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Robin is the first to wake, the room spilling full of goo.
Robin scans the room anxiously and notices Nancy lying flat on her back, eyes shut as if she were sound asleep.
Robin begins to panic.
“No, no, no, no, no. No! Nancy!”
Robin manages to get up after stumbling several times in the quicksand-like goo.
Robin finally reaches Nancy, shaking her as if she were stuck inside Vecna’s trance.
“Nancy! No, no, no.”
Robin screams louder than the last time, “Nancy! Come on, Nancy… Please.”
Nancy finally awakes, eyes heavy, adjusting to the white-filled room.
“Come on, come on. Are you okay, Nance?”
“Yeah. I think so,” Nancy manages to blurt out. She looks around, absolutely horrified. “Wha-. What happened?”
Robin gulps and looks around, scared for her life. “I don’t- I don’t know. I guess we must’ve fallen, Nance.” Robin looks up at the atomic matter. “And also clearly didn’t destroy it because there’s weird ghostbusters goo spilling down into a room that we are IN FACT stuck in, and it’s filling up inch by inch as I speak, and we’re obviously going to die here. I-i mean, there’s no way Steve and Dustin can get in here. This is the literal definition of doom-”
Nancy grabs Robin's shoulders, “Robin.”
Robin giggles anxiously while fidgeting with her rings, “Right. I’m talking about anything other than commuting a plan.”
“I don’t know what happened. I think I just pissed it off, Robin.” Nancy stands up, “Come on, we need to get up. Now.”
Robin looks up at Nancy, tears filling her eyes. She looks around the room and watches as the goo fills up the room.
Nancy grabs her by the hand, and Robin whips her head back to meet Nancy’s gaze.
“Come on, I’ve got you”. Robin nods tentatively, and Nancy helps her up. “Let’s get the hell outta here.”
Both girls look around, seeking to find a way to escape. They notice the door.
Robin points, “Come on, over here.”
They stumble through the goo, tripping occasionally and helping each other up.
Robin grabs the handle, only to realize that it has broken into pieces.
“No, no, no! Shit. Shit. Shit. We’re fucked.” Robin runs her hands through her hair, stressed.
Nancy grabs Robin, “If we push against it, it should open. It’s worth a try.” Robin nods.
They both begin to slam against the door as if treasure was on the other side.
“COME ON! SHIT!.” Nancy screams in frustration.
Nancy looks around frantically, searching for anything that could somehow stop this nightmare.
Her eyes focus on a chair. She begins stumbling through the goo, making her way.
“What are you doing?, Robin yells.
“A few floors down, it looked like one of those soldiers cut through that door.” She grabs the leg of the chair.
She begins to make her way towards the door, “Watch out.”
Robin takes the warning.
As Nancy bangs the leg of the chair against the door, it makes everything worse. More goo begins to spill through the new hole in the door.
“Shit! Get back.”
“Shit. Shit. Shit. What now?”
Nancy notices the table. “The table, Robin! Get on the table, now.”
Robin gulps, “I’m unathletic enough as it is. I can barely walk through this goo.”
Nancy grabs her hand, “Come on. We need to get on.”
They both manage to get on. “Okay, well, now what?”
Nancy looks around, terrified. “Help!”
Robin joins her pleas, “Someone, Dustin, Steve. Help!”
They both stand up. “Help, Steve help!”
Nancy looks around at the goo, “Robin, sit down. It’ll distribute our weight evenly.”
They both sit down, and Nancy begins to call out for help again. Robin looks pitiful.
“They’re not coming, Nance. They should’ve heard us by now.”
Nancy looks at Robin and realizes she has a point.
A few seconds of silence go by.
“Do you remember Mrs. Clicks, class?”
“What?”
“Mrs. Clicks class. I always sat in the back, hidden from everyone. I guess I was kind of an observer in a way. I can probably name everyone who was in that class. I-. Robin looks away. “I never talked to anyone in there, which is probably why everyone thought I was some kind of weird nerd or something. Well, I am weird and a nerd, but people probably thought- you know what never mind. What I’m trying to say is that you-.“
Robin turns her head to look at Nancy.
“You were such a priss,” Robin says while running a hand through her hair.
Nancy chuckles slightly, “Shut up.”
Robin laughs along with her. “No, seriously, I mean, you were such a priss. You would sit up so tall with an insane posture that was actually impressive. I never understood how people could sit so straight like that. Every time Mrs. Click asked a question, you were always the first to have your hand up. You never got a question wrong. I mean- quite frankly, I was jealous of you. Jealous that you could sit there with so much confidence and throw yourself out there, Nance."
Nancy smiles slightly, tears forming in her eyes. She can’t tell if it’s from being fully aware that she’s about to die or because she and Robin never got to be as close as she truly wanted.
Robin continues, “I would always sit in the back of the class watching you. Watching how you carried yourself. The way your hair flowed effortlessly and how it stayed done just satisfied me. I remember Steve would constantly be gawking over you. I mean, the dingus couldn’t take his eyes off you. And you…” Robin trails off, looking down at her own lap, beginning to fidget with her rings.
Robin starts up again, voice shaky, “You couldn’t take his eyes off him or his stupid hair either.” A watery chuckle escaped her lips as a tear spills down her cheek.
She wipes it off before Nancy can see it. However, Nancy saw it. Nancy Wheeler sees everything.
Nancy’s mouth drops slightly as if every piece in her brain disconnected and reconnected again. “Oh. Robin I-. I didn’t know you liked Steve. I’m sorry.”
Robin snaps her head back up to Nancy. “What? Christ, Nancy.” Robin sighs loudly, “Of course not. He’s like my twin brother. Quite frankly, if I ever had some secret undying love for Steve, that would honestly be considered incest.”
Nancy’s brows furrow into confusion. “I don’t-. I don’t understand.”
Robin looks around at the goo filled room and realizes that there’s no backing out now. They were going to die. Robin was going to die here, still keeping her secret from Nancy. The secret that consumed her everyday life. The secret that she’s tried to suppress. The secret that’s kept her up late at night, anxious. It was now or never.
Robin begins to talk, avoiding eye contact with Nancy and focusing on a particular goo streak sliding down the wall.
“I was jealous.”
“Of what?”
“I was jealous of Steve, Nancy.” Robin lets out a small, anxious-filled laugh. “Jeez, Nancy. I’d expect you to catch on to what I was saying after you basically became detective Wheeler by taking us to that library. Use that wonderful brain of yours.”
Nancy rolls her eyes with a smile, “Oh shut up. I think I understand what you’re saying, but…”
Nancy trails off.
“But what, Nance?”
“Nothing. I just-. It’s not important.” Nancy turns her head away. Both are now avoiding eye contact.
“Nance. We’re about to drown in goo that looks like it’s straight outta some Goosebumps franchise. We’re basically stuck in the expired milk that Eddie had in his fridge.”
Nancy lets out a small giggle that slowly turns into a frown, “Yeah. Yeah, I know.” Her voice breaks.
Robin immediately clocks it and turns her head back to meet Nancy’s gaze, and it seems Nancy is already staring back. “No- Hey, Hey Nance, it’s okay.”
Nancy quickly wipes the tear from her face. “Is it though? Robin, we’re practically going to die here. You even said it. I mean, we’re seriously going to die here. There were so many more things I wanted to see. I’ll never get to see Mike or Holly walk the stage. Hell, I won’t even see the entire party graduate. I’ll never know if my sister made it out alive or not.”
Nancy begins to cry openly now. She’s no longer hiding. No longer pretending that she’s okay all the time when in reality, she’s not.
She continues, “This is bullshit. Such, such bullshit. I should’ve never shot at that stupid atomic matter thingy. I failed to save us. Just like how I failed saving…”
Nancy doesn’t finish her sentence, but she doesn’t have to because Robin understands. Robin smiles empathetically and grabs Nancy’s hand, rubbing her thumb softly against her knuckle. The touch brings Nancy the comfort that she’s been craving for ages. “Hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to say it.”
Nancy nods. A few seconds of silence pass.
“Robin I-.” Nancy looks up. “What did you mean by you were ‘jealous?”
Robin holds her breath, hands beginning to shake.
“It’s not… It’s not necessarily important right now. We have bigger things to worry about.”
Nancy squeezes Robin's hand, “Robin.”
Robin sighs.
“I was jealous.”
“You already said that.”
“Yeah, I know. Don’t rush me, Wheeler.”
Nancy smiles.
Robin smiles slightly, “I was jealous because of how you couldn’t keep your eyes off of Steve. You would sit there and laugh at his idiotic jokes. He had you wrapped around his finger. You were so closed off to everyone except him. He brought a genuine smile to your face that was different from your other smiles. I wanted you to smile like that at me. I wanted you to look at me. But you couldn’t take your eyes off of him or his stupid hair.”
Both girls begin to laugh. The sound overlaps the movement of the goo dripping down the walls.
“You jealous of his hair, Buckley?”
“Oh yeah, totally. I should’ve brought him with me every time I went to the hairdressers to use him as inspo,” Robin says sarcastically.
Nancy smiles like a dork.
“You can continue.”
“Oh, do I have the floor, your majesty?”
“Robin.”
Robin clears her throat, “Right. Yes. Sorry. Back on track. Okay.”
Nancy nods. Robin stares at her.
A few seconds of silence pass.
“Robin, the goo is rising.”
“OH! yeah. cool. okay. talking. I can do that. Basically, what I’m trying to say is-. I have feelings for you, Nance. Romantic with a capital R. Very capital to be exact. Ever since I first saw you, I fell in love with you. I fell in love with the way you carried yourself. The way you’re so fearless. The way you handle so much shit that nobody should have to go through. You go through so much and yet you continue to show up for the party, for-.”
Robin gulps.
“For me. You…. You always show up for me. Even after I talked your head off at the library at Pennhurst, you still saved me from that dangerous trajectory of slug central in the upside down. Which, by the way, was extremely horrifying. And I know that you just broke up with Jonathan, which is absolutely insane and presumptuous of me to be telling you this. But we’re about to drown any second now, and I couldn’t go out like this… Not without telling you. I was literally handed the opportunity right here. No more secrets.”
Nancy’s eyes widen. She runs the hand that isn’t still holding Robin's hand through her hair.
The words spill out before Robin even gets a chance to think, “And you don’t have to say anything back. I know you probably think I’m… I’m a freak and how I shouldn’t have feelings for you and how it’s a sin and how I’m weird for even thinking about you in anyway like that and I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable due to you now knowing that I had a crush on you the whole time we were fighting slimy monsters together and Vecna/Henry/One but I had to tell you and we’re literally about to die so-.”
“Robin. It’s okay.” Nancy reaches her other hand out and interlocks it with Robin's other free hand.
“Breathe. Air. Please. You need it.”
Robin giggles anxiously, “Yeah. You’re right. Breathing. That’s a good idea.”
Nancy nods, “Can I say something? Please?”
Robin looks away. “If you’re asking if you can push me into the goo, then yes. yes you can.”
“Robin. I’m serious. Would you look at me? Please?”
Robin obliges tentatively.
Nancy starts, “For so long, I’ve felt as if I’ve had to stay strong for everyone. My parents, my siblings, and even my friends.”
Robin interrupts, “But the thing is, you don’t have to, Nance. We’re all here for you. Let us in sometimes, would you? We’re here. Hell, I’m here.”
Nancy’s eyes trail down to their interlocked hands. “I know. I know you are, but it’s just-. I don’t know. I think ever since I lost my best friend, I’ve been blaming myself. I… I’ve gotten better with the whole grief thing, but.. It’s hard to allow myself to open up and be so vulnerable with someone. I can’t risk that… especially because I know what the outcome could be in a world that has another dimension. I’m afraid that if I get too close that-.” Nancy begins to cry again.
Robin scooches closer to Nancy.
(Purple Rain starts playing).
“I know. You don’t have to explain, Nance. I’m here. I’m right here.”
”But with you, Robin, I don’t have to pretend. When I’m with you.. I feel lighter in a way.” Nancy begins to fidget with Robins rings this time. Robin smirks slightly
Nancy looks back up, something shifts inside of her. Her pupils have dilated, swallowing the blue.
“Robin. When we had gone to Pennhurst together, I was-.”
“Annoyed. I know. I’m sorry.”
“What? No. Well, I was, but not at you. I was annoyed because I thought you and Steve were together.”
Robin frowns.
“I was also jealous. I was thinking to myself, how could Steve successfully date a girl as unique as you? From the first time I heard you speak, I couldn’t believe it. You’re so smart and.. and funny. You could light up a room with your corny but funny jokes. You practically saved Max, Robin. You’re a genius.”
Robin is smiling like a little kid in a candy store.
“You’re going soft on me, Wheeler?”
Nancy narrows her eyes. “Shut up.”
Robin smirks.
“The more we’ve fought monsters together, the more I’ve gotten to know you. Yeah, it might suck having to wonder if we’ll make it to the next day, but at the end of the day, I’m always grateful that I have you. And Jonathan he-. He was great but…after a while, it started to feel like I was missing something with him. We both realized we liked different stuff. We wanted different things for our lives. We started to hide stuff from each other. It was like.. like we were scared to bring it up. Eventually, it just kept building. It felt like that with Steve, too. No offense to your ‘twin brother’”.
Robin snorts, “Non taken. Dingus will be fine.”
Nancy laughs, “My point is, I like you too, Robin. I’ve liked you since Pennburst. I know my feelings haven’t been around as long as yours, but that doesn’t make it any less true. I like you. I really like you.”
Robin's eyes widen. She chokes on her own spit, coughing into oblivion.
“Am I under Vecna/Henry/Ones trance right now?”
Nancy grabs Robin by the side of the neck and pulls her forward gently until their foreheads are touching.
“No, I’m real. I promise. I’m here, trapped inside a room filling up with goo, with you. And I like you.”
Robin smiles, “If you couldn’t tell, I don’t usually confess my feelings to someone in a room filled with weird white goo.”
Nancy laughs with suppressed tears behind it. “I would hope not.”
Robin laughs until it turns into a cry. “I can’t believe we’re gonna die. If I knew we were gonna wake up in this hellhole, I would’ve confessed way sooner, but for some reason, confessing to you felt much easier now since I know I’m about to die.”
Nancy’s voice goes soft, “Yeah, me too.”
“We’re a mess.”
Nancy lets out a wet laugh, “We really are.”
Robin raises one hand to Nancy’s cheek tentatively. Thumb gently wiping away Nancy’s tears. “Let it out. No more pretending. No more staying strong for others. You can cry. Let yourself be free for one last time.”
Nancy leans into the touch and closes her eyes. She’s crying harder now, but it’s not a full-blown sob. It’s a cry of relief. A cry of “I’m okay, and you’re here”. A cry of “It’s finally okay to let it go.”
Robin wipes off the tears gently as they flow slowly, just like the goo.
They both lift their foreheads and look around one more time. The goo is seconds away from reaching the table.
They look at each other with melancholy-filled eyes.
“Can we share brain cells again?”
Nancy laughs, “You’re so stupid. Yes, we can.”
They bring their foreheads together for the last time. Robin brings her hand up again more confidently, and caresses Nancy’s jaw.
“I loved you, Nancy Wheeler.”
Nancy begins to cry again. Robin joins her.
“I loved you, Robin Buckley.”
Nancy cups both sides of Robin's face and kisses her. She doesn't let go. She holds on as if she would disappear if she let go. Robin kisses back just as eagerly. They slowly break off the kiss as the sound of the goo stops. Robin opens her eyes and looks around. The goo is frozen rock sold.
“Holy shit, Nance. Look!”
“Robin, we made it!”
“HOLY SHIT, NANCE. PINCH ME.”
Robin and Nancy stand up, and Robin immediately grabs Nancy. She spins her around in her arms. As Robin lets her go, they both stare into each other's eyes. Nancy is the first to act, grabbing Robin's face once again to kiss her without the fear of goo consuming them whole. Robin makes a surprised sound against Nancy’s mouth, but then begins to kiss back.
Nancy tilts her head, deepening the kiss. Nancy begins to push Robin backwards into the frozen goo wall, lips not daring to separate. Robin whimpers into her mouth; it vibrates. Nancy returns the sound.
Robin moves her lips to Nancy’s neck.
Nancy manages to breathe out, “We shouldn’t.”
Robin nods as she begins to kiss back up to Nancy’s mouth, “Yeah, yeah, you’re right,” Robin says before immediately connecting her lips back to Nancy’s mouth.
There's a bang on the wall. It’s loud enough to make Robin and Nancy jump away from each other immediately. Pieces of wall debris fall onto the floor. They begin to shake and stare at the wall, anxiously.
“No need to fear, Stevie is here!”
Robin lets out a sigh of relief. “Finally, Dingus. Took you long enough.”
—-------------------
Alternative ending.
“I loved you, Nancy Wheeler.”
Nancy begins to cry again. Robin joins her.
“I loved you, Robin Buckley.”
Nancy cups both sides of Robin's face and kisses her. She doesn't let go. She holds on as if she would disappear if she let go. Robin kisses back just as eagerly. They separate and hug each other as hard as they can.
The goo rises over the table. It continues to rise until it covers both of them. And as the goo finally covers them whole, they both begin to remember how it was to hold each other for the first time in such a frightening time. They both went under, accepting the fact that this was it. These were their final moments. Although they faced hell and torment from the monsters, they had a damn good time when they finally had a break, even if it was only for 5 minutes.