Chapter Text
Steve’s been sitting in the chair he’d pulled up next to Dustin, fiddling with Eddie’s beaten and bruised copy of The Hobbit for about an hour when Dustin starts to open his eyes. Steve leans forward with a sympathetic smile as his eyes look up to him.
“Hey Henderson.” Dustin looks up at Steve and clearly his memory comes back because his eyes get flooded with this look of defeat. He can feel his heart break as that typical Dustin spark seems to float away. The kid seems to start noticing all the beeping machinery as his hands, littered with cuts, start to move towards his ears. “Robin gave me some headphones and some sunglasses. Do you want to wear them?” He waits for Dustin to nod slightly and helps fix them onto the boy, it seems to help his shoulders unclench ever so slightly, I'll take a win where I can . “Do you need anything else? Do you want me to get the doctor?” Steve stands up but stops when he sees Dustin freezes up at the word. “Okay, no doctor. I’ll stay here.” He pulls the chair as close as he can to the kid’s beside, his eyes meticulously scanning him for any signs of discomfort that the professionals should be aware of. Nothing seems to be particularly notable for medical attention.
Jesus Christ what do I say? It doesn’t feel like it’s the right time but he deserves to know he’ll have a place to stay, right?
“Dustin, the doctors want you to stay here tonight to make sure they haven’t missed anything. And then tomorrow, you can move into my house, with Robin and Max and Eddie. Would you be okay with living with us?” There is a small nod and Steve hides the relief that fills his lungs with a small smile. “Okay then. Eddie gave me a book for you to borrow tonight. You wanna borrow it? It’s kind of fun as far as your nerd stuff goes.” He nods but he can see how tired his eyes are and he realizes reading is probably too much energy right now. “Why don’t I read it out loud? That way I'll understand what you’re talking about later.” Dustin gives the slightest nod and he takes the book back to start. Honestly, Steve has no clue what is going on in the book but it seems to put Henderson at ease so he keeps reading aloud. About ten minutes later there’s a voice at the door.
“Hey Dustin, just wanted to drop this off.” Robin's voice croaks slightly (obvious enough that she’s been crying) and passes a stuffed toy rocket. He hesitates to take it but eventually engulfs the familiar texture. “Eddie said you could take one of his blankets because hospital blankets can be annoying.” She holds the blanket for him to briefly run his hand across before nodding and she swaps out the blankets, chucking the hospital fabric right at Steve. For a moment Steve sees a smile in his eyes but the exhaustion doesn’t let it reach the rest of his face.
“Can he sleep for now? Are there any more tests?” Steve asks a nurse softly while Robin’s talking to the kid. The nurse nods, letting Steve turn back to the others and says Robin should get going. Dustin’s eyes look heavy as he shakes his head, Steve sits back down in his seat
“Come on, you need the rest. I'm staying right here.” He sees the doctor, nurse and Hopper looking at him in the doorway. They all leave and he picks up from where they were before. “Okay now where were we?”
The sentence keeps replaying in his mind like a steady mantra as he watches Dustin drift to sleep peacefully.
I’m staying right here.