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Steve thinks he has it under control. It’s just an unstable staircase and a bit of a climb— a calculated risk to get the job done.
But when the concrete begins to melt and Dustin screams, Steve realises they aren't looking at the same thing. Steve sees a mission; Dustin sees another person leaving him behind.
In the wreckage of a collapsed ladder, Steve has to face the one thing he didn't factor into his plan: the boy who refuses to watch him die.
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Set during the stairwell scene in Season 5, Episode 6.
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"I'm tired of feeling so angry, all the time, I mean, sometimes it feels like it'll never go away. Like that's all there is now, is just anger, and I'm not even scared anymore, which scares me a little, but I guess I know how you feel because I want to throw myself at something until it hurts-" He hears the slight intake of breath that Steve takes when he says that.
"Dustin-"
"And I'm sorry," his voice breaks, just slightly on that word, sorry, with how loaded it is.
OR
Dustin realizes with certainty, at the end of the world, that if Steve dies, it'll still be his fault, because no matter how much he pushes Steve away, it'll never be far enough to protect him.
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Eddie’s trying to plan the evening’s soundtrack in his head when he catches sight of Dustin Henderson.
The kid is on his own, sitting on the ground outside the school building. His back leaning against the school’s phone box, like he was hoping someone might ring. He looks completely pathetic, crumpled up and small. He’s basically the only person left in the parking lot; even the teachers have long fucked off home.
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Or: Eddie, Dustin, and Steve meet in the Hawkins High parking lot.
Bookmarked by TalesOfRuby01
16 Feb 2026
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Panic surges in Steve’s chest, and he’s fighting against the tide of the crowd—yelling frantically like he did in The Upside Down, in Nancy’s living room, “Dustin, Dustin!”
Except now he can’t hear Dustin, he can’t hear him, and Robin’s face flashes into view, eyes wide and wet, and all Steve can say desperately is, “I can’t leave him, I can’t leave him.”
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For the first time in years, as Dustin watched him jump off the boat and into the lake, he thought about the older brother he longed for as a kid and realized that if Steve didn’t come back up he would be losing something vital.
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Steve doesn't just drive Dustin to the dance. He comes over to help with Dustin's hair first (and gets some hugs while he's there).
"'Are you sure we have enough time?' Dustin asks, his voice urgent, not unlike how he sounded back when he convinced Steve to help him track down his demo-dog. Not that Steve blames him.
School dances are harder to navigate than just about anything, including the Upside Down."
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Where the light won't reach by halfseaweeds (orphan_account)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
08 Feb 2026
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Hawkins, Indiana is a graveyard that doesn't know it's dead yet.
Two days since the gates opened. Two days since the earthquakes. Two days of watching their town become something else- something wrong, something hungry, something that bleeds red lightning and tastes like ash.
The military says they're establishing a perimeter. What they mean is: you're on your own.
Steve Harrington has always been good at protecting people. It' basically his only skill at this point- that and hitting things with a nail bat. But there are too many people, too many monsters, and not enough time before Hawkins becomes a tomb. With Robin refusing to leave his side, Dustin refusing to follow orders, and an apocalypse that won't wait for anyone to be ready, Steve has to figure out what happens when the world doesn't end all at once.
It ends in pieces. One person, one choice, one sacrifice at a time.
Series
- Part 1 of What darkness took
Bookmarked by TalesOfRuby01
08 Feb 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
This is literally so good and also what the plot of season 5 should have been
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Dustin dies (maybe), cold, in Steve's arms.
this is based off of an amazingggg fic by talesoftuby01
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After Dustin’s nightmare, Steve came over to talk and he there for him, but found out Dustin would have killed himself if Steve died.
Following that night, Steve insists on being there for his brother.**this fic includes reference to suicidal ideations.**
Take care of yourself!Series
- Part 2 of Steve and Dustin being happy
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It’s cliché, he knows that. But sometimes a cliché turns out to be very real. And right now, that was exactly what was happening. Everything happened so fast, the break of the radio tower and the stumble. Steve tried to catch himself, tried to steady himself on the bars, tried to steady his feet, but he couldn’t. The radio tower stumbled with him, as if mocking his failure to save himself the only time it mattered most.
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OR, Steve doesn't get caught by Jonathan, he plummets down however many feet, only to land into someone's arms- or at least he thought. -
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Dustin can’t reach anyone. Not Steve. Not Robin. Not the Party. This time, it’s just him. No adults. Just his brain, his fear, and a ticking clock.
(or Dustin gets beat up and possessed, but hey, at least, Eddie’s alive, right?)
Series
- Part 1 of Tales From Hawkins and All of The Above
- Part 1 of Dustybuns
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He is not even sure if the trips themselves are a constant in his life.
Steve, on the other hand, definitely is.
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Based on a tumblr fic by @literallyidontwannadothis, you really need to read that to understand!
He glances over at Dustin. He’s okay. He’s sorting through Mike’s mess of bomb building supplies—and really, who let Little Wheeler build a bomb? He says so.
“Can’t believe we let Mike make a bomb.” It’s dry, it’s sarcastic, it’s pretending like there’s less weight, like there’s not more they need to talk about. Dustin doesn’t know about the gun, and Steve can’t stop thinking about Dustin’s ribs cracking under his hands.
Bookmarked by TalesOfRuby01
18 Jan 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
SCREAMING CRYING UGHHH THE ANGST. THE FOREHEAD TOUCH.
THE BROTHERS OF ALL TIME -
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After Steve nearly dies falling from the radio tower, Dustin has to grapple with the reality that he cannot always keep him safe.
Or
Dustin has a nightmare about losing Steve and is comforted.
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One final metal impact and a definite thud and crunch rip through the air like a bomb—or maybe a plane engine or exploding star or-
He’s screaming. It feels like broken glass and lightning.
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Post s5, Dustin has a nightmare, Steve helps
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D. HENDERSON
07/11/1987 02:28 HAWKINS, IN
Interviewer: M. Carter
Transcribed by: R. James
Interviewer’s notes: Good information here. Read report for full summary.
Transcriber’s notes: Throughout the entire interview, Henderson is crying pretty much on and off. This kid is more annoying than Sgt. Lee’s wake-up call. Sorry to whoever has to transcribe these. Oh wait, that’s me. Haha.
Page 4 out of 4
OPEN TRANSCRIPT:INTERVIEWER: Can you describe with more detail what happened?
DUSTIN HENDERSON: I already told you, please–just, Steve Harrington, I know you have him, I need to–
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Immediate post s5 canon, Steve and Dustin get taken in for questioning. They're pretty codependent about it.
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“Everything’s gonna be ok, kid.”
“You don’t know that,” Dustin whispered, fighting the heaviness in his eyelids as he lay in his bed. Steve was set up on the floor next to him, sitting up as he looked at the boy.
“No,” He started. “But, I can make sure of it, ok?”
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or, Steve is always comforting Dustin, so the one time Dustin has to comfort Steve, he just copies what Steve always does. -
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“Alright Dustin–” Steve rasps, and some distant part of his brain registers it, the change from Henderson to Dustin, but Dustin’s not done. He looks at Steve, and all he can see is Eddie.
He rears his arm back and punches Steve right on the jaw.
Or, a character study of Dustin throughout Vol. 2
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Captured beneath Starcourt Mall, Dustin endures brutal torture to protect the truth while Steve is forced to watch—helpless, furious, and heartbroken.
Bookmarked by TalesOfRuby01
13 Jan 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
RAHHH ANGST TO THE MAX I LOVE IT
The brothers ever <33 -
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Codependent Steve Harrington and Dustin Henderson fic based on astral-icecream's tumble post.
Immediate post-canon scene after the military takes in the party in the finale, after El dies.-
He was tired. He was exhausted. He wanted to hurt everyone and cry himself to sleep. Dustin hated the military, El was dead, and they still took everyone in. Now, he was away from Steve, and he felt physically ill. He wanted to throw up. He wondered if throwing up on the interviewer would convince them to let him see Steve. The room they were stuck in was bleak, small, gray, and closing in on him. Dustin sat across from a man in military attire, a recorder in front of him, sitting on the metal table. They’d been sitting here for what felt like days, though in reality it was most likely hours. Two more men with weapons guarded the door, standing there, blank faces. Dustin wished they’d drop dead, because he wanted out.
The interviewer sighed. Dustin had forgotten the man’s name and didn’t care to remember it. “Can you describe in more detail what happened?”