#sweepy-stringbean

hope you like it <3

send me prompts!

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Somehow, even drenched in sweat, her clothes hardened with the melted goo from the lab, even laden with weapons, with one arm around Holly, even with a dozen kids and all their friends around them and a record counting down the minutes they have to get out of here alive, Nancy finds the time to stop, look sideways at Robin, and take her hand.

Their eyes meet. Nancy's fingers fold up around Robin's, just like they did the first time they stood at the threshold and walked willingly into danger.

"One last hurdle," Robin breathes. "We didn't think this one through as much."

The gate stands ahead of them, glowing and ruined. They can't see through it at this angle, but Robin can imagine the chaos waiting for them on the other side.

"We didn't think we'd make it this far," Nancy says back. And it's true, but it's still odd to hear her say it. Nancy's a ruthless optimist, always clinging to hope with the same deadly grip she has on everything else in her life.

Hope is ferocious, on Nancy. It's impossible not to believe in.

Even now, sneaking up to the edges of the gate as if it'll make any difference at all once they step through.

But that's just it. It was never going to make a difference, any of it. It was always going to end this way, from the moment the military trucks rolled into town. Maybe from those first NDAs they all had to sign all those years ago. They were never going to get away with knowing.

And yet, there's still hope. It lies in the grip Nancy has on Holly, in the confident set of Lucas's jaw, in the way Hopper rolls his shoulders back, settling into the dependable authority he held when he was chief of police. It's running off with El and Kali, slipping their way through a rift on the far side of town, away from prying eyes, so they can play their illusion and then disappear into whatever happier ending is awaiting them.

It lies in the kids, and their parents who still expect them to be coming home, safe and sound, from the MAC-Z. And in the copies of evidence Murray had mailed out months ago to every colleague he could trust across the country. It's in Suzie, lying awake halfway across the country, no idea what's really going on but ready to press a button and tell the world that the military arrested innocents in Hawkins, Indiana.

It won't do much if they end up in a firing line, of course, but Robin supposes if this was foolproof, it wouldn't be called hope.

"Are you okay?" Nancy asks.

"You're asking me that?" She isn't. Of course she isn't. She hasn't been able to breathe since Vickie cornered her in the hospital. Steve almost died. Nancy voluntarily ran toward her own death, and Robin thinks the image of her out there alone, looking absolutely tiny in the face of that thing, will haunt her for the rest of her life.

But Nancy is alive, and her arm is around Holly. Steve is alive, and he and Dustin have been clinging to each other the entire way home. They are all, somehow, alive.

"You hate soldiers," Nancy says, as simple as it is sincere.

Robin looks away. Even if they make it out unharmed, it's going to suck. The shouting, the hands on her, the cuffs and the guns and the brutal precision of military orders grabbing them and dragging them and questioning them and beating them and--

But Robin can still feel the heat of her Molotovs. Can still hear the roars of that creature, drowning out the deafening burst of Nancy's gun. She can still smell whatever vile substance coats Steve and Dustin, can still feel her heart in her throat from watching her best friend fall.

And she can still smell the sterile chemicals of the base beneath the mall. Can still feel the sting of the needle in her neck. Can still see Steve's bloodied face.

It never goes away. Maybe it never will.

But Nancy is still here, looking up at her softly, her fingers curling around Robin's.

Nancy's hope is ferocious, and her bravery is contagious. Holly looks up at the two of them, something steely in her eyes. Around them, everyone else is bracing themselves, chins high, breathing steady.

Robin holds Nancy's gaze and inches closer. "I'm not afraid anymore."

"No." Maybe it's supposed to be a question, teasing, or earnest, or proud. But it comes out as an agreement. Nancy's gaze is warm--burning, even, in the frigid air of the Upside Down.

"No," Robin echoes. And she's not. "Not when we're together."

"Not even if I..." Nancy steps forward, too, lifting her chin just enough for Robin to know where she's going.

If you want actual comedy, you guys need to go read Orange Crush by @dufrau.

Wife and I were lucky enough to have Rae visit us up in Canada land and it was so so good. Many laughs, much silliness, a multitude of elk, and even more pho made for the loveliest time and now the house feels empty without our bestie here. Even the dogs miss her and kept checking the front door and around the house after she left 😭

Status: Closed

Current Options on Ko-Fi

i got hooked on a specific mental image and couldn't find a way to get the actual line of dialogue in there but trust that it's in the spirit of the thing:

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Nancy Wheeler thrives on routine, so she finds it a little bit funny—now, with Holly home and her mother stable and Max awake and the memory of Vecna’s head rolling across the floor burned into her memory—that there is, in fact, a routine that comes with saving the world.

There are hugs, and exhausted laughter with an edge of hysteria. Checking each other over, checking in with each other. Trips to the hospital and calls to their parents. Tears that come, all of them taking turns, spurned on by seemingly nothing. More hugs, more laughter.

This time around, there are hasty radio messages sent out, and failsafes to ensure the military keep their word and not make them all disappear in the middle of the night. And there are things to clean up, to rebuild. The same volunteers who propped the town up back in 1986—who brought casseroles to grieving families after the mall in ‘85, who swept the woods for Will back in ‘83—come out to hold each other up once more.

And through it all, there is the familiar drag of her exhausted body through the first days of the aftermath.

This time, though, she does something she’s never done before.

She’s still awake some thirty hours after the bomb goes off and the Upside Down closes for good. It’s an early Sunday morning, sunny and bright, just warm enough to make the late autumn chill seem pleasant.

My hand slipped (jk this was on purpose bc I saw Timothee Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan photo shoot and imagined them)

hiya pal <3

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

so i think the first six chapter of the charmed au are really tight and well-paced and i'm really proud of that, even if it wasn't necessarily a priority or a thing that matters for the rest of the fic lol. but as for a complete piece probably on my mind atypical way from the thriving in the apocalypse series. i knew when robin would realize she had feelings for nancy, but i had no idea what she was going to do between that realization and their first kiss, and figuring that out took a while. it's also the only thriving in the apocalypse fic from this year that wasn't outlined or thought up months/years in advance, so it feels kinda special <3

10. What work was the quickest to write?

the cfdau christmas fic. i mean it's not technically finished yet but it took like one night to completely outline and it's been so easy to just jump in, write a thousand words of cozy nonsense, and then jump out again. which is really nice given how long it's been since i was writing the original fic and the nancy pov

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

i want to put basically every ronance moment from the charmed au here, especially from the earlier chapters, but we'll go with their first kiss in that fic:

“I trust you.” Robin’s voice cracks the way it does when she’s scared, and her hand grips Nancy’s the way it does when she’s honest. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, and I know that infuriates you, I know it hurts you and I’m sorry, but it doesn’t change the fact that I do trust you. I do. I trust you with everything, I trust you with my life, Nance, I—” Nancy leans across the seat and presses her lips against Robin’s, cutting her off with a squeak, then a silent gasp, and then the warm push of her kissing Nancy back. She doesn’t think. In fact, she does her very best to do anything but think. She reaches up and pushes her hand through Robin’s hair, marveling yet again at how short it is, how soft it feels between her fingers. She cradles her head and presses harder, trying her damnedest to eliminate the awkward distance of the center console and the radio and the last seven years. And Robin lets herself be moved, lets herself be pulled forward, lets Nancy use their intertwined hands as leverage to push herself closer. Because she always follows Nancy’s lead. Because she trusts her.

there were versions of the charmed au that had them kissing from like chapter 7. they're just so in love and it was so easy to write them getting together that early! but for Plot Reasons it had to wait, and i love that it comes here, that the turning point is robin telling nancy how much she trusts her

anyway thank you!! <3

11. "Don't listen to them."

(this sort of accidentally became a sequel to this fic, but you really don't need to read it first)

Nancy wakes to movement beside her. She reaches out a little clumsily, her eyes still closed, her half-conscious mind still sorting through the broken gasps and whimpers coming from Robin's side of the bed.

"Robs," she mumbles. Her fingers find warm skin--Robin's midriff, her shirt riding up as she thrashes through the nightmare. She feels herself flush, but she ignores the heat in her cheeks and props herself up on an elbow. "Robin, wake up."