Chapter Text
"You're gonna make it after all."
—The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Nobody saw it coming.
Not even a mile away did no one see Steve Sanders and Brenda Walsh getting together let alone walking hand-in-hand on the second month of school. Yet they did in their own little ways.
It started like this, girl finds out boyfriend was cheating on her with her best friend. Boyfriend chooses best friend after dumping her and out of some messed up guilt, boyfriend and ex-bff tell girl the whole truth.
Girl falls into a deep depression and that's where Steve Sanders came strolling into her room. Literally.
Brandon was at work and when Steve had come by the house he heard "moody" music as his mom likes to put it playing. So he went to investigate and found Brenda Walsh lying in bed with a box on the floor containing cut or ripped pictures and other junk. Steve had heard about the rift between Kelly and Brenda. He also saw Kelly and Dylan walking all giddy like two love-birds that it almost made him puke.
But Brenda had gotten the worst of the it - being betrayed by the two people that you loved the most? Yeah he could see why Brenda was depressed.
"Go away, Brandon!"
"Not Brando but thanks." Steve smiled at her and walked to her, sitting down on the bed next to her after she made some room. "How's the gutting going?"
That drew a small smile from her. Score!
"It's going," The smile disappeared. "I hate them." She said it so quietly that Steve almost missed it. "I hate them and I don't want to feel like this anymore. I... I want to show up and say see? you didn't get to break me after all!" She put her head in her hands covering her face and muffling her words. "God I sound so stupid."
"You don't. I understand the need for revenge." He then got an idea, one that made his brain shout 'don't do it unless you want Brandon to kick your ass!' but it was perfect and he really did not want to see Brenda so hurt by this anymore. "So go out with me."
"What?"
"Hear me out," He said quickly after seeing Brenda's face looking at him with an expression akin to annoyance. "I say we fake going out. It'll be a perfect revenge and get you slowly coming back to life and into society instead of being a zombie." She punched him in the arm. "Ow! Okay, okay. Not a zombie."
Brenda was quiet for a few moments as the idea sunk in her. The words that Steve said lulled her to see the face of Kelly and Dylan, it almost made her smile. Revenge... it did sound better than wallowing in heartache as those two paraded around Beverly Hills High.
"What do we do?" She asked.
Steve let himself smile at the question. "Well, I ask you out, I spoil you on dates and we laugh at everyones expressions."
There was a beat and then Brenda responded that changed their lives for better. "Okay. Let's get some revenge and some laughs, Sanders."
Brandon is going to kill me, was a thought that ran through him but seeing Brenda smile with light in her eyes was worth it. Nothing will happen, their friends and this is his best friend's twin sister. Nothing will happen between them. Nothing.
To begin the rumor mill to spin, Brenda and Steve agreed to go out on a "date" on Friday. She still would not go to school till next week but slowly as the days dwindled to Friday. She went downstairs her hair brushed and makeup all in place. Her outfit was perfect as her heeled boots clicked on the floor greeting her family.
Brandon and their parents all looked surprised to see her dressed up and well, out of her room. "Well this is a surprise!" Her mom was the first one to say something. "And may I ask where you are going?"
Brenda swallowed her nerves. Steve had told her that once they begin this there will be push back and a hell of a lot of questions from everyone. "I'm going on a date."
That surprised them even more. "May I ask with who?" Jim asked, a protective tone in his voice coming out instantly. Brenda smiled.
"It's-" She was cut off by the door bell ringing. Brandon went to go answer it and exclaimed that Steve was here. "It's Steve. I'm going out with Steve."
She could hear them come back the moment the words fell out of her mouth. Steve stood next to her and Brandon walked over to his parents looking absolutely dumbfounded at the pair. He laughed as if she had said something funny. "Yeah, okay. Very funny you two."
"She's not joking," Steve said quickly. Too quickly, Brenda thought as something warm ran through her on the inside to see Steve defend her. She stamped it down quickly. "I asked her out on a date."
Now Brandon's laughter died and his expression of someone having been punched in the stomach. Jim stood a bit taller looking at Steve. "Where are you going on this date?"
Steve smiled. "Movies and then the Peach Pit."
Her Dad didn't give her a curfew but was at least relaxed to see a semblance of a planned night. So was Brenda. She saw her Mom looking at Steve and then at Brenda, a twinkle in her eyes that meant nothing but trouble. They left quickly, Steve saying goodnight to the Walshes and an awkward one to Brandon who did not respond at all as they left out the door.
"Your chariot, milady!" Steve proclaimed as he opened the door to his car. It wasn't like Dylan's old car but Brenda was trying to forget that as she entered Steve's corvette. He closed the door and went over to his side. Once they were in, Steve drove away with a roar of the engine.
Brenda fiddled with the dial of the radio before stopping it on a station. A familiar song came on as Brenda gasped and she turned up the music. Steve looked at her with confusion as he scrunched up his nose. "Country music?"
"This is the Queen of Country! Reba!" Brenda smiled. Steve wanted to continue to see her smile. "That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia! That's the night that they hung an innocent man!" She sang and nudged Steve. "Listen to the song. It tells a whole story."
"Seriously?" He asked her. He did admit to her that, "It's catchy, I'll give Reba that."
Brenda continued to sing the song while trying to get Steve to sing along which he refused to do so. They drove to the movie theater and Brenda realized she didn't even know what they were even watching.
"What movie are we even watching?"
Steve shifted slightly on his feet. "They were showing some movies and then I realized it was some old movies but if that's not your style we can watch something else."
Brenda was surprised. Dylan would always talk about some old films from Hollywood and Brenda even went out of her way to find some movies from that era that she genuinely liked, some that Dylan didn't really like at all. Steve went out of his way for this. "What movies?"
Steve relaxed a bit and smiled. "Some from the 70s and 60s. I think we can catch the Godfather if that's okay."
"I will tell you right now that I have never seen the Godfather," She told him and that's how Brenda Walsh found herself being dragged by Steve Sanders to go watch The Godfather. He bought the tickets and the snacks Brenda split with him but Steve told her that once they got to the Pit, he would get her dinner. She allowed it.
Once they got everything, Brenda and Steve sat down to watch the movie. The popcorn bucket sat between then, a bridge of sorts to remind them that this was all fake. This was something to help Brenda and for Steve's amusement.
Just revenge.
So why was she enjoying this and not focusing on the revenge part?