wires, steve harrington

twenty-six.

meadow looked up at the ceiling of the bathroom, feeling empty as she flushed her puke down the toilet. "the ceiling stopped spinning for me." robin said. "is it done spinning for you guys?"

the girl looked up at the ceiling, surprised to find that it had stopped. "yeah, yeah, it's not spinning anymore." she chuckled lightly, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as she brushed through her already bloody hair with a hand.

"do you think we puked it all up?" steve asked robin.

she shrugged. "i don't know, interrogate me."

steve nodded. "okay, interrogate you. uh... when was the last time you, uh, peed your pants?"

"today." robin replied.

"what?" steve and meadow asked in unison, the latter laughing to herself.

"when the russian doctor took out the bone saw." robin explained.

steve chuckled, and meadow laughed herself, taking her hair tie off of her wrist and using it to pull her curly hair into a lazy half up- half down, yanking out the front strands so that they remained in her face.

"it was just a little bit though." robin defended herself.

steve shook his head. "yeah, it's definitely still in her system." he said to meadow.

meadow then slid under the divide between the stalls, now sitting next to steve in his. he put an arm around her, feeling his whole body loosen all of its pent up tension as soon as she was in his sight.

steve hadn't been in the right state of mind when meadow was brought back to him, but now he almost got emotional, as if it were a do-over of their reunion. "i'm glad you're okay." he whispered, hearing robin almost fall asleep in the other stall.

the girl looked up at him from her spot on his shoulder. "i'm glad you're okay, too." she smiled. "i'd kiss you but you sold my brother to commies and your breath smells like throw up."

he chuckled, looking around. "do you have like.. a mint?" he asked, making her giggle. she reached into the pockets of her jacket (well, his jacket), turning them out to show she didn't have mints. "come on, there's gotta be like.. a vending machine that sells mints around here." he said, making her laugh again.

"fine." she said to him, putting her fingers under his chin and meeting his lips in a tender kiss. steve smiled, bringing her closer to him as her fingers threaded through his hair. "i missed you." she whispered, resting her forehead on his. "i also missed us nearly dying together."

"yeah, the nearly dying part i could do without." steve replied, seeing her nose crinkle as she laughed. "i love you." he said, looking into her eyes.

meadow loved the way he looked at her. almost everytime, his eyes would gloss over. he looked almost emotional, like he was simply overwhelmed with love. he never looked at nancy like that, dustin would always tell her, making her blush and roll her eyes, ruffling her brother's hair. steve looked at meadow as if she were breakable glass, as if she were so beautiful she could break. and maybe that was why he always felt the need to protect her.

but, this time, the look wasn't breakable, like she always imagined it to be. as she scanned his eyes, meadow realized that steve was looking at her in mere awe. maybe he didn't think she was breakable, maybe, the entire time, he'd just been in awe of her strength and resilience, and had wanted to do nothing the entire time but save her like she was saving him.

"i love you, steve." she whispered, seeing his lips curve into a dimpled smile. "you still smell like shit though."

steve threw his head back in a genuine laugh, intertwining their fingers. "oh, i'm so sorry about dustin by the way. i didn't mean to-"