Steve Harrington is Aurora Henderson's person. When he saves her from the Upside Down, he is on a mission to help her heal. That is until a new danger arrives in Hawkins and his only want is to keep her safe.
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There is an innocence lost with every stolen glance between almost lovers.The want for more than subtle touches and temple kisses. The need to melt into one another, becoming nothing but two bodies unified. Almost lovers never make it, their short lived romances only thought of during restless nights, when the need for another body becomes overwhelming. But this is not the case with young love.
Young love is a fountain of innocence. Every touch, every kiss, every glance is new and exciting. When something is that new and you are scared, there is an instinct to run away. If a love like that was meant to exist, why would it feel so scary? How could the simplest touch send you running in the opposite direction? Aurora and Steve asked themselves these questions every moment they spent together. If they loved each other, why did it feel like they were losing one another?
"Marco is awake and he's asking for you," Steve poked his head into the bedroom, his eyes immediately landing on Aurora's small frame in the window. She'd been dressed in his favorite shirt, the striped pattern accentuating every curve of her figure. It amazed him how easy it was for her to look beautiful, both inside and out.
"I'll be there in a minute," Aurora didn't dare look over her shoulder. The residual anger she'd felt threatening to overwhelm her. Every moment she looked at Marco, she was reminded that she never went back for him. Although he'd helped her, Aurora never went to rescue him from the hell she'd escaped from. Not even the second time she was there, she remained stuck in the tunnels, trying her hardest to fight the Mind Flayer. If she turned around and saw Steve standing there with sad Steve eyes, she would be angry that he'd helped her move on so fast.
The thing about teen boys is that they can't read signs to save their life. An arm snaked around her waist and in return her fists clenched. "We need to call Nancy and Jonathan," she snapped, pulling away from her best friend. As much as she wanted to lean into his embrace, she could not allow herself to cry over her own mistakes. "We need as many hands on this as we can get," Steve watched her leave, his want for her to come back sinking in his stomach.
Marco sat up in the bed, a frozen stake held to his face. He tried to explain himself to the group of kids staring at him from across the room but he couldn't. No one knew what he had done for Aurora and that fueled his frustration. Watching her walk into the room, head hung in shame, didn't do much to calm him. "Give us a minute," she spoke to the kids behind her, a reassuring nod aimed towards her younger brother.
The silence was thick, neither of them spoke for a moment. "Why didn't you come back for me?" he'd asked after what felt like an eternity. "You said you would and I waited for so long," the beaten down tone of his voice tore her heart in half. Did he really want to know? Or did he just think did? For the sake of having someone to blame instead of himself for not finding a way out.
"I wanted to and I searched for a way to get you out but eventually I had to move on," Marco winced. Did he really mean so little to her? He was her saviour, the reason she'd been able to get out before the gateways closed. How could she move on so quickly? After being the only human contact he'd had in years, how could she forget about him so easily?
"Right," Marco set his ice pack down, shifting his weight. "You eventually moved on? I may have spent seven years down there but I am not stupid," he watched her face fall. There was something he wasn't being told and so much he wanted to tell.
Aurora let out an audible sigh, "I wanted to forget you," she began wringing her hands. "You'd saved my life and I couldn't get back to you. I felt terrible, Marco, because I left a piece of myself in there with you and I never got it back. I couldn't look at myself in the mirror, I felt like crap for never finding a way back to you. When Will was taken by the shadow monster, I'd gone to search for you in the tunnels. I got stuck down there and no one found me until they about burned it down. This past year I have tried to find you, I have tried so hard and failed. If I knew it was you when you came out of that egg thing, I would've apologized right then and there. I'm sorry, okay?"
Marco watched her pace in front of the door, "Okay,"
"Okay?" she stopped, hands on her hips.
Marco nodded, placing the stake back on his face. "Tell Steve that the next time he lays his hands on me, it'll be the last time," he laid his head back. What about her questions? Who was he and why was he in Hawkins? The tattoo on his wrist indicated that he was like Eleven, a comment she'd kept to herself.
"Rest up, we are going back to the quarry tonight," she grabbed the doorknob, "we are going to find out why and how you're here,"
Steve swung his bat around, practising his technique. If he was going out towards the alien egg, he wanted to ensure he'd be able to protect his girl. And the kids tagging along with them, of course. Each swing of the bat drew a grunt from him, the noise pulling Aurora to the door.
Would it be weird between them now? They'd went from kissing to other activities so fast that she'd barely had time to process it. All she knew was that she wanted to be back where they were two days ago, no interdimensional travellers and bats with nails in them. Did they want to be together just as things began to get crazy again? There was no guarantee that she'd survive it this time. Maybe they wouldn't get so lucky.
"If you stand there any longer, it'll start to get creepy," Steve pulled her back to reality, still swinging his bat around. She wasn't the only worried one, he was extremely scared she'd regret being with him. He'd enjoyed it, taking the next step in their relationship, establishing one.
The fear of addressing it stemmed from the fear of ruining their friendship. What if they realized they didn't want each other romantically anymore? Would she be able to walk away from him? It would hurt both parties involved. "We leave in two hours," she shoved her hands into her back pockets, "Steve, I-"
"I know. We don't have to talk about it right now if you don't want to," he watched her face, hoping she would continue on. But when he was met with silence, the suspicion that she would reject him grew stronger.
