It's funny how I fully planned on redrawing that art I reblogged earlier, but as soon as I opened up krita, my brain was like "what if we draw one of the saddest moments of our Avatar s/i's story instead?"
Hiii Dustin and Ted!!! Hope you guys are having a great day-!
Quick question for you both-
What is your FAVORITE thing about Dori?
D: Hmm... my favorite thing probably has to be how caring they are. I can't count how many times they've looked out for me and the rest of the party. They were always willing to help protect us from any upside down creatures or bad men from Hawkins Lab when we needed it (or the Russians under Starcourt Mall, or the government guys... You get the picture. They've kept me safe from a lot of things 😅). And boy did we need it. I don't know if I would've made it this long without them.
T: Aw, man. How can I choose? Hmm... Well, for me, my favorite thing about Dori is that they're a most awesome sibling! I can't narrow it down any further than that. She's been giving me and Bill some guitar lessons to help us bring Wyld Stallyns one step closer to being as excellent as the big names, like Van Halen. And I'm glad they've been right by my side when Bill and I traveled through time and when we died. Although, I gotta say, our death was so bogus. Take a lesson from me. If you're ever greeted by yourself and they say that they're you from, like, the recent future, always. Be. Suspicious. And make sure to ask them a question that only the real you can actually answer. Do not follow in my most careless footsteps and ask how many fingers you're about to hold up. It won't end well.
Oops... Sorry for rambling like that. Sometimes I still get hung up on that non triumphant time in our lives. But yeah, Dori's an awesome sibling. I am most thankful to have them!
Summary: A power surge with the WSQK van causes the battery to go completely dead. With Dustin MIA and no one else available, there's only one other person that can help Steve and Jonathan with their predicament. Well... if they're willing to even talk to Steve right now, that is.
Warnings: depictions of smoking, mild angst
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Steve turns the key in the ignition. Again. And again. And again to no avail. The engine sputtering each time.
"Dammit!" He snaps, slamming his hand on the steering wheel in defeat.
Jonathan slides his headphones off. Giving up on trying to find Hopper's signal with the telemetry tracker for now. Joining Steve in the front, he settles down in the passenger seat. Resting his foot on the dashboard.
"So... are you gonna wave for some help, or should I do it?"
"I don't wanna wait forever for a car to come by, man. And what are the chances that they'll actually stop for us? I mean, with this giant antenna sticking out of the van, we look pretty damn weird."
"So, what should we do? Mom's trying to keep tabs on Hopper, Robin still can't drive, and Nancy's still at the hospital. There's no one to drive us back to The Squawk, or to help jumpstart the car."
It hits Steve all of a sudden. There is someone that might be able to help. Someone who managed to get their license within the past year, and they have a car now. He reluctantly sighs. Letting his head fall to rest on the steering wheel.
"I know someone we can call... but she's gonna be pissed about it."
"Dori?" Jonathan guesses right on the money.
"Yeah. Dori. Hand me the walkie."
Jonathan reaches for the walkie talkie on the shelf that's holding the reader for the telemetry tracker. Turning it on and handing it to Steve.
He presses the talk button, speaking into it. "Hey, Dori? This is Steve. Do you copy? Over."
No response. They either don't have their walkie on, or they're ignoring him. The latter being most likely.
"Come on, Dori. I know you can hear me. You always have your walkie on during crawls."
Still nothing. Of course.
Steve rolls his eyes. A frustrated sigh coming from him as he presses the talk button on the walkie again. "Dammit, Dori, answer your walkie. We really need your help, here."
An annoyed groan suddenly comes through, "God, what could be so important that you need my help right now, Steve?"
"Just listen. The battery to the van is dead and no one else is available to help us. The sooner we get the van running again, the sooner we can go back to finding Hopper's signal."
"Wait, you lost Hopper's signal? Was Dustin not able to keep up with it on the tracker?"
"Dustin's not here. Jonathan's manning the tracker tonight."
Silence.
"So where the hell is my little brother?"
"He's not with you?"
"No."
Well shit.
"... Okay. Well, we'll talk about that later. But just get here."
"Fine. But you owe me, Harrington."
"Yeah, yeah. I know."
With that, he lowers the antenna on the walkie and sets it on the dash. Now, all they have to do is wait.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dori sets down their walkie as well. Running a hand through their messy hair as they try to process this. Dustin's not where he said he would be. Steve and Jonathan lost track of Hopper. So far, this crawl has gone to shit in less than an hour.
With a sigh, they move Eddie's guitar off of their lap. They were absentmindedly strumming the strings before Steve called. Carefully, they place it back in its case.
"Be back soon, sweetheart." They mumble. Pressing a kiss to their fingers before strumming them across the strings. Just like Eddie always did.
Closing the case and getting dressed, they grab their walkie again and head out to meet Steve and Jonathan. And hopefully they find Dustin along the way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eventually, Dori parks their car in front of the WSQK van. Dustin, unfortunately, was nowhere to be seen on the way here.
She exits the vehicle and walks over to Steve. Her arms crossed, like always when she's talking to him.
"Finally," Steve says as he hops out of the van. "I take it you couldn't find Dustin?"
"No, but let's just get this over with so I can find him. Do you have jumper cables?"
"Uhh... maybe?" He goes to the back of the van and checks the compartment hidden under the carpeted floor. Grabbing the set of jumper cables and handing one end to Dori.
Steve--as watchful as ever--checks to make sure Dori's doing it right. He knows they're still pretty new to the world of driving, so he's not sure if they've had to do this before.
"You're supposed to put the positive end on the-"
"I know where to put the cables, Steve. God..." Dori rolls their eyes. Putting the positive cable on the positive end of the car battery and the negative cable onto the metal of the engine.
Steve does the same with the van and they both lean against their respective vehicles to wait. Hopefully soon, the van will be charged enough.
"So, how long do you think this should take?" Dori eventually speaks up.
"Oh, it shouldn't be too long. We just gotta let this sucker charge for a few minutes, then hopefully... vroom, vroom."
Steve reaches into the pocket of his jacket. Pulling out some kind of individually wrapped snack.
"Bopper? While we wait?" He offers, shaking the snack in his hand.
"I'm good. Thanks."
"Oh, come on, you love peanut butter things-"
"I said I'm good." They raise their voice slightly, "I just wanna get this over with so I can find Dustin."
"Alright, alright." He raises his hands defensively. "I'm just gonna wait in the van until the battery's charged."
"I don't care." Dori mumbles, more so to herself than to Steve.
She goes to the passenger side of her car. Taking a seat and opening the glove box to pull out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. It's a bad habit that's developed in the past year due to Eddie's death. Plucking a cigarette from the box, she lights it and takes a long drag. A plume of smoke puffing out from her mouth when she exhales.
Poking his head from the driver's side window, Steve calls out, "You should really cut back on that shit, y'know."
Dori just glares at him. Widening their eyes mockingly as they take a longer drag of their cigarette and blow the smoke in Steve's direction. Flipping him off for good measure.
"Asshole." He mumbles, settling back in the driver's seat.
"Cut her some slack, man." Jonathan says, "I mean, can you really blame her for acting like that after what happened last year?"
"Yeah, well, she still shouldn't smoke so much. I'm just trying to look out for her." He turns the keys in the ignition. Trying to see if the van will start.
"Telling her to stop is just gonna make her want to do it more."
"Yeah, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Byers? Cause I'm sure Nance has told you to stop smoking that palm tree shit or whatever you call it."
"Purple palm tree delight."
Steve turns the key in the ignition again. "Yeah, that. If anything, I'm surprised Dori hasn't come to you to get some of that stuff."
"She... has, actually."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. But I told her I smoked the last of it. Figured she'd take it better than if I just told her no." Jonathan shrugs.
"And did she?"
Jonathan nods. "You've just gotta go easy on her. Give her some time and space and she'll come to you when she's ready."
"Okay, that's great advice for trying to bring in a stray cat, but it's been over a year. Dori needs to get her head out of her ass and understand that I'm hanging around so much, that I'm-I'm always going over to her house just so I can make sure she's okay. I do this shit because she's my best friend and I care about her." He turns the ignition again. "And Dustin needs to understand that too. Both of them, they're just... so hung up on Eddie that they don't want to deal with me."
"Have you told them that, though? That you're doing this because you care about them?"
"Do you think I've had time to? With me working at The Squawk and driving around for these crawls, being able to talk to Dori or Dustin one on one has been next to impossible. And not to mention the fact that Dori hasn't wanted anything to do with me ever since I had to drag her away from Eddie's body. She just resents me and couldn't care less about what I do for her!"
Finally, the van starts up. The engine rumbling to life once again. Steve sits back in his seat once again. Running a hand through his hair with a frustrated huff.
"I just don't know what to do anymore, man..." He moves to get out of the van to unhook the jumper cables. A figure suddenly showing up out the corner of his eye. "You have got to be shitting me."
That catches Dori's attention. "Oh god..." their eyes widen at the sight before them.
Leaning against his bike as he walks, is Dustin. All bloody and beaten up, clearly from some kind of fist fight. He smiles weakly. Waving to everyone.
Tossing their cigarette to the asphalt without a second thought, Dori rushes over to him. Holding his chin with a feather-light touch as they closely inspect his injuries. There's so much blood, it's hard to make out how bad the wounds themselves actually are.
They place their hand on his shoulder. Giving it a gentle, assuring squeeze. A cold expression on their face that looks like a mix of anger at whoever did this and worry for their little brother.
"Go sit in the car. I'll put your bike in the back."
Dustin just nods. Not ready to talk yet.
Steve hops out of the van and hurries over. "Dustin! Hey, are you alright, man?"
"What do you think?" Dori shoots back as they set the bike in the trunk.
"I'm fine, Steve. Just peachy." Dustin sarcastically smiles. His expression immediately dropping as he grabs some napkins from the glove box. Wiping off as much blood as he can.
"Just back off. I've got him."
"Dori..." Steve sighs. Dammit. There's gotta be something he can do. "Come on. Just let me help-"
"The only way you can help me right now is to go make yourself useful and disconnect the jumper cables. I'm gonna take Dustin home."
"Home? He's supposed to be manning the tracker for tonight's crawl--which, by the way, he's completely missed out on because he got his face bashed in. Probably from that Andy kid and his goons."
"I didn't get my face bashed in by anyone." Dustin interjects. Lying through his teeth. "I fell off of my bike and landed face first into a pole."
"Yeah. Like I'm supposed to believe that bullshit."
"It's not bullshit!"
"Yes it is! I know how much you love picking fights ever since last year. You and Dori. And now both of you will jump at the chance to fight whenever you can. You'll say it's because you guys are defending Eddie's name, but I think you're just using it as an excuse."
"Well, if Dustin and I aren't there to defend Eddie, then who is?!" Dori argues. "Ever since he died, it's like people have been treating him worse and worse. They still say that he's a murderer, that he should burn in hell, that this town is better of without him. Every time I visit his grave, someone's put put an awful message on it. We're doing everything we can to defend him while everyone else has just moved on! None of you care about Eddie as much as Dustin and I do!"
Steve is just... dumbfounded. He scoffs. Taking a second to string his words together in his mind. "Dori, I... I care about Eddie."
"Do you? Because I never see you visit his grave. At least Robin had the heart to visit a couple times."
Silence.
Steve wasn't expecting them to hit the nail on the head. It's unfortunately true. He hasn't visited Eddie's grave. At least, not since the funeral. He sighs. Looking away in shame.
A small scoff comes from Dori. They expected him not to have an answer, but that didn't make it hurt any less.
"Yeah. That's exactly what I thought." They mumble. Turning their attention back to Dustin, who has... most of the blood wiped away now.
"You feeling any better?"
"A little." He shrugs.
Dori nods. Watching as Dustin stands up out of the car with a few spare napkins in hand.
He sighs. Taking a moment to think before begrudgingly muttering, "I'm gonna help man the tracker for the rest of the night."
"Are you sure that's what you wanna do?"
"Yeah. It's what I was supposed to be doing tonight anyway."
He goes to walk off, but Dori stops him.
"Hey, wait." They grab his arm. Mumbling so Steve won't hear. "Before you get in there, just tell me this... You did manage to land a couple hits before you got jumped, though. Right?"
Dustin chuckles to himself. "I threw paint thinner in their faces. And managed to give one good punch to Andy before his friends grabbed me."
"Good job." She gives a small smirk. Patting his back and letting him go. "You be careful."
"Yeah, I will."
"And Harrington? You and Jonathan better keep him safe. If anything happens to him, it's on your ass."
"Well keep him safe. I promise."
With that, Dori goes back to their car. Disconnecting their end of the jumper cables and shutting the hood. They make sure to keep an eye on Dustin as he climbs into the back of the WSQK van. Silently praying that nothing happens to him while he's with Steve and Jonathan.
They grab their walkie. Keeping it on channel one to listen out as they head back home.
That new tomodachi life game really is perfect for selfshippers, dude. I've already made myself and a few of my ST f/os AND Eddie and I are super in love and are planning on proposing to each other!!!
Why has my brain thought up another AU (or maybe a crossover? I still haven't decided) that I know I'm gonna barely do anything with, but I can't stop thinking about?
do you guys also refer to your self-insert characters in the third person and call them by name (in case they don't have the exact same name as yours)? like, yes the character is literally me and she does have a name inspired by my name, but since it's not the exact same name as mine (and lowkey even if it was), i have the habit of referring to her in the third person as if she's a completely different person when she's like LITERALLY ME
The creature from Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein. I finally watched the movie and he's so sweet and just needs a hug and someone to treat him with kindness.
I don't think he's gonna be a romantic f/o. He's just gonna be... ambiguous. My non specific f/o 🤷♀️
Just watched that Tales From '85 trailer again.... I'm about to open up Blender and try to make a model of my s/i in that art style
Hell, I might make Eddie too, cause I doubt he'll be in the show. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'm still not the best at making 3D models
I just think they’re cute, man @yeehawselfshipping - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
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