Chapter Text
Steve watches another girl walk away from him, clearly unimpressed by his attempt at flirting. Robin opens the window divider, whiteboard and marker in hand. He turns around just as she puts another mark on the “You Suck” side. Five times he’s struck out. At least five times since Robin has started this cruel little game of hers.
“And there goes another one,” she caps the marker, “Nice job, dingus.”
“I’m telling you, it’s the stupid hat,” Steve snatches it off of his head, “The hair is my main selling point.”
She looks at him with a bored expression. She’s tired of hearing that excuse every time.
“That’s kind of sad when you think about it,” She points out.
Steve sighs, “Just- leave me be. You’re hurting my self esteem.”
“Oh boo hoo,” Robin says sarcastically, “Seeing you strike out is hurting my self esteem.”
Steve rolls his eyes as Robin retreats to the back, closing the sliding window. Steve’s been working here since June and has made an unlikely friend in Robin. She’s a weird character, hyper, sometimes she rambles and she’s sarcastic. Still, it’s better to work with her than to work alone or with that dumbass Harry who barely knows how to scoop ice cream into a cone.
Never a dull moment with Robin. Despite her constant antagonizing, he thinks that he deserves at least that. Everyone still thinks he’s an asshole. But he tries. Doesn’t diminish anything he did, but he still tries. He puts his hat back on as another customer walks in.
“Welcome to Scoops Ahoy,” Steve says robotically as someone approaches the counter, “I’m here to take you on a…”
He trails off as he sees who it is. A man with wild dark hair is standing in front of the counter. He’s got a sleeveless shirt with Metallica written on it with bold letters, his arms littered with tattoos. Rings and bracelets hug his hands and fingers, a guitar pick necklace hangs from his neck and chains cling to his belt loops. He’s looking at Steve with a mixture of amusement and disbelief, eyeliner smudged at the corner of his eyes.
It registers in his brain far too late for him to run away from this situation. He’s face to face with none other than Eddie Munson. The same Eddie Munson he avoided in high school. They never really crossed paths except for the occasional altercation in the lunchroom that Steve never paid attention to. That was more up Tommy H and Jason’s alley than his.
Still, he suspects that Eddie still lumps him with the jocks despite his clear separation from them senior year. He braces himself for another round of teasing. Or a punch to the face. Either way, he’s ready.
“Steve Harrington,” Eddie starts to smile, “What a surprise.”
“Oh god,” Steve pinches his nose bridge, “Here it comes.”
“Look at you,” Eddie tilts his head, “Cute little outfit you got on. Upgrade from those polos you wear so frequently.”
“Save me the grief, Munson,” Steve drums his fingers against the linoleum, “What do you want?”
“Oh no, I’m gonna take my time with this,” Eddie chuckles, “How the mighty have fallen. Tell me, did you lose your crown, King Steve?”
“A long time ago,” Steve says through a clenched jaw, “It’s just Steve, or Harrington, if my first name is too personal for you.”
Eddie raises an eyebrow. He’s caught off guard by Steve’s lack of bite. The Steve he knew off wouldn’t have taken that. He would’ve cursed Eddie out… at least he thinks. They never really interacted all that much.
“Well, Harrington,” Eddie backs off a little, “No need to be so tense. Just came for two scoops of rocky road.”
Steve nods, “Sure. Coming right up.”
Steve gets to work, spinning the scooper in his hand before dipping it in the water and scooping up the ice cream. Eddie watches with curious eyes. He didn’t lie earlier, that uniform is cute.
“So, what’s up with the summer job?” Eddie asks, “Saving up for college in the fall?”
Steve tenses, “No. College isn’t in the books for me.”
“Ah,” Eddie says dryly, “Well, don’t feel bad. At least you don’t need to repeat senior year.”
“Again? What is that, the third time?” Steve looks at him, only realizing how that sounds after he’s said it.
Eddie hisses, “Ouch. You don’t pull your punches, do you?”
Steve scoffs at that. After all the fights he’s been through, people would think that he does.
“Sorry,” Steve hands him the cone, “Here, this one’s on me.”
“How sweet of you,” Eddie grabs the cone and digs in his pocket for a dollar and hands it to Steve anyway, “I’ll be back.”
“Great, thanks,” Steve puts the dollar bill in the register.
Eddie gives him one last look over, forming a new opinion of the man behind the counter.
“See ya, Stevie,” Eddie leaves with a wink.
Steve blinks, his brain sort of short-circuiting. What was that? He doesn’t know and he doesn’t want to find out.
Right on cue, Robin opens the sliding window. Wordlessly, she uncaps the marker and draws yet another line on the “You Suck” side of the whiteboard. The squeak from it is louder than normal, leaving Steve with a strange feeling in his gut.
“That was like half a strike out,” Robin tells him, “But he still left without your number so it counts.”
“I don’t think he counts,” Steve says flatly.
Robin raises an eyebrow, “Doesn’t he though? He was probably your most successful attempt yet.”
“I wasn’t attempting anything,” Steve defends.
“Homophobia won’t get you anywhere, Steve,” she says pointedly.
Steve gapes at her. Is this a test or something? Is she messing with him?
“What? I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, obviously,” Steve furrows his brows, getting a headache, “I’m just saying I wasn’t coming onto Eddie Munson.”
Robin gives Steve this look that he can’t quite read. Something’s hidden under it, behind her eyes, the gears in her head are turning.
“Right,” she says finally, “Your turn for a break.”
“But it’s not-”
Robin hops down from the counter, “Just take it.”
“Alright, alright,” Steve says retreating to the back.
~~
Steve’s doodling on a napkin in the back when he hears a familiar voice.
“Is he here?” Dustin’s voice rings through the sliding window.
“Is who here?” Robin asks.
Steve runs out to the front, “Henderson!”
Dustin laughs as they go through their intricate handshake. Robin looks on in silent judgement. Steve turns to her, more smiley than she’s seen him ever.
“Are all your friends children?”
Steve frowns, “Ignore her.”
Steve catches her eye roll as he leads Dustin to the bar seats that face out into the rest of the mall.
“I missed you, man,” Steve says as they sit down, “How was your nerdy science camp?”
“Oh it was awesome…”
Dustin’s voice gets pushed to the background as Steve looks around the mall. He’s still listening of course, but he barely knows half the words Dustin is spouting. Lord knows that Dustin is way smarter than Steve could ever be.
His eyes find Eddie who’s sitting near the fountain with a group of similarly dressed guys. Eddie is talking animatedly about something while the rest listen, laughing along to whatever story he’s retelling. Even out of school he’s still the same. Same wicked laugh, same doe eyes, same bright smile. Everything that Steve somehow overlooked in high school.
“Oh and I got a girlfriend,” Dustin says enthusiastically, “She’s crazy smart and hotter than Phoebe Cates.”
“Really? Phoebe Cates?” Steve says skeptically.
Dustin nods, “Yeah, dude. I might be in love.”
“In love, really?” Steve humors him, putting a hand on Dustin’s head, “Happy for you.”
Dustin slaps his hand away and chuckles.
“Thanks, the others don’t share your opinion,” Dustin says, a little defeated, “Lucas and Mike are busy with their girlfriends, so I’ve been abandoned. Traitors.”
“Well, you can always hang here,” Steve offers, “I’ve got nothing to do, but you might get some shit from Robin.”
Dustin glances back at her. She’s dealing with Erica and her gang of little girls.
“Speaking of Robin,” Dustin looks back at Steve, “What’s going on with you two, huh?”
Steve looks at him, deadpanned. He hasn’t really considered the idea. He’s not sure how to feel about it.
“Nothing,” Steve shakes his head, “She’s just a friend. A coworker.”
“Oh come on, Steve,” Dustin nudges him with his shoulder, “You need to get back out there. How long has it been since you went on a date? And you get along fine with Robin, she challenges you.”
“I get it,” Steve rolls his eyes, “But Robin isn’t my type and she’d probably kill me if I asked her out.”
“Fine, but I’m not giving up,” Dustin says, determined, “We’ll get you a girlfriend.”
“Sure,” Steve resigns.
And he’s not sure why his gaze finds Eddie’s in that moment. Eddie who stops talking to his friends to give Steve a little playful wave that his friends laugh at. Steve returns it uncertainly. Eddie gives him one last smile before turning to leave, his friends in tow.
“Who was that?” Dustin asks.
Steve drops his hand onto the cold table, “No one.”
“Steve!” Robin calls from the counter, “Tell this kindergartener and her posse that there’s only three samples per person!”
“Kindergartener? Excuse you, that is no way to treat a customer,” Erica scowls.
Steve throws his head back in annoyance. Erica is strong willed and he doesn’t know if even he can get her to back down. Still, he’s tired and isn’t in the mood for an argument.
“Sinclair! You heard the woman,” Steve says as he gets up, “Three per person.”
“This doesn’t involve you, Steve,” Erica crosses her arms.
He sighs as he gets to the counter, “Listen, I’m about six hours into this shift and I really don’t want to have to deal with all of this bullshit. So please, for the love of god, buy something or leave.”
Erica doesn’t speak for a moment. No one speaks. Steve has this voice he uses that gets kids to listen to him and in this instance, it works.
“Fine,” Erica gives in, “But I’ll be back.”
“Thank you,” Steve says, rubbing his temples.
He gets headaches a lot. Most of them are probably from all the beatings he’s had to take. He has to deal with a lot of things like panic attacks and nightmares too, but no one needs to know that.
“You used your mom voice,” Dustin laughs.
Robin rests her head in her chin, “Sorry, his what?”
“His mom voice,” Dustin repeats, “Remember when you tried to use that voice when we went to the-”
Steve clears his throat and Dustin cuts off his own sentence.
“Anyway,” Dustin moves on, “Mind getting me a scoop of raspberry swirl?”
“Aye, aye,” Robin says with a half hearted salut before going to scoop some ice cream.
“That was close,” Dustin says, relieved.
Steve runs a hand through his hair, “I need a nap.”
He doesn’t get that nap until after his shift ends, the neon lights of the mall burning his retinas. He says a quick goodbye to Robin before going home and collapsing onto the bed. Still, he doesn’t get very much sleep that night.
He never does.