Chapter Text
The setting sun shone weakly through the windows of family video as Robin starts moving around, packing everything up for the night. Steve had a date with some girl, so that left Robin alone with her thoughts as she put away the remaining tapes.
Keith says to always wait until exactly the closing time to close the store, but both Robin and Steve both ignore his loud complaints and start a few minutes before eight. She thinks about that as she pulls down the blinds and slips out of her uniform: she has always hated wearing her work clothes anywhere outside of work.
Since she hasn't got her driving license yet, Robin has to rely on others to get around. Looking around the mostly empty parking lot, she notices a white van parked.
"There we are," she says to herself before jogging towards the van in the distance.
The doors are open with smoke trailing out of them, a man wearing a jean vest and a shirt reading Hellfire Club is lounging in the seats smoking a cigarette.
"Really, Eddie?" she complains, waving smoke out of the air before her.
"What do you mean?" he asked, lifting his head up to face her.
She gestures to the smoke around her.
"All of this!" she exclaimed, "You knew you were picking me up! so why did yo-"
"-Ah ah ah, you took too long! So what was I supposed to do?” He complained, lounging back onto his seat.
Sighing Robin went onto the other side and jumped in; the smoke filled her lungs making her cough.
“Jesus Christ!" She coughed, waving her hand in front of her head to open a small space of air in front of her nose.
“What’s wrong with the smell?” he complained as he closed his door before starting the van.
“What’s wrong with the smell?!” she exclaimed looking at him with absolute horror, “It smells like absolute ass!”
Laughing he opens up the windows to let the smoke flow out into the now black sky.
She watches the outside fly by her as he starts driving, the fresh air blowing against her face as she sticks her head out of the window.
***
By the time they reach Robin's house the moon is starting to peak from up above the houses. The lights are out in her house when she reaches the door, waving goodbye to Eddie as he speeds out of sight.
Opening the door its pitch black, her parents are out with some friends and said they would be back by twelve at the latest.
She turns on the light and heads for the kitchen, bright lights dancing across the shiny surface of the counters.
Opening the fridge she takes out leftover spaghetti and throws it onto a plate, not bothering to warm it up, she flops onto the couch before turning on the TV to the news.
Nothing really interesting, and Robin was about to turn it off until a photo flashed on the screen. It was of a popular gay club in Indianapolis; the same one that Robin and Eddie would go to when they went to the city together. She wondered if Eddie was seeing this, and if he was thinking back to when they did that too.
By the time the news turned to ads she had lost all appetite, leaving the half finished plate of pasta on the counter before heading upstairs and falling down into her bed.
The window was opened just enough for the cool night air to flow in. The moon shone bright now, but fear still racked her brain.
The memories were horrible; vines wrapping around her legs, arms and neck, the fear in Nancy's eyes, the horror of watching the ground split open into two, and having to go back to Hawkins to find Max in a coma. Robin thought about Eddie and how he almost killed himself to buy us more time to kill Vecna, it helped and we were able to kill Vecna without Eddie dying.
Not wanting to think about that anymore, she slipped out of her jeans and shirt before chucking on a worn pair of flannel pants and a ripped Beatles shirt.
Slithering under the covers she tried to think about anything else than that, she thought about hanging out with Steve and the others, the kids, anything to distract herself from the uncomfortable past.
***
The sun shone into her eyes as she woke up, checking the clock next to her, she almost had a heart attack when she noticed the time. Calming down she reminded herself that she had the day of today and didn't need to work.
Robin could hear her parents downstairs, the coffee grinder busy at work and the sizzle of bacon on the stove was loud enough to be heard over the grinding.
Working her way out of the sheets, she wanted to jump back into the bed; to answer its call. But she had planned to meet up with the others today around one, so with only two hours to get ready (which was ample time she just takes way too long in the shower.)
Pulling out clothes she was going to wear she headed over to the bathroom, stopping as she heard her mothers voice rise over the sizzling in the kitchen.
“Robin! There you are! We were wondering if you would wake up.” Her smile was big as she peeked out from the kitchen to the hallway upstairs.
“Yeah well- surprise! I’m heading to a shower, I'll be down in a second.” she told her mom before heading down the hallway towards the bathroom.
“Just so you know I made you some bacon for you!” she called after Robin before heading back down to the kitchen to finish cooking.
The bathroom steamed up as she started the shower, letting the beads of heat run down her body, suds flowing down her legs.
She remembered the night after they finished everything. The cold was horrid, seemingly sticking to her skin, so she turned the shower to the hottest she could handle before scrubbing her skin, trying to get the feeling off of her.
Washing the shampoo out of her hair, she stepped out of the shower; cold air engulfing her. Shivering she reached for her towel and dried herself off before slipping into clothes.
Downstairs, her father was reading the newspaper while drinking a coffee that looked like it had so much sugar that it should have been considered more sugar than coffee. Her mom was in the kitchen scraping the rest of the bacon onto a plate.
“Thanks mum!” Robin stated, while she probably should have said it with a more kinder tone she honestly didn't care that much.
"You should grab an orange! they're fresh from the market, got them yesterday." her mother remarked before placing an orange onto Robin's plate.
“Oh, thanks… I guess.” she grumbled.
Robin didn’t hate oranges, she just didn’t like being told what to do. Especially not from her parents.
***
The door bell rang, a shrill sound echoed through the now empty house. Her parents had left for some clothes shopping; Robin wanted to go, but the thought of her parents judging her every clothing decision and forcing her to get something that only a priss like Nancy would wear.
Nancy… she wasn't that much of a priss, but after years of conditioning herself to believe that she is a priss it came out more natural than what she really was: a fucking badass. She was an amazing girl, real pre-
The doorbell rang again, interrupting her thoughts.
“Shit-” she must have been too busy thinking to answer the door.
“Nancy!” Robin exclaimed as she swung the door open to reveal a brown haired lady in a baby pink sweater, standing expectantly at the door.
“There you are! What took you so long?” Nancy asked, with a tinge of annoyance.
“Sorry! I didn't hear you the first time!” she answered , hoping that her apology would take the annoyance out of Nancy’s voice.
“Well you’re here, and not dead, so that's all that matters.” she stated blankly, like all the trauma they went through didn’t matter.
“Oh… well, yeah that's important I guess.” Robin agreed, before she slipped her shoes on and stepped out into the cool fresh air.
Steve's car was parked in her driveway, the bright may sun reflected off of its perfectly clean surface.
Hopping into the backseat along with Nancy, she shared a quick smile with Steve as he looked back at them.
“Took you two long enough!” he complained while backing out of the driveway, while he sounded annoyed the smile on his face gave away the fact that he was joking.
Smiling Robin looked at Nancy, who was gazing out of the window with a small smile on her face.
“So then big boy, where are you taking us today?” Eddie grinned, leaning in closer to Steve.
“Yeah,” Nancy started, “where are you taking us.”
Steve sighed, shaking his head, “We're going bowling! Did I not tell you guys when I set this up?”
“No!” Robin exclaimed, feeling a smile rise across her face, “All you told us was when you were going to pick us up!”
“Yeah sorry! I would have told you guys if you had asked!” He huffed, rolling his eyes.
“Are we going for dinner or not?” Eddie asked, “because Wayne isn’t going to be home and I don't want to make myself a bowl of mac n cheese again.”
“I mean,” Steve starts, “we could always grab something if we want, unless somebody has something that they need to get too.”
“No, we can grab something, my parents don’t give a shit about how late I am going to stay out,” Nancy answered.
“Yeah same here,” Robin agreed “I don’t have anything I need to get too tonight”
“Okay then, it's settled, we will grab something after dinner.” Steve agreed, before pulling into the parking lot of the bowling alley.
Bright lights flashed as they entered the bowling alley, the music blared in their ears, Robin looked around as the others got their bowling shoes.
🎵All I know is that to me🎵
🎵You look like you're lots of fun🎵
🎵Open up your lovin' arms🎵
🎵I want some, want some🎵
“Hey, I got you the shoes.” Steve grinned sitting down next to her, “I guessed the size and I hope that I got it right.”
“I think that you got the right size.” Robin answered, slipping on the shoes.
“Have you ever bowled before?” He asked, while tying up his shoes.
“No, have you?” She added, Robin didn’t want to know how bad she was going to be at bowling; even though she would probably be quite bad at it.
“Yeah, once when I was younger.” Steve replied.
Standing up, she headed towards the lane that Eddie and Nancy were standing at.
Nancy turned around with a smile, before handing a rainbow bowling ball to Robin, their hands brushing.
“I thought that you would like it!” she grinned before turning around and taking another ball.
Does she know? Does she know I like girls? Does she hate me for it? Well she can’t, otherwise she wouldn’t know- but what if? No, she probably just thinks that I like rainbows. That has to be it!
“Robin?” Nancy looks back at her expectantly, “You coming?”
Robin realises she was just standing there, “Sorry! I’m just a little tired.”
Nancy smiles, and Robin’s heart lights up.
Brushing it off as nerves she started towards the others with Nancy, Steve gives Robin a raised eyebrow, a smile slowly lifting in the corners of his mouth.
“No, Steve,” she gives him an eye roll, “No, we're friends,”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that! I am just happy that you are friends now.” he reassured her, while turning to watch Eddie on his turn.
“Strike!” Eddie yells out before turning around and giving everyone a big goofy grin.
“woo!” Steve cheers, jumping up to give him a hug before awkwardly dismissing it into a pat on the back.
“Hey, Robin!” Nancy exclaimed, “it’s your turn!”
Robin smiled as she got up, grabbing the rainbow bowling ball.
As she was about to let go, a few teenagers started yelling at them.
“Murderer!”
“Freak!”
“Faggot!”
Eddie flinched, cowering as they yelled. He would have most likely fought back if he was the version of himself before all of the murder accusations, but now he’s scared that everything that is uttered from his mouth will be twisted against him.
“Hey! No, we don’t fucking call him that!” Steve shouted out at them, “He is not a faggot, and most of all he is not a murderer!”
Steve wraps his hands around Eddie, watching as they walk off, shooting dirty looks behind themselves.
“You okay?” Robin asks, walking up behind them.
“Yeah…” He replies the lost look in his eyes says otherwise.
“Do you think that we should end it here?” Steve inquires, looking at the others.
“I don’t really care, I think it should be up to Eddie though” Nancy chimed in.
“Yeah, I don’t really care that much either.” Robin agrees.
Looking at Eddie who has moulded into the arm that Steve has put around him he nods.
“If it isn’t too much I wouldn’t mind ending it here,” Eddie murmurs, clearly still a little lost in his world.
“Okay, do you still want to go out for dinner?” Steve asks, a gentle touch to his voice that Robin has barely ever heard yet.
“I don’t think I want to,” Eddie hesitated before continuing, “Do you think that it would have been better if I had actually died?”
“What! No! Of course not!” Robin jumped in, placing her hand on his arm, “that would have been the worst thing that ever happened to us!”
“We would have never even considered that!” Nancy assured me.
“Cmon, lets go,” Steve murmured, before leading Eddie out of the bowling rink.
Robin glanced at Nancy who gave her a worried smile, before catching up with the two boys.
Robin's stomach does another flip, and at that moment she realises it is much more than nerves.
🎵You spin me right round, baby, right round🎵
🎵Like a record, baby, right round, round, round🎵
🎵You spin me right round, baby, right round🎵
🎵Like a record, baby, right round, round, round🎵