#gwst

           The only reason you came to the small ice cream shop in the big new mall was to see your friends Robin Buckley. That was all.

     Dustin had been away at camp for a few weeks, all your friends had been on vacations, and you had been bored out of your mind. 

     You felt like you had listened to all your records fifty times over and had seen all the movies Family Video had to offer. Your mom tried to get you to the pool a couple times but seeing Billy Hargrove and Mrs. Wheeler flirting every day made you want to vomit.     

     When Robin Buckley, your friend from school theatre told you she scored a job at Scoops Ahoy, you decided you should visit her. Make her life a little more interesting. 

     The first time you visited her, she had been at the counter, scooping ice cream for some little girl and her mother. When her eyes landed on you, you saw actual joy fill them instead of the forced one she had while she served.

     “Finally, someone with actual brain cells,” She greeted, a large smile appearing on her face.

     “I know, I know. I’m your favorite person,” You teased, leaning forward on the counter, “Now, what would you recommend?”

     “Knowing you, I’m just going to give you a vanilla cone with sprinkles,” She responded making you hum in agreement. She got to work making your cone, a small blush forming on her cheeks.

     Suddenly, the glass sliding window from behind the counter opened, revealing a very unhappy looking Steve Harrington. 

     “Robin, can you ple-” He stopped after seeing you. 

     You managed a small smile and wave before Robin handed you your ice cream treat. 

     “Can I please what?”

     Steve still didn’t respond to her, “Hey, (y/n)! I haven’t seen you yet this summer. Dustin doing okay? Is he here?”

     “Oh yeah, hey,” You greeted, feeling a bit weird. You hadn’t actually talked to Steve since the Snow Ball for the middle schoolers when he had taken Dustin. Sure you had seen him, he hung out with your brother many times since then, you had just never had the chance to talk. 

     “I’ve been... Busy,” You hadn’t been, “And Dustin’s at summer camp. He’s coming back in a couple week though.”

     “Oh yeah, right. He told me about that. I must have... I must have forgotten,” He chuckled nervously, reaching up to run his fingers through his hair, forgetting about the little hat his employer made him wear. It fell off, making him flinch and you giggle.

     His face flushed as he reached to grab it while Robin scoffed. “Whatever,” The girl turned back to you with a coy grin, “You can have this ice cream on the house if you promise to come visit me.”

     You let out a small laugh, taking a lick of the cone you held, “You have yourself a deal, Buckley.”

     That was why you had been here almost every day for the past two weeks. Not because you thought Steve “The Hair” Harrington was cute. 

-----

     Dustin was finally home from camp and after not being able to reach Suzie and his friends bailing on him, you decided he could use a nice pick me up. This included Steve and ice cream. Both things made him very, very happy.

     As soon as you walked into Scoops Ahoy, Robin waved at you from behind the counter. Dustin ran in front of you, smacking his hands down on the counter, “Is he here?”

     There was a sudden bang as the door behind the counter hit the wall. “Henderson!” Dustin laughed and pointed at an excited Steve running towards him, “Henderson! He’s back!” 

     You walked towards Robin, leaning against the counter as your brother and his best friend did their dorky handshake. You shook your head, laughing as Robin’s face twisted, “What was that?” She whispered to you, furrowing her brows.

     “What can I say, they’re dorks.”

-----     

     You sat next to Steve and Dustin as he told him about his summer love affair at science camp. 

     “No, no. No way. Hotter than Phoebe Cates? No.” You let out a small laugh at the two boys next to you. In the past couple of weeks, you had gotten a lot closer with Steve than you were before. You went from not really talking to him to seeing him whenever you went to visit Robin, which was frequently.

     In all honesty, you developed a small crush on the boy. Sure you knew he was a good guy before, if Dustin was friends with him he couldn’t be that bad. And you had seen him try to beat up Billy not that long ago and save you and all your younger friends. 

     Now you knew he was funny, really funny. He was cute and very considerate. He cared about other people a lot more than himself. If you had told Freshman you, who had a crush on Steve Harrington, that you would be friends with him, she would have laughed in your face.

     When their conversation drifted to Russian communications, it piqued your interest again. 

     “Wait, you did what?” You whisper shouted. he hadn’t told you anything about this. 

     Dustin’s face screwed up for a moment before his voice raised from whispers to shouts, “I intercepted a secret Russian communication!”

     The three pairs of eyes in your corner booth went wide as the rest of the patrons in the ice cream shop looked at you. You all shook it off before starting to whisper again.

     “What does that mean?” Steve asked, leaning closer to the two of you.

     “It means, Steve, we could be heroes. True American heroes.”

     Dustin mentioned having all the ladies they could want and you scoffed. “Oh, shut it, Dustin.”

     He simply shrugged before Steve asked about a catch.

     “No catch, I just need your help.”

     “With what?” The brunette asked as Dustin reached into his bag, pulling out a Russian-English dictionary. 

     “Translation.”

-----

     That felt like years ago once you were down in the secret Russian basement. 

     Your translations had lead to you all, well Robin, realizing the messages were talking about being inside the mall. And that leads to you finding an elevator that brought you down into the Russian base. Now, you were on your way out of said elevator with a loopy Steve and Robin.

     You had to run back into the mall, planning on hiding out in the movie theatre. There were two seats on both ends of the first row. You dropped Steve and Robin off at one end while you sat next to Erica at the other, Dustin leaving to try and contact his friends.

     You were engrossed with the movie, only being pulled from your trance by your brother kneeling next to you.

      He bickered with Erica about batteries before looking past the two of you at the other end of your row. Your head turned there was well, eyes widening.

     “Where... are they?”

-----

     Steve and Robin leaned against their respective bathroom stall walls after drinking their weight in water and throwing it all up. Hopefully, that would get the drugs out of their system.

     “The ceiling stopped spinning for me,” Robin commented as she looked up, eyes roaming around, “Is it still spinning for you?”

     Steve removed his hand from over his eyes so he could look up as well, “Holy shit. No. You think we puked it all up?”

     “Maybe. Ask me something,” Robin encouraged, leaning to lay her back on the ground, her feet above her. “Interrogate me,” She added using a fake Russian accent.

     “Okay. Interrogate you. Sure. Um...” Steve paused for a second before coming up with a question, “When was the last time you, uh, peed your pants?”

     Robin responded quickly, “Today.”

     “What?”

     “When the Russian doctor took out the bone saw,” She explained while Steve laughed, “It was just a little bit, though!”

     “Yeah, it’s definitely still in her system.”

     They both shared a moment of laughter before Robin straightened up and sat with her back to the wall. “All right, my turn.”

     “Okay, hit me.”

     “Have you...” She paused, “Ever been in love?”

     “Yep, Nancy Wheeler. First semester, senior year,” He answered before making a gun shape with his fingers and making a shooting sound with his mouth.

     “Oh my god, she is such a priss.”

     Steve shrugged, “Hm. Turns out, not really.”

     Robin scoffed, “Are you still in love with Nancy?”

     Steve’s heart started to flutter, not because of Nancy, not because of Robin. Because he was thinking about you. 

     “No.”

     “Why not?”

     “I think it’s because I found someone who’s a little bit better for me,” The boy started, “It’s crazy. Ever since Dustin got home, he’s been saying, ‘You know, you gotta find your Suzie. You gotta find your Suzie.’”

     Robin cut him off, “Wait, who’s Suzie?”

     Steve shook his head, “It’s some girl from camp, I guess his girlfriend. To be honest with you, I’m not 100% sure she’s even real,” He admitted, running his fingers through his hair, “But that’s not-- That’s not really the point. That doesn’t matter. The point is this girl, you know, the one that I like, she’s somebody I never talked to in school. Not until last year, actually. And I haven’t really talked to her until this summer. I don’t even know why. She’s... She’s an amazing person but I didn’t see that and because Tommy H. would have made fun of me or something. I mean, Dustin’s right, it’s all just a bunch of bullshit anyway,” Steve paused to take a breath.

     “Because, when I think about it, I should’ve been hanging out with this girl the whole time. She’s so funny, hilarious. Spending this summer with her, I think I’ve laughed harder than I have in my entire life. And she’s smart, so smart. A lot smarter than I could ever be. And she’s so compassionate, especially to her brother and his friends.” 

     This caused Robin’s eyes to widen. He was talking about (y/n). The girl Robin had had a crush on since they met in her Freshmen year. The reason she knew she liked girls. A soft sigh passed her lips as she laid her face in her folded arms.

     “And she’s saved my ass before, like in the Russian base and last year. She's just not like anyone I’ve ever met before,” Steve stopped gushing for a moment to check on his friend.

     “Robin?” His eyebrows furrowed as he tapped on the stall door, “Robin, did you just OD in there?”

     “No,” she sighed again, moving back so her back was against the wall, regaining her composure, “I am still alive.”

     Steve licked his lips before moving to slide under the door between them. 

     “The floor’s disgusting.”

     “Yeah, well, I already got a bunch of blood and puke on my shirt, so...” They both paused, not looking at each other before Steve spoke again, “What do you think?”

     “About?”

     “This girl.”

     “She sounds awesome,” Robin nodded. She knew you were.

     “She is awesome. And what about the guy?”

     “He seems very oblivious.”

     Steve’s eyebrows furrowed, “What do you mean?”

     “Do you remember what I said about Clink’s class? About me being jealous, and, like, obsessed?”

     Steve nodded.

     “It isn’t because I had a crush on you. It’s because...” Her voice wavered at what she was about to admit, “she wouldn’t stop staring at you.”

     Steve shook his head in confusion, “Mrs. Clink?”

     Robin let out a nervous laugh, “(y/n) Henderson,” she stopped, “I wanted her to look at me. But... she couldn’t pull her eyes away from you and your stupid hair. And I didn’t understand, because you would get bagel crumbs all over the floor. And you asked dumb questions. And you were a douchebag. And-- And you didn’t even like her and... I would go home... And just scream into my pillow.”

     Robin felt her chest heave, a weight being lifted off her shoulders at her confession. Steve still looked totally confused.

     “But (y/n) is a girl.”

     “Steve...”

     “Yeah?”

     The boy paused for a second before realization swept over him, “Oh.”

     “Oh.”

     “Holy shit.”

     “Yeah. Holy shit,” Robin turned her attention from Steve to the bandaid on her knee.

     After a few moments of him not responding, she looked back to him, “Steve? Did you OD over there?” 

     “No, I just, uh... Just thinking.”

     Robin reached up and fiddled with her earring, a thing she did when she was nervous or stressed, “Okay.”

     “I mean, yeah. (y/n), she’s really cute. She’s really nice too. You guys would be cute together-”

     Robin cut him off, “Steve, were you not listening to a thing I said? She likes you. This summer... It’s just proven that. I thought that maybe she could like me too but... Just seeing how you two interact with each other. How you joke and care for each other. How she looks at you. Especially after they had to leave us with the Russians. She really likes you, Steve.”

     The brunette boy felt like his heart was going to beat right out of his chest.

     “I... I can’t do that to you, Robin.”

     “It’s really okay, I don’t even know if she likes girls. But I know she likes you.”

     The pair shared a smile right before Dustin, Erica, and the girl they were just speaking of crashed into the bathroom. 

     “Okay. What the hell?”

-----

     After the events of the Starcourt, you definitely needed a break. After you found Steve and Robin, you had tried to sneak out but couldn’t, causing you to be reunited with everyone. Then, Billy died. Hearing Max’s cries were anguish. Sure, the guy was an asshole to you but you felt really bad. After everything was done, you found out Hopper died. That was the thing that broke you. 

     You had been sitting in the back of an ambulance, holding the shock blanket a medic had given you close, when you saw Steve. You locked eyes, a mutual understanding of the need to be held passed through your gaze.

     As the rain fell around you, you met at the halfway point and enveloped each other in your arms, gripping onto each other tightly. You didn’t care how disgusting you both were or how weak you felt, you felt warm again in his arms.

     You started sobbing into his shoulder, your whole body shaking as the events of that night came crashing down. You had almost died and someone you looked up to had. You tried to calm yourself down as Steve rubbed his hand up and down your back in a comforting manner, whispering in your ear, telling you you were going to be okay.

     That was three months ago. 

     Your relationship with Steve had definitely changed since then. You still hadn’t spoken about it though. 

     Today was the day the Byers and El were leaving Hawkins. You had gone with Dustin to say goodbye to them, your heart aching for all of the kids, along with Jonathan, Nancy, and of course Joyce.

     It was a tearful goodbye and when Dustin told you he was going to Mike’s house after, you decided to drive yourself over to Steve’s. 

     You waited after knocking on his door, wringing your hands together. A few moments passed before the boy you were looking for opened the door.

     “Hey,” You greeted softly, your face was already red and blotchy from the few tears you had shed at the Byers’ old home.

     “Hey,” He breathed out, opening the door wider for you to step in.

     You followed him into his living room, taking a seat on the sofa next to him. 

     “Did they leave today?” He questioned, not having to say who.

     You nodded, sending him a soft smile before taking a deep breath. You were going to tell him. You had to. Seeing Joyce so broken up after Bob and Hopper, you didn’t want something else to happen to where you might lose Steve.

     “I... I really need to talk to you,” You started, staring at your hands where they rested on your knees, “I don’t really know how to say this, but I really like you, Steve. As in a more than a friend way.”

     You looked up at the boy who had a dopey smile on his lips and a look of pure admiration in his eyes.

     “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear you say that,” He whispered, reaching a hand up to cup your cheek.

     “Is this okay?” He questioned, leaning forward to kiss you.

     As you nodded, you closed the distance, your lips molding together in a perfect kiss. 

     After the events at Starcourt, you couldn’t blame the Byers and El for wanting to leave. Hopper had died and you couldn’t imagine how torn up the girls were. Hawkins was a different place from what it was three years ago, well, it was to the small group of you who had been involved with the Upside Down.

     With Dustin Henderson being your younger brother, of course, you were involved, the boy couldn’t keep his mouth shut. You were terrified when you found out, you didn’t want your brother getting hurt. You didn’t want any of the kids to get hurt. 

     Flash forward to now, you were currently helping them pack up their house to put the boxes in the moving van. It was a sad occasion that no one had been looking forward to. 

     You were picking up the boxes from inside and bringing them out to Jonathan so he could put them in the van. When you walked back inside to grab a box from Max and Lucas, you heard them making fun of your brother and his girlfriend’s song. 

     You laughed as you walked in, “Oh leave him alone. He’s young and in love,” You tried to sound serious but when you met Max’s eyes you burst out laughing. 

     Dustin scowled at the three of you, “Shut up, (y/n). You’re my sister, you shouldn’t be joining in with them!”

     “Sorry, Dusty. It’s my job to make fun of you.”

     You tried to keep the mood light until you knew they were about to leave. It was heartbreaking to watch. All the kids were holding each other and crying, you even shed a few tears when you said goodbye to Will and El. They had grown into younger siblings to you.

     You watched their cars pull away from your place between Mike and Dustin, your brother leaning against you. You wrapped your arm around his shoulders, pressing a short kiss to his head.

     Everyone had left after a few minutes, everyone but you and Dustin. 

     “Hey, you wanna... Go for a drive?” You asked, turning to look at your curly-haired brother. That was something you used to do together. Whenever Dustin got upset you would go for a drive through the Indiana countryside.

     He nodded, walking over to your car. You followed, unlocking the doors and sliding into the driver's seat. You started it, changing the radio to his favorite station. 

     He leaned his head against the window, turning his head so he could watch the scenery. You took off on your drive.

     The only sound in the car was small sniffles from Dustin in the passenger seat. You didn’t want to bother him, you’d wait to talk to him when he was ready.

     Your drive took you to a small secluded area next to a small pond. You would come here sometimes when Dustin was really upset or you just needed some peace. You parked your car, looking over at him as you took off your seat belt. He mirrored your actions, popping the car door open.

     You both made your way to the water’s edge, sitting down next to each other. 

     “Everyone’s leaving,” Dustin finally spoke after a few minutes.

     “What do ya mean?” 

     “Will left. El left. You’re leaving. You’re going to college. You’re going to be gone all the time now.”

     “Oh, Dusty. I’m not going to be that far away. I’ll just be in Muncie. I’ll come home for every break and I’ll call you and see how you’re doing. You’ll see Will and El when they come to visit or you can go visit them.” You pull your brother towards to, holding him in your arms. 

     “I know, it’s just... Everythings been changing and I don’t really know how to deal with it. When I got back from camp, they were all coupley and I couldn’t talk to Suzie. Of course it had to be me to hear the Russian communication and of course I would want to uncover it and of course, it would lead to something in the Upside Down,” He stopped to take a breath.

     “You graduated high school and of course you got into all the schools you wanted. You could have gone to Harvard or something if you applied. You’re going off to college and you’re gonna forget about all of us up here in Hawkins. You’re gonna get older friends and not want to hang out with us. You’re gonna want to hang out with your friends over breaks. And... And I’m gonna miss having you around. You’re my best friend.”

     You sat there, taking in what Dustin had said. 

     “Hey. Change is good. It means we’re alive and continuing our lives. I know that you think I won’t want to hang out with you, but I will. You’re the coolest kid I know. I could never forget about you guys. First off, you’re my brother. There’s no way in hell I could forget you. Second, the past three years have been the craziest of my life. I don’t think I’ll ever forget whats happened,” You took his face in your hands, making him look at you, “You’re my best friend too, Dusty.”

     He grinned up at you, he had always had the cutest smile. 

     “Thanks for letting me talk. I feel weird talking about stuff like this to anyone else.”

     “I get it, I’m the same.”

     You pulled away, both of you sitting there in the quiet for a while. You listened to the chirping crickets and watched the falling leaves. When the wind began to chill, you both decided to go home.

     When you arrived, the sun was setting and your mother was sitting in the living room. 

     “Where were you two?” She asked, looking up from her novel.

     “We went for a drive,” You explained, asking her if you and Dustin could watch a movie in there.

     She nodded, telling you she would go read in her room. Dustin walked into the kitchen to go make popcorn while you picked out some movies that made you feel nostalgic.

     When the popcorn was popped and the movie was starting, you and Dustin grabbed all the blankets and pillows you could find and set up a fort on the couch. 

     You both crawled inside, laying on your stomachs to see the tv.

     “See, some things never change.”