#Steve Fitch
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Photographer Steve Fitch
#photography#steve fitch#neon#motels#americana#night photography#street photography#new topographics
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Lakewood, Colorado, Steve Fitch, March 1980
#steve fitch#photography#vintage photography#vintage#color photography#american#1980s#1980#colorado#street photography#100 notes
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Vaughn, New Mexico, Photo by Steve Fitch, 1994
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Chalk Hill Drive-In (Highway 80 Dallas, Texas), Steve Fitch, 1973
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Steve Fitch
Steve Fitch: Hickory Drive-in Movie Theater, Sharon, Pennsylvania, 1975/2013
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Steve Fitch, Tri-City Drive-in Theatre, Highway I-10, Loma Linda Califonia, 1974
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📷 Steve Fitch

Truck stop diner waitress, New Mexico, 1972.
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mei's 20k celebration !!
first of all, thank you to each and every single one of you for being here!! together you make just over 20k. the size of my audience is very hard for me to fathom (seriously, have you ever googled what 20,000 people look like? insane!!!) but i know i'm incredibly grateful that you're here!! writing is very fun for me but it's even better with lovely people like you cheering me on, and i'm happy to do what i do if it means you get to enjoy it.
i have been exceptionally busy lately, and i haven't done a follower celebration since 10K i believe, so i figured now was a good time for another one! i know not everyone is into the same fandoms as everyone else, so this celebration will be separated into each different fandom that i write for. why? it's fun for me to plan things around my fandoms, but i didn't want to exclude anyone, so i just made a little mini celebration for them all :)
you're allowed to send as many asks as you want, for whichever fandoms you want, i just ask that you do it in separate asks! i'm not sure yet when I'm going to end the celebration, but I'll give you at least a 24H warning so that you can send in any last asks you have :)
without further ado: my 20k follower celebration!


Top Gun / Top Gun Maverick - Playing With The Boys
Are you ready for a beach day with some navy men? Choose an option from the list below and come hang out by the water, just be careful no one pushes you in!
'maverick? did your mother not like you, or something?' - make up a callsign for yourself, tell me why you've chosen it, and I'll tell you which character i think you'd get along with!
'i just don't want anyone to know i've fallen for you.' - send me a request for a baby blurb! give me a character, and a plotline, and i'll write you a little fanfiction :)
'and your wingman?' - tell me your favorite character and i'll link a tiktok that i think fits their vibe!
'dogfight football.' - games! fmk, would you rather, cym, all surrounding the characters of top gun!
'baby on board!' - send me a headcanon about one of the characters and i'll give you one back!
'hangman. you look... good.' - tell me your favorite character and i'll give you a photo of them from my pinterest board
characters accepted: pete 'maverick' mitchell, nick 'goose' bradshaw, tom 'iceman' kazansky, ron 'slider' kerner, leonard 'wolfman' wolfe, rick 'hollywood' neven, beau 'cyclone' simpson, bradley 'rooster' bradshaw, jake 'hangman' seresin, natasha 'phoenix' trace, robert 'bob' floyd, javy 'coyote' machado, mickey 'fanboy' garcia, reuben 'payback' fitch, + ask if you'd like me to write someone else!

Criminal Minds - Wheels up in 30
You've been called on a case with the BAU! Pass the time on the jet with an option from the list below, and good luck catching your unsub!
'we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming...' - pick an activity to do on the jet on the way back from a case, and i'll tell you which member of the BAU i think you'd get along with!
'oh, you LOVE me!' - send me a request for a baby blurb! give me a character, and a plotline, and i'll write you a little fanfiction :)
'ah- he wants to be his FAVORITE profiler.' - tell me your favorite character and i'll link a tiktok that i think fits their vibe!
'hey, there's still money on this thing!' - games! fmk, would you rather, cym, all surrounding the characters of criminal minds!
'let me tell you about my team.' - send me a headcanon about one of the characters and i'll give you one back!
'pretty boy!' - tell me your favorite character and i'll give you a photo of them from my pinterest board
characters accepted: aaron hotchner, derek morgan, emily prentiss, spencer reid, penelope garcia, david rossi, jennifer jareau, + ask if you'd like me to write someone else!


The Marauders - Summer at Potter Manor
You've been invited to spend the summer at James's manor! Be polite to Euphemia and Fleamont, spend your day picking an option from this list, and try not to tear up the lawn!
'a rather friendly disposition' - tell me what you think your animagus form would be any why, and I'll tell you which character i think you'd get along with!
'oi! evans!' - send me a request for a baby blurb! give me a character, and a plotline, and i'll write you a little fanfiction :)
'mischief managed' - tell me your favorite character and i'll link a tiktok that i think fits their vibe!
'i solemnly swear that i am up to no good' - games! fmk, would you rather, cym, all surrounding the marauders era characters!
'he's a murderer.' - send me a headcanon about one of the characters and i'll give you one back!
'pretty brown eyes' - tell me your favorite character and i'll give you a photo of them from my pinterest board
characters accepted: remus lupin, sirius black, james potter, lily evans, + ask if you'd like me to write someone else!

Stranger Things - Into The Woods
You're going monster hunting with Hawkins' finest! Pass the time waiting for your trap to be sprung by picking an option down below, but don't talk too loud, or it might hear you...
'we're stuck here...' - tell me which season of stranger things is your favorite and why, and I'll tell you which character i think you'd get along with!
'it's finger lickin' good.' - send me a request for a baby blurb! give me a character, and a plotline, and i'll write you a little fanfiction :)
'that's actual shit.' - tell me your favorite character and i'll link a tiktok that i think fits their vibe!
'oh it's the championship game?' - games! fmk, would you rather, cym, all surrounding the stranger things characters!
'this is giving me the heebie jeebies.' - send me a headcanon about one of the characters and i'll give you one back!
'I've got a date, dad.' - tell me your favorite character and i'll give you a photo of them from my pinterest board
characters accepted: eddie munson, steve harrington, robin buckley, jonathan byers, nancy wheeler, jim hopper, chrissy cunningham, joyce byers, + ask if you'd like me to write someone else!
Marvel - Crime Fighting Duty
Your favorite heroes have asked you to tag along for a day! between calls on the police radio, pick an option from the list below and fight the day away!
'he's got one up his ass, too.' - tell me what superpowers you'd want and why, and i'll tell you what marvel character you'd get along with!
'you're a very good kisser.' - send me a request for a baby blurb! give me a character, and a plotline, and i'll write you a little fanfiction :)
'pile of bodies, pile of heads.' - tell me your favorite character and i'll link a tiktok that i think fits their vibe!
'ooh! I know this one!' - games! fmk, would you rather, cym, all surrounding the marvel characters!
'I was cleaning the chimney.' - send me a headcanon about one of the characters and i'll give you one back!
'we look GOOD.' - tell me your favorite character and i'll give you a photo of them from my pinterest board
characters accepted: eddie brock / venom, peter parker (1, 2, and 3), matt murdock, steve rogers, bucky barnes, + ask if you'd like me to write someone else!
#bradley bradshaw x reader#jake seresin x reader#tom kazansky x reader#pete mitchell x reader#bob floyd x reader#javy machado x reader#reuben fitch x reader#natasha trace x reader#ron kerner x reader#nick bradshaw x reader#james potter x reader#sirius black x reader#remus lupin x reader#eddie munson x reader#steve harrington x reader#jonathan byers x reader#robin buckley x reader#nancy wheeler x reader#jim hopper x reader#aaron hotchner x reader#spencer reid x reader#emily prentiss x reader#derek morgan x reader#eddie brock x reader#steve rogers x reader#peter parker x reader#matt murdock x reader#bucky barnes x reader#mei's 20K celebration !!
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Photographer Steve Fitch
#photography#steve fitch#night photography#neon#motels#americana#travel#cinematic#street photography#new topographics
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Vaughn, New Mexico, Steve Fitch, 1994
#photography#vintage photography#vintage#steve fitch#new mexico#1990s#1994#color photography#american#100 notes#250 notes
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They do have open rattlesnakes, though. (src)

Steve Fitch Snakepit operator, Highway 66, Sayre, Oklahoma, 1973
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Las Vegas, Nevada, Photo by Steve Fitch, 2002
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BIRTHDAY BASH
The clock has struck 12 which means it's officially my birthday! I wasn't planning on doing anything, but since I was able to get some time off from work for the day, I thought I could celebrate with all of you 💜🩵🩷✨
Pick a party zone, send it to my inbox, and I'll meet you there!
PHOTO BOOTH 📸 ⎯ send me a character from the guest list below and a word/phrase/prompt/idea of your choice and I'll create a moodboard for it
DANCE FLOOR 🪩 ⎯ send me a character from the guest list below I'll give you a song to dance to with them
DESSERT TABLE 🎂 ⎯ send me a character from the guest list below and a word/phrase/prompt/idea of your choice and I'll create a drabble or headcanon for it
GUEST LIST ⎯ Top Gun: Maverick Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw, Jake 'Hangman' Seresin, Javy 'Coyote' Machado, Mickey 'Fanboy' Garcia, Natasha 'Phoenix' Trace, Reuben 'Payback' Fitch, Robert 'Bob' Floyd ⎯ Marvel Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Joaquin Torres
⎯ Other Characters Rhett Abbott (Outer Range), Harrison Knott (Press Play), Captain Syverson (Sand Castle), August Walker (Mission: Impossible - Fallout), Evan 'Buck' Buckley (9-1-1), Nick Fowler (The 355)
I'll be accepting requests till May 18th! Please note I don't accept full smut requests and anything with dark themes. Minors DNI. And if you sent in a request prior to this, I'll be sharing them as well alongside these ✨
Enjoy the party!
OPEN PARTY INVITE (aka no pressure tags!) @natrace @theroyssroman @demxters @hangmanbrainrot @a-reader-and-a-writer @rassvetsky @lewmagoo @rhettabbotts @bobfloydsbabe @laracrofted @footprintsinthesxnd @autumntouched @nobody7102 @notroosterbradshaw @babyonboardfloyd @thesluttyarchivist @jackiequick @mothdruid @sebsxphia and anyone else who wants to join!
#bradley rooster bradshaw#jake hangman seresin#javy coyote machado#mickey fanboy garcia#natasha phoenix trace#reuben payback fitch#robert bob floyd#steve rogers#bucky barnes#joaquin torres#rhett abbott#harrison knott#captain syverson#august walker#evan buck buckley#nick fowler
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just friends (again) (roommate!steve harrington x fem!reader)



summary: you’ve convinced everyone around you that you and steve are just friends. now you just have to convince yourself—but it proves difficult when steve finally admits how he feels.
uses she/her pronouns and female anatomy.
✶ just friends (part one) ✶ the library
tags: pining, yearning, they want each other so bad they're so stupid, little angst/hurt/comfort, oh steve harrington the man that you are. didn't proofread so ignore any mistakes oops.
buy me a ko-fi! (my blurb commissions are also still open!)
“I’m having a little carpet picnic.”
Julia Roberts’ voice filled the living room with a familiar warmth. The pinks and whites of the Beverly Hills hotel room from Pretty Woman coated the couch and the surface of your face with a gentle glow. The Chinese food you ordered a few hours ago was starting to stink. Even Ted, who was curled at your feet for most of your movie marathon, could no longer stand the vegetative life and scampered away.
It had been a week since Eddie broke things off. After Steve punched him, you spent the Sunday post-knockout calling and texting, hoping to sort things out. But Eddie never picked up. Eddie never replied. You figured stopping by the shop was a bit too far—if he wanted to talk to you, he would’ve by now.
So here you were, spending another weekend on the couch. Single. Broke. Lonely.
“He thought I was cheating on him,” is the excuse you have for getting dumped.
But the look on Theresa’s face when you told her is the first time it made you recoil. The first time you doubted that Eddie was 100%, entirely out of his mind.
Theresa winced into the overpriced lattes you were drinking at a curbside patio on Wednesday. “Well…I mean…”
And you gasped, mouth agape and heart hammering in your chest. What the fuck did that mean? Because you were just friends. All Steve ever was and is: your best friend. Why did everyone act like you were having a secret affair when the doors were closed on the public?
“You’ve gotta be kidding me—“
“I’m not defending the prick,” Theresa justified. “He was an asshole for talking to you like that. But I can see why he might have thought that. You and Steve are really close. Like…very close.”
“We’re friends,” you insisted.
And Theresa dropped it, holding her hands above her latte with innocent agreement. But her words haunted you the entire week. Every time Steve filled your coffee and had it ready on the counter for your commute to work (he even used your favorite travel mug). Every time he came home with a bag of peanut m&ms when he dropped by the store because it was the little treat you always asked for, but he didn’t even need to be asked anymore.
But like any other Saturday, the apartment was void of him for most of the day. He mumbled some excuse about going to the mall through your door this morning, and when he came home twenty minutes into Pretty Woman with an Abercrombie shopping bag, you knew he’d been date shopping.
“Hey,” he called to you, door clamping closed behind him. His keys jingled on their toss toward the table cluttered with half-opened mail.
Cheek squished against a throw pillow, body splayed flat on the couch, you cut him a glance sideways and adjusted the volume. “Hey.”
Steve kicked off his shoes and set his bag near the door, making your chest tighten when he immediately sauntered toward the couch. He turned to the tv with his hands on his hips.
He asked what he always asked, despite his eyes watching the very thing. “Watchya watchin’?”
“Pretty Woman.”
“Did you already watch Mystic Pizza?”
“Yep.”
Steve sighed. “Damn. Alright, well, scooch over.”
When he plucked your feet up and flopped down under them, he smelled like the sickeningly sweet butter of a soft pretzel, and the overwhelming stench of Abercrombie & Fitch. You couldn’t believe he still shopped there.
His hands were still resting on your ankles, bracing your feet against his jean-clad thighs. His touch was warm, soft, all-encompassing—and suddenly all you could think about even as Richard Gere came on screen. Steve's touch, his heat, the body those hands came attached to resting just inches away. He was wearing blue today. He looked so good in blue.
You swallowed and coughed, cheek rubbing on the pillow. Steve’s finger twitched around your calf.
“You okay?”
“Mhm,” you croaked.
His eyes bored into you for a moment before he turned back to Julia Roberts. "Notting Hill or My Best Friend's Wedding after this?"
Your lips parted to reply, but then his finger began tracing shapes into the patch of skin between the bottom of your pant leg and the elastic of your sock. Air choked in your throat. Your eyes bulged on the glowing television screen. The muscles in the center of your body knotted and squeezed like nausea.
In your stock-still state, it didn't even occur to you that Steve somehow knew your entire I'm-sad-and-can-only-watch-Julia-Roberts-movies marathon setlist, but it certainly crossed your mind later on. You and Steve are really close. Maybe Theresa had a point.
"Um..." Your tongue darted out to lick your suddenly-dry lips.
"You good over there?" Steve chuckled, head tipping to gauge the features and their current predicament on your face.
You buried it further into the pillow, as far as it could go without hiding completely. "Yes, Steve, I'm fine."
Steve pulled back, settling into the couch again. "Jeez, oh-kay."
He waited a moment, and you inched free from your pillow enough to bring your eye back to the television, doing your best to focus on the movie you'd seen a million times and not Steve's hand sweeping under your pant leg. He'd done that a million times, too. Touched you. Felt you.
He held your hand when you crossed the road like a child that needed guidance. He braced your back to move you which way he wanted, and to pull you close when public situational occurrences arose that made him uncomfortable. He brushed your hair once when you were victim to an ungodly illness that had you picturing death. He removed your makeup on your birthday last year when you got so drunk you puked in the doorway.
His hands were always so gentle. His touch was always so soft.
But, God, why did it feel so different right now? Why did it feel so good?
"Want a mall haul?" Steve asked, too uncomfortable in the sudden silence of the living room. He was already standing and placing your feet back on their own before you could reply.
In your periphery, he headed toward the door to retrieve the bags he neglected. "Got a couple shirts to try. Also, am I too old for that store? I swear, everyone in there was like a little Taylor Lautner wannabe from 2012—meaning they were fourteen and on steroids—"
"Steve!"
He stopped. Standing at the edge of the rug with both hands on the corded handles of his Abercrombie & Fitch shopping bag to pull it open. The snicker gathering in his throat hitched into a snort, smirk drooping into wide-eyed surprise.
You never yelled. Not at him. Not at anyone that didn't deserve it, like the neighbors when they were arguing too loud again and you were trying to nap. Like the guy that tried to steal Steve's package a few months ago that you nearly tackled down the hall.
But never Steve.
You shot up on the couch, hands flying to your pounding head. "Just...please! I don't want a mall haul, I don't want to talk, I just...—I just wanna be alone."
Steve blinked, cheeks colored pink. He closed the bag slowly, paper crinkling as he went. He took it in one hand and backed up, stepping off the rug foot by foot. He glanced at Ted, who skittered in surprise at your outburst and was standing with an arched back and black pupils near the tv stand.
"Uh...yeah, okay. Sorry," he mumbled, scratching at the nape of his neck.
Your shoulders slumped, deflating into the couch as Steve turned his eyes to the floor and tugged at the back of his hair. That stress tick again—the one you hated causing. He turned slowly, caution stiff in his spine. You watched his finger twist and wind into a lock of chestnut hair as he trudged into the hall. His door clamped closed a moment later.
A heavy, moaning sigh shuddered from your mouth as you flopped back on the pillow. Two arms locked over your head, pressing down on your eyes to blind them and the horror you created.
"Slippery little suckers," Julia Roberts snickered on the screen.
"It happens all the time."
✶ ✶
You ate dinner separately. It was the first time you'd ever eaten dinner separately within the same four walls. Even the night you moved in together, when you were nothing but a pair of strangers gauging how weird it might be to live with the opposite sex without something romantic or sexual in the undertones—even then, you ate a greasy cheese pizza together on the living room floor with an empty box as makeshift table.
He asked all the right get-to-know-you questions, and when he successfully made you laugh with all his snarks and quips, you knew Steve Harrington would be an alright roommate. You never figured he'd become your best friend.
Tonight, you pouted into the salad you regretted purchasing yesterday because a "healthy" lifestyle was born and had died within the span of your forty minute shopping trip. And now, you wanted nothing but another wet, shiny pizza, and Steve Harrington's dumb jokes.
He ate in his room. Shuffled out while you were finishing Notting Hill and made another bland chicken-rice-and-broccoli dinner. And then he shuffled past you, shut his door, and ate it alone. Never even giving you a chance to tease his unseasoned plate for the purpose of "gains." You thought he could remain just as toned and handsome with flavor on his food.
By the time you were showered, redressed, and gurgling with lingering hunger, you were properly sour with guilt.
And maybe the black sweatpants with the bedazzled jewels on your ass were pulled on with manipulative purpose before you shuffled to Steve's door. You lingered there a while, gnawing on the skin around your thumbnail and glancing between the wood grain of Steve's door and the plush surface of your yellow slippers. At this proximity, you could hear the low hum of his radio behind the door. He had a strange affection for the 70s and 80s station.
If only you knew that it was because Steve knew "the all time hits of the 70s and 80s" were your favorite.
The radio dimmed, and a moment later Steve's voice called through the door. "I can hear you lingering out there."
You jumped, stepping away from the door. Your thumb returned to your mouth, teeth piercing the skin to nibble it away. The shuffle of feet and jingle of the doorknob came too swiftly for you to evade, and then the door swung open to reveal Steve in grey sweatpants and a tight red t-shirt. He looked good in red, too.
"Oh. Hi," you murmured, hand instantly dropping to your side.
Steve caged the doorway, biceps bulging on either side. You averted your eyes with a swallow.
He sighed. "Hi."
Steve watched you sweep a slippered foot back and forth like sloshing through water. He tipped his head and bit away a smile when he caught the edge of a jewel on your hip. His favorite sweatpants.
"Are you mad at me?"
Steve sighed again, this time a little shaken with laughter. "No, kid. I ain't mad at ya."
To prove his point, he nudged the door open with his palm and motioned toward the bedroom behind him. "Come on in."
You flopped on the edge of his bed, bounced up and down by old springs. Steve swung the door closed and joined you, easing back against his wooden headboard to reassume his rumpled position. He reached toward the nightstand and turned the knob on the radio to lower the Elton John song playing.
Steve snatched the small plastic basketball from behind the radio and tossed it in the air. "So, what's goin' on?"
You watched the ball soar into the air and come back down into his palm. "I didn't mean to snap at you. I was just...cranky."
Steve quirked a brow, catching your eye over an orange blur when he threw the ball again. "Yeah? That all?"
The corners of your mouth pulled down. "Yeah...? What else would it be."
Steve shrugged, chin turned up toward the ceiling as he watched the basketball fly toward it. Elton John died down and switched to Def Leppard. "Hysteria" was one of Steve's favorite songs.
"You tell me. You were having a Julia Roberts marathon."
"So?" Your thumb returned to your mouth, teeth ripping at the skin.
"You only watch Julia Roberts when you're sad."
"Not true."
Steve fixed his head straight again, eyes narrowing into a pointed look. The basketball sat in his right palm against his chest. You huffed, angling yourself toward the door to glare at it instead of your roommate and his smug, all knowing expression.
He waited a while, like he always did—waiting out your stubbornness and refusing to let it break him. You could talk to him, you knew that. He wanted you to know that.
"I guess..." You sighed, throwing yourself back on the bed with your arms locked over your eyes. "I guess I'm just upset that Eddie still hasn't called. I've been calling and texting him, but...he doesn't wanna see me."
Steve immediately felt every blood cell in his body curdle. Like they were burning and festering, irritated under his skin. He swallowed, bringing the basketball to sit between his knees where he could pick at the design with blunt fingernails.
"And you want to see him?"
You dropped your arms, letting them plop to your sides. "I mean...yeah."
Steve couldn't help it—he scoffed.
The sound had your head turning, brows furrowed his way. His head was shaking, eyes focused distinctly downward to avoid yours. All the smugness of his expression dimmed into something distasteful and angry.
"What the hell was that for?"
"Nothing."
"You scoffed."
"I sighed."
"No, you scoffed."
"Well—"
This time, Steve did sigh. He took the basketball in his hands and chucked it toward the door, causing it to boomerang off the wood and catapult back toward the mattress again. The sharp smack had you jolting upward, and your eyes widened on Steve when he hopped from the bed and stood to his feet.
"What the hell—"
"He's not good enough for you!"
You paused on weak wrists used to push you upward. Steve stood a foot away from the bed with pink cheeks and outstretched hands. They curled back toward him to sweep through his hair and tug hard at the roots.
"Steve—"
"He sucks. Alright? All your ex boyfriends sucked, but especially Eddie. He didn't understand you, he didn't appreciate you. He made you cry, for fuck's sake, and you want him back? I just don't get it."
Your lips parted, but it felt like gulping for water on dry land. And Steve watched, helplessly, as you stammered for words in the face of his impending and inevitable confession. Inevitably painful, he knew, but he could no longer stomach the tireless routine of finding the body closest to yours in another dark bar, hoping she would comfort him enough to soothe the ache he had for you.
You, who slept across the hall and shared the sofa with your head on his shoulder. You, who looked at him like some sort of light source with those little round eyes. You, who made his heart pound and weep endlessly every second that you were near, and every moment you were away—leaving him in a constant, centrifugal loop of torture.
So—knowing it might ruin every bit of good the pair of you worked so hard to keep—Steve stepped closer to the bed and swallowed. He prepared himself to form the words he'd practiced a million times over in his head.
"I just figured that eventually...you'd get tired of all the wrong guys, and realize that...I'm here. That it was me, that you loved me. Because I love you—don't you love me?"
He paused, but it would never have been enough time for your mind to process his proclamation. He had a look of such anguish embedded in his features, all scrunched and screwed together with wet, shiny eyes.
"And I figured it was easier to sleep my way around than sit and watch you waste your time with these idiots. But they were never you. And I never bothered to get to know them, because I only wanted to know you."
Your breath hitched when Steve crowded your corner of the bed, hands clasped over his chest. You had to tip your head back to meet his eye, and you felt your arms shake in their locked position holding you up. The sight of him blurred with the onset of your own hot, salty tears.
Steve sniffed: a wet slurp proceeded by a tear slipping down his cheek. He wiped it quickly and sank to his knees before you on the bed, hands coming to cradle your bent knees.
"I just can't take it any longer," he whispered, and his hazel eyes were like shiny coins gazing up at you.
His lips were wet with his own tears. His tongue swept them away. Every breath inhaled rattled in his chest, and every exhale shuddered his cheeks full. He chuckled when he rubbed his palm into his eye and turned it red, sweeping his forearm over his face to clear the tears again but they just kept coming.
"Fuck, say something, please," he huffed, lacing it with laughter despite its absence of humor.
Your throat felt like it swelled to twice the size. Sickness rolled in your stomach. But it only grew at the thought of breaking Steve's heart with your silence. Because the longer he looked at you with those almond eyes, and the longer he sniffled and massaged your knees to comfort himself—the more your heart crumbled.
"I...I don't know what to say," you croaked.
Steve inhaled again, stuttering through a sniffle. He wiped his cheek on your knee and chuckled again. "Yeah. Yeah, of course—it's okay."
"Steve—"
"It's okay," he insisted, scrambling to his feet. He backed away toward the door and you finished pulling yourself upright.
"Steve, wait—"
"Really, it's okay, honey. I'm just gonna...—we ran out of ice cream, so 'm gonna g-go—go get some. Mint chip, yeah? Okay."
He sniffled again upon his exit, slipping through a small crevice he opened the door to. The front door slammed shut moments later, and you rolled onto your stomach to unleash a scream into Steve's mattress.
"Stay tuned for more all time hits of the 70s and 80s!"
✶ ✶
Steve did not return with the mint chip until nearly midnight. It came in a plastic bag that announced his arrival even before the clamber of keys. Yet, it was the squeal of old hinges that woke you from your couch slumber, and you jolted upright as the door swung open.
Steve closed the door and stood there for a moment, spotting you in the dimness of the living room. You rubbed your eye and he shifted on his feet. Ted scampered off the couch and butted at Steve's calf.
He held up the plastic bag. "Got the mint chip. It's uh...it's all melted now, though."
You wanted to reply, to make him feel better again. His eyes were still pink and puffy, and you hated the thought of him spending hours in his car or another dark bar agonizing over what you might be thinking. Worst of all, regretting any of what he said.
Because you spent the past few hours doing plenty of thinking. You laid in his bed, curled on your side, and looked at all the pictures pinned to a cork board above his desk.
The sepia toned film strip from a wedding last fall where you took him as your date. You were smiling in every one, and to the unbeknownst you might have already appeared as a couple.
The Polaroid from his most recent birthday, where you were sitting on his shoulders and clutching onto his hair for dear life. His sister took the picture.
The black and white he printed from his phone of just you on a park bench, feeding the ducks. You never even knew he had that one.
And when you shuffled to your room, you suddenly stopped. The clack of hard-bottomed slippers caught your attention, and you looked down at the plush yellow footwear around your toes—a gift from Steve.
You stood on the other side of your bed and stared at the windowsill full of miscellaneous yellow items all gifted from Steve. The movie ticket stubs shoved in your mirror and the hundreds thrown in a box on your dresser because you'd probably seen a thousand over the years with Steve, who loved movie theater popcorn and sitting close to you in the dark.
The birthday cards he wrote extensive messages of well wishes and gratitude for your friendship in with terrible penmanship. The purse he bought you for that you said you liked in passing but would never spend that much money on, and the note still tucked inside the zipper that came pasted to the bag on Christmas morning:
Because you deserve it.
Love, Steve
And then you ended up on the couch, falling asleep watching the door and waiting for it to open.
Steve trudged to the kitchen while you were lost in thought, and you hurried to catch up as he swung the freezer open. He wrapped the plastic bag around the pint of the ice cream and stuck it on the top shelf, hand reaching to close the door—when he was pushed forward by a force crashing into him.
And then there was warmth around his stomach: two arms curling around his ribs. Two hands pressing to his stomach and pulling him in. Steve stopped, immobilized in the open freezer door.
"I'm sorry," you breathed into his shirt, eyes closed tight. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything, I was just so stunned. And I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot, Steve, for letting this go on for so long. Of course I love you, of course you love me—God, I just never wanted to ruin everything. But you make me so happy, and I—"
Steve spun around, causing your head to lift off his back. You went to drop your arms, but he instantly brought them around his neck. Two hands, still frozen from melting ice cream, braced your cheeks.
"You mean it?"
You nodded in his hold, happy to see his hazel eyes free and clear of tears. "Yes. Yes, of course I mean it—"
"Oh, thank fucking God," Steve breathed, and then his mouth descended on you.
You curled to the tops of your toes to press into his kiss, whimpering at the warmth and softness of his lips. It felt exactly as you thought it would—anticipating their plushness every time he pressed his lips to your cheek over the years.
It lasted until the pair of you were breathless, and you heaved for air upon release. Steve brushed his thumbs over your bottom lip, smearing spit and hemming your airless grin.
He kissed you all night, and let his hands roam where they could not roam before. You fell asleep in his bed tucked under his arm, and when you woke you shared the refrozen pint of mint chip with one spoon.
And when Steve called his sister while you were showering to share the good news, all she did was laugh.
"Jesus, about fucking time."
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