Work Text:
Robin fidgeted a lot, but it was always subtle enough to where you probably wouldn't notice it unless you were looking, as though she was restraining herself as much as possible to avoid ridicule. Steve found this to be no surprise, as he knew how much of an asshole the blonde's mother was over all of her little quirks, but he still found it sad that she didn't feel safe enough to perform these self-stimulatory behaviors as much as she probably needed to.
It was in the later hours of one of their shifts at the Family Video that Steve finally decided to say something about it since there were no customers in the store anyway and likely wouldn't be for the rest of the day.
"Robin, you know I don't mind if you fidget, right?" he asked, and her head shot in his direction, a deer-in-the-headlights expression gracing her features.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, though everything about her facial expression and tone gave away that she was very aware of what he meant, but was putting off acknowledging it for as long as she could get away with. "I don't fidget"
"It's subtle" Steve assured her. "But, you're always pulling at your jacket sleeves or bouncing your leg or drumming your fingers on something" he insisted. "And, I know your mom isn't very kind to you about these things, but I don't mind whatever motions you need to-"
"It's rude" she cut him off, her voice shaking. Steve frowned. "I-It's rude for me to wave my hands around or- Or whatever" she told him, avoiding his gaze. "And it's childish... I'm 18. I'm not a kid anymore, it's not-"
"Robin, it's not childish" Steve told her firmly, walking over to her with a kind expression on his face. "Do you think it's childish when Max does it because of her ADD?" he asked her.
"No, but Max is still-"
"When Max is an adult, she'll probably still do it" Steve insisted. "Would you think she's childish then?"
"No"
"What about Eddie?"
"No, Eddie's older than me"
"Then why is it childish for you?" Steve asked, and it was then that Robin realized she didn't have a good answer to that question, so she went quiet. Steve gave a sympathetic smile. "You can fidget as much as you need to when you're around me or the others, okay?"
"You're positive?"
"Yes"
...
"Okay"