Night Vale ▷ Steve Harrington

xi. jane doe

𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑, 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐒𝐔𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐆𝐎 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐑𝐘. By then, Steve’s hands were no longer gripping the steering wheel with knuckles pale as a sheet, the lack of color revealing just how many scars the boy collected on his hands, no doubt from the fights he had a habit of getting into. The blond decided not to mention it, citing the rumored failures to win aforementioned fights — not only because he hated getting on anyone’s bad side, but because he had a feeling there was something he didn’t know about regarding the whole thing. And without all the facts, he wasn’t saying a word. 

Still facing the window, the smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth was now long gone. The brief conversation they had before wasn’t forgotten — Scout doubted he could ever forget those words, as awkward as it felt in the moment — far from it; it had been replaced by regret, and guilt, and frustration. While they had been much more prevalent after leaving Letitia’s house, Steve’s little speech had certainly thrown him off, now it was as if all his thoughts were fighting for space in his head, giving him a massive headache as no clear winner reigned — this was not what he imagined the rest of his day would look like after school let out. 

Then again, that talk with the police officers was in no way normal, either. He wasn’t even quite sure why they hadn’t arrested him (again) on the spot. From what he could tell, it wouldn’t have been hard for them to do just that, place him in handcuffs and escort him out of school while everyone watched, leading him down to the station for the second time in less than a week, asking him a slew of endless questions to which he had no good answers. For whatever reason, it seemed as if they couldn’t, not wouldn’t, which both interested and frightened him terribly, because there was nothing scarier than something one did not understand. 

“Why do you want to go to the library?” Steve asked, making no move to change his aimless course, before adding sarcastically, “Now’s not really time to become a nerd, but..” 

“Shut up,” he said, but his heart wasn’t into it. He was in no mood to joke. “I was thinking we could try and fight out more about Night Vale’s mayor — you know, Mr. Macaulay. The library probably has some old newspapers or stuff we can look at. I don’t know, it’s better than just driving around all day. Right?” 

He adds this to see if Steve will agree with him, and to his surprise, he does. “Right,” the Harrington boy said, “No, it’s a good idea. And it’s not like I have any better ones.” With barely a second in between, he switches his turn signal on and immediately makes the turn to begin towards the library, unaware of the look of contempt glaring in his direction at his driving. 

The drive to Hawkins Public Library takes no time at all. By the time the big red brick building was in view, the silence between the two was an inexplicable mix between suffocating and something that almost felt like content. Oddly enough, that was exactly how he felt as he scrambled out of the car the second it came to a stop, the sputtering of gasoline slowly quieting in the still parking lot, as if in a hurry to escape.  

When they’re inside, the way Steve’s head swiveled as he looked around made him roll his eyes; of course this was the first time Steve Harrington had been inside a library. He was probably being less than fair with that judgement, but at the moment, he didn’t care, which was so unlike him that he forced himself to comment on it — he usually cared about everything, even if it was just his anxiety talking. 

“When you have your head back on your shoulders, we should probably find somewhere to sit,” Scout said dryly, smirking at the way Steve immediately stopped looking around at his words.