Chapter Text
Steve is quietly humming along to Jingle Bell Rock, as a hand is gently placed on his back. “Hey, could you get table three another round? I gotta get ready.” He nods and puts an arm around Robin, gently squeezing. “Yeah, sure. Have fun on your night out, okay?” She grins at him. “Oh, I will. Don’t forget your sociology essay.” He flips her off as she vanishes behind the wooden door with the ‘staff only’ sign.
With five shots of jaeger and a smile he is sure to be irresistible he approaches table three. It’s a group of women his age. They were here last weekend, too. “Hey there, ladies.” “Hey Steve.” Steve acts flattered as he places the shot glasses on the table. “You remembered!” “Yes, of course I remember.” Steve would lie if he said he is not relishing a little bit in the doe eyes he is met with. “Well, I feel honored, Sara.”, he says and winks. Is he laying it on too thick? Maybe. Probably. It’s a good thing Robin’s in the back so she can’t tease him about it. But the look on Sara’s face is promising a big tip. He’s pretty sure she doesn’t really remember him from school. She was a few years above him and his fame faded quickly once high school was ever. Not to mention that that Steve Harrington would have never even thought about working a minimum wage job in a bar in Hawkins to somehow tackle college tuition.
“Let me know if I can get you anything else.” “Actually… when does your shift end?” Steve looks at his watch. “In about an hour.” Sara exchanges a few looks with her friends, some of which nod encouragingly. “There’s a party we’re heading to, you want to come along?” Steve raises his eyebrows. It has been a while since he has been to a party. The last couple of weeks were filled with balancing both work and school. It sounds intriguing enough for him to almost agree until he remembers that damn paper, he still has to turn in. “I’d love too.”, he admits. “But I have this sociology essay to write, and…” “Oh, so you’re smart too, huh?” Steve chuckles. “I wouldn’t say that, but…” She interrupts him with a hand on his arm. “Don’t be shy.” Steve smirks. The tip seems to be growing exponentially. “If there ever is another party you want to invite me to, you know where to find me.” He turns around with another smile and goes behind the bar.
A few new customers have arrived. Steve fills up beers with ease, chats about the latest results in a few games and even gives Sheila and Sam from across the street margaritas on the house, because it’s their wedding anniversary. Finally, he turns to the guy in the leather jacket, whose back is facing towards the bar. “Hey man, can I get you anything?” A head of long dark hair whips around to face him and a grin appears on a familiar face. Eddie Munson frowns up at him curiously. “Harrington?” Steve is frozen in place. “What are you doing here?” He sounds more hostile than originally intended. He grips the glass he is holding tighter. “Last thing I remember you fled Hawkins.” Eddie presses his lips together. “Indeed, I did. Well, now I’m waiting for a friend. Robin Buckley. You know where she is?” This is making less and less sense. “Robin’s in the back, getting ready for…”
“Munson!” Robin appears around the corner just in time. She does one of the little jumps she always does when she’s really happy to see someone. Usually, they are reserved for Nancy when she visits Hawkins from college. But Eddie gets up and Steve can do nothing but watch as they hug each other. His brain is a little slow with connecting the dots. “Wait, he’s the old friend from school?”, Steve chimes in and points at Eddie. “Yeah, you know each other?” Yes. No. Kind of? “We used to have the same set of friends.”, Eddie says. Steve doesn’t like the way he still has one arm around Robin’s shoulders. As if she somehow belonged to him. “The kids.”, Steve clarifies. “The kids really liked him.” Robin shrugs. “Well, we should probably get going.” Eddie nods. “I agree. Have a nice evening, Harrington.”, Eddie says and has the audacity to wink. Steve nervously bites his lip.
It’s not as if he ever actually disliked Eddie Munson. Sure, he was easy to pick on because he was different and loud and Steve’s ego fragile enough to get off on how Tommy would dunk the nerds’ heads into the toilet bowl. But he never actually hated him. Not even when the kids started hanging out with him during their little games. He was a little jealous, sure. Not that ever would admit that to the kids. But then the thing with Chrissy happened. And the same thing with the kid that used to work with Nancy for the school’s newspaper. And the guy that drowned in the lake. And Max. And sure, no one could ever prove that it was Eddie’s fault they overdosed, but Steve can’t help but think that there had to be a reason for the whole town to turn against him back then.
*
Once he’s home he heats up the rest of Robin’s pizza. She’s going to complain about him eating her leftovers tomorrow, but he doesn’t really have the time or nerves to cook for himself. He sits down in front of the computer and stares at the blank page. He needs to get this thing done by tomorrow evening if he doesn’t want to officially fail this class.
Two cups of coffee and an unreasonable amount of nicotine later he has written a single page and is pretty sure that not even a caffeine injection could keep his eyes from falling shut. He shuffles through their apartment into his room and drops down onto the bed without even taking his glasses off. There are more nights than he would like to admit that he ends up going to bed just like this.
“Steve?” There is enough distress in the quiet voice to startle him awake. He jolts upright and blinks to get used of the light entering his room through the hallway. He recognizes Robin’s silhouette. “Hey, everything okay?” A waterfall of possibilities rush through his head, of what might have happened to her. Did somebody hurt her? Munson? She enters and sits down on his bed. “Can I sleep here tonight?” He pulls her close as soon as she’s within his reach. “Of course.” She wraps her arms around him and buries her face in his chest. “What happened, did Munson do something?” “What? No, I dreamt of that fucking fire. Again.” Relief washes over him. “Oh. Okay.” He registered the sweaty street clothes he’s still wearing and gently pries Robin away from him. “Let me get changed and brush my teeth, okay? I’ll be right back.” “You’re disgusting, dingus.”, she complains and pushes him off the bed. “I know. I also ate your pizza.”
Robin falls asleep first, taking up most of the bed. Steve watches her silhouette for a while before he moves a little closer and wraps an arm around her. “Love you, Buckley.”, he whispers. Robin hums something in response. It sounds a little like ‘dingus’, even though she’s fast asleep.