Chapter Text
Robin and Steve would both admit that they didn’t have a choice in matching at their time working at Scoops Ahoy. It was the standard issue uniform that everyone had to wear, including the both of them. But, looking back, it unofficially started a trend in their friendship. A trend that everyone else began to notice but them.
Most of the time, they didn’t fully match at Scoops. The main parts of their uniforms, the top and pants, were interchangeable. And so the only things they only really wore that matched were their socks and hats. But on a few, rare occasions, they were outfit twins, and that included the day Dustin came home from summer camp.
When Dustin arrived at Scoops Ahoy, it was nearing midday, the sun was beating down on Hawkins, and the newly built mall was packed. But that didn't put a dampen on Dustin excitement to see his best friend, Steve. He had hardly believed Steve when he told him he'd applied to work at Scoops Ahoy, of all places in Hawkins, and when he saw Robin looking bored behind the counter, his doubt grew. There was no way that Steve was somewhere walking around wearing the ridiculous sailor outfit Robin was wearing, was there? And yet, when he came sprinting out of the back room, there he was. And there was the sailor outfit. And he wasn't just in a similar outfit, no. He was in the exact same outfit. Right down to the borderline too short short-shorts that Dustin had to stop himself from laughing at as Steve slid around the counter.
But Dustin didn't clock that they had unintentionally been matched that day until he went back the next day and there were subtle differences in the clothes they were wearing. He didn't think much of it at the time. After all, they hadn't been friends back then, why would they have worn matching clothes to work on purpose when they were just trying to earn some cash during the summer and, as far as Dustin was aware, they held little more than an indifference to each other. But that didn't mean Dustin forgot. In fact, he did the opposite, he tucked it away in his memory for safekeeping, and decided that he'd be keeping a much closer eye on the pair going forward, especially as their friendship grew over that fateful summer.
At the time, it had been a footnote in his plan to maybe get the two together, a plan that Dustin was unaware was destined to fail miserably. But as time went on it became a part of a much bigger conspiracy. One that, over time, every brought into. Including Steve and Robin.