#maybe she wakes up alone

[wheneverfeasible]

Let’s Do The Time Loop Again

Based on this post

wc: 1.1k || rating: T || cw: vague reference to suicide, mention of violence and injury || ship: Ronance || summary: Robin is stuck in a time loop. S4 AU || ao3

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It should have been a simple thing. After all, she was supposed to be Smart with a capital S. Instead, they’d been having this same conversation every day for six months and the urge to strangle her was at an all time high. Still. At least the outcome was known now.

“Oh my god, I’m not into Steve!” Robin yelled, throwing her hands up in frustration. “You act like you’re so in-love with him but I really just think it’s because you can’t handle the fact that your first love is moving on and you can’t figure out how to break up with your boyfriend whom you no longer love!”

Other days, they’ve sat and talked about that. Nancy would reveal that she doesn’t miss Jonathan as much as she thought she should. That being apart was becoming easier every day. That she had her own goals in life and she couldn’t see a future with anyone who tried to limit her ambition or otherwise acted like an impediment, intentionally or otherwise.

Most days, however, it ended with Robin nudging Nancy to the news article she needed to make her discovery while dealing with the prickly girl feeling uneasy about Robin’s relationship with her ex-boyfriend.

Sometimes she told her the truth about herself, other days she simply denied it all like her first time before she got stuck, and other times she just got fed up and left. There was one thing she had never done before, however, and watching Nancy’s bitchy little face as she didn’t seem to fully accept that Robin and Steve weren’t a thing was the last straw.

Huffing a harsh breath, Robin reached out and tangled her fingers in Nancy’s hair as she pulled the girl towards her and smashed their lips together.

Honestly, she was expecting Nancy to push her away, maybe even slap or straight up punch her. It’s what Vickie had done more than once when Robin had first tried to make it work between them during all this, first tried to show Vickie that she could be a better boyfriend than her actual boyfriend. Before she had to finally admit that her infatuation wasn’t some great love story, that she and Vickie weren’t meant to be together, and she had to let her go.

Vickie had never fully accepted it anyways, accepted them, not even when Robin had tried to express her love and admiration with flowers and chocolates and the knowledge of the world’s imminent destruction. (The last part had probably been too much, all things considered.)

Instead, Nancy tensed momentarily, shocked and confused and frozen at the sudden action, and then she kissed back. A small gasp left her, which allowed Robin to slip her tongue in, and goodness, Nancy Wheeler was a fantastic kisser. When Robin finally (reluctantly) pulled back, Nancy’s eyes were closed, her head tilted slightly up, lips softly parted and pink.

When she finally blinked her eyes open, she stared dazedly at Robin. It was Robin’s turn to tense, to prepare to flee, even if she knew she’d be right back here as soon as Vecna killed her later, or on the off-chance this was one of the times they defeated him, when she woke up the next morning in the last.

She had thought, at the beginning, that it would all be over if they managed to defeat Vecna/Henry/One, but then they did, and then Robin was waking back up to the day Dustin stormed into Family Video to find Eddie. She was so tired of watching her friends die. She’d still sometimes have nightmares of watching Steve be beaten to death beneath Starcourt, of watching the light and life leave his eyes, his heart stop beating against hers.

It was so much worse watching it happen in reality. Steve, Nancy, Dustin, Eddie, Max, Lucas, even little Erica…she’d watched them all die over and over again and she had no idea why. Why she was the only one aware of what was happening. She had even tried to stop it herself, had taken herself out of the equation hoping that maybe that would release everyone else, but it never did.

“Oh.” Nancy’s cheeks slowly reddened as she looked up at Robin. Then, her lips slowly curled into a small smile. “Oh,” she repeated quietly, like everything was suddenly coming together in her mind. She let out a soft chuckle, then she reached out and lightly brushed her fingers over Robin’s. “Can we…discuss this later? After everything?”

Robin smiled, though it was tinged with sadness. She knew that there wasn’t a later, or an after. There was only an again.

She agreed though, and Nancy listened to her about where she should look in the records, and things continued on like normal. Nancy kept asking her opinion on things, however, which allowed Robin to steer things much more easily to one of the better outcomes. It was hard work, and it wasn’t without problems or injury, but they managed to save Max, save Eddie, saved everyone, and even defeated Vecna for good. Again.

She wondered sometimes why she still tried so hard, why she didn’t just curl in a ball and ignore everything, but she loved her friends too much for that. Loved Nancy too much for that, even though she knew that Nancy would never be able to return her feelings. Not when, in a few hours, Nancy would forget any of this had ever even happened.

“We did it,” Nancy breathed, fierce triumph in her eyes as she clutched Robin’s hand in a tight grip, bruised and bloodied but alive. For now. Robin turned to look at her, at the tear tracks down her grimy face even as she smiled, and Robin knew she was thinking about Barb, thinking that she had finally been avenged. For now.

“We did it,” Robin agreed, and she wanted to cry too. It wasn’t the best outcome they’d ever had before. Eddie had still been attacked by demobats, but he survived, if barely. Max still had broken limbs, but she wasn’t the final victim. Steve probably had another concussion, but he was breathing. Erica had a broken arm too, Dustin a broken ankle, and Lucas had just barely managed to avoid being shot but…the gates wouldn’t open this time. But there was always next time.

There was always a next time.

Nancy looked at her, and though she still seemed unsure about everything, she looked like she at least finally had the answer she was searching for. Robin knew how much it had hurt Steve when he thought Nancy was cheating on him, knew it wasn’t fair to Jonathan, but she also knew that whatever happened today didn’t count. It would only be her own heart breaking.

Robin, knowing this, drew Nancy towards her without her usual awkwardness, startling the other girl. She then leaned in to kiss Nancy again and let herself pretend, just for now, just for a little while, that everything was finally over.

Maybe, tomorrow, she’d kiss Nancy again too.

-

Disclaimer: this has originally been posted as a reblog to the linked post, but to make it easier on myself I am simply reposting it as its own thing with some edits.

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Hostage tag: @derythcorvinus

Tagged because mention of interest: @absentminded001

[dykedvonte]

I think any fix-it mouthwashing au has to have the mandatory scenes of Curly either being able to blink again or speaking for the first time.

[spitinsideme]

Because we now know you have a cat, you have to show it. I wanna see a cute little cat

yess .. of course you may .. she is beaitoful and id love to share her .. her name is sabrina and she is going to be 2 years old this june 👍 she is amazing and i love herso much

[cairavende]

Worm Arc 14 thoughts from 14.8 through the end:

Gonna get a little bit gay up in here pretty soon. But first, some other stuff.

Pretty much jump right into "Oh shit everything is fucked" with the bio-weapon just spreading everywhere right away.

Skitter's focus on Tattletale specifically when trying to get them to higher ground was top level Chatterbug/Smugbug content. Like sure Sundancer and Trickster too, she wanted to save them. But when Bentley wasn't climbing fast enough what she said to herself in worry was "Tattletale."

Fucking god. Tattletale telling Skitter to fly to the higher building and use bugs so Trickster could teleport them and they'd follow? But fully knowing it wouldn't work and just trying to get Skitter to safety?

"It doesn’t look like her plan will work out. Tell her I’m sorry." - I WAS FUCKING BAWLING

I had figured that Bonesaw's contingency wasn't just a "everyone dies right now" virus or whatever. It would need to be artistic. And it would need to be a punishment to the local capes, both hero and villain. And the way to punish them would be to "take the city from them". "Make them watch it destroy itself." "Make them help".

I feel like what she did covered that general outline with a heavier focus on taking everything away from the capes. But still, god damn Bonesaw. Absolutely fucking terrifying. Super powered face blindness. At the base at least. Don't know who anyone is. Damn.

SKITTER IT'S NOT GAY YET THAT ISN'T TATTLETALE IT'S BONESAW! GAY WILL COME LATER!

If Jack put's his slimy fucking hands on my daughter again I will personally remove them.

The "Don't swear!" from Bonesaw while pretending to be Tattletale was fun. I managed to hit on it before that, but it was a good confirmation.

Fucking Jack and his "You’re versatile" after seeing Skitter make decoys while prepping to tie someone up with spiders. FUCK OFF WITH YOUR DREAMS YOU DICK. YOU CAN'T HAVE HER.

Instantly confirmed when Skitter flat refused to shoot someone despite Jack and Bonesaw telling her to. My daughter might not be perfect but she's not going to be one of you!

Coil fucked up a bit on the phone. He wasn't dealing with the pathogen so he should have done better. Even just asking everyone there to say something so he could listen to the voices. He would have known right away it wasn't Tattletale and Grue. Patching them through to Cherish that easily was a mistake. He really doesn't do as much as he could be. Like ya he's evil but that doesn't mean I'm not disappointed when he isn't using his full potential.

Cherish very fucked up when she thought letting Jack and Bonesaw know where she was would be good for her. Hope she likes her eternal torment at the bottom of the ocean. (Ok there's a chance she'll get pulled out in the future I guess.)

I'll admit, when Amy left with Victoria earlier I wasn't expecting to see them again so soon.

"Panacea is the healer, top floor, Jack is the slasher, the blond girl is the chemist-tinker." I don't know why, since it doesn't rhyme or anything, but I got very "The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true" vibes from this.

Jack trying to convince Amy by talking about how many of her ancestors were successful by being cruel and Taylor just internally going "How many were successful because they cooperated?" Love my daughter.

Victoria is still very much . . . not dead.

HOLY SHIT AMY YOU PUT YOUR SISTER IN A PERSONALIZED FLESH COFFIN MADE FROM CATS AND DOGS?

Seriously. Personalized. It has her face on the outside made out of bone. What the actual fuck Amy?

Proud of my daughter for shooting Jack, even if it didn't work.

It's probably fine that Skitter got Amy to break her brain rule again. I mean like it's good. It was the only way to fix the pathogen. It saved herself and the city. That is all good. Just . . . there might also be some long term negative outcomes. Probably fine though.

Getting gets cured and goes off to cure the city be gay.

"I leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on her lips." - EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

WOLFSPIDER WOLFSPIDER WOLFSPIDER!

SO FUCKING GAY I LOST MY FUCKING MIND WHEN IT HAPPENED

"'You couldn’t have waited until after you’d cured me before you put the bugs on your face?' Tattletale asked. She was smiling as she asked it." - ALSO EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

SO GAY. DOUBLE GAY. EXTRA GAY. ALL THE GAY!

CHATTERBUGCHATTERBUGCHATTERBUG (SMUGBUG IS FINE TOO)!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also the level of effort the girls went through after that trying to figure out how to cure Grue and Regent without kissing? Fucking amazing. Kissing was only ok for these three. Obviously.

GAAAAAAY

Gay (bug)horse girl gay (bug)horse girl gay (bug)horse girl

And the remainder of the Nine got away. Which is pretty fucking bad I guess. What with the whole "end of the world" and all that. I get that story point is the *actual* big end of the arc. But it's been overshadowed. By the gays.

Did I mention things being gay? I just want to make sure. Cause they were. Gay that is.

Interlude 1 - Sierra is amazing. She is exactly who Skitter needs to be running things while she's away. Charlotte is also amazing and I think worships the ground Skitter walks on. My daughter is, as always, absolutely terrifying when described from anyone else's PoV. She only gets more so every time. She just uses bug speak without even realizing now. Amazing. I love her. Atlas is helping and I'm so proud of him. He even got to take the gun. I hope he gets to keep it.

Interlude 2 (thought about making this it's own post but I'll just keep it really simple) - God dammit all three of the big 3 are Cauldron created? Ugh. Legend you appear to be trying to do the right thing but you sure as shit aren't paying much attention are you? Holy shit like, you believed so much of what the Doctor has been saying for years? God damn bud. How could you look at Cauldron and assume they *aren't* doing human experimentation? Especially since you know they have done it in the past! Like god damn man! At least you do kind of acknowledge that maybe you were purposefully ignoring the signs cause you wanted to be ignorant. Maybe there is a little bit of hope for you. Hell of a lore dump interlude though. Gives me lots to think about. Also I'd absolutely listen to The Number Man talk about spreadsheets all day long.

GAY

[better-call-mau1]

Thinking about Sabine waking up in the comm tower in the middle of the night and finding herself alone in bed and having a panic attack like “oh no oh no oh no oh no…it was all just a dream…Ahsoka and I never found Ezra…and I never told him I loved him…and we never got married…and our life together was just a haunting invention of my subconscious…”

…then the toilet flushes down the hall and Ezra stumbles out of the refresher in his little orange sleep shorts and flops back into bed beside her and passes out immediately while Sabine is still trying to get over her emotional whiplash.

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

it's the way Ellie immediately starts screaming and crying when Sam attacks her and absolutely WAILS for Joel. that's what broke me.

[solace-seekers]

screaming into the void <3

[sirensea14]

Me with who

I trusted, Let you in

Let you see through my broken skin

Let you tell me, People would love me

Not get sick of me, Get rid of me

I know you rarely open your Tumblr from your browser but if ever you do so, well, sana matamaan ka.

[barley-st-band]

anyone else getting a little tired of the unending horror

[phagodyke]

yeah I'm not gonna talk abt it am I...

[thriftdyke]

.

[fabdante]

like idk if i was katara and i was carrying all that guilt about my moms murder and then some guy is like 'i can help you get some catharsis for that' and then everyone else started arguing with me about it i would get mad about it to asdfghjk i would probably be a little mean also

i would say some harsh things maybe

i would perhaps have a feeling or two

[glsneeg-enthusiast]

sneeg and niki siblings is real to me

[ohello0]

It’s so easy for me to get upset and shut down it’s almost laughable

[magnoliamyrrh]

.

[agents-are-dicks]

Me being a bitch (waayyy more drama in tags):

Decided to stop all the petty shit and actually text my cousin to explain things and have an actual conversation and the bitch laughed at me so I’m officially done with her royal highness