HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1985.

     STEVE WAS OVER THE MOON.

He had finally gotten the girl of his dreams. It almost felt surreal.

Theresa, of course, had established that she did not want to rush anything. And that was perfectly fine with Steve, because he would do pretty much anything she asked without hesitation.

The next day, Steve could not even focus at work because of how beyond happy he was. Robin had noticed, having yet to ask why, but she had already assumed it had something to do with the girl that came by the night before.

"Hey dingus, there's three customers waiting out here!" Robin called to him from the front while Steve sat in the back staring off into space with a smile that made him look like a lovestruck idiot.

He was snapped out of his daydream, rolling his eyes with annoyance at Robin's interruption. Steve stood up and reluctantly shuffled to the front, pushing the doors open and walking out. His eyes widened as he saw Tess standing there, arms folded with an amused expression.

"Tess, what are you doing here?" Steve's face lit up with surprise, taking a few steps closer to her.

Theresa gave a shrug, picking at her nails. "Well, I was going to visit you on my day off but it seems like you're busy doing nothing in the back."

"If I would've known you were here, trust me, I would've been out here," he replied, leaning down and pulling her closer by the waist to kiss her.

Robin raised her eyebrows, looking around to see if anyone else was seeing what she was seeing.

"Holy shit, you guys are back together?"

Tess and Steve pulled away, both turning to see none other than Dustin standing there with his jaw dropped. Steve's mouth fell open in shock, jumping into the air.

"Henderson!" He turned to Theresa with a wide smile. "He's back!"

Dustin and Steve continued to do an elaborate handshake, one which Tess and Robin both watched while completely speechless. They shared a look, the both of them shaking their heads.

"That was... something," Theresa remarked, folding her arms in amusement.

Robin tilted her head curiously. "How many children are you friends with?" she inquired to Steve, who's smile faded.

At the least, Theresa laughed.

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     ONCE STEVE WAS ON BREAK, HE SAT down at a booth with Tess and Dustin to catch up.

"No way," Steve shook his head in disbelief at Dustin. "Hotter than Phoebe Cates? No."

"Mhm," Dustin set down his spoon. "Brilliant, too. And she doesn't even care that my real pearls are still coming in. She says kissing is better without teeth."

Steve and Theresa exchanged a look with each other, giving slow nods.

"Wow, that's great," Steve remarked at once. "Proud of you, man. That's– that's kinda romantic."

Dustin smiled to himself, nodding back.

"So do you really just get to eat as much of this as you want?" he questioned, gesturing to the ice cream in front of him.

Steve curtly nodded. "Yeah, I mean, sure. It's not really a good idea for me, though. I gotta keep in good shape."

"For what?" Tess asked with curiosity, tilting her head.

He opened his mouth, pausing. "Just in case we ever have to... y'know... fight more Demogorgons."

She slowly nodded, leaning forward and resting her face against her hands.

"So if we're dating, do I get free ice cream?"

Steve smiled at her like an idiot. "You can have as much ice cream as you want."

She pursed her lips. "Nice. I think I'm gonna go get a double scoop of rocky road then."

Tess stood up, walking over to the counter where Robin was standing.

Once she was gone, Dustin leaned closer to Steve, elbowing him. "When did this happen, huh?" He smirked.

Steve brushed him off. "A couple of days ago. We... we talked, and– other things, and decided to start over."

Dustin started to grin giddily like a little girl, replying, "I knew you guys would get back together. I was rooting for you the whole time."

"Yeah, yeah," Steve waved a hand, looking up as Tess reappeared and sat back down beside him. He put an arm around her while she licked her ice cream.

"So, where are the other knuckleheads?" Steve questioned in reference to Dustin's friends.

Dustin slightly shook his head. "They ditched me yesterday. Can you believe that shit?"

"What, seriously?"

"I swear to God," Dustin took another bite of ice cream. "Mm. They're gonna regret it though, big time– when they don't get to share in my glory."

"What do you mean?" Theresa responded, furrowing her brows.

Dustin paused, wiping off his hands and scooting closer to the two as if what he was about to say was some big secret.

In a low voice, he explained, "We were trying to get in contact with Suzie..."

"Oh," Steve smirked knowingly, Tess rolling her eyes.

"And, uh..." Dustin covered his mouth, saying something neither Theresa nor Steve could understand.

They both leaned forward, saying, "Huh?"

Dustin spoke again, but yet they still could not hear him.

"Speak louder–"

"I intercepted a secret Russian communication!" Dustin loudly interrupted.

Tess pinched the bridge of her nose, glancing around the room before turning back to Dustin.

"What are you talking about?" she quietly muttered.

Dustin seemed deadly serious. "We could be heroes," he looked up at them. "True American heroes."

Steve seemed invested, while Tess was not. She fought the urge to roll her eyes again, making a face.

"Yeah, no thanks."

"Wait wait wait!" Dustin pleaded as Theresa started to stand, the girl giving a sigh and a deadpan look.

He looked between her and Steve. "I need your guys' help. Please."

Steve immediately nodded, although Tess was apprehensive. She tilted her head to the side as Dustin reached in his backpack and pulled something out, holding it up.

It was a Russian-English translation book, Theresa beginning to catch on as Dustin looked at her.

"Do you think you could translate Russian to English?"

Dustin and Steve both looked at her expectantly, while Theresa clenched her jaw with reluctance. Finally, she set down her ice cream, reaching over and snatching the book out of Dustin's hands. She flipped it open and skimmed the pages, making a face.

Tess glanced up at Dustin, chewing her inner lip.

"You're gonna owe me for this, Henderson."

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     DUSTIN AND STEVE OBSERVED TESS with amazement.

She claimed to not know anything about Russian linguistics, but she had already gotten half of a sentence translated just from listening to Dustin's recording over and over.

"You're so hot," Steve mumbled under his breath as he shook his head in awe, Theresa barely glancing up at him.

"I'm trying to focus."

Steve nodded, still dumbstruck. "Sorry."

She started the tape over, and Steve contorted his face at the end.

"That sounded familiar."

Theresa and Dustin both looked up at him with confusion.

"What?"

Steve peeled a banana, taking a bite out of it. "The music at the end. It sounded familiar."

Tess closed her eyes for a moment. "Why– why are you focusing on the music?"

"Yeah, listen to the Russian," Dustin said with exasperation. "We're translating Russian!"

"I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music–"

"Alright, babysitting time is over," Robin burst through the door, looking at Steve. "You need to get in there– hey, my board!"

She gestured to the whiteboard that Tess and Dustin had erased, writing the Russian alphabet on.

"Sorry," Theresa apologized without much empathy. "Dustin wants me to translate his secret Russian code."

"Tess!" Dustin's eyes widened.

Robin rolled her eyes. "I already knew about it, shitbird. You guys are extremely loud."

Theresa twirled her pen in amusement, sitting back in her chair.

"You wanna help me?" she asked Robin, arching an eyebrow.

Robin began to smile, pulling out a chair and taking a seat. She tossed the ice cream scoop to Steve, who sighed and reluctantly walked outside.

"What do you got so far?" Robin inquired, Theresa sitting up and showing her what she had scribbled down on a notepad.

"The week is long. The silver cat feeds," she read aloud, nodding a little as she looked up at Tess.

"Great. What does that mean?"

Theresa tossed her pen on the table dejectedly. "If only I knew."

"It's code for a reason," Dustin stated with annoyance. "They're not going to make it obvious so we know exactly what they mean."

Tess shot him a look. "And what are you doing to contribute to this other than sit there, hm?"

She stood up to stretch, leaving Robin and Dustin in the back while she went out to the front with Steve.

As she did, she immediately frowned at the two girls on the other side of the counter.

"El?"

Eleven and Max were standing there, waiting on Steve to make their ice cream. Theresa's mouth fell open as she tilted her head to the side.

"Are you supposed to be here?" she questioned, El and Max exchanging a mischievous look.

Theresa pursed her lips. "Max. Take her home."

Max groaned, throwing up her hands dramatically as she and Eleven turned to leave the parlor. "I am, I am!"

Steve involuntarily smiled at Tess as she took a few steps closer to him, leaning back against the counter.

"So. Where are we going tonight?"

He knit his brows. "We– we're going somewhere?"

"Well... yeah. Don't you want to go out? On a date?"

"Oh," Steve blinked, then nodded. "Yeah, of course. Where did you want to go?"

She smiled a little, raising a shoulder. "Surprise me."

Steve began to smirk, his mind already filled with various ideas. He pushed off of the counter, his arms folded with the aura of cockiness he usually had showing.

"Deal."

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     "THE WEEK IS LONG, THE SILVER CAT feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west."

Theresa, Steve, Dustin and Robin all stared at the whiteboard in the backroom of Scoops Ahoy, stumped.

"This makes perfect sense," Tess sarcastically remarked, shaking her head as she turned to Dustin. "Hate to break it to you, bud, but I think this was a waste of time."

She grabbed her purse as Steve and Robin closed up the parlor for the night.

"It just... it can't be right," Steve said as he locked the doors.

Tess took offense to this. "Um, excuse me?"

He quickly tried to retract his statement. "I meant– uh..."

"We know what you meant," Robin cut off with an eye roll, walking alongside Theresa.

"I think it's great news," Dustin remarked.

Steve threw up his hands. "How is this great news? I mean, so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense."

"It's not nonsense," Dustin replied, "it's a code."

"A total super secret spy code, right?" Tess added cynically, shaking her head.

Robin shrugged. "Maybe it is."

Steve gave her a look. "You're buying into this?"

She pursed her lips. "Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What'd you think they were gonna say, 'Fire the warhead at noon?'"

"Well, whatever it means, I know the translation is correct," Theresa interjected, crossing her arms.

Robin eyed her for a moment, and then it hit her in that moment who Theresa was. "Hey, you were the valedictorian, weren't you?"

Tess glanced around. "...Yeah, why?"

She shook her head, speechless. "I can't believe I just connected the dots on who you are. You're literally Theresa Sinclair."

Giving a slow nod, Tess replied, "Yeah..."

"Okay, so if anyone would know how to crack this Russian code, it'd be you, right? You're like a– a genius!"

Theresa was flattered, starting to smile. She looked to the side and noticed that Steve was not with them, stopping and turning around.

"Steve!" He was rummaging in his pocket, pulling out a handful of coins as he stood in front of a little plastic horse.

"Hey, I need a quarter, do you have a quarter?"

"What?" Tess sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she walked over to him.

Opening her purse, Theresa handed him a quarter as Steve squatted down and placed it in the machine slot for the ride.

"Steve, what are you doing?"

"Shh," he waved a hand. "Listen!"

They stood there in silence, listening to the song the horse played as it moved up and down.

"Oh my God," Tess exclaimed, realizing what he was referring to.

Dustin caught on at once, pulling off his backpack and looking for the tape recorder. He found it and pressed play, the exact same music beginning to play from the tape.

"I don't understand," Robin shook her head.

"It's the same songs," Theresa explained, tapping her chin. "This... this is too coincidental. I think– I think that code came from right here, in the mall."

Steve stood up, nodding his head vigorously in agreement. "Yeah, yeah, you're right."

"I know."

Tess paced back and forth, then looked down at Dustin. "Let me have the tape. I'm gonna finish translating this tonight."

Steve dropped his arms. "But– our date."

She swore in her head, pulling her lips in.

"Right. Okay, never mind. I'll come by Scoops on my break first thing tomorrow, and then I'll finish translating it."

Dustin nodded, zipping up his backpack. Theresa wanted to prioritize her and Steve, since this was the first time they had really gotten a chance to be an actual 'couple'. She did not want to mess things up this time.

Turning to Steve, she held out a hand with a smile on her face.

"Ready to go?"

Steve returned her smile, grabbing her hand and intertwining their fingers. He turned back to Dustin and Robin, giving a little nod.

"See you tomorrow."

He walked out of the mall hand in hand with Tess, purposefully bumping into her to annoy her.

"Am I allowed to know where we're going?" she inquired as Steve led her out to his car, Steve opening the door for her.

"I'm afraid not. It kills the suspense."

She narrowed her eyes at him, Steve smirking to himself while he walked around to the driver side. He got in the car and started it up, pulling out of the mall parking lot.

"Your favorite food is seafood, right?" he questioned, glancing over at her.

Theresa tilted her head, her mouth falling open a bit. "You remembered that?"

Steve beamed. "Of course. I remembered the definition of kinetic energy just because you said it."

She laughed, shaking her head. "That's true. I still can't believe you thought I was coming to your house for another reason besides studying."

"I was hopeful and naïve," he sighed, earning another laugh from Tess.

"That you were."

notes.
hi bbys! i had a massive migraine yesterday and today, but i powered through and updated bc i'm dedicated to this fic 💪

the domestic, happy side of steveresa is what's keeping me sane atm,, i live for their soft moments more than anything

what do we think of tess & robin so far? i quite love them if i do say so myself 🫶

the way i can't decide on what i want theresa's major to be 💔 i'm between either a law degree or political science (because we all know she loves to argue)