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“Jesus Christ, man do I really have to keep explaining shit to you?” Dustin spits. “Oh, well fuck me for not knowing every single niche component of a car! Do I look like a mechanic to you, Henderson?” Steve responds bitterly. The two of them are installing the radar tracker on top of Steve’s car. Well, Dustin is. The older man just watches, petrified. They had been making a scene with all their yelling, but everyone was either at The Squawk, training in the woods, or somewhere else in the vicinity of their small patch of land.
The conversation, or more so the argument had come to a halt, and they were now idling in a heavy silence. Steve watches as Dustin screws in the huge radar detector, and soon enough he is hopping off of the older man’s car and into the grass. “H-Hold on, wait, that’s it?” Steve says, not really believing that installing the huge thing would be that simple. Dustin pinches the brim of his nose and sighs, “Yes. Steve, that’s it. I mean come on dude it's not rocket science, all I did was secure it with some bolts.” He says with the cadence of an elementary school teacher. Steve tiredly throws his hands up and walks to lean on the hood of the car.“I just don't know what the hell is up with you lately.” Dustin looks at him, almost speechless.
The younger boy points at himself, “Wha- Me?” He asks incredulously. “Whuh- Me??” Steve mocks, “Yes dude, you! It’s like I can’t even get through a conversation with you without some sort of attitude!” Henderson had ditched the witty remarks for once and just stared at the man in front of him. Steve takes this as a sign to keep talking. “We used to click, man! The unlikely duo, best of friends or whatever, I don’t know.” He sweats a little bit, getting into corny territory. “I just- I’m not trying to be weird or spill my guts out, but- You’ve been different. It’s like you hate me all of a sudden, it- it's like you hate the world around you, which, honestly who can blame you for that but-” He sighs, “I don't know man. I'm just worried.” Dustin moves to join Steve on the hood of the car. “Well you don’t really show it that well.” He mutters. He's right, Steve thinks. These past months have been hell for their friendship, constantly blowing up at each other and arguing over the dumbest things. It’s no wonder why Henderson couldn’t see his worry, it was shrouded by anger. He shouldn’t let himself be provoked by the younger boy, he’s going through a lot, they all are. He just ends up losing his temper and saying terrible shit.
Steve shifts a little bit. He’s uncomfortable with the conversation at hand, not used to talking about his emotions. “I know that you… It seems-” a sigh, “You have a lot going on in your head, I can tell. I’m- Dustin I’m letting you know right now that I’m here, like, if you ever just wanna tell me something, anything, I got you, man.” He turns his head and sees Dustin lost in thought. “That includes right now. We don’t got shit to do so come on, spill. It really was those assholes that did that to you, not just falling off your bike or whatever. Right?”
Dustin speaks for what feels like the first time in forever, “Yeah. They kicked my ass. Nothing else to say on the matter, really.” He looks at Steve and gives a sort of defeated sigh. “Okay yeah, obviously. Obviously that, but why didn’t you tell anyone? Why lie? Those guys seriously are gonna want you dead soon. You keep provoking them and we’re gonna end up finding your body.” “Jesus, Steve! We all have a bunch of shit on our plates, so what am I gonna do, go tell my friends about my bullies? Besides, it’s all my fault anyway. If I go and say that I provoked those jerks, then I’m gonna get scolded for provoking said jerks.”
“Why keep pushing them?” Steve asks. “They push me first.” Dustin responds. “Yeah, so be the bigger man and suck it up.” “I would if they weren’t constantly talking about Eddie.” Even though they’re outside, the atmosphere suddenly becomes thick, the light breeze in the air not even helping one bit. Steve looks up at the sky, trying to look at anything other than the younger man. “So… Eddie- It’s still… bothering you?” Dustin hops off of the car, “Is what still bothering me? Is the death of my best friend still bothering me? Is it Steve? Should I just be over it by now?” Steve follows and raises both of his hands like you would in front of a police officer. “Okay, okay! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that, it- it came out wrong. I meant… His death, it still… bothers you?” Despite him repeating the same word, Dustin understands. His tone is sincere when he asks the question.
Henderson sticks his hands in his pocket and looks Steve in the eyes. “It does. I still think about it- I think about him all the time. I hate how everyone just expects me to forget, or-or to let people slander his name.” Steve steps a few inches closer to the boy, “No one’s expecting you to forget. We just… Don’t think it’s the best idea to mess around with people who can easily outnumber you and kick your ass. It’s best to just lay low and let them tire themselves out. I mean, they’ll get bored eventually, right?” Dustin looks at the ground, “You’re right. You’re right…” The two of them look around and take in nature. The beautiful nature that’s taken for granted. The nature that you miss as soon as you enter the Upside Down.
“I’m sorry.” Dustin murmurs. “Sorry for being a huge dickhead. I know it’s gotta be annoying at this point. I’ll try and tone it down.” Steve looks at him, shocked. Henderson usually doesn't apologize or admit when he’s wrong. “It’s cool man…” He starts, “I… I’m sorry too. I can admit when I'm being an asshole and- well, yeah! I’ve been an asshole! Pretty sure I take about half of the blame when it comes to our arguments.” “Don’t try to take all the credit, dude.” Dustin jokes, and Steve laughs, “Hah! Shit dude go ahead and take all the credit, with your sour ass attitude.” He pauses, thinking he’s gone too far, but he sees the younger boy laughing. Actually laughing, for the first time in like a week.
The laughter slowly dies down. He speaks, still with a bit of a smile on his face, “Hey man thanks for… Talking to me about it. I can tell everyone looks at me like I’m mental or some shit. It’s good to know someone’s willing to say it to my face.” Steve gives him a smile and takes a few more steps toward him, slightly opening his arms. Dustin wraps his arms around Steve’s torso. “I love you, man. I know I don’t ever say it. I kind of assume that it’s obvious, but I think sometimes we all need to hear it, so, I love you. You’re one of my best friends, which is kind of weird cause you’re like twelve.” Steve says. “I’m seventeen, dipshit.” Dustin sniffles.
His sniffles shortly break out into sobs. Hearing those words come from Steve’s mouth, the man he sees as his older brother, simply broke him. “...I love you too, dude.” He utters, reveling in the embrace of a man he could really trust. He thinks about his father, a man who he had few memories of, shuddering at the thought of the lack of male figures to guide him in his life. Steve took over the role simply by being his friend. He breaks away from the hug and quickly wipes his eyes. “Thank-” He looks at Steve and sees tears in his eyes as well. The two of them look at each other, and Dustin wants to call him a pussy or something in that realm, but he can't really find the will to joke about something like that at the moment. Instead, they just burst out laughing. Steve turns around toward the direction of the building, “Lets go see what everyone’s up to, yeah?” Dustin follows, leaving a weight that had been dragging down his heart behind him.