#robinnancy

-The four girls have sleepovers in the Wheeler basement and crank call their friends (usually Steve)

-Max attempts to teach Robin how to skate. It doesn't go well

-Robin helps dye El's hair funky non-permanent colors as it grows out

-After going through her bedroom, Nancy gives El a bunch of her old favorite books (including Frankenstein, which El takes a liking to)

-Max visits Family Video after school and Robin lets her sit on the counter so she can watch whatever VHS they put on that day

-The four go camping in Robin's backyard and watch the stars together

-Nancy introduces El to the newspaper staff and buys her a used camera when they discover her talent for photography

-El then takes pictures constantly and Robin helps her make a scrapbook of all of them

-Max accidentally calls Nancy 'mom' after Nancy comes to pick her up really late at night and comforts her post-nightmare

-Nancy tries not to cry in front of her over it

-They'll regularly talk about plans when the boys are around to purposefully bother them

-Robin and Nancy drive El to visit the abandoned Hawkins Lab and lay flowers for El's mother there

-When El and Max hang out just the two of them, they'll spy on Robin and Nancy through interdimensional travel because they're nosy little shits

-Which leads to some awkward conversations about boundaries

-El makes them all matching friendship bracelets

-When Nancy goes to college, she has a set date and time that she calls the girls every week (and she calls Robin separately every day)

-Max gets a solo in the band and Robin is way more excited about it than she is

-They take the dog that lives by Max on walks

-El and Max will steal Nancy's fries but she never calls them out on it

-They pay for Max's food at group gatherings without question

-Robin reads comics to the three. She's very good at doing voices

-They set up a code to say into the phone when one of the girls is feeling bad and needs company

-Once El calls Robin and says the code. Robin picks her up and they get late-night milkshakes together and El tells her all about her long-lost sister, Kali

-Max is very defensive about Nancy and Robin's relationship and will beat up anybody who says anything negative

-After one of these fights Max gets called down to the office but she phones Nancy instead of her actual mom. Nancy comes in and takes her home

-El pierces Robin's ears and she's very dramatic about it

Nancy is very frustrated in this scene at the Library because Robin is being very snarky about being there on a “shot in the dark”. Robin (and some people in the fandom) have misinterpreted this (imo) as Nancy being annoyed at Robin because Robin is with Steve all the time/is jealous, this isn’t what’s happening here, Nancy is annoyed at Robin because she doesn’t believe her theory will go anywhere, Nancy shows this same frustration at Jonathan in season 3 with the rat storyline, Jonathan wouldn’t listen to her, her bosses wouldn’t listen, but she knew something was going on. It’s the same here although this time she’s being more lowkey about it, she only has Robin with her so she isn’t alone with Vecna out there, and only because Robin couldn’t drive Steve’s car was it Robin that was with Nancy (I’m actually so glad the writers made this choice here). They’ve been thrown together really without having had much previous interaction and no solo interaction.

They arrive at the Library. Robin is being her usual inquisitive self and asking Nancy what they’re looking into. When Nancy explains about Victor Creel Robin doesn’t look convinced.

Robin: I just thought by shot in the dark you were being modest or hiding something super solid up your sleeve that you were gonna wow us with later but this is truly a shot. in. the. dark...

Interesting Robin thinks so highly of Nancy.

Then Robin has this look:

This is important because we hardly ever see Robin think about what she’s just said, she often says out of pocket things but rarely (if ever?) does she feel the need to explain herself to people, so why Nancy? Then this exchange happens:

Robin: Did I come off mean or condescending or something?

Nancy: No

Robin: Right sorry… it's just.. you seem annoyed. You don't know me very well, I don't really have a filter or a strong grasp of social cues

Nancy: Okay

Robin: So just know that if I say something that upsets you just know that I know that it’s a flaw, believe me my mother reminds me daily

Nancy: (polite but firm) Got it

Librarian: (with keys to the archives) Here you go ladies, have fun

Nancy: We’ll try

The librarian and Robin then share a look of “eh yikes I pissed off the Mrs” if I ever saw lol

Next Scene

Nancy is frustrated at the lack of anything, they’re coming up with nothing, she’s starting to believe this might all just be stupid.

Robin: What is it we’re looking for exactly?

*Nancy ignores her*

Robin: Nance?….Nance?… *knocks on the side*

Nancy: I don’t know, okay? It’s starting to feel like this is just a big waste of time and you’re obviously bored so why don’t you just call Steve, I’m sure he’ll come pick you up and I’m not really in danger here so…

Robin is shocked, thinking Nancy is jealous. I don’t see this as jealousy towards her, I believe Nancy is genuinely frustrated about not finding anything on the demon Victor spoke of. In the next scene she is very surprised.

Robin: You know that me and Steve are like totally not a thing, right?

Nancy: What?

Nancy looks genuinely confused Robin brought this up, she either thought their was something happening between them and genuinely is shocked to hear Robin say their isn’t or she didn’t realise how what she just said may have sounded. It could be either, or a mix of both, but that doesn’t mean she’s interested in Steve, I believe this is the beginning of Nancy working out Robins sexuality. I also think Nancy didn’t mean for it to sound jealous but she probably thought they had a thing and he frustration could come from a place of general annoyance that her relationship with Jonathan isn’t going well.

You can say I’m wrong but I say this is up to interpretation and this is how I interpreted the scene, people might say but oh it seemed like Nancy had feelings for Steve in season 4, no, I disagree, it showed she will always care for him but that they are two very different people who want different things in life. Anyway…

(Look at this gif, Nancy you’re smiling babe🥰)

Robin: So I figure that you and Jonathan are still going strong cause you guys are going to college together and you’re like one of those unstoppable power couples

Nancys reaction:

We know Nancy and Jonathan are having a hard time, he chose not to visit and she also chose to stay and work. They are not what people seem to think they are, this seems to kind of surprise Nancy, but she doesn’t talk to anyone about their relationship problems! Nancy hasn’t had a close female friendship since Barb! Just saying this here because I have some feelings about it :(

Robin: …but I just wanted to make sure that you knew that Steve and I are just friends…like platonic with a capital P…incase that was adding any tension between us

Nancy: Wasn’t

Nancy seems annoyed Robin even brought this up, but honestly I think she’s more pissed off at the mention of her and Jonathan as she’s confused about their relationship at this point.

This is the start of the two beginning to bond, the next scene is when Nancy actually begins to take Robin more seriously, once she suggests looking in Weekly Watcher.

NEXT UP:

Nancy and Robin in the epilogue!

Every excruciating detail of that night (November 23rd, to be specific) replayed over and over again. Robin would close her eyes to go to sleep and see Nancy’s big doe eyes in front of hers, looking up through her eyelashes and asking her if she

(“-wanted to see the stars from the roof.” Nancy’s shirt was soaked in sweat and it clung to her tiny frame. Robin’s eyes were crossing, she was so focused on not looking down lower than was appropriate. Of course she said yes.)

She rewatched Dirty Dancing with Steve for the thousandth time and remembered the feeling of Nancy’s hot waist against her palm, their chests pressed together. It’d been a party. The only good party Robin had ever been to.

And it’d been a perfect night. Something Robin had promised herself she wouldn’t forget, no matter how sloppy drunk she was by the time Nancy yanked their mouths together in an open embrace. Now she regretted that promise. She hated her younger self for making it. It seemed the universe had taken it seriously, because she wasn’t going to forget anytime soon and it was killing her inside.

“So,” Steve started, forgoing a greeting as Robin slumped over in the passenger seat on the way back from the train station. Through the panes on his trusty BMW she could see small flurries of snow, promising a welcome return from her first semester at college. If only her stomach would calm down - it’d been churning for a month at this point and she couldn’t take it any longer. “What’s up.” There was no question mark. It was a statement.

“The sky,” Robin said, because she was an idiot. She ducked out of the way of Steve’s large hand swooping in to ruffle her hair in pleased annoyance. “I dunno, dude. Why are you being so weird? I just got here.”

“Something’s off,” Steve insisted, pulling out of his parking spot without so much as a glance behind him and speeding off back to Hawkins. Robin gripped her seatbelt. She knew, realistically, he wasn’t going any faster than he usually would. She still had the urge to ask him to instead crawl along the road. Maybe to stop and let her walk the rest of the way. Walk back to the train station and change her name.

“I just got here,” Robin repeated with more intensity this time. “You’ve seen me for five seconds.”

“Five minutes,” Steve amended. “I helped you lug all your shit into my car and watched you watch me toss it into my trunk.”

“You’re a big boy, you can handle it,” Robin replied. Steve’s hand, which had been flailing around blindly looking for her hair, settled on her hand and squeezed comfortingly.

“What’s going on?” He asked, casually slamming on the brakes so hard Robin nearly got herself flung through the windshield. His hand on hers kept her grounded, though. It usually did.

“Nothing,” Robin said, a bit too fast and a bit too scared. She refocused on the window, unable to stop herself from running over the same five lines of dialogue she’d been mourning since that awful night.

You look cold.

I am.

Come closer. You can come closer than that.

How close do you want me?

“Robin?” Steve’s voice was warbly and faded. She blinked and returned to the present, holding hands with Steve Harrington as he drove her to her death sentence. She sighed and considered, realistically, how long she thought she’d be able to hide this from him. “You can tell me.” His puppy dog eyes carved at her soul. Mentally she sent up a prayer to herself and opened her mouth.

“Nancy and I kissed,” Robin said. It was the first time she’d said it aloud. It hung in the stuffy air of the car, unquestionable. A true event. Steve pursed his lips, his thinking face. Then he hummed in consideration. Robin watched the words hang in the air with a growing sense of anxiety. Now that they were truly out in the open, how would she be able to avoid them? 

I want you closer than physically possible, Robin. I want you everywhere. 

“It was a matter of time,” Steve said, tapping out a little rhythm on his steering wheel. He was completely oblivious to Robin’s gobsmacked expression, as she stared incredulously at her best friend.

“What do you mean ‘matter of time’?” She asked, eyebrows raised. Steve shrugged.

“I dunno, I guess,” He sighed and flicked on his left turn signal, nearing Robin’s childhood street. “When you guys are together, I feel it.”

“Feel what?” Robin asked, heart in her throat. Steve looked at her just as the light turned green. He smiled encouragingly, softly. He squeezed her hand again.

“The electricity.”

* * *

Later that night, though she’d begged Steve not to, he threw a party in her homecoming favor. All the older teenagers had ended up around Hawkins within a week or so of her coming home - as if they’d been waiting for Robin to return. She couldn’t take it any longer. Steve’s house, once a safe haven, now became her jail cell. Robin sprawled out on his couch beside a tipsy Eddie and a red-rimmed Jonathan, miserably waiting for the next time that front door swung open and in walked the most beautiful girl in the world. 

The most beautiful girl she’d never kiss again. Her sighs of self despair were muffled by the leather couch arm. Eddie’s head slumped over onto her shoulder and he hummed into her shirt comfortingly, completely unaware of the situation and yet very supportive. She patted his hair. Her eyes stayed glued to the front door.

The last time she’d been at a party that both she and the girl in question were attending, It happened. Whether or not it would happen again was out of the question. She was more worried about the volcano of anxiety bubbling in her chest - when would it erupt and would Nancy see? What would Nancy say? Robin knew, logically, that Nancy hadn’t not enjoyed the kiss. It had been consensual. It had also been a wasted decision. 

“Nance!” Steve’s voice echoed from the doorway, and Robin both cursed and supported the fact that the front door swung open to hide Nancy from her view. “So good to see you.”

“Hi, Steve.” Just her voice had Robin on her knees. The perfect amount of soft and low.

Rob, you’re - you’re just -

“Hi, Nance!” Eddie cheered from Robin’s side, falling practically onto her lap in his haste to reach her. Robin didn’t blame him - she felt the same. Her arms had moved on instinct, raising themselves to embrace Nancy like the second coming of Christ. But Nancy was just a girl.

A beautiful girl standing in the doorway to Steve’s foyer, hand on her back and smile on her face. She was glancing around the rooms, eyes darting from friend to friend. Robin tried to hold back her sweat as she anticipated Nancy’s eye contact, something she’d been desperately waiting for. 

Nancy’s eyes shuttered on Robin, as if surprised she were there; even though the party was meant for her. Something in Nancy’s face stopped short, the smile faltering, her eyes swimming with an emotion unrecognizable. Heavy. Knowing. Robin’s breath caught in her throat. Did she -

“How was your first semester?” Jon asked from his sprawled place on the opposite side of the room, lazing in Steve’s big leather chair. Nancy blinked and suddenly all tension broke. With the turn of her head she slapped the breath from Robin’s lungs, leaving her heaving on the couch and desperate for contact.

“It was fine,” Nancy said, but her voice was all stilted. Not the ease she’d had when talking to Steve. Robin’s stomach churned for an entirely different, but just as unwanted, reason. She knew. She knew. “Fine.”

“I need to go to the bathroom,” Robin all but shouted, effectively shoving Eddie off her shoulder and pushing him nearly to the floor in the process. She scrambled to her feet and decisively ignored all strange looks from her friends. “So. Yes. Bathroom.”

“Robin-” Steve’s voice disappeared as she raced out of the living room and into the kitchen, effectively avoiding having to go past Nancy. Her hand had just reached the bathroom doorknob before another much softer, paler hand cut hers off. 

Robin’s head whipped up to see Nancy’s mere inches from her own, all too familiar and nearly heart-breaking. She dropped her hand as if she’d been burnt.

“Nance,” Robin said shakily. 

“I think we need to talk,” Nancy said, and she looked as sick as Robin felt. 

“Here?” Robin asked, but she’d already resigned herself to following Nancy out onto Steve’s patio. She’d follow Nancy anywhere. When they’d stumbled out onto the stone flooring, hit by the intense cold, Robin could feel goosebumps. Whether or not they were caused by the wind, she wasn’t sure. She watched Nancy pull her arms close to her chest for warmth. 

You look cold.

“Do you remember that Thanksgiving party Jon threw?” Nancy began, shuffling on her feet and looking resolutely at the linoleum. In Robin’s mind, two possible paths arose. One: deny, deny, deny. Stomp out all memories of that night. Refuse to accept that Nancy remembered, whatever she did remember. Two: Accept her fate at the gates of Hell and nod a yes.

Robin reluctantly went for the latter. She was nodding before she even truly realized.

“Do you remember what happened?” Nancy pressed. Her eyes, shut resolutely for a second, reopened in all their glory. Robin found herself drifting closer without meaning to, eye contact stuttering her heart in her chest. She nodded again. “Will you say anything?”

“I’m not sure what to say,” Robin admitted quietly. She took another step forward. Nancy didn’t move back, but her arms tightened across her chest. “I didn’t - I don’t want to ruin our friendship. You’re so important to me, Nance.”

“So are you,” Nancy replied resolutely. The way her eyes looked between her eyelashes was heart-breaking. Robin never wanted to stop looking at her like that. Her hands twitched at her sides, desperate for physical contact. “But…I can’t. I remember everything.”

“So do I,” Robin said. They watched each other for a moment. 

“Then why are we…?” Nancy drifted off. She gestured between them, questioning. 

“Do you want to-?” Robin asked. She laughed self-deprecatingly and ran a hand through her hair, dropping her bangs off against her ears. “We can’t finish sentences, apparently.”

“I do,” Nancy said, running over Robin’s second sentence to get her own words out. After watching her for a pause, Robin took another cautious step forward. She was standing in front of Nancy now, chest nearly to her crossed arms, hovering and waiting. 

“Are you cold?” Robin asked. Nancy’s lips moved with a hint of a smile. Perhaps she would have grinned if Robin had given her the time. But she hadn’t, lunging forward to scoop Nancy up into a kiss before she could do anything but breathe.

Nancy’s arms were unwound from her chest and tossed around Robin’s neck immediately, tugging her impossibly closer. The grin, previously buried by Robin’s sneak attack, appeared in full force. It felt so warm to kiss. Robin pressed in deeper, fingers digging into Nancy’s waist. She tasted like winter. For the first time in a month, Robin remembered why exactly she’d been so desperate to commit this to memory. 

“Why did we wait a month to do that again?” Nancy murmured against her lips. Robin shrugged, running her long fingers down Nancy’s spine and enjoying the way she shivered against her.

She, though not admitted to aloud, was very glad Steve had stayed behind as proper backup with Eddie and Dustin. Though it’d been a fight to convince Steve she and Robin would be ‘fine’ (as fine as one can be in an alternate dimension), she’d managed to make him stay put. Nancy suspected that, had he come with them as the original plan intended, the silence would be long dead. Somehow Robin knew without words when Nancy needed to be alone. Perhaps Robin needed that gap in conversation as well - she seemed intensely focused on whatever she was doing up ahead.

Nancy watched Robin tuck an absent hair behind her ear as she stalked forward. Her whole face was tilted up to the starless sky, eyebrows furrowed around faded freckles. Though she was at a bit of a distance Nancy could still see the lines in her forehead. She, half-drunk from exhaustion and the fumes of the Upside-Down, beat down the irrational urge to reach out a finger and smooth said lines down. Seeing Robin frown, even in confusion, was almost as disorienting as the location itself.

“You think we’re almost there?” Robin asked, spinning with a frenzied jump as her words caused a group of strange bird-like creatures to fly out from the leafless trees above. She waited in the middle of the path for Nancy to catch up. Her fingers twitched anxiously at her sides, empty.

Nancy shrugged wordlessly as she jogged to catch up to Robin, peering out into the dark forest as if they’d be able to see anything truly worthwhile. 

“‘Cause, you know. It’d be really stupid if we were walking all this way just to not get there in time,” Robin said. Her voice began to pick up speed in a way Nancy was starting to recognize. “I mean, we start the plan, right? What if we never get there? What’s gonna happen? We let down the whole group just ‘cause we got lost in some stupid fucking extraterrestrial woods?”

“We’ll be fine,” Nancy soothed. They started walking again. “You can see the swarming bats above the trees - right there. See?” She pointed in its direction, but her eyes couldn’t help dragging back to Robin’s face. Specifically, to watch the way her bug-eyes widened to follow Nancy’s arm. Her bottom lip looked thoroughly tugged on, no doubt out of anxiety. Nancy wasn’t altogether sure why she’d noticed that.

“Right.” Robin let out a little huff of relief. It wasn’t long before she begun talking again, the space between them heavy with toxic energy that needed to be dispelled. The smell of the Upside-Down was starting to get to Nancy - she held up a hand in front of her nose, though it helped only slightly. “You think fire’ll really get him?”

“What else could we do?” Nancy replied easily, gesturing to the shotgun slung over her back absently. “Not like we could get the US calvary down here. Besides, it worked on the demogorgon.” She took in Robin’s anxious expression and knocked their shoulders together comfortingly. Nancy had never been too good at comforting people, but something about Robin’s general presence made it easy to step down and understand her.

“Are you insulting your own Molotov skills?” Nancy continued in a teasing tone. Robin laughed, happy for the excuse to. 

“I’ll have you know, these bad boys were crafted with expert hands,” Robin retorted, patting her pack protectively. “When I was a kid, I - ugh. It’s stupid.”

“Robin,” Nancy chided. She gestured to their general surroundings. “Who’s listening?”

“I value your opinion of me very much,” Robin replied, aiming for a joke and landing somewhere in between. Nancy found herself not minding very much. “Alright, fine. When I was a kid, I was absolutely terrified of fire.”

“Yeah?”

“If my mom’d lit a candle, I’d be right behind her to blow it out. I refused any kind of candle on my birthday cakes - not even one! When the power went out, I’d sit in the dark instead of lighting a candle. And campfires…don’t even get me started on campfires,” Robin spoke through self-deprecating laughter, burying her head in her hands. 

“What about campfires?” Nancy asked. She couldn’t help but laugh along, really laugh. Really laugh for the first time in days - weeks. It was so silly. She could picture a little Robin, petulant with her arms across her chest, eyes averted from a decorated cake. 

“Girl scout camp, fifth grade.” Robin’s groan was muffled by her palms. She lifted her head up to shake it, smiling bashfully over at Nancy. In the dim light, half of her face was shrouded and half of it was clear. Her clear eye sparkled. The dim part of her nose looked almost sculpted. 

“I guess I shouldn’t ask,” Nancy said, swallowing from how suddenly dry her mouth had gotten. “But I really, really want to.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll promise you this: if we make it out, I’ll tell you the rest,” Robin offered. The emphasis on if was heavy to both, but neither mentioned it. “Yeah?” Nancy gave her a soft smile in agreement.

“Yeah,” She said. Robin held out a pinky. She wiggled it for emphasis. Nancy rolled her eyes, an action that grew more and more fond the more time she spent in Robin’s company. She met her halfway, pinky to pinky and then intertwined. Nancy liked the heat that radiated off Robin’s finger. It pressed against hers. She wondered what it would feel like to have the entirety of her hand wrapped around hers, furnace that she was.

The toe of Nancy’s foot caught on a particularly stubborn root of a nearby tree. She yelped as she went tumbling to the floor of the Upside-Down. The pinky promise turned into a rapid hand hold in the process.

Robin caught Nancy inches away from crashing and upsetting a vine directly below their feet. One hand occupied by Nancy’s, she reached out the other to wrap around Nancy’s waist. Nancy widened her eyes once she saw just how close their faces had gotten in the scramble to catch her. Their noses were nearly touching. Robin’s satchel hit the side of Nancy’s hip softly, having gotten dislodged from its placement by Robin’s leg. 

They only had a momentary pause in that position (to breathe, maybe) before Robin was yanking Nancy back onto unsteady feet. Her fingers spread out onto the small of Nancy’s back protectively. Nancy, dimly, realized she’d been right - Robin was warm all over.

“Thanks,” Nancy managed. 

“I thought I was supposed to be the clumsy one,” Robin joked, grin making her freckles stretch out across her cheeks like constellations. She dropped Nancy’s hand hold but kept the one on her back, as if she didn’t trust Nancy to be able to take her first steps by herself. If it’d been anyone else Nancy would’ve bitten that hand clean off. She let Robin guide her back onto the path. She said nothing about the hand. It was nice. 

It was nice to be touched in such a careful way. Not careful in the sense that Robin acted as if she were something breakable, but careful in a revered way. As if Nancy was something perfect. She wasn’t sure what to do with that.

And looking over at her now - the way Robin was looking at her - knocked about all the breath left in Nancy’s chest. There was something indescribable hanging in Robin’s eyes, hidden just behind that swirl of gray blue. It crystalized. It blossomed. Nancy knew she was matching tenfold with her own. She leaned ever so slightly into Robin’s hand.

“Nance?” Robin asked. Nancy blinked. She’d never replied.

“Sorry,” Nancy said, as sheepish as a person could be. They started walking again. Nancy could’ve cried when Robin pulled her hand back to the safety of gripping her bag strap. “Sorry. I’m a little all over the place right now.”

“You don’t need to apologize for that,” Robin cut in quickly. She laughed a little as she glanced around again, eyes scanning the darkness that threatened to swallow them whole. “So am I. It’s hard not to be, in a place like this.”

“I’ll catch you next time,” Nancy promised. She swallowed desperately. She hoped she didn’t sound too off. Too abnormal. Truth be told, it was getting harder to speak without Robin’s fingers brushing against her spine. She’d gotten too used to paradise. 

Paradise, if it were possible in a place like this. Another wild call of the bats. They were getting close to the Creel house.

“I’m surprised I managed to catch you at all,” Robin said after a moment of comfortable silence. It was getting too uncomfortable to stay silent for long, with the ominous hum of throbbing life underneath their feet. “You know, me being Frankenstein’s monster and all.”

“What-oh,” Nancy laughed along. Right. The monster’s fear of fire. She playfully shoved Robin’s shoulder, too far into the motion to remember that they’d never done that before. It felt good to touch Robin anyway, even through her thick army jacket. “I guess I gotta admit to a childhood fear, right? To make it even?”

“If you want,” Robin said. She clearly meant hell yes. Nancy sighed and shook her head, startled a bit when a lone bat flew overhead. It paid no mind to them - clearly on route somewhere else. “But you don’t - I don’t wanna force you to do anything, Nance, I-”

She cut herself off and pressed her lips together resolutely. Nancy focused on the treeline but she could feel Robin’s eyes on her cheek. As if she were studying. Or appraising.

“I’m really glad we’re friends,” Robin admitted softly. “I don’t have many. You probably know that. So - I know I’m on par with a gnat buzzing around your ear but I’m really really glad we’re friends. You don’t have to take any of my stupid shit to heart.”

“Robin,” Nancy began. She was at a loss for words, though, because she finally relented and looked over at Robin. There was that crystalized feeling again, buried in her eyes. On the tip of her tongue. On the tip of Robin’s tongue, really, and - 

God damn, Nancy wanted to search for that. 

She was proud of herself for not stopping flat out at that thought and instead trudged along like nothing was wrong. Her mind was beginning to melt out of her ears. It must be the toxic gas of the Upside-Down. Must’ve been. Head trauma, maybe. Lack of sleep.

“I’m really glad we’re friends too, Robin,” Nancy replied. It sounded distant in her head. She shook out the earworms and started again, this time for real. “You’re not a gnat. You’re not annoying. You’re a good person, and I - I guess I should be thanking the Upside-Down, then. Because without it, we never would’ve met.” Nancy knocked the side of her boot into Robin’s shoe and then effectively decided to get buried alive at the earliest possible convenience. Her face flushed with red hot embarrassment. Robin took no notice.

“You really think so?” It was so light. 

“Yes,” Nancy said, and she found herself meaning it. No annoyance or anger for Robin any longer. But perhaps that would’ve been easier. It was the simpler route. Instead her stomach swirled with an altogether difference feeling, one that pooled in the bottoms of her feet. Inwardly, she sighed. Fuck me. “I used to be terrified of octopi.”

Robin was silent and then she let out a burst of crazed, shocked laughter.

“Okay, first: I’m pretty sure it’s octopuses,” Robin said, listing on her fingers. “And second: why the hell were you afraid of octopuses? Have you ever even seen one before?”

“In picture books,” Nancy defended her younger self fiercely. “And no, it’s octopi. I know it’s octopi.”

“Why would it be octopi?” Robin asked. “That’s just stupid. It’s octopuses, no doubt.”

“Yes doubt,” Nancy retorted. “I know it’s octopi. I looked it up when I was eight.”

“So that you could address them properly, should the situation arise when you meet one and die an untimely death at its eight limbs?” Robin asked, flailing out her arms in a terrible impression of an octopus. She looked so silly Nancy couldn’t help but giggle, hand over her mouth and everything.

“Hey, I didn’t make fun of you this hard for the fire thing,” Nancy protested. “And I could’ve! I could’ve pressed about the campfire story!”

“Later,” Robin promised. When she looked back over her shoulder, Nancy found herself believing it. Believing that there would be a later - perhaps many laters with Robin. A whole future of conversations like these. She didn’t think that sounded so bad.

Suddenly they were overwhelmed with light and sound. The trees broke to reveal the Creel house directly across the street, surrounded by a lightning storm and a swirling parade of bats. Nancy swallowed down all feelings. It was the eleventh hour. As they silently broke rank together to rush out towards the playground, Robin glanced behind herself one last time to make sure Nancy was following.

It’s octopi, Nancy mouthed. 

And Robin’s responding grin was worth every second spent in this hellhole. 

Resting for a spell in the back of Steve’s pick-up (and by Steve’s, she meant Eddie had been the one to hotwire it off the street and steal it for their apocalyptic army), Robin let Nancy rest her head in her lap. The backseat was packed with weaponry and food, bottled water and tissue boxes. She hardly had a place to spread her legs. Robin was cramped to all hell, but it was all made worth it when she felt Nancy’s limp brown hair between her fingers. Dead-ended perm from the lack of a hair salon, her once curly hair had returned to its natural state of straight. Robin still thought she looked beautiful - a combination of waves, chopped down her neck in an effort to keep it out of her eyes. Nancy had taken to wearing bandanas at every moment of the day, holding back her bangs as they toiled underneath the hot sun or harsh rain. The weather was never nice. 

She ran her fingers along Nancy’s forehead and pulled away the bangs, giving her skin room to breathe. Nancy’s eyelashes fluttered in a loose sleep. She could only sleep when Robin was around - it was one of the reasons they’d become so codependent. So deeply interconnected, physically and emotionally. Robin wanted to cup her face in her hands and never let go. But her fingertips drifted away, off the cheekbone and onto the curve of Nancy’s perfect ear. 

“You alright, Rob?” Steve asked from the front seat, peering at his best friend through the rearview mirror. He’d sprawled himself out across the passenger, waiting for Eddie to return with a few mismatched supplies from the general store they’d parked themselves outside of. If they heard the signal (a high-pitched whine) he’d go sprinting to the rescue. But Eddie had managed to convince them he could handle his own, at least when it came to retrieving crackers and laundry detergent for the town’s last working washer.

Along the street, tumbleweeds made of old lawn ferns crossed over the road. The sidewalks remained a solemn empty, as they had been for weeks. People had either managed to run past the city limits with their tails between their legs or disappeared. But Robin and her family - yes, her family, whether by blood or blood loss - had stayed. Fools, the lot of them. She loved them anyway.

“I wish things were different,” Robin said. It wasn’t enough. He nodded anyway in agreement, though it was so completely nondescript. How to go into the various things they were missing, being a part of this endless nightmare? But the worst, the most regrettable thing was that Robin couldn’t give Nancy anything. She could only tangle her fingers in her hair and try to help her fall back asleep after a nightmare. She could shoot down a demodog for her. No flowers or chocolates in sight. “I wish me and Nance could…it’s stupid. Nevermind.”

“Nothing you say is stupid,” Steve replied simply.

“I want to - marry her,” Robin whispered as if Nancy would wake up and hear her admitting to this. As if it were some terrible secret.

It wasn’t like they hadn’t talked about it. Late at night, tangled in the sheets they never used, leg to leg and armpit to armpit, butterfly kisses and all. Robin was never the first to bring it up. It was always Nancy. Tiny confessions whispered into Robin’s hairline. Or, very rarely, Nancy would talk about it when she thought Robin was asleep. She wanted flowers. She wanted the frilly dress. The white. The crowd of family and friends. The damn pastor. She wanted all of it, and she wanted it with Robin.

But maybe - maybe this apocalypse was a blessing in disguise. There were no more watching eyes. The government, at least in Indiana, had crumbled to the point of extinction. As the Upside-Down rampaged America, spreading out slowly across state and town borders, the army had focused all its efforts on destroying the extraterrestrial threat. Surely they wouldn’t care about two girls getting married. Two girls who were hopelessly, disastrously in love.

“Why don’t you?” Steve asked, shrugging his shoulders and following Robin’s exact line of reasoning. They made eye contact in the rearview mirror, realization coming upon them at the same time - it tended to, with their shared brain cells and whatnot. 

“But I need a ring,” Robin said. “You don’t just rush into marriage, right? Don’t you do that little thing where the guy gets down on a knee and says a bunch of stupid shit?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s how it goes, yeah,” Steve hummed in agreement. He tapped out a little song on the steering wheel and glanced into the general store. He always got nervous whenever Eddie was out of his eyesight as if five seconds without Steve’s long limbs tangled around him protectively would end with another rouge bat attack. “But, you know. That was pre-apocalypse.”

“And now we’re mid-apocalypse,” Robin nodded. She looked back down at Nancy, who let out a little noise of contentment and shifted in her sleep. She hoped she was dreaming of better days. When the lawns were green and people left their houses. Robin’s fingers traced along her eyelashes, her chin. Down her neck. She was a sculpture. She deserved the world. “I’m still gonna get her a ring.”

“Of course,” Steve said. Eddie burst through the doors of the general store then, arms laden with goods and a goofy grin on his face. Robin could see Steve’s chest heave with a breath he’d been holding. 

“And you’re going to help me,” Robin continued. Eddie banged on the trunk door in a signal for Steve to pop it open, waving around the bags. Steve pursed his lips and Robin leaned into the space between the seats, careful to balance Nancy’s sweet head on her knees and between her hands. 

“I’ve actually got a lot to do,” Steve trailed off. “My nailbat’s a little rusty.”

“You’re going to help me,” Robin repeated. He glanced back at her and slowly grinned. Eddie banged again. 

* * *

Ted’s Jewels, the only jewelry store on Hawkins Main, was absolutely trashed. As she and Steve stepped through, heavy boots crunching down on the glass spread from the front window, Robin realized that she should’ve come to that conclusion sooner. Days sooner, maybe. Clearly, the richest store on the block would’ve been broken into ten times over. No matter how little Hawkins’ population was at that point, the leftovers would be searching for monetary anything - including the lackluster diamonds now no longer behind the glass. Robin peered over the counter where the register was tipped over onto. The glass had been halfway broken into. Necklace and bracelet holders had been crashed onto their sides. There was nothing left.

“This is harder than I thought it was going to be,” Robin said in a sigh, shaking her head as she surveyed the damage. Steve kicked experimentally at a fallen earring tree.

“You don’t see anything?” He asked in disbelief, glancing over his shoulder to check out the rest of the store. He grimaced in sympathy as she tossed up her hands. Robin headed for the back of the tiny store. She remembered a time when it had been cluttered with people and things, busy upper-class folks buying the jewels only they could afford. The Hawk theater hadn’t been too far down the street from Ted’s - she’d peered through the windows a few times. She liked to people-watch.

And now it was completely empty. Worse than empty, it was destroyed beyond repair. Just like so much of Hawkins. She felt like the ceiling could cave in at any moment.

“Do you know what happened to Ted?” She asked, drifting her hand along the torn wallpaper. She was thankful for the severe lack of windows; the shattered glass carpeting was only really by the entrance. Once she reached the back, where some reserves had been stored and less extravagant jewelry had been displayed, she found no more dangerous pieces. Just empty shelves. All empty and dull. Devastating.

“I hope he got out,” Steve said. He didn’t sound too convinced. She looked back to see him leaning up against the counter, eyes far away. Perhaps remembering something before the world went to shit, the same way she was. Robin didn’t try to pry or breach through it. When they got like that, both knew the best thing to do was to let it run its course. Memories would come and go. It was nice to be able to escape back for a bit, even for a moment.

Robin tried the door handle which led to the Employee’s backroom and, presumably, the stairs up to Ted’s apartment above the store. It gave easily. Whether it had been left unlocked or had been picked, she had no idea. But she let the door swing open. The dark room beckoned her closer.

Robin yanked on the flimsy cord for the overhead light, taking in the rinky-dink microwave and minifridge in the corner. In front of her was a set of chairs and a round table, no doubt the hiding place of the two teenagers who worked here and had to suffer the daily dramas of the richer side of Hawkins. She wondered if Steve had ever been in the store with his parents. Maybe that was what he’d been remembering. It hurt to swallow when she thought about the Harringtons. Hurt even more to consider her own lost parents, whom she’d watched drive off in the family minivan she’d planned on learning how to drive in. If things had gone the way she was wishing they’d go. If the world hadn’t halted her senior year.

“Rob!” Steve called. She stepped back out of the memory and back into the store to see him holding up his hand. There was something clutched protectively in between his fingers, but she couldn’t quite see it. 

She walked to stand beside him, shoulder to shoulder. There he lowered his hand just enough so that she could get a good look at what he was holding - two plain silver bands. No diamonds or jewels or nothing. But rings nonetheless. The only rings, Robin suspected, left in Indiana - unless they wanted to pick up a gravedigging habit. She’d have to check her schedule.

As she looked closer at the rings, she realized that the one on the left had some flower engraved on it. It looked as if it’d been done by hand.

“Can I-?” Robin held out her hands expectantly. Steve dropped the rings as if they were priceless into her palm, letting her marvel as he radiated pride. “Good job sniffing these out.”

“Not to brag, but I think they’re perfect,” He said. She squinted. The flowers twisted around the band as if holding all the metal in place. Holding the ring to her finger. Robin fully shut her eyes and imagined what it would look like on Nancy’s hand. Particularly what it would look like on the trigger of a shotgun. She opened her eyes again and grinned at Steve appreciatively, humming.

“Ehh,” She dragged out. He bumped her shoulder, rolling his eyes as she burst into laughter and clinked the rings together. “Yeah. I think so too.” Robin slipped them into her pocket. Now came the hardest part:

‘Proposing’ to Nance. What that meant, Robin had no clue. She had no speech or plan. She had no time, really. Days were spent on the run or on the hunt - switching from predator to prey within seconds of an attack. The only peace she and Nancy had were when the sun went down and they were able to pass out on the mattress they were currently sleeping in on the floor of El’s old room - she slept with the rest of the kids in the next room over. Robin and Nancy had taught each other morse code, just to be able to communicate secretly when Eddie and Steve were in the bed above them. No words were necessary, just taps on each other’s arms.

That night Robin slipped the rings from her jacket pocket into her sweatpants. She handled them like baby birds, cradling them in her palms and patting them once they’d fallen into her pocket. The group gathered in the kitchen for dinner made up of miscellaneous soup and bread baked fresh by Max earlier that day - she enjoyed beating out her frustrations into the dough. It was delicious.

They all crammed around the small living space, eating off paper plates and spreading over each other. Max, Lucas, and El were a tight ball on the floor. Mike and Will were practically sharing a spoon. Robin stole the good couch spot from Steve and had Nancy sit on her lap. Nancy gave her a bite of her Italian Meatball - Robin gave her some Chicken Noodle.

After the kids had been put to bed and Joyce and Hopper had waved goodnight, the four older kids retired to their bedroom. Argyle and Jonathan would come in much later, as they tended to, after ‘going for a walk in the forest. The others trusted they could take care of themselves. They didn’t go outside of the light of the cabin, anyway, just staying to the treeline and sharing a blunt to calm the day’s nerves. Robin didn’t need drugs. She had Nancy.

They got into bed the same way they always did, arm to arm and face to face. Nancy sprawled herself out over Robin despite the growing heat, arms flopped up over her head and face grinning brightly. Even in the dim light of the room, Robin could see the full heat of her smile as Nancy’s hair tangled with hers. Robin reached out to yank her close, arms wrapped around Nancy’s exposed waist. Her fingers trailed up her spine. Nancy kissed the spot where Robin’s jaw intersected with her neck and pressed her smile to the skin, completely content. Robin would let the world end if she could experience this moment forever. She would never get out of bed if it meant she and Nance could lay like this and do nothing else.

Robin began to tap with her pointer. Long, short, long…

Nance.

After a moment of shifting, Nancy’s hand came up to rest on Robin’s cheek. Steve flicked off the bedroom light and suddenly they were shrouded in darkness. All black except for the dim amount of moonlight through the singular window, which happened to land on the two girls just enough for Robin to see Nancy’s crinkled eyes.

Rob.

I have to ask.

Ask me.

Robin moved her shoulders so that she was fully facing Nancy, protective hand still splayed across her back. Nancy’s eyebrows went up in confusion but she went ragdoll in Robin’s grip accordingly, allowing her girlfriend to shift her around. When Robin’s pointer finger came back down on her spine, it was sweaty and shaking.

I don’t know how much time we have.

Nancy’s eyes furrowed in a pang of deep sadness. It was complete agreement.

But I want to make the most of it. Want to give you. It's enough for me. If it's enough for you.

She cut herself off as she scrambled for her sweatpants pocket. Robin’s hand came out slippery but the rings rested on her palm. She grabbed at Nancy’s hand and rested it atop her own so that she could feel the full weight of the rings and could recognize the meaning without having to see. Nancy’s eyes went wide. With the hand still resting on Robin’s face, she tapped:

Are you real?

Robin let out a loud, surprised laugh. She quickly slammed her mouth shut, glancing back at the now-silent bed of their companions. No stirring from the peanut gallery. She was glad for it.

Yes.

Nancy lifted her hand from Robin’s palm. For a moment, Robin’s heart dropped to the soles of her feet. But then Nancy was knocking the side of her hand into the side of Robin’s - she’d flipped her hand over. Nancy raised her eyebrows in challenge.

Put on.

Robin grinned so hard it felt like her face was about to split apart. She felt for the ring with the flower indent. Tracing it absently with her finger, she slipped it onto Nancy’s waiting ring finger. Nancy flexed her hand, feeling out the ring. Robin put the other on herself, reaching around with the hand against Nancy’s back. In the shuffle, she pulled Nancy flush to her chest. Nancy laughed into Robin’s collarbone, barely hiding the flushed sound. Robin’s hand, now bejeweled, wound its way into her hair and pulled her close. She pressed her nose to her hair and took a deep breath in. As she let it out, both girls sagged to the mattress. It felt like a release. A hello. A promise. Nancy tilted her head up, chin to Robin’s chest, and brought their lips together. Due to the position, it was less of a kiss and more of a meeting of the mouths - a simple press. As Robin pulled away, unable to keep her head in such a cramped position, she could feel Nancy smile.

“I love you,” Nancy whispered. It was the best thing Robin had ever heard.

DAY ONE: Upside Down

DAY TWO: Vampire/Werewolf

DAY THREE: Body/Style Swap (10/5)

DAY FOUR: Horror Movie AU (10/7)

DAY FIVE: Multiverse (10/9)

DAY SIX: Superhero/Superpowers (10/11)

DAY SEVEN: The Sapphic Senate (10/13)

DAY EIGHT: Your Ronance Anthem (10/15)

DAY NINE: Free Day! (My pick: ghost hunters!!) (10/17)

DAY TEN: Dungeons & Dragons (10/19)

DAY ELEVEN: Time Travel (10/21)

DAY TWELVE: Autumn (10/23)

DAY THIRTEEN: Apocalypse (10/25)

DAY FOURTEEN: Heaven & Hell (10/27)

DAY FIFTEEN: Pirate AU (10/29)