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This, Robin would like to make clear, is not the way the day was supposed to go.
She was supposed to wake up in Steve’s arms, stretch so obnoxiously he nearly fell off the edge of his insanely big bed, and then do nothing, soaking in the last rays of summer and probably end up being harassed by all the little twerps when they emerged from the street like feral stray dogs.
Except for Max and Mike. Max was way more like a cat. Mike, she had decided, was like an angry little chipmunk.
Regardless— in the spirit of not lazing around the whole day, Steve had managed to convince her to go for a little hike in the woods.
And there they are, tromping around the damp woods, their laughter echoing off the trees when she falters, staring at the line of little rain jackets that have suddenly appeared before her.
“Steve,” she says quietly, unable to help the uncertainty that infuses her voice. “You— you see those kids too, right?”
Steve blinks, one slow sweep of his eyelids— how he blinks when he simply can’t believe what he’s seeing, often given to Eddie or Dustin, and never, Robin knows, given to her— before he nods.
“Is that—” He cuts himself off, darting forward, and Robin follows, because what the fuck else is she going to do, even if he is running at the terrifying display of random kids in the fucking woods, like this isn’t a nightmare scenario or the start of a horror movie— and god help her, because she is not cut out to be a final girl.
“Holly,” Steve yelps, and Robin speeds up, nearly slamming into him as he skids to a stop, the two of them staring at Holly and four other kids, all of whom look completely baffled by their appearance.
“Steve,” Holly answers, throwing herself at him, and trying to scramble into his arms. “We’re lost .”
She sounds so delightfully pleased by the idea that Robin snorts, drawing her attention.
“Robbins,” Holly shrieks, immediately pulling away from Steve and slamming into her. “I missed you!”
“Missed you too, Hols,” she answers, dropping to her knees to hug her properly, meeting Steve’s wide-eyed gaze over her shoulder as Holly’s bony elbow digs into her ribs. “What’s uh— what are you doing out here?”
“Hiking,” one of the other kids chirps out, waving shyly when Robin glances at him, his brown eyes big and round as he speaks. “But Mrs. Boone got lost, and we kept walking because she said we’d be able to see the waterfall at the end of the walk and I really wanted to see the waterfall.” He sucks in a deep breath, his eyes getting even wider somehow. “Did you know that the world's tallest waterfall is Angel Falls? It’s in Venzoola.”
“It’s in Venezuela, dingus,” another kid says, stomping her foot on the ground, her pink skirt swirling around her jeans as she moves. “Don’t you know anything?”
“I think that was a pretty cool fun fact,” Steve cuts in, crouching down, as Robin blinks at the sudden fight brewing. “Uh— what’re your names?”
Holly pulls herself out of Robin’s arms. “That’s Andrew,” she says, pointing at the waterfall kid. “That’s Julia, and Mark, and Violet.” She laughs and throws herself back at Steve. “And I’m Holly!”
Julia stomps her foot again. “I want to be called Julz,” she mutters. “But no one listens.”
“Julz,” Robin repeats, making sure she has the names down, and flashing Julz a thumbs up when she beams. “Mark, Violet, Andrew.” She nods to herself, before she grins at them. “So you all got lost?”
Violet tosses her thick black hair over her shoulder and shrugs. “No, they got lost,” she says snidely, giving the rest of them a baleful look and crossing her arms, her rainjacket squeaking as she moves. “I know just where we are.”
“Oh yeah?” Mark says, wrinkling up his nose and kicking a rock across the ground. “Where are we?”
Violet blinks at him, before settling her hands on her hips. “We’re in the woods,” she says, all attitude, and Robin abruptly wonders if she’s watching a tinier version of Erica Sinclair boss these kids around. “Duh.”
“Don’t be a meanie-butt because you’re lost too,” Holly says crossly, and Robin bites back the laugh that threatens to bubble up, turning to look at Steve, only to find him nodding along seriously to Holly’s words. “That’s not nice.”
“Yeah, guys,” Steve says, meeting each of their eyes as Robin watches, his mouth pressed into a line that she just knows is holding back laughter. “You shouldn’t say mean words to people, it can hurt their feelings.”
Violet scowls. “Well, I’m not a meanie-butt, even if Holly says I am.”
Robin clears her throat as Holly opens her mouth, her brow furrowing just like Mike’s does when he’s about to launch into an inane argument.
“I don’t think anyone’s a meanie-butt,” she says carefully, forcing down all tinges of laughter, because she doesn’t really know the kids but she knows if she laughs at them, they’ll absolutely riot and refuse to listen, because that’s exactly what she would’ve done. “Maybe we try using another word to describe how we feel?”
Violet eyes her for a long moment before Mark, who’s been watching them quietly with a frown so far, pipes up. “Can I say you guys are shitbirds?” he asks, blinking at the two of them. “My grandma says I’m one all the time.”
Robin’s not proud of the noise she makes as she inhales her laughter, the wheeze of it catching in her throat, as she doubles over and coughs, rubbing at her chest.
“Uh,” Steve says over the sounds of her hacking up a lung. “No.”
“Darn,” Andrew says, sounding exactly like a tinier Dustin— exasperation clear. “Why not?”
“That’s not nicer,” Julz says, scowling at him. “That’s meaner.”
Steve sets his hands on his hips and nods, still crouched down against the ground, and Robin suppresses a snort at his expression. “We shouldn’t say things like that because it hurts people's feelings when they’re called names. And— shitbird is definitely a mean name.”
“Hm,” Mark says, frowning. “I don’t think it’s a mean name ‘cause why would my grandma say it then?”
Robin wheezes another laugh as quietly as she can manage, as Steve hums consideringly. “That’s uh, a question for your mom, buddy, I think. What if you just don’t say it around us, okay?”
“Can I say it?” Holly asks. “If Mark can say it not around you I wanna say it too.”
Steve shakes his head. “Just— don’t— don’t say it at all,” he says desperately, shooting a look over at Robin.
Her eyes are watering with the force of holding back laughter, but she clears her throat and nods. “I don’t think that that’s something anyone should say— or at least not til you’re older,” she manages to eke out, shrugging when Steve widens his eyes at her, because she has no idea what she’s saying, she just doesn’t think she can wander through the woods with tiny voices chirping shitbird at everything they see just for the hell of it. “Maybe we just call each other by their names instead?”
Mark heaves a huge sigh, as though they’ve asked him for something impossible, before nodding. “I guess,” he says. “Can we go now?”
“Go?” Steve repeats, frowning. “Where?”
“To find Mrs. Boone,” Julz says, nailing the cute condescending tone that only seven-year-olds can have, as they tell you about their life and don’t understand how they aren’t the center of your world. “Duh.”
“Right,” Steve says, twisting to look at her, as Robin laughs again, bright and loudly, because holy shit these kids are already giving the Party a run for their money in the attitude department, and she thinks it’s kind of amazing. “Uh, where did you all come from then?”
On one, all of them point in a different direction, Andrew pointing the direction they came from, clearly and obviously lying, while Holly is giggling, pointing up at the sky. Violet’s got a frown on her face, as she points down the path, while Julz and Mark are pointing at the woods.
“Right,” Steve says again, even more weakly.
Robin clears her throat. “Since Violet told us the real direction, she gets to lead us back to safety,” she announces, shaking her head when the rest of them groan. “You got your chance,” she says. “You chose to point in nonsense directions.”
“You’re a nonsense direction,” Holly says, grinning at her, before trotting away to catch up with Violet as she heads down the path.
The others blink after her with wide eyes before scrambling to follow, their voices echoing off the trees as Steve exhales sharply.
“I— I actually don’t think I can ever be a parent,” he mutters. “This is ridiculous.”
“I know,” she murmurs, as they follow the five of them up a trail, one she vaguely thinks is familiar from the other hikes Steve’s dragged her out on. “This feels like a fever dream. No, because, seriously, what is going on?”
“I don’t even know,” Steve says, his eyes fixed on the line of wiggling kids in front of them, ready to gently corral them back on track when they stop moving. “But like, we can’t be that far from where we need to go, right? Like, they’re— they’re tiny, and we know that they came here with someone, so I don’t think that they could’ve walked a mile… but also? What the fu— freak do I know?”
Robin snorts, pressing her lips together. “Nice save,” she says. “Although none of them appear to be looking.”
“That’s how they get you,” Steve mutters. “You think they aren’t listening and then boom, that whole time you were swearing up a storm? They were listening.” He pauses, turning to look her dead in the eyes. “They’re the devil,” he says, completely serious. “They have no morals and they want to feast on the souls of the damned.”
Robin pulls her gaze away from him to stare at the five kids, watching as Mark picks up a pinecone and chucks it into the woods before cheering, as Julz hollers something about finding deer poop and the rest of them hustle over to ooh and ahh over the mound of shit.
“This isn’t fueling your desire for six nuggets?” she teases gently, grinning up at the sky when he groans. “You can’t blame a girl for asking,” she says, resisting the urge to throw herself at him, abruptly full of the late-summer joy that lingers, the kind that swells up, like mud squelching between toes, gross and lovely, thick with promise. “And this feels almost— poetic, doesn’t it?”
Steve groans again, reaching out to sling an arm around her. “You’re the worst person I’ve ever met,” he says, laughter clear. “I love you so fucking much.”
“Steve,” Holly shrieks from ahead. “I wanna fall down a hole.”
“No,” Steve calls back immediately, speeding up with Robin still under his arm, so she has no choice but to follow after too. “Absolutely not,” he continues, as Mark and Violet begin to argue for the hole falling, Holly narrow-eyed at the edge of it.
“It’s not a big hole Mister Steve,” Julz says, snapping sticks in her hand to punctuate her words. “It’s just a little one.”
Steve breathes in, shaking his head, and Robin steps out from under his arm, crouching down to examine the little hole the group had stumbled upon.
To call it a real hole, wasn’t quite right— it was more like a natural depression, but it was deep enough that they’d have to scramble to get out, and she knew that Steve was already anxious about returning the kids in their normal state— to return them worse off, would break him.
“Why do you want to fall down a hole?” Robin asks, her nose wrinkling. “Doesn’t seem that fun.”
Holly shrugs. “It’s like what they always say,” she says, her head tipping to the side. “Life’s about the ‘spreciation of nature, right?”
“Did you mean appreciation?” Steve asks, after a moment of staring at her, before glancing back at the hole in front of them. “Or did you mean uh something else?”
Holly rolls her eyes, looking exactly like Nancy as the wind catches her hair and sends it floating on the breeze, her face set into a classic I-can’t-believe-I-have-to-explain-this look. “S’it’s what I said.”
“Yeah, Mister Steve,” Robin teases. “That’s what she said.” He shoots her a dark look and she giggles, straightening up and slipping closer to him.
“I think we can appreciate the nature from outside the hole, Hols,” he says. “No need to climb inside.” He bites at his lip, clearly debating something before crouching down, Robin moving to shadow him as he balances on the edge of the divot. “See down there?” he asks, pointing, before immediately chiding, “careful,” when Andrew bumps into Mark. “It’s wet and dirty down there,” he says, pointing at the sludge Robin can see. “That means that if you were to go into it, you’d get covered in mud and it might be hard to get you out.”
“Oh,” Holly says, after staring at it for a moment. “I don’t want to get dirty.”
Steve nods, and Robin can feel him shift back in relief, bracing himself against her legs as she sets her hands on his shoulders. “Right,” he says. “I didn’t think you did.”
“Maybe we just continue down the path,” Robin says, squeezing him tightly, as the damp smell of wet earth rises, and suddenly all she can remember is the feeling of vines, the tug of wet clothes, an echo— are you kidding? I made that shit up— before Steve’s hands rise up and his fingers drum a familiar pattern against her knuckles, rocketing her back into her body.
“I think continuing on is a good idea,” Steve says, nodding as Mark mutters something under his breath that Robin can’t catch— still focused on breathing right. “You’re right— you can lead now.”
“But,” Violet says, looking almost devastated. “I was leading before.”
“And you were doing great, kiddo,” Steve assures, still tapping at her knuckles as Robin sucks in another breath— through her mouth this time so she doesn’t inhale more of the scent of damp soil. “It just sometimes can’t always come down to one leader, you know?”
Violet stares at the two of them for a long moment, her eyes flicking between them like she expects Robin to say something against it, before she huffs, glancing at Mark. “I guess you can lead,” she says, crossing her arms and sticking her face up. “But I’m not happy ‘bout it.”
Steve exhales as Mark heads away from the hole, the rest of them following, even Holly, before he twists, glancing up at her.
“I’m good,” she mutters, stepping back and letting him rise up, his hand slipping off of hers for a moment, before he scoops it back up in his. “It just— it took me by surprise.”
“It’s okay if you’re not,” he says, watching her carefully before he glances over his shoulder, Robin following his gaze to see the kids grouped around something and poking it with sticks. “And I know that this is— this isn’t ideal,” he says. “I know that this isn’t what we wanted to be doing but we can— if it’s easier, we can lug them back to mine and try to call their parents or something?”
She shakes her head, squeezing his hand. “It’s okay,” she says, rolling her eyes when he narrows his gaze at her. “I promise, Stevie— I’m okay.”
“Roooooobinnnnn,” Holly screams. “Come look at what we found.”
She laughs, stepping around and tugging him after her. “C’mon,” she says. “We can debrief after we get these rugrats back to their errant teacher soon.”
“I’m holding you to that,” he mutters and she laughs again, shaking her head, before catching up with the kids.
“What’s up?” she asks, pausing as they poke at a lump of dirt on the ground, sending the fire ants into a tizzy. “Oh, c’mon guys,” she says. “Leave ‘em alone.”
“Mister Steve?” Andrew says, blinking up at the two of them. “I’m tired and I don’t wanna walk anymore.”
Before Steve can answer, Violet interrupts. “That’s not fair— I’m tired too. I don’t wanna walk either.”
“Didn’t you guys walk here all by yourselves?” Steve asks desperately, as Robin’s mouth twitches— she knows exactly how they feel, and she too has resorted to making Steve give her piggyback rides, just like they’re all clearly angling for.
“Yeah but we didn’t know we’d have to walk back,” Andrew says, slowly, like Steve’s missing the whole point. “We thought we’d be beamed up back to the playground.”
“That’s not what I thought,” Julz says. “I thought we’d get mermaid powers and swim back to the ocean.”
“From the waterfall?” Robin asks, just wanting to make sure she’s following along, and grinning when Julz nods. “That’s pretty cool.”
“Well, I just thought we’d walk back,” Violet says, wrinkling her nose, before she sighs, long and solemn. “But I really wanted to fly, if we can.” She twists to look at the two of them, her eyes narrowing. “Can you fly?”
Holly laughs before either of them can answer. “They can’t fly silly, but Mike’s best girl friend can float.” Steve and Robin freeze, staring at Holly as she continues. “She takes lotsa baths and knows how to float really well.”
“How’d you— where’d you hear that?” Steve croaks out, as Robin crouches down to be at her eyeline, like that will somehow make her tell them everything she knows.
“Walkies,” Holly chirps, poking at the anthill with vigor. “They left one on the table and I took it.”
Robin closes her eyes and very purposefully doesn’t swear, even though it’s all she wants to do.
She knows exactly what walkie-talkie Holly’s talking about, because it’d been a source of contention in the Party that one of them had gone missing, and at this point they all shared them with equal vigor, the walkies being swapped hand to hand, with only the older set having their own personal ones— and two weeks ago, one had gone missing in the general rush from the Wheelers.
There had been fights and arguments over where it could be and they’d torn the basement apart before attempting to destroy Mike’s room, but none of them had braved Nancy’s wrath to even try searching in her room, and none of them had even thought that Holly might have a hand in it.
“Oh,” Robin says, raising her brows at Steve when she twists to look at him. “Well.”
“When you get back to your house,” Steve says, sighing. “You’ve gotta give it back.”
Holly groans, rolling her eyes. “It’s not even that interesting,” she mutters, throwing her stick to the side and marching away, Mark and Julz following more slowly behind as Julz drags her stick with her. “It’s always about baths or about monsters and it’s not even cool monsters.”
“Right,” Steve says weakly, before glancing down at Andrew. “You still tired bud?” Robin straightens up as Andrew nods, and Steve crouches down with a sigh. “You want a piggyback?”
Andrew nods, grinning at him, and scrambles up.
“Wow, Mister Steve,” he says, as soon as Steve rises to his full height. “You’re so tall— you’re taller than the trees!”
Steve snorts. “I don’t know about that one, but thanks.”
Violet kicks at the ground. “I don’t want to walk either.”
“Ask Mister Robin,” Andrew says brightly, as Steve lets out a strangled noise but doesn’t correct him, glancing over at her to see if she will. “She’s pretty tall too.”
Violet peeks up at her, her cheeks flushing. “Mister Robin,” she says quietly, so soft that Robin has to lean down to catch her words. “Can I have a piggyback ride?”
“Sure can, kiddo,” Robin says, crouching down and letting her clamber up. “You good?”
“All set,” Violet answers, before even more quietly whispering, “thank you.”
Robin swallows, smiling at Steve when he glances over, before whispering back, “you’re welcome.”
The four of them trek forward, following after Mark, Julz, and Holly as they run along the path, occasionally doubling back to show them strange rocks they’ve found, and once a piece of something that Robin’s pretty sure is a bone, before she makes Julz chuck it away.
On their backs, Andrew and Violet chatter, Andrew loud and proud from the beginning, but it takes Violet a few times to get going, like she’s too nervous that Robin will drop her if she says something wrong, before she starts talking about her favorite color and then that spills into her favorite everything,and Robin’s been listening intently for at least five minutes by the time she realizes that she can hear someone yelling.
She glances at Steve, who furrows his brows and speeds up, calling for Holly, Julz, and Mark to come back to them.
They pause at the big bend in the road, glancing over their shoulders at him, before Mark points at something around the curve and they take off.
Steve swears loudly, ignoring the way Violet gasps, and takes off, carefully almost running with Andrew bouncing on his back. Robin follows at a slower pace, very aware of the fact that if Violet tumbles off her back, they’re both getting injured.
“Oh thank heavens,” greets the two of them as they round the corner, the kids huddled around an older woman, cardigan slung over the crook of her elbow and round glasses perched on her nose. “I thought— oh— thank you both so much,” she says, as Steve slows to a stop, Robin coming up behind him, careful as Violet begins to wiggle on her back, before she crouches down and lets the girl slip off, Andrew sliding off of Steve just as easily. “You kids know better than to run off like that— what if you had gotten hurt?”
“But we didn’t?” Holly points out, before gesturing at her and Steve. “And we found our friends.”
“I’m—” Mrs. Boone cuts herself off, shaking her head before she turns to the two of them. “Thank you both for keeping them safe, and bringing them back.”
Steve nods awkwardly, as Holly huffs. “They didn’t even let me go in a hole!”
“Hols,” Robin says before catching herself, and stepping over to her, leaving Steve to deal with the effusive praise from Mrs. Boone. “Next time we go on a hike with Nance and everyone, you wanna come?”
Holly sniffles and nods. “Miss you lots,” she mutters, wiping at her nose. “S’no fair that everyone else gets to see you.”
“Aw, kiddo, I miss you too,” Robin says, opening her arms and letting her dart in for a hug. “We’ll have a special day soon, okay? Just you and me.”
“And Steve?” Holly asks her arms tight around Robin’s neck.
“And Steve,” Robin confirms as Holly pulls back, tears gathering in her eyes line. “Oh sweetheart, don’t cry,” she murmurs, reaching up and gently brushing them off as Holly sniffles again. “We’ll hang out soon, I promise.”
Holly watches her for a long moment, before she nods. “Okay,” she says, wiping away the few tears that have lingered. “Okay.”
Robin smiles at her and lets her go, watching as she zips away to join into some game that Mark and Violet have started up, before she makes her way back to Steve and Mrs. Boone.
“Really,” Steve’s saying, as she slots herself under his arm. “It’s nothing. Anyone would’ve done it.”
“But you did,” Mrs. Boone says, shaking her head. “And please— we both know not everyone would.”
“Really, Mrs. Boone,” Steve says with a slight smile, his flush still spilling down his skin. “It’s nothing.”
She tsks, reaching out towards him, only to pause as Steve tenses and drops her hand. “Still,” she says quietly. “You did and it matters.”
“Just get them home safe,” Robin says just as softly. “And it’ll all be good.”
Mrs. Boone eyes the two of them for a long moment, her mouth flattening out, before she nods and whirls back to the kids. “Come along now,” she urges, corralling them back up the path. “Call your goodbyes.”
“Bye Mister Steve, bye Mister Robin,” the kids call out, Mark going so far as to throw a pinecone towards them with a grin.
Robin sighs as they round the bend, Holly’s blonde hair disappearing from sight, before she sags back against Steve.
“Let’s… never do that again,” he mutters as she begins to laugh.
“But how will you get your six kiddos then?” she asks, smirking up at him, before her laughter cuts out as he whirls on her and lifts her up, tossing her over his shoulder and striding back towards his house.
She’s laughing so hard she can barely talk, her wheezing words of put me down going unheard beneath that and his mutters, until she squirms enough that he has to put her down or risk losing an eye to her elbows.
She sighs as she lands on her feet, wiping the last of her tears away, and throwing herself at him when he rolls his eyes.
“Good day?” he asks, as they stand in the haunted woods of their beloved hometown, her laughter fading from the sky, like he’s stumbled upon her, like he doesn’t know what they’ve been up to.
“The best,” she whispers, pressing a kiss to his shoulder as he drops one down on the crown of her head. “Spent it with you, didn’t I?”
Steve nods, pulling back enough to smile down at her, before his gaze turns contemplative.
“Want a piggyback ride?” he asks, already beginning to crouch down, and Robin nods, scrambling around to climb up, squeezing tight as he lifts.
She hums as he walks, dappled sunshine spilling through the trees, the scent of oncoming rain growing, and lets her eyes slip closed, safe and warm, even as a droplet of water hits her face, well aware that Steve will never let her go.
"Robs?" he says at some point later, time stretching out into infinity as she sings her nonsensical lilting song and lets warm rain patter gently against her cheek. "Love you."
She shivers in his hold and tightens her grip, sleepy and content in all the ways she's always wanted. "Love you too," she murmurs. "Love you always."