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Steve unlocked his car and got in, followed closely by Robin, they were meeting Barry at Jitters. They had easily settled into Central, after about a week the party had returned to Hawkins.
They walked in, seeing Barry sitting at a table for three, talking to a waiter. They walked to the table and sat down after both greeting the waiter and Barry. "Hey Steve, Robin. This is my sister, Iris West." Barry motioned to the waiter, now known as Iris West.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Iris, I'm Steve Harrington. This is my best friend, Robin Buckley. Please don't ask why we look so a like. We have no idea, not that we are trying to find out." Steve rambled, Steve was right, they don't know why he and Robin looked so alike. They both had blonde hair, though Steve's was much darker and Robin's was more pronounced, they both wore glasses, their personalities were exceedingly similar, they sometimes scared themselves with it. Though, Barry just smiled Steve was adorable when he rambled.
Robin was also smiling, but smugly. She had told Steve, multiple times over the three weeks that they'd been there so far, that Barry was very much inlove with him. She could see the love in his eyes when he looked Steve and knew Steve well enough to know that he felt the exact same way.
But, she wouldn't force any relationships, she just would nudge them in the right direction.
"So, Iris, what are the best things on the menu, here?" Robin asked, leaving Steve and Barry to join the conversation if they wanted to.
"Well, some people enjoy the mint frappuccino, others choose macha tea, others, read Mr Allen, over here, asks for a caramel cappuccino with two shots of cognac, a Parisian Brandy. Not sure how he was legally allowed to drink cognac in Paris, but I've learnt not to ask because I don't get answers."
"My looks haven't changed. So, imagine me, going into a French café, I'd be able to ask for a cappuccino with cognac like it's a normal Tuesday." Barry explained, though it sounded like he was complaining about Iris' wanting answers.
"It still doesn't make sense, but I just hope you aren't addicted to it." Iris smiled. Barry smiled back.
"I'm not, I'm just used to the taste of brandy in my coffee. It tastes good."
"I admit that I can agree on that premise, I have had cognac in my coffee." Robin and Iris looked confused at the admission. "I lived in Paris for a while." Steve shrugged.
If he wasn't worried then Robin found no reason to be worried.
"Did you guys want to come to watch the particle accelerator turn on with us?" Barry asked. "I sometimes forget that under at the snark you showcase to Santana, you are quite the nerd, but yes. That is, if Robin doesn't mind."
"Sure, sounds cool."
They sat and spoke for a while, Iris coming back every once in a while and talking to about her being a self-made reporter, but she didn't have anything to talk about.
"Well, you'll find something soon, all kinds of crazy things can happen." Robin smiled.
"Thanks for the encouragement, Robin."
"No problem." Robin was cut off by a customer calling Iris. Iris waved to her, walking to the customer. Then Robin heard a phone ring.
"Hello?" Barry asked as Steve seemed to stare at the open air after checking the caller ID. "Shit, I'll be right there. I gotta run guys." Barry grabbed his cognac coffee and ran off. Steve and Robin waved by to him. They finished their coffees and said bye to Iris, going back to their house. Robin crashed onto the couch just then. He turned to the TV, putting on Brooklyn 99. Steve made lunch and they lounged on the couch and ate, before they got ready to go to the police station, they met Iris out front, going in together, the reached the precinct, greeting Barry's foster father, Iris' father, Joe West. They walked up to Barry's lab together. Barry was processing cow shit, yay, anyway. They spoke for a while, Joe got the results for the cow shit, then Iris had to leave to prepare to go to her shift in half an hour. After Iris left, Steve and Robin started helping him with processing the work. There was still work all around the large lab, could be quite comfortable, Robin thought as she moved around the room, following Barry's filing instructions. They finished filing the chemicals and Robin moved to sit down on a chair from Barry's desk while he turned the lights off. It had been long ago that Steve had told Robin about Barry's mothers death, she had been told by Barry's request. After turning the lights off, Barry brought out his evidence about his mother's death. It was a lot, but if the Upside Down was a thing then the Man In Yellow was certainly a thing as well. "This is what we know about my mother's death. There was also a man in red though. They were moving too fast for me to see what they were doing, but the man in red saved me, I can only assume." Barry shook his head. Steve and Robin nodded at the same time, looking at each other, this was going to be a long night. Barry went to his monitor, turning the live feed of the particle accelerator on. They watched as it turned on from inside the lab, the rain was too heavy to watch it live. As it powered on there was a wave of dark matter the shot out from the building. Barry looked up as the dark matter shot out, meanwhile Steve got a phone call. Steve was frozen in place, looking at his phone. Barry was moving to the sky light to close it, Robin moved Steve away from the skylight's area. She hadn't realized it was near the chemicals. "Steve? Stevie? Are you okay?" Robin shook his shoulder, while shaking his shoulder she saw the caller ID.
Robin Arellano
It was like all air left Robin's lungs. Robin Arellano's phone number?
But he'd died. That's not possible. No. Nothing is impossible in this time. Robin remembered what Steve told her.
Finney Blake. That was Steve's name before he had moved to Hawkins. Oh god. Finney Blake was one of her fathers victims. The only one to have survived the kidnapping. The other five kids were found dead in the same house her father had said uncle Max was to move into when he got his life together.
Finney Blake was the only survivor, said he heard phone calls from the black phone in the basement, but he couldn't make calls, said he cut the phone wire to use it against the Grabber. Robin knew that the phone cord was already broken. Even then, when she had heard the phone ring while in the basement she had picked up the phone and a voice, a voice scarily similar to her grandmother's had whispered.
"Robin, sweetie, please be safe, your father is not."
She had put it down to hallucination, but she had known that the phone had not worked for years, and she won't deny hearing phones ringing when she knew they shouldn't be and knowing no one else heard it.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh no.
Getting a call from your dead best friend. This was going to go to shit
She was starting to panic as it looked like the chemicals were floating out of their tubes, and individual containers. Barry looked at the skylight after the chemicals started floating. He looked shocked at something.
Then it was like everything was moving in slow motion. Lighting came in from the skylight, chemicals splashed on Robin and Steve as Barry, Robin and Steve passed out in agony.
Before Robin could truly pass out she saw something, like lighting moving in Barry's skin, but liquids moving towards Steve, and flames started from cut wires. She couldn't guess what caused that.
As her eye closed she noticed sounds of different sets of footsteps coming upstairs. Wow, that's one way to go out, she thought, her body going limp with that final thought.