𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙤𝙣 𝙊𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙨

Gold Locket

Steve finds out you wear a locket with his picture in it — gn!reader

Warnings: none :)

Words: 1.1k

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Steve was supposed to be there at 11 o'clock sharp. 

He had promised you that as soon as the arcade closed and all the boys were dropped off at home, he'd be sneaking up into your room without a sound. 'Like a ninja' were his exact words; and maybe it was your fault for assuming ninjas were punctual.

You had given him a little grace period, maybe twenty minutes where he could come and you wouldn't be upset with him. An hour after that ended, you decided you weren't even going to wait anymore. If Steve was willing to wait that long to see you, he could wait even longer.

You decided to change into a pair of pyjamas instead of staying in your normal clothes all night and then get ready for bed. After turning out your lights and closing your curtains, you tucked yourself in and quickly fell asleep.

Unluckily, Steve had arrived just a few minutes after you dozed off. He cursed himself quietly when he saw your curtains drawn—already knowing you'd be pissed at him for being late—then tumbled over your windowsill since he was using one hand to palm away the hanging fabric. As he was climbing, he noticed you were asleep and was shocked that you stayed in your state despite the thud he made when he hit the ground. He was thankful you didn't wake, though; he didn't want your morning grumpiness on top of your anger at him for not showing up on time.

When he walked towards your bed, a smile graced his face at the closer sight of your peaceful figure. He wondered what you were dreaming about, and of course he hoped it was him.

Steve crouched down to plant a kiss on your forehead before pausing and contemplating what he should do. He pondered staying, but he didn't want to be the kind of creep who sneaks into girls' beds when they're sleeping—even if you were dating. Then he thought about sleeping on the floor, but he didn't want to deal with back pain when he's already on his feet all day. So, he decided that he'd write a nice note, promise to take you out for a make-up date tomorrow night, then leave the same way he came.

 He sauntered over to the desk across from your bed so he could borrow a pen and piece of paper, then carefully avoided picking the stationery he remembered you calling 'the expensive stuff'. Personally, he doesn't understand why anyone would buy writing supplies when they were always just laying around somewhere, but he didn't judge you.

Steve started the note out by addressing it and drawing no less than five hearts around your name. Then he got straight to the apology. He wasn't sure how much he should say, so he just told himself that he'd explain, apologise, and promise to make it up to you until his hand started cramping—and he did just that. He signed his name at the bottom of the page, then capped your pen and thought about where to put it.

His first thought was to leave it on your pillow, but then he got worried about you smudging it in your sleep and not reading what he wrote, so he went with his next thought of your nightstand. He would leave it by your alarm clock, leave, then you would find it in the morning and all would be okay. But a shiny object on the night table caught his attention and delayed his plan.

You always wore a gold locket, but you never showed the inside to anyone. All your friends had tried to guess, saying everything from a magazine cutout of Rob Lowe to a single brown m&m, but you never revealed it.

And now here that necklace was, right in front of Steve, and he couldn't resist looking. As worried as he was that you'd be mad at him for peeking, he told himself that you'd never find out and it was only a tiny peek. So, he placed the note on the nightstand, and swapped it for the necklace.

As tough as the decision was on whether he should look or leave it alone, the locket itself was actually quite easy to open. And once he saw the picture, his heart swelled at least two sizes and he wished he had looked before now.

It was a tiny black and white picture of him that was cut out from the school newspaper. He remembers the exact photo, too. It was his last meet with the Hawkins High swim team, and he had tried harder than ever to win. After finishing the half mile distance a second before the rival school, he was completely exhausted.

Your boyfriend came out of the water, and barely got to sit down for a minute before some skinny sophomore had come up wanting to take a picture of him and the rest of the team for the school paper. He had initially told the kid the buzz off, but you had reminded him how hard he worked, and that this might be the last time he ever gets to be in the newspaper, and he reluctantly got up to pose with the rest of his peers.

He smiled quickly, then went back to the bench to sit with you, grumbling about how he probably looks like he's about to pass out in the photo. You laughed, but assured him that you saw his smile and he actually looked like a million bucks.

He tried arguing, but you fed his ego by reminding him a million times of how pretty he always looks and that the picture was no exception. A few days later, the paper came out and you pointed it out as soon as you saw it.

"See?" You said with a sigh. "The hottest Hawkins High swim champ ever. I'm gonna keep this forever, it's such a good picture of you."

Steve didn't know you actually kept it for this long. He honestly assumed you threw it out the next day, and he certainly didn't expect you to keep it after graduation. He stroked the edge of the locket with his thumb and wondered when you put the picture in the locket and just how often you looked at it.

The smile on his face wasn't going anywhere at this point, and it likely wouldn't leave until he fell asleep.

He closed the locket and put it back right where he found it, then leaned down to push the hair from your face and kissed your cheek. He whispered a 'goodnight, sleep tight, baby' and walked across the room to crawl out through your window.

Steve wouldn't tell you about what he saw tonight, but he was sure he'd never stop thinking about it. 

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