❁

"you think you what?" was the first thing meadow asked in response, moving so that she was now standing infront of the younger henderson. "i thought you were just calling suzie, how the hell did you mange to-"

dustin sighed. "well, my friends all left before i could contact suzie. but then after a while i heard something coming in. obviously, i thought it was suzie. but nope, it was some russian guy."

meadow crossed both arms over her chest. "one normal summer is all i asked for." she jokes as she ruffled dustin's hair. "tomorrow we can talk to steve." she said, and dustin did a little dance in his seated position, excited to see his friend.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

for probably the first time ever, meadow didn't have to practically force her sleepy brother out of bed the next morning. he was wide awake immediately, clearly still worried about the russian message he had heard. his sister had decided to skip her shift at the pool, seeing how ruffled dustin's feathers were about the situation. "it's gonna be fine, it's probably some jerk kid pulling a prank." she said while he stared out of her car window.

dustin had ultimately decided that this could be a cool thing, and that he could save the world.. again.

they arrived at starcourt, and meadow had honestly forgotten that this was her brother's first time at the mall. he looked around in awe, delighted by everything he saw. the two weaved their way through crowds of people until they saw the bright scoops ahoy sign. robin was at the front desk, serving a couple. "have a nice day." she said, her voice giving off complete and utter boredom.

"hi." dustin said as they walked away.

robin looked at meadow. "hi." she replied to dustin.

"i'm dustin." the boy smiled.

"i'm robin." she said, an amused smile on her face. "the usual?" she asked meadow, turning to her.

dustin cut her off, looking around the desk. "pleasure to meet you, is he here?"

robin furrowed a brow, standing up a little straighter. "is who here?"

just that second, steve bursted through the back door, arms in the air. "henderson." he said in slight shock. dustin laughed, pointing at steve's sailor costume. "henderson!" steve repeated, jumping in the air. the two laughed, and meadow sent robin a look to assure her that this was normal. "he's back! he's back!" steve cheered.

"you got the job!" dustin added, gesturing to the counter.

"i got the job!" steve said, making a trumpet sound. he approached the boy, and they did their little handshake, laughing and smiling all the while.

robin quirked a brow. "how many children are you friends with?" she asked steve, leaning on the counter.

meadow snorted a laugh, looking at the two boys fondly. "this is meadow's brother." steve explained, putting a hand on the younger henderson's shoulder.

"so.. you're friends with your girlfriend's brother?" robin asked, confused by the situation. all three just nodded in response, to which robin shrugged. "what can i get you guys?" she asked after an awkward moment of silence.

once dustin had his (quite large) banana split and meadow had her u.s.s. butterscotch, they sat with steve at a booth to catch up. "dustin here found himself a lady friend." meadow said to steve, who chuckled, making a 'wohoho' sound.

"her name's suzie." dustin said, smiling. "she's so sweet."

"is she pretty?" steve asked, dipping a spoon into meadow's icecream without asking.

dustin nodded. "she's hotter than phoebe cates."

steve shook his head. "hotter than phoebe cates? no. that's impossible." meadow slapped his arm and his eyes widened. "except for you, darling dear." he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, chuckling as she pretended to pout about it.

"she's brilliant, too." dustin continued, ignoring the two. "and she doesn't even care that my real pearls are still coming in." he gestured to his teeth. "she says kissing is better without teeth."

meadow and steve both raised their brows, giving each other a slightly uncomfortable look. "wow." steve said after a second. "wow, i'm proud of you man. that's kinda.. romantic. like wow." dustin nodded, a smile on his face.

he then gestured to the ice cream. "so do you really get to eat as much of this as you want?"

steve nodded. "yeah, i mean, sure. it's not really a good idea for me, though. gotta keep fit for my lady." he gestured to meadow, who rolled her eyes, unimpressed. "so where are the other knuckleheads?" steve asked dustin in reference to his friends.

"they ditched me yesterday." he replied, taking a spoonful of icecream.

"no." meadow and steve said in unison, both sitting up in anger.

dustin nodded, equally as upset. "my first day back, can you believe that shit?" he shook his head, putting down his spoon. "they're gonna regret it, though, big time, when they don't get to share in my glory."

"glory, what glory?" steve asked, looking between the two hendersons.

meadow nodded. "that's actually the main reason we wanted to talk to you."

"so, last night," dustin began, "i was trying to get in contact with suzie." steve raised a brow, impressed, and dustin looked around the store, getting paranoid. "and i intercepted a secret russian communication." he whispered awkwardly, but steve only furrowed his brows, not hearing him.

"what?" he asked, leaning in.

dustin put a hand to the side of his face. "i intercepted a secret russian communication." he repeated somehow even quieter.

steve looked to meadow and then back to dustin. "just speak louder."

"i intercepted a secret russian communication!" dustin practically yelled, catching the attention of everyone in the store.

steve's eyes widened. "jeez, shh, yeah that's what i thought you said." he told dustin. "so what does that mean?"

dustin practically rolled his eyes, not knowing what he didn't understand. "it means, steve, we could be american heroes. true american heroes." steve sat up in his seat, liking the sound of that. "so we need your help."

"with what?" steve replied.

dustin reached into his backpack, pulling out a russian dictionary. "translation."