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stiles-o-dylan24 · 1 year ago

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King of My Heart Chapter 19 - The Case of the Missing Lifeguard

Author: @stiles-o-dylan24 Pairing: Steve x Summer Byers (eventually) Word Count: 5.8k Warnings: language, mentions of guns, dual pov SERIES SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

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SUMMER POV

Rain is on the forecast for today so Steve thankfully offered to stop by the house to pick me up and take me to work so I didn’t have to ride my bike.

I meet him outside and climb into the front seat, smiling over at him as I shove my bag and my rain jacket down against the side of my leg “Thanks for picking me up.”

He lifts his hand off the steering wheel, shifting back in his seat as he returns with a smile of his own and stammers “Yeah, yeah– of– of course, any time.”

Once we get to the mall we unlock the front gate and head into Scoops, working through the opening checklist and getting everything ready for when the mall opens.

Robin shows up almost an hour into our shift and she grabs her headphones out of her backpack and sets them on the back counter while we wait for Dustin to arrive with the tape recorder.

Once Dustin gets to Scoops we make our plan for the day– he hands the tape recorder to Robin so that she and I can continue listening to the recording and see if there’s any other clues or part of the code to translate.

While we stay at the ice cream parlor to do that Steve and Dustin head out for a stake out of sorts, trying to see if they can see anything out of the ordinary or any evil Russians that stand out among the mall patrons.

I’ve got the headphones on and I’m listening to the recording again while Robin wipes down some tables. I hear the bell ring on the front counter a few times before I look over my shoulder and see Erica and her friends here once again.

I smile at her and spin around to face her, dropping the headphones down to rest around my neck “Yes, Erica?”

She smiles a little forced smile and brightly announces “I’d like to try the peanut butter chocolate swirl, please.”

I snort and shake my head softly at her “No, I’m sorry but no more samples today.”

Her face falls as she asks “Why not?” and Robin walks back behind the counter, chiming in “Because you have been in here the last few days, including this morning, sampling flavors.”

Erica swings her offended eyes from Robin and back at me and I raise my brows once with my words “You’re abusing our company policy which is to allow someone to try one or two flavors to make a decision”

“I am trying to make a decision” Erica counters and I’m quick to laugh once and throw back at her “You’ve tried every flavor twice– you know which ones you like.”

Erica throws me a frustrated look and looks around “Where’s the sailor man?”

Robin chuckles and I shake my head at Erica as I answer her “Sorry, but Harrington can’t help you today– he’s busy.”

“Busy with what?” she asks and I share a look with Robin who smiles and answers “Spycraft.”

⋇・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・⋇

STEVE POV

Dustin and I head towards the center of the food court where the seating area is surrounded by an outline of planters that are filled with fake plants. We head to the back left of the bench area so we’ll be able to see everyone walking by from the front main entrance of the mall as well as the escalators.

Dustin lifts up the binoculars that he brought and hands them over to me. I grab them and toss the strap behind my neck before I lift the binoculars up so I can look through them. I slowly move from side to side so I can look at everyone I can see around us down on the first floor as well as up above us on the second floor.

“You see anything?” Dustin asks and I make a noise as I reply “Uh, I guess I don't totally know what I'm looking for.”

“Evil Russians” he says like it’s obvious and I resist the urge to roll my eyes as I say slowly “Yeah, exactly. I don't know what an evil Russian looks like.”

“Tall, blond, not smiling” Dustin offers and I sigh “Mm-hmm?” while Dustin continues “Also, look for earpieces, camo, duffel bags, that sort of thing.”

“Right, okay, duffel bags” I repeat absentmindedly and move the binoculars so I can look up at the second floor level, scoffing at what I see next “Oh, you've gotta be kidding me.”

“What?” I hear Dustin say and I grimace as I fill in “Anna Jacobi's talking with that meathead Mark Lewinsky.”

“If you're not gonna focus, just gimme the binoculars” Dustin sighs, however, I just talk over him “Aw, Jesus Christ, whatever happened to standards? I mean, Lewinsky never even came off the bench.”

Dustin makes a noise and says “Dude, you are the worst spy in history, you know that?” as he grabs the binoculars from my hands and pulls them towards him. Problem being the strap is still around my neck so I lean with his pull and say “Stop, hey,” at the same time he says “Give me those.” I succeed in removing the strap attached to the binoculars from my neck and toss it at him “Just stop being so impatient.”

Dustin takes the binoculars and lifts them up to look through them, throwing at me “Besides I don't get why you're even looking at other girls–” he starts and I’m quick to interrupt “I wasn’t looking at other girls, I just saw them together and it was a little appalling.”

Dustin looks over at me just to roll his eyes before he goes back to looking through the binoculars “You literally have the perfect girl right in front of you.”

I sigh, lifting my arm up to lean against the planter wall in front of us “Seriously, if you say Summer again…”

“Summer– okay, Steve,” he drops the binoculars once more to look right at me while he stresses “Summer. I mean what the hell have you been doing for the past few months?”

“Nothing man–” I start and he just nods, interrupting me “Exactly, nothing–" he scoffs, shaking his head and continuing "Even I can see you’re not doing anything... I think you’re taking your 'not caring' advice a little too literally.”

“Summer was never a girl that was going to fall for the 'not caring' trick” I scoff lightly, shaking my head as I look down at the fake plant in front of me. I hit the leaves and sigh to myself, not wanting to admit to this little twerp that what I’ve been doing for months is trying to figure out if I even have a shot with Summer… which no matter how much I want to look into how she is acting more friendly towards me, I keep coming back to the same conclusion– I don’t stand a chance in hell with her.

Dustin snorts, completely oblivious to my turmoil “Yeah well what’s your trick going to be for getting Summer then?”

“There are no tricks, man,” I breathe out helplessly, shaking my head as I continue “Besides I already told you she is different– you don’t get a girl like Summer, you’re winning the state championship lucky if she decides you’re worth her time. She’s–”

“Perfect” Dustin interjects and I nod, looking over at him “Yeah exactly– Sum is perfect.”

Dustin sighs, looking at me quickly before resuming his binocular lookout “She’s also perfect for you.”

“Maybe,” I mutter quietly, shaking my head once as to not get my hopes up as I drum my fingers against the top of the planter “But that fact goes out the window when you think about how I’m not perfect for her”

“Steve, stop selling yourself short” Dustin tells me and I look over at him “No I’m serious, I’m not– she deserves someone better than who I was and how I treated her for years”

“You’re not that person anymore” Dustin says and I draw my brows together while I question genuinely “How exactly do you figure that?”

Dustin drops the binoculars down once more and connects his serious eyes with mine to make sure I hear him when he says “Because Summer wouldn’t be friends with you if you were.”

I’m silent with that, really wanting to punch him in the shoulder for attempting to get my hopes up with everything he’s saying right now. While I appreciate it, he’s not any closer to knowing what’s going on in her head than I am.

“Pretty sure all she will ever see me as is a friend” I grumble pathetically and Dustin rolls his eyes “You never know until you ask her– like with me and Suzie.”

“Oh, Suzie” I state, widening my eyes a little while I humor him “Yeah, you mean, hotter than Phoebe Cates– yeah, that Suzie. And, uh, let's think about how exactly did you score that beautiful girlfriend? Oh, yeah. With my advice. Because that's how this works, Henderson. I give you the advice, you follow through. Not the other way around, all right, pea brain?”

Dustin snorts, not even bothering to look at me as he counters back quickly “Deflecting is a nice touch to let me know that you know I’m right.”

Dammit, Henderson.

I scoff and roll my eyes, looking away from him so he can’t see that I do in fact know he is right– I do just need to bring it up to her.

Worst thing she can tell me is she won’t ever see me as anything else other than the same shallow douche she went to school with– which she has told me before so it wouldn’t be anything I haven’t heard before.

Only difference now being I actually like her so her shooting me down will actually hurt.

“How am I supposed to just bring that up to her though?” I ask and I can hear the smile in his words “Summer is like the easiest person to talk to–”

“Yes I’m aware…" I deadpan towards him, sarcastically laughing once "But, you know, baring my feelings to her is understandably going to be a little more nerve wracking than how’s your trauma from fighting monster slug babies going?”

“Steve, come on” Dustin says a little louder than before and he looks at me, raising his brows at me like I’m ridiculous for being this worried and I jerk my head back in my bewilderment.

Dustin just rolls his eyes and continues “You are so worried and nervous that she’s going to turn you down but have you even stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, she feels the same way about you?”

I make a face, shaking my head once as I fire back “Umm no” and he just sighs loudly through his frustration “Jesus Harrington, you already got her to somehow agree to be your friend and to work with you– I think getting her to agree to date you wouldn’t be too far of a stretch.”

I think about that for a few seconds, ultimately landing on he’s crazy and I let him know just that “Yeah and I think that you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I think I’m the only one who knows anything at this point– you two are idiots” Dustin remarks and I hit his shoulder lightly “Hey, don’t call her an idiot.”

Dustin just rolls his eyes and lifts up the binoculars again, sarcastically laughing at me “Oh my god just tell her you love her already or I will do it for you.”

I drop my mouth open in shock, glaring at the side of his head and silently cursing the little jackass.

It’s only a few minutes later though when thoughts of feelings and Summer get the pause button when Dustin is saying “Target acquired” and I look up in the direction he’s looking “Where?”

“Ten o' clock” Dustin says, continuing with “Sam Goody's” as I reach for the binoculars and say “Give me that.”

I look through the binoculars and find Sam Goody’s, my eyes widening behind the lenses when I see a not smiling, tall, long blond haired guy wearing sunglasses and carrying something over the back of his shoulder.

“Shit” I breathe out, noticing what exactly is in his hand and announcing “Duffel bag.”

I drop the binoculars down and look at Dustin, both of us muttering at the same time “Evil Russian.”

The long blond haired evil Russian heads up the escalator towards the top floor, so Dustin and I quickly follow after him, choosing to instead run up the escalator once he’s stepped off of it.

We head to the right and follow behind him, and while I’m trying not to lose him by walking quickly Dustin is countering that plan as he says “Slow down.”

“We're losin' him” I reply, trying to keep an eye on him through the crowd in between us and Dustin argues “You're getting too close.”

Someone bumps their shoulder into mine, exclaiming loudly back at me “Watch it, dickwad” and I notice how the guy we’re following stops walking.

When he starts to look over his shoulder Dustin and I quickly step off to the side and I turn in a circle before I come to a stop and look through a store's front display window. Dustin grabs the payphone off of the receiver and talks into it in the most monotone voice “Hello. Yes. I am fine. How are you?”

I look through the leaves of the fake tree that's in between us and notice the guy turn back around and start walking forwards again.

I step towards Dustin and tap his shoulder to get him to walk with me again and he reaches over to hang up the phone.

We follow the guy until he makes a move to walk around to the walkway on the other side from where we are so we hide behind a pillar and keep watching which direction he’s going to be heading in.

He however doesn't keep going along the walkway and instead walks through the front doorway into a Jazzercise store front with a bunch of women inside who are stretching on workout mats.

As soon as he’s half way inside he starts yelling “All right, everyone, listen up!” he sets his duffle bag on the counter and unzips it “I just have one question for you. Who… is ready to sweat?”

He finishes his question by lifting out a boombox from the duffle bag and all the women inside the room stand up and face him, cheering and clapping with their excitement as an answer.

“What the–” I trail off as the notes of Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go start to play in the room and he takes off his jacket “That's right! Okay! Let's start it nice and easy now.”

He finishes taking off his jacket and reveals a workout outfit as he starts to move his hips, saying instructions to the group in front of him “Let's move our thighs. Yeah!”

I frown as we continue to watch him begin this jazzercise class before I tap Dustin on the shoulder and nod my head back towards the direction of Scoops “Let’s head back, yeah?”

“Yeah” Dustin sighs and we turn around, walking back the way we just came from.

⋇・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・⋇

SUMMER POV

Once the rush of the afternoon dies down, Robin hops up to sit on the back counter and opens the window into the back where I’m pacing back and forth with the headphones around my neck and my arms crossed over my chest.

Robin makes a noise to gain my attention while she leans over to hit her hand on the counter that’s on my side of the window “Come on, sit down and we can go over this again.”

I look over at her and she just smiles a little more, tapping the counter twice more and I huff through my frustration “There’s nothing else to translate though it just repeats.”

“I know” she hits the counter again “Come on– up, up”

I drop my arms down to my sides and walk over to the counter, hopping up and spinning around to face her. I cross my legs in front of me and set my elbows on my knees, clasping my hands in front of me.

She makes a noise and grabs the notepad with our translation on it and she reads it slowly "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."

“Tread lightly?” she repeats and grabs the translation dictionary to flip through the pages again.

“You gotta be quiet?” I offer oh so helpfully and Robin throws me a look, trying not to laugh as she turns another page. I make a half laugh noise and huff, keeping my elbows on my knees while I set my hands on the sides of my face “I have no idea but my brain hurts, none of this is making any more sense today than it wasn’t last night”

“I know” she agrees, breathing out a sigh before she lifts up her soda cup and takes a sip.

There’s a knock on the back door from the service hallways and I sit up straight, saying “I got it” before I spin back around and hop off the counter. I walk over to the door and open it, seeing a delivery guy with a dolly. He smiles an exhausted smile and holds the clipboard out for me to sign the delivery sheet “Delivery for you.”

“Thank you” I reply and as I’m handing the clipboard back to him I notice the name on his uniform shirt and my eyes travel up to his hat which says the same thing– no fucking way.

A lynx is definitely a type of cat… and 'feeds'... what if that's code for delivers?

He sets the box onto the floor by my feet and grabs the clipboard from me “Have a nice day”

“Yeah you too,” I reply absentmindedly and he starts to walk away back down the hallway.

“Summer?” Robin calls from behind me and I quickly look back at her and see her lift her shoulders up with her question “What’s wrong?”

I make a noise and quickly step out through the door, looking down the hallway and seeing the the silver cat head logo on the back of his uniform. I widen my eyes a little as I mutter “The silver cat feeds”

“What?” Robin calls from the other side of the window and I look over at her, closing the door and repeating a little louder “The fucking silver cat feeds!”

She jerks her head back, furrowing her brows in her confusion while I quickly run towards the door that leads into the parlor.

“Summer, wait” Robin calls and swings her legs around from how she was also facing the window. She hops down and follows after me just as I’m passing by Dustin and Steve as they walk into Scoops “Yo Sum, you’re not gonna believe who Dustin thought was a Russian” Steve says to me, quickly followed by Dustin saying “You did too” however over Steve’s response of “No I did not” I just wave my hand at them as I run past and say “SIlver cat– I found the silver cat”

“Wait, you found what?” they call out behind me as I run into the mall and head for the center seating area that’s surrounded by the food restaurants. There’s a bunch of fake trees and bushes right in the center with benches surrounding them in a circle and I run right for an empty bench, hopping up onto it while I look around at all the different stores. If silver cat is a delivery person then these other stores have to be the other clues, specifically where they’re delivering and possibly when.

"A trip to China sounds nice" I mutter quietly, quickly looking around and repeating “A trip to China sounds nice– a trip to China– sounds nice… a trip to China” I stop when I find the Imperial Panda cuisine restaurant and half laugh to myself as I lift my hand up with my words “A trip to China sounds nice.”

"Okay, if you tread lightly" I move on to the next clue, moving my eyes along the stores down here and also what I can see on the second level “If you tread…,” I swing around, looking at all the stores surrounding the food court area and stop when I see the Kaufman Shoe store on the second floor above me and I smile, repeating “If you tread lightly”

"When…” I frown, quickly looking up at what stores could be blue or yellow “When blue and yellow meet in the west" I spin in a circle, my eyes landing on a massive clock and I smile when I notice the hands are the exact colors I need “When blue meets yellow… in the west–” I laugh once, whispering “Eight forty five.”

“Sum” I hear Steve call my name as he, Robin and Dustin stop in front of me and I look down at them, watching as Steve lifts his arms out to his sides “What are you doing?”

“I cracked it” I state proudly, smiling even wider and Steve just furrows his brows “You cracked what exactly?”

Robin smiles and points at me “Holy shit, super genius here cracked the code”

Steve and Dustin widen their eyes and look from her and back at me, Dustin asking “The super secret spy code?” While Steve says “Seriously? What is it?”

“Come on” I say and smile, hopping down off the bench and the four of us head back into Scoops.

“So?” Steve asks when we walk into the back of the store and I fill them in on what I found “I think the evil russians are having something delivered here to the mall using the Lynx delivery service whose logo is a silver cat and they’re using the Imperial Panda and Kaufman Shoes as a cover for their deliveries.”

“What about blue meets yellow in the west?” Dustin asks and I smile, lifting my brows up once with my final riddle solving words “The hands on the clock are blue and yellow so it’s a specific time for this delivery… eight forty five.”

“Holy shit” Steve mumbles and Dustin laughs through his excitement “That's definitely a super secret spy plan– so what do we do?”

“I think” I say, shrugging my shoulders while I look between them all and continue “In just over six hours we should head up to the roof opposite the loading dock where the deliveries come in and see what exactly gets delivered and where exactly it gets delivered to.”

The three of them offer nods of agreement, smiling in our nervous excitement as Robin laughs once "I can't believe we were right."

“What are we supposed to do until then?” Dustin half whines and I set my hands on my hips, smiling “We need to figure out how to get to the roof and not be seen by whoever is getting these deliveries."

Robin and Dustin stay at Scoops while Steve and I follow the evacuation route in the hallway that will lead us outside. Though before we get to the hallway that leads out the back exit we turn to the right and find another door with a stairs access sign on it. We open it and find a stairwell with a sign on the far wall saying roof access, I smile and point over towards it “That looks promising.”

Steve raises his brows once and holds open the door for me “After you, m'lady.”

I chuckle and walk past him and he makes sure the door isn’t going to lock on us. We close it softly to where it doesn’t latch just in case and we head up to the stairs towards the roof.

We open the door we find at the top of the stairs and prop it open with a rock we find off to the side, figuring that’s probably what it’s been used for, before we step out onto the roof.

I slowly move towards the ledge to our left, seeing the coast is clear from anyone standing around and I try to figure out where we are. Steve shares a look with me and we slowly walk across the roof to the far side of the ledge and down below we see a delivery truck leaving from the loading dock area “This has to be it, right?” Steve asks and I nod “It’s gotta be.”

I look up at him and see him smile when I do, asking me “So we’re really going to do this?”

I shrug and look back at the ledge, pointing at it as I crouch down behind it “This is high enough that we shouldn’t be seen by anyone standing down there–” I look up at him and he nods in agreement while he crouches down beside me and I continue with a little shrug “Very low risk and we’ll just be observing if my code cracking was right.”

Steve chuckles, nodding as he rests his arms on his knees and looks around “Yeah, definitely shouldn’t find ourselves in our usual risky monster situations with this stake out.”

He smiles and stands up with that, holding his hand out for me. I smile softly and set my hand in his, feeling him wrap his fingers around mine so he can pull me up.

With my hand still in his, I feel a raindrop on my arm and another one before I quickly look up at the dark cloudy sky above us “Well rain will definitely make the stake out interesting.”

Steve chuckles and in the next instant the clouds open up and it starts pouring down on us. “Oh!” Steve flinches back and increases his hold on my hand while we run back to the door, laughing as I lift my free hand up to push my wet hair out of my face.

Steve does the same with his hair, looking from the pouring rain belting down onto the roof in front of us and down at me. I watch as the water drops slowly roll down his face and off his eyelashes, the smell of the rain surrounding us and I smile brightly “The smell of rain on the pavement is one of my favorite things about a summer rainstorm”

Steve smiles, nodding his head slowly as he moves his eyes between mine “Mine too, nothing really quite like it.”

Silently he reaches up and moves his fingers along the side of my head near my temple, moving some of my hair that apparently was stuck to my skin and I shiver– mentally telling myself it has everything to do with the rain seeping into my clothes and absolutely nothing to do with him touching me.

I feel his hand squeeze around mine again and it seems to make us both startle since we realize at the same time he’s been holding my hand this whole time. He nervously clears his throat and lets go, reaching up to scratch the side of his temple as he mumbles a quiet “Sorry, I uh–”

I smile, shaking my head like it’s not a big deal and Steve lifts his arm to point over his shoulder to indicate the stairwell “We should, uh, head back and let them know what we found.”

“Yeah” I breathe out “Yeah, let’s go” I nod and hold onto the door handle for support while I move the rock out of the way with my foot.

When we get back to the hallway for Scoops we knock on the back door and Dustin opens the door for us, jerking his head back when he looks at us and our drenched state and smiling wide “What happened to you two?”

“It’s raining, Dustpan” I remark like it’s obvious and he nods slowly “So just got caught out in a rainstorm on the roof… that’s–”

“Wet” Steve interjects, nodding his head once and raising his brows towards him “We’re wet, Henderson now can you move so we can grab some of the towels.”

Dustin moves aside, sharing a knowing look with Steve that I throw a curious look at and when he notices he clears his throat and his face from any previous humor he had.

I look over at Steve and he smiles softly, holding out one of the clean cleaning towels for me and I wipe off my arms and face while he does the same.

Since Dustin doesn’t have a jacket, and he refused to use one of ours, we improvise and spend the rest of the time fashioning out a rain cover for him as best we can with some trash bags and duct tape.

Just before eight thirty we head through the service hallways, up the stairs and out onto the roof that Steve and I found will give us the best vantage point of the delivery dock area.

Once we make sure our roof is clear, and Dustin checks the surrounding roofs are clear from any other lookouts with his binoculars, we step out into the rain. The rain is coming down in sheets, followed by the occasional lightning strike and thunderclap while we crouch down behind the ledge and wait for this delivery to happen or not.

The four of us peer over the ledge just enough for our elbows to rest on top of it and we keep our heads low while we watch the back doors.

“How sure are we that this delivery happens every night?” Robin asks what we’re probably all thinking and I shrug, offering lightheartedly “About fifty percent.”

“Hating those odds, Byers” Steve grumbles and I smile over at him “If it’s not tonight, Harrington, then we can always meet out here tomorrow and see...”

Steve throws a sarcastic thumbs up my way before he squeezes his eyes shut from the rain getting in his eyes.

I set my hands on the ledge and mumbling honestly "And there's also the chance I didn't actually crack this code correctly."

"No, you did–" Steve says, smiling reassuringly at me when I look over at him and he nods "It makes too much sense for you to be wrong, Sum."

Sure enough at fifteen to nine a delivery truck pulls around the back of the mall and starts to back in towards the loading dock area where two guys are standing armed with guns.

“Look for Imperial Panda and Kaufman Shoes” I remind Dustin who has his binoculars and is looking at the two guards and the delivery truck.

A guy in a yellow jacket walks out from behind the truck with a red dolly carrying a stack of three boxes and Dustin confirms “Those stores boxes are with that whistling guy, ten o'clock.”

“What do you think's in there?” Steve asks and Dustin answers without missing a beat “Guns, bombs?”

“Chemical weapons?” I shrug and Steve looks over at me, wiping his face with his hand to get the rain out of his eyes.

“Whatever it is, they're armed to the teeth” Dustin continues and Steve once again wipes his fingers over his eyes to clear the water from them “Great,” he nods once, repeating “That's great.”

We see one of the guards sling his gun back behind his shoulder as he walks over to the side panel next to the two big gray doors and he taps the panel. I see a green light shine before the doors open and the guy in the yellow rain jacket with a silver cat logo on the back puts his foot on the back of the dolly. He pulls the dolly back towards him and walks towards the doors that just opened up.

“Hey, what's in there?” Robin asks and Dustin answers “It's just more boxes.”

Steve reaches over and tries to grab the binoculars “Let me check it out.”

“No, I'm still looking,” Dustin argues and Steve continues to try and grab the binoculars from him “Lemme see it.”

“Hang on!” Dustin says at the same time a loud thud rings out as the binoculars slip from their grip and hit the side of the roof ledge we’re looking over.

Both of the guards hear the ominous thud sound and we gasp, Dustin ordering “Duck!”

I move quickly to drop down below the ledge and turn around to lay back against it as flat as I can. Robin twists out of sight on one side of me while Steve does the same on my other side and Dustin flips around on Steve’s other side.

At the thought of us being seen adrenaline starts coursing through my body and my breathing starts coming out in quick, nervous pants. Everything from the echo of the binocular thud to the guards reacting to us ducking out of sight all happens so fast that I don’t even register that Steve grabbed my hand in the middle of all of that. His fingers are linked in between mine, gripping tightly while he holds up our hands in between us. Slowly I look from our hands and over towards him, watching as he does the same and looks at me. He doesn’t let go of my hand, just keeps hold of me as he silently tries to reassure me that we’re going to be okay and I squeeze his hand back.

I can just make out through the pouring rain something being shouted in what I’m betting money on is Russian and I slightly widen my eyes at Steve. He nods like he’s coming to the same conclusion that they’re probably going to search up here and we move to get up, telling Dustin and Robin “Come on, hurry”

Steve keeps a hold of my hand while we quickly run across the roof to the door, only letting go once he opens the door and ushers us all inside. We’re rushing down the stairs and taking the first door we come to that will lead us back into our service hallway before I know it and I breathe out a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves with how close that all was.

We quickly make our way down the hallway, our wet shoes squeaking on the floor as we walk around corners mixing with our panting breaths, and Robin looks between us, smiling nervously “Well, I think we found your Russians.”

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Posted: 18 Aug 2023

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starkstruck27 · 2 years ago

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We can all have a little harringrove mermay ficlet, as a treat.

Ever since the move to Indiana, Billy kept away from the water. There were no oceans to surf in the middle of butt-fuck, nowhere, so there really wasn't a point. Not only that, but with his father watching his every move and all the small town gossip, there weren't any opportunities to sneak off with the cute boys on the swim team after practice, so there was no point there, either.

So until the summertime, he didn't go anywhere near the water. He only did it again because his father demanded he get a job, and he figured that with the humid Indiana heat, a job without a strict dress code would be perfect. Plus, there was the added bonus of fewer physical injuries if pretty much the whole of his body was going to be on display. So getting a job as a lifeguard at Hawkins Community Pool was the clear choice.

It was an easy job. Keep his eyes open, blow his whistle a few times, make sure all the floats and shit were returned by closing, it wasn't rocket science. And showing up an hour early every Friday and Saturday to teach little kids to swim wasn't hard, either. Dealing with their mothers was worse, but thankfully, it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. As long as he flirted back and stroked their egos but cut things off before they got too out of hand, it was fine.

It got worse when Max started showing up at the pool with all her little friends. No matter how many times he blew his whistle and shouted at them to stop running, stop dunking each other, stop bringing food and drinks with them into the water, stop pushing each other in without warning, stop splashing the people who didn't want to be splashed, etc., etc., etc.... it all just seemed to go in one ear and out the other. And pretty soon, Billy was pulling Max aside and threatening to ban the group of them from the pool if they didn't get a parent or some other adult to keep an eye on them while they were there.

"I can either manage the pool or I can manage your asses, but I can't do both, so if you're here and someone else drowns because I'm too worried about yelling at you brats, it's gonna be your fault. Get a parent or some other adult to keep an eye on you, or don't bother coming back, cuz I won't let you in, understand?" He said to her and the rest of them, glaring with more heat in his eyes than the sun at noon.

It shouldn't have surprised him that within a day, they had found a loophole.

The day after he had threatened to ban them, they showed up again, dragging Steve Harrington along behind them. Like, actually dragging him. He didn't even have swim trunks on, he clearly did not want to be there, but once they had gotten him through the gates, there was no turning back. He sighed and resigned himself to a lounge chair, pulling out a book and some sunscreen, and slathered the cream on his pale skin before putting on a pair of reading glasses and starting to get comfortable. Billy barely had time to think about how cute the glasses looked on him when the kids started up their antics, and by the time he'd scolded them, made Henderson take a ten-minute time out, and looked back up at Steve, the other boy was out cold.

Somehow, even with the terrible heat, the constant shrieks of kids, and the loud cracks of thunder that started approaching, Steve stayed asleep for the rest of the day. Finally, after he blew his whistle a few times and told everyone to get out of the pool because of the storm, Billy got down off his chair and approached Max again, almost tempted to grab her by the scruff of her neck like a misbehaving kitten, and glared at her again, leading her and the rest of the brats over to where Steve was still peacefully napping. He shook the other boy awake and turned his glare onto him, if only a little softer.

"Wakey wakey, Harrington," Billy said, standing straight and crossing his arms again.

"What time is it?" Steve asked as he sat up, yawning and rubbing his eyes, knocking his glasses askew.

"Time to take your little hellions home. Pool's closing," Billy replied, trying not to get absorbed in the other boys pretty brown eyes. They had flecks of gold in them, and it was taking everything in Billy not to stare.

"Shit, did I really sleep all day?" Steve mumbled as he and the kids started packing up their things to leave. Steve handed the keys to his car off to little Byers and the kids went to put their things in the car and wait for Steve.

"Yeah, but to be fair, you were only out for about three hours. We're closing early because of the storm coming in," Billy shrugged, and as if it were waiting for a cue, it began to drizzle.

"Shit, uh, fuck, I gotta go," Steve said as the rain began, his face going white and his body stiffening up, "I, uh, I'm a little hydrophobic. Rain, um, bothers me if it gets on me, so I have to go. Bye, Billy."

Billy was about to ask if he wanted an umbrella, but Steve never gave him the chance. He tossed the rest of his stuff into his bag, tossed it over his shoulder, and booked it to his car, making it inside just moments before the sky opened up and it began to downpour.

Billy put it out of his mind. At least it explained why he showed up to the pool in jeans and a polo. But the fact that Harrington ran out so fast yesterday annoyed him. He'd wanted to ask him to either stay awake next time to keep an eye on the kids or get them to come with another adult who could, but he was never able to. Maybe if it was still raining tomorrow he could go over and have a talk with him about it.

The next day, his manager at the pool called Billy an hour before the pool was to open and told him not to come in. It was still thundering and pouring down rain, so he figured it would be closed, and now that it was confirmed, he started to make his plans for the day. Since his dad had already left for work, he ate some breakfast with Max and helped Susan with the dishes, then went to his room to get some clothes before taking a shower. It only took him ten minutes, and by the time he got back to his room, toweling off his hair, the sun was out, bright and shiny, not a cloud in sight.

Billy hardly had time to laugh about it when the phone rang again, and again it was his manager. He told Billy that he was opening the pool now, but that he didn't need to come in, the other lifeguards had it covered. Billy thanked him and was told to enjoy his day off, and he was planning on doing just that after he stopped by Harrington's place and talked to him about the situation with the kids.

He pulled up to the giant house just before lunch time, after dropping Max off at the arcade for the day and grabbing a bite to eat. He went up to the door and rang the bell, but was growing impatient as he stood and waited for it to open. Steve's car was parked in the driveway, so he knew he was home, but he couldn't hear any noise from the inside or see any people behind the curtains. He could, however, see the sunlight streaming onto the living room carpet from what looked like a back door, so he figured that now that the rain was over, maybe Harrington was just outside enjoying the sunshine and couldn't hear the bell. So he walked around the side of the house, fixed his hair one last time in a window's reflection, hopped the fence, and strutted onto the back patio like he owned the place.

And what he saw nearly made his heart stop in his chest.

First off, the Harringtons had a pool. A big one with lights and temperature controls and everything. Secondly, Harrington himself was in said pool, relaxing on an inflatable lounger. Thirdly, and probably most importantly, was that Harrington was completely different. He had a long, golden-yellow tail in place of his strong, slender legs, and the scales of the tail shimmered like pirate treasure in the bright sun. His brown hair was wet and wavy, and it tangled up with the little fins stretching up from behind his ears. His skin was more tan than usual, and it looked as though he'd been dipped in bronzer with the way it glimmered. There were thee deep looking gashes on each side of his neck, though they weren't jagged or bloody like fresh wounds would be. They seemed to flutter a little as he breathed, and Steve didn't seem at all bothered by them. His fingernails had grown into sharp claws that looked as though they had been painted to achieve the buttery golden color that they were, and his fingers were all connected by some kind of extra skin, like the webbing of a frog's feet.

Billy could do nothing but stare at the other boy, confusion and intrigue battling for dominance inside his brain. He knew that Hawkins was an ass-backwards town, but this was something else entirely. He genuinely had no idea how to wrap his head around this, other than the idea that maybe the eggs Susan served him earlier were laced with some kind of hallucinogenic drugs and he was just seeing things. But other than that, he could come up with no plausible explanation for why Steve was in his pool after he told Billy he was afraid of water and turned into some kind of... mer-creature.

"Holy shit!!" He heard Steve shout, followed by a loud splash, and that was what finally drew him out of his own head. He was still gaping as Harrington poked just his head out of the water, fear in his eyes as the sunglasses he'd been wearing drifted and sank to the bottom of the pool. Billy was startled as he saw those eyes, they weren't the same as they usually were. They were no longer brown with flecks of gold, they were entirely gold, the color of warm honey and tropical flowers. Billy was so focused on them that he almost didn't realize it when Steve started speaking again.

"Y-you shouldn’t be... what are you d-doing here?" He asked, still refusing to make any part of himself other than his head visible above the wall of the pool.

"I-I, uh, I came to talk to you about the kids since I didn't get to yesterday," Billy said, moving closer to the edge of the pool to try and get a better look at the other boy, "but now I just kinda want to know what the hell is going on here. What... what happened to you?"

"Um, would you believe me if I told you that I was cursed?" Steve asked, finally letting himself drift away from the wall and expose his upper body. Billy did his best not to stare, lest his awe and amazement be misconstrued as digust or scorn.

"That depends on the story you tell me after to explain it," Billy replied, finally starting to get his wits about him.

"It's kinda complicated," Steve said, swimming over to the ledge again and hoisting himself up to sit on it, his long tail still dangling in the water. "But here goes, I guess. You know about all the freaky shit with the upside down, right?"

"Yeah," Billy said, though he didn't know the full extent of it. He knew that there was a weird dimension that was just like their own, and he knew that there were fucked up monsters that escaped from it sometimes, but that was about it.

"Well, it was just after all that started. I didn't know anything about it, just that some of my friends were in trouble and I had to help protect them. So I went into the upside down to try and do that, but something happened to me. It was like a bomb went off, I had thrown my lighter at some creature because they hate fire, but then it exploded and I must've gotten knocked out. I woke up a few minutes later covered in monster goop and once everyone was safe, we all came back home and started to try and patch up wounds and clean up. Only, when I finally got home and turned on my shower, as soon as I was under the water, I started to change. My legs fused together and I fell, but even with a face full of water, I wasn't coughing or splattering, I was just breathing like normal. I looked down and saw the tail and I freaked out, but I guess once I was able to flop my way out of the bathroom and dry off and I found I could change back, I was okay. Still freaked out, but okay. And I figured out that any time I come into contact with water, whatever part of me that it touches transforms. The only time it's different is if it has something in it that changes it. Since this is still just water, even with the chlorine, it works, but if I were to drink a water bottle with kool-aid mixed in, that doesn't count. Drinking plain water doesn't affect my whole body, either, just my mouth, it turns my tongue green and it goes forked. But other than that, I'm usually fine unless I get hit with a lot of water. That's why I freaked when it started raining yesterday. And why I quit the swim team and never swim with the kids. And I don't want to make anyone else freak out either, so you're actually the only person who knows other than me."

Billy was flabbergasted. That spooky place apparently could change people? With magic?! It was like he was living in a goddamn fairy tale in reverse, and he didn't know if he liked that, since fairy tales typically didn't end well, especially when they centered around humans and mermaids.

"So, is there like... any way to get you back to normal for good?" Billy asked, slipping off his sandals and going to sit next to Steve on the edge of the pool, dangling his feet in the water.

"If there is, I haven't found it. I know what it says in the fairy tales, the 'true love's kiss' and all that, but I doubt the upside down follows the same rules as the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen. So until I cam find somebody or something to figure this out, I guess I'm stuck like this." Steve replied, examining his abnormally long nails and frowning. It made Billy’s heart sink.

"Can't that psychic girl try and help? She has some kinda link to that place, right? And I doubt she would freak out. Every little girl dreams of meeting a mermaid in real life, she'd probably think it's the coolest thing ever." Billy suggested, shrugging and nudging Steve's shoulder with his own. His scaly skin was cold, but on a hot day like today, it felt nice.

"She might be able to help, but I don't want her to. Sometimes it hurts her to use her powers, and it can be hard for her to figure out what to do if she's never done it before, so it could end up worse than it started. I don't want to put that kind of pressure onto her, especially since she'd blame herself if something went wrong. She's already been through so much, I don't need to traumatized her more. Besides, I've been hiding it pretty well so far, so I can keep hiding it until I can find someone else. And it's not like it's that bad a situation. As long as I keep out of the rain and away from pools, I should be fine." Steve said, shrugging himself and making their shoulders brush again. It felt warmer this time, though it may have just been Billy's imagination, because everything felt warmer to him when he was around Steve, mermaid or not.

"Well, if it means anything, I'll be here to help you while you're like this. And I'll keep your secret," Billy said, his mouth turning up into a tiny smile.

"Thanks," Steve smiled too, and his face turned from tan to bright, shining gold. He must've been blushing. "It does mean something. A lot, actually. There aren't many people who'd be willing to do that."

As he said it, Steve did something that Billy didn't expect. He took his webbed, golden, scaly hand and reached for Billy's, intertwining them as best he could. It didn't work that well, but the sentiment was there, and as Billy looked from their hands back up to Steve's face, he saw him grinning brightly.

And he wasn't sure if it was some kind of mermaid magic or what, but all of a sudden, he couldn't control himself. He leaned forward, close enough that he could feel Steve's breath on his cheeks, and once he saw the tiniest nod of the other boy’s head, he kissed him.

And to his genuine surprise (and pleasure), Steve kissed back.

He sealed their mouths together and while Billy couldn't exactly say the taste was pleasant (like chlorine and sunscreen and something slightly fishy), the way their lips slotted together, as if they'd been made to, absolutely was. Kissing Steve was addicting already, even though he'd only done it once, and he never wanted to stop. He wanted to hold Steve forever and keep him safe and protect him from everything and help him figure out a way out of this mess he was in. He never wanted anything bad to happen to him, and he wished he had the power to make all his problems go away. He didn't have that power, but if he couldn't fix things, he was damn sure he wouldn't let Steve struggle on his own.

"Wow," Steve said as the kiss ended, his eyes big and dreamy and his lips turned up into a bright smile. "You're really good at that."

And Billy couldn't help the giggle that escaped him when he heard how amazed Steve seemed to be, nor could he help it when he leaned forward and kissed him again. By now, Steve was drying off, and his upper body was slowly going back to normal, so Billy was able to properly lace their fingers together and the fishy taste was gone from Steve's mouth. Now it just tasted like sunshine, like Steve.

"You're not so bad yourself," he replied once he pulled back enough to speak, though he remained close to the other boy. It was Steve's turn to giggle as he nudged his nose into Billy's, just wanting to keep him close.

"And I promise," Billy continued, suddenly serious, "as beautiful as you are like this, I'm not gonna stop trying to find a way to fix this for you, okay? I'm gonna help you, no matter what."

"I know you will," Steve said, leaning his forehead to Billy's and closing his eyes with a tiny smile. Billy did the same, and as his feet remained dangled in the water, he felt a soft, scaly tail wrap around his ankles and a few soft fins tickling his toes. His grip on Steve's hand tightened, and for the first time since moving to Indiana, Billy felt completely at peace in the water.

#harringrove #steve harrington #billy hargrove #stranger things #mermay #billy hargrove x steve harrington #ficlet #merman!steve #lifeguard billy #magic #spells #who knows what the upside down is capable of #in this case its mermaids

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