The general consensus was to keep posting here, and that's what I was leaning towards anyway, so here you go! Let the oneshots begin!

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Basketball Practice

Astrid shut her locker door and faced Steve, who had his hair extra poofy today, and was crossing his arms with a heartwarming grin on his face.

"What do you want?" she asked, raising a brow.

"Ouch."

She rolled her eyes and then fluttered her eyelashes. "Steve, you look so fantastic today in that sharp outfit, my heart is racing with the thought of how you'd look with it off -"

"Jesus," he said with a horrified expression. "I wanted you to notice the extra effort, not do...whatever the hell that was."

She leaned forward with a small smile, and said sweetly but firmly, "What...do...you...want?"

Lately, he'd been coming to her in the morning everyday, and very often it was to tell her about his night, or to tell her about an awesome new movie, or to sing a few lyrics from a song and ask what she thought.

Maybe it should have annoyed her. But he made her laugh. It wasn't very easy to be annoyed when you were fighting back tears of mirth (okay, tears were once in a while, it was mostly just light giggles).

"I just wanted to ask if you...uh…" He took her hand and squeezed it gently, a gesture he'd been doing often lately. "If you wanted to -"

Oh, gods. Was he going to ask her out? She wasn't ready just yet. It had been only two weeks since their conversation in her bedroom, and she wasn't ready at all -

" - come to basketball practice?"

Oh.

Feeling bad even before saying it, Astrid pushed her hair behind her ear and said, "I go to the station right after school. Hopper's been taking me out with him when people call in, I don't want him to think I'm not dedicated, y'know?"

Steve's face fell, but only briefly. "Oh, that's no big deal," he shrugged in his usually way. "If you're ready to go, let's get to class."

"Steve -"

"Don't worry about it." He took one of her books from her hands and skimmed through it, probably to avoid her gaze. "It was stupid, we just hadn't hung out in a few days cause of homework and all that, and I mean, it's not like we'd be hanging out while I'm playing, anyway. Seriously, Ast, that internship is important to you, it's not something you can cancel." He held her free hand and tugged her forward lightly before she could say anything. "And I wouldn't want you to."

"Alright," she murmured, walking next to him, already thinking about how to get off a little earlier today. She'd missed hanging out with him too.

"Chief," Astrid began, not quite sure how she was going to convince him.

Hopper made a sound to show he was listening, although he didn't take his eyes off the road.

"Um…" She bit her lip, leaning back. Basketball practice was probably already over, because she hadn't had the courage to ask her mentor lest he think she cared about boys more than her payless job (maybe they were the same level of importance). "There's...you know Steve?"

This time he glanced at her with a strange look, raising a brow. "Yeah. I know Steve. What about him?"

"He has...well, he asked me…"

"Kid, if you're asking me for romantic advice, then you should ask someone else." Hopper snorted, and Astrid shook her head vehemently even though he couldn't see her.

"No! No, it's just...heaskedmetocometobasketballpractice," she blurted out really quickly. When the chief didn't say anything right away, she went on hurriedly. "And it's - it's dumb, I don't have to go, but he really wanted me to, and it's probably too late now, but he looked so fuc - darn disappointed, and I feel bad when he feels bad but I have to come here and stay here-"

"This is not what I'm mentoring you in," Hopper said firmly, but she could hear a light tone of amusement in his voice. "You sound less like you're trying to convince me, and more like you're trying to convince yourself."

Okay, he might have been the police chief of Hawkins, but he had no right to call her out like that. Screw authority.

"I'm convinced! I just…" She crossed her arms and huffed. "Can I go or not?"

He was already turning down the road of the high school as he answered. "Unless you're particularly concerned with how the Johnsons think their house is haunted, it doesn't matter to me. I'll drop you off. Just do me one favor."

"What?" She raised a brow, twiddling her thumbs.

He parked in front of the school and faced her with a dry expression. "Next time you wanna go to someone's basketball practice, just go. It'll do me good not to have you nagging about every little call that comes in. You'll still have your job the next day."

Astrid opened her mouth in disbelief, shaking her head. "Nagging? This is a serious -"

"God, kid, go watch your boy play basketball and leave me alone!"

The gym was empty - except for Steve, who was sitting on the bleachers with a towel and staring off into empty space.

So she was late for practice. And she didn't like the pang of guilt that hit her. It was such a small thing, basketball practice. But it was for her friend/a little more than a friend.

"Hey, Harrington."

He looked up, his face morphing into one of confusion. "Ast? You got off early today?"

"Yeah," she answered simply, not wanting to delve into her talk with Hopper. She stood in front of him, openly admiring how he looked when he was sweaty (he didn't seem to mind). "I didn't think it ended this early. Are you tired?" She grinned at him.

"Not that much. Why?"

Astrid turned around and picked up the basketball, dribbling it as she walked backwards. "Then bring it, Harrington."

Steve's eyes lit up and he smirked as he stood up. "I sincerely hope you're delusional and don't think you can beat me at a game I play professionally -"

" - you're in a high school team -"

" - try playing with Billy Hargrove and see if anything fazes you after that."

There was that smile she had been thinking about since this morning. Even as he swore when she made a false move to throw him off and then shot a ball through the hoop, his grin stayed on his face.

After a tie (both got six balls in), they were panting, and laughing at the same time. They both sat down on the bleachers, their backs leaning against each other. Steve leaned his head back so she could see his face clearly. "Alright. I am ten times more attracted to you."

Astrid laughed, flicking his cheek gently, inwardly acknowledging how her heart fluttered at the joke. "Meh, for me it's only about five times more. Maybe when I see you in an actual match...sweaty and panting and hopefully winning..."

He guffawed and poked her side. "Jesus Christ, you get dirty fast, Hofferson. What's next, you're gonna make out with me in the locker rooms?"

"I am shocked that you think I would stop at making out."

Steve laughed again, tilting his head to press a kiss to her cheek. "Thanks for coming. And for the...extra practice."

"You mean the butt whooping? You're welcome." She shifted and then laid her head down on his lap. "Don't worry about it. Hopper doesn't even want me there!"

"I mean..." Steve leaned down with a smirk. "I'm not surprised."

Oh, seeing him happy was a delight, but maybe sometimes she had to wipe that cockiness off his face.

"I think you looked horrid at school this morning."

"We both know you were dreaming about me all day."

"At least I was just dreaming. You were probably writing Mrs. Astrid Harrington all over your notes."

"Ast!"

Please, do send in as may prompts as you want, I want ideas! Just remember, whatever the prompt will be, I won't write it with them as boyfriend and girlfriend, and the other thing is that there's no guarantee I'll write it (if I try to write something that doesn't inspire me it'll be crap) so that's why I don't care if you send in a billion, especially since there's a small amount of readers. people leave it in the reviews, Tumblr people in the reblogs or send me an ask. Thanks!