revivalproject | Purple Haze all in my Brain

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Purple Haze all in my Brain

WHO: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, and the 420 crowd
WHERE: The Hideout that's not a club and is instead an underground refuge
WHAT: Steve and Eddie cuddling and then blazing up
WHEN: During event
WARNINGS: DRUGS! Pot be smoking up here!

CLOSED TO EDDIE:

Getting a base set up wasn't too hard. The area around here is big and there's rooms jutting out all over the place. One of the more private areas is where Steve picks for the two of them since they need to be so 'careful' about the 'PDA'. Steve's still a little sore about that as he puts the finishing touches on the blanket door for the room and then finally, with that done, starts taking his shirt off to relax in "bed". It's been a crazy few days, all considered. They escaped a volcano, had a fight with Hargrove, made up with Hargrove, and then got here where they'll be camping out until...whenever.

But at least he has Eddie.

Smiling, he walks over to his boyfriend and hooks his chin over his shoulder. "Dunno about you, but I am beat. I think I'm gonna go lay down." He presses a kiss to his jaw hinge. "Feel free to stay up, babe. Buuut if I can entice you to come lay down with the promise of illegal PDA behavior...."

OPEN:

The word is getting around slowly. It's been a week or so and with the immediate survival taken care of, things are getting boring. Steve dribbles his ball around and tries to help out wherever he can. But even with all that, time crawls. He's not an explorer so that isn't appealing and as much as the new plant information is fun to mess around with, he itches for a different sort of plant to take away some of the monotony. So...he spread the word: hotboxing his and Eddie's little room as best they could and anyone game for that sort of fun was also included.

Steve already has a blunt burning by the time people are meant to show up. He leans up against one of the walls and inhales deep and lets it out slow. Even with his practice, he still coughs a little but whatever. He is past caring at this point.

As the blanket swings, he turns to smile at whoever is walking in and give a drowsy "Heeeeeey!" The blunt is extended out, always a giver for things like this. "Make sure the curtain thing is closed behind you. There's some rocks holding it down at the bottom. No high kids in this place. No siree."

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“Well of course he does. He’s a Rottweiler. People think he’s a junk yard dog that growls and bites and attacks kids. But he’s just a little snuggle bear,” she laughs. Oh man, this is the best to think a bout. Who else?

“Jonathan looks like one of those English sheep dogs. The ones with the fur in their eyes? Like, can’t see where he’s going.”

Oh god, it’s a good picture.

Wait, no, back up. Brain, catch up with the conversation. He said it? Robin rolls over on her side to look at Steve and she’s smiling at him.

“Steve, if you wanna know the truth? I don’t know that Nancy ever loved you like she loved the idea of you. And she was, like… You know how easy it is to fall into things after the Uppsy-Downy stuff. Like our friendship. But sometimes those are bad things. The only bullshit there was that Nancy got the best of you and gave nothing back. But Eddie gives. He gives SO MUCH!”

She laughs and smiles. This is such good news.

"He doooooes," Steve whines happily. Flopping to the side he puts his head on Robin's stomach. "He shows how he feels an is just. Expressive. I don't need to pull it out of him. He just is. And he's sweet. Smart. So funny. And he doesn't make me feel stupid even when I am probably being stupid."

He sighs and just beams up at Robin.

"I have both the people I love here. And pot. For a kidnapping, it's going pretty good."

“There’s a difference between being stupid and being stupid, Steve,” Robin reminds him. She’s been here with him before. You can make stupid choices but still be smart. And other types of smart, right? Robin’s language and music and arts smart. Doesn’t mean she’s math smart. Actually, she’s REALLY not math smart. Or spatial smart. Coordinated smart.

There’s a whole list. She made it once, at Family Video. Doesn’t remember what happened to it. Probably something smart, like Steve realizing it was destroying her self confidence and so he destroyed it. Like a smart person.

“Oh, Dustin’s here?” She teases. Because of course she will. But as for her… She’s…

She’s lonely in her own way. Which she knows has to be worse for Billy.

“Now I’m just thinking of pound puppy again.”

"Yeah, yeah," he says. The speech is familiar, save it. Mentioning the 'pound puppy', Steve groans a little and turns his head to look at Robin's chin, mostly.

"Billy'll get friends. And I super hope some pretty babes start raining after the volcano so you can have a girlfriend. Just make sure you don't let Billy see her first. You two will be competing, probably." He hands over the joint feeling pleasantly high at this point. No need to cross any line.

"His home life sucked," he murmurs, not sure if he should say it or not. He can be vague. "We have that in common at least. Both not playing fetch often..."

Are they allowed to do that? Call Billy ‘pound puppy’ when it’s just the two of them? They can’t say it around Billy. He’d probably think it was an insult and take offense. Which would be bad. That would not be suited to the balance they are aiming for.

“We really won’t be competing,” Robin sighs. “Billy’s pretty on a whole other scale. So there’s no chance that any girls, rained or otherwise, are going to pick me over him.”

Not even in the personality category. She’s met herself. It’s not even a contest. She focuses on smoking instead.

“I… figured as much. Max doesn’t talk to me much, but with how things seemed to be going with her home life after, it seemed… It seemed likely? Couldn’t be sure. Wouldn’t be sure. But I guess you both can try and learn fetch now?”

"Well maybe I don't want to play fetch now, you know? I'm not a poodle puppy anymore. I have other games that are fun. And I have...a Robin Dog. And a very, very nice rottweiler that loves me, so tha-"

It clicks all at once and Steve's eyes pop open.

"Holy shit. Wait, that's it, right? I have this really fun rottweiler and a Robin dog. Who is really fucking pretty, we'll come back to that. But I have them and I'm a poodle which is a fancy dog. And the pound puppy doesn't. And I growl a lot when he tries to play!

"Am I a bully poodle again?!"

“No, metaphor fail. Even old dogs like to play fetch,” she says. “And poodles probably more because, again, water dog.”

Did she mention the water dog thing? Whatever. In the blood. But look, there it is. Not the pretty part. They are not coming back to them. He’s getting it. The metaphor has landed, people. Not just the poodle part. The ‘Steve has things, and there are reasons for Billy to be jealous in the past, but there are also reasons for Billy to be jealous in the now’ part.

It makes her so proud of him. Proud enough that she finishes another drag and uses her free hand to reach out and pet his hair. Oh Steve. You get it.

“You’ really did get it. Poodle pup has all these really great things. Got a friend and someone to cuddle up to, and people aren’t scared of him because they look at him and see a poodle. But pound puppy doesn’t have any of that, except that he’s pretty when he doesn’t growl. So that makes pound puppy pretty jealous.”

Especially with the growling from Steve.

“I don’t know that I’d say bully. But you are the guard dog, and he’s a strange dog you decided was hostile, and you’re not trying to see if the new training has kicked in. Just getting all grrrrr right off the bat if he comes near your territory.”

Yes, Robin and Eddie are now both dogs and territory? Or toys? Whatever. Don’t think too hard on it. What’s important is that Robin has shown Steve two dots and instead of expecting him to connect him, she helped him figure out how to connect them all on his own. A little kibble trail to the answer.

"I am a water dog," Steve agrees readily. He is calm and distracted enough that the petting to his hair doesn't immediately have him flailing around. He takes the joint back to help fuel his mind and takes a long drag.

"For the record. I didn't decide he was hostile. He went to attack one of the puppies I am friends with and then mauled me." It seems like an important distinction to make. "But yeah. Yeah, I get it, I think. I see pound puppy as danger dog because of the dog fight we had. And... that means I growl and probably... help make sure that another dog fight happens."

He sighs.

"Okay. Okay I think I get it."

She smiles. Her Steve is so smart. And brave. Best friend material through and through.

“I meant it. When I said you don’t have to forgive him for what he did to you or others. You don’t. Just need to growl less and give him space. So he can grow. And even if he changes and becomes the most perfect, kindest, sweetest lap dog ever, you still don’t owe him forgiveness.”

She’s thought about it some. People she might never forgive. People she already has. It’s a lot. Working through trauma like that is not easy she thinks. But when you have to deal with the Upside-Down, other things come into perspective.

And now, of course, there were aliens to deal with too.

Steve relaxes against her and is quiet for a long moment.

"I don't know if I can," he admits. "I just...wanted to protect the kids so bad. And I thought--really thought--he was going to kill me. It would have been fine if the kids like ran away or something. But they were still there. I went unconscious thinking I'd failed them. Just left them in danger because I wasn't...enough."

He blinks a few times, fast. Sniffs hard. He buries the feeling under a short inhale of smoke and a clearing of his throat.

"But that's me. That's a me thing. I can make sure it doesn't... make him have no puppy friends. Even if he wants to be friends with the rottweiler or the very, very pretty Robin dog."

“You were enough,” she insists, her voice soft. Because by being there he had protected them. Chances were Billy wouldn’t have turned on them if he had… But he hadn’t. And that didn’t matter. Better not to borrow the could have would have should haves.

“Maybe one day you’ll want to be friends with him too, Poodle. Or maybe not. But that is all your choice. And in the mean time, you’re still my best Poodle ever. Platonic Poodle.”

She snickers and squirms forward to try and hug him. Because Steve is important. Her best friend. He saved her life more or less too. Without Steve who knew what she would be.

“There’s plenty of other pups in this little dog park, Steve. At the end of the day, we’ll all figure it out.”

Steve doesn't agree or disagree with Robin. There's no point because he already knows they won't meet eye to eye on it. It was one of the scariest and most gut-wrenching memories he had. One of the few that made it into his weird memory place. But it was his thing to deal with.

"Maybe one day," he said finally. And at the rest he smiled. Steve rested the blunt on the floor so he could launch himself into the hug and half smother Robin with it.

"Speaking of pups, I need to talk about the Robin dog! And how she's so pretty and smart. Kind of awkward at times, but some people are really into that. But really, just waaaay cuter than she thinks she is. Maybe the dog has bad eyesight or something. Have we tested that?"

Oh but that’s her Steve. Her best friend. Her most important person (because who else did she have?). But then he’s being weird again and she groans and tries to shove him away.

“Pretty smart, yes. Pretty, no. Completely awkward! And my eyes are probably better than yours. Geez, stop being WEIRD Steve. This is why people think we’re dating!”

"People think we are dating because of forced heterosexual normalcy," he tries to recite. He was almost there. Points for trying.

"And you are so pretty, Robin. Remember for a second there I was totally on the 'Robin-is-a-babe-I-wanna-date' train. That wasn't just because you were fun and smart and whatever else." He flops off and lays beside her, smiling.

"You also rocked the sailor outfit. I don't think we talk about that enough. Always me and the shorts."

Awww, so many points. “Heteronormative sexuality,” she corrects, but she says it fondly. He pays attention. Really, if she were straight, she’d so be into him with that little bit of evidence of attention.

She knows Eddie’s got to feel super spoiled by that.

“You weren’t on the ‘Robin-is-a-babe-I-wanna-date’ train. You just liked that I didn’t take your shit. And because I’m fun and smart and whatever else.”

The sailor outfit. Yeah, Robin had been no more impressed than he had by the thing. Though she laughed up his little outfit’s hat.

“I hated they were gendered. But you got hired specifically to rock the uniform, Steve.”

Oops, she wasn’t supposed to tell him that.

Steve, back then, had been so fucking proud to have landed a job without his father's help. He'd wanted to do it on his own and prove he could do it. If Robin had let that slip back then, he would have been devastated. As it is right now, after needing help for so much in order to just survive, it is just an interesting factoid.

But that also might be the pot helping sooth the sting.

"Wait, what? They hired me to parade around in the shorts and be eye candy?" He props himself up on an arm, shocked.

"I was the babe!?"

Oh Steve. Robin smiles and nods.

“You know how I got hired first? Manager asked for my opinion of you. I gave it at the time, honestly. And he said he was still going with you because he wanted eye candy to bring in the girls.”

Though she has to bite her lip to hold back the smile. Because here’s the thing… She had started a little bit before Steve, right? Worked some shifts he didn’t too.

“It worked.”

Steve thinks for a moment about how to respond to that and then finally figures he should be proud. "Hah! I was a babe! I brought in the babes! Take that 'You Suck' board! At least they wanted to walk in and look at me."

He pokes Robin's side, still grinning.

"I was a great wingman before I even knew what I was doing. You're welcome."

Okay, now she’s also proud of him for turning around the confidence blow into a confidence boost. Steve’s so much better now than he was before she had known him.

“Excuse you, wingmen are there to make people TALK to their friend. I was not the one they were talking to, Poodle. They were after the pedigree, not the mutt.”

"Okay," he groans, rolling onto his stomach and poking at Robin's cheek this time. "That's it. If you're not nicer to my best friend, I am gonna beat you up. Get it, Buckley?

"She is not a mutt. She is a gorgeous show dog that decided not to live up to the breed rules so, sure, she's not winning any ribbons but who the fuck wants those ribbons anyways? Those ribbons are only good for people who care about ribbons and those people are assholes who don't deserve a dog in the first place. They just want a decoration and will never play fetch with them or the puppies that come afterwa-" He's losing the metaphor.

"Whatever. Be nicer to her. She's amazing."

Aw well that is just the… The actual sweetest. What’s he doing being that sweet? She doesn’t even know. But she smiles.

“Maybe I’ll listen to you, Poodle. Maybe. But I’m not a show dog. I’ve got no pedigree. Parents are hippies, remember?”

"Pedigrees are overrated. You're better off without that baggage." He reaches around Robin for the joint and hands it to her.

"Also you're not calling me 'Poodle' in front of Billy or Eddie. I'm hanging onto my cool cred by the tips of my fingers."

"You have cool cred?" She teases with a smile. Hard to believe.

But she does take the joint and had one last drag. Goodbye joint. They have barely known ye.

"How about I work it in if you're being extra growlly?"

Steve considers it and then nods. "Yeah, I guess that could work. Like a secret signal if I need to back off or whatever."

It could work. Lord knew he didn't think this was going to be a quick fix even if he did understand it more now. Having some sort of signal would be helpful.

"Just. Careful around Hargrove. I don't need to be Princess Poodle."

Signals were useful. Just ask Batman. Or Dustin and his Code Red.

"Awwww Princess Poodle would be cute. Poodle Princess would be better. And maybe if you didn't react to Princess he wouldn't call you that."

Just an idea.

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