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"Mom, why do you have the 14th blocked off?" Dustin asked, cocking his head at the calendar posted on the fridge. Across the room in her armchair, Claudia Henderson looked sympathetic. "No."
"I'm sorry Dusty, but I already tried to swap shifts with Doris and no dice."
Dustin felt his heart sink inside his chest. The 14th was the 1985 Hawkin's Middle science fair, the last one before he and the party started High School. His Mom had never missed one.
"But..." his mouth felt dry, and his eyes began to sting, but he resolutely held back tears. In a way, it felt childish, after everything they'd been through the past two years, to be whining about his mom not being able to come to his middle school science fair. He swallowed past the growing lump in his throat and looked to the floor, scuffing his shoe on the tile. Usually, she chastised him for doing so, but his mother just smiled that sympathetic smile that made his stomach hurt.
"I'm sorry, Dusty. But I can't afford to take the time off."
Yeowch. Dustin swallowed again, throat even tighter than before.
"I know," he said, scrambling for an excuse. "I actually have to go and finalize our presentation at Mike's." His mom startled a little, but relaxed further into her chair. On her lap, Tews blinked up at him, and the guilt threatened to wash him away.
"Oh, okay," his mom said. "Are you going to ride your bike?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Bike safe, baby. I love you."
"Love you too," Dustin faked a smile, scooping his backpack up from off the floor and hustling out of the house. He let the smile drop as soon as the door closed behind him. His walkie was safely nestled in his bag, but having nowhere to be, Dustin wheeled his bike out of the garage and set off. He didn't want to think. Not about how it was his fault his mom couldn't afford not to take time off. If it wasn't for him and his condition, his dad never would've taken off when he was a baby, and his mom wouldn't have had to waste all that time and money on him. The lump rose again in his throat, but he didn't bother swallowing it down, instead letting it fester.
He biked for at least an hour, eventually coming upon the quarry. His legs and lungs had that familiar burn by that point and he rolled to a stop, dropping the bike and going to stand by the edge. The sun was nearly set entirely below the horizon, and this was a pretty good view. He sat cross-legged on the ground.
"Henderson?"
He jumped, looking over his shoulder to see the one and only Steve Harrington, hands in his pockets, walking along the quarry. Dustin frowned.
"Steve?"
"Yeah, man, what are you doing out here?" Steve came a little closer and frowned, crouching and sitting beside Dustin before he could react. "Hey, you alright kid?" It had been 4 months since the events of November 1984, and Steve Harrington was becoming something of a friend to Dustin. He did drive him to the Snowball, after all, and Steve was basically lonely all the time. Really, it was a public service that Dustin was his friend.
"Yeah."
Steve gave him a look.
"People who are alright generally don't go wandering around Sattler's late at night."
"It's not late," Dustin said, then gave Steve a once-over. "And you're out here." Steve half-grimaced, half-chuckled.
"Never said I was alright, Henderson."
Dustin startled a little.
"Really?"
"Really," Steve settled back on his hands, reclining in a way that looked effortlessly cool. "I get nightmares. The Chief's caught me smoking out here a few times."
"Why would Hop care if you're smoking cigarettes?"
"Never mind," Steve flushed. "Tell me honestly, why are you out here? And all by yourself, that's not very safe." Dustin worried his bottom lip.
"Promise you won't laugh?"
"Cross my heart, hope to die."
"My mom can't come to the science fair this year." God, the words sounded even more pathetic out loud. Dustin blushed without much choice in the matter, instinctively drawing his knees to his chest in the way he used to do when he was very young.
"Why not?" Steve asked. His voice took on a softer tone. Dustin couldn't bring himself to look at him. What must Steve think - Steve, who was cool and awesome and a demo-killing, nail-bat wielding badass. He swallowed.
"She has to work."
"...What about your dad?"
"Don't have one."
"Really?" Steve asked. Dustin scoffed, cheeks warming.
"No."
"Huh."
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry man," Steve said. "That's gotta sting." Horrifyingly, Dustin's eyes started to burn again, and he sniffed as uninterestedly he could manage.
"It's fine."
"No, it's not, and it's okay to be upset," Steve said, voice somehow even softer. "I had to do a lot of school events by myself too, y'know. It stings." Dustin, sniffing again, chanced a look at Steve. He was nothing but genuine.
"You?" he asked. Steve huffed a small, almost self-deprecating laugh.
"Me," he said. "They don't call me 'no parents, big house' for nothing." He stretched out a leg, nudging Dustin with his toe. Dustin let himself rock with the motion, mind still processing. "C'mon, tell me about your science project."
By the time the stars came out, Dustin let Steve drive him home. They walked, Steve wheeling Dustin's bike back to his house for him, then stuffed it into the trunk of his beamer. He muttered something about buying a bike rack, then let Dustin fiddle through his cassette collection and radio knobs, only chastising when he turned the music up too loud. When they finally pulled up to Dustin's house, Steve surprised him by reaching out and squeezing his shoulder.
"Keep your head up, Henderson," he said, got Dustin's bike out of his trunk, and waited to drive away until Dustin was inside his house.
One week later, on March 14th, Dustin got picked up by Lucas' family to go to the middle school.
"Shame your mother couldn't join us this year," Mrs. Sinclair smiled. Dustin forced himself to smile back. "Don't worry though, she made us promise to take lots of pictures." Lucas smiled commiseratingly at him. Dustin ignored it, instead turning to look out the window as they drove. At the middle school, Lucas and Dustin ditched Mrs. and Mr. Sinclair to find Will and Mike. The other two boys were already standing by their booth, their solar-oven sitting proudly on the table. Surrounding it was poster-board of their experiment results and findings. Standing a few feet away were Jonathan, Mrs. Byers, and Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler. Dustin felt jealousy settle like a stone in his stomach but shoved it down. He smiled and high-fived Jonathan, shook Mrs. Wheeler's hand, stink-eyed Mr. Wheeler, and even got a hug from Mrs. Byers, all the while wishing he had a mom or dad or older brother. Wishing he didn't have to be the odd one out.
The first hour of the fair passed as usual, teachers and parents coming around to each booth, asking questions about their experiment, reading their data. Dustin even snuck away to check out another solar-oven group and came back feeling smug, his and the party's was the clear winner between the two. He stepped away a second time to get a snack from the vending machine in the hall.
"Hey, Dustin," he looked up, smiling at Nancy at the end of the hall.
"Nancy, I didn't know you were coming."
She shrugged. "Jonathan and I are going out, I said I'd come meet him here." Dustin nodded.
"That's nice," he said, then extended his chocolate bar. "Want some?"
"No, thanks," Nancy smiled. "I also came to ask how you liked your surprise." Dustin furrowed his brow.
"Surprise?"
Nancy's grin grew and she nodded back to the gym. Eyes narrowed, Dustin ducked back in, weaving around tables to get back to their booth. He saw Lucas first, grinning like Christmas came early.
"Did you know he was coming?" he asked. Dustin frowned.
"Who?"
"Henderson!"
Dustin's head snapped to the left of their booth, where Steve was bending over their solar-oven. A wide grin split across his face when he saw Dustin, and he waved him over. Starstruck, Dustin obediently came to Steve's side.
"Dude, this thing is way cooler than what you described," Steve was saying. "I don't think I'd be able to make one now, let alone in eighth grade-"
"Steve," Dustin interrupted, something dangerously close to hope fluttering in his chest. "What are you doing here?" Steve straightened a little, hand reaching up to run through his hair. If Dustin wasn't wrong, he'd say that Steve looked almost flustered.
"It's your science fair," he shrugged. "And, well, I figured, you deserved to have someone who was here just for you." Dustin's jaw went slack. His hand unconsciously tightened on his chocolate bar.
"You- but- how-"
"I called Nance," Steve admitted. Dustin looked quickly over his shoulder to see Nancy hugging Jonathan by the doors.
"Really?" he asked. Steve nodded, still looking a little flustered.
"Yeah," he said. Dustin swallowed, feeling suddenly as though he needed something to focus on. Something that wasn't this warmth threatening to split him in two.
"Oh..." he looked down at the bar in his hand and cleared his throat. He held his hand out to Steve, watched his expression flicker with something indiscernible. "Want some?" Steve's eyes lit up.
"Hey, Three Musketeers!" he said. "Yeah, man, I love nougat."
Oh.
Dustin had to look away again, lump rising in his throat faster than he could stop it. Steve's hand was on his shoulder then, grounding him. He looked vulnerable, suddenly, and the shock of it had Dustin still.
"I hope it's okay that I came," he said. "I'm realizing maybe this was a lot, me just showing up - I should've called or asked-"
"No," Dustin said, voice thick. "It's okay." Steve's eyes searched his, and Dustin straightened a little.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," Dustin nodded. "It's really, really cool that you came." Finally, Steve's face broke into a small smile, and he nodded.
"Good," he said. He straightened and reached out, squishing Dustin's cap down on his head like he had that night at the Byers, and Dustin realized belatedly that he was preening under the attention. "C'mon, rugrat, walk me through your numbers."