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Robin had never bothered to make plans on how to come out to anyone because honestly she never planned on coming out to anyone while she still lived in Hawkins. She'd heard one too many of her dad's rants on politics and her mom's many pointed hints of when was she going to finally get a boyfriend to ever entertain the idea of telling them she likes girls while she lived under their roof. She hadn't even meant to tell Steve but well she was hopped up on adrenaline and Russian truth serum and it kind of slipped out.
She felt freer for it, having someone know this deep intrinsic part of her, but she wasn't ready to let anyone else in on the secret. If she was she might have picked Eddie. She'd caught him eyeing Steve enough and well like recognizes like. Maybe Robin could have come out to the younger Byers, again she could see a bit of herself in him and maybe it would help him to know someone else was like him. But those were just ideas she only thought of when it was slow at Family Video or late at night and the nightmares were keeping her up. She never really came up with a plan and if she had it would have been a one-on-one thing so she didn't have to face everyone's reactions at the same time. She probably would have skipped Nancy. Their friendship was one of the highlights of Robin's life and she didn't want to risk what they had. She couldn't give up the sleepovers and the study sessions and the movie nights if Nancy acted weird. Or worse, if Nancy accused her of being in love with her. Robin half is but that isn't the point. She knows it's hopeless. She knows Nancy will never love her back.
Regardless Robin never really planned on coming out. If she had it definitely would not have been with blood trickling into her eyes from a cut across her forehead from a vine as they fought Vecna round two in the Upside Down. Things are not looking good and the fear and the pain go right to Robin's head, before she knows what she's doing words blurt out.
"I'm gonna die without ever kissing a girl," Robin laughs feeling half-crazed from everything. She sees Nancy's eyes widen and it is only then that her words sink in.
Shitshitshitshit-
"That's not going to happen," Nancy says sternly cutting off Robin's internal panic attack before it can fully begin.
Robin swallows hard, "We're not gonna die?"
She hopes that is what Nancy means but the part of her that is always ready to hear the worst thinks Nancy might have meant she'll never kiss a girl. God, she hopes that's not what Nancy means. Maybe she can steer the conversation away from the truth bomb Robin just threw. Ignore it and it didn't happen, right?
"You won't die without kissing a girl," Nancy clarifies except she doesn't sound disgusted by the thought. In fact, she sounds so sure of herself that Robin almost believes her. God knows she wants more than almost anything to believe her.
What Robin can't believe is that she is having this conversation with Nancy Wheeler of all people in the Upside Down of all places. It all feels a bit surreal to her so Robin does what she does best and blurts the first thing she thinks of despite how much she wants to stop this conversation.
"Uh, how do you know that Nance? Things are looking pretty grim right now."
The battle is raging around them but Nancy doesn't look away from Robin's face as she ties a ripped piece of her shirt around Robin's bleeding head. God, she'd been so jealous of Steve when Nancy bandaged him up last year and now that she's in his position she has to admit it's not as hot as she originally thought.
"If it really looks like we're going to die," Nancy ties off the knot and locks eyes with Robin. "I'll kiss you."
Robin's brain short circuits.
"Um, what?"
Nancy blushes but doesn't look away. "I mean if you want."
"Yes. Yeah. Yes, that'd be cool," Robin stutters. Cool? That's the best she can come up with? Kissing Nancy would be a dream come true. Many, many dreams in fact.
"Cool," Nancy smiles back at her before grabbing her shotgun. Robin's mind is whirling a million directions at once but she grabs her own weapon (hairspray and a lighter, the best makeshift flame thrower they could come up with on short notice) and follows Nancy back into the battle to save their friends and the world. "For the record," Nancy spares her a glance over her shoulder as they run into the fray, "I'll kiss you even if we're not about to die."
She doesn't look back again as she joins the fight and starts shooting. Robin stands shock still for several seconds before Steve cries her name in warning and Robin jumps back just in time to avoid another vine. With Nancy's words ringing in her ears Robin starts fighting back with a vengeance.
What passes is a blur of running and ducking, flames and screaming, both human and not. They are surrounded by all of Vecna's monsters; demo bats and dogs, vines and pure unfiltered terror. They end up corralled, pressed into a smaller and smaller space until they are all in a circle with El slumped on the floor in the center. Max bumps into Robin's right side, Steve is on her left and they are all covered in so much blood Robin isn't even sure whose it is anymore. The monsters are everywhere and Robin raises her weapon high only for the hairspray can to give a halfhearted wheeze and sputter out.
"Shit," Robin curses, lobbing the can at a bat diving for Lucas. By some miracle the can hits the bat and knocks it off course. The throw makes her feel victorious for just a moment until she realizes that now she's out of weapons. All she's got left is her lighter and her fists. Robin rises them and takes another step back feeling her back bump against someone else.
There's a steady stream of curses coming from just about everyone but she still hears Nancy cry out from behind her, "I'm out!" Her voice is steady but Robin can still hear the fear in it.
Robin feels the same fear. Nancy being out of bullets is bad news for all of them.
"We're fucked," Steve swears and Robin knows he must believe it because he makes a point to never say fuck around the kids even though all of them say it more often than Robin does.
"No!" Joyce shouts and Robin has to hand it to her, she really doesn't give up. "We keep fighting!"
"With what?" Robin asks because really if she had anything to fight with she would. A demobat dives at them and Eddie hits it away with his trash can lid. Robin watches the bat slide across the floor and skid to a stop several yards away next to Steve's nail bat where he'd dropped it earlier in the battle.
Robin reaches out to dig her fingers into Steve's arm but he's moved without her notice and she grabs nothing but air. Shit. She's so not coordinated enough for this but she grits her teeth and digs her toes into the pavement. This might end in a disaster but this whole battle is a disaster so she's going to do it anyway.
"Cover me!" Robin shouts to no one and everyone at once before raising her arms over her head and sprinting in the direction of the bat.
Several voices scream her name in warning but Robin doesn't acknowledge them. She keeps her eyes on the nail bat and prays her weird running skills don't hinder her or her shoes don't come untied or some other mundane thing that could cause her to trip. How embarrassing would that be? Hopefully, if that happens Vecna's monsters will make short work of her.
Robin feels something brush her hair and she throws herself forward, skidding on her knees to the bat. She feels her jeans and skin shred and rocks dig into her legs but ignores it, her hand closing around the nail bat's handle and rising it in a swing before she's even fully skidded to a stop. The nail bat collides with the demo dog that had been on her heels and Robin bites back a scream at how close it was to her.
"Get back here!" Steve is shouting and Robin realizes it's not just at her but Nancy who has run after Robin and is using her empty shotgun like a bat to knock monsters away. Behind her, El is getting to her feet in the center of the circle clearly recharged enough to continue the fight. Jonathan props her up on one side, Will on the other. El raises her hand in the air with a guttural scream and the various entities attacking them start to fall and twitch.
Robin draws her first real breath since they stepped into the Upside Down and immediately coughs as the air particles tickle her throat.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Nancy asks grabbing Robin's hand and pulling her to her feet. Robin lets her and halfheartedly tugs on the bat to unstick it from the demo dog. She only uses one hand, refusing to let go of Nancy, so the bat doesn't budge.
"You needed a weapon," Robin explains hoping Nancy can't see the blush she feels warming her skin. Nancy doesn't seem to be in a hurry to let go of her either.
"So you ran out here unarmed to get me one?" Nancy asks incredulously.
"Well yeah of course. You're the best fighter we've got."
The battle is still going on around them, at least between El and Vecna but everything else seems to have fallen silent. Robin is grateful for the break and she finally manages to pry the bat free and presents it to Nancy handle first with a grin. Figures that the first gift she gives a pretty girl is a weapon. Couldn't be something ordinary like a mix tape.
Nancy curls the fingers of her free hand around the bat leaving Robin once again unarmed. She doesn't feel in danger though, not with Nancy Wheeler right beside her. She knows Nancy is the best weapon they've got after El.
Speaking of El, Robin peeks over Nancy's shoulder to spy on the fight. All of Vecna's monsters are still frozen, all of his energy seeming to be on hovering several feet in the air and holding his hand out at El who is also hovering. Robin shakes her head at the sight and looks wide-eyed at Nancy.
"I was gonna say we should go help but it doesn't look like there's a whole lot we can do. Unless we stand under El to catch her? Do you think she'll fall when the fight is over? I think she'll fall and-"
"Robin," Nancy cuts Robin's tirade off and Robin swallows hard. She doubts she'll ever get used to the way her name sounds in Nancy's voice.
"Yeah?"
"I don't think we're going to die."
"Oh. That's great! Yeah, El looks like she's kicking his ass." Robin agrees although honestly, it's kind of hard to tell how the fight is going. They are both still just hovering and screaming and Robin can't be sure but it looks like they both have nosebleeds. It's all a little anticlimactic honestly not that she'll ever say that out loud to anyone. Well, maybe Steve. He'll get it.
Nancy doesn't even look over her shoulder she just takes Robin's word for it and takes a small step forward. Her eyes flicker down to Robin's mouth.
"You still want that kiss?"
Robin forgets how to speak but thankfully she can still nod. Which she does several times. In fact, she's still nodding when Nancy cups a hand behind her neck and kisses her proving that all of Robin's daydreams didn't even begin to live up to reality.
"We definitely can't die now," Robin whispers as Nancy slightly pulls away, resting their foreheads together.
"Oh?" Nancy laughs, her breath tickling Robin's lips. "Why's that?"
"I need to do that again."
So she does.