BABY STEVE
AND
MOMMA ALEX !

☀︎

ALEX HAD BEEN QUIET AS THE THREE HEADED BACK TO SCOOPS AHOY. It felt unnecessary to her to try and explain the way she had felt. Maybe this new adventure had been too much to handle, but she had wanted to tough it out. The other two had been calm and collected chasing down a new threat and she had wanted to feel that exact same way.

Keeping a loose hold of Steve's hand, Alex had kept her eyes down as they neared Scoops. She had hoped that Robin had better luck serving ice cream than they did chasing a man to his Jazzercise class.

Robin had seemed frazzled as her brain went into overdrive to connect the pieces of how Starcourt had truly been linked to this Russian code. She didn't have time for greetings when the three had found their way back into Scoops.

Alex had put a smile on her face as she managed a laugh when she saw Robin. "You won't believe who these two thought was a Russian."

Scoffing, Steve had looked over to Dustin. "Yeah, Dustin did. Not me. Not a chance."

"You did too," Dustin whispered in disbelief. Going back and forth, neither of them could see how Robin's eyes had darted around while her mind had went into overdrive. Everything was slowly starting to line up to her and she needed to be sure. That meant there was no time to explain.

Rushing her way between Steve and Alex, she had grabbed who she thought would be able to think the same as her. Grabbing Alex's arm, Robin gave no explanation as she pulled her away from Steve and back out into the mall.

Stumbling along with, Alex had kept up, yet still very much unaware as to why she needed to be in such a hurry. When the two had stopped in the middle of the mall, Robin jumped onto a bench, whispering the code to herself as she spun every which way.

"If you're looking for an evil Russian too, don't take Dustin's description to heart. He wasn't even close to right," Alex said. Her own eyes had traveled across the mall, but just as before, she wasn't sure what to be keep an eye out for.

"A trip to China sounds nice," Robin muttered and that had gave Alex a thought about a Chinese restaurant that was not too far from them and she was hungry for something that wasn't ice cream. Hand lingering over her stomach, she didn't realize until then how hungry she truly was.

"You know, Imperial Panda is the best. We should grab some before we leave tonight because this spy shit is really taking a lot out of me," she thought out loud. Spinning around, Robin had followed where Alex's eyes had hungrily lingered.

A small breath of air had escaped Robin's lips, "You're a genius."

"Food is my speciality," she nodded.

Not ready to correct Alex on what had really sparked Robin's thought process, Robin had continued on with cracking the code herself. Her mind had connected the codes specifically to stores within in the mall until the final line had her looking at the giant clock that stood above all. "When blue meets yellow in the west," she whispered through a small laugh.

Turning Alex to face her, Robin squeezed her arms as a giant smile came to her face. "I cracked it."

Trying to match her excitement, Alex pretended to be just as enthusiastic as her. "Yay!" Smile faltering for a moment, she narrowed her eyes at her. "Wait, cracked what?"

"The code. I-I can't believe it..."

"The code?" Alex interrupted loudly. "Holy shit. You're a goddamn genius." Jumping excitedly, Alex threw her arms around Robin. Wrapping her arms around Alex, Robin couldn't help but laugh at how insane this all had been. "We did it."

"You did it," Alex corrected her. "I was just following a random man and talking about getting some Imperial Panda." Pulling out of the hug, Alex had kept her hands on Robin as she moved them to her arms. "You're a freakin' super spy!"

Coming up to the two, completely in the dark, Steve and Dustin had looked at the two standing on the bench with dopey smiles stuck to their faces. "What's going on?" Steve had asked.

"I cracked it," Robin chuckled as she hopped down from the bench.

"Cracked what?"

Jumping down next, Alex had landed next to Steve and wrapped her arms around his arm. "The goddamn code! She's brilliant. I just wanted some Chinese!"

"It somehow helped," Robin chimed in. Despite solving it all, she was not as eager to take all the credit as she expected herself to do. After spending so much time with the three and getting an adventure she never expected, she wanted to be apart of the team for once. Without them, she wouldn't have been there and without her, the three would still be trying to translate Russian.

『••☀︎••』

AFTER SOME PLANNING AND DEEP THOUGHT, THE GROUP OF FOUR HAD FOUND THEMSELVES STANDING IN THE POURING RAIN. The sky had rumbled above them while the rain had drenched them in their raincoats.

Darting across the rain, Alex had used one hand to shield her eyes from the pouring rain, while the other had held onto Dustin's to be sure he stayed by their side. Robin had directed the group to where she believed would be the best spot to scope out the trucks unloading beneath them.

Letting go of Dustin's hand, she allowed him to take the end beside Steve, leaving her to sandwich herself between both Steve and Robin. Dustin had been in charge of the binoculars for a better view of the situation, leaving the other three to squint through the rain.

"Look for Imperial Panda and Kaufman Shoes," Robin instructed. Alex had left the search to Dustin as she pulled her hood further in hopes of blocking the rain from her face. Shutting her eyes, she had turned into Steve to avoid the rain. It was cold and after everything, Alex had grown to hate being cold. For her, Steve was warmth so he was something she clung to.

Unlike the rest, Steve didn't have a hood. He pushed the wet hair that fell in front of his face as he blocked Alex from the pouring rain. The rain had seeped through to her clothes, causing her to shiver, which allowed him to move closer to keep her as warm as possible.

Backing in, a truck had entered into the area that had all of them perk up for a better look. Pulling off of Steve, Alex held her hand over her eyes to block out the rain but it never did help.

"They're with that whistling guy, ten o'clock," Dustin called over the pounding of the rain. In yellow rain jackets, men had begun unloading boxes labeled for the Imperial Panda to men that stood straight and strapped with guns.

"What do you thinks in there?" Steve questioned.

"Guns, bombs, demogorgon?" Alex suggested with a small laugh. It would be her luck to have the mess they involved themselves in to be the exact same things she continuously been dragged into. Steve had looked over her with annoyance. "Yeah, you wish. Maybe you'll get another boyfriend out of it."

"Rude," she called out with a small smack to his arm.

"Whatever it is, they're armed to the teeth," Dustin said as he leaned over to the two. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah, great. That's great," Steve remarked sarcastically.

"Won't be as great when they use it on us for spying on them," Alex said with a small smile. In a twisted way, she thought it would be funny for them to avoid death to creatures that should never had existed but to only die to a couple of men with guns.

Steve let out a sigh, attempting to wipe away the rain from his eyes, only to have it pour down harder as thunder cracked in the distance. "Let me see. Give me that," he said, yanking the binoculars from Dustin who had refused to give them up.

"I'm still looking," Dustin said as he yanked the binoculars back towards him. As far as he was concerned, he was in charge. Steve hadn't matter when he knew he was by far the smartest of the bunch. Robin may have been a close second but no one knew as much as him. He was proud to be a nerd and no one would take that away from him— especially not Steve Harrington.

With another hard yank to get the binoculars back, Dustin had managed to pull them free. However, the noise from the group and the thud that rang out from hitting the pipe beside him with the binoculars, their cover was blown.

All four had reached out for one another to get everyone down hidden beneath the wall before they could be spotted. The men below had looked to the rooftop, guns drawn and on high alert. Terrified, the four had almost been afraid to breathe. Fumbling around with his hand, Steve had searched for Alex's hand and when his hand slipped into hers, it just wasn't as comforting as it once was before.

Looking over to her, he had been afraid that maybe with her new strange behavior developing that maybe somewhere inside him he had lost a part of himself along the way from loving her. That was no where near the case because when he did find her, she had been holding onto Robin's hand. She had no longer been in the spot next to him and instead in all the panic, Dustin had managed to get around Steve to be beside his sister. Along the way, he had accidentally found himself holding onto Steve's hand all because he had taken his sisters spot.

Flinging his hand out from his, Steve had looked to Dustin with a horrified expression. "Dude!"

"You grabbed my hand," Dustin whispered back harshly.

The girls, completely oblivious to the boys issue, had gotten up to move on. Crouching down to stay out of sight, they made their way in front of the boys. "Hey, we gotta go before they come up here," Alex whispered to them. Still holding onto each other's hands, the two girls had taken off for the door back into the mall.

Holding open the door for the other two to catch up, Alex pulled down her hood and wiped her face free from rain. "So we're clearly onto something," Alex stated as she let the door close behind them all.

"Yeah, you think?" Reaching over, Robin had smacked Dustin on the arm with a wide grin. "I think we found your Russians."

Shaking off his hair, Steve couldn't begin to believe what he had found himself in once again. Becoming heroes was supposed to be exhilarating but this was something else now. "Yeah, and now I'm supposed to go home and try and sleep. Right, thanks, guys, thanks a lot." Scoffing, he pointed over to Alex and Dustin. "Listen, I'm dropping you two off at home and I want no word getting out to the other knuckleheads, you got it? We're going to sleep with clear heads and figure out what shit we got ourselves into. Understood?"

Just as usual with Steve's confidence in his own set of plans, he was met with complete silence— minus the sound of their footsteps and the rain that dripped off of their jackets. "I said, understood?" He had repeated himself as he looked to them.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, babe," Alex said quickly in a single breath, but she wasn't sure if that were the case. Today had her mind racing. One thing that continued to stick was Will Byers. The fear and wave of chills she experienced was something she didn't want to question when it came to him. If he had felt it just as she had, then she would know for certain they were stuck in a dark place. If it was just her, she would tell herself she would have to live with it.

One thing was for certain, she would never let Will be left to live with it. She needed to check on him and despite new adventures unfolding before her, she had to make room for him.

"But Robins sleeping over," she added in. If Robin was going to be joining their group, she knew she needed her to hear for herself what they went through. Nothing was going to allow her to drag her straight into the unknown and expect her to dive in.

"I am?" Robin questioned, trying to mask the hopefulness in her voice. Earning a nod from Alex, Robin shot Steve a look, "I am, Harrington."

Noticing Steve's head slowly turn down to him, Dustin immediately shook his head, "Nope. I'm not having a sleepover with you."

"I didn't even ask," Steve scoffed. The idea had definitely crossed his mind but it would go against everything in him to offer firsthand. Dustin already shooting it down was a clear sign it would never happen.

"Someone's scared," Dustin mumbled with a nudge to Alex just for a laugh.

"Dude, I'm not scared."

"Hey, it's okay you're jealous your girlfriend would rather hang out with Robin than cuddle with you all night. She can't always read you a bedtime story to help you sleep, Steve. You just gotta grow up on your own." Dustin's teasing words had Steve biting on his tongue to stop himself from attacking back.

"We can have a sleepover another time," Alex said softly to him. She was only trying to make him feel better but when both Robin and Dustin had coughed out laughs, it was clear she wasn't helping. "Okay, guys, shut up. I don't baby him."

"Right," Dustin laughed sarcastically.

"Okay, how about I take Alex home and you two can just walk in the rain, huh?" Steve's suggestion had the group drop their smiles and shut their mouths rather quickly— just as he had wanted. However, he didn't seem to notice the exchanged looks between Robin and Dustin when they had spotted Alex take Steve's hand with both of hers just to make him feel better from all the teasing.