Steve and Gareth as Cousins, no longer a warm-up and now called Lifelines, part three! I’ll throw it up on A03 when I finish the fourth part.
First things first, the most amazing @ sereinpetrichor managed to track down the OG Twitter thread this runaway train is based off of!
It was this thread by @gatorthots, the Tumblr version of which can be read, here. All blame for this idea firmly rests on their brilliant, plot bunny inducing shoulders.
The other, follow up thread I mentioned was this one by Silas, whose tumblr name I do not know.
As always and forever, shout out to the most amazing @chalkysgarbagefire who helps me edit/plot/pats my head while I’m crying in their inbox bc the words aren’t wording right.
Warnings: Steve and Robin are canon (S3) drugged. I took a slightly (kinda sorta) more realistic approach. Vomit mention, canon threat of violence/guns (the Russian guards) Mention of pantsing/past bullying, Steve and Robin’s drugged asses not understanding personal space, Dustin’s canon…Im gonna go with assholishness? but like, I think its more than he’s a young kid and doesn’t quite have the emotional growth/awareness yet in this kind of insane situation to know how to react to the whole address/torture bit (really who does)/its a defense mechanism–and Gareth sort of has a panic attack.
Whatever the hell they had been drugged with, Steve and Robin went from ‘giggly happy fun time’ to 'vomiting into toilet bowls while loudly wishing for death’ awfully fast.
Gareth was not an expert on drugs. He knew Eddie wasn’t either (the guy never dealt anything stronger than your average psychedelic–had some agreement with his Uncle about only selling “the 70s basics”) and repeated looks towards him proved Eddie was still trying to figure out what Steve and Robin were on.
Answers hadn’t exactly been forthcoming–Eddie’s gently made attempts at ferreting out information had only caused more confusion.
Like why the two of them were so freaked out about a gate, or what had made Robin gasp, and then laugh so hard she cried when Steve had made a particularly rough noise then muttered; “Even that sounds better than Tammy Thompson.”
Either way, Gareth was mostly trying to figure out what the hell they were going to do, because sobering up in a busy, public mall wasn’t exactly the best idea.
“I regret,” Robin tried to say, in-between gagging. “I regret–hrk–"
"Me too.” Steve moaned, head resting against the stall wall. Gareth, still caught up in panic, had been permanently regulated to door guard while Eddie alternated between sweet talking, rubbing backs and offering quietly whispered advice.
“Let’s go back in time and ignore the whole silver cat thing.” Robin continued, slumping back down onto the floor.
“Wouldn’t have mattered.” Steve muttered. “Dustin would have figured it out without us. Kid’s too damn smart."
"So?” Robin grumbled, quietly thanking Eddie as he once again brushed her hair out of her face.
“So he would have gone down there anyway, which means I’d be down there anyway.” Steve concluded. “We shouldn’t have gotten you involved though."
He shakily pushed himself up, staggering to his feet and looking like bambi on ice while doing it.
Eddie quickly came round to offer his help, hands spread as Steve groaned out a curse and clutched his head.
The older took a step forward right as Steve lurched back, unbalanced and shaky.
"Oh shit.” He said, eyes wide as he crashed backwards into Eddie, the latter catching him with a grunt.
Despite the entire situation, Gareth found himself stifling a laugh as Eddie wrapped his noodle arms around Steve’s chest, trying to hold the other up without falling himself.
“Come on big boy, why don’t we just siiiit back down.” Eddie said, slightly breathless as he helped guide Steve back to the floor. “There we go…”
