My Dingus | Steve Harrington x Reader

Chapter One

     Summer 1958- Steve Harrington had been my best friend for as long as I could remember. Sure, he'd had his moments of being a total asshole, but didn't we all? We had been through everything from pre-k to graduation together and now we both faced the future with uncertainty. Neither of us had a college in mind yet. I wasn't sure where I wanted to go in general in life. But I knew I wasn't ready to leave Hawkins or my family yet. I had no idea why but I ended up being eternally glad that I had stayed. My brother needed me. Dustin, my toothless nerd of a little brother, was absolutely obsessed with Steve. So much so, that he roped him into DND nights at our house.
       "Knock knock," I looked up from my book to see Steve leaning against my doorframe with a little smile.
       "What's the point in saying that when you're practically already in the room?" I laughed.
       "Human decency," he shrugged, "which apparently you don't have since you left me with the kids all alone!"
       "Oh they're easy," I waved him off.
       "No no they're vicious!"
       "One of them is my brother. I know their viciousness well," I laughed, patting the bed as a gesture for him to sit. He sat down across from me criss-cross. He leaned closer to see what book I was reading. My breath caught in my lungs for a moment with him so close to me. "Do you want coffee?"
       "Huh? At ten o'clock at night?" Steve raised an eyebrow.
       "Yeah? Of course?" I looked at him like it was the only correct answer.
       "Sure, babe, ok," Steve knew how flustered it made me when he called me that ridiculous nickname.
"Shut up," he followed me to the kitchen and watched as I prepared the coffee filter and started the machine. "You want to grab a couple of cups?"
"Yeah, top left cabinet?" He confirmed. I nodded. He set down two muppets mugs on the counter. "I'll take Fozzie and you can have Kermit to match your socks," he glanced down.
"Oh yeah," I followed his gaze to my fuzzy socks. I had forgotten those were the ones I was wearing. I let him add in the milk and sugar, then poured and stirred our coffees. He winked at me quickly as he took the first sip of his. Luckily I hadn't taken a sip yet or I probably would have choked. No matter how often he was jokingly flirty, I would never quite get used to it.
"You know, I can do a pretty mean Kermit impression..." Steve looked over at me. He looked pretty in the soft glow of the dimmed kitchen lights.
"Oh no!" I quickly shuffled back to my room.
He ran after me, flying into a horrendous rendition of 'The Rainbow Connection.' He couldn't get past the first chorus as we were both doubled over laughing. I grabbed his shoulder for support as we sat on the ground to avoid spilling our coffee. "Steve...that was...so bad." I gasped for air between fits of laughter. I looked over at him but his expression had gone serious, save for the faint ghost of a smile lingering on his lips. He sat there looking at me. "What?" I furrowed my brows.
       "Nothing," he shook his head and smiled. "Want to watch a movie?"
       "Of course! My tapes are over there if you wanna choose one," I pointed to a shelf near the tv. I was lucky enough to have a television in my room, since my parents figured out Dustin and his friends kept taking apart the old one to build 'Demogorgon catchers' or whatever they were making.
        "Star Wars?" He held up the VHS with a hopeful look on his face.
       "Of course!" I settled onto my bed as he put the tape in. I loved when we hung out like this. It felt like we were kids again. The familiar sound of the opening theme began to play as Steve sat beside me. I offered to share my blanket. "Hey, you have an interview tomorrow, don't you?"
       "Yes I do. You should apply too," Steve replied. "It's at the ice cream place at the new mall. It could be fun..." he raised his eyebrows.
       "Maybe...I don't have a job yet this summer."
       "Really? I'll grab an application for you tomorrow."
       "Thanks," I sat my mug on the table beside my bed.
       "You wanna hear my Darth Vader impression?" Steve leaned over and asked quietly.
       "I really do not."
       He didn't listen.
       "You sound like an asthmatic, smoking a cigarette, caught in a house fire," I informed him.
       "That was the goal," he shrugged, seemingly satisfied. My eyes were growing heavy so I leaned my head against his arm. I didn't think anything of it, honestly. We had grown up together. He was one of the few people I felt completely comfortable being myself around. Before I knew it, I was slipping off into sleep. "Y/n....y/n," he whispered.
      "What?" I muttered sleepily.
       "Can I just stay over tonight?"
       I grunted in response, unmoving.
      "Is that a 'yes?'" Steve nudged my arm lightly.
      "Mmhmm," I nodded into his arm.
      "Okay- goodnight, dingus."