Nancy Wheeler and Robin Buckley
2028 Future Vallo| The Outpost | PG-13 Nancy decides to come out, Robin quotes pop culture.
⚠ mention of death
Another day, another week, another month. Two months now since Mike was killed. Nancy had thought the world was going to stop right there but weirdly enough, it kept going. There were so many times when she just wanted to give up having lost so much already. But there was a young woman who felt just as much pain, and even if they weren’t related by blood, Eleven was still her younger sister no matter what and she had to keep going for her.
And, Nancy realized, she had to keep going for someone else too. Having finished up a patrol right after a quick grave visit, she found herself walking over to where she knew she’d find one Robin Buckley doing whatever she could to help out and survive herself in this world. She hadn’t even stopped to take her shotgun from her shoulders (not like she didn’t practically wear it to bed), she just needed to see her as soon as possible when the thought of her entered her mind.
“Hi,” she said when she was close enough.
The first and most immediate response was a clatter and near-crash as Robin straightened up and almost fumbled one of Dustin's explosives. She didn't think it would explode if dropped, hell it probably wasn't even armed yet, but she had to admit there was probably a better job for her than handling things that could go boom at any minute.
With some effort, she managed to catch it, straighten her (fairly worn-out) beret, and offer a grim-but-still-there smile. "Hey, Nance."
The smile she returned was not exactly in response to Robin’s but more of a reaction to, well, Robin’s reaction. “Sorry, thought you had heard me approaching.” She was so damn adorable.
Nancy walked over and took a seat across from her friend in whatever spot she could find. It was almost amazing how she had barely flinched when Robin had stumbled but maybe she gotten to a point at which nothing would surprise her anymore, not even a bomb going off that could blow them both to smithereens (plus, Nancy had already experienced that a long long time ago when their biggest concern was Murder Mansion).
“You… have a minute to just chat for a bit? Or you got a lot of work to do?”
Robin watched Nancy take a seat as she carefully (this time) stacked the explosive in one of the satchels going out into the field. "It's cool, I can chat and shove things in bags. It's actually something I have a lot of experience in. It's just, you know, not usually explosives but welcome to the apocalypse."
She wasn't even going to give Nancy a hard time for sitting down, for fuck's sake they all needed breaks now and then. Plus, it looked like she had something important on her mind. It was in the way she stood, then sat. Something Robin had learned to pick up by now, Nancy Body Language. She could add that to her long list of languages.
Nancy nodded as if discussing explosives and apocalypses was your everyday casual chat. Wasn’t it becoming that way? “I just came back from the graves,” she said, it coming out sounding just as nonchalant that she almost cringed.
“Are you, um… how are you managing?” Oh, god she’d gotten to this point, and suddenly she found herself stalling.
At the mention of the graves, Robin stopped what she was doing and moved to sit on a clear space. She actually hadn't realized what time of year it was already, geez it was difficult remembering what day of the week it was anymore unless someone in charge was pointing it out just to keep it from becoming too monotonous. It was kinda dumb how the small things were what kept them feeling human (or equivalents for non-humans, she wasn't about to judge).
"I'm.. managing," she answered, knowing that it sounded a lame and maybe a bit dismissive. "How're you, though? I've got a fresh supply of hugs. You need a hug?"
Nancy allowed herself to smile at that. There were very few opportunities to do exactly that but they were almost always abundant around Robin. “Always, Buckley. Maybe in a little bit, I just…” She sighed heavily.
“I’m a mess. I swear I don’t think there’s ever going to be a right time to just come out and share feelings so sometimes the best thing to do is just to say it because you could be like ‘maybe I’ll tell her tomorrow’ but you never fucking know what’s going to happen tomorrow. I just… I don’t want to lose more people. But that could also happen any time and so I don’t want to think about the chance I never got to tell you that I…” Nancy was suddenly overcome with emotion, her ramblings were cut short by a lump in her throat.
Robin's eyebrows went from a concerned furrow to a bit of raised surprise. Did she- was she- were her ears playing tricks on her or did Nancy just take a page out of Robin's manual and start rambling about feelings and anxiety without really getting to any point? Because she recognized the tactic immediately and took it in stride. Robin herself had been there at least once or twice, after all.
Instead of adding to the verbal deluge, she just moved closer to Nancy and took her closest hand into both of her own. "I'm here, Nancy. You can tell me anything, okay?"
That was probably what Nancy needed: to hold her hand and ground herself. She leaned forward, propping her elbows on her knees. “I… I don’t want to go another day without you knowing how I feel about you.” Her eyes were trained on her hand in Robin’s grasp instead of actually looking at her. “How much I like you and liked you for so long but never thought it would go anywhere for a number of reasons.”
Okay, so Robin didn't know how to respond, at least at first. Which meant she kind of coughed out a short laugh, even though she teared up a bit. She squeezed Nancy's hand a bit tighter and leaned in closer. "This feels like a John Hughes movie, all of the sudden."
"I mean, that's a good thing. I miss my movies, don't take that the wrong way. No, I mean, see, a Hughes film is a classic, just like you. Wait, no, that's not what I meant. But also classics are classics for a reason, I'm not saying you're stuck in the past or something. More like you're timeless and wonderful. Right? Right. Is it hot in here? I'm babbling. What I'm trying to say is it's mutual and always has been but I never knew you were into girls."
Nancy initially looked at her in surprise when she laughed, a sinking disappointed feeling that was immediately cut short when she moved in closer and Nancy could just blink at her response in surprise. The reasons she had justified to herself that it wouldn’t happen seemed silly now, given the circumstances of the world. She thought it was because she was Steve’s ex. Bro code and all. Or that she just wasn’t interested. Or that she thought Nancy would be too “new” to being queer. Definitely silly.
She often wondered if this was why it hadn’t worked out with Steve or Jonathan, that maybe she was just never into guys but, no, she had definitely cared for them romantically even if it didn’t last. It wasn’t them being guys… it was just that they weren’t right for her. And she hadn’t bothered to date since she dated Jonathan because she needed to be on her own for a while. But Robin was around. She was always around, and even if Nancy never said anything before, nothing had changed to make those feelings go away.
“Really? Even though you didn’t think I was, you still…?” It was Nancy’s turn to give a short laugh. “I mean, it took me a while to figure out but it’s… yeah. I am. Namely into you.”
"Me, into the hot girl I've spent so much time around, who has stepped into danger without hesitation like a hundred times, armed with nothing but a shotgun and an attitude? Who has always put everyone else first? That has, time and time again, faced death and scary fucking monsters without blinking? I mean, come on, I'm only human." Robin's eyes lit up bright while she went through all of that, complete with her animated gestures while she spoke.
"I don't know why you're surprised, I'm the one who has every right to be. I mean, look at me. I can barely stack explosives or carry on a conversation without making pop culture references… and I haven't even had pop culture for a few years, so what does that say about me?"
Nancy laughed. She honest to god just laughed. She couldn’t even remember cracking much of a smile in the past few months. And here she was beaming like an idiot. “Robin Buckley,” she started, moving a little closer and reaching out to push a few strands of the girl’s hair behind her ears. “I have no idea what that says but it doesn’t matter because you’re still amazing and doesn’t change that I’m absolutely crazy for you.”
Robin couldn't help but smile when Nancy laughed. It felt like the weariness of the last week just washed away. Then it was followed by a blush when her hair was moved (and man, it was so dirty) that continued crawling across her face as Nancy just flat out seduced her.
Her lips moved for a second, speechless (rare). Then her brain kicked in and just threw out a movie quote, like some kind of reflex. "I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."
Now that was a reference Nancy knew. Maybe she knew it because she knew Robin knew a lot of pop culture and for a great number of years, she’d been trying to keep up. Eventually, she would tell her that. Not right now though.
“Highly appropriate,” she said with an approving nod. She brought her other hand up so she could frame Robin’s face in her palms. “I do love that crinkle in your nose when you look at me like I’m crazy, and that you’re the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. May I kiss you?”