Joe Keery Imagines

The Letter-Steve Harrington

Steve's POV

I kept looking at her, not able to stop worrying about her. Y/N and I have been friends since elementary school. Our dads have worked together since Y/N and her family moved here. I've known Y/N most of my life, which is kind of the problem.

Y/N is the kind of person who keeps her pain to herself. Truth is, her family isn't as happy as they pretend to be. Her mother has a shopping addiction and her father has an alcohol addiction. Her mother verbally abuses her and her father. . .

I looked up and saw her writing something as if her life depended on it. I glanced at the other kids playing some card game before standing up and walking over to Y/N bent over the desk.

"Hey," I said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Whatcha working on?"

"Just some letters," she mumbled.

"Letters?" I asked. "Y/N, why would you be writing. . ."

I didn't need to finish my question. I sighed as I knelt next to her. I reached up and moved a piece of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail.

"Y/N, look at me," I whispered. I heard her take a shaky breath before slowly looking up at me.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you," I said as seriously as I could. "If Venca wants to get to you, he's going to have to go through me."

"You shouldn't make promises you can't be sure you can keep, Steve," she said, her voice breaking. "We have no idea how to stop him or how to stop what he does to people. We just barely found the connection between his victims. And I started seeing that damn clock. Face it. We aren't going to be able to stop what he's going to do to me."

My heart sank when Y/N stood up and went upstairs. I sighed as I sat in the chair Y/N just vacated.

"You should tell her."

I looked over to see Dustin staring at me. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

He smirked and let out a chuckle. "Dude, everyone except Y/N knows you're crazy about her."

"Whatever," I scoffed. I stood up and was about to go upstairs but Dustin stopped me.

"We don't know what Vecna's going to do to her," he spoke up. "And what's worse is we don't know if we can save her from whatever he has planned. We're all scared, Steve. But Y/N? She's terrified."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"So you have a chance to tell her," Dustin sighed. "Before it's too late."

* * * * *

I got back from checking on Eddie with Dustin and Robin to see Y/N still writing letters. I thought about my and Dustin's conversation from this morning.

"How's Eddie?" Y/N asked as she folded her letter and put it in the envelope.

"He's okay," I shrugged. "As okay a murder suspect in hiding can be."

Y/N just hummed as she wrote a name on the envelope. She stood up with a shaky breath. When she turned toward me, she couldn't meet my eyes.

"This is the last one I have to deliver," she said, staring at whoever's name she had just written down.

"Y/N, I've been telling you over and over again. . ."

I stopped talking when I looked down at the letter she was holding out for me. My breath got caught in my throat when I saw the name written in Y/N's perfect cursive.

Steve

"Y/N," I stuttered. I started to open it but she gasped.

"Please don't read it in front of me," she said quickly. "It's too. . . It's too embarrassing."

"Y/N, I'm not going to let him hurt you."

"You don't know. . ."

"I'm not going to let him take you from me, Y/N." I cut her off a little too harshly. I lowered my voice as I added, "I'm not going to let anyone take you from me."

* * * * *

I left the Wheeler's house and got in my car. Before putting the key into the ignition, I looked at Y/N's letter. I know I promised her I would wait until I got home to read it, but I couldn't wait.

Dear Steve,
I don't even know where to start with this letter. Everyone else, I knew what I wanted my last words to be to them, but you? I can't find my words. Maybe it's because there's so much I need to say to you.
          Did you know that you were the first person to be nice to me when I moved here? At first, I thought it was because our dads worked together. But it didn't take long for me to realize that it was because you are an amazingly sweet person. I know how the people at school used to see you, but I never saw you that way. I saw the real you. You were always real around me. And I tried to be real around you. . .
          I've been keeping a secret from you, Steve. Now, before you panic, it's not a big secret. And the only person it really hurts is me. It does involve you though.
          Before I tell you this secret, you have to know that the only reason I finally have the courage to tell you this secret is because I might be dead tomorrow. Here it goes. . .
          I'm in love with you, Steve.
          Do you remember that day in eighth grade when you noticed a bruise on my wrist? Well, I do. You got super protective when you found out how I got that bruise. After that, you started hanging out with me as much as you could. You got a lot more protective and that. . . That meant the world to me, Steve.
          I don't know if you remember what you told me that night but I'll never forget it. You told me that if my father ever hurt me again or scared me, I could run to you. Those were your exact words. You wanted me to run to you. And I did.
         I probably ran to you too much. I ran to you for every little thing that year. On the last day of school, we stayed up late and watched a movie. As I fell asleep in your arms, the last thought I had was that I was in love with you.
          I'm sorry if this makes things awkward, but I really hope it doesn't ruin our friendship. I don't know how you feel about me. And maybe it's best that I don't?
          I just had to tell you how much you mean to me, Steve. I can't die with you not knowing how much I love you.
          Forever Yours,
                       Y/N

I slowly lowered the letter, finally noticing the tears streaming down my face. I didn't care that I was crying in my car outside my ex-girlfriend's house.

Y/N was in love with me.

I read that line over and over again. I knew exactly what day she was talking about when I saw that bruise. That bruise changed our friendship. I was tempted to tell my mom and insist that we take Y/N in when I realized her father was the reason behind her bruise.

I also remembered that last day of eighth grade when she fell asleep in my arms. Truth was, I realized I was in love with her long before that night.

My heart almost stopped when I reread Y/N's last few sentences: "I just had to tell you how much you mean to me, Steve. I can't die with you not knowing how much I love you."

There was no way I was going to let Vecna take Y/N away from me. And there was definitely no way I was going to let another minute go by without Y/N knowing how madly in love with her I was.

Part 2 Coming Soon