Family of Thieves

“yeah, but just because you’re used to it doesn’t mean it’s okay,” alice answers softly. she hates the thought of robin being on campus without any of their friend group for company. “you could always come with me for break. my parents wouldn’t mind. i’m sure we have room at the house.”

maybe he shouldn't be surprised by this offer, especially not from alice of all people. she's probably the nicest person he knows? although it's a decently tough competition, considering he also knows charlotte and quinn. but even though he shouldn't be surprised, he definitely still is. "...really? are you sure about that? i'm, uh, not what most people consider a 'parent friendly' sort of friend."

holy shit. she’s gleaned enough to figure that robin’s home life wasn’t great, but this is way worse than she was expecting. “do not apologize for that. you cannot keep shit like that inside and we can talk about it more once i get you outta here. we’ll speedrun through the living room without even acknowledging anyone.” she decides to just fuck it and drops her empty cup on the balcony floor. the whole place is gonna end up trashed, what’s one extra cup? “give me your hand, it’ll help if i can get us through the sea of people together,” she says, extending hers to him. she might not be the best at cheering someone up because emotions are so not her strong suit, but she can definitely handle orchestrating an irish goodbye.

oh, he's never been so grateful to know emmalyn. out of all his friends, she might actually be the best one to be talking to in this scenario. he drops his hand in hers. "let's go. i'm so ready to be out of here." he shouldn't have come and when he realized it was going to be a problem, he should have bailed immediately. but he's here instead. "i owe you dinner." at the very least.

“thank fuck indeed.” robin’s always been a bit harder to read than the rest of their group, but she’s trying her best. she looks around for a place to put her empty cup on the balcony before settling on holding it for now. “shit, are you okay?” she asks, reaching a hand out before pulling it back. sure, that might be what she’d want someone to do to comfort her, but she’s not sure if robin would want that. “do you want to talk about it? or do you want me to go with you? we can get somewhere that’s not here if you want? there’s a sorta shitty in a good way diner nearby that’s open all night.”

he wants to lie, to brush it off and pretend he's fine and everything is fine and that he can do this. but he absolutely cannot do this. not today. "my oldest sister's pregnant. and i found out through an instagram post by one of our cousins, because my family doesn't talk to me and doesn't like to acknowledge i exist and usually that's fine, but i'm just thinking about how i'm never gonna get to know that kid and i dunno why it's bothering me so much, but holy shit it is. i mean, i used to be really close with my sisters and it fucking sucks that they decided to be this way. and i thought coming here would help distract me, but instead i just really want to get drunk or high. i-- oh, i really, really want to get high, actually. and that's definitely not an option." he slumps back against the balcony rail and runs a hand through his hair. "sorry, that was... so much to just dump on you. um, could you like... help me get the fuck out of here, though?"

emmalyn immediately catches the way robin’s smile seems off when she approaches, but she doesn’t think bringing that up immediately is going to really play out well for her. “just be happy you were out here and not inside being talked at by the finance bro trying to get into your pants by explaining the stock market to me as if you’re a child.” she looks around to scope out the view from the balcony as she makes her way over to robin. “unless you’re also out here because of the same guy?” there, that gives him the opening to talk about whatever’s on his mind if he wants to talk it, but gives him the chance to steer clear if that’s what he wants to do.

he winces as she's talking, because yikes. he's lucky in that he hasn't had a dude be quite that condescending to him yet, but he's seen it happen enough that he doesn't think there's even a bit of hyperbole in it. "no, luckily i was spared that particular torture. and thank fuck for that." he thinks he would've gone straight for a drink if he hadn't and as she approaches, he can smell that she more or less did the same thing. he takes a breath to steady himself which, whoops, not a good call actually with the scent so nearby, and lets it out shakily. "i think i should've skipped the party. i probably should leave, but i have to go back inside to do that first, which sounds like hell."