Chapter Text
“No, nope, nada, no way.” Steve crossed his arms.
“No, come on, please, pretty please! Pretty, pretty please Steve.” Dustin pleaded in the video store.
“We can’t go if we don’t have another chaperone!” Mike said, the three boys were making their case as to why Steve should chaperone the school trip.
“Even Max wants to go.” Lucas said, god dammit he always caved for Max as of late. Robin walked in for work.
“Why are your kids here today? It’s Tuesday.”
“I know they should be at AV Club.” Steve said pointedly.
“Robin we really want to go on the Washington trip!”
“Yeah I signed up for that. It’s Steve’s birthday present for me.” Robin said casually before putting her vest on and clocking in.
“Robin is going!” Dustin exclaimed.
“Why does it matter? Did he not sign your permission slips or something?”
“My mom can’t go.” Dustin said.
“And my mom is busy.” Mike said.
“So is mine.” Lucas chimed.
“And the rule was we could go if we had a chaperone. And there won’t be enough chaperones if my mom doesn’t go! And we’re the only four freshman who signed up so we will be bumped!” Mike said.
“I just graduated high school. I don’t think I count as a responsible adult.”
“Please, we even asked the principal Steve! He said you could come!” Lucas said.
“Wait, you already asked the principal?”
“Well…” Mike looked at the ground.
“We told him you would.” Dustin said, ripping off the bandaid. Robin began cackling behind him.
“Oh my god. You’re the soccer mom!”
“Hey do you want me to revoke ride privileges?” Steve shot at her before pressing his fingers to his temple.
“You guys shouldn’t do things like that without permission,” Robin then faked whispered and dramatically held her hand up, “but oh my god this great!”
“What about Max’s mom.” He asked.
“Susan is working more. We can’t ask her.” Lucas said.
“Why isn’t Max begging with you guys? Is she okay?” Steve asked.
“She had a lot of homework.” Mike said.
“Okay, okay. Hypothetically I go. I share a room with a bunch of soccer moms?”
“You’d share with us. Max is staying with Robin and some other girls.” Dustin said. That made sense, Steve paid for Max’s way to go and Robin felt more comfortable sharing with the girl who she slept over with often with Steve.
“Oh, fantastic, yeah that makes this so much better.”
“Please?” Mike looked at him.
“Is Nance going?” Steve asked.
“She’s going to a college tour that weekend.” Well, he wouldn’t have to face Nancy while playing mother hen.
“This is really last minute guys. Do I work this weekend? Can I get off?” He asked Robin behind him.
“You’re off because you’re my emergency contact for the trip.” Robin said, “and out of all of us I’m most likely to break my leg.”
“That’s fair. Okay, okay, how is this okay?”
“We’re desperate and the vice principal and guidance counselor think you’re the best thing for Max right now and you’re practically our big brother at this point. He knows you give a shit so we won’t get killed.” Lucas explained. Max, the reason was Max.
“Okay, I’ll talk to Max about this okay? I want her input. Is she home?”
“Yeah.” Lucas said.
“I’m taking ten.” Steve stated to Robin walking to the back wall to make the phone call. He could hear the whispers of “do you think he will?” And “he has too!”
Max’s phone rang four times before he heard it be picked up.
“What?”
“What, not even a hello?”
“Steve?”
“Yeah, what’s up Max?”
“Nothing. Homework, I guess.” She sounded disgruntled.
“So the Washington DC trip is this weekend.”
“Yeah, Steve, I can read a calendar.”
“Do you want to talk about the attitude?”
“Not really, is this conversation going anywhere or are you just that bored at work?”
“I wanted to ask if you were excited.” She paused.
“I think it’ll be cool.”
“Yeah? What do you want to do the most?”
“Nothing now. Mike’s mom can’t go, neither can Dustin’s or Lucas’. So it’s dumb to be excited, when they said they’re going to bump the only four freshmen who signed up.”
“Okay, let’s say you were going. What did you want to do?” She paused again.
“I wanted to go to the zoo. And to see the dinosaurs.” She admitted, he can remember her mentioning something on the day she asked if he could pay for the trip for her Christmas present. He smiled to himself, Max needed to be excited about something.
“Okay kiddo, don’t worry you’re still going this weekend.”
“Really?” Her voice picked up in an excited tone, something he missed so much.
“Yeah, we figured it out. Just wanted to make sure you still wanted to go.” Steve sighed a bit.
“How’d you fix it?”
“Magic.”
“Steve.”
“The boys asked the principal if I could be the chaperone for the freshmen.” He heard her laugh.
“No fucking way.”
“The vice principal approved me.”
“So you’re taking us?”
“In a way. But I’ll re read the paperwork to see if we have planned outings or if we can plan before. Did you and the boys make a plan?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t speak up much.”
“Max they want you there and they want you to be excited. We can rework plans okay?”
“Hey Steve?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re such a pushover.”
“I know, Max.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I love you. Thank you thank you thank you. Oh we can really go to the zoo?” She had a small squeal and he would kill to hear it again.
“Yes. I’ll make sure but I have every intention of taking you to the zoo.”
“Thank you. I’m so excited.”
“I’ll pick you up Thursday morning?” Steve offered.
“I already got a ride, I’ll meet you at the school.”
“You sure kiddo?”
“Yeah, my mom is home for dinner on Wednesday nights remember?”
“Oh yeah. Okay I’ll see you Thursday.”
“Bring your dorky camp counselor clip board so we can write on the bus.”
“Okay first off that clip board is very convenient. A great example, times like this.”
“Still dorky.”
“Yeah it is. Okay I’ll see you Thursday morning at two am.”
“See you then. Love you. Thank you!” He heard the phone get slammed down. Steve turned to see the three boys and Robin looking at him expectantly, large smiles on their faces.
“So?” Dustin asked.
“I guess I’m chaperoning your trip.” Steve laughed.
“Yes!” All three boys exclaimed at once.
“Pushover!” Robin was laughing, yeah he was a pushover. It was worth it though.