Maeve had slowly gained confidence around Robin. She didn't know where it came from or how she got it but she started making bolder comments and more obvious advances. She would purposely wink at Robin in public and she would smirk when she saw the girl duck her head when she blushed.
Because of this Maeve had been at the mall every day with her brother and the girl she liked. She knew that her feelings were growing and she reveled in it. She was growing more comfortable around Robin everyday and she loved it.
She was so happy that she couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she walked into Scoops with Steve. She skipped up to Robin and threw her arms around her neck from behind making the short haired girl jump.
"Maeve, how many times have I told you not to scare me!" Robin said with an angry tone. Anyone who was listened would've thought she was angry but Maeve knew better as she could see the wide smile on the brunettes face.
"Oops?" Maeve giggle and she ran away from Robin after she swung a hand towel at her.
"Ugh, you two love birds make be sick," Steve groaned as he walked off toward the back. He was trying desparately to escape the flirting coming from the two girls.
"Oh, please. Kiss my ass, Steve. You and Nancy were worse," Maeve said with attitude. Robin blushed at the fact that Steve called them love birds and that Maeve had compared them to Nancy and Steve.
"Cut him some slack, Mae. He's up to seven points in the 'You Suck' column," Robin said loudly so Steve could hear.
"Fuck off, Buckley," Steve shouted while flipping the girls off through the door. Maeve and Robin giggled to each other while they made plans to torture the poor boy for the rest of the day.
*******
Robin and Maeve had been sucessful in annoying Steve all morning with plans to do it the rest of the day. But all those plans flew out the window when a certain, young teenager with a green and yellow cap walked into Scoops.
Maeve was in the back with Steve, actually not annoying him for the first time all day. Steve was explaining something to Maeve but she wasn't paying any attention to him but to the young boys voice that was up front.
"Hi," the boy said, excitedly.
"Hi," Maeve heard Robin say with a bored tone.
"I'm Dustin," he introduced himself. Maeve heard and a smile grew on her face. She hit Steve multiple times on the shoulder to get is attention as she motioned for him to listen.
"I'm Robin," Robin said with a small smile.
"Pleasure to meet you," Dustin rushed out. He started to look around while asking, Uh, are- are they here?"
"Is who here?" Robin asked confused but also a little annoyed. At that moment Maeve and Steve both had smiles on their faces as they rushed to the door that lead to the lobby. They slammed open the door with smiles.
"Henderson," the twins said at the same time. Steve brought his hands up to his head with a realived sigh. Maeve just looked at the boy and smirked when he started laughing at Steve's uniform while pointing.
"Henderson! He's back!" Steve yelled while jumping up and down excitedly. Maeve just had a wide smile as she followed her brother over to the young boy. "He's back!"
"I'm back!" Dustin yelled back at Steve, still laughing. "You got the job!" he said proudly.
"I got the job!" Steve yelled and then imitated playing a trumpet. Maeve scrunched up her nose but laughed nonetheless. Steve walked up to Dustin as they did their handshake. Maeve just stood quietly behind Steve and Robin stood behind the counter looking highly amused.
When the boys were done with their fake lightsaber fight and were just laughing Maeve made her entrance as she pushed Steve out of the way.
"Hey, Hederson," Maeve said with a small smirk. Dustin's smile somehow got bigger as he looked up at the female twin.
"Maeve!" Dustin yelled as they initiated their handshake. They put their fists on top of each other and then did a fistbump. As they blew up the fistbump they moved toward each other only to bump each others hips. They did Dustin's right hip to Maeve's right hip and then switched.
After they were done Maeve pulled the young teenager into a tight hug. They both had wide smiles on their faces as they pulled away. As the twins and Dustin all sighed Robin voice broke through the moment.
"How many children are you friends with?" Robin asked Steve, still teasing him from earlier. Steve's smile slowly disappeared while he motioned with his hand at Robin with a 'You see what I have to deal with?' look on his face.
Maeve snickered as Robin stuck her tounge out at Steve. He just rolled his eyes at her before getting Dustin whatever he wanted. They went and sat in a booth while Maeve stayed with Robin.
"He's kinda like their babysitter," Maeve said when everything setteled down and it was just her and Robin.
"What?" Robin said confused.
"Steve. With all the kids. Some serious shit went down last year and ever since he feels responsible for all of them. Kind of like a mom would with all of her children," Maeve explained. She knew all about the Upside Down and everything that came with it. There was a reason she didn't like the dark.
"Oh, okay," Robin said as she went to wipe down a table near the boys'. Robin focused in on Steve's conversation only to hear something that made her laugh histerically on the inside.
"I gotta keep in shape for the ladies," Steve said confidently. Maeve just rolled her eyes as she heard it too.
"Yeah, and how's that working out for you?" Robin asked with a smirk. Maeve snickered as she high-fived Robin while following her away from the table.
Robin started taking orders again while Maeve watched the boys. All the sudden they got closer as Dustin whipered something to Steve. Her brows furrowed as she wondered what could be so secret.
She got her answer when she heard Dustin yell, "I intercepted a secret Russian communication!"
Maeve's brows furrowed even more as she steadily grew more confused. She walked over to the table and slid right next to Dustin. As the boys just sat there awkwardly for a few seconds.
"What- what does that mean?" Steve asked quickly.
"It means, Steve, we could be heroes. True American heroes," Dustin said proudly. Maeve rolled her eyes as the boys looked impressed.
"American heroes," Steve said smugly.
"Just think, you could have all the ladies you want and more," Dustin said trying to hook Steve. Maeve snorted at that finding it amusing that Steve has a chance with any lady with his game.
"More?" Steve said interested.
"More," Dustin assured.
"I like more."
"Mm-hmm."
"What's the catch?" Steve asked looking at Dustin.
"No catch, I just need your help," Dustin said. Maeve cleared her throat to remind them that she was still there.
"Maeve, go flirt with Robin or something," Steve dismissed her. Dustin looked in between the two, shocked at what Steve had just blurted.
"You know what? Maybe I will but only because you two are dumbasses and I can't wait till you're stuck and you need help," Maeve said cockily. She rolled her eyes and walked off back toward Robin.
"My brother's an asshole," Maeve said grumpily to Robin.
Robin looked at her weirdly, "And you're just now realizing this?"
Maeve shook her head with a sigh, "No, I'm just complaining."
"Oh, well in that case you're not a dumbass so I'll gladly listen to you complain," Robin said with a smirk. Maeve shot one right back and continued complaining.
*******
Maeve was stealing little samples of the ice cream when a little girl came up the counter. She recognized her as Erica Sincliar, Lucas' little sister. She was asking to try all the flavors they had in the store which was annoying Robin.
"Can I try the peppermint stick?" Erica asked sweetly.
"Haven't you already tried the peppermint stick?" Robin asked. She wasn't even trying to hide the fact that she was annoyed.
"Yes, and I'd like to try it again," Erica said making Maeve snicker. Robin shot her a glare before turning to the back and yelling for her brother. They were in the back dealing with the 'Russian communication'.
Maeve and Robin both huffed when he didn't answer and stormed back there. Steve was yelling something but Robin talked over him.
"All right, babysitting time is over. You need to get in there. I'm tired of only having Maeve up there to help me and she doesn't even work here!" Robin said loudly. She was beyond annoyed with Steve at this point.
"Hey, our board!" Maeve said offended tourning back to Steve and Dustin. Robin turned to see they had erased what they had up there and an angry look formed on her face. "That was important data, shitbirds."
Dustins eyes widened because he hadn't ever heard Maeve say something like that. He looked in between the two girls before shaking off his thoughts. "I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data."
"Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?" Robin asked with attitude.
Maeve walked to stand by Robin, both with an annoyed look on their faces. She tilted her head in Robin's direction as if to say 'She has a point.'
Dustin became confused and looked up at Steve, "How does she know about the Russians?"
"How else would she know?" Steve said with a head nod toward Maeve.
They continued to whisper to each other while Maeve and Robin just looked at each other.
"Hello, we can hear you," they said at the same time. The boys shut up and looked at the girls. "Actually, we can hear everything. Mae didn't have to tell me anything," Robin continued.
"You are both extremly loud," Maeve added. It's like they were working with one brain and it was freaking the boys out.
"You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but haven't figured out a single word," Robin said with a quick puase at the end.
The pause was immisiately filled with Maeve's voice, "Probably because you didn't realize Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do."
"Sound about right?" Robin said with attitude.
Everyone was quiet for a second before Robin nudged Maeve's arm and Maeve dove for the recorder with the Russian on it.
"Whoa! What do you think you're doing?" Steve said grabbing it before his twin could.
"We wanna hear it!" The girls said at the same time.
"Why?" The boys spoke in unison this time.
"Cause maybe we can help," Robin said as if it was obvious. "I'm fluent in four languages, you know."
"Russian?" Dustin said hopefully.
"Ou-yay are-yay umb-day," Robin said. Maeve snorted at that knowing what languages the girl speaks. Dustin started to form a smile on his face.
"Oh-ho-ho!" Steve laughed out.
"Holy shit!" Dustin said with a wide smile on his face.
"That was Pig Latin, dipshits," Maeve said tot he two boys, crushing they're hopeful faces. Steve hit Dustin with the banana peel he was holding and mumbled'idiot' like he didn't beleive her too. "But Robin knows Spanish, French, and Italian. Plus she's been in band for twelve years," Maeve remarked as the girls moved to sit down next to each other.
"Also, Maeve knows some words in Russian. Bet you two dinguses didn't know that," Robin said with a smirk. Both boys stared in shock at the two girls. "My ears are little geniusesn and Maeve can probably tell what a few words are."
"Uh," Steve hesitated.
"Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream, our turn to translate. We don't even want credit," Robin convinced.
"We're just bored," Maeve groaned. Robin reached out with the ice cream scoop as someone was ringing the bell up front. Steve looked at the twi girls before handing Robin the recorder and taking the scoop.
*******
Maeve had listened to the tape a few times and had gathered some words and determined how long the others were. On a whiteboard Dustin had found, they had what Maeve had figured out so far.
'The ____ is ____. The ______ cat feeds when blue _____ yellow in the ____. A ____ to _____ ______ ____ if you _____ ______.'
Robin had gathered some of the letters with her to help but they were stumped for now. Dustin had the recorder in his hand helping the girls listen to the parts they needed. The message was playing while Robin was pacing back and forth. Maeve was sitting down at the table bouncing her leg up and down.
Maeve watched as Robin caught onto something in the recording. "Wait, that last part, just one more time," Robin instructed Dustin.
"Okay," he said rewinding it. He replayed it while the brunette girl walked over to the board.
"Okay that word," Robin said quickly. Dustin hurriedly paused it to listen to what the girl had to say. "Um- It's pronounced... 'dly-nna-ya.'" Dustin repeated after her with a nod. "Which it spelled," Robin continued.
"D... D,D,D..." Dustin ran over to the board with the Russian and English alphabet on it. Robin sighed stressfully while Maeve just watched them. "The- The chair. The chair-looking thingy," Dustin described for the girls.
"Yeah, okay," Robin said writing it down. They continued until they had the two words Maeve didn't know in the first sentence. Robin and Maeve both sighed in releif.
They walked over the the window to tell Steve who was still up front. "We've got our first sentence," they said in unison.
Steve looked at the two of them weirdly before saying, "Oh, seriously?"
"Yeah," Robin confirmed. "The week is long," Robin said with a Russian accent. Maeve giggle from beside her and Robin looked at the girl and smiled. She loved the blonde girls laugh.
"Well, that's thrilling," Steve said sarcastically.
"I know. But, progress," Robin assured him before closing the window again.
Robin and Maeve went back to translating with Dustin for hours. Together they slowly got the whole message. The mall had closed long ago but the group was still working. Finally they had the first half of the message decoded and written on the whitboard.
"The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow meets yellow in the west," The group read off the board. To say they were confused would be an understatement.
"What the hell does that mean?" Maeve was the one to speak up.
"That's what we gotta figure out," Robin said still looking at the message. A few niutes later Steve and Robin were closing up the store so they could head out.
"I mean, it just- it just can't be right," Steve said when closing the gate in front of the store.
"It's right," the girls said together.
"Okay that's starting to get creepy. You two need to stop," Steve said looking at the two girls next to each other.
"Half the time we don't even try to do it. It just happens. I just think you're jealous, Stevie," Maeve teased her twin as they started walking.
"Honestly, I think it's great news," Dustin said trying to steer the group back to the message.
"How is this great news?" Steve asked. "I mean, so much for being American heros. It's total nonsense."
"It's not nonsense. It's too specific. It's obviously a code," Dustin explained.
"What do you mean, a code?" Steve asked curiously. Maeve rolled her eyes at his stupidity.
"Like a super secret spy code," Dustin said. Maeve thought that explination was childish but it worked so she kept her mouth closed.
"That's a total stretch," Steve argued.
"I don't know, is it?" Robin spoke up. Her and Maeve were walking hand in hand next to each other. The mall was quiet and darker than normal and Robin knew Maeve wouldn't like it.
"Your're buying into this?" Steve asked baffled that Robin would agree with a kid she just met.
"Listen, just for kicks,let's entertain the possibility that is a secret Russian transmission. What's you think they were gonna say, 'Fire the warhead at noon'?" Robin asked retorically.
"They have a point, Stevie." Maeve pointed out at the same time Dustin mumbled 'Exactly'.
"And our translation is correct," Robin pointed out waving a hand at her and Maeve. "I know that for sure, so... 'The silver cat feeds.' Why would abyone talk like thatunless they're trying to maskthe true meaning of their message."
"Exactly," Dustin and Maeve said at the same time. They both leaned forward to see each toher past the two in the middle and smiled.
"And why would anyone mask the true meanting of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?" Proving her point further.
"Exactly," Dustin said.
"So I guess that confirms your suspicion," Robin said looking at the boys.
"Evil Russians," Dustin said with a smile.
"Honestly, Stevie, it's simple thinking," Maeve said teasing Steve.
"I can't believe I'm about to agree with this strange child, but, yeah, totally evil Russians," Robin said with a chuckle.
"So how do we crack it?" Dustin asked.
"Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges," Robin said with an unsure tone. Maeve was paying attention to the conversation until she saw Steve stop and stare at a toy horse.
Robin noticed that Maeve's hand left her's but she didn't say anything in fear that someone other than Steve would find it suspicious. Maeve had broken off with Steve and took a few steps to stand next to him.
"Why are we looking a kids horse that plays-" Maeve cut herself off as it hit her. The music that the horse plays was in the recording. "Holy shit," she mttered as she looked at her twin with wide eyes. He gave her the smae look before looking back at the machine.
Steve didn't saw anything but instead started looking in his pockets for a qaurter. She heard Robin and Dustin question them but she didn't pay any mind as she shoved her had into her jacket pocket and hand Steve the coin. Steve shoved the coin into the machine and the music started playing.
"Need help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin asked with a chuckle.
"Shh!" Maeve and Steve both said but Maeve had a small glare on her face at the fact that Robin had used the nickname she had been calling Steve since they were little. Dustin chuckled and Steve finally snapped. "Would you two just shut up and listen?"
"Holy shit," Dustin said as he realized. Maeve pointed at him with a smile. "The music. The music!" He pointed out to Robin as he took his backpack off and grabbed the recorder. He pressed play on the recorder.
The group listened as they confirmed it was the same song. "I don't understand," Robin said, still confused.
"The music from the recording is the same music from the horse," Maeve explained to Robin.
"Maybe they have horses like this in Russia," Robin compromised. She didn't want to believe that the Russians were close to them.
"'Indiana Flyer'? I don't- I don't think so. This code, it... didn't come from Russia," Steve said as he kept thinking about it.
"It came from here," Maeve said what nobody in the group wanted to hear.
*******
The group had split up after that, all of them going to their own houses. Everyone was weirded out by the fact that there might actually be evil russians in Hawkins. Steve and Maeve were quiet until Maeve decided to ask the question that kept circling in her head.
"Stevie, you don't think they know about the Upside Down do you?" Maeve asked quietly.
"I don't know, Mae. I don't know," he said sadly as he reached over and grabbed his little sisters hand.