Cami

When Max got bored of helping Nancy and the adults, she went to check on her friends in Will’s room, and she found a complete explosion.

It had taken them around an hour to unpack everything, but because her friends were dumb enough, they had taken everything out of the boxes and piled it on the bed.

"You're all such dinguses!" Max exclaimed so loudly that Nancy heard her from the first floor, laughing to herself. That’s Robin’s word, Nancy thought.

"Do you realize you should have done both simultaneously? Unpacking and organizing, not just taking everything out of the boxes all at once?"

She started to command them around the room so Will would actually have a bed to sleep in at night that wasn't full of shit.

Nancy finished setting the cutlery drawer and decided to take a break from Joyce and her mom. She wandered upstairs to see how the second floor was. She passed a closed door, which she assumed was Hopper and Joyce's. The next one was cracked open, and she saw Max sitting cross-legged on the bed, still barking orders at them, directing Will and Mike to hang up a poster.

"To your left…" She tilted her head. "There! Mike, pass the tape!"

Nancy watched them. Then she focused on Will.

He seemed different now. She could see it. It was like a weight had been lifted off him. And it wasn’t the weight he had carried since he went missing and became Vecna’s vessel. No, it was the other extra weight he had carried in silence, and that he had finally dropped once he told them his truth.

There was something about it that clicked for Nancy. She'd always felt a weight on her shoulders that she attributed to being the perfect daughter, getting perfect grades, and protecting everyone from danger. But if she let those go — which she already had to a degree — and tried to feel, she could still tell her shoulders wouldn't relax. She wasn't light.

I think I—

"Nancy?"

She turned to see Jonathan coming out of his room. She gave him a quick smile.

"Do you need anything?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I was just watching them."

"It's weird, isn't it?" He leaned against the wall. "We were even younger than they are now when everything started..."

He didn't have to finish because she understood. All they did in the past years, all the blood and sweat and tears would always be worth it because now they got to see their siblings free and happy and starting over. And they could too.

"We turned out okay, though, you know, all things considered," Jonathan said, nudging her. "Don't you think?"

Nancy tried to smile, but she wasn't sure. Still, she nodded anyway.

The music kept playing, and somewhere during their conversation, Robin moved. She pulled back the covers, sliding under them. Nancy followed, doing the same, just the tape player between them.

The silence, when it came, wasn't heavy or tense anymore. Robin would comment about a song or something random, and Nancy would respond.

Or Nancy would say she hadn't heard a song before and liked it, and Robin would light up.

It was comfortable.

Then a new song started. Neither of them registered the melody at first. Not until the lyrics started.

Can you hear me callingOut your name?You know that I'm fallingAnd I don't know what to sayI'll speak a little louderI'll even shoutYou know that I'm proudAnd I can't get the words out

Robin was mid-sentence about something dumb Steve did that week, when her words died in her throat.

She stopped just listening to background music and really listened to the lyrics.

Why did I put this one here?

She couldn't remember. She'd made the tape months ago, and her subconscious had apparently slipped one in that said everything she'd kept silent.

Her cheeks were getting hot, she felt them. She didn’t dare to look or continue talking. She wanted to disappear. If she'd succeeded at making Nancy feel comfortable and not reveal her hidden feelings before, she was thinking that now Nancy would definitely be wondering why her friend had put that song.

On her side of the bed, Nancy’s breathing also hitched. When Robin stopped talking, she had been about to say something until her ears picked up on the words filling the air.

Something's happeningHappening to me

The words settled in Nancy's chest, making her revisit the last few months… every detail, every thing she tried to brush off and justify.

Robin's breakup making her feel relieved instead of sad.

Spending car rides, afternoons, days with Robin.

Her birthday. The gift that was now playing between them.

Reading her essay and the note she wrote for her.

My friends say I'm acting peculiarly

She thought about the talk with Jonathan. The way she had almost, almost admitted something to him... to herself by extension.

We better make a startYou better make it soon

You promised, she reminded herself.

She was done avoiding, running, and hiding. She was opening the door for the uncomfortable, and it had walked straight in. In the form of this song. Ironically, a song Robin had picked for her.

Before you break my heart

Her chest tightened at that sentence. 'Before you break my heart.' Whose heart? Robin's? Mine? Both?

She thought about Robin's face when she thought she had brought the tape to give it back. The sadness, disappointment, and hurt were written on her face.

She had caused that. And right then, she decided she didn't want to be the cause of it again.

The chorus swelled again.

Oh, II want to be with you everywhereOh, II want to be with you everywhere(Wanna be with you everywhere)

Nancy's mind was spinning, so much was colliding in her head, heart, and soul. She glanced at her side. At Robin. Her face was bright red, and her breathing was uneven.

She looked like she wanted to disappear, and it clicked for her.

She didn't plan this, she’s as blindsided as I am.

Robin's hand was on her cushion, she was clutching it.

Oh, shit. She put this song on the tape without thinking, and now she's terrified of what I'll think.

Nancy's head stopped spiraling. The chorus ended. The song was building again, and Nancy didn't want to hear it again. Robin didn't want to hear it again.

Both of their hands moved.

Both reaching for the player at the same time to stop this musical confrontation.

“If you had to pick one piece of clothing from Robin's closet, you know, cause her style is completely opposite to yours, what would it be?"

Nancy looked at Robin.

"One of her sweaters," she said. "They look comfy."

Robin blushed. She couldn't help it, the image of Nancy in her clothes, in her favorite black sweater, flashed through her mind.

She really had to do something about her stupid crush. This couldn’t keep up.

"Of course they're comfy. Unlike yours, my clothes wouldn't be itching and pinching you."

"What are you talking about?" Nancy asked confused.

Max looked dumbfounded.

Robin made a face, like Nancy should know exactly what she meant.

Nancy's brow furrowed, and then it clicked. Her eyes widened.

"Oh."

Robin's cheeks were pink. "Yeah. Oh."

Max looked between them.

They exchanged a glance, and Robin could see she wasn't the only one blushing, Nancy was bright red, too.

"Nothing."

"Nothing."

Oh, right. It's definitely not nothing, Max thought.

"You both just went the same shade of red. It's clearly not nothing."

"It's just that... remember when me and Nance had to go to Pennhurst pretending to be 'academic scholars'?" Robin asked.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, my wardrobe doesn't exactly scream 'academic scholar,' does it?"

"I'm not seeing the point."

Robin looked at Nancy, her eyes fixed on her.

God, please don't tell Max. She's never going to let me forget this. Nancy plead to no one in particular.

Robin's face was burning.

Why did I open my mouth? Why did I say that? Now she's going to think I've been thinking about it. Which I haven't, I really haven’t. And it was just a friend letting her friend borrow some clothes, nothing to read into it, so stop!

"It was Nancy's clothes!" she shouted. "Blouse, skirt, heels. I literally had to borrow everything that day."

Nancy buried her face in her hands.

"I still don't get what was strangling and pinching you. Clothes don’t do that, not even Nancy’s." Max said.

She was clearly having a great time and wanted to squeeze out all the embarrassing details she could.

"The blouse, Max. It was suffocating. And the—" She couldn't say this. God, this is so embarrassing. "I mean, it pinched my—" She gestured vaguely at her chest, making a face.

Nancy buried her face deeper in her hands.

Max's jaw dropped.

“Oh— My—“ she was full on belly lauhging now, she couldn’t even catch her breath, “God— are you— are you telling me,” she was clutching at her stomach,”Nance made you wear her BRA?!"

She was doubled-over, completely hysterical now.

Robin was so red from embarrasment she started to nervous laugh now, and Nancy’s cheeks were hot from how hard she was blushing.