this Dustin chapter is gonna be told a little differently from the episode because it's a fanfic and im not about to rewrite the same exact dialogue and story so if that's what you wanted oops? but i think you guys will like it so enjoy :)
ALSO THANK YOU FOR 50K READS!💜
THERE WERE A MULTITUDE OF ACTIVITIES Dustin always enjoyed doing on his lazy Saturday afternoons. Witnessing his new pet—which actually turned out to be a baby Demogorgon—wolf down on his cat's frail body was not one of them. Nor was having to do control damage for said cat digestion.
"Uh, yeah, okay. Thank you so much. You're a lifesaver, Mr. McCorkle. Yeah, this is great," Dustin continued sputtering a random assortment of words into his phone, ignoring the voiceover lady that wasn't Mr. McCorkle at all.
"Great news," Dustin wheeled around to face his mind, plastering an incredibly fake smile onto his lips.
Out of all the times in his life he's relied on his acting skills from Drama Club, this one felt like the most important. Because the last thing he needed right now was for his poor mother to know that Mews, their "missing" cat, was actually dead and half eaten on the floor in his bedroom.
"They found her?" She questioned, hope laced in her voice.
"No, but they did see her passing by on Loch Nora," Dustin lied, thinking of the farther neighborhood possible. In order for his plan to work, he needed his mother to be away on a little adventure of her own.
"Loch Nora? Oh my goodness, how did she get all the way out there?" His mother cried, worry tingling in her chest as she fussed over her Mews. "The poor baby must be scared half to death!"
"Oh yeah," Dustin agreed instantly, grabbing his mother's upper arms to stop her swaying. "They've got a lot of stray dogs at that place. Which is why you should go now and look for her, yeah?"
"Oh yeah, of course," she pulled away from her son, rushing over to her purse and keys. "You're absolutely right."
"I know I am," Dustin replied confidently, watching his mother snake around the house and grab the necessities: Mews's food bowl, her favorite toy, and her leash. "You just go out there and look for her. I'll, uh, I'll stay here in case anyone else calls. Got it?"
"Yeah I got it," she replied shakily, and Dustin felt guilt and pity swell in his chest for his suffering mom.
"Come here, give me a hug," he gestured to himself with open arms, and the woman immediately snatched her son into an air choking hug. "Okay okay, that's enough!" He wheezed, feeling as though if she pulled any tighter his eyeballs would've popped out of their sockets. "We're gonna find her, okay?"
"Okay," his mother smiled anxiously, nervous laughter falling from her lips. "I love you!"
"I love you," Dustin cooed, dramatically blowing his mother a kiss. He waited impatiently until his mother's figure had fully disappeared from the doorway, and instantly the jovial smile was clear off his face. "Shit," he cursed under his breath. "Better whip up this guy a Scooby snack."
Dustin wasn't always the most advanced when it came to formulating plans that worked. Before everything had happened, it was always Jasper that used her brains to solve the puzzles and find ways to sneak herself and Dustin into movies or just into Jasper's house for a sleepover. The redhead was the master at being sneaky, Dustin couldn't even compare.
Nonetheless, Dustin felt like one clever little shit as he laid out a trail of salami from his room all the way to his storm cellar.
"Let's hope this works," he murmured to himself, tightening the padding around his torso, arms, and legs. "If it's anything like what Lucas eats on his sandwich, then I'm toast."
Dustin took three deep breaths of air, trying to calm himself down as he stood in front of his closed bedroom door. "Hey Dart," he called out in a sing-songy voice. "Breakfast time," he announced, pulling open the door.
Dustin didn't wait to see if a green and yellow Demogorgon was still on the other side. He instantly began running, hopping over his salami trail as he made his way outside and into the safety of his shed.
"Come on...come on you son of a bitch," he whispered to himself, his nerves a complete mess underneath his skin. "I know you're hungry. Please."
Sure enough, Dart came crawling out the house, gobbling up each slice of meat hungrily. "Jesus," Dustin narrowed his eyes as he watched in disgust. "He's not even chewing. The audacity! Just like a damn dog."
His plan seemed to be working perfectly, with Dart inching closer and closer to the open cellar doors. Of course, however, like any imperfect plan Dustin had created before, something went wrong. Dart froze at the entrance of the cellar, his scaly body just a mere centimeter or two from entering inside, when suddenly his head snapped back towards the shed.
"Shit," Dustin whisper yelled, flying back from the small opening he had been spying from. "Shit, no! Why can't you just eat the rest of your breakfast and go into the scary and dark cellar for me?"
The monstrous growling continued as Dart creeped closer to the wooden shed. He had no eyes, but Dustin could sense the curiosity brewing in that monster's head. He knew he was being watched, and Dustin needed to find some courage now if he wanted this to work.
"Okay okay okay," Dustin breathed in short, rapid pants. "Your best friend has time powers and killed an entire nine foot Demogorgon. You got this. You got this."
And with one final push of the door and a high-pitched scream, Dustin sprinted full force and Dart. The creature, immediately frightened, whirled around and began scrambling towards the cellars doors. Dustin raised his hockey stick, using all his upper body strength to knock the animal into the cellar.
"Holy fuck don't bite me!" Dustin screamed in terror as he rushed to the cellar doors, closing them just in time before Dart could leap up and sink his gross Demogorgon teeth into Dustin's face.
The Henderson boy let out a tired breath, plopping his body clumsily down on top of the closed cellar doors. "There's no way you'll be able to get out now," he smirked, feeling rather smug of himself.
Although his plan wasn't perfect, and he almost became his pet's new snack, it still worked. And after so many losses this year, it felt like a first to him. A first of many.
"I'm sorry," Dustin murmured against the cold metal of his cellar door. Beneath the locked doors he could hear Dart's furious chittering, his long claws scraping against the concrete steps. "You ate my cat."
The Henderson boy rolled over on his back, gazing up at the clear blue autumn sky. "Man, I seriously wish you were here right now, Jas," he sighed, sitting up and pulling the padlock out of his pocket. "Fighting a slimy tadpole that I accidentally found in my trash and fed nougat to until he grew into a Demodog just...isn't as fun without you."
What wasn't fun at all was the radio silence Dustin continuously received from his friends after. Lucas, Mike, Will, and Max all were completely despondent to his desperate calls. Not only that, but Hopper and Ruby both seemed to have vanished off the planet as well.
"Guys, it's Dustin, again," he huffed into his headset, furiously digging the blade of his shovel into the unearthed soil. "I'm currently burying the dead body of my mauled cat so if one of you could answer that'd be really great right about now! This is a code red, guys! I repeat, a code red!"
"Can you please shut up?" A tiny, fiery voice finally answered after what Dustin could've sworn to be his millionth attempt at reaching somebody.
"Erica?" Dustin sat up in shock, nearly knocking over his pile of cleaning supplies. His room smelled of Pine Sol and bleach, leaving his eyes to water at the powerful odor. "Erica, is Lucas there? Where is he?"
"Don't know, don't care," Erica replied nonchalantly.
"Okay, look, now is really not the time for you to
use that Erica sassiness on me. Look, just—do you know where—is he with Mike?" Dustin was practically begging to this nine year old in his panicked, fragmented sentences. Hell, he was already on his knees.
"Like I said, I don't know and I don't care," she snapped, causing Dustin's heart to sink into his stomach.
"Okay, fine, just...can you tell him it's really important? Tell him I have a code—"
"Code red, I heard you for the ninetieth time!" She yelled, causing the curly headed boy to flinch away from his walkie.
"Yeah, yeah yeah! Code red, exactly. Not code blue, not code green. Code red. It's important he knows that, okay?" Dustin found it really hard to focus on scrubbing bleach over his bloodstained carpet when he needed Erica to listen.
"I got a code for you instead," she taunted.
"Oh yeah? Yeah, what's that?"
"It's called code shut-your-mouth," she snarled.
"Okay wow, wow! Really helpful. Thank you so much, Erica. You—" he cut himself off upon hearing nothing but radio static listen to the beginning of his frustrated tirade. "Erica? Erica? Erica, please! Dammit!"
Dustin was in an extremely sour mood now. Maybe that's why he had cursed out Ted Wheeler when the man told him his son wasn't home or maybe he had just never learned proper manners. But seeing Steve Harrington's car pull up at the Wheeler house at the exact same time as Dustin was about to leave felt like a saving grace.
Well, it felt more like a last option.
"Steve," Dustin trudged over to the teenager, eyeing the bouquet of roses in his hand. "Are those for Mr. or Mrs. Wheeler?"
"What? Oh yeah," Steve started, a teasing tone apparent in his voice. "These are definitely for Ted Wheeler. Although I think he might be more of a tulips guy, what do you think?"
"Never mind that," Dustin grumbled, snatching the roses from Steve's hand and beelining for the boy's car.
"Hey, what the hell? Hey!" Steve called after the little shit, wondering where the hell this kid came from and why he was about to get into his car with his girlfriend's roses.
"Calm down. Don't wanna mess up that literal tower of hair you have," Dustin quipped, resting his hand on the top of the open passenger door. "Nancy isn't home."
"What? Well, where is she?" Steve demanded.
"Don't know. But we have bigger problems than your love life," Dustin sighed in exasperation. "You're coming with me now. I need your badass bat with nails. You still got that, right?"
"Dude," Steve gawked at the child as he slid into the passenger door, making himself at home. "Of course I still have the bat."
"Good," Dustin nodded. "Now get in. I'll say we need at least two or three buckets of cow meat for this to work."
"Cow meat? Wait, hey hey hey—what is going on right now?" Steve spoke quickly, sprinting to his car.
"I'll explain on the way, just get in and DRIVE!"
"Okay, okay!" Steve held his hands up in surrender, sliding into the driver's seat. "Since when did you get so bossy?"
"Since all my friends decided it was a wonderful idea to desert me in time of a crisis," Dustin replied sassily, plucking at the rose petals with his fingers. "Hey, why'd you buy Nancy these cheap ass flowers anyway?"
"Hey hey hey, that's none of your business," Steve replied coldly, snatching the flowers from Dustin's hands and tossing them carelessly in the backseat. "We've got bigger problems than my love life, right?" He asked sourly, a small part of him hoping this strange whiny child would notice his sadness and comfort him.
"Right," Dustin answered matter-of-factly, ignoring the pain laced in the older boy's tone. "Okay, so you remember that monster we fought last year?"
"How could I forget?"
"Right, well, I sort of found a mini version of that in my trash," Dustin cut to the chase, earning an inquisitive and surprised gaze from Steve.
"Wait, WHAT?" He exclaimed with huge eyes that were the size of saucers.
"Eyes on the road, Steve!" Dustin ordered, causing Steve to snap his head back forward in a panic. "I found a baby Demogorgon in my trash. And I sort of...kept it."
"YOU KEPT IT?" Steve hollered, his dark eyes darting back to face the curly headed boy again. "Are you insane?"
Dustin was about to respond, only he noticed a flash of red and saw a boy riding his bicycle down the street. He was heading right towards Steve's now swerving car. "Steve, watch out."
The Harrington boy, oblivious to his increasing speed and decreasing control on the car, continued to ramble. "I mean seriously, dude? How could you find a miniature Demogorgon and think 'Oh, yeah. This will be a real nice house pet—"
"STEVE, WATCH OUT!" Dustin screamed, launching himself forward and slapping his hand on the steering wheel. With one massive jerk, he pulled the wheel to the right and the two boys began screeching fearfully as the car violently pivoted away from the boy on the bike.
Dustin couldn't see much in the chaos of the car nearly spinning ninety degrees and Steve heavily freaking out, but he watched as the boy dramatically spun his bike away from the car to dodge a fatal hit.
"Oh my god! Stop! Stop! Hands off my steering wheel!" Steve yelled, slapping Dustin's hand away and shakily grabbing the wheel again. "Holy fuck. Holy fuck!"
"You almost hit that guy!" Dustin cursed under his breath, hitting the teenager in the shoulder for his stupidity. "I'm never getting into a car with you again."
"Hey, it's kinda hard to be a good driver when you're telling me that you have a Demogorgon in captivity!" Steve snapped back, his voice booming in the otherwise silent car.
"Hey relax, will you?" Dustin commented. "Just drive and relax. We don't want you to nearly run over anymore biking kids. Just let me explain. Okay?"
"Fine."
"Alright, now let me tell you about how I discovered my new pet was a Demogorgon who eats house cats for breakfast."