#anyway i spent too long on this for y’all pervs

[hoss-bonaventure]

charlie day and his little face smush when he breaks 🥺

[thephantomofthe-internet]

Candy Hearts and Paper Roses

Steve Harrington x Carol’s Sister!Reader, Tommy x Carol

Word Count: 7,251

Warnings: Pregnancy, Smoking, Body Shaming, Swearing, Marriage

Author’s Note: Did y’all know that Carol’s last name was Perkins? Or that Tommy’s was Hagan? I didn’t! I also thought Tommy was more of a Hanson. Well, whatever.

Tag List: @madkskillz​ @moonstruckbucky​ @hotstuffhargrove​ @scoopsahoyharrington​ @thechickvic​ @alex--awesome--22​ @lilmissperfectlyimperfect​ @so-not-hotmess​ @hawkeyeharrington​ @sunflowercandie​ @kaliforniacoastalteens​ @songforhema​ @mickmoon​ @spidey-pal @buckybarneshairpullingkink​ @baebee35​ @myrealloveissleep​ @allfandomxreader​

You found out that Carol was pregnant before anyone else did. You found the test in her closet, in her black high heel. It was your own fault, she scolded when you confronted her with the test, you shouldn’t have been trying to steal her lavender turtleneck when she told you that you couldn’t borrow it.

Maybe she was right. Then again, you weren’t stupid enough to let Tommy Hagan knock you up less than a month after graduation. Tommy Hagan was beyond stupid. Carol wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box either, but you’d always assumed she wouldn’t let herself get caught up. Guess you were wrong.

Both your families freaked. A wedding was planned, a tiny diamond put on Carol’s finger, and her college fund spent on a tiny, run down shack of a double wide. She wasn’t going to college anyway. She wanted the baby, she could raise it on her own. Tommy wasn’t going either, not that he ever wanted to. The air force was the right place for him, that way he didn’t have to be there for the kid, just like his old man. A grotesquely nuclear army family. Maybe Carol would sell Avon, get her cosmetology degree once the kid was in school, cut hair at Marie’s shop. Maybe Tommy would excel at flying fighter planes, maybe he’d teach flying. Or move to commercial flight like his dad did. You hoped that they’d have an okay life.

You hoped even more that Carol wouldn’t pick ugly bridesmaid’s dresses.

Your mother insisted that Carol make you her maid of honour. “She’s your baby sister!” she cried from her seat on your family’s ugly floral couch. The two of them had been planning out a guest list and you made the mistake of walking past on the way to the kitchen.

“I promised Tina that she could be my maid of honour! She’s my best friend!” Carol whined. She was three months by then, her pregnancy just beginning to show.

“Tina will be happy just to be a bridesmaid. But your sister is family and we put family first. You’ll make your sister your maid of honour or you’ll have no bridesmaids at all.” Your mother warned, moving the paper doll representing you up to the bridal party. Carol had really spent too long on making her table diagram.

“Mom! That’s completely unfair, you can’t do that!” Carol cried, her red hair whooshing around her head.

“Carol, your father and I are paying for this wedding. If you want to do it your way, you’ll get a job and fork over the dough to pay for it yourself.” Your mother replied harshly. Carol shut her mouth after that, crossing her deer like arms over her chest.

It was settled. You’d be the maid of honour with Tina and Macy trailing behind you. Tommy would have his brother and Mason Pruitt in his party, with Steve Harrington acting as best man.

“Tommy’s brother isn’t his best man…” Carol muttered as your little group walked into the bridal shop in Hawkins, Nana’s Bridal. The weather was just beginning to turn cold, leafs turning brown and crunchy at your feet.

“And I can’t stop him. He’s not my son.” Your mother chuckled, examining the make of a white polyester nightmare on the sale rack. All of your shopping was to be done on the sale rack. Your parents weren’t putting much money into this wedding.

Carol insisted on shopping for hours, to the point where Tommy and his party waltz into the shop to meet the group for lunch and found Carol crying in a puffy, whipped cream looking dress with chintzy flowers blooming out of the neckline, held on by clear glass beads at their centre. Apparently Melanie Moore had just bought the same dress and she’d seen everything in the shop and nothing was perfect. Tommy just laughed at the scene, elbowing Steve and Mason in the ribs, whispering about how stupid she looked. You’d never seen a girl in a wedding dress hit their groom, but then again you’d never imagined your sister as a bride. Maybe the image would’ve been more expected if you ever thought she’d get married. Your mother broke up the scene, telling the Carol to go get changed so she didn’t ruin the dress. That she’d wear her old wedding dress if she didn’t want to pick one.

Carol chose the floral nightmare when Tommy wasn’t looking. Melanie wouldn’t be seen in it until after her anyway. The group went off to lunch without a word. Carol and Tommy went back to being lovey-dovey sweethearts. Tina rushed off to gossip with Macy. The parents huddled to regroup and cope with the scene. Suddenly, you were alone.

You turned to Harrington out of desperation. He looked about as exhausted as you were. “How’d suit shopping go?” you asked, drawing Steve’s attention immediately to you.

He chuckled, leaning down to whisper in your ear “Don’t tell your mom, but we didn’t go.” You looked up wide eyed. Steve smirked “Yeah, we all own black suits and white dress shirts from other things. We’ll get matching ties when we know what you’re wearing.” He nodded to Carol, who was gripping onto Tommy’s arm, pointing out a horrifying mustard yellow velour dress with matching bolero. You cringed, hoping she was making fun of the dress rather than genuinely choosing it as an option for her friends. You really hoped she wouldn’t put you in it as punishment.

“Pray for me, Harrington.” You replied with a wry smile, bouncing ahead to join your mother, hoping she’d slip you one of the unlabeled white pills she was taking, or at the very least an Advil.  

Steve watched you go, your own hair moving with every step you took. The light caught the strands, haloing your crown in golden light.

Yeah, he was fucked.

Carol’s little sister wasn’t exactly someone he’d usually pay attention to. He’d known you since you were a little kid, with scraped knees and ripped tights. You were a wild little thing, always chasing after him and his friends, trying to impress the older kids in your paisley pilgrim dresses and shiny Mary-Jane’s. You were a little girl, then a stroppy preteen who didn’t want to hang out with her older sister but wanted to do the same things she did, then, out of nowhere, you had grown up. Standing tall, haloed in light, keeping up with every punch her older sister could throw at her, laughing all the way.  You weren’t the little girl who cried when her teacher’s were mean or her sister abandoned her on the playground and you weren’t the middle school kid with dirty ripped jeans and a moody attitude. You’d grown into someone new. Someone who intrigued him. Someone he couldn’t stop staring at, even when Mason smacked him in the back of the neck and tried to engage him in football talk, Steve kept his gaze and focus on you and you wide grin. Shining in the sunlight, radiant and proud and beautiful.

He felt like such a creep. He was perving on his friend’s girlfriend’s younger sister.

But he couldn’t escape you. Every weekend, as the wedding date grew closer and Carol grew bigger and bigger, he saw you. The wedding was set for Valentine’s Day, another note of pure cheese for the nuptials.

You weren’t insanely focused on Harrington. You had too much damage to try to control. Your mother and Carol seemed hell bent on torturing you, although your mother seemed to be unaware of the pain she was inflicting on you. They wanted to deck out the hall in pure white and pastel pink, candy hearts on the table in glass bowls and a mix of real red roses and paper ones as centrepieces. The whole thing was going to look like a slightly more expensive version of the Valentine’s Day parties your homeroom classes had in elementary school. The bridesmaid’s dresses were the worst part.

You, Tina, and Macy were dragged back to Nana’s Bridal shop in town, with Carol and Tommy in tow. You were not impressed with Carol’s grabs. It turns out she really liked that awful mustard velour nightmare. Your mother had to hold her back, although her only reasoning was that it didn’t match the colours. They had to be pink or red to match the colours of the wedding. The boys had to have matching ties to the dress colour. It had to match. It was a Valentine’s Day wedding.

You vowed to yourself that you’d never be this cheesy.

Carol spent the appointment torturing you, putting you into the ugliest pink dresses she could find purely to laugh at you. Everything was awful and itchy and smelt like plastic. You wanted to crawl into a ball and die. While Macy and Tina wowed the crowd in the nicer, more refined dresses, you were the frumpy ugly duckling.

The last dress Tina tried on was the choice. Tea length salmon pink polyester with a high boat neckline and soft layered cap sleeves. The dress was plain and simple, no excess sequins or crystals. It was also on sale, which meant your mother jumped at the dress; telling Carol that she could put little fabric flowers on the waistband to match hers. She still pouted.

“Ma, that dress isn’t going to work. It’s going to look terrible on Y/N.” she snapped, pointing her stubby nail at you. You were still dressed in a similar pink dress, although this one had a white lace appliqué to cover your cleavage. You felt your face heat terribly, tears brimming in your eyes. Macy and Tina refused to look at you and Tommy had long ago went to use the phone at the front desk.

“Here, Tina go change and Y/N, go try the dress on.” Your mother instructed. Tina turned on her heel and headed back into the dressing room. You sighed, following behind the salesgirl as she returned you to your own poorly lit dressing room. The salmon dress came into your dressing room quickly and you slipped it on. You looked yourself over in the mirror, wiping the tears that had built up in your eyes as you looked yourself over. You thought you looked fine, but you knew in your heart that Carol was going to shoot you down no matter how good you looked in it. You took in a deep breath and stepped out of the dressing room, heading back out to see your family.

As if on cue, the bell over the front doors chimed and Steve Harrington’s chipper voice sounded by the entrance. Tommy and Steve joined the group. You looked down quickly smoothing your skirt.

“Now, you see Carol, she looks fine.” Your mother said “Y/N, turn around show us the whole picture.”

You rolled your eyes, but obeyed, turning slowly to let the material swirl around your ankles.

“Ma, she looks like one of those ballet dancing hippos from Fantasia. Y/N needs a wider skirt and more details to hide her-” This was what you expected from Carol. Her not so subtle jabs at you were poison dipped. Usually, you could handle her, but today it was too hard. Tears began to well up in your eyes again, which you quickly tried to hide, turning to look yourself over in the mirror as if you were looking over what Carol was saying.

“Wow, you look great Y/N.” Steve cut in with a grin. “The colour looks great with your hair.” Everyone turned to look at Steve, confused or surprised or annoyed. You turned to look at him as well, surprised. You didn’t expect a compliment from Steve, much less over your looks.

“I agree, Steven. Y/N looks wonderful. Carol, this is the dress. This is what we’re going with. We’re not getting two dresses. You like this one, we’ll do this one. We can add a flower to the waistband, they’ll be wearing jewellery.” Your mother added, standing up to squeeze your shoulders comfortingly. You smiled up at her as she sent you away to change. Dress shopping was over, thank god. You heard as you left your mother add “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all Carol. You’re too hard on her.”

“I’m just trying to be helpful, mom. I don’t want her to go out there and look like an idiot.” Carol retorted. You couldn’t see her face, but you felt the sneer digging into your back, her hatred never stronger than when she was told that she was in the wrong.

When you came back out, everyone was impatiently waiting for you, chatting absentmindedly. Your mother announced that the group would come back for a fitting in two months time, in January. Your mother wrapped her arm around your shoulders. She told the girls to find nice jewellery and matching shoes for their dresses and the boys to get their salmon ties and to remember their tie clips. Everyone was sent on their way from there, Carol and your mother leaving you in the dust.

You felt a firm tap on the shoulder. “You wanna go for a drive?” You met the eye of Steve Harrington and his lopsided grin. You chewed your lip, thinking for a moment, before nodding.

Steve and you drove in silence for awhile before stopping on the edge of town. The weather had gone cold and the wind had picked up in the wheat fields, blowing softly into a tan blur. You and Steve sat in  the front seats, staring out the windshield in silence.

“So…what’s up with your sister? Is she always this much of bitch or is it the hormones?” Steve asked softly, cracking his window. You reached into your purse, pulling out a pack of cigarette and lighting one, offering the pack to Steve.

You puffed out a cloud of smoke, chuckling to yourself “She’s always been a mythic bitch…just usually not so much in public.” You said, offering Steve your lighter.

“Why does she do that? She used to bug Nance too I just don’t get it…” Steve asked, lighting his cigarette and bringing it to his lips, passing you back your lighter.

“That’s just girls, Harrington, if you’re not their friend and they notice you, you’re an enemy.” You replied, looking out the window at the empty field in front of you. “We can’t have any competition.”

“Why’d she think you were competition?” he asked, turning his attention to you, resting his arm on the gear shift.

“She’s always been the pretty one, and now she’s fat. She can’t handle it.” Pregnancy hadn’t brought Carol the glow everyone promised. Instead, it gave her acne and swollen feet and greasy hair. It didn’t even make her boobs bigger. She had just reverted into herself in middle school, except with a baby growing inside her.

“She hasn’t always been the pretty one…” Steve muttered. You turned to look at him, your brow furrowed in an intense stare. Steve simply shrugged in response.

“Well, she’s always thought that she was. And now she’s pregnant and having her dream wedding and it’s still not what she wants. I don’t know what she thinks is gonna happen once she’s married.” You smirked, turning to ash your cigarette out the window.

“Carol and Tommy have always gone back and forth, ever since the seventh grade. They’ll be fine.” Steve shrugged.

You frowned “I don’t know, I mean with a baby in the mix…they can’t just break up and make up easy anymore. There’s too much at stake now.” You replied.

“Yeah but they’ll make it work.” You raised your eyebrow at him, watching him carefully “Tommy’s gonna take it seriously. They both will.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” You crossed your arms over your chest, flicking the butt of your cigarette out the window. You both went silent for awhile, but something was eating at your mind.

“Why’d you step in today?” you asked.

“Huh?” Steve looked over at you again, more focused on the growing line of ash about to tip into his lap.

“With Carol, she was ripping me a new one and you stepped in. Why? It wasn’t your issue to deal with…” you clarified, picking at the skin around your nails.

“I mean…she was being mean and I didn’t want to listen to it.” He replied. You nodded to yourself. That answer made sense.

“I meant it, you know.” Steve added “You look really pretty.”

“Oh…” you breathed, looking down at your hands “Thanks, Steve…”

“No biggie.” He grinned. You really didn’t know what to do with yourself. He thought you were pretty. How were you supposed to react? He was Steve! Sure, you had a crush on him when you were a kid, but now? Now you barely felt like you knew him. And yet your heart was pounding in your chest. Maybe you just hadn’t gotten a good compliment in awhile.

Or maybe a part of you wanted his approval. You’d had a crush on him when you were young, he broke your heart without knowing it. Now, you were equals. Maybe that was it. Or maybe the crush never left.

Steve drove you home after that, letting Hall and Oates drift you back into your personal circle of hell. When you arrived in your driveway, you popped open your door and climbed out, leaning into his cracked window.

“Thanks for the ride, Harrington.” You said, adjusting you purse strap on your shoulder. You wondered if you looked like a hooker. You hoped not.

“No problem, thanks for coming out with me.” He replied, leaning his elbow on the inside of the door. “I’ll see you around?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ll have to.” You giggled, turn on your heel and running up the driveway. You pulled open the front door, stepping into the warmth of your house, rubbing your hands together to bring the feelings back into your fingers. Carol had the fireplace going in the living room, feet propped up on the tapestry covered stool as she flipped through a copy of Glamour magazine.

She looked up when she heard the door close and she frowned when her eyes met yours. You tried to just go upstairs, but Carol snapped her fingers at you. “Hey.” You turned to look at her, not stepping down from the stairs.

“Leave Harrington alone.” She snapped, slapping her magazine closed.

“Why does it matter to you who I hang out with?” you asked, crossing your arms over your chest.

“He doesn’t like you. He’s being nice. Don’t get it twisted in your sad little head that he’d like you.” Carol replied with a smirk.

You didn’t bother to reply, simply heading upstairs and slamming your door. Of course Carol had to ruin it. You have one nice thing, one uplifting moment in an otherwise awful day, and she had to take a crap on it. She couldn’t just let you have anything. That would be too easy for her. Carol couldn’t let you have anything, what else would she do with her free time.

You knew that Carol was just bored and trying to stir shit up, but a part of your mind wouldn’t let it go. Steve didn’t like you. He was just a nice guy. You refused to let yourself get caught up in any sorts of hyper inflated one-sided romance made up in your mind.

Luckily for you, most of the wedding prep from there on didn’t involve the whole group going. In fact most of it didn’t even involve you. Your mother took over planning, dragging Tommy and Carol to bakeries and to meet the pastor who’d do the service. Tommy wanted his drunken uncle to do the service, he was a boat captain and Tommy didn’t understand that a boat captain can only perform a wedding on a boat at sea and that he was in the middle of the country.

Your mother tasked you with the all important job of making flowers to pin onto the bridesmaid dresses. She gave you enough money to buy the supplies and sent you on your way with a beleaguered sigh, turning her attention to Carol who was whining over her bowl of Captain Crunch. Apparently, she was craving pickles and salt and vinegar chips and the house was out of both.

You took yourself down to Main Street. The date of the girl’s fitting was inching closer and closer and you were more than nervous to go back in to try on dresses. You knew Carol would be on your case if the dress fit even a little bit incorrectly. Even if it was too big, she’d be pissed at you for something. It had only been a couple months, and you were certain that you hadn’t gained or lost any weight since trying on and sizing the stupid nightmare. Who wanted to wear a dress in a colour named after a fish? Salmon was not an appetizing colour. It drew the mind to dead fish sliced up on a plate.

You pushed open the door of your favourite fabric store. In a small town full of old ladies, there was a huge market for sewing stores. Yours was Sylvia’s Sewing Supplies, its owner gave you discounts and slipped you new patterns whenever you came in. You relished in the warmth of the shop. Hawkins had frozen over in November and hadn’t even gotten close to thawing out. Your favourite cashier, Marie wasn’t in, so you slipped into the aisles to find what you needed. You needed a fabric that would stand out against the salmon pink of the dress, flat topped pins, and a bit of wire to give the fabric some body. You grabbed your pins and the crafting wire, before heading to the sale section for fabric. You’d need something lightweight and clean, with no distinctive or big pattern, and little stretch. You found a thin cotton material with bit of pink sparkle and bought a yard. You’d use some leftover magenta coat buttons for the flower’s centre.

You left the shop with a grin, plastic bag swinging in your hands as you headed back towards your family’s home. You were proud to have gotten all your supplies for under the budget your mother had given you.

You’d barely made it past Melvald’s when a familiar maroon car came swerving to a stop next to you, Steve Harrington leaning out the driver’s side window. “Hey! Perkins! Where ya headed?” he asked.

You waved at him, edging closer to his car. “Oh nowhere really, I thought I might go up to King’s Street.” You said, clutching your coat around yourself.

“Whatcha buying?” he pointed to your shopping bag.

“Wedding stuff, I’ve been given a job. Woo hoo…” you pulled a painfully fake grin, using your free hand to do a bit of a jazz hand.

Steve laughed, shaking his head “Well, come on get in.” he said.

“Oh no, that’s alright Steve, I don’t mind walking.” You replied. Carol’s words rang loudly in your ear.

“Perkins, its freezing. Get in the car before you turn blue.” Steve said, leaning over to pop the passenger’s side door open. You shook your head, jogging around the car to get in, if only to escape the cold and keep from someone taking off the door. Steve drove off quickly, crossing town a bit too fast for your liking. You directed him towards Tom’s Curio shop; a sort of thrift store meets pawn shop on the edge of town, closer to Kingsville than Carmel. You liked Tom’s; it was the closest thing to a thrift store you could get in town. It had been open since Hawkins was founded and Tom still stood behind the counter every day.

You dragged Steve along with you inside, instructing him to park close to the front door. “Alright, what’re we looking for?” Steve asked as he pushed open the heavy front door.

“We are looking for something shiny to pair with my bridesmaid dress.” You replied, waving politely to Tom, who was haggling with a customer at the desk. You weaved through the racks to the back case, filled mostly with costume jewellery. The good stuff was at the front, locked away and protected by Tom’s stern gaze and the shotgun he kept behind the counter.

“Ah, I need a tie clip anyway, wonder if they’ll have anything good…” he said, following behind you up to the well lit case. The case itself was filled with a variety of plastic beads in every colour, from fake pearls to giant rainbow baubles that your grandmother used to wear. There was some rhinestone on silver plated copper pieces, most of which had their copper showing or rhinestones missing. You weren’t insanely impressed.

“What about that one?” Steve pointed at a set of sort, pale pink plastic beads.

You cringed “If I have to wear grandma beads, I’ll freak out.” You replied, eyeing down the long case. Something caught your eye. A small silver chain with a little pink flower in its centre. “Hey Tom!” you called “Can I get a hand in the case?”

“Case’s open, it’s all junk in there anyway!” Tom called back. You slipped behind the desk and slid open the glass panel. You gently pulled out the necklace, examining it in natural lighting. The silver didn’t seem to be rubbed off or chipped and while the pink flower had clearly had it details rubbed off, you liked it more because of it.

“You want me to grab a tie clip? I see one that isn’t faded or ugly.” You said, eyeing a plain silver tie clip at the end of the counter.

“Sure, I should own one anyway.” Steve said. You grabbed the clip but your arm was just a bit too short, it slipped from your fingertips. You groaned, sidling over to where it fell. You reached for it and found two clips instead of one. First was the tie clip, but the other piece was more interesting. It wasn’t another tie clip but instead a hair pin. A straight clasped pin with blue stones and a singular stone shaped like a small flower bud at its centre. It clearly wasn’t something worth any money, but it was pretty and the details were intact.

You lifted yourself off the floor and closed the glass. You handed Steve his tie clip and dusted off your jeans, the knees now white with dust and dirt. The pair of you paid for your pieces and headed into the snowstorm that Hawkins had become. He drove you home slowly, excessively careful in the changed weather. But when he turned down your street, you stopped him.

“You can drop me off here.” You pointed about eight houses down from yours. Steve was driving at a snail’s pace and you were getting antsy.

“What? No way, Perkins. The weather’s shit and the sidewalks are icy. Those little sneakers aren’t gonna do you much good in this weather.” He chuckled, nodding at your dingy white Reebok sneakers. He wasn’t wrong, but he didn’t see the inherent problems Carol was going to cause.

“Carol’s going to cause a scene if she sees us together again.” You countered, grabbing your plastic bag off the ground.

“Why does she give so much of a shit about you and me?” Steve asked, parking in your driveway.  

“I don’t know, pregnancy hormones are crazy, apparently.” You sighed, popping open the door. You were barely out in the snow for a moment when your mother came rushing out the door.

“Steven!” she called “Y/N, tell that boy that it’s not safe to drive home in this. He’ll stay for dinner.”

Fighting this request would not end well. You sighed, turning your attention back into the car “Steve, my mom is insisting you stay for dinner. It’s too bad for you to drive back home, wait it out inside.”

“It’s not that bad, I’ll be alright.” Steve replied with a shrug.

You rolled your eyes, smiling softly “It’s not a request, Harrington, come one.” You turned on your heel and your smile grew as you heard the ignition turn off and Steve’s door open and shut.

“Thank you, Mrs. Perkins.” Steve said as he passed your mother by.

“It’s no trouble at all, Steven, we’re happy to have you.” She replied, shutting the door behind the three of you. Carol was again sat in the living room with the fireplace going, gorging herself on salt and vinegar chips, laid out on the couch. When she saw Steve, she sat up as fast as she could, her stomach protruding much more at five months than it ever had before.

“Steve! What’re you doing here?” she beamed, adjusting herself in her mountain of pillows.

“Oh, I found your sister stuck in the storm, I drove her home.” Steve replied, pulling off his navy blue coat and kicking off his damp sneakers. Carol’s bright smile dropped into a frown as she eyed the pair of you. The silence was thick and tense enough to slice with a knife.

“Well…I’m going to work on the flowers. I bought some nice material, I’ll make a test one for you to look over, yeah?” you said, lifting the grey opaque bag as if to prove you went shopping. Carol nodded shortly and you ran off as fast as you, abandoning Steve to her clutches.

Working on the flowers proved to be much easier than you thought. You plugged in your small sewing machine at your desk, plugging the foot peddle into the machine. You pulled in your hot glue gun as well, plugging it in. Then, you drew out your petal shape. You decided to have a five petal flower and to make the shape similar to a heart, with a rounded cupid’s bow at the top of the petal and a bit of a point at the end. Then you cut your fabric into five even strips, folding the fabric over, and setting the excess aside. You used your fabric chalk to copy the image onto the fabric five times. You cut out your hearts and set them aside. Then, you used a pair of wire cutters to break off five pieces of similar lengths. You hot glued each piece of wire onto five of your ten hearts and loaded in your thread as they dried. You placed two hearts back to back and sewed around the edges and turned them inside out. Then you hot glued the other half of the heart to the wire. Repeat four times, the wind the wires together in a circle, hot glue the flower to the pin and glue the button to its centre. Bam. A flower. It looked alright too.

With a proud grin, you bounded down the stairs. Steve and Carol were sat in awkward silence, which you easily broke. “Alright, Carol this is the first one. What’d think of the fabric and design?” you handed her the pin “I tried to make the petals look like hearts, to sort of fit the theme-”

“They’re fine. They’re just to add something to the waistband. You don’t have to think so hard about it.” She cut in, handing you back the flower. In an instant, you were defeated by Carol.

“Alright then…” you muttered. You went to leave, but Steve’s voice caused you to stop in your tracks.

“Think I can give you a hand?” he asked, hopping to his feet.

“Oh…I’m alright, keep Carol company, I’m sure she enjoys it.” You said quickly.

“I’m fine, go ahead Steve, I’m sure Y/N can put you to some kind of work.” She drawled, watching you with a sneer.

You sighed, bounding up the steps. Steve followed close behind. You kicked open your door, pushing a pile of notebooks to the side as you let him into your room. “Alright, sit there and cut out petals. I’ll do the rest.” You pointed to your bed, then pulled out your own desk chair and flicked off the light above your needle.

“Alright,” he rubbed his palms together and looking over the pile. “What am I going here?”

You leaned over to him in your chair “Alright take your pattern, pick a place on the fabric,” you pointed to the white chalk “Draw the pattern out on the fabric, then cut it out.”

“Alright, I got this.” He said. You nodded turning back to your machine as a small pile of hearts began to grow. You made steady, silent progress, until Steve broke it.

“Why do you let her push you around like that?” Steve asked.

“What do you mean?” you replied, not looking up from your machine.

“You were clearly proud of the pin and she dismissed it. Why couldn’t she say it was nice?” Steve asked.

You chuckled “God, you’re such an only child…” you mutter, gluing your wire onto your first heart and sewing pieces together. “That’s how older sisters are. They all wanted to be only children and then some baby brat came along and stole all the attention. She’s disliked me from the day I was born.”

“And she can’t be nice for five minutes?” Steve countered with a matching chuckle.

“Like I said, blame the hormones. Usually, she’d just ignore me. Now, she needs me to make stupid little flowers for her wedding.” You replied, flipping out your first heart and gluing it shut.

The pair of you made five pins in about an hour, laughing and talking all the while. Steve was a nice guy. You had a lot in common, mostly in your annoyance with your peers. Steve was much more normal than you remembered, much more relaxed and easygoing than the hyper kid who ran circles around you and his friends on the playground. He was a bit of a grown man now. Maturity looked good on him.

Your mother fed the family and Steve was gone quickly, the snow settling fast. Just as quickly as Steve left your house, January passed you by. You spent the month in full wedding mode. You and your mother were high strung. It didn’t help that Carol was rounding seven months pregnant and a nightmare to be around. You spent your free time hiding in your room.

By the time the date came around, you were more than happy to be over everything wedding based. You didn’t care if Carol was marrying a man child and she was pregnant with the next spawn of Satan, you just wanted everything to be done. The dresses fit, the ties matched and were clipped, the wedding dress fitted to Carol’s massive stomach, the caterer’s had the food ready and the cake was iced and cooled. All that was left was to marry them off.

The morning of February 14th, 1987 was one of pure chaos. Tina and Macy had slept over with Carol, although you weren’t into to their bridal pampering. Carol was flashing around her bridal box, full of everything she needed. She was more than ready to be married. You all headed to Marie’s Beauty Parlour to have your hair done at eleven o’clock that morning, yours and Tommy’s mother giddy to be getting rid of their children. Your mother had bought the mustard velour nightmare for herself to wear. She had her hair curled in ringlets and pinned away from her face. You and the other bridesmaid’s were put into tight, poufy bouffant hairstyles. Carol’s being the highest and poufiest of them all. Then, you all waited around while Carol had her makeup professionally done. The rest of you would have to do your own makeup, which you were happy with when you saw the outcome of Carol’s.

The group dressed and did their makeup back at your house, trying to match each other’s makeup. Macy and Tina were deadlocked in attempts to outdo each other. You finished yours first, not worried about overpowering their makeup. You slid into you salmon dress and, at the nagging of your mother, pulled on a pair of pantyhose before putting on your matching wedding shoes. You pinned your little flower pin on your right side and clasped on your necklace, jabbing a pair of tiny silver hoops into your earlobes.

A scream from Carol pulled everyone’s attention to her. She was found crying on the floor in her white wedding lingerie, screaming up at your mother “Where is it?!?”

“What’s wrong, ma?” you asked, stepping through the small crowd and touching your mother’s shoulder.

“Great-grandma Petra’s wedding tiara!” Carol moaned. You looked to your mother with a confused expression. You’d never met your great grandmother. She died before you were born.

“I told you, honey, she was buried with it. I don’t have it.” Your mother said, pulling your sister off the floor “Your mascara is running, honey, you have to stop crying.”

“But now I don’t have anything old and blue!” she cried, letting her mother put her into the stool at her vanity.

“We’ll find you something, let me look through my jewellery box, I’m sure I can fine something-” your mother tried.

“I’m already borrowing your pearls, I can’t get any more luck from you.” She sobbed, her breathing getting ragged. She was going to hyperventilate if someone didn’t do something. You ran to your room, grabbing the blue hair pin off your desk. You had intended on wearing it in your own hair, but the bride needed to be appeased and the conversation needed to be over. You brought the pin into your mother’s room.

“Here,” you held out the pin to Carol “I bought it for myself, but you can wear it. It’s vintage, so it’s old, and it’s blue.” Carol took the pin cautiously, examining it with watery eyes.

Her whole face broke into a wide smile “It’s perfect, Y/N, thank you!” she held out her arms, pulled you into a tight hug. You let her hug you like she meant it. Maybe she did. You weren’t going to forgive her for everything because she was nice to you once. Giving her your pin was just what got you all to the wedding.

The ceremony started on time, which was a shock to you. Stood outside the church, Tina and Macy fussed over Carol veil, which was attempting to blow away in the icy wind. You heard the music start and, on cue, Mason and Kenny opened the doors, Steve and Tommy waiting at the altar. You gripped your roses tightly, making your brisk walk up to the altar. Steve was watching you far too intensely for your liking. You lowered your gaze and made your way to the front. He was too handsome to look at anyway.

The vows went fast, the ceremony was kept short. Everyone at the wedding knew it was a shotgun wedding before they even arrived and nobody really took it seriously. The applause was polite as Tommy and Carol headed to back down the aisle to their getaway car. Steve sidled up to you as you headed down the aisle out of the church.

“You wanna get out of here? We’ve got like an hour to kill for the happy couple to take photos.” He asked, grabbing the crook of your arm and looping his through it.

“Sure…” you muttered. You made it outside, trading your bouquet for your winter coat and following Steve over to his car. You drove out to his house, because it was closer than yours and neither of you wanted to join the festivities there anyway.

“You look…really beautiful, by the way.” He said as he pulled into his driveway.

“Thank you…” you replied shyly, not meeting his eyes “You look really handsome.”

“Thank you…” Steve smiled. He led you to the front of his house and let you into the empty, dark house. You’d never been to Steve’s house, much less without anyone there besides you two. You kicked off your heels, relishing the comfort of being flat on the ground again. Steve’s hands came to your waist and spun you to him carefully.

“Steve, what’re you doing?” you whispered. Something about the scene made you feel like you were sneaking around. Maybe you were. Somewhere in your mind Carol was still watching, hinting, assuming the worst of you. She already thought you were a slut for even hanging out with Steve.

“Well…I was going to kiss the prettiest bridesmaid…” he grinned, leaning down to you.

You pulled back “Why?” you asked, placing your hands on his chest to push him away.

Steve’s hands fell away. He looked at you closely, and then let out a sigh. “Because…I’m crazy about you, Y/N, I can’t stop thinking about you. I thought, well I figured, you felt the same but if I’m wrong I mean tell me now-”

“No! I mean I don’t know…Carol already thinks I’m a slut I don’t want to add to it, I mean if she found out about this…” you replied quickly.

“Y/N,” Steve reached for your arm, pulling you a bit closer. “Can’t you see that she’s just jealous of you? You don’t have to plan your life around her.”

You looked at him sceptically. He didn’t know Carol the way you did. He didn’t live with her. “Steve, it’s never been that simple. You can’t just say that she’s jealous or crazy and move on.” You scoffed.

“Y/N, what are you afraid of?” Steve grabbed your hand.

“I…I’m afraid that…she’s right. That I’ll never be as good as her or as liked as her. I’m afraid that you only like me because of her. That you’ll move on the second you get bored or that this is some elaborate game you and your friends are playing. Like when we were kids and you would play those awful pranks on me.” You explained, looking away from Steve. You felt ashamed of your emotions, of feeling small and useless, like the child you were so certain you’d grown out of being.

Steve swallowed, stepping back again, looking you over with a worried expression. “You are…so different from your sister. And that’s the best thing about you. Carol is Carol, but you? You’re indescribable. You’re so amazing, it kills me. And I would never treat you like the way we used to. We were kids, and I’m so sorry we hurt you. But I would never treat you like that again.”

You inched closer, watching his expression curiously. He looked almost hurt by your words. You didn’t regret them though; you needed to say them to be understood.

“I know that, Steve, I just” you let out a heavy, thick sigh “I’ve always been scared of everything, you included.”

Steve’s face broke into a small smile “You don’t ever have to be afraid of me.” He murmured, his hands coming carefully to your cheeks, running his knuckles up and down your cheek. His lips came gently down to yours. This time, you didn’t pull away. You didn’t want to. Fuck Carol, fuck her stupid ideas on who you were and her damn ugly wedding to a massive idiot. You were allowed your happiness. You were allowed to have Steve. And he’s exactly what you want.