Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Vecna was dead. 

They did it, they flambé’d his ass right back to hell. Or well, Robin supposes they were already in hell, unless that was some crazy purgatory and hell is worse than the upside down. Robin certainly didn’t believe in god or heaven, but shit a tiny part of her believed in Hell now. 

Besides the point. 

They survived, they won. Eddie lived after his bat attack, although it was touch and go for a while there. They managed to clear his name, framing Jason was easy once the boy explained what he saw happened to Patrick and Max, stating the devil was at play and that Eddie had evil powers. Max herself was still in hospital. El was able to save her on time before she could die, but she had broken both her legs and an arm in the process. She would make a full recovery, with a lot of physical therapy, but for now was glued to her hospital bed. 

Vecna’s plans to rip Hawkins open had failed, but almost killing Max caused a large earthquake to hit the small town, leaving many displaced as their homes were destroyed. Nancy, Steve, Jonathan and Robin volunteered most days at the school, where all the displaced who had nowhere to go lived in the meantime. 

The kids spent most of their time split between Eddie and Max at the hospital, although Dustin would show his face for volunteering every so often. Robin herself pretty much lives at Steve's now, after she ran through the door the night they won only to realise her parents never noticed she was missing for four days. When she tried to point it out, her mother asked her to stop being so dramatic.

She had just witnessed everyone's parents fretting over them as they dropped them all home from the hospital, so it definitely stung when her own parents couldn’t of cared less. She had run right back out of her house, thankful Steve hung around for a bit and threw herself back in the car. He looked at her with wide sad eyes, and Robin knew right there and then that he waited on purpose, almost expecting that reaction from her parents. They clutched one another tightly across the console, both softly crying. 

Steve understood, his parents wouldn’t even be home when they got there. 

Bringing us back to the present, Robin found herself in the passenger seat of Steve’s car, driving to pick up Nancy and then Jonathan for volunteering. It was the last week of volunteering, as the government has now gotten involved to set everyone up in hotels as their houses are fixed, free of charge. Robin was actually excited for school to start again, funnily enough.

“Hey guys.” Nancy smiles politely as she gets in the car, looking at the pair.

“Hey Nance, sleep okay?” Robin responds, while Steve just smiles awkwardly.

“Um, I guess. Better than before, I suppose.” Nancy shrugs, biting her lip and looking out the window.

“I get that.” Robin nods sympathetically, nudging Steve not so subtly.

“That sucks.” Steve responds awkwardly, ignoring Robin’s glare at his crappy response.

Things have been horrifically awkward between the pair, more so on Steve’s side since Nancy rejected him. Nancy, bless her heart, did her best to move on and be friends, but Steve kind of seemed reluctant. At first, Robin was understanding to her best friend, but now, she was just plain inpatient. 

Robin shared an apologetic smile to Nancy, watching as she smiled back before reaching out to turn up the music she had playing. Eventually they pick up Jonathan, and Robin breathes a bit easier when he and Nancy begin chatting casually in the back, saving the girl the awkwardness that was the previously silent car.

Robin was never good with social settings, especially not when the person she was more comfortable with was acting so off. She did her best not to huff in annoyance. I mean, Nancy and Jonathan just broke up and were talking like they were only ever platonic but Steve couldn’t do the same.

They pull up into the school in no time, Robin pouting slightly as Steve abruptly turns the engine off and cutting the song playing right in the middle of the chorus. 

“I promise to play it on the way back home, Robs.” Steve says gently, smiling over at the girl. 

“Finnneee, but you owe me ice cream after this.” Robin drawls, getting out of the car as she grins over at the boy.

“We always go for ice cream after volunteering.” Steve responds, rolling his eyes gently as he closes his door and locks the car.

“Because you always do something that upsets me.” Robin jokes, knocking her shoulder into his as they walk towards the school.

Robin turns to beam at Nancy when she hears her responding chuckle to the interaction, not noticing how the girl’s face flushes at the action. Jonathan catches the shorter girl’s eye to smirk at her.

“How’s Argyle settling in?” Robin asks suddenly, turning to walk backwards so she could look at Jonathan.

“Oh! He, uh, loves our woods, funnily enough.” Jonathan says, blushing slightly at the attention.

“I bet he does, why doesn’t he come with you to volunteer?” Robin continues, stumbling slightly as she continues to walk backwards, her only saving grace being Steve who grips her collar and steadies her wordlessly.

“I think the second he'd see the food station he’d be pretty much useless.” Jonathan chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck.

Robin chuckles too, finally letting a stressed Steve spin her back the right way around, having been worried the entire time she was walking backwards.

“You’re far too clumsy to be walking backwards Buckley, you’d somehow manage to break your skull.” Steve huffs, throwing an arm around her shoulder.

“You’re such a mom, dude.” Robin says with a laugh as they enter the school.

All four walk into the gym together, immediately heading to the main desk to find out where they were assigned today. Steve kept his arm around Robin’s shoulder the whole way, while Robin stayed snuggled underneath him. The pair found out early into their friendship just how much physical touch and affection meant to them, which meant they were almost always cuddling or touching (platonically, of course) in some way.

“I’m on clothes, you’re on food duty.” Steve says, having read the sheet while Robin zoned out.

“Ugh, again? I hate peanut butter so much. The smell is nauseating Steve, nauseating. ” Robin whines, letting Steve usher her out of the way so Nancy and Jonathan could see their roles.

“It won’t be so bad, maybe Vickie will be there again?” Steve says, lowering his voice at the end, pretty much whispering in her ear.

“Shut up Dingus!” Robin whisper shouts, slapping Steve on his chest as she blushes deeply.

“Yeah yeah. I’ll see you at the end of the day, yeah?” Steve asks, pulling her in with the arm still wrapped around her shoulders, kissing her on her temple.

“Wait, are we not having lunch together?” Robin frowns in confusion, watching the boy pull his arm back off of her shoulders.

“We can, but I thought maybe you could ask Vickie.” Steve responds, wiggling his eyebrows as he starts to walk away.

“You’re an asshole!” Robin says loudly, hands on her hips.

“I love you!” Steve shouts, grinning as he walks away.

“Love you too!” Robin responds automatically before scowling and turning to head to the food station.

“Are you sure they’re not dating?” Jonathan asks, sighing when he sees he’s alone sorting through toys.

“Robin insists on it, and I’d like to think that after everything she wouldn’t lie to me.” Nancy responds, rolling her eyes when she realises where she was assigned.

“Like to think, or hoping?” Jonathan teases, grinning at the girl.

“Don’t make me regret coming out to you.” Nancy jokes with a fond eye roll.

“Never. Will you be okay today?” Jonathan asks softly, looking over to where Steve is.

“I think so, guess I’ll find out.” Nancy sighs, squeezing Jonathan's arm gently before heading over to the clothes area.

--------------------------------------

Things were going great with Vickie. 

She did in fact, get assigned to the food station with Robin again. They joked even more today than they did before. Robin was even pretty confident that Vickie was flirting with her this time too. She even felt confident enough to flirt back. The taller girl was convinced her feelings for the girl had faded, although all of this chatting seemed to have reignited those feelings.

Except she couldn’t help but feel a weird, twisting feeling in her gut. She just assumed this was butterflies, or at the very least anxiety over a pretty girl showing interest in her. She’s so used to self sabotaging herself, Steve always says it. She refuses to do that this time.

So she ignores it.

“Hey, do you maybe- would you- are you hungry?” Robin asks nervously, staring down at the sandwich she was making.

“Funnily enough, yeah, even though I hate the smell of peanut butter.” Vickie responds, scrunching her nose up.

“Oh! Me too! I was thinking maybe, if you didn’t have plans we could maybe- maybe eat together?” Robin continues, looking over at the girl.

“I’d love to.” Vickie grins wide, reaching out and touching her elbow.

“Awesome.” Robin smiles back, looking back down at the sandwich she finished.

----------------

They decide to grab some sandwiches, the only one not peanut butter filled, and head outside the back of the school where no one would bother them. Robin makes sure to send a quick thumbs up to Steve as she goes, watching him absolutely beam with pride. Vickie watches the interaction with an unreadable expression, one that Steve catches, but Robin doesn’t.

Strange , is all Steve thought.

They settle down against the wall to eat their sandwiches, chatting about school coming back and everything that went down in Hawkins. Robin couldn’t help but desperately wish for a topic change, considering Vickie only thought an earthquake had happened, whereas Robin knew that both her and all of her friends had near death experiences. 

It was almost like Vickie was the one with mind powers, as she changed the topic right after she thought this.

“Robin, can we talk about what you said to me just before spring break?” Vickie asks, far too casually as she eyes the awkward girl.

“W-what thing?” Robin asks nervously, biting her lip.

“That you had a crush on Tammy Thompson, a girl.” Vickie responds, voice even.

“O-oh, I-I didn’t think you heard me.” Robin responds, a little choked.

“I did, I kind of pretended not to, cause we were in public.” Vickie responds, looking right at her.

“O-oh.” Robin breathes, turning her head away from Vickie.

“Robin.” Vickie says, trying to grab the girl’s attention.

Robin, in her panic, didn’t hear her, her thoughts swarming too loudly. Vickie, assuming she was being ignored, huffed as anger builds up in her chest. Vickie grabs the girl roughly by her jaw, whipping Robin’s head back around to face her. 

“Don’t ignore me Robin.” Vickie says angrily, gripping her jaw tighter.

“I-I’m so-sorry.” Robin breathes, eyes wide with fear.

Before Robin could start backtracking, assuming this was going badly, Vickie pulls her forward quickly and slams their lips together. The kiss starts out harshly, but softens out as Vickie loosens her grip on her jaw, moving it into her hair instead.

When they pull away, Robin’s eyes are still wide.

“I-I thought you were about to hate crime me.” Robin breathes, looking at the other girl.

“I’ve thought about doing that since the pep rally.” Vickie responds, ignoring her words, gripping her hair tightly and pulling her back in for another kiss.

Robin hisses in pain, and Vickie grins into her mouth. The taller girl supposes she may have assumed it was a hiss of pleasure, but Robin came to realise she really didn’t like her hair being pulled like that. 

She also thought her first kiss would be more… loving? Soft? Maybe that was just her wishful thinking, that her fantasy of a first kiss wasn’t realistic to real life. This was a real life girl who liked her, she never thought this would happen for her, not in Hawkins. She needs to learn to be grateful, she needs to stop trying to self sabotage.

“Me too.” Robin says, pulling away, thankful that Vickie’s hand falls from her hair.

“What was that with Steve earlier, the thumbs up?” Vickie then asks, face unreadable.

“I- he was hoping I’d ask you for lunch, I was letting him know it worked.” Robin responds, smiling slightly.

“I don’t need him to know our business Robin, he can know about you all he wants, but I never agreed to him knowing about me. Guys like him don’t get people like us.” Vickie continues, frowning at the girl.

“Steve isn’t like that Vickie, he’s nothing but supportive of me, of us!” Robin protests, defending her best friend instantly.

“I don’t care about that Robin! No one can know we’re together, it’s too dangerous. You can’t tell him about this, that would be outing me Robin, do you want to do that?” Vickie says defensively, crossing her arms over her chest.

“But he’s my best friend…. I tell him everything.” Robin says sadly, looking down at her lap.

“If you tell him, we can’t be together. Don’t you want to be with me?” Vickie asks, softer this time as her hand comes up to softly cup Robin’s cheek.

“I do.” Robin says quietly, eyes closing as the girl gently strokes her cheek.

“Will you tell him?” Vickie asks, eyes searching.

“No.” Robin sighs, opening her eyes to see Vickie beaming at her.

Robin doesn’t have long to dwell on it before Vickie was pulling her in, softer this time, for a deeper kiss. Robin sighs into the kiss, happy to be receiving a more gentle kiss. 

This would be okay, right?

She was just respecting Vickie's wishes.

So why did it feel…  Off?

Stop sabotaging Robin, you got the girl of your dreams, you’ll be so happy.

…

….

…..

Right? 

Chapter Text

Steve and Nancy worked relatively quietly together at the clothes sorting section. He didn’t downright ignore Nancy, but he also didn’t push himself to speak first either. He knows he should just get over it, Robin’s told him as much, but it’s hard. He poured his heart and soul out to her, just for her to reject him. Not only that, but she never actually had a conversation with him about it, he just had to assume she did. Maybe that’s what’s bugging him so much.

He can see how much Nancy is trying to be friends with him, and he can see how much their awkwardness is affecting Robin. He may not understand a lot, but he knows his best friend, and he knows that social situations are really hard for her. She gets incredibly anxious and uncomfortable in them, especially when her usual rock (Steve), was acting awkward too. He decides to push past the awkwardness, Nancy is a great person and they saved the world how many times now together?

“Hey Nance?” He says, cringing slightly as he uses a nickname he’s not sure he’s allowed to anymore.

“Yeah?” Nancy responds, eyes wide with surprise and hopefulness.

“Can I grab lunch with you and Jonathan? I normally go with Robin but she’s having lunch with another friend.” Steve says, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“Of course you can, you’re always welcome.” Nancy smiles happily, moving closer to him now that they’re speaking.

“Look, I know in the middle of a school gym isn’t the best place but- I’ve been weird. I guess it stung that I poured my heart out to you and you never even bothered to have a real conversation with me to let me down.” Steve says openly, sighing as he looks over at the girl.

“I know, I’m so sorry Steve. I had a lot going on- I mean we all did, I was figuring a lot of stuff out about myself while also dealing with… everything he showed me. But I owed you a conversation, and I’m sorry I never gave it to you.” Nancy answers honestly, biting her lip.

“I appreciate that, wanna try out that conversation now?” Steve asks kindly, smiling slightly at the girl.

“You’re dream- it’s a wonderful dream Steve, and I really hope you get that with someone. I don’t believe our dreams connect properly, if I was to have six kids with you, I’d never get anywhere in my career. I’d probably end up either refusing to have any kids, or I’d have them and be miserable. I’d end up resenting you for it, and you’d end up resenting me if I didn’t give you kids. I know you said you’d happily be a stay at home dad, but I still have to carry the children and take time off work afterwards- it’s so hard for women to be taken seriously already.” Nancy starts, looking over at Steve.

“I understand that, if you want kids- with anyone I mean, you shouldn’t deprive yourself of that.” Steve says softly, looking back at her. 

“That’s the thing, I don’t think I want any. I never imagined my future with kids, but you did Steve, and you deserve someone who wants that too.” Nancy answers.

“Thanks Nance.” Steve smiles.

“So, can we be friends now?” Nancy asks hopefully, eyeing the boy.

“Of course we can.” Steve responds, pulling her in for a hug.

------------------------------------

“Hey Rob, how was lunch?” Steve asks as the girl approaches at the end of their shift.

“Oh, it was fine.” Robin smiles, reaching out to hold Steve’s hand. 

“Just fine?? Spill the deets Buckley.” Steve asks, swinging their hands playfully.

“It was really nice, but nothings gonna happen. She’s back with her boyfriend.” Robin lies, biting her lip.

“Oh shit- I’m sorry Rob, maybe she’ll come around. You’re way better than that asshole.” Steve responds sympathetically, squeezing her hand.

“You don’t even know him.” Robin laughs, knocking shoulders with him.

“Don’t need to.” Steve shrugs, smiling over at Nancy and Jonathan who were waiting at the exit.

“Steve invited us for ice cream, that okay?” Nancy asks the girl kindly.

“Yes! Awesome!” Robin grins happily, reaching out to squeeze Nancy’s arm lightly with her free hand.

Nancy blushes at the action, her smile widening.

The four of them walk out of the building, unaware of the deep stare Vicky was giving them, having witnessed the interaction with Nancy. 

---------------

Robin had plans the weekend before school started back up, her first date with a girl, ever. She was so excited, she spent so long in her room picking out her outfit. In the end she decided on a simple navy sweater and some black skinny jeans. Vickie told her not to dress up too much, so other people wouldn’t get any ideas considering they were going out in public. 

It was just to their local diner, Robin has been plenty of times with Steve. 

Robin let the boy know she was going for food with Vickie, as friends of course. He didn’t question it whatsoever, just told her to have fun. Robin hated lying to him, hated how good he was. He didn't question it, because Robin never lies to him, so why would he question whether it was a date or not?

Swallowing down the weird feeling in her gut, she hops on her bike and cycles towards the diner. Steve insisted on dropping her off and picking her up, but Robin panicked and declined, thinking Vickie would be mad at her for doing that. Vickie herself was driving there, but didn’t want to pick Robin up in case there were any questions. Robin just shrugged it off.

She gets there about 20 minutes later, and wipes her slightly sweaty brow as she walks into the diner, knowing she was a little late. Vickie was sitting in the booth tucked into the corner of the diner, out of sight. Robin rushes over, plopping down across from her.

“I’m really sorry Vick, it took longer to cycle here than planned.” Robin breathes, reaching over for one of the girl’s hands on the table.

She finds herself frowning deeply when Vicky wretches her hand away the second they make contact.

“Are you serious?! Anyone could have seen that!” Vicky whisper shouts, glaring at the girl.

“But- no one can see us over here?” Robin frowns, she assumes the girl sat here so that they could hold hands without prying eyes.

“We can’t know that for sure.” Vickie sighs, face softening.

“I’m sorry honey, I’m just scared.” Vickie says, much softer this time, wide eyes set on Robin.

“It’s okay, I get it.” Robin shrugs, doing her best to smile. 

“Great, let’s order I’m starving.” Vickie says evenly, picking up her menu again and reading over it.

Robin’s first date was…. Something.

Anytime she started to ramble about something, Vickie would cut her off with a scowl, telling her that proper date etiquette was asking her about her interests, not babbling about your own. Robin would apologise each time, trying desperately not to frown.

She couldn’t believe she was ruining it.

“So why exactly don’t you have your own car?” Vickie asks after a while, sipping her drink.

“I can’t really afford it, plus I live with Steve cause my parents aren’t.. great, so I never really bothered to learn.” Robin says, shrugging slightly, hoping the girl would show some interest in her home life.

While Robin was very talkative, she found it really hard to open up about real things. She rarely spoke about how she was feeling, usually it would only happen when Steve was able to pry it out of her. But the topic of her family was off limits, even to Steve. She didn’t want to bother anyone with her stupid problems. I mean, some parents hit their kids, even kill them. Her’s just didn’t really care about her existence, but it did mean she had a lot of freedom most kids didn’t get in their childhood. She knows she’s a hypocrite, Steve’s parents are just like hers and she never tells him he should bottle it up. It’s something he points out all the time, but she’s different. 

She's always different.

“It just sounds like you’re lazy Robin.” Vickie says, pushing her drink away, ignoring the comment on her homelife

“I-I don’t think so.” Robin frowns, shifting uncomfortable in her seat while her hands fumble with anything in reach.

“Jesus can’t you sit normally? You’re always moving, it’s weird.” Vickie chuckles, although it really didn’t seem like a kind one to Robin.

“Sorry.” Robin frowns deeply, looking down at the table.

“I think I wanna go home now.” Robin continues, desperately trying not to move her hands.

“Wait Robin- I’m sorry. Let me pay for today, yeah? I’m sorry.” Vickie says quickly, reaching out and softly caressing the girl's arm with her hand.

“Oh, okay, thanks.” Robin smiles slightly, relaxing a bit more at the touch.

“How about we get out of here? I can drive us somewhere.” Vickie offers, sliding out of the booth.

“Oh um- My bike-” Robin starts, pointing out the window dumbly.

“I’ll bring you back to your bike, don’t worry about it.” Vickie waves her off, paying at the cashier before pulling Robin out of the diner and towards her car.

They drove for a few minutes before Vickie pulled them into a secluded car park, not too far away from the diner. The redhead turns off the car, before unbuckling her belt. Robin follows suit, thinking they might get out for a walk or something, but was surprised when Vickies hand lands in her hair, tugging her harshly in for a kiss.

“Vick- vickie-” Robin tries pulling back, the girl’s grip only tightening.

“That hurts- don’t like it-” Robin continues, not reciprocating the harsh kisses Vickie is giving her.

Vickie only tightened her grip on her hair, causing Robin to shove her backwards, breathing in relief as the hand fell from her hair.

“What the hell?” Vickie asks, frowning at the girl.

“I told you that hurt, your hand in my hair.” Robin says, voice a bit wobbly.

“I didn’t hear you, sorry.” Vickie shrugs, leaning back in.

“It seemed like you did.” Robin continues, leaning away.

“Are you trying to say I purposely hurt your Robin? What kind of monster do you think I am? I thought you liked me?” Vickie says, face a mix of hurt and anger.

“W-what? N-no it just seemed like you did hear me, I-I’m sorry, I do like you.” Robin responds shakily, relaxing as Vickies face relaxes.

“I’m telling you I didn’t. I really like you, I’d never purposely hurt you.” Vickie says, tone sweet but face unreadable to Robin.

But Robin’s bad with social cues, so she ignores it.

She nods instead, and is once again bombarded with kisses from Vickie, which she now tries to reciprocate, happy the hand in her hair is gone. Robin manages to slow down the kisses to something much softer and gentle, breathing a sigh of relief. She likes soft kisses, it makes her feel… loved?

Suddenly Vickie rips away from her lips, and Robin is left stunned.

“Since when were you friends with Nancy Wheeler?” She asks, voice a weird type of even that has Robin gulping.

“Since before Spring break, why?” Robin answers, leaning back into her own seat.

“She’s bad news Robin, I thought you knew that?” Vickie continues, face twisting slightly.

“That was before I got to know her, she’s a really great person.” Robin frowns, unsure why Vickie was attacking her.

“Do you like her?” Vickie asks, voice now dangerously low.

“What?? No? Vickie, why are you even asking me that?” Robin asks, face twisting.

“I saw you two today, you were all over each other, and she was blushing!” Vickie accuses, face now angry.

“What are you talking about?? We’re just friends.” Robin continues, getting annoyed herself.

“I don’t want you around her anymore.” Vickie continues, more even this time.

“You don’t get to tell me who I hang out with or not. I’m going home.” Robin announces, turning for the door just to be grabbed harshly and pulled back by her arm.

“I’m sorry! You’re right I’m just- jealous. It’s obvious she likes you, and she’s so much prettier than me, please don’t leave, please.” Vickie begs, voice soft despite her tight grip on Robin’s bicep.

“Nancy’s straight, you don’t have anything to worry about there, just trust me, okay?” Robin sighs, looking over at the girl.

“Okay, I trust you. I’m sorry. Forgive me?” Vickie asks, wide eyes staring over at Robin.

“Yeah, I do.” Robin responds, smiling slightly at the girl’s beaming face, the vice grip loosening on her arm.

Vickie drives Robin back to the diner so she could cycle home. The entire cycle home Robin felt… weird. This was her first date, she remembers all the girls in school talking about how giddy their dates left them afterwards, running straight home to call their friends about everything.

But robin couldn’t do that, with anyone.

She felt… hollow.

Getting up to her home, she opens the door quietly, knowing Steve would still be up. She tries walking past the living room as casually as possible, to avoid any questions. 

“Hey Robbie! How was dinner?” Steve asks from the couch, grinning over at her.

“It was good.” Robin smiles slightly, although it might have looked more like a grimace.

“Everything okay?” Steve asks, face turning to concern as he takes in the girl in the doorway.

“Y-yeah, I’m just a bit tired.” Robin says with a shrug, looking down at her feet.

“Okay, but you know you can talk to me about anything, right?” Steve says gently, desperately wishing to wrap the girl up in a hug.

“Thanks Steve.” Robin smiles, turning to head up the stairs to her room.

Steve? No Dingus? Or a weird variation of his name? 

She must be taking Vickie having a boyfriend pretty hard is what Steve was thinking. 

------------

Robin gets into her room, changing into her pj’s. The second she gets into her bed, she can’t hold back the sobs that wrack through her body. She isn’t really too sure why she was even crying. She assumes it’s because she can’t talk about her date with Steve, the person she usually tells everything to.

This was her first date? Really? 

Robin was a hopeless romantic at heart. She wanted to feel butterflies and fireworks for her first kiss. She wanted to be so giddy after her first date that she could barely sleep from excitement. She wanted to gush about her girlfriend to her best friend.

But instead she was alone, in her bed, crying heavily into her pillow until she inevitably passed out. 

It’s hard learning that things couldn’t be like those sappy romance movies for her. Vickie and her were new, they just needed to work through a few kinks in the relationship for it to really become like a fairytale romance. 

Right?

Chapter Text

“So they just kicked everyone out? Just like that?” Max asks, eyebrows scrunching up slightly.

“Well, kind of. Everyone’s in a hotel, as far as I’m aware.” Robin responds, shrugging slightly.

“It sucks I can’t get out of here til my casts come off, I’m actually jealous of you going to school.” Max says, rolling her eyes lightly, looking down at the playing cards infront of her. 

“Well that’s why I’m your assigned tutor for the next few weeks.” Robin grins, looking down at her own cards.

“How did you even manage to convince them to make that you? They told me it had to be a teacher.” Max smirks, picking up a card slowly with her casted arm, dropping it down onto the pile.

“I have my ways Mayfield, be glad, I’m way cooler than Miss Daly.” Robin chuckles, dropping her own card down onto the pile.

“If you say so.” Max grins back, looking down at her cards again.

Max doesn’t really know Robin, she met her during the craziness at Starcourt, where the girl was anxiously rambling about someone breaking their leg in soccer. She remembers being a little annoyed at the time, but looking back she remembers all of the upside down shit was literally just thrown at her. After Billy, Robin sat with her silently, wrapping her in a blanket wordlessly. 

Since starting highschool, Max saw her in the hallways mostly, and Robin would always greet her with a large genuine smile. She never had the pity or sadness in her expression that her other friends did, and Max always appreciated that. Even now, the girl was chatting about school like everything was normal. Don’t get her wrong, Max saw the harsh guilt written all over Robin’s face when she first was admitted, she knows the older kids who went down there blame themselves for not getting there in time. 

But for someone who constantly states she finds social interactions difficult, Robin very quickly picked up on how uncomfortable Max was when Steve or Nancy apologised profusely for everything. She immediately wiped her features, and started talking to Max like she was… normal. Max appreciates that, once she has more time to heal, the girl will definitely make sure the older kids know they’re not at fault, it’s just far too fresh for her to talk about all of that yet.

So yes, Max was incredibly grateful for Robin for intervening and volunteering herself instead of some teacher that would give her pitiful sad looks the whole time, or worse treat her like a baby. 

But she’d never tell Robin that. 

It would just go to her head.

But based on how Robin had beamed at her, she thinks she doesn’t have to.

-----------------------------------

Her first day back to school was…. Interesting.

Robin knew that logically she couldn’t walk around with her arm around Vickie, but she thought at least they could be friendly with each other? I mean they knew one another from band, it wouldn’t be out of the blue for them to hang out. But the second Robin greeted Vickie this morning at her locker, she was immediately told they had to act the way they usually do, and stormed off. 

At first Robin was saddened by this, after all she wanted to spend her time with her girlfriend, but eventually that faded. She hadn’t realised just how many classes she shared with Nancy before. She knew they had the same chemistry class, but she had no idea they also had calculus, history, French and social Ed together too. 

Robin chews on her lip anxiously as she walks into History class to find Nancy already there. Do they go back to not speaking? Robin had no idea. She didn’t want to avoid Nancy, but it seems that not many people wanted to be seen with her recently, so she wouldn’t blame the girl if she wanted to be alone. 

Before she could make a decision, she accidentally smacks her backpack into one of the tables, making a loud noise. Nancy was the only one in the room, and the face that was buried in a book shot up in surprise. The girl’s eyes widened comically, and Robin braced herself for the girl averting her eyes and pretending she never saw her.

Instead, Nancy absolutely beams happily, waving the girl over.

“Robin hey! I didn’t know we had this class together!” Nancy smiles happily, putting her bookmark into her book immediately, turning her whole attention to the other girl.

“Neither did I.” Robin smiles, plopping down heavily into the seat next to the girl.

“Give me your schedule, I wanna see if we have anything else in common.” Nancy asks kindly, smiling over at the girl.

“Oh! Y-yeah one sec.” Robin responds, rummaging around in her bag before finding the crumpled paper.

“Sorry, I memorised it at the start of term so it’s just been buried at the bottom of my bag.” Robin continues, cheeks flushed in embarrassment as she hands it over.

“It’s just paper Rob, no biggie.” Nancy smiles, unphased, taking the paper and straightening it out a little to read it.

“Oh wow, we have a good few classes together, thank god.” Nancy chuckles, eyes full of delight as she hands the paper back.

“Thank god?” Robin questions, scrunching the paper back up and dropping it into her bag.

“I hate sitting alone in class, it’s so boring.” Nancy responds, turning to look at the girl.

“Oh! You wanna sit together?” Robin asks, eyes wide in surprise.

“Yeah? Unless you don’t want to? I used to sit with Fred, we shared almost all of our classes together, it’s- I just, I don’t know, it’s okay if- if you don’t.” Nancy responds, eyes dropping down to her lap as she fumbles through her words.

“No! Of course I do, I’m sorry. I was just surprised that you want to.” Robin responds, placing a hand onto the usually confident girl’s arm.

“Oh, yeah I mean we’re friends, right?” Nancy asks, eyes now dropping to Robin’s hand.

“Totally, I can be annoying though, so I’d take no offence if you didn’t want to sit with me at school.” Robin responds easily, retracting her hand when she notices Nancy staring at it.

“I don’t think you’re annoying, I think you’re brilliant.” Nancy responds, face flushing when she realises what she said. 

Robin was taken aback, having never heard that. She opens her mouth to respond, but just at that moment more students fill in, followed by their teacher, so she snaps her mouth shut. 

------------------

“Robin? Can I see your schedule? I wanna know where you’ll be everyday.” Vickie asks, looking over at the girl.

“Oh um, sure. You can just keep it, I have it memorised.” Robin responds, heading over to her bag to grab it.

It was after school, and Robin was over at Vickie's house, the redhead said it was to make up for them not spending any time together in school that day. They had just been working in her room, both making their way through their homework together. It was nice, just spending this quiet time together. 

Robin hands the recrumpled piece of paper over to the girl, watching Vickie’s face scrunch up in disgust.

“Jesus, you’re such a slob. Is this how you take care of everything you own?” Vickie asks, raising an eyebrow at her.

“It’s just a piece of paper.” Robin shrugs, looking down at her feet.

“Exactly Robin, if this is how you treat paper, god knows what else you’d ruin.” Vickie laughs, unfolding it and reading through it.

Robin fidgets on the spot, still staring down at her feet. Vickie sighs when she looks back up, reaching out and grabbing the girl’s arm, tugging it harshly, causing Robin to fly forward, trying to right herself at the sudden pull.

“Just sit down, you’re so sensitive.” Vickie sighs, tugging again until Robin was on the bed next to her. 

Robin sits next to her, but Vickie keeps her hand tightly latched to her forearm while she reads over the schedule. The redhead took a few minutes to read over it before slipping it into her school journal, putting it into her bag. 

She then turned and grabbed Robin’s jaw, pulling her in for a harsh kiss. Robin wasn’t expecting it, but Vickie never gave warning when she’d kiss her. Whenever the girl thought about kissing someone you like, she thought about the anticipation, leaning in, waiting for them to meet you halfway before your lips softly meet in the middle. 

Vickie never waited for her to lean in, never even checked if she wanted a kiss. Robin supposes this was real life, when you liked someone, they could kiss you whenever they wanted right?  The only problem is that it only really felt like something Vickie could do, not Robin.

Vickie’s hand went from her jaw to her shoulder, pushing her down harshly onto the bed. She straddles Robin immediately, deepening the kiss as her hands greedily run down chest, pushing up against her boobs roughly. 

“Wait, wait Vickie-” Robin starts, placing her hands onto the girl’s wrists, trying to halt their descent to under her top.

“What Robin?” Vickie asks impatiently, pulling away to stare at her. 

“I’ve never- you know.” Robin says, frowning a little.

“Oh, okay.” Vickie responds, sitting up while still straddling the girl.

“Can we just.. Go a bit slower?” Robin asks gently, wide eyes looking up at the girl.

“God Robin, if you don’t want me just say that.” Vickie sighs, getting off of the girl and standing up.

“What? I never said that- wait!” Robin says, scrambling up from the bed, grabbing the girl’s wrist.

“Don’t touch me!” Vickie shouts, retching her hand from Robin’s own.

“W-What?” Robin asks, clutching her arm now to her body.

“I was normal before you! I-I liked boys, and now, now I like you , and you won’t even let me touch you. You made me like this!” Vickie shouts angrily, hot tears falling down her face. 

“I- that’s not how that works, Vickie I didn’t-” Robin starts, jumping back when Vickie turns a fiery gaze on her. 

“Don’t tell me what I know. Why can’t you just let me do this? We’re together Robin, couples have sex . Do you not like me anymore? Am I that ugly?” Vickie asks, openly crying now. 

“I-I do, you’re not ugly I just- we can okay? We can just- please don’t cry I’m- I’m really sorry.” Robin responds, offering a hand out to the girl.

At that, Vickie seemed to calm down, quickly. Before Robin could even process it, the girl pulled her in for a hungry kiss, shoving her back onto the bed and jumping on top of her. Her hands returned quickly to Robin’s chest, only this time they were under her shirt, cupping her boobs roughly.

“Can we- just slower? Please?” Robin asks against Vickie’s lips.

“My parents will be home soon, we don’t have time.” Vickie responds evenly, eyes dark as she drags one hand down and into Robin’s pants and underwear.

Robin can only gasp as contact is made, clutching at Vickie who just smirks at her, rubbing over her fast and hard. Without warning, the girl dips down and shoves two fingers into her quickly. Robin cries out in pain, one hand reaching down to grip the quick moving fingers.

“That hurts Vick.” Robin says quietly, tears of pain falling out.

“It’s supposed to hurt your first time, don’t worry baby I’ve got you.” Vickie promises gently, waiting for Robin to let go of her wrist before starting to move, quicker than Robin would have liked.

Thankfully, Robin’s pain turned to pleasure quickly, and she found herself finishing not long after it, still fully clothed with now ruined underwear. Vickie pulls her fingers out and wipes them onto Robin’s jeans without asking.

“There you go, didn’t I say it would feel good eventually?” Vickie says, watching Robin nod while she catches her breath.

Vickie shifts slightly, grabbing Robin’s hand hurriedly and shoving it into her own jeans. Robin barely had a moment to think before Vickie was already rubbing herself against her hand. Vickie was soaked, much more than Robin was, but she supposes girl’s don’t always get the same amount of wetness, and maybe she should look into lube in the future.

Robin circles the girl clit the way she likes on herself, while Vickie holds her wrist in a death grip while she rides her hand, chasing her relief. The grip hurt, and it was almost like the redhead wasn’t giving Robin a chance to pull away if she wanted to. Eventually Vickie came, and she let go of her grip on Robin’s hand. 

Robin took her hand out of the girl's jeans, shaking it out slightly. Before she could wipe her hands on the girl’s sheets, the grip on her wrist was back.

“Open your mouth.” Vickie says, eyes blown as she stares down at Robin.

Robin opens it with no complaints, while Vickie immediately shoves Robin’s own hand into it.

“Suck your fingers off, I want you to remember my taste.” Vickie demands, watching as Robin does it without question.

“Do I taste good?” She asks, eyeing the girl for an answer.

“Yeah Vick, very.” Robin answers, smiling slightly as she pulls the fingers out of her mouth.

“Good, my parents will be home soon so I’ll drop you home okay?” Vickie says, hopping up from the bed and re buttoning her jeans. 

“Oh, okay.” Robin nods, wincing slightly as she stands up.

“You’ll be a bit sore for a while, happened to me after my first time too.” Vickie says to the girl as they walk out.

Robin only nods, she had known that would happen. The girl has embarrassingly read a lot of books about sex, so she knew what to expect. She knew that it really hurt to be penetrated, and knew she probably should have fingered herself at least once before she had sex, but it always kind of freaked her out. 

Maybe if she did though she would have enjoyed herself a lot more. 

She also hoped for the post sex cuddling people in the magazines she read spoke about, but instead she was kicked out right afterwards.

A lift home meant Vickie pulling on a block over, so Steve wouldn’t see who she was with. So that’s how Robin found herself walking alone at night, back home. Her wrist really hurt, and looking down she realises it’s starting to bruise. She’s not too sure why Vickie gripped it so hard, it was probably just in the moment.

Still, now she had to hide this.

Finally getting to her door, she opened it carefully, walking inside to be greeted by Steve standing over the stove. He grins back at her quickly, turning his attention back to the pot.

“How was band?” Steve shouted over his shoulder.

That’s right, she lied and told him they had an emergency band meeting.

“It was okay, it was just a meeting to organise who would do what at the next pep rally.” Robin shrugs, gut twisting at the blatant lie.

“Well I’d like to think it wasn’t to play, considering he asked you all at the last minute.” Steve responds, back still to the girl.

“Yeah.” Robin nods, biting her lip.

“Dinner is almost ready, wanna eat together?” Steve asks, now fully turning to look at her.

“Sure, I just really need a shower.” Robin responds, smiling slightly.

“Okay just hurry it along Buckley.” Steve grins, turning back around.

Robin trudges her way upstairs, sighing as she gets into her room. Steve was nice enough to let her take up residence in the only guest room with an ensuite. She strips off her top and jeans, before pulling down her underwear. She frowns heavily when she sees there’s blood in her underwear. 

She tosses them into the trashcan in her bathroom, she knows that breaking the hymen can cause a lot of blood to seep out. Stepping into the shower, she starts scrubbing her body, and she finds herself crying, yet again.

She knew that sexuality was something you were born into, and that she wouldn’t be able to ‘change’ anyone, but Vickie seemed so upset to realise she was queer, and apparently only realised that because of Robin. 

When she thought of her first time, she thought it would be passionate, she definitely thought it would last longer and that both parties would be naked. But that’s not real life, not for queer kids. They had to do it quickly and fast, fully clothed in case someone came in at any moment. She feels bad for asking Vickie to go slower, they could have gotten caught because of her and her stupid hopeless romantic mind. 

She had someone who wanted to be with her, she had someone who wanted her, she needed to focus on being grateful for that. 

Real life isn’t like the movies Robin, that’s lesson number one.

She still found herself sobbing in the shower, scrubbing her skin almost raw before desperately getting her shit together enough to throw on a hoodie and shorts to join Steve for dinner. She still found herself lying to his face when he asked her if she’s okay, her stomach twisting so much she lost her appetite but found herself eating anyway to not worry the boy more.

-------------------------------------

“Hey Nance, can I ask you kind of a weird question?” Robin asks the next day at school.

“What’s up Rob?” The girl responds, solely focused on the girl.

“Well, this is kind of awkward and you don’t have to answer, but what was your first time like?” Robin asks, face blazing red as she looks over at the girl.

They had a free period together today, Nancy had taken note of it in her own schedule she had glued into her journal, and asked her to spend it together. Due to the warming temperature, they decided to sit outside and relax together.

“What?” Nancy asks, almost spitting out the water she had drank from.

“Sorry, jeez sorry. I haven’t had a friend who’s a girl in like forever, according to romcoms girl’s chat about sex, was I wrong about that?” Robin asks, eyes widening.

“No no, I’m- I’m happy to answer, I was just surprised that’s all.” Nancy responds, eyeing the girl carefully.

“Oh okay, cool.” Robin nods, turning towards her fully and giving her her full attention.

“Well, it was with Steve are you- are you okay with hearing that?” Nancy asks, tilting her head slightly.

“Yeah, just maybe- I mean I don’t need to know like size or anything gross like that.” Robin responds, cringing heavily,

“Okay, what would you like to know?” Nancy asks, laughing softly at the girl’s expression.

“Just- how did it feel for you? Was it- was it nice?” Robin asks, eyes wide.

“Yeah, he took care of me, you know? Made sure I was enjoying myself.” Nancy responds, face slightly pink.

“Did it- did it hurt? How did you feel after it?” Robin asks, shuffling closer.

“Not really, I mean initially it was a bit sore but he went slow and I… adjusted, you know. As far afterwards, that’s a bit complicated. We cuddled, and fell asleep but I had a lot on my mind. That was the night Barb- I just had a lot on my mind. But Steve was kind and gentle though, so surrounding how I felt after that , I felt… safe? Cared for?” Nancy answers, smiling slightly.

“So you didn’t cry afterwards?” Robin asks quietly, eyes widening slightly when she realises what she asked.

“What? No, not at all. Robin, did something happen?” Nancy asks, eyes concerned as she sits forward.

“What?! No no, Nance I-” Robin starts backtracking, shaking her hands out infront of her.

“I’m serious I’ll fuck him up Robin just tell me his name.” Nancy continues, going to stand.

“No! I- I’m sorry for worrying you, I don’t mean me.” Robin continues, grabbing at Nancy’s arm gently, tugging her to sit back down.

“You don’t?” Nancy asks, unconvinced, but sits back down.

“I- I’m a virgin, embarrassingly enough. I guess I was just nervous that it would really hurt.” Robin lies, biting her lip hard.

“Oh, Robin, that's okay honestly, nothing to be embarrassed about.” Nancy responds honestly, reaching out to hold the girl’s wrist gently.

“Thanks Nance, guess I’m just worried about it.” Robin shrugs, looking down at her lap.

“I get that, but trust me Rob, if they really like you, they’ll make it as painless as possible. They should care that it’s good for you, and feeling a lot of emotion after sex is totally normal, it’s why the post sex cuddles are the best.” Nancy says softly with a smile, rubbing at her wrist, which she now realises has a large leather bracelet on it. 

“Thanks, that makes me feel better.” Robin responds with a smile, though Nancy notices it doesn’t reach her eyes at all.

“Is this new?” Nancy asks, pulling her hand away when she realises she was still stroking it.

“Oh um, not actually, I used to wear it- back in Scoops, thought I’d try it out again.” Robin responds, shrugging slightly.

“It’s nice.” Nancy compliments, biting her lip with concern on her face when she sees how visibly uncomfortable Robin became. 

“You okay?” Nancy prods gently, eyes widening when Robin shoots to her feet at the sound of the warning bell.

“Yeah I’m good, sorry I forgot I have class on the other side of the school, I’ll see you later.” Robin says, rushing through the quad and back into the school.

Nancy just sat where she was, completely dumbfounded by the interaction.

------------------------------------

Robin got out of school with a deep sigh, happy to get herself home and watch movies with Steve. Nancy has been given her weird looks that she cannot decipher since their talk earlier, and she feels so stupid. She’s worrying the girl for absolutely nothing, but she’s also stressed that Nancy will find out that she’s with Vickie. The redhead would be so fucking mad at her, and she was kind of scary when she was that mad.

Looking around, she huffs when she doesn’t see Steve, who is always on time. Her clothes felt too tight on her today, despite being clothes she wears all the time, and she just wants to be at home. Rubbing her arms up and down anxiously, Robin decides to just walk home, she can’t see Dustin anywhere so maybe he gave him a ride home instead.

She starts walking away from the school just as she hears a familiar voice.

“Yo Buckley!” Comes the voice.

Robin jumps slightly, turning around to see with absolute glee that it was Eddie.

Rushing forward, she engulfs the boy in a hug, careful not to hug too tight around his healing body. The boy chuckles into her ear, wrapping his arms around her.

“Miss me?” He asks, grinning when she pulls away.

“Yeah, Wayne let you out of his sight huh?” Robin jokes, holding onto his forearm.

“Stevie boy wanted to surprise you, but he got lost on the way to mine.” Eddie responds, rolling his eyes fondly. 

“Sounds like him.” Robin chuckles, walking back to the car park with the boy.

Eddie and Robin weren’t close, but after his near death experience, she spent a lot of time with him in his hospital room. Eddie was happy to have the company, having always liked the talkative girl. She let him explain the entire rules of D&D, as well as all of the lore. They bonded hard over their shared love of the hobbit, and a true friendship started to form. He was discharged about a week or so ago, on strict bed rest given by doctors but also Wayne. 

“Hey Robbie, sorry we’re late.” Steve responds, eyeing her sympathetically.

He knew how much she hates when he’s late for something he promised not to be. 

“It’s okay, your surprise made up for it.” Robin smiles, opening the passenger door for Eddie.

“Such a gentleman, thank you.” He jokes, slowly lowering himself into the seat.

“You’re welcome Madame.” Robin responds, bowing slightly.

“You two are so fucking weird.” Steve mumbles, pulling away from the school once Robin was in and buckled.

Eddie eyes the girl in the rearview mirror, noticing how she quickly zoned out, face expressionless as they drove. He makes brief eye contact with Steve, nodding back towards the girl. Steve looks at her through the rearview mirror too, frowning deeply. He shakes his head, shrugging slightly, briefly looking back at Eddie. This made Eddie frown too, glancing every so often at the girl.

Something was wrong, even Eddie could tell.

Chapter Text

“Hey Rob, I was wondering if you’d like to come over tonight? We could watch some movies and gossip like a couple of normal teenage girl’s.” Nancy grins, walking down the halls with her, clutching her books to her chest.

“Like a sleepover?” Robin asks, smiling wide as they walk in step.

“Yeah? Unless that’s like, totally lame.” Nancy blushes, looking down for a second.

“Not at all, I haven’t had a sleepover in forever, I’d love to!” Robin grins, bumping her shoulder into Nancy’s.

“Amazing, I’ll pop by family video after school, it reopened right?” Nancy asks, looking over at the girl now.

“Yeah, somehow Steve and I weren’t fired, just Steve’s in tonight though.” Robin responds, coming to a stop at Nancy’s classroom.

“Even better, talk later about the details?” Nancy offers, wide doe eyes staring up at Robin.

“Y-Yeah, sure thing Nance.” Robin smiles, a light blush coating her cheeks.

“Bye.” Nancy smiles shyly, ducking her head before heading into the classroom.

Robin starts heading for her next class, which was admittedly not a few doors down like she had told Nancy and was in fact on the other side of the school. She really wanted to walk the girl to class and talk more, but she knew Nancy wouldn’t let her if she knew it would make her late.

She barely makes it a few steps before she’s roughly grabbed and pulled into a storage room across the hallway. 

Robin didn’t even have time to scream before she was shoved against the wall, eyes wide as she realises it was Vickie who pulled her in here. 

“Vickie wha-” Robin breathes before being cut off.

“How fucking dare you do that infront of me, infront of everyone.” Vickie spits, gripping Robin’s shirt collar tightly.

“D-do what?” Robin asks shakily, eyes wide.

“Flirt with her . You promised me you didn’t like her that way.” Vickie says angrily, glaring at the girl.

“Nancy? I-I don’t-” Robin tries, snapping her mouth shut as Vickie’s grip tightens around her collar, essentially tightening around her throat.

“I saw you. How do you think that makes me feel Robin? I’m risking everything to be with you and you’re just off flirting with another girl in public?” Vickie spits, pushing her hand further into the girl’s neck.

“We’re just f-friends Vickie I-I swear, p-please let go I-” Robin breathes heavily, panic setting into her bones at something tightening around her neck.

“You’ll come over tonight, my parents are away for the night, you can make it up to me then. You really fucking embarrassed me today.” Vickie says, less angry, grip loosening on her collar.

“I-I have plans, that’s- that’s what Nancy and I were talking about-” Robin tries, still breathing heavily.

“You’ll cancel them if you know what’s good for you, I’m your girlfriend Robin, I come first.” Vickie interrupts angrily, tightening her grip until she sees Robin’s panicked nod in agreement.

“Good.” Vickie says, softer now, completely letting go of the girl’s collar.

Robin slides down the wall, clutching her head in her hands as she catches her breath.

“Get yourself together before you leave here, and make sure to cancel your plans .” Vickie says, spitting out the last word, before opening and slamming closed the door behind her, causing Robin to flinch harshly.

Robin claws at her shirt collar, pulling it down past her collarbones, not being able to handle anything touching her neck while she tries to calm the rising panic. Eventually she calms down, and stands on shaky legs to leave the closet. Looking down at her watch, she realises there’s no point in heading to that class now, so instead she slips into the bathroom to clean her face up a bit and wait for the bell.

--------------------------------------------

Nancy looks up as the door to the newsroom opens carefully, smiling happily when she realises it was just Robin. The shorter girl enjoyed having her lunches in here instead of the cafeteria, especially since school returned and she realised she wouldn’t have anyone to sit with. As far as she knew, Robin also avoided the cafeteria, it being too loud for the girl. She’s not really sure where Robin goes, and was always too nervous to ask in case the girl wanted to be alone.

Her smile fades when she takes in Robin’s expression.

“Rob, you okay?” Nancy asks, tilting her head in concern.

“I’m sorry Nancy, I can’t come over tonight.” Robin responds, voice almost emotionless as she stares at the floor, hand gripping her bag strap tightly.

“Oh, is everything alright?” Nancy asks, stepping forward, not missing the girl’s small flinch backwards.

“Yeah yeah I- I just forgot I made plans already, I’m sorry, I really wanted to go.” Robin responds, head not moving from its downcast position.

The poor girl looked so stiff and anxious, almost as though she was expecting Nancy to lash out at her for cancelling their plans. All Nancy wanted to do was wrap the girl up in her arms and never let go, but based on her earlier flinch she doesn’t think that’s wise to try right now.

“That’s okay Robin, we can do it some other time, it’s no big deal.” Nancy responds, as gently as possible.

“Y-Yeah?” Robin asks, lifting her head to look at the girl for a moment before breaking eye contact.

“Of course.” Nancy says softly, eyeing the girl carefully.

“Cool.” Robin shrugs, turning to leave.

“Do you need a ride after school? I know Steve’s working?” Nancy offers, eyebrows scrunching up at the split second of panic she saw pass over Robin’s features.

“No no, I’m good, thanks though.” Robin responds, she tries to smile but it mainly comes off as a grimace, walking out the door fully now.

Nancy really needed to call Steve.

---------------------------------------------------------

Robin found herself walking down the street tiredly. Her legs hurt from all the walking she’s done, having walked from school all the way to the hospital to give Max her missed work for the week, helping her through a lot of it before then having to walk home. All in all it was multiple hours of walking, and she was exhausted. She should have just accepted the ride from Nancy, but she didn’t want to make Vickie more angry than she already was. 

It was pushing 7 by the time she got home, which meant she only had about 30 minutes before Vickie was coming to pick her up. Robin thankfully was able to convince the girl to get her, considering Steve was working a closing shift tonight. Robin knew she should eat something, but her stomach hasn’t stopped flipping uncomfortably all day, meaning she hasn’t had anything to eat since breakfast.

She instead found herself zoning out for the 30 minutes, jumping back to the present at the car lights outside the window. Not wishing to make Vickie mad again, the girl rushes out of the house and straight into the car.

Robin had listened to Vickie talk about her day the whole drive, knowing it made her mad when she would be the one rambling. When they got into her room, things were okay. Vickie popped in a movie to watch, and even pulled Robin into her chest to cuddle into. Robin nuzzled in right away, happy to receive all of this affection. Vickie was stroking her back throughout the movie, but it was nearing the end that the air of calmness finally broke. 

“Have you thought about what you’ll do to make it up to me?” Vickie asks, voice quiet as she strokes her hand through the girl’s hair now.

“What?” Robin asks, momentarily confused.

“Your flirting.” Vickie responds, voice gone to that dangerous level again, hand stilling in her hair.

“I wasn’t-” Robin starts without thinking.

She cut herself off as her hair was grabbed and yanked harshly, pulling her head up and off of Vickie’s chest. Robin yelps in pain, scrambling to sit up to ease the pain in her head.

“Don’t try to tell me what I saw with my own two eyes. You obviously haven’t learned anything.” Vickie says in a low voice, gripping her hair tightly, eyes dangerous as the level with Robin’s.

“I’m sorry.” Robin whimpers in pain, eyes welling up.

“You know she doesn’t want you, right? I’m the only person who would want someone like you, you should be grateful to me.” Vickie starts, loosening her death grip on Robin’s hair, sitting up with the girl.

Robin could only whimper again at the words, eyes wide as she watches Vickie come closer to her.

“I’m the only one who’d ever be able to love you, you know that everyone thinks you’re a weirdo with all of your… quirks. Everyone else gets tired of you, don’t they?” Vickie asks, leaning in to make eye contact with the crying girl.

Robin can only nod. Everyone always tells her to shut up, all of her previous best friends apart from Steve have dropped her for talking too much, or being too weird. Even Steve tells her she talks too much. 

“Not me though, I don’t get tired of you. You have to be better to me, or I’ll leave you too. You know I’m the only other queer girl here, you know I’m your only chance to be happy, right?” Vickie asks, now gently stroking Robin’s cheek, eyes flashing as Robin leans her head into her hand.

Again, Robin can only nod, softly crying into the girl’s hand. Vickie smirks slightly before wiping it off of her voice, a softer look replacing it.

“So you need to be a better girlfriend Robin, or you’ll be all alone again.” Vickie responds, bringing her other hand up to wipe at the girl’s tear stained cheeks.

“H-how?” Robin croaks, watching as Vickie practically beams at the question.

“For starters, you can get on your knees.” Vickie says, hands moving Robin’s face to her shoulders, pushing her off of the bed.

“W-what?” Robin asks, following anyways, now on her knees in front of the bed. 

“You hurt me today Robin, you really hurt me. The least you can do is make me feel good again.” Vickie sighs, standing up in front of the girl and unbuckling her jeans. 

“I-I don’t know-” Robin says anxiously, backing away slightly before her hair was being gripped hard again.

“Don’t you want to be good for me? Don’t you want me to stay?” Vickie asks, eyes angry, using her other hand to pull down her jeans and underwear before sitting down, still gripping her hair.

“Y-yes.” Robin responds, wincing at the hand in her hair.

Vickie wordlessly pulls the girl forward harshly until her face was right between her legs.

“Then make me feel good, and I’ll forgive you.” Vickie demands, tugging at her unmoving head.

Robin felt more tears fall from her eyes as she’s tugged right into the girl’s heat from the pain at her scalp. Vickie’s hand stays tightly in her hair, holding her right up against her with a pressure that meant Robin couldn’t pull away easily. 

Unable to come up for air, Robin breathes heavily as she licks and sucks, desperate to make it up to the girl above her. Not long later, and Vickie tenses, moaning loudly as she cums heavily. The hand that was gripping her hair harshly loosened, and was now stroking through her hair gently again.

Robin looks up to the redhead, catching her breath.

“Do you forgive me?” Robin asks, eyes wide with so much hope.

“Yeah baby, yeah I do.” Vickie responds with a smile, watching Robin clean off her face before finally getting off of the floor of the bedroom.

Vickie pulls Robin onto her bed, letting her snuggle down into her chest again.

“You don’t get a turn tonight though.” Vickie states easily, rubbing Robin’s back again.

“Okay, can we keep cuddling?” Robin asks, internally relieved at hearing that, but isn’t really sure why.

“Of course, my parents are back tomorrow evening, stay the night?” Vickie asks gently, kissing the girl’s temple.

“Okay.” Robin smiles, snuggling into the girl, happy to be receiving snuggles again.

-----------------------------------------------------

The next morning, Vickie made Robin breakfast, even gave her plenty of morning kisses. Robin felt good, despite the weird feeling still in her gut. Eventually she gets a ride home, or well a block away like last time, and finds herself back at her house in no time.

The second she opens the door, she’s bombarded by Steve.

“Where the fuck where you Buckley?! I was worried sick .” Steve shouts, flailing his arms around.

Robin’s eyes widened at the boy's outburst, although one look at him with his dark circles must have meant he didn’t sleep much if at all.

“I-” Robin tries.

“I thought something awful happened to you, I mean I got no call no nothing. I thought maybe you were at Nancy’s but she said you had other plans and that’s the only reason why I didn’t call Hopper yet!” Steve says, less angry this time but there was still a beat of steam behind it.

Robin stayed silent, wide eyes watching her only best friend screaming at her.

“Aren’t you gonna say something?!” Steve huffs, running his hands through his hair.

Robin opens her mouth to explain, but finds herself sobbing loudly instead. Steve’s eyes widen comically before he rushes forward, pulling the girl in for a tight hug as she sobs into his chest. Steve can only rock them side to side, rubbing her back the way she likes.

“I-I’m so s-sorry Steve p-please don’t- don’t leave me.” Robin cries heavily, gripping the boy tightly.

“What? No Rob- I was just worried, I’m so sorry for yelling at you.” Steve responds softly, frowning deeply.

Robin just kept repeating how sorry she was, while gripping Steve’s shirt like he was about to run away from her.

“I’m not going anywhere, not ever. I’ll never leave, friends for life, yeah?” Steve says just as softly, kissing the side of her head. 

Robin nods into his chest, trying to catch her breath. It took a good few minutes, but finally she was calm enough. She pulls away from the boy, facial expression one of embarrassment as she wipes her eyes with her sleeve. 

“I’m sorry, I totally freaked out on you.” Robin says, voice hoarse from crying. 

“Is there something going on I should know about?” Steve asks, hands still lightly on the girl’s biceps.

“What do you mean?” Robin asks carefully, eyeing him.

“You always call me, and you never cried like that before with me I just- you’re worried I’d leave you?” Steve asks, face scrunched up in concern.

“I’ve just- I’ve just been having nightmares again, I guess they’re affecting me a lot.” Robin shrugs, walking past the boy and towards the stairs.

“Do you wanna talk about them?” Steve asks, eyes following her.

“Not really, I’m gonna go shower before work okay?” Robin deflects, looking back at him.

“Sure, we’ve got about 2 hours so take your time.” Steve says, face still full of concern.

“Cool.” Robin nods, turning and heading up the stairs.

“What the fuck.” Steve whispers to himself, making a note to talk to someone about what the hell just happened.

Chapter Text

Nancy walks into family video, chewing her lip anxiously. Eddie was already there, sat up on the counter like he belongs there, and for once Steve was not berating him for it. Nancy walks up towards them, leaning against the counter with a small smile on her face.

Steve had called her earlier asking her to come to family video after school, considering Robin usually only works weekends now. She’s not massively surprised to see Eddie there, she knows he cares a lot for the girl. It’s been close to a week since Robin cancelled on her, and ever since  she’s been completely avoiding her, apart from classes they share. At first, Nancy panicked and assumed Robin picked up on her massive crush for her and was weirded out, but once Steve reached out and raised his own concerns, she knew it was something deeper than that.

“Hey guys.” Nancy greets, slumping further against the counter.

“Sup Wheeler.” Eddie grins, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

“Lemme just close the place for a bit.” Steve says, rushing forward to lock the door and flick the sign to closed.

Steve then wordlessly gestures for them to follow him through the back room. Nancy takes a seat on the couch, huffing playfully when Eddie barrels past Steve to fling himself into the spot next to her. Steve only sighs, turning to pull a small table forward to sit on.

“So… how do people usually start these things?” Eddie asks, looking at both of them.

“I’m just… really worried about Robin.” Steve says awkwardly, looking down at his lap.

“Me too.” Nancy nods, biting her lip.

“Any idea what’s going on?” Eddie asks, biting at his nail.

“I mean she almost died like a month ago, maybe that has something to do with it.” Nancy shrugs, face full of concern.

“She seemed fine after that though? Well as fine as you can be.” Eddie responds, shaking his head lightly.

“She never really talks about it, not about how she feels anyway.” Steve supplies, looking guilty.

“Wait seriously? I thought you guys talked about everything?” Eddie asks, face surprised.

“Robin will talk to me for hours about different facts she’s learned, but I can only ever drag out a personal conversation with her for like maximum ten minutes before she shuts me out.” Steve responds sadly.

“So that could be it then?” Nancy asks, eyes wide and sad.

“I don’t know, there’s a couple of other things… I don’t want to breach her privacy.” Steve winces, not sure how to phrase what he wants to say.

“It’s okay Steve, tell us what you can.” Nancy gently prods, sitting forward.

“She- I don’t know exactly how it was at home for her, but we were gone for days while a ‘teen murderer’ was on the loose and when she got back her parents didn’t even notice she was missing. She’s been living with me ever since, so we can be our own family. When she has a really bad day, I can get her to open up about everything to do with the upside down, but her parents were always off limits.” Steve starts, looking around at the two.

“Another thing is- well- she, she had a crush on someone. Like a big one. She finally worked up the courage to ask them out, and they rejected her. She started being noticeably sad since that, so I thought that maybe she was taking that a bit hard. I mean she’s never had the courage to ask a crush out before, I hate that her first experience was a negative one.” Steve continues, biting his lip with a deep frown.

Both Nancy and Eddie’s heads tilt slightly at the neutral pronouns, filing it away for later.

“It’s got to be a mix of all of them, I’m kind of relieved in a weird way, I thought I had done something.” Nancy responds, breathing out slightly.

“Why?” Eddie asks, turning to her.

“Oh um, I invited her over last Friday and at first she said yes but then she came back to me at lunch and cancelled, she could barely look at me too. After that, she barely said two words to me outside of class.” Nancy responds, blushing lightly.

Eddie’s eyes widen slightly before going back to normal, turning to place a hand on the girl’s back gently.

“I don’t think you did anything Wheeler, I just think she has a lot going on right now.” Eddie says, softer this time, eyes filled with understanding as he makes contact with Nancy.

Nancy only flushes deeper, looking away from him and towards her lap.

“She’s not herself, she hasn’t been for awhile now. She was out the whole night last week and never called to tell me she wouldn’t be home. I know that makes me sound like a mom, but she knows with everything that’s happened how worried I get. I freaked out on her when she came home that morning, and she broke down right in front of me. She’s never liked when people raise their voices around her, but she always yells back, always. But this time she sobbed in my arms, and then immediately pretended like she didn’t.” Steve says seriously, sitting forward.

“Something’s wrong guys, something really wrong. I know my best friend, and I know she’s not okay.” Steve finishes, releasing a breath.

Eddie and Nancy make eye contact before turning to look at Steve.

“What do we do?” Eddie asks, going back to biting his nail.

“We’ve got to talk to her, but separately so we don’t overwhelm her.” Steve responds, nodding his head as he stands, starting to pace instead.

“I doubt I’ll get anything from her, she’s still avoiding me.” Nancy says sadly, looking down at her lap.

“Ask her about it, use that journalistic skill you’re so good at.” Eddie responds, smiling slightly at the girl.

“I’ll try talking to her here, where she can’t leave and will have to talk to me.” Steve responds, still pacing.

“I’ll try to talk to her at the end of the day, while she’s waiting for you to pick her up.” Eddie nods, to Steve.

“Alright guys, operation Buckles is a go!” Steve says enthusiastically, raising his hand in the air.

“You’ve been spending way too much time with Dustin.” Nancy says, shaking her head with a smile.

---------------------------------------------

Since that night things have actually been okay with Vickie, but Robin couldn’t help but feel… on edge. She feels like shit every time she blows Nancy off, but it makes Vickie really upset when she speaks with her, and she doesn’t want to upset her. They spoke about her talking with Nancy more, and Vickie was right, Robin was flirting, and she felt awful about it. She doesn’t really know why she did it either. 

She owed it to Vickie to stay away from Nancy, at least just for now until she makes it up to her. Vickie did say she forgave her, but there was just something about how the girl acted that makes Robin believe she didn’t mean it. It’s very frustrating to Robin, she doesn’t understand most social interactions, especially when someone says something but means something else. 

But she can’t voice any of that, it’ll make Vickie upset. She can’t tell anyone else, because Vickie doesn’t want anyone to know they even speak. Robin feels frustrated, sad and… and numb, and she’s not even really sure why. 

She was currently walking out of her Spanish class, trying to put her books in her bag without stopping when someone blocks her path. Robin tenses heavily, assuming it was Vickie and that she was mad at her again. 

Instead of the harsh grip she expected on her arm, a soft, gentle hand was on her wrist instead.

“Robin? Can we talk?” Nancy asks, eyes wide and hopeful.

“Oh- um- well I-” Robin starts, fumbling to find an excuse.

“You showed me your schedule, I know you have a free period right now.” Nancy deadpans, dropping her hand but staying in her space.

“S-sorry.” Robin responds, ducking her head. 

“What’s going on Robin? Did I do something?” Nancy asks gently, furrowing her brow as Robin takes a step back from her.

“No, of course not.” Robin responds, looking over at the girl briefly.

“Then why have you been ignoring me?” Nancy asks, softly to cushion the blow.

Robin still flinches anyway.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” Robin responds, shuffling on her feet.

“That’s not really an answer Rob.” Nancy sighs, gripping her books tightly to her chest.

“Everything’s fine Nance, you didn’t do anything wrong, promise.” Robin urges, stepping forward to grasp at Nancy’s arm only to drop her hand.

“So why are you avoiding me?” Nancy pries, staring over at the girl.

“I just don’t want to upset- nevermind.” Robin responds, shaking her head and backing away again.

“Upset who? What’s going on?” Nancy asks, stepping forward with concern.

“I-” Robin starts, looking up at Nancy before looking over her shoulder, eyes widening for a split second before they go back to normal, shutting her mouth and stepping back.

“I misspoke, I’m sorry I gotta go.” Robin says hurriedly, turning around and rushing down the hall, ignoring Nancy’s shouts after her.

Turning around, Nancy notices some redheaded girl she believes Robin has band with staring over at her from her locker. The girl’s eyes were hard for a moment, before softening as she sent Nancy a small wave and polite smile. Nancy’s brow furrows as she watches the girl turn to walk away in the opposite direction. Turning back to where Robin was, she realises the girl had fled away from her.

She looked… terrified.

What the fuck was happening?

----------------------------------------------------

Eddie hangs around after school for Robin, knowing she always gets out a bit later than everyone. He just about finishes his cigarette by the time he notices the girl rush out of the door, a haunted look on her face.

“Hey Buckley!” Eddie shouts, gaining her attention.

“Oh! Hey Eddie, thought you weren’t starting back til next week?” Robin greets, walking over to him.

“I said I’d pop up today to talk campaign strats with the guys, thought I’d say hi first.” Eddie says with a smile, coming closer to the girl.

“Guess you can keep me company til Steve gets here.” Robin grins.

“Look, I’m just gonna cut to the chase cause I know you appreciate when people do that. What’s been up with you lately?” Eddie asks, eyeing the girl.

“Why does everyone think something’s wrong?” Robin huffs, crossing her arms defensively.

“Because we know there is, you’re not being yourself.” Eddie continues steadily.

“Wha- how would you even know that? You barely know me.” Robin spits, face turning angry.

“Robin come on we’re friends and I care-” Eddie tries, wincing at the harsh words coming from his usually nice friend.

“We’re only friends because of an incredible amount of trauma, Eddie. Did you ever think that maybe that’s what’s on my mind? Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Robin says angrily, voice raising as her face turns dark.

“You don’t mean that Robin.” Eddie says, quieter this time as her words rip through him.

“Just leave me the fuck alone!!” Robin shouts, causing Eddie to jump backwards at the volume.

“Robin? What the hell?!” Steve says incredulously, appearing behind Eddie.

“Lemme guess, you put him up to it? Nancy too? I need everyone to stop fucking asking me if everythings okay! I’m fine! Everything’s fine!” Robin shouts, pulling at her hair harshly in both hands.

“Everything is obviously not okay Rob, you’re screaming at your friends in the school parking lot.” Steve says, more gentle this time.

“Maybe I’m just tired of no one ever believing me ! Just leave me alone!” Robin shouts, hot tears running down her face as she tugs tighter at her hair.

“Robin-” Steve tries, only to be cut off.

“No!” Robin screams, turning quickly to walk away.

Steve runs past a frozen Eddie to quickly get the speeding girl’s attention.

“Come on Rob, just get in the damn car.” Steve continues, speed walking to try to catch up with her fast steps.

“No! I want to walk and clear my head, give me space for the love of god. ” Robin says hurriedly, arms wrapped around herself. 

“But-” Steve starts, cutting himself off as she walks faster, coming to a halt.

“Let her be dude.” Eddie says with a shrug, eyes downcast as he catches up with him.

“You know she didn’t mean that man.” Steve tries, just to be shrugged off by him.

“Whatever, I tried man, I obviously made things worse so I’m just gonna-” Eddie says, pointing behind him to the school.

“Eddie-” Steve tries, looking helplessly at the retreating form of both his friends.

“Just make sure she’s alright, yeah?” Eddie calls back to him, already walking back towards the school.

“Fuck.” Steve breathes, not really sure what to do.

He’s never seen Robin lash out like that before, not ever, not even when she was extremely overstimulated. This was so much bigger than he thought, and he’s completely clueless in how to help.

“Shit.” He mumbles to himself again, turning to head to his car.

----------------------

Robin couldn’t believe what she had just done, she has no idea where that came from. All she wanted to do was apologise to Eddie, she really didn’t mean what she said. Sure, they were new friends, but they became so close after Vecna. They spent long nights together, ones where Eddie confessed a lot of personal things he hadn’t told anyone before.

And she just told him they were barely friends. 

Fuck fuck fuck.

She decides to take a different route to how Steve would drive, knowing the boy would definitely try to tail her. After walking for what felt like ages wrapped up in her own thoughts, she hears a car beeping next to her. Assuming it was Steve, or even Nancy, Robin turned to tell them off, just for her mouth to snap shut.

It wasn’t either of her friends.

“Get in.” Vickie breathes, impatiently eyeing Robin until she opens the passenger side door.

By the look on Vickie’s face, things were not good.

Chapter Text

“Is everything okay Vick?” Robin asks, turning to look at the girl who was driving them.

Vickie doesn’t respond, keeping her eyes forward.

“I need to go to the hospital to tutor Max.” Robin says nervously, watching as Vickie gets further away from that direction.

“You’ll be late.” Vickie responds, taking a turn.

Robin bites her lip anxiously, looking out the window as they get closer to the girl’s house. She hadn't spoken to Vickie all day, and was dreading it after catching the look she sent her in the hallway. She doesn’t want to upset Vickie, but she’s upsetting her friends in the meantime. 

Robin has no idea what to do.

“Are your parents home?” Robin asks, eyeing the girl as they turn onto her street.

“No, they work late mondays and thursdays, won’t be home til 9.” Vickie responds evenly, pulling into her drive.

“Okay.” Robin nods, breathing in deeply before following the girl quickly into her house.

“Can I call home first? If Steve shows up at the hospital to pick me up and I’m not there he’ll freak. I’ll just leave a message, he has an answering machine.” Robin asks timidly, shuffling on her feet.

“Whatever, just don’t tell him where you are, and for the love of god stop fidgeting.” Vickie responds, rolling her eyes as she heads for the stairs.

Robin breathes out, stalling her fidgeting as she rushes for the phone, dialing home.

“Hey Steve, it’s me, I’m okay, I’m safe. I’ll be home later, I- I’m- bye.” Robin breathes, hanging up the phone. 

She heads towards the stairs, and sees Vickie’s door open, knowing the girl was definitely listening in. Breathing in deeply, she heads up the stairs. Closing the door behind her, she presses her back to it and watches Vickie tensely.

“What exactly did Nancy ask you about earlier?” Vickie asks, voice even.

“I’ve um, I’ve been avoiding her. She was asking me why.” Robin responds, crossing her arms over herself.

“And what did you say?” Vickie asks, quirking her brow.

“I just said I didn’t mean to, which is a lie, because I did.” Robin huffs, looking down at the floor.

“Are you serious right now?” Vickie asks, sighing loudly as she steps forward.

“I could lose everything, I could get beaten up just for being with you and you’re pissy you can’t talk to the girl you keep flirting with in front of me?” Vickie continues, voice more angry as she gets in Robin’s space. 

“She’s my friend, my good friend and I’ve been ignoring her for you. I just possibly ruined my friendship with Eddie as well today.” Robin frowns angrily.

“How is that my fault?” Vickie asks, referring to the Eddie comment.

“I didn’t! It’s- I don’t know I’m just, I’m not myself. I’m angry and resentful and that’s not me.” Robin says, sighing heavily.

“Are you saying that’s because of me?” Vickie asks, eyes dangerous.

“I’m just…. saying how I feel.” Robin responds, looking down at her feet, still pressed against the door.

“How dare you try to say I have anything to do with what’s going on in your head. I’m risking everything for you. My parents would disown me if they knew I was…. If they knew I was with someone like you .” Vickie spits.

“Vickie I didn’t mean-” Robin tries, shaking slightly as the girl gets angrier.

“You made me a dyke just like you, you did this . I had a boyfriend before you, I was normal . I drop everything for you, to be with you, I risk my life , and you tell me you’re unhappy and it’s my fault?” Vickie shouts, crossing her arms. 

Robin flinches harshly at the slur, eyes welling up as Vickie continues on. She felt… guilty, and awful. The self hatred for your sexuality is something Robin can really understand, she went through the same thing not long ago, and she was alone for that.

“I-I just thought that a relationship would be less… tense.” Robin breathes, arms wrapped around herself as she hunches over slightly.

“This isn’t some stupid romance movie, this is real life Robin. This is real for people like us. We don’t get fairytales, we barely get rights .” Vickie spits, waving her arms around angrily.

“Y-you’re right.” Robin nods, breathing in shakily.

“I think Nancy might be onto us.” Vickie breathes after a moment, a little calmer now.

“Oh?” Robin asks, straightening up.

“She looked at me weirdly earlier, after you two… spoke.” Vickie responds, eyeing Robin carefully.

“Okay, I mean I don’t think she’d tell anyone-” Robin starts, only to be cut off by Vickie slamming her fist into the door right next to Robin’s head, causing her to yelp in fear.

“I’m not having this conversation with you again about your friends!” Vickie shouts angrily, retracting her fist slowly.

“What do you expect to happen Vickie? That we just never tell a soul the rest of our lives?” Robin asks, raising her own voice this time.

“Just not for now Robin, I don’t get to tell my friends either you know.” Vickie spits, face darkening at the girl's tone.

“I know that! But I should get to tell my friends about my girlfriend! We should tell people we know would be okay with it! I want Steve to know, and Eddie and also Nancy-” Robin again gets cut off, this time for a very different reason.

This time Vickie slaps her directly across the face, and hard.

“I didn’t want to have to do that, you just make me so mad sometimes, I had to do it, I had no control.” Vickie says, softer this time as her arms wrap around a heavily shaking Robin.

Robin was facing away from the girl holding her cheek, and flinched as she felt arms wrap around her. The arms were persistent, and eventually Robin stopped fighting them.

“I love you, I love you baby.” Vickie coos, tightening her arms around Robin, smiling as she feels Robin weakly wrap her arms around her in return.

“Y-yeah?” Robin croaks, cheek still extremely sore as she presses the uninjured one into Vickie’s shoulder.

“So much, I’m the only one who could baby, I’m the only one you’ve got.” Vickie cooed.

“I didn’t want to do that, I swear, I didn’t want to.” Vickie continues, rubbing the girl’s back.

“O-Okay.” Robin breathes, nodding slightly.

“Lemme make it up to you?” Vickie asks, pulling back to grin at the girl.

Robin looks at the girl and nods eventually, assuming she meant by cuddling or something similar. Instead, she was dragged into a harsh kiss, one she had barely any time to react to before she was being walked back towards the bed. Robin landed in a heap on the bed, with Vickie right on top of her. 

Considering they had more time, Vickie happily stripped down to her underwear before practically tearing Robin’s clothes off. Robin was much happier having it less rushed and more natural for once. Usually when they had sex, Vickie was rougher than Robin was ready for, or she would hold her head so close to her that the taller girl could barely breathe. She usually preferred that to the former. 

This time, Vickie was actually taking her time to kiss and suck at her chest, and it felt really nice. She was even more gentle as she slid down to her center, it really did seem like she was trying to show she was sorry for slapping her. Things were going well, and Robin was close, really close.

And then things went to shit.

Vickie’s hand wraps around her throat tightly, squeezing at either side. Robin could still breathe, she knew she could, but panic set in anyway. She tries to stay present in the room, but soon her mind is reminding her of her battle with Vecna. Vickie’s hand slowly turned into the vines that tightly wound around her neck and kept her against the wall of the Creel house. The ceiling of Vickie's room slowly became the opposite wall of the Creel house, and she was watching her friends get trapped against it too, forced to watch the light drain from their faces.

She claws at the ‘vines’ in her panic.

“Shh shh, this will be really nice, you can still breathe, you’ll like it.” Vickie coos, squeezing tighter and ignoring Robin’s hands shakily gripping her wrist. 

Robin finishes seconds later from Vickie's fingers buried in her, and the hand around her throat disappears, leaving Robin gasping for air. She immediately bursts out into tears, her vision returning from the dark place her mind sent her, watching Vickie wipe her wetness from her fingers onto Robin’s stomach. 

“Yeah, it can be a big rush afterwards.” Vickie says with a slight laugh, bending down to kiss the still crying girl on her lips.

Robin’s hand brushes across her throat as she catches her breath, reminding herself she’s not back there, she’s here, in bed with her girlfriend. Vickie lifts Robin’s leg up slightly, straddling it.

“Okay don’t move, that was really hot.” Vickie breathes, beginning to ride Robin’s thigh.

Robin just lays on her back, staring up at the ceiling, tears slowly drying into nothing as her mind blanks out. She barely registers Vickie orgasming minutes later, before dropping down next to her. 

“I don’t think I liked that.” Robin whispers, heart still thumping her in chest.

“You seemed to like it from my angle, you came like super hard.” Vickie snorts, rubbing her hand across Robin’s bare stomach. 

“Right.” Robin breathes, staring up at the ceiling again.

-----------------

Robin ended up missing visiting Max completely. She felt awful about it, but by the time she had showered at Vickie's, and had Vickie apply make-up to the reddened skin of her cheek and explained how to do it herself, visiting hours were over. 

She knows that El visits her during school hours, considering Hopper hasn’t determined if it was safe for her to attend school in Hawkins just yet. At least she had someone up today.

Robin walked home, needing some air. It wasn’t like she had to convince Vickie much anyways, the girl was fine with her walking home. It took awhile to walk from Vickie's home, the girl lived the completely opposite side of time to Steve. 

It took almost two hours to walk home, so she got back at about 9pm. 

She was already planning what she had in the fridge to eat, she was starving. She opens the front door carefully, closing it quietly behind her. There was a lot of chatting happening in the living room, but the TV was much louder. Robin shrugs her jacket off, and in that time she realises whoever is inside is watching ghostbusters. Slipping off her shoes to not make any noise, she hovers in the dark hallway, peering into her living room. Steve, Eddie, Dustin, Mike, Lucas and Will were all huddled around the TV. 

Right, they had a movie night planned tonight.

Usually it’s on Fridays, but recently Steve had to work the closing shift which finished at 11 on Fridays. Instead of cancelling, they just decided to have it on Thursdays from now on, with a promise to parents that the kids would be home before 11.

Robin used to join them, but today she could think of nothing worse. She felt… out of place, all of the sudden. 

Steve notices her first, he always does. He gives her the most awkward smile, making Robin feel worse. Robin returns it, but it was definitely more of a grimace. His eyes screamed relief though, he probably assumed she wouldn’t come home tonight at all. Robin then makes eye contact with Eddie, who quickly fits his eyes back to the screen, Robin catches the hurt expression anyway.

Robin bites her lip and it’s probably the only thing to stop her from sobbing right there in the hallway. Steve gestures his head silently, beckoning her to come in and sit with them. Robin can only shake her head no, before now gaining Dustin’s attention.

“Robin! We’re watching Ghostbusters and we’ve got pizza!” The boy grins happily, bringing the other boys in the room attention over to her.

Robin only ducks her head, turning to bee line for the stairs.

“What the hell was her problem?” Mike asks, stuffing his face with a slice of pizza.

“Girls man, girls.” Lucas shrugs, mouth full of pizza too.

Will makes a disgusted face at them before turning to look at the empty spot where the girl disappeared from, before turning to make eye contact with Steve. The older boy can only shrug helplessly, shooting a quick glance to Eddie next to him. Will takes him in, he’s now tense when he was relaxed, and his eyes look a bit glossy.

Will shoots one last glance at Steve before Dustin hits him gently in the face with a pillow.

“Pay attention, you’re missing the best part!” Dustin complains, pointing at the screen.

“Right, sorry.” Will shrugs, turning back to the screen.

Chapter Text

“Here we are.” Steve announces, pulling up into the parking lot of the hospital.

“Thank you.” Robin says quietly, looking over at the boy briefly, unbuckling her seat.

“Anytime Rob.” Steve responds, flashing an awkward smile towards the girl.

It was Friday afternoon after school, and Robin still hasn’t spoken more than a polite conversation to Steve. He hadn’t brought up anything because he didn’t want to upset her more, and she had no idea how to bring it up in the first place. Everything felt awkward and stiff at home, and Robin had spent as long as she could in her room until she had to leave for school.

Assuming she had to walk, the girl had trudged her way downstairs early only for Steve to awkwardly point at some scrambled eggs and toast he made, pushing it towards her and stating they’d be leaving in 30. When he dropped her off, he let her know he’d drop her over to Max before he worked the closing shift. 

“I-I’m sorry, for yelling at you.” Robin practically mumbles, fidgeting with her hands on her lap before stopping herself.

Vickie says that’s annoying and weird.

“Don’t be, I shouldn’t have had both of them ask you on the same day, that was my bad.” Steve sighs, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“I still shouldn’t have yelled.” Robin frowns, glancing over at the boy.

“They didn’t just talk to you because I asked them to, they really care about you Rob.” Steve says carefully, eyeing her carefully.

“I-I’m okay, it’s- it’s just been an off week.”  Robin sighs, looking out the window.

“I’m here if you need to talk to somebody, about anything, anytime.” Steve says gently.

“Thanks Steve, I love you.” Robin responds, reaching over to grip the boy's jacket sleeve tightly.

“I love you too Rob.” Steve smiles, a real one this time.

------------------------------------

“What’s going on with you?” Max questions, frowning at the girl.

“I’m trying to teach you Spanish.” Robin sighs, plopping the girl’s book onto her mini table that pulls across the bed.

“You’re acting weird.” Max deadpans, staring at the girl at not the page.

“Gee thanks.” Robin huffs, using her pencil to poke at the page, trying to get the girl’s attention on it.

“I don’t mean it like that, you just seem tense or something.” Max continues, rolling her eyes as she drops her gaze to the book.

“Well I’m not.” Robin says defensively, grip tightening on her pencil.

“If you don’t wanna be here, you don’t have to be. I don’t need your pity or whatever.” Max snaps impatiently, sitting back in her seat.

“I- what? No Max, that’s not it at all, I asked to do this because I like hanging out with you.” Robin answers, dropping her pencil to look at the girl fully.

Max searches her eyes for a second, probably looking for honestly, before deflating slightly.

“Then what the hell is going on with you?” Max asks, gentler this time. 

Robin sighs, looking over at the girl. She figures Max wouldn’t be the type to tell other people’s secrets. She wouldn’t even really say it was a secret, but it was something… private. Either way, the girl was never one to spill people’s secrets, not ever.

“I just…. You can’t tell anyone, no one knows about this and I just need to figure some stuff out.” Robin breathes, looking at the girl so seriously it stunned Max.

“Totally.” Max nods, turning to face the girl properly.

“I’m seeing someone.” Robin says, breathing out a breath of relief at finally admitting it.

“Steve?” Max guesses, sitting forward with wide interested eyes.

“God no, he’s like my brother.” Robin responds, making a disgusted face.

“Eddie then?” Max smirks, eyeing the girl.

“Stop! No! It’s… just someone from school, someone else. ” Robin says.

“Okay okay, so what about him?” Max asks, smirk dropping.

“Well… He’s… um, private. I was asked not to tell Steve or-or anyone, I guess that’s affecting me a bit more than I’d like to admit.” Robin says, looking down at her lap, feeling weird at using ‘he’, but knowing it made it easier.

“Oh, why?” Max asks, frowning in thought.

“He’s just a private person, he hates gossip.” Robin shrugs, biting her lip.

“Anything else?” Max asks, tilting her head.

“I’ve just felt… off, since starting to date. This is my first relationship, like ever. He’s the first person to really show interest in me. I mean, Steve confessed that he had a crush to me, but we had just survived Russian torture together, I think he thought he liked me more than he actually did.” Robin says, breathing deeply.

“I’m sorry, Russian torture?” Max asks incredulously, eyebrows raised.

“Another story for another time.” Robin waves her off, eyes guarded in a way Max was all too familiar with.

“Okay okay, so, first person who likes you, keep going.” Max instructs, waving her non casted hand in front of her. 

“I guess I hoped for more magic? I know it sounds silly, but I thought I’d see fireworks with my first kiss, I thought I’d be lovesick and drowning in happiness for the first few weeks. I guess I’m too much of a romantic and not enough of a realist, or maybe I never accounted for the sheer amount of trauma I’d have by the time I was in a relationship.” Robin says quietly, biting her lip.

“I don’t think it’s silly, I think it’s sweet.” Max responds, shrugging slightly.

“I’ve liked him for so long, since the start of senior year. I never thought he’d ever like me back. He’s the only person to ever look at me that way, properly anyway. He’s definitely the only person who has wanted to kiss me.” Robin continues, looking over at the girl.

“Just because he’s the first person you’ve come across who likes you, doesn’t mean he’s going to be the only one, or that he’s right for you.” Max says sincerely, reaching out to drop her good hand onto Robin’s wrist.

“I don’t know about that Max.” Robin says quietly, eyes sad as she looks past the redhead’s head.

“I feel like there’s still someone you’re leaving out.” Max pushes gently, eyeing the girl.

“Yeah, I am.” Robin sighs, too tired to lie completely anymore.

“Why?” Max asks simply.

“I- it’s complicated Max.” Robin hesitates, looking down at her lap.

“Try me.” Max responds seriously.

“I can’t.” Robin frowns, sitting back and away from the girl.

“Robin-” Max tries before being interrupted.

“No Max! Now either we learn some Spanish or I’m going home.” Robin snaps, frowning deeply at the girl.

“Then I guess I’ll see you Monday.” Max says angrily, crossing her arms.

“Fine.” Robin huffs, standing up and storming out of the room without looking back.

“Fuck.” Max curses, slamming her good fist down onto the book harshly in anger. 

------------------------------------------------

There’s yet another person added to the list of people Robin has snapped at. I mean what the hell was wrong with her? It felt amazing to finally tell someone she was dating someone else, but the second she said it she regretted it so much. She couldn’t even say she was dating another girl, it all just felt so… wrong. 

And she snapped at a bedridden kid, great.

Robin had to walk home, considering Steve was working. She didn’t mind originally, except it completely poured down unexpectedly not too long into her walk. The walk was close to an hour, and she was soaked to the bone barely halfway in. She never even wore a jacket, considering it was a nice temperature outside.

At the halfway mark Robin was pulled from her thoughts by a car beeping at her.

She tenses quickly, assuming it was Vickie. Turning, she was pleasantly surprised to see that it was actually Nancy. The girl was frantically waving her over into the passenger seat, leaning across to open the door for the soaked girl.

“Thanks Nance.” Robin breathes, pulling the door closed behind her.

“Jesus you’re soaked! And shivering! Lemme get you home.” Nancy breathes, wide eyes taking in just how waterlogged the poor girl was.

“I’m sorry about your seat.” Robin grimaces, shivering heavily as she adjusts to being out of the rain.

“Don’t even worry about that Rob.” Nancy waves her off, turning up the heat to try to help with her shivering.

They drive to Robin and Steve’s was relatively silent, mainly filled with Robin fiddling with the radio while Nancy smiles softly at her actions. They pull up after a few minutes, and Robin hesitates before leaving the car.

“Do you wanna come in? Steve is working late and I-I don’t really want to be alone?” Robin asks, turning to the girl hesitantly.

“I’d love to! I-I mean yeah, that would be nice.” Nancy says, flushing at her enthusiasm.

“Awesome.” Robin smiles happily, opening the door and rushing forward towards the front door to open it quickly so Nancy doesn’t get too wet. 

Robin just about steps into the hallway before Nancy barrels into her back in her haste to get out of the rain. Nancy grips Robin’s waist tightly in order to right herself.

“Oomff.” Robin breathes out, stumbling forward slightly.

“Sorry! Sorry, the rain ruins my hair.” Nancy rushes to apologise, still glued to Robin’s back.

“D-Don’t worry about it Nance.” Robin stutters, stiffening slightly when she realises Nancy’s hands are still on her hips.

Nancy rips her hands away when she realises, turning to close the door behind her and takes her time to take her shoes off. Robin follows the girl, grabbing them and popping them upside down on the nearest radiator to dry, considering they soaked through with the rain. 

“I’m just gonna change my clothes.” Robin says, turning back to take in a blushing Nancy.

“You should shower, I don’t want you getting a cold.” Nancy says, crossing her arms lightly.

“Okay mom.” Robin grins, turning to head towards the stairs.

“There’s food and beer in the kitchen, and movies in the living room. Make yourself at home!” Robin announces, rushing up the stairs to have her shower.

By the time Robin returns, dressed in fresh grey sweatpants and an oversized dark green sweater she definitely stole from Steve, Nancy was relaxed on the couch sipping a beer.

“Do you ever not steal clothes from Steve?” Nancy asks, grinning at the girl.

“Nope, he doesn’t even complain about it anymore.” Robin responds, chuckling lightly.

“So I cracked us both a beer, I put popcorn in the microwave and sixteen candles in the vcr.” Nancy smiles, handing the girl a beer as she sits down.

“Wow, weekend Nancy knows how to relax huh?” Robin jokes, sitting down next to her.

“I guess, does weekend Robin?” Nancy asks with a grin, looking over at the girl.

“I don’t think so, no.” Robin answers honestly, smiling at the girl.

“Well then Buckley, you better learn from the master.” Nancy grins slyly, a glint in her eye Robin hasn’t seen before.

She couldn't be flirting could she?

Robin blushes heavily anyway.

----------------------------------------------------

After the movie they just ended up talking about everything and anything. Robin complained heavily about her French teacher, who refused to get her a score of 100 despite her being fluent in the language. 

“I’m telling you Nance, she just hates that I’m better at her than the language, I correct her grammar all the time you know!” Robin complained, pouting deeply.

“Wait wait, you’re fluent in French?” Nancy had asked, eyes wide in surprise.

“I’m fluent in three actually, Italian and Spanish too.” Robin answers easily.

“You’re something else Robin Buckley.” Nancy breathes, completely impressed.

Nancy herself complained about her new number two Henry in the paper, who constantly tries to go against her decisions.

“Seriously, it’s like he can’t handle that a woman knows more than him.” Nancy said with an eye roll, taking a gulp from her beer.

“Why did he even accept the position then! He knew you were the head of the paper!” Robin said incredulously, shaking her head.

“That’s what I said!” Nancy agrees loudly, giggling along with Robin.

Robin felt light, for the first time in a long time. She eventually started feeling guilty for it, I mean shouldn’t she feel that with her girlfriend? She can’t bring herself to ask Nancy to leave though, she hasn’t smiled or laughed in this long and she really misses her friend. 

“How have you been, after everything?” Robin asks, much later, biting into a piece of pizza they ordered.

“Better, I think. It can be hard to sleep sometimes.” Nancy answers carefully.

“I get that, but I can’t imagine what it was like for you though.” Robin responds softly.

“Do you do that a lot?” Nancy asks gently, tilting her head at the girl.

“Do what?” Robin asks, looking at the girl.

“Deflect.” Nancy answers easily.

“Uh- what do you mean?” Robin asks, biting her lip.

“You always put your experiences down or make them out to be less important than other peoples.” Nancy supplies softly.

“You’ve been at this longer than me, Nance. I wasn’t Vecna’d, I haven’t lost anyone, it feels wrong to talk about my experience to you or Steve because of that.” Robin answers honestly, the beers she had loosening her up. 

“It shouldn’t Rob, this shit is traumatising, even if you’ve only witnessed one day of it. Stop putting your experiences down, I mean that.” Nancy responds earnestly.

“If you say so.” Robin responds softly, biting her lip.

“I do say so.” Nancy nods confidently, smiling softly at the girl which Robin returns.

“Tell me something, anything, something you haven’t really spoken about with- with everything.” Nancy says gently, eyeing the girl carefully.

“I guess I could tell you about the Russians? I realised today no one actually knows about that, except Erica and Dustin. Well, Steve does but I mean we went through that together.” Robin says quietly, looking down at her lap.

Nancy just silently places her hand on top of Robin’s arm, waiting patiently for her to continue.

“Steve and I, we found the secret Russian base underneath the lab. I had no idea about the upside down or anything like that. I pushed for Dustin to let me help crack the Russian code he heard because I was bored and I’m good with languages.” Robin starts, looking straight ahead at the wall.

“I know Steve feels guilty about letting me get involved, he’s said as much, during the nights right after everything. But we genuinely didn’t think it was real. Once I cracked it, I knew it had to be real. We got so caught up in it, you know? We assumed they were smuggling drugs or weapons in, hell even alcohol or something. But instead it was this crazy elevator. We accidentally set it off, and we ended up in their base.” Robin continues. 

“Jesus.” Nancy breathes, enthralled.

“Anyways we snuck around, trying to figure out what was happening down there, stupid I know. We got caught, I mean we’re a bunch of kids and they’re trained Russian soldiers. Steve and I stayed behind, holding them off long enough so the kids could get away. We hoped they’d find a way out of there, but they actually were coming up with a plan to save us.” Robin smiles fondly.

“Steve got tortured in a room down the hall, for hours. I could hear him screaming, and I couldn’t do anything because I was tied down to a chair. When they brought him back in, he was passed out. I was convinced he was dead, and that I was staring at his dead body. And then they tied him to my back and I thought oh my god, his dead body is strapped to me . I was scared, and I was angry so I spit in the general's face.” Robin says, breathing in deeply.

“Seriously? You spat in the boss's face?” Nancy asks with a small gasp, sitting forward.

“Yeah, I have no idea where that came from. Anyways, they ended up injecting us with a truth serum type thing, and we got sooo high . Dustin and Erica ended up saving us before they could pull our fingernails off or anything. But there’s something that happened- or I guess almost happened, that I guess I refused to think about for a while.” Robin says, hesitating.

“You can tell me Rob, I’m right here.” Nancy says softly, squeezing the girl’s arm gently.

“Just before they burst in, the general he- he kinda- he kinda threatened to- to rape me. I-I don’t know if he would actually do it or if it was just a scare tactic to make me spill all the details before the serum properly kicked in. He walked towards me and was.. staring at my legs. Steve was shouting at him, saying he’d tell him everything if he didn’t touch me. That’s when Dustin walked in and tased that asshole's ass. Any time Steve tried to bring it up afterwards I told him it was fine, that I knew it was a bluff, but I was so scared Nance.” Robin says quietly, voice breaking at the end.

“Oh Rob, I’m so so sorry.” Nancy breathes, pulling the girl in for a tight hug.

“I’m just so thankful for Dustin, so I didn’t have to find out if it was a bluff or not.” Robin mumbles in the girl’s shoulder.

“Me too, me too.” Nancy agrees softly, rubbing the girl’s back.

They stay in the warm embrace for a few minutes, Robin practically clinging to Nancy’s back.

“I’m really sorry for pulling away from you.” Robin mumbles quietly.

“Does that mean you’ll stop?” Nancy asks just as quietly.

“Yeah.” Robin nods, still tucked into Nancy’s neck.

“Good, my weeks been shit without you.” Nancy smiles, arms tightening around the girl.

“Me too.” Robin mumbles, snuggling in.

Chapter Text

“Hey Eddie!” Robin greets with an awkward wave and smile, looking at the boy who was about to walk past her in the hallway while she was at her locker.

“Oh- hey Robin.” Eddie responds just as awkwardly, stopping in front of her.

“How’s your first day back?” Robin asks, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

“Eh- well, I haven’t even had first period yet-so-” Eddie awkwardly fumbles, gripping the strap of his bag.

“Oh! Y-Yeah, makes sense, heh.” Robin responds, face reddening in embarrassment as she rubs the back of her neck, a habit she picked up from Steve.

“I’ll see you around.” Eddie says evenly, eyes dropping to the floor as he pushes himself off of the locker he naturally leaned against.

“Eddie, wait! I’m- I’m just really sorry about-” Robin rushed frantically, reaching out to grip the boys around before retracting.

“Don’t worry about it, like you said we’re barely friends, no reason I should be upset then.” Eddie shrugs, a pained smile on his face before he continues to walk down the hallway.

“I didn’t- that’s not- Eddie!” Robin sputters after him, groaning at herself for not being able to get one clear coherent sentence out.

She’s really fucked it this time. He never calls her Robin, not even before spring break. She was always Buckley to him, plus he was never that awkward with her, ever. Since spring break he usually mixes in Buck, or during their deep conversations, even Rob. He also called her Robbie while drunk once, but refuses to admit it. 

Fuck.

She keeps her head down on the way to first period, gripping her backpack tightly as she tries her best not to cry right there and then. I mean she did this to herself, he was only making sure she was okay. She doesn’t even know why she lost it. They’re right, she’s not okay, and she doesn’t even know why she’s lying about that. All she’s been doing lately is lying . 

She doesn’t even feel like she knows herself anymore. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robin wants nothing more than to fall into bed and sleep her day away. Monday evenings meant she went over to Vickies place, with her parents working late. Robin hasn’t seen her since Thursday, considering she had to work over the weekend at family video. 

She wished she could skip it, and that made her feel super guilty. She’s had this pit in her stomach ever since Nancy left on Friday. Robin felt so good with her, it was so easy to talk to her about things that usually take Steve all night to get her to talk about. She feels guilty, because she can’t talk to her girlfriend about them.

While yes, Vecna is dead, and the government has backed off with some paperwork signed and money thrown their way, it still doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous to talk about with new people. Not only that, but it’s a lot to put onto someone’s shoulders for the first time, the last thing she wants to do is drag Vickie down with her. 

Robin can’t speak with a therapist about anything upside down related, and unfortunately that’s where most of her trauma lies. Sure, her family situation sucks, but not living there anymore has flooded her with so much relief. 

Speaking of, she never even left her parents a note to say she was moving away, and there hasn’t been one call to the police over it. It’s been months . Whatever. 

She’s better off, and recently she’s been feeling that they’re better off too.

------------------------------------------

Nancy was walking down the halls, her destination being the newsroom. Thanks to her useless number two, she had so much more work to do than she should have. She isn’t too sure why she cares so much, I mean she’s always cared about it, but since Spring break she’s treating this like the New York Times. 

She supposes it’s easier to focus on than all of her nightmares.

Everytime she walks into the newsroom now she thinks of Fred. Whenever Henry suggests a stupid heading that has the whole team cringing, she thinks of the sly remark Fred would make in her ear about him. Anytime she finalises the front page, she thinks of the alternate one Fred always made, but never was serious about using. He never actually second guessed her, he never spoke over her or for her. 

And yeah, Nancy knew he had a big crush on her.

He always used to talk about how she deserved better than Jonathan as a partner, that she needed someone who understood how brilliant she was. He always talked her up when she doubted herself. Sometimes she thinks of how similar Robin’s pep talks are to the ones he used to give. It would give her hope that her ridiculously giant crush wasn’t one sided. 

Jonathan was a great boyfriend, so great in fact that when Nancy broke down one night and cried about the fact she realised she was gay, he just hugged her tight and said he was proud of her. Not even a day after they decided to stay friends, he immediately picked up on her gigantic crush for Robin. Sometimes she forgets they even dated, mainly because he turned into a giggly middle schooler anytime Robin was in the same room as them. So much so that Robin thought he had a crush on her . 

It was a bit of a mess to be honest.

Walking into the newsroom, thoughts swirling, she peaks around the empty room. It was the end of the day, so she didn’t expect to see anyone else from the paper here working on it. Fred would stay back with her, spend lunch here with her too. She looks over at the memorial photo she hung for him above the printer. 

She misses him.

Sighing slightly, Nancy shakes herself from her thoughts, and drops her bag into a nearby chair so she could get started. She worked in silence for a while before the door creaked open. Looking up, she’s pleasantly surprised to see Eddie in front of her.

“Hey Wheeler.” Eddie nods, coming over and sitting up on the table next to her.

“You okay?” Nancy asks gently, placing the paper down in front of her to look at him.

“Do I have to not be okay to come see my favourite Wheeler?” Eddie asks, grinning at the girl.

“I suppose not, how was your first day?” Nancy asks, pushing the paper away carefully before sitting up next to him.

“Just peachy, everyone was staring at me all day, everyone except our kids and Gareth left Hellfire, what else? Oh yeah! Sometime painted murderer in red on my locker, and no doubt over my van too.” Eddie retells, rolling his eyes. 

“Assholes, all those charges were dropped months ago when we framed Jason.” Nancy responds, rolling her eyes too.

“Yeah well, hard to look past the murderer thing I guess. Easier to still look at me with Jason dead, may he burn in hell.” Eddie shrugs, grinning slightly at Nancy’s chuckle to his statement on Jason. 

“Still, want me to shoot them with my shotgun?” Nancy offers with a grin.

“I’ll hide the bodies.” Eddie grins widely, knocking his shoulder into hers.

“We’d be unstoppable.” Nancy laughs, Eddie joining in.

“You really are my favourite Wheeler.” Eddie says with a smile.

“You’re just saying that cause I have guns.” Nancy smirks, hopping off of the table.

“Plural. Who fucking knew.” Eddie chuckles, shaking his head as he also hops off of the table.

--------------------------------------------

Robin waits outside the hospital with a pit in her stomach. Her tutoring session with Max was normal, like their Friday fight never happened. She’s too anxious and awkward to bring it up, especially with Max acting like it never happened. She thinks Max is just as awkward as her for some things. 

Robin just hates leaving things unsaid, it makes no sense in her head. She supposes that’s why she has the pit in her stomach. Vickie was a little late picking her up too, and she hated when someone wouldn’t be there when they said they would be, even if it’s just by a few minutes. Seh was supposed to be there at 4 to get here, but there was no sign of her. That’s another weird quirk of hers she needs to move past I guess. She lied to Steve again saying that she had band practice until late in one of her bandmates' houses. It was such a bad lie, but Steve believed it, because to him she never lies. 

Except now all she does is lie.

Vickie eventually pulls up at 4:12, Robin checked her watch, and she rushes into the car. The car ride was nice, Robin felt the knot in her stomach loosening the more they joked and laughed about different teachers they didn’t like. It felt so normal, it was really nice. 

They get to Vickie’s house after a little bit, and head inside and straight up to her room. Robin was so tired, she really just wanted to relax and maybe watch a movie. Vickie heads over to grab a movie, one she barely glanced at before throwing it into her vcr. Robin always thought it was pretty cool that Vickie had her own TV in her room.

Robin sits down on the bed, shuffling to get comfortable so she can watch the movie. The opening credits come on, and she’s trying to guess what movie is on just as Vickie drops into her lap, pulling her in for a harsh kiss. 

Robin makes a noise in surprise, her arms instinctively wrapping around Vickies back. The redhead shoves her backwards on the bed, falling with her. Her hands run straight up Robin’s shirt, immediately going into her bra and squeezing her boobs, a bit too tightly. Robin hisses, trying to pull away from her lips to ask her to stop.

Vickie drops one of her hands straight down into her jeans, rubbing over her panties. Robin grips at her hand there tightly.

“Vickie, stop.” Robin managed to get out against her lips.

Vickie only took that opportunity to shove her tongue into the girl's mouth, her hand now moving to dip into her underwear. Robin continued to try to pull the hand out, but the angle made it difficult for her. As she felt her fingers dip close to her entrance, Robin had enough. She knew it would hurt, again , so she instinctively shoved Vickie back, hard.

The only way to really get her off was to shove her to the side, and unintentionally she sent Vickie flying off of the bed and onto the floor.

“What the fuck Robin?!” Vickie shouts, clambering up off of the floor.

“I-I asked you to stop, I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to push you off the bed.” Robin apologises, sitting up and facing the girl.

“Don’t you ever do that again, do you hear me? I could’ve gotten hurt .” Vickie spits, reaching out and gripping the girl’s hair tightly, causing Robin to yelp out in pain.

“I’m s-sorry, please I- I really didn’t mean to.” Robin pleads, wincing heavily in pain.

“Do you even want me?” Vickie asks, dropping her hand from her hair.

“I-I’m just really t-tired a-and I thought w-we could c-cuddle-” Robin hiccups, tears streaming down her face.

“Do you think we’re 12? Robin, you know that when you come here it’s for sex. That’s what adults do.” Vickie responds, condescendingly. 

“W-What about dates?” Robin asks, voice small as she wipes her cheeks.

“Maybe if you actually tried to be a good girlfriend, I’d take you out more.” Vickie says coldly, crossing her arms. 

“I-I’m sorry.” Robin says quietly, looking down at her lap as she fidgets with her rings.

“And for god sake stop doing that shit!” Vickie snaps, voice raising so suddenly that Robin jumps harshly.

“Sorry.” Robin says, dropping her head down to look at her lap, sitting on her hands instead.

Vickie leans down and grips Robin’s jaw tightly, pulling it up so that they make eye contact.

“You’re so incredibly difficult to love, you know that right?” Vickie says softly, though her words cut deep.

Robin’s eyes fill with tears again. That’s the exact same thing Robin’s mother used to tell her after a meltdown, and now her girlfriend is saying it. 

“You always make me the villain, when all I’m trying to do is love you Robin.” Vickie sighs, still keeping a hold on Robin's face. 

Tears fall down Robin’s face silently, she was trying desperately to keep it together, but the truth really fucking hurts. She’s reminded of when she little and so desperate for her mother’s affection, that she would let her say the most hurtful things, because she would let Robin cling to her middle for a minute or two before she’d push her away by her shoulders, and tell her to grow up.

“I mean seriously Robin? I’m the only one who could love you and you are always treating me like this? Sometimes I think that you’d be better off alone-” Vickie starts, walking towards her bedroom door.

“No!! Please don’t leave me! I’m so sorry!” Robin shouts, scrambling off of the bed, rushing forward to the girl.

Robin drops to her knees, completely missing Vickies satisfied smirk as she wraps her arms tightly around the girl's middle. Vickie drags her fingers through Robin’s hair gently, listening to Robin as the taller girl repeats ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again into her stomach. 

Eventually, hands grip at her shoulders, pushing over backwards and down onto her heels.

“You know how to make it up to me.” Is all Vickie says, dropping her hands to her sides.

Without even wiping the tears from her cheeks, Robin rushes forward to open the girl’s jean button, hurrying to pull them and her underwear down to make everything okay again. She shoved her face into Vickie’s crotch, not even wincing when the redhead’s hand winds its way into her hair tightly, pushing her in closer.

Yet again, she misses Vickie’s smirk of satisfaction as she rushes to open her jeans and make things right.

---------------------------------------------------

“Are you sure this is okay?” El asks, worried eyes focused on Max.

“Look, something is going on with her okay? She shouted at me, and she never shouts at anyone. Just please? Don’t like, spy spy, is there a way to see how she’s feeling?” Max asks, sitting forward.

“I think so, I can contact the Robin inside her mind.” El nods, taking her makeshift blindfold and tying it around her eyes.

“This may take awhile, without the water.” El continues, crossing her legs in front of her on the bed. 

“Take all the time you need.” Max nods, picking up her discarded comic book and reading through it, eyeing El every so often. 

Max thinks maybe 20 minutes had gone by before El started to stir, a large frown forming on her face. Max held her tongue, not wanting to mess with El’s focus, but desperate to ask what she was seeing.

“I found her.” El states softly, frown deepening.

“Oh? What do you see?” Max asks, dropping her comic book back on her lap.

“She’s- she’s locked away.” El responds.

“Locked away?” Max asks, face scrunching up.

“In her mind. She’s in a… a metal box, with bars.” El answers shakily.

“How is she?” Max asks, biting her lip in worry.

“She’s sad, scared. She’s on the ground, hugging herself, and she’s crying.” El answers softly.

“Can you reach her?” Max asks, watching with bated breath as El attempts to make contact.

After a few minutes of silence, El pulls her blindfold off. Her eyes are wide and sad as she wipes the blood from her nose.

“I tried to talk to her, but she couldn’t hear me. I reached through the bars to try to touch her, but when I did she jumped away and started to cry harder. She shouted at me not to hurt her, so I left.” El says sadly.

“Shit.” Max breathes, pulling El in for a hug.

“What does this mean?” El asks from her spot in Max’s neck.

“I don’t know, but it can’t be anything good.” Max responds honestly.

She remembers flinching just like that at someone's touch, hell she still does it sometimes when she’s not expecting it. She only ever did that around Billy when he was mad, or even Billy’s dad, who never actually laid a hand on her, but she witnessed him beating Billy so many times that she was terrified of him. Was Robin’s parents abusive? But she doesn’t live there anymore, Steve told her Robin moved in the night she was dropped into the hospital. Not only that, but she’s only been acting this way since leaving her parents house.

There was no way on this planet that Steve would ever lay a finger on her in that way, so that only left one more option in Max’s brain.

Robin’s boyfriend.

Chapter Text

It was a Tuesday afternoon and Robin was walking through the hospital ward she had memorised at this point. She usually tries to come everyday after school, so that Max doesn’t fall too far behind on anything. She’s doing well with everything except for Spanish. Robin may have changed a few of her answers to bump her grade up. What? If Max failed then they’d replace Robin as her tutor, plus she kind of stormed out halfway through tutoring her for Spanish anyway, she owed her. 

Robin finally makes it outside of Max’s room, greeting one of her regular nurses Sarah kindly before heading inside. Max was sitting at her desk, a stress ball squeezed in her recently uncasted hand. That’s right, Max was getting her arm cast off today, and then her leg casts off next week. She was due to be sent home a few days after that, once she established a Physical therapy routine. 

Robin wasn’t too sure what was happening there, both Max’s and Eddie’s trailers got ruined from the earthquake, she knows Eddie and Wayne are set up in a small house somewhere, but she wasn’t too sure about Max’s mom. Her mom was kind of an off limits topic, all Robin knew is that she has been barely up to visit. 

Robin noticed that Max was reading a comic book in her other hand, squinting heavily every so often. 

“Hey, everything okay?” Robin asks gently, walking in and over to her usual seat.

“Yeah, just been having these headaches that make my vision a bit blurry.” Max  responds, rubbing her eye as she drops the comic into her lap.

“Have you mentioned it to Sarah?” Robin asks, knowing she’s Max’s favourite. 

“Yeah, she said that I might need glasses now. My eyesight was 20/20 before all of this crap.” Max huffs, frowning deeply. 

“Your eyes did bleed, when-when I got to you.” Robin says carefully, knowing this is uncharted territory.

“Wait, you saw me? I thought you came out of the trailer gate.” Max asks, sitting forward.

“Eddie decided to be a hero and cut the rope so Dustin couldn’t come back in. A new, unstable gate opened after killing Vecna right in the Creel house. We uh- do you want me to continue?” Robin checks, looking over at her. 

“Please.” Max says softly, nodding. 

“Well, we came through the gate right into the ground floor. We heard Lucas screaming for help, but we also heard Erica screaming too. Steve was still in the upside down, he helped Eddie out with Dustin, so it was only Nance and I. I told Nancy to help Erica, and I ran upstairs.

When I came up, Lucas was holding you. You were so pale, your arm and legs were- well you know. You had blood spilling from your eyes, I’m guessing it’s because of how long he had you for. Lucas was keeping you up, so he couldn’t check your pulse, I did. The second I felt it, it was like adrenaline kicked in for me, I picked you up and out of Lucas’s arms, and we ran.

I probably would’ve tried to run all the way to the hospital, if it wasn’t for Nancy and Erica pulling up alongside the road in that damn RV we stole. I kept watch over you, Erica kept an eye on Lucas. When we got to the hospital, everyone was there already. I ignored Steve’s offer to help carry you, I ran right past him and started screaming for them to help you. Then they took you away, and none of us moved until we knew you were okay.” Robin finishes, breathing deeply.

“Shit, I didn’t know any of that.” Max says quietly.

“You didn’t seem to want to talk about it, and we didn’t want to push.” Robin shrugs, biting her lip.

“I just couldn’t keep hearing how sorry you all were, or-or the guilty looks. I never blamed any of you, I pushed to be the distraction.” Max says, sighing heavily.

“I understand that, we mainly feel guilty because had it gone exactly as we planned, you wouldn’t have been hurt at all. Right before we got in there to him, his vines trapped us to the walls. It got me first, and I swear I thought I was about to die. They let us go suddenly, but so long had passed, it was enough for you to be hurt, and enough for Eddie to be too.” Robin explains carefully. 

“I didn’t know that, I still don’t think you should feel guilty, but I understand it more now.” Max nods.

“If it helps kid, I think you’d look awesome with some glasses.” Robin says with a small smile, reaching into her bag for the girl’s homework.

“Whatever.” Max says, rolling her eyes fondly as she reaches for the pages.

They work efficiently for the next while, Robin patiently going through her maths and history work due, explaining a few different concepts. Eventually, Robin knew it was time for her to go, considering she had to walk home thanks to Steve working. 

“Alright, I have to cover tomorrow evening for Keith so I’ll be back Thursday okay? I’m gonna leave this here for you to work on.” Robin says, dropping two worksheets onto the girl’s table.

“Boo.” Max pouts, pushing the table away from her bed in protest.

“Hey, you’ll be back to school soon, can’t have you flunking out because of me.” Robin jokes, packing her bag away.

“Be a better teacher then.” Max smirks, picking up her stress ball again to squeeze a few times.

“I’m the best teacher you’ve ever had Maxie.” Robin rolls her eyes, standing up.

“Don’t call me that!” Max protests, frowning as she hears Robin’s laughter.

Robin puts her jacket on, grabbing her bag before heading towards the door. Before she can get out of the door, Max calls her back. The redhead suddenly looks really nervous.

“Sorry, I just really need to ask you something sort of awkward.” Max says, biting her lip.

“Okay, shoot.” Robin says, leaning in the doorway.

“Is your boyfriend hurting you?” Max asks after a few seconds of silence.

“Wait what?!” Robin practically shouts in surprise, dropping her bag accidentally.

“Just- don’t be mad okay?” Max starts, cringing slightly.

Robin gestures for her to continue, picking up her bag.

“I had El spy on you. Not-not like what you were doing or anything, just your um- your mind? I know it was such a breach of privacy, I was just really worried after you shouted at me.” Max explains, wincing at her delivery.

“What exactly did you see?” Robin asks, panic setting into her bones.

“El said the inner you was sad and scared, and when she tried to reach out you flinched and asked her not to hurt you.” Max responds honestly.

“Maybe my inner me was just scared that someone else was in there?” Robin offers, happy she kept her voice even.

“I just wanted to check because I know that kind of flinching, I did it around Billy. I know Steve would never touch you, just- please, I haven’t told anyone you’re seeing someone, but if I think he’s hurting you I will!” Max says seriously.

“No! He’s not- he- I swear, I’m not being beaten by him, Jesus I wouldn’t be with someone like that.” Robin says, placing her shaking hands into her pockets.

“Just because he doesn’t hit you doesn’t mean he’s not still hurting you.” Max says so seriously it stabs right through Robin.

“That’s- Max I promise, I promise he’s not doing anything. I just- everything with Vecna has really shaken me up, you know? I’ve been so busy making sure everyone else is okay, I haven’t really focused on keeping me okay. It’s all catching up to me. No one is hurting me, except for maybe myself.” Robin says, biting her lip to keep her rising panic down. 

“You can talk to me about it, you know.” Max offers, backing down from her original thought.

“You’re just a kid.” Robin says with a breathless chuckle, although nothing was funny.

“So are you really.” Max retorts, eyeing the girl’s now shaky appearance.

“I appreciate it Max, I do. I gotta- I gotta go.” Robin breathes, turning to rush out of the room.

Max was left staring at the spot she used to occupy. She can’t tell what was the truth and what wasn’t. She seemed genuine when she said he wasn’t hitting her, or even that he wasn’t hurting her in any way. Except her hands were shaking as she said it, and her eyes were wide with panic. None of this made any sense to her. 

She doesn’t want to break Robin’s trust, but she also couldn’t live with herself if she was right about her boyfriend and never said anything. 

Fuuucckkkkkk. 

--------------------------------------

Robin rushed out of that room so quickly on legs that felt like jelly. She has no idea where Max got that idea from. I mean sure Vickie slapped her once and sometimes pulled her hair, but she never means to. Robin just makes her so angry sometimes, but she always regrets it, always. She’d never be with someone who beat the shit out of her. Sometimes Vickies words hurt her, but the truth hurts. Nothing she says is a lie, Robin knows it. 

So why did she feel like she couldn’t breathe?

Maybe it’s because she knows she didn’t do a good job at calming Max’s worry, and now the girl will tell everyone she’s seeing someone. Steve will hate her when he finds out she’s been lying this whole time. Nancy might hate her too, she lied about being a virgin to her face. Hell Eddie already hated her. 

Fuck, what if Steve kicked her out? Where would she go? Back home? The streets? She didn’t know which one was worse for her. What if Max figures out she’s not dating a boy? Oh god what if everyone figures that out, I mean why would she hide a relationship with a boy?

Oh my god,

What if this gets back to Vickie ? 

Robin doesn’t remember getting outside the hospital, she only becomes aware of it as she slides down one of the walls, barely able to breathe and panic floods her system. She claws at her neck, almost like her survival instincts were screaming that she couldn’t breathe, that the vines were back. In actuality there was nothing, so instead she was scratching marks deeply into her bare neck without realising it.

Oh god oh god she’s going to have to tell Vickie what she told Max. She’s going to have to say that Max thinks she’s being abused. Oh she’s fucked up big time, oh god. 

Robin lets out a choked sob, trying to take in desperate breaths to no avail.

-----------------------------

Nancy pulls up to the hospital, ready to head in and see Max for a bit. She doesn’t get to come up as much as she’d like, so her visits are usually unpredictable. She also admittedly was a culprit of giving those guilty looks Max hates so much. She’s gotten way better at it now, now that the girl’s bones were healing and she was awake and alert.

The parking lot was pretty full, so she found herself having to park around the side of the hospital today instead. Getting out of her car, she starts to beeline it for the hospital entrance before hearing a weird noise to the side of the building. Walking closer to the large industrial bins that sit there, her eyes widen as she realises she recognised who the noise was coming from.

Right there on the ground was Robin, hyperventilating and sobbing on the ground. 

Nancy rushes over, dropping to her knees quickly as she takes in the girl’s appearance. 

“Robin! Robin, hey it’s Nancy, you’re okay.” Nancy coos softly, frowning as she notices Robin scratching at her neck.

Reaching over slowly, Nancy rests her hands on Robin’s, gently pulling them away from her neck.

“It’s okay, you’re okay. There’s no vines here, you can breathe, you’re safe.” Nancy says carefully, watching as Robin’s eyes snap to hers, unfocused.

“N-Nance?” Robin croaks out, heaving in a breath.

“Shh shh it’s me, let’s focus on your breathing okay?” Nancy says softly, leading Robin through a few deep breathing exercises. 

Eventually Robin’s panic slowly subsided, and her hands that were cradled firmly in Nancy’s hands so she wouldn’t hurt herself suddenly flew to Nancy’s shoulders, gripping her jacket. Nancy wastes no time and pulls the girl in for a tight embrace, rubbing her back as Robin clings to her.

“S-Sorry.” Robin croaks, wiping at her tears before gripping Nancy’s back again.

“Don’t be, do you wanna talk about it?” Nancy asks, frowning as Robin shakes her head quickly, her breathing picking up again.

“Okay okay, shh shh we don’t have to, it’s okay.” Nancy coos, rocking them slightly to calm the girl down.

“How about I take you home, huh?” Nancy offers, pulling back slightly to look at the girl’s neck.

It seems in her panic that she managed to break skin, her neck was full of angry red lines, as well as a bit of blood.

“W-What about M-Max?” Robin stutters, eyes dropping to her lap.

“I’ll come by tomorrow, she wasn’t expecting me. Come on.” Nancy says, standing up with the girl still in her arms. 

“Are you sure?” Robin asks quietly with wide eyes.

“I’m not leaving you like this, come on let’s get you home and cleaned up.” Nancy says gently, dropping her arms from around her just to grab Robin’s hand. 

Robin squeezes her hand tightly for reassurance as they head to her car. Nancy just squeezes back, smiling over at the girl. Robin couldn’t help but feel bitter at the fact that Nancy was okay with holding her hand in public, but her own girlfriend would barely speak to her in public ‘just incase’.

Her girlfriend.

Vickie.

Fuck.

Robin shakes her head, her heart rate spiking again as she gets into the car. She eyes up the radio, currently on a random talk show, itching to change it but knowing better. ‘It’s not your car Robin, that’s rude!’. Nancy glances over at her with an eyebrow raised as she pulls out, wondering why she hasn’t changed the channel yet.

“Hey Rob, why don’t you find something for us to listen to? You’re really good at that.” Nancy asks softly, smiling over at her briefly.

Robin immediately shoots her hand forward, fiddling through all of the different radio stations, hearing a faint chuckle from Nancy. The girl keeps changing the channels, glancing over at Nancy nervously for her reaction. The eldest Wheeler was just smiling softly as she drove, completely relaxed.

Vickie would have slapped her hands away by now and called her annoying.

Fuck, Robin really needed to stop comparing them both, it wasn’t fair to either of them. She finally flicks to a random channel that was playing talking heads, so she leaves it on, humming slightly to the song. Nancy joins her in her humming, and the pair share a sweet smile.

---------------------------

“This is gonna sting a little, I’ve gotta clean your cuts.” Nancy says softly, holding the alcohol wipe up to the girl’s neck.

Robin only nods, her hands squeezing either side of the edge of the tub she was sitting on. Nancy places one hand gently underneath her jaw, tilting her head up higher. Once her head was tilted, she dropped her hand to Robin’s shoulder, not wanting to rest it on her neck just in case it was triggering to her. 

The thoughtfulness almost made Robin sob. 

“I thought- I thought the vines were back when I- when I couldn’t breathe I thought they were back, that’s- that’s why I did that.” Robin explains awkwardly, looking up at the ceiling.

“That makes a lot of sense Robin.” Nancy nods, finishing wiping and turning to chuck the wipe into the trash can.

“You-you don’t think I’m nuts for- for scratching myself?” Robin asks carefully, dropping her chin to look at the girl.

“Never Rob, Never. You’ve been through a lot.” Nancy says so softly Robin strained to hear it, looking up at the girl who’s taller for once. 

Nancy looks at between both of her eyes, before her gaze drops to Robin’s lips. She was so so close, having not fully moved away from cleaning the girl's neck. Robin’s eyes widen when she realises where Nancy was looking, there was no mistaking it this close up. 

Her own eyes drop to Nancy’s lips without meaning to. Her heart was pounding, eyes wide as she looks back up only to realise Nancy was staring at her. She knew she was staring at her lips, and didn’t seem to care. 

She could’ve sworn she saw Nancy start to lean in. She wasn’t sure, her only experience with kisses were harsh, fast, and done without giving her a chance to react. Her eyes widen even more when she realises Nancy definitely is going to kiss her.

So she panics.

And falls backwards into the tub.

“Oh my god! Are you okay?” Nancy asks, although she lets out a laugh she definitely tried to hold in.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up.” Robin jokes, happy for the tension to be cut as Nancy helps her out of the tub and steps back.

“You are so clumsy Robin Buckley.” Nancy grins, turning to walk out of the room.

“And you, Nancy Wheeler, have no idea.” Robin jokes, walking out and into the living room.

“I thought I’d stay back until Steve gets home? So he doesn’t bombard you alone.” Nancy chuckles slightly, sitting down onto the couch.

“Oh god, you’re totally right he will give me the third degree.” Robin groans, jumping down next to her. 

“I’ve got your back Buckley.” Nancy grins wide, elbowing the girl gently.

“Thanks Wheeler.” Robin smiles back, elbowing her back.

When Steve came home much later, Nancy jumped up to grab his attention before he saw Robin. The freckled girl couldn’t hear exactly what was said, but she can only assume it was just that she had a panic attack and scratched her neck pretty badly. 

“She’s alright, just don’t freak out okay?” Nancy says seriously, watching the boy rush past her anyways.

Steve didn’t freak out exactly, but he did pull Robin onto his lap like she was a hurt toddler and rocked her in his arms. Robin initially groaned and complained about his treatment of her, but refused to mention the fact she was clinging to him. Steve didn’t mention it either, thankfully. Robin even was lulled to sleep by his rocking, embarrassingly enough for her. Steve and Nancy spent a good few minutes gushing over how cute it was, before Nancy draped a blanket over both of them, watching as Steve passed out soon after. 

Nancy rushed to her car to grab the polaroid camera Jonathan had gifted her, speeding back inside to take a photo of how precious Steve and Robin looked snuggled up on the couch under a blanket together. Nancy takes two, leaving one on the counter for the pair, knowing both of them will groan at it but inevitably will frame it. 

All Nancy needed to investigate now is whatever Max had said to her that sent her into a full blown panic in the hospital parking lot.

Chapter Text

Robin cringes as she tries to eat her cereal, hand pulling at the turtleneck she had on. On a regular day, she hates the feeling of anything on her neck, let alone since the upside down. But she had school, she couldn’t exactly walk around with scratches and cuts all over her neck. 

“Not hungry?” Steve asks casually, strolling by her towards the coffee machine.

“Guess not.” Robin shrugs, pushing her barely eaten bowl away.

“How’s the neck?” Steve asks, dropping down across from her with his now coffee filled mug.

“Fine, I’m just embarrassed.” Robin responds quietly, dropping her hand from her collar.

“Hey man come on, you’ve no reason to be embarrassed.” Steve says seriously, leaning across to rest his hand atop of hers.

“I don’t see you or Nancy freaking out and doing this, the same thing happened to you.” Robin says bitterly, rolling her eyes.

“Robin stop, we all deal with things differently okay?” Steve insists, staring at the girl.

Robin only nods, before getting up and washing out her bowl. Steve watches her for a moment before downing his coffee, cringing at the hot liquid. The pair rush out the door and towards the car, after realising the time. 

-----------------------------------------

Robin couldn’t stop fidgeting with her collar all day, to the point where she was drawing certain people’s attention to it. Mostly some friendly faces from band, who assumed she must have an allergy to the material. Vickie had also noticed, sending her weird looks all day, but never approaching, not in public. 

The person who watched her the most though, was Nancy.

“How are you doing?” Nancy asks softly, eyeing her from her spot next to her.

“I just hate the feeling of turtlenecks, but my neck does look better today.” Robin answers, dropping her hand from her collar to grip her pen instead.

“I’m glad your neck is better, but that didn’t really answer my question.” Nancy responds carefully, still looking at the fidgeting girl.

“Oh, it didn’t?” Robin asks, confused gaze on the shorter girl.

“I asked how you were, not your neck.” Nancy explains gently.

“Oh, I’m good. How are you?” Robin deflects, wide eyes looking at the girl.

“You’re deflecting again.” Nancy says with a small smile, shaking her head.

“I’m not really used to people wanting to actually know.” Robin shrugs, having not expecting for Nancy to point it out again.

“Well get used to it Buckley.” Nancy teases, smirking lightly at the girl.

“Right.” Robin smiles warmly.

“I’m waiting for my answer.” Nancy says, nudging the girl gently in the side.

Just as Robin opens her mouth, their History teacher rushes through the door, slamming it behind her as she immediately jumps into the lesson. Both Nancy and Robin share a look before Robin just grins and shrugs her shoulders, opening her book while Nancy squints her eyes at the girl playfully.

----------------------------------------

“Hey.” Vickie says carefully, leaning up next to the lockers.

“Oh- hey.” Robin smiles, closing her locker carefully and turning to the girl.

“Amanda says you hurt your neck.” Vickie says evenly, looking at her.

“Oh- um, yeah sort of. How did she know?” Robin asks, nerves bubbling in her stomach.

“She saw a cut while you were pulling at your collar, mentioned it to a few of us.” Vickie answers easily.

“Oh, right.” Robin nods, wrapping her arms around herself.

“So, what happened?” Vickie asks, turning her head to the side.

“I um- well I scratched it, I sort of had a panic attack, I guess.” Robin answers, shrugging her shoulders lightly.

Vickie stands forward, reaching out and pulling Robin’s turtleneck down to look at her neck properly. Robin flinches backwards instinctively, having not expected it.

“I’m just looking at it, jeez.” Vickie says, rolling her eyes as she lets go of her collar.

“You know it’s not normal to do that, right?” Vickie continues, stepping back from the girl.

“I-I didn’t mean to, I was panicking.” Robin answers, frowning.

“I’ve had a panic attack before Robin, I know it’s not normal to do that. Just- just cover it until it clears okay? People are already talking.” Vickie says seriously.

“Okay, sorry.” Robin responds, looking down at her feet.

“Hey, why don’t we go on a date tomorrow huh? How about the movies?” Vickie offers gently, gripping Robin’s jacket briefly.

“Yeah?? I’ve- I’ve been good?” Robin asks excitedly, eyes wide as her head shoots up.

“Yeah, I’ll even let you pick the movie, once it’s not something weird.” Vickie says with a smile, pulling away further from the girl.

“Cool.” Robin grins, gripping her backpack. 

“Tell Steve you have band, I’ll meet you at our usual spot.” Vickie says before turning and leaving.  

Robin nods, despite the fact that Vickie’s back was to her. She was excited for another date, she was happy to be a good girlfriend, but there was still a pit in her stomach. She hated lying to Steve, he was so sweet to her last night, and never pushed her to tell him what happened. He never even complained this morning when they woke up on the couch in a sea of limbs, despite the fact she knew his neck and back had to be sore. He just grinned happily at the polaroid picture of the two of them before sticking it above the fireplace over a framed photo of his parents.

And here she was, lying, again.

Yet he always believed her, because to him she never lies. I mean, how many times can she say she has band practice before he realises she never has her trumpet with her? Maybe he already knows she’s lying, and is accumulating all of the lies until it gets too far and he kicks her out of the only house she has ever seen as home. 

No, he’d never do that to her, would he? 

No,

…..

Right?

----------------------

“Hey Red.” Nancy greets with a grin, popping her head into the girl’s room.

“Nancy! Hey.” Max grins, taking a sip of her apple juice.

“How’s your arm?” Nancy asks, walking in and sitting next to the girl.

“Still pretty weak, but I have most of the feeling back.” Max answers with a shrug.

“I’m glad to hear it.” Nancy answers with a smile, shuffling in her seat slightly.

“I’m just excited to get out of this room permanently, Lucas wheeled me out to the garden the other day and it felt like Christmas morning.” Max answers, rolling her eyes with a grin.

“I bet, you'll be skating again in no time Max, I have no doubt.” Nancy answers kindly.

“Hopefully.” Max smiles, it falters as she stares off at the wall.

“Hey, what’s up?” Nancy asks, sitting forward in concern.

“If you promised someone you’d keep their secret, is it okay to break it if you were really worried about them?” Max asks, wide eyes now boring into Nancy’s.

“Worried in what way?” Nancy asks, tilting her head.

“Like- say they tell you to keep it secret, they trust you to keep it to yourself, but by doing so, they might get hurt. Or- or worse, and if you said something, you could stop that from happening, but if you’re wrong they won’t ever trust you again.” Max breathes, biting her lip.

“How sure are you that you’re right?” Nancy asks carefully.

“Very sure.” Max nods.

“Then I think it’s okay, it shows that you care about them and want them to be okay, no matter what.” Nancy answers gently.

“Then- then I need to tell you something.” Max says, chewing her lip anxiously.

“You can tell me anything Max.” Nancy says gently, reaching over to take her hand carefully.

Max takes a moment to collect herself, taking a deep breath before making eye contact with Nancy again. 

“Robin told me she has a boyfriend, and I think he’s hurting her.” Max says, taking a deep breath.

“Wait, what?” Nancy asks in shock, sitting back in her seat.

“She told me she was seeing someone, said that he didn’t want anyone to know, it seemed to be eating her up not being able to tell anyone, so she told me. Everything seemed fine, she seemed so relieved to tell me, tell anyone, but her explanation of why she couldn’t seemed like bull. 

Then she started acting weird and flaky, I mean one of the nights she never came for our tutoring session like she always does, and she said something about having band practice but I know she doesn’t have band then. Anyway I had El look into her mind and-” Max starts.

“Wait wait wait, you had El look in her mind? Max -” Nancy interrupts with a scolding motherly tone.

“I know I know! It was wrong of me, but she kept lying . El said that she was in a cage Nancy, in her head. She was scared, and crying and when El tried to reach out to her she flinched away and begged whoever was there not to hurt her. That was a look inside her mind, and to me, it seemed like a metaphor or some shit for being abused.” Max continues, waving her hands around.

“Oh god, are you sure? I mean she’s been through a lot.” Nancy says softly, biting her lip.

“I know that kind of flinch, I’ve done it. It’s only ever been around Billy when he was mad, or- or his piece of shit dad. Plus, when I asked her if her boyfriend was hurting her, she totally freaked out on me and ran out of here.” Max answers with a frown.

“When was this?” Nancy asks, sitting forward again.

“Yesterday. She never showed up today for our tutoring lesson.” Max answers, looking down at her lap.

“Oh my god.” Nancy breathes, sitting back as she connects the dots.

“What?” Max asks, face scrunching up as she watches the girl’s reaction.

“I just- I came yesterday for a visit, and I found her having a panic attack in the parking lot. I don’t think she’d freak out like that unless you were right.” Nancy says anxiously, bouncing her leg up and down. 

“Fuck.” Max breathes, placing her head in her hands.

“Hey hey, that wasn’t your fault. You were right, and you did the right thing in talking to her about it.” Nancy rushes to soothe, sitting down on the side of the bed and pulling the girl into her.

“What will we do Nancy? Robin wouldn’t hurt anyone, I once saw her cry after standing on a snail by accident because she felt so bad. Why would anyone do this to her?” Max asks, placing her head on Nancy’s shoulder.

“I don’t know, but what I do know is whoever he is, he’ll pay for hurting her.” Nancy says, voice strong as she rubs the girl’s back.

“You’re not gonna shoot him, right?” Max asks, leaning her head back to look up at the girl.

“....I guess not.” Nancy answers reluctantly, shrugging her shoulders.

When Nancy first took in the news that Robin had a boyfriend her heart had dropped right down into her stomach. For a second there, she really thought that Robin liked her, she also was convinced they were going to kiss last night before Robin had slipped into the tub. Now that she thinks of it, maybe the girl purposely fell into the tub to avoid kissing her. 

Oh god is all Nancy could think of.

She doesn’t have time to dwell on her dashed hope for something romantic with the girl, she has bigger fish to fry. Namely, finding out who the hell this guy is, and then figuring out what to do to him when she does. 

Max and her speak more about Robin’s reaction to Max’s questions, and Nancy realises that the poor girl is genuinely adamant that she’s not being abused at all. Her panic attack afterwards, plus what El saw in her brain, as well as Robin’s outbursts and avoidance leads Nancy to believe that Robin must be ignoring those reactions, or refuses to connect the dots herself. 

Nancy’s head is spinning with everything she’s learnt.

She really, really needs to talk to Robin.

Chapter Text

Nancy has been acting super weird the past few days, Robin thought. It was almost like she was being observed, intensely at that. Nancy has this weird look in her eye anytime they sat next to each other or spoke to one another. It made Robin feel weird, she wanted to know why. 

Max was also acting extremely weird and fidgety, and it made Robin very uncomfortable anytime she came down for their tutoring sessions. She supposes it must have been because of how their last conversation had gone, but still. Robin just ended up stiffly going over the girl’s workload before packing up and rushing out, feeling Max’s intense gaze on her back.

She doesn’t like not understanding, and this is definitely something she doesn’t understand. She’s even been doing better these past few days. Her movie date with Vickie was so nice, the redhead paid for their tickets and even a buttload of snacks. She even pulled Robin right to the back of the practically empty screen room, and they ended up making out so heavily that Robin dropped the popcorn, and Vickie had only laughed. She felt… normal. Vickie held her hand, whispered sweet things in her ear, giggled along to Robin’s commentary when she finally started watching the movie in front of her. 

Robin thought that finally, finally , she had the real dating experience.

So then why can she not stop thinking about Nancy? About her wide expressive eyes, about her full lips that definitely were about to kiss her, about how she's pretty sure she wanted to kiss her too. 

Fuck.

FUCK.

This was a whole new level of self sabotage from Robin.

She had thoughts about cheating on her girlfriend with her best friend. God how awful was she? It was all too confusing to Robin. I mean, Vickie said she was the only one who could ever love her, so then why was Nancy leaning in for a kiss? Oh god, unless she wasn’t actually doing that, and Robin flung herself backwards into a tub for no reason. 

God she was so stupid , of course a girl like Nancy would never want to go near a girl like her. Jesus Robin, you get one girlfriend and suddenly you think everyone could want you.

They don’t, no one does.

Except Vickie, she can only love you.

And you just thought about cheating on her.

You’re the worst person alive.

“Rob? It’s 6, I’m gonna head off okay?”Steve’s voice pulls her out of her self deprecating thoughts.

Right. 

She’s in family video.

It’s Saturday.

“Leaving me, unbelievable Harrington.” Robin jokes, sending him a quick smile from her spot slumped over the counter.

“I’m here 5 days a week. I'm not doing an open to close.” Steve responds, rolling his eyes fondly.

“Just say you hate me already.” Robin pouts jokingly, watching him walking around the counter before leaning over it.

“I’ll be back at 11, love you.” Steve says softly, leaning further to plant a kiss on Robin’s forehead.

“Love you too Dingus.” Robin responds with an eye roll, watching the boy walk out of the store.

It was understandable why he didn’t want to do open to close, I mean it was 9am-11pm, but hey Robin needed the money for her licence and a car. Vickie was right, she was just being lazy. The only problem was that Saturday’s are only busy until about 5 or 6, so she was about to be bored out of her damn mind for 5 hours. 

Hopping over the counter, Robin beelined it for the kids section. While she was a horror girl at heart, she still had a soft spot for kiddy movies. Grabbing Gremlins, her favourite other than the goonies, (she would never tell anyone that) she rushed back to pop it in to watch. 

She got herself comfortable on a chair in the corner of the room, head resting backwards on the counter as she crosses her arms and watches the small tv intently. It was maybe 30 minutes into the movie that the front door goes off, and Robin was far too engrossed in the movie to notice. 

So of course she fell off of the chair with a scream when Nancy jumped up on the counter with a large grin, saying hi louder than necessary. 

“What the fuck Nance?!” Robin yelps, rubbing her elbow after whacking it off of the counter on her way down.

“Sorry.” Nancy says, still grinning wide.

“You’re lucky you’re pretty.” Robin frowns, pulling herself up onto the chair and missing the way Nancy flushes scarlet at her words.

“So um- what are we watching?” Nancy asks, clearing her throat inbetween, leaning over slightly to see the tv.

“Nothing.” Robin says, jumping up to take out the tape from the vcr.

“Gremlins? I love that movie, please keep it on?” Nancy asks, voice gentle as she scooches across the counter to see better.

“Oh um- me too, heh. I-I know it’s childish or w-whatever but I really like it.” Robin says, shrugging her shoulders lightly, looking down at her feet.

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with liking Gremlins, it’s okay.” Nancy reassures, frowning deeply at the thoughts of some boyfriend making her feel that way.

“Y-Yeah?” Robin asks, looking up at her with wide eyes.

“Yeah, it’s really cute. Rewind it a bit?” Nancy asks, throwing puppy eyes towards the girl.

Robin shakes her head with a grin, cheeks blushing red at the girl’s comment. She turns quickly, pressing rewind. To Nancy’s surprise, the girl rewinds it all the way to the start. The surprise must have been written all over her face, because Robin just sighs dramatically before shaking her head.

“The things I do for pretty girls.” Robin says dramatically, without really thinking about it.

Nancy blushes deeply, and this time Robin catches it. The taller girl just bites her lip, turning her head to watch the tv from her spot standing. Nancy shuffles again, getting closer to the girl's unoccupied chair, placing both legs either side of it. 

“Come sit down again, you’ve had a long shift.” Nancy beckons softly, eyes not leaving the tv.

“Right.” Robin nods, eyes widening when she realises that Nancy’s eh.. That Robin’s head would be… 

Thank god Nancy was wearing jeans.

Robin walks over, dropping down carefully into the seat, much more rigid than she had been when she was alone. She was very much aware of Nancy’s thighs either side of her head. 

God, she was too gay for this.

Eventually, Nancy must have been picking up on her stiffness, because the next thing Robin knew, she had a hand in her hair. Robin flinches instinctively, having only experienced pain when there were hands in her hair. Nancy retracts her hand immediately, and Robin almost feels like crying. Nancy wouldn’t hurt her, she knew that… I mean right?

Slower this time, almost like she was dealing with a scared deer, Nancy tries putting her fingers through the girl’s soft hair again. This time there was no flinch, so the girl took it as a good sign to continue. 

Instead of the pain that Robin assumed would follow, all she felt were soft fingers carding through her hair, massaging her scalp so tenderly. Robin leans her head onto the girl’s right thigh, relaxing into the touch. It was all going well until Nancy’s fingers accidentally snagged a knot in the girl’s hair, pulling it accidentally.

Robin flinches harsher this time, leaning forward to get away from the hand. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. My finger caught a knot in your hair by accident, it’s okay.” Nancy soothes, placing her hand gently onto the girl’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, I thought- I’m sorry.” Robin whispers, squeezing her eyes shut.

I thought you were going to hurt me.

It didn’t need to be said for Nancy to understand now.

“Please don’t be sorry, please.” Nancy says gently, rubbing the girl’s shoulder.

Robin breathes in deeply, before dropping her head back down into its previous spot on Nancy’s thigh. Nancy carefully slides her hand back up into the girl’s hair, smiling when she hears Robin sigh contently. Nancy continues to massage the girl’s head and play with her hair carefully while watching the movie, until she realises something.

Her jean leg felt damp.

“Robin, hey Robin. Are you okay?” Nancy asks, her other hand rubbing at her shoulder now. 

“Y-Yeah, sorry. This is just- it’s r-really nice I- it’s just nice.” Robin says shakily, trying to slow her tears.

Robin was overwhelmed. 

Nancy was showing her so much kindness and gentleness she’s never had before. She doesn’t deserve it, not from Nancy, not from anyone. 

“I don’t deserve it.” Robin whispers, but Nancy catches it.

“What? Of course you do. Who made you feel that way?” Nancy asks, hand pausing in the girl’s hair.

“No one.” Robin mumbles, sitting up from the girl’s thigh, wiping her face roughly.

“It’s him isn’t it?” Nancy asks, feeling Robin tense harshly before shooting up from her seat, turning so she could look at her properly.

She looked terrified.

“Him who?” Robin asks, body shaking.

“Your boyfriend. Max told me.” Nancy says, sliding off of the counter slowly. 

“I don’t know what she told you but it’s a lie.” Robin says, face now emotionless as she crosses her arms across her body.

“Oh? So your massive panic attack after she asked you about it was what? Coincidental.” Nancy counters, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

“She was wrong, and she shouldn’t have told you shit.” Robin spits, looking so unlike the sweet girl she usually was, it sent Nancy through a loop.

“She cares about you, I care about you. You’re not yourself, you haven’t been for awhile.” Nancy says, more gently, stepping forward.

“You barely know me.” Robin mumbles, looking down at her feet.

“No, that shit won’t work on me like it did with Eddie.” Nancy starts, heart hurting as she watches Robin flinch at that.

“I barely know you because you always deflect. You act like this big open book and mostly get away with it by talking a lot, but it’s all facts and figures, it’s never anything about you. The more I get to know you, the more I realise you’re probably more closed off than I am, and that’s saying something.” Nancy continues.

Robin bites her lip, still staring down at her shoes.

“I want to know everything about you Robin, don’t you get that? I wanna know about your family, about your childhood, about your boyfriend . I don’t care if it’s all bad, I don’t care if it’s a lot. Why won’t you let Steve in? Why won’t you let me in?” Nancy continues, stepping forward to the girl.

“If I don’t want to talk about something, I’m allowed to keep it to myself! I like being there for other people, I don’t need to open up.” Robin spits, face turning angry.

“Who’s there for you?” Nancy asks gently, eyes wide at the girl’s anger.

“No one!” Robin shouts, tears spilling over her eyes.

“You would have people, if you didn’t keep shutting us out! Steve, Eddie, Me, all the kids-” Nancy starts.

“The kids?! Don’t make me laugh, most of them don’t like me. I’ve heard them, I talk too much, I’m annoying, I’m useless. I trusted Max with one thing, and she fucking broke it without having any evidence. Trust is hard for me, the only person who I’ve trusted that hasn’t let me down is Steve.” Robin cuts in, losing steam by the end of her sentence.

“Why haven’t you told him that you’re dating someone?” Nancy asks, genuinely confused.

“I was told not to! I-I was trying to be respectful. I didn’t choose that and- whatever it doesn’t matter now, now you’ll tell everyone, or maybe Max will.” Robin says brokenly, tears spilling quickly down her face as she grips herself.

“Why do you look so scared about that?” Nancy asks, not being able to take the look of terror in the girl’s eyes.

“What? I-I’m not scared.” Robin denies, though her body shaking was giving her away.

“Robin, is he hurting you? Because I swear I can take care of him so quickly.” Nancy says dangerously, stepping closer to the girl again.

“I’ll tell you what I told Max, I’m not being fucking abused!” Robin shouts, shuffling backwards away from the girl.

“Oh yeah? Then what the hell was that earlier then?!” Nancy shouts back, watching as Robin’s eyes widen.

“What are you even talking about Nancy?!” Robin asks, frowning deeply at her.

“You flinched away from me like you’re used to someone hurting you, specifically from grabbing your hair.” Nancy answers, crossing her arms.

“Fuck you Nancy.” Robin responds, shaking harder as she wipes her eyes roughly.

“You wouldn’t be crying and shaking right now if something wasn’t wrong Robin, please talk to me.” Nancy begs, reaching out to hold the girl’s wrist only for Robin to flinch backwards.

“Fuck, just leave me alone!” Robin says, angry at herself for flinching.

“Why the fuck are you protecting an abuser Robin!” Nancy shouts out of frustration.

“I am not!! He’s not an abuser, he loves me, he treats me right! You’re all so wrong. I’m upset right now because you’re falsely accusing with no evidence! He doesn’t hit me!” Robin shouts, grabbing her hair with both her hands and pulling it tight, hating using the wrong pronoun.

It’s funny how pulling her hair tight seems to calm her, after everything. 

“You know what he does, just please Robin if you can’t see it for yourself, try to think about if it was me, or Max. If we were in your position, knowing what you know, would you be okay with us still dating him? Would you think he’s treating us right?” Nancy asks, much calmer. 

Robin pauses, and it almost makes Nancy break down right there on the floor.

Because she can see it, Robin will never voice it but she can see it. She doesn’t see anything wrong with how she’s treated, but that pause indicates she would have a problem if it was someone she cared about. 

Fuck, what was he doing to her?

“Get. Out.” Robin says, tone so dangerous and so not Robin that Nancy almost gasps.

“What?” Nancy asks, so softly and full of surprise Robin almost breaks.

“I said get the fuck out.” Robin repeats, her tone still the same and so unrecognisable.

“Robin please just talk to me, I want to help-” Nancy tries.

“Get out! Get out! Get out!” Robin yells, so loudly her voice breaks in between each shout.

Nancy backs away, eyes wide. Robin picks up a random dvd on the counter, hurtling it towards the opposite wall angrily. It was nowhere near Nancy, but she jumps either way, catching Robin’s heartbreaking expression at her reaction before she rushes towards the door. She doesn’t want to upset Robin any more than she already has, but she really doesn’t want to leave her. 

“I’m telling Steve, just a warning.” Nancy says as evenly as she can from the door.

Looking back as she exits, she catches Robin’s mumbled ’Fuck’ before watching her crumple behind the counter. She flips the sign to close, just in case someone decides to show up in the next few minutes. All she wants to do is walk back in there and hold her close to her. 

Fuck, that could have gone better.

She turns on the car and heads to Steve’s place.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, are you busy?” Robin asks, breathing having steadied slightly.

“Yeah, aren’t you at work?” Vickie responds casually.

“I need to get out of here, and I need to tell you something, it’s important.” Robin responds, anxiously twisting the chord in her hand.

“What? Robin, you have like 3 hours left in your shift and I’m supposed to be watching a movie with my parents.” Vickie says with a sigh.

“Nancy knows that I’m dating someone, she thinks it’s a boy. I-I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault. I-I need to tell you about it I- it’s bad.” Robin says shakily.

The line was silent for so long that Robin had to check she was still connected.

“Vickie?” Robin asks anxiously.

“I’ll be there in ten.” Vickie responds, in that dangerous tone she recognised meant trouble.

“Okay.” Robin breathes, dropping the phone down.

Fuck fuck fuck.

Chapter Text

“Stupid fucking jock scum.” Eddie mumbles to himself, deep frown as he trudges through the woods.

“Seriously, it’s just some fucking weed. Fucking woods.” Eddie grumbles, eyes darting around warily as he hopefully is making his way back to his van.

Some guy he couldn't care what his name was wanted some weed from him. Unfortunately, the guy was a first time buyer, and was easily spooked. He asked to meet after dark, and in the woods of all places. It’s not exactly a strange request really, but ever since he walked through these exact woods in the Upside Down, he’s realised just how much he hates them now. 

I mean seriously, it was just for a little bit of weed.

But still, he was happy things felt semi normal again after everything. I mean, he’s covered in scars from stupid bats, plagued at night with nightmares of Chrissy and Patricks bones snapping, and he appears to have lost Robin as a friend. But people are buying from him again, and he can charge extra considering most people are still convinced he could murder them.

So eh, a win right?

Dustin also keeps desperately trying to invite him to a ‘group hang’, as he calls it. He says that now that they bled together, he’s a part of their true party outside of D&D, and that he should come for movie nights. I mean he showed up to one after his fight with Robin, and he felt like shit seeing her sad little face.

But then he felt angry.

I mean, he opened up to her, about his family , about Chrissy. He never does that, Gareth doesn’t even know what went down with his parents, not fully. Sure, Robin has always been a bit too loud and weird, but since the upside down Eddie realised just how much of a sweetheart she was, and a truly caring person. 

They barely spoke to one another and yet she was ready to drop everything to help him, just because Dustin and Max asked. So yeah, it’s safe to say that it fucking stung when she told him they were barely friends. Eddie knows, he fucking knows that it was a trauma response, he knows she was deflecting, but it fucking hurt. It hurt more than he was prepared for. 

Besides, he knew Nancy and Steve were better at this shit than him, she’d be fine with them. 

Right?

“Fucking Buckley.” Eddie sighs, shaking his head as it fills with worry once again.

--------------------------------------------------------

It was closer to 9 by the time Robin saw Vickie’s car pull up outside. She still had no customers at all, and as she locks up with shaky hands she realises that the door sign was flipped to closed. It must have been Nancy.

Nancy.

Fuck.

Releasing a shaky breath, she opens the front door, locking it behind her. She curses under her breath when she remembers that she left her bag and jacket in the backroom, but Vickie’s hard gaze told her to hurry up and get into the car right now. She ignored how cold it was and rushed to jump in the car. 

“Vickie I-” Robin starts, only to get cut off.

“Don’t, I’ll take us somewhere private to talk, then you can explain.” Vickie responds, voice low.

Robin shifts anxiously, digging her nails of her right hand into the knuckles of her left. She stares out the window the whole way, trying to control her breathing so that she doesn’t hyperventilate. 

Looking out the window, that private place Vickie was referring to seemed to be familiar to her. Her eyes widen as she recognised where exactly they must be driving too. She remembers this route in Nancy’s car.

They were going to Skull rock, they had to be. 

Before Spring break, Skull rock was always populated with someone making out, but ever since the murders, especially Patricks which took place not far from the rock, it had been dubbed as haunted and cursed. Considering how superstitious everyone seemed in their town, no one wanted to go near the rock afterwards. 

Vickie knew this, so I guess that’s why she wanted a lot of privacy.

She managed to drive closer to the rock than Nancy did, pulling her car off the road before hopping out and walking straight into the woods. Robin breathed in anxiously before hopping out and following her. The walk was far shorter than she remembers, although they did have a wonky compass as their only guide for a while the last time she made this trip.

Vickie looks around once they’re there, and just as expected it was completely desolate. Robin looks under the large rock, gulping as she still sees slight remnants of Eddie’s junk food wrappers, tucked away safely from any wind that may disturb it.

“Vickie-” 

“Tell me everything , Robin.” Vickie interrupts again, hard eyes staring at the girl.

“I- everything felt like too much, all-all the lying. I-I know that it’s important to you that it doesn’t get out, b-but I felt like I was drowning a-and so I told m-my friend Max that I was seeing someone.” Robin stutters her way through, shivering as a cold gust of wind hits her bare arms.

God she wished she had her jacket. 

“You told someone?! That’s the last thing that I wanted Robin! Why?!” Vickie shouts angrily, crossing her arms tightly over her body.

“She doesn’t know it’s a girl I’m dating, she assumed it was a-a boy and I let her.” Robin frowns deeply, eyes wide and apologetic.

“Robin, you should have spoken with me if you felt like that! Not- not some stupid kid!” Vickie shouts, hands balled into fists as she takes a step closer.

“I-I didn’t feel like I could, anytime I t-tried before you shut me down.” Robin says, quieter this time as she grips herself.

“So now this is my fault?!” Vickie rages, stepping right up into Robin’s space,while the taller girl stumbles backwards into the large rock behind her.

“No! No it’s mine I-I’m sorry!” Robin says anxiously, bringing her hands up to block her torso.

“There’s more, isn’t there?” Vickie asks, although she knows the answer.

“I- Max, I don’t know why, but she thought I was- I was being abused or something. I swear I never said anything for her to believe that, I defended you but she- she still thought it anyway.” Robin continues, anxious wide eyes filling with tears.

“God, what the hell did you say to her, you have to have said something that made her think that Robin! How the hell is this going to look for me? Did you even think about me in all of this?” Vickie asks angrily, hand reaching out to grab and tighten around Robin’s collar, pulling her forward slightly.

“I swear Vickie, I swear I didn’t say anything like that I promise . But Max, s-she was worried, and she told Nancy-” Robin continues, cutting herself off with a large shaky breath.

“And?” Vickie prompts, eyes dangerous and voice low.

“And she left to tell Steve, w-when I called you.” Robin finishes, eyes terrified.

“God-fucking- dammit Robin!” Vickie shouts angrily, tightening her grip around Robin's shirt collar.

Before Robin can even open her mouth to respond, the girl is shoving her back into the rock, hard . Robin’s head connects hard to the uneven rock, and she swears she hears a slight crack. The taller girl can only wail in agony as red hot pain sears throughout her head. 

“I’m fucking ruined now Robin, what the fuck is wrong with you? Steve knows you’re a dyke Robin, he’ll tell Nancy it’s not a boy you’re dating. They’ll know it’s me . You’ve just fucking outed me Robin, don’t you realise that?” Vickie asks lowly, face close to Robin’s.

“I-I’m so-sorry, please I-” Robin cries, her head thumping.

 “I fall for you, I fucking love you and take care of you for who you are, despite all of that, and this is what you do to me? What the fuck have I done to deserve all of this shit Robin, I risked everything to be with you and you fucking ruined it, just like you ruin everything .” Vickie spits, grip still tight on her collar.

Robin whimpers, both in pain from her head, and Vickie’s words. She can’t believe she’s just outed Vickie, she didn’t even think of the fact that Steve would know it wasn’t a boy. Oh god, oh god.

“I’m so sorry, p-please Vickie I-I’m sorry. ” Robin sobs, hands clinging to the girl's upper arms.

“Sorry isn’t going to solve shit Robin.” Vickie spits, and she’s suddenly loosening her hold on Robin’s collar, to grip the girl’s shoulders.

Robin is about to apologise again, before she’s shoved onto her knees, so harshly she can feel the uneven ground tear into her skin. Robin yelps in pain, but she’s held in place, she can’t do anything. 

“Wha-” 

“You’ve ruined everything Robin, the least you can do is this.” Vickie responds, her hands now undoing her jean button.

“What- now? Here ?” Robin asks, looking around anxiously.

“None of that matters anymore, you owe me.” Vickie answers, hands back onto Robin’s shoulders after dropping her jeans and underwear. 

“Vickie no- I- no!” Robin shakes her head, it was the last thing she wanted to do after all of this.

It wasn’t right, they needed to talk not- not this .

But Vickie just moves closer to her, digging her fingers into Robin’s shoulder’s harshly as Robin hisses.

“Vickie, I don’t want to!” Robin keeps trying to shuffle away, before she feels red hot pain.

Vickie had just gripped the back of her head, which Robin is convinced is bleeding, tightly with her hand.

“I couldn’t give a fuck about what you want Robin.” Vickie says, in a voice so emotionless.

Robin only has a chance to widen her eyes before she’s yet again pulled backwards against the rock, unable to move as Vickie shoves up against her.

---------------------------------------------------

He’s definitely lost.

“Fuck!” Eddie hisses, kicking a nearby tree in annoyance. 

He was walking around for a long time, too long . It did not take this long to get to the meeting point from his van.

Shit shit shit. 

After walking around aimlessly for what felt like hours, he finally began to recognise the woods again. Eddie perked up happily, yeah! He knew this place! Skull rock wasn’t far from here! And his van wasn’t far from Skull rock either! 

Fucking score!

Eddie grins widely as he heads in that direction.

------------------------

Vickie just…. Left after that. 

She said she couldn’t even look at Robin anymore, after what she’s done. She just looked at Robin’s crying face and said she deserved it. 

Robin supposes after everything, maybe she did. 

Except she was left here, told not to follow her to her car, her ride disappearing into the night. Robin checks her watch from her spot curled into herself up against the rock, it was almost 11. Robin can barely remember how to get back to the road, let alone how to get home from there. She has an awful sense of direction when it comes to routes and places she’s unfamiliar with. 

Eventually she ended up pulling herself from the cold ground, wincing as her cut knees stung, deciding it was better to walk aimlessly then freeze sitting down. With her arms wrapped tightly around herself, she walks in the direction she watched Vickie leave, hoping it was a straight walk to hit the road. 

Eventually she made it to the road, but instead of feeling relief, Robin started sobbing. Sobbing so hard in fact, that she had to stop walking, dropping down on the side of the road. She grips herself tightly, shivering violently into the admittedly cold night.

She realises she hasn't eaten since lunchtime with Steve, her stomach both gurgling with hunger and churning with nausea. She wishes she had her jacket, she wishes she had some food. 

But she deserves this, to freeze at the side of the road. 

She knows it wouldn’t actually get cold enough for that to happen, but she hopes it happens anyway.

----------------------------------

Eddie turns on his van happily, snuggling down into its warmth. After a few minutes of letting the heat wash over him, he drives off. Now, while driving away from the woods he expected maybe a bit of wildlife to rush across the road, I mean he has hit a deer once. What he didn’t expect was to find someone hunched over and shivering at the side of the road.

What he expected even less was for that someone to be Robin. 

His van screeches to a halt with how quickly he slams on the breaks. Jumping out, he rushes over to the crying girl.

“Hey, hey, Robin what’s wrong? Why are you here?” He asks gently, dropping down in front of her.

Robin just continues to cry, so Eddie reaches out to touch her shoulder, jumping in surprise when she flinches violently away.

“It’s Eddie, are you- how can I help?” Eddie tries again, reaching out and just leaving his hand awkwardly between them. 

Robin looks up at that, and if it was at all possible she becomes even sadder , right in front of Eddie’s eyes. 

“I’m so sorry- I’m sorry.” Robin sobs, shooting her hand out to latch onto Eddie’s own.

“Come here, Jesus, you must be freezing.” Eddie says gently, pulling her closer slowly from their connected hands, her skin was so so cold.

Robin hesitates briefly before practically jumping on him, gripping him tightly. Eddie rubs her back gently, frowning as he hears her apologising over and over. Desperate to calm her down, he moves his hand up to the back of her head, feeling her flinch slightly and hearing her hiss. 

His eyes widen as he realises he’s touching something wet. 

Pulling back as much as Robin would allow, considering she was still clinging to him, he examined his hand. 

Blood.

A decent amount too.

“Robin, what happened? Who did this to you?” Eddie asks as calmly as he can, considering anger burned through him. 

Robin just shakes her head violently, desperately snuggling in closer to Eddie’s warmth. 

“Okay okay, come on let’s get you in my van.” Eddie coos, standing up with the girl still clinging to him like a lifeline. 

After taking a staggered step, he realises it’s just easier to carry the poor girl over. Despite the girl’s height, she was incredibly light, to Eddie’s surprise. Especially considering he’s never lifted a weight in his entire life. He’s even able to open the passenger side door with one hand holding the girl up. He gently places her in the seat, pulling back with great difficulty.

“I’m sorry Rob, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you and that this happened. I promise I’m here now, I’m going nowhere.” Eddie whispers to her, pulling away to close the door before Robin’s hands shoot out to grip his sleeves tightly.

“Hey, I’m just getting into the driver's seat okay? You’re not alone, I’m still here.” Eddie says gently, leaning in and placing a kiss to the girl's forehead. 

Robin relaxes slightly, dropping her hands reluctantly from her death grip on him. Eddie closes the door gently before practically sprinting around to get in the driver's seat. Eddie then leans in behind them, reaching for an old corroded coffin hoodie he made himself a few years back. He hands it carefully to Robin, blasting the heating to get some warmth into the freezing girl. She puts it on wordlessly, snuggling down into the slight baggy hoodie. Eddie then reaches over slowly, buckling the girl in before she can curl in on herself. 

He plays music quietly from his barely working radio, side eyeing Robin every so often the whole ride back. She had curled in on herself, facing away from Eddie and towards the window, though he doubts she’s actually looking out of it. From this angle he can see the small gash on the back of her head, still slowly bleeding.

His entire body fills with red hot anger once again.

Who the fuck did this to Robin?

------------------------------------------------

“Why the fuck isn’t she there Nance?! Where the hell is she?” Steve shouts, body tense as he paces in front of the locked up family video.

“I-I don’t know.” Nancy says in a quiet voice, face full of worry.

Nancy felt so much guilt run through her system. She didn’t go to Steve right away, she knew he was picking Robin up from her shift, so she stupidly thought that maybe she could tell him closer to the end of her shift, so he could get there before Robin decided to bolt it. 

She never thought she’d actually leave before that.

“Could she be with him ?” Nancy asks after a moment of silent pacing.

“What?” Steve asks, momentarily confused.

“Her boyfriend . She said he didn’t want anyone to know about them, what if she called him to tell him their secret was out?” Nancy continues, biting her lip in thought.

“Right, right.” Steve says, lost in thought.

He couldn’t believe Robin didn’t tell him she was seeing someone, I mean, he knew she was a lesbian, she could trust him right? But, the more Nancy explained everything, the more he realised that maybe her girlfriend knew she was doing bad things, so convinced Robin to keep their relationship a secret out of fear. To Steve though, it sounded like it was out of control, not fear. 

He knew his best friend, and he knew this must have been killing her to keep from him, from everyone. 

The question was, who the fuck was it?

“Do you have any idea who it could be?” Nancy asks, as if she has mind reading capabilities. 

“What?” Steve asks, momentarily stunned.

“You two are… What does Robin say? Platonic soulmates, surely you have some idea who she could have been crushing on, right?” Nancy asks, biting her lip.

Nancy looked really uncomfortable even saying that sentence, specifically about Robin’s ‘crushes’. If Steve could be honest, he thought that Robin was starting to crush on Nancy, especially since school started back up. Even before that, when Robin rushed to grab Nancy’s hand when she was scared in the Creel house. 

Steve never caught what they said to each other, I mean he was a bit busy trying not to step on the thousand of vines that littered that house, but he did catch the look in their eyes. He may not really know what Robin looks like when she likes someone, considering he never saw Robin properly interact with a crush apart from Vickie that one time, but he knew what Nancy looked like when she fell for someone. 

He had the privilege of seeing that look, once upon a time. 

“Like I said to you awhile back, she had a crush on someone but she was rejected.” Steve says offhandedly, he may not know much, but he knows it’s bad to tell other people about someone’s sexuality without permission. 

“What if she wasn’t?” Nancy asks, walking back to her car.

“What?” Steve asks, cringing at the fact this was his third time saying that tonight.

“What if she just said that, so you would think she didn’t get anywhere, but actually it went well and he asked her not to tell you about it. You said you pushed her to ask him out, right?” Nancy asks, cringing slightly at the end.

“I did yeah, I thought she had a real chance there.” Steve nods, catching on to what she was saying, falling in step with her.

“She knew you’d keep asking about it, so she must have said she was rejected because she knew you’d back down after hearing that.” Nancy continues, eyes widening.

“Oh my god.” Steve mutters, realising she had to be right.

“So who is it?” Nancy asks, stopping in front of him.

“I- Nance it’s not my place to tell you.” Steve stutters awkwardly, wincing in preparation of her answer. 

“Are you kidding me Steve?! What the fuck do you mean?! You’re protecting him by not telling me!” Nancy shouts angrily, unable to comprehend why he would keep this to himself.

“Stop that train of thought right there Nancy!” Steve shouts, so angrily it causes Nancy to clamp her mouth shut in surprise.

“I am not protecting an abuser, I’m protecting Robin .” Steve says, voice more serious than Nancy has ever heard. 

“But-” Nancy starts.

“I know, believe me I know how this sounds to you Nance. Trust me, this situation is far more complicated than you’d ever expect. This is for Robin to explain, and Robin only. Trust me, if that wasn’t the truth, you’d already know who it is. I hate this just as much as you do.” Steve insists, eyes filling with tears.

“Okay, okay. But what if she’s at his house? What if she’s being hurt ?” Nancy asks, more gentle this time.

“I don’t know his address either way Nance, I think our best bet is to head back to mine and wait for her to come. She could have just gone for a walk or something, we don’t know.” Steve insists, although he doesn’t seem certain at all.

“I don’t like this.” Nancy sighs, retching open her door. 

“Trust me, neither do I.” Steve responds, getting into the passenger seat.

What they weren’t expecting when they got back, was Eddie’s van in the driveway. 

They pull up just behind it, turning to one another with wide, confused eyes. As far as Steve was aware, Eddie didn’t have a key to their place, and Steve was sure he locked the door before leaving. 

“What is Munson doing here?” Steve asks, staring back out at the van.

“It’s your house Steve, I have no idea.” Nancy huffs, opening her door and slamming it behind her.

Steve sighs, opening his own one and closing it much softer than Nancy did. Just as they get up to the front door, and Steve searches for his keys, the door is pulled open, and out steps Eddie. 

“Eddie, what are you doing in my house, if you brought the kids for a movie night you can cancel it.” Steve says, sighing heavily.

“I found Robin, we just got back here.” Eddie answers, noticeably blocking the door.

“Get out of the way Eddie.” Nancy says anxiously, trying to walk around him.

“She’s in the shower, I found her in the woods.” Eddie answers, staring at the pair with an unreadable expression.

“In the woods ?!” Steve asks, face incredulous. 

“You better explain what the fuck has been going on right now before we go in.” Eddie says harshly, crossing his arms and looking at the pair. 

Steve and Nancy make brief eye contact before looking back at the boy, nodding. 

“Okay so..”  

Chapter Text

Eddie practically had to herd her into the bathroom, she was covered in dirt and mud and he was afraid she’d get some form of infection in her wounds. She was confused at first, considering knew she couldn’t have gotten any dirt in her hair, which she had voiced. It was only when Eddie had awkwardly glanced down at her legs that Robin remembered that the uneven ground had cut into her knees. 

Glancing down herself, she realised her pants had torn from the impact and were bloodstained. 

Eddie’s eyes were impossibly sad, with hints of anger barely being restrained. Tears rolled down her cheeks silently, and the boy had just wordlessly wiped them away before kissing her forehead and leaning past her to turn on the shower.

“I’ll be right outside, okay? Then I’ll take a look where it hurts.” Eddie had said gently, sticking his hand out to test the water temperature.

Robin had only nodded, reaching out to squeeze his arm gently. She hasn’t spoken since she apologised profusely to the boy on the side of the road. He’s probably freaked out by it, considering she never usually shuts up.

Maybe he’s relieved. 

She cries in the shower, she tries not to, but the second the blood washes away from her body and speeds down the drain, she can't stop it. She tries not to stay in too long, she doesn’t want to worry Eddie. She only wets her hair with water, not wanting to attempt to use shampoo on a wound she can’t see. When she steps out of the shower and into her joint room, the warmth of the house hits her. Eddie must have turned up the heat for her.

She really didn’t deserve this kindness.

Not after what she has done.

Robin usually goes around the house in her sports bra and some shorts, especially when it’s hot. She remembers the first time she had done it since moving in with Steve that his eyes almost bulged out of his head. It was pretty funny, she had hit him repeatedly in the face with a pillow at his accidental ogling, to which Steve had insisted he didn’t mean to and he was ‘just one man!’. The memory brings a small smile to her face, but it didn’t last. 

She picks out her most comfortable sports bra, one she pretty much only wears for around the house and not any actual exercise. She also throws on some basketball shorts she knows are originally Steve’s. Looking down at herself, she sighs when she feels her knees slowly start to bleed again, as well as her head. 

Grabbing the towel she was using to dry her hair, she keeps it on her, patting the back of her head on occasion, as she leaves the room reluctantly and heads to the living room. 

------------------------

“Holy fuck.” Eddie breathes, rubbing his face.

“It’s a lot to absorb.” Nancy cringes.

“I just, I thought it was upside down shit affecting her. I didn’t- I never would have dropped it if- fuck !” Eddie hisses, pulling his own hair in annoyance. 

“Hey man, you didn’t know. None of us did, I only found out tonight.” Steve cringes, dropping an awkward hand to Eddie’s shoulder.

“Let’s just- let’s just go inside, see if she’s out yet.” Eddie breathes, shrugging off the boy's hand and opening the door.

They all head in, Steve immediately pulling out a pancake mix from the cupboard, getting everything set up to make Robin some pancakes when she is ready. He did however, almost drop the pan when Robin came into the kitchen anxiously, a towel stained red in her slightly shaking hands.

“Oh Rob..” Steve breathes, rushing over to pull the girl into a hug. 

“I’m sorry.” Robin whispers, clutching the boy tightly.

“Don’t be, please Rob don’t be.” Steve whispers back, rubbing her back gently.

“You’re bleeding, can I- can we take a look?” Nancy says nervously, wringing her hands.

Robin pulls away and nods, clutching Steve’s hand as he pulls her gently into the living room. Nancy follows anxiously, still worried the girl wouldn’t want to talk to her after their argument. Her eyes had widened almost out of their sockets when she saw Robin walk in, a surprisingly toned freckled stomach and back on show. But she shook her head quickly, that’s not what she should be focused on right now.

Nancy rushed to grab the first aid kit, still remembering Steve’s house’s layout. Robin sits herself down on the coffee table, knowing they needed to look at her head properly. Eddie rushes to turn on the main light to the room so they could get a better look, while Steve just sits down next to her, still clutching her hand. 

Nancy rushes back, placing herself carefully behind Robin to deal with her head first. It was a big enough gash in the middle of her head, but thankfully it didn’t look deep enough to need stitches. She works silently, and eventually the bleeding stops. Nancy then moves to sit in front of the girl, cleaning her knees and carefully bandaging them. 

“Robin, how did this happen?” Nancy asks, looking up at her. 

“I fell, walking out of the woods. Guess I hurt my knees.” Robin answers, slightly emotionless. 

“And your head? That from a fall too?” Eddie asks, eyes narrowed.

Robin just stares down at her lap silently, biting her lip.

Nancy stands up, going to double check her head did really stop bleeding before her eyes catch something. 

“Robin, if you fell, what are these?” Nancy asks, voice soft as she desperately tries to keep the anger out of it.

Robin looks confused at first, before Nancy gently runs her fingers over one of her shoulders. The taller girl blanches , and Nancy’s heart drops to her stomach. Steve leans in closer, gasping slightly at her other shoulder.

“Robin, are those from fingernails ?” Steve asks incredulously, looking at her in concern.

Nancy swallows thickly as she puts two and two together. Deep fingernail marks on Robin’s shoulders, torn knees, they were connected to one another. Nancy looks up towards Eddie whose face blanches as he connects the dots too, until it turned so dark it almost scared her. At that dark look, she also realises why these marks happened.

“Robin- did you- did he force you-” Nancy tries, cutting herself off as Robin shoots up from the table. 

“Stop! It wasn’t like that.” Robin says suddenly, dropping down onto the couch and hugging her knees tightly.

“Robin, please talk to us, please .” Nancy urges gently, now sitting on the coffee table facing her.

“I didn’t tell them Rob, I didn’t want to break your trust, not with this, but you need to be honest with us now.” Steve says gently from his spot next to Nancy.

Robin’s head shoots up at that, she assumed he would have told them. Her heart constricts painfully at his kindness. She deserved to be outed, she was about to do that to Vickie.

“Please tell us who he is so we can kick his ass.” Eddie urges gently, slowly dropping into the space next to her.

“Her.” Robin mumbles, dropping her face into her hands.

“What?” Nancy asks, having strained to hear in the first place.

“Her ass. I- it’s a- I’m gay.” Robin stutters, dropping her forehead to her knees.

“ Oh .” Eddie breathes gently from next to her.

Robin feels a slow and cautious hand wrap around her back, pulling her closely into a warm chest. Eddie’s chest. He doesn’t hate her, she guesses. 

“Okay.” Nancy says quietly, which makes Robin finally drop her hands to look at her cautiously.

“Tell us her name, so we can kick her ass.” Nancy repeats, eyes fierce and protective.

“It’s not like that, girl’s can’t be- she doesn’t- it’s my fault, not hers.” Robin says quickly, reluctantly lifting her head from Eddie's warmth.

“It’s Vickie, isn’t it?” Steve asks carefully, staring at Robin so intensely that the girl couldn’t make eye contact.

Robin stares at the boy's feet for what felt like hours, before she eventually nods. Steve shoots up from the coffee table with a curse, standing up so fast it causes Robin to flinch violently away from them, into the arm of the couch. 

“I’m sorry! Fuck! I didn’t- I’m not mad at you, sorry.” Steve apologises profusely, hating that he scared her.

“You should be, Steve, I've been lying to you, we never lie, I never lie, but I have been, over and over and over.” Robin says shakily, eyes wide and wet as she looks up at the pacing boy.

“Because of her Robin! I’m pissed at her, and-and I’m pissed at myself, not you. Okay?” Steve continues, pausing his pacing to look at the girl.

“Okay.” Robin says quietly, watching him pace for a moment before looking across at Nancy. 

The girl was still sitting with a furrowed brow, and Robin realised that her gaze was going from the marks on her shoulders to her bandaged knees. Despite the borderline desert temperature Eddie had set in here, she reaches over him to grab the discarded hoodie he gave her, throwing it over her head. Only then did Nancy seem to snap out of it. 

“Robin, women can still be abusers. It’s less common, but anyone can be that way. If some girl was hitting Steve, would you tell him he’s not a victim because he’s a man and she’s a woman?” Nancy asks carefully.

“Of course not!” Robin argues, frowning deeply at the thought.

“Then why can’t you see that for yourself?” Nancy counters gently, tilting her head.

“Because it’s different I-” Robin cuts herself off with a frustrated huff, pulling on the hoodie strings. 

“How is it any different?” Nancy pushes, sitting forward.

“Because it’s me!” Robin shouts, so loudly that the whole room quietens. 

Robin drops her gaze to her lap, now pulling at the sleeves of the hoodie anxiously.

“Why does that matter?” Eddie asks now, watching her carefully.

Robin only shrugs, head still down and hands still fidgeting. 

“You think you deserve it, don’t you.” Nancy says softly, eyes full of sadness when Robin’s head snaps up to look at her.

“I’m too much most of the time, everyone says it. My parents, the kids, even you said it before Steve.” Robin starts, biting her lip with guilt at Steve’s stricken expression.

“I know you thought I was annoying at first Nance, and god knows what you thought of me Eddie. I know I’m a lot to handle, and I know I’m a lot to love. Vickie’s nice to me, Vickie loves me despite all of that stuff. She just- sometimes I make her mad, because I don't listen, but she’s always sorry for it, always.” Robin explains, dropping her eyeline again.

“Robin, those kids are obsessed with you. They never shut up about you. Seriously, Dustin always like ‘Robin this and Robin that’, Max would never admit it openly but we know she looks forward to seeing you, and she hates everyone. El started calling everyone Dingus, because she said that you’re cool and she wants to be more like you. Even Mike likes you, and he’s a little shit.” Steve says, eyes sincere.

“It’s true, he called you cool before, and said you’d be great in our D&D campaign.” Eddie nods, shuffling closer to the girl.

“Besides, even if you did do something that annoyed her, that doesn’t give her the right to lay a hand on you, ever .” Nancy continues, reaching out and dropping her hand onto the girl’s knee.

“She doesn’t hit me, not- it was one slap, that doesn’t count.” Robin shrugs, too casually for the room's liking. 

“She grabs your hair, right?” Nancy asks, levelling her with a knowing look.

“That’s just- she knows I don’t like it, I guess. So sometimes, she’ll grab it when I’ve done something wrong, but that’s different. That’s not hitting.” Robin defends, frowning slightly.

“That’s still abuse, Robin. Your partner is not supposed to hurt you when they’re mad, they’re just not.” Eddie pipes up, frowning deeply at her. 

“It’s how I learn to be better.” Robin frowns just as deeply, and her genuine confusion breaks everyone's hearts. 

“Robin, you talk it out, that’s how you learn.” Nancy says sadly.

“We do talk.” Robin responds carefully.

“Oh god.” Steve mutters to himself, head in his hands as he paces the room.

“Can you please tell us what happened to your head?” Eddie asks, turning to her.

“It was an accident, I told her that everyone would know about us and she pushed me, I fell into the rock pretty hard.” Robin answers, fidgeting in her seat. 

“And your knees?” Nancy presses.

“I already told you, I fell .” Robin says defensively, wrapping her arms around herself.

Nancy makes brief eye contact with Eddie before looking back at Robin.

“Okay, okay. Are you hungry?” Nancy asks, dropping the topic.

“I think I’d rather just go to sleep.” Robin shrugs.

“I’m gonna call Keith, he owes us for all the days off we’ve given him.” Steve announces, rushing to the phone before Robin can complain.

“It’s better that he does that Rob, we can come up with a plan tomorrow for what we’re gonna do.” Nancy says gently, standing up.

“What do you mean?” Robin asks in confusion.

“Well we need to talk a bit more, you didn’t really give us much. But we need to talk about what we’re going to do about Vickie.” Nancy answers.

“What? You can’t- you can’t do anything. Nance, I’ve already outed her, we- you can’t-” Robin panics, breathing in quickly.

“Hey hey, easy there Buck, we won’t do any of that, okay?” Eddie jumps in to comfort, dropping a hand to rub the girl’s back.

“It’s why we need a plan, this is pretty complicated.” Nancy frowns, arms crossed.

“Okay.” Robin nods, breathing in deeply.

“Alright! Keith is covering for both our asses tomorrow, how about we get some sleep and I’ll make pancakes in the morning.” Steve announces, clapping his hands together. 

“Sounds good Harrington.” Eddie responds, stretching slightly.

“I have a guest room down the hall and there’s also my parents' bedroom, take your pick.” Steve says, referring to the two guests before coming over and pulling Robin up gently.

“I love you Robs, see you in the morning.” He says gently, wrapping his arms around the girl snuggly.

“I love you too Steve.” Robin responds, squeezing the boy tight to her before letting go.

“I call the parents room!” Eddie shouts, bounding down the hallway and up the stairs despite not knowing where the bedroom was.

Nancy shakes her head with a small smile, reaching out to gently take Robin’s hand. Steve takes off ahead of them, and Nancy can hear him shouting directions to the other boy. Nancy gently pulls her towards the stairs after them, walking her to her room.

“Goodnight Rob.” Nancy says gently, pulling her hand away.

Nancy goes to walk across the hall, before Robin’s hand clutches Nancy’s tightly, not letting her move anywhere. Looking back, Robin’s face was slightly flushed in embarrassment, looking down at her feet.

“I um- I don’t want to be- did you want to- you know.” Robin stutters, pointing behind her into her room.

“I’d love to.” Nancy responds, flushing slightly at her eagerness.

“Okay.” Robin says quietly, turning to open her door. 

Once Nancy walks in, she smiles at the organised mess that’s so utterly Robin. There were books everywhere , most in other languages other than English. She was so busy looking around she didn’t realise that Robin had pulled out some clothes for her to sleep in. 

“Thank you.” Nancy smiles, taking them into the girl’s en suite to change.

Robin gave her an oversized fleetwood Mac tshirt that flowed mid thigh, as well as some basketball shorts. She had to tighten the shorts, considering they almost fell off of her hips. They were definitely Steve’s, Robin’s waist is not much wider than her own. 

They smelled so much like Robin.

“Nancy?” Robin asks, shuffling from foot to foot awkwardly at the end of her bed.

“Yeah?” Nancy responds softly.

“Were you going to kiss me? When I fell in the tub?” Robin asks, so bluntly that Nancy almost trips over her own feet in shock.

“What?” She ends up asking dumbly.

“I’m sorry, I know that was blunt. I thought you were going to, it’s why I fell in the tub. Sorry, it was just on my mind, and I find it hard not to ask about things I think about.” Robin answers, biting her lip.

“I- yeah, yes. I was going to kiss you.” Nancy responds, knowing Robin likes when people are direct.

“Oh.” Robin responds, shaking her head slightly.

“I’m sorry, does that make you uncomfortable?” Nancy asks, tilting her head.

“No. I wanted you to, but I felt guilty because I’m with Vickie, or I guess was with her.” Robin answers, looking up at Nancy.

“That makes sense, it seems like something else is on your mind though? If it’s about me wanting to kiss you, I promise I won’t try anything. There’s a lot going on right now.” Nancy responds honestly, heart soaring at the fact that Robin wanted her to kiss her.

“It’s stupid.” Robin says, shaking her head.

“Let me decide that.” Nancy prods gently, stepping closer to the girl.

“It’s just- my mom used to tell me that if I wouldn’t shut up for once, that I’d never find someone who will love me. My dad used to tell me that he knew what ‘men liked’, and they don’t like loud girl’s with opinions as strong as mine. I always thought well screw you guys, things are different now. But then when I really looked at myself, I realised I could never keep a friend for long, let alone a partner.” Robin starts, shrugging her shoulders.

“But then Vickie kissed me, I-I honestly was moving on from my crush on her when she did. But then she would say things to me, the same things my parents would, and I thought, shit maybe they were right. I always knew I’d be difficult to love, but I didn’t think I’d be… impossible to.” Robin continues, taking a deep breath.

“Vickie always said she was the only one who could ever love me, or want to be with me. I believed her, I kinda still do. But then you were going to kiss me, and maybe it was just a fleeting moment or something you’d regret, but you were still going to. Either that means that Vickie was wrong, that-that other people would like me like that, or it means that you’ll- you’ll find me difficult to lo- to like too.” Robin finishes, eyes wide and tearful as she looks at the girl.

“Robin. Your parents, Vickie , they’re so incredibly wrong. You’re wrong. When we went to the library together, I didn’t think you were annoying or too much, I thought you didn’t believe in me. I’m far too used to people questioning me, and I thought that’s what you were doing, so I got defensive and mean. But you showed me how much you believed in me, and stuck up for me at every turn and listened to me despite how awful I was at first. You’re brilliant, smart and relentless and kind. I could go on and on about the great things about you, but if you asked me for something bad I’d be stumped.” Nancy says seriously, stepping forward and placing her hands on Robin’s arms. 

“I-I don’t know what to say.” Robin says emotionally, tears falling down from her eyes.

“You don’t have to say anything Rob, but I want you to know that Vickie is wrong .” Nancy says pointedly, hoping the girl picks up on what she’s trying to say.

“Oh.” Robin breathes, before a small, but beautiful smile graces her features.

And god, did she look so beautiful to Nancy. All she wanted to do was pull Robin close and kiss her like crazy, but tonight wasn’t the time for that. Robin needed a friend, and Nancy was ready to be there. Plus, if being there for her and caring for her can prove to the tall girl what love truly should be like, then hey that’s a massive bonus for Nancy.

So instead Nancy steps closer and cradles the girl’s face gently, using her thumbs to wipe away her tears. Robin appeared to be a mix of shocked and enthralled with the actions, staring intensely at Nancy as the smaller girl pulled her down to place a kiss on her forehead.

“Let’s get some sleep.” Nancy whispers, slowly pulling away from the girl.

Robin just stands there dumbly while Nancy gets into the bed, only moving when the girl sends her an amused glance. Robin grabs the bottom of the hoodie, pulling it over her head and dropping it on the desk next to her bed. Her cheeks burn slightly as she watches Nancy drink in her exposed torso, turning as red as a tomato when Nancy then locks eyes with her and winks . 

“Hope you don’t mind, I’m like a radiator when I sleep.” Robin says, shuffling into the bed next to her.

“I definitely don’t mind.” Nancy smirks playfully, snuggling down into the pillows on her back. 

Robin chuckles slightly, still shuffling next to Nancy. The shorter girl just assumes that her freckled friend would roll over to the opposite end of the bed like the awkward person she is. Instead, she’s pleasantly surprised when Robin rolls towards her and nuzzles her head down into Nancy’s chest, grabbing the fabric of her t-shirt over her hip. 

“This okay?” Robin asks quietly, body rigid, ready to roll away if needed.

“More than okay.” Nancy whispers back, wrapping the arm behind Robin around her back, while the other lands on Robin’s arm that was draped across her, rubbing it up and down.

Robin relaxes immediately, snuggling her face into Nancy’s chest. She even tangled her leg with Nancy’s, letting out the cutest sigh Nancy’s ever heard. Nancy drops a kiss to Robin’s head, careful of her cut not far from her. She continues to rub Robin’s arm up and down until they both pass out quickly. 

The last thought Nancy had before falling asleep was actually a revelation of sorts.

‘God, I’m so incredibly, deeply, undeniably in love with her.’

Chapter Text

Nancy wakes up first, content to lie there as long as it takes for Robin to wake up naturally. Robin’s head was still on her chest, hand now gripping her shirt at her shoulder instead of hip. Nancy carefully brushes the girl's unruly hair out of her face, gently stroking at her cheek before dragging her hand behind the girl's ear and down her back. 

Robin sighs softly, shifting slightly as she slowly wakes up. Nancy brings her hand up and down the girl’s back, nails gently scratching at the girl’s back in a soothing manner. Robin hums happily, nuzzling her sleepy face into Nancy’s neck. She then lets go of her vice grip on Nancy’s shirt to wrap loosely around her torso instead. 

“Morning.” Nancy says softly, only when she knew for definite the girl was awake.

“Mmmmm nope.” Robin huffs, hot breath on Nancy’s neck as she snuggles deeper in.

“I hear Steve downstairs, maybe we should go down soon?” Nancy offers, suppressing a shiver, barely. 

“5 more minutes.” Robin mumbles with a grumpy groan.

Nancy laughs softly, trying to detangle herself carefully so the taller girl could have some extra rest. She’s pleasantly surprised when Robin grumbles grumpily, reaching out to tug the girl back to her, shifting so she was completely on top of Nancy, face reburied in her neck. 

“I said 5 more minutes.” Robin huffs adorably, that Nancy couldn’t help but grin. 

“Okay, okay.” Nancy sighs contently, wrapping her arms around the girl’s back, resuming her light scratches. 

Nancy definitely let her have more than 5 minutes, but hey a cute girl was on top of her , what do you expect her to do? It was probably closer to 10 before Nancy decided the girl could definitely use some food. 

“Okay, it’s been way longer than 5 minutes now.” Nancy says gently, patting the girl’s back.

“No.” Robin says, grumbling incoherently.

“Come on Robs, you need some food.” Nancy says softly, chuckling slightly.

Robin just continues to grumble completely incoherently, tightening her arms around Nancy’s frame. Nancy can only sigh.

“Okay, you asked for it.” Nancy says as the only warning to the freckled girl.

She tightens her hold on Robin’s back, before she’s rolling them over so quickly she’s surprised they didn’t get whiplash. Nancy pulls her head up from where she face planted the pillow, staring into Robin’s very wide and very awake eyes.

“Um.” Is all the girl could say.

“I did warn you.” Nancy grins, sitting up fully, happy to stay on the girl’s lap a little longer.

“Did you?” Robin questions, coming back to herself.

“Sort of.” Nancy says, grin widening. 

Before Robin could answer her, Nancy is jumping off of her with far too much energy, and before she could even comprehend that she’s being dragged up by her armpits like she’s a toddler.

“Okay! Okay! I’m up!” Robin concedes, getting up easily.

---------------------------

Breakfast was only slightly awkward. Robin could tell that the boys just had no idea how to act around her, or what to say. She had shuffled in wearing Eddie’s hoodie yet again, it being colder in the morning. Steve wordlessly handed her a cup of coffee while he kept flipping some pancakes, knowing how much she needed a cup in the morning.

Robin ate in complete silence, practically inhaling her food. Nancy, her saving grace, made conversation with the boys, saving Robin the hassle of trying to. Nancy even made sure to check her head wound, seeing how it looks the morning after. Both girl’s huff when the boys decide to take a look too, needing to see it for themselves.

Now it was what Robin was dreading, the talk.

The plan.

“So, I was thinking last night, and I may have an idea.” Steve starts, pouring himself a second cup of coffee before joining them around the kitchen island.

“Should we be scared?” Eddie jokes, grinning at the boy.

“ Anyway , I think we should talk a bit more about everything, and once we have the whole story, we go to Hopper.” Steve says, bracing himself for Robin’s disapproval.

“What? I told you we can’t just tell the cops Steve! It’s unsafe, not just for Vickie, but for me .” Robin responds, frowning deeply.

“Technically, he’s not a part of the force anymore. But, he has enough respect or whatever to help us out without the rest of the cops knowing what actually happened. He’d help us, I know he would.” Steve responds with a nod, having expected that reaction.

“I don’t know Steve.” Robin responds, biting her lip.

“Tell us what you’re thinking, Rob.” Nancy says gently.

“This is all under the assumption that he’d be okay with me being gay. What if he’s too uncomfortable to help, then what? Besides, what would he even do? Arrest her?” Robin asks, looking between everyone.

“That’s the idea.” Eddie responds.

“I don’t think he’d be too uncomfortable to help us. I can’t say what his reaction would be, but after everything we’ve been through, he’d do anything for us, whether he’d ever say that or not.” Nancy responds, dropping a hand to Robin’s shoulder.

“He’s even gonna help Max out with her physical therapy when the casts come off tomorrow, and got her mom into rehab. He’s softer than you’d think.” Steve continues, looking at her seriously.

“She doesn’t deserve to go to prison, things were just a bit complicated. I think I should just talk to her, tell her you guys won’t say anything about her to anyone else, and we can all move on.” Robin responds, shrugging her shoulders.

“Robin, she was abusive. Whether you see it that way or not, you have three of your closest friends right in front of you telling you it was. She doesn’t deserve to get to live her life normally after that.” Steve says seriously.

“What if she does it to someone else?” Eddie asks carefully.

“She wouldn’t, it was- it was just me and it wasn’t as bad as you guys think. Vickie isn’t like that, I would know if someone was abusing me, I’m not stupid.” Robin frowns, staring down at the table.

“We don’t think you’re stupid Robin, not one bit. Abusers have a great way of making their victims believe they’re not being abused, that it’s their fault they hurt them, not the abuser's fault, never their fault.” Nancy responds gently, holding the girl’s hand gently.

“Did she promise not to do it again, but she did it again anyway? She was always extra nice afterwards, right?” Eddie asks, looking at her with such sadness she had to look away.

She just silently drops her face into her hands.

“You said she was always sorry afterwards, did she ever actually say sorry? Did she ever say those words?” Nancy asks softly.

Robin pauses, dropping her hands to look at the girl. Did she ever actually say sorry? Did Robin just assume she did? Every awful word, everytime she grabbed her hair, or even when she slapped her. She never did, not once. Horror washes over her when she realises that it was actually Robin herself that would end up apologising. 

Oh god.

Oh god.

“No.” Robin chokes out, burying her head in her hands again.

“You never deserved a hand to be laid on you, never. I know you don’t believe me, but please please Robin, she deserves to be behind bars, you deserve to be safe from her.” Steve urges, leaning over the island to gently touch her elbow.

“I-I don’t think I can handle this right now.” Robin breathes, dropping her hands and standing up abruptly, walking right out of the kitchen.

“Woah Robin wait!” Eddie shouts, hopping up and scrambling after her with the other two teens on his tail.

“I can’t do this!” Robin breathes in raggedly, gripping her hair with both hands. 

“What are you thinking Rob, what’s going on?” Nancy asks gently, face full of worry.

“Just- if that wasn’t normal or-or okay then that means t-that other things weren’t and I can’t- I don’t- it’s too much! Too much! Too much!” Robin now shouts, smacking her fist into her forehead repeatedly in distress.

Steve jumps into action, pulling Robin’s back into his front, squeezing one hand in between her fist and forehead, blocking the blow, while the other arm squeezes Robin's middle, trying to give her the deep pressure he knows she likes while distressed.

“Easy Robin, easy. You’re okay, you’re alright I got you.” Steve whispers soothingly into her ear, catching her fist with the hand at her forehead as it runs out of steam, pulling it down to her side. 

“There we go, just breathe it’s okay.” Steve coos, holding her tight until he feels her breathing slow back to normal.

Eddie pulls Nancy out of earshot while the girl calms down.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Eddie asks, eyes dangerous.

“What’s that?” Nancy asks, tilting her head slightly.

“She just freaked out over realising maybe some other stuff isn’t okay. I know you connected the dots with her knees.” Eddie whispers, eyes wide.

“I didn’t ask her about it, I didn’t want to upset her more. Eddie, if that's true, then Vickie deserves more than ever to be locked up.” Nancy whispers back, eyes full of emotion.

“She deserves more than that Nancy and you know it.” Eddie continues darkly.

“What, are you suggesting we kill her?” Nancy jokes, eyes widening at the serious look in his eyes.

“Eddie-”

“Not kill, not kill. Hurt? Yes. Give her an hour in the upside down? Even better.” Eddie interrupts, eyebrows raised.

“That’s closed off for good now Eddie, I refuse to ask El to open a portal just for an abuser, no matter how much I might want to.” Nancy continues.

“She deserved to suffer, Nancy! We still have no idea what she’s done to Robin!” Eddie whisper shouts.

“Don’t you think I know that? I want nothing more then to shove my fucking gun down her throat Eddie! But if we go over there fists flying and guns cocked, she’d have an easy time spinning the story to her own narrative to get away with everything.” Nancy whisper shouts back angrily.

“Then maybe we should kill her.” Eddie huffs, looking back over to where Robin was hugging Steve tightly, the pair having their own whispered conversation.

“What’s gotten into you Eddie?” Nancy asks, eyebrows scrunched up.

“I gave up on her Nancy, I just gave up because she hurt my feelings. I knew she didn’t mean it, I knew that, and I still gave up anyway. I was a baby while she was being- I just need to do something .” Eddie says, sighing heavily.

“You are doing something, by being there for her. You’ll continue to do something while you support her through all of this. Telling Hopper is the way to go, but if I can convince him to leave her cell unlocked, trust me I’ll deal with her.” Nancy responds, smirking a little at the end.

“Thanks Wheeler, I appreciate it.” Eddie chuckles, patting her back awkwardly.

“You guys done having your little pow wow?” Steve jokes, much more at ease, his arms still around Robin who was now tucked into his chest.

“Whatever Harrington. You good Robin?” Eddie says, rolling his eyes at the boy first.

“I’m okay, sorry I got weird.” Robin responds awkwardly.

She still had a slight red mark on her forehead from where she was banging her fist into it.

“Hey, don’t apologise, and please, stop talking about yourself like that. I happen to like you just the way you are.” Nancy says gently, smiling softly at the girl.

Steve and Eddie share a look at the exchange.

“Uh- thanks, Nance.” Robin responds awkwardly, peeling away from Steve.

“I still think I should talk to Vickie first, maybe give her a chance to explain first or- or I don’t know.” Robin shrugs.

“She doesn’t deserve that.” Steve shakes his head.

“Maybe I just need to hear her say what she did was wrong, I don’t know.” Robin responds quietly, looking down at her feet.

“Fine, but you’re not going alone.” Nancy responds, crossing her arms.

“She’ll never agree to talk to me with you guys there.” Robin frowns, biting her lip.

“We’ll hide then, get her to meet you at skull rock again.” Eddie responds, nodding slightly.

“Right.” Robin nods slightly, wincing at the memory she had there.

“It doesn’t have to be there if- if you can’t go back there.” Nancy awkwardly stumbles, reaching out to hold the girl’s hand.

“It’s okay Nance, I’ll have you guys. I’ll make the call.” Robin smiles slightly, walking out of the living room towards the phone hanging in the kitchen.

“So Wheeler, when were you going to mention you had the hots for our Robin?” Eddie asks the second she’s out of earshot.

“As her platonic soulmate, I’ll need to properly vet you.” Steve says seriously, squinting at her.

“As her self appointed older brother, so do I.” Eddie continues, squinting similarly at the girl.

“If you guys squint any harder, you’ll need glasses.” Nancy responds with an eye roll, not bothering to deny it. 

“I’m halfway there anyway.” Steve shrugs, dropping the face he was making.

“I didn’t hear a denial there.” Eddie says cheekily, grinning at the girl.

“No, you didn’t.” Nancy responds easily, smiling back.

Robin rushes back into the room, face slightly pale.

“She said she’d meet me in an hour.” Robin says anxiously.

“Okay, shit yeah alright.” Eddie breathes, nodding.

“Let’s change, follow me Munson, I'll give you some clean clothes. Don’t need a repeat of spring break again.” Steve says, scrunching his face up in disgust.

“Rude, and gross.” Eddie says, pulling a face at the thought of wearing such… preppy clothing.

“Oh, you can have your hoodie back Eddie, sorry I’ve been hogging it.” Robin offers, clutching the sleeves on said hoodie, still on her.

“Nah, looks better on you Buck. Keep it safe for me.” Eddie responds easily, grinning at the girl.

“If you’re sure.” Robin says, absolutely beaming.

How could Eddie ever say no to that face? 

“Positive.” The boy grins, rushing up the stairs after Steve.

Robin reaches out and gently takes hold of Nancy’s hand, tugging the now blushing girl to the stairs as well, much slower than Eddie. She’s actually secretly glad Eddie let her keep this hoodie. She’s not sure why, but it makes her feel really safe. Maybe it’s because the boy gave it to her during a time she felt terrified and unsafe. 

Robin pulls Nancy into her room again, finally dropping her hand so she could dig through her drawers. 

“I think all of my jeans will be too big for you, but I might still have a shorter pair somewhere in here.” Robin says casually, digging through her drawer.

“I’m okay re-wearing my jeans Rob, but I could use a t-shirt?” Nancy asks with a small smile. 

“Do you- um- d-do you also need- want - some eh- underwear? Not that you need them or anything and I wouldn’t judge you for re-wearing your old pair or- or wearing none, not- not that I’d be thinking of you without any on! Oh my god why did I even say that- sorry-” Robin rambles, face as red as a tomato, waving around a pair of white underwear.

Nancy giggles slightly at the adorable girl, walking over to her with a large smirk on her face.

“Don’t apologise, that was really cute. As for underwear, I was going to go commando, which I wouldn’t mind if you thought about, by the way. Since you offered though, I’d love to wear your underwear.” Nancy says lowly, biting her lip as she takes the pair from the girl.

“Holy shit.” Robin whispers, completely frozen in place even as Nancy steps back. 

“Robin?” Nancy asks after a moment of silence.

“Y-Yeah?” She stutters.

“The shirt?” Nancy asks, chuckling lightly.

“Right! Right- sorry.” Robin responds, jumping slightly as she resets, turning to look through her drawers. 

“Um, a lot of mine are baggy on me, cause I like shopping in the mens. The ones I think might fit you are these two.” Robin says awkwardly, holding up two slightly older but still well cared for t-shirts.

Nancy looks at both of them. One was an old, plain black T-shirt that looked almost perfect to the size Nancy would usually wear. The other, seemed to be an old soccer camp T-shirt. It was a dark green colour, and the only thing on the front was a small soccer ball printed on the pocket on the left side of the chest. What drew her in though, was the Buckley written in white across the back of the shirt, as well as the number 10.

“This one is perfect.” Nancy grins, clutching the soccer shirt to her chest.

“Oh uh- really? It’s- you know it has my name on it, right?” Robin asks, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly.

“That’s exactly why I want it.” Nancy smirks, turning around to head into the bathroom with all of her things. 

Robin breathes out deeply before quickly grabbing what she wants to wear, throwing it on so quickly she almost falls over. She was running her fingers carefully through her hair by the time Nancy had come out.

Nancy pauses in the doorway, heart swelling as she stares at the girl who was still unaware of her presence. Robin was wearing overalls, and she looked so good . They were denim, and she wore a dark blue t-shirt underneath, which the more Nancy stares at it, she realises with delight that it was a crop top, and showed off her bare sides. 

God, she loved summer Robin. 

“Oh! Didn’t see you there, is there a way to organise my hair so everyone and their grandma doesn’t see the cut?” Robin asks, looking over her shoulder.

“I’ll give it a try, sit down.” Nancy instructs, waiting for her to sit on her bed.

“You look so good in those, you should wear them more often.” Nancy states, gently combing through the girl's hair, easily covering the cut. 

“O-Oh, thanks Nance. You um- you look good in my shirt.” Robin responds awkwardly.

“Thanks, but I hope it’s not a favourite of yours.” Nancy says with a playful grin, pulling the girl up now.

“It’s not, why?” Robin asks, clumsily putting her feet into her combat boots. 

“Because you’re never getting this back again.” Nancy shrugs, slipping her shoes back on easily. 

“That’s- that’s cool with me.” Robin says, nodding slightly as she hops around the room trying to pull on her second boot.

“You ready up there ladies?” Steve shouts up the stairs, an air of impatience in his voice.

“He’s totally pacing like a mom down there.” Robin grins, skipping out of the room.

Skipping. Nancy’s heart was literally going to burst from this girl’s cuteness.

Robin was right, Steve was pacing with a frown, car keys in his hand. The taller girl cackles loudly when she sees Eddie. The metalhead was wearing one of Steve’s polo shirts, considering it was far too warm for a sweater or his leather jacket anymore.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up whatever.” Eddie rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. 

“I almost convinced him to wear my chino shorts.” Steve grins good naturedly. 

“Oh my god stop! You’re gonna kill me!” Robin laughs loudly.

Steve joins in, and even Nancy does (at a much lower level), Eddie even cracks a smile, happy to see his friend laughing and smiling again. 

It unfortunately can’t last forever, and slowly they file out of the house and into Nancy’s car. Robin’s leg bounces so quickly the entire car ride that all Nancy wanted to do was soothe her. She eventually reaches over to rub her knee gently for a few moments before needing to drop it back onto the gear shift. She felt Robin’s gaze heavily on the side of face, but decided to keep looking forward. It would be a real shame if she totaled her car because she was distracted by a beautiful face. Instead she smiled softly, somehow knowing Robin was too. 

Nancy drives a bit further than necessary, finding a small ditch to park the car in, far enough in from the road that no one should be able to see it from the road. They made the plan in the car, Robin knew exactly where they would be, Eddie having the best hiding spot. 

Robin gets herself in position, purposely placing herself far enough away from the rock she’s pretty sure still has her blood on it. Her eyes drift down the rock, and her memory floods with what Vickie made her do up against it. Shaking her head, desperately trying not to think of that right now, Robin turns away from it fully, squeezing her eyes shut and counting down from 10, just like Steve taught her. 

Just as she got to 10, she hears a twig snap.

“Robin.” Comes a familiar voice.

Vickie. 

Chapter Text

Nancy, Steve and Eddie are hidden behind the big solid rock. It was the perfect spot to stand really, behind the rocks there were no twigs or anything that would make noise and alert anyone of their position. There was also a small gap between where two rocks meet where they could see Robin and now Vickie perfectly.

Nancy rummages quickly through her pocket, yanking out a small device. Eddie gives her a curious look, while Steve waves his hands around frantically, it must be his way of asking what was in her hands. 

She hands it to him wordlessly, and both boys lean in to look at it. It was a voice recorder, one she had for interviewing different people for the paper. Robin didn’t know she had it, or that she was going to use it, but Nancy wanted to ensure that the girl would be believed. Steve opens his mouth, about to protest no doubt, before Eddie clamps his hand over it. 

Robin and Vickie were just on the other side of the rock, there’s no way they could even whisper without potentially alerting the redhead. 

Nancy instead reached in between the gap the rocks created, as far as she could and carefully placed the already turned on recorder down silently. She hopes that Robin wouldn’t be too mad at her for doing this without her permission.

All three now focus their entire attention on the conversation happening in front of them.

---------------------------------------

“Vickie, I-” Robin starts.

“What do you want? I thought it was clear that we’re done.” Vickie spits, crossing her arms.

“It is, it’s not about that.” Robin responds carefully, biting her lip.

“Then what ? Haven’t you done enough?” Vickie asks angrily.

“I never should have told Max about you, I should have known it would have gotten back to Steve and- I outed you, and that was wrong, but that never would have happened if you didn’t do bad things too.” Robin says, frowning now at the girl.

“What the hell are you even talking about?” Vickie asks, laughing humorlessly.

“Max only told Nancy because she was worried about me. She was worried because of the things you’d do or make me feel, we both did wrong things, not just me.” Robin frowns deeper, taking a step back from the girl.

“That’s because you spun your own narrative Robin. I’ve been nothing but good to you, I risked everything to be with you, fucking everything , and what? Now because you fucked up you want to blame me for everything?” Vickie spits angrily, stepping closer to the girl.

“I-I wanted you to admit what you did was wrong, I wanted to give you a chance to explain.” Robin says shakily, stepping back yet again.

“What could I have possibly done wrong?” Vickie asks, tilting her head to the side.

“Wha- you- are you serious? My blood is still on that rock Vickie!” Robin shouts angrily, pointing her finger at the rock in question.

“Oh please, that was an accident! You’re the one who fell back into it.” Vickie responds, rolling her eyes. 

“You pushed me into it! How was I supposed to avoid it?” Robin asks, heatedly, now stepping closer to the girl.

“You’re a stupid fucking Klutz Robin.” Vickie grits out through her teeth, absolutely seething. 

“So you won’t admit to anything, huh? Not even- not even what you did after you pushed me?” Robin asks, running out of steam as her eyes fill up with tears.

“The only thing that I’ll admit is that you asked for all of it Robin. You’re a waste of space, and I feel disgusted that I ever let you kiss or touch me. Not only did you deserve everything that happened to you, especially what happened after I pushed you, but you deserve much worse. Your mother was right, you’re a lazy, annoying, worthless piece of shit and I hope you enjoy being alone forever because nobody will be able to put up with you.” Vickie spits angrily.

“Fuck you.” Robin says quietly but angrily, tears spilling down her face.

“You already did, and I bet you want to again, don’t you, you little dyke.” Vickie says with a sickening grin. 

“No I don’t!” Robin shouts, shoving the girl’s shoulders.

Vickie stumbles only a step or two backwards before she rights herself, staring at Robin with such anger it has Robin’s eyes widening. 

“Oh you little..” Vickie mutters before she’s stalking ahead.

She shoves Robin hard, causing the clumsy girl to crash into the ground harshly. Robin yelps in pain, her still sore head colliding with the ground. Robin closes her eyes tightly when she sees Vickie lifting her foot, most likely going to kick her harshly. 

Except the kick never comes.

“Back the fuck up right now!” Nancy shouts, pistol in hand pointed right at Vickie.

“Are you serious?” Vickie asks, dropping her foot back down before taking a step back.

“Nancy never jokes about guns.” Steve says, rushing over to Robin while glaring at the redhead. 

“Get the fuck out of here before I take her gun and finish you myself.” Eddie says darkly, getting up into the redhead's face.

Vickie backs up even further, eyes darting between each person now here. Her eyes fill with utter rage when they land back on Robin.

“You little bitch, this was a set up!” Vickie shouts angrily, stepping forward once before a shot rings off into the air, causing the girl to jump backwards.

“First one is a warning, second one will be in your skull.” Nancy says coldly, lowering the gun she had pointed in the sky.

“I’ll- I’ll tell everyone you forced yourself onto me. Who are they gonna believe? The girl with the boyfriend or the freak who everyone knows is a big massive dyke. ” Vickie spits, before turning around and leaving. 

Steve and Nancy rush to the girl still on the ground.

“Oh god, oh god she’s right. People have been calling me that since freshman year, they’ll-they’ll believe her.” Robin says shakily, dropping her face to her hands.

Steve wraps his arms around the shaking girl’s frame, rocking them slightly. Nancy rushes over to the rock, cringing heavily when she sees the dried blood before reaching in and grabbing the recorder. Pressing for the recording to stop, she rewinds it and presses play. Listening for just a moment or two to make sure the sound was good, the girl grins.

“No they won’t.” Nancy says, waving the recorder around once Robin looked her way.

“You recorded it?” Robin asks, eyeing the recorder before looking up at the girl.

“Yeah, I know I didn’t ask but- abusers always find a way to spin the story. I wanted to make sure that she couldn’t.” Nancy explains, dropping down next to the girl still on the ground.

Nancy jumps slightly when both of Robin’s hands grasp her face gently, pulling her in to be practically nose to nose.

“You, Nancy Wheeler, are a genius.” Robin grins, squeezing her cheeks slightly before dropping a kiss to the girl’s forehead, then letting her face go.

Nancy blushed so deeply red she was convinced her face was on fire. She made eye contact with a smirking Steve as the trio all stood up from the forest floor. Eddie rushes back into sight, having followed the redhead out of the woods.

“She’s gone, I wanted to make sure she actually left.” Eddie says, coming over and wrapping a protective arm around Robin, pulling her close into him. 

“Thank you guys for being here, it’s like I had my own little protection squad.” Robin says with a small smile, as they all make their way back to Nancy’s car.

“The Robin Buckley protection squad, at your service!” Eddie says dramatically, saluting the air with one hand while the other was still snug around the girl.

“I’m the founder, but Nance is definitely the leader.” Steve smirks, throwing his own arm around Nancy’s shoulders. 

The comment made Robin blush, which Nancy caught. Hope blossomed into her chest, maybe Robin still wanted her to kiss her. She’d have to file that away, maybe after they speak with Hopper. 

----------------------------

They decided that Hopper needed to know sooner rather than later, so each of them decided to skip school (Steve had the day off anyway thankfully) tomorrow and head up to him then. If it were up to Nancy, she’d want to go right away, but the fall reignited the pain in Robin’s head and the girl just wanted to relax after the day she had. 

They spend the day trying to wait on Robin hand and foot, much to the girl’s confusion. The boys practically wrestled one another to get into the kitchen to get Robin a drink or some snacks whenever she mentioned offhand that she was either thirsty or hungry. Nancy was much more subtle, choosing to rub the girl’s back or arm in comfort, giving her pain meds and plenty of blankets and pillows. 

“Did you wanna talk about it?” Nancy asks randomly, turning to the girl.

Robin was nestled in a bundle of blankets Nancy had practically tucked her into. She was in between Steve and Nancy on the couch, while Eddie settled on the floor by her legs. They hadn’t once spoken about what the girl had said to Robin since getting back.

“Talk about what?” Robin asks, distracted by the movie Steve had popped in.

“What happened earlier.” Nancy presses gently, watching as Steve pauses the movie.

“I mean, you guys heard what happened, so what is there to talk about?” Robin asks genuinely, turning to look at Nancy in confusion.

“Just- you know what she said was total bullshit, right?” Nancy asks gently.

“Wow Wheeler, two curses in one day, must be a record for you.” Robin jokes, smirking slightly.

“Stop deflecting.” Nancy chides gently, watching the smirk fade away.

“Right, sorry.” Robin nods, biting her lip.

“She knew she had lost control, so she decided to let it rip on the hurtful comments, but none of them are true.” Eddie says gently, twisting so he could drop his arms across her knees, resting his head on them. 

“I- my whole life I’ve been told exactly what she said. By my parents, my ‘friends’, hell even most of my teachers. The first time I ever heard anything to contradict that was when this dummy complimented me in the bathrooms at Starcourt.” Robin says honestly, poking Steve’s side lightly.

“It’s really hard to just- just forget about everything everyone has always said, just because now at the solid age of 18 I’ve found people who think the opposite of that.” Robin continues, biting her lip.

“I get that, I do. I was told I was gonna be nothing but trailer trash my whole life, that or a junkie was a big one, or that I’d end up in prison with my dad. I believed it, you know? How can you not? I thought I’d do nothing good with my life, but then I found kids who loved D&D just as much as me, and I founded hellfire. When I met our stupid kids, I saw the same fear in their eyes that I did in my own when I was their age. Next of all I’m fighting a wizard demon and saving a town that hates me.” Eddie says, chuckling at the end.

“Point is, your life and everything you know can change drastically in a matter of seconds. What you believed to be true one day is proven wrong the next. It can be hard to adjust, trust me, but it’s possible.” Eddie continues, looking up at her.

“Thanks Eddie. I never saw you that way, just so you know. Even before spring break, I heard you practise with your band a few times, I always thought you were super cool and talented.” Robin says softly, ruffling his hair gently.

“So are you, way too talented for just a trumpet.” Eddie responds with a grin.

“The trumpet is harder to play than you’d think. Anyways I only played that because my Mom wanted me to, I thought it would make her like me more. I taught myself drums actually, and I’m pretty good.” Robin grins back, it widening when Eddie shoots up all excited.

“No fucking way Buckley! You’ve got to play for me sometime.” Eddie beams, hands squeezing her calves in excitement. 

“I guess so.” Robin shrugs, smile turning more shy at the nice words.

“Alright guys it’s getting late, how about we get some sleep so we’re well rested for tomorrow.” Nancy says, standing up and stretching slightly. 

“Sounds good, I gotta head home, Wayne gets worried when I’m gone too long, plus I hate these clothes.” Eddie says, standing up slowly, ignoring Steve’s scoff.

“Thanks for everything Eddie, I- I’m just really sorry about everything.” Robin says, standing up and taking his hand.

“Hey, I’d do anything for you Buck. That’s in the past, I promise. If you really wanna talk it out though, let’s do it over some beers.” Eddie says gently, pulling the girl in for a hug and rocking them both side to side. 

“Deal.” Robin says quietly, squeezing her arms around him and sighing when he mimics her.

“I’ll see you other losers at ass o’clock.” Eddie announces, dropping a kiss to Robin’s forehead before pulling away and saluting the other two in the room, letting himself out. 

“Alright, goodnight you two.” Steve says with a yawn, dragging Robin in for a tight embrace, also dropping a kiss to her forehead. 

He ruffles Nancy’s hair as he passes her, much to the girl’s dismay. 

Nancy shuffles on her feet awkwardly. She didn’t necessarily want to leave, but she would if Robin needed to be alone. When she saw that Robin was also awkwardly fidgeting, she decided to head to the door wordlessly, taking it as a sign that the girl wanted her gone. 

“Wait!” Robin shouts, face flaming up at the loud volume. 

“I- um, I don’t really want to be alone. You don’t have to stay but- I’d- I’d really like it if you did.” Robin says quietly, staring down at her feet.

“I don’t want to leave, I just wasn’t sure if you wanted space or not.” Nancy answers, breathing out a breath of relief. 

“I always want you around.” Robin answers immediately.

“Oh, um. Me too.” Nancy says, face aflame. 

---------------

They head upstairs, but before either of them get changed, Nancy decides she needs an answer to a question that’s been bugging her for a while now. 

“Hey Rob? Can we sit for a sec?” Nancy asks softly, patting the spot next to her on the edge of the bed.

“Sure thing Nance.” Robin responds, dropping down next to her.

“Can I ask you something?” Nancy asks, eyeing up the girl.

“You can ask me anything.” Robin nods, eyes honest.

“Did you love her?” Nancy asks, biting her lip.

“I….. I’ve been asking myself the same question. I think I convinced myself I did, but no, I don’t think that’s what love is supposed to feel like. She never even really said that she loved me, unless it was in a way that let me know no one else would. I never said those words to her either, not once. Never even thought them, if I’m being honest. I think… I think I was just afraid, I was too afraid to tell her I didn’t love her, so I just convinced myself that I did.” Robin answers carefully.

“That makes a lot of sense Rob, and I’m kind of glad you never did.” Nancy answers, breathing out heavily.

“You are?” Robin answers, her eyes now staring into Nancy’s.

“Very.” Nancy responds, reaching out to brush the girl’s hair behind her ear.

“Oh.” Robin breathes, leaning into the gentle touch.

Nancy’s eyes drop to her lips, and this time Robin doesn’t panic or fling herself backwards into a tub, this time she lets her own eyes drop to the girl’s lips. Dragging her eyes back up, she watches as Nancy leans in close, eyes trained on her lips. The girl pauses when they get almost nose to nose, now looking up into her eyes, waiting. Robin’s eyes widen slightly when she realises what Nancy was doing.

She was putting the control into Robin’s hands.

She would stay put, and it’s Robin’s choice whether she wishes to connect their lips or not. Vickie never did that, she just took it for herself, whether Robin wanted to or not. That’s all she did, she took and took and took even when Robin had nothing else for her to take. Yet here was Nancy, Nancy was giving, she was so giving. 

Before the girl could pull away, Robin pushed forward, slowly. Their lips connect softly, almost like a featherlight touch. Then Robin brings her hand up and into Nancy’s hair, tugging lightly and then they’re kissing for real . 

Nancy’s hands cradle her face so gently, that this time Robin does actually cry. 

They’re not sad tears, not really. In some ways it is mourning what she could have had, but mostly, mostly Robin is just ecstatic to be experiencing what a real first kiss should be like. Eventually they both need some air, but they keep their foreheads connected. 

“Wow.” Robin breathes, feeling Nancy wipe her tears away with her thumbs.

“Was that okay? I know everything’s crazy right now.” Nancy says gently, still cradling her head.

“That was totally okay, Nance.” Robin smiles, pecking the girl gently. 

“I just- I might need some time to, yenno, unlearn all of this crap. I still haven’t really unpacked most of what happened yet.” Robin continues honestly.

“I understand that, how about we try do that together huh? And when you’re ready, I’m here in whatever capacity you’ll have me.” Nancy offers gently.

“Can we still kiss?” Robin asks, eyes wide and innocent that Nancy just has to peck her again.

“Of course we can, anytime you want.” Nancy answers honestly.

“I don’t think you mean that literally.” Robin says more shyly, looking down.

“Yup, I absolutely do.” Nancy says confidently, lifting the girl’s face gently by her chin.

“What about in public?” Robin asks with a frown.

“Robin, if we’re out for a walk in the park and you want one, then I'll pull you in so quick, regardless of who's around. At school, you want one at the lockers? Done. Hell, visiting Max? Absolutely.” Nancy says seriously.

“People will talk, Hawkins isn’t exactly accepting.” Robin says, shaking her head.

“Yeah, and I’ve got two handguns and a shotgun, I'd like to see them try.” Nancy responds, hand now stroking Robin’s cheek.

“You’re serious?” Robin asks, searching the girl’s face intently.

“I am, I spent my whole life up until now pretending to be someone I’m not, I refuse to do that anymore. However public you’re comfortable with, so am I.” Nancy answers confidently.

“Maybe not at school or anything, but- I think I’d um- if you, yenno where comfortable with it I’d- shit.” Robin stutters, cursing at herself with a frown.

“Take your time Love, what is it?” Nancy asks, so gently.

“I’d like to hold your hand? In public? And in private too, I just- Vickie never let me.” Robin breathes, pulling back from the girl slightly.

“Robin, you are the most precious thing, of course you can hold my hand, whenever you’d like.” Nancy says, smiling so softly it made Robin pause for a moment. 

“Awesome.” Robin beams, stealing one last kiss before hopping up and rummaging around for their pyjamas from the night before. 

“Hey, how are you feeling about tomorrow?” Nancy asks, standing up.

“I um- I don’t know really.” Robin responds awkwardly, grabbing both sets of clothes.

“What do you mean?” Nancy asks, tilting her head slightly, accepting the pile of clothes.

“Well, I just- I’m still not sure we should even go through with it.” Robin breathes, clutching her own pile.

“Wait what?” Nancy asks, shocked.

“It’s still outing her Nancy, that tape- what if it gets out? What if the police need it, what if Vickie goes to the police and tells them it was me?” Robin asks.

“Then we would have to show them the tape, we’d have no choice, Robin.” Nancy says, losing her patience.

“We can’t Nancy.” Robin argues, frowning.

“So what, you’d be happy going to prison to protect her sexuality?!” Nancy practically shouts.

“I-I don’t know.” Robin frowns, dropping her clothes to wrap her arms around herself.

“You cannot be serious right now! This is unbelievable!” Nancy shouts angrily, now pacing slightly.

Robin’s eyes widen. Nancy’s mad, oh god she just made her mad, this is all her fault. Why can’t she ever do anything right? Robin whimpers slightly at the realisation, causing Nancy’s head to snap to her, her own eyes wide.

“I’m sorry Nance I- I’m really sorry.” Robin cries.

“Oh god Robin no, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have yelled.” Nancy says sadly, feeling guilty over making the girl cry.

“You’re mad at me.” Robin says shakily, shuffling closer to the girl.

“No, I swear I just- I just lost my patience, I’m not mad at you.” Nancy rushes to soothe, although it seems like Robin can’t hear her.

“I can make this right again, I can be good Nancy.” Robin says, still crying as she gets closer.

“No Robin please, it’s okay I’m so sorry.” Nancy says softly.

All Robin could hear was Vickie in her head, telling her how worthless she was. There was one thing she was good at, one thing Vickie made her do that would make her forgive her. Robin could do this, she could do this for Nancy, she can’t make the same mistake twice.

Robin drops to her knees right in front of a surprised Nancy.

“Robin, what-”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry please I can be better.” Robin whimpers, her hands shooting out for the button on Nancy’s jeans. 

“Woah! Robin wait-” Nancy protests, dropping her hands onto Robin's shaking ones, holding them tightly so they can’t continue to unzip her jeans. 

Robin just kept crying and apologising, trying to move her hands. Nancy pulls her hands away completely, dropping down to her knees heavily in front of the sobbing girl.

“I forgive you, okay Robin? I forgive you.” Nancy says firmly, pulling the girl into her, feeling Robin latch onto her tightly.

To Nancy’s complete horror, the girl starts to thank her over and over again, clinging to her so tightly as she cries into her shoulder. Nancy can only rub her back soothingly, holding her as tightly as she can. 

The second Robin came back to herself, she practically leapt out of Nancy’s arms. 

“Oh god.. Oh god I tried to- Nance I’m so sorry.” Robin says tearfully, crawling away from her quickly until her back hits the wall behind her. 

“You did nothing wrong, okay?” Nancy says carefully, inching slowly forward with an awkward shuffle on her knees.

Robin had covered her face in her hands, trying to rock herself as a self soothe. Nancy eventually gets in front of her, dropping a hand to the girl's knee carefully.

“Did- did Vickie make you do that?” Nancy asks carefully, heart broken for the girl. 

“Anytime I upset her she would grab my hair and- at first she had to hold me there, but then, after a while, I’d do it willingly.” Robin says, dropping her hands from her face.

“She would always talk me into it first, always. Except, last night she- I told her I didn’t want to Nance, I had just hurt my head, it was the last thing I wanted to do. But she held me against the rock and I couldn’t move- it could have been worse though, it could have been on me.” Robin shrugs lightly.

“No Robin, it doesn’t make it any better that she had to talk you into it or that it wasn’t on you. You still didn’t consent, that’s what matters. I’m so sorry she’s been doing this to you.” Nancy says tearfully, wiping her own tears. 

“Oh god- your first time, you spoke to me about it, did she- was that-” Nancy asks suddenly, face full of horror.

“No, no nothing like that I promise. She just, she just didn’t wait until I was fully… ready, I guess. It hurt a lot, but um, I guess I adjusted? It wasn’t a great first time. It actually wasn’t as bad as-” Robin starts, taking in a shaky breath.

“What is it Rob?” Nancy asks, both her hands now on Robin’s knees.

“One time, it was going really nice. She made sure I was eh, ready for it this time. But she-she just started choking me, without warning. She wasn’t like, crushing my windpipe or anything, but I panicked. I don’t- since the vines I can’t- you know? She doesn’t know that, but she has to have seen that I didn’t like it? I cried right when we finished, and she just laughed and said it can feel so good that you cry, but that wasn’t why I was crying.” Robin answers, reaching out to squeeze the girl’s hand.

“I’m so sorry she did this to you Rob, but this is exactly why she needs to be put away.” Nancy says gently, turning her hand so they interlaced fingers. 

“Okay.” Robin breathes, nodding slightly.

“You never deserved any of this.” Nancy says softly, pulling the girl closer slowly, kissing her gently.

“I’m really sorry for trying to- you know.” Robin says awkwardly as they pull away, reaching up her free hand to wipe the girl’s tears away.

“It was a trauma response Robin, you didn’t mean to. I just want you to know that you never have to do that again, I would never want you to ever do anything even close to that while you’re crying.” Nancy says softly, reaching out to wipe at Robin’s face now.

“But I can otherwise?” Robin asks with a small grin, the old Robin peaking through.

“Absolutely, how about we revise that after Vickie is behind bars?” Nancy responds, tilting her head with a grin of her own. 

“Good, I have moves now you know.” Robin jokes, accepting Nancy’s hand that pulls her up.

“Oh do you?” Nancy grins, pulling the girl over to their discarded clothes.

“Yup.” Robin says with a smile, kissing Nancy on the cheek before pulling away to grab her clothes.

Before Nancy could even offer her the bathroom first, Robin is already pulling her overalls down off of her, leaving her in just her crop top and a pair of hipster boxers . Robin smirks at her before turning her back to Nancy and pulling her crop top off, revealing her bare back, letting Nancy know that she wasn't wearing a bra.

When Robin turns back around clothed in her pyjamas, Nancy is still frozen in place.

“Uh Nance, you good over there?” Robin asks with a smirk.

“Yup- yeah, totally- yep.” Nancy stammers, dropping her pyjamas onto the bed before stripping quickly, grinning at Robin’s squeak. 

Once she’s changed, she realises Robin had turned her back to her, always the gentleman. Walking up behind the girl, Nancy gently wraps her arms around the girl’s torso.

“Ready for bed?” Nancy whispers, swaying them slightly.

“Yeah.” Robin breathes, turning in the girl’s arm and pulling her in for a kiss.

She never got to take the lead on kisses, she realises she really really enjoys it. 

“I prefer you in just a sport’s bra.” Nancy hums, hands clutched at a clothed waist.

“Perv.” Robin smirks, pulling the girl towards the bed.

As they settle in for the night, a lot is rattling around in Nancy’s mind. She had a feeling something of this nature happened last night, given the girl’s injuries, but she never knew it was going on their whole relationship. It made Nancy sick to her stomach watching Robin sobbing on her knees, trying to pull Nancy’s jeans down to… to eat her out? 

This was so much worse than she thought, which is saying something because it already was awful . Nancy glances down at the girl sleeping soundly on her chest and holds her closer if even possible.

One thing Nancy knew for sure was that Vickie needed to pay.

Chapter Text

“Sup nerds.” Eddie greets them outside, sitting atop of Nancy’s hood.

“Says you.” Steve rolls his eyes, clutching a travel mug in his hand.

“Off my hood Munson.” Nancy grumbles, wiping her tired eyes.

“Yikes, how’s my favourite lesbian doing?” Eddie jokes, slinging an arm around Robin’s shoulders. 

“Tired, I didn’t sleep well last night. Also, I’m the only lesbian you know, so it’s not much of a compliment.” Robin answers with a shrug.

Eddie tilts his head like a puppy for a second, squeezing her shoulder. 

“Fine, you’re my favourite of us.” Eddie says, shrugging lightly, accepting the smack Nancy gave his unoccupied arm.

“You’re a close second Nancy, and you’re my favourite Wheeler.” Eddie grins wide at the girl who smirks in return.

“Assholes.” Steve grumbles, dropping sunglasses down over his eyes before pulling open the backseat car door. 

Robin smiles slightly, wrapping her arms around him to give him a quick hug before pulling away. She fell asleep quickly last night, but nightmares plagued her dreams. She couldn’t believe she tried doing that to Nancy, it was like she wasn’t even in her own body. She ended up dreaming of a scenario where she forced herself onto Nancy, and it’s safe to say she couldn’t really sleep after that.

By the bags under Nancy’s eyes, she doubts the girl got much sleep either.

But Nancy kissed her gently this morning, smiled so softly at her over breakfast and brushed her hair carefully for her, so Robin can only assume the girl wasn’t mad at her. Robin still couldn’t help feeling anxious in the passenger seat, although she reckons that’s mostly from what they were about to do.  

---------------------------------

They show up to the Byers in no time, Hopper and El having moved into their new house after coming back. Robin bit her lip anxiously when she realised that Max would be there too. The girl got her casts off early, Steve had said. Hopper and Joyce were both helping her while her mom was in rehab. She feels stupid for shouting at the girl, Max was right, and Robin was an idiot . 

“Ready?” Nancy asks gently, wide eyes looking over at the girl.

“Let’s go.” Robin says instead, pushing open the car door.

Nancy is the one to knock on the door, with the other three awkwardly shuffling their feet behind her. Jonathan was the one to pull open the door, eyes wide with surprise when he sees everyone at his doorstep.

“Hey guys, um- what’s going on?” Jonathan asks in confusion.

“We need to speak with Hopper, it’s urgent.” Nancy answers carefully.

“It’s not- it’s not back is it?” He asks, eyes anxious.

“No, I promise nothing like that.” Nancy reassures, smiling at the boy.

“Okay, come in guys.” Jonathan responds, stepping back to let everyone in. 

“I’m just about to drop Will and El to school.” He announces to the room awkwardly, shuffling around to find his car keys before heading out the door to start the car.

Will and El gave quick greetings as they rushed out the door when they heard a car horn.

“Nancy Sweetie! It’s great to see you again!” Joyce smiles, pulling the girl in for a motherly hug.

“You too Joyce.” Nancy smiles happily, hugging her back.

“What are you kids doing here?” Joyce asks, looking at everyone before eyeing a very anxious Robin.

She hasn’t spent much time with the girl, considering she moved away after Starcourt. She does remember her as a little girl, she was partnered with Jonathan on a science project. They both searched for hours out Joyce’s back garden finding different types of bugs to identify. She would pick them up with this huge grin, while Jonathan took a picture of them. She always treated Jonathan with kindness. She also remembers how scared the girl looked in the mall, being completely new and thrown into everything. She looked just as terrified right now.  

“We need to talk to Hopper, it’s important.” Steve pipes up, stepping forward.

“What do you need me for?” Hopper says, walking into the living room.

“We need to report someone to the police, but it’s… complicated. Going right to them could really put the victim in a lot of danger, we need your help.” Nancy explains, looking at the man carefully.

“Victim- what did the person do? Why is it complicated?” Hopper asks, face scrunching up in confusion.

“They’re an abuser.” Nancy answers, avoiding the second part.

Both Joyce and Hopper noticed Steve protectively dropping an arm around Robin’s shoulders, pulling the scared girl into him.

“Why is it complicated Wheeler?” Hopper repeats carefully.

Nancy looks behind her, making eye contact with Robin. She was searching for if it was alright to say in front of Joyce too. Robin nods, and it’s only then that Nancy looks back at them.

“Because it involves two women, and they were romantically involved.” Nancy says, eyeing the pair carefully.

Both look pretty surprised by the news, with Joyce recovering quicker.

“I certainly understand why that makes it more complicated, we need to keep the victim safe, and she wouldn’t be if you went right to the station.” Joyce nods, glancing at Robin.

“Alright, everyone sit down. First thing I need to know is who the victim is so I can talk with her.” Hopper says, sitting down in one of the couches, Joyce sitting right next to him.

“Um- she’s uh, I- she’s already here.” Robin stutters, clutching Steve’s hand tightly, looking at her feet. 

Hopper's eyes widen slightly before he schools his features, nodding slightly.

“Let’s sit down.” Hopper says, more gentle this time, waiting for the trio to all sit down across from him.

“Alright Robin, why don’t you tell me what happened.” He continues, eyeing the girl carefully.

“Um- okay. I’ve never been in a relationship before her, I never- I didn’t know what to expect. You have to hide, all the time. It’s different for people like me. I never thought I’d ever really find someone here, I mean it’s Hawkins . But she- she was nice to me, at first. She never- she only hit me once, so I never thought anything was really wrong.

The more I unpack everything, the more I realised that everything she ever said to me was to take something from me. She just kept taking bits of myself, and I kept handing them to her. I couldn’t understand why I’d cry myself to sleep after seeing her, but I do now. 

I don’t- I don’t have a great opinion on myself, and she used that against me. I believed her when she would tell me I'm unlovable, that- that no one else would want me, I think I still do. I kind of wish she just beat the shit out of me daily instead of this, if I’m being honest with you. You know that voice you have in your head, the one that tells you all the self deprecating things you believe? The one that tells you you’re not good enough? That voice in my head is hers, it’s always hers and it won’t- it won’t go away. Even though I’m away from her, I don’t feel free.” Robin finishes, wrapping her arms around herself.

“Oh sweetie.” Joyce breathes, eyes wide and empathetic. 

“I believe you kid, is there anything else? Having the whole picture will really help.” Hopper asks carefully.

“Um.” Robin hesitates, reaching over to grip Nancy’s hand tightly.

“Only Nancy knows this, um-” Robin stammers, glancing over at the boys.

“It’s okay Rob.” Steve says gently, rubbing her back, while Eddie nods next to her.

“She would get so mad sometimes. She’d start crying, and ask me if I hated her, if I didn’t think she was pretty enough. I’ve just recently realised that she would do that after upsetting me, like she was trying to distract me when I tried pulling away. The first time this happened, she was sitting on the bed. She um, she pushed me on the floor pretty hard. 

She grabbed my hair, she knew I hated it, it hurt a lot, but she always did it anyway. She said she didn’t believe I wanted her, so she asked me to show her. I um- well, you know eh- anyway, I felt really wrong after, she held my head in place so tightly i could barely breathe or move away. I kept excusing it, because she would always talk me into it. I thought it was okay.

Eventually it was like she had me trained like a fucking dog or something. I just- I figured if I did it myself, she usually doesn’t hurt me or make it so I can’t breathe. I wanted to be forgiven, because she made me feel like she was my only chance. But then- then we met over the weekend. Everyone was worried about me, I-I wasn’t myself. She was so mad that people knew about us, about her.” Robin pauses, looking over at Nancy.

“You’ve got this.” Nancy whispers softly, rubbing a thumb over their joined hands.

“She pushed me so hard that my head connected with a rock, so hard it was bleeding. I’ve never seen her so mad, it was terrifying. But- she asked me to do it again for her, right out there in the woods in broad daylight. I said I didn’t want to, because I was convinced my head was bleeding and I was crying. 

She looked me right in the eye and told me she couldn’t care whether I wanted to or not. She shoved me on the ground, and she pushed herself onto me. I couldn’t move, she had me pinned against skull rock, her grip on my hair was so painful I could barely see. I kept crying, I kept telling her to stop, but then I realised she wouldn’t until she- until she finished, so I stopped fighting it.” Robin finishes, wiping her wet cheeks harshly. 

Joyce jumps out of her seat, rushing over to pull the girl into a gentle embrace, one that Robin clung too. Eddie drops a hand silently to Steve’s shoulder, his eyes wet. Steve himself was silently crying, anger spilling over his features at the information, staring at the wall behind Hopper.

“We um, Robin met with Vickie yesterday, it was her idea for closure. We didn’t- we didn’t know the extent of what Vickie had done yet, but we hid in the woods and I recorded everything. Just incase- just in case she tries twisting the story.” Nancy says shakily.

“Great, I’ll need to listen to that.” Hopper says, nodding slightly.

Nancy fishes through her pockets, handing over the device to the man. Hopper presses play immediately, jumping slightly when Robin shoots up from the couch and out of Joyce’s embrace.

“I don’t want to hear this again.” Robin announces, watching anxiously as Hopper pauses the recording.

“Max is upstairs, she’s been worried about you.” Joyce says carefully, pointing upstairs.

Robin nods, turning and beelining it for the stairs. She curses slightly as she gets to the top, realising she has no idea where the redhead would be up here. She walks up and down the hall for a few seconds before impatience kicks in.

“Max?” Robin calls out, straining her ears to hear a response.

“ Robin?” comes the reply, one door down from where she was standing. 

Robin rushes to the door, pushing it open. The room Max was in was still pretty plain, it must have been a spare room Robin guesses. The girl in question is in bed, she looks like she is not long awake, which wouldn’t be surprising considering it’s still pretty early in the morning.

“Did I wake you?” Robin asks, shuffling into the room awkwardly.

“Nah, Jonathan's car horn did.” Max shrugs, pulling herself up with great difficulty. 

“Hey, you got the glasses.” Robin grins, walking towards the bedside table where they sat.

“Yeah, I'm officially a nerd.” Max says with an eye roll.

“Try them on.” Robin instructs, carefully handing them over. 

Max puts the glasses on before looking up at Robin. It only lasts for a few seconds before she’s breaking eye contact shyly. The glasses where… they were so…. Cute. They were slightly thick black frames that framed her face nicely. The lenses were big and rectangular with a slight curve in them. They suited her.

“You’re beautiful Max.” Robin says so sincerely that Max’s face flushes a deep red. 

“Whatever.” Max says with an eye roll, though she does keep them on.

“How are your chicken legs?” Robin jokes, eyeing the slow moving legs.

“Slow, annoying. But I feel them, so that’s something right?” Max chuckles slightly, wiggling her toes out of habit. 

“Physical therapy will get them back in no time.” Robin says with a nod, dropping down onto the bed next to her.

“Maybe, doctors say I might never be able to skate again.” Max says sadly, shrugging slightly.

“You’ve defied so many odds Max, this’ll be one of them.” Robin reassures, taking her hand gently.

“Maybe not this time.” Max says sadly, dropping her head to Robin’s shoulder lightly.

“I’ll help you anyway I can Max.” Robin says softly, dropping her head onto the girl’s.

“I’m really sorry for last week, I didn’t think you’d speak to me again.” Max murmurs after a moment.

“No I’m sorry, you were right.” Robin breathes, lifting her head at the same time as Max.

Max just looks at Robin intently, waiting for her to continue.

“You were right, about all of it. Well, except for one thing. I wouldn’t tell you who I was seeing because- because it wasn’t a guy, it was a girl.” Robin says carefully, looking straight ahead.

“Oh.” Max breathes, surprised.

“Yeah.” Robin responds, biting her lip.

“Okay.” Max nods, and when Robin turns to her she sees a small smile on her face.

“Okay?” Robin asks, searching her face.

“You’re not the only gay person in the party, by a long shot.” Max jokes, smirking slightly.

“Wait- I’m not?” Robin asks, eyebrows rising.

“Well, it’s all my best guesses, but I’m pretty confident. You though, you slipped away from me, congrats.” Max says with a smirk.

“Thanks?” Robin says, tilting her head.

“So, who is this bitch? Please tell me Nancy is going to shoot her.” Max continues the previous topic, staring at the girl again.

“Do you know Vickie from band? She’s-” Robin starts.

“Ginger. Traitor.” Max cuts in, huffing.

“I was going to say a senior, but that too I guess.” Robin chuckles slightly.

“So, what are we doing about her?” Max asks, shuffling slightly.

“ We aren’t doing anything. You’re focusing on getting better.” Robin responds, ruffling the girl’s hair next to her.

“Please, I can mow her down in my wheelchair.” Max says sassily, rolling her eyes. 

“As much as I’d love to see that, we’re getting Hopper’s help to put her behind bars, I guess.” Robin responds, shrugging slightly.

“What do you think about that?” Max asks, noticing the change in demeanour. 

“I’m not saying she shouldn’t be punished, or get the opportunity to do this to someone else, but I feel so guilty. If anyone happened to find out she liked women, she’d be in so much danger, especially in prison. She’s a bad person, but from one gay to another I can’t help but feel this awful crushing weight at the thought of something happening for that reason.” Robin answers honestly.

“You’re just a really, really good person Robin. You care so much for everything in this stupid world including people who don’t deserve it. Me? I hope she gets hurt in prison, she deserves some karma.” Max answers, reaching out to hold the girl’s hand.

“I’m far from a good person.” Robin frowns, squeezing her hand lightly.

“Not true.” Max frowns back, looking at her intently as the girl stares at the wall straight ahead.

“I think about that too sometimes, her getting hurt, and I feel so awful. I- she took advantage of me, um- you know, sexually. Sometimes, sometimes I get so mad , and I- I think of her, I think of someone doing that to her . I think of that happening to her, of seeing how scared she is, and it makes me feel better . So no, I’m not a good person.” Robin explains, staring down at their joined hands.

“Robin.. I think it’s more complicated than that.” Max answers slowly.

“Is it?” Robin asks, looking at her now.

“If that’s what makes someone a bad person, then so am I.” Max responds seriously.

“What are you talking about?” Robin asks, confused.

“You told me that I wasn’t a bad person for being relieved sometimes that Billy was dead, were you lying then?” Max asks genuinely, no malice on her face.

“Of course not Max, but that’s different.” Robin answers seriously, taking the girl’s other hand in her own.

“No it’s not. You only think it is because your situation involves you and while you hide it super well, you don’t like yourself very much. But I do, the whole party does actually, very much. You’re probably the kindest person I know Robin, and I’m a great judge of character.” Max says, squeezing her hands. 

“I wish I was more like you sometimes.” Robin chuckles lightly, face emotional.

“You shouldn’t, I like you how you are.” Max answers honestly, sharing a smile with the older girl.

“Wow Max, you’re going soft on me.” Robin jokes, retracting a hand to wipe at her eyes. 

“Never, asshole.” Max responds, playfully shoving the girl.

-------------------------

“There you are.” Nancy says softly, smiling at the girl.

They had all spoken for a while, Hopper reviewed the tape with a grimace. They still had to get a cover story ready, to protect Robin mostly. That one was tricky, Hopper has never had to deal with this before. The discussion back and forth was too much for Robin, she said her piece, she knew they’d do their best to protect her, so she decided to get some air. 

That’s how she found herself out the Byers back garden, on the grass.

“Oh! Hey Nance.” Robin smiles, standing up.

“How are you feeling?” Nancy asks gently, reaching out to tuck the girl’s unruly hair behind her ear.

“I’m okay now, today’s just been…” Robin starts, leaning into the girl’s hand.

“A lot?” Nancy finishes, smiling gently, now cradling Robin’s cheek.

“Totally.” Robin breathes, bringing her hand up to lightly wrap around the girl’s wrist.

“What’s on your mind?” Nancy asks quietly, eyeing the girl.

“Just wondering if you were honest about kissing me whenever I wanted.” Robin says slightly nervously, looking down at her shoes.

Nancy just leans in silently, going up on her tippy toes to nudge her nose gently off of the taller girl’s. Robin’s eyes snap to Nancy’s, staring into them for a moment or two before closing the tiny gap and pecking Nancy hesitantly. Nancy sighs slightly, wrapping her arms around Robin’s neck, and that’s all it takes for the taller girl to deepen the kiss. 

“I really like you Wheeler.” Robin breathes as they pull away.

“Good, because it just so happens that I like you too.” Nancy grins, before suddenly pulling the taller girl’s head down to plant a kiss on her forehead.

“What was that for?” Robin asks softly, eyes wide with delight.

“The boys always do it, figured I’d join in.” Nancy shrugs, blushing lightly.

“You really are one in a million Wheeler.” Robin grins, dropping her arms down onto Nancy’s shoulders.

“Why do you keep calling me by my last name all of the sudden?” Nancy asks with a fond eye roll, happily wrapping her arms around Robin’s waist. 

“You know you love it.” Robin grins playfully, hands playing with Nancy’s hair behind her head.

“Shut up.” Nancy laughs, leaning in to kiss the girl again.

Neither of them notice Joyce watching them from the window, a big smile on her face.

Chapter Text

“Fuck!” Hopper shouts angrily, stomping down the steps of the police station.

“Useless fucking pigs!” He growls, kicking one of the squad cars heavily. 

Apparently, Hopper doesn’t have the foot in the door that he thought he had anymore. He really hoped that they’d be too freaked out by his sudden reappearance, but they weren’t anymore. He also couldn’t get his old job back, even if he wanted to. Powell refused to allow Hopper bring in a teenage girl on physical assault charges without an official investigation and more importantly, evidence.

“The one fucking time this shitty place needs evidence of all things.” Hopper grumbles as he gets into his truck.

He supposes that in the big picture, that’s a pretty good thing for the station. 

He hates having to go back to his house and tell Robin the bad news. Just like Joyce, he never really interacted with the girl. He did have something in common with her though, having pieced together that she must have been tortured by Russian’s with the Harrington kid. They had told him they knew the place well having discovered it, plus Harrington's beaten face and Robin’s bloodshot eyes told him all he needed to know. 

He doesn’t care that the girl is a lesbian, it’s none of his business. He’s about 90% sure that Will is also gay, from long talks with Joyce about it. He also has a slight inkling that his daughter also may be, in some capacity, but that might just be hopeful thinking that she’ll break up with the Wheeler kid. 

“Hey kid, you copy?” Hopper speaks over his radio.

“Copy, you didn’t say over, over.” El spoke through the receiver.

“Fucking Henderson teaching her shit I swear.” Hopper grumbles to himself before pressing to respond.

“Can you put Robin on for me please? Over.” Hopper asks in a better tone.

“I’m guessing the plan failed?” Robin’s voice filters through a few moments later.

“I’m sorry kid, they wanted to do a full investigation, didn’t want you to wait for the bad news.” Hopper says with a sigh.

“It’s okay, I appreciate you trying and letting me know.” Robin responds, her voice sounding monotone.

“We’ll come up with another plan, I promise. I’m on my way back now.” Hopper says, frowning slightly as he starts his truck.

“Okay, El told me to say over when I’m done so, uh- Over.” Robin responds awkwardly.

“Fuck.” Hopper sighs, rubbing his forehead as he drives.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m really sorry Rob.” Nancy says softly, sitting next to the girl on the couch.

“I never thought the plan would really work, it makes sense that they want to do a full investigation.” Robin shrugs, arms wrapped around her legs.

“Bullshit, they were ready to hang Eddie up on a silver platter with little to no evidence because it was easier than investigating properly.” Steve says angrily, huffing as he paces.

“Yeah, and they had it pointed out that they were wrong for that.” Robin responds with her own huff.

“What do we do now? Just let her get away with it?” Eddie asks, dropping down on Robin’s other side.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what we do.” Robin answers, dropping her legs down to the floor.

“How could you say that?” Max pipes up, sitting cross legged in the armchair to the right of Robin.

“I’m not about to out myself to the police station just so they can not take my claim seriously. If that got out it wouldn’t go well for me.” Robin answers, hugging herself slightly.

“That’s understandable Rob, but what about her? She said she’d tell the whole school you forced yourself onto her.” Nancy says gently, dropping a hand on the girl’s thigh.

“They all think I’m a lesbian anyway Nance.” Robin shrugs, putting her hand down on top of the girl’s.

“But you’re not a predator or a rapist, she is!” Eddie says, raising his voice slightly.

Robin winces harshly, no one has said the word out loud yet, it was pretty hard to hear.

“We graduate in a couple weeks, and I have you guys there with me, let these small minded assholes think what they want.” Robin responds after a moment.

“I hate this, she deserves to suffer for what she did, not walk free.” Steve responds, shaking his head.

“Of course she does, but this is Hawkins Steve, and the 80’s. I don’t get the same luxuries as straight people do. I’m struggling enough as it is to accept that, please don’t make it harder for me.” Robin responds, eyes saddening and wide. 

“I’m sorry, it just really sucks.” Steve says, walking over and taking the girl’s face softly in his hands, dropping a quick kiss to her forehead.

“I know.” Robin nods, holding his wrists gently.

“And yet you wonder why we all thought you two were dating.” Max says with an eye roll, subtly wiping away some tears.

This makes Robin laugh, harder than she has in a long while, playfully shoving Steve away. Steve starts laughing first, dramatically falling to the floor in the hopes it made Robin laugh more, which it did. The freckled girl threw her head back in laughter at his silly antics, gripping Nancy’s hand tightly in her hand. 

Both Eddie and Max laugh at the boy, who is not pretending to writhe on the ground from the gentle shove. Nancy chuckles slightly every so often, too busy taking in Robin’s joyous face. She knows that over the next few days, even weeks, she mightn’t see it again. Nancy is also completely aware of the fact that she’s giving Robin literal heart eyes right now, so it’s unsurprising that she finds Max smirking knowingly at her. 

The laughter pulls in a confused but amused El and Will. El happily saddles up next to Max on the armchair, giggling despite having no idea what was going on. Will heads over to Steve to help him up once he’s finished with his antics. 

“Did we miss something?” Will asks with a smile.

“Robin attacked me when Max said we act like a couple.” Steve says with a fake huff.

“Wait, you guys aren’t together?” Will asks in confusion, looking between the two.

“Nah, she’s not my type.” Steve shrugs, frowning as he hears Robin scoff behind him.

“ Please , he confessed his love for me in the starcourt bathrooms, I turned his sorry ass down.” Robin corrects, grinning at the boy.

“Robin! Do you have to tell everyone how I embarrassed myself?” Steve whines, walking over to the girl on the couch.

“Yes?” Robin answers like it’s obvious, holding out her hands.

“Fair enough.” Steve sighs, dropping into her lap, ignoring Nancy’s protests when his feet land on her lap.

Steve wraps his arms loosely around Robin’s neck, hugging her slightly. Robin wraps her arms around his torso, tapping out a beat on his side as he settles in. Nancy huffs and pushes the boy's feet off of her thigh. 

“Do I need to say my point again?” Max deadpans, cracking a smile once she hears El’s giggle.

“There’s nothing romantic about this.” Steve says with an eye roll, dropping his chin on top of Robin’s head and keeping his arms wrapped around her shoulders.

“Steve is literally curled up on your lap.” Will says in confusion, sitting cross legged on the floor.

“Your point?” Robin asks, genuinely confused as she rubs his back gently.

“They’re like conjoined twins, but that choose to be that way.” Nancy explains, side eyeing the boy with jealousy.

“I did say it would be ideal if we could just combine.” Robin nods absently.

“Agreed.” Steve hums, rubbing the girl’s shoulder.

“But..” Will starts, trailing off in confusion.

“Im a lesbian Will.” Robin says easily, tilting her head to look at the boy.

“Oh!” Will says in surprise, eyes wide.

“What’s lesbian?” El asks in confusion.

“It’s when a girl only likes other girls romantically, not boys.” Max explains gently.

“Okay.” El nods, looking back at Robin.

“We uh- we cool?” Robin asks nervously, slightly hiding her face into Steve’s shoulder.

“Yeah! Definitely!” Will answers quickly, face red.

“Cool.” El nods, smiling slightly.

Just then, the front door slams closed, signalling Hopper’s arrival. At the sound, Joyce appears from god knows where into the living room, smiling softly at the room’s occupants. Hopper grumbles his way into the living room, eyes zoning in on Robin.

“I’m really sorry kid.” Hopper sighs, walking over to El to drop a kiss to her temple.

“It’s okay Hopper, thanks for trying.” Robin responds, shrugging slightly.

“I’ll do everything I can to protect you, maybe I can eventually convince him to bring her in someday.” Hopper says seriously.

“I appreciate that, I have Nance and Eddie in school, plus these youngsters during Lunch, so I think I’ll be okay.” Robin says with a small smile.

“What about getting to and from school? If that bitch does good on her threat we need you safe at all times.” Joyce asks in a serious tone.

“Well I live at Steve’s, he usually drops me off at school before work.” Robin answers, squeezing said boy around his torso.

“I can pick you up and drop you home.” Nancy offers quickly, smiling at the girl.

“Nance.. People will talk.” Robin says, frowning slightly.

“Let them. Besides, I always have a gun on me if someone tries something.” Nancy smirks.

“Hey!” Hopper warns, frowning at the girl.

“You’re not a cop anymore.” Nancy dismisses with a shrug, not looking away from Robin.

“If you’re sure.” Robin smiles shyly.

“Of course.” Nancy smiles softly back.

“Damn Rob I can feel your boner through your jeans.” Steve jokes, lifting his head from her shoulder, just to shriek as she throws him off her lap.

“You’re such a Dingus!” Robin shouts, blushing heavily.

“Ooowwwwww.” Steve whines from the floor.

“Do it again!” Eddie cackles, holding his stomach as he laughs.

“Wait wait, rewind the conversation for a second. Robin, you don’t live at home anymore?” Joyce asks, rubbing Steve’s arm lightly that he fell on.

“Um, no. Not since eh- yenno, Spring break.” Robin responds awkwardly, rubbing the back or her neck.

“Can I ask why Sweetie?” Joyce asks gently, eyeing the girl.

Everyone’s head turns to the girl, no one knowing the reason except for Steve. 

“My parents were never… present, I guess. The only time they paid any attention to me was when I’d do something wrong. After Starcourt, they never even asked me if I was okay. I mean they knew I was working that day, they knew there was a fire, I didn’t even go home that night, but nothing. 

That upset me a lot, and I started hanging out with Steve more and having movie nights so I was able to forget about it, sort of. Then Spring break happened, I was gone for days when there was a supposed teen murderer on the loose. They thought I was in my room the whole time. I almost died, only Nance, Steve and Max know that, but I did. 

Those vines down there in the upside down got me, and they strangled me. I thought I was going to die, I thought Steve and Nancy would too. When we got out and I realised that Eddie was almost mauled to death and Max was in a coma, all because those stupid vines got me and delayed us, all I wanted was a hug from my mom. 

But Steve dropped me off, and they just… didn’t care. I tried to hug my mom, and she shoved me away, telling me to shower before touching her. I was covered in Max’s blood from carrying her, hell even some of my own. She never asked, neither did my dad. When I said I wasn’t home for days, mentioned the literal murderer killing teens, they told me to stop making everything about me.

So, instead of showering, I packed the biggest bag I owned full of my clothes and books and I left. Steve was still outside, he’s my conjoined twin, I guess he knew it mightn’t go well for me. He’s let me stay at his since, it’s been really nice.” Robin finishes, smiling slightly at the boy.

“Stop calling it my place, you know my parents officially left Hawkins, that place is ours.” Steve says seriously.

“Right, sorry.” Robin nods, grinning wide.

“Shit parents club, woop woop.” Steve chuckles, leaning in for a fist bump which Robin reciprocates.

“Can I get in on that?” Eddie jokes, holding out his own fist and grinning when they both bump him gently.

“Shit dad club?” Nancy offers, raising her eyebrows as she offers her own, to which they bump.

They all wordlessly reach over to Will on the floor, bumping the smiling boy's fist. Max clears her throat from the couch.