Chapter Text
At the end of another boring, yet grueling, day working at Scoop’s Ahoy Steve picked up the tip jar and shook it sadly.
“This sucks, how are we supposed to earn a living in these conditions?”
“Uh…we’re not?” Robin asked, she was his constant coworker since he never seemed to get scheduled with anyone else. In fact he didn’t even know if anyone else worked here. “Besides, what do you need a living wage for? Don’t you live with dear old mummy and daddy in a McMansion?”
And another thing, she hated him. Although he wasn’t sure if she actually hated him, or she was trying to hide some deep-seeded attraction. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was the latter, he knew he had a certain charm.
“Yeah,” he emptied the jar on the back counter, which Robin had just cleaned, “but they’re charging me rent and stuff now. It’s punishment for not going to college, like to teach me a lesson about how I won’t be able to get a good job without a degree or something.”
Robin started counting and dividing until they each had a pathetic pile, mostly made up of coins. “Well so far it seems like they’re right.”
“ Ughhh …” Steve sighed and slid down to put his head on the counter.
“Hey! I just washed that, stop getting your dandruff all over the place!”
“I don’t have dandruff.” He mumbled against the white surface.
“Oh no, of course you don’t. Because you’re so special, right? You’re too good to have skin flake off of your head.”
Steve stood up to meet Robin’s cynical look. “Know what? I am special. Or maybe it’s just because I take care of my appearance, unlike some people.”
Robin crossed her arms, defiant. “And what people would those be?”
“Just…some people.” For being younger and smaller she could be kind of scary. “All I’m saying is that I take a lot of pride in how I look, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that the ladies love it too.”
That caused Robin to break as she snorted. “Oh, oh right, sure, all the ladies that come in and are subjected to your awful flirtations.”
“They’re not awful!”
“They’re really bad dude, I’m keeping score. You have not scored one single date, not even a phone number.”
Steve could huff and puff all he wanted, but that wouldn’t change the truth. Didn’t stop him from trying though. “Well that’s because I’m in such an awkward situation! It’s really hard to flirt with someone when you’re up to your elbows in ice cream! I used to have girls fawning all over me in high school.”
Robin rolled her eyes. “Trust me, I know. We went to the same school, dingus.”
“Right? So you know! If my only job was to look good and flirt I would be making way more money and getting way more babes.”
“Steve…Steven.” She looked like she was fighting down a smile.
“What? What are you laughing at?”
“Nothing, nothing! I just…well there are some jobs where that’s the requirement, but I really don’t think they’re up your alley. In fact a lot of them take place in alleys.”
He stared at her for a few moments until it clicked. “Oh, oh…Jesus, Robin no! I didn’t mean it like that !”
“Then how did you mean it?” She was still snickering.
“Like…like…” Steve tried to think of a different way of explaining it. “Oh! You know in high school we sometimes did those fundraiser things for the dances? One year we had a kissing booth and let me tell you, I raked in the most cash out of anyone.”
“Let me guess, they didn’t have any other options?” One of these days Robin would die from an overdose of sarcasm.
He made a disgusted face at her. “Nyah, nyah, no other options… Hilarious, but I’ll have you know we had guys and girls and-”
“And they both came to your booth?” This time her eyebrows were up.
“What? No I…I meant that we had multiple people doing it, but I still managed to make the most money. So what I’ve been trying to say, before I kept getting interrupted, was that if I could have a job like that I’d make way more.”
“Hm, sure. It’s just a shame Scoops doesn’t have an opening for a professional kisser.” Robin shrugged as she picked up the rag from the counter and started wiping the sliding window since the malt machine splashed a bit.
Steve sighed and watched her. And watched. And watched. Then all of a sudden an idea came to him.
“Robin!” He grabbed her shoulder and she immediately shook him off.
“What?”
“I could open one here!”
“ What ?”
“I could open a kissing booth right here in the store, we could use the window.”
Robin held up both her hands, waving them in front of her face. “Hold on, hold on did you say ‘we’?”
“Well I would need a little help, in high school we had someone sitting at a table to take the money. So just hear me out…” he ran around the counter to pretend to be a customer, “someone walks in and they want a kiss, right? You would take the money and then take them back here to the window,” he ran to knock on the window before rushing to the back room, “then I can open it and ta-da! It’s a perfect system.”
She stared at him through the open space. “That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.”
“Please, you’re just jealous.”
“Even if that were remotely true, there’s one teeny-tiny problem…you already have work to do here. You can’t just leave it all to me while you’re frenching strangers!”
“Huh,” he rested his chin in his hand, “you have a point there. I know! We’ll have limited hours, so like whenever things are slow or at the end of the day.”
Robin nodded along. “Okay, okay, but it still sounds like I’ll be doing a lot of extra shit so what do I get out of all of this?”
“Fair enough, so how about this deal? Whenever I’m running the booth you won’t have to split the tip jar with me. We’ll divy it up before I go to the back, and everything after then is yours.”
“Hm…I guess that’s a suitable arrangement. I do enjoy extra money, and I have no doubt I could earn more tips without you annoying my customers so…sure, what the hell? I’ll help you run your flop of a side business.”
“It’s not going to flop.” Steve shut the window and walked back to the front. “I bet I’ll make more money from my booth than you will from tips.”
“Oh yeah?”
“ Yeah .” Now he was the one to cross his arms. “Let’s go one whole month and then we can compare totals. What do you say, deal?”
Robin started to go for his hand, but then pulled away. “If this is a bet, what are the stakes? Because if I win I’m going to want you to abandon this stupid booth idea and then I want to take longer breaks so you’ll have to cover for me.”
“Sure, and when I win…I’d like to keep the booth running, and from then on we’d continue to split the tips evenly, even when I’m in the back.”
“Tough sell but…you’ve got yourself a deal Steve Harrington, and I can’t wait to wipe the floor with you. Or more accurately, I’ll make you wipe the floor when I’m relaxing on one of my many many breaks.”
They shared eye contact as they firmly shook on it.
The next day Steve came strolling in with all the confidence he'd collected in high school. He was King Steve after all and this was his court of stars, at least that's what he told himself. Robin was quick to shoot him down as soon as she came walking in with her bike helmet under her arm.
"Oh my God . What is…what is happening here?"
"What's happening where? What are you looking at?"
She started to laugh and she stepped behind the counter and gestured to his general face area. "Dude…please don't tell me this is all part of your kissing booth idea."
He frowned, running a hand through his hair. It was true, there may be a reason he'd put extra effort into his appearance today. "I don't know what you're talking about. This is just how attractive people look when they want other attractive people to notice them, I wouldn't expect you to understand."
"And I wouldn't expect Steve Harrington to wear more makeup than me."
She looked at him and he stared right back.
"Shut up, Buckley. That's actually a dig on yourself if you think about it."
"Oh yeah? How so?" She leaned on the front counter, waiting for him to continue.
"Shut up, Buckley."
The first part of the workday passed by per usual, but then it was time for Steve to switch gears. He disappeared to the back room and returned up front with some important supplies. Well only two - a sign he had made himself last night and his own money jar. He had decorated both with fancy, swirly, red letters that spelled out "Steve Harrington's Kissing Booth" with a pair of red lips stamped on the side.
Robin had to crouch behind the counter she was laughing so hard.
Steve ignored her as he taped his sign to one side of the pass-through. "I don't know how many times I've told you this, but shut up."
She was still wheezing as she stood up. "Who the hell did your advertising?"
" I made these, thank you very much."
That caused her to go into another fit of laughter. "Oh…oh man that wasn't a compliment. So uh…what's the plan here again? I already cut your half from the beginning tips, and now mama is ready to make bank while you sulk in the back and realize you peaked in high school."
The last bit seemed uncalled for. "For your information, I have not peaked yet, and I can't wait to rub it in your face when hot chicks are lined up outside our door."
"Hm…" her eyes gazed off in the distance, "yeah sure, that'll really show me."
Steve caught her attention again when he set his separate money jar in front of her. "As for the plan, people will put their money in here and then you'll bring them behind the counter to the window, and knock on it to get my attention. Super simple. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah seems straightforward." She played with the jar a bit and then scooped it up. "Holy shit you're charging $2 for a kiss? We only get paid $3 an hour, you're expecting people to pay about an hour's wages for a stupid kiss?!"
"Robin, Robin, Robin…people pay for quality."
"For the love of…" She shook her head and scoffed. "But hey, I shouldn't complain, this will just guarantee my victory."
"You can laugh all you want, but this'll pay off, I'm telling you." He walked to the back and opened the window. "I think the real reason is you're just jealous . You can't stand the thought of any other girl kissing this beautiful face."
"Okay now that is the most ridiculous thing you have said the entire time you've been here."
"Uh huh, sure, but I'll tell you what, anytime you want I'll give you a discount." He puckered his lips.
Robin slammed the windows shut, and he barely had time to move out of the way. He called through the glass. "You can't hide the truth forever! You're into me, admit it!"
"Spoken like someone who isn't delusional and desperate."
Steve didn't need that kind of negativity right now. No, all he needed to do was sit back and relax as the babes came rolling in. He did a lot of sitting and waiting.
Robin finally knocked on the window and Steve jumped up from his chair to open it, ready for his first customer of the day. “Well hello there…Robin? Oh, I see, you just couldn’t resist, could you?”
She blinked slowly and then handed him a rag. “Nope. I just didn’t feel like walking around the wall. Besides, shift’s over so we need to clean up.”
“Wait, what?” Steve looked past her at the rest of the mall which was also starting to empty out. He then looked at the clock. “No, but…"
"But what? You can't believe that you had zero customers all day?" She didn't even need an answer since she knew it was true. She did add more though. "Okay well technically you had someone inquire about purchasing a kiss, but she was like a 13 year old kid so I turned her away, even when she tried to argue for at least a peck on the head."
"Ugh." He ran a hand down his face. "Well thank you for that. I'm running an illegal business already. I don't need to dig that hole any deeper."
"Mhm. On that subject though…you got some age-range I should be keeping an eye on?"
"Not 13 obviously." Steve walked to the front of the store to help wipe down tables. "Like…it wouldn't be weird for me to date or kiss a Junior would it? I mean I only graduated last year. Or should I stick to Seniors and up?"
Robin started closing up the ice cream cartons. "I'm making the decision to have high school Seniors be your minimum. And by 'up' do you mean like… all the way up?"
He thought about it and then shrugged. "Hey, if a little old widow wants to give me money for a smooch, who am I to deprive her?"
"Gee, what a heart of gold."
"Why do you ask? You haven't been turning away more of my customers, have you? You wouldn't be sabotaging me like that, would you?"
"Hey, no! I want to win, but I don't need to cheat to do it. I'm just asking for future reference, I need to know what your kissing boundaries are."
"Oh. Well…thank you."
"You're welcome." She nodded as she started flipping chairs onto the tables. "It's a little thing called 'respect' in case King Steve never learned that in high school."
He shot her a look, but she was just smiling. It was more a joke than a jab. Steve still rolled his eyes, but he gave her a quick smile back.