Love Is A Battlefield (A Stranger Things/Steve Harrington Fanfiction)

Chapter Seventy: Given Up On Assuming

Steve and I headed to work at Family Video, and the conversation I'd had with Max was constantly running through my mind. I assumed that that was the reason I'd spent the entire morning feeling uneasy. 

It was still early in the day, so we didn't really have many customers coming in, so I stood behind the counter, chewing absently on the end of my pen as I tried to format a response letter to El. I was hoping to get it done so that I could give it to Mike before he flew out to California, along with a stack of Polaroids of everyone that I had taken. 

I suddenly remembered this, taking out the picture of drooling Steve. I smiled at it, but it brought up those uneasy feelings again. 

Is that really what I've been doing? Dumping my problems on him? I mean yeah, my issues have been more frequent lately but...My sister moved across the country and my Dad just died. Of course things are going to be kind of difficult for me right now. But that's not all our relationship is, is it?

"Aha!" Steve snatched the picture out of my hand, holding it above his head. "I got it! You snooze, you lose, Barbie." I smiled half-heartedly, but it quicky faded, causing his arms to fall down to his sides. "What's wrong?"

"There always seems to be something, doesn't it?" I asked. He furrowed his eyebrows. 

"Ok, wh-where is this coming from? Everything was fine this morning, it was seeming like today was one of the good days, so what...what changed?" I bit my lip.

"Steve, do you feel like...do you feel like I dump my problems on you?" I asked, folding my arms on the counter and leaning against it. "Like, is that all our relationship is based on, you dealing with my issues?"

"What?" He asked. "No, are you kidding? We're engaged, we're supposed to share everything, especially our problems. And there is definitely way more to our relationship than just dealing with bad things."

"Like what?" I asked. He thought about this for a moment before looking down at the picture in his hand. He smiled, leaning against the other side of the counter and holding it up for me to see.

"Like waking me up in the morning by snapping goofy, embarrassing pictures of me," He said, putting it back down on the counter, "Like...this morning in the car, with Robin. We were both giving her advice, and we're on the same page. You had my back and we presented a united front, just like we always do. We take turns picking a movie to bring home at the end of every night, and we keep a list of the hilariously bad ones so that we can watch them a billion more times." I chuckled at this. "Riles, we have an extremely healthy relationship. Its not one-sided, there's no double standards, and we have just as many good days as we do bad. But no matter which kind of day it is, we know that we'll do it together."

"Yeah...yeah, I guess you're right." I agreed. 

"I know I am, because being with you has made me like, twenty times smarter. I'm practically a genius now." I laughed as he kissed me on the side of the head before walking away to continue restocking the movies. I stood up straight, looking back down at my letter and the goofy picture of Steve. I reached down to pick it up, when suddenly the hair on the back of my neck stood up and a feeling that I knew all too well crept up in my chest.

At that point, I didn't hesitate running out from behind the counter and out to my truck, looking in the bed to make sure that my emergency Upside-Down duffle bag was still there. I grabbed it, pulling it out and setting on the ground so that I could unzip it and double check its contents. 

It still had everything in it that I had first packed into it the day I had set out to investigate Will's disappearance with a few new additions ;My Radio, Multiple boxes of bullets, my pistol, food rations, blankets, spare clothes, a lighter and matches, multiple flashlights and batteries, alcohol and strips of cloth, a first aid kit, my fire axe. Basically anything I would need to fight upside down based creatures and/or, somehow, by some nightmare, end up stuck there again.