Trigger Warning: Steve gets misgendered, but it's not intentional.

"Hey Rob. Can I ask you a question?" Steve spoke, trying to ease into the topic he wanted to speak about.

"If it's about sex the answer is no." She answered with a smirk.

"It is but not in the way you're thinking. it's just... you remember that Russian thing?" He asked.

"You mean when they tied us up, drugged us and beat the shit out of us? of course I remember. it's not exactly something you can easily forget." She shrugged, giving him a curious look.

"Yeah, well how have you felt while being tied up after that?" He spoke so softly that she nearly missed the words.

"Firstly I've never been tied up again and secondly I would probably have a panic attack and die. you know, PTSD and shit." She answered, waving her hand in dismissal while she restocked the returned tapes into their rightful places.

"I thought that too"

"Wait have you been tied up after that?" Her brows were furrowed in curiosity.

"Yeah..." He shrugged. "Eddie said it might help me process the trauma I've been through and I was skeptical at first but it really worked."

"Well then you should tie me up."

"No it has to be with someone you trust." He rushed out.

"I trust you dingus." She stated with a shrug.

"Not like that. it has to be someone you trust intimately. Actually no it doesn't, I'm just not sure that I'm the right person for it. Seeing you tied up might trigger me." He felt awkward speaking to Robin about this but he had to share it with someone and who better than his platonic soulmate.

"Oh my god, has Eddie been tying you up during sex?" There was a glint of excitement in her eyes.

Steve knew that she would store away this information and use it to embarrass him when the timing was perfect.

"Not during sex - well except for Friday morning -" He smirked

"Ew!" She cut in.

"Shut up, let me finish." He nudged her gently.

Robin raised her hands in mock surrender "Fine. go on, I'm listening."

"Two months ago he started tying me up, just like my wrists and he would sit and talk to me about all the shit he could think of." He spoke with a small smile, thinking back to that moment. How Eddie managed to keep him calm while he was tied up.

"Didn't you like freak out or something?"

He shrugged. "At first it was intense but he was there, talking me through it. Eventually I didn't even feel it anymore. It became so easy to ignore it, hell I started liking it after a while, looking forward to it. It felt safe, like an escape from all the crap we've been through."

"That sounds fucking insane." She shook her head. "I don't think I'd be able to do that. I'm getting anxious just thinking about rope around my wrist." She shivered at the thought.

Steve rolled his eyes, "Has anyone told you that you're a drama queen before? Because you are."

"I've been called one every now and again." She spoke with a smug smirk. Then she narrowed her eyes into thin slits as a thought crossed her mind, "does he use rope on you or handcuffs?"

He shrugged, trying to act nonplussed about it, but the flush on his cheeks gave him away. "Rope mostly. We used his bandana twice too. Still haven't gotten to the handcuffs."

She raised an eyes eyebrow at him, "Do you want him to use the cuffs?"

His cheeks flushed at the question. He hadn't really thought about it yet. Okay that was a lie. It was all he thought about ever since he and Eddie got off together the other morning.

It was as if Eddie had lit up something inside of him that he never knew existed. He was usually the one doing the fucking and touching. He was usually in charge and he was always the one doing the wooing. But with Eddie... With Eddie he didn't have to do any of that. He could just exist and Eddie would be there taking care of him. Sure he knew that Eddie needed to be cared for too and he would do it without a second of doubt. But they were exploring things for now and Eddie was more experienced in that area than he was. Sure he had slept with his fair share of women but he had never tied any of them up or used toys on them. This was all new to him.

It was exhilarating and he wanted to keep exploring and keep learning. He wanted to try everything. He had yet to explore Eddie's box of toys but he was looking forward to it.

"Hello, earth to dingus" Robin snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Do I even want to know what you were thinking about?"

He pursed his lips, "Eddie has this box... Filled with toys and shit and I want to see what's in there."

Robin thought about it for a moment before her eyes widened. "oh. OH." she flushed at when she realized what box Steve was referring to. "You remember when I got the rope in Eddie's room with all the upside down shit. Well I found the rope to save your asses in that box. I've been traumatized ever since."

He frowned, "Why? What's in it?"

"I recognized some of those things but there's a few that I've never seen before." She spoke.

Steve pursed his lips, "what did you recognize?"

"Rope, handcuffs, buttplugs, vibrators, dildos, lube and a gag... The rest I'm not sure of... Although I'm assuming that the little chain contraption I saw was nipple clamps." she listed it off while counting on her fingers.

A rush of heat bubbled up inside of Steve and a shiver ran down his spine. "wow... I uh..."

She turned to him and frowned when she saw how flushed he was, "please don't tell me you're thinking about Eddie using that on you?"

"Can you blame me?" He shrugged.

She made a gagging noise, "ew."

He tsked, nudging her with his shoulder playfully, "don't be homophobic Rob."

"If you give me the dirty details of what ever the fuck you and Eddie get up to, I'm going to do more than just be homophobic." She spoke with a serious look on her face. He would have believed her, if it wasn't for the tiny smile she failed to hide.

He pursed his lips, "wait are you actually disgusted by Eddie and me? Is it because I'm tra-"

"No!" She cut him off, her eyes wide. "No. I was just teasing you. I'm literally a lesbian, why would gay people disgust me? Also I would never be disgusted by you, especially not because you're trans. Please believe me on this. I would never judge you like that, dingus."

He gave her a small smile, "I'm sorry about that. I've just been on edge lately. It's always been my parents, Nancy and me that's known about it. Now it feels a lot bigger since more people know about it."

"Do regret telling me?" There was not a hint of anger or mirth in her tone, just pure curiosity.

He shook his head, "no. I don't. It feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders honestly... Knowing that you accept me for who I am. I knew you would accept me, it just feels surreal sometimes."


"Steve!" Dustin hollered as he ran into the store, the bell jingling loudly behind him.

"Geez Henderson, slow your roll." He turned to him with a frown, resting his hands on his hips. "Hello to you too. My day was great, thanks for asking."

Robin hoped onto the counter, "Hey Steve's kid, what do you want?"

Dustin rolled his eyes at both of them, "I don't give a shit about your day. We need a place to have our DND campaign. Can we use your house?"

"What makes you think I'm going to say yes after you said you don't give a shit about my day?" He asked with a raised brow.

It was a bullshit question to ask because everyone in the room knew he would agree to anything these little assholes asked him. They were his kids after all. He would do anything for them and they knew it.

"So that's a yes?" He had the audacity give Steve a smug smirk.

Steve sighed, throwing his hands up in surrender, "fine. You can play your stupid, nerdy game at my place, but you dorks have to clean up before you go home."

He waved Steve off already walking toward the r-rated section and grabbing at horror movies that Steve definitely wasn't allowed to rent out to kids. "Yes mom. We'll clean up after ourselves." he spoke sarcastically.

Steve bit his lip. His stomach flipping uncomfortably with the word 'mom' being thrown at him. He knew that Dustin meant no harm because the kid didn't know, but it still unsettled him a bit. He squared his shoulders before walking over and slapping Dustin upside the head, "I'm not your mom, dork."

"Well you act like one." He shot back.

Robin came over and placed a comforting hand on Steve's back, "I don't know, Henderson. Steve gives off more 'overbearing dad that won't let his kids out of his sight' energy."

Steve scoffed, "I do not!"

Dustin narrowed his eyes at them, "that's an oddly specific yet accurate description of Steve."

"See!" Robin pointed, "I was right. You are an overbearing dad. You are constantly complaining about everything they do yet you let them get away with everything they do."

"I'm overbearing because these idiots always end up in some kind of danger and I hate seeing them hurt. You can't hold that against me." He argued, hands resting on his hips.

"Just because you're right doesn't mean I agree with you. I still think you're an overbearing dad even if you have good reason to be." Robin said with a shrug.

Dustin sighed, "when you two are done with your lovers quarrel will one of you check this out for me. We're having a movie day with Eddie tomorrow and I want to bring something cool."

Robin made a gagging motion, shoving her finger into her mouth and pretending to wretch. "There is no lovers quarrel going on here."

"Yeah. Platonic with a capital P." Steve added lamely.

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes, marching back to the register.

Steve trailed behind him and checked the movie out in his name, "I'm not supposed to be renting you this shit so you better zip your lip about it. Also this is the last time dipshit."

"Why are you always so damn annoying?" Dustin sighed. "I have to go. See you later, my mom will drop me off at your place around 7 so be ready and you have to drop me off." He spoke while heading to the door.

"Whatever. See you later. Tell your mom I said hi." He hollered after Dustin. "You're welcome by the way."

Robin walked up to him with a smug smirk, "not a dad huh?"

"Shut up" His words held no heat.

They worked in silence for a bit, cleaning the place up and helping whoever came trailing into the empty store. After an hour of being productive they settled at the counter and relaxed. Robin had been giving Steve weird looks ever since Dustin left and he'd been squirming under her gaze the whole time.

"Rob, what's up?" He asked, "You've been giving me weird looks ever since Dustin left. Is something wrong?"

She shook her head, "no. I've just been worried about you I guess... You know with the whole mom situation."

"Oh" He frowned. "Yeah. It caught me off guard a bit but I know Dustin didn't mean anything by it. He doesn't know." He shrugged.

Robin nodded, a small smile making its way onto her lips, "As long as you're okay. I just wanted to check up on you. I saw you tense up a bit when he said it."

"Yeah I'm ok. I just... It's the first time someone has ever referred to me like that way. Sure they've called me their parent before but never mom." He spoke with a shrug, "thank you for getting me out of that though. For the whole dad thing, even though I don't agree about the overbearing bit."

She let out a laugh, "You are overbearing. You're constantly on their case and pestering them about whatever the fuck they get up to."

"I'm not the only one though." He argued. "Eddie is constantly in their business too. He just does it in a different way."

"That is why you two are perfect for each other. You'll be their embarrassing dad's."

"I'm not embarrassing"

She scoffed, "All of them think you're lame. Except Will, but that's because he thinks you're his bi best friend or something..."

"El doesn't think I'm lame," He knew that was a stupid retort. El likes everyone. "She thinks I'm cool, and before you say she doesn't, just know that she does because she said it to my face multiple times."

"She doesn't count" She rolled her eyes, "El thinks everyone is cool."

"Shut up!" He grumbled out. "Eddie thinks I'm cool."

Robin scoffed playfully, "He is your boyfriend, he is supposed to think you're cool. That comes with the territory so he also doesn't count."

"You think I'm cool." He tried even though he knew he was fighting a losing battle.

She let out a laugh at that, "no I don't. I love you but you're a dork."

He crossed his arms over his chest, "well I don't think you're cool either. In fact you're the biggest dork between us."

"Okay dad." She teased, laughing when he threw her with a box of mm's. "You actually have good aim."

He rolled his eyes, "I was the captain of the basketball team, of course I'm good at throwing things."

Robin smirked, "All I'm hearing is that you're experienced when it comes to working with balls."

"Fuck off." He grumbled, fighting to hide the laugh that threatened to leave his lips.


Hi besties.

I am so sorry for the longgggg wait. It's been hectic on my side but we've finally got another chapter up and I've already got chapter 16 halfway written.

I've been busy searching for a place to stay and still haven't found anything, and it made me a bit depressed, hence why I haven't updated... But I'm back now and feeling a bit better about my living situation, so now I can settle back into writing this.

I hope you all are still enjoying this. Don't forget to leave a review.