bestfeature | for @keenely.

[ The video store was marginally better than Scoops. Marginally in that the uniform this time around was a simple vest instead of whatever abomination Scoops corporate had mandated. Idly, Steve is thankful that he never had to deal with his uniform during the winter, but he did have to deal with it while being drugged up and on the run from evil Russians and goop monsters, so there's a trade-off there, really.

And sure, the rental shop had its ebbs and flows of customers, but it was nowhere near the constant rush that was Scoops. He'd already gotten used to the peak "rush" hours — Friday nights, Saturday afternoons, and then everyone scrambling to return their stuff before they closed Sunday night lest they have to deal with Keith's smarmy-ass face come Monday as he slaps their accounts with late fees. But Saturday nights? Were oddly quiet. It was a nice alternative to what he used to be doing on Saturday nights — at least, before all the upside-down nonsense seeped into his life and he picked up five (no, make that seven, though two of them had moved away) kids unexpectedly.

So Saturday evenings were spent tidying up the store after the aforementioned rushes, and he'd kind of started to like wandering the aisles and looking at the various movie cases while Robin sat behind the counter flipping through the latest issue of Fangoria or whatever magazine had been gathering dust in the racks. Later, they'd probably rock-paper-scissors to see who had to vacuum.

He'd probably lose.

Steve shrugs his shoulders as he continues to straighten out the cases, occasionally glancing over at the door as he hears the bell jingle, signalling the arrival of a customer. ]

Welcome to Family Video!

[ It's not like he can expect Robin to greet the customers. ]

[ let the record show that none of this was her idea. not family movie night, not the choice in movie, or the fact that she has to go and get said movie. granted, she liked having a reason to take a drive somewhere and get away from family movie night for a while, but it was still ridiculous.

she took the long way to the video store. maybe if it was too late in the evening by the time she got back, they wouldn't want to watch it anymore. maybe. maybe? she peeks at her car radio, sighs at seeing the time. 6:30pm. nope, not maybe. that was never going to work.

however, once she gets out of her car and heads to the store, she slowly realizes she completely forgets the name of the movie. it's totally lost on her. and her phone is at home, and she refuses to drive all the way back, so she looks a little frustrated when she walks through the door.

the greeting gets an easy ] Thanks. [ as she heads straight to the check-out desk, and she honestly doesn't even have time to realize who's at the register before she's turning around and heading for the back room. and not looking back. not even a little bit. she's pretty sure she heard a laugh, too. weird, but okay.

so she turns to look for the voice she heard before, peeking between the stacks of VHS tapes, when lo. ]

Steve? [ why does she have such a weird habit of doing that when she's a little shocked? whatever . the vest is a choice, but then she's realizing he has a nametag on, too. oh. okay. sure. of course he works here. ] I mean, hi. I- didn't know you worked here. I would've- [ what? avoided coming here? brought mike? what's the least weird thing to say ] Mm. Could you help me find something? A movie, like a specific... movie.

[ nope, you lose, wheeler. still awkward. ]

[ Steve does a double-take when he hears his name being called — or rather, when he hears her calling his name — and stares over at Nancy, mouth slightly agape. It takes him a moment to collect himself and he runs a hand through his hair, resting his elbow on one of the displays. ]

Nancy! Hey. Yeah, it's— recent.

[ One of the cases tips forward from the display and Steve pulls away quickly, managing to snatch it up before it topples to the ground and places it carefully back where it belongs.

Just as planned. Totally.

He turns back towards Nancy, managing to remain relatively collected. ]

A specific movie? Uh, yeah, totally. Robin usually has some good rec—

[ He peers over the shelves to look at the register and frowns. Where'd Robin go this time? Her break wasn't for another forty minutes at least. It occurs to him in that moment that maybe she had been listening to him earlier when he'd recounted two incredibly awkward conversations to her — "Uh, yeah I replied with "cool," what the hell else was I supposed to say?" — and had chosen this exact moment to take an early break.

Great. Awesome. ]

— what movie, exactly?

--So that's the thing. [ here's that mild wincing expression that shows she's trying to think, but she's also mildly embarrassed by what she's about to say. ] I completely forget the name of the movie. But-! It's new, there's still commercials on for the VHS on TV. I know it has three or four words in it? And it's a comedy. I think. A comedy or an action movie. Possibly both? My dad and my brother picked it out. I told them it was a bad idea to send me, but they sent me.

[ she sighs, looking over at the closest set of tapes on the rack next to them, hoping maybe it's just conveniently right there, so she can get back to respecting steve's totally reasonable requests for space and minimal alone time and everything else he wanted. of course, none of the titles look familiar ]

-- If you point me towards the new releases, I might be able to find it on my own..?

[ That's . . . vague, to say the least. But if he just points her to the new releases and makes her find it on her own, isn't that as good as admitting that things are awkward? And they're— well, they're not awkward, but they're not not awkward either.

He flashes her a grin, waving a hand as he starts off towards the far wall. ]

Come on, new releases are over this way. We've got a lot of them, though.

[ That description didn't exactly ring a bell, though. Then again, he hadn't really been looking at the backs of those movies — shit, maybe he should. Most people ask for certain actors or described the cover, and Steve would manage to find them based on that alone. But if anyone tried asking him what the specific movie was about? Damned if he knew.

He was better at small talk while looking for things; Robin was the one with the actual in depth knowledge. ]

So, they picked the movie but made you get it? Tough break.

[ his smile makes her smile because of course it does, because history or not, steve harrington is still a good-looking guy with a seriously great smile. that doesn't just go away after a breakup. which is why she looks towards the tapes her leading her to, eyes wide as she looks them all over because damn, he wasn't kidding. and of course, she has no idea what she's looking for. nothing looks familiar, not even vaguely. ]

Shit. [ it's almost like that "this is impressive" kind of cursing, but mostly she's just frazzled by all the options. ] Yeah. They thought that was a great idea, but clearly it wasn't. [ there's that sheepish look again ] I'm trying to think of what kind of movie my brother and my dad would like. It has to be an action movie. Unless he convinced my dad to let him get some nerdy comedy. [ sIGH

and a pause ]

Hey- I didn't know you were into movies.

[ He's not. If anything, that makes working at a video shop bearable, though. It's like working at an ice cream shop — he'd get sick of it if he'd been eating ice cream the whole time, but he didn't. So that kept things new, fresh. Of course, it also made it a pain in the ass when it came to recommendations and whatnot, but Steve could bullshit with the best of them.

With a shrug, he looks over at the wall. ]

I know a thing or two. [ He turns, scanning the wall of cases, and immediately crinkles his nose up at No Small Affair's cover and casually flips the box around as he moves past it, so Jon Cryer's smug-ass face with his stupid camera isn't staring at them as they peruse the section. ] Like, there's, uh—

[ There's what? Steve reaches over for the nearest case, picking it up as he turns back to Nancy. ]

This one? It's about this guy, who— [ And at that, he flips the case to read the back, still speaking as he processes it all. ] — you know, he gets dumped for his best friend and he like tries to kill the guy but doesn't, I guess? And he's all tormented and stuff because . . . [ His voice trails off and he puts the case back on the shelf. ] The French are fuckin' weird, man. Action's over here.

[ Why is the foreign language shit even over here? He'll blame Keith's pretentious ass for that one. Prick. ]

[ her brow furrows up a bit when he turns the one video tape over without comment, but it's in an passive sort of way, an "okay, sure" that she won't verbally question. but she will come back to it, because she really is that annoying. then he's picking one up and her expression brightens a little as he explains it because she can absolutely see what he's doing, peeking at the cover and it's pretty amusing. her arms cross over her chest, and she even leans forward a little bit, completely engaged, though she has to bite her lip to hide her smile when he ends up putting it back on the shelf. ]

Mm, nope, I don't think it's that one. They didn't say anything about murder or torment.

[ she's looking over the tall wall of movies now, eyes widening when she points up at one - the poltergeist ] I don't care what we've been through the last couple of years, that movie still scares the hell out of me. Oh, god. Have you seen it? Don't, if you haven't. I can't look at a television anymore without- god. Okay. Let's not talk about it. We're moving on. [ she really hasn't even given him an opportunity to talk, but it's fine ]

I think there's like- a group of people on the cover. Maybe. I'm trying to remember the commercial... [ think think think. and then she's smirking ] You should tell me more about some of these movies though. Maybe it'll jog my memory.

What, that one?

[ He peers over at the case, raising an eyebrow before glancing back at Nancy with a slight grin. ]

That bad, huh? Alright, alright, we'll steer clear of it.

[ With a shrug of his shoulders, he continues down the aisle, glancing up at the wall. His gaze shifts back over to Nancy when she asks him to jog her memory. ]

Or we could just, you know, start looking at all the cases and see if we can find a cover that looks like that.

What? No, no. I think this is important. I would really, really like your expert opinion on finding this movie.

[ the end of the sentence starts to trail off as the laughter bubbles up a bit, but she tried. she tried really hard to say that seriously. she shouldn't tease steve though, she knows she shouldn't. it probably won't help with the whole... rebuilding whatever friendship they could manage to have. still - she's aware he's more likely able to rattle off the names of the starting line-up for his favorite baseball team than knowing the movie she's talking about based on the tiny bit of information given, so. this is all very amusing to her, okay ]

Although I suppose I could really just pick out whatever I want, tell them I forgot, and actually pick something I'd like to see.

Wow, okay.

[ He crosses his arms, giving her a mock frown. It doesn't sting as much when it comes from Nancy — just like when Robin ribs him endlessly about how he knows jack. Still, her suggestion gets a chuckle out of him as he relents ("relents"), lowering his arms again. ]

I mean, it's your right, isn't it? They made you come out here to get it. If they wanted their movie, they should've just gotten it themselves, you know?

Exactly. So! Let's see what we got.

[ she rubs her hands together, looking at the wall with a whole! new! perspective! and-!

she still can't seem to spot anything that immediately jumps out at her as interesting, just based on the cover. and after another long moment, she sighs a long breath, cheeks puffed out. ]

--I still don't know what to pick. Maybe you should just pick for me. Or I can close my eyes and point to one, and that'll be it. [ she laughs, but it's the mildly pathetic kind ] Why does this feel like the most impossible task?

Because you're putting so much pressure on yourself for this.

[ He gestures vaguely at the wall, but— it's true, isn't it? That was Nancy when it came to anything. She had to do this, she had to do that, she had to get it right — it was one of the many, many things he'd loved about her, back when they were still dating. It was almost cute, how she'd work herself up like this.

Now he just gives a soft little half-smile as he reminsces quietly before shaking his head. ]

Look, you've got two choices. You can either pick up one of the action comedies and your dad and Mike'll enjoy it after they get their complaining out of the way. Or, you could just get what you want and tell them to get their own damn movie the next time if they really want a certain one so badly.

[ #attacked

but no, he's right. she knows he's right. and her little huff of a sigh is as close to an acknowledgement of that as she'll give him for now, even if she does spare him a quick glance just to back up that vibe. yeah, yeah, yeah... he's always been her ..anti-fun-police. calling her out when she's being too serious. it used to get on her nerves, a tiny bit, but it was also kind of sweet and absolutely his way of looking out for her. one of like, a million ways. it's fine. ]

I think I like that second option the best. Yeah. Let's go with that. [ it only takes a moment of looking again, and then she's reaching up for a video with a silly kind of smile ] Footloose. Classic, right? [ is she joking? we just don't know ]

[ it's totally fine.

He smiles a bit more as he glances over at the case. Footloose — or, as he knows it, "the one where Kevin Bacon dances a lot and the dude from Glitter Dome is no fun whatsoever. Not his pick, certainly, but it makes for a relatively light-hearted night. ]

It'll send a message, that's for sure.

[ Mr. Wheeler and Mike wouldn't dare send Nancy off on her own to get a movie once she comes back with this one, at least. ]

[ she snorts a laugh, one that's quickly hidden by a cough, a dip of her face until she's sure she's got it under control, and then she's putting footloose right back on the shelf. ]

I need to be more subtle than that, I think. Or maybe I'll get Footloose with something else. Something I actually want to- watch. [ her eyes light up a little bit when she comes across another one she recognizes. purple rain. wow. prince is- wow. ] I could always go for that one and sing along. Really teach them a lesson.

[ she takes a breath like she might even start singing right there on the spot, but then she stops herself, pressing her lips shut. no. and then she laughs, embarrassed. even though she didn't do the embarrassing thing. cool. ]

[ Normally, that would be his cue to break out some Prince in the worst falsetto he could muster. Normally. Hell, whenever they put the copies back out, he and Robin would often compete for who could do the worst Prince impression.

But this was Nancy, and things were different.

So instead, he just laughs a bit as well, reaching over to grab a copy and hold it out to her. ]

So teach them a lesson. [ He smirks a bit at that. ] You're no errand girl.

for @keenely.

cool way to spend a saturday night, bro.

the coolest

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