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“All right! Stop here,” Steve said. “Look around.”
“Where’s the gift? We’re in the Hawkins woods?” Robin asked as she, honestly, looked around. Aside from landmarks like Skull Rock, most of the woods surrounding Hawkins look like any other part of the woods surrounding Hawkins. Even to Robin, who had spent most of her summers wandering around them alone.
Steve rolled his eyes at her like she was being obtuse instead of him. “Look, I’ll help.“ Steve disappeared behind a tree to strip and came back out as a wolf. Instead of jogging up to her, ready with his tongue out to lick at her knuckles like normal, he slunk out like he was expecting her to be scared or to run away.
It was very familiar.
Robin blinked. “No way”
Steve barked once for yes.
He returned to the tree while Robin continued, “Is this the first place we met? Like, as Robin and Mr. Wolf?”
Steve was still dressing behind the tree, but he said, “Yep, it looks right from both perspectives, and it smells right.”
“Whoa, I didn’t recognize it without the panic of losing my flashlight,” she laughed.
“And the next part is really the gift.”
“What?“ Robin didn’t see anything in his hands.
“Well, it’s the anniversary of when we met like this. A better one than any other of our anniversaries.”
Robin agreed with that. Most of the rest of their firsts were tied to the Upside Down or, at best, to Mrs. Click’s class. Neither was worth celebrating. “Sure, it’s a good one. I like the idea.”
“And for the gift to celebrate, I was going to help you with your years-long cryptid quest. I mean, you found a native born Indiana cryptid. You deserve credit.”
“No, I didn’t. I found you.”
Steve looked at her.
“Oh,” she said. “You mean you.“
Steve didn’t even have to say anything. His silence was as communicative in his human form as in his wolf form. Robin was getting better and better at reading wolves after spending a week on the Farm last summer. She and Steve were going to the Farm for another week in August before she went back to school again. She hoped spending more time around other wolves would help her crack the code of how they communicated. She might be able to treat it like a new language. Linguistically, it was fascinating.
“Wait a minute. We don’t want to tell anyone about your existence. I’m sure if I write into one of those radio programs somebody is gonna figure out, the government will figure it out. And then you’ll be found out,” Robin spiraled out with rapid anxiety. Who knew what else the government used to keep cryptids in check besides the Men in Black?
Steve held up his hand. “Sure, if they figure out it was you who saw something. Plus, we’re not gonna call me a werewolf.”
“We’re not?”
“A werewolf isn’t a cryptid, it’s a mythological being. You told me they’re different things.“
“They are different things. Cryptids are unknown or unstudied zoological creatures that have yet to be properly studied by science; mythological beings don’t exist.”
“Well, there you go. You discovered me, so you get to name me.“
“So, like what? You want me to write something like ‘June 6th, 1985, I was wandering in the woods at night and stumbled upon the Indiana Dogman?’”
“Not Dogman,” Steve said with a scowl.
“Yeah, it lacks pizzazz. I mean, the next obvious choice is Wolfman. That’s a little sexier, I think. Should I link you to the larger wolf and dog man phenomenon of the upper Midwest?” Robin was warming up to the idea, but also terrified that Steve or anyone on the Farm would be found out because of this ‘gift.’
“I can do Wolfman,” Steve said with a hint of pride. “And before you freak out about this, I already cleared it with Edith. She says as long as you write into one of the radio shows they can vouch for, and you don’t use your real name, it’ll be fine.”
“And then Hawkins will be known for something other than monsters and government coverups,” Robin added, tapping her finger to her mouth.
“I think that would be nice, don’t you?”
“I think that would be much better,” Robin agreed.
“I feel like you deserve something good after a couple of years of shit,” Steve said. “Happy anniversary.”
“They weren’t shit, Steve. I found you. I took my first baby steps out of the closet. I fell in love for the first time. For all the danger, they’ve been good years.”
“You fought monsters, you fought the government, you found cryptids, sure, but also weird, uncanny monsters, or aliens or something masquerading as government agents.” Steve honestly sounded like he was starting to panic. She moved towards him with her hands up, like he was calming down a spooked horse. Or a spooked werewolf.
“Sure, I did. But I also found you. And you’re my person. You’re always gonna be my person.”
Steve’s face softened from the misery and guilt before like the sap he was. “Yeah?”
“Duh.”
“You’re always gonna be my person, too,” Steve said.
God, he really was such a sap. “Duh,” she said again. “You keep saying things that are obvious like this, you’re keeping that title, Dingus.”
“You know, I’m happy to be your Dingus.”
“Good, because I need a Dingus in my life. It keeps me grounded.”
Steve turned and started to lead her out of the forest, the way they had come. “So we’ve got the name down, what else do we want to talk about in the letter? My amazing hair? Endless good looks?”
“I’m going to be describing a cryptid, Steve. Not the King in his heyday.”
“I just don’t want people thinking I’m a monster,” he whined.
Robin followed him out of the forest, happy that this time, like the last, she had a wolf companion to help her find her way home.