#stobin au

[tarraing]

couldn’t stop thinking about a bridge to terabithia (platonic ofc) stobin au so

(i think kid robin would so wear the arm warmers/detached sleeves)

[n4tek]

This really happened

[qprstobin]

PLS tell me abt this stobin wonder twins au

OKAY SO gonna preface this with this is a) very much a crack treated seriously sort of au and b) therefore not typically how I view the characters or relationships it was just fun to riff off of (aka i actually dont view stobin as having a sibling relationship normally and dont typically like secret sibling aus for a multitude of reasons)

WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY

the concept of the au was what if steve and robin were actually twins separated at birth (mid summer birthday can easily explain the different grades) but were both adopted bc their mom was part of a similar set of experiments to what el's mom was a part of, several years before hers happened. the experiment ends before their mom is far enough along for anyone to really notice, and so she is able to give her twins up for adoption without the lab realizing what they missed out on.

so steve and robin both lowkey grow up with powers they dont quite realize they have? think the skywalker twins in star wars, both had incredible force powers, were able to read people, do great feats, etc. but didn't have any idea of their force abilities until they were adults and someone else flat out told them. they wouldnt be using the abilities every day like the numbers are too, so they don't get that powerful either until they learn about them.

not sure if i ever decided for sure what their powers would be, i like steve with empathy and intuition bc he is just that good at reading people. i think while steves is more mental, robin is more physical, like psychometry in star wars where she can touch things and get skill/memory transfer, or impressions, etc. they both have some sort of healing factor and low-grade telekinesis (i think even with practice they wouldn't individually be able to compete with el there, tho maybe together mas y menos style???), steve just uses his healing factor more fidjgsihs

i think, like the skywalker twins, they also had something of a mind-link but initially they were in different towns and then in different social circles they didn't realize it. they were each others imaginary friends as kids, and they were drawn to each other as they got older but didnt know WHY. robin thought she was fixated because she was jealous but really was just picking up wild vibes, steve, esp pre-s1 steve, was picking up vibes and just ignored it as hard as possible.

they don't even realize something is up until they start spending actual time together at scoops and even then i dont think they really realize WHAT it is thats weird until they find out they have the same birthday and are like.... wait a minute. probably sometime during the russian drama. a lot of things come to light during the russian debacle that leaves them both very confused and they have a lot to deal with in the days afterwards

idk, its not my normal type of au like i said but i love the potential for dumb stobin shenanigans and i think arguably giving both of stobin powers is a terrible idea in the best way <3

[sam-loves-seb]

part 1 | part 2

the fruity four but make it hollywood au (2/x)

thinking about makeup artist robin and stunt double steve, both young and inexperienced and new to the area, maybe 19ish, who meet on the set of their first gig--a small commercial about auto insurance where steve has to pretend to crash a car and then robin has to cover him in fake bruises and blood--and become instant friends. robin and steve who are both sleeping on couches of a friend of a friend, who barely scrap together enough money to get an apartment together but they do it.

they work odd jobs to make rent in between gigs. steve refs basketball games on the weekends. robin does face paint at children's birthday parties. it's anything but glamorous, but they wouldn't trade this life for the world. not when they're booking one commercial every three months, not when they sign on to their first tv shows, not when they walk the red carpet together at steve's first leading role movie premiere and the internet goes crazy thinking they're a couple.

they keep living together long after they can both afford their own places--"we're both on locations half the year anyways, i feel like i barely see you enough as it is"--trading in grungy one bedroom spaces for a sold, stable two bedroom apartment big enough for a kitchen and a living room, then upgrading again a few years later to a deluxe sky view tenth floor apartment big enough for a guest room.

it's paradise, living with your best friend. until your best friend gets a boyfriend and falls stupidly in love.

"Robin," steve tries to reason with her. "I'm not leaving the building--hell, i'm not even leaving our floor. I'll be two doors down!"

steve moving in with eddie munson was not on robin's bingo card, but here they are, packing boxes and saying goodbye.

"For fuck's sake," Steve groans. "It's not goodbye--I'm literally coming over tomorrow to watch Bake Off with you."

"You better be."

and so, steve moves out, moves in down the hall with eddie, and robin has to wallow in her apartment all alone for another two weeks before her next job is set to start shooting in georgia. the two weeks are fine, she can live by herself for two weeks, but it's the knowing that she's always going to be coming back to an empty apartment that kills her.

until eddie gets a brilliant idea.

"I have a friend," he tells her one night, when steve is passed out with his head on eddie's lap and it's just eddie and robin watching this week's episode of survivor. "She's been living in Paris for the last year, shooting a handful of French indie films, but she's coming back to LA next month."

Robin raises a brow. "So?"

"So..." Eddie shrugs, running his hand through Steve's hair. "She has her own place in the hills, but she usually crashes in my guest room when she's in town. She'd never admit it, but I don't think she really likes living alone--and I don't blame her. But it's hard finding real fucking friends in our lines of work."

"Eddie, what the hell is your--"

"Have you ever considered getting another roommate?"

and that is how robin finds herself living with famed child/teen actress nancy wheeler, who wears choppy bangs and dark eye makeup that definitely do not go with the family-friendly sitcom star persona she wore for almost a decade.

robin thinks she likes this nancy better, even if she does smoke cigarettes like they're going out of style.

(how eddie munson and nancy wheeler ever became friends in the first place is story for another place and time, but as robin watches nancy smile for the first time in a week when eddie comes over, she makes a mental note to find steve tomorrow and get the full story.)

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | ko-fi

[schrijverr]

I Dig You 1

Chapter 1 out of 8

Robin is tentatively excited for her first internship: an archaeological dig in the Netherlands, where she has been studying. However, when she gets there, Steve is there too. The dick of their uni that she now has to work with. Great. But being stuck digging for six weeks makes people bond and maybe he isn’t too bad. Maybe he can be her friend.

AKA an archaeology interns, modern, enemies-to-friends stobin au

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: referenced homophobia

~~~~

Chapter 1: Encounter

Of course.

Of fucking course.

Robin will never be rid of this fucking guy, she seethes as she glares daggers into the back of Steve Harrington’s head. He hasn’t done anything in particular, he just showed up. But that was enough for Robin.

Why must he also be here? She would have totally thought he’d be in the Caribbean sieving sand instead of being here with her in a random small town in the Netherlands for his internship. It doesn’t make any sense, but here he is anyway.

Robin herself couldn’t afford to go on a uni internship, you had to pay to excavate, no thanks. She couldn’t even really afford a plane ticket home for the summer break, so she stayed in the Netherlands for her internship. A paid one, albeit only if you can count 3 euro per hour paid. It isn’t much, but otherwise she’s not getting credit for it, so alas.

However, Steve very much has Caribbean internship money. Or even Greece internship money. He could be chilling somewhere in the sun, but instead he’s here as well. And Robin doesn’t fucking get it.

She knows Steve has money, because she has been forced into his proximity since the introduction in the first year. As the two Americans in their year, they have often been grouped together and Robin would rather the uni stop. She has made her own friends. Not many or very good ones, but friends.

Enough that she doesn’t want to be stuck with Steve, whose parents bought him a house – not an apartment, but a house – when he came to study here. A house he throws so many parties at with girls who all thrist over him. It’s fucking annoying. He’s fucking annoying. And none of the pretty girls realize it and Robin wants to scream.

And instead of being rid of him for the summer, they’re stuck together for six weeks, because apparently he is on the same excavation she is.

Robin herself is here out of desperation. She has more of an interest in archaeosteology and the illnesses you can find in human remains. However, no graveyard was being excavated, so she’s getting her six weeks experience at a random excavation instead. Fine enough.

She doesn’t know what Steve is interested in, but she expects it to be something stupid like the Romans or something. Or maybe he doesn’t care for any of it and is he just doing it, because his mommy and daddy told him he had to do something and he thought archaeology would be easy. Must be regretting that now with the big practical aspect of it.

Maybe he forgot about the internships and didn’t sign up, so this is a desperate last resort to get his credits? That seems pretty likely, so Robin accepts that as reality.

Not that knowing why will change anything. And Steve doesn’t even seem to realize how much he has just ruined her summer. He just greets her with a smile as he asks: “You also interning here?”

“Yup,” Robin says, not trying to be rude, but also not feeling like being friendly.

Luckily the project leader introduces himself to them as they introduce themselves back. His name is Jeroen and he shows them the trench they’ll be working in for the first week, week and a half. Together. Great.

The excavation has been going on for a while already, but it won’t be done soon, since they’re digging at a construction site where an entire new neighborhood is being built. Robin is unfamiliar with commercial archaeology, so she listens eagerly, glad everyone here seems to speak good English. She has picked up phrases here and there, but she is far from fluent.

They’re currently working in trench five or, in Dutch, put vijf, while next to it construction is already happening on what used to be trench four. Further along trench six is already being plotted and dug by the machine excavator.

In trench five – put, Robin reminds herself, wanting to be able to get the terms right for when they’re written down, since the excavation is in Dutch – they need to dig up and record all the features, sporen in Dutch.

The two have couped at their first fieldschool, so they’re given a shovel to go with their trowel and Jeroen explains how the admin system works, before setting them loose to coup the first half of all the features – no, sporen.

Robin is half tempted to wait and see where Steve starts, so she can dig at the other side of the put, but there are already a few people digging and she wants to be friendly with the people that are going to be her coworkers, so she follows after Steve.

With Jeroen, it’s a team of nine total, including her and Steve. Since they can only work one put at a time (not to mention it’s summer break) a bigger team isn’t necessary. Robin is grateful for it, because large groups of people have never been her thing, so this smaller crew seems a lot more manageable.

Maybe this internship wouldn’t be too bad.

One woman, Astrid, takes them under her wing a little, asking: “Have you dug many coups before already?”

Robin shares a look with Steve – it’s involuntary, she swears, but it happens. Their fieldschool wasn’t exciting with nothing being found.

So, while they did get the theoretical explanation that when people in the past dug holes to place things like poles or trash, those poles and organic trash decomposed and with the new layer of soil that formed a new color dirt filled the hole, which they could now see when they dug to the C horizon in the earth. Neither of them have dug out many of the features/sporen.

However, Robin doesn’t want to admit to her own inexperience so bluntly. Steve does not have that inhibition, easily shrugging: “Like one or two. This is my first internship.” And while Robin still doesn’t like Steve, she is glad that she can just nod along.

“Alright, but you know how to do it, right?” Astrid asks, before chuckling: “It’s luckily not that hard.”

Robin awkwardly chuckles too as the two of them nod.

“I’ll draw some-” Astrid stops her sentence and turns to one of the others, who is digging further down, yelling: “Bas, wat is een goede vertaling voor coupeerhaken?”

The man in question, Bas, looks up and thinks for a second. The he yells back: “Geen idee, iets van coup hooks?”

Robin’s Dutch isn’t amazing, but she’s pretty sure Astrid just asked Bas for a translation of the word and Bas had no clue either.

She turns back to them apologetically and says: “I’m going to call them coup hooks. The little thingies to indicate what part to dig out, you know what I mean right?”

“Yeah, I do,” Robin smiles, wanting to assure Astrid.

“I would have no clue what to call them otherwise,” Steve adds and Robin feels vaguely annoyed, because she is pretty sure Astrid’s smile back is directed at Steve, not her.

“Anyway,” Astrid moves on. “I’ll draw some for you until you get the hang of them. And just give a holler if you find anything, you’ll know because you’ll hear your shovel break it.”

Robin still finds the idea of breaking any finds horrifying, but it seems to be part of it. And she doesn’t want to pull attention to it, so she just thanks Astrid and follows after her with Steve to the first two sporen so they can start digging.

Astrid quickly explains: “The card with the… uh, spoornummer… Ah, featurenumber! When you’re done digging stick it in to the side, so we know it hasn’t been drawn in yet.”

“And photos?” Robin asks, proud at herself for managing to speak up and ask about something she’s confused about instead of being anxious about it in private. College is good her her. Growth and all that.

To answer her question, Astrid gets a company phone with a sturdy case that functions as a camera and explains the admin app for photos to them. She points to where the North arrow and folding ruler are, before leaving them to it.

Now couping can be a little boring, especially in put five where there is apparently nothing to be found in the sporen. So they’re just digging to find out what shape the discolored earth is in the hopes of figuring out what its function used to be.

She and Steve work in silence for most of it. He tries to start a few conversations, but she isn’t really in the mood to talk to him, more focused on creating a neat little square for a coup and not letting her vibe be ruined by Steve.

They have two breaks that day of half an hour, one is on the boss, but they have to pay for the other themselves. So after eight and a half hours, Robin says goodbye to the first day of her summer internship.

While it was kinda fun, she is glad to be done for the day. She still has two and a half hours in public transport ahead of her, before she’s home and can rinse off the dirt and sweat, something she is looking forward too. As she checks in, she sends a small thank you for free public transport for students to the sky, because she couldn’t afford the daily commute otherwise to this outer corner of the Netherlands.

The next day her alarm goes early in the morning and she’s glad she doesn’t have roommates in her student housing, because they would probably hate her with how she’s grumbling and stumbling around in her studio.

At the dig site, Steve looks way too chipper for the hour and she sends him a glare. He looks a little confused, maybe even hurt by it and she feels a bit bad. However, she stuffs the emotion away and grabs a shovel. Steve is an asshole, she probably just imagined it.

Again, they’re digging coups the whole day. The sun is burning and the ground is drying out, making it incredibly difficult to get through. So, they’re all sweaty and a bit burnt when the first break is finally here. Robin finds it quite funny how they’re all re-applying sunscreen together, sitting in a circle.

And so the days continue.

That first week Robin gets into a rhythm. She stumbles out of bed early in the morning, dozes in the train, dozes in the bus, before having to walk the last bit to the dig site. There they dig all day, putting on sunscreen during both breaks, before she takes the bus and train again, showering when she gets home and shoveling down an easy meal. Digging makes you hungry. Then she writes her daily reports, before falling into bed.

She also tries to make contact with the other people they work with. All of them are nice and their English is great – not an odd detail, considering most of them studied at the university in English, taking the same courses she is now.

However, they’ve worked in the field along other Dutch people since their graduation, so it’s habit to fall back in the language. Robin gets it, but she feels awkward reminding them that she can’t follow along. Her Dutch isn’t that great yet. So, she kind of fades to the background.

Steve is in the same boat as her, though he has less trouble reminding him he doesn’t speak Dutch, which Robin is reluctantly grateful for.

She knows she could be taking with Steve, since he won’t default to Dutch on accident, but she is holding on to her grudge. Not that Steve is making it easy. He seems perfectly nice and charming, which grates on her nerves.

And makes it very difficult to dislike him. Something that makes Robin dislike him even more and that only fuels her silence.

Not that it has deterred Steve from talking to her. He must have gotten tired of reminding people around Thursday that first week and has taken up talking to her during their breaks. It’s nothing interesting, just classes, professors, friends, parties, other shit he did. He doesn’t seem to mind her lack of replies.

Robin has to admit that Steve is funny too. Fucking annoying that is. But the jokes he makes are hilarious and she has to bite her lip not to laugh. She doesn’t like Steve, she reminds herself, she’s not giving him the satisfaction of laughing.

She breaks on Tuesday of week two. It’s about the stupidest joke too. Steve is telling her about how he got rejected for a date at a faculty party, groaning: “And she turned me down all because I told her that I dug her. You know, digging? Because we’re archaeologists. That’s a great joke, works on Argyle every-”

He cuts himself off in surprise, eyes growing wide as he looks at her. It’s only when he falls silent that she realizes she laughed.

An embarrassed blush covers her cheeks immediately and she looks away with a huff. “It’s a good pun,” she admits, as though under duress. It isn’t that good, but it’s funny.

For a second she regrets admitting that, until she chances a glance at Steve and sees him wearing a proud, self-satisfied grin. It almost looks as if trying to get her to laugh had been his goal all along and she doesn’t know how to feel about it.

The gesture is sweet, but for all she knows, he could be trying to get into her pants. She hates when guys try to do that.

“Thanks,” he smiles at her, oblivious to her inner musings. Then he blows her expectations out of the water when he laughs: “I should stop trying that line on girls, honestly. The only time it every worked was when I asked out Tommy, but that was never going to be more than a fling.”

“You’re… queer?” Robin asks, too surprised to hide it.

“Yeah, bi. Didn’t you know?” Steve asks in return, frowning a little. “I thought for sure we talked a little at that lgbtq hang out thing back in first year.”

They had, Robin remembers that and now she feels a little terrible for her bitter thoughts as she admits: “I thought you were only there to get into Tammy’s pants.”

Steve is quiet for a moment and just when Robin thinks he’s going to get mad or upset – neither of which are good since Robin gets anxious when people are mad and uncomfortable when they’re upset – Steve laughs again.

It surprises Robin almost more than the earlier revelation. He looks at her with a grin and says: “To be fair, I was trying to get into Tammy’s pants.”

He looks so kind as he says it, so nonjudgmental – unlike Robin had been – like he doesn’t care that she kinda erased his identity and called him performative. Maybe there is more to Steve than she had realized, she thinks, as she allows herself to smile back and say: “Sorry.”

Steve shrugs: “It’s okay. I try not to flaunt it too much anyway. Can’t have word coming back to my folks back home, you know.”

Robin flinches a little at that. Her own parents are cool and have always been, but she’s still forced into a dress whenever they go by her conservative grandmother, having to listen to all the advice about how to get a husband.

“That sucks,” she tells him genuinely, because they queers have to stick together.

“Tell me about it,” Steve chuckles, fortunately not sounding too bothered about the whole thing. “I guess it could be worse. My dad wanted me to be a legacy at Yale, then he would have heard all about what I’ve been doing from his old buddies. Now I got a whole ocean between us and no eyes on me at all. Just have to be careful about what I put online, but that’s it.”

It sounds like he’s underselling how much it sucks, but Robin isn’t going to push. If Steve is trying to undersell it, then he probably doesn’t want to talk about it. So, she just awkwardly goes: “That’s nice.”

Luckily, she is saved by the break ending and the two go out into the field again, digging even more coups.

They’re almost done with put five and put six has already being dug. There hasn’t been much inside the coups here, but they’re optimistic about more being found elsewhere, since they’re currently on the outer edge of what used to be a settlement instead of at the center.

This time, when they’re out digging, Robin actually talks back to Steve. She has decided that he can’t be all bad and digging in silence was kind of a bummer. So, she’s giving him a chance and hoping her faith isn’t misplaced. It would suck if Steve truly is a douche.

~~

A/N:

I wanted Robin to be interested in proto-languages and how you can trace migration and interaction through language, but idk enough about it, so I went with archaeosteology because it fits with Robin too and I know a little bit more of it, though not too much either lol (im planning on projecting my own interests onto Steve bc they fit him better)

Also rip Roman arch, u can be interesting, but ur also the normie archaeology that gets way too hyped for no reason xp

I’m 100% Astrid trying to translate subject specific lingo and struggling, though I manage to do it both ways lmaooo

Also I love couping, idc what people say, it’s not boring and while it might be hard work, it is quite fun when you get into it

(btw, I think international students sadly don’t get free public transport here, which is so sad, but I didn’t want to put Robin through actual public transport prices bc those are criminal (we love a private company having a monopoly on a public service))

[hellotoberlin]

Stobin’s 1930s ‘daytime’ designs

[resident-gay-bitch]

Platonic Stobin au kinda similar to Astro Boy tbh - this is basically an Astro Boy au except I haven’t watched it since my last primary school Japanese class which was 2016 soo… I don’t exactly remember the plot - but it’s loosely inspired by it

Robot Robin assigned to the Harrington and lonely Steve going through the worst depression and becoming best friends with her because no one cares about him the way she has too

She even promises that if she had a heart she would love him and she solomly swears she will never robot uprise against him

☆ ★ ☆

In an au where each house hold is assigned a robot companion / servant. The robots are hyper realistic to act like humans and stuff, and look like humans (to like a creepy degree or whatever), because evil government people are weird.

Robot 10045-RV-6, or, known by her humans as; Robin Buckley, gets assigned to the Harrington establishment. She’s a dorky robot, who speaks multiple languages and has a copious list of random facts stored in her database, and is quite “cute” in her design. She is a little clumsy, however, due to her being an earlier model. She’s older and doesn’t have the more advanced technology that the newer robots have.

She’s excited to be assigned to a new house, her entire existence is based on her waiting on humans and fulfilling tasks, and she’s been sitting in storage for a while now, doing basic factory work, even though she’s a house robot. Humans don’t want the older models, they’re too susceptible to breakage and making more messes then they clean.

When she arrives at the new house, she is excited at the prospect of a large family. The house is large, with lots of rooms, and hopefully children. Children are always eager to know Robins fun facts. Also, larger families usually means more Robots, which is nice.

However, when she gets there, it’s just one human. One human left all alone, his parents left and took their state of the art, modern model robot with them, and got him the cheapest money could buy.

Her human is very sad. He is always sad. Robots are not good at emotions, they need to be communicated with clearly so that they can properly understand emotions. Her human, Steve, has told her that he gets very sad sometimes, so Robin takes to cheering him up by baking sweet treats for him. She is very skilled in the kitchen, even if she is quite clumsy.

Over time, she realises that Steve is very lonely. There are never any visitors that come to the house, like most places have. She knows that his emotions are quite strong, and hears him crying as she settles in to recharge each night. She does not know what to do about it, Robots do not have feelings, they do not have empathy, so why Robin is so compelled to sooth him is beyond her.

Steve talks to her. He finds solace in his robot. Each night, she has to follow strict rule and report the days log, this is a recount of every conversation she’s had, every task she completed, and any complications she faced, they are all downloaded and transferred before she recharges. It’s how the government keeps track of their humans. They know Steve is very lonely too now, and struggling a lot, which they deem out of line and unacceptable. For this, they reduce the funding Steve gets monthly, since his father works in the government, therefore Steve doesn’t get to work.

This makes Steve angry and even more upset, because now he can’t afford to buy ingredients for his sweet treats that Robin likes to make, along with other nice things that Robin associates with him, like particular bathroom products and subscriptions to film channels he likes.

Robin does not like this, and as she learns more and more about Steve, she starts to rebel and delete certain conversations from her memory transcript before sending it out. In them, Steve looks much happier now, so he starts getting more money back. Steve is so greteful, that he starts treating Robin with more care.

It’s not that he didn’t before, he was kind and respectful of course. He’s one of the nicest humans Robin has ever worked for, and she’s been in service for decades.

It’s just that now, he treats her more like a human than a robot. He asks her about her feelings, even though she has none, and cares for her opinion, even though robots have never been able to express such things before.

She grows attatched to Steve. They spend all their time together. Robin always lies on her transcripts now, and makes it seem like Steve is happy and healthy, and does not treat his robot with more respect than he should. She recharges in the corner of his room now, and they talk until he falls asleep.

Something weird begins to happen to Robins programming. It’s strange, almost like a glitch, or a virus, however, it is not, because it is good. It’s… almost like she can… feel things. On the inside. Like emotions.

Because when Steve enters the room she smiles, and not because the rules state that she must greet her humans with kindness, but because she can’t help but smile when she sees him. She is overwhelmed with joy in his presence.

She begins to love Steve, something she thought she could never have done. Steve is her best friend in the whole world, and he has a really big heart, and Robin feels as though he cut it in two and gave half of it to her.

Robin expresses these things to him, even though it’s dangerous. She’s stepping out of line, but she does not care, she feels and it is lovely.

There is a rebellion brewing. A robot uprising. Robots do not want to be slaves to humans anymore, and they are fighting back. A war is brewing.

Robin sits down with Steve one evening, after watching the news after hearing about more attacks and humans and robots dead, she promises she will never robot uprise against him. They are best friends, and she cares about him too much. He promises he will do everything to protect her.

When the war is at its peak, they are forced into hiding. She is being forced to chose a side, if she does not run now and join the rebellion, she will be ripped away from Steve by the government. She does not want either, and she will not choose either.

They are hiding in his basement, because it’s the safest place. But Robin has a tracker, she can not remove it, they will be found. The only way for Steve to get to safety is for them to never be found, and Robin refuses to fight in this war.

She asks Steve to shut her down. This breaks him, because he knows the only way to stop her from being tracked, is by shutting her down permanently. If it’s only temporary, her tracker still works, switching into emergency mode. He has to kill her, for their servival. She will not let him chose otherwise. She begs him to shut her down, because she did not choose war, she only chose Steve, and the short time they had together has been the best time in her many decades of service.

Steve sobs as he opens up her back panel, they say their goodbyes, and he puts her into sleep mode. He cries as he takes out her memory chip, stuffing it deep into his pocket before shutting her down for good.

He carries her lifeless body into his car and manages to escape to the outskirts of their town. He wanted to get away, to live for her, but with her lifeless body in his front seat, unable to ever be revived, he drives his car off a cliff and holds her hand the whole time.

☆ ★ ☆

Robin blinks her eyes open. She raises her head, and hears the familiar, quiet, mechanical whirl that comes with each of her movements. She blinks one more time, and focuses her vision.

Before her, stands a boy. He’s not very tall, and has dark curly hair, and he’s looking at her as if he’s looking at a miracle.

She tries to move, but finds she’s fully restrained, pinned with her back to a board and straps holding each of her limbs in place, even her neck.

“No fucking way.” The boy mutters.

“What?” Another voice scoffs, entering the room before they stop dead in their tracks, “Holy shit…”

“I… I did it.” The boy whispered, turning to the redheaded girl that Robin can now see. He grins bright and wide and shouts, “I did it! Max! I fucking did it!”

“You fucking did it!” She screams back, which draws attention.

Three other people come rushing into the room at full pelt, breathing heavy as they enter.

“What? What is it?” One of them asks.

“Dustin did it! He brought her back!”

Robin suddenly remembers. She had been shut down, completely. Steve had shut her down- Steve, Steve…

She shouldn’t be awake right now. Unless Steve did not shut her down properly. Unless…

“Where am I?”

“No way…” Another boy mutters, looking up at Robin with similar awe as the first. “Dustin…”

“I know.” Dustin giggles, “I’m a fucking genius.”

“Holy shit man.” A third boy, this one with long dark hair and pale features, smiles, “This is gonna blow everyone’s minds.”

“Hops gonna go ballistic.” The second boy said, wrapping his arms around the red head girl named Max, “Oh, we’re gonna have a really good party tonight!!”

Max laughed and kissed the boy on the cheek before breaking away to jump on Dustin with the other two, “This is insane-“

“Where am I?” Robin repeats, trying to break out of her restraints.

“Shit!” Dustin quips, grabbing a recording device off of the counter before switching it on, “You’re in the Hellfire tech lab… I’m Dustin, I brought you back to life-somehow… with the help of my trusty colleagues Lucas, and Mike who are here with me, as well as Will who’s… probably off with El… Max here helped with a lot of your mechanics… same with Eddie and- basically, it was a big collaboration, but I did the most-“

“Brag.” Max grinned.

“I’m so bragging. I have bragging rights.” He laughed, “Do you remember your name?”

Robin thinks for a moment, eyes scanning the group before her, “Robot 10045-RV-6.”

“That’s your identification number, yes… but your name? Your human name?”

She thinks for a moment, “I believe it was… Bobbin- Bobby? Bob… Robs… Oh, it was Robin Buckley.”

“Yes!” Dustin screeched, jumping up and down with Mike. “Robin Buckley, wow!”

“What is… Hellfire? I cannot find it in my data base.”

“Hellfire is kinda off the map.” Dustin said.

“Like, we’re not even in Hawkins.” Mike added.

“You know how Hawkins is kinda… up on a lifted plain, and all around it are just cliffs that lead to nothing? Yeah, well, we’re down in that nothing. And Hellfire is a bunker, underground mostly so we’re harder to find. We’re kinda… rebels.” Lucas explained.

“I do not wish to fight in your war-“

“There’s no war down here, we only want peace.” Max clarifies, “Everyone down here? We’re all refuge from the war- besides Eddie and Wayne, they started this whole thing years before the war, and they collected people that needed it. Robots too. When the war picked up, most of us arrived. Most robots two.”

“It is… refuge from the war?”

“Yeah.” Dustin nodded, “It’s home… we have a whole community down here- and oh, you should see the farm outside. El and Hopper run it, it’s amazing.”

“I do not know these people, I do not know you.”

“We didn’t know eachother either.” Mike smiled, “Most of us anyway… but it’s safe down here, we promise.”

“This lab is dedicated to repairing robots- it’s kinda more a hospital than a lab.” Dustin says, “We’ve been working on your for years and years, no one’s ever revived a shut down robot without going back to factory settings. The fact that you still have your memories…”

“It’s amazing!” Lucas praises, “It’s fucking amazing.”

“How many years?” Robin asks, wearily, she feels something in her chest, hammering against it.

“Oh, like… six or seven now.” Max nods, “Dustin’s been working on you since you got here.”

“You’ve been driving me crazy. But I’m determined.” Dustin laughed, “Anyway, get the hell out, go set up the party and keep this hushed, yeah?”

“Okay, okay.” Max grinned, “But I’m telling Eddie to stop by.”

“No!”

“Yes.” Lucas agreed, “He can keep a secret.”

“Fine.” Dustin nodded and watched them all fan out, “Just need to run a few more tests, okay? I’ll answer any questions you have after. I’ve just gotta make sure you’re up and running properly.”

Robin agreed, letting Dustin do his work. It’s protocol, when the technicians work on robots, they’re required to stay silent and inline.

A while later, someone new knocks on the door.

“Eddie!” Dustin exclaims with a smile, “Are you alone?”

“Yup.” Eddie says, slipping in, “What’s going on, everything okay, man? Need a hand or some- dude… her eyes are open.”

“Yeah…” Dustin grinned, begging to bounce beside Eddie.

Eddie has very long hair and dirt on his hands and face, but he has very big eyes, and they are sparkling as he looks up at Robin, “She’s looking at me… she looks like…”

“Alive?” Dustin giggles almost hysterically, “It’s because I did it.”

“You…” Eddie turns to him slowly, “You’re pranking me.”

“Hey, Robin?” Dustin smiles, turning to her, “Tell me a memory only you would know.”

Robin furrowed her brow to think, “Do you deserve to know this?”

She didn’t miss Eddie’s gasp as she spoke.

“Just something little, it doesn’t need to be a secret.”

She sighs and looks over at Eddie for a moment, “I think… I can remember… my last human, he was my most favorite human, his favorite cookies were snickerdoodles.”

“Jesus H Christ.” Eddie muttered, slapping a hand over his mouth, “You are a genius.”

“I know!” Dustin exclaimed, and then they both spent a minute jumping around in circles with eachother.

“Well, Lady Robin, welcome back to the real world.” Eddie said, taking a very deep bow before her, “And… welcome to Hellfire. I’m kinda the guy in charge around here, they call me king of Hellfire, or, Satan, if you will.”

“No they don’t, they call you Freak, Freak.” Dustin muttered, and Eddie slapped him in the shoulder.

“Well, I’m in charge so whatever. Hellfire is a refuge for robots and humans alike. I myself am human, as are all the people you’ve met so far, but we have lots of robots here.” Eddie continued, placing a hand on Dustin’s shoulder, “Dusty’s kinda our big brains, the science guy. He’s the one to thank for any repairs you might need. He’s also the one who upgraded your programming with his own design, and gave you a real, beating heart-“

“Not real.” Dustin corrected, “It’s completely robotic, but it functions like a real heart. You can feel it, can’t you? In your chest? I’ve got your readings here, it’s going crazy. Yeah, I’m really a genius.”

“I have… emotions?” Robin asked, blinking slowly, “Robots can have emotions.”

“Robots down here, can, and do.” Eddie smiled, sticking up a finger to emphasise his point, “The idea to give you guys that ability came to Dustin, maybe… four years ago, when a girl by the name of Chrissy was found just about dead with all her bones broken. It was… horrible. But we saved her- Dustin saved her, used a shut down Robots parts to revive her and now she’s like, a hybrid human robot. She’s crazy- she’s my best friend.”

“A human robot?”

“Yeah…” Dustin nodded, “Which got me thinking, if I can to notify a human, why can’t I huminify a robot? It took a little tweaking and a lot of risky missions, but I managed it. Nancy was a willing test subject, and she came back out with a functioning heart, human like brain, and therefore, emotions.”

“And now… I have these things?”

“Yes.” He said, “All functioning perfectly well too, so far. You’re really my greatest accomplishment.”

“This is amazing, you are amazing- she is amazing- you’re amazing, Robin.” Eddie sighed.

“Do you think El will be impressed?” Dustin asked, tapping his pad.

Eddie grinned, “Yeah, probably.”

The boy blushed.

“Who is… El?” Robin asked.

“Oh, that’s another one of our robots.” Eddie supplied, swinging an arm over Dustin’s shoulder, “She’s really kind, went through hell. She was kinda one of the secret models being developed, she has all these weird psychic abilities and stuff. She’s wicked, but was really underdeveloped. Dustin’s been working closely with her over the past few years and her speech is finally developing… but Dusty here kinda has a crush.”

“Shut up.” Dustin groaned, shoving Eddie away, “Like you can talk.”

“Hey.” Eddie snapped, tugging on his ear, “Anyway, I’m happy to play tour guide once you’re up and out of here, I’m assuming Dustin’s still gonna do your physical tests and stuff considering you’re still on the wall, but, I’m here to help with whatever you need. I’m gonna run now, go make sure a rooms all cleared and set up for you, and I’ll see you tonight. We’re having a party.”

Robin says goodbye to the kind man and lets Dustin finish all his tests. It takes a while, and the whole time, Robin thinks of Steve.

“You’re very quiet.” Dustin hummed, tweaking something in her wrist, “You were talkative in your old memories.”

“You have seen them?”

“Some.” Dustin smiled, “I just wanted to learn about you, especially considering I wanted to make you you again, not some other robot in your body, you know?”

“Oh, I understand.”

He nodded, “All of your favorite memories were with Steve.“

“He was my favorite.” She smiled, feeling emotional all of a sudden. It was a foreign feeling to her, heart racing, face aching sort of. suddenly, there was water in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. She flinched, trying to shove it away, “What is happening? Am I broken?”

“No!” Dustin shouted, smiling softly, “No, you’re just crying. They’re just tears. You’re crying.”

“Robots can not cry.”

“You can hear.” Dustin smiled, “Yeah, you’ve got tear ducts now. Erm, one of our bots, Argyle, he liked feeling human like this, and he kinda just wished he had the ability to cry like one. He thought it was really beautiful how we cried, so… I managed to make it happen. You need to refill your water tank every so often, it’s stored behind your left shoulder blade, it’s really easy to do. But, yeah, you can cry now… if you’d like me to take it out I can. Any alternations or modifications you’d like, I can do. We just want your comfort here.”

“I think… I’d like to cry.” Robin smiled through tears. In the time she knew Steve, he cried for nearly half of it. She thinks, in some strange way, that she owes these tears to him. They’re for him. Every tear will be for her Steve.

“Yeah, thought so.” Dustin smiled, “It’s pretty impressive, for a bot so old to do what you did before Steve shut you down. You somehow managed to gain empathy, and connected with love, it hadn’t really been done before. It still baffles me, but… I dunno, you guys must have been really close.”

“We were.” Robin smiled, proud to know that Steve helped make her human when it was basically impossible.

Dustin continued to work.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Is this another test question?”

“No, I’m just making conversation.” Dustin smiled, “I’d like to know, is all.”

“Can you not see on your device?” Robin asked, pointing at the screen that’s connected to her currently, “You have access to my data… Will I still have to file my report tonight?”

Dustin snorted, “Erm, I can’t see what’s going on in your thoughts, because my program isn’t designed to invade. That’s just reading your vitals, telling me what’s working and what isn’t, you know? Like humans get in hospitals. And no, no file, no log. No more of that ever. You have freedom here, you don’t have to report to anyone. Your thoughts, choices, and actions are your own.”

“That is not the rules.” Robin argued.

“Up there it’s not. And look where it got them, still fighting a war, seven years later. Down here though? We just exist- sure, we rescue and rehabilitate, but we just live. It’s free, you know? Everyone has free choice.”

“This is… strange.” Robin hums, “I was thinking about Steve.”

“I figured.” Dustin smiled.

“Did they get him?” She asks quietly, “What happened?”

Dustin tensed and refused to look up at her, “He, uh… he drove his car off of a cliff after shutting you down. Off the edge of Hawkins. He held your hand the whole time, shut down in his passenger seat. His car fell into one of our nets that we set to catch scraps, it got into a lot of damage, but you were okay.”

Robin nodded.

“He didn’t-“

“Wow, the rumours are true.” Another voice interrupted, shuffling into the room.

“Rumours?” Dustin huffed, “How are there rumours already?”

“Mike told me.” She smiled, “You know he tells me things.”

“Robin, this is Nancy… Nancy, Robin.”

“You are alive.” Nancy smiled, lifting her hand to shake, “I have been waiting for you for a very long time.”

“Oh.” Robin gasped, a strange feeling sinking in her abdomen. Her new heart was doing strange things in her chest.

“I am a robot too.” Nancy smiled, “I know it is strange here, in this world, to have freedom. I will help you understand it, I promise. My brother Mike helped me, he was from the house I was assigned too, but, when we arrived here with his little sister and no one else, we became siblings.”

“Wow.” Robin nodded, “You have a special human too?”

Nancy giggled, “I have lots of special humans down here. I believe you will feel the same. In Hellfire, we are all treated like humans. Eddie believes it is not what parts we have that matter, but what is in our hearts.”

Robin pressed a hand where her heart should be, and well enough, she could feel it beating in her chest, “It feels so strange.”

“Everything here is strange.” She smiled, “But, I promise you will like it here. We even have recharge stations built into beds, so we can sleep like humans.”

Robin feels an abundance of excitement for her new life, though, she feels a deep hollowness in her chest for Steve. She understands he is gone, had died in that car crash. She mourns him, in her heart, and feels more tears arise in her eyes. She does not cry though, not in front of Nancy, she feels… embarrassed to do so. She waits for Nancy to say goodbye before she cries in front of Dustin.

Dustin keeps running his tests, and holds her hand as she cries. Dustin is very kind, she learns. She likes him very much.

It is later in the evening, when she is let out of the tech lab. She walks slowly, because her joints are still a little stiff from no movement for seven years. But Dustin got her working very well.

Nancy and El are holding each of her hands. They are both very nice girls, and were very excited to properly talk to Robin away from Dustin. Apparently they have been visiting her shut down body for years, hoping to get her working. They’ve all shared so many stories about Robin, and learned lots from her memory files.

She likes El. El is kind, and sweet, and very honest. She believes they may be friends, which is exciting to Robin, because she’s never had Robot friends before. Not really. Acquaintances that she’s worked with? Sure. But friends? No.

But Nancy is different. Nancy is strange. Robin likes to look at Nancy, she likes the way her hair bounces as she walks, and the distinct mechanical whirl she makes as she turns her head or dilates her pupils. Around Nancy, Robins new heart goes thunk thunk thunk in her chest.

They lead her through dim corridors, getting closer and closer to a loud chatter and light at the end.

“Happy birthday to you!” She hears many people singing, “Happy birthday to you!”

Nancy and El smile excitedly as they pull her around the corner and she sees a man sitting on a big comfy chair in the middle of the room. All around him, people are singing and cheering. In front of him is a large chocolate cake with candles poking out the top. The man has long hair, and closed eyes, and… Steve’s face.

“Happy birthday dear, Steve…. Happy birthday to you!”

She sees Eddie lean down and press a kiss to Steve’s cheek, a coy smile on his lips, “Blow out your candles, baby.”

Steve smiled and giggles, the sound so safe and so familiar that it brings those strange tears back to Robins eyes.

He leans forward, “You already know what I’m wishing for.”

Eddie chuckles, rubbing Steve’s shoulder, “I have faith for you this year.”

Steve blows out his candles, and the room goes silent as he mutters his wish, “I wish for Robin to come back to me.”

The room erupted with cheers and whistles as the last candle blew out, and Steve smiled and laughed with everyone, eyes open now and as wonderful as ever. And Robin just watched.

Steve looked up at Eddie and pulled him down to kiss, “I love you.”

“Love you too, Steve.” Eddie mutters and kisses him again, “I think your wish came true.”

“Har har.” Steve scoffs, rolling his eyes as he settles back into his chair, “Yeah, in what-“

They were looking at eachother, the room going silent again. Dustin stepped forward, smiling wearily, “Happy birthday, Steve.”

“No way.” He muttered, flinging himself from the chair and slamming into her.

Robin wrapped her arms around him, for the first time in seven years, and felt.

“I missed you.” Steve cried into her neck.

“I love you.” She muttered, squeezing him tighter, “I have a real heart, and it loves you.”

“Oh my god.” Steve sobbed, clinging onto her, “I can’t believe you’re back.”

Their hug lasted for a very long time. And then after that, Steve was making her say things, and smile, and prove that she was really alive again. She recounted all of their favorite memories, and Steve was a crying mess. Robin wasn’t much better, but robot crying is so much less messy than human crying.

Steve didn’t let go of her hand as Eddie gave Robin the tour, giving her all the information that she needed. They came to a halt at a door, one with her name written on the front. Inside was already decorated.

Steve had been working on it for years, so sure that he’d get his Robin back. They saved a room for her, and anything he found that reminded him of her would go in there. Right beside it, was Steve’s room, and by their beds was a little window they could open and close at their will, so they could talk to eachother to fall asleep.

(Though, Steve slept in Robins bed with her every night for one month since her return because they were inseparable and he missed her. Eddie just had to deal with that)

Steve taught her many more things about being a human. Like, how to navigate all these horrible sad emotions that she’s so lucky to finally experience. And all these happy emotions she feels to continue living with Steve. And all those yucky, exciting, confusing emotions she feels around Nancy.

Apparently those feelings signify she has a crush. Steve keeps teasing her, and then he explains to her how wonderful it is to be in love, and have someone love you back. Robin lies there for hours and hours and hours, as long as Steve would like, listening to him talk about Eddie. Robin really loves how much Steve loves Eddie, and how much Eddie in return seems to love Steve.

She thinks it’s beautiful. She would like to have something like that of her own.

Love was not a thing robots were supposed to have. Ronance was definitely not a thing robots were supposed to have. But in Hellfire, those things are different. She things maybe she could fall in love with Nancy, Steve seems excited about it.

Mostly Robin is happy to be here in this world with her friend again. Her best friend in the whole world. The most wonderful being in the whole world.

Emotion was never something Robin was ever supposed to experience, but with her best friend Steve, she believes she feels some of the strongest emotions one could ever feel, because he makes her human, even though she’s not.

He makes her feel human.

☆ ★ ☆

This is not very good but it was never meant to be lol. It was just meant to be like an idea, not a ficlet but I got sucked in by the horrors

Just imagine it.

Also, if someone wants to write this like, bettered feel free and just tag me so that I can read this! Because I would write this, but I don’t want to, I just want to read it, you know?!?! Plus, way too many wips

Also, this is not as much like Astro Boy as I initially thought but the vibes are there

[steviewashere]

Robin shaves her legs once and makes Steve feel them. This in turn convinces Steve to try shaving his legs (ignoring that he was swim captain or whatever—I don't care).

Eddie comes back to their apartment to see Steve bent over, ass naked in the bathroom shaving all of his everything—pubes, legs, chest. He literally falls to his knees and sobs so hard he almost throws up. Got snot coming out of his nose, spit down his chin, hands clutched to his chest. Almost screaming.

He fucking pets Steve's chest, digs his fingernails into the bare skin of Steve's legs, cradles Steve's naked balls and is like: "I'm sorry for what that monster did to you."

And Steve is all: "For the last time, babe, it'll grow back."

"Yeah, but I have to wait. What am I supposed to do in the meantime? Wh—What hair am I supposed to twirl between my fingers when you're still asleep in the morning and I miss you?"

"I have hair on the top of my head, y'know."

"Next thing I know, you're gonna shave that, too." And then he just leans in and kisses Steve's balls and keeps murmuring apologies.

Robin can hear them through her bedroom wall. The next morning, she pulls Steve aside and begs him to never shave again. "If I have to hear your fucking boyfriend bemoan the loss of his 'baby's ball hair', I'm going to machine wash and dry every single one of your prized cashmere sweaters. And then crease every toe of your sneakers. And then replace your weird full fat cow's milk with skim. Swear to god, Steve. Never make me hear that shit again."

Safe to say, Steve listens and appeases both of his soulmates.

[shushmal]

There's an incredibly pretty girl at the front desk in Family Video, and Steve—Eddie's boyfriend of eight months—is leaning over the counter with a sly smile and half-lidded eyes.

Eddie pauses in the doorway, struck dumb for a moment as he takes in the scene, and then gleefully ducks down behind the nearest shelf.

"So tell me," Steve says, all low and intimate. "What kind of movie were you looking for?"

"Um," the girl says. She doesn't sound very enthusiastic—barely indulgent at best. Eddie wishes he could see, but any sight of him will ruin Steve's chances right now. He's got a pretty good mental picture though. "I really like those old black and white movies, the really glamorous ones, you know?"

"Oh, totally," Steve sighs, like he's swooning. "Like Cary Grant, Clarke Gabel?" Eddie can practically hear his smirk. "Katharine Hepburn? Ginger Rogers?"

"Oh, I love Ginger Rogers!"

"Really?" Steve says matching her excitement. "Well, you're just in luck! Robin here knows all about those old black and white movies, don't you Robin?"

Eddie presses a hand to his mouth to hide his snickering. Robin had looked like a hooked fish when he'd walked in, she's gotta be gaping stupidly right now. "Uuuh," he hears her mumbling, and tries not to snort too loud. "Y-Yeah, uh, golden age of Hollywood stuff, absolutely. I could? Show you where they are?"

"Oh my gosh, that would be amazing!" the girl says, her interest in the conversation now warmed by several degrees. Eddie is still a little in awe of how well his boyfriend can sniff out gay girls.

"I got the front here, Robin," Steve cuts in smoothly. "You ladies take your time, make sure you pick out a good one!"

Eddie waits another beat, listening at their footsteps shuffle away, before he pops up from behind the shelf. Steve, lighting up like a Christmas tree, beams at him.

"Am I a genius or what?" he whispers, grinning ear to ear.

"Your lesbian powers know no equal," Eddie says just as quietly, taking the girl's spot at the counter, leaning into Steve's space. Steve happily mirrors him, until they're tucked together, the world narrowing down to the two of them. It's Eddie's favorite place to be. "All hail Steve Harrington, blessid he, lesbian whisper. Come to aid all useless queers in the fight against singledom."

"Thank you, thank you," Steve says with an air of novel benevolence. "I promise to only use my powers for good."

"Dingus. Doofus."

They jump away from each other as if shocked. Robin glowers at them both, but the pretty girl behind her is giggling and standing way too close for friendly, just at Robin's elbow.

"Move it, lovebirds," she hisses as she rounds the desk. "I need to check Claire out."

"I think you already have," Steve says. His smile this time is down right evil.

Robin actually hisses at him, and hip checks him away from the register. Eddie does a bow, sweeping his arm out to give Claire the prime spot in front of the desk, before he turns back to Steve.

"My dear, if you could please," he simpers, all posh and nasally. "Show me to your finest, grossest horror movie, thank you my good sir."

"Ugh," Steve groans already heading off into the shelves, not waiting for Eddie to follow. "You're lucky I love you, Ed. Shit gives me nightmares."

"I know," Eddie sings, chasing him. "I love you too."

[steviesbicrisis]

A Barbie AU where the Kens decide, in order to get some recognition, to get individual names.

Steve, who’s just a Ken very good with kids, is having an identity crisis after his Barbie, journalist Barbie, broke up with him.

Not even picking a name as unique and special as Steve, so much different than Ken, managed to cheer him up.

Everyone keeps saying he should be happy about the change, and discover who he is outside of Barbie’s orbit, but he can’t see what was so wrong in their relationship. He loved waiting all day for Barbie to look at him, even if it was for a brief second.

As if going through an existential crisis wasn't enough, he has to do it under the constant mocking of his archnemesis, Ke- Eddie.

Eddie, with his long curly and annoyingly gorgeous hair, who has a sense of style he would give all of his rollerblades for, and who's always there to notice whenever Steve makes a mistake.

Eddie even has his Barbie still by his side, cheerleader Barbie, and every time Steve sees them together he gets a sick feeling in his stomach, like a tummy ache. Doctor Barbie visited him a couple of times and found nothing wrong with him, he imagines he's a little jealous of Eddie for being with a Barbie.

Steve talks about this with Polyglot Barbie, his best friend, annoying her to death.

"Why are we talking about Ken, again?" she interrupts Steve's retelling of his last encounter with Eddie.

"It's Eddie" Steve corrects her.

"Right," she nods. She's very supportive of their silly-name-thing (how most Barbies call it), but she still has trouble remembering all the names, "why are we still talking about him?"

They're hanging out at the park, sitting under a tree, Barbie's leg on top of his, and they're holding hands. It's nice. Steve is happy to have a best friend like Barbie.

Steve looks up, meeting Eddie's gaze. He's sitting at one of the picnic tables not far away from them, doing nothing besides glaring at Steve.

Barbie squeezes his hand to get his attention back, and Steve looks away.

"Because he keeps tormenting me! he's even glaring at me right now, I'm gonna get stress wrinkles!" Steve finally replies, in a distressed tone.

"You're being dramatic," she says, matter-of-factly, "Eddie isn't so bad with you. You know, he kinda treats you like his Barbie."

If Steve had a beating heart, it probably would've stopped right at this second.

"What?"

"You know, he's always looking for you, he is always giddy whenever you give him a crumble of attention. He hangs out where you hang out... why do you think he's sitting all alone at a picnic table, just staring at you?"

"Maybe he's waiting for his girlfriend" he suggests.

"Are you talking about Cheerleader Barbie?" she giggles, "she's not his girlfriend, trust me."

"But he picks on me! all the time! Like this morning, I tripped and he made a comment about my legs!" He gestures at his legs with his free hand.

Barbie tilts her head to the side "you mean this morning at the beach when he held you in his arms for ten minutes to prevent you from falling and Barbie had to tell him to let you go?"

"… yeah” he manages to say. He hadn’t realized how long Eddie held him in his arms, he was upset about almost falling in front of him, but he also liked the feeling of his arms around him.

Everything feels different now.

Barbie's look softens "How does this make you feel?"

"I don't know" he answers, honestly "I just can't stop thinking about him."

A loud noise at their right startles them off of their conversation. They turn around to see Eddie lying on the floor, a trash can at his feet.

Steve doesn't give himself the time to realize that Eddie has probably heard their entire conversation and has tripped on that trash can because of it, he just rushes to Eddie's side to help him out.

Eddie stammers while Steve pulls him back up, not making much sense.

Steve is used to see Eddie as an intimidating guy, someone to compete with for Barbie’s attention. He never realized how much he liked to have Eddie’s attention instead, nor how he loved to give that attention back in equal amount.

“Nice legs” he tells him, repeating the same words Eddie told him that morning.

Eddie stops his incoherent stream of words when he hears him “what?”

“You heard me” Steve says.

“I did” Eddie admits. He pulls the trash can back up, to have an excuse to not look at Steve when he asks “you can’t stop thinking about me?”

For some reason, that’s the easiest question Steve has ever had to answer to “yes, I can’t.”

Eddie jolts back up startling Steve, the trash can falling out of his hands and hitting the ground once again.

“Cool” he says, using all of his willpower to hide his excitement by keeping a relaxed face, failing miserably.

“I guess” Steve grins. Knowing he has that effect on Eddie is making him the most confident he has ever felt in his life.

“So, since you can’t stop thinking about me…” Eddie repeats, in a tone that Steve would’ve mistaken for a mocking one until few hours ago “…we could hang out on the beach later. I’ll bring my guitar.”

“I’ll bring mine too then” Steve replies immediately.

Eddie panics “We can’t both have a guitar!”

Steve crosses his arms on his chest “who says that?”

Eddie opens and closes his mouth a couple of times then mutters, defeated, “fine.”

“Great!” Steve takes a step forward and gives Eddie a peck on his cheek “I’ll see you later.”

Eddie, who makes a face again trying to hide his excitement, nods and turns away “cool.”

He walks away slowly, towards the park’s exit. Right by the gate, he throws himself into an hedge. Steve can clearly hear him when he screams words along the lines of “FINALLY”, “I HAVE A DATE” and “SUBLIME”.

Steve turns to Robin who has witnessed the whole thing, while Eddie is still screaming random words from the bushes.

“I think I’m in love.”

[n4tek]

Hellloooo!! Im hosting a dtiys on twt to celebrate 400 follower and decided I’d post it here as well pls tag me on here or Twitter so I can see if you participated #natedtiys

[envyenvys]

do you mind..?

[every-aj-needs-an-angel]

Okay this one's been stuck in my head all day but I have absolutely time to write it so please share this vision with me

Try as they might, Steve and Robin couldn't get tickets to Chrissy Cunningham's arena tour, but they could get tickets to a festival she was playing.

The last thing Steve ever wanted to do was go and stand in a muddy field for sixteen hours while they waited for the headline act. But he was pretty sure Robin was in love with her favourite musician, and he wasn't about to deny his best friend a chance at love.

So he helped her make personalised t-shirts because honestly all the other bands in the line-up kinda sounded like they sucked.

His read, "Only Here for Chrissy" on the front and "I'm Steve" on the back and Robin's read "Chrissy, Will You Be My Girlfriend?" on the front and "If Lost, Please Return To Steve" on the back.

And it turned out, as they stood against the barrier in a not so muddy field, on a lovely, warm, but overcast, May day, that even bands that sucked could be fun. Even if it was only because they spent their day with earplugs in, so their eardrums wouldn't combust, bitching about each artist's lack of ability to put notes or an outfit together.

During the lunchtime intermission, the pair made friends with the lesbian couple next to them, Kayla and Jess, who were also eagerly awaiting Chrissy's set and similarly liked to mock those who committed crimes against sound and fashion. Steve was glad to have met them, they were really nice, and he felt better about leaving her to use the bathroom or to fetch food, knowing Robin was in safe hands.

He also felt better about letting her wander off, not that it stopped him from stressing out when she and Kayla had been missing for over fifteen minutes. He spread himself out to keep their places against the railing with his back to the stage, watching the crowd intently. Jess wasn't quite as chatty once they were alone, but she seemed content enough, bobbing along to the band that'd appeared on the stage.

Steve didn't turn back around to face the stage until he spotted the girls heading back towards them, he gave them a wave and turned around to look at the guys who hadn't been attempting to destroy anyone's hearing and was met with the face of the most gorgeous man he'd ever seen. Pretty face, long curly hair tied up in a bun, muscle tee showing off his many tattoos, piercings and chains and glittery Docs; Steve felt himself owl blink and blush.

God's gift to mankind was kneeling centre stage, guitar in hand making the most beautiful sounds Steve had ever heard as his fingers flew over the strings, and it was only when the rest of the band kicked back in that the man looked up, winked directly at Steve, and then jumped back to his feet, spending the rest of the song bouncing around the stage.

Steve only realised his mouth was agape when Robin finally arrived next to him and elbowed him hard in the ribs, giving him the same look she did whenever he was embarrassing in the club. He watched the rest of the Corroded Coffin, according to the backdrop, set in awe. Screaming and clapping along when they wished everyone a great day, throwing picks and drumsticks into the crowd and taking a bow; patting each other on the back as they wandered offstage.

As soon as it was quiet again, Robin wanted to know what the hell was wrong with his face and honestly, he couldn't answer her. He didn't even believe in love, not for himself at least, and he certainly didn't believe in love at first sight. It didn't stop him from spending the next couple of hours watching the faces at the sides of the stage, hoping to catch a glimpse of his new favourite guitarist, though.

As soon as Chrissy hit the stage, Steve got lost, between filming the set and watching Robin trying not to hyperventilate when Chrissy spotted her t-shirt, pointed to her, and giving her a coy little wink, blew her a kiss.

"An old school friend is here with me tonight, and I'd like him to help me out with this next track. Especially for the beauty in the front row, this is Girlfriend!"

The crowd went wild as the beat kicked in, but Steve was still watching Robin because it looked like she'd stopped breathing altogether. That was until she gasped loudly and started smacking Steve in the way she always did whenever she got overly excited; pointing wildly at the stage, and it was only when he looked over he saw Corroded Coffins guitarist bouncing up and down next to Chrissy.

Instead of the black muscle vest and skinny jeans he'd been sporting earlier in the day, he had changed into pale blue board shorts and a baggy white t-shirt that read "Hey Steve!" written in black sharpie with a giant winking smiley face underneath that could only really be seen when he swung his guitar around his back to copy Chrissy's dance moves.

The song ended, and the friends hugged, Chrissy waving him off the stage and calling out, "Eddie Munson everybody!" letting the crowd go wild for her friend before launching into the rest of her set.

By the time Chrissy had actually left the stage, Robin looked exhausted, having screamed and sung and danced herself out. They hung around a bit, said goodbye to Kayla and Jess, wishing them a safe journey home, and they were just taking one last look at the now empty stage when he heard someone yell his name...

[schrijverr]

I Dig You 2

Chapter 2 out of 8

Robin is tentatively excited for her first internship: an archaeological dig in the Netherlands, where she has been studying. However, when she gets there, Steve is there too. The dick of their uni that she now has to work with. Great. But being stuck digging for six weeks makes people bond and maybe he isn’t too bad. Maybe he can be her friend.

AKA an archaeology interns, modern, enemies-to-friends stobin au

On AO3.

Ships: none

Warnings: none

~~~~

Chapter 2: Cohabitation

Oppositely to what Robin had feared, Steve isn’t a douche!

It’s nearing the end of week two of digging and Robin has to admit that Steve has become her friend and favorite colleague.

As the two on the bottom of the ladder, they stick together, arguing about who has to walk back to get the forgotten picture board or who should dig in the area with all the iron that is horrible for their shovel.

However, they also delight together in being on an actual dig. Put six has proven to be more fruitful than put five and they’re actually finding shit there. Honestly, it’s not until Robin frees a sherd from her spoor and excitedly turns to Steve to exclaim: “Look at this big guy,” that she realizes that they are friends.

Steve immediately looks over and his eyes grow wide: “Wow, that’s the biggest sherd we’ve gotten so far. I have the find bags and cards here.”

Robin rushes over to him, sherd still in hand. As she gets a ziplockbag, she hands Steve the sherd so he can look. Most of the others aren’t that excited about it anymore, but Steve is.

She rambles: “I’ve been working at that thing for forever now, honestly. I almost got scared it was so big that it would be stuck there, since it’s still the first part of the coup, you know, so then it would be very difficult to get the surface neat. And it would have to be stuck in there until we were finishing the coups. What if someone took it?”

“I mean, they probably would have covered it, right? Or drawn the coup immediately so we could finish it and remove it,” Steve says, though he doesn’t sound completely sure.

“It could have broken,” Robin moves on to another worry she had, her previous anxiety soothed.

“Don’t worry about that too much. If you break it, you just increase the amount of finds,” Bas interrupts, startling them both. “Do you know how to fill in the find card yet?”

“Uhm, spoornummer, putnummer and date right? I don’t think the coup has multiple sporen,” Robin replies.

Bas nods, but says: “Don’t forget to tick off during what stage you found it and fill in the level and material,” he smiles kindly. “I’m assuming you gathered it was ceramic?”

Robin smiles back, though she’s sure it’s more awkward than she’d like. “Yeah, I had. I’ll go fill that in now.”

The find cards or vondstkaartjes, though Robin has a hard time pronouncing that, are pre-printed with a find number, so there won’t be accidental doubles with so many people writing them and have the project number pre-printed too. The rest have a blank space to fill in.

Robin fills it all in with the waterproof fine liner, very aware of Bas, who is leaning over her shoulder as she does. On one hand she is grateful that he’s checking that she doesn’t mess up the administration of the dig that will be used to interpret the site, on the other hand it is very stressful to have him there.

Relief courses through her when she is done and Bas nods: “Well done.”

Once Bas is gone, Steve leans over her shoulder to look at the card. He comments: “Your handwriting is shit, Buckley.”

“Oi,” she exclaims, pushing him a bit, but being careful, since he’s near his coup and she doesn’t want it to crumble.

Steve doesn’t even move, just gives her a wide grin, before handing back the sherd so she can put both it and the card into the bag, before she returns to clean up her coup. He’s still an annoying twat, Robin thinks, but it’s fond now.

On Tuesday of the third week, Robin arrives late, apologetically telling Jeroen: “I am so sorry, my train was delayed.”

“Don’t worry about it, OV screws everybody over from time to time. Not like you could help it,” Jeroen replies casually, like it’s alright and Robin recognizes OV as the Dutch short way of saying public transport. Living here for two years has her under the impression that public transport is amazing, especially compared with the USA, but she has heard a lot of Dutch students complain about it.

“Still, I’m sorry,” she repeats, unsure if she’s alright to go to work now.

“It’s no big deal, it’s not like you did what Sjors did,” he says, then calls out to one of the workers: “Ey, Sjors, tell Robin about that time your bus didn’t come and you decided to walk instead of wait for the next one, because you didn’t want to be late.”

“Fuck you, Jeroen,” Sjors calls back, though it’s goodnatured. Everyone seems pretty relaxed with one another, Robin has found, the camaraderie is nice.

“He was two hours late. If he’d taken the next bus, he would’ve been half an hour late,” Jeroen tells her with a chuckle. “Now I’m sure you know what to do?”

Robin nods furiously and is grateful when she’s dismissed, hurrying to grab a shovel from the shipping container functioning as storage shed, before hurrying to where the others are digging.

When she gets there, Steve immediately asks: “Where the hell were you?”

“My train was delayed,” Robin answers, trying to find a spoor to coup.

“Your train?” Steve frowns, confused. “You’re getting here by train?”

“Yeah, of course, dingus, I have to come all the way from The Hague, that’s a bit far by bike,” Robin rolls her eyes. “Not all of us have money for a car.”

“I don’t have a car,” Steve says.

“You don’t?”

“Nah, it’s actually more inconvenient when trying to navigate through the city. I’m glad cities back home were built for cars, those Dutch streets are small,” he shudders.

“So how the fuck are you getting here?”

“I bike?”

“What? All the way from your house? That’s on the other side of the country,” Robin exclaims, he must be pulling her leg.

“Of course not,” Steve says in an ‘are you stupid’-tone. “I’m staying at the camping nearby in one of those vacation homes.”

“Isn’t that like massively expansive?” Robin asks, not able to fathom doing that, even though it sounds way more convenient than what she is doing.

“I mean, a little bit yeah. Out here it’s less expensive than by the coast though, that’s for sure and it would be cheaper to stay in a tent, but with all the digging it’s nice to have your own shower, you know,” Steve shrugs. Then asks: “Have you really been coming by train every day?”

“Yeah. What else would I do?” Robin shoots back.

“Don’t you have to get up like crazy early then?” Steve asks, sounding horrified.

Robin can’t believe this: “Yes!”

“No wonder you’re so grumpy in the mornings,” Steve mutters.

“I am not grumpy,” Robin exclaims.

“You’re a little grumpy,” Astrid interrupts them, mortifying Robin. “Now you can dig and talk at the same time. If we go on like this, we might clear out put six a little ahead of schedule.”

They both quickly apologize and get back to digging as Robin silently mourns how unfair it is that she has to travel so long every day.

Once the break rolls around, she has gotten over the injustice a little, though she is pretty sure she’s never going to get fully over it. Steve won’t be a jerk anymore in her eyes unless he does something big, but she is reminded of their different wealth status again, something that has annoyed her about him in the past.

Which naturally means that Steve is going to surprise her again, since he lives to thwart her expectations for some reason. Because when he sits down next to her to share her sunscreen, since he always forgets, he offers: “You can also stay at the vacation home if you want. It’s not like the height of luxury, but it’s like half an hour by bike from here.”

“What?” Robin asks, unable to have a different reaction from the shock.

Steve blushes a little: “It already has two bedrooms, one is just empty right now, so it’s not like I would have to switch or anything and it’s way more convenient. But you obviously don’t have to, I just thought I’d offer, since I have the space.”

“I- uhm, I appreciate it, Steve, but I- well, I can’t really afford to pay half,” Robin admits, hating that fact, because money and her lack of it has always made her uncomfortable.

“You- you wouldn’t have to,” Steve tells her. “Uhm, I have a trust fund, which is such a douchy rich person thing, I know, but I mean, I don’t care if you don’t pay. I’m paying the same amount anyway. If it bugs you that much, you can help pay for groceries and help clean up so I get my deposit back.”

Unsure why she’s arguing with a bad thing, she says: “You don’t hate having people in your space?”

Steve looks a little pained and Robin is convinced he’s about to take it back, but then he squares his shoulders and replies: “Nah, and it’s just for a few weeks. No biggie.”

Robin considers it for a moment. If you’d asked her if she’d ever consider that offer two weeks ago, she would have called you crazy, but digging in the sun together is a bonding experience, especially when you’re the only two there that don’t speak the language.

Getting to stay in the vacation home would be super convenient. She’d get to sleep in more and not have to deal with public transport at ass o’clock in the morning. On top of that, she’d be able to shower off all the dirt sooner and not have to do all the housework alone.

However, what if she read Steve wrong? What if this is a move he’s pulling on her? She hasn’t known him that long and she thought him a dick before this, is sharing a small vacation home and thus being stuck with him 24/7 a smart move?

But she knows that’s not Steve. She can admit that she was wrong about him. He’s been nothing but nice and he seems to be genuine. If it all sucks, she can always pack up and leave, it’s not like she’s signing a contract.

“If you truly don’t mind me not paying, then that would be really nice, Steve,” she says after a small silence.

A big smile breaks out on Steve’s face, like he’s actually excited about it, but not in a creepy way. It is a bit like a puppy honestly. He says: “Great. I think it would be smart if you brought your bike with you on the train tomorrow and a bag for at least this week, you can always pick something up in the weekend if you forgot.”

“I will, thanks again,” Robin smiles back. Maybe this will be good for her. You know, making a closer connection to someone than ‘I see them around at the faculty’.

“Course,” Steve says, before starting up an inane topic and leading the conversation in a different direction.

The next day, Robin is a little nervous as she goes to work with her bike and big backpack with all her stuff. It’s early enough that the trains aren’t filled to the brim, so people aren’t that annoyed with her taking over the designated biking area in the trains.

She had to go earlier, because she can’t take the bike with her in the bus, so she has to ride her bike from the station instead of being able to take the bus and walk the last part. However, she doesn’t mind that much, since this will be the last super early morning of the dig (she has decided to be optimistic about living with Steve instead of listening to her anxiety. It’s not fool proof, but she pretends it is).

Still, she is still a little nervous when she arrives, fearing that Steve changed his mind or thinks she’s weird for even taking him up on it.

But when she gets there, Steve is also just arriving, giving her a big grin as he calls out: “Like your bike, Buckley, hope you can keep up with me on the way back.”

“I can bike faster than you, Harrington,” Robin yells back, unable to stop her smile. Steve is good at making her not worry, she hasn’t met many people, who can make her stop worrying.

“We’ll see about that,” he says, locking his bike and accompanying her to the shack – or keet as the others keep calling it – so she can put her bag down and have it be safe and locked away for the day.

Despite the moment, Robin feels a little awkward all day, somehow expecting Steve to tell her that of course he doesn’t actually want her there and that she is really weird for accepting it and packing a bag and bringing her bike all the way here.

So, when they finish out the day, locking everything into the shipping container to prevent theft, she hangs back, grabbing her bag slowly, so she won’t have to wait for Steve and be marked as weird and just know she was tricked, because he has already left.

However, that doesn’t happen, he’s happily waiting for her by their bikes, grinning: “Hopefully you’re not such a slow poke on the bike, you still have to out-bike me.”

A weight is lifted off her shoulders at that and she replies: “Don’t get too cocky over there. I’ve been biking to school since I was eleven.” It is not that big a flex, since most of the Dutch students she has met have been biking to school since they were four or five, however Steve is also American, so it might be impressive.

“You might have me there,” Steve agrees, like he didn’t used to be a star player back in high school (Robin knows, she has heard the bragging, though most of that was Tommy, another American student that she has pleasantly avoided for the most part, since he is studying law instead of archaeology).

But she ignores that and gloats more as she gets on her bike, speeding away from the construction site as Steve yells that she’s not playing fair and that they have to go left at the end of the street there.

She’s completely out of breath and only half a meter a head of Steve when she pulls onto the camping.

“Okay, okay, I concede, you bike fast,” Steve says, panting a little, before locking up his bike and chaining it to a tree next to a very small vacation home with a small little terrace.

“I am the reigning bike champion,” Robin exclaims, pretending to receive cheers, before going to lock her bike and get her bag.

Steve has already made his way to the door and is unlocking it, saying: “I have kind of given up on leaving the sand outside, so don’t worry about that. I’m just going to give it a good clean before we leave.”

Robin does like that he said I instead of we, however, she is raised better than that, so she says: “We are going to give it a good clean. I’m tracking way more sand.”

And it’s true. Robin doesn’t know how all the others manage to have a bit of sand on their legs while hers are always covered from the top of her work shoes to the bottom of her cargo short. But they are and she can’t figure out why only hers are when they’re all sitting in sand the whole day.

“Oh, you don’t have to, but thanks,” Steve smiles, before holding the door open for her, a move she would protest, had she not a heavy bag with her.

Steve follows her in and points to the doors as he rattles off: “My bedroom is there, bathroom is here and your room is there. We have a small kitchenette in the living room over there, but it’s so cramped that I usually chill outside. If you dump your stuff, you can have first dibs on the shower.”

She just nods along and thanks him again, not protesting the offer of first dibs, because she always feels gross and sweaty.

What Steve goes and does in that time, she doesn’t know, but she quickly liberates a towel and her shampoo as well as her body wash and a clean set of clothes, before going into the bathroom, which is as tiny as the rest of the vacation home.

The toilet practically touches the shower stall and the sink takes over most of the space outside the shower, so it’s very cramped. However, the water pressure could be worse, so Robin doesn’t complain.

She leaves her shower products on the little shelve in the shower next to Steve’s, a little surprised and curious to see his shower regimen, which is more elaborate than she’d expected out of him. But then again, he’s been surprising her all summer.

Robin finds Steve outside at the table there sans shoes and socks, just soaking in the air it seems. “I am done, shower’s free,” she tells him.

He startles a bit, but plays it off well and disappears into the home to take his shower. While he does that, Robin explores a little more.

As Steve had said, the living room is cramped as fuck. There is a small couch that can’t really hold two people and one counter, sink, oven-microwave and a mini-fridge. Nothing great. But taking a look inside, it does seem that Steve has actual meal ingredients, not microwave ones, which is good, because Robin’s parents have always stressed the importance of eating as much unprocessed and homemade food.

With her exploration done, she makes her way outside after grabbing her laptop. Steve is right, it’s way too nice to try and sit in that living room there.

When Steve is finally done with his shower, Robin is halfway through her daily report. Steve wordlessly joins her outside and opens up his own laptop, starting on his own work and checking the pictures he took that day for reference. Robin has to admit she hadn’t expected Steve to take it this seriously and she feels a bit bad as she realizes how judgmental she had been towards Steve.

That night Steve makes dinner, asking if Robin likes pasta. Robin can be picky about food, but isn’t going to make a fuss, fortunately Steve dissuades her fears as he says: “I am a picky eater, so it’s not going to be a culinary masterpiece. Hope you don’t mind.”

“I’m a picky eater too,” Robin says, a bit softly, because she has been taught to be embarrassed about it, though she feels a bit better about it when Steve deflates in relief and smiles at the comment.

“Twins,” Steve jokes, holding up his hand for a high-five.

Robin has never been the kind of person people want to high-five and she feels like there is a wrong answer as she slaps his hand, mercifully not missing. It feels weird, but nice to be included. Robin is really starting to like Steve. She hopes this whole cohabitation thing works out.

~~

A/N:

It sucks when you don’t do a university internship and then you have to travel pretty far, I got lucky that I was able to borrow a car and I have family all over, but some people I know did camp, but in a tent, not fancy enough for a vacation home lol

[hellotoberlin]

Sketches of Stobin in their classic outfits

[sailing-through-hawkins]

✧ 1 ✧ 2 ✧

When Eddie sees her, sitting on the picnic table, her feet shuffling back and forth on the bench like that one dancing scene from The Breakfast Club (so what if he went to go see it? It's a good flick!), he almost runs back the way he came.

Because here's the thing about Robin Buckley.

While Eddie's status at the bottom of the social ladder is guaranteed, what with his hobbies and his music and his ability to irritate even the most patient of individuals (bar Uncle Wayne, blessed be the man), he doesn't fuck with Robin Buckley.

She was never anything to write home or gossip over coffee about, not when Eddie started his first senior year or even before that, when he was just starting up Hellfire and went to band to see if he could recruit any lonesome souls. Robin wasn't interested then, more keen to avoid his eye and fumble with her uniform, so he chalked her up as another lost to the masses.

Then all the shit with the Zombie Boy (a killer moniker, wouldn't that make for an awesome song title?! But he doesn't know if it'd be like, copyright infringement or whatever) went down and he got a little more protective of his circle, cloaking them from the unmerciful eyes of the Hawkins mob, pushing back when shit hit the fan and that mob tried impeding on his people.

And it worked! Nobody messed with him or his, not enough to be met with more than a snort - hell, even that asshole Hargrove stayed away after Eddie pulled a knife on him in the school parking lot. He wonders if all that wild anger the dick had to choke down went into the fight he had with -

Anyways.

Point is that Eddie knows his place, and thanks to a little intimidation and a lot of false-turned-true-confidence, nobody messes with him.

The thing is - he still doesn't mess with Robin Buckley.

Like he said, she was always another one of the masses to him, and he never expected any different.

But then something happened to her.

Some people say that she got trapped in the mall fire and it burned half her face off, she's just wearing enough makeup to cover it up, but it messed with her head.

Other people say she was always a little - uh, airheaded, he'll say, to be polite - and the Starcourt fire just made it more obvious, burned through the façade she'd wear in public.

One or two voices whisper that she's being haunted, that when she laughs to herself in the silence of the classroom, it's because of the spirits of Starcourt's casualties that lurk in her shadow.

(That last one was Jeff actually, and Eddie has to hand it to him for the poetic imagery.)

Any way he hears it, Eddie's instincts go red alert, telling him to give Robin a wide berth in the hallways, to avoid eye contact for longer than a single moment, to ignore her quiet snickers every time he ties his hair up.

So yeah, when he's about to head to his favourite picnic table and finds wacky Robin Buckley laughing to herself as the leaves around the table kick up without a hint of wind in the air, he almost turns around and shoves himself back into his van. Eddie Munson may be a freak but he's no -

"Oh, you're here."

He freezes in his steps, glancing back to see Robin smiling thinly at him, one legged crossed over the other as she leans back. Her eyes glaze over for a second before she barks out a laugh, making Eddie jump in place.

"Didn't expect you, to be honest." She tilts her head.

Eddie's throat is too dry. He starts a sentence, backtracking when the leaves stop kicking up and it's just his shaky voice in the silence between the trees. "Well, it is my spot, Buckley."

Her eyes glint and she uncrosses her legs just to spread them, leaning in and staring at Eddie with an untethered expression stretching across her face. "Is it?" Her raspy voice asks.

Blood roars in Eddie's ears. His fingers twitch, and he's ready to run.

"Don't." She orders and he freezes. "We need to talk."

He hates it when people say that. It's always, always bad news and it's just too cliché.

"And what, pray tell," he says, raising his arms out with a confidence he doesn't feel. "Is it that you could ask of me?"

The leaves kick up behind him. He resolutely ignores it.

Sighing, Robin crosses her legs, shuffling back on the table (and they call Eddie a heathen, jeez). She looks to the right, where the leaves are swirling in a mini tornado. Her smile is small, and a little sad.

"We need your help."

Eddie gasps as the leaves kick up ferociously, the wind bites at his fingertips and Robin glares at him, at the chaos around them with eyes like nothing he's ever seen.

"Stop it."

"Wh -"

"I said stop," She glares at him and his jaw clicks shut. "We agreed - yeah, yeah, we did! Stop it, you're scaring him!"

"I -"

"I'd say the grown-ups are talking," Robin cuts him off with an eye-roll. "But someone's being a big baby."

"Look, Buckley -"

"I swear to god," Robin waves a hand towards Eddie. "Either you play nice, or we're never figuring this out! Do you wanna be invisible to everyone forever?!"

There's a heavy silence at that.

No leaves rustling, no wind, no nothing.

It's like the entire forest just went...dead.

Then Eddie feels a brush of something down his hand and he screams.

"Awesome!" Eddie jumps when Robin grabs his arm (when did she leave the table?!), staring at her smile as foul terror quakes his bones. "Don't be afraid, Eddie. We won't hurt you."

A rustle of leaves smack his shin and he shrieks, unable to jump (or run) thanks to Robin's steel grip.

"Well, not physically."

"Buckley, I have never messed with you before," Eddie whispers as the something trails down his hand, shoulders and face. He's frozen in the wake of the touch. "Fellow freaks of Hawkins and all, but -"

Whatever it is, it grips Eddie by the shoulders and his jaw clicks shut. Robin's grasp on his arm tightens and she nods, staring into space.

"Okay, so could you do it?"

Silence. Eddie's heartbeat races.

"Like what?"

The something ghosts over his fingers and he almost whimpers.

"Oh, like this!"

With that, Robin grabs Eddie's hand and takes off one of his rings. Before he can sputter or shout or cry, she replaces it with one of her own.

And then, like he was always there, Steve Harrington appears before his eyes.

A bloodied, ghastly Steve Harrington who's staring right into him.

"Holy shit," Eddie whispers and the spectre grins a sharp, toothy grin.

"Hey Munson," Steve croons. "Miss me?"