Work Text:
Nancy prided herself in remaining calm in bad situations, so she was barely hanging on to a thread as Eddie’s mouth voiced her train of thought.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit-!” He hissed, his hair nearly falling out of the half-assed bun he threw it in to before they were attacked. His hand was glued to Steve’s waist, helping him along. His scars had healed a little, just not enough to be running like this.
The voices could be heard from far away, but a basketball team full of athletes had more likelihood of running faster than the four of them.
“Hey!” Robin whispered, catching Nancy’s attention. Like that would have been difficult for her anyway
Robin may have been caked in dirt, her clothes a mess and hair sticking out in random places, but her wild eyes still amazed Nancy every time. Heat fled to her cheeks, hoping Robin would mistake it for the flush catching up to her after running for so long.
“C’mere.. think we can all squish in here?” Robin reached for her, pulling Nancy closer and pointing to a small cave. She wouldn’t have noticed it if Robin hadn’t pointed it out.
Nancy looked up at her, curtly nodding. Robin’s lips looked so tempting and soft. She tore her eyes away, hearing the voices draw nearer.
“Help them get inside,”
Eddie was first in, helping Steve inside while Nancy held back the vines that scarcely covered the entrance. It was cramped and damp inside but it was shelter and a hiding spot all the same.
Nancy examined the space around them, just barely figuring out how to fit four people inside.
She didn’t realise she was in her own head until Eddie chuckled quietly.
“Didn’t think this would be the first time I got between your legs, Harrington. I was thinking of a more romantic setting, y’know, candles and shit. The proper Stevie Harrington Experience,” He teased, referring to their current position. He had settled himself between Steve’s thighs, the fallen king himself pulling him close.
Nancy slipped in behind them, moving around slightly to make more room for Robin to climb in after her.
“Shift it, big boy, we all need to fit in,” Nance could hear the sarcasm dripping from Steve, but all she could see was his red face hiding in Eddie’s hair.
It was like a blissful domestic moment in a hurricane. Then the wind swept particularly harshly. Literally.
A rock, a big one, fell from atop the entrance, making a loud clattering noise. Nancy watched in agony as the colour drained from Robin’s face as she heard the basketball team fast approaching.
Before Nancy could get a word in edge ways, Robin whipped her head around and pressed a finger to her lips, making a bee-line for the woodland near them.
Nance glanced back to the people around her, Steve’s face mirroring her own. Dripping with sweat, he mouthed the word ‘Robin’ at her. She opened her mouth to reply before voices outside began talking.
“Buckley?” Carver’s presence became apparent, as Nancy chanced a glance between the vines that covered the entrance to their little hideout. Eddie shrunk into Steve when he heard that voice, who held him tight, barely breathing to spare the noise.
“Hi..Hi, um, Jason..?” Robin’s voice was patchy and scared, sore from yelling. Nancy watched as he advanced towards her, taking her wrist. He wasn’t being rough or mean to her, but as Nancy helplessly watched she couldn’t help but go rigid seeing him touch her.
“What are you doing out here so late… looking like..” he didn’t finish his sentence, instead opting to remain quiet for a minute.
Robin’s face flashed with alarm, slowly recoiling and looking down. She was clearly panicking, her eyes were doing that thing when they searched her shoes for answers as if she would find the answer embedded in between her laces.
Nancy always thought that was cute. Right now however? It made her hold her breath, praying she found the words to convince Jason to let her go threaded in to her old trainers.
“I was with a guy.. but, he, well, he ran into the woods cause he heard something and-and, well he wanted to check it out I guess?” Her lie seemed to be working on Jason, his eyebrows furrowing as Robin crafted her lie.
“He didn’t come back so, I-I went to check and I fell because I thought I heard a noise, and we both know how clumsy—,”
She cut herself off with a yelp, Nancy’s throat closing as she watched Jason pull Robin closer to him.
“You and your man both heard a noise? You think it could’ve been the freak?”
He spat out Eddie’s nickname like a poison, Nancy unconsciously reaching back and grabbing Eddie’s shaking hand. She squeezed it gently, unable to away from Jason and Robin, who was trying not to look visually disgusted at the idea of her having a ‘man’.
“I’m pretty sure it was just an animal, or something, just the usual,” Robin quickly stumbled over her words, putting her shaky hand on top of Jason’s wrist, prompting him to let her go.
He did the opposite, his other hand reaching to her shoulder.
“You should come back with us, for safety,”
Nancy watched Robin process the words, before processing them herself.
Her voice cracked as she spoke.
“I- I told my friend I’d meet up with her tonight,” she could barely force the words out. It was like someone was tearing the skin off of Nancy’s body, it was physical pain.
Before she could think, Nancy was watching Jason Carver drag one of her closest friends into the woodland, calling out for his buddies.
Robin could barely spare her a glance, but Nancy felt a lump rise to her throat when the only word she had time to mouth was her name.
When the footsteps faded, it was silent for a few moments for Steve let out a choked breath. Then a sob. Eddie held him close, shushing him calmly and almost rocking him.
Nancy was still frozen, staring at where Robin had been stood. The anger hit her in waves, thinking of how Robin had just let them hide while she took the front. She put herself in that danger so no one else would have to. It stung like an open wound.
“I’ll kill him if he puts his hands on her-“ Steve rambled, Eddie’s shirt balled up in his hand. It suddenly hit Nancy how hard this had hit the other two. Robin was close to everyone, especially Steve.
Harrington and Buckley worked together as the dynamic duo, the two of them with their inside jokes and leaning on each other when they needed it.
It must be killing Steve that his best friend was alone with someone who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt her if he knew the truth. Not only about her friendship with Eddie but how it would never have been a man she was hanging out with.
It panicked Nancy just to think about it, so she shut it out, pushing out of the cave and stepping over the rock. She stumbled forward, looking around and down, simultaneously cursing and thanking the gods that there were no tracks or footprints leading her anywhere.
She hadn’t even noticed Eddie mumbling to himself as he set Steve down on a rock to sit for a moment. She hadn’t noticed much of anything, too dead set on coming up with a plan. And then it hit her.
She turned to Steve, a determined look on her face.
“Your car is still outside Reefer Rick’s, right?”
~
Being around the basketball squad would’ve made Robin nervous before all of this, now it’s like a public execution was about to take place, with her name on the chopping block.
Most of the were there, all chatting amongst themselves, either talking about Eddie or eyeing her down. She shivered, pinching at her arms and willing herself to wake up.
This may have been some cheerleaders dream, but it definitely wasn't hers.
She was perched on a small bench in Rick’s house, that they had managed to claim after assuming Eddie had been here, nervously watching the people around her. She couldn’t be too careful.
“Buckley,” she flinched, eyes flicking to Jason. He came up to her, kneeling. All eyes were on them at that point.
“Where did you hear that noise?”
She stared at him dumbly, trying to think of a place in the woods that would draw them away from the cave.
“I..I- don’t know,” she answered, watching Jason’s eyes zone in on her. He once again put his hand on her wrist and tightened it.
“Try your best,” his tone turned harsh, gripping her tighter. She was going to have a mark where his nails had begun digging into her.
“I am.. I just remember meeting.. him, at skull rock and when we were..” it made Robin want to retch just thinking about a man touching her, but she put on a brave, if not slightly uncomfortable, face.
“When we were busy, he said he heard something and left to check it out. I told you, I followed him after a while but I got lost.”
She could feel the intensity of their stares on her now, closing her eyes. She opened them sharply as Jason tugged on her wrist, bringing her closer.
“I don’t like the idea of asking again, Robin,” the irony of him saying her actual name would have been funny if it hadn’t made her flinch.
“Chrissy deserves her justice, and if that sick bastard is hiding out in the woods then we may have barely saved you from him!”
Jason was getting worked up now, clearly upset.
“Now tell me: where were you when you heard the noises? On the outskirts? We’re there any cabins or campsites nearby?”
He continued putting pressure on her wrist, hold getting tighter every second.
“Dude, maybe she really doesn’t know—.” Someone from the basketball team spoke up, putting his hand on his captain’s shoulder. She nodded meekly, agreeing with him before Jason snapped, glaring at him.
The other guy took a few steps back, another person putting his hand on his back to ensure he was okay. Like Steve usually did with her.
“Where. Were. You?” It seemed dangerous to even consider answering with a lie, but she has delved so deep that Robin has started to convince herself it was true.
“I didn’t know where I was, I..-ow!” Robin winced as Jason’s nails broke skin. Instead of letting go, however, he grabbed her other wrist, lifting them up off her lap.
Some of the basketball lads looked as if they wanted to intervene, but knew better. Jason made her stand up, pulling her to the centre of the room.
“That isn’t good enough. It isn’t good enough for me, or for Chrissy! Remember her? She was always nice to you, huh, Robin?” He had spat out her name like it had a sour taste, and Robin could feel the tears behind her eyes.
She wasn’t facing off with inter-dimensional monsters this time, she knew how to handle those. These monsters, though? Robin couldn’t help but feel dread course through her.
“Y’know, I’m starting to think that maybe you’re not telling me the truth. I always thought that the outsiders stuck together, but I never knew that freaks blended with different kinds of freaks,” he never took his eyes away from her, digging his fingers in to her skin more before shoving her down to the ground.
She screamed as she hit the floor, a broken piece of glass from a bottle lodging itself into the side of her thigh. Robin yanked it out, throwing it across the room as she cupped where she had been injured, blood slowly dripping from her in between her fingers.
She felt a wave of nausea roll through her as she hissed in pain. A blow landed directly next to her injury, Jason had kicked her in the side.
She gasped, rolling on to her right side in pain. She watched as the team filed out of the door, leaving to the other room. Jason hauled her up by her jacket, bringing her closer to him as she staggered up.
“So tell me,” he said as he shoved her into the wall, watching her stumble backwards. Robin put one hand on the wall for strength turning to face him once more. “Who was this guy you were hanging out with?”
Before Robin could open her mouth to reply, he had pushed her back into the wall, pinning her there by her shirt.
“Perhaps you were out there boning Harrington, huh? That manwhore had slept with near to everyone, and you’ve been pre-tty close of late,” Jason had begun to taunt her, getting up in her face before letting her fall to the ground again.
Robin glared at him through her hair, a new feeling of anger rolling in her stomach. She lifted herself up, staggering back to her feet and instead pushed him backwards, breathing heavily. Jason stumbled a little but didn’t quite fall down.
“Steve is my best friend, and he is far from a manwhore. You, on the other hand,” she laughed bitterly. Jason had fire in his eyes as he stormed towards her. His hands made brief contact with Robin’s face, slapping her hard enough to make her fall over.
She rubbed her cheek, biting her lip. That would leave a mark..
“Fine then, if not King Steve,” his voice laced with mock and venom, “then you were probably out getting freaky with the freak himself. I was thought he was a fairy but who knows, maybe he gets it on with other weirdos in the woods,”
His tone dropped, and Robin could see murder in his eyes as she looked up. He sneered at her, and all of a sudden she was reminded of that god-awful look her father had given her when she had told him who she was.
“Disgusting,” she could almost head his voice in Jason’s. She was snapped quickly out of her day dream as a blow to her stomach made her gasp, tears falling for the first time.
Robin was stuck here with him, and the entire basketball had refused to help her. She shut her eyes, gritting her teeth. What heroes they truly were, huh?
~
Nancy kept her eyes open and waiting, eagerly searching her surroundings. With a lot of limping, they had finally made it to Steve’s car after an hour of being lost. She was waiting, ducked down at the side of the car while Steve and Eddie searched for weapons, aside from Steve’s nail bat.
They were dangerously close to the basketball team, hearing some murmurs from inside. It had to have been early morning at that point, and they’d had to hide more than once when watching the team slowly disperse.
As she heard voices near again, she knocked softly on the side of the car, sliding beneath it as Eddie fell flat below the seats he was looking beneath, Steve rolling under the car as well.
They stayed silent for the most part, breathing heavily but not loudly. But this time was different.
Three members of the basketball team stood around one of their cars, which was about 10 meters from where Steve’s was hidden behind the woodland.
Nancy couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Steve was barely close enough to catch their words. She felt her nerves take over again.
What if they had left Robin and Jason alone? Or maybe they’d gotten lost and they were heading out to find them?
Robin had been put in serious danger because of her sexuality before, and if she knew anything about Jason Carver, she knew that he was just as much of a bigoted asshole as anyone was in this two-bit town.
Sweet Robin. Probably, Scared Robin. She hated how much her head started to swirl at the mere thought of the girl because, as it turns out, Jason is proof that humans are crueler than anything that crawled it’s way out of the Upside Down.
Nancy’s head was so busy running wild with conspiracies and panic that she didn’t hear anything until Steve made a strangled noise. She whipped her head around to see that the feet and the car had gone, but Steve looked liked see a ghost.
“Steve?” Nancy’s voice was barely above a whisper as she shook him by his leg, his face still twisted with fear. She cautiously knocked on the side of the car, pulling herself from underneath it.
Eddie climbed out a second later, hastily shutting the car door and handing Nancy a small revolver. She checked the barrel, glancing back and forth between the fully loaded weapon and Steve.
“Steve,” Eddie’s voice, broke him out of his trance. He stared back at them for a minute before his face contorted in anger.
“They said Jason had hit Robin.”
Nancy swore she could feel the anger rupture her brain, spreading through her veins like a virus.
~
“Tell me where the freak is!” Jason relentlessly drove his fist into Robin’s side, once, twice, three times before letting her drop to the ground again. She coughed, wiping the blood from his split lip.
The metallic taste in her mouth felt like irony, though that may be her going mental.
Years ago, she would’ve looked at Jason and thought, ‘the guys a dick but he would never put his hands on a woman’ because of all the campaign shit he set up that never went anywhere.
Then again, 2, 3, however many years ago, she would’ve snorted at the idea of most things in her life now. Bittersweet irony; it tasted awful.
“I told you..” he pushed herself up weakly, ignoring the pain from where bruises stained her skin and glared at him. “I don’t know. You’re not getting anything out of this-,”
She choked, collapsing when he hit her again. She couldn’t get up. So he dragged her.
Robin had barely no conception of where they were going , but she closed her eyes and let the tears drip. She was going to die, she was certain he’s kill her.
When she did open her eyes, she found herself on the other side of the room, panicking when she saw her own blood splattered in random places. Little splatters, but still visible. Jason was towering over her, drawing back his fist once again.
“Tell me the truth, Buckley,” she’d been in worse scenarios than this. She’d faced monsters, she’d been to the Upside Down and back. She’d outsmarted goddamn Russians who were dead set on breaking them. So she gave in to deja vu.
She spat directly into Jason’s eye.
He stumbled back but caught himself, wiping his eye desperately on his sleeve before his disgusted face contorted into one of rage. He mad he’s forward, ready to break her nose.
She squeezed her eyes shut, curling in on herself before a rush of wind pushed past her, carrying Jason with it. Almost scared, she opened her eyes slightly to see Eddie with his hands around Jason’s neck, lifting him up and hitting his head on the ground.
They were both screaming at each other, but the buzzing in Robin’s ears took over and she felt a lump rise to her throat as she was taken in to someone’s arms.
Steve cradled her gently, pulling her into his space and holding her as she cried. She pushed her head on to his shoulder, sobbing incoherent words. She herself didn’t even know what she was saying. Steve hushed her and rocked her quietly, whispering to her.
“It’s okay, Rob. I’ve got you. I’ve got you and I’m not letting go, okay?” He was calm and composed, though anyone who wasn’t crying hopelessly into his neck could see the anger building up as he took in her injuries, gravely accepting that there were probably more bruises and cuts underneath her clothes.
Nancy stood in the doorway, eyes trained on Robin’s face. It broke her heart to see how broken she seemed. The shaking and crying never ceased, but slowly her words became clearer.
“Hurts, Steve..- hurts so much!” She whimpered, choking out cries as Steve kept her close, whispering apologises and comforts.
Nancy felt something snap inside her, eyes alive with anger. She lost her temper, cocking the gun as she stalked towards Jason, who had somehow manage to turn the tables on Eddie.
“You want me to add some guilty murder charges on to the list of fake ones, huh-?!” Eddie was screaming, kicking Jason back a bit before whacking him across the side of his head.
“You and your freakshow are done, Munson-!” He screamed, hitting Eddie right in the face. He don’t take notice to who was behind him until it was too late.
Nancy had hit him right round the head with the gun.
Jason fell to the side, cursing and whimpering when he touched the side of his head. Blood has started to drip down the side of his face as he looked up in shock at Nancy.
“Wheeler?” He choked out in a surprised, small voice. Then it grew harsh.
“Didn't peg you for a murderous freak like the rest of them..”
Nancy began to take in his facial features, bitter laughter bubbling from the back of her throat. Robin really did a number on him.
“That’s my girl..” she muttered under her breath, her face still soured with the idea that this scum thought he was entitled enough to put a finger on Robin. Her Robin.
Her Robin who was currently curled up in Her Steve’s lap, crying herself into a panic attack, Eddie, Her Eddie, crawling to them and reassuring them both everything was going to be alright.
Her friends. Her family. Hers to hold and protect, not his to ruin and hurt.
Jason seemed to get the idea he was allowed to get up. A quick kick to the shin solved that.
“Wheeler-,” she raised the gun to the roof above him and pulled the trigger, the gun shot sounding almost deafening. That seemed to scare him enough.
Nancy ignored the tension building up and aimed straight for his forehead, pulling back the hammer once more. Steve’s eyes were on the gun, gripping Robin to his chest, then on Eddie, who was just a shocked and staring at Nancy.
“Shut it, Carver,” she spat, sauntering forward with the gun still aimed front and centre as her finger itched to pull the trigger. He shuffled back desperately before his back hit the wall.
“Shut your disgusting, lying mouth before I put a bullet in it,”
The threat seemed to become more and more real the longer it took for Jason to process it. The look in Nancy’s eyes said it all. She was out for his blood, ready to crack his bones like she was Vecna if need be.
Eddie stumbled up, one hand grabbing her shoulder and the other grabbing her arm.
“Don’t let him make you a monster, Nancy,” he whispered, almost hugging her.
She waited for a minute as the Earth paused in it’s orbit.
She looked from Jason, to Eddie, do Robin and Steve. Robin was looking back now, curled into a ball with wet tears still on her cheeks.
“Nance..” he voice cracked, her emotions filing out. That’s all Nancy needed to hear.
Eddie nodded as he stepped back, hand still on Nancy’s shoulder for support. She turned back to Jason, her finger still feeling a little trigger happy.
“I’d rather you live knowing that if you ever put your hands on any of my family again, I’ll have a bullet so far down your throat that you won’t have time to scream,” the threat sent chills throughout the room like a shockwave as she redirected her gun to Jason’s leg before pulling the trigger.
~
Robin had been curled up in Nancy’s side for, what, maybe 3 hours now. She was perfectly happy being a body pillow when she really needed it.
They were currently at Steve’s place, all four of them huddled together in the living room. Nancy nuzzled into Robin, sparing a glance to Steve and Eddie, who were curled up together on the opposite sofa, Steve playing with Eddie’s hair as the other man slept.
Part of her was glad Steve had been the one to hold Robin in the cabin, because who knows what he would have done to Jason if given the chance.
Nancy had spiralled for a while before, after she had come down from her rage-high, and panicked before Eddie had devised a plan.
In the morning, Robin and Nancy would make their way over to the police station and accuse Jason of the murders of Chrissy, Patrick and the other Vecna victims. He’d been tied to all of them, so it was a probable suspicion if Eddie was some how cut from the case.
Difficult to do, yes, but not impossible.
Eddie had been roughed up pretty bad last night, so it wasn’t exactly a lie when they would say Jason attacked him. They’d just place it earlier on in time, claiming that Eddie had been stuck in the little cave rift they had been hiding in because Jason had his him there after dumping Chrissy’s body at his trailer.
When Robin has supposedly ‘found’ Eddie, Jason had taken her and beat her up badly, her entire body provided all the proof they needed. What was she doing out in the woods? Well, her and Nancy went ‘camping’ for the night, which Mrs Wheeler could actually corroborate because that’s what she had been told too.
It was all working out beautifully. And then Jason’s leg? Simple self defence.
The basketball team left before they burst in, and the Hawkins Police were already on edge with them due to their various attempts on campaigning for bloodshed. They were cornered, and there was no way to prove that Jason hadn’t done it. He’d always had something against Eddie.
Nancy felt Robin shift in her sleep, and she smiled for this first time in hours when she felt the other girl’s head drop onto her shoulder.
“You are so blatantly obvious, it almost hurts, Wheeler,” Steve’s whisper came almost as a shock. She has forgotten he was awake. Nancy looked over, seeing the content, teasing smile on his lips.
She scoffed, pulling closer. “Look who’s talking, Harrington,”
They laughed, at themselves and each other. It was a sobering peace in what felt like a drunken nightmare. It was quiet for a few more moments before Steve spoke again, dropping the curl he was messing with and looking from Eddie to Robin.
“There’s so much to lose, Nance,” he sounded almost broken as they met eyes, and Nancy realised he was in a much more vulnerable position than she was. If their plan tomorrow would fail, then Steve was at risk of losing both his best friend and his love.
He would lose everything but the kids. And even then, the hellfire club kids weren’t out of the woods yet.
Nancy looked at him, then back down to the girl she was holding.
“Today was scary, a lot scarier than some of the other shit we’ve seen,” she murmured, resting her head on Robins.
“But we made it,”
Harrington let our a humourless, sarcastic laugh.
“We lived to tell the tale of how Jason Carver shit his pants because of Nancy Wheeler’s bad-assery. What a headline, eh?”
Nancy laughed, kissing Robin’s head. Her hair was soft after being freshly washed and the feeling ticked Nancys lips slightly, but she didn’t mind.
Steve observed her quietly, smiling.
“You really love her, don’t you?”
Nancy looked back at him, eyes afraid for a moment. She looked back at Robin, contemplating before she softened.
“Yeah. She worth every risk and it sucks that I only realised that today,” she laughed to herself, lashes wet “I love her so much it scares me sometimes,”
It was almost a silent reply, but Steve no doubt caught it. He wrapped his arms back around Eddie, relaxing in his lap.
“Does she know that?”
Nancy opened her mouth to answer, but froze as Robin snuggled into her closer, lacing their fingers together as she basically shifted into Nancy’s lap.
“Yeah, I do,”