Between Hairspray and Head Trauma

It's just the teens, watching some scary flick. Steve's on the couch, with Robin on the floor leaning against him. She can feel his leg tapping in restlessness, the scene a bit too reminiscent of old pre-battle prep.

Then, she hears a whisper. "Man, I'd love some Skittles right now... Or gum. Popcorn's not doing it."

And Robin was wanting another Coke anyway, so she pats Steve's leg and gets up. Heads to the kitchen, raids the snack pile, and finds a half filled bag of Skittles. She grabs a fresh can for herself and cracks it before she heads back, tossing the bag onto Steve's lap.

He shocks a little at it. His expression clearly tells that he wasn't expecting it. He meets Robin's eye as she goes to sit back down, a little half smile that says, 'How'd you know?'

Robin shrugs. Meant to say, 'You asked,' but it came out more like, 'Just a hunch.' Either way, Steve doesn't question it, and just begins eating.

So it happens, but they don't even notice.

It goes the other way around too. Robin helping out an objectively pretty female customer at whatever job they're working at, watching her finger wave over her shoulder.

Then the whisper. "God, her hair must be so soft if it smells like that..."

And because they're each other's #1 (and only) wingman, Steve's gotta take off those rose-colored glasses of hers. "Nah, too shiny. Probably really brittle from bad hair spray and heat."

Robin is mortified when his words register. "Oh shit, did I say that out loud?"

Steve just shrugs, 'No judge.' "I'm not gonna let you even get attached to the idea of a girl who uses a straightener more than hair wash. If that ends up being Vickie, maybe we're both all wrong."

Robin scoffs, the roll of her eyes a, 'You're gonna get it now.' "Don't like the crunch? What about Mister I Reject A Bottle Of Shampoo More Expensive Than 2 Dollars, o' ruler of taste-?"

She gets a half-assed kick to the back of her leg for that one.

The conversation shifts, both joking about each other's types. The idea of Robin's "slip" is completely forgotten.

They brush it off, again. And again. And again.

Until it all comes to a head.

It's game night at Hopper's, a once a month event because of how hectic it gets. Kids vs. teens, Joyce taking the young side tonight with Hopper begrudgingly taking the older.

They're getting the pieces sorted and rules laid out, the calm before the storm. Will is consoling his newest father figure about the placement, with Hopper grumbling about cheating.

That's when Steve hears, clear as day, "I bet Jopper flips a coin every month to see who gets stuck with us."

And if one of them is brave enough to say it, then he's not going to leave her hanging. Plus, the couple name was funny. So he breathes a little laugh and says, "Clever. I bet it's weighted too."

For some reason, that gets the room looking at him. There's various looks of confusion, ranging from general to downright incredulous.

"What's weighted, Stevie?" Eddie asks, no ill intent ever in his big pure heart but genuinely curious.

Steve's really curious too, mainly about why he's getting stared at. His expression exaggerates with the thumb he points at his side. "What Robin said? About the coin?"

"I didn't say anything???" And she throws him under the bus too? What's going on?!

"I heard you though?? Don't throw me under the bus like this!" he thinks as he turns to look at her, surprise and a little hurt in his expression.

But he sees her face as he turns, a little scared but definitely shocked and confused. Midway through the thought, however, as their eyes meet, she gasps and scoots backward a little.

The room is filled with outside voices, first saying they didn't hear anything either, before Robin's little outburst gets them overlapping in confused questions.

But when Robin points a shaky finger at him and narrows her eyes, Steve hears her voice clearer than all the others. Like it's spoken... "Your mouth didn't move..."

Steve's eyes widen as he realizes, "Yours didn't either..."

Like it's spoken directly into his head.

"Are we mind readers now?"

"No, there's a fancier word for it."

"Like?"

"Starts with a T, I think."

"I can tell, I'm literally in your head."

"Maybe I can check? If we were mind readers, I could hear someone else's thoughts, right? And they'd hear mine?"

"You're being way too calm about this."

"Like this is the craziest thing we've- So are you??"

"Because you are. Duh."

"Could you guys quit it with your twin telepathy and tell us what you were talking about?!" Dustin exclaims.

It's jarring for Steve to hear from the real world again, new as it is this telepathy - "Ah, that's what it was." - felt so natural. So he just rolls his eyes at Dustin, doing his best to throw the mass of "dingusdingusnerdbutthead" in the kid's direction. He doesn't seem to react to it.

"We're trying to figure this telepathy shit out first, give us a minute," he says aloud. "Not mind readers," he thinks to Robin.

"Har har, very funny," Nancy adds. "Maybe that's a good thing? I do not wanna have the ability to read this groups' minds. My own mind is bad enough." "Seriously, what's going on here?"

"And my mind is okay then? I've been through worse than you."

"Yeah, but we tell each other everything anyway."

"Holy shit...," Eddie whispers, grabbing everyone's attention. He's staring at the two with an indescribable kind of awe, a smile slowly forming. "I don't think they're joking..."

He's the only one who sees Steve's face tint red at that, and the only one who notices he's not in Robin's sight when she suddenly snorts out a laugh. But they all see Steve hide his face in his hands as Robin looks at him with a shit-eating grin, and his mumble of, "Shut up, Robs," is clear as day.

"Oh yeah," Eddie finishes, getting Steve to look at him once again through the gaps of his fingers. And out of every expression of Eddie's that Steve has ingrained in the groves of his - now magic - head, it's the look of pure unfiltered wonder that might do him in the most. "That's real, alright."

"Sap."