wires, steve harrington

thirteen.

after everything that had happened with the demo dogs, with eleven closing the gate, and the whole mess with the hawkins lab, meadow was looking forward to finally getting time away from world-threatening situations. this summer was supposed to be one to remember, and, well, looking back, she supposed it was.

meadow had first started the summer by taking her brother, dustin, to his first retreat at the camp know where summer camp. the boy was thrilled to be at a summer camp ("cool camp", as he and his mother had been calling it) that would teach him about coding and computers, among other things he was interested in.

his sister, on the other hand, was interested in her boyfriend. steve was perfect, and treated meadow better than she could have ever hoped for. their relationship was something that just came so naturally to them; which was great, because meadow was really nervous about an awkward period. things all just seemed to fall into place, though, as they went on their first dinner date during the annual middle school. after the snowball, though, her brother had some things to say to the boy.

"you can't just date my sister, steve. you can't!" dustin exclaimed, frantically pacing the room.

steve gave meadow a nearly pained look, not knowing what to say. "dustin, we both love each other, and we want to be together. i don't understand the problem."

dustin gestured to the both of them, putting emphasis on their intertwined hands. "you guys are the problem! meadow is my role model, and you're my role model, and i look up to both of you and love both of you. and i don't want you to be dating!"

meadow, frustrated, ran her tongue along her teeth. "dustin, i love you too. but i also love steve. and, i'm sorry, but you don't have much of a say on whether we date or not, dude."

he sighed. "i just don't get it."

"i don't get why you were fine with it before," meadow replied, having heard about dustin's previous conversation with steve, "and now suddenly you don't want us to be together."

steve nodded his agreement, standing up to put a hand on dustin's shoulder. he was going to say something meaningful or heartfelt, but the smaller boy scoffed and moved away, leaving steve standing there. he turned to meadow, who was frowning with disappointment, and gave her a small hug before excusing himself. of course, he was briefly stopped by claudia to chat before he could officially leave the house, leaving meadow with dustin.

"why him?" dustin asked after a few minutes of silence. "why did you have to date him?"

meadow, exasperated, held up her hands in defeat. "i don't know what you want from me, dustin. you're being a little shit. steve is my boyfriend, and i'm not going to break up with him just because you don't want me to date him."

"it's not that i don't want you to date him!" dustin said, cutting her off. "i just want to have my two best friends back." he explained, his voice quiet.

his sister couldn't be mad at him when he looked genuinely guilty for making her upset. "bud.." she sighed, ruffling his hair and giving him a small hug. "i'm still your best friend. and so is steve. things are different now, but this different can be good. we just need to get adjusted to the new dynamic."

"are you sure things will be okay? that you guys won't forget about me?" dustin asked, looking up at her through slightly teared-up eyes.

meadow nodded, giving him a smile. "yeah, i promise." she said, squeezing him tighter. "i can assure you that you are stuck with me for the rest of your life; and that's a threat."

he laughed at her joke, smiling up at her. he reluctantly released his grip on her waist, sniffling as he wiped away a slight tear that had formed under his eye. "steve's outside, you should go see him before he leaves." he said. "and tell him i'm sorry about snapping at him. and i'll miss him when i'm at camp."