THAT'S ANOTHER POINT,
HARRINGTON !

☀︎

THE BACK ROOM OF SCOOPS AHOY HAD NEVER BEEN SO BUSY. Pacing around the room, Dustin had watched both Alex and Steve listening to the tape. The two had been sitting at the table with Alex now wearing Steve's sailor cap and listening intently to every word she didn't understand. Beside her, Steve had taken a bite out of his banana as he tried to listen.

When the recording had reached its end, Dustin had looked to Steve. As far as he was concerned, getting Steve's help was the best kind of help there was. As of now, Dustin had a girlfriend that he felt he wouldn't have gotten if it weren't for Steve Harrington's tips. "So, what do you think?"

Steve's eyebrows stayed furrowed as he tried to wrap his head around something the others wouldn't understand. "It sounded familiar."

As he had finished up the last bite of his banana, Alex had taken the peel and tossed it onto the table. "I'm sorry, Steve, but, by chance, do you listen to Russians caught on tape frequently and aren't inviting me?"

He met her eyes in all seriousness. "The music, genius."

"The music?"

"Yeah, the music, right there at the end."

Alex had turned over to her brother for his input, but there was no reason. He was already too upset with Steve to hold back even he had wanted to. "Why are you listening to the music, Steve? Listen to the Russian! We're translating Russian!"

"I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music playing," he pouted. Turning to Alex, Steve had tried to signal to her to step in and calm Dustin down, but her confusion on understanding the importance of the music had stumped her.

Even if Alex had pulled it together to pick a side between the boys, Robin Buckley had entered into the room and picked no ones side but her own. "All right, babysitting and date time is over. Steve, you need to get in there." Robin's eyes had scanned the room as she spoke, but she was put to a halt when she had seen her ruined whiteboard. Her important data had been wiped clean and in replace had been the Russian alphabet. "Hey, my board! That was important data, shitbirds!"

"I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data," Dustin scoffed, earning agreement right away from Steve.

"Harrington Heart Eyes isn't even a real thing so you can't keep track of how many times you claim to see it," Steve added in. Alex had narrowed her eyes in respond as she bit the inside of her cheek. Something about every conversation she found herself apart of had completely stumped her. Harrington Heart Eyes had been confusing enough, but she had remembered Dustin erasing Visible Hickey Henderson off the board just before they started— and that was enough to shut down her brain in thought.

Robin had stood beside where Alex had sat as she crossed her arms. "And how do you know these Russians are up to no good, anyways?"

Stunned, Dustin had looked to the others to confirm he wasn't the only one lost on how she knew such secretive information. "How does she know about the Russians?"

"Actually, I can hear everything," Robin spoke up. "You three are extremely loud. You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but haven't figured out a word because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do. Sound about right?"

Raising a finger up, Alex had finally felt herself feeling in the loop. "You know what, that's the first thing that's made sense."

Smiling down to Alex, Robin had only confirmed to herself that everything she had said was true. Only now, she had wanted in on the mess the three found themselves in. Wasting no time, she made a leap for the tape, only for Steve to be much quicker than her as he snatched it up first.

Holding the tape back, he looked her over, "What do you think you're doing?

"I wanna hear it   Maybe I can help. I'm fluent in four languages, you know."

"Russian?" Dustin asked hopefully.

"Ou-yay are-yay umb-day," Robin responded. Each of the boys had looked to one another in amazement while Alex had placed her chin in her hand in disappointment. This whole time she had been trying to translate with the worst people to ever translate with.

"Hey, dipshits," she mumbled out to them. "You do realize she was speaking Pig Latin? Not Russian."

Taking a seat at the table, Robin had grown more interested in helping once she realized something about Alex Henderson she wasn't quite sure of before. "Someone with a brain," she grinned. "I can also speak Spanish, French, and Italian. And I've been in band for twelve years. My ears are little geniuses, trust me."

Pulling her chin away from her hand, Alex had sat up with a little more hope. "I say Robin's in. We can't do this alone."

Dustin had met his sisters eyes and knew his next set of words would hurt her. "It'a dangerous. You know what happened when we asked you to stay with us and help find Will. It didn't end good."

"It did, because it ended," she reminded him. "I trust Robin. Plus, this is some Russian shit. We'll be  known heroes in case you forgot. Plus, last time I tried to do stuff alone, it wasn't fun."

"What exactly are we talking about here?" Robin questioned the group.

Taking a seat at the table, Steve had kicked his feet up as he tossed the tape in the air for himself to catch. "Alex had a boyfriend before me. Total dick. But we handled it."

Sitting back in her seat, Alex had rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Robin could tell right away that wasn't exactly the truth, but Alex had seemed instantly closed off by the topic, Dustin seemed sensitive to the subject, and Steve stood by the story he told— Alex Henderson had a bad break up last year.

"Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate! I don't even want credit. I'm just bored," Robin groaned. Lazily holding out the ice cream scooper to Steve, she waited patiently to trade places. Taking a deep breath, Steve had taken his chances on Robin Buckley. If Alex said she was in, there was no doubt that she would be a good fit for the team. Leaning forward, he had passed over the tape, and accepted an ice cream scooper in its place.

『••☀︎••』

THE GROUP HAD CONTINUED TO TRANSLATE AS STEVE HARRINGTON WAS FORCED TO SLING ICE CREAM TO CUSTOMERS. Listening in on the back room, he had felt left out whenever he heard the occasional burst of laughter or when Dustin's voice spoke loudly over both Robin and Alex to stay focused on the mission. It wasn't until today that he had longed to be translating a language rather than avoid extra work at all costs.

Handing off another cone of ice cream to a customer, the doors had finally opened up. Rather than having Dustin walk out to release his stress as usual, he was greeted by Alex as she let out a long sigh of defeat.

Leaning up against the counter, she had crossed her arms. "I have the worst headache." Uncrossing her arms, she had dropped her head into her hands as he pain had pushed behind her eyes. This had started to become common in Alex's everyday life with headaches that had her wanting to hide under a blanket, far away from the world.

"Listening to Robin talk all day gives me headaches too," he said as he leaned up beside her.

Alex pulled her head out of her hands from his words and playfully scoffed. "Could you make it more obvious that you're jealous she's getting all my attention?" As he had tried to deflect her question, Alex had given him a small nudge in the side. "I actually really like her. I don't really see anyone besides you anymore so it's sort of nice having another person who actually laughs at my jokes."

Steve had looked over to her as she spoke and nothing could hide the way she had forced the corners of her mouth to turn up as she spoke. Throughout summer, Alex had spent time in Scoops whenever she wasn't babysitting— something Steve wouldn't trade the world for. Steve had known how much her friendships meant to her, and what was lacking in her life was Nancy Wheeler, and most importantly, Jonathan Byers.

Clearing his throat, he had picked himself up from the counter as he took another customer's order. While the order was being spoken, Alex had taken it upon herself to help Steve with slinging the ice cream, but the conversation was not over just yet. Joining her in filling another cone, he briefly glanced to her. "Speaking of people with an awful sense of humor, have you talked to Jonathan?"

Through all the hate and constant fighting between Steve and Jonathan, the distaste for one another quickly dissolved after the events around Halloween. After what they had all been through, it seemed pointless to keep up the fight when both boys had exactly what they wanted. Now it felt that Steve was starting to care for Jonathan and Alex's friendship as if it were his very own.

Handing off the ice cream to him, Alex only kept her eyes on Steve passing the ice cream off to the customers. Giving a small shrug, she hadn't thought much of the last time she got to really hang out with Jonathan. "I mean, yeah, we talk. He's just been busy with the Hawkins Post. Plus, he's dating Nancy so, I get that we can't hang out as much as usual." Giving a small nod, she felt she was fully convincing herself, only she hadn't convinced Steve that she was entirely content with the way things were turning out.

"You get to hang out with me," he said. To him, it may have not felt like much, but seeing Alex's smile grow and her eyes light up told him it was more than enough.

"Aren't I lucky?"

"The luckiest," Steve looked over to the smiling girl, just glad to see that all the pain and sorrow that once filled her eyes have not come around with the Mind Flayer gone. "And the prettiest," he said softly. Alex had turned her eyes up to him as she felt every bit of worry dissolve due to his words and how he had made her feel. It was everything she had needed to feel herself breathing again in a world she felt was still suffocating her.

"That's another point, Harrington," Robin called, popping her head out the breakroom window. "We've got our first sentence."

"Oh, seriously?" Steve asked. Both him and Alex had gathered by the window, impatiently awaiting what could very well be a groundbreaking discovery.

"The week is long," Robin repeated in a Russian accent. Unsure what they were expecting, they knew for a fact that they did not quite expect that. Just as Robin had expected, each had ther shoulders slump and disappointment fill their faces.

"That sucks," Alex whispered.

"I know. But progress," Robin said with a smile. With a customer's approaching, Steve had ditched sitting in disappointment on the lackluster sentence while Alex frowned at Robin. "You think it's code?"

Robin gave a small shrug, "Probably."

"Sounds like a code." Alex had scoffed as she looked down in thought. "The week is long," she repeated. Giving a small nod, she met Robin's eyes once more. "That's definitely code for something weird."

"I'll get back to you with more weird code when I can, Henderson," Robin said just before disappearing into the back room once again. Still in thought about what the translation could possibly mean, Alex pouted to herself. That was until two familiar faces had completely cleared her mind.

On the other side of the counter, El had held up a hand in greeting and Max had her head cocked to the side, her arms crossed and a smile tempted to break through. "I'm teaching El that boyfriends suck, so I took her shopping. Figured she needed a new look that speaks more to her."

Leaning up against the counter, Alex's smile grew. "Shopping while the boys are suffering is the best kind of shopping."

"Dump their asses," El stated.

With Steve busy getting together their cones of ice cream, Alex had laid her hands on the counter, leaning forward in secret the best she could. "So, when are we hanging out, just us three? Because if you two are in the mood to talk shit about boyfriends, I'm all ears."

Pointing his scooper to her, Steve had narrowed his eyes, "Not about me."

Turning over to him, Alex shook her head. "No, totally not you. You're awesome. You give us ice cream."

Max scoffed as she had rolled her eyes. "You get a boyfriend that gives you free ice cream whenever you want, while I get Lucas. He pointed out my pimple yesterday."

"Mike lied," El piped up with a small frown. But soon both girls eyes had traveled to Alex's as they had waited. It had taken a moment of silence for Alex to soon realize that they were awaiting her complaints about Steve. Only, Alex didn't seem to have any so far. Thinking quick, she had fumbled out a weak response that would hopefully satisfy the girls. "Steve's annoying."

Max nodded her head in agreement, "Totally."

Coming up beside Alex, Steve had a look of disappointment as his eyes traveled across the three. If anything, he believed he was anything but annoying. "Okay, here you go, you got a strawberry and then a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream." Holding out the cones, he had hoped they would be on their way before they roped Alex into their day dedicated to making boyfriends miserable.

As the girls had taken their cones with big smiles, Steve had a realization. Never once had El been able to visit Scoops Ahoy, especially without Hopper around. "Wait a second. Are you even allowed to be here?" he asked El, but his eyes had lingered towards the exit in fear that maybe Hopper was paying a visit. To him it seemed that Hopper didn't like him whatsoever and hated it even more if he was with Alex.

Turning to one another, both El and Max had begun to giggle before turning around without an answer. Giving a small pout, Steve had shook his head in confusion. "Whatever," he whispered. Glancing over to Alex, he had spotted the guilty look on her face. "You're not actually annoying," she whispered quickly. "It's the only thing I could think of."

"Because I'm so perfect?" he said in a flirty tone, leaning into Alex. Seeing her hand placed on the counter, he took it upon himself to lay his on hers. Alex's eyes had looked down at their hands before she pulled her hand out from under his, "I changed my mind."

She had kept her eyes on him with a small smile that she tried desperately to fight back. Unable to take it much longer, she finally let out a laugh and placed her hand back on his. "I'm kidding, you're sort of awesome."

Steve had begun to lean forward, but before he could meet her halfway for a quick kiss, the break room door had been thrown open. Turning towards Robin, Alex had matched her excitement as she explained the progress they were making. Clearing his throat, Steve had rubbed the back of his neck as he watched the two girls excitedly grabbing one another's arms as they discussed the super secret Russian code.

Even if Alex had left him hanging, seeing the friendship between her and Robin had felt like a breath of fresh air. As long as she was happy and able to find herself a brand new friend, he was willing to wait a little longer for moments alone with her.