fireworks - steve harrington

3.02

HENDERSON

"Dustin! Oh my god, you're back! Does Steve know?" Ren asked as he bearhugged Dustin.

"Not yet. I really need to talk to both of you about something, though. It's really important."

Ren's face fell and he went in 'serious mode'. "Okay, yeah, then let's go get Stevie." Ren turned to his coworker and convinced her to cover his shift before walking out with Dustin. Just across the mall was Scoops Ahoy, so they waltzed right in and got in line.

Standing behind Dustin, Ren picked at his nails. "Hi, I'm Dustin."

"I'm Robin."

"Pleasure to meet you. Uh, is he here?"

"Is who here?"

The door into the back room slammed open and out stumbled Steve. "Henderson! Yes!" He started jumping around by the counter. "He's back!" Ren got this stupid grin on his face at his adorable boyfriend.

"I'm back! You got the job!"

"I got the job!"

Ren and Robin watched as he and Dustin did their little best friend handshake. Robin rolled her eyes while Ren just laughed a little. As soon as they were done, Robin asked, "Exactly how many children are you friends with?"

"A lot," Ren supplied while still laughing.

"Okay, so I told Ren this a couple minutes ago, but I really need to talk to you guys. Something crazy happened."

Steve knew it must be serious, so he made them all a cone of ice cream, and a sundae for DUstin, and they sat down in a booth. Before telling them about his big earth-shattering news, Dustin decided to tell them about his girlfriend.

"No. Absolutely not. No way. Hotter than Phoebe Cates? No."

"Mmhmm. Brilliant, too. And she doesn't even care that my real pearls are still coming in. She says kissing is better without teeth."

Ren raised an eyebrow as Steve said, "Wow. Yeah, that's great! Proud of you, man. That's kinda romantic."

Dustin nodded and ate another spoonful of ice cream. "So do you really just get to eat as much of this as you want?"

"Yeah, sure. It's not really a good idea for me, though. I gotta keep in shape so this guy right here will still want me when the summer's over."

A light blush spread across Ren's cheeks. "I'll obviously still want you, dumbass. I'd want you even if you were fat."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I've already fallen in love with you. I don't care if something changes with your physical appearance, I'm not gonna stop loving you for something that stupid."

If they weren't in a public place, Steve would have made out with Ren right then and there. Instead, one of those stupid grins, like Ren's a few minutes ago, spread across his face.

"Can you two stop being disgusting for like five seconds? I just got back, and you're already all gross again."

Steve turned his attention back to Dustin while Ren shoved a spoonful of chocolate ice cream into his mouth. "Right, sorry. Where are the other knuckleheads?"

"They ditched me yesterday."

Ren dropped his spoon. "They did what?"

"They ditched me. On my first night back."

"Alright, which one's ass should I kick first?" Ren started to get up from the booth, but Steve pulled him back down.

"They really ditched you?" Steve asked.

"Yeah. Can you believe that shit? I swear to god." After eating another bite, he finally started talking about his big news. "They're gonna regret it, though, big time, when they don't get to share in my glory."

The two older boys looked at him in confusion.

"So, last night, we're trying to get in contact with Suzie..."

Ren wiggled his eyebrows.

"And, uh," he lowered his voice, so Ren and Steve scooted closer, "I intercepted a secret Russian communication."

Steve didn't hear, so he asked, "What?" and got even closer.

"I intercepted a secret Russian communication!" Dustin yelled and caused the entire shop to look at them. "And I need your help."

"With what?"

"Translation."

They finished up their ice cream and quickly went to the back room. Steve grabbed a banana and started chowing down on it, winking at Ren every once in a while and making him flustered. Dustin hit play on the tape recording of the transmission and Steve started pacing while Ren sat in the chair across from Dustin.

"So what do you think?" Dustin stopped the tape.

Steve shovelled the last bite of banana into his mouth. "It sounded familiar."

"What?"

"The music. Right there at the end."

Ren rolled his eyes. "Steve, you're supposed to be focusing on the goddamn Russian, not the music!"

"I'm trying! But there's music, and I--"

"Alright," Robin interrupted them by barging through the door, "babysitting time is over, Steve. You need to get in there." She walked across the room and saw what they'd been working on. "Hey, my board! That was important data, shitbirds!"

"I guarantee you what we're doing is way more important than your data."

"Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?"

They all froze.

"Y-You know about the Russians?" Ren asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Yeah, you guys aren't quiet at all. 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 realise Russians use an entirely different alphabet."

Robin reached for the tape player and Steve immediately grabbed it and held it out of her reach. "Whoa, what do you think you're doing?"

"I wanna hear it."

"Why?"

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

"Russian?"

In a Russian accent, she said, "Ou-yay, are-yay, umb-day."

Ren chuckled, immediately recognising Pig Latin, but Steve and Dustin actually got excited.

"That was Pig Latin, dingus," she said to Steve specifically. Ren narrowed his eyes, hoping that wasn't an attempt at flirting.

"But I can speak Spanish, French, and Italian. And I've been in band for 12 years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me."

Dustin and Ren looked hesitant, so Steve made the decision. He handed her the tape player and took the ice cream scoop from her hand.