Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The place in which Eddie finds himself when he next opens his eyes is dark. He can’t see more than a few feet in front of him, but the place feels vast. Endless, even. The ground beneath his feet is watery, and with each step he takes, he hears echoes of similar steps in the distance. Nevertheless, the feeling of being completely alone is overwhelming.

Eddie has never been particularly religious, but he knows about the concept of purgatory. If it really exists, then he thinks that this might be it. It’s definitely a lot more boring than he always thought it would be.

At least his arm is no longer bleeding and broken here. All things considered, he feels pretty normal. He’s just fucking exhausted.

With nothing else to do, he wanders aimlessly for a while. The water beneath his feet ripples with each step he takes. He doesn’t bother calling out to determine whether or not anyone else is around. Wherever he is, he knows that he is alone.

Until he isn’t.

Eddie doesn’t know just how long he’s been walking before he hears it. In the distance: a shout. Eddie’s head snaps up, and he squints into the darkness. He spots a shock of colour on the inky horizon. His heart stutters in his chest, and before he can think better of it, he takes off in a sprint.

The shouting gets louder the longer that he runs. Eventually, he makes out a single word:

“Help!”

“Over here!” he shouts back. “Can you hear me?”

“Yes!” comes the response, and oh—he recognises that voice.

“Max?!”

“Eddie!”

And then she’s in front of him, throwing herself into his arms as tears roll down her cheeks. He wraps her up and holds her close. His throat burns as he swallows down his own sobs.

“I thought I was alone here again,” Max tells him.

Again, she says. Eddie latches onto that particular word immediately. Again. Again. Again.

“Again?” he asks.

Slowly, Max extricates herself from his arms. She wipes away her tears and nods.

“This is where I came after Vecna killed me,” she explains. “When I couldn’t wake up, and I wasn’t sure whether I was really alive or dead— I was here.”

Eddie doesn’t want to think about what that means for their friends, having to watch both of them fall into a state from which they spent so long wondering if Max could wake up. Then he remembers watching El and Will pass out after the final battle as well, and he locks eyes with Max as the same realisation hits her.

“We have to find El and Will,” she says. “I think— No, I know they’re here, too. They have to be.”

Eddie nods. “It’s just a matter of figuring out where. There aren’t exactly any unique landmarks around here.”

“That’s why El couldn’t find me when I was here last time. It just… goes on forever. The darkness. It’s like it swallows everything up. Even you.”

“That certainly makes it hard to navigate.”

Max sighs. “Yeah. But we have to try.”

They resume walking, this time with more purpose. Max sticks close to Eddie’s side. After feeling her hand bumping against his several times, he finally grabs onto her hand and squeezes it tightly. He senses her relaxing immediately.

“What did you do last time?” he asks her as they walk. It’s too quiet here, and it’s starting to make him itch. Only the sounds of their steps through the water have broken the silence thus far.

“This, mainly,” Max says. “I walked around a lot at first. I was trying to find a way to get out, or a way to contact El. But when that didn’t work, I just… gave up, I guess. I sat down and just stared off into the dark for a long time. I think I would’ve started to lose my mind if I hadn’t woken up then.”

Eddie isn’t really sure what to say to that. Given his track record, he’s pretty sure he would have lost his mind way faster than Max. He’s glad that she’s here with him—the company might make this a little easier. Then he feels guilty for thinking that, because there’s no way that Max and the other kids deserve to be trapped here. Now that they’ve saved the world (hopefully for the last time), they should be recovering and celebrating with the people they love.

“This sucks,” he says. Beside him, Max snorts.

“That’s the understatement of the year.”

They walk for what Eddie estimates is another hour or so. With nothing around them but endless darkness and water, it feels as if they’re walking in circles. When it starts to frustrate Eddie more than what is probably reasonable (although, given their current predicament, he’d say that his emotions are justified), he stops and pulls Max down to a crouch. She goes willingly, clearly feeling just as exhausted and annoyed as he is right now.

“Is it normal to not feel hungry in this place?” he asks.

Max shrugs. “I guess so. I mean, back in the real world, we’re unconscious. They’re probably feeding us through a tube or something—if we’re both being kept in the hospital, that is. Plus, there’s nothing in here that we can eat.”

Eddie hums, searching their surroundings again as if something new will miraculously appear. Unsurprisingly, darkness continues to be the only thing pressing in on them from all sides.

For a moment, Eddie contemplates shifting into his bat form to make their search a little easier. Now is arguably the perfect time to try out echolocation. However, he swallows down the suggestion on account of the fact that shifting forms would require leaving Max alone on the ground. He doesn’t think either of them would enjoy being alone right now.

Thoughts of his powers do, however, make him realise that there’s another way to search for Will and El. He prods at their now dormant connection until he feels a spark. He can tell immediately that it’s coming from Max’s end. Together, they keep pushing energy into the connection until they feel someone else responding.

Max? comes El’s voice. Eddie? Is that you?

Eddie thanks whatever higher power is on their side that they’ve managed to at least get through to El. He doesn’t know what he and Max would have done if they couldn’t find the others. Probably continue to wander aimlessly for eternity.

Well, hopefully not that long. That would be depressing.

Where are you? he asks, but he knows as soon as the question leaves his mind how ridiculous it is. It’s not as if El can give him directions through this place.

It turns out that directions aren’t necessary at all.

“Behind you,” El says.

Eddie and Max whirl around to find El and Will standing behind them, looking equal parts relieved and exhausted. A broken sound leaves Max’s lips as she throws herself into El’s arms.

“How did you find us? We’ve been looking for you for so long!”

“Things are weird here,” El explains. She slowly pulls away from Max, but keeps her hands locked around Max’s wrists. “When you were stuck here last time, I looked for you every day. There was always something blocking me from finding you. It was the same this time, but when you both reached out to us, the thing blocking me suddenly disappeared. I think, if you want to be found in this place, you need to open up your mind.”

“It’s all about letting yourself be vulnerable,” Will adds. “It opens you up to things that want to hurt you, but it also opens you up to the people who want to help. Like… When I went missing in the Upside Down all those years ago, the times when I found it easiest to communicate with my mom were also the times when I was in the most danger. Our weakness is our biggest strength.”

“So, by that logic, will it be easier for us to leave this place now that we’ve… opened up our minds?” Eddie asks.

Will and El share a look, before the latter shrugs.

“We will have to wait and see,” El says.

Which isn’t exactly what Eddie has been hoping to hear, but he supposes it’s their only option. Now that they’re together again, all they can do is be patient.

They end up sitting in a circle on the ground. Eddie is hesitant to sit at first, not wanting to get his jeans wet. If he’s going to be here for a while, he’d prefer that his clothes don’t get uncomfortably damp. But when he does finally give in and sit cross-legged between Max and Will, he finds that the water beneath them doesn’t quite act like water should. It still moves in the same way that water does, but it doesn’t soak into his clothes like it would in the real world.

Things are weird here, is what El had said. Apparently, that’s true in more ways than one.

“How long do you think this will take?” he asks.

El’s head tilts to the side as she thinks. In the end, she can only offer another shrug.

“There’s nothing else here that can hurt us while we’re waiting, right?” Max asks, glancing around them warily.

It’s a fair question, and one that leaves Eddie feeling more than a little uneasy. The first time Max was sent here, it was because she was killed by Vecna. Even though they’ve killed Vecna in the real world, surely there’s a chance that he’s now in this place with them.

However, El shakes her head.

“No,” she says with complete certainty, which causes the rest of their group to release a collective breath of relief. “I do not feel anything. The monsters are gone.”

“All of them?” Max asks.

“Almost. There were only a few of them left when Vecna died. That is why his defences were so weak.”

“And now that the gates are closed, they can’t use us to help them… uh, reproduce,” Eddie says, grimacing at his own words. Everything about the Upside Down will never not be gross.

El nods. “Exactly. Soon, the Upside Down will be back to the way it was in the beginning. Empty, but full of energy.”

“Like this place?”

She considers this for a moment, before making a so-so gesture with her hand. “A little. The energy is different. This place is made from mind energy. That is why it is calm and dark. It is the empty space in our heads. The Upside Down in its natural form is heart energy. It is wild, bright, and never quiet.”

“It seemed pretty dark and gloomy last time I checked.”

“Because Henry— Vecna,” El corrects herself, frowning. “He made it unstable. He was all mind and no heart. But now he is gone, and it will return to its true state.”

The four of them are silent for a while. In the wake of El’s words, very little seems appropriate to say. A sombre cloud hangs over all of their heads. They all know the cause of their dampened mood without needing to verbalise it. Vecna may be dead, the gates may be closed, and the monsters may be on the verge of extinction—but the Upside Down still exists. If they cannot control all of it, then they also cannot destroy all of it for good. It will always be a potential threat.

At the same time, it is also their biggest source of power. Without it, the majority of them wouldn’t be alive. Our weakness is our biggest strength.

Eddie likes to think that the Upside Down no longer wants to hurt them. If they’re lucky, they’ll never have to deal with it again. But there will always be a voice in the back of his mind reminding him that another world lies beneath his feet. It will remind him that the Upside Down is the only reason why he is still alive. It will remind him that a certain chain of events caused the Upside Down to become hostile once, and there is always a risk that a similar chain of events could cause the same thing to happen again someday.

(He tries not to let his mind linger on the thought that any one of them could be the next Vecna. Frankly, it’s a terrible thought to have, and he vows to never entertain it again.)

“It’s kind of unfair that the Upside Down gets to go back to normal while we’re stuck here like this,” Max says. “Plus, like— Hawkins is gonna be scarred forever. The fissures might be closed, but they’ll always be there.”

“I wonder what story the government has cooked up to explain everything this time,” Will says, voice tinged with an uncharacteristic bitterness.

Eddie can sense that the group’s mood is only getting worse. In an attempt to liven things up a little, he says, “Whatever it is, it’s gotta be better than whatever batshit insane story our friends could come up with. Dustin missed Hellfire once, back at the start of the year. He told me it was because a squirrel broke into his house and stole his dice, so he spent the entire day chasing it until he managed to get them back.”

Max cackles loudly. Even Will and El manage to crack a smile.

“Did he ever tell you the real reason why he missed Hellfire?” Will asks.

“Nah. I eventually convinced Mike to tell me, though. Dustin missed Hellfire so that he could call his girlfriend.”

“He skipped out on D&D for Suzie?” Will asks, eyes wide.

Eddie nods. “Ahh, the things we do for the people we love.”

Unfortunately, their chipper mood doesn’t last much longer after that. Will’s face falls again, and Max stops laughing.

“They must all be worried about us,” she eventually says.

Quietly, as if he doesn’t even really intend to be heard, Will admits: “I really miss my mom and Jonathan.”

“I miss Lucas.” Max narrows her eyes at each of them in turn as she adds: “Don’t you dare tell him I said that.”

El giggles, but it’s only a second before she’s frowning again. “I miss my dad,” she says quietly. “It feels like only yesterday that we were reunited, and now we are already apart again.”

“I miss Steve, obviously. And Dustin. And—” Eddie sucks in a sharp breath. His voice wobbles when he continues speaking. “My uncle. I really, really miss my uncle. I was meant to call him the day after we defeated Vecna and— God, he must be so worried.”

“Will you tell him the truth when you wake up?” Max asks.

“I don’t know. I mean, I want to. I don’t like lying to Wayne, and I can’t think of any other way to explain everything that’s happened. But— I just can’t, right?”

Will offers him a sympathetic smile. “It is risky. Plus, every time something like this happens, Dr. Owens and his people make us sign a bunch of NDAs. I’m lucky that my mom and brother have been a part of this since the beginning. I’d hate to have to hide everything from either of them.”

“But fuck the NDAs,” Max interjects. “Lucas risked everything to tell me what was going on when I first joined the group. And yeah, learning about the Upside Down is what led to me being stuck here with you guys now, but I don’t regret asking him to tell me, and I don’t blame Lucas for anything that’s happened to me since then either. I’m glad he told me, because— I’m here. Because every time the world is on the verge of ending, I get to be with the people I care about. I get to try my best to protect those who matter most to me. And if anyone does get hurt… I at least know the real reason why. Not whatever bullshit reason the government tries to make people believe. I know the truth.”

Eddie imagines what things would be like if his and Wayne’s roles were reversed. If his uncle went through everything that Eddie has had to experience, Eddie would definitely want to know about all of it. He’d hate to be left wondering and worrying. Most of all, he’d hate having to sit on the sidelines while his uncle struggled. They’ve always supported each other as much as possible through everything. It must have been horrible for Wayne to know without a shadow of a doubt that Eddie never killed anyone, yet be unable to offer his support. It must have been utter torture to stay awake each night, just waiting for Eddie to come home or call or do something to show that he was even still fucking alive.

And now… Eddie doesn’t even want to think about what Wayne must be thinking and feeling. How many times must he have already called Steve’s landline, wondering why Eddie hasn’t contacted him like he promised he would? And when Eddie does eventually wake up and they see each other again, what will Wayne think when he sees all of Eddie’s scars?

It’s all too painful to imagine. Just like that, Eddie’s mind is made up.

“Fuck the NDAs,” he agrees. “I’ve always hated keeping secrets from my uncle. As soon as I wake up, I’m gonna tell him everything.”

“I’m going to tell my mom, too,” Max says, sharing Eddie's newfound determination. “She’s been through so much, and she doesn’t even know why. I should’ve told her ages ago. Maybe my recovery will be easier on both of us if she knows exactly why I’ll never be able to see or walk again. And if it only makes things harder… Well, I’ll still have you guys.”

“Hell yeah you will, Red. We’re stuck with each other forever.”

“Um. While we’re on that topic,” Will says, trying and failing to hide a grimace. “Maybe we should start trying to figure out how to block out each other’s emotions more. I think we all want to be able to feel things without worrying about each other knowing about it, right?”

He’s right, of course. Eddie adores these kids, and the connection he shares with them is something special and unique that he never wants to give up. He’d appreciate being able to block out their emotions, though. Every time he feels their fear or joy in his own chest, it’s as if he’s intruding on something personal and private. All the while they were fighting Vecna and closing the gates, being able to know exactly what each other was thinking was beneficial. Now, it’s just unnecessary.

Which is why they find themselves huddled together on the ground for what feels like hours, experimenting with ways to temporarily close the connection they all share. They try all sorts of things in the hopes that something will stick; first, Eddie imagines putting up a wall between himself and the kids, but it crumbles as soon as he hears Will’s voice on the other side of it. Next, Max creates separate doors for each of them, and imagines their feelings being locked away behind them. The doors fall off their hinges as soon as Eddie, Will, and El attempt to open them.

The problem, Eddie thinks, is that they trust each other too much. It’s easy to let each other in when none of them are truly opposed to knowing what the others are thinking and feeling.

“Okay, let’s change tactics,” he says. The kids, who have all had their eyes closed as they focused on the task, now look at him expectantly. “Think of your biggest secret. It has to be something that you don’t want anyone else to know. You have to protect it and the feelings that accompany it, right? So… that’s exactly what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna hide it away from the rest of us. Got it?”

They all nod. Eddie shifts until he’s fully facing Max.

“We’ll try it out one at a time, this time. Max, you’re up first. You have the secret ready?”

“Sure,” she says. “Not that I have many secrets left to tell, but… Yeah, I have something.”

This time, when Eddie attempts to reach through their connection and find out exactly what is going on in Max’s head, he’s met with a solid barrier. He frowns and tries his best to break through it, but it only seems to grow stronger the more that he struggles. Eventually, he pulls back with a satisfied smile.

“Congratulations, Red. Your secret is safe from me. How’d you do it?”

“I literally imagined locking it up in a safe,” she says, shrugging. “I’m wearing the key on a chain around my neck. I can open it up at any time, but for now, I’m the only one with access to it.”

“So, you think you can do the same with the rest of your thoughts and emotions?”

“Yeah. I know I can.”

“Awesome.” Eddie stands, then points to El. “Your turn, Supergirl. Think you can do the same thing as Max?”

Confidence rolls off El in waves as she nods and pats the space in front of her. Rather than take it, Eddie gestures for Will to go ahead.

“It’ll be harder to protect your thoughts from someone who knows you better,” he says. “Go ahead, Little Byers.”

For a few minutes, El and Will face each other in silence. It’s Will who opens his eyes and pulls away first.

“It worked,” he says. “I couldn’t feel or hear a thing from El.”

“Your turn now,” El says, guiding Will’s attention back to her with a hand on his wrist.

For a moment, Will only swallows nervously. Eddie recognises the kind of fear and reluctance that Will is feeling. The same emotions plagued Eddie when he was first coming to terms with his sexuality. He’s felt them again recently too, in the days between Steve kissing him for the first time and the two of them confessing their feelings to each other.

Even without their connection, Eddie knows exactly what secret Will is thinking of right now. He hopes that he’ll be strong enough to protect it.

El’s eyes flutter open, and she smiles. “It worked.”

Will’s relief is palpable. Eddie feels it, too, amalgamating with his own relief in his chest. He knows that nobody would have a problem with Will being gay—after all, the entire group accepted Eddie and Steve’s relationship well enough—but he also knows that there’s more to Will’s secret than that. He recalls a conversation in Steve’s car, back when Eddie was still stuck in his bat form; the way Will’s eyes had shone despite the sad twist to his mouth as he said Mike’s name.

It’s complicated, like all love is. Eddie is glad that Will is able to keep his feelings safe for as long as he needs.

And then, just like that, it’s Eddie’s turn. Max drags him back down to the ground until he’s kneeling in front of her again, muttering that it’s only fair that she gets to try uncovering a secret, too. Eddie takes a deep breath, then imagines shutting himself inside a large safe. The steel walls are thick and impenetrable. He can’t hear Max’s voice on the other side of them. He waits for a few more seconds before allowing himself to think about something that he’s been trying his best to ignore ever since he came back to life.

I’m scared of what comes next, he thinks. I don’t know what will happen when I wake up again—whether things can and will ever go back to normal for me. I’m worried about what will happen to Wayne, regardless of whether he moves back to Hawkins or settles down elsewhere. I’m terrified of fucking things up with Steve. I’ve been given a second chance at life, and I’ve used it to help save the entire town, but I don’t think it will ever be enough to fix what people still think I’ve done. I’ve been trying to convince myself that everything will be alright, but in reality? I think the rest of my life was doomed from the moment Steve found me on his doorstep.

He opens his eyes to see Max already staring back at him with a crease between her brows. For a single, terrifying moment, Eddie thinks that he’s failed to keep his thoughts completely hidden. But then Max shrugs and says, “Well, that was anticlimactic.”

“It worked, then?”

“Yep. I couldn’t hear or feel anything from you.”

Thank fuck, Eddie thinks. He’s definitely not ready to address all of the things he’d just been thinking and feeling. If he’s being entirely honest, he doesn’t know whether he will ever be ready.

But that’s a problem for after he wakes up. Right now, there’s nothing that can be done to ease his worries.

He can only hope that there’s something that can be done later.

It’s impossible to tell how much time has passed since Eddie and the kids woke up in this place. Eddie hasn’t worn his watch since he was brought back to life, because it never worked again after getting drenched at Lover’s Lake anyway. There are no other ways to tell the time here; no sunrises or sunsets, no birds singing, and no ticking of clock hands. It might have been hours since they arrived here, or it might have been days.

But no matter how much time has passed, all four of them remain stubbornly awake and waiting. Eddie doesn’t understand how he can be so tired, yet unable to fall asleep. Is it because he’s technically already asleep? Or does this place just like to torture its inhabitants by making them unable to function normally?

The uncertainty only makes him angry. He tries not to show it, but the concerned glances that Will keeps sending his way suggest that he’s failing pretty spectacularly. Despite all four of them now being able to hide their emotions from each other more efficiently, they’re still so tuned into each other that it isn’t difficult to guess what each of them is thinking and feeling.

El seems to be the most patient of them all, but even she is starting to fidget restlessly. Every now and then, she’ll stare off into the distance as if she’s heard or seen something. Eddie finds himself wanting to ask her what it is, but before he has the chance to open his mouth, she returns her focus to the rest of the group with a disappointed twist to her mouth.

The next time it happens, Eddie is determined to ask El what she’s thinking. But just as he’s about to speak, he’s distracted by a tingle in his left hand. He stares in bewilderment at his own palm. Slowly, he flexes each of his fingers. The tingling sensation intensifies until his entire hand feels like it’s burning, but it’s not painful at all. Instead, it’s… comforting. He closes his hand into a fist, as if trying to trap the feeling. It seems to work for a while, but then the sensation gradually fades.

Perplexed, Eddie glances around at the rest of the group. Nobody else seems to have felt anything at all, which means that whatever he just felt must not have been caused by the place that they’re currently trapped in. Surely, then, this is a sign that he will wake up soon. The prospect of leaving this place and seeing everyone again leaves a complicated tangle of emotions in Eddie’s chest. As much as he wishes he could just wake up already, the last thing he wants to do is leave the kids here alone. Steve might be the designated babysitter of the group under normal circumstances, but here and now, Eddie is the one who feels solely responsible for the kids’ safety. He doesn’t want to let them out of his sight. Realistically, he knows what that means: he has to be the last one standing here. He has to wait until all three of the kids have woken up before he even considers returning to the real world.

Of course, there shouldn’t actually be a way for him to control the circumstances in which he’ll wake up. But he and the kids aren’t just regular comatose patients, are they? They possess powers beyond other people’s imaginations. If there’s the slightest chance that Eddie can prevent himself from waking up before the kids, then he’ll take it. He’ll try anything to make sure that the kids are safe.

He’s silent for a long time as he contemplates how exactly he can make his plan work. Fortunately, the kids are so wrapped up in their own thoughts that they don’t call him out on it. In the end, the answer comes to him easily enough.

When he was stuck in his bat form, all it took to bring him back was the act of reuniting his mind with his body. Eddie is fairly certain that the same is true now. He’s trapped in a part of his own mind, and he’s slowly fighting his way back to his body. When that happens, he’ll finally wake up. All he needs to do is slow down the process to ensure that the kids reach the finish line before he does.

Logically, he shouldn’t be able to project his consciousness outside of wherever he and the kids are currently stuck. But he tries anyway, because despite all of the odds being against him, Eddie doesn’t like to rule out any possibilities without giving them a chance first. So he closes his eyes and pictures his own face as well as he can. He reaches out, and it definitely takes longer than it usually would, but he manages to latch onto something solid and real.

When he opens his eyes again, he’s still in the same dark, empty place as before. The kids are still sitting around him, but they no longer seem to see him. And in front of Eddie, plonked right in the centre of the never-ending darkness he’s becoming so familiar with, is Steve’s bedroom.

Except, it’s not really his bedroom. There are no walls; no ugly wallpaper and matching curtains, no window overlooking the back garden, and no posters or photos to brighten up the place. There is merely a cluster of furniture: the desk and chair, the bedside table, and the bed.

On the bed are two figures, which surprises Eddie enough that he temporarily forgets all about what he’s supposed to be doing. Steve is sitting on the edge of the mattress, feet planted on the watery ground. He’s staring down at the other figure on the bed, who is deathly still. Neither of them make a single sound as Eddie stands up and slowly approaches the bed.

“Steve?” he calls out.

But Steve must be unable to hear him, because he doesn’t even flinch at the sound of Eddie’s voice. Instead, he sighs and leans over the other figure on the bed. Eddie feels a burst of warmth on his forehead. He’s close enough to the bed now that, as Steve sits up again, he finally catches a glimpse of the other person’s face.

It’s Eddie lying there on the bed.

“Oh,” Eddie whispers. Even though his plan was to see his own body all along, the sight of himself lying there, so quiet and motionless, still leaves him feeling stunned. “Well, this is one hell of a trip.”

Steve reaches out to brush a strand of hair away from Eddie’s sleeping face, and his fingers brush Eddie’s cheek. From his spot behind Steve, Eddie feels a familiar, warm tingle spreading over his cheek.

“I can feel you,” he says, reaching up to press his thumb into the spot on his cheek that Steve has technically just touched. “Steve, I’m here. I’m here.”

Steve still doesn’t hear him. He doesn’t turn around with wide eyes and a relieved smile. He simply continues to stare down at the unresponsive version of Eddie who is stretched out on his bed. But that’s okay. It’s okay, because Eddie knows that he can still reach out to Steve in some capacity, and that means that—just maybe—things aren’t as hopeless as they seem. It means that he might be able to speak to Steve again soon.

But, for now, that’s not what Eddie is here to do. He forces himself to ignore Steve as he continues to sit patiently on the edge of the mattress. As Eddie stares down at his own body, he imagines an impenetrable barrier settling over every inch of his skin. It glows red—a warning. Do not enter.

Steve takes Eddie’s hand again, and the tingle that Eddie feels is fainter now. The barrier over his body fizzles and warps. Around his left hand, it melts away entirely. The rest of it remains intact.

“Of course you’re gonna make this trickier than it needs to be, Harrington,” Eddie says, more fond than annoyed. Because why wouldn't Steve make his defences weaker? He’s one of the reasons why Eddie wants to wake up so badly, after all.

He’ll just have to return to strengthen the barrier every now and then. He only needs to keep it intact until the kids wake up, and then he can strip it away or just let Steve destroy the rest of it. Hopefully, it won’t take too long after that for Eddie himself to wake up.

“I’ll see you again soon, Steve,” Eddie says. “You hear me? That’s a promise.”

Between one blink and the next, Steve and the interior of his bedroom disappear. Eddie is left staring off into endless space. The kids slowly come back into focus around him. A few seconds pass before El crawls in front of Eddie and gently presses her thumb to his cheek.

“You are crying,” she says, wiping a tear from his cheek before sitting back on her heels. “Why?”

Eddie wishes that he could have had just a few seconds more to savour the sight of Steve. Alas, all of the kids are waiting patiently for him to explain himself. He does his best to compose himself, drying the last of his tears and sitting up a little straighter.

“I saw Steve,” he says. Clearly, this is the last thing that the kids expected him to say. The three of them stare at him with matching expressions of shock.

“How?” Max asks.

Eddie can’t tell them the real reason why he saw Steve, because he knows that they’ll object to him staying in this place for longer than them. They’d likely argue that they can protect themselves; that there’s nothing that can really hurt them here. Their stubbornness would only make Eddie want to protect them even more.

So, instead, he says, “I just really wanted to see him, so I tried to contact him in the same way I usually would.”

Will’s eyes are wide and full of hope when he leans closer and asks, “And it worked?”

“Not fully,” Eddie says. “He couldn’t see or hear me. He was just… here. I saw myself, too. The me back in the real world. He’s watching over me.”

Without warning, Max’s eyes glaze over. Eddie knows without even needing to ask that she’s trying to reach out to someone herself. Only a few seconds pass before she blinks, then frowns.

“I can’t do it,” she says dejectedly. “I can’t reach out to anyone.”

“I will try,” El says. She closes her eyes for a few seconds, then shakes her head. “It is not working.”

Will frowns. He doesn’t even attempt to contact anyone. Clearly, if even El is unable to reach people, he doesn’t think it’s worth trying out himself.

“So… Why can I do it, but you guys can’t?” Eddie asks. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Try it with someone else,” Will suggests.

Eddie obliges, despite his confusion. He closes his eyes again and, this time, pictures Robin. He reaches out, but he can’t seem to grasp at anything. After a few more seconds, he shakes his head and tries with Dustin instead. He thinks he might get a little further this time, but he’s still unable to make a real connection. With a frustrated huff, he opens his eyes and shakes his head.

“Didn’t work,” he says. “Damn.”

Max makes a sound of understanding, then says, “Try it with Steve again.”

Eddie catches onto what the kids are thinking immediately. “You think it only works with Steve?”

“I mean, it makes sense,” she says.

“How?”

“Well, you guys have something in common.” When Eddie continues to stare at her uncomprehendingly, Max rolls her eyes and says, “Your scars, Eddie. Even though Steve wasn’t killed by the bats, he was still attacked by them. Pretty badly, too. Maybe he has a connection to the Upside Down—and to us—too. But his connection isn’t as strong, so he doesn’t have any of the abilities that we have. And because you were both attacked by the same creatures—”

“The connection is stronger between us,” Eddie finishes for her. “Jesus Christ. How did we not realise this sooner?”

Because it explains so much, doesn’t it? There were multiple, completely logical reasons why Eddie decided to find Steve of all people when he first became stuck in his bat form, but there was something deeper to it all, too. Something that Eddie could never quite explain. It was a feeling— No, an urge. It was like his body had already decided to take him to Steve before he could make up his mind.

Just now, when he only intended to find himself in the real world, he shouldn’t have been able to see Steve as well. But he was there anyway. The two of them are a package deal now. They’re connected in more ways than either of them ever could have predicted.

Eddie can’t help but laugh. This isn’t the first time that Steve Harrington has surprised him, and it certainly won’t be the last.

Time, Eddie learns, moves differently where he and the kids are. He only discovers this because each time he forms a connection with the real world to reinforce the barrier over his body, he’ll see Steve wearing different clothes despite it seeming like only a couple of hours have passed since Eddie last saw him. He catches Steve eating a few times too; a granola bar as Steve sits on the edge of the bed in his pyjamas, a banana as he reads through a stack of papers on the floor in nothing but a pair of sweatpants, and a bowl of soup as he perches on the desk chair in jeans and one of Eddie’s shirts.

Only once does Eddie find Steve in a different room of his house. It takes him a minute to recognise the furniture of the spare bedroom. Steve is sitting up in bed, propped up against the pillows. There’s a damp towel laid across his forehead. His eyes are squeezed shut, and his fingers twitch atop the sheets.

Migraine, Eddie’s mind supplies. He instantly itches to wrap Steve up in his arms and hold him until the pain fades. He hates the fact that he can’t be there for Steve, even though Steve is clearly trying so hard to take care of Eddie that he’s overworked himself and ended up bedridden.

Thankfully, Eddie knows that Steve isn’t alone. There’s a half-empty mug on the bedside table—Eddie’s Garfield mug, to be exact. The liquid inside it is still giving off a small amount of steam. Someone—Robin or Dustin, most likely—is taking care of Steve. Eddie can’t see them, but he knows that they’re there.

Time moves differently, yet it moves nonetheless. In the end, El is the first of them to wake up. Eddie and Will are attempting to explain the basics of D&D to the girls when El suddenly stands up and stares off into the distance.

“What’s wrong? Is something coming?” Max asks.

El shakes her head. “No. Nothing is coming, but it is time for me to go.”

“Go where?” Eddie asks.

“I can hear them calling me. I’m waking up.”

Eddie is so relieved that he could cry. He fights the urge until he sees tears gathering in Max’s eyes as well, and then he thinks, Ah, what the hell. He allows his tears to fall freely as El turns back to them with a smile. She’s already beginning to fade away.

“I will see you all soon,” she says. “Be safe.”

She’s gone before any of them can possibly respond.

As soon as El has disappeared, the dam breaks. Max draws her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around her legs as she cries. Will and Eddie sit on either side of her, trying their best to soothe her even as their own tears slip over their cheeks.

“This is a good thing,” Will tells her. “This means that we’ll wake up soon as well.”

It takes a few minutes for Max to respond. She struggles to breathe through her tears. Eventually, when she manages to calm down, she raises her head and wipes her face.

“I know,” she says. “It’s just… weird, to see her go while knowing that we’re still stuck here.”

Eddie doesn’t mention her moment of hesitation. He knows what Max really wanted to say. It’s not just weird; it’s terrifying. Max is clearly happy to know that El is awake and safe again, but Eddie knows that it’s also a cruel reminder that the three of them are still here with no knowledge of when they’ll follow El. For Max, it must be especially scary, considering the time she spent alone here before.

At least he knows that Max won’t be the last one here, this time. He’s keeping that final spot reserved for himself.

After Max has calmed down and Will and Eddie have both dried their own tears, the three of them settle back into a familiar silence. It’s strange to no longer have El around, but it also makes anticipation hang in the air. Eddie wonders which of the kids will be leaving next.

He doesn’t have much time to think about it before there’s a shift in the air. Goosebumps rise on his arms. The muscles in his back and shoulders suddenly tense. He turns around at the same time that Max and Will do the same, and all three of them come face to face with—

“El? Holy shit, you’re back,” Max says, excitedly climbing to her feet. A second later, her smile falls, and she falters. “Wait, why are you back? Is something wrong?”

El shakes her head. She takes hold of Max’s hands and swings them from side to side, smiling reassuringly.

“I am okay,” she says. “I wanted to see you all again. Everyone else also wants to know that you are okay.”

“You’re with everyone right now?”

“Yes. We are at Steve’s house.”

“But… How? You only just woke up,” Will says.

Eddie knows what El is going to say before she even opens her mouth. Sure enough, she explains: “Time is different here than it is in the real world. I have already been awake for two days.”

“Two days?” Eddie asks. He feels the blood drain from his face. Even though he’d been expecting El to confirm his suspicions, he hadn’t been anticipating just how much of a difference there is between the way time passes here and the way it passes in the real world. “Wait, so, how long have we all been out?”

“Nine days.”

Eddie’s knees begin to wobble. He lowers himself to the ground before he has the chance to collapse.

Without missing a beat, El moves on as if she hasn’t just sent Eddie into shock.

“It is Jonathan’s turn to speak first,” she says, focusing her attention on Will. “He is asking how you are feeling.”

“Tell him I’m alright,” Will says. “I’m not in any pain. I don’t know when I’ll wake up, but I know I’ll be fine.”

El closes her eyes for a moment as she relays his message to Jonathan. After a few seconds, she nods and opens her eyes again.

“Joyce is with you in Hop’s cabin. She hasn’t left your side. Jonathan and I will return there later. We are all staying there while we wait for you to wake up. Jonathan is having trouble convincing Joyce to get some rest.”

Will wipes at his eyes, but he doesn’t stop smiling. “Yeah, that tracks. When you get home later, please tell her that she needs to sleep. Tell her, ‘Will ordered it.’”

El nods, determined. They wait as she passes Will’s words on to Jonathan again.

Next, El turns to Max and says, “Lucas has run out of things to read to you. Erica says that he should just read you his journal if he can’t find any more books that you would like.”

Max cackles loudly. “Tell her that’s a fantastic idea. But he should wait until I’m awake again, because I want to actually hear it. I bet he writes the cheesiest shit in his journal.”

“Erica says, ‘You don’t know the half of it.’ Now they are arguing, because Lucas would like to know why Erica has been snooping through his things.” She pauses for a moment, then in a quieter voice, adds: “Your mom has also been spending a lot of time with you. She has not left your hospital room. The nurses had to set up a spare bed for her. She is very worried.”

At that, Max sobers instantly. Her shoulders tense, but she forces a smile.

“She might not believe you, but… Please tell her that I’ll be okay.”

“I will,” El says. “I promise.”

Finally, El faces Eddie. She opens her mouth to say something, but then pauses with a frown.

“What is it?” he asks. “What’s wrong?”

“They’re fighting.”

“Who?”

“Dustin and Steve,” El says. “They both want to speak.”

Eddie rolls his eyes, but there’s so much fondness burning in his chest that he feels like he could burst.

“Let Dustin speak first.”

El is silent as she relays the message in the real world. A few seconds later, she giggles into her hand.

“Steve is complaining,” she says. “He is saying that this goes against boyfriend privileges.”

Eddie shrugs, attempting to appear nonchalant even as his mind screams the word boyfriend over and over again. “He’ll get over it. Now, what does the shrimp have to say?”

“He says that he misses you a lot. He has been visiting you every day. He wants to know whether you have heard him speaking to you.”

It breaks Eddie’s heart to have to admit that he hasn’t heard Dustin at all.

“Tell him I’m sorry,” he says. He’s too upset to feel embarrassed about his voice cracking.

El smiles and says, “You do not need to apologise. He did not expect you to hear him. He says that he will continue talking to you anyway.”

It’s likely comforting for Dustin, Eddie realises, to be able to still sit by Eddie and talk to him. Even if Eddie can’t hear what he’s saying, at least Dustin knows that he’s alive and present, in a way. So long as there’s even a sliver of a chance that Eddie will hear his voice, Dustin will continue to talk to him. That alone makes Eddie feel better than he’s felt since he woke up in this awful place.

“Now Steve would like to say a few things,” El says.

Eddie takes a deep breath in an attempt to compose himself. Whatever Steve has to say, he knows that it will rip into his heart.

“He has been with you every day.”

Even though Eddie already knows this due to the connections he’s been forming with the real world, actually hearing someone else acknowledge it still leaves him feeling winded. He swallows harshly against the lump in his throat as he gestures for El to continue.

“He says that he misses you, and that he loves you.” El beams. “Now his face is red. Your uncle is laughing at him.”

Eddie inhales sharply. “My uncle—”

“He is here too.”

“He is?”

El nods. “Steve brought him here the day after the final battle. He has been staying in the guest room.”

“Wait, so— He knows that you’re talking to us right now?”

“Yes.” Another pause, then: “Steve says that he hopes you aren’t angry with him for telling your uncle everything.”

“No, no— I mean, I wish Wayne didn’t need to know everything, but you know I was planning to tell him anyway. He knows I’m okay, right?”

“Yes. He believes you will wake up soon.”

Eddie can’t possibly hold back his tears any longer. He scrubs at his cheeks in a desperate attempt to stop them, but it only makes him cry more.

“Please— Shit, this is so— Please tell my uncle that I miss him, and I’ll see him soon. And— The same to Steve. And Dustin. Just… Tell them all I miss them, and I love them, and I’ll be home soon. We all will.”

As El closes her eyes and passes on the message, a single tear rolls down her cheek. Max is still standing closest to her, and she gently wipes it away before El has the chance to do it herself. When El finally opens her eyes again, she smiles sadly.

“It is time for me to go again. I will come back soon, if I can.”

“Don’t overwork yourself,” Max says.

“I won’t,” El promises.

Then she fades again, taking their link to the real world with her.

Max leaves next. It seems like only an hour or so passes after El’s visit before it happens. Eddie is glad to see Max leave this place; she’s spent more time here than the rest of them, and Eddie knows that it’s beginning to take a toll on her. She’s so relieved when the time finally comes for her to say goodbye that she can barely even stand. Eddie and Will help her to her feet as she begins to fade away.

“Have fun listening to Lucas’ embarrassing journal entries, Red,” Eddie tells her. “I want to hear all about them when I wake up.”

Max snickers. Then, without another word, she disappears.

“And then there were two,” Eddie says.

Will offers him a small smile. “Yeah. Do you think… we’ll wake up soon, too?”

God, Eddie hopes so.

“Well, the girls managed to get out pretty quickly, all things considered,” he says, shrugging. “I’d say we’ve got pretty good chances.”

A short while later, he’s halfway through explaining the latest campaign he’d been running for Hellfire when Will leaves. The kid is so engrossed in Eddie’s story that he doesn’t even seem to realise that he’s fading. Eddie cuts himself off mid-sentence and frowns at Will.

“What?” Will asks. “What happened next? Did Jeff’s cleric heal Dustin’s bard?”

“Will,” Eddie says, staring pointedly at Will’s hands that are no longer visible. “You’re—”

But Will is gone before he even finishes his sentence.

Eddie stares at the spot where Will had been sitting in front of him for a long time after he disappears. Now that all three of the kids are gone, the entire place seems colder and larger. The darkness creeps in again; it closes around Eddie, suffocating him until he’s too weak to even sit upright anymore. He squeezes his eyes shut as he lies on his side, feeling the water beneath him lapping at his cheek and clinging to his eyelashes.

Steve, he thinks desperately. I need to see Steve.

The connection forms easily. He opens his eyes to discover that he’s lying on the floor beside Steve’s bed. Above him, Steve is pressed close against Eddie’s unconscious self on the bed. The protective barrier that Eddie had put into place has almost disintegrated completely. Eddie channels the last of his energy into making what remains of the barrier crumble away. He watches his own eyes flutter open. He locks eyes with himself. For a moment, it’s just like staring into some kind of fucked up mirror. Then the ground beneath his feet falls away, and Eddie finds himself plunging into icy water.

A familiar song is playing when Eddie wakes up.

He hears it before he’s even had time to open his eyes. It makes his lips twitch in amusement.

When he does open his eyes, he finds Steve still lying beside him in bed. His head rests on Eddie’s chest, so he hasn’t yet noticed Eddie staring at him.

“How often have you played this song while I’ve been out?” Eddie asks as the final notes of Head Over Heels echo around the room.

Steve shifts a little and releases a quiet sigh. “Too often,” he says, before his entire body tenses. He raises his head suddenly and stares at Eddie with wide eyes. “Holy shit, Eddie—”

“I know,” he says, clutching at Steve’s arms so tightly that he’ll probably leave bruises. “Steve, I know.”

Steve’s face crumples. He buries his face into Eddie’s neck and releases a loud sob. The force of it makes his entire body shudder.

“Never do that again, okay? You have to promise me you won’t ever scare me like that again.”

“I promise. I’m not going anywhere anymore, baby. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

Steve sniffles and says, “Don’t even joke about that, man.”

“Okay, I won’t. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologise either. Just—and I say this in the nicest, most loving way possible—shut up for a little while.”

Eddie grins. He kisses the top of Steve’s head, then relishes in the feeling of Steve’s body against his for a while. While they hold each other in silence, he takes stock of the state of his body. His legs are a little stiff from disuse, but he doesn’t seem to have any major injuries. The arm that had been slashed and broken during the final battle has already healed—thank you, magical Upside Down powers—although new scars have been left behind on his skin. Eddie doesn’t mind much. The scars are signs that he made it through everything. They’re signs that he, as well as everyone he loves, survived.

He returns his focus to Steve, subtly assessing his body for injuries as well. He doesn’t remember Steve being injured, but he also has no idea what happened after he and the kids lost consciousness. Steve seems to be fine, though.

The two of them are so caught up in each other that neither of them notice the phone ringing out in the hallway. Or maybe Steve does notice, and he merely chooses to ignore it.

Which is why they both startle when there’s a knock at the bedroom door. Wayne steps into the room and opens his mouth to say something, but the words die on his tongue as he sees Eddie looking back at him.

Steve is the first to move. He dries his face with his sleeve and carefully extricates himself from Eddie’s embrace. As he passes Wayne at the door, he smiles and gives his shoulder a squeeze. It successfully jolts Wayne out of his daze, and before Eddie knows it, his uncle is at his side. Eddie barely has time to sit up before Wayne is pulling him into a painfully tight hug.

“We’re gonna have words about all this later, son,” he says, clearly trying (and failing) to sound stern. “But I won’t give you too much shit right now, ‘cause I know you’ve been through Hell, an’— I’m so damn glad you’re alright, Ed.”

Eddie screws his eyes shut and sinks further into the embrace. When he speaks, his voice is muffled into his uncle’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry, Wayne. For not telling you the truth sooner, for making you worry— Everything. I’m sorry for everything.”

Wayne clicks his tongue. “None of that, son. I told you we’ll talk about everythin’ later. Now hush and let your old man hold you for a minute.”

“What’s with everyone telling me to shut up today?” Eddie teases. It draws a laugh from Wayne, and the sound of it instantly makes Eddie think of home.

Because that’s where he is. It’s taken him a long time to get back here, but now that he has both Wayne and Steve with him, he finally feels safe again.

Steve gives them an hour before he returns, shuffling his feet at the door until Wayne sighs and tells him to get his ass inside before Wayne has to drag him in. Wayne ruffles Eddie’s hair as he stands, then does the same to Steve for good measure.

“I’m parched,” he says. “I’ll make us all some tea.”

He leaves the room before either Eddie or Steve can protest.

“He knows we ran out of milk yesterday,” Steve mutters.

Eddie rolls his eyes fondly and pats the space beside him. Steve takes the hint and slides back into the spot he’d occupied when Eddie woke up.

“Who was on the phone earlier?”

“Hm? Oh, it was Joyce,” Steve says. “Will is awake. He must’ve woken up just after you did.”

“No, he woke up before me. I made sure I was the last one to wake up. I didn’t want to leave any of the kids in that place alone.”

“That place? What are you talking about?”

Eddie sighs as he nestles back into the pillows. “It’s a long story. Well, actually, it isn’t that long. But I’m exhausted, so I’ll tell you another time. Okay?”

“Okay,” Steve says. He drags Eddie’s hand up to his mouth and presses a kiss between his two middle knuckles. “I’ll hold you to that. When you’re ready, we’ll tell each other everything that hasn’t already been covered.”

“That sounds good, Stevie. For now, d’you wanna take a nap with me? I want to sleep, but I don’t want to leave you again.”

Steve nods, hair rustling against Eddie’s chest. Eddie gives into the urge to run his fingers through the strands, which draws a contented hum from Steve.

Eddie drifts in and out of sleep for a few hours. Every time he wakes up, he finds Steve still snoring on his chest. Knowing him, this is the first time he’s managed to rest properly since the final battle. Eddie makes sure to let him sleep for as long as possible.

Wayne does eventually return. He has a mug in each hand, and he sets them both down onto the bedside table before dragging the desk chair over to the side of the bed.

“Had to go to the store for some milk,” he says. “Figured that’d be okay, and you’d want some time to yourselves. I think this is the most I’ve seen your boy sleep.”

“Yeah, I thought that might be the case,” Eddie says. Carefully, he sits up without jostling Steve too much. Then he reaches for the nearest mug and takes a sip of the tea that Wayne has made.

“I’m real glad you have him around, Ed,” Wayne says, a small but genuine smile playing at his lips. “He’s a good kid. Smart, too. I wouldn’t’ve even known where to begin havin’ those charges against you dropped, but he seems to be figurin’ it all out okay.”

Eddie almost chokes on his tea. He clears his throat and places the mug back down onto the table.

“He’s what?”

Wayne frowns. “He ain’t told you yet? I thought it’d be one of the first things he told you after you woke up. He and that girl, Nancy. They’ve been workin’ to clear your name. Roped the old chief into it all, even. They keep makin’ visits to the station, givin’ all kindsa statements and evidence.”

“Is it… working?”

“I can’t claim to know much. All that legal stuff confuses the hell outta me. But I think it’s workin’ well enough. Your boy reckons it’ll only be a couple weeks before the charges are dropped for good. However he’s done it… Well, I’m mighty grateful, is all. As your family, I owe him a lot.”

“I think we both do,” Eddie says, suddenly breathless. He stares down at Steve’s sleeping face and huffs a laugh. “He’s so— Jesus Christ.”

Wayne chuckles. “He certainly seems to work as many miracles as Christ did.”

They talk for a while longer. Wayne doesn’t leave the room again until Eddie has finished his tea. His eyes are drooping again by the time his mug is empty. Steve’s tea has likely gone cold by now—he hasn’t stirred since Wayne entered the room.

Wayne leaves with both mugs, promising to make Steve fresh tea once he wakes up. He’s only been gone for a few minutes when Eddie falls asleep again.

The next time he wakes up, Steve is no longer in bed with him. He doesn’t have time to mourn the loss of him for long before the door opens, and Steve steps into the room. His entire face brightens as soon as he sees that Eddie is awake.

“Hey. How are you feeling?”

Eddie sits up with a yawn, then says, “Tired, still. Which is weird, right? I can’t remember the last time I slept this much. I’m pretty hungry, too.”

“There’s a vegetable lasagne in the oven.”

“I’m not entirely convinced that you aren’t an actual angel, Steve Harrington.”

Steve laughs. His cheeks bloom pink. “Shut up.”

“No, I’m serious.” He mulls over his next words carefully, chewing on his lower lip. “Apparently, I have a lot more to thank you for than a lasagne.”

Steve’s face twists in bemusement for a moment. Then his features soften again as he connects the dots. He sits down on the chair that Wayne had occupied a few hours earlier and slowly shuffles closer, as if he’s afraid of spooking Eddie.

“Wayne told you about the charges, didn’t he?”

“He did. I can’t— I don’t even have the words, Steve. How do I thank you for something like that?”

“You don’t have to thank me.”

“But I want to. This is, like, life-changing stuff. If it wasn’t for you, Wheeler, and Jim goddamn Hopper, I might— There’d be no hope for me here. You know?”

“I know,” Steve says, grabbing onto Eddie’s hand. He squeezes it once, then links their fingers together. “That’s why it was important to me. To all of us. You deserve to be able to live a relatively normal life now that this is all over. We can’t keep you hidden in my house forever.”

“Hm. As much as I would love to stay here forever… I know you’re right. I know words alone don’t really cut it, but… Thank you.”

Steve kisses him softly with a palm against Eddie’s cheek. It’s the first real kiss they’ve shared since Eddie woke up, and he’s just now realising how much he’s missed this. He savours it for as long as possible, placing his hand on the back of Steve’s neck to keep him close.

Eventually, though, Steve pulls away so that he can drag Eddie down to the kitchen. He almost falls down the stairs twice, because goddamn, being unconscious for almost two weeks really fucks with a person’s motor skills.

But they do make it to the kitchen in one piece. Robin and Dustin arrive while Steve is dishing up the lasagne, so while Eddie is wrapped up in two new sets of arms, he takes out a couple more plates.

They stand around the kitchen island as they eat. Eddie is squeezed so tightly between Steve and Dustin that he can barely move. Robin and Wayne stand across from them, both unable to stop smiling as they eat their food.

Eddie has never had a big family before now. For years, it was just him and Wayne. But this feels right. This feels like it could be the new normal.

He wouldn’t have it any other way.

Robin and Dustin end up staying the night, because by the time they realise how many hours they’ve spent talking to Eddie and cuddling up to him on the couch, midnight has come and gone. They make themselves comfortable in the living room, despite there still being plenty of room upstairs, because going upstairs takes so much effort, Steve, and we’re so tired.

“This will make tomorrow morning easier, anyway,” Steve tells them, returning from the second floor to launch a spare pillow at each of their heads. “Sleep well, dinguses.”

“You’re the dingus,” Robin retorts, but she’s smiling fondly. “Night, guys. Night, Wayne!”

There’s a muffled reply from the direction of Wayne’s room. Steve flicks off the main light in the living room as he leads Eddie back to the stairs.

“Tomorrow morning?” Eddie asks, when they’ve made it back to Steve’s room. “What’s happening tomorrow morning?”

“We’re going to see Max.”

“Oh, cool. I, uh, don’t know if I’m strong enough yet to turn into a bat on the way there, though.”

“You won’t need to. She won’t be at the hospital.”

Eddie fails to hide his shock. “They’re discharging her already?”

“They’re happy to let her recuperate at home from now on,” Steve says. “She’ll be assigned a couple nurses who’ll check in on her most days, but all she really needs is bed rest. Her mom has been hoping to get her out of the hospital for a while now, but they needed a more stable home first.”

“She’s found somewhere for them to stay, then?”

Steve nods. “The house isn’t too far from Hop’s cabin. It’s a little rundown, so it was cheap, but that also means it’s taken a while to fix the place up. We had to install ramps and stuff to make it more accessible for Max’s wheelchair.”

“You helped them out with everything?”

“Yeah. Lucas, Jonathan, and Argyle helped a lot with the physical stuff. Hop and Wayne chipped in where they could too. Nancy, Dustin, and Robin took charge of the finances. Erica… bossed people around a lot.”

Eddie throws his head back as he laughs. “Yeah, that sounds like Erica.”

Steve grins as he hands Eddie some clean clothes. They both change before climbing back into bed together.

“So, in the week and a half that I was in a coma, you kickstarted the process of clearing my name, helped Max’s mom to buy and upgrade a house, and took care of me every day?” Eddie asks. At Steve’s sheepish nod, he huffs another laugh. “Christ, Stevie. You’ve been a busy little bee.”

He has to joke about it all, because the only alternative is bursting into tears. It still astonishes him that Steve can be so kind without expecting a single thing in return. He just wants the people he loves to be safe and happy.

Luckily for Steve, Eddie wants the people he loves to be safe and happy as well. And Steve certainly falls under that category. So, whether Steve is expecting it or not, Eddie is going to make sure that he knows just how grateful he is for everything that Steve has done.

He turns onto his side and waits for Steve to do the same. Then he places his hand atop Steve’s waist, where the scars from his demobat bites are uncovered and beginning to fade into a soft pink.

“I love you,” Eddie whispers.

“I love you, too,” Steve whispers back. His hand finds Eddie’s, then he draws it away from his waist and to his lips. He presses a kiss to each of Eddie’s fingers, still smiling. “What we’ve been through… It sucked. A lot. And I’m sorry that you were ever dragged into this whole mess. But I’m also so glad that I got to meet you and fall in love with you.”

“I’m not,” Eddie says. He rushes to explain before Steve can get the wrong idea. “Sorry, that is. I'm not sorry that I was dragged into this, because I wouldn’t be here with you right now if I hadn’t been through it all. The worst time in my life gave me the best thing I could ever dream of having.”

Steve kisses him again. This time, it only lasts a few seconds before he pulls back, smiling too much to continue.

“I'm glad I got to fall in love with you, too,” Eddie says. “And now you’re stuck with me, Steve Harrington. Try fighting your way out of that one.”

“Oh, I won’t,” Steve says.

Eddie’s cheeks are aching, but he can’t possibly stop smiling.

“Is that a promise, Steve?”

“You bet your ass it is, Eddie.”

They’re still smiling when they eventually fall asleep, wrapped securely in each other’s arms. There is still plenty of uncertainty on the horizon, but Eddie is less afraid now. In the morning, the sun will rise and illuminate Eddie and Steve in shades of gold; and in that glow of a new morning, Eddie will feel nothing but love and hope.