Cruel Summer, Steve Harrington

4. little people for little vents

WHATEVER'S IN those boxes," said Dustin the next day, "they really don't want anybody finding it."

Robin shook her head, eager to keep going. "There's gotta be a way in."

"I could just take him out." said Steve casually and they all blinked at him.

"You wanna take out a Russian guard? The ones with guns we saw last night?" asked Ruby, not sure if he was being serious or not.

Steve shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, I go up behind him, I knock him out and I take his key card. It's not that hard."

"I seriously don't know if can hear the words coming out of your mouth." said Ruby, frowning at him with wide eyes.

   Steve mimicked the look on her face but stopped the second she shot him a glare. Then he continued, "I'd be sneaking. They wouldn't even see me coming."

   Dustin nodded. "Ah. Well, please, tell me this, and be honest, have you ever actually...won a fight?"

   Ruby snorted a laugh, looking over at the
frustrated expression on Steve's face.

   "Okay, that was one time." he defended
himself.

   "Not entirely true, Harrington." the blonde said, holding up a finger as she thought about it. "Remember the time you lost a fight to me?"

   Robin threw her head back in laughter. "He lost a fight to you?"

   He had, it was true. Back when they weren't together yet, Steve would constantly flirt with her and Ruby had gotten so angry and annoyed that she'd just punched his cheek. After she'd done it, she covered her mouth with her hands and went on to apologize a thousand times. But it had been fun, if she thought about it.

   Ruby nodded with a grin. "I punched his face and he nearly cried."

   Steve covered his face with his hands, clearly embarrassed. "Okay, neither of those count." he insisted, sitting up.

   "Why don't they? Because they both beat the shit out of you." Dustin replied, "Fat lip, swollen eye, a lot of blood..."

As the two bickered on, Ruby found herself staring at the air duct in the room, narrowing her eyes at it as she thought of something. Would it be too crazy...? Would it work...? Maybe one of them would fit.

She rushed over to Robin and tapped her on the shoulder. The Buckley girl faced her. "Yeah?"

"The air ducts..." whispered the blonde. "What if we used them to get into the room?"

Robin stared at the air duct for twenty seconds, wondering if it would be possible. When she realized it would be, she beamed brightly. "You're a genius, Rubes." And she sprinted from the room, grabbing money from their tip jar.