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“I’m freaking out!” Robin whisper-yelled as she rounded the corner.
A familiar cluster of voices filtered in behind her as she dashed into the kitchen, hands buried in her hair as she started around the island as fast as her feet could carry her.
Everyone had gathered as usual at Steve’s for their annual movie night and both Steve and Robin had decided that it was finally the right time to tell the rest of their friends about the engagement before they heard about it off some nosy neighbours who apparently had eagle eyes for shiny things like rings on Robin’s finger- Nancy had already had to whisk away Mike and Will when her mom questioned her about the pair of them. “I’m. Freaking. Out.” Robin muttered to herself, tugging on the strands of hair that she had trapped in her fists while still threatening to wear down the tiles.
“Robin?” Steve called after her, sneaking into the kitchen too. The door closed softly after him.
“Steve.” Robin breathed in relief when she looked up at him. Her feet continued to move back and forth as she distractedly noticed that Steve did not share in her mounting panic.
“What if they don’t agree with it? Like, what if they suddenly all hate me or something-”
“What?”
Confusion crossed Steve’s face when he frowned at Robin, head tilted to the side as he tried to imagine any of the people in his living room hating Robin Buckley- no image came to him. Just static. Instead, he shook away the thought and easily stepped forward to cut off her frantic path. The movement forced Robin to stop almost an inch from his chest unless she wanted to bowl the both of them over and send them tumbling to the ground; she huffed out a breath at the interruption before wordlessly dropping her head to his chest. All she wanted to do was to crawl inside of Steve to get away from the world and the impending conversation that loomed over their heads. “Robin.” Steve murmured, voice soft and gentle as he carded some of her hair out of her face; she could feel the vibrations through his chest when he spoke.
“Why is everyone going to hate you?” Steve questioned, pulling back slightly so that he could catch her eyes when she blinked up at him and blew out a hard breath.
Their faces mirrored each other’s; foreheads furrowed with their eyebrows drawn together.
“Because.” She said before dropping roughly to the floor. Her hand gripped the front of Steve’s sweater so he was dragged down too until he landed beside her, knocking their shoulders and knees together when he narrowly avoided falling completely onto Robin’s lap.
“You’re literally the closest things they have to a stable parental figure-”
“- Robin if you’re implying that I’m their ‘mom’ again, I will call off this engagement-”
“Steve.” Robin hissed, shaking his arm even when Steve let it go boneless in retaliation. “You know what I mean.” She grumbled, burying her face into his shoulder, even when the pressure of it hurt her nose. “I seriously thought that Erica was going to murder a girl once because she looked at you for too long one time- and if you didn’t know Harrington, I’m actually quite fond of breathing.” Steve tried to cough to mask his laughter, but Robin could feel his shoulders shake with the force. The muffled sound helped came her down a little as she let it wash over her before pouting up at him because he seemed too calm about the entire situation for her liking.
“If anyone should be worried, it’s me.” He argued back, unphased by Robin’s downturned expression. “Erica will hurt me if she thinks I’m not treating you right. I should be the one freaking out.”
Robin shook her head resolutely, making her hair swish around her ears. “No. If you start freaking out, then I’m going to freak out even more and we’ll both end up crying.” Steve opened his mouth to argue but Robin ploughed on. “And you know how much I hate to cry when I’ve done my eyeliner.”
“I don’t know why.” Steve looked grinned. “I enjoy the rabid raccoon look it gives you.”
Even when Robin scowled and hit him square in the chest, Steve snickered to himself before Robin’s head dropped back onto his shoulder again. “Christ I’m already exhausted.” she complained, fingers playing with a loose strand of thread on her hoodie sleeve.
“Why can’t we just post like, a surprise post card or something from Vegas?”
“Because Buckley, you’re a mature adult.” Nancy said, poking her head into the room.
Her eyes cast over the pair of them, noting their position on the floor where their legs had tangled together, the only thing giving away which leg belonged to who was their shoes. “Seriously?” Nancy commented, pointedly ignoring the smile that tugged at her lips. A round of laughter suddenly filled the air behind her as she stepped into the room, letting the door close itself again and block out the noise. “This announcement will not announce itself.” Steve hummed half-heartedly at the warning note in her voice. He had always been brilliant at procrastination and resistant to her nagging but Nancy refused to let him spend the rest of the night sat on his cold kitchen floor.
“That’s why I suggested post cards.”
Robin groused, pulling herself and Steve to their feet before she plastered herself to Steve’s side and forced him to carry her body-weight. He groaned but didn’t outright shake her off or complain loudly about the additional weight or about the awkward position that he was now trapped in so Nancy merely snorted at their interaction and patted Robin’s head as she passed by to grab some extra glasses for the kids, “Look. They’re going to be fine with it. They might ask a few questions but you’ll answer them and then we’ll watch the movie. Just, rip it off like a band aid.” Robin rolled her head so that her face was still smushed into Steve’s shoulder but so that she could also see Nancy moving around the room, arms laden with glass.
Even wearing a pair of joggers and a bright red hoodie, Robin thought Nancy looked gorgeous. Her hair was tied out of her face so that Robin had a clear view of the way her cheeks dimpled-
Robin squeaked and bolted upright, almost hitting an unsuspecting Steve in the nose.
“What the hell-”
“Nance can you give us a minute?” Robin choked out, back now ramrod straight with her hands fiddling with her engagement ring, spinning it around and around her finger. It was a new tic that she’d developed the moment it was given to her and Nancy’s eyes snapped to the movement even as she slowly nodded, though her suspicion lingered on her face. “I swear we’ll be right there.”
Nancy nodded stiffly. Robin saluted her before she left the room.
“Robin one of these days you’re going to break my nose.” Steve grumbled, brushing back some of his hair with one hand while he moved to lounge back against the counter, his arms crossed themselves over his chest and he cocked his head a little. “What’s wrong now?”
“Nancy.” Robin supplied, breathless as she stared at the door.
“Oh.” Steve looked unsurprised. “You figured it out then? You’re crush on her.”
“Steve!” Robin shrieked, spinning on her heel so that she could beat the arm that he raised to protect his face while he laughed at her obliviousness over the past few weeks.
“You literally drooled over her in the Upside Down, Robs.” Steve defended himself, dodging her latest attack and running around the island to get away from her flailing limbs. Robin flopped face first onto the counter once he was out of her reach; she dropped her head into her hands as she grumbled to herself under her breath.
“Why do I keep falling for straight girls?”
Steve sighed and re-joined her side, knocking their arms together. He pretended to think until Robin elbowed him in his ribs. “Ow!” He scowled, jumping back with a scowl plastered across his face before he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her fully back into his side; Robin only struggled slightly for show before giving in and curling into him. “You’re always going to have me.”
“I should think so. We’re engaged.” Robin pinched his side and Steve hissed, pulling on her hair in retaliation before they both stopped and stood in silence for a minute.
“We have to go and tell everyone now, don’t we?”
“How bad can it be?”
“Dustin will be there.” Robin helpfully reminded him.
Steve’s expression fell and Robin watched him abort a flinch as he pictured Dustin’s reaction to the news. “He’s going to tear me a new one, isn’t he?” He shivered theatrically but Robin felt him tighten his grip on her shoulder out of nerves. Taking in a breath, Robin simply hooked their fingers together and held tight to him before she pulled him behind her like a mother dragging her petulant child- Robin knew she had to be the one to get them out of the kitchen because Steve would have happily avoided the coming confrontation till the actual wedding.
The living room felt like it was bustling with activity from the noise even though everyone was seated on the various pieces of furniture in the room. Max, Lucas and El had squished themselves onto one end of the couch until all of their limbs intersected with the other and were telling El about the movie that they were going to watch so she understood it better, both Will and Mike were sat on the floor on one side of the coffee table, their knees brushing as they sorted through the snacks laid out in front of them while Jonathon mocked Mike for no particular reason but to make Will laugh. Taking residency in one of the armchairs was Eddie who was throwing his opinion in about the snacks too, grinning all the while he watched Will with knowing eyes; Nancy breezed past and squeezed onto the end space of the couch next to Eleven with Erica and Dustin sitting by her feet, her fingers immediately wound themselves into Erica’s hair as she turned it into a simple braid for the night.
Everyone looked up when Steve and Robin entered, hands clasped tightly between them so they could draw strength from one another and also stop the other from bolting back out the door again.
“About time.” Mike commented, ignoring Nancy’s kick to his thigh.
“We have some news.” Robin blurted out, her free hand nervously bunching the sweater that she had stolen from Steve’s wardrobe about an hour ago. Steve still hadn’t spoken and he refused to meet Dustin’s eyes when he looked up at the pair of them like they were some kind of complex problem that he couldn’t figure out the solution to.
“Well?”
“Don’t keep us in suspense!”
Steve cleared his throat, surprising Robin and catching everyone’s attention again. He could feel his heart hammer away in his chest and the sweat that built in Robin’s palm where her fingers threatened to cut off the blood flow to his own. “Me and Robin are engaged.”
Silence fell in the room as everyone’s eyes rested on the both of them.
The kids were speechless, their eyes jumping back and forth between the two teens. Jonathon stared at them like he was thinking it through still while Nancy gave a subtle thumbs up; no one spoke. Eddie gaped for another moment, mind running a mile a minute ahead of everyone else before he seemingly blinked himself back to the present and coughed to break the quiet.
“Congratulations?” He sounded uncertain but genuine. His eyes darted to Robin curiously.
Steve looked relieved at the tense atmosphere being broken and he sent a grateful look at the metalhead as Robin pulled him towards the last remaining armchair. They squeezed in together like they were trying to absorb the other and then be absorbed by the cushions.
“Wait!” Dustin exclaimed, shifting onto his knees so he sat a head above everyone else to address Steve who gripped Robin’s arm. “I thought you guys were platonic, with a capital ‘P’?”
“We are, dingus.” Robin said, graciously accepting the question while she poked and wriggled until Steve moved his arm so that it rested on the back of the armchair so they had more room. “We’re doing it because it’s safer for me.” She shrugged, fingers searching and then twisting into Steve’s polo shirt, having deemed both their hoodie and sweater to be a lost cause with the way she was contorted into the seat. “Being gay isn’t something I can shout about or celebrate right now and Steve is doing something incredibly selfless. He loves me and I love him and we were already planning on growing old together, so it might as well be in the same house and in the same bed, you know?”
There was another beat of silence as everyone picked through Robin’s words.
Nobody looked like they were about to argue with them so Steve shot Robin a smile that she quickly returned, both of them finally losing the remaining tension that had clung to them. Then Eddie caught Robin’s eye as Steve looked out at the kids again; she beamed at him like she knew something that he didn’t. He frowned a little at her expression but didn’t comment.
Will looked at Jonathon who smiled at his little brother, nudging his foot under the coffee table discretely while Dustin nodded, having reach some kind of decision.
“You’re both happy, right?” He questioned, face serious as he eyed the pair.
“Yes.” They said in unison.
Max allowed herself a rare smile that she made sure Steve saw before huffing out a breath and nudging Dustin with her foot. “This is great and all, congratulations seriously, but I was promised movie and popcorn and so far, I have neither.” Lucas snorted as Mike grumbled and El dropped her head onto Lucas’ shoulder as he dragged a blanket over the three of them.
“Well, you heard Red, Henderson. Play the damn movie.” Eddie grinned, pleased when he noticed Steve let out a breath and relax fully back into Robin whose hand moved to card through his hair.