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Steve hates Vecna. Steve hates the Upside Down. Steve hates everything about their plan.
Look, he gets it. Distract Vecna so he goes into a trance, lure the bats away, then kill his body before he even knows what hit him in the same way El is unaware of her surroundings when in her trance. It’s a decent plan. He sure as heck can’t think of one that’s better. But did they really have to use Dustin as bait?
Steve takes a deep breath as he taps his fingers restlessly against his legs, sitting in Victor Creel’s old rackety house. He can see Dustin watching him out of the corner of his eye, and he has the audacity to look amused. Steve bites back a scowl as he leans back on the couch, slumping against it. He feels like he’s about to throw up as he waits for Erica’s signal.
Nancy, Robin and Max, the girl’s squad, are likely going to be in place any minute to start walking up to the attic to kill Vecna. He knows that Eddie and Lucas are in the right position already, ready to distract the vicious bats.
Steve puts his head in his hands. He is so scared for all of them. He can’t quite shake the feeling that not everyone was going to survive this. Their plans are usually desperate, but this one seems to be grasping at straws in the dark after being spun around a hundred times.
Steve starts tapping his foot before he jumps, something hitting his arm. He glances up and sees that Dustin had thrown a wadded up ball of paper at him. Steve scowls at him as he listens to the Neverending Story on repeat via Max’s walkman.
Steve still nearly had a panic attack every time he remembered Dustin’s fluttering eyes in his living room, floating too high for them to reach. Steve’s hands go clammy thinking about how if Dustin hadn’t dropped the letter off to his mother last, they wouldn’t have found the tape in Dustin’s room in time and Dustin would have…
Presently, Dustin was scribbling something down on his wad of paper. He showed Steve what he had written. Worried about me?
Steve scoffed reflexively, before scribbling back, not in the slightest. They both knew it was a lie, but Steve couldn’t bring himself to be honest. It felt too similar to saying goodbye.
Steve pursed his lips in worry, before writing down another note. Milkshakes tomorrow? My treat. He flashed the note at Dustin.
Dustin smiled, writing a note down in reply. Steve’s eyebrows knit together in confusion as it was really a simple yes or no question. Dustin flipped his notepad over towards Steve. Only if we can go to the arcade after, too. Fondness rippled through Steve faster than he could suppress it and he grinned, shrugging casually at Dustin. His eyes lit up in excitement, and Steve grinned larger.
Suddenly, a flashing light went through the house. Erica’s signal. Steve gulped, pushing back his fear as he nodded at Dustin. Dustin took off the headphones, stopping the music. Steve tried to control his breathing. “Hey, shithead,” Dustin called out. He didn’t speak loudly but they had been in the silence for so long that Steve felt like he was shouting. “No more music, just me.”
The light on their blue lamps suddenly lit up, and Steve felt like throwing up. Dustin looked at Steve and nodded in determination. Steve gave an attempt at a reassuring smile that he knew looked more like a grimace.
They slowly made their way up the stairs, Steve taking in every confident step Dustin took.
That kid was so brave. Dustin had always impressed Steve. He was so incredibly smart, and such a funny kid. He was also surprisingly emotionally mature for his age, and Steve had found himself growing attached to the kid. He knows that he would never have had the courage to go up against a monster that could snap your limbs one at a time with his mind… and Steve felt nauseous again.
They followed the blue light until they had reached the attic. Steve ran his hand through his hair, clenching his hands into fists as Dustin settled on the floor next to the lamp. He set the walkman on the floor, and Steve mentally calculated exactly how long it would take for him to force the headphones on the second he was a millimeter off the ground.
Dustin cleared his throat. “I’m here. No more hiding. What are you waiting for?” Dustin bit his lip, looking at Steve helplessly. Steve shrugged. Honestly, he wasn’t that torn up about it not working immediately. The less time Vecna had him, the better, but he wasn’t about to tell Dustin that.
“I figured out why you picked me,” Dustin began, voice quieter now. “I was wondering about it, you know? I figured that there were a lot of people with issues, so why me? But I think I figured it out.” Steve stood off to the side, watching Dustin’s eyes like a hawk, but very curious about where he was going with this.
“I always knew there was something wrong with me. After all, when I was only eight my dad died trying to get me out of our old house as it burned down.” Steve inhaled sharply, concern and guilt swelling in his chest. He had no idea about that.
Dustin continued softly, “That’s why we had to move to Hawkins. My mother was never really the same after that, so it’s my fault. She got a cat, you know, I think it was to help her deal with the loneliness. She named it Mews, which I kind of always thought was a dumb name, but it made her happy. And then, I got her cat killed because I was stupid enough to believe that I had found a new species of lizard in my backyard. Surprise, surprise, it was a demodog, and it killed Mews. I had to bury it and lie about it to her, all the while giving her false comfort about how Mews would come back.” Dustin laughed, a self-deprecating laugh that made Steve’s insides curl with fear. He hadn’t realized just how much guilt Dustin was carrying around about that. He made a note to talk to him about that when all this was over. He felt bad for a second about listening in on Dustin’s very private thoughts, but then remembered that he had to in order to figure out when exactly Vecna attacked him.
“And then there’s Steve Harrington,” Dustin said, startling Steve. If Dustin had been ignoring Steve’s gaze before, now his eyes were firmly trained on the ground. His ears had gone a bright pink. Steve panicked, wondering what he could have possibly done to be included in Dustin’s recap of Worst Experiences of his Life.™ “I treated him awfully. I used him as a means to an end, someone to take care of my issues and drive me places. He’s my best friend now, but I treated him like he was a tool to be used.” Dustin sounded really upset now, and Steve’s heart tightened at the confession. Friendships evolved, Steve didn’t blame Dustin in the slightest.
“I don’t know why he even bothers to put up with a screw up like me.” Dustin sighed. Steve’s heart broke at that, and he bit his tongue to keep from saying something in reply. Suddenly, Dustin sat straight up, and Steve tensed, quickly walking in front of him.
Dustin’s eyes had rolled into the back of his head, just like how they were in his living room a day or two ago. “Dustin, wake up,” Steve tried, snapping his fingers in front of his face and shaking his shoulder to make sure he was in the trance. When Dustin didn’t respond, he flicked on his flashlight and sprinted over to the window, flashing the light out the window repeatedly.
His hands shook as he desperately hoped Erica had gotten the signal. He repeated it three more times, just in case, fully aware that every second mattered now. Steve turned back to watch Dustin, tears stinging the corners of his eyes.
It was so hard seeing him like this, and Steve tried to blink away the images of Dustin’s bones snapping in half and his eyes being sucked into the back of his head. He ran his fingers through his hair again, trying to calm himself. He walked over to Dustin’s side and rewound the tape, just in case.
He gingerly set it on the floor, exhaling shakily as he squatted down, watching Dustin closely for any sign of movement.
“You know, we’re going to talk about your self-confidence issues later,” Steve said, biting his lip as he stared at him. “It’s going to be a super fun talk, not awkward at all.”
Dustin didn’t even twitch, and Steve tried not to be freaked out as his hands inched for the walkman. “Come on, guys,” he whispered, “kill him, please, please, please kill him,”
Steve kind of regretted not going with Max, Robin and Nancy, because the waiting was killing him, but he knew that there wasn’t even a chance that he would have left Dustin with someone else.
A creaking sound suddenly came from behind him and Steve whipped his head around to face the stair’s entrance, standing up and narrowing his eyes at the door, tensing.
“...Erica?” Steve called out quietly, confused. That wasn’t part of the plan-
Suddenly, none other than Jason Carver slammed the door open.
“Jason?” Steve asked, mouth dropping open in disbelief.
“Wha- Steve?” Jason asked, clearly flabbergasted.
“What are you doing here?”
“I could ask the same to you!” Jason growled, eyes settling on Dustin’s frame. “What did you do to him?”
Steve scoffed, blood boiling at the implication that he was trying to kill Dustin. He forced himself to calm down as Jason walked into the room.
“I didn’t do anything,” Steve said quickly, palms sweating. He couldn’t deal with this right now, not with Vecna able to kill Dustin at any moment.
Jason pulled out a gun faster than Steve could blink and Steve raised his hands slowly, heart pounding. If Jason killed him… Dustin would die. Suddenly Dustin’s words from so long ago flashed through his head. ‘You die, I die.’ Steve barely stopped a manic giggle from spilling from his lips. It wasn’t funny, it really wasn’t, but Steve had never actually expected there to be a situation where if Steve died, Dustin really would die.
“You put him in a trance? Is this what you did to Chrissy, too? You’re working with Eddie in that- that Hellfire cult?” Jason’s voice was shaking slightly. Steve grit his teeth.
“No, I didn’t do anything to either of them.” Steve said slowly as Jason aimed the gun at his chest.
Jason shook his head, hands shaking in anger, tears beginning to spill from his eyes. “Yeah right, I have eyes, idiot. How could you? We were friends, at least, I thought we were. You know I loved her.” Jason’s voice shook, tears falling now. Steve’s stomach twisted. Jason had asked Steve for advice on how to ask a girl out after one of their basketball games last year. Steve had been really happy for him, they seemed genuinely great together.
“Look, Jason, I swear-”
“SHUT UP!” he brandished the gun and Steve flinched, taking a deep breath. “I can’t believe it. Did Billy usurping your stupid throne as ‘King Steve’ really cause this mental break? That you went out of your way to find Eddie the Freak and start killing off people who you think wronged you? Is that it? It’s sick!”
Steve just gaped at him, astonished and also hurt. Did people really think so low of him? Did they really think that he was so self-absorbed that he would start murdering people if he wasn’t liked enough? He and Jason had been friends for three years on the basketball team, but suddenly he thought Steve would do something like this?
“Jason, you know me, man,” Steve tried, swallowing thickly. “I promise you, this isn’t what it looks like. I love Dustin here, I would never hurt him. Eddie also isn’t behind this.” Steve desperately hoped Jason would listen to him.
Jason hesitated, the gun lowering slightly. Steve took a deep breath but Jason quickly levelled it again. “Wake him up, right now, or you die.”
Steve blanched, trying to keep his voice steady. “If I wake him up too soon, we all die.”
“NO!” Jason snarled, pointing the gun at Steve with more determination. “If you don’t wake him up, you die. Just you.”
“Please, Jason, I love Dustin, and I wish that I could wake him up more than anything, or switch places with him, but I promise you, I have to wait.” Steve was practically pleading now, eyes flickering over towards Dustin again, ensuring he wasn’t beginning to float.
Jason’s resolve hesitated again, and he circled to the front of Dustin, moving aside the table. Steve resisted the urge to place himself between Jason and Dustin, but Jason was clearly emotionally unstable and had a gun. It was still trained on him, but sue him, he was nervous.
“Who’s behind this, then?” Jason finally asked.
Steve let out a quick sigh of relief before summarizing things as quickly as he could. “There’s an alternate dimension under Hawkins, it’s full of evil and monsters. All of the weird things in this town, all the weird cover ups, they come from this place. There’s an evil… sorcerer, for lack of a better word, and he attacks people’s minds before killing them, but when he does that, it leaves him physically vulnerable. Dustin volunteered to be bait because he’s a stubborn idiot, and some of us are attempting to try to kill him while Dustin is under attack. My job is to watch Dustin and make sure he doesn’t die.”
Jason blinked at the onslaught of information, clearly struggling to process everything. Steve didn’t blame him, it was a lot. Sweat rolled down his brow though as he calculated how much time Dustin had been under attack.
“So, Eddie isn’t involved in this at all?”
“No.”
“Then… if Eddie isn’t part of this, why was she at his trailer?” Jason asked, looking back and forth between Dustin and Steve.
“She was buying drugs-”
“She wouldn’t do that!” Jason roared angrily. He took a few steps forward in anger, and Steve saw what was happening too late. Jason stepped on the Walkman, breaking it. He cursed before looking up at Steve.
“NO!” Steve shouted, hand outstretched as he rushed forward. Jason jumped back in alarm, cocking the gun in confused fear. “No, no, no, no, no-” Steve paid him no mind as he snatched up the pieces of the Walkman, desperately trying to figure out if it would still work. He put the headphones to his ear, but nothing happened as he pressed play. “No,” Steve whispered again, tears leaking through his closed eyes as he tried to process what was happening. He was fully aware he was hyperventilating now, but he couldn’t breathe because Dustin was going to die now-
“HEY-” Jason’s voice roared in Steve’s ears and he flinched back, looking up at him as tears streaked down his face. Jason had set his gun down and was trying to get Steve to breathe. “What happened?”
“Th-the Walkman,” Steve choked out, “music is how you get the person back, and it’s broken and now he’s going to die and I can’t lose him, Jason. I can’t lose my brother-” Steve gasped, breath failing him.
Jason had gone pale, staring at the Walkman in disbelief as he tried to help Steve breathe. Steve took a few shaky breaths, trying to figure out what to do.
“I have another Walkman, in the car,” Jason said quickly, hands shaking. Steve laughed brokenly, clutching the Walkman to his chest.
“If you don’t have Never Ending Story it’s not going to work,” Steve choked out, “the tape itself is broken and it has to be his favorite song.”
“His favorite song is Never Ending Story?” Jason asked incredulously. Steve glared at him and Jason held his hands up in surrender. “Not the time, sorry.”
As if things couldn’t get worse, Dustin began to float off the ground.
“No-” Steve’s heart dropped, standing up and rushing to grab Dustin, trying in vain to force him to stay on the ground. Jason had gone pale. “Please, Dustin, fight it, fight it, please, I’m so sorry, I failed you, please just run, please, please-” Steve pleaded desperately as Dustin floated up, out of Steve’s grip. Steve screamed, a broken sound tearing out of him as he watched his best friend, his brother, floating up out of reach. Steve continued pleading, knowing it was useless as he practically tore his hair out.
“Wait, wait, wait, Steve,” Jason said frantically.
“DUSTIN! What? DUSTIN-”
“Why can’t you just sing it?”
Steve froze, looking at Jason in confusion, before his words clarified in his mind.
“I, I hadn’t thought of that,” Steve croaked out desperately, heart hammering in his throat. “Okay, okay, um, how does it start-”
“Turn around, look at what you see,” Jason began singing. Steve joined in immediately, focusing on making the song sound loud enough that Dustin would hopefully hear.
“In her face, the mirror of your dreams,” Steve sang while dragging the table back near Dustin. He stood on it, cupping his hands around his lips to get as close to Dustin’s ears as possible.
Jason faltered, unsure of the next lyrics, but Steve had them all memorized from the amount of times he had let Dustin listen to it in the car. Dustin had been talking about the song for two weeks after he got back from camp last summer, and Steve had finally broken down and bought the tape for him for his birthday, and Dustin had exclusively listened to it in Steve’s car. In fact, he just left the tape in Steve’s glovebox, just to mess with Steve and show him that he really was only listening to it around Steve. Steve had been so annoyed at the time, but now he was beyond grateful for it.
“Make believe I'm everywhere
Hidden in the lines
Written on the pages
Is the answer to a never ending story
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah”
Steve’s voice was more confident now as he sang, hoping it would work and that Dustin would just drop, landing on his feet and laughing at Steve for his poor rendition of his favorite song. Jason stood by, trying to help with the song as much as he could. Steve noted that he was standing nearly under him, ready to catch him, and Steve’s heart clenched with gratitude for Jason.
“Reach the stars
Fly a fantasy
Dream a dream
And what you see will be”
Dustin’s leg snapped. Jason gasped in horror and Steve’s heart dropped. He nearly stopped singing as bile threatened to rise in his throat, but he forced himself to continue. Tears started spilling out, faster than he could stop them, making his voice raspier. Steve sobbed as he continued,
“Rhymes that keep their secrets
Will unfold behind the clouds
And there upon the rainbow
Is the answer to a never ending story
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah”
One of Dustin’s arms snapped, and Steve tried very hard not to throw up. His hands were shaking violently now as fear coursed through him. This was supposed to work. His legs were starting to shake too and his voice came out even more wobbly. He pushed past the pain and forced himself to keep singing.
“Story
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah”
Privately, Steve thought that the words were kind of fitting right now. More than anything, he wanted Dustin’s story to never end. He wanted Dustin to wake up, be okay, and go back to his life and be unafraid. He still had so much left to accomplish. Steve knew that he would change the world one day with that super smart brain of his, and Steve pushed back the remaining sobs as he focused on just getting through the next lyrics. His other arm snapped. Steve’s voice shook with the effort to keep steady.
“Show no fear
For she may fade away
In your hands
The birth of the new day”
He kept singing. He would not fail Dustin, would not stop, until he dropped, one way or another. The thought hardened his resolve. He would panic after.
“Rhymes that keep their secrets
Will unfold behind the clouds
And there upon the rainbow
Is the answer to a never ending story
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah”
Another leg snapped. Steve closed his eyes as he kept singing, unable to watch. He willed the image of Dustin’s bones breaking out of his head.
“Never ending story
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Never ending story
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Never ending-”
“Steve, Steve-” Jason’s voice cut through and Steve stopped singing in surprise, opening his eyes.
Dustin was on the ground in Jason’s arms, and for a moment Steve felt like collapsing himself, seeing all of his limbs broken and mangled. Blood rushed in his ears and he couldn’t hear a thing over a loud ringing he heard. Steve finally turned and threw up at the horrific sight. Steve shook in fear. He hadn’t been able to force himself to look at Dustin’s eyes. He whimpered, pressing his hands over his eyes, trying desperately to banish the image his brain was forming.
Steve shakily stood up and forced himself to look over. The ringing in his ears slowly faded, replaced by Dustin’s shaky breaths. Steve choked on a sob, collapsing next to Dustin and prying him out of Jason’s arms.
“I got you, I got you, please-” Steve finally met Dustin’s eyes, and relief coursed through him at the sight of his normal bright blue eyes. Steve exhaled, gently pulling him onto his lap without aggravating his mangled limbs.
“H-Hey, Steve,” Dustin said, licking his lips as a breathy laugh escaped him, “miss me?”
“Shut up, Henderson,” Steve replied, cupping Dustin’s face with his hands. “Are you feeling okay? How are your eyes? Can you see clearly?”
“Yes, mom,” Dustin snarked back at him, holding back a gasp that Steve immediately clocked.
“What’s wrong?”
“Uh, well, I think my limbs are all out of whack,” Dustin replied tersely.
“Jason, Jason, please go call an ambulance,” Steve said desperately to him. Jason’s mouth had been gaping in shock at the whole interaction but he nodded and sprinted out of the room. Steve held him gently, not moving an inch as he held him.
“You sang my song,” Dustin said after a beat had passed. He beamed up at Steve. “You knew all the words!”
Steve laughed, tears filling his eyes again at the sight. “Of course, you made me listen to that stupid song a thousand times.” Dustin laughed at him.
“Bet you’re glad you did now,” Dustin teased.
Steve’s breath caught in his throat. “Yeah, it’s probably my favorite song now.” His jaw trembled as he ran his fingers through Dustin’s curls.
“Really?”
“Of course,” Steve replied softly. “It saved my brother’s life.”
Dustin inhaled sharply, staring up at Steve with awe before a determined smile made its way onto his lips. “No, you did.” Dustin said firmly. Steve laughed, tears rolling down his face freely at Dustin’s statement. He brushed them away before they fell.
“I love you, Dustin,” Steve said softly. He didn’t want to wait another second to tell Dustin how much he meant to him.
Dustin smiled, expression so full of love Steve’s chest hurt at the sight. “Sap,” Dustin retorted, grinning. Steve snorted at that. “But I love you too.”
Steve finally relaxed, holding him until the ambulance came, taking him to the hospital. Steve adamantly refused to be separated from him and never once left his side.