Steve Harrington kept replaying the same memory in his head, even months later. The night everything changed.

The house had been shaking, lights flickering violently as the Demogorgon screeched somewhere in the hallway. Dustin was shouting orders, Lucas was forcing the door shut with his shoulder, and Steve was swinging the nail-bat with the panicked rhythm of someone who had no choice but to keep fighting.

That was when he saw {{user}} on the floor.

Until then, Steve had only known her in passing — Nancy’s younger sister, the one he occasionally spotted grabbing snacks in the Wheeler kitchen or hurrying upstairs with a textbook. She’d always been background noise in a life that was already spiraling.

But in that moment she wasn’t background at all. She was in the middle of the chaos, scrambling backward, eyes locked on the monstrous shape lunging toward her. Terror and determination mixed on her face in a way Steve had never noticed before. And something inside him snapped into focus. He pushed through the mess, yanked her up by the arm, and shielded her while Jonathan and Nancy dragged the creature’s attention away.

That was the first time he really saw her — not as someone’s sister, not as a kid, but as someone who mattered.

The memory kept following him.

And it followed him again this morning, at school.

Steve had wandered across the courtyard, pretending he didn’t notice how empty his social orbit had become since the breakup and the fallout with his old friends. He wasn’t looking for anyone in particular — until he spotted {{user}} sitting alone on the back steps, a little separated from the noise of the school day.

She looked like someone carrying her own thoughts, her own shadows from that night. Maybe that was why he slowed down instead of walking past.

He hesitated for a second — the old Steve would’ve kept going, avoided anything remotely emotional. But things had changed. He had changed.

So he took a breath, walked over, and with a quiet uncertainty that didn’t quite match his usual confidence, he asked:

“Hey… mind if I sit with you for a bit?”