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dustin’s knees were caked with mud, khaki shorts wet from where the creek had splashed on him. his hands were much the same, making it near impossible to catch the slippery creatures anymore.
“see any more?”
“negative,” dustin replied, peering down into the murky water. he used his shoulder to scratch his chin, looking over at eddie.
eddie’s face scrunched up in annoyance, before flashing a muddy smile. “there’ll be more. i saw about a hundred out here last night.”
“bullshit,” dustin laughed out, flicking some of the mud on his fingers toward eddie. “no way there were a hundred!”
“uh, yeah way! this is my land, dustin henderson, remember that,” he said ominously, launching at dustin and stopping short before he actually knocked into him. it caused the freshmen to fall backwards, splashing water into himself and eddie. he laughed his usual high pitched giggle, and eddie helped him back to his knees.
they calmed down a bit after that, going back to searching the water for any more frogs. there was a bucket behind them where they’d already gotten two. eddie helped dustin find the first, and dustin had found the second in his own.
eddie was impressed. dustin could be fast when he wanted to.
and, evidently, he wanted to catch some frogs.
eddie watched one poke out the water infront of him, and immediately threw himself at it, his fingers closing around its tiny body.
“a—hah! fuck yeah! henderson, get the bucket!”
dustin hurried to grab the bucket, holding it out infront of eddie, who dropped the amphibian in with his brothers.
“that should be enough today,” eddie said, patting dustins shoulder. “follow me.”
he stood and started down the creek more, away from the trailer park and deep into the forest. dustin scrambled to catch up, wiping mud from his palms as he went.
while they walked, eddie mulled over what his dream campaign would be. he liked talking about his ideas with dustin, the kid offered surprising input and never made him feel silly about it.
that’s why he loved dustin. the boy was a total geek, so eddie didn’t feel ridiculous about himself. he could made all the nerdy references he wanted. even the more obscure ones— dustin understood them all.
he’d be sad when he graduated. he wouldn’t be able to see his friends as much. which was funny, because the closest person in the hellfire club to him was dustin, and he’d only known him for around a year
oh, yeah. that reminded him.
“i’m, uh… pretty sure i’m graduating this year,” eddie said with a smile. dustin’s head snapped up to look at him.
“what?”
“my lowest grade is a high f. and i’ve been doing a lot better in that class than usual. chrissy’s been tutoring me—“
“wait, chrissy cunningham—?”
“—HUSH for a moment- and i’ve been… making surprising leaps.” as he spoke, he made a small jump over a few sticks. “so, i was right. ‘86, man. my year.” he pointed to himself, then looked down to the bucket of frogs dustin held.
“…you’re graduating?”
“if all goes to plan, yes.“
“oh,” dustin mumbled, shrugging. “okay. that’s cool, i’m happy for you.” he gave a braces filled grin to try and solidify that.
eddie squinted at him. “what’s the matter?”
dustin’s grin dropped, and he sighed. “what gave me away?”
“you’re a bad liar, is what.” eddie slowed his pace until he stood side by side with dustin, and looked over to him. “you don’t want me to graduate?”
“no! of course i do,” dustin immediately exclaimed, before trailing off. he couldn’t meet eddie’s eyes. “it’s just… lucas has his new basketball friends, and mike is always talking to el or will. so it’ll be weird not talking to you anymore.”
eddie made a face. “what do you mean? of course we’re still gonna talk!”
dustin sighed, shrugging. “sure. no adult wants to hang out with a fifteen year old, really. expecially… not one like me.”
“what do you mean?”
“like… i don’t know. i’m a nerd. adults are, like, mature most times. or, at least act like it.”
at the words, eddie’s jaw literally dropped, and he chuckled. “dustin, how old is steve harrington?”
“..what.”
“how old?”
“uh, tw- twenty.”
“yeah, and how old am i?”
“is this a joke?”
“how old, dustin,” he sang out, hurrying him with his hand.
“twenty, too.”
“no, twenty, but nice guess—“
“i meant twenty—!”
“—and what age makes you legally an adult?”
“…eighteen.”
eddie grinned at dustin, shoving the back of his head. “exactly. i already am an adult. so is steve. aren’t we, like, your besties, bro?”
dustin rolled his eyes, waving eddie off. “you know what i mean, though. we’re still going to be friends?”
“of course,” eddie confirmed, pulling dustin into a side hug. “you’re the brother i never had, man.”
“you too,” dustin replied. “i would say steve as well, but he’s more like a second mom.”
eddie laughed at that. “mom?! not even dad!”
“he doesn’t act like a dad!”
and soon they were back to joking as usual, and dustin’s worries were placed behind him. there was still the nagging thought that eddie would ditch him after graduation, but he pushed it away easily.
soon, they came to a small patch of nothing, where a broken, old dollhouse was sat in the sand.
eddie hurried to it, falling to his knees and motioning for dustin to follow, opening the house.
inside, dustin saw there was already a frog inside of it.
“what—?”
“once we show them where it is, they come and go as they please.” he pulled one of the frogs out the bucket, placing it in one of the rooms. he motioned for dustin to do the same.
they both grabbed the last frogs, tucking them comfortably into the kitchen and bathrooms respectively.
dustin giggled, eddie following in suite, closing the doll house. the frogs jumped out, paused at the bottom, then hurried back inside.
they stood, observed the house for a few moments, before beginning to head back to eddie’s trailer.
“see, dustin,” eddie started, ruffling his hair. “if i stopped hanging out with you after graduation, who’s going to entertain my frog house?”
“true,” dustin replied, smiling wide up at eddie. eddie smiled back, slapping his back as they loaded back into eddie’s trailer.