HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1985.

     "DO YOU WANT TO HAVE A SLEEPOVER at my house?"

Theresa gave Steve an amused look, raising her eyebrows.

"A sleepover? What are we, ten?"

He rolled his eyes, returning her look. "I was trying to put it respectfully. But if you want to know, what I was actually gonna say was–"

"Come to your house so we can have sex?" she finished, resting her head against her hand with a knowing smirk.

Steve shrugged. "Well, if you insist..."

Tess shook her head with laughter, looking back to the road. "Your boldness is slowly returning, huh?"

He side-eyed her. "What do you mean?"

Steve pulled into his driveway and put the car in park, giving her a look like he wanted to do it right then and there.

"It never left."

She began to cackle, unbuckling her seatbelt and opening the door. "Yeah, we'll see about that."

Steve walked her up to the front door, unlocking it with his keys and allowing her inside first. She stopped, looking around the dark house and then turning her head to Steve.

"Parents not home?"

He poked his tongue in his cheek, wiggling his eyebrows. "They'll be back later."

Theresa made an 'O' shape with her mouth, slowly nodding. "Oh, I see."

They looked at each other for a tension-filled moment, and Tess began to grin.

"Race you."

She sprinted toward the staircase while Steve chased after her, Tess giggling as Steve caught up with her and grabbed her by the waist and turning her around to pick her up.

"Steve!"

He hoisted her up as he entered his room, Theresa wrapping her legs around his abdomen. Steve spun her around and snickered to himself before dropping her on his bed, Tess leaning back against her elbows as Steve stood in front of her.

"The sailor uniform really ties this all together," she remarked, tilting her head to the side.

"You think so?" he bantered, kicking off his shoes and crawling on top of her as she nodded.

"Mhm," Steve leaned down to kiss her as she spoke, "I think it should stay on. Something about those little shorts is just a huge turn on."

He hummed a laugh into her mouth as he kissed her deeper, pulling back to reply, "That's pushing it."

She grinned again, Steve sitting up to pull his shirt off. She had no complaints about the uniform now; this was perfectly fine too. He got off of her as Theresa sat up, Steve wanting to be the one to remove her shirt and doing so before going in to kiss her again. She got up on her knees, pushing Steve back against his headboard while she got on top of him. He unbuttoned her jeans as Tess began grinding against him with impatience, meeting his tongue with hers. She finally took a moment to catch her breath, wiggling out of her jeans with the help of Steve. They both erupted with laughter again, Theresa meeting his lips with a soft moan as he gripped her hips and tried to pull her even closer than they already were.

"God, you're so beautiful," he whispered as their lips parted for a brief second, pulling her back in as Tess fiddled with the waistband of his shorts. She was wasting no time, clearly, but Steve did not want that just yet. He gently guided her off of him, rolling over so that he was on top of her once again. Steve kissed her neck the way he had done many times before, almost wanting to bite her just because of how good she smelled. He knew Theresa would not mind, but Steve stuck to just leaving hickeys. And he made sure there were lots of them.

Steve grabbed her breasts which were still covered by her bra, growing agitated and reaching underneath her to unclasp it. He disregarded it, dramatically tossing the bra across his bedroom as Tess giggled. Then he turned his focus back to her, bringing his lips to her nipple as she let out another moan. Her hands flew to his hair while Steve worked his tongue around her breasts, kneading the other one and grasping her waist tightly.

"Steve, fuck," Tess breathed out, pulling his hair involuntarily. Steve immediately let out a moan, almost embarrassed as he pulled back from Theresa. She raised her eyebrows, realizing what had happened. Steve could feel the bulge in his shorts painfully growing, and Tess could feel it against her thigh as well. He lowered himself down her body, dragging his nimble fingers to the waistband of her underwear. Steve was borderline teasing as he breathed heavily at her core, Theresa beginning to squirm with impatience while he gazed up at her lustfully. Finally, Steve slid her underwear off of her legs, discarding them and grabbing hold of her thighs aggressively to spread them apart. He put them over his shoulders as he lightly licked at her clit, Tess gasping loudly and throwing her head back onto the pillows. He smirked, pressing his lips against her while her thighs tightened around his head.

"Oh my God," she uttered, a hand running through his hair again whilst the other gripped the headboard behind her. Theresa's back arched off of the mattress while Steve worked his tongue in unimaginable ways, teasing her entrance with two fingers. He hummed against her, the vibrations sending shockwaves through Tess' body as she stuttered Steve's name over and over. Steve continued to suck her clit and pushed two fingers inside of her, Theresa pulling at his hair in an antagonizing way that drove him crazy.

"Fuck," he mumbled, trying to ignore how painfully hard he was. He was going to wait until he could make Tess come. Steve buried his face in her once again, pushing his fingers in and out and keeping his lips around her sensitive bud. She was coming closer to her edge, Steve looking up to watch her come undone by him as he led her to it.

"Don't stop," she exclaimed, and Steve had no intentions of doing so. He continued his motions faster and faster until Theresa was nearly screaming, releasing all over him while Steve licked at her folds, working her through her orgasm.

She panted, her chest rising and falling as she laid there with her legs still trembling. "Fuck," Tess muttered, Steve smiling happily to himself as he crawled back up to kiss her with his swollen lips. She knew Steve was eager to be inside her, as was she. Theresa used her strength to push him over, getting back on top of Steve as he blinked with some surprise at the sudden switch. She reached over to the drawer of his nightstand, pulling it open and grabbing a condom. Steve's eyes widened, puzzled.

"How did you know...?"

"Shut up," she smiled sweetly, not wasting any time to finally remove his shorts and his boxers. He slightly hissed as his dick hit the cold air, Tess tearing open the contraceptive and expertly placing it on without any help.

Steve smirked a little, remarking, "You're pretty good at that."

She smirked back, propping herself up on her knees as she wrapped her arms around Steve's neck.

"Not my first time."

Before Steve could give a snarky response, Tess positioned herself and finally lowered herself onto his dick. Theresa moaned softly, gripping his biceps. She jerked her hips with impatience, allowing Steve to become more comfortable in her as she rode him, slowly and rhythmically. Steve groaned as he watched her, guiding her hips with his hands.

"You're so beautiful," he said again, unable to help himself. Theresa's eyes fluttered shut as she fell forward, Steve lightly biting her shoulder. He gripped her hips and her thighs, his head falling back and eyes closing as he began to reach his climax. He would not last much longer with the way Tess was bouncing on his dick. Theresa clung onto his neck as she increased the speed, feeling herself about to come for a second time. Steve moved one hand to her clit again, rubbing it in circular motions that made Theresa's legs nearly give out. She leaned back, holding onto Steve as she moaned like someone from a movie scene. He opened his eyes to watch her come yet again, although she did not stop until he released into the condom with a groan. Steve let his head fall back as he removed himself from inside her.

They both took a moment to breathe, Tess leaning forward with her hands on Steve's chest and kissing him again.

The words 'I love you' floated around in Steve's mind, wanting to say it but holding it back. He wanted to wait, in case she wasn't ready for it.

"I'm gonna hit the shower, champ."

She got off of him at once with a small smile, Steve placing a hand behind his head as he watched her disappear into his bathroom. He hummed to himself for a moment, hearing the shower begin to run. Steve sat there for a moment, then got up and darted into the bathroom.

Theresa yelped as Steve jumped in the shower and grabbed her from behind, kissing her neck like he practically owned it.

"Round two?" he questioned.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

THE NEXT MORNING, THERESA HAD TO get up for work.

Although she really didn't want to, her legs entangled with Steve's as he snored softly with his arms wrapped around her. She was wearing one of his sweatshirts which strongly smelled of him, a comforting scent that Tess had not realized she liked so much until now.

Raising her head, Theresa grinned a little at the sight of Steve slightly drooling with his mouth agape. She decided to wake him up, not wanting him to be late for work either.

"Steve," she softly muttered, combing a hand back through his locks. He whined a bit, keeping his arms around Theresa as he tried to pull her closer. One thing she had learned was that Steve really liked to cuddle.

She snickered. "Steve," Tess called louder, shaking him by his arm.

He finally came to, blinking a few times before fully waking up. Steve already had a hazy smile on his face, sleepily kissing Theresa on the cheek.

"Good morning," he mumbled with a sigh, rolling onto his back.

"Morning, sailor," she teased, ruffling his already messy hair. "We've got to get up. Don't want you to be late for work."

Steve groaned, stifling a yawn as he turned back to her and nuzzled into her. "Is work really that worth it, I mean, we could just call out sick today–"

"Steve," Tess laughed uncontrollably, grabbing either sides of his face and making his eyes meet hers. "Did you forget about the Russians?"

"Honestly, screw the Russians," he quickly replied, planting a kiss on her lips. "The Russians are getting in the way of me spending time alone with my super hot girlfriend," he kissed her again, and again and again.

She giggled once more as Steve attacked her with kisses, finally pushing him away and sitting up while he reluctantly did the same. He did not want to move from the current state he was in, but Steve supposed Theresa was right; he had a job that he didn't need to get fired from.

Keeping his sweatshirt on, Tess pulled on her jeans and her sneakers and put her hair up with a clip. She went to use the bathroom, and then looking in the mirror to see visible hickeys on her neck.

She walked out, placing her hands on her hips as she glared at Steve.

"Seriously? Did you have to leave hickeys where everyone can see them?"

Steve turned to her as he was pulling on his shirt, giving her a mischievous grin. "Can you blame me, baby?"

She rolled her eyes with a shake of her head, unable to even be mad. Theresa walked to his bedroom door, then stopped and turned back to him.

"...Are your parents home yet?"

Steve shrugged, pulling on his shorts to his sailor uniform and grabbing his shoes. "They were supposed to come back last night, so... probably, yeah."

Tess' eyes widened a little, Steve taking notice. He started to smile, approaching her.

"Look, they don't care if I've had a girl over. And besides, they already know all about you."

Her face relaxed a little, narrowing her eyes. "Aw, you told your parents about us? How endearing."

Steve slightly furrowed his eyebrows. "...What does endearing mean?"

Tess closed her eyes for a moment, opening the door and walking out. She and Steve went downstairs, where Mrs. Harrington was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a magazine. She glanced up as Theresa and Steve eased toward the door, raising an eyebrow. Tess gave a small, polite wave, Steve placing an arm around her waist to get her out of the door.

They arrived at Starcourt Mall, parting ways while Steve went to Scoops Ahoy and Theresa to the department store.

"How'd your date go?" Robin asked Steve as he arrived, sighing dreamily as he leaned against the counter.

"She's the girl of my dreams."

Robin made an amused expression, replying, "Look at you, lover boy. No wonder you weren't acting like the ladies' man everyone said you were."

Steve glanced over at her, squinting. "What do you mean?"

She scoffed with a smile. "You're obviously in love," she dragged the word out teasingly. "It's sweet but– also kind of sickening."

His mouth fell open, visibly offended.

"Hey, don't be jealous!" Steve exclaimed. "You'll fall in love one day too."

Robin glanced at him sideways, cynically laughing.

"Yeah... no."

She put on a pair of headphones, turning to the back counter and pressing play on a tape recorder. Steve recognized that it was Dustin's, and Robin was trying to finish translating the Russian code.

"Dude!"

Steve turned to see Dustin coming out of the back of the parlor, raising his hands.

"Where the hell have you been?" Dustin questioned. "I've been here all morning waiting for you!"

He halfway rolled his eyes. "I've been busy, alright? What's so important that I had to be here anyway?"

Dustin pulled his backpack off of his shoulder, unzipping it and reaching inside. Moments later, he pulled out a pair of binoculars and tossed them to Steve.

"What are these for?"

With a shake of his head, Dustin started toward the exit of Scoops Ahoy. Steve quickly followed, fiddling with the binoculars he had been given.

"We have a mission. We're gonna spy."

notes.
not like half of this chapter being smut 🧍‍♀️

i will always come thru for y'all okay!! when i say they be screwin, they be SCREWIN 🫡

anywayyy... i might possibly say this is my new favorite chapter?? the soft side of tess & steve is everything, and i mean everything, to me. the simple moments when they're not fighting demogorgons or racists yk??

the way i might just drag out season 3 by writing whole chapters where they just go on dates and do normal things,, i'm just truly in love with them y'all i can't

i want to drop a spoiler so bad for season 4!!!! but i won't, i mustn't 💔 it's not a bad one y'all i promise... but it's a big one

anyway, y'all have any headcanons about tess? i'd love to hear them if y'all do 🫶