Who Said The Language Of Love Was Audible?

by LaceyBarbedWire

Summary:

Shortly after the rescue of Will Byers, Nancy Wheeler got in a car accident that left her mute.

This is the story of Robin learning ASL and, in the process, learning about Nancy.

Chapter 1

Robin's wrapping up her break when she hears Steve…possibly having a psychotic episode? She can hear him talking and laughing, having one half of a conversation, but she can't hear even a bit of the other half of that conversation. She didn't hear the phone ring, and Steve wouldn't call someone to have a casual chat in the middle of a shift, so she's at a bit of a loss as to what's going on if he's not talking to himself.

She emerges from the back to find Steve behind the counter and when she shifts a little she can see Nancy Wheeler standing in front of him, hands moving in strange patterns. They're deliberate and steady patterns, done without pause on the other girl's part, but what they're meant to be isn't clear to Robin. 

Steve seems to get it though, cause when Nancy's hands stop he huffs at her. "No Nance, there's lots of good stuff in Fast Times beyond the boobs." Nancy arches a brow at him, but before her hands start moving again Robin sidles up.

"Eww, please don't say boobs ever again." She groans. "Hey Nancy." Nancy smiles at her, though it's a little tight, and starts fishing in her purse, eventually pulling out a pad of paper and a pen.

Robin, thoughts on Fast Times At Ridgemont High? Nancy writes. Robin blinks, then shrugs. 

"It's okay. Phoebe Cates is pretty." Nancy grins and writes again. 

HA! Steve groans and waves a hand. 

"Robin watches movies with subtitles and shit, she doesn't know what she's talking about." He complains, and as Nancy frowns while writing her reply Robin realizes what's going on. 

Everyone at Hawkins High had heard about the accident. Like, three months after Will Byers and Barb had gone missing Nancy Wheeler and her mom had gotten T-Boned when some out of town asshole ran a red light. Both had made it out alive, but some glass had hit exactly the wrong spots and severed Nancy's vocal cords. After recovering, Nancy had returned to school mute and writing everything down to communicate. 

Only…there were other ways to communicate without speaking. "Oh shit, you two were signing, weren't you?" Robin blurts out, getting a startled look from Nancy. "I'm sorry for interrupting. That must be so much faster than writing everything out. I'll just go…check the shelves or something so you don't have to feel obligated to include me, that's on me." Nancy blinks then turns a page and hastily scribbles something out.

Stay? Robin blinks in surprise and Steve gives her a smile. 

"I can translate?" He offers. "Unless you're wanting special girl talk time Nance." Robin is treated to the delightful surprise of Princess Nancy Wheeler flipping Steve off, something that Steve seems to approve of as well, given the laugh he lets out. 

"Alright, if it's not going to be annoying for you guys I guess." 

Nancy stays for almost two hours, vanishing into the aisles whenever they get a customer, and Robin learns that Nancy has surprisingly strong opinions on film, but that she has also never seen a movie that isn't mainstream as hell. She's never seen someone so passionate about the most basic of romantic comedies or old musicals. Not old old, mind you, but The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady. Old Disney as well. She got the vibe that Nancy liked escaping into happy things which, looking at the hint of the ugly scar that poked up over the mute girl’s scarf, she couldn’t really fault. More so when she considered how Nancy and the others had reacted to the general threat of the Russians and Billy with more tiredness than actual panic. Even the giant flesh monster had been something they’d adjusted to with almost concerning speed. It had obviously scared them, but they’d rallied surprisingly quickly.

Eventually Nancy does leave, and Robin looks at Steve. "You learned sign?" She asks incredulously. It's not that Steve is stupid, but Hawkins High doesn't have an ASL class, which means he would have had to learn from books, and that just…doesn't feel like Steve. He shrugs. 

"We were dating when the accident happened. I was…still shitty back then, but I wasn't going to just…not learn how to understand her when she was talking. What kind of asshole would that make me?"

 

OoOoO

 

As it turns out, there might not be a specific word for that kind of asshole, but there is an example of one and he's living in the Wheeler household. 

Robin learns this when Mike comes storming up to the counter one day. "I need movies where bad things happen to dads and it's not sad." He says bluntly. Robin blinks down at him for a moment. 

"You're going to have to be more specific." She tells him frankly. "I haven't actually seen literally every movie, and there's not really any movie that's just about someone torturing a dad. Especially not ones where you're supposed to root against the dad." Mike huffs and flails a little.

"I need family friendly movies where the dad's an asshole and gets punished for it, but with plausible deniability so my dad doesn't realize what I'm doing when we watch it on family movie night." Robin blinks again. 

"Damn. That's specific. What happened?" Mike lets out a frustrated growl. 

"My dad told Nancy that if she hadn't learned ASL she'd have gotten an A+ in Trig rather than a B. And by told I mean he lectured her for a while about it." Robin frowns.

"But Nancy's mute. Signing is how she talks." She points out reasonably. Mike lets out an angry huff like a bull. 

"Dad thinks that she should just stick to writing on a pad, since that's what she has to do for most people anyway." Robin stares at him, something slowly occurring to her.

"...your dad didn't learn how to sign?" She demands. Mike shakes his head angrily. 

"He thought it was a waste of time. Maybe five people in Hawkins knew ASL before Nancy's accident, and none of them teach at Hawkins High, so she has to write stuff down for most people anyway. Mom learned, but he gets mad when he sees her understanding Nancy's signing because he thinks she's encouraging her to disrespect him. It didn't help when she got a job at Hawkins Post, he's mad she still wants to be a journalist since she can't do phone calls anymore." Mike shakes his head. “We try to tell him he should, Mom and I, but he says he’s too busy with work, that he’d have to take time off to learn. He even asked Nancy if she’d rather he learn sign or we not go visit our grandparents for Christmas cause he says we won’t be able to afford it if he does. Which is bullshit , but Nancy agreed he shouldn’t learn sign after that.” Robin stares at him for a long moment, then shakes her head and walks off, poking her head into the back. 

"Yo, Steve, need help finding some movies!" Steve glares at her. 

"I'm on my break!"

"We're helping Mike get petty vengeance on Mr. Wheeler for being a tremendous fucking asshole." Steve blinks, then stands up.

"You should have started with that ." He chides with a smirk as he follows her back out, rubbing his hands together. "Let's workshop this."

 

OoOoO

 

When she has her next day off she rides straight to the library and checks out the three books the library has on ASL, getting her a look from the librarian. She hoped it was one of general approval, as if she was being honest there wasn't a non-Nancy Wheeler reason for someone her age to be learning ASL in Hawkins, but something made her wonder if maybe some of the librarians had pieced together the reason she’d been so fascinated by Emily Dickinson in middle school…and at least one was happy for her.

But Robin wasn’t learning sign so she could flirt with Nancy. Even if, admittedly, in theory that would be the perfect way to do so. Pretty much nobody in Hawkins could understand them, so as long as they didn’t do it in front of the kids or Mrs. Wheeler she could be openly gay without being so in a practical way. It was a good plan.

However, it wasn’t the real reason. In truth, Robin just felt bad for Nancy. Signing seemed like a much easier way to communicate than writing literally every thought out on paper. She understood that the teachers of Hawkins High couldn't be expected to learn a new language for a single student who was almost graduated, but the knowledge that Nancy's own father hadn't bothered to learn the language Nancy could most comfortably communicate in had lit a fire under her. Added by the knowledge that in addition to Steve and the Wheelers, literally all of Steve's kid friends (okay, they were her kid friends now too) and Mrs. Byers had learned too, and even if Robin and Nancy weren't especially close she figured it was the least she could do. 

Though…maybe she should double check with Steve.

 

OoOoO

 

"Do you think Nancy would be upset if I learned ASL?" She asks as Steve takes them to the drive-in, and Steve freezes and then blinks at her. "I just…I know she doesn't really have a choice but to use sign, and it sucks that not many people in Hawkins do know sign, but at the same time it's something she can know is secure, and private, and is used by people who care about her, and I don't want to intrude or be presumptuous by learning it if she doesn't want me to…"

"Robin, a week ago Nancy used me to have a two hour conversation with you about twenty year old musicals." Steve says, cutting her off flat. "I'm pretty sure she'd be delighted to be able to just talk to you." Robin blinks, blushing. 

"I just know that we're not that close…" She says weakly. 

"Because she literally can't talk to you. She has to write stuff up or have me translate, both of which work but aren't exactly ideal." Steve says flatly. "The only girls she has to talk to are her mom and a 14 year old. On that alone I'm sure she'd be happy, but, again, two hours of muddling through a conversation with me translating. She likes you Robin, stop thinking so hard."

"Easy for you to say dingus." Robin shot back, though there wasn't any heat to her words, demonstrated by Steve's laugh in response. 

"Seriously though. I wouldn't call Nancy a social butterfly or anything, but I think she'd be thrilled to know you learned sign language for her." 

"...if you're sure." Robin says finally, nodding. Steve snorted and nodded.

“Go for it Robin, it’ll be great for both of you.” Robin smiled shyly and nodded. Maybe he was right. And…she wanted to try. For Nancy.

Chapter 2

As Robin learns ASL she also learns about Nancy, albeit largely incidentally. The nuances of sign are still a work in progress for her but she learns, for example, that Nancy apparently swears a lot . Admittedly she could be wrong, but usually Robin can pick up about a third of what Nancy signs when she comes to spend time with her and Steve or when she brings Mike (and sometimes the other kids). However when Nancy gets particularly heated or passionate about something she'll start using signs that Robin just cannot find in any of her ASL books.

Now admittedly, Nancy could just be using slang. And since her hands move faster when she's heated or passionate about something it's also possible Robin just isn't processing the signs right. But the context makes Robin think Nancy either got someone to teach her the ASL swears somehow or, more likely given Hawkins and Mr. Wheeler, she and Steve came up with something on their own. 

Honestly, Robin can't really blame her. Given how much harder that accident made Nancy's life, and how shitty Mr. Wheeler and Hawkins in general are, Nancy probably has a lot to swear about. And on top of that, to be quite honest, if Robin could swear without anyone realizing she was swearing at them, she'd probably develop a potty mouth too. Sure, she knew how to swear in four languages, but people would notice if she suddenly dropped into French, Spanish, or Italian to cuss them out. Nancy didn't have to do anything to swear at someone surreptitiously. Robin was kinda jealous. 

On top of that, Robin also learned that Nancy didn't just have a lot of strong opinions on mainstream movies, but on most anything that caught her attention and gained her interest. Robin vaguely remembered a prissy but demure princess, but either that was just a feeling granted by distance or the recent years had changed Nancy, because while Nancy was still a little prissy she was definitely not demure unless she was trying to be. Nancy was passionate, stubborn, and intense, quick to snap when she thought she was being attacked and perhaps slower to apologize than she should have been. Unlike the probable swearing 

Eventually Robin asks Steve about the swearing, to check and see if she's right cause…god it'd be embarrassing if she was wrong and said something to Nancy. Steve blinks, then laughs. 

"Oh yeah, Nancy and I came up with those the day after we broke up." He admits. Robin blinks. 

"...the day after?" Steve grows sober quickly. 

"Yeah, there…there was this party, and Nancy was mad at me because of some really fucked up shit going on, and she got drunk, and she…she started trying to talk so she could cuss me out. And listening to her trying, struggling to get words out, so angry and hurt that she forgot she couldn't…I realized that I wasn't doing right by her. That I wasn't being a good guy. So I took her home, and we moved on to just being friends." He sighs, then shrugs. "It's history now, of course. But yeah, we came up with some ways for her to actually swear without hurting herself. Any other person who knows ASL probably wouldn't know what she was saying, but she and anyone she teaches them to knows, and that's good enough for now." Robin nods in understanding. 

"Yeah, no, totally, that makes sense." She says quickly in reassurance. "I'll ask Nancy about them later, when I'm confident in my ASL." Steve nods and pats her on the back, making Robin snort and shove him. 

 

OoOoO

 

Robin walks in on Nancy and Steve having an argument, seemingly entirely in sign judging by how Steve's hands are also moving. He's less fluid than Nancy, slower and clearly less sure in his mastery of the language, and Robin has to avert her eyes so as to not eavesdrop. She gets something about Just tell her! but that's it before she looks away, focusing on sorting out the tapes into piles based on if they need to be rewound or not. 

Steve throws his hands up in the air and grabs the basket of tapes to rewind, taking it away even as Robin huffs in protest and tosses a tape in at the last second. Nancy is red as he walks off, biting her lip. Robin tries her best not to find it adorable. Whether or not she wants to kiss Nancy is immaterial, this is Steve's ex, arguably the third straightest girl in Hawkins (that's not a hint at potential bisexuality, Robin just struggles imagining someone straighter than Tammy Thompson or Carol). 

"Uhm, Nancy?" She asks gingerly. Nancy blinks and looks at her, jumping a little like she hadn't noticed Robin was there. "I don't know if Steve's told you, but I'm pretty good at languages." Nancy blinks again and nods slowly. "So, and I hope you don't mind, but I got some books and…" Robin takes a deep breath and starts moving her hands. Am I doing this right? Nancy's eyes widen and she turns beet red, staring at Robin's hands incredulously for a moment before nodding slowly.

Yeah, that's right. You…you learned sign for me? Robin nods quickly.

"Of course! I mean, I don't want to be an asshole like…uhm, never mind. But yeah, I actually really like spending time with you, and I thought it might be cool if I learned so we didn't have to have Steve all the time? We don't have to hang out now, I'm not trying to pressure you!" Robin adds quickly. "I just wanted to, y'know, provide the option, make it so that you have more people to talk to. I hope that's okay?" Nancy blinks, still blushing (though less brightly) and nods quickly. 

Yes, that's more than okay. Thank you…thank you so much. Nancy signs quickly, swallowing weakly. I really appreciate it. I…when do you have a free day? Or night? I'd love to hang out with you. Then Nancy pauses and gives her a shy look. Does this mean we're friends? Like…officially? Robin blinks, then smiles.

"Well, I think so, yeah! I consider you a friend anyway." Nancy gives her a beaming smile that Robin swears could light up all of Hawkins, shy but gleeful, and she shifts a little as she smiles back. God but Nancy is pretty and unfairly adorable. It's hard not to coo or bounce, but she controls herself. She can't be weird. There's no way Nancy has any attraction to her, and while she hopes she's right in thinking Nancy isn't conservative or aggressive she doesn't want to make their budding friendship weird by adding her silly little crush to the mix. "Uhm, I have Thursday off?"

Great! Your place, mine, or the drive-in? Nancy asks enthusiastically. Robin hums. 

"My place is probably a bad idea, I'm not sure I want to spend any time near your dad…so drive-in? You'll have to pick me up though, I don't have a license." Nancy nods happily.

Sounds good! She signs, then makes a rapid and complex gesture that Robin doesn't recognize. The more complicated signs, the ones that can mean whole sentences or a particular connotation of a general message, still somewhat elude her. Before Robin can ask what that was though, Nancy is gone, out the door like the Road Runner. Robin blinks and wanders into the back room. 

"Hey Steve, any idea what this means?" She asks, making a rough approximation of the gesture Nancy made, waving and patting her heart in what she thinks was the right pattern. Steve coughs and shakes his head. 

"Oh, that's just…another made up thing. Nancy's just saying she likes spending time with you. Uhm…don't use that one though, she's kinda antsy about people using the ones she invents." Robin frowns, because something seems a little off, but nods. Maybe it's attached to a bad memory or something. Steve and Nancy have plenty of those in their history after all.

"Okay, cool. Just wasn't sure, she didn't really stick around after doing it so I couldn't ask." Robin says instead, nodding again.

 

OoOoO

 

Robin blinks as Nancy hands her money and tells her in no uncertain terms that they’re seeing something called Better Off Dead. She just nods and goes up to the ticket window, leaving Nancy in the car. Well, Robin supposes that it makes sense. She supposes Nancy wouldn’t want to make the order herself, and for all she knows one or more of the employees here are assholes who’ve made fun of her for signing before. Robin’s seen it happen once or twice, when Nancy’s too caught up in a conversation to notice someone’s come into the store behind her. Steve usually kicks them out pretty quickly after that, but still, it happens and it infuriates Robin. Why does everyone seem to expect Nancy to just write all her thoughts on a piece of paper for them?

The injustice of it all almost makes Robin forgive Nancy for not asking her opinion on the movies playing. Almost. Next time she's bringing Nancy home for The Exorcist. Fair is fair. 

Robin returns to the car, holding the tickets triumphantly, and Nancy gives her a delighted smile, shaking a little like she's giggling. It's adorable, and Robin almost rethinks her plan to subject Nancy to the best horror movie ever. Almost. It wasn't like she was going to show Nancy Alien or anything Italian. This was fair. 

Admittedly, Better Off Dead is pretty funny. And every time the French girl with the big hair and bigger attitude does something amazing or delightful Robin has to turn and grin at Nancy, who blushes and shoves her shoulder in return every time. It's a delight all on its own. 

I had a good time. Nancy says as the credits roll and she turns off the radio. I think…even if the movie had been bad I would have. Robin blushes bright red immediately, and smiles shyly.

"I had a good time too. Thanks for wanting to hang out with me, I know that I'm a bit of a mess and it's not always easy to be my friend so I'm really glad you wanted to." Nancy huffs and taps her on the shoulder. 

You are the easiest person to be friends with I've ever met, so do y give me that. You learned a language just to befriend me and you're trying to act like I'm the one who put in the extra work? Robin blushes and swallows a little. You're amazing Robin, and don't let anyone tell you differently. Nancy says, eyes fierce and firm, then she softens and makes that gesture again. 

God Robin wishes Nancy wasn't straight. 

Notes:

Hey y'all! Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

The next chapter should be the last, as Robin figures out what Nancy's been saying and some confessions are had!

Chapter 3

Notes:

Hey y'all, I'm sorry this was so delayed, but here is the final chapter! I finished something that wasn't a one-shot! Yay!

Thank you to everyone who reads this, whether you were here when I had energy and life back in 2022 or who have found it in the time since. Hopefully I'll be able to update the other Ronance WIPs I have soon.

In the meantime though, enjoy!

Showing Nancy The Exorcist was not going how Robin had expected. 

It had started out smooth sailing. Nancy had seemed to be reacting well to the tension and atmosphere, enjoying it while still being on the edge of her seat. A good place to be for a horror movie in Robin's opinion. 

…then the demon possessed Reagan had started talking. Upon hearing the deep, raspy, vulgar voice coming from the little girl, Nancy had started to smile incredulously, and as the scene went on her shoulders started shaking in what Robin recognized as silent laughter. 

So, this is like Ghostbusters, just sneaky about it? Nancy asked earnestly, grinning. Robin stared at her. 

"N…no, it's just a horror movie." Nancy blinked and glanced at Robin's TV again (they were in the taller girl's bedroom, and god if that wasn't its own special kind of hell for Robin). 

But that voice coming out of a little girl is hilarious. Nancy protested. Are you sure? Robin huffed. 

"Yes I'm sure that The fucking Exorcist is a horror movie!" She did not pout. She didn't. She was a mature high school senior to be who did not pout when her crush asked if her favorite horror movie was actually a comedy. Absolutely not. Nancy gave an impish grin and held her hands in surrender, making Robin huff again.

Don't worry Robin, I'll protect you from the scary child. Nancy signed. Robin should be offended, she knows. But Nancy's eyes are sparkling with devilish delight and it's such a gorgeous look that Robin can't help but let it slide, settling for wordlessly grumbling. Nancy shakes again, and Robin finds herself smiling despite herself. 

It's at this point that Robin knows she's in real trouble. That this has escalated from simply registering that Nancy is gorgeous to something much deeper and more serious. It might even be beyond the label of merely a crush. After all, Robin knew Nancy now. She knew what books the small young woman loved (fantasy mainly, with the occasional biography and collection of myths peppered in), what music (Pat Benatar but also Metallica and Joan Jett, which Robin did not see coming), all the ways she communicated without even her hands (those eyes and that jaw could get expressive ). She knew Nancy, knew her, hoped she understood her, and wanted to do everything in her power to keep learning about Nancy.

And that…that was dangerous. This wasn’t like her crush on Tammy Thompson, this was something more…real, more present, more of a problem . 

When Nancy does that odd gesture again, patting her heart and smiling at Robin, Robin's heart skips a beat, confirming that, indeed, she has a big big problem. She's in love.

Which is a terrible thing to realize ten minutes before the movie ends…ten minutes before she has to share the bed with Nancy . A not small part of Robin could scream , but that’d be weird. And it’d probably be weird for her to sleep on the floor. As far as Nancy would be concerned, they were both girls and thus couldn’t possibly feel anything romantic or sexual towards each other. Sleeping on the floor would almost certainly necessitate coming out, and that would, at best, make things unbearably awkward. She doesn’t think Nancy would hate her, but just because Nancy wouldn’t hate her that doesn’t mean Nancy wouldn’t be awkward sharing a bed and sleeping in the same room. Best to just compartmentalize and pretend she’s a perfectly average straight girl who is not head over heels in love with Nancy Wheeler.

And she absolutely imagines Nancy’s blush as they climb into bed together. One hundred percent.

 

OoOoO

 

It's two days after The Exorcist that Robin discovers she's got an entirely new, and entirely unexpected, problem. 

Steve had provided her his own ASL book, a much thicker one than the ones she'd been able to find in the Hawkins library. The benefits of having rich parents who could order stuff for you. He'd had an amused look in his eyes as he’d handed it over that had left Robin a bit wary, but Steve was mostly not a shit anymore so she pushed her concerns to the side and dove into the book. If Steve had gotten this then the odds were good Nancy had too, and knowing what was in the book could help her when it came to communicating with Nancy. She was doing pretty good, but there were times where Nancy had had to stop and repeat herself with simpler signs, breaking down complex ideas into easier to digest ones. She’d always seemed fine with doing so, but Robin still felt that Nancy deserved better.

This book goes in depth, not just on the different words but also the different nuances and complexities of said signs.

For example…Robin learns that the version of “I love you.” that she'd seen and blushingly cataloged into the back of her mind was actually the most basic and shallow of signs for that message. And that the deeper form…

…The deeper way of saying “I love you.” was the gesture Nancy kept doing to say goodbye to her.

It takes Robin a few minutes to sit there and process that revelation. The revelation that Nancy…loves her. 

She has a knee jerk reaction to reject the idea, to shut it down and insist that it’s something else, but the sign is too specific and there’s no logical reason to assume Nancy is pranking her. It just doesn’t add up, logically speaking. There are easier pranks to pull, and nothing about her behavior towards Robin has left her feeling like this is the sort of thing Nancy would do as a prank anyway.

Which means…it’s real. Nancy loves her . Or at least, is confessing to loving her, which is basically the same thing. Poets might argue otherwise, but Robin’s not in that group. The very thought makes Robin swallow, hard , but it also ignites butterflies in her stomach on a scale she hasn’t ever dealt with…ever, she doesn’t think. 

A part of her wants to be petty and drag things out, toy with Nancy, maybe confess her feelings in a language Nancy doesn’t know for a while. But…that’s not fair. She can hardly fault Nancy, already separated from the rest of Hawkins by the loss of her voice, for being terrified to come out about being gay. Especially because she trusts Steve, trusts that he wouldn’t have outed her, even if Nancy came out to him first. She understands that fear intimately . It wouldn’t be safe…basically anywhere, but especially not in Hawkins, and especially not for Nancy who literally cannot call out for help. She can understand Nancy’s fear, and that’s why she’s going to do her damndest to put those fears to rest. 

 

OoOoO

 

The next time Nancy came into Family Video, Robin was ready. “Hey Steve, I’m pretty sure there’s a thing in the back you need to take care of, like, right now.” She said, not taking her eyes off of a confused Nancy as she spoke. Steve blinked a few times, looking between them, then nodded. 

“Right, okay, let me know when my thing is taken care of.” He said, a little dryer than Robin thought was warranted, and then he vanished. 

…Robin? Nancy signed, her body language betraying her nervousness. Is everything okay? Robin took a deep breath, and then signed.

I love you. I love you so much. 

Nancy’s eyes widened, her face flushed, and her mouth dropped open in a small ‘O’ of surprise and nervousness. You caught me . She signed back finally. Robin raised an eyebrow, more than a little unimpressed at that being her response, and Nancy flushed brighter and swallowed before biting her lip. I…you mean it? Really?  

“Yes. One hundred percent, yes. My God Nancy, who wouldn’t?” Nancy ducked her head shyly. 

I wasn’t sure…I’m not…normal… Robin laughed,

“And what, you think I’m normal? News flash Wheeler, I’m weirder and more abnormal than you.” Nancy raised an eyebrow at that, but Robin just gave her her most confident grin. She didn't feel entirely confident, but the important thing right now was projecting confidence to Nancy. Of making it clear exactly where she stood on this, on the possibility of a relationship. With that in mind she looked around, making sure that nobody was actually in the shop at the moment, nor were they about to enter, then leaned in and pressed a kiss to Nancy’s lips. Just a small, soft peck, but a deliberate act that should have been basically impossible to misinterpret all the same.

“I know it’s scary, and I know the world sucks and Hawkins sucks even more than that. But I’m here if you want me. And I think I want to always be here for you.” She said softly as she quickly retreated just enough so that nobody coming in would be able to read what she’d just done from their positioning. I love you so much . She signed. Nancy swallowed, then smiled and nodded once before signing back.

I love you. I love you so much Robin. Thank you.

Notes:

Hey y'all! Thanks for checking this one out! Hope you liked it!

Gonna be a much shorter series than my others, I don't anticipate this one going past chapter three, but I felt like this was enough for the first bit.