The babysitters club|| Steve Harrington

46

The Mind Flayer roared and screeched and Matteo let himself hope. 

It was working. Lucas and Will's stupid plan looked like it was working. Now all they had to do was try to help Eleven and Matteo's mom escape, they'd figure out how to fix his mom later, but Eleven could use her powers to distract the Mind Flayer long enough for Hopper and Mrs. Byers to close the gate and then everything would come back to normal. 

Hope. 

Big mistake. 

Fireworks exploded around the sunken plaza and even though it was much too bright to see what was going on, from the way the Mind Flayer was reacting, Matteo thought it was fair enough to assume it was getting hurt. 

He looked to his right, at Steve. 

The rainbow explosions illuminated his face in different colors— purple, green, blue, red, yellow, white— and he was grinning. 

They were attacking a weird spider-mind-control-flesh-monster with Fireworks meant for an enthusiastic 4th of July celebration and Steve was laughing like a mad man. He had a black eye that had slowly turned a sickly shade of greenish brown and Steve was giggling. They'd been tortured by fucking Russians and Steve was laughing so everything was alright. 

Steve was next to him, his hair a mess, covered in sweat, dirt, grime, he hadn't showered in a day, and neither had Matteo. Steve was next to him chucking fireworks at the Mind Flayer and Matteo really wanted to kiss him. 

"Quit staring at me and go help your mom, De Angelo" Steve gave him a disapproving look. The rest of their friends were scattered on different sides of the second floor. The nearest to them were Lucas and Will and they too were too far away to spot them. 

Matteo swore he was going to go deaf with all the noise around them, and be blinded by the boy equivalent to the sun in front of him. With the crazy couple of days he'd had, he didn't mind either. 

"I know I'm hot but gravity of situation and all that, Angel" Steve winked and Matteo debated shoving him over the rails. 

"You wish, Harrington" he lied straight through his teeth, laughing as he chucked another firework at the monster. 

"Good throw, Angel, but you're not much of a liar" 

Matteo felt like he'd swallowed a lump of coal. 

Again, time refused to slow down, instead it seemed to speed up. Every single movie worthy moment of Matteo's life had felt sped up. It never gave him enough time to process what was going on, or think about what he was feeling in that moment. It just happened and before he knew it that moment would be over.

Steve looked like he was cursing himself or fighting internal demons or something along those lines. 

He muttered a quick "Fuck!" as he threw a firework over the railing and turned to Matteo.

The smell of gunpowder was plugging his nose, the closest he'd come to brushing was when he rinsed his mouth a million times after they'd thrown up in the bathroom and tried to clean up, he hadn't showered in a long time, not to mention his hair was a greasy mess. 

But Steve grabbed the collar of his black hoodie and pulled him closer. 

Matteo barely had time for his breath to hitch and his mind to reel before Steve's lips were on his own. 

It was a quick kiss and time sped up for that too. Steve's hand slipped from his hoodie to his neck, holding the back of his head, his fingers in Matteo's hair as he kissed with the urgency of a man leaving for war. 

Matteo was much too stunned to do anything, let alone kiss him back, which he figured was probably not a good impression. 

He had wanted to have a mind blowing kiss with Steve "the hair" Harrington surrounded by monsters and fire works for years, but now that it was actually happening, he was in disbelief. 

The events of the past few days just didn't feel real. 

But Steve did. 

Steve was real. He smelled like sweat and gunpowder and he tasted like brownie ice cream. His lips were cracked and his breath warm on Matteo's lips and now Matteo really needed to see a cardiologist because he was 100% sure his heart actually stopped somewhere after Steve kissed him.

"Am I that bad of a kisser?" Steve took three steps back, "I mean, I know it's been a while but—"

Matteo kissed him before he could ramble even more. Everything he'd been shoving deep down regarding his crush on Steve came bubbling back up. He remembered Steve being his first crush, the way he watched Steve from the sidelines in school, the way Steve would look in a basketball game, lifting his jersey to wipe sweat, knowing full well the effect he was having on people, the way Matteo would glare at girls in jealousy as they made out with Steve in the hallway or behind the school and Matteo would wish it were his lips on Steve's and well... now they were. 

Steve dropped the unlit firework he had in his left hand, slipping it around Matteo's waist and his brain short circuited like it always did around Steve. 

Matteo wasn't aware that he'd pushed Steve back against the railing until the Mind Flayer roared only a few feet away from them, much too close for comfort, making them break apart. 

Homophobia. 

Steve just grinned that stupid Steve Harrington grin and Matteo almost jumped over the railings. His cheeks were on fire, his skin tingling everywhere Steve had touched him.

It was over way too soon for Matteo's comfort. 

"Damn, De Angelo, you've been waiting for that one"

"Shut up" Matteo shot back on impulse, "I hate you"

"Yeah, I can taste that"

Matteo had never wanted to punch Steve more than he did right then. Stupid Steve with his stupid hair and him being stupidly out of breath after their kiss (THEIR kiss!!!) and his stupid Scoops ahoy uniform and his stupid grin and his stupid lips and his stupid hands and his stupid face and his—

"Your mom" Steve reminded him. 

"Uh, yes, yeah— I was just... yeah—" Matteo said intelligently. 

"I'm not going anywhere, Angel, go get her"

Fuck Steve Harrington. But also... fuck Steve Harrington?

Matteo forced himself to start running away, toward the non moving escalators, his heart thumping so hard and fast in his chest he was afraid it would jump out. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck, where was Robin when he needed her?? Fuck, fuck, fuck, why was Steve sch a good kisser??? Fuck, fuck, fuck, Matteo needed to get his mind under control because it was wandering places he really didn't want it to go... at least not right then. 

Mind Flayer— he reminded himself— mind controlled mom, yes. 

God I've been waiting to publish this chapter lmaooo I'm so happy for them 😭😭 Enjoy the happiness while it lasts...