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Steve is standing in his kitchen debating what the hell he’s going to make for dinner when the phone rings. As he answers, he’s surprised to hear Mrs. Henderson on the other end of the line. “Steve? Oh honey, I’m sorry to call you out of the blue like this but–”
“It’s fine Mrs. Henderson, what is it?”
“It’s Dustin-”
Panic shoots through Steve. “What’s wrong with Dustin?” he asks, tension cutting through his voice. Steve hikes his shoulder up to hold the phone to his ear and strides to the front door for his shoes. If he’s getting a call from Mrs. Henderson instead of a code red on the radio, it probably isn’t upside down stuff, but it’s still concerning. The phone cord is extra long but it still pulls tight, he has to stretch and bend unnaturally to grab his shoes from the tray.
“He’s ok, perfectly fine, it’s just I’m a little unprepared you see, and I thought, well Steve is such a good young man-”
“Thank you Mrs. Henderson, but wha-”
“-and Dustin, he really looks up to you, you know, I never expected it but you’re like the big brother he never had. He loves you a lot.”
Most of the panic has left Steve by now, and he’s just left with a mild impatience. He walks a little slower to grab his keys, doesn’t bother tying his laces. “I love him a lot. Dustin’s a sweet kid, though he can be a bit of a butthead sometimes.”
Mrs. Henderson laughs, but it’s just a bit tired and very tense. Steve can hear a bit of muffled rustling, like she’d put the receiver against her chest. She returns, a little calmer. “Yes, Dusty can be a character. But, I– the reason I’m calling, Steve…”
“Yeah?”
“Dustin’s father was a shifter.”
“Oh.”
“And I always knew it was a possibility, but I guess it just caught me by surprise today. And I can handle it. I’m not totally unprepared, I’ve got all the books, and my husband shifted for crying out loud, but– there’s nothing that can replace the real thing, right?”
Steve isn’t quite getting this. It’s like his ears have been filled with cotton. He can hear what Mrs. Henderson is saying, but comprehending it is a different story. “I don’t, I’m sorry, I’m not sure I quite understand, Mrs. Henderson. What’s going on with Dustin?”
“Dusty’s shifted into his wolf form for the very first time. I’d been calling him for dinner and he wasn’t answering, and I went in his room and there he was. This adorable little puppy crawling on the bedspread.”
“That’s–” Steve doesn’t know what to say. He’s never even considered Dustin might be like him. He’d just never thought about it before. “awesome. That’s so amazing.”
It’s kinda stupid, really. He’s always thought of the kids as pups, but–well. Neither of Steve’s parents are shifters, and he’s lived a sort of isolated life because of that. It’s not like shifting is rare or anything, it’s just sort of private. Steve only truly got to know another shifter when he and Nancy started dating.
“He’s growing up!” says Mrs. Henderson, drawing Steve out of his thoughts. She clears her throat. “I’m sorry to have to ask this, dear, but I’m not a shifter. I can only help him through this so much. To have someone who can be in their animal form with him, I would really appreciate it.”
“Oh. Oh! Oh my god, yeah! Yeah, I’ll be right over!”
“Thank you so so much dear. Oh, just wait until you see him Steve, he’s the sweetest thing.”
Steve says a quick goodbye and hangs up the phone. God, Dustin, a shifter! But pretty soon his excitement turns into fear. Dustin’s a shifter. And Steve’s probably the worst person to help him through his presentation.
When Steve presented, he had no idea what was happening. He’d been fourteen (a late bloomer, like Dustin), his parents were out of town, and suddenly he was six inches tall and furry. He’d been alone, terrified, and hungry. It had taken him until the next day to figure out how to shift back.
At least when his rut came a few years later, his parents had been out of town then too.
Steve might be a pretty damn good babysitter, but this is completely different. He has no idea how he’s going to help Dustin. What do you even do for a freshly presented pup? Steve was never around shifters growing up. He has no idea what he’s supposed to do.
He tries to think of the shifters he knows. Someone to show him how to help Dustin. Nancy and Jonathan both have little siblings; they’re both from families of wolves, Nancy on her mother’s side. Robin’s a shifter too, though she knows pretty much nothing about kids. Steve hasn’t known Eddie as long, but…they’ve grown closer since spring break. They hang out pretty much all the time now. Even though he’s been proven innocent, Eddie’s had a really tough time finding a job, so his hanging out schedule is super flexible. They have movie nights all the time, take the kids to the arcade, even smoke together when Robin’s not around for the smell to give her a headache. Eddie stops by the Family Video when Steve and Robin are on shift, he loves to harass them by pretending to have a bunch of questions about movies Steve knows he’s seen a hundred times. He doesn’t sell as much anymore, but he gets extra cash earning tips at the Hideaway, and recently helping the Hopper-Byers’ renovate the cabin.
It’s been turning into a base of sorts for the party, so in addition to the regular clean up, Hopper decided they needed to add an extension to make room for everyone. Trouble is, the cabin isn’t even supposed to exist: Hop refuses to hire outside help and risk compromising the cabin’s location. Even supply orders come from the next town over and are picked up in Hop’s old truck. Work had been very slow going until Eddie noticed the abandoned tools and lumber one day. He’s surprisingly good with his hands.
Eddie didn’t even want to accept Hopper’s money, spouting some nonsense about a ‘life debt’ to the party, but Hop’s about twice as stubborn as Eddie, and it didn’t take too much convincing for Eddie to accept the cash Hop shoved in his direction. Steve for his part had held a drill exactly once before, on a volunteering trip with his basketball team. He spent the first few days of renovation inside with the others, cleaning, organizing, and helping the Byers’ move their stuff in the house. He served most often as the delivery boy, fetching takeout food, fresh lightbulbs, painters tape, hooks, batteries, mostly whatever people had forgotten. His record was seven trips to Melvalds in one day; old Arthur probably thought he’d grown a second head.
Once the inside was mostly finished, they moved out with Eddie and Hopper. Steve had needed a kind of embarrassing amount of instruction, he was the least familiar with power tools besides Robin, but Eddie was incredibly patient with him. It kinda turned Steve’s insides to jelly.
“Ok-sweetheart, that noise means you’re stripping the screw. Take a second, it needs more force and less speed. See? Hell yeah, you’re doing great!”
Eddie was also unfairly comfortable in his wolf form. They’d needed access to the crawlspace below the cabin for some reason, and suddenly Eddie had turned into a beautiful black wolf with the thickest fur Steve had ever seen. It took Eddie barely two minutes to work out the problem in the crawlspace, and he spent the next hour being pet and adored by the kids on a lemonade break.
Eddie would know exactly how to help Dustin, Steve’s sure of it. He turns back to the phone and dials the trailer, a brand new double-wide courtesy of the department of energy.
Eddie picks up after only a few rings. “Y’ello!”
“Hey Eds, uh, what are you up to right now?”
“Nothin much, might start working on a new campaign soon. Why?”
“Dustin’s mom called me–he’s fine, don't worry–but he’s presented. She asked me to help, and of course I’m going to, but I don’t actually have a clue what to do? So I was wondering–”
“Oh Stevie, course! God, Henderson a shifter, who knew! Yeah, let me grab a few things, do you wanna come pick me up, we can go together?”
Steve smiles, relieved. “Yeah, I’ll leave right now. Thanks, Eddie. See ya!” he said, hanging up the phone and heading for the door.
As soon as Steve rolls up to forest hills, Eddie bursts out of his trailer with a backpack in tow and throws himself into Steve’s passenger seat. Steve doesn’t waste any time heading to Dustin’s, but he glances curiously at Eddie’s bag. “What’d you bring?” he asks, trying to be casual.
“Just a couple of things, in case Mrs. Henderson doesn’t have ‘em. This whole thing was a surprise, right?”
Steve nods.
“So I brought a hoodie and an extra blanket, a couple of chew toys, some puppy-friendly snacks, oh and a polaroid, it’s my right as dungeon master to capture adorable and potentially embarrassing moments”
“Yeah, she told me he’s just darling.”
Eddie laughs, full-bellied and sweet. “Oh, this is gonna be good,” he says. He fiddles around with the radio, eventually finding one of Robin’s mixtapes and putting it in the player. Familiar music fills the car while Steve considers the best way to broach the topic. Eventually, he just decides to dive right in.
“So, what exactly is the plan?” Steve asks, wincing at how stupid he feels.
“What do you mean?”
“How exactly are we going to help Dustin? What’s the game plan?”
He doesn’t answer right away so Steve risks glancing from the road to examine Eddie’s face. His brows are drawn together in a confused scowl, like he thinks Steve’s pulling his leg. “I mean come on Harrington, you’re the babysitter here. You seriously don’t have any clue?”
“That’s why I called you, asshole!”
Eddie chuckles. “I figured you were just nervous. New puppy jitters. Come on sunshine, think-what happened when you presented?”
Steve swallows and tries to focus on the road, but his voice twists into bitterness despite himself. “I just spent two days hiding underneath my mother’s sofa,” he says. “but I figured Dustin deserved better than that.”
“What are you–what?”
Steve clicks on his turn signal, staring resolutely forward.
“Steve!”
“What?”
“You…what do you mean, you spent two days under a sofa?”
Steve sighs. He supposes he does have to explain now. “My parents were out of town when I presented, nobody was there to help me out. Which is why I asked how we’re going to help Dustin.”
Eddie makes a wounded noise. “That’s terrible,” he says. “That’s really–I’m so sorry. But even if they were–I mean, they came back, right? They helped you after? Pack bonding and stuff?”
“What? My parents are human, Ed. Shifting skipped a generation. They got me a ‘Your Wolf and You’ book, but that’s about it.”
As they turn onto Dustin’s street, Steve risks a glance at Eddie and regrets it immediately. He’s still staring at Steve, and looks absolutely shattered. Steve grunts a little, uncomfortable. “It’s fine dude. I ended up alright! I just figured, I mean, Dustin’s Dad was a shifter, when his Mom asked for help…I didn’t want to mess it up, y’know?”
Steve parks the car and Eddie smiles softly. “You couldn’t have messed it up, Steve,” he says. His tone sort of makes Steve wanna cry, in a weird way. “Most of it is instinct anyways, and you’re a natural with Dustin.”
“Yeah yeah,” Steve scoffs, eager to distance himself from the emotional moment. “So what isn’t instinct? What should we do when we get in there?”
Eddie claps his hands, and suddenly he’s the same ball of energy as before. “First, introduce ourselves in human form. Let him smell us, get familiar. Get at least two photos for the scrapbook, and start building a nest. Ma Henderson probably got the jump on that, but we can add some of our clothes and the blanket I brought, it’s what the kids used last time they watched a movie at mine. Then, we shift. Spend time with Dustin in the nest, help him get used to his new form. He’s gonna need lots of familiar scents and soft things to help him feel safe, but after that he’ll probably play a lot. He should practice howling, jumping, fighting, just wolfy skills, y’know? And then when he’s ready we’ll have to teach him how to shift back, that’ll be a time.”
Steve is very glad he thought to bring Eddie along.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
Dustin is an adorable puppy, just old enough to leave the den if he were a real wolf. Mrs. Henderson had been afraid he’d get lost in the house, so she’d been holding the squirming pup since she’d hung up their phone call. Steve offers to take over while her and Eddie build a nest on the living room floor.
Steve settles into the recliner with Dustin against his chest and pets his soft fur for a few minutes. His coat is a beautiful light brown and gray, and he relaxes sweetly over Steve’s heart. Is he trying to kill Steve with cuteness?
A few minutes later a bright light flashes over Steve’s head, and he looks up to see Eddie snapping a photo. “You guys are just too precious” Eddie says, dramatically pressing the polaroid to his heart.
Steve smiles, then adopts a gruff voice. “Shut up.”
Eddie laughs and starts shaking out the picture. “Gimme the pup, go shift. I’ll add your shirt to the nest and then I’ll join you.”
“I really can’t thank you boys enough for this.” says Mrs. Henderson.
“No need!” Eddie scoops Dustin up and holds him close to his face. “Pack sticks together, right Henderson?”
Dustin darts forward clumsily into Eddie’s nose. It’s difficult to tell whether he’d been trying to lick or nip, but Eddie laughs all the same.
Steve gets up and slips away to the bathroom, considering Eddie’s words. Pack sticks together. Is that what they are? Steve’s never– a pack. He really wants it to be possible. Could he, Eddie, and Dustin be in a pack together? What about Robin? The others?
Steve stops himself before he can spiral further. He would know if he was in a pack, if he was even close to joining one. Packs are big, and complicated, and political, messy– private. They involve things like blood family, official bonds, alphas, betas, omegas, seniority, social hierarchy. Steve always loved the idea of a pack, but he’d been born without one. It was pretty ludicrous to think he could just join one without jumping though a huge set of hoops first, or even join one in the first place. Steve didn’t deserve that kind of care.
He shakes his head, like that can dispel the stupid hope trying to wedge itself in his chest. Be grateful for what you have, Harrington he thinks. Steve starts stripping, folding his clothes neatly on the bathroom counter. There are some extremely talented shifters who somehow keep their clothes between transformations, but Steve is decidedly not one. Besides, Eddie had wanted his shirt for the nest. He throws his shirt on the ground for ease of access, takes a deep breath, and shifts.
You would expect transforming into a wolf to be a painful affair. It involves stretching skin, re-arranging bones and growing fur, after all. But for Steve, it’s more of a push. Like taking a step off of a diving board. One moment he’s human, the next, he’s a wolf. The most disorienting thing about it is the changes in his senses: sounds and scents are much sharper, but his vision blurs slightly and colors blend together. Steve supposes he would get used to it after a while, but he doesn’t really spend enough time in this form for that to happen.
He stretches out his muscles (downward dog, he thinks sillily) then snatches up his t-shirt, pushes open the bathroom door, and trots down the hall. He didn’t even put on cologne today but that doesn’t matter, the shirt still smells strongly Steve, though he probably wouldn’t be able to really tell in his human body.
He drops the shirt at Eddie’s feet and butts his head against his knee. Eddie laughs, and drops his hand down to rub affectionately between Steve’s ears. “Hop on in, I’ll join you in a second.”
Steve chuffs but does as he’s told. Eddie and Mrs. Henderson have really outdone themselves with the nest. Cushions and pillows from all over the house are piled high, to the point where Steve has to jump a little to enter without toppling the whole thing over. They’ve laid sheets, quits, blankets, and a few scented clothes over and around the pillows, making a comfortable mass of plush walls and floor. About half the floor is covered by just a thin sheet, probably to make movement easier for Dustin while he’s still learning. The nest takes up the whole living room, only a tiny path around it allowing passage.
Eddie tucks Steve’s shirt between two pillows then carefully lowers Dustin into the nest. “Be right back, dudes.”
Dustin turns, nose following Eddie’s voice, and promptly topples over. He huffs, which comes out more like a pitiful little whine in his new body. God, he’s absolutely adorable.
Steve walks towards him slowly with his nose to the ground. He remembers his first time he shifted, one of the reasons he’d been so scared was that everything seemed so big. It’d be best to move so he doesn’t startle Dustin. Steve uses his nose to help push him back to his feet, then lays down in front of the pup.
Dustin toddles forward and presses his nose to Steve’s. He smells sweet, that new-baby smell combined with the smell Steve’s come to associate with Dustin (a weird combination of leather and chocolate). Steve isn’t really sure what to do, so he just watches Dustin explore the nest, occasionally helping him back on his feet. The pup sniffs everything, apparently fascinated with what his new nose can do. He attempts to climb on Steve’s back a few times, but he’s not quite tall or limber enough yet, and Steve is not a jungle gym, thank you very much.
He watches with a strange pride as Dustin tests out his new form. He’s gotten more confident walking on four feet, and has decided that means he can try out running. At least he can’t hurt himself surrounded by the soft nest.
When Dustin starts playing ‘pounce the blanket bubble’ Steve turns to look outside the nest. Where the hell is Eddie anyway? He better not have gotten sidetracked gossiping with Mrs. H. Not only is he missing a perfect photo opportunity, he’s leaving Steve alone with the only version of Dustin he doesn’t know how to babysit.
Neither Eddie or Mrs. Henderson are in the living room, which is just bullshit. Steve barks softly to tell Eddie to hurry up, before turning back to Dustin.
Dustin, who in the two seconds Steve had his back turned, has scaled the delicate pillow wall of the nest and nearly gotten himself on top of Mrs. H’s couch arm. Which is about four times his current height.
Steve is up in a blink, and before he can think about it, he scoops Dustin up by the scruff of the neck and carries him back into the nest. Dustin whines the whole way, and Steve can imagine exactly how he’d be bitching in his human body. “Steve! Come on! I was just exploring!”
Yeah, right. Steve lowers the pup down and presses a paw across his back. Something pulls him to start licking, so he does, brushing Dustin’s fur back neatly and leaving a satisfying claimed protected loved scent behind.
Dustin seems to sense fighting is pointless, so he just sits, wiggling only slightly in Steve’s hold.
Eddie takes this moment to finally appear, hopping gracefully over the nest walls and licking both Steve and Dustin in greeting. His wolf form is even prettier than Steve remembers.
Omega Steve’s brain supplies. He finds himself dumbfounded staring up at Eddie, Dustin still wiggling underneath his paws. Eddie doesn’t pay any mind. He crouches down and playfully licks Dustin some more, adding an extra layer to the protected loved claimed scent.
When Steve presented, his parents had returned from their trip less than an hour after he’d figured out how to shift back into a human. He’d been hungry, exhausted, and emotional; exhibiting behavior unbecoming of a Harrington, according to his father. Their reception of the whole thing was cold, like Steve should have known to expect. But two days later his mother left a small book on his desk–Your Wolf and You: The Body Book for Shifting Boys. Steve flipped through it for five minutes, then shoved it in the back of his closet for three months. If he didn’t look at the book, he didn’t have to deal with the book. Not the chapters on scent glands, or heats and ruts, or nesting, or pack politics. If Steve just didn’t look at the book, he could continue living his life. Nothing would have to change.
It was ridiculous of course, but fourteen year olds do a lot of ridiculous things to forget they’re fourteen. Over the years, Steve would have to face reality and pull out the book for answers. His rut in the summer before junior year, his first date with Nancy when he realized she was a shifter too, that sick feeling he had after the Russian guard had rubbed his scent all over him, each time Steve pulled out the book for guidance.
All this to say, Steve had once read that a shifter could tell designation from scent alone. It seemed silly at the time–how could Steve identify something if he’d never smelled it before? But there it is. Clear as crystal, Eddie Munson is an omega.
Steve tries not to dwell on it. It isn’t any of his business, really. He’d only found out Nancy was an omega because she’d spelled it out for him. She thought he’d been playing dumb when he said her perfume was intoxicating. She’d pushed his shoulder and told him “You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington”
He’s never really thought about it before, (a bit distracted with saving the world) but Eddie has always smelled a bit like that sweet ‘perfume’ of Nancy’s. Except his scent is–deeper. Fuller. More like smoke and cherry wine, rather than Nancy’s vanilla and raspberry.
Steve decides not to think about it any more, and instead watches as Eddie and Dustin wrestle with a soft rope toy Eddie must have smuggled into the nest. Eddie is very clearly going easy on Dustin, but not as much as Steve might have thought. He’s a determined little rascal.
Dustin’s wolf will probably stay like this for only a few weeks, before his wolf form starts rapidly growing to match his human one. Then the butthead will be a real menace, god, he can’t even imagine. Steve doesn’t really spend time in his wolf form, but maybe now that Dustin is a shifter, they could do things together. Run through the woods, or wrestle, or play hide and seek with the other pups. Steve would like that.
“Alright! Alright! You win, you little psycho!”
Steve whips his head up to Eddie’s voice, shocked. But there Eddie is, still in his wolf form, panting and looking at Dustin’s wide eyes. “What?” he says, but his mouth doesn’t move. “Did you think you just couldn’t talk like this, Henderson? What would be the fun in that?”
Eddie turns to look at Steve, likely for help ribbing Dustin, but sobers at what he finds. Steve closes his mouth and turns away slightly, ashamed. He’d read something years ago about talking in wolf form, but frankly, he thought the book had been exaggerating. And the bitter reminder that he hadn’t met any other shifters to try to talk to meant he had pretty much completely skipped that chapter.
Eddie turns back to Dustin. “It’s real easy, don’t worry.” he says softly. “Honestly, just try to speak like you would in your human body. Your brain will send the message out to nearby wolves. Cool, huh?”
Steve’s lip curls, and he decides to just say fuck it and try it out. He tries to speak clearly, however you do that telepathically.
“Surprised you didn’t add in a nerdy fact about sorcerers or something. Good job, Munson” Steve says. He’s gratified to see that both Eddie and Dustin heard him.
“It would be a warlock, actually.” says Dustin. He jumps in excitement. “Oh my gosh, shifters have Awakened Mind. I have Awakened Mind!”
Eddie laughs. “That you do, young Henderson. Don’t let it get to your head.”
“This is so cool. I can’t wait to shove it in Mike’s face. He presented last month and we haven’t heard the end of it!”
Steve rolls his eyes. “It doesn’t matter when you present. Mike’s just being a dingus, like always.”
“Yeah, besides Lucas and Max you all are technically late bloomers, so Mike doesn’t have any leg to stand on. It really doesn’t matter, so long as you’re healthy and happy.”
“Yeah, yeah. But now I’m in the club Eddie. I didn’t know for sure if I’d be a shifter, but now I am, and it’s so cool!!”
Steve ignores the sting at the realization that Lucas, Mike, and Max presented and he didn’t know. Maybe they didn’t mean to keep it from him. Maybe it was obvious, and Steve was just too much of an idiot to notice.
“It is really cool.” says Eddie. “But, now it’s time to learn the coolest lesson of all.”
He scoops Dustin up by the scruff, ignoring his squeak of indignation, and plops him down on Steve’s back. Then Eddie lays down, snuggling right behind Steve and nuzzling Dustin into a comfortable position.
Steve’s ears can’t really turn pink because of the fur, but he can feel them burning anyway. He snuggles into Eddie’s side selfishly, and turns his head to nuzzle against his neck for a moment, feeling safer and more content than he has in a long time.
“Eddie, it’s barely eight, I don’t need to go to bed!” Dustin complains. Tellingly, he also nuzzles his nose into Steve’s fur. “You’re being absolutely ridiculous.” he whines.
“If we sleep for a few hours, I convinced Mrs. Henderson to let us take you outside later. It’s supposed to be a full moon tonight, super bright. Don’t you wanna try out the new body outside of your living room?”
“Oh my god, yes!”
“Then go to sleep, Dustin.” says Steve. “We’ll wake you up soon.”
Dustin quiets immediately, and Steve closes his eyes to join him, excited at the prospect of adventuring with two of his favorite people.