Nancy did not really drink at parties. Or she didn’t do it as much as before considering the last time it did, a relationship ended in disaster. Although it turned out to be fine because they were still friends. Nonetheless, she decided to go ahead and try a shot of something blue with a gummi shark in it.
“Oh, my god,” she said as she felt her hair lift up and start floating… even if her curls didn’t have very far to go. It was possible the magical effect on the alcohol made her hair look even more puffed up. “Magic booze, I probably should not be surprised at this point.”
"Hah," laughed Robin, grabbing one for herself. "Didn't read the fine print here? Could be worse, you might have turned into an otter."
Robin wasn't much of a drinker at all, mostly because her parents would have killed her back home because she wasn't old enough in Hawkins and secondly the taste never really appealed to her here. But magic effects were kind of a lure.
"Here's to good luck!" She downed her own with fingers crossed that she didn't get the otter effect. Relief flooded her as she watched her skin take on a glittery pearlescent sheen.
“Oooh, pretty.” Nancy’s hands went up to Robin’s forearm, lightly running her fingertips along it. The alcohol – she definitely was a lightweight – was making her a bit bold, that she didn’t even think twice about the action.
"Right?" Robin did notice, but kept it cool. It was pretty, and went well with her cream-colored pantsuit. Still, it felt nice - she certainly wasn't used to anyone touching her. Outside of like a celebratory hug or something, at least.
She coughed once and nodded towards the dance floor. "I'll probably step all over your feet, but do you want to get out there for a bit?"
Nancy almost reached for another shot. But considering the odds of it turning her into an otter momentarily were the same as the rest, she decided to hold off. Plus, dancing! Dancing was fun too. “Oh, yeah!” Her hand went from Robin’s arm to her hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to artfully dodge any wayward steps.’
Robin gripped her hand as well, shaking her head as she did so. "Yeah, I don't know if anyone is graceful enough for that." She chuckled and followed Nancy onto the dance floor, silently hoping for a song she could feel in her feet.
"I'll pay for any damage to your shoes!"
Okay, chances were that Nancy was not the most graceful person in the world to dodge all the toe-stepping in the world, however, she was just graceful enough to twirl on one foot once they got to the floor to face Robin, her dress twirling just a little bit along with her hair… which was still floating. “Would you prefer to wait for something slower then?”
And just like that, the music changed to match up with Nancy’s words. Now, her cheeks went red.
"The only dancing I've done is either in my room or stocking at the video store while the doors are locked," admitted Robin, noting the color in Nancy's cheeks. Maybe it wasn't a prank? Nancy had been acting weird ever since Steve said something.
"But I'm willing to try!" Going off movies, she put her free hand on Nancy's waist and kept their hands together. "And one, two, three, four," she started, a half-smile playing across her lips.
Nancy took a few steps closer and placed her free hand on Robin’s shoulder. Was it possible for her face to get even redder? Because it at least felt warmer. “It… I… um… yeah! Trying is good! Very good!”
"Wow, I thought I was awkward," laughed Robin. Yeah, okay. Definitely not a prank. But that was wild, she was certain that Nancy was a straight as… something very straight. Arrows. That's it.
To try and relieve some tension for her, Robin leaned in and whispered conspiratorially. "Can you believe I spent years being the token queer in Hawkins. Then we come here and Steve beats me to a queer relationship? I give him hell for it, as I should."
Well, this was it, right? This was the good time for Nancy to say something, especially now that she had told Mike and she had wanted him to be the one to hear it from her. Maybe she should say something too.
“Well, I always agree with giving him hell for it,” she said, trying her best to ignore her heartbeat that decided to race when Robin leaned closer. “But you know,” a pause here to clear her throat, “there are… more of them than you think. Than maybe they had realized until… they ended up here.”
It was Robin's turn to swallow. She was trying to play it cool. Or smooth. Smool? She rocked on her heels for a second, almost stumbling in the middle of the dance. But she recovered and raised an eyebrow. "So you do have a crush on me? That's wild, because I'm the one who has been crushing on you and fully expected it to be some kind of forever unrequited thing while you dated guys that were in your league. Not some band geek with a pop culture fixation."
Babble, babble, babble.
“What?” In shock, Nancy stumbled to a stop, the tip of her shoe just barely grazed Robin’s. My, how the tables had turned.
“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t — I mean, you do?”
"I mean, yeah. How many girls do you think I've gone to one knee for? Sure, it was to give you a boost, but still. Of course, I thought for sure you were still into Steve at the time, even though you were technically long distance with Jonathan, but complicated stuff is complicated. Steve's changed a lot, for the better, I mean. So I could see it. But like you were so hot taking on Vec-- you're turning really red, I should stop."
“I… don’t know? You could have back in our world? Did you?” She laughed then because that didn’t matter anyway. And yes, she was turning red, absolutely. But instead of running off the floor which she thought she would have done (a little dramatic but really, she hadn’t expected Robin to actually return her feelings), she stepped closer, resuming their dancing position. “Okay, this is good! Right? Good! What should we do now?”
Robin snorted at the idea of her doing anything outwardly 'gay' back home. She turned her attention to the last question, though. "Clearly we dance. Probably poorly."