colemontgomeryx:
xx.
At Robin’s bidding, Cole sat next to her on her bed. It was comfy, he noted absentmindedly. Adjusting his position so he could face Robin, Cole tried (and failed) to read her expression. At her vague response, Cole’s face fell. Maybe he really had imagined what he’d seen– head trauma to blame, or something. Taking another sip of the soda, Cole weighed his options: tell her what he saw and risk being institutionalized, or not tell her and have to deal with it alone.
He chose the former. “Yeah… I did.” Cole tried to smile, though it probably looked more like a grimace. “My best friend died in the mall fire, and… I saw him, like, on fire.” Then, since he was already telling her the truth: “It felt really real. Like I was actually there.” He met her eyes again, visibly uncomfortable. “What did you see? If you don’t mind saying.”
⚢
the best friend… that had to be the jock she’d seen cole with once upon a time. robin was all too aware of the fact that the jock in question had been one of the flayed, it only made logical sense. which somehow made cole’s vision feel a lot worse than it already was. “holy shit, that sounds horrible. i’m really sorry.” in that moment, robin felt worse than ever considering what actually happened at the mall that night.
cole being honest only gave her the incentive to do the same in return. “do you um- remember barbara holland? it’s not an important detail but she was kind of my best friend in middle school.” a pause, willing herself to continue and explain what she saw. “i saw her, that night. i was standing by someone’s pool, and barb, she-“ voice breaking, robin stopped and took a deep breath. “she was in the water and she just… grabbed on to my leg and started begging for me to help her! like something was trying to pull her down and there was no escape.”
blue eyes met cole’s own, attempting to gauge his reaction and hoping that she hadn’t over shared. “then she was sucked back under and pulled me right in with her.” robin gave a shudder, all of the details still clear in her mind — it was just everything else that was foggy. “and like you said, it felt so real. i seriously haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”
zccming:
WHO: max mayfield && open.
WHERE: outside of melvald’s general store.
this wasn’t max’s most…well-thought-out plan, but she had ransacked the trailer for anything she could bring to the wheeler’s barbecue. and she was pretty sure cereal or swanson’s tv dinners wouldn’t cut it. as she skated her way downtown in hopes of a miracle, she brainstormed what she could bring that wouldn’t be too complicated. she came up with the likes of doritos or boxed pasta salad. of course, when max pulled up to melvald’s and tugged at the doors, they were locked. melvald’s, like the hawk, and every other godforsaken business in this town just had to be closed. “shit…” she breathed out, scanning her surroundings. not a car in sight…not a person … but there was a rock. maybe if she just…she could get away with it…
max scooped it up from the ground and raised her arm to chuck it through the window, but she felt these eyes on her. turning around, max initially jumped at the sight of another person. hadn’t she checked for people? in a swift recovery, max rolled her eyes and frowned, “asshole. you can’t just sneak up on people like that.” as if to explain herself, she stepped forward and gripped the handles once more, “it’s locked.” after chucking the rock out into the road, max placed her hands on her hips, then eyed the other, “i need in, like now.” then as a hint to help or get lost she asked, “got any better ideas?”
⚢
“hey! i wasn’t sneaking up on anyone! and besides, if anything you’re the one being sketchy and technically speaking, i could totally call the cops down here in like, two minutes tops.”
though she wouldn’t and they both knew it. in reality max was a good kid and robin liked that certain spark within her. the spontaneity reminded her a lot of her younger self back in high school. heck, hadn’t she literally clambered in the band room window when refused entry to prom? yeah, she really had done that. it seemed so long ago and so insignificant and yet at the time it had been the most important thing in the world.
robin remembered the days of endlessly longing to be seventeen so she could escape out into the world. she had wanted to travel to foreign countries and just exist. but now she was twenty-one and the furthest she’d ever travelled out of hawkins was to a top secret russian base underneath the mall. she hoped that for max and the rest of the younger crew that they’d get out. actually get out. escape from the monster that hawkins now truly had become. and this, max resorting to breaking and entering, was certainly not the way to do it. “what is it makes you want in so bad that you’d almost consider breaking a window for anyway? totally not worth it, by the way,” she paused eyes flickering up to the store’s sign then back to the younger woman. “look, i’ll try to get you what you want. but only on the condition that we do it in a somewhat semi-conventional way? please?”
loverboymontgomery:
xx.
“Thanks,” he said, weak smile not quite meeting his eyes. The worst part, he thought, was that it felt like a fantasy first; he and Adam laying in bed, talking about the future, and then out of nowhere… Adam’s eyes changing, his body ablaze. It wasn’t a memory, so what was it? “I don’t think I made it up? But I don’t know.”
Cole let a breath go, shaking his head and watching Robin’s eyes. When her voice cracked, he put a hand on her knee, trying to reassure her. “I’m sorry, too. That’s… fucked,” he shook his head.
He’d thought his ‘vision’ was bad enough, but he couldn’t imagine someone trying to pull him down– kill him, presumably. If Robin was anything like him, she was hearing Barb’s cry for help over and over again in her mind. “I don’t know what happened to Barb, but… I’m sure there was nothing you could do,” he said. Cole paused, searching his hands for something to say. “Why do you think… we saw that?”
⚢
“i don’t think we made it up either. when i usually make up or think out scenarios in my brain they’re always just a little bit fuzzy and out of reach. but this was totally different. because i was there, and i felt everything. did you- have that?” robin had considered that maybe she’d just been thrown back into a memory from long ago which went completely haywire.
but herself and barb had only gone swimming when they were kids, and in this ‘vision’, barb had looked older. as in, the same age as when she first went missing. and it had been night time. and then there was the pool… “i just wish we’d still been friends. i wish i could have helped her.” although robin logically knew that there wasn’t much that she could have done. the two of them had still been friendly, but they had drifted apart. it wasn’t anyone’s fault, sometimes that just happened, right?
“i don’t know.” the only real running theory was one that she didn’t believe cole could possibly know — that the upside down stuff was happening again. “i think — we might have disturbed barb’s grave.” it was what robin had initially believed too, before realising everything had been far too much of a coincidence.
stevehharringtcns:
after a few days in the hospital, while recovery was slow, steve could see some progress. he could actually sit up now without whining with pain and that was a victory for him. sure, he was a long way from actually make a full recovery, but he had to admit that it was getting better. it had to get better. plus, the company he had of his friends and eddie helped lift his spirits. the truth was that he wanted to get out of that hospital as soon as possible and go back to his normal life. the hospital life was way too slow for him.
for example, he was sitting up in his bed, looking up at the tv. he wasn’t necessarily paying attention to what he was watching, but it was a distraction. he had gotten another cup of jello from one of the nurses and was eating it, a bored look on his face until he heard robin walk in his room. now there was a better distraction than whatever was on tv. he smiled as he finished the cup of jello, placing it on the bedside table as robin placed the box of candy on his lap, letting out a laugh as she did so. “oh dude, i love reese’s pieces!” he said, his mouth still full of jello.
he didn’t waste any time as he grabbed a piece of candy, ripping the candy wrapper, steve smiled as he looked over at robin, shrugging his shoulders at the question. he was doing better. “i guess i’m good… you know, just bored out of my mind. i want to leave this hospital…” he said with a sigh as he took a bite out of the candy, nodding his head.
he looked over at his best friend, letting out a sigh. while steve and many others were in the hospital, he knew that things hadn’t been necessarily easy for anyone at the carnival. he reached for the remote to turn off the tv and looked over at robin, pursing his lips. “how are you? we haven’t really talked… about what happened. we don’t need to, but…” he said, shrugging his shoulders, showing himself available to talk about whatever had happened.
⚢
“ew steve gross. do you have to talk with your mouth full?” robin felt like they’d had this conversation at least a million times, and usually it was eye-roll inducing. but for whatever reason right now it felt nice… normal. because this was better than the other alternative, which she couldn’t bear to think about right now. steve was a pain in the ass and a total schmuck. but she didn’t know what she would do without him. robin didn’t want to admit it, but without steve around she most likely wouldn’t be able to function properly.
“you could always take up reading.” she shrugged her shoulders, flashing a small smile in his direction as she fell down into one of the chairs next to the bed. steve and books didn’t exactly go hand-in-hand. robin was pretty sure that he didn’t even read all that much when they were actually in high school and it was a basic requirement. then again, she had been much too busy staring between him, and gazing longingly at tammy.
“i’m just… trying to handle everything. it’s difficult.” a tentative answer, and she bit down on her lip to stop it from quivering. “this whole thing with you and the others just stuck in here, then vickie… and-“ did he have any idea? had max filled him in? if she hadn’t, robin guessed that it was a better time than any to drop the bombshell.
“steve i-“ where to even start? “max and i, we were taken the night of the carnival. right before we all boarded the boat in the tunnel of love. at least i think that’s where it happened.” a pause, her voice catching in her throat. “i saw some things. horrible and awful things that i just can’t forget, and i thought that i was going to die.” she probably wasn’t making much sense but robin couldn’t stop herself from the words just spilling out.
𝐖𝐇𝐎: robin buckley + @jackforeman ! 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: outside of the foreman residence
initially, robin had been a little hesitant about going to see jack. the only thing that kept repeating in her mind was dustin talking about how the people from the tree commune had just snapped back at the carnival which resulted in hawkins being sent into total chaos. and it was no secret that jack was involved — was one of them.
but jack was also steve’s neighbour and his friend. robin had known him back in high school, and he had been different from the rest of his teammates. most of them had been jerks, they showed off and we’re just dicks in general. but jack, he was nice and he definitely wouldn’t hurt a fly even then. so what had happened to flip that switch? nothing good, that was for sure. “steve- he’s uh. he’s okay.” she’d agreed to update him on their mutual friends condition. “a little wiped out but mostly okay.”
stevehharringtcns:
.
robin seemed mad, to say the least. and this time around, steve didn’t know why she was mad, but it seemed like he had done something. which was weird, because he hadn’t seen robin in a week now, so there wasn’t necessarily a reason for her to be angry at him. at least he thought so. “o…kay.” steve said slowly as he processed what robin said, staring at the outside for a few moments as she made her way inside of his house, before he finally shut the door and turned to look at robin. she also seemed nervous with what she was about to say. “what do you want to talk about?” he asked, as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked at his friend - he was a bit tired, but he figured out he could sleep once robin left.
and that’s when robin started talking and steve was sure that he had never been more confused in his life. what was she talking about? steve had just come back from being out with his parents and now he was being blamed for something he was sure he hadn’t done. shaking his head slowly, steve looked at robin with a confused look on his face, but he didn’t interrupt her until she was done. “robin, what the hell are you talking about? what do you mean last night? i’ve been gone for a week, i haven’t seen you all week.” he said, shaking his head in confusion. he had no idea what the other was talking about, he couldn’t even come up with a theory - it was too early. “how did i hurt your feelings?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.
steve couldn’t help to notice that robin really seemed nervous about this. he knew her, he knew when she was nervous about something, so it wasn’t hard to recognize it. “do you need to go outside? i’ll go with you.” he said, as he started moving towards the door that lead to his pool.
⚢
steve harrington. robin felt as if she knew him better than anyone. she knew his strengths and his weaknesses, what he liked and disliked and could almost predict how he would react to most things. though she did have a tendency to be incorrect, like right now for example. robin had assumed he’d just make excuses about last night. but instead steve appeared to be pretty clueless — with the key word being ‘appeared’ since she already knew that he was faking. but most importantly, they communicated stuff. like her telling him when she couldn’t handle things, or steve confiding in her about his sexuality. and robin knew that he was going to be out of town, she recalled steve mentioning it but he had also said it would just be for a couple of days.
so him claiming to have been gone for a whole week… yeah, right. this excuse made robin visibly roll her eyes, did he think that she was stupid? that he could just pull the wool over her eyes? well never mind that, there had been plenty of other people there who had also witnessed steve being at the cemetery last night.
so she concluded that steve was pulling her leg — didn’t want to confront his actions just yet so kept going along with the joke. this infuriated her even more. “what the hell are you talking about? seriously, this isn’t the time for goofing around. i saw you last night and so did everyone else!” if this was the hill that he was willing to die on, then it was a pretty silly one. the thought didn’t occur to robin that steve wasn’t exactly a great actor.
“hello, earth to steve? you implied that i drugged everyone, remember? total asshole move, by the way.” then she felt a little guilty for calling him that, so muttered a quick apology. at the suggestion, robin stood from the bottom of the steps and followed him to the door. “fine, let’s go outside.” some fresh air would probably do her some good.
❝ 𝗜 𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗠𝗬 𝗪𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘 𝗛𝗔𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗚 𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗥. ❞
𝗯𝗶𝗼 & 𝗺𝗶𝘅𝘁𝗮𝗽𝗲 & 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱
jackforeman:
Jack hadn’t really spoken to Robin Buckley much at all in his life before being at the Wheelers’ family barbecue. It was there that he learned she’d become friends with Steve, his coworker, even, and it was just another reminder of what he’d missed while he was now known to be dead, not just gone in a cult. He would have considered her presence on his front porch a threat, that she was here to chew him out about attacking their mutual friend at the carnival, even if it was something that Jack had no recollection of.
Instead, it seemed that she was here in peace. It was nice to know that Steve’s condition had remained stable since he’d gone to visit, when he’d gotten the strength to face his friend to apologize for what he’d done. “Oh, that’s … great, actually. That’s good. I went by yesterday, just to say hi, and, well, I figured I owed him an apology.” He shifted, uncomfortable and embarrassed by what he’d done that he couldn’t even remember. “Do you want to come in?”
⚢
“oh, i uh, didn’t know you’d been by.” she felt a little sheepish now. suppose she’d been too caught up in her own thoughts to pay any real attention to whether steve had told her about jack visiting or not. the previous evening she’d paid a visit to vickie’s mom, to pay her respects and to apologise. the apology held way more weight than it should have done, but it felt necessary under the circumstances.
“anyway, they think he might be able to go come home soon.” and honestly, thank fucking god for that. while steve was definitely doing a whole lot better, it was still painful to see him in that hospital room. jack asking whether she wanted to come in admittedly caught her a little off guard, but she nodded her head anyway and followed him inside. “actually, there was something else i wanted to ask you. i don’t know how well you know steve’s parents but… have you seen them much? recently, i mean.” steve had said they’d been by the hospital once, maybe twice. robin thought that was insane, but knowing the harringtons, she wasn’t really all too surprised.
sinclairss:
who: lucas & @rcbinbvckleys what: lucas sinclair invented uber in the 1980s where: lucas’ car
lucas had spent some time at the hospital since the shit show that had been the mayor’s 4th of july carnival, but he’d also been respectful that there were actual family members who needed to spend time with their loved ones…and people who were basically family. so, he’d spent a decent amount of time since then driving people to and from the hospital because…there was a real lack of working vehicles among their group. and if lucas’ shitty little honda could help make sure people got safely to and from the hospital? well, that was the least he could do.
on this evening, he was parked in the fire lane waiting for robin to emerge from the hospital, assuring the security guard for the fifth time that “i’m sure she’s on her way. oh! there she is.” with a winning smile and a cheery wave, lucas rolled up the driver’s side window and leaned across the center console to manually unlock the passenger door for robin so that she’d be able to climb in. “hey.” he turned down the radio as she climbed inside. “how’s steve?” a pause. “nancy? you?” there were a lot of people to keep track of.
⚢
lucas offering to drive her from the hospital was something that robin was extremely grateful for. she’d been home and back a few times in the last few days, opting to make the journey either on bike or on foot. to be honest it was beginning to get a little tiring, especially when somewhere deep down inside she just wanted to hide herself away. and yet, she still wanted to be there for steve. robin hadn’t even gone back to work yet, not just because she had her own shit going on but it wouldn’t be the same without him there. even if he was a dingus and annoyed her to no end sometimes.
calling a quick sorry to the security guard, robin clambered into the vehicle and pulled the door shut behind her. “thanks for doing this lucas, really.” she meant it, lucas really didn’t have to go out of his way like this but here he was. “steve and nancy are both okay, and i think the rest of them are too. but me? i’m absolutely awful.” a mirthless laugh, knowing that she was being unbelievably selfish about her feelings. how could she even feel this way when her own best friend had almost died? when vickie and scott clarke and other beloved townsfolk actually had?