Chapter Text
Steve groans dramatically and rests his head on the counter. He hears Robin scoff from somewhere behind him.
"The fuck are you moaning over, Steve?" Robin places a tape in it's respective spot in it's shelf, and rounds the counter to stand in front of him. Steve groans again, but lifts his head regardless. "I'm so bored." He whines restlessly. Robin sighs and hops the counter, sitting beside where Steve was leaning against it.
"Yeah, well maybe you should've decided on a more, I don't know, busy job?" Robin barely contains her eyeroll. Steve can hear it in her tone, though, as he instantly gets defensive. "Oh, I'm sorry, have you forgotten the fact that you also work here?" He says, crossing his arms. Robin crosses hers to match him. "Well, you don't hear me complaining about it, do you?" She shoots back.
For a second, Steve doesn't say anything. The two begin an intense staring contest until they hear the bell above the front door chime, announcing someone's entrance. Their heads whip in unison to the door to see a man seemingly around their age enter the store. He has long, dark hair with unruly curls that has a little frizz. He's dressed in dark ripped skinny jeans (seriously, what guy wears skinny jeans -Steve thinks) with a classic band tee, topped with a denim sleeveless jacket. The man seems to sense Steve's eyes on him, as he looks up and the two make eye contact.
It's silent for a moment, the two men refusing to look away until the other does. That is, until Robin clears her throat awkwardly. "Eddie, nice to see you man. What can I do for you?" Steve looks at Robin, confused at her casual tone with the man. Robin either doesn't notice his stare, or chooses to ignore it in favor of tending to 'Eddie'. The name sounds familiar to Steve, but he can't remember where he's heard it before.
Eddie takes his eyes off of Steve and turns to Robin with a smile. "Hey, Rob. Yeah, I came in to rent a movie for me and the guys. 'Don't really know what I'm looking for, though." Robin nods and hops off the counter, striding over to him. "Alright, I'll help you look around." The two go into the back of the store, looking in the horror section while Steve is still standing at the register in shock.
Who was that guy? And how close was he to Robin? Apparently pretty close Steve assumes, what with the way Eddie said Rob. Maybe the two were best friends, or something.
Upon thinking that, Steve feels a pang in his chest. The idea that Robin had another friend he never even heard of that she was supposedly close to, it stung. Steve considered Robin his best friend. Sure, he had other friends, but they were a group of teenagers. And Steve tells Robin everything, things he can't tell the kids. Guess Robin doesn't see him the same way, considering he's never heard of Eddie and her friendship. Steve snaps out of self pity. Of course Robin can have other friends, and of course he doesn't need to hear about every detail in her life.
Even if he tells her everything about his.
"Hey man, you good?" Steve comes back to reality when he hears Eddie calling out to him, suddenly a lot closer to Steve to where Steve can count the faint freckles on Eddie's nose, or differentiate the shades of brown in Eddie's eyes.
Wait, what?
"Hellooo, Steve?" Eddie snaps in Steve's face a couple times. Steve jumps, startled. "Uh- yeah, what's up?" Steve coughs out awkwardly. Seriously, what was wrong with him today? Eddie looks at him with a weird expression for a moment, before he chuckles and shakes his head. Steve doesn't know why inherently, but he gets defensive. "What's so funny?" He huffs. Eddie looks back up at him and lets out a dramatic gasp.
"Oh, I'm sorry King, am I not allowed to laugh in your presence?" He says with mock apology. Steve's chest pangs at the old nickname before he realizes that this guy must know him from high school.
"What? Who even are you man?" Eddie actually seems to take offense to this, looking at Steve in disbelief. "Wow, Harrington. I know you never really gave a shit about anyone that wasn't your jackass jock friends, but I would've thought you'd at least remember me considering you used to talk shit about me openly in the cafeteria." Eddie sneers. And suddenly, Steve remembers who this guy is.
Eddie Munson. The freak of Hawkins' High who ran a d&d club.
Steve is stunned into silence, and Eddie scoffs in front of him. "Oh, so you do remember, huh?" Something on Steve's face must've given it away. When Steve still doesn't reply, Eddie gains a defeated expression (with a twinge of hurt under?) and drops a tape onto the counter. "Whatever man. Just ring me up, okay?" Steve snaps out of it and silently nods, scanning the tape and placing it in a plastic bag.
"Ah, it's $12.32.." Eddie wordlessly hands him a twenty and snatches the bag from Steve's lax grip. Before Steve can give him the change, Eddie is up and out of the store, not looking back once. Guilt is heavy on his chest, and Steve doesn't know what to do with himself. Robin appears in front of him with crossed arms and furrowed brows.
"What the hell was that?" She asks, obviously upset. Steve doesn't know how to feel at the moment, so does what he always does: grow defensive and angry. "What are you talking about? Where were you? You really could've backed me up there." Robin scoffs. "Are you serious right now?" She asks incredulously. Steve throws his hands up in the air. "What was I supposed to do? It's not my fault I didn't remember a guy from two years ago!" He shouts, growing heated. Robin scoffs. "You're doing it again." She says, and Steve grows more annoyed. "Doing what again?"
"Your whole king act! You act like anyone outside of your immediate circle is just irrelevant! Why do you always have to get defensive before admitting you fucked up?" Robin shouts, gesturing wildly in the air with her hands as she speaks. Steve decides to ignore that part, pushing forward. "Well I'm sorry I didn't know he was your friend because you never fucking told me!" He says, his insecurities seeping through. Robin doesn't pick up on it. "That doesn't matter, Steve! You shouldn't have to know he's a friend of mine to be a decent fucking person!"
Steve stands there for a second, unable to come up with anything to say. After a moment, Robin sighs and rubs her face with her hand. "Look Steve, I don't want to fight right now." With that, all the fight in Steve eases out of him, leaving him feeling defeated and embarrassed. "I don't want to fight either.." He admits quietly, looking down at his shoes. Robin pauses, then takes a deep breath. "You need to apologize to him." Steve's head shoots up at that. He opens his mouth to protest, but Robin holds up her hand, effectively shutting him up.
"The next time you see him, you will apologize, or so help me-" She threatens. "Yeah, whatever." Steve grits out. Robin squints at him for a moment, before returning to the back of the store to continue organizing tapes.
Least to say, the rest of Steve's shift was heavily awkward.