Gold Dust Woman - Steve Harrington*

chapter sixteen.

the gate

december 25th 1984.

"That's your ride! Dusty! Dusty!"

"Hey, henderson, you ready to go-"

Steve stops himself as he looks away from his car and at the front door of the Henderson household, "He's getting ready. Using your advice on the hair spray so let's hope he doesn't use your dating advice too."

Steve stares for a few seconds, before shaking his head, "Hopper, how you uh- how are you feeling, better?"

She crosses her arms over her chest and shifts a little, rocking back and forth on her feet, "Yeah," She nods giving the same old timid pursed lip smile he's used to, he's missed, he loves, "Thanks."

His eyes fall down to her pyjama bottoms and he grins, "Darth Vader?"

"Shut up."

Mac peers around her legs up at Steve and he grins even wider as he falls to a knee to pet her, "Hey, girl, haven't seen you in a while."

Mac's tongue falls to the side as she lies on her back allowing him to scratch her belly, Dallas finds herself smiling down at them but when he looks up she stops quickly, biting her lip to hide it.

But he notices.

Steve always notices when Dallas smiles.

"How long is he going to be?"

"Oh, uh not long, you wanna wait inside?"

He nods and she steps aside letting him in, Claudia stands quickly, the cat Tews still in her arms, "You must be Steve."

He smiles, taking a hand from his pocket to hold out to her, "Hi, Miss Henderson, it's lovely to meet you."

She hands Tews to Dallas who holds the cat at arm's length watching her mother grab Steve's hand and pull him into a hug, "My little Dusty has been waiting all week for this, he's so excited."

She grabs Tews from Dallas shakign her head at her daughter in what Steve believes to be a mixture of annoyance and disapointment, "It's a cat, Lassie, not a bomb."

Steve smirks a little as her mother mutters while walking into the kitchen offering them a drink, "Lassie?" He chuckles watching her cheeks redden, "Like the dog?"

"I'll kill you," She nods, looking up at him seriously, "You tell anyone, and you're dead."

"Okay."

"Dead, got it?"

"Okay," He nods again turning away as Dustin walks out, "Lassie."

"Steve."

He looks up, watching him struggle with his outfit, "I need help." He looks over at his sister, beckoning her over too, "And you."

They both nod, following him into the bathroom, "I can't do it, it's too hard."

Dallas sits on the edge of the bathtub pulling him closer as she ties the bow tie for him, Steve steps behind him, shaking the can of hairspray as he tilts his head, "I'll get you sorted, don't you worry, all the ladies will be after you."

Dallas shakes her head with a smile as she straightens the bow tie and moves onto buttoning his vest all the way, "It's gonna be fine, Dust, stop panicking."

"I can't, you're my sister, panic is your middle name."

"What is her real middle name?"

"Don't tell him."

"Is it Lassie?"

"It's Jamie." Dustin answers, smirking at his sister.

"Jamie?" He laughs a little, "Your name is literally DJ, I'm going to keep calling you that."

"Please don't."

"Okay, I won't, sorry, Lassie."

She laughs sarcastically and leans back when he turns around so Steve can style his hair in the front, standing she leans against the wall with a smile, watching as Steve leans back a little, one eye almost closed, tongue poking out of his mouth as he twirls some of Dustin's curly hair around his finger so it falls into a ringlet down his forehead.

"There, all done."

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Steve pulls up outside the school looking at Dustin as he stops, "Alright we're here."

Dustin takes in a deep breath as he looks up at the school, "So, remember, once you get in there-?"

"Pretend like I don't care."

"You don't care."

"I don't care."

Steve nods, "There you go, you're learning my friend. You're learning."

Dustin adjusts the mirror to look at himself in the reflection and then turns it away, "Hey, come on. You look great okay? You look... You look great."

Steve leans over to see him better, offering an encouraging smile, "Now you're gonna go in there."

"Yeah?"

"Look like a million bucks."

"Yeah!"

"And you're gonna slay 'em dead."

Dusitn nods looking back at Steve, "Like a lion."

He purrs, making Steve tilt his head a little, "Don't do that, okay?"

"Okay."

Steve holds his hand up and Duaitn clasps his with it, giving it a shake, "Good luck."

"But have fun." Dallas comments poking her head between the two front seats making them both jump.

"Honestly, I forgot you were back there for a second." Dustin turns to his sister who gives him a little thumbs up as he climbs out of the car.

She squeezes between the front seats, climbing over into the passenger side.

Steve grunts as she places her hand on his face and pushes herself forward, "Careful," He says as she falls into the seat, "Hey, careful. I don't want blood all over my car if those stitches reopen, okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

"Good." He nods, and they both turn to watch Dustin walk up into the building, "They grow up so fast."

Dallas looks at the drive-in poster Steve has brought with him and reads out the options to him glancing up when he isn't replying or answering the opinions she's giving him, she furrows her brows looking to see if her brother is still there, when her eyes finally settle on the person of his attention a soft little 'oh' leaves her lips.

She looks back down, cracking her knuckles against her thigh as she leans back in her seat.

Clearing his throat Steve shakes his head as he pulls off, "So, which one do you want to see?"

"You know what, uh, I'm not feeling too good." She says putting the poster down. She nods to herself as  she leans even further back, hoping the chair will just swallow her.

"Oh, we can go back to my place, you know, my parents are out of town, watch a movie, it gets really empty and you-"

"No, no," She shakes her head looking up at him before her eyes go back to the road, "That's okay, really, thank you, I just- I want to go home please."

He nods, "Sure, yeah, I'll take you home."