Steve and Wallace
This is low-key... like bad lol. But I have written in so long, and I just wanted to post something for y’all
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“Steve! Come look at this!” He heard Robin call for him from the front of the store. He finished rewinding the tape he was on and walked to the front. Robin was smiling brightly, talking to Billy, who he hadn’t seen in… 2 months? Yeah. At least. He noticed the leash in Billy’s hand and his breath hitched. He prepared himself for what he was about to see. He kept the smile on his face but it slowly shifted into more of a nervous grimace.
“This is Wallace!” Robin said joyfully, pointing down at the Saint Bernard who was lying quietly on the floor. Wallace perked up at Steve as he was a new person, he stood up and bounced quickly towards Steve. “Haha… Hey Wallace. How’s it going?” He asked the dog nervously. Billy who hadn’t said anything to Steve this whole time shook his head, “Is that really how you talk to dogs, Pretty Boy? You gotta work on that.” He laughed. Steve let out a nervous noise that kind of resembled a laugh, and Robin looked at him weirdly. He bent down to pet Wallace and repeated a mantra in his head, “He’s just a dog, nothing to be afraid of. He won’t hurt me.”
Wallace perked up even more at the sight of Steve’s hand reaching for him, he jumped up, his front legs landing on Steve’s chest, knocking him down. Wallace landed on Steve with an “oof” and began licking Steve’s face. While this was a cute sight for everyone else, Steve was in his own personal hell. He froze, and tried to keep his breathing at bay, trying to keep the tears in his eyes. His mind was racing with flashbacks of those tunnels, and the demon dogs, or whatever Dustin calls them, running at him. He could hear Robin and Billy laughing, thinking it was funny and cute, Wallace still licking his face excitedly.
After a couple of seconds Robin noticed something was off, “Hey, Billy, can you get Wallace off of Steve? I think something’s wrong.” Billy called Wallace off and noticed the tears streaming down Steve’s face and the subtle whispers he was muttering. Steve still had his eyes shut tight, “It's just a dog. It’s just a dog. It’s just a d-dog…” At this point he was whimpering in fear, and didn’t even notice the dog was no longer sitting on his chest. Robin gently touched his shoulder, “Steve?” She had never seen someone flinch so hard before.
Steve finally came back to reality and sat up, a shakely scooted back, so his back was against the counter. He ran a hand through his hair, and wiped the tears from his face. He noticed Robin and Billy staring at him. “Steve… Dingus… What?” Robin questioned. He looked up at them, “Before the Mall Russians… There were these monsters. The demogorgon had like… Mutant dogs o-or something. I can’t really handle dogs… Or lizards.” He explained. Billy shook his head, “I’m so sorry Steve. I didn’t know he would do that. And I didn't know about your fear. He’s still in training… He’s supposed to be a therapy dog, for my um. Nightmares.” Billy laughed nervously at the end. Steve shook his head, “It’s not really something I talk about. Legally I’m not really allowed to but since you guys were there for the mall…”
Robin looked shocked, “I didn’t know you had problems with this stuff before the mall?” She asked. Steve nodded “Yeah that’s why I’m friends and a chauffeur for all those kids.” Robin laughed, “That makes sense. Well, next time a customer brings a dog in, I won’t call you to come look.” Steve smiled at her, and Billy. And he even did a little wave towards Wallace, who just blinked at him.