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Sunlight peeked through the drawn blinds of the Munson trailer, waking a few of the kids asleep around the living room. Dustin crossed his arms over his face and rolled away from the light. Max reached down to pick her walkman up off the floor. It was placed right next to Lucas’s head because he wanted to be prepared if he needed it. She ejected Nancy’s tape and placed “Running Up That Hill” back in, pressing the rewind button. She heard shuffling and looked over to see Eddie emerge from his room. She nodded at him but he didn’t acknowledge her any further than eye contact. He cleared his throat and then-
“Alright, buttheads! Up and at ‘em!” Eddie banged his hands on the kitchen counter. “Time for some monster hunting!”
“Ew, what time is it?” Lucas was lying on the floor, in front of Max on the couch. He covered his eyes with his hands.
“7:16” Nancy stood in Wayne’s doorway, looking at her watch, a groggy and pantless Robin stood behind her.
“You’ve got no pants, Buckley!” Eddie commented.
“ShutthefuckupMunson,” Robin mumbled, flipping him off with one hand and rubbing her eye with the other.
Nancy shot a concerned glance back at Robin, but she was wearing her shirt and seemed unphased so Nancy assumed she had at least put her underwear back on, too.
Nancy let her arm fall, then maneuvered around Eddie in the kitchen to the sink. She looked back at Robin and waved her over.
“C’mere,”
The kids were all too busy waking up to notice what the teens were doing, but Eddie shot Nancy a quizzical look which she ignored. Nancy and Robin both washed their hands and Eddie didn’t really think anything of it.
Steve walked out of Eddie’s room, looking a little disheveled.
“Someone slept well,” Dustin commented, sitting up.
Steve groaned and rubbed his eyes. When he brought his hands down, he made eye contact with Nancy. He saw a particular gleam in her eye he had seen many times before. He thought she saw something similar in his eyes because her eyes flickered to Eddie - who was now crouching on the floor, digging through his own cabinets - then back to Steve.
“Can I talk to you for a sec, Nance?” Steve nodded his head back to Eddie’s room.
“Sure,” Nancy followed him down the short hallway.
“Ooooooh,” Lucas made a kissing noise.
Erica smacked him upside the head.
“Ow!” Lucas put his hand where Erica hit him.
Eddie looked over at Robin and they shared a look that, if they knew each other better, would speak volumes. They didn’t know each other all that well, but they both had the same two thoughts. Can they tell? and I can tell.
Eddie looked back at the cabinets and started putting things on the counter that were in his way. Most of these things were not food, which Erica was about to make a snarky comment about before Dustin talked first.
“Oh my god, dude, your fingers are naked!” Dustin pointed towards Eddie’s hands.
“Oh yeah,” Eddie put his hands out in front of him. “I don’t sleep with them,”
“It looks wrong,” Dustin scrunched his nose.
Lucas looked at Eddie’s hands now, realizing what Dustin meant.
“Yeah, that’s freaky.”
Eddie shrugged and continued making a mess of his kitchen.
“You fucked Robin?” Steve whisper-shouted.
“You fucked Eddie?” Nancy countered, whisper-shouting right back at him. “And yes, I did. What’s it to you?”
“I could ask you the same thing!”
“Ugh, we’re in the room!” Nancy scrunched up her nose, blocking her view of the bed with her hand.
“At least we did it in a bed that belongs to one of us!” Steve threw his hands up. “And I didn’t…” Steve paused and whispered. “...cheat on anyone,”
Nancy winced.
Steve’s eyebrows shot up.
Eddie got up from the floor, distracted from his original quest, and walked over to Robin.
“I don’t mean to pry, but you and Wheeler?” He whispered, leaning over to be next to her ear.
Robin pursed her lips and shrugged before whispering back.
“Extend my apologies to your uncle.”
Eddie waved his hand between them as if literally waving it off.
“You and Steve?” Robin continued.
Eddie nodded, fidgeting with his fingers in the spots where the rings should be.
“Why does everybody keep whispering? We shouldn’t be keeping secrets at a time like this!” Erica threw her arms up, exasperated.
“This doesn’t concern you,” Robin side-eyed her.
Erica scoffed.
“Excuse us, Lady Applejack, but she is right, this information is not pertinent to you or our journey to defeat Vecna.” Eddie turned and went back to digging through the cabinets like nothing had happened.
“I’m gonna find my pants,” Robin pivoted and rushed back into Wayne’s room.
“Perhaps a wise choice,” Eddie said, not having switched off his Dungeon Master voice.
“Nance, I’m not trying to be… accusatory? Is that a word? I’m just worried, as your friend, about your relationship.” Steve’s eyes looked genuine.
“First of all, yes, ‘accusatory’ is a word, congrats. Second of all - and I explained this to Robin - I’m sure you know that the distance has been hard for Jonathan and me. Also, he’s very apprehensive to talk about going to school with me, I’m starting to think he might even have other plans lined up. And- ugh-,” Nancy brought her hands to her eyes, trying not to cry. “I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t’ve slept with Robin, but I don’t really think Jonathan wants to continue this and I kinda just wanted to feel …wanted.”
“Nance…” Steve looked at her empathetically, opening his arms to offer a hug.
Nancy wrapped her arms around him and let herself cry for a minute.
“I’m sorry,” She pulled back and wiped her tears.
“Don’t be sorry, I can’t imagine how that must feel,”
“We can’t get into this right now, we have to go fight more interdimensional monsters.” Nancy sniffled.
“Right, that. You gonna be ok?”
“Yeah, yeah,”
“Also, I don’t blame you…” Steve didn’t want to finish his sentence. He hoped Nancy was smart enough to figure out where he was going. Seeing that she was the smartest person he knew, he had faith in her.
Nancy paused wiping her eyes and furrowed her brow at him for a second. Then her eyes widened as realization swept over her.
“‘I would date her, it’s just that-’” Nancy repeated what Steve had said to her while they searched the Creel house.
Steve tilted his head at her, urging her to finish her thought.
“It’s just that Robin only likes girls.” Nancy’s mouth gaped.
“And there we go,” Steve waved his head and rolled his eyes at himself.
Nancy snickered.
“Yeah, nice. Ok, Nance, we should go.” Steve turned to the door.
“I didn’t say anything!” Nancy collected her tears AND laughs before following Steve into the living room.
Robin had woken up a bit more by the time Steve came back, enough for her to remember she was mad at him.
“Stephen Gregory Harrington!” Robin seethed.
Steve just looked at her, blushing with embarrassment, but he didn’t even know why.
Robin grabbed his arm and dragged him with her into Wayne’s room, shutting the door behind them.
“Stephen?” Eddie looked up from the cabinets at Nancy, who just shrugged.
“Gregory?” Max questioned, staring at the door Robin and Steve had disappeared through.
“Why does Robin know his middle name and not me?” Dustin said under his breath.
“Well, now you do,” Eddie stood up and slammed a box of cereal on the counter, several pieces overflowing with the motion.
“Yeah, now we all do,” Erica rolled her eyes.
“I’m gonna kill you!” Robin pushed Steve gently.
“Ok, valid, but can you at least tell me why first?”
“You told her. You. Told. Her.” Robin paced in front of him.
Steve honestly did not know what she was talking about.
“Robin, please, a little help here,” His head followed her frantic movements.
“You told Nancy that I said she was a priss,” Robin stopped and pushed a finger into his chest.
“Rob, c’mon that cannot seriously be why you’re mad.”
“I told you that in confidence! You wouldn’t go around telling people about the second half of that conversation, would you?”
“No, of course not, I- Robin-” He cut himself off because she started pacing again. “Robin, can you stand still, please?”
Robin planted her feet and took a deep breath, her face not relaxing from the scowl she had been giving Steve this whole time.
“Of course, I would never tell anyone about what you told me.” He continued. “That is your thing, you get to decide when and where, and how, and who knows and how you say it. That is your thing, absolutely. But, you really can’t compare these two things, Rob.”
“You’re right, you’re right. That was dumb,” Robin pressed the heels of her hands over her eyes. “But my point still stands, don’t tell people things I say in confidence. Like boiling it down, it really scared me when she told me you told her.”
“I’m so sorry, Robin, I didn’t mean to betray your trust.”
“Don’t let it happen again.”
“Never.” Steve held up his hand with his pinky extended.
Robin lifted her hand and completed the pinky promise.
Eddie began shoveling cereal into his mouth, similar to what he had done when they first brought him food at Reefer Rick’s. Nancy was still standing next to him and there was a question plaguing his mind. He knew it was just silly but he also knew Nancy would have the answer.
“Hey,” Eddie swallowed, speaking softly so the kids couldn’t hear him.
Nancy turned her head.
“Does he always get really sleepy after sex?” He asked her.
“Yeah, it’s weird. Every time, I swear. You just gotta like take care of him and he’ll fall asleep pretty quick” Nancy answered casually, taking a handful of cereal herself.
“I did,” Eddie nodded.
“Good,” Nancy smiled at him. “You guys are cute.”
Eddie blushed and turned away, continuing to eat cereal way too fast.
Nancy smirked and ate a few pieces of cereal, too.
“And just so we’re completely honest here, I did sleep with Eddie.” Steve pursed his lips, dropping their hands.
Robin nodded. “Being completely honest, he told me already. Also, I slept with Nancy.”
“Being completely honest, she already told me that.”
They both stared at each other with serious faces for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“Proud of you for finally figuring out your sexuality by the way,” Robin nudged him.
“Wait, what?”
“I suspected you were a little fruity,” Robin shrugged.
“And you didn’t tell me?” Steve faked exasperation with her.
“That’s something you gotta figure out yourself, dingus. I should know.”
“I guess you’re right,”
“Oh, also-” Robin sounded slightly mad again, scaring Steve a little. “Do I need to teach you where the clit is? ‘Cause that poor girl didn’t even know what that was until last night.” Robin gestured to the door, vaguely in the direction of where Nancy should be.
“No, no! I know now! You don’t need to…” Steve cringed. “Show me anything,”
“Alright, but don’t let me hear about you letting any more women down, because I will wield my knowledge against you.” She pointed at him.
“Dually noted.” Steve gave a quick, jerky nod.
“Alright, let’s go.” Robin opened the door and joined the rest of the group in the living room, Steve close behind.
“Can we PLEASE stop having secret conversations in separate rooms, people?” Erica lectured once Steve and Robin were back. She groaned and threw her head back. “It’s getting tired fast, we shouldn’t be keeping secrets, and why do they all involve Steve?”
Steve’s eyes widened and he shrugged, pretending not to know.
“Ok, Erica, we’re done now,” Robin gripped Erica’s shoulders.
“Well, what do we do now?” Lucas looked around the group. “We didn’t have a plan further than ‘we should sleep.’”
Nancy started thinking.
“I say we sneak over to Red’s place,” Eddie was peeking through the blinds. “Still pretty early for people around her to be awake.”
“Yeah, they’re all pretty late risers,” Max nodded.
“Seems like a good first step,” Robin peered around Eddie’s head trying to see outside.
“I don’t see why not, let’s go!” Steve pointed to the front door.