The Russians separated you and Steve to interrogate you all night. You tried to give them the silence treatment but received a slap on your face from one of the two men in the room. Your hands were tied which made it impossible to defend yourself.
"What the fuck?" You yelped. "W-- We work at the mall, I swear we-"
"How did you get in?" The man who just slapped you asked.
"... We were looking for a missed delivery, so we checked the loading dock. The fucking room turned out to be an elevator." You desperately tried to convince him. "Please, we just want to go home, there was no other way out than through the... the long hallway thing-... Where's my friend??
"Who do you work for?"
"We only work for Scoops Ahoy!"
"Who do you work for?"
"I-- I told you, please, just let us go home." You pleaded as innocently as you could. "Please, we don't want to have anything to do with this, please just let us go."
"You already have something to do with this."
"No, no, no, I promise I'll just... forget bout this the second you let us go, I swear."
The men looked at each other. The one who slapped you grabbed you by your arm.
"Hey, where are we going? Hey! Let go of me!" They lead you out into another room where two other men just threw Steve to the floor. They did the same with you. "Steve!! Hey, Steve?"
No response.
You crawled on your knees to check on him. His face was swollen in red and purple colors. "... Steve? Steve?? W-What did you do to him?" You looked up to see a tall man who looked important. "What did you do?!" You yelled and he slapped you. Hard. It flung you to the ground and you whimpered in pain. The men said something in Russian before picking you up and putting you in two chairs. They tied you back to back.
"Steve, Steve wake up. Steve?? Don't touch him!"
The man who slapped you clicked his tongue as he studied Steve's broken face. He walked over to you instead. "I think your friend need a doctor." He said with a strong accent. You stared straight into his eyes. "Good thing... we have the very best." He started laughing.
You spat in his face without a second thought and the laughter stopped.
"You are going to regret that, little bitch."
They all started to leave the room. "Fucking animals. Animals!" Soon it was only you and Steve in the room. Why wasn't he responding? Was he alive? What in the world was happening? This could only be a fever dream. A wild nightmare involving weird characters from your subconscious. You wanted to pinch yourself to check, but the sting from the slaps you got before said enough. God. If the slaps hurt, you could only imagine how Steve felt. How could this all have happened? You were just going to get a free sample of ice cream, not... whatever the hell this was. Oh, this? This is how you died. Yeah. Panic. This was the end.
"Help!!! Help!" You shouted. "Help!"
"Hey, would you stop yelling?"
The wave of relief that just washed over you was indescribable. "Steve! Steve. Oh my god." You breathed out. "Steve. Are-- are you okay?" ... stupid question.
"My ears are ringing and I can't really breathe, my eye feels like it's about to pop out my skull, but, you know, apart from that; I'm doing pretty good."
"Well, they're uh, bringing you a doctor."
"Is this his place of work? I love the vibe. Charming."
You chuckled. "I know, right? Okay, do you see that table over there to your right?"
Steve looked to his left.
"No, other right." You corrected him with a smile. "Okay, you see those scissors?"
"Mhm."
"Yeah, well, I think that we could get over there. Like, if we move at the same time. I'll kick the table and knock them into your lap."
"And I could cut the binds. Unless you hit my groint again, of course."
You giggled under your stressed breathing. "Then we could get outta here."
"Gotcha, okay, yeah, we can do that. Those morons. They left scissors in here?" Steve joked and you just felt so relieved to hear his voice. He could ease any situation.
"Yeah, morons."
"Total morons. Alright. Let's go."
"On the count of three, we're gonna hop."
"Okay. Hop on three. I gotcha."
"One, two, three. Okay, that worked."
"Okay."
"Alright, let's try again. One, two, three. Holy shit, this is gonna work!"
"We're close, ready? One, two, three-"
Something went wrong, you were a bit off sync. You both fell to your side and groaned loudly. Damn. That was your last chance. The only chance to get out of here.
Everything was over.
Just because of that stupid ride home. That stupid fucking ice cream. You were gonna die at some Russian secret portal base with Steve fucking Harrington. That was your fate. Pathetic. You started to giggle lightly which made your body bob slightly.
"It's okay, it's okay." Steve tried to comfort you. "Don't cry. (Y/N). ..... Are you laughing?"
You couldn't help but giggle.
"Jesus." He sighed.
"I'm sorry!" You continued giggling. "It's just... I can't believe I'm gonna die in a secret Russian base with Steve 'The Hair' Harrington. It's just too-"
"We're not gonna die. We're gonna get out of here, okay? Just-- You just gotta let me think for a second, okay, (Y/N)?"
"Do you.. do you remember when I started as a sophomore at Hawkins High? We had history class together back then."
"What?"
"It was first period, Tuesdays and Thursdays, you were always late. And you always had a sesame bagel for breakfast. You were always loud, interrupted whoever was talking. I sat behind you. Twice a week for a year. The King of Hawkins himself. You said hi once, and I didn't respond. We never spoke again in that class."
"You... yeah."
"You were a real asshole, you know that?"
"Yeah, I know." He said with a monotone voice.
You just, kept on going. "I used to like you when we were little. Like, kids, you know. I had a massive crush on you. The boy in the grade above. The cute neighbor. I got over it as we grew older, and those history classes really really reminded me why. You turned into the worst type of guy I could imagine. You thought popularity and acceptance was the most important thing in life."
He chuckled. "It just baffles me. Everything that people say you should care about, it's all just.. bullshit. I guess you've gotta mess up to figure things out, you know?"
"I hope so. I feel like my entire life has been a whole big error."
"Yep." You could sense that he was grinning. "I, uh, liked you too, you know. When we were kids. Like, I liked you a lot. A lot. And I remember that sophomore year when you started high school. God, I remember. I thought my, uh, feelings were long gone. But I swear my heart skipped a beat when I saw you. You hurt my ego so bad when you didn't say hi back."
You swallowed. What?
"Or, well, honestly you hurt my heart, not my ego. Does that make sense?" He snorted. "I wish you said hi back in Mrs. Click's class. Or, just said something. Told me what a jerk I was. Maybe I would've passed history. Maybe I would've been on my way to college instead of here."
"And I would've been eating ice cream with Robin, unaware that there were evil Russians beneath our feet. And I wouldn't know you, Harrington. I'm glad we got to to know each other."
"Me, too. It was fun while it lasted."
"It was."
Your conversation was interrupted by a buzzing sound and a door opened. The same important-looking man from earlier chuckled at the sight of you. "Where were you two going? Try telling the truth this time, yes? It will make your visit with Dr. Zharkov less painful."
Some men sat the chairs up again. The doctor was holding a huge syringe.
"Wait, wait, hold on. What's that?"
"It will help you talk."
"Did you even clean that thing- ahh!" Steve yelled as Zharkov inserted the needle. Then it was your turn, it hurt as hell. You were left alone in the room again.