• Rating: E
• Relationships: Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler
• Characters: Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler, Robin Buckley
• Additional Tags: Season/Series 04, Worried Steve Harrington, Supportive Robin Buckley, "Thank God You're Alive" Sex, Wall Sex, Outdoor Sex, Unsafe Sex, Infidelity, POV Steve Harrington
• Word Count: 2,680

Nancy needs some air after the vision from Vecna. With a little encouragement from Robin, a worried Steve goes to check on her. No one is more surprised than he is that Nancy kisses him when he finds her outside. -- Nancy blinks and her hand goes still against her mouth. When she doesn’t react beyond that, Steve takes a chance, curling his hand around her arm. She blinks again and this time he can see the awareness lighting up in her eyes. It’s as much a relief as finding her had been; he doesn’t like seeing her trapped in her own head. Especially not after Vecna literally trapped her in there.

• Rating: E
• Relationships: Jonathan Byers/Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington/Steve Harrington's Father
• Characters: Jonathan Byers, Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington's Parents
• Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - No Upside Down, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Mute Steve Harrington, Protective Jonathan Byers, Hurt Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington's Father Being an Asshole, Sexual Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Angst with a Happy Ending, POV Steve Harrington
• Word Count: 13,170

Sick and tired of seeing the way a mute Steve Harrington is treated by his so-called "friends", Jonathan winds up accidentally befriending Steve himself (even if he doesn't know why he cares so much).

• Rating: E
• Relationships: Chrissy Cunningham/Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler
• Characters: Chrissy Cunningham, Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington
• Additional Tags: Season/Series 4, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler Never Broke Up, No Vecna, C overhears A/B discussing a fantasy involving them, Cunnilingus, Kissing, Undressing, Vaginal Sex, POV Chrissy Cunningham
• Word Count: 4,691

Chrissy overhears Nancy and Steve talking about her—what she'd look like in their bed, what sounds she'd make, how she'd taste—and decides she wants to give them the chance to find out.

• Rating: E
• Relationships: Steve Harrington/Steve Harrington, Henry Creel | One | Vecna/Steve Harrington/Steve Harrington
• Characters: Steve Harrington, Henry Creel | One | Vecna
• Additional Tags: Season/Series 4, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Selfcest, Blow Jobs, Tentacles, Rape, Non-Consensual Bondage, Collars, Finger Sucking, Double Penetration, Coming Untouched, Crying, Self-Esteem Issues, Emotionally Hurt Steve Harrington, Insecure Steve Harrington, POV Steve Harrington, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat
• Word Count: 4,012

The others don't reach Steve in time to save him after being pulled into the Upside Down and attacked by demobats. -- His own eyes stare back down at him, darker maybe—colder, definitely, but everything about this copy is colder than him, being a product of the Upside Down—but unmistakably his own.

Steve sat in his bed with his elbows resting on bent knees and one of his hands pressed against his mouth. The position hurt to maintain. His stomach and chest were bruised to hell and back. The wounds on his face throbbed in time with his heartbeat. Even his hands weren't spared from scraped knuckles or the purple marks around his wrists.

Everything hurt and he couldn't even risk taking painkillers because who knew what kind of reaction there would be with the drugs they injected into his neck? The truth serum might have stopped compelling him to talk—to give up his best friend's name, how could he just—but he didn't want to chance it. There was no one around to notice if something happened. They might not notice for days, considering the chaos the Russians and the monster left behind this time.

All Steve wanted to do was sleep. Forget, for a while. If he was asleep, the pain wouldn't be so bad. His heart might slow down. He wouldn't feel the impending danger, the guilt, the fear. It was enough to turn his stomach and keep him from curling up on his side.

Instead he sat, frozen, each breath coming in a little bit faster, thinner. Working himself up all over again though it was over—but was it, really? It was "over" after Will was found and the Demogorgon was lit on fire. It was "over" after El closed the Gate and they burned the demodogs in that tunnel.

Was it only "over" now, too?

"Hey, hey, calm down," he told himself, ignoring the tinge of panic he couldn't stifle. Lifting one of his hands, he dug the tip of his finger into the center of his forehead. It hurt, but there was something almost soothing about being the one in control of this particular pain. "They can't hurt you anymore."

Steve repeated the action—pressing his finger against the hot, bruised skin of his forehead. It was easier to focus on this one spot than the fact that he didn't believe what he was saying. Everything else hurt a little less with each touch. Even his breathing evened out into something calmer, more manageable. His muscles began the slow process of loosening up enough that eventually, Steve found himself horizontal across his bed instead of upright.

He bent his knees again, curling himself into as much of a ball as he could because it hurt more to let the bruises stretch out. His pillow was soft against the less injured side of his face. Steve rubbed his cheek against it, letting out a long sigh.

Falling asleep didn't come easily or quickly and more than once, Steve found himself pressing against one of his many bruises to focus on something besides the mess of thoughts swirling around in his head, but eventually exhaustion won out and the world drifted into darkness.