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If someone had told you a year ago that you would be hopelessly in love with your beautiful, strawberry blonde co-worker who you spent most of your time with?
Yeah, you’d probably believe them.
There was just something about Robin that made your heart do somersaults whenever she looked at you for a split second too long. It was the way that you felt when she held your hand when she was excited or scared, and no matter how much you pretended that it didn’t matter, you heart broke every time she let go. The way she threw her head back when she laughed at something you said, making you wish you could be the one to make her laugh for the rest of your life.
You supposed you could, but not in the way you wanted. Not in the way your heart ached for.
“I don’t get it,” Steve said, restocking the candy on the counter. “You both so clearly like each other.”
“Steve,” you said, placing the last of the cones on the shelf. “You know that I appreciate your well-meaning, but often wrong insights. This just so happens to be one of these times.”
Steve scoffed. “I’m never wrong.”
You raised a brow.
“OK, fine. But I’m not wrong about this.”
You sighed and walked back to the counter, dipping your hand into one of the candy jars. “It doesn’t matter, Steve. I’ve been trying to ask her out for months and every single time, something goes wrong. Plus, she very clearly likes Vickie.”
“Oh, come on. She’s only trying to be into Vickie because she doesn’t think you’ll give her the time of day.”
“Whatever you think, Steve.” You grabbed another piece of candy, but Steve grabbed your hand before you could.
“Stop eating the candy.”
“I can do what I want,” you said, reaching into the jar with your other hand.
Steve grabbed it as well and said, “I’m serious.”
“I actually don’t care.”
“You will when you get fired. And who’s losing out then, huh? You won’t be able to sit around and ogle Robin all day. ‘Oh, Robin, can you help me with this? Oh, Robin, you’re so amazing,’” he teased, his voice rising to imitate yours.
Your face scrunched up in disgust. “I don’t sound like that. And I—”
You were cut off when Robin breezed into the store. “Hey guys, what are you—” She stopped short when she spotted you, staring at the two of you. You quickly realized that Steve still had your hands and you pulled them away fast, heat rising to your cheeks.
Robin looked just as great as she normally did, her oversized jacket practically swallowing her. Your heart did one of those somersaults when you noticed that she had tacked the pin you had gotten her for her birthday to the pocket on the front.
You had brought it for her when the two of you had gone to the market one Sunday morning. She had admired it from afar as you two walked, but you made sure to note the stall, and after a well-timed bathroom break excuse, you circled back and bought it.
It was simple, not much, but she had squealed when you gifted it to her a few weeks ago. You’d had no idea what she would use it for, but now you did, and something in your chest warmed at the sight of it.
“Hey, Robin,” you said.
She glanced between the two of you for another second before shaking her head and saying, “Hey, I was going to ask what you were doing tonight?”
You tried to keep your smile casual. “Uh, I’m not busy. Steve?” You shot him a look that said, You’re busy tonight, but he didn’t catch it.
“Yeah, I’m free.”
You wanted to slam your head through the wall.
+
“How can you speak all these languages again?” you asked from where you were leaning on the wall, watching her try and decode the Russian transmission that Dustin had brought to Steve.
“I’m just so incredibly amazing,” she replied, writing another letter on the whiteboard.
She wasn’t wrong. You were in awe as she translated an entire message from a language that she didn’t even speak. She was amazing.
“You’re not wrong,” you said, the corners of your mouth turning up when you noticed the slight flush to her cheeks.
It was hot outside, you tried to rationalize. It was the middle of summer, of course she’d be flushed. It didn’t stop the joy that sparked at the thought that you might have caused it.
A sudden bout of confidence rushed through you, and your leg bounced. “What are you doing this weekend?” You tried to stay casual. You were casual. So casual.
She paused, just for a split second. “I don’t think I’m doing anything,” she said, not turning to you.
You nodded, even though she couldn’t see you. “Cool.”
Now, you thought. Now was the perfect time to ask her. And if she said no, then there were no one there to witness the murder of your heart at point blank range.
You couldn’t take your eyes off her back as you chewed your lip. You were really about to do this.
You could do this.
“Did you want to—”
The doors swung open. “How are we going with the super-secret Russian code?” Steve said as he and Dustin strutted into the room like you hadn’t been just about to ask out the girl of your dreams.
“It’s a transmission, Steve,” Dustin corrected with his usual distain for Steve’s idiocy.
“Oh well, sorry.”
“I can’t believe that you’re still getting it wrong after we were just talking about it. It’s like the lights are on, but there’s nobody home. Seriously, I’m—”
You stopped listening and envisioned a bulldozer crashing straight through the store.
+
Everything hurt.
Your face, your ribs, your stomach. Everything.
You could feel the warm blood rushing down the side of your face from the split in your eyebrow; courtesy of one of the guard’s rings.
You hadn’t seen Robin or Steve since you and him were carted away from Robin into separate rooms for interrogation.
They had tied you down and tried to beat the answers out of you, but you could only tell them the truth, which apparently wasn’t true.
It wasn’t until a few hard punches to your stomach and ribs and a few choicely places ones to your face that they decided they’d had enough. They practically dragged you out of the room and back to where you’d come from.
You tried to hold your head up and searched for Robin and Steve, finally seeing them as the final door was pushed open.
She was leaning over Steve and shouting at the guards. If you weren’t half out of your mind, you would have been grateful that she looked relatively unharmed.
But when she saw you as you were thrown on the ground beside Steve, she practically jumped onto you.
“Oh my god, Y/N. Are you OK?”
The room was spinning, and you couldn’t seem to work out how to move your mouth.
Her hands ran over your head and the side of your body as she dropped to her knees. She turned you over more to see your face, her breath hitching when she saw the blood.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she screamed at the guards, who didn’t seem to care as they spoke amongst themselves in Russian. She turned back to you. “Hey, can you hear me? I need you to say something, Y/N, please.”
Your brain was pounding in your skull, and your eyelids began to droop closed to try and block out the light.
“No, please. You’re going to be OK,” she told you. “I’m not doing this without you. Please, stay awake for me, baby. Please.”
She was crying, you realized through your haze. You hated when she cried.
You used every bit of strength in your body to open your eyes wider.
“That’s it, stay with me,” she said. But before you could even try and say anything, she was torn away from you. “Hey, let me go.”
You could only watch as she was tied to a chair, kicking at the guards. Then, Steve was dragged over to the other chair that was placed back-to-back with Robin’s. It wasn’t until guards hoisted you up onto another chair at the side of the room that you even realized you were moving. You didn’t even feel the straps that were wound around you until it pulled tight over your ribs and you groaned in pain.
You were trying your best to stay conscious, and that was the only reason you could think of as to why you weren’t in the middle of the room with your two friends. From where you were, you had a clear view of Robin and half of Steve.
That was when the Russians decided to inject the three of you with something that looked like it belonged in a sci-fi movie.
Nothing happened at first, but as the minutes dragged by—and an unfortunate escape attempt from Robin and Steve—you started to feel giddy. The pain was dulled to a pulsing, and you lifted your head enough to rest it against the wall behind you.
When the Russians came back into the room, you couldn’t help but notice the doctor in his sinister looking apron and white coat.
“Would now be a good time to tell you that I don’t like doctors?” Robin said, eyes not leaving the doctor as he pulled out a bunch of tools that looked like torture devices.
“Let’s try this again, yes?” the commander said. “Who do you work for?”
Steve huffed. “Scoops. Scoops Ahoy.” He and Robin started laughing, and you found yourself starting to giggle. It was little more than air, but it felt like you were laughing just as loud as them.
“How did you find us?”
“Totally by accident,” Steve laughed.
The commander spoke in Russian, and your eyes widened as the doctor picked up a pair of plyers. He moved towards Steve, but the commander cut him off.
“Her,” he said, pointing at you. His eyes went between you and Robin, and a sinking feeling opened up in your gut as he approached you.
The commander’s eyes didn’t leave Robin as the doctor grabbed your hand and began to tug at your fingernail despite you trying your best to wriggle out of the way.
“Wait! Wait!” Robin shouted. “There was a code! We heard a code!”
She visibly relaxed just a fraction as the doctor stepped away from you. You let your head drop forward as you listened to her repeat the code and then her and Steve berate the commander.
You would have been impressed by their composure and confidence if it weren’t for the fact that the three of you were drugged out of your mind.
Then, alarms went off and the pulsing in your head got louder.
And then, Dustin Henderson and Erica Sinclair were bursting through the doors and telling you to run. He undid Robin and Steve first, Erica coming over and untying you. “Hey little Sinclair,” you said. “You know, I think I like you more than your brother right now.”
“Normally, that kind of flattery would be much appreciated, but right now, we have to go,” she said to you, and called for Robin, who immediately started to help you up and through the tunnels to the weird cart-truck thing. The further you got, the steadier you were on your feet.
Whatever this drug was, it was giving you a seriously wicked high.
The time between getting in the elevator and getting to the cinema bathroom was a blur. You vaguely remembered Marty McFly and then drinking a shitload of water until you needed to vomit.
And now, you were curled against the tiled wall after throwing your guts up.
“OK,” Steve said. “We need to know if it’s still in our system. I’ll ask you guys a question.”
You could feel the full effects of your injuries coming back to you, and you tried to stay as still as possible, ignoring Steve and Robin as they started asking dumb questions to each other.
“Hey, Y/N. Are you good?” Robin called from across the bathroom.
“Yeah,” you managed, starting to rub your ribs to try and ease the pain. “I’m good.”
“Do you still feel loopy?”
“I’m not sure.” You weren’t sure of anything other than you would be so fucking sore in the morning.
“Answer the question I just asked.”
“What question?”
She sighed like it was the biggest deal that you hadn’t heard. “Have you ever been in love?”
You froze, stopping your motions as you just stared at the side of the stall, as if you could see all the way through it straight to her.
“Y/N?” Steve called.
You cleared your throat. “Uh, yeah, I have.” You wanted to stop. You wanted to stop your mouth moving, but it was like you had no control over the words spilling from your mouth. “I’ve been in love with the same person for over a year now. I don’t think I realized it was love at first, because we always spend so much time together. We work together and hang out outside of work, too. So, we’re always glued to each other. I’ve tried to get the courage to ask for a date, but something happens every time and I don’t get to.”
There was silence from the other stalls.
“He sounds really special,” Robin said, her voice softer, more dejected.
You swallowed. “Yeah, she is.”
It was like the room became electric as soon as the words left your mouth. There was no way to take them back, not even if you wanted to.
The silence was deafening. Your ears rang as you sat in your confession, trying desperately to keep it together.
But then there was shuffling, and Robin appeared in the doorway of your stall. She was on her knees, holding each side of the door frame to keep herself upright. And she was looking at you like you were a new person.
You didn’t say anything. She just stared at you, until a small smile broke out across her face.
Her eyes softened in a way that you hadn’t seen before as she shuffled closer to you and said, “You love me?”
“Yes,” you breathed as she got even closer.
And then she was kissing you. You froze for a second, but when her hand came up to rest on your face, you shook out of your stupor. Your own hands flew to the sides of her neck, pulling her closer until she was practically in your lap.
She accidentally leaned into your chest and you pulled away, groaning.
“I’m sorry!” she squeaked, leaning back and assessing you.
“It’s fine,” you said, letting out a sigh of relief as the pain subsided again. “I’m fine. Are you fine?”
She nodded. “I’m better than fine.” She trailed her fingers along the side of your head where you knew that the blood had left a stain on your skin. It would most likely need stitches.
“I thought you liked Steve,” she admitted shyly after a long moment of searching your face.
“Steve?” you said incredulously. “Why would I like Steve?” You heard him cough and you cringed. “No offence, Steve.”
“I don’t know! I just thought you did,” she replied, swinging her arms around.
“Robin, I spend every second I can with you because I love you. I’ve been trying to ask you out for months.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “For not realizing. I just never thought that you would ever feel the way I did. What kind of best friend am I?”
“One that I am hopelessly in love with.” You brushed her nose with yours as you whispered, “Baby, you’re the one for me.”
“I love you, too,” she said.
You breathed in. “Say it again.”
She grinned. “I love you.”
“Again?”
She kissed you, brushing her thumb over your chin. “I’ll be saying it for the rest of my life.”