•black flowers•

• Chapter seven •

Robin's POV

It was the next day and I woke up to the smell of pancakes and coffee. I went downstairs to see everyone scattered around in the kitchen. Eddie was wearing an apron, shirtless. I could've sworn I saw Steve staring, but my thoughts were cut short by Max, who was digging into a chocolate chip pancake.

"How'd you sleep after we went back to bed?"

"I slept pretty well actually" I smiled, grabbing a pancake, mumbling a 'Good Morning' to Steve.

I sat down at the table next to Mike and I realized that I'd never really conversed with him before.

"Hi, we haven't really talked before, but I just wanted to thank you for saying whatever you said to El that saved Max's life along with mine" I smiled at him.

"I just told the truth" He smiled back.

I spent the entire breakfast getting to know Will, Mike and Argyle. It was probably one of the most interesting conversations that I've ever had.

After breakfast, Steve explained to the group what happened last night when everyone was sleeping and Dustin looked extremely upset. Steve was the closest thing he had to a dad and if he lost Steve, he wouldn't be himself, I know it.

"Okay, Argyle. I'm taking the van and the kids to the library to try to figure out what's happening. You stay here with Eddie, Steve, Nancy and Robin, okay?" Jonathan said to Argyle, who was too high to contribute at the library.

"Sounds rad, my man" I'm not sure Argyle even knew what was going on.

We sat around the house, watching movies for forever before Argyle spoke up and asked to play a game.

"Have you ever played 'Kiss, Marry, Kill'?" He asked, excitedly.

We all shook our heads. After he finished explaining the rules, we all agreed to play.

"Okay, I'll ask first" Argyle said "Robin. Kiss, Marry, Kill... Steve... Eddie... Jonathan"

"Okay uhh... Marry Steve, because I can divorce him and take all his money. Kiss Eddie, because it's probably something we've already done when we were drunk and we just don't remember. And, I guess, kill Jonathan. But wait, I don't want to do that. Can I switch Jonathan out for Keith or something?" I rambled.

"Okay fine, kill Keith" Argyle laughed, I don't even think he knows who Keith is.

We were about to continue the game when we heard the front door being slammed.

We rushed downstairs to see everyone getting settled.

"Did you find anything?" Nancy asked.

"Yes, you're not gonna like it, though" Erica responded.

"For fucks sake" Eddie mumbled, sitting down on a chair.

After everyone was sat down, Jonathan started explaining.

"So, there's this disease. It's called the Hanahaki disease, pretty much, the infected have a plant growing inside of them. The plant makes you cough up blood and petals, it will keep growing until it completely takes over your respiratory system. It could your lungs and your heart until eventually... you're dead" Jonathan whispered the last sentence.

I was completely speechless.

"So, Robin and I are just gonna die?" Steve whisper-yelled.

"Not exactly, there's a cure" Dustin started "You have to the person you love to love you back"

"What?" Nancy looked completely baffled.

"The only cure is true love" Mike told the group.

"So rad, man, it's like fucking Sleeping Beauty" Argyle added. We all looked at him, glaring daggers.

"How long do they have?" Eddie asked.

"Around 2 weeks" Max pursed her lips together.

"So, you just have to get the person you love to love you back in the next 8-10 business days" Lucas noted, earning a nudge from Max for being so blunt.

"I don't love anyone, though" I mentioned, there was my crush on Nancy, but that wasn't love, was it?

"You have to love someone, or you would've never been infected" Erica told us.

"You 2 must've been the only people that went into the upside down who had and unrequited love for someone" Jonathan added.

"We don't have unrequited love!" Steve looked at me.

"Just think. Who are you most attracted to?" Dustin said "Robin, there must be a guy. You're pretty, and I've seen you reject guys before, you must be rejecting them for a reason"

Steve and I broke out in a fit of laughter, which ended up turning into a coughing fit. After we got it under control, we saw everyone giving us weird looks.

"Are we missing something?" Lucas asked, confused.

"Yes" Steve tried to stifle his laughter. I gave him a glare to let him know he's not allowed to say things like that.

"Okay, first, you have to find out who you love, then you can figure out how to tell them" Nancy changed the subject.

"We all have work in the morning, though" I noted.

"We'll get Hopper to tell your bosses that you have Jury Duty or something so you can still get paid" Will piped up.

"Let's go get Hop, then" El added.

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Missing Calpurnia rn. I hope this longish chapter makes up for the shortness of the last one! I hope y'all had a good day and I hope you enjoy :)