#dusterica

★ 𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍 + 𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀: 𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐒 ★ 

• 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐦𝐞🤭

I know only like 5 people in the world ship Erica and Dustin, but I feel like they would fit SO many buzzy and cute romantic tropes if given the chance (When they're aged up/in college ofc! Don't jump me pls😭🙏🏾)

⋆⭒˚.⋆ ⋆⭒˚.⋆ ⋆⭒˚.⋆ ⋆⭒˚.⋆ ⋆⭒˚.⋆ ⋆⭒˚.⋆ ⋆⭒˚.⋆　　　

𝟏. 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐓𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬: The most obvious one, a classic🫶🏾

𝟐. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 '𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐎𝐧 𝐌𝐲 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝' 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞!: Dustin and Lucas were close friends during a good chunk of Erica's childhood, so she was familiar with Dustin and could have developed a crush.

𝟑. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐈𝐬 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐀 𝐍𝐞𝐫𝐝: Erica was always the one calling The Party and Dustin 'nerds' but she turned out to be one too, which Dustin (a nerd) was responsible for clocking. He then helped her embrace that previously repressed part of herself💕

𝟒. 𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐲/𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫: Both Dustin and Erica are witty, intelligent, and have a love for acadamia, specifically the sciences. Their banter is so satisfying to watch and I feel as they get into college/their careers, that will only escalate their competiveness.

𝟓. '𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐓𝐨 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮/𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐭' 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞: Erica has a soft spot for Dustin (vice versa). She gets close to and opens up to Dustin in a way not seen from her charcter before, even with Lucas. One of the only times we even see her get all giggly and affectionate is with Dustin when celebrating over something in S4 (forgot what lol).

𝟔. '𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞' 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞: This sorta expands upon the previous one. I feel like Erica's character is often the comedic relief, the 'sassy' or blunt one. I LOVE those traits for her, they're iconic, but what else?? Yknow? She has trauma/ insecurities too, but they're not explored in the show. Although her blunt exterior is uniquely charming and authentically her, I think it is also partly a coping mechanism/self preservation (similar to Dustin in s5!!--> they could relate to/help eachother!❤️) If given the chance, we would find she is more multilayered.

--> I read a Dustin/Erica fic on ao3 called Love Ahoy! by procrastiwriter (highly reccommend🫶🏾), and the author explored Erica's insecurities and pain with being left out by Lucas and the Party as a kid when she was showing (in her own way) that she just wanted to join/was curious.

𝟕. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐦𝐚 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: As Erica put it "Know him? I've bled with him." They went to hell and back with eachother, making their characters have a very special bond.

𝟖. 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐲: They experienced forced proximity in canon s3, and that's when their frienship peaked (the bantering, the bonding, etc). So imagine if that was explored more in the future.

𝟗. 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞: Their friendship blossomed in S4, then Dustin scurried off to college while Erica finished highschool, rendering them seperated until Erica will go to (possibly the same) college. Them going to the same college/reconnecting would be their 'second chance' at developing a newer, possibly romantic, kind of relationship.

Dustin and Erica's age gap is honestly not so large that I wouldn't consider shipping them while Erica is still in school. I can imagine them writing letters to each other while Dustin is away at college - Erica wants spoilers on all the physics classes she's going to be taking in a couple of years and Dustin is keeping tabs on the people he's left back in Hawkins, and with everything in writing they don't have to keep up their abrasive fronts so much, and they don't have to admit how much they make each other laugh. And when Dustin goes home for summer break, they realise something's changed between them.

If the show ever comes back I guess I wouldn't mind Dustin/Erica to be canon. I'd probably rather see their getting together arc on-screen than jump in to an established relationship, for whatever that's worth, because while I like the idea in theory, I'd wanna see them sell me on it. Tbh though, a big part of me hopes the show never comes back, because all in all I'm happy with how they left most things, especially the things I cared about. I guarantee if we get more they're going to fuck up my beloved headcanons lol.

And yes, I totally agree about dusteve and dusterica being the kinds of ships that don't have a lot of fans, but the fans they have just really, really love the ships. It's a really fun type of fandom to be in, in my experience.

Finally:

some people are also obviously just pairing the spares and that's very annoying to me

God so true everyone look away I'm transforming into A Hater.

Also outside of that both ships make so much sense to me. Dustin and Erica's nerd bonding, I can imagine Dustin teaching Erica D&D and make her first character together. After Erica also went to universty(the one Dustin went to) everytime she get's a better score than Dustin did she never ever shut ups about it and Dustin will drag about the ones he still has higher scores. They keep giving each other new interests.

At the other hand best part of Steve and Dustin is the fact how diffrent yet complement they are. Their dynamic, everything. The fact they have a literal handshake, that has star wars referances. How much they care about each other or obsessed with each other. Like you just know how much they love each other because it was one of the best writen parts of the show, their writing was strong even in season 5.

Also both Steve and Erica would be jealous(expect each other, also I see them as platonic ngl) people which would be a disaster in a few scenario which is amazing, and Dustin deserves to be THE bisexual greed. Steve and Erica also would get each other in a ways Dustin doesn't(fashion, some music genres, gossip etc.).

I don’t remember a lot but Erica was next to Dustin on the plane they were going to the same science conference and Steve was Dustin’s plus one somehow. Dustin was sitting between Erica and Steve on the plane. He kept trying to flirt with Steve discretely enough that Erica wouldn’t hit him with her magazine.

Suddenly Steve says a bit too loud:

"No, Dustin, we’re not joining the mile high club. I’m not making love to you here. It’s unpractical and disgusting. If you wanna experiment with something, wait for Erica."

Dustin astonished, looks between Steve and Erica.

"In your dreams weirdos." she says. "I’ll never let a nerd have a piece of me. Anywhere."

"Not like that! I meant you two doing your thing at work without me."

Oh, they are FOR SURE together. There's no way Dustin would've turned that party down unless he was already in a committed relationship and there's no way Erica would've jimmied up a confetti cannon for Dustin's speech unless she was dating him.

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Dustin Henderson/Erica Sinclair, Chrissy Cunningham/Eddie Munson, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair Characters: Dustin Henderson, Erica Sinclair, Chrissy Cunningham, Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Lucas Sinclair Additional Tags: Romance, Domestic Fluff, and everyone lived happily ever after!, Lucas is still uncomfortable with Erica and Dustin and Dustin revels in it, Uncle Dustin to the Munson brood, JUST LOTS OF CUTESY FLUFF FOR EDDIE'S BIRTHDAY Series: Part 2 of do what you do, just keep on laughing... Summary: