A NEW AND IMPROVED VERSION
Ryan Fordman has lived next door to Steve Harrington her entire life. Her entire life, he'd always been a window away, occasionally shouting across the space between their houses. They were inseparable... at least, they we...
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Steve sat on his couch in his empty house, drinking a Coke while the TV played a commercial for Macy's. Both of his parents had left on separate trips earlier in the day and he actually had no idea when they would be back, it was just a part of his life now. He used to enjoy it, throw parties, but now he just found it lame.
He heard Aaron's bike pull up to the sidewalk outside Ryan's house and looked out the window. The only person on the bike was Ryan, getting off and walking up her sidewalk.
Steve walked out the door, walking across his yard to her's, "Hey! What happened to-" He stopped as Ryan turned to face him, seeing blood sticking to her cheek and hair, "Ryan, what happened? You're bleeding!"
"What?" Ryan put a hand to her face, feeling the warmth of the blood from her cut on her fingers. "Oh yeah, I need get cleaned up inside."
He stood in front of her, lifting her face with his fingers to get a look at the gash on her cheek. He couldn't tell how bad it was due to all of the smeared blood on her face already, but he was still worried. "Who? How? When? Are you okay?"
"Ask me tomorrow." She muttered, looking down at Aaron's keys for her front door. She tried putting the key in the lock to turn it, dropping them on the welcome mat due to how badly her hands were shaking.
"Hey, I got it, hold on." Steve picked up the keys, turning them in the lock on the front door.
Once the door was open, Ryan ran up the stairs to the bathroom, leaving Steve behind to close the front door. He heard the door slam against the wall, running up the stairs to see Ryan rummaging through the medicine cabinet behind the mirror, the sink running on a wash cloth.
He sat on the edge of the bathtub, looking up at her in silence as she wiped the dried blood off her cheek. Using another wash cloth, she poured peroxide placing it on the gash on her cheek.
Ryan winced as the liquid touched the opening on her cheek, dropping the wash cloth in the sink, "Shit."
"Ryan," Steve stood up as she grabbed it out of the bowl, taking it from her hands. "Let me-"
"I've got it, Steve." She snapped. "I've got it!"
The minute the words left her lips, she put her head in her hands, closing her eyes to hold back tears. This was not the night she wanted. Finding Will in the field, the confrontation with Billy, El disappearing for hours, the fight with Hopper- she was at her wits end. All of that had just been the last eight hours of her life. She was so tired.
She took an uneasy breath before looking back up at Steve, tears still stinging her eyes. He didn't even blink at her outburst as he pulled her to the tub, "C'mere, I've got this."
They sat on the edge of the tub, Ryan looking up at the ceiling to avoid meeting Steve's eyes as he placed the wash cloth on her cheek. The peroxide stung her face, causing her to squeeze Steve's knee.
