Chapter Text
To be honest, he was a little disappointed with the way everything ended.
He and his friends had all clinked their drinks and swore up and down to meet up in Philly once a month, but at the end of the day, Jonathan had gone to New York, Robin went to Massachusetts, and Nancy went to a fancy job in Indianapolis once she had quickly moved up the ranks at the Herald. He was the only one still in the city, with his sex ed teaching job and his baseball team.
Steve loved his baseball team. He loved going on the occasional road trip with Dustin. He loved offering up his house so that Mike, Lucas, and Max could all hang out. He loved all of it, and yet he felt there was something missing. Something important. Something irreplaceable.
Robin diagnosed him over the phone. “You’re lovesick, Stevie,” she had said, and Steve could practically see her trademark grin. “Someone’s got your heart. Come on, confess. Who’s it this time?”
“This time?”
But as he thought about it, she was right, in a way. Something did have his heart, but it wasn’t a girl. It wasn’t even a person. It was the idea that he had tucked away for most of his life, ever since his parents decided that a six-year-old could be left alone in the house for months at a time. He had always wanted the six little nuggets stuffed into an RV as they went for a drive down the coast.
He had never wanted to be alone, and now here he was. In the city with his baseball team and his beat-up old RV and his big empty house.
So with that train of thought and that lifelong dream in the back of his head, he decided it was time for a road trip.
Of course, he had not expected that to lead to a knock on his door.
He jumped up from his seat in the living room. His suitcase was lying on the couch, precariously stuffed with clothes and useless doodads. He had no idea what to bring on his very first solo trip around the country, so he was going to bring everything.
Steve yanked the door open. “Hey–” He paused, staring at the person standing on his doorstep. “Hey. What, uh, what are you doing here?”
Vicky blinked. Her eyes were heavily lidded with mascara, which was leaving tracks down her face. She’s been crying. “Can I come in?”
Steve moved out of the way. “Yeah, sure. Is everything alright?” He followed her further into the house, and she plopped down onto the couch next to his suitcase, pressing the backs of her hands to her eyes. “Should I call Robin?”
“No!” Vicky yelled immediately, her head popping back up. “No, please do not call Robin. I really do not want to talk to her right now.”
Steve sat down in the chair across from her. Clearly something was very, very wrong if Vicky had come to him. He was very sure she did not like him, not even one bit. Whenever he, Robin, Jonathan, and Nancy had hung out together and they had brought their dates, she would always glare at him across the room. Maybe because he had been the one who had brought Robin into the Upside Down shit in the first place.
“Did you two fight or something?” he prodded gently. By the deadly look Vicky threw at him, he was striking a nerve. It was probably better to keep his mouth shut if he wanted to keep all of his limbs intact, so instead of pressing more, he asked, “Do you want some coffee? I have decaf.”
She gave a tight shake of her head.
“Hot chocolate?” Robin had mentioned off-hand once that Vicky liked hot chocolate. Maybe that would soften her up, get her to talk about what was bothering her.
Vicky stared at him for a long moment, and then nodded. “Yes. Thank you,” she said stiffly. As Steve headed to the kitchen, she added, “I’m sorry for barging in here. I know it’s really late.”
Steve grabbed two mugs from the cabinet. “No, it’s not that late,” he lied. On a normal night, he would already be deep asleep. Jesus, am I old? “And you didn’t just barge in here. I’m happy to host.” He turned on his coffee maker and shook the hot cocoa powder inside. “Would you like mini marshmallows in your hot chocolate?”
Vicky let out a wet chuckle. “You have mini marshmallows lying around?”
“It was a housewarming present from Max, though I’m ninety nine percent sure she just gave them to me so she can snack on them whenever she comes over.” He watched as the mugs filled up with the steaming brown liquid. “So, yay or nay to the mini marshmallows?”
“Sure, I’ll have some,” Vicky said, so quietly that Steve barely heard her. Her voice had a familiar rasp to it–Steve was well familiar with it from years of cleaning up Nancy and Robin’s tears. She’s about to start crying again.
He put the marshmallows in Vicky’s mug and hurried back over to the couch. She let out a small noise of thanks as she took the mug with both hands, immediately taking a sip. Her expression betrayed no pain, even though her tongue had to be burnt to hell. Steve was starting to become very scared of her.
“I know this handiwork,” she said after a moment, pulling the mug away from her face and gripping its handle. “This is one of Robin’s mugs from that ceramics class she’s been taking. She gave one to you?”
“She gave several to me,” Steve told her. “Between me, Nancy, and Jonathan, I think we have enough cutlery to open a store.”
A small smile formed on Vicky’s face, and Steve counted it as a win. “I have that just in my house.” She delicately placed the mug down on the coffee table, her gaze sliding to the suitcase still sitting next to her. “Are you going some place?”
“I am, actually.” Steve sat back down, taking a sip from his own mug and recoiling instantly. It’s boiling. Yes, he was definitely scared of Vicky. “I’m going on a trip. Just me, the open road, and all of the other forty seven states I can drive to.”
“All of them? Ambitious.” There was judgement in Vicky’s tone, and Steve chose to ignore her.
“Hell yeah. I’ve already talked to the school, taken a couple of days off from my riveting job as a sex ed teacher.” Vicky honest to god snorted at that, and Steve fought for his life to not react. “And baseball season ended, so I really have nothing better to do.” It was depressing. He had been abandoned in Hawkins, and now he was about to embark on a solo RV trip because there truly was nothing else for him to do. Meanwhile, Vicky was probably hearing all about Robin’s amazing life in Massachussets. She was probably living one of her own.
She must have thought he was pathetic.
“Sounds like a lot of fun,” Vicky said sincerely. There were no more traces of judgement in her tone. “I wish I could join you. I’ve been wanting to get the hell out of Hawkins.” She finished off her hot chocolate, putting it down a little harder than necessary. “Robin and I did get in a fight,” she admitted. “It was about her, living so far away. She’s leaving me behind.” Almost immediately, she paled, as if realizing how much she had admitted.
Maybe they had more in common then Steve had originally thought.
“I know the feeling,” he confided quickly. “Jon and Rob, two of my best friends, are both in different states. Nance was supposed to stay nearby, but she moved to Indianapolis, and now I see her on TV. It’s like everyone else can get on with their lives–”
“But you can’t,” Vicky finished, eyes widening. They stared at each other for a second, the silence growing more and more tense until finally Vicky looked away. “I know I shouldn’t get to say that. I haven’t been through a fifth of what all of you have–”
“Don’t say that,” Steve interrupted. “Don’t–don’t compare trauma. You’ve been through a lot, like we all have.”
Vicky wasn’t smiling anymore. “Why are we staying?” she said softly. “Here, in Hawkins?”
“This place is a black hole.” The hot chocolate in Steve’s mug had stopped steaming. “Some of us are lucky enough to get out. Build their own lives. Some of us aren’t.”
Vicky lifted her mug, and the smiley face Robin painted on caught the light. “Cheers,” she said gloomily.
Steve clinked their mugs together. “Cheers.”
The hot chocolate tasted bitter. Like plain coffee without the ten pounds of sugar he usually put in. He downed it in one go, and the powder that had clumped at the bottom got stuck in his throat. He slammed the mug down and broke down coughing, pounding his chest.
Vicky dissolved into giggles. Steve counted that as another win. She was not crying anymore. Some time in the near future, he was going to call Robin and see if he could get brownie points for comforting her girlfriend.
Why are we staying? Vicky’s words replayed again in his head, and suddenly, he had an idea.
“Why don’t you join me?”
Vicky looked up, a grin still lingering on her face. “What?”
“On my trip around the country. Why don’t you join me?”
Vicky frowned. “Are you serious?”
“Dead serious,” Steve confirmed. “We can show Robin and Nancy and Jon that we can get out of Hawkins too. Plus, despite me insisting on it, I really don’t want to embark on this grand adventure alone. I’m not good at being alone.” He tried not to show how true the words really were. “And Robin would be so confused,” he added as an afterthought. “I think that by itself would make this trip completely worthwhile.”
“You’re insane,” Vicky said, but her eyes were lighting up. “I’m practically a stranger to you. I could be an axe murderer or something!”
“Robin wouldn’t date an axe murderer,” Steve pointed out. “I don’t think. Come on, it would be fun. We can just get out of town for a couple of days.”
“A road trip,” Vicky murmured. “Me, going on a road trip with Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington.”
Steve watched her consider the offer, waiting for her to make her decision.
“Alright,” she decided. “Let’s go on a trip. But can I make a small request?”
“Sure, let’s hear it.”
“Let’s not go on the East Coast,” Vicky said slowly. “We should do the West Coast.”
“Yeah…” Steve stopped, suddenly, another idea coming to him. “Like California?”
Vicky got a dreamy look in her eyes. “Yellow sands, blue skies, warm weather you’ll never see in Hawkins. I’ve always wanted to go.”
“Perfect,” Steve agreed. “But…if we’re going to California, I think we should invite someone else along.”
—
“You, me, and Vicky,” Max said skeptically, raising an eyebrow. “In an RV. Driving all the way to California. Just the three of us.” She slurped loudly from the straw she had stuck in the juice box she retrieved from Steve’s fridge. Apparently, she and Lucas had taken to stocking his kitchen with their favorite snacks every time they came over, unbeknownst to Steve. He should have figured it out earlier–he would’ve remembered buying a six pack of the grape juice boxes that Max liked.
“Yes, just the three of us,” Steve repeated. “It’ll be fun! You’re always talking about how much you want to go to California again!”
“Yeah, for like, college or something,” Max argued. “Not with you and Robin’s girlfriend.”
“Her name is Vicky, which you know,” Steve said pointedly. “And what’s wrong with Vicky?”
“Nothing’s wrong with Vicky! I just don’t know her all that well.”
“Didn’t she save your life five times?”
Max shrugged. “Yeah, but I still don’t know her well. I just know her as…Robin’s girlfriend.”
“Live a little.”
“I’m not going without Lucas,” Max insisted.
“He’s not even in town right now.”
“Exactly.”
“Max.” Steve waited until she met his pleading gaze. “I am begging you. Come to California with me and Vicky.”
Max sighed. “This is important to you.”
“Very, very important.” A carefree bonding trip with his two favorite redheads would be the perfect thing to cheer him up. “Please, Max.”
Max crumpled up her juice box and threw it away. “Alright,” she answered after another moment of hesitation. “Let’s go to California.”
Steve tackled her into a hug. “YES!” he yelled, as Max squealed in surprise and delight. “Yes, this is going to be amazing! You are my favorite kid forever!”
“I thought Dustin had that title,” Max laughed when Steve finally released her.
“Dustin didn’t agree to go on a road trip with me. You did. You don’t even know how awesome this is going to be, Max. I have an itinerary.” He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket, shoving it at Max. “It’s color-coded.”
“Of course it is.” Max unfurled the paper. “When are we going to go?”
“Tomorrow, so clear your schedule.”
She glanced up sharply. “That’s so soon.”
“The sooner the better.” He was practically vibrating with excitement. He hadn’t left Hawkins in…he didn’t think he had ever left Hawkins, actually. And now they were going to California. “I’m already packed. You should start packing.”
“Okay, hold on a second,” Max interrupted. “I need to let my mom know I’ll be leaving the house, and I need to find someone who can babysit my cat, and I should probably call Lucas and let him know I won’t be in town when he gets back. We’re going to be gone what, two weeks?”
“Two, two and a half,” Steve wheedled. “There’s a lot we should see and do.”
“I can’t believe you got Vicky to agree to this,” Max said with a shake of her head. “And what about Mr. Fluffers?”
Steve nearly choked. “You named your cat Mr. Fluffers? What happened to naming it, like, Whiskers?”
“That was my idea,” Max explained. “Lucas was very insistent on Mr. Fluffers.”
“I can’t believe you let Lucas name your cat.”
“Mr Fluffers is a very fitting name.” Max scanned the itinerary one last night, handing it back to him. “I’ll call Holly, she loves Mr Fluffers. And I’ll start packing right after.”
Steve was about to reply when the phone rang. He winced. “Ooh. I bet that’ll be Robin.”
“You told Robin about this, right? Right, Steve?”
“I left a voicemail.” Steve hopped up and picked up the phone. “Hey, Rob.”
“You and my girlfriend are going to California?” Luckily, Robin didn’t sound mad. She just sounded confused. “With Max? How did this even happen?”
“Okay, here’s what I was thinking,” Steve said quietly, cupping his hand around the phone. “Vicky came to my house last night all upset because of the fight you guys had.”
“Why your house?”
“I don’t know, she’s your girlfriend. Point is, she’s very unhappy with you. And a trip out of Hawkins is the perfect opportunity for me to break the ice, maybe compliment you a few times.”
“So you’re trying to play couples therapist with me and my girlfriend.”
“Are you upset about this?” Steve said instead of arguing. He couldn’t exactly argue–and he couldn’t exactly tell Robin that the trip would also serve as normal therapy for all three of them.
“No, I’m not upset. I think it’s a horrible idea, but I also think that you three could definitely use a road trip.” Robin’s voice softened. “You’ve been really off, recently. Since Nancy left.”
“I’m fine, Rob.”
“Are you? You have no friends your age that live in Hawkins, you only coach your baseball team for a month out of the year, and I know you haven’t been calling Dustin as much as you normally do.”
“How would you know that?” Steve said, exasperated.
“Dustin and I talk. We may not be in the same state, but we make sure to keep tabs on you anyway.”
“That’s terrifying.”
The point is, I know you need this, and Vicky needs this, and Max probably needs this as well. So you have my stamp of approval, not that you needed it anyway. Vicky does not care much about my opinion right now.”
“Couples just fight sometimes. I used to fight with Nance all the time when we were together.”
“Steve, respectfully, that is the worst possible example you could give me.”
“No, you’re right, that’s fair.” He couldn’t count on one hand how many times he whined to Robin about Nancy leaving him heartbroken. “But you guys are so obviously made for each other. I mean, you’ve been together for what, two and a half years now?”
“Give or take, yeah,” Robin agreed. “Still. I guess I’m just scared I’ll mess everything up like I always do.”
“You won’t,” Steve assured her. “And whatever you did, Vicky will forgive you.”
“Why are you just automatically assuming that I’m the one who needs to be forgiven?” Robin demanded.
Oh, crap. “Just, from, uh, context—what Vicky told me—you know, it seemed like—-yeah.” No excuse would be good enough.
Robin only laughed. “Relax, Stevie, I’m just messing with you. For the record, I was the one who messed up. Big time, I think. Just remember to put in a good word for me, yeah?”
“Always,” Steve said without hesitation.
He put the phone back on the wall and turned to where Max was sitting. She had retrieved yet another juice box, and was poking the straw inside. It didn’t seem to be going in.
“So a group therapy session in a small RV all the way across the country,” she summarized. She finally stabbed the straw into the box, taking a long, drawn-out sip. “Yeah, you’re right. This is going to be a lot of fun.”