the unknown | steve harrington

chapter four: making contact

Hawkins, The Right Side Up

"This is a code red, okay, people?!" Dustin yells as they hover in the Wheelers' basement, the eyes of Steve, Robin, Mike, Will, El, Lucas, and Nancy staring up at him. "Daphne and Max are basically comatose, the floor is quite literally splitting in half and there are reports of satan's creatures running around the damn streets!"

"We need a plan," Lucas interjects, glancing to El for all the answers, her jaw gritting as she recalls Vecna's attack on Max.

"We need to know where he is, he's planning something, he has Daphne, I'm- I'm sure of it," Steve stands and starts to pace next to Dustin, his stomach flipping as he thinks of what she's going through. It was awful, really, Steve actually hoping that it was Vecna rather than an actual coma, because if it wasn't him, there was a very real chance she wouldn't wake up.

Steve feels his bottom lip quiver, Dustin feeling taken aback by his hero showing so much emotion, looking so helpless. And for his sister. The last thing Steve wanted was to have the group watch him be so raw, so instead, he turned on his heel and towards the stairs as he took them two at a time.

He didn't even realise that Nancy was on his tail as she shot the group a look of sympathy, chasing after the boy into her kitchen where he took in a deep breath to steady his thoughts, thankful that Mr and Mrs Wheeler weren't around today.

"It's going to be okay, Steve," Nancy tries to soothe him, placing a hand on his back, but he pushes himself away from the counter in frustration.

"You don't know that, Nance, God, I feel like I'm losing my mind," He shakes his head, chewing on the inside of his cheek as a hand pulls through his hair.

"It's okay to feel like that," Her hand, without thinking, rests gently on his cheek as her thumb stroked sympathetic rhythms over his skin. It startled her at the butterflies that rolled over her stomach, the close proximity against the two that she had began to see from spending so much time with each other again. Not that Steve really noticed, his mind completely elsewhere and just grateful for the support. "We're all struggling with managing this," Her voice almost a whisper as she held his gaze.

Steve nodded slowly, his mind had quite literally turned to mush from the past 24 hours. The sickness in his stomach from panicking over Daphne, not really knowing if he would hear her voice, feel her lips, or her touch ever again. And here he had the only other girl he had ever loved, staring up at him with doe eyes and a glance that he knew all too well from her. Steve wanted to move away and tell Nancy that this wasn't what he wanted, that he was with Daphne and she was with Jonathan. But he didn't want to assume that this was anything more than her comforting a friend, so instead he gulped.

And Nancy struggled to fight the conflict in her head anymore. She hated herself for it, but she rose to her tip toes as she leant her chin upwards to press her lips to the wide eyed boy.

Steve felt shocked and bewildered, that the girl he pined over for years was actually into him. And it was that thought that prevented him from stopping the kiss at that exact moment, allowing her to kiss him.

But then he remembered exactly what was happening, that this was not Daphne, not his girlfriend, and she was not what he wanted. And it may have only taken him three seconds to realise, but it was three seconds too long.

His hands clasped around her wrists as he pushed her away and shook his head.

"What are you—"