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#robin is kinda just there to me
plulp · 8 months
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robin
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horsechestnut · 3 months
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I just think it's really neat how much fans have latched onto the fact that Stephanie Brown was Robin.
Like, both in and out of universe Stephanie was never meant to be taken seriously as Robin. The writers only made her Robin so that her death in War Games would be shocking and Bruce only made her Robin because he thought it would make Tim jealous enough to come back. She only had the mantle for 71 days before being fired (for doing something that literally every other Robin has also done and not been fired over), and she was only active during 50 of them. There are only six issues where Steph is Robin in the canon timeline.
Her final words before her death are asking Batman (Batman, because even on her death bed he doesn't trust her enough to take off his mask) if any of it was real. Was she really Robin? And Batman assures her that of course she was, that she was part of the legend and no one can take it away from her. Except it's a lie, because despite his reassurances, Batman never puts up a memorial or does anything to preserve her memory. He never really thinks of her as Robin, and even her friends will always think of her as Spoiler before ever remembering Robin.
Meanwhile DC spent years ignoring her time as Robin, to the point where it was completely erased from existence for awhile. It's technically back now, because timelines are weird, but unlike the others it's never been altered. She's never been given a second chance at it, no one's ever gone back and added more issues or details about those 71 days, or even seems to want to acknowledge them most of the time.
But fans have clung on to it anyway. Sure, there are lots of people who make Robin posts that are just about the boys, but there are just as many people who are ready to fight anyone who doesn't include her. Maybe it was only for a little while, but she was Robin, and we're sure as hell not going to forget it. If DC isn't going to bother to remember, than we will.
Stephanie Brown was Robin. She was part of the legend. It was real. No matter what, no one can take that away from her.
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bruciemilf · 2 months
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Bruce, introducing Harvey and Jason for the first time: Sweetheart, this is Harvey. My…friend.
Jason Todd, a 12 year old catholic: You know that divorce means you’re going to hell, right
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findafight · 9 months
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Severely neglected component of modernish rockstar Eddie fics is Robin deciding to become an internet hater for Eddie. Like she finds out Eddie is semi/famous and is like "oh, you know what'll be hilarious?" And makes a twitter account dedicated to dissing him. You cannot convince me she wouldn't. Eddie knows she runs the account (it's not even negative it's just to rag on him. Tweets like "Eddie Munson seems like the kind of guy who would tell his friend he'll get her dr pepper and then get some bullshit knockoff. What the hell is a peppo" and "Eddie Munson has probably gotten so distracted by his SO that he walked into a wall and then was still so distracted said SO thought he was concussed." Or "Jeff is actually the best member of CC Eddie probably walked on cafeteria tables in HS" And of course "everybody says I hate on Eddie too much but they don't know he woke his SOs bff up just to ask if there was any peppo left. Twice.") But he can't do anything about it. It's a bit of a meme, because the account never says anything actually mean about Eddie, or his music. Just. Bizarre hypotheticals. (They are not hypothetical)
People are like "how do you feel about EddieMunsonh8r at twitter dot com"
And he has to grit his teeth and say people can have their own opinions about him, ignoring the fact that Robin was literally sitting beside him poking him when she tweeted earlier that day about him wiggling his fingers and saying he'd like to have a little morsel (in reference to cheezies).
When asked why she does it she just says "to keep him humble. And also it's funny to see if people believe he would do this stuff."
Gareth proposes one of them make an account like that about Steve, semi famous stuntman who's doing some more acting now, and the next day Robin tweets "CC seems like the kid of guys who'd make a fake hater account about Steve and use actually silly billy things he does as content" (Jeff tattled)(Eddie groaned)(Steve and Robin cackled)
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marikodraws · 1 year
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equipping Akechi’s tie to fight Shido 👊🚢
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caiusthecat · 9 months
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Brave Robin🥺❤️
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leyhunter · 7 months
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I fought for like 20 years or something close to it fiercely against One Piece and now I am part of the hivemind
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Dress me up, make it tight, I'm your dolly You're my doll, rock'n'roll, feel the glamour in pink Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky~
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Inspired from This post of @just-dol-headshots and this ask from @hakusins. Don't worry I'm still aiming for your ass Haku-Dean :) References and something under the cut
We all have to agree Bully Robin should have some softer and caring sides. When there's only them two and no one else is around to judge, he can let loose and slip back into that kinda of "Original Robin" we know and I love. I mean, that's what JDOLH made that got me into these swap messes from the beginning jsjkhskjhd you knowww the HUG!!
Reference: Barbie Girl (Aqua) and this cute ecchi Clamp Chobit piece
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All in all I'm a pink bietch and Dollya won't be losing her V-card anytime soon that I can promise so hang in there okay mr.Bully.
edit: OMG THIS IS MY 1000TH POST TTOTT)) JKSDJLASKJKDLA
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SELF-INDULGENT HERE WE GO
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Halloween prompts year 2 day 28
Thomas stared down at Bruce-no- Danny as he led him by the hand toward what he had dubbed as his "Secret Lair" which was just an old fall out shelter in the woods that had been well hidden and forgotten about. The door to it was old and still buried under years of dirt and plant growth, requiring Danny to phase them into it which made Thomas wonder how his grandson had found it in the first place.
Inside was surprisingly high tech. "You have a secret lair filled with all this equipment but don't have any weapons or armor?" Thomas asked, making mental preparations to fix that.
Danny sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and explained his only allies were two other 14 year olds who were also untrained, unarmed, unarmored, and unsuper-powered which would explain why Danny was so excited to be working with an adult vigilante who at least knew what they were doing.
The kid didn't even mind when some of his more evil or harmful rogues "stopped showing up" thankfully no one would really question the reclusive Vlad Masters "going back to Wisconsin" only to never be seen again. No one saw much of him before coming to Amity Park, it made since he would become a hermit again once he had his fill of human interaction.
And if hes later found dead in his cheese castle? Well, the body had decomposed too much to really say what killed him. His will left everything to a Daniel James Fenton/Daniel James Masters which visibly infuriated Danny. Thomas mentally patted himself on the back. It was a good call to get rid of that one. The will was a surprise, though one that can only benefit Thomas in his crusade of protecting his grandson. Its not like he can return to a timeline that no longer exists anyway.
Unfortunately this doesn't stop the bats from hearing about "Batman" operating in a city in Illinois for the past few months...
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nerdpoe · 8 months
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Kon knows for a fact that Tim is being catfished.
He's been watching, and it's so painfully obvious.
Tim's sending money to some guy he met online, and Kon has read over his friend's shoulder the excuses this guy keeps giving.
He needs money to pay for a plane ticket, he needs money to pay customs, he got arrested and needs another plane ticket, he needs money to pay for a hyper-realistic disguise to get past customs, etc.
This dude keeps saying that he swears he'll pay Tim back plus interest, but that "customs" keeps holding onto the "package".
And Tim, the smartest dude he knows, keeps fucking falling for it. Tells this guy he doesn't have to pay him back at all.
So Kon maybe...oversteps.
He's gotten Bart and Cassie in on it, and they hold an intervention.
Tim?
Says it's a Bat thing and to stay out of it. Please.
Kon and the others very much intend to not stay out of it, and set to work hunting this catfisher down.
And he has a name to start with. He listened into one of the gross romance calls and finally, finally got a fucking name.
Bernard.
Meanwhile, Jason is just...having the shittiest time. What the actual fuck.
He finally got the physical evidence needed to nail the largest Trafficking gang in Gotham, when every single inconvenience that could ever occur decided to land on his head.
He hates asking for money, and he hates it even more that he has to ask Tim for money in that stupid code.
Bizarro and Artemis are too busy doing their own things to arrange a pickup, and Tim won't send his little not-boyfriend because of the whole "going into the Tower and beating Tim up" thing.
Apparently the punk-wannabe Super will try to make him into red paste on sight.
But anything is better than asking Bruce, so he'll suck it up.
Meanwhile, Bernard is very confused as to why he's being threatened by Superheroes in his own apartment.
But the weird stuff they're describing doesn't sound like Tim.
Clearly, they need the Conspiracy Board to organize their thoughts. Bernard is fantastic at the Conspiracy Board, and he starts to break out the red string.
They are so gonna solve this thing.
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robinfollies · 4 months
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KEEP THE DANGER OUT // KEEP THE DANGER IN
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#billie bust up#bbu billie#bbu fantoccio#robin’s art#2024 art#COMPANION PIECES BABY!!! started these last year (month) and finally finished em!!! :33#i could write an ENTIRE essay abt billie and fanto and their parallels and stuff#which actually i love tumblr tags. lets do some of that here!#okAY IM NOT GONNA GO INTO EVERYTHING BUT HERES A BASIC RUNDOWN OF SOME OF MY THOUGHTS#let’s start by looking at goatshire + the lost city of magic !!#both places have some kind of border around them keeping SOMETHING in/out#goatshire’s wall keeping the trolls/other danger out; keeping the villagers inside safe#and the city’s barrier keeping the curse inside; while keeping everyone outside safe from it#but in turn it’s also keeping billie and fanto trapped in their respective places#one moreso than the other i guess but ahahaha. haha. heh. OKAY MOVING FORTH#unrelated but how sick would it be if the barrier broke and let the curse out. just sayiiin.. a lil theory thats been on my mind recently#anyways back to THE POINT#okay this parts gonna sound insane BUT JUST HEAR ME OUT HERE#goatshire citizens / the cursed city citizens.#billie and fanto both kinda stick out in their respecitve homes; fanto being the only uncursed guy and billie with their magic#so theres like. a real disconnect between them and others there. u get what i mean.#theyre both outliers and like something something allegory for neurodivergence and struggling to connect with others probably#SORRY GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF. idk how to explain it BUT DO U GET IT!!! DO U UNDERSTAND!!!!#also they were both abandoned by SOMEone stares at arthur#okay specifically whoever fanto’s cretaor was left him behind but u know me im such a fanto elmtwig jak#something something loneliness and being left behind and having ppl around you who kinds understand u but also not totally. kicks rock#someone get these siblings some THERAPY!!!!!!!#this was a very disjointed explanation bUT HOPEFULLY I GOT MOST OF MY THOUGHTS ACROSS GOOD. IM BAD AT EXPLAINING THINGS SORRY#someone order me a yappuccino!!!!! BYE!!!!
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Actually going insane over the implications of Jason asking Dick to be the Robin to his Batman in Battle for the Cowl.
Like I initially took it at the purely surface-level of Jason wanting a partner in the general sense. Which made sense, it's a huge responsibility and a lonely one so an assistant/sidekick/partner seems a no-brainer if you can get one.
But then I really thought about it, because Jason is not asking Dick to be his partner in the general sense; he's not even asking Dick to be his Nightwing. He's asking Dick to be his Robin.
And they both know exactly what Jason means: "Be the light to my darkness. Be the smile to my scowl. Be the hope to my fear. "
He's saying "Be 'Robin'; be the embodiment of Love and Justice and Goodness. Be the exceptional person that you have always been. Be the slightly-less exceptional person that I was when I wore your colors. Be the person that I was in the process of becoming and might have been (or might still be), if only Joker hadn't clipped my wings."
He's saying "I am prepared to become vengeance, become the Night. And I will go further than Bruce ever dared to, because it is what is needed. I will be the necessary evil. But you don't have to be. If Batman is Gotham's curse, Robin has always been its blessing. I will be the brutal punishment to our world, and I am asking you to be its incandescent gift."
He's saying, "Be for me, what we were for Him. Be my anchor, my comfort, my hope. Remind me what it's all for, why it's all worth it. And remind yourself as well."
He's saying "Be 'Robin' again--for both of our sakes."
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beeqisch · 8 months
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very self indulgent timkon doodles
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hypewinter · 9 months
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The boy didn't know how far they had gone, he just knew it wasn't far enough. They would be after them, he knew this. He had to keep going. He had to find safety. And he had to do it fast. His arms hurt from carrying his baby brother, and he knew his sister was just barely keeping up now. As a whole they were all getting tired. Which in turn meant they were slowing down and would be found soon.
The boy couldn't let that happen, he had to get his siblings to safety. And he knew exactly where they'd be safe.
As they crossed over one last hill with the sun starting to rise, the city finally came into view. Good. There they would find his parents. There, they would be safe.
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The boy hadn't meant to sleep for long. He had just wanted to rest for a few minutes. An hour at most. He had found an abandoned warehouse and settled down under a tarp with his siblings. When they awoke however, it was to the sound of fighting, and the sun had long since gone down.
The boy scolded himself for being so careless as the sounds of fighting drew closer. He quickly gathered his siblings up, prepared to escape, when the fighters came into view.
He let himself gasp in delight. It was his father. Well, one of them at least. What was his name again? Oh right Nightwing. He was in the middle of fighting a group of thugs and the boy knew better than to distract him. He watched in awe as his dad spun and flipped, knocking the men out one by one.
The boy got so enthralled by his dad launching an escrima stick at someone, that he didn't notice when one of the thugs noticed them and started making his way over.
His sister let out a screech as the man lunged at them. The boy didn't hesitate. He intercepted the man like he was trained to do and in two swift motions, the man was down.
His vigilance now activated, the boy scanned the room, looking for any other threats. He noticed his dad had been temporarily distracted by the scream his sister let out, which had allowed the thug he was fighting to get a hit in. This was evident but the fact that his dad has stumbled back, holding his face.
The boy went to charge in to help his father but just then his second dad arrived.
"What the fuck is taking you so long?" he scowled as he shot off two rubber bullets towards the thug's knees. The man cried out and on his way down, Nightwing whipped him across the face with his escrima stick. The thug hit the floor, unconscious.
"I can't believe you were really struggling against these 3rd rates," his second dad tsked. The boy recalled being told his name was Red Hood. "Honestly, you might be losing your edge."
"I was distracted!" Nightwing shot back. "There were civilians present." He pointed towards the boy and his siblings.
The boy instinctively put his siblings behind him. Then he immediately felt stupid for it. He knew his fathers were good people. They were heroes after all. He knew they wouldn't hurt them, not like those people. And yet he still found himself tensing up as they drew closer.
Nightwing put his hands up. "It's okay, we won't hurt you."
"I know," the boy said, willing his nerves to calm down. "I was looking for you actually, I knew you'd help us."
The boy noticed how both of his fathers were alert now, ready to analyze everything he was about to say.
"The doctors, they're after us. We don't have anywhere to go, but I knew I could come here and find you. I knew you'd help us if I did."
The boy was trying desperately to keep his emotions in check but it was becoming increasingly hard now that his was so close to safety. His fathers must have noticed this too because Nightwing knelt down and said, "You must have had a hard time getting here. You've been so strong but it's okay now, we'll take care of you. I promise."
The boy couldn't hold it in any longer. Fat tears dripped down his cheeks as he began to cry. His father held him and patted his back gently as his cried. He sobbed as he finally felt some of the weight he was under lift. He knew that from now on, everything would be already.
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As he calmed down, embarrassment quickly overcame him. He can't believe he'd cried like a baby in front of not only his dads but also his siblings. He would have never been allowed to get away with that at the facility. The boy wiped at his face to dry the remaining tears and turned to his dad.
"I'm sorry Dad," he mumbled. "I didn't mean for our first meeting to go like this."
"Aw it's okay," Nightwing started. ".... Wait, what do you mean Dad?"
Uh oh, the boy hadn't meant to expose that part quite yet. He at least wanted to wait until all three of his fathers had gathered. There went that plan. Two out of three would have to be good enough. So he steeled his courage and said, "You're my dad. All the former Robin's are."
He saw his second father still out of the corner of his eye. So he turned to him. "That includes you and Red Robin," he stated. "But not the current Robin."
"I'm sorry back up," Nightwing interjected. "How do you know-"
"That you are the former Robins and also my dads?" The boy finished. His father nodded. "Well because I'm your clone," he stated.
There was a pregnant pause in the air before Red Hood spoke out. "What. The. Hell!?"
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enchanted-day-dreams · 2 months
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I find it ironic that people love to talk about Billy Hargrove having internalized homophobia despite the fact that homophobic Billy is only a fanon trait, meanwhile Steve Harrington used queer as an insult against Jonathan Byers and yet folks wanna act like he's the most ally to ever ally (or even pretend he was never homophobic to begin with) just because he wasn't still a dick to Robin when she came out to him.
Y'all can have whatever headcanons you want, but the canon truth is that between Billy and Steve, only one of them got a homophobic insult slung at them but never slung it back, and it wasn't Steve.
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fag4dykestobin · 7 months
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yesterday, i wrote a little snippet of a steve coming out scene that had been living in my head for a bit, and i thought that that was it. and then i kept writing little snippets until this was nearly 3k words long <3 so. enjoy!!
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Steve looks up at the popcorn ceiling, heart beating, beating, beating, nearly out of… his… chest. Steve doesn’t look at Robin, but… he… knows that Robin is looking at… her?
“Feel like we should be in the bathroom for this,” Steve croaks. Robin huffs out a laugh.
“We can move in there, if you want. My parent’s probably won’t need to use it, they’re in bed already.”
Steve shakes… her…? his. His(/her?) head. “No. I feel better in here.”
“Okay.” And then it’s quiet, between them, and it’s up to Steve to fill that silence. Awesome. Steve can do that. Well, Steve could do that, usually, but unfortunately there is something in Steve’s throat that is blocking everything and anything from coming out of it. Maybe Robin will just let him(/her?) sit here in silence forever, until they both fall asleep, and then when they wake up in the morning they can go along with their lives like there’s nothing building up in Steve’s soul, clawing and raging and desperate to come out.
Robin shifts, so that their feet, propped on the wall in front of them, are touching. It’s enough to get Steve going.
“You know when we were in the Russian base, and you said the thing about your life being one big error?”
Robin made a noise of affirmation.
“Were you talking about, like, being gay?”
Robin sits with the question for a few moments. “... Mostly,” is the answer she decides to go with. Steve waits for her to elaborate.
“I guess it was like, well. Some of it had to do with how we ended up in the Russian base, right? It didn’t feel real. Or like it was supposed to happen. But it also felt like just one more thing in my life that went wrong, and I kinda connect all the bad things that happen to me with me being a lesbian.” There’s a beat of silence. “Which I know isn’t really good. But I’ve been doing it for a while, so it’s hard to stop.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you feel like that? About being, um, half-gay?” The term they’ve landed on for Steve’s sexuality is kind of ridiculous, but neither of them could think of anything better for it. And it’s not like they really refer to it by name outside of hushed and rare conversations like this one. 
“I guess?” Steve thinks on it a little. “Not really. Not like you, at least. It’s, like…” Steve lets himself(/herself?) brush against the problem in his(/her?) brain. Think about it for more than a fleeting moment.
Terror envelopes him(/her?)(cut that shit out pick one and stick to it). Steve tries to think through it, but it’s kind of hard to breathe.
“It’s more about, um. I don’t know. I… It feels stupid.” It feels wrong. It feels criminal.
“I won’t think you’re stupid,” Robin says, so earnestly, like she believes it. Oh, that’s horrible to think about her. Steve screws his eyes shut. Steve screws her eyes shut.
Pick one. (pick he.) And stick to it.
“Sometimes I… mmm. Sometimes I… Robin, if you—” Steve cuts himself off. This feels evil, what he’s about to say. Maybe more evil than what he is. “If I what?” Robin sounds concerned. Like, worried concerned. It makes Steve want to stop everything and wrap her up in a big hug and never talk about this again. Besides, what was Steve even going to say? Robin, if you hate me after this… what? What does he want her to do? Robin, if you hate me after what I say, please don’t.
If Robin hated Steve for this, he might just die.
“Steve? Are you okay?” Robin takes her legs down from the wall and sits up, leans over Steve, trying to get a good look at his face. Steve covers his eyes with his hands.
“I don’t know. I don’t— eugh.” Steve gulps in a big breath, “Robin, if you— hate me, um—”
“No! No no no no no! No! Steve, look at me! Right now!” Steve wants to, but that might make him actually cry. Steve digs her palms into her eyes. No. His palms, his eyes.
God.
“Steve, Evie, please. Please.” The nickname makes Steve’s eyes water. He swipes at them to make them go away, but they keep flowing. Okay, this is going a bit disastrously. The most important thing to do right now is keep his eyes closed and not look at Robin, or else he might shatter into a million little pieces.
“No, I— let me just— I don’t want you to—”
“I won’t hate you, ever. For anything. Are you okay?” Robin sounds miserably anxious. You can’t promise that, Steve wants to bite out. He swallows it. Steve has to trust Robin, because if she can’t, maybe she truly isn’t meant to be like this. Maybe Robin won’t hate him, maybe Robin will help him fix it.
“Sometimes I think about being a girl.”
The words sit heavy between them. Steve kind of wants to throw up about it.
“... Okay.” Robin says. She sounds a little breathless. Steve tries to imagine the look on her face, but can’t imagine it through the fuzz of terror. And like hell will he open his eyes.
“... Okay?” Steve croaks, after Robin fails to elaborate.
“Yeah, that’s fine.” She still has that breathless note in her voice, but it’s more like an aftermath-of-anxiety breathlessness than still-actively-anxious breathlessness.
Steve worries that he’s(.../she’s?) downplayed the problem here. Steve swallows, mouth dry, throat dry.
“No, I, I don’t just think about it, I like thinking about it. I like it when, um, the kids make fun of me by calling me, a, a mom, and I like when you or Max or El paints my nails, and I, I think about stealing your clothes sometimes and it makes me want to kill myself but I can’t, I can’t stop, I…” Steve is now hyperventilating. 
Robin tackles Steve, and Steve’s horrible, traitorous mind wonders if she’ll wrap her hands around his(/her?) throat and kill her(/him?) rather than let him(her?) leave this room.
Steve opens her(/his?) mouth to, who knows, tell her that it’s okay? That he(/she?) understands? That she(/he?) loves her? But nothing comes out, and after a second, Steve realizes that it’s a hug. Obviously. And then Steve starts sobbing.
It takes a few minutes for Steve to stop losing… his? her? God, the thought of either makes Steve want to puke. It takes a few minutes for Steve to stop losing Steve’s mind. And Robin strokes Steve’s hair the whole time, and holds Steve the whole time, and whispers that it’s okay and that she loves Steve, the whole time. It kind of prolongs the sobbing, in a way, because Steve just can’t believe it. But Steve does eventually calm down.
“Steve,” Robin whispers.
Steve sniffles and swallows thickly. “Yeah?”
“It’s fine. You’re fine.”
“I don’t… I don’t know.”
“Well,” says Robin, and then she pauses, like she’s thinking. Steve lets her. There’s a headache brewing in Steve’s temple, and the silence is nice, in a way.
“Well,” Robin starts up again. “I don’t think you’re weird, or messed up, and I definitely don’t hate you. We’ve seen bad things and bad people. And you’re not bad.”
“Well, I… if I’m not bad, or weird, for this, I don’t know what I am.” Steve can hardly believe how well Robin is taking this. It really shouldn’t surprise Steve at all, because Robin is so, so good, but this is something that Steve hates, and they’re usually a united front on that, when it really matters.
So… maybe Robin is right.
Robin climbs off of Steve, lays down next to Steve again. But instead of propping her legs up on the wall, like Steve for some goddamn reason is still doing, she curls next to Steve, facing Steve. Looking at Steve. Still holding Steve’s hands.
“We’ll figure it out.” She squeezes. Steve squeezes right back, and keeps the grip tight.
“Okay.”
They sit in silence, and Steve just… breathes. Tries to will the headache away; not happening, ugh. Drops the legs from the wall. Steve plays with Robin’s fingers, not even trying to process what had happened yet. That can wait til later.
After a few minutes, Robin speaks up again. “Are you okay with questions? If not, that’s fine.” And Steve knows she means it. She will totally drop it for the night and let them settle down and watch a movie or three. But Steve doesn’t really want that right now. Steve wants to stay in this space where, at least for now, what Steve is feeling is fine, and alright. Steve’s never had that before, for this.
“Yeah,” Steve says. “They’re okay.” Maybe they can do the figuring out thing right now. Maybe all of Steve’s problems will be solved tonight. Wouldn’t that be a relief? Robin pulls her hands away, and Steve hears the rasping of her shirt material being rubbed together between her fingers.
“So… do you want to be a girl?” The question doesn’t sound harsh leaving Robin’s mouth, but the words are heavy. It makes alarm bells ring in Steve’s head, forbidden question! Don’t think about it! Don’t think about it! Years of routine repression make it hard for Steve to even consider the question, but Steve tries. Slowly and agonizingly, Steve thinks about it. It genuinely takes a few minutes, but Robin can clearly sense that Steve is thinking about it, so she doesn’t interrupt. Steve loves her so much.
“Kinda,” Steve whispers. “It’s… I don’t know. Really. It’s stupid.”
“Nuh-uh. No stupid stuff right now. Just say how you feel.”
“I kinda wanna be half-girl. Like how I’m half-gay.” It feels stupid. It feels evil. It feels way too indulgent. Even in a perfect world, it’s one or the other. Steve can’t, like, hog them both. They cancel each other out. Right?
“Uh-huh?” Robin is prompting Steve to go on. Oh God.
“Um. Like. I still… like the guy parts of me, you know? I still like being a guy.” That feels really important to emphasize. Steve feels kind of insane, talking like this, actually getting Steve’s thoughts out into the real world. But Robin is still listening, no judgment. It kind of makes Steve want to cry again, but that would make the headache worse so, no thanks. “But I… I like the girl parts, too. I like when you call me Evie, but I don’t want you to stop calling me Steve.”
Steve can feel Robin shift, like she’s nodding. “Okay,” she says again.
“Okay?”
“Yeah. You can… you can be a half-girl, half-guy.” And it sounds simple and a little obscene, when she says it. Maybe not obscene. Maybe more like tantalizing.
“I don’t know,” Steve whispers. “Is that, like… allowed?”
Steve finally turns to look at Robin. Her eyes are big and full of thought. It feels stupid, thinking like that, but there’s nothing else to describe it. Steve can see the thoughts dancing around in her pupils and irises and whatever else is in an eye. It’s so beautiful. Steve loves her so much.
“... I think that you can do whatever you want,” Robin whispers back. “And be whatever you want.”
Steve’s face crumples, just a little bit. Not enough that it means tears, but enough to bring the idea to mind. Steve pinches Steve’s nose. “It can’t be that simple, though.”
Robin tilts her head in a way that can only be described as birdlike. She hates when people compare her to birds, just because of her name, but it fits right now, in the secrecy of Steve’s brain. She looks serious and intent. “Why not?”
“Nobody has ever done this before. I think.”
“Nobody that we know of. We live in Hawkins, Steve, we know like, 500 people. There are probably people in New York, or Chicago, or whatever, that feel exactly like you.”
Steve can’t reconcile with that. It feels so lonely, being like this. It feels inherently lonely.
“And even if you are the only one in the world that feels like this… Well, that’s fine! You can be whoever you want! Especially around me.” Robin grabs Steve’s hands in her own. Her hands are always so cold. Steve loves to hold them and feel them warm up bit by bit. It’s grounding, especially right now.
“I don’t want you to hide yourself. Not from me. I hid for so long, around everyone else, and it was killing me.” Robin’s eyes bore into Steve’s. “And I didn’t know it was killing me, but looking back, it’s like, wow, I was going to die.” Her voice cracks, just a little bit, and Steve makes an involuntary noise. Holds her hands just a little tighter. The warmth is already equalizing between them. “And, I don’t know. I don’t want you to get there. Or, if… you’re there already, I don’t want you getting any further.”
Sometimes it astounds Steve, just how much Robin gets things. This isn’t one of those times, though. It feels deeply right, and deeply sad.
“Alright,” Steve says.
“You won’t hide this from me? After this?”
A shake of the head. “No.” And it sounds so easy, promising this. Maybe it can be easy. Steve hopes it will be easy.
“I love you,” Robin says, and she pulls Steve into a hug. Steve melts into it. Robin gives very bony and kinda twitchy hugs, minute movements every few seconds, and Steve loves them. Robin, a while ago, maybe a couple months after Starcourt, had expressed anxiety about her hugs being ‘godawful uncomfortable,’ her words, but Steve had denied that fiercely. Her hugs were God’s gift to mankind, and if everyone else hated it, fine. More for Steve.
“I love you too,” Steve says into her chest.
They lapse into silence again. Steve thinks about asking for some water, but that would mean one or both of them leaving this room, and all possible configurations seem worse than the lack of water, right now. Steve presses closer into Robin.
“Another question.”
“Yeah?”
“So, you like Steve and Evie, and you’re a girl and a guy. Do you like he and she?”
There’s the dreaded question. Steve can’t hold back a groan. “I don’t know,” Steve says into her chest. “I’ve kinda, thought about it a bit, but… both of them feel weird, by themselves. I guess I like both, but only when they’re next to each other. I can’t really decide on one.”
Robin hums in consideration. “I mean, we’re making all this up as we go. If they don’t feel right by themselves, then why do they have to be by themselves?”
Steve thinks about it. “It feels like they’re supposed to cancel each other out,” Steve says, voicing a thought from earlier.
“They clearly don’t, at least in your case.” Robin presses her cheek to the top of Steve’s head, flattening the hair there. “Don’t think about how things should be. Think about what you want.”
What Steve wants. Okay.
He thinks about he. She thinks about she. And how, apart, they really only feel like half of himself, but together, they feel like they tell the whole story and show the whole picture.
Steve can’t help but think about those optical illusions Dustin had shown her a while back. The one with the two faces. If you concentrated, you see whichever one you wanted at will. And they seemed so opposed, yet so intertwined, and you couldn’t have one face without the other. Maybe he’s an optical illusion. It’s better than being evil.
“Okay. Yeah. Both are good.” Steve can feel Robin smile into her hair.
“Do you want me to use them both?”
Steve feels a flash of panic. “Um— augh. Not… not around other people, um, but—”
Robin squeezes him closer. “Oh, God, obviously!” she says, and Steve is so grateful that they’re on the same page, like, 90% of the time, and that this falls into that 90%. “I can sneak them into conversations between us. Pronouns don’t really pop up in conversations between two people, but maybe if we got a cat or a goldfish or a turtle I could talk to it about you in front of you. Or is that weird? Hm. It might be weird.”
Steve can’t help the smile dawning on her face. Maybe everything will be okay. “It’s kinda weird. But we should do it anyway.”
Robin laughs, and Steve still has his face buried in her chest, so he can feel it. “Yeah,” she says fondly. “I guess that hasn’t stopped us before.”
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