Ambivalence

S4 Chapter 32 - Vecna's Curse

Saturday, March 22, 1986

"Y/N?" A voice calls out, distant and blurred. "Y/N, wake up." Each word sends a pounding echo through my head. "Y/N!" My eyes shoot open and I yank the covers off me. Steve steps back, looking startled. "Jesus!" He raises his hands in defense.

I grab my head in pain. "What time is it?" My voice is thick with confusion.

"6:00!" he exclaims. My head whips towards him, and I stumble, tripping out of his bed as my foot gets caught in the sheets.

"Steve, are you shitting me?!" Panic rises in my chest. "My flight leaves at 6:30!!"

"I know that! I've been trying to wake you up for the last 15 minutes!" he defends, his voice tinged with frustration.

"15 minutes?! You were supposed to wake up at 5!" I shout, the small space amplifying my voice.

"I was! But you kept shoving me off the bed last night, so I slept on the couch. How the hell you slept through that alarm isn't my problem!" Steve's face softens with guilt as he finishes the sentence.

I sigh deeply and shove him aside. "Just—" I raise my hands in exasperation, then lower them, letting out a deep breath. "Drop me off at home. Please." I move around him and grab my bags from the corner of his room.

The car ride is a heavy silence. Neither of us bothers to turn on the radio for the short drive.

The maroon sedan pulls up to the curb, and he puts the car in park, unbuckling his seatbelt.

"Don't." I motion to his hands. "Just pop the trunk, please." He glumly nods and complies.

With a mix of anger and exhaustion, I remove my bags from the trunk, slamming it shut. I give him a brief wave and trudge up the driveway, not bothering to look back as I open the door.

Everyone is likely asleep. I set my things down in the entryway, kicking off my shoes aggressively. I would call Mom, but she's three hours behind. It'd be, what, 3 am there? I'll call her later. I slowly drag my tired body to my room, slide the door open, and move towards my bed, quickly falling face-first onto my pillows.

*** Steve's POV ***

"-and I want to stop digging, I'm trying to stop, but I can't." I rest my right arm against a display shelf and place my left hand on my hip, watching Robin get lost in her words. "And I'm doing it right now, aren't I?"

I give her a blank face and nod. "Yeah, you are."

She exhales and leans dramatically against a poster frame. "Oh, I'm hopeless."

I mirror her actions and lean against a poster frame, rethinking my decisions from this morning as well. "Eh. We both are." I cross my arms.

Robin turns toward me. "If only we could just, like, combine." She meshes her fingers together in a demonstration.

"Combine?" I furrow my brows and face her.

"No, think about it. I know exactly what I want, and I've found the girl of my dreams, but I just can't get the courage to ask her out." I nod, processing his words. "Meanwhile, you're always going on about how you and Y/N are meant to be, and you have no idea what you want your future together to be."

I give an upside-down smile and nod, agreeing with her.

"So if we just combined, all our problems would be solved."

"Oh..." I fully realize what she's going on about.

"Because, I mean, alone, let's face it..." She scoffs.