"Jesus Christ, did you run the entire way here?"

Steve is leaning against the trunk of his car, Robin at his side, when Willow finally arrives at Family Video on foot. She's sweaty, exhausted, but most importantly - she's smiling. Her face is as red as her hair and her chest has never burned worse than it is now, even in gym class, but she can't wipe the smile off her face.

"Yes, now come on, or we're going to be late," Willow huffs as she strides right past her two friends, eyes set on the door of the establishment as she digs out her resume from her backpack.

She can see the look the two exchange before Robin is the first to chase after her, "Wait up! Did Steve tell you he put his mom down for his reference?"

"What?" Willow turns and laughs at Steve over her shoulder.

"What's wrong with that? She's like, super well-respected," Steve defends himself, rushing around the two girls to open the door for them.

Willow mutters out a ' thank you ' while Robin ever so lovingly groans ' dingus '.

Keith sits at the counter, looking bored as ever with a bag of cheeto puffs when they walk in. He doesn't even greet them, much less look at them, until Robin is at the counter, slapping down Steve's and her own resume.

Willow is less aggressive, still a bit breathless as she gently puts her resume on top of theirs. "Hey there, Keith."

"Hi," he replies in his signature monotone, looking up between the three friends, "You're late."

"I know, we're sorry, it was my fault. I got caught up at school," Willow apologizes, inching the resumes towards him. He finally focuses on those and takes them from her.

They all stand in silence for a moment while Keith is scanning over each of their resumes painfully slowly. Willow is slightly worried, hoping she won't be caught in her lie. She'd put down that she worked at Scoops Ahoy with her friends. Which she knew was lying, but technically, she had been there enough that she felt like an honorary member of the crew. And when the decision to all apply to Family Video had been made, Robin was sure to coach Willow on everything from what to say about her previous work experience to what she needed to say regarding movies to get Keith to like her. She spent several hours on the floor of her bedroom with Robin pacing back and forth as she stressed the importance of directors that Willow no longer remembered the name of, of which films changed the trajectory of which genres, et cetera. The only thing Willow remembered was the movies Robin had drilled her to say were her favorite, mainly because the movies they'd chosen for her answer were her favorites.

Robin is clearly getting antsy with Keith's silence, finally piping up, "You know, uh, just to be clear, we weren't fired, you know? The mall burned down and, like, killed a bunch of people."

Willow and Steve both nod in solidarity with Robin's statement as Keith lowers their resumes, looking unimpressed. "Thanks for sharing. Didn't know."

Willow cheeks are hurting from the fake smile she's plastered on her face in hopes it would get Keith on their side.

"Three favorite movies, go," Keith suddenly says, snapping and pointing at Robin first.

"Uh... The Apartment, Hidden Fortress, Children of Paradise," she answers without missing a beat.

Keith doesn't respond before he turns his eyes on Willow, who is wide-eyed, realizing it was her turn. "Oh, uh..." she pauses, not sounding nearly as confident as Robin had, but then her friend gives her a nudge and so she blurts out her favorites as approved by her, "The Exorcist, Jaws, and uh... The Thing."

"Didn't think chicks were into horror movies," Keith mutters, furrowing his brows at her. He doesn't give Willow the chance to respond as he now snaps his fingers and points at Steve last. "You, go."

"Favorite movies?" Steve says as if he's shocked, as if they aren't standing in the middle of a movie store.

"Did I stutter?"

"Uh..." Steve pauses, looking down, his panic clear on his face. Robin clearly hadn't trained him like she trained Willow, "Animal House, for sure," he's interrupted by Robin's scoff, lifting his hand to his mouth in thought. He starts to look at his friends, first Robin, then Willow. He's silently begging for help.

Robin isn't budging, but Willow opens her mouth to say something. Keith cuts her rescue attempt off, snapping and motioning to Steve. "Eyes on me, Harrington."

"Yeah, uh, Star Wars?" Steve leans onto the counter, nodding his head as if assuring himself that's the right answer.

"A New Hope?" Keith questions.

"A new what-now?" Steve's eyes are ready to bulge from his head, and Willow is trying to keep her secondhand embarrassment under wraps.

Keith is obviously becoming irritated. " Which Star Wars?"

"The one with the teddy bears, duh!" Steve makes a noise, clearly trying to replicate that of ewoks, and Robin is letting out a chorus of groans alongside Willow.

"Jesus Christ, are you talking about the fucking Battle of Endor that we watched as a joke ?" Willow moans, head thrown back and eyes screwed tightly shut in embarrassment.

"What? No? Uh... Oh, the one that just came out. The movie that just came out. The one with the Delorean and Alex P. Keaton and he's trying to bang his mom! The time..." Steve trails off with a chuckle, and Keith looks ready to throw a punch at him.

"Are you talking about Back to the Future?" Willow whispers, seeing Robin's exasperated reaction as she leans forward onto her hands. "When did you guys see Back to the Future without me?"

"Yep! Those are my top three. Classics," Steve rushes out, grinning apologetically at Willow before looking back to Keith.

By the look on Keith's face, Willow had a bad feeling in her gut for Steve.

Keith points at Robin, "You start Monday," he then points at Willow, "you start Monday," he finally points at Steve, "and you start never ."

Willow can feel Robin's shoulders slump from beside her along with her own.

Damn it, Steve.

Part of it is their fault. They should have included him in their 'training' - Robin was the only one in their group close to a movie critic. Example A being the Battle of Endor, the Ewok movie that had been Willow's idea that Steve stood behind as they bullied Robin into watching with them.

"Could you give us a second?" Willow turns to Steve, placing a soft hand on his shoulder. She almost can't take the look of defeat he's wearing.

"Why?"

" Steve ," Robin insists from around Willow, catching on.

He walks away without another word, and the two girls don't even have to look at each other before they spring into action.

Harrington was getting this job with them, even if it killed them.

"Alright, you have to understand, Keith," Robin immediately starts, leaning forward as if she were letting Keith in on a secret, "His taste may be pedestrian, but the dingus has other qualities."

"He's a douchebag of the highest order," Keith enunciates each word, clearly not having it.

"He was a bit of a prick to us in high school, I'll grant you that," Robin soothes Keith over, looking over to Willow, queuing her in.

" But ," Willow interrupts, seemingly naturally. As if her and Robin weren't kicking each other beneath the counter anxiously. She's leaning onto the counter now and has a finger twisted in her hair as she looks into Keith's eyes. God, please work . "He remains an absolute chick magnet."

She almost has Keith entranced, but when she mentions Steve being a chick magnet, he sours. "Yeah, okay, and how is that relevant to me?"

A sharp kick to Robin's shin. She leans forward even more animatedly against the counter, answering Keith as if that's the dumbest question he could have asked. "Uh, earth to Keith. The ladies will come in just to see him."

"They'll come in, in droves. Droves , Keith," Willow adds in.

"We sold so much ice cream, they had to get a second shipment from Michigan," Robin rapidly explains as if Keith should already know this, as if this is the most obvious thing in the world.

Willow is biting a smile, dropping her palms to the counter and sliding them towards Keith on the counter for emphasis, "God damn Michigan , Keith."

They're saying it like Michigan is the most interesting place in the world. As if getting a shipment of ice cream from there is a golden ticket. Keith still seems a bit confused, but Willow can see the interest sparked. She knows they've got him right where they need him.

"And the ladies," Robin begins before inhaling sharply, "These ladies are hot. They're so very hot," Robin is stressing each of her words, eyes never leaving Keith's, "And there are too many of them for little Steve. He needs assistance."

He's putty in their hands as Willow adds, "Not just any assistance. He needs your assistance, Keith."

Keith looks dazed as he brings another cheeto to his mouth, and with his mouth full asks them, "What's in it for you guys? Do you both have a thing for him or something?"

"What? No-" Willow begins, but they're cut off by a commotion coming from behind them. Steve has run into one of the cutouts for Fast Times at Clairemont High.

"He's just..." Robin trails off, watching him as Willow is. He struggles to get the cardboard to stand back up on its own, but Willow is looking at him as if he's putting the stars in the sky at that moment. Everyone can see it: Robin sees it, Keith sees it, even the old lady browsing the old western section can see it. Robin finally continues as Steve continues to flail, "He's just our friend."

"Fast times," Steve says, lifting the cutout for emphasis, "Fast times! Ever heard of it? Top three for me, Keith."

Keith makes a face as Robin and Willow snicker at the boy, turning and facing each other finally.

Steve Harrington was an absolute idiot. But he was their idiot.

–--

"You so owe us, Harrington!"

"Yeah, Willow almost had to flirt with Keith! God damn Keith!"

Willow, Robin, and Steve are sitting at a booth in what was once Benny's Diner, now under new management as a Denny's. They'd come straight here to celebrate once Keith had cracked and hired Steve to start Monday as well, each ordering a shake as well as splitting a plate stacked high with french fries in the center of the table.

"Yeah, yeah. Check's on me today," Steve mumbles around his straw, seated across from the two girls.

"Damn right it is," Robin agrees, dipping a fry in her cake batter milkshake.

Willow is smiling, leaning back against the soft leather of the bench while taking in her two friends. They had done it – she was officially coworkers with these two idiots. "What are we going to do with all three of us now having paychecks?"

"Cause so much trouble," Robin immediately says through the last small mouthful of shake.

Steve nods in agreement as he minds his manners, swallowing before replying, "Oh, absolutely. Watch out, Hawkins. We're the new menaces in town."

Willow laughs, sipping her strawberry shake, when she sees Steve glancing at his watch. She wants to question him on it but decides against it when he quickly tucks his wrist back away beneath the table, gaze catching hers and sending her a small grin. It's making her heart do somersaults, high knees, backflips, every cheesy description of an erratic cardiac system there is. Somewhere during this cheer routine her right artery has decided to begin, she remembers what she had done before the interview.

Eddie, in the woods, alone with her, agreeing to be her fake boyfriend.

Eddie Munson agreed to be her fake boyfriend.

"Eddie Munson is going to be my partner for the first project in O'Donnell's class," she suddenly blurts out, cursing herself for ruining the moment when Steve's smile fades. She decides to continue with sarcasm, a language they're familiar with. A language that leaves no room for feelings between them. "Thanks for the heads up on that, by the way."

Steve ignores her sore attempt at lightening the mood, "Munson? You're going to ask O'Donnell to change partners, right?"

There it is again. His jaw is clenched the same way it was at Scoops. The same way it was when she walked through the door of the bar with Eddie's jacket draped over her arm. It's as if the very thought or mention of Eddie Munson makes Steve Harrington want to implode on himself, to grind himself down to dust, beginning with his teeth. Willow feels the tension buzz across her skin and she knows it's now or never.

Make him jealous. Get under his skin.

"And why would I do that?"

It's an innocent question.

It clearly gets on Steve's last nerve.

" Why ? C'mon, Jenkins. He's failed twice. He's a jerk. The list goes on and on."

"First of all, you barely scraped by with a D from O'Donnell, so get off of that high horse," Willow reminds Steve, "Second of all, he's not a jerk. As someone who has now had two actual conversations with him, he's kind of nice."

"Just the two?" Robin questions, counting up in her head and not realizing the damage she just did. Or maybe, Willow should consider it help. But Steve bristles, and Willow's heart clenches. "I thought it was more like, three, or four now-"

"Robin," Willow stops her, eyes never leaving Steve's.

This is a mistake.

"Oh, so you're best friends with Munson now or something?" Steve seemingly grits out, maintaining eye contact with Willow just as fiercely as she was with him. There's a fire there she can't recognize.

"It's not like that. We just have a few classes together."

"And you're defending him."

"What did Eddie even do to you that got him on your shit list? Why do you hate him so much?" Willow avoids addressing what Steve just said. It's ironic, the circles she's swimming in between Steve and Eddie. When she's with Eddie, she's defending Steve. When she's with Steve, she's defending Eddie.

It's exhausting, and it's only just begun.

Robin has gone silent at Willow's side, choosing to finish off her milkshake as she listens to the two of them argue.

"What didn't he do?" Steve vaguely waves off.

"No," Willow says, anger pricking at the back of her neck now, "Seriously. That's not an answer, I want a real answer. You tell me a genuine reason to hate Eddie Munson, I'll switch partners. But if this is just some stupid game of social status, then-"

She bites her tongue. She knows how she wants to finish that sentence and she knows that she isn't prepared for the consequences. She's just irritated, frustrated that she can't snap her fingers and make Steve Harrington stop being 'a douche of the highest order', as Keith had so lovingly put it. She had seen the change in him, and Robin had seen the change in him, but only towards them.

He was still seen as his high school reputation to the rest of the town, and he didn't seem to mind in the slightest, whether it painted him as a villain or not.

"Then what? Go ahead, finish that sentence," Steve challenges her, eyebrows raised in expectancy.

Her tongue is heavy in her mouth.

Then fuck off. Then go fuck yourself.

She can't say any of that to Steve. Her heart won't let her.

"Stop being mean," she settles on saying, her mouth stiff as she forces the words out. Time stops for their booth, Steve's furrowed brows smoothing out as her words register. They both know she had crueler words on the tip of her tongue, a product of her frustration, but instead she had chosen a softer blow that rang even truer; Willow just wanted Steve to be a good person. She could understand having to defend Eddie to Steve, that was the entire point of approaching him with her deal. But Willow didn't want to have to defend Steve, to Eddie or Keith or anyone . Because she knew at his core, Steve Harrington wasn't a bad guy. At least, not anymore. Maybe he was once upon a time, and maybe that negativity still lingered stubbornly in his bloodstream, but she knew at the end of the day he tried to maintain the best intentions.

She's shocked when despite his softening expression, Steve rushes to pull out his wallet and throws a twenty on the table. "I have a date, we need to get going."

"A date?" Willow whispers. She swears the entire diner can hear the distinct snap that happens within her chest.

"You can go ahead, Harrington. We're big girls, we can walk home," Robin breaks her silence, putting her arm around Willow's shoulders.

"What? No," Steve shakes his head violently, "I'm not letting you guys walk home."

"It's fine," Willow agrees finally, taking one look at Robin and knowing she wanted to speak to her alone. She motions to her glass in front of her, "I'm not done with my shake yet anyways."

Steve is no longer staring Willow down, but now Robin. And unlike Willow, Robin's not littered with soft spots that could lead to her backing down. They all know that if Robin says so, then the two girls will be staying here while Steve leaves, and there's nothing else to say to that.

"Go, dingus. Have fun on your date," Robin clearly kicks Steve under the table as she says this, and his face falls further than it did during his fight with Willow.

He finally stands up from the booth.

Steve - 0.

Robin - 1.

"I'll see you guys later, then, I guess," Steve mutters, standing up straight and looking down over the girls, "Please make sure to get home safe. Please ."

"We will," Willow reassures, pushing down her pride enough to offer him this sliver of comfort. She was still mad at Steve, furious even, but she couldn't bear the thought of him being worried over them.

Robin doesn't say a word, only offering a physical wave. She maintains her silence as Steve turns his back on them, watching wordlessly as he walks through the front doors and heads to his car while sparing several glances at them through the glass windows they were seated at.

Only once Steve has peeled out of the parking lot does Robin say something.

"You saw Eddie after school."

It wasn't a question, or an inquiry. It was a statement - a matter of fact.

"How could you tell?" Willow asks, eyes still stuck on the parking space Steve's BMW once occupied.

"I knew the moment you brought it up at lunch you were meeting him," Robin laughs softly, "I was just waiting to see what shitty excuse you'd come up with after school to go meet him."

"Hey! I thought my excuse was pretty good!" Willow defends herself, tearing her eyes from outside to look over Robin's freckles.

Her friend offers her a smile that's too kind given the circumstances, given that she shamelessly lied to her after school. "You're a shit liar, 'Low."

"You aren't the first person to tell me that today," Willow huffs bitterly, crossing her arms and leaning back. Her eyes now decide to burn holes in the seat Steve had occupied.

Why was Eddie Munson suddenly worth getting into a fight with Steve over?

"So what did he say?" Robin asks as she takes her spoon, scraping up the last bit of melted ice cream and whipped cream out of the bottom of her glass.

"What?"

"Do you have a fake boyfriend or not?" Robin's tone is still casual, face so neutral.