Back To Risky Business

Back to Risky Business

summary: Steve’s plans for Halloween sound a little too familiar for Bethany’s liking. She lets her insecurity and jealousy get in the way of their relationship.

pairing: Steve Harrington x  oc

a/n: this did not turn out quite the way I intended it to, and spooky season is over, but I hope this lives up to your expectations, anon :)

Steve Harrington lost his flair for horror and a cheap scare somewhere around the time he fought a very real monster. The boy who once lived for scary movies and Halloween mischief now flinched at movement in the dark. If it were up to Steve, he would bury himself under a pile of blankets, a bowl of candy, and smother his girlfriend with kisses until everything returned to normal. However, Bethany loved Halloween.

He watched her carve one too many pumpkins and stockpile enough horror movies into a shopping cart at Blockbuster to make it impossible to ignore her love for the season. Happily, the boy held her hand through yet another rerun of Gremlins and teased of her love for Bill Murray through three-quarters of Ghostbusters. He gulped down mug-fulls of her homemade apple cider, aghast at her ability to liquefy her honey warm love with each mug. Bethany felt like smooth honey, a sticky sweet caramel melted over a crisp apple that Steve could never seem to finish; he loved to try, though. He may not have liked Halloween anymore, but Steve sure did love Bethany.

Their little college town had only one pizza place that could bear some semblance of their sacred joint back home in Hawkins. Nothing could ever quite top that Mom ‘n Pop restaurant where Steve once made an utter lovestruck fool out of himself the night Dustin first properly introduced them, and their corner booth still proudly displayed their names amid a crudely drawn heart - a parting gift from Steve. This was as good a place as any to continue their Tuesday night tradition.

Steve turned his chin towards Beth, smiling. He cupped her hand in his. Like an insecure pound puppy, he cuddled up to her, quietly pleading for affection with his big brown eyes.

“So,” he said. “I’ve been thinking”

Beth hummed, an eyebrow cocked playfully. He stole a sip from her drink, not once taking his eye off of her. She noted the twinkle in his eye. Steve loved mischief, and in the season of trickery, she couldn’t imagine what he had on his mind.

With a mouthful of pizza and his free hand wrapped up in her, Steve trudged on:

“I know you said you just wanted to rent a movie and have a night in for Halloween, but one of the guys from the team mentioned some party he’s throwing on Saturday. Why don’t we dress up for it? I was thinking we could go as that couple from the Michael J. Fox movie you love so much-“

At this, Beth shifted her weight away from him, suddenly silent. She stirred Dr. Pepper around her cup with the straw, deflating. Steve’s sly grin shifted into a pull of his eyebrows.

“Oh,” she stalled. “Steve, I don’t know.”

Beth sighed, the tension creasing into her forehead not unlike that of the disapproving grimace usually reserved for her time as a stressed babysitter. A heavy, nauseous weight settled over Beth and the scared girl inside of her wanted little more than to flee the diner, to give in to her insecurity. That little girl saw the handsome, unattainable boy who stole her heart on the playground but who never bothered to return the favor. She suddenly felt very small.

“What is it?”

Steve reached for her hands, only to watch her pull them out of arm's reach. She scoffed but refused to look at him. Undeterred, Steve lifted her chin gently up to face him with his pointer and middle fingers. A familiar sick settled over him like a cold breeze. It was a smoggy feeling that looked an awful lot like his father and made him feel just as inadequate. Steve struggled to keep his insecurities at bay, to remember that Beth wasn’t Nancy; she would keep his heart safe. Once she pushed him away, Steve was suddenly the touch-starved boy who first asked her out; he needed her to nuzzle and coddle him.

“Hey,” he murmured. “You know you can talk to me.”

Commitment still came relatively new to Steve. Before Nancy, Steve Harrington was a womanizer and a ladies’ man. The old Steve couldn’t be bothered to sit still long enough to funnel the overwhelming love he had to give into a single relationship. At least, he had chalked the whole thing up to an inner fear of commitment. Nancy felt different his junior year of high school, but with Beth it felt like forever. He now knew that he had never been unable or unwilling to commit; Bethany Sullivan and her big heart stole him away the first time they met on the Hawkins Elementary playground. Even now, knowing that she was it for him, Steve worried that he didn’t deserve her. In his mind, Steve still saw himself as the shitty boyfriend he felt he had been to Nancy Wheeler, even if that was never true.

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Beth, c’mon. I know that look. Tell me”

Pound Puppy Steve now looked as pathetic as an unruly mutt returned to the pound’s doorstep. Panicky, he wrapped his hands around himself. His watery eyes begged her to cave in to his affections. However, Bethany knew better. He really struck a nerve this time. She refused to look at him. Pulling her coat over her shoulders, Beth brushed off his pleas.

“Take me home, please,” she slid from the booth.

With her arms wrapped defensively around her chest, she made for the door. The blonde refused to look back for fear of what truth she might find within this eyes. He called after her but she ignored him.

“Beth!”

“I’ve got class in the morning and I know for a fact that you still have homework to do.”

While true, her concern over schoolwork had nothing to do with the mounting desire to escape to the sanctity of her dorm room. Even if her roommate wanted to gossip about people Beth neither knew nor cared for, she preferred Chrissy’s chatter to the nagging voice of her own insecurity. With her puppy at her heels, Bethany crossed the parking lot to his car.

It was a tortuously quiet car ride back to campus. Her traitorous mind conjured up images of a smiley, lovesick Steve clinging to the arm of Nancy Wheeler at a house party; she foolishly remembered the coordinating Risky Business costumes. Back in high school, the world belonged to Bethany, but the only thing she wanted was far too busy mooning after a girl who didn’t love him.

Steve remembered that night differently. The devilish parts of his mind flashed carnal images of a younger Bethany. He might have belonged to Nancy at the time, but the deepest, rawest parts of Steve tingled with desire at the mere image of her golden hair bouncing with each step, of that tiny, oh-so-perfect angel costume and its ironic halo that made Steve want to absolutely ruin her. He often thought of her as she was that night- young, smiling, angelic. She had his heart as much then as now. Nancy Wheeler may have ruined Halloween for him once, but he swore that Bethany Sullivan would save him.

He parked his BMW outside her dorm building. Steve watched her as she reached for the door handle, noticing her hesitation to pull it. A semblance of hope lit up for Steve but it felt clouded by his inability to wrap his head around why Beth reacted so strongly.

“Look, if you still wanna do movie night-“

“No, no. That’s not it, Steve.”

“Doesn’t it all seem a little too,” she treaded lightly. “Familiar?”

Beth needed him to validate her insecurities. The vulnerable parts of her really needed Steve to touch her face and tell her how much he loved her. Maybe to kiss her unruly heart right back into place. Only he didn’t. Instead, his puppy eyes blinked at her. He shook his head.

“No,” he said. “Should it?”

Beth smiled sadly in return. She pushed the car door open. Hanging in the doorway, hovering and silently hoping he chased after her, she succumbed into a long night of self loathing.

“Goodnight, Steve.”

Steve Harrington thought of himself as a dreadfully average student. He often struggled to apply himself and bits and pieces of things sometimes struggled to connect for him. Unfortunately for Steve, Beth’s hurt was a puzzle he felt ill equipped to solve. Alone and close to crying in the parking lot, he pulled at his chocolate locks as if it might yank the last piece out of his thick skull.

One thing Steve held himself to was to never give up on what truly matters. Even if he rushed himself right into the eye of a hurricane by not seeing the obvious, he had to fix this. Afraid he might have just lost the love of his life, Steve sped off to conjure up a big gesture to win her back.

“He’s not gonna just go away.”

Beth and Chrissy’s quiet Saturday girls’ night in was interrupted by a vicious tapping at the window. The party began half an hour earlier. Not that it mattered much to Bethany, who refused to speak to Steve since their fight.

Chrissy peeled back the blinds, smiling apologetically at the pouty boy two floors below. She cracked the window open. She cooed under her breath at the sight of his jean jacket and puffy red material vest, looking straight off the set of Beth’s favorite movie. If a boy had done this for her, Chrissy would have been outside hours ago. She knew nothing about their fight, but she’d be damned if she let the only two people she believed truly loved each other simply give up like that. Steve Harrington knew his romance tactics only through movies, but he executed them well. He would throw every pebble in sight at her window until she appeared, even if only to shoo him away.

The relentless raps against the windowpane stalled a little after 9. Beth paused skimming through the copy of People Magazine in her hands, surprised by the silence. Just as she began to consider looking for Steve, she stumbled upon an article on Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay publicizing their movie Risky Business. It must have come from an old pile of her mother’s magazines. Disgusted with the ironic timing, Beth tore the page right in half. She wrinkled it up into a ball and tossed it right at the window, back at Steve. Beth couldn’t see him from her bed but she knew it was him.

He straightened the paper as it landed at his feet and prayed for some clarity. It took only one look at the magazine spread for that last piece to click in Steve’s head. This had nothing to do with bailing on their date with Poltergeist and Psycho; it was about Nancy. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel like competition to his ex-girlfriend.

Chrissy sat down at the foot of Beth’s bed. She placed a hand gently on her roommate's knee and gently squeezed. It was time for some tough love.

“Look,” she said. “I know it’s none of my business, and I don’t know what he did, but that boy is absolutely crazy about you. I think it would be a mistake not to at least hear him out”

Beth sighed:

“You’re right.”

“Alright, well, I’m gonna head to library,” Chrissy pointedly glanced at the window before leaving Beth alone in their room.

Beth pulled at the sleeves of her sweatshirt- Steve’s hoodie- and swallowed her pride. She peeped her head out the window. Steve flashed her one of his infamous charming grins.

“Get in here before you break the window.”

She opened the door sheepishly, gazing up at the mopey boy in the threshold. Beth squished her cheek against the wooden door frame; she knew she might have overreacted. With her pride still stuck in her throat, she gestured for him to come inside.

Standing in the center of her tiny dorm room, Steve shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his blue jeans. He crushed the balled up article, feeling like a complete ass. Steve couldn’t help but to notice how perfect she looked in his clothes, even pouting. They both spoke at once:

“I’m sorry-“

“I overreacted.

“No,” he shook his head. “You didn’t. Look, I get it and I want you know that I never, ever meant for you to think that it had anything to do with her. I just wanted you to be happy”

“I know you did, Steve. I just,” she exhaled sharply. “I kept seeing you and Nancy- uh, y’know before everything and… You know what? It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“No?”

“No, it doesn’t. You mean so much to me and I couldn’t live with myself if you never looked at me like that again.”

“Like what?”

She stroked his cheek with her thumb. The love emanating from his puppy dog eyes intoxicated her so much so that even Beth, even in her most insecure state, couldn’t deny it.

“Like I’m the only person in the world.”

The pure love and admiration in her hazel eyes lured Steve in a lovestruck daze. He was a big, smiley mess of hair.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He pulled her in for a hug, her tiny frame swallowed by his arms. Steve’s arms would always keep Beth safe from everything outside of his touch; even her own insecurity dulled away whenever he looked at her like that. Suddenly, Beth couldn’t remember why she reacted so severely. Sure, he and Nancy shared one Halloween together; the rest were for Steve and Bethany.

She cupped his cheeks, pouring her apology into their kiss. As she pulled away to drink him in, Beth smiled faintly:

“I’ll be right back, okay? We can still make it in time”

She returned moments later, dressed for the party and back to her usual bubbly self. Steve slung his arm nonchalantly around her tiny frame, a sunshiny smile across his lips.  Much like Marty McFly, Steve Harrington was the all-American dream boy; he wasn’t perfect, and his pride often got the best of him, but he was everything Bethany ever asked for. Like Jennifer Parker, she vowed to always be right by his side when he needed her the most.

“You changed your mind,” he said, unable to stifle a grin.

Giggling, she flicked her chin towards him:

“How ‘bout a ride, mister?”

Back to Risky Business

summary: Steve’s plans for Halloween sound a little too familiar for Bethany’s liking. She lets her insecurity and jealousy get in the way of their relationship.

pairing: Steve Harrington x  oc

a/n: this did not turn out quite the way I intended it to, and spooky season is over, but I hope this lives up to your expectations, anon :)

Steve Harrington lost his flair for horror and a cheap scare somewhere around the time he fought a very real monster. The boy who once lived for scary movies and Halloween mischief now flinched at movement in the dark. If it were up to Steve, he would bury himself under a pile of blankets, a bowl of candy, and smother his girlfriend with kisses until everything returned to normal. However, Bethany loved Halloween.

He watched her carve one too many pumpkins and stockpile enough horror movies into a shopping cart at Blockbuster to make it impossible to ignore her love for the season. Happily, the boy held her hand through yet another rerun of Gremlins and teased of her love for Bill Murray through three-quarters of Ghostbusters. He gulped down mug-fulls of her homemade apple cider, aghast at her ability to liquefy her honey warm love with each mug. Bethany felt like smooth honey, a sticky sweet caramel melted over a crisp apple that Steve could never seem to finish; he loved to try, though. He may not have liked Halloween anymore, but Steve sure did love Bethany.

Their little college town had only one pizza place that could bear some semblance of their sacred joint back home in Hawkins. Nothing could ever quite top that Mom ‘n Pop restaurant where Steve once made an utter lovestruck fool out of himself the night Dustin first properly introduced them, and their corner booth still proudly displayed their names amid a crudely drawn heart - a parting gift from Steve. This was as good a place as any to continue their Tuesday night tradition.

Steve turned his chin towards Beth, smiling. He cupped her hand in his. Like an insecure pound puppy, he cuddled up to her, quietly pleading for affection with his big brown eyes.

“So,” he said. “I’ve been thinking”

Beth hummed, an eyebrow cocked playfully. He stole a sip from her drink, not once taking his eye off of her. She noted the twinkle in his eye. Steve loved mischief, and in the season of trickery, she couldn’t imagine what he had on his mind.

With a mouthful of pizza and his free hand wrapped up in her, Steve trudged on:

“I know you said you just wanted to rent a movie and have a night in for Halloween, but one of the guys from the team mentioned some party he’s throwing on Saturday. Why don’t we dress up for it? I was thinking we could go as that couple from the Michael J. Fox movie you love so much-“

At this, Beth shifted her weight away from him, suddenly silent. She stirred Dr. Pepper around her cup with the straw, deflating. Steve’s sly grin shifted into a pull of his eyebrows.

“Oh,” she stalled. “Steve, I don’t know.”

Beth sighed, the tension creasing into her forehead not unlike that of the disapproving grimace usually reserved for her time as a stressed babysitter. A heavy, nauseous weight settled over Beth and the scared girl inside of her wanted little more than to flee the diner, to give in to her insecurity. That little girl saw the handsome, unattainable boy who stole her heart on the playground but who never bothered to return the favor. She suddenly felt very small.

“What is it?”

Steve reached for her hands, only to watch her pull them out of arm’s reach. She scoffed but refused to look at him. Undeterred, Steve lifted her chin gently up to face him with his pointer and middle fingers. A familiar sick settled over him like a cold breeze. It was a smoggy feeling that looked an awful lot like his father and made him feel just as inadequate. Steve struggled to keep his insecurities at bay, to remember that Beth wasn’t Nancy; she would keep his heart safe. Once she pushed him away, Steve was suddenly the touch-starved boy who first asked her out; he needed her to nuzzle and coddle him.

“Hey,” he murmured. “You know you can talk to me.”

Commitment still came relatively new to Steve. Before Nancy, Steve Harrington was a womanizer and a ladies’ man. The old Steve couldn’t be bothered to sit still long enough to funnel the overwhelming love he had to give into a single relationship. At least, he had chalked the whole thing up to an inner fear of commitment. Nancy felt different his junior year of high school, but with Beth it felt like forever. He now knew that he had never been unable or unwilling to commit; Bethany Sullivan and her big heart stole him away the first time they met on the Hawkins Elementary playground. Even now, knowing that she was it for him, Steve worried that he didn’t deserve her. In his mind, Steve still saw himself as the shitty boyfriend he felt he had been to Nancy Wheeler, even if that was never true.

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Beth, c’mon. I know that look. Tell me”

Pound Puppy Steve now looked as pathetic as an unruly mutt returned to the pound’s doorstep. Panicky, he wrapped his hands around himself. His watery eyes begged her to cave in to his affections. However, Bethany knew better. He really struck a nerve this time. She refused to look at him. Pulling her coat over her shoulders, Beth brushed off his pleas.

“Take me home, please,” she slid from the booth.

With her arms wrapped defensively around her chest, she made for the door. The blonde refused to look back for fear of what truth she might find within this eyes. He called after her but she ignored him.

“Beth!”

“I’ve got class in the morning and I know for a fact that you still have homework to do.”

While true, her concern over schoolwork had nothing to do with the mounting desire to escape to the sanctity of her dorm room. Even if her roommate wanted to gossip about people Beth neither knew nor cared for, she preferred Chrissy’s chatter to the nagging voice of her own insecurity. With her puppy at her heels, Bethany crossed the parking lot to his car.

It was a tortuously quiet car ride back to campus. Her traitorous mind conjured up images of a smiley, lovesick Steve clinging to the arm of Nancy Wheeler at a house party; she foolishly remembered the coordinating Risky Business costumes. Back in high school, the world belonged to Bethany, but the only thing she wanted was far too busy mooning after a girl who didn’t love him.

Steve remembered that night differently. The devilish parts of his mind flashed carnal images of a younger Bethany. He might have belonged to Nancy at the time, but the deepest, rawest parts of Steve tingled with desire at the mere image of her golden hair bouncing with each step, of that tiny, oh-so-perfect angel costume and its ironic halo that made Steve want to absolutely ruin her. He often thought of her as she was that night- young, smiling, angelic. She had his heart as much then as now. Nancy Wheeler may have ruined Halloween for him once, but he swore that Bethany Sullivan would save him.

He parked his BMW outside her dorm building. Steve watched her as she reached for the door handle, noticing her hesitation to pull it. A semblance of hope lit up for Steve but it felt clouded by his inability to wrap his head around why Beth reacted so strongly.

“Look, if you still wanna do movie night-“

“No, no. That’s not it, Steve.”

“Doesn’t it all seem a little too,” she treaded lightly. “Familiar?”

Beth needed him to validate her insecurities. The vulnerable parts of her really needed Steve to touch her face and tell her how much he loved her. Maybe to kiss her unruly heart right back into place. Only he didn’t. Instead, his puppy eyes blinked at her. He shook his head.

“No,” he said. “Should it?”

Beth smiled sadly in return. She pushed the car door open. Hanging in the doorway, hovering and silently hoping he chased after her, she succumbed into a long night of self loathing.

“Goodnight, Steve.”

Steve Harrington thought of himself as a dreadfully average student. He often struggled to apply himself and bits and pieces of things sometimes struggled to connect for him. Unfortunately for Steve, Beth’s hurt was a puzzle he felt ill equipped to solve. Alone and close to crying in the parking lot, he pulled at his chocolate locks as if it might yank the last piece out of his thick skull.

One thing Steve held himself to was to never give up on what truly matters. Even if he rushed himself right into the eye of a hurricane by not seeing the obvious, he had to fix this. Afraid he might have just lost the love of his life, Steve sped off to conjure up a big gesture to win her back.

“He’s not gonna just go away.”

Beth and Chrissy’s quiet Saturday girls’ night in was interrupted by a vicious tapping at the window. The party began half an hour earlier. Not that it mattered much to Bethany, who refused to speak to Steve since their fight.

Chrissy peeled back the blinds, smiling apologetically at the pouty boy two floors below. She cracked the window open. She cooed under her breath at the sight of his jean jacket and puffy red material vest, looking straight off the set of Beth’s favorite movie. If a boy had done this for her, Chrissy would have been outside hours ago. She knew nothing about their fight, but she’d be damned if she let the only two people she believed truly loved each other simply give up like that. Steve Harrington knew his romance tactics only through movies, but he executed them well. He would throw every pebble in sight at her window until she appeared, even if only to shoo him away.

The relentless raps against the windowpane stalled a little after 9. Beth paused skimming through the copy of People Magazine in her hands, surprised by the silence. Just as she began to consider looking for Steve, she stumbled upon an article on Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay publicizing their movie Risky Business. It must have come from an old pile of her mother’s magazines. Disgusted with the ironic timing, Beth tore the page right in half. She wrinkled it up into a ball and tossed it right at the window, back at Steve. Beth couldn’t see him from her bed but she knew it was him.

He straightened the paper as it landed at his feet and prayed for some clarity. It took only one look at the magazine spread for that last piece to click in Steve’s head. This had nothing to do with bailing on their date with Poltergeist and Psycho; it was about Nancy. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel like competition to his ex-girlfriend.

Chrissy sat down at the foot of Beth’s bed. She placed a hand gently on her roommate’s knee and gently squeezed. It was time for some tough love.

“Look,” she said. “I know it’s none of my business, and I don’t know what he did, but that boy is absolutely crazy about you. I think it would be a mistake not to at least hear him out”

Beth sighed:

“You’re right.”

“Alright, well, I’m gonna head to library,” Chrissy pointedly glanced at the window before leaving Beth alone in their room.

Beth pulled at the sleeves of her sweatshirt- Steve’s hoodie- and swallowed her pride. She peeped her head out the window. Steve flashed her one of his infamous charming grins.

“Get in here before you break the window.”

She opened the door sheepishly, gazing up at the mopey boy in the threshold. Beth squished her cheek against the wooden door frame; she knew she might have overreacted. With her pride still stuck in her throat, she gestured for him to come inside.

Standing in the center of her tiny dorm room, Steve shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his blue jeans. He crushed the balled up article, feeling like a complete ass. Steve couldn’t help but to notice how perfect she looked in his clothes, even pouting. They both spoke at once:

“I’m sorry-“

“I overreacted.

“No,” he shook his head. “You didn’t. Look, I get it and I want you know that I never, ever meant for you to think that it had anything to do with her. I just wanted you to be happy”

“I know you did, Steve. I just,” she exhaled sharply. “I kept seeing you and Nancy- uh, y’know before everything and… You know what? It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“No?”

“No, it doesn’t. You mean so much to me and I couldn’t live with myself if you never looked at me like that again.”

“Like what?”

She stroked his cheek with her thumb. The love emanating from his puppy dog eyes intoxicated her so much so that even Beth, even in her most insecure state, couldn’t deny it.

“Like I’m the only person in the world.”

The pure love and admiration in her hazel eyes lured Steve in a lovestruck daze. He was a big, smiley mess of hair.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He pulled her in for a hug, her tiny frame swallowed by his arms. Steve’s arms would always keep Beth safe from everything outside of his touch; even her own insecurity dulled away whenever he looked at her like that. Suddenly, Beth couldn’t remember why she reacted so severely. Sure, he and Nancy shared one Halloween together; the rest were for Steve and Bethany.

She cupped his cheeks, pouring her apology into their kiss. As she pulled away to drink him in, Beth smiled faintly:

“I’ll be right back, okay? We can still make it in time”

She returned moments later, dressed for the party and back to her usual bubbly self. Steve slung his arm nonchalantly around her tiny frame, a sunshiny smile across his lips.  Much like Marty McFly, Steve Harrington was the all-American dream boy; he wasn’t perfect, and his pride often got the best of him, but he was everything Bethany ever asked for. Like Jennifer Parker, she vowed to always be right by his side when he needed her the most.

“You changed your mind,” he said, unable to stifle a grin.

Giggling, she flicked her chin towards him:

“How ‘bout a ride, mister?”

good news!! i read the new guidelines and written content is excluded from the ban so basically they’re just cracking down on visual nsfw content but your blog is all safe :)

I’m just going to cry all day long. This was our little haven to be thirsty hoes in this fandom and like? bye? what in the FUCK????

Send asks

hey guys!! i’m currently cranking out three pieces for y’all, but my writing is a little slow at the moment. send me things to spark inspiration!

Back to Risky Business

summary: Steve’s plans for Halloween sound a little too familiar for Bethany’s liking. She lets her insecurity and jealousy get in the way of their relationship.

pairing: Steve Harrington x  oc

a/n: this did not turn out quite the way I intended it to, and spooky season is over, but I hope this lives up to your expectations, anon :)

Steve Harrington lost his flair for horror and a cheap scare somewhere around the time he fought a very real monster. The boy who once lived for scary movies and Halloween mischief now flinched at movement in the dark. If it were up to Steve, he would bury himself under a pile of blankets, a bowl of candy, and smother his girlfriend with kisses until everything returned to normal. However, Bethany loved Halloween.

He watched her carve one too many pumpkins and stockpile enough horror movies into a shopping cart at Blockbuster to make it impossible to ignore her love for the season. Happily, the boy held her hand through yet another rerun of Gremlins and teased of her love for Bill Murray through three-quarters of Ghostbusters. He gulped down mug-fulls of her homemade apple cider, aghast at her ability to liquefy her honey warm love with each mug. Bethany felt like smooth honey, a sticky sweet caramel melted over a crisp apple that Steve could never seem to finish; he loved to try, though. He may not have liked Halloween anymore, but Steve sure did love Bethany.

Their little college town had only one pizza place that could bear some semblance of their sacred joint back home in Hawkins. Nothing could ever quite top that Mom ‘n Pop restaurant where Steve once made an utter lovestruck fool out of himself the night Dustin first properly introduced them, and their corner booth still proudly displayed their names amid a crudely drawn heart - a parting gift from Steve. This was as good a place as any to continue their Tuesday night tradition.

Steve turned his chin towards Beth, smiling. He cupped her hand in his. Like an insecure pound puppy, he cuddled up to her, quietly pleading for affection with his big brown eyes.

“So,” he said. “I’ve been thinking”

Beth hummed, an eyebrow cocked playfully. He stole a sip from her drink, not once taking his eye off of her. She noted the twinkle in his eye. Steve loved mischief, and in the season of trickery, she couldn’t imagine what he had on his mind.

With a mouthful of pizza and his free hand wrapped up in her, Steve trudged on:

“I know you said you just wanted to rent a movie and have a night in for Halloween, but one of the guys from the team mentioned some party he’s throwing on Saturday. Why don’t we dress up for it? I was thinking we could go as that couple from the Michael J. Fox movie you love so much-“

At this, Beth shifted her weight away from him, suddenly silent. She stirred Dr. Pepper around her cup with the straw, deflating. Steve’s sly grin shifted into a pull of his eyebrows.

“Oh,” she stalled. “Steve, I don’t know.”

Beth sighed, the tension creasing into her forehead not unlike that of the disapproving grimace usually reserved for her time as a stressed babysitter. A heavy, nauseous weight settled over Beth and the scared girl inside of her wanted little more than to flee the diner, to give in to her insecurity. That little girl saw the handsome, unattainable boy who stole her heart on the playground but who never bothered to return the favor. She suddenly felt very small.

“What is it?”

Steve reached for her hands, only to watch her pull them out of arm’s reach. She scoffed but refused to look at him. Undeterred, Steve lifted her chin gently up to face him with his pointer and middle fingers. A familiar sick settled over him like a cold breeze. It was a smoggy feeling that looked an awful lot like his father and made him feel just as inadequate. Steve struggled to keep his insecurities at bay, to remember that Beth wasn’t Nancy; she would keep his heart safe. Once she pushed him away, Steve was suddenly the touch-starved boy who first asked her out; he needed her to nuzzle and coddle him.

“Hey,” he murmured. “You know you can talk to me.”

Commitment still came relatively new to Steve. Before Nancy, Steve Harrington was a womanizer and a ladies’ man. The old Steve couldn’t be bothered to sit still long enough to funnel the overwhelming love he had to give into a single relationship. At least, he had chalked the whole thing up to an inner fear of commitment. Nancy felt different his junior year of high school, but with Beth it felt like forever. He now knew that he had never been unable or unwilling to commit; Bethany Sullivan and her big heart stole him away the first time they met on the Hawkins Elementary playground. Even now, knowing that she was it for him, Steve worried that he didn’t deserve her. In his mind, Steve still saw himself as the shitty boyfriend he felt he had been to Nancy Wheeler, even if that was never true.

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Beth, c’mon. I know that look. Tell me”

Pound Puppy Steve now looked as pathetic as an unruly mutt returned to the pound’s doorstep. Panicky, he wrapped his hands around himself. His watery eyes begged her to cave in to his affections. However, Bethany knew better. He really struck a nerve this time. She refused to look at him. Pulling her coat over her shoulders, Beth brushed off his pleas.

“Take me home, please,” she slid from the booth.

With her arms wrapped defensively around her chest, she made for the door. The blonde refused to look back for fear of what truth she might find within this eyes. He called after her but she ignored him.

“Beth!”

“I’ve got class in the morning and I know for a fact that you still have homework to do.”

While true, her concern over schoolwork had nothing to do with the mounting desire to escape to the sanctity of her dorm room. Even if her roommate wanted to gossip about people Beth neither knew nor cared for, she preferred Chrissy’s chatter to the nagging voice of her own insecurity. With her puppy at her heels, Bethany crossed the parking lot to his car.

It was a tortuously quiet car ride back to campus. Her traitorous mind conjured up images of a smiley, lovesick Steve clinging to the arm of Nancy Wheeler at a house party; she foolishly remembered the coordinating Risky Business costumes. Back in high school, the world belonged to Bethany, but the only thing she wanted was far too busy mooning after a girl who didn’t love him.

Steve remembered that night differently. The devilish parts of his mind flashed carnal images of a younger Bethany. He might have belonged to Nancy at the time, but the deepest, rawest parts of Steve tingled with desire at the mere image of her golden hair bouncing with each step, of that tiny, oh-so-perfect angel costume and its ironic halo that made Steve want to absolutely ruin her. He often thought of her as she was that night- young, smiling, angelic. She had his heart as much then as now. Nancy Wheeler may have ruined Halloween for him once, but he swore that Bethany Sullivan would save him.

He parked his BMW outside her dorm building. Steve watched her as she reached for the door handle, noticing her hesitation to pull it. A semblance of hope lit up for Steve but it felt clouded by his inability to wrap his head around why Beth reacted so strongly.

“Look, if you still wanna do movie night-“

“No, no. That’s not it, Steve.”

“Doesn’t it all seem a little too,” she treaded lightly. “Familiar?”

Beth needed him to validate her insecurities. The vulnerable parts of her really needed Steve to touch her face and tell her how much he loved her. Maybe to kiss her unruly heart right back into place. Only he didn’t. Instead, his puppy eyes blinked at her. He shook his head.

“No,” he said. “Should it?”

Beth smiled sadly in return. She pushed the car door open. Hanging in the doorway, hovering and silently hoping he chased after her, she succumbed into a long night of self loathing.

“Goodnight, Steve.”

Steve Harrington thought of himself as a dreadfully average student. He often struggled to apply himself and bits and pieces of things sometimes struggled to connect for him. Unfortunately for Steve, Beth’s hurt was a puzzle he felt ill equipped to solve. Alone and close to crying in the parking lot, he pulled at his chocolate locks as if it might yank the last piece out of his thick skull.

One thing Steve held himself to was to never give up on what truly matters. Even if he rushed himself right into the eye of a hurricane by not seeing the obvious, he had to fix this. Afraid he might have just lost the love of his life, Steve sped off to conjure up a big gesture to win her back.

“He’s not gonna just go away.”

Beth and Chrissy’s quiet Saturday girls’ night in was interrupted by a vicious tapping at the window. The party began half an hour earlier. Not that it mattered much to Bethany, who refused to speak to Steve since their fight.

Chrissy peeled back the blinds, smiling apologetically at the pouty boy two floors below. She cracked the window open. She cooed under her breath at the sight of his jean jacket and puffy red material vest, looking straight off the set of Beth’s favorite movie. If a boy had done this for her, Chrissy would have been outside hours ago. She knew nothing about their fight, but she’d be damned if she let the only two people she believed truly loved each other simply give up like that. Steve Harrington knew his romance tactics only through movies, but he executed them well. He would throw every pebble in sight at her window until she appeared, even if only to shoo him away.

The relentless raps against the windowpane stalled a little after 9. Beth paused skimming through the copy of People Magazine in her hands, surprised by the silence. Just as she began to consider looking for Steve, she stumbled upon an article on Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay publicizing their movie Risky Business. It must have come from an old pile of her mother’s magazines. Disgusted with the ironic timing, Beth tore the page right in half. She wrinkled it up into a ball and tossed it right at the window, back at Steve. Beth couldn’t see him from her bed but she knew it was him.

He straightened the paper as it landed at his feet and prayed for some clarity. It took only one look at the magazine spread for that last piece to click in Steve’s head. This had nothing to do with bailing on their date with Poltergeist and Psycho; it was about Nancy. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel like competition to his ex-girlfriend.

Chrissy sat down at the foot of Beth’s bed. She placed a hand gently on her roommate’s knee and gently squeezed. It was time for some tough love.

“Look,” she said. “I know it’s none of my business, and I don’t know what he did, but that boy is absolutely crazy about you. I think it would be a mistake not to at least hear him out”

Beth sighed:

“You’re right.”

“Alright, well, I’m gonna head to library,” Chrissy pointedly glanced at the window before leaving Beth alone in their room.

Beth pulled at the sleeves of her sweatshirt- Steve’s hoodie- and swallowed her pride. She peeped her head out the window. Steve flashed her one of his infamous charming grins.

“Get in here before you break the window.”

She opened the door sheepishly, gazing up at the mopey boy in the threshold. Beth squished her cheek against the wooden door frame; she knew she might have overreacted. With her pride still stuck in her throat, she gestured for him to come inside.

Standing in the center of her tiny dorm room, Steve shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his blue jeans. He crushed the balled up article, feeling like a complete ass. Steve couldn’t help but to notice how perfect she looked in his clothes, even pouting. They both spoke at once:

“I’m sorry-“

“I overreacted.

“No,” he shook his head. “You didn’t. Look, I get it and I want you know that I never, ever meant for you to think that it had anything to do with her. I just wanted you to be happy”

“I know you did, Steve. I just,” she exhaled sharply. “I kept seeing you and Nancy- uh, y’know before everything and… You know what? It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“No?”

“No, it doesn’t. You mean so much to me and I couldn’t live with myself if you never looked at me like that again.”

“Like what?”

She stroked his cheek with her thumb. The love emanating from his puppy dog eyes intoxicated her so much so that even Beth, even in her most insecure state, couldn’t deny it.

“Like I’m the only person in the world.”

The pure love and admiration in her hazel eyes lured Steve in a lovestruck daze. He was a big, smiley mess of hair.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He pulled her in for a hug, her tiny frame swallowed by his arms. Steve’s arms would always keep Beth safe from everything outside of his touch; even her own insecurity dulled away whenever he looked at her like that. Suddenly, Beth couldn’t remember why she reacted so severely. Sure, he and Nancy shared one Halloween together; the rest were for Steve and Bethany.

She cupped his cheeks, pouring her apology into their kiss. As she pulled away to drink him in, Beth smiled faintly:

“I’ll be right back, okay? We can still make it in time”

She returned moments later, dressed for the party and back to her usual bubbly self. Steve slung his arm nonchalantly around her tiny frame, a sunshiny smile across his lips.  Much like Marty McFly, Steve Harrington was the all-American dream boy; he wasn’t perfect, and his pride often got the best of him, but he was everything Bethany ever asked for. Like Jennifer Parker, she vowed to always be right by his side when he needed her the most.

“You changed your mind,” he said, unable to stifle a grin.

Giggling, she flicked her chin towards him:

“How ‘bout a ride, mister?”