# Eddie Is Fed Up With Their Lack Of Music Culture

𝐖𝐇𝐎: robin buckley + @jackforeman​ ! 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: outside of the foreman residence

initially, robin had been a little hesitant about going to see jack. the only thing that kept repeating in her mind was dustin talking about how the people from the tree commune had just snapped back at the carnival which resulted in hawkins being sent into total chaos. and it was no secret that jack was involved — was one of them.

but jack was also steve’s neighbour and his friend. robin had known him back in high school, and he had been different from the rest of his teammates. most of them had been jerks, they showed off and we’re just dicks in general. but jack, he was nice and he definitely wouldn’t hurt a fly even then. so what had happened to flip that switch? nothing good, that was for sure. “steve- he’s uh. he’s okay.” she’d agreed to update him on their mutual friends condition. “a little wiped out but mostly okay.”

loverboymontgomery​:

xx.

“Thanks,” he said, weak smile not quite meeting his eyes. The worst part, he thought, was that it felt like a fantasy first; he and Adam laying in bed, talking about the future, and then out of nowhere… Adam’s eyes changing, his body ablaze. It wasn’t a memory, so what was it? “I don’t think I made it up? But I don’t know.”

Cole let a breath go, shaking his head and watching Robin’s eyes. When her voice cracked, he put a hand on her knee, trying to reassure her. “I’m sorry, too. That’s… fucked,” he shook his head. 

He’d thought his ‘vision’ was bad enough, but he couldn’t imagine someone trying to pull him down– kill him, presumably. If Robin was anything like him, she was hearing Barb’s cry for help over and over again in her mind. “I don’t know what happened to Barb, but… I’m sure there was nothing you could do,” he said. Cole paused, searching his hands for something to say. “Why do you think… we saw that?” 

⚢

“i don’t think we made it up either. when i usually make up or think out scenarios in my brain they’re always just a little bit fuzzy and out of reach. but this was totally different. because i was there, and i felt everything. did you- have that?” robin had considered that maybe she’d just been thrown back into a memory from long ago which went completely haywire.

but herself and barb had only gone swimming when they were kids, and in this ‘vision’, barb had looked older. as in, the same age as when she first went missing. and it had been night time. and then there was the pool… “i just wish we’d still been friends. i wish i could have helped her.” although robin logically knew that there wasn’t much that she could have done. the two of them had still been friendly, but they had drifted apart. it wasn’t anyone’s fault, sometimes that just happened, right?

“i don’t know.” the only real running theory was one that she didn’t believe cole could possibly know — that the upside down stuff was happening again. “i think — we might have disturbed barb’s grave.” it was what robin had initially believed too, before realising everything had been far too much of a coincidence.

STRANGER THINGS — 4.04, Dear Billy

𝐖𝐇𝐎: robin buckley + @stevehharringtcns​​​​ ! 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: the hospital  𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: a couple days after steve wakes

last night had been the first time that robin slept at home since steve had initially arrived at the hospital. she wanted to stay but he had insisted that she go home to get a proper nights sleep and that he’d be okay, just for the night. and maybe he would be and while robin had agreed, she really didn’t want to be alone. she’d managed to avoid thinking too much about the house of mirrors by worrying about steve instead. but if she were alone, she knew it would only come rushing back.

luckily once she arrived home she’d been too exhausted for her mind to even bother replaying the events at the mirror maze for she fell asleep fairly quickly. and as soon as she woke that morning, robin changed probably faster than she ever had in her life so that she could hurry back. just to make sure he hadn’t gone back on his word or whatever.

walking to the hospital would admittedly be a little too far so she dug out her mom’s old bike (her own was way too busted!) from the garage and set off. but not before paying a visit to a grocery stores on the way to pick up some reese’s pieces — steve’s favorite. arriving at the hospital she signed in at the desk, security checked her backpack and she headed up to steve’s room.

“steve, can you believe i actually had to smuggle these in? it’s insane.” she entered the room with a quick glance at a sleeping cole, and pulled out the box of candy from the inside of her jacket, then gently placed it on steve’s lap. “how are you holding up?”

Tammy Thompson, everybody.

stevehharringtcns​:

after a few days in the hospital, while recovery was slow, steve could see some progress. he could actually sit up now without whining with pain and that was a victory for him. sure, he was a long way from actually make a full recovery, but he had to admit that it was getting better. it had to get better. plus, the company he had of his friends and eddie helped lift his spirits. the truth was that he wanted to get out of that hospital as soon as possible and go back to his normal life. the hospital life was way too slow for him.

for example, he was sitting up in his bed, looking up at the tv. he wasn’t necessarily paying attention to what he was watching, but it was a distraction. he had gotten another cup of jello from one of the nurses and was eating it, a bored look on his face until he heard robin walk in his room. now there was a better distraction than whatever was on tv. he smiled as he finished the cup of jello, placing it on the bedside table as robin placed the box of candy on his lap, letting out a laugh as she did so. “oh dude, i love reese’s pieces!” he said, his mouth still full of jello.

he didn’t waste any time as he grabbed a piece of candy, ripping the candy wrapper, steve smiled as he looked over at robin, shrugging his shoulders at the question. he was doing better. “i guess i’m good… you know, just bored out of my mind. i want to leave this hospital…” he said with a sigh as he took a bite out of the candy, nodding his head.

he looked over at his best friend, letting out a sigh. while steve and many others were in the hospital, he knew that things hadn’t been necessarily easy for anyone at the carnival. he reached for the remote to turn off the tv and looked over at robin, pursing his lips. “how are you? we haven’t really talked… about what happened. we don’t need to, but…” he said, shrugging his shoulders, showing himself available to talk about whatever had happened.

⚢

“ew steve gross. do you have to talk with your mouth full?” robin felt like they’d had this conversation at least a million times, and usually it was eye-roll inducing. but for whatever reason right now it felt nice… normal. because this was better than the other alternative, which she couldn’t bear to think about right now. steve was a pain in the ass and a total schmuck. but she didn’t know what she would do without him. robin didn’t want to admit it, but without steve around she most likely wouldn’t be able to function properly.

“you could always take up reading.” she shrugged her shoulders, flashing a small smile in his direction as she fell down into one of the chairs next to the bed. steve and books didn’t exactly go hand-in-hand. robin was pretty sure that he didn’t even read all that much when they were actually in high school and it was a basic requirement. then again, she had been much too busy staring between him, and gazing longingly at tammy.

“i’m just… trying to handle everything. it’s difficult.” a tentative answer, and she bit down on her lip to stop it from quivering. “this whole thing with you and the others just stuck in here, then vickie… and-“ did he have any idea? had max filled him in? if she hadn’t, robin guessed that it was a better time than any to drop the bombshell.

 “steve i-“ where to even start? “max and i, we were taken the night of the carnival. right before we all boarded the boat in the tunnel of love. at least i think that’s where it happened.” a pause, her voice catching in her throat. “i saw some things. horrible and awful things that i just can’t forget, and i thought that i was going to die.” she probably wasn’t making much sense but robin couldn’t stop herself from the words just spilling out.

❝  𝗜  𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟  𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘  𝗠𝗬  𝗪𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗘  𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘  𝗛𝗔𝗦  𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡  𝗢𝗡𝗘  𝗕𝗜𝗚  𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗥.  ❞

𝗯𝗶𝗼 & 𝗺𝗶𝘅𝘁𝗮𝗽𝗲 & 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱

sinclairss​:

.

“did you know,” lucas said as he reached for the syrup and doused the leftover pancakes with it before taking another bite. he did have the manners to wait until he was done chewing to continue talking, so sue sinclair would be proud. or at least not pissed at him. “that guys can have growth spurts into their twenties? and our brains don’t stop developing ‘til we’re, like, twenty-five.” he tapped his temple as he took another bite. “brain food.”

he listened to robin talk and nodded along until holding up a hand and asking “cassie who?” he fell quiet for a few moments, picking at the rest of the pancakes and only settling back into the booth once he’d cleaned the plate. he’d dodged robin’s question before, but lucas found himself wanting to check in, make sure he was the only one having bizarre thoughts about that night. and if not…well, he was sure there was something they could do about it. there always was.

“so every time i walk through the gates it feels…cold. like it’s january not july.” he hesitated when the waitress walked over, flashing her a smile and offering her a thanks! before redirecting his attention back to robin. “and…okay, i’m not sure if i hit my head when i fell, too, but i saw this…vision? the other night, too, and it felt really real and every time i close my eyes i can see him.” 

fuck. he hadn’t meant to say anything specific about the dream. or hallucination. or whatever it was. but he just kept talking, hoping to keep things moving. “did you…see anything like that?”

⚢

listening to lucas’ whole spiel about ‘brain food’, robin couldn’t help but feel amused. “guess that explains why steve’s brain seems way smaller than it should be by now.” she wasn’t sure just how legitimate the explanation was, but she would definitely look it up at the library or ask someone who was likely to know about it later.

“cassie, nancy’s friend from college?” robin welcomed the momentary silence, for she was starting to feel genuinely concerned about lucas. maybe that blow to his shoulder had done way more damage than first thought. “that doesn’t sound… normal.” she didn’t really know what else to say in this situation. if he was uncomfortable going into the graveyard again then he definitely shouldn’t. not alone, at least. but then again, strength in numbers had proved not to be the case last time. maybe they should just avoid it altogether.

lucas mentioning a him made robin question who he could possibly be referring to. just like her own vision, had he seen someone relevant to him in some way? “yeah, i think i might have seen something like that.” then before she could stop herself blurted out, “i saw barb. the real barb, except she wasn’t real because i saw her in my own mind. but she felt real.” he would understand what she meant if he had seen something similar so she didn’t elaborate any more than that.

jackforeman​:

Jack hadn’t really spoken to Robin Buckley much at all in his life before being at the Wheelers’ family barbecue. It was there that he learned she’d become friends with Steve, his coworker, even, and it was just another reminder of what he’d missed while he was now known to be dead, not just gone in a cult. He would have considered her presence on his front porch a threat, that she was here to chew him out about attacking their mutual friend at the carnival, even if it was something that Jack had no recollection of. 

Instead, it seemed that she was here in peace. It was nice to know that Steve’s condition had remained stable since he’d gone to visit, when he’d gotten the strength to face his friend to apologize for what he’d done. “Oh, that’s … great, actually. That’s good. I went by yesterday, just to say hi, and, well, I figured I owed him an apology.” He shifted, uncomfortable and embarrassed by what he’d done that he couldn’t even remember. “Do you want to come in?”

⚢

“oh, i uh, didn’t know you’d been by.” she felt a little sheepish now. suppose she’d been too caught up in her own thoughts to pay any real attention to whether steve had told her about jack visiting or not. the previous evening she’d paid a visit to vickie’s mom, to pay her respects and to apologise. the apology held way more weight than it should have done, but it felt necessary under the circumstances.

“anyway, they think he might be able to go come home soon.” and honestly, thank fucking god for that. while steve was definitely doing a whole lot better, it was still painful to see him in that hospital room. jack asking whether she wanted to come in admittedly caught her a little off guard, but she nodded her head anyway and followed him inside. “actually, there was something else i wanted to ask you. i don’t know how well you know steve’s parents but… have you seen them much? recently, i mean.” steve had said they’d been by the hospital once, maybe twice. robin thought that was insane, but knowing the harringtons, she wasn’t really all too surprised.

sinclairss​:

-

when robin discarded her silverware, lucas unrolled the set on his side of the table and leaned over to stab a piece of pancake. he was mid-bite when he shook his head, changed his mind halfway, and nodded instead. “i mean, probably? it’s just…” he paused to thank the waitress as she dropped off his chocolate shake and turned to take a long sip from it before continuing. “…it’s just that whenever i get to close to the fence i start feeling…weird.” he knew that didn’t make any sense. he knew that it was just a graveyard and that, logically, nothing was going to jump out and push him into a grave-

unless cole was there. then he might fall back into a grave. but there was probably a perfectly logical explanation to everything.

or…something was going on. lucas picked at the remains of robin’s pancakes. he took a bite and then pointed his empty fork at her, voice dropping just a bit. no one else probably cared what they were talking about, but it was habit from when they’d had to do all of their debriefing in the wheelers’ basement. “could be worse,” he said with a shrug, dropping his gaze to the table and clearing his throat. “why do you say that?” he wanted to know. did everyone see something strange that night? “did…” he decided to go another direction. “do you even remember what happened? because i don’t think i was that drunk but i can barely remember who else was even there.”

⚢

lucas basically attacking robin’s leftover pancakes only made her shake her head, a slightly amused look on her face. “jeez, do your parents just like, never feed you?” she took a sip from her own milkshake and listened as he talked about the cemetery, nails tapping against the table surface. when he finished, robin instinctively raised an eyebrow out of curiosity and ceasing the tapping in the process. “wait, weird how?” an interesting development, she wondered if the rest of their group would feel the same way when confronted with the cemetery. robin couldn’t really speak for herself on the matter, she hadn’t been back there since that night.

she really wanted to just brush it off. excuse it as just an anomaly, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. maybe — just maybe, forget the whole thing all together! that would certainly make sleeping a whole lot easier, and cease her brain from putting two and two together to make ten. “i don’t know, maybe i’m just being paranoid.” a defeated sigh, none of this made any logical sense. “i remember some things.” to robin, she felt like she remembered quite a lot, although it was difficult to gauge because who knew what exactly was missing? “for starters, you and i were there. and steve, obviously. then cole, cassie and tessa. does that help jog your memory?”