Sunny!!

"Dustin?" Steve called out, also not worried about that. Dustin was home, he saw his shoes, his bike, and heard music playing down the hall.

"Office!" Dustin yelled back, and Steve kicked his shoes off, hopping on one foot to get them both off. Steve was a romantic kind of guy, and while Dustin fluctuated in his types of romantic gestures, they both were generally in a bad mood unless they got their morning and post work kisses.

Steve walked down the short hall, past their bathroom and bedroom door, and to their spare room / Dustin's experiment zone. Where in, Steve turned into the open room, and froze. Dustin was in the middle of the room, bent over at the waist, ass up, head towards his feet, and his hands on the ground. Steve had found his boyfriend in many strange situations, but this may have been the oddest position.

"Uh," Steve said, looking him over. No top on, Steve's sweatpants that didn't fit Steve like that, plus no socks.

"Hey, come here often?" Dustin joked, from his bent position. Steve opened his mouth, and closed it. Some thoughts were better left unspoken. "I've been trying out yoga. Helps with some of my joint pain."

Dustin stood up slowly, languidly, turning to look at him properly, hand on his hip. Steve could see the trail of hair from his chest, dragging all the way down his soft stomach and below the elastic of his own pants. It wasn't as though it was a mystery what the rest of him looked like, but it felt titillating all the same.

"Downward dog," Dustin explained to no avail, because Steve wasn't certain if it was related to yoga, or the song playing on the radio. "It's exercise, you'll like it. Here, let me show you."

Steve wasn't about to argue.

He watched as Dustin lowered himself to the ground, half laying down on the office rug. Steve tilted his head as Dustin moved into position, onto his knees with his arms stretched out in front of him, and his ass in the air yet again. "This is the puppy," Dustin said with his head down. "Get it, it's like a smaller version of the downward dog."

"I'm getting something, sure." Steve said absent-mindedly.

After a minute Dustin turned over, and by the look on his face, he knew exactly what he was doing. He also knew Steve would go along with it for as long as Dustin wanted. A dangerous combination of personality traits.

"The opposite, if you want a different kind of strech, would be the bridge." Dustin explained to him, laying flat on the floor, looking up at him. He moved his legs until they were bent at the knee, and braced himself with his arms as he just lifted his hips up towards the ceiling. Steve's sweats didn't leave much to the imagination in the front at this angle either.

"This is also a really great one to do repeatedly, really stretches those hard to reach places." Dustin told him, with a cocky little smile. Lowering and raising his hips once more.

"Yeah?" Steve said slowly, before Dustin moved to just a normal sitting position on the floor. "So, you're just stretching. Normally. Something you do regularly, and definitely not on purpose just when I'm getting home."

"Of course." Dustin told him, clearly proud of himself. "I have a disability that affects my skeletal structure. Stretching is important."

Steve hummed to himself, before he began to unbutton his shirt. Dustin's eyes immediately locked onto his fingers as Steve went painfully slowly, button by button. He shrugged it off, leaving his top half only in his wife beater.

"I can show you some of the stretches we do before practice." Steve said simply, before moving to his belt. "I think my shirt and slacks will be a bit constricting, though."

"Right," Dustin said, voice a bit dry, blue eyes locked on him. "You need full range of motion, that makes sense."

Steve unhooked his belt and pushed his slacks and socks down, kicking them off.

"Maybe your wife beater, too." Dustin suggested to him. "Don't want to get over heated."

Steve agreed with him, taking off everything besides his boxer briefs. "So, first thing we do is raise our arms up-" Steve lifted his arms over his head, straight up, grasping his hands together until his arms made an upside down V shape over him. "Then, we bend side to side. Really helps loosen up tight back muscles, stretch out those lats."

"Uh huh," Dustin mumbled, but he certainly wasn't looking at Steve's face as he spoke.

"Once we're done with that, and feeling loose, I try to get everyone to touch their toes. It's always funny who can and can't, because it's never who you think." Steve brought his clamped hands forward in front of him, before bending over and grabbing his ankles. He could put his hands flat on the floor if he wanted, Steve was flexible after years of exercise.

When Steve stood back up, and met Dustin's eyes, his boyfriend was practically chewing his fingernails off as he watched Steve. You'd think the way they were, they'd be in their honeymoon period or something, and yet this was five years into stable living together, not even counting when they dated long distance.

"There's another I could show you," Steve said, taking a step forward towards him, until he was close enough to hook his thumbs under Dustin's- Steve's sweatpants. "Where one of us lays on our backs, and the other person sits between their thighs and helps push their leg up, as far as it'll go. Really pushes them into a deep, hard, tension relief in the hamstrings and glutes."

Dustin was just staring at his face, like he'd locked up, or his brain over heated.

"You wanna try? You can do me first." Steve said softly, leaning down until their lips were just a hair width apart.

"Steve," Dustin breathed out. "I'm going to bounce on you until you come, and then I'm going to fuck you from the back, into the floor, until I do."

"Steve, please don't be doing anything sexy! I can't tonight, we made a breakthrough and I need to-"

"Not going to be a problem, not feeling very sexy." Steve's voice cut him off, walking out of the bathroom. "I'm just doing laundry."

He was wearing boxers, one of Dustin's joke shirts that Did Not Fit Correctly, and to top it off, one of Dustin's baseball caps turned around backwards on his head.

Dustin stared for a long while, before shaking his head. "Steve, I told you not to be sexy!"

Steve looked around the room, as if there was a second secret sexy Steve hiding behind a lamp. "In what world, Henderson-"

"Nuh, Nuh Nuh, bedroom. You did this on purpose." Dustin waved his finger before pointing down the hall. "You've killed scientific progress, Steve, are you happy with yourself?"

Max - honestly this one is basically canon imo which is the only reason why I've put it higher than Dustin. Also I just think steve is probably the first older male figure she's ever really felt safe around and he's a nice guy who also happens to be very good looking so he's like a safe option for a first crush. Plus out of all the younger kids Lucas is the most similar to Steve so clearly she has a type and that type is brave kind-hearted slightly dorky jocks. She grows out of it as she gets older but occasionally still finds herself looking at him like damn he's still hot.

Dustin - canon to me. I like to think he's had a latent kid crush brewing ever since the tunnels at the end of s2 but he doesn't fully realise it until after Eddie which helps him reevaluate a few things in hindsight. He's also super bitter about it once he realises because it's post-s4 when they're on the outs. After they make up he resigns himself to just appreciating their friendship and makes an effort to date in college. Anyway in my headcanon it turns out steve does eventually come to see him the same way and they get together sometime post-epilogue.

El - honestly I think she has a liiittle bit of a crush in season 3 when Max takes her to get ice cream and they're super giggly, but she doesn't spend that much time with steve and doesn't know him as well as the others. Honestly she just thinks he's pretty in the same way she thinks Nancy is pretty and kind of wants to emulate some of his style.

Lucas - sort of the opposite of El in that he looks up to Steve as the Masculine Ideal of someone who is able to protect others, while also thinking he's just. Incredibly lame. Pretends to be annoyed by Max's crush but honestly he kind of gets it and occasionally has thoughts that have him vaguely questioning his straightness.

Will - Listen. He sees the appeal but Steve is absolutely Not His Type and also forever tainted by the things he heard from Jonathan before learning that he's chill with Robin. He's mildly impressed with Dustin for managing to bag Thee Steve Harrington but also (silently) judges him a bit for being so shallow.

"You and I both know what we're here for," she says, eyes glued to where Steve is boxing out Lucas, ass shoved firmly against Lucas's crotch.

It wasn't as though they hadn't noticed Dustin's mood, from the moment they met up with him and went out for drinks. It was simply that they'd learned that in over a decade, trying to pry into Dustin's moods had about a 70% failure rate. He'd either get angry at the suggestion, or close off more, sometimes he'd try to hide his mood which inevitably would circle back to the angry response.

"What?" Dustin asked, upon noticing they were all looking at him in particular. "Me?"

"You have been pretty quiet," Will said, as gently as he could. "Lost up in your head?"

"That's a scary place to be." Mike remarked, getting a small smile and eye roll from Dustin, which was at least a good sign he'd not jump to being too defensive.

"I had a weird dream last night. It's just lingering now, weighing on me, and I feel like every time I close my eyes I'm wishing that I'll be back there, in that place." Dustin answered, running the tip of his finger through a condensation ring on the table, a ghost of a drink long since consumed. "But, it's not something I thought I wanted, so...I don't know. I don't know what to think about it."

Will met Mike's eyes across the table, and sent him the most, 'I told you so,' look of all times. Mike kicked his sneaker under the table, annoyed there was a chance he was about to lose 20 on the dumbest bet. Mike knew Dustin and Steve were close, but that didn't mean Dustin had a crush on him. Steve was like an older brother to him, the same way Nancy was sort of like a sister to Dustin- okay, maybe that was a bad example.

"What kind of dream?" Lucas continued, unaware of the silent war raging between his other two friends. "I had a dream once that basketball had the same rule system as d&d and I woke up somehow hating both games for a few days, and that was super conflicting for me."

Mike inched away from Lucas in the booth, trying not to sneer as he did so. Jock germs.

"No, I... It's really strange for me, I don't know what to say." Dustin exhaled sharply, scratching at the back of his head. "You promise you won't be weird about it?"

"Promise," Lucas and Will said instantly.

"You can't expect that from me," Mike said, and Dustin shrugged a shoulder - fair enough.

"....I dreamed that I was married to Steve and he was pregnant, and we went through the whole cycle, like birthing classes, pregnancy sex, all of it, it felt so realistic. He broke two of my fingers during the delivery. Labor took longer, on account of him being a guy, right?" Dustin explained, waving a hand as though that made perfect sense. "But that kid, I really truly felt like I loved my kid. That's what's fucking me up, because I decided at 13 to never have kids, and that hasn't changed, not once. I don't think I even really liked other kids besides us, when I was a kid! So, now? Now I think being a dad might be okay?"

Lucas let out a small breath, a whispered, 'seriously?' to himself. Will looked as though he was trying to figure out advanced calculus to determine if this counted as winning their bet.

"With Steve?" Mike said slowly, his money was on the line.

Dustin looked at him curiously, "well, yeah."

"Steve," Mike repeated, leaning further across the table. "Why are you acting like that's weird?" Dustin tilted his head. "We've been dating for nearly a year. Yeah, obviously it was him. I mean, I bottom sometimes too, but I don't think my body would do as well physically through the pregnancy process. It makes sense it was Steve."

A continuation of my bday gift for @rowdyheaux. The story takes place the summer before Dustin's senior year of high school. Basic summary so far-- in order to make Steve feel special on his birthday, Dustin plans a scavenger hunt.

Part One here.

Part Two here.

Part Three here.

It’s late afternoon by the time Steve and Dustin make their way to the junkyard. First, Dustin convinced him to stop for sandwiches, checking his watch as he did so. 

“Am I solving these clues faster than you thought I would?” Steve teases, and Dustin looks up at him fondly from his turkey club. 

“No, I knew you’d do well! Robin, on the other hand, insisted I build in buffer time.” He reaches over and grabs a fry off Steve’s plate. “Anyway, I’m glad she did because lunch is an important meal!”

“Robin? She helped you with all of this?” Steve feels something in his chest squeeze at the thought of Robin helping Dustin plan his birthday scavenger hunt. She’d left a week ago for college and he is still feeling raw about her absence from Hawkins. He doubts very much that she’ll ever move back to Hawkins for good– they probably have a few more summers and holidays in the same place together, but that would be it. “That’s really cool of her.” 

“Yeah, I needed someone to test my ideas out and ensure they were Steve proof,” Dustin says smugly. 

Steve splutters into his soda. 

I'd love your take on a voyeur!Dustin, or him walking in on Steve

Another is- Steve under the influence, and Dustin to the rescue!

🧡🧡

guess who is finally starting that second prompt you gave me!!! okay, here's part one of "Steve's Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad High." Not sure where i'm going with this, but this was fun to write, so thank you for the prompt!

“Hey buddy,” a voice comes to him out of the fog. “Hey, why don’t we get going, okay?” Steve considers very carefully whether he can pull his head up from where it's curled into his chest like a turtle to glance at the stranger talking to him. He’s a little worried he might throw up though. Do turtles throw up? Steve thinks maybe they don’t and if he’s a turtle that means he won’t throw up. So he looks up at the stranger.

It’s Dustin. His curls are glowing like he’s an angel sent from heaven. Oh shit, maybe Steve is dead he's already at the gates of heaven.

“Was I good enough to get into heaven?” Steve asks.

“What are you talking about? C’mon, let’s go. I’m taking you home.” Dustin says in a no nonsense voice. 

Steve doesn’t want to leave the safety of his table though. It’s his turtle tank now and nothing back can get him here. 

“You should get under here with me,” Steve whispers conspiratorially. 

“Oh my God, Steve, c’mon, don’t do this,” Dustin groans, kneeling down and tugging very gently at Steve’s bicep. Steve still has his hands and legs wrapped around the table leg. He shakes his head. “Let’s go.”

“I’m afraid if I leave then I’ll black out. I might do something dangerous,” Steve admits, watching as something complicated flutters across Dustin’s face. “I’m scared, Dustin.”

“It’s okay if you black out, Steve. I’m here now, so I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” Dustin murmurs, prying his fingers up from where they’re clutching the leg. Steve smiles, wondering if it's obvious how high he is to Dustin.

“It’s like you’re rescuing me!” Steve says cheerfully.

“Yeah, Steve, absolutely,” Dustin agrees. “Now as your knight in shining armor, I request your hand, my lord, so that I might escort you from this den of iniquity.” Dustin offers his hand magnanimously to Steve, a smile playing over his lips. 

Steve slips his hand into Dustin’s, fingers tingling pleasantly like little sparks of fire are igniting where they touch. Dustin lifts him out from under the table easily, but the movement makes him lightheaded and dizzy. Dustin wraps his arm around Steve’s back, fingers firm and warm at the skin of his waist where his shirt has rucked up slightly.

“Do you need me to carry you out of here like a princess?” Dustin asks, something warm, almost coy in his voice. It makes Steve flush and he almost wants to say because it would be fun to play along, but the thought of not having his feet solidly planted on the ground makes him nervous. He’s just got to ride the wave of this high and he will be fine, but if he loses his balance for a moment he’s going to get swept away again. “Steve, I was just joking,” Dustin says, squeezing him tightly. 

Steve looks around at the rest of the party and it's like the noise all comes rushing back in like a stereo that’s been turned on full volume. It’s overwhelming, too much input roaring in his ears and he just needs to get away, needs to get out. 

Before he knows it, Steve is being whisked out of the house, and he doesn’t know how he’s keeping his feet from under him, but he clutches onto Dustin like a lifeline. When they plunge out of the house, the cool fall air washes over him, soothing the sweat on his brow and ruffling his hair. He sighs at the simple pleasure.

What did he mean that it wasn't a pity offer? He must have meant that he wanted Dustin to come dance with him and Robin as friends. Of course that was it. But then, why had he stormed off in such a huff?

Dustin tracks back through the day, trying to gather evidence. There isn't much to go on because he hasn't been able to spend that much time with him, between assigned seats at dinner and speeches, wedding party photographs and getting ready well in advance of the ceremony. They'd managed to find time during the cocktail hour when Steve dragged him away from talking with a group of Max's college friends to complain about Lucas's extended family, sounding so huffy that Dustin couldn't keep a straight face and burst into laughter. Steve pretended to be offended, but Dustin caught the way his eyes twinkled with affection as tears rolled down Dustin's face.

And before that, Steve had been busy serving as an usher for the ceremony but found a second to greet Dustin after the party had finished getting ready and were milling around waiting to be told when to stand at the front of the church. Steve had caught him by the wrist in between passing out pamphlets.

"Nervous about your best man duties?" He'd asked with a smile.

"Nah, it'll be fine," Dustin said, even though the nerves were starting to percolate in his stomach.

"You're great with speeches. You know how to work a crowd, if your valedictorian speech was anything to go by," Steve said earnestly, still holding Dustin's wrist. "Hey, you look really good, by the way. You're really--"

But then it was show time and he was being told to get moving and Dustin wasn't sure if Steve had said "handsome" or if his mind was just playing tricks on him. Dustin wasn't even able to toss out a thanks as he headed to the front of the church because Steve had already returned to his duties.

As Dustin pats his face down with paper towels, he looks at himself in the mirror again, noticing his boutonniere is gone. He'd taken it off in a fit of irritation during dinner, and Steve had snatched it up, fiddling with it in his fingers. It had been pinned sloppily to his lapel jacket when he came to talk to Dustin and somehow Dustin had missed that.

It suddenly hits him like a volt of electricity. Steve has been paying attention to him all day. Every time Dustin has found Steve's face in the crowd, whether standing up during the ceremony, or giving his speech at dinner, Steve's eyes were on him, filled with warmth. He's noticed Dustin's nerves, his irritation, and his misery.

Maybe Dustin is reading too much into things. Maybe Dustin is letting his heart run away with his head. Maybe Dustin just wants to believe that the man he's watched for ten years is finally looking back. Or maybe, Dustin is seeing things clearly for the very first time.

Dustin strides out of the bathroom, scans the dance floor to confirm that Steve hasn't returned, and then heads for the patio. When he gets to the doorway, he sees Robin talking quietly with him, their backs to the reception hall. Dustin takes a deep breath, tightens his tie, smooths down his jacket, and plants a confident expression on his face before he steps outside.

"Dude, why is Steve Harrington asleep on your stomach?" Lucas asked, point blank, as Mike began to wonder if his reality was just an illusion, maybe Vecna won and this was just the hell he was forced to live through.

"Hmm?" Dustin made a questioning noise, as though this was new information to him, before he glanced down at Steve. Steve, for his part, was sprawled across the couch, face down into Dustin's stomach, lightly snoring but nothing as jarring and mechanical as the sounds Dustin himself produced. "Oh, well, he was tired after we were making out, then lack of places to sleep came into play, plus I have a soft tummy and I smell like lavender. I'm very relaxing when I'm not speaking, according to him."

Max's lips pursed like she was trying very hard not to laugh, or say something. Will tilted his head repeatedly, like a dog that just heard a squirrel in the rafters. Lucas' brows knit together in further confusion, because asking Dustin anything and expecting clarity was a fools errand. Mike, for his own part, realized he was born in the wrong century, because he really wanted to put both of them inside of a brazen bull.

"Why do you smell like lavender?" Lucas asked after a moment.

Steve tells the older formerly-teens that maybe the new girl he's dating could be, 'the one' signifying to the audience that even though he's found a job he enjoys, he's still restless because he's chasing the person he wants to settle down with, his soul mate.

But, he would die all the same.

He laid on the forest floor, pain radiating from where the bear trap had rendered through his ankle like a hot knife through butter. He was bleeding, a good amount no doubt, but not fast enough to kill him outright. It just was simple agony, which was strangely calming. Ever since everything went to hell, he knew he'd die young. It was a relief, in some ways.

He wasn't certain if he'd fallen asleep or blacked out, but Steve awoke to something cold pressed against his cheek. Cracking his eyes open, and wincing at the sunlight hitting them, Steve grimaced up at the face standing over him, and the barrel of a shot gun aimed down at him.

The other man was human at least, and young. Maybe even younger than Steve, he had a stern look, a half sneer that told Steve how little the man respected his general personal, but there was something soft in his face as well.

"I'm shocked you're actually alive," the stranger said, not moving his gun away from Steve. "But you won't be, not with that kind of injury - unless you get help. Are you traveling with someone?"

Steve gave the smallest shake of his head. "My folks...gone with the emergence. My friends, I don't know... I'm trying to get to Chicago, but-"

"Chicago?" The man repeated, expression shifting only slightly, but it said enough. "Chicago was bombed a few months ago, there were too many. Anyone smart enough to realize they were sitting ducks, they left a long time ago, or they got killed in the blasts."

Tommy wasn't particularly bright, but he was clever, and Steve thought he'd have the smarts to stay alive. Carol, maybe not. Nancy though, Steve let out a deep breath, Nancy was sharp as a whip, and stubborn as a mule. She would have made it.

"Okay," Steve said softly, oddly calm. The young man tilted his head at him, appraising him.

"Okay?" He repeated. "You're okay dying out here?"

"Sure," Steve answered, sending him a crooked smile. "I'm not exactly the type to survive until the happy ending, I knew it would happen eventually."

The man was quiet, only the wind rushing past them, turning over fallen leaves and rattling old branches sang across the woods. It was peaceful, truly. Of course Steve had regrets, things he wished he would have accomplished, but so did everyone. No one could have expected humanity to face something like this. No religion, no tradition existed to soothe the soul in the face of such an unknown.

"I'm okay," Steve reiterated to the man, nodding. "Get to safety, before the sun goes down."

"I am safe, these are my traps you wandered into." The young man said, as though he was lecturing Steve, as if he had the intent of getting his ankle cracked like a nut in the vice. "Come on, I have what we need back at the base..."

The young man crouched beside Steve's foot, and worked at pulling the trap free from him, resetting it and leaving it coated in Steve's blood upon the forest floor. Maybe the blood would attract them.

"I'm Dustin," the man held out his hand for Steve to take. "It's a bit of a walk back, but you can lean on me. I'm short and disabled, but I'm going to be faster than you right now."

"I don't feel very abled," Steve tried to joke as Dustin encouraged him to get to his feet. It was confusing. He didn't know Steve at all, didn't even really seem to like him, but...he was saving him? Taking him to get treated?

"... Thank you." Steve told him as soon as he could out weight onto his good foot.

"Don't thank me just yet, save that for after I stitch you back together, because I don't think you'll like me much in the moment." Dustin told him, a hint of humor in his own voice.