CHAPTER TWO:
SUPER SECRET SPY CODE

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DANNY FREQUENTLY STOLE ice cream from Scoops Ahoy. When Robin and Steve weren't paying attention, Danny would sneak sample spoons or even whole cups of ice cream. There was even one time, he managed to sneak a whole gallon of ice cream from the freezer. He still had no idea how he managed to pull that off but it was surprisingly easy. He figured that if he was going to be stuck at Scoops Ahoy all day, every day, he should be able to have as much free ice cream as he pleased. He did usually get scolded for it, however.

Danny leaned against the front counter of Scoops Ahoy, a cup of mint chocolate chip ice cream with brownie bites on top in his hands. Danny was chowing down on it with a spoon as Robin came out from the backroom. Robin sighed in annoyance at her younger cousin, "Stop eating the inventory, Danny, or I'm gonna start charging you, I swear to God."

"But I'm your cousin, Robin," Danny argued, his mouth full of ice cream and brownie.

"Fine," Robin shrugged as she pushed him to the side and leaned against the counter. "I'll charge you double."

Danny tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at her before flipping her off. Robin returned the favor, flipping him off as well before the sound of the bell ringing distracted them. Robin turned her head to the customer while Danny looked over his shoulder seeing none other than Dustin Henderson. Dustin was wearing a shirt advertising a camp that Danny assumed he had been going to since he hadn't seen him with the rest of his friends for the last month. He had a big smile on his face as he stared at Robin who stared back with a blank expression.

"Hi," Dustin greeted Robin who greeted him back. "I'm Dustin."

"I'm Robin," Robin smiled politely.

Danny furrowed his brows, a bit offended that Dustin had ignored him, "And I'm Danny but you already knew that, Henderson."

Dustin's eyes flicked over to Danny who was still stuffing his face with expression. Dustin smiled politely at Danny, "Danny! This is your cousin, right?" Dustin pointed to Robin.

"Sadly," Danny nodded. Robin flipped him off and Danny reciprocated.

"Pleasure to meet you, Robin," Dustin looked back at Robin, ignoring the cousins' feud. "Uh... Is -- Is he here?"

Robin raised an eyebrow, "Is who here?"

Suddenly, Steve Harrington burst through the backdoor of Scoops Ahoy, practically slipping on the linoleum as he did so. His eyes were wide and his smile was large, "Henderson."

Dustin laughed as Steve went over to him and cheered, "Henderson! He's back! He's back!"

"I'm back!" Dustin cheered before gesturing to Scoops Ahoy. "You got the job!"

"I got the job!" Steve cheered before imitating playing a trumpet with his hands.

Danny and Robin watched with similar looks of confusion as Steve Harrington, an eighteen-year-old fresh out of high school did a clearly secret handshake with Dustin Henderson, a fourteen-year-old about to go into high school. The handshake included lightsabers and imitating a disembowelment. Danny chuckled to himself, amused at the interaction as he started to wonder just exactly how many kids Steve was friends with.

Robin seemed to have the same thought as her cousin when she asked, "How many children are you friends with?"

"You only know how to make friends with kids, Steve?" Danny asked as he tossed his empty cup of ice cream in the trash. Danny raised an eyebrow. "That's a bit sketchy if you ask me."

Steve gestured to Robin and Danny, "Robin and Danny Buckley."

"I didn't know you guys were allowed to hire fourteen-year-olds," Dustin furrowed his brows.

"Oh, I don't work here. This is my punishment," Danny explained, stepping forward. "Sitting in an ice cream shop all summer all because I crashed my dad's BMW. A big dramatic on his part if you ask me."

"And somehow, I'm getting punished as well for having to spend all every day with his annoying ass," Robin smiled, looking back at her cousin who flipped her off.

Dustin raised his eyebrows at nodded at the cousins who clearly didn't like each other very much. Truth was, they annoyed the hell out of each other constantly. Danny had a big mouth and a tendency to speak his mind, no matter if it was rude or not. To be honest, Robin tended to do the same thing, which is why the two didn't get along most of the time. But, deep down, they did love each other and if it came down to it, they would die for one another.

"Uh, so..." Steve changed the subject as he gestured to many tubs of ice cream. "You want something to eat?"

Dustin's eyes widened, "A banana split! And I have to tell you about my new girlfriend, Suzie."

Danny's eyes widened at Dustin's words. He wasn't surprised that Dustin had a girlfriend as he thought Dustin was funny, smart, and cute. If Dustin was his type, Danny would totally go for him. He thought Dustin was a catch and any girl would be lucky to date him.

Steve raised his eyebrows, "Girlfriend?"

Steve immediately started to make the banana split as Dustin found a booth in the back. Danny watched as Steve brought over the banana split and started to converse with Dustin. Danny couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. Steve Harrington was bonding with a fourteen-year-old kid over his first girlfriend. Danny wondered how Steve 'The Hair' Harrington had managed to strike up a friendship with a group of middle schoolers. It all seemed so strange.

Danny was hanging out in the front of the shop, needing a change of scenery. He was stealing ice cream, eye flirting with cute girls that came in, and annoying Robin, all things that he enjoyed. Finally, when Danny saw Erica Sinclair walk in with her crew, he went to the backroom. Erica Sinclair was one of the most annoying children that Danny knew. There was something about the Sinclair children that made them so annoying and Danny wondered what their parents were like.

"I intercepted a secret Russian communication!" Dustin yelled for everyone in Scoops Ahoy to hear.

Danny furrowed his brows upon hearing this. Dustin had yelled it so loudly that Danny heard it all the way in the back of the store. Danny didn't exactly care about all the Russian hate but then again, he didn't usually care about things in general. He thought caring about things you couldn't control was stupid. All it did was hurt or annoy you, and he thought letting things affect you that you can't control isn't worth it.

Within seconds, Steve and Dustin burst into the backroom, the door swinging hard, hitting the wall. Danny furrowed his brows as he stared at the two boys before going back to his sketching. He was still working on the new Scoops Ahoy logo.

"Wait," Dustin attempted to whisper but Danny still heard him. "Can he be trusted?"

Steve shrugged, "He really won't care and won't tell anyone."

"Yeah, I really don't care about your super secret spy code," Danny explained.

Dustin looked over at Danny. They knew each other from school, of course, and Lucas had ranted about how much he didn't like Danny to Dustin. Dustin had quickly decided that everything would be fine and that he could trust Danny. Despite what Lucas had said, Dustin didn't think Danny was a bad guy. He portrayed himself as a grungy asshole that didn't care about anything or anyone but Dustin thought there was more to him than just that.

Dustin pulled out a tape recorder and a Russian translation book. Danny raised an eyebrow at the objects, suddenly becoming intrigued. He then opened the book and looked at the whiteboard. Danny shook his head softly, knowing Robin would castrate Dustin if he touched that board. Dustin erased the board and wrote the Russian alphabet on the board, realizing that the Russian alphabet was different than the American alphabet.

Once Dustin played the tape, Danny pretended not to listen. The man on the recording was speaking Russian while a weird song that Danny swore he recognized, played in the background. Dustin stopped the tape and then asked, "So, what do you think?"

"It sounded familiar," Steve responded.

Dustin furrowed his brows, "What?"

"The music," Steve was more specific, "The music right there at the end."

"Why are you listening to the music, Steve?" Dustin snapped, his voice raising a few octaves. "Listen to the Russian! We're translating Russian!"

"I heard it, too," Danny spoke up, not looking up from his drawing. "It sounds familiar."

"Right?" Steve agreed, his voice going up a few octaves as he pointed at Danny. Danny nodded, continuing to not look up. Steve then looked back at Dustin. "I'm trying to listen to the Russian, but there's music --"

"All right, babysitting time is over! You need to get in there!" Robin interrupted as she came bursting into the backroom. Danny was starting to feel claustrophobic as he was used to it being only him or one other person in the backroom. Once, Robin saw the board, she gasped, "Hey, my board! That was important data, shitbirds!"

"I guarantee you, what we're doing is way more important than your data," Dustin retorted, making Danny chuckle under his breath.

"Yeah? And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?" Robin asked with a smirk.

Steve and Dustin looked between each other, whispering or attempting to whisper about how Robin could possibly know about what they were working on. Danny spoke up once more, "You guys are incredibly loud. She can definitely hear everything you guys are saying. Your whispering is just regular talking and your yelling is screaming. You have no idea how to be quiet."

"As much as I hate agreeing with Danny, he is right. You are both extremely loud," Robin agreed. "You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you're trying to translate, but you haven't figured out a single word because you didn't realize that Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do."

Steve and Dustin looked at each other, surprised that Robin had heard everything. Danny smirked as Robin raised an eyebrow, "Sound about right?"

There was a moment of silence before Robin glanced down at the tape recorder and lunged for it but Steve grabbed it before she could, "Whoa! What do you think you're doing?"

"I wanna hear it," Robin shrugged. Steve, Dustin, and Danny asked why. Steve and Dustin asked curiously while Danny asked confused, not understanding why Robin would care. "Maybe I can help. I'm fluent in four languages, you know."

"Russian?" Dustin raised an eyebrow.

"Ou-yay-are-yay umb-day," Robin said. Danny snorted, knowing she was speaking in Pig Latin and had just said that they were dumb.

"Oh-ho-ho!"

"Holy shit!"

"That was Pig Latin, dumbasses," Danny explained, chuckling at them. "You're both hopeless."

Steve slapped Dustin's arm, "Idiot."

"But I can speak Spanish and French and Italian, and I've been in band for twelve years," Robin explained as she took a seat at the table.

Danny raised an eyebrow at the scene, "Okay, is everyone gonna invade my private room?"

Everyone ignored Danny as Robin continued, "My ears are little geniuses, trust me."

"Uh..." Steve hesitated.

"Come on, it's your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate," Robin pleaded as Danny's eyes widened, looking between everyone. "I don't even want credit. I'm just bored."

Steve took the ice cream scooper from Robin and handed her the tape recorder. He left the backroom as Robin turned the tape recorder back on. Danny, who had grown extremely annoyed at having his personal space taken from him, got up and muttered, "I'm taking a smoke break."

Dustin furrowed his brows, "You're fourteen."

Danny shrugged, "And?"

Danny left before Dustin could say anything else. He left Scoops Ahoy and started walking through the mall. As he headed toward the entrance and exit doors, he walked right past Lucas, Will, and Mike. Mike looked tired and frustrated, Lucas looked confused, and Will just looked bored and annoyed. As Danny walked past, Lucas stared. Danny smirked and nodded at Lucas, "Lucas."

Mike and Will looked up upon hearing Danny's voice. They all stared as Danny walked away. Danny looked over his shoulder as he walked, spotting Lucas still staring at him while the other two boys looked straight ahead. Lucas quickly looked away and Danny turned back around, smirking to himself.

As Danny got outside, he leaned against one of the walls. Danny pulled cigarettes and a lighter out of his pants pocket. He pulled a cigarette out of the box and put it between his lips just as Max Mayfield and El Hopper walked out of the mall, each holding an ice cream cone. He lit up the cigarette as Lucas, Mike, and Will walked out and went over to their bikes.

As Danny took a drag, the two girls noticed the boys and marched over. There seemed to be some tension, so Danny continued watching them. Upon seeing his girlfriend, Mike dropped his bike and pointed at her before saying something. Mike and Max started to argue before El started with Mike.

Danny watched in amusement and Mike and Lucas started to agree on something that was clearly a lie. Danny took another drag as Lucas attempted to cover for his best friend. El took a few steps forward toward Mike and said something to him, making his eyes widen and his mouth drop. Danny knew that look. Mike had just been dumped and based on Lucas's face as Max said something to him before both girls ran off, Lucas had been dumped as well.

Danny chuckled to himself at the scene. He went back to his cigarette, taking more drags, letting the nicotine fill his lungs. Just as he took another drag, Mike, Will, and Lucas approached him. Mike looked determined while Lucas looked annoyed, and Will still looked bored. Danny took another drag, leaning his head back and letting the smoke billow out of his mouth, "Trouble in paradise?"

"We need your help," Mike told him, looking desperate.

"I don't need his help," Lucas denied, shaking his head. Danny tilted his head at Lucas. "Max has dumped me five times."

"Well... six now," Will reminded him making Danny smirk

Lucas looked over his shoulder and glared at Will before Lucas continued, "I have won her back every single time. I don't need your help."

Danny took another drag and stared into Lucas's eyes. He pushed himself off the wall and watched as Lucas gulped. Danny smirked, "You sure about that?" Danny started to walk toward Lucas. "Because I've had a lot of girlfriends and I've been the one to dump every single one of them. You've been dumped six times."

"Which is exactly why we need your help," Mike continued. Danny turned back toward Mike. "Will you help us?"

Danny didn't really want to help. He didn't dislike Mike Wheeler but he had to admit that he was kind of annoying. But, Lucas really didn't like Danny, or so he told himself, so Danny agreed, "Okay, sure. It's either help you guys or continue to rot in the backroom of Scoops Ahoy with my irritating cousin and the annoying Steve Harrington."

Mike's face lit up while Lucas's sank and he rolled his eyes. Danny smirked, loving that he was already annoying Lucas, "Great! Can you come over tonight?"

Danny took another drag and shrugged, "Sure, whatever."

"You know where I live, right?"

Danny nodded. Hawkins was a small town, so not only did everyone know everything about each other but everyone knew where each other lived. Mike smiled, "Okay, just come over whenever you can leave this place."

Danny had an idea. He smirked and looked at Lucas then back to Mike, "You mind if I come right now? There are way too many people in Scoops right now and I'm done with it."

Lucas's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something but Mike interrupted, "Yeah. Yeah. Yes! Do you have a bike?" Danny nodded and took another drag. "Grab it and let's go."

As Danny put out his cigarette and walked over to the bike rack to get his bike, Lucas started to whisper-yell at Mike, "What the hell, Mike?"

"What?"

"Why the hell are you asking Danny Buckley for help?" Lucas whisper-yelled, gesturing to Danny. "You know what kind of person he is!"

"I get that you don't like him but I don't care right now!" Mike argued. "I need to get El back and he can help me! What about you? Maybe he can help you so Max doesn't break up with you again."

"I think he seems kinda cool," Will added.

Lucas groaned just as Danny came back with his bike. All black, of course. Danny smirked at Lucas and winked right before they started to ride off. Danny couldn't help but smile. He knew he was going to have a lot of fun.

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