Fic: Date Night (Stranger Things)
Title: Date Night
Fandom: Stranger Things
Characters: Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington, The Party
Length: 1,849 words
Summary: Everyone and her mother think they're dating and Robin's getting pretty sick of it.
I wrote this for the Netflix Original Exchange. Authors were revealed on Friday, but I forgot to post it. Whatever. Enjoy
On AO3 or
Working at the Family Video was a special hell of Keith and customer service, but Robin had had worse. At least she didn’t have to wear a stupid sailor suit or come home sticky every night. She was pretty sure the store wasn’t on top of a secret Russian base and it had been months since a giant monster had tried to eat her. As an added bonus, she got to work with her best friend and get one free movie rental a week. When she thought of it like that, it made working there almost bearable.
“So, what are we watching this week?” Steve asked as they punched out at the end of their shift.
“Le Cercle Rouge in the original French.” Robin said, pulling on her coat.
For the last couple of months, they’d been having one movie night a week in what was probably a vain attempt to improve Steve’s utter lack of taste. They’d started, of course, with Robin’s favorites, Hidden Fortress, The Apartment, Children of Paradise, and moved on from there. She’d had to special order this one from corporate headquarters, but it was worth it to experience true cinematic art. The thirty-minute dialogue-less heist scene was beyond classic.
Steve, the ungrateful, uncultured swine, groaned. “Subtitles? Again? You’re killing me.” He spun and grabbed Revenge of the Nerds off the comedy shelf, seemingly at random. “This is the kind of stuff we should be watching. Customers don’t care about fancy French stuff. They just want to know if Fast Times at Ridgemont High actually is funny or if Rainbow Bright is going to give their kid nightmares.”
Robin rolled her eyes. Who cared about that crap? “It’s not about customer service, dingus.” She snatched the video from his hand and threw it back on the shelf. “It’s about making you less embarrassing to be seen with.”
“Me?” Steve sputtered, outraged. “I’m not the one who-”
A thump from behind them derailed his train of thought as Keith banged his head against the counter. “Oh my god, get a room.” He glared at them. “Just stop pretending you’re not dating.”
Robin ground her teeth. Arguing like the leads in a 1930s screwball comedy did not make them a couple. She was getting real sick of having to explain that. “Seriously, Keith, guys and girls can just be friends, you know.”
He snorted. “Ah, now. They can’t. Whatever,” he waved them off. “Enjoy your date night.”
Steve dragged her out the door to his car before Robin could tell him off. As much as she wanted to, it was probably for the best if she wanted to keep this job.
*
Robin gathered up their empty cups after Steve had gone. As much as he’d bitched about the subtitled, he’d actually enjoyed the film and she’d enjoyed it with him. He had a real knack for stupid questions and confused observations that made every movie ten times funnier. Robin was still smiling over it as she brought the cups into the kitchen where her mom was washing dishes.
“I’m go glad you’re finally dating,” Mom said as she took the cups from Robin’s hand. “I’d been getting worried when you didn’t have a someone in high school, but Steve seems worth the wait.”
God damn it. She knew they should have gone to Steve’s. Not only was his TV way nicer, his parents were never there. It had been over a month since she’d brought Steve home for movie night and apparently she’d forgotten just how awkward the aftermath could be.
“Mom,” she groaned, “I told you-”
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, sweetie,” Mom said, pulling her into a slightly damp hug. “There’s no shame in being a late bloomer.”
No? And what about in being a lesbian? Or maybe that would be worrying. Her parents had gotten married, like, five minutes after graduating high school. There was no way her mom could even comprehend Robin not wanting the usual marriage with 2.5 kids, or at least not wanting it with a man.
The hug started to feel claustrophobic. “Mom,” Robin squirmed her way free, “I can’t-I can’t have this conversation right now.”
“Okay, okay,” Mom said with a little laugh. “I’m just happy for you, is all.”
Robin fled before she could say something she’d regret.
*
The next morning, Robin ranted about it as they emptied the returns bin. She piled complaints along with videos into Steve’s arms. It was all his fault, anyway. His fault everyone kept assuming they were together. His fault her mom had stopped being worried. What had she even been worried about? That Robin wouldn’t find a man? That there was something wrong with her?
“If it bothers you so much,” Steve said, struggling to balance his tower of videos as they made their way back to the counter, “why don’t you just tell her why we’re not dating?”
Robin rolled her eyes. “You can not be serious.” God, that was such a straight boy question. Why didn’t she tell her family? Maybe because she didn’t want to get disowned.
“Yeah, I’m serious.” He dumped the videos on the counter and started checking them back into the system. “You told me. How hard could it be?”
Like telling him had been easy. She shook her head and grabbed a video to check if it had been rewound. It hadn’t. Of course. God, people just sucked sometimes.
“I was high on Russian truth serum and I was still completely terrified,” she said, and put the tape in the rewinder. “I still don’t understand how you’re this cool with me being a lesbian.” He’d confessed his feelings and she’d shot him down. By all rights, he should hate her.
“Ah dah. Because I like you,” he said, looking at her like she was crazy. “You’re smart and cool and followed me into a pit of evil Russian spies. I’d be a pretty shitty friend if I stopped liking you just because you have terrible taste in girls.”
Robin swallowed a bitter laugh. “Well, then I guess I’ve had some pretty shitty friends.” When she’d told Heather Lynde back in their junior year, she’d called Robin a pervert, accused her of checking her out in the gym locker room, and then dropped her like a bad habit. At the time, Robin had been so pathetically grateful Heather hadn’t spread it around the school, but it turned out Steve the Hair Harrington was a way better friend than Heather had ever been.
“Man, that sucks,” said Steve sympathetically. “We have got to find you some better friends. On that note, what are you doing Sunday? I promised the kids I’d get them The Dark Crystal and I know how much you love muppets.”
“Okay, first off,” Robin said, taking the tape out of the rewinder, “they’re not muppets and secondly, Tammy Thompson does not sound like one.”
“Ah, I’m pretty sure they are muppets and, yeah, she does. Seriously, though, are you coming or what?”
“Okay, fine.” She genuinely couldn’t think of a better way to spend her Sunday than watching a puppet movie with Steve and a bunch of kids. Jury was out on whether that was pathetic or not.
*
“I’m really glad you and Steve are dating,” Dustin said as Robin pulled the popcorn out of the microwave. “You can be, like, our Team Mom.”
“We’re not dating and I’m not your mom.” She was Team Aunt at best, and even that was a stretch. Team First Cousin Once Removed.
“Sure you’re not,” Dustin said with what he probably thought was a knowing smirk, “then why are you here all the time?”
Robin closed her eyes and prayed for strength. Seriously, why did everyone in this town think they were together? Why was it so hard to believe that they were just friends? This was all Steve’s fault, it had to be. Well, he could deal with it then.
She stomped into the living room where everyone was waiting for the movie to start. Max and Lucas lounged together on pillows on the floor. Steve sat in the middle of the couch with Mike on one side and space for Dustin on the other.
Robin shoved the bowl of popcorn in Steve’s stomach. “Fix this.”
“The popcorn?” He frowned into the depths of the bowl.
“No, dingus. Dustin here,” Robin jerked her thumb over her shoulder, “thinks we’re dating.”
“Wait,” said Max, turning around to stare at her, “does that mean you’re not?”
“No, we aren’t.” And someone might finally believe her now.
“Why not?” Dustin demanded like it was a personal affront. He rounded on Steve. “I thought you liked her.”
“I do like her. I-”
“You’re not still hung up on my sister, are you?” Mike jumped in.
“What? No. Nancy-”
“Did you guys break up then?” Lucas asked. The kids were surrounding Steve now, bombarding him with questions, louder and louder, faster than he could answer them. He looked overwhelmed, like a man being pecked to death by ducks. Poor guy.
“We’re not dating. We were never dating.”
“What?!” Dustin yelled. “Why didn’t you ask her out? I told you to ask her out!”
“I did,” Steve all but whined. He looked at her with pleading eyes. “I just-”
“I don’t like boys,” Robin heard herself say. It was like some out of body experience and this time she didn’t have Russian drugs to justify her dangerously stupid honesty. The group fell deathly quiet. She probably could have heard a pin drop if it wasn’t for the blood pounding in her ears.
“You don’t like boys,” Mike said slowly like he was trying to puzzle it out. “Do-do you like girls?”
Robin tried to work some moisture into her suddenly dry mouth. As much as she didn’t want to be Team Mom, she didn’t want to be Team Crazy-Relative-Locked-In-The-Attic either. Oh, well, it was too late to back out now. “Yeah, I do.”
There was a moment of dead silence as the kids tried to figure out how to process that. Robin braced herself for the rejection she knew was coming.
“God damn it!” Dustin threw himself onto the couch. "How am I supposed to find girlfriends for both of you when the whole town already thinks you’re dating?”
“You know, I can find my own girlfriends,” Steve argued like Robin hadn’t collected literally months worth of evidence to the contrary before they’d erased it for code-breaking purposes.
“You keep telling yourself that,” Robin snarked on autopilot as she tried to wrap her mind around what had just happened.
She collapsed bonelessly into her chair. She’d just come out to Steve’s pack of feral thirteen-year-olds. She’d just came out and no one was yelling or calling her a pervert or anything. Something loosened in her chest. They’d just found out she was queer and now Dustin was trying to find her a girlfriend. Robin didn’t know how this had become her life, but for the first time in a long time, she was glad it was.
Fandom: Stranger Things
Characters: Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington, The Party
Length: 1,849 words
Summary: Everyone and her mother think they're dating and Robin's getting pretty sick of it.
I wrote this for the Netflix Original Exchange. Authors were revealed on Friday, but I forgot to post it. Whatever. Enjoy
On AO3 or
Working at the Family Video was a special hell of Keith and customer service, but Robin had had worse. At least she didn’t have to wear a stupid sailor suit or come home sticky every night. She was pretty sure the store wasn’t on top of a secret Russian base and it had been months since a giant monster had tried to eat her. As an added bonus, she got to work with her best friend and get one free movie rental a week. When she thought of it like that, it made working there almost bearable.
“So, what are we watching this week?” Steve asked as they punched out at the end of their shift.
“Le Cercle Rouge in the original French.” Robin said, pulling on her coat.
For the last couple of months, they’d been having one movie night a week in what was probably a vain attempt to improve Steve’s utter lack of taste. They’d started, of course, with Robin’s favorites, Hidden Fortress, The Apartment, Children of Paradise, and moved on from there. She’d had to special order this one from corporate headquarters, but it was worth it to experience true cinematic art. The thirty-minute dialogue-less heist scene was beyond classic.
Steve, the ungrateful, uncultured swine, groaned. “Subtitles? Again? You’re killing me.” He spun and grabbed Revenge of the Nerds off the comedy shelf, seemingly at random. “This is the kind of stuff we should be watching. Customers don’t care about fancy French stuff. They just want to know if Fast Times at Ridgemont High actually is funny or if Rainbow Bright is going to give their kid nightmares.”
Robin rolled her eyes. Who cared about that crap? “It’s not about customer service, dingus.” She snatched the video from his hand and threw it back on the shelf. “It’s about making you less embarrassing to be seen with.”
“Me?” Steve sputtered, outraged. “I’m not the one who-”
A thump from behind them derailed his train of thought as Keith banged his head against the counter. “Oh my god, get a room.” He glared at them. “Just stop pretending you’re not dating.”
Robin ground her teeth. Arguing like the leads in a 1930s screwball comedy did not make them a couple. She was getting real sick of having to explain that. “Seriously, Keith, guys and girls can just be friends, you know.”
He snorted. “Ah, now. They can’t. Whatever,” he waved them off. “Enjoy your date night.”
Steve dragged her out the door to his car before Robin could tell him off. As much as she wanted to, it was probably for the best if she wanted to keep this job.
*
Robin gathered up their empty cups after Steve had gone. As much as he’d bitched about the subtitled, he’d actually enjoyed the film and she’d enjoyed it with him. He had a real knack for stupid questions and confused observations that made every movie ten times funnier. Robin was still smiling over it as she brought the cups into the kitchen where her mom was washing dishes.
“I’m go glad you’re finally dating,” Mom said as she took the cups from Robin’s hand. “I’d been getting worried when you didn’t have a someone in high school, but Steve seems worth the wait.”
God damn it. She knew they should have gone to Steve’s. Not only was his TV way nicer, his parents were never there. It had been over a month since she’d brought Steve home for movie night and apparently she’d forgotten just how awkward the aftermath could be.
“Mom,” she groaned, “I told you-”
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, sweetie,” Mom said, pulling her into a slightly damp hug. “There’s no shame in being a late bloomer.”
No? And what about in being a lesbian? Or maybe that would be worrying. Her parents had gotten married, like, five minutes after graduating high school. There was no way her mom could even comprehend Robin not wanting the usual marriage with 2.5 kids, or at least not wanting it with a man.
The hug started to feel claustrophobic. “Mom,” Robin squirmed her way free, “I can’t-I can’t have this conversation right now.”
“Okay, okay,” Mom said with a little laugh. “I’m just happy for you, is all.”
Robin fled before she could say something she’d regret.
*
The next morning, Robin ranted about it as they emptied the returns bin. She piled complaints along with videos into Steve’s arms. It was all his fault, anyway. His fault everyone kept assuming they were together. His fault her mom had stopped being worried. What had she even been worried about? That Robin wouldn’t find a man? That there was something wrong with her?
“If it bothers you so much,” Steve said, struggling to balance his tower of videos as they made their way back to the counter, “why don’t you just tell her why we’re not dating?”
Robin rolled her eyes. “You can not be serious.” God, that was such a straight boy question. Why didn’t she tell her family? Maybe because she didn’t want to get disowned.
“Yeah, I’m serious.” He dumped the videos on the counter and started checking them back into the system. “You told me. How hard could it be?”
Like telling him had been easy. She shook her head and grabbed a video to check if it had been rewound. It hadn’t. Of course. God, people just sucked sometimes.
“I was high on Russian truth serum and I was still completely terrified,” she said, and put the tape in the rewinder. “I still don’t understand how you’re this cool with me being a lesbian.” He’d confessed his feelings and she’d shot him down. By all rights, he should hate her.
“Ah dah. Because I like you,” he said, looking at her like she was crazy. “You’re smart and cool and followed me into a pit of evil Russian spies. I’d be a pretty shitty friend if I stopped liking you just because you have terrible taste in girls.”
Robin swallowed a bitter laugh. “Well, then I guess I’ve had some pretty shitty friends.” When she’d told Heather Lynde back in their junior year, she’d called Robin a pervert, accused her of checking her out in the gym locker room, and then dropped her like a bad habit. At the time, Robin had been so pathetically grateful Heather hadn’t spread it around the school, but it turned out Steve the Hair Harrington was a way better friend than Heather had ever been.
“Man, that sucks,” said Steve sympathetically. “We have got to find you some better friends. On that note, what are you doing Sunday? I promised the kids I’d get them The Dark Crystal and I know how much you love muppets.”
“Okay, first off,” Robin said, taking the tape out of the rewinder, “they’re not muppets and secondly, Tammy Thompson does not sound like one.”
“Ah, I’m pretty sure they are muppets and, yeah, she does. Seriously, though, are you coming or what?”
“Okay, fine.” She genuinely couldn’t think of a better way to spend her Sunday than watching a puppet movie with Steve and a bunch of kids. Jury was out on whether that was pathetic or not.
*
“I’m really glad you and Steve are dating,” Dustin said as Robin pulled the popcorn out of the microwave. “You can be, like, our Team Mom.”
“We’re not dating and I’m not your mom.” She was Team Aunt at best, and even that was a stretch. Team First Cousin Once Removed.
“Sure you’re not,” Dustin said with what he probably thought was a knowing smirk, “then why are you here all the time?”
Robin closed her eyes and prayed for strength. Seriously, why did everyone in this town think they were together? Why was it so hard to believe that they were just friends? This was all Steve’s fault, it had to be. Well, he could deal with it then.
She stomped into the living room where everyone was waiting for the movie to start. Max and Lucas lounged together on pillows on the floor. Steve sat in the middle of the couch with Mike on one side and space for Dustin on the other.
Robin shoved the bowl of popcorn in Steve’s stomach. “Fix this.”
“The popcorn?” He frowned into the depths of the bowl.
“No, dingus. Dustin here,” Robin jerked her thumb over her shoulder, “thinks we’re dating.”
“Wait,” said Max, turning around to stare at her, “does that mean you’re not?”
“No, we aren’t.” And someone might finally believe her now.
“Why not?” Dustin demanded like it was a personal affront. He rounded on Steve. “I thought you liked her.”
“I do like her. I-”
“You’re not still hung up on my sister, are you?” Mike jumped in.
“What? No. Nancy-”
“Did you guys break up then?” Lucas asked. The kids were surrounding Steve now, bombarding him with questions, louder and louder, faster than he could answer them. He looked overwhelmed, like a man being pecked to death by ducks. Poor guy.
“We’re not dating. We were never dating.”
“What?!” Dustin yelled. “Why didn’t you ask her out? I told you to ask her out!”
“I did,” Steve all but whined. He looked at her with pleading eyes. “I just-”
“I don’t like boys,” Robin heard herself say. It was like some out of body experience and this time she didn’t have Russian drugs to justify her dangerously stupid honesty. The group fell deathly quiet. She probably could have heard a pin drop if it wasn’t for the blood pounding in her ears.
“You don’t like boys,” Mike said slowly like he was trying to puzzle it out. “Do-do you like girls?”
Robin tried to work some moisture into her suddenly dry mouth. As much as she didn’t want to be Team Mom, she didn’t want to be Team Crazy-Relative-Locked-In-The-Attic either. Oh, well, it was too late to back out now. “Yeah, I do.”
There was a moment of dead silence as the kids tried to figure out how to process that. Robin braced herself for the rejection she knew was coming.
“God damn it!” Dustin threw himself onto the couch. "How am I supposed to find girlfriends for both of you when the whole town already thinks you’re dating?”
“You know, I can find my own girlfriends,” Steve argued like Robin hadn’t collected literally months worth of evidence to the contrary before they’d erased it for code-breaking purposes.
“You keep telling yourself that,” Robin snarked on autopilot as she tried to wrap her mind around what had just happened.
She collapsed bonelessly into her chair. She’d just come out to Steve’s pack of feral thirteen-year-olds. She’d just came out and no one was yelling or calling her a pervert or anything. Something loosened in her chest. They’d just found out she was queer and now Dustin was trying to find her a girlfriend. Robin didn’t know how this had become her life, but for the first time in a long time, she was glad it was.