KAT

"NO- GET THAT OTHER END," Kat said, and Pawel quickly grabbed the other end of the metal roll-down cover, locking it in place.

In all honesty, Kat didn't know how she got as lucky as she was to have a job at Jazzercise. It was one of the most successful businesses at Starcourt, her and Pawel only worked five days a week, only taught a maximum of four classes per day, and most of the time they started past ten and were done with the day before five o'clock. That was why they were pulling the folding cover down to close Jazzercise far earlier than the rest of the stores.

"Got it," Pawel said, flipping the keys in his hand proudly. "You goin' home?"

"No," Kat sighed. "I've got...other responsibilities,"

"Damn," Pawel grinned at her, his blond hair in a man bun and a gray crop top barely covering half of his chest. "I was gonna offer to drive you,"

"Oh," Kat smiled sheepishly at what he was insinuating. "Other responsibilities,"

She repeated the phrase, nodding meaningfully until Pawel got it in his head that there was someone else in her life. His brownish eyes widened in understanding, and he leaned back a little, creating some more distance between them.

"Right. I'm sorry, I wasn't-" he said.

"Oh, no, no, it's totally fine!" Kat covered up. "Uh, you were great today,"

"Thanks," Pawel grinned. "You were amazing too, though you, uh, didn't do much,"

"I get it," Kat laughed. "You know the only reason Spinnet gave me the job was because I'm pretty and therefore invisible,"

"Woah," Pawel said, holding his roughened hands up. "That's a generalization,"

"Which is true," Kat said stubbornly, looking at Pawel until he gave up.

"Well, to change the subject," Pawel's eyes gleamed with mischief. "Did you see what Dorothy Yanke was doing during the three o'clock sesh?"

"Oh, my god. Yes," Kat's eyes widened in dramatic effect. "That bike's so rusty,"

Pawel laughed as a group of preteen girls ran past them, scrambling to Claire's. They walked to the escalators, chatting as they blended among the crowd. Pawel said goodbye to her as he walked to the entrance, but Kat turned the other way to the food court.

Jazzercise was exactly one floor and two stores to the right of Scoops Ahoy, aka Kat's favorite flavor ride of the entire mall. She walked across the wooden booths, highlighted with plastic lights that didn't work. A few cushions printed with gold pirate ship steering wheels and sails were pressed against people of all shapes and colors, a three-person line at the counter.

"G'day, sailor or sailorette, let us set sail on th- oh, thank god, it's you," Steve said in one breath, looking rather bored and tired, though he plastered on a smile.

"Hey, sailor man," Kat laughed, and pushed open the counter slider to join him behind the register. "How's your shift?"

"Same as always," Steve said flatly. "I don't get how you make 3.25 an hour and still get off work at four,"

"It's because I process my anger so sucessfully," Kat said defensively.

Steve grinned and slung his arm around her, shining a ray of sunlight through her tundra. Kat was extremely proud to say that most, if not all of the Ice Queen had melted away the past few months. Maybe a few hail-sized pebbles of ice remained, but Kat didn't care. The absolute warmth that was Steve Harrington had long broken through her armor and rewritten it with gold. And Kat loved it.

"You've got company, Stevie Boy," Kat whispered in his ear, before ducking out of his grip, leaving his mouth slightly open with a group of six customers in front of him. She quickly vanished through the back door.

The past seven months had been busy for the both of them. They both had work, and Kat was moving out of Hawkins. Besides that, Steve also had to deal with his dad, and Kat with her mom. She made sure to talk to him every day, but sometimes something else just overrode that priority.

"Hey, Kath," Robin, who was lounging uncomfortably on a metal table, called.

"Hi, Robin," Kat greeted back, dumping her pink duffle bag on a counter nearby. "How's life?"

Kat wouldn't call her and Robin friends yet, but they got along certain better than the latter did with her own coworker. Of course, they'd gotten off to a good start, Kat always grateful for what Robin did when she had her first panic attack last semester. And she'd discovered that the russet-blonde girl was smart and actually had a sense of humor. Damn, the Ice Queen had really limited her social prospects of making more friends.

"Eh. My mom keeps asking me about college even though I'm not gonna even start the process until this winter,"

"That's tough. My mom asked me about it at about this time last year, too,"

"Well, if you got any tips, hit me,"

"I really don't have any," Kat frowned genuinely. "Trust the process?"

"Nice," Robin scoffed, rolling onto her stomach and lying on the cold metal table like a starfish.

"O-kay," Steve busted in from outside, and the two girls raised their heads blearily. "Robin, you're in,"

"Go away, dingus," Robin buried her face onto the hard steel.

"Hey!" Steve clapped his hands in front of his face. "It's four-fifteen. It's your turn, fair and square!"

"Geez, when were you so much about following the rules?" Robin said bitterly, trudging as she went up to the counter again. Honestly, Kat could get it. Food workers went through a lot of shit on a daily basis.

"Oh, my back hurts," Steve groaned. "Can you, like, rub it for me?"

"Are you kidding me?" Kat raised a brow uninterestedly.

"Please, Ladybird?" Steve's honey-brown eyes grew as big as saucers.

"Fuck. Fine, I'll give you a massage," Kat sighed, and Steve grinned lopsidedly before crashing on the counter. Kat reluctantly took out a few plastic back rollers and laundry balls from her duffel back, beginning to run them against Steve's back slowly, the weird feeling of muscles rolling against the equiment going down her hands.

She continued for another three minutes, until she declared her hands were tired and shoved the rollers back into her bag. Steve sat up next to her, folding his legs in criss-cross applesauce.

"How was work?" he asked, leaning down like he was doing yoga or something.

"Same as always," Kat repeated what he'd said earlier. "I just smile and practice the moves from the next set while a bunch of people my mom's age don't even look at me. Not that I want them to, though. I just wanna get paid, and the outfit doesn't do anything for me either,"

She indicated at her polka-dotted tights and bodysuit which made her look like she jumped out of a Dr. Seuss picture book.

"Hey, I think it's pretty hot," Steve said, and Kat's cheeks lit up in embarrassment as the words swirled around like a snowstorm inside her.

"Thanks," Kat laughed. "You're outfit's pretty hot, too,"

"Think so?" Steve chuckled jokingly as he wrapped one hand around his collar to yank it down to the side, revealing the muscles along his collarbone. "Is the outfit hot, or this?"

Kat's stomach flipped around in tense excitement, deciding, why not? Being around Steve melted her ice until all that was left was a few frosted pieces of seedling grass, and his sunrays seemed to make the grass grow faster, unlocking the innate personality she had, previously barred with an air of winter.

"I'd say probably this," Kat smirked, looking at his neck. Steve made the same expression back, the two of them resulted in staring at each other slyly, as if waiting for the other to make a move.

It was a full ten seconds until Kat began to feel the discomfort. It crawled back just like the snaking voice of the now-retired Ice Queen. You're sitting alone in a back room with Steve Harrington, it whispered saucily, and Kat winced at it instinctively. The sunrays turned into a blaze, and the seedlings of grass began to overheat, and Kat felt a stab in her tummy as their tips began to flame red with a slight blaze.

"I-" she mumbled before turning away, slouching and breaking the tension. "Sorry- I just-"

"Got caught up-" Steve stammered as Kat avoided his eye contact.

"Yeah- on, the,"

"Shift trauma," Steve finished hesitantly.

"Shift trauma- yeah," Kat said messily. They both stared at their feet, the awkwardness filling the small, cold room. 

Kat was wearing her usual sneakers, a pink string anklet on her left foot. To her right, Steve wore the same brand of sneakers, though his was a taller, chunkier model. He had a lot of leg hair, Kat noticed, as her eyes landed on the thin gold Star of David around his right ankle.

To both of them's surprise, Mission Ladybird was not a linear project. They'd blasted through steps one and two, yet they'd taken a huge break due to college applications and acceptances. And with their jobs, they'd only been able to squeeze in time for Step Three almost two weeks ago. Steve had driven her a couple miles past Loch Nora to a newly-opened roller rink, where he 'tried' to impress her with his skating skills. Kat wouldn't admit it, but it worked.

"I give up!" Robin burst in, flailing her ice cream scooper around in one hand. "You two need to stop cuddling and give me some help here! I just had two entire clans of kids come in. Company policy. Come on, dingus!"

"Right, okay, okay," Steve said irritatbly, and followed Robin back out, but not before shooting Kat a look that she did not have quite the ability to discern.

"You're home early," Kat remarked as Mike stormed in. 

She was sitting on her Dad's La-Z Boy, a bowl of cereal cooling her lap as she watched episodes of Tom and Jerry on the TV without stop. Holly's shows were interesting, and she didn't care if Mike made fun of her for watching stuff made for kids sometimes.

"Yeah. El had, uh, something," Mike said, beginning to pace around the house like how Steve did whenever Kat had an exam.

"Uh, no...what's wrong?" Kat asked, seeing through his lie.

Maybe it was that Mike was truly desperate, or the near-impossible feat that their relationship had improved, but he spilled almost immediately. The lines on his face contorted with anger, as he almost stomped his foot.

"I can't keep seeing El!" he blurted out loudly. If he was a decibel louder the wine glasses on the counter would've exploded.

"Um, okay. Why?" Kat asked.

"I don't know! I mean, we just made out a few times, it wasn't a big deal! But then- ugh, just- I can't keep doing it!" Mike said in a flurry.

"I'm very confused," Kat said calmly. "Uh, is it an El problem or a you problem? 'Cause assuming it's a you problem, you should go back to her cabin and explain,"

"No! You're so bad at advice!" Mike wailed. "Tomorrow she's gonna call, and I don't wanna lie, but if I do then she'll figure me out! God, this is so stupid, this is so fucking stupid!"

Mike stormed up the stairs in a huff.

"Okay," Kat said, a tad concerned, picking up her bowl of soggy cereal and sipping the milk. 

"Did I hear Mike?" Karen poked her head out of her bedroom upstairs. "He needs to take his laundry out of the washer,"

"It's fine, I'll do it for him," Kat said instinctively.

"Thank you, baby. Did you get the dishes as well?"

"Yeah, I did,"

"Great! I'm going to put Holly to bed now, your father and I are taking an early night. Sweet dreams, Kathryn!"

"Night, mom," Kat murmured from below, spooning a mouthful of cereal near her face, looking at it, before opening her mouth.

━━author's note ━━

welcome. to romantic era stathryn!

and don't worry if you think things are moving slow: the action is gonna pick up the next chapter or two and then it's be a rollercoaster from there, trust me. the chapters are getting longer, too!