HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1985.

STEVE AND DUSTIN HEARD SOMEONE clear their throat from behind them.

They both turned, peering up at none other than Theresa with her arms folded and a quizzical stare.

"H-Hey Tess," Steve smiled, while Dustin gave a wave.

She pursed her lips with amusement. "Steve. Why are you hiding behind a plant and staring at people with binoculars?"

He exchanged a look with Dustin, the both of them looking back to her with innocent expressions.

"We... we're looking for evil Russians," Dustin explained, flashing a toothy grin.

Theresa nodded slowly, poking her tongue in her cheek. "Mhm. And you guys do realize that you're like– totally not discreet at all whatsoever? I could see you from all the way across the mall."

Steve stammered, "W-Well, I– we were–"

"You're both idiots, you know that?"

She reached down, snatching the binoculars from around Steve's neck as he and Dustin stood up. Tess laughed in disbelief at the fact that they literally had binoculars to spy on people, Dustin taking them back from her as she continued to laugh.

"This is serious stuff, okay?" Dustin defended, glaring at her before turning and raising the binoculars to his eyes. "If there are really Russians infiltrating Starcourt, we could have the breakthrough of a lifetime."

"Oh," Theresa played along. "Okay. And so– what exactly are these Russians supposed to look like?"

Dustin shrugged. "Tall, blonde. Not smiling. Wearing camo, carrying a duffel bag."

She eyed Steve, who made a face and turned back around. Suddenly, Dustin blindly hit him on the arm.

"Target acquired."

"Where?"

"Ten o'clock, Sam Goody's," he handed the binoculars to Steve, who peered through them to see whatever Dustin had seen.

Tess stood there with a shake of her head, picking at her nails.

"Shit," Steve muttered. "...Duffel bag."

The two boys turned to each other, looking as if they were thinking the exact same thing.

"Evil Russian," they spoke in unison.

Before Theresa could interject a sarcastic comment, Steve and Dustin tore off in a sprint across the mall.

"Guys!" she called, throwing her hands up. She did not want to run after them, mostly because she hated running. Tess threw her head back with a dramatic groan, trudging behind them.

"Steve! Dustin!" she whisper-shouted as she caught up with them on the escalator, grabbing both of them by their shirt sleeves.

They turned their heads to her as she stood between them, looking at them both with a sharp glare.

"Do not cause a scene in this mall–"

The two wrestled out of her grip, not listening to her as they continued up the escalator. She clenched her jaw with visible annoyance, pushing past some people to follow after them.

She caught sight of them again once she got to the top, looking like dumbasses while they tried to be discreet. Theresa pinched the bridge of her nose when Steve and Dustin ran to hide behind a corner and peek around it.

Tess walked up behind them, crossing her arms once more.

"If I was a Russian, you'd both be dead by now."

The two jumped, startled at her sudden appearance.

Dustin gave a defeated sigh, throwing up a hand. "He was just a stupid jazzercise instructor."

Tess leaned to the side as she looked around the corner at the jazzercise place, smirking while fighting the urge to laugh.

"Wow, have you guys considered becoming detectives?"

They both rolled their eyes at her, Theresa grinning.

"How did you know where we were anyway?" Steve questioned, he and Dustin following alongside Tess as they made their way back.

"Well, I was on my way to Scoops Ahoy since I'm on my break, and then I noticed two dumbasses hiding behind a plant spying on people with binoculars. I thought, 'surely that can't be two people I know,' but as you can see I was wrong."

She smiled with amusement once more at their irritated faces, leading the way back to Scoops Ahoy.

"Erica," Tess laid eyes on her sister and her group of friends as they entered the ice cream parlor, "are you here just to get free samples again?"

Erica turned to her sister with surprise, smiling sweetly. "No."

Tess arched an eyebrow, obviously not buying that. She pushed open the doors to walk behind the counter, giving her a knowing look.

"You know mom said you have a limit on ice cream."

"Well mom isn't here, is she?"

Tess rolled her eyes, entering the back. Robin sat on the counter, looking up as Theresa, Steve and Dustin came in.

"Okay, I finished the translation." She hopped off of the counter, showing the notepad to Theresa.

"The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west. A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly," she read aloud.

Theresa glanced up at Robin with a querulous gaze. "Sounds like even more nonsense now. Great."

She contorted her face in the way that she did whenever she was thinking deeply, staring off into nothingness as she concentrated.

"A trip to China... hm."

Without warning, Theresa turned and walked out of the back room, the others all sharing a look of confusion. Steve was the first to follow after her, Dustin and Robin right behind him.

Tess left Scoops Ahoy and weaved through a crowd of bustling people, Steve barely able to keep up with her.

"Tess, what are you doing!" he called after her, although she ignored him.

Theresa stopped suddenly, looking down at the notepad and then looking back up. She knew this mall like the back of her hand, and so all of the pieces of the puzzle were beginning to connect in her mind.

Once the other three caught up with her, Tess pointed to her right at a Chinese restaurant in the food court.

"A trip to China," she moved her finger up, now pointing at a shoe store. "Tread lightly."

Dustin's face began to light up, his mouth falling open.

She furrowed her eyebrows with deep concentration, spinning on her heel and looking up.

"When blue meets yellow in the west," Theresa finished, pointing up at the giant clock directly above the entrance to the mall. Its hands were colored blue and yellow.

"Holy shit," Steve mumbled in awe, his jaw falling agape. "You're a genius."

"So I've been told."

Theresa checked the time on her watch. "Shit. I've got to get back to work."

She looked up, placing the notebook in Robin's hands, as that was who she trusted the most with it.

"We're not leaving this place until we find out what's happening. Be back tonight, eight o'clock. Got it?"

Steve, Dustin and Robin all nodded in unison, complying without arguments. Not that Theresa would have given them a choice anyway.

"Okay." Tess turned to Steve, reaching up to plant a quick kiss on his lips that took him by surprise.

"Bye."

She hurried away while Steve blinked, touching his lips.

"You act like you've never been kissed by a girl before," Robin remarked, Steve narrowing his eyes at her.

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        IT WAS POURING RAIN WHEN TESS got off of work, but she was persistent in her words.

"My hair is gonna get wet," Steve complained as he helped Theresa up on a ledge that led to the roof of Starcourt Mall.

"Should've worn a raincoat, genius," she remarked, leaning down and offering a hand to pull him up.

The rain was pouring furiously, but all four agreed that the potential Russian invasion was far more important. Tess could not believe that even she was starting to buy into it, but there was too much evidence to refute.

"Down there," she pointed, squatting down so that she could see over the ledge without being obvious.

Dustin brought up his binoculars as he sat beside her. "Holy shit," he said. "They're armed."

"Do you see Imperial Panda or Kaufman Shoes?" Tess asked, unable to make out anything through the downpour.

Dustin looked again. "They're with that whistling guy, ten o'clock."

They were able to see a man in a yellow raincoat, pushing boxes in front of him.

"What do you think's in there?" Steve questioned.

"Guns, bombs?" Dustin replied.

Robin added, "Chemical weapons?"

Theresa chewed her inner lip curiously. "Hey, is that guy armed?" She noticed a tall bald man at once, holding his arms in a peculiar way.

"Yeah," Dustin responded at once. "He has a pretty big gun."

"Great," Steve sarcastically remarked. "That's really great."

A large door swung open, Tess shifting to try and get a better look. "What do you see in there?"

"A lot more boxes," Dustin informed, Steve reaching over for his binoculars.

"Let me see," he tried to take the binoculars from Dustin who protested, wrestling them back.

"Hang on–"

The binoculars slipped from his hands, clattering to the ground below. Theresa dropped to the ground, her hand falling into Steve's as he squeezed hers tightly. She breathed heavily, shutting her eyes and praying that had not seen them.

"We have to go," she said in a low voice, nudging Robin to her left. "Hurry, let's go!"

They all took off in a sprint, getting off of the roof as quickly as possible and going down the stairs that led to the back of the mall.

Steve panted as they hurried down the empty hall, pushing his wet hair back.

"Those were definitely Russians."

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     ALTHOUGH IT WAS SUMMER, THERESA was still shivering as she got into Steve's car.

"Do you want my jacket?" Steve asked as he notice her teeth chatter, starting up the car.

"Well, since you're offering..." she halfway smirked, Steve not hesitating to pull off his jacket and give it to her.

Tess pulled it around her, sitting back as Steve pulled off.

"So, we really do have evil Russians in Hawkins," she said with realization, Steve nodding.

"Yep."

She sat there for a moment. "I mean, Russians? Really? I would've found it more believable if it were the government or something."

Steve laughed a little. "Well, who knows– it could be the Russian government."

"It definitely is," she replied. "Those guys were definitely military or something."

Steve nodded once more in agreement, twiddling his thumbs on the steering wheel. Now that he had time for the thought to cross his mind, Steve had been wondering about Theresa going off to college more and more. It had kept him up for quite some time the night before, wanting to ask her about it but not having the courage to do so.

"So... what are you planning on majoring in when you– go off to school?"

Theresa shifted a little, hesitating. She had been wanting to avoid the college conversation with Steve, as she knew that would be the one difficult thing they would have to work out if they decided to pursue a relationship.

"Uh... law. I'm going to get my Juris Doctor degree."

Steve looked at her with wide eyes. "Wait... doctor? Like– you would be Dr. Sinclair?"

She shrugged. "Well, it may not be Sinclair, but– yeah."

It took him a moment to understand what she meant, but when he got it he felt butterflies in his stomach. Steve almost forgot that he should have been focusing on the road, ogling at Tess in amazement.

"So you're gonna be a lawyer?"

Theresa nodded. "Yeah. You know how much I love to argue."

He tilted his head in agreement, going quiet again. Tess eyed him warily, able to tell that he wanted to say something else. A pit of anxiety formed in her stomach.

"What– what happens when you go off to college? Like– what happens to us?" he finally asked.

Theresa swallowed, licking her lips. "Um..." she was at a loss for words. "Well– I'll only be an hour away. It's not as far as it seems."

Steve tapped his fingers. "So I could come visit you, is what you're saying?"

She smiled a little. "I mean, yeah, if you wanted. I'm probably going to get my own apartment, because I don't think I could handle a roommate."

"I don't think a roommate could handle you," Steve teasingly replied, Tess reaching over to smack him on the arm.

"I am so easy to get along with, what do you mean?" There was a joking tone to her voice, as they both knew that was not true.

Once their laughter settled in, Tess poked her tongue in her cheek and watched him intricately. Theresa still had a fear that she was not good enough for him, even though she was trying to move past that. Part of her still wanted to give up hope, to break up with Steve because it felt like the easiest option. But it was only that small voice in the back of her mind telling her those things, while she constantly tried to remind herself that Steve really was in love with her.

"You okay?" Steve questioned as he noticed her staring, Tess blinking and giving a nod.

"Yeah, sorry. I was just– thinking."

Steve nodded back in understanding, pulling the car up to Theresa's house. She glanced down at her watch as he put the car in park, looking back up.

"You know," she said at once, "I think I should wait for it to stop raining before I go inside."

She turned her head to Steve with a suggestive smile. He raised his eyebrows, putting the car in reverse without hesitation.

"I think you're right," he agreed, pulling out of the driveway and speeding down the road to find a cutoff to the woods.

Once he found a spot, Steve barely had time to put the car in park before Theresa was climbing on top of him, straddling Steve and bringing her lips to his.

"I love making out with you," he mumbled into her mouth, Tess smiling into another kiss. He gripped her ass while she ran her fingers through his hair, an exchange of tongues passing between their hungry mouths.

Steve pulled away abruptly, Theresa slightly frowning.

"Hey, I have an idea."

She raised an eyebrow, narrowing her eyes.

"...Like what?"

Steve opened up the console beside him, pulling out a small plastic bag with what appeared to be an already rolled joint.

"Wanna get high?"

notes.
theresa's about to see a whOOOLEEEE NEWWW WORLDDDD cuz homegirl has definitely never smoked weed 😭

sorry i've been kinda inconsistent with the past two updates, i've had to work every day this week but i'm hoping i'll have season 3 done by the time volume 2 of season 4 comes out!

which by the way, i'm so scared for the end of season 4 because i'm seriously not gonna be able to handle it if any of my favs die. (looking at steve, max, lucas, nancy and robin 😐) and i will fight the duffer brothers if i have to idc

btw i really loved y'all's headcanons from the last chapter, they were all so cute and i 100% agree with all of them

did y'all pick up theresa's hint when she was talking about being referred to as dr. and maybe not sinclair??? hehehe