#bubblescoops

[mugloversonly]

Carrie

This is for @genderthings my pride things bingo prompt "Carol Perkins" | Rating: G | pairings: Robin Buckley/Carol Perkins | WC: 641 | CW: divorce and cheating mentioned.

Summary: Robin has a new girlfriend.

AO3

Robin shambled around the video store, moving tapes into different configurations trying to look busy. Steve watched her in an attempt to kill his own boredom but it wasn’t working much.

She glanced at him and jumped like a scared cat; again. That was like the third time in the past 15 minutes she startled.

“Okay, what’s going on with you?”

“Nothing!” Robin exclaimed far too loud and squeaky to be the truth. Steve barely needed to raise an eyebrow before she folded.

“I met a girl!” She shouted.

Steve stared in shock at the volume before the words sunk in.

“What? Where? When? Who?” Steve shouted back. Robin took a deep breath as she came closer.

“Last week when Eddie and I went to that club in Indy, I met a girl.” Robin bit her lip in excitement. “You probably know her, she’s from Hawkins.”

Steve furrowed his brow in thought. Before he could run through his list of potential lesbians in his head, the bell above the door chimed. He turned to greet them but stopped short when he saw an old friend.

“Steve Harrington?” Carol Perkins said, like they were old friends.

“What the hell are you doing back here?” He asked happily in return. He could have sworn she moved away never to return.

“Mom and Dad got divorced. I came back to help them empty the house, and I thought I'd pop in to see my-” she cut herself off when Robin came back into view.

“Carrie! What are you doing here?” Robin exclaimed as she ran from the aisle to wrap her arms around Carol’s waist.

“Car-Carrie?!” Steve shrieked at a pitch he didn't think he was capable of reaching.

Robin turned to Steve with a sheepish grin.

“I told you, you might know her.” She shrugged. Steve stared, his eyes so wide he could feel them drying out.

“Problem Steve?” Carol asked as she popped her signature gum and kissed Robin's cheek.

Steve wanted to throw a fit. Not because Robin had a girlfriend, but because Carol is that girlfriend. The last Steve heard, Carol and Tommy were still together and still throwing around slurs like they were throwing candy off a parade float.

But then, he saw the pleading in Robin's eyes, and the fear in Carol's even as she stared defiantly. Steve couldn't ruin this for them.

“You're not still with Tommy right?” Steve asked, just to be sure. Carol rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation.

“No. Unlike Tommy, I wanted to be single before I dated someone of my own gender.” She spat. Steve winced in sympathy.

“Well, trust Tommy to still be a scumbag.” Steve said. Carol nodded in agreement.

“Now that that's out of the way, come over for dinner tonight. Mom wants to meet my new ‘friend’”. She moved her fingers in air quotes around the word. “She’s making pasta, Steve you can come too I guess. 5 o’clock, bring a sweater. In her rebellion after the divorce mom decided our house should be a polar ice cap.” Carol rolled her eyes again.

“We’ll be there. Right, Steve?” Robin asked, looking hopefully at him.

“Ugh, fine. Only because Mrs. Perkins’ chicken Parm is the best in the world.” Steve sakd with a put upon sigh, crossing his arms. He would have said yes anyway though.

“Great. See ya later.” Carol said to him before she turned to Robin. She stepped into the other girl's space, close enough to make Robin blush, then kissed her a little too dirty for public. “Bye, Robin.” She whispered flirtily as she skipped to the door.

As soon as the bell signaled her exit, Steve turned to stare at Robin, his mouth open.

“Tell me everything!” He demanded and sat back to listen to his best friend gush about her new girl.

permanent tag list(open):

@katyawriteswhump

buy me a coffee

[queenofshenanigans]

WIP WEEKEND

I wasn't going to do a new one, but I decided I might as well, as it does keep me motivated throughout the week! I'm decreasing the # of WIPs though, to the two Bangs, and a couple of others, as the rest have quite a few asks already.

I was tagged by: @pearynice, @mission2mordor, @cloudsurfing42, @pentapoctopus, @hbyrde36, @tinytalkingtina, and @felixir-of-moths <3

⚾ Second Chance at First Love (and Third Base) - Steddie Big Bang! No longer a secret!! Making some progress!

🛼 - Sapphic Mini Bang (90s Bubblescoops, Stommy) I'll share 👩‍👩‍👦 or 🤸‍♂️- if you have a preference, drop an emoji - the first check-in is coming soon so trying to make more progress by then!

🐉 - Steve finds a dragon in his closet - Dustigan, developing Steddie, magical canon AU, post S4

🏰 - Shenanigans in Steve's attic - Steve has good parents actually, Steddie, Scoops Troop, post S4 Honey I Shrunk The Kids inspired AU

(Don't worry: Attic Shenanigans, Stranger Moms, A Knight's Tale, and the Aerobics S3 AU will all be in rotation!)

Read on for more of Second Chance at First Love (And Third Base). A little NSFW, and slight mention of a/b/o biology.

Steve was thicker around the middle, in a way that made Eddie want to bite—a thought so strongly sexual he almost slammed the door in Steve's face on instinct. He hadn't had such an intense flash of lust since before the twins were born, and it left him unsettled and very aware he was wearing only a pair of flimsy black boxer briefs. He was just grateful they weren't white; at least the dark color hid the sudden dampness between his legs. Fucking biology.

“I’m going to kill her,” Eddie muttered, already thinking of various ways he was going to get revenge on Chrissy Cunningham. “I take it you're the new houseboy Chrissy hired?”

“Good to see you too, Eddie, but I think the term she used was home health aide and housekeeper.”

I'll no pressure tag any members of the @strangerthingswritersguild that would like to play!

[whathehonestfuk]

trans fem steve that keeps wearing the same clothes until she cant anymore (I am a fat steve truther) Once she is desperate for new clothes she drags robin to a thrift store and is fully planning to just get more polos and jeans just in her new size

Carol perkins might be a bitch but she is also girls girl at heart and see stevie shopping with seemingly only robin for help so she offers up her opinion to help stevie branch out from her old clothes and show off her new body because what flattered her per-estrogen might not post

it takes hours and leaves robin and carol alone together while she tries everything on, its awkward and quiet at first with robin and carol barely acknowledging each other to arguing on what looks best on stevie to just general sniping at each other that only stops when carol grabs robins shirt/tie/collar and pulls her down to say something to robin their noses touching causing robins brain to melt out her ears

the trip is infinity more successful than anyone could have guessed not only does stevie have new clothes and a new found knowledge on styling herself robin gets railed and gets a girlfriend (in that order)

[queenie-ofthe-void]

post s2 Steve trying to get back to his normal life, turning up to a house party he was invited to but isn't really welcomed at. In an attempt to impress Billy, Tommy locks Steve in a closet and tosses a freshly bruised and beaten Eddie Munson in with him.

Carol, worried and pissed off, searches the whole place before she finds Steve and Munson wrapped up in each other in a heap of tongues and hands and sounds she can't unhear.

The day only gets worse when, instead of ratting them out to the bigots downstairs, Carol blackmails them.

"I promise I won't tell anyone-" Carol stares down Steve- "as long as you introduce me to the girl who sits behind you in Ms. Click's class."

"Aren't you still dating Tommy?" Steve scoffs.

She smirks. "Hopefully not for much longer."

[formosusiniquis]

twins of the heart

Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington; Robin Buckley/Carol Perkins wc: 2141 | T | tags & themes: Meeting the SO; No-longer Secret Relationships; Humor & the Tiniest Hint of Angst For @stobinmonth Day 11: matching | AO3

“I'm not changing.”

“We are not meeting my girlfriend for the first time matching, Steven.” Robin crosses her arms, ironically -- probably he's never really understood that -- matching his stance as she stands across from him.

Standing beside their selected arm chairs -- Robin's plaid with low arms and a springy cushion and Steve’s sunken and leather with the tall back -- he feels like Clint Eastwood. In a standoff with Robin, who's a second cowboy he doesn't know the name of even after weeks of watching spaghetti westerns with Wayne. She's got a smirk on her face. 

She thinks he's going to give in.

“We're in agreement then,” he says, “you've got a closet full of other shirts go find one.”

Robin looks seconds from ripping his button up off his shoulders, like it's his fault she's finally realized how much fun the bright colors are instead of the neutral pattern clashing she used to do.

“Your closet is bigger, she's my girlfriend you go change.”

“No, I've got my whole outfit planned.”

“I don't care that you matched your shoes to your shirt.”

It’s true that he has done that. It's also true that he has a backup outfit that he could use instead. But something about the frazzled way she’s looking at him, the way she’s tugging at the ends of her hair is tapping into his inner need to be a problem.

So instead of going back to his room. Instead of continuing what could, without a doubt, be an hours long argument until she either gave up and went to change or they went to the restaurant matching. He takes a step forward, settles down into the embrace of his chair and crosses his leg over his knee.

“Let’s talk about why it’s so important this ‘first’ meeting goes well.” He puts the air quotes around first because he knows how much it annoys her. Clasping his fingers on his knee when he’s done. “Are you worried that this sincerity of matching with your soulmate will scare her away?”

“You’ve taken one psych class, and it was developmental psych. For children.”

“Is this hostility real, or is it an easier emotion to express than fear?”

“I hate you. I hate you. I don’t know why we’re doing this.”

It wouldn’t be hard to keep this bit going, but Robin’s stress is quickly moving from funny joke to actually concerning. “It’s Carol, babe. I probably know your girlfriend better than you do.”

“Great,” Robin claps her hands, spins in a circle like she’s about to go back to her room but thinks better of it. “You can stay home then and I can make that table for three a table for two instead.”

“Robs.”

“You have to change.”

“We’re meeting,” he says slowly repeating her question from earlier in the same cadence he uses with his daycare students, “because you want your two favorite people to get along and because you feel bad that you were secretly dating my old best friend for a whole month.”

“She’s changed.” Robin says.

“I’m sure she has,” he agrees. It would be stranger if she hadn’t. Of the three of them Carol had always been the smartest, the quickest to point out what they had missed. Picking at a stray cat hair his lint roller had missed, he wonders how long after he’d left that Carol realized he’d been right about them being dicks. Wondered how long before she stopped being so stubborn and did something about it too.

“You’ve changed.” She says slowly like she’s repeating the answer to a question he’s asked three times already.

That doesn’t feel fair to either of them, and he’s ready to say that, when Robin’s hand flapping distracts him. “Except you haven’t, you’re just Steve and you’ve always been Steve but what if she has changed and you all can’t stand each other.”

“Well you’ll have to break up with her then.” He uncrosses his legs, braces his arms on his knees, a mockery of that ‘I mean business’ pose that Hopper would take at the end of a lecture,

Only Robin doesn’t laugh. Her eyes drop down to her clasped, nervous hands instead.

“No.”

“I mean,” she starts to say the expression on her face almost as guilty as it was when he answered the phone just to be shot back in time at the sound of Carol’s complaining the second she hears the line open.

The snap of her gum and the, “Babe, you are not going to believe this.” Had been so jarring he’d had to check that he was in the shitty, smoke-stained kitchen in their apartment and not the white walls of his parent’s house. When he’d caught Robin’s eyes hers had been wide enough he could see the pink in the corners. Panic like he hadn’t even seen in the Upside Down.

“I’m sure I wouldn’t,” he had said, hearing the soft sound of Carol’s surprise through what’s passing for a connection. “I’ll pass you over to Robin now, Babe.”

That night she’d done what passes for grovelling: take out from the place he likes but she can’t stand, Some Like it Hot already playing on the TV.

They didn't like arguing and like apologies even less. Robin was sorry he was sure, even if he was less sure why she hadn't told him about Carol in the first place. She hadn't had any problem complaining about her when she realized they were sharing the same campus.

And now they were wearing matching shirts in their living room, minutes from being late to a dinner with a girlfriend she’s thinking about breaking up with. Maybe that's why she hadn't said anything last month or last week or any time in between when her “study sessions” at “the library” went late enough that they missed getting to see each other before work and bed.

Steve is fine being the voice of reason, even if hes not sure why he has to be. “You’re not going to break up with your girlfriend if we don’t get along.”

“I will break up with whoever I want to.”

“Robin.”

“Steve.” Her arms are crossed, pulled tight against her chest. 

He thinks they’re going to have to actually talk about this. Not just bicker and tease and ignore the places where the hurt feelings come from. Because hurt feelings aren’t them, they aren’t something they do. They’re Steve and Robin. They don’t fight, disagree, or really argue -- because not wanting to get pizza from the place twenty minutes away that doesn’t deliver for the second time that week is none of those things.

“Were you ever going to tell me you were even seeing someone? Or should I just be glad I didn’t walk in on you eating out in the kitchen.”

“There wasn’t anything to tell.” Robin snaps like a rubber band pulled too far: sudden and it’s break more surprising than painful.

“At some point there was, and since we aren’t actually attached at the brain I really don’t know what you’re thinking.” He keeps his voice level but now that the words are leaving his mouth it’s like the slow peel of a scab coming up. Fresh blood following the sting of an unhappy, unhealed wound.

He wishes he were, wishes he could know everything about her, and she him, instantly. Wishes thoughts and extensions and meaning could just be there immediately and obvious. 

But it isn't, they aren’t. Steve just has to deal with knowing there are things that will always be secret, meaning he may never even be aware he missed.

“You liked her and I didn't,” Robin says carefully, the first stuttering chugs of a train starting forward. It has to start before it can barrel on. “That’s how it started.”

Steve is still sitting, legs spread, and Robin’s hands are flicking back and forth, swaying in a miserable vogue as thoughts arrange themselves in her mind, she steps forward.  Stepping and putting herself in that open space, ending the argument they still weren't really having through her proximity.

“Then we both hated her and that was good,” Robin continues. “What if now that I like her, you still don’t?

“If you never meet again it’s never a problem,” she continues. “I won’t have to end things. Cause that’s what I’ll do, Steve, there isn’t a choice between you and someone else. It’s always gonna be you. You’re my person.”

“It’s always gonna be you too, Rob.” He settles his hands on her waist in an almost hug, contact so he can keep looking her in the face when he asks. “But why are all you nerds so black and white?”

She scoffs, a total not-answer he knows means she doesn’t know what to say because he’s right.

“I didn’t hate Care, I still don’t. I was mad at her and Tommy. Mostly Tommy. But it wasn’t like she was dead to me. We talked in class and at games. She moved here for school, we were busy with fighting evil. We lost touch.”

“You don’t hate her?”

“I hate like three people and two of them are dead already. Everyone else is just annoying.”

“So you’ll change?”

She asks it gently, like it should be accompanied by an upset child’s sniffle. He almost feels bad about the way he knows he’s going to answer. Turning the hold on her waist into an actual hug, Steve rests his chin on the soft muscle of her stomach, looking up into her chin, and says, “No. We’re already late.”

He’s laughing too hard to keep his feet under him as Robin pulls him out of the chair. When he stumbles up to standing, she squeezes his hand, hard, a punishment for being mean to her.

“I hate you. I hate you. I hate you,” she chants.

She’s still muttering it down their apartment hall, in the car, and up to the restaurant where her mildly pissy face melts into something soft and gooey.

Carol is already waiting looking polished and pressed as she always has. The mid-length skirt and the chin length hair suit her. If the fashion is any indication, the 90’s seem like they’ll be kinder than the last few years have been.

Steve drops Robin’s hand as Carol walks up, gives them the space to greet one another. A warm hug: hands drifting. A kiss to the cheek: lip gloss sticky and possessive. Kind doesn’t mean they don’t still need to be careful, their greeting never slips beyond what could be friends meeting up. 

And when they let go Carrie’s eyes, still soft, take on that sly pinch at the corner. She hugs him too: one arm, from the side, hands firmly in the zone of public decency. “This twin thing is cute.”

Robin groans so they can both hear all the ways that Steve has victimized her.

“I mean it, Birdie, “ she says. And Steve can hear the way age has sanded down some of her sharper edges. “Makes me hungry.”

Robin flushes, a deep red Steve can feel the heat of in his own face. “Really?

Some of her edges, not all. The look in her eyes revealing that sharp gleam he knows meant, at one point, that she and Tommy were going to disappear into a spare bedroom and leave him to fend for himself.

“I had meant literally.” If they disappear to fuck in the bathroom he’s leaving them with the bill.

But Carol shakes her head and puts the obviously dirty thoughts behind her. “I haven’t seen you two look this cute since the summer we graduated.”

Wait. 

“You didn’t ever come into Scoops.” Steve accuses. 

Carol’s complexion betrays her. “No, but Orange Julius was right across the food court.”

Robin is looking back and forth between them. And she was worried they wouldn’t get along. He’s about to give Rob the food to get Care riled up for weeks.

“You spend a lot of time in the food court that summer?”

“Freshman fifteen doesn’t count if it happens before the school year starts.”

“And the seats across from Scoops were the best in the room?”

“It had the best view, and I can remember more than a few freaks and geeks who would say the exact same thing.”

“Wait,” Robin says, “you were looking at…”

“Blue looks good on you,” Carol sways into Robin’s space, a leer on her face that suggests that Steve will have the apartment to himself tonight. Carol’s eyes cut up to him, a reminder that she hasn’t forgotten him or the purpose of tonight, “It looks alright on you, Stevie.”

“Yeah, big surprise who you think wore it better. You’ve always been easy.”

“We have that in common, looks like you match with both of us.”

[lavenderstobins]

hawkins high ten year reunion and steve only goes if robin, eddie and nancy all attend with him. they do, mainly more out of interest than anything. robin and steve are having a delightful time gossiping together, but nancy's the one who notices carol's eyes lingering on robin.

nancy knows that most people wouldn't think twice of the way she looks at robin, but she also knows that carol has... history, with robin. so if she's recognising the look in carol's eyes, carol's definitely recognising the way she looks at robin, too. nancy feels oddly smug.

nancy drags robin away, finding an empty cupboard and pushes her up against the wall. in-between kisses, she tells her that carol was eyeing her up, as if she doesn't know that that ship has sailed. better show her who you belong to, nancy murmurs, biting at robin's collarbone.

when nancy and robin rejoin the room, steve looks at them with a raised eyebrow but doesn't say anything, even as robin pats her ruffled hair back into place. nancy sees carol looking again, a wounded expression on her face, and nancy smiles innocently at her.

[2jihiir0]

Another bubblescoops 💜🫧🍨🚙 commission for @mirandaranda

[hawkinsleather]

while it’s now Femslash February again, here is some bubblescoops (robin buckley/carol perkins) from last year!

they are judging steve trying to flirt with eddie. robin is also wondering if carol has 🐈 in bio (of course she does, she's just waiting for robin to look/ask)

(c. february 2024)

[eddiethebrave]

one of my favorite parts of reading steddie fics is seeing who robin is paired off with

like will it be 1) nancy, 2) vickie, 3) chrissy, 4) carol, 5) no one, or 6) an original character

[sapphicstevents]

We’re so excited to bring you this year’s 🪻 Femslash February 🪷 prompts!

Start brainstorming and sketching now! And remember to post with #SSTfemslash25 so we can begin sharing them on Febrary 1st! 🗓

Thank you so much to our server friends @itcanbepalped, @roomwithanopenfire, and @alicetallula who helped curate this list! 💘

More info below the cut...

FAQ:

Do I have to be a member of the Sapphic Stranger Things Server to participate?

No! This event is open to anyone who is interested, but if you would like to join the server pls send us a dm!

Are trans/nonbinary/genderqueer characters allowed?

Yes! They are welcome with open arms as long as they identify as sapphic.

Do I have to participate every day?

Though our prompt list is set up with 28 prompts, we have grouped them under week long "themes". You might choose to participate every day, or choose to participate weekly with your favorite prompt from that respective theme. You could choose only one to work on all month, or you could do whichever ones you like completely at random. You are welcome to participate as much or as little as you feel inclined, anything goes!

Will there be an ao3 collection?

Yes! https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sapphicSTfemslash25/profile.

If you have any further questions or concerns, don't hesitate to:

💘 Send us an ask here on tumblr!

💘 Email us at sapphicst@gmail.com

💘 Or dm a mod- @maraschinobomb and @bubblescoops

We're so excited to see what you create this🪻 Femslash February 🪷!!!

[becomingfoxes]

It's here!! So incredibly excited to share the art I made for Scraped up off the Pavement, a bubblescoops fic by @mirandaranda for the Sapphic mini bang 💖

@sapphicstevents

You can read it here on ao3 💖

[queenofshenanigans]

WIP Week(end) 6/06

I'm still working through some asks from the past couple weeks, but we're getting there! Making good progress on some things as well! And trying really hard not to add MORE things to the queue until at least a couple are in posting form. So! Make me write!

I was tagged by @queenie-ofthe-void, @sourw0lfs, @turinspeachjam, @felixir-of-moths and @tinytalkingtina this week. <3

⚾ Second Chance at First Love (and Third Base) - Steddie Big Bang! No longer a secret!!

🛼 - Sapphic Mini Bang (90s Bubblescoops, Stommy) I'll share 👩‍👩‍👦 or 🤸‍♂️- if you have a preference, drop an emoji

👩‍👩‍👦 - the Stranger Moms fic - S5 AU ft. the Stranger Moms

🐉 - Steve finds a dragon in his closet - Dustigan, developing Steddie

🏰 - Shenanigans in Steve's attic - Steve has good parents actually, Steddie, Scoops Troop

⚔️ - A Knight's Tale (with magic) - Ronance, Steddie, lots of Wheeler siblings, platonic Stobin, platonic Edancy

🤸‍♂️- The Yeet Aerobics Fic - S3 AU Stedissy, platonic Stobin, matchmaker Wayne, Buckingway

Snippet from A Knight's Tale (continued from here) and tags under the cut

These were the thoughts running through Lady Robin of House Buckley's mind, as she stared out her bedroom window at the forest. It was well past midnight but not yet dawn, and she was—as had been typical for her in childhood—Watching. When she was younger, she'd spent these Watching hours staring out her window at the Blooming Forest, just visible in the moonlight at the edge of the family estate. If she squinted, and stayed still enough, she could see the faintest shimmers of the forest magic, the flutters of wings, as the forest faeries went about their midnight business. Sometimes she would see shadows of larger creatures, hear the howls and growls as they hunted and killed. Her midnight Watchings always left her with a sense of unease, but there was always the sense that she had to keep vigil; that some day it would be important that she be ready.

It had been years, however, since she'd felt the call for a Watching, but tonight she'd awoken just after midnight, skin crawling with an anxious knowing feeling, an itch that she couldn't scratch just out of reach. Wrapped in a quilt, though the summer solstice was just weeks away, she sat at the window and Watched. The forest, dormant for a decade now, was alive again. Flashes of light, flutters of wings. Shadows of larger creatures. The howls and growls of things hunting reached her, though she should be too far to hear--the walls of her family's estate too thick for the noises to penetrate--and yet she heard them, deep in her mind.

The magic was returning to this part of the forest, she realized, and swallowed against the fear, against the sense that this was what she'd been preparing for as a child. Something was coming back—and there were those rumors about the North. The ones no one was supposed to know about.

I'm going to no pressure tag @strangerthingswritersguild and @steddiebbang @hbyrde36, @pearynice, @maxfandoms, @nureyevsins, @machtaholic, @kikidoesfanfic, @bellandora, @vegasol, @eriquin, @just-my-latest-hyperfixation, @augustjustice, @dreamwatch, @little-annie, @cloudsurfing42, @yesdangerpls

[rogueddie]

Carol initially went into Scoops Ahoy to tease Steve, but is instead faced with Robin. Something about her has Carol coming back a couple days later, with the excuse that Starcourt is the only place that sells the cigerettes she likes or that she needs more bubblegum or... well, anything but the truth; she likes spending time with Robin... and it definitely has nothing to do with the uniform.

[maraschinobomb]

Capture The Flag...

🍒 SFW, Robin Buckley x Carol Perkins, 70's, Camp Counselors, Rivals, Background Steddie, Stobinisms, Omegaverse 🌼

𖦹˚ ｡⋆ ݁₊ ⊹ . •𐦍• . ⊹ ₊ ݁ ⋆｡ ˚𖦹

The woods are still. The only sound Robin can make out is her own heartbeat in her ears and Steve's panting breath beside her.

They're crouched just inside the treeline, watching a large log cabin for any signs that they've been made. A warm, yellow glow emanates from inside the building, but no shadows cross the windows.

She can barely make out Steve's shape in the dark, but the intensity of his scent assures her of his proximity. Roasted nuts, usually slightly sweet, but now leaning towards something charred with the hard focus of his competitive attitude.

"Screw it. They don't know we're here. We should just bust in and take it while we've got the jump on 'em," he whispers.

"'the jump'? What are we, ruffians?" Robin rolls her eyes. An elbow lands in her side and connects with a rib. "Ow! What the fuck?"

"Oh my god, shut up!" Steve says at about the same volume.

"You shut up!"

"I'm starting to think you aren't taking this seriously."

She squints up at the sky. The branches are too thick for the stars to peek through where they're hidden. "Uuuh… that would be because I'm not."

"Robin," Steve starts, exasperated. "They've been kicking our asses all summer. This is our final stand!"

"Okay but shouldn't the kids get the victory?"

"I'll pass off to Dustin once I'm clear and he'll run it to home base," he says, and Robin realizes they've hatched this plan without her.

"I'm not sure that's much better."

"Come ooon!" he begs. "They're playing too." And he does have a point.

"The kids have been at it for hours, it's almost midnight, no one can get past Carol. If something doesn't give soon they're gonna call a tie."

Robin sighs. Steve directs camp competition with the seriousness of military drills. Something about Color War and handmade trophies brings out his more Macho Alpha side.

But... Carol and Eddie haven't exactly been playing fair. More than one of their campers came back and reported that Carol had literally tackled them.

She says it doesn't count because she's shorter than most them. Robin is pretty sure the counselor handbook would disagree with her.

Her imagination conjures up the look on Carol's face. The way her eyebrows would draw down and her nose would scrunch up. The little pout that would take up residence on her pretty- ahem- on her mouth. It would be nice to see it for real.

The indignity as Dustin waves a crimson flag past the director's cabin, marking them the victors. It would be nice to win just once this summer.

"Okay," Robin sighs, "fine."

Steve does a little fist pump that she feels more than sees with how closely pressed together they are in the underbrush.

"Fuck yeah. Alright, you go around back to block their escape. I'm going in the front."

"Feelin' bold?" Robin asks, can't help but feel his excitement bubbling up in her own chest.

"Feelin' lucky," he corrects her. "It's our time, baby."

"Oooh, my god."

"Go! Go! Go!" Steve darts out from the bushes before she has a chance to respond.

She watches him approach the cabin, a storage building just on the edge of camp, in a low crouch. Details coming into focus as the warm light from the nearest window falls over him.

His hair is big, it's grown out over the summer, and it curls up more chaotically than normal without his arsenal of products. His t-shirt is a saturated yellow with the black outline of a bird on the front, the same as Robin's. It's tucked into a pair of black shorts that are honestly too tight.

And too short.

Robin shakes her head at his warfare tactics and makes her way around the backside of the building, sticking to the trees so that she isn't forced to scuttle.

She stops when she has a clear view of the back door, their only option for retreat, and waits.

Nothing happens for a long time, and she wonders what Steve is waiting for when his grand plan was "bust in there."

Then there's a sound to her left. The definitive snap of wood. She doesn't move, but her eyes search for the source. Outside of the cabin though, everything is shrouded in darkness.

Stock still- hoping against hope that whoever it is hasn't already spotted her- Robin breaths deep. And it's there, faintly. Honey and vanilla on the air.

"AAAHHHH!"

"Oh shit!" Robin bolts from her post, essentially abandoning Steve to fend for himself. But a dark figure is rushing her through the trees, and she is not about to spend the rest of the game held captive in the storage building while her rival counselors gloat.

Unfortunately, Robin's sense of direction is shit. Her coordination is shit. The pitch black forest and the animalistic shouts trailing behind her aren't exactly helping.

She doesn't realize she's veered off her course toward safety until she breaks through the trees and almost runs straight into Chirp Pond. The opaque water shimmers under what little moonlight the night has to offer, almost mocking her.

"Are you kiddi-" Before Robin gets a chance to reorient herself, a flash of red flies out of the trees were she'd just come from and knocks her straight into the water.

"ACK! Carol what the fuck!?"

The slope of the pond is gradual, and it's shallow enough at the edge that Robin is essentially laying in a puddle. Carol gets up first, and pushes the other girl onto her back.

"Ha! Caught you, invader. You're coming back to Cardinal HQ." She doesn't hesitate to straddle Robin's torso, pining her wrists when Robin tries to push her off.

Carol's auburn hair hangs down is two damp braids, the ends tickle Robin's face and neck. Unlike her and Steve, Carol's shirt is a red so dark it almost looks black in this lighting. And the bird outline is a stark white, the little tuft on its head the most notable difference in shape.

She's breathing hard above Robin. The dark facepaint across her cheeks is running from contact with the water. It adds to the gleefully murderous glint in her eyes, and the adrenaline is pumping so hard that her fangs are showing. Robin feels an embarrassing flash of heat in response.

"Ya know," she says, trying to shake off both her train of thought and the omega that has her pinned in two inches of stagnant water. "I think you guys take this game a little too seriously."

"Awww." Carol makes a condescending cooing noise. She opens her eyes wide and juts her bottom lip out. "Sore loser?"

Robin plants her feet.

"Maybe." As hard as she can, she pushes up with her hips and twists her body toward the pond. Carol tumbles off with a surprised squawk and a splash.

Robin struggles to get to her feet, slipping on soft ground and wet rocks. She can hear Carol's angry snarl behind her. She glances over her shoulder to see she's sitting waist deep in the pond, totally soaked.

"I already tagged you!" Carol says.

Staggering out of the water, Robin yells, "No witnesses!"

"Wha-!" An urgent splash of movement as she books it for the trees. "You cheater!" Carol calls after her.

"Prove it!" Robin throws back, racing into the darkness once again and hopefully in the direction of the storage building.

She doesn't lose her way this time, there's an uproar of voices guiding her back. With Carol somewhere behind her, she has to keep a quicker pace than she usually would given her challenged center of gravity. She can feel the scrapes and bruises she's collecting.

When she gets close enough to the large cabin to actually see it, it sounds like she has entered some sort of war zone. There are several people yelling inside. Along with crashing noises, like furniture is being thrown or overturned.

She decides it's probably best to keep going until she reaches their safe zone. However, right before she makes it past Steve bursts out the front, waving a dark red flag over his head and being chased by about six children in matching red shirts.

Robin watches his grand escape, dumbfounded, but he catches her eye with a wink as he sprints past. "For team Goldfiiiiinch!!"

The campers, screaming their heads off, don't even notice her. Neither does Eddie, who stumbles out the door a half second later, looking harried. His face is pink and his hair is more friz than curls. At some point he had liberated his team Cardinal t-shirt of its sleeves and midriff. Poorly. Making it look more like an animal attack than a fashion choice.

He points after Steve and yells, "You'll never make it, Harrington!"

Though judging by the quickly growing gap between Steve and his pursuers, he might.

Eddie doesn't join in the chase, instead bending over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath. *What the hell happened in there?*

Robin takes a step to follow Steve's path, thinking she should stick to the treeline to avoid getting tagged again. She'll argue with Carol about rules later.

Eddie's head snaps up in her direction the second she moves, though. He stands up straight and a sly look comes over his face, though he's still panting with exertion.

"Robin!" he greets, like he's just passing her in the mess hall.

"Eddie," she returns, shuffling back when he moves forwards.

He claps his hands behind his back, trying to take up a friendlier stance.

"Would you like a tour of our… lovely headquarters?" he asks, tilting his body toward the door. "We just finished, um… redecorating!"

Eddie gives her a bright smile, like he might just charm her into giving herself up as a captive. His eyes flick to the trees behind her, then back.

Robin inches backwards some more. "Uuuuuh, no thanks. I think I'll just- oof!"

Something slamps into her hard from behind, sending her sprawling to the ground. Carol doesn't take any chances this time, folding Robin's arms behind her back and using her whole weight to keep her immobalized.

"Got you! Again!" Carol yells victorious. "You suck at this."

Robin lets out a small noise of pain when Carol kind of bounces in excitement, crushing her spine.

Eddie comes over and gives his co-captain a high-five, openly laughing at Robin's demise. But then Carol asks, "Where is everyone?"

"Err... about that. Steve kind of... and then there was a whole... He got the flag."

"What?!"

Eddie gestures urgently toward the mob of children that is now long out of sight. "Our best are on it, I swear!"

"Eddie, we're our best!"

Carol's nails dig into Robin's arm. "Ow," she squeaks out.

"Quiet, prisoner!" Carol snaps at her.

Eddie is toeing at the dirt sheepishly, when a sound makes its way to them all the way from the center of camp. Airhorns, more than one. Signaling a winner.

"You're fucking joking," Carol says in desperate disbelief. She abandons her hold on Robin so she can reach Eddie to hit him in the chest. "Moron!"

Then it's Robin's turn to laugh. Because according to the records, Carol's constant bragging, team Goldfinch just won Camp Cardinal's annual game of capture the flag for the first time in ten years.

𖦹˚ ｡⋆ ݁₊ ⊹ . •𐦍• . ⊹ ₊ ݁ ⋆｡ ˚𖦹

[formosusiniquis]

something to talk about

Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington wc: 2223 | T | Tags/Themes: Gossip, Stobin Banter and Best Friendism, a Hint of Pre-Bubblescoops a late addition for @stobinmonth day 1: gossip. AO3

Robin had been introduced to gossip through band. Which made her infuriatingly difficult to impress.

Steve was good at gossip. No, the best at it.

When he dropped Tommy, and by extension lost Carol, he went from Steve: the guy who could put together a killer party in his big empty house to what he actually was Steve: nice guy, but a little… The trailing off was usually paired with some kind of hand gesture. One that could mean a bunch of different things, and didn’t get any nicer when he started flinching when the fluorescents flickered during tornado season. 

But he had gossip as social capital.

He made it through that last year bouncing lunch table to lunch table whispering with the cheerleaders or the swim team about break-ups, make-ups, and who’d gotten busted with their latest purchase from Munson on their way back from the picnic table.

But band gossip was something else.

There was a social hierarchy beyond cheerleaders who bounced from football player to basketball when the seasons changed. It was more like the politics from the bodice rippers that he snuck off his Mom’s shelf.

It wasn’t just that Becky G. got caught getting fingered on the bus coming back from the away game. It’s that she’s a french horn and the guy was a percussionist. A word Robin hissed through her teeth like he should know what it meant.

Terri Miller wasn’t just pregnant. She’d gotten pregnant during the band camp social week at the Boy Scout campground. So the dad could be any one of four different guys, and if she didn’t guess right they would definitely know when those nine months were up.

The band was apparently some kind of den of sin and Robin still hadn’t managed to get any. Which was probably as unbelievable as the fact that any of this was happening in the first place.

Telling her that Mrs. Johnson was having an affair with Pat James, a second string baseball player who was young enough to be her son and not even that good looking -- a buzz cut with ears that stuck out from his head like dumbo -- had been met with the most unimpressed look he’d seen since they left Scoops.

“An affair, Steve, really?” She’d said. “Who cares about an affair? Something happened with the trombones and the flutes, the flutes, during Social Week and I still can’t piece together what happened since I missed the biggest week of the year because of all that Upside Down stuff.”

“You’re upset about missing out on some band drama? Not losing your sense of safety, trust in the American government, or your ability to sleep through the night?”

“I only had one of those things before all this. Now I can’t sleep and no one will tell me what’s going on with this cross-instrument family drama.”

Now that they’re in Indy it’s a little different.

It turns out in college even band kids have to study. And, much like underage drinking, some of the fun of a week-long orgy came from the threat of parent disapproval and disappointment.

Now Steve picks up his fair of strange half-conversations and relationship drama at the coffee shop he works at in the morning. Robin catches whisperings of affairs between students and professors. At night, when they barback at the lesbian bar Steve wandered into on accident right after they moved or when they’re curled up on the sofa Robin found at the thrift store two days after they signed on the apartment, they’ll share the best of what they’ve heard.

“No, Profesor Williams is the one with the weird eyes who teaches Philosophy. You’re thinking of the Music Theory professor and he’s definitely got a secret family somewhere but it’s with an age appropriate woman not a co-ed.”

“Green tea with extra lemon was leaning all over Black Coffee this morning when just last week he came in with that babe with the dark hair and glasses. One of them is his wife and the other is his girlfriend, but I haven’t figured out which one is which.”

“The pianist that’s always taking up the practice room is failing Chemistry 101 and when she tried to seduce the TA he reported her to the dean for academic misconduct. She’s a bitch but she’s also the only pianist in the program that can keep time, so I’ve got mixed feelings.”

“Americano and a muffin was telling his douchy coworker who never tips about how he got his secretary pregnant. She wants him to leave his wife, but he’s trying to decide if it’s worth it to keep her on or to hire and train a new girl. It made me remember I forgot to call my Dad’s secretary for his birthday.”

It gets them through the night but gossiping about strangers doesn’t have the same thrill as gossiping about shared classmates and the sort-of friends they'd known since Kindergarten. Doesn’t have the thrill of learning something new and excitingly interesting or terrible about someone they got to then see everyday.

It’s femoral or whatever Robin was saying about why she gets sad when she finishes her book. It doesn’t last and unlike the neat conclusion of the bodice rippers that moved with him from Hawkins -- he has a soft spot for the duchesses who get seduced by rogues and scoundrels, sue him -- the bits and pieces they get are unconnected from any other point in these people’s lives. He probably won’t get to see if Americano’s secretary gets an abortion or if she keeps the baby. Robin might get to see if the professor who has a taste for blondes who've just turned 18 gets busted, but it all depends on her schedule for the next semester.

Which makes what he has for her today perfect. More than perfect, it’s going to be something that’ll actually leave Robin impressed. She might even gape instead of just half-smiling with a single eyebrow raised, her mouth saying “oh wow” while her face says, ‘I’ve heard better.’ There is no better this time. This one might change everything.

“Guess who I saw today?”

“You’re coming from work to work so can be here til close tonight before you open at the job you just left tomorrow morning. There are doctors who work shorter hours than you are this week. Why are you so excited?” Robin uses the well bottle of tequila to point accusingly at him. Not answering the question he asked or even engaging with  his exciting news.

“It’s coffee, Robin. Four shots of espresso will fix anything. Now guess.”

“That guy who basically orders chocolate milk with a splash of coffee and found out his wife was sleeping with his twin brother?”

“No, I haven’t seen him since he saw them out the window that day.”

“Latte with cinnamon? Did he actually ask you out instead of just dropping his wallet condom on the counter when he was trying to pay?”

“No.” He says, that one is pretty tragic. That guy had been hot. The butch across from him clears her throat and he goes back to shaking her martini. “Try again.”

“I don’t like this game.” Robin winks at the blonde at the bar, handing her a shot like what she was saying to him was some kind of line for her.

He debates whether or not it’s worth it actually making her guess again. Steve’s himness has been fluid enough that he does get the occasional number while working here; he isn't sure he wants Robin to continue announcing his dating failures for anyone to overhear. 

“Carol Perkins.”

That slows her hand mid-pour; the vampy looking femme in front of her is getting her money’s worth on her vodka soda.

“Are you thinking of trading down,” Robin asks finally, tucking the tip she gets into the jar and the phone number into her pocket.

“Jealous, you know you’re my only girl.”

“Tell that to Brenda and Debbie and Melanie and Stacy…”

“Only one that matters.”

“Why do I care that you saw Carol Perkins for the first time in years?” Robin says, the only hint that this is actually a question she wants answered is the tick at the edge of her brow and the hand on her hip.

And because Steve is an ass, he’ll say it, he takes his time answering. Mixes a margarita, pours a Long Island, tells someone too young to be here that she’d be better with a coke than a cosmo. When the smoke is pouring out of Robin’s ears, when she’s trying to make it seem like she’s ignoring him now he tells her what he’s been dying to all day.

“She had a carabiner on her purse.”

“A carabiner?”

“On her purse.”

“Kinda defeats the purpose,” Robin says with her nose trying its hardest to stay out of the air.

“Depends on the purpose, doesn’t it?”

“Is Carol cute?” The leather dyke Steve had been pulling a beer for asks.

“Yeah,” he says, easy.

Not that it can be heard over the way Robin snaps, “She’s not your type.” Something snarling and possessive that Steve hasn’t seen since his last date tried to intrude on their SteveAndRobin time crossing her face and curling her lip.

“She’s vapid,” she says in response to Steve’s smile which says just as much as his words would have been able to, at least to her. 

“Sure.”

“And mean. And she always had that gum in her mouth.”

“Those were all true things about her when she was sixteen. The same year you had that perm.”

“Don’t even act like you remember that, Steven Marie Harrington. You had to look it up in the yearbook when you found out.”

“You want me to give her our number.”

“I want you to come back to me with actual gossip instead of whatever this is.”

“So you don’t want to hear about how she told Black tea with sugar that she transferred to IU after a bad breakup with her partner.”

“Nope.”

“Don’t want to hear how she asked me if I knew anyone up here when she was at the register?”

“Why would I care?”

He shrugs, lets it seem like he’s distracted grabbing a fresh bottle of vodka from their stash. “I mean she had some questions about you and what you were doing. Seemed pretty interested, thought you might be too.”

“You’re my least favorite person in the world,” she lies. 

“Consider this payback from when you told me the guy at the library was flagging. I walked to campus just to watch him make out with his girlfriend.”

“I said I was sorry, Mark from my History class said-”

“Mark from your History class was the same guy who tried to play devil’s advocate for person breeding-”

“Eugenics,” she corrects with a wince.

“Mark from History class does not get to be a source for information anymore.”

“Were you wearing your glasses? Cause if you weren’t you don’t get to be a source of information either. Who wears a carabiner on their purse? It could have been a really big safety pin.”

“I can’t believe you’re doubting me.”

“It’s not doubt.”

“It is. I told her where we work.”

“What?” The bottle she’s holding slips from her hand, bouncing on the rubber mat beneath their feet. It doesn’t break but the beer foams and froths as it spills onto the already sticky floor. Robin snatches another bottle, opening it with her ring and handing it off quickly to the woman across from her.

“I told her where we work.” He puts a heavy and weighted pause between each slowly drawn out word.

“I heard you.”

“Then why-”

“You why!”

“Me why! Because there was a carabiner on her purse Robin! Carol likes-”

She slaps her hand across his mouth for just a second, just long enough for it to feel less like a hint than hit. “Don’t finish that sentence here or ever.”

“She could like you, I’m telling you she seemed interested when she learned you were in town with me. That I knew you.”

“So you gave her directions to a dyke bar out of the goodness of your heart.”

“There was nothing good in my heart, it was out of my desire to get you laid.”

“I can get laid all by myself.” Robin snaps, louder than she should. Even with the din of the bar it sounds loud.

“I bet you can,” the voice that answers is as familiar to Steve as Robin’s. The smug and teasing way it curls around what it’s saying. Carol, smirking, with an elbow against the bar and the light catching her hair like a flame.

“I’m just going to go down here,” Steve says, ignoring the way Robin glares like she wants him to be the one aflame. “The opposite side of the bar could use some attention, so you’ve got this, Rob. Care, good to see you again.”

“Steve,” Carol greets and dismisses. “I’ll be sure to give you all something new to gossip about tomorrow.”

“You’ll have your work cut out for you. She’s got a high tolerance for that sort of thing, it may take you all night.”

“I’ll give you something to talk about.”

[lavenderstobins]

the bubblescoops dynamic™ to me