• The Best Hargrove • Steve Harrington x Reader •

Chapter Two

Another day means another boring day of slinging ice cream. "Have a nice day!" you wish the two customers in front of you while handing them their desired ice cream cones. "Hi," a little curly-haired boy pops up from behind the previous customers. "Hi.." you reply, slightly confused as to why he was taking so long. "I'm Dustin" he introduces himself. "Oh right, you're my sister Max's friend! I'm Y/N" you introduce yourself as well, now recognizing who the boy in front of you was. "Oh right, a pleasure to meet you.. is.. he here?" a fake confused look grows on your face even if you know damn well who he's talking about. After all, there are only two workers here.

"Is.. who here?" you interrogate. Not even seconds later, Steve comes bursting out of the back room with a huge grin plastered on his face. God, it made you happy to see him so happy. "Henderson.. Henderson! He's back, he's back!!" he exclaims, jumping up and down full of joy. "I'm back, you got the job!" all you can do is stare at them, trying not to look too amused by their actions.

"I got the job!!" they proceed to do their weird little handshake which consisted of hitting each other with fake lightsabers and.. Steve getting.. stabbed with one? Anyway, that part weirded you out just a bit, but you were happy that he got to see his friend again. "How many children are you friends with?" you get nothing but a disappointed look and him pointing to you with an open hand as a response.

The boy, Dustin, ordered a Banana Boat so you waste no time preparing it while he and Steve chat away at one of the booths not too far from you and the counter. "No way, hotter than Pheobe Cates?" a shocked look grows on Steve's face as you bring them their ice cream. After placing it in front of them, you decide to take a seat beside Steve and stick around for a bit considering that there were no customers in sight yet, but obviously still watching out for them.

"Mhm, brilliant, too! And she doesn't even care that my real pearls are still comin' in!" Dustin happily explains as he doesn't hesitate to start digging into his ice cream. "She says kissing is better without teeth" you and Steve just look at each other for a good ten seconds, both clearly weirded out, before Steve breaks the silence. "Wow! Yeah, that's great.. Proud o' you man! That's ro- that's kinda romantic!" he obviously is lying. "Yep, great job!" you agree, trying to keep up the act.

"Do you guys really just get to eat as much of this as you want?" Dustin changes the subject, pointing at the Banana Boat and looking at both of you. "Yeah, I mean sure.. but it's not really a good idea for me though.. y'know I gotta keep in shape for the ladies" he explains, waving up and down his body. "Yeah and how's that workin' out for you?" you chime in. "Ignore her.." Steve advised. "She seems cool!" Dustin admits, which is 100% true. "S-she's not!" he objects. "Yeah, like you're one to talk" you joke.

"So uh, where are the other knuckleheads?" Steve interrogates, changing the subject once again. He knew you were right and it amused you to see him argue. "They ditched me yesterday" you couldn't help but feel bad. "No.. my sister ditched you?" you repeat to just make sure of it. "Yeah! My first day back, can you believe that shit?" he swears. "Woahh.. seriously?" Steve leans against the table. "I swear to god!" Dustin replies.

"They're gonna regret it though, big time! When they don't get to share in my glory" he points at you both. "Glory? What glory?" you question. "So last night.." Dustin leans in close. "When we were trying to get in contact with Suzie" he looks around the room, but all that can be heard is indistinct chatter and it doesn't look like anyone is paying attention to the three of you.

After making sure that no one is listening, Dustin starts mumbling some mumbo jumbo that neither you nor Steve can actually hear clearly. "..What?" Steve questions and Dustin repeats the same nonsense. "Dude, speak louder!" you order. "I intercepted a secret Russian communication!" he yells, just loud enough that everyone turns to look at you. "Jeez, shh! Yeah okay, that's what I thought you said..." Steve reassures sarcastically.

While you scan the room, you notice some customers at the counter. "Duty calls" you joke, stepping up and making your way to greet the customers.

___

"What.. what does that mean?" Steve asks. "It means, Steve, we could be heroes!" he admits. "True, American, heroes!" Dustin repeats excitedly. "Just think! You can have all the ladies you want! And, more.. including Y/N over there!" that sentence catches you off guard, but back out of your trance when the customers wave their hands in your face. "Woahh.. I-I don't even like Y/N! She's just a friend, dude.. a friend" he explained. "Yeah right"

"What's the catch?" Steve leans in, making sure you can't hear anymore. "I knew it! You do like her!" Dustin exclaims. "Woah! Woah dude, keep it down! She almost heard you" he looks around, making sure you didn't. "Alright, yes maybe I have some feelings for her but, there's literally no way she likes me back so keep it on the down-low, got it? Or else your ass is grass" he demands. "Mhm, yep.. got it, captain."

"Anyways, no catch, I just need your help" he raises his eyebrow. "With what?" Steve asks. "Translation!" Dustin pulls out a book with text on it, written 'English - Russian, Russian - English'.

___

"Mm.. Can I try the Peppermint Stick?" the little girl in front of you licks the ice cream off of the sample spoon for what seems like the hundredth time now. "Haven't you already tried the Peppermint Stick?" you wonder, already knowing she did. She did this almost every day. She came in here with her little friends, asked for every sample known to mankind, holds up the line for 30 minutes and leaves. So goddamn annoying!

"Yes, and I'd like to try it again." she demands. "Steeeeeeve!" you turn your back on her, looking into the closed window behind you. They were translating the weird Russian tape that Dustin told you about earlier, which everyone can hear clearly, even though they think they can't.

"Alright the babysitting time is over, you need to get in there" you barge into the room. Steve just steps back acting all shocked. You turn and see your whiteboard with some Russian letters written on it. "Hey, my board! That was important data, shitbirds!" you yell, pointing at it to demonstrate. "I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data" Dustin promises. You just give them a dirty look while swinging your scooper around.

"Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyway?" you challenge. "Yeah, I bet you guys forgot that you told me too, didn't you" you state as they seem to be whispering to each other, wondering how the hell you knew. God, they are such idiots when they're around each other. "And you're really loud.. you think you have evil Russians plotting against our country on tape and you're trying to translate but you haven't found a single word because you didn't realize that the Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do.." they just stare at each other in shock, proving that if you heard them through the walls than everyone else could too. "Sound about right?" you add.

___

You go and snatch the tape but Steve beats you to it. "Come on! Let me hear it, I already knew about it from the beginning.. I was literally sitting with you guys when Dustin here said it so goddamn loud" you argue. "I'm fluent in four languages besides English, maybe I can help!" you add. They continue just staring at each other. "....Russian?" Dustin asks. "Vous êtes vraiment stupides de ne pas me laisser vous aider" you say in French. "Oh-ho-ho!" Steve exclaims. "Holy shit!" god, they really were dumb.. "That was French, bozos.. can you not tell the difference? And it means 'you are stupid for not letting me help you'" the looks on their faces were priceless.

"Idiot.." Steve hits Dustin with his Banana peel. "But, I can speak Spanish, and French, and Greek, and Italian," you say proudly. "My ears are little geniuses, trust me" you reassure.

Still nothing..

"Come on! I already know about it, anyway! Your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate, I don't even want credit I'm just bored!" deep down, you really just wanted them to accept the offer so you could spend more time with Steve. It sounded really selfish and you knew that, but this was the perfect opportunity.

You stick out your hand which held the ice cream scooper. After Steve's next few seconds of hesitation, he finally hands you the tape and grabs the scooper. You smile, sending him off to go serve some customers as you hear the bell at the counter ringing.