Video Village

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/19992319.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Gen
Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Relationship: Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Eleven | Jane Hopper & Maxine
"Max" Mayfield, Eleven| Jane Hopper & Robin Buckley, Steve
Harrington & Dustin Henderson, Minor or Background Relationship(s),
Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper, Robin Buckley/Vickie
Character: Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington, Keith (Stranger Things), Eleven |
Jane Hopper, Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Jim "Chief" Hopper, Joyce Byers,
Dustin Henderson, Scott Clarke, Vickie (Stranger Things)
Additional Tags: film snobbery, VHS rentals, Small Towns, Character Death Fix, Post-
Canon Fix-It, Jim "Chief" Hopper Lives, inexplicably attractive magnum
p.i. shirts
Stats: Published: 2019-07-26 Completed: 2022-05-30 Chapters: 2/2 Words:
1406

Video Village
by ballroompink

Summary

Robin really enjoys working at Family Video.

Notes

See the end of the work for notes

 Chapter 1

Until last summer, Robin thought Hawkins, Indiana, was the most boring town in America, maybe
in the world. She certainly was keen to get out of this place as soon as she could.

In the last year, things had gotten a bit more interesting. Finding out not only were the Soviets
beneath the Starcourt Mall and that there were supernatural forces involved kind of blew her mind.
She also made a best friend; maybe that she, lead clarinetist for the Hawkins High School
Marching Band, now was best friends with King Steve Harrington was the most unbelievable thing
of all.

Now that the mall was gone, The Palace Arcade had resumed being the hub of most teenage life in
Hawkins and the adjoining Family Video was reaping the benefits, especially now that so many
families in Hawkins had bought VCRs. There was even talk of putting in a pizza place next door.
(Keith was really excited about that.)

Still, there was a lot of downtime and she and Steve took full advantage of it when they shared
shifts. They invented their own little games, ate a lot of junk food and she helped him with his film
education because they could play pretty much whatever they wanted on the circuit televisions.
While Keith was partial to playing “Repo Man” over and over again when he had control, she liked
to use her power to help not just Steve, but the video-renting community of Hawkins. One week,
she only screens classic screwball comedies, another week it’s only samurai pictures – Steve really
dug those.

She and Steve hung out and she made him watch “Hidden Fortress,” and he ended up liking it a lot.
He couldn’t stop talking about it for weeks. He even got Dustin to watch it who then showed it to
the rest of the party.

Her power was not limited to the circuit televisions, she also got Keith to approve her own shelf of
recommendations. Robin kept track of those who chose from the shelf, and would ask if they liked
it when they came back.

Sure, most of the rentals were your basic choices – “Sixteen Candles,” “48 HRS,” “Footloose,
“Porky’s” – if she had to rent out another copy of “Porky’s” she was going to lose her goddamn
mind!

Steve’s children were more inclined to heed her advice. When Max came in one night for “The
Outsiders” for her sleepover at El’s, she suggested she also check out “Ladies and Gentlemen, the
Fabulous Stains” and one of her favorites from when she was her age, “A Little Romance.”
Another time, El came in on her own and she implored her to check out “Nausicaä” and “The Last
Unicorn” along with renting “The Karate Kid” yet again. God, those girls sure loved Ralph
Macchio … Eleven even came back a week later to return them and confided in her how she cried
watching them. She wasn’t mad about it really, she liked them. Robin was delighted and slipped
her a strawberry Twizzler from her stash and pushed her to check out “Born Yesterday,” The Red
Shoes” and “Roman Holiday.” She got the nerd boys into “Time Bandits” and “Night of the
Comet.” They mostly wanted to watch “WarGames” and “The Thing” over and over again, and she
wished they’d just bug their moms to buy a copy and spare her.

Several other townsfolk would pick out a few from her shelf. Her old science teacher, Mr. Clarke,
and his cute girlfriend – way to go Mr. Clarke! – would come in every few weeks and sure he
would first venture over to the science fiction section, but he would either let her pick or they
would compromise on something. They had rave reviews of “Starman.” Joyce and Chief Hopper
came in only a few times, they were so busy with work and they rarely had time alone or
opportunity to get control of their VCR considering how many teenagers ran in and out of their
small, cramped but loving home; they liked “Coming Home” and movies with James Garner.
“Breaking Away” continued to be a top rental in 1985.

Steve was a pretty cool dude. He was generally nice. He really tried to make amends for being a
jerk in the past. She briefly thought he was really into karma. He was even helping Keith deal with
own shortcomings with the ladies, and some of his acne started to clear up. He even tried his best
to be her wingman. It was both hopeless and endearing.

Steve did, as she promised, got the ladies to come in droves to the video store. Steve was more
suave than he had been at Scoops Ahoy!, the sailor suit really deterred the ladies; he currently was
favoring those shirts Tom Selleck was wearing on “Magnum, P.I.” He spent a lot of his shift
flirting, roaming the aisles while returning tapes to the shelves. When the girls of Hawkins asked
him for recommendations, most of the time he told them “Back to the Future” or whatever the
current posters were; sometimes he would ask her, “What’s that movie with that guy?” or
something like that and, at some point, they developed a shorthand or started to use the same brain
(her’s obviously) and she would respond with “Oh, yeah, that’s [whatever the answer was].”

This job was definitely better than Scoops Ahoy!

 Chapter 2
Chapter Summary

Spoilers for the first two episodes of Season 4, Vol. 1.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

February 22, 1986

Steve jauntily walks down the aisles of Family Video, keen to show off to his best friend Robin the
newly acquired digits of Lisa O’Hara. He’s about to really get all cocky when he notices Robin
sitting glumly on the floor below the foreign films – basically no man’s land in Hawkins.

“Did some idiot choose a Chevy Chase movie over … a Jock Titty movie again?”

“Jacques Tati, you neanderthal, and no.” Robin truly can’t wrap her mind sometimes that Steve
Harrington is her friend. Her best friend, actually. He may be a bit dim, but the boy is always there
for her.

“Then what?” Steve can’t fathom what has suddenly put her in this sad state.

“Just another hopeless interaction with …” Robin doesn’t even have to finish the sentence.

“Oh, the redhead from the marching band. The one with the clarinet,” Steve crouches down and
whispers despite no one else being in the store.

“Word vomit. I think I praised ‘The Apple Dumpling Gang.’ ‘The Apple Dumpling Gang,’ Steve!”
Robin falls to the floor in embarrassment.

Steve can’t just let his best friend crumble to the floor of Family Video, he of all people knows the
last time when that stretch of carpet was cleaned. He offers her both hands and gets her off the
floor. She stands up, her head down like she’s Charlie Brown as he guides her back to the center of
the store. “I bet you mentioned some other movies to her, some better ones. Try and think back.”

He lifts the counter so they can take a seat. “‘Ice Castles’.” Robin mutters before putting her head
down on the counter. “Harrington, I’m hopeless.”

“You’re not hopeless, you just overthink everything.”

“Clearly not a problem for you.”

“Whoa! Was that necessary? I didn’t deserve that.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” Robin apologizes. He didn’t deserve that … this time.

“Forgiven. I bet she liked talking about movies with you. I bet you have a lot of shared interests.
What did she end up getting?”

“Grease 2 and Fast Times.”

 “Oh! Bingo!”

“What? Explain Steve.”

“Well, see. One of the first weeks we started here, you went on a long rant on how Grease 2 is way
better than Grease. And it has Michelle Pfeiffer climbing ladders … in black leather. It’s hot. And
Clarinet Girl will soon know it. And, well, ‘Fast Times,’ is just … Phoebe Cates, Robin. Phoebe!
Cates!”

“Wow, what a solid argument you have made.” Robin is still confused and still embarrassed. But
mostly that Steve is the person who knows her darkest secrets.

“Time will tell, my friend. Time … will … tell,” Steve looks at the computer, “Time will tell in
seven days when she returns those movies.”

“Maybe she has a boyfriend and she wants him to get all horny to ‘Fast Times,’ Steve.”

“Again, you’re overthinking again, Robin. And two, that scenario is laughable. I think,” he
overemphasizes the last word, “I’m right and we shall know next Saturday.”

“I think you underestimate how sexually active band geeks are, Harrington.”

Chapter End Notes

Grease 2 is way better than Grease.

End Notes

I would recommend a lot of these movies. My mom's favorite movie is "Coming Home"
and she's about the same age as Joyce. And my parents love James Garner movies. I think
Robin, at first, would tell Eleven to watch "Born Yesterday" as a little joke, but really it's a
gem of a film.

I don't know if all of these movies were available on VHS in 1985 in a small town like
Hawkins, Indiana, but I want them to be.

Also, I work in an AU where Hopper lives.

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!