𝐷𝑜𝑝𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑆𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑛, 𝑂𝑥𝑦𝑡𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑛- 𝑅𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒

𝑆𝑖𝑥- 𝑅𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑙 𝑀𝑐𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑛

In just over seventy hours, the group would be reunited. United like a jigsaw, like perfectly corrupted pieces of history joined together once more.
However, jamming puzzle pieces together after they had already been dented and bruised didn't mean that everything would be well again. Perhaps, after everything, having them all accumulating in one area would show how deep the dents really had seeped, and would highlight the true effects of the events previous.
Safety in numbers. Safety in numbers.

It was all Robin seemed to be able to think about; the damage. She was nervous, yes, but it didn't seem normal. It didn't seem normal, as in, she was always anxious in some way or another, but this time, it felt odd. The late battle of Starcourt was one thing, but the key difference is that they hadn't been separated beforehand. Their previous battle, however, they had been.

Maybe it was the ominous layer of threat that lurked over a completed group. The fact that the last time they were pulled together, they were pulled together to fight. To fight to quite literally save the world and their lives.
The neurological functions in her brain were eager to link up the two things, and to tell her that every time the whole community of them were alert, something bad was going to happen.
Quite a way to ruin a fun little vacation to their home.

However, as she sat quietly in the middle of the Family Video counter-ring, it was figured best to drop the subject before it consumed her entirely. Nothing bad was going to happen, but she just had to convince herself that first.

Steve was mulling around. His arms were crossed, a concentrated glare plastered on his face. It almost looked as if he was thinking just as deeply as Robin had been doing, but she knew it wouldn't be true. He was never much of a thinker.
She watched him for a moment, tracking his movements as he unconsciously paced, one hand rising to rub his chin in thought.

"You okay?" The woman decided to ask.

Harrington paused, snapping out of his trance-like-state just as quickly as he could crack an unfunny joke. His demeanour had shifted completely in the moment, face sporting a newfound glow.

"Oh- yeah! Yeah, I'm okay... are you?"

Robin blinked, slightly taken aback. She'd always cursed herself for not picking up on social queues, but with the way her co-worker acted, she sometimes questioned whether the whole world got them wrong, too. She knew for a fact that the face of Steve Harrington was not okay a moment ago.

"News to me." Came a huff, head turning but pupils pinned to show a confused side-eyed glare.

"What?"

"You just didn't look too impressed, that's all."

The man stopped in his tracks all together, eyes turning bright as he allowed a relaxed sigh.
"Hm."

"-but yeah, I'm also okay." Robin allowed the returned question to be answered. The word in which she told wasn't one-hundred-percent true, but in that given moment, there was a small inch of truth settled deep in its layers. You just had to look for it, that's all.

From assumption alone, it became clear that Steve wasn't nervous, but excited. The growing cloud of anticipation had consumed him, and even though he would never admit to such a thing, Robin knew that he enjoyed when all of his friends were close. It was the sense of responsibility; the fact that when there were multiple people surrounding your every move, you could keep busy.
Keeping busy meant not falling into the deep, dark pit of boredom- the same pit which was sure to be deadly.

"You got any plans in the upcoming future?" The woman added to make conversation, bringing up her hand to push away a floating strand of hair.

Harrington toyed with his shirt sleeve, the stripes of fabric warping underneath his touch.
"Yeah, actually. I have."

Interest was easily peaked.
"Oh? Please do tell."

"You'll murder me."

"Most likely. Now spill."

"I'm going out on another little... well, I guess you could call it a date."

Robin couldn't quite believe her ears. It shocked her completely over how he could find people so easily.
"Where? And who with? Do I know her? How do you find these women so easily?"

Across the storefront, Steve chuckled, shaking his hands out in front of him.
"Woah, woah, woah... chill with the questions."

"But they're burning me."

"Lucy's Café, Rachel McKinnon, you probably do, and Highschool."

His cheat method- which had just been revealed- for picking up girls, was to most likely scamper over the ones who swooned for him in school, and would easily still take a chance if they got one. Robin knew that he'd changed since then, so the reason for constant failure was evident in that way. It was a miserable but thankful reaction to Steve skimping on his 'bad boy' status.
It also didn't help that the man didn't at all realise that even though he thought he was, he was not as 'cool' as he was before.

However, after all of the losses and gains of his newfound and altered personality, at his core, Steve still hated that he wanted to keep the same status as his previous self. It was known that he didn't want to be associated with his old self at all, which was understandable, but there were always a few core subjects that people wanted to keep when they change. It was only human.

"Yeah, I've heard of her." Robin acknowledged, strumming her fingers on the countertop. "She was in your science class."

The man's face scrunched.
"How'd you know that?"

It was a pretty obvious explanation.

"Well, Steve, like we've learned before- I see a lot of people without them seeing me. I've heard she's a bit of a brat."

She was referring to Sophomore history class with Mrs Click. First period, every Tuesday and Thursday, for a year. Never seen, never heard, never noticed. That's how good Robin was at hiding in the shadows. She'd become quite the spy, sitting behind the King of Hawkins High two days a week for three hundred and sixty five days. He hadn't even remembered her when they crossed paths once again that summer. Although she didn't converse around the school much, Buckley had quite the eye for sussing people from a distance.

"You've got quite the skill for that."

"Very funny, Steve The Hair Harrington."
She also had quite the knack for sarcasm and snippy remarks.