𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖆𝖑 || 𝘀. 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

S4E5: The Nina Project Part 1

It was hard to fall asleep at the Wheelers' house after everything that had happened, but eventually I did.

In the morning, a voice coming over the Supercom wakes me up.

"Hey, Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished. You there?"

I carefully sit up, trying my best not to wake Steve up since I was just asleep on his chest.

"Dustin, can you hear me?" Eddie continues.

I walk over to the coffee table and pick up the walkie.

"Dustin? Earth to Dustin."

"Not Dustin, but will y/n do?" I ask tiredly, rubbing my eyes and trying to wake myself up.

"Y/l/n!" He says enthusiastically. "Hey."

"Hey," I say with a yawn. "Couldn't have let me sleep one more hour?"

"No, um, I'm gonna need a food delivery, like, really soon, unless you want me going out into the world."

"No... no I don't want that. Stay there and we'll bring you some food as soon as we can."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, um... can you pick me up a six-pack?"

I groan.

"I know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves."

"I don't think getting drunk is..." I trail off when I notice Max is gone. "Shit, I'm gonna have to call you back."

"No, don't you da..."

I cut Eddie off and rush over to Dustin and shake him awake. "Dustin."

"Mm. What?" His eyes lazily crack open and he squints.

"Dustin! Wake up!"

"What?"

"Aren't you supposed to be on Max watch?"

"Yep. Yep, yep, yep." He rubs his eyes. "Sorry."

"Then where is she?" I ask, motioning to the empty couch she was asleep on last night.

"She's right there." He notices her absence. "A second ago. I swear, I just dozed off for..." he looks down at his watch, "...an hour."

"Shit, Dustin!"

We start searching the house, but find her as soon as we walk into the kitchen. She's seated at the dining table with headphones on, totally safe. Nancy and Holly sit at the table with her.

"Morning, guys," Karen says to Dustin and I in a perky tone. "Everything okay?"

I let out a sigh of relief. "Yep. Totally okay."

"I think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this," she says.

Ted looks up from his newspaper. "Could try sticking together at a different house for a change."

"You know you're welcome anytime," Karen assures us.

"Totally," Dustin says. "You're like family. May I?" He points at the pancakes Karen just made.

"Absolutely," she says, and he grabs one from the plate.

"I think I'll have one, too. Thanks Mrs. Wheeler." I grab my own pancake from the plate.

"Yeah, why not?" Ted asks. "Take us for all we're worth."

Dustin smiles at Ted. "Okay." He takes a few more pancakes, loading up his plate.