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welcome home, dustin!
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. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧
Dustin Henderson, in a way, held their party together. When they were twelve, and splitting apart, getting unnecessarily jealous, Dustin had been the one to remedy that. He'd been the one to let them know when they were being jerks, and helped them get back together just in time to become fugitives. When they were thirteen, he'd messed up with Dart, sure, but he'd also been the one to find Steve, someone that they'd needed in order to successfully make their way through the tunnels. Even without parallel universes and Demogorgons, Dustin was always there, always laughing, smiling, using his brains to help them through any problem that arose.
It was for this very reason that the party had been planning a Welcome Home Dustin party for the past few days. He'd been at science camp for a month, and they'd all felt the loss of him as they went about their days. The party simply wasn't complete without him, and they wanted this party to show him exactly that.
So this was why Alina woke up early the night after the movie—and the blackout. Well, early for her, anyway, which meant before nine o'clock. She and Will both got out of bed at the same time, Will, as usual, just slipping out from under the covers, and Alina dropping down from the top bunk and landing in a crouch, and moved to their dresser to find their clothes. From the kitchen, Alina could smell pancakes, and grinned, knowing this was going to be a good day.
"Morning, dad." As usual, she spoke to the framed photo she had of Brandon Fairgrieves on her desk, who was, as usual, beaming brightly at her, before moving on to another one that rested on her desk, of a different man she'd grown to care about as much. "Good morning, Bob."
It helped, in a way, to speak to the dead. Seeing their glazed smiles locked under glass and picture frame made her heart twinge a little, but it also made them feel a lot closer. Like they weren't just bodies stuffed into coffins and buried deep, deep, underground. Like they were constantly watching over her.
Brandon Fairgrieves and Bob Newby were both heroes—sure, Alina's dad had made mistakes, but he'd fought all of her life for her to be safe and out of the lab's clutches. Bob had been the one to save everyone's lives from the Demodogs, and therefore help them purge the Mind Flayer out from Will. To both of them, she was eternally grateful.
