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‘Rockin’ Robin.’
It’s a stupid nickname. Mike hates it. Sure, he’d found it entertaining enough the first time Steve had casually dropped it into conversation. He might even have laughed, at the time. A radio host, nicknaming herself for one of the songs she most loves playing? There’s something both playfully ironic and earnestly sincere about it and – from the time he’s spent with Robin Buckley – the blend is completely true to her.
So, ok, maybe the nickname itself isn’t the problem. A little of ‘Rockin’ Robin’ in moderation – Mike’s fine with that. More than fine. Cool. It’s just – the number of times he’s heard it recently has really started to grate on him.
Steve greets Robin with the name every time they meet, clapping her into the kind of enthusiastic Harrington-hug Mike’s used to seeing with Dustin, and Dustin only. Nancy will say it with a sardonic eyeroll, when she thinks Robin’s making a particularly good point. Even Dustin and Lucas occasionally use it – although Lucas prefers calling her ‘Double R’. Apparently, it makes her seem more badass, even if the first time Robin heard it, she doubled over laughing.
Robin’s been laughing a lot, recently. With Will. Always with Will. Mike’s noticed the two of them sneaking off, heads bent together, or trailing off to the back of a group to chat, voices low. And Will’s been smiling. A lot. Each time Mike’s seen the two of them together, Will’s face has been either earnestly intent, as though Robin’s words are somehow infinitely precious, or brimming with what can only be described as giddiness.
Even when he’s away from Robin, there’s something different about Will. More confidence. Ever since Will and El came back to Hawkins Mike’s been noticing this change. Will stands taller, moves more assertively through a room. Mike might be the group’s de facto leader, but it’s Will who commands attention in a way that makes it hard to look away from him.
But this is different still. Since Will and Robin have started getting close, Will seems lighter, somehow. Happier.
Mike’s happy that his friend is happy. Of course he is. Will’s been through more than enough shit. He deserves to look like he’s been lit up from the inside. Like how Robin is apparently making him feel. ‘Rockin’ Robin.’ Which Will has been insistently calling her, each time accompanied with an infectious grin.
So yes, Mike is happy that Will is happy. It’s just – every time he hears that ridiculous nickname dropping out of Will’s mouth, whilst Will beams at Robin, Mike feels his stomach squirm unpleasantly. It’s because the nickname has been way overused, he decides. But Will and Robin are still treating it like it’s some kind of hilarious inside joke. It’s getting tired.
Mike swallows and tries not to let his irritation show. Rationally, he knows this isn’t fair on Robin, who seems like a decent enough person, albeit occasionally a little much, with her enthusiastic hand gestures, and her loud exclamations, and the way her mind seems to keep spinning off on a hundred tangents at once.
“You don’t think…Robin’s…well, a bit much?” he’d asked Lucas earlier, as Robin gestured so enthusiastically mid-anecdote, she almost hit Will in the face. Will didn’t seem to mind, just laughing and ducking back.
Lucas had just given him a confused look. “Nah, not really. I vibe with the energy. Keeps us moving forwards.”
“I dunno, man,” Mike continued. “I just find it a bit tiring, don’t you think? Quite different from the usual dynamic of the Party. I dunno, I guess I worry she’s upsetting the balance or something.”
Ok, Lucas was definitely giving him side-eye now. “She doesn’t remind you of anyone?”
“Not really?” Mike wasn’t sure what Lucas was getting at. “What do you-”
“Eddie, dude,” Lucas interrupted him. “Seriously, you don’t see it? Not the talking a million miles an hour, not the slightly outrageous things she comes out with, not the determination to seize everything with both hands?”
Mike had just shrugged. Looking at Robin now, he can see what Lucas means. Sort of. But Eddie’s energy had been fizzy and chaotic and wonderful. Mike would have been happy listening to him talk for hours, even if all that spilled out of Eddie’s mouth was nonsense. Eddie just radiated cool. But he just finds the way Robin draws everyone’s attention sort of annoying. Like now. With Will. Who seems fixed on Robin’s words. Who is giving Robin the kind of wholehearted open smile…that Will usually reserves for Mike. And Mike only.
The realisation hits Mike so hard he feels dizzy. The reason why he is so irrationally irked by Robin’s nickname. The reason why he feels so cut up about seeing her constantly with Will. He’s jealous.
Through the years, Will and Mike may have fought (almost always Mike’s fault, if he thinks about it, Mike realises with a pang of guilt), but they always fall back together. Will Byers is his best friend. Lucas and Dustin, Max, they’re great, but they’re just not the same. Even El – who he cares about so deeply, who he’ll always be there for, even as they’ve both tacitly acknowledged their relationship is over in everything but name – she’s not Will.
Another pang of guilt. Shit, Mike is a terrible friend. This whole time he’s been having a crisis of how annoying Robin’s nickname is, deep down he’s just been terrified of losing his best friend. It’s so stupid, it’s almost laughable. What’s he worried about – becoming Close Friend Number Two, instead of Best Friend Number One: The Chosen One? Not possible. Him and Will, they’ve always been close as two peas in a pod. If Mike didn’t manage to permanently screw up their best-friends-for-life spit bond during Will and El’s time in California, Robin Buckley, for all her wild enthusiasm doesn’t stand a chance.
And now that Mike knows what’s going on, he can hopefully stop being such a freak about Will and Robin. It’s good that Will has new friends who Mike isn’t particularly close with. He’s happy Will and Robin are having so much fun together. He just needs to keep his threatened-best-friend hackles in check. And stop glaring at Robin every time that nickname is mentioned. He still thinks it’s dumb but Mike understands the situation now. Everything is going to be fine.
But in the distance, Will jabs Robin in the side. It’s a shockingly intimate gesture from him, given that Will barely touches anyone voluntarily. Robin laughs again and tousles Will’s hair, and Mike feels a sick swooping sensation in his stomach he can’t explain.