Hear me out: what if the older teens+Dustin-upside down storyline was the party instead?
Picture this: Jane is in the upside down and they go there to find her, because they're all a friend group.
Dustin is grieving Eddie and is distant to the party. So in the upside down, all the scenes he originally had with Steve, is with the party members, possibily Lucas.
Byler is jancy. Obviously they're not together and Will is not thinking about proposing. But Mike knows Will is hiding something, he knows Will lied about the painting. Like jancy, they get trapped in the melting room and on the verge of dying, they finally confess their feelings for each other (I MAY or may not have some fanfic draft about this scenario🤭)
In general, it would also give the og party more screentime.
Also, apart from being in distress, they also have time to joke around dw:)
