Chapter Text
Sunday and Monday came and went. Tuesday morning, Steve woke up to the sun shining into his eyes, his body half under the covers. He rubbed his eyes as his senses flowed back to him, slowly. He lied there for a moment, tiredness slipping away. He sat up suddenly as a loud banging sounded through the house. He groaned as he pulled himself out of bed, stumbling his way down the stairs and to the door.
Robin stood outside the door, her arms full with boxes.
“Robs?” He slurred, blinking. She pushed past him with a rushed greeting, setting her boxes down in the living room.
“Hi, Steve! I have a few more of these!” She grinned, running out the door to, supposedly, grab more boxes. Steve stood there, dumbly, as she rushed back and forth until all six boxes were placed on his carpet. He shut the door as she collapsed on his couch.
“I’m sorry, what is all this?” Steve asked, glancing around. Robin blinked before jumping up and moving towards the closest box, prying it open and lifting some contraption out of it.
“Okay, I dug into my savings,” she said. She continued before Steve could protest. “And I know you said it was for college or whatever, but this is like investing! Anyways, this stuff is like old band equipment. Microphones, a few video tapes, some kind of sound system I think, I dunno.” She shrugged, plopping back down on the couch, the contraption (Microphone?) set on the table. Steve glanced around.
“And you… carried these in?” He asked.
“Well yeah, they’re not that heavy. Although help would’ve been appreciated.” She glared, although there was no real heat behind it. Even after knowing her for so long, Robin was still a mystery to Steve sometimes.
Steve sighed, dragging a hand down his face. He couldn’t believe he agreed to this. He couldn’t believe Eddie agreed to this. Vickie, he could understand. She was so obviously crushing on Robin, he didn’t understand how the girl couldn’t see it. It was going to be a nightmare working with those two. But Eddie? Sure, Eddie and Robin could get along, he could understand that, but they weren’t like, super best friends or anything. They barely ran in the same circles. Steve had just given up on trying to understand anything Eddie did anymore. It was easier that way. Less headaches.
“Okay, where did you even get all this?” He asks, gesturing around. It kind of looked like he was moving.
Robin just shrugged. “Around.” She grinned like the cryptic little asshole she was. Steve huffed and turned, heading into the kitchen for some coffee, tuning out Robin turning the TV on and flipping through the cartoons. This was going to be a long day.
_____
Eddie didn’t know why he agreed to this. He sighed, sticking his keys in the ignition of his beat up van. He knew this was a bad idea. He knew it from the second King Steve and Buckley walked into his new house.
He didn’t even really hate Harrington, it was more of a petty grudge for pushing a few of his friends around in highschool. It was also slightly entertaining to push the guys buttons, but so far, he had been pretty nice. It was a sour surprise when Eddie learned Steve-fucking-Harringon was involved in interdimensional monsters and girls with superpowers, but whatever, he could deal. What he couldn’t deal with was being in close contact with him for an extended period of time. He was still on the fence on joining whatever ‘band’ Buckley had set up, but he was bored and Harrington could suck it if he didn’t like Eddie.
Eddie huffed as he turned his keys, loud metal washing over him. He nodded his head as he drove, the sun just on the verge of hitting the quarter point in the sky. His arm draped out of the driver's side window, the cold wind hitting his fingers. This was a stupid idea. He could turn around if he wanted, just abandon it and never see Harrington ever again. It probably wouldn’t even be that hard, considering that Eddie was still in school, and Steve had no reason to be anywhere near his house at any given time. He groaned, slowing down slightly as he entered the Harrington neighborhood. He probably sounded obsessed with the guy, but he wasn’t. Steve Harrington just happened to be a guy that everyone knew. He was hard to avoid, and now he was about to willingly hangout with him for who knows how long.
He pulled into the driveway of the famous house, noting a small, light yellow car next to Steve’s car. Probably Buckley, if he had to guess. Eddie sat there for a moment, glaring into the still windows of the Harrington House™. He sighed, eventually pulling his keys and getting out. There was no point in delaying the inevitable. Before he could get any further, however, another Beemer pulled up. It parked on the street in front of the house. A girl got out of the driver's side and she ran a hand through her wild red curls. Eddie’s breath caught for a moment. Red hair reminded him of Max.
The girl made eye contact with him and froze. They stared at each other for a moment before Eddie coughed and waved. The girl blinked and waved back, walking up the driveway.
“Hi,” She said, sounding nervous. “You’re Eddie, right?” And oh, this must be the Vickie girl that Robin had talked about. Eddie didn’t really recognize her. He had almost feared Robin had been talking about Carmichael, but there was no way Miss ‘Steal Your Man’ was interacting with someone like Robin.
“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, that's me. You must be Vickie.” He stuck his hand out for her to shake, feeling awkward. He wasn’t exactly the best at meeting new people. Thankfully, Vickie shook his outstretched hand, smiling.
“I’m Vickie!” She grinned, her curls bouncing in the wind. They began walking up the driveway together.
“Did Buckley and Harrington drag you into this shit, too?” He joked. Vickie laughed, shaking her head slightly.
“Dragged is a little dramatic,” She snorted. “But yeah, basically.” Eddie nodded as he knocked on the front door. Okay, so this hadn’t gone south yet, but he had no doubt that it would at some point. A thump could be heard from behind the door before it swung open, revealing a very frazzled looking Robin Buckley, her arm above her head, leaning on the doorway, trying desperately to appear casual. She blew some hair out of her face and smiled at the two.
“Hey! You guys made it!” She said, out of breath. Vickie and Eddie glanced at each other. Mordor it is.
_____
Robin hadn’t meant to fall down the stairs, obviously. The knock on the door had startled Steve and Robin so much that the two froze, standing on opposite sides of Steve’s bed. It was silent for a moment before the two started scrambling, making a mad dash down the hall and trying to push each other back. Robin had tripped over her socks and tumbled down the stairs, Steve gaping at her from the top as she quickly righted herself and swung the door open, leaning on the doorframe to try and appear casual.
Based on the look on Vickie and Eddie’s faces, she was failing miserably.
Life 1, Robin 0
She blew a strand of hair from her eyes and smiled. “Hey!” She internally cringed at how winded she sounded. “You guys made it!”
Vickie and Eddie glanced at each other before looking back at her, nodding almost in sync.
“Hi, Robin.” Vickie smiled, waving slightly. Eddie pursed his lips and ducked his head in greeting, looking away. It was quiet for a moment, Steve walking down the stairs slowly. Robin blinked before realizing.
“Oh!” She blushed, stepping aside. “C’mon in!” The two entered, taking their shoes off at the entrance and glancing around as Steve led them to the overly-large kitchen. Steve said it was the perfect size, and Robin had to remind him that he was stupid rich and that everything that is the ‘perfect size’ is drastically overcompensated.
“Do you guys want anything? I have coffee, decaf too. I also have green tea, chamomile, and lemonade.” Steve said, rocking on his feet. If the other two noticed that he was nervous, they said nothing.
“Uh, I’m good.” Eddie muttered, still looking around. Vickie smiled. “Lemonade sounds nice, if that’s okay.” Steve nodded and grabbed the bottle from the fridge, quickly filling it up and handing it to her. She thanked him.
“So..” Steve leaned on the counter as Vickie and Eddie sat at the island, Robin still standing, awkwardly.
“Tell me about this band.”