Chapter Text
“Perhaps the source of her power is the breadth of loneliness around her.”
- Emma Donoghue
“So what do you say, are you in for Friday?”
Robin had decided a long time ago that love wasn’t meant for her.
Now, if Robin said this out loud to any one of her friends, hell even just anyone in general, she’d never be able to look them in the eyes ever again because of how sad and pitiful her lifelong realization must come off as. Because who even said shit like that? But it was a realization that Robin had come to at the ripe old age of fourteen when she’d first figured out that she liked women along with realizing the chances of dating in the “quiet” town of Hawkins, Indiana was slim to none. In her mind, it became easier to simply choose and decide that she wasn’t meant to find love in this lifetime, at least that the moment.
Besides, it wasn’t like she was alone. She’d begun to develop a rather large amount of people in her life that distracted her from the matter more than enough. Regardless of this, though, Robin was also in a place where she had bigger things to think about than her love life.
Things had calmed down for the group in Hawkins after they had poured their blood, sweat, and tears into making sure the upside down had no chance of bleeding into Hawkins and defeating Vecna once and for all. At least they hoped. It seemed like no matter how sure they were of their victory, something always felt like it was looming, waiting to resurface down the line.
There were some nights when Robin would lay awake at night and just run through the entire ordeal over and over again in her mind, thinking of all the ways it could have gone wrong; thinking of what would have happened if Lucas hadn’t gotten to Max in time. If El hadn’t been there to fight alongside in Max’s mind. If Eddie and Dustin hadn’t gotten through the portal by the skin of their teeth. If Nancy missed the shot.
If herself, Steve, and Nancy hadn’t been able to hold on as long, leaving them strung up on the Creel house walls for the rest of eternity, rotting away in a wasteland version of 1983. But that wasn’t what had happened.
Lucas had been there in time, when Max began floating in the attic of the Creel house, eyes rolling into the back of her head as they had days before. Lucas put in all his strength fighting off Jason Carver (who had only made the situation more difficult with his presence). And he’d managed to throw the boy off of himself, leaving him unconscious on the floor of the attic just long enough that he could slip Max’s headphones onto her and give her the lifeline of Kate Bush that kept a part of her tethered to them.
El did manage to find her way into Max’s mind, they would learn when all was said and done, and had fought with every ounce of power, determination, and love for her friends that she had in her to keep Max alive and Vecna weakened. Robin still wasn’t exactly sure how it all worked, or what El had done to even invade Max’s mind in the first place and become a physical threat to Vecna. All she knew was that they were all alive because of it.
Steve, Robin, and Nancy had been released from the grips of the walls and Eddie and Dustin had booked it out of the upside down so fast, with only minimal bat bites between the two. They might have all been a little worse for wear, but they were alive .
And Nancy didn’t miss the shot (and a small part of Robin always liked to remind herself that there was no way Nancy could ever have missed the shot). Robin had watched as Nancy Wheeler, in all her determination and grace, aimed her gun before firing the deadly blow that sent Vecna toppling out the window, leaving his grotesque burning body in a heap on the lawn. They’d watched as his remains burned away into nothingness, ensuring that there was no way he could have been alive afterward. They weren’t taking any chances.
At this point, Robin could count on one hand the number of nights that she didn’t allow these thoughts to creep into the back of her mind. It wasn’t like she was trying to dwell on the way their spring break had gone down, but at this point, it was almost impossible not to. The only thing at the moment that was keeping her sane was the fact that she spent almost no time by herself anymore; always being flanked by Steve, Eddie, or Nancy.
Shockingly enough, trudging through the hellscape and insanity that was a decaying, alternate dimension that almost took your life does something to a group of people. In this case, it left the four of them itching to always be around each other. It had started when everything ended, after the routine of signing government confidentiality paperwork, swearing to never repeat a shred of what happened to a single soul ( as if telling anyone wouldn’t involve them thinking they were talking to a bunch of nutcases ), and getting themselves patched up and cleared to leave the hospital.
Most people had families to return to, but Steve’s parents had been once again out of town and Robin knew that Steve would not do well going home to that big empty home by himself. Not to mention that he needed someone to check on him and help him rebandage his torso, and with his wounds he couldn't even really move so it wasn’t even like he had the option to go home alone. Long story short, Robin took this as an initiative to invite herself to spend the night so that he wouldn't be alone.
Eddie ended up tagging along with Robin and Steve, seeing as he had no real idea where the government had relocated his uncle to. To be frank, Eddie didn’t even know if he could have handled being in the trailer by himself, already having a hard time getting the image of Chrissy clinging to his ceiling out of his head. And although his name had been “mysteriously” cleared, as Hawkins residents would learn, it didn’t mean that it wasn’t dangerous for him to be out by himself. A statement by police chief Powell wasn’t going to alleviate all of the town's suspicion and hatred for Eddie, so it just made sense that he would stick with Robin and Steve. For safety reasons.
And of course, if the three of them were going to be sticking together, obviously that meant Nancy had to accompany them to Steve’s place. Because, as Nancy had logicked her way through it:
“I couldn’t leave you to tend Steve’s wounds all by yourselves. And Steve’s still out of it and I know his house well and knew where he keeps the first aid and everything we’ll need. Plus, it’s still not safe for Eddie and safety in numbers, yeah?”
Whether this was Nancy’s desire to not be alone that night or to be closer to Steve, Robin wasn’t sure. There had been a weird tension building between Steve and Nancy, and she just couldn’t put her finger on it. If she was being honest, she still couldn’t figure out what was going on between the two of them. Either way, Robin didn’t mind Nancy spending the night as well. She might have asked her to join them anyway if she hadn’t decided to tag along with them.
So the four of them had trudged to the Harrington’s large house that night, had rid themselves of their dirt and blood-stained clothes, and all piled into Steve’s king-size bed; limbs tangled, blankets curled around one another, one big pile of traumatized teenagers.
It should have been awkward. Robin didn’t know Nancy and Eddie all that well, Steve and Nancy had a history, and she didn’t even know what kind of dynamic Eddie and Steve had going on, but the four of them just kind of fell into a way of being that night. It felt natural almost, safer than Robin had felt in a long time if she could admit it.
And if they all slept most of the way through the night, nightmares almost held at bay by the mere presence of one another nearby, no one said anything.
After that night, it became a natural occurrence for the four of them to be attached at the hip. To onlookers, they must have looked like a weird combination. But to any of them, it couldn’t have felt more natural.
“ Helllllooo , earth to Robin?” Robin blinked, seeing Eddie and Nancy standing in front of the counter at Family Video. Eddie, who was leaning on the countertop, chin pressed against his arms that were resting right where she had just stacked a series of VHS tapes, and Nancy, who was standing almost directly next to Eddie with her arms crossed against her chest with a pleading look in her eyes.
“Sorry, uhh, repeat that?” she stammered.
“I told you she wasn’t listening.” Nancy shook her head with a grin. “I said, are you in for Friday?”
“Yeah, remind me, what’s on Friday?” Robin asked again.
“Keep up Buckley,” Steve chimed in, swatting for Eddie to move his arms so he could restack the tapes he’d just pushed aside. “They want us all to get high at my place this Friday–”
“That is not what we said,” Eddie chimed in.
“We just thought it might be nice to have a sort of get-together” Nancy interjected.
“– a shindig if you will–”
“because it’s been almost two months. Since, you know…” Nancy trailed off. Robin’s eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t know, Eddie you explain it, it was your idea.”
“As I was saying,” Eddie continued moving to the other side of the counter to lean across and make eye contact with the two. “it’s been almost two months since ya know, everything went to literal hell, and we all almost died in said literal hell–”
“Get to the point , Munson.”
“–And I just thought that was a cause for celebration. That we survived. We could all watch a movie, or just get a little tipsy and have a nice night, or we could even, I dunno, light a joint or two…”
“And there it is.” Steve crossed his arms, eyeing Eddie, who did his best to act as innocent as possible. “ You just want an excuse for us all to get high at my place, WHICH you’ve been trying to do for the past month–”
“My, my, you wound me, Harrington,” Eddie responded, a slight grin on his face, dramatically holding his hands over his chest as if Steve's words were plunging in like a dagger. “Can’t I just want an excuse to have a nice night in with my closest friends ? Can’t I just wish to enlighten them with my favorite pass time, open their minds to wonders they couldn’t even possibly imagine–”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m not buying it, Munson.” Steve leaned back against the counter looking over at Robin. “And you’re going along with this Nance?”
“I think that it could be fun,” Nancy said, stringing her words together.
“ You? Nancy Wheeler, valedictorian to be, is on board with this, this ploy to get us to hotbox my living room?” Steve eyed Nancy, who just shrugged, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
“I mean, smoking with Eddie has been fun. I think it would be fun to do it all together.”
“Wait, wait, wait, you and Eddie have smoked together? When did this happen? ”
“Careful Dingus, your Mom is showing–” Robin smirked in, making Eddie and Nancy grin at her. Steve rolled his eyes at the lack of support.
“Well excuse me for being the only sane one here!” he threw his arms up. “I mean, listen, call me crazy for maybe being a little nervous about getting high because the last time I was high I was being tortured by Russians– ”
And there it was. At Steve’s words, Eddie and Nancy’s faces changed from amused to something softer, Robin looked at Steve who was running a hand over his face, apologizing for his mini outburst. Robin put a hand on his arm, giving him a knowing look.
Steve was right about Eddie trying to get them to all smoke together for the past month. He’d dropped a few hints here and there, never pushing anyone to do anything they didn’t want to. Robin and Steve knew he’d never do that. It was just clear that he was dying to share some of his trade with them. But Robin kind of knew where Steve was coming from. Robin had smoked before, but it was a long time ago. As for Steve, he had never really touched the stuff. But the last time that either of them had been any kind of high was in the Russian base, where they were tied and tortured and didn’t know if they were going to even make it out of there alive .
The thought of being in that kind of state again made the hair on Robin’s neck stand on end. Eddie picked up on this.
“Listen, honestly we don’t have to if you guys don’t want to. I won’t push you to do something you’re uncomfortable with,” he spoke looking at the two in all seriousness.
“We can just watch a movie or something, as long as we’re together, you know?” Nancy spoke with pleading eyes that Robin had a bit of trouble looking away from. She sighed before looking at Steve, who was looking back at Eddie with intent, searching his eyes for something. He let out a sigh, moving his hands to his hips.
“Alright, alright. We can all hang out on Friday. And maybe– maybe– ” he stressed his words. “ maybe smoke a little.”
“ Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, YES! ” Eddie jumped up and down, his hair flying with the widest grin on his face, before dashing behind the counter and practically picking Steve up and twirling him around. “I promise you won’t regret this, Stevie my boy, you won’t–”
“ –What did you just call me– ”
“–regret this!!” Eddie beamed at Steve. Eddie had been so excited he didn’t even notice the way he knocked over a stack of tapes (for the third time, Robin would have liked to add) across the counter and onto the floor.
“Jesus christ Munson, watch your arms, you’re going to knock someone’s eye out with those things.” Robin rolled her eyes before moving around to the front of the counter, reaching down to the floor to pick up the scattered tapes.
“Hey,” Robin lifted her eyes to see Nancy also crouching down, helping to scoop up tapes, a mere few inches away from Robin. She spoke in a low voice. “If you’re nervous about…you know, doing anything on Friday, you don’t have to. No one is going to make you.”
And Nancy had said that with so much sincerity in her voice that Robin almost melted on the spot, dropping one of the tapes in her arms before furiously rushing to pick it back up.
“I mean, uh– yeah of course. Uh–Roger that. Gotcha, no problemo. Very cool.” she nodded, standing back up and placing the tapes back on the counter. Nancy stood up as well, handing the tapes over to Robin who seemed to be glued to her spot. Nancy smiled up at her, before calling out to Eddie behind them.
“Come on Munson. Those finals aren’t going to study for themselves.” Eddie emerged from behind the counter, walking back towards the door.
“Ah, studying, the plague of this cursed existence. How will I survive–”
“Is he always this dramatic?”
“You’re one to talk, Dingus–”
“Until next time, Buckley and Stevie.” He winked at the two before slipping out the front door, soon followed by Nancy who was trying (and failing, as Robin saw) not to roll her eyes at the other's theatrics. Upon their departure, the store became quiet again, leaving the two to ponder the interaction for a moment.
Robin shrugged before turning back to Steve, who was still planted in his spot, watching the door where their friends had gone through.
“Hey, earth to Dingus?” she waved a hand in front of his face.
“Huh? Sorry, what’s up?”
“Wow, it only took him about two seconds to convince you about Friday–”
“I don’t want to hear it Buckely.” Steve dropped his head in his hands.
“Admit it, wonderful wonderful little Steve,” she squeezed his face between the flats of her palms. “You are absolutely whipped, smitten in fact.”
Steve tried to squeak out something that sounded like I hate you as she continued to squeeze his face. Robin released his face, giving one side a gentle tap before going back to reorganizing the movies. That had been a recent development. She’d watched the way that Steve and Eddie had been dancing around each other, the way they still continued to do so, for the past two months of their new and budding friendship. It wasn’t hard to see, even if the both of them were utterly oblivious to one another.
Because she watched the way that Steve looked at Eddie when he wasn’t looking. She knew the look all too well.
It was how she had begun to look at Nancy Wheeler just a few weeks ago.