Freak || Steddie

chapter four

The sound of Steve's phone ringing sliced through the silence of the house. Groggily he picked it up, "hello?" His voice was full of sleep. After dinner the previous day, Steve came home and busied himself with cleaning before heading to bed.

"Where are you?" A gruff voice said on the other line. Immediately remembering he had to be at community service, Steve sat up quickly. He hadn't set an alarm last night, not really given any information on what time he was suppose to be at the Sheriff's office.

Cursing to himself, "uh- on my way Sheriff." The sound of the phone hanging up caught him off guard. He glanced at the time and noticed it was a little after 7am. Of course. Sheriff Hopper wasn't the type of man that liked to be left waiting. Steve shuffled out of bed to get ready for the day. Passing by a mirror hanging on his wall, he noticed his face swelled more over night, sighing he looked away from his reflection. While getting ready it gave Steve some time to think over yesterday. Munson had fucked with him at dinner and he didn't know how to feel. He was grateful that he didn't have to start anything over what happened at the diner. He wanted to ignore the boy for as long as he could.

Hopping in his car, Steve started towards the police station. The drive through the small town didn't take long. Unfortunately, he recognized that Munson was already at the station. Glancing at the digital numbers the clock read almost 7:30. Rolling his eyes he slid out of his car and walked towards the front doors.

"Being late won't be tolerated." A stern voice stated as he walked inside. Steve glanced around the front office, his eyes landing on the Sheriff and metalhead. He nodded his head in response, not really caring. The Sheriff looked annoyed at the tardiness of the boy. Not much could be said to get a rise out of him this early. "James told me about your frequent fights," the Sheriff began, "it won't be tolerated here. You'll be working together for the next month so get use to each other." James must've been The Lion, Steve concluded. The hope of not having to work with Munson was crushed. Neither boy responded to the older man, nor looked in each other's direction.

The Sheriff shuffled some papers around and huffed before standing. He motioned for the boys to follow, to which they complied. It's too early for this, Steve thought to himself. His first period was a free one, allowing him to sleep in before school. Tiredly, he rubbed his sore face and stifled a yawn. The pair followed Hopper to a dimly lit room in the back of the station. "You'll be organizing these files into those cabinets by date and alphabetical order. Keep it to the year," Hopper didn't give further instruction as he moved out of the room.

Steve heard the door click behind him and perched his lips. This wouldn't be to difficult but there were multiple large stacks of thick envelopes, which meant it would take up the whole day. "Let's start with organizing by year," Steve mumbled as he took charge. Without so much as a nod, the metalhead positioned himself at a stack. Steve, wanting to stay away from Munson as much as possible, started looking at a stack on the other side of the stuffy room. Both boys started working mechanically, organizing things by the year.

This went on for quite some time. Steve wasn't sure how long they had been at it; he left his phone in the car, knowing he shouldn't have it. The pair didn't speak a word to each other, not until the Sheriff knocked on the door to hand them lunch. Steve was starving by that time and graciously took the McDonalds from the gruff man. "I suppose this is better than school," these were the first words the metalhead had spoken to Steve today. Steve, being too engrossed in his burger, hummed in response. The metalhead didn't say anything else while they ate.

"Alright, let's get back to work. We probably won't finish today," Steve told the other boy. They weren't even half way done with organizing the paperwork by year. More stacks of envelopes seemed to magically appear.