Chapter Text
October 4th, 1985
Steve drives up to Family Video and parks right by the door. You unbuckle and head out of the passenger’s seat, rubbing your arm from nerves. Robin gets out of the back, reading Steve’s résume.
“You put your mom down as a reference?” She asks and you chuckled, looking over at Steve as he got out of the driver’s seat. He shrugged.
“Yeah. Why not?” he asks as the three of you walk over to the door. “She’s, like, super well-respected.” You laugh at him as he opens the door for you and Robin.
“You’re such a dingus,” Robin says behind you.
“Wha–” Steve starts.
“Can’t argue that, sorry Harrington,” you turn back and shrug at him. Robin hands Keith your résumes, yours a little tweaked due to time travel shenanigans and places and jobs not existing yet, but basically still true.
“Uh, just to be clear, we weren’t fired you know,” Robin states as the three of you lean on the counter in front of Keith. “the mall burned down and like, killed a bunch of people.”
“Thanks for sharing, didn’t know,” Steve says sarcastically as he puts down your papers. He snaps his fingers and points at Robin. “Three favorite movies, go!”
“Uh, the apartment,” she starts listing. “Hidden fortress, Children of paradise.”
“Mia, go!” he points at you, familiar with you from your time working together at the arcade. You sigh.
“Shichinin no Samurai, Rear Window and Tokyo Monogatari.” you say, forgetting the english titles. Steve turns to you.
“You know japanese?” he whispers.
“It’s just something I picked up, I’ll tell you later,” you say, waving him off before he spirals. Keith points at Steve.
“And you, go!” Steve startles.
“Favorite movies?”
“Did I stutter?” Keith asks and you cough to hide a chuckle.
“Uh… Animal House, for sure,” Steve says and Robin scoffs. You just gaze at him softly, seeing no thoughts behind his eyes, an absolutely brainless man. “um…” Keith snaps his fingers.
“Eyes on me, Harrington,” he gestures to his eyes.
“Yeah uh… Star wars,” he says and Keith looks at him like he’s five.
“A New Hope?” He asks.
“A New-what now?” Steve responds and you close your eyes, cringing at him.
“Which Star Wars?” Keith asks, his tone annoyed.
“Oh, the one with the–” he starts and you put a hand on his arm to stop him and scrunch your nose at him.
“Return of the Jedi, Episode 3? That’s the one,” you inform Keith and he nods.
“Oh and that one that just came out, the one with the DeLorean and Alex P. Keaton–” he starts counting on his fingers and you grab his wrists before he can make a real fool of himself.
“Back to the Future,” you smile at Keith. “Great movie.”
“Classic,” Steve adds.
“Killer soundtrack, Huey Lewis & the News,” you state. Keith looks between the two of you and you let go off Steve. He points to you and Robin.
“You two start Monday,” he says and you smile at Robin. He then points at Steve. “You start never.” Steve drops his head in shame. Robin leans over to you.
“Will you just uh, give us a minute?” you nod and grab Steve, walking out of the store.
“Yeah, I’m just going to go talk to him a bit,” you say over your shoulder as you walk out. You and Steve sit down on the sidewalk and you put you head in your hand, brushing through your loose hair.
“Well, that could’ve gone better,” Steve stated and you chuckled next to him, eyes closed, enjoying the breeze.
“Trust me, Harrington, it could’ve gone worse,” You say and he rolls his eyes. You open yours and look at him. “You're so lucky you have me and Robin to save you from yourself.” You joke and he chuckles. You rub your arms and sigh. Steve puts his hand on your shoulder.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asks and you bite your lip slightly.
“It’s just… I hate leaving Max alone, you know that,” you say and Steve chuckles at you and shakes his head.
“She’s not alone Mia, she’s with the Byers and everybody else and I told you we’re joining them right after this.” You smile sadly at him and he sighs. “You two are like attached at the hip, how are you ever going to survive her going to school for the next four years?” You groan and hang your head against Steve’s shoulder.
“I don’t know, I guess I’ll just die,” you chuckle and Steve pets your hair in concern. He suddenly recalls something.
“Hey, uh, would you give me a second?” he gets up and your brows spring up as he walks over to the car and gets something out of the glove compartment. You lean to see what he’s holding as he turns. It’s a small brown box with a pink bow on top. You look at him suspiciously and he laughs as he sits back down. “It’s just something small I found.” he says and hands the box to you. “happy very belated birthday.” You laugh and take the box. It’s surprisingly heavy.
“That’s– you didn’t have to,” you say and he shrugs. You look over at him and then down at the box, feeling your cheeks flush. “Great gift wrapping by the way.” you tease as you remove the bow.
“What can I say? I’m a creative genius,” he says, stretching his arms out and you roll your eyes. You lift the top of the box and your breath catches in your throat. In the box on one of those fancy jewelry pillows is a dainty gold chain with a tiny gold “S” dangling from a loop on it.
“Wow, Steve, this is–” you say as you hold it up to look at it more carefully. It looks expensive, well made. “Wow.” you repeat. Steve beams at you.
“So, do you like it?” he asks. You raise your eyebrows in disbelief.
“Like it? Steve, I love it!” you say and wrap your arms around his neck. He chuckles and wraps his own around your waist, resting his head on your shoulder. “Thank you so much, Steve, this is so thoughtful.” You whisper by his ear.
“No worries, you deserve nice things,” he answers. You pull back and smile at him. You hand him the necklace and turn around, pulling your hair out of the way.
“I want to wear it right now, can you put it on?” Steve’s brows shoot up in surprise.
“Right now?” he asks.
“Yes, of course!” you almost shout at him. He takes each end of the chain in each hand and pulls it in front of you, then he clasps the hook on the closest ring.
“There,” he states and you turn, beaming. Then a questions pops into your head.
“Hey, uh, why the S?” you ask and he turns a shade of pink, rubbing his neck.
“Oh well, uh, I was looking for something and I saw it and I just thought, ‘Oh, like Scott and Steve’, and it reminded me of those bracelets you’d make for your best friend in elementary school, so I thought it would fit–” you cupped your hands over your mouth and Steve stopped talking. “What?” he asked.
“Steve. Harrington.” you said with a serious tone in your voice. “Did you just say best friend?” you asked and he rolled his eyes. “Am I your best friend? You see me as your best friend, Steve?” you asked and smiled at him teasingly.
“Oh come on, it’s not a big deal,” he scoffed and you fained offense.
“Not a big deal? This is huge,” you practically shouted and he chuckled. “I’m Steve Harrington’s best friend.” You gasped and made eye contact with him. “I’m telling Robin.” You teased and got up.
“No, Mia, come on,” he groaned and followed you to the Family Video door. Robin had convinced Keith to hire Steve as you walked through the door.
“Robin, you’re never going to believe this,” you started and Keith cut you off.
“Harrington, Henderson, you both start Monday. Don’t be late.” he warned. Robin turned around and shrugged. You ran up and hugged her then turned to Keith.
“Oh my god, thank you, thank you, thank you!” you said, hands clasped together. “This is the best day ever!” you shouted and pushed Steve out the door before he could mess anything else up. Robin looked after you and shook her head.
“Hey, Robin,” Keith said and she turned to him. “Is that,” he said gesturing to you and Steve bickering over the roof of the car before getting in. “Going to become a problem?” he asked. Robin looked at the two of you as you smiled at each other inside the car. She sighed.
“I wish…” she whispered. Keith raised a brow. “No, no. No problem at all.” she said and walked out to join the two of you in the car. You’d turned the radio to the max when Workin’ for a Livin’ by Huey Lewis & the News came on. Robin sighed. “Really? Do you only listen to this one band?” Steve chuckled and you danced in your seat.
“No, I also listen to Madonna,” you teased and you could hear her dramatic groan over the music. You turned back to her and held out your necklace. “Hey, look what Harrington got me.” You said, smiling from ear to ear. Robin’s brows shot up as she inspected the gold chain and she looked over at Steve with a devilish grin.
“Oh really? Steve got you this?” she draged out the S in his name and he glared at her.
“Yeah, belated birthday gift,” You smiled. Robin leaned back and you turned around in the passenger seat and buckled your seatbelt. “I’m his best friend.” you stated proudly and Robin quirked an eyebrow and nodded slowly, looking from you to Steve in the rearview mirror.
“Oh, that’s what you are?” Robin said, sarcastically. Steve glared at her through the mirror.
“Watch it, Buckley,” she raised her hands. Steve put his arm around your seat and backed out of the parking lot. “Next stop, Byers.”
—
You pull up to the Byers house and see Nancy and Jonathan carrying a big mattress out to the moving truck. You get out of the car and lean on the roof. Steve gets out and waves at Nancy. She nods at him and pushes the mattress further into the car. Robin gets out and walks over to Steve’s side as you jog to the front door.
“Hey, Mia,” Jonathan says from the inside the truck and you turn.
“Hey, Jonathan, Nancy,” you say with a smile.
“Max’s is by the kitchen helping the others pack the last few boxes,” he says.
“I know,” you say and turn back to the house, practically skipping inside. Jonathan looks from you to Nancy and she shrugs. Lucas and Max’s voices echo through the house as you walk in. In her face. The mirror of your dreams. You stop for a moment, listening to them. Rhymes that keep their secrets, will unfold behind the clouds.
“Wait, did we get that verse right?” Max asks and you shake your head and chuckle. “It’s ‘unfold behind the clouds’?”
“Yes, but you’re butchering it, so could you please stop?” Dustin asks, annoyed.
“So then, join in, Dusty-buns,” Lucas responds.
“Yeah, come on Dusty-bun, why don’t you join us?” Max asks.
“You guys are so funny, you should be on Carson,” Dustin mutters. Steve and Robin catch up to you and stop beside you.
“What’s happening?” Robin asks and you chuckle, turning to Steve who gives you a weird look.
“Can’t we just hear your rendition?” Max asks.
“No,” Dustin responds plainly.
“Please, just one verse?” Max asks. Steve looks over at Robin who furrows her brows.
“No. No way. It’s reserved for Suzie’s ears alone,” Dustin bites back at her. The realization hits Steve and Robin and you start walking again, turning back to them as you start singing as the kids begin again.
“Turn around,” you singing as you walk into the former kitchen. Dustin looks in your direction, having heard your voice. You turn to him. “Look at what you see.” You continue. he rolls his eyes and Steve joins him on the ground, packing the box he’s sat with. Lucas and Max stop singing when they notice you. “In her face, the mirror of your dreams.” You smile at her and Robin leans against the wall to the kitchen. Max beams and gets up from the floor, running over to you and enveloping you in a tight hug. You put one hand on her back and the other on her head.
“Mia!” she shouts. You chuckle.
“I’m back, Max,” you say. “God I missed you so much.” you kiss the top of her head.
“We were barely gone an hour,” Robin states and you look at her, squeezing Max to you.
“I know, it was so long!” you joke and she rolls her eyes. You help the others pack up the rest of the house and carry boxes out into the cars. As everyone say their goodbyes, you make sure to hug Eleven a little extra tight. You take a second to look her in the eyes, wondering if you should let her know about Hopper. But you decide against it, it’s not fair to her. She gives you a concerned look and you chuckle, a tear falling down your cheek. She smiles back to you and turns to hug Mike again. As the Byers get into their cars they wave you off and you lean on Steve next to you as he holds your shoulder. Max stands in front of you, her arms around Lucas’ arm. You watch them drive away until their car disappears down the road. You sigh. “I’m really going to miss those weirdos.” you laugh.
“Yeah, me too,” you hear Nancy quietly across from you and you look over to see her smiling at you. You lean away from Steve and walk over to her, putting your hands around her in a tight embrace. She chuckles into your neck and you pat her on the back. Steve stands and looks at the two of you with sad eyes. Nancy catches his gaze and he sighs. She smiles at him and he nods back at her before you pull away. Nancy and you look at each other for a moment, then you let her go and head over to Steve, Robin, Max and Lucas.
“So,” you sniff as you reach them. “Anyone up for some pizza? I’m buying.” you say and the kids smile. someone pulls on your sleeve and you turn. Dustin and Mike standing behind you.
“Hey, could we maybe…” he starts and you smile fondly at the boys.
“Of course,” you say. Then you lift your gaze to Nancy who stands awkwardly away from the group. “How about it Wheeler? You want to join?” Nancy’s head snaps up at you and she glances over at Steve.
“I don’t know…” she starts.
“Come on, Nance, it’s no trouble.” Steve responds and you nod.
“Yeah, that actually sounds pretty nice,” she gives in and you all pack into Steve and Nancy’s car. You, Steve, Max and Robin in one and Lucas, Mike, Dustin and Nancy in the other.
“You know, you probably should’ve asked me before inviting all these strangers to my house,” Steve jokes as he backs the car out of the driveway and turns into the road. You look over at him with a smirk.
“Oh, but I thought the King of Hawkins high liked parties,” he rolled his eyes at you and drove down the road. His hand rested on the gear shift and you grabbed it in yours, interlacing your fingers. He smiled but kept his eyes on the road. You sighed happily and leaned back in your seat. Closing your eyes. Feeling at peace.
Mia. a deep voice echoed through your head, but you ignored it. You could hear the ticking of a clock softly in the distance. It’s time.