Broken & Pretty..Steve Harrington

068.

MOMENTS

⇾dark red by steve lacy

something bad's about to happen

⸺THE group was going to be staying at Tiffany and Steve's house for the night since they knew Max needed to be around her friends and their place made the most sense to stay at since no parents or anyone who wasn't aware of the Upside Down situation could walk in on the problem. Nancy and Robin had been given the spare bedroom since there was a bed and pullout couch in there. Max was given the couch in the living room while Lucas and Dustin had to sleep on the floor.

Everyone was getting ready for bed since it was already pretty late and they needed rest so their minds could be ready tomorrow when they were going to figure out everything. Steve was drying his hair with a towel as he stepped out of the bathroom in their room in nothing but his white socks and grey sweatpants. Tiffany was sitting on their bed looking through her bag. She was attempting to find the letter from Billy since that's where she had left it and no one but Dustin and Steve knew about it. But she couldn't find it.

"Tiff, what's wrong? You have that look on your face." Steve pointed out as he tossed the towel in the laundry hamper and sat on the bed in front of his girlfriend.

"What look?" Tiffany asked without looking up from her bag. She was still frantically searching and it was obvious that the letter wasn't in her bag. "The same look you have when Alice is in that jar in the tear ocean and you think she's gonna get hurt."

"What if Alice couldn't swim, Steve?!" Tiffany exclaimed with horror as she waved a hand around frantically and nervously. Sure, the movie Alice in Wonderland was her favourite movie, but it tugged at her heartstrings. Steve actually never liked the movie all that much, he thought it was sort of a ridiculous concept, but Tiffany loved it and he loved her, so he would watch it with her whenever she needed to see it.

"Well, why do you have that look? What's wrong?" Steve asked as he put one hand on his girlfriend's. Tiffany let out a sigh and rubbed her eyes with her free hand as the one being held by Steve's flipped around so she could hold it properly. "I can't find that letter from Billy."

Steve had been considering something for quite some time. Ever since Tiffany had told him about that letter from Billy, he found some issues with it. He wasn't sure how it was possible that a dead person delivered a letter and even if Cory did, why would he put a letter on a grave rather than just go find his friends? That was only the beginning. No one but Tiffany had ever seen that letter, only been told about it. Steve knew it would hurt Tiffany a little if he told her what he thought, but she was becoming so obsessive over this letter. "Tiff...You may not like this, but I don't think the letter was real."

Tiffany's gaze shot up at Steve and she slowly took her hand away from his. "What?"

"Tiffany, have you ever seen the letter other than the first time you picked it up?" Steve asked, already knowing the answer. Tiffany opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She averted her gaze, her mind now running and realizing that she had only seen the letter once.

"And have you ever considered that it's not possible that that letter could've gotten to his grave?" Steve questioned, but Tiffany did have a retort to this. "Cory put it there."

"If Cory's really alive, why wouldn't he go see his friends, his sister, his family? Why would he leave a cryptic, emotional letter on the grave of someone he didn't even like that much?" Steve shockingly had really good points. It seemed more plausible that the letter would just be a vision.

"N-...No. It's real, I saw it...Billy's...He's..." Tiffany stuttered out. Steve could see the small tears forming at the side of her eyes. Seeing her hands starting to shake, Steve had taken the liberty to move next to her. An arm snaked around her shoulders as he pulled Tiffany closer to him. Tears hadn't even fallen, but Steve anticipated that she would need someone to just make her feel safe.

Tiffany began to shake, the realization hitting her. The only thing she had found comfort in these past few days, the only thing that was giving her hope was just a lie from Vecna.

Steve pulled her close to him, pressing a kiss to her head. Tiffany had said nothing, she just let tears fall. Steve too didn't have to say anything. He just held the love of his life closer to him. He cherished having her in his arms, even if he was dying to ask her something else.

Steve could see the small box on his bedside table which contained the ring they had yet to talk about. There was so much happening in Tiffany's life that it was too overwhelming. She had lost her closest friends, she lost her father figure, her best friend, her brother and now she was cursed with this existence that has doomed her to just be a weapon and even if she said she was fine with it, it still hurt to know that she was adopted. Tiffany had been dealt horrible cards these past few years and she had done everything in her power to still help other people and make sure that they were safe and happy before she was, so even if Steve was dying to know if his relationship was going to fall apart or flourish, he just wanted to make the girl he loves with his whole heart happy. Steve just wanted to hold Tiffany in his arms and keep this moment for as long as he could because there was a chance that Steve and Tiffany would never have another moment.

A/N

Wow shocker I updated

I'm actually really sorry that I didn't update for a while, I was taking some time for myself and I didn't have a lot of motivation to write, so hopefully I'll start back up again. I want to get this book done since I feel bad you've all waited so long, but I hope this chapter was good :]