Chapter Text
Steve was running late to work as usual. Robin took it in stride. That was just Steve. They’d gotten to know each other much better as the main provider of ice-cream to Hawkins’ residents. The boy’s quirks were part of his charm- sort of.
She heard him before she even saw him. He burst through the door and almost knocked down the sign she had prepared showing their specials de jour. Though she couldn’t use that phrase since no one understood what it meant besides her.
Steve made it apparent that he had something important to say and that brought her back to the present.
“Robin! I think I like boys!” He almost shouted the end of his sentence before he caught himself and whispered it instead.
“No duh, dingus.”
“Wha… how do you know?” Steve stood there flabbergasted. His pouty lips fell open and a line of confusion creased his forehead.
“Because of the way you stare at Billy Hargrove.”
Steve was pretty awkward, but it was still a surprise to Robin when he nearly fell over. He had to grab ahold of one of the shop’s stairs to steady himself.
“But… but…”
Robin held up a hand to silence him. That was all it took to keep him from sputtering like a fish.
“I don’t know if it’s obvious to anyone else, because let’s face it I don’t really pay attention to other people. But just out of curiosity when did you come to this realization? I would bet it wasn’t too long ago.”
Steve tried to look angry, but he could never be mad at Robin. Being a smartass was a part of her charm.
“I don’t know really. I just found myself thinking about him a lot and kissing him too.” His whole face turned beet red.
Robin’s eyebrows lifted, but she said nothing for now. She was trying to hatch a plan because she actually thought Billy might have a crush on Steve too. Billy made it so obvious with his teasing and taunting of the other boy. It was like watching a elementary school boy tug on the pigtails of a girl he liked. Well this may be a bit more violent than that. Judging by the look on Steve’s face he hadn’t put two and two together. Not a surprise at all.
“So you don’t think he likes you back?” she ventured.
“Are you joking? Billy is the most macho guy in school. He’s probably fucked half the girls- more than half the girls our age here.” Steve visibly wilted at the thought.
She couldn’t help but admire Steve for accepting his crush on a boy so easily. Even though it was the 21st century and that was more accepted than it was say twenty years ago, they still lived in a small town with a lot of bigoted people. She knew that well and that was why it had taken her awhile to come out after coming out to Steve. It was easier for her in some ways because she was a girl- more specifically a girl people didn’t pay a lot of attention to. But Steve… he was King Steve once upon a time and things were still expected from him.
Meanwhile Steve was sadly cleaning the same scoop over and over again in the sink.
“Perk up, buttercup,” Robin said, jabbing him in the side. “Do I need to text Dustin or one of your other children to come cheer you up? ‘Cause I will.”
“Oh no! Please don’t. I don’t really feel like seeing anyone right now.”
But luck was not on Steve’s side today. Their first customer was none other than Billy Hargrove himself. It was a total miracle, however, that he didn’t have some bleached blonde bimbo in a mini skirt with him. Instead it was his step-sister Max.
“Hey, Max. What’s up?” Robin asked, totally ignoring Billy. She was irrationally mad at him for making Steve so heartbroken. It made her even more set on coming up with a plan to get the two of them talking. Max was cool anyway.
“Not much,” the red-headed girl said with a lopsided smile. “I got Mr. Grumpy Pants over here to take me to get ice cream before he goes to work at the pool.” At this the grumpy man in question scowled, but quickly turned his gaze to Steve.
Robin delicately balanced her attention between having a light-hearted conversation with Max and getting her a treat while at the same time observing Billy and Steve. It was a little odd Billy didn’t say anything- not even something rude to the other boy. Steve was trying his best to avoid any eye contact. He was frantically searching for something, anything to do. Robin had to think fast in order to end her best friend’s misery. Suddenly she knew just what to do and if she played her cards right a lot of people would benefit from her matchmaking skills.
“So, Max, you like Wonder Woman right?” she asked, handing the younger girl her cone.
“Oh for sure yeah. I haven’t seen the movie though which really sucks.”
God this was too perfect Robin thought.
“I was actually going to suggest you come over and watch it with me. And El too of course. I haven’t watched it since it first came out.”
“That would be totally awesome. Add me on insta and message me. I’m Madmax with two x’s oh and there’s a number two at the end too.”
Robin nodded and gave her a thumbs up as the pair left the shop.
After a moment Steve spoke, “What are you doing?”
“I’m just getting to know the whole gang better.” She made her face look as innocent as possible. Steve was pretty dense so he bought it or just decided to let it go. Either way she was good for now. She took her phone out of her pocket and searched for madmaxx2 and there she was. Without a second though she pressed request to follow. There was no going back now.
Later at Steve's
Work had been so exhausting even though Robin had done most of the work. He hadn’t even asked her to. She just took charge, as usual, and got shit done. Steve wished he could be more like her in that sense. He had barely graduated high school and had no college plans. He couldn’t get any shit done after…
Well that was done now and things were good between him and Nancy and even Jonathan. You kinda have to be good after all the crap they’d been through. And he had the kids who he really enjoyed hanging out with even though it seemed weird to other people.
But it was definitely Robin who helped him the most. They did not like each other at first, but again shit had happened in this weirdass town and they’d become very close. Now he couldn’t imagine life without her. He was the only reason he dragged his ass out of bed every morning he had to work.
His house empty as usual. He was tempted to smoke inside with the window down because his parents were never around enough to notice anyway, but out of force of habit he trudged outside and lit a cigarette. He didn’t smoke very often- after all it was a bad example for Dustin and the rest of the crew. Today, though, he believed he deserved it.
After a few puffs he felt himself relax if only slightly. He immediately tensed up again when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Sighing loudly, he took it out and glanced at the lockscreen. He didn’t have message previews on so all he saw was a strange number.
“What the hell…?” he muttered. Steve was more than a little wary about checking it, but in the end he convinced himself it might just be one of those random spam texts about winning a bunch of money by doing god knows what.
He quickly typed in his passcode- he was old school like that- and opened the text.
Hey so this is really weird but I kinda stole a friend’s phone and got your number. I wanted to tell you that I think you are more than you give yourself credit for. Idk you just seem down lately so I thought I would tell you.
Steve stared blankly at the screen. First of all he had never received something this sincere- this nice before. Second this was a carefully worded and long text. No one did that anymore. Sometimes even Robin and he just exchanged memes instead of actually having a real conversation over imessage.
It dawned on him that he should reply or else this stranger would think he didn’t appreciate what he had said.
umm thnx but who r u? y cant you just tell me in person?
The reply came faster than he expected, but it was still nicely worded and way more grammatically correct than Steve’s.
Because if I told you in person you wouldn’t believe I was being real about it. We don’t exactly run in the same circle of friends. And we’re not even in the same grade.
Ah, finally some clues. Even clueless Steve Harrington could see that. His mind raced with the options of who it could possibly be. Unfortunately he realized it could be anyone at his old high school. He had such a small circle of “friends” that he closed himself off to so many people.
oh ok. i appreciate it tho. i wish i knew who you were bc no ones ever really said that to me b4
Since this was a plain old text and not an iMessage he could see if the other person was typing or not. That drove him crazy. What if they didn’t really mean it? Or they did at first and realized he really was a pathetic loser?
Luckily after a few minutes his phone buzzed again.
They’re total idiots for not knowing how special you are. You’re kind and caring. I think that’s more important than smarts. But listen I have to go. I promise I will text tomorrow if you still want to talk?
Without hesitation Steve replied:
ofc have a good night
He looked a little longer at his phone in case this mystery person sent another message, but after awhile he realized they’d gone for the night. Also he’d wasted nearly an entire cigarette and the ashes were falling onto his jeans.
Steve wanted to message Robin and tell her about this, but he decided he wanted to keep it to himself for a little while. He’d never had a surprise like this in his life. It was going to be something he would treasure a little while longer all by himself.