#murrarybaldman

Chapter Two:

The Mall Rats

Steve Harrington x reader

summary: Steve asks you a simple favor, and it’s nothing like you’ve ever imagined.

warnings: cursing, mention of sex

notes: finally we get some Steve in this chapter. Let’s get this series rollin! And thanks so much for the nice feedback 💖

———————————

“So, it was a rat?” Sarah’s eyebrows were practically raised to her hairline. “Yes, Yes! And then it just exploded, into like, like a red mush” you paused, shivering, “it was disgusting”

Your face then brightens up again, remembering something else, “Also, another thing!” You raised a finger in the air. Sarah nodded her head, urging you on. This was just sheer comedy to her now. “When I woke up...it was gone” your voice was low.

Sarah pauses for a long time. “Were you daydreaming again?” Your eyebrows furrowed, “What no,” Sarah cut you off, “It’s either that or you’re on drugs” You shook your head rapidly. “I think you’re on drugs” Sarah said, convinced.

You rolled your eyes. “No, No. I saw it with my own eyes” you tapped your temple wildly with your pointer finger. It was then you realized that your hand was grabbed on Sarah’s shoulder roughly. Her eyes were wide, and she seemed to look at you in fright. You jolted your hand away. Were you going crazy?

“Okay. . .” Sarah drawed out awkwardly. You rub a hand across your face and sigh.

Two girl teenagers enter the store. Sarah basically sighs in relief. Anything to get her out of this situation. “I’m gonna actually go do my job. Be ready at the counter” She then walked off. You scoffed, walking to the counter. You looked over at Scoops Ahoy.

You saw Robin, another one of the workers at the ice cream parlor, attending Erica Sinclair at the counter. You only knew Erica because you used to babysit her when you were still in high school. Ya know, a little more cash went a long way. You always thought she was hilarious, she had a lot of personality for her age.

However, in Robins cause, you didn’t really know her deal. After weeks of observing, she was pretty normal. Every once and awhile you saw her take out this whiteboard with two sides titled, You Rule and You Suck. The one side, You Suck, had seven tally’s on it. You always wondered what that board was for.

Something struck your eye again. Steve Harrington, came from the back of Scoops. He seemed in a rush, he took off his hat, rubbed his hands through his hair, and then put the hat back on. He exited the ice cream parlor, heading straight to your store . . . to you.

Your eyes widened, your heart hammered against your chest. No, it can’t be. Maybe he would turn, go another way, into another store. But he didn’t. Your mind raced with possibilities. What could he want? What would he say? What would you say?

Could he want to buy something? You mentally shook her head. No, idiot, this was a Woman’s clothing store.

Before you had time to think of something else, there he was, standing before you. His hand slammed hard against the counter. You jolted slightly.

“Hi” he breathed out. Your eyebrows furrowed. That was it? You expected something more dramatic. But it was nothing, just a simple greeting. Was he trying to start conversation with you? “Hi?” You answered back. You didn’t mean for it to come out as a question, but it did. What the hell did he want?

“Do, do you remember me?” He pointed to himself, still panting wildly. You were confused, why was he panting so loud? Scoops Ahoy was literally like a few feet away. When you didn’t answer, Steve spoke up again. “I’m Steve. We went to the same high school together. We had the same Chemistry class.”

Of course you remembered him. The weird thing was, that he remembered you. You were a nobody in high school. You hung out with a small crowd, until most of your friends decided to ditch you, and your closest and best friend moved to New York. After that you had no one, and you basically hung out with no one. Maybe that was why you were so observant. It seemed that everyone else’s lives were somehow more interesting then yours.

“Yea...” you answered with a nod. You still didn’t understand. Why was he here, asking you these random questions about high school. You hated talking about high school, let alone talk about it with Steve fucking Harrington.

“Great! Great!” He laughed, breathlessly. It was a cute sound, and you held back the urge to smile. “Uhh,” He trails off. His face is twisted in concentration. His elbows rested on the table, and he smacked his palms against his forehead a few times. “You’re name, You’re name. Goddamn it, what’s your name?” He mumbled under his breath.

Considering you two were inches apart you heard him. “(Y/N)” you spoke your name aloud. Steve jolts up, slamming his hand on the counter again. He points to you, “(Y/N)! Yes! Yes!”

Your eyes widen. Was he always so energetic? In high school he just seemed like your chill, hot popular kid. He didn’t get the nickname King Steve for nothing. You held back the urge to smile again. God he was adorable.

He then relaxes, leaning his elbows on the counter comfortably. “(Y/N)” he repeats your name again. It sounded nice coming from his mouth. He scoffs, “Yea I knew that”

You snickered, smiking brightly. You couldn’t help it. Steve, noticing your smile, smiles back. “Do you still speak Russian?” The question came out so nonchalantly, that you thought about asking him to repeat himself.

Yes, you spoke Russian, but not fluently. It was a hard language to learn, considering they had a whole different alphabet. But one of your close friends (who had moved to New York) spoke fluent Russian. Her parents were immigrants, and often spoke the language in their home. She has tried to teach you but you only had the patience to learn the alphabet. After that you stopped, it was stressful. But you could understand some of it.

“Yea. How, how did you know I could speak Russian?” You were generally curious. No one really knew expect your friend and maybe your Mom. And no one else really cared to ask.

“One day in Chem, there was a new exchange student. He was a new immigrant, and only knew Russian. You willingly sat next to him, and translated everything for him.”

You smiled at him. You had remembered that day. To be honest, you felt bad for the new kid. He didn’t have friends or know anybody, and on top of that couldn’t speak English! You had to do something. For the rest of the class you just translated things for him and made sure he understood the lesson. You didn’t know Steve was paying attention.

“It was really inspirational actually” he smiled. You blushed madly, taking a strand of hair and pushing it behind your hair bashfully. You were never complimented, let alone by anyone like Steve.

“What do you want, Harrington?” You said through smiled teeth. “Just a simple favor. I need you to help translate Russian for me and my friend”

“Translate?” You asked. Steve nodded, “Yea, ya know? Like a recording in Russian will play and all you need to do is tell us what it says” Steve then shrugged. You tilted your head to the side. The task was simple. Beyond simple. “Can you do that?” Steve asked.

You nodded frantically, “Yea. I, I can”

Steve jumped again, eyes wide, like he was suprised you had said yes. “Great! That’s great” He motions you to move, “C’mon, let’s go!”

Your eyes widen, “Like right now?” Steve nods frantically, the motion for you to move dramatically increasing. “Ok” you quickly moved from around the counter, following after him.

He grabs you by the arm, giving you little pep in your step. Your eyes widen. Usually with things like this you would pull your arm away, but, it felt nice.

Whilst leaving the store, Sarah turns, looking to you in utter confusion. It did look weird, Steve Harrington was literally dragging you out of the store. God, she probably thought you two were off to have sex or something.

She smirks, and gives you two thumbs up. You roll your eyes before flashing her the finger.

Once in Scoops, Steve rushed to the back, his shoulder pushing open the swinging door. When you enter, Robin stood, along with a young teenage boy at a table. On the table, was a recorder and a forgien translater novel. The recording played, a man speaking Russian.

“Steve! What the hell!” The boy shouted, frantically turning off the recording. Steve finally let go of your arm before puffing out an aggravated sigh. “What?” He asks simply.

“She’s a stranger! Why would you bring a stranger in here? Don’t you wanna be American heroes?!” The kid spoke quickly, a slight lisp escaping through every sentence.

“She’s not a stranger, okay? She’s here to help” Steve then turns to you, “This is Dustin” he points to the young teenager, who let out a mumbled, “hello”.

“And this is my coworker, Robin” he points to Robin, who is leaning against the wall, arms crossed. She smiles at you, giving a wave. “This is (y/n)” he points back to you. You wave at them.

Dustin is quick to speak up, leaning closer to you from his seat, like he’s judging you. “So how is she gonna help us?”

“I can understand Russian” you said. Dustin suddenly perks up. “Holy shit, really?” he asks.

Steve nods, “Told you she can help” he snickers out. “Well what are you waiting for? Play the tape, dingus” Robin said to Dustin. She then leans over and attempts to play it, but Dustin stops her hand.

“Wait!” He looks back to you, “If she’s gonna help us, she needs to know what she’s getting herself into”

Your eyebrows furrow. You didn’t want to cause trouble, all you thought you were doing was translating some words. You look to Steve.

He sighs, “Ok, fine. Tell her”

Dustin begins to tell his story, “So last night, I was trying to contact my girlfriend Suzie through a radio I made. However, when I was trying to contact her, I interrupted a secret Russian communication”

“Now,” He points to you, “That’s when you come into play. All you need to do is translate this for us”

Steve steps forward, looking to you, “You in?”

You look to each of them, Steve, Robin, then Dustin. You thought about it for a minute. What was the harm in helping them? Maybe after, you’d all become True Americans Heroes, and you would be noticed by people other then your best friend and your mom.

You smirked, turning to look at Steve, “I’m in”

——————

You sat at the table, replaying the Russian tape over and over again. It wasn’t that it was difficult, it was because it didn’t make any damn sense.

You frantically looked to the alphabet words written on the white board on the wall. The sentence translated, “The week is long”

Dustin burst through the door, “You got anything yet?” You sighed. You had forced everyone out the room, you didn’t work well under pressure. “Yea actually. We got our first sentence.”

Steve and Robin quickly poked there heads in through the sliding glass doors to your side. “Really?” Steve asked. Robin was ecstatic, smiling brightly, “What is it!?” She asked excitedly.

“The week is long” You stated back in a Russian accent. Steve and Dustin’s faces fell in disappointment. “Well, that’s very exciting” Dustin stated sarcasticly, running an unamused hand over his face.

“Relax dingus’s. It’s only the first sentence. Maybe by the end of the day, whatever (y/n) translates out will make sense” Robin covered for you. You smiled to her, greatfully. No one has ever stuck up for you like that.

“We’ll leave you alone so you can get back to work” Steve said. Your face scrunched up and you nodded. The three of them left quickly.

A few hours later, Steve, Robin, and Dustin looked infront of the white board, reading out what you had translated. “The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west” They all spoke in unison.

“I mean, it just can’t be right” Steve stated as he closed up Scoops Ahoy. “It’s right” you said with a shrug from behind him.

The four of you started walking down the closed mall. It was strange seeing the mall empty. Good thing it was always Sarah who had to close up, you hated being alone at this hour.

“Honestly I think it’s great news” Dustin said. You looked at him suprised, this was the first time he looked on the bright side of things all day. “How is this great news!” Steve jogged up to the three of you, he scoffed, “I mean, so much for being American hero’s. It’s total nonsense.”

Steve was right. The sentence didn’t make any sense. And if it was a code, how would they be able to figure it out?

“It’s not nonsense” Dustin objected. “It’s too specific. It’s obviously a code” You nodded, what else would it be?

“What do you mean a code?” Steve asked from next to you. “Like a secret spy code” You shrugged, “There evil Russian’s right? You don’t know what there planning”

Steve scoffed again, “That’s a total stretch” Robin spoke up, “I don’t know, is it?” Steve looked to her in disbelief. “You’re buying into this?” He pointed at her with raised eyebrows. “Listen, just for kicks, let’s entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What’d you think they were gonna say, “Fire the warhead at noon?”

You snickered at her comment. “Exactly” Dustin agreed. Robin continued, “And (y/n)’s translation is correct” You nodded along with her, “I know that for sure” you stated confidentially.Steve smiled at you.

“The silver cat feeds. Why would anyone talk like that unless they’re trying to mask the meaning of their message” Robin said with a convincing shrug. “Exactly” Dustin said again. “Why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive!” Robin made another point. You glanced at her and smiled, she was insanely smart.

“Exactly” Dustin said for the third time, looking directly at Steve this time. Steve rolled his eyes, mimicking Dustin by pursing his lips and mouthing the word ‘exactly.’ You giggled. “So I guess that confirms your suspicion” Robin glances to you and Dustin.

“Evil Russians” You and Dustin say together in a ‘duh’ tone. Robin chuckles, “I can’t believe I’m about to agree with them, but, yeah, totally evil Russians.”

“So how do we crack it?” Dustin looks to you this time, a hopeful glimmer overcoming his freatures. You shrug, “I’ll translate the rest tomorrow and hopefully a better pattern emerges” you state simply.

“A pattern. Right, like maybe “silver cat” is a meeting place?” Dustin offers. Robin cuts in, “Or a person?” Dustin points to her, “Or a weapon”. You shake your head and sigh, “It could be anything”

“It’s probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but...” Robin trails off looking behind her. You and Dustin do the same. You’re eyebrows furrow. “Where’s Steve?” You ask.

Steve stood by the Indiana Flyer horse ride, frantically digging out coins from his pocket. Some fall to the floor, making a clattering noise. “Steve? What are you doing?” Robin calls out. He finally looks over to the three of you, counting the coins in his palm. “Uh, it’s a quarter. I need...Do you have a quarter?”

The three of you walk over to him. You fish in your back pocket, before retrieving a quarter. You give it to Steve and your fingers touch. “Thank you” he mumbles. “Sure you’re tall enough for that ride?” Robin jokes, nudging your side. You chuckle slightly.

Steve kneels down to the floor, quickly putting the coins inside the rides slot collecter. You, Robin and Dustin watch anxiously. What the hell was he doing?

The all to famous Daisy Bell jingle begins to play from the ride and the small horse starts to rock forward then backward. “You need help getting up, little Stevie?” Robin then joked again. “Shhh” He scowls back at her, clearing knowing something the three of you didn’t.

You and Dustin look at each other and begin to chuckle. Steve shushes you again, “Would you three just shut up and listen?”

So you did. The Daisy Bell jingle continued. You didn’t understand, why was he making you listen to this? What was the point. Suddenly you come to the realization that the Daisy Bell jingle was heard from the recording you’ve been trying to translate for the past few hours. “Holy shit” you said in shock.

Dustin must of recognized too, because he wore the same shocked expression on his face. He looked at you then back to the rocking horse. “The music.” He pointed at the horse before whipping around his backpack and opening one of the pockets. “The music!”

He retrieved the recorder and pressed play. The man spoke Russian for a second before the same Daisy Bell jingle emerged from the tape. The same jingle that was playing infront of them. You and Steve exchanged a look. What could this mean?

“I don’t understand?” Robin said with a shake of her head. “It’s the exact same song from the recording” you stated breathlessly looking from the recorder to the rocking horse. “Maybe they have horses like this in Russia” Robin persuaded. You shook your head.

“Indiana Flyer? I don’t...” Steve trailed off, shaking his head. “I don’t think so. This code, it... didn’t come from Russia”. You saw his expression change, like he realized something horrific. He turned to the three of you, “It came from here”

The four of you exchanged scared looks before looking back to the white rocking horse, the Daisy Bell jingle playing in the background.

TAGS | Bold couldn’t tag

Chapter Three:

The Case of the Missing Lifegaurd.

Steve Harrington x reader

summary: after cracking the Russian code, You, Dustin, Steve and Robin finally discover the Evil Russians.

warnings: cursing

notes: this chapter is short oops

——————

You sat in the back of Scoops Ahoy, translating the rest of the Russian that was being displayed from the recording. You had gotten another sentence in. “A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly.”

You sighed and ran a hand through your hair. Again, it made no damn sense. You were also thinking of what Steve and Dustin were up too. They had left an hour before, stating that they were going to try and find some Evil Russians. You had wanted to come along, so they wouldn’t do anything stupid, but you knew you had to stay to finish the translation. Robin was nice enough to stay behind and keep you company.

You got up, tapping upon the glass sliding window that separated the back from the official ice cream parlor. Robin appeared. “I got another sentence” you smiled.

You handed her the little notepad you had been writing on. “The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly.” She reads aloud. Her eyebrows furrow at the last sentence.

Before you both could say anything, an echo from the door in the back causes you and Robin to look behind you. She scoffs in annoyance. “What’s that?” You ask.

“Delivery” She explains bluntly. You move out of the way so she can swing through the glass windows. She hurried over to the door, you following.

“Delivery for you” the man on the other side explains, handing Robin a brown box. “Thank you” She hands the box to you, to which you place on the table.

The man wore a black shirt and pants with sliver bottoms going along the front. He also wore a matching hat with the word, ‘Lynx’ written in red. He takes out a pen from his shirt pocket, and takes out a clipboard with paper on it. Robin signs it.

You also notice, above the pocket on his shirt displayed the words, ‘Lynx Transportation”

Lynx. The image of a lynx popped into your head. Lynx had silver fur. Your eyes widened. Silver cat.

“Have a nice day” He stated to Robin. Her eyes stay fixated on his hat. She knows as well. “Yeah, you too” The man turns and leaves, pushing a red cart with multiple boxes in it. You and Robin exchange a knowing look, before following him out in the hallway.

On the back of his shirt, said the words “Lynx Transportation” again, with a design of a Lynx above it. The drawing displayed in a silver color.

You and Robin look to each other in astonishment. “Silver Cat” you both whisper out in unison.

Before you can say anything else, a lightbulb seems to click in Robins head. She dips to the front. You followed behind her. What the hell was she doing?

Dustin and Steve enter the ice cream parlor, a defeated look on both their faces. “You’re not gonna believe who Dustin thought was a Russian” Steve began to say to the both of you. Robin ignored him, sliding past both of them, and outside the shop.

Robin finds a bench outside and stands on it frantically looking around. Steve looks to you, trying to ask what she was doing. You shook your head and shrugged. You had no idea. The three of you quickly followed her.

“A trip to China sounds nice” Robin looks to a Chinese food place a few feet away. “If you tread lightly” She then looks to a shoes store a floor above them. “When blue and yellow meet in the west” She looks around before stoping at the large mall clock. The smaller hand was blue and the larger one was yellow, they both were pointed in the west.

You had caught on at this point. You chuckled in surprise. Robin cracked the damn code.

“What is she doing?” Steve asked aloud. “She cracked it” you shook your head in amazement. Steve looked to you in confusion, “Cracked what?”

Suddenly Robin jumps down infront of the three of you, “I cracked the code.”

——————

You, Dustin, Steve and Robin sat in the pouring rain spying upon Evil Russians. This was what your life had come to now. You sat next to Dustin, and he handed you his binoculars. You greatfully excepted them, putting them up to your eyes. All you saw was two men, dressed in all black, standing infront of a building. There hands were behind their backs, holding something.

A truck drove in before them. “Look for Imperial Panda and Kaufman Shoes” Robin reminded all of you. You nodded.

You handed the binoculars back Dustin. He put them up to his face. You moved your soaking wet hair away from your eyes. Of course the only time you brought a jacket without a hood was today. You looked over at Steve, it looks like he had the same idea, his usually voluminous brown locks were drenched and was stuck to his forehead and temple. He somehow still managed to look attractive.

He noticed your staring and looked to you. You quickly turned your head away, a blush coated your cheeks. Once again, you were eye - gawking.

But what you didn’t see was Steve smirking gaze still upon you. He moved some hair out of his eyes.

A whistling guy wearing yellow emerged from a door, pushing a cart with two box’s. The brands Imperial Panda and Kaufman shoes displayed along the front of them.

“There with that whistling guy, ten o’clock” Dustin said quickly. You snapped your head towards that direction. “What do you think’s in there?” Steve asked through squinted eyes.

“Guns, Bomb’s maybe?” You answered back over the loud rain. “Chemical weapons?” Dustin and Robin added on in unison. “Whatever it is, they’re armed to the teeth” Dustin replied.

You look back to the men dressed in black. They were armed now, a large black gun pointed directly towards the ground. You shivered, but you didn’t know if it was from the rain or the fear of being shot. Possibly both.

The sound of thunder whipped through the area. You jolted. “Great. That’s great” Steve spoke sarcastically, wiping water from his eyes. You looked again. One of the men opened the two gray doors with a keycard. The guy in the yellow started walking into what looked like a room.

“Hey, What’s in there?” Robin asked Dustin. Dustin shrugged, “It’s just more boxes.” Steve reaches over, grabbing Dustin’s binoculars, “Let me check it out”

Dustin retreated them back, shaking his head at him. “No, I’m still looking.” Steve scoffed, tugging on them again, “Lemme see it!”

With one final tug, Dustin retrieved his binoculars back, but it hit the metal pole beneath them. A thud ran through the area. The men looked around, raising their guns. “Duck!” Dustin said. The four of you ducked behind the concert wall. “Shit” you mumbled, biting your thumb nail anxiously.

The four of you panted wildly. You look over to see Robin and Steve holding hands. Your heart drops. You look away sorrowly. Even though you would never admit it aloud, you wished that was you and him.

Dustin looked to your distressed face, and then back to Steve and Robin’s enclosed hands. His face fell into a blank stare. Did you like Steve?

You, Dustin, Steve and Robin escaped the roof before the Russians can see you. The four of you rushed down a gray hallway, looking behind you ever so often. You can’t believe that had happened to you. This is the most thrill you’ve ever experienced in your life.

“Well I think we found your Russians” Robin stated, looking to each of you. Yep, you definitely did.

TAGS | Bold couldn’t tag