Steve Harrington X Enemy Reader - Blog Posts
CIGARETTES & DIOR 4
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note: for anyone who's read the previous 3 chapters before chapter 4 was released, I'm currently rewriting them so some time this week they'll be updated!
beta read by the darling @raelwrites
—enemies (?) steve harrington X reader, follows along with 'the bathtub'
[#: @fixtionlover + anyone else who'd like to be tagged let me know]
It only took a handful of minutes for Joyce Byers to show up. Though you’re not surprised. If you found out your child was at the police station, was arrested, you were sure you would be arrested too with how fast you’d drive.
During those minutes, you stared at Nancy and Jonathan. You couldn’t help but entertain the ideas brewing in your head.
But what if there was something going on between the pair. I mean, one look at them now and you’d figure they’d been together for months if you didn’t know better.
Maybe you didn’t know better. If Steve was so panicked he’d come to you... well. But the more you think, the more you realise you’d been around the two most all times they had interacted, to your knowledge at least. If anything was going on, surely, you’d have noticed, right?
Joyce knocks you out of your head when she arrives. “Hey. Jonathan? Jesus, what… what happened? Why is he wearing handcuffs?”
“Well, your boy assaulted a police officer. That’s why,” One of the officers answered.
Joyce wasn’t happy. “Take them off.”
“I am afraid I cannot do that.”
Joyce wasn’t happy at all. “Take them off!”
“You heard her. Take ‘em off.” Hopper backs Joyce. You muffle a laugh. You’re pretty sure you’d find this exact dialogue in a shitty porno.
“Chief, I get that everyone’s emotional here, but there’s something you need to see.” That doesn’t set you on edge, not at all.
The box that the officers deposit on the desk 5 minutes later does, however. The rattle of ammo boxes, a gun, a fucking bear trap.
“What is this?” Joyce questions, disbelief in her voice, as she sifts through the contents.
“Why don’t you ask your son? We found it in his car.” Hopper replies, walking closer to the desk. You look over at Nancy with a confused furrow to your brow. She looks away.
“Why are you going through my car?” Jonathan accuses.
Hopper leans over to stare at Jonathan directly. “Is that really the question you should be asking right now?” he moves back. “I wanna see you in my office.”
“You won’t believe me.”
“Why don’t you give me a try?”
It seems, however, the other Hawkins residents had been going through similar frights as you had, because Hopper doesn’t even look that confused when he looks at the super-sized photograph of the monster.
“You say blood draws this thing?”
“We don’t know,” Jonathan replies.
“It’s just a theory, Barb- she cut herself that night, we think she must’ve bled and attracted it,” Nancy continues, and you hadn’t heard about this theory before so you’re definitely missing something.
Joyce throws Jonathan a look and the pair stand up. You quickly inhabit Jonathan’s abandoned seat next to Nancy.
You don’t even wait for the door to close behind Hopper before you ask, “Right. Fill me in, please? Because what’s up with that box o’ horrors back there?”
“When- when you were with Steve… me and Jonathan, we went into the woods…” She trails off, quiet, and you can feel your stomach twist.
“Oh my god- are you okay? what happened? You should’ve come found me! or, like, called at least.”
“Yeah- yeah, I am now… it’s alright. Jonathan took me home, I- sorry, that I didn’t call. Jonathan- we…” When Nancy pauses, your throat tightens. That was when Steve saw them together, wasn’t it?
“You, you didn’t… like, get with him, did you? You had all night to ring, you know.”
“What? No! no, no, no…-” Nancy grabs your hands. “I just, well, I- I saw… it, that, that thing- the monster in the photo.” She’s whispering now, voice shaking along with her hands.
“And- and you’re okay now?”
“I think so… Jonathan- he, he stayed with me, made sure I was ok. It just- calling you just slipped my mind, I’m sorry.” Your stomach drops a little.
You pull her into a hug. “It’s okay, ‘m glad you’re ok, at least. It’s okay.” You whisper into her hair.
If you say it enough, it might even come true.
Nancy just holds on tighter.
When Hopper fails to talk you into going home, unable to disagree with the fact that you’d already seen too much to not involve yourself, and when you follow Nancy into the backseat next to Jonathan, you had resigned yourself to the fate of never having a normal life again.
Between interacting with Steve and coming out the other side unscathed and learning about government conspiracies and monsters in Hawkins, you’re not actually sure which surprises you more.
“Do you have any idea where he might have gone to?” Hopper throws the question out, but you can barely keep track of where Nancy is these days, much less her kid brother.
“No, I don’t.” Neither can Nancy, it seems.
“I need you to think.”
“I don’t know. We haven’t talked a lot. I mean, lately…”
Joyce tries this time, attempts to prompt Nancy, “Is there any place that your… your parents don’t know about that he might go?”
Again, Nancy can’t answer.
You’re glad that your family isn’t as active in your life as other people’s are. The constant fear that something might happen to your friends is enough to have you on edge. If you had to factor in family? Unimaginable.
“I might,” Jonathan says, “I don’t know where he is, but I think I know how to ask him.”
“And how’d you figure that?” you ask.
“Walkie-talkies. Will had one. I can bet Mike has his with him too, wherever he is.”
Hopper pulls up to the Byers’ residence and before the car can even come to a full stop, Nancy and Jonathan have already hopped out. You stumble along with them and almost trip over your feet when you walk through the front door.
Furniture askew, books everywhere, lights hanging like vines.
“Don’t you think it’s a little early for christmas décor, guys?”
Nancy elbows you but she looks just as surprised.
When the group piles into Will’s room, you’re greeted by even more lamps and general disorder. Somehow, Joyce manages to find the walkie-talkie.
Nancy takes it from her instantly, sitting on the bed next to Joyce and turning the walkie on. “Mike, are you there? Mike? Mike, it’s me, Nancy.”
Static. You hold your breath.
“Mike, are you there? Answer. Mike, we need you to answer. This is an emergency, Mike. Do you copy? I need you to answer.”
Static. You gnaw at your lip.
“We need to know that you’re there, Mike.”
Static. You clench your eyes shut.
Hopper grabs the walkie from Nance. “Listen, kid, this is the chief. If you’re there, pick up.”
Static. Your hands shake.
“We know you’re in trouble and we know about the girl. We can protect you; we can help you, but you gotta pick up. Are you there? Do you copy? Over.”
Static. Your heart sinks.
“Yeah, I copy.” The voice of Mike Wheeler cuts through the static. “It’s Mike. I’m here. We’re here.”
You relax into the wall, boneless in relief.
“What’s taking so long?” you break the silence. “They should be back by now, right?” your leg bounces. It was night, Hopper had left with the daylight.
Suddenly, car lights flood the driveway and tires crackle on the gravel.
The four of you pile outside after a beat, and Nancy jogs to hug her brother. “Mike. Oh, my god. Mike!” he stands, a little perplexed. “I was so worried about you.”
“Yeah, uh… me, too,” Mike says, though it’s not very convincing.
“Is that my dress?” When Nancy asks, you take in the remaining faces. Lucas and Dustin, obviously. But the girl you don’t recognise. She must be who everyone kept referring to, then.
When everyone is seated at the table and introduced to each other, Mike starts to draw on a sheet of paper.
“Okay, so, in this example, we’re the acrobat. Will and Barbara, and that monster, they’re this flea. And this is the upside down, where will is hiding.” He flips the paper so that everyone can see. “Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space.”
“A gate.” Dustin elaborates.
“That we tracked to Hawkins lab.” Lucas continues.
“With our compasses.” When Dusting is met with blank faces, he explains, “okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field. And that can change the direction of a compass needle.”
“Is this gate underground?” Hopper asks.
El answers, “Yes.” It’s the first time she’s spoken since arriving.
“Near a large water tank?”
“Yes.”
You look over to Hopper, baffled. “How do you know all that?”
“he’s seen it,” Mike answers.
“I-is there any way that you could… that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this-” Joyce croaks out, and you can’t begin to imagine how tough it must be. To know Will is alive, but still be unable to reach him.
“The upside down,” El finished.
“Down, yeah.”
El nods.
“And- and Barb? Barbara, can you find her too?” Nancy asks.
El smiles.
Static. You stay silent, watchful.
The lights flicker.
El turns looks out at everyone, tears in her eyes. You bow your head.
“I’m sorry.”
The chair scrapes obnoxiously when you stand.
Fuckfuckfuckfuck.
“W-what’s wrong? What hap- what happened?” Joyce asks.
“I can’t find them.” El starts to cry, and you can feel your own eyes water.
“So that’s it then, huh?” You sniffle, “nothing else we can do?” your eyes follow El as she’s shown the bathroom.
“Uh- well-” Mike calls your name, draws your attention, “not exactly. Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak.”
“The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets,” Dustin continues.
“Like, she flipped the van earlier,” Lucas says.
“It was awesome.”
“But she’s drained,” Mike explains.
“Like a bad battery,” Lucas adds.
“Is there no way to recharge that battery?” you ask.
“No, we just have to wait and try again,” Mike answers.
“Well, how long?” Nancy asks before you can.
“I don’t know.”
“The bath,” El says, making both you and Joyce jump at her quiet appearance. “I can find them. In the bath.”
Sometimes, you were glad for the involvement of police. With the speed that the car was going to reach Hawkins Middle School, you were sure had any cops caught you, you would’ve been pulled over.
Having Hopper around made breaking laws quite fun.
You were divided into little groups, each having a different task. Hopper and Jonathan went to get the salt; Mike, and Nancy the hose pipes; Joyce was with El getting her ready, and you were hauling a heavy tied up swimming pool across the floor of the gym with Dustin and Lucas.
When you had managed to roll the pool to the centre of the court, you went about untying it and spreading it out.
“Come on. it’s upside down,” Dustin says. You laugh, otherwise you might cry again.
“No, this way.” Lucas twist and unravels his side of the pool.
“How does this even work?”
“Try that side.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“Hey!” you exclaim, whirling around to face Dustin, “watch the language, teeny bopper. You’re like 10, how do you even know that?”
“I’m 12!”
“Try that side.” Lucas interrupts your argument. “Pull it back. Pull it back.”
“I am!”
“One, two, three.” At three, you let go of the pool sides and the thing collapses.
“Shit!” both you and Dusting shout. You say nothing about that.
“I’m guessing it’ll stay up when filled, right?” you tank on the pool sides once more. “I mean, it’s- it’s gotta. If this doesn’t work…” you trail off, huffing when the pool once again collapses in on itself. “There’s always the actual swimming pool,” you mutter dejectedly.
You three go back to spreading the pool, lifting the sides, hoping.
“Aha! We did it- step back, step back,” Dustin calls, and the doors open to Nancy and Mike wheeling in the hose pipes, followed by Hopper and Jonathan with the salt, and Joyce with El.
You move over to Dustin as Mike drops two ends of hose into the pool, and as water starts pouring in, you clap Dustin on the back lightly. “You’re a genius.”
“Thanks -,” he says your name, “but without Mr. Clarke, we wouldn’t have known how to do any of this.”
You grin. “But without your idea we would still be at the Byers’, grasping at straws.
Dustin grins back.
“Colder!” Lucas shouts, holding the thermometer in the steadily rising water. “Warmer!” he shouts again. “Right there!” and the water stops.
Once the temperature was fixed, Hopper and Jonathan begin to cut open the bags of de-icing salt, pouring them one by one into the pool.
“How much was it we needed?” you ask Dustin.
“Hold on,” Dustin says, crouching to open the carton of eggs by his side. When he places one in the water and it sinks, he calls out, “’Till the egg floats.”
With that, you walk over to the bags and grab one, tearing it open with the knife Hopper passes you over the pool, throwing the empty bag into the pile.
When you look over at Dusting and see that the egg he placed in the water bobbed on the surface of the pool, you drop the salt bag you had picked up with a sigh of relief.
The walkie-talkie is set up on the trolley.
Static.
El takes her socks off and Joyce hands her duct taped goggles, guiding the girl into the pool when she puts them on.
Almost the second she lays down and floats, the lights in the hall begin to flicker and then go out.
El’s breathing starts to quicken, and the lights flicker once again.
“What’s going on?” Nancy whispers, looking around.
“I don’t know,” Mike answers.
“Is Barb, ok?” You ask, “is she ok?” you tighten your hold on Dustin’s shoulder, hands shaking.
“Gone. Gone. Gone.” El repeats. You’re frozen still.
Joyce attempts to comfort her but she continues to repeat ‘gone’. With every agonising repetition of the word, you can feel your face slacken more, shoulders drop, hands quiver.
“Will?” El asks, and you can only just hear her. Joyce’s words don’t register through the buzzing in your ears.
“Hurry.” Comes from the walkie-talkie.
El sits up in a panic. Everyone jumps back, and you quickly remove your grip from Dustin’s shoulder when the boy moves.
“I’ve got you,” Joyce comforts El, hugging her into her chest. “It’s okay. I got you. I got you. I got you, honey. You did so good.” You sort of feel like you might need a Joyce hug next.
You don’t get a hug.
After a moment of reconciliation and sharing of information, you follow Nancy to the far wall. Reclining on the cold bench by the mural, counting the blemishes in the ceiling as you wrap your mind around what you witnessed. Nancy sits by your feet.
When the door slams, you startle and look over to see Jonathan coming closer. He sits next to Nancy. You look back to the ceiling.
“We have to go bath to the station.” You hear Nancy say. “Your mom and Hopper are just walking in there like bait. That thing is still in there. And we can’t just sit here and let it get them, too. We can’t.”
“You still wanna try it out?” Jonathan asks.
“I wanna finish what we started. I want to kill it.”
CIGARETTES & DIOR 1
NEXT
with some editing here and beta reading by @raelwrites the loml, my biggest motivator, there, we have a first part to the series!
—enemies steve harrington X reader, follows along with 'weirdo on maple street'
[if anyone wants to be tagged let me know]
For the general population of Hawkins high school, Steve Harrington was the ultimate wet dream. Relatively tall, relatively kind, relatively handsome. It seems, though, you had somehow missed that memo. To you, Harrington wasn’t a dream. He was, plain and simple, a nightmare.
It wasn’t like you hated the guy exactly. It was just that everything Steve did seemed to grate your teeth and boil your blood. From his incessant need to constantly preen to his stupid laugh and even stupider hair, it was like he existed solely to torture you.
Okay, so maaaybe you hated the guy. Just a tiny bit. But in your defence, Steve was also dating Nancy, so you felt it only appropriate to scowl and express distaste because alongside being one of the worst people you’ve had the displeasure of knowing, he also just had to date Nancy Wheeler, your best friend of 4 years.
And as her long-time best friend, all it took was a glance at your watch to know she would be coming down the hall in the next 10 minutes with Barbara in tow. You three were a package deal. Where one was, the other two were bound to be near-by if not right there.
Which is why, when you feel a presence stop behind you, you’re already calling out a greeting to the pair, “Hey guys-” you turn to face them after you close your locker, grinning when you realise you were, once again, correct in your assumption of when Nance and Barb would show up. “What’s up?”
It was Nancy who speaks, drawing your attention with your name, “-, you’re free for the rest of today, right?”
“Oh, I’m doing great actually, thanks for asking Nance. What about you, Barb?”
“I’m quite alright today. Though, we do have something we wanted to ask you, if you happen to be free later today that is.”
“Well, how nice to hear you are thriving, to answer your question I don’t think I have any plans set up for after school. Did you have something in mind?”
“Okay, okay- guys! Glad to hear you’re doing good-” Nancy interrupts and you chime in with a quick ‘great, actually’ before she moves on. “If you are in fact free, do you want to come with us to a party tonight?”
“Now, was that so hard?” you throw an arm around Nancy’s shoulder, jostling her petite frame. “Also, it’s a Tuesday- literally who hosts a party on a fucking Tuesday?”
“It’s at St-” Barb clears her throat. “Some guys house. Could be fun.”
“C’mon, we can pick you up. I’ll even let you have the front seat,” Nancy says and that does sway your choice, because upon Barb getting her license, you three had collectively decided that the passenger seat passenger had sole access to the radio. Consequently, it has always been become a competition between you and Nance as to who would reach the right side first- shotgun privilege long since abandoned in favour of a mad dash to the car.
“Yeah, yeah alright. Fine, what time do I have to be ready by?”
“8-ish will work. Gives you enough time to convince your parents and find something to wear.”
“Convince my parents? Pshh, I’d just tell ‘em I have to go to some guys house at 8-ish on a Tuesday evening- that’s totally enough for them to let me go.” You can’t help but be a little petty. “But it’s fine, Nancy and Barb will be there, how could you say no to them?”
Nancy nudges you and you giggle, slipping out a ‘I’m kidding’ between giggles. “I already said I’d come, c’mon, when have I ever let you guys down?”
You almost wanted to let them down.
The more you paced around your room getting ready, the more you thought about how suspicious the girls were acting. Sure, you didn’t really care who it was or when or where, but even then, you could appreciate having some more information than ‘some guys house’, ‘8-ish’, and ‘could be fun’.
You quickly spritzed your perfume when a car honked outside of your house and grabbed your jacket as you left your room. Shoes came next, and with a final ‘bye’ to your parents, you were leaving the house.
When you spied Nancy already in the passenger seat, you groaned and jogged over to the back. Despite your jacket, the night was as cold as most November nights were and you weren’t about to stand outside and wait for her to swap seats with you when she hadn’t while waiting for you to join them.
“So, was front-seat privilege just a ploy to get me to come, then?” you ask, though it wasn’t the first time Nancy bribed you with radio access only to take it away soon after.
“I never said it would be going to the party, you can sit in front when Barb drops you off home again,”
You huff and relax into the middle seat. Leave it to Nancy to find some loophole.
“So, can I finally know where we’re going?”
“You’ll find out when we get there.” Comes the reply from Barb.
“How long’s the drive?” you begin to pester.
“If you want, you can count the minutes.”
“Who’s gonna be there?”
“You’ll find out when we get there.”
You groan. “You’re no fun.”
“Barbara, pull over.” Nancy suddenly exclaimed. You sit up, shuffling to stare out of the window, but are met with disappointment when one side faces the woods and the other pans out into an unfamiliar neighbourhood. Again, you are left with more questions than answers and slouch into your seat.
“He just wants to get in your pants,” Barbara scoffs.
Wait, what?
“Uh- guys, who’s trying to get into who’s pants?” you lean forward, unbuckling the seatbelt when it tries to pull you back.
“Steve-” Barbara begins, but you’re already grimacing and voicing your displeasure at just the mention of his name.
“What? Wait- so we’re going to Steve’s then? And neither of you felt it fit to tell me that? What the fuck?”
“He invited Nance to his house; his parents aren’t home…” Barbara lists and you gag.
“Again, might I add- what the fuck?” and now the unfamiliarity makes sense. If Steve Harrington lived around here somewhere, you would’ve found every means possible to avoid being here.
“Come on, you are not this stupid.” Barbara continues and you hum in agreement. It was probably her that insisted you not be told any of the details in the first place.
“Tommy H and Carol are gonna be there.” Nancy defends and you can’t help laughing.
“Tommy and Carol have been having sex since, like, seventh grade- that’s a shit excuse.” You pause. “Wait- Tommy and Carol are gonna be there? Man, what the fuck.”
“It’ll probably just be, like, a big orgy.” At Barb’s comment, you recoil back into your seat with a grimace, mentally trying to track how long it would take to walk home.
A glance to the girls in the front has your brows furrowing in confusion. “Uh- why are you stripping?” Nancy throws her jumper at you, and you quickly throw it back. “Put it back on it’s like sub-zero outside, weirdo.”
“Is that a new bra?” Barbara questions with a face of disbelief. A quick glance tells you yes, despite the girl’s negative reply. You’ve perused through both of their closets enough to recognise that you did not recognise that bra.
“Jesus, if you wanted to fuck you could’ve found a hook-up. Why’d you have to date Harrington? He’s probably a mediocre fuck, at best, anyway.”
Your comment has Barb giggling, and she opens the car door before asking, “How would you even know?”
You smirk, stepping out of the car to join them. “With that hair?” you slam the door shut. “He’s gotta be overcompensating for something.”
“All I’m saying is, you need to consult your friends before making these sorts of big decisions.” You were gesticulating wildly, needing a way to both warm yourself and release the slurry of emotions churning inside of you. “And, honestly, as a proud Harrington Hater, I feel like my opinion should count for something more than all the others who faun of him, you know? At least I’m unbiased,” you say, even though you were probably just as biased, if not more.
“-, chill,” Nancy calls back to you.
“I’m chill!”
Except, when the double doors in front of you open, you begin to bounce on the balls of your feet. Barbara puts her arm around your shoulders, and you smile.
“Hello ladies,” Steve greets.
Your smile drops.
“Hello-” he grits your name out. There was a half-formed hope in you that it would shatter his teeth as he said it.
“Your highness,” you mock with a bow. If you’re stuck here, might as well have a little fun. “So, King Steve, what’s on the agenda for tonight? Beheading peasants?” you push past Steve, knocking against the arm he had on his hip.
“Wow how did you guess?” he answers, monotone voice and straight face. “That’s exactly why I thought to have you come.”
You grin. “Aw, shucks. You think about me?” with a flourish, you remove your jacket and drape it over the banister. Better to leave it right by the door in case of quick emergency exit.
Nancy pulls Steve along before he can respond, and you and Barb follow behind the pair. Every so often, you make a comment about the décor to Barb and even though the interior isn’t bad, you would sooner rip off a nail than compliment anything about Harrington.
When the shrieking began from Carol, you immediately throw out your disdain for the pool, “If anyone so much as thinks about throwing me in, I’ll cut your hair off while you sleep.” Though you probably wouldn’t actually do that, it was enough of a threat that even Nancy threw you a side glance.
“That’s not even remotely attractive,” you sneer, watching as Steve shotguns one of the beers form the cooler. You sit down in the chair beside Barbara. “How did that-” you nod your head in the direction of Nancy and Steve. “Even happen? They’re like, polar opposites.”
“Yeah, she’s smart you douche!” Tommy shouts out which gains your attention because Tommy being right was a once in a blue moon occurrence. He followed that statement up by crushing a can against his head and chucking it to the ground. Yeah, once in a blue moon.
When you look over at Steve and Nancy, you can’t help but groan, “Oh, come one Nance, you’re not seriously gonna shotgun that are you?”
You were ignored in favour of Steve starting a chant as Nancy pulled open the tab. Tommy and Carol joined in, speeding up and then hollering when Nancy threw the can on the ground, empty.
“Barb, you wanna try?” Nancy asked, already moving towards the cooler.
“What? No.” You shook your head along with Barb. “No, I don’t want to. Thanks.”
Nancy picked up a can and Steve tries to goad Barbara.
“It’s fun! Just give it a-” Nancy is cut off, though, by yet another soft protest from Barb.
“Nance, she just said no. cut it out.” You protest, sitting up and preparing to stand if necessary.
“Just- just give it a shot.” With that, Barb throws a reassuring smile your way and stands to take the can and knife. You watch, tense, form your seated position just behind her as she moved the small blade to puncture the can. Even before the motion was made, you were beginning to stand and when Barb suddenly dropped the can and blade all together in a hiss of pain, you huddled up to her and inspected her hand.
“Fuckin’ told you it was stupid.” You grumble, glancing from Barb’s hand to her face, trying to gauge how serious the cut is in the dark.
“Where’s your bathroom?” Barb asked, voice shaky, though Steve quickly stood and provided directions. Past the kitchen and to the left, easy enough to remember.
“He better have a first aid kit in there,” you mumble, opening the door for Barb before stepping in after her. “How’s the hand? Does it feel swollen at all? Heating up?”
As you rummage through the cabinets, Barb questions, “Heating up? Is that meant to happen?” she takes a seat on the closed toiled lid, smiling faintly at the sight of you rushing around as much as you could in the enclosed space. “I’m okay, really. It looks worse than it is, I promise.”
You hum, and then voice an ‘aha!’ when you manage to find both a disinfectant for cuts and some bandages.
“I’ll only believe you if you let me take care of it-” you start, moving to crouch next to the girl and taking her injured hand in yours. “This’ll sting, probably.” You warn, hovering a disinfectant soaked cloth over the cut before beginning to clean the blood, stopping every so often as Barb flinches.
After a few minutes of cleaning, you grab the bandages and wrap them around the cut. “Et voila! Cleaned and bandaged. Can’t promise it’s any good, but it’s wrapped.” you tie off the gauze. “C’mon, let’s go find Nance before she goes missing.”
The both of you exit the bathroom giggling, though it dies the second you spot Nancy on the stairs, wrapped in a towel, with Steve just ahead of her.
“Nance!” you call out.
“Nancy,” Barbara joins, “Where are you going?”
“Nowhere… just, upstairs. To change. I… fell in the pool. Why don’t you go ahead and go home, I’ll just… I’ll get a ride or something.”
“What the fuck?” you whisper.
“Nance…” She repeats your names back at you. “This isn’t you.”
“I’m fine.” And that sounded final. “Just… go ahead and go home, okay?” She turns and hurries up the remaining stairs and you scoff.
“Fucking hell.” You rest your hands on your hips. “I mean, we can go back to mine? We can make some food and binge the tapes left from last week.” You move to grab your jacket that should be hanging over the banister. It’s not there.
“Pretty sure one of those fucks took my jacket- hold on.” You quickly move to the stairs, taking two at a time to get upstairs quicker. Barb calls from the entryway,
“I’ll just be outside.”
You shout back an agreement before moving down the hallway, knocking on the doors you pass by as loud as you could, knowing that it would be only the party guests in the household. “Hey, shitheads! Where’s my jack- oh.” It lays discarded on a table in the hallway, slightly rumpled but otherwise unharmed.
You scoop it up, patting the pockets to make sure nothing was missing and hop down the stairs to meet with Barb.
“Got my jacket.” You open the front door, but Barbara isn’t there. “Barb?” you call out, looking around before moving back inside. “Barb, where’d you go?” you check the poolside, but she isn’t there either. The chairs are undisturbed, and the trees are silent.
“Well, then…” you shrug your jacket on, casting a sweeping glance over the yard but you can’t spot the ginger anywhere. “More food for me then, assholes.”
CIGARETTES & DIOR 𝙸
with some editing here and beta reading by @raelwrites the loml, my biggest motivator, there, we have a first part to the series!;
enemies steve harrington and reader, follows along with 'weirdo on maple street'
[if anyone wants to be tagged let me know]
objectively, you suppose you could call steve a nice-looking guy. attractive, perhaps. maybe even dateable. subjectively, you know, deep in the very marrow of your bones, steve harrington is probably the worst person you have ever had the displeasure of knowing.
sure, tommy hagan was a douche and carol perkins was a stuck-up bitch but steve- oh, but king steve ‘the hair’ harrington was so so much worse. and there wasn’t really anything that made you feel this way—not anything you could sensibly give as reasoning anyway. yet the way he strutted about, flocked by his little gang of bullies, like some overgrown peacock just made your blood boil and skin flush with anger.
which is why, when nancy wheeler strode up to you with barbara in tow, you were not only worried but mentally figuring out where steve would be that during lunch to give him a good bollocking because nancy looked frazzled.
“nance-” you slammed your locker shut. “lovely to see you.” it wasn’t. you were still half convinced this whole dating steve thing was a ploy to get you two acting civil with each other. never going to happen, sorry nance.
she started with your name, “-listen,” this should be good. “we were invited to a party...” oh god. “would you be willing to come with us?”
fuck.
“how much choice do I have, exactly?” your hunch said not much.
“please?” called it. “we would really like it if you could come.” damn nancy and your fondness for your friends all to hell.
you shift, throwing an arm around the ginger beside you, “yeah, alright.” you sigh, “but I’m only going for barb and free booze.” which was only partly a lie, so you didn’t even feel that bad saying it.
barbara giggles, exclaiming your name with a light shove to your shoulder. “It’s tonight by the way, we’ll pick you up.”
tonight? “but It’s a tuesday.” who hosts a party on a fucking tuesday? “guys?” you go ignored as the bell rings immediately after, getting drowned out by the noise of scurrying bodies of passing students. nancy and barbara quickly bid their goodbyes and you solemnly schlump your way to next period, walking slower to prepare for an hour of sitting in the same room as steve.
fucking tuesdays, man.
the more you thought about it, the more you paced around your room. who’s hosting the party? neither nancy nor barbara would answer you when you asked repeatedly during class, which... definitely suspicious.
no matter, whoever it was and whoever was there, you would be the best dressed in attendance. what’s the point of going out if you can’t look hot whilst doing so?
you quickly spritzed some perfume when someone honked their horn outside your house, the girls had at least told you enough to know that it would be late evening when they came to grab you. you had slipped on your shoes and were prepared to leave before calling out to anyone still in the house.
it was a cold night, though what november night isn’t. glad for the jacket you grabbed before leaving—even the short jog to the car had managed to leave a slight chill in your bones.
“well don’t you look like a million bucks-” and a call of your name greeted you as you situated yourself in the middle seat, flashing a grin at barbara as you tugged the seatbelt across.
“why thank you, m’lady. and you both look dazzling, as always.” flattery will get you everywhere. currently, you were hoping that the flattery would get you at least the address for the party, or how many people might be there.
“you smell like a million bucks too, jesus, just how rich are your parents?” nancy remarked, having turned to face you from the passenger seat.
“enough that dior is my regular perfume, now-” you clap your hands together and lean forwards over the centre console. “don’t try to distract me, nance, where are we going?” if you were going to get any answers before arrival, you knew the only way was to just pester them enough that you got a reply out of annoyance. “c’moooon! just an itty-bitty name?” resting your elbows on your knees, you clasp your hands together in mock prayer.
“you’ll find out when we get there.” you get a light shove to your face from nancy and huff a little in your seat. you couldn’t even fiddle with the music, a rule you three had declared at the start of your friendship.
“passenger seat passengers have control of music.” you had declared promptly and firmly when nancy had tried to reach from behind you to change the mix tape.
“you’re just saying that because you don’t want to listen to madonna.” barbara chimed in from beside you, glancing at you before concentrating back on the road.
“I’ll listen to madonna plenty if you’ll stop trying to change it to her while I’m enjoying kiss- hey!” you slapped away a giggling nancy’s hand from the radio in time to prevent the song from being changed.
“you say that-” nancy began, still giggling through your name, “but I know you listen to abba, I’ve seen the tapes!”
“you’ve seen shit, nance! ignore her, must’ve hit her head on the door.” you remarked, thwarting yet another attempt by the girl at reaching the radio.
barbara merely laughed at you two, resolved to stay out of the radio debacle.
though, on the way to the café after school you kept your promise, and the car was filled with four voices singing physical attraction.
“barbara, pull over.” nancy suddenly exclaimed. to your knowledge, parties were usually held at a house, not in middle of a road. while the girls were busy talking you looked around the neighbourhood, surely something had to be familiar enough to pinpoint a location.
“he just wants to get in your pants.” barbara scoffed from her seat. wait what?
“woah-ho, hey… who wants to get in who’s pants?” you unbuckled your seatbelt quickly to shuffle forward, shoulder buckling with the back of nancy’s seat slightly.
“steve-” barbara began, and suddenly the secrecy made sense.
you recoil at his name, shouting out a protest, “what? nance, love, we’re going to steve’s?”
“he invited nance to his house, his parents aren’t home…” barbara began listing, but you had gotten the message loud and clear at the first mention of his name.
“come on, you are not this stupid.” barbara continued, and you knew now why this street was unfamiliar, if steve had to live somewhere here then you would have found every means possible to avoid even walking on the same pavement as him.
“tommy h and carol are gonna be there.” nancy rebukes, though it’s kind of a shit reply. those two have been having sex since like seventh grade.
“tommy and carol have been having sex since, like, seventh grade.” this is why you liked barbara. she even agrees with your thoughts.
you decided to splay across the back seat while the pair continued talking, knowing whatever they talk about would involve steve, and that’s not a conversation you want to ever willingly partake in. plus, it’s not like you wanted to walk home at night in the cold when you were in a perfectly comfy and warm car.
“woah woah woah, why is nance stripping?” you sat up, watching in confusion as the girl removed her jumper.
“is that a new bra?” barbara questioned, face slack in disbelief. despite nancy’s negative reply, it probably was. you had raided both of their closets on multiple occasions for fun enough to recognise that you did not recognise the bra nancy was wearing.
“jesus, girl. if you wanted to fuck, we could’ve found someone for you, didn’t have to go start dating steve fucking harrington for some mediocre dick.” when your comment went ignored save for a stifled giggle from barb, you left the car to follow the other two with a sigh.
goddamn steve.
“all I’m saying is, you need to consult your friends when making these sorts of big decisions.” you were gesticulating wildly, needing to find some way to get rid of the slurry of emotions churning inside of you. “and you don’t get to blame this on my totally reasonable dislike of steve either. barb totally agrees with me, right?” you slung your arm over her shoulders, pulling her lightly into your side to stop the full body shaking.
“barb, chill.” nancy chimed in from your other side, ignoring your comments.
barbara leaned into you a little more, “I’m chill,” she replied.
before you could make any further comment on the situation, the double doors in front of you three opened to reveal none other than the king himself.
steve spares a fleeting confused glance at you before speaking, “hello ladies.” god he looked like an idiot. one hand on the door and the other on his hip, steve grimaced at you, “hello-” he grits your name out. there was a half-formed hope in you that it would shatter his teeth as he said it.
you take a bow, “your highness,” you mock. if you’re stuck here, might as well have some fun, ey? “so, dweeb, what’s on the agenda for tonight? swapping books?” you push past steve, knocking shoulders as you go.
“sacrificing virgins to the old gods, should be right up your alley, freak.” steve taunts back, moving out of the way to let nancy and barbara in.
you twirl around to face steve, tugging your jacket off, “you flatter me, harrington. if anyone here needs to be scared of a virgin sacrifice it’s you.” you toss your jacket over the banister. the closer your stuff is to the door the faster you can high-tail out of steve’s house.
you followed the others to the back porch of the house, throwing comments out about the décor to barbara. though it might’ve been a nice house, you would never admit that while steve was within earshot. the smug bastard would hold it over you for the next century.
when the shrieking began from carol, you had immediately thrown out your disdain for the pool, “if anyone so much as attempts to throw me in I’ll cut your hair off while you sleep.” you wouldn’t actually do that… probably. but the others at the party didn’t need to know that.
grabbing a deck chair, you dragged it closer to barb. nancy was completely enamoured by the beast that is harrington and wouldn’t be good company so you sat as close to barbara as you could.
“that’s not even remotely attractive.” you sneer, watching as steve shotguns one of the beers in the cooler. “how did that even happen? nancy and steve, god.” you weren’t really sure what barbara thought about the couple, having not been able to talk to her without nancy around but you were comforted by the displeased face she held. “if steve hurts a single hair on her head I’m gonna rip his out.” barbara giggled at that, so you smiled. barbara’s laugh could probably cure cancer.
“yeah, she’s smart you douche!” tommy let out, which gained your attention because tommy being right was a once in a blue moon occurrence. he followed that statement up by crushing a can against his head and chucking it to the ground. like you said, once in a blue moon occurrence.
“oh, come on nance you’re not seriously gonna shotgun that are you?” you exclaim, waving the hand that wasn’t across barb’s shoulders in the group’s general direction.
you were ignored in favour of steve starting a chant as nancy pulled open the tab. tommy and carol joined in, speeding up and then hollering when nancy threw the can on the ground, empty. who knew all it took to get nancy wheeler to let loose was the grating voice of steve harrington?
“barb, you wanna try?” nancy asked, already moving towards the cooler.
“what? no.” and though you weren’t asked, you shook your head along with barbara. “no, I don’t want to. thanks”
nancy picked up a can while steve chimed in with his own, unwanted, goading. “it’s fun! just give it a-” nancy was cut off, though, by yet another soft protest from barbara.
“nance, she said no. cut it out.” you moved to sit up, preparing to stand if necessary.
“just- just give it a shot.” and with that barb stood up, having taken the can nancy gave her. you watched, tense, from your seated position just behind her as she moved the small blade to puncture the can. even before the motion was made, you were beginning to stand up and when barb suddenly dropped the can and blade all together you huddled up to her, cradling her bleeding hand.
“fuckin’ told you shitheads…” you grumble, inspecting the cut as best as you could in the low light.
“where’s your bathroom?” barb asked, voice shaky. to which steve, useful for once, quickly pointed out the directions for both you and barb. past the kitchen and to the left. easy enough to remember.
“he better have a fucking first aid kit in there-” you quickly opened the door for barb before stepping in after her. “how’s the hand? does it feel swollen? heating up?” you moved to rummage through the cupboards as you question, hoping to find at least a bandage.
“heating up? is that meant to happen to cuts?” barb sat down on the closed toilet seat, smiling faintly at the sight of you rushing around as much as you could in the enclosed space. “I’m ok, really. it looks worse that it is, I promise.”
you make a positive noise from inside the cupboard, having found both a disinfectant for cuts and some bandages. “I’ll only believe you if you let me help take care of it-” you start, moving to crouch next to the girl and taking her injured hand in yours. “it’ll sting, probably.” you warn before slowly dragging the cloth dipped in disinfectant across the cut, stopping every so often as barb flinches.
“et voila! one bandaged hand to go.” it took barely 10 minutes to complete, but any spare moment with barb you would take. “let’s go find nance before she gets eaten by harrington.”
the both of you exit the bathroom laughing, though it dies the second you notice nancy on the stairs, following behind steve and wrapped in a towel.
“nance,” you called out.
“nancy,” barbara joins, “where are you going?” she asks once nancy turns to look at you.
“nowhere… just, upstairs. to change.” because that doesn’t sound suspicious. and sure, she looks like a wet puppy, but you’re reminded instantly of the conversation had in the car. “I… fell in the pool. why don’t you go ahead and go home, I’ll just… I’ll get a ride or something.”
“what the fuck?” you whisper, yeah super fun party nancy, thanks for the invite. you can’t help but scowl at her.
“nance…” nancy repeats your names back at you. “this isn’t you.”
“I’m fine.” that sure sounded like a goodbye. “just… go ahead and go home, okay?” well, how nice.
nancy turned and walked up the remained stairs, and you scoff at the interaction that just occurred.
goddamn steve.
“we can head back to mine, I can make us some food and we can marathon some tapes left from last week,” you suggest, moving to grab your jacket you knew you had hung on the banister. it wasn’t there. “fuckers moved my jacket, hold on.” you took the stairs two at a time to quickly get to the second floor when barb called out.
“I’ll wait outside.”
making a noise of agreement, you knocked on every door as loud as you could, knowing only the party guests were in the household. “hey shitheads! where’s my jacket?” you bang on a few more doors before stumbling across your jacket on the floor in front of you.
at this point, you really wanted to leave. so, with a scoop of your jacket and a cursory pat down the pockets to check everything is where it should be, you hop down the stairs giddy at the thought of spending more time with barb.
“got my jacket!” you called out. you glance around the living room before moving to the back porch only to still not see barbara anywhere. “barb?” you call out again, confused at the sudden vanishing of her presence. did she not want to hang out with you? isn’t that a kick in the heart, huh.
“could’ve fucking said something, at least.” you scoff. that’s another friend to abandon you in one night, not even an hour apart.
you shrug your jacket on while looking around despite there not being a trace of barbara anywhere. with a grimace you turn around to head out, ignoring the rustles of the bushes in front of you, no point in standing around when you had a nice warm bed calling out your name back at home to nap and wallow in.