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The routine was something they’d sort of fallen into, not anything that had been planned out in any sort of meaningful way. But then again…they’d sort of fallen into each other’s lives at the beginning of things, so maybe it’s not that much of a surprise. Regardless, the point is that Sunday nights are officially, unofficially when Dustin and Steve hang out to watch a movie.
Usually the movie is something selected by Robin, “Guaranteed to provide eye-candy, warm fuzzies, and an important life lesson for you during your little date night with dingus.”
Dustin’s eyes had widened the first time she’d called their (completely platonic) movie nights “date night.” He’d opened his mouth but words, for once in his life, had failed him and he found himself immediately looking at Steve to…well, he wasn’t sure what he expected Steve to do, but he had to do something right?
What Steve had done was scoff out, “Whatever,” and rolled his eyes, brushing Robin’s teasing off like it wasn’t anything. And Dustin? Dustin hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. He knows, logically, that Steve probably sees him as the annoying little brother he never had. Dustin thought he’d seen Steve the same way: as some kind of older brother/mentor figure—one that he, admittedly, had to do his own share of teaching with.
When Robin’s gaze had pinned him that day though, Dustin had felt like this heart was being squeezed his chest and, fuck, when had that happened. He was definitely not supposed to have any kind of romantic feelings for Steve Harrington, no matter how much of a badass the man was, how cool he looked taking out the demo-dogs with that baseball bat of his, or how sweet he actually was under all the bravado. Yup. Definitely not thinking about any of that for, like…At least 3 years.
And if he looks forward to their Sunday evenings together more than he probably should, well. Nobody has to know (except for Robin who probably already does.) Recently, Dustin has taken to asking Steve to buy them—him—more snacks and a few times has talked him into getting burgers and shakes at the diner before they start the movie. Steve will occasionally mutter about Dustin eating through all his money, but he looks fond when he says it and he hasn’t actually told Dustin no yet.
Dustin isn’t quite sure if he should be reading into that or what it means. Maybe it’s just Steve looking out for him in an older brother kind of way. Neither of them have much experience with siblings, but Dustin had spent years around Will and Mike, and neither Jonathan or Nancy acted like that with their younger siblings. Well…except for the fond exasperation, maybe? Sometimes? Something about it just felt different.
Usually, they end up at Steve’s house since his tv is bigger and his parents never seem to actually be home, so they can take over the family room without Dustin’s mom feeling like she needs to take care of them. He knows Steve enjoys having her around sometimes and that Steve’s mom isn’t the type of mother to insist on cooking for his friends. Whenever they have movie night at Dustin’s house, Steve goes home with at least one Tupperware of leftovers.
This Sunday, Dustin is curled up at one end of the couch in the Harrington’s family room. He’s wedged his back into the corner, angled partially towards Steve so he can better watch his reactions to the movie. Honestly, he’s not actually sure what the movie is about anymore, but Steve seems to be enjoying it, if the looks on his face are anything to go by. He’s grinning and turning towards Dustin, opening his mouth to say something when the room is plunged into darkness.
The lights briefly blink back on, hold steady for a few seconds while Dustin and Steve watch each other wide-eyed from across the room, neither daring to breath. Then they flicker erratically a few times before staying off.
“Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit.” Dustin is scrambling blindly off the couch, banging into the coffee table as he reaches blindly for Steve. It’s not like he’s afraid of the dark. He’s not a baby. He also knows what’s out there in the dark, and while Dustin wouldn’t say that he’s scared of the inhabitants of the Up Side Down, he’s also not stupid. Having Steve with him doesn’t hurt either.
“Whoa. Whoa. Hey.” Steve pats Dustin’s arm a little awkwardly as they practically crash into each other. “Come on, there’s gotta be a flashlight around here somewhere.”
“I’ve got one in my backpack.” he’s more careful about making his way back over to it, his eyes adjusting a little to the dark as he reaches for a shape that looks like his backpack, fumbling with the zipper for a moment. The flashlight turns on immediately, which is a good sign at least. “So much for movie night.”
“Well, we can make time tomorrow.”
“Sure.” Dustin fishes out a second flashlight and hands it to Steve, resolutely not thinking about the casual brush of their fingers during the handoff. “Just gotta get through tonight. Easy peasy.” he flashes Steve a grin over his shoulder as he stands.
Steve laughs, “Alright, smartass.”
“That’s me. So do you think this is a supernatural blackout, or…just, you know, your standard grid failure? The lights aren’t flickering any more, so that’s good but—”
“Since when has anything about Hawkins ever been ‘standard.’ Yeah. I know.”
“Guess we should see if anyone else has any news.” Dustin doesn’t really want to share his dedicated Steve time with them, but for a potential Up Side Down related emergency…He sighs and twists the knob on his walkie talkie, powering it on and turning the volume up. “This is Dustin, requesting status updates. Currently experiencing power outage at my location: Steve’s house. Over.”
Steve has flopped back onto the couch and is fidgeting with his light, the beam sweeping lazily across the walls and the entrances to the room. If anything supernatural is coming for them—and past precedent holds—the flashlight will start going haywire before anything actually attacks them, so they’ll have a least some warning.
Finally, Dustin sighs, flopping down on the couch next to Steve. “Well, it sounds like an isolated incident that is hopefully non-supernatural in nature. Lucas and Will still have power, Mike didn’t pick up. We should probably check the phones.”
“Yeah.”
Dustin gives Steve a meaningful look.
“Oh! Right. My house, so…” Steve shines the flashlight over the room as he gets up and makes his way to the kitchen, Dustin close on his heels. “Phone’s still working.”
“Good. That’s, uh…good. So do we—oh shit. I should call my mom.”
Steve perks up at that, “We can finish the movie at your place.”
It’s not surprising that Steve’s looped back around to the movie since there doesn’t seem to be any imminent danger to their lives for the moment. “Yeah. We can. Let me just…” he dials the number. “Hey mom… Yeah, I’m with Steve, but the power’s out here and we… Alright. We’ll be there in 20.”
As he talks, Steve is already pulling the movie out of the VCR, snapping it back into its case, and packing it into Dustin’s backpack, which…
“Why do I have to carry it?”
“Because you’ve got the backpack.” Steve replies like it’s the most obvious answer in the world. “Come on. Let’s get going.”
“Alright, alright. I’m coming.”