Chapter Text
“If only we could just, like… combine ,” Robin breathed out, as if she had revealed the secrets to a genius plan.
Steve straightened up slightly, wrinkling his nose as he glanced at her.
“Combine?” he questioned.
“No, think about it,” she insisted. “I know exactly what I want…and I’ve found the girl of my dreams, but I can’t get the courage to ask her out–”
“Mhm…” Steve hummed, giving a small nod.
”–Meanwhile, you go on, like, a million dates ,” she continued, “and you have no idea what you want.”
“Mhm,” he hummed admittedly.
“So if we just combined –” Robin repeated
“Ohhh,” he breathed out.
“–all our problems would be solved. Because, I mean, alone…let’s face it.”
“We totally suck,” Steve admitted with a grin, glancing at his friend.
He supposed she was right. After all, when wasn’t Robin right? The two of them were utterly hopeless, the opposite sides of the same coin that seemed to be flipping infinitely through the air…never landing, never spinning to a stop, never revealing the luck of the flipper. Just perpetually… unknown .
That was what they had. Unknown luck. Robin could ask Vickie out just as easily as Steve could root through a surely finite list of girls who were seemingly lining up to date him, to test their fate and ultimately fail at the game. The problem was…they were hopeless. A brick wall preventing them from finding love. Steve was fucked the moment Nancy decided he didn’t want him anymore. His love life spiraling out of existence.
“At least you’ve got your Vickie girl…you said she smiled at you, right?” Steve questioned, smiling goofily. “You said she smiled at you, right? Laughed at my muppet joke.”
“My delivery was better,” Robin joked, simpering giddily at the mere thought of the other band girl, probably imagining the way she had smiled at her. “I mean, I wasn’t even talking to her and she… said something . That’s something, right?”
“I mean, you would know better than I do,” Steve laughed. “I’m the one who has no idea what I’m doing, remember?”
“Okay, I said you have no idea what you want ,” she corrected, giggling regardless, “not that you had no idea what you’re doing. You have more dating experience than I do.”
“Yeah?” he scoffed. “I mean, look how that turned out.”
“Surely some of those notches on the belt must have been… knowledgable ,” Robin chuckled. “You’re telling me you didn’t learn anything from your relationship with Nancy? From those one-night stands with…god, whatever their names were. Fuck if I know.”
“I don’t think you want advice from the guy who has been almost exclusively engaging in one-night stands,” Steve laughed. “Eventually I’m gonna run out of girls in this fucking radius. Judging from what I’ve heard about Vickie…I don’t know, maybe she likes you. You’ll never know if someone likes you unless you tell them.”
“ Or ,” Robin reminded him, “until they tell you first.”
“That has got to be the most high school crush thing I’ve ever heard ,” Steve cackled. “God, standing on your toes just waiting for her to say something? And then in the end you might just… not ever find out? Make it obvious, but not too obvious.”
“Is that your advice?” she asked sardonically.
“Take them as my… words of wisdom ,” Steve corrected, giving a loose shrug of his shoulders.
“I wouldn’t describe anything you say as wisdom.”
“All I’m saying,” he insisted, “is that I know my way around a high school relationship. Enough to give you actual advice ? No. Enough to give you vague, generally well-known concepts of how-to-get-the-girl? More than certain.”
“Fucking unbelievable,” Robin sighed, smiling despite herself before pushing away from the back wall, probably moving to start doing her actual job. “Alright, Mr. Player. We’ve got some movie sorting and rewinding to do. You wouldn’t believe how many people returned tapes yesterday. You’re welcome, by the way, for picking up your shift.”
“ Thank you ,” Steve chimed, trailing behind her eagerly. “I was on a date.”
“Oh yeah?” Robin scoffed, briefly glancing over her shoulder before standing beside the box of returned movie tapes, an assortment of cluttered cases, and a variety of genres. “How did that one go, exactly?”
“I don’t plan on seeing her again,” he admitted after a second.
“I’m shocked .”
Robin fished through the tapes, humming underneath her breath.
“I don’t know, there’s just something off with all of the girls in this town,” Steve insisted defensively.
“You know, Steve,” Robin chuckled, “if I was as deep into the female population of Hawkins as you are….I would start doubting that it must be everyone else’s fault that my dates don’t go as well as planned.”
“Ha ha ,” he replied sardonically, a good-natured roll of his eyes. “I’m telling you. Every date I go on, it’s just…zero fucking chemistry. I mean, it’s like I’m sharing a conversation with a beanbag chair. They just bring nothing to the table every single time . Is that really the kind of girl I attract? I mean, when do I finally get to the good ones?”
“You did get to the good ones,” Robin reminded him. “Nancy Wheeler? Ring a bell?”
“As if she’s the only interesting person in this town,” Steve sighed. “I want someone like you, but like…you know…someone who…” his voice trailed off awkwardly.
“A lesbian?”
“Bingo,” he confirmed.
“It’s not the end of the world,” she said. “You’ll find someone eventually. I mean, believe me, I out of all people should know that some of the Hawkins girls are definitely nothing special. But, I mean, the same goes for some of the guys. There’s this guy I know, some jackass who works at Family Video and hates doing his fucking job.”
“You’re such a comedian,” Steve said, “no wonder Vickie loves you.”
“I try,” Robin hummed.
She pressed the scarlet red button of the VHS tape rewinder, watching as the lid of the device popped open with a satisfying click. She carefully slid the unboxed tape into the rewinder, closing the lid. The device sprung to life, buzzing with excitement as the tape was rewound from the inside.
“How about this,” she suggested. “I rewind them, you sort them?”
“Sounds like a deal to me,” Steve agreed.
“I wish these assholes would learn to rewind their own tapes,” she muttered under her breath, crossing her arms loosely against her chest as she waited for the device to finish. “I mean, that’s basically store policy. We should start fining people who don’t rewind them like we ask. Like a service fee because then we have to bust our asses.’
The bell above the entrance to the video store rang softly as someone entered the building.
“Well, how about you take that up with the manager?” Steve suggested.
He swiveled on his heels, pivoting to meet whoever had entered. It was almost always some girl from Hawkins, untamed curls tied back into a tight scrunchy above their head, gaudy tennis shorts and matching sweatshirts. They would always smile at him brightly, their earrings swinging joyfully before they adventured off to peruse the assortment of films.
They would almost always ask him about his favorite movies, and if he had any recommendations. They would nod attentively while he responded, their ponytails bobbing gently against their neck, their hands folded politely behind their back as they leaned in closer to get a better look at whatever case he was holding. Steve would almost always get their number when he was finished, only to go on another mindless date and end up starting from square one.
The worst square.
This time, however, it wasn’t a peppy girl who was a little too excited to hear about his favorite movie, which always changed each time depending on who he believed he was talking to. No, it was just some…guy. Equally untamed hair, of course, bangs that rested just above his eyebrows, highlighting his dark, chestnut eyes that flickered with dull curiosity as he scanned the layout of the store.
He wasn’t some preppy jock, Steve noticed that almost immediately. A familiar juniper letterman jacket had been replaced with a loose-fitting t-shirt for some band that Steve had never heard of, portions of the text hidden by his denim jacket. Thick silver bracelets adorned each wrist, similar rings on his fingers.
Steve stared at him blankly, almost dumbfounded.
The boy finally glanced at him, his pupils dilating slightly as they locked eyes. Steve straightened up, clearing his throat.
“Hi, uh, welcome to Family Video,” he introduced, gesturing awkwardly around the store, feeling his shoulders tense up. “How could I help you?”
“Since fucking when did you have an intro?” Robin questioned lowly, stifling her laughter.
“Shut up,” he whispered back to her.
He cleared his throat again, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other. The presence of the other boy in the store was…surprisingly unsettling. Maybe that wasn’t the right word. There was just something about it that made Steve feel off. The way his body tensed up, the way his hands fidgeted at his side.
“Looking for a movie,” was all the boy answered, shrugging his shoulders. “Figured I would stop here.”
“Do you have any genre of movie in mind?” Steve questioned, filling the role of the perfect salesman, the manager’s dream retail worker. “All of the aisles are sorted by genre, so you can just check all of those out if you’re not looking for anything specific. If you can’t find what you’re looking for it could always be in our return bin, so don't, uh, be afraid to ask.”
“And since when did you actually care about helping customers?” Robin breathed out.
“I think I’ve got it…” the boy said hesitantly, giving him a weird look before walking off toward the selection of comedy movies.
Steve’s eyes trailed after him as he went, although he tried his best to fight the urge to just look at him .
“What the fuck is up with you?” Robin asked, handing him two movies for him to go put away.
“Hm? Nothing,” Steve answered, shifting. “Just feel bad that you had to cover my shift for some stupid date, that’s all. Feel like I should be the one doing the heavy lifting with customers.”
“Well….thanks I guess,” she responded after a pause.
Steve looked down at the two cases in his hand. Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club , no doubt rented by the same person. He pushed away from the counter, walking to the opposite end of the store to return Sixteen Candles to the romance section. He held The Breakfast Club close to his chest for a second before crossing the store, approaching the comedy section.
The boy was still standing in the aisle, sorting through the movie options. Most of the good ones were still missing from over the weekend. Steve took his time finding the comedy section, glancing over the movies as if trying to find the proper place to return the film, keeping his eyes to himself in order to not appear like a creep.
Despite himself, Steve glanced up from his hands, instinctively looking over to that boy.
The boy was looking back at him, a glimmer of confusion as to how someone could possibly be taking that long to put a movie back on the shelf. God, he must’ve thought Steve was bad at his job. Or that he was trying too hard. Some ‘Mr. Perfection’ retail worker who treated the entire job like some badge of achievement. He probably thought Steve was an idiot .
“The comedy movies here kinda suck,” Steve blurted out.
The boy stared back at him, blinking quietly.
“The…the ones that we have here at the moment,” he continued shakily, pressing his lips together tightly. “All of the actually good movies get rented over the weekend, so…you’re probably just gonna find some shitty film.”
“Oh,” the boy hummed. “Uh, thanks.”
“This one doesn’t suck though,” Steve announced, stretching his arm over the top of the shelf, offering him The Breakfast Club . “A lot of people like it. We have a lot of copies, but this is the first one to be returned.”
The boy hesitantly accepted the movie case, looking down at it.
“Oh…I heard about this one,” he said softly. “Uh…I don’t know if this is really my thing…”
“Oh, right, of course,” Steve chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck before giving a hesitant nod. “Of course, I should…I should let you pick your movie. Don’t mind me. Just doing my job.”
“No, no, it’s fine…this one looks fine,” the boy continued after another second, giving him another odd look before turning, returning to the counter.
Steve practically stumbled over himself, rushing to the counter. He practically hopped over it, nearly tripping and landing on his face, leveling himself before standing at the cash register, his hands now nearly itching in his pockets. The boy rested the movie tape on the counter.
“So, is this all?” Steve questioned.
“I guess.”
Steve nodded, shifting over to the computer.
“Can I, uh, can I get your name?” he questioned. “For the computer. We have a log of all the names and stuff.”
“It’s Eddie,” the boy, Eddie, answered casually. “Do I need a last name?”
“Yup,” Robin chimed.
“Eddie Munson,” he corrected.
Steve’s nimble fingers worked their way across the bulky keys, clicking with satisfaction, the name reciting in his head, practically pirouetting through his mind. Eddie Munson. Eddie Munson. Eddie Munson. Steve had to stop himself from breathing the name out himself, wanting to know how it felt on his tongue, how it spilled from his lips. He fought the urge, instead opting for doing his fucking job.
“That’ll be $4.85,” Robin hummed.
“All I have are quarters,” Eddie admitted, rummaging through his pockets and beginning to line the coins up on the counters.
“Alright, movie renting lasts you for a good week,” Steve explained, sliding The Breakfast Club back across the counter. “There’s a 25¢ fee per day late, so…try not to do that. We also recommend that you rewind the movie once you’re done because it’s a pain in the ass to rewind.”
“Noted,” he said softly.
“Thank you for renting at Family Video,” Steve continued, an unusually sing-songy voice as Robin began sorting through the assortment of coins on the countertop. “We hope to see you by the end of the week.”
“Sure thing,” Eddie said, turning away from them without a second glance, beginning to make his way out of the store.
Steve’s eyes followed him as he went. He listened as the bell above the door rang once more.
“What the fuck was that?” Robin laughed.