#imagine-multiples

You looked around, waiting for someone to come help you, while Steve was drying his hands. 

Robin felt her heart flutter as she watched your eyes flit around the fluorescently lit store. She’d seen you before during the school year, you were smart, kind, beautiful. It was the third time she’d felt like that around a girl. You had a class together last year. Robin often took classes a grade above her own, so the two of you had second period together. Robin’s stomach would do backflips whenever you asked her for a pencil, digging frantically through her bag to find one that hadn’t been chewed on. Her cheeks would get hot whenever you smiled and said thank you, your fingers brushing as you took it from her. Not even Tammy Thompson from her freshman year could make her feel like that. 

Robin panicked as Steve made his way back to the front, she couldn’t let him screw this up! She grabbed him quickly by the back of the uniform.

“O-ow! Robin!” Steve nearly yelled. The chatter in the shop died for a bit before picking back up. “What the hell?” he turned a bit, his shirt still in her hands

“Don’t,” she whispered harshly.

“Don’t what?” Steve whispered back. 

“Her,” Robin pointed towards the counter, the door blocking her from your view. “Don’t do your ‘King Steve’ routine, alright?” Steve laughed.

“Why? Don’t you love racking up points on your stupid board over there?”

“Look, as entertaining as it was— it’s lost its charm,” Steve rolled his eyes. “Besides, I just… I don’t want you to scare her off.” 

Steve blinked at her, confused. He was about to bite back at her, but the look in her eyes stopped him. She looked desperate. After a second, Steve nodded. 

“Okay, I won’t do it. But we aren’t counting this one, got it?” Robin nodded.

“Thanks, dingus.”

Steve pushed through the door and up to you at the counter. You smiled happily at his familiar face. “Ahoy there, welcome to scoops,” his voice feigned pep and zeal. You couldn’t help but laugh.

“Summer job going well, Steve?” Robin felt her stomach flip again, but this time it made her sick. You were in Steve’s grade, of course, you would remember him… but what about her? Would you remember that awkward junior who choked on her own air every time you looked at her? Steve shrugged and leaned his weight onto the counter. 

“I’m getting paid right? Gets my dad off my back too, so,” he shrugged again. “What can I get you…” he racked his brain for your name, you were familiar but he couldn’t for the life of him place you. You noticed and decided to help him out.

“Y/N,” you said.

“Right! Y/N, course. Sorry about that it’s just-”

“Don’t worry about it. I kept mostly to myself, we ran in different circles. No big deal,” you peered into the freezer case and tapped the glass over one of the gallons. “I’ll take a cup of the U.S.S Butterscotch, please.” 

Steve nodded and scooped her a hefty cup of ice cream. He’d overfill the cups for customers he liked, it’d only rarely get him in trouble with the manager. He handed you your ice cream and you smiled. 

You paid and gave them a hefty tip, Steve thanked you as the bills hit the bottom of the relatively empty tip jar. You were walking back out to the main floor of the mall and turned to say goodbye. 

“Thanks, Steve! Oh and say hi to Robin for me!” and with that, you were gone. Robin’s eyes widened and she turned away from the front of the store. You remembered her name. 

+

You came in a lot that summer. The ice cream was good, the ac was nice, and so was the company. It was always Steve that came out to serve you, you could see Robin peeking around the corners sometimes as she was “washing dishes” but she never said anything. 

One time, you caught her staring. Robin just about jumped out of her skin, making her drop an ice cream scooper into the soapy water. A drop found its way into her eye and she let out a very quiet, angry, hiss in pain as she ducked out of view. 

Steve pushed his way into the back to find her kneeling near the floor rubbing her eyes.

“You alright, Robin?” she nodded wordlessly. “You sure?”

“Yes, dingus! Just go back to slinging ice cream!”

“Okay then,”

She hoped against hope that maybe you’d finally say something to her… or that she’d get the courage to say something to you, but of course summer in Hawkins could only remain normal for so long. Being kidnapped and drugged by Russians was definitely putting a damper on her hopes for a summer romance. As she puked her guts out into the Starcourt toilet, she couldn’t help but think of you. Which only made her want to throw up more. Robin wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and laid down against the cool, dirty, tile floor. 

“The ceiling’s stopped spinning for me,” she said quietly. “Is it still spinning for you?”

“Holy shit,” Steve muttered back. “No. Do you think we puked it all up?”

“Maybe. Ask me something… interrogate me,” as soon as the words left her mouth she realized how bad of an idea it might be. What if he asked about her love life? Previous crushes, first kiss... you?  Lucky for Robin, he was still a little too drugged out to think of a juicy question. 

“When, uh, when was the last time you peed your pants?” Robin laughed and answered giddily. Even then she couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Maybe she did want him to ask. Maybe she finally wanted to get it all out on the table, to finally tell someone who she really was. To finally be true to herself. Or maybe she was still a little high.

“Steve, can I tell you something?” she asked after a moment. Steve pushed his way under the side bathroom wall and over to her. Robin picked at the hem of her uniform shorts. “I, um, I like you, I really like you. I don’t want to scare you off but… I have to tell you, I’m not like your other friends.”

“Robin… I like you too,” oh shit. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. 

“No, I mean I’m not… I’m not like Nancy Wheeler.” 

“That’s exactly why I like you—”

“Do you remember what I said about Click’s class? About me being jealous and like… obsessed?” he nodded. “It isn’t because I had a crush on you. It’s because she wouldn’t stop staring at you.” 

“Mrs. Click?” 

“Tammy Thompson,” Robin shook her head, embarrassed. “I wanted her to look at me. But she couldn’t pull her eyes away from you and I didn’t get it because you were a douchebag. You’d ask dumb questions and get bagel crumbs all over the floor and I would go home and scream into my pillow. And it… it scared me because-—”

“Because Tammy Thompson’s a girl?” 

“Yeah… a girl.”

“Holy shit,” he said softly. Steve didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t lie, he felt a little dejected about yet another mark on the YOU SUCK board, but… he liked Robin— he liked her as a friend and he nothing could really change that, he didn’t think anyway.

“You OD over there?” Robin said after a long beat of silence. 

“No… just thinking.”

Shit. This was the first time she’d ever really gotten close to someone and now this was going to mess it all up. She could feel her chest tighten as Steve failed to meet her gaze, silence hung heavy in the air. Take it all back. Haha, it was a joke! Go back to “normal,” don’t be an outlier. But it was too late. What was said had been said, and now all she could do was wait anxiously for Steve to say anything, and hope that she hadn’t scared him away.

“Tammy Thompson… interesting,” Robin looked up at him. “You still like her?”

“I don’t know… no, I guess? Why?” a small smile played at Steve’s lips.

“Like sure, she’s cute and all, but… she’s a total dud! She wants to be a singer— move to Nashville or some shit!”

“She has dreams!”

“She can’t even hold a tune!” he laughed. Robin wanted to cry. She’d never had a friend like Steve before, even if he had been an asshole. Past tense. “So who do you like now?” he asked after a beat of laughter from the two of them. 

“N-no one.”

“Don’t even try to lie. That truth serum is still in there somewhere, I know it is.” 

She picked at the hem of her shorts again. “I’m not lying—”

“Y/N, that girl from my grade that comes into Scoops all the time,” she only stopped picking for a second, but Steve caught it. He grabbed her hand excitedly.

“Ah hah!”

“What?”

“You— the shorts— you’d suck at poker! I knew you liked her! Well, I didn’t know, but now that you told me about Tammy Thompson it all makes sense. The hiding behind the sink, the begging me not to flirt with her!”

“Okay, okay! Yes, you got me. I like Y/N—” the door swung open cutting her off. 

You had a small bladder and always had to get up in the middle of a movie. Robin and Steve had unknowingly run into the girl's bathroom. And there you three were, them sitting on the nasty floor, you standing above them awkwardly. After a moment you lifted your hand slightly to give them a small wave, the urge to pee completely gone. Steve waved back while Robin sat there mortified. How much had you heard? Enough. 

“H-hey guys,” you said. 

“Hi Y/N,” Steve said back, being way too cool about this. 

“I’m gonna…” you pointed at the farthest stall and walked quickly towards it. Maybe what you heard was a misunderstanding? 

As soon as the latch on the door clicked, Robin jumped to her feet, wiped the remaining puke off the toilet seat, and walked swiftly out of the bathroom. Her cheeks were burning as she made her way back to the main floor of the mall and could hear faint laughter from Steve behind her. She spun on her heel to face him.

“Don’t laugh!” she said angrily, which only made him laugh more. “It’s not funny! Holy shit I’m so embarrassed! How much do you think she heard?”

“No idea, Robin but—“

“Shit! Shit oh my god, I’m so stupid—“

“Okay! What the hell?” Dustin yelled as he and Erica stormed up to them. Steve was still laughing while Robin turned to look at them. Tears pricked in her eyes as mortification overwhelmed her. “We have Russians on our asses and I told you one thing! Stay put!”

“Alright! Lighten up, dad,” Steve said as he collected himself. 

“If you say that one more time, Steve, I swear!” Dustin began pushing the two of them back to the bathroom and Robin tried to dig her heels into the tile floor. But it was no use. 

They crashed through the door, making you jump. You hadn’t used the restroom and instead were just sitting in there trying to process everything you thought you heard. You could hear four voices whispering so you peered through the crack in the stall door. Steve and Robin were back, now with two kids. You could see them looking around through the door, ducking back in and holding it closed as people crossed its path. They were hiding from something. 

You pushed the stall door open gently, as the curly-haired boy whipped around to face you. You’d seen him before, he was friends with Jonathan Byer’s younger brother. He huffed angrily through his nose and pointed at you. Okay, rude. 

“Who the hell is this?” Robin and Steve looked up at you. You felt your cheeks tinge pink as she looked at you. 

“Oh, uh, that’s Y/N,” Steve said. “Y/N, Dustin Henderson and Erica Sinclair,” he gestured at the two kids. You started to say hi when Dustin cut you off.  

“Great, now get out!” you blinked at him, unsure of what to do. All four of them were blocking the door, you couldn’t really move even if you wanted to. Which you didn’t. “Seriously, you gotta go!”

“I— I don’t want to,” you said quietly. “Robin, Steve, what’s going on?” you asked, only now noticing Steve’s swollen eye. “Holy shit, Steve what happened to your face?”

“Don’t answer that—” Dustin said.

“Russians, they kidnapped us and are trying to kill us,” Robin said, finally. “They run everything at the mall and are trying to open some sort of alien gate under Hawkins. We’re hiding from them,” Dustin rolled his eyes.

“Great! Now there’s another person for me to look after!” Dustin ran a hand over his face before looking at you. “Well, now that you know you can’t go back out there. Y/N right?” he asked, even though he’d just been told your name a minute ago. You nodded. “Get down.” 

You did, coming up behind Robin and kneeling behind her. She could feel your breath on her shoulder and it took all of her self control not to scream. 

“Okay, that movie’s almost over. As soon as it’s done and they start clearing out, we’re gonna get in the crowd and leave. Got it? Just act normal!” He poked his head out to watch the theater doors, you leaned in only to lose your balance. You caught and steadied yourself with the help of Robin’s shoulder, but you didn’t let go. You hadn’t even realized you’d done it until you looked down. 

“Sorry,” you said quickly and dropped your hand. You cheeks became even pinker now. 

“‘S okay,” she murmured. Robin glanced down at your hand. You had a coat of polish on your fingernails, it’d only just started to chip. Robin had a habit of biting her nails down to the quick, she had hangnails all over her hands, and the constant washing of scoopers to clean up the store had made them dry. But your hands, they looked so incredibly soft. All she wanted to do was lace her fingers in yours and feel your incredibly soft skin against hers—

“Are you ready?” Dustin hissed, snapping her out of it. “And… blend,” you jumped in with the crowd. Eyes low to the ground as you made your way to the front gates of the mall. “Home sweet home, here we come.” 

“Uh, yeah, we may not want to go back to your house,” Steve murmured.

“Why?”

“I may have told them your full name,” 

“Steve! What the hell?” the two bickered for a while as you grew closer and closer to the exit. But something caught your eye. 

“Uh guys, men with guns,” is all you can think to say. Four guards lined the door, looking through everyone’s bags.

“Shit, they’re checking everyone.”

“We gotta hide! C’mon!” Robin pulled you back, grabbing your wrist blindly before sliding down between the escalators. Steve and the kids ducked behind one of the store counters while you and Robin hid behind another. Your heart pounded in your chest as your shoulder pressed tightly against Robin’s.

The two of you were still very much in the dark about the strange things happening in Hawkins, and everything felt like it happened all at once. The car displayed in the mall flew over your heads, across the food court, knocking the Russian guards to the ground. More kids, Jonathan Byers, Nancy Wheeler, a giant fucking monster. Your brain tried to explain everything, to convince yourself that it was all a dream. But the pain in your neck from ramming into Billy’s car, the blood on your hands from helping to patch up a young girl’s leg, the feeling of heat from the fire that had consumed Starcourt mall, made that impossible. 

It blended all together. But it was real. With a shock blanket around your shoulders, you made your way over to Robin and Steve, who were sitting in the back of one of the many ambulances at the scene. You smiled at them lightly and they nodded back. It took you a minute to find them as it had been parked pretty far from the rest of the action, but you were relieved when you finally did. You sat down beside Robin. 

“You okay?” Steve asked.

“Ask me tomorrow?” you said and Robin laughed. 

“Yeah… makes sense.”

“How are you so cool with this?” you asked leaning over to look at Steve.

“Stuff like this… happens here all the time. I just got used to it I guess,” you shook your head in disbelief.

“Giant monsters, girls with magic powers—”

“Not magic, she was an experiment. The government took El from her mom and tested on her for years,” you shook your head again. You were tired, the weight of your own head on your shoulders was growing too much for you, and you laid your head on Robin’s shoulder. The rain had matted your hair to the side of your face but you didn’t care to move it away. Robin sat up a little straighter at the contact. 

“Oh, uh…” is all she said. Steve smiled at her and hopped up, crudely folding the blanket and tossing it towards the front of the ambulance. 

“I’m gonna get going. My car’s still in the employee lot and I don’t think the fire’s spread there yet,” you nodded sleepily. “Either of you need a ride?” 

“No, I’m just gonna sit here for a while. My car’s pretty far down into the lot and I can give Robin a ride home,” you said. “Is that okay?” you looked up at her from your position on her shoulder. She nodded quickly. Steve’s smile only widened before bidding you goodbye.

The two of you sat in silence for a moment, the flash of police lights shown in your eyes.

“Not exactly how I expected my summer to go,” you said. “I always knew Hawkins was weird, but I never thought it was this fucked.”

Robin let out a short laugh before turning to you slightly. You picked up your head to look at her. “Y/N, I- I’m sorry,” she couldn’t look at you, picking at the hem of her shorts again. “I didn’t mean to drag you into this and… and about what I said in the bathroom,” how the hell could she explain that? “I mean, Steve and I were drugged. Who knows what they put in there, you know? I was high off my ass, not thinking straight, I—” you cut her off by placing a kiss on her cheek. “Uh… what?”

“Robin,” you said quietly, pulling her hands away from her shorts and into your own. They were as soft as she imagined. “I like you too.”

Holy. Shit.

“I mean how could I not. I thought you were so cool. So unapologetically yourself. So smart! I… I asked you for a pencil every day last year, you know that? And I never gave them back because I hoped you’d come up to me during passing and ask me for them,” you laughed and shook your head. “I didn’t really… get it before. All I knew was I wanted you to talk to me. I wanted you to talk to me so I could see you again and I was confused about why… but now I know,” you ran your thumb over the back of her hand. “I like you, Robin. A lot.” 

She didn’t know what to say. Robin sat there with a dumb look on her face. Her mouth was slightly agape as she waited for you to finish pulling the wool over her eyes. But you didn’t. 

“Robin?” you asked quietly.

“You… you thought I was cool?” she said. You chuckled and brought your hand up to her cheek. 

“Can I…” Robin nodded and you leaned in. Your lips pressed to hers, moving slowly, gently. You had a boyfriend your freshman year, kissing him never felt like this. Robin had never kissed anyone before, let alone a girl. But both of you knew this felt right. 

You never wanted to stop touching her, feeling her, but the sound of boots on gravel slowly approaching you made you pull away. 

“You ladies want a ride to the hospital? Parents can pick you up there,” the EMT said once he reached you. You shook your head and told him your car was in the lot and stood, handing over the blanket. Robin did the same, thanking him before coming up beside you. 

The heat from the fire died away as you walked, and voices grew fainter and fainter as the two of you made your way into the dark. Only a few lamps in the parking lot had remained lit, barely enough light for you to find your way back to your car, which was still a ways away. You brushed hands with Robin, barely touching her so as not to draw attention from the crowd of police officers and firemen. But as soon as they were out of earshot you felt Robin catch your pinky with hers. She pulled your hand into hers, her fingers dancing across your own until you were finally in her grasp. 

She stopped under directly under a street lamp, the bright light illuminating her skin. You stopped too and she pulled you in closer. 

This time she kissed you. Pulling away with a small “Woah,” making both of you laugh.