FOREVER FRIENDS || dustin henderson

the mall rats

Steve and Tristan were in the back room of scoops ahoy.
Steve was drawing on Tristan's converse when they heard Dustin and robin talking
"I'm Dustin." Dustin said
"I'm Robin" Robin said
"Pleasure to meet you. Uh, are- are they here?"
"Are who here?"
That's when Steve and Tristan barged through the door
"Henderson." Steve smiled, "Henderson! He's back! Tristan, he's back!"
"I'm back! You guys got the job!"
"We got the job!" Tristan smiled.
Steve imitated a trumpet.
Steve, Dustin, and Tristan did their handshake that they usually do
"How many children are you friends with?" Robin asked Steve.

* * *

Tristan made Dustin an ice cream and him, Dustin, and Steve sat down at a table
"So do you guys really just get to eat as much of this as you want?" Dustin asked the Harrington brothers
"Yeah. I mean, sure. It's not really a good idea for me, though" Steve told the boy "you know, I gotta keep in shape for the ladies.
"Yeah, and hows that working out for you?" Robin teased
"Ignore her" Steve instantly said
"She seems cool" Dustin said to Steve and Tristan
"She is —" but before Tristan could finish what he was saying, Steve interrupted him, "Not. Shes not. So, where are the other knuckleheads?"
"They ditched Dustin yesterday." Tristan told his brother
"No." Steve said in disbelief
"His first day back. Can you believe that shit?"
"Whoa. Seriously?"
"I swear to god."
"They're gonna regret it though, Big time" Dustin said "when they don't get to share in mine and Tristans glory"
"Glory? What glory?" Steve questioned
"So, last night, were trying to get in contact with Suzie, and uh..." Dustin looked around and whispered something to Steve
"What?" Steve asked
Dustin clicked his tongue, "uh......"
"Just speak louder" Steve said, clearly annoyed that he couldn't hear a word Dustin was whispering to him.
"We intercepted a secret Russian Communication!" Dustin raised his voice.
"Jeez, shh." Tristan said
"Yeah, okay, that's what I thought you said." Steve told Dustin "what- what does that mean?"
"It means, Steve, we could be heroes. True American Heroes." Dustin told the oldest Harrington boy.
"American Heroes" Steve smirked
"Just think..." Tristan started, "you could have all the ladies you want. And more."
"More?" Steve questioned
"More." Dustin confirmed
"I like more" Steve said.
"Mhm. Me and Dustin like more, too. We all like more" Tristan said.
"What's the catch?" Steve asked

"No catch" Dustin shrugged "we just need your help"
"Wirh what?" Questioned steve
Dustin went into his backpack and pulled out a russian to English translation page and said, "translation"

* * *

Tristan and Dustin were playing the recording for steve while steve was eating a banana
"It sounds familiar" steve said
"What?" Dustin asked
"The music" steve clarified "the music right there ate the end"
"Why are you listening to the music, Steve? Listen to the Russian! Were translating russian!" Tristan scolded his older brother
"Im trying to listen to the russian, but theres music —" steve was interrupted by Robin slamming the door opem and saying "alright, babysitting time is over. You or Tristan need to get in there" robin then noticed that her board got changed "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
Tristan nodded in agreement
"Yeah?" Robin questioned "and how do you know these russians areup to no good anyways?"
All three boys looked at each other baffled
"How does she know about the russians?" Tristan asked steve and Dustin
"I dont know" steve answered with his mouth full of banana
"You told her about —"
"It wasn't me" steve quickly interrupted Dustin
"Hello, i can hear you. Actually, i can hear everything" robin started "you three are extremely loud... you think you have evil russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but you haven't figured out a single word because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do. Sound about right?"
Nobody answered the girl so she went to grab the tape recorder, but Tristan grabbed it before she could
"Whoa! What do you think you're doing?" Tristan asked her
"I wanna hear it" robin told the younger boy
"Why?" Dustin and steve questioned
"Cause maybe i can help" Robin answered "im fluent in 4 languages, you know."
"Russian?" Tristan asked
"Ou-yay are-yay umb-day" she said
All three bous laughed
"That was pig latin, dingus" robin smiled
Steve smacked Dustin in the arm with his banana peel then threw it at Tristan
"But i can speak spanish, french, and italian and ive been in band for 12 years... my ears are little geniuses, trust me."
"Uh..." tristan said unsure of whether to trust her or not
"Come on" she begged "its your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate. I dont even want credit, im just bored"
Tristan sighed but agreed

* * *

"We've got our first sentence" robin told Tristan through the back window
"Oh, seriously?" He asked, walking up to the girl
"The week is long" she told him in a russian accent
"Well, that's thrilling" tristan rolled his eyes
"I know. But, progress" she smiled then ahit the window

Tristan turned around and said, "okay, here you go, 1 strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream" Tristan said
"Thanks" el and max said in unison
"Wait a second..."  Tristan said realizing that it was eleven, Chief jim hoppers daughter, that was there with max "are you even allowed to be here?"
El and max just looked at each other and giggled.

* * *

"The week is long, the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west." All of them read.

"I mean, it just... it just cant be right." Steve said as he was locking up scoops ahoy
"It's right" robin insisted
"Honestly, I think its great news" Dustin told everyone
"How is this great news?" Steve questioned "i mean, so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense"
"Its not nonsense." Tristan told steve "its too specific. It's obviously a code."
"What do you mean, a code?" Steve asked the younger Harrington boy
"A super secret spy code" Tristan said like it was common knowledge
"Thats a total stretch" steve rolled his eyes
"I dont know, is it?" Robin asked the eldest Harrington child
Steve raised his eyebrows "youre buying into this?"
"Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret russian transmission. Whatd you think they were gonna say, Fire the warhead at noon? And my translation is correct. I know that for sure, so... The silver cat feeds. Why would anyone talk like that unless they were trying to mask the true meaning of their message? And why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive? So i guess that confirms your suspicion" Robin explained

"Evil rissians" Dustin said as he grabbed onto tristans hand
"I can't believe im about to agree with this strange child, but, yeah, totally evil russians" robin chuckled
"So how do we crack it?" Tristan asked
"Well.... I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges" robin said
"A pattern" Dustin repeated "right, like maybe Silver cat is a meeting place?"
"Or a person" robin said
"Or a weapon" Tristan said
"It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but —" robin was interrupted by Tristan asking "wheres steve?"

When they all turned around to look for steve, he was infront of an indiana flyer checking his pockets
"Uh... its a quarter. I need- do you have a quarter?" Steve asked
"Sure youre tall enough for that ride?" Robin joked
"Quarter! I know you have that quarter, Tristan!" Steve yelled. And he was right. Tristan did have a quarter.
When Tristan gave steve the quarter and steve put it in and made the others listen to the music, they figured out that the evil russians were in the starcourt mall.