Lucas's turn! This is like, Lucas being the babysitter? Like, he makes Steve realize he's lucky but also scolds him. You should probably just read it instead of this terrible summary!
Steve sighed.
He had nothing to do.
It was his day off but not Robin's and a Friday, meaning the kids had a campaign.
Except for Max, but she was very closed off since the whole Billy thing.
Since he had nothing to do, Steve did something he rarely did anymore.
Thinking.
Not like normal thinking, no. Like in depth, 'why is my life like this?' thinking.
The first thing he thought of were the dorks.
They were growing up.
Gosh, he sounded like a mom.
But it was true.
Even Robin agreed.
They were already too grown up for their age, with the Upside Down.
But now they were in high school, and Mike had had like, 3 growth spurts since July.
The kids were off doing their own thing, DND sessions and other nerd stuff.
Soon they were going to be able to drive.
And that thought triggered another thought in Steve's head. One that he'd been stuffing deep in his brain.
What use would Steve be to them?
Once they were driving, how would Steve be useful to them.
Really, the only reason they stuck around was that he could drive them everywhere.
Before Steve could go into deeper thought, the doorbell rang.
Steve got up to answer it, eyeing his nail bat which was propped up near the door.
He pulled open the door and was surprised to see Lucas standing there.
"Lucas? Aren't you supposed to be at the nerd thing?" Steve asked.
Lucas rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah, I kinda, uh, told them I couldn't make it."
Steve squinted. "Why?"
"Well, I told them that my mom wanted me to take Erica to some place but uh," Lucas took a deep breath. "I skipped cause I wanted to ask you a favor."
"A favor?"
Lucas nodded.
"Okay, what is it? Need me to take you somewhere?" Steve questioned.
"No, I-" Lucas hesitated.
Steve motioned for him to go on.
"I want you to teach me how to play basketball." Lucas rushed out.
Steve blinked. Once. Twice.
"What?"
Lucas looked sheepish. "I want you to teach me how to play basketball." he mumbled. "I know you used to play."
Steve was still very confused on to why Lucas wanted to play basketball, but he nodded. "Sure. We can play in the back. But why did you skip your campaign for this?"
Lucas paused. "I didn't want the Party to know that I was doing this."
"Doing what?"
"Trying out for the basketball team." Lucas told him.
Oh.
So that's why Lucas wanted to play basketball with him.
"You never know who's stopping by on any other day but when everyone's at the campaign," Lucas started.
"You know nobody's going to show up." Steve finished for him because it was true, Dustin stopped by daily and even Mike sometimes showed up unannounced.
Steve led Lucas around the back where his basketball hoop was.
"So, why are you trying out for the team?" Steve asked.
Lucas shrugged. "Just want a change of scenery, I guess."
Steve nodded as they made it to the hoop.
He grabbed a ball and threw it at Lucas.
Lucas instantly caught it and shot an offensive look at Steve.
"Good, we know you have good hand eye coordination." Steve said and turned towards the basket.
"That's why you threw the hard basketball directly at my face?" Lucas asked.
Steve nodded and gestured to Lucas to throw the ball back.
Once the basketball was in his hands, Steve looked at Lucas.
"Alright, let's get started."
Lucas flopped down on the grass.
He panted and poured some water over his head.
Lucas felt Steve sit next down beside him.
"You know, you're a pretty good player." Steve looked at him questionably. "Are you sure you haven't played before?"
Lucas sighed. "Well, I've been practicing since the Byers moved. I just- didn't know if I was doing it right."
"You seem to have been doing pretty good then." Steve chuckled and wiped the sweat off his brow.
Lucas smiled. "Thanks, Steve. That means a lot."
Steve shrugged. "It's nothing."
Lucas gazed at the older boy incredulously.
"Uh, no it's not nothing. You literally spent like 2 hours of your day helping me out for something that I probably won't even do well at."
"First of all, you're going to do amazing. They can't say no." Steve told him sternly. "And second, you didn't bother me. I was kind of bored before you came to be honest."
Lucas frowned. "Why were you bored?"
"Today was my day off and you guys didn't need any rides or anything." Steve explained. "It's fine though. I should get used to it."
"Why's that?"
Steve started to toss the basketball back and forth between his hands.
"You guys are going to be driving soon. When that happens, you guys won't need me for things anymore."
Lucas's jaw was on the ground. How could Steve think that?
"Uh Steve?"
Steve hummed and turned towards Lucas.
"You do realize that's not true right? We need you. Oh gosh we need you. We'll always look up to you and always need you. Even if we do have our licenses."
Steve paused.
"Really?"
"Uh, yeah?! Yesterday Dustin was talking about how you talked him through a nightmare. Mike is too "cool" to say it but he needs you for sure. And me. I definitely need you. I mean, you help me with so many things, like basketball."
Steve tried to hide a smile.
"We're pretty lucky to have you, you know." Lucas finished.
Steve chuckled and draped an arm around the younger boy's shoulders.
"Yeah, well I'm pretty lucky to have you guys."
Both smiled at each other and quietly listened to chirping of the woods.
"We probably won't listen to your girl advice, though."
"Hey!"
AN: Hope you liked it! So, I definitely like all pairings with Steve I found out. Eh, you learn new things everyday, I guess!
