ain't it weird || stranger things x female reader (season 3)

five - the turkey

Tuesday, July 2, 1985

Erica was sitting in the Scoops Ahoy booth, taking unimpressed glances at all the ice cream plates displayed in front of her.

Surprisingly she had refused to go in the air ducts. Well, more like, she had asked what was in it for her. And your best bait was ice cream.

The little girl, who was sitting to your right, pushes the bowl full of ice cream away from her and towards your brother. "More fudge, please."

You all look at the plate, on which there was enough sugar to make an elephant diabetic.

"Steve. She said more fudge," you nod to your brother, who shoots you a slightly worried gaze, wondering if this would mean he would have participated in making Erica overdose on sweets. Then, he remembered you were doing this so she could crawl through the vents and help you spy on evil Russians and decided risks would be taken nevertheless, and left with the bowl to add the precious sweet ingredient.

"All right," Robin, who was sitting on the other side of Erica, shows her the map, pointing to the red direction you had traced. "This is the route you're gonna take. Then we just wait till the last delivery goes out tonight. Then you knock out the grate, jump down, open the door."

"Then you find out what's in those boxes?" Erica completes, seemingly unbothered by your mastermind plan.

"Exactly."

"Mh-mmh. And you said this guard is armed."

"Yes," Dustin chips in from your left, "but he won't be there."

"He leaves when the transaction is over," you explain. When the doors are closed, the room isn't guarded."

"And booby traps?"

"Booby traps?"

"Lasers, spikes in the wall?"

Robin chuckles at the idea, but Erica is unfazed.

"You know what this half-baked plan of yours sounds like to me? Child endangerment."

"Because it is child endangerment, Erica," you manage to say before Dustin nudges you.

"We'll be in radio contact with you the whole time-" Robin tries.

"Ah ah ah! (Y/n) said it, I said it, child endangerment," she insists, and you nod. Robin gives you a 'what side are you on?' gaze, to which you answer with a 'the side of the child I babysit' shrug.

"Erica," Dustin sighs, fully turning to her. "Hi. We think these Russians wanna do harm to our country. Great harm. Don't you love your country?"

"You can't spell 'America' without 'Erica'," she sassily answers, taking a slurp of her drink. Without any words nor shared looks needed, you both fist bump, proud of the little slogan you had found together on one night you were babysitting her.

Dustin blinks. "Uh, yeah, yeah. Oddly, that's, uh, totally true. So, don't do this for us. Do it for your country. Do it for your fellow men. Do it for America, Erica."

Erica finishes loudly slurping on her drink to give him a grin. "Ooh! I just got the chills. Oh yeah, from this float, not your speech." She turns back to the rest of you as you bite your lower lip not to smile. "Do you know what I love most about this country?"

"Capitalism," your answer. She gives you a little smile.

"You know me by heart. Do you know what capitalism is?" She asks Dustin.

"Yeah."

"It means this is a free market system. Which means people get paid for their services, depending how valuable their conditions 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," she points her spoon at her ice cream plate, "better be the first of many. And I'm talking free ice cream for life."