A/N - This chapter was inspired by the song Stand By Me by Ben E. King. This is set at the end of Season 3. I hope you all enjoy it.
When Steve had headed out to work this morning, he'd told you that he'd come over to yours as soon as he got off. He'd also promised to pick up takeout on the way back, and even said he'd stop off and rent a movie for the two of you to watch. It had been a comment that had made you grin up at him, still curled up amongst the sheets whilst he was heading out into the real world.
But 5 pm had come and gone without any hint of Steve. And then, so had 6 pm. By 7, you were starting to get really worried. He never ditched out on your date nights like this.
Maybe he'd just forgotten his own plans. It was the only thing you could think of that made any sense. Maybe he'd been so busy at work that he'd forgotten all about his mutterings whilst you were still half asleep. Maybe it had just slipped his mind and he'd ended up heading back to his place.
But, he rarely even slept at his own place anymore, only ever going over there to collect clean clothes and show his face when his parents were around. And they weren't due back in town until next weekend.
It was dark out now and you could help but feel sick as you considered the other option. If Steve hadn't forgotten to come over, either he'd chosen to skip out on you without telling you or, even more concerning, something, or someone, had stopped him from coming over. Nope, that was too much to think about. All it would do was send you into a self-destructive downward spiral. Steve had clearly been held up at work and gotten distracted. These things happened. He'd show up as soon as he realised his mistake-
There was a sharp knock on the door that startled you out of your thoughts and you quickly stumbled through your apartment to tear the door open, finding Steve slumped against the wall, looking worse for wear. His work uniform was torn and bloodied, his face bruised and covered in dried blood. Your breath caught in your throat at the sight of him, your stomach churning as you realised that maybe you had been right after all. Steve hadn't shown up because someone hadn't let him.
"Hey Princess," he murmured, offering up a lazy smile when he met your gaze, showing off his black eye. "Sorry, I'm late-"
Your mouth opened and closed as you searched for something to say, anything that would make this make sense, but nothing came out, leaving you in startled silence.
"Is it alright if I come in, Sweetheart?"
You nodded, moving out of his way as he pushed off of the wall, looking unsteady on his feet as he shuffled past you. It wasn't until he was inside and the door was pressed tightly shut behind you, that you managed to start thinking straight, reaching out to touch his cheek lightly as flinching when he winced at the tiny amount of pressure. "Sorry," you murmured, pulling your hand back, only for him to catch it and press it back to the skin as gently as he could manage, biting back tears.
"It's okay," he breathed out, turning his head to press a kiss to your palm. "You got an ice pack in the freezer?"
You shook your head, swallowing down the lump forming in your throat. "Only thing in my freezer is a bag of peas," you hummed.
"Would you mind if I used them on my face?"
You quickly steered him to the couch, leaving him to settle into the cushions as you dashed into the kitchen, collecting the peas and wrapping them in a clean tea towel. "Here," you hummed softly, kneeling beside him on the couch and pressing the makeshift ice pack to the skin just below his eye.
"Who woulda thought I'd end up with my own personal nurse, huh?" he murmured, cracking a smile for you as you stared at him in disbelief.
"What happened?"
He shook his head slightly. "Nothing-"
"You expect me to believe that a bloody nose and a black eye are nothing?" you bit out, looking so disappointed that he felt his stomach clench uncomfortably. "I'm not stupid, Steve."
"I know you aren't, Baby," he breathed out, reaching out to rest his hand on your hip, rubbing his thumb over the bare skin that had become exposed when your shirt had ridden up slightly. "I just-" he paused, letting out a frustrated sigh. "I'm not supposed to tell. I had to sigh all the non-disclosure things-"
Your brow furrowed slightly. "So this was something big?"
"Massive," he murmured. "I want to tell you," he pressed on. "I really do, but if they find out that I told you then it puts us both in danger."
You nodded, swallowing down the anxiety. "Okay," you murmured. "But this isn't going to become a regular thing, right? You aren't going to be getting beat up all the time?"
"I don't intend on it," he teased, holding out his arm to you. "Can you just come over here for a bit? Want you close."
You hesitated for a moment, still a little hurt that he wasn't going to tell you what had happened to him. "We need to get you cleaned up-"
"Please, Baby. I can get cleaned up after. I just want to hold you for a second."
You nodded, shuffling around until you were tucked into his side, your head resting against his chest.
"Have you had anyone in the apartment recently? Repairmen? Superintendent? Anyone?"
Your brow furrowed in confusion. "You've been here every night this week-"
"Answer the question, Baby."
"No. No one's been here."
"Okay, just wanted to check that no one had a chance to plant a bug-"
"A bug? Jesus, Steve, you sound mental-"
Steve sighed slightly. "Baby, this is government-level shit, we're talking here. Hopper said he'd found bugs in his house-"
"Chief of Police, Hopper? He's involved in this too?"
"He was, yeah." He paused for a moment. "There's Russians and Americans and Superheroes and-" he shook his head, letting out a soft sigh. "It's so complicated, Baby. I don't know where to start."
You nodded. "Just start from the beginning and take it slow. I'll try my best to make sense of it, okay?"
Please consider supporting me for just £3 using Ko-Fi. The link is available on my profile page. If you have any questions about Ko-Fi please feel free to private message me. Thank you. L x