Invisible- Stranger Things Fanfiction

Chapter Sixteen: Home

*Nikki's POV*
"He should be all clear to be released as soon as he wakes up."
The nurse had just finished giving Dustin one last exam before sending him home. The poor boy was still fast asleep at eleven AM, probably exhausted from being up late last night.
I nodded, straightening out my hair. "Right. Thank you so much."
"You're welcome," the nurse said, touching my shoulder. "That's quite a brave boyfriend you've got there, you know. He didn't flinch once when he had to put in his IV."
Smiling, I looked at the sleeping Dustin. "Yeah, he's really something else."
"Make sure he takes it easy these next few days." The nurse left the room, about to close the door when a pale hand stopped her.
"Can he leave now?" Will Byers appeared in the door, Max and Steve behind him. I went to the doorway to look in the waiting room; everyone else was still sleeping. Except for Jonathan, who probably went to the cafeteria to get breakfast or something.
I shushed them all, ushering them in silently. "Damn, Will, don't wake him up." I made sure Dustin was still sleeping before continuing- he had stirred slightly, but his eyes remained closed. "Yeah, he can leave when he's up and ready to go."
Steve walked closer to my boyfriend, smirking as his gaze shifted to me. "You know, Nik... I woke up at about four, and you were gone. Now, I'm up at 11, and here you are... in his room."
"It's not like that, dipshit," I said, whacking his arm. "I couldn't sleep, so I came in to check on him, then fell asleep... on the... chair." I know. I know. I lied, and I shouldn't have, but I couldn't give them more ammunition than they already had to make fun of me and Dustin.
"Mhm. Sure," Max replied.
"Guys, guys, leave her alone," Will said. "The poor kid's boyfriend got shot, we should lay off at least until they're both awake to make fun of."
I glared at the Byers boy with fake annoyance, but I secretly loved this. I finally had friends who could joke around with me. Well... I finally had friends, period.
We all stopped when we heard a soft groan from the hospital bed. Dustin was squirming, trying to prop himself up in the bed, his eyes mimicking butterflies with their fluttery movements. "Mon," he said, patting the bed with a yawn, "the part where you slept is still warm."
  All eyes went to me, suspicion and glee on all of their faces.
   "Well, shit," I muttered before turning to Dustin with a gentle smile. "How are you feeling?"
   "Actually, pretty alright," he said, sounding surprised. "I'm assuming you made up some lie about falling asleep on the chair, and I just gave you away?"
   "How the hell-"
   "I may or may not have heard that as I was waking up."
   "You little shit." I smacked his arm, then realized I just hit a hospitalized kid. "Sorry," I muttered.
"No harm, no foul," Dustin replied casually. "Can I go home now?"
   I nodded with a small laugh. "Eager to get out of here, are you?"
   "Damn straight."
   Steve put a bundle of clothes on the bed, ushering all of us out. "Change, then we'll all meet in the waiting room so we can check you out."

   An hour later, we were all driving back to my house. Max, Lucas and Will were in Steve's car while Nancy, El and Mike were in Jonathan's. I tried to get Dustin to ride with Steve, but he insisted on taking my bike home with me. The idiot gets out of a hospital and decides to bike home rather than being in the slightly-safer alternative that was my brother's car.
   "I'm steering," I insisted as soon as we got to my bike outside of the hospital. "You've been through enough, I can do this."
   Dustin scoffed. "Don't do that shit," he said with annoyance clear in his voice. "
   "What shit?"
   "That 'you've been through enough, allow me' shit. I got shot, yeah, but it's not like I lost a limb or something."
   I minted the bike, not looking at him. "Sorry. I'm just... concerned, okay?"
   Dustin got in front of the bike, putting his hand over the unwounded side of his chest. "That's real sweet of you, Mon," he said, coming closer to me so that our foreheads were touching, "but I can manage just fine on my own."
   "Yeah, sure," I laughed, moving away slightly as I felt my face grow warm. "I go unconscious for a few hours and you get shot. You're doing great on your own, Dusty. Get on."
   Dustin laughed, getting on the back of the bicycle seat. "Dusty?"
   I kicked off from the ground, riding toward home. "Shut up."
   When we got back, everyone had been waiting for us. (And thank goodness, they left the door open.) Nancy, Jonathan and Steve were having a meeting of the minds on the couch while I heard many loud voices from the kitchen.
   "No, Will, you don't put cumin in oatmeal, you put cinnamon in oatmeal!" Lucas was currently screaming at the younger Byers boy, wearing my pink floral apron my Nana got me last Christmas.
   Will, who had on a chef's hat from when Steve and I used to play restaurant, stopped rummaging through the spice cabinet with an annoyed look on his face. "Too many cooks, Lucas. Too. Many."
   "Did we just walk into a kitchen showdown?" Dustin asked.
   "This pantry ain't big enough for the both of us," Mike joked in a fake Western accent, smiling at us from his spot against the refrigerator.
   I laughed at him, rolling my eyes at the other boys. "What are you knuckleheads doing in here?" I asked.
   Max came back up from her bent position, having been looking in the under-sink cabinet for something. "Trying to cook for you guys. Where's the strainer?"
   I shook my head. "Sweetie, you don't need a strainer for oatmeal."
   Max smiled sheepishly. "Oh..."
   El was currently sitting the the kitchen counter, reading from a little pink book: The Great Big Book of Baby Names. "What do you think of Amethyst for a girl?"
   "I think it's perfect... if Crayola were adopting a baby as their mascot."
   Dustin laughed. "What do you think Nancy should name her baby?"
   I shrugged. "I'd name them after someone influential. Someone strong-minded, a good role model. Maybe... Leia?"
   "Oh, hell no!" I heard Nancy scream from the other room.
   Smirking, Lucas turned back to me. "I thought it was a good name."
   "Thanks, man." I looked at Dustin. "What do you think? What should Nancy name her kid?"
   Dustin thought a moment. "Well, I've always like Harper."
   "For a boy or girl?"
   "Either," he replied. "It's just a nice name."
   I laughed. "I love how you took this seriously and I didn't."
   He put his arm around me, poking my cheek with his finger. "Oh, how the tables have turned."
   El looked at us dreamily. "You guys are so cute," she said wistfully.
  Mike rolled his eyes. "They're annoying."
   Dustin smirked at Mike, then stared at me. "Wanna see something more annoying?"
   "Not really."
   "Great." Dustin moved his arm away from me, gently grabbed my scratched-up face, and kissed me hard. I heard objects dropping (Will with that damn cinnamon) and many of the inhabitants of the room wolf-whistling as I kissed him back, making Mike even more grossed out and annoyed. After a few seconds, t got less theatrical and more in the moment; Dustin became softer, less rough. For a moment, it was like we forgot this kiss was merely to torment the Wheeler boy. It was real.
   "Damn," Steve's voice said as he entered the kitchen. "Don't suck her face off, Henderson, she's already done enough damage to it."
   I opened my eyes for a second to roll them at Steve, kissing Dustin harder before finally pushing him off. "Asshole," I muttered at my brother.
   "I've given up with the whole language thing at this point," Steve sighed. "You were born to be a little trucker mouth."
   El was squealing as Will, Lucas and Max smirked at Dustin, patting him on the back or high-fiving him. Nancy came in to see what was happening and laughed when she realized Dustin and I had basically made out in front of the entire party. "That's adorable," she muttered, walking over to me. "I remember being your age, young and in love."
   "Not in love," I corrected.
   Dustin turned around, staring at me as though I had just insulted his mother. His expression then softened, looking at the ground. "Yeah... not in love," he said, walking toward the garage door. "I'll be back."
   Everyone went quiet as he left, staring at me in anticipation. "What the hell do you want me to do?" I asked.
   Steve looked sadly at the door. "You should go talk to him, kid. He's probably feeling..." Steve trailed off. "Ya know what? I'll talk to him. He'd probably want to talk to me." Steve gave Nancy a look that made her look down quickly, silently going into the garage with Dustin.
   "What'd I do?" I asked Nancy as everyone else cleared out of the kitchen, leaving me to talk with the Wheeler girl.
Nancy looked at the door sympathetically, her gleaming eyes landing on me. "He loves you, Nikki, and you pretty much just told all of his friends you didn't love him."
"He can't love me. We're kids," I insisted.
Nancy laughed softly. "That's what my parents said when I was your age and I told them I was in love."
   "With my brother, right?" She looked shocked. "Oh come on, Wheeler, it wasn't that hard to figure out."
Nancy blushed slightly. "Yeah, I... I guess that was pretty obvious."
"But now you're with Jonathan, and my brother was left heartbroken." I had to admit, I never completely forgave Nancy for crushing my brother's heart into a million pieces, and now that she had shot my boyfriend, my hate fire had been fueled more. "How do I fix this?"

*Dustin's POV*
"Hey, kid." Steve Harrington appeared next to me in the garage.
"She doesn't love me," I sighed. "I shouldn't be this upset, you know? We've only been friends again for a few days. Damn it, why is this so annoying?"
Steve sat on the steps outside the kitchen door. "You're really in love with her," he breathed in disbelief.
"Yeah...?"
"It's just that- well, I mean- I don't know. I guess I kind of knew I was in love with Nancy when I was a little older than you."
I scoffed. "Yeah, and now she's knocked up with Jonathan's kid." Seeing the look on his face, I backtracked. "Steve, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"No, don't worry about it," he laughed. "I've said worse, believe me. But really, the best thing to do right now is-"
"Hey guys." Mon opened the kitchen door and was now standing behind Steve, avoiding my eyes.
Steve stood up and walked back inside. "Good luck," he whispered to his little sister.
Mon smiled at him, then waited for him to close the door. "Come here," she said softly, sitting on the steps and making room for me.
I sat down next to her, my hands awkwardly on my knees. "So..."
She sighed. "Look, Dustin, I didn't-"
"Before you say anything," I said, "I just want you to know that I'm not Steve, and you're certainly not Nancy. Whatever she told you probably doesn't even apply to this."
   "Actually, I was going to say that I do... love you."
What?
   I turned to face Mon, her sparkly eyes staring right through mine, trying desperately to find some kind of emotion.
   "Mon, don't just say that because I said it-"
   "I'm not," she said. And I believed it. "I just... I thought it was too soon for something like that to be said, but... I guess we kind of break the norm when it comes to teen couples, huh?"
   "Well, we have battled monsters and almost died for each other," I agreed.
   Mon laughed. "Couples who slay together stay together."
Damn, she's got a dark sense of humour. I guess we all do, though, being monster hunters and all.
   "So, you really do... ya know...?"
   Mon laughed at my childishness, grabbing my hand and resting her head on me. "Yeah, I really do... ya know."