Dustin didn't have swimming gear with him, but...
"Ahh... I guess." It was warm out, but he hadn't used the pool since that night Barb... well no one had used it since then. "I might have some old swimmers that might fit you."
Steve went upstairs and to his room in search of an old pair of bather shorts he may still have stashed in the back of his closet. After a few minutes of hunting, he pulled out the old navy and red shorts that might still be too big on the kid, he checked the tag on his way out, size 16, at least they had a drawstring that might come in handy.
He sent Dustin into the downstairs bathroom with the shorts, whilst he jogged back upstairs to get his own swimmers on. By the time he came back down, the kid was standing outside the open bathroom door with his clothes strewn across the tiled floor, and pulling and yanking on the drawstrings.
"They're too big," he complained, unable to work out how the strings worked.
Steve put a hand on Dustin's shoulder to turn him, so he was facing him, "Here let me help?" Steve took over the drawstrings as Dustin let go in favour of holding each side of the elastic at his waist, so the shorts wouldn't fall down. Steve tugged at the drawstrings, so the bathing suit material gathered and tied them into a double knot.
"That should hold."
Not even minutes later they were both splashing around in the pool.
Dustin ran around the outside of the pool, his shorts dripping wet as water fell from his body.
"Hey, no running shithead!" Steve called from were he lazed about in the water.
Dustin slowed to a walk and climbed onto the diving board.
"Hey, I bet I can do a triple somersault." He yelled, from where he was bouncing on the thing like it was a trampoline.
Steve knew there was no way he could do a triple somersault off that thing, let alone a double somersault. The board wasn't high enough to even attempt it, and Dustin better not try. He watched the kid get a good amount of air before jumping off and landing a semi good single somersault before splashing into the water.
"Maybe next time," Dustin yelled resurfacing, and wiping the water from his face with his arm. Then swam over to where Steve was leaning up against the edge with one elbow resting on the ledge. They spent another good thirty minutes splashing and playing around, when Dustin attempted another somersault, which resulted in more of a side flip, he felt his stomach turn and felt flush all over.
"Steve I don't feel so good." Dustin called out slightly panicked, after wiping the water from his face again.
Steve looked over at the young teen a couple of feet in front of him and noticed how pale the kid had become, oh shit. He hurriedly swam to the boy and grabbed him by the elbow, bringing them both out of the pool before the milkshake and cheese grilled and whatever the hell else, made a returning appearance in his outdoor pool, and practically dragged the poor kid in through the house, leaving water dripping wet from the glass sliding door all along the tiles and carpet to the downstairs bathroom - the pool towels be damned - gripping the kids elbow firmly the whole way so the kid wouldn't slip on the wet tiles and smash his head - that was the last thing Steve needed - then gently pushed the boy down in front of the toilet, and pulling the seat up.
"Ste..." was all the kid choked out, before he was practically down the toilet bowl puking his guts up, Steve caught him just in time with an arm wrapped around his chest, to hold him back from falling headfirst in.
"It's okay, kid. Just let it out." He soothed, feeling the kid trying to hold back another wave of vomit, as tears steamed down his cheeks. Then lost the battle as he ended throwing up with twice as much force than the first round.
"This sucks," Dustin complained, feeling his stomach muscles spasm, and another wave hit.
"Well... can't say I didn't warn you dude!" Steve says half heartedly as he continued holding Dustin with his right arm, and rubbed soothing circles with his other hand on the smaller quivering back. After a few more dry heaves and nothing much coming out, Steve hoped he was almost done.
"That's right, go ahead... laugh at the guy puking his guts out. Just be thankful I didn't throw up in your car!" Dustin groused sounding worn out.
Steve huffed a laugh, "Sorry, kiddo."
"Is that going to be like a new nickname or something?" Dustin wondered aloud, feeling a little more like himself again.
Steve handed him a damp washcloth to clean his face, and shrugged, "I guess, among others."
"Well I guess it's better than shithead and dipshit." Dustin says wearily, as he cleaned the clinging vomit and spit from his chin.
"It's all in the tone, dude. All in the tone." Steve says lightheartedly, then, "Think you're good now?"
Dustin gave a slight nod, as Steve helped him up and reached over to flush the toilet. Steve pushed aside Dustin's now slightly damp clothes with his foot further towards the wall and guided the kid out to the kitchen, and to the kitchen sink. He reached into an overhead cabinet and grabbed the closest glass, filling it with cold tap water and handed it to Dustin.
"Here kid, rinse your mouth out."
Dustin did as asked, swishing the water around a few times before spitting it into the sink. Then tipped out the remaining water, before filling up the glass again with fresh cold tap water and taking a huge mouthful, he finished off the glass and sat it in the sink.
"Let's go back out to the pool again," Dustin said starting in that direction, but Steve stopped him by taking his elbow.
"You need to rest kid, you just finished spilling your stomach like two minutes ago." He guided Dustin to one of the chairs that sat at the island bench. "Sit!"
"But I'm fine now, let's go in the pool." Dustin countered back, but sat down anyway.
"We can, but I want you to rest for a minute. Okay?"
"Fine," Dustin huffed. Steve leaned back against the counter near the sink, taking in the mess they had brought in from the pool. There was puddles and drips right through the kitchen, heaving a sigh he headed back into the bathroom and grabbed a used bath towel and starting from the bathroom he mopped up the water using his foot, as he slid the towel along the floor soaking up the mess.
"Can we go in now, it's already been a few minutes?" Dustin asked, as he watched Steve run the towel over the floor in the kitchen.
"Yeah, go ahead." Steve replied as he glided the towel over a few more puddles, "I'll be there in a second."
Dustin took off without having to be told twice, and took a flying jump into the pool, which resulted in a huge spray of water shooting out around him. He kicked back up to the surface, then turned over so he was lying on his back.
Steve finished up drying off the floor and left the towel folded out by the sliding door. Then went out to join Dustin. He stood up on the diving board, did a few decent size bounces before turning a backflip into the water.
"Whoa... that was soo cool, dude." Dustin beamed with a huge grin, still floating on his back. He kicked his legs back and forth making water splash all around him, before coming to a stop as he reached Steve.
Steve smirked as he watched the teen, then as soon as the boy was within his reach, he reached out pushing the kid beneath the surface of the water, the teen flailed around before coming up coughing and spluttering.
"What the fuck, Steve." He screamed in between coughing and trying to get his breath back.
"Hey, I said watch your mouth kid!" Steve warned, giving a swat to the back of the kids head, not too gently either.
"Ow!... what the hell, Steve." Dustin rubbed the back of his head, glaring at Steve.
Steve raised an eyebrow in silent warning, but didn't say anything.
"Just you wait... I'm going to get you back for that," Dustin promised, as he continued rubbing the sore spot. And Steve could see that the kid was already scheming a plan, "When you least expected it."
Dustin swam away to the other end of the pool, to sulk on his own for a bit. The tension was a little bit raw, so Steve left the kid to his own devices for a while, and lazed about in the pool. He didn't regret dunking the kid under, the little shit was always causing enough trouble on his own and Steve needed to get the upper hand sometimes. Plus he was right there and the young teen was safe, he was only playing around. But after the day the kid had, maybe that wasn't fair...
Steve watched as Dustin turned somersaults in the shallower end of the pool, and practice handstands with just his feet sticking out from the water. He splashed, and swirled, and swam around like a fish. He looked like he was in his element, and Steve smiled. He gave the kid a few more minutes, and then called out.
"You ready to watch the movie yet, kid?" Then remembered, "And remember to call your mom."
"Not yet, I will soon." Dustin called back.
The sun was starting to go down now, sitting lower in the horizon. With a brightly coloured sunset painting the sky of pinks, oranges, and purple hues from the warm day they had. Steve floated back so he was lying on his back as Dustin had been earlier, and watched the sky above. It was kind of relaxing being out here at this time, and enjoying the evening as the night slowly rolled in.
He didn't notice the figure that had dived under the surface, swimming like a dolphin, until the back of his bicep was pulled hard and he went under. He saved himself pretty well, but still came up spluttering on pool water. Then caught Dustin trying to escape quickly to the edge of the pool, probably thinking Steve would came after him, - he hadn't planned on it - and then tried to pull himself up and out of the pool with his hands palm down on the ledge. The kid was about half way out, when he slipped and whacked his elbow on the edge of the pool, and fell back into the water.
Oh fuck, Steve hurriedly swam to Dustin - his certified lifeguard skills immediately kicking in - and pulled him to the surface with the kid coughing and choking on the water. "You're okay, I got you... I got you, bud." Steve reassured, patting the boy sharply on his upper back. "You're okay, just calm down. I got you." When the kid finally stopped coughing up the inhaled water, Steve could see he had tears running down his cheeks. "It's alright, kiddo."
With Steve still holding onto the kid, cause the younger teen couldn't reach the bottom of the pool in the deeper end, Dustin lifted his left arm up and out of the water to inspect his elbow, and Steve could see a pretty decent scrape where the skin had come off that was bleeding pretty good, and a nice size graze on the kids forearm.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow..."
"Okay buddy, I think pool times officially over for today," Steve helped manoeuvre the boy to the side of the pool with the steps, and helped him out. "Let's get you inside and cleaned up."
Steve helped dry off the kid and then draped the towel around his shoulders to help keep him a bit warmer, until he could take a shower and put on some dry clothes. Then did the same for himself. He lead Dustin into the kitchen and pulled out a chair so the back was turned facing the island bench and told Dustin to sit down and that he'd be right back with the first aid kit.
Grabbing the red cased kit from the downstairs bathroom cabinet, Steve made his way back into the kitchen where he'd left Dustin. He unzipped the case and placed it down open on the counter. Then hunted through it pulling out a sealed alcohol wipe, and tore the package open.
"Not going to lie to you buddy, this will hurt." Steve warns, grasping the teens left arm with his left hand, and holding it firmly, and noticing the band-aids the doctor had put on earlier were starting to peel off from loosing their stick from the pool water. Steve dabbed carefully at the scrape with the kid pulling back immediately, but Steve's grip remained around the boys arm.
"Ahh... Steeeve!"
"Shh, I know it hurts, kid." Steve soothed, still holding the wipe, "It needs to be cleaned though," Steve returned to dabbing at the scrape as he talked, hoping the distraction would help, but still felt every flinch and heard every whimper and hiss, "and then you're going to go upstairs and have your shower, and I might have some pyjamas that might fit that you can borrow, and then when you get out I'll bandage your arm cause it's just going to come off in the shower, and then..."
"Are you almost done, Steve?" Dustin hissed again, as Steve swiped at the graze on his forearm.
"Yeah buddy, just hold on a second." After swiping the kids elbow a few more times, it looked relatively clean but was still bleeding a little, but it had slowed enough that it was safe for the teen to take his shower.
Steve sent Dustin to the upstairs bathroom, then went in his bedroom to look through his closet again in search of some clothes that would hopefully fit the kid for sleeping. He rummaged around towards the back of the closet and pulled out a pair of old grey tracksuit shorts that he had forgotten that he even owned, looking at the tag they were a size 14, that would definitely fit the kid, he'd keep those handy for if the teen ever needed clothes when he was at Steve's house. Then hunted for a t-shirt, which he wasn't too worried about, it didn't matter too much if it was a bit long, he found a navy size 16 and figured that'd do, and placed them on the floor outside the bathroom door. The kid already brought up his underwear, there wasn't much Steve could do for that, but the boy was going home tomorrow, so what was one more night.
He rapped on the bathroom door.
He heard Dustin shout a "Yeah," from around the sound of running water.
"I've left some clothes outside the bathroom door." Steve said loudly, hoping Dustin could hear. Then left the kid to it, to get some sleepwear for himself so he was ready to have his shower next.
After Dustin had finished showering Steve lead him back downstairs to the kitchen again, and told him sit, pointing to the same chair as before. He checked the wound which was still bleeding a little and grabbed a sealed gauze from the first-aid, he ripped along the top of the package and pulled the gauze out, and pressed it to the scrape where the blood was coming from, with at the same time taking the kids arm in his left hand again.
"Ow..." Dustin whined, but didn't try pulling away this time.
"I know, dude. Just trying to stop the bleeding." he explained as he held the gauze firmly to the same spot. "We'll wrap it in a minute."
After a few minutes he checked it again and it looked better, the bleeding had mostly stopped, the kid had definitely done a number on himself. The skin was clean scraped off, leaving a three by four inch wound, not to mention the graze down the kids forearm. He grabbed a tube of antiseptic and dabbed a good sized dollop onto another clean gauze pad and swiped it around over the wound with the kid wincing from the sting, "It's okay, we're almost done." he reassured, then looked in the med kit trying to determine the best way to cover it, being with part of the main wound right on the end of the kids elbow, he had some large adhesive waterproof bandages, but wondering if they would hold when Dustin would bend his elbow? Before thinking what the hell, and instead grabbed another sealed gauze and a smaller rolled bandage, might be overkill but whatever...
He ripped the seal on the gauze and placed it over the scrape, and then wound the bandage over it and around the boys arm, all the way down covering the graze before doubling back, when he reached the end he tucked the tail bit under a part that was already wrapped around the arm and fed it through carefully, before tying it in a double knot.
"There, good as new." he stated, observing his work.
Dustin studied the bandage that was wrapped from his elbow reaching to about halfway down his forearm, and gave a weak smile, "Thanks," as he felt Steve push the baggy sleeve up on the oversized t-shirt Steve had given him to wear. And pulled the remaining of the already half peeled band-aids the doctor had put on earlier off.
"Do you want some more back on here?" Steve questioned, noticing the tiny bit of blood on the band-aid padding of both as he folded them in half and sat them on the counter top. He noticed the tiny wounds were a bit red around the injection site but nothing too bad, and they weren't bleeding or anything.
Dustin nodded, "Yeah, it still hurts."
Maybe so, but it was more likely due to the fact of Steve bringing it up, that had brought the kids attention to it again, but whatever made the kid happy...
Steve pulled out a packet of band-aids, sliding two out and ripped open the seals, before securing them over the tiny wounds and gently patting his arm twice where the band-aids are.
"Okay, all done."
After he had finished patching up the teen, Steve tidied up the first-aid kit and told Dustin to go give his mom a call, then sang out that he was going to take a shower after the kid had left for the phone.
The phone rang out three times, before it was picked up on the other end.
"Afternoon, Claudia speaking." She spoke politely into the mouthpiece.
"Hi Mom." Dustin answered with affection, he did love his mom, even if she was overly affectionate sometimes.
"Oh, Dusty. How are you?" She asked with worry evident in her voice.
"Yeah, I'm good mom. Listen Steve said I could stay the night..."
"Oh, that's okay sweetheart." she agreed affectionately, "Are you sure you're okay...?" She asked again with still a hint of worry.
"Yeah, mom." Dustin answered honestly, cause Steve had done a good job at taking care of him so far.
"Okay, I love you Dusty."
"I love you too, mom."
"Oh sweetheart, is Steve there? Maybe I could..." she wanted to ask him how everything went at the doctors appointment, but from talking with Dustin just now and hearing his voice, it sounded like everything was fine.
"He's in the shower mom." Dustin told her kindly.
"Oh... oh that's okay, maybe I can talk to him tomorrow." She told him warmly, before adding, "Just tell him I said thanks, would you Dusty-bun?"
"Of course mom, love you." Dustin answered with a huge grin, and made a few kissy sounds into the mouthpiece.
"Okay sweetheart, I love you too." and she did the same, before hanging up.
After Steve returned back downstairs, Dustin was sitting on the couch waiting for him holding both the VHS tapes in his hands and looking over the covers. He looked up when Steve entered the room, "Steve, mom told me to tell you, 'thanks', and she also said I could stay." he smiled a beaming smile.
Steve nodded, "That's good, kid," then running a hand through his damp hair, he said, "We'll put those on it a minute, I'll get us some drinks." he offered, noticing how thirsty he felt. And headed for the kitchen, "Do you want some snacks or anything dude?" he sang out, half way to the kitchen, "We haven't really had anything since lunch."
"What about pasta?" Dustin called back and pulled himself up from the couch, putting the VHS tapes back on the coffee table, following Steve out to the kitchen.
"Yeah, we can do that." Steve agreed, as he made his way over to the fridge, and pulled out a half finished bottle of apple juice, and two glasses from an upper cabinet, and placed them on the bench, pouring juice into each one.
"Have you had Garlic Butter Pasta before?" Steve asked as he handed Dustin a glass of juice. He wanted something that would be easy on Dustin's stomach, and there was no way in hell he was feeding the kid anything acidic based, so the traditional pasta sauce would have to wait another day, cause one bout of vomiting was enough.
Dustin shook his head, and took a sip of his juice. "Don't think so."
"I think you will like it," Steve took a mouthful of his drink before setting the glass down near the stovetop, and opened up a lower cabinet pulling out a medium saucepan, then filling it half way with tap water before placing it onto the stove and turning the burner to high. While they waited for the water to boil, Steve pulled out a skillet pan and sat it on the element next to the saucepan but didn't turn it on.
"How did you learn how to cook?" Dustin wondered, as he watched Steve move about the kitchen.
Steve took a garlic clove out from the pantry and placed it on a wooden chopping board, then took out a vegetable knife, "I guess when I got sick of eating frozen pizzas all the time." he answered as the cut the ends off the garlic so it was easier to peel the skin off. "You kind of learn to fend for yourself when your parents aren't around to cook meals.
"Do they leave you alone a lot?"
"Yeah, I guess." Steve said honestly, as he sliced the garlic into thin slices. "They travel a lot for my dads work, I'm kind of use to it by now."
When the water started boiling, Steve went to the pantry and pulled out a small packet of salt, and put a pinch into the saucepan. And then pulled open a packet of spaghetti and tipped half of the bag into the boiling water.
"It must get lonely though, being here all the time all by yourself." At least Dustin had his mom to come home to, and to hang out and talk to. But Steve had no one, and Dustin didn't know how he felt about that.
"I'm use to it, dude." Steve reassured, and shrugged. "I actually don't mind the quiet sometimes. And anyway, I've got you rugrats around enough to keep me busy, so there's that."