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Steve sat in the front seat of the WSQK van, music playing softly. Dustin sat in the back, working the tracker.
There were not many words exchanged between them but Steve could tell something was off.
He'd picked Dustin up from his place and he had been eerily quiet from the moment he hopped in Steve's car. Now, tucked away in the van, the only sounds were the beeping of the tracker and the radio on low.
Steve had noticed Dustin wince when Hopper patted him on the back before sending them on their way. If Steve had a guess, it would be that Dustin got his shit rocked again by Hawkins High's current popular group of jocks. It had been happening consistently for the past year but all Dustin had done about it was learn how to take a punch. That wasn't exactly the skill Steve was hoping to pass down after all the time they'd spent together.
"How you doing back there, buddy?" Steve tried to probe. "Everything good?"
"Yeah, you know, whatever." Dustin didn't even lift his head to give Steve a glance.
"I gotta say, I don't believe you." Steve continued. "You still wearing that Hellfire shirt to school?"
"Yeah and so what?" Dustin snapped defensively. "You still pussyfooting around with that ring in your pocket?"
Steve didn't have a comeback because Dylan's engagement ring was, in fact, in his jacket pocket. He started to bringing it around "just in case" the perfect moment arose spontaneously. Or, god forbid, something actually happened on one of these crawls and he'd never get another chance.
"I'm taking your silence as a yes."
Steve ignored Dustin's comment. "I get it. Eddie was your friend and you want to redeem him. But is it worth getting beat to shit all the time?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Dustin snapped again. "How about you drive, I track, and we don't talk about my problems 'cause I don't have any?"
Steve let out a breath. "Nobody wants to talk about anything. I'm gonna go insane at this rate."
Steve's frustration reignited Dustin's interest in the conversation. "What do you mean by nobody wants to talk?"
Steve looked back at Dustin through the rear view mirror as he took a sharp turn. "I thought you didn't want to talk about our problems?"
Dustin shook his head. "I don't want to talk about my problems. Your problems are fair game."
"Yep," sighed Steve. "That sounds about right too."
"It's Dylan, she's really pulled away. I know somethings bothering her but she won't tell me."
"Do you think it's only you being paranoid because you're trying to find any excuse not to stick your neck out and propose?"
