#it’s the same for my followers list i don’t look at it ever so 🧍

[mattodore]

tagged by @rottengurlz <3 idk who has or hasn’t been tagged so… no one unless you wanna do it!! actually @wldestluv-rs i am always tagging you on everything by default 🫵

[delfiore]

posso ancora aspettare

pairing: robin buckley x gn!reader

synopsis: in which there’s no happily ever after, because she loves someone else.

word count: 2.1k

a/n: ok this is awkward um not me showing up like weeks later after my last fic haha 🧍🏻‍♀️also tumblr was being a little bitch and shadowbanned tf out of me so if you saw me posting then deleting this multiple times no you didn’t 🫣

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“Oh.”

The word came out of your mouth like a squeak, a meek sound disguised as a happy surprise at the news Robin had just delivered. Though it wasn’t a surprise, to you nor to Steve—the only other person who knew Robin. You just thought you had more time.

“I can’t believe it. She said yes! Vickie agreed to go on a date with me.”

You were too shellshocked to even notice whatever facial expression Steve was making that prompted Robin’s excitement to cease.

“What?”

“I don’t know, Robin. She just came out of a relationship.

“So what?” Her tone grew annoyed.

“I’m just saying,” Steve leaned against the counter, his mouth hung open in search of the right words to say, “you gotta be careful, you know? She just broke up with her boyfriend, and this could be . . . a distraction.”

You looked up at Steve nervously, scrunching your eyebrows hoping he’d change his mind and apologize. He only looked back with a nonchalant shrug.

“Screw you, Harrington.” Robin mumbled, and walked away, towards the back of the store.

“Why would you say that?” You sighed.

“Am I wrong though?”

“No, but you didn’t have to rain on her parade like that.”

It was an asshole move, but you knew he was only trying to protect you. Only weeks ago had Steve tried all his might to tease Robin about Vickie, giving her lists upon lists as to why Vickie definitely likes girls too. You never meant to tell your truth, but you could never lie to Steve; he’d become like a big brother. And so on a random Tuesday night, in tears and with your head in your hands, you did.

“Please don’t do that again.” You pleaded, and hated the pitiful look he gave you following a short sigh.

Robin was reorganizing the closet with angry huffs when you peeked through the door quietly.

“Steve didn’t mean that, Robbie.”

“I don’t know what he means.” She slammed the stack in her hand down with a thud. “He’s being an ass because Heidi dumped him again, and he’s jealous. I mean, a week ago, he was bugging me to ask Vickie out, and I only did because he was bothering me so much. And now he wants to be all wary of her. Pisses me off.”

You didn’t know what to say. Frankly, you didn’t want her to go on that date either, but you couldn’t stand in the way of your best friend’s happiness, not when she’s been working up the courage to seize it for so long. Even if it destroyed yours.

“Hey, forget it, alright? Steve says stupid shit sometimes.” You tapped her shoulder with a small smile. “When’s your date? Come over before, and I’ll help you prepare.”

A smile quickly spread across her lips, as she pulled you into a tight hug. You chuckled, and ruffled her hair.

“Thank you, Y/N. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Robin said, “you’re my best friend, and my number one, you know? I love you.”

“Of course I know.” You rolled your eyes, grinning.

“C’mon, say it back.” She whined, pulling your hand.

“No, it’s cheesy.”

“Say it baaaack.”

“Luh you tuh.” You mumbled, causing the girl to laugh, and bring her leg up to kick your behind teasingly.

You couldn’t bring yourself to repeat it properly, because to you it’s not the same, and it would be wrong to say it.

Falling for Robin was easy. As easy as it was to draw breath, to dip your fingers and watch them the disturb the still of the water at Lover’s Lake, to open your eyes and let the world paint a colorful palette in front of you.

You didn’t know whether crushes were easy to overcome (from observing Steve through his quest to find a girl you thought it was), but this wasn’t a sporadic infatuation. This was another feeling, another sensation entirely. It was all you’ve ever known since freshman year, when you saw her for the first time doodling in Gerhardt’s second period. Robin was you’ve ever known.

Robin, Robin, Robin.

But now, she liked someone else, again. Not you.

Never you.

You barely had time to think about that these days. Yet again, something from the Upside Down was terrorizing your home, and yet again, it was up to you and your friends to defend it.

Spending time with Robin during it all reminded you that you were still one of the most important people to her, and that you’d be content just being her friend—being in her presence was enough. But you were reminded of how much it hurt seeing her pine over someone else, and most of all, how much it hurt seeing her heartbroken. Stupid Vickie didn’t know what she was missing out on.

“Guess it wasn’t a date after all.” Robin mumbled before pushing past you and Steve, escaping the sight of her crush at the other end of the store aisle kissing, who seemed to have been the boyfriend.

There was a vile part inside of you that was glad Robin saw them together.

You had just finished a batch of spears, clumsily duct-taped together from pipe cut-out sections and kitchen knives. You couldn’t believe this was your life now; making weapons to fight inter-dimensional demon lords. Spring break in Hawkins, just wack.

You looked over to see Robin sitting by Steve making molotovs. He caught your gaze, quietly gesturing towards the girl before standing up to leave.

“Hey.” You took his seat.

“Hey.” There was a smile on her lips, but it was small and strained.

“You alright?”

"I don't know," Robin said, looking down at the incendiary device. "Nancy's got a plan, so I guess we'll be as best prepared as we can be. All that matters is that we keep everyone safe."

"Robs," you shook your head, "I asked how you are doing." You took her hand tentatively, and she didn't pull away. They were warm and slender, and they fitted perfectly intertwined with your own. You felt her eyes on you, as you continued stroking the back of her hand with your other hand.

"I just have this terrible, terrible feeling that this isn't going to work out for us this time."

Your best friend lowered her head, lips pressed tightly, and you hated seeing how much all this broke her spirit. Robin Buckley, the most positive and ready-to-problem-solve, was hunched over defeated at the thought of going up against the telepathic demon lord.

“Hey. Hey, look at me.” You let your hand pull back her hair from her face, your chest tightening seeing her glossy eyes. “We’re gonna be okay. We can’t die yet. We still gotta go to Europe, remember? Watch the sun go down in Champs de Mars, eat ice cream as we walk along the port in Monaco, right?”

This elicited a short laugh from the girl. She sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “We don’t even have money for that yet.”

“Then we gotta go make some.” You smiled, encouragingly. “After we fight Vecna . . . slash Henry, slash One, whatever.”

“Okay, dingus.” She said, putting a hand up to your face, and pinching your cheek lightly. “You win.”

Her eyes, blue like the sky, found a home in yours. You wondered how a pair of eyes could feel so much like home, and how easy it was to fall in love with them. You didn’t need to ask anyone—certainly not Vickie—you knew what that was like yourself. You loved Robin so much, and you didn’t know what you were going to do if she left your side.

You settled for a kiss on her cheek, and a firm hug, choking back a confession when an overwhelming sense of love enveloped you, as you did her.

You were to go to Eddie and Dustin to distract the Demobats so that everyone else can go on with their plan. With much persistence from Robin, saying that it was where you’d be most safe, you watched with a worried frown as Robin slung her backpack over her shoulder.

You couldn’t tear your eyes away from her; she looked so good, so brave, even though you knew her hands were shaking.

“Be careful, okay?” You said, trying not to let your weakness show.

“You first.” Robin smiled, and you brought her into your arms to hold her tight before you said anything you'd regret.

Robin sighed and squeezed you back with the same affection, as you placed a firm kiss on her cheek. She prayed for your safety, so that she could clutch onto you afterward, tell you all about how the date with Vickie made her realize that they were too similar for her to like her bandmate in any sort of romantic way, that she had been burying her feelings for you out of respect for your friendship, and that she would regret it for the rest of her life if she didn't say anything now.

The thought of you consumed her, so that even while her body moved through the woods behind Steve and Nancy, her mind was with you, watching you with Eddie and Dustin, wanting to fend off whatever posed a threat to you. She imagined your pursed lips, anxious, wandering eyes waiting for the strike to come, then she'd imagine you wounded, and get the coldest sense of dread running down her spine.

"Hey," Steve stood back when he saw her steps slow down, "Robin, you alright?"

"I think I'm in love with Y/N." She said, and there was no hesitation in her voice.

Steve only sighed, wishing his best friend would have realized sooner. It would have spared both you and her a lot of time.

“Let’s finish this, and then you can go ask them out, alright?”

With a heavy heart and desperate longing, Robin kept marching until she reached the vine-infested mansion in which Vecna resided.

They went along with their plan, yet by the end of it, Vecna’s body was nowhere to be found after he fell out of the window, shattering the glass in the most dramatic of fashions. The vines that broke off from his body were still moving like forgotten maggots on the floor. The fight was not over, but they have won for now.

Robin was the first to run back to the trailer park in the Upside Down, hoping to catch you. She was fantasizing about how she was going to tell you everything that she’s been feeling, that she didn’t even notice at first that you were nowhere to be found. Dustin was sat on the dirt with his little head in his hands, sobbing.

“I’m sorry.” Eddie approached her cautiously, and she saw the worst.

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Steve has had to make several food runs the past two days, so much so that his wallet had been depleted (not that it ever was full in the first place), and the boy begrudgingly drove back home to the other end of town to get some more cash. Lucas was a bit more willing to eat. Seeing him munch on a sandwich halfheartedly as his eyes glued on Max’s lifeless body roused the dormant fatherly sentiments in Steve that only ever get to strong for these reckless yet brave teenagers he’s been babysitting.

He dreaded going into the room next to Max’s, because he hated seeing both of his best friends in such distress, one of them stuck in a limbo of life and death and the other mulling over it as if she had already lost them.

“Hey,” he said, “got you some jelly donuts.”

At the silence from the girl, and the incessant beeping of the machine—the only indication that you were still alive—Steve set the food down on the nightstand next to Robin.

“Hey, you gotta eat something, alright?” Uncharacteristically calm and quiet, he murmured and placed a hand on her shoulder. “After that, go home and get a quick change of clothes. I’ll be here.”

“No.” She shook her head quietly, her hands never leaving yours; it was cold and limp.

“Robin—“

“I have to wait,” She said. “I have to be here when Y/N wakes up to tell them that I love them.”

Your face was eerily serene, like stuck in a deep sleep that you couldn’t wake up from. The doctors were puzzled by what kind of animal bites that plagued your sides which caused you to go into septic shock and, subsequently, your current comatose state. You might wake up tomorrow, next week, or—they feared at worst—never at all.

“I’ve waited for so long,” Robin brought your hand up to kiss it, “I can still wait.”