Work Text:
The lights are off, the house is quiet except for muffled sounds of laughter and dice clattering from the basement. A campaign is going on, one of the last before Will gets taken. It’s a good one, full of adventure, highs and lows, the pains of bad RNG is horrible for the boys. However, this isn’t about them. It’s about two girls in an upstairs room. Nancy walks into the room, scoffing at her brother's loudness, arms full of drinks and snacks. “Hey Barbie,” She says, irritation coloring her tone despite how she tries to hide it. Barbara Holland raises an eyebrow. “Just,” she shrugs, passing a coke to her best friend. “My brother and his friends are being dweebs again.”Barb taps her soda to her chin, a familiar habit, before taking a drink. “If I recall correctly, you were also a dweeb when you were their age.” Nancy burns red, “Shut up.” she grumbles, Barb chuckles, smirking. “Just saying.” Nancy leans on the wall, a heavy sigh falling from her lips. “I feel like I was less of a nerd when I was that age though.” She says, leg tucked into her chest. Barb hums in thought. “Well, don’t we all?”
Nancy rolls her eyes, knowing Barb is going to go on another one of her intellectual rambles again. If only she knew how much she would miss them soon. “Wait wait!” She puts her hands out as Nancy scoffs. “Here we go again-” but a fond smile plays on her face as Barb speaks. “Okay, but don’t we tend to look at ourselves better than people we don’t like? We all basically think, even if you hate yourself, at least I'm better than them . When really you’re not?” She shrugs. “I mean, we’re all were just stupid kids at the end of the day. Like, I don’t know.” Barb flops back onto the bed, holding her arm up so her soda doesn’t spill. “Maybe they just feel immature because you ‘know better’ and are grown. They don’t know what is and isn’t cool. “ She gives a warm smile that makes Nancy’s stomach flutter in a way she won’t know why until the reason is gone, “I say, just let kids be kids!”
She laughs, “I mean, nobody made fun of
us
for childish things until
we
decided we were too cool for playing horses and the like. Don’t want them to grow up too quickly.” Nancy pauses, and only for a moment, she replaces D&D figures with horse figures. She replaces the character sheets with braiding barbie dolls hair, and a discomfort builds in her chest. She sighs, slumping over and pressing the cool aluminum to her dry lips. “ I suppose you’re right.” Barb quirks her eyebrow up. “Aren’t I always?” She says with a knowing smile. Nancy’s cheek flush pink, burning, she takes a sip to avoid looking her in the eyes. “...Yes.” Barb leans forward. “What was that?” she cups her ear, “Sorry, I didn’t quite get that.” Nancy’s face turns red as she says. “You’re always right!”
Barb whoops. “Damn right I am!” Making Nancy laugh as she almost drops her drink. “Oops-” But the noise gets caught in her throat as Barb lurches forward, warm body spilling across her lap as her soft hand holds Nancy’s own so she doesn’t drop the soda. She pauses for a moment, breathing slowing as time seems to stop. The light reflects off of Barb’s glasses wonderfully, showing off those cute brown doe eyes in the yellow light. Her thin pink pajama top rubs against Nancy’s arms making her flush. “Golly,” Nancy whispers reverently, breathless as Barb’s auburn hair just seems to glow. “What was that?” She says, looking up at Nancy. “Nothing, “she says quickly, pulling back as she tries to get herself under control.
God, what was that? Her heart pumps in her chest like she just ran a marathon. Except it feels good in a way, after running a marathon Nancy would be miserable. All she wants to do now is do whatever happened again. She runs a hand through her hair, a thought flies into her head wishing she was running her hand through Barb’s instead of her own. She shakes her head, smacking her cheeks lightly, bad Nancy. Get your head in the game. She smiles at Barb, who’s looking at her with confusion on her face. A slight pout that is just so cute. Barbara hums. “So the boys are gonna be busy all night?” Nancy shrugs. “Well, if I know Mike he’ll have them running his campaign all night and well into the morning and they’ll enjoy it. But, you know Mike.” Barbara snorts. “An unpredictable little shit?” Nancy rolls her eyes, a fond smile on his face. “Just a little bit, but his friends will want to play so I don’t think he’s gonna do anything.”
Barb hums, setting her drink down, Nancy follows suit. “Well that’s good.” She pats Nancy on the shoulder. “Up, Up.” Nancy snorts, standing up. “I’m moving, I'm moving.” She rolls her eyes as Barb pulls the comforter off her bed, spreading it out on the floor. A childish habit that followed the two well into teenagerhood. Barb makes sure all the corners are spread evenly before unzipping her sleeping bag fully and repeating the process. She makes a self satisfied noise before tugging Nancy down. “Ah!” she shouts joyfully, giggling as her back hits soft fabric. Barb flops down next to her, pressing a finger to Nancy’s lips. “Shh, don’t wanna wake your parents up, do you?” Nancy grimaces at what they would say if they say this, how they would talk about how unlady-like and unbecoming this is of her. Not noticing Barb pursing her lips, thinking the same thing as Nancy with slightly more vulgar thoughts towards her parents. Nancy wrinkles her nose up. “Hell no.” Barb shrugs, rolling on her back. “That’s what I thought.”
Barb rolls on her back, watching the ceiling as they talk about everything and nothing while the hours tick by. As midnight creeps into 3:00 AM and the only other sound in the house is the occasional very faint sound of all the boys cheering at once before it goes back into the quiet chattering of the two girls that start to petter out. As it stays silent for 30 minutes, Nancy assumes Barb fell asleep. Disappointment curdles in her stomach for reasons unknown to her, she wanted Barb to stay up with her and talk about… boys??? She doesn’t know, she just kinda wanted her comforting voice to speak to her into the early morning hours. She sighs, closing her eyes. The sooner she sleeps the sooner she can hear Barb’s voice again. However, what she didn’t expect was for Barb to say. “Congratulations is such a hard word to spell.” Nancy shuts her eyes tighter, thinking she’s just sleep talking or maybe Nancy’s brain is just filling the silence, she doesn’t know.
It’s quiet for a moment before. “C-O-N-G-R-A-” Nancy laughs, breaking the quiet room as she turns back to Barb. “Oh my god,” She says as Barb keeps talking over her. “U-L-A-L?” Nancy shoves her slightly, “Shut the fuck up Barbie!” She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, like you can spell it.” Nancy puffs out her chest. “I so can.” Barb pushes herself up, fixing her glasses with an expert finger movement that leaves Nancy breathless for a moment. Nancy pushes the hair out of her eyes. “C-O-N-G-R-A-D,” Barb snorts, “D?” Nancy blushes to the tips of her ears. “That’s how it’s spelled!” Barb rolls her eyes. “No it’s not!” Nancy scoffs, shoving herself into a sitting position to, shared blanket pooling in her lap. “I swear to GOD it is.” Barb throws her arms up. “Well then God is going to strike you down, because that’s not how it’s spelled.” She rolls her eyes. “It is! It is!”
Barb scoffs, pushing the blanket off her as she crawls to Nancy’s bookshelf. “You know what? I’m gonna look it up.” Nancy waves her off, looking away. “I’ll be right! I’ll literally be right, I swear on it!” Barb shakes her head as she starts flipping through the pages, looking for “C-O”, “you’re not! You’re not going to be!” She clicks her tongue, throwing the book on her lap. “Look! Look!, Congratulations! With a T!” Nancy flips her off, Barb gestures to herself with wide eyes. “Why are you mad at me, I'm right!” Nancy rolls her eyes, “Whatever man.” Barb shoves her slightly. “Aren’t you top of our class in English?” Nancy sputters, tripping over her words. “I swear to god, why is it spelt Congrads, if there is no D?” Barb shrugs. “I don’t know, I’m not the fucking Spaniards.” Nancy wheezes, leaning over herself. “The Spaniards?” Barb coughs, shouting. “I don’t know who made the English language!” Nancy wheezes louder. “You’re in AP WORLD HISTORY? ”
Barb stutters, saying with a wide smile. “I’m about to drop out of highschool because hanging out with you is the only thing I have the mental capacity for!” Nancy laughs, tugging Barb down with her as her body collapses into giggles. “Me too!” As they snicker, pressed side by side, Barb laces her hand through Nancy’s. Her fingers spark against Nancy's. Warm skin against her cold palms. She shivers for other reasons as Barb tugs her closer, “you okay?” Barb whispers, voice curling in her mind like mind control, body relaxing under the melodic tone. She knows that if she says no, Barb would let her go just like that. She knows it’s not normal for girls to hold girls like this at this age. She should say no, she doesn’t. She knows that she wouldn’t walk away from Barb even if she could, Barb has her hooked. “Yeah,” she says, voice weak and breathy. “Yeah,” she nods. “I’m good Barbie.” Barb cups her face. “Good.”
She looks into Barb’s dark eyes, her pale skin shining in the soft light, a car drives by outside but there might has well be nothing at all. All there is, is her and Barb, nothing else matters in this moment. She has Nancy hooked around her pinkie and she probably doesn’t even know it. Nancy knows she’s a wreck, that she flips her opinions on the dime, she knows she’s abrasive and comes on too strong. However, Barb never seems to care. In fact, Barb seems to love her for it. And, well, as she smells Barb’s faint flora fabric softener as they're so close together, she can only think of it. “Something’s you can’t refuse.” She squeezes Barb’s hand, she squeezes back.
“Nance.” She whispers, and how can any boy compare to Barbara Holland when she talks like that. Nancy melts, whispering back, it feels like if you talked any louder the whole universe would collapse in on itself. A secret for two. “I won’t leave you, I won’t let you be alone.” And all of Nancy’s worries seem to disappear under those words. She doesn’t ask how she knows, she doesn’t need to. Barb knows everything about Nancy, all her little secrets, her imperfections. Everyone seems to have to fight for Nancy’s trust, but not Barb. If Barb asked she’d let her take a sip out of her heart and soul. So to know she won’t leave her in the dust is something she never knew she needed. Nancy runs her hand through Barb’s hair, hearing her breath skip. “I know you’re scared of the unknown.” she whispers, cupping Barb’s face. “I’ll know everything for you.” Barb smiles so sweet that Nancy can feel her blood sugar skyrocket.
The two friends curl into each other, letting the night melt away.
~~~~~~~
Nancy steps out of the car, leaving it running. Mike gets out of school on time today, no Hellfire and she promised she’d pick him up. She’s happy that Mike is still enjoying the things he did has a kid, not letting other people’s opinions on “cool” decide what he does and doesn’t do. Nancy was worried about him last summer, looks like she worried for nothing. She’ll be quick, hopefully. The beeping behind her fades away as she gets closer, dead leaves crunch under her feet as she tugs her coat closer. It’s cold, she breathes hot air into her hands as she passes wilted flowers, skin red and irritated from long term exposure.
Her body guides her without any input, muscle memory from doing this so often. The first time she came here, she was so bitter, and angry, and kinda felt like throwing up. Now she’s just a bit numb, numb and sad. She hates feeling so empty, she doesn’t know why she keeps doing this to herself. Well she does, but it’s easier to pretend she doesn’t. She kneels down, dropping a bouquet of roses and white orchids on the packed dirt. She places a calloused palm on the freezing stone, lines of her hand catching on the coarse rock. Nancy tries to push away the thoughts of how cold she must be in just her favorite summer clothes. If she focuses hard enough, she can pretend that she’s holding her shoulder. Guiding her to her car with a laugh and driving them home. A melancholy smile forms on her face as her eyes catch on the name. “Barbara Holland.” She takes a deep breath, organizing her thoughts.
“Hey Barbie, I learned something new today.”