Chapter Text
Dustin walks downstairs with wet hair, in a hoodie and a pair of joggings.
At least he tries to walk down. His leg still hurts like a bitch.
When he makes it down, he sees everyone on the couch.
There’s no space for Dustin, especially with his leg.
Steve notices Dustin and tries to make space, but Mike shakes his head and points to the chair on the other side of the room.
‘He can sit there.’ He chuckles.
Steve frowns. ‘Come on, don’t be rude, man.’
‘What? There’s no space here, dude.’ Mike looks at Steve madly.
Steve sighs and looks back at Dustin. ‘Come here.’
Steve gets up and puts Dustin in his place.
He sits on the side of the couch himself, almost falling off.
The movie has been playing for a while now, and Steve notices Dustin is uncomfortable.
He’s not even watching the movie.
After another while, Dustin gets up, and limps outside.
He sits down at the edge of the pool, with his shoes above the water, so they don’t get wet.
Steve decides to go outside too, and sits next to the curly haired boy.
‘Hi.’ Dustin says, smiling at Steve softly.
‘Hey, dude. What’s going on?’ Steve looks at Dustin.
‘I don’t- They..’ Dustin sighs. ‘They’re rude, man.’
Steve looks back at Mike and sighs. ‘Don’t get them into your head, buddy.’
Dustin shakes his head. ‘They’ve always been.’
‘When I came home from camp, they didn’t even care about me, Steve.’ Dustin looks up at Steve.
‘They hate me.’ He smiles sarcastically.
‘Woah, woah, woah, they don’t hate you.’ Steve looks at the water. ‘They don’t deserve you.’
Dustin chuckles softly and looks at the sky. The sun is going down, which gives Steve an idea.
He gets up and holds up his hand, to pull up Dustin.
‘Come on, lets go for a ride.’
Dustin takes his hand and crawls up.
They walk to the car together, without the others noticing.
-
Steve stops the car and opens his door.
They’re on a parking lot in the middle of nowhere.
They always go here together when they’re bored.
He helps Dustin get out of the car and they lean against the bump together.
‘I missed this.’ Dustin sighs. ‘Us.’
Steve feels warm. They’re finally them again.
‘Yeah.’ Steve chuckles. ‘Me too.’
‘I’m sorry I left you, dude.’ Dustin sighs again. ‘I let you down, I went with Eddie. I’m sorry.’
Steve’s warm feeling leaves. ‘Hey, man, it’s okay.’
‘I was an asshole.’ Dustin looks up at Steve. ‘And I’m sorry about that.’
Steve bumps his shoulder. ‘We’re good man, I’m glad we’re back.’
They both chuckle and look at the sky in silence.
-
It’s completely dark and they’re still in the same spot.
Dustin leaned into Steve, because he’s tired.
‘We better head home, we don’t want the others to notice we were gone.’ Steve grabs Dustin’s arm and leads him into the car.
When he sits down himself, Dustin already fell asleep.
-
Steve parks the car and looks at Dustin, who is slowly waking up.
He opens the door and walks around the car, to open Dustin’s door.
They walk inside in silence and Steve closes the door behind him.
Everyone is still on the couch, looking at them.
‘Where have you guys been?’ Robin asks.
‘Yeah, what the hell?’ Mike yells.
‘Where are Will, El and Max?’ Steve asks.
‘They’re sleeping.’ Lucas says.
‘Doesn’t matter. Answer the question.’ Mike says.
‘We were watching the sunset, Jesus.’ Steve sighs.
‘Okay.’ Mike turns around and watches the movie.
Robin gives Steve and Dustin a soft smile and does the same.
Steve leads Dustin upstairs and waits for him to go to sleep.
When he’s finally in bed, Dustin whispers something.
‘Steve?’
‘Mhm?’ Steve was about to leave the room.
‘Thank you.’ Dustin smiles at him. ‘For everything.’
Steve smiles back at him. ‘No problem, buddy.’
He turns the lights off and opens the door.
‘Good night, Dustin.’
‘Good night, Steve.’
-
It’s 1AM and Steve decides to go to sleep.
When he enters his room, he totally forgot Dustin was already in there, sleeping.
He goes to bed in silence and looks at Dustin.
He’s sleeping peacefully, with his face directed to Steve.
‘Good night.’ Steve whispers again.
He turns the light next to his bed off, and closes his eyes.