meadow and dustin discuss how literary life can be (or: in which the henderson siblings analyze meadow's relationship with steve) + steve and meadow's anniversary

hi i'm sorry i keep updating and writing new stuff but i am feeling a surge of inspiration 🕺 this was inspired by a post i made on my message board, and @MarlianaVictoria requested i write about it in more detail! credits for helping me come up with ideas (as always) go to

scary love by the neighbourhood

your love is scaring me, no one has ever cared for me as much as you do

she knew that they were together, that she was happy about it, and that they would remain together for hopefully the rest of their lives.

but it was certainly a lot, she thought, that she had once mistaken her feelings towards steve for hatred, and that their paths had intertwined the way they had. regardless, she never really paused to consider how they'd happened to end up together.

dustin, on the other hand, thought about their relationship more frequently than he would ever be willing to admit. he, despite not so subtle complaints about their pda, loved the couple with his whole heart. seeing his two favorite people happy made him feel reminded of love, and it gave him hope that he and suzie would someday be the same way.

the boy was a romantic at heart, and had truly become wiser than anyone that the couple knew. steve would constantly become shocked when the younger boy would give him advice, frequently commenting that dustin was the smartest person he knew. and he probably was.

"i'm just so worried. what am i going to do in my future, you know?" steve asked once, laying down with practically half of his body falling off of the couch. "i can't work at family video forever, right. and i don't really want to go to college either."

"you don't have to go to college, steve." dustin replied, sitting with his back pressed to the couch.

the older boy shook his head. "no, i know. but i know meadow would probably want me to, or prefer if i did. and i don't know, i want to make her proud, right. and i'd get more job opportunities.."

"no, steve, you make her proud already. all you have to do is just.. literally be yourself." he argued. "she loves you too much to be upset about anything you do."

this made steve smile. "you think so?"

the youngest henderson sent him an incredulous look. "uh, yeah?" he then shifted around so he was looking into steve's eyes. "look, you haven't ever seen the way she is around you. the way she lights up. it's always been like that, too, since you first met."

he shook his head. "no, no, there for a while i think she genuinely hated me."

"you think that?" dustin scoffed. "is that why you started dating nancy? or any of those other girls you wasted time with?"

steve let this idea sink in for a moment. he hadn't ever really stopped to wonder why he had dated nancy if he'd liked meadow so desperately. "i mean.. i guess she didn't like me, right. and so i decided that i should move on. and i did, i really did love nancy. and i just wasn't.. i wasn't enough for her."

"so you dated nancy despite liking meadow, just like she dated you despite liking jonathan." dustin clarified. "which is why when she broke up with you, she went to jonathan and you started becoming closer to meadow."

he nodded. "i mean.. yeah. yeah, i guess. and so nancy and i never wished anything.. bad for the other. we just weren't meant to be, but it got us to the relationships we both wanted."

dustin thought about this for a moment. "okay, yeah. yeah, so then you and meadow got together because of all that."

"yeah." steve looked at the ceiling somewhat blankly. "i guess i just never understood.. what made her change her mind, you know? why she stopped hating me."

"steve, i don't think she ever hated you." her brother said.

"what?"

dustin gave him another look. "steve, do you have to be told everything? she has liked you for years. but she's too.. she's too afraid of accepting her feelings. she was scared that you would hurt her, so she pushed you away. she convinced herself that she hated you because it was easier than loving you, easier than it was to see you be with nancy."

steve let this sink in. "wait, wait, wait. so she.. you think she liked me the whole time?"

"yes!" he replied, exasperated.

"but everyone knew i liked her, i thought. in middle school at least. i mean, i wasn't subtle about it."

dustin shook his head. "yeah, but she thought it was a joke. she was so afraid of getting hurt by you, she just didn't want to admit it."

the older boy frowned. "so then what do you think made her change her mind?"

"i think it was seeing you change." he replied. "you kind of.. you were a douche. yeah, you were. and i think she knew deep down that you could.. stop being one. but when she got to watch you break your walls down, that's when she realized that the line between love and hate was so thin that she'd mistaken it."

steve's jaw dropped slightly. "dude, that was like.. really poetic."

"yeah?"

"yeah, that was like.. philosophical shit, dude."

people wouldn't ever believe it, but the two had never slept together before. dustin found this hard to believe, since he'd once walked in on them making out on her bed ("dustin!! get out, dude!!" steve had yelled, to which dustin began screaming, shielding his eyes as if the two had been partaking in an act much more risqué than just kissing).

but after being with nancy, who he had slept with quite early on, in his opinion, and having other relationships that seemed meaningless for anything other than sex, steve was not interested in rushing things with meadow. he knew that if the time ever felt appropriate, they could discuss it. but if he planned to spend the rest of his life with the girl, he figured.. why rush? why not wait until the moment was right, until everything was perfect?

and the last person he expected to be explaining this to was her brother, who was somehow mature enough to understand completely (despite making occasional gags at the mere idea of it). "yeah, i mean.. you want it to be meaningful, since it wasn't meaningful for you before. i get that."

steve would constantly be surprised by these conversations, the ones where a boy years younger than him would be the one giving him advice. they had many deep conversations like this, and dustin ended up having one quite similar with meadow.

"your relationship with steve is just so.. interesting to me." he admitted once. "just the way it came to be. all the angst."

she sent him a look, laughing a little. "yeah? what do you mean?"

"i just mean, like.. you both have liked each other for so long, but you were both so afraid to do anything about it."

meadow shrugged. "i mean.. yeah, i guess. what's so interesting about it?"

it was then that dustin dramatically fell onto her bed, laying like a starfish and staring at the ceiling. "you and steve both liked each other in seventh grade. he was too afraid of commitment, you know, being the popular kid. and you were too afraid of rejection, because you thought his feelings were just rumors."

"okay, yeah."

"and eventually it hurt him too much to keep liking you, so he started dating other girls that he didn't like as much. and then eventually it hurt you too much to keep liking him, seeing him with other girls. so you made yourself believe that you hated him, since that was much easier than having an unrequited love."

meadow looked over at him, confused by how right on the money he was. "okay, yeah."

"and then after nancy broke up with him, you saw him finally be vulnerable with you. and when it hurt you to see him sad, you realized how much you loved him."

"how long have you been thinking about this?" she laughed, sitting next to him.

dustin shrugged. "i just think it's really cinematic, you know? it's cute."

she chuckled, ruffling his hair under his hat. "yeah, i mean i guess so. what made you think about all this? was it our anniversary?"

he nodded. "yeah, i've just been thinking about you guys. i really.. i really love you two."

meadow smiled. "we love you too." she assured him, wrapping her arms around him. "that being said, he's gonna be here in an hour and i need to get ready."

his eyes followed her as she stood up, still in her star wars pajama pants. "where are you guys going?"

"he booked one of those fancier restaurants again for dinner." she said, looking through her closet for something to wear. "i always tell him he doesn't need to, but-"

"he loves showing off." dustin finished.

"you betcha." she laughed, finally pulling out a black dress from the back of her closet. "what do we think about this?" she asked, holding it up over her body. it was styled similarly to her other dresses, what with a sweetheart neckline and an off the shoulder look. it had imprinted red roses that wound around the skirt and up the bodice.

dustin gave her a thumbs up. "i give it five yertles out of five."

she laughed. "wow, five whole yertles?"

"yep."

"well, i have to wear it, then." she pulled out one of the few pairs of heels she owned, throwing them onto her bed. "thank you for loving us." she said to her brother. "for being our wingman and our favorite person."

he smiled widely. "yeah, anytime." he grinned, moving to give her a hug. "have fun on your date." he then winked, walking out of her room.

she laughed, rolling her eyes before getting ready. almost as soon as she finished applying her makeup and tending to her hair, steve had arrived. when she got to the door, he was standing in the doorway with flowers and a suit.

"you don't have to get me flowers every time you plan something." she said as she moved into his embrace, smiling as his arms wound around her waist.

"no, but it makes it much more fun when i do." he reasoned, helping her put the flowers into a vase. "you look gorgeous as always." he said as he pressed a kiss to her temple.

meadow blushed, shaking her head. "thank you. you don't look too bad yourself." she smiled as she straightened the collar of his shirt.

"too bad?" he countered, smiling as he leaned down to kiss her lips. "is that what's kept you with me for two years, i'm not too bad looking?"

she rolled her eyes. "i don't need to constantly raise your ego, do i, harrington?"

"i much prefer it when you do." he said, his lips grazing over her ear.

she hummed. "alright, pretty boy, are we doing this date or what?"he gave her a boyish smile as he grabbed her hand, taking her into his car.

"i actually got something for you." he said. "well, i kind of made something, too, but.. you'll see."

he handed her a box, and she opened it to reveal a silver necklace. on it was an oval locket with a cut emerald in the center, and meadow smiled at it. "like the emeralds i wore on our first date."

steve smiled. "yeah, i was hoping it would remind you of that. oh, and open it." he was clearly quite proud of his gift, but he nervously bit his lip as he waited for her to react.

inside of the locket was a small picture of steve, his arms wrapped around meadow protectively as he smiled down at her. "this is.. it's perfect, thank you." she said, leaning over to kiss him. "i feel bad, i didn't get you anything."

"no, i know we said no gifts. i just.. i wanted to make sure you felt special." he explained, and her heart melted. "oh, i have this too!" he handed her a wrapped present.

"oh my gosh, steve, i don't know what to say-"

"don't say anything, then, just open it!" he laughed, completely in awe of her.

she took off the wrapping paper to reveal a picture frame. inside were two photos: one of steve smiling at meadow when they were twelve and one of him smiling at her that her mom had captured before one of their dates.

"i thought you might.. might want to put it on your wall, or something." he said.

meadow threw her arms around him, smiling into his neck. "i love it so much, i love you, i love it, i-"

he laughed, holding her close to him. "i'm glad you like it."

she pulled away to look at him. "i was talking to dustin about us today. about how.. cinematic, or poetic, or whatever our relationship is."

"yeah?" he tilted his head to the side.

"i don't know, i guess.. this is just the best thing that's happened to me. you are the best thing that's happened to me. and whatever... angst," she used the word dustin had used, "or whatever it was that led to us being together.. i'm so thankful for it. and i'm thankful for you, and i'm thankful that we can hopefully spend the rest of forever together."

steve smiled. "forever?"

"yeah, you know, after we eventually get married."

"i knew you were accepting that proposal." he smiled, kissing her cheek.

meadow chuckled. "again, that was not a proposal. but yeah.. i can't wait for us to celebrate our twentieth and fiftieth anniversaries."

he grinned at this. "me neither. forever." he kissed her cheek again. "i love love you."

she blushed, looking down at the picture frame before looking at him again. "i love love you, too."

i will never rest.