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“You have to stop giving El flowers.”
Dustin blinked back. He held up his family’s yellow phone receiver in his hand, not entirely sure he heard what he did. Was the phone line cutting out again?
“...Will?”
“I’m serious Dustin. You’ve got to stop this.”
“What? Giving my girlfriend flowers?” Dustin furrowed, scrunching the receiver in his shoulder so he could cross his arms “What’s this even about Will?”
“You just gotta believe me on this one. You can’t give her any more.”
“But El loves flowers!”
“Exactly!”
Dustin tossed up an arm, now even more confused.
“You’re losing me Byers!”
There was a heavy sigh from the other end of the line, sounding frustrated that Dustin couldn’t just magically read his friends’ mind. It was the same kind of sigh his mom often made.
“Look, I’m not saying that it’s not nice of you to do that for her – it is, and I know how much she loves them.” Will started, only to grow more adamant “But, Dustin, she cries every time they end up dying!”
Hearing that, Dustin felt his heart take a dip in his chest. His brow scrunched together, fingers tightening around the phone.
“Wait, she what??”
“She probably hasn’t told you because she doesn’t want you to feel bad, but she does. And it happens every time you give her some! This has to be the third time this week! She does her best to take care of them, but inevitability they’re not made to last forever and she just gets more upset when they end up decomposing!”
As it happens, she didn’t tell him that. Dustin had no idea, that the gifts he’s curated to bring a smile to El’s face only made her sad in the end. He just stuttered without words, rubbing the back of his neck in shame.
“I..I didn’t..really know that..”
El loved flora. She always had, adoring the pretty colours that adorned Hawkins’ hillsides, commenting on the bluebells or picking dandelions to make a flower crown out of them. Dustin knew she helped Joyce curate a garden, taking special care to water her patch of flowers and sometimes, confiding in him, that she would talk to them too. Just so they didn’t feel lonely.
So, it only made sense that he would use this to make bouquets for his girlfriend – combining El’s love of flowers with his knowledge of flora and fauna. He’d string up a collection of daisies or lilies or what have you for El, and then, would slip a little paper in them of facts, like how tulips close their petals at night to help protect their pollen, or how sunflowers use their bright colours to attract bees rather then their scent. She always seemed fascinated by what he knew, and sometimes, would drag him into the garden to inquire about the new kind of bush flower Joyce planted.
But more, he loved the smile that grew on her face whenever she opened the door, and he was standing there with a bright display of colours for her.
Now though, what was the point, if El just ended up teary-eyed over them?
“Look, it-it’s not your fault Dustin. But, I think it’s better that she just keeps gardening with mom, because those at least last longer then fresh-cut ones. Maybe..you can just get her something else? She’s been really into jewelry making lately..”
“Yeah..” Dustin muttered, not really paying much attention to what Will was saying. Even through his slump of defeat, he figured there had to be something else he could do. El loved flowers so much. What if...what if he had some kind of alternative? He thought about giving her a planter, but there was always the risk that those would die too, just later on. No, it had to be more..permanent then that. Something like..
Dustin gasped. He had it! If he could pull it off, then El would love it!
“Hello? Dustin?..”
“Wait, Will!!” Dustin scrambled, nearly dropping the phone in his excitement “What if I came up with a kind of flower alternative??”
“W-what kind of alternative? Like in nature? Because if you’re just going to catch a butterfly to put in box, that’s just going to make El more upset –”
“No! I wouldn’t – I – no!” Dustin stammered “It’s still going to be flowers, but better! El will love it – I mean, I hope. Trust me on this – look, I gotta go figure this out, and by that I mean talk to someone who knows what they’re doing. I’m a man on a love mission!”
“Wait, Dustin, I’m not sure! –..Hello?? Dustin?..Dustin! – sigh– Oh boy...”
-
Dustin couldn’t exactly tell whether Erica was going to help him by the look she gave him at the door.
He’d peddled his heart out all the way to the Sinclair house. And when he finally convinced a confused Lucas that he in fact wanted to talk to his sister instead, all the young D&D player did was give him a brow raise upon entry.
“Henderson..” Erica greeted dryly “This better be good enough to interrupt my Saturday cartoons.”
“My liege, I come to you in a dire moment of need to impress my beloved.”
“Speak English.”
“Do you know how to make paper flowers?”
That clearly wasn’t what she was expecting to hear. Dustin watched her brow go even higher at the question, eyes squinting.
“..Yeah.” She answered, surprisingly not commenting on him whispering a triumphant ‘yes!’ “Why do you wanna know? You tryna get in on your mom’s arts n’ crafts club?”
“Funny.” Dustin tossed back “Look, this isn’t for me. Well, I mean..it sort of is. But it’s actually for El.”
“Your girlfriend?”
“To be exact. She loves flowers, but..I wanna make her a special bouquet. Something more..permanent, I guess, and maybe with a little bit of hand-crafted love in it.”
“Sounds mushy.”
“C’mon Erica!” Dustin snapped, tossing up his arms “Just help me out so I can give this to El, okay?! She-she deserves to have something nice, and after giving her flowers that only ended up dying on her, I think I have to come back with something special and worthy of her. She should get something pretty, and I..I just – screw it – I just wanna see her happy to have it!..”
He knew that emotional display would only get two outcomes out of the fiery girl – either she’d help, or the door would get slammed in his face. Dustin stood perfectly still, holding his breath as he watched a rather quiet Erica.
She said nothing. Seemed to just sit on his words, narrowing her eyes more. Pursed her lips. Then, finally, with a big lamenting sigh and tip of her head, she opened to door fully for her fellow game-player.
“Come in..”
“Yes!” Dustin pumped his fist, following her in whilst continuing a happy jig “Yes yes yes –”
“If you want those pretty flowers then you’d better stop that!”
-
An hour later after the Sinclairs’, Dustin peddled himself all the way to the mixed house of Byers and Hoppers.
He rested his bike up against the porch, making quick work of the steps. He only hesitated a couple of seconds before making a declarative knock, soon hearing muffled footsteps from behind the door. Very quickly, a nervousness sparked up inside of him, careful not to crinkle the wrapped paper decorations he was holding behind his back.
C’mon, don’t get cold feet now! Dustin quickly cleared his throat, straightening himself up. He’d done his damnedest on these flowers; covered himself in construction paper and a couple of scissor cuts, and while Erica was a bit more of a critiquing teacher type, he knew she did her best to guide him to make the best bouquet.
When the door finally pulled back, it revealed the familiar face of Will who blinked back at him.
“Dustin?..”
“Will.” Dustin greeted with a grin “My good friend, my compadre.”
“What’s up?..”
“Remember earlier on the phone when I said I had a bigger and better alternative idea? Well, I’m going to ask you to go get El for me.”
“Dustin, I don’t know if this idea fills me with confidence –”
“Will just trust me alright?!” Dustin pleaded, a little tired of his friends constantly questioning him “If I make her cry again or something then you have my permission to do the brother thing and beat me up, but I’m your friend and I’m just asking for a tiny bit of faith here.”
Inevitably, not having much other control of the situation, Will just threw up his arms at the whole thing, signaling a silent okay. He did trust Dustin in most ways, for he was a good guy and friend – but, when it came to his ‘ideas’, sometimes they do tend to swing a little out of the box. There was no convincing him out of it, though; that was another thing about him.
When Will walked back into the house to call for El, the soft steps following were quick. Dustin hastily sucked in another breath of confidence. Soon, El swung around the hallway frame, her brown tresses skirting over her shoulders. She wore a brightly coloured striped sweater and blue jeans, and when she smiled upon seeing him, it could outdue the hue of her sweater.
“Dustin!” She eagerly shuffled across the house to the front door, soon eye to eye “You’re here.”
“M’lady,” Dustin made an overly dramatic bow, watching her try to hold in a laugh “May I say, you’re looking even more beautiful then the last time I saw you.”
El would always roll her eyes at every time he did this, but, at the same time, he would still catch the blush of pink bursting over her cheeks that’d inevitably happen. She shyly ducked her head down, brushing her hair away.
“You only saw me yesterday Dustin..” She reminded him.
“My point still stands.”
El giggled again, blushing harder. Dustin felt his grin grow.
“Actually, um, I wanted to show you something. Care to step onto the porch with me?”
El nodded. Dustin stepped away so she could step over the frame, closing the door. Now it was just the two of them; wind whistling around, faint clinking of windchimes. El patiently waited for him to speak, tucking her hair behind her ear, and making it all the more harder for Dustin to break the innocence. Finally, he took a breath,
“So..don’t be mad, but..Will, kind of ratted you out...”
Instantly, her face clouded “What do you mean?..”
“He was talking to me about the flowers I give you. I know you really like them, but..he said how you..kinda get more upset, when they die..”
It took a couple seconds of processing, but soon, Dustin watched El’s expression break apart. He did his best to try to chase away the guilt that immediately hit him after.
“No I don’t!!” El quickly tried to cover up “I mean..yes, I’m sad, but..I love the flowers! You always pick the prettiest ones, and..and you make is special! That’s..why I’m upset, when they die, b-but I don’t want to stop! Please don’t say you’ll stop picking them! He shouldn’t have told you!”
“It’s okay El.” Dustin soothed, putting a free hand on El’s arm gently “Will didn’t mean anything by it; I think he was just upset by how often you were upset. And..he’s right, in a way. I know you love the flowers, but, I don’t wanna give you something that’s just gunna make you sad in the long-run, you know?..”
“I guess...” El muttered, staring gloomily down at her feet – she didn’t seem overly convinced “But I love flowers!”
“I know.” Dustin couldn’t help smiling, causing El to quirk her head “And so, your bard has come up with an ingenious idea to solve this.”
That’s what they always called each other. Bard and Mage. As a special gift, Dustin even commissioned Will to do a painting of them – in their D&D outfits, El draped in her purple mage robes and him with his flute in one hand and holding onto hers with the other. El loved it so much, she couldn’t stop hugging either Dustin or Will.
“What idea?..”
“Well, I’ve found a way I think, to make the flowers a little more permanent. With some help and a good amount of time crafting, I present...”
With a silent inhale, Dustin ever-so-carefully pulled the bouquet from where it was concealed to finally sit in front of El’s eyes – and seeing them grow wide in complete delight.
A whole bouquet, of every single flower cut out in a bright rainbow of colour. They weren’t a tulips or roses or anything, but more of the classic flower shape, open petals and a little white bud stem in the middle. Hibiscous, El remembers Joyce teaching her. There had to be about fifteen inside the bundle, with paper green leaves nestled in the bunch and all tied with a ribbon.
“Oh..wow...Dustin you made all of these?..”
“Yep.” Dustin smiled, trying to chase out any nervousness “Each one, hand-crafted. Are-are they good? Erica kinda trained me through them all..but, uh, I tried to incorporate each colour in, but, I also made sure to have your favourites. Yellow here, and some purple ones too! See, and I even put our two favourite colours beside each other – two, purple and orange, together. I know it’s not the real thing, but I-I tried to put in details to fix that..see, on the leaves here..”
El leaned in, fingers gently thumbing one of the sprouting green leaves to get a better look. Then, she saw it; the little fuzzy bump glued to the green paper, with little legs made of black marker. El gasped softly.
“A caterpillar..”
“Yeah! Erica had some fuzzy pipecleaners, so I just thought..but, this one won’t eat these flowers like it did with your roses. And look, here, on this blue flower? The yellow fuzzy – I drew on black stripes, to make it look like a bumble-bee. Or, at least, I hope it looks like a bee...”
El didn’t know what to say. All this time and effort Dustin put in, just for her. And all because he didn’t want to see her upset. She was overwhelmed, cradling the flowers closer and starting to feel a familiar prickle around her eyes. She tried to hide her sniffle but wasn’t all that successful, Dustin catching it as his face fell.
“Oh shit. Oh god, I-I’m sorry – these one weren’t suppose to make you cry! Here, I-I can take them if you don’t like them, arts n’ crafts was a dumb idea anyway –”
“No! No don’t take them!” El protested as she pulled back, causing Dustin even more confusion “I-I’m not crying..sad tears, I..I’m actually really happy..”
“..You are?”
El nodded her head so fast it looked like it could pop off, smiling up even through the wet eyes “I..I’m just..so surprised..you did all this for me. Made these special so they won’t die, and I won’t be sad..”
“Well...of course I would.” Dustin answered, his own smile sliding back up “I can’t have you ending up sad over the gifts I give you – they’re suppose to bring you happiness. Like..the way you smile so wide when I show you the new bouquets I’ve put together, such as when I matched the orchids with the baby’s breath..”
El blushed, ducking down into her paper bouquet “They do make me happy. But..you making flowers with your own hands, just for me...makes it extra special.”
Dustin grinned “You really like them?..”
“I love them. I..I’m sorry, that I can be such a cry-baby..getting upset at the flowers even when they’re gifts and everything..”
“No! No El!” Dustin lept the handful of feet between them to take her hand “You don’t have to be sorry. I mean...that stuff..it makes you you right? And I like how you are.”
“It does?..”
“Yeah.” Dustin encouraged “And you know..I even like that you do that. How you mourn your flowers and feel for them, how you talk to them. I like how curious you are about things, meaning I get to tell you all about them; how interested you are. You don’t have to feel sorry about that or change it..”
Hearing that, El almost wanted to cry all over again. Instead, she felt the brim of a smile, almost breaking the sides of her red cheeks. Dustin smiled back at that, but soon, El saw the corner dip slightly.
“I mean, I should be the one who’s sorry..– giving you gifts that just made you upset..”
“No! Don’t be sorry!” El quickly dismissed, squeezing their interlocked hands “I still loved those – and I loved how you thought about them. How you matched them to mix together pretty colours...how, you would always tell me interesting things about how they grow and how they drink sunlight. How you always think of my feelings and how smart you are...helping me understand the world better. Don’t you ever change that either..”
Wow. Dustin could almost feel himself start to blush. He laughed quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. He always hoped he made El happy; he guess he never thought of how much it meant to her.
“Shit..and here I thought I was the one who gave you compliments..”
El beamed. That’s when she leaned in, crossing any leftover inches of space to place a kiss on his lips – quick, but deep still, and sweet all the same. He could feel himself smiling into it – and feeling El’s own against his. When she pulled away, she was still shining back at him, making his heart dance all over again.
That’s what he did it for.
“El!! Where the hell are you?!”
That was Hopper’s voice, unmistakably. El threw her head over her shoulder, yelling towards the slightly ajar front door.
“On the porch!” She answered, just as quickly swinging her head back to her boyfriend “Do you wanna stay for dinner tonight?”
“..For Joyce’s cooking?” Dustin raised a brow, pretending to wrinkle up his face. El innocently rolled her eyes, giving him a shove in the shoulder that got a laugh in return.
“Kidding, kidding. She’s nice.”
“I know. Actually, Dad is helping cook tonight. He wants to make burgers.”
“And that’s suppose to be the better option…?”
Again, El rolled her eyes, but Dustin didn’t miss the grin hidden at the corner of her lips. He grinned right back. Then, rather abruptly, the front door swung open wide, revealing Hopper. His gaze landed on the two unsuspecting teens.
“El??” He furrowed at her first, only for his gaze to jump, wide-eyed, to Dustin “Henderson?!”
“Sir.” Dustin greeted cheerily with a two-fingered salute. Hopper furrowed harder. Then he returned to his daughter.
“El, we’ve told you a million times – either Joyce or I have to be within viewing distance when you have a boy over.”
“I didn’t have him over. He came to visit me.” El challenged. Dustin tried not to snort audibly when he saw Hopper’s ears go red.
“That’s the same damn –”
He was cut off when there was a sudden hand on his back – the quick movements of a small body behind the giant revealing Joyce, who popped out beside him.
“What’re we doing out here?” She asked, brow going up politely when she spotted Dustin “Oh, hi Dustin honey..”
“Hello Mrs. Byers. You look very nice this afternoon.”
“Well, thank you hun..”
“Don’t try to sweet-talk your way out of this Henderson –”
“Look what Dustin made me Mom!” El broke in, eagerly pulling up her flowers towards Joyce. She looked just as excited to show her family, bouncing on her toes.
“Oh, wow..” Joyce actually did look impressed, brow quirking as she took in the colourful display, fingertips gently skimming the flower bulb “Are these paper..? That’s very creative..”
“I wanted to, uh, get El her favourite flowers – but this time, make sure they were more permanent then the others..”
“Aha, I see..” a knowing smile started pulling up on Joyce’s face as she looked between the two teens, afterwards gently patting El’s cheek “Well, that’ll solve the problem then of you getting upset. Very sweet.”
El nodded eagerly in agreement. Hopper sighed loudly.
“Mom, can Dustin stay for dinner?”
“N –”
“Well sure.” Joyce smiled, making El jump up and grasp Dustin’s hand in excitement. Hopper hastily turned to Joyce.
“But Joyce he was just here the other night –”
“Let it go Hop.” Joyce simply gave him a pat on the shoulder “You’re not winning this battle.”
At that, Hopper didn’t even try to rebuttal, left grumbling under his breath. When he brought his gaze back to his daughter who was giving pleading puppy-dog eyes, he could only sigh.
“Alright, fine. I’ll take him over that Wheeler kid your brother is always inviting over..”
“Uh..thanks I guess?..” Dustin said, not sure how else to respond – though it didn’t matter as Hopper just muttered something about teenagers and stomped back inside. Joyce happily ushered them in, stepping in after.
“Safe to say your mom likes me at least?..”
El rolled her eyes once more, saying something like ‘Dad doesn’t like anyone – except Mom’, but Dustin quickly lost it when he felt her fingers squeeze around his. When he looked back at her again, he found that amazing smile.
“C’mon – you can help me pick the best place to put these in my room.”
Dustin beamed back. He lifted up El’s hand that was wrapped in his, placing a kiss over the palm and watching her smile spread.
“Whatever you wish, m’lady.”