Gold Dust Woman - Steve Harrington*

chapter ten.

the flea and the acrobat

11th november 1983.

"Okay, so-"

She leans over and shakes her head, readjusting herself from lying on her stomach to sitting up on her knees as she takes his book from him, grabbing the pencil he was chewing on from his hands to mark the paper, "No, no-"

Steve groans as he falls back, "This is stupid. I'm stupid."

He grabs her Chewbecca teddy and hugs it to his chest as Mac licks his face, when Dallas says nothing, simply keeps reading the essay he's written he tosses the stuffed bear at her head.

"What?"

"Aren't you going to disagree? Say I'm super cool, and smart and handsome-"

"And lie to you?"

She smirks as he huffs, crossing his arms over his chest like a tantruming toddler and dropping his head back down again, "I'm kidding, you're getting better, it just needs a few tweaks."

"How many?"

"Well, it's a first draft, you know, they're first drafts for a reason."

He sits up on his elbows and takes the paper from her, looking at all the pencil markings from her, "You also spelt the poet's name wrong."

"I copied the book."

"You obviously didn't copy good enough, it's S-Y-L-V-I-A, not S-I-L-V-I-A."

"Honest mistake."

He shrugs his shoulders a little at her flashing that cheeky smile and she raises a brow at him, "Honest mistake? Not when it's right in front of you."

"Dallas!"

She cringes at her mother's shout from down the hall, "You're going to be late again!"

"Alright, mom, God!"

She groans as she gets up and pulls her shoes on, she's already in her uniform having gotten ready while Steve was finishing off the essay.

"Wait, this is due tomorrow."

"I can't bunk off work, Harrington. I'm poor."

He rolls his eyes sitting up, watching her tie half her hair up in the mirror on her wall, "I know that, it's just-"

"You'll be fine, improve the parts I've underlined and you'll get at least a C."

"Promise?"

She pauses with a sigh, hands smoothing out the lumps in her hair, "Promise me, Hopper."

"Promise."

She turns around, pausing at her door as he holds his hand in the air, "What?"

"Pinky promise, they're sacred, you can never break a pinky promise, or you have to sacrifice your own finger."

She rolls her eyes, shaking her head at him, "I'm not doing that."

"Hopper-"

"No."

"Hopper..."

Groaning she walks over to her bed, gripping his pinky finger with her own and giving it a lift up once and back down, "There, happy?"

She tries to pull away but he pulls her close, tightening his pinkie's grip, "Say it."

"I promise that this essay will be good."

He nods, a satisfied smile on his face as he lets her go, hand dropping to the bed as he scratches Mac's head, "Thank you."

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

There's a small timid knock on her bedroom door which makes her pause, she looks up from her desk where she'd be doing some homework, and sits in her little chair with one leg crossed beneath her, she pushes her glasses up onto her head, pushing some hair back with them.

"Dallas?"

"Come in."

Dustin steps it slowly, a black suit on and tie in his hand, "Can you help me?"

She nods standing up and walks over to him, she takes the tie and puts it around his neck doing it slowly so he can watch in the mirror leaning against her wall, "Is Mom taking you?"

"Uh, no, I'm going with Lucas."

"You're going alone?"

"Well, his parents will be there."

She sighs standing up, "Call Lucas and tell him I'll take you instead."

He hugs her around her waist, head resting on her stomach as he mutters out a little 'thanks'.

She digs through her wardrobe, finding an old balck outfit she can wear, before calling for him to hurry.

"Just a second."

The phone rings and she sighs walking over to it, "Henderson's."

"Hopper?"

"Uh- Harrington."

Despite him not even being in the same room as her she stands up and runs a hand through her hair fluffing it up a little, "Are you free?" He doesn't give her a chance to reply, butting in right away, "My parents are out again- something about needing to stop off somewhere, I don't know, maybe you can- we can do some more studying, we can go to that little cafe if it makes you more comfortable, I really think we're getting somewhere-"

"Harrington, I... I can't. I'm sorry, it's just, Will-"

"Shit, right," She can't see him but she can imagine him kicking one foot up against the wall, leaning his shoulder against the same wall as he crosses one arm, the other keeping the phone to his ear, "The funeral, I'm sorry. I forgot, uh, the kid holding up okay?"

She sighs watching Dustin laugh as he runs around the kitchen table with Mac following him, "Weirdly, he's fine. I think he's just lost his mind or something."

"Yeah, well, his sister is Hopper the Psycho, so-"

It's said in a teasing tone, meant to be light hearted. She knows he means no harm.

But it still hurts.

"I have to go, we're going to be late. See you in school."

"Okay, Hop-"

"Come on, Dust, let's go."

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

After the funeral Dallas takes Dustin aside by the hand, she sighs as she crouches in front of him, holding both his hands in her own, "I've got to get to work, okay? Call the store if you need anything, Mr Sinclair said he'd drive you home and watch out for you, yeah?"

"Okay."

"I'll come by and pick you up later, I shouldn't be too late."

He nods again and she smiles a little, dimples just forming on her cheek before she stands and kisses his head, ruffling his hair before leaving.