Chapter Text
//
When Dustin wakes, it’s to complete disorientation.
Everything feels off; the sheets are too soft, and the light from the window is coming in from the wrong angle, and the mattress is too firm—
He rubs at his eyes, wiping the sleep away, because actually, there’s a dip in the mattress, like someone’s— no, like Steve’s asleep on his stomach right there next to him, and holy fuck, it’s all coming back to Dustin now; kissing Steve, and Steve kissing him back, and then—
Dustin grins, blinking against the brightness of the morning light, and untangles himself from the covers so that he can turn onto his side and let himself shamelessly look.
Steve’s features are still relaxed in sleep, lips slightly parted, and Dustin takes in the way his back rises and falls with each breath, the delicate curl of his fingers against the sheets, the trail of hickeys running down the right side of his neck – and the fact that Steve tends to sleep on his stomach isn’t news, because they’ve slept in the same room plenty of times before, but Dustin’s never really thought about what it would mean for him.
He’s never considered that it means that he can reach out to trail his fingers down the slope of Steve’s spine, retracing the path he’s pretty sure he explored last night with his mouth; he skims his fingertips over the soft skin of Steve’s back, right above where the covers are twisted around his hips, petting at the pool of sunlight in the arch of the small of Steve’s back, and the touch must tickle, because he can feel the change in Steve’s breathing right away as he rouses from sleep.
Dustin splays his hand across the patch of sunlight above Steve’s ass – a bit proprietary maybe, but he can’t help himself – and leaves his hand resting there as Steve sighs and rolls over onto his back; Dustin’s palm skims across Steve’s flank, then along his side, and finally comes to rest on Steve’s stomach as Steve turns, allowing Dustin to feel the play of muscles against his hand as Steve does a full body stretch. Steve finally turns his head to look at Dustin, blinking sleepily as he catches sight of him, and the corners of his mouth twitch like he’s trying to suppress a smile – Dustin gets it, he really does, because he’s pretty sure he’s got a goofy, stupid grin plastered on his face right about now.
“Hi,” Dustin says, pushing himself up on his elbow but leaving his hand were it is, resting low on Steve’s stomach, right below his belly button.
“Morning,” Steve replies, peering up at him, and his hair is wild and untamed, fanning out across the pillow – still a mess from Dustin tugging at it last night.
He’s the prettiest boy Dustin’s ever seen. Prettier than most girls at school, too, in a way that makes Dustin want to just— never stop looking at him. Ever.
“You have a good birthday?” Steve murmurs.
“The best,” Dustin says with total conviction. He’s fairly sure nothing will ever beat this one.
Steve laughs. “You haven’t even had your party yet.”
“The best,” Dustin repeats, hesitating for a split second before gathering the nerve to lean down and press his lips to Steve’s.
It’s different, doing this in the morning light – it makes it more real, maybe, and Dustin feels a bit more exposed – but Steve just breathes a sigh into Dustin’s mouth, hand coming up to rest on the back of Dustin’s neck, gently holding him in place as they kiss. It pulls an eager noise out of Dustin, the thought that Steve still very much wants this, and he licks deeper into his mouth as he shuffles closer, feeling his knee bump against Steve’s naked thigh beneath the covers.
Heat rises in his face as he’s suddenly reminded of the fact that they’re both naked – as he remembers practically yanking Steve’s pants off the night before – and he pulls back, watching Steve’s eyelids flutter open. His lips are a deeper color pink than normal, like maybe Dustin was too rough, which also reminds him—
“Hey,” Dustin says, and lets the hand still resting on Steve’s stomach edge beneath the covers, fingertips ghosting over Steve’s hipbone and lower. “Are you feeling— okay?”
Steve’s breath hitches, but Dustin doesn’t think it’s because he minds the question, at least judging by how he pulls Dustin down for another kiss.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Steve murmurs into Dustin’s mouth. “A bit— sore. But it’s good, yeah? I’m good.”
Dustin nods, grunting as he returns the kiss. He feels a bit weird, too. Not in pain, but now that he’s awake and moving and thinking about it, his stomach’s a bit itchy where the come has dried, and his pubes feel kinda crusty, too – they probably should’ve cleaned themselves up last night before falling asleep, but Dustin hasn’t wanted to leave the bed as long as Steve was still there in it, and apparently Steve had had the same idea. Dustin’s left feeling kinda gross, but it also makes it feel imperfectly real, and he can’t help but laugh into Steve’s mouth, feeling Steve’s lips reflexively curl into an answering smile.
“What?” Steve whispers, and Dustin pulls back so that he can peer down at him.
“I just—” Can’t believe this is happening. “I used to jerk off thinking about this, y’know?” he blurts out before he can stop himself. “Thinking about you.”
His confession makes Steve grin. “Yeah?” He looks downright gleeful as he curls his hand around Dustin’s shoulders, fingers flexing against his skin. “What was I doing? C’mon, tell me.”
“Uh,” Dustin says, because he’s pictured Steve so many different ways – all of which pale in comparison to the real thing – and it’s not like he can choose— “You were in the shower,” he says, picking the first one that comes to mind. “You were all wet and— touching yourself. Just, like, jerking off.”
“A classic,” Steve says, like he approves, and then he hums thoughtfully. “Do you want to?”
“What?”
“Do you want to watch me in the shower?” Steve smirks, and strokes a hand down Dustin’s back to grab at his ass through the covers. “It’s big enough for two, y’know.”
Dustin wonders what the chances are that he’s still asleep and in the middle of a wet dream.
“What?” he says again, like a fucking idiot, but Steve just laughs, pushing the covers away and squirming out from beneath him, climbing out of bed naked like the day he was born, completely unashamed.
Dustin’s left trying to untangle himself from the sheets as he scrambles to follow, and that’s how he finds himself pressing Steve up against the tiles of his shower – which, sure enough, is large enough for two – as they sloppily make out beneath the hot spray.
They end up lazily rubbing off against each other, and Dustin mouths at Steve’s collarbone as he spills across Steve’s hip. Once he finishes he fumbles a hand down between them and jerks Steve off with long, slow strokes, watching Steve’s eyelashes flutter and his lips part in a soft sigh as he comes, wet hair curling against his temples.
It really is the best birthday ever, even after Steve catches a glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirror and finally discovers the trail of hickeys Dustin’s left behind.
//
They’re late leaving Steve’s house, mostly because Steve has trouble finding something that will adequately cover the bruises running down his neck.
To be honest, Dustin might also have been somewhat to blame; when Steve finally unearths a turtleneck sweater from the back of his closet and pulls it on, it makes him look so soft and cozy that Dustin can’t help but want to touch him.
They spend five minutes standing in the middle of Steve’s room, kissing, and then Steve has to fix his hair again because Dustin forgot himself and ran his fingers through it, but Steve’s a good guy and still makes time to drop Dustin off at his house before peeling off to work.
“Dusty!” his mom exclaims as soon as he opens the door, and immediately rushes forward to envelop him in a hug. “Happy birthday!” She pulls back and cups his face in her hands, looking teary eyed. “Sixteen years old! I can’t believe it.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Dustin says, squirming a bit at the attention, and she gives him another crushing hug, followed by a kiss to the forehead, before finally releasing him and letting him slip inside.
“Did you spend the night at Steve’s?” she asks as she closes the door behind him, and Dustin nods, trying to ignore the heat he can feel rising in his face. “Did you have a good time?”
“Uh, yeah,” he says, biting his tongue before he adds anything else, because Steve’s amazing and he’s Dustin’s now, and if Dustin’s being honest with himself, he’s kinda having this inner battle going on between wanting to keep Steve all to himself, and climbing on top of the house to shout it from the rooftop loud enough for everyone to hear.
He and Steve haven’t talked about telling anyone yet, though, so he’s not gonna just blurt it out. And right now, at least, the desire to keep this new thing with Steve to himself – as his own, guarded secret – makes the decision to keep quiet an easy one.
“That’s good to hear,” his mom says as she returns to the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on whatever’s puttering on the stove – judging by the mouthwatering aroma, it’s the filling for the sloppy joes they’re gonna have at Dustin’s party later that day.
“Now remember,” she continues, “I’m going to Steve’s house to get things ready, so you need to keep away from there until everything’s in place, alright? Oh, and would you put that by the door, baby?” She gestures at the box sitting on the counter.
“Got it,” Dustin says, going to grab the box, and he can’t resist peeking under the flap – it’s full of streamers and balloons and all kinds of party supplies, because apparently his mom’s going all out for his sixteenth.
He carries it over to the door, placing it on top of another box that’s already sitting there, and then makes his way back the kitchen to help his mom get the rest of the stuff ready. She’s been at it all morning, so it doesn’t take too long; she makes him have a sandwich when she learns he hasn’t had any breakfast yet, and then he helps her load the rest of the filling for the sloppy joes into Tupperware containers, which go into bags filled with more food, and once that’s done he helps her carry everything outside to the car.
It’s almost noon by the time they’ve managed to pack everything into the Volvo, and by then it’s started snowing again. It’s not coming down too heavily, but it’s just enough to make the thought of leaving the house on foot or by bike something Dustin’s not feeling all that enthusiastic about. But his mom’s all set to go, and if he doesn’t want to stay at home and twiddle his thumbs, he needs to hitch a ride with her.
“Can you drop me off at the arcade?” he asks, because if he knows his friends they’re all out buying him birthday gifts in a last-minute panic, so going to any of their houses would be a bust.
Besides, the arcade’s within walking distance of Family Video.
It’s a bit of a no-brainer, really.
//
Sadly, Dustin’s reunion with Steve is short lived, seeing as Robin practically frogmarches him out of Family Video – a bit of an overreaction on her part, if you ask Dustin.
Still, he’s got a movie date with Steve at two o’clock so he’s not too upset. He heads over to the arcade where he fails miserably at beating Max’s latest high score on OutRun. He does just as badly at Bubble Bobble and Rampage, but luckily – sadly? – Dustin’s had two and a half years to get used to this kind of frustration by now, ever since the Hargroves moved to Hawkins and Mad Max started trouncing everyone in the leaderboards. In other words, he doesn’t let it distract him from keeping track of the time, and five minutes before Steve’s shift is about to end Dustin trudges back to Family Video and waits for Steve to get off.
Neither Steve nor Robin are anywhere in sight when Dustin walks inside, but he can hear voices coming from the back room, and soon enough Steve emerges already wearing his jacket.
“I skipped breakfast,” he announces, like Dustin wasn’t there to experience Steve’s rushed morning routine. “Want to grab some burgers before the movie?”
“Yeah, sure,” Dustin says, because he might have had that sandwich earlier, but he’s still kind of hungry.
They climb into Steve’s BMW and set course for Benny’s, and when they arrive they discover the parking lot to be pretty jammed. Steve eventually manages to spot a free space to pull into, but once they make their way inside they find that the place is pretty crowded as well, and between the tables of rowdy, laughing teens, and the families who’ve brought their screaming children out for a Saturday treat, the noise is off the charts.
Dustin leans closer to Steve, tugging at the back of his jacket. “Want to eat in the car?” he suggests, practically shouting into Steve’s ear to make himself heard against the sound of the other crowd; the snow’s not coming down as heavily now, so it probably won’t be too cold sitting in the car with their jackets on, even if the engine isn’t running.
If he’s honest he doesn’t really expect Steve to agree, seeing as he’s pretty fussy when it comes to his car; Dustin can remember being there that one time they picked Lucas up on their way to the Byers’, and when Steve had discovered the sandwich Lucas had brought with him to eat on the short drive he’d pulled over and made Lucas eat it standing on the side of the road. Then, once Lucas had finished, Steve had performed an honest-to-God crumb check of his shirt before allowing him back into the backseat, all the while Dustin had watched from the passenger seat, howling with laughter.
So that’s why he’s kinda surprised when Steve says, “Yeah, sure,” and places their usual order to go.
“So, uh, this is kinda new,” Dustin comments later, as they climb back into the car. He’s got the paper bag of food in his lap, and Steve leans across the center console to sneak his hand inside and steal some fries.
“You’re kinda new,” Steve says, stuffing his mouth full and wiping his fingers off on his jeans before reaching out to pull the driver’s-side door closed.
Dustin rolls his eyes as Steve buckles his seatbelt, moving the bag out of reach when Steve looks like he’s gonna go for another handful of fries, but Steve just smirks and grabs the collar of Dustin’s jacket instead, tugging him closer.
“I mean it,” he says, before leaning across the console to give Dustin a kiss, just a quick press of his lips. “You’re new to me, y’know? This— whole thing is. So maybe we should try something else that’s new? I mean, I can probably trust you not to get ketchup all over the floor mats.”
Dustin licks his lips as Steve pulls away, tasting salt. “Wow,” he says, “that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
Steve huffs a laugh as he turns the ignition. “Yeah? Well, you make a mess, you’re cleaning it up. Just so you know.”
They still have an hour and a half left to go before the movie’s set to start, so Steve pulls out of the parking lot and back onto Cornwallis, taking them past his house before turning left onto Cartersville as they head up towards Sattler’s Quarry.
After the whole mess with Will’s fake body being found floating in the water at the bottom of the quarry, the Sattler Company were finally pressured into putting up proper fencing around the area. The six foot tall wire fence they ended up erecting makes the site practically inaccessible, unless someone’s actively trying to scale the fence – and, in case someone’s maybe only considering climbing it, the myriad of warning signs plastered along the perimeter should be enough to change their mind.
The signs probably also help absolve the company of any liability should more children be found dead on the site – at least that’s the working theory, as far as Dustin’s heard. He hasn’t been out there since Troy held a switchblade to his throat and made Mike jump off the edge of the quarry to save him, so he doesn’t really mind the lack of access in the same way others might. If it’s up to him he’ll never go near the place again.
Steve, of course, knows this, so Dustin’s not particularly bothered when they turn onto the dirt road leading up to the quarry. He trusts Steve, and sure enough, Steve turns off the road before they make the turn that will take them up to the main access gates, pulling into a small makeshift parking lot. It’s nothing fancy, just packed dirt for the workers to park their cars on, covered in undisturbed snow now, but it’s a quiet spot, and far enough away from the gates that Dustin won’t have to lay eyes on them.
Steve puts the car in park and kills the engine, and Dustin hands him his wrapped burger and his can of Coke, and dumps both portions of fries into the bottom of the bag so that they can share. They eat in silence at first, until the wrap around Dustin’s burger starts failing and dripping ketchup all over his fingers, and that’s when they realize that they didn’t get any napkins with their food.
Dustin tears a piece off the paper bag to use as an improvised napkin, but he only seems to make even more of a mess as he smears the ketchup around. Steve huffs a laugh and sticks his own fingers in his mouth, licking the salt and dressing off them, as if demonstrating how to do it right, and—
And alright, Dustin’s totally aware that he’s pretty – utterly – gone when it comes to Steve, so he doesn’t think anyone can blame him when he immediately flashes back to the night before. Namely, that moment when Steve was getting Dustin ready to fuck him, and he’d kinda just been staring at Dustin’s cock while he jerked Dustin off, slicking him up, and Dustin can still see it clear as day – the look in Steve’s eyes when Dustin had tugged at his hair, like he wouldn’t have minded sucking on Dustin like he’s sucking on his fingers right now.
Not the time, Dustin tells his dick, which is definitely beginning to show some interest, even though it’s getting kinda chilly in the car and Dustin’s a bit preoccupied with trying to not smear ketchup all over the upholstery.
Still, he’s only human—
“Steve?”
Steve hums, busy trying to fish more fries out of the bag. Dustin hesitates before wiping his fingers on the top of his hamburger bun to get rid of the worst of the ketchup, and then takes a leaf out of Steve’s book and licks whatever’s left off his fingertips.
“Y’know, before?” he continues, because he’s decided to go all in on this, and it’s not like he can gracefully abort now. “When you were with girls?”
“Yeah?” Steve says, popping a fry into his mouth before taking another bite of his burger.
“You said you did the ass thing, right? But did you ever use your mouth on them?”
Steve wheezes, and then promptly starts to choke. Dustin helpfully grabs Steve’s Coke and holds it out to him, and eventually Steve stops coughing long enough to grab the can and gulp down a mouthful.
“What?” he croaks once he’s swallows and come up for air again, and he’s kinda red in the face, though Dustin can’t tell if it’s because of the subject matter or the near death experience.
Either way, he forges ahead. “They must’ve sucked you off, right? Did you, like, reciprocate?”
“Uh—” Steve says, and for a moment Dustin thinks he’s not going to answer. But then Steve sighs, like he’s decided that there are worse things than having this particular conversation – like almost choking to death, maybe – because he says, “Yeah? I mean, if they— wanted me to.”
Dustin considers this. He doesn’t particularly like picturing Steve doing anything remotely sexual with anyone who’s not Dustin, but at the same time he finds that he’s actually pretty stoked that they can talk about this kind of thing without it feeling super awkward.
If his mom’s taught him anything, it’s that clear and honest communication is important – unless it’s Upside Down related, of course, in which case selective lying is encouraged.
“Okay. That’s cool. Would you—” Dustin licks his lips, fiddling with the wrapper around his burger. “I mean. Did you, uh, like doing it?”
Steve blinks at him, and then he coughs into his fist, cheeks pinking up as he looks anywhere but at Dustin, and—
Oh. Oh.
Well. Dustin takes another bite of his burger, not even caring that half of his fingers immediately get covered in more ketchup, because this birthday?
This birthday’s just getting better and better.
//