Chapter Text
“Jimmy ‘Fast Hands’ skipped town before quarantine, so we just sort of moved in here. The basement is hidden behind this bookshelf over there. It’s not quite the Batcave, but it’s pretty sweet. We kept the station going as cover. Robin is our DJ.” Lucas summarized as he pushed Max’s wheelchair through their new hideout.
“Rockin’ Robin!” Robin corrected him from behind, holding her hand out in a rock-n-roll sign.
“Rockin’ Robin, my bad.” Lucas grinned as he rounded the corner.
“A cover, huh? So, does that mean you’re working here illegally?” Vickie theorized, squinting with her eyes as she looked at her girlfriend.
“Okay,” she said, pointing at Vickie. “First of all, illegal is such a loaded word.”
Vickie paused and watched with a smile, knowing exactly what was coming. The group that had followed them inside, which was everyone minus Lucas and Max, quietened down. Nancy, who had taken a seat on the armrest of a nearby chair, was watching them quietly.
“Because what does illegal even mean, like really, when the government has very clearly failed to provide adequate protection and cultural enrichment during an interdimensional apocalypse?” she said without taking a breath in-between.
Vickie hummed, nodding along to Robin’s very valid points.
“And I’m sure they’re busy enough fighting off those demon-.”
“Demogorgons.” Robin filled in for her.
“Right, yes. Of course.” Vickie continued nodding, no doubt feeling dizzy from all the absolute batshit-insane information she’s had to absorb in the last two hours or so.
It was then when the room fell quiet and several eyes were now glued to the newcomer.
“Uh, hi. I’m Vickie.” Vickie offered a small and awkward wave to the group of semi-strangers who looked like they’d been to hell and back. It took Robin half a minute longer to read the room.
“Right!” Robin’s eyes widened. “So, this is Vickie.”
There was a beat of silence.
“My-.” Robin winced, then tried again. “My friend. From band.”
Robin had said it like it was supposed to explain everything, but it somehow explained nothing. However, the tired rag-tag group welcomed her with no further questions asked. No questions that were spoken out loud, at least.
The almost slip-up didn’t go unnoticed by someone in particular.
Her friend from band, and the hospital by the looks of it? Nancy’s suspicious eyes flicked down to take her outfit in.
The very same hospital where she’d been spending an awful lot of time recently, according to the very chatty receptionist who seemed to be very fond of their local DJ, the few times Nancy had interacted with her.
Nancy filed the new information away immediately, offering a small smile that she hoped was welcoming enough.
Vickie stuck close to Robin as they moved further into the room to discuss strategies. Shooting her questioning looks if something written down on the whiteboard was another level of batshit craziness, her eyes widening almost comically when she got a quick summary involving telekinetic children and secret labs thrown her way.
“Do you need a minute? I so get it if you need a minute to digest all of this. Trust me, my brain was struggling big time when I joined the team.” Robin quickly checked in with her once they’d decided on a break.
“I mean, where do I even start? Is it too late to revisit my drug theory? Cause I feel like I could use some right about now,” Vickie said, her eyes snapping back to the wormhole theory drawn out by a literal child on the whiteboard. Her hand automatically reached for the front pocket on her uniform, revealing a small pack of cigarettes. “I’m going out for a smoke. I’ll be back in five, okay?” she eventually settled on, reaching out to gently squeeze Robin’s hand, before turning on her heel to the nearest exit.
Robin inhaled sharply, her mind still reeling from the day’s events. From being accused of being a junkie by her girlfriend, to almost being dragged to prison by the military. Max miraculously waking up from her comatose Vecna-trance. Finally seeing the others again in that shit-hole of a place-.
“Hey.” Nancy carefully interrupted her thoughts, preventing them to spiral even further. She hadn’t noticed Nancy approaching her. “It’s been a day, huh?”
“You could say that, yeah,” Robin exhaled shakily, her eyes shooting up and finally noticing the specks of pale blue goo still cacked on Nancy’s face and stuck in her hair. “Oh! There’s a bathroom near the booth if you want to clean up a bit? It’s not big, but at least there’s a sink. And we’ve got some fresh clothes too, if you don’t mind repping our latest SQUAWK merch.”
Nancy’s hand shot up to trace the hardened light substance on her cheek and she flinched at the reminder of that place.
“That’d be nice, actually.” Nancy nodded, suddenly feeling very conscious of the filth stuck on her clothes and body. “Show me the way?”
“Yeah. Yeah, of course. Uh, right over here.”
She turned before Nancy could see her face, leading her past the booth and down a narrow hallway lit by a single buzzing bulb. The noise of the others fading away in the background.
Robin pushed open the door. The space was small and badly lit, barely enough room for a sink, toilet, a shelve with some towels and rolls of toilet paper, and a crooked mirror screwed into the wall.
“I’ll get you something clean, be right back.” Robin turned on her heel and popped into a small pantry down the hallway. She grabbed a dark blue sweater with the text ‘WSQK the Squawk 94.5 FM’ and a matching pair of sweatpants.
“Here,” Robin said when she returned, finding Nancy staring at her own reflecting in the dusty mirror.
“I’ll, uh, I’ll give you some privacy.” Robin put the set of clothing on the cleanest edge of the sink and turned towards the door.
“Could you leave it open?” Nancy said before Robin could disappear. “I feel like I might be developing a fear of closed doors.” She added with a wry twist of her lips.
“Yeah, of course. Should I just-.” Robin awkwardly pointed towards the hallway. “I could get Jonathan if you-.”
“Please stay,” Nancy interrupted her weakly, meeting her eyes through the mirror.
“Sure, yeah.” Robin nodded and then planted herself in the doorway, facing the hallway, but still very much inside the small space with Nancy.
“We broke up.” Nancy eventually said, breaking through the silence, and Robin, who’d been very focussed on NOT listening to the sound of clothing hitting the bathroom floor, didn’t quite catch that.
“What?”
“Jonathan and I. We broke up down there.” Nancy clarified in a frail voice, still recovering from all the crying for help.
“Oh?” Robin’s eyebrows shot up. “Shit, I’m sorry, Nance.”
“I’m not. It’s for the best.” Nancy shrugged, even though Robin couldn’t see her.
“Do you- uh, do you want to talk about it? I know I’m not exactly a relationship guru, having only been in a relationship myself for a few months, but hey, sometimes the words coming out of my mouth can be surprisingly inspiring. Just ask my three loyal listeners.”
“So I’ve heard.” Nancy mused quietly.
“About me being inspiring?” Robin asked, almost turning around, but catching herself just in time.
“About you dating someone.” Nancy clarified.
“Oh, yeah, that.”
There was a heavy beat of silence. Nancy looked at the back of Robin’s head through the mirror, and took a deep breath before speaking up again.
“When you played Pretty In Pink, I just- I got curious. Because who would dedicate that song to a guy? It didn’t make any sense to me.”
“I- uh- I didn’t realise you were listening to all of that-”
“And you kept using neutral pronouns…” Nancy went on as she wiped the dirt of her cheek.
“Nance.” Robin pleaded, her voice a little high pitched from the nerves rushing though her body.
“And then,” Nancy continued, almost casually, “you went on this whole tangent about how dating someone who knows a thing or two about first aid is apparently a huge plus. Especially for someone as clumsy as you are.”
“Nancy…”
“Robin, you can turn around now.” Nancy said calmly. And when Robin finally turned to face her again, a little wide-eyed and wild looking, she found Nancy now clean and fully dressed in her oversized studio merch. The sight did something wild to her heart that was difficult to ignore.
“It’s Vickie, isn’t it?” Nancy asked her quietly, there was absolutely nothing hateful about the way her eyes regarded her, but she didn’t look overly ecstatic either.
Robin briefly considered deflecting. Making a joke. But instead, she exhaled. “Yeah. It’s her.”
Nancy nodded slowly as she turned back towards the mirror, absorbing that. Her reflection caught the way her expression softened, something unguarded flickering there before she schooled it again.
“That’s good,” she said quietly. “You deserve that.”
“Thanks.” Robin looked at her through the mirror, trying to figure out what her expression was telling her. “And you’re, uh, you’re okay with it?”
“Of course.” Nancy turned around and met her eyes, noticing the slight fear there. “Of course, I’m okay with it.” She grabbed Robin’s hands and squeezed them supportively, before mentally saying ‘fuck it’ and wrapping her arms around her waist and letting her chin rest on Robin’s shoulder.
“I’m so glad, Nance. I’ve been meaning to tell you, but with this whole end-of-the-world bullshit, I just couldn’t find the right moment.”
“It’s okay. I’m really happy for you.” Nancy said, squeezing her just a little tighter. Closing her eyes for just a moment.
When she opened them again, Nancy Wheeler froze. She straightened, dropping her arms like she’d been caught doing something she hadn’t decided how to explain yet. Her gaze lingered on something behind Robin’s back.
“Oh,” Nancy said. “Hi.”
Robin, blissfully oblivious, turned around. “Oh! Hey, Vick. Sorry, I got a little sidetracked.”
Vickie smiled politely, measured.
Nancy cleared her throat. “Right. I should go back. Thanks for the clothes.”
Robin beamed at her. “Anytime.
Nancy glanced at Vickie again, this time with something almost like… curiosity. Or maybe something like recognition. Then she stepped past her with a tight smile.
The second Nancy disappeared down the hall, the air shifted.
Robin turned back to Vickie. “Sorry about that. She’s had a rough day.”
“So I noticed,” Vickie said. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Robin said easily. “Actually… yeah. I am.”
“Good,” she said, tugging her close by her jacket. “I was looking for you.”
Robin grinned. “Yeah? Miss me?”
Vickie’s smile returned, softer now, but her eyes flicked once, briefly, down the hallway where Nancy disappeared.