✧ 1 ✧ 2 ✧
When Eddie sees her, sitting on the picnic table, her feet shuffling back and forth on the bench like that one dancing scene from The Breakfast Club (so what if he went to go see it? It's a good flick!), he almost runs back the way he came.
Because here's the thing about Robin Buckley.
While Eddie's status at the bottom of the social ladder is guaranteed, what with his hobbies and his music and his ability to irritate even the most patient of individuals (bar Uncle Wayne, blessed be the man), he doesn't fuck with Robin Buckley.
She was never anything to write home or gossip over coffee about, not when Eddie started his first senior year or even before that, when he was just starting up Hellfire and went to band to see if he could recruit any lonesome souls. Robin wasn't interested then, more keen to avoid his eye and fumble with her uniform, so he chalked her up as another lost to the masses.
Then all the shit with the Zombie Boy (a killer moniker, wouldn't that make for an awesome song title?! But he doesn't know if it'd be like, copyright infringement or whatever) went down and he got a little more protective of his circle, cloaking them from the unmerciful eyes of the Hawkins mob, pushing back when shit hit the fan and that mob tried impeding on his people.
And it worked! Nobody messed with him or his, not enough to be met with more than a snort - hell, even that asshole Hargrove stayed away after Eddie pulled a knife on him in the school parking lot. He wonders if all that wild anger the dick had to choke down went into the fight he had with -
Anyways.
Point is that Eddie knows his place, and thanks to a little intimidation and a lot of false-turned-true-confidence, nobody messes with him.
The thing is - he still doesn't mess with Robin Buckley.
Like he said, she was always another one of the masses to him, and he never expected any different.
But then something happened to her.
Some people say that she got trapped in the mall fire and it burned half her face off, she's just wearing enough makeup to cover it up, but it messed with her head.
Other people say she was always a little - uh, airheaded, he'll say, to be polite - and the Starcourt fire just made it more obvious, burned through the façade she'd wear in public.
One or two voices whisper that she's being haunted, that when she laughs to herself in the silence of the classroom, it's because of the spirits of Starcourt's casualties that lurk in her shadow.
(That last one was Jeff actually, and Eddie has to hand it to him for the poetic imagery.)
Any way he hears it, Eddie's instincts go red alert, telling him to give Robin a wide berth in the hallways, to avoid eye contact for longer than a single moment, to ignore her quiet snickers every time he ties his hair up.
So yeah, when he's about to head to his favourite picnic table and finds wacky Robin Buckley laughing to herself as the leaves around the table kick up without a hint of wind in the air, he almost turns around and shoves himself back into his van. Eddie Munson may be a freak but he's no -
"Oh, you're here."
He freezes in his steps, glancing back to see Robin smiling thinly at him, one legged crossed over the other as she leans back. Her eyes glaze over for a second before she barks out a laugh, making Eddie jump in place.
"Didn't expect you, to be honest." She tilts her head.
Eddie's throat is too dry. He starts a sentence, backtracking when the leaves stop kicking up and it's just his shaky voice in the silence between the trees. "Well, it is my spot, Buckley."
Her eyes glint and she uncrosses her legs just to spread them, leaning in and staring at Eddie with an untethered expression stretching across her face. "Is it?" Her raspy voice asks.
Blood roars in Eddie's ears. His fingers twitch, and he's ready to run.
"Don't." She orders and he freezes. "We need to talk."
He hates it when people say that. It's always, always bad news and it's just too cliché.
"And what, pray tell," he says, raising his arms out with a confidence he doesn't feel. "Is it that you could ask of me?"
The leaves kick up behind him. He resolutely ignores it.
Sighing, Robin crosses her legs, shuffling back on the table (and they call Eddie a heathen, jeez). She looks to the right, where the leaves are swirling in a mini tornado. Her smile is small, and a little sad.
"We need your help."
Eddie gasps as the leaves kick up ferociously, the wind bites at his fingertips and Robin glares at him, at the chaos around them with eyes like nothing he's ever seen.
"Stop it."
"Wh -"
"I said stop," She glares at him and his jaw clicks shut. "We agreed - yeah, yeah, we did! Stop it, you're scaring him!"
"I -"
"I'd say the grown-ups are talking," Robin cuts him off with an eye-roll. "But someone's being a big baby."
"Look, Buckley -"
"I swear to god," Robin waves a hand towards Eddie. "Either you play nice, or we're never figuring this out! Do you wanna be invisible to everyone forever?!"
There's a heavy silence at that.
No leaves rustling, no wind, no nothing.
It's like the entire forest just went...dead.
Then Eddie feels a brush of something down his hand and he screams.
"Awesome!" Eddie jumps when Robin grabs his arm (when did she leave the table?!), staring at her smile as foul terror quakes his bones. "Don't be afraid, Eddie. We won't hurt you."
A rustle of leaves smack his shin and he shrieks, unable to jump (or run) thanks to Robin's steel grip.
"Well, not physically."
"Buckley, I have never messed with you before," Eddie whispers as the something trails down his hand, shoulders and face. He's frozen in the wake of the touch. "Fellow freaks of Hawkins and all, but -"
Whatever it is, it grips Eddie by the shoulders and his jaw clicks shut. Robin's grasp on his arm tightens and she nods, staring into space.
"Okay, so could you do it?"
Silence. Eddie's heartbeat races.
"Like what?"
The something ghosts over his fingers and he almost whimpers.
"Oh, like this!"
With that, Robin grabs Eddie's hand and takes off one of his rings. Before he can sputter or shout or cry, she replaces it with one of her own.
And then, like he was always there, Steve Harrington appears before his eyes.
A bloodied, ghastly Steve Harrington who's staring right into him.
"Holy shit," Eddie whispers and the spectre grins a sharp, toothy grin.
"Hey Munson," Steve croons. "Miss me?"
1K notes
·
View notes