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Dustin was late.
It wasn’t really usual for him, the Crawl was one of the things he made sure to attend — getting revenge for Eddie and saving Max were among the top priorities in his life after all. Only time he had been late before was because of an information hassle, but that was over a year ago, during the very first Crawls you did.
Steve’s fingers drummed against the steering wheel as the others constantly checked their watches, looking around, hoping to see Dustin biking up the hill.
“Maybe his bike broke,” Jonathan suggested, and agreeing murmurs circled around the group.
“We have to go,” Steve finally muttered with a sigh. “We can’t wait any longer.”
“I may know where he is,” you piped up, and everyone turned to look at you.
“Yeah? Where?” Steve asked.
You sighed. “Eddie’s shirt almost got destroyed today and Andy’s gang ran their mouth about him, so… my best guess is that he has gone to meet him and forgot the time.”
“Graveyard?” Steve inhaled through his nose. “Figures. He just can’t let him go, even for a problem that’s bigger than him or Eddie.”
You ignored him. “Am I needed here?”
Joyce shook her head, smiling sadly. “Go, he might need you.”
You returned her smile and hopped onto your bike, setting the course towards the graveyard.
The graveyard was dark and spooky — even if you didn’t think demons or ghosts would suddenly emerge from behind the headstones, nightly graveyards still had a feeling that you shouldn’t be there. But you still stepped through the creaky gate. You cupped your hands around your mouth, calling out his name.
No answer.
You sighed, setting your bike to lean against the gate and walked forward — you had visited this graveyard often enough to know exactly where Eddie’s headstone was. It was just behind the memory grove, behind the minuscule wooded area. A few trees meant to portray serenity and life, but ending up looking awfully out of place instead.
You saw the headstone first. Painted over with words “burn in hell” with something that looked like blood, but you knew it was just paint. Andy and his gang had done that a dozen times before. You sighed, knowing that Dustin was probably sulking somewhere, the words ruining his already shitty day.
You reached the headstone and crouched in front of it, before you were startled by a bloody string on the ground. It took you a moment, but then you recognised it — the snake from science class. But before you could even get angry at the animal cruelty, you heard groaning coming from somewhere behind the headstone. Your gaze snapped up, and there, on the ground, laid a boy in brown trench coat, groaning quietly.
“Dustin?” you gasped, almost tripping over your feet from how fast you stood up. He just groaned as an answer, and you hurried to him, barely being able to be careful to not step on people’s graves while at it. “What the hell happened?”
“I tripped,” he barely choked out. “Hit my head onto that damn headstone over there.”
“Really?” you scoffed. “Looks more like you got beaten up, by Andy’s gang if I have to guess.”
“I told you I tripped!” he retorted, and got a coughing fit in the next moment. You huffed.
“Yeah, whatever. Come on.”
“Did the Crawl start already?”
You nodded. “Yeah, you won’t make it there. Jonathan apparently covers for you.”
“Jonathan and Steve in the same car, having to work together,” he laughed. “I wish I could have seen that.”
You didn’t answer to that. “I’ll take you to my house, my mom just restocked our first aid pack.”
“Are you sure she’ll approve me bleeding all over your carpets?” he sighed.
You squeezed his bicep. “My parents are away for the weekend. And the bleeding will stop before we get there, but your wounds still need disinfecting.”
At your house, you had him sit on the toilet as you dabbled away the now-dried blood around his lips and nose, him looking at you the whole time as you tended to him. You shook your head.
“Are you going to tell the truth what happened?” you mumbled, and he hesitated, but eventually his shoulders slumped.
“I… might have provoked Andy at school. I stole the snake from science class, broke into Andy’s locker and put it there. His face was priceless, but I still didn’t think he’d kill it.”
Your jaw clenched. “Yeah. Apparently another red flag to his name — he’s into animal abuse.”
Dustin nodded, looking down again. “Was everyone pissed when I didn’t show up?”
You were silent for a few seconds, before deciding to tell the truth. “Yeah. At least Steve was pretty pissed.”
Dustin sighed. “Sorry.”
“Yeah.”
Silence descended upon you again for a few moments as you wiped the wounds in silence, Dustin doing his best to withstand the sting from the disinfectant liquid. But eventually, you leaned back and disposed the rags. “All done.”
Dustin lifted his eyes to the mirror behind you — god, how swollen his face was. You sighed again. “The swelling will go away in a few days. But at least now you won’t have to worry about being in the Upside Down and getting blood poisoning from Demogorgon drool.”
Dustin grimaced at the thought, before he turned his gaze back to you. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
He shifted on the toilet slightly. “So… I guess I’ll leave home now.”
“You can stay if you want,” you blurted out before you could think twice. “I mean, if you want. We can listen to music and just hang out?”
He frowned, but in the next moment smiled at your suggestion — something you hadn’t seen in the past year lit up in his eyes when he registered your words. “I’d like that.”
Soon, you were dancing in the living room, twirling with Dustin as much as he could with his injuries, and you could see he had more fun than he had had in a long time, and it made your heart sing — you hadn’t told it to anyone, barely even yourself, but you had had a small crush on Dustin for a while now. Or well, it was no longer exactly a small crush, it was quickly growing and making it’s way out of its bounds you had tried to stuff it into, and seeing Dustin now just made your crush soar above your head, and you were half-sure Dustin could hear your heart singing his name.
As the third song came to close, he did something surprising — his eyes softened, his grin shrunk, and he took your hands in his. “Thank you for always being here for me.”
You smiled back, not able to help yourself as you tucked one of his curls back. “Always.”
He swallowed at the feeling of your fingers on his skin, and the next moment, he leaned forward, and you did the same on instinct. His lips met yours, and for a moment you felt like you soared above the ground as he held you closer, and your hands gripped his trenchcoat. After a moment, you pulled away and laughed, your noses brushing together as the next song started to play, and Dustin laughed a little. “I have wanted to do that for a really, really long time.”
You blinked. “You have?”
He pulled a little more away, rubbing his neck. “Yeah, I mean… I had… or have… a massive crush on you? But I forced myself to get over it after… yeah. I thought someone like you would never even look at someone like me in that way. I thought you think of me as a brother or something instead.”
You laughed. “Are you kidding? I have had a crush on you for so long too, but I thought you wouldn’t be interested in me like that either!”
Dustin’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Really!”
His grin returned as he grabbed you back into his arms. “Well, looks like I get to kiss you again, then.”
You bit your lower lip, putting your hands on his shoulders. “Oh, I’d love that.”