Chapter Text
The wind blew through the dark curtains. Only the moon illuminated the room and the face of the innocent slumbering youth. The wind picked up but the youth didn’t turn away from it. If anything, they gravitated towards it, like a flower turning their face to the sun. The sound of curtain flapping covered the sound of wings as a creature entered the room, blending into the shadows.
The darkness formed a silhouette that hovered over the sleeping beauty. The figure stood by the bedside, leaning over until eyes slowly blinked open. Instead of screaming in terror or balking in fear, hands came up to embrace their midnight visitor.
“My love…”
The radio DJ’s jovial voice woke Steve up. Not for the first time he wondered how Nancy didn’t go insane waking up to that and he realized she was already out of bed. He could hear her moving around the room while he turned the radio clock off.
Their morning went as it usually did. Steve always woke up after Nancy but he was quick to move once he was up. Going through his morning routine and coming down the stairs, dressed in jeans and a long sleeved shirt. Nancy had taken care of the coffee and was sitting at the table, perusing the newspaper. Steve took out things for breakfast, oatmeal, eggs, bacon, and some bread for toast.
“How’s the paper?”, he asked as the bacon sizzled.
“Howard’s out sick which means they’ve got Ned doing the layout which means it’s a damn mess”, Nancy tutted as she flipped through it.
Steve already knew what she was thinking. “They’re not gonna let you write and do the layout at the same time.”
“Maybe not permanently, but I could handle it while Howard’s gone.”
He placed the plate in front of her and kissed the top of her head as he did. That go-getter attitude was what he loved about her. And he wouldn’t change it for the world. As breakfast went on, Nancy read out interesting blurbs from the paper. Not just her own stuff, sometimes the advice column had some gems, and she even threw some of the sports his way.
He almost forgot about his dream until he saw the way the juice ran from a cut strawberry down onto the plate, vividly red. And suddenly he felt a sense of wrongness. Nancy didn’t notice his inattention until she folded up the newspaper. She watched Steve play with his oatmeal. She had to get to work, but…
“Something bothering you?”
“I’ve been having these weird dreams.”
“Dreams? Like nightmares?” She didn’t think she’d be soothing her husband from nightmares. At least not past high school.
“I don’t know, they’re just…weird.”
“You planning on seeing a psychic?”, Nancy raised a brow.
“Don’t even joke, it’s not like that.” How did he explain to her that a dream made him feel like he was in the wrong place. What even happened in the dream? He was in bed? And someone else was there? Someone who wasn’t Nancy? It wasn’t a crime to have a dream like that, but it still felt like he shouldn’t tell his wife unless he wanted to sleep on the couch for a few nights.
In the end, he just sighed and waved it off. “Forget it. Weird dreams happen, right? You don’t wanna be late.”
“No, I do not. Melvin keeps eyeing my seat like a vulture.” And she’d be damned if she let anyone take what she had worked so hard for.
Steve walked her to the door where they shared a kiss, then he waved as she drove off. Steve was a rare breed in this time, a stay at home husband. It made perfect sense. Nancy was the ambitious one. She got into college right away and dove headfirst into journalism. Steve had no dreams of his future, career-wise. When he thought of himself years down the line, he only thought of the one he loved (Nancy) and eventually a couple of kids.
He was filled with a sense of warmth whenever he imagined it as he tidied up the house. They both agreed they’d begin trying when Nancy was officially established at her job. And her writing stint at the Hawkins paper had been going strong for almost a year after starting there as an intern. So in Steve’s mind, it was only a matter of time before Nancy announced she was ready.
For now though, he had plenty of free time after cleaning the house, so he went to go and visit his friend, Robin. Maybe she’d understand his dream.
“Why are you telling me about your wet dream?”, she asked the moment he finished.
“It wasn’t a-!” He stopped himself because even he couldn’t deny there was something sultry about it. He had called the other person ‘my love’ and they’d fallen in bed together.
“Dreams don’t always have to mean something”, Robin said. “One time I dreamt that I was gonna crash my car into a tiger and guess what happened?”
“You never crashed your car into a tiger.”
“Wrong! I almost swerved into that mural of the high school mascot. My point is, dreams just take things you’ve seen and heard before and turn it into a movie. I drive by that mural all the time. My sleeping brain just turned it into a new experience.”
Steve leaned back into Robin’s couch. “Maybe. But it didn’t feel like things I had seen before. Not like..this me…”
“‘This’ you?”
“Forget it, forget it”, Steve rubbed at his face. If he kept telling people this, he’d end up in an asylum. “Let’s talk about something else.”
“Well, the word on the street is someone’s finally moving into that place on the hill”, Robin grinned.
“That creepy old house? Why haven’t they torn it down?”
Robin shrugged. “Probably historical or something. Who do you think is moving into it?”
“Some weirdo, a recluse maybe.” The house was on a hill that overlooked the rest of the neighborhood. Steve couldn’t imagine what kind of person would want to live away from everyone else.
Their talk turned to other, more gossipy things. The fact that Tommy was definitely already balding, how the Hargroves were definitely divorcing, how the stores were already gearing up for fall when it was still ninety degrees and mid-August at that. Steve found it easy to forget unsettling dreams when he talked to Robin. And he even forgot about the fact they’d be getting a new neighbor until a couple of weeks later.
It was as if a switch was flipped because the moment the calendar turned to September, a chill settled into the air and the trees all began to turn like someone had sped up time. That night, Steve began sleeping peacefully but soon his body began to react to another dream. This one was solely sensations. They had him shifting in the bed, moaning softly. He curled up but a hand grabbed his shoulder and exposed him to the room.
Steve’s eyes snapped open when he felt the wetness fill his pajama pants. When he looked down, he could see the tent he’d made, beginning to soften. Embarrassment filled him. He hadn’t done that since high school.
Carefully, he got out of bed. He couldn’t believe he didn’t wake up Nancy with that. Normally she slept light as a feather. He moved to clean and change but something compelled him to the window instead. He opened the curtains, immediately feeling a sense of rightness as the moon shined on him. And there, in the distance, that old house.
There was a single window lit up. The first time Steve had ever seen a sign of life in that house. Before his rational brain could provide the thought that the new neighbor must have moved in, a voice called to him. A man’s voice.
“Come to me.”
Steve whimpered and his hands clutched the curtains.
“My love, come to me.”
“Steve?”, Nancy called him sleepily, snapping him out of the trance.
“S-sorry, sorry did I wake you?”, he asked, closing the curtains and turning away from the window.
“Come back to bed.”
“In a second. Gotta use the bathroom.”
Steve changed his bottoms before climbing back into bed with Nancy, wrapping his arms around her. This is where he belonged. THIS is where he belonged. For the rest of the night, his slumber was dreamless.