#wip 1

He makes the call hoping his mother (night shift nurse at the local nursing home/hospice center) would be too busy to come to the phone. (Even though her being busy would mean Bad News for someone else). But nope, she's right there. Happy but confused to learn that Will is alive, devastated that she can't be with him like Ted and Karen are, and insisting that he come home so she knows exactly where he is and that he'll be there when she gets home. She even full (first) names him to make it VERY clear that there is no other option for him, but promises she'll take him back to see Will tomorrow.

Son of a bitch. If that doesn't ruin all his plans for the night.

Even worse, who will take him? The Wheelers have a full car with Lucas, plus he's out of their way. There's no way Joyce is leaving. Jonathan doesn't have his car. Hopper maybe, but does he want to ask him? Absolutely not. (Plus Hopper just went downstairs to get surprised picked up by Owen.)

As he's considering his options, Steve shows up, ducking into the nearby bathroom.

Steve has a car. Steve lives somewhere near his house. That'll work.

Ambushes him the moment he comes back out and fast talks his way into getting a ride. Has a counter for all of Steve's protests. Knows his house is on the way becasue he's seen Steve drive past his house on the way to school. Lies about already telling his mom that Steve would drive him, so the alternative would be him walking- Steve wouldn't want that, would he? And the real kicker- It would impress Nancy.

...probably could have lead with that one, honestly.

And of course the real reason he wants Steve to drive him is he heard the *barest* of what went down at the Byer's and is dying to know more about it. So, as soon as they all find out they are NOT going to be allowed back in to see Will again, Dustin all but orders him down to the parking lot

(There's a scene that may or may not be shown where Steve tries and fails to finds Nancy, instead asking Mike to tell her he was leaving and that she should call him when she gets home. Mike doesn't pass this message along out of spite, which in turn pushes Nancy to wait a month for Jonathan instead of immediately going back to Steve. Among other reasons)

In the car there's a whole bunch of questions about the demogorgan. A little 'yeah, well, I weakened it' that gets quickly dropped after Dustin explains that El... disappeared? Worse?? After killing the demo. Yeah, no need to brag about hitting it with a bat (even though Dustin thinks that is badass). Dustin asking to see the bat, but no it's in the trunk dammit. Also asking if he really lost a fight with Jonathan- becasue he heard about that one too and kinda can't believe it. Will's brother? The one who hangs out with them all the time and is super chill? That Jonathan?

(Steve very much does not like this question)

Dustin's directions were 'drive to your house and mine will be right there', but eventually they get to Steve's road and Dustin is still in the car. Where do you LIVE.

"I said you drive past my house to get to school, which is not the way to the hospital. I don't know where you live."

Fair enough. Steve points out his house as they go by- Dustin knows it, of course. They give out the full sized candy bars on Halloween. He just never knew Steve was the one who lived there.

He also notices that there's NO lights on. Not even one at the front door, left on until everyone got home for the night. Just the streetlights. Dustin finds this a little odd, and asks if anyone is even home. Steve gets oddly prickly about the question- of course they're home. It's 2am. They're asleep so the lights are off.

(Dustin POV se we don't have access to Steve's internal monologue. He's mostly just annoyed because his late and he's had a LONG day. But also a little worried to see the light off. Oh, shit. Somehow his parents found out about the fight and the spray paint. He's fucked.)

Get to Dustin's house and sure enough, it's on the way to school. Not even that far away, maybe a half mile from the end of Steve's road. Pull up to the front door where there's no cars in the driveway and only the porch light on, and now Steve is the one asking if anyone is home. Sounding genuinely concerned about it, the way everyone does when they first find out he's alone most nights.

Now it's Dustin's turn to be annoyed. They'd already discussed that his mom was working- obviously no one would be home. Not everyone has both parents. He's 12, not two, he's perfectly capable of being alone overnight. Does NOT need a babysitter, thank you very much, you can leave now.

Steve clearly isn't convinced, which is a little surprising, actually. He might have won cool points by fighting the demogorgan, but that doesn't erase his old douchbag reputation. Dustin was more expecting him to leave the moment he was out of the car, not sit around borderline offering to stay until morning. Like. Just go home? I'm fine I just needed a ride, thanks goodbye.

(Steve is mostly concerned because he's assumed that Dustin is growing up like him, alone a lot of the time, learning to be self sufficient a little too young, and lonely. He doesn't know that Claudia is The Best™ and went to great lengths to be present in her son's life, even while working nights. Sure she can't do everything, but she's there where it counts and the house is filled with love and home cooked meals.)

In general it's just an odd sort of interaction for both of them, even if neither of them understand it. Dustin goes inside, switches the porch light for a lamp in the living room (his 'I made it home' signal) and it's only then that Steve drives away.