my girl, forever and always || steve harrington

dig dug

"who the HELL is dart and how did he eat our cat?" she asked frantically as tears welled up in her eyes. this had to be a joke. not her baby. not mews. this was officially the worst day ever.

"well, you see, i found this lizard in our trash the other day and i brought him in and i put him in my lizards cage and when i came home today to check in on him the glass was broken and i found him in your room eating the cat and it turns out he wasn't really a lizard he's a baby demogorgan and i know i messed up and i know you're gonna kill me so just get it over with now and give me a quick painless death." dustin held up his hands in defense but the blow he was expecting never came. he opened his eyes slowly and saw his sister with tears flowing down her cheeks for the second time today.

"wait, so," she paused as she took a breath to calm herself down. "you're telling me that mews is, dead?"she whispered the last word so quietly that she wasn't even sure if dustin heard her.

"i'm so sorry lydia i thought it was a regular lizard i didn't know that it was a demogorgan. i never meant for this to happen can you please just help me out?" he pleaded. but right now, she wasn't sure how she was feelng. she couldn't tell if she was mad at her brother for inadvertently killing their cat, or if she was upset that her beloved cat is dead, or if she's terrified because the creature that almost killed her was lurking around hawkins again, or if she's still emotionally recovering from her fight with lawrie. whatever it was, it all just caused her to break down and start crying. she fell to her knees in front of her brother and buried her face in her hands as she started sobbing.

"lydia, i am so sor-"

"don't talk to me right now. just, get. out." she was fuming.

"but lydia ple-"

"DUSTIN JUST GET OUT!" she yelled. the younger henderson jumped in surprised because lydia had never yelled at him like this before. but, he knew he deserved it. he began to walk out of her room before pausing in the doorway. there was no west he could just abandon her, not when she was like this. swiftly, he turned around and wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight.

"leave me alone." her cries were weak as she clung to his shirt. right now, she felt like she hated dustin for bringing that creature into their house but she knew he didn't mean any harm. it wasn't his fault.

"i'm not leaving you alone. i'll never leave you alone. i'm your stupid kid brother that brought a monster into our house and i'm so sorry. i make mistakes and i fuck up constantly and you're my big sister that takes care of me and tells me what to do when things go wrong. and things have gone really wrong and i know you just got over a breakup and i'm sorry to do this to you but please, i need you to help me, lydia. you're the strongest person i know. please, help me." he pleaded as he squeezed her tighter. the tears refused to cease and all she could do was clutch her brother's sleeves and feel the unforgiving weight in her chest. she had been keeping everything in for so long and it was all coming out now. her emotions overtook her and she screamed at the top of her lungs and let all of her pent up emotions out. the anger that she felt toward laurie, the pain she felt because of steph, the confusion that steve made her feel, and the grief she felt because of the loss of mews. everything that had happened over the course of a few days had completely drained her of all energy and she was exhausted in all aspects.

but she knew that her brother was just as hurt by the loss. he was feeling an insurmountable amount of guilt for causing his sister such immense pain and loss. but he was still holding her. he might not be able to turn back time to undo his mistake but he could be there for his sister no matter what. his grip on her never faltered and the damp patch on lydia's back showed that he was just as distraught as she was. she couldn't turn her back on him now. not when he needed her.

"d-dust," her voice came out as a coarse whisper as she tried to catch her breath and regain her composure. "we're going to figure this out okay? we're gonna figure this out together and we're gonna find a way to catch dart and it's all going to be alright." she reassured him as she finally faced her brother. he nodded fervently and wiped his tears away.

"i'm so sorry, lydia. i never meant for any of this to happen. i just, i need to fix this before anyone else gets hurt." the tears returned but lydia pulled him in.

"no one else is going to get hurt. not on my watch," she lifted his head up slightly so he could look at her. "it's time to wipe those tears away. it's gonna be alright." her thumbs brushed gently over dustin's cheeks so that the tears that once stained them were gone. even if the world turned on them, at least they had each other.