when dustin pulls away from everyone as a safety precaution until a close call with reader makes him realize he can’t lose another munson. he can’t.
warnings: car crash, dustin beat up, mentions of blood and dustin being emotionally unavailable :(
a/n: warning: munson as a last name will give you ZERO good nickname options. I went with Em, because M for munson.. yeah? no? okay, fair. happy reading!
You blink awake to the dank smell of the Upside Down.
“Damn you, Steve!” You hear Dustin say, sounding frustrated. “I can’t believe you got us into another mess! You realize that Em’s never been here before, right? Her only knowledge of this place is Ed-” He stops abruptly. Steve scoffs.
“Of course. You can’t even say his name. All you do is throw shade and suffer silently. Ever care to think that we’re worried about you?” Steve responds. You get a weird feeling in your gut, like you’re probably not supposed to hear this conversation. Then you feel a trickle down your back. You put your hand on your neck and it comes back stained red. Oh, god.
“Hey Dust?” You ask quietly.
“Yes, lovely?” He responds, opening the door to look at you, and- “Oh my god. No. No, no, no. Not again. This can’t be happening again.”
Earlier that day…
Robin comes on over the radio, and you all plan for the crawl. Mike has his yap session, and the end of the day can’t come by any quicker. Everyone is at the Squawk and Dustin is a no-show.
“Where is Dustin?” Steve demands. “Of course he’s not here. Do you know where he could be?” He asks, looking towards you.
“Nope. We haven’t talked in three days.” You respond quietly.
“Stubborn little shit.” Steve mumbles. “You know how to work the van?” He questions, face hopeful.
“I do, and I’d be glad to go with you, I need to talk to you about something.” You say, giving Steve a smile.
He smiles warmly at you. “That would be really helpful, thanks for taking Dustin’s spot!”
You get in the van, putting the headphones around your neck. Steve gets in the driver seat and turns to look at you. “What’s up? Is everything alright?”
“Well, not really.” You say, your voice cracking. “I’ve been trying really hard to help Dustin cope with Eddie’s death, but it’s hard, Steve. It’s really hard.” Your throat is constricted with emotion, your words clipped. “No matter what I do, he keeps drifting farther and farther away from me. I don’t know what to do, I try to talk to him and all I get is hostility.” A tear rolls down your cheek. “And I’m scared.” Your voice trembles. “I’m really scared. I love him, Steve, I can’t lose someone else.”
“It’s okay to be scared.” He tells you softly. You sniffle. “I’m scared too.” He whispers. “I’ve never seen Dustin act like this before, and I know that Eddie was closer to Dustin than me, but I miss the little punk too. Dustin’s been under my wing forever, and he’s been drifting for a while now.” He sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. “It’s like he’s flown the nest. I don’t know how to help him.” You nod.
“Yeah, I-” You get cut off by the walkie. You quickly put the headphones on, and listen intently. “Signal picking up,” you tell Steve, the numbers rising in front of you.
“I see the lights,” he says. “Let me know when-”
“It’s here. Walkie, quick!” You say cutting him off and reaching for the walkie. “Demo’s here, and it’s flipping!” You say.
“Thanks Em! You can sign off now, focus on tracking when it leaves.” Nancy’s voice crackles from the walkie.
“We’ve got fifteen, give or take. Still need to talk, or are you good?” Steve questions.
“I’m good, just need a little time to think.”
Dustin, why have you been pushing me away? I know it’s hard dealing with the gravity of Eddie and everything he left behind, but I’ll help you! Please, I just need you to talk to me.
“The demo has flipped, get a move on, guys.” Johnathan says over the walkie.
“Left.” You say, Steve turning. The beeps get louder and louder, and you’ve caught the demo’s signal. “Got him.” You tell Steve. He keeps driving and lets the others know. Suddenly, the beeps get softer. You raise an eyebrow. You’re losing him. “Stop.” You blurt. Steve looks back at you.
“Stop? Like stop driving?” He asks, puzzled.
“Stop! Stop the car!” The breaks squeal and the car comes to a halt. “I’m losing the signal, turn around.” Steve puts the car in reverse, looks back, and sees-
“Dustin?!” He exclaims. You turn so quick it practically gives you whiplash. You crawl to the doors, slide them open, and run to him.
“Dustin! Are you okay? What happened? Why weren’t you at the Squawk? Why is your face all bloodied?” You bring your hands to his face, looking at his cuts and bruises, his split lip and bloody nose. He swats your hands away.
“I’m fine, really. Just crashed my bike. No big deal.” He gives a weak smile. Your face falls into a frown. Of course he’s not going to tell you what really happened.
“That’s bullshit.” Steve says, matter-of-fact. “But I’m not going to push. If it was Carver’s gang, tell them to go to hell.” You walk back to the car and put the headphones on. Dustin follows, and sees you doing his job.
“Em, let me do that. It’s my job.”
“Not today it isn’t. Get in the front.” You say, mind somewhere else.
“But-” He complains.
“Dustin. Get in the front.” You cut him off. He sighs begrudgingly, and sits in the passenger seat. You pick up the walkie. “What the hell is going on, Nance? Why did I lose the demo?”
“Not sure, Em. Maybe-” Nancy gets cut off by someone else chiming in. It’s Joyce.
“Derek woke up, and-” You put the walkie down.
“Fuck.” You mumble. You hear faint beeps. “Drive.” The car starts, and you listen intently. You mutter directions and Steve listens. You can’t hear Steve or Dustin, which is why you don’t hear their conversation.
“Dustin, man. What is your problem?” Steve says, looking over at him.
“What is my problem? What, am I not allowed to grieve now?” Dustin snaps. Steve rubs a hand over his face.
“Not what I meant and you know it.” Steve replies. “I meant your problem with her.” He says, looking at you quickly.
“I don’t have a problem with her.” Dustin says, his voice strained. Steve lets out a dry laugh.
“Yeah, right.” Steve mutters. “She’s just trying to help you and all you’ve given her is attitude and hostility. She cares about you, y’know.” Dustin rolls his eyes.
“Sure she does, she-” Dustin starts, disbelieving, but gets cut off.
“Look.” Steve says. Dustin turns to look back at you. You’re hyper focused, yes, but you’re doing your work with tear stained cheeks. As if on timing, you sniffle.
“Listen,” Dustin tells Steve. “The only way to keep her safe,” he says, voice cracking, “is to push her away. Eventually she won’t put up with me and she’ll end things. Yes, it will hurt like hell when I lose her, but at least she’ll stay alive.” Steve falls quiet.
“Dustin,” he starts, at a loss for words, “that’s not-”
“Healthy, I know.” Dustin cuts him off. “But if she died..” his voice cracks. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.” Steve sighs.
“Alright. I understand, bud, but promise me one thing?” He asks.
“Yeah?” Dustin replies.
“Just make sure she knows you love her, okay? She loves you so much.” Steve says.
“I will.” Dustin says softly. “I promise.”
“Left.” You say, still unaware of the words just exchanged.
“Here? But there’s no road.” Steve says, confused.
“Left!” You say, more persistent. “Left now!” He turns, and after running over multiple fences, the barn comes into view, and with it, a salivating demogorgon. “Run it over.”
“What?!” Steve and Dustin say, unified.
“Run the fucker over, did you hear me?” You say, turning to look through the back windows to be sure more weren’t coming. The car revs, and Steve hits it head-on. It rips a gate and scrambles into the Upside Down.
“Do you think we could make it?” Steve asks, looking to the two of you.
“Do it.” You say, voice hard as stone.
“Are you both insane?” Dustin says, mortified. “We are not going to- oh my god!” He says as Steve hits the gas. The gate continues to shrink, and you barely make it through, losing a side mirror in the process.
“Go! Follow it, keep going!” You say, the signal still going strong.
“Are you fucking crazy?” Dustin yells. “You could have gotten us killed, Steve!”
“Yeah, well I didn’t!” Steve retorts. “And now we’re sailing after that demo and we’re closer to Holly. Win-win.” Dustin’s jaw drops.
“Win-win?! We could have died! Did you miss that part? Are you trying to kill us?” Dustin practically yelps.
“Um, guys?” You say, interjecting.
“Well I didn’t get us killed, how about that! Dustin, you need to take a chill pill. This much worrying isn’t good for you!” Steve snaps back.
“Guys, I’m losing the signal.” You say, raising your voice slightly.
“Oh yeah?” Dustin says, stubborn as ever. “Well maybe you don’t worry enough! Ever thought about that? What would Hawkins do without us? It would be terrible!”
“I’m losing the signal!” You shout. Both boys turn to look at you.
“What?!” They exclaim. You turn to see if it’s behind you, running away, and then-
SLAM!
Everything goes black.
You blink awake to the dank smell of the Upside Down.
“Damn you, Steve!” You hear Dustin say, sounding frustrated. “I can’t believe you got us into another mess! You realize that Em’s never been here before, right? Her only knowledge of this place is Ed-” He stops abruptly. Steve scoffs.
“Of course. You can’t even say his name. All you do is throw shade and suffer silently. Ever care to think that we’re worried about you?” Steve responds. You get a weird feeling in your gut, like you’re probably not supposed to hear this conversation. Then you feel a trickle down your back. You put your hand on your neck and it comes back stained red. Oh, god.
“Hey Dust?” You ask quietly.
“Yes, lovely?” He responds, opening the door to look at you, and- “Oh my god. No. No, no, no. Not again. This can’t be happening again.”
“What, Dustin? What’s wrong?” You ask.
“Steve!” He calls. “Steve, help!” He turns back to you. “It’s okay baby, we’ll get you out of this mess.” He says, and you feel your consciousness fade away.
“Oh my god.” Steve says. “We need to get that off of her.” They lift the signal tracker off of your chest, praying your ribs aren’t broken.
“Should we take the glass out of her?” Dustin asks. “I didn’t even know the window shattered.”
“Yes, definitely. You get the few in her face, I’ll get the ones on her arms.” Steve says, taking charge. Dustin’s hands tremble moving closer to your face. “And Dustin?” Steve says.
“Yeah?” He responds, breathing unsteady.
“She’s going to live.” He confirms. Dustin exhales shakily. The boys work to get the glass out of you, patching you up as they go.
“Steve?” Dustin asks after putting a bandaid on your last cut, “is her ankle supposed to look like that?” Steve pales.
“No. But we don’t have the materials to fix it. We need to find a place to hide until we can contact Nancy and the others again.” Dustin nods.
“And Steve?” Dustin follows up.
“Yeah?” Steve questions.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for pushing you away and constantly snapping at you and being a real bitch and-” Steve pulls him in tight, putting a hand on his head.
“It’s alright, Henderson. I’m glad you’re back.” Dustin grins and hugs him back. “Now, how do we get your girl to that church?” You blink.
“I’ll walk.” You say feebly.
“Em, oh my god!” Dustin says, turning to you.
“Hi Dusty.” You say softly.
“I’m sorry to you too,” he blurts, “I had no right to treat you like that and keep pushing you away from me. I love you. I love you so much and I was scared. I was scared I would lose you like Eddie. I should have known it was a bad idea, lovely, I just wasn’t thinking right, I-” You cut him off with a kiss, lightly pressing your lips to his.
“Shh, Dusty. It’s okay. I love you too. Let’s just focus on the now, okay?” You ask, meeting his eyes.
He looks at you like you hung the stars in the sky. “Okay.” He says, taking your hand in his. “Together.”
a/n: oh my I put so much work into this and it’s finally done!!!! I hope you all loved it!!!!!
big thanks to @spectralthunderr for being my irl friend (whoa.. irl friends exist?) and my graphic designer!!!! love you spec thank you for being by my side all these years!!! mwah!!!!
GUYS it’s @yaluficsaddict and i’s 24-hour (ish) mutualversary!! (i love made up words)
YALUUUUU i’ve loved our little chats and i’m suuuuper excited for the fic i requesteddd!! i feel so close to you already and i think this will be a great friendship 🫶🫶🫶
