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

Chapter Forty-Seven: Stupid Idea

I headed home that night to find Dad standing outside of our bedroom door while music blasted through the radio. That plus the crack in the door suggested to me that Mike Wheeler was on the premises. Dad had his fist poised to knock, which caused me to furrow my eyebrows.

"What um...whatcha doin'?" I asked, setting my bag down.

"You're just in time. We're about to have a talk, I want you to hear this too." 

"Ok..." He banged his fist against the doorframe. 

"Hey."

"Yes?" She said after a minute, suggesting to me that she was probably scurrying to make it look like she wasn't just making out with her boyfriend.

"Can I talk to you guys a minute?" The door opened on its own and we walked inside to find them sitting on her bed, Mike on the end of it while she sat up against the headboard. Dad just stared at them for a minute. "Hi."

"Hi."

"Hi?" Mike said. He walked over, pulling my desk chair over so he could sit in front of them, and I sat on my bed behind him. He continued to stare at them before turning around and turning the radio off. I had never seen him act like this in my life, so I had no idea what was going on.

"Um..." El raised her eyebrows expectantly at him. "What I um...needed to say to you...What I wanted to say to you is um..."

"Uh-oh," Mike said, glancing at her, "I think we're in trouble." They both laughed, and I opened my mouth to tell him to shut up.

"No." Dad said, surprising me. "No, nobody's in trouble, ok? I just um-" He leaned over, cupping his hand round his mouth and whispering in her ear, causing her to laugh.

"Hey, Mike." I said, causing him to look at me. "Your girlfriend's father is trying to talk to you. Stop being a douchebag."   His smile fell.

"You know what?" Dad continued. "Your mom called."

"What?"

"Yeah. She needs you home right away."

"Is everything ok?" Mike asked.

"No, I don't think so." He answered. "Its your grandma."

~~~

They walked outside, leaving me alone with El. I moved to face her and gave her a pointed look.

"What?" She asked. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Do you think that's funny?" I asked. She looked at me in confusion. "Dad was sitting here, clearly wanting to have a serious conversation with you, which makes him very uncomfortable, and he was trying his best not to get angry, which you know is very difficult for him, and here you two are making jokes and blatantly disrespecting him."  Her eyes clouded with guilt. "You can't do that, El. After everything that happened last year, he's trying to be a better Dad, and sitting here making fun of him isn't helping anything." 

"You're right," She said, "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to him." I said. "And if I had to guess, I'd say he wanted to talk to you about setting some boundaries with you and Mike."

"Boundaries?" She asked. I nodded.

"Like...guidelines, to keep everyone safe and comfortable. They're rules, but they're put there to protect you, like the three-inch-minimum thing."

"Do you have boundaries?"  I bit my lip, seeing where this was going.

"No."

"But that's not fair. Why do I have 'boundaries' and you don't?" She asked.