ruby's body ━━ steve harrington

022. 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐝

"Guess mine is not the first heart broken..." The song plays, and Steve sings along. He turns around, so he can dance with Ruby.

He makes her twirl, as the song plays. Ruby grins up at him, feeling nothing but love.

"But baby, can't you see there's nothing else for me to do?

I'm hopelessly devoted to you..."

She thinks back to that whole year, where the two clearly liked each other, they were just too stubborn — and Ruby too insecure — to do something about it. She thinks it makes her appreciate everything now, as she rests her arms around her neck, throwing her head backwards as the chorus arrives, Ruby singing along.

"But now there's nowhere to hide

Since you pushed my love aside..."

He lets go of her hand to create a make-believe microphone with his fist, like he's serenading her. Ruby can't stop smiling, her hands raising themselves to rest on her heart.

"'Hold on to the end', that's what I intend to do..."

Steve drops to his knees, getting into the song. Ruby pulls him back up to his feet as the vinyl crackles to a halt, giving him a kiss.

He wraps his arms around her, planting a kiss on her forehead. "I wish this was what it was always like."

"What do you mean?"

"Like, not having to sneak around with parents. Like..."

"Like, living together?" she asks.

"Yeah," he says.

Ruby looks up at him, and smiles. She knows the conversation's going to turn to him claiming he can't leave Hawkins, but she wants to enjoy the idea for a moment, of the two of them living together. "Not in Hawkins, though," she tells him. "Somewhere far away... You could come with me, to New York."

"I guess there'd be a Scoops Ahoy there," he says, and just as he speaks, he places his hands on her hips, lifting her up to sit on her vanity. Her legs are sitting on either side of his waist.

Ruby raises her eyebrows in surprise. "Do you actually mean that?" she says. "I thought you said you wanted to work for your dad—"

"That could wait a little while," he says. He moves his hands up and down her thighs, idly. "I mean, maybe Scoops has a good manager's salary."

"You wanna work there your whole life?" she says.

"No, but you know what? There's gonna be so many bars and restaurants in New York that I could work at."

"What's with the change of heart?"

"I don't know," he says, and he kisses her neck again. She tilts her head back, to invite him in. "I just wanna be with you, that's all."

This 'change of heart' was the conversation earlier with Robin — and the following conversation with Dustin, who told him to get his shit together. "You want her to live somewhere that's given her all this trauma? Either you go with her, or she dumps you. Don't be a pussy." It was that last word that shocked Steve into action, because Dustin was right. Steve could get a job elsewhere for a while — hell, he could do so well in that that he wouldn't even need his dad's business! Or, his dad could give him connections in New York. But the thought of him and Ruby ending just because of distance... That's freaking him out.

"Ah! We could get a little apartment together!" Ruby puts her arms around his neck, grinning. "And we could get a dog — imagine, like, a Labrador, or a Golden Retriever, just following us around the whole place! And we could take it on walks in the park, and we could invite all of our friends 'round to ours and have parties, and we could get a load of prints from the Met and frame them and—"