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"Steve. Steeeeveeee. Oh, come on! Steve?" Robin had been calling out to Steve for a good few minutes now and he still had his back turned to her, sorting through a pile of tapes in front of him. She rolled her eyes and lightly punched his shoulder to get his attention. "Why are you ignoring me, dingus?"
She wasn't expecting Steve to flinch so hard that he hit his elbow on the counter.
"Jesus Christ, Robin! What was that for?" He pouted, cradling his injured arm dramatically.
"I've been trying to talk to you for like, fifty years Steve, why were you ignoring me?" Robin huffed, she wasn't really annoyed, more like slightly concerned. It wasn't like Steve to straight up block her out even when he was having one of his bad days.
If she wasn't completely concerned before, she definitely was now. Steve's joking pout vanished and was replaced with something that she could only describe as utter heartbreak. She immediately decided she never wanted to see that on his face again.
"Shit." He muttered.
"What? Steve, what's going on." Robin felt herself growing frantic with worry for her best friend. He was hiding something, and whatever it was wasn't good.
"I wasn't ignoring you, Robs. I'm so sorry, I would never do that."
"What do you mean? It's not like I was being quiet, but like, I'm not mad at you? If that's what you're worried about?" She was now standing opposite him, close enough to reach him if he needed her, but far enough away to give him space.
Steve was quiet, face still pinched into that horrible heartbroken expression that she absolutely hated on him.
Her brain felt like it was going a million miles an hour, trying to piece together any and all information she had, tying strings and loose ends until it finally clicked.
"Wait, Steve, could you.. not hear me?"
It would make the most sense, the man had had multiple severe concussions and head injuries. Something had to give at some point. Her suspicions were all but confirmed when tears spilled over and cascaded down his cheeks. They were so lucky the store was empty right now, Robin swears she has never moved so fast in her life as she sped to the front door, flipped the sign to close and locked it firmly.
She was back in front of Steve in record time, pulling him close to her and wrapping him in her arms.
"It's okay, I'm so sorry, Steve." She spoke, figuring whispering wouldn't be much help anymore. She lowered them gently to the floor, Steve still softly crying in her grasp, and sat them down in the most comfortable position she could manoeuvre. Robin had never been so grateful for this stupid counter that was currently hiding them from the outside world.
She let him cry for as long as he needed to, knowing there likely wouldn't be anyone else in for the rest of the day anyway so it's not like they would be losing business.
Eventually, his shuddering breaths evened out again, although he stayed attached to her side like she was his only lifeline.
"I should have told you." If Robin hadn't been actively listening, she would have missed how quiet his voice was, how small he sounded, like he was terrified she was going to leave him now that he was 'broken'.
"Yeah, you should have. But only because this is something huge Stevie. You deserve people who care about you, and I know you're about to protest so shut your mouth before you even open it, dingus." She kept her voice at a steady level so that Steve could make out her words even though he wasn't reading her lips. "Does anyone else know?"
He shook his head, sighing before he spoke. "No, and they can't know. God, Robin, what use am I to those kids if I can't even hear them properly."
"Don't even think that. Those kids adore you, Steve. Like it's obvious to anyone a mile away how much they love you. And if, IF, they said one single word against you, which they wouldn't, okay? I would kick their asses so hard they'd have to walk to the next state to find them. Got it?"
Steve let out a wet-sounding laugh at her attempt to be threatening, "Yeah, yeah, I got it, Buckley."
Their moment was interrupted by a knock at the door. Robin jumped, chuckling at Steve's inquisitive look, how had she missed the signs all this time? She let him know that it was just a customer and the pair stood up to reopen the store, but not before Robin reassured him that they would be talking more about this later. The rest of their shift went by without incident, Robin's prediction of no one else entering the shop ended up being true so they were able to close up a little earlier than expected. Steve dropped Robin off at her house, and she turned to him before she got out of the car.
"I love you, you know that? We'll figure something out, I promise." She said sincerely, reaching out to squeeze his hand gently.
"Shut up, don't make me cry again you asshole." Steve rolled his eyes at her fondly pushing her out of the open passenger door. "I love you too, now get out of my car."
The next afternoon found Robin at Hawkins Library, seeking out as many books on sign language as she could find. The limit on signing out books was 5 per person, but luck was once more on her side as she knew the staff well, having spent hours upon hours in this library, reading everything she could get her hands on. So she knew she would be able to check out as many books as she pleased.
She walked clumsily up to the desk, arms so full she could barely see in front of her.
"Learning yet another language, dear?" Lisa, the lady on duty today, asked with amusement.
"Yeah, yep! You know me! Just gotta learn it all!" Robin knew she likely sounded way too enthusiastic but she couldn't help it! She was a terrible liar at the best of times, never-mind right now when the only thing going through her mind was finding ways to help Steve.
Lisa just chuckled at her antics and scanned the books through, kindly putting them in a bag to make them easier for Robin to carry out.
After she was finished, Robin threw a genuine "Thanks Lisa!" over her shoulder and started the short walk up to Steve's house.
His parents were away, as per usual, so she didn't even bother knocking and swung the door open, giving a shout to let Steve know it was just her and not some random deciding to break in.
She had just dumped all the books on the kitchen table when Steve finally made an appearance, drowning in a band t-shirt that definitely was not his, Robin sent a smirk his way before pointing to the books spread across the surface in front of them.
"You and me, dingus, we're gonna learn fucking sign language!" She watched as Steve's eyes widened and then screwed shut, briefly worrying that she had upset him until he gave her a soft shove from where he was standing next to her.
"What did I say about making me cry, man? You're doing it on purpose at this point, come on."
Robin let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Oh yes, you got me. Here I am, out to make manliest of men, Steve Harrington, cry like a little baby." She rolled her eyes at him. "But seriously, I told you we'd figure something out and I meant it. I can't fix it, as much as I wish I could, but I can help you make it bearable. You deserve that much, Steve."
For what seemed like the millionth time in the past 24 hours, Steve buried his face in the crook of Robin's neck, finding solace in the warmth of his best friend. His best friend that was literally about to learn a whole new language for him. Sure, he would be learning it too, but Robin was so invested in doing this, just for him, that it made his chest feel tight.
They spent hours flipping through the books, practicing making the correct shapes with their hands, trying fingerspelling different words to each other. Of course they weren't going to be fluent in a day, but together they made some decent progress in the short time they had. By the time evening rolled around, they could each spell their own names and sign some basic sentences.
The two kept at it for months, exchanging the basic books Robin had gotten for more advanced versions, and being able to carry full conversations together without saying a word.
Steve loved the language, but he didn't truly fall in love with it until he realised how much it helped Robin too. She often had days when everything seemed to be too much for her, sounds being the absolute worst and it was like she couldn't get away from them when every little thing overlapped in her brain and she just shut down. Those were the times that Steve was so glad to have this backup, and was still able to talk to Robin even when she couldn't get the words out.
Soon they reached the point that whenever they were alone, they would only use sign to talk to one another, unless they physically had to speak. It ended up saving Steve so many migraines, as his ears were no longer working overtime to pick up voices that he would otherwise have no choice but to pay attention to.
They settled into an easy routine, talking around the kids, signing around each other, but Steve was yet to build the courage to tell everyone about his hearing loss. He wasn't embarrassed anymore, Robin had helped immensely with him accepting it, but there was still something in the back of his mind, a horrible nagging voice that told him he would become useless to them the moment they knew.
It was this thought that sent him spiralling on one particularly bad day, he had woken up in an already foul mood and had been late to work due to not hearing his alarms go off. Robin immediately picked up on this and asked if he was okay, letting him know he didn't have to tell her but if he needed a minute at any point, that was okay.
These gentle moments between them had increased since Steve told her, and although he would never in a million years tell her, he relished in them, in the quiet familiarity of her hands forming words of comfort he never received growing up.
He shook his head a little to snap himself out of his thoughts, shooting Robin a tentative smile before heading to the back to clock in.
As the day moved forward Family Video became usually busy, which of fucking course it did. Steve felt a migraine pushing at the backs of his eyes and sighed heavily. He looked at the clock. 2 pm. Their shifts didn't finish until 6 that evening, so he was stuck there for four more hours in this state.
Of course, Robin knew, she could always tell when he wasn't his usual self. She somehow always knew exactly what was wrong too. After the mid-day rush, she ushered him to their dingy staff room, that just so happened to not have a window, so it was pitch black when the lights were off save for a small streak just below the door, and forced him to sit down on the surprisingly comfortable couch that was in there.
"Stay here, don't be stupid Steve." She all but ordered him. He found tone a little harder to perceive through sign language, but Robin's facial expressions told him everything he needed to know. She turned back around and left the room before he could even protest, so he stayed put like he had been told, basking in the darkness of the room. He refused to let himself fall asleep at work although his body was desperately calling for it. He waited it out until Robin came to tell him their shift was up and it was time to go.
Despite Robin's protests that she should take the wheel, he still drove the two back to his house, as Robin insisted she was spending the night over at his and did not give him room to argue.
She cooked them both dinner, a skill which at first Steve did not believe she possessed, but when he took the first bite of the spaghetti she made them, he told her she was on dinner duty at least 3 times a week.
They sat and ate in a comfortable silence, Steve still fighting off his ever-growing tiredness. It wasn't until Robin let out a full-on cackle that he realised he'd almost fallen asleep into his plate of food.
His favourite sound (her laughter) rang in his ears as she tried and failed to catch her breath, dissolving into more giggles every time she got close. Steve could only sit and pout at her.
"Get that stupid pout off your face, Harrington." She said through her laughter, "It's like 8pm and you're dozing off into your dinner, you're so old!" Her giddiness was contagious and he soon found himself laughing along with her, ignoring the pounding in his head as it grew.
After they had calmed down some, they washed their dishes and left them to dry on the drainer. They eventually moved into the den and Robin had put in some movie that Steve was absolutely not paying attention to, even though she had specifically picked one with subtitles for him. He just couldn't focus through the pain in his head, and let himself drift off as the movie played in the background.
Suddenly he was back in the upside down, clawing desperately at his throat as demobats surrounded him, and he was alone, no one was coming to help and no one was going to save him. He was going to die there, on a grimy floor serving as bat food. He could feel the airflow lessen and lessen as the bat that had its tail wrapped around his throat tightened its grip. This is it, he thought, before something pulled hard on his arm and he jolted awake, face to face with a terrified Robin, who seemed to be saying something that he just could not hear. At all.
This sent Steve into a deeper wave of panic, and even though he now knew there were no demobats around, his throat still felt restricted and he struggled as he gasped and gasped for breath.
"Oh my god, oh my god okay, Steve? Steve, I need you to listen to me, please Steve, come on." Robin couldn't stop the words as they tumbled from her mouth, her eyes locked onto Steve's as he stared at her in complete and utter panic.
"I can't- I- Robin I can't... hear you." He struggled to get the words out but Robin heard him loud and clear, and cursed as she realised she wouldn't be able to pull him out of this one by talking to him as she usually did. She flailed her hands for a moment, thinking and thinking and trying to come up with some semblance of a plan. She thought that signing wouldn't be helpful right now, he needed something physical to ground him, to make him aware again.
In a split-second decision, she grabbed his hands firmly and squeezed them, not enough to hurt him but enough to break through whatever haze was clouding Steve's mind right now. His eyes snapped back to hers and she took that as an okay for contact, and she launched herself onto him, wrapping him up in her arms tightly applying as much pressure as she possibly could.
Robin started talking about literally anything she could think of, and she immediately felt Steve relax at the vibrations from her chest. She was clinging to him like a koala but he made no move to push her away as his breathing slowly evened out and his shaking came to a steady halt.
She hoped he was calm enough to be able to sign when she tried to pull away, but he now had a vice grip around her waist and let out an honest to god whine when she tried to move. She chuckled at him as he buried his face in her neck again, matching his breathing with hers.
Robin let him stay like that for a while until she began to lose feeling in her legs and just couldn't sit still any longer.
"Okay dingus, I have to move before I literally explode, shift your ass." She tapped the back of his head a few times to get his attention, smiling when he lifted his head to look at her. She turned around to grab one of the bigger blankets that lay next to the couch and kept Steve's hand firmly in hers as she dragged him out to the back porch.
The chill of the night brought Steve all the way back to reality and he shivered as they sat back down on the sofa swing that faced out into the garden.
"What do you need?" Robin signed slowly, to make sure Steve could make out what she said in the low light.
"Just you. I'm okay." He signed back.
"No you're not, don't lie to me." She replied lazily.
"Okay whatever, maybe I'm not, but I can't talk about it right now. Can we just sit?"
Robin lifted her hands to give him a response but was cut off by her own sneeze.
"Ew." She said out loud, involuntarily flinching when Steve let out a yell.
"Hey, I heard you!" He couldn't help the happiness that shot through him at the revelation.
"What? I thought you said.."
"Yeah, I thought so too, but I can hear you now. Maybe it was just side effects of the migraine?" Whatever it was Steve hoped it never happened again. Not being able to hear anything at all freaked him out more than he could have even begun to explain.
"Maybe, but you should keep an eye on that Steve. And you have to tell me if anything like that happens again. Deal?" She stuck her hand out for him to shake.
He took it and gave a pathetically weak handshake on purpose, cackling as Robin let out a loud "Gross, Harrington! Don't ever do that again. You suck."
"Whatever Buckley, you love me." He curled back into Robin's side, and took her arm around him as confirmation.
"Unfortunately that is true, dingus. I am resigned to Platonically with a capital P loving you, for the rest of my life. I guess I shall just have to suffer." She giggled as she pulled him closer. "But I suppose I can deal with that."
Steve didn't respond, only nodded his head sleepily against her as they both drifted off to sleep again, protected from the cold by the warmth of their respective soulmate.