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formosusiniquis · 1 day ago

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something to talk about

Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington wc: 2223 | T | Tags/Themes: Gossip, Stobin Banter and Best Friendism, a Hint of Pre-Bubblescoops a late addition for @stobinmonth day 1: gossip. AO3

Robin had been introduced to gossip through band. Which made her infuriatingly difficult to impress.

Steve was good at gossip. No, the best at it.

When he dropped Tommy, and by extension lost Carol, he went from Steve: the guy who could put together a killer party in his big empty house to what he actually was Steve: nice guy, but a little… The trailing off was usually paired with some kind of hand gesture. One that could mean a bunch of different things, and didn’t get any nicer when he started flinching when the fluorescents flickered during tornado season.

But he had gossip as social capital.

He made it through that last year bouncing lunch table to lunch table whispering with the cheerleaders or the swim team about break-ups, make-ups, and who’d gotten busted with their latest purchase from Munson on their way back from the picnic table.

But band gossip was something else.

There was a social hierarchy beyond cheerleaders who bounced from football player to basketball when the seasons changed. It was more like the politics from the bodice rippers that he snuck off his Mom’s shelf.

It wasn’t just that Becky G. got caught getting fingered on the bus coming back from the away game. It’s that she’s a french horn and the guy was a percussionist. A word Robin hissed through her teeth like he should know what it meant.

Terri Miller wasn’t just pregnant. She’d gotten pregnant during the band camp social week at the Boy Scout campground. So the dad could be any one of four different guys, and if she didn’t guess right they would definitely know when those nine months were up.

The band was apparently some kind of den of sin and Robin still hadn’t managed to get any. Which was probably as unbelievable as the fact that any of this was happening in the first place.

Telling her that Mrs. Johnson was having an affair with Pat James, a second string baseball player who was young enough to be her son and not even that good looking -- a buzz cut with ears that stuck out from his head like dumbo -- had been met with the most unimpressed look he’d seen since they left Scoops.

“An affair, Steve, really?” She’d said. “Who cares about an affair? Something happened with the trombones and the flutes, the flutes, during Social Week and I still can’t piece together what happened since I missed the biggest week of the year because of all that Upside Down stuff.”

“You’re upset about missing out on some band drama? Not losing your sense of safety, trust in the American government, or your ability to sleep through the night?”

“I only had one of those things before all this. Now I can’t sleep and no one will tell me what’s going on with this cross-instrument family drama.”

Now that they’re in Indy it’s a little different.

It turns out in college even band kids have to study. And, much like underage drinking, some of the fun of a week-long orgy came from the threat of parent disapproval and disappointment.

Now Steve picks up his fair of strange half-conversations and relationship drama at the coffee shop he works at in the morning. Robin catches whisperings of affairs between students and professors. At night, when they barback at the lesbian bar Steve wandered into on accident right after they moved or when they’re curled up on the sofa Robin found at the thrift store two days after they signed on the apartment, they’ll share the best of what they’ve heard.

“No, Profesor Williams is the one with the weird eyes who teaches Philosophy. You’re thinking of the Music Theory professor and he’s definitely got a secret family somewhere but it’s with an age appropriate woman not a co-ed.”

“Green tea with extra lemon was leaning all over Black Coffee this morning when just last week he came in with that babe with the dark hair and glasses. One of them is his wife and the other is his girlfriend, but I haven’t figured out which one is which.”

“The pianist that’s always taking up the practice room is failing Chemistry 101 and when she tried to seduce the TA he reported her to the dean for academic misconduct. She’s a bitch but she’s also the only pianist in the program that can keep time, so I’ve got mixed feelings.”

“Americano and a muffin was telling his douchy coworker who never tips about how he got his secretary pregnant. She wants him to leave his wife, but he’s trying to decide if it’s worth it to keep her on or to hire and train a new girl. It made me remember I forgot to call my Dad’s secretary for his birthday.”

It gets them through the night but gossiping about strangers doesn’t have the same thrill as gossiping about shared classmates and the sort-of friends they'd known since Kindergarten. Doesn’t have the thrill of learning something new and excitingly interesting or terrible about someone they got to then see everyday.

It’s femoral or whatever Robin was saying about why she gets sad when she finishes her book. It doesn’t last and unlike the neat conclusion of the bodice rippers that moved with him from Hawkins -- he has a soft spot for the duchesses who get seduced by rogues and scoundrels, sue him -- the bits and pieces they get are unconnected from any other point in these people’s lives. He probably won’t get to see if Americano’s secretary gets an abortion or if she keeps the baby. Robin might get to see if the professor who has a taste for blondes who've just turned 18 gets busted, but it all depends on her schedule for the next semester.

Which makes what he has for her today perfect. More than perfect, it’s going to be something that’ll actually leave Robin impressed. She might even gape instead of just half-smiling with a single eyebrow raised, her mouth saying “oh wow” while her face says, ‘I’ve heard better.’ There is no better this time. This one might change everything.

“Guess who I saw today?”

“You’re coming from work to work so can be here til close tonight before you open at the job you just left tomorrow morning. There are doctors who work shorter hours than you are this week. Why are you so excited?” Robin uses the well bottle of tequila to point accusingly at him. Not answering the question he asked or even engaging with his exciting news.

“It’s coffee, Robin. Four shots of espresso will fix anything. Now guess.”

“That guy who basically orders chocolate milk with a splash of coffee and found out his wife was sleeping with his twin brother?”

“No, I haven’t seen him since he saw them out the window that day.”

“Latte with cinnamon? Did he actually ask you out instead of just dropping his wallet condom on the counter when he was trying to pay?”

“No.” He says, that one is pretty tragic. That guy had been hot. The butch across from him clears her throat and he goes back to shaking her martini. “Try again.”

“I don’t like this game.” Robin winks at the blonde at the bar, handing her a shot like what she was saying to him was some kind of line for her.

He debates whether or not it’s worth it actually making her guess again. Steve’s himness has been fluid enough that he does get the occasional number while working here; he isn't sure he wants Robin to continue announcing his dating failures for anyone to overhear.

“Carol Perkins.”

That slows her hand mid-pour; the vampy looking femme in front of her is getting her money’s worth on her vodka soda.

“Are you thinking of trading down,” Robin asks finally, tucking the tip she gets into the jar and the phone number into her pocket.

“Jealous, you know you’re my only girl.”

“Tell that to Brenda and Debbie and Melanie and Stacy…”

“Only one that matters.”

“Why do I care that you saw Carol Perkins for the first time in years?” Robin says, the only hint that this is actually a question she wants answered is the tick at the edge of her brow and the hand on her hip.

And because Steve is an ass, he’ll say it, he takes his time answering. Mixes a margarita, pours a Long Island, tells someone too young to be here that she’d be better with a coke than a cosmo. When the smoke is pouring out of Robin’s ears, when she’s trying to make it seem like she’s ignoring him now he tells her what he’s been dying to all day.

“She had a carabiner on her purse.”

“A carabiner?”

“On her purse.”

“Kinda defeats the purpose,” Robin says with her nose trying its hardest to stay out of the air.

“Depends on the purpose, doesn’t it?”

“Is Carol cute?” The leather dyke Steve had been pulling a beer for asks.

“Yeah,” he says, easy.

Not that it can be heard over the way Robin snaps, “She’s not your type.” Something snarling and possessive that Steve hasn’t seen since his last date tried to intrude on their SteveAndRobin time crossing her face and curling her lip.

“She’s vapid,” she says in response to Steve’s smile which says just as much as his words would have been able to, at least to her.

“Sure.”

“And mean. And she always had that gum in her mouth.”

“Those were all true things about her when she was sixteen. The same year you had that perm.”

“Don’t even act like you remember that, Steven Marie Harrington. You had to look it up in the yearbook when you found out.”

“You want me to give her our number.”

“I want you to come back to me with actual gossip instead of whatever this is.”

“So you don’t want to hear about how she told Black tea with sugar that she transferred to IU after a bad breakup with her partner.”

“Nope.”

“Don’t want to hear how she asked me if I knew anyone up here when she was at the register?”

“Why would I care?”

He shrugs, lets it seem like he’s distracted grabbing a fresh bottle of vodka from their stash. “I mean she had some questions about you and what you were doing. Seemed pretty interested, thought you might be too.”

“You’re my least favorite person in the world,” she lies.

“Consider this payback from when you told me the guy at the library was flagging. I walked to campus just to watch him make out with his girlfriend.”

“I said I was sorry, Mark from my History class said-”

“Mark from your History class was the same guy who tried to play devil’s advocate for person breeding-”

“Eugenics,” she corrects with a wince.

“Mark from History class does not get to be a source for information anymore.”

“Were you wearing your glasses? Cause if you weren’t you don’t get to be a source of information either. Who wears a carabiner on their purse? It could have been a really big safety pin.”

“I can’t believe you’re doubting me.”

“It’s not doubt.”

“It is. I told her where we work.”

“What?” The bottle she’s holding slips from her hand, bouncing on the rubber mat beneath their feet. It doesn’t break but the beer foams and froths as it spills onto the already sticky floor. Robin snatches another bottle, opening it with her ring and handing it off quickly to the woman across from her.

“I told her where we work.” He puts a heavy and weighted pause between each slowly drawn out word.

“I heard you.”

“Then why-”

“You why!”

“Me why! Because there was a carabiner on her purse Robin! Carol likes-”

She slaps her hand across his mouth for just a second, just long enough for it to feel less like a hint than hit. “Don’t finish that sentence here or ever.”

“She could like you, I’m telling you she seemed interested when she learned you were in town with me. That I knew you.”

“So you gave her directions to a dyke bar out of the goodness of your heart.”

“There was nothing good in my heart, it was out of my desire to get you laid.”

“I can get laid all by myself.” Robin snaps, louder than she should. Even with the din of the bar it sounds loud.

“I bet you can,” the voice that answers is as familiar to Steve as Robin’s. The smug and teasing way it curls around what it’s saying. Carol, smirking, with an elbow against the bar and the light catching her hair like a flame.

“I’m just going to go down here,” Steve says, ignoring the way Robin glares like she wants him to be the one aflame. “The opposite side of the bar could use some attention, so you’ve got this, Rob. Care, good to see you again.”

“Steve,” Carol greets and dismisses. “I’ll be sure to give you all something new to gossip about tomorrow.”

“You’ll have your work cut out for you. She’s got a high tolerance for that sort of thing, it may take you all night.”

“I’ll give you something to talk about.”

#stobin month #stobin month 2025 #platonic stobin #steve harrington #robin buckley #steve and robin #stobin #pre-bubblescoops #bubblescoops #gossip #as a reformed band kid band kid gossip is strange

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bitchy-craft · 8 months ago

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PICK A CARD: What kind of gossip there is about you

Hello and welcome to this new post of mine! In here I will give you a reading on what kind of gossip there is about you. I hope you guys enjoy and find this useful!

Masterpost > Paid Readings > Subliminal Channel

Artist: @lilypawstudio

~pick a card~

Pile 1:

People are gossiping about the clothes you are wearing. Some of you might be wearing brands, and the gossip about that is that it’s actually fake and that you try to seem more rich than you actually are, and that it’s embarrassing for you to fake such things. There are also a couple of people who have a clothing style that is out of the ordinary, something some people find difficult to grasp; hence the slight gossip about it.

Another group of you is wearing clothing from places such as Shein, AliExpress, Temu etc. which is being talked and gossiped about; that it’s bad for the environment and that it’s terrible you would even do such a thing. No worries, the people who are saying those things about you order things from those sites as well.

Pile 2:

People are gossiping about the fact that you seem very generous, but that that generosity must be fake. This gossip is pretty broad when it comes to the actual thing that is gossiped about. Some are saying that you are putting up a façade, and the only reason you are acting kind and generous is because you want people to be on your sight, and that it can’t actually be genuine.

Others believe that you have been faking all that you supposedly did; some of you might be known for donating money to important causes, supporting small businesses etc. there is gossip about you not actually doing these things, and that you are fake donating and supporting these causes and businesses to gain sympathy and other perks from it.

Pile 3:

There is gossip about you not doing so well mentally seen. To some of the people around you, your demeanour has changed a lot; for most of you this being that you react more intensely to things around you, are more on edge, or seem a bit more confident. Especially for the last part, they believe this is a façade, and that you are doing terrible in your personal life; specifically mentally.

They hope you are seeking help but realise you may not be doing so, and hope to see you eventually be yourself again, getting better and enjoying life to the fullest (again). This gossip isn’t something rude or meant as negativity or bullying, it’s based in concern and care.

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