Chapter Text
Everyone sits in their home room as the clock ticks down the final minutes of the last day before summer vacation. Mr. Bauman continues his lecture about the arts and the tension and anticipation begins to build. At the mere mention of summer, the class all jumps back in their seats. Everyone looks around at each other as their attention is brought back to reality.
Robin leans over to the student sitting next to her. “What the hell is he talking about?”
Steve looks to the back of the room to find Eddie already looking up at him and they both giggle quietly. As he looks back towards Mr. Bauman, he rolls his eyes and leans back to talk to Robin.
“Robs, Mr. Bauman is insane.”
“Dingus, are you actually listening?” She chuckles.
Tommy raises his hand when there’s a lull in Mr. Bauman’s speech.
“Yes, Tommy.”
“So, what was your favorite summer memory, Mr. Bauman?”
Everyone groans in unison as he goes off on another tangent. He goes on about how he remembers his summer vacations with clarity, diving into one of his fondest memories from his teenage years.
Robin taps Steve on the back as they look at the clock that is ticking away up front. She smiles and whispers, “summer.”
Dustin sits next to her and grins, joining in. “Summer.”
Slowly, one by one, the class joins in, all chanting “summer” repeatedly, none of them paying attention to Mr. Bauman. They all lean back in their seats, counting the final seconds of the semester, cheering as the bell finally goes off, signaling the end of the day. Everyone throws their papers up into the air and collects their things, eager for their summer vacation to start.
Steve and Robin give each other a high five before Robin heads off with Nancy and Steve makes his way to the back of the room to talk to Eddie. Chrissy waves goodbye to him as she flashes a smile and Steve awkwardly waves back, paying her little attention.
“Hey Eds, you ready for summer?”
“Holy shit, you have no idea.”
Steve grins as he takes Eddie’s hand, kissing the back of it as they head out into the hallway. They bump their shoulders together and Eddie lets go of Steve’s hand to jump onto his back. Steve runs down the hallway through a crowd of students as the two of them goof off and laugh. They take a longer route to their lockers, stopping in a secluded stairwell. Eddie excitedly tells Steve about one of the songs he’s been working on and they share a brief kiss.
Chrissy and Argyle make their way around the school as they sign yearbooks and say their goodbyes to friends from the drama club. Nancy and Robin also make their way around the school as they talk about their summer plans. Robin meets up with Steve and the rest of the team as they decide it’s time to grab their things.
As Steve leads them down the hallway, he begins talking about how he needs a summer job.
“Seriously, guys. I need to make bank this summer. My parents keep talking about how much college is gonna cost and they’ve made it clear I’m on my own.”
Robin joins in. “Yeah, my parents said they’d match whatever I make but I gotta get hired first.”
“Me too,” Jonathan adds.
“I’m saving up for a car…” Robin leans against the hallway and smirks at Nancy. “So I can take a super hot chick out for a date.”
Nancy blushes as she ducks her head down, holding back a laugh as she keeps walking to her locker.
Steve barks out a laugh at Robin trying to act cooler than she is as he opens his locker. As Eddie rounds the corner, Chrissy grabs his hand to get his attention.
“Eddie. I understand you’ve moved every summer for the past five years, and I hate to think today is goodbye.”
Eddie smiles. “No worries! My uncle promised that I'll be here until graduation next year.”
Chrissy’s forced smile falls as she realizes she’ll still have to deal with him. “Bless his little heart.”
As she turns back to face her locker, Eddie continues, “Chrissy, we got off to a wrong start, but you really came through. I mean you helped me with the winter musical.”
She turns around with a look of confusion on her face. “I did?”
“I mean those vocal exercises?” Eddie breaks out into a series of lip trills, enunciating the final “mah!” as he does hand gestures to go along with it. Chrissy startles as he finishes and bangs her head against the locker behind her.
Eddie shoots her a grin and a small wave. “See ya!”
Nancy makes her way down the hallway with Dustin, summer employment on her mind as well. “Eddie and I have had, like, five job interviews, but we keep getting beat out by college kids.”
Dustin sighs, “Yeah same here. Guess I gotta babysit or something.”
Will rounds the corner and giggles. “Isn’t that Steve’s job?”
“Oh shut up Will.” Dustin giggles and Nancy and Will start laughing along.
“Hey, Will. What do you plan to do this summer?”
“Grow. Write music. Grow.” They all start laughing again.
Steve runs past them and stops at an intersection in the hallway, looking around for Eddie who he quickly finds at his locker. Steve slowly walks up behind him, leaning one hand against the locker and crossing his legs.
“Your summer activities consultant has arrived.”
Eddie smiles as he turns to face him, letting out a fond giggle, but quickly gets serious. “Hopefully some of those activities will include a job.”
Steve perks up. “Hey! Whatever happens, as long as we’re together, it’s cool right?”
“You promise?”
Steve nods. “Here’s my promise.” He walks around to where he’s standing behind Eddie and he slips a necklace around his neck with a dark red and black guitar pick that has “S+E” carved into it. Eddie looks down at it, marveling at how it matches his guitar and that the letters of their names have been engraved into it.
Robin and Nancy round the corner and quickly fall silent as they see they’re about to interrupt an intimate moment.
Eddie turns to face Steve and smiles. “You got this for me?”
“Well… Yeah.” Steve takes his hands in his and they smile fondly at each other before Steve leans in to kiss Eddie. They’re quickly interrupted when a freshman nervously makes his way up to Steve with his yearbook, asking for him to sign it. Steve purses his lips and takes the pen, quickly signing his name and nods.
“Hey man, how’s it going?” The kid smiles and nods in response. “There ya go boss.” The kid happily walks away as Steve rubs his hands together before taking Eddie’s back in his own, trying to finish what they started.
Robin interrupts them again. “Dingus! Let’s go.”
Steve rolls his eyes and sighs. “Yeah, sure. We’re not ya know… busy or anything.” Steve heads off after Robin, and Nancy shares a look with Eddie which makes him giggle softly as they catch up to the others.
Steve takes Eddie’s hand again. “So I’m thinking we could go to the movies, make mixtapes. Oh! Also I need you to teach me that twisted-flip on the skateboard.”
Eddie laughs. “It’s good you have first-aid training so you can patch yourself up afterwards.”
Steve does a fist pump. “Yes, exactly!”
Chrissy peeks out from her locker and scoffs. “Going to movies, listening to music. And golly, Steve! I can do everything!” Chrissy fakes giggling before rolling her eyes to face Argyle. “Oh, please.” She finds Will standing nearby as well and grins. “Oh, come here Will! I have a summer job for you. At our country club. Our rehearsal pianist is evidently moving.”
Will whispers to himself, “Or hiding.”
“Pardon?” Chrissy turns again as she overhears him.
“Sounds great.” Will forces a smile, pretending to perk up.
Argyle steps in as he walks away, squeezing her shoulder. “Cheer up, Chris! It’s summer. We can do whatever we want. Everything changes.”
“Argyle, who is the most primo boy at Hawkins High?”
“I’d say Steve Harrington has that category pretty much locked up don’t you think cuz?”
She smirks and folds her arms. “And Hawkins High primo girl?”
Argyle leans so that he can look down the hallway and she scoffs again. “Just answer the question!”
“Gosh, uh… you?”
She smiles, satisfied with his response. “Steve, Chrissy. Chrissy, Steve. Chrissy…”
Argyle snaps his fingers to get her to stop. “Chris.”
“What? It just makes sense.”
“Evidently not to Steve.”
“But it’s summer, Argyle.” She pauses to put her sunglasses on. “Everything changes.” She slams her locker shut and walks away, leaving Argyle by himself. He shakes his head and takes a deep breath to ground himself, knowing that he should follow after her but not really wanting to.
-
Steve drops Eddie off at his and Wayne’s trailer with the promise of coming by later before heading home to spend some time with Robin and the guys. They all head into the backyard with Coach Harrington to play a round or two, heading back into the kitchen for a snack after they’ve worked up a sweat.
“I’m starving.”
“Me, too,” Robin responds.
“I’m seeing moves I didn’t see last season. Keep it coming, guys!” Richard shouts excitedly.
Robin screams, “What team?”
They all shout in response, “Wildcats!”
Jonathan, Tommy, and Robin grab drinks from the fridge while Steve jumps up on the counter.
Richard follows behind them. “So guys, how’s the job hunt coming?”
“The big zero,” Jonathan groans.
The phone rings and Steve jumps off to go grab it.
“Uh-oh, boyfriend alert. Talk to me,” Robin giggles.
Steve takes the phone off the hook. “Hello?”
“This is Jim Hopper. General Manager of Lava Springs Country Club in Indianapolis. I understand you’ve been looking for summer work.”
Tommy calls after Steve from the kitchen. “Hey, Steve! Does Eddie still remember your name, or did he find someone new to karaoke with this summer?”
Richard, Robin, and Jonathan all start giggling as Steve turns around to shush them.
“That sounds fantastic Mr. Hopper. But how did you get my name?”
“Well, we’ve always had a student summer work program here at Lava Springs. So, are you ready?”
“Here’s the thing. I know the most amazing guy… I mean, student. Awesome work ethic. Great personality, and it would be so amazingly perfect if…” He continues to talk as he walks as far away from the kitchen that he can with the cord trailing behind him.
Richard chuckles. “He’s really working someone. It can’t be Eddie. Whenever he calls, he just blushes.”
They all burst out laughing. “Hey, I never said that.”
Steve hangs up the phone and runs back excitedly and jumps back on the counter. “Yes!”
“What’s up?” Richard asks.
“Nothing. Nothing. Nothing!” He keeps repeating as they all give him looks.
Richard tilts his head. “Okay. I’ll tell you what, you guys stick together this summer, you work on the game, and we are talking about back-to-back championships next fall!” He starts dribbling the ball through the kitchen as everyone gets worked up and starts cheering.
Katherine quickly makes her way in from the garage carrying a grocery bag. “Whoa! Whoa okay. Can we redirect this energy by carrying in the groceries?”
They all stop immediately at the sound of her voice. “Yes, Mrs. Harrington.”
She holds her hand out to take the ball from her husband as they all head out to help her bring in the groceries and she smiles proudly.