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Steve Harrington never had someone say that they love him.
Robert and Amelia Harrington were never big on vocal declarations of love. Robert thought it “unmanly”, and Amelia followed her husband’s orders to the letter, barely having time to even give her only child a light pat on the cheek as a greeting or farewell on the rare occurrence that the Harringtons were all together in one house.
Sure, there was the odd girl or two, quick flings that barely passed the two month line. They’d say it as Steve broke up with them, big, innocent eyes filling with tears as they tried to make him stay.
Steve had learned a long time ago that love simply… wasn’t for him.
He had thought he had found love with Nancy Wheeler, the brown-haired hopeful reporter giving him butterflies every time their eyes locked, making his knees weak and palms sweat.
Bullshit.
It was all bullshit.
Not to Steve, of course, but to Nancy?
So, he gave up on love.
He was an asshole, after all. A former jock who’d probably amount to nothing more than a video store clerk as karma for the shit he pulled in high school.
At least, that was what the kids said when they teased him. He loved the kids fiercely, but it didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt when hearing the ones he tried so desperately to protect, the ones he had nearly died for on multiple occasions, make sharp, joking comments about his intelligence, about his past, about the fact that he was a reformed asshole.
But then came Robin.
Robin Buckley was brought into Steve Harrington’s life on June 12th, 1985.
There was more than enough tension in the back room as they were given their uniforms, but upon seeing the stark difference in length of the shorts they would be wearing, Steve snatched Robin’s away from her, placing his own on top of her folded shirt and cap.
She had looked at him with wide, surprised eyes, he had shrugged, and that was it.
Robin Buckley wormed her way into his heart without a moment’s notice, and Steve loved her for it.
Robin Buckley, who made fun of him for striking out with girls, but did so in a way that made Steve laugh along with her.
Robin, who kept him awake the night after Starcourt, making sure his concussion didn’t spiral into anything more.
Robin, who gave a sharp glare to Dustin or Mike when they started their freshman year of high school, and their jokes towards Steve gained a little more cruelty, a little more biting. Robin, who babbled about rabies, boobies, movies, and who was the platonic love of Steve’s life.
Steve’s love for the silly, clumsy girl had changed from romantic to platonic the second they were sitting across from each other in the back of Nancy’s car. Dustin’s voice was coming over the walkie-talkie, singing the most puppy-love version of “NeverEnding Story” Steve had ever heard, and Robin was watching him with thinly veiled amusement in her eyes. Steve had shot her a grin, which set her off, muffling giggles into her hand, and Steve’s heart soared.
He realized then that he loved Robin Buckley.
He loved her so much, more than he had ever loved anything in his life, and somehow, he knew she felt the same about him.
Which was why, during the final hour of the final battle against Vecna and his demons from the Upside Down, it was a no-brainer for Steve to shove Robin out of the way of a dying Demogorgon, hiding his reaction to the razor-sharp claws digging into his side with a quick laugh and a stern look towards his clumsy best friend, who returned the look with a wide-eyed one of her own before her face broke into an apologetic smile.
They turned back to the battle, and as Steve felt more and more blood drip from the gouges in his side, he couldn’t help but smile.
He at least could do one thing right.
“Holy fucking shit.” Robin gasped out, leaning her weight onto the spear she held.
Argyle nodded, eyes wide as he poked a dead demodog with his foot. “You can say that again, my dude.”
The sky above them was returning to a soft blue, the sun peaking through the clouds. The fissures in the ground were beginning to close, and in the distance, Robin could spot the Hopper-Byers family approaching, Eleven and Will leaning on each other.
Dustin, Lucas, and Mike let out identical crows of victory upon seeing their friends, and took off towards them, Max giggling as Lucas carried her on his back.
Argyle and Nancy were quick to follow, tension already draining from the group as the Upside Down closed permanently.
Robin let out a relieved laugh, turning around to look for Steve, who was most likely walking towards her to smother her in concern, but the sight she was greeted with made her freeze, her blood turning to ice.
Steve was swaying on his feet, one arm wrapped around his stomach, hand pressed into his side as firmly as he could. A few feet away was the Demogorgon that had almost gotten Robin, and everything clicked into place.
She couldn’t stop the scream that ripped out of her throat, a loud, ugly sound filled with horror as she ran towards her falling best friend.
She collapsed to her knees, catching Steve in her arms before he could hit the ground, and held him tightly, one hand pressing over his as if she could stop the bleeding.
“Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no.”
Steve gave her a sad little smile. “Hey, Robs.”
“You’re okay, babe. I’ve got you.” Robin said, forcing herself to take deep breaths and keep her eyes off of the steadily bleeding torso. “Just focus on not dying, okay, dingus? I mean it. Remember our plan? We’re supposed to leave this fucking place together and get an apartment, and be all codependent and gross with each other.”
She was babbling, a poor attempt to distract herself and Steve from that fact that he had lost far too much blood, and his skin was slowly paling before her eyes.
Steve was just smiling, because of course he was. “Can we get a cat?”
Robin nodded hysterically. “We’ll get so many cats, Stevie. You can name them all after your freaky musical.”
Had they just been sitting in Steve’s house, cuddled together on the couch, Steve would have swatted Robin away with an indignant squawk, launching into a lecture about how Cats was not freaky, and was one of the greatest shows ever created, thank you very much.
But they weren’t sitting at Steve’s house. They were sitting in the middle of a destroyed field, corpses and ash surrounding them, and Steve was dying. Robin would have hit him if she could, because she knew he was smiling because the kids were safe, and even as he was bleeding out in her arms, that was all that mattered to him.
“Robbie?” Steve gasped out, voice hoarse and quiet and pained, one hand reaching up to grab onto Robin’s. “Robbie, I’m so sorry.” Robin immediately began to shake her head, but Steve squeezed her hand with all the strength he had left. “I’m sorry for being such an asshole, for being a jerk. I don’t deserve you, Robbie, and I’m sorry.”
Oh, Robin had never felt anger like that before.
Her best friend, her platonic soulmate and other half, was wasting the little time he had left apologizing for something she had forgiven him for during their second week at Scoops, when she had caught him dancing to ABBA while cleaning tables.
His dorky little wiggles and twirls had made her burst into laughter, and after a moment of frozen, wide-eyed shock, where Steve’s cheeks turned a bright red, he had begun to laugh to, and that was it for them.
Robin always hated it when the kids of the Party brought up Steve’s past, teasing him and making jokes that always seemed to hit the sore spots that Steve never wanted touched again. She knew how badly it affected him, hearing about his mistakes and the person he had once been.
So, Robin did what she did best.
“Shut up.” She said, holding onto Steve’s hand and firmly ignoring how the blood made their fingers slip against each other’s. “I have a list of every single reason that I can think of for why you aren’t an asshole.”
He let her make fun of him when he’d strike out with girls, every eye-roll filled with fondness.
He wore the shorter shorts of the Scoops uniform so she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.
He put himself in the Russians' line of sight and got tortured to keep her from getting hurt.
He told her she had shit taste and started singing like a Muppet on a dirty bathroom floor instead of running away.
He gave her a spare key to his house for the nights when nightmares became too much for both of them.
He made her laugh so hard she snorted.
She was the only one who knew how much he loved musicals, and they performed every duet together whenever one was on at Family Video.
With every point on Robin’s list, Steve let out a little choked laugh, leaning into her with whatever strength was left in him. Their hands tighten around each other, and Robin pulls him closer, burying her face in his hair. The smell of his hairspray still lingered, and she breathed it in, memorizing the smell.
Vaguely, Robin heard the Party running towards them, could hear Dustin’s shout and Nancy shrieking to get help, and Max’s sob, but none of that mattered to her.
She bit back tears as she spoke, keeping her words as clear as possible. “You’re not an asshole. You’re my Steve, my dingus, and I love you so fucking much.” Robin pulled back, studying Steve’s face as though she didn’t have it imprinted on her mind, like her face was in Steve’s. “You can’t leave me, because I don’t know what I’m going to do without you, Steve Harrington.”
The biggest smile Robin had ever seen spread across Steve’s face, and he reached up to cup her cheek, one of his thumbs just barely managing to wipe her tears away. Robin adds one more point to her mental list of “Reasons Steve Harrington isn’t an Asshole”:
He’s dying, and he’s comforting her.
“Just my luck that the first person who ever says they actually love me is a lesbian.”
Robin couldn’t help but let out a broken, wet laugh, pressing her forehead against Steve’s as her shoulders shook with suppressed sobs. She can hear the other members of the Party crying, could hear Dustin being comforted by Eleven and Will, but the only thing that mattered to her was the man laying in her arms, looking at her with nothing but a smile.
Robin was going to make sure that the last words her Steve heard were nothing but kindness and sweetness, to make up for every cruel name and joke that was ever thrown at him. As paramedics and government cars swarmed the battlefield, Robin was content to hold Steve in her arms, continuing to whisper how much she loved him, and every single happy memory she was so grateful that they shared together.
At some point, Steve tugged her down, pressing a kiss to her forehead, filled with so much love and affection that Robin was afraid he’d burst.
Then, he whispered, soft words only for her ears. “I love you too, Robs. You’re stuck with me forever, and I’m not going anywhere. I’ll just be a little farther away.” Then, because he had to go and break her heart, Steve pulled back and gave her the sweetest look she’s ever seen. “You’ve been my angel, Birdie. Now it’s time for me to be yours.”
Robin couldn’t help it anymore.
She couldn’t hold it back, and she started to sob, great, big, heaving sobs. She could feel that he was getting weaker, could hear his breaths getting shorter and more painful, and she tucked her face into his shoulder, tears soaking the fabric.
Steve Harrington left Robin Buckley’s life on June 12th, 1986, a peaceful smile on his face as he pressed a kiss into Robin's hair as she choked out a final "I love you".