Hawkins is cursed. An evil monster called Vecna is attacking and possessing children and the whole town lives in fear of who he’ll strike next. Nowhere seems to be safe…except maybe your little corner of the world with your best friend Steve Harrington. A true light in this darkness...and a dingus. He’s trying to prove something to you by performing a stunt and jumping through your window to come inside…Quietly. It’s not very quiet, but he lands on his feet. He puts his hands on his hips.

 “See? What’d I tell ya? Like a ninja.”

 You shake you head and suppress a smile. You don’t feel like laughing right now and he notices.

 “Is everything okay?” he asks, sliding in bed next to you. 

 “Yeah,” you try to make your voice sound light, “it’s just…what if Vecna comes after us?”

 He shakes his head, “You’re being paranoid.”

 “Yeah, you’re probably right. Sorry.”

 “No. No, it’s cute.” he twirls a strand of your hair out of your face. You feel his eyes gloss over you like a warm blanket. It doesn’t feel weird or anything, just comfortable and safe.

 “What if he succeeds?” you ask, “I mean, he’s not like anyone we’ve ever faced before.”

 “Yeah. I mean, I getcha there. But…I still have hope.”

You shake your head. Steve Harrington, always the optimist. “Not everything has a happy ending.”

 “Yeah,” he scoffs softly, “believe me, I know.”

He’s talking about his heart; the thing that keeps getting broken. The poor boy. You settle closer next to him. “I’m just saying that I have this terrible, gnawing feeling that it might not work out for us this time.”

 He stops stroking your hair, “You think we shouldn’t be doing this?”

You sigh. “I…think we’re mad fools, the lot of us. But if we don’t stop him, who will? We have to try, right?”

“Yeah,” he raises an invisible glass, “To killing Vecna.”

You smile, raising your invsible glass, “Slash Henry.”

He nods, “Slash One.”

The two of your clink your glasses together. 

Steve turns on the radio and turns off the light. Soft jazz music plays as you let yourself fit in the curve of his body, listening to his breathing, and calming heartbeat.

The Vecna was out there, terrorizing the town. But in your room, in your bed, with Steve Harrington, he couldn’t lay a finger on you if he tried.

[context: this is written in a wlw perspective, but as always, make the story your own! :3]

“Oh my god! You have a Tom Cruise poster–” Robin spins around, smirking “you have a Tom Cruise poster.”

 “Oh,” you cringe, “It’s not like that. I guess a little. It’s like–you and Steve. You know?”

 Robin walks around the bed. “You do know that Steve and I are like…totally not a thing, right?”

 “What?”

 “I wanted to make sure that you knew that Steve and I are just friends. Like…platonic with a capital ‘P’.  Just,” She sighs and walks up to your drawer and starts looking, “in case that’s adding any tension between us.”

 “Oh.” Does it?  You’re happy that she and Steve aren’t a thing, but he’s hard not to like. So why doesn’t she? It’s strange to see a girl and a boy being friends and nothing more but—It feels…refreshing.

 “Holy shit, there’s a ballerina in here.” Robin lifts your favorite jewelry-box, tiny dancer. Ella. She looks a bit like Robin.

 “So,” you sit on the edge of the bed. “What’s…up?”

 She doesn’t hesitate. She paces. It’s like you’ve opened the floodgates. It’s cute. “I’m having this problem where it’s like–I should stop talking. I have said everything I need to say. But then I guess I get nervous and the words–they keep spilling out and it’s like my brain is moving faster than my mouth or-or rather my mouth is moving faster than my brain. And it’s like I’m digging this hole for myself and I wanna stop digging and I’m tring to stop digging but I can’t and I’m doing it right now, aren’t I?”

 You nod.

 She flops on the bed, eyes to the ceiling. “I’m hopeless.”

 A few seconds pass. You can feel the warmth of her leg pressed against yours. You tense at the sight. You flick your eyes away. Stop that. You’re just friends…right? “Hey Robin. Are we friends?”

 She sits up on her elbows, “Uh yeah, I–I-mean, right?”

 “Right. Sorry, I worried today’s events made things awkward. I hope we can still talk to each other about stuff like—I don’t know, what do normal girls do? Talk about crushes? In case we don’t succeed.”

 Robin sits up. She looks you in the eyes. “I don’t care. Honestly, this feels like the perfect time for that little pull of the rug. Because in the face of the world ending, the stakes of my love life feel spectacularly low.”

 “Yeah…” 

 “Not everything has a happy ending.”

 “But maybe it’s a blue moon.”

 “I just…I have this terrible…gnawing feeling that it might not work out for us this time.”

 “You think we shouldn’t do this?”

 “I think we’re mad fools the lot of us, but if we don’t stop him, who will?”

 “Hm.”

 “We have to try right?”

 “Right. Cheers to killng Vecna.” you hold up an invisible cup.

 “Slash Henry.” she mimics you.

 “Slash One.” Clink.

Robin takes a shower. When she comes out, she settles in bed next to you and you change the music to something calmer. Today was terrible. Tomorrow will be V-Day. But tonight? Robin Buckley is sleeping in bed with you and you are officially friends. You sleep imagining a world where you and Robin are together and everything is fine with the world.

Today was a long day. You almost lost your best friend Max Mayfield to the evil Vecna. But thanks to Kate Bush, you were able to save her. You had your friend Steve Harrington drive you two to a safe house–and the two of you get ready for bed. At the door,  a desperate Dustin Henderson tries to recruit her for a game of dnd, but seeing as there are bigger problems at hand, she closes the door on him.

 You toss the walkman to her. “Music. Now.”

 She sighs, putting the tape in. Kate Bush ambience fills the air. 

 “It could be worse.” You say.

 “I mean, of course this asshole curses me…Should have seen that coming.”

“I mean, we saved you today. We don’t know that you are for sure.”

“Yeah we do,” she folds her arms, her eyes avoiding yours. “I can still feel him. I’m still marked…Cursed.” She touches the cassette at her belt. “I ditch Kate Bush, I draw his focus back to me.”

“Max, you can’t. You don’t know what will happen.”

“I survived before. I can survive again. I just…need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can chop his head off, stab him in the heart, blow him up with some explosive Dustin cooks up. I honestly–I really don’t care how you put this asshole in his grave. Just–whatever it is. Whatever you do–try not to miss.” 

She moves to the window and opens it up to breathe in fresh air. You hate how strong she is compared to you. It’s that very reason you must save her.

You bite your lip. “So Vecna…Uses your–”

“-my memories against me.” she closes the window. “But…only my darkest memories. Same with Chrissy and Fred, right?”

“Right. It goes after–”

“--the darkness in us.” she sits next to you on the edge of the bed. “So, I’ll just run in the opposite direction. Run to the light. And maybe, he won’t be able to find me there.”

You start at her face, glowing from the fire. ”How?”

“I’m not sure. But it’s my mind. Not his, right? So I should be able to control where I am. I just need to push him away, find a happy memory, and hide there. Hide in the light.”

“Do you…have a memory in mind?”

“Yeah. It was a time when I was…happiest.” her eyes drift, and she’s there right now.

“Am I…there?”

She squints. “That’s presumptuous of you. But yeah. Yeah, you might have been there.” A smile. And that’s it. That’s all you need for the rest of the night. You and her make some food, shower, and get ready for bed. Today was long, and it started off badly, but tonight, with your best friend Max, you know that no day with her can end badly if you’re together. She was going to be okay. You knew this. Because of that smile.

Here's the story for this ambience since it was too long for youtube and spotify lmao.

IMPORTANT: I do not claim this writing because half of it is from Stranger Thing's dialogue which is none of my work. I am merely working off of it.

~~~the story~~~

You hop out of the car, Robin running after you into the house.

“You do know that Steve and I are like..totally not a thing, right?”

She keeps saying these things like it’s something that really concerns you and it doesn’t. It doesn’t. 

Right?

“So I figured that you and Jonathan are still going strong because you guys are going to college together and you’re one of those unstoppable power couples but I just wanted to make sure that you knew,” she takes a deep breath, “that Steve and I are just friends. Like platonic with a capital ‘P’. Just, in case that's adding any tension between us.”

You stop in the middle of the living room. “Robin. Everything’s fine between us and Steve and whatever. And Jonathan and I broke up a few months ago. If there was any time for no romance in my life, it would be now.”

Robin starts backing out of the room, she’s shrugs and smiles, “You never know.”

You shake your and sigh. If only Robin knew. Then maybe she could help you figure out your feelings. You hear a thump upstairs and head on up to Dustin’s room. Before you step through, you can hear Dustin talking to someone on the other side of the door.

“So…we gonna talk about it?” says Dustin.
“What? Talk about what?” Your heart jumps. That’s Steve. You didn’t know he’d be here. Given what had happened and how he told you to stay away. You lean closer to the door.

“You're temporary insanity earlier today when you basically threw yourself at y/n.” says Dustin.

“Okay, first of all, that’s not what happened. I–”
“Pretty sure. It was pretty public. There were like a lot of witnesses.”
“Are you implying that I still have a thing for y/n?”
“No, I'm not implying. I’m stating. And as it relates to your steadfast refusal to date Robin. I mean it’s pretty much the only logical explanation.”
“That’s not the only one.” Steve mutters. Dustin didn’t seem to hear, so Steve continued. “And as for y/n. I was just trying to protect a friend. A friend, Henderson. Okay? I don’t want to find her in the morning with her eyes all sucked out of the front of her skull by his Vecna creep.”

Dustin is laughing, “You’re like bright red in the face right now.” Over me?
“No, I'm not. I don’t wanna talk about it.  I’ll punch you so hard in the face that your teeth will fall back out.”
“Whoa. Not cool.” 

It goes quiet for a few long seconds before Steve says something again.

“Not cool. Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”

Silence. 

You think you should go in now, but then Steve says something.
“I mean, I really dig this girl, I mean, who knows. Maybe she could be the one.”

Your heart is beating out of your chest, but you have to go in at some point.

—---------

It’s been a few moments and you and Dustin seem to have a plan figured out. Set a trap, but first get supplies. But for now, all you guys can do is wait. It’s these awkward moments in between the scenes of your guys’ lives that are your favorite. These rare minutes and hours where you have nothing to do but notice that the sun is hitting the room and the bed just right. You slump onto it and curl into a ball. On the nightstand, there’s a picture of Dustin standing next to a giant Winnebago. A house on wheels. Steve is suddenly by your side, sitting on the edge and picking up the frame.

“Yeah it's silly, but I, uh, I always had this dream that I'd have this like really big family. I’m talking a full brood of Harringtons. Like five, six kids.”
“Six?” you exclaim.

“Yeah, six little nuggets. Three girls, three boys. And every summer, I figured all of us Harringtons would pack into something like this and just…see the country. Rockies, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone. End up in some beachside town in California. Spend a week parked in the sand. Learn how to surf or something.”

“That sounds lovely,” you touch the frame gently. 

He turns to look at you, surprised, “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” you say, sitting up and scooting over so that he could sit with you. “Though, six kids sounds like a total nightmare. I can’t imagine.”

Steve laughs, “If only I had some practice.”

You look up at him as he puts his arm around you and smile. “Touché.”
His eyes haven’t broken contact, and you sure as hell weren’t going to break first. Then, his eyes dip beneath yours and you can’t tell if a spell was broken or cast because it feel like you’re getting closer and closer…

A loud snapping of a can opening breaks the spell for you guys. It’s Dustin. He grins. “Sorry.”

You and Steve both shudder out a sigh. But you don’t want that to ruin the moment so you snuggle into his side and sleep for a while.

Dustin puts on some synth music in the background as you and Steve take a nap, the golden sunlight casting a blanket on your eyes. You hear keyboard clacking and the occasional can opening opening as Dustin works. Somewhere in the middle of your nap you hear Steve and Dustin chat. But in the deep of your sleep, you have a dream. Well, more like a nightmare. You and Robin were driving the Winnebago when Vecna attacked you guys and pulled Robin out the door. You reach and reach for her but she’s gone…out of your reach.

“Robin.” you mutter quietly. When you open your eyes, you notice it’s nighttime, and Steve has his other arm wrapped around you. You try to sit up gently as to not awake him, but it’s too late. Apparently, he already was.

“Just need a breath.” you explain.

“You’re not scared?” he asked.

“For Robin? No, because she’s..you know.”
“She’s a  super klutz?”

“Mm,” you hum trying not to laugh, but he does.
“I really shouldn’t laugh. When I was a baby, I actually crawled in reverse.”

“What?”
“I pushed with my hands like this,” he puts his hands out and mimics moving backwards,

“Beep…beep… Always in reverse, you know? I mean, come on, it makes sense, right? You push to move.”

“Not really.”

“It did for my tiny little Harrington brain. It is of course until I reversed my baby butt down a flight of stairs and thumped my head really good.”

“Ohh, now that makes a lot of sense.”

“Yeah, I think it kind of does. I think right out of the gate I'm super confident, but I'm also like an idiot. It's just a brtual combination, but the good news is I get a big enough thump on my head–I can change. I can learn, I can crawl…forward. Listen, I guess what I'm trying to say in a stupid roundabout way is thank you.”
“Thank you?”

“Yeah, you gave my head the biggest thump of its life two years ago. I hated it. It’s changed my life. And now I'm crawling…forward. Slowly. I just wonder sometimes if some other girl had given me a proper thump before we met would things have been different. Like if were meeting together for the first time right now part of me thinks we would have made it.”

“Steve,” you say quietly.

He raises his hand to push the hair behind your ear. “Remember the dream I told you about? About the winnebago and seeing the country with my six little nuggets.”
You nod, holding his hand on your cheek.

“It’s all true, every last word. But I left one part out. It's the most important part. You’re there. You’ve always been there.”

And it’s at that moment you take the time to realize, that Dustin isn’t there. In fact, you two are completely alone right now.