|| ronance oneshots from AO3 ||

|| Dear Robin Buckley ||

Written by @Lonesome_Witch on ao3!!

Fluff

"I'm not saying she has to write to me but... I don't know, I thought we were friends and isn't that what friends do? Write letters to each other." Robin sighed, pushing another video back in its rightful spot.

"Have you tried writing to her first? Maybe she just thinks you guys aren't really friends. I mean you guys met at the end of the world and then hung out for one summer. Maybe she thinks that you don't want anything to do with her anymore." Steve replied.

"I have written, twice. The second time because I thought maybe the first letter got lost in the mail."

"Maybe both of them got lost in the mail, just like all of her replies." Steve shrugged, unaware of how to comfort his best friend.

"We both know that's not the case. She's just ignoring me. How many letters have you gotten since she left for Boston?" Robin returned to the counter.

"I don't know. I'm not counting them. Five?"

"So all five your letters arrive and she gets your replies every single time but all my letters get lost in the mail. That seems very unlikely." She leaned against the counter, burying her face in her hands. "And that is only mentioning the letters. You call with her once a week, I've spoken to her once over the phone and I'm pretty sure I heard her mumble 'tell her I'm not here' when her friend handed over the phone. She probably hates me. She realized she hated me all along once she got some space to breathe, away from all of my rambling."

"Robin, that is not true. She doesn't hate you. In fact, she asks about you all the time."

"She does?" Robin lifted her head in surprise.

"Yeah, she asks how you are doing almost every time we call."

"Is it because you always talk about me and then she feels like she has to ask you?"

Steve wasn't sure how to reply to that. He did mention Robin a lot when he spoke of his day, seeing as he spent most of his time with the girl. It wasn't impossible that that was entirely the reason the questions were thrown his way. Yet he felt like it wasn't. Like the two girls really did care for each other.

"Exactly." Robin exclaimed, taking his silence as an answer of its own.

"Look, Robin. If you want, I can talk to her about it. I can ask why you've heard nothing of her since she left Hawkins. But I've offered to do that three times already and you always say no. If you really want to talk to her you can always call her, or I can call her and then quickly hand you the phone once I hear she's there." The boy offered.

He was rewarded with a soft laugh. "No, it's alright. Like you said, I only knew her for a few months anyway."

And that's how the conversation ended each time. Robin sighing and stating that same heartbreaking sentence that clearly tore her apart. 

Robin refrained herself from bringing up the topic that is Nancy Wheeler for three weeks after that conversation. She knew it annoyed Steve, even though he'd never admit it. She also knew it was stupid to be hung up on the other girl. They had barely been friends before Nancy left. Why did she expect to suddenly be on Nancy's friend list as the girl sent out letter after letter to Steve, Jonathan, Max and Dustin. She was being stupid and all because of a few late night phone calls about nightmares and a few movie nights shared with a dozen other people. If she looked back to the summer of '86 she could clearly state that she had not spent any one-on-one time with the eldest Wheeler sibling. Which was slightly surprising as Robin had spent one-on-one time with every other member of the party, including the younger Wheeler sibling and the California crowd that Robin barely knew. But not Nancy. If Robin was seen around Nancy there would always be a third party. Robin, Nancy and Steve went to the movies a few times. Robin, Nancy and Max would grab lunch on occasion. Robin, Nancy and Erica would go for ice cream. Robin, Nancy and everyone would have movie nights. And while they would be seen sitting close together on each of those occasions, laughing and smiling and whispering stupid comments in each other's ear, they were never alone.