wild one - steve harrington

gravestone

What in hell is this? Roxy asked, watching the lock click open and the latch slide off. As she saw it, she was incredibly over all of this supernatural stuff, but at least it gave her a good fight. But, as the door slowly swung open, in walked what looked like a normal girl, yet another child that Roxy didn't recognise. She saw everyone lower their guns and she did the same, taking notice of Steve's hand still lingering on her back as he watched the mysterious girl walk through the door. She had blood dripping down her nose and some smudged black eye makeup (and a killer outfit, Roxy thought), as everyone looked at her in awe. Mike walked forward looking almost as if there were tears in his eye. He looked as if he'd just seen a ghost. They smiled at each other and hugged as everyone looked on.

'Is that...?' Max asked quietly, and Dustin and Lucas nodded at her. Everyone looked to see how happy they were reconnecting with each other, and Roxy leaned her head onto Steve's shoulder as he raised his arm so it was around her upper back holding her close to him. 

'I never gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for-' Mike said in admiration, being cut off.

'353 days.' The girl finished. 'I heard.' She said, looking up at him with an expression Roxy couldn't read. 

'Why didn't you tell me you were there?' Mike asked, disappointed. 'That you were okay?'

'Because I wouldn't let her.' Hopper interjected. At this point, Roxy would have sat down, but this whole situation had even her shaken up. 'The hell is this? Where you been?' 

'Where have you been?' The girl asked angrily. Hopper pulled her in for a hug, and Roxy smiled to herself seeing something so unpredicted. 

'You've been hiding her.' Mike accused, angry. 'You've been hiding her this whole time!' He pushed Hopper's back, out of newborn rage. 

'Hey!' Hopper said, also angry but with a lot more restraint and calmness. He grabbed Mike's shirt collar to steady him. 'Let's talk. Alone.' 

They left the room, and Roxy finally walked to the couch to sit down, leaning her elbows on her knees. She craned her neck up to look at Steve through wisps of her hair, silently beckoning him to sit next to her. He sat to her left, and with her right elbow still on her knee, she rested her other hand on his thigh and smiled at him. Tucking her hair behind her ear, he looked from her eyes to her lips before leaning in and kissing her sweetly. The room melted away. 'Why did you stand in front of me?' Steve asked softly, a second after he pulled away. 

'Don't know. Just did.' Roxy answered, truthfully. She didn't really know why she did it; the only person she'd usually think to protect would be Billy. 

Steve let out a breath of laughter. 'Please don't do it again.' He said, and although he was smiling, Roxy recognised concern in his eyes. Yeah, he's done this before, but I can handle it. She thought.

'I don't need someone to protect me, Harrington. It's not like I'm powerless.' She said, her natural reflex was to become defensive. 

'I know you can deal with anything, it's not that. I just care about you, that's all.' Steve said, his voice fading away slightly as he almost hoped she didn't hear him. Why was it that every time he'd speak to her about feelings he'd get nervous?

Roxy, rendered speechless, stared at him for a few seconds before smiling at him and lacing her fingers through his. 'Well, you might be the first.' Roxy said, looking down. as much as she wanted to tell him that she cared for him too, she couldn't get the words out. 'I'd stand between you and this hell any day.' She managed to say. It wasn't the words she was going for, but she hoped it made the point - she'd never told anyone she cared for them, not even Billy. He just knew it and so did she. Steve, understanding, gave her hand a squeeze. As tough as she was, he could tell they were growing closer even if she couldn't say it out loud. And that was fine for him, for now. Putting a hand on his cheek, she pulled him in for another kiss. Roxy's tongue traced his bottom lip, and he couldn't stop himself from letting out a breathy moan. With her hand now on the nape of his neck, she pulled him harder toward her and he complied happily. They only broke apart as the world around them began to reappear with voices from Hopper and the rest talking about the gate. 

************************ 

'It's not like before. It's grown.' Hopper explained to the group, circled around the table. 'A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs.'

'Demo-dogs.' Dustin interrupted, as Roxy rolled her eyes at him. She was next to Steve and Max, leaning over so her palms were on the table. Max nudged Roxy when she hung her head, clearly frustrated in Dustin's unimportant detail.

'I'm sorry, what?' Hopper asked tiredly.

'I said, uh, demo-dogs. Like demogorgons and dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass-'

'How is this important right now?'

'It's not, I'm sorry.' Dustin said, turning back to the table. No matter what out-of-this-world fight they were facing, these kids could always find a way to make Roxy shake her head. 

'I can do it.' Eleven spoke up, determined. Roxy raised an eyebrow at the girl, now her new favourite (apart from Max). 

'You're not hearing me.' Hopper said.

'I'm hearing you. I can do it.' Eleven repeated. As she turned to look at the group, Roxy winked at her, earning a small smile from El.

'Even if El can, there's still another problem.' Mike added. 'If the brain dies, the body dies.'

'I thought that was the whole point.' Max brought up.

'It is, but, if we're really right about this. I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army...'

'Will's a part of that army.' Lucas finished, bringing everyone else to realise. 

'Closing the gate will kill him.' Mike explained. The look on Joyce's face made Roxy let out a small sigh of sympathy. As complicated as it already was, of course, it wasn't going to be this easy. They all followed Joyce into the room Will lay in, Roxy had a hand on Steve's arm to both support him and herself. 

'He likes it cold.' Joyce began as if she was thinking aloud.

'What?' Hopper asked. 

'It's what Will kept saying to me. He likes it cold.' Joyce explained firmly, walking over to shut the window. 'We keep giving it what it wants.' 

'If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then...' Nancy started, understanding.

'Then we need to make the host uninhabitable.' Jonathan stated. 

'So if he likes it cold...'

'We need to burn it out of him.'