Chapter Text
Tick. Tick. Tick. Robin wanted to snatch that stupid clock off the wall and stomp on it, or better yet, take a sledgehammer to it. Sunday opening shifts at Family Video were slow, painful- agonizing, even- and Robin regretted ever offering to switch shifts with Steve in the first place, giving him time to take the little dinguses to the county fair. The open sign had been up on the door for almost two hours, yet not a single customer wandered in. Tick. Tick. Tick. Robin honestly couldn’t tell which was worse- the paralyzing fear clocks induced ever since spring break or the stagnant silence in the store, minus the rhythmic ticking emanating from the break room.
When she grew frustrated enough with sitting around, overwhelmed by the only sound in the building, Robin strode off from behind the desk and into the aisles of VHS tapes. Keith hadn’t shown in a week, supposedly off on a vacation with his non-existent girlfriend, Steve wouldn’t be in for at least another four hours for the closing shift, and all the other employees seemed to have dropped off the face of the Earth. So, with no one there, who was to tell her she couldn’t spend her shift watching movies? After all, no video rental store would be complete without an expert in ‘real cinema,’ and neither Keith or Steve came close to her level of media consumption. At least, that’s the excuse Robin gave herself while snatching a VHS tape off the shelf.
While Robin absolutely loathed the newer ‘60s nostalgia wave, considering the rampant sexism and racism most people glossed over in fantasizing their ‘American Dream,’ she couldn’t deny that she adored a few ‘60s beach party films. Call Wet Side Story a cheap, nostalgia bait knock-off of West Side Story, but that film had been a true staple of her childhood and was completely one of her guilty pleasures. Well, she mostly cited it as her ‘gay awakening.’ Two charming leads- one being the most gorgeous woman Robin had ever seen- pulled apart by rival gangs, who must learn to set aside their differences to save the people they love. Was it cheesy? Oh, one thousand percent. But having someone fall in love with the most intelligent, charismatic, beautiful woman, only to be forbidden to date her due to bullshit opinions their communities had? Robin couldn’t relate more. Besides, who wouldn’t fall head over heels for Lela?
Slipping behind the desk and pulling the tape out of its sleeve, Robin quickly popped it into the VHS player, pressing the rewind button, and waiting until the film reset to the beginning. She grabbed the desk chair from the break room and made herself comfortable, set on watching Wet Side Story as many times as it took for Steve to at least clock in. Maybe more to drown out his incessant complaining.
Unfortunately, her plans were quickly derailed. The bell above the door jingled, the faintest sound in the otherwise empty store. Robin near leaped out of her skin, whipping around in the swivel chair until she faced the door, only to see the stupidest grin on her friend’s face as he stood by the register. Pressing pause, she approached the counter.
“Buckley, always a pleasure to see you. Is Harrington here?” Eddie said, slightly tilting his head to glance behind Robin.
“Clearly not, otherwise he would have beaten me to greeting you. He took the kids to the fair, Dustin was practically on his knees pleading for Steve to drive them all, per his mother’s orders. Apparently, she still only trusts him,” Robin answered. “Did you need him? Cause his shift starts at 2pm, if you want to come back.”
Eddie shook his head, his grin faltering. “No, just…hoping to see him, is all. We haven’t hung out since…spring break- if you could even call that ‘hanging out’- and he’s been avoiding me like the plague all summer. I kind of, like, genuinely thought we had a good dynamic going, but…you know how it is.” It’s common knowledge that none of them had been the same since defeating Vecna, hell, Robin was convinced no one could ever be the same after slaying eldritch horrors that crawled their way in from another dimension. She’d seen the Mind Flayer and Vecna firsthand, and couldn’t even begin to fathom what other demonic entities Steve or Nancy had faced. Things like that changed people, it was just common sense. But, what Eddie was referencing? That was a different kind of change. One only the two of them had come to understand. Eddie knew Robin liked girls and only girls, Nancy didn’t. Robin knew Eddie liked boys and only boys, Steve didn’t. They had a mutual understanding of each other and stuck together like glue out of solidarity, mostly due to shared trauma, but undeniably also in relation to their hopeless love lives. And with no secret between them of their hopeless crushes, it wasn’t very hard to notice the other pair distancing themselves since spring break.
“Guess I do. Nancy has…a lot on her mind right now, with college and journalism, and she just broke up with Jonathan. I can, at least tend to, be a lot for others, and Nancy needs her space, so I’m…letting it be for now,” She said, closing her eyes to collect her thoughts for a moment, “My point being, I wouldn’t take it to heart if Steve is being ridiculous, he is the most oblivious man I’ve ever met and I genuinely don’t think he’s even aware of ignoring you. Like I said, we probably just have to…let it be for now.”
Scuffing his shoe back and forth on the carpeted floor for a bit, Eddie remained silent, mulling over Robin’s words as he spaced out. Robin waved her hand a few times in front of him, hoping to pull him out of his thoughts, but when he continued to blankly stare, she piped back up.
“Do you like musicals?”
“Huh?” He blinked, glancing at her.
“I asked if you like musicals, specifically movie musicals.”
Eddie shook his head. “No, not my thing. Rocky Horror is one thing, but I can’t stand anything else, most of them are just…tasteless heterosexual nightmares.”
Robin’s expression quickly shifted into a grin. “Okay, okay fair. But what if I told you there is an extremely hot male lead, who just so happens to have the same stupid charm as Steve?”
“I refuse to answer. You’re trying to trick me into watching a musical…and your selling point is Steve?” Eddie crossed his arms, his brow furrowed in confusion.
Robin walked around the counter and lightly shoved Eddie along to the other side with her. “I’m taking your refusal as a ‘yes’, so sit and prepare to be amazed,” She stated. Shoving Eddie down into the swivel chair, she then turned on her heel to grab the folding chair from the break room. Was it the uncomfortable option? Yeah, but if she had any luck at keeping Eddie around, it was keeping him seated in the other chair. Once she set up, she pressed play and kicked her feet up on the counter.
“Alright, now watch,” Robin pointed at the screen, watching Eddie out of the corner of her eye to make sure he was focused, “Him!”
“Him?” Eddie questioned, gesturing to the brunette exiting the car on screen.
“Yes, him! Tanner, the one with way too carefully styled hair. Tell me he doesn’t remind you of Steve,” She exclaimed.
Eddie squinted in the slightest, leaning forward to closer look at the screen. After a moment, he leaned back. Robin did have a point. The swept-aside hair, his blindingly white smile that quite literally gleamed in the sunlight, the same stupid boyish charm emanating off him as he casually strolled along the beach. Every little mannerism and feature practically screamed Steve, but he wasn’t going to admit what Robin wanted to hear. “I don’t see it,” He answered, shrugging.
Robin quirked a brow. “Lying now, are we?”
“Why would I lie? He’s attractive, I’ll give you that, ‘cause I’m not blind, but he’s no Steve Harrington,” He said, crossing his arms again. “I mean, okay, sure, is he stupidly charming and a ladies man? Without a doubt, but otherwise I’m not really seeing any resemblance.
“Hate to say it buddy, but one, you absolutely are lying to me, and yourself quite frankly, and two, you are so in denial it physically pains me to watch,” She scoffed.
“Am not! And you’re one to talk, Ms. ‘I’m not in love with Nancy Wheeler, why would I be? ’Cause she doesn’t even like girls, let alone like me!’” Eddie’s voice raised an octave as he mimicked their conversation from the other day.
Robin shoved him by the shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Eds, you’re just trying to deflect, because you’re in denial! Tanner reminds you of Steve, and you’re just trying to pretend--”
A loud crack echoed from outside the building, followed by a blinding flash of light, pulling the duo’s attention towards the front windows. Immediately, the sky opened up, and rain began pouring down on the street outside. Robin remembered catching the news before her mother dropped her off at work, the weatherman reporting clear skies all day with next to no chance of rain. But then again, this didn’t look like any other rainstorm. The few trees along the sidewalk looked as if they were about to snap in half with the force of the wind, and suddenly, another loud crack sounded.
“Well, glad I rolled my van’s windows up before I came in,” Eddie chuckled, before turning back to the TV. He stood abruptly, catching Robin’s attention as the store simultaneously went dark. “Huh…storm must’ve taken down a power line. Power’s out.” But Robin ignored him, instead staring blankly at the TV.
Eddie glanced down, noticing Robin’s sudden lack of snarky comments. Seeing someone frozen and unresponsive practically kicked him into fight or flight, god forbid something demonic took another one of his friends. “Oh no…no, no, no. I don’t like this, I’m not doing this again, I can’t- Robin? Robin, what’s wrong?” He crouched down, waving his hand in front of her face.
Luckily, she responded. Robin furrowed her brow, not breaking her line of sight. “The TV…it’s still playing. But the power’s out,” She said.
At this, Eddie sighed and resumed his standing position, crossing his arms over his chest again. But, now taking a glance at the TV, she was right. While all other sounds died out inside the store, music filled the silence along with the pattering of rain outside, as the characters on screen tossed around beach balls and danced on the sand. “That’s…definitely odd. Is there a backup generator in the store? Could be keeping it running,” He questioned, approaching the TV and glancing behind at the connected wires. After a moment, he pulled one he figured was supplying its power, but the movie still played on. “Alright, I really don’t like this now. Why is it still going?”
Robin stood and quickly unplugged the VHS player. Nothing happened. “Surf Crazy” concluded, and then the screen froze. “Well, that’s not good, but…definitely less creepy than playing without any power,” She signed, leaning against the TV. Eddie held the cord to the TV for a few seconds longer, before deciding to plug it back in. Crack. Neither of them had a chance to think, as lightning struck. The ground shook beneath them and the store flashed entirely white, before everything quickly faded to black.
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Who ever allowed the sun to be so painfully bright? If some kind of god really did create the universe, and all that preachy bullshit, they had to have made it as some kind of eternal torture. Wait. Wait. Sunlight? Weren’t they inside Family Video? Was it not just downpouring? Eddie’s eyes shot open, only to be met with blinding rays of light beating down and clear blue skies. He covered his eyes with his hands, only to be met with grains of sand on his palms. The grainy, scratchy texture practically made him want to vomit. Why in the hell was there sand? He dusted it off his cheeks and hands, before opening his eyes and sitting straight up. With one glance around, Eddie felt a severe wave of nausea hit him, and not just ‘cause of the sand. A beach, calm waves pushing and pulling, clear skies…all too eerily familiar.
“Where the fuck are we?”