CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
EVENTFUL REUNIONS

Kimmy, Aaron and Dustin were out to the ice cream parlour the next day looking to Steve for help, Dustin also wanting to see Steve after not seeing his friend for weeks.

"Hi," Dustin smiled up at the older girl behind the counter, the one who Kimmy presumed was Steve's friend, although she couldn't be sure.

"Hi." The older girl replied, not sounding or looking impressed by the boy in front of her.

"I'm Dustin." The boy smiled proudly, expecting the girl to know who he was, most likely thinking that the eldest Harrington brother wouldn't be able to stop talking about how much he missed his friend at camp.

The girl raised her eyebrows, seemingly confused on why the boy was telling her any of this. "I'm Robin."

"Pleasure to meet you." Dustin smiled, his tone of pure sincerity causing Aaron to hide his amused look. "Uh, is- is he here?"

The girl- now known as Robin - looked to Dustin with a bored expression. Clearly over the conversation. "Is who here?"

Just as the boy went to elaborate, Steve came bursting through the staff door, a wide smile on his face as he raised his hands in excitement. "Henderson!"

Dustin laughed in response, pointing to the boy excitedly.

"Henderson!" The older boy repeated, literally jumping up and down as he began yelling in excitement. "He's back!"

"I'm back!" Dustin smiled widely, motioning to the store logo with an excited expression. "You got the job!"

"I got the job!" Steve yelled in happiness, pretending to play a trumpet as he grabbed Dustin's hand, the two doing their handshake that they must have spent a great amount of time on seeing how long it went on for.

Kimmy grinned as she watched the two, turning to laugh with Aaron who was stood next to her before pausing. The blond stood next to her was frowning slightly as he watched the pair, his brows knitting together in slight sadness as he looked at the two.

Kimmy went to ask if he was okay but stopped herself when she realised how hard he was trying to mask his sadness. He seemed to be doing a good job, because neither Dustin or Steve noticed the blond's sudden change in mood.

"How many children are you friends with?" Robin asked in a blunt tone.

Steve sighed, his excited expression dropping into an irritated one as he pointed to the girl next to him. "Dustin, this is Robin."

Dustin smiled up at the girl, waving happily as the girl sent him an awkward wave back.

Dustin practically forced Robin to hold a conversation with him, Steve laughing along at something Dustin had said.

"I'm going over to the booth." Aaron told the girl next to him bluntly before walking away, Kimmy frowned as she watched him, the boy very obviously was upset over Dustin and Steve. Kimmy just didn't know why, but she made it a point to make sure he was alright when the others wouldn't be around.

The blond didn't wait for her answer, walking away from the four as soon as possible. Kimmy hesitated, going to follow him before walking over to Steve instead.

"Steve," Kimmy murmured forcing a smile as she took him away from the conversation with the boy and older girl. "Um, I'm gonna go sit with Aaron at the booth so he's not himself. Can you bring over what we usually get when you come over?"

"Yeah," Steve muttered in response, looking behind her to the conversation he was missing. "Yeah, sure."

"Thanks." Kimmy nodded, and with that she turned and walked away. Moving to sit with Aaron at the booth with a calm smile.

The boy was looking away from her, not even playing attention as he looked out to the people walking past, clearly lost in his thoughts. The boy was also fidgeting with the black digital watch on his wrist causing Kimmy to frown, she hadn't seen him do that in a long time.

The boy seemed to snap out of his daze when the girl sat next to him, Kimmy sending him a smile as she sat down, the blond smiled back back at her but it was clearly halfhearted.

"Steve said he'd bring over our ice cream when they all come over." Kimmy tried to cheer the boy up, but it was a bit difficult when she didn't know why he was upset.

"What, and we don't have to pay?" Aaron asked in a confused voice.

"No, I don't think so." Kimmy shrugged, thinking about it for a moment before answering. "He just said he'd bring it over, didn't ask me to pay or anything."

Aaron scoffed and rolled his eyes, not exactly the reaction Kimmy was expecting from the boy.

"I bet it's only because we're with Dustin." Aaron mumbled, placing his chin in his hand as his lips twitched into a frown. "He always makes me pay."

Kimmy pursed her lips, unsure of what to say to comfort the boy next to her. He obviously wanted to leave, Kimmy didn't think he had truly realised how close Dustin and Steve really were.

"Are you alright?" Kimmy asked him worriedly, not liking the way he looked like he could burst into tears.

Aaron looked to her hesitantly, debating his options as he overthought whether to or not to tell her what was really bothering him. Ultimately he decided not to.

"I'm fine." He lied, trying to send her a convincing look.

"Aaron," Kimmy sighed, whispering to the boy next to her, glancing up before she continued to find that Steve and Dustin were slowly making their way over. "Just because Dustin's home doesn't mean that Steve's not going spend as much time with you."

Aaron sighed, shaking his head as he turned to her, biting his cheek in frustration. "It's not about that, it's-"

Aaron cut himself off when a laughing Steve and Dustin approached the two, Steve sliding Kimmy and Aaron over their ice creams as Steve sat next to Aaron and Dustin sat next to Kimmy.

Kimmy watched as Aaron bit the inside of his cheek at what Steve had given him, the blond boy sighing and pushing the ice cream away.

"Do you want any?" Aaron asked Steve, the older boy scrunching his face up at Aaron's question.

"I thought you didn't like sharing ice cream?" The boy asked in a puzzled tone.

"I don't really want any ice cream right now." Aaron lied, pushing the ice cream over to his brother.

"What, why?" Steve asked with furrowed brows. "Vanilla is your favourite."

"I'm just not hungry." Aaron lied again, urging his brother to take the ice cream, Steve shrugged and took it.

Kimmy knew that the boy actually had wanted ice cream, but Steve had given him the wrong flavour. Aaron didn't like vanilla ice cream, he only ever ate strawberry. Strawberry ice cream was the only kind of ice cream the boy would eat.

Kimmy frowned, Steve knew that Dustin liked his ice cream in a bowl - not a cone, one scoop of vanilla and one scoop of chocolate, cut up bananas, sprinkles and cherries along with chocolate sauce. The older boy knew what Dustin liked off by heart, but he couldn't even remember that Aaron didn't like vanilla ice cream.

Kimmy sent Aaron a halfhearted smile when Steve and Dustin began talking about Dustin's girlfriend Suzie, Kimmy motioning to her bowl of chocolate ice cream with mini marshmallows, sprinkles and cherry sauce, silently asking the boy if he wanted some of hers instead. Aaron scrunched his face up teasingly at the sight of Kimmy's bowl before shaking his head.

"No way!" Steve exclaimed as he took a spoonful of the ice cream in front of him. "Hotter than Phoebe Cates? No way."

Dustin nodded, a wide smile on his face. "I swear. And, she doesn't even care that my real pearls are still coming in. She says kissing is better without teeth."

"What, Dustin, you've kissed her?" Aaron asked surprised, looking taken aback. 

"Um... yes, Aaron, she is my girlfriend. Just because you, Kimmy and Will have never kissed anyone doesn't mean the rest of us haven't." Dustin scoffed, rolling his eyes. Before turning to face Steve with an expectant smile. "Am I right?"

Steve looked like he didn't know what to say, the older boy seemingly not expecting Dustin to have actually kissed the girl either.

Truthfully, it didn't even cross Kimmy's mind that he might have kissed her, when Dustin had told the group he had got himself a girlfriend at summer camp, Kimmy imagined the two of them being really close friends, maybe holding hands. Maybe she just watched too many movies.

"Wow. Yeah, that's great." Steve spluttered over his words as the look of surprise refused to leave his face as he looked down at him. "Proud of you, man. That's ro- that's kinda romantic. That's like... wow."

Dustin nodded proudly, a grin pulling on his lips at Steve's words.

"So, do you really just get to eat as much of this as you want?" Dustin asked the boy, abruptly changing the topic.

"Yeah, I mean, sure." Steve shrugged, trying to look calm and unbothered. "It's not really a good idea for me, though. I gotta keep in shape for the ladies."

Kimmy rolled her eyes at his words, knowing fine that the older boy had not been out with a single girl since he and Nancy had broken up.

"Yeah," Robin scoffed from her spot at the counter. "And hows that working out for you?"

"Ignore her." Steve told Dustin instantly.

"She seems cool." Dustin shrugged, going back to ear his ice cream.

"She's not." Steve shut down.

"He's just upset because she's telling the truth, Dustin." Kimmy teased from her spot next to Dustin, the boys eyes widening in surprise. "He has not been out with one 'lady' since Nancy broke up with him-"

"Okay, let's get one thing straight." Steve scoffed, shaking his head as he leaned forward while talking to Kimmy as if to try intimidate her. "Nancy did not dump me. It was a mutual decision-"

"Oh, yeah," Aaron scoffed, nodding his head mockingly. "Is that why she started dating Jonathan the day after?"

"It was a week after actually." Steve scoffed, folding his arms over his chest smugly as the next words fell past his lips. "It was me who got with Tammy Thompson the day after-"

"We did not need to know that." Kimmy mumbled under her breath.

"Yeah, only because you were so upset over Nancy." Aaron retorted, resting his head in his palm.

"I didn't even care when me and Nancy broke up." Steve lied, rolling his eyes and shrugging his shoulders. "I didn't even like her that much at the end of things-"

"Yes you did!" Kimmy laughed in response. "Don't even try that, you did like her."

"Exactly." Aaron agreed with a teasing grin as he looked to his brother.

"Oh, my god, give me a break." Steve exclaimed, his eyes going wide as he looked to Aaron. "You're only agreeing with her because-"

Aaron kicked Steve harshly under the table to shut him up, the older boy shutting his mouth reluctantly.

An awkward silence filled the air between Kimmy and Aaron, both of them knowing exactly what Steve was insinuating, both of their cheeks tinting pink.

Steve didn't seem to realise the effect of his words and Dustin didn't seem to have caught on to what Steve meant.

"Where are the other knuckleheads?" Steve asked Dustin as he took another spoonful of the vanilla ice cream in front of him.

"They ditched the three of us yesterday." Dustin replied in a saddened voice, Kimmy turning to smile at him sadly upon realising just how hurt he was over it.

"No." Steve gasped, his brows raising in disbelief.

"My first day back." Dustin nodded, scoffing as his face morphed into a look of offence. "Can you believe that shit?"

"Whoa, seriously?" Steve asked, the older boy looking to Kimmy for confirmation on this, the girl sending Steve a half smile and an awkward shrug of her shoulders in response, not wanting to make her friends out to be as horrible as Steve probably thought they were at how Dustin had worded the events of the day before.

"I swear to god." Dustin mumbled as he took another spoonful of his ice cream. Dustin then gasped as if only remembering what he had sat next to him. "They're gonna regret it, though, big time, when they don't get a share in our glory."

Kimmy shut her eyes for a moment as she fought back the urge to say something. She had strongly suggested to Dustin for him not to get too excited over what the group had heard the night before, the girl not wanting her friend to get too worked up over something seeing as there was a strong possibility that they were wrong about it all.

"Glory?" Steve repeated, his brows furrowed in confusion. "What glory?"

"So, last night..." Dustin trailed off, looking around him at the people around them, Dustin eventually shaking his head and turning to Aaron. "Aaron you tell him."

Aaron sighed, turning to his brother as he went to briefly explain what had happened the night before. "Dustin thinks we might have-"

"Jesus, Aaron!" Dustin scolded, Kimmy looking to the boy next to her in surprise. "Don't scream it! It's a secret for a reason."

Aaron rolled his eyes, folding his arms over his chest and leaning further back in his seat in slight protest.

Dustin then leaned over the table to the older boy, Kimmy rolling her eyes at Dustin's dramatics. "So last night we're trying to get in contact with Suzie..."

"Oh," Steve nodded in acknowledgement. "The girlfriend."

"Yeah," Dustin nodded with a smile before he got serious, leaning further over the table as he went to whisper to his friend. "We intercepted a secret Russian communication."

Steve looked to Dustin with a blank stare, blinking unsurely as he didn't even know the boy had stopped talking. "What?"

Dustin sighed, looking around him once more as he moved to lean over the table once more to whisper what he wanted to say. "We intercepted a secret Russian communication."

Steve looked to Dustin with an exasperated expression. "Just speak louder."

"We intercepted a secret Russian communication." Aaron snapped loudly, knowing the group would be going around in circles all day over the sentence Dustin was trying to get out. "That's what he's saying."

Everyone in the ice cream parlour turned to look at the group, Aaron dropping further down in his seat from embarrassment as his cheeks went red.

"Jesus, okay." Steve muttered in response, smiling unsurely at the customers that had turned to face them until they all turned away. "Yeah, okay, that's what I thought he said."

Steve shifted awkwardly in his seat, looking away from his brother awkwardly.

Kimmy reached out to grab Aaron's arm, pulling him up before he sunk so far down on his seat that he fell. Kimmy sending him a teasing look as he huffed.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Steve asked the three he was sat with.

"It means, Steve, us four could be heroes." Dustin retorted, Kimmy rolling her eyes at his dramatics again. "True American heroes."

Steve grinned, nodding firmly at Dustin's words, the older boy looking incredibly smug. "American heroes, huh?"

"Just think," Dustin tried to bribe the older boy into thinking it was a good idea, Kimmy didn't think Dustin would have to do a lot of convincing judging by the look on his face. "You could have all the ladies you want and more."

"More?" Steve repeated, his grin only growing wider.

"More." Dustin nodded.

"I like more." Steve nodded, Kimmy rolling her eyes at him. "What's the catch?"

"No catch." Dustin shook his head, clasping his hands together as he shook his head. "We just need your help."

"With what?" Steve asked cautiously.

Dustin sighed, turning to his side to open the bag sat next to him, pulling out an old looking book. "Translation."

...

I❤️kimmy and aaron

Last day of 2023😟

New chapter soon!!!

Hope everyone is having a great day!!

- AJ :)