Narrators POV
(I listened to 'I Want to Know What Love Is' by Foreigner while writing this bit)
Acceptance takes a long time, you won't turn into the person you want to be from night to morning, especially if you live in a toxic environment and are surrounded by people that try to control you. This is why Steve Harrington was still dating Nancy Wheeler, his parents like her, and she comes from a family with a good reputation and money, sure he still likes Nancy, but the feelings for her haven't grown, if anything they've just become smaller. Nancy isn't even sure if she still likes Steve, Jonathan likes Nancy but hides his feelings and Y/n, well he's still figuring it out.
Steve didn't change right away, he still talked with Tommy and Carol sometimes, he didn't often hang out with Y/n, and it wasn't until early February that he finally cut them off; after that, his reign as 'King of Hawkins High School' slowly started to fall, and little by little he started losing his 'friends', by the end of the school year he was old news. Even though Steve knew that they never really cared for him, it still hurt to go from having everything to nothing, especially because his parents found out he was losing his popularity and status in school and looked down on him for letting that happen.
That day when he felt completely alone and like no one really knew him he drove to the place of the one person that has made him feel okay with being himself.
"Steve? What are you doing here?" Y/n asked him opening the door.
"I don't have any friends, once again I'm a disappointment to my parents, and it's only July," he said visibly upset as he avoids eye contact.
"Steve, I-" he began saying before being interrupted.
"I wanted to see you" Steve added answering the question and looking up into Y/n eyes.
"Why?" Y/n asked him.
"Because you like me for who I am, and I like spending time with you," he told him.
Y/n smiled at Steve and shook his head chuckling, "Do you want to come in?"
"No, actually I think I'll stand here in the cold summer breeze all night," Steve said sarcastically smiling back at him.
"You're an idiot," he told Steve, "Come on, my dad's making dinner" he grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside his house, closing the door once they were in.
"Who was at the door?" Scott asked from the kitchen.
"It's just Steve, is it okay if he has dinner with us?"
"Oh no I don't want to bother you," He said embarrassed.
"Mr Harrington, I haven't seen you in a while, you've grown a lot," Scott told him with a smile as he walked over to the dinner table, "You're more than welcome to join us for dinner, I always cook extra food anyway"
"Well, um, sure then, thanks Mr Clarke"
That night Steve felt more at home with the Clarke's than he's ever felt in his own house with his parents. They had a lot of fun talking about their day and movies they had recently seen, Steve felt included in the conversation the whole time, which is something that never happens with his parents. He laughed more those couple of hours than he had in the past six months, and he was glad he'd made the decision to spend time with Y/n instead of sitting alone in his room.
Scott couldn't help but notice the glances between Steve and Y/n, he could tell there was something going on between them, but he had the feeling neither of them wanted to accept it, even though the chemistry they had was obvious, but he would ask Y/n about it later.
"I had a lot of fun," Steve told Y/n as they walked to his car, "Thanks for letting me hang out with you"
"You're welcome here anytime Steve, I know you don't like being alone at home, so just drop by anytime, or just give me a call," He said with a smile.
"Alright I will," Steve said getting in his car, "By the way, I'm going out with Nancy tomorrow to watch a movie, do you want to come?"
Steve was an idiot for inviting Y/n to his date with Nancy, but he didn't see anything wrong with it, then again he was a very oblivious person. Y/n would never even dream about interrupting Nancy's time with him, he knew that if he was in her position he would've been furious at Steve for inviting someone else to their date.
"I'm sorry, I-umm, I've got something tomorrow, maybe another time," Y/n told him.
"Right," Steve said, "No-yeah, that's a better idea, I'll see you later then" Y/n nodded at him as he turned on his car.
"Have fun" he told him, and Steve smiled at him driving away.
Y/n walked back to his house and helped his dad tidy the table.
"So... I was wondering, you and Steve" Scott began saying.
"What about me and Steve?" he questioned cleaning the table.
"Well, I was wondering what was going on between the two of you?" he asked, "Are you guys friends or do you like each othe-"
"Oh we're just friends" he quickly replies, "He's going out with Nancy, plus I don't think he's into guys"
Scott looks up at him from the kitchen, "You never know. Do you like him?"
Y/n's head snapped to look at his dad, he shook it, "What? No, no, no, I don't like Steve, no way"
Scott wasn't convinced by Y/n's response, he could tell there was definitely something going on between them, but he also noticed the internal conflict going inside his head, clearly, he wasn't sure how he was feeling either, he enjoyed spending time with Steve, he liked being with Steve, he liked Steve, but he didn't like him as more than a friend, or so he wanted to believe.
...
During summer Steve tried to hang out with Y/n as much as he could, but Y/n didn't put in the same effort, not because he didn't want to be around Steve, but rather because he was so confused with how he was feeling towards him and spending time with him only added to that confusion, so they didn't spend as much time together as they would've hoped for. Not only that but Y/n was working more often than usual at the café given the fact he had been trying to save up more money to help his dad with his college fund, but they still saw each other once in a while, most of the time it was at the café, Steve would go and order something just to get the chance to spend time with Y/n, or he would keep him company during his lunch breaks, Steve would even buy Y/n lunch sometimes.
Once school started again though they went back to hanging out as they usually did and very often, Steve needed a lot of help with school, it was officially their senior year, and he only had a couple of months before he had to take his SAT's, he also had to start writing his college essays, and he had no idea what he should write, so he kept asking Y/n about it.
"What have you done in your life that has stuck out to you?" he asked him.
Steve looked down at his notebook answering the question on the board as he thought about his response.
"Honestly" he began saying looking back at Y/n, "I don't know, I haven't done anything special with my life" he confessed, "What are you writing yours about?"
"I'm going to talk about a couple of things, growing up with a single parent, working hard to help my dad and my school achievements," Y/n tells him.
"You have such good topics to talk about, I have nothing, that's it, I'm never getting into college," he says defeated laying back on his chair.
"Don't be so dramatic there are many things you can mention, you're the captain of the basketball team, co-captain of the swimming team, and a certified lifeguard, surely you can talk about that" Y/n suggested to him.
"Okay I actually have a couple of things I could write about," he says writing the points down.
"I'm not working today so how about you come over to my house and I can help you with your essay?" Steve nods smiling at Y/n.
"That would be perfect, thanks Einstein"
"Anytime," he says smiling back at Steve.
The class ends soon after so Y/n and Steve part ways as they leave the classroom.
"I'll meet you outside by my car," Steve tells him as he walks away.
"Alright I'll see you there" he shouts back at him.
Y/n makes his way through the corridors as he walks to his locker, trying his best not to bump into anyone which almost seems like an impossible task with how busy the corridors are, but he successfully arrives at his locker without having to deal with the awkwardness of crashing into someone else.
"I'm going to die," Robin says appearing from behind him.
"Hello to you too," Y/n says turning to look at Robin.
"It's the start of October and I already have an exam" she whines opening her locker, "I don't even get the topic! Do you want to go out later and do something?"
"Sorry I can't, I'm helping Steve with his college essay" Y/n explains taking his books.
"You and Steve have gotten a lot closer lately, are you hiding something from me?" she asks turning to look at Y/n with her arms crossed.
"You seriously think I'd secretly date Steve without telling you? Besides, he and Nancy are still together" Y/n reminds her.
"Well then, do you like him?" Robin asks, Y/n looks away for a second before closing his locker and looking back at Robin.
"What? No, no I don't like Steve, we're just friends," Y/n tells her.
"Okay, if you say so"
Robin wasn't really convinced, she had a feeling that something was going on, but she decided to just change the topic.
On the other side of the school, Steve was making his way to Nancy's locker, things had been going relatively well for them, or at least that's what they liked to believe, Nancy had started to lose feelings for Steve a couple of months ago, but she didn't want to break up with him, she had told Y/n about how she was feeling and Y/n told her that she should just do what was better, if she didn't like Steve any more she should just break things off and stay friends with him, but Nancy felt bad about that because she thought he still loved her, and she wasn't necessarily wrong. In truth this past year Steve has had a lot of trouble with his feelings, he's become closer to Y/n ever since that night after fighting the Demogorgon, and it has confused him a lot, he's never felt this way about a guy before, he's never been this close with someone before, not even his own girlfriend, yes he still deeply cared about Nancy, but did he love her? He wasn't sure.
...
At the end of the school day, Y/n arrived first at Steve's car as they had planned, and Steve made sure to quickly walk out of his last class, so he would get there first, but his efforts were obviously in vain.
"How long have you been waiting for?" he asked Y/n, walking up to him.
"Around 5 minutes, but don't worry it's because Mr Brown let us out earlier" he smiled at him, "You ready to go?"
"Of course" He opened the passenger's door for Y/n with a playful smirk, "After you"
"What a gentleman" Y/n mocked him getting in.
Steve closed the door and then took a seat himself, he started the car and drove off towards Y/n's house.
The drive to no one's surprise was extremely quick, Y/n only lived 7 minutes away from Hawkins High School after all. The house was completely empty, Scott wouldn't be back home for about half an hour, so it would be just the two of them for the time being.
"So, do you want to start with the essay right away or do you want to revise for Friday's science exam?" Y/n asked him.
"Can we do the essay first? I think it's more important, plus I'll just copy you, so I can do well in the exam" he said taking out the page where he had been planning his college essay.
"Nice try, you're doing that test by yourself, I won't be able to help you in your SATs Steve you can't keep relying on me," he said seriously taking out his essay and his pencil case.
"I don't rely on you, you're just a helpful guide" he replies.
"Mhm, of course," Y/n says sarcastically.
They joked around for a couple more minutes but began working on their essay soon after. Working on this Y/n discovered that Steve Harrington was surprisingly quite a perfectionist, he would've never guessed, yet it made a lot of sense.
"I don't like how that sounds, it's boring," Steve said, erasing what he had written.
"But it's formal, college's like that," Y/n told him, and Steve looked at him unsure.
"I don't know-"
The front door opened interrupting Steve and Scott walked inside the house with a smile on his face as he carried the groceries.
"Y/n guess who I saw at the shop, Jen, she said we should all have dinner together soon, we could do it today," he said leaving the bags in the kitchen, when he finally turned around he realized Steve was there. "Oh Mr Harrington I didn't see you, I'm guessing we can't today then?"
"Your guess is right," Y/n said smiling.
"What are you two working on?" Scott asks walking over to the table.
"Y/n is helping me with my college essay, I've had a hard time writing it" he explained.
"Well let me know if you need help, do you want anything to eat?" Y/n turns to look at Steve, and he shakes his head.
"We're okay, thanks dad"
Steve and Y/n continue working on their essay for another hour before deciding to take a break and move on to study science.
"I still don't get how you're so good at chemistry," Steve says looking for his book.
"My dad is a science teacher what did you expect" Y/n pointed out opening his book and getting his notes.
"Shit"
"What's wrong?" he asks.
"I just realized I left my book at home since we didn't have chemistry today" Steve explains.
"What should we do then?" Y/n questions.
"I'll go home and get my book quickly, I won't take long I promise, and then we can study for the test," Steve says standing up.
"You can't take more than 20 minutes," Y/n says.
"I won't, time me and everything, I'll be back in no time" Steve opens the front door and smiles at Y/n as he runs out of the house and towards his car, he shakes his head chuckling as Steve waves goodbye at him and drives away.
Y/n walks back to the desk and starts organizing his notes.
"Where did Steve go?" Scott asks as he walks into the living room.
"He left his book at home, so he's going to get it," Y/n tells him.
...
Steve arrived at his house in ten minutes, he quickly got out of the car and walked inside his house, he made his way up to his room and grabbed his book. When he was about to walk out of the house the telephone started ringing, he turned around and grabbed the phone to answer the call.
"Hello?"
On the other side of the call was Mr Harrington, he needed Steve to send him some papers that had arrived at the house to the company building through the post office. So when Steve ended the call he immediately called Y/n to let him know he was going to take longer to get there.
(I listened to 'Chiquitita' by ABBA while writing this bit)
"I'm really sorry again," he said to Y/n.
"It's okay really, I'm not going anywhere anyway," he told him.
"I'll take you out to eat after" Steve proposes.
"You don't have to," Y/n says chuckling from the other line.
"But I want to," he says smiling, "Plus I still own you so"
"Alright then, now go send your dad the thing"
"Right, I'll see you in a bit," he says ending the call. He locks the door to his house, gets in his car and drives away.
Meanwhile, at the Clarke house, Y/n is moving away his things to his room, the post office wasn't far away from his house, but it would probably take Steve a bit to get there, so he probably had around thirty minutes until Steve arrived.
"Hey dad I'm leaving in a bit," he told Scott.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"Steve's taking me out to eat," Y/n said looking for a jacket.
"Like on a date?" Scott said with a smile.
"No, just out to eat, he has a girlfriend and I don't like him" he reminds his dad.
"Of course, silly me forgetting" he chuckled.
"Does this sweater go well with my outfit?" Y/n asked his dad walking out of his room with the sweater Steve had given him, Scott nodded at him with a smile.
"You look wonderful"
"Thanks, dad," Y/n said smiling.
He took a seat on the sofa as he waited for Steve and looked at the time, 6:50 pm, he should be here in a couple of minutes.
...
Thirty minutes go by and there's still no sign of Steve, Y/n just guessed the post office might be busy or that maybe there was an issue with sending the papers it sometimes happens, but he knew Steve would be there soon.
"Still nothing?" his dad asked.
"There was probably an issue at the post office, he should be here soon," he says with a smile.
Y/n knew that Steve wouldn't leave him waiting without a reason, he would've called him or something, which meant that he was probably just taking longer than expected.
"Well I'm going to start making dinner so let me know if you want some" Scott tells him walking to the kitchen.
Thirty minutes then turns into an hour, and Steve is nowhere to be seen, Y/n keeps looking at his watch and the door waiting for a knock but nothing happens. He tries not to lose hope, he tries to tell himself that something must have happened, but he can't help but be more upset as the minutes go by.
Scott takes a seat next to him putting his hand on Y/n's shoulder.
"He's coming dad," he says knowing what his dad was going to say.
Scott didn't have a good feeling about the situation, it had already been an hour and Y/n hadn't even gotten a call, he had gotten to know Steve and he knew he was a nice guy, so he just hoped he had a good excuse because he could tell that Y/n was upset even if he tried to hide it.
Y/n sat there on the sofa waiting for Steve as the time kept passing, at 8:30 Y/n finally stood up from the sofa and walked to the kitchen to get something to eat.
"He isn't coming," he said taking a seat at the table next to his dad.
"Maybe something happened, you should give it a few more minutes-"
"No dad he isn't coming" he takes off his sweater and throws it away on the sofa.
"I'm sorry honey, I'm sure there's a good reason for all of this," he says moving his chair closer to Y/n's and moving his hand to his shoulder.
"You were right" he softly says looking down at his food.
"About what?" Scott asks.
"I do like Steve" he admits looking up at him, "I really like Steve, and I feel so stupid for liking him"
Scott pulls Y/n into a hug, "You're not dumb for liking a boy" he gently tells him.
"Well I feel dumb," he says hugging him back.
"Why don't you get changed, and then we can watch a movie," he says moving away from the hug, "You can pick which one we watch"
"Alright, thanks again dad," he says smiling at him.
"No need to thank me, I'll always be here for you when you need me"
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Here's the first chapter of season 2 finally!!! I'm so sorry for taking so long to post it, I've been so busy lately I didn't have a lot of time to write it but it is finally done! I hope you enjoyed this chapter because I had a lot of fun planning it and writing it! Hopefully, the next chapter will take less time to come out but I'll update you guys on it! Thank you again so much for reading this story it means a lot to me! If you have any advice, suggestions or questions feel free to let me know!
Lots of love, Author.
So, who's ready for the season 2 plot?