Don't You Want Me? ✵ Steve Harrington

Chapter 32

"How many children are you friends with?" Robin asked Steve as Kim walked into Scoops Ahoy.

"A lot, trust me," Kim laughed, walking around the counter to join the other girl. "Last year, Steve and I practically adopted a whole army of small children."

•••••

"No way. Hotter than Phoebe Cates?" Steve asked, his arm draped over Kims shoulder as she shared a banana split with Dustin.

Dustin nodded, his mouth full of ice cream. "Brilliant, too. And she doesn't even care that my real pearls are still coming in. She says kissing is better without teeth."

Kim and Steve exchanged a look similar to the one they exchanged whenever Dustin did his weird purring thing. "Wow," Steve finally said. "Yeah, that's great. Proud of you, man. That's kinda... romantic."

"So do you really just get to eat as much of this as you want?" Dustin asked, his mouth stuffed with ice cream again.

Steve shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, sure. It's not really a good idea for me, though. You know, I gotta keep in shape for when Kim and I-"

Kim cut him off by clamping a hand over his mouth. "Yep, he eats ice cream all day," Kim said quickly.

Dustin wrinkled his noses as he looked at his sister and her boyfriend. "You two are disgusting, you do realize that, right?"

"So where are the other knuckleheads?" Kim asked, waiting to change the topic as quickly as possible.

"They ditched me yesterday," Dustin said sadly. "My first day back. Can you believe that shit?"

"Whoa. Seriously?" Steve asked, thinking about the choice words he would have with his other children.

"I swear to God," Dustin nodded. "They're gonna regret it, tough, big time, when they don't get to share in my glory."

"Glory?" Kim asked, raising an eyebrow. "What glory?"

Dustin scooted closer to Kim and Steve. "So, last night, we're trying to get in contact with Suzie and, uh," he looked around before whispering, "I intercepted a secret Russian communication."

"What?" Steve asked, having not heard a word the younger boy said.

"Uh, I intercepted a secret Rustion communication," Dustin repeated.

"Dude, I literally can't' hear you," Kim said. "Just speak louder.

"I intercepted a secret Russina communication!" Dustin practically screamed.

The whole ice cream shop turned to look at the three sitting in the booth. "Jeez, shh. Yeah, oaky, that's what I thought you said," Steve crouched down lower in his seat. "What-what does that mean?"

"It means that we could be heroes," Dustin said excitedly. "True American heroes."

"American heroes," Steve said, thinking of how much that would woo Kim.

"Just think," Dustin went on. "You could have all the ladies you want and more."

Kim rolled her eyes but had to hide a smile at Steve's next words. "Why would I want any more when I've got the best right here."

Dustin gagged. "You two are gonna make me throw up."

"Okay, then leave," Kim shrugged, trying to shove her brother out of the booth.

"I would, except I need your guys' help," Dustin sighed and pulled a Russian dictionary out of his backpack. "With translation."

•••••

"So what do you guys think?" Dustin asked the older kids after playing them the recording.

"It sounds familiar," Steve said.

"What?" Kim asked hopefully.

"The music," Steve explained, munching on a bite of banana. "The music right there at the end.

"Why are you listening to the music, Steve?" Dustin asked in annoyance.

"Yeah, Steve, come on," Kim teased, winking at him. "Focus."

"Listen to the Russsian," Dustin added. "We're translating Russian!"

"I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music-"

Robin walked through the door, cutting Steve off. "Alright, babysitting and date night's over. You need to get in there." Robin spotted her white board and became even more frustrated. "Hey, my board. That was important data, shitbirds."

"I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data," Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Yeah?" Robin asked. "And how do you know the Russinas are up to no good anyways?"

"How do she know about the Russina?" Dustin asked, looking at his older sister and Steve.

Both of them shrugged, mildly impressed that Robin had figured them out.

"Hello, I can hear you," Robin said. "Actually, I can hear everything. You are all extremely loud. And Kim, they are very annoying, so I don't blame you for yelling at them and I'm so sorry you have to deal with these idiots."

"Thank you," Kim nodded. "Your condolences are greatly appreciated."

Robin smiled at her friend before continuing. "You think you have evil Russinas plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but haven't figured out a single word because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do. Sound about right?"

"Well, I know who my favorite person in the room is, and it's definitely not you ass holes," Kim said, pointing at the boys on either side of her.

Robin lunged across the table at the Russian Dictionary and the recording, but Steve quickly grabbed it before she could. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked her.

"I wanna hear it," Robin shrugged.

"Why?" Steve, Dustin, and Kim all asked in unison.

"Cause maybe I can help," Robin said. "I'm fluent in four languages, you know."

"Russian?" Dustin asked hopefully.

"Ou-yay are-yay umb-day," Robin replied.

The boy exchanged an excited look causing Kim and Robin rolled their eyes. "That's Pig Latain, you idiots," Kim told them.

"But I can speak Spanish and French and Italian, and I've been in band for twelve years," Robin said. "My ears are little geniuses, trust me."

Steve shook his head, about to protest.

"Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate. I don't even want credit. I'm just bored," Robin groaned holding her hand out for the tape recording.

Kim smiled at her friend. "Welcome to the team, Robin."