psa: i don't approve of cisgender actors playing transgender people. im simply using elle fanning's role in 3 generations as a faceclaim for this part of the book bc realistically living in the upside down would ruin a girl's hair and plus jasper with short hair? yes. but no, i don't condone elle playing a ftm transgender person. just know that.

THE DOOR OF THE HENDERSON HOUSE creaked open slowly, allowing just enough room for Dustin to squeeze inside. His wide, cautious blue eyes skimmed the perimeter as he tentatively shut the door behind him. Blood roared in his ears, hoping his mom had already passed out on the couch after consuming half of their candy bowl meant for trick or treaters.

His sweaty palms tightened around the contraption designed for his costume, knowing the strange creature sitting inside its walls. Hastily, his feet carried him through the living room towards his bedroom.

"Dusty!" His mom called hurriedly, rushing up to meet him with an enthusiastic smile on her face. Reluctantly, Dustin stopped in his tracks and deliberately turned to face his mom.

The older woman was still wearing her black cat costume, Mews running between her legs and letting out rumbling purrs as she met eyes with her son. "Dusty, how was it?"

"How...How was what?" Dustin questioned in a higher, slightly panicky voice. He felt the tips of his ears and his cheekbones tinge with a burning redness.

"The greatest night of the year of course," his mom elaborated, raising an eyebrow at him with a knowing smirk.

"Oh! Oh, yeah, it was, it was...fine," Dustin chuckled out nervously, his nails digging into his palms at the tension and awkwardness flowing in the conversation.

Mrs. Henderson shot her son a grimace, confused by the sudden anxiety in her son. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Dustin immediately replied with denial.

"Did something happen?" She further pressed, her voice unusually soft.

"What? No! No. What?" Dustin shook his head vigorously.

"Are you constipated again?" His mom asked, tilting her head to the side in a state of motherly concern.

"No, Mom!" Dustin shouted in embarrassment, feeling his face heat up in burning shame. He was grateful none of his friends were here to witness this incredibly strange and uncomfortable talk with his mother.

"Okay, you're acting weird," she hissed scornfully, her tone hardening with sincerity and irritation. It seemed like her son was holding something back from her.

"I'm not acting weird," Dustin declared, and to further disprove his lie, the box in his tight grip began to shake furiously.

His mom retreated from the seizing machine, letting out a shocked gasp. Mews, still cowering at Mrs. Henderson's ankle, let out a low hiss at the unusual device.

Dustin's eyes lifted up to meet his mom's worried gaze, nervous laughs falling from his lips. "Awesome, right? Yeah, I rigged the trap with, uh, a motor, to make it look like a caught a ghost. Just like the movie!"

The mother and son let out a chorus of fake, scared laughs, keeping both of their wary eyes glued to the trap. Dustin, not wasting another opportunity to escape, pushed himself down the hall and into his room. It wasn't until after he heard the lock click did he hold up the trap, eyeing it with a scolding look.

"I told you to keep quiet," he growled in a low voice, rushing to the tank on the other side of his room. "All you had to do was stay still for one minute. one minute!" He emphasized before setting the trap down on his desk.

His hands wrapped around his pet tortoise, carefully lifting him out the tank. "Sorry, Yertle," he murmured apologetically. "Temporary eviction buddy," he sighed, placing the animal on his white, matted carpet.

Dustin watched as the weird, slimy creature fell into his tank, a low chittering coming from the reptile-like specimen. Stooping over to gaze at it from eye level, a curious smile etched onto  his lips. The animal seemed to be staring right back at him with its invisible eyes. "What are you, little guy?"

In response, the creature whirled around and scampered on its two legs into the shade of the rock. Darkness swallowed its scaly skin that was flecked with colors of green, red, and yellow.

"What were you doing in my trash?" Red light illuminated the young boy's face as he continued to gush over the tiny creature he had happened to stumble upon. "You hungry?"

Hurrying over to his bed, Dustin let his prized assortment of Halloween candy pour onto the mattress. His hands found a large sized three musketeer bar, eagerly tearing into it and ripping a few pieces off.

The pieces of nougat landed softly in the tank while Dustin took a satisfying bite out of the remnants of the bar. "Nougat," he spoke cheerfully, lifting the chocolate treat into the air. "Go on, eat."

Gradually, the creature slithered halfway into the fierce red light, only to screech in agony and back away into the safety of the rock again. "Too hot?" Dustin quickly caught on, reaching over and switching the lamp off. "Sorry 'bout that, little guy."

Once the red light had vanished, the creature happily moved into the center of the tank, nibbling softly on the nougat shells left inside for him. Dustin watched the new specimen with amusement, feeling happiness spread through him. For the first time in months, he felt true joy running through his veins and washing over his skin.

"You like nougat too, huh?" Dustin cooed, his eyes gleaming as he listened to the soft noises of response coming from the animal. "You're pretty cute, you know that? I'm glad I found you," another happy chuckle escaped Dustin's lips.

Dustin's eyes lowered to the candy bar swiftly before meeting his new friend again. "D'artagnan. I'm gonna call you D'artagnan."

Sleep soon swept away at the Henderson's eyes, and he found himself succumbing to it on his bed, nestled up with a reptile book and empty candy wrappers that night. He slept soundfully, not burdened by the pain of his grief or worry for his best friend for the first time since she left. All thanks to a little, seemingly innocent creature called Dart.

That next morning, Dustin found himself fully embracing this new discovery. It was a good way to busy himself, clouding his mind with thoughts of reptiles and amphibians rather than a certain pair of electric blue eyes and red hair. He almost felt guilty about trying to shove her away from his subconscious, but he knew she wouldn't want him to be hung up on her after all this time. And now, he finally had a way to stop feeling sorry for himself and all the things he could've done last year.

The Henderson boy carefully tucked Dart into his backpack the next morning, checking that the trap was securely closed. He raced into town on his bike, stopping in front of the large brick walls of the library.

His blue eyes swam across the large shelves of books, eagerly grabbing books with appealing titles on reptiles, amphibians, and more specifically, pollywogs. If he wouldn't be able to pinpoint Dart's exact species, then there could possibly be a chance that he had discovered his own kind of animal. Just the thought of it caused excitement to buzz inside him.

The librarian arched one of her dark eyebrows at him, the corners of her painted lips twitching into a frown. "Mister Henderson, you know the rules," she reminded him hastily. "Five at a time."

"Yep," Dustin chirped, looking at the woman with shining eyes as he counted the books in front of her. "One, two, three, four and five."

"Ten," she corrected him, holding up a card in between her fingers before sliding it over to him. "You already have five books checked out."

Dustin was quick on his feet, already holding out an assuring hand as he came up with an excuse. "My mistake. However, I am on a curiosity voyage. And I need my paddles to travel."

The librarian sent him an incredulous look, light bouncing off the beams of her glasses.

"These books," he placed a hand on the pile sitting next to him. "These books are my paddles."

The woman shook her head, unforgiving eyes settling on the young boy. "Five. At. A. Time," she declared concisely.

Dustin couldn't stop the annoyed scoff falling from his lips. "Are you shitting me?" He grumbled, his blue eyes trained on her.

"Excuse me?" She gasped faintly, offense spreading across her wrinkled face.

Resorting to his last attempt, Dustin pointed behind the woman, pretending something was behind her. "What the hell..." he uttered, narrowing his eyes at the invisible object. He swiftly cradled the books in his hands and began sprinting for the double doors the moment she turned around.

"Mister Henderson!" She called after him, shocked.

"I need my paddles!" He screeched over his shoulder, hurriedly racing outside of the building and towards school.

His little rendezvous at the library cost him a tardy for class. He entered Mr. Clarke's room, pants heaving from his lungs as he stumbled towards his desk. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Clarke," he mumbled apologetically, ignoring the suspicious looks he was earning from his classmates. "Really, I'm so sorry. Please continue with the class. Don't mind me. Really, continue, please. Thanks."

Without another word from the Henderson boy, he slid into his seat and allowed his backpack to plop onto the floor. "Although it wasn't a crowbar, it was a rod, as I said," Mr. Clarke began his discussion again.

Dustin jerked around in his seat, his friends leaning forward as well to see what had the boy flustered so suddenly. "We have to meet, at lunch. All of us. AV club," he muttered to the three boys, zoning out the words droning from Mr. Clarke's mouth.

"Why?" Mike murmured back, confusion coating his face.

"I have something you won't believe!" He whisper yelled before whirling around in his seat again.

After class, the party all huddled into the AV room, accompanied by Max, much to Dustin's dismay. He decided to ignore the redhead's presence as he opened the doors that sealed dart inside the trap, revealing his new friend to the others.

"His name is D'artagnan," he smiled proudly, watching the others lean in to observe the strange, unknown creature. His hands cupped around Dart, scooping him up and out of the box. "Cute, right?"

"D'artagnan?" Mike echoed, a disapproving look cresting upon his face.

"Dart for short," he nodded.

"And he was in your trash?" Max questioned, placing both her hands on the table whilst shooting inquisitive looks at the Henderson boy.

"Well, gee, that's what I said, right?" He snapped, immediately annoyed by the question that had come from her. "Pay attention."

"Chill out, Dustin," Lucas chided, his dark eyes squinting at his friend.

Ignoring the harsh look from Lucas, he held Dart out to the Sinclair boy instead. "Wanna hold him?" Without another warning, he slid Dart into the boy's palms and Lucas immediately began grimacing.

"Ugh, he's like a living booger," he uttered in disgust, passing it to Max. The redhead copied Lucas's revolted actions, passing it to Will. The Byers boy also lurched away from Dart and passed him to Mike.

Mike, being the only curious one, held Dart up eye level to scrutinize the appearance of the creature. "What is he?" Mike murmured questionably, dark locks of hair falling in front of his eyes.

"My question exactly," Dustin grinned ear to ear, slamming the library books onto the table. "At first I thought he was some type of pollywog."

"Pollywog?" Max echoed.

"Pollywog," Dustin sighed through his nostrils. "Like a tadpole. A tadpole is the larval stage of a toad—"

"I know what a tadpole is," Max interrupted him, disdain filling her painstakingly rememberable blue eyes.

"Wow, she knows her stuff," Dustin sneered, resisting the urge to roll his eyes again. Deep down, he knew he was being unfair to Max by disrespecting her. But he couldn't ignore the painful, walking reminder she was to him. It would never be easy being around her, not unless Jasper was there too.

"So you know that most tadpoles are aquatic, right?" Dustin mindlessly flipped through the pages of his book, revealing a page about tadpoles. "Well, Dart, he isn't. He doesn't need water."

"Yeah, but aren't there non-aquatic pollywogs?" Lucas asked thoughtfully.

"Terrestrial pollywogs," Dustin nodded confirmingly. "Yep. Two to be exact. Indirana Semipalmata. And the Adenomera Andreae. One's from India, one's from South America. So how did one end up in my trash?"

"Maybe a scientist brought it here and it escaped?" Max suggested.

"Do you guys see that?" Mike intervened, jabbing his thumb at Dart. "Looks like something is moving inside of it."

The five kids bent over the small creature, their heads nearly brushing together as they observed him. Sure enough, something squirmed beneath Dart's slimy, scaly skin.

Mike's hand lashed out, viciously grabbing the light and pointed it at dart. The animal let out a pained screech, causing every kid to lurch back in shock as he began scampering towards the edge of the table.

Dustin was quick, his palm flying out to catch Dart before he could fall onto the floor. "Whoa!" A smile etched onto the boy's lips as his began soothing his little friend. "It's okay. It's okay. I got you, little guy. I know you don't like that. It's okay." he continued to stroke the small creature, oblivious to the pointed, judgmental glances directed at him.

"There's one more thing," Dustin head snapped up again as he addressed the others. "Reptiles, they're cold-blooded, ectothermic, right? They love heat, the sun. Dart hates it. It hurts him."

Lucas leaned forward in seat, puzzlement crossing his mind. "So if he's not a pollywog, or a reptile..."

"Then I've discovered a new species," Dustin announced, his blue eyes lighting up with a mixture of pride and excitement.

A moment of silence passed over the boys and Max as they began to process this new information. Dustin continued to stroke Dart lovingly, admiring his new friend.

"It's pretty cool," Mike admitted casually, shifting in his seat to get a better view of the slimy creature. "New species, huh?"

"I know right?" Dustin chuckled happily, noticing the corners of Dart's strange mouth turn upright; as if Dart was smiling back at him. "Jasper would love him," he murmured to himself, secretly hoping it was quiet enough for nobody to hear.

Bittersweet sadness hung heavy at his heart, knowing this had been one of the first times he was able to speak about her without his voice filling with anger or grief. Instead, it felt like he was simply reminiscing an old friend, like she really had just moved away and wasn't possibly dead or trapped in a dark dimension forever.

Dustin Henderson wasn't the only boy that had heard his words about Jasper. Michael Wheeler had to hold in the sad sigh waiting at his lips, knowing the fierce redhead wouldn't want him to be upset. But despite knowing there was a possibility she was alive, and maybe even with Eleven, it still pained him knowing she was gone.

Perhaps Dustin Henderson wasn't the only one fighting a silent battle of grief for the strawberry-haired girl they all once knew.