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tooearlyforthis · 9 days ago

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Secret's Out

Pairing: !bfSteve Harrington x Reader

Synopsis: (2.4k wc) The kids have been telling Steve for months to start dating and that doesn't change when a new girl walks into Family Video. Little do they know, he's already dating her.

Warnings: fluff, secret relationship

masterlist || steve harrington taglist

Hello it's been a minute! I haven't had the urge to write in a while but somehow was able to get this out haha. Enjoy!

“Why didn’t you ask her out?”

Why didn’t he ask her out…that was the question that had been stalking Steve for the past five months. Every time a woman came into Family Video, any time he walked past a pretty girl at the movies. Someone always asked the question: Why didn’t you ask her out?

It didn’t matter who he was with; Robin, Dustin, or even little Erica. The question found a way of coming up. He didn’t blame them in the early days. Robin had gotten used to his constant flirting with customers, spending most of their shared shifts complaining about it. But then one day, it all stopped. No more flirting, no more dates, no more suave Steve Harrington.

To say his friends found it odd was an understatement. Almost everyone he had gone out with for a solid year had been entertainment for his friends. It became a running joke that Nancy had taken away his ability to get any girl or go on more than one date with one. So they became concerned when it all stopped one random day in March.

They asked the question out of worry over anything else. Worried that their dear friend Steve was hiding something important, wanting to make sure he was okay. Dustin especially knew how Steve could withdraw from the group when something was wrong, spending more days at home alone than out with the party.

But that wasn’t the case, quite the opposite.

“Why didn’t you ask her out?” Dustin asked. He was leaning over the counter at Family Video. His feet barely touched the floor as he tried to hold himself up by his arms.

Steve sighed as he placed the last of the cash in the register. Another girl had come in for some romance movie, and Steve didn’t even try to make a move. Instead, when the girl reached forward to pay with cash, her fingers lingering over his, he retreated his hand quickly.

“Not my type,” Steve said, not looking up at Dustin.

“Bullshit, I saw you ask a girl out like that when you and Robin were working at Scoops. She's your type.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, man, I didn’t wanna ask her out!”

The bell at the front of the store rang out, indicating a new customer. Steve looked toward the door as the last of the words left his mouth. He froze when he saw who it was. Y/n, the love of his life, the one he had been hiding from his friends for almost five months. She looked as beautiful as the first time he had seen her browsing records at the local shop on Main Street.

Dustin craned his neck to see what had left his friend so starstruck, and when he saw Y/n, he did everything except roll his eyes. “Okay, you’re practically drooling over that girl. Why don’t you ask her out?”

The comment brought Steve back to reality, watching as Y/n tried to hide her smile and turn down an aisle of movies. “Uh, no man, I’m good,” Steve told Dustin.

Dustin groaned, practically throwing himself on the front counter. “That is bullshit and you know it!”

It was bullshit. The most bullshit he had ever said in his life. The moment he saw her in the record store five months prior, it was like a magnet had pulled them together. Glances from across the store, blush not hiding from their cheeks, they inched closer and closer until finally colliding. Yes, literally colliding, in front of the new releases section.

“Sorry,” Steve said, a chuckle escaping his lips. “I must be really clumsy today.”

Y/n giggled right back, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. “No it’s okay I wasn’t looking where I was going.” She was gripping a twelve-inch in her other hand, looking down at the floor. It was clear neither of them wanted the conversation to end and Steve had no plans to do so.

“Stacey Q…I don’t think I’ve heard of her before,” he said, motioning to the record in her hands.

Y/n glanced down too, before looking back up at him. He almost got lost in her eyes, and the softness they showed him. “Uh, yeah me neither. But my friend recommended it, so here I am.”

Steve nodded along, going to rest against the carton of records but pulled away at the last second, realizing how bad it would be for the vinyl. He felt like such a clutz, making a fool of himself in front of a pretty girl. But then she giggled, that infectious giggle that he would come to pull out of her in the following months, as he knew he still had a shot.

“I uh, I haven’t seen you around here before, in Hawkins I mean,” he choked up.

Y/n shook her head. “Just moved here, I’m from the west coast.”

He raised his eyebrows. “The west coast? Must get a lot of sun out there.”

“Oh so much,” She continued. “Too much if I’m being honest…I’m Y/n by the way.”

She extended her hand out for him to shake and Steve reached out to grip it immediately. As he shook her hand he gave out his own name. “Would you wanna grab coffee at the diner across the street? You can tell me more about the west coast and I can tell you about how much you’ll miss it after moving to Indiana.”

Y/n laughed again, but in the type of way that Steve knew he hadn’t fucked up this interaction. “Yeah, I’d like that.” For a moment she looked up at him with a smile he couldn’t stop thinking about. But then her eyes flickered down and he realized that he had still been shaking her hand.

“Oh!” Steve exclaimed, pulling it back and moving to fix his hair. He always fixed his hair when he was nervous. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Let me just pay for this and we can head over?”

All Steve could do was nod, watching as she walked toward the register. How had he fumbled so hard and still gotten a date? If that was any other girl in Hawkins, she would have been out the door before he could say a word.

Steve waited near the front door for her, watching as Y/n looked back around her shoulder while checking out to make sure he hadn’t gone, each time with a smile that Steve swore was melting his heart by the second.

He knew even then that she would be the best thing that would ever happen to him. And he was right, which was why all of the secrecy.

Y/n had been busy with work since the moment she arrived and Steve had the noisiest friend group in all of the midwest, so it seemed almost natural to keep their relationship on the downlow.

That still didn’t stop Dustin from trying to set him up.

“Why are you like this?” Dustin’s question brought Steve back to the present.

He sighed as he sat down on a stool behind the front counter. “Like what?”

“All opposed to dating?” Dustin said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “What happened to getting over Nancy, going on dates, finding the one?”

“You think I’m not over Nancy?”

He was deflecting and Dustin knew it. “Not the point, Steve! Ever since March it’s like you’ve sworn off girls. It’s sad that I have a girlfriend and you don’t.”

He scrunched his eyebrows. “Hey! Being in a relationship isn’t everything you know.”

“Oh I know that,” Dustin said. “But to you, Mr. Harrington, it’s like single isn’t in your vocabulary, at least it wasn’t until, like, March.”

Maybe Steve had dragged out this secret for too long. His friends were concerned for him, albeit more concerned than they should be. But Steve was happy, in the best, healthiest relationship in his life. Maybe it was time to come clean.

He looked up across the video store, scanning to see where Y/n had walked off toward. He spotted her quickly in the romance section, peeking out from behind a corner. He could tell she was blushing even from behind the shelf of tapes.

A plan forming in his head, Steve turned back to Dustin. “If I ask for her number, you have to shut up about my dating life, forever. Not another peep.”

“Yes! Totally!” Dustin said eagerly. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Steve rolled his eyes and stood up from the stool, making his way over to where his girlfriend was browsing.

“Hey,” she said as he approached. “I thought you were working along today I wouldn’t have come if I thought--”

“It’s okay,” he interrupted. “In fact, I was thinking maybe it was about time we let the cat out of the bag.”

Y/n’s eyes went wide. “Really? I meant I know how much you liked keeping this between us and with my work schedule it’s not like I’ll be seeing your friends often.”

“I’m sure,” he said, reaching for one of her hands. She dropped it to her side, letting his fingers gently brush over the back of her hand. “And I want you to meet them all properly but I wanna shut that little twerp up so badly right now.”

Y/n looked briefly over at where Dustin was sitting. The kid looked away quickly, pretending like he wasn’t paying attention. She laughed, looking back up at her boyfriend. “Yeah? And how are you gonna do that?”

“Oh I can think of a million ways.” Y/n giggled. “But I think for now I’ll settle for a kiss.”

“That I can help with.”

With her other hand, Y/n put down the tape she was holding and then brought it up to rest on Steve’s jaw. She leaned forward and slowly planted her lips on top of his. It was a sweet kiss, no need to do more in the sanctity of a video store, but she was sure to make it drag out. She wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling his arms grip either side of her waist.

On the other side of the store, Dustin’s jaw was on the floor.

He stood shocked at what he was seeing. Here was a guy that fumbled through every pickup line since his breakup with Nancy Wheeler, and now he was locking lips with a stranger in record time.

The bell of the video store rang but Dustin couldn’t pull his eyes away from the scene in front of him. That girl was hot, there was no denying it and was so out of Steve’s league. But with the desire to see him happy, Dustin sent his friend over there anyway.

“What are you looking at?” asked a voice. Dustin didn’t look away, knowing it was Mike who asked the question. He had just walked in with Lucas and Max. Dustin was supposed to pick up a movie for them but he guessed his annoying Steve went longer than he expected. Dustin couldn’t even muster words, just point to where Steve was locking lips with a total stranger.

“Holy smokes!” Lucas exclaimed. His voice echoed across the store, making Steve and Y/n pull back. Steve guessed they had more of an audience than he intended.

Taking his girlfriend's hand he asked, “Wanna meet the little shits that I look after?”

“Sure,” she said through a laugh.

Steve turned to look back at Dustin for the first time since walking over, finding that the other little shits he looked after had joined him. Well, the more people there now, the less he would have to tell later. His hand was still gripping Y/n’s as they walked over, and Steve beamed at the shock look on Dustin’s face.

“How did you-” Dustin began, but stopped, not being able to comprehend what happened.

Lucas chimed in. “She’s way out of your league,” he said, earning a smack on his arm from Max. He yelped in surprise.

“Twerps,” Steve addressed, “This is Y/n, my girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend!” Dustin shouted with a gasp. “Since when?”

“Uh since March?” Y/n said, trying to think back to the start of their relationship. “Nice to meet you guys. I've heard a lot about you.”

“March?” Mike asked. “You’ve had a girlfriend since March and we didn’t know?”

Max rolled her eyes. “You guys just don’t pay attention. El and I knew so long ago.”

“You knew?” Steve asked.

She shrugged her shoulders, crossing her arms over her chest. “We made an educated guess. And we were right.”

“You must be Max,” Y/n said, pointing out the fiery girl from personality alone. She turned to Dustin and his curly hair. “And Dustin. Mike.. and Lucas?”

“Wow, you’re good,” Mike said.

Y/n giggled at the young teens words. She leaned into Steve’s side just a little more, her head bumping with his shoulder.

“How about once my shift’s done we take these little twerps out for some food?” Steve asked her.

She hummed in agreement. “Food sounds good.”

“Only if you're buying!” Dustin exclaimed, pointing a finger at Steve.

Steve pointed a finger back. “Only if you keep your end of the bargain.”

“You tricked me!”

“And yet, Max figured it out.”

Dustin shot a glare toward the red head. His eyes filled with annoyance. She only shrugged and said, “It’s not my fault you’re oblivious.”

Dusting turned back to Steve, Y/n still leaning into his side. He let his shoulders relax with a sigh, his head dropping back with defeat. “Fine! I’ll shut up.”

“I call the front seat!” Lucas called out.

Mike groaned, heading for the door in an attempt to beat his friends. “No fair you got it last time!”

Steve put up his hands in an attempt to quiet them. “Hey twerps I’ve still got an hour and a half left of my shift. Besides,” he turned to his girlfriend. “Y/n gets passenger side.”

Dustin and the rest of the young teens groaned. “Is this how it's gonna be from now on?”

“Yeah,” Steve said with a smile, hugging Y/n closer to him. “That’s how it’s gonna be.”