Tumgik
#eddie x robin friendship
pansyherondale · 2 years
Text
robin: do you not find it strange that out in the woods, there is a tree somewhere currently growing wood for your coffin
eddie: pffft. bold of you to assume i’d ever die
nancy: *stares into the camera like it’s the office*
603 notes · View notes
loveinhawkins · 11 months
Text
Robin’s always had a soft spot for Eddie Munson, but up until recently it had been in a distant kind of way; she appreciated his class clown act, the way it had a domino effect of keeping the heat off the band kids, how he hogged the spotlight for any passing douchebag’s attention.
But then they both literally dive into The Upside Down, and her appreciation reaches a whole new level.
They’re in the Wheeler’s garage, thanking their lucky stars that four bikes exist in 1983 (and yeah, Robin’s sure that if she thinks about the whole time thing for half a second more her brain will promptly melt, so she doesn’t).
Each of them are pushing their chosen bike down the driveway, in a dazed sort of silence—the high of the Lite-Brite worn off in the face of another grim journey through The Upside Down.
Steve is flagging, Robin can hear it: his breathing’s growing laboured as he walks, an occasional unsteadiness to him that’s setting her anxiety off all over again, because what if they were wrong, what if it’s really rabies, and it’s too late, it’s coursing through his veins, and he’s—they’re gonna lose him—
“Hey, Harrington,” Eddie says, swinging a leg over his saddle, “wanna race?”
“… Hmm? Sorry, what?” Steve says.
There’s not even that long of a delay in him speaking, but the pause still has Robin’s heart in her throat.
Eddie’s got one foot on a pedal now, ready to set off. He looks back at them with a shaky grin—like he’s terrified, but he’s still gonna have some fun anyway.
“I’m throwing down the gauntlet, King Steve. Bet I’ll be faster than you.”
Steve scoffs, stands up a little straighter before he mirrors Eddie, balancing on the bike with one foot on the pedal.
“How much are we betting?”
Eddie huffs. “Oh, no money involved,” he says nonchalantly. He raises an eyebrow in challenge. “This is just for the glory.”
And God, there’s that spark back in Steve’s eyes; it’s like Robin can physically see his competitive streak giving him strength.
Eddie Munson, you beautiful soul, she thinks, I could kiss you.
“Faster than me? Yeah, maybe in your dreams, Munson,” Steve says.
But Eddie’s already speeding off with a comical whoop; Steve curses as he hurriedly tries to catch up, yelling, “You dick, that’s cheating!”
“Not in my rulebook!” Eddie says with a cackle.
And for a little while, that’s enough to put Robin’s mind at ease: watching the pair of them taunt each other like kids—hearing Nancy laugh at the spectacle as she bikes alongside her.
But then she falls through the Gate, Eddie close behind her, and they freeze when Steve screams Nancy’s name with such fear.
Robin’s plunged back into a mind-numbing panic; she’s sure that her heart doesn’t even begin to slow until they’ve left the trailer park, until Steve’s control of the RV switches from ‘holy shit, we’re on the run, what have our lives become?’ to something more normal—the reliable, measured driving she’s familiar with, taking her to and from school or work.
Finally, she has time to, um… take stock. Of… things.
She wobbles her way over to Eddie, grabbing onto his elbow as Steve takes a turning.
Eddie instantly holds her up, a steadying hand around her waist. “Oh, hi. I’ve gotcha—” “Your music isn’t actually shit,” Robin says in one breath. “I know, um, on balance, it’s probably not the worst thing I could’ve said, but the delivery was—but, you know, considering I thought Nance was literally about to die, I’d say it was, like, kinda calm all things considered, but—”
Eddie’s chuckling. “Yeah, on balance,” he echoes teasingly, “you were pretty damn funny, actually. Uh, sorry for. Um. Screaming at you? Basically?”
“Basically,” Robin agrees. “Yeah, you were like impressively loud. Not quite eardrum-rupturing level, but y’know, I don’t actually know anyone who’s really had that happen to them; Amanda Wallis said she ruptured hers at the pep rally ‘cause she was standing too close to us—the band, I mean, but—”
Eddie rolls his eyes. “Oh, that’s bull, there’s no way that’d be loud enough to—”
“—I think she just had a grudge ‘cause David C on mellophone got literally the tiniest bit of spit on her, and he was only—”
“Yeah, well, everyone knows you sit in the splash zone at your own risk.”
“Exactly! She’s had plenty of time to learn marching band protocol.”
“Uh-huh, protocol,” Eddie echoes again, with a giggle.
He’s got a nice kind of laugh, Robin thinks: one where she’s never in doubt that he’s laughing with her rather than at her.
“That stuff you do’s pretty cool,” he says; with his free hand, he actually imitates her mime of playing a trumpet. “You must have good, uh…” She can see the exact moment that he’s having second thoughts about saying it, but he forges ahead anyway, with a hilariously uncertain, “Good… lungs?”
“Fascinating attempt at a compliment,” Robin says. “Luckily for you, I accept insults as, like, equal tokens of friendship.”
Eddie does a double take. He doesn’t go so far as letting out a questioning, “We’re friends?”, but he might as well have said it anyway: his eyes widen for a moment, like someone who’s just been unexpectedly asked out to prom.
Steve takes another turning; he does it smoothly enough, but even he can’t stop the RV from moving with it, and Robin stumbles again, very nearly ends up repeating how she toppled right onto Eddie in The Upside Down.
“Woah there, you’re good,” Eddie says, “just gotta find your, uh, what’s it called? Your equilibrium.”
“I don’t have any,” Robin says, all theatrical devastation, and Eddie snorts.
“Sure you do, Buckley. Look, just take my—yeah, that’s it, then just kinda straighten up… yeah, you’ve got it.”
And yes, after a minute or so, Robin’s footing does feel more certain, but she still keeps a stubborn grip on Eddie’s elbow, just in case.
“God, d’you know what I’m gonna do when all this is over?” Eddie says.
“Pray tell.”
“I’m gonna make a list. What was it you said, Madonna, Blondie…? Whatever, I’m getting all of them, m’never getting caught out like that again.”
“I’m hoping that needing music to evade the clutches of a serial killer from an alternate dimension is, um, strictly a one-time thing.”
“Don’t care,” Eddie says. “Still buying those tapes. Just in case.”
And yeah, it’s said partly in jest, but Robin can hear that he means it. Still, it’s the most optimistic that she’s heard him be so far: making plans for after, like he can really see a way through this. Like maybe he finally knows that they’ll help him get there.
“Need a list of tapes from you too, Buckley. You and Harrington.”
Robin smiles. Her first thought is of singing Total Eclipse of the Heart from the dirt-ridden floor of a mall bathroom, but then she thinks of every car ride with Steve, every time they’ve turned up the radio to belt along, and she knows that there are way too many songs to count.
“Forget a list,” Robin says, “I could fill a book. Same for big boy over there.”
Eddie blinks, like he’s suddenly taking stock, too. “Oh yeah,” he says, laughing lightly, “I did say that, huh?”
“Sure did. I was doubting my ears, too.”
Robin had been hoping they’d long since reached the point of being able to joke around with one another. But while Eddie does laugh again, he also starts biting at his thumbnail, glancing over at Steve in the driver’s seat.
“Um, hey.” Robin manages to keep her balance, briefly pressing her knee against his leg. “I didn’t mean anything by it, Eddie.”
“No, I know.” Eddie huffs self-effacingly. “I’ve kinda got permanent foot-in-mouth disease, my report cards would tell you that.”
Well, if he wants to pass it off as sometimes I just say the darnedest things, Robin would be a hypocrite to deny him.
It fascinates her in a sad sort of way though, how he veers between joking and nervousness—like he’s worried he’s intruding on their group, of overstepping somehow.
She wants to tell him: Look, we all got dragged into this, but we chose to stick around, and you’re no different.
But she no longer has the aftermath of Russian drugs to help bypass her own nerves, to kickstart her sincerity.
“Hey, you’re awfully quiet back there,” Steve calls, and Eddie startles.
Robin shakes her head. “Not us, that’s his—”
“Hello? Henderson, I’m talking to you.”
“We’re not even doing anything!” Dustin shouts back in exaggerated affront.
He’s sat on the backseat of the RV, peering out the window along with Lucas, Erica and Max. Robin stifles a chuckle at the sight; they look like they’re on a field trip—the cool kids at the back of the bus.
“Yeah, well, just checking,” Steve says, amused. “For all I know, you coulda been building a gigantic radio again on, like, the roof of this thing.”
“Cerebro,” Dustin says, just as Eddie lets out a baffled, “Uh, again?”
But then they’re pulling into The War Zone’s parking lot, and any chatter abruptly dies.
Afterwards, Steve gets off the road to park in a reassuringly deserted field. They don’t head outside right away (Robin’s not exactly looking forward to prepping Molotov cocktails), instead staying in the RV to eat junk food they’d grabbed beforehand.
Robin discovers that Dustin’s somehow bought five more cans of Pringles and snorts, declaring, “You’ve got a problem.”
At some point, Steve tries to sneak off to the bathroom so he can change his dressings—“And use actual proper bandages!” Robin calls to him; no offence to Nancy’s resourcefulness, but the torn shirt strips only do so much good.
It becomes a more comical than horrifying event, although she’s sure that’s down to Steve deliberately making it so, like a sleight of hand trick: playing it down as he keeps talking to the kids throughout, never wincing even once.
He ends up having to keep the bathroom door open to continue an argument with Erica over which Scoops Ahoy sundae was the best of all time—then figures that he might as well just step out into the open anyway.
At least the wounds have stopped bleeding—although the sight of Steve cleaning around them with bottled water is one that Robin could personally do without.
The kids are entirely unfazed. They flock to Steve, peering at the glimpses he lets them see like he’s just got a cool tattoo. Robin supposes that after El and whatever nightmare wormy thing was in her leg, they’ve seen everything.
Eddie, however, is another matter. He keeps quiet about it, not obvious at all, but Robin watches his face grow paler and paler before Steve wraps the new bandages around his stomach.
Dustin, bless his precocious little heart, must also notice, because he quickly starts up a seemingly impromptu game of charades, meaning that Eddie is soon distracted by his ridiculously over the top gestures.
“No, Steve, how are you not getting this?”
“I thought the whole appeal of this game was that you’re not meant to talk, Henderson. Dude, watch it, you nearly took Max’s eye out with… whatever the hell that was.”
“Oh my god, it’s Back to the Future, obviously! Ow, Max, I didn’t mean to—uh, yeah, the mime needs to be that big, how else am I gonna project what��”
“Dustin, I swear to god, I’m about to project you out the window,” Steve drawls.
Eddie laughs, hides it behind his hand.
But Steve must catch it, because he glances over at Eddie and winks before he’s dragged back into guessing another movie title.
And Robin’s obviously seen Steve wink before—he does it all the time, so much so that she’s become quite adept at reading when it’s a friendly one for her, or if he’s sharing some kind of in-joke with one of the kids.
She’s also seen his attempts at a ‘smooth’ wink towards some girls at work—and look, he’s Steve Harrington, it’s not like he’s going to be bad at it.
But if you ask Robin, it’s never looked quite right, like he’s always performing to an audience he’s unsure of.
But this wink doesn’t look like it belongs to either of those categories. Well, it’s got something in common with the first: that it looks entirely natural, as if he’s doing it almost without thinking. Like it just feels right.
They go through some more rounds of charades—Dustin’s gestures, if possible, getting even more dramatic—and Eddie gradually goes from contributing a few guesses to none at all, curling up on the backseat. He looks utterly wiped out.
Robin tries to catch Nancy’s eye, and after a few attempts, she gets the message, stands up with a nod.
“Okay, let’s take this outside, guys.”
“Spoken like a true camp counsellor,” Max says.
Nancy acts like she’s offended, but her lips keep twitching into a smile. “Max, never say that to me again.”
“There’s more space outside,” Erica says, “so we can duck out the way of Dustin’s windmilling arms.”
“Hey!”
“I’m bored of charades,” Lucas says. “We could do another competition? Like, I dunno, cartwheels or handstands or something?”
“Oh sure, so I can show you up?” Max returns, grinning.
Steve scoffs. “Uh, if you’re doing a cartwheel competition, I would win.”
“Since when?” Dustin says, an obvious taunt that Steve predictably rises to, flipping him off.
“Save your athletics for Vecna, please,” Nancy cuts in dryly.
“It wouldn’t be a fair fight.” Lucas gestures to Steve’s stomach, a little uncertainly. “You know, considering…”
Steve rolls his eyes. “Whatever. Under normal circumstances, I would kick all your asses.”
“Sure,” Robin says brightly, “but Steve, if you do literally anything more strenuous than sitting down right now, I’m gonna—”
“Uh, Steve would kick your asses, actually,” Eddie says slowly. His voice is muffled from the way his hand’s holding up his chin, partly covering his mouth. “He did gymnastics.”
Robin, surprised, looks to Steve; he’s doing that thing where he scratches at his cheek unconsciously, seems to be a mixture of embarrassed and pleased.
“How’d you know that?” he asks.
Eddie shrugs. “We didn’t have a cover for gym one time, remember? There was a whole group of us slacking off but you just kept doing, y’know,” he twirls his fingers, “tricks on that box thingy.”
“Vaulting box,” Steve corrects like he can’t stop himself. He’s sporting an almost abashed little smile that Robin’s never seen before.
Eddie shrugs again. “S’all Greek to me,” he says, interrupts himself halfway through with a deep yawn.
Steve’s eyes soften. And then he’s ushering the kids outside, “C’mon, you can do whatever competition you want for thirty minutes before we get to work.”
“Got it, coach.”
“Shut up, Mayfield.”
“I’ll be your stopwatch if you’re doing handstands,” Nancy chips in, bringing up the rear—she catches Robin’s eye again, subtly tilts her head in Eddie’s direction and mouths Stay?
Robin nods.
“Uh, that won’t be accurate at all,” comes Dustin’s rebuttal—he’s outside now, but his voice still carries. “Unless you can like accurately keep time in your head down to the second—”
“Oh my god, Dustin, you’re such a shithead.”
“Nancy Wheeler, I’m heartbroken.”
Steve’s chuckle floats through the open door. “She said it, dude, not me.”
“You say it all the goddamn time!”
And then the voices fade away until all Robin can hear is distant laughs and joyful screams. It’s relaxing, in its own way.
“No gymnastics for you, Buckley?” Eddie says.
“Nope, not since 7th grade. Managed two cartwheels before I broke my wrist.”
Eddie winces in sympathy. He’s slumping a bit more; Robin makes herself comfy in the opposite corner of the backseat, gives him the most space.
She feels a weird lump at her back, behind one of the cushions. A quick investigation reveals an issue of TV Guide Magazine.
“Ooh, we can find out what we missed while on the run,” she says, waggling it in front of Eddie.
He smiles with a small huff. “Doubt it. Says 1981 on the front.”
“What’s a little more time travel?”
Robin flicks through to the crossword. She’s all too aware that Eddie’s still sat more stiffly than anything else. With Steve, it would be so easy; she could prod him in the thigh with her toe, light touches until he took the hint and relaxed.
But even before they’d really become friends, they were tactile: a tap on the shoulder to grab attention, bumping hips to move each other out of the way whenever they were scooping ice-cream at the same time. It’d been done so unconsciously, like they were already learning to read each other’s minds.
With Eddie, it’s clear that a different approach is needed.
Robin had caught onto that after her misstep at the boathouse, a pit in her stomach at the sight of Eddie’s hands shaking.
But her instinct to reach out, to soothe, made her unthinkingly try again; as they walked in the woods, she’d heard his breathing quicken, and her hand lightly brushed his back. She drew back as he instantly flinched at her touch.
“Sorry, sorry,” she said hurriedly. “Just—just checking you were okay. Sorry.”
Eddie just stared at her before nodding hesitantly.
And Robin wanted to tell him that it wasn’t by chance, that he had people who cared about him; that she did, and it wasn’t a fluke or an accident—she was choosing it.
She keeps her eyes on the magazine, jots down a few crossword answers. It reminds her of summer days spent reading on her grandparents’ porch, not wanting to startle a cat her grandpa had rescued as it approached her. It was always so spooked.
“You’ve just gotta let him come to you, sweet pea,” her grandma would say.
After a couple minutes, she hears Eddie breathe out, the creak of the seat as he lies down. He rests his head right next to her thigh.
“S’good?” he asks, pointing at the magazine.
“It’s pretty easy.” One of the crossword clues is ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the?’ which isn’t exactly taxing. “I’m used to doing the cryptic ones.”
Eddie laughs. He kinda sounds fond. “Of course you are.”
“They’re not that hard, once you know how to read ‘em.”
“Hmm, I doubt that. Lay one on me, Buckley.”
She purses her lips in thought. “Oh, I got this one last week. Condition of Wyoming, five letters.”
Eddie lifts his head ever so slightly to give her a blank look. “Not a fucking clue.”
“State. Get it? ‘Cause ‘condition’ is the definition, and Wyoming is literally—”
“God, I’m surrounded by geniuses.”
“Well, I’ve got the advantage of a summer of code-breaking.”
Robin slowly raises her hand as she speaks—makes sure to do it in Eddie’s line of vision, spots that he doesn’t pull back, that he even gives the tiniest half-nod. She pats his head twice.
Eddie scrunches up his nose. “Sorry, my hair’s gross.”
“It’s not that bad,” Robin says honestly. “Y’know for being on the run, it’s holding up pretty well. I’m getting whatever shampoo you use.”
Eddie smiles. “Sure.”
“Yours is looking way better than mine did after, like, one day getting wrapped up in all this.” Again, without really thinking, Robin adds, “I had all this sweat and blood and puke in it.”
Eddie’s eyes are closed now. He makes an unhappy sound, prods gently at her knee. “You’ve all gotta work on telling me horrific shit. That should not be casual for you, Buckley.”
He sounds emphatic—protective, even. Robin feels unexpectedly emotional.
“Yeah, sorry. Bad habit.”
Silence falls, and by the time Steve enters the RV, Robin has filled in the whole crossword, Eddie dozing by her side.
Steve’s getting another bottle of water—actually drinking it this time. He’s got grass stains on his knees, and he’s sweating slightly, like the ‘stay still’ advice hasn’t once been taken.
His eyes soften again when he sees Eddie sleeping—he doesn’t need to linger, but he does.
Robin watches.
We need more time, Steve, she thinks suddenly. For you to keep looking at him like that—for him to be awake to see it.
Steve tears his eyes away. Lands on her.
She smiles, mouthing What?
Steve rolls his eyes. He imitates her ‘what?’ mockingly, but then he smiles back and taps at his wrist, mimes winding a watch on. It’s what they do whenever they’re slammed at work, wanting to talk, but only able to briefly catch each other’s eyes in the rush. Later.
She taps her wrist. Later, she promises.
He gives her a double thumbs up—what a dork—before heading back outside.
Robin quietly puts the magazine away. Ever so carefully, she lightly strokes Eddie’s hair, feels her heart swell and break at the same time when he sighs contentedly in his sleep.
You’d better look after yourself, Eddie Munson, she thinks. You’ve got people here. People who really want you to stick around.
2K notes · View notes
sarcasticassian · 8 months
Text
Steve and Robin come out to see Corroded Coffin at their Vegas stop and they have a great time and after the concert they and the band go out for drinks because when in Vegas right? and they all maybe go a little too far and get blackout drunk and Steve, Eddie and Robin all wake up in a bed together, fully clothed of course, but incredibly hungover and it takes them a while to notice the rings but then Steve finds the certificate and all hell breaks loose
Robin and Eddie got married last night
Steve has never felt more betrayed in his LIFE, he was supposed to drunkenly marry Robin one day, they're soulmates, how has she ended up married to Eddie?? the two of them shrug as Steve storms around the room, Robin totally apologetic and willing to make it up to Steve, Eddie relaxing back into the bed because now he has a wife and a boyfriend
Eddie has to leave for his next tour stop so they can't annul it straight away but when they do they gleefully tell everyone who can hear that they never consummated their marriage thank you very much and headlines hit the next day about the lead singer of Corroded Coffin getting a divorce from his secret wife, an ex wife who left hand in hand with another man and all hell breaks loose again when Steve realises this means people think they can just hit on Eddie now they think he's single
2K notes · View notes
hannibaldjarin · 9 months
Text
Before the Upside Down, Steve Harrington could sleep like the dead. Once he laid his head on the checkered pattern pillow, Steve would be oblivious to anything happening in the world around him as he found solace in his dreams.
Steve would never admit it to Tommy H or Carol, but his dreams were his only safe place. In Steve's dream world, he wasn't the son to absent parents or the perfect King Steve; he was whatever version of himself that would've never been allowed around the Harringtons or the population at Hawkins High. Steve was comforted by the anonymity that was created as he slept till an alarm or the sunlight peeking through his curtains woke him.
Before the Upside Down, Eddie Munson would laugh as he told the rest of Corroded Coffin about how much he slept during the weekend. But, groan when Uncle Wayne stomped into his bedroom at 4pm wondering, "Boy, since when did you become a vampire?"
Basically, Eddie found it hilarious that he could sleep 16 hours a day and still go to bed at 9pm every night. One thing about Eddie Munson before that fated afternoon with Chrissy Cunningham, he could sleep like a corpse and never worry about sleep avoiding his clutches. Because as Uncle Wayne or a member of Corroded Coffin could tell anyone, Eddie loved to sleep and would theoretically kill anyone who tried to disrupt his slumber.
After the Upside Down, Eddie Munson and Steve Harrington found solace in one another as they struggled to remember who they were before circumstances led them to emotional, mental, and physical scars. Steve could no longer find comfort in his dream world as it replayed his most traumatizing moments from the last couple of years. Eddie could no longer sleep like the dead since he actually knew what it felt like to lay limp and face death.
Eddie and Steve stare into one another's eyes as they share a pillow in Steve's massive bed. Eddie whispers to Steve about how envious he is of his past self as he dramatically recounts Uncle Wayne's stomps or Corroded Coffin's scoffs. As Eddie spoke, Steve wonders if Eddie could be trusted with his deepest secrets about who he wishes he could be.
As Eddie's giggles fade into the dark of the night, Steve clears in throat and begins to tell Eddie about the lack of safety he has felt since turning 12 and being handed bundles of money that were to be budgeted until his parents came back home from whatever business trip Jonathan Harrington needed to attend. Steve mumbles about Tommy and Carol, or anyone else, never being able to fill the hollow space that was this mausoleum of a house until Dustin Henderson hijacked Nancy's roses and forced Steve to go on a wild demo dog chase. With a smile that actually reaches Steve's eyes, he tells Eddie how he finally knew what a mutual love felt like when Robin refused to get a new job without Steve.
Eddie desperately wants to read between the lines and believe himself to be someone who brought something into Steve's life. The begging words he sends up to whatever universal force doesn't want to continue fucking his life are interrupted as Steve looks Eddie in the eyes and admits, "Eddie Munson, you brought light and noise into my life."
Steve Harrington never understood how significant it was to feel the sun on his skin until Eddie woke up from his coma after his encounter with the bats, and begged for the blinds in his hospital room to be opened. Eddie's smile changed as he adjusted to the new scars on his skin, but Steve has never seen something so beautiful in his life.
Steve flinched in noisy environments when he remembers how angry his father would get if Steve existed too loudly. But, since Eddie took Steve to the middle of nowhere and convinced him to just scream, Steve has found himself seeking out music that taught him to release his emotions instead of pushing them further and further down.
Steve Harrington finally found safety in the real world when Eddie Munson whispers, "Stevie, please let me kiss you."
1K notes · View notes
hairmetal666 · 1 year
Text
What if, after Vecna is defeated, Eddie lives and is recovering in the hospital and one day he's just gone. Like, Steve and the kids come to visit and his hospital room doesn't even exist anymore. It's just a blank stretch of wall. The nurses, nurses they know worked with Eddie, say they've never heard of Eddie Munson and there's never been a room where the kids insist there was the day before. Anyone else they ask says they've never heard the name, even though it was only weeks ago that the entire town formed a mob to hunt him down. Hopper and Murray look into it and there's no record of an Edward Munson in any database anywhere. His previous arrests are gone, his fingerprints, record of Wayne becoming his legal guardian, his social security number, his birth certificate. Even his Uncle Wayne, gone without a trace. Like neither man ever existed.
They search for years, always hoping for word, or a return, or anything. But Eddie was there one day and gone the next. Apparently forever.
They mourn, all of them. He was part of the group, part of the family, and then he was gone with no fanfare or goodbye. Then he was gone and every force in the world pretended like he'd never been there in the first place.
Steve, quietly, takes it hard. He spends weeks crying himself to sleep, clutching the ruined battle vest to his chest. It's just unfair, is all, Steve thinks. '86 was supposed to be Eddie's year.
Time passes and they all grow up, all move away from Hawkins. Steve and Robin move to Indy; she starts college and Steve gets a job at a little bakery because he's a regular already and they're hiring.
He loves baking, finds it calming in a way very few things are for him anymore. After a few good years, the store becomes his, and he didn't know he could be this happy or satisfied with his life, after everything.
He never stops thinking of Eddie.
Close to Steve's 30th birthday, a little bookstore opens up in the vacant building across the way. Steve sees the owner sometimes, dark hair pulled into a sloppy bun, pale skin, the occasional hint of black ink under his dark clothes. Beautiful. They wave at each other almost every morning and Steve ignores the reminders of Eddie. They're commonplace now. Any man with long dark hair, tattoos, and black clothing stirs a spark of recognition in Steve's gut, and the disappointment still hurts even after a decade.
Weeks pass and Steve notices a new display in the window of the bookstore; those dnd guides all the boys have, the dice with too many sides, the little plastic figures and pots of paints and delicate brushes. He vows, the next time the kids are in town, they'll go over and he'll finally introduce himself to that probably nice man whose only sin was a slight resemblance to a boy from Steve's past.
The kids come for a visit only a few weeks later, and are just as enthusiastic about going to the bookstore as he is to take them. He has them help bake his secret-recipe sugar cookies, decorate them in a dnd theme (Erica and Max say they're dorky, and he agrees, despite being pleased with the results).
Steve heads to the bookstore first, to warn the guy about the veritable horde of feral young adults about to descend on his quiet store.
He walks in to the sound of a gently ringing bell and Metallica playing at low volume on the store's speakers. Steve has to ignore it or he'll walk out.
"Be right with you," a muffled voice calls out.
"Take your time," he responds. He browses with the container of cookies in his arms, taking in all the dnd stuff, the signs about dnd club meetings, the stacks of new release books and a couple cds.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," a soft, husky voice says back at the front of the store. It breaks Steve out in goosebumps.
"Don't worry about it. I'm from the bakery across the street, wanted to finally introduce myself. I brought goodies," he adds, sort of blushing.
He steps back up to the cash register, eyes finally settling on the owner he's only seen from afar and all the breath leaves his body. It leaves him lightheaded, dizzy.
Eddie Munson. Eddie. Munson. Stands behind the counter, hair in a bun with messy tendrils around his face. He looks the exact same. Maybe a few more lines around his mouth and eyes. But the same.
"Ed--Eddie?" Steve's voice croaks out. He barely manages to drop the cookies onto the counter and not the floor.
Eddie's deep brown eyes flood with tears, a hand--every finger with a ring--covers his mouth. "Steve," the other man sobs.
There's no hesitation as Steve flings himself into Eddie's arms, the other man catching him and holding him tight.
Eddie squeezes him, crying against Steve's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he repeats.
"I can't believe you're real," Steve murmurs between soft sobs, pressing his face against Eddie's neck.
"I'm real. I'm here," Eddie agrees. "I'm right here, sweetheart."
Steve pulls out of the embrace a little, just to look at Eddie's face. To see after all these years. He presses trembling fingers against the line of Eddie's jaw, and the other man leans into the touch, lets Steve trace the contours of his cheeks, his mouth.
"You're here," Steve agrees.
Their eyes lock, drink each other in, ten years of longing dancing at the knobs of Steve's spine.
"They took me away," Eddie says, deep brown of his eyes serious and pleading. "The government. They snuck me out in the middle of the night and forced me and Wayne to adopt new identities, sent us to New Mexico. Monitored us so I couldn't contact any of you. It killed me, Stevie. To be away from you. From Robin. The kids."
That snaps Steve out of his daze. "Oh, shit. The kids."
It's too late, though. The bell at the door jingles, the usual cacophony that accompanies the seven of them filling the little store in an instant.
Dustin's voice rings out, above the others, "this store is so fucking cool."
"Language," Eddie scolds on auto-pilot. When he realizes what he said and why, his eyes wash with new tears.
The kids turn, as one, to the man they never thought they'd see again.
Steve's fingers dance down Eddie's arm, finding his hand, twining their fingers together. Eddie tightens his grip. Steve's never letting go of this man ever again, and he knows with some deep, element certainty that Eddie feels the same.
"Eddie?" Dustin exclaims.
"Hiya, kid." Eddie smiles a little, ducks his head.
"What the fuck," Max says.
"Anyone have time for a story?" Eddie asks. He dashes away the few tears that track down his cheeks.
"We have all the time in the world," Steve agrees. Doesn't think before he lifts Eddie's hand and presses a kiss just below his knuckles.
3K notes · View notes
dwobbitfromtheshire · 5 months
Text
Anyone who calls Steve Harrington a cunt gets the receiving end of his left and right hooks. Their names are Dustin and Robin. Steve dies? They die. Someone calls Steve a name? That someone gets their ass kicked. Dustin and Robin meet up once a week to discuss Steve’s love life. Sometimes, they hold a meeting right in front of Steve. I like to think that Robin let Dustin in on the fact that she's a lesbian. It was Dustin who came up with the idea, after Vecna, that Steve likes Eddie. Steve would open his mouth to say that he likes girls when Robin beat him to the punch.
"Okay, but Steve likes women," Robin said.
"Okay, it's possible for you to be a lesbian, but can't Steve like both?" Dustin asked.
"Steve is right here!" He would yell, and they would just ignore him.
"Okay, it's called being bisexual," Robin said.
"Wait, it's a real thing?" Steve asked with wide eyes. "You can actually do that?"
"Yes, dingus," Robin said, rolling her eyes.
Meanwhile, Robin started arguing with Dustin about whether or not Steve was bisexual. Steve was sitting quietly now as he actually had a full-blown crisis.
"Guy? Guys?! GUYS?!" Steve asked.
"What?!" Dustin and Robin exclaimed.
"I think that Dustin's right. I think I like Eddie," Steve said softly.
"I'm right? I mean, I'm right?! I'm right!" Dustin exclaimed with a grin.
"Dustin," Robin snapped and turned to Steve. "Are you okay with this?"
"Yeah, suddenly, everything makes sense now?" Steve grinned. "Holy shit! Robin, guess what?"
"What?"
"I'm bisexual!" Steve laughed and then he stopped. "Oh, shit, I like a boy. What do I do?"
"You ask him out," Dustin said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"As if it's so simple," Steve said.
"Ha!" Robin exclaimed gleefully.
"Okay! New plan: Operation Find out if Eddie likes guys without pushing him into outing himself is a go," Dustin said.
"There's gotta be a better way to say that," Robin said.
Dustin frowned thoughtfully, and then he grinned, clapping his hands.
"Operation: Discovery!" Dustin exclaimed.
"It still needs work," Steve shrugged. "It'll do."
Was Eddie outside Steve’s door prepared to knock when he heard all that? Definitely. He was prepared to tell Steve all about his feelings when he overheard them. They were all rather loud. They all sounded so excited about their little mission that Eddie wanted them to give them the opportunity to work on it a bit. Plus, he loved a good quest. Meanwhile, he was going to search for the person who called Steve a cunt. Eddie flipped the switchblade out of his pocket and whistled as he skipped to his van.
847 notes · View notes
slavicviking · 5 months
Text
Yellow
@steddiemicrofic December prompt: pine | wc: 508 | G | cw: none | tags: misunderstandings, pre-Steddie
“Looking good, Nance. Did you do something with your hair?” Nancy did not. She knew for a fact her curls looked worse for wear thanks to the raging wind outside. Steve knew that, too – had to, with his in-depth knowledge of maintaining hair, curls or not. Eddie stiffens next to her. “I’m here to return this,” Nancy pulls out a Breakfast Club tape from her bag with a forced smile. “Great movie choice,” Steve trudges on with otherwise admirable perseverance. The ugly green Family Video creases inelegantly as he leans forward. “I think it sucks,” Eddie jumps in. He grins but Nancy knows him well enough to tell how tense he really is. And isn’t that a wild thought in itself? Nancy would never expect to get along so well with Eddie Munson and yet here he was, dare she say it - her best friend at the moment. Steve lets out a nervous laugh, red dotting his cheeks as his hand ventures out to rub his neck. Robin’s bright eyes keep darting back and forth between two boys, an unreadable look on her face. “This is getting ridiculous,” Nancy says once she slips into the driver seat of her car. Eddie joins her on the other side, uncharacteristically quiet. Her eyebrows drop lower. “He’ll get over it soon. You’ll see.” “I don’t know, Wheeler. He seems pretty dedicated.” The thing is, Nancy’s observant. She pays attention to her close circle of friends, and that includes Steve. Something about this isn’t adding up – the compliments, the showering with attention. And it’s not only because she’s usually left with a morose Eddie, unfairly pining away, in the aftermath. It’s been going on for weeks now. Something’s got to give, eventually, she’s sure. It does, a week later, when Steve Harrington knocks on the Wheelers’ front door in the middle of the day, clad in an ironed shirt and beige khakis. “Here,” he hands her a bouquet of yellow roses. “They’re for you.” She makes a point of not taking them. They hang awkwardly between them until Steve drops his hand with a grimace. “We’re not getting back together,” Nancy tells him bluntly. Steve’s a good guy, he is, but he can be a bit obtuse sometimes. To her surprise, Steve doesn’t deter her. Instead, he blinks. “What?” “It’s sweet that you’re trying,” she tries. “But we wouldn’t work out. We just wouldn’t.” He blinks again. “I don’t-uh. This is awkward.” Understatement if she’s ever seen one. “I don’t want to date you, Nancy,” Steve finally says. He winces before adding. “No offense.” “Then what’s with this?” she points to the flowers. “The compliments? All of it?” He sighs. “I know we didn’t really end on good terms. And your opinion matters to him- I mean, he's just so-” “Him?” Nancy questions before realization dawns on her. “Eddie?” “Wait, does he think I – shit!” Steve’s eyes grow wide as he shoves the flowers into Nancy’s chest and backs out towards the car. “Shit! Sorry, Nance. Gotta go!”
Yellow Roses are the symbol of friendship <3
405 notes · View notes
lukas-dusk · 8 days
Text
Celebrity AU
Interviewer : So, in the show the character of Robin and your character a really close, what about in real life?
Steve : Oh it's really like in the show, ask anyone, we’re close.
🎤
Eddie : Robin and my husband sometimes have sleepovers. In my bed. With me in it.
331 notes · View notes
kaspurrcat · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
Finished it!
3K notes · View notes
emo-nova · 1 year
Text
What I need to see more is Eddie and Robin debating if Steve is a Mama Bear or a single dad who has given up on himself except for his kids. They complied their arguments and had a presentation that they made cardboard slides for, which is more effort Eddie had ever put into than any school assignment.
They present to Steve, who is so close to just kick these two out, but he knows that he'll just let them back in because he chose them for a reason. And that reason sometimes is going through debates on his parental role in a group of teenagers. Sometimes.
914 notes · View notes
loserharrington · 11 months
Text
idk steve and robin in silly little sweaters
Tumblr media Tumblr media
654 notes · View notes
pansyherondale · 2 years
Text
robin: what are you doing?
eddie: oh, i was just gonna light this chicken on fire to see if it turns into a phoenix
robin: it’s 3 am
robin:
robin: we can try it later
19 notes · View notes
Text
welcome to the fruity four apartment, where every day eddie puts this exact sign on the front door and nancy promptly replaces it with one that says “doorbell broken! please knock :)” they are informally at war because of this (don’t worry they are still besties)
Tumblr media
1K notes · View notes
estrellami-1 · 5 months
Text
If I Should Stay
More housekeeping! I was wrong about the date last time. My hiatus isn’t starting on the 15th; it’s starting on the 13th, possibly a bit earlier. But I’ll see y’all a little less than a month after that!
Part 1 | . . . | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
“Vecna’s got my sister,” Steve whispers into the line, and Robin knows immediately that this time, this next fight with Vecna, is going to be very different.
She’s not going to let two of his atoms touch after what he’s done.
“Okay,” she answers, mind going a million miles an hour. “We know how to fix this, Steve, but you need to focus. Can you focus?”
He takes a deep breath. “Yeah,” he murmurs. “Yeah, I can focus.”
“Okay. We need her favorite song.”
“I don’t know her favorite song.”
“Then you need to find someone who does.”
The line is silent for a minute, then Steve gasps. “Cassidy! She’d know.”
“Okay, that’s perfect. Call Cassidy, ask her what Allison’s favorite song is. I’m going to pick up El and we’ll be there as soon as we can, okay?”
“Okay,” Steve says. “Hurry?”
“As fast as I can,” she promises. “Call Cassidy.”
They hang up, and Robin eyes Wayne, who’s already waiting by the door with his truck keys. “I’m gathering this is an emergency.”
“If it wouldn’t be entirely weird, I would kiss you,” Robin informs him, because she barely has a filter at the best of times, and this is definitely not the best of times.
Thankfully, Wayne just laughs. “I’ll take that as a compliment,” he says. “Toss your bike in the back and get in. I’ll need directions.”
Robin worries her lip. “Y’know the Wheelers’ place?”
“Karen?”
“Yeah. There first, please.”
Wayne offers her a teasing salute as he puts the car into drive, and Robin suddenly thinks this all might just work out.
The drive to the Wheelers’ is uneventful, and she hops out of the truck and pounds on the door. Karen opens it, and Robin grits her teeth. “Hi, Mrs. Wheeler,” she says politely. “Is Nancy home?”
“Oh, yes, of course, come in,” she says, ushering her inside before calling for Nancy.
Robin watches as Nancy makes it halfway downstairs before she sees who’s here. She watches as she goes through all the possibilities. “Hey, Robin, you’re here for the project, right?”
“Yup,” Robin nods. “For, uh. School.”
Nancy blinks. “Right,” she says, casting a glance at her mom, who doesn’t notice. “C’mon up.”
Robin hesitates. “Think we could use the basement?”
Nancy’s eyes flash. “Sure,” she says, and they’re halfway down before she speaks again. “What’s going on?”
“Vecna has Allison. We need El.”
Nancy bites back a curse.
They finally make it down, and El is standing in the middle of the room, waiting for them. “It is time.”
“It is,” Robin nods. “Are you ready?”
Eleven shrugs. “Is anyone?”
Robin gives half a laugh. “I guess not.” She turns to Nancy. “Is there an exit that doesn’t go through the house?”
Nancy nods and leads them out. “I’ll get everyone else,” she says. “Meet you back there as soon as we can. Be safe.”
“You too,” Robin says, grabbing El’s hand and running for Wayne’s truck.
“Where to?” Wayne asks.
“The Harrington place. Will you come inside?”
“All due respect, Robin, but my boy’s in there. There ain’t no way in hell I’m leavin’ him alone.” There’s a slight pause before he says, rather uncomfortably, “Not because I don’t trust you, of course-”
“No, of course not,” Robin waves him off.
“And, uh.” He winks at El. “You’ll have to pardon my French, little lady.”
She giggles at him. “But you weren’t speaking any French!”
Wayne chuckles. “No I wasn’t, and a smart one you are for knowin’ that. No, pardon my French just means excuse my potty mouth.”
El turns to Robin, who says, deadpan, “He means ‘cause he said hell.”
“Oh,” El says, as Wayne splutters but ultimately stays quiet.
Soon enough they’re at the Harrington place, and Wayne barely parks the truck before they’re all running in.
Robin stops him just before they get inside. “Did Eddie explain any of this to you?”
Wayne blinks at her. “No.”
“Shit,” she whispers. “Okay, look, long story short, which I’m kinda really terrible at, like worst person ever, like I can’t tell a short story to save my life-”
“Robin.”
“Right, short story, right. Um, we’ll explain more later, but basically me and Steve are time traveling here from four years in the future because there’s a wizard guy- well he’s not a wizard, actually, it’s Henry Creel, but anyways things happen and he’s got powers and he’s like a wizard and he’s trying to get control of peoples’ heads and kill them. And he’s trying it with Steve’s sister, Allison, right now. So… that’s what we’re about to walk into.”
Wayne sighs. “Is there anythin’ for me to shoot at?”
Robin blinks. “Well, no. Not right now, at least. But later there could be. If you want to be involved.”
“I ain’t lettin’ y’all do this while I sit by and do nothin’. That ain’t how I was raised.”
Robin stares at him for a beat, nods, and together they run inside.
Permanent Taglist: @justforthedead89 @ilovecupcakesandtea @madigoround @bookbinderbitch @suddenlyinlove @nburkhardt @artiststarme @paintsplatteredandimperfect @i-less-than-three-you @alyelf @quarble @messrs-weasley @littlewildflowerkitten @vankaar @starman-jpg @bornonthesavage @steddie-there @goodolefashionedloverboi @andienotannie @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @platinum-sunset @just-ladyme @steddiestains @swimmingbirdrunningrock @imhereforthelolzdontyellatme @martinskis-lydias @notaqueenakhaleesi @sleepyboosstuff @bestwifehaver @m-owo-n @thatonebadideapanda @finalmoondragon @velocitytimes2 @callmeanythjing @ajeff855 @ilikeititspretty @knitsforthetrail @sillysparrow @that-one-corvid @ace-is-bored @muricel @harpymoth @weirdandabsurd42
Fic Taglist: @blondlanfear @do-you-want-something-more @str4wb3rry-guy @paperbackribs @ninjapirateunicorns @bisexualdisastersworld @hiscrimsonangel @lolawonsstuff @xo-r4e @thedragonsaunt @l0st-strawberry
167 notes · View notes
rbinsgf · 1 year
Text
Turn the other cheek, and I take it on the chin /Part 2/
Part 1
The sky was blue, two and two made four and Eddie was a coward.
Those were the irrefutable truth of the world. Eddie used to call his behavior "self-preservation" when he ran away from cops and angry jocks mob, or when he skipped a class he couldn’t understand, or when he ran away after witnessing one of the most traumatizing death in the history of mankind.
But as he saw Robin Buckley angrily stomping down his stairs and into his basement, he couldn’t qualify his next course of actions of anything but cowardice.
He had known day more glorious but as he shielded himself from the furious woman with a, for once, quite Mike Wheeler, he couldn’t care less about his image in front of his club.
Hypocritical right ? Yeah that’s another truth Eddie was very well aware about himself but who would dare look him in the eye and spit that fact in his face ?
Robin Buckley actually, as she did not hesitate to shove Mike out of the way and grab Eddie by the collar of his worn out Hellfire shirt, bringing him dangerously close to her angry red face, and shoving him against the wall.
"You, Edward Theodore Munson, are the biggest hypocrite I’ve ever seen. How dare you force those big monologues on conformity and "Hawkins’ monster" on us on top of those poor cafeteria tables, only to turn around and do exactly what you so loudly claim to be against ?"
Eddie was petrified, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from hers. The basement was as quiet as ever, everyone seemed to hold their breath, too scared they might remind Robin of their presence.
"Steve changed, actually no, he didn’t change. He just had the courage to show his true self, he stripped away from the role that was forced on him by his parents, friends, everyone in this shitty town and by you too. He would and has put his life on the line so many times for every single one of you," She said the last part louder, slightly tilting her head to the side towards a specific side of the table but never moving her rage filled gaze from Eddie’s wide eyes. "He trusted you Eddie, he confided in you and what did you do ? You humiliated him by using his vulnerability against him. I hope you’re happy your pathetic little audience appreciated the spectacle." A protest formed itself on Jeff’s lips but was quickly shut off by a quick glare and an honest to god growl from Robin.
"You know what truly breaks my heart Eddie ? Steve still defended you and he doesn’t even blame you ! Do with that information what you want but I hope it makes you feel so bad you won’t be able to look yourself in any type of reflection for as long as possible."
She slowly stepped away from him, releasing her grip on his shirt and making a show of dusting him off,
"If you want to know what I think of this shit show Eddie. You don’t deserve him." She turned around, facing the kids, "and you guys are a bunch of ungrateful brats who don’t deserve Steve and all that he does for you."
She only looked at the older Hellfire members with disgust before turning back to Eddie. The man in question was looking at the ground, his head hanging guiltily and shoulder hunched.
Robin stepped back into his space, her mouth close to his ear, and let out her final strike in a quite sigh,
"And to think that man saved your life.."
With that, she left as she came, the front door banging loudly behind her.
That last sentence she had whispered in his ear sent a glacial chill down Eddie’s spine. It stabbed through his chest in plain and shameful guilt. Eddie sat heavily on his throne. A throne that Steve had spent two weeks making since the basketball team had burned his old one when he was on the run. He lost himself in a spiral of shame and regrets, cringing at himself as he pictured how it all went down earlier and how, even after noticing Steve leaving, they’d kept that same behavior. Laughing at the expense of the poor man like hyenas. One by one, the older members left quietly. The kids stayed a little longer, sitting in silence before all leaving in a quiet agreement. Eddie only registered Dustin telling him they will be using the phone to call for a drive home. A drive home that, for the first time since the boys had joined Hellfire, wouldn’t be Steve.
Eddie had fucked up, that much was very clear. He also knew why he said all those horrible things, he craved the validation and admiration of his sheepies and hellfire friends.
The only way he had found to maintain those was to do what he had always done.
To the detriment of his friends, Eddie was a hypocrite, selfish and coward man. Eddie saw an opportunity to remind his club of who he was, Eddie "the Freak" Munson, natural nemesis of the jocks.
Robin’s words kept circling in his mind viciously.
The sheer fury that emanated of her trembling frame was enough for Eddie to imagine how bad his words must’ve affected Steve.
He knew those exact words would hurt him and he still said them.
He also knew Steve, through and through now, and with that came the knowledge of what Steve might be thinking about himself right now.
Because his sweet, kind and good Steve, didn’t even blame him one bit. Eddie’s words had definitely hit a very tender spot in Steve’s myriad of insecurities and self doubts.
The man was probably descending full speed through the worst of his self deprecating thoughts right now.
Eddie wished the bats had eaten him alive as the thought of Steve believing Eddie saw him for who he was not.
Eddie would rather Vecna came back as a zombie than Steve Harrington taking his stupid, stupid words at heart and believing them.
If Eddie was going to do one last thing, it was to make sure that Steve knew he wasn’t seen as anything but the painfully good man he truly was.
Resignation filled his mind and he pushed himself up from the throne, walked out of the basement and took the keys of his van before stepping, in the soon to be dark, street.
Eddie was going to see Steve, apologize but most importantly beg the man to not take Eddie’s words for one of the universe’s truth.
It’ll be the last thing he’ll do if Robin Buckley didn’t kill him before for daring to stand in the same vicinity as her friend.
———————————————
Here’s part 2 !! And Eddie’s pov yay !! I’m so grateful for your response to the first part as it’s also a response to me getting back to writing and it motivates me so much guys !!!
Next part will be up in a few days since I’m going back to college full time but I’ll do my best to update this little fic as soon as possible !
I tried to tag everyone who asked for it and hope it all worked ?
Love y’all gang ! 🫶🏼🧡
Tag list : @liketheocean @cameheretoread @doubleb11 @m-owo-n @moonage-daydreaming @shitnshit @throwbackthrowaway @a-huge-nerdy-nerd @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @zerokrox-blog @summer1066 @thesuninyaface @i-less-three-than-you @gamerdano @ineffablecolors @warriorwerewolfheart @tinysuits @cr0w-culture @thatonepotatochild @classicwho @lololol-1234 @what-is-life-but-an-empty-void @victor-thee-corvid @little-gae-shit @livelaughlexa @a-little-unsteady @stevie-crow @val-from-lawrence
573 notes · View notes
penny00dreadful · 11 months
Text
Inspired by this conversation from Campaign 2 - Episode 85 of Critical Role
Robin slammed their drinks down on the table and fell into the booth next to Steve. The loud music, the crush of bodies up on the dance floor and the low light would be enough to keep their conversation mostly private no matter how loud they got.
“Alright.” She slid over a poisonous looking shot and turned to him. “Dish the dish, bish!”
Steve wrinkled his nose but knocked the shot back anyway. Maybe it was a sign of how much he’d already drank or maybe it was a sign of just how unhinged his teenage years had been but it went down much easier than he thought it would. He needed to get a solid buzz going anyway, Chrissy and Eddie would be arriving soon and he didn’t think he’d be able to get through a whole night of watching Eddie flirt with strangers again without something strong in his blood.
“I might have a similar problem.”
Robin looked at him confused. “Wait, you’re into Chrissy too?”
Steve was scandalised. “No!”
“Gross!”
“No!”
“You were a jock, she was a cheerleader, oh my god this is too hetero for me to be even having this conversation-”
“No, not Chrissy!” Steve shouted in fond frustration, cutting her off.
“Oh,” she said, immediately deflating from her outburst and shooting right back around to thirsty for information, “who?”
He stared at her for a moment, grimacing, trying to figure out how he would delicately reveal his crushing and all consuming infatuation.
Her eyes widened the longer he stared.
“Me?!” She shrieked.
“No!” He shrieked right back, appalled.
“Oh, it’s me!” Robin threw her hands into her hair and turned fully to face him. “This is your way of telling me! Oh my god, Steve, we’ve been through this-”
“Shut up! Shut up!” He shouted, thudding his head against their table before turning his head to look at her, lowering his volume and whisper shouting. “It’s- it’s Eddie!”
She definitely hadn’t heard him but had clearly understood the way his lips formed around the name and her eyes nearly popped out of her head.
“Wait, what?!” Her whole body went reeling. “I’m sorry, what?!” She grabbed him by the scruff like a misbehaving cat and hauled him back upright.
Steve slumped under her hold and shrugged. “It's just kind of, I don't know. It's just a crush, I just don't know what to do with it.”
“Wait, what?!” Robin repeated, glancing up and staring across the dance floor where Chrissy had appeared near the bar, scanning for them. “Three more!” Robin shouted at her, throwing a hand up with three fingers lifted when their eyes met. “Three more rounds!”
“Each!” Steve called. He didn’t know what Chrissy saw in their faces, maybe it was desperation or just the possibility of juicy gossip but even though she couldn’t have heard them so far away, she grinned and nodded, turning back to the bar.
Steve rounded on Robin, bringing their faces close together and poking her in the chest. “If you fucking tell anybody-”
Robin was completely unphased. “Of course I’m not gonna tell anyone! You know- look at this face!” She said, bringing Steve’s finger up to rest on her nose and doing a terrible job of biting down on her grin.
“You tell everybody everything!”
His soulmate had the worst poker face he’d ever seen.
“I’m cool.”
“You are gonna let it slip.”
“No! Of course not!”
Steve slouched in his seat with a petulant fake pout. “I shouldn’t have told you.”
“Wait, what about him?” She nudged at his shoulder. “For me…” Robin looked out across the bar again where Chrissy was lining up their drinks on a tray. “It’s her cute little nose and her thighs-”
“Are you talking about Chrissy again?”
“Yesyesyes.” She replied with an air of ‘keep up’ “its her sweetness and kindness and unflappably positive outlook. But she could also get mean if she has to-” Robin didn’t seem to be entirely aware that the woman she was watching slowly make their way over to them was not just a figment of her fantasies but was actually here and would soon be involved in the conversation.
He wasn’t too worried about Chrissy finding out about his crush, she probably already knew if the looks she’d been giving him the past few weeks were anything to go by.
“What is it about him?”
Steve dragged his eyes away from Chrissy and back to Robin, twirling his empty shot glass on the table, contemplating.  “He's fun, he makes me laugh, I like his ridiculous… everything. I think he's complicated and layered.” He glanced up as Chrissy set the tray down. “I don't know.”
“That’s cool.” Robin said, her voice uncharacteristically soft amongst the loudness.
“I’m not gonna act on it or anything!” Steve’s eyes bounced between the two girls. Chrissy seemed to pick up on what was happening immediately, sitting with her elbows on the table, leaning in while Robin stared at him disbelievingly, like he’d just said the most ridiculous thing imaginable.
“I wouldn’t have thought he'd be your type.” She said, giving him clemency and changing the thread of the conversation.
“I don’t think… he thinks… that I’m his type…” Steve replied with a crease in his brow, all the male pronouns in that sentence were confusing the shit out of him. 
“So you’re telling me you’re not serious about this? That’s it’s just a crush, that this is not a thing-”
“Yeah, of course!” He exclaimed, not even believing himself and from the looks of it the two girls, they didn’t believe him either.
“Because what if… all he does is go on about how his love life is hopeless. What if he doesn’t even know what he likes?” Robin waggled her eyebrows at him, clearly insinuating that he should pursue.
Steve snorted, reaching for one of the multiple shots Chrissy set down. “I’ve had that fantasy.” He tried to make a light joke out of it but it was all too real in his own head. The amount of times he’d thought about introducing Eddie to all the shit he liked to have done to him in the bedroom and all the things he liked to do in return was downright obsessive.
He knocked his shot back at the same time the two girls did. The drink was definitely getting to him and Robin wasn’t far behind. They were entering Stage 4 Drunk.
Whimsy.
“He could be lost,” Robin squished his cheeks in between her hands, “he could be at sea right now, and you could be the anchor that brings him home.”
Steve nodded. “I could be the flame in the darkness.”
Chrissy was looking endlessly entertained. “I don't think that's how anchors work. Anchor brings you to the bottom, if I recall. Be the anchor that brings him to the bottom.”
But Robin just looked at her like she was agreeing with everything they said, barrelling forward. “What if he's lost because he doesn't know that you're what he's looking for? He thinks he likes-” she waved her arm out to the bodies on the dance floor.
Steve nodded. “I could be his beacon…” he downed the shot, the sharp tangle of alcohol shocking the whimsy out of him. “I need to stop saying these things.” He shook his head. “No, these aren’t any of these things anyway so like… it’s just this- I’m already-”
“It could totally be a possibility.” Robin yanked on his arm.
“It’s not a possibility-”
“But maybe it is.” She insisted with a look in her eye that he did not like.
“No.”
“Don’t worry.” She ran a hand clumsily through his hair, leaning in conspiratorially. “I’ll do some work.”
“nO!” Steve screamed helplessly while Chrissy cackled. “NO!”
But Robin was already nodding to herself. “I’ll find something I can do here.”
“No, Robin! Confiding! This was an exercise in confiding!”
She grinned at him like she was in on some big secret, darting two fingers between their eyes while Steve stared despondent. “I see what you’re getting at.”
“It's very black and white, it's just don't tell the secrets.” He tried to impress upon her, grabbing her hand which was still moving between them. “It's not that I'm getting at anything, it's just that this stays between us.” He glanced over at Chrissy who was looking wildly entertained. “This is our girl thing, okay?”
“Hey, but no matter what, we're not letting this break up the three of us.” Robin used her free hand to draw a circle around the three of them.
“No, absolutely not. We’re ride or die. It's not going to change anything.”
“No.” Robin nodded, seemingly satisfied but Steve still felt like his sanity was still in danger.
“Don't let it change anything.” He pleaded.
“It won't.” She grinned, all misplaced confidence and see-through casual exterior. “I will behave the same.”
“You’re already not.” He insisted, looking at her wide ‘I have a secret’ smile.
“Cool as a cucumber.”
“Oh my god.” Steve grabbed two more shots off the tray, knocking one back but the second was plucked from his grip.
Eddie wedged himself into the tiny amount of space beside Steve, his stolen shot disappearing down his throat.
“What are we talking about? Buckley’s got her ‘I have a secret’ smile on.”
Robin was staring at Eddie wide eyes with a huge grin on her face and if she thought she was being subtle she was fucking delusional. 
Shit.
Steve knew from past experience she was about five minutes away from accidentally outing his big stupid fuck off crush so he had to deal with this himself.
He shoved Eddie out of the booth, calling a quick “Going out for a smoke!” over his shoulder and dragging him by the hand towards the back.
Steve wasn’t sure how long they stayed gone, but after two cigarettes each and something wild and intense in the bathroom afterwards, he found he didn’t really care.
249 notes · View notes