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You and Steve sat in silence as Steve started up his car that was currently parked in front of Eddie’s trailer then began the drive back to his house. His parents were out of town - as always - and you had offered to stay with Steve for a little while and take care of him, knowing how negatively going back into the upside down affected him.
And if you were being honest, you’d much rather be with your boyfriend then alone in your apartment anyway. Especially after all of the things you had seen this time around.
He had told you about how having to deal with all of this time and time again made him feel - usually after a battle like the one you all had just gone through - but he hadn’t spoken up yet this time. Causing you to assume that he just wasn’t ready to talk about what had happened quite yet. Which was more than fine with you, you would always give him the time he needed to process what you had been through together.
So in the meantime until you two got back to Steve’s house, you’d decided to do what you could to comfort him in the car. You slowly reached over to Steve and gently grabbed his hand that was resting in his lap, intertwining your fingers with his. You gave him the chance to pull his hand away but he didn’t, so you made your hold on his hand tighter and gave it a squeeze. That was your silent way of telling Steve that you loved him and that you were there for him.
He squeezed your hand back seconds later, sweetly sending that message back to you with a kiss to the back of your hand. You and Steve would always be there for each other, no matter what you had gone through or would go through. Even when it felt like the world had stopped moving, you still stuck by each other.
Neither of you felt the need to say a single word once Steve had parked his car in the driveway, he let you take his hand in yours again after you had exited his car and lead the way up to his bathroom. Upon reaching his bathroom, Steve closed the door behind the two of you and you briefly let go of him to turn his shower on.
You then turned back towards him and untied his shoes for him, encouraging him to step out of them and take his now dirty socks off. And before you could do anything else, he took off the bags that were strapped onto him as well. Your hands then slowly went up to the vest he had on and you took it off for him, letting it drop to the floor with a quiet thud.
Your hands then went back down to his waist and you slid your fingers under the hem of the shirt he was wearing, “Is this okay?” you asked him, making sure to not let your fingers touch his skin because you knew how close they were to where the demobats had ripped out some of his flesh.
He nodded his in response, “Yeah, sweetheart. Go ahead.” he replied, his brown eyes never leaving your face, making you softly smile. It was nice to hear him talk and call you that sweet pet name he had for you again. And after you had gotten his consent, you took Steve’s shirt off of him and threw it on the floor on top of the vest he had been wearing.
But before you went to help him take off his pants, you stared into his eyes for a moment then pressed a few light kisses to the marks the demobats had left behind on his neck and waist, showing Steve that you weren’t disgusted by them. Which made him tear up a little, he felt so disgusting because of them and yet you were still showing him love.
Your eyebrows furrowed with worry as your eyes snapped up to meet Steve’s as you had heard him sniffle just seconds prior. You knew that now wasn’t the time to ask if something was wrong so you simply reached up to his face and wiped his tears away, prompting him to lean into your touch.
You then got onto your tippy toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek, “I love you, Stevie. We’ll be alright, okay?” you said to him, making him softly smile through his tears. He loved it when you called him Stevie or reminded him that you loved him.
He nodded in your hand then spoke again, “I love you too, princess.” he said before he then bent down a pressed a light kiss to your lips. “I love you more.” you had quickly told him, causing him to chuckle a little.
And once your lips parted, you took off his belt and unbuttoned his pants then pulled his pants down his legs, letting him step out of them on his own. Now, it was Steve’s turn to undress you before you took a shower together in just a few minutes.
He took your jacket off for you while you took off your own shoes and dirty socks, leaving them next to Steve’s on the bathroom floor. Once he had gotten your consent, he took off your shirt and pants then set those on the floor too. The two of you took off your own underwear before stepping into the shower. You went in first, holding onto Steve’s hand for balance and he followed after you just seconds after you had safely entered.
You let him stand under the stream of water first with his facing the knobs, “Let me clean you up, handsome.” you lightly suggested as your hands met his face again, your thumb gently rubbing off some of the dirt that was on his cheek while you talked.
“Alright.” he whispered in response to you with another nod, happy to let you take care of him and let his body rest for a little while. But he’d return the favor soon enough.
And although you had seen each other naked plenty of times, Steve still kept his eyes from looking at your boobs or your butt while you moved in front of him, even if it was on accident. He didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable around him or anything like that.
You first gently moved his head around a little so that you could get all of his hair wet. Steve’s eyes were now closed at this point while you then grabbed his body wash and squeezed a decent amount of it into your hand.
Your soap covered hands hovered around his neck, “Tell me if this hurts and I’ll stop, okay?” you told him, signaling to him that you were about to start washing his neck. “Okay.” he quietly answered and again your heart broke for him.
It broke because of the sadness you could clearly hear in his voice as well as the way his shoulders sagged a little bit. Seeing him like this made you wish that you could take all of his pain away and deal with it for him. But you tried to stay strong for him and hold back your tears.
Your hands softly caressed his neck to clean it and he had groaned a few times as a result of the way the soap made his injuries burn, but he never said anything about it. So you continued to clean the rest of his body, using your loofah you had left there a while ago to clean the parts of his body that the bats hadn’t hurt, watching as the dried dirt and blood and that was stuck to his body dissolved in the water, came off of him then went down the drain.
“Can you please take a step towards me, Stevie? I wanna wash your hair, I promise I’ll take good care of it.” you asked him, your comment on his hair making him laugh. Seeing him laugh seemed to put your broken heart back together again, it showed you that he wasn’t letting what happened weigh too heavy on his mind.
You put some of his shampoo into your hands then tapped his shoulder and motioned for him to lean over a little. When he did, you started to massage the product into his hair, paying special attention to his roots and scalp. Which made him let out a series of quiet hums and smile once more because of how good it felt.
Not too long after you had washed the shampoo out of Steve’s hair, the two of you swapped places in the shower and you massaged his conditioner into his hair prior to you washing yourself. But before you could clean yourself, Steve offered to return the favor, which you agreed to right away.
He reached over your shoulder and grabbed his body wash, knowing very well that you liked to smell like him whenever you used the shower in his bathroom. And while he gently cleaned the dried blood and dirt off of your own skin, his eyes began to tear up again.
“I hate seeing you like this. I’m sorry I dragged you into all of this.” Steve said through his tears, answering the unspoken questions that were on your mind. You softly frowned and reached up to wipe his tears away again while tears started to fall down your own face. But you had to admit, it felt good to finally let your guard down after all those hours of having it up in the upside down.
“I hate seeing you like this too, Steve. But I don’t regret sticking by your side through all of that terrible shit in and out of the upside down. I love you more than anything else and I’d go into battle with you for the rest of our lives if it meant that you’d never have to be alone again. You didn’t drag me into anything, I promise.” you assured him, trying to be as comforting as possible even though you were crying as well now.
Hearing these words leave your lips made Steve’s arms drop to his sides before they then quickly shot up again and he wrapped them around your ribs, bringing you as close as possible to him. You gingerly rubbed each others backs as you stood in each others arms for a few minutes. And when Steve was ready to pull away, he pressed another soft kiss to your lips and grabbed his body wash again.
“I love you too, sweetheart. I don’t know what I did to deserve you.” he replied and as he spoke, you placed your hand on his face again and moved his head once more so that he was looking right into your eyes.
“You don’t have to do anything to deserve me. You deserve me by simply being you and loving me the way I deserve to be loved. You are the best boyfriend anyone could ever ask for.” you assured him. You didn’t mind having to speak to Steve in an assuring manner, you’d assure him for forever if necessary. He always did the same for you and it only felt right to do it for him.
His actions paused again for a moment and he took a shaky breath in and out, “God, I love you so fucking much. Whenever we finally get out of Hawkins, I’m going to marry you. I swear.” he said to you, making you smile at him while he washed the small amount of dirt off of your face.
“And whenever that day comes, I’ll say I do.” you replied with a smile, making Steve smile with you while he lightly rested his forehead against your own, letting himself relish in the love you had for each other for a few moments.
By this point, all forms of soap had been washed off of your bodies and you were ready to dry off and get into Steve’s bed. And like he had when the two of you first got into the shower, he let you hold onto his hand for balance while you stepped out of the shower and onto the bath mat.
You dried yourselves off and later dressed in some of Steve’s clothes that he had quickly retrieved from his dresser and brought into the bathroom. And immediately after the two of you had finished getting dressed, you hopped up onto the bathroom and counter and grabbed Steve’s hairbrush.
You made a circular motion in the air with your finger, “Turn around for me, baby.” you requested, resulting in a pink color taking over Steve’s cheeks at the sound of you calling him baby.
He patiently stood in between your legs with his hands resting on your knees while you delicately began to brush his hair out, not minding the drops of water that fell from his hair and landed on your lap. Even though they felt a bit cold against your now warm skin.
Once you were done brushing his hair out and you put new bandaids on his injuries, it was now Steve’s turn again and he did your hair how you usually did after a shower then lovingly moisturized your face for you. He admired the way you looked up at him as he moisturized your skin, still looking as a beautiful as ever. When he was done, he rubbed the remaining moisturizer that was on his hands onto his own face, making you giggle at his actions.
He then scooped you up into his arms and carried you to his bed bridal style, making sure to turn the light off before you left the now humid room. Normally, the two of you would brush your teeth together as well whenever you spent the night at Steve’s house. But after all you’ve been through today, you both felt way too exhausted to even think about brushing your teeth.
Once Steve reached his bed with you still in his arms, he gently placed you down on the side of it you always occupied when you laid on his bed. And before he could join you, you quickly pulled the covers back then patted the spot neck to you. Steve smiled brightly at this and just seconds after he had gotten into bed, he wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you into his side. Which encouraged you to rest your head on his chest and intertwine your limbs with his own.
He stroked your shoulder with his thumb while his other arm remained wrapped around your waist and he continued to admire you. Moments like these made him wish that he didn’t have any responsibilities, they made him wish he could stay with you just like this for the rest of time. Which you would’ve agreed to if he ever brought it up because you felt the same way whenever you and Steve cuddled.
He placed a light kiss to your temple then spoke to you again, “I love you, baby. Thanks for taking care of me.” he whispered as he started to lean his head back onto the pillow behind him.
You smiled up at him from your spot on his chest and sat up a little so that you could passionately kiss him, feeling like you had barely kissed him at all tonight. “I love you too. Thank you for letting me taking care of you and returning the favor.” you answered while you slowly laid back down again.
He pressed his lips against your forehead one more time and whispered a simple, “Always.” against your skin. And you whispered it back to him without any hesitation.
Shortly after this, Steve turned the lamp on his bedside table off and you both felt yourselves grow more and more sleepy as time went on. And while Steve fell asleep that night, something you had said to him earlier reappeared in his mind.
We’ll be alright. And the more that he thought about it, he realized that you were right. You would be alright, as long as you had each other.