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"help!" she repeated for the umpteenth time.

"hey, would you stop yelling?" steve mumbled, waking up with a groan.

robin smiled, relieved. the boy had been passed out for forever, and she was worried he wouldn't wake up. "steve! oh, my god! steve- are.. are you okay?" they both sat in chairs, their backs pressed together and their hands tied behind the chairs.

"my ears are ringing," steve began, "and i can't really breathe, my eye feels like it's about to pop out of my skull... but, you know, apart from that, i'm doing pretty good." he said sarcastically. "is meadow here?" he immediately asked as looked around, cursing under his breath as he saw that she wasn't in the room with them. "dammit. i wonder what the hell they're doing to her. those assholes."

robin nodded. "well, the good news is that they're calling you a doctor." she laughed.

steve looked around him. "what, is this his place of work? i love the vibe. charming."

"yeah, tell me about it." robin agreed. "so, okay, do you see that table over there to your right?" steve turned over his shoulder to look, but robin shook her head. "no, your other right. and do you see those scissors? yeah, we'll, i think that if we move at the same time, we could get over there, and then maybe i could kick the table and knock them into your lap."

steve nodded. "and i could cut the binds."

"yeah and we could get out of here and go get meadow."

steve smiled a little, seeing her plan. "gotcha. okay, yeah, we can do that. those morons. they left scissors in here? total morons." he and robin chuckled, both agreeing that the russians were morons, and that this task would be easy.

"so, on the count of three, we're gonna hop." robin said. "one, two, three." they both hopped, their rolling chairs landing to the right as they'd hoped. "okay, that worked." robin said happily. "okay, let's try again. one, two, three." they counted together this time, both hopping again. "holy shit, this is gonna work!" robin exclaimed as they landed. they attempted to jump again, but chairs flew underneath them, sending both of them toppling down.

they both groaned as they hit the ground, and then robin started laughing. "it's okay, it's okay. don't cry, robin." steve said, mistaking her hysterical laughter for sobs. then he turned slightly, his brows furrowed. "are you laughing?" he asked. "jesus.." he mumbled, laying on his side again.

"i'm sorry!" robin exclaimed. "i'm so sorry. it's just.. i can't believe,. i'm gonna die in a secret russian base with steve "the hair" harrington. it's just too trippy, man."

steve shook his head. "we're not gonna die. we're gonna get out of here, okay? and we're gonna get meadow out, too. just.. you gotta let me just think for a second."

robin ignored him. "do you remember, um, mrs. click's sophomore history class?"

steve shook his head. "what?"

"mrs. clickity-clackity. that's what us band dweebs called her. it was first period, tuesdays and thursdays, so you were always late. and you always had the same breakfast. bacon, egg, and cheese on a sesame bagel." she recalled. "i sat behind you two days a week for a year. mister funny. mister cool. the king of hawkins high himself. do you even remember me from that class?" she took his brief silence as an answer. "of course you don't. you only stared at meadow. she sat in the front of the room, near the corner. but you were a real asshole, you know that?"

"yeah, i know." steve replied.

robin shook her head. "but it didn't even matter. it didn't matter that you were an ass. i was still.. obsessed with you. and so was meadow. she would turn and look at all of her friends, and they'd giggle to her and she'd pretend not to care that the steve harrington was staring at her. we always knew you guys would date."

"no," steve shook his head, "she hated me until last year."

"no, she didn't." robin laughed to herself. "she never hated you. and she still doesn't. she's hopelessly in love with you. have you never thought about it? sophomore year, she pretended not to like you, but then you never made a move. and junior year she tried to move on, right, she tried to hate you, because hating you was easier than seeing you with nancy. and then senior year, she finally stopped pretending, and you stopped being someone you weren't. and then that, i guess, is what made her crush turn into actually falling for you. she's in love with you, steve, and that's why i didn't understand it."

steve furrowed his brow. "what?"

"i didn't understand why you were so jealous of that billy guy."

"because he replaced me at school. he was cooler. and she seems to like him enough."

"no, steve, she likes you. do you remember what i said about click's class? about me being jealous, and, like, obsessed? it isn't because i had a crush on you. it's because.. she wouldn't stop staring at you. meadow. i wanted her to look at me. but.. she couldn't pull her eyes away from you and your stupid hair. and i didn't understand, because you would get bagel crumbs all over the floor. and you asked dumb questions. and you were a douchebag. and.. and i would go home and just scream into my pillow. and seeing her with you this summer? i get it now. i get why she always liked you, and you always liked her."

steve looked at the wall, taking it all in. "but.. but meadow's a girl."

"steve." robin said softly.

his gaze softened. "oh." he said. "holy shit."

"yeah. holy shit." robin replied. "so, i know she likes you. and you need to make sure she knows how much you like her. because, as much as i hate to admit i, i love seeing you two together. you both look so.. so happy."

robin hadn't ever thought about the situation the way she had this summer. she'd just moved on from it and pretended it hadn't happened. but seeing the couple together had put everything into perspective. she knew now that steve wasn't the asshole she'd always pinned him to be, and that he genuinely cared. he cared about meadow, her brother, erica, and even robin herself. and, despite how much she'd hated him, she realized that steve had changed, and that fact had finally granted her the closure she'd wanted for the past two and a half years.

steve looked over his shoulder at her. "thank you for telling me all that." there was silence for a moment. "now i need to get you a girlfriend."

robin rolled her eyes. "steve, no."

he laughed. "yes!"

"no!"

their combined laughter was cut short as the russian men opened the doors. the two probably looked ridiculous; still strapped to their chairs, but laying on the floor, dying of laughter.

"where were you two going?" the leader of the two men asked. he clicked his tongue in a disapproving manor, shaking his head at them. there was a doctor with him now, and he moved over to all the needles. the stronger soldiers lifted steve and robin's chairs so they were sitting upright once more, their laughter replaced by fear. "try telling the truth this time, yes?" the leader said to steve. "it will make your visit with dr. zharkov less painful." he stroked steve's bruised and bloodied face, making him wince.

"where's meadow?" steve replied simply.

the doctor chuckled momentarily, nodding to the solider by the door. he moved to the door, opening it as meadow was tossed onto the floor in front of steve.