Well, I don't know how to start. To be honest, I didn't realize that the little problem I had would get so big, and well, I want to apologize for disappearing like that, but as I mentioned, a personal problem came up that thankfully is now resolved :D. So, I'll leave you with some Stranger Things food and promise to fulfill your orders as soon as possible 😭😭
the people yearn for more lee!dustin... specifically HEAR ME OUT that one scene at the end of s3 where max and lucas are teasing him about neverending story and singing it, but he chuckles slightly because yeah, its kinda silly, and theyre like "see!! our singing is great, you enjoy it" and hes like "no tf I don't you guys suck" so they tkl him silly :] bonus points they call him dusty bun while wrecking him bc they're evil (they will all be best friends forever)
AAKDKFJ YOU'RE SO REAL FOR THAT 😭😭 No but seriously every day I am more sad to see a severe lack of lee Dustin... Or any Dustin for that matter. This is such a great idea, I hope you like it!
Little side note- I get busy sometimes, so my posting schedule is kind of non-existent... However, I think I'm going to try and make at least one fic a month, so that's something to look forward to! Feel free to send in some ideas :)
~°Please, Let it Go!°~
Lee: Dustin
Ler: Max, Lucas
TW: Swearing, angst? (if you've seen the finale you know)
Word Count: 1590
SPOILERS FOR SEASON THREE FINALE!!!
"...Did we get that verse right? It's 'unfold behind the clouds?'"
Dustin stared at his two least favorite friends with nothing but disappointment. Out of every traumatic thing that had happened to them over the past few months, he was clueless as to how this ended up being the one thing they just would not let go of.
Realistically, maybe Dustin should be more glad to even be sitting here right now. Safe, uninjured, and together with his friends and family.
Well... at least for the next couple of hours.
It was starting to feel like every time the party had a peaceful moment together, something just had to come and ruin it. The only difference this time is that the Byers were moving away, and even though they all made promises to keep in touch, there was no denying that their party wouldn't be the same without Will.
None of them could ever be the same after what happened.
And still, regardless of how lucky Dustin was to get to hear his friends laugh and sing after everything, he couldn't help his irritation at their song of choice.
"...Yeah, but you're butchering it, so could you please stop?"
The curly-haired boy made a show of rolling his eyes when Lucas just carried on.
"So then join in, Dusty-bun."
Dustin hid his face in his hands as they doubled back down on the teasing.
"We just wanna hear you sing!"
"I am not going to—"
"Turn around!"
"..."
They were going to be the death of him.
The curly-haired teenager flipped them off with a look that promised a shunning for at least a month, promptly getting to his feet and carrying the box he'd been sorting through to the other side of the room.
"Aww, I think our Dustin's embarrassed!"
"Are you embarrassed, Dusty-bun?"
"And what have I told you about calling me that?" he snapped, halting his steps to properly stare them down. The innocent looks plastered on their faces succeeded in annoying him further.
"Oh, right-" Max crossed her arms over her chest. "Only Suzie gets to call you that!"
"Max, let it go already!"
Lucas grinned. "Should we go radio her? Maybe then we'll get to hear you—"
"I said stop, guys!"
An empty box soared across the room, doing little to silence the giggling couple with its hollow clunking across the floor. A silence stretched for a moment, as if deciding the fate of the boy who was now slowly backing away from two mischievous figures.
"So we're throwing things now, are we?" Lucas laughed, reaching for an old Star Wars figurine, its colors faded and missing a limb. It looked nostalgic in the mostly empty room, unfit for the strange bareness of the walls and lack of laughter that would be soon to follow the Byers out of their home. And then it was soaring out of the boy's hand and right into Dustin, who squeaked out a curse and searched for more toys to fling.
Things went on like this for a while, plastic figures clattering around the three teens as war broke out, no rules and no real goal but to hit the other party as much as possible. It felt like a tension was leaving them— one that made conversations hard and last hugs awkward. Like maybe the end of the day didn't have to mean the end of everything.
Dustin panted as he ran across the room, diving behind a stack of boxes to avoid getting hit. Figures knocked into his makeshift shield in a flurry of taps as he stuck an arm out to flip off his offenders.
He reached for some of the mess on the ground, popping out from his hiding spot and hurling a couple of toys at his friends.
"Take this, assholes!"
Suddenly, a sharp cry silenced the chaos in an instant as Dustin caught sight of Max grabbing at her eye. Lucas immediately dropped his ammo as he turned to check on her.
"Oh, shit." He stumbled to his feet, making his way over to the pair. "Sorry, I didn't mean t—"
The teen cut himself off with a squeal as Max suddenly bolted towards him.
"That's it. You're dead, Henderson!"
And then his world was turned sideways as she tackled him to the ground, both a mess of shouts and flying limbs in the middle of the room.
Lucas, recovering from the abruptness of the whole situation, rose with the intention of diffusing the argument before one of them pushed a bit too far.
"MAX! Waitwaitwait stohop it!—"
Like right now.
"Okay, Max. Get off of him," he sighed, placing a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder with gentle caution.
"No, he'll be fine," Max smirked, in the process of prying the boy beneath her off of her arms. "He just needs to learn some awareness."
And then, in the matter of about two seconds, Dustin shrieked with such conviction that Lucas was tempted to throw the redhead off, startling as the teenager twisted violently under her touch.
"Fuhuck yohou! Fuck fuhUCK!"
Another squeal flew past his lips, and then, all at once, things started to make sense again to Lucas.
The curly-haired boy's face was twisted into a wide smile, shiny teeth on display to the whole world through explosive giggles. All the while, Max dug under his arms, looking pleased with herself for how effect her methods were proving to be.
"Yeah? How about fuck you for trying to blind me!"
Dustin shook his head, elbows clamped to his sides in a death grip, though it did little to stop the digits wiggling in his armpits.
"To be fair, I don't think it even left a mark," Lucas interjected, unsure of who exactly he should be helping right now. On one hand, he could come to the rescue of one of his closest friends before he totally lost his shit, or aid his very beautiful and amazing girlfriend in committing murder via tickling.
Dustin snorted sharply, head thrown back in hysterics.
"Gohod damn ihit! I'm soho gonna kill yohou!"
The athlete reached for Max's hand, and in an instant she turned to glare deep into his eyes. When she spoke, she sounded completely serious, and it would've been nearly impossible to guess what she was currently up to by the look on her face.
"Help him, and I dump you."
Ookaaay, not doing that.
Lucas shrugged in defeat, settling just above his friend's head as he tugged his arms up with an ease that came with his newfound interest in sports. Dustin gave a pleading look upwards as his defenses were wrenched away, flailing twice as hard now that he was properly pinned.
"Luhucas, shit— don't do thihis!" he cried, but all he received was an apologetic smile and a much harsher scribble along his side.
"Hey, Max?"
"What is it, stalker?"
"You're doing it wrong."
The girl looked up irritatedly, fingers halting for a few blissful moments as she looked at her boyfriend expectantly.
"Okay, then tell me how to do it right."
Lucas smirked, ignoring the babbling below him as he chose violence. I mean, go big or go home... right?
"His stomach is way worse. Dude's got it bad there."
Max hummed, poising her fingers over their new target. Dustin groaned indignantly.
"What is it, Dusty-bun? Is this a bad spot or something?" She drummed her fingers over his midsection a couple times, laughing at the squeal that bounced off the walls in response.
"Trahaitors! Yohohou guhuys—" he kicked his legs out frantically in an attempt to knock at least one of the bodies off of him. "You fuhucking suck ahass!"
And that was the last coherent sentence the boy managed before being submit to a tickly doom by the hands of his own party. The remainder of his vocabulary consisted of giggly threats and an occasional plea for his release, though even those became intelligible after a while, lost to bright laughter.
The minutes ticked on, and soon enough, as Dustin's laughter had gone silent and breathless, the redhead decided she'd got her fill of revenge. She sat back on his legs, smoothing over his shirt before giving him a pat that he would later deny flinching from.
Lucas released his arms, snickering when it took him a couple of seconds to come to and bring them down.
"You okay, man?"
The teen rubbed his eyes, wet and droopy from being worn out so recently. He groaned.
"I'm never... talking to either of you... ever again."
"Yeah, yeah. You love us."
Dustin gave her the finger.
A peaceful silence filled the space while the three took their time picking up the aftermath of their silly game. Soon enough, the room was clean and organized, bare in such an unfamiliar way that one couldn't help but long to just get out. Not that there was much to leave behind anymore.
"We'd better take these to the moving-truck," Lucas murmured, glancing out the window just as Ms. Byers passed through, carrying a suitcase and an old jacket he wasn't sure he'd ever seen her wear before.
Dustin nodded and lead the way outside. The door clicked quietly behind them, leaving an empty room behind. The afternoon sun filtered through the windows, giving the wooden floor a strange glow that lit up the plain walls, illuminating dust particles as they floated aimlessly across the space.
Outside, a group of friends gathered for a last goodbye. Hawkins was going to be different, but maybe change doesn't mean the end.
Maybe change would be a good thing, after all.
A/N: Oh how I love these guys- This trio is actually so underrated omg, but I feel like any pairing with Dustin is a barren wasteland 🥲 Anyways, I hope this is well received by the community, and I wish you all a very good day/night! ❤️❤️
Summary: Lucas is on the run from his tormentor like usual, but things are suddenly different once he decides to finally face his fears and fight back, but he didn’t mean it literally when he accidentally lands on MX’s back. Little did Lucas know, he’d find out a playful weakness at this moment.
~
“COME BACK HERE!”
Lucas ran as fast as his legs could let him, even if they were begging for him to stop and rest. The ground beneath him shook as loud footsteps emitted from behind while a voice now recognizable enough yelled, making him refuse to look back in fear of falling in a pit or seeing his grinning face.
He jumped over a couple of stairs and pipes, sometimes even landed on the floating bricks, while MX rammed through the obstacles like they were nothing to him. This scared Lucas like hell since he was first lured inside the game, and it still does to this day.
“L-LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY! I JU-JUST WANT OUT OF HERE!” Lucas begged whilst panting, almost tripping over but quickly regained his balance to jump over another one of the stair obstacles.
“YOU CAN’T ESCAPE FROM ME, LUCAS. YOU’LL JUST TIRE YOURSELF OUT AT ANY MOMENT.” The giant plumber responded, his last sentence somehow sounding correct. Then again, stopping would result in death- or in other words- stomped on like a Goomba.
Up ahead was a large pit, the same one where MX would always end up falling in, and Lucas knew very well from his unending experience. He jumps onto the three floating bricks that were nearby and over to the lined up ones that included a question block. Hearing the low-pitched sound of MX jumping had him sprinting to the edge of the pit out of panic to avoid going down with him.
Some of his worries went away when he heard the brute’s scream as he fell down to the bottom with a loud thud. Lucas puts his hand on a pipe as he catches his breath before leaning against it, sliding to the ground.
(It won’t be long before he comes back up again… what am I supposed to do now..?)
He knew there was no other way of leaving this place. He could’ve died from thirst or starvation, but no, it was like there was no heaven for him. He’d rather have the amount of lives you’d normally see than infinite.
He sat there silent until his hands were clutched into fists, slowly gaining bravery as he got up. He took a few deep breaths to get rid of some of his anxiety. “…You know what?”
“I’m n-not gonna be afraid of you anymore! S-Sure, I may be still am, but-but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna be running away from you all the time like a coward!” He spoke out, yelling down at the darkened pit assuming MX should be hearing him by now. “You hear me?! I’m not staying here any longer whether you like it o-or not!”
He turns around to the pipe he was leaning on before, jumping on top of it. He had to think of some plan to fight back without getting himself killed, but how when MX is that bigger than him?
An idea suddenly struck him. It’s somewhat of a death risk, but he’d do (almost) anything to get out of this hellhole.
“Okay… I can do this.” He breathed in and out a few times to prepare himself, attempting to encourage himself. “I can do this…”
Those same words of his repeated in his head as he waited for something to happen however quiet it may be.
…Maybe a bit too quiet.
…What’s taking him so lo-
“WAHOO!!”
The immediate moment he came jumping out, Lucas took the time to quickly jump off the pipe hoping to land right.
(Please on the hat, please on the hat, please on the hat, please on the hat, please on the hat-!)
The green plumber boy almost slipped off from the impact of the giant Mario ramming down the pipe, but managed to grab onto the hat.
…However, an eyebrow rose once Lucas felt whatever he had landed on, confused for a second until his eyes widened when he saw that it was actually the back of MX instead of his hat. Immediately, he felt like regretting his decision.
“You can’t hide forever, Lucas. Come out!” MX looked around searching for the boy. His loud voice brought fear back to Lucas, and to think he was actually going to be brave for once too.
He quieted his anxious breathing, trying not to look down before beginning to climb up to the top of MX’s head. As the brute searched though, he begins to feel something going up his back but luckily shrugged it off and went back to looking.
“Thank god…” He whispered with a sigh of relief, continuing his risky journey. It was almost like hiking on a mountain except if it were to be a walking beast unaware of his presence, and speaking of mountains, thinking about this makes him interested to go and see them someday… outside of the cartridge, of course. It felt somewhat nice in a way that wasn’t in the middle of a fight or flight situation.. sort of.
“WHoA-!” His thoughts were interrupted when MX randomly decided to jump back over to the starting edge of the pit he fell in, this time landing with success. Lucas began slowly sliding down again, now clawing his way back up not realizing his tormentor would notice. He did feel a flinch and hear him snicker however, which was… unexpected.
A large hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere, startling Lucas into moving out of the way to avoid getting squashed. It scratched the back for a moment before returning to wherever it came from. Turns out, that hand belonged to MX thinking it was just an itch.
An itch that felt a bit too… tickly.
(I-Is he actually..?) The boy thought to himself. He was feeling curious to find out, but at the same time he also had the feeling of this being a bad idea. But like they say, it wouldn’t hurt to try, right? Some small people are sometimes hard to find for big ones after all.
“Quit acting like a coward and come out already, LucaHAHAS-!” MX yelped, putting a hand over his mouth snickering as he suddenly felt a ticklish sensation. Lucas, being the cause of this, skittered his fingers around the back while holding onto the giant’s clothing with a surprised look on his face. He couldn’t believe what he was actually hearing, and he wasn’t even questioning if it was a dream. This was all real.
“T-Thahahat betteheher not behe yohohou on my fAHAHAcking back!” He yelled, trying to reach his hand for the green plumber. He would have easily grabbed him with no problem if it weren’t for him moving around like a spider.
“Wow, Ihi never knew that the big bad ‘Mario’ himself would be ticklish!” He chuckled, dodging the giant hand before continuing his tickle attack. He was still feeling hesitant due to worry, but at least this was distracting MX.
“Nohohot truhuhue, kihiddo! Now gehehet OhOHOHOFF-!” His voice cracked a little when Lucas started skittering at the spine area of his back.
“If that’s ’not true’, then maybe you wouldn’t mind this?” He smirked, now tracing his finger up and down getting some unexpected giggles out of him.
“IHIIHI DOHOHO MIND THAHAT-! KKHAAAHAHA! CUHUHUT IT OUHUHUT!” MX cackled, making a second attempt at grabbing the boy, but to no avail. It was a surprise for him that he’s this fast to avoid being torn apart at a certain point like this.
“After all the times you’ve killed me? Hah! I doubt I’d be stopping anytime soon unless you promise to let me live!” He carefully moves down to the side of his overalls, wiggling his fingers over it. “Now I wonder if you’re ticklish here as well…”
“DOhon’t you try it, ohohor I swEHEHAHAHAHA-!” He bursted in laughter as the green plumber begins clawing at his side. He couldn’t help but wonder how a smaller victim’s fingers of theirs could tickle more than a regular-sized human’s, but it might have been due to how unknowingly sensitive he was. “Or you swear what, you’ll crush me into a pancake? Nice threat, but not enough to scare me!” Lucas replied with a smug.
Now digging his fingers in his ribs, the smug changes to more of a mischievous look as if he was thinking of playing a prank on someone, which he was except that wasn’t the point as he looked at the giant’s stomach with a playful idea on mind. Bellies were excellent spots to go for most of the time, so it should be the same for MX.
His focus quickly shifts when MX suddenly began slowly collapsing to the ground, alerting him into jumping over to the strap of his overalls without any hesitation before he could accidentally get himself crushed. A short thud emitted as he was now on his back cackling almost like a maniac which scared him a bit.
He shivered as he carefully removed his hands off the strap before hopping over to MX’s stomach, wiggling his fingers in the middle of the air with a chuckle. “Giving up yet?” He grinned.
“WHahahat mahakes you thihink that Ihi will? Ihif anything, it’s you who should be giving up, Lucahas.” His giggles remained due to the phantom tickles on his side, looking his head at him only to witness what he’s preparing to commit.
“…Don’t. You. Dare.” He threatened.
“Oh well then, suit yourself! Tickle tickle tickle~!” He teased, now spidering around what can now be considered as MX’s #1 tickle spot by the sound of him falling into hysterical laughter, closing his eye sockets shut while slamming his fist against the ground. He looked up at him to see his face surrounded by a blush. He snickered at the sight of it, seemingly having fun with this current experience.
“FFAAHAHAHACK! OHOHOKAY, OKAY, FIHIHINE! IHIHI GIVE UHUHUP, JUHUHUST STAHAHAHAP-!” He forfeited. Lucas gives his stomach one more tickle before stopping, crossing his arms like he’s been satisfied by victory. The giant plumber catches his breath for a few minutes or so before sitting up a bit with a grunt.
“…So,” he hesitated just by looking at his face, “promise n-not to put me.. through all that again?”
Seeing him hesitantly hold his hand out, MX thought for a second before responding. “…Sure, champ. Promise.” He shook Lucas’ hand with his finger because of how big he was.
By his tone he sounded somewhat… trusting, and he wasn’t so sure about it, but at least nowadays he’ll at least leave him be for once.
…Or so he thought.
A shriek came out of him as he was suddenly snatched up by the same hand he shook once they both let go, his fears slowly coming back to him. Lucas then hears chuckling from the giant.
“GOTCHA…”
Turns out he’s been crossing fingers without his awareness.
