Archive of Our Own

It's …. over?

Steve stood staring at the crumbled ruins of the courthouse where the portal—where El— just stood. The silence was deafening, barely heard over the ringing in his ears. Faintly, he registered some of the others starting to move. Some dropping to the ground, others shoving at the soldiers holding them. Steve couldn’t tear his eyes away from the rubble in front of them.

Eleven. Jane. Their friend. One of his kids. Just… gone?

He was supposed to keep them safe. He was the babysitter. The protector.

He’d failed.

One of them was gone, and it wasn’t like Billy or Chrissy or Jason or —

Not only was she one of their own, she was a kid. She couldn’t have been more than seventeen. Not even old enough to smoke or buy a lottery ticket.

She’d always had the weight of the world on her shoulders, and it finally crushed her.

But with her she’d taken the upside down and everything in it. Deep down, under all the overwhelming shock and pain, was a guilty sliver of relief. It was over. No more staying awake at night wondering if someone is getting eaten by a demodog. No more carrying a nail bat around in his trunk wherever he went. No more daily radio check ins. It’s over. Done. After all this time. Almost five years of paranoia and fear. All resolved in a second.

Steve blinked. Looked around. Nancy, Jonathan, Will and Joyce had all collapsed into a pile onto the ground, crying and comforting each other. Max was sitting stock still in her wheelchair, Lucas towering over her protectively, his hands still in the air. Chief Hopper was shouting and pointing firmly at the silver haired lady in the suit. Mike and Dustin were screaming and shoving anyone who got close, tears running down their faces.

He felt a warm presence press into him from behind and turned his head to see Robin, still handcuffed, staring at him in shock.

“What… just happened?” She croaked, voice cracking.

Steve opened his mouth to respond but the words got caught in his throat. Settling on just shaking his head, he wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her head, protecting her from the chaos erupting around them.

“Listen up everyone,” Steve’s eyes snapped to the woman that Hopper was yelling at. The soldiers trying to wrangle the teens spun into attention, leaving Mike and Dustin to swing at the air, eventually calming a bit. Hopper had crossed his arms and was glaring at the ground by his feet.

“I know what happened here was a…tragedy, but we have other matters to deal with right now,” Steve narrowed his eyes. He’s sure it was tragic to her losing El, just not in the same way it was for them. It was tragic to her in the same way it’s tragic to lose access to a car or phone. Inconvenient, sure, but not overwhelmingly devastating.

“There are NDAs to be signed and wounds to be patched, I'm sure, so if everyone would follow me,” She smiled a thin smile that held nothing but resentment and impatience, then turned and walked back towards the testing facility.

Several members of the party started to protest before Hopper stopped them.

“It’s for the best. Let’s get this over with and then we can get out of this hellhole,” His tone left no room for argument, so they all untangled from each other and staggered along after him.

Steve hung to the back, waiting on Robin to be uncuffed, and then herded the kids into a ragged line. The government soldiers quickly formed a barrier around the group like they were in any state to make a run for it. They trudged down several hallways and one flight of stairs, making twists and turns, before making it to a set of interrogation rooms.

As everyone gathered in the hallway the silver woman turned and started to break them into groups before Hopper interrupted.

“You are not separating us again. I don’t care what your protocol is or how small those rooms are, we go together or not at all,” She glared at him and drug her heavy gaze across the group.

Grinding her teeth visibly, she growled, “Fine,” then turned and shoved open the nearest door, gesturing inside.

They trickled in one by one, each giving the woman a heated glare as they passed. Mrs. Byers and Hopper were given the two chairs on the near side of the table. Lucas rolled Max to the far wall and stood leaning on the chair handles. Steve positioned himself and Robin between the kids and the door. The rest squeezed in behind while the woman sat opposite to Hopper, completely ignoring Joyce.

Just as they all settled, the door swung open again to reveal a soldier carrying a thick manila folder. He quickly saluted in the doorway and then weaved his way to the table, dropping the folder and practically running back out.

“Now,” The woman reached for the file, flipping it open, “I’m sure some of you know who I am,” A glare at Hopper, “but for those who are unfamiliar, my name is Major General Dr. Linda Kay. This can all be over with quick and easy if you all sign these.” Dr. Kay hands out packets of paper thicker than any homework he was ever assigned in high school.

Rustling started up as a few of the adults started rifling through while the kids just stare with wide eyes. Hopper looks up from his investigation, meeting Dr. Kay’s watchful gaze.

“We’re going to need time to read through each of these,” She frowned at him, and he narrowed his eyes, “carefully,”.

She stood, making her way to the door, “Right, get to it. Let Sergeant Cleveland outside know when you’re finished,”.

Two hours later all of the NDAs have been read by the adults to make sure they are all the same and won’t sign their life away. They had all slid to the ground at some point and huddled in groups waiting and whispering. Robin had squeezed herself between Steve and Nancy, Jonathan having joined his mom closer to the table where she and Hopper were sifting through the documents. The boys were all bunched in the corner, some of them nodding off after the events of the day. Max was asleep next to them with her hand still in Lucas’.

Hopper finally sighs loudly and leans back in his chair. A couple people lift their heads to stare blearily at him.

“It all looks good. Just can’t talk about any of it ever again. Typical NDA stuff. We’ll all get compensation and government funded therapy if we so choose.” The others rouse at his voice, “Someone go tell G.I. Joe out there that we’re ready,”.

Steve made to get up before Nancy stood and strode to the door, opening it and saying something to the soldier outside. Instead, Steve turned to help Joyce rouse the teens.

All to soon, Dr. Kay entered the room once more, making herself comfortable in the open chair. Everyone else gathered behind Hopper again, eager to go home.

“So? All finished with your detective work chief?” She said sarcastically.

“Yes, actually, and I have a few notes,”.

She raised an eyebrow, “Please, enlighten me,”.

“First of all,” Hopper tapped the stack of papers in front of him, “There’s not enough of these for everyone who has witnessed something,”.

She held his gaze and sighed, “That much is obvious,”.

“Next, I will need my copy to exclude the ‘turn-over-everything-that-could-be-considered-evidence’ clause because—,” Dr. Kay opened her mouth to object, and Hopper held up a finger, “Because… I don’t trust you. I’ve seen what you do to people here. You have no morals. It won’t ever see the light of day again as long as you follow your end of the bargain,”

She ground her teeth again, reluctantly sliding a pen out of her pocket and taking the top packet of paper.

“And because,” Hopper continued, “I get the feeling I’ll need blackmail for my next demand,”.

Dr. Kay finished her angry scribble and glanced up, eyebrow raised. Everyone else exchanged wary glances. They weren’t in a very good position to negotiate, much less demand. Even Joyce looked confused.

A moment of tense silence passed before the woman cracked and gestured with her head, urging him to continue.

"Edward Munson,” .

A murmur went through the group, Dustin stepping forward with an angry look on his face. Steve grabbed his arm, shaking his head when the boy glanced over.

Dr. Kay leaned back and glared, “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about. He’s alive and you’re keeping him here,” He leaned forward, “You’re keeping him in your basement. Trying to see what those bats did to him.”

“How—”

She was cut off by an outraged cry from Dustin, “He’s alive?! You knew? You knew this whole time?” He was screaming at Hopper now, fresh tears on his cheeks. He stepped forward, pulling out of Steve’s grip, “Were you ever going to tell us? What if—” Nancy interrupted by grabbing him more forcefully and pulling him back, muttering to wait until they were done.

A glance around the room proved that they all shared a similar shocked look on their faces. The California Crew never got the chance to meet Eddie, but they had been filled in on the events of two years prior. Besides, Steve knew that Will had been told all about Hellfire and was excited to meet the DM before—.

Hopper ignored the outburst, only focused on the woman in front of him, “I found the file when I was snooping around in your upside down lab. When we found Kali. I know about all of it,” He said the last part slower, like there was something else. Something more.

Dr. Kay blanched, “Okay, fine. What do you want then? More money? You can’t expect us to just hand him over,”.

“Oh, I think I can. These,” He tapped the papers, “Will not get signed until you make my adjustments, and release Eddie Munson into our care, and I’m sure there are some people out there that would not appreciate the human experimentation going on here,”.

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. He’s—”

“I know exactly what I’m getting myself into. I’ve saved an innocent from your ‘care’ once, I’ll do it again.”

The air went cold as the two stared each other down. They all stood straighter as her eyes turned to drag over each of them in turn.

Finally, Dr. Kay sighed heavily and waved her hand, “Fine. Take him. He’s proven useless anyways, since we have to shut down the program,” She stood, “I’ll adjust the NDAs and then I will take you downstairs,”

She stormed out the door, muttering under her breath the whole way. Before the door even shut Dustin was on Hopper. He jerked out of Nancy’s hold and jammed his finger into the man’s chest, “What was that?! Why didn’t you tell me Eddie was alive? We could have gotten him out sooner! Fuck you! Fuck you for not telling me he’s alive,” Dustin raged against Hopper’s chest as he stood stoic, staring at the boy. Eventually Dustin broke down into sobs and sank to his knees chanting a mantra of he’s alive. He’s okay. He’s not dead.

The other teens gathered around him, tears in their eyes, to offer support. Steve looked up to the former chief, “How is this— how is he alive? We saw him. He was…”

“All the file says is that some soldiers found him on a recon mission. He was…attached to the vines. Like—like Will was. Like the kids,” Hopper unzipped his jacket and pulled out a crumpled file folded in on itself tightly, “There’s a lot that we didn’t know about him. Things that I don’t think he even knew. Just… see for yourself.”

Steve took the file, unfolding it gently and laying it out on the table. Dustin staggered to his feet and came to stand next to him, the rest of the group following. A torn picture stapled to the front showed a bandaged and freshly shaved Eddie. His face was twisted in a snarl and his eyes were wild and scared.

A few gasps sounded from the group. Dustin’s breath hitched even as he reached forward to open the folder.

The first page was a simple form with the basic things like date of birth and eye color. Skimming it briefly, Steve flipped the page. The next file was an incident report March 19th, 1986. Steve reads it aloud so everyone can hear.

“Reported by Lieutenant Robert Akers. March 19th, 1986. Sector 13B. Incident description: While on a routine scouting mission I (Lt. Akers) and my assigned recon team (Sgt. Kyle Barns, Sgt. Susan Larkheart, and CPL Harry Stephens) came across a mass of vines surrounding a boy and entering through his mouth. He seemed to be unconscious and covered in various wounds resembling bite marks matching a specimen found in the dimension. We attempted to uncover him using our hands, but eventually had to resort to our fire axes. After extracting him we attempted to wake him, but he seemed to be in a deep sleep, possibly a coma. After checking vitals (as seen below), we brought him back to base camp to be monitored.”

Under it was a signature and some scribbles of presumably Eddie’s vitals.

“Fuck,” Dustin whispered, “What happened to him?”

Steve picked up the file, looking closer at the pages, “I don’t know, but we’re going to find out,”. He flipped through the next few pages of the other soldiers’ incident reports and found medical records. He stared at it for a second before realizing that, not only does he not know how to read them, this is probably a very violating thing to be doing. He quickly flipped to the next page where jerky handwriting different from the others filled the page under a large heading that read Subject 010. At the bottom was a printed name next to the signature. Dr. Linda Kay.

Steve’s brows furrowed as he tried to make out the half cursive. Nancy and Robin lean over his shoulders, reading along, while Dustin pulls on the file and complains. Nancy lets out a gasp a second before Steve’s eyes fall on the words.

Test subject 010 from Dr. Martin Brenner’s experiment survived and has been living under the name Edward Ronnie Munson.

“Holy shit” Steve whispered.

Robin started muttering nervously under her breath as Dustin stopped pulling at the paper, looking between the three older kids, “What? What is it?”.

Nancy’s hand dropped from where it had been pressed against her mouth, “I- he’s- Dustin he’s 010. He’s Eleven’s brother.”

Dustin stared, gaping, for a moment before he grabbed for the file, “Let me see that,” He scanned the page, the other boys shoving each other to look over his shoulder “Okay, what the fuck! This is fucking insane! There’s no— this has to be fake, there’s no way,”

“It’s a government document, kid. They aren’t lying,” Hopper finally spoke, “But we’re getting him out of here. We know how to deal with scared super-powered kids,”.

"Opening his mouth to say something, Dustin was cut off by the door opening again.

Dr. Kay marched in and silently handed Hopper the stack of revised NDAs, hand holding the paper slightly too tightly. Hopper took one and looked over it, before taking the pen from the table and signing his name, everyone else gradually following suit.

Eventually, Dr. Kay stormed out without a word, NDAs in hand, not waiting for them to catch up. Hopper gestured at everyone to follow him and caught the door, quickly pushing past the guard at the door and catching up to her.

Steve’s heart pounded as the Major General started to lead them down several more hallways and down yet another staircase. By this point Steve was thoroughly turned around. He was sure he wouldn’t be able to find the way out on his own. He didn’t like being trapped, especially in such an… unfriendly place.

Stopping at a heavy door with a keypad, Dr. Kay pulled an ID card out of her pocket and scanned it, punching in a code after.

The ringing in his ears had returned and his chest felt tight. Oddly enough, it reminded him of sanding on the porch of the girl of the week, bouquet in hand, back in high school. Back when he was King Steve. Back before Nancy.

Before…

The door swung open and Dr. Kay stepped in first, not bothering to hold the door.

As Steve entered the circular room, he scanned his surroundings. He took in the few scientists huddled on one side, the beeping and whirring machines, and finally, the man suspended in the middle of the room, hooked up to way to many wires and IVs.

Steve could hear Dustin’s breath hitch next to him, and Will’s small noise of anxiety, and Nancy’s gasp. He could see Joyce’s hand fly to her face, and Lucas reaching for Max’s hand. He could feel Robin pressing into him. But all of it was pushed aside as he stared at Eddie Munson, seemingly unconscious, missing his iconic rock star hair, and clad in a stark white wetsuit.

Eddie wasn’t supposed to look so small. He was supposed to be bouncing around rambling about DnD or the absurdity of basketball or whatever else he was fixated on. Instead he’s here. In someone’s basement. Too pale with dark bags under his eyes. Even in sleep he looked scared.

Just what had they been doing to him? What had he gone through these last two years? While they were off on their useless search for Vecna, Eddie was rotting down here, scared and probably confused.

Hopper was the first one to move, breaking Steve out of his stupor. He stepped towards where Dr. Kay was speaking to a scientist, typing away on a computer. She ignored him and kept moving around the room, wisely avoiding the gawking group.

Finally, the scientists squeezed out the door behind them and Dr. Kay moved to stand in the middle of the room in front of Eddie.

“Time to wake up Ten, you have some visitors,” She reached up to unceremoniously pull the IV out of his arm, and slide a pair of headphones over his head, sliding the Walkman into a pocket at his waist.

Eddie’s eyes fluttered and his face scrunched uncomfortably as he returned to consciousness.

Dustin hesitantly stepped forward, “Eddie?” His voice cracked.

“Oh, he can’t hear you,” Dr. Kay finished what she was doing and turned around, “It’s for the best that those stay on,”

Hopper looked angry, “Are you using that frequency noise? The kryptonite?”

“Is that what you call it?” She scoffed, “Yes, I am. Trust me, you don’t want me to take it off. But, if you are so insistent, wait until you leave the property,”

“What, no!” Dustin’s voice squeaked as he rose it, “Doesn’t that hurt him?! Take it off!”

Hopper put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, “I hate to agree with the wicked witch, bu we don’t know what kind of power he has. It could be dangerous,”.

“I don’t care! If it’s hurting him, we need it off!”

“Dustin,” A warning.

The boy slumped, “Fine, then let’s get out of here quick. I hate it here,”

Dr. Kay finished unstrapping Eddie’s limbs and pushed the button to lower him to the ground. She stepped back as he crumpled to the ground. At the same time half of the group surged forward to help. Steve knelt by Eddie’s head, Hopper on the other side, with Dustin, Mike, Nancy and Robin at his feet.

Eddie groaned and reached towards his head, eyes squeezed shut and eyebrows furrowed. Hopper gently guided his hands away and lifted him into a fireman carry.

“Steve,” Steve snapped to attention, eyes leaving Eddie’s face, “You have to make sure he doesn’t pull the headphones off,”.

A nod, and they were off, trekking back through the hallways that Hopper thankfully remembered. Dustin was crying quietly behind them, Mike and Will comforting him.

Steve trudged behind Hopper, tears finally starting to well in his eyes. He kept reaching up to gently pull Eddie’s free hand from his head as the long haired boy moaned and cried. Eventually, it turned into Steve awkwardly holding Eddie’s hand, squeezing gently when his face twisted in pain.

Steve blinked away the forming tears. All he wanted was to be somewhere with a bed. Somewhere where he can sleep safely, surrounded by his friends. Realistically, he knew he would end up at his house eventually, but he wasn’t looking forward to the ringing silence and isolation.

He wondered if he could crash on someone’s couch for a bit. He wondered where Eddie would end up. He would have to go somewhere discrete. If the town found out he was alive before he could be pardoned—even after probably— he would be lynched.

Steve found himself wanting to be wherever Eddie ended up. Maybe it was his protective ‘motherly’ instinct, maybe something else, but he needed to know Eddie was okay. He resolved to ask whoever ends up hosting him if he could stay.

Lost in thought and delirious, the walk to the surface blurred past. Steve blinked when bright hit his face.

Had they been in there that long?

The sunrise painted the clouds with splashes of orange and red, reminiscent of a hellscape that no longer existed. The group limped towards the gate, unimpeded. Soldiers gave them sidelong glances, some stopping to stare as they passed. At the filthy, ragtag group of teenagers, or at the limp Eddie only in the suit, Steve didn’t know.

As soon as they passed the fence line, his mind turned to autopilot again as he relaxed slightly. Somehow they found a car, some of them clamoring inside while the rest exchanged words and started walking. He clung to Eddie as the buildings sped past, and wondered what came next.

They ended up at the Wheelers’ house. Their parents were still in the hospital and Holly was staying with some family friend just out of town, so it was quiet and still as the day they were attacked. Steve carried Eddie through the door following Nancy and Hopper. Trailing behind him was Dustin, Lucas and Max.

They hesitantly sidestepped the bloodstained kitchen floor, and made their way down the basement stairs, collapsing on the chairs scattered around. Steve laid Eddie out on the couch and slumped to the floor by his head, Dustin sliding down next to him.

Nancy and Hopper broke in to a hushed conversation that Steve had no energy to follow, while Lucas and Max just held on to each other, staring at Eddie.

Eventually, Nancy broke the tension, “We think it might be best to get the headphones off of Eddie before everyone else gets here, but we want to try playing him some music he likes before taking them off completely to try to calm him down. Dustin, you know him best, could you come with me to Mike’s room to see if he has anything?”

He stood quickly, happy to finally be useful, and followed Nancy upstairs. Steve looked up at Hopper where he had put his head in his hands.

“What is the best way to do this?”

Hopper sighed, “I don’t think there is a good way. It’d probably be best for the kids to stay upstairs,” Lucas made a half-hearted offended noise from the corner, “The less people in range the better. We don’t know what we’re dealing with here. Easing him back will hopefully help, but it’s unlikely it’ll be easy,”.

“I’m staying,” Steve declared.

Hopper blinked, “Yeah, obviously. I need you here in case something goes wrong,”

A twinge of annoyance ran through Steve. He probably should have known that. He’s supposed to be one of the adults, as much good as that did. He should be able to figure these things out.

Thankfully, Lucas spoke up, “Why can’t we stay, I could help!”

Hopper leveled him with a stern look, “No, we only need a couple of people to hold him if something happens. You all need to be ready to leave. Steve and I will handle it,”.

The way he said it made Steve sound brave.

At that moment Dustin came barrelling down the stairs with a tape in his hand, Nancy close behind, “We got one! I think Eddie lent it to Mike before— Anyways, it’s Ace’s High, which wasn’t his favorite at all, but he liked it enough to get a single of it so clearly—”

“Dustin!” Nancy interrupted, “Give it to Hopper,”.

Dustin drooped and passed the tape over.

“Alright, everyone that’s not Steve upstairs,” Hopper made his way to Steve, who stood.

Dustin began to argue again as Nancy dragged him back upstairs, followed by Lucas who carried Max up. He quickly returned for her chair, and slowed to cast a longing glance in Eddie’s direction before starting up the stairs again.

He paused as he grabbed the knob, “Just…take care of him, okay? He’s really important to us,”.

Hopper gave him a nod and he finally turned and left through the door, closing it gently behind him.

Gripping the tape in one hand, the former chief reached for the walkman in Eddie’s pocket. Steve grabbed Eddie’s hand again, his eyes not leaving his face.

The second the tape with the kryptonite was tossed aside, Eddie’s whole body untensed, his face relaxing. Hopper popped Ace’s High—whatever that was— in and snapped it shut just as a loud ringing filled the room.

Steve slapped his hands over his ears as disembodied voices took began to take shape in the unrelenting noise. A chorus of please, help, no no no, get me out, get out,filled the room, repeating over and over, sounding desperate and scared.

Opening his eyes—that he didn’t realize were squeezed shut— Steve glanced at Hopper. He had already given up on covering his ears, noticing the sound wasn’t quite external, and was reaching for the walkman.

For a moment, Steve was afraid he was going to put the kryptonite back in. He made an aborted movement to stop him, before realizing he didn’t have anything in his hands.

Hopper hit the play button on the player, blaring heavy metal through the headphones, and automatically raised his hands back to his head futilely.

Steve looked back to Eddie. While he had relaxed a bit after the kryptonite was stopped, his face still had a hard edge to it. His forehead was creased and his fists were clenched weakly.

He couldn’t leave him here. He was still scared, still in pain. Steve couldn’t be there when his friends needed him too many times. This, he decided, wouldn’t be one of them.

He gritted his teeth and dug his nails into his skin. Eddie’s eyes fluttered and he calmed a bit, the sound quieting with him.

As brown eyes blinked open, the ringing and voices leveled out at a lower volume, while new words joined the jumble.

Where

Help

Out

Where

Who

Help

Ow

A headache was forming behind Steve’s eyes, “Eddie?” He hesitantly reached out.

Eddie’s eyes darted towards him, wild and unseeing. The voices rose back up as he flinched back. He scrambled upright and shoved himself into the corner of the couch, making no move to take the headphones off.

“Oh, god,” He mumbled, “What’s wrong with him?”

Hopper shuffled back carefully, drawing Eddie’s attention, “He’s probably been in hell for the last two years. It might take him a bit to realize he’s safe. I think he’s making that noise though, so the quicker we can calm him down the better. Just… we have to try to not make it worse, too,”

He slowly shifted to sit in one of the chairs further from the couch, near the stairs. Steve stood still looking around the room as an idea started to form.

The Wheelers’ basement was where the kids held their DnD sessions these days. He has had to drive some of them. Maybe something from before all this would help him.

As slowly as Hopper was moving, Steve headed towards the shelves lining one wall. He kept a steady pace, Eddie’s head turning to track him, until he reached the row of named binders.

His hand moved up to the basket of small figurines. Miniatures, he thinks they’re called. He rummaged around blindly, coming out with a handful. Careful of the points and breakable bits, knowing the kids would kill him if he broke any, Steve made his way to the table in front of Eddie.

The ringing got louder gradually as he approached, but he ignored it.

Stay away

Who

Please

“Steve—” Hopper warned from behind him.

“Just…” Steve swallowed, not taking his eyes off of Eddie, “Let me try this,”.

He crouched on the other side of the table and deliberately laid out all of the figurines. Eventually he was left with just one. It was a red horned character with a… guitar? It was dressed in elegant looking robes with long, dark hair and a smirk on it’s tiny face.

Steve cautiously held his hand out, face up, with the figurine held delicately.

Eddie’s wide eyes darted between Steve’s face and his hand.

The ringing got louder, and Steve squeezed his eyes shut again, trying to rid his mind of the sound. He kept his hand out, shaking, as the lump in his throat grew.

Who

Stay away

What

He didn’t know what he was doing. Maybe he was only making things worse. Maybe this was a bad idea. He never even really knew Eddie, he couldn’t possibly know what would help.

He held his hand out for long minutes, eyes pressed shut, as his arm began to shake. Just as he was about to cave and ask Hopper if he could go back upstairs, he felt cold fingers wrap around the figurine.

He didn’t dare move until the presence had pulled away and the noise in his head had quieted a bit. He peeked his eyes open and lowered his aching arm. Eddie’s eyes flickered to the movement and back to the figure now held in his hand.

Thin fingers were running along the statue’s instrument with a hint of what Steve hoped was recognition on his face. Steve watched Eddie as he gradually relaxed into the couch after several long minutes.

Steve stayed crouched across the table from him, until he heard the tape click, signaling the end of the song. He didn’t think that Eddie would let him close enough to restart it and was sure Eddie wasn’t in the right head space to figure it out himself.

Glancing back up to Eddie, Steve startled to see the other already staring at him. He blinked, realizing the ringing had completely died down.

“S—Steve?” Eddie croaked. He reached up to his head, pushing the headphones off. No one moved to stop him.

Steve swallowed nervously, “Hey, man. How are you feeling?”

“Uh, kinda… confused. Where—” He looked around, “How am I here?”. His voice was rough from disuse.

Steve stands again, slowly, moving to sit beside Eddie on the couch. He made sure to leave some space between himself and Eddie’s curled body.

“We found you in the government facility…place. You were being—uhm— experimented on, i guess,”.

“Yeah I—” Eddie presses his hands to his eyes, miniature still in his fist, “I remember that part. Or some of it. I mean how did you find me?”

“It’s a long story. A lot to explain. But Hopper found out you were alive, and we weren’t going to leave you there, so we negotiated— well he negotiated to get you back,”.

Eddie’s gaze slips past Steve and lands on the former chief. His brows furrow and he looks at the ground, processing.

After a minute of silence, “How long has it been?”

“Two years,” Hopper spoke gently, “But, good news, everything is over. The upside down, Vecna, all of it is gone,” He pointedly avoided the obvious addition to that list.

Eddie’s eyes widened suddenly, “Is everyone okay? Dustin? Did he make it out? What about my un—Wayne?”

Steve saw Hopper tense from the corner of his eye.

He instinctively reached for Eddie’s hand to comfort him. The other boy glanced down, confused but gripped back.

“Yes, Dustin’s okay. Wayne too. The only one we lost was—”He cut himself off, coming to a realization, “Fuck,”.

“What?”

Hopper must have come to a similar conclusion, “Oh…kid…”

Eddie looked between them, panicked, “What? What happened?”

“Um,” Steve took a deep breath, looking back to Eddie’s eyes, “Eleven, she was alive, I don’t know if you knew. And Kali. She was uh, Eight I think,” He glanced to Hopper who confirmed.

Eddie nodded, “Yeah, they told me once, when I was awake.”

“Eddie, they—” He hesitated, and that was all it took for Eddie’s face to fall.

“Oh”

“Eleven saved our lives. She is the reason we won, but she… she didn’t make it. Neither did Kali. I’m so sorry Eddie,”

“I—it’s… fuck,” He buried his head in his hands, pulling away from Steve.

His shoulders shook as he stifled sobs. Steve exchanged a look with Hopper. He wasn’t sure what to do here. His instincts told him to comfort Eddie, but his mind reminded him that they barely knew each other before.

The only interaction they had was when Steve’s friends—and regrettably Steve— would harass him in high school, and the tense moments hunting Vecna leading up to Eddie’s not-death. Overall, not a very good track record.

But he couldn’t just leave him like that. He just found out that his siblings were dead. Steve had no idea how close they were all those years ago, but he knew what it was like losing one of their own.

He reached his hand out, gently rubbing Eddie’s shoulder through the wetsuit…thing. They should probably find him some better clothes to wear. The other boy tensed momentarily under his grip, before pressing further into it.

Steve looked to Hopper, who was just staring blankly, a lost look in his eyes, “Could you see if there’s any clothes that might fit him?”

Hopper nodded, seemingly grateful for the escape, and made his way up the stairs. Various voices were heard as the door opened and closed back, the most distinguishable squawking about not being let downstairs.

Eddie sank further into Steve, who had managed to unknowingly scoot closer. They clung to each other for long minutes, Steve rubbing his hand up and down Eddie’s arm in a soothing motion, until sobs turned into sniffles.

Eddie’s voice was muffled when he finally spoke, “M’sorry,”.

“For what? There’s nothing to apologize for,”

“Didn’t mean to get your shirt wet,” He makes no move to get up.

Steve looks down at the top of Eddie’s head, “No worries man, I’ve got a washing machine,”

Eddie snorts, but doesn’t reply.

They stay like that until Hopper returns with a mix of baggy clothes that he managed to scrape together.

After Eddie is dressed and as put together as he can be, he gives the green light to let everyone else in.

They sit together on the couch as hoard of kids stampede down the stairs, Dustin in the lead. The others had arrived at some point, and had been filled in on everything, so the basement gradually fills with too many people.

Dustin darts to squeeze himself between Steve and Eddie, tears on his face already. Everyone else settles on the various other chairs and—in the kids’ case— the floor at Eddie’s feet, wanting to be as close as possible.

Dustin has Eddie’s attention, rambling on and on about how scared he was and explaining everything that had happened in the years he was gone. The others chimed in, talking over each other, each vying for his attention.

Normally, this would be when Steve would feel the slimy feeling of jealousy coiling in his stomach, but all he felt now was fondness. He smiled gently at the scene, finally relaxing fully for the first time in what felt like forever.

Eventually, Steve noticed Eddie’s eyes glazing over, clearly overwhelmed, and he decided to interject.

“Okay, okay gremlins,” He raised his voice over the racket, “Calm down, you don’t want to overwhelm the guy,”.

The kids quieted a bit and Hopper decided to voice a question on everyone’s mind.

“So, kid, care to tell us—” Joyce elbows him, cutting him off. He grunts and starts again, slower, “Would you be willing to tell us what your superpower is?”

Eddie swallows and explains haltingly, ”It’s ... uh basically like auditory hallucinations I guess. Like, I can’t read minds or anything, but I can sort of project sounds or voices,”.

“Like Vicious Mockery,” Dustin whispered loudly, staring in awe.

“Uh yeah, like Vicious Mockery… Kinda,”

Hopper folds his arms over his chest, “So that ringing noise is like your defense mechanism?”

“Uh, yeah,” Eddie wouldn’t meet his eyes, “I didn’t hurt anyone with that, did I?”

The chief shook his head, “No, you didn’t. Can you?”

“Yeah I— I can like burst some part of people’s ears and sometimes brain. I’ve um…” He trailed off.

“Kid,” Hopper sighed, “I think most of us here have hurt or killed people before. Whatever you say won’t leave this room.”

Eddie blinked, suddenly nervous for another reason, “O—okay, um, I don’t know exactly how it works but I can essentially explode some part of the brain that is connected to hearing and it does...uh has…killed people,” He stared down at his hands.

The silence stretches on for a few seconds before Dustin jumps up, “That’s awesome!”

Eddie startles, “Uh I wouldn’t say…”

“So metal!”

The boy got a small, hesitant smile.

Joyce used that moment to speak up, “Well, hun, you need to lay low until we can get your name cleared. It would be best if you stay somewhere no one will find you so you can come stay wi—”

“He can stay with me,” Steve interrupted before his mind caught up.

Everyone stared at him. Robin had a suspicious look in her eye.

“I mean… My parents have semi-permanently moved out, and I have plenty of space,” he shrugged halfheartedly, looking to the ground.

Joyce looked back to Eddie, “That makes sense. Eddie, do you have a preference, hun?”

Eddie, who has been looking at Steve confusedly, paused, “Uh…that works. I mean going to Steve’s house. If that’s okay?”

“I already said it was okay, man. I suggested it,” He chuckled, suddenly more confident in the face of Eddie’s hesitation, “It’ll be like a sleepover,”.

“Right,” Eddie grinned, “A sleepover”

Steve toed off his shoes by the door as Eddie followed him into his house.

After a whole day of catching up, the kids were struggling to stay awake, so they began to disperse to their respective houses. The group had hung around the house all day, ordering pizza and playing board games to distract themselves, until the sun began to dip again. They then collectively agreed to go their separate ways to recuperate and rest, with regular check ins to make sure Eddie was settling well.

Hopper dropped Steve and Eddie off at the big house at the end of Cornwallis Street on his way back to the Byers’.

Now, Eddie trailed after him, unusually quiet. They made their way through the house to the living room, Steve narrating all the way,

“Through there is the kitchen, feel free to eat anything. There’s the stairs, I’ll show you the guest room in a bit. That’s the only downstairs bathroom, besides my parents’ but we don’t go in there,” He gestured towards each thing, rambling as they walked.

“And this—” He dropped himself onto the couch, “Is the living room… Obviously,”.

Eddie sat down more carefully next to him, “Yeah, man, I have been here ya’know,”

Steve raised a brow, sitting up, “Yeah?”

“Yeah, I uh, I used to deal at your parties,” He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

“Oh! Then I guess you don’t need the grand tour,”.

Relaxing a bit into the couch, Eddie chuckled, “Need it? No. But I wouldn’t mind the whole shebang from King Steve himself,”.

Steve laughed and they fell in to a comfortable silence. The soft light from the entryway lit the room enough to see the television and the sliding door leading to the backyard. All of the curtains were drawn from the countless hours Steve laid awake, paranoid.

He couldn’t stand the endless darkness of the nighttime anymore, especially the dimly lit pool where so much had happened. He had taken to sleeping in the living room whenever he was feeling particularly anxious. It was closer to the main phone and both exits. He would put on some animated movie that one of the kids left and stare at the ceiling until the sun rose.

That was his plan for that night, the past few days being too much to process in one night. But first, he needed a shower and a change of clothes.

He pushed himself off of the couch with a loud sigh, “Well, I’ll show you to the guest room. You can borrow some of my clothes for a shower if you want,”.

Eddie startled, seemingly having dozed in the few minutes of silence. He had to have been exhausted.

“Oh, uh, yes please,” He pushed himself up with a bit more effort.

Steve led the way upstairs, stepping into his room to grab Eddie a pair of sweats, some boxers and an oversized Hawkins Basketball sweatshirt. He had noticed that the other had pointedly gone for the baggiest clothing when Hopper had given him a choice earlier, so Steve went for a similar style now.

They made it to the bathroom down the hall, Steve handing over the ball of clothing, “Feel free to use anything that’s in there, towels are in the cabinet above the toilet. That’s your room,” He pointed across the hall to a closed door, “Uh, I think that’s it. Do you need anything else?”

Eddie shook his head, “Looks like you got me covered Harrington,” He stepped into the bathroom, glancing around.

“Good. Well, I’ll be downstairs if you do need something,” Steve started to turn to leave.

“Wait, why are you gonna be downstairs,” Nervousness seeped into his words, “Isn’t your room up here?”

“It is, but I tend to sleep in the living room most nights now, it helps with the… everything,”.

“Oh,” Eddie looked to the ground, suddenly tense.

Steve stared for a moment before it clicked, “You can join me ya’know. Make it a real sleepover,”.

A grin plastered itself on Eddie’s face, covering up the previous hesitance, “Oh, Harrington, I thought you’d never ask,”.

“Right,” A playful scoff, “Well, I’ll get some extra blankets and queue up a movie. You remember your way back?” He teased.

Eddie rolled his eyes dramatically, “How will I ever traverse this labyrinth on my own, My lord?”

Steve snorted, turning away again, “You’ll have to manage, Munson. I’m not waiting out here for you,” Then softer, “Yell if you need anything,”.

As he made his way down the hallway to the stairs, he heard a small voice, “Thanks Steve,”.

After nearly an hour, Eddie ambled down the stairs dressed in fresher clothes, and made his way to the couch silently. Steve, who had been nodding off to Robin Hood, roused. He pushed himself up, reaching down to grab the spare pillow and blanket he had retrieved earlier.

Eddie had sat himself at the other end of the couch, back hunched. He was silent, staring at the floor with a blank look on his face. Sitting all the way up, Steve looked closer at his face. In the light of the television, he could see the redness around Eddie’s eyes and the bitten skin of his lips.

“Hey, man, you alright?” Steve scooted closer, discarding the bedding for now.

Eddie swallowed, but didn’t respond.

“Look, I know we aren’t, like, besties or whatever, but I know what dealing with…all this is like. Well, maybe not all of it, but I’m willing to listen if you want. Or, you can tell me to shut up and I’ll leave it alone. But, I want to help, ya’know? I… should stop talking now,” He trailed off, cursing himself. It seemed Robin was rubbing off on him.

Eddie had come back to himself sometime in the middle of Steve’s rambling, and now he glanced up.

“Besties?” He croaked, a tiny smile on his lips.

Steve rolled his eyes, “Okay, I’ve been spending way too much time with teenage girls,”

Eddie frowned again. He must have come to the conclusion that one of the teenage girls Steve was hanging around was Eleven.

Steve had realized his mistake as soon as he had said it, and was hoping Eddie wouldn’t pick up on it.

Way to ruin the mood, Steve.

Now, he could only hope to change the subject.

He opened his mouth to ask what movies the other likes, when he was interrupted.

“What was she like?”

“Huh?”

Smooth.

“Eleven,” Eddie looked up at Steve, a sad look in his eye, “I only knew her when we were kids,” He winced, “Younger kids,”

Steve leaned his head back, looking at the ceiling, and prayed he didn’t screw this up, “She was… a handful. She wanted to do all of the ‘teenage things’ that she missed out on. The movies, ice cream sundaes, shopping at the mall, talking about boys…all of it. Wouldn’t take no for an answer, either. She was stubborn—kind of like you in a sense. Always got what she wanted,” He chuckled, tearing up a bit, “But she was so kind. She always wanted to help, no matter what it was. Of course, she had that teenage attitude, but she was— good,”.

Eddie sniffled from beside him. He had buried his face in his hands and hunched over himself.

Steve reached out to wrap the spare blanket around his shoulders, giving him time.

A few minutes went by, Steve’s attention divided between the crying Eddie Munson on his couch and the flashing colors on the TV, his thoughts racing to find a way to help.

“She was so quiet…in the lab. No one really liked her, didn’t like me either, but she was Papa’s favorite. We only had each other. Ten and Eleven. Number buddies,” Eddie’s voice was small, almost inaudible, “I wish—”

He curled into himself, choking back tears, “I wish I could’ve seen her happy,”.

Steve didn’t know what to say, so he slid closer until, their thighs were touching, and wrapped an arm around the others’ shoulders.

Eventually, Eddie cried himself to sleep, slumping back against the couch. Steve settled him into a more comfortable position before laying back himself and watching the lights dance across the ceiling until the sun peeked over the horizon.

By the time Eddie drags himself into the kitchen sometime around noon, Steve had scrounged up a couple of eggs and a questionable package of bacon that he started cooking on the stove.

“Morning,” He greeted, “How’d you sleep?”.

Eddie grunted in response and took a seat at the raised bar. His eyes were puffy and drooping, and his head was bobbing in exhaustion.

“Yeah, me neither,” Steve scooped a helping of egg and bacon onto a plate along with a fork and slid it across the counter, “Fair warning, I don’t know how safe that bacon is,”.

Eddie’s lips quirked in a small smile, “Thanks, Harrington,”.

They ate in silence, forks scraping against plates.

Eddie finished off his food and leaned back, more awake, “If I get food poisoning I know who to blame,”.

Steve got up and gathered their plates, walking further into the kitchen, “Har har,”.

“In all seriousness, though, thanks. That’s the first real food I’ve had in… a while, other than that pizza yesterday, but I don’t think that really counts as food,” he chuckled.

Steve froze at the sink where he was rinsing the dishes. That’s not something he had considered. After all these years of fighting monsters and worrying about the end of the world, he hadn’t had time to think about small things like that.

Now that it was all over he could. For himself and for Eddie.

“We’ll just have to fix that, won’t we,” Steve dried his hands, “We’ll have to get take out for the next week,” he turned grinning, “What is your favorite? I don’t think any of the take out places here close for anything,”.

Eddie thought, “I—I don’t … it’s been a while. I know I liked that Chinese place over on Princeton, is that still around?”

“Oh yeah the Golden Dragon? That’s still around. You want it for lunch in a bit?”

The other hesitated, pulling at the strings on his hoodie, “I don’t have any money,”.

Steve blinked, “I don’t expect you to man, I’ve got it. Don’t worry about it,” he turned to sift through the stack of take out menus he kept by the fridge.

“I can pay you back once I get back on my feet. For all of this,” His voice was small and weak.

“What are you talking about?” He glanced over his shoulder.

“I mean… I’m assuming I’ll be here a while. Using your food and water and stuff, so I can—”

“No,” Steve turned all the way around, “You really don’t have to. I want to help you. It’s the least I could do after—”

Eddie glanced up curiously.

Steve couldn’t meet his eyes, voice going quiet, “After I left you there,”.

Silence blanketed the kitchen for a beat. Then two.

“You—you thought I was dead, Steve. I was dead. You had to get Dustin out, I can’t blame you for that,” a look of disbelief colored his face.

“But I should have made sure, I should have gone back for you, I—”

Eddie stood abruptly, rounding the counter to stand in front of Steve. He grabbed his hand, pulling him closer, “Quit it with the hero complex, Steve. You did everything you had the power to. The alternative was someone else getting hurt. Dustin or you or one of the others. And I would much rather it have been me,”.

Steve felt small looking down at their clasped hands, “If I had done something different, you wouldn’t have had to go back to that lab,”.

The older boy flinched miniscully, and Steve pulled his hand back, turning away.

“Steve—”

“I’ll order that food now, what do you like?”

“Steve—”

“I like the orange chicken and fried rice, but we could get the family platter with the sesame chicken and lo mein,”.

Steve shut his eyes to fight back the oncoming tears and prayed that Eddie would stop pushing.

A moment of silence, a sigh, then, “I like the Kung Pao and rice. Can you get extra soy sauce?”

Nodding, he reached for the phone on the wall.

After an hour of awkward silence, they were camped out on the couch watching Footloose, surrounded by to-go containers. They had each gotten their respective chicken with a large order of rice to share, with extra soy sauce, of course.

Steve was cracking open his fortune cookie when Eddie broke the silence, “I don’t blame you. I never have, and I never will. I just need you to know that,”.

He didn’t respond, crunching into his cookie and glancing at the slip of paper in his hand.

If you look back, you will soon be going that way.

Later, after the trash had been cleared and the movie had been finished, they had settled down with a deck of cards, taking turns teaching each other games.

“What do you mean you’ve never played Slapjack?” Eddie screeched, grabbing at the deck.

“Wha—I just haven’t! I can play Blackjack and Omaha and Gin Rummy and—”

“Those are all like casino games!”

“Yeah, and?” Steve laughs along with Eddie, their friendly banter reaching a crescendo.

“Whatever, Harrington. I’ll teach you. It does involve slapping, if you’re into that,”.

Steve ‘s expression turned flustered, “Slapping?”

Eddie cackled, “Yeah, man, it’s in the name. Slapjack!” at the increased concern on the other’s face he elaborated, “Only on the cards, don’t worry,”.

He launched into an explanation of the game, hands moving to shuffle the cards. Steve gets lost a few sentences in, and instead his eyes catch on Eddie’s lips. They are quirked into a small smile as he talks, a nice change to the downcast frown of the last day.

They look soft.

Steve jerked.

What?

“—eve! Steve!” Eddie waved his hand in front of his face, “You there, man?”

“Uh, yeah. Sorry, I get…” He waved his hand distractedly, “Sometimes,”.

“That’s alright. Did you get any of that?” His wide eyes looked up at Steve with concern.

“Uhh, no, not really. Sorry”

Eddie snorted again, “That’s okay. I’ll just show you, yeah?”

Steve nodded, and they began a slow round of Slapjack, Steve still distracted.

Hours later, after they had gone through every game they knew, they were back to watching the TV, popcorn bowl settled between them. They were about halfway through when the phone in the kitchen rang, startling them both.

Eddie shot Steve a semi-panicked glance as the younger got up to answer.

“Harrington residence,”. Steve had barely gotten the greeting out before a young voice interrupted him.

“Steve! It’s Dustin. How’s Eddie? Is he feeling better? Are you being nice?”

Steve spluttered, “What do you mean ‘am I being nice’? I’m being very nice!”

A laugh from the doorway alerted him to Eddies appearance.

“I’m sure you are Steve,” Dustin tried his best to sound annoyed, “Where is he? Can I talk to him?”

Steve grinned and leaned against the wall, “I don’t know, can you?”

Dustin groaned.

“I don’t know, I mean, I could be persuaded to hand the phone over, I just need to hear the magic word,”.

Eddie snorted again, pushing himself onto the counter top to listen.

“Ugh, Steve. Please hand the phone to Eddie?” The teen’s voice was laced with sarcasm.

“There ya go,” He handed the phone to the laughing metalhead, making his way back to the living room to tidy their mess a bit.

He listened to the string of reassurances and sarcastic jokes thrown through the phone as he gathered wrappers and cans off the table.

Eventually, Eddie came back into the living room in a seemingly lighter mood, “Dustin said he’s coming over in the morning with the others. It didn’t sound like he was giving us a choice though, so if you don’t want them here you may have to fight him off with a stick,”.

Steve rolled his eyes, “Yeah he’s a stubborn little shit. He practically lives here anyways, they all do. I don’t mind if you don’t,”.

He wanted to give the other a chance to decline. A choice he hasn’t had in a while. Steve figured he knew what the other’s answer would be, but he didn’t want to take the other’s autonomy.

Eddie smiled, “Nah, I don’t mind. I think it’ll be nice to catch up on non-supernatural related things,”.

“Definitely. He’s probably excited to have someone to talk to about Dungeons and Dragons that actually understands it,” Steve makes room for Eddie on the couch, gesturing him back over, “As much as he’s tried to tech me, I just can’t seem to get it,”.

Eddie sat next to him again, a bit closer than before, “You mastered Slapjack quickly enough! We’ll make a campaigner out of you yet, Steve Harrington,”.

The next morning came quickly and they were awoken from their nest of blankets by a loud knocking on the door.

Eddie groaned loudly, covering his head with the blanket. Steve blinked his eyes open to see the sun peeking from behind the curtains and streaking across the ceiling in sharp lines.

He rolled his head over to squint at the clock on the wall.

10:12

For a moment, Steve thought the clock had to be wrong. He hadn’t slept this late in years. In fact, he hadn’t sleep that well in years. Maybe after twenty four hours or so, his brain had finally caught on to the fact that everyone was safe and there was no risk of Vecna returning.

He pushed himself off the couch, passing the unmoving lump that was Eddie, and made his way to the door. The banging started up again, impatient but not frantic. He ran a hand through his tangled hair and swung open the door.

“Steve! There you are! What took you— Did you just wake up?” Dustin had his fist raised to pound on the door, a stack of binders and papers clenched in his other hand. The rest of the kids crowded around behind him with Nancy and Robin bringing up the rear, obviously having been roped into driving them.

“I did actually, Henderson,” He stepped aside, allowing them all in, Dustin running further in, “Eddie’s on the couch, be quiet though, I think he’s still…”

He trailed off as a loud screech echoed from the other room. He sighed and shut the door behind Nancy.

The rest of the party made their way into the living room to see Dustin practically sitting on Eddie, who was peeking blearily from under his pile of blankets. Dustin was talking a million miles an hour, not giving Eddie any time to process.

Everyone took their respective seats, Mike and Will sitting on the floor instead of their normal spot on the couch where Eddie was. Steve padded to the kitchen, opening a cabinet to pull out a package of pop tarts.

Making his way back to the living room, he opened the pop tarts and squeezed between Dustin and Nancy.

He leaned over the high-strung boy to offer Eddie a pop tart, “‘S strawberry,”.

Eddie sat up, taking the offered food and nibbling as he listened to Dustin.

Some of the other kids had started going through Steve’s tape collection and arguing over what to put on. Nancy was continuing her conversation with Robin, who had made herself at home in the armchair.

Steve started to nod off again, listening to bits and pieces of the others’ conversations. He was tired, now that he could afford to be. It was nice to be surrounded by his friends, his family, knowing they were all—almost all—safe.

—

“Steve!”

He pulled his eyes open, “Huh?”

Mike’s face appeared in front of his, “Where’s Monopoly?”

“It’s in the same place it always is,” Steve lifted his head from the couch, glancing around the mostly empty room, “Where is everyone else?”

“Nancy and Robin went to the kitchen, Dustin took Eddie somewhere and the rest of us are in the dining room and want to play Monopoly!”

Steve grunted and pushed himself off the couch, “I’ll find it, gimme a minute,”.

Mike darted back off to the dining room as Steve made his way up the stairs and down the hall to the closet where he keeps the games. As he got closer to the end of the hall, he heard Dustin’s voice from Eddie’s guest rooms.

“—a fight. And I mean we were— are good friends, right? So obviously I wasn’t …doing so well, after you died,” His voice was heavy and tearful.

Steve paused at the closet door. This was obviously a private conversation, and he should turn around and leave. He should go back downstairs and forget he heard anything. Wait for them to come downstairs and then search for Monopoly.

But if there was one thing Steve was known for, it was making bad decisions. He inched closer to the closed door, not committed enough to press his ear against the door, but unable to walk away.

“—and he yelled at me, while we were in the upside down. And yeah maybe I was mean, but I was in a rough place. But he yelled at me. He told me that what you did was selfish,” a muffled sob, “He said it was selfish, Eddie. I was there, you saved my life, and you died for it, and he has the audacity to call you selfish?”

Steve heard Eddie’s lower voice murmur something and the crying got more muffled.

When Eddie spoke next, his voice was weak, but more audible,“Dustin, if Steve said it was selfish, then it probably was,”.

“What? No it wasn’t! You didn’t run! You saved me!”

“We don’t know that for sure, kid. It might not have changed anything. Hell, it could have made things worse,”.

“Stop saying that! You were a hero! Steve was wrong!”

“Dustin—”

“He had no right to decide what happened! He wasn’t there! He was wrong! He was wrong!”

A resigned sigh and some shuffling as Eddie presumably comforts Dustin.

Steve took that as his sign to creep back down the hallway, Monopoly-less and feeling horrible.

The kids in the dining room had found the deck of cards that had been left out and were entertaining themselves enough that Steve felt safe to go back to the living room. He started sorting the unruly stack of paper that Dustin had brought and stacking plates from the last night.

His mind raced. He didn’t mean it when he told Dustin that Eddie was selfish. He was just stressed and— quite frankly— jealous. He had struggled with needing too much attention his whole life. His parents only had him for conformity’s sake, and no matter what he did, they would never do more than feed and house him. All of his high school friends only hung around him for the popularity, and girls only wanted him for his looks.

So when the group of younger kids started hanging around him, looking up to him, he drank in the attention. It was everything he had been craving his whole life. The kids liked him for him and they wanted to hang out with him. He felt like he had a purpose.

When they had started staying after school to play DnD with Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson, Steve was automatically skeptical. If he had learned anything over the last four or five years, it was to not judge a book by its cover, but he knew about all of the rumors revolving around Munson.

They began spending less time with Steve, and all they would talk about was ‘Eddie this’ and ‘Eddie that’.

So he was jealous.

Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington was jealous of Eddie Munson. He didn’t quite realize that jealousy was what he was feeling until that moment in the upside down when it all went to shit.

He hadn’t meant to tell Dustin that he thought Eddie was selfish for sacrificing himself. He didn’t actually think that. He was just angry and wanted to hurt him. He had given a vague apology before the final battle, but he’s realizing now that he should probably make more of an effort to make it up to him.

He carried the dishes to the kitchen, deep in thought. He sidestepped Nancy and Robin where they were leaned against the counter snacking on a bag of chips, and dropped the plates in the sink.

“Steve?” Nancy questioned, “Are you alright?”

“Hm? I…I’m fine,” He turned to face them.

Robin’s brow furrowed, “No, she’s right. You’ve got that pouty look,”.

“Pouty look?”

“Yeah, the sort of kicked puppy dog look. The one you get when your hero complex is acting up,” She crossed her arms.

Steve blinked, “What are you talking about,”.

“It doesn’t matter,” Nancy interjected, “What’s wrong?”

Steve decided that he doesn’t like it when the two girls ganged up on him.

“It’s nothing, I just…am I too mean?”

Silence filled the room.

He tried again, “I mean like with Dustin. Am I too mean to him sometimes? I said some… cruel things to him in the upside down. I regret it now, but I shouldn’t have said them,”.

“Steve,” Nancy’s voice was softer now, “Maybe you have said some things that were overly harsh, but so has everyone else. We are all human, we all say things we don’t mean,”.

Robin piped up, “Yeah, like when I told Sabrina Peck she looked like a horse sophomore year,” Nancy and Steve stared at her blankly, “Never mind. What brought this on anyways?”

“It’s nothing. It’s… probably something I should talk with Dustin about,” He began to leave the kitchen, “Thanks guys,”.

The weight in his chest had lessened a bit. He just needs to talk to Dustin one on one, maybe buy him lunch. He needs to explain that he was just angry, he didn’t mean any of it.

Then, he should probably make sure Eddie knows he doesn’t think he’s selfish either.

He winced.

Fuck, he shouldn’t have said that.

By the time the sun was dipping below the tree line, the kids had begun packing their things and preparing to go home. They had to go back to school in the morning, so their parents wanted them home in time for dinner.

Somehow, they had managed to convince Dustin and Lucas’ parents that they had a huge school project that they had been missing school and running around for. Nancy had even forged Principal Higgins’ signature on some not-so-legal documents they managed to whip up.

But the excuse was flimsy, and wouldn’t hold up for much longer, so they had given themselves a few days to rest before attempting normalcy again.

That was what led to Eddie and Steve sitting awkwardly on the couch in the darkening living room.

The TV had long since been turned off, the tape rewound and put away. The snack trash had been thrown out and the games reorganized in the closet.

Now, with nothing left to do, Steve stared at the lazily spinning ceiling fan, contemplating how to break the obvious tension.

A loud growl from Eddie’s stomach interrupted his thoughts.

“Hungry?” He tried to make his tone teasing and lighthearted, but it fell short.

Eddie hummed, “Not really,”.

Steve frowned, You sure man? I thought I just heard your stomach,” He turned to glance at the other.

“Yeah,” He wouldn’t meet Steve’s eyes, “Jus’ tired I think. Maybe I’ll finally try out that bedroom,” He laughed dryly.

Confused, Steve nodded, “Yeah, whatever you want to do man. It’s only eight, though, are sure you’re alright?”

A sigh, “Yeah,” He stood and made his way to the bottom of the stairs before pausing, “Can I borrow some more clothes?” His voice was weak and he wouldn’t look away from the floor.

“I—yeah, you… you don’t have to ask, you know,”.

Eddie just gave a small nod, before turning to trek up the stairs. Steve watched him go with concern.

There’s no way Eddie’s bad mood wasn’t related to the conversation he had had with Dustin earlier in the day. It was a miracle Steve had earned his trust in the first place, and now he’s lost every chance he had at proving to Eddie that he had changed since high school.

Not that he can blame the guy. If Steve had been forced to befriend one of the guys that had bullied him for years, only to find out that he was talking shit behind his back, he would feel like shit too.

…

Fuck.

He shouldn’t have said that.

He slept alone on the couch that night. Or rather, didn’t sleep at all. He hadn’t realized how much Eddie’s presence had soothed him until he didn’t have the others’ feet bumping his.

He lay awake for hours trying to figure out how he was going to apologize to Eddie. He had wanted to talk to Dustin first, and smooth things over there, but after the tension of the previous night, he thought it would be best to fix things with Eddie as soon as possible.

Curse him and his inferiority complex… or whatever Robin called it.

Maybe he should just be blunt and upfront.

Hey Eddie, I eavesdropped on your private conversation yesterday and just wanted to let you know that it’s not what it sounds like…

Yeah, that would go over well.

On the other hand, he could just ignore it forever and hope everyone went back to normal.

That was an even worse idea. He was trying to redeem himself from his King Steve arc. Not be an even worse douche.

His brain was going a million miles an hour, trying to find a way for everything to not blow up in his face.

At some early hour of the morning that he didn’t care to know, he drifted into a fitful doze that proved even less restful than pulling an all-nighter.

He gave up as the sky lightened, giving way to the rising sun. Steve lay on the couch, finding shapes in the popcorn ceiling and waiting for Eddie’s steps on the stairs.

Gradually, as the room lightened and the clock on the wall ticked it’s way to noon, Steve realized Eddie wasn’t coming.

Heaving himself off of the couch, he trekked his way into the kitchen to scrounge up something to eat.

He formed a mismatched plate of scrambled eggs, a package of pop tarts, and a granola bar, along with a glass of orange juice and made his way up the stairs to Eddie’s room.

Hesitating at the door, he contemplated fleeing back downstairs and hiding under his blanket until the sun went back down.

He shook his head. No, he could apologize. He owed Eddie that much. After all the jealousy and hurtful words—especially in high school—. after leaving him in the upside down… He could man up and apologize.

Even if it meant admitting to eavesdropping. Even if it meant that Eddie wanted nothing to do with him after this. Even if he left him.

Balancing the dishes in one hand, he knocked lightly.

“Eddie, man? Are you in there?”

A light shuffling emanated from the room.

“Look I— can I talk to you for a sec?” Steve tried again.

More shuffling and a thump, followed by a muffled curse.

Finally, the door creeped open and Eddie stood there, dressed in some of Steve’s plaid pajama pants and a ratty Indiana Hoosiers t-shirt. His eyes were red rimmed and he was twitchy.

A beat passed as they stared at each other, before Steve held out the plate like a peace offering.

“I—uh… thought you might be hungry. I don’t have a whole lot, so this is really all I could find, but we can order something if you want instead,” Steve rambled on, eyes anywhere but Eddie’s face.

Eddie blinked at him, and then reached out and tentatively grabbed the plate from his hands, “Thanks. Uh— you wanted to talk? About what?”

Steve cringed. He was hoping to put it off for a few more minutes, savoring the others’ presence before it was gone.

“Yeah… uh can I come in?”

“It’s your house, man,” Eddie stepped aside to let Steve past, going to sit on the edge of the bed. The bedspread was still tucked up under the pillows but the top was rumpled and creased. The plush armchair that was shoved into the corner of the room was moved in front of the closet door.

Had Eddie slept on top of the covers? Did he sleep at all?

Steve approached the chair, swiping off all of the jackets and sweatshirts that had accumulated on it, before sitting down on the edge.

He twirled his fingers around each other nervously and swallowed. Glancing up to where Eddie was nibbling on the granola bar, he took a deep breath and decided to rip off the band aid.

“I…don’t really know how to do this, uhm…” His hands were shaking, “I’ll just say it, I overheard you and Dustin talking yesterday— and I know I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, but I was going to get board games from the closet and I accidentally— anyways, I heard him tell you what I said that time in the upside down, and I wanted to apologize. And explain myself. If you’ll let me?”

He glanced up at Eddie through his lashes, trying to gauge his reaction. The other was rigid. His hands were clinched into fists and his jaw was tensed. He was staring intently through Steve, not really seeing him.

“Eddie?” He questioned tentatively.

Eddie’s watery eyes darted to his and he nodded miniscully.

Steve took a breath, “Okay. I—What I said to Dustin, I said out of anger. Honestly, it came from a place of jealousy. I was trying to hurt him because we were fighting and I guess I thought it would make me feel better? I don’t know, maybe I just wanted to get a reaction out of him. But—I wanted to tell you that I didn’t mean it. I—honestly, I was jealous…”

He paused, unsure of how to continue. The silence permeated the air, shooting daggers through Steve’s lungs.

“Jealous?” Eddie’s voice was quiet and tentative.

“Yeah, I, uh… I was jealous…of you. I felt like I was this role model to them—to him— for years since all this started, and then you came along and all he could talk about was you and Dwarves and Dragons and Hellfire and I guess… I guess I got jealous that I didn’t have all the attention anymore.

And I know that’s stupid and childish and I can acknowledge that, and after everything we’ve all been through, I should be able to share the attention, but…I don’t know…It’s something I’m going to work on.

All that to say, I didn’t mean what I said, I don’t think it was selfish of you to do what you did. It was incredibly brave, and I think I’m a bit jealous of that too, and I don’t want to know what would have happened to Dustin if you hadn’t done that. So…thank you. For looking out for him, when I couldn’t.”

Steve trailed off, blinking back tears. It was difficult laying himself bare and showing all his insecurities, but Eddie deserved at least that much.

A snort caused Steve to glance up, away from his wringing hands, to focus on Eddie.

His face was splotchy and red, but he was sporting a small grin.

He looked up at Steve, reaching up to mess with non-existent strand of hair, “Dwarves and Dragons?”

Steve was stunned, “I—Is that not what it’s called?”

Eddie chuckled wetly again, “No no, it’s Dungeons and Dragons,”

“Oh…whoops,”

They lapsed into a not uncomfortable silence for a moment before Eddie spoke up again, “I…didn’t know if it was the right decision. I was scared and didn’t know what else to do, honestly. Maybe it was stupid or useless, but it definitely wasn’t selfish. Selfish would have been hauling ass out of there, the rest of you be damned. Selfish wouldn’t have landed me, comatose, in that damn lab again. I may not be the brightest or think very highly of myself, but I can admit that it wasn’t selfish.”

Steve nodded, “I know it wasn’t, I’m sorry I said that,”.

“I’m glad to hear it, consider yourself forgiven,” Eddie announced, though Steve noted a hint of skepticism lurking in his eyes.

Eddie took another bite of his pop tart before his gaze turned mischievous.

“I think I have an idea about how to make it up to Henderson,”.

Steve sighed, already knowing he would go along with anything Eddie suggested, “What do you have in mind?”

Several hours later, the two were sprawled on the couch, surrounded with papers, binders full of DnD notes, and a newly finished character sheet for Steve the Strong.

It could use some work was the only response from Eddie when he suggested the name.

Everyone else has alliteration names, why can’t I?

Eddie had explained races, classes, sub-classes, spells, cantrips (which were apparently different things?), campaigns, levels, and a million other things that Steve couldn’t keep up with. His head was reeling with all of the new information.

It must have shown on his face, because Eddie took pity on him and called for a snack break.

As they munched on a shared bowl of popcorn, Billy Ocean playing on the record player, he looked back over his character sheet.

Steve the Strong was a human (the only race he mostly understood) fighter (Eddie told him it was a class with little magic). He wielded a spiked club (of course) and was the designated protector of the group.

That was as far as they had gotten before Steve’s brain had given out.

He planned to surprise Dustin with it when the weekend rolled around again, and they had some free time. Eddie had told him that he would start back up the campaign they had left behind as soon as he felt up to DMing again.

“So,” Eddie said through a mouthful of popcorn, “How’re you liking Dwarves and Dragons?”

“It’s… a lot,” Steve chuckled

“Yeah, it takes some getting used to, but you are well on your way there Harrington,”.

Eddie launched into another rant about some thing or the other as Steve sat staring, trying to keep up. His eyes slowly drifted down to Eddie’s lips as he spoke.

The other boy flailed his hands around, attempting to explain something called constructs, but Steve’s eyes were locked on Eddie’s mouth. His gaze slowly trailed down his neck to where his Adam's apple was bobbing.

He wondered what it would be like to press his mouth to the pale expanse of skin. To hold Eddie’s face in his hands while he—

“Steve!”

Steve’s eyes snapped back up to Eddie’s.

“Hm?”

“Were you listening?”

Steve blinked again, “Uh, no?” He shrugged apologetically, “You lost me around ‘creatures made of whatever material you want’,”.

“That was at the very beginning!” Eddie laughed with exasperation.

He laughed along distractedly as realization hit him.

Why was he staring at Eddie’s lips? Why was he thinking those things?

He quickly excused himself and sped to the bathroom, locking the door behind him. His breathing got sporadic as he stared at himself in the mirror.

The way he felt when he was thinking about Eddie… like that was the same way he felt when he hooked up with girls in high school. But, Eddie’s not a girl. Maybe it was because of his long hair? No, that was long gone. His doe eyes? Maybe?

Whatever the reason…

Steve stared at his own eyes in the reflection.

He had a crush on Eddie.

As Friday rolled around, Steve thought more and more about his…predicament. He had called Robin as soon as he had figured it out, and she had promised to meet up with him as soon as she had time. She was back at the radio station already, plus her parents didn’t want her out and about while the military was moving around.

So, Friday.

About lunchtime he told Eddie he was going to visit Robin and the metalhead waved him off, distracted by the mass of papers he was sorting through. Steve stared for a moment more, bewildered by his attraction to the other, before turning and grabbing his keys off the side table.

She was already waiting for him in the driveway when he pulled up, her favorite Madonna tape already in the player. She slid into the passenger seat, already talking a mile a minute.

“Okay, what’s going on exactly? I heard something about Eddie, and was that something else about ‘gay panic’ or am I projecting?” She was vibrating in her seat as she interrogated him.

He sighed, pulling out of the driveway, “Give me a minute, Robs. It’s… a lot. I’m still processing,” He headed towards town, “Do you want food? I think food would help me,”.

She studied him for a moment before answering, “Food sounds good, I’ve been craving a burger,”.

They hummed along to the music and made useless comments until they had gotten their burgers and made it to a secluded spot by the quarry.

“So…” It seemed Robin couldn’t hold back any more, still chewing a mouthful of fries, “What’s going on?”

Steve set his drink down, staring out over the white cliffs, “I think I like Eddie,”.

Robin grinned manically, “Like…like like?”

“Like like like. I didn’t even know I liked boys until a few days ago, I’d never really thought about it. I…I’ve never…I don’t know how to deal with it, I guess. I mean, I know I like girls!” He shrugged lamely.

“That’s okay! You can like both, Steve. But…you’re sure you like like him? It’s not just a bro thing or something?”

He raised an eyebrow at her, “A bro thing? Seriously?” He sighed again, “I couldn’t stop…staring at his lips,”.

“What?!” She gasped dramatically, “Stevie’s got his first gay crush! Oh my gosh this is the cutest thing ever!” She squealed.

He winced away, “Robin I’m serious! I need help,” He admitted.

Her face fell, “Oh, Steve, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made fun of you. It can be a difficult thing to come to terms with— trust me I know—but I’m here to help, I promise,” She squirmed around, turning in her seat to face him, “So tell me all about it,”.

He went through the story of his realization a few days prior.

“I think you should go for it! It’s not all that different from asking out girls…I’m sure. Just find out what he likes and court him!”

“Court him?”

“…Yeah, you know. Buy him stuff and take him places,”.

He gave her a look.

She threw her hands up exasperatedly, “I don’t know, it’s not like I’ve ever dated anyone!”

Steve considered for a moment, “Well I know he likes DnD and metal music. Something about Metallica?”

Robin rolled her eyes, “You are hopeless. Just ask him out for food and play 20 questions or something,”.

“Yeah…Yeah, okay I—” He cut himself off, a realization dawning on him, “Wait, I don’t even know if he likes guys,”.

Robin snorted, loud and obnoxious.

“What?” Steve was getting tired of being laughed at.

“I’m sorry, Steven, but seriously? Eddie is the gayest man I have ever seen in my entire life!”

He stared at her incredulously, “Weren’t you the one who told me not to ‘out’ other people?” He put air quotes around the word ‘out’.

“Well yeah, but this is different. I’m assisting true love,”.

“It’s not…never mind. So, you’re sure he’s into guys?”

“Uh, duh. Have you seen how he dresses? The bandana in his pocket? His general demeanor? No straight man is that flamboyant,”.

“What about the bandana?”

She blinked, “I—Never mind, ask him. Just tell him how you feel. Trust me, he’s a good person. Even if he doesn’t feel the same way, he won’t hate you for it,”.

“Yeah. I’ll think about it, how about that?”

Robin shrugged, turning her focus back to her fries. They finished their food in comfortable silence and chatted about various other things until the sun dipped closer to the horizon and Robin was sure her parents wanted her home.

Steve dropped her back home with a promise to see her tomorrow, and headed back to his neighborhood with a lighter mood.

The sun had set as Steve stepped through his front door, calling out to Eddie. He kicked his shoes off and made his way through the darkened hallway. He hadn’t gotten a response, so he assumed Eddie was upstairs.

Rounding the corner to the living room, he flicked the light on, glancing around at the mess of scattered papers.

He had picked his way across the room to switch the TV off and was on his way to the stairs when he heard quick breathing echoing from the downstairs bathroom.

Fear shot through him and his steps got instinctively softer as he inched down the hall. The door was firmly shut, but the light wasn’t on.

He willed his heart to stop racing and his breathing even as he raised a fist to knock.

Before he had made contact with the door, a loud voice interrupted him.

STAY AWAY!

Steve jolted back, his pulse picking up again. It was the same voice as when they had rescued Eddie. Eddie’s voice. But not his ‘out loud’ voice.

If Eddie was using his powers, he was scared. He said himself that he didn’t like using them. What happened to him? Is something in the house?

Steve glanced around nervously before trying to get the other to calm down a bit.

“Eddie? It’s me, Steve,”.

He didn’t try the door again, keenly aware of what Eddie had mentioned about hurting people before.

“Eddie? Can I come in? Please?”

Another whimper, quieter this time.

Cautiously, Steve slid down the wall next to the door. He spoke softly about any random thing he could think of, hoping it would bring the other some comfort.

Eventually, the muted sound of a lock clicking could be heard. Steve paused his rambling.

“Can I come in Eddie?”

The door creaked open slightly.

He took that as conformation, and prayed his wasn’t about to get turned to mush.

Staying low to the floor, he scooched himself around into the doorway. He could barely make out Eddie’s curled form retreated back to the far corner.

“Hey, man. You wanna tell me what’s up?”

Eddie sniffled but made no move to reply.

“There’s a nightlight right above me, by the sink. Can I turn that on?”

The hunched figure shifted in what Steve assumed was a vague nodding motion.

He reached up slowly to turn on the light, illuminating Eddie flinching away.

Once he realized Eddie needed another minute, Steve began rambling about a random memory of the kids messing around in his pool the summer before.

Slowly, Eddie’s limbs relaxed and his eyes gained focus.

“You back with me Eds?” Steve spoke softly.

“Mhm,”.

“What happened?”

Eddie looked to the floor, ashamed, “I guess— I mean I haven’t been alone since…” He trailed off before smiling self-deprecatingly, “I guess I got lonely,”.

Steve’s brow furrowed, “I don’t think that was you being lonely, Eds,”.

“I don’t—I’m not—” Eddie struggled to find the words, “I’m alright, Steve, promise,”.

“Eddie—”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” He snapped quickly before his face fell and he sighed shakily, “Can we watch Indiana Jones, I know you have it,”.

Steve decided to let the topic switch, making a mental note about it. He stood, brushing his pants off and holding his hand out to Eddie, “Yeah, man. I’ll make some popcorn,”.

The next day, the whole crew of kids arrived bright and early, and way to energetic. Nancy dropped them and Robin off but hadn’t stuck around, stating she had a ‘date with herself’. Steve knew better than to ask.

Regardless, he was excited to show Dustin his freshly made DnD character, but first he needed to make the long-awaited apology. He wanted to get it out of the way as soon as he could so that he could start grovelling early. Hopefully a heartfelt conversation and a peace offering would be a good start.

In the back of his mind, he was still thinking about Eddie’s breakdown the night before. The other boy had made him promise not to tell the kids about it—not that he would have in the first place— and hadn’t brought it up again. Steve was a little worried about all of the people and ruckus bothering him, but from the snippets of an explanation he had gotten, that would be the opposite of an issue.

His assumptions were proven right when Eddie tried to lift Dustin straight off the ground in a bear hug. It turned into more of an awkward wrestling match when it was made clear that Eddie couldn’t lift the other.

It had been two years of what Steve can assume was little to no exercise. Not to mention Dustin had hit another growth spurt a year prior, and was now almost as tall as Steve himself (sans the hair).

The two manhandled each other around, eventually landing on the floor of the living room. It was reminiscent of the day before what they thought would be their final stand against Vecna.

Dustin shouted in victory as he stood atop a wheezing Eddie.

The metalhead rolled onto his side, huffing, “Lucky break, Henderson. I’ll get you next time,”.

He pushed himself off the ground,and Steve caught a glimpse of a grimace on his face.

“Alright kids,” Steve announced, “Leave poor Eddie alone. Go find a game to play or something,”.

The batch of highschoolers grouched but relented, meandering off to entertain themselves. Eddie shot Steve an encouraging look, his eyes darting between him and Dustin.

As the kid walked past, Steve grabbed his arm, “Can I talk to you?”

Dustin’s smile faltered, “Uh, yeah, sure,”.

Eddie and Robin exchanged a knowing glance before Robin loudly announced in an over the top voice, “Hey, Eddie! Could you help me find my… purse? I think it’s in the kitchen. Or literally any other room,”.

Eddie was a better actor, “Yeah, Birdie, let’s find your purse,”.

They strolled towards the kitchen, Steve catching a snippet of Eddie telling Robin he knows she doesn’t carry purses.

Turning his focus back to Dustin, he sat on the couch and gestured for him to do the same.

Dustin had a nervous look on his face, obviously sensing the tension, “What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing bad,” Steve was quick to reassure him, “I just wanted to apologize for what I said back then. Better than last time, I mean. I was an ass and I didn’t mean it, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that I said it. Will you let me explain myself?”

Dustin blinked, “Yeah, man, of course. I said some things I regret too, and you’re my best friend. I hate being mad at you,”.

Steve went on to explain everything he’d been rehearsing in his head for the last several days. He explained how he felt replaced and acknowledged that it was irrational and childish, and how he had already apologized to Eddie. He made sure Dustin knew that he does believe his feelings were valid, but he himself was hurting too, and when he’s hurting he tends to lash out. That was the one part of King Steve he couldn’t seem to squash.

When he was finished Dustin grabbed him in a tight hug, “It’s okay, I forgave you a long time ago. We were in a very stressful situation and I couldn’t pull myself out of my head enough to focus. I didn’t mean anything I said either, I promise,”.

They held on to each other for another minute before Dustin pulled back, “You will always be my number one babysitter,”.

Steve groaned, rolling his eyes and shoving him away as Dustin gave him a toothy grin.

“Can’t be your babysitter now, you’re all grown up. You’re about to graduate, dude!”

Dustin grew a bit more serious, “Babysitter or not, no one will ever replace you, I swear,”.

“Thanks, man. That…means a lot, actually,”.

A dull thud and hushed bickering made it known the group of kids was listening from the hallway.

Steve chuckled and heard a responding snort from the doorway to the kitchen where Eddie and Robin had disappeared to.

“Well, this was supposed to be a private discussion,” Steve couldn’t hold back a smile as the kids tumbled in.

Max wheeled in behind them, “For the record, I told them not to eavesdrop,”.

They erupted in to yells, pointing at each other and passing the blame.

Eddie and Robin emerged too, sharing a package of pop-tarts they had scavenged from the pantry.

Steve looked around at his family, a huge smile on his lips.

Maybe everything would be okay.

“So, what about your powers?” Lucas’ voice rose over the movie they had put on.

Steve froze, eyes cutting to the only one with powers in the room. The only one left.

Eddie had stopped chewing his M&M and stared vacantly at the TV, “What about them?”

“I don’t know, I mean, can you control it?”

Dustin and Mike spoke up, voices overlapping, telling him to shut up and leave it alone.

“Not really,” Eddie’s voice was quieter.

“Well we helped El, we can help you!”

Dustin hissed at him to stop again, but Lucas persisted, “Wouldn’t it be better to know how to use it? It might help when you panic,”.

Steve didn’t know if Eddie had heard him. His shoulders were tense against Steve’s and his blank eyes were staring straight ahead.

Lucas kept pushing, clearly not reading the room.

“STOP!”

The room went silent. They had all heard Eddie’s voice in their head as well as out loud.

“I—I’m sorry,” This time it was only out loud, “Just—don’t, please,”.

Eddie curled up tighter, pulling his knees onto the couch and tucking them to his chest.

Lucas’ eyes were wide, “Woah… that was awesome!”

Yeah, dude!” Mike chimed in, “That was so cool!”

Eddie grimaced, “No, it wasn’t, I could’ve hurt someone,”.

“All the more reason to train it,”.

“Lucas, let it go,” This time Max scolded him, “No means no idiot,”.

The boy pouted, looking thoroughly chastised, “Sorry Eddie, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,”.

He turned back to the TV, the atmosphere tense, and let the subject drop.

Later in the week, Eddie cautiously approaches Steve asking if he could help him work on controlling his powers. Steve smiles warmly, thanks him for trusting him, and starts to suggest ideas.

Steve was kicked awake in the middle of the night four weeks after the end of the Upside Down by a squirming lump that he assumed was Eddie. He was making small whining noises and couldn’t seem to get his limbs free of the blankets.

Steve blinked hard, willing his eyes to adjust to the dim light coming in from a streetlight. He swung his legs to the floor and made his way to Eddie’s side. They’ve dealt with each other’s nightmares enough by this point that it was second nature to shake Eddie awake with reassuring words.

What wasn’t normal was how difficult it was to wake Eddie. Steve’s voice rose from a soothing murmur to a somewhat frantic fussing. He grabbed the other’s shoulder gently, trying to reassure him.

“Eddie, man, you’ve gotta wake up.”

Steve’s words had no affect on Eddie. Instead his whimpers turned to words. A jumble of pleases and nos fell from his lips. Steve reached a hand up to caress Eddie’s cheek, thumb wiping at the tears there.

“C’mon, man. Come back to me.”

Eventually, Eddie’s thrashing slowed, giving way to heavy breathing.

“S’eve?”

“Yeah, man, it’s me. You’re okay. You’re safe, I promise. We’re in my house.”

Brown met brown as Eddie peeled open his eyes.

“There you are Eds,” Steve squeezed his arm where the hand that had been cradling his face had landed, “You’re okay.”

Eddie swallowed, not taking his eyes off of Steve for a second, “Don’t let them take me back,” He was sweating and his eyes looked dazed, “Please, I can’t go back there,”.

Steve could guess who he was talking about. Eddie hadn’t been very forthcoming with what had happened to him in the lab—either time. All he knew was what El had told them. And based on how Eddie tensed up and zoned out when it was brought up, it couldn’t have been pleasant.

Knelt on the floor next to a tear-stained and disheveled Eddie Munson, Steve realized that he was willing to be kicked awake a million times over if it meant he got to stay near him a bit longer.

He smiled gently at him.

“They can’t have you Eddie. I won’t let them.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

The next morning came with very little sleep. Eddie had laid staring at the ceiling all night, and Steve had sat up to watch over him, staying awake even after Eddie had practically begged him to get some rest.

Eventually, in the early hours of the morning, Eddie spoke.

“They didn’t keep me hooked up to that machine all the time, at first.”

Steve, wide awake now, didn’t say anything, waiting for him to continue.

After a moment, “In the beginning, when I woke up after I was mostly healed, they just kept me in this white room. I was confused, didn’t know where I was or how long I had been asleep. They wouldn’t tell me anything. Eventually, when I was able to walk around on my own again, Dr. Kay started with the tests.

I don’t know if Eleven told you anything,” His voice cracked on her name, “But they would put this thing on my head to monitor brain waves and tell me to do certain things. If I didn’t…” He took a deep breath, eyes still fixed on the ceiling, “They would… electrocute me. It was like a cattle prod I guess, but it hurt like a bitch. After the third or fourth time I fought back and tried to escape, they shocked me so bad I went unconscious. When I came to I was hooked up to that… thing. Dr. Kay said some cruel things about how no one knew I was alive or even cared, and how that was all I was good for. Something about bettering humanity, I don’t know. Then I woke up with you all.”

Eddie hadn’t moved, save for his hands fiddling with the blanket on his stomach.

“After the first few rounds of tests at the beginning is when I started remembering the rainbow room. I guess I had blocked it out, but once I remembered a little bit, it all came back.

I remember being in one of the smaller rooms of the lab. I remember hearing screams and the scientist with me ran into the hall.”

Another hesitation.

“He didn’t come back. I hid under the table, did my…mind thing until it got quiet. When I finally left, there was blood everywhere. My siblings…they…”

He trailed off and Steve could make out the shine of tears on his cheek.

“I got out somehow, ran straight to the trailer park apparently. Wayne found me. He managed to figure out that something was going on with the lab. Made me fake papers, and claimed me as his nephew. Over time, I guess I blocked it out.”

He went quiet.

Steve gave him a minute and then spoke softly, “I’m sorry, Eds, that’s horrible. Eleven told us a bit, but she didn’t like to think about it. I’m glad Wayne found you, he seems like a good guy.”

“Yeah, he is. I wish I could see him again, I hope he’s doing okay.”

“Dustin keeps him plenty of company,” Steve hesitated momentarily, “Me, too. We’ve been visiting him at least twice a week since…”

Eddie sat up finally, putting them face to face, “You have?”

Steve rubbed his neck awkwardly, “Yeah, I mean, Dustin mentioned once that you’re all he has. Figured it was the least I could do for getting you…killed.” His voice got too quiet at the end, almost inaudible.

“Steve…” Eddie reached for his hand, “That wasn’t your fault. It was my fault for drawing attention to myself.”

Steve gripped his had back, and thought for a minute, “Maybe, it could be neither of our faults.”

Eddie gave him a teary smile, “Maybe so.”

After that, things changed a bit. Eddie was more comfortable with Steve, cracking jokes and calling him pet names.

He was touchier too. He would sit with his thigh touching Steve’s whenever they settled on the couch. He would fling an arm over his shoulder when they were talking. He would grab his hand when he got excited over something.

When Steve had to go back to working at The Squawk Eddie would call him every few hours to check in and make sure they were both doing alright.

Steve thought it was nice having another friend who wasn’t a child. Someone who understood the (sometimes inappropriate) references he made, and who didn’t need constant supervision.

Not that the high schoolers needed much chaperoning anymore. They had matured a lot over the last few years, needing less attention. Hell, some of the gremlins could drive now!

But Steve had decided that he enjoyed having Eddie around. Yes, maybe he wished for a bit more than friendship sometimes, but if friendship was all he got, he would be more than overjoyed.

After several months of training his powers and at home physical therapy, Eddie was doing a lot better. His hair was growing back out and he was laughing more. He still hadn’t left the house for more than a walk around the back yard, but he had gotten his hands on some records that he liked, and would play them way too loudly while he worked on his new campaign.

The kids had pestered him to start a new one, since everyone was in one place again for good and Steve had a character made. Eddie had latched on to the idea, desperate for a sense of normalcy after everything that had happened.

The campaign was set to start the next weekend, and Steve was starting to catch on to how to play.

Now, they both sat on the couch facing each other, papers and mini figures once again scattered about. Eddie was going through the rules of combat while he scribbled down HP stats on a sheet of paper.

Steve was struggling to keep up, writing notes and a step-by-step guide.

“Wait so if you die in combat, you’re not actually dead?”

“Not until you fail three saving throws in a row. Different DMs do it different ways, but I think the kids would kill me if I killed them off, and you’re new, so I'm taking it easy.”

“And what’s a saving throw?”

Eddie paused and glanced up at Steve with a smirk, “Have you been listening to anything I’ve been telling you?”

“Yeah, I have,” Steve rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous manner, “I’m just not good at retaining this stuff, ya’know?”

“That’s okay, Stevie. I’m here to teach ya,” He grinned and went back to his paper.

Steve blushed a bit as he watched Eddie count out some numbers with his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth. He continued to stare as his mind wandered back to his and Robin’s conversation from all those months ago.

“Can I tell you something?”

Eddie paused again, looking up, “Yeah, man. Anything.”

Steve hesitated, and Eddie sat up straighter, catching on to the tension.

“I..I think I’m not…straight.”

A beat of silence hung between them like a heavy blanket.

Finally, Eddie spoke, “That’s…that’s cool, man. I mean I’m not…either. Just—why do you mention it?”

“Well, Robin said I could tell you and it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a bit, and…I don’t know, I wanted someone else to know.”

Steve stared at the couch while Eddie processed.

“I’m happy you were comfortable enough to tell me. I’m sure you’ve picked up on it but I am a raging homosexual myself, so no need to be ashamed in my presence,” He flung his arms around theatrically, speaking like he was the lead in a play.

Steve snorted, a weight lifting off his chest. Eddie always had a way of lightening the mood.

He smiled softly at the metalhead, “Can I tell you something else?”

“Of course! I said anything didn’t I? Who am I if not—”

“I think I’m in love with you.”

Eddie froze in his dramatics, hands still raised. He blinked, processing, before his face turned bright red, “Wait, you—I—You’re in lo—me?”

Steve chuckled, barely nervous anymore, “Yeah, you.”

Eddie stared at him in disbelief.

“This better not be a joke Stevie, I don’t know if I could handle it,” He whispered, suddenly subdued.

Steve leaned in and glanced at his lips, channeling his past self, “I can prove it to you, if you’ll let me.”

Breath hitching, Eddie nodded.

They leaned in until their lips met, sending sparks through Steve’s chest. It was softer than he’d imagined it would be, Eddie’s chapped lips moving with his own.

They pulled away after only a second, grinning like maniacs.

“That was…nice—very nice. I’d like to maybe do it again?” Eddie whispered breathlessly into the narrow space between them.

Steve didn’t respond, capturing his lips again. He reached out and pulled Eddie into his lap, earning him a startled squeak.

They pull apart again reluctantly, remembering they need air.

Pressing their foreheads together, Eddie laughs a delighted laugh.

“For the record, I love you too.”

Yeah, Steve thinks, we’ll be okay.