𝗧𝗘𝗘𝗡𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗥𝗢𝗬𝗔𝗟𝗧𝗬 [steve harrington]

i'll be home for christmas

december 1985
🎶 'tis the damn season - taylor swift

The fireplace crackled softly as Steve sat with Izzie in her living room. It was Christmas Eve, and Steve's parents were out of town. Shocker. Normally, he'd be hurt about spending Christmas alone, but now he has Izzie. She was home for the holidays, and if he was being honest he would rather be here with Izzie than his parents and their bickering.

"Can we open just one present early?" Izzie asked.

"What?" Steve questioned.

"Please? I really am itching to open at least one." She begged.

"It'll ruin the surprise for Christmas." He reasoned.

"Just one. We'll still open plenty tomorrow." She said. "Please, Steve?"

"Fine. One." He agreed.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Izzie smiled, placing kisses on his cheek between thank yous.

"You're lucky I love you." Steve huffed, reluctantly getting up off the couch.

Izzie sat excitedly on the floor as she grabbed one of her gifts to Steve. "Here, open it."

He unwrapped it, revealing a small box with a ring. "Oh you're not proposing to me are you?" Steve joked.

Izzie rolled her eyes. "No. Just open it." He opened the box to see the silver ring with the word always engraved on the interior.

Steve dropped his jaw, realizing his gift was far too similar to hers. He laughed. "What's funny?" Izzie asked. "Do you not like it? I thought it was like meaningful, or whatever."

"No." He shook his head. "It's not that— just, just open your gift and you'll see."

He handed her the box and she unwrapped it. When the picked up the bracelet on the inside she began to laugh. "Steve, we got the same gift."

"Great minds think alike?" He giggled.

"Yeah, I guess so." She nodded, smiling at the bracelet in her hands. "I love it, though."

"I'm so glad." He smiled. He knew his little plan. Last year he got her a necklace, this year he got her a bracelet, the only piece left was a ring. Not just any ring, the ring. He was just praying he'd save enough to move out to California by next Christmas. Sure, he could swallow his pride and ask his parents, but he wanted to build this life on his own.

He sat there, looking at her, and he just imagined their life together and he couldn't breathe.  She was everything.

Her eyes lit up as she looked out the window. "Steve!"

"What?" He questioned, turning around to see.

"It's snowing!" She squealed, dragging him upstairs. "Let's get our coats!"

"I'm coming!" He huffed, running up the stairs behind her. "Izz, slow down."

"What is that?" He asked, looking that her suitcase full of sweaters that definitely were not hers.

"Nothing." She said, quickly shutting the suitcase.

"No, what is that?" He asked again, walking over to the suitcase.

Izzie thought of the only thing that could distract him. "It's nothing." She laughed, touching his face. "Don't worry about that." She added, kissing him softly.

Steve tried not to cave, but he just couldn't help it. He kissed her back.

Eventually, he stopped himself and reached over to the bag. He threw it open to see a bunch of his jackets and sweaters that had mysteriously gone missing in the fall. "Izzie!" He gasped. "You stole half my closet!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She apologized. "I swear I just took them before I left because I was scared that I was going to miss you and I wore them all the time at school—" She explained. "And they stopped smelling like you a couple weeks ago so I was planning on bringing them here and trading them out for the other half."

Steve laughed. "You're so obsessed with me!"

Izzie shook her head. "No I am not!"

"You totally are." Steve nodded. "But since I am so generous, I will give you some of my clothes. Not all of them."

"Whatever." She huffed, pulling in her coat. "Get up."

"Yes m'am." He nodded, grabbing his coat.

Izzie ran out into the snow with a smile. "Don't you just love Christmas?" She asked, pulling him closer to her.

"Of course." He nodded, looking down at his watch, reading the time. He lowered his head, whispering in her ear. "It's midnight."

She grinned, throwing her around over his shoulder's. "It's Christmas!"

"It is." Steve nodded.

"Merry Christmas, Steve." Izzie said, with eyes brighter than the lights surrounding them.

"Merry Christmas, Izz."

-

This chapter took SO long to write because I rly just had no inspo and rewrote it about 4 times .

But, merry christmas ! i haven't been writing a lot, which i'm trying to work on bc there hasn't been a update on this book in awhile.

LIFE UPDATE: i'm seeing taylor swift in april!! 🥳