The babysitters club|| Steve Harrington

2

"I know- I know- I'm late" Matteo almost bumped into the counter as he raced in, ignoring the girl's folded arms and disapproving frown. "I'll make it up to you"

He planted a kiss on the girl's cheek who wiped it away as if it was dog spit.

"You've got blood on your socks, doofus"

"Uh... That's um... jelly"

"Didn't know you could have jelly spew from your forehead"

He ducked his head, unable to answer her anymore. Robin Buckley was many things as Matteo had come to find out. And fiercely loyal as well as protective was one of them, just like he was for her. Telling her would only cause more problems, so Matteo did what any smart man would do- he tucked his tail between his legs and ran to the back of the ice cream parlor.

The shop's exterior was designed to resemble a classic nautical theme that made Matteo sea sick if he looked at it too long. Porthole windows and a sailor motif, which was a bold and surprising design (surprising since it somehow looked half decent and not completely stupid).

"Hat!" Robin called from the counter.

At this point, she knew him better than he knew himself. He pulled his half squished and folded sailor's hat from his pocket before tugging it on, ignoring how idiotic he looked. At the very least, he could pull the white hat further down to cover his injury on his forehead, which seemed to be the hat's only merits.

"Harrington" He scowled as soon as he stepped foot through the door to the back. The blond boy in front of him was playing with his hat, trying to look busy while he didn't help at all. Matteo hadn't even set down his bag with his change of clothes yet. Did he really have to start dealing with this torture already?

He was really regretting not taking his mother up on the offer to work at the diner full time.

"DeAngelo," Steve smiled.

"Buckley!" Robin stuck her head in through the window, "Also, Mat-"

"My mom will stop loving you if you call me that"

"I just saw our manager walking past so he might pop in and you need to look busy since he already hates you, come help me at the counter"

"He doesn't hate me" Matteo balked.

"He does" Steve agreed.

"Remember the time you dropped the scoop on his foot? and the time you flicked ice cream at him? Yeah he hates you"

Ironically, Robin was always someone who got straight to the point and it was one of the reasons Matteo loved her company so much. Her short, tousled dirty blonde hair, was as always, messily arranged (she claimed: the ladies love it this way). And much like her mother, a woman Matteo would never forget for being mostly the opposite of his friend, Robin was tall and lanky, at least compared to the other girls their age.

"Fine," Matteo said, walking out toward her, leaving Steve still in the back.

"Attaboy"

"Please never talk like a straight man again"

"Noted"

Working at an ice cream parlor never really got old. Sure, he only made around three dollars an hour, and most of the time the manager docked their pay for petty reasons, but hey, at least they got free ice cream.

Robin went back to serving more customers as they came up, while Matteo stuck a few spoonfuls of ice cream in his mouth to soothe the cut on his tongue.

"So," Robin began again, and Matteo already knew this wasn't going to go well. Robin, of all people, trying to attempt small talk never went well. "Are you going to tell me how you got that on your forehead or am I going to have to annoy you until you tell me"

"Are you going to serve the customers, or am I going to have to tell the manager you're not doing your job?"

Robin stuck out her tongue at him and went right back to making a birthday sundae for some kid who was alone with his mom. Matteo spared him a pity glance.

"You're a hypocrite, doofus. Larry knows me, I thrive on drama, drama runs in my veins, drama is the reason my heart beats. Larry knows I need drama to survive. Larry would understand"

"His name is Larry?" Matteo pulled a face, "I've been calling him Gary for the past month"

"That's why you're his least favorite"

"Hey, come on, I misheard him the first time... and the second time... and all the times, but that doesn't mean he hates me"

"Sucks to be you, what can I say?" Robin threw on some rainbow sprinkles and accepted the mother's payment. "You're ranked lower than Steve on Larry's scale of loveable employees"

"Lower than Steve?" Matteo looked incredulous, "Please, tell me you're lying"

"Nope, buckaroo. Steve has this innate talent for making people hate him now that he's out of highschool, but somehow you managed to make your superior hate you so much, that you landed lower than Steve fricking Harrington"

"I'm assuming you're on top of this list of lovable employees?"

"Top, bottom, doesn't really matter for me" Robin flashed him a quick grin before turning to the next customer. They really shouldn't be having these conversations out here.

Just as soon as she had faced the customers, Robin groaned a little.

There were four of them— all of them around fourteen if Matteo had to guess. The one in the front wore a yellow t-shirt with a sleeveless denim vest, a mop of dark hair and a pinched mouth. Flanking him on his right was a redhead Matteo recognized, with bright flashy rainbow colored clothes and a red jacket— Max Mayfield. And behind the two were a brunet he-man wanna be who looked tortured just standing there and the last of the group a boy who wore a hat and an oversized t-shirt.

Just like him and Robin, they looked impatient.

The yellow t-shirt up front rang the little bell so many times, Matteo was going to make him pay for a new one.

"We're right here," Matteo groaned.

"Hey, dingus!" Robin called out instead, "Your children are here"

The frosted window behind them slid open and Steve stuck his head through, looking at the kids in the same exasperated way a mother would when disappointed. He leaned his elbows on the counter.

"Again? Seriously?"

Mike just rang the bell again.

Matteo and Robin watched as the horde of teenagers walked in like they owned the place, having Steve lead them to the back entry.

This wasn't their first rodeo. More like their tenth time.

The first few times, at least they had the decency to buy some ice cream before suggesting their plan of sneaking into the movies through the back entrance. Steve had given in because... well, he was Steve and he had his weird children friends for some reason that he was fiercely protective of.

They didn't really acknowledge it and when Matteo or Robin asked, Steve would refuse to explain.

"We have a complicated past" was all he would say.

As much as he complained about them, Steve also seemed to care a lot. All it took was one mention and he would start gushing about the teenagers, and some random girl known only as El, whom he was really proud of for being very strong despite going through a lot.

"Bet you three dollars the he-man wanna be— Will is gay" Matteo whispered to Robin when the kids had disappeared from view.

"I'm not taking you up on that bet, because let's face it— the way he looks at Mike?"

"Oh— yellow t-shirt, denim vest, right?" Matteo snickered, "I can totally see it"