HIGHER and HIGHER - Steve Harrington x Reader

xxix - with your mind

— 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝 —

LIVING WITHOUT a parent was the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with. Harder than trying to protect six kids from an alternate universe, or killing a Demogorgon, or driving Mike Wheeler everywhere he wanted. You wouldn't believe how difficult it was driving Mike wherever he needed to go...

After living in the Wheeler's basement for a few weeks I was finally able to find a place to stay. It was a small, one bedroom, one bathroom home near downtown Hawkins. Steve and I were able to salvage some of my items from the cabin, but a majority of it was water damaged and torn up from fallen debris. So, I had to buy all new furniture and forced Steve to help me put it together.

"Okay, this does not look right at all." Steve says, sitting on the floor of my new place with a leg of a table in his hand and staring at the instruction manual, "There's no way this piece fits in there. It doesn't even look the same as the picture!"

It was eight o'clock at night on a Tuesday and we were trying to get my new coffee table sat up and put together.

"Here, let me see." I say, sitting across from him.

He grabs the manual and reaches over to hand it to me. I take it from him and read the instructions.

"No, this looks right. That screw has to go in that hole and then you connect the leg to the base. Like this..." I say, handing the manual back to him so that he can look at the photo.

He looks at it for a second with his eyebrows furrowed, then he drops his jaw.

"What?" I ask.

He sets the manual down on the floor and then looks over at me.

"I was totally reading this thing upside down." He says.

I stare at him for a moment in disbelief, then we both break out into laughter. He covers his face with his hand and I fall back onto the floor, my hands on my stomach and unable to contain my laughter. I sit back up after a few moments and our laughing starts to calm down. We stare at each other for a moment, our smiles never leaving our faces.

"You're so gorgeous, (Y/N) Hopper."

I shake my head and purse my lips.

"You're a trip, Steve Harrington."

"Hopefully a good one?"

I tap my finger on my chin as to signify that I was thinking.

"Debatable."

He chuckles and then goes back to putting together my coffee table. The radio plays softly in the background and I tap my foot to the beat as I watch Steve work.

After many fails, finally, the table was finished. We set it up in the middle of the room and stared at it with our arms crossed.

"Yep, I think that's one of my best works." Steve says.

"One of your best? Do you have a whole portfolio?" I ask.

He shakes his head, ignoring my sarcastic remark.

"Once you get a couch and a TV in here I think it'll look great." He says.

I uncross my arms and walk over to the kitchen.

"I ordered the couch last week. It should be here any day now." I say.

I flip through a journal that I had set on the kitchen counter. I open up the 'To-Do' page and cross off 'coffee table' from the list. I feel Steve's hands snake around my waist and his face rest in the crook of my neck. The feeling of his warm breath on my neck creates small goosebumps on my skin.