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The video store door chimed and Steve didn't even bother looking away from Lucy Thornton and her friends who were giggling in aisle three. Lucy used to be in his class, and he'd never really paid her much attention back then, what with the whole Nancy thing. Her braces hadn't helped either. Now though? Well,, she was all straight, toothy smiles and short skirts. This job sucked, and if Robin hadn't known the supervisor guy he still couldn't remember the name of, he would have been out on his ass with his folks, but it had some perks.
Still, it was one thing having a job—giving a rat's ass about the job was an entirely different thing. It was better than the ice cream parlor though. At least when girls flirted with him, it wasn't for more chocolate chip, and it had way fewer Russians and secret murder bases.
"Steve!"
"What?" Steve glared at Robin, who had made his heart skip several beats. "It's not cool to jump scare a guy who's had to fight literal monsters with a nailed baseball bat, Robin."
Robin snorted, "Please, I've been calling your name for like five minutes. Scared, my ass. You were daydreaming about Lucy juicy over there."
"No I was—Lucy juicy?"
Robin leaned closer. "When she kissed, her braces made her overly um," Robin made a face and gestured to her mouth.
"What?" Steve blinked.
"You know?" Robin rolled her eyes and whispered, "Drooly…"
Steve's upper lip curled. "Ugh…great, now I'll never not be able to think about that. Another chance ruined."
"Pah!" Robin scoffed. "You didn't have one anyway."
"Way to kick a guy when he's down, Robin," Steve retorted dryly. He turned and picked up a stack of videos he'd been neglecting to reshelve. "Who needs enemies with friends like you?"
"Believe me, I saved you from yourself."
"Right." Steve deadpanned. "Did you just come here to crush my self-esteem?"
“What crawled into your panties this morning?” Robin scoffed. “I was heading to the mall. You wanna come?”
“You mean ground zero for the literal giant spider monster of doom?”
Robin didn’t bat an eye. “Yeah.”
Steve rolled his eyes and continued to stack the shelves. “Why the hell would you want to go there? Don’t you remember all the nearly dying, secret bases, and the torture?”
“I remember less torture and more being high and then throwing up a lot.” Robin shuddered. “They should start a stay-off-drugs, controlled exposure program. That’ll scare kids straight.” She prodded Steve. “So, you wanna come?”
“Uh, no. I'd like to live, thank you very much.”
“Are you still sulking over whatsername?”
“I’m not sulking. It was nothing. I just don’t want to go to that hell hole. Don’t you think it’s suspicious they rebuilt it so fast?”
Robin barked out a laugh. “Steve, you’re getting paranoid.” She grabbed the stack of videos and marched away.
“Hey, Robin! Come on! I have to shelve those,” Steve protested, chasing after her.
“Keith, you got a bunch of videos to shelve, Steve and I are going to the mall!” Robin called out. She grabbed Steve’s jacket without even breaking her stride.
“What about the store?” Keith demanded. “It doesn’t just run itself, you know?”
Steve was still protesting, albeit quietly, as Robin shoved him out of the door. “Call us if it gets busy.” Robin grinned. “And you have a clean-up in aisle two,” she winked, “you can thank me later.”
Steve stood glaring at her when she bounded out of the store. “Are you seriously trying to get me fired from the job you helped me get?”
“Chill, Steve, Keith’s cool. Come on!” She tugged his sleeve and sprinted for the bus.
“What the hell is the rush!”
“Tell you when we get there!” Robin shouted back over her shoulder. “I promise you won’t regret it.”
Steve paused and groaned. “That’s never good,” he grumbled. “I always regret it.”
****
Steve licked his ice cream which Robin had bought him to stop him complaining for five minutes and watched the people milling about the mall. Most were shopping, surprise surprise, but some were absently wandering while kids hung around in groups being loud and annoying. Understandably, Steve didn't see Dustin and Co. His little buddy probably avoided the mall after last time, not that Steve could blame him.
"Feel better now?" Robin asked, nudging him with her shoulder.
"I'll feel better once you tell me why we're here. I mean, we could have gotten ice cream in town."
"There's a method to my madness, Steve," Robin replied cryptically.
"Doubtful," Steve muttered.
Robin jabbed him in the side. "Just watch."
Steve sighed and continued eating, watching the people come and go. He couldn't see anything unusual. School kids, high school kids, college kids, mums and dads, shop assistants on their break. No big scary muscle guys with sunglasses. "Robin, we've been sat here like an hour."
"You can't see it?"
"See what?"
"The pattern."
Blinking at her, Steve scowled. "There's no pattern, Robin. Just everyday folks doing everyday boring shit."
"Watch the cheerleaders, over there." She pointed discreetly. "I mean, I figured you'd be watching them anyway—"
"Hey!"
"Honestly, they're being weird."
"They're cheerleaders." Steve rubbed his face. "You of all people, Robin, know that cheerleaders are not of this world."
"Not preppie, stuck up, holier than thou, unnaturally bendy and hot weird, I mean weird like cultish eat-your-face-off zombie kind of weird."
"You're kidding."
"Would I kid about something like this?" Robin asked, wide-eyed. "After all we've been through?"
"Yes!"
Robin made a face. "Okay, yeah, I probably would, but I swear I'm not."
Shaking his head, Steve finished his cone wafer. "If this is a prank, I swear...what do you want to do about the weird zombie girls?"
"Recon." Robin grinned. "We find out what they're up to—"
"And if they're actually zombie girls."
"Sure, that. Then we stop them."
"We stop them," Steve stated blandly. "Robin, we're not capable of stopping them if they really are undead, face-eating zombies."
"Hey, we did okay with the Russians."
"Okay?" Steve spluttered. "We nearly died. Do you not remember the nearly dying underground in an evil lair part?"
Robin waved him off. "Believe me, if we can take on flesh monsters from…what was it? The Upside Down? Then we can handle a bunch of cheerleaders who've gotten possessed or turned into undead monsters—at least more than they usually are."
Steve sagged back on the bench. "You remember Dustin coming to save our asses? You remember the drugging and the torture, and you still want to go chasing after potential zombies?"
Robin looked at him in surprise. "Would you rather they walked freely about town, eating faces and making more zombies?"
"In this town, I'm not sure it'd make much of a difference."
Robin snorted a laugh and thwacked his arm. "You don't mean that. Besides, last time...it was fun, hanging out with you and your weird high school buddies...despite all the nearly dying and really bad guys."
Steve thought for a moment and then smiled. "Yeah, I guess it wasn't all bad."
****
"So, she thinks they're zombies?"
"That's what I said."
"Who are also cheerleaders?"
"Yep."
"Wow...uh..."
"I told you."
"What if she's right?"
Steve opened his eyes and glared at Dustin. "She's not right."
"Yeah, but what if she is?"
"This is ridiculous! This is some kind of cry for attention because she and that Becky broke up, who just so happened to be a cheerleader once."
"I mean, that's plausible," Dustin replied, rubbing his chin. "But also—"
"Also, nothing," Steve interrupted. "She's roped me into a stakeout by the school. I don't go to middle school anymore, Dustin. Do you realize how awkward it looks, me just sitting in my car near the football field, watching the cheerleaders rehearse?"
"It does suggest creepy."
Steve flopped back on Dustin's bed. "I am never getting a date ever again."
"But this is Hawkins," Dustin pointed out.
"So what?"
"Well, it is the center of creepy."
"You got a point. A very small point. But come on, zombies?"
"Maybe she watched Invaders from Mars and got spooked?" Dustin suggested.
"We did watch it in the theater when it came out," Steve remarked thoughtfully. "She was obsessed with it for like two weeks. I didn't like it. Not knowing whether your friends were under alien control?" Steve shivered.
"Too close to home?" Dustin pointed out with a smirk.
"So, you think we should help her?"
"Hell yeah!" Dustin exclaimed whole-heartedly. "What's summer break without a little monster hunting?"
Running both hands through his hair, Steve closed his eyes. Why hadn't he just left Hawkins like the Byers had?
****
The car door opened suddenly, and Steve nearly jumped out of his skin. "God! Robin!" he exclaimed when she grinned down at him.
It was all Dustin could do not to snort his soda through his nose as he snickered at Steve.
"Oh hi, Dustin. He pulled you in on this, huh?"
"Zombies and/or aliens brainwashing people?" Dustin grinned. "Wouldn't miss it."
Robin climbed into the backseat. "Well, I didn't know you'd be here, so Steve will have to share his fries."
Dustin opened up his backpack. "I always bring supplies."
"You brought me food?" Steve asked incredulously.
"Duh."
"That's, uh, nice of you."
"Don't get used to it. They had an offer," Robin answered, stuffing her mouth full of fries. "So, anything weird?"
"This is the third night of watching them rehearse and no, beyond how high they can kick their legs," Steve said.
"Or their inhuman strength," Dustin pointed out.
Both Robin and Steve looked at him.
"What? I couldn't lift and hold a fully grown person above my head, could you?" Dustin looked between them pointedly.
Robin conceded with a shrug while Steve looked deep in thought. "Don't even think about it, Steve," she warned.
"What I totally could if I had to," he protested.
"Nah, if you were Nancy Wheeler, maybe," Dustin said.
"Hey! I'm stronger than Nancy!"
"Yeah, but she is more badass than you," Dustin smirked. "Reckon she could lift Johnathan without even breaking a sweat through sheer stubborn determination."
"Got you there, Steve," Robin agreed.
"Oh, gee thanks. Just because you bat for the other team doesn't mean you have to completely write me off, okay?"
"I think you touched a nerve," she muttered with a smirk to Dustin.
"Are you kidding?" he laughed. "Mention Nancy, it touches all of his nerves."
"Ugh, really? I thought you were over her?”
"Dustin doesn't know what he's talking about. He thinks having a girl he calls long distance over radio is a relationship."
"Below the belt, dude." Dustin pouted and munched on some chips.
"We talked about this, Nancy and never-ending-story girl are off-limits. What happened to your bro code, huh?" Steve retorted.
"You remembered the bro code?" Dustin was quiet for a long moment. "I'm sorry, man. You know how I get carried away with all the pressure of fitting in. Besides, I really thought you were over her."
"I am!" Steve grunted and folded his arms. "Don't sweat it."
"Are we good?" Dustin asked tentatively.
"Sure, we’re good," Steve replied after a moment. They fist bumped and he offered Dustin some of his fries.
Robin looked between them in bemusement. "You boys are weird." She ate some more fries and focused on the cheerleaders practicing on the field.
“Says you,” Dustin snorted.
"You're the one who has us sitting in the dark in my car watching cheerleaders, Robin." Steve looked back at her with his eyebrows raised. "And you're calling us weird?"
"I don't know, man," Dustin spoke up. "There are definitely worse things I can think of than this." He grinned, his gaze fixed on the field as one of the cheerleaders did a backflip.
"Huh, I guess you do have a point there," he responded distractedly.
Robin smirked. "You're welcome."
****
Steve jerked awake when he felt a hard slap on his chest. “What? What is it?”
“Sshh!” Robin hissed and pointed out of the window. “They’re going somewhere.”
“Yeah, home, where we should be going,” Dustin grumbled, rubbing his eyes.
“They’re going home two by two down a dark road through the woods, leaving all their cars at 9:30 pm?” Robin asked skeptically.
“Okay, yeah, maybe not.”
“We should follow them,” Robin insisted.
“My car isn’t exactly subtle, Robin,” Steve pointed out tiredly.
“Then we walk.” She grinned at them and darted out of the car before either of them could stop her.
“That woman is crazy, you do realize this.” Dustin stared after Robin marching after the cheerleaders in the dark.
“No shit, Sherlock.” Steve grabbed a torch and a baseball bat from his trunk and paused when he saw Dustin staring at him with a sly grin. “What?”
“Nothing, man, just, you know you became one of us, right?”
“One of you?”
“Yeah. A nerd.”
Steve scoffed at Dustin’s wide grin and chased after Robin.
“You just got to accept it, man. It’ll be easier!” Dustin called out after him as he followed with his own torch. “Hey, maybe you should come to our D&D night. You can dress up.”
“Quit it. Being prepared for flesh-eating monsters is one thing, dressing up in your basement is another. You guys might not want to date real girls, but I do. That is if Robin doesn’t get us killed and eaten by the zombie cheerleaders.”
Dustin hummed his agreement. “Definitely worse ways to go though, I tell you.”
“Oh yeah? How many cheerleaders have eaten you recently, huh?” Steve stared at Dustin’s expanding smile and shook his head. “Never mind, don’t answer that. That’s not an image I ever want in my head.”
Dustin just snickered as they caught up with Robin crouching behind some bushes beside an abandoned house. His smile faded, and he looked fearfully at the dilapidated building. “Abandoned, creepy houses are never a good thing, guys.”
“Since when has that ever stopped you?” Robin looked at him expectantly. “Wasn’t it you who ran into a dangerous Russian base last year and insisted we translate your creepy messages? And this scares you?”
“Creepy, of-this-world Russian on a radio versus creepier, ominously dark, abandoned house in the woods a bunch of not-of-this-world alien-controlled cheerleaders just disappeared into, which do you think is scarier, Robin?"
Robin looked at Steve, who shrugged.
“He’s got a point. Aliens we’ve handled. Cheerleaders, not so much.”
“What’s this obsession you both have with aliens all of a sudden?”
Steve smirked. “You know from that new movie we watched a couple of weeks ago, Invaders from Mars or something.”
Blinking in incredulity, Robin grabbed Steve’s flashlight, switched it on and headed towards the house.
Steve met Dustin’s sceptical gaze as they followed her lead. “Well, she didn’t deny it.”
Suddenly, loud music blared out from somewhere inside the dark house, and both Steve and Dustin dropped to the floor as Dustin let out an ear-piercing scream.
Robin had dropped to the ground in front of them, her flashlight rolling away while she covered her ears.
Shadows appeared in the windows on the second floor, highlighted only by dim, flickering light.
“Hell, no!” Dustin exclaimed and bolted back the way they came, leaving Steve to grab Robin and race after him. Both of them glanced over their shoulders to see silhouettes in all of the windows unmoving, unseen eyes staring out at them, before the lights went out, plunging the forest into complete darkness.
****
“He didn’t want to join us, huh?”
Steve snorted a laugh. “Would you, after last night?”
“It wasn’t so bad,” Robin argued. “After everything he’s told me he’s seen, I would have thought he’d have a thicker skin.”
“Thicker skin?” Steve scoffed. “I’m surprised he hasn’t had some kind of mental break. Hawkins is crazy-making.”
“And yet you stayed,” Robin mused with a smirk.
“So?”
“One has to wonder about your reasons for staying, Steve.”
“There’s no reason. Can’t a guy just want to stay in his hometown, save some money before he decides what he wants to do with the rest of his life?”
“Sure, if this was any other town.”
“I’m not sure what you’re implying but—”
“Nancy,” Robin sing-songed.
Steve scowled. “My staying has nothing to do with Nancy Wheeler.”
“Sure, it doesn’t,” Robin chuckled. “You keep telling yourself that, Steve-o.”
“It doesn’t!” Steve protested hotly.
“And de-Nile is the longest river in—”
“GOTCHA!!”
“AAHHH!!!”
Both Steve and Robin nearly jumped out of their skin and grabbed onto each other.
Becky Cooke glared at them through the open passenger window. “You guys have some explaining to do.”
Looking around the car, Steve gulped, and Robin laughed nervously when they found the entire cheerleading squad surrounding them, their faces looking far from friendly.
Sheepishly, they stepped out of the car, and Steve held up his hands. “Look, we don’t want any trouble, or to be eaten.”
“Shut up, Steve Harrington,” Becky snapped. “I feel like just hearing your voice causes my brain cells to wither and die.”
“Hey!” Robin jumped in defensively.
“And you!” Becky turned on Robin. “You think getting your weird friends to stalk us is cool? What is your damage, Robin? You couldn’t handle being in a relationship, and now you can’t handle being out of one, is that it? You’re so needy you’ll just take attention from anybody?”
Robin snorted and folded her arms. “I don’t know, is that what you were doing when you were wrapping your legs around Josh?”
“Ugh, I knew you would do this. You’re so immature, Robin. How about you do us all a favor, grow up and leave Hawkins before the reputation of this damn town is irreversibly shifted to crazy bit—”
“Watch it!” Steve cut in angrily.
“You two honestly deserve each other. Never two more suited rejects.” Becky looked at him and Robin with utter contempt and gestured to the other girls. “Stop following us, or we’ll do more than scare you in the woods.”
One of the cheerleaders slammed a baseball bat into the hood of Steve’s car, smashing one of the headlights.
“Aw hell, my dad is going to kill me,” he grumbled.
“That’s kinder than what we’ll do to you,” Becky warned.
Steve and Robin watched the squad saunter away with an air of importance that neither felt they deserved.
“Steve—”
He held up his hand and pressed his lips together. “Don’t, Robin. Just…just get in the car.”
****
Steve drove Robin to her house in silence, and she watched him absently chewing on his lip.
“Don’t you think it’s strange that they had to threaten us and carry a bat? Like overkill much, right?” Robin declared out of the blue as they turned into her street.
“I had a bat at the house,” Steve replied tersely.
“Yeah, but they were threatening to kill us, Steve, like that’s not right, like that’s not the Becky I knew. Something is definitely going on and we have to—”
“No, no we don’t have to do anything!” Steve snapped, slamming his gear stick into neutral. “Maybe it is exactly what she said, Robin. I mean,” he barked out a bitter laugh, “you have a go at me for still having feelings for Nancy when the truth is you’re the one who can’t let go. You can’t let go of Becky, and you can’t let go of me.”
“Of you?”
“I was going to leave. I was going to go to college away from here, I had a plan, and then you insisted we get a summer job and work together, and I got stuck here.”
“That was your decision, Steve,” Robin argued.
“Becky was right. You are needy, and I thought you were better than that, Robin.”
Robin scoffed. “It’s not a crime to want people you like around you, and you don’t even know Becky. She’s changed, Steve, I’m telling you!”
“I don’t care. I don’t want to hear it. I’m done. I’m going to college and getting away from this hell hole of a town and the hell away from you.”
Robin nodded curtly and gathered her things. “This is always what it is with you, Steve. Things don’t go your way, it’s somebody else’s fault, all because you’re trying to impress your dad who couldn’t give two shits about you. Well, maybe you just didn’t measure up. You didn’t measure up for Nancy Wheeler, you don’t measure up with all those girls you try to date, you don't measure up for college, and I was a fool to think you were even close to measuring up as a friend.”
“Fine, sure.”
“Fine!” Robin got out of the car and slammed the door.
“FINE!” Steve yelled through the open window before jamming his foot hard on the accelerator, and his car screeched away from Robin.
She stood and watched him leave with tears brimming in her eyes that she was too stubborn to allow to fall.
****
Every time the video store door tinkled, Robin looked up and frowned. Steve had been late for work before, but he’d always shown up. This wasn’t like him. Even when he was mad, Steve could be surprisingly sensitive, especially when it came to dating and/or Nancy Wheeler. He would still show up and bitch at her, but then he would be fine.
She hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings. Steve Harrington, for all his bravado, had turned out to be a solid and cool friend Robin could be herself with. It was rare, and she didn’t want to lose that.
“Robin, is Steve ever going to bother showing up for work?” Keith asked haughtily.
“I’m not his babysitter, Keith.” Robin popped her bubble gum and leveled a glare at him. She was not in the mood. “Have you tried calling his house?”
“I’m not a moron, Robin.” Keith rolled his eyes. “I’ve called twice.”
“No answer?”
“Nope.”
That was worrying, and Robin couldn’t shake the knot in the pit of her stomach that something was wrong. “Keith, I’m going on break.”
But it’s only 11,” Keith spluttered.
“Dock my pay. I’ll work overtime on Saturday, whatever you want."
Keith sighed. “Fine. Tell Steve if he’s not at work tomorrow not to bother showing up.”
“This is why you have no friends, Keith,” Robin shouted back over her shoulder.
****
“Dustin!”
Dustin half turned and saw Robin, so quickly began ushering a confused Mike and Lucas through the mall.
"Dustin, come on!" Robin yelled, sprinting after them.
Stopping and looking around in surprise, Dustin immediately waved his hands and shook his head when he saw Robin approach. “No, no, no.”
“You don’t even know what I want.”
“Whatever it is, it’s crazy and I’m out.”
“Steve’s missing.”
“What?” All three boys exclaimed together.
“Steve’s missing,” Robin repeatedly.
“Since when?” Dustin demanded.
“Last night. We got caught by the cheerleaders, and they weren’t happy. They smashed the lights on his car and threatened us. We had a fight when I got home, and he drove off pissed at me.”
“How’d you know he’s not just still hiding because he's pissed off at you?” Lucas asked.
“He didn’t show up for work this morning, and he’s not answering his phone.”
“I don’t know, Robin. Maybe he had a late night with a lady?” He purred low in his throat and waggled his eyebrows at her.
Curling her upper lip in disgust, Robin lightly punched Dustin’s arm. “Gross, and no. He’s not seeing anyone right now, you know that. Come on, Dustin, this isn’t like him.”
Dustin hesitated and looked at Mike and Lucas, who shrugged unhelpfully.
Frustrated, Robin shook his arm. “He’d look for you and you know it.”
Dustin’s shoulders dropped, and he relented. “Alright. What do you want us to do?”
“Us?” Mike inserted snottily. “Since when were we involved in this?”
“Come on, man, Steve’s saved our asses more than once,” Lucas pointed out.
“Yeah, guys. Steve’s cool,” Dustin insisted. “What do you need?” he asked Robin again.
“Go to his house, see if he’s there.”
“And where are you going?”
“The creepy house in the woods.”
“Wait, what?” Mike spluttered.
Dustin dropped to the ground and opened his bag, pulling out two walkie-talkies.
“Nobody said anything about a creepy house,” Lucas added.
Dustin ignored them, checked the batteries on the walkie-talkies and gave one to Robin. “Call us if you find anything, or if anything finds you.”
Taking the walkie-talkie incredulously, Robin raised an eyebrow. “You just carry these around with you?”
“Hey, after the last two summers we’ve had, it’s better to be prepared for anything.”
Mike and Lucas murmured their agreement.
“Alright, if you don’t hear anything—”
“Call the cops—”
“No, come get me,” Robin corrected as she started to run off.
“Robin!” Dustin called out.
Robin turned around mid-stride.
“Be careful.”
“You know me, Dusty,” she winked and sprinted through the throngs of shoppers.
****
Robin marched purposefully along the quiet road through the woods. With the sunlight dappling through the leaves of the trees, nothing felt quite as eerie as it had the other night. Though, if Robin had learned anything about Hawkins, it was that appearances were nearly always deceiving. Despite being ready for any nasties to jump out at her, she still jumped when the walkie-talkie buzzed in her hand.
“Dustin to Robin, come in, Robin.”
“Yeah, I hear you."
“That’s a negatory on the house. We found his car though.”
“You did? At the house?”
“No, it was parked—abandoned—” Lucas jumped in. “Abandoned near the back road into the woods.”
“That’s bad; he never would have left his car like that. I’m on the other road,” Robin explained. “I’m nearly at the house.”
“We’re heading to the football field first, then to you, ETA fifteen.”
Robin slowed her approach as the run-down house came into view. It didn’t look quite as ominous during the daytime, but it still sent shivers rippling down her spine. “It looks quiet, I’m going in.”
“Robin, no, wait for us to get there!” Dustin urged. “Robin…Robin?”
“Wait!”
The walkie-talkie Robin had been holding clattered to the ground, bouncing a little on the hard stones, followed a few seconds later by Robin herself with a dull thud. She groaned as she was roughly lifted and dragged along the road. A car door slammed, and tires squealed as they sped away.
“Robin, are you there, over?”
The abandoned walkie-talkie in the middle of the road shouted out with nobody around to hear it.
“ROBIN!!”
****
“Robin?”
Robin groaned, her head pounding.
“Robin,” the voice hissed again.
“Go away,” she grumbled, mad at the voice but unable to remember why. “Not time to get up.”
“It is time. They’ll be back soon, and we have to figure a way out of here.”
“Out of where?” Robin blinked groggily and peered around the dark room. She tried to move only to find heavy ropes wrapped around her ankles, wrists and waist. “Steve?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Are we tied to a chair again?”
“Ding, ding, ding, she gets first prize.”
Robin grimaced and squirmed in her seat futilely. “Alright, no need to be an ass. What happened to you anyway?”
There was a soft sigh.
“Steve?”
“Cheerleaders.”
“What?”
“Cheerleaders happened, alright.”
Robin felt a wave of glee rush through her. “You mean I was right?”
“You don’t have to sound so pleased about it,” Steve muttered.
Robin chortled ungraciously, reveling in her moment. “So where are we?” Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the lack of light except for the thin slither beneath the door. “This doesn’t feel like an old house.”
“That’s because it’s not. I think they’ve brought us to the school.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“When you think about all the weird shit that went down here, it’s not that weird,” Steve said. “I heard one of them talk about the energy of the place or some shit.”
“Way to be a detective there, Steve,” Robin teased.
“Hey, I was tripping at the time. They gave me these weird mushrooms boiled into a tea.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. I’d rather take on the Russians if I’m completely honest,” he continued. “These chicks be crazy.”
“What do they want?”
At that point the door swung open, flooding the room with light. Robin winced, her eyes hurting
“We want to raise hell, and you two morons are the key to getting all the power we ever wanted. No more dancing for football teams or having male teachers telling us what we can and can’t do while staring at our legs—”
“A cause I can get behind,” Robin interjected.
“We’ll have real power. He’s coming and he needs your blood,” Becky declared smugly. “Bring them.”
They were dragged out of their seats by the vice-like grip of the other cheerleaders.
“They’re weirdly strong,” Robin whispered. “That’s kinda hot.”
“Are you serious right now?” Steve hissed.
Robin shrugged and came to a stop in front of a large, pulsing, glowing mass on the wall of what had once been the cheerleaders changing room. “What the fu—”
“I’ve seen this before,” Steve stated. “What the hell do you think you’re raising?” Steve protested. “That’s not a portal to hel,l you dipshits, it’s a hole to the Upside Down. All you’re going to get is very dead.”
Becky and the other cheerleaders looked at each other and chuckled. “I think we believe our master’s voice over your lies, Steve Harrington.”
“Brainwashed,” Robin murmured. “It’s controlling them,” she said to Steve. “Like it did with Billy last year.”
Steve groaned. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”
“Put them in the circle of flesh,” Becky commanded. “Our master, we’ll feed on their blood and be made strong once more.”
“Stop!” Steve struggled. “He’s not going to give you anything. We are all going to die if you do this!”
“He’s right!” Robin added. “Come on, Becky, you’re smarter than to let some man in your head tell you what’s best for you, please!”
Becky paused, her smirk fading. “I’m accepted, Robin, I belong.”
“I accepted you,” Robin admitted gently. “I wanted you, us… Beck, it doesn’t matter what your dad thinks…”
Becky scoffed. “I can’t expect you to understand. You never knew what it was like. unable to show who you were, being scared of losing their love.”
“Becky…”
“I’m done listening to you. Knife!”
Another cheerleader stepped forward and handed Becky a knife. “Your sacrifice will not go unremembered.”
“NO!” Both Steve and Robin tried to fight and free themselves, yelling as loudly as they could.
Steve swore as the knife ran along his arm, leaving a thin trail of blood that began to drip down his fingers.
Robin hissed and cried out angrily as her arm was also cut.
The fleshy thing they were standing on rippled and glowed brighter as the first drops of blood landed.
“MORE!” Becky hollered. Before she could plunge the knife into Robin’s chest, the door burst open, and in ran Dustin, Mike and Lucas.
“Light it up, boys!” Dustin yelled.
Mike and Lucas hurled two lit bottles that exploded into flames as they smashed against the wall.
Robin gasped as Steve threw her to the floor, and they awkwardly shimmied out of the way, with Dustin grabbing them and cutting their ropes as the cheerleaders screamed hysterically around them.
“You guys cut that close,” Steve complained, rubbing his sore wrists.
“You’re welcome,” Dustin retorted haughtily. “Do you know how hard it is to find people who don’t want to be found in this town?”
“Yeah,” Lucas yelled over the sound of weird Upside Down flesh squealing. “You could show a little gratitude.”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t get all sensitive. What do you want, a medal?”
Dustin nodded. “A medal would be nice.”
“Save it,” Steve grumbled.
“What about them?” Robin interrupted before Dustin and Steve could argue some more, gesturing towards the dazed and confused cheerleaders.
Becky's eyes lit up. “Robin?” she asked. “What’s going on? Why am I here? Last thing I remember, we were going to the movies.”
Robin snorted. “That’s when you broke up with me.”
“What?” Becky exclaimed and rushed over to tug Robin into a tight embrace. “I would never.”
The boys looked on as Becky unashamedly planted a tender kiss onto Robin’s lips, leaving her standing there gobsmacked.
“You, uh…you don’t remember anything?”
“Is there something I should remember?”
Quickly shaking her head, Robin let out a nervous laugh. “Nothing super important. We can talk about it later. Let me walk you home?”
Becky smiled at her and took hold of Robin’s hand. “Okay, and you can meet my dad, I’ve told him all about you.”
Robin felt like she was about to cry and smiled weakly at Steve and Dustin. “Uh, I’ll catch you later?”
Dustin just grinned at her.
Steve straightened his hair and smiled. “Definitely. Go on. We’ll clean up.”
Once Robin had left, Dustin’s grin fell, and he turned to Steve with a glare. “We’ll clean up?”
“Hey um,” one of the cheerleaders touched Steve’s arm as she interrupted. “Steve, could you tell us what happened and why these nerds threw fire at us?”
“Hey!”
Steve put on his most charming smile, “Why yes, yes, I can. How about I walk you girls home, yeah?”
“Thanks a bunch, Steve,” Mike added.
Steve held out his arms in a wide shrug. “Somebody has to make sure the cheerleaders get home safely.” He threw them a wide smile when they all just stared at him in disbelief. “Thanks, guys, I owe you one.”
Lucas tutted. “Same old Steve.”
Dusting just nodded with a wistful grin. “You gotta admire his style though.”
****
“So, it’s all gone?” Robin asked around a mouthful of strawberry ice cream.
“Yep, like it was never there,” Steve explained. He licked his chocolate surprise with a satisfied hum. The flavors were definitely improving. “How are you and Becky?”
Robin blushed and ducked her head. “You know, we’re okay. Apparently, after the movies, before she was brainwashed, she came out to her folks and they were confused but okay, so it’s nice right now.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah,” Robin agreed. “How about you? Keith said you quit the store.”
Steve nodded and took a bite out of his ice cream, regretting it immediately when his brain froze. “Mmhm, just not for me you know? It’s time to spread my wings.”
“What are you going to do?”
“College, travel maybe? Get out of Hawkins definitely.”
“Soon?”
“Nah, after the summer. I’m looking at some colleges along the East coast.”
“Cool…” Robin said hesitantly. “Can I visit?”
“Sure, if you can deal with college guys,” Steve laughed.
“You think we can do normal people stuff like hang out and watch movies?” Robin asked with a grin.
“What, no monster hunting?”
“Never again,” Robin emphasized. She nudged him playfully. “I could help you pick up girls.”
Huffing a laugh, Steve smirked. “You know what, if I’m ever having a dry spell, you’re the first person I’ll call, deal?”
Robin matched his grin. “Deal.”
They sat together on the bench in comfortable silence, watching the shoppers come and go as they ate their ice cream.
“Steve?”
“Hm?”
“Who do you think is coming, you know, from…” Robin lowered her voice to an eerie whisper, “the Upside Down?”
Steve had no answer to that, and Robin took his heavy silence as it was meant. Whatever it was, it was not going to be anything good.