Steve Harrington⁰²

It was a rainy afternoon/evening, you were at home when you heard someone knocking on the door. You had no visitors scheduled and hadn't ordered food. The knocking wasn't insistent, so it took you a while to open it. When you did, it was just Steve, with wet hair, a black eye, and a split lip, both clearly swollen. He was wearing his Scoops Ahoy uniform, the one he'd told you about before, which had gotten him a job. It was wet and even a little stained with blood and dirt.

"Hey...hello"

They'd had an argument hours earlier, during which he'd simply run away. You hadn't expected him to return, much less like this. Neither of you had been able to control your anger, and the words you exchanged had left wounds far deeper than either of you was willing to admit. Since then, silence had settled between you. There were no calls, no apologies, no attempts to fix things, only distance. So his visit had taken you by surprise. His gaze, usually so confident, now only radiated exhaustion. You took a deep breath, gathering what little pride you had left.

"I know you probably don't want to see me after what happened..." he murmured hoarsely.
"But I had nowhere else to go..."

After the battle of Starcourt, Steve didn't know where to go. He felt terrible emotionally and physically. He had to walk to your house when it started to rain. He stood for a few seconds in front of the door thinking about how to handle the situation without messing things up (again). He felt regretful and all he wanted at that moment was to be in your warm arms, but he didn't know how you were going to react after what happened.