steve had been acting cool about it all week, but now that you’re actually here, sitting on his couch with a bowl of popcorn between you, he’s feeling the nerves. the flickering light from the tv casts soft shadows across the room as the opening credits of some cheesy horror movie he picked out start rolling.

you’re both hyper aware of the space between you, which feels way too big and way too small at the same time. steve’s trying to focus on the movie, but his mind keeps drifting back to you. how close you are, how your knee is almost brushing against his.

every time you reach for popcorn, your hands almost touch, and it sends a jolt through him that he tries to hide. “you good?” steve asks, glancing over at you, his voice a little too casual.

“yeah,” you say with a smile, though your heart is beating faster than you’d like to admit. “this movie is… something.”

steve laughs, a little too loud, like he’s trying to break the tension. “yeah, it’s pretty bad, huh? i wasn’t sure what you’d be into, so I just picked something random.”

“it’s fine,” you assure him, but you can’t help but notice how he keeps sneaking glances at you when he thinks you’re not looking.

at one point, a particularly loud jump scare makes you both jump, and you instinctively grab steve’s arm. he looks at you, surprised but not pulling away. for a moment, you’re frozen, your hand still on his arm, and you can feel the warmth of his skin through his shirt.

“sorry,” you mumble, starting to pull your hand back, but steve stops you, his hand gently covering yours.

“it’s okay,” he says softly, his eyes meeting yours. there’s a beat of silence, the movie forgotten as you both just look at each other.