✓ Adventures In Babysitting / Steve Harrington ¹

𝙭𝙭𝙞. rise of the nerds

She sits with her back against the smooth walls and her knees drawn up to her chest as Dustin tells Erica the full story of Hawkins, staring all the way back when Will Byers had seemingly disappeared off of the face of the Earth as he starts to unscrew the panel covering the wires that power the fan.  The flashlights that are taped to Erica's helmet glow, providing them with the much-needed source of light to cancel out the darkness that had already managed to consume them.

"So, when we set fire to the hub, we drew the Demodogs away so El could close the gate," Dustin explains.  "But now, for some insane reason, the Russians appear to be trying to reopen it, which just destroys everything we risked our lives for."

Abby lets out a dejected sigh.  "Well, you know what they say: no rest for the wicked."

"By 'we', you're including Lucas?" Erica questions, ignoring Abby's comment.

"Yes, of course," Dustin answers.  There's a layer of sweat that had built up on his face that accompanies the look of hopelessness that rests in his eyes.  He does a better job than Abby at hiding this, but she knows that he feels the same amount of guilt for leaving their companions behind.

"So, all that shit you told me, Lucas was there?" Erica inquires with a disbelieving expression on her face.

"Yeah."

"My brother, Lucas Charles Sinclair?"

"Yes!" Dustin snaps.

"I don't believe you," Erica responds.

"Wait, so you believe everything about El and the gate, and the demodogs, and the Mind Flayer ... but you question your brother's involvement?"

 Erica nods.  "That's correct."

"Makes total sense," Dustin remarks sarcastically as he rolls his eyes.  He raises the small screwdriver that he had conveniently brought along as he proceeds to remove the screws from the panel that powers the fan.

"You need help with that?" Erica questions.

"No," Dustin replies.

"Well, I mean it's taking a while, so—"

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock."

"All right, so if we don't find a more efficient method to stop these fans, we're never gonna find help and your ice cream buddies are screwed," Erica snaps.

"Yeah, with that attitude they are," Dustin retorts.  "Jee-zus!"

Abby blows out a puff of air and speaks up with an aggravatingly calm voice, even for her.  "Look, Erica, we're doing the best we can with what we have in hand—which isn't exactly a lot."

"I'm just trying to be realistic," Erica replies defensively.  She raises a wrist to check the neon-pink watch that is strapped securely around her wrist.  "I mean, we've made it about point-three miles in nine hours.  Then we had to walk three hours down that tunnel, so I'd estimate ten miles back to the elevator, which should take us approximately twelve-and-a-half days."

Abby stares at the girl with wide eyes and parted lips.  "I'm sorry, did you just do that on the spot?  Like, in your head?"

"I'm good with numbers," Erica replies.

"Holy shit," Dustin utters.  "You're a nerd!"

Erica makes a sort of strangled gasping nose as she leans forward toward Dustin.  "Come again?"

"You ... are ... a ... nerd," Dustin repeats with a grin.

"Okay," Erica snaps, waving a finger in the air and pointing at Dustin.  "You better take that back, nerd."

Dustin only shrugs.  "You can't put the truth back in the box."

Abby nods and pats Erica on the shoulder, hoping to move the conversation along quicker.  "Great, yeah, yeah, I hope you enjoy your stay in Nerddom, whatever."  She then turns her attention to Dustin, "And Henderson, focus on your mission, please."

"But it's not the truth!" Erica exclaims.

Dustin only grins wider, even the smile manages to reach his eyes.  "Let's examine the facts, shall we?"

"Listen, as compelling as this conversation is, we don't have the time—" Abby starts.

"Fact one: you're a math whiz, apparently," Dustin continues, raising his eyebrows.

"That was a pretty straightforward equation," Erica defends.

Dustin ignores this and continues.  "Fact number two: you're a political junkie."

"Just because I don't agree with communism as an ideology—"

"Just give me the damn screwdriver," Abby hisses.  Dustin doesn't fight as Abby wrestles the screwdriver out of his grasp and starts to unscrew the panel herself.

"Fact number three: you like My Little Pony," Dustin finishes, holding up Erica's backpack to see.

"He's got you there," Abby voices after a moment.

"And what does My Little Pony have to do with this?" Erica questions indignantly as she wrestles the backpack out of Dustin's grip and makes sure that the straps are securely around her shoulders.  

The grin on Dustin's face has returned as he lets out a sigh.  "Ah, let's recall the ponies' latest adventure, shall we?  The evil centaur team and Tierk turn Applejack into a dragon at midnight castle, and then Megan and the other ponies have to use Moochick's magic to defeat his rainbow of darkness, saving them from a lifetime of enslavement.  All the pink in the world can't disguise the irrefutable fact that centaurs and castles and magic are all standard nerd tropes.  Ergo, My Little Pony is nerdy.  Ergo, you, Erica, are a nerd."

There's a smug expression on Erica's face as she asks, "And how do you know so much about My Little Pony?"

Instead of becoming a flustered babbling mess, spitting out excuses as quickly as possibly Dustin only grins.  "Because I'm ..."  Abby removes the panel from the electrical box and Dustin grins before he looks back at Erica.  "A nerd."

Abby surrenders the electrical box to Dustin who grabs the cables that run through the box and yanks them out of their sockets.  There's a flash and a small crackle of electricity before the fan before them starts to slow to a stop.

"Thank god for Camp Know Where," Abby sighs.

Dustin grins and turns back to Erica.  "Let's go ... nerd."

author's note: i completely forgot to update this, i apologize profusely.  but yeah, i couldn't have abby go with robin and steve because i'm pretty sure that then i'd have to include confessions and that would mess up the ending that i had already planned out and that i like a lot more.