my girl, forever and always || steve harrington

trick or treat, freak

part one

halloween finally rolled around and no one in the henderson house was quite as excited as dustin. he charged into lydia's room while she slept and shook her shoulders fervently.

"lydi, lydi!" the older henderson sat up and wiped the tiredness out of her eyes. "look at how good it looks!" dustin exclaimed as he twirled around in his ghostbusters costume proudly. a smile crept it's way onto the brunette's face as she ruffled her brother's curly hair.

"it looks great dust, you guys are gonna be the best dressed at school today i just know it," she said and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "now go have mom take your photo, i'm gonna get ready for school." without a word, dustin rushed out of her room and closed the door behind. even though they were in the living room, lydia could hear her mother gushing over her 'baby boy' in his costume.

opening up her closet, the brunette grabbed a black turtleneck sweater and tucked it into a pair of light brown corduroy pants, making sure to grab one of laurie's denim jackets to keep her warm. she started to put on her converse before the phone started ringing. she groaned quietly before picking up.

"hello?"

"lyds! i'm in desperate need of some leather pants and a leather jacket for tonight! can i pretty please borrow yours?"

"stephanie foster, it is 8 in the morning couldn't this have waited until after school?" the older henderson held the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb, and exhaled loudly. she loves her best friend but it was first thing in the morning and she already had her fair share excitement.

"i have to do my hair and makeup after school which takes like 3 hours so i have no time! cmon lyds pleaseeee i'm trying to be the perfect sandy tonight! i really want to impress this boy." with a deep sigh, she agreed to her friend's request and continued to get ready for school.

when she entered the bathroom she took a good look at herself in the mirror and marveled at her eyebags and her bedhead. real attractive lyds, she thought to herself. unbeknownst to the tired girl, someone was lurking in front of the closed door so he could give his best friend a good halloween scare. he waited until the water turned off and adjusted the wolf mask once more before opening the door and yelling.

"steve what the fuck!" lydia clutched her chest and breathed heavily as she recovered from her friend's prank.

"haha, sorry lydi but i couldn't let you beat me to the punch this time." he slung his arm around his girl and ruffled her hair.

the two had a tradition of scaring each other on halloween for years. it started with innocent pranks like leaving fake spiders in each other's lockers or hiding behind bushes and scaring each other while out trick or treating. however, in the last few years the pair had kicked it up a notch. 3 years ago, lydia broke into steve's house at 2 am and pretended to be a possessed doll which made steve pee his bed. the year after that, he hid under her bed with a scary clown mask and grabbed her ankle which resulted in a full blown meltdown and a fear of clowns. last halloween, steve got dustin in on his prank, making the younger henderson hide in the backseat of the car while the friends watched a scary drive-in movie. the rest is pretty self-explanatory.

"pretty lame scare harrington, i didn't even cry this time." she teased as she brushed her teeth.

"oh you think this was my scare? you're funny lydi, you should know that this year i'm going all out, you won't even know when to expect it. i'll be like a ninja, so quiet you won't even hear my breath." he used his hands to cover his face so only his eyes were visible which caused her to roll her eyes intensely at his comment. it was goofy antics like this that reminded lydia why she loved the boy so dearly.

"shouldn't you be picking up nancy?" she inquired after rinsing her mouth. she splashed some water on his face before the duo left the bathroom.

"yeah i just wanted to stop by and say happy halloween and get the first scare in. plus, i had to make sure you were going to the party tonight. it won't be a party without my girl." he continued, following her into the kitchen as she popped some bread in the toaster.

"i'll be there you goon, now go and pick up nancy before i go and do it myself." she giggled as she shoved the boy out of the kitchen. "love you stevie, drive safe." he chuckled as he made his way out the door.

"love you too, lydi, i won't."

~

"can you open my locker for me?" lydia asked from behind steph.

"what? why?" laurie inquired.

"you haven't heard? lyds and steve have a scare war every halloween." the human shield commented. laurie scoffed and lightly rolled his eyes at her.

"of course they do." he muttered under his breath.

"was that jealousy, matthews?" stephanie asked. he took a breath before answering.

"no, i'm just saying that you guys have a lot of traditions and the way you guys are, sometimes it's hard to keep up with." this was not the first time that steve and lydia's friendship was an issue for laurie.

lydia always prioritized her boyfriend over steve and tried her best to understand him but sometimes she just couldn't. they always kept their boundaries and made sure they were never too touchy or too comfortable around each other, especially when they were with nancy and laurie. her and steve were two halves of a whole. they understood one another on a different level. she couldn't just give that up. she loved her boyfriend with everything in her, but the love she had for steve was different. it was the kind of love that made you feel like you could take on the world with them by your side. their love was not fragile, and it was not made to be broken. no matter what, they always had each other.

"c'mon you know you're my number one boy." she held her boyfriend's hand and looked up at him with loving eyes. he knew he couldn't stay mad at her. he pulled her in and rested his forehead on the top of her head, inhaling the smell of her strawberry shampoo. he knew that lydia would never do anything to hurt him, but the idea that steve would always be there bothered him to no end. but, she loved him. and he believed that with everything in him.

~

admiring her costume in the mirror, lydia marveled at how well it turned out. she hand sewed an entire 70s hippie costume with the help of her mom. her orange, denim, bell-bottoms hugged her waist and matched the floral pattern of her button-down long sleeve shirt. she finished the look off with a pair of her mom's old ankle boots. her half up half down was teased to perfection with the help of her mother, and her grown out bangs were parted in the middle, framing her face. she genuinely looked like she was from the 70s. it was perfect.

"oh honey, it looks amazing." her mom beamed. she took plenty of photos of lydia in her costume, and practically glowed with happiness. "you look, gorgeous darling. you remind me of myself." cupping her face, claudia pressed a tender kiss to her daughter's forehead.

"you guys are so weird. can we hurry up?" dustin whined with impatience. the two ignored his pleas.

"i love you, mom." lydia beamed and gave her a tight hug. "i'm going to the party with jonathan and laurie after trick-or-treating with the boys so i'll be home late, don't wait up." she explained as she grabbed her purse. her mom agreed and gave her one more hug before letting her go. tonight was going to be an interesting night, she could feel it.