Chapter Text
After almost dying many times to horrific creatures that shouldn’t even exist, you tend to get less of a thrill from the more boring things in life. While it is nice to relax and lay back and know you’re not in the immediate threat of death, you sometimes itch for that feeling that reminds you alive, for the thrill of life.
Steve had always enjoyed driving - filling the fuel tank and going along the backroads, cranking the volume as loud as he can bare and holding the gas down while slotting up to 5th gear. With the windows slightly lowered, you could feel the wind get more and more whiplike as the speedometer only increased more and more. Whilst someone who had never driven this road would probably freak out if they were a passenger in his car, Steve knew the roads of Hawkin’s like they were embedded in his brain, specifically the backroads.
He knew when to reduce speed and shift down to fourth, then third, to take a corner, only to quickly shift back up to fourth, then fifth once more. He knew when he was at the third sharp corner, and when to prepare to push the accelerator all the way to the floor, let the car creep up to however fast he felt. In the past he had gotten near the top speed on the speedometer, but never surpassed it. Today there was something different in the air, something that told him he needed that feeling, the adrenaline he so desperately craved simply from being a stupid teenager.
Steve had always been the default taxi driver from whenever anyone in the party needed a lift, but he was always happy to do so if it meant safe of mind knowing whoever needed a ride was in safe hands. However, every person would always demand a different genre of music, causing many different cassette tapes made by various different people to be brought and left in the car, just for the next time they were in there. Because of this, he started getting accustomed to new genres of music, and even began to like some he didn’t previously.
Sure, it’s not like he loved metal, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it. He would also not reveal that secret, it’s something that the others would be able to use against him for years to come, and he wouldn’t want his pettiness over getting teased to get in the way of something he was truly beginning to enjoy for once. However, when Steve went on his highly dangerous, adrenaline-seeking night-time rides, he felt that the heavy and boisterous music fit the feeling of desperation for adrenaline he felt so deep in his bones. Lucas had swiped an album from Eddie, the cassette now living in Steve’s car, and it was one that was quickly growing on Steve, which surprised him as the only similarity it had to his music taste was that the blue on the ‘Ride the Lightning’ cover matched the blue of his ‘Ocean Rain’ vinyl back at home.
As the guitar started on the third song, the first two having gone through on his ride there, the bells made him jump. While he had never heard the grandfather clock, he had heard of it, and any sound similar to a clocks gong put him on edge. Steve white knuckled the steering wheel once the bells had finished and the band begun blaring through his cars less-than-shitty speakers. One of the only reasons he could get through this song without freaking out was because he had witnessed Eddie and the rest of Corroded Coffin perform it for the party many times, so it almost became sentimental to him. As the music began to sink into his skin, Steve took a deep inhale, before shutting his eyes as his foot continued to hold down the accelerator. After a few counts, he opened his eyes again, taking only a split second to identify what section of the road he was at. A glance to the speedometer, and Steve decided that today would be the day he’d drop the needle.
He tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he heard the wind get harsher and harsher, barely able to hear it with the sounds of Metallica blasting from his cars speakers, the cold wind raising goosebumps on his skin. The needle slowly ticked further and further on the odometer, slowly creeping towards the highest number displayed, an intimidating 140. His eyes flicked to the rev counter before landing back on the road, the needle reaching the 6 and about to enter the red zone.
Despite the loud music, Steve could hear and feel the car's engine, the inline 6 turbo engine roaring as he only continued to increase more and more in speed. The needle slowly reached the 140, before continuing its journey past it to a now unknown speed, as the music started growing harder and faster, almost like it knew how he felt at the moment. As the song finished, Steve watched the rev counter reach its limit, the needle bouncing against the 7, sitting painfully in the red zone.
Putting his eyes on the road once again, he took a split second to think. He had a little further before he’d have to start reducing speed for an upcoming corner, but there was enough time to keep climbing speed for a little longer. When he saw the needle on the speedometer pointing directly downwards, the needle on the rev counter bouncing for dear life, and the engine screaming out underneath his foot. He basked in the adrenaline for a moment, with ‘Fade to Black’ having started blaring through the speakers now, before letting his foot off the accelerator and gently begging to brake.
The feeling of all his nerves standing up and the slight blur of his eyes was still there even as the rev counter needle returned back to a safe zone and the needle on the speedometer was once again pointing at a number, and it lingered even as he decreased. Since he had never gotten so fast before, he was approaching the nearest corner at a speed much faster than anticipated, but he had no choice but to go with it and turn at the 60mph he was going, feeling the back wheels of his car fly out as he drifted into it, another wave of adrenaline suddenly punching him in the gut.
As he drove out of the corner, he turned the music down and felt his nerve endings sizzle on every surface of his skin. With somewhat shaky hands, he reached over to the glovebox to grab his near empty pack of camels and trusty yet busted up zippo lighter, scuffs and unexplainable marks from years of love. With a now lit cigarette hanging from between his lips, Steve felt the brunt of adrenaline begin to subside as the wave of clarity hit him, the danger of what he did catching up to him.
Steve doesn’t know why, but he begins to laugh. He laughs so hard he ends up coughing, sputtering from the unsavory feeling of cigarette smoke being exhaled in a laugh. The fact his life flipped so fast - from getting drunk and high at his house with randoms from school and many different strangers every weekend to blasting metal music as he chased a thrill because he almost had withdrawals over the lack of adrenaline from his life being endangered.
As he finally pulled into the driveway of his house, he flicked the butt of his cigarette out of the still open window of the car, as he winded them up as he slid the car into neutral and put on the handbrake. It was hard pulling up to his house after a long and loud day at work or spending time with any of the others, the silence in his far-too-big house reminding him of just how lonely he got with his parents constantly disappearing to god knows where.
Despite the feeling of solitude deep inside him, Steve pushed it aside and instead tried to think about what positives he could find in the situation. Having no parents meant that despite being 19, he had a house all to himself without even having to pay any rent, which meant parties, loud music, and whatever he felt like - within reason, of course. With all these possibilities to him, Steve still didn’t like any of the options. Instead, he chose to just go through the same nightly routine he always has, and fall into bed for a restless sleep like always.