Chapter Text
Robin stood in the middle of her dimly lit kitchen, the only source of light being a broken bulb above the sink. It gave the room a nasty yellow hue. It was later in the evening, sometime past 9:00 pm, probably. Both of her parents were already fast asleep, leaving the house eerily quiet. The only sound that could be heard was the static of Steve Harrington talking to her over the phone.
“C’mon Robin, you have to come with me. Last week I got us those burgers and you still haven’t paid me back so consider us even if you come with me,” he rationalized.
He had spent the last ten minutes trying to convince Robin to come to a concert with him. While she enjoyed many different forms of music, an underground heavy metal concert was not exactly her vibe. When she thought about it more she realized Steve wasn’t exactly the type to do so either.
“Why do you even want to go so badly? Last time I checked you had like the worst music taste ever,” she whispered-yelled to him over the line.
She could hear him sigh and visualize him pinching the bridge of his nose as he replied, “Eddie invited me– well, us–”
“Ohh so that’s what this is about,” Robin smiled, twiddling with the cord connecting the phone to the wall. She had clocked his little crush on Eddie a couple of weeks ago and wouldn’t let him forget it, yet he consistently denied it.
“Shut up, my parents are home– so I’ll be there in like fifteen minutes ‘kay? You don’t have a choice now Buckley,” he forced her.
“Wait, Steve no– I can’t–” Robin attempted to reason before the connection was abruptly cut.
She groaned and shoved the blue phone back on the wall. Her hands angrily ran through her dirty blonde hair. That asshole. Sure, Robin was a freak but not in a cool punk freak kind of way. There were levels of coolness when it came to being weird, and she was painfully aware she was at the bottom.
But, it seemed she had no choice. She looked down at her outfit, thankful she hadn’t changed into her pajamas yet. She wore a black tank top due to the scorching summer heat. It was paired with a simple pair of thrifted blue jeans that was held up by a black belt. The composition was simple and she cared less about changing in that moment.
So, she grabbed her beat up pair of red converse and waited at the door for Steve to arrive. And to her surprise, he was actually on time. He frequently caused the two of them to be late for work. She looked at the clock, double checking she wasn’t in some alternate universe where he actually had time management skills. He honked his horn once, signaling for her to come out. Her eyes scanned the front room before walking out. The summer air was refreshing against her. It was one of those nights where it was actually a comfortable temperature compared to the scorching rays of the sun during the afternoon.
The headlights of Steve’s BMW shined in her face. She angrily covered her eyes and found her usual spot in the passenger seat.
“I was starting to wonder if you were gonna stand there all night,” was all Steve said when she sat down.
“Oh shut up dingus, you almost woke up my parents so you’re lucky I’m coming at all,” she teasingly snapped back, buckling herself up.
Steve laughed, “we’ve snuck out enough this summer to know that your parents don’t wake up to anything. Plus Rob you’re like– a legal adult now, you don’t gotta take any bullshit from them.”
“Yeah a legal adult who still lives with her parents and can’t drive,” she groaned.
“Legal adult is legal adult which means we can do whatever we want,” Steve grinned as he backed up out of the driveway and back onto the main road.
Robin suddenly remembered where she was being taken, “yeah so what is up with this whole concert thing? You notoriously don’t like Eddie and all of a sudden after all of this Vecna– slash Henry– slash One– shit you suddenly are spending all of this time with him!”
“Okay, I don’t like what you’re implying there Rob,” he made a turn directing them now through town, “he told us to come out tonight because they have a new bassist and apparently she is like really good–”
Robin perked up, “she?”
Steve laughed and shook his head, “I haven’t even said anything and you’re already over this girl–”
“It’s not like that–” she protested, “I’m just surprised there's a girl in the band. Wasn’t it only guys before?”
“Yeah there was Gareth on the drums and Jeff on the guitar. There was that other guy on the bass but he just quit because of this whole thing between him and–” Steve began to ramble and Robin quickly lost interest.
The blonde looked at the open road in front of them. It was dark, the only sources of light being the occasional business or a flickering streetlight. Steve continued to rant about some argument between the ex-bassist and Eddie, causing his abrupt removal from the band.
“Are you done?” She asked, tired.
“Why did I even invite you…” he groaned.
“I dunno,” Robin shrugged, “but tell me more about this new girl.”
Steve tapped his fingers against the wheel, thinking, “well uh– she plays bass.”
“No shit Sherlock,” she groaned.
“Oh and apparently she's like Dustin’s cousin? She just moved in with him like a couple of months ago because she had shitty parents– like so shitty not even Dustin likes them,” he explained.
Robin actually paid attention now. Her trained ears soaked up every word Steve spoke, attempting to analyze this girl she didn’t even know.
“Anyways, if you’re that into her you should just talk to her after the concert. Y’know, test some of those moves good ole Steve Harrington taught you,” he turned towards her for a moment, smirking.
She threw her head back, already growing tired of his antics.
“I’m not into her– I am just a naturally curious person, you should know this,” Robin defended herself.
“Yeah, yeah okay…” he dropped it.
There was a silence between them now. Not awkward, but normal for the two. The slight static of the radio could be heard. She noticed now that they were on the outskirts of Hawkins. Streetlights were now replaced with banks of forests. It was dark, except for the approaching abandoned building that had way too many cars parked for it to be considered empty.
Even inside of Steve’s now parked car she could hear the buzz of music. He turned the ignition, shutting the car off. Hastily he got out of the car, leaving a frazzled Robin trailing behind him.
“Holdup– Steve–” Robin cursed at him, still fumbling with her seatbelt.
Steve gave the rusty doorknob a good tug, revealing the inside. Robin almost tripped following him in. The area was crowded, like too crowded for comfort. All that could be smelt was alcohol and smoke. She noticed that a makeshift drink table sat tucked in the corner with an arrangement of different bottles. On the other side of the room was the makeshift stage. She tried to squint her eyes to get a look at this new bassist, but almost tripped when he pulled on her.
“Come on! Let's get closer!” Steve yelled over the sound of the music.
The blonde didn’t even have a second to protest because the next second she was being hastily weaved around people, the music becoming louder and louder as she got dragged closer. She thought she heard him yell something again, but it was impossible to hear at this point.
Her gaze shifted to the stage that was only a couple of feet away at this point. In the center stood Eddie, of course, playing a guitar while singing. She snuck a peek at Steve, who was very obviously gawking at him. She chuckled, looking down at her feet. She looked back up to see the other two boys Steve had mentioned before on the drums and guitar.
Robin noticed something out of the corner of her eye however. It was a girl. She stood out from the rest of the male-dominated group. Her slender fingers caressed the chords of the red bass.
It was her.
The blonde bit her lip, feeling a light shade of pink creep up to her face.
She noticed the way she lightly swayed to the music, feeling it. Her hair covered her eyes. She didn’t look like Dustin, like, at all. She was unbelievably hot. Robin would have never guessed in a million years the two were related. Her focus shifted towards her outfit. She wore a tiny black tank top, like, so tiny she could see her red bra peeking out. Oh my god. Robin anxiously bit her lip.
It took Steve a couple of harsh shoves to break her out of her trance.
“Rob! Hey– Robin–!” He yelled directly into her ear.
She jumped a little, now aware of the blaring music around her, “what?”
“Do you think she's hot?” Steve grinned.
“Shut up dingus–! Oh my god–!” Robin groaned, shoving him back.
“I can see you staring at her!” He teased.
“I’m just appreciating the music–! You know the bass is very underappreciated overall in terms of–” Robin began to ramble, but was washed out by a very loud drum solo.
“Can’t hear you, sorry!” He laughed.
Robin groaned, grateful Steve couldn’t hear her protest.
But for the rest of the song, she only paid attention to the bassist. The way she was so in the moment, truly feeling the music, like it was an extension of herself. It was the same way Robin felt about it too.
With one last crash of the drums the song came to an abrupt end. The crowd cheered, including the duo. Eddie gave a small speech, thanking everyone for coming out tonight and introducing the other band. She was pretty distracted, so she missed most of what he had said.
Steve led her to the side of the stage. As soon as she was about to slip away, Eddie and the rest of the band were suddenly there.
“Hey let’s get out of here–!” Eddie yelled, “I can barely fucking hear you!”
And yet again, despite her protests, the group made their way outside the abandoned building, leaving the blonde following like a lost puppy.
The air outside was still cool and refreshing. Not like the inside that was hot and stuffy. The bass of the speakers could still be felt, but it was far less suffocating.
“So, what’d you think Harrington?” Eddie playfully bumped his shoulder.
“Oh yeah, it was pretty good,” Steve shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
“Just pretty good? You’re an asshole, you know that?” he shoved him again, harder this time.
“Ow– that actually hurt” he winced, grabbing onto his shoulder.
Robin tuned out their banter. Behind the group, a smaller girl slowly lifted a lit cigarette to her mouth, inhaling it. Fuck. She wasn’t the type to find smoking attractive, but it made her stomach queasy at that moment.
“I forgot,” Eddie stopped mid punch, turning to Robin, “I haven’t introduced you to Y/n.”
She jumped unexpectedly when the girl creeped out from behind the band, planting herself right in front of Robin.
“Hi,” was all she was able to croak out.
The bassist looked her up and down, “hey.”
Robin gulped, mouth dry.
“All thanks to Henderson this gig was saved–” Eddie boasted, pulling the girl into a side hug, “right?”
She scoffed, pulling away from the embrace, “don’t give him too much credit.”
“He has his moments,” Steve chuckled.
“And not his moments…” Robin groaned, remembering that fateful summer.
Y/n perked up, “you know Dustin too?”
“Yeah we uh…” the blonde started, but found herself at a loss of words.
The three of them exchanged an awkward look, unsure of how to reply.
“Steve was his babysitter, right Steve?” Eddie teased.
“What’s your problem? you are being extra pissy tonight,” he groaned.
The guitarist laughed, “I think it’s ‘cause I haven’t had a drink tonight. Care to join me?”
Steve looked back at Robin, before appearing to come to an understanding. He was swept back inside to the chaos. At the same time, Gareth and Jeff made some lame excuse to go back inside as well; it was something about grabbing their instruments, Robin wasn’t exactly sure.
What she was sure of was how incredibly awkward she felt in the presence of this mysterious and undeniably attractive girl.
Y/n laughed looking down at her feet, taking a long draw of her cigarette. She looked into Robin’s eyes, smoke falling out of her mouth as she spoke, “wanna go on a walk?”
“M-me?” she stuttered.
She laughed, deep, “yeah you, come on.”
For what felt like the millionth time this night, Robin was trailing behind someone going somewhere she did not want to. The only thing different this time was that she was with a total stranger with no exact destination. Real safe.
It was quiet for a while. The sound of guitars and drums got quieter and quieter as the two got further away. Y/n took one last hit of her now small cigarette before stomping it out on the pavement.
“So Eddie told me a lot about you,” she broke the silence.
“Really?” Robin perked up.
What nice things would Eddie have to say about her? And why was she talking about her specifically to Y/n? She shook off the thought when she spoke again.
“Mhm,” she hummed, “he said you were in band. Which instrument do you play?”
“I play the french horn– well I did,” Robin began to ramble, “I’ve graduated since but I guess you could still say I play it even though I don’t necessarily do it in a typical high school standard y’know? I also know the trumpet– but they are quite similar so that isn’t as surprising.”
The blonde stopped, realizing she had been way too wordy in her response. She grimaced, her nose scrunching against her freckled face.
“You talk a lot. I like that,” Y/n smiled.
“Really?” she choked, “someone should tell my mother…”
“So, you like music?” she asked.
“Oh yeah– of course,” Robin beamed, “my ears are like little geniuses. That’s why I was so drawn to you tonight. The bass just really rounds out a performance– but most people miss it unfortunately, it's really underrated in my opinion.”
The blonde’s dorky grin dropped when reality smacked her in the face. Shit. She had just admitted watching this girl, who she didn’t even really know, that she had been watching her the entire performance. Way to go, Robin.
“Well I’m glad someone enjoyed it,” she smiled.
“Yeah…” Robin breathily replied, awkwardly twiddling with her thumbs.
It was silent now. She cursed herself.
“...have you ever wanted to learn?” Y/n suddenly asked.
“I mean… yeah,” Robin choked, “I’d love to know as many instruments as possible y’know? But that can get uh– pretty expensive.”
The bassist kept walking along with her, “I could teach you if you wanted? Free of charge of course– I have more than one bass, so.”
The blonde turned to face the other girl, who now made direct eye-contact with her.
“That would be nice– great– yeah!” Robin awkwardly replied.
“Next week, Friday then? I assume you know where Dustin lives,” she suggested.
“Sounds like a date!” She smiled.
Could you make it any worse Robin?