Chapter Text
June 30th, 1985
You see pictures in your dreams, ones you haven’t in a long while. The gate under the mall, Alexei, the creature made of people, Billy crashing his car, Robin’s scoreboard, the green stuff from the elevator and suddenly, the big creature screams right in your face and tries to reach for you.
You scream and shoot up on your air mattress, covered in cold sweat. The light next to you turns on and a groggy Steve looks over at you, brows knotted in concern.
“Mia?” he asks, his lids still heavy and you try to control your breathing as you brush your hair back with your hands. “Is everything okay?” You turn your head to see the boy who let you into his house over the last year and took you in without any expectations and you smile, sighing.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just had a nightmare,” You take a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Steve’s eyes were opened wider now and he could see the sweat sticking your hair to your face as you tried to calm yourself. He hesitated for a moment, unsure if bringing the sore subject up would do any good.
“Was it– did you dream about your mom again?” he asked and you looked down at your hands, fiddling with your blanket. You hadn’t told him exactly what happened with your mom, but through some pictures, the few stories you’d let slip about her, and some nights where he’d find you spacing out by the pool, he could basically put the overall picture together without your help. You sighed.
“No, it’s–” you debated telling him what you’d seen, but decided against it. You’d tell him when the time was right. “It’s nothing. I’m just going to go get some water, you should go back to sleep, early shift tomorrow.” You got up and walked to the bedroom door as he shrugged and turned the light off, drifting back to sleep. You looked back at his sleeping form, a soft smile spreading across your face as you closed the door quietly behind you and walked down the stairs. You turned to the living room and felt a slight chill. As you looked ahead of you, you noticed the sliding doors to the pool were slightly ajar, letting in the cool June night breeze. I thought we closed that? you thought back to coming home with Steve earlier in the evening after your shifts ended and hanging out by the always empty pool for an hour or two before heading up to bed. You liked staying at Steve’s house, it was roomy and comfortable and Steve seemed to enjoy having a roommate most of the time. When his parents would come back he’d simply drive you over to Hopper’s cabin where you’d sleep on the couch for a few nights until Steve’s parents came home or sleepover at the Wheeler’s or Byers for a night or two in between. It was a nice break in your routine to sleep over at the other houses, but you always felt like Steve’s house was the only place you could really call home.
You walked over to the glass doors, your oversized shirt flowing around you in the wind, and looked around. The night was as still as always. Since the gate had been closed a little over six months ago, everything had been calm. You’d skipped out on finishing your last Semester in Hawkins, because what would that actually give you? So you’d worked at the arcade since February and then when Steve was forced by his father to get a summer job at the new mall, you’d sent in an application as well, in solidarity, and you’d actually both gotten the job. It was you, Steve, and Robin sharing shifts at Scoops Ahoy at the new mall. You hadn’t worked very long with Robin, but you two clicked almost immediately. Maybe that had to do with everything you already knew about her, maybe it had to do with how similar your personalities were, maybe it had to do with you having a teensy-tiny crush on her, or maybe it had to do with how much you both enjoyed making Steve’s life hell during your job. You giggled to yourself remembering Robin's new whiteboard, counting Steve’s wins and losses in the pick-up game. She’d gotten very interested in your own strategy for getting tips, and the whole thing had devolved into you vs. Steve fight, and you were crushing him. You shut the glass doors and turned the lock and then headed for the kitchen sink to pour some water. As you held a glass under the faucet, a bright light shone in from the front door. You panicked and turned off the water, placing the glass in the sink. You slowly walked up to the door and held your hand on the stair railing, in case you needed to make a run for it. You peeked out the glass cutouts in the door, hearing car doors slam and the locking of a car. You realized who it was and ran as quickly as you could up the stairs and threw open the bedroom door.
“Wha– Mia, what’s going on?” Steve turned to you as the door hit the opposite wall, but you had no time to look back at him as you ran to your air mattress, pulling the pants to you that lay beside it and pushing it quickly under Steve’s bed.
“Your parents!” you whisper-screamed and he heard the lock shimmy from the hall. He felt suddenly wide awake and ran for the door, closing it as you rolled onto the air mattress under his bed and he went to grab a rope from the back of his closet, shoving it into your hands as he got back in bed and you heard the front door open and close. You put the rope to your side and tried to quietly put on your jeans under the bed. Light streamed in from outside and Steve pulled his covers up to make it look like he was sleeping. Just as you managed to zip and button your pants up, the door slowly opened to the room and a pair of heels were visible, walking up beside Steve’s bed. You put a hand over your mouth to silence any noise you could make and Steve’s mother stood over him for a few minutes, smiling at him and brushing his hair before turning back to the door. You made a grab for the rope and a slight scuffling was heard. Mrs. Harrington stopped at the doorframe and looked back around. You felt as if you were going to die if she saw you and swallowed dryly. Steve pushed himself as hard as he could into the bed, believing that maybe if he pushed hard enough he could melt into it and disappear. Mrs. Harrington shrugged and closed the door and you heard her heels descend the stairs before quietly rolling out from under Steve’s bed, rope in hand.
“That one was close,” Steve said, sitting up and taking the pre-prepped rope loop from you and securing it to one of the bed’s corners as you climbed on the bed and opened the window.
“I thought you said they weren’t coming home until Monday?” he’d told you they’d taken a long trip, starting last Wednesday and ending on Monday. He shrugged at you as you both quickly but quietly let the rope down out of Steve’s window.
“I guess they changed their minds, I don’t know,” he responded and you climbed over the window sill and out of the house, holding onto the rope as you prepared to descend. He grabbed your hand before you went down the rope. “I’ll see you at our shift tomorrow, if Hopper gives you shit for coming to the cabin so late, just tell him to take it out with me.” He said and you nodded.
“Bye Harrington,” you said and went down the rope, giving him a thumbs up as you landed and he waved at you. You shuffled quickly over to the empty sidewalk and looked down at the watch Steve had gotten you for Christmas. 03:45, great. You started walking in the direction of the cabin and realized you forgot your shoes. Grumbling, you decided to tough it out, knowing your shoes wouldn’t be detected at Steve’s since you always put them in the closet by the rope, just for such an occasion. As you walked through the chilly night, barefoot on the cold sidewalk, you suddenly thought you heard someone calling your name from behind. You turned back and saw a woman at the end of the block, somehow similar. You took a few steps to see her better and your mouth fell open. “... m-mom?” you breathed and shook your head. As you opened your eyes again, the woman was gone and a tingling sensation appeared in your hands. You decided you must just be tired and your mind was playing tricks on you and shoved your hands in your pocket.
—
You banged aggressively on the door to the cabin, wet pieces of grass stuck to your feet as you stood waiting for Hopper to open the door at four-thirty in the morning. He pulled the door open, looking annoyed, and then looked down at you as you crossed your arms from the chill outside. His eyebrows shot up in surprise and you walked past him into the house.
“Steve’s parents came home early,” You explained and slammed yourself down on the couch, pulling the only blanket quickly up to your chest.
“Did they now?” Hopper asked sarcastically with his arms crossed. “Well, four in the morning isn’t exactly what I would call early–” you held a hand up to shush him, you were not in the mood to argue with the big ludd.
“Later, hopper,” You said and pointed at your watch before letting your hands fall down limp on the blanket. You could hear him sigh from behind you and then finally walk back into his bedroom. It didn’t take long until sleep came over you as you heard your mother’s voice sing you happy birthday from somewhere buried deep in your mind.
—
“Oh my god, El,” you said as you shoveled another mouthful of waffles, apple slices, and syrup into your mouth. “This is so good, they should put apples on everything!” Eleven giggled and nodded her head in response to you as you demolished the rest of your plate, barely taking the time to breathe between bites. Over your time in Hawkins and especially at the cabin you’d learned to love Eggos just as much as Eleven did, if not more. You’d buy her fruits and berries and other things to put on the Eggos that you hadn’t tried before whenever you knew you were going to sleep over, but this time she’d surprised you by buying apples just in case you were sleeping over this week, as it turned out you did. You hadn’t told Eleven about who you really were or what you knew, yet somehow she seemed to just feel something was different with you. Sometimes when she was a little too close you’d get a slight headache or when you two touched you felt a similar zap to when you’d disappeared from your time. She’d noticed it too, and instead of that keeping her away from you, it just made her want to stick to you like glue. You didn’t mind the headaches or zaps, they weren’t as bad as what happened last year in the tunnels and you wanted to be around El, so you chose to stick it out. With how close you had become with El while sleeping over at Hopper’s and with Max over the last few months as she’d essentially come to the arcade every day she knew you were working and sometimes would even join you and Steve for dinner or a sleepover with you in the guest room, it was only a matter of time before you kind of forced the girls together. It had been a little awkward at the beginning. Sometimes when Max need to talk to you about something, you’d tell her to come to the cabin since Steve’s parents were home and since El never left, she had to sit in on the conversation as well. Well, she didn’t have to, but you convinced Max it would help her vocabulary and understanding if she let her sit with you as Max talked about whatever was bothering her. Eventually, the two were attached at the hip, and you couldn’t be happier. With Max as support, you even managed to convince Hopper to let El go out in town sometimes.
The door to Hopper’s side of the cabin creaked as he stepped out in his work clothes and tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He turned to you and El, who waved at him as he walked over. He nodded at her and put his hand on the back of your chair, making you turn to face him. Hopper and Joyce had become the closest things you had to parental figures - if you didn’t count Nancy, who’d turned into a mother hen after the tension you thought had fallen between the two of you evaporated - and you always felt like you were back at 12 whenever Hopper would give you that firm look he gave El or Joyce would put her hands on your face when she thought you’d gotten sick or injured. You couldn’t really complain, being that you were a complete stranger with no actual guardian they could contact and only 17, you kind of had to let them baby you, just a bit.
“Okay, girls,” He said, looking between the two of you, still keeping his hand on your chair. “I’m heading out now, I’ll be back tonight, but it might be late. If Max visits, tell her hi from me,” He said and then looked directly at you. “But no funny business, alright? I don’t want to come home to you with another sprained ankle, or worse.”
“Oh, come on,” you said, mouth full of waffles and syrup, and held up your hands defensively. “That was one time!” Hopper leaned away from you as you wiped your mouth with the back of your hand.
“And stop talking with your mouth full!” he raised his voice and you shrugged.
“Sorry,” you mumbled by instinct, still with food in your mouth. Hopper gave you an angry glare and you turned your head down to your plate to not have to look at him. El giggled at the two of you and Hopper gave a quick wave before leaving and locking the door after him. You listened with focus as he went down the steps from the cabin and got into his car. When you heard the car start driving off you got up and put your plate in the sink before turning back to El, who’d followed your movements and was sitting backward on her chair facing you. You smiled.
“Okay, El,” you started. “Max and I were talking and I came up with this fun idea.” El looked at you with her eyes furrowed. You laughed a little to yourself. “So, you don’t really get a lot of time outside for fun stuff, so I thought, what can we do here that neither of you has ever done?” El nodded along with you but didn’t seem to understand where you were going. You sighed happily and slammed your hands together, slightly startling her. “My mom used to help me color my hair all the time and it was always one of my favorite things, so I’m going to head over to Melvald’s really quick and Max is coming over as soon as she can…” you trailed off and checked your watch. 08:10, she’d be here soon. “So once I get back we can fix my hair, it’ll be super quick and you can watch the whole time, when you wash it out it almost seems like magic! Then we can blow dry my hair and you and max can do whatever you want with it and we should be done just in time for me to get to work on time.” You looked expectantly at Eleven who seemed to be considering it in her head. She furrowed her brows before speaking.
“Coloring your hair?” you nodded and she glanced over some colored pens that were laying on the table in front of the tv. “What color?” she asked and you shrugged.
“I doubt there’ll be many options, so I’ll just grab what I can,” you responded. She smiled and nodded at you.
“Great!” you said enthusiastically and headed over to the door, grabbing spare keys under the welcome mat before heading out. “I’ll borrow your bike and be back in no time. Max should be here in like, 20 minutes or so and then we’ll start.” She nodded again and you blew her a kiss before shutting the door behind you and heading for her bike by the side of the cabin.
—
When you saw the sign for Melvald you quickly jumped off the bike and walked it the rest of the way over to the entrance. As you looked in to see if Joyce was there you saw Hopper walking up to her by the register, a lot more jovial than you’d ever seen him at the cabin. You cursed under your breath and leaned the bike on the wall just out of range of the store’s giant windows. You kept watching them as they seemed to be talking closely, Hopper then turned, something on his radio distracting him, before turning back around and putting his hat on before leaving the store. As he walked down to his truck you quickly walked over to the door into the store and slipped in. The bell sounded off as you entered the store quickly so as to not be seen by Hopper if he happened to look over. You practically ran over to the register where Joyce was standing, seemingly preoccupied with something down the aisle. You put your elbows on the table in front of her and gave your flashiest smile.
“Hi Mrs. Byers,” you said sweetly. When she didn’t respond you looked over at the aisle to see what she was looking at and you thought your heart stopped for a second when you saw the magnets. The memories flooded over you, Hopper yelling at Joyce, Alexei, Murray’s laugh, the county fair, the gate… “Magnetic field…” you breathed, not even meaning to say it out loud. Joyce’s head snapped to you.
“Oh, Mia, I didn’t–” she started, then looked back at the magnets and back at you. “What did you say?” You looked over at her in concern, then shook your head to soften your expression.
“Electromagnetic fields,” you repeated, trying to sound natural but wavering a bit in your voice. You cleared your throat. “Back in Arizona we did this science experiment where we would put magnets into a strong electromagnetic field, like a small one to disturb them and they’d drop on the floor, just like those.” you tried to explain. You knew if you’d been talking to someone who actually knew anything about magnets, your story would be suspicious instantly due to how improbable and stupid an experiment that would be for a high schooler to be working with, but given her fascination with the magnets in the show, you hoped maybe you’d get off scot-free here. Joyce knit her brows and looked at you, then walked over to the magnets, trying to get them to stay up, but failing.
“So you mean,” she started. “These would fall because of a disruption in the… electromagnetic field around them?” You sighed quietly, relieved that she sounded just as confused as you remembered.
“Yeah, well,” you coughed as you tried to think of a way for her to stop asking you questions. “More like a different, stronger field disrupted them. Like, the power outage a few nights ago that blew out all the lights, that must've been due to something that demanded a lot of power.” Okay, now you were just talking nonsense and none of it really made sense, you just wanted to clue her in a little on what was going on without just saying it. You shook your head. “Maybe you could ask Mr. Clarke about it, the kids always talk about how good he is with… magnets and like, physics and stuff.” You really didn’t know what to say to get her going more than that and just chanced on her taking the hint. She nodded while keeping her eyes on the magnets, then turned and decisively walked past you at the register, grabbing her keys on the way. She stopped suddenly at the door, remembering you’d probably come into the store for something.
“Right, Mia, sweetheart, did you need something?” She looked back at you and you suddenly remembered your plans.
“Y-yeah actually, do you guys have any hair dye here?” Joyce gave you a confused look then pointed down one of the aisles and you ran down picking up two boxes of copper red hair dye. You jogged up to her, holding the boxes under one arm while fishing for your wallet with your other hand. Joyce put her hand on yours to stop you and you looked up, meeting her eyes as she smiled sweetly.
“Just take them, don’t worry about it honey,” she said softly. You nodded and walked back over to your bike, your hand gripping the boxes as you sat on the bike and started riding back toward the cabin, thoughts buzzing through your head.
—
You got back to the cabin at precisely nine am and could hear the faint noise of the girls singing in the house. You smiled to yourself and set the bike down by Max’s, leaning on the side of the house. You tucked the boxes of hair-dye under your arm as you unlocked the door. Madonna’s Material Girl Blasted at you when you came inside and you couldn’t help but grin, fond memories of your mother singing to you when you were younger in the kitchen and dancing with her spatula as she flipped burgers on the stove rushing back to you.
“Mia!” Max ran over and hugged you. You almost dropped the boxes from the force she practically tackled you with and you let out a chuckle as you rubbed her back. You loved seeing the girl so happy, after everything and knowing about her home life, it felt right.
“Hey, girls,” you said, looking over at El as Max kept holding onto your waist. “Look what I’ve got!” you said in a sing-song voice as you reached out each box to the girls. They took them from you and Max looked ecstatic while El raised a brow.
“Two?” she asked and you huffed.
“Trust me,” you said and flipped your hair. “We’ll need it.” You spent the rest of the morning dancing, singing, and laughing with the girls. You talked about how stupid the boys were and took quizzes from some magazines Max had brought and then you got to work on your hair. You handed the girls the plastic gloves that came with each kit as you prepared the mixtures, more familiar to you at this point than radios and VHSs and manual TVs ever had been. You explained the procedure to the girls and got some towels out of the cupboard in the bathroom. You sat on the bathroom tile and the girls got to work smothering your hair in color. A bit got on your ears and forehead and you used some cotton pads, acetone, and a small hand mirror Max had in her bag to remove it. Once the application was done, you were careful not to touch anything in the apartment and turned the gloves halfway inside out in order for them to not stain anything but still be usable when you had to rinse. The girls danced around some more as you wiped off the floor where some of the color had landed and laughed at their boy-talk. Once the color had sat long enough you shouted over the music for the girls and they helped you rinse your hair over the tub. It got messy and you knew you’d get an earful later from Hopper, but you didn’t care, you were having so much fun with the girls. After that, you blow-dried your hair, with Max’s help. Once it was dry, you looked at yourself in the mirror. When you first made eye contact with yourself, you stopped and smiled, small tears forming in your eyes, but you shook them away before turning to the girls.
“So,” you said, flipping your hair back for them to see. “What do you think?”
“You look awesome!” Max shouted, overjoyed at your new hair. You beamed back at her. El nodded, then furrowed her brows, deep in thought.
“You look like Max now,” she stated, looking between you two. You raised your brows and looked over at Max who already had her eyes on you. You looked at each other for a moment, then all three of you burst out laughing.
A few minutes later, the girls were putting two slim braids into your hair and you looked at your watch for the time. 13:30.
“Oh shit,” you sighed. “are you guys done? I need to get to work.” the girls hummed and reached out to you for the elastics in your hands. You reached back to them and they tied off the braids. You got up to the mirror in the bathroom and turned your head to see what the girls had accomplished. Most of your hair was loose, except for two small buns attached to two slim braids with slightly different lengths. It kind of reminded you of Sailor Moon, but you didn’t mention that, given they wouldn’t know what it was. You turned around and smiled at the girls. “Thank you, it looks great.” You said, then looked back at your watch. “Okay, I’m leaving now and I’ll be back after closing, should be around nine or ten. I’m trusting you to not do anything I wouldn’t do,” you said, even though you knew that wasn’t actually much to go by. The girls gave each other a look and you crossed your arms. “What?” Max licked her lips nervously before she started.
“Well, while you were gone this morning we talked, and…” she gazed back to El who nodded for her to continue. “We thought, maybe… you’d let us… go to the mall?” she asked and you opened your mouth to answer, but she cut you off quickly. “Eleven’s never been to the mall and Mike and Hopper both refuse to take her and she can’t just go on her own so I thought I could take her since you’re busy and I’ve been there and you know you can trust me, I’ll take care of her I swear, and—” You put your hand out to stop her from rambling and chuckled.
“Yes, you can go to the mall girls.” Max beamed at you and El looked like she couldn’t believe her ears. “But!” you added quickly, bending down to grab the set of spare keys from under the welcome mat. “You can’t tell Hopper, obviously, and you can, under no circumstances tell Steve. If he hears about this, I’ll never hear the end of it,” you said and reached the keys out to El. She took the keys and they nodded. You sighed and then facepalmed, remembering you didn’t have a ride to the mall. You quickly looked between the girls and added another condition. “and you have to let me borrow your bike Max, so I’m not late for work, again…”
“Deal!” Max said and started pushing you out the door. “Now go, fast, don’t be late or Steve will keep bringing it up with that smug smirk of his every time I come over!” She pushed you the last bit out the door and you lifted your hand to wave goodbye as she slammed the door in your face.
“Oh thank you, Mia, you're such a kind friend and the best babysitter ever,” you murmured as you headed to the bikes and got on.
—
“Have a nice day,” Robin said, spacing out as she handed the couple their ice cream cones. She hated this job more than life itself and always waited out the seconds until her shift ended, wanting to be anywhere in the world other than at Scoops Ahoy. A young boy came forward from behind the couple and smiled at her.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” Robin responded.
“I’m Dustin,” he explained after a moment.
“I’m Robin,” she responded with a smile.
“Pleasure to meet you,” Dustin said quickly. “uh, is– is he here?” he asked expectantly.
“Is who here?” Robin asked. The door to the employees-only section flew open as Steve burst into the shop.
“Henderson,” he said breathlessly and raised his hands. Dustin laughed and pointed over to him. “Henderson! He’s back! He’s back!” Steve jumped with joy like a little kid as he went over to greet Dustin.
“I’m back!” Dustin responded just as enthusiastically. “You got the job!”
“I got the job!” Steve shouted, then mimicked a victorious trumpet. Steve then walked over to Dustin and they did their signature handshake, lightsabers, guts spilling and all. Steve took a breath and leaned his hand on the display case next to the register.
“How many children are you friends with?” Robin asked, amused and Steve’s mood instantly dropped.
“You’d be surprised, Buckley,” your voice rang out over the shop and the threesome turned their heads toward you, standing with your arms crossed over your chest in your now slightly stained striped crop top and flared jeans. Robin and Steve’s eyebrows were both raised as they saw your new hair but Dustin’s face just lit up with joy as he practically slammed against you in a hug. You felt your breath getting knocked out of your lungs and you had to open your mouth wide to pull in air. “I swear if you kids keep greeting me like this, you’ll have to pay my hospital bill once I inevitably break a rib.” You felt Dustin chuckle as he kept his hug tight against you. You smiled and pet his hair then pulled him off of you and walked with him to the register where the other two were still standing and were giving each other a look as you approached. “Hey to you too, guys,” you said, feeling a bit awkward as they kept glancing up at your hair and then back at each other.
“Hey Mia,” Robin started. “New shirt?” she joked and you huffed.
“Oh this old thing?” you retorted. “it was just taking up space in the wardrobe you know.” she laughed and you felt your cheeks warm as you watched her.
“What happened to your hair?” Steve asked, cutting your moment off with Robin. You turned to him and rolled your eyes.
“Gee, thanks Harrington,” you said, one hand on your hip as you leaned on the register's desk. “You also look great,” he mumbled a sorry and refused to meet your eye and you glanced over at Robin who was trying to hold back a chuckle. “I was with the girls this morning and I thought they might want to do something fun and…” you spun around, holding out your braids. “Now I’m fun.”
“You’re always fun, Mia,” Robin assured you and reached out to lightly touch your arm and you struggled with where to put your hand when she moved away. You cleared your throat and looked up at Steve who you noticed was already staring at you, like he was studying you. You raised an eyebrow and felt a frown take over your face.
“What, does it look weird?” you asked, seeming to somehow startle him as you spoke and he sputtered.
“No!” he shouted first, maybe a little too loud. He shook his head and his hands in front of him and you thought you might have seen a small flush in his cheeks as he continued. “No, no, it’s good– I mean, it looks– you look… you look good.” he finally settled on and you smiled. “It– it fits you.” he stammered, looking down at the counter and awkwardly scratching his neck. You chuckled and turned to Dustin who was standing beside you now, waiting for his opinion. His brows were pulled together and he pointed at you.
“You know, you kind of look like Max now,” he stated and you shook your head.
“That’s funny,” you said, thinking back to the cabin. “El said the same thing. You know, my mom was ginger.” you smiled to yourself as you thought of your mother again.
“Was?” Robin asked and you turned to her, faltering.
“Uh, um, yeah she…” you started and Steve looked at you with concern, wondering if you were finally going to tell him the whole truth about what happened to her. “She dyed her hair like a year ago. She’s a brunette now.” You laughed dryly. As you nervously tucked a hair behind your ear you glanced over at Steve who was looking at you with sad eyes, like you’d just run over his puppy. You looked down at the floor quickly and cleared your throat. “Well, I should get dressed.” you said, walking past Steve over to the employees-only area, before Dustin pulled on your sleeve to get your attention. You turned to him with confusion.
“Actually, I need to talk to you,” he looked over at Steve. “Both of you.” You and steve glanced at each other and then looked back at Dustin.
—
“No, no. No way,” You heard Steve laugh as you walked over to the booth the two boys were sitting in. You threw your sailor hat on, covering your small hair buns, and slid into the booth next to Dustin who was eating some sort of ice cream ship. You snagged one of the wafer sails off his plate and dipped it in the whipped cream before shoveling it in your mouth. Dustin turned and glared playfully at you and you responded with a smile as you kept chewing on the wafer. “Hotter than Phoebe Cates? No.”
“Who’s Phoebe Cates?” you asked, wafer crumbs falling on the table as you spoke. The boys' eyebrows flew up, they then looked at each other, back to you, and then waved you off as if you were talking nonsense. Dustin turned back to Steve and continued.
“Brilliant, too. And she doesn’t even care that my real pearls are still coming in.” you hummed to yourself at that and Steve looked concerned. “She says kissing is better without teeth.” Steve glanced over at you and you shrugged.
“Wow, yeah,” Steve said. “That's great. Proud of you man.”
“Good for you, Dustin,” you said and clapped him on his shoulder. “That’s so sweet.” Dustin hummed to himself and you couldn’t help but smile at his contentment.
“So do you really get to eat as much of this as you want?” Dustin asked and you nodded.
“Yeah,” Steve agreed. “I mean, sure. It’s not really a good idea for me though, I gotta keep in shape for the ladies.” at that you snorted and almost choked on a piece of the wafer and started coughing wildly. Robin slipped you a paper cup of water as she passed you while cleaning. You nodded in thanks and downed the whole cup.
“Yeah, and how’s that working out for you?” Robin asked before turning back to her cleaning. You laughed audibly this time, feeling like you had almost died from Steve’s stupidity about two seconds ago. He glared at you and then at Robin.
“Ignore her,” he said, referring to Robin.
“She seems cool,” Dustin said. You leaned your elbow on the table and your head in your hand dreamily as you stared at Robin. You sighed happily.
“She’s so cool,” Dustin quirked an eyebrow at you and then looked over at Steve who rolled his eyes.
“She’s not,” he refuted. “So, where are the other knuckleheads?” he said, trying to quickly change the subject and you turned your head to Dustin.
“They ditched me yesterday,” Dustin stated plainly.
“What?” you asked, dropping your hands, full focus on Dustin.
“No,” Steve said.
“My first day back,” Dustin said, annoyed. “Can you believe that shit?”
“I can,” you said rolling your eyes. “They’re all… hormonal,” you said, shuddering.
“Wait, seriously?” Steve interjected.
“I swear to god,” Dustin responded as he took another bite of his ice cream ship. “They’re going to regret it though, big time when they don’t get to share in my glory,” he continued. You suddenly perked up, remembering the radio tower, the Russian message.
“Dustin–” you started but Steve cut you off.
“Glory? What glory?” he asked. You braced yourself as Dustin motioned for you both to move closer. Steve looked over at you to see if you had any idea what he was talking about, but your gaze was fixed on Dustin as if you were preparing to hear a declaration of war come out of his mouth.
“So last night,” Dustin began, “We’re trying to get in contact with Suzie…”
“Oh, mm,” Steve wiggled his brows suggestively as Dustin hummed back. Steve caught you looking at him in disgust.
“Harrington, ew, he’s 13.” Steve nodded with you and felt a little embarrassed. You rolled your eyes at them before leaning in to listen again.
“Anyway, uh…” Dustin leaned into the table before whispering. “Iinterceptedasecretrussiancommunication.” You couldn’t hear a word he said, but you didn’t have to, you already knew where this was going, you’d watched season three six times. Steve looked quizzically at Dustin, having heard none of what he said.
“What?” he asked and you sighed. Dustin looked around once more and repeated his statement, a few decibels louder this time. Steve still couldn’t hear him. “Just speak louder,” Steve demanded. Just before Dustin could start yelling, you put your hand over his mouth and stared at Steve.
“He intercepted a secret Russian communication,” you said calmly just below your default conversation volume. Dustin turned to you, eyes wide. Steve blinked at you a few times, taking in the information.
“Yeah, okay, that’s what I thought you said,” he said to Dustin and leaned in further. “Wait, how did you hear that? He was speaking at mouse volume.” Steve added and looked at you, Dustin nudging him in the side. You sighed and leaned back in your seat.
“Welcome to season three, boys,” you said as you grabbed the cherry from Dustin’s ice cream cake and popped it in your mouth. The boys looked at you confused and then looked at each other. You couldn’t help but smirk at them.