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Steve cupped a hand over his mouth, desperately trying to muffle the ragged sound of his own breathing. Moving as slowly as possible, he pressed his face up to the crisscrossed logs and brambles that comprised their hiding place. Close, way too close, he could see the faint glow of several of the creatures hunting them.
He leaned back with a sinking feeling, trying to meld himself into the rocks behind them. There had been so many of the strange beasts, was hiding really doing anything except delaying the inevitable? If these things hunted by scent then they were officially fucked. It was hard to make any guesses though. They didn’t seem to have eyes, and their faces ended in a stubby mass of tentacles, each about a foot long. Steve had personally seen one of them eat a rabbit, those wriggling appendages squeezing the helpless bunny tight as it was shoved inside that nest of writhing flesh. It was pretty traumatizing, and definitely not something he was eager to experience first hand, especially considering the creatures would have to tear him into bite sized chunks first.
Nancy made a slightly motion from beside him, her eyes impossibly large and bright in the shelter of their makeshift fort. She pointed to the front and then held up three fingers. Steve was impressed to observe her hands weren’t shaking. Jonathan hooked a hand over his shoulder and held up two fingers. Contrary to Nancy, his hands showed a noticeable tremor, though not nearly as pronounced as when Steve replied with three fingers of his own. Eight monsters, and those were just the ones clearly in sight. This was....yeah. They were fucked.
Steve thought he’d feel more in this moment. Could one simply become that blasé about the reality of facing their own death? He was scared, sure. Steve didn’t want to die, but if it was going to happen, well, so be it. He would just rather it be on his own terms. Fuck being torn into itty bitty pieces.
Looking beside him, Nancy and Jonathan wore twin expressions of worry even as Steve could see their minds racing, struggling to figure out a way to salvage the situation they’d gotten themselves into. Well, what do you know? For once Steve was the one a step ahead of everyone else. Under different circumstances he might have spent a couple more moments savouring that rare feeling, but they were sort of in a time crunch right now. He did take a moment to look at the couple closely though, etching them into his mind, they way they were woven together, arms wrapped around each other, faces pressed close. It made Steve’s heart ache in a familiar way. Longing. God, he would do anything for these two. He was about to.
So distracted by each other, Nancy had set the gun down on the dry earth beneath them, largely useless. The noise it made was more likely to draw all the monsters towards them, making the one or two they might kill with it a pretty meaningless number. Moving as slow as he could right up until the last moment, Steve snatched the gun up into his trembling hand. Startled, Nancy made an aborted attempt to take the weapon back, but Steve held it out of her range, shaking his head furiously. Both Nancy and Jonathan looked at him helplessly, mouthing words and making gestures that even if Steve didn’t recognize, he could clearly read the intent behind them. Stop. Don’t.
Steve turned his most charming smile on them, doing his best to ooze the sort of confidence and certainty he didn’t feel. It probably wasn’t working. These two knew him better than pretty much anyone in the world, they knew that his bravado has always been a flimsy lie. Oh well, it didn’t matter now. Steve quickly checked the gun, glad to see it was already loaded. That was one less thing to worry about in the moments ahead. Not that he planned on taking more than a single shot that mattered, and only when it became absolutely necessary. The rest were just to draw attention. He was going to have to keep count, or else wind up in his least ideal situation.
Psyching himself up, Steve prayed he would be able to run faster and further than he ever had before. He needed to get as much distance from Jon and Nancy as he could before being brought down. One last deep cleansing breath and Steve was ready to charge, shoving the consequences far from his mind as possible. It was one of his primary skills.
He was about to bolt when a firm hand clamped around his wrist and tugged him backward into a nest of arms, two sets clutching desperately at him.
”You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington,” Nancy whispered almost too softly to hear against his neck, feeling each syllable leave a lasting impression on his skin. She pulled back and suddenly her lips were on his, warm and familiar and tasting like home. Steve had forgotten how wonderful this felt, melting against her with a sigh. “I love you,” she murmured finally, pulling away with reluctance.
Uh. What?? Steve was thrown, eyes fluttering with shock. He really hadn’t been prepared to hear that, didn’t know what to do with it. Didn’t know what to do about the third person sharing in this little farewell huddle. Neck feeling more than just a little wooden, Steve turned to face Jonathan, not sure if he should be apologizing or getting prepared for a punch to the face.
It wasn’t exactly a punch, but it was certainly as surprising. Jonathan pulled him forward by his collar and mashed their lips together. Instinct blessedly took over, since Steve’s higher brain functions had decided to shut down and not question what was happening. It was different than kissing Nancy, Jonathan’s lips rougher and more aggressive. Not one to be outdone, Steve did his best to take control, forcing Jonathan to submit to Steve’s ministrations, confident in his abilities in this particular field. From the soft moans and harsh breathing coming from Jonathan, he would bet the other boy was ready to agree with him.
The grin on Steve’s face was genuine by the time they pulled away from each other, both of their chests heaving. Steve felt like he was on cloud nine, absolutely floating, and wasn’t much in the mood for questioning it, or what had just happened. If they’d been hoping to dissuade him however, they’d gone about it totally wrong. Steve felt more than ever that he had to do this, had to distract the monsters long enough to let them escape back towards their parked car. He gave them a wink and a grin and then bolted as quickly as he could from the bushes, shaking off the hands that sought to grab him and pull him back.
Steve raced through the underbrush, moving without thought, letting his instincts guide him. He was about to pull the trigger on the gun and try and attract the attention of the monsters when he realized there weren’t any. What? Steve’s speed slowly petered out until he was moving at a light jog, looking around the forest in confusion. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Well that was pretty weird.
Panting hard, Steve stopped, free hand on his hip and gun pointed towards the earth. This made no sense. He turned around, looking back towards where Nancy and Jonathan were probably still huddled, waiting for Steve to draw away creatures no longer there to be drawn.
”Steve!” An exuberant voice hollered seconds before tackling the boy’s back at full speed, almost sending him sprawling to dirt below.
”Fuck!” He hollered, fear spiking all the way up his spine. His hand had squeezed tight around the gun, but thankfully Nancy’s lessons about keeping his finger outside the trigger guard had sunk in, even subconsciously. “Dude, I’m holding a gun!” He warned, voice carrying a notably hysteric edge.
”Isn’t that Nancy’s gun,” another voice chimed in, slightly snide and condescending. Steve didn’t have to turn around to recognize it as tiny Wheeler, who honestly wasn’t exactly tiny anymore, but Steve wasn’t about to give up on his naming conventions now.
”Harrington,” Hopper came around his side slowly, warily eyeing the weapon in Steve’s hand, which, was fair. Steve wasn’t a great shot and was also a little high strung. Not a great combination for a person holding a firearm. “Where are Nancy and Byers?”
”Hiding. We managed to make a sort of makeshift shelter, over there,” Steve vaguely pointed back in the direction he’d run from.
”Let’s go collect them, get everyone back home and warm.”
That sounded lovely, although Steve also felt his anxiety ratchet up another notch. Suddenly the idea of facing Jonathan and Nancy was more daunting than being chased by a dozen glowing monsters through a dark and murky forest. What had those kisses meant? Were they just trying to make Steve feel better in what might have been his final moments alive, or did they actually—
Steve gave his head a rough shake, hair flopping heavily over his brows. Nope. Not going there. It was so incredibly unlikely that he didn’t want to risk getting his hopes up by even considering it.
Beside him, Steve’s gaggle of children were all talking and shouting over each other, each trying in their own disjointed way to explain just what the hell had happened to a barely listening Steve. He did manage to absorb that they had something to do with the disappearing glowing monsters, and why Steve wasn’t presently being torn into easily digestible bits. He was grateful on that score. It didn’t take long to trace his way back to the fallen logs and bushes that had been his hideout earlier, Nancy and Jonathan already cautiously peering out, relief starkly clear on their faces.
Steve did his best to steel his heart, to look disinterested and unbothered by how tightly the two stood together, not even an inch of room between them. Feigning nonchalance, Steve sauntered over casually, placing the gun back firmly in Nancy’s hand. “Guess I didn’t need this after all,” he quipped with a shrug, watching as she replaced the safety before tucking it firmly back into the holster on her hip. Steve was about to back off, give the babbling kids his proper attention, when Jonathan dragged him back. They slotted themselves on either side of Steve, pressed tight wherever they could. Nancy was on tiptoes pressing quick kisses to his lips as Jonathan nuzzled and mouthed at the back of his neck.
As one the kids went silent, eyes growing huge as they watched the teenagers woven up together in a tight embrace.
Coughing to break the moment, Hopper raised one brow as he grumpily suggested “Maybe you can hold off on that until later? Some of us have work in the morning and would rather get home before dawn.”
Breaking into a huge grin, Steve shot the authority figure a quick middle finger before just melting into the warmth and sensations of the two people wrapped around him. To hell with later. Given how their lives worked, later was never a guarantee. Steve wasn’t about to let a minute go to waste, and was happy to just exist in the now. It had never felt so good.
He had to remind himself of that an awful lot over the days that followed as Hopper made sure he paid, and then some, for his blatant disrespect.
The fact that most evenings he could simply return to the Byers’ house to cuddle up with Jonathan and Nancy managed to make it easily bearable. Steve realized there was an awful lot he could tolerate going through if these were the two people at his side helping him every step of the way. Sighing deeply, Steve closed his eyes and snuggled down, happily bracketed by by the two people he loved most.