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Running. That’s all Y/N knows. She weaves her way through the trees of Hawkins’ forest, leaping over fallen branches and rocks. An enormous roar sounds from behind her, causing her to speed up. “Motherfucker!” She hisses. The evening had started off so well. Y/N had decided to go for a walk through the forest to clear her head. It’s something she does whenever she needs to clear her head and just get away from it all. Trying to clear her head was the plan, until she heard a deep growling noise behind her, emanating from the trees. A strange, guttural growling. At first, Y/N wanted to run away, but thought she should check it out, just in case an animal or a person was injured.
In hindsight, she should’ve just ran. Because that thing is not a dog. It’s a monster. Instead of being covered in fur, it looks like it’s simply covered in flesh. Y/N doesn’t know what it is, but whatever it is, it’s fucking horrifying. And when it first noticed her, she soon realised it had no eyes either. It seemed to smell her and her fear…and she definitely had a lot of that. She tried to fend it off with a big stick originally, and it worked. Well, it seemed to work, until the creature opened its mouth, revealing hundreds of tiny teeth. And then, Y/N’s sense of bravery completely vanished and she swears her heart almost stopped. So instead, Y/N threw the stick at the creature’s head, causing it to howl in pain, before she began running like hell as fast as she could.
And now, here she is, sprinting through the woods of Hawkins, trying to escape a fucking monster that’s still hot on her heels, even now. Don’t these things ever get tired? Y/N can feel her legs and the soles of her feet burning as her feet pound the ground, and her heart is thumping. Y/N hears the sound of the monster getting closer. In a panic, she tries to dig into all her wasted energy from physical education to speed up. In all honesty, all she wants to do is stop running and rest, if only for a little while. But she knows that’s impossible, because being devoured by a monster before her life really begins is not what Y/N wants.
After a while, Y/N breaks through the trees, and finds herself in Hawkins’ junkyard. As she turns, weaving in between the cars and piles of scrap metal to lose the monster, she collides with someone, her speed knocking them both to the ground with an “Oof!”
“Hey! What the hell is your problem?!” the person asks. She recognises the voice immediately.
“Steve?” she gasps. It’s Steve Harrington. Also known as King Steve. Or well, he used to be. Steve Harrington used to rule her school, and would never look twice at someone like her. Then again, Y/N knows she wasn’t the sort of person who people like Steve spoke to, aside from the odd ‘hello’ in the few classes they shared. So she can’t really blame Steve for ignoring her. Even if she wished he’d speak to her more than the one or two words she’d become accustomed to. Y/N also wished he’d grow a spine and stop being friends with Tommy and Carol. At least he and Nancy seemed to be the nicest people out of their friendship group, and they left her alone and didn’t bother her (yet with people like Tommy and Carol in that group, being the nicest person wasn’t a hard thing). Even so, Steve was still a bit of an asshole back then, even with his gorgeous brown eyes, cheerful smile and fluffy hairstyle. Not that Y/N was staring at him in the hallways or in the cafeteria or anything. Okay, maybe she was.
Because although Steve Harrington was a bit of an asshole, he was very cute, and Y/N definitely had a crush on him, like most of the girls in Hawkins High. And as she stares at Steve now, watching as he brushes through the same fluffy hairstyle, and stares down at her with the same pair of brown eyes. Y/N can definitely feel her crush returning. He’s definitely still cute.
Despite how little Steve’s appearance has changed though, everything else in his life has. Steve has dumped Tommy and Carol, been dumped himself, undergone a massive change of heart, and is now the surrogate mother to a bunch of kids, last she heard. Most people she knows found Steve’s sudden change of personality weird, but Y/N finds it endearing. And it shows her that Steve Harrington is a nice person after all. He just had a poor taste in the people he hung out with. Y/N glances over at Steve, trying to ignore the strange feeling in her chest when she looks over his side profile. Aside from the total change in personality, he hasn’t changed that much. He’s still just as cute as ever. Honestly, part of Y/N always wondered if she and Steve would have been friends, if she should have given up on her fears and just said hello, ignoring what Tommy and Carol would’ve said. And now, she’s run right into him, and knocked him off his feet. It’s not exactly the dream scenario for meeting Steve Harrington again.
“Yup.” Steve groans, pulling himself up, reaching a hand out to help her up too, which she takes. “And you are…?” He raises his eyebrows inquisitively.
“Oh! It’s Y/N...Y/N Y/L/N. I go to school with you. We had English together when we were freshmen.” A small and fleeting flicker of recognition crosses Steve’s face, but it disappears soon after, and he frowns.
“Oh, right...Y/N, it’s nice to see you again and all, but can you explain why you just ran into me?” Steve asks. Just as she’s about to answer him, she hears the growling noise again, this time even louder, and she yelps in fear. “Are you okay? …Oh, shit.” Steve gasps, realising what she’s so afraid of. Both Y/N and Steve glance towards the source of the noise, and see more of the monsters emerging from the trees. Immediately, Y/N and Steve duck behind a car.
“I was in the woods, running from that...and it looks like it brought friends.”
“Fuck.” Steve curses. “I thought we got rid of these fuckers.” Y/N’s eyes widen.
“Wait, you dealt with these things?! You know what they are?!” she demands incredulously. Steve nods.
“Yup. With this.” He holds out a bat with nails studded into it. Y/N frowns, wondering what part of being a surrogate father means he has to deal with monsters or use a weapon like that. “Looks like I’m gonna have to do it again. Alright.” Steve huffs, getting up and out from behind the car. “Come and get it…” Steve whistles, tapping the bat against the cars and ground, trying to attract the creatures. “Dinner time…”
“Dinner time for who?” Y/N argues, getting up and standing behind Steve. “I don’t want to be eaten!” Steve sighs.
“Y/N, calm down. I know it’s scary, but I won’t let them eat you.” He promises. Although Y/N still isn’t convinced, considering what the creature looks like, Steve’s promise to keep her safe even though he barely knows her makes her smile. “Besides, I know what I’m doing and how to stop them! It worked the last time this happened...sort of.” Steve explains. Y/N nods, even though she’s still confused. In all honesty, she still thinks Steve’s insane for even trying to bring them closer towards them, or to fight them.
But another part of her, a small part, thinks what Steve is doing is incredibly brave. Insane, but brave. Not that she’d ever tell him that, though.
“Okay, I’ll distract them and you run.” Steve whispers. And yet, Y/N doesn’t move. “What are you doing?! I thought you didn’t want to be eaten?” Steve hisses as the monsters get closer and closer. Steve’s right. This is what she wanted. A chance to run, a chance for freedom and a chance to escape. Now though, the last thing Y/N wants to do is run. She looks back over across the junkyard, and at Steve Harrington, facing off against these monsters on his own. The monsters she brought right to him. And then, Y/N knows what she has to do.
“No. I’m not running. I’m going to help you. I brought them to you, and I don’t want to leave you all on your own.” Steve looks confused about why she’d ever want to stay and deal with these things, but Y/N can still see a look of relief crossing his face. And so he nods.
“There’s a bit of metal pipe over there.” Y/N picks it up, feeling its weight in her hands. She takes a deep breath to steady herself. Well, here goes nothing.
One monster jumps forward towards them, and Steve immediately hits it with the bat, knocking it back. The creature howls and continues its advance, soon followed by its friends. Feeling a surge of adrenaline, Y/N hits one of them with her pipe. “Nice shot!” Steve gasps, before smacking another monster, sending it backwards.
“You play basketball, right? Maybe you should try baseball.” She suggests.
“...I’m starting to consider it.” The pair continue to fend off the monsters as best they can. Surprisingly, Y/N realises that she and Steve actually make a good team, and they also seem to be doing well at keeping the monsters at bay. That is, however, until she hears gravel crunching behind her, and she turns around to see two more monsters approaching from behind them.
“Oh, fuck.” At the sound of the panic in her voice, Steve turns around, his eyes widening when he sees what she does.
“Shit. Think you can handle those two?” Steve asks. Gulping, Y/N nods. Honestly, she’s still pretty terrified by this whole thing, but she knows she doesn’t have a choice. As if sensing her fear, Steve says: “You can do it. I know you can.” He gives her a reassuring smile, which makes Y/N smile too, and even makes her feel a little braver. Steve being so nice to her after refusing to talk to or to even acknowledge her for years is still a bit of a strange experience, yet it’s a nice one nevertheless.
Y/N and Steve stand back to back, standing firm against the monsters facing them. They’re so close together that their bodies are touching. Sharing her personal space with Steve Harrington is a strange and new experience...but Y/N won’t deny that it feels nice. Y/N can feel tingles up her body as Steve leans against her. The kind of tingles that are accompanied by a warm feeling in your stomach and the ones that make you feel like you’re in love, and…oh god she’s about to fight a monster. She cannot be thinking about her feelings for Steve Harrington right now.
The monsters continue their onslaught, and Steve and Y/N continue to fight back against them. “Steve! Look out!” Y/N calls. Before Steve can even react, Y/N hits the monster behind Steve with the pipe as hard as she can before it can bite him. The hit sends the monster flying across the junkyard. The pair watch as it flies through the air and hits one of the cars with a loud thud, before falling silent. Even the other monsters are stunned into silence for a moment.
“...Holy shit.” Y/N and Steve speak at the same time. Y/N had no idea she was that strong. She’s learning a lot today, it seems.
“Maybe you should be the one who takes up baseball.” Steve chuckles, and Y/N nods, still in shock. “Thanks, by the way. You totally saved my life.”
“Y-You’re welcome.” She gasps, breathless. Y/N and Steve look back at the monsters, ready to continue fighting them. To their surprise, however, they seem to be retreating, as if something is leading them away from them both. “That’s weird. I mean, I’m glad we don’t have to fight them anymore, but it’s weird how they’re just leaving.” Y/N frowns, and Steve nods.
“Yeah. We better go tell the others.” Steve announces and starts to walk away. Y/N stays where she is, still trying to come to terms with everything. All she wanted was for Steve Harrington to notice her, and to say something other than a hello. And now, she and Steve are connected after barely knowing each other before today. From now on, she’s always going to be ‘Y/N, the girl who saved my life’ to Steve now, instead of just ‘Y/N from English class’. She’s glad to have helped him, but it’s still a lot to come to terms with. In the space of about an hour, their lives and friendship have changed forever. When Steve realises Y/N isn’t beside him, he turns back to her. “There’s a lot you need to know about.” He chuckles, running a hand through his hair. “Come on.” He gives her a small smile, gesturing for her to follow with a move of his head.
“Oh, okay, sure.” Y/N nods, lightly jogging to catch up to Steve. What a strange fucking day this is. She got chased by monsters and now she’s hanging out with Steve Harrington after practically saving his life. Y/N knows that her life will never be the same after this.
But despite how crazy and scary that realisation feels, Y/N’s excited about what’s coming next. Especially if it means that Steve Harrington will be by her side.