Steve asked, his arm casually hanging around Ringo's shoulder as they walked down the hallway together before their first class. It was a gesture they often did - in private. And Ringo tried to ignore the stares they were getting in the hallway.

"I'm not sure," she shrugged, "I haven't spoken to her since yesterday, she went to meet up with Jonathan last night."

"Oh?" He enquired, and although Ringo searched his tone for any hint of jealousy - she found none.

"Yeah," she hummed, catching eyes with Carol, who was not at all subtle with her staring. "Have you noticed people are staring at us today?"

"Now Ringo," he pretended to chastise her with a smirk, "don't let your popularity get to your head just because you're dating the most popular guy in school."

"Oh shut up," she rolled her eyes, playfully elbowing his stomach. "I actually thought they were staring because your hair has reached new heights today. Tell me, do you get MTV on that antenna?"

"Okay, okay," he chuckled, dropping his hand from her shoulder down to the back pocket of her jeans. Ringo's eyes widened at the feeling of his hand basically on her ass, and from the small gasp she heard from the girl next to her, knew what it meant.

Steve was publicly showing everyone that he was interested in her. Interested more than a friend. Ringo never had anyone actually publicly show an interest in her - the majority of her past lovers choosing to keep it private, out of embarrassment.

While most people would let it bother them, Ringo always tried to push it to the side. She knew that guys didn't want to publicly date her because of her poorer background, or because of her social class. But here Steve was, not giving a single damn about any of that.

Her heart warmed at the feeling. Stupidly, she found that she was falling more and more for Steve Harrington every day.

Deciding to play it off with humour, as she always did, she cocked an eyebrow and grinned cheekily up at him.

"You fishing for change in there?" She teased.

"I was actually looking for your ass, ever hear of squats?" He fired back, but she wasn't offended - she knew it was just their shared sense of humour.

"You don't get to have anything to do with my ass until you take me out on a proper date," she winked, reluctantly drawing away from his touch once they reached her locker.

"Wow, you guys," Jessica's dry, sarcastic voice met their ears, so they turned to see the girl herself, grinning. "Way to shove your heterosexuality down my throat!"

"I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being straight," Ringo continued with her, playing on a joke they shared about comments Jessica often heard from the older populace of Hawkins. "I'm just saying, how do they know they're straight at seventeen?"

Jessica chuckled, leaning against the locker door beside hers and looking back and forth between them while waggling her eyebrows.

"So, you two are the talk of the school," she informed them. Jessica already knew what went down between them - the well informed and gushing phone call she received from Ringo the night before told her all.

"Really?" Steve beamed, running his hand over his hair, "they talking about how handsome I am?"

"No they're wondering if your hair is big enough to house the homeless," Jessica commented, prompting Ringo to snort. Steve insecurely patted his hair, a frown on his expression, until Ringo had noticed and leaned up to kiss his cheek.

"I like your hair," she told him, "I'd happily live in it any day." Her words had his grin returning in no time.

Jessica didn't even comment on their cheesiness, because as much as she enjoyed making fun of Steve Harrington, she loved seeing a warm blush and a happy smile on Ringo Wheeler's face so much more.

The bell rang, signalling it was time for their first class of the day. Jessica nodded a goodbye to the two before heading off, but Steve loitered behind as Ringo shoved her books in her bag.

Unable to hold it in any more, as soon as she closed her bag and locker door, he gently swung her around by the elbow and leaned down to capture her lips in his.

Ringo gasped in surprise, but melted into the kiss after a moment, her body leaning into his and her hand cupping his cheek. When they broke apart to leave, they did so with flushed cheeks and excited eyes.

"I'll see you at lunch!" He waved at her, scraping his hand through his long hair - an action she loved watching, and heading off to class.

Just before Ringo turned towards the opposite direction to leave for her own, the conversation between the two girls next to her at the lockers caught her attention.

"...imagine dating your cousin's ex," one of them whispered, a round of hysterical giggling following. But Ringo wouldn't allow herself to feel intimidated by their judgement. The only person's opinion on their relationship that mattered was Nancy, and her mother's.

So with a lopsided smirk and a sway in her walk, Ringo called out to her.

"I'd rather date my cousin's ex than marry my own cousin like your mama did, Becky," Ringo winked, practically skipping forward to class and leaving the brunette with a dumbfounded expression.

✵

After a rather aggressive, and downright humiliating game of basketball with Billy Hargrove - Steve was in the showers. Washing off the layer of sweat that had accumulated during the game, he couldn't help but roll his eyes when he sensed a presence come up to the shower beside his - a certain animosity in the air that told him who it was.

Steve and his gang had hated Billy Hargrove since he first stepped into town. At first, Steve was quick to pass him off as an asshole who made too many attempts at Nancy, Jessica and Ringo to be a decent guy. But the proverbial nail in the coffin was his blatant disregard for Jessica's sexuality. That was something the group wouldn't readily forgive.

He may have been closer to Ringo and Nancy than he was to Jessica, but she was his friend too, as surprising as it was to them both. He felt a certain degree of protectiveness over the girl.

Plus, he had never witnessed anything as hot in his life than the sight of Ringo damn near breaking his nose.

He could feel the little twerp's eyes on him, which admittedly - made Steve rather uncomfortable considering he was butt naked.

"Don't sweat it Harrington," Billy finally spoke after a minute of staring, "today's just not your day."

Steve ignored him, continuing to rinse shampoo from his hair, but Billy took this as a sign he felt embarrassed by his earlier loss.

"Don't take it too hard man," Billy's voice sounded out again, the teenager now having completely ignored the shower water to turn towards Steve. It was intimidating, and he knew it. "I hear you've got little Ringo Wheeler at your side now."

"And?" Steve responded drily, keeping his eyes forward in annoyance.

"Just wondering how you managed to do it," Billy grinned cheekily. "She's a feisty little thing, I'd have thought she'd be too much for you to handle."

"Why don't you let me worry about that, okay pal?" Steve bit back, finally looking down at the smaller man with narrowed eyes.

"I'm just saying," Billy held his hands in the air in defence. "You're really making your way through the Wheeler family though, man." He slapped Steve on the back, 'playfully'. "Proud of ya!"

Before leaving, just to piss Steve off even further than he already had, Billy slammed off his shower tap before Steve was finished showering. Sauntering away from the shower room, he left Steve practically glowering.

✵

Awkwardly, when Steve rapped his knuckles against the apartment door of Julia and Ringo Wheeler, it was the former who answered the door. Not the latter.

She took sight of Steve, who was awkwardly standing in the doorframe and cocked an eyebrow. In an attempt to dissolve the awkwardness, Steve started grinning crazily, although he was sure he merely looked like a mad man.

"Ringo!" Julia called out behind her, turning back to face Steve just as the sound of footsteps sounded down the hallway.

"Hey!" Ringo beamed upon seeing him, skipping past her mother and out into the corridor.

"Where are you two going?" Julia questioned.

"To have unprotected sex, I'm getting you a grandchild for your birthday," Ringo joked, causing Steve to choke on his own spit. Julia simply chuckled, much to his surprise, and rolled her eyes before shutting the door.

"You have the coolest mom," Steve commented as they began to walk towards the staircase.

"I know," she sighed happily, looking over her shoulder at him. "By the way, that wasn't true. We're not having sex."

Steve merely raised his eyebrows, "good to know."

Neither one of them had specified if this 'hanging out' session was actually a date - or if they were even boyfriend and girlfriend. The words weren't put out there, and if anyone had asked either of the two they'd simply say they're 'just dating'.

Steve wanted to make Ringo his girlfriend, it was something he'd thought about for a very long time. But he also wanted to woo her, and to not at all rush into their relationship. He wanted to test the waters and bridge the 'friend zone' gap between them.

He had settled for telling her he wanted to drive up the mountain, to listen to music and share snacks. It was a casual affair, made all the more interesting by the two that were involved.

Steve drove carefully up the winding road towards the top of the small mountain, swapping commentary with Ringo along the way. She would sing casually along to songs that she liked, one foot on the seat and her arm leaning out the opened window as the wind rushed her hair.

Upon arriving, Steve had stopped the car and switched the engine off, leaving the radio on for them both to listen to as they ventured outside to lay down on the hood.

Ringo crawled up next to Steve, their backs against the windshield as their gazes were fixed on the stars above and the lights of Hawkins beneath them.

"You know," Ringo began, "I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a little girl."

"Really?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, because I wanted to go to the moon and stay there because I hated everyone so much," she explained with a chuckle, Steve soon joining in on her amusement.

"How would you survive?"

"I used to think that if there was no food on the moon that would mean anyone up there didn't need food?" Steve barked a laugh at this one.

"You were a right little dumbass weren't you?" He poked her side, causing her to flinch and smack his hand with a giggle.

"My family and I were actually supposed to live in Hawkins, you know?" She revealed, prompting Steve to turn his head to the side.

"Really?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "And then my dad got this big job in Florida, so we went there instead. My mom and dad are from here originally. We would have been in the same classes the whole time."

"A kid version of you? I wouldn't have been able to deal with it."

"I would have hated you," she laughed. "I hated everyone who was middle class and above in school."

"Why?" He questioned curiously, still staring at her.

"The 'big job' went under really quick and the company went bankrupt, and that's when we started living in a trailer. I didn't realise that it was something I was supposed to be embarrassed about, so at lunch time when everyone had lunch money and I didn't because we didn't have any they realised I was poor and started to tease me for it." She didn't look that sad when reminiscing about that period of her life, but Steve still frowned at hearing it. The idea that anyone would make fun of her, especially over something so stupid and out of her control, infuriated him.

"Ringo... I'm so sorry that happened to you," he tried to comfort her, his hand slipping down and fingers twining through hers.

"Oh, it was okay," she shrugged, a small smile on her lips as she looked down at their conjoined hands, "for every kid that teased me, I snuck dead roaches I found in the girl's bathroom into their lockers."

"Ringo-" he broke off to laugh, smacking a palm over his eyes.

"I'm serious! And it happened so many times to so many lockers that the school had to be shut down for a month because they were convinced they had a roach problem," she smirked in amusement, not at all feeling guilty for her actions.

"Well I wouldn't have teased you," Steve told her sincerely. "Actually, I'd have helped you put dead bugs in their lockers. Roach girl."

Ringo rolled her eyes and leaned in to kiss his lips, her heart racing every time she did so. She couldn't believe their relationship had reached a point where she could actually lean in and kiss him now, not just imagine it.

He hummed against her lips, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear with his free hand. He seemed to remember something suddenly, as he shot up with an 'oh' and scampered off the car.

"Where are you going?" Her expression twisted in confusion.

"I got you something," he called back, head disappearing as he opened the door to the back seat and reached for a box.

"I don't need gifts you know!"

"I know," he grinned, rounding the car until he was in full view again. "Just take it. And before you start to refuse, shut up."

Curiosity getting the best of her, she pushed aside her growing frown to lean over and peer inside the box, eyebrows furrowing at the sight. It was a variety of used vinyls - ones that had very familiar crease marks and covers.

Ringo reached in and flipped through them, recognising after a moment that these were her vinyls. More specifically, the ones she had sold to help her mom with the rent money.

"Steve-... what?" She stammered in confusion, looking up to see his grin.

"Ryan Peterson didn't want to give them back at first, but we haggled," he shrugged, sitting back down on the hood with the box between them.

"Steve!" She chastised. "You shouldn't have! You know we don't take charity," she tried to push the box back towards him, but he quickly grabbed onto her wrists.

"It's not charity," he reassured her, "think of it as... I really want to be able to listen to music whenever I go to your room."

She frowned, but accepted his attempt at making her feel better none the less. To her horror, tears began to prick at her eyes, for she was truly touched by the gesture. Nobody had ever in her life paid as much attention to her words and feelings like Steve did.

"Thank you..." she whispered, scared if she spoke too much, the floodgates would open.

"You're welcome, babe," he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead, wrapping one arm around her and encouraging her to lay back down beside him.

"I loke you," she told him, repeating his jumbled word from a few days before. Steve groaned audibly and rolled his eyes, although the grin on his lips would tell you he wasn't at all bothered.

"You're never going to let that go are you?"

"Never," she hummed, kissing his cheek and curling against his side. "I just loke my vinyls."

"Shut up," he grumbled.

"You have to say it back," she sang, staring at him with widened eyes until he positively melted.

"Fine," he huffed, "I loke you too."