Love in 1985 - (1.) Robin Buckley x reader

(7.) Super Genius

Warnings: internalized homophobia, honestly this chapter's probably gonna be pretty sad

Y/n's Pov:

Countless hours later, after the rest of the mall had already closed, was when we finally finished translating. The first half at least.

"The week is long, the silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west." The four of us said in sinc. Steve quickly closed up shop and we all headed out.

"I mean, its just- it can't be right." Steve exclaimed.

"It's right." I said. We had triple-checked every syllable. 

"Honestly, I think it's great news." Dustin says. 

"How is this great news?" Steve asks. "I mean, so much for being American heroes. It's total nonsense."

"It's not total nonsense." Dustin states. "It's too specific. It's obviously a code."

"What do you mean, a code?" The older boy asked him.

"Like a super secret spy code." Dustin says in response.

"That's a total stretch." Steve says.

"I don't know, is it?" Robin asks.

"You never know."I add.

"You two are buying into this?" Steve asks us.

"Listen, just for kicks, let's entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission." Robin says. "What'd you think they were gonna say, "fire the warhead at noon?"

"Exactly!" Dustin and I say at the same time.

"And our translation's correct, I know that for sure." I add.

"So, "The silver cat feeds." Why would anyone talk like that unless they were trying to mask the true meaning of their message?" Robin says. She really was smart. "And why would anyone mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive?"

"So I guess that confirms your suspicion." I tell my brother. 

"Evil Russians." He replies.

"I can't believe I'm about to agree with the tiny Henderson, but, yeah, totally evil Russians!" Robin says with a laugh.

"So how do we track it?" Dustin questions.

"Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges." She replies.

"Right. A pattern. Right, like maybe "Silver cat" is a meeting place?" He says.

"Or a person." Robin claims.

"Or a weapon." I add.

"It's probably gonna take a super genius to crack it." Robin says.

"Good thing we already have one of those." I say, nudging her in the side. Her face lights up with a smile. It's dark in the mall, but I could have sworn that I saw her blush.

"Hey, where's Steve?" Dustin asks. We turn around to see Steve standing in front of a horse ride, digging around in his pockets.

"What are you doing?" Robin asks him.

"Uh, it's a quarter. I need- Do any of you have a quarter?" He requests. Is her seriously gonna ride that thing?

"Sure you're tall enough for that ride?" Robin says.

"Quarter!" he yells. I throw a coin at him and he shoves it into the machine's slot. The horse starts to rotate and a jaunty toon starts to play.

"Need help getting up, little Stevie?" Robin teases. Steve shushes her.

"Would you three just shut up and listen?" He commands. Listen to what? The music coming from the horse in which you so desperately wanted to ride? He really needed to get his priorities straight and-

"Oh my God." I say. It was the same music from the tape!

"Holy shit." Dustin exclaims. He must have understood as well. "The music. The music!" He yells as he reaches in his backpack to turn on the recorder.

"I don't understand." Robin says.

"It's the exact same some on the recording." I explained to her.

"Maybe they have horses like this in Russian."

"Indiana Flyer? I don't think so." Steve said. "This code, it didn't come from Russia. It came from here."

~~~~~

After Dustin and I got home, we both went our separate ways and headed into our rooms. My room was swarming with thoughts, but hardly any of them were about the evil Russians. It was all her. 

Why did I always feel this was when she was around? Was this normal? I mean, I knew it was a good feeling. Whenever I thought about her, I was happy, but it still felt wrong for some reason. She was my best friend, that's why I was so happy when I was with her, right? But I've had friends before, and none of them had ever made me feel this way before. No one has ever made me feel like this. At least no one I can remember.

I felt my eyes start to well up. Why was I like this? Why did I feel this way? I remember someone telling me about people who like the wrong type of person. Could that be me? Did I even like Robin or was I overreacting? Was I faking it? 

By now the tears were falling freely.

Was something wrong with me?

Was that why Heather quit? Was that why I hardly had any friends at school? Was that why my dad left before I was even born? Did I scare Dustin's dad away too? Is it my fault neither of us have a father figure? 

I was full on sobbing at this point.

Was everything bad in my family because of whatever's wrong with me? 

Was it all my fault?

All because of me.

All because I have a crush on my best friend.

All because I have a crush on a girl.

All because I have a crush on Robin Buckley.

For the first time since she joined, I dread going to work tomorrow.

~~~~~

Hey. So yeah, this chapter got pretty say. I'm going to take this moment to say that if you are part of the LGBTQ+ Community, or support the community, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with you. It is most certainly not a mistake, not a choice, and not a problem. You are all just as important and worthy as any other person. 

I know this was a heavy chapter, but I still hope you enjoyed. The mood will be much more positive next chapter, which I will try to post later today. #3 chapters in a day. I also want to apologize for the shortness of this chapter. Thank you all for reading this, and I hope you all have a good day. 

Written 8/7/22

Word Count: 1000