STARCROSSED ▷ steve harrington

03. mall rats - part two

"The week is long, tread lightly, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west." They read the sentence in unison, their voices growing in confusion as they struggled to figure out what the hell that meant.

Steve angrily shut and locked the bars behind him. "I mean—it just can't be right."

"It's right," Robin persisted.

"Honestly," Dustin cut in. "I think it's great news."

"It's cool that you guys cracked it and all, but now I'm even more confused. I mean seriously, that makes no sense. And none of it has any sort of connection to each other. Blue and yellow?" She threw up her hands. "Those colors don't even look good together."

"How is this great news?" Steve questioned, his voice raising a little too loudly. He let out a humorous chuckle. "So much for being American heroes."

"Yeah, but you're Steve Harrington," Jackie teased, bumping his shoulder. "Shouldn't that be enough?" He rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand as the four of them began to walk out of the mall.

"It's total nonsense," the boy went on.

"It's not nonsense," Dustin argued. "It's too specific. It's obviously a code."

"What do you mean, a code?"

"Like a super secret spy code."

"Oh my God!" Jackie beamed. "We could be spies. I would look so hot in all black. Could you imagine?" She dropped Steve's arm, and made finger guns at the other three who stared at her blankly. "Pew pew!"

Once again, Steve rolled his eyes as they continued their conversation, ignoring Jackie. Her hand found her boyfriend's again, and she slowly swung their connected arms back and forth. "Anyways, that's a total stretch."

"I don't know," Robin shrugged. "Is it?"

"You're buying into this?" Steve questioned, his voice laced with disbelief.

"Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What'd you think they were gonna say? 'Fire the warhead at noon'?"

"At noon?" Jackie frowned. "That's too early for me."

"Exactly!"

"And my translation is correct." Robin stated, flaring her hands as she spoke. "I know that for sure. So... 'the silver cat feeds' why would anyone talk like that unless they were trying to mask the true meaning of their message?"

"I'm telling you, we can be secret spies." Jackie insisted. "That'd be so badass."

"Exactly!" Dustin repeated.

"And why would anyone wanna mask the true meaning of their message if the message was somehow...sensitive?"

"Ex-act-ly." Dustin said, shooting Steve a pointed look, who raised his brows in response.

Robin glanced at the curly-haired boy. "So I guess that confirms your suspicion."

"Evil Russians," Dustin said smugly.

"I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child," Robin let out a small chuckle. "But yeah, totally. Evil Russians."

"So how to we crack it?"

"Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges."

"I don't get how you picked up the transmission though," Jackie mused. "I mean, our technology isn't that advanced, right? I'm not a tech geek or anything but wouldn't they have to be close by in order for you to be able to hear it?" The three of them stared at her blankly. "Am I being a blonde again?"

"Yes," Dustin answered dryly, and Steve shoved his shoulder, dropping her hand in the process. "So a pattern. Like, maybe 'silver cat' is a meeting place?"

"Or a person," Robin suggested with a smirk.

"Or a weapon," Dustin shot back, pointing his finger at her.

"It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but..." Robin trailed off, as Jackie glanced to her side to realize her boyfriend was gone.

"Where's Steve?"

The three turned to see Steve standing in front of a machine horse, digging for something in his pocket. "Hey, Steve!" Coins fell out of his pocket, and he crouched down as they made their way over to him. "You sure you're tall enough for that ride?" Robin teased, and Jackie let a giggle escape her lips.

"Quarter!" He demanded, and Jackie stared down at him in confusion as she pulled out her purse and gently handed him one. He placed them into the slot, and the ride began, the song echoed throughout the quiet mall.

"You need help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin asked, smirking.

"Oh my God," Jackie whispered, slowly understanding what he was doing, and Steve glanced up to meet her eyes. "I was right. I mean, as usual, I was right. But holy shit. I was right!"

"What...are you talking about?" Dustin questioned. Neither replied, and the answer dawned on him as his eyes lit up. "Holy shit." Dustin pointed to the horse, clearing it up for Robin. "The music." He quickly pulled his bag off, and grabbed the tape recorder out of it, pushing play. The two songs matched up to one another perfectly, and Jackie patted Steve's back.

"Nice catch, babe. I mean, I was the one who kinda said it first but good one."

"Hold up..." Robin trailed off. "What does it mean?"

"It means what Jackie said," Steve concluded. "The transmission didn't come from Russia. It came from here."

A thick silence passed through the group as the realization hit the others, and Jackie pulled out her finger guns again, twirling around dramatically. "We're spies!"

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authors note

(rewritten as of 3/19/21. i miss stranger things sm editing this is making me sad HELP)

jackies thoughts through this entire episode was me cause i was like ??? the technology in the 80's wasn't that advanced to how tf did they pick up on that transmission. anyway big brain alert here goodbye