Chapter Text
Pinky Promise.
It’s a bond between two people, a vow that’s taken so it shall not be broken. Childish, you know, but to a small kid it means everything. When they locked their pinkies together, muttering their promises to one another, they both had barely turned five, barely ready to take on the world head first.
But a promise was a promise— Yet a pinky promise was so much more. It holds so much more weight than crossing your heart or giving a handshake.
At least it was to these two very best friends…
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“Wow.” The blue eyed girl said, genuinely surprised (She can’t even believe their conversation is so calming in a situation like this). “That explains so much. And… you never mentioned that to me before?”
“Well, can you blame me?” He asked, with a small smile and laugh. “I think it kinda does. I think, like, right out of the gate, like, I’m super confident. But I’m also, like, an idiot. Which is just…” He shrugs. “I mean, it’s a brutal combination. But, I mean, the good news is, I get a big enough thump on my head, I can change, you know? I can learn. I can crawl forward.”
She noticed his pace was slowing, and his brown eyes of his were becoming distant. “Steve?”
“Listen–” He stops them both, face looking like a lost puppy now. “I guess what I’m trying to say in a really stupid, roundabout way is, um… is thank you.”
She tilts her head, confused. “Thank you?” She watches him nod, adding fuel to her emotion. “For...?”
His face softens. “For giving my head the biggest thump of its life two years ago.” He chuckles. “Nancy, you know, she gave me the push, but you, Stephanie, gave me the thump I needed. It’s changed my life. And now I’m crawling forward in a way I never thought I could achieve. Slowly.”
And now he’s frowning, looking down at himself, engulfing himself in the glum. “I just wonder sometimes... you know, if... if I had just opened my eyes before I met Nancy, would things have been different? Like… part of me thinks we would’ve made it without our relationship falling apart.”
“Steve–” She croaks, teary eyed and shocked.
“And… you know what the craziest… most messed up part of the story is?”
“What?”
His lips curled up just a bit. “Remember the dream I told you about? About the Winnebago? Seeing the country with my six lil’ nuggets? It’s all true. Every last word. But… the mess up part?” He swallows, also getting emotional. “The mess up part is when I first thought of that dream… is that… you’re there. You’ve always been there.”
“Steve–”
“And that…” He smiles. “That’s my pinky promise to you, Miss Stephanie Henderson.”
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The creature shrieked above, its claws waving around frantically –trying to get a nick out of him– as he held it back with some piping. He watched the pupils go all ‘cat-like’, fangs coming out that he swears were growling with each scream.
He was struggling, he knows this, and he knows he has to buy the kid some time to get a radio signal out to his girlfriend, but he was slipping, fuck it. However, he knows deep in his heart he can’t back down from this.
His jaw clenched and his eyes flash with determination. “I don’t care what you’ve become! I ain’t leaving you, Henderson!” He shouted, hoping his words would get through to her. “That’s a pinky promise.”
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“You know, I really do want to help you and Dustin out.” He insisted, knowing damn well that she didn’t even want him near her brother, let alone near herself.
She sends him a look, skeptical, on edge. “Why?”
“Look, I know you don’t want to talk–”
“Damn, right.”
“Steph.” He says, stepping in front of her way, and walking backwards, to get her attention. “We’ll just put this on the backburner. Right now, and I mean it, I just want to help you and Dustin, to keep you guys safe. Pinky Promise.”
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“Steve–”
“I’m not going anywhere.” He says, while playing with his hands, nervously, worriedly. “Not until I know you’re okay.”
She frowns apologetically. “You know that might be a while.”
“I know.”
“I have Dustin and my mom, you don’t have to stay here.”
“I know.” He breaks eye contact. “But what if I want to?”
That made her chuckle. “Well… if you want to.” She says, making them both smile. “Fine sleeping in a chair?”
He nods. “If that’s what I’ll have to do.” He replies, making her hum.
She raises an eyebrow. “Is that a pinky promise?”
“Yeah.” His expression grows. “Pinky promise.”
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But what if you break it? The promise? What if you don’t follow through? That is the unfortunate part of this story. The promise was to stay together forever, to make their friendship last a lifetime. For them, they were two peas in a pod, polar opposites that still attached themselves to one another… until they couldn’t.
When the boy decided to become a King, the girl became a peasant. The boy was showered with love and affection, and the girl was on a quest of loneliness that became bitter.
This was a story about Steve Harrington and Stephanie Henderson.
A story, where no matter what happens, the red string still stays attached to their pinkies despite their attempts to take it off.
This was story where the two of them decided to save the world–
Their families–
Their friends–
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And their friendship.
(TBC)