#Steve has already gotten his own little found family started with Dustin & Robin

[badboysteve]

Dunno what people are talking about regarding Steve wanting Nancy to birth him 6 kids. Nancy won't have to birth a single child she doesn't want to.

When/if they decided they're ready for kids, all they have to do is attend the next local science fair:

Nancy drops Steve off first. By the time she's parked the car, her husband will have already attracted every child in need of a healthy male role model at the entire fair. Just a small hord of tiny, nerdy children, all enthusiatically trying to explain their model of the solar system/ an exploding vulcano to him.

One conversation with a terribly charmed teacher later, and Nancy knows exactly which ones of them is orphaned/ in desperate need of a (hopefully permanent) foster home.

Repeat 6 times. Mini basketball team acquired.

And not a single pregnancy in sight! :D

[navnae]

It only took one time for Steve and Eddie to pair up for the buddy system to make Eddie want to be paired up with Steve a lot more. He was shocked when they not only got a lot of things done, like finding clues, paying attention to details, putting together the pieces that they found and would essentially lead them in the right direction. Eddie saw Steve in a new light now and he didn’t understand how the group could down play him when he’s been nothing but helpful, sometimes he would find things that even Eddie would have never noticed if it wasn’t for him. Without even thinking about it Eddie felt comfortable praising Steve for being so sharp and throwing in small compliments because it just seemed like that was the right thing to do. It shocked him when Steve looked at him with wide eyes, admitting that he’s never gotten positive feedback for the things he’s done. Eddie thought that had to be bullshit because Steve had to be used to the ‘thank you’s’ from the group and he’s trying to be humble about but he admitted to Eddie that he doesn’t get that. He noticed that in the upside down after defeating the bats Steve was in a hurry to thank him, Eddie saw this as fake due to the fact that he truly believed that Steve prove she could hold his own and he’s positive that he has in the past. With all of this being added to the slow build up of their friendship Eddie always jumped up at the opportunity to be by Steve’s side just to lift him for every little thing he did and it made him feel good when Steve would naturally follow him whenever the group split up.

When the group had came up with a plan that involved searching a building or any area that required the to go with separate teams Steve and Eddie were already attached at the hip before anything could be said.

“Everybody can check upstairs while me and Eddie will stay downstairs.” Steve spoke up. It caught everyone off guard because his usual partner was always Dustin but lately it hasn’t. Dustin furrowed his brows feeling a little down about Steve’s quick decision.

“Okay, well let’s start looking. If you guys find anything just holler out.” Nancy said firmly. Her and Robin went upstairs then Lucas and max followed them. Dustin stayed downstairs with Steve and Eddie assuming all three of them would stay together.

“Alright then, that leaves us with all of this to search.” Steve said while motioning his hand towards the room that they were in. He didn’t say anything else and automatically went looking for anything of importance. Dustin was about to follow him before Eddie stopped with a hand on his shoulder.

“Henderson, me and Harrington got this. Why don’t you go and help them out upstairs.” Eddie tried to be subtle with his approach, he loved seeing Steve and Dustin be a duo he really did but that didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of how their bickering affected Steve sometimes. It started to become so much that Steve would just get random jabs even if he wasn’t saying anything. Dustin frowned, he didn’t understand what Eddie had in mind.

“But I haven’t been paired with Steve in weeks.” Dustin complained. Eddie knew was true and he kept that in mind when he made his decision to be Steve’s partner majority of the time, in his head giving Steve just a little bit of reassurance during everything that has happened felt right.

“I know. After today I’ll let you two do your thing, I promise.” Eddie smiled at Dustin who was still a little heartbroken but he understood. He turned away to head upstairs leaving Steve and Eddie alone.

While they searched down stairs Steve started opening up about himself and his family, almost in a ranting way which Eddie let him because he was too lost being in awe to even say anything. Eddie chimed in with his own experiences with his families and both of them came to the conclusion that their upbringings were really shitty even if they were polar opposite’s they related to each other in many different ways. Eddie found himself slowly falling for Steve after every conversation and he knew the land would be hard but he couldn’t control the way he felt. Whenever Steve was looking for something in a room he would turn his attention away from it to looks at Eddie who would be standing across the room and give him a soft smile before turning attention back to whatever he was doing. Eddie blushed hard afterwards, his entire body became weak and Steve had no idea what he was doing to Eddie. In the middle of being flustered by Steve, Eddie found something that was related to what they were looking and he snapped back into reality.

“Harrington, I think I found something.” Eddie whispered. Steve ran to him and stood behind him to look over his shoulder. Eddie could feel how close Steve was to him making his heart beat extremely fast. He shivered slightly when Steve leaned forward to get a closer look at their discovery while rubbing against Eddie’s back.

“Huh, this is probably give us hint about Vecna’s next move. Wait a second,” Steve said before running to where he standing previously then grabbed a piece of paper. He returned to Eddie’s side with the paper in his hand and both of them analyzed it. “I was reading this earlier and it matched the clues that we found back in Hawkins. Maybe there’s more connected to this but with this we’re already off to a great start.”

“You’re right. We make a damn good team.” Eddie joked. His eyes met Steve’s and both of them started smiling. Soft laughs escaping their lips. Eddie didn’t realize how close they were to each other until he turned around to look at Steve and now they would be face to face.

“We do.” Steve said in a tone a little lower than his usual one and Eddie’s stomach started doing flips. Eddie couldn’t stop his eyes from looking at Steve’s lips as silence fell over them and slowly the gap between started to close. He had so many thoughts running through his head but kissing Steve was definitely the most bizarre one.

“Steve-“

Eddie was interrupted by the group running down the stairs to tell them what they had found. Steve and Eddie separated from each other quickly and created a suspicious amount of space between them. Everyone could tell that something was off with two since they’ve never acted like that before. Eddie didn’t know what Steve had felt in that moment but if was anything like the way he was feeling then they needed to talk about at some point and the next time they paired would probably be the perfect time.

[3wizemen]

Rapture - Chapter 1

word count: 2617 rating: mature

In the aftermath of the Great Hawkins Earthquake and the death of Vecna, Robin and Steve find themselves a job at a new mascot-based children's entertainment restaurant. Nancy soon discovers all is not as it seems at the Party Palace.

---

This is a Ronance-centric story focused on creating a fun and believable alternate season 5 for the show. Definitely not a thinly-veiled FNaF AU (I promise it's more than that and has actual cool lore)!

read on ao3

next chapter

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"And so, we played the game again, for one last time. It didn't matter that there were no maps, or dice, or no monsters. Pardieu saw the monsters. We did not. We saw nothing but the death of hope, and the loss of our friend. And so we played the game until the sun began to set, and all the monsters were dead."

- ♁ -

August 2, 1986.

"That was a shitty movie," Dustin said, rolling his eyes and setting his paper plate, slick with pizza grease, on the coffee table. 

"What'd you expect? It's called ‘Mazes & Monsters'. Dumb from the start," Lucas' laugh rolled over the credits music as he finished his own pizza. It had arrived, late, three-quarters through the movie.

Mike huffed, but the light in his eyes showed he was just as entertained as his friends. Bad movies with friends always made for a fun time. "It's just crazy that so many people think that about a game, even outside of Hawkins, enough to make a weird-ass movie about it."

"They just don't realize how cool it is," Dustin turned up his nose, smirking in a very uncool way.

Steve held his hands up. "Woah there, don't get ahead of yourself," He said, having only tolerated the horrid movie because the boys found it so entertaining. He had found it pretty boring. Thank God it was over. "Just because the movie sucked and people hate your game doesn't mean you're cool, buddy."

"Be nice," Robin, sat beside (partially on, her legs sideways over his) Steve in the beat-up armchair next to the couch, playfully slapped his shoulder. "Let the dorks be nerds. Haven't they gotten enough shit for it already?" She tilted her head slightly, grinning.

"Can't let them get big heads, Robin," Steve said with a roll of his eyes, pushing his friend off of him to go and collect the group's used plates. He was always the one keeping their apartment clean—if he didn't pick them up, nobody would.

Yes, their apartment. Over the summer, following the earthquake that practically destroyed a fourth of the town, Steve and Robin had gotten an apartment together. Steve hated being alone, as his parents were always out on trips, and Robin hated living with hers. They rather liked each other, so it was an easy decision. Robin wasn't going to college ‘till ‘87 (at least) now, anyway. The earthquake had wrecked her family's house so much that they couldn't afford to send her to college anymore, so she'd be working for quite a while to save up a little money before the loans got her.

Much else had happened in the few months between the Hawkins earthquake and where they were now, the party huddled up around Steve and Robin's TV watching shitty movies snatched from Family Video by its two responsible, trusted employees. For one, the Byers and Eleven had moved back to Hawkins. Tragedy seemed to follow them wherever they went—they might as well stay close to those who could share in the grief it brought.

Max had awoken from her coma in May, blind and unable to walk. In the two months since, she'd regained her vision—somewhat—and had learned to walk again with a cane. She had been spending a lot more time with the party than she did before after Starcourt, unable to do much else and not wanting to sit around at home. She sat on the couch now, sandwiched between El and Lucas, arguing over exactly how stupid the movie really was. She seemed to be doing better, but Steve still worried about her a lot. He worried about all of them a lot.

Steve worried a lot nowadays.

The worrier tossed the plates in the garbage can by the kitchen, just a few steps from the sitting area. He crossed his arms and leaned against the counter, watching with a small smile as the group exploded into a lighthearted argument about the worst movie of all time. It was nice to see the kids laughing—Robin, too. None of them had laughed much anymore. It was hard, knowing all that they did.

Steve had watched as his kids retreated into themselves over the months following the raid on the Upside Down. He saw them become shells of themselves more than ever before. Most painfully, he watched Robin do the same. Himself, too. But it was over. It was over, for good this time. El had eviscerated Vecna's mind, and Nancy, Robin, and Steve had destroyed his body. The gates…they'd opened, the earthquake happened, but just as soon as that big, ugly gash in the earth had opened, it collapsed in on itself. It left no otherworldly trace, only massive earthly destruction. 

The Upside Down was gone, for good. No more Vecna, no more Mind Flayer, no more Demogorgons or Demodogs or whatever weirdo nerd names the kids gave every Upside Down creature that reared its ugly head at them. At least, Steve hoped.

They'd never been able to figure out if destroying Vecna had destroyed the Upside Down, but it had definitely destroyed all of the gates, barring the other world from theirs permanently. There was no mastermind to force gates open, and El knew now how the original one had opened (though she never told Steve himself) and said there was no possible way it could be opened from their side again. He believed her. He wanted to.

"You zoned there, Steve?" Robin leaned her arm over the back of the armchair, giving him a funny look as the rest of the group continued arguing over the credits scrolling endlessly down the screen. He knew that look well. Are you just chilling, or having an episode, bud? 

Steve ran his hand over the back of his neck. "Just taking in the scenery," He said. Not quite sure on that, Rob. "I didn't think such a shitty movie would have them in such a good mood."

"Movies, no matter the shittiness, are an art, my friend," Contrasting the pretentious tone she took on, Robin climbed out of the chair and over the back with very little grace, sliding over the arm and onto the ground at an awkward angle. She grabbed some stray, crumpled-up napkins and threw them out (Robin Buckley? Cleaning? Maybe Steve should be the one checking on her) before sitting on the counter next to Steve. Voice low, the brunette learned over to him and said, "We oughta tell ‘em."

"Oh, it's not that big a deal," Steve hand-waved her head away. "It's just–"

"What's not a big deal?" El's ears practically perked up like a cat's, and soon did the rest of the kids' as they all turned to look at the two adults in the room. Steve could swear El had super hearing in addition to all her other stuff with all the little strings of conversation she'd caught before. Or maybe it was just the urge to know, to never miss out on anything again. Never miss something that could be a sign of upset, or danger, or…

Or maybe he was projecting.

Robin shot Steve a bemused glance and nodded him along, earning a sigh from the poor man. He stood up, pushing himself away from the counter to clasp his hands together. "Alright, kids, here's the deal. Robin and I aren't working at Family Video anymore."

"What?" asked Dustin.

"Why?" asked Mike.

"So?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"We got a better job," Steve raised his hands, shaking his head dramatically. "At one ‘The Party Palace.'"

"Oh, come on dude, seriously?" groaned Dustin, chorused by the rest. "That's so lame."

The Party Palace was once, in another time, known as the Palace, a cool arcade the boys and Max used to hang out and play games at. However, following the earthquake, the former owner put the business up for sale, and it was bought and turned into a Showbiz Pizza-style establishment just in time to spoil the gang's summer. The kids hated that it was gone; Steve had said that maybe, if he got the money, he'd buy a Nintendo for the apartment for them to go crazy on instead. That had yet to happen, but it remained a possibility, since…

"They pay almost two whole bucks more there, you know. It's a business decision," Robin said, kicking her feet from the counter. She almost caught Steve's back, but he was just out of reach, on purpose.

"A business decision? It'll be a net loss with all the money we'll have to spend at the video store now!" Lucas said, exasperated.

"Yeah, what about us?" The kids huffed and puffed, their nearly endless supply of movies Robin and Steve snagged for them free of charge now at an end.

"Contrary to popular belief, our lives don't revolve around you, dipshits," Steve said, dodging another Robin kick by simply moving one inch forward. "I already pay for pizza at least once a week for the entire pack of you, you can buy a movie or two."

"Lame," El said quietly, followed by many sage nods from the others.

"You guys just suck," Steve said, glancing at the clock. 11:38 PM. "You're all probably cranky from lack of sleep. It's late, go home, get out of my house."

"One, it's not that late, two, it's not a house, it's an apartment, and three, you're zero fun," Mike said as the kids gathered their bags. "No wonder you're working at the loser arcade."

"Go home, loser," Robin threw an empty plastic cup at the boy, thonking him in the head. "It's s'posed to rain in a little, anyway," That earned quite the scoff from Mike, but the kids all went somewhat willingly toward the door. 

"When do you start?" asked Max as the group was corralled through the door and down the outside stairs of the short apartment building, Steve helping her down the stairs as she hadn't quite grasped those with her cane yet. It was obvious by her question and the look in her eyes that she was calculating the amount of movies they'd be able to obtain depending on the length of Steve and Robin's remaining employment at Family Video.

Sadly for the redhead, Steve said, "Monday, why? Want to come visit the dumb baby arcade, Max?"

"Forgive me for asking a question," Max rolled her light blue eyes and climbed onto the back of Lucas' bike. He'd been ferrying her everywhere since she gotten out of the hospital.

Steve watched, hands on his hips, until all the kids had vanished from sight. It had begun to sprinkle. He ran a hand through his hair—can't have that getting messed up, no sir. But man, those kids would be the death of him, he was sure. They already almost had been at least five times. At least.

He turned to climb the rickety wooden stairs leading back up to his apartment, not daring to risk the splinters of the handrail, despite it becoming increasingly slick as the rain began to fall in thicker, heavier drops. He opened the red-painted door to find Robin back on the armchair, ignoring the remaining mess of disposable cups and napkins strewn around the room. Oh, Buckley. He knew her cleanliness couldn't last.

Robin remained silent as Steve began picking up the refuse littering the floor and coffee table, playing with the many thick rings that adorned her hands. "Kids always leave a fuckin' mess, I swear," Steve muttered as he tossed the garbage into the can. "If they don't clean up after themselves next time, they're never allowed over again, and I mean it this time."

"Quit being such a housewife, Stevie," Robin hummed, looking up from her rings to shoot Steve a smirk.

"Oh, shut it, you're just as bad as them," Steve chastised her, getting a paper towel to make sure the coffee table didn't get too many cup rings on it. If only those damn kids knew how to use coasters. "Worse, maybe. If I didn't pick up after you, this place would be a dump."

Robin laughed, a sound Steve had always liked, even when they were nothing but coworkers at Scoops Ahoy. Jeez, that felt like such a long time ago. "I picked up those napkins earlier! Just for you."

It thundered outside. "My hero," Steve grimaced out a smile and fake-half-curtsied as aggressively as possible, causing Robin to grin. He went to wash his hands in the sink and was about to tell her to turn off the TV before the bulb went out when all of the lights suddenly flickered in the apartment.

Steve jumped nearly through the ceiling, going pale as the lights fizzed and flickered before stabilizing again. He steadied himself with a wet hand against the counter, sink still running beside him, and took a deep, shaky breath. Just storming. That's it, that's all.

"You okay, Steve?" Robin's voice, far shakier than it had been moments before. Steve looked up from the blank spot he'd been staring at on the counter as he tried to calm his racing heart to see his best friend's pale face peering over at him from the chair, eyes wide.

"I'm good, yeah," Steve replied, letting out a sigh. He hated being so jumpy—he'd never been before…well, everything. But now, it just seemed to keep getting worse.

He knew Robin was dealing with the same thing. The other week, a black snake (Steve was unsure of the type, but Robin said it wasn't poisonous) got into the apartment and scared the shit out of both of them, who had mistaken it for a tentacle. Every time a lightbulb went out, every time their neighbor's loud-ass grandfather clock chimed, every anything, their hearts jumped into their chests. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Robin nodded. She waited a minute before saying, in a slightly less shaky tone, "Got any beers left?"

"No, but I have some vodka, Coke, and some Twizzlers," Steve moved to open one of their cabinets. Drinking after a little Upside Down-memory-thing had quickly become tradition in the Buckley-Harrington household after a night spent celebrating their brave removal of the snake from the premises. It probably wasn't healthy, but what were they supposed to do?

"Oh, gimme that, then, Harrington," said Robin, who got up to change tape in the player. They were always quick to move on from the topic of the Upside Down—unless they were drugged up by Russians, it was hard to get either of them to talk about their feelings. "What movie?"

"Uh, I dunno," Steve shrugged, pouring them each a nice concoction and tossing the bag of Twizzlers onto the couch. "What do you wanna watch?"

Robin sifted through the stack of rented movies the kids had left on the TV stand and picked one at random. "Oh, hey, they got Back to the Future."

"Bet that was Henderson," Steve brought the drinks to the coffee table and sitting on the couch. Robin shoved the tape in and sat down next to him, putting a Twizzler in her drink to use as a straw. Eventually, it grew too slow for her impatient brain, and she ended up chugging the whole thing.

Steve gave Robin's arm a gentle slap. "Woah, Buckley, slow your roll," He said, concern drawing his eyebrows together just a bit.

"Chill, we don't have work ‘till Monday. It's Saturday," Robin said, grimacing after swallowing the last of her drink.

"You handle drinks as well as I handle not housewifing," Steve replied, taking a sip of his own. Eh. Not his favorite. "I'd love for you to be alive in the morning." "Gee, thanks."

[finnyboywolfhard]

Song That The Morning Brings (Chapter Nineteen)

Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader 

catch up here 

summary: The group finds out new information about their problem and face a stepping stone in the right direction.

warnings: cursing, angst-ish, fluff, spoilers ig 

word count: 3.8k 

When she arrived home that night, all she wanted to do was put on some warmer, much drier clothes and to go right to bed. However, Dustin always found a way to change her plans.

“Y/N, we gotta talk.” He said coming into her room after they had both gotten changed. Sighing, she took a seat on her bed and placed herself underneath the covers. She patted a spot on the bed for Dustin and he took that as his cue to say what he wanted to say. “What the hell is happening between you and Steve?”

“What do you mean?!” She exasperatedly said.

“You guys have been different recently. It’s weird.”

“How are we different?” At this point, worry started to flood through her. What if Dustin somehow figured out how she was feeling or even what had happened between the two?

“I mean, you guys have always been close but it seems like you‘re closer. It’s almost like you’re taking your names of Mom and Dad literally. Plus, I saw you guys holding hands on the roof, even if it was for a second. Plus he gave you his sweatshirt after you guys stayed in the car together. So I want to know, what’s going on?”

“Dusty…” Y/N took a second to collect her thoughts. There was a few ways this could go: She could tell him everything; she could tell him some of the truth; or she could tell him nothing. “First off, I had this hoodie from October last year until like a month ago when I returned it to him, he just gave it back to me because I was cold. I hung back earlier in the car, because I’m scared Dustin, and I didn’t know who else to talk to but him, he is my best…he’s my best friend, remember?”

Dustin paused for a few seconds, obviously gathering his thoughts about what she had just said to him. It felt like there was a rubber band being pulled between the two of them threatening to snap.

“But you want to be more than best friends, don’t you?” Dustin said looking down at his hands. Y/N pulled her eyes away from her brother. She knew that he knew, but she couldn’t seem to let herself say yes to him.

“Would you be mad at me if I did?” She said, just barely above a whisper.

“I don’t know. Steve is my best friend and you’re my sister. I care about you both so much, but if something happened, I feel like I’d have to side with you.”  

“Dusty, seriously? You know that I would never make you chose between the two of us if something happened.”

“So there’s my answer. You do want to be more than best friends.” He said, voice edging towards anger. The girls hands started to shake a bit as she reached her hand out towards her brother.

“I don’t want you to be mad at me for that. There’s a lot that has happened between me and Steve that you don’t know about. It’s not like he wants to be more than that either, so it’s okay Dusty. Please don’t be upset.” Wariness laced her voice, as her concern grew stemming from her brother’s silence.

“You have to be stupid to think he doesn’t feel the same way about you, and besides, I’m not upset, I’m just a little scared because I don’t want you guys to lose what makes your relationship so special. You both just care about each other so much, and you’re both so willing to dedicate your time to others. What if that changes if you guys get together?”

“I can pinky promise you it won’t.” She said, reaching her pinky out. Her brothers pinky wrapped around her own. She released her hand and pulled him into a hug. They stayed in that position so long that they eventually dozed off.

The alarm startled them both awake, way earlier than they would have liked to have been woken up. But they still scurried around their house preparing themselves for the day of planning and adventure ahead. The drive to the mall was filled with Dustin’s zany ideas for what they should try to do next, most of which she had shut down as soon as they left his mouth. The only one she agreed to was allowing him to stake out on the roof while they all continued to work back at Scoops, because even though the three ice cream shop employees wanted to focus on the Russians, they still had jobs to fulfill.

Steve was sitting in the back room on his ten minutes off scooping, watching Y/N organize some files and then start to organize some of the toppings so she could restock them in a bit.

“Hey Y/N/N?” He asked, only receiving a hum in response, “Are you feeling any better from last night?”

Memories of her and Dustin’s conversation from last night filled her brain. Although in the moment it stressed her out, she felt at least a bit more relieved to have at least one problem off her chest to her brother. However, the imminent doom of the Russians was still largely at play. She stopped shuffling around to look at Steve, and his eyes were already on her. For some reason, his gaze sent shivers down her spine. She snapped herself back into reality after realizing how silent she had become just staring back at him.

“Um, I guess a little bit. I’m obviously still scared but talking to you helped, and knowing that Dustin always has multiple ideas is also kind of relieving.”

“Your brother is crazy smart. I don’t understand how smart he is sometimes.”

“Hey give me some credit! I’m pretty smart too, I’m not Dustin smart, but the Henderson family isn’t a dumb one.”

“Of course you’re smart Y/N, but Dustin…Dustin’s a full on nerd. Some may even say Dork.”

“I appreciate a good nerd or dork in my life. Don’t say em like it’s a bad thing, and don’t sell yourself short there either Harrington. You’re a dork too.” She smiled at him, noticing his cheeks flush a dimmer hue of red. His breathing became erratic, and he suddenly seemed to have forgotten how to form sentences. “Are you embarrassed Stevie?”

“No…just confused…how am I a dork?”

“You’re pick up lines are so cheesy and dorky, and you also know a lot about the things you are passionate about. You are a dork for things that matter to you. It’s endearing.”  The two kept chatting for a bit until Dustin burst through the doors of Scoops, explaining what he had seen, pulling Robin into the back as well.

“That keycard opens the door, but unfortunately, the Russian with this keycard also has a massive gun. Whatever’s in this room, whatever’s in those boxes, they really don’t want anyone finding it.”

“There’s got to be a way in.” Robin said.

“Well, you know…I can just take him out.” Steve said, leaning cockily against the table.

“Take who out?” Robin and Y/N said in unison.

“The Russian guard.” All three of the other members of the group started to give him confused and concerned looks before he decided to continue explaining his plan. “What? I sneak up behind him, I knock him out, and I take his keycard. It’s easy.”

“Did you not hear the part about the massive gun?” Dustin says, defining the idiocy in his statement.

“Yes, Dustin, I did. And that’s why I would be sneaking.” Y/N was trying desperately to hold back laughter as he continued trying to defend his plan.

“Well, please, tell me this and be honest, have you ever actually…won a fight?”

“Okay, that was one time-“

“Twice, don’t forget Jonathan after the whole Nancy the Slut Wheeler thing.” Y/N interrupted, pulling some angered thoughts from the recesses of her “King Steve” memories.

“Listen, that doesn’t count.”

“And why is that? He beat the shit out of you. You fared far worse that he did.” Y/N said once again.

“It was…” Steve tried to defend and explain how Jonathan didn’t count before Dustin interrupted him this time.

“You got a fat lip, crooked nose, swollen eye, a lot of blood…” Dustin and Steve’s argument started to overlap before Y/N noticed Robin say,

“That just might work.” She stood up from the table and ran out to the front counter. Her hand went into the tip jar to grab the money from it hastily.

“Robin, hey, what’re you doing?” Y/N said, trying to break Robin from her zone however it didn’t work.

“Hey! Robin! Hey! What-What are you doing?”

“I need cash.” She said not fully answering the question asked of her.

“Well, some of that is mine.” Steve said, earning a slap to the arm from Y/N. “Where are you going?”

“To find a way into that room, a safe way. And, in the meantime, sling ice cream, behave and don’t get beat up. I’ll be back in a jiff.”

“God, I really hope she knows what she’s doing.” Y/N said before looking over to see her brother licking Steve’s engraved ice cream scoop.

“Oh, dude! Come on, man, not my scooper.” Steve spun the scooper around his hand a few times before tucking it securely into his side pocket. It was a sight to behold from Y/N’s up close perspective. Their dynamic was hysterical to her.

“Dusty, come back here with me. Stevie, could you please scoop for a bit? I’ll come help you after I finish refilling the toppings.”

“Of course, Y/N/N, I’ve got it.” He flashed a smile, leading her own lips to upturn into one as well.

For the entire time Robin was gone, the three went about their business quietly. Dustin had stolen paper to write out a set of different plans of how to get into the room. Steve stayed out in the store front and scooped ice cream to the oblivious citizens visiting the mall. All the while Y/N was trying to focus on her work, wanting to keep that and the Russians separate. The silence in the backroom was interrupted by Robin pulling Steve into the back room once again, cohesively bringing them together once more. They all shared glances before Robin interrupted the still air.

“It’s fascinating what twenty bucks will get you at the county recorder’s office. “ And with that, she pulled out a set of blue prints for what looked like the mall and set it down onto the table. “Starcourt Mall, the complete blueprints” She said as her hands went across the thin paper to smooth it out onto the surface.

“Not bad.” Dustin said, appreciating her accolades.

“So this is us, Scoops, and this is where we want to get.” Y/N couldn’t quite understand what she was seeing standing across from Robin, so she moved to stand behind Steve, eventually leaning over his chair and shoulder, bringing her face right next to his. She stayed still there for a bit, despite the battling feeling of tension by being in such a close proximity. However, she quickly snapped back up when he began talking.

“I mean, I don’t really see a way in.”

“There’s not if you’re talking exclusively about doors.” She lifted the first set of blueprints up to expose another set.

“The air ducts.” Y/N said, making eye contact with Robin for the first time since she came back. Robin’s smile gleamed when Y/N realized what she had meant.

“Turns out, this secret room needs air just like any old room.” She walked over to grab a marker from the board before continuing what she was saying. “And these air ducts lead all the way here.” As she was talking, she drew connecting circles from the air ducts at scoops to the vent in the room. All four members glanced up to the vent in the room, all knowing exactly what needed to happen now. Steve immediately found a screwdriver and flashlight so he could give access inside the vent, while Dustin explained that he could fit into it to follow them there. Steve climbed up a ladder and unscrewed the vent cover, passing it down to Y/N before asking for the flashlight. He looked in again, scanning the entire surface area in his vision.

“Yeah, I don’t know man. I don’t know if you can fit in here. It’s like…super tight.”

“I’ll fit. Trust me. No collarbones, remember?” Y/N couldn’t help but laugh at her little brothers off handed remark about his condition. Just as Dustin was about to climb up the ladder, Robin remarked at his comment.

“Excuse me?” Before Y/N could even answer Robin’s question, Steve answered first.

“Oh, uh, he’s, yeah, he’s got some disease. Chrydo- uh, It’s Chrydo-something. I dunno.”

“He has Cleidocranial Dysplacia, basically his bones and teeth had developmental problems. Good try though Stevie.”

“Yeah, I don’t really know. But he’s missing bones and stuff. He can bend like Gumbo.” He quipped up once again.

“You mean Gumby?” Robin asked, dumbfounded.

“I’m pretty sure it’s Gumbo.”

“Stevie-“Before Y/N could continue, Dustin’s voice echoed down from the vent.

“Steve, just shut up and push me!” Steve reluctantly agreed to help try to push Dustin further into the vent. Y/N went to stand next to Robin, hopelessly watching the two try and fail to push her brother into the vent.

“Not my feet dumbass, push my ass.” Dustin commanded Steve.

“What?”

“Touch my butt! I don’t care! Come on Harder! Push harder!”

“I’m pushing.”

“Oh my god this is a shit show. Robin, I’m so sorry you have to see this.” The two boys continued to bicker while the girls just sat back and observed, slowly losing their patience for the plight playing out in front of them. The bell obnoxiously started ringing from the front of the store, grabbing both Y/N and Robin’s attention from the boys.

“Ahoy Sailors! All hands on deck!” Erica’s bratty voice resounded to the back room. Both of the workers let out a sigh at the thought of serving her especially as she was continuously ringing the bell. Robin leaned over to Y/N and said, “She is small enough.” Y/N’s eyes widened in shock, although the idea was quite literally the most insane thing she heard all day, she didn’t quite hate it either. It could very well work to her advantage. The girls went out into the store front and asked Erica to come to the back room. The explanation took a little less time than they thought, but they knew it was going to take way longer to convince her to go in for them.  They watched as she climbed up the ladder and peered into the duct. She came back down and turned to face the entire group.

“Yeah, I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know?” Y/N asked first, her brother following a second later.

“You don’t know if you can fit?”

“Oh, I can fit. I just don’t know if I want to.”

“Are you claustrophobic?” Robin inquired from the girl. Steve looked beside him towards Y/N, causing them to make a split second worth of eye contact, both clearly showing annoyance of this situation.

“I don’t have phobias.” Erica laughed off Robin’s question.

“Okay, well what’s the problem?”

“The problem is, I still haven’t heard what’s in this for Erica.” Condescension waded through her tone like ducks in a pond.

“Erica, really?” Y/N asked the brutal little girl.

“Yes really, you’re asking me to risk my life, and for what? You’re the only one getting advantages.”

“Erica, I will literally give you as much free ice cream as you want, Right Now, if you go out there and sit in the booth until we figure out what is in this for you.”

“Thank you, Y/N. You’re the only one who seems to care.” Y/N could hear Steve to start doing his breathy laugh, cluing her in to how angry he was becoming, so she reached her hand over and up, just slightly to place her hand on his arm, this got him to stop, just long enough for Erica to leave the room.  Once the door was completely shut again, Y/N dropped her posture to a slouch and mumbled the words, “Fuck me.” To herself before addressing the group once more.

“I vote we just butter her up until she says yes. The worst thing that can happen is she says no and we have to give up.”

“We can’t just give up Y/N! We are the ones who solved this code; don’t you at least want to find out what it is? We could be heroes!” Her brother quickly defended the plan and its honor.

“Yes Dusty, I know we could be heroes, but there’s only so much we can do safely. We need her help, regardless of how rude she can be, so I think we just try to convince her.” The room went silent for a beat before a voice interrupted the silence.

“Y/N’s right.” Steve agreed with his best friend.

“I’ll go start scooping.” Robin said, showing her agreement. The three workers immediately left to go make all of the treats they could use to bribe Erica. They sat down in the booth and slid each and everyone towards her. As Steve slid the final banana split to her, she looked up into his eyes and uttered the demand for more fudge. It took her demanding twice and for a small plea from Y/N for him to actually stand up to go get the small girl more fudge. Within seconds of Steve leaving the table, Robin immediately picks up and starts explaining the plan to Erica.

“Alright, you see this? This is the route you’re gonna take. Then we just wait until the last delivery goes out tonight. Then you knock out the grate, jump down, open the door.”

“Then you find out what’s in the boxes.”

“Exactly!” Y/N agrees optimistically.

“Mm-hmm. And you say this guard is armed.”

“Yes, but he won’t be there.” Dustin says way softer than he was speaking to Y/N a few minutes prior.

“And booby traps?” Erica asks, causing Robin to repeat it questioning what she meant. “Lasers? Spikes in the wall? You know what this half baked plan of yours sounds like to me? Child Endangerment.” She made sure to pronounce it slowly and articulately.

“We’ll be in radio contact the whole time-“Robin said, trying to make it sound safer and more hashed out.

“Ah, ah, ah! Child Endangerment!”

“Erica? Hi…uh…We think these Russians want to do harm to our country. Great harm, don’t you love your country?”

“You can’t spell America without Erica.” She quipped back in response.

“That’s…actually true.” Y/N said dumbfounded before allowing her brother to continue his attempt to convince her.

“SO, don’t do this for us. Do it for your country. Do it for your fellow man. Do this for America…Erica.” He said, completing in a poetic nature. Y/N couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her brother’s attempt to be noble. Clearly, this also hit Erica in the same nature.

“Ooh! I just got the chills! Oh yeah, from this float, not your speech. Know what I love most about this country? Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is?”

“Obviously we know what that is.” Y/N responded.

“It means this is a free market system, which means people get paid for their services depending on how valuable their contributions are. And it seems to me, my ability to fit into that little vent is very, very valuable to you all. So, you want my help? This USS Butterscotch better be the first of many, and I’m talking free ice cream FOR LIFE.” Y/N sat back while Robin just looked the girl up and down. Y/N looked at her little brother who was just starting at all the ice cream laid out in front of him. Her gaze fell back to the counter where Steve was helping some customers. She admired how even though he should have been included in this deal, he would want them to do whatever they could to help out as many people as they could.

“I can’t guarantee for life necessarily, but I can guarantee free ice cream the entire time I work here.” Y/N finally broke the tension filled surface of the table.

“And I can add on for the entire time I work here, which will probably be longer anyways.” Robin backed Y/N’s end of the deal.

“I said FOR LIFE.” Erica leaned back and crossed her arms. Y/N once again rolled her eyes and let out a sigh.

“Fine, how about this, we each tell one new employee that you get free ice cream whenever we get replaced and that it must be honored by everyone but our boss. That way, as long as employees are here, they know that you get free ice cream. Deal?” Erica pondered it for a second before finally agreeing to it. Y/N excused herself from the table while Robin and Dustin stayed with Erica to go over the plan more in depth. Y/N walked up to the front counter just as Steve was wrapping up with the line of customers.

“Hey Stevie, could I talk to you for a sec?”

“Uh, yeah, of course. Did she agree to do it?” He asked as they passed through the doorway into the back room.

“What?” She asked before realizing that she heard what he asked. “Yeah, she agreed, speaking of we have to give her free ice cream when she comes, for life, apparently.  But that’s beside the point. I just…I really need to know if this is something you are truly okay with going through with. I know Dustin and Robin really want to do it, and I’ll do it if I have to, but I don’t want to drag you into Dustin’s mess,  because I really care about you and I don’t want you, or really any of us getting hurt. I care about you so much Stevie and I am so scared that something bad is gonna be in those boxes. So basically what I’m asking is if you are sure that you want to-“

“Y/N/N?”

“What?”

“Come here.” He opened his arms, which she immediately was wrapped in once she laid her head upon his chest. “ Y/N Henderson, I am doing this if you are doing this. I will not let you go into something potentially dangerous alone. You’re the most important person in my life, okay? Don’t worry about me. I’m right here. I’m gonna be right here.” The girl stayed in his arms for a few seconds, taking in his warmth and his smell and his touch. She cherished moments like these, even though they made her feel so much more confused on where their relationship stood. But in those moments, they kinda felt okay. They felt natural, and peaceful. And that’s exactly what she needed.

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