Chapter Text
Leg 1: Los Angeles → Japan
Robin isn’t really sure why she agreed to this. When Steve had asked if she wanted to apply to the Amazing Race with him, she thought it would be a fun experience - and by ‘it’ she means the application process because she never thought they’d actually get picked - so she said yes. I mean what is so interesting about a small town lesbian and her bisexual disaster of a best friend? Everything apparently, because one second she’s giggling her way through their application video and the next they’re being called in for interviews.
When the producers tell them they’ve been chosen, Robin’s first instinct is to invent an excuse to make them ineligible - a broken leg, mad cow, dysentery, anything . But then Steve puts on his puppy dog face, reminds her that she’s been talking about stepping out of her comfort zone - she’d definitely meant like say yes more when Steve asks her to accompany him to the bar, or like join a dating app, but go big or go home, right? - and convinces her that they, a couple of broke graduate students, would be idiots to decline a free trip around the world, even if it involves exercise. Exercise on national television .
So she agrees, albeit reluctantly. They get Dustin, in Hawkins for the summer after his freshman year at MIT, to drive up to Chicago and watch Scoops (their cat), while they’re away. She’s sure the other gremlins will probably spend a lot of time there as well, they usually do in the summers, but now they’ll be completely supervision free, with not even Steve mother henning them, and they are surely going to take advantage of it. Robin refrains from pointing this out to Steve, who would surely have an aneurysm at the thought of his precious babies engaging in any salacious activities, knowing that Dustin will take good care of Scoops, even if he does turn their apartment into a frat house.
Dustin comes up a few days before they need to leave, excited to see Steve, even though they just saw him when they saved up enough money to surprise at MIT for his birthday in May. Even so, Robin has to admit that she missed the little twerp as well. They can’t tell him where they’re going, or why they’ll be gone for a whole month, and their caginess has Dustin halfway convinced they’re eloping before Robin reminds him she’s a lesbian.
“Are you dying?” Dustin then asks Steve, eyes wide. “Are you going to get some experimental treatment to save you from a rare cancer?”
“I’m not dying.” Steve assures him with an eye roll. “We’re just going on vacation. Figured we deserved some time to relax.”
Yeah, Robin thinks, because the Amazing Race is what one does when they want to relax.
But that seems to mollify Dustin and before Robin knows it, it’s time to head to the starting line in Los Angeles. Steve hands Dustin a whole goddamn binder, with a frankly heinous amount of instructions on how to care for Scoops, and then they’re off.
What Robin doesn’t account for in this whole plan, is the fact that Amazing Race is in season 35 and constantly looking for ways to shake things up and keep hold of their audience. So when they arrive in Los Angeles and Robin learns that this season’s gimmick is a partner swap - which is, unfortunately, exactly what it sounds like - she is immediately ready to turn around and get back on the plane. Doesn’t even care if she has to actually break a leg. The only silver lining to this whole goddamn thing had been getting to do it with Steve, and now she has to run it with some rando? Even Steve, who has spent the last several weeks bouncing off the walls in excitement, seems disappointed by the news.
Phil explains that they will leave the starting line with the partners they came with, head from the Santa Monica pier down to the beach and dig in the marked area in the sand for a colored rock. There are two of each color, and whichever team finds the same color is the team you have to swap with. It’s simple enough but fills Robin with dread looking around at their competition.
She’d been banking on Steve’s natural athleticism (and his ability to drive stick shift) to get them through, and she knows if she stands any chance they need to match up with a team with an athletic dude. Not that a girl couldn’t be athletic (or know how to drive stick shift) but Robin’s seen enough seasons to know the all female teams don’t typically win. And if Robin is going to do this, she wants to win.
She hopes they at least go somewhere where her Spanish, French and Italian will come in handy so she’s not completely useless to whatever poor contestant gets stuck with her.
Robin continues to regret her choices when Phil raises his eyebrow and sends them off and suddenly everyone is sprinting down to the beach. Robin hates running but she takes off after Steve anyway. They’re not the last ones to reach the sandpit, but they really only beat an older couple and Robin feels a bit guilty for sending off a mental prayer that they don’t find the same colored rock.
Only a few minutes pass before, by some miracle, Steve digs up the first rock. It’s blue, and it currently means nothing as the other teams continue to dig in the sand. They stand off to the side by their bags, waiting for someone else to find the same color before they can get their next clue.
“Who do you hope finds it?” Steve asks her as they wait. Robin just shrugs, uncharacteristically quiet, feeling a little too overwhelmed to speak. Steve must sense it and grabs her hand, because Steve knows her, and she knows him, and she should be running the race with her best friend goddamnit. She’s starting to get worked up about it, Steve squeezing her hand in reassurance, when the older couple finds their rock. Robin lets out a guilty breath of relief when she sees that it’s orange. It distracts her enough to shift her focus back to the sandpit and she watches the next two teams to find their rocks (also not blue), eliminating the father and son and the twin brothers as possibilities.
Then, a man and woman, about their age, are digging up a blue rock. They look maybe like siblings, both with a frizzy head of brown curls and huge brown eyes, but Robin thinks they’d been introduced as best friends. She remembers because she thought it was kind of odd that there were two male/female platonic and not related pairings in the same season.
“Looks like we’ve got to swap.” The girl says, running up to them. “I’m Nancy.” She gestures to the man beside her who gives a two fingered salute and says, “Eddie.”
“Steve Harrington.” Steve introduces from beside her, using his full name like a total dork. Then he slings an arm around Robin, who takes that as her cue to give an awkward little wave.
“Robin.” She squeaks out from under Steve’s arm.
“How do we want to do this?” Nancy asks, carefully eyeing the four members of their group. And Robin knows she should open her mouth, suggest that Eddie go with her and Nancy with Steve, but she can’t seem to make it work. Eddie doesn’t look particularly like he’s into sports but he’s got muscles, so he must be strong, and Nancy looks so petite. Also beautiful, and Robin knows if she doesn’t function well around strangers in general, she is worse around pretty girls.
But then Nancy is speaking, stepping closer to Robin. “Us girls can stick together.”
“Cool with that Steve Harrington?” Eddie raises an eyebrow at Steve, Robin not missing the way his tone mocks Steve’s earlier use of his full name. But Steve either just doesn’t notice or doesn’t care because he smiles easily and nods before saying, “Works for me.”
And yup, okay, Robin is working with Nancy. She looks at Nancy again in her Lululemon leggings and matching tank top, looks down at herself in a pair of sweatpants and one of Steve’s t-shirts, and has the thought that if they’d gone to high school together they probably wouldn’t have been friends. But she knows that isn’t fair, knows she and Steve were the furthest thing from friends in high school and pushes the thought aside. She can do this.
They get their next clues, directing them to the airport to fly to Tokyo. Robin is a bit bummed that her language skills won’t come handy, but she has always wanted to go to Japan. They’re the first to leave, already heading to their cars when the second team match is made, and Robin is relieved when Nancy offers to drive them in their marked vehicle. Not that Robin can’t drive, she just hasn’t in years and isn’t particularly comfortable doing so, especially not in LA.
“Need me to navigate?” Robin finally manages, pulling out the map of Los Angeles that she has stored in her fanny pack.
“No.” Nancy shakes her head, already pulling out of the parking lot. “I uh actually live here?”
“Oh.” Robin blinks. “Well that’s convenient.”
“Eddie does too, so he and Steve should be fine.”
“Good.” Robin nods. “Because Dingus is shit with navigation. He’s usually just the driver.”
“God so is Eddie.” Nancy chews her lip. “Hope there’s not a lot of self driving.”
“They can always follow us places.” Robin offers and Nancy nods. It makes sense that they should form a sort of alliance, given that Robin was supposed to be running with Steve.
“Where are you and Steve from?” Nancy asks once they’re on the highway.
“Chicago.” Robin replies. “But we both grew up in a small town in Indiana.”
“Oh!” Nancy seems surprised at this information and Robin is going to question why when she continues. “Eddie and I are from Indiana too. You heard of Huntington?”
“No shit.” Robin chuckles. “Steve and I are from Hawkins. I think Steve used to play against you guys in basketball.” Robin, as a member of the marching band, had mostly only been subjected to home games, but she thinks she remembers playing Huntington.
“You know, I thought I recognized him and now that you mentioned it, that’s totally from where.” Nancy’s eyebrows scrunch together as she thinks. “His hair was like way bigger back then.”
“They didn’t call him Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington for nothing.” Robin snorts, leaning forward in her seat.“Were you a cheerleader?” Nancy barks out a laugh.
“Absolutely not.” She shakes her head. “I worked for the school paper, used to report on all the games.”
Robin nods, and finds that, even though she doesn’t really know Nancy, that answer seems to suit her better.
“Were you a cheerleader?” Nancy returns the question and Robin can’t help her snort of surprise. It might be her imagination but she thinks even the camera man is holding back a giggle.
“Um no. I was not a cheerleader.”
“Just curious if that’s how you knew Steve.” Nancy shrugs.
“Oh. We didn’t even know each other in high school. I mean, I knew of Steve, everyone did, and we shared a history class one year but we didn’t become friends or anything until the summer after he graduated. We worked at the same ice cream shop. We had to wear these god awful sailor costumes, totally bonded over it.” Robin knows she’s rambling and decides to wrap up with a question and put the conversation back on Nancy. “Did you and Eddie meet in high school?”
“Yes actually.” Nancy nods. “My senior year was his third senior year.” She lets out a light chuckle. “My brother was a freshman and he joined Eddie’s DnD club. That’s-”
“Dungeons and Dragons.” Robin nods. “Steve’s kids play it.”
“Steve’s kids?” Nancy looks thoroughly confused. “I could’ve sworn you guys were like my age. Not that you can’t have kids at 23 but-”
“Oh, Steve’s 24.” Robin replies, cutting off what is maybe about to become a ramble of her own. “They’re not like really his kids. I guess Steve used to like babysit them when they were younger and then they just sort of imprinted on him like baby ducklings. Now we’re all kind of like this weird found family and it’s a joke among the group that Steve’s the mom. I mean he straight up went to Max’s parent teacher conferences once and I’m like 95% sure that Claudia has had it in her will that he would get Dustin if something happened to her from like the moment he turned 18. Anyway they’re 19 now, so not really kids I guess.”
And shit. Robin is rambling again. And she sounds like fucking Steve, going on and on about the twerps.
“My brother is 19.” Nancy responds, totally unfazed by Robin’s info dump. “And also a total nerd. Sounds like they would all get along. He and his best friend were always trying to rope me into their campaigns because they wanted more players.”
“I’m sure Steve would be happy to adopt another little duckling.” Robin says, tries desperately to keep her response short. Nancy nods, hesitates, and then speaks.
“So um Steve’s like cool then?” Nancy chews her lip and Robin tilts her head in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“Just, he seems kind of like a jock. And like super preppy?” Nancy winces. “And like Eddie is whatever the exact opposite of those things is and the jocks at our school, they used to give him a lot of shit. Like, they tried to convince the town he was the leader of a satanic cult, that’s how much they hated him. It’s why he went with me to California when I went to Stanford.”
“Oh.” Robin frowns. “Steve’s cool. He may look like a prep but he is total dweeb, trust me. I’m sure he and Eddie are getting along great.”
“Good.” Nancy nods. “Good, that’s good.”
“If you were so worried, why didn’t you pair up with Steve?” Robin can’t help but ask. It was Nancy after all that suggested they split up this way.
“Honestly?” Nancy answers. “Sort of thought he might spend the whole race trying to get in my pants and I wanted absolutely nothing to do with that. I knew Eddie would be willing to take one for the team, it’s not like Steve is going to try to get in
his
pants.”
“Wow.” Robin blinks in surprise, enraged on Steve’s behalf and not because Steve is bisexual and absolutely would try to get in Eddie’s pants, if the other man was interested, but by Nancy’s implication that Steve would continue to try to sleep with her, even though she wasn’t interested. Just because he’d worn a polo? Nancy had seemed nice, she thought they might actually get along but now she’s not so sure. She knows her voice is cool when she says, “You made a lot of assumptions today based solely on his appearance.”
She meets Nancy’s eye in the rearview mirror and sees that she at least looks a little bit sheepish, but when she opens her mouth, she doesn’t back down.
“I mean, I was just being cautious. I knew a lot of people like him in school.”
“You might have known a lot of people who looked like him.” Robin retorts. “But you actually still don’t know anything about him. Yes, he played sports, yes his clothes are a bit on the preppy side, but he’s one of the best people I know. He was my first real friend, the only person in our god forsaken town who loved me for me, all of me, and you didn’t even spend five minutes with him before reducing him to a stereotype just because of how he looks? Makes me wonder what you’ve been thinking about me.”
“I-” Nancy starts and Robin doesn’t give her time to finish. Doesn’t know if she was planning to apologize or continue their argument - if that’s what it is - but either way she doesn’t really want to hear it.
“Can you just drive?” She asks, relieved when Nancy just nods and fixes her eyes on the road. It’s not long after that that they’re pulling into LAX, parking the vehicles in the marked spots, and heading to the shuttle to take them to the terminal. Eddie and Steve are already standing at the little bus stop in the parking lot. Robin can’t make out what they’re saying but Eddie is gesticulating wildly, telling Steve a story that has her best friend doubled over laughing. He catches sight of them approaching and his face lights up even more.
“Robbie!” He calls, jogging forward to scoop her up into a hug like he didn’t just see her 20 minutes ago.
“Stevie, stop fraternizing with the enemy.” Eddie calls out playfully and Steve laughs. Robin raises an eyebrow at Steve, mouths ‘Stevie?’ and delights in the way he blushes as he shrugs. They wait for the shuttle together, Eddie and Steve taking control of the conversation and Robin is happy that at least they are getting along. Steve picks up on the tension between Robin and Nancy, because of course he does, Robin can hide nothing from him.
“Everything okay?” He shuffles close to her to ask and Robin does her best to give him a reassuring smile and a nod. She wants to tell him about what happened with Nancy, but she just knows it will upset him, and she also doesn’t want to mess up the good thing that Steve and Eddie seem to have going.
“Yeah. Just nervous.” Robin tells him, hoping he’ll buy it because it’s not exactly a lie.
“You and Nancy getting along? Eddie seemed to think you two would hit it off.” Robin shrugs.
“I guess.”
“Good. Hey, guess what?” Steve says. “Eddie used to be Tommy’s dealer.”
“Yeah Nancy mentioned they were from Indiana.”
“Okay what happened?” Steve drops his voice lower, glancing between Robin and where Eddie and Nancy are having a similarly hushed conversation.
“We just had a disagreement.” Robin admits.
“About?”
“She just made some rude assumptions and I called her out on it.”
“Robin,” Steve is looking at her with concern. “Did she say something homophobic?”
“No.” Robin shakes her head. Steve opens his mouth to say something else when the shuttle pulls up. One last team rushes up just before the doors close, it’s one of the twin brothers and a man who Robin thinks came with his childhood best friend. They introduce themselves as Troy and Ross, and Steve chats amicably with them as the shuttle makes its way to the terminal.
Once they get inside it’s a rush to the ticket counter but it doesn’t end up mattering because they all get seats on the first flight out to Tokyo to leaves in just an hour and half. Two other teams make it on their flight, and the other 5 get on a flight that doesn’t get in until 45 minutes after theirs. They settle into their gate with only 20 minutes before boarding and Steve pulls Robin away to some empty seats by the window to finish their conversation.
“Talk to me Rob.” He says and Robin feels nervous, can feel Nancy’s gaze on them from where she’s sitting with Eddie on the other side of the gate.
“It’s really okay Steve.”
“Don’t bullshit me Robin, I can tell when you’re upset. Why won’t you talk to me?” Steve’s words are harsh but his voice is gentle and Robin chews her lip. “Was it about me? Is that why you won’t tell me?” Robin’s silence must be answer enough because Steve barrels on. “She thought I looked like a total douche canoe or something? An ass kayak? A garbage barge? A-”
“Yes Steve.” Robin relents. “She didn’t want to pair up with you because she thought you might try to sleep with her and she was worried you were going to like bully Eddie or something.”
“Well can you blame her?”
“Yes Steve!” Robin blurts. “You would never do that.”
“Yeah maybe now but-”
“That’s the past. And even then, you never would've taken advantage of her or something.” Robin shakes her head. “And it’s not like Nancy knew that, she just took one look at you and was like this dude’s an asshole. It was rude.”
“I mean yeah.” Steve nods. “And I appreciate you defending my honor and all but you guys are kind of stuck with each other for the next few weeks so like maybe we should try to bury the hatchet?” Before Robin can even say anything, Steve is waving over Eddie and Nancy, who clearly had both been watching them and waste no time getting up and joining them by the window.
“Look Robin-” Nancy starts when they approach, after a pointed elbow to the gut from Eddie.
“It’s not me you should be apologizing to.” Robin cuts in and Nancy gaze shifts to Steve, shoulders slumping.
“She told you what happened?”
“Yeah.” Steve nods. “But seriously Nancy, it’s okay.”
“It’s not okay.” Nancy shakes her head. “I shouldn’t have made assumptions. I have this habit of being blunt and kind of coming off as an asshole in social situations and I’m really sorry. You seem like a really nice guy.”
“He is.” Robin says from beside him, shooting Nancy a pointed look.
“You were just being protective of Eddie.” Steve waves her off. “I get it. I mean I used to be friends with guys like that and I don’t blame you.”
“No.” Nancy shakes her head. “I was wrong and I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”
“Yeah.” Steve agrees easily. He glances sideways at Robin. “Robs?”
“I guess.” She says with a sigh, knowing that the race will be more enjoyable if she decides to put this behind them. “But no more talking badly about my best friend.”
“Okay.” Nancy smiles, looking relieved. “Deal.”
15 hours later and Robin is definitely regretting her choices. She is exhausted, in desperate need of a shower, and in the process of shoving a 5th piece of sushi down her throat. On television.
She was no Amazing Race super fan, but she and Steve had done a little research and when they’d walked into the studio to see the giant roulette wheel of sushi, Robin knew exactly what was going to happen. Unfortunately for Robin, Nancy had a fish allergy (or at least claimed to), and so it was Robin who had to down sushi until she was lucky enough to have to shove wasabi down her throat in the allotted time.
Eddie, the lucky bastard, had gotten wasabi on the first spin and downed it like it was nothing. Steve, the even luckier bastard, had only had to cheer him on from the sides. He called out a “you got this Rob” before he and Eddie opened their clue and disappeared out the door.
Robin watches as the other 3 teams in the first group get their wasabi and go, until it’s just her. She knows when the wasabi finally lands in front of her seven spins in, that she has to get it on the first try. She’s already feeling uncomfortably full and the idea of having to go through more spins makes her want to puke. Also, she can’t let Nancy down, can’t risk the teams from the second flight catching up with them.
“Eat the wasabi!” The crowd cheers, as her two minutes start and Robin has no choice but to unhinge her jaw like a fucking snake and stuff the wasabi bomb into her mouth. She’s pretty sure she blacks out at some point and when the timer buzzes, she’s genuinely surprised to find that she’s managed to eat it all. Nancy is at her side, cheering and taking the clue from their host. They’re instructed to head on foot to the scramble crossing in Shibuya to find their next clue.
It doesn’t take them long, Nancy spotting a woman with a red and yellow purse, and Robin is beyond relieved when they step in front of Phil in 5th place. Sure they were the last to arrive of all the teams on the first flight but they’re here, they’re not eliminated, and they didn’t fall so far behind that the others caught up.
Steve and Eddie are waiting for them when they get ushered to their hotel for the night. Buzzing with excitement from their first place win, and playfully arguing over who of them gets to use the trip to Amsterdam. Thankfully, there are no rules about staying with your given teammate and so after Steve, Nancy and Eddie eat some dinner - Robin declines, stomach still uncomfortably full with sushi - Robin gets to be alone with Steve.
“I wish we were racing together.” Robin says, toweling her hair after a much needed shower. Steve, lounging on the bed, hair damp from his own shower nods in agreement.
“I know Robs.” He smiles sadly at her. Then hesitantly, “But it was fun, right?”
“Maybe for you, Mr. First Team to Arrive.” Robin grumbles. “Also, let's remember which of us had to eat their body weight in sushi.”
“Fair enough.” Steve raises his hands in surrender. “You and Nancy seemed to be getting along better at least?”
“Yeah.” She nods. That’s true at least. Nancy had even hugged her when Phil had told them they were 5th. “We just got off on the wrong foot but we’re good.”
“Good.” Steve nods.
“You and Eddie seemed to be getting along.” Robin teases, wiggling her eyebrows at him as she drapes her towel over a chair and climbs in the bed beside Steve. He doesn’t even question why she’s getting in with him and not into the perfectly good bed across the room and Robin loves that about him.
“He’s super cool.” Steve nods. “Dustin would love him. He’s totally into all that nerd shirt that the kids are.”
“Yeah Nancy said he plays Dungeons and Dipshits.”
“That he does.” Steve chuckles. “He was shocked when I complimented him on his D20 tattoo.”
“You’re such a nerd Harrington.” Robin snorts.
“Whatever.” He gives her a little shove but he’s smiling. He leans over a flicks off the lamp beside his bed.
“Steve?” Robin asks, moments after they’re plunged into darkness.
“Yeah Robs?”
“Thanks for talking me into this.” She says. “I admit it was a little fun.”
“Sure thing Robbie.”
As Robin falls asleep she finds that she’s kind of even looking forward to tomorrow.