Until It Sleeps
The bell jingles as Eddie walks through the door to Family Video,
“Eddie!” Robin calls from the front counter, surprised to see anyone this late at night.
Eddie and Robin had become casual friends after their little ‘adventure’ over spring break, if you could even call it that. They were less of the whole ‘best friends forever, an unlikely pair bonded for life over a traumatic experience’ like Robin and Steve were. He and Robin had more of the ‘we both were picked on in high school by the same crowd and we never really talked there was a mutual respect there’ kind of thing going on. They’d also survived an inter-dimensional horror together and had similar taste in movies, so that helped.
“To what do I owe the pleasure, seeing you at this hour?” Robin asks, raising her chin like a medieval king in a school play.
“Complete and utter boredom my dear Robin,” Eddie replies, bowing dramatically in the doorway, arms stretched out and ankles crossed.
It isn’t exactly a lie, but it isn’t the full truth either. He doesn’t exactly know why he’s here anyway, he just knows that he can’t spend another second near the trailer park.
After everything that had happened he doesn’t feel comfortable in his own home anymore, watching someone have their eyes ripped out of their head by an invisible monster will do that to you.
He also couldn’t sleep, his mind racing every night while he sits in his van parked just outside his trailer, staring at the TV he’d attached an extension chord to and dragged into his vehicle.
He doesn’t particularly want to sleep either. Turns out watching someone have their eyes ripped out of their head by an invisible monster also leads to frequent nightmares.
So here he is, returning movie tapes to Robin nearing the end of her night shift.
Eddie places three tapes on the counter.
“I rewound them so no need to worry about that.”
Watching the entirety of The Rocky Horror Picture Show three times in one night without moving is definitely not the weirdest thing Eddie’s done since being to The Upside Down. However, watching the entirety of The Rocky Horror Picture Show backwards and sped up, three times in one night might be a contender.
“Well I cant say you’ve been unkind Mr Munson.” Robin mumbles with a smirk as she turns and shuffles a few things around on the counter, putting the tapes back in their boxes.
Eddie drums his fingers on the table nervously, he doesn’t really know what to do now, it’s not like he has anywhere else to be or anyone else to talk to. He didn’t even know if Family Video would be open.
He’d half expected Keith to be at the counter, or god forbid, Steve Harrington. He’d really lucked out with Robin if he was honest, she was easily the best out of the three options.
Keith is well…Keith and Steve is— Steve is something else. It’s not like Eddie doesn’t like Steve, quite the opposite actually.
There was just something about seeing Steve Harrington, former King Steve, Hawkins’s very own ladies man and Dustin’s personal hero willingly hanging out with a group kids and the weird girl from band that completely changed how Eddie looked at him. And then he had to go and heroically dive straight into Lover’s Lake (while shirtless), only to then bite the head off of a fucking bat (while shirtless). Something about it all made Eddie just…really like the guy. And sure he’d noticed Steve before, he understood why he was considered such a focal point for the girls of Hawkins High, he wasn’t blind, Steve was hot but he was also an asshole so it didn’t really matter.
Steve now though, well that has bad news written all over it. The walk from Skull Rock to the Wheeler’s house in the Upside Down had Eddie feeling all kinds of weird things.
Stuff he hadn’t felt since he was 16 and had just seen Patrick Swayze in The Outsiders for the first time. And although back then the confirmation of these dormant feelings was terrifying it wasn’t like he didn’t expect it, like he hadn’t known for years anyway. And its not like he could do anything about it, it was a safe crush. But getting fucking butterflies while talking to Steve ‘ladies man’ and former bully Harrington?
Well that was all kinds of dangerous, especially since Eddie had no filter, always pushing the limits of ‘socially acceptable’. He’d tried to stay on track by encouraging Steve in the direction of Nancy. They obviously had some unresolved tension but that clearly didn’t work at all. So now Eddie’s stuck just awkwardly avoiding him.
“So uh..” Robin begins, interrupting Eddie’s spiraling thoughts.
“I’m gonna say this in the nicest way possible but, you look like shit Eddie.”
He laughs in shock at Robin’s honesty, “You wound me Robin,” he says dramatically, clutching his chest, “and after I rewound those tapes?! Shame one you.” He slumps forward onto the counter.
Robin laughs and flicks him on the side of his forehead until he lifts his head back up, resting his chin on his hands.
“Seriously though dude, are you like, doing okay?” She asks, her tone more serious than it had been, clearly his attempt at distracting her hadn’t worked.
“Well I haven’t slept in two days if that’s what you’re asking.” He lets a playful grin creep onto his face to try and ease the tension.
Robin’s smile fades,
“Eddie…” she begins, “you know you can talk to me right? It sounds dumb but just, if it’s about all of that,” she gestures with her arms, flapping them around, “just know that I was there yknow? You don’t have to lie to me.”
Eddie sighs, avoiding her eyes and fiddling with his rings,
“l just- I can’t sleep there Robin the nightmares, that room, not after Chrissy and…” he trails off, he doesn’t need to say it, doesn’t want to either.
“Oh…” Robin breaths chewing her lip nervously and then — BAM! she slams her hands on the table and beams at him, surprise written all over her face, Eddie jumps at the sound but Robin doesn’t seem to notice.
“You can stay at my place!” She say, eyes wild as if she has a million thoughts in her head.
“Uhhh-” Eddie barely gets a word out between Robin’s rambling,
“Yeah!” she pauses for a second, thinking, “Yeah! My parents are gonna be away for a whole week because my mom is visiting my aunt, who sucks by the way, that’s why I’m not going — you can take the couch if you want, it’s one of those ones that pulls out into a bed and it’s actually really nice. Oh and you can plan your campaigns and smoke your weed and stuff I don’t mind! As long as you air out the room after so it doesn’t smell when my parents get back, my mom would kill me.”
Eddie scrambles to try and picture what she had said, her words jumbled together in his brain, she spoke incredibly quickly.
“Robin you really don’t have to I-“
She rolls her eyes and groans, throwing her head back dramatically.
“Oh come on Eddie, don’t start being nice to me now,” she jokes, “you’re not the only one who gets creeped out either, just…” she scans the room, “just sit on my couch and watch a shitty movie ok? You don’t have to sleep if you don’t want just spend a night away from that place, it’ll help. I’m about to lock up anyway, just pick something off the shelf and we’ll return it tomorrow ok?”
——
Robin is never one to judge but she has to admit to herself that Eddie looks comically out of place standing in the entrance of her home.
Her house isn’t quite ‘white picket fence, American suburbia,’ more like the dollar store version of it. It’s not as big as the Wheelers’ and definitely not as luxurious as Steve’s house but she guessed that anything is better than Eddie’s trailer, all things considered.
She can tell Eddie feels a little awkward and out of place, his eyes scanning around the room, the muted colours of the bungalow a stark contrast to Eddie’s dark hair and clothes.
She kicks her shoes off in the hallway and walks off to the couch as he unties his boots, “You can put your stuff over here if you want!” She calls out across the room.
He appears around the corner making his way to join her on the couch, his tattered black backpack slung over one shoulder. Eddie’s eyes bounce across the room, for a second hd just stands there. He reminds Robin of those robots in an action movies, scanning the area. She’s realized that he does that a lot, probably some sort of left over hyper-vigilance from hiding out in a boat shed all spring break.
For now he seems satisfied that there’s no scary high school basketball team around the corner or anything.
Eddie drops his bag to the floor and flops down on the couch as Robin fiddles with the TV. He pulls a joint out of his backpack as the opening credits to Stand By Me start and Robin moves to join him on the couch.
“A desperate attempt to ward off nightmares” Eddie jokes, holding the joint above his head like as if he’s inspecting it. Robin smiles,
“Can’t say I’ve tried that method yet, lemme know how that works out for you.”
“You can test it out if you want, I got enough to share.”
“No thanks. I’ve never even smoked a cigarette.” Robin laughs
“Think you’re probably the last student of Hawkins High left standing in the ‘no drugs’ department.” He quips, earning a chuckle from Robin.
“Well I mean I’ve done some kind of drug before but, that was against my will so, don’t know if that disqualifies me.”
Eddie frowns,
“Do I wanna know the story behind that?”
“Starcourt” is all she says in response.
“Gotcha” Eddie nods, flicking his lighter.
“Well, if you ever consider trying it, make sure you ask me instead of some other creep, plus I won’t charge you,” he grins, “call it an ‘inter-dimensional discount’” he says, raising his fingers to do air quotes. Robin laughs at that, why not? She’s lived through all this dimension hopping, it seems a little silly to be afraid of her mother scolding her for smoking.
“Fuck it,” Robin says enthusiastically, shifting on the couch so she’s facing Eddie, “I’ll take you up on your offer.”
His eyebrows shoot up,
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I think I’m overdue my turn at some good old fashioned teenage rebellion.” She wiggles her eyebrows at him and extends her hand.
“Sure, just take it slow, don’t want you getting freaked out or overwhelmed.” He says, blowing out a puff of smoke and holding out the joint for her to take.
“Hawkins’ very own ethical drug dealer” she jokes causing Eddie to throw his head back in laughter. Robin breathes in slowly, feeling the smoke tickle her throat, she suppresses a cough as she passes it back to Eddie, they sit in silence for a bit, watching to movie and taking turns spreading smoke around the room.
Robin doesn’t feel all that different, her mind is just a little clouded, similar to being on the verge of tipsy, she feels calm and heavy but somehow lighter at the same time.
———
“Thanks for this by the way,” Eddie murmurs, breaking the silence, “I needed this.”
“No problem, I stayed over at Steve’s a lot after Starcourt, I had nightmares of Russian men coming towards me with a bone saws for months,” she giggles, “it’s nice to just, be around someone that knows I guess.”
“Ah yes, you and Steve, one of earth’s great mysteries” he waves his hand above his head dramatically, Robin laughs and rolls her eyes.
“God not you too.”
“Seriously though, you’re really not into each other? I haven’t seen Steve Harrington spend more than a week with a girl his age without dating her.”
Robin laughs lightly, “I don’t know, we’re just not each other’s type” she shrugs, she’s trying to act nonchalant but something about the movement looks too forced to Eddie.
“C’mon, Steve’s type is any girl that will look at him.” With that Robin laughs a lot harder than he’s seen her laugh before, clearly the weed is getting to her a little.
“That’s true” she huffs “I guess he’s just not my type then,” she says, still giggling a little.
“Oh? And what is Robin Buckley’s type then?” Eddie turns to her, wiggling his eyebrows and feeling a bit like a teenage girl at a slumber party, he’s never heard Robin mention dating or even a crush before so it goes without saying Eddie’s a little curious.
“You ever see Julie Christie in Doctor Zavagho?” She giggles and then suddenly her face falls, her eyes wide like she’s just been slapped. Eddie just looks at her for a second, it all starts to slot into place, why she’s so insistent on being purely platonic with Steve, why she always changes the subject whenever anyone mentioned romance, why he’s never heard anything about her dating life, even in high school and — oh god she looks terrified.
———
Shit shit shit! She feels so stupid,
“I- uh- I mean-“ Robin stutters out, desperately trying to remain calm.
She needs to backtrack.
It isn’t that she thinks Eddie’s a bad guy or anything it’s just she doesn’t know for sure how he’ll take it, god knows she’d been wrong about Steve, she has no idea how to judge how people will react anymore.
What if Eddie tells someone? Either way this’ll be a second person who knows her, which makes it statistically more likely that her being a lesbian could spread around town and even get back to her parents. And for all she knows Eddie could be the wrong guy to tell about this. What if he’s actually super homophobic and she just doesn’t know?
“I was joking! I mean, I don’t- I’m not-“ she quickly hides her face in her hands as the sob she tried to push down escapes her, turning so that she’s facing away from him now, nothing feels light and airy anymore, the room feels like it’s losing oxygen and slowly closing on on her.
“Fuck Eddie-“ she sniffles, “don’t tell anyone please just-“ she’s really crying now, god she feels stupid, she doesn’t know if it’s the weed or if she’s just a little hysterical sometimes but she feels utterly terrified.
——
“Woah woah, Robin hey it’s ok.” Eddie says quickly, “I’m not gonna tell anyone okay?”
He bites his lip nervously, hesitates, unsure of what to do now, she still hasn’t turned to face him.
He places a hand on her shoulder only to feel her stiffen under his touch, he pulls back,
“Robin, look at me,” he says softly, she turns to look at him, fear written all over her face, “I’m not gonna tell anyone, okay?” Robin nods slowly.
“I swear on like, my entire dice collection.” Eddie rambles, placing his hand over his heart.
Robin laughs wetly, “God I’m sorry,” she screws up her face awkwardly, “I didn’t mean to freak out it’s just…” she trails off, raising her hand to her cheek to wipe away the rest of her tears.
“It’s okay. I get it.” Eddie says, pointedly holding eye contact with her, she looks confused, “Robin,” he gives a small smile, “I’m gay.”
For a second she just looks at him and then suddenly she’s laughing.
“Oh my god! Oh my god! Eddie!” She laughs even harder, leaning over with her hands clutching her stomach,
“Why didn’t you lead with that?!” And then Eddie’s laughing too.
“I don’t know! God — I don’t know!” He leans back against the couch as they both pants with laughter,
“It’s just, that’s like the first time I’ve really said it to someone.”
“Well, Steve beat you to it I’m afraid you’re in second place for me.” Robin chuckles, still a bit out of breath.
“God that must have been weird.” Eddie scrunches his nose in disbelief, he couldn’t picture Steve’s reaction to someone being gay. He’s too much of a mystery now, and if Eddie had been asked about it two or three years ago he wouldn’t have expected Steve to react with anything less than a slur and maybe even a punch.
“It really was.” Robin smiles, “but it was also one of the best things to come of the whole Starcourt thing, Steve I mean.”
Eddie starts laughing again, he just couldn’t help it.
“Man, I really thought you had a thing for each other at first.” He says and that sets Robin off again too, she throws her head back, leaning against the back of the couch.
“Y’know you’re the first other gay person I’ve met,” Robin says after she’s caught her breath again.
“Yeah, me too,” Eddie smiles, “well the first I can actually talk to, and not just a guy in some bar out of town,” he corrects.
“Man, I kinda wanna hug you right now.” Robin chuckles, Eddie just smiles at her and pulls her in, letting her wrap her arms around him.
—-
The next morning Robin wakes up only to find herself on the couch, she must have passed out while watching the rest of the movie, the TV was still on. She looks to her left to see Eddie asleep, curled up on the other side of the couch with his head lying on the arm rest. She smiles.