Chapter Text
A week after the first battle against Vecna, no one is under the impression that things can get much worse than they have already been, and for most, that’s true, it doesn’t get worst for them. The kids have a break of a relatively, for them, normal week. Hopper comes back from what everyone had assumed to be death, and yeah, both Max and Eddie are still in the hospital, but at least none of them died. Steve’s parents had packed their things and abandoned Steve, leaving him the house three days after Vecna.
For Steve, shit hits the metaphorical fan nine days after the battle against Vecna, on a Tuesday, April first, because whatever god or lack there of looking down upon Steve Harrington seemed to find humor in fucking up his shit on April Fools Day. And do you know what? It was a little ironic, and maybe even the tiniest bit funny, but regardless Steve would have strongly preferred the life altering occurrence from that Tuesday to have been a shitty prank, rather than the type of shit that he would have to put up with for the rest of his life. The thing is, the universe doesn’t care about anyone’s preferences, life isn’t fair to anyone, and sometimes the worst shit just happens to people who don’t deserve it.
Family Video was quicker than a lot of businesses to reopen after the earthquake and with other businesses being closed more people were at home, which meant that family video was busy as hell every day of the week with people coming to return the rented copies of Back to The Future, or The Goonies in exchange for a copy of The Breakfast Club, Weird Science or Teen Wolf.
Steve and Robin had worked the closing shift that day, and had both been to the hospital earlier in the day to visit with Max and Eddie. Max hadn't made any changes, and was still comatose, Eddie had woken up three days prior and was expected to be released from the hospital later that week as long as he wasn’t showing signs of infection.
Steve had been in the aisle, restocking the returns from the last few hours, when it happened. He had been feeling off throughout the day. He was tired, which he reasoned with just being tired from all the shut they had dealt with from spring break and not really being able to get good sleep since everything had happened.
He felt nauseous.
His vision was slightly blurry.
Then, Steve felt a little bit dizzy.
And then for a short while he felt nothing at all.
Robin had been at the front counter rewinding more returned tapes, Steve wasn’t in her view and she jumped when she heard a loud plop. It was one large thing falling, sounding much different than how dropping an abundance of tapes would sound.
“You okay dingus?” Robin asked, thinking maybe Steve, given he was a little clumsy sometimes, had maybe tripped. When a new thumping noise started, without a response from Steve, Robin felt alarmed. She walked over to where he had been, almost expecting him to be floating in the air possessed by Vecna which would have been terrifying, yet somehow reality was far worse.
Steve was laying on the rough carpet, in the midst of a seizure. His jaw was locked tight, head extended back making his neck curve back and forth as it slammed uncontrollably against the ground. His wrist was banging against a sharp edge of the vhs storage cabinet, and he was bleeding from it, there was also blood coming from his mouth, where Robin assumed he had likely bitten his tongue.
“Shit, Steve.” Robin says through her teeth. She’s terrified but now isn’t the time to react to her own fear. Now is the time for her to help Steve. She can consider her own emotions later.
The entire group had taken a first aid class together after Starcourt, so luckily for Robin she knew exactly how to go about helping Steve right now.
She starts a timer with the watch on her wrist. She takes off her work vest and her shirt, (she has a tank top on underneath it all, keep it in your pants) and bundles both underneath Steve’s head in an effort to cushion it. Then Robin unbuttons another button on Steve’s polo shirt, to make sure he’s not going to choke. Then she moves the cabinet so that it’s out of Steve’s reach.
Then once she’s done all the things she can do to help him, which isn’t much in the grand scheme of things, she kneels next to his head and she waits. She would go to call an ambulance but the fact that she won’t be able to see him from the counter while she calls makes her decide not to call. She’s not leaving Steve’s side until he’s okay.
Steve has been grunting throughout the seizure, his eyes are closed and Robin hopes he isn’t in pain. It’s been three minutes now, since Robin started the timer. “You’re okay Steve. I’ve got you. It’s almost over and you’re doing good.” She rubs her fingers through his hair and watches as a dark wet spot quickly grows over his light wash Levi 501 jeans.
At three minutes and fifteen seconds, the bell by the door chimes and a customer walks in.
Robin stands quickly, not leaving Steve but making eye contact with the middle aged white woman who has walked inside.
“Hey! I need you to use the phone at the counter and call 911 please, my coworker is having a seizure.” Robin says in a firm yet scared tone. The woman does as she’s told and Robin squats down next to Steve. His movements have finally started to slow down.
“How old is he?” The woman asks, ready to give the answer to the operator on the other line.
“19.” Robin says.
“Has he ever had a seizure before?” The woman asks.
“No.” Robin says. She doesn’t say, not that I know of, because she knows that Steve would have told her.
“Has he had any recent head trauma?” The woman asks.
Robin considers this. The answer is obviously yes. “He fell during the earthquake.” Which loosely translates to Steve was thrown around by demobats in the upside down a few times.
“The ambulance is on the way.” The woman says.
Then Steve finally stops shaking. Robin breathes a sigh of relief. “He’s stopped.” She says finally, tears glide down onto her cheeks, and she moves Steve so that he’s laying on his side. She keeps running her hand through his hair, trying to comfort him.
“You’re okay Stevie, I’ve got you. It’s over.” Robin says softly. Steve’s breathing has slowed down and his face has relaxed. He groans, and grabs at his wrist.
“You hurt that when you smacked it against the cabinet. An ambulance is on the way and they’ll check it out for you.” Robin says still making a strong effort to sound calm. She scoots a little closer to him and moves his head into her lap.
“Wh’ hapnd?” Steve asks, barely audible.
“You had a seizure, but you’re okay.” Robin says calmly.
“M sorry.” Steve says softly. Robin looks at him as if he’s stabbed her.
“You didn’t do anything wrong Steve. This wasn’t your fault.” Robin says softly, still running her hand through his hair.
“ I scared you.” Steve reasons, as if doing so is reason enough for him to need to apologize.
“It wasn’t intentional and this isn’t something you need to apologize for.” Robin smiles sadly.
“Still sorry.” Steve says.
“Okay.” Robin says with a deep breath. “Are you in any pain?” She asks.
“Head hurts.” Steve says softly.
“I bet.” Robin smiles.
“Rob?” Steve asks, a little clearer than before.
“Yeah?” Robin asks.
“Did I piss myself?” Steve asks, just above a whisper.
“You did, but that’s normal. It’s okay.” Robin says, knowing full well Steve won’t be thrilled about the knowledge. His eyes almost immediately well up with tears. “You’re okay.” It’s normal to be emotional after a seizure. Keith will know about what happened and while he might be a dickhole sometimes, he won’t be about this. She knows full well that Keith will clean the carpets tomorrow and he won’t say a word about this to Steve, because he’s not that shitty of a dude. His dickhole-ness has boundaries and this situation crosses those boundaries by a few miles at least.
The bell by the door chimes again, and this time the paramedics enter with a stretcher, immediately going to Steve, who is of course awake, obviously, but doesn’t quite have it in him yet to like, sit up or move from where he is. The paramedics check his vitals and then they load him onto the stretcher after explaining that given it is his first seizure they will need to take him in so that the doctors can figure out what’s going on. As they’re loading him into the back of the ambulance Robin flips the open sign to closed, Keith won’t mind her closing a few hours early for this. The woman from earlier had only been there to return her copy of Goonies, and had left upon the arrival of the paramedics.
“You coming?” One of the paramedics asks Robin.
“Of course I am.” Robin says. She climbs into the ambulance, and sits where she’s directed to sit on the blue bench behind Steve’s head, where she holds the hand that the paramedics aren’t inserting ivs into.
They should have known that there would be consequences for Steve getting concussion after concussion.