Work Text:
1990
The last thing high-school Steve would have ever expected of himself was to have a best friend who was a lesbian.
Infiltrating a Russian conspiracy and fighting a giant monster in a mall food court will connect you with people in a way nothing else could.
Even all these years later, no one besides Robin could understand why Steve literally couldn’t bring himself to eat in a mall food court. She understood because she had the same problem. Going to malls? That was fine. Going to restaurants? Also fine. But going to that cluster of fast-food restaurants located in a mall food court? Absolutely not.
They were both in their twenties now, but still couldn't handle it.
He liked to think that even if they hadn’t had this shared trauma, they would have been friends. They got along fairly well, in a sibling bickering sort of way, before Dustin had come to them with the Russian problem. But would they have been the type of friends they eventually became? Would they become best friends? Popular though he was in high school, Steve never had a best friend until Robin.
The best thing about Robin was how much she believed in him. Him, as a person, not just as a hairpiece.
So even though he was twenty-three years old and working as an assistant manager at Circuit City, it was Robin who convinced him to go to college. The old douchebag Steve Harrington never would have worked forty hours a week and still spent another fifteen sitting in a classroom in Community College.
He didn’t even know what he wanted to do, but it was Robin who told him to take the general education classes, and figure out what he liked the best. Weirdly, he discovered he liked literature.
Robin had gone to Indiana and majored in Russian. Of course.
Upon graduating, she easily got a job with the Federal Government on what was called the Hawkins Taskforce. It was a years-long project of going through and translating every single document that could be found underneath Starcourt Mall. Russian interpreters were in short demand, especially as the Federal Government, worried about spies, didn’t want to hire Soviet natives.
Steve loved having her back in Hawkins. Their long distance phone bills between his place in Hawkins and hers in Bloomington were a little too high to justify on his Circuit City salary.
The one thing he didn’t necessarily love was Robin’s girlfriend, Stacy.
Actually, he liked Stacy. She was really nice and was completely supportive of the fact that Robin and Steve had a real intense close friendship. A lot of girls Steve dated were put off by the fact that he had a female best friend. He never even told any of them that Robin’s a lesbian, because it wasn’t his business to tell any of them, and it shouldn’t matter anyway, right? Love him, love his best friend no matter her gender or sexuality.
Stacy was short with a tightly curled perm and poof of bangs on her head. She was sporty, having been a softball player in high school, and then again for Indiana in college. When Robin had decided to move back to Hawkins, Stacy got a job as the gym teacher at Hawkins Elementary, and a secondary job as the high school softball coach. She was incredibly friendly, always ready with a smile and a hug.
What Steve didn’t really like is how closeted Stacy was. Robin didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she was utterly sympathetic to Stacy’s plight of having a close-minded family. Steve wasn’t an idiot; he never said anything about it because being closeted was something that he, as a straight guy, figured he’d never understand. He just smiled and accepted that a couple needed a two bedroom apartment in order to keep up appearances.
Still, it didn’t exactly sit well with him when one day he and Robin were watching a movie on the VCR ( Purple Rain , one of the few films they both genuinely loved) and Stacy was on the phone with her mom. “What noise?” Stacy asked, glancing over at Robin sitting on the couch, her feet tucked under Steve’s butt to keep her always-cold toes warm. “Oh, That’s Robin and her boyfriend watching a movie.”
Steve arched an eyebrow toward Robin, in a silent What? But Robin just smiled and shrugged. It didn’t feel right to him, but he couldn’t exactly explain why it didn’t.
When Stacy got off the phone, Steve paused the movie and looked over the back of the couch toward her. “I’m her boyfriend now? That’s news to me.”
Stacy laughed a little. “Sorry,” he apologized. “Mom’s been asking me a lot of questions about what I do in my spare time, and said she thought it was weird that Robin and I do so much stuff together. I wanted to give her a boyfriend to throw her off.”
“Huh,” Steve said, still unable to put his finger on why this didn’t feel right. Maybe because if she hadn’t been a lesbian, Robin was exactly who he’d fall in love with. He’d long since given up on a relationship with her; really that had happened right after she came out to him. He wasn’t one of those guys who thought he could change a lesbian into a straight girl. His hair was amazing, sure, but it wasn’t magical.
“That’s fine,” Robin piped up. She was looking at her girlfriend with such an expression of fondness and sympathy that Steve knew he shouldn’t say anything.
“Yeah,” he agreed, turning back to the TV. “It’s fine.”
And who cared? Nothing would ever come of it. It was a white lie that couldn’t hurt anyone and could really help Stacy with her family.
____
Months later, Steve got home from a closing shift at Circuit City one night and sat at the desk in his bedroom staring at the books in front of him. He had homework to do, but his shift had gone all day after the other assistant manager who was supposed to relieve him called in sick. All told, he was at Circuit City for almost twelve hours, all of which were strenuous, save for a visit from Dustin, buying parts to build his own computer and entertaining Steve with all the things this supercomputer would be able to do.
The phone rang, and he heard his mother answer it. Moving back in with his mother had been something he didn’t really want to do, but she said that as long as he was in college, she’d be happy to have him back, rent-free. After three years of paying rent on a shitty one-bedroom above the shuttered pharmacy downtown, he relished the opportunity to have a comfortable bed, and a place to do his laundry that didn’t involve scrounging for quarters.
“Steve!” his mom called. “It’s Robin!”
He picked up the line in his room, “Got it, mom.” He heard his mom hang up in the kitchen. “What’s up?” he asked, he absent-mindedly twirled the phone cord around his index finger.
“Can you spend the night tonight?” Robin asked breathlessly. “And bring a bunch of your stuff over.”
Steve laughed a little, “What?” He’d slept over there several times before, mostly when movie night ran long, or they were a little too tipsy for him to safely drive back to his own house. That second bedroom had come in handy.
“Stacy’s mom and sister are coming to visit. They’ll be here in the middle of the night, and right now we’re moving Stacy’s stuff into the second bedroom. We want you here to be my boyfriend.”
Steve glanced at the pile of books on his desk. “Why do you need me there?”
“Stacy’s mom has asked about you. Robin told her we’re attached at the hip and that you don’t officially live here, but you’re here all the time.”
“So, just say I wasn’t there tonight.”
“OK, but we still need some of your things here, to make it look convincing.”
Steve sighed. There was really nothing he wouldn’t do for Robin. And it’s not like he actually wanted to do any of his studying. “What type of things?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Robin said, and Steve could practically hear her shrugging over the phone. “Just things to show a guy spends a lot of time here.”
“Condoms and porn then.”
Robin laughed. “Yeah, condoms everywhere so Mrs. Connelly thinks only good wholesome hetero sex is being had.”
Steve could hear Stacy in the background. “Robin,” she complained.
Steve didn’t know much about Stacy’s family, except that they were a source of anxiety for her. Calming Stacy would help Robin. This was a no-brainer; Steve wanted to help.
“I’ll be over with a few things,” Steve said. “And I’ll stay the night.”
“Thank-you,” Robin said, and Steve could hear Stacy shouting I love you, Steve! In the background.
Steve grabbed his backpack and threw his economics textbook in, grabbed some clothes, pulled a strip of photo-booth pictures of him and Robin off his bulletin board, then went to the bathroom and got his toothbrush, shaving stuff, deodorant and several bottles of hair gel (different strengths, depending on what he needed his hair to look like that particular day) and headed off.
“Be back tomorrow!” Steve called to his mom, happy to not be a teenager anymore to explain exactly where he was going and why.
When he got to Robin and Stacy’s apartment, they were still busy moving things from their shared bedroom and into the spare room--the one Steve usually slept in--to make it appear to be Stacy’s. “Let me help,” Steve said, as he dropped his bag and grabbed a handful of clothes from their shared bed and hung them up in the closet of the spare room.
Stacy was busy hanging a poster on the wall, and Robin was arranging Stacy’s books on the shelf. Stacy got up and gave Steve a hug, “You’re a lifesaver.”
“Better not hug me too close,” Steve said. “My girlfriend over there might get jealous.”
Stacy laughed a little, and Robin stuck her tongue out at him.
As soon as they finished getting the bedroom set up, and Steve got his toiletries set up in the bathroom to look like he was there often enough, and put up the strip of photos on their fridge with a magnet. Then he sat down to do his econ homework. He didn’t last long before his eyes were drooping. Robin took pity on him and they went to bed.
“Stacy’s staying up. Her mom and sister will be here soon.”
“I don’t get it. Why’re they coming so late?” Steve pulled his shirt over his head, and pulled on a clean white t-shirt.
“Had to wait for her mom to get off work before leaving Wisconsin,” Robin said. “Turn around,” she ordered Steve, “I need to get my pajamas on.”
Steve turned around. He heard Robin shuffling about, as he stepped out of his jeans and threw them on the ground. He hoped she didn’t mind he slept in boxer shorts and an undershirt. “I’m leaving my pants on the floor,” he said to Robin. “So Stacy’s mom thinks I’m here often enough to make a mess.”
“You are here often enough to make a mess,” Robin said. “OK, I’m dressed.”
Robin’s pajamas were a flannel set, blue with polar bears.
They got into bed and pulled the covers up. Robin turned off the light. “What’s the deal with her family?” Steve asked quietly.
“They’re pretty religious,” Robin said. “It’s a big family. Stacy’s the fifth of seven kids and they’re all super close. She’s the only one who’s left Wisconsin and no one knows why.”
“What’d she tell them?”
“That she came to Hawkins to keep me company when I had my job interview, and that she saw Hawkins Elementary was hiring a gym teacher and she applied on a whim.”
“Smart.”
“Yeah, but they all expect she’ll go back to Wisconsin. There was a guy there they all think she should marry.”
Steve huffed a laugh. “A guy?”
“Star of the baseball team. She was the softball star and they were quite the high school couple.”
“Is she bi?”
“No,” Robin answered. “She’s a full-on lesbian, like me. She just dated him to... you know.”
“To hide,” Steve said.
“Yeah,” Robin said. Robin had great parents; a mom and a dad who both knew she was gay and who loved her and loved Stacy as well.
“Christ,” Steve pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. The absolute unfairness of it all hitting him suddenly. He loved Robin and Stacy so much it was easy for him to forget that not everyone would, that there were a lot of people out there who deeply hated gay people, even if they were family members. “Poor Stacy.”
“I know,” Robin said. “It’s why we appreciate you coming here so much. You know she’s a little, well,” he could feel her shrug, “I guess a stereotype? Sporty and softball, no makeup, that kind of thing. Her mom’s been asking questions, and she’s not ready to be honest. It can take a while.”
“You know I would have pretended to be her boyfriend if it would have helped,” Steve said.
“God, that’s nice,” Robin said. “She never would have wanted to ask you to though.”
“If he wasn’t so young, Dustin would do it,” Steve added. It was true. Dustin was nearly as close to Robin as Steve was. And when Stacy started coaching the softball team in Dustin’s last year in high school, he started hanging out with the team more often. He even got a girlfriend and lost his virginity to, Ellen Bennett, the star pitcher.
“Dustin would throw himself into the fake boyfriend role,” Robin said. “Too bad he’s basically a kid still.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Steve said.
There were a few moments of quiet, and Robin rolled on her side, facing Steve and perched herself up on her elbow. “When’s the last time you dated anyone?”
Steve looked at her face, illuminated only by a strand of light from the parking lot lamp post peeking through the curtains. “It’s been a while,” he admitted.
“Why?”
“We’ve talked about this,” Steve said. He’d told her that he always lets girls know early on that his best friend is a girl, and if they react poorly to it, they’re gone.
“You shouldn’t use me as a reason not to have a girlfriend.”
“It’s not about you,” Steve said. “It’s about me having a standard and not dating any girl who doesn’t meet one simple requirement.”
“I’m the requirement.”
“Well, I’m not giving you up,” he said. He pulled her down and cuddled into her side. “I’d be lost without you.”
Robin smiled and ran her fingers through his hair, “Well are you interested in anyone?”
“There’s a girl in my econ class. Lacey.” Steve said. “We’ve talked a little and she’s pretty and definitely smarter than me, which is such a turn-on.”
“Lacey,” Robin repeated. “Pretty name. You should ask her out.”
“I was actually thinking about it.”
“Do it,” Robin urged. “I want us to double date.”
“Yeah,” Steve agreed, yawning. “Maybe I will.”
“Go to sleep,” Robin said. “When you wake up you can meet the scary Mrs. Connelly.”
Barely another minute went by and Steve was sound asleep.
___
The next morning, Steve awoke on his own time. He didn’t have to be at work until that afternoon, and his only class that day wasn’t until ten a.m. Robin was already out of bed, and he could hear voices coming from the dining room. He pulled his jeans on and stepped out into the hall, stopping in the bathroom to have a pee and brush his hair, before making his way into the dining room.
Stacy was sitting next to a woman who looked shockingly like what Steve imagined Stacy would look like in thirty years. The only difference was that her gray hair was straight, and she sported a full face of makeup. The girl on the other side of Stacy’s mom looked entirely different. Maybe just seventeen years old, she was slim and her blond hair fell in loose curls over her shoulder. She spied Steve and her eyes widened and she sat up straighter, shaking the curls out a little bit.
“Steve,” Stacy said, “This is my mom, Mrs. Connelly, and my younger sister Lori. Mom and Lori, this is Robin’s boyfriend, Steve Harrington.”
Steve smiled at the two of them, “Nice to meet you.”
He sat next to Robin, who scooted her chair closer, “Hey, babe. Sleep well?”
“Oh, yeah,” he nodded. “Thanks for letting me sleep in.”
Mrs. Connelly was looking at him with careful eyes, as though she was sizing him up and down. “What is it you do, Steve?” she asked brusquely.
“I’m an assistant manager over at Circuit City,” he answered, “And I’m taking classes at Community.”
She nodded, as though she approved that answer. “And do you live here with the girls?”
“No,” he shook his head. “I’m just, uh, here sometimes.” Mrs. Connelly set him on edge and he could see why Stacy felt like she had to lie to her.
“In our house,” she said, importantly, “We don’t believe in cohabiting before marriage.”
“Cohabiting?” Steve asked. He wasn’t sure the meaning, but he got something like the word habitat out of it.
“Living together,” Robin answered quietly.
“Oh, no we’re not doing that,” Steve said. “I don’t live here.”
“But you spent the night here?” She gave him a severe look.
“Well,” he looked to Robin for help. “Uh-huh.”
“Mom, come on. Steve just woke up. Don’t make him play twenty questions.” Stacy put a bowl and a box of Lucky Charms and a carton of milk in front of him.
Steve was happy to look away from the judgmental face Mrs. Connelly was making and pour his cereal into his bowl. As he took his first bite, he looked up and saw Lori looking at him with wide eyes.
He recognized that look. A lot of girls in high school had given him the same look.
He looked back into his cereal bowl and listened as Stacy chatted with her mother, who was keenly interested in the events at Starcourt Mall from five years ago. Stacy knew Steve and Robin had been involved, but she didn’t know to what extent. They didn’t like to talk about it except with each other.
“You can’t see anything,” She was telling her mother. “The mall’s still there, they fixed it up, but the underground stuff has long since been shut down.”
It was a lie. Robin went underground several times a month for her job. But no one outside her closest friends and family knew that. The government had even given Robin a fake job with a fake badge to fool people - Administrative Secretary at the Social Security Administration.
“Well, there must be something else to Hawkins,” Mrs. Connelly said. She grabbed the local newspaper, sitting in the middle of the table and shook it open.
“There’s places to hike,” Stacy said. “They’re trying to revitalize downtown. There’s a cool little art gallery there, I can show you that.”
“Can you believe this?” Mrs. Connelly asked sharply, putting the newspaper down so everyone could see it.
They all looked over. She had left it open to the fourth page, where the entire page had been devoted to the Midwest tour of the AIDS quilt. It had recently been just outside of Chicago and was heading toward Indianapolis. Stacy, Robin and Steve were all planning on going to see it.
“What about it?” Steve asked. He couldn’t help but notice the deer-in-headlights look Robin and Stacy were giving each other.
Mrs. Connelly huffed, “Well it seems a little bit ridiculous to honor these people.”
After the mall incident of 1985, Steve’s mom made him go see a shrink for about a year. This shrink told Steve that his ‘protective instincts’ were strong and that he should lean into them. He decided now was as good a time as any. He could see where this conversation was headed. “What people? Dead people?” he asked, pretending to not understand what Mrs. Connelly’s point was.
“Steve,” Lori said, giggling. She flipped her hair behind her head. “She’s talking about gay people.” She whispered the word gay like it was dirty.
“Not everyone who died of AIDS way gay,” Steve pointed out.
“Well, there’s a reason it was only passed around that community,” Mrs. Connelly said firmly, as though Steve hadn’t just pointed out there were people in other communities who died of AIDS.
“What’s that reason?” Steve asked curiously. He put his spoon down and folding his hands in front of him, leaning forward.
Mrs. Connelly was obviously not used to being challenged. “Their behavior goes against God’s will, and that’s how he’s repaying them.”
“Oh. Well that doesn’t seem very nice.”
“It’s not a nice way to go,” Mrs. Connelly agreed.
“I meant it doesn’t seem very nice of God to do that. If it was that important, and He’s that powerful, couldn’t He have just made these people not gay to begin with?”
“They chose a lifestyle different than what God wants.”
“My best friend is gay,” Steve said.
The room went silent. Stacy’s widened eyes had been volleying between her mother and Steve during the whole conversation, but now rested on her mother, waiting to see her reaction. Robin was staring down at her own plate, playing with the leftover crusts of her toast. It looked like she was trying not to smile. Lori’s demeanor toward Steve completely changed. Where before she was making flirty eyes, she now had a blank look and had scooted her chair closer to her mother.
“Well, your best friend had better know what his choices could lead to.”
“That’s the thing, see,” Steve said. He knew he had to remain calm--calmer than Mrs. Connelly even. “My gay best friend has told me that there was never a choice, that it’s something you’re born with, like eye color. And, I don’t know about you, but if I had a question about gay people, I’d ask gay people, not a pastor or a priest.”
Mrs. Connelly huffed, “Well, I guess that’s something we’ll just disagree on.”
“Oh yeah,” Steve said, nodding. “I guess so. You think that….” he turned the paper and looked at the article, “Almost forty thousand people in the US deserved to die, and I don’t.” He picked up his spoon and continued eating his cereal.
“I didn’t come visit my daughter to be talked down to like this,” Mrs. Connelly snapped.
Steve shrugged, like it wasn’t his problem, “OK,” he said, his voice conveying a lack of concern. He slurped up the rest of his cereal, and took his bowl to the sink. “I have class in a little bit, so I’m gonna go get ready.”
He went to the bathroom, washed his face and brushed his teeth, thinking hard about what had just happened. Probably he should have kept his mouth shut. Shit, was he going to get Stacy in trouble with her mom? Was this going to lead to an argument where Stacy was going to be forced to out herself, or could her mom make her go back to live in Wisconsin? Why couldn’t he have kept his thoughts to himself?
He gelled his hair carefully, making sure it looked perfect. He’d cut it shorter recently, so it didn’t touch his shoulders anymore, but the front still got styled just so. He wanted to look as good as possible if he was going to ask out Lacey.
He went into the bedroom and stuffed his textbooks in his backpack, then grabbed his Circuit City polo shirt and added that too.
The four women were silently finishing up their breakfast in the dining room. Steve tried to get a read on Stacy’s face, but couldn’t. Her mother and sister looked stony and disapproving when he walked in. “I’m off,” he said.
Robin stood quickly and said, “Let me walk you to your car.”
“Sure,” he slung his arm around her shoulder, like she was his girlfriend and walked toward the door together. He called over his shoulder, “Nice to meet you.”
There was no response.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Robin stood, her hand to her chest and breathed, “Oh my God.”
“I’m so sorry,” Steve said.
She looked at him, confused. “What are you sorry for?”
He waved his hands toward the apartment, “That.” He headed down the half-flight of stairs leading to the community parking lot.
Robin followed, “You don’t have anything to be sorry for!”
“Stacy’s gonna kill me,” Steve said. He yanked open the passenger door and threw his backpack in.
“Are you kidding me?” Robin asked. She threw herself at Steve, wrapping him in a hug. “You just defended her. You stood up to her horrible mother!”
Steve backed away, “Well maybe it wasn’t my place.”
Robin patted Steve’s cheek affectionately. “Oh, babe. I really do love you. Those protective instincts you’ve been told you have? You just used them for good. Believe me, Stacy appreciates it. I appreciate it. All of the gays appreciate it.”
Steve’s stomach relaxed, relieved that he hadn’t ruined his friendship with Stacy. “OK,” he said. “That...uh,” he scratched his head a little. “That actually makes me feel better.” He glanced toward the apartment. “Lori is watching us from the window.”
“Oh,” Robin said, she pulled Steve toward her and planted a chaste kiss on his lips. “Well have a good day at school and work, fake boyfriend.” It was the first they’d ever kissed anywhere besides a cheek, or occasionally a platonic kiss on the top of the head.
“Have fun going on a hike with the anti-gay bigots,” Steve said.
“I think I’ll opt out of that one,” Robin said. “Make sure they don’t have a chance to see me and Stacy being too close.”
“Call you tonight,” Steve said, getting into the drivers’ seat.
“Let me know how it goes with Lacey!” Robin said. Steve waved to her as he drove off.
_____
In his haste to get out of the apartment, he wound up being early to econ. The classroom door was still locked, and sitting on the floor waiting to get in was Lacey. She was reading the newspaper--the same article about the AIDS quilt that Mrs. Connelly had gotten so upset over.
“Hey,” Steve said, sitting next to her, leaning against the wall.
“Hi,” she smiled at him. Girls smiled at him a lot, but Lacey’s smile seemed more genuine, less flirty, than other girls. God, she was pretty. She had darker skin, which make him think she might be biracial, and large brown eyes. Her hair was curly and kept back from her face with a clip that Nancy had once told him was call a banana clip. The one Lacey was wearing today was yellow, like a real banana. She was wearing a white button-up shirt patterned with paint splatters and acid-washed jeans.
He and Lacey had spent some time since the beginning of the semester chatting, and it seemed obvious that they liked each other at least a little. They chose to sit next to each other every day in class.
He pointed to the paper, “I read that article this morning. Me and my friends might go see the quilt when it gets to Indianapolis.”
She shut the paper and looked at him, eyebrows raised “Really?” she asked.
“Yeah. Does that surprise you?”
“A little,” she admitted. “Do you know someone who died of AIDS?’
“No. My best friend is gay, though,” he said. “The issue and the quilt are pretty close to her heart.”
“Are you going to go with her to see it?” Lacey asked.
“We were planning on it. You want to come along?”
“Like a date?” Lacey asked.
“Kind of a weird place to go on a date,” Steve admitted. “How about a coffee after class first?”
“Sure,” Lacey said. “I’d like to hear about your best friend.”
“It’s a date.”