#robin week

Written for @genderthings Robin week 🌈 using prompts ‘sharing clothes,’ ‘coming out,’ ‘gender euphoria,’ and ‘bigender.’

Rated T • wc: 689 • Platonic soulmates Stobin, some flavor of genderqueer Robin, Steve’s along for the ride, coming out, binding, Robins supportive parents

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It started with a sports bra that was too small. Robin never knew if it had gotten shrunk in the wash, or it didn’t get thrown away when she outgrew it. All she knew was that once she fought to get it on, the feeling of having a flat chest was something she didn’t know she’d ever wanted.

So it went, when she woke up and she didn’t feel like dressing with boobs, she’d dig out that too small bra, or the ones she’d bought after the fact. Other days she dressed feminine without issues, but some days it just felt wrong.

When she started at Scoops with Steve and they became inseparable, she quickly discovered the things in his closet were even more affirming somehow. The boxy shirts, the button downs that showed off her flat chest. The boxers, tube socks and huge shirts for pajamas she had always dreamed of.

Steve had never had a sibling, but he seemed to absorb her into the role easily. Robin knew siblings shared clothes. No one else really cared or noticed, as far as they knew.

“I think, maybe, I don’t know what it’s called yet. Stay with me. I don’t want to be a boy or a girl,” Robin declared one random day as they stood in the empty ice cream stop.

Steve frowned at her, but quickly nodded when she glared. “Love that. But, uh, what does it mean?”

Robin was momentarily stumped as well, but she knew what she wanted it to mean at least. “I just don’t want to be stuck in either label. I’ve been switching back and forth, and I’m over it. I just want to be me, everyday.”

He pushed himself up to sit on the counter. “Sounds like an excuse for us to go shopping,” he grinned.

At the store, they took their stack of clothes into the men’s dressing room. Robin found a pair of plaid pants and Steve talked her into a sweater that was the softest thing she had ever felt.

She spent a while in front of Steve’s huge bathroom mirror messing with makeup to define her jaw and brows, contouring her face to look more masculine.

Steve looked up from his magazine where he was sprawled in the empty jacuzzi. “Wow.”

“Wow good or wow bad?”

He blinked, then immediately grinned. “Wow, you look great!”

“I’m back,” she called as she walked into her house a bit nervously, knowing her parents wouldn’t be terrible about it, but not sure she could explain herself to others yet.

“In here dear,” her mom yelled from the kitchen.

Robin dropped the bags in her room first, then slowly approached the kitchen.

Her parents didn’t look up from preparing dinner so she just stood waiting. She shoved her shaking hands into the pockets of her new pants.

Her dad looked over first, and only gawked for a moment. “Hey honey, how was your day?”

“It was good,” Robin hedged.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She looked down at her shoes. “Listen, I think I’ve decided that, um, you know, I’ve been figuring things out lately. I just, feel, like,” she trailed off, pulling her hands out to twist them in front of her.

“We‘ll love you the same, whatever you decide love, you know that.” Her mom calmly explained while still chopping vegetables.

Robin looked up, took a deep breath and said, “I just don’t feel like a girl or like a boy. I like dressing both masculine and feminine, depending on how I feel that day, but it’s not very consistent. Steve helped me pick out some more masculine clothes, so I have more options.”

“That’s great, dear,” her dad said slowly. “And Steve is good with this change, too?”

Robin sighed. “Yes, dad. Because Steve is just my friend. Platonic with a capital P. He was mostly excited that we would get to go shopping,” she laughed.

“He’s a good guy, I’m glad you have him in your life, however it is he fits in,” her mom emphasized.

“Me too,” Robin agreed, and went over to get a hug from them both.

buy me a coffee? 🖤

“Is this about my costume? I know it’s an anime convention but I’ve found these places to be quite amenable to all tastes,” he said, putting his goggles up on his bald head.

“Your costume is wonderful, sir,” Alex said. “Our issue is with the prop.”

“Oh! My doohickey?” he asked, proudly holding out the ticking clockwork contraption.

“Yeah… the, um… doohickey,” Robin said.

“I made it myself!” he said, twirling his handlebar moustache with his free hand.

“Why is it ticking?”

“Well that’s what doohickies do.”

“Jesus,” Alex muttered. “Well, it needs to stop ticking. No props here should have moving parts.”

“Well it’s not like I brought a bomb here!” the Steampunk gentleman yelled entirely too loudly. That caught the attention of the other registration attendants.

“A bomb?!” yelled one. Robin could already see the panic going down the line of attendees like a wave.

“Sir, please don’t say something like that here,” Robin said.

“What, bomb! I said it wasn’t a bomb!” the Steampunk gentleman reiterated with no attention to the chaos he was instigating.

-  “Peace-Tying” (or, How Robin Learned to Keep Worrying and Hate the Doohickey)

“Hey, Paulie,” they replied. “Where is everybody?”

“I don’t know. You’re the only one who’s come in so far. Do you have anyone else’s number?”

“Um… maybe? You sent a contact list right?” Robin asked as they tapped the e-mail icon on their phone

“Right, yes! It should be in your e-mail.”

“Found it!”

“Awesome. Start calling if you can. We need to see how many of the volunteers are coming in.”

“On it,” Robin said with a salute before dialing a new number on their phone.

Having Robin on his team was a small mercy for Paulie. Kid lacked some confidence, which was a shame because they knew their shit.

Paulie asked, “So, Robin, why are you interested in volunteering for Ani-Con?”

There were so many reasons. Because Robin had held their sister’s controllers since they were three years old. Because they spent hours dissecting every new episode of everything from Little Witch Academia to Yuri!!! On Ice. Because they spent way too much time on Tumblr shipping their OTPs as hard as they could. Because they dreamed of going to the big cons that were way out of their price range and this was the closest they could get to them. Robin settled on something simple.

“Cause I’m a… a huge nerd.”  

- “Robin”

In creating Robin, I wanted to make the kind of person who would want to volunteer at a convention. All conventions need staff to run well. A lot of the smaller and independent acts rely on volunteers. I haven’t volunteered at a convention yet. I’ve cosplayed, presented panels, and attended as a guest. I do know several friends who have volunteered, one of whom makes a cameo appearance in a later story.

“You know how you’re a she… you are a she, right? Because if you’re not, I’m sorry for assuming.”

Gabbi nodded furiously. “It’s ok. I’m a she.”

“Well some people are shes, some are hes, and some are theys. I’m a they,” Robin said.

“Huh. We didn’t learn that in school when they came to talk about-” Gabbi blushed and stopped herself from finishing the sentence.

“Schools don’t talk about that too well. Ask your mom about it.”

“Ok,” Gabbi said. “Sorry, I um… I just couldn’t tell.”

“Not the first, kid,” Robin said. “But I appreciate you being nice about it.”

- “Lost”

It was Valentine’s Day and for once Robin hadn’t planned his usual orgy. Ishiah had asked him to think about monogamy and he was, it’s just that he was a puck and it wasn’t in his nature. At least it hadn’t been until now. He would have usually planned an orgy because no one liked being alone on the publicly sanctioned day of love, not even the païens, but here he was sitting in his living room alone, thinking about grey-blue eyes and gold wings. He was brought out of his musings by a knock on his door. When he opened the door, Robin was greeted by a boy in a delivery uniform holding a wrapped bouquet. “Mr. Fellows?” At Robin’s nod the boy passed over the handheld machine for him to sign. Once Robin had handed it back, he was given the bouquet and the boy left with, “Have a nice day,” thrown over his shoulder. Robin stood in the doorway for a moment blinking down at the wrapped bouquet in his arms. No one had ever sent him flowers before. Once he had gathered himself a little, Robin walked to his kitchen to see if he had a vase. He set the bouquet down on the counter and started to open cupboards. He was sure he’d seen one the last time he went searching for snacks in the middle of the night. This is what happened when you didn’t furnish your own place, you could never find something when you needed it. Once he found the vase, he couldn’t put it off any longer. He had to open the wrapping and find out who had remembered him on today of all days. As he pulled back the wrapper the smell was what hit him first. It smelled wild and green. Like Greece in the old days. He had no idea where the sender had found a florist that sold mountain beech and pine branches, along with water-reeds, but he was holding a bouquet almost made entirely of the plants, with a big yellow sunflower directly in the middle. Who would send him something like this? As he pulled away the last of the wrapping paper, that’s when he saw it. Tucked into the red ribbon tied around the stems, was a golden feather. Robin couldn’t keep the smile off his face. He knew what his answer to Ishiah was going to be. How could he refuse the one request of the only person who had ever sent him flowers?

Author: estheralex16

AN: The pine tree, water reeds, and mountain beech are all sacred to the Greek god Pan. Sunflowers represent pure thoughts, adoration, dedication, dedicated love, and haughtiness. I thought it worked well both with what Ishiah was trying to say to Robin and Robin as a character.