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“Academic scholar? She’s giving you an academic scholar vibe? Yeah,” Steve said, gesturing to Robin, amazed at the ballerina in Nancy’s music box.
“No, but she will,” Nancy said, holding up something horrendously frilly and pink.
“Oh, please, tell me you’re joking,” Robin groaned.
“Absolutely not,” Nancy said. “Steve, get out.”
“Are you sure about-”
“Out!” Nancy snapped.
“Fine, fine,” Steve threw up his hands in exasperation and backed out of the room. Robin shot him a desperate look over Nancy’s shoulder as she slammed the door behind him.
Nancy turned around, curls bouncing, “Here, take this.”
Robin hesitantly grabbed the blouse, frozen and not quite sure what to do with it next.
“And, let me see, it’s so much quieter without Steve in here, makes it easier to find things, you know?”
“Yeah, sure,” Robin said.
“Hold that up for a second, let me see,” Nancy guided her to hold up the blouse to her chest as she pulled a skirt from her closet to see if they matched. Nancy was so deep in focus that she didn’t realize Robin almost flinched as her hand touched her waist when she held it up to confirm, “Perfect! And I have a couple of sweaters that should go, we can worry about that in a minute.” She passed the skirt off to Robin as well and started pulling out an outfit for herself, laying it out on the bed.
Robin had opened her mouth to ask what they were supposed to do now, but Nancy had pulled off her sweater and was unbuttoning the shirt she was wearing, and Robin still stood there, mouth open.
“Get dressed, we don’t have all day,” Nancy said to Robin who was still standing there awkwardly holding the clothes she had handed her. Between Robin and Steve, it was like the two of them had one brain cell to share and neither of them ever remembered who had it. She continued working her fingers over the buttons until they were all undone and she pulled her shirt off, laying it on the bed.
She almost shivered, even though she felt a flush of warmth over her face. She shouldn’t have been nervous about this, their plan would work. It was probably just Steve getting in her head, convincing her that it wouldn’t work unless he came along. She looked up at Robin, who had pulled off her pants and was stepping into her skirt. Their eyes locked, and suddenly Nancy looked away. She wasn’t self conscious about not having a shirt on, right? She’d changed in front of people plenty of times at sleepovers or pool parties. Hell, there were even people that had seen her naked, like Jonathan, and Steve…Steve. Once again, this was his fault for making such a fuss and getting her so worked up, right? Right?
She picked up the new shirt she had picked out, but before she put it on she saw Robin pulling on the sheer, pink shirt she had given her over a black bra. “Robin, wait,” she rushed the few steps over to stop her before she got it all the way on. Robin froze as Nancy touched her arm, and Nancy froze in response. Robin just stared at her, and Nancy, surprised that Robin wasn’t already rambling something about various ways to put on a shirt and her personal favorite methods depending on the shirt material, didn’t know what to say for a second. “Um, sorry,” she shook her head, her hand just now dropping from Robin’s arm. “I just can’t let you wear that bra with that shirt. It’ll show right through.”
“Oh,” was all Robin said.
“A highly professional academic like Rose would never make such a mistake,” Nancy joked. Robin’s silence was so uncomfortable that she realized she missed Robin’s nonstop talking.
Robin let out a short laugh, and set the shirt down. Nancy had already turned around to go digging through a drawer. Nancy could feel Robin watching her. Is she staring at me? Is there something wrong with me? I don’t want to make it even more obvious if I look for anything. Maybe she just doesn’t know what I’m looking for. Oh, don’t be stupid the only thing in this drawer is bras, and if Robin can’t see that then we have even bigger problems on our hands. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she turned around and handed the one she had found to Robin. “This should work, well enough, at least.”
“Are you sure?” Robin said, not even reaching out to take it.
“Yes, you definitely can’t wear that one and this should be fine.”
Robin groaned.
“It’s just for a few hours. Then we can take it off and be back to normal.” Robin’s eyes went wide. Shit! “Sorry! You can take it off, sorry. I was just thinking you’d be giving it back to me after, sorry. Here, try it on,” Nancy shoved it into Robin’s hands and turned her back to give her some privacy as she slipped her arms into the sleeves of her shirt.
“Nance?” Robin said gently.
“Yeah?” her head snapped up and around, sending her curls flying.
“I don’t know if this is right,” Robin said, tugging at the straps and band of the bra. “Can you help me?”
Nancy nodded and walked back up to Robin, pausing before she started helping to confirm, “Can I?”
“Yeah,” Robin said. Nancy could have sworn there was something different in it, but she was so on edge, she was probably picking up on something that wasn’t there. She started by slipping her hands under the straps on Robin’s shoulders and reaching around to loosen them, feeling the soft warmth of Robin’s skin brushing against her fingers, sending electricity down her hands straight to her spine. Robin took in a sharp breath.
“Sorry! I know my hands are usually really cold, sorry, I should’ve warned you,” Nancy shook her head nervously. She was too distracted to think straight at all.
“No, that’s okay. I’ve just never had anyone adjust a bra on me before,” Robin said. “It probably shows,” she blushed.
Nancy smiled up at her once she had the straps loose enough that they were no longer painfully digging into Robin’s skin. “Don’t worry about it, there’s a first time for everything.”
Robin couldn’t help herself and let out an incredibly awkward laugh.
“I don’t know if I’m going to apologize for that one, now you’re the one making it weird,” Nancy laughed and blushed. “Turn around.” The hooks on the back were too tight and hooked into the wrong eyes. Nancy was almost amazed at how Robin got it on at all. “Hold on, let me fix this,” she said, unhooking and rehooking it looser and correctly. Robin let out a deep breath. “Better?”
“Much,” she breathed.
“Turn back around and let me make sure it fits okay,” Nancy said, her heart racing as she realized she was going to be looking right at Robin’s chest. Robin spun around so fast, Nancy startled and took a step back.
“Oh, sorry, I know that my coordination isn't the best but usually no one’s close enough for it to be an issue, other than in marching band, which I’m surprisingly good at all things considered, and I have a couple theories on why that would be, and I’m sorry, are you laughing at me?”
“No,” Nancy smiled. “You’re just rambling again. You got really quiet for a bit there and had me worried.” She reached forward and adjusted and tugged at the cups of her bra, hoping Robin would continue talking so she had something, anything, to think about other than the feel of her breasts beneath her skin that she was trying so hard not to touch because she couldn’t make this weird, but it was already weird and she couldn’t avoid it completely, trying to get Robin to fit into one of her bras and how they felt so much softer than they looked now that she was staring right at them and how her mouth felt dry and her heart was threatening to pound of her chest. She reached to adjust the center, where the two underwires came together because Robin had even that crooked, and could feel Robin’s heart pounding just as hard as hers was beneath her fingers. It felt like an explosion of butterflies in her stomach as she looked up at Robin, who was already staring down at her, with her shirt unbuttoned, only a bra on underneath. Neither of them spoke until Nancy cleared her throat and said, “Should be good now.”
“Uh, thanks,” Robin said.
“Yeah, sure thing. Um, finish getting dressed and then I can do your hair and makeup,” Nancy said, stepping backwards, still looking at Robin, before turning away and buttoning her blouse.
“Is…is there something wrong with my hair and makeup?” Robin asked hesitantly, voice quieter than normal.
“No, of course not,” Nancy said, pulling off her current skirt to pull on a new one. “I think it’s cute, but I’m not the one we’re trying to impress here.” Robin’s gaze darted quickly away and then back. “It just needs to be a bit more professional and boring.”
Robin’s hair was soft and silky as she tamed it into something more polished and added a clip to the right side to make up for the fact that they were under a time crunch.
Nancy sat Robin down on the edge of her bed across from her and leaned in to fix her makeup. “I’m just going to clean up your mascara, add some blush and some lipstick, okay?”
“Yeah, sure. I guess. I’m not really a makeover with her friends kind of girl. Not that we’re friends. Or not friends. We don’t have to be either, I’ve just never had someone do my makeup before, or my hair, or pick out clothes for me, or let me borrow clothes.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Nancy said, gently fixing the makeup on Robin’s face, feeling her breath against her skin as she worked quickly.
“Maybe it’s not such a bad thing to be a priss.”
“Are you calling me a priss?” Nancy asked.
“I did once, to Steve.” Of course it made sense to know that they had talked about her, they were best friends and she had dated him. But hearing Robin admit they talked about her made her feel…different than she expected. What else did Robin think of her?
“Oh?”
“Yeah, he told me I was wrong, and for once in his life, Steve Harrington was right. But you are still incredibly skilled in the makeover department. Even if this outfit is my worst nightmare.”
“It’ll be over soon enough, don’t worry.”
She held her hand under Robin’s chin to steady them as she applied lipstick, and neither one of them was breathing.
Nancy was almost done when suddenly there was a knock at the door and Steve was shouting at them, “Nancy! Robin!”
“Hold on!” Nancy shouted. The knock had startled her and she had gotten a bit of lipstick on Robin’s face, she wiped it away quickly then shouted, “Okay, come in!”
“Oh, hello ladies,” Steve said, leaning into the doorway as he looked at the two of them. “Looking preppy.”
“What do you want, Steve?” Nancy asked, looking away from him back to Robin, checking to make sure everything about her looked perfect, which it did, and trying her best to stop her gaze from lingering on her chest and her thoughts from going to the feel of Robin’s skin against her fingertips.
“Yeah, can we get this field trip going? Max is writing letters for all of us to read when she dies. Not if, when. ”
“Right,” Nancy said, jumping up. “Robin, here’s a sweater and I can grab a pair of shoes for you to change into in the car, let me make sure I have everything, and I’ll meet you downstairs.”
Steve watched her rush out of the room and head downstairs before turning to Robin and asking, “Is it just me or was she staring at your boobies?”