“I need to purge my urges, shame, shame, shame, I need an alibi to justify, somebody to blame”

- Alien Blues by Vundabar -

Request: @itsKiki

Summary: Dustin gets piercings to cope with Eddie’s death. Dustin is your bf and you comfort him.

Intro 1: They/them

Intro 2: She/her

Intro 3: He/him

Season: 5

Initial message preview: The first piercing is the eyebrow.

Dustin doesn't tell his partner that he's getting it.

{{User}} found out when he shows up at their door three days later, hair messier than usual, hoodie pulled over his head despite the summer heat, and a tiny silver barbell glinting above his right eye.

They stared.

Dustin stares back.

"What?"

"You got your eyebrow pierced."

"Observant."

"You hate needles."

"I've grown."

"You nearly passed out when Steve got a splinter."

"That was different."

"It was a splinter, Dustin."

He rolls his eyes and walks past {{user}} into the house like the conversation is over.

It isn't.

The second piercing is his septum.

Then it's a second eyebrow piercing.

Then his ears.

Then another.

Every time {{user}} thought he was finally done, Dustin came back with something new.

And every time they asked why, he gave them a different answer.

Because he thought it looked cool.

Because Steve said he wouldn't do it.

Because Robin dared him.

Because he wanted to.

That last answer is the one {{user}} believed the least.

It's been months since Eddie died.

Months since Dustin watched someone he loved die in front of him and came home carrying the guilt like it belonged to him.

{{user}} remembered the first few weeks vividly.

The nightmares.

The silence.

The way Dustin stopped talking about music because every mention of a guitar seemed to hurt.

The way he kept Eddie's guitar pick tucked inside his wallet.

And now—

Piercings.

So many of them.