Trust Me (Steve)
The wreck wasn’t Steve’s fault, not really. Everything that happened afterward was though.
Steve refused to let Billy call Chief Hopper or involve the twins at all. If Billy wanted to let Sirianna or Harry heal his broken collarbone or car - that was his decision. If Eddie wanted them to fix his broken arm, his call. But Steve wasn’t going to ask either of them to do anything with his broken leg and no amount of bitching from Billy was going to change his mind.
It sucked, returning home from an awesome vacation with a cast on his leg and a pair of crutches to try and hobble around with. It would suck worse to ask Harry for anything, not when everything between them was still raw and uncomfortable.
What sucked worse was when Billy decided that the day he was going to go pick up his car and get it towed to Sirius Black’s house would be the day he got Steve a babysitter to watch him all day.
Steve ignored the kid, one of the kids that hung around Harry’s sister and had been at the school when the monsters from the Upside Down had broken in. His name was Dustin and he was easier to ignore after Steve took one of the painkillers the hospital prescribed.
The mess that Steve woke up to - his head aching, his leg throbbing, and his throat dry as a desert - wasn’t as easily ignored.
There were pillows and blankets scattered around the living room, making up what kind of looked like a—
“It’s a fort!” Dustin said cheerfully when he saw that Steve woke up. “I figured if you couldn’t get to your room, you could have a room here. Course, you’d be fine if you’d just let Harry fix your bones.”
Steve would rather live in a blanket fort forever with a leg that hurt like hell than ask Harry for a favor. Plus, it wound up working out - Dustin being there. He was just a kid, one who seemed impressed with everything Steve said and did, except for refusing to call Harry.
They did that the entire day, just chilled in a fort that Dustin was probably too old for and Steve definitely was. Billy didn’t get back until late, not a bruise or cut to be seen on him. Steve was going to ask him how his car was, if his surf board made it, if Eddie was there or not —
But right behind Billy was Harry.
“I smell draaaama,” Dustin whispered in a sarcastic undertone.