"And then... and then I just... I fucking kissed him , Robs! I kissed him, and I had no reason to kiss him, and we didn't talk about it. I don't think we're ever going to talk about it. I just-" Willow cuts herself off with a loud groan.

It was her day off, but she was currently standing in Family Video after school, and she was supposed to be keeping Robin company as she worked. Keeping company had quickly devolved into a whispered rant of the night before with Eddie, though. But, looking at her friend now, she's not even sure if she's heard a word that Willow has said. She's staring off into the store, glossed over eyes focused on a particular aisle.

"Are you even listening to me?" Willow asks softly from her position of being draped over the counter. When Robin doesn't respond once more, Willow glances over her shoulder in the general direction of Robin's stare. She wonders if maybe it's Vickie, which would describe the interesting look on her friend's face. It was almost lovelorn, hopeless in a sense and full of pining. And if Vickie was the one in the romance aisle, all the dots would easily connect, everything falling into place.

But it isn't Vickie that Robin is staring at. It's Nancy Wheeler.

Willow hadn't even seen her come in, and wonders for a second how long she'd been there.

"Buckley, why are you staring at Nancy Wheeler like that?" she asks once she faces Robin once more.

That gets her attention.

"Keep your voice down, Jenkins!" she scolds, finally looking at her best friend before leaning in and hissing, "I was not staring."

" Yes , you were. You've been completely ignoring me for the past five minutes to do said staring. What's up?" She doesn't bring up the lovelorn face, not yet.

"I just..." Robin is blushing . It's almost worse than all the times that Willow had teased her about Vickie in the beginning, "It's nothing. Just that Nance keeps coming in a lot, and it's kind of weird, right?"

" Nance ? Since when do you call her that?" Willow scrunches her nose in confusion, "And that depends. Is she coming in when Steve's here? Do you think she's going to try to get back with him?"

It's not the moment to bring it up, but Willow is particularly proud of how her voice remains even, solely curious, at the mention of Nancy and Steve rekindling. There's not a trace of jealousy, negativity, or heartbreak in her words.

"I- Only the first time. He was here the first time she came in, they talked - it didn't seem like a lover's reunion , or whatever," Robin waves off the idea, looking deep in thought, "But the last few times, it's mainly when I'm working. She even comes over and tries to make conversation, you know? Actually, one time, Steve was even here and she approached me first. He had to talk to her first," a look of realization dawns on Robin's features, and she looks at Willow with wide eyes, "Oh my God. Wait. Do you think they're getting back together?"

Willow doesn't even try to put on an act of jealousy, she simply shrugs nonchalantly, "I dunno. I'd have to see them in action, I guess."

There is only a sliver of her that is hoping that's not the case, and it's not for the reasoning that would be expected - if Steve gets back with Nancy, that could break the entire fragile coverup that her and Eddie are operating under. If Steve is suddenly off the market, it gives them no real reason to continue fake-dating.

No real reason to be sneaking into each other's rooms at midnights, and having private make-out sessions.

Yeah, Willow suddenly hopes that Nancy Wheeler is not trying to rekindle with Steve. Not yet, at least. Not until Willow can get her shit with Eddie together.

"Maybe she wants to be your friend," Willow offers the alternative that she also would like to convince herself of, "Maybe she's just... I don't know, maybe she's lonely. Didn't her boyfriend move to California?"

Robin is about to answer, but they're interrupted when the woman of the hour suddenly approaches them.

"Hey, Robin," Nancy nervously greets, smiling with tight lips and offering a short wave before her attention focuses on Willow, "And hi there.... Robin's friend."

One thing that Willow could give Steve Harrington was that Nancy was pretty . Drop dead gorgeous. Seeing her up close, she sort of understands why he was so torn up over losing her for the longest time.

"Willow," she sticks her hand out softly, offering her friendliest look.

She didn't hate Nancy. In fact, she'd always been a bit curious, wanting to finally meet the girl she knew far too much about.

"Nance! Hey!" Robin says loudly just as Nancy reciprocates the handshake with a kindness and unexpected softness. Both she and Willow jump, breaking apart and turning in Robin's direction, "What's up? Is everything okay? You need any help with finding a movie, or-"

Willow starts a mental checklist immediately .

Robin blushes profusely at the mention of Nancy? Check.

Robin is staring with a lovelorn look at Nancy? Check.

Robin is rambling, almost as if she has no control over her mouth, the moment Nancy is in front of her? Check.

"Everything's fine!" Nancy immediately assures Robin, "I just swung by to see if you guys had any new releases."

"Oh, y-yeah! We've got a few in the back. Give me a second," Robin moves from the counter at an impressive speed, heading straight into the backroom where they kept their new shipments that were waiting to be organized and set out on the floor.

Robin is at Nancy's beck and call without any need for convincing? Check.

Willow has seen this play out before, and this time, she has a bad feeling about it.

Before she can think over the obvious signs of her friend's blooming crush, Nancy clears her throat, "So... you're the Willow Jenkins."

Willow turns to Nancy with a soft smile, "Yeah, the one and only. And you're the Nancy Wheeler."

"In the flesh," Nancy laughs.

There's nothing but goodwill between the two girls. It's a bit awkward, as it always is between two strangers, but no one would ever be able to tell the unspoken history between the two of them with the common link of Steve Harrington.

"I'm guessing Robin told you about me?" Willow questions, still thinking about her friend's reaction to Nancy in the back of her mind. They were going to have a talk. Willow wasn't an idiot - she could see what was happening here. On Robin's part, at least. She couldn't speak for Nancy.

"Steve, actually," Nancy corrects, and Willow is taken back. Steve was the one who talked about Willow to Nancy? "Nothing but good things, I promise."

" Really? That's - Okay, wow. Cool," Willow internally shames herself for stumbling over her words, taken off guard still. Steve Harrington talked about me to Nancy Wheeler. What could he have possibly told her? "He's told me a little about you, too."

"I'm going to guess that it was some not good things, right?" Nancy laughs. Willow tries to shake her head, deny it, but Nancy isn't having it. She waves a carefree hand, "It's okay. I'm his ex-girlfriend. Normally, when guys talk about ex-girlfriends to their friends, it's not about the good things. I get it."

Willow opens her mouth to say more, but Robin comes bounding back up to the two girls with a few movies in hand.

"Okay! I found some that I really think you'll like!" Robin lays the tapes down in a line, titles facing Nancy. Willow peeks subtly over her shoulder and catches sight of Labyrinth , but before she can read any more of the titles, she hears a horn honking outside the store.

Even before she looks up and glances out the large window panes, she's sure it's Eddie. And she's right - his van is sitting front and center.

He had offered to swing by and give her a ride home when she'd mentioned at lunch that she wanted to visit with Robin at work right after school.

"Well, I guess that's my cue to leave," she sighs, looking up between the two girls. Robin's eyes stay trained on the brunette.

"Oh," Nancy's mouth falls agape, looking between the van sitting outside and Willow, "The rumors are true. You're dating Eddie Munson?"

Willow furrows her brows slightly, "I am. Steve didn't mention that?"

"He mentioned you had a boyfriend, but never said who," Nancy explains with a half-smile.

Willow was growing more and more interested in exactly what conversation Steve had had with Nancy about her with the more she learned.

"I see..." Willow trails off. Robin is looking at her strangely, trying to read her, but she maintains a straight face before shaking off her thoughts, "Well, yeah. Yeah, he's the boyfriend. An impatient one, at that. So I better get going," she grabs her backpack that she'd discarded against the corner of the counter before looking pointedly at Robin, "I'll see you tomorrow, I'm sure, but I wanted to let you know that we'll see you at the game, too."

" We ? Who's we?" Robin asks, finally snapped out of the spell that Nancy Wheeler had her under.

"Me and Eddie," Willow answers her with a smirk, knowing that if her friend had listened to her at all earlier, she would have heard that bit. Not only would she have all the details of Willow's impulsive decision to make-out with Eddie in the privacy of her own room, but she would have heard all about her success in convincing Eddie to postpone Hellfire.

"Say, how do you feel about teaching me D&D?"

Willow's words had taken Eddie off guard, making the tracing of his fingers pause completely.

"Come again?" he questioned, tilting his chin down to look at the girl curled into his side.

"I said , how do you feel about teaching me how to play D&D?" Willow repeated herself. She really hadn't been capable of thinking of another segway into the conversation, and she wanted to keep her promise to the freshmen boys. She would at least try .

"You? You want to play D&D?" If the weight of Willow's head wasn't keeping his chest held down to the bed, Eddie would have sat up out of shock, "When I said I wanted you to attend Hellfire again, Red, I didn't mean you had to play-"

"I know," she interrupted, looking up at him with mischief sparkling in her eyes, "But I just... I'm curious, I guess."

" Curious ?" he narrowed his eyes at her, "Did my sheep put you up to this?"

She batted her lashes, putting on an oblivious mask, "Your sheep? Why would they put me up to this?"

"They're using you to get me to postpone."

"I have no idea what you mean."

"Damn it," he sighed, throwing his head back into her pillow, "They've discovered my kryptonite."

"Kryptonite?" Willow snorted, "I am not your only weakness. You have a plethora of them."

His mouth fell open, glaring down at her with faux annoyance before he rolled his eyes, "Wow. They really should have sent someone better at sweet-talking to convince me."

"Oh, come on," Willow broke, sitting up from his chest and looming down at him, "Give me one good reason you can't postpone."

"If I postpone, you're going to drag me to that god-forsaken football game."

"If you don't postpone, I'll just convince them to all call out sick and give you no choice. They're got immunity now, Munson. They've got my protection from you - the big, bad wolf."

Eddie's eyes widened as he sat up on his elbows, "Oh my God. They aren't trying to postpone it for themselves. They're not using you against me; you're using them!" When Willow didn't reply, Eddie groaned, flopping himself back down on the bed, "God, fine! Fine. I'll postpone and go to the stupid game. Jesus," he muttered as Willow settled back into his side happily, "I can't believe you betrayed me."

"I've decided they're my sheep too, by proxy and all," she waved her hand around for emphasis before resting it against his bare chest. She refused to think about the way the skin-on-skin contact made her heart race painfully, "Might as well put them to use. Also, don't tell them I told you, but they approached me first."

"Okay, I don't know whether I want to unpack the fact that you just claimed joint-custody over my D&D club first, or the fact that those little shits also betrayed me. Does loyalty have no meaning these days?"

"Holy shit. You got him to postpone Hellfire," Robin gasps in realization, but Willow is already taking slow steps backwards.

"Never underestimate the power of Willow the Witch," Willow jokingly warns, wiggling her fingers in the two girls' direction tauntingly.

Nancy looks lost as Robin makes a fake gagging noise, "God, I miss when you weren't a nerd. Tell them to get you a better nickname pronto, at least."

"On it, boss," Willow salutes her friend before turning and speed-walking towards the door.

But not before taking one final glance over her shoulder, catching the way a stubborn blush remained on Robin's cheeks as Nancy says something that sends her into a fit of giggles.

Oh yeah, they would be having a talk.

—

"What if I buy you dinner instead? We could go to Denny's."

" No ."

"What if I do your homework for the first two weeks after break?"

" Absolutely not. "

"What if I-"

"Eddie," Willow sighs, turning towards him from where she stands in front of her bathroom mirror.

It was Friday, and she was currently trying to get ready to go to the game. Key word being trying . He'd been attempting to talk her out of it for nearly an hour, offering every alternative he could think of. He'd become desperate to find a way to get out of going to the game.

"We're going to the game," she continues, shooting him a look in the mirror. He's leaning up against the entry frame to the bathroom casually, clad in his usual attire, save for a flannel peaking out beneath his leather jacket. That was new. She wasn't entirely sure how he could handle so many layers, even given the autumn chill that had invaded Hawkins with October's arrival. "Now please let me finish my makeup."

She didn't normally wear much makeup, but the game was as good as any excuse to experiment. She'd decided to go a little heavier handed on the eyeliner, an attempt to make her eyes pop.

"Why are you even wearing makeup? Is there someone you're trying to impress? Is Steve going?" Eddie continues to ramble, now moving from the doorway to go sit on the edge of the tub.

You , she wants to scream. I'm trying to impress you.

"Girls don't wear makeup to impress other people," she scoffs, finally finishing with lining her eyes and placing the cap back on the pencil, "I just felt like it. Is it a crime?"

He shrugs. "Maybe. Are you done?"

"If another question falls from your mouth in the next ten minutes, you'll be done."

"Done as in I won't have to go to the game, or done as in done done. Like," he pauses, and mimics a knife to the throat as an obnoxious sound effect falls from his lips.

Her pointed look at his question makes him straighten his posture, and she almost sees a flash of genuine fear in his eyes, "I guess we'll find out, won't we ?"

He's quiet after that. She can see him bouncing his leg continuously from the corner of her eye as she digs through her small pouch holding a majority of her makeup, and she fights the urge to drop what she's doing to comfort him. He's clearly anxious about this - and she really doesn't blame him, given his reputation. But she tells herself it'll be fine. She'll be there, and if anyone tries to start anything with him, she'll be the one to end it.

"I'm almost done," she offers up in an alternative attempt to soothe him, voice soft and gentle as ever as her fingers grasp the tube she was looking for.

Red lipstick.

She had never been one for bold lips, and part of her was worried that the red was going to clash with her hair. But it was just an experiment. If she hated it, she'd take it off as quickly as she had put it on, and they could be out the door in no time.

"What's that?" he asks, and she doesn't have the heart to scold his curious mind once more.

"Lipstick," she answers plainly, pulling the top off the tube and twisting it until the red tip was fully exposed.

She doesn't see Eddie's mesmerized stare in the mirror, far too concentrated on the task.

He watches her the entire time that she applies the rouge balm. Her hands shake a bit from concentration and nerves, trying to be careful when she brushes the color over the lines of her lips.

The concentration pays off when she finally puts the tube down, looking at herself in the mirror.

Fuck, okay. It was a good idea.

"Holy shit," Eddie whispers from his seat on the tub.

She almost doesn't hear him, so caught up in staring down her reflection in shock. The red works . Between the red hair and the red lips, she almost doesn't recognize herself. If she had seen this glimpse of herself a year ago, the girl staring back would have been a stranger.

She finally turns to Eddie, and if she weren't feeling so vulnerable, she would have told him to pick his jaw up off the floor. "Do I look good?"

His mouth opens and closes a few times in clear wonder, as if he can't find the right words for the moment. When he finally does speak up, clearing his throat and standing abruptly, he's a mess of stutters.

"Y-Yes, yeah. No, yeah, you look- wow. You look great. It's great. Wow."

She can't help the smile that spreads like wildfire. It's as vicarious as the blush hidden beneath her concealer, lighting her entire face up like a night sky. It's taking his breath away, and she doesn't even know it.

"You sure it isn't too much? Does it even go with my outfit?" she's more so asking herself than she is him, looking down at her attire. She was wearing a pair of her baggier pairs of blue jeans, cinched with a black belt at her waist where it met the hem of her black shirt. The collar of the shirt was almost a turtle neck, climbing up the lower half of her neck in a valiant effort to hide the hickey he'd left the night before.

She knows that the hickey would have been a perfect opportunity to stir the pot. To wear a shirt that shows it off, that spurred on whispers from her peers. But something had wrenched in her gut at the idea of sharing any evidence of that personal moment between the two of them with the world. She didn't want to show off the hickey. She simply wanted it to be. All it needed to be was a reminder to herself, something that she knew was there and that he knew was there. It wasn't a statement piece - it was the memory of the knot of emotions weighing down on Willow's stomach with each step throughout the day. It was theirs, and only theirs, selfish as it may be.

He's also giving her outfit a glance over, "Hold on. I have an idea."