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"Here's the thing about Nancy: at first, I thought I would have a chance because Jonathon was away in California but now that he's back there's no way she'll try this-" Steve paused and gestured at himself, setting down his armful of tapes for a moment "-again. Even when we were together, she chose Jonathon. I just can't compete."
"Yeah, well, you were kind of a jerk back then, let's be honest." Robin shrugged and moved to the next aisle, Steve leaving her view.
"Okay, I know. I've come a long way, alright."
"That's what I'm saying! You might as well be a different person and-and if Nancy doesn't want to give you another chance then maybe…" Robin moved her tapes to one hand, thrusting her arms out dramatically despite Steve being nowhere near. "Maybe that's for the best. Look, you've got the perfect girl out there somewhere waiting just for you. I'm sure of it. And with her, you'll be able to live out your dream of six kids or whatever but the point is: Nancy isn't the only girl in the world, you'll be fine." Robin went back to stacking tapes on the shelves and Steve sighed.
"Still can't get over how you managed to get a girlfriend before me."
"Well I would've never had the guts to ask her out if not for…" A bell ringing interrupted her as the front door opened.
"Hey, we're closed." Steve called out, not bothering to even see who came in. Robin peeked out from her aisle and saw a very nervous Mike Wheeler standing in the doorway, wringing his hands.
"Steve, it's one of your kids." Robin casually raised a hand and went back to stacking tapes after Mike awkwardly smiled at her.
"Alright I'm here." Steve dropped his stack into Robin's arms and she stumbled trying to hold them all. "What's up man?"
"Uh…" Mike stared at Robin, then cleared his throat before focusing on Steve. "I need advice."
"Well that's all I'm good for these days. Robin, can you finish putting these away?" He went to lead Mike to the back room and Robin stuck her tongue out at him.
"Sure, go and leave me to deal with all of these." She teased, rolling her eyes as he led Mike to their back room where Keith normally lurked, luckily for them he wasn't there today.
Steve dramatically gestured at Mike, who just shrugged awkwardly. "This is important, okay? Believe it or not, I still give good advice to these kids." They ducked into the room, and Robin raised her voice to further make fun of him.
"You're saying this while talking to the brother of the girl who's rejected you, what, three times now?"
Steve shut the door, yelling out: "I can't hear you!"
Robin chuckled to herself, she never got sick of making fun of Steve 'The Hair' Harrington. She stacked the tapes on the shelves, making a mental note that she would inevitably forget to check out this old 60's movie later; it sounded like something she and Vickie would enjoy. With half her stack left, she left to the other side of the store to finish when she overheard Steve and Mike while passing by the door.
She didn't necessarily mean to eavesdrop, it just sort of happened without her thinking. Either way, the walls were way too thin, and she could hear the majority of the conversation by standing just outside.
"No, Steve, it's not that I like a girl that has a boyfriend, or who isn't allowed to date or anything like that."
"Well, then, why aren't you supposed to date her?"
"I'm just not, okay? I'm not even supposed to have a crush on them, let alone date."
"Okay, uh..." Steve ran his fingers through his huge hair, and Robin rolled her eyes from behind the small window in the door. "I'm a little lost here Wheeler, why don't you tell me who it is, and we can figure it out from there."
"No!" Steve's eyebrows went up, while Robin's furrowed, feeling slight deja vu. Mike looked embarrassed, and he took in a deep breath before continuing. "It's just," Mike twisted his mouth to the side and looked up, "I'm supposed to like this one girl because I did before and I said I did, but now I don't think I do. Instead, I like someone else, who I am totally not supposed to like, but I do anyway."
"Okay...but...I mean-" While Steve stammered, Robin mulled over his words. Almost everything Mike had said felt close to home, a little too close, but it had to be some coincidence, right? Mike wasn't like her, was he? Although it was weird that he kept saying 'person' for the one he wasn't supposed to like and 'girl' for the one he was.
"I guess what I'm asking is: how do I stop liking the person I like and start liking the girl I should?" Mike's voice cracked on the final few words, and Robin felt an ache in her chest.
That was the kicker. Mike had just uttered the question that had haunted Robin her entire Sophomore year, and she stood there in shock. The tapes slipped through her arms and they clattered on the floor. What was Steve doing there, giving him advice? Robin should be there, encouraging him and letting him know that it's okay to feel like this.
"Robin, you good there?" Steve opened the door to Robin standing in the puddle of tapes, staring at Mike.
She snapped and pointed her finger at Mike, who furrowed his brow and turned his head away. "I have advice. Good advice. Better than Steve advice."
Steve glanced at her from the floor, stacking tapes in his arms. "Are you sure about that?"
"Well what advice have you been giving him, hm?" Robin thrust her arms up and crossed them in front of her chest.
Steve focused his gaze across the store and shrugged. "You wanna give Robin a try, Wheeler?"
"I mean, how much did you hear?"
Robin grimaced, and sheepily said: "Quite a bit, sorry. I get into this habit where I do things I know I shouldn't, but it's not like I think about it, it just happens. Like I wouldn't have even thought of eavesdropping on you guys, but I was just walking by and I heard and it didn't even cross my mind that I shouldn't, or even what I was doing for that matter, my brain just goes on autopilot sometimes and I just do things or say things without so much as a second thought and-" If Robin's mouth was moving faster than her brain, her hands were going even faster, gesturing all over the place to who knows what, until she finally stops rambling and gets a hold of herself. "-and I'm starting to do it now, sorry about that."
Steve nodded, pulling his lips into a tight smile as he stood up, balancing all the tapes in his arms. "I mean, I've gotten some pretty solid advice from her, it's worth a shot, Wheeler."
Mike glanced between Robin and Steve, his long arms hanging by his sides. "...Okay."
"Yay!" Robin clapped and bounced into the break room, a smile breaking across her face. She sat down on the couch in front of Mike, who stared at her, no doubt completely weirded out.
"Have fun." Steve winked and shut the door, leaving Mike and Robin to discuss.
She didn't mean to be so forward, but like earlier, her mouth moves faster than her brain. "So...what's his name?"
Mike jerked back as through she had slapped him, his eyes going wide and his mouth falling open. "What-what are you talking about?"
"I mean, I'm not surprised Steve didn't pick up on it, he can be such an idiot but I knew. That's why I had to come in here, Steve has no idea what he's talking about. Not everything is about getting a date with a girl, right? Things are so much more complicated, and to be honest, I don't entirely blame him for not fully understanding or picking up on clues and hints, it's all really confusing and I'm even-" Robin cut herself off, noticing she was rambling again. "Sorry. Did you want to say something?"
Mike's mouth hung open, moving as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't spit it out, the opposite of Robin's problem. Finally he choked out some words, but Robin felt a little disappointed in his response. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Robin nodded, probably a bit too much, trying to let Mike know that it was a safe space. "You know what, I won't force you to tell me. I can share my story first, and then when you're ready you can share yours. This is a safe space, don't worry."
Robin licked her lips and pressed her palms together. "Okay, where do we start? It's Sophomore year, history class, and I had been put in the class for the grade above me, because I had been homeschooled and had already covered what I needed to know. Anyway, my class was was filled with Juniors, and I was so excited and felt so cool to be in a class with upperclassmen.
"Anyway, none other than King Steve Harrington sits in front of me, and all the girls were going crazy for him, even though he had started dating your sister pretty early on. I didn't pay much attention to him at first; this class was a beast and I wanted to get good grades, as you do, but then I realised that Tammy Thompson just couldn't take her eyes off of him."
"Wait," Mike interrupted, "This isn't the 'our very own, all the way from Nashville' Tammy Thompson, is it?"
"One in the same. So I noticed how obsessed she was with this guy, and I also realised how frustrated I got when she wouldn't look at me like that." Mike's eyes slowly started to widen as it dawned on him what she was saying. "So, I tried to be like him. I made my hair all short and poofy, I started coming late to class even though I would get in trouble for it, but I didn't care. I was gonna get her attention if it killed me.
"In the end, I gave up. No one can compete with Steve 'The Hair' Harrington, so I gave up. I would go home every Tuesday and Thursday, and just scream into my pillow wondering why I was like this, and why it had to be this hard. But hey, in the end it all worked out. I realised she sounded like a literal muppet and ended up being best friends with my biggest rival." Robin fell quiet, and Mike just stared at the ground, completely silent. "...Do you have anything you want to say now?"
Mike didn't respond, and Robin felt dread start to fill her lungs, starting to regret everything. The longer Mike was quiet, the more terrified she felt. What was she thinking, sharing her biggest (and quite frankly, only) secret with someone she barely knew because of some stupid gut feeling that she was convinced was some sort of sign?
"Uh, I...Just forget I said anything, okay? I'm sorry for bothering you." Robin lept up from the couch, praying to whatever entity was out there to take back her words and make it so she never had said anything.
"It's Will."
Robin spun around at his response, too filled with panic to process his words correctly. "Huh?"
"The boy. It's Will." Mike crossed and uncrossed his legs, still focused on the floor. "He's the 'person' I was talking about."
"Oh. OH, RIGHT!" Robin skipped back to the couch and Mike glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Okay, spill."
Mike blushed, his gaze still fixated on the floor. "As you know, I've been dating El for a while, but recently I haven't been feeling the relationship. It's not what it used to be, even though I 'confessed my undying love' or whatever to save her from Vecna. And the opposite is true for Will." At the mention of his name, the corners of his mouth pricked up, and his cheeks blossomed a soft pink. "Ever since he moved away, I missed him a lot more than I thought I would, even more than I missed El. So I just...avoided it." Mike voice dropped several volume levels in shame, and his face crumpled.
"Then when I visited California, all those suppressed feelings came rushing back and so I just started avoiding him and lashing out for no reason and I was such a jerk. But Will was still so nice and sweet and that did not go over well with my supressing plan. The feelings got so hard to deal with, I had to somehow get myself to say I loved El, and I just said some things that I shouldn't have. And yet," Mike threw his hands in the air, frustrated with a pain Robin knew too well.
"Nothing changed. Except now, instead of me being the jerk while Will tries to fix our messed up relationship, I've been the one trying to piece everything back together but he just won't talk to me. So I had no idea what to do, and I came here."
Robin nodded slowly, her eyebrows quirked up and zoned out on the microwave in the corner. "Okay, well, accepting yourself is a good first step so, well done!"
Mike groaned and put his face in his hands. "That's the problem, because I know I like El. Or at least I used to. So do I like girls or guys, that's the real question."
"I mean, you probably like both. "
Mike whipped his neck up to stare at her. "That's a thing?!"
"Uh, yeah. My girlfriend likes both."
Mike's mouth fell open, and Robin realised that she gave away another major thing about herself. "You have a girlfriend? It's not Tammy, is it?"
"Oh, no of course not. She's in marching band with me."
"Wait, so how does that work? How do you date without being judged or bullied?"
"Well, it was hard at first, but eventually you kinda realise that two girls on a date looks decently similar to two girls having fun as friends. So you go out, act like you're just close pals, and save the intimacy for later, when no one is around. Like I've had plenty of movie dates where I just pick out something from here and watch it at my house or her house. Oh, and if you have a couple that you trust, just go on a double date with them; it'll look even more like you're just friends."
Mike squinted his eyes and nodded, focusing on something behind her, rather than make eye contact. "How did you know to ask her out?"
Robin chewed on her lip and leaned back, the old couch groaning beneath her. "It actually took so long, me and Steve were all over the place trying to figure out if she likes girls or not. We had a few setbacks, I saw her kissing her boyfriend and yeah but it all worked out in the end. Besides, I can tell you personally that you don't have a thing to worry about."
Mike stared at her and shook his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Robin's jaw dropped and she laughed right in Mike's face, who just grew more concerned. "Now I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who noticed this, please." Robin couldn't stop cackling loudly and Mike just glanced around the room, unsure if he was missing something.
"What?"
Robin wheezed in between her words as she gasped out: "And I thought I was oblivious! Mike, Will has been head over heels for you since I've known him. And probably longer, if I'm being honest. Look Mike," Robin grabbed his shoulders and peered into his eyes. "Ask the poor kid out, he's been waiting for this. On behalf of all gays in the world, please ask him out."
"Are you s-"
"Yeah. Yeah I'm sure. Now go, get outta here. Confess your true feelings for him!"
Mike scrambled out, bumping into Steve on the way out, who watched him practically sprint out, blinking in shock.
"See? Better than Steve advice."
"Don't get ahead of yourself." Robin just laughed triumphantly, smaking him upside the neck.
---
The next time Robin saw Mike, he ran immediately up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Go bother Steve, Dustin I'm not in the mood." She reorganized the shelf in front of her, grumbling about how customers never put things back in the right place, when she turned around and saw Mike and Will right behind her. "Oh hey! Sorry, I thought you were Dustin. What's up?"
"We, uh..." Mike trailed off and gazed over at Will, his arm going to scratch the back of his neck.
"We were gonna have a movie night, and were wondering if you had any recommendations," Will finished for him.
"Yeah-yeah of course! Hang on, I've got a pile of my favorites behind the counter." Robin practically threw the tapes in her hand on the shelves and waved them over to the front. She pulled out an array of movies, and the boys huddled over the pile. She backed up and let the boys discuss which movie to choose, grinning at the way Mike and Will smiled at each other, it reminded her of someone she loved watching movies with.