#dusteve

"That was a bit weird, wasn't it?" Dustin asked him, twirling his mustache that he knew Steve hated. "No fish out there, and I didn't even see any birds."

"Something probably spooked them, a loud chatty something." Steve shot back, grabbing out a couple beers, tossing one to Dustin.

"I only started talking when you failed at catching anything for two hours." Dustin retorted, popping the can open. "You looked upset, I wanted to distract you."

Steve knew, giving the faintest hint of a nod back at him. It had been strange. There were days he wouldn't catch anything, but he never got a single nibble, and saw no fish jumping - and Dustin was right. It was oddly quiet out, the only bird song they heard was distant, barely audible.

"I know, I know..." Steve mumbled, straightening up, and using his free hand to rub at his back. "Let's do something else tomorrow and-"

They were both standing casually in the boundary of the tree line on the rivers edge, when something burst out of the brush and bounded down the water line, before diving in. Said something had flailing appendages coming off of it's back, it was the size of a hippo, but it was in fact glowing a neon green color. It had also left behind a trail of blood, and what looked like part of a human hand on the ground.

Dustin turned to look up at Steve, eyes wide, meeting his own shocked expression. Except, Dustin's face slowly curled into one of excitement and glee, while Steve's lips curled downward.

"Did you see that?! We have to investigate-"

Steve walked over to him, and grabbed him by the shoulders. Dustin retaliated, as he always did by bringing his shoulders together in front of him.

"Dustin, we are middle aged. We are old." Steve said slowly, firmly. "I am 56 years old. We are not investigating that thing. Your bad hip will start to act up, and I'll throw my back out. We will contact-"

Dustin leaned up, pecking him on the lips, and god did Steve hate that mustache. But, he loved Dustin.

"We don't have to go after it, but let's just... talk to some people, poke around." Dustin suggested. "Nothing dangerous. In fact, we should probably get away from the water, given it was very clearly eating someone. How about it? Just...relive a bit of our youth. Isn't that romantic?"

Steve glanced down at the finger on the ground, slowly staining the gravel red.

"...Okay." Steve smiled down at him. "I can't imagine my life without you. Just a bit of poking around, on... one condition."

And of course it fueled my craziness as a shipper haha.

Steve let his eyes fall closed against the wall of the holding cell, exhaustion taking over his body. All he could hear in his mind was Dustin's voice, yelling at him. He remembered when he first started noticing friction between him and Tommy, because their blow up over Nancy hadn't been the first time they'd argued or fought. When Tommy stopped speaking to him, it hurt, they'd known each other for years - but it was nothing like how he felt about Dustin.

It made him sick to think about, that the last thing they'd said to one another, was essentially to split up. Steve hoped Dustin was okay, that he and the others were fine without him there. It seemed like, at least judging by this world, everyone was better off without him around.

Steve fell into a fitfull sleep, where instead of finding Dustin crying over Eddie's body - it was Dustin laying there dead, and it was Steve's fault for not being there for him. But the worst part of his dreams weren't the nightmares, it was the sweeter moments, where they just laughed and watched movies again together - like they were still friends.

When he opened his eyes again, the room was lighter, but only barely so. It was still early, he guessed, and unfortunately Steve was still in the police department.

He looked over, a stone in his chest to find Dustin, this Dustin, reading a book. Steve smiled, faintly, upon seeing it - of course Dustin, any Dustin, would find a way to bring some kind of passtime even into the prison. Henderson glanced up at him, and nodded his head.

"Morning. You sober up any?" Dustin asked, and Steve exhaled, shaking his head to the negative, just faintly.

"I was never on anything in the first place, and I'm not insane. I don't think I am anyway," Steve said, leaning forward on the bench, and looking at his shoes. They were disgusting, covered in filth, car oil and- huh, a tiny bit of vine from the upside-down. "Can I tell you why I'm here? You don't have to believe me. It's just...I know you, a version of you, and... that Dustin, he'd know how to fix this." Steve told him quietly, looking up to meet his eyes.

"High praise," Dustin smiled at him, and Steve felt a bit sick. "Go for it," Dustin shrugged a shoulder. "It's like 5 am, I have nothing better to do until about 8 when Hop will spring me."

Steve studied him for a long moment, before taking a deep breath. "Okay, well. I guess I should start with the vanishing of Will Byers."

Dustin listened dutifully, only looking at him in mild shock when Steve mentioned Mews dying.

"My mom still has Mews," Dustin said. "She's ancient, and my mom just had a stray cat, a fluffy Siamese cat show up that she's basically adopted."

"Tews," Steve mumbled, knowingly, before continuing on. Otherwise, this Dustin didn't react much to anything Steve told him. Not about Suzie, not about the Russians under Star Court, because that mall never existed here. He frowned when Steve told him about Eddie's troubles and eventually death.

"-and then we fought, I walked off after you got me good-" Steve said, pointing at his cheek. "Then, boom. I'm here. Not in the upside down, not in the lab, and nothing makes any sense."

Dustin nodded his head, humming to himself, leaning back against the wall from where he was sitting. "Okay, so, that was a lot. Like, a lot. I think what you need to do is find out what you have to do with your lab, and if you exist in this world or not."

"That's the thing, I don't know what I'd have to do with the lab. My parents didn't work there, I haven't worked there, I've barely been in the place." Steve let out a small huff. "I'm not smart, like you."

Dustin studied him for a minute, and like this, Steve could see the differences in the man compared to the teen he knew. "You don't seem stupid to me," Dustin said, and Steve wanted to laugh.

"Yeah, well, the you I know thinks I'm a fucking moron..." Steve said, looking at the wall across the room. There were pictures of officers, and Steve knew them all. The photo of Hargrove must have been not long after he'd joined, because he did not look happy to have short hair in his picture. "Maybe you're all better off if I stay here, away from everyone."

"This isn't a movie," Dustin nudged him with his shoulder. "I still think you might just be insane, but you did have a lot of details about our lives that a man who didn't grow up with me at all shouldn't probably know. So, maybe this is real - and if it is real, then there's a natural reason for it. It's science. Your existence isn't a curse or a bad omen, that's not how the world works."

Steve hoped Dustin was right.

"So, come on, let's talk it out." Dustin pulled his legs up so he was sitting cross legged on the bench. "If it isn't you, or your parents, then maybe your family history is related to the lab."

Steve wanted to say that was ridiculous, but it did spark a memory. "... Okay, so...my family came over from England, right? Middle of the 1800s. They had money, and my dad mentioned they were either going to move to the north east, or to Indiana. Supposedly, we bought up a lot of land around Hawkins and sold off most of it over the generations."

"Soooo...maybe they sold off land that would eventually become the lab, in your universe?" Dustin suggested, and Steve had no idea, but it was possible. The lab wasn't particular close to his house, but his dad mentioned the Harringtons used to own hundreds of acres.

Which meant, only the location of the lab may have changed, Steve realized. Events that happened outside of the lab, may have still occured.

".... The Creel house, are they still around? Like, the family. Maybe Henry Creel is still around town?" Steve asked slowly, feeling a chill run through him.

Dustin met his eyes, and Steve could see the moment he started to believe Steve just a little bit more.

"... The Creel's all died, murder suicide. Long time ago." Dustin said slowly.

"...No, they didn't." Steve answered him.

it means i have the pleasure of writing my two favs falling in love over and over and over again in a million different ways, at different points in their lives, in different scenarios!! this is one of my favorite types of stories to write-- so why would i want canon to determine what that looks like for me? i would have to lug around the canon love confession in my fic (blech) or write "canon divergent aus" if i wasnt happy with how it went down.

in the case of dusteve, i have the absolute BEST possible springboard for fanfic-- my two favs declare that their lives are intertwined and "you die, i die" and then literally drive off into the sunset together to go on road tripping adventures. i literally get their platonic love confession so i can then imagine the romantic variation or extrapolation from that!

A++++ no notes-- dusteve has given me everything i want in a ship. they are canon soulmates with plenty of space to explore.

and then comes the fun part of figuring out exactly HOW that relationship develops! we have the rest of their lives to play with!

anyway, perhaps i'm being obvious, but in my opinion caring too much about a ship going canon gets in the way of enjoying one of the most pleasurable parts of transformative fan creation.

For Dustin, the end of March brings back bad memories. When Steve drops by Dustin's college to check on him, Dustin does some introspection. (Technically WIP, but works as a standalone for now. Additional characters and relationships may be added.)

Steve glanced over at Dustin, confused by the question. "Yes? Aren't you the guy who called himself the hottest and most intelligent man in Indiana?"

Dustin made a face, looking down at his feet. "Yeah, I mean, part of that is probably true - I know I'm smarter than probably 98% of the country."

Steve let out a breath from his nose, smiling anyway, because Dustin was an acquired taste, but his favorite flavor none the less. "Right, so, where's the self esteem conflict coming from? You don't think you're not good looking, do you?"

Dustin grimaced, "that was a brick to the face of a sentence, Steve- look, I don't know. I... Like I said: Do you think I'm handsome?"

Steve just shook his head, exasperated, bumping his shoulder into Dustin's. "Yes, I think you're handsome, I can't believe you're asking me that."

Dustin rolled onto his side in their bed, to face him more. "You've never called me handsome."

"I literally did this morning," Steve shot back, throwing an arm around Dustin, pulling him in closer. "I said, 'good morning Handsome, your ass looks incredible in those pants'."

"You didn't mean it, though." Dustin looked uncertain, and Steve realized he really needed to lay off the weed. While it made Steve giggly, it made Dustin extremely paranoid. The sex had been good, though.

"I did, I do, and I will." Steve leaned forward, kissing him gently. "What, did you think we've been dating for nearly five years just out of pity? You're hot. I'm hot. We're the hottest couple."

Dustin finally smiled a little bit, inching in closer, until they were practically nose to nose and lip to lip. "We are pretty sexy together, aren't we?"

Steve hummed in agreement, pecking him on the lips. "You're cute too, hot, beautiful, handsome, slightly insane, stubborn as an ox, infuriating, sexy-"

"What were those middle ones, Steven?"