Always Be There For You ~ Dustin Henderson x Reader

Chapter 30: The Monster and The Superhero

 I walked from the front door straight to the bathroom. I closed the door behind me and quietly opened the medicine cabinet. I grabbed the bottle of ibuprofen and took a pill. My head had been pounding since we left Eddie's place.

I hadn't told anyone about my headaches. I felt like everyone was walking on eggshells around me ever since the incident at Starcourt Mall; I just didn't want to give them another reason to worry about me. I stared at myself in the mirror for a moment. Thanks to the nightmares, I had massive eye bags that made me look like I hadn't slept in a few days. I sighed and flushed the toilet to make sure Steve didn't question why I was in the bathroom, before exiting.

"Sit," Steve instructed, "Don't think I forgot about you sneaking out." I sat down next to him on the couch and anxiously bit the inside of my cheek.

"Why have you been sneaking out?" Steve asked.

"I uh..." I stuttered.

"Please don't tell me you and Henderson are-"

"Steve! No!"

"Okay, good."

"My nightmares are coming back... and they're a lot worse than normal."

"Why didn't you come to me?"

"Well, I was going to. But, you were at work the first time and last night I didn't want to wake you up because-"

"Y/n," Steve put his hand on my shoulder, "You need to stop worrying about others so much and think about yourself a little more."

"I didn't want you to worry..."

"I'm your brother. Hell, at this point I'm practically your parent! I'm always gonna worry about you, it's my job. I love you, kid." Steve ruffled my hair and I gave him a teary-eyed smile. He wrapped me in a big bear hug and I gratefully accepted.

"I understand if I'm at work and you wanna talk to Henderson. But, before you go, at least leave me a note first. Okay?" Steve questioned.

"Okay."

"Delivery service!" Dustin shouted as he swung the door open to Reefer Rick's shed the next morning. Eddie jumped high in the air out of fear before realizing it was just us. Max, Robin, Steve, and I came in behind Dustin holding grocery bags. We placed them down on the table and sat down to talk to Eddie.

"We got good news and bad news. How do you prefer it?" I asked.

"Bad news first, always," Eddie responded.

"All right. Bad news," Dustin sighed, "We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you. Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy."

"Like, one hundred percent convinced," Max added.

"And the good news?" Eddie questioned.

"Your name hasn't gone public yet," Robin replied, "But if we found out about you, it's only a matter of time before others do. And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother are gonna be gunning for you."

"Hunt the freak, right?" Eddie joked, and we all nodded in agreement, "Shit."

"So, before that happens, we find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence," Dustin planned.

"That's all, Dustin? That's all?" Eddie sassed.

"Eddie, Dustin sounds crazy right now. But, we've been through this before. I mean, everyone has experienced it in different ways, but we can bring our knowledge together and bring this son of a bitch down," I hopefully explained.