Chapter Text
"Bye, Vickie!" Robin called out as Vickie left the emptying band room with a few other people. Probably going to a party Robin wasn't invited to.
"Bye!" Vickie called back and waved. It was a normal wave. It didn't have any deeper meaning. It wasn't telling Robin to stop being weird and creepy. Right?
That was a normal wave. You're overthinking things again.
Robin was not overthinking this, no matter what Steve thought. She sent back a mental image of her blowing a raspberry at him.
Real mature, Buckley. Now get out of here. I'm bored waiting for Dustin and the other dweebs.
What about Lucas and the basketball team? No one to hang out with there?
If Lucas wasn't hanging off of Andy right now, I might go over and give him more congratulations, but I have no desire to deal with any of the assholes who were up Billy's butt all last year.
Okay, what about Will and El? They were at the game for Lucas?
And risk awkward, forced politeness with Nancy and Jonathan? No, thank you. Come on, Robbie, I really don't want to hang out with anyone but you.
A spike of anxiety speared her gut. That was-
I know, I know, that sounded like 'pre-fence' talk. Steve's chagrin at being caught out flowed through their connection, then cut off with a snap. Whatever was getting through before was gone.
That was good. She already felt guilty enough that she bound Steve to her, forever; she didn't need to think he still had that kind of devotional bleed over for her. At least she could easily cover up her guilt now that he'd locked down his side of the connection. Fine, you win. I'll be out quick. I have to change first, though. I'm not spending another minute in this torture device they call a marching band uniform.
Steve mentally backed away further from the magical "fence" that kept them separate and her magic from overwhelming him. She relished the silence for a moment before she shed the wool uniform.
Now that she knew she was alone, her thoughts circled, as they always did, back to Vickie. She wasn't overthinking it. Steve didn't get it. He couldn't get it. She was destined to lie to everyone she loved, except Steve and the Party.
She was always going to lie to the person she was with, not just about the giant government conspiracy that tried to destroy the town this summer, but about being human at all.
She was always going to lie to her parents about who she was, not just about being gay, but about being their human child.
She shook her head. The Party technically accepted her this summer, even if she didn't fully believe they understood exactly what she was or what she had been doing to Steve. If they knew her, really knew her, they'd be horrified. The only reason Steve wasn't horrified was that damn bond of theirs.
She didn't have a right to this life. She didn't have the right to her friendship with Steve. She didn't belong in the Party, even as an honorary member. She was an interloper.
She touched the taproot that connected them with her magic; it glowed with love and light. Such a beautiful thing, with such horrific consequences. At least the fence meant that Steve felt none of the burden of her truth. He was free from that, even if he was still bound to her.
Robin hung up her uniform and placed it in the garment bag. She placed it back in her band cubby. She straightened up and took a deep breath. She had to go meet Steve.
+++
By the time she made her way out to the parking lot, most people were gone. All the spectators, the basketball team, and the cheerleaders were already on their way to their celebration.
She'd heard rumors it was at the old diner that shut down a few years ago - Benny's. That seemed gross to her, in really poor taste, but that was the theme for the basketball team parties.
Why are you thinking about Benny's?
"It's kinda gross they're having a party there tonight," Robin responded out loud to Steve's psychic question as she walked up to him.
"Yeah, but that's probably the thrill of it." Steve leaned against his car.
"Gross," she reiterated.
"Absolutely," He laughed. "RIP Lucas' virgin liver in that dump. His hangover is gonna be laced with asbestos."
Robin could feel the "back in my day" speech gearing up. "Yeah, yeah, we get it. Back when you were king of the dung hill, they had all the ragers at your place. A castle with distinction."
"Do you see me laughing?" Steve asked, his hands on his hips like he did when he was exasperated with the kids. "Hey, I know I was a bit clingy earlier, and I wanna apologize, but you seemed a bit dow-"
"Steve!" Dustin's voice cut across the parking lot, severing their conversation in two.
Steve turned to the group approaching the BMW. "Dustin! My man, how did the championship go?"
Robin bit her lip, wondering if Dustin would get that Steve used the wrong word on purpose, or just get annoyed at not "understanding" D&D.
"It's not a championship," Dustin whined instead of greeting Robin or asking how the game went, or how well the band played, or any other polite questions. It made Robin wonder if she was an asshole at that age. Then she remembered prom of her sophomore year, the car wreck, and her desperation to leave Hawkins, which bordered on a diagnosable obsession, and thought that maybe she wasn't old enough to ask that question yet.
"What else do you call a game that comes at the end of a long series of games, where you face your biggest rival to win or lose everything?" Steve asked.
Dustin's mouth gaped before he honed in on the one thing he could. "That sounds like basketball talk. Are you talking about basketball? Are you talking about Lucas' choosing basketball over Hellfire? Are you mad we chose Hellfire over conformity?" Seemed like Dustin was feeling a bit more guilty about missing Lucas' game and about calling in Erica as the backup than she or Steve originally thought.
Good. She could feel Steve's exasperation, especially, building up between them. Robin and Steve narrowed their eyes at Dustin in sync.
Erica and Mike finally arrived, walking sedately up to the group. "Now you've done it, asshole," Mike griped. "They're about to psychically blast your ass into the dark ages."
Robin began, "We actually didn't care that you didn't go to the game," a bit of a lie, but true enough for this conversation. There were plenty of people at the game to support Lucas tonight, and what mattered was seeing their faces in the crowd when he looked. Which he did, turning his megawatt smile on all of them.
"You had other obligations and other friends to support, we understand that," Steve continued.
"But to come over here," Robin said.
"Give us a hard time about the name of your last D&D session for the quarter," Steve loomed a bit, and Robin swore the shadows around them grew with his anger.
"And then when we joke around with you, you accuse us of conformity?" Robin finished. "Think before you speak, little man."
"Yes, Dustin," Came another voice, applauding Steve and Robin's tirade. "Think before you speak. You might have gotten out of that trap in the first hour of the game if you had." Eddie and the rest of Hellfire made their way over to the little hangout by Steve's car.
It was a tenuous thing, but not exactly new, that Eddie, Jeff, Gareth, and even Grant might say "hey" when they were there to pick up the players after Hellfire.
Although ribbing Dustin together was new.
"It's a bad habit of his," Steve agreed.
Gareth draped his arm over Dustin's shoulder, "Don't listen to Eddie, man, he's just mad that the trap didn't take at least one of us out of the running for the final battle."
Eddie muttered something that sounded like, "I didn't plan the encounters for a rogue; it would have been better with a ranger."
The group politely ignored him.
The conversation continued as Steve and Eddie gave Dustin a hard time together. It seemed like they really, finally hit it off. Robin should have been paying more attention. There was something fluttering in Steve that she couldn't name, but she heard something nearby that caught her attention. It sounded like sneakers on rough pavement.
She looked around. A person was in the shadows near Eddie's van. A girl, a cheerleader from the ponytail, skirt, and letterman's jacket. At first, Robin thought she was the lookout for someone harassing Eddie: graffiti or slashing his tires. It wasn't unknown to do anonymous violence to his stuff, since assholes couldn't get away with doing anything directly to him without losing their source.
The unease Robin felt pulled Steve's attention from the conversation to the girl. Isn't that Chrissy Cunningham?
I think so. She's very dedicated to the ponytail. Robin hummed in her mind.
What's wrong with her? Something feels off looking at her, Steve thought. He was, theoretically, better at the whole weirdness thing than she was; it came with being a Paladin.
She knew she could do everything he did and more, but it felt like his domain between the two of them. How should I know? I wasn't one of the geeks who made you a real-life D&D character. Hell, you were the one who said the vow and sealed the magic.
No, you weren't. He mentally tapped his chin in thought before he turned away from Chrissy to Hellfire. But they were.
Robin kept her eye on the girl, and the way she curled up against the van made it look like she was having a very bad evening. Robin really hoped Steve was wrong. That this was a normal kind of bad evening, not a weird one.
"Hey, Henderson?" Steve interrupted.
Dustin continued talking with Gareth and Grant.
Steve snapped his fingers in Dustin's face. "Hey, Henderson?"
"Jesus, Steve. Have some patience."
The childlike hypocrisy of that made even Robin look back towards the drama and caught Steve and Eddie giving each other a look like, "No, you take him."
Steve pinched the bridge of his nose like Dustin was one wrong sentence from giving him a headache and asked, "If a Paladin wanted to cast detect evil, how would they?"
"What is this? Do my ears betray me? Is Steve Harrington asking about D&D?" Eddie clutched his hands in front of his chest like a frightened old lady clutching at her pearls.
"Why do you need to-" Dustin began, still focused more on his friends than the tone and subtext of what Steve was asking.
Mike, on the other hand, was quicker to figure it out. Erica was not far behind him. "Oh fuck!" Mike said. "Uh."
"Verbal and somatic spell components," Erica added quickly.
"What the hell does that mean?" Steve asked, his impatience toppling over into his own brand of frantic panic. His hand gestures turned into arm gestures, and his voice was loud enough that they would have gathered a crowd if there was one still around here to gather.
Robin turned back to Chrissy, who was now looking over at the group with a curious head tilt.
Eddie opened his mouth to explain, but Mike interrupted him. "It means you have to say something and do something."
"Yeah," Jeff said, with a chill aplomb that could mean he was good in a tight spot or probably just meant he was confused and stoned like a normal Friday night. "Like a Paladin would connect to their patron and sense of duty through what they say and do. They might say a prayer and perform a specific movement. Coming up with them, when the guide doesn't have one already, is a lot of fun."
Steve blinked and grinned as an idea started to form between them. Steve asked, "Could I just say, 'I cast detect evil?'"
"YES!" Mike, Dustin, and Erica all screamed at once.
"Okay, cool," Steve said before he closed his eyes. "In Robin's name, my ride-or-die, I cast detect evil. Um, let darkness fly!" As he spoke the words of his spell, the rhyme coming from somewhere between them, he pivoted just like she'd seen Lucas do during the game. It was a way to stay open for the ball and get a 360 view of the court. Of course, Steve had taught him that move. Of course, Steve would use it now.
The moment he'd finished the pivot, Robin felt their connection flare with bright urgency; it didn't even need to ask if she'd grant Steve that power because she was already on board. Bright golden light poured from her into Steve.
She was sure only she could see it until one of the Hellfire members shrieked like a girl and another cried out, "What the hell?"
From Steve's heart center spilled a blob of the same bright light. The blob split into four smaller blobs that zipped this way and that around Steve, like the light that represented Tinkerbell in the stage play. Then, as if they'd gotten their marching orders, all at once they all paused before they zoomed off into the clear, night sky.
All except one, which zipped directly over to Chrissy. She yelped as the little ball of golden light flew around her head, illuminating her in the dark, leaning against Eddie's van.
"Oh, shit," Eddie said. "Chrissy."
"What the fuck is that?" Gareth reiterated. Robin thought he might have been the screamer earlier.
"That is so cool!" Mike, Dustin, and Erica all said the same thing at the same time.
"Okay, so uh, evil detected. Chrissy Cunningham is definitely cursed," Robin said.
"She's not evil?" Jeff asked with the seriousness Robin expected from an Upside Down veteran, not a newbie. More points towards being unexpectedly good in a crisis.
"Definitely not," Steve reassured everyone there. "What else can I do?" Steve turned on the freshman. "Come on, guys, how can I help her?"
"Protection from Evil!" Eddie shouted. "Paladins have that spell at level-"
"I'm level nine," Steve said. "Uh, at least."
"What the fuck?" Eddie muttered under his breath, his eyes glowing bright in a way that Robin recognized from when she looked at Tammy.
"But you have to touch the person, and they need to be willing," Grant added.
"And I cast it the same way?"
"Actually, you-"Grant began, and Eddie covered his mouth.
"Yes, Harrington, exactly," Eddie said.
Dustin picked up on Eddie's intention. "Yeah, say something and do something."
"Cool, got it. Get permission, do the magic, save the cheerleader," Steve chanted as he jogged over to Chrissy.
The cheerleader in question shrank back from Steve. It was subtle. She didn't curl up like a shrimp or turn away in horror. She didn't even step back slightly, but the closer Steve got, the tighter her shoulders grew, and her toes pointed away from the van, like she could save herself and sprint in the other direction. Robin understood that feeling, when you were scared of who was approaching, but more scared of letting them know you were afraid.
Robin didn't know if the rest of her group could hear Steve and Chrissy's conversation on the other side of the parking lot, but she could as if she were standing next to Steve. "Hey, this is going to sound super weird, but can I protect you?"
"What's going on?" Chrissy asked. Robin admired her. She was so obviously freaking out, but she didn't just roll over and let Steve do what he wanted. She was trying to protect herself.
"I don't know," Steve admitted. "Something weird. Something is wrong, and I'm afraid that you're part of it. Or, well, a victim of it?"
The golden light that hovered around Chrissy illuminated her eyes, making it obvious that they had grown wide. In fear? Or surprise? Robin didn't know. "What does that mean?" She asked.
"Something feels off," Steve ran his hand through his hair. A tell he had when he was nervous and frustrated. Robin got it; she was both, too. They needed permission to help Chrissy, and the girl was obviously wary of them. It made sense after the preternatural light show a few moments before, but it wasn't helping them save her.
"It does," Chrissy agreed, steeling herself, surprising Steve and Robin. "So, go ahead. I trust you. You've been nothing but nice to me when you were at school."
"Oh," Steve said, and Robin felt the zing of surprise and wonder from him. He didn't hear that enough, that he was respected, for the right reasons, with people from his former court. "Uh, yeah. I need your permission," he said, his hands palm up and waiting for hers.
"Oh," Chrissy said again, placing her hands in his. "Okay, you have my permission."
"In Robin's name, I raise my blade, no evil shall pass, and none be afraid. I shield you now, by this golden light be stayed," Steve said, bastardizing their vow once again.
Robin felt their connection flare brightly. This time, there was affection behind his general need to protect. Steve cared about Chrissy, personally. Robin could feel that and made that same urge her own, granting Steve the power he needed to dispel the evil presence that surrounded her.
Like before, the reaction was immediate. An invisible, cleansing wind blasted Chrissy from nowhere, flinging her bangs up and whipping at her skirt as she glowed from within.
The shadows from around the van vanished as the spell faded. The detect evil spell, the little glowing ball of light, faded too. Robin knew, without a doubt, that whatever had plagued Chrissy was gone.
"Oh my gosh," Chrissy said, turning to Steve and blinking as if waking up from a nightmare. "I feel so light."
From behind Robin, the freshmen cheered, joined by some of Hellfire as they realized whatever Steve was trying to do had succeeded.
"This is fucking crazy," Eddie said from behind her. "This is banana crackers."
Dustin grinned back at the guy he admired so much. "Yeah, it really is."
Chrissy followed Steve back to the rest of the group.
Even with the evil around them dispelled, the detect evil spell had split off into four directions. There were three more hotspots to look for, probably three more people to help.
"That was the Upside Down? Right?" Mike asked as Steve and Chrissy arrived together.
"I mean, El and Will aren't here to confirm-" Robin said.
"But it's gotta be." Steve finished for her.
"You know it's bad when they're not even mad, and they start doing the twin thing," Erica spoke up.
"The twin thing?" Eddie asked his head swiveling between them all.
"Oh, yeah-" Steve said.
"When we're not paying-" Robin added.
"Attention, we can get a little," Steve continued.
"Weird," they both said in unison.
Eddie connected some dots and pointed to Steve, "That's because he's a Paladin sworn to you?"
"Yeah, the kids said a Paladin could swear to a God, an ideal, or another powerful being," Robin agreed.
"And Robin is powerful," Dustin chimed in, clearly pleased.
Chrissy raised her eyebrows, looking between Robin and Steve.
"I'm a fairy," Robin explained, and then tried to keep the panic out of her voice when she realized the other meaning of that sentence. One she didn't want to say out loud. "I, um, mean, like, the fae." The rest of Hellfire, not in the know, and Chrissy looked at Robin like she was an alien.
"And the Upside Down is fairies?" Gareth yelped as he asked, still clearly freaked out by everything going on, Robin and Steve included. He tried to connect a few dots together, but he connected the wrong ones.
"The Upside Down isn't related to Robin's thing," Dustin explained.
"Yeah, it's totally separate. The Upside Down is more, um, scientific?" Mike added.
"God, we gotta get everyone on the same page, huh?" Dustin asked. "Who's got a radio?"
"You know I do, dipshit," Steve said, already unlocking his trunk and pulling out his radio and his bat.
Everyone not in the know goggled at the bat.
"You need a weapon to fight monsters," Dustin said, glowing with pride. He loved to show off, and Steve's Paladin status, especially with his weapon of choice, was one of those things.
"Monsters?" Grant asked. He had a gleam in his eyes that reminded her of Dustin when he brought in the recording of Russian spies.
"Yeah, the Upside Down is full of monsters that'll eat your face off," Steve said.
"That's what was attacking me?" Chrissy finally spoke up, her voice stronger and steadier than Robin expected.
"That's the thing," Steve began.
"It was totally the Upside Down," Robin said.
"It felt evil, just like the Gate did," Steve added.
"But it was like, I don't know, an aura, not a monster," Robin added.
"Not even an invisible monster," Steve said.
"But it's totally linked to it," Robin continued.
"We could feel it," Steve concluded.
"That is fucked up," Grant whispered. Whether he was referring to the Upside Down or them as a freak show, she didn't know, and didn't want to clarify.
"Shut up," Dustin said, defending Steve and Robin from the implication.
"It's only kinda fucked up," Erica amended. "That's just facts."
"Thank you," Steve said, one hand on his hip, a look of motherly exasperation pressed in his lips. "But we've got to find the three other points of light. I don't know what it means, exactly, but from what happened here, I think three other people are at risk of being attacked by whatever was hunting Chrissy."
In that moment, from over the radio in Steve's hand came, "Hey, guys?" It was Max. Max, who was alone in her trailer right now. "I think I have a code red? There's a glowing ball of light following me around, and uh, I don't feel so great. O-over."
Steve looked at Robin in horror, "Max!"