steve harrington | imagines

| can't sleep |

ever since you had been introduced to the upside down, you have had many sleepless nights. images of what you had seen flashing into your mind. it was horrible. you were exhausted and had tried everything. sleeping pills, not napping during the day, exercising to make you feel tired but nothing helped.

tonight wasn't any different.

you lay in your bed, eyes squeezed as you tossed and turned. the room was pitch black and there wasn't a sound so there was nothing to disrupt your sleep but no matter how much you tossed and turned or covered your ears with your pillow, there was no chance of getting any sleep tonight.

you sat up in your bed and sighed, irritated about another night going without sleep. you got out of bed and carefully headed in the direction of your light switch.

you felt around the wall and finally found it. you flicked the switch and the room was then filled with light, making you squint your eyes at the sudden brightness.

when your eyes adjusted to the light, you walked back to your bed and sat on the side. the room was still quiet. maybe too quiet

you reached over for the phone on your bedside table and pressed in a familiar number. you held the receiver up to your ear as it rang. you weren't expecting an answer. in fact, you were probably better hanging up right now.

"hello?" a groggy voice spoke.

the sudden noise made you jump as it caught you off guard.

"hello? who is this?" the voice added. you cleared your throat. "hi, sorry, steve. it's me." you played with the phone cord as you spoke.

"y/n? d'you know what time it is?" he asked. you could hear him shuffling around on the other end. "yeah, sorry. i just-" you were about to exposing but steve cut you off.

"couldn't sleep?" he asked. you nodded even though you were fully aware he couldn't see you. "yup." you replied. "still? i thought everything had went back to normal." he stated.

"yeah, so did i." you sighed. you heard even more ruffling around on the other end. "okay. i'll be over soon." steve said. "what? no. steve, you don't have to come over." you told him.

"too bad. i'm coming over. you can't fight me on this." and with that, he hung up before you could argue. you shook your head and placed the receiver back in its place.

it really wasn't long until the expected knocks on your door rang through the quiet halls of your house. you made your way downstairs and towards the door.

you flicked the light on in the hall before you pulled the door opened and stood in front of you was steve in sweatpants and a band tee of a band you weren't even sure he listened too. his hair wasn't made up and was a little all over the place, which was a thing that never happened.

"you didn't have to come over, steve." you told him as he stepped in. "well, i wanted to come over, make sure you were okay." he answered back.

he examined you as you stood in front of him. "you're okay? nothing too bad?" he asked, worry present in his voice. you smiled at him and nodded. "i'm fine, really, just couldn't sleep." your voice was soft, trying to ease his worries.

"i just wanna lay down, even if i can't sleep." you said, reaching out for his hand. steve took your hand. "well, lead the way, sweetheart." you flicked the light off on your way back to your bedroom.

the light in your bedroom shone bright in the dark hallway, illuminating the path to your room.

when you stepped foot into your room, you threw yourself back onto your bed and let out a large sigh. you turned on your bedside lamp and steve turned off the main light.

he sat beside you on the bed and pressed his back to the wall. "you okay?" he asked, looking down at you starfished out on the bed.

"no. it's so annoying not getting any sleep. i'm so tired, steve." you complained, looking up at him. he pouted down at you. "i'm sorry." he apologised.

you placed your head in his lap and steve hands instinctively went to your hair, massaging your scalp and running his fingers through your hair.

you let out a content sigh and closed your eyes. the feeling was heavenly. as you lay there, you thought about how lucky you were to have a boyfriend that would drive over to your house at almost four in the morning only because you couldn't sleep.

steve continued massaging your scalp as you lay in his lap. much to your surprise, you let out a yawn. you blinked your eyes open even though they were getting heavier by the second.

you were happy that you were possibly able to sleep but were also scared of the things you've seen coming back to haunt you.

steve felt you stiffen up and frowned down at you. "what's wrong?" he asked. "hm? nothing." you replied. "you just got all tense, you sure you're okay?" the worry from before was back again.

"i'm just... i don't know, scared? i don't wanna relive everything if i try to sleep, steve. i can't." you explained. steve rubbed your temples as you spoke, his eyes never leaving you.

"if anything happens, i'll be here, okay? i'm not going anywhere, y/n." his voice was soft as he spoke. "you need to sleep. you haven't had a good nights sleep in months." he was right. the bags under your eyes had become ever so obvious and you were running out of concealer.

you were still on the fence about sleeping though. "i promise. you'll be okay. i'm here and i'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you, i swear." he promised.

you smiled up at him and lifted your head out of his lap. you placed your hands on his cheeks and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"i love you." you smiled. steve nodded. "i know." he replied. you shook your head and slapped his chest. steve chuckled. "i'm joking. i love you too."

you lifted up the duvet and crawled under it, steve followed and lay beside you. you placed your head on his chest and his hand returned to your hair.

you slowly closed your eyes, just reminding yourself that steve was beside you and that you would be okay. you heard the beside lamp click off and felt steve continuing to run his hand through your hair.

you finally felt yourself falling into a deep sleep without any interruptions. it was the best sleep you'd had in months.

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1136 words