WHO Robin & Steve WHERE Vallo City / Family Video WHEN Aug 20, before the network fails WHAT A place is found! A discussion is had! STATUS Complete! WARNINGS It might be funny?
“I haven’t had an edible in like two days,” Steve deadpanned, staring across the street at the Family Video that was there, nestled between two buildings on a busy street. He walked down this way at least three times a week and was certain it hadn’t been there the day before. But here it was, now, looking identical to the one him and Robin had left behind in Hawkins. “Is this a contact high from Munson? I gotta tell him to cool it in the house.”
Or, more realistically, they were actually seeing the Family Video from home and he wasn’t high at all. Steve looked over at Robin. “So uh, should we check it out? If Keith is working, I’m peacing out, I’m warning you now. I put up with that guy when I was getting paid to but now? No way.”
Robin was still just staring at the storefront. She ended up just nodding a little to Steve's complaining, dismissed it all entirely, and turned to face him with a grin. "You're turning into a terrible stoner. Let's check it out because I could use a little normal." Giving him two quick little knuckle-raps on the shoulder, she hopped to her feet and charged across the street, accidentally cutting off some large elephant-person and putting her hands up in a mock surrender by way of apology before turning back to continue jogging up to the store.
"Come on, dingus!" she shouted, moving to peer into the windows.
“She means me, not you, sorry.” Steve offered the apology to the elephant person before jogging after Robin in a vain attempt to keep up. It was pretty standard fare to end up lagging behind Robin, especially when she ramped up from excitement. “The fact that you think it’s normal that our old place of employment is standing here in an alternate world is the opposite of normal, Buckley.”
But, he supposed it was at least a little normal to have this. As long as it wasn’t pulling anything else from their world, Steve was still getting the occasional nightmare from the Vecna shit that had gone down recently. He peeked in through one of the front windows before pulling on the door. “It’s dark and locked, you want some light breaking and entering?”
Eyebrows a little furrowed, Robin turned to face her best friend and stared at him for a quick moment. "Okay. A couple of things to address here. One, it's just as normal as us standing here in an alternate world and honestly, the fact that we're still sane is a good sign, all things considered. Two, you've been hanging out with Eddie too much if you're going to start calling me by my last name. And three, I am always down for some light B&E, but…"
She paused and fished around in her pockets for a second before pulling out a small set of keys triumphantly. "I knew I should hold onto these. Let's see if they work, because then we'll know it's ours?" Without even waiting for him to accept or reject her idea, she moved to unlock the door and was both elated and yet not surprised when it worked just fine, giving them full access to the family video. In all its glory.
At “still sane”, Steve snorted in disbelief. That was debatable and always would be, just how sane they were after a lifetime in Hawkins. He was rolling his eyes by the time she mentioned Eddie, and then sighing when she brought out her keys. It would figure that she’d actually still have hers, when Steve had chucked his into a drawer that he was pretty sure was secretly a black hole back at the house. Never to be found again.
“Okay so-” Steve followed behind her without much more protest, mouth hanging open just a little as he still wasn’t quite sure he believed all of this shit. “Guess you own a Family Video now. Congrats.” He sounded maybe just a smidge sarcastic, given the display of VHS in front of him was seemingly outdated in a world like this one, advanced as it was. He pointed ahead at a cardboard cutout of a girl climbing out of a TV, “Though I don’t remember that one. Was that a new release?”
"I don't remember that one either, but we should burn it," responded Robin, thinking it was creepy on a Hawkins level. She glanced around as she said it, though, and while she recognized some of the titles, there was a lot she wasn't familiar with, either. Maybe Vallo was distorting them somehow? Or the stock was updated to something more current? … Both? She was definitely going to need another employee to help do inventory. You know, assuming they wanted to actually do something with this place.
"But uh, no way. WE own a Family Video now. I'm not doing this alone." She walked deeper into the store and turned, walking backward for a moment, before continuing. "Steve Harrington, Co-Owner, might give you a better chance with the girls than as a Scoop-Boy."
Steve walked closer to the creepy cutout and then behind it, looking it up and down like he was searching. “What if it’s haunted? Or cursed? What if we get cursed for getting rid of it?” They were all dumb questions but probably necessary, given what kind of world they came from and all the fuckery of this place so far, so he wasn’t ashamed of asking.
He peeked out from behind the cutout. “Did you just admit you need me, Robin? There’s no shame in that.” His grin turned a little sheepish as his cheeks flushed. “Hey speaking of girls, how uh- did you know you liked them?”
Scoffing, Robin turned and hopped up on the counter (if this place was hers now, she could do that). "Okay Steve, you need to try and focus. Do you want me to answer those in order? If it's haunted or cursed, cool, that'll draw in customers like nothing else. And we like money, don't we? Yes, we do, my hairy friend. And that's why I need you because you're for some reason the only person I know that can actually do this job. For the last question, uh, that's- why are you asking that?"
She tilted her head for a second and tapped a finger on the countertop. "I guess the same way you did? See a pretty girl, get tummy butterflies? Wonder what it'd be like to kiss her?" She shrugged and looked away for a moment. Despite this place being more open and accepting, she still had a hard time openly talking about it. It was more comfortable with Steve, though, because he seemed to be the most accepting person in all of Hawkins? Somehow? "I guess you just know?" She chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Though I bet there's a lot of people really denying that part of themselves to appear 'normal,' or whatever that's supposed to be."
Steve rolled his eyes again, letting her just ramble as she did. He found it endearing or whatever, but then Steve could never actually deny that he was into people giving him a hard time. She’d hit the nail on the head right there, appearing ‘normal’, and Steve winced.
He was half-hidden behind the creepy cutout even still, clearly avoiding eye-to-eye contact and a direct conversation for something a bit more sly. “But like, only ever girls? You’ve never been into-- I don’t know, both? Like wondered what it’d be like to kiss a guy too?” He realized exactly how that sounded a minute later and stood up a little straighter to look at her now. “I’m not asking like I’m trying to get you to kiss me, or any guy or whatever. This is purely hypothetical.”
Robin wasn't exactly known for being clueless, so she hopped down from the counter with a lop-sided grin on her face and quickly moved to circle around the cutout to look at something she'd NEVER seen before. That something being a shy, awkward Steve Harrington. And she, more than anyone, understood what would drive someone to ask these specific questions.
"You dog, Steve. Are you curious about guys? I'm not even going to tease you or make jokes, because this is not something to make fun of. I'm serious. There's no shame in being curious, it's safe to explore. Honestly, you're the one who told me it was safe here, so take your own advice." She made sure that none of her body language seemed like she was ready to tease him, but she couldn't keep the smile off her face. "But also no for me, guys are gross."
Steve made a noise somewhere in the frustrated category as Robin rounded on him. He couldn’t imagine talking about this to anyone but her but at the same time he hated feeling out of his element or less than totally sure about something.
He blew out a breath. “Yes? No? Maybe? I don’t know.” He went around another display, staying one step ahead of her. “Like- I like women, don’t get me wrong. Just-- sometimes. Yeah.” He was at a loss for words, which was another thing Steve Harrington wasn’t known for, and yet another thing he hated about this. “You already know you like kissing women, boobies, all that. What am I supposed to do, just find a random guy at a bar and see if it’s as good kissing him as it is a chick?”
"Everyone has lips, Steve. Kissing will be largely the same in that everyone is different," was the deadpan answer. "But yeah, if that's what you want to do. We could easily find you someone since you're so pretty. I'll even be your wingman if you need one. BUT, I think it'd be a much better experience if you're actively interested in someone and not just wondering what it'd be like to play with someone else's penis."
Robin finished that off by pressing her lips together tightly and smirking at him, daring him to get frustrated enough to break out of his little awkward confusion. You know, like best friends do.
“Ugh we’ll see. I still haven’t even figured out if I want to go for a mustache ride so-- one step at a time.” He knew she was playing right towards his ideals of romantics and the fact that Steve, for all his charisma, wasn’t one to really just hook up and have that be that if he wasn’t interested in the person for other reasons. But the fact that she knew him so well made him pull a face anyway.
“Funny how you’re okay saying the word penis but not boobies.” If he could turn it around on her, he’d take any opportunity, especially if it took the heat off of him. In fact, Steve turned around in an effort to avoid her and lit up like a kid on Christmas. When he looked back at Robin, he was grinning as he pointed overhead. “Porn room is still here.”
Robin's knee-jerk response to say 'boobies, boobies, boobies' was interrupted by the discovery and she tried to look unimpressed, but it didn't stay long. It wasn't but a moment later that she was caught up in following Steve to the porn room, though she caught the back of his shirt and pulled to put herself in front.
"Ladies first, Steve," she stated, brushing some hair away from her eyes. This was an important moment, she had to be presentable. Squaring her shoulders, she stepped forward and moved the curtain to glance inside to make sure that it was, in fact, not empty. Speaking of facts, it was also different in that there were titles she'd never seen before -- fantasy races, even. She smiled over her shoulder at Steve. "Ready to see some tits?"