Work Text:
"So I'm just a lady in your campaign?" El asked. The night was dark and silent around them as Dustin walked her home, since Eddie's campaign session didn't run long enough tonight for the busses to start their routes. Good thing Eddie lived relatively close to El's place.
"No, not like that," Dustin countered, "you're a Lady, capital L." He grinned when he realized how it sounded. "Get it? Capital "El"?" El gave him a tired sideways glance, but she was pressing her lips, fighting to suppress a smile. She gave in as soon as she saw his grin, chuckling at Dustin's words and calling him "silly".
"Anyway, you're a Lady because, in your backstory, you're the daughter of James Hopper, The Duke of Bologna," Dustin continued, doing a flourish with his hands that reminded El of Eddie narrating the campaign they were just at.
El puffed a barely contained laughter. "The WHAT??" She exclaimed, the sound echoing in the empty streets of the night. Dustin widened his eyes, frantically waving his hand in a downwards motion in front of his mouth - a universal sign of "be quiet, goddammit," but his expression was of barely contained amusement. El composed her laughter while Dustin explained himself.
"You know, he's always eating sandwiches at work, it felt appropriate," he said, and El repressed her chuckles to avoid angering the neighbors. "Plus, this fantasy Bologna is known for their meat exports - he's the chef at a steakhouse; it makes sense for the campaign!"
"Sure," El nods, pressing her lips in a smile, finally fully composed as they continued their walk towards her place.
"And that makes you," Dustin continues, motioning exaggeratedly towards El, "not any lady, but Lady Eleanor Hopper, the sole heir to the Duchy of Bologna" he says, going for reverent. El seems to reflect shortly before speaking again.
"Ok, but why am I a Lady while Chrissy is a Queen?" She looked at Dustin with eyes slightly narrow. He grimaced in response, the corners of his mouth flexing downwards.
"That's because she's Eddie's girlfriend, and it's Eddie's campaign - and Eddie is a tyrant," Dustin said, finishing with a high-spirited lilt in his voice, like he knew there's nothing he could do about it but was still trying to sound optimistic. El raised her eyebrows at that, silently agreeing. Eddie ruled his bar with an iron fist, and for what El witnessed in this one session tonight, his campaign was no different.
"It's too bad, though." El positioned herself in front of Dustin, turning to him while walking backwards. "A Queen is like, imposing," she straightened her back, holding one arm out like she's holding a scepter, and raising the other to her head, mimicking holding a crown. "And a Lady... I don't know, makes me feel like I should curtsy or someth- oop!"
El tried to curtsy while walking backwards, but her foot got caught in the uneven pavement, causing her to loose her balance mid sentence. Dustin was fast, grabbing a hold of the hand she held out while flailing, and pulling her toward him, putting a hand around her waist to stabilize her. She looked at him, startled and wide-eyed, and started laughing at the situation.
Something about the position they ended up in - El in his arms, him holding her hand while keeping it close to his chest, the surprised expression of her face - activated Dustin's role-playing instincts. "Please do be careful, my Lady," he said, an old-timey flair in the way he spoke, making El's laughter cease, "it would be a terrible waste to break something as precious as yourself."
El's eyes were trained on his, her lips still slightly parted from laughing but her expression had changed - almost expectant. So Dustin, surely delusional from lack of sleep, brought the hand he was still holding to his lips, placing a quick kiss to the back of it without breaking their eye contact, and lightly caressing her knuckles with his thumb. El took in a sharp breath, then swallowed, which for some reason broke whatever spell Dustin was under and made him realize what he'd just done, and how close they still were.
He immediately let her go and took a step back. "Sorry, I- I guess I went into campaign mode for a second there," he tried to grin to hide his nervousness, but concern washed over him after a moment. "You okay? Did you hurt yourself anywhere?"
His worried expression made El blink, taking stock of herself. "No, I'm- I'm fine," she exhaled shakily, nodding for additional confirmation. Dustin nodded, too.
"Great! Great." he said dumbly, before looking beyond El to the path still left in front of them. He moved back to her side - "Shall we?" - motioning for her to lead the way. So, they went back to walking, Dustin's hands firmly in his pockets while El kept hers resting folded over each other in front of her body.
After a few moments of silence with Dustin's thoughts rapidly spiraling and El fidgeting with her hands non-stop, she finally spoke again. "You know what?" she uttered, grabbing Dustin's attention away from the turmoil inside his brain. "I think I can see the appeal to being called a Lady," she declared, a smile tentatively coming to the surface as they regarded each other. Dustin smiled wider, relieved that he didn't make things awkward between them with his little bout of insanity back there.
"Well, that's good, because I can't change your backstory anymore - Eddie would kill me," he replied, causing El to chuckle once more. And just like that, they were back to chatting like normal.