Bab 33: 33. Soon, Steve (Steve and The Party)
A/N: Guess who cried while writing this? *Trina Vega's thumbs up* This girl! So, Still Loving You has been one of my favorite heartbreak songs ever since Byzinha used it in her story (which I will literally kill you all if you haven't read it), so it seemed fitting to use it in this chapter. The 'bitch' seat is the back middle seat (I have no idea why it's called like that). Also, this ended up being kind of sad, so... sorry. This is for Adrian Bell.
PROMPT: Steve catches Lumax and Mileven making out, and then when he drops El off at the Byers', he sees Jonathan and Nancy kissing too.
Steve often questioned how he ended up in situations he didn't plan to find himself in.
Like that time he freaked out because Barbara Holland had gone missing when all he wanted was a fun night with his asshole friends (and maybe some action with Nancy); like that time he had gotten involved fighting a monster from another dimension while all he wanted was to be a decent person and apologize to Jonathan; like that time Nancy had crushed his heart while all he wanted was to help her move on from her buried pain; like that time he had somehow acquired 6 children when all he wanted was to apologize to his (now ex) girlfriend.
Like now, watching Mike and Eleven kiss each other senseless while all he wanted to do was be a nice Mom and drop his kids off from their play date.
He rolled his eyes exasperated while he parked his car in the Wheeler's driveway, getting out of the vehicle as the couple leaned against one of the walls in the garage. He could see them kiss softly, their heads moving gently with the pull of their lips, and he whistled sharply to make his presence known, tapping the hood of his car with an open palm as the teens sprang apart quickly, startled by the sudden noise.
"Ease up, Romeo and Juliet!" He shouted. "I did not pay for a show!"
"You didn't even pay!" Mike shouted back, huffing while rolling his eyes as El licked her lips with a giggle, waving sheepishly at Steve in greeting.
"What are you two doing outside, anyways?" He walked up to them, swag in his footsteps as the car keys dangled from his finger. "Isn't there a small village of children inside?"
"We came out here to say goodbye." El informed him innocently, smiling up at Mike when the boy flushed under Steve's smirk.
"Oh, is that right, Mr. Wheeler?" He raised his eyebrows in amusement, enjoying the way Mike's freckles disappeared under the redness on his face.
"Why don't you go bother Dustin or Lucas?" The younger boy snapped, waving a hand towards the door.
"Yeah, all right," Steve nodded, walking through the couple (bumping into Mike a little to mess with the kid). "I'll leave you two to say goodbye properly."
"Thanks, Steve!" El smiled, and Mike began sputtering at his back until his rumbling was smothered against El's lips again.
Steve walked inside the house, waving at Mrs. Wheeler when he saw her hovering by the window, and then he paused in the middle of the stairs on his way down to the basement when he was met with silence. Weird, he thought with a frown, there's not a chance in hell that these kids know the word quiet.
Then he heard a sound.
His eyebrows lowered further down over his eyes, straining his ears to see if he had been imagining the noise or- nope! There it was again. It was like a wet sound; a sucking kind that went silent for short seconds before it increased in volume.
He descended the stairs fully, his footsteps light as his fingers itched for the nail bat, and then his eyes reached the sky again as he found where the wet sound was coming from.
Max had Lucas cornered against the D&D table, standing between the boy's legs as they kissed slowly, eyes closed in bliss as Lucas' hands ran through Max's red locks.
"Ahem," He cleared his throat, and he almost enjoyed the way both teens' eyes went wide, had a small figurine not been thrown to his forehead. "Ow! Maxine!" He frowned, rubbing the now red spot as the redhead glared at him while Lucas wiped the spit that was shining on his lips with the back of his hand.
"Why do you have to be such a creep?" She snapped, crossing her arms.
"Be glad it was me!" He exclaimed, picking the little Paladin from the floor and walking over to slam it down the table. "I'm sure Mrs. Wheeler would have taken this shit to the forehead like a champ!"
"Mrs. Wheeler is too preoccupied making sure Mike doesn't swallow El's tongue right now to come down here to catch us." Lucas shrugged, tapping his girlfriend's hip to make her step back so he could jump from the table and walk to his backpack, swinging it over his shoulder.
"Where are Dustin and Will, anyway?" Steve frowned again, noticing the lack of wild curly and straight bowl cut hair in the room.
"They're in the backyard running boredom out of their system." Max informed him as Lucas took her hand in his, ready to call it a night now that their ride was here.
Right on cue, two pairs of footsteps came running down the stairs. "Is he here?" Dustin's cracking voice said, and then Steve's pseudo little brother appeared under a mass of big curls and his signature cap, Will trailing behind him with a hand on his chest as gasps left his mouth. "You need to wait for me!"
"You need to keep up, old man." Dustin quipped at the smaller boy as he ran to get his things.
"And you need a haircut, young boy." Steve palmed Dustin's head, tugging on a curl as the boy grinned toothily up at him.
"Alright, nerds, let's go!" Max clapped abruptly. "Night's not getting shorter and I'm not getting younger."
"You got all your things?" He asked them as Will shoved one last chip in his mouth, swinging his own bag against his back.
They all nodded their 'Hm-hm's, and then he was leading them all up the stairs, saying bye to Karen as she came in from her trip outside to untangle Mike and El.
"Alright, Mileven, time to say goodbye." Steve said over his shoulder as they passed the hugging pair, Will reaching out to shove them lightly with a laugh.
"Shotgun!" Dustin yelled, running up to his BMW with all the speed his growing legs could give him, but it was all for nothing when El broke apart from Mike suddenly, freezing Dustin's feet with her mind as she ran past them all, coming to a stop next to the passenger's door with a smirk. "I think you're getting bitch instead."
"That's not fair!" Dustin screamed indignantly as they all guffawed at his stunned expression, Max leaning all her weight against Lucas as her body shook with laughter.
"Let him go, J." Steve laughed, tapping the girl on the head as he passed her to get to the driver's side.
Somehow, after a few minutes, they were all piled up and ready to go (Dustin ended up in a window seat, much to El's bemusement). They all obnoxiously waved bye at Mike, receiving an equally excited wave from the laughing boy, until they stopped literally 3 houses away from his to drop Lucas off.
"First stop, kiddos." He announced as the door opened and Max stepped out to let Lucas out.
"Wow, what a long ride!" Will exclaimed sarcastically as he shuffled until he was no longer on Dustin's lap.
"Make it quick, Darcy and Bennet, I still have a small hoard of children to drop off." He teased as Lucas hugged Max goodbye.
"Who's Elizabeth?" Lucas asked teasingly once he had rounded the car and Max was inside again, leaning down over Steve's window to grin at him.
"Definitely you." He nodded seriously, El giggling unceasingly beside him.
They watched him get inside his house, and Steve honked as Mike waved bye again, having been outside to wait until they had safely dropped Lucas off; El watched through the side mirror until her boyfriend was a small shape from afar.
A few minutes later, and a few nice houses less, they were in Max's neighborhood, pulling up in front of her house.
"Off you go, girlie." Dustin said in a terrible accent, which landed him a punch to the shoulder.
"Never talk to me like that again." Max said with a threatening finger, her serious face breaking into a bark of laughter as Dustin moaned in pain; she reached out to hug him quickly and then leaned in to squeeze Will's hand.
"Thanks, Steve!" She exclaimed, leaning further in to reach into the driver's seat and tug a lock of fluffy hair. "Bye, El. Bye, guys!" She waved, running quickly to get inside as Steve watched with wary eyes for any signs of a certain blond.
"He's not here," El told him reassuringly, watching as his narrowed eyes stared at the door even though Max had been inside for a few minutes now. "Max said he's been gone for a few days."
"I wish he'd stay away forever." Will sighed from the backseat.
"One can only hope, right?" Dustin smiled tightly as Steve began moving slowly, still watching the house in case Max showed any signs of needing help.
"Never hurts to be sure." Steve murmured to El in explanation as they finally rolled away from the Hargrove household.
A few minutes later, Dustin's house was in plain view, with his mother outside popping the trunk of her car open.
"Dusty, is that you, honey?" Claudia Henderson smiled as she watched the familiar BMW stop outside her house.
"Yes, your royal highness," Dustin exclaimed as he stepped out, Steve and the step-siblings inside smiling at the mother/son interaction. "It is me."
"Oh, my prince!" The blonde woman exclaimed with a big smile, wrapping her arms around her taller-than-her-now son, kissing his face repeatedly while Dustin whined in embarrassment when the kids started laughing. "Mom!"
"Okay, okay." She laughed, releasing him out of her mama bear hug.
"Need any help, Mrs. Henderson?" Steve asked courteously as he spotted the bagged groceries in her car.
"Oh, no, sweetie, thank you," she grinned as Dustin began pulling the bags from the trunk. "You go on and drop these beautiful children before Joyce kills you."
El and Will grinned toothily at Dustin's mom, preening under the compliment as Steve nodded with a smile. "Alright, see you!"
"Have a good night, and thank you for dropping my baby off!" Claudia waved.
"Mom!" Dustin whined again, and with one last laugh, Steve and the Hopper-Byers siblings were off.
El fiddled with the radio the whole way to their house, while Will talked their ears off about The Scorpions' Love at First Sting album, Steve nodding as the boy explained the songs' content and why it was 'the best fucking break up album ever!'
"What do you even know about break ups?" El asked with a frown, and Will's only response was a light shrug with a bright smile.
As the lights from the BMW began to highlight the Byers' driveway, it also landed on a pair of older teens curled up on the porch, their mouths glued together as they kissed languidly, and Steve's throat bobbed when his eyes fell on the third make out session he was seeing today, courtesy of Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler.
"Hey! There's people who don't enjoy coming home to a freaking show, okay?!" Will shouted when he rolled the window down, Jonathan and Nancy startled out of their kiss by them as Steve parked in front of them.
This time his eyes didn't reach the sky, but they did reach his shoes on the pedals of the car as he lowered them to the floor.
Jonathan blushed and stood up to greet his little siblings while Nancy grimaced and waved at Steve with a sheepish expression.
"Thanks, Steve!" Will said, grinning up at him when the older boy reached back to mess his shaggy hair up fondly, and then he got out of the car.
"It's okay to miss her sometimes." El murmured quietly as she unbuckled her seatbelt.
"What?" Steve frowned.
"It's okay to miss her sometimes," El repeated slowly, her eyes meeting his to emphasize the words. "I see the way you still look at her," she explained further when he pretended to have no idea of what she was saying. "It's okay, Steve."
He would be lying if he said it didn't hurt him anymore, and the way El's words cut deep into his heart was proof enough of it.
"She's happy." He sighed finally, shrugging it off with heavy shoulders.
"And you'll be too," El smiled softly, leaning up to kiss his cheek, and his heart squeezed lovingly as he looked back at her with a lopsided smile. "Soon, Steve."
"How soon?" He whispered as Nancy began to throw suspicious looks in their way.
El swallowed. "Soon." She repeated.
"Okay, Juliet," he smiled again, sadness tainting the corners of it as he reached out to scratch her scalp lightly. "Soon."
El ducked her head away from his hands fondly, smiling at him one last time before she got out, too.
Jonathan raised a hand in a silent 'thanks' when both of his siblings were walking in front of him to get inside the house, where he could see Joyce waiting for them, and he smiled back (a bit tight, but who could tell in the darkness of the night, right?), waving at Nancy when she threw him a hesitant smile.
On the way home, like a joke from destiny, Still Loving You played on the radio, and if his eyes got a little moist and his heart thumped more painfully than usual, well, who could tell?
Steve often questioned how he ended up in situations he didn't plan to find himself in. Like now, when his eyes started leaking small tears out and a few quiet whimpers broke out of his lips as he sang along to words he didn't know but felt, when he only wanted to drop off the most important group of kids he would ever have in his life.
"Soon, Steve."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone