CHAPTER ONE:
SEVEN MINUTES IN A BLACKOUT

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THE BACK ROOM of Scoops Ahoy was the most depressing place on the planet. It was the kind of room that could easily drive a person insane if they spent too much time in it. Danny Buckley could feel his mind slowly unraveling the more time he spent in that room. It was a small, square room with basic white walls that reminded Danny of a hospital. The only furniture was a small, square, silver table with four chairs. On one of the walls was the door to the walk-in freezer where all the ice cream and toppings were held. It let out a light buzzing sound that made Danny want to take one of the knives used to cut fruit toppings and use it to stab his ears. It annoyed him so much that he could hear it even when he was at home in his bed.

The walls were blank except for a whiteboard that Robin used to track Steve's Harrington horrible attempt at flirting with the women who came into Scoops Ahoy. Danny had witnessed some of the cringy attempts from the window that connected the front of the store with the back of the store. You could slide it open and closed, and occasionally when Danny was really bored, he would open it and people-watch. He had heard of the infamous Steve Harrington even at Hawkins Middle but he was now starting to think they were all lies with how terrible Steve was at flirting. Danny, a fourteen-year-old kid, was better at flirting than the eighteen-year-old Steve Harrington.

Occasionally, Danny would irritate Steve by flirting with the girls that came into Scoops Ahoy. He would come out of the backroom and walk up to groups of girls sitting at the tables and booths. Danny knew that he was relatively attractive. Danny didn't think he was the hottest guy alive, but he knew he was attractive, and turned heads sometimes. When he would walk up to girls with a flirtatious smile and sit down, all of them would smile back and whisper to each other, giggling amongst themselves. They would keep their eyes on Danny and flirt back, twisting their hair and biting their lips.

As Danny finished flirting with a group of girls in one of the booths, he was handed a phone number by one of the girls. The girl made sure to graze her fingers against his hand and look up at him with seductive eyes. Danny smirked at her before walking back over to the counter. He held up the piece of paper at Steve with a smug grin, "That's how it's done. Take notes."

Steve rolled his eyes and ignored Danny. Robin laughed, "How is it that my fourteen-year-old cousin is better at flirting than you are, dingus?"

Steve scoffed and gestured to Danny, "Flirting in middle school was always easier than flirting in high school!"

"Yeah, sure," Danny scoffed. "I'll be a freshman in a couple of months. What'll your excuse be then?"

Steve shot his hand up, flipping Danny off. Danny simply smirked at him and went to the back room. Danny sat down at the silver table in the center of the room and opened up his sketchbook that he had sitting on the table. He usually went back and forth between sketching and reading comic books. There wasn't much to do in Scoops Ahoy all day. Occasionally, he would explore the mall. Danny had been to every single store in that mall more than a few times. He had also tried all the restaurants in the food court. His favorite was most likely Hot Dog on a Stick. He had also tried every flavor of ice cream that Scoops Ahoy had, and had even come up with his own flavor combinations that he had attempted to persuade the manager to sell but to no avail as Danny wanted twenty percent.

Steve entered the back room with his hands on his hips and an annoyed look on his face. Danny smirked at him and set down his pencil. He leaned back in his chair as Steve said, "You ever go on dates with the girls you get numbers from?"

"Sometimes. I tend to flirt for fun most of the time," Danny shrugged. "Even when I date them, it's usually only for a month or two, sometimes even just a couple of weeks."

Steve leaned against the window ledge, "You remind me of me."

Danny smirked, "A better, hotter version of you?"

"Not even close, kid," Steve sighed. Danny crossed his arms over his chest. "You'll grow up eventually and want one long-term relationship instead of a ton of short ones."

"Not likely," Danny shook his head as the sound of the bell up front being rung over and over again echoed into the back room.

"Hey, dingus!" Robin called out. "Your children are here!"

Steve sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He flung open the sliding glass window, "Again? Seriously?"

Another ding echoed and Steve sighed once more, rolling his eyes. Danny watched in amusement as Steve left the backroom and headed to the front. Danny listened as Steve talked to the children that he had befriended the year prior. Danny thought it was the strangest thing that an eighteen-year-old hung out with fourteen-year-olds but then again, Steve Harrington was a strange guy.

"I can't keep doing this guys," Steve explained in an exasperated voice. "If my manager finds out or if you guys get caught, it's my ass on the line, not yours."

Another ding echoed and Danny prepared himself. The door to the backroom swung open and in walked Steve Harrington leading Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Max Mayfield, and Lucas Sinclair. Each of them looked at Danny Buckley who was leaning back in his chair and resting his feet on another one of the chairs. He was dressed in black ripped jeans, a rock band t-shirt, and his signature leather jacket that he wore with every outfit.

Each of them only looked at him for a second, except for Lucas Sinclair. As Steve fished the keys out of his pocket that was for the backdoor of Scoops Ahoy, Lucas and Danny kept strong eye contact. If anyone had been paying any sort of attention to the pair, it would be obvious that there was something tension there. It used to be sexual tension but now it was more like a negative, hateful sort of tension.

Danny had a glare on his face as he frowned at Lucas while Lucas looked nervous. Lucas toyed with his fingers as he continued to stare at Danny. Danny raised an eyebrow at Lucas, making Lucas look away. Once Steve got the door open, Lucas practically pushed everyone out the door. Danny watched as they ran into the back hallways of the Starcourt Mall as Steve yelled, "I swear if anybody hears about this --"

"We're dead!"

Steve sighed as he walked back in and locked the door. Danny snorted, "Dude, you're such a pussy."

Steve glared at Danny as he defended himself, "They're very convincing."

Danny laughed once more as Steve headed back out to the front of Scoops Ahoy. Danny went back to sketching in his notebook, continuing his drawing of a different logo for Scoops Ahoy. Danny usually sketched more interesting things but he was tired of looking at the stupid and basic Scoops Ahoy sign, so he had decided to create something different and cooler.

As Danny started to fill in a portion of the logo, a knock on the backdoor to the back hallways of Starcourt sounded. Danny furrowed his brows and stood up, walking over to the door. He opened it up and saw none other than Lucas Sinclair. Danny smirked, "Movie over already?"

Lucas rolled his eyes, "Max wants ice cream."

"And you're being a good boyfriend by getting some for her?" Danny teased. "That's cute."

Lucas glared at Danny before pushing past him, their chests brushing against each other. Danny closed the door as Lucas started to look around the backroom for ice cream cups and a scooper. Danny watched as he searched and sighed, standing up from his chair. The last thing he wanted was for Lucas to be hanging around the backroom forever, looking around for items he didn't know the location of.

"They're over here," Danny informed him as he walked over to one of the storage shelves. He opened up one of the boxes and pulled out a medium-sized ice cream cup then grabbed a scooper from a metal cup that held extra scoopers on another shelf. Danny started to walk over to the walk-in freezer. "What flavor does she want?"

"Strawberry," Lucas answered as Danny opened up the freezer. "Her favorite."

Danny nodded as he walked into the freezer. The awkward tension between him and Lucas was unbearable. Danny really didn't like Lucas and Lucas really didn't like Danny. It also didn't help that they had kissed before, which led to even more tension between the two of them. Lucas walked into the freezer as well, seeing as Danny was having difficulty locating the Strawberry ice cream.

Just as the door shut behind them, the lights in the freezer turned off and the cold air shut off. Danny turned around and looked at Lucas who looked just as confused as Danny, "What the hell did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Lucas defended. "The door just shut behind me. Do the lights always turn off when it shuts?"

"No, they don't, so you obviously did something."

"I didn't!"

"Did you turn the light off, dumbass?"

"No!"

Danny looked around the dark freezer as best as he could, looking for a light switch before realizing the light switch was outside the freezer. Danny went to open the freezer door but the door wouldn't budge, "What the hell?" Danny continued to push the door handle but the door wouldn't open. Danny groaned, "Great."

"Why won't the door open?" Lucas asked.

"It probably locks when there's no power, so the cold air stays in and nothing goes bad or melts," Danny explained as he leaned against the door. He ran a hand through his hair, wondering what the hell he did to the universe to be punished by being locked in a freezer with Lucas Sinclair.

"Great," Lucas sighed. "I'm gonna miss the movie."

Danny furrowed his brows, "If the power is out then so is the projector, dumbass. Everyone is missing the movie."

Lucas's eyes widened and he nodded, "Oh, shit. That's right."

Danny rolled his eyes at Lucas. Lucas leaned against one of the shelves holding gallons of ice cream as he crossed his arms over his chest. Danny smirked to himself as he realized this was the perfect opportunity to piss off Lucas. Danny looked up at Lucas with a smirk still present of his face, "You ever been to a house party?"

   Lucas looked at him with furrowed brows and a confused expression on his face, "Um... N — No."

   "At parties, there's a game people play called Seven Minutes In Heaven," Danny explained. Lucas looked up, a nervous look on his face which delighted Danny. "It's when —"

   "I know what it is," Lucas interrupted.

   Danny chuckled softly, "This reminds me of that. Seven Minutes In A Blackout." Danny pushed himself off the door and slowly walked over to Lucas. "Small room, locked door..." Danny stood in front of Lucas Sinclair, the cramped space putting their bodies inches apart. "Tension."

Lucas moved away from Danny, choosing to lean against the door like Danny had, "Very funny."

   Danny shrugged, "Sorry, I forgot you weren't into that."

   Lucas looked up at him with a guilty expression. Lucas knew exactly what Danny was talking about. Danny hated Lucas's guilty expression. Danny didn't care if Lucas felt guilty, in fact, Lucas deserved to feel guilty. Danny usually wasn't one to hold grudges but after Lucas kissed him and then turned around and talked shit about him, Danny decided maybe holding grudges wasn't awful.

   Before Lucas could say anything back, the lights flickered on and the lock on the freezer unlocked. Lucas immediately took the lid off the Strawberry ice cream and put a few scoops of it into the bowl. Lucas put the lid back on the ice cream and handed the scooper back to Danny, "Thanks."

   Danny took the scooper and Lucas walked out of the freezer, not looking back. Danny exited the freezer as well and watched as Lucas left the back room through the back door. Danny sat back down at the table and went back to his drawing, forgetting all about Lucas Sinclair.

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[ 2.1K WORDS ]

idk how i feel about this chapter but i hope you all liked it!! danny is so fun to write. he's such a little shit & i love his banter with steve!