didn't seem much like a question. "Yeah."

After we finished eating, the same waitress came by. She held a napkin, which she gave to Steve. Probably had her number on it. He was polite about it, but when the two got up to leave, he threw it out. They were about to part ways when M/n saw the nice-ass car Steve had. "Holy shit, that's a beautiful car." He smiled as M/n walked over to admire it. He and his family must've been rich to be driving that around. He must've lived in one of the richer parts of town, if there was one. M/n realized he'd been staring at that car for at least a minute straight by then, so he said, "See you around, I guess." They did part ways this time.

~Time Skip~

M/n had another day till he had to go to work. Life was much more boring when you were out of school and barely knew anyone in town. He had gotten up early and spent the morning with his dad, making Eggos and talking about the supernatural rumours about the town. M/n found it funny that grown adults in Hawkins believed that there were monsters there. After his dad left, he went back to the Starcourt Mall. He hadn't brought all too much with him and had $30 on him, so he decided to get some clothes.

As M/n walked out of the third store he'd entered, he bumped into someone. Who was it? No other than Steve, of course, plus a couple trailing him. "Sorry," he said, before realizing it was M/n. "Oh, hey."

M/n and Steve sat by a tree outside, Steve telling him about the kids. M/n learned that he was a sort of babysitter for them, but his favourite, though he denied having a favourite, was at a summer camp. M/n wasn't sure exactly how he and the kids became close, but he talked about them like he was their mother. He even drove them around like a mother. He basically shone talking about their antics. For a second, M/n felt nostalgic for when his mother talked about him like that, but didn't focus on it. That was the past. Why dwell on it when there seemed such a better future approaching?

~Time Skip (bc first chapters are difficult to write)~

2:37 AM and M/n was still awake. Maybe it was insomnia or anxiety about his new job. Either way, he couldn't help but think about what his dad was telling him earlier. Supernatural rumours? The only thing supernatural was how huge that mall was compared to the size of the town. However, the rumours were very specific. He didn't believe them outright, of course, but there was that little voice in the back of him head telling him it wasn't safe. But, when you're gay in such an unaccepting world, you're always nervous about your safety. He chalked it up to work anxiety and being gay. He fell asleep after that, but was it so smart to push away the rumours? Jumping to conclusions is always a bad idea, even when the conclusions seem to be well-thought and obvious.

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Heard that writing in the second person is preferred, idrc but if it's what the people want 🤷‍♂️

Word Count: 1257