#the case of the missing lifeguard

[stiles-o-dylan24]

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.

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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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Please do not copy and paste my writing anywhere without my consent. This work is property of @stiles-o-dylan24​ on here and wattpad and stilesodylan24 on AO3.   Stranger Things and its characters aren’t mine, however, Summer and this fanfcition is. These works contain material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.     No part of these works may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

Posted: 18 Aug 2023

[wakeupthemembersofbylernation]

Based upon the winners of the season specific polls (The Case of the ML and The BOSC were basically tied, so I included them both)

[will80sbyers]

STRANGER THINGS 3 Chapter three: The case of the missing lifeguard

[stscreencapredraws]

ketchup and mustard :)

[void-of-chill]

[robin-buckely]

ROBIN BUCKLEY & STEVE HARRINGTON 3.03 | Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard

[robinsource]

ROBIN BUCKLEY in STRANGER THINGS 3.03 | Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard

[gothwineaunts]

Summer Camp Fanfic Fanart

(I'll just copy/paste a bit of my last post in case anyone missed it) So, we decided to make fanart of fanworks. Yeah, it's meta and chaotic, but that kinda feels right. If y'all like this we may do more in the future. This is the last one for today! Hope you had as much fun as we did!!

Ahahaha. So, listen. It was just too good a scene not to feature. This moment is from scouthearted's 'Neversmores' on Ao3. It's got six chapters out now and they're all nostalgic summer camp perfection. Everyone is camp counselors. Annabel is a hot lifeguard. Gay shit happens. Like, I don't even feel like I need to explain why this is good, right? Sapphics, we're all suckers for a summer camp story. That can't just be me. https://archiveofourown.org/works/50104561/chapters/126530674 --- And if you've never been on ao3 before, please understand that there's a WIDE variety of content there and some of it can be very over-the-line. Familiarize yourself with the tagging system before you go clicking around to make sure you're not reading things that are outside your comfort zone/age rating.

[stevie-petey]

episode three: the case of the missing lifeguard

You glance at your door, worried your mom has heard Steve’s pathetic fall, while he clutches at his knee and groans. Through gasps of pain, he manages to respond, “Give me a second to recover my pride, Y/N.” “We need more than just a second to recover your pride.” You crawl out of bed and offer the boy your hand. “Get up, dummy.” He accepts the help and stands, brushing himself off. “Your bed is freakishly high.” “Have you ever considered that you’re just clumsy?” “I’m an athlete, angel.”

Summary: dustin blackmails you for $5 and then dubs steve as boyfriend material for you, robin cracks yet another russian code, you all almost waterboard yourselves after sneaking onto the mall's roof, you have a sexy nervous breakdown, and jonathan takes you for a drive in his sick car

Rating: general, some swearing

Warnings: swearing, use of y/n, fem!reader

Words: 7k

Before you swing in: hi my loves !! had a hectic final week of classes but im finally done !! (technically i have one more final but thats a later issue). this chapter is a lot of banter and chaos and theres some sad feelings towards the end that im a bit frightened to see the reactions to so ,,,, enjoy !

-

When your alarm goes off for work, Steve accidentally kicks you off of your bed in his panic.

“Fuck!”

Your brain barely has time to process that you’re awake as you begin to fall. “What–”

Steve manages to catch you from face planting just in time, flinging you back onto the bed as he struggles to untangle himself from the blankets. “Fuck! Sorry!”

“What’s going on?” you rub your eyes and realize that the screeching sound next to you is your alarm. Slamming your hand against it, the cloud of sleep starts to lift from your brain and you realize why Steve is a storm of chaos right now. “Oh, fuck.”

The two of you accidentally fell asleep together last night. 

He never went home, he never snuck back out your window with a kiss farewell. 

Now, as you take in the situation you’re currently in, you can hear your mother making breakfast in the kitchen, blissfully unaware that there’s a boy in her daughter’s room.

“Yeah, fuck!” Steve shakes at his leg, which is somehow twisted within your bedding and prevents him from escaping. “Get me out!”

“Shit!” You quickly untwist the bedding and free him, but as he rolls off your bed, he misjudges the height and fails to catch himself. He lands with a horrifyingly loud thud, and you throw a pillow at him. “Will you shut up?”

You glance at your door, worried your mom has heard Steve’s pathetic fall, while he clutches at his knee and groans. Through gasps of pain, he manages to respond, “Give me a second to recover my pride, Y/N.”

“We need more than just a second to recover your pride.” You crawl out of bed and offer the boy your hand. “Get up, dummy.”

He accepts the help and stands, brushing himself off. “Your bed is freakishly high.”

“Have you ever considered that you’re just clumsy?”

“I’m an athlete, angel.”

You place your hands on his chest and gently shove him towards your window. “Well, if you’re such an athlete, then it should be no problem for you to hop through this window and get to work, Harrington.”

“At least pretend you’re sad to see me leave–”

Someone knocks on your door. “Y/N? You awake yet?”

Hearing Dustin’s voice, you and Steve exchange a horrified look before you’re shoving even harder at his chest to get him out of your room. “Go!”

Steve stumbles over his feet and makes as much sound as humanly possible. He knocks into your desk and sends a stack of comics falling and he almost slips on them, only narrowly catching himself. Frustrated and bewildered that he keeps falling, he exclaims, “Why does this keep happening?”

The knocking on your door stops. A beat of silence passes before Dustin hesitantly calls through the door, “... did I just hear Steve?”

“No!” You almost throw Steve out your window with the force you shove him, which he curses at and gives you a dirty look, though you ignore him. He’s the one who got you into this fantastically horrible mess in the first place. “I–uh. I stubbed my toe!”

You anxiously wait for Dustin’s response, mentally running through all possible explanations in your head, but after a few minutes pass and you don’t hear anything; you exhale with relief. Seemingly sensing that you’re in the clear, Steve breathes out as well. “That was close.”

“Ew!” Your brother’s screech could rival the Demodogs with how loud and terrifying it is.

Gulping, Steve looks at you and laughs nervously. “Whoops?”

You glare at him. “Get out.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He kisses your forehead and does as he’s told, crawling through your window. Thankfully he lands gracefully this time, and as he begins running towards his car parked down the street, he calls over his shoulder, “See you after your shift!”

Despite your annoyance, you can’t help but laugh as you watch him run away. It’s reminiscent of the boyish charm you saw a few years ago, back when you had almost hit his car with your bike and he had pretended not to know your name in order to get you to laugh. 

Your reminiscing is cut short by Dustin’s obnoxious groaning. “Oh, god. Why did it get quiet in there? Get off my sister!”

You march over towards your door and fling it open. Your brother stands there, a horrified look on his face, and you glance behind him to make sure your mom is still in the kitchen. When the coast is clear, you sneer at him, “Nothing happened!”

“I’m fourteen, not an idiot.”

“We didn’t do anything.” When Dustin snorts at you, disbelieving, you want to strangle the kid. You’re mortified and cannot fucking believe that your little brother thinks anything else happened between you and Steve. “I swear.”

“See, I’d believe you, but mom…” He shrugs with a smug look on his horrid face. “I don’t know, Y/N.”

You drop your head and sigh, knowing where this is going. “How much money do you want?”

“$5, please. I prefer exact change, too.” He extends his arm out and opens his hand, silently demanding the money. 

“You’re horrible, you know that?” You go into your dresser and pull out a five dollar bill before handing it to him. 

Clutching the cash, Dustin smirks. “You raised me well.”

“Get out of my room.”

Hearing the anger in your voice, your brother knows he has about five more seconds before you start throwing things at him. “Yes, ma’am.”

– 

Work is slow, as usual, and when it’s time to pick up Alex from the pool, you wish Mrs. Waters a good day and get into your mom’s car that you borrowed today. With fewer shifts at the bookshop, Alex has started working at the pool to make extra money; on days when he’s there before a shift at Bookstrordinary, it’s your job to drive him to work. 

It’s pouring as you drive to the pool, setting an eerie tone on the first day of July. The summer’s heat causes the thunder to shake your car, and your knuckles are white from how tightly you hold onto the steering wheel.

When you pull up and see Alex hunched over and drenched from the rain, you laugh at him. “Well, looks like someone’s shift ended at the right time,” you say as he quickly jumps into your car. 

Alex doesn’t return your good mood. “Not funny, Y/N.”

Sensing that there’s something more to his foul mood than just being rained on, you look over at him in concern as you begin to drive. “Is everything alright over there?”

“Billy and Heather never showed up for work, so we were short handed fending off dumb kids who wanted to swim with lightning.” Alex wrings out his t-shirt and shakes his hair to dispel excess water, and you cringe as some of the water droplets land on you. “Telling a bunch of scary twelve year olds that they can’t swim… I thought I would die.”

The genuine terror in his voice is amusing, though his words unnerve you. It’s not like Billy to just not show up for work. He’s a lot of things, mainly a dickhead, but the few times you’ve driven the party to the pool, he’s always been there working; he’s dedicated to discipline. Hell, you’ve been to Max’s house, you know her family isn’t the wealthiest.

Billy can’t afford to skip work. 

“They just… never showed up?”

“Nope,” Alex curls into him in a feeble attempt to warm himself up. “We all think they ditched to hookup.”

You think about how rough Billy had looked yesterday, with fresh blood still dripping from him and the feverish chills he seemed to have. Something hadn’t been right, and a knot forms in your stomach. You highly doubt he had ditched work to go hookup with Heather, not if he’s still in the state that he was in yesterday. 

Regardless of what he’s done to you, you hope he’s okay.

Something about this feels wrong.

“Yeah, probably.” Your voice is weak as you respond to your coworker, but he doesn’t seem to pick up on your now solemn mood. 

The rest of the car ride is spent with Alex gossiping about where Billy and Heather could be, so it’s a relief when you finally arrive at Bookstrordinary and he leaves your car. You sit in the parking lot for a few minutes, your stomach twists and the knots multiply. The rain patters softly against the windshield in an almost rhythmic pattern as you try to calm yourself down with deep breaths.

The only sound in the car is your own breathing accompanied by the raindrops. 

– 

It’s Dustin’s idea to spend the day looking for evil Russians. 

Steve isn’t sure where he got the binoculars, but at this point he’s learned that it’s best to not question the kid. Makes things easier.

Which leads to now: the two of them hunched behind fake plants at Starcourt sharing binoculars as they look for people who could fit the “evil Russian” description, all while ignoring the fact that Dustin caught Steve in your room. 

“I don’t know what an evil Russian looks like.” Steve is holding the binoculars up to his eyes as he scans the food court area. He has no clue what he’s looking for and he swears that Dustin is purposely staring him down to try and get him to confess about this morning.

“Tall, blond, not smiling.” The kid responds, knowing that Steve is trying to distract him with stupid questions. He’s squirming under Dustin’s gaze, which he gets a sick joy out of. Between the $5 you coughed up and Steve’s obvious distress, it’s a pretty good day for Dustin Henderson. “Anyways, look for earpieces, camo, duffel bags, that sort of thing.”

Steve continues to look through the binoculars, relieved that Dustin seems to be playing along and hasn’t hounded him about this morning. “Right, okay. Duffle bags.”

As Steve busies himself with the search, Dustin waits a few seconds to lull him into a false sense of security. He’s been waiting all day to do this. Clearing his throat, he prepares for the attack. “Hey, uh, Steve?”

“Yeah, little Henderson?”

“While you look for evil Russians, keep an eye out for idiots who traumatize their friends by sleeping with their sisters.”

Steve yanks the binoculars away from his face as if they’ve burned him. His eyes are wide and panicked as he turns to Dustin with a horrified look on his face. “That is��not what happened!”

“Tell that to the traumatized kid.” The younger teen waves a hand over himself to emphasize his point. “You owe me like, at least five years of therapy.”

“I didn’t sleep with Y/N, dude! That’s–that’s gross–”

“Are you calling my sister gross?” Dustin crosses his arms now, daring Steve to go on. 

He groans and rubs his face. “That’s not what I meant, alright? I just… She’s your sister and–and we aren’t even together–”

“That’s a good point, actually.” Dustin snatches the binoculars out of Steve’s hand and starts to look for any signs of Russians. “Why aren’t you with my sister?”

Steve stares at him, dumbfounded. “You’re sending totally mixed signals, dude. Do you want me dating Y/N or not?”

“It’s not preferable, especially when I catch you sneaking out of her window like some skeezy douchebag–”

“How many times do I have to tell you nothing happened–”

“But, besides that,” Dustin shrugs, narrowing his eyes when he sees a possible blond teen who could fit the evil Russian description. “You’re not so bad, even though you’re a massive tool for not asking out the perfect girl right in front of you.”

Steve rolls his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose, entirely over this conversation. “You sound like Robin.”

The blond teen Dustin had been eying sits down and starts eating a hot dog, so he concludes that he isn’t Russian if he has an affinity for American food. “And Robin would be correct. Just ask Y/N out, she’s been waiting for like, at least a year now.”

“It’s not that easy.” Steve slumps over and bangs his head against the plant display they’re leaning against. “I have no idea how to ask her to be my girlfriend.”

“What, do you need my blessing or some shit?” Dustin removes the binoculars from his face and looks at the older teen, making sure to catch his eye. Then, in a horrible British accent, he says, “I give thy my blessing.”

“Thanks, buddy.” Steve deadpans, shoving the kid’s face away from his, uncomfortable with the eye contact. “But your blessing isn’t the problem. Y/N is just–she’s different and has been through a fuck ton of shit that I can’t even comprehend, and I’m just supposed to believe she wants to be with me?”

“Yeah?” Dustin cocks his head at Steve, not all understanding why he’s so confused about this. “You literally slept in her bed last night, man.”

Steve releases a quick breath and scratches his nose. He feels like an idiot and just really wishes you were here right now. “I… Well, yeah. Then there’s that.”

“It astounds me that you were once known as King Steve with a million girls drooling over him.” Dustin mumbles, baffled by the other’s patheticness, before going back to looking for Russians. 

“Let’s remember that it was my advice that got you that girlfriend of yours, alright? Girls love me, that’s never been the issue, ” Steve flicks the kid’s nose, a habit he’s picked up from you. “So cool it with the arrogance, dipshit.”

“Steve, do I need to remind you that it’s not okay to call my brother a dipshit?”

Your sudden appearance causes Steve to clutch his chest and scream. He spins around and gasps, terrified of how much you may have heard from his conversation with Dustin. “Y/N! Y-you’re here!”

“I am…” You frown, unsure why he looks so scared; normally he’s excited when you surprise him at work. 

“Uh,” Steve clears his throat and straightens his shirt out, trying to come off as collected rather than five seconds away from losing his shit. “I, uh. How much did you hear, ya know. Standing there?”

“Not much…?” Truthfully you’d been lost in thought, still worrying about Billy as you had approached the two teens hiding behind the fake plants. “All I heard was you calling my brother a dipshit.”

Steve deflates, and his reaction only confuses you further. Clearing his throat once more, he nods. “Oh. Yeah.”

You look over at Dustin, hoping for some type of clue as to what the fuck is wrong with Steve right now. “Did I miss something?”

“He was giving me horrible dating advice. Can we get back to looking for evil Russians?”

“Dating advice, huh?” You raise your eyebrows at Steve, who blushes furiously, and you giggle at his misery before turning back to Dustin. You eye the binoculars in his hand and point a finger at them. “And you can’t seriously think you’ll find evil Russians this way, right?”

“You got any better ideas, Y/N?” Your brother snarks as he brings the binoculars back up to his eyes. 

You nudge him with your shoulder. “No, but I’m positive I can think of something less childish than whatever this is.”

“Just help us look for someone tall and blond with duffel bags.” Steve sighs.

“Oh, because duffel bags are so scary and Russian.” You roll your eyes at the boys, ashamed of their antics. Their logic is flawed and biased with so many gaping holes, it’s almost comical, but it’s enough to distract you from your anxiety from earlier. “Guys, why can’t we just go back to Scoops and figure out another way–”

“Target acquired.” Dustin suddenly interrupts you. 

You share a look with Steve, who leans closer to the kid. “Where?”

“Ten o’clock. Sam Goody’s.”

Steve snatches the binoculars from Dustin’s hands and takes a look for himself, which you scoff at. They’re being ridiculous right now. However, when the older teen exhales in disbelief and announces the person has a duffel bag, your curiosity gets the better of you.

“Hand it over, pretty boy.” Before he can argue, you’ve snatched the binoculars from Steve and bring them up to your own eyes. It takes a few moments for you to find what the boys had been looking at, but when you finally spot the tall, blond man dressed in all black with sunglasses and a duffel bag, you can’t help but admit that he looks suspicious. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

Steve and Dustin turn to each other and say in unison. “Evil Russian.”

The three of you chase after the guy, weaving between the crowd of people at the mall as you trail him. You and Dustin side step a woman with her kid as Steve speeds ahead of you guys. Struggling to keep up, your brother berates Steve to slow down. 

“We’re losin’ him.” He responds, only speeding up even more. 

“You’re getting too close.” Dustin warns, and you almost trip over your shoelaces in your haste. He’s right, Steve is getting too close to the guy, and it’s making you nervous.

You quicken your footsteps and tug at his uniform. “Steve, we need to be careful–”

Suddenly the Russian looking guy stops in his tracks and slowly begins to turn around. You all scramble and try to appear casual; Dustin runs to the phone and pretends to make a call while Steve pulls you to the corner and places his hands on your waist to pull you close. 

“Pretend we’re a couple!” He whispers, throwing your hands over his shoulders. 

“This is wholly unnecessary,” you mumble, face burning at the close proximity. His fingers burn your sides, it’s been too long since he’s held you like this. 

Steve chuckles at you and pulls you in closer, enjoying the moment far more than you think is needed. “Gotta admit, this is pretty romantic.”

You roll your eyes. “Totally. Super hot hunting down evil Russian spies with you, Steve.”

“Stop sucking face, the guy is getting away!” Dustin yanks at you and tears you from Steve’s grasp, disturbed and annoyed that it only took three seconds before you distracted the teen. 

Soon you’re all following the blond guy again, and when he starts to slow down, the three of you hide behind a column and poke your heads out. Watching, you see the guy enter into the Jazzercise studio and pull a speaker from his duffel bag. 

“Oh, this is much better than him being a Russian spy.” You snort, entirely amused by how this has all unfolded. The guy unzips his hoodie and reveals an incredibly muscular physique, and you can’t help but bite your lip. “His arms… Oh my.”

Steve sees you eyeing the guy and scrowls. “His arms aren’t that nice. “ He starts pulling you away now, sending death glares at the now confirmed zumba instructor, obviously jealous. You laugh, knowing your comment would annoy him. 

“I don’t know, honey. His arms were huge.”

“Please,” Steve rolls his eyes, unamused. “They looked like twigs to me.”

“You and I both know you’re lying.”

Steve groans and kisses your hand as he tugs you towards Scoops Ahoy. “You’re killing me here, angel.”

“It’s what I do best.”

While you and Steve argue, Dustin gags at you both and sighs in disappointment. He listens to you two argue the whole way back to the ice cream shop, and he’s never wanted to bang his head against a wall more. Here Steve is, claiming he can’t ask you out, yet he’s pathetically moping about you finding some random guy’s arms hot.

Dustin thinks the poor guy is doomed. 

When you arrive at Scoops, you break away from Steve’s whining and greet Robin. “Dude, you won’t believe the hot zumba instructor we followed–”

The girl rushes past you, not at all acknowledging your presence, as she exits the shop. You stop walking and share a confused look with Dustin and Steve as you all watch Robin run outside and jump on top of one of the benches. 

“What the hell?” You follow after her, concerned by her franticness. 

Robin is mumbling under her breath when you catch up, repeating the first sentence of the Russian code you deciphered over and over again as she spins and looks around the mall. “A trip to China sounds nice.”

“Hey, is everything okay?”

“A trip to China…” She ignores you as her eyes scan around the area once more. She looks as if she’s searching for something, repeating the phrase to herself.

You look around as well, not fully understanding what she’s doing, but it’s clear she’s at least looking for something to match the sentence. In the center of the food court, all you see are chain restaurants and vendors. Frustrated, you sigh. “Robin, I’m not sure what we’re looking for.”

“There!” She points at a restaurant called the Imperial Panda. “A trip to China!”

Bits of the code start to piece together in your head. If the message corresponds to stores in the mall… Unsure if you’re understanding Robin correctly, you hesitantly point towards the local shoe store up above. “If you tread lightly?”

“Yes! God, I knew you were the smart one in that weird trio!” Robin nods eagerly and tries to recall the rest. “When–when blue and yellow meet in the west. What could that mean?”

You both spin around, trying to find anything that could align with the line. As you’re studying a poster sign, Robin snaps her fingers and nods her head towards the giant clock that hangs below a bay window. Its hands are blue and yellow. “Think this could be it?”

“Robin Buckley, you’re a genius!” You throw your arms around her, in disbelief that she was able to figure the bizarre Russian code out all on her own. 

Robin is stiff in your arms for a moment, having not expected the praise, before she slowly melts into the embrace. She coughs slightly, her voice a pitch higher than usual. “It was easy enough to figure out.” 

“Robin, Y/N,” Steve and Dustin now join. “What are you two doing?”

“She cracked it!” You pull away from Robin but keep an arm thrown over her shoulder. 

Steve frowns. “Cracked what?”

Robin gently shoves your arm off and jumps down the bench she had been on. Stepping towards the boys, she leans in close, a glint in her eye. “I cracked the code.” 

–

“Is this even legal?” You shout over the thunder, shivering as the rain from the storm soaks through your clothes and into your bones as you sit with Steve and the others on the mall’s rooftop to spy on Russians.

You’re not at all sure how you ended up in this situation. 

When Robin had cracked the code, you figured that the four of you would ask the other mall employees about their delivery shifts. Maybe hide out in Steve’s car and watch for deliveries during the day, eliminate other variables. 

What you didn’t think the four of you would do, however, is sneak onto the roof of the mall in the pouring rain for an impromptu stakeout. 

Thunder rumbles above you as lightning strikes, causing you to jump further into Steve’s side. He wraps an arm around you and rubs soothing circles to try and comfort you, knowing that this entire situation is your nightmare.

Seeing your fear, Robin tries to reassure you. “We’re fine, Y/N.” Then she turns to Dustin, who is holding his stupid binoculars up as he surveys the group of delivery men below you. “Look for Imperial Panda and Kaufman Shoes.”

Your brother takes a moment to look around before he spots something. “They’re with that whistling guy, ten o'clock.”

You look down and watch the guy cart a series of boxes into the shipment alleyway. “It’s just a bunch of boxes, guys.”

“Sure, but what do you think’s in there?” Steve questions, absentmindedly drawing you closer for warmth when he feels you shiver again. He loaned you his raincoat, but clearly it doesn’t seem to be helping much with how much he can feel you shiver. A twinge of guilt sears through him for putting you through this in the first place.

“Guns, bombs?” Dustin guesses.

Robin throws in her own suggestions. “Chemical weapons?” 

“How about delicious noodles and sensible shoes? Why haven’t we considered those as options?” Your teeth are chattering now as more rain slams against you.

“Shut up, Y/N.” Dustin raises his binoculars up again. “Whatever it is, they’re armed to the teeth.”

“Armed?” You exclaim as more thunder clashes. Your switchblade warms in your pocket ominously; you didn’t sign up for men wielding fucking weapons. 

“Great.” Steve wipes water out of his face, feeling just as overwhelmed and defeated as you. “That’s great.”

The metal doors in the alleyway start to open, and faintly you can see the outline of more boxes within the storage room, it looks almost like a vault, though it’s hard to tell. Next to you, Robin squints as well. “What’s in there?”

“It’s just more boxes.” Dustin has to raise his voice in order to be heard over the rain.

Steve reaches for the binoculars. “Let me beck it out.”

However, he only ends up in an intense game of tug-of-war with Dustin as they start to fight over the binoculars. They grapple over it, argue about who needs it more, before the rain causes the thing they’re fighting over to slip out of their hands and bang harshly against the guardrail. 

The noise rings out through the night and catches the men’s attention from below. Gasping, you yank everyone down before they can see you. Instinctively your hand reaches for Steve’s while Robin reaches for your other hand. With your backs to the ground, the four of you pant as the adrenaline of almost being caught courses through you. 

Steve looks over at you to make sure you’re okay, and his eyes land on Robin’s fingers intertwined through yours. He frowns a bit, finding the physical affection from her odd, but sends her teasing wink.

When Robin sees his wink, she only clenches her jaw and turns away before releasing your hand. 

– 

“Well, I think we found your Russians.” Robin says as you all re-enter the mall.

“That was too close.” You mutter, wringing out your soaked t-shirt as your hair drips onto the floor. While the others seem to have already forgotten how the men with giant guns almost found you on the roof, you haven’t. It’s been on your mind the last ten minutes; it’s all you can fucking think about. 

You’re in too deep again. You can feel it. 

Dustin passes you and now walks in step with Robin. “What’s our plan now?” 

“Well, strange child, I think it’s obvious that we gotta break into the vault.”

“I’m sorry?” You step in between them now, not at all liking what you’re hearing. “No one is breaking into anything. Do you have any idea how dangerous and stupid that is?”

“C’mon, Y/N, loosen up a little!” Dustin whines, wanting you to just be on his side for once. 

“Loosen up? Guys, this is serious.” You look around at the others, lacing your voice with urgence. “We could be dealing with a national crisis, this isn’t just some stupid spy mission. We aren’t at all qualified to handle this.”

“I mean, aren’t we?” Steve hesitantly speaks up. When your angry eyes meet his, he flinches slightly. “Y/N, I know you’re scared, but–”

“I’m not scared.”

“We’ve been through… a lot,” his eyes flick over towards Robin, knowing she’s listening and that he can’t reveal too much. “All we’re doing is breaking into a vault. I mean, c’mon. We can do that, easily.”

Dustin nods eagerly at Steve’s words and Robin hums in approval. The three of them seem to almost form a unit against you, which makes you draw into yourself. Suddenly you feel like the odd man out, with no one on your side. Feeling panicked and defensive, your anger rises. “We shouldn’t have to break into anything! We can call Hopper, tell him what’s happening and at least have someone else on our side in case something happens.”

“Oh, like Hopper would believe us.” Dustin scoffs at you as if you’re some idiot, which doesn’t help the insecurity you feel.

“I know he’d listen to me.” You still regret having not called Hopper two years ago when you had found El in the woods. Had you told him about her sooner, about everything sooner, you know that you would’ve saved your brother and everyone else the heartache they endured because of you. 

You can’t make the same mistake again. You refuse to. 

Robin tries to appease you. “Look, we can just take a peek inside the vault, maybe dig through a box or two, then we can rat the Russians out to the cops! I promise, we won’t be doing anything dangerous.”

“We don’t know that.” 

Your words ring throughout the empty hallway the four of you stand in. An echo follows them, as if taunting you of your fears and worries, and no one says anything else. You all stand there, frozen, with Robin, Steve, and Dustin facing you. As if there’s a line now dividing them from you.

Steve’s heart pounds in his chest as your eyes land on him, silently pleading with him to say something, anything. “Y/N…”

But he can’t. Even though he heard the rising anxiety in your voice, even though he knows the weight behind the words you’ve yelled, Steve can’t meet your eye.

He knows that you carry so much guilt within you, and he wishes he could offer you more. He’s torn between wanting to defend you and ease the fear that you’ve confessed to him before, how you feel this overwhelming need to protect the ones you love, but he also wants to follow through with the Russians. To see where it takes him, if he can redeem himself. 

You stand before the three others, chest rising and falling rapidly, wondering if you’ve gone too far this time. 

Dustin is the one who steps forward first. He stares at you for a moment, his eyes sad, knowing that there’s more to your reluctance than just the possible danger. He understands how hard you fight to keep him safe, and how much harder you blame yourself when something goes wrong. With a sigh, your brother grabs your hand and starts to pull you away from the others.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Dustin says to Steve and Robin. Then, with an uncharacteristically gentle voice, he says to you, “let’s go home.”

You’re too tired to argue and you’re afraid you’ll start crying if you try to say anything else, so you follow after your brother and leave Steve and Robin alone in the hall.

– 

At home, you lay in bed trying to ignore the twisting feeling in your stomach that you’ve let everyone down. That you’ve let Steve down. You’ve never really argued with him before, at least not like this. You’re not even sure if you can call what happened earlier an argument, and the thought makes you groan and shove your face into your pillows.

You’re exhausted. 

As your thoughts spiral, your phone rings. 

“Hello?”

“Hey, bug.”

Jonathan’s voice settles over you in slow, soothing waves. You close your eyes, having not known how much you needed him until now. “Hi, bee.”

“You sound tired.” He notes with slight worry, always able to read you.

You sigh. “It’s… been a long day.” 

He hums over the phone, and the sound is familiar and lovely, though just as tired. “You too, huh?”

“I take it you’re not doing too well, either?”

“No,” he sighs, a slight gruffness to it. “Meet me in your driveway in ten minutes?”

“Deal.” 

He hangs up and you crawl out of bed, despite your aching bones protesting. You throw on a hoodie knowing to ward off July’s brisk night air and lazily lace up your sneakers. Slowly, so as to not make any loud noise, you open your door and poke your head out. 

The house is quiet. Your mom and Dustin must be asleep in their rooms, so you softly close your door and make your way outside. 

It doesn’t take long before Jonathan’s car pulls into your driveway. He has his headlights off, long familiar with the routine of picking you up late at night for drives around town. The two of you used to do it every night the summer he first got his license. 

You get into the car and the heat kisses your cheeks. Jonathan greets you with a tired smile as you put your seatbelt on, and when you nod your head at him, he starts the car and drives.

Neither of you say anything for a while as Jonathan drives the route you always take together. He has an old mix tape playing and you hum along, familiar with the songs. It’s peaceful, your fears from earlier have now faded; for now, it’s just you and Jonathan as you drive around Hawkins. 

“I’m sorry for being M.I.A recently.” He finally says after a while. You sit up a bit, knowing he’s ready now to talk about what’s brought him here tonight. The two of you never just drive around anymore for the fun of it, you know he’s here because there’s something bothering him. “Nancy has been… worrying me.”

You lean closer to Jonathan, now concerned. “Is everything okay between you two?”

“Honestly?” He breathes in shakily. “I–I don’t know.”

“Talk to me, bee.” You grab his hand that rests on the stick shift.

And he does. He explains about a woman named Mrs. Driscoll who called the Hawkins Post and how Nancy had decided to check out the story without telling their boss, roping Jonathan into it. He explains the rat they saw at the woman’s house, how it had looked sick, maybe infected with rabies, and how he had taken pictures of it to show their boss. 

When Nancy showed the men at the newspaper what they found, they had all laughed and belittled her. 

As Jonathan tells the story, he shakes his head in anger. “They were horrible to her, bug.”

You sigh, feeling awful for Nancy as well. “She’s smarter than all those men combined. She deserves better.”

“She does,” Jonathan shakes his head again. “But Tom, our boss, ordered her to drop the story. But Nancy…”

“Refuses to back down?” You guess, knowing how stubborn and passionate the girl is.

Jonathan swallows. “Yeah.”

“What happened tonight, Jonathan?” You sense there’s something he isn’t telling you, that there’s more to this than just men being shitty to Nancy at work.

“Nance, she–uh. She wouldn’t back down, even after I told her I was scared we’d get fired if we kept investigating Mrs. Driscoll, but she–she needed to prove she was right and I just–I can never tell her no. She’s relentless, ambitious, it’s what I love about her, but… Y/N, we found Mrs. Driscoll eating fertilizer after breaking into her house.”

“Oh my god,” you gasp and drop Jonathan’s hand. “Is she okay? What happened?”

“I don’t know.” Jonathan clenches his jaw. “We called for help and they took her to the hospital. When I dropped Nancy off at home, she… She wants to go visit the woman in the hospital.”

You’re silent for a moment, now understanding why Jonathan seems so shaken up. “Nancy still wants her story.”

“She does.”

“And you think she’s going too far.”

“I do.”

You sigh. “Jonathan…”

“I don’t know what to do, Y/N!” He raises his voice now, his anger surfacing. “I mean, we could get fired and she doesn’t seem to care! When Tom finds out that we’re the ones who put Mrs. Driscoll in the hospital… I–I can’t lose this job, bug. I can’t. Especially not because of some douchebags my girlfriend wants to prove wrong.”

As Jonathan unravels, your heart aches for both him and Nancy. It’s a tough situation, you understand both sides, and you can’t imagine having to go through any of it. 

Sighing, you grab his hand again and try to find the right words. “You have every right to feel scared, bee. I completely understand, this job means so much more to you than just some summer activity like it does for Nancy, but…” You bite your lip, worried you’ll say the wrong thing. “I also think Nancy’s ambition is admirable. From the stories she’s told me, those men are fucking vile and treat her like shit. I think you should try being more supportive of her.”

“How am I supposed to be supportive if I lose my job?”

You sigh again. “By holding her hand and recognizing that while it’s hard being poor in this world, it’s also hard being a woman. Both of you have a reason to be upset, and while I’m not saying it’s fair of Nancy to disregard your financial situation, I think you both need to sit down and talk about this without the other getting defensive.”

Jonathan rolls his eyes. “Neither one of us gets defensive.”

“You two are the most defensive and prideful people I’ve ever met, it’s a miracle you haven’t fought until now.”

He laughs at this, knowing you’re right. “Maybe another conversation wouldn’t hurt… I just, what’s going to happen tomorrow?”

You shrug. “I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you that you’ll need Nancy just as much as she’ll need you, okay?”

“It frustrates me how you always manage to say the right thing.”

“You’ve known me for years now, it’s your fault for not getting used to it.” 

Jonathan laughs again and his shoulders relax, his anger and fear now dissipating. While he’s still unsure what tomorrow will bring, he knows that at least he’ll have you. Then the two of you drive past Steve’s house and Jonathan remembers how tired you sounded earlier on the phone.

“So, we gonna talk about why you had such a long day today?” Though it’s phrased as a question, you know that Jonathan understands if you don’t want to answer.

However, your own fears weigh heavily on your mind and you indulge him, because you always do. “Dustin intercepted a Russian code a few days ago and roped Steve, Robin, and I into helping him decipher it.”

“A Russian code?”

“Yeah. Not sure if I can explain it any better than that, honestly.”

Jonathan raises his eyebrows at you. “Is it anything dangerous?”

“I don’t know,” you groan, dropping your head into your knees. “That’s the million dollar question right now. Dustin and everyone else wants to keep investigating this, they want to break into a goddamn vault, and I just… I have a bad feeling about this, bee.”

“What does Steve think about all of this?” His voice is light, but his hands tighten ever so slightly on the steering wheel. You see this and look away, knowing he won’t like what you’re about to say.

“He’s why I sounded so tired earlier,” you confess, eyes closed. “He wouldn’t listen to me tonight, and I just–”

You stop mid sentence, your words catching in your throat. Jonathan looks over at you with concern and makes a quick decision to pull to the side of the road and park. “Hey, bug. Look at me.” Swallowing back tears, you do as you’re told. When your eyes meet his, Jonathan brings your hand to his lips. “Talk to me.”

“I’m terrified he’ll be another ‘almost.”

Jonathan’s lips ghost over your hands and you feel his breath stutter slightly at your words. He knows the pain that comes with “almost”, he knows he’s the reason why the word stings your tongue as you say it out loud. “He’s not another ‘almost’, Y/N.”

“I don’t know anymore.” Tears start to fall down your face and you’re mortified. You hate the words coming out of your mouth, they feel like a betrayal to Steve and the promise you made him, and you hate that you’re saying all this to Jonathan. “He–he seems interested, sometimes, but it’s July now and–and he hasn’t… He couldn’t even look me in the eye tonight, Jonathan.”

Jonathan doesn’t say anything. He can’t say anything. 

You’re crying in his passenger seat over a boy you love, a boy who isn’t him, and all Jonathan can do is hold your hands as you cry. 

“I’m sorry, bug.” He apologizes for more than just your upset over Steve. Jonathan apologizes for it all, for the years between you two, for the almosts and what if’s and missed chances.

“Yeah. I am, too.” You wipe your eyes, embarrassed now. “Can you, uh, take me home, please?”

Jonathan nods and wordlessly starts the car again.

It feels like last year, back to being unsure about love and relationships and being exhausted by it all, and you can’t help but laugh at the irony of it. The small laugh turns into a louder one, then into full body hysterics, and Jonathan worries for a second that you’ve lost your mind. “Y/N, you’re scaring me a little.”

You clutch at your stomach and laugh even harder. “S-sorry, I just–oh my god. I can’t believe I–I’m here again.”

“I’m lost.”

“Just drive, bee.” You try to calm yourself down, though giggles still rise through your chest. You think you’re delirious, honestly. 

Yet some things never change, and it feels good to be in Jonathan’s car and breathless from laughter, even if your heart aches as you do so. 

-

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[dailystrangerthings]

Max wanted to have a sleepover. EL HOPPER & MAX MAYFIELD S03E03, The Case of the Missing Lifeguard 

[stladies]

EL HOPPER & MAX MAYFIELD Stranger Things | 3.03 “The Case of the Missing Lifeguard”

[will80sbyers]

STRANGER THINGS 3

[bylrndgm]

MIKE WHEELER IN EVERY EPISODE [20/42] 3.03 The Case of the Missing Lifeguard

[mikesbasementbeets]

byler in every episode -> 3.03. the case of the missing lifeguard

byler in every episode -> 3.03. the case of the missing lifeguard

[robin-buckely]

EL HOPPER & MAX MAYFIELD 3.03 | Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard

[robinsource]

ROBIN BUCKLEY in STRANGER THINGS 3.03 | Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard