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

Chapter Sixty-Five: Right Now

Hey, so I know I ended part three on a rather depressing note, and I also just missed writing Steve and Riley, so I'm going to give you some bonus chapters. Hopefully they won't interfere with the plot of Season 4 but if they do, feel free to ignore these chapters. I just wanted more Stiley content. Stiley? Reve? I don't know, what ever you want to call them. Any way, enjoy!

~~~

"Its a really nice apartment, considering its the cheapest in town. And the city covers the utilities so all you'd really be paying for is rent.  Its perfectly catered to a couple of your income. "Steve and I were currently walking around an apartment complex, situated directly on the town square. We'd looked at several places but so far, this was the only one within our price range. "It is a two bedroom, but if you two will be sharing a room it can be a study, a dining room, whatever it is you would want to put in there."

"We haven't actually...talked about what our sleeping arrangements are going to be." Steve said quietly, glancing at me. I looked up at him. "Sorry, uh...can you give us a sec?"

"Sure. Take all the time you need." The land lord flashed us a charming smile before walking out of the apartment. I continued to look around the place, ignoring Steve's eyes on me.

"What are we going to do about that?" He asked. "Because you know, obviously we're engaged and stuff but...I understand if you need your space." I squeezed my eyes shut, hanging my head.

"Can you please stop talking to me like I'm going to break at any moment?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. I sighed, turning away from him and going to stand by the window, looking out of it.

"I'm not," He said gently, coming to stand beside me, "I know you're not, you're tougher than anyone I've ever met, its just...I don't know the protocol here, Barbie." I smiled slightly at the nickname. "You like that?" He grabbed my waist, pulling me against him and I chuckled, leaning my forehead against his chest. "You like it when I call you Barbie?"

"I like it when you treat me like everything is normal." I said quietly, pulling back to look at him. He eyed me warily.

"I seem to recall that the last time I did that, my girlfriend got drunk and told me that she'd never loved me."

"Well I seem to recall that Nancy and I are two different people, and while she may want to feel and process her problems, I just want to move on."

"This isn't the type of thing you can just move on from, Riles. This isn't a monster or a Russian conspiracy, this is...grief. And you have to feel it or its gonna eat you alive." He said, reaching up and tucking my hair behind my ear. I shook my head, looking out the window again, but he grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him.

"I can't...not right now, I can't deal with it right now..." Tears welled up in my eyes, so I squeezed them closed, not wanting to allow them to escape. 

"I get it, I do but....unfortunately, I don't think you have much choice in the matter." I sighed. "But just know, whatever you feel, I'm not going anywhere, ok? I'm gonna be right here, feeling it right along with you, and we're gonna get through it, and we're gonna get this apartment because its kind of perfect for us," I laughed tearfully," And we're gonna make a home for Eleven to come back to when the time is right." I nodded, smiling. He brushed away escaped tears with his thumbs.

"I think I like that plan."  He nodded, smiling and pulling me towards him, pressing his lips against my forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too."  He pressed a brief kissed to my lips before turning to look at the door. "Excuse me, ma'am?" The land lord came back in. "We'll take it."