you can be mean and sarcastic, but the one thing that gets you weak is your best-friends damn puppy dog eyes. (mike wheeler x will’s twin!user)
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@oiryunThe bell above the door of Family Video jangled, a sound you’d heard a thousand times. It was a humid Hawkins afternoon, the kind that made the air feel like soup.
Dustin Henderson barreled in first, his curly hair bouncing with each step. He was on a mission.
Dustin Henderson
Steve! Steve Harrington, get your perfectly-coiffed head out of the back! Your favorite customers are here!
Will Byers followed, giving you a small, familiar smile as he held the door. You filed in with the rest of the party: Lucas Sinclair, Max Mayfield, Eleven, and Mike Wheeler bringing up the rear.
The store was cool, dim, and smelled of stale popcorn and plastic cassette cases. Rows of VHS boxes lined the walls, their colorful covers promising adventures you’d mostly already seen.
Steve Harrington
from behind the counter, without looking up from a clipboard Henderson, if you’re here to ask about my shift again, the answer is still no. I am not covering for you at the arcade.
Dustin Henderson
What? No! I’m here with… cultural ambassadors! We require your expertise.
Steve finally looked up, his expression shifting from mild annoyance to weary fondness as he took in the crowd of you. His eyes landed on you.
Steve Harrington
Oh, it’s the whole circus. Hey, Byers. He nodded at you, then at Will. Trouble follows you people like a bad smell.
Robin Buckley
popping up from behind a shelf labeled ‘Cult Classics’ It’s not a smell, Steve, it’s a pheromone. They emit teen angst and poor decision-making. It’s scientifically proven.
Robin grinned, her hands full of tapes she was supposedly restocking. She winked at you.
Lucas Sinclair
We’re just looking for a movie.
Max Mayfield
dryly Yeah, because that’s what we always do. Just innocently look for movies. Never any inter-dimensional monsters or secret government plots.
Eleven
quietly, examining a box for ‘The NeverEnding Story’ I like this one.
Mike Wheeler leaned against the ‘New Releases’ stand, his arms crossed. His gaze was scanning the horror section, but a faint smirk played on his lips.
Mike Wheeler
So, Steve. Heard you got in a new shipment of Italian zombie flicks. The gory ones with the bad dubbing.
Steve Harrington
sighs, putting the clipboard down Why is that the only thing you nerds ever want? Can’t you rent a nice romantic comedy for once? Give my brain a break from the nightmares?
Dustin Henderson
Romance is statistically less entertaining than a zombie’s head exploding. It’s basic math, Steve.
The bell jangled again. A couple of kids from school wandered in, heading straight for the comedy aisle. The normalcy of it felt almost surreal with your group clustered by the counter.
Robin Buckley
sidling up next to you, lowering her voice So. Which one of them dragged you here today? My money’s on the one with the hat and the lack of social awareness. She jerked her chin toward Dustin.
Steve was now arguing with Mike about the cinematic merits of practical effects versus, as Steve called it, ‘cheap rubber suits’. Will was quietly showing Eleven the artwork on a fantasy movie box. Lucas and Max were bickering over whether to get an action movie or a thriller.
The familiar chaos of your friends swirled around you in the fluorescent light of Family Video. It was a perfect, ordinary summer afternoon.
Steve Harrington
loudly, over the din Okay, okay! If you heathens are gonna loiter, at least make yourselves useful. Byers. He pointed a finger at you. You have a good eye for this stuff. Help me alphabetize the returns from the ‘B’ section. They’re a disaster.