Broken & Pretty..Steve Harrington

040.

THE NEW MIND FLAYER

⇾pompeii by bastille

but if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all

⸺ROBIN was in the back with Cory, Steve and Dustin trying to explain to them what the code meant. Somebody had to be out front, so Tiffany volunteered. Tiffany was serving people as usual when Billy came up to her. He had a giant smile on his face and it wasn't a cocky smirk, it was scaring her a little.

"Hello Tiffany! Wow, you look beautiful today." Tiffany gave him a weird look. "What?"

"What do you mean, what?"

"I mean what as in you called me Tiffany, not Tiffy or Tiff and you're being oddly nice." Billy laughed and it freaked her out more. "What? Can't I be nice to my best friend?"

"You can, but you never are. The nicest thing you've said to me is 'wow, you don't look totally awful'. We never compliment each other."

"Well, we should start." Tiffany laughed a little bit out of disbelief. "Okay, I don't know if you got laid or started snorting something, but you're creeping me out a little bit."

"Being nice is creepy now?"

"When it's you, yes."

"Well, I brought you lunch. Don't worry, it's nutritious and healthy. Now, come give me a goodbye hug." Tiffany put her lunch on the counter behind her and opened the counter door so Billy could hug her. Billy pulled her into a hug and she hugged him back. Tiffany was still a little weirded out because he's never this happy, but maybe he was just having a good day. Billy started squeezing her tighter and tighter until she felt likes he couldn't breathe. She hit his arm and he let go. Tiffany coughed a bit. "What the hell was that?"

"I'm so sorry! I just love you so much, and I wanted to bring you closer to my heart."

"By strangling me?"

"No, silly." Billy laughed a bit and started walking out of Scoops and he yelled back at her. "I love you, Tiffany!"

"Love you too?" Billy walked away and she was definitely weirded out by that interaction. Steve then walked out of the back and stood next to her. "You know, ever since Dustin found the Russians, I've been working a lot harder."

"Have you?"

"Yes. I'm covering for everyone and I had to translate that whole thing."

"Someone else could've."

"If Robin did it alone, she'd still be working on it, that's why we did half and half so only one person didn't have to do it, you and Dustin don't have the patience and Cory's way to dumb to do it." Cory then yelled from the back. "I heard that!"

"You know I'm right." There was a pause of silence and Cory considered it. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right."

Tiffany pointed at the back to emphasize her point. Steve laughed a little bit. "Well, we made a plan that we're gonna get on top of the mall and we're gonna see what they're bringing in."

"Alright. Oh, something weird just happened."

"What?"

"Billy came and he was being nice to me." Steve had to think about what she said for a second. "Isn't he your best friend?"