Little Steve Harrington (Hiatus)

Noticing

Steve was always the person taking care of everyone. If the kids needed him for something, he was there. If Nancy, Jonathan, Robin or Eddie needed something, he was there. But who was there to look out for Steve Harrington? His parents were never around and he basically took care of himself the moment he turned 8. He never had much of a childhood, parents coming and going, hardly no memories of his parents, not good ones anyway. Thank god Nancy and Jonathan noticed sooner or something bad would've probably happened.

"Hey Steve, can we talk?" Nancy grabs his elbow and pulls him away from the group.

"Sure, what's up?" He follows her lead.

"So Jonathan and I have been noticing quite a lot actually that no one is ever taking care of you, you always look at for the kids and even Robin and Eddie but who's taking care of you?"

"They're not kids anymore Nance, and why wouldn't I? You guys are my family I've course I'd take of you lot" Steve says avoiding the question.

"That's great, but Steve...who looks after you?" She repeats the question.

"I don't need looking after Nance, I'm grown man, nobody needs to take care of me I'm fine" Steve starts to get agitated.

"So you're saying, Eddie and Jonathan aren't grown men if you're taking care of them?" She questions.

"Leave it Nancy, that's not what I meant" he warns.

"No Steve, I'm curious why you won't let anyone take care of you?" She starts to raise her voice, the kids and Jonathan looking over.

"Everything ok?" Jonathan comes over.

"Everything's fine" Steve grits out.

"Steve is refusing to let someone take care of him for once"

"Because I'm a grown man"

"You're always there when I need you man, you're saying I'm not a grown man either?"

"No, that's not what I meant" Steve is annoyed now.

"Shitheads, in the car let's go" Steve calls over to the kids he brought over.

"What? Come on" Dustin whines.

"Car, now let's go" he claps his hands getting them moving.

"Ok, gosh" he soon takes the kids home before going back to his house to cry. He slams his bedroom door and slides down it before pulling his knees to his chest and full on sobbing his heart. 'Why couldn't he just let the people he loves in and let them help him? Why was it so difficult to trust them so much with all his life? He didn't need to be taken care of, no one was ever there for him so why now?' So many thoughts ran through his head.

"Steve? It's Eddie, I know you're here 'cause I've seen your car out front" Eddie bangs on the front door.

"Steve? Give me something man" Eddie got no response so he picked the lock and let himself in.

"Steve, let me in" he pushed at the door, only to find it heavy from the weight Steve had on the door.

"Why are you here?" Steve sniffles.

"I see you drove off pretty fast after dropping red off, wanted to make sure you got here safe the way you sped off. That's not like you man, I'm came to check that you're alright. Now, will you let me in?" Steve stood up and sat on the bed as Eddie entered the room.

"What's got you so upset?" He sat down next to Steve but also giving him some space.

"It's nothing, I'm fine. Thanks for coming but you can leave now since I'm not in a ditch somewhere" Steve says.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on in that head of yours"

"I said I'm fine, can you please just leave me alone?" He could feel fresh tears coming on as he laid down on the bed and got into a foetal position.

"Ok if that's what you really want, just know I'm a call away" Eddie gets up to leave but just as he put his hand on the handle, Steve spoke up.

"Nancy" he mumbled.

"What was that?" Eddie turns around but doesn't move any further.

"She do or say something to you?"

"Said somethin'"

"Ok, wanna tell me or not?" Eddie says, his voice calm as if he's worried he'd scare Steve if he says too much.

"Why I don't let anyone take care of me when I take care of everyone else"

"Well...why don't you?" Steve sat up and Eddie took his place back on the bed.

"I'm scared if I get too close, everyone will eventually leave, they always do. Look at my parents for example, I can't remember the last time I ever saw them, everyone will leave just like they always do" Steve sobs.

"Oh Steve" Eddie rubs his back.

"We're all here to stay, no one's going anywhere and nobody's going to leave you, I promise you"

"But how do you know?" He leans into Eddie's shoulder.

"What? You think you can get rid of me? Not so fast, I definitely ain't going anywhere especially when Steve 'the hair' Harrington is in town" that got a giggle from Steve.

"Let everyone take care of you, just once. You never know you might like being coddled"

"Thanks Eddie, sorry for putting that on you"

"Hey, it's not a problem but you shouldn't apologise, would you've liked it if one of us or the kids apologised for dumping stuff on you?" Steve shook his head 'no'.

"Then there you go, don't ever apologise for talking about something like this" Steve asked Eddie to stay for a while and eventually Steve fell asleep. Eddie rung Nancy to let her know that Steves ok and sleeping, he also let her know that he was going to hang around for a bit until Steve woke up. And that's when they all decided that they were definitely going to take well good care of Steve.