Promises ✦ Steve Harrington

"You promise?"

Steve Harrington decided Tessa Hopper was worth knowing the moment he met her in seventh grade.

Fifteen minutes later, after she made Tommy Hagan cry with a few mean words and a deadly glare, he decided she was his new best friend.

Four years later, and that hasn't changed. Except, unfortunately for Tessa, friendship stopped being enough somewhere along the way.

Steve is her best friend, her safe place, and the one person who could break her heart without even meaning to. But having already lost enough people to last her a lifetime, Tessa's learned to hold onto the people who stay, even if that means settling for whatever scraps of Steve she can get.

But when Will Byers goes missing, and Hawkins begins unraveling into a town of monsters, secrets, and things no one was ever supposed to see, everything changes.

Including Steve.

Suddenly, the feelings Tessa spent years trying to bury are not so easy to hide anymore, especially when Steve starts looking at her like he's finally seeing what's been right in front of him all along.

⚠️ All em dashes, Oxford commas, and semicolons in this fic are HUMAN-generated, babes! I'm an English major. You and AI can pry them from my cold, dead hands! ⚠️

Steve Harrington x OC
Stranger Things Fanfic [Seasons 1-5]

Started: 01/18/25

Season 1: ✅
Season 2: ✅
Season 3: ✅
Season 4: ✍️
Season 5:

Completed: TBD

©manic_mandy