To Catch a Falling Star (Steve Harrington)

(1.5) Steve Harrington

When I woke up again, light shone through the small door on the wall. It was a bright light, I slowly pushed myself to a seated position, pain flaring from the bite mark on my shoulder. The one called Steve was laying on the bed at my feet, I poked him lightly. He shot up, looking afraid for a moment before relaxing when he looked at me.

"Whoa hey," he was quick to move to my side, helping me in my struggle to sit comfortably. "You gotta be careful, you're gonna give me a heart attack."

I didn't know what that meant, but I guess the confusion showed on my face because he was quick to dismiss the term rather than explain it. We sat in the quiet for a few minutes, it was not a comfortable silence, it was not a good one. He peeled the cloth off of my shoulder, and quickly replaced it with a different type of cover. This one was sticky, and when he put it on he didn't have to hold it down at all it just sat there on its own.

"I should, uh, you should put different clothes on." He walks away from the bed, opening a door that doesn't lead out. Inside is many shirts like what Benny gave me. He pulls one out, and a pair of pants. He sets the clothing on the edge of the bed, "Okay, uh, you think you can do this? Or do you need help."

I thought I could do it alone, at first I really believed I could. But when I tried to move to the edge of the bed I almost fell off, Steve was there in an instant, helping me to sit up straight.

"Well, that answers that question." He laughed, before grabbing my legs and putting them over the edge of the bed. My feet sat on the floor, touching something soft. When I looked down it looked like grass, but it wasn't really. I watched as Steve grabbed the pants and sat on the ground in front of me, he slowly pulled each side of the pants over my legs. "Hold onto my shoulder."

I put my left hand on his shoulder, not daring to move my right arm. He stood up, taking me with him, and pulled the top of the pants to my waist. He helped me sit back down. Steve grabbed the shirt, swinging it over his shoulder before reaching to grab the bottom of the torn up shirt I was wearing. I pulled away, mouthing the word 'No' over and over again. Steve stood up quickly, taking a few steps away from me with his hands raised in front of him.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay. I won't hurt you I promise, but we need to take the shirt off." I shook my head. "We need to, it's covered in shit."

I didn't know what 'shit' was, but I shook my head again and crossed my arm across the bottom of the shirt. Steve sighed.

"I'm not going to judge you." I didn't know what 'judge' was, and at the confused look I gave him, he sighed again. He put his hand in his hair, and spoke again. "I won't say bad against what you look like."

That I understood, but I didn't want him to hate me. I lifted my left hand and bent it over my left shoulder, lightly touching my back before holding my hand out to the side. I moved it up and down, trying to replicate what my wings do. Steve looked confused, so I did it again. At the forth time of doing it, I sighed and grabbed his hand, pulling him closer and putting his hand on the bottom of Benny's shirt. He, once again looked confused, something that I guess he was often.

Steve was careful as he lifted up my shirt. He took my left arm out of the shirt first, followed by my head, and then finally my right arm. I winced as he did it, but once it was off it didn't hurt anymore. My wings slowly spread across the bed, I looked down at the ground as they did it. I heard Steve gasped, but I still didn't look up. I was to afraid of what he was going to do to look up.

"What the fuck?" His words were just above a whisper, and they weren't angry, so that gave me just a little bit of confidence to look up. When I did, Steve was staring at me, his mouth wide open, his hands loose at his sides. "What the fu-uck?" The second time he spoke it was like he was singing, it was funny actually, and I smiled at him.

"Are they real?" I nodded. "Can I touch them?"

I nodded again, slowly moving myself to the edge of the bed and using my left hand to push myself up. I stood unsteadily, swaying on my feet, Steve started to help me, but I stopped him. I turned around slowly, tucking my wings in for a moment to avoid hitting him with them. With my back to Steve, I slowly spread them back out, not fully, just to a comfortable length. I flinched when his hands brushed the feathers. The warmth of his fingers a shock on my freezing skin.

"Well shit Zero." He sounded surprised, shocked even. I heard his footsteps as he walked away, giving me the chance to sit back down on the bed. I stared at my hands, brushing the scars that decorated the fronts and backs of them. I waited for Steve to return, worried for a second that he was not coming back but then I realized my fear was unjustified. I had no reason to doubt Steve in any way.

When he did return, he had the shirt in his hand, and a jacket as well. He held up the shirt to me, and I noticed to large holes cut into it. "For your wings." I smiled in thanks. I let Steve pull me to my feet, let him touch my wings, guiding them into the holes in the shirt, guiding my head and arms to follow. When he finished I was comfortable, my wings were free, not trapped under uncomfortable fabric, and my shoulder (though it still stung) did not hurt as much as it did. 

"Tada!" He clapped his hands and smiled brightly at me. "And this," he holds the jacket up, "is my dad's old jacket, he won't miss it. It's gonna be massive on you, which is good I guess. It won't squeeze your wings."

I nodded, letting him help me put the jacket on. He was right about it being big on me, the size was perfect however, it hid my wings, but did not hurt them. I smiled at him, my first smile since I got here, when I looked at Steve in the eyes, he was happy. Which made me happy.

I did not expect to find a friend other than Eleven, and now that I had I realized that there was more to this man than I expected. He was kind, and large. He towered over me, with long hairs, hairs that appeared soft to the touch. His eyes were brown, but not just brown, they had gold in them. Little specks of gold that shined brightly with his smile.

I did not know what this feeling was that I felt while looking at him, but I enjoyed it. It is a happy feeling, a good feeling. Steve told me to follow him, leading the way out the door and down the stairs. I was slow going, and Steve was there just in case I fell, even though I did not. He led the way to a room, different than the one that I was first in. This one had shiny objects on the tables, and a yellow box which Steve opened. The inside was full of food, all different types, kinds that I had never seen before.

"Do you want some eggs?" He grabbed something out of the fridge, a brown box. When I didn't answer he turned to me. "You know, eggs?"

He opened the box and pulled a white circle from it. I held my hand out taking the 'egg' from him. It wasn't a heavy object, I brought it close to my face looking at it. Suddenly it shattered in my hand, scaring me slightly. A liquid seeped from the circle, it was yellow in color, and slimy. I started to lift my hand to my face, my tongue poking out to lick it. A hand came into my line of sight pulling my hand away from my mouth.

"No no no no, that's not healthy. Don't do that. You have to cook it first." Steve was laughing as he spoke, he brought me to a hole in the table, and turned it on. This was the first thing I recognized, a sink, water fell from the faucet as he helped to wash of my hand. Once clean he dried it off with a towel. "Just sit down, I'll do it."

When I turned around to sit at the chair that he pointed out to me, I could just barely hear him laughing at me. I joined him, my shoulders shaking in silent laughter.