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Eleven was the first thought that came to Dustin's mind when he woke up that morning. Why? Don't ask him; El and Mike have been dating for a few years, but Dustin knows they are not right for each other. Hell, Mike is gay; he'll never admit it, but you can tell how he looks at Will. Dustin has pushed down whatever he felt for El after he saw her in that stupid blonde wig and pink dress, for Mike. Mike is his best friend, and he couldn't like the girl that Mike had feelings for.
“Dusty!” Dustin's mom yells from the other room. “You're gonna be late!”
“Coming,” He yells from the other room, throwing on a sweater and a new hat that Eleven got him for his birthday. He knows it was just a friendly gift, but it made his heart flutter just a bit.
Dustin got into his Volkswagen Bug and drove to school for his first day of senior year. The party—Lucas, Max, Will, Mike, and Eleven—were all standing around outside the school entrance. Lucas had his arm around Max and was talking about something, which made her roll her eyes. Will and Mike were arguing about a new D&D campaign, their voices getting louder than usual. Eleven, wearing a purple sweater and high-rise jeans cuffed to show off her red Converse with drawings on the soles from Max, saw Dustin arrive and waved at him excitedly. Dustin, feeling nervous, bowed his head and blushed in response.
“Finally, you’re lucky we waited for you,” Lucas said, punching Dustin's shoulder, not hard, but with Lucas being in sports, it hurt like a bitch. Dustin rolled his eyes while rubbing his shoulder where he was hit. Fortunately, they all had different classes in the first period; unfortunately, his first class was with El. They had gotten their schedules two weeks before school started, and they all met in Mike's basement to see if any of them shared classes, since El and Dustin were the only ones in the group that had any interest in Psychology, which was their first period. Mike and Will were in Art, which Dustin thinks Mike chose on purpose. Max had Math since she failed Freshman year, completely not her fault. And Lucas had Athletics.
Dustin sat in his seat behind El. Her soft brunette curls sometimes fell onto his desk when she leaned forward, but it never bothered him. When the teacher handed out the beginning-of-year syllabus and assigned permanent partners for class projects, El turned around in her seat and grinned at him. Dustin knew what she was asking and sighed, nodding his agreement to be partners. Once the bell rang, Dustin started packing up his things. El lingered as she packed, moving slowly. Dustin waited for her, knowing it was the only chance he would get to admire her without it being obvious. When Eleven looked up and smiled at him, Dustin melted, just as he did every time she smiled.
“Thank you for waiting,” Eleven says, her voice sweet.
“Of course,” He says, noticing that she dropped a pen, he brushes her hand to pick it up.
“You’re the bestest friend, Dustin," Eleven says as they walk out of the classroom. He laughs about how she still doesn't have the hang of English grammar yet. He walks her to her next class, which is the door next to his next class. Physics, his favorite, Mr. Clarke took a position as a high school teacher. The rest of the party was there, sitting at their lab table.
“Dustin, what took you so long?” Will says over the paper he was drawing on from art.
“I was waiting for El, I didn't want to leave her all alone.” Mike looks up after Dustin says this
“She’s not a child,” He says. Dustin is taken aback by this.
“And I was being a good friend?” Dustin then mutters under his breath, “Not like you have any idea what that's like.”
Classes feel like they go on forever. Dustin looks at his watch, just waiting for Lunch. Eleven's voice catches him out of his daze; she’s asking the English teacher multiple questions. Dustin smiles while looking back at her. Then she makes eye contact with him, “Shit,” Dustin says quietly while looking away quickly.
As soon as class ends, he jumps up and doesn’t wait for her; he needs to get over this stupid fucking crush on her. He leaves campus for lunch and eats at a diner, thinking about Eleven and how he can get over her. He has to tell someone, so he skips that last part of the school day. It's nothing important anyway. The seniors are allowed to use half the day to go to work, which he technically does. He pulls up to the video store where he, Robin, and Steve all work. Steve stayed in town to raise money for college and a little more, but Dustin thinks he doesn't want to leave Dustin alone, which he's thankful for.
The bell of the store rings, and Steve greets him without looking up from the magazine catalog he is reading. “Big problem, very big problem," Dustin says, walking towards the counter. Steve looks up, confused, “What, what happened?” Looking like he's seen a ghost.
Dustin stares at him for a second before saying, "I'm in love with someone I shouldn't be.”
Steve's eyes widened, “UHM HELLO? Who? When? Why didn't you tell me sooner?”
“Its, Eleven and ive liked her before her and mike or whatever but i pushed it down then suzie broke up with me and me and El got closer and now I don’t know what to do, everytime i see her i get butterflies, and i didnt tell you because, i was ashamed but Mike is really pissing me off and he really doesn't deserve her, he doesn't even deserve the person who he actually likes either,” Dustin says quickly.
Steve takes a breath, "That's actually adorable, and what do you mean, who he actually likes?”
Dustin's voice goes low, "I shouldn't have said that.”
“Okay, I'll ignore that part, but what do you want from me? You're pining after a taken woman.”
“I don't know, I just needed to tell someone.”
It's been a few weeks since Dustin opened up to Steve, 9 weeks to be exact. A little over a week till Halloween. The group all had their own costume ideas. Dustin was going as Marty McFly. He had slightly traumatic experiences with the movie, but he still loved it. They weren't doing a group Halloween costume because El wanted to be Wonder Woman, and Lucas and Max were doing a random couples costume, and Mike and Will were as their D&D characters.
Dustin gets startled out of bed by the phone ringing. His mom never gets calls, nor does he, but he goes to answer it anyway.
“Hello?” he hears crying on the phone, and then El’s soft voice speaks up, “Dustin, can- can you come get me?”
“El? What, what happened?”
“Just come get me, please, in at the diner at the edge of town, I just walked up here from Lover’s Lake.”
“Okay, Okay. Im coming”
Dustin pulls up to the Diner, El standing outside with her arms crossed over her body, crying, but not wet. He gets out and goes to her, and as soon as he goes to hug her, she collapses, crying in his arms. He doesn't ask any questions; he just hugs her and lets her cry. “Let me get you home.” Dustin walks with her to the car and takes her to his house. They sit in his living room, and he gets her a Coke.
“So are you okay?” Dustin says in a soft voice, sitting next to her. She puts her head on his shoulder, and he pretends that he isn't absolutely loving this. She nods but stays quiet. An hour passes, of they just sit there before she speaks.
“Mike broke up with me.”
“What?” Dustin says eyes widened
“Yeah, we were on a date and all of a sudden he's quiet and then he tells me that he isn't in love with me and hasn't been in love with me for a while.”
“I’m so sorry, El. I didn't know.”
“I don't think anyone did, but I don't want to celebrate Halloween now.”
“Okay, that's okay,” Dustin says softly. They sit there like that for a bit, then El decides it's time to leave. So Dustin takes her home, hugging her goodbye at the door of Hopper's cabin.
Halloween comes around, and Dustin invites El to come hang out at the video store. El has been extra quiet but still hung out with the group. Apparently, Mike had tried to talk to her, but she just told him to leave her alone. She doesn't hate him; she just needs time. She wants to cause him so much pain, but she is calm for the most part. Steve walks around from the corner and sees Dustin and El trying to decide which horror movie to watch tonight after Dustin's shift. He smiles at them, seeing Dustin happy is his favorite thing. And that’s it, Dustin's happy, he doesn't mind that he and El aren't dating as long as he gets to hang out with her, he's happy.
Later that night, they hide away in Dustin's room, waiting for Lucas and Max to join them for the movie. He tries to ignore the fact that this is technically a double date. Max and Lucas show up a few minutes after 11 pm, and El was ranting about how she's jumpy and hates that they convinced her to watch it with them. Eleven yelping at Max hugging her snaps Dustin out of his yearning trance, and he looks up at Lucas, whom he still hasn't told about his deep dark secret. He plans on it tonight, though.
They put into the movie Carrie and Max and Lucas grab popcorn, El snuggles into her blanket on the edge of Dustin’s bed, and when Lucas gets back, Dustin asks him if they can go out and smoke.
“I thought you quit, dude,” Lucas says, pulling his newly bought pack out of his varsity jacket.
“I did, I'm just anxious, I need to tell you something,” Dustin says.
“Oh, what is it?” Lucas says, taking a long drag out of the cigarette.
“I have a crush on El,” He says, looking down at the ground, not taking a single hit of the burning stick in between his fingers. Lucas starts coughing from the smoke and puts out the cigarette.
“Oh, well, I mean, you could try? I don’t know how Mike will feel, though.”
“No, I'm not gonna try, I don't want to hurt Mike even though he hurt her so much. She cried for four hours, dude. I didn't know what to do, I just sat there, with her head on my shoulder, feeling like I was a shit friend but also wanting to hit Mike so hard.”
“Wait, she came to you?”
“Yeah, why?”
“That's telling, you matter to her, or she knew that she would be consoled by you.”
“I guess,” Dustin says, shrugging, “Let’s go back in.”
They go in, and Dustin sees El asleep on his bed, Max is watching the movie intently, and Lucas sits by her. He kisses her cheek and continues watching the movie. Dustin climbs on his bed, making sure not to wake El. He didn't even realize, but he drifted to sleep. Max and Lucas leave. The next morning, Dustin wakes up to a soft snore near his face, his eyes open and focus on a head of soft brunette curls in front of him. He stiffens up and carefully moves up to get out of the bed, but realizes that his arm is trapped under El’s head. “Shit,” Dustin whispers, and goes to lie back down. Just then, a loud slam happened in the house. Eleven jolts up at the noise and looks around to see Dustin, who, if he's being delusional he would think that she blushes.
Dustin chuckles softly, “Sorry, I would have woken you, but you looked so peaceful.”
“It's okay, I don't mind. What was that sound?” She looks over to the door.
“I don't know.” Dustin gets up and goes to look, but as soon as he goes to open the door, Mike bursts through.
Mike looks between Dustin to El on the bed. “What. The. Fuck.”
Dustin freezes, “Mike, it’s not what you think.”
“It damn sure looks like it, looks like my best friend is trying to put the moves on MY ex-girlfriend.”
“Mike, you broke up with her, and all we did was watch a movie with Max and Lucas, and fell asleep.”
Mike's eyes started watering. “But still you’re my best friend, Dustin. My best friend.”
Dustin touches Mike's arm. “Mike, let's go talk about this,” He looks back at Eleven. “Outside.”
Dustin and Mike walk outside, Mike crying, and Dustin rubs his shoulder.
“Why,” Mike asks softly
“Nothing is going on, Mike, I promise, but I’m not gonna lie, I’ve had a crush on her for a while. She’s been hanging out with me, and I have no idea why, but it’s mostly us and Max never us alone. Last night we accidentally fell asleep, nothing happened. Please, Mike.”
Mike rolled his eyes, “Fine, but please, if anything does happen, let me know first, please.”
Dustin softens his look for Mike and pulls him into a hug.
When Dustin goes back inside and El is nowhere to be seen, great.
A month passes, and the Party seems to go back to normal, Will and Mike back to bickering all the time, Lucas and Max talk shit about any other relationship other than their own. Eleven goes back to her bubbly self, other than when Mike shows interest in anyone, and Dustin, still helplessly falling for Eleven.
It’s Thanksgiving break, and El, with her newfound love of cooking, asked everyone to show up to Hops' cabin and have Thanksgiving just for the Party. Eleven and Dustin haven’t hung out much since Halloween, but now she’s calling him, asking for help to make the dinner.
Dustin excitedly drove to Hop’s cabin. He knocked, and Eleven excitedly opened the door and dragged him in. Max was sitting at the counter in the very, very small kitchen. Dustin was a little disappointed, but at least if Mike showed up, he wouldn’t be that mad. They all help El cook for hours, and during a break, Max, Dustin, and El all sit talking, then Max clears her throat to tell El to spit it out.
“Dustin,” Eleven says with a slight shake in her voice.
“Yes, El?” Dustin says, confused.
“I have an idea for something, something to make Mike really mad and jealous and want me back.”
Dustin’s heart aches at the sound of this plan, but he would do anything for her.
“Will you be my fake boyfriend to make Mike jealous? We can announce it here tonight.”
Dustin’s heart drops out of his ass he stands up quickly and starts pacing the floor.
“You want ME to be your fake boyfriend? Why?” Dustin looked between Max and Eleven
“Will is my brother, Lucas is with Max, and I don’t wanna get some random guy to be my boyfriend even if it’s fake.”
“Uhmm, okay, well, let me think, we have to have ground rules, right?”
“Oh yeah, ofc me, and Max already made them”
Of course, y'all did, Dustin thinks.
“Okay, great, what are they?”
Max and Eleven grab a paper with writing on it in a pink pen.
Rules:
No Kissing
No telling anyone (other than Max)
Holding hands (only in front of the party)
Must go to prom together
“Prom? You really think this is gonna last till prom? What if he takes you back before then?” Dustin asks curiously
“Then we take off that rule,” El says, smiling.
“So you gonna do it?” Max asks excitedly
“Yes, I will,” Dustin says, knowing he will regret this decision later on.
Later that night, the entire party shows up, and Dustin is avoiding the hell out of Mike, scared that he might blow the plan to his best friend. They had practiced how Eleven was gonna tell everyone, and this is when the first rule can be broken. She was gonna tell everyone she had a special announcement and then grab Dustin’s hand, bring him to the front of the table, and tell everyone that they are in a relationship, then kiss him on the cheek. Simple, right? Not when Dustin is absolutely in love with the girl who is about to say they are in a relationship, a fake relationship. Why did he do this? He groans as they all sit a the table and Eleven gives her thanks for everyone, and everything.
Dustin's nerves get worse by the minute, thinking about how the party will react when all of a sudden Eleven is pulling him to the head of the table and saying they are in a relationship. He looks down while blushing, and El kisses him on the cheek. He feels like his heart is about to jump out of his chest. His face is beet red, and he can’t look up at the party; he feels guilty but so good at the same time.
After the meal, Dustin finds Mike outside, smoking, a habit he picked up from Lucas.
“Mike” Mike's head turns slowly, then back out to the forest.
“Congrats,” he says in between drags of the cigarette, “you got the girl.”
“Mike, don’t be like, you just, you’ll understand later”
“No, it’s fine, I don’t care, I've been messing around with someone anyway,” he says passive aggressively.
“Mike, I love you, dude, and I’d never lie to you, but I love her too.”
Mike drops his cigarette and turns toward Dustin. He looks at him like he just killed his best friend. I guess in a sense, he did, he killed the idea that Dustin was the best friend who never lied and always did the right thing. Mike walked past him, shoulder-checking him. He watched Mike get in the car with Will and start crying.
It's official, Dustin feels like the biggest jerk, but El and he continue their fake relationship, walking down the halls at school holding hands, waiting for her after every class, even hanging out on weekends. Will ended up telling Dustin about how Mike felt and told Dustin not to worry that he would come around. So they continued, and now he had to plan and figure out what to get Eleven for Christmas.
“You know, Henderson, she's your girlfriend, you should know what she wants,” Steve says slyly.
Dustin winces at the word girlfriend. He's technically right, but Dustin couldn't tell Steve about the plan, the stupid, stupid plan. “Yes, I get that, she just goes through what she likes really quickly, I mean, she's on this big cooking kick, and she's so good at it, holy moly, but I don't know how to get her cooking-related.” Steve looks at the new collection of movies that came in and says, “What about asking Max? I mean, she's her best friend, she's gotta know.” Dustin looks like a lightbulb just went off, and basically runs out of the store.
Dustin drives to Max’s house and knocks on her door loudly, and all of a sudden, the door opens, but it’s not who he was expecting to see, “Eleven,” Dustin says quietly. “Hi, Dustin, were you looking for me?”
“Uhhh, yes, do you want to hang out?” he says, blushing. He wasn't planning on hanging out with her, but maybe this could be a good thing.
“Of course,” Dustin grabs her hand and runs with her to his car, opening the car door for her. She was giggling the whole way to his car and in it.
“Your laugh is my favorite thing, you know that?” Dustin doesn't realize what he said till he looks at Eleven, who is in shock at what he said but still smiling. Dustin looks away, blushing, and just starts driving.
“So wait, where are we going?” Eleven asks
Dustin looks over at what she's wearing: jean shorts, her red Converse, a white tank top, and one of Hopper's old flannels. Her hair is up in a messy bun. Dustin loved her hair. She loved her hair; she vowed never to touch her hair after it grew out again. Dustin reaches over and brushes the stray hairs out of her face and smiles at her. “How about lovers lake?” El’s face grows in a mischievous smile, nodding her head.
They get to the lake, and Dustin gets out quickly to open the door for her. And pulls her by the hand to the edge of the lake. And tries to pull her into the water, but she uses her legs as brakes and Dustin falls back into the shallow cold water, “Oh, it's so on, El.” He says as she laughs at him, he gets up and runs after her, picking her up from behind and carrying her to the water, her squirming in his arms, still giggling. “Please, no,” She says in between laughing. He softly puts her down at the edge of the water, and she turns around to look at him. Dustin's heart stops. They are so close. Dustin's face heats up as he looks down at her, as she wraps her arms around his neck and hugs him.
They go to Dustin's house so he can change. El sits in his room waiting for him and sees all his hats scattered in his closet or on his dresser. She grabs one of his old hats and puts it on. Dustin comes back to his room in fresh clothes and sees her wearing one of his favorite hats. “It's okay that I wear this, right?”
“Uh, yeah, yeah, of course.” He says, blushing, he walks over to her, “I mean, you might want to take your hair down, it might be easier to wear.” She takes the hat off and takes her hair down, the soft brown curls falling just below her chest. “You know I have always wanted to braid hair,” Dustin says shyly.
“I can show you, then you can try.” She turns around in the chair and shows him how to braid. Dustin paid really close attention. When it was his turn, he grabbed her hair, which was just as soft as it looked. He did the hair just as he had been shown, and it didn't look half bad. She giggled when she looked at it in the mirror, “You did great, Dusty.” Dustin’s heart leaped out of his chest. She had never called him a nickname before. She put his hat back on, and they went to the car to go out and eat. They sit in Dustin's favorite diner, they get food, and just talk, like actually talk. He found out that El loves music, stuffed animals, and reading. She told him that she would sit in the library for hours, sometimes getting lost in fantasy stories. He admires her as she eats her food, in his hat, holy shit, she's wearing his hat, they look like an actual couple. Maybe they could be, Dustin hopes.
Dustin finally decides what to get Eleven for Christmas. He gets her an old copy of Pride and Prejudice after he went into the library system and saw she had checked it out multiple times in the past year. He decides to write her a paragraph inside the book, confessing his love to her. He also got her a stuffed squirrel, just to make her laugh. He wraps it and hides it away in his closet. They decided to have Christmas at Mike's house this year, which Dustin doesn't mind because he and Mike have made up. Dustin makes his way to the Christmas party, and he sees everyone inside already. Lucas is chasing Max around with a mistletoe, Will is on the couch, drinking Eggnog with his new boyfriend, Chance. Eleven is fixing all the presents under the tree, and Mike is on the couch looking somber as ever. Dustin knocks on the door, and Eleven answers it, hugging him and holding his hand as they walk in. “Your hands are so cold, let's get you by the fire,” She says sweetly, walking Dustin to the fireplace where she sits with him, putting her head on his shoulder. Her new favorite spot, apparently.
The night went on, and no one was allowed to get gifts for anyone, so they weren't opening any presents. Mike seemed upset and went outside to smoke. Will had followed him, and apparently, they got into a screaming match about something, and Chance had taken Will home. Mike snuck some of his mom's wine, and he, El, and Max all drank some. Lucas and Dustin went into the kitchen to get more snacks, but then Max came in drunkenly, saying she wanted to go home. Dustin told them to go and finish getting the snacks, and started to head to the living room, but as he went to the entrance way of the living room, he saw Mike and El kissing. His heart drops; he can't be that upset because they aren't actually together, but his body takes control, he drops the food with a loud clang on the floor, grabs his keys, and leaves the house, slamming the door. His sobs break as he hears El behind him calling after him, but he just gets in his car and drives off, teary-eyed.
Max and Lucas come into the store the next day. Dustin tried to act like his normal self because he shouldn't be hurt, but he was, I mean, he and El weren’t even in a real relationship. He was still in love with her, though. Lucas and Max had heard what happened and came to check on him. Lucas was talking about how maybe it was an accident because they were drunk, and Max stayed eerily quiet. As they go to leave, Dustin calls Max and asks if they can speak privately.
“What do you know, Max?” Dustin asks softly
“I have no idea why she kissed Mike. You know she was actually falling for you. The day you came and got her from my house, she was telling me how she actually wanted to be with you.” Dustin just stood there in shock, “But she went back to Mike.”
“Well, technically no, because Nancy took her home after you left, and I talked to her; she's a wreck. She said that he kissed her as soon as you walked in.” Dustin just looks down, “Well, it happened and it's over now, so I guess it's done.”
“Dustin, just talk to her, please.”
“I still need to give her my gift anyway."
After work, Dustin drove to Hoppers Cabin, his heart beating a mile a minute. He arrives at the cabin, the stupid squirrel plush looking at him, and he hits his head on the steering wheel in regret. He grabs the wrapped book and the plush and starts walking up to the door. He got to the door and just couldn't knock, so he left her a gift at the door and left.
The Party always has an annual New Year's party, and Dustin finally decides to show his face at the party, well after Will and Chance convince him to. Dustin had been told everything was happening with the party, Mike and El didn't get together, because it was a drunken kiss that Mike admitted he didn't mean to do, and he came and apologized to Dustin. Eleven got her gift from Dustin, but he hadn’t heard anything from her; he didn't mind. He came to terms with everything. Forgive and forget.
This year's New Year's party is at Mike’s, and like always, Dustin is the last to show up. He was greeted by Mike, who had calmed down and wasn’t that aggressive anymore. He and Will had tension because of Will's boyfriend, and Mike coming out to him recently, aka confessing his love to him. Apparently, it was an angry confession the night of Christmas, which would make sense as to why he got drunk and kissed El. That was the next place Dustin's eye went, the girl he was, yes, still helplessly in love with. Eleven turned around and saw Dustin giving him a small nervous wave, which he just smiled back at. He went and sat by Mike, and they all watched movies and stuff. He and El kept looking at each other, sometimes staring at each other for a while, till midnight when they turned on the news to watch the Times Square Ball drop for midnight. They were all drinking champagne and talking, but Dustin grabbed El's hand and walked her out of the room. She was wearing a dark floral dress and had her hair in a half-up-half-down. He took her hands into his and looked in her eyes. She looked up at him a little like a deer in headlights. “El, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't tell you.” Eleven shook her head, “No, Dustin, it's okay.” She lifted her hand to his cheek, and he melted into her touch. “I shouldn't have made you do that. I read what you wrote in the book, and I have thought about it.” She pauses, looking at him for a second. “I want to be more than 'friends' with you, or a fake boyfriend and girlfriend with you, but do you still want to?”
Dustin looked at her and took her back into the room without saying anything. The ball was dropping in five seconds, and he was gonna break the first rule. The ball drops, and the entire room celebrates. Dustin turns to Eleven and softly grabs her face before pulling her to him and softly brushing their lips together, then softly kissing her. Commotion was going on around them because apparently Mike pushed Chance out of the way and kissed Will, but nothing mattered to Dustin other than El.
Everyone has everything figured out for the new year other except Mike, Will, and Chance. Mike and Chance have been fighting over Will, and he's kinda loving it. Dustin had to beg Max to help him with a prom-posal for Eleven, before settling on a sign that had all the rules on it and said We broke all the other rules, can break this one. Prom? She thought it was really funny, the rest of the party didn't understand it, and when they told them, they were surprised. To be honest, they thought they were in a real relationship. Eleven was excited to go to prom, and she picked for Dustin and her to wear purple, so they did. Eleven bought him a hat that matched everything, even though he didn't wear it. Eleven's dress was basically a ball gown, and she looked like a princess, at least that's what Dustin thought.
“You look amazing, El,” Dustin tells her while they are dancing. Eleven bowed her head, blushing. “Shut up and kiss me,” She says, and he does. He would use anything as an excuse to kiss her.