Archive of Our Own

"Steve?" A voice that has grown deeper during the Hawkins captivity period calls to him from ten of so feet away, drawing Steve's attention from the conversation he was having with Robin, Dustin, and Eddie. "Can I talk to you?" Asks Will Byers, shoulders drawn back and posture tall while his hands fidget. He looks like he's trying to appear more confident than he is. "Alone, please?"

"Sure, man." Steve says. He shoots his friends a smile in a silent farewell and walked off towards the sixteen year old. They'd not talked too much in the years they've known each other. Mostly he knew of him as Dustin's most polite friend. Will turns and starts walking around behind the building once the older man gets closer. Steve waits until they're out of view of the rest of their group to ask. "Whats up?" He doesn't say anything as he turns to face Steve, fists clenching and un-clenching. "Are you okay."

Will laughs without humour, just once like it escaped without permission. He licks his lips and takes a deep breath. "There's something I need to do. Vecna's holding it over my head and I-I need to get it over with." All tumbles out of his mouth. Steve's forehead creases in worry. Sure, the kid is evidently way stronger than he looks, newfound Jedi mind powers aside. But he's been through a crazy amount of shit, he'd find it hard to believe that he's not internalized and repressed a bunch of it. "I really need it to go well, but I-I'm really scared. I need a practice run."

Steve nods, accepting his appointed position without knowing what it is. "How can I help?"

"Robin told me about, um, about her." Will said, now fidgeting with the sleeve of his jacket, averting his eyes to watch the fabric twist. Steve tried not to get distracted by the way his heart swells with pride at Robin being able to tell a third person. "She also told me that she'd told you. And you were good about it."

"Oh." Steve says, instantly understanding where this was going. He'd been wondering why Robin was acting extra squirely over the couple days, aside from the obvious end of world shit. How come the two had fallen back to talk in the tunnels. He takes a breath and centres himself. He's gotta give the kid the chance to say it all himself. "Yeah, Rob's my person."

He spots the faintest upward twitch at the corner of the Will's lip. "I, um, it was nice. To hear that you were a good friend to her even when- even though sh-she's gay."

Steve smiles at the thought of her. She's always been a 'take no shit' kind of girl, but in the time since they puked their guts up in a bathroom stall and now she's grown into herself so much. He feels lucky that he's gotten to play a small role in her building confidence. "There are few things she could do to make me stop caring about her," he says. "That's definitely not one of those few things."

Will nods, though the taller of the two can't tell if it was at what he's said or if the kid was just nodding to himself. He appears to hold his breath before nodding once more and saying. "So I'm about to go and do something really really scary, something I never thought I'd actually do. But I need to, or I'll be making myself weak to- to Vecna."

And he has an idea, of what Will might be about to do. Given the Robin lead up and monumental fear on the kid's face. But he's paused, and he's biting his lip in a way that he probably hasn't even noticed is hurting him. "What do you need from me?" He asks.

Will laughs though doesn't look like he thinks anything is very funny. "A confidence boost." Steve nods. "I'm gay, Steve."

The kid still looks so scared, but Steve feels a soft smile blooming on his face. He'd spent thirty seconds expecting this, but still didn't know what to say. "Okay wow that's- that's great, bud!" he settles with. He sees some of the tension in Will's shoulder's roll off. "Are you much of a hugger?" Silently, after a pause, Will nods. Steve pulls him in for a hug, the shorter boy takes a few seconds to hug back, but sinks into it once he does. "Thank you for trusting me like this. Means a lot."

And it does. It wasn't all that many years ago when no one could have thought him him capable of being accepting or understanding. He's grateful for his friends who helped him become this version of himself. He likes it a whole lot more than than the jackass he was at 15 because it was easiest. "I was surprised, when Robin said you were the first person she ever told. I shouldn't have been. You've been there for us for years, when you really didn't need to be. Made me think you'd be a pretty safe bet to be the second person I told."

He laughs softly. "I've learned that I get invested very quickly when I realize something's worth caring about." He feels Will start to shift away, so he lets the hug break. The kid looks less terrified, in the way that the big ass lake between Canada and the states has a lot less water than the Atlantic. But still, it's a solid start. "Whether you thought I was a safe bet or not, that still took guts, kid. Be proud of that." The shorter boy shyly smiles back. "So what's the scary thing you're going to do now?"

A haze of dread clouds over his eyes again. "Vecna knows, about me. I mean, obviously. He's been in my head." His nose wrinkles, like the thought makes his skin crawl. "He's shown me what it would look like if you all found out. How much they'd hate me. How disgusted they'd be." His hand twitches to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I think- I think that if we live though this, that would ruin that. But I could survive losing them. I could survive anyone but my mom. I'd die if she hated me." The pale boy does a small nod to himself, like he doesn't even know he's done it. "I've gotta beat him to it and tell her myself."

A small part of Steve, a part he tries to listen to less these days, says 'Oh, that's it?' Which is a horrible dumb thought because he knows that the world isn't a very nice place for gay people. He figured that before, he was well aware of what kind of words got tossed around in the locker room or on the court; but he hadn't realized the extent of it all until he talked with Robin. So, he knows that it would be downright mean to dismiss his fears; especially since this is so clearly something he's tried to shove down for so long and it's being used to torture him.

The thing is, this is Joyce. He'd known of her before all this as the nice lady who works at the store downtown who cautioned him about wearing enough sunscreen when his cheeks were a little too red during his first summer life-guarding. But four years back when all this started, what he knew first and foremost about Joyce Byers is that she should tear the crust of the earth open, descend into hell, and kick the devil's ass herself for her kids.

He lets out a slow exhale, and conjured up all his experteise he's got between being team captain and being the best friends of Robin and Dustin in giving encouraging but realistic pep talks. "I'm not gonna tell you not to be scared, cause this is scary. But remember who your mom is." Steve takes a few steps so he can lean against the brick wall. "Obviously she's a fierce woman, she can hate fiercely. But think about the people she hates." He raises an eyebrow, continuing when the kid stays silent. "The Hawkins lab people, the mayor, the U.S. military, the Russian military-"

"My dad," Will says, tone unimpressed.

"Exactly." Steve says. He'd never known the guy, but Dustin had told him a couple stories he was around for. He doesn't need to know much more to think it's pretty valid to hate him as much as the government. "The main thing they've got in common is that they wanted to hurt the people she loves. And I can say with confidence, she'd love you even if you go a little crazy after all this and axe murder someone." It startles a laugh out of the kid, whose shoulders look to be carrying about twenty pounds less weight. He has no clue what to say next, is half debating to ask for a pause so he can rope in Robin. But he came to Steve for this one, so he's gonna do his best. "But that's, like, an 'even though you did something bad' love. And I don't think you being gay is like that." He pauses. "Being gay is a part of you. She just loves you. She's always encouraged you, right?" He nods. "I know school is rough for any guy who isn't stereotypical macho." He wrinkles his nose, thinking of everything he'd been a bystander to. And worse, the more 'minor' teasing and exclusion he had participated in. "But I know your mom bragged about your art all the time. And I know it's important to her that you're kind and shit. Those are stereotypes and you and I know that not all gay people are the same, and you aren't those things just because you're gay," Will was looking at him like he didn't have enough information to know if that was true or not "But she loves those parts of you. This is just another part of you that she's gonna be excited to know."

Will takes a shaky breath as he looks back towards the noise of their group, "You really think so?"

Steve nods. "I do. She- she might not say the perfect thing right away. She might be surprised, or she might take a second to adjust, but I'm pretty damn sure that right away she will make sure you know she loves you."

Will takes another, almost even breath as he takes his first step back towards the entrance, Steve following the kid's determined pace immediately. "Okay." I'm gonna- I'm gonna do it."

"Hell yeah you are!" Steve says with all of the enthusiasm and little of the volume as he would at the end of his pre-game speech. "And later, maybe at the Squawk after you're done telling us about how well this went, you can tell Robin and I about the guys you've had crushes on so I can make fun of them. It's a signature part of the Harrington coming out experience at this point."

And it was. Vickie told him she'd had a crush on Melanie Perkins from the debate team and he fully booed her as she laughed so hard it gave her stomach cramps. Will laughed, a little disbelieving like he couldn't yet imagine talking about it so casually yet. "Yeah, I'm sure you'll be able to come up with something about him." Steve's ears buzz at the last word. Him. One guy. Huh. Their friends come into view. Eddie is off with Dustin now, surely catching up on everything that had happened prior to them finding the older man in what was essentially a goo prison only yesterday. He spies Robin by herself, fiddling with her boots. Joyce is with Hopper, he's preparing weapons while she's packing bags. Will gulps nervously. "This is a good idea, right?" Steve nods. Will inflates and deflates his lungs quickly. "Well, here goes literally everything."

He marches over to his mom like it's a battle he's heading for. Steve can't read lips at all, he just sees Will speak to her before she gets that concerned wrinkle in her forehead despite her smile and nod. She hands the backpack she was working on to Hopper, who adds a box of what looks like ammunition, and walks towards the building with her son. Steve shoots him one more (hopefully) encouraging thumbs up and smile. Will looks horribly scared but still sends back a smile and nod.

Robin only waits until their backs are turned to scamper over to him. "What was that? What did he want to talk about?" She whisper yells at him when she's close enough.

Two thirds of the Byers family now inside, Steve drags her closer to the door and farther away from everyone else. "He just came out to me." He whispers.

She at least slaps her own hand over her chapped lips before she squeals. She removes it before she spouts off "What did he say? How did he do it? What did you say." Her eyes further bulge. "Wait, what did you say? How did you do?"

Steve squints. "I think I did okay. He said he was telling me cause he needed a confidence boost before he tells his mom, which is what he's doing right now by the way."

She gets a soft look in her eyes and a pout on his lip. "Aw baby Byers, that's so brave."

"Right? That's what I said" He beams, which Robin returns. "And I said, like, thank you for trusting me and that I was proud of him. That his mom was gonna love him no matter what," She nods in agreement. "And that you and I were gonna be here for him." His nose crinkles "That's everything you said to do, isn't it?"

Because they had talked about it, what he should do when inevitably someone else comes out to him when they're not under truth serum. What Robin would want to be told, what a friend of a mentee or whoever might be hoping to hear. "Oh Stevie," She grabs him by the shoulders and shakes him before pulling him into a hug. "You did great."

Steve grins, tucking his nose into her hair for a second before he pops back up. "Also we're gonna have a lot of gossiping to do with him, he's definitely got a crush on someone."

She pulls away to whisper yell back. "I thought so!"

Steve goes to fill her in on the tidbit he's learned, when he spots movement. Mike is approaching, gait even but long ass legs making the distance between him and the entrance to the building shrink rapidly. Without discussion, Steve and Robin scurry to the door and stand like guards. "Whatcha' doing, tall Wheeler?" Robin asks with a transparent casual performance.

The lanky boy looks between them, face crinkled. "Nancy says it's go time in ten. I was just gonna let them know."

"They won't be long." Says Steve.

"Yup, super quick." Continues Robin. "No need to interrupt them."

"You're being weird." The kid says with the snark he's always known him for.

"We're not being weird." Says Steve at the same time Robin says "You're being weird."

The kid who would match the description of sleeping beauty if he'd ever shut up scoffs at them. "Whatever, let me just-" He tries to get around them and fails. "What the hell are you doing?" He exclaims loud enough to draw the attention of the others.

"Shh!" Steve grabs his shoulder and pulls him close. "Not so loud, they're doing something private. Not everyone needs to know."

The kid's expression changes from annoyance to concern as his tone grows vulnerable."Wait, what? Is Will okay?"

"He's good." Robin says as Steve says "It's nothing bad."

"He's my best friend," Mike says; reminding Steve of being at Nancy's when they were dating in the months after they all met demogorgons for the first time. They'd be watching a movie on the couch, and Will would come over. Mike would greet him at the door, asking if he needed water or anything. How his hand would hover just behind him as they started to go down the stairs. "If there's something going on with him-"

"Will or Hawkins," Steve cuts him off. "Which would you save?"

The kid's head tilts and eyebrows twitch down. "What?"

"If it comes down to it and you could only save down, which you pick? Will, or the rest of Hawkins?"

The second he registers the question, the answer is already on it's way out. "Will."

The young adults exchanged a look. It's become so useful over the last couple years, their silent communication that's only gotten better since they stared up the Squawk. They each take a step to the side. "Okay." Says Robin, twitching her head towards the door. "You can go in."

Mike looks between the two hesitantly. "What, are you waiting for us to open the door for you and taking your jacket? Get the fuck inside, Wheeler."

Mike is once again scoffing at him in disbelief, but there's a small smile he's doing his best hide as he finally goes inside.

It leaves the two coworkers outside. They take enough steps away from the door so that it doesn't spook the inhabitants when they exit, but also close enough they could stop anyone else. Steve fills her in on everything else Will had said to him. She was so scared for him, but also so glad he wasn't dealing with this entirely alone anymore.

The last of their gear is packed into vehicles, ready for their departure. Everyone looks on edge, as they should be. Just as Hopper starts to stare nervously at the door, it opens. Mike is the first out, holding the door open. His pale face looks a little pink and blotchy, but he has an almost content look on his face. Joyce walks out with her arm around her taller sixteen year old. When Steve makes eye contact with the brown haired teenager, it's obvious he'd been crying; but the relief in his smile is even more obvious. Joyce doesn't notice the other pair at all, speaking gently to her boy. Steve shoots him two thumbs up with a questioning look on his face. Will returns the sign with his left hand and a watery grin.

Mike falls in step on Will's other side. His hand hovers just behind the younger Byers' back. Just far enough away that Will wouldn't notice it, but close enough that he'd be there should his friend's footstep ever falter.

*****

They're moving at a steady pace towards Vecna's lair. With Vickie, Max, and Eddie staying behind, they moved at a rate of familiar efficiency. Moving only fast enough that it wouldn't tire them out before it counted.

They know Vecna's awfully busy, so as long as they don't step on any vines and don't step on any demo-creatures they're unlikely to draw his attention at the moment. They can talk, within reasonable volume. Which is why she doesn't feel it's too unreasonable to sidle up to Will, asking to borrow him from Mrs Byers while Steve throws an arm around Mike's shoulders and steals him away. They each keep up with the group, but move their respective teenage boy far enough away that their whispers couldn't be overheard by anyone who didn't have brain powers. Jonathan must spot the exchange because he comes to walk with his mom, linking arms and talking.

The younger Byers boy looks scared, of course. They're going to face the monster that has been haunting him since before even puberty had begun its torment. But when she looks, really looks, she can see something lighter about him. "I take it that telling your mom went well?" She asks softly.

Will's expression grows warmer. He doesn't question Steve filling her in. "She told me that she was sorry if she had ever done anything to make me think this would stop her from loving me." His voice held a tone of something like disbelief. "I said she never had, and she said that meant that she will just have to love every new part of me she learns about even harder till I can't doubt her."

She affectionately bumps her shoulder against him, smiling with a faint hint of sadness she rapidly blinks away. Her own parents weren't awful but weren't exactly Joyce Byers types. If Vecna used this as a threat against her as he was Will, telling them would confirm the fear. But Will? The boy who has known little more than fear, pain, and shame for far too many years? He gets to have this. She hopes desperately that today will end with the reward of time for Will to know this love and care. "She'll probably do anything for you if given the opportunity."

Will really and truly grins. "Yeah, I think so."

"And Mike?" Steve and the lanky dark haired dweeb are walking up ahead, exchanging looks that read even from their side profile as bitchy. "Did he interrupt?"

She quickly notices how pink his cheeks get, even before he tucks his chin down in a weak attempt to hide. Interesting. "He came in right as I was about to tell her. And I told him he should stay for what I had to say." She feels so immensely proud, of him deciding to change his plans and let another person in on his secret that scared him most. She can guess how it went, considering that he doesn't look terribly devastated, but she asks him gently how it went. His blush grows two shades darker. "He said that after I stuck by him despite all the bullshit he's done, I'm insane if I thought something as 'totally okay' as this could change how he feels about me."

Robin's eyebrows shoot up halfway to her hairline, but she uses all her willpower to not comment on the specific use of the word 'feels.' "Good. That- that all sounds like it went well."

She's not sure there's ever been a smile as gentle as this in such a horrifying place as the Upside Down. Yet, here was Will Byers, the boy it all began with, looking so wonderfully pleased. "I don't think I could have imagined it going better."

She grins at him, slinging an arm over his shoulders. "How's it feel? You're officially beating my score by one."

He laughs, leaning into her for a step. Up ahead, Mike is blushing even more violently than Will ever could. The younger Byers boy says "I feel less scared. I mean it-I don't know how bad it's gonna get. We, we could all fail. Fail Hawkins. Start a apocalypse. But-but I just came out to my mom. To my best friend. And before that, you and Steve. Every one was better than I could have dreamed. It's a little easier to believe we can do this if we're in a world where I was able to do that."

"You're not alone out here, baby Byers. Never will be again." She says.

His smile softens. "Thanks to you. And to Steve."

She removes her arm to give him a little shove. "Nah, you're the one who made the choice to be brave. Though, a Steve pep talk definitely helps." Robin notes, as a experienced recipient of these talks.

Ahead, Steve has stopped in his tracks and looks back to Robin and calling out "Hey Rob, who was that sculptor guy again? Did the naked dudes and that one of Mary Magdelene where she kind of looks half dead?"

She squints as she and Will keep walking, closing the distance between the pairs. Her mind flashes back to one of their many conversations about gay people doing cool shit in history. "You mean Donatello?"

To which, Steve calls out to the rest of the group with a confused looking Mike at his side "So what do we all think about Donatello? Pretty cool, right?"

"Absolutely the best Ninja Turtle!" Dustin responds with immediate enthusiasm. Robin has absolutely no clue what is going on as Lucas responds that he's completely wrong and Raphael is way cooler.

Steve scoffs as she finally reaches him. "These kids have no culture." Mike is once again blushing hard as Will comes to stand beside him. "What about that painter? Cara-somethin?"

"Caravaggio?"

This time, when Steve calls out for their opinions on the Baroque painter, Dustin stares blankly for a second and then gasps "Oh shit that's that painter guy you and Robin were showing me?" He turns to Lucas "He's got this one where this guy is getting strangled by a girl, and this old lady is just standing behind her watching her kill him. Max would probably love it."

Steve leans in to say softly to Will "See? That's what I'm saying. Gay people have creative superpowers or something."

Nothing goes as planned from the second the battle begins. Which, really, it never does so Steve shouldn't be surprised.

They had sort of expected the way that Vecna had looked at Will, asking one more time for the sixteen year old boy to join him. As expected, Will sneered and promised never. Deeply not at all expected by the majority of their group, Vecna shares Will's secret using foul language. For a second, it looks like it breaks the kid.

Then, before a single tick on a clock would happen, Mike yells out. Calls Vecna a fucking mouth-breather. It immediately queues infuriated words from the rest of their group as their attack intensifies against Vecna and his beast. He's pretty sure he hears Dustin screaming about how it's not okay to out people before they're ready. He's absolutely sure he hears Robin beside him say "Me too! Who gives a fuck?" As she throws a Molotov cocktail. El, her sister, and Will's powers seem at an all time high as their assault continues. Over all of it, Mike is still yelling insults at Vecna.

Things move quickly from there. The Mind Flayer falls first, then Vecna. There's barely a moment to take it in, that they've actually done it. They have to grab the kids, freeing them from the freaky flesh tubes and ushering them all out.

Steve had not been aware that there were pregnant women being held in the upside down, but he sure did become very aware of it when they swerved towards the lab on the impromptu rescue mission and he leaves the building carrying one. Hopper and Lucas are each also carrying one while Mike and Will, Joyce and Jonathan, and Dustin and Robin tag team to take care of the rest. At least this time going through the wasteland, the only monsters they have to deal with are their squishy dead bodies that litter the ground.

It was all going so fucking well until they exit the Upside down and fall into an immediate military trap. And for a second, Steve feels like they've failed. That he's failed them all. They vanquished the upside down, and yet they still lose. The hedgehog speakers (the name of which will never make sense to him no matter how many times Dustin and Erika roll their eyes and explain) scream at El and Kali, bringing them to their knees as men rush to grab them all. They've known this whole time, if the military apprehends El her life is over. This poor girl, who never had the chance to just be a girl, is done.

What they did not know was that the piercing noise doesn't work on Will's powers. It's clear on the faces of the General lady and all of her men when their machines stop their assault, creaking and groaning before bursting into clouds of fire and smoke. The men grabbing at El and Kali and flung away. And then, the teenage girl with hair just long enough that it can be in a real ponytail, rises to her feet. She looks at the swarm of more men with guns run at her, taking aim. With one focused instant, there is a horrible cracking sound coming from each of the soldiers as they simultaneously fall to the ground; necks snapped.

He's a little busy assisting in the pursuit of getting these dying pregnant ladies life saving care, so he has to be filled in on what the three powered teenagers (he doesn't actually know how old Kali is. 17? 21? he genuinely had no clue) do when they walk into the military base. All he really needed to understand once it was over the place, and all the records and experiments inside, had been set ablaze. And somehow some joint-mind stuff happened which somehow is gonna make it so that military people elsewhere won't be able to picture what El and Kali look like or something. However it happens, it's over. Truly over.

And yes, there are losses. It was really fucking sad and jarring to see Murray fall from the tower to his death. And even though he always thought the guy was a dick, it's still awful that Mr. Wheeler only lived for two days on life support in the hospital after the Demogorgon attacked. He can't imagine the grief that family, especially little Holly who had already gone through incomprehensible trauma, are experiencing. No kids lost their lives to the Upside down this time. And no kids will ever again. There are losses that will follow them forever, but they have to take it as their ultimate win.

Dr. Owens arrives in Hawkins fourteen or so hours after El snapped the necks of two hundred military personnel. He's not sure how the guy knew when to show up, and just assumes someone mind hopped into his brain to give him a rundown. However it happened, Steve is thankful he's there to deal with the government bullshit of it all.

The quarantine is lifted. The people of Hawkins are free to leave at last, but their group stays for now; aside from Kali who takes off after a day of rest with a promise to her sister that they'd see each other soon. The woman he'd carried, who he comes to learn is named May, survives right along with the rest of women. None of them are pregnant anymore within the coming days, though no babies are born. They're transferred to another facility in Indiana for their further recovery. Vickie apparently has a cousin who works there, promises it actually is a nice place and not another scary lab.

After Eddie is medically cleared, Steve feels a little honoured to be the one to drive him up to Forest Hills. Wayne Munson sat out on the porch of his double-wide; purchased with money the government pretended wasn't just an effort to shut him up. Wayne wasn't the exactly a spring chicken before all this, but he looks like he's aged almost a decade in the last year and a half. Both Munson men weep as they hug and babble to each other, Eddie having to halfway hold his uncle up under the weight of the grief being shed.

All that is to say, things sure aren't perfect but they are mostly okay. And also, two weeks after Vecna was practically exploded from the inside, Steve isn't really sure what to do with all the frantic energy running through his body. He's spent the last eighteen months on alert. Missions and tasks laid ahead of him for the foreseeable future. Always aware that something horrible could happen at any time. Which, well, technically something horrible could happen at anytime anywhere on earth. There had just been a far higher chance of it happening within the fences that lined Hawkins. That wasn't the case anymore. Really and truly, there would be no more beasts from any of those dimensions fucking with them.

They were still running their daily broadcasts, though no longer needing them to send codes to the party. They'd used it to give folks updates on the quarantine lift, n Eddie's name being cleared, and whatever shit they felt like talking now that they didn't have to worry about the military breathing down their necks. They were just finishing up, Big Love by Fleetwood Mac playing them out, when Will Byers enters the building. He's been here since they'd all come back to the right side up, but only with other members of their group. This is the first time he's been there alone. Steve sends him a wave through the glass window of their recording space, which Will returns in a much smaller, stilted motion.

Officially off the air, Robin stands and stretches while Steve opens the door. "Baby Byers!" The lanky woman greets him. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Will's shoulders are held slumped and yet stiff as he approaches them "I hope it's okay I came by without a heads up. I just, I wanted to- I mean-"

Steve takes the couple steps he needs to get close enough to clap a hand on the kid's shoulders, careful not to be too firm. "Don't sweat it, dude. I specifically remember telling you that you were welcome to hang here."

"You sure I'm not interrupting?" the sixteen year old asks.

"Nah," Robin waves him off. "Technically we should probably plan some shit for tomorrow, but it's not like this is the first time we've procrastinated that."

Which is certainly true. Since they took over the space a couple months after the fences all went up, there had been many times when they'd hurriedly plan as Steve drove them to the studio. For whatever reason, this makes Will perk up. "Could I help with anything?"

They're sure not gonna look a free horse in the mouth, or whatever the hell that saying is, so they agree. Will's eyes light up as they dance across the album titles. Robin makes it clear quite quickly that she approved of his taste in music, so asked for his opinion picking their line up. They slapped a little segment together for midway through the morning, and called it good enough. Steve grabbed them each a Sprite from the fridge, putting Robin's in a cup with a straw because the girl hates feeling of the metal against her lip or teeth, and joined the pair downstairs. Will gets the threadbare armchair to himself, Robin sits on the arm of the couch because she's a freak, and Steve reclines back on the couch.

Will updated them on the goings on of the Wheeler house, where he was still residing for the time being. Karen had finally been released from the hospital, just in time for the funeral of her husband. She surely appreciated still having Joyce around to help out as she recovered and with Holly dealing with the aftermath of her horrifying experience. He had had his own conversations with the young blonde girl. He told the older pair that he wasn't sure how helpful he could be, that Holly was far braver than he'd been at her age. Steve is sure that that isn't true, both that he was surely helping Holly just by being there to talk to at all and that he was surely just as brave.

He tells them about how his mom keeps reminding him how proud he is of her. How Jonathan had been so supportive. How El hadn't understood the concept of homophobia but assured him that she'd be at the ready to maim anyone who bothered him about it. How Hopper and pulled him aside one afternoon and told Will that while he couldn't promise that he'd always say the right thing on the first try, he cared about Will. Said he was sure that Will's ass of a father had tried to convince him that being gay was the worst thing he could be, but Lenny was wrong as usual. That Hopper might not know much, but loving someone and being loved back can't be wrong no matter who it was. Will's ears tinged red in embarrassment as he recounts it, but he mentioned that they were both choking up in the end anyway.

They were glad to hear he was doing okay. Surely he was plagued by nightmares and his body was still feeling the after effects of it all, but that was too be expected without mention. He was okay enough that his smile reached his eyes easily.

Despite himself, Steve can't help but groan as he tilts his head back. "Okay, Byers. I've been patient but you know I've gotta ask. Who are you crushing on?"

"Yes! Please!" He knows it's been killing her too. They are two gossip hungry individuals, and it's not like they've got a ton of options with whom to talk about gay shit. "The suspense is killing me."

Will takes a sip of his coke and sighs. "Okay but you've got to promise you won't tell anyone."

"Duh." Robin responds.

"We're secret keeping pros."

Will takes a deep breath, and then huffs as he leans back in his seat. "It's Mike, alright?"

Simultaneously, Steve and Robin snap their heads to look at each other, and then tilt their heads in thought. He's definitely got to lock in in order to think of Mike as much other than his ex's dweeby brother who has never really liked him very much. When he and Nancy were dating, he'd try to talk to Mike every now and again about his classes and his hobbies and shit, but he'd only really get one word answers so to be honest his attempts definitely faded off. Then, he's thinking of him as Dustin's friend who spoke faster than he thought.

But then he remembers that Mike instantly said he'd pick Will over thousands of people. And…okay. Still dweeby. Often a little asshole. But for Will to pick as a crush? "Okay, I can see it."

And Robin has that pensive look in her eye as she starts nodding. "Yeah. I mean, yeah. Fair."

Will just looks flabbergasted at the both of them. "What? Steve, you swore you were gonna roast him."

Steve's lips purse up as he gives a half tilted nod. "I mean, he's definitely an impulsive dickhead."

"Super gangly and awkward." Robin adds.

"Kind of like if Sasquatch was raised by the nerd society." Steve quickly follows.

"Somehow both super conceited and yet so insecure."

"But like a guy your age to have a crush on." He shrugs. "You could for sure do worse."

"Way worse."

"Dustin for sure would have been a better choice though." Steve says, shooting a finger gun at Will, who is looking at them baffled. "Kid's a catch."

"Oh for sure a crush on Dustin would make more sense. He's so considerate and caring."

By now, Will has long transitioned from from gobsmacked to laughing. "I genuinely can't imagine having a crush on Dustin."

To which, Robin puts on a match to Steve's own expression of shock and horror. As Robin says "Why not? He's great!" Steve is saying "What do you mean? What's wrong with him? He's a good looking dude with a heart of gold!"

To which Will keeps laughing, "No no he is great. I love him. Like, he came to talk to me the day after it ended. He said he was sorry that he found out like that, that it wasn't by my own choice. But that it didn't change how he saw me. And that if he ever does or says anything that bothers me, I'm supposed to tell him so he can be a better friend to me."

Steve lets out a low whistle. "We've trained him well."

Will has finally chilled out his laughter, though he still bears a grin and blushed cheeks. "Yeah, he's one of the best friends a guy could ever ask for. I mean, it's just, he's Dustin. My friend Dustin."

Robin hums, narrowing her eyes. "Right. And your friend Mike is…" She trails off, eyes widening again and eyebrows going up in a silent question.

Will shrugs, blushing more. He's quieter now, a wistful look in his eyes as he says "He's Mike."

Not long later, the front door opens. The sound of long footsteps (and perhaps a scuffle that might have meant he nearly tripped) leads up to the aforementioned gangly Sasquatch of a nerd poking his head around the corner. "Will, hey. Your mom said you'd be here."

Will is very clearly in the process of trying to school his expression and not let him in on the fact that up until fifteen seconds before Mike walked in, they were talking about the qualities of the guy that had him crushing hard. Steve takes it upon himself to buy the kid time by asking "What are you doing here, Wheeler?"

Mike's nose crinkles up. "What's it to you?"

Steve is about to point out that this is his literal workplace when Will says "We've just been hanging out. What's up?"

The taller teenager immediately perks up. "Oh, cool. I was just wondering if you wanted to go to the arcade of something. "

Will smiles back at Mike. "Uh, yeah. Sure. In a minute."

Mike grins and says "Okay." Which is quickly followed by him squinting at Robin and Steve before leaving the room and audibly walking back to the front door, once again tripping a little midway through. Either there was a loose tile or the kid was just like that.

"This was, um," Will stands to look at them and puts his hands in his pockets. "Thank you. It was really nice to just talk like this. Like it's not a big deal."

Robin stands to wrap the boy up in a hug. "Anytime."

"Not quite anytime," Steve says. "We do have some responsibilities." He stands to give him his own hug, punctuated by a pat on the back. "But pretty much anytime."

Robin waits until exactly two seconds after they hear the front door latch closed behind the two teenagers before she squeals. "Oh my god! I can't believe it's Mike!"

"Right?"

"I mean, I don't know the kids in their grade, but of all of his options he landed on Mike."

Steve really hadn't known the two boys well through all of this. But he has been around in the big moments of crisis to the drives taking Dustin and his friends to the arcade. When he thinks about it, Will and Mike had pretty much always seemed to be a different level of close.

Mike's eyes had been wide when Steve stole him off to talk while they marches towards battle. Steve definitely came into the conversation a little hot, insisting immediately that the secret Will had just told him was to remain a well protected secret. Though it turned out not to matter an hour later when Vecna outed him to their group, but definitely still a secret to the outside world. Mike shot him an annoyed look and said "obviously" before immediately letting him know how insane it was that Will had told Steve before his literal life long best friend.

Steve had definitely rubbed it in, though not specifying why. He then immediately started instructing the kid that supporting Will meant a lot more than just saying it was fine he was gay; that it meant trying to educate himself on what it's like to be gay in the USA, and while also unlearning all the lies about them that he'd accidentally believed. It also meant being fully behind them when they started actually gay dating, and Steve listed examples of how he could do that. At the mention of Will dating, Mike's face had gotten all red, and he'd looked back at their friends behind them, looking so long he tripped on his own feet.

Steve had laughed at him and moved on quickly at the time, clapping the boy on the back and saying that he was a good friend. Which, had seemed to make him flush even brighter.

Now, as Robin gushes about how cute Will was when he talked about Mike, Steve squints his eyes. Interesting. Very interesting.

Robin's eyes were bleary as she got into Steve's new car with a half drunk travel mug of coffee in her hand. Well, it wasn't exactly a new car. Mr. Rothensberg had owned three cars, but in his family only he and his wife could drive. They'd been itching to get out of town as soon as the fences came down, and sold off everything they couldn't immediately take with them. The 1975 Dodge Dart became Steve's at nearly a bargain. It wasn't as cleanly kept as the others, being the car that Kent had given the least fucks about, but it'd work with what Steve had saved up.

As soon as the red head with pale skin that left her dark undereyes on clear display was seated, Steve shot her a cat like grin. She buckled herself in, took a sip of her toffee coloured coffee as she blinked heavy, and only then looked at him. "What?"

"I think Mike likes Will back."

It took her another heavy blink before her eyes widened. "What?" She asked again at a far higher volume.

Steve pulled out of her parents driveway as he kept grinning. "Eddie and I took the brats bowling last night." Robin was very aware of this. She'd been busy with Vickie and their makeup Enzo's date. Robin was thankful her parents had gone on a getaway for the weekend now that they were finally free to leave the town limits. Vickie had only just left twenty minutes before Steve pulled up.

"We're all having fun, right? Lucas, El, and I are the only ones actually any good at it, but everyone makes improvements by the end of the game so they should all be proud of that." Steve shakes his head just a little to himself. "Anyway, I'm looking over and I'm seeing knees bumping. I'm seeing long looks when he didn't think Will was looking. And I'm seeing a lot of private little conversations and Wheeler is blushing and laughing. Kid likes him back."

She became more and more alert as she listened. When he was done, she took in a long gaspy inhale "The avalanche."

He nodded, eyes on the road. "The avalanche."

He filled her in on the details on the ride. The station was perfect for their Monster killing activities, but wasn't so ideal for their actual commute. Harrington manor, as Robin liked to call it, was half taken out by a rift. She was thrilled to find that the side of the house that caved took out his parents bedroom, but it left Steve's room and the living room accessible. Nancy made them wear harnessed before she let them go in to retrieve shit. Steve's parents had never been the sentimental types, but it but Steve proved different. He'd had shoe boxes of school projects and a shelf of all his trophies. Most breakable things had shattered (Nancy also made them wear closed toed shoes, long pants, and heavy gloves to protect them from broken glass and other shrapnel) They drew the line at goggles) but they'd been able to retrieve more than enough things that left his best friend squealing with delight.

He'd packed his retrieved possessions into a little one bedroom, which had a hundred taken off of the usual rent price since it was only a about fifty yards from the western rift. It wasn't terrible, and icy cold showers were good for the hair anyway. His swimming coach had definitely at some point told him that cold water could be good for recovery or something. Robin had accompanied him thrifting a couple times to find a couple decent things to hang on the wall to offset the faded yellowy brown paint. Or rather, he'd accompanied her on her search for records and he wandered. Either way, he quite liked the one of the Chicago skyline. She was more partial to the underwater sea anemone one.

Robin didn't try to reveal too much in her personal anecdotes throughout their show, lest she let loose the true nature of her date; but Steve absolutely teased her about her whistful tone.

As expected, just as she's winding down the broadcast with Bon Jovi, Eddie strolls into the building with Dustin. It had been the plan for Eddie to pick Dustin from school and bring him over to hang out for awhile. Unexpectedly trailing the two was Mike Wheeler. The lanky kid's hands were stuffed in his front pockets and his face bore his seemingly typical half scowl.

Robin gives a cheery send off, and with a button press from Steve they are officially off air for the day. The man practically rushes out of the booth. Dustin is right there in front of him first, but his only acknowledgement to the curly haired kid she'd grown fond of is a shoulder pay before he's moving right past him to stand in front of Eddie. Robin squints at them as Steve stands with one hand on his hip, wearing an easy grin and leaning in just a tad. Eddie's grinning right back with a finger coming to twirl a bit of his hair around his fingers. Huh. Interesting.

After a minute of chatting, Steve seems to remember that Dustin is there and guides the two guys towards the basement where the stuff they'd scrounged up for Dustin's latest planned build is waiting for his inspection. Mike just stares after them, taking a shaky breath. Robin crosses the room towards him "Hey." She says, which somehow makes him jump even though she's not even talking that loud. "You wanna go with them?"

He shakes his head "No, I was just gonna wait." He says, looking at the basement like he's willing one of the three to emerge.

She hums. "Okay. You want a drink or something?"

"No." Again, he shakes his hand. "I mean, no thanks. I was just, I mean, I was just hoping I could-"

She raises his eyebrows, waiting for him to finish. When he doesn't, she asks "Hoping you could what?"

"Talk to Steve. There's something I needed to ask him." His nose and mouth wrinkle as if the words taste like cough syrup.

"Oh." She should just say the guys won't be long. Make an excuse to Dustin and Eddie to let Steve and Mike talk privately. However, she's always been nosey. "What about? Maybe I can help." The kid looks dubious. "Try me, I know 85% of what Steve has going on in his brain anyway."

Mike chews his lip, seemingly a bad habit with how chapped they look. "I was going to ask Steve if he had any more advice on how to be a good friend to someone who's, you know," and then, more quietly than anything else he'd said thus far "gay."

Robin hums again and nods. "I think I can probably help with that."

Mike's eyebrows scrunch together "Do you both have the same gay friend or something?"

She can't help but blow air out her nose. "You know I'm a lesbian, right?"

It's felt so freeing these last few weeks, being around this group of people and just being able to relax. Bring Vickie around and sit close, hold hands. Will and Jonathan's mom had smiled at them and said they made an adorable couple, which seemed to fill some kind of pothole she'd had deep inside of her without knowing it had been there that whole time. Around strangers or out where the world could see, they keep everything as subtle as possible; but when they can they do and say whatever they want.

Still, Mike cocks his head and opens and closes his mouth a few times ago. "No. I did not know that."

She fully snorts this time. "Dude, I was screaming about it at Vecna."

The kid looked bewildered. "I was a little busy to pay attention to what everyone else was saying. I was focused on-, I mean, you know."

Robin isn't entirely sure if he was going to say that he was focused on Vecna or on Will, but either way (especially if Steve's theory is right) then fair enough. "Don't sweat it. But yes, I am Steve's gay friend. Well, one of them. I'm dating Vickie and she and Steve are friends now, too."

"Huh. Honestly, that makes a lot of stuff make more sense." Mike leans back against the wall, a shadow of a smile growing on his face. "That's uh, pretty cool. That you've got a girlfriend."

She wholeheartedly agrees. Sometimes she's just laying there in bed, alone, and she'll just have to stuff her pillow against her mouth to muffle her squeals when she remembers that holy shit she had a crush on a girl and not only did that girl not hate her for it, but she actually liked her back just as much. Enough that they're dating and she gets all the ethereal perks that come along with it. "Thanks. So now that I've proven my qualifications, in what ways do you think you need to do better?"

Mike chews his lip once more before he answers. "I've been a shitty friend to him before. Ignored him. Said some shitty stuff without thinking, just cause I was pissed off. Definitely made his life around this more difficult than it already was. And I'm trying to do better. Be better. And, I mean, I feel like I am. Mostly. But then, like one of our friends is asking him about dudes he's had crushes on. Or what kind of stuff he wants in a boyfriend. Like good supportive friends should. But then I just-I don't know. I start feeling mad or something. Which is so shitty, right?"

"And does that make you say say shitty stuff?"

"No, I, no." His shoulders curl in. "Like I said, I'm trying to be better. But I still feel mad and I don't know what to do about it."

She has a hunch. "When you say you get mad, how does that actually feel like in your body?" He looks at her like she's just asked him to solve university trigonometry. "Like does it make you all tense, does it feel like you're going to hit something?"

The kid looks horrified. "Of course not. It's just, like, the back of my neck gets really hot. And it kind of feels like my stomach is clenching, and my heart starts going faster."

"And what kind of stuff are you thinking when you're mad like that?"

"I don't know, just, like, none of the guys Will has mentioned anything about would ever be good enough for him. Even if they are gay, they couldn't really know him. Take care of him like Will deserves."

"Okay." She nods. "Well, good news, you're not homophobic. That's always a win."

"Well then what's wrong with me? What do I gotta do?" He asks, genuinely seeming distraught over this.

"Well. I think you might be a little bit jealous."

"Jealous? What? What would I possibly have to be jealous about."

The kid looks completely shocked. She wants to press, dig till she can tell if somewhere deep inside this kid has a crush on her mentee. It doesn't feel wise, not yet. "I mean, he's been your best friend for a long time. It might take you a little time to adjust to the idea that you might not be his closest compatriot one day when he gets a boyfriend. You'll adjust. For now, just talk to him like it's normal. You can totally still do you overprotective thing as his best friend where you insist that no guy would be good enough for him if you've got to." He hears a thundering of footsteps coming up the stairs. Mike looks startled. "Try not to stress yourself out about being perfect and just be there, alright?"

The door creaks open and Dustin comes up, a pile of metal and wires in his arms. Steve and Eddie trail him with their own armfuls. "Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Dustin asks, cheesy grin on.

She sees Mike's trying to form words and fail about three times before she says "Wheeler somehow didn't know I was a lesbian."

Eddie cackles as he and Steve deposit their armfuls on the ground. "Dude, they've been so obvious! Around us, at least. Vickie was literally sitting in her lap on Sunday."

Mike holds his arms out. "I don't know! I thought they were just close friends! Didn't she have a boyfriend?"

Robin goes to open her mouth, out of the corner of her eye she can see Steve doing the same; yet Dustin beats them both to it. Without looking up from his junk pile, Dustin says, informatively and absent of his usual level of snark, "People can like both, Mike. It's called being bisexual."

Steve and her make immediate eye contact and converge. "I didn't teach him that word, did you?" Robin asks.

Steve shakes her head. "No, I've just been calling Vic half-gay in my head."

"Functional, but not the correct term." Dustin looks over at them. "I've been reading." Then over to Mike, "Besides, dude. We've been to, like, three dimensions. People can probably be in to whichever gender they want." And then shrugs "Honestly there's probably people in our dimension that have, like, no gender. Or extra." He squints a little. "Which is a curiosity door I'm probably gonna read about at some point. Shit's kinda cool, when you think about it."

It's so nice. It's so absolutely incredibly fucking nice to just exist in a room and know that it's completely fine. To be able to joke about it, and know none of it is mean-spirited. To have Dustin, who she is entirely sure is a prime example of a hetero guy, genuinely interested in learning both for the wellbeing of his friends and genuine curiosity.

There had been a weight on her shoulders for a long time. Making her feel awfully alone, bent out of shape, and exhausted. Steve lightened that load dramatically. First as the first person she ever came out to, and further every day since. She could hardly feel alone when she has someone who perfectly compliments her. The perfect match of settling each other and amping each other out. She feels the most 'Robin' when she's around him; though it's growing more and more with Vickie now that she's in on the whole truth. Steve's helped her gain ultimate courage in herself. Inspiring levels of courage, apparently, if you ask baby Byers.

She considers, briefly that it feels weird to call Will baby Byers and but baby Wheeler is now a tiny blonde girl who had enough courage to save the world and looks adorable in pigtails. She'd called Mike baby Wheeler for quite awhile in her head and occasionally out loud. She'd have to figure something else out. The middlest Wheeler wouldn't work.

Robin looks back to Wheeler of middle and his apprehensive smile. She did not think she'd be out to this kid, at least if you've asked her prior to their final crawl. But this is it, the new level of weight lifted. People can know, and it's okay. They like her just as much and maybe even more. She might be wrong, there could be a fully heterosexual explanation to what this lanky kid has going on. But if she's right, she hopes he's soaking this in.

It turns out, rebuilding Hawkins requires knocking a lot of shit down. Half collapsed buildings taken out the rest of the way, foundations dug up. Dustin and Mr Clarke had some theories on the stability of the ground here now, since the fault lines have nothing to do with actual biological earthquakes or tectonic plates. Obviously this place has no clue about any of that, so new buildings are being built extra reinforced near the cracks. The sounds of demolition and construction permeated the walls of Steve's small apartment more and more as the weeks went on. Still, he'd take this over all the military noise any day.

Right now, the sounds of the kids (who were all at least sixteen and really weren't kids anymore (aside from Erika) but he couldn't change the word in his brain yet) was drowning it out. Yes, Eddie's name had been thoroughly cleared since he'd been held captive by Henry Creel, who was now officially at fault for the murders and child kidnappings. It should mean Eddie should be able to go anywhere and do anything without being seen as a satanic murderer, and for the most part he could. There just wasn't a place in town willing to host Hellfire club. Not yet. The Wheeler basement would be their usual go to, but they were all in agreement that Mrs. Wheeler deserved a peaceful home right now. Hence, the group inhabiting Steve's apartment.

His kids, Eddie, and some of Eddie's friends were crowded around Steve's too small table. Their notebooks an binders were balanced in their laps, leaning forward to reach the solid surface whenever they needed to role their weird dice. Even Max had agreed to join, her wheelchair affording her a little more personal space than the rest of them. She was making solid progress in her physical therapy, but was still using her chair full time. He deeply wished his apartment had an elevator so that she wouldn't have had to deal with getting a piggyback upstairs from her boyfriend while Steve dutifully carries up her chair. At least it was only two flights.

Jane had played one game of DnD last month and decided definitively that it wasn't her thing. With encouragement from her friends, she's working on figuring out what she actually does and doesn't like without a looming threat over her head. Currently, she is sitting at Steve's desk chair while Robin is giving her an introductory lesson to the trumpet. They'd been at it about an hour or so. The notes are coming out impressively screechy and not even remotely in tune, even Steve can tell. But the two girls are laughing so he doesn't mind at all.

After another attempt at a five note little tune, and the ensuing bout of giggles, Jane hands the trumpet back to Robin. "I do like the idea of playing. an instrument," Jane says with her clear, practiced enunciation. "But I do not think the trumpet is for me. My mouth does not buzz like that."

She doesn't seem like the kind of girl to like playing something so fiddly and little. Robin was different, she's got loads of energy and she's real good at precisely targeting it. With Jane, and all the endurance and training shit she's done for years, she'd probably want something a little more full body. He should probably ask Eddie's friend to give her a drumming lesson. He'd have to remember the guy's name first, of course.

They dissolve into their own chatter, looking through Robin and Steve's shared stash of magazines. "I like living there, all of us together." Jane says when asked how The Byers-Hopper families were doing in the house they'd just moved into last week. The Carlson's place hadn't sold for much, being that no one was really itching to move into Hawkins as the trail of station wagons hit the highway out of there. "Joyce and my dad seem happy to be close all the time. Jonathan and Will were good brothers in California, too. But it is better now."

"How is Will doing?" Steve says with a casual air to hide his prying. The kid seemed to be doing good when he'd hang out at the station. He held his shoulders back a bit more these days, stood a little taller. Signs pointed in the right direction. He just wanted to be sure.

Jane smiles fondly. "He is happier here. More nightmares now, but I'm the same." He's sure they all were experiencing them often. He knew he, Rob, Vic, and Eddie sure were. "He is glad he has less secrets he has to keep now, though. Last night we ate ice cream and talked about which boys in movies we think are cute."

Robin and Steve share a glance. She asks in a very obviously prying way "Has he, you know, said anything about anyone else he thinks is cute? Not celebrities?"

Jane doesn't flinch at her tone, just flipping her page. "We both think the guy who works at the movie theatre with the flippy hair is cute." Before he has the chance to be a little disappointed at the lack of intel, Jane looks up at them from her magazine and squints. "You are both good at keeping secrets, yes?" They nod. They're experts. "Will has not told me about it, but I know that he has a very big crush on Mike."

The two young adults take very deep breaths. "How do you know?" Steve asks at the same time as Robin's "How are you feeling about that?"

Jane blinks once, then fixes her gaze to Steve. "I have connected many dots from since the mall summer. But also Will looks at him very often, and I have seen him draw Mike way too many times when Mike is not even there." Then, she turns to Robin. "I dumped him the day after we finished burning everything. He was okay with it. We think we should have always been friends instead. Besides, I think Mike would be a way better boyfriend to Will than he was to me. And I will get a better boyfriend than them both."

Before Steve and Robin can fully suppress the way they're literally gonna internally combust, there are two knocks on the door followed by it immediately being open. Speak of the lanky devil, Mike says "Hey, we just finished for today." The three occupants of the room looked at each other and started to laugh. The middle Wheeler wrinkles his nose at the, "What?"

They obviously do no explain. Jane says something to him that has him looking even more affronted.Robin is still snickering a little when she pats Mike on the shoulder on her way out. Steve is going to follow them back out to join their friends, but he sees the look Mike sends him. He tells Robin he'll be out with them in a minute and the leans back against his dresser. "Hey, Robin told me that you'd wanted to talk to me last week. I'm sorry we didn't get the chance."

"S'okay." Mike says with a shrug. "Turns out, she was a good expert to get advice from, so. Worked out."

Kid was right about that, he's certainly benefited from her wisdom many times. "Very true. Even his vocabulary is bigger because of her, both from a bunch of long English words and swears from other languages. But, I mean, if you still want to talk, I'm here." He sees Mike's mouth twitch to open, like he wants to say something but doesn't know how to start. "How've you been doing?" Steve prompts.

And Mike? Mike talks. His mom is feeling better physically, nearly back to normal aside from the scars she wears high necklines to cover. She acts pretty normal most of the time, but has a tendency to burst into tears out of nowhere. Holly isn't exactly doing fantastic, understandably anxious and having the most nightmares out of any of them, surely. Nancy and Mike take turns sleeping on Holly's floor. Of course, that doesn't make it any easier on Mrs. Wheeler. Holly at least has her own group of friends she can talk to about this. Wills friends had been instrumental in surviving the months after he was back from the dead. Mike says he barely would have survived himself if Will hadn't come back.

Grief hangs over the Wheeler household very clearly. There is a chair at the table that remains ominously empty, Mike's mom has set a plate there more than once off muscle memory. She gets flustered whenever she realizes, though hasn't cried about it in awhile. Nancy and Joyce are trying to help go through all the finances, life insurance, and whatever other policies. There's been nights Holly's woken up screaming for her dad, and Mike has helplessly rocked her.

But also, Karen was playing the radio. Not just the talk radio that Ted preferred, but actual music playing at an audible level. Robin and Steve's show sometimes, but other stations playing upbeat stuff as well. Nancy swore at the dinner table the other day. There was a pause like they were all waiting to be scolded, but then Karen's response includes the word damn and everyone sort of just relaxed. Holly's been playing louder and a wilder, no longer worried that her dad will tell her off for playing like a boy. She just has as much fun as she pleases when she can.

"And you?" Steve asks. "How are you doing with it all?"

Mike hesitates, forehead wrinkled. He's sitting at the foot of Steve's bed, shoulders hunched and elbows on his knees while Steve leans against his desk. "He's my dad. I was always gonna love him cause of that, right? But, I mean, he-." Mike is chewing on his lip. A bad habit, based on how it already looked a little reddish pink in one spot like he'd nibbled a layer of skin off it. "He had a way of making you feel like shit, you know? He made what he expected of me very clear and whenever I didn't match exactly what he wanted, it was my fault for, like, deviating."

"I get that." Steve says gently. "My dad was kind of the same." He hopes this is coming off of as more 'hey that's rough but I can relate so you're not alone' and less 'oh well fuck what's going on with you and let's focus on me.'

He can't be sure which it lands on since Mike asks "Where is your dad?"

Steve does a long exhale. "Last letter I got, my mom and him are at their new place in Virginia."

"You gonna go move out there with them?"

Steve can't help but let out a short, harsh laugh. "Nah, I'm not invited. Dad's still pissed at me that the house here couldn't be sold."

"It was destroyed with the earthquake." Mike says incredulously

"Try to tell him that. Apparently I neglected it and that's why it caved." Steve shrugs and takes a couple steps towards the bed. "He's a dick. I'm sorry your dad was a dick." He plops himself down by Mike. "And I'm sorry he didn't live long enough to be better."

Mike smiles sadly at him. "This is gonna sound awful, I mean, he wasn't a bad dad. He didn't hit me or nothin, hardly even called me names. But sometimes I'm kind of…relieved. That he's not here to remind me everything he thinks is wrong with me. Cause, I mean, I'm kinda thinking that he was right about some stuff about me, but maybe it's not as much the worst since he's not here to 'I told you so' at me."

And again, as he and Robin have said many times discussing the whole Mike and Will thing, there absolutely could be a heterosexual explanation for this. There are definitely a lot of other things Mike's dad might have been a dick about. Steve could list off a dozen examples just inspired by his own dad. But there definitely is a chance there's one specific thing especially chewing at the kid. "Well, for what it's worth, you're a pretty good dude, Mike. So if there is things he said that maybe he was right about, he's wrong about what it means about you."

Mike is looking at him, either thoughtfully or zoned out all the way to Mars. His mouth hangs just a little open. Steve continues, "I mean, my dad was sure right on some stuff about me. Stuff about me that he hated. That he tried to get rid of." He laughs, a little awkwardly. "I like those things about myself, generally. They make me less like him. More understanding. Less selfish. Less angry. Less stuck-up. Believe it or not, I'm a hell of a lot nicer than he is." Mike snorts. "No, seriously. Doesn't mean you love him any less as your dad, but do you want to grow up just like him?"

"Absolutely not." Mike answers without hesitation.

"Right. I don't think it's a bad thing if you're relieved that you just get to be you without him cracking on you for it. As long as you're still trying to be a good person and stuff, don't let some asshole's expectations of you ruin your life without him even being in it."

Mike's breath is a little shaky. He coughs a little to clear his throat. "How are you so okay with knowing you're letting him down?"

The answer isn't as complicated as one might think. "It still sucks sometimes. But mostly, I try to think more about the opinions of people I actually like and respect. People I picked instead of people I got stuck with. It matters a lot more what Rob thinks about me than some asshole with almost as many discrimination lawsuits filed against him than he's had mistresses."

"How many?" Mike asks, clearly having gathered himself. His raised eyebrow and half grin borders on cheeky.

"Four suits, six mistresses that I know of." Mike lets out a low whistle. "So, I pick Rob. Being a better friend to her makes me a better person, I think. Dustin definitely picked me first but I'm still picking him. I pick all of you guys. It helps." He says pointedly "You don't have to hold onto the shitty things about Ted, definitely not his opinions. I bet Will would like all the parts of you your dad didn't, if you'll let him."

Steve chooses to not rib him over the way he's gone red to his ears. There will surely be other occasions for that. Instead, he stands and tips his head towards the door.

The dark haired boy clears his throat again as he stands. "So, is Eddie one of the people you're picking?"

He and Eddie have been spending more and more time again since they'd all gone bowling. Partially because Rob's rightfully spending alone time with her girlfriend. Partially that Eddie's dealing remarkably well with spending a year in an unconscious state with a gooey vine down his throat in a hell dimension, that but remarkably well still includes crazy nightmares and a general distressed vibe that Steve apparently tamps down quite a bit. Mostly because he likes Eddie's company.

"Yeah, I think so." Steve says.

If his look before was bordering on cheeky, this grin is coming in first place at the cheek championships. "So first you date my sister, you stealing my dungeon master next?"

Which. Well. Okay. Okay so the thing is he hadn't thought about that. He's been busy with other things. The radio show, trying to navigate and conspire around Will's crush, generally trying to figure out what the fuck comes next in life after saving the world. He's not had the chance to think about how he actually feels about Eddie, except that it's some type of positive. He claps a hand on the tall lanky-ass teenager. "Not without talking with Robin."

His apartment doesn't have a hallway, he opens the door and immediately exits into the chattering crowd. He claps his hands together. "Alright! Great having you all, time to go."

Robin gives him a confused look from in the corner where she's talking with Eddie and one of Eddie's friend. His name starts with a G he's pretty sure. Maybe J. "But we-" she starts.

Before she can say that she and Steve still had to coordinate the next game time with the group, he widens his eyes at her, darts them to Eddie, and then back to her. She widens her eyes and tilts her head, which Steve understands means 'what do you mean you're into Eddie?' Steve nods in return. Robin takes a deep breath and puts a hand on both the guys arms. "Alright, people it's time to go. Vamoos! Partir!" She turns her head to Eddie. "We'll be seeing you real soon."

Once Robin shuts and locks the door behind them all, she turns to him with her chest heaving with breath. "Steven how is this the first time I'm hearing about you being into men?"

He shrugs. "I don't know, I guess I've been too busy to think about it.

Will Byers was doing a hell of a lot of pacing and not nearly enough talking. Robin had tried to coax him three separate times and he just kept mumbling under his breath and then saying "I just gotta figure out how to start."

Steve was sending her a lot of 'what do we do?' looks. Unfortunately, she was sending him the same looks. Finally, after a silence that lasted the average length of time of a billboard top hit, Will sighs loudly and says "I can't tell if Mike is flirting with me of if he just wants a little best friend comfort because his girlfriend broke up with him and his dad died."

Which, okay, totally fair. That is a conundrum that is far too specific. There was no good way to phrase that. Now, Steve is sending her a 'oh shit here we fucking go' look that was a blend of both stressed and excited."Yeah that's a tricky one." Is what Robin settles on responding to him. "What things has he been doing?"

Will huffs again, and she's worried he's gonna do some more stressed pacing. Her fears do come true, but he only finishes his stalk towards their shelf of records and then comes back before planting his feet again. "He's been way more touchy." He says with narrowed eyes. "Hand on my shoulder, hugging me, wanting to share a blanket on movie nights and real slowly pressing his knee against mine but also he didn't even look at me the entire time."

"He's talking about how everything is so complicated. His family's always been so complicated. Everything with El was so complicated. But with me it's so easy."

"Okay." And Robin was not doing a good job of hiding that she thought that was one of the gayest things she's ever heard; which is saying a lot, considering everything that comes out of her mouth, everything that comes out of Eddie and Steve's mouths now that they were together, and the actual sound of herself having gay sex. "That could just be a grief and a need for comfort thing."

"He told me he wished we could share a bed like when we were kids cause he always felt so safe and cared about when we were close like that."

Steve lets out a low whistle. Yes, she and Steve did share a bed sometimes, more right after the Starcourt incident and a bit less since they're both in relationships. But they're aware they're a weird different thing than whatever other reasons Mike could have said it. "Dude forget about snowballs, you're in the middle of the avalanche."

Will squints at him. "Robin told you about that metaphor too?"

Steve rolls his eyes and shoots Robin a grin. "Told me? I'm the one who filled her in on the whole snowball avalanche thing." Later, Steve would tell her that he actually picked it up from a guy at the Hideout last summer. They'd gone as a way to try and honour Eddie back when they thought he was super dead. While Robin was in the bathroom, Steve sat right down next to a guy and outright asked him how a gay person could tell whether someone was in to them. After clarifying that he was asking for his lesbian friend and not himself, the guy told him about the snowballs. Watching for small signs that collected together and couldn't be ignored or passed off as anything else.

Robin asked him how he knew the guy was gay, since the Hideout isn't a gay bar or anything, and Steve would say it's because he had his right ear pierced. She did not know who had informed him on which was the gay ear, but she was glad for it. "I was the one advising her on whether Vickie was flirting with her or not. Even if Mike isn't totally aware of it, he's definitely flirting with you."

Will groans. "What, was that not what you wanted to hear?" Robin asks confused. "You're in to him, he's into you, what's the problem?"

The kid finally becomes still as he leans against a wall and crosses his arms. "It would be much easier if I was just imagining it. I could go back to ignoring what he's doing and squashing my crush. But if he's actually flirting with me, then that means something might happen and it'll ruin everything for the party."

Steve does the thing where he tilts his head in confusion, it reminds her of her neighbours old basset hound. "How would it get ruined? Even if you date and break up, you could still be friends. Look at El and him. They're getting along just fine." Will groans again. "Then explain, how would it ruin everything?"

Will chews on his lip. "If he's got a crush, that can go away. I'm all the way in love with him. If he wants to go for it and then realizes it's a mistake and wants to back out, obviously I'd let him but then I've lost my only chance with him. I'll be his friend knowing that he's gay enough to be into me, but not enough to love me back. I'll have had a taste for it and lost it and I don't know how I can be normal around him every again after that. I mean he-" The young teenager scrubs his hand over his mouth. "He's talking about applying to the same schools as me. Like, he's mentioned that it would be cool for us all to go to school close enough that we can visit, but I'm the only one he's talking specifics with. I'm the only one he's talking about sharing a dorm and stuff. It would be really nice to be able to do that stuff with my best friend, but if he's in to me and he tries this, odds are I'm losing all that."

"I don't think that's what the odds are saying." Robin says.

Before she can continue her thought, Will is saying "If he's into me it's only gonna be enough that he wants to experiment with me and then when he's done, that's it. He'll expect us to go back to normal, and I will as far as he knows, but fuck I don't know how I'll survive that."

"You don't think he could like you back seriously? Dude, Mike is obsessed with you." Steve says.

"He's really not."

Robin tries to calm him. "I get it, it's totally a scary thing. Asking Vickie out was terrifying."

"And I was definitely nervous to talk to Eddie about it." Steve continues, leaving out that his anxiety about the situation lasted all of three hours and then he and Eddie have been totally fine and chill and outrageously into each other ever since Steve asked him to go to the drive in. It was so easy for them that it did drive Robin insane with jealousy, but she got over that quickly.

"But sometimes it's worth the risk." Robin finishes.

Will back and forth at them both like he's considering it and she holds her breath. He considers it so long that she runs out of air and has to take another breath. Then, he scrunches his eyes closed. "I don't know why I came here. I appreciate you both trying to hype me up, but it's a bad idea. If he's flirting with me, he's figure out it's a bad idea in a few weeks and then none of this will matter any way."

Without another world, Will flees the basement. She and her platonic soulmate look at the stairs he traversed with immense speed and sigh. "Think there was anything we could have said to change his mind?" Steve asks quietly.

Robin thinks back to her denial that Vickie was into girls at all, let alone her. That was back when she and Vickie were only acquaintances and then tentative friends. How Mike and Will have clearly been so much more for so much longer. "Probably not." He hums. "So what do we do?"

Steve's head wavers back and forth. "I think it's pretty reasonable to say we should just leave them to figure it out. They're both dealing with enough right now, we don't need to add anything more into that with our interference."

Robin leans back against the arm of the couch, nodding seriously and biting back her grin. "For sure. It makes sense." She raises her eyebrows at him. "But of course, there's another side. And maybe that other side is saying that because they've got enough on their plates as it is so it would probably be good for perhaps some older mentors to help them with this one thing and aleviate some stress."

"Sounds pretty considerate to me." Steve says, playing along with her faux seriousness. "Some meddling could be a healthy contribution."

"The question of this side is, how best to handle this meddling."

Steve's got his thinking face on. The one where his eyebrows are drawn in, both eyes squinting but the left squinting just a little bit more. She loves his thinking face. As much as she calls him her dingus, she's always tries to let him know how clever she actually thinks he is. He's not super booksmart like she is, no. But he is strategic, understands movement in logistics in actual physical spaces, and is incredibly people smart. There's been many times that she's trusted him as her people-translator, outside of her crush. "We've been very focused on Will."

Which, yes. Of course. Steve had told her about his heart to heart with Mike, not going into full detail but filling her in on how the kid's been doing and feeling. That was the only private interaction either had had with him. Will, on the other hand, has taken to hanging out with them at the studio a couple times a week. Steve continues. "There's probably nothing we can say to Mike that will make him make a move. I think we've got to get through to Mike."

"And how are we gonna do that?" She asks, awaiting his wisdom.

"Oh I have no idea." Steve says, deadpan in a way that makes her belly laugh.

Steve joins in on his laughter, and it grows to an extend that her stomach hurts and Steve's back and side start giving him more grief than he should have at his age. They enact one of their common strategies and lay down on the ground. They lay side by side.

She likes when they can be just silent together. Both reading or working on separate things, or just existing together like now. Their breaths have synced up, and it almost feels like they're melting into the floor with each shared puff of air. Melting until their puddles are touching in the space between them.

Still, no matter how much she enjoys it, her mind has always been known to wander and her mouth tends to follow. "It's crazy that they're talking about college already." Robin says like a passing observation.

Steve shrugs, fabric of his sweater brushing her button up. "I don't know, Nance had been talking about college already be their age. You were only a few months older than them when Scoops happened, and you'd definitely mentioned a few times that you were saving for it."

Which, yes, true. She'd already planned it out. She'd study Linguistics at Berkeley, Standford, or Chicago. Four year degree. Masters obtained by twenty-eight or earlier. She'd been accepted to all three. She hasn't exactly looked into whether or not any of them had held her place since their military imposed quarantine. Truth is, she didn't know whether she wanted to study linguistics anymore at all. Or where the hell she wanted to go. "I don't know what I'm doing with my life, Steve."

He's silent for a few beats. She knows him better than anyone, and he knows her the same. But still, there's something nestled deep inside of her like a wine cellar, aged too long and gone sour. inside of her that tells her that he's annoyed with her. They've talked about it, agreeing that it would be hard for him to become actually upset with her in the way she fears; but if he ever did he'd tell her. It didn't come up as often anymore. And her anxieties were quickly quelled when he said "Me neither. I don't know if I ever did, I mostly just know what I don't want really."

She nods. "That's as good as a place to start than any."

His response is quiet enough that it could hardly audibly be heard. But even if he hadn't said it aloud, she think she could have heard it. "I don't want to be away from you."

The breath she releases feels like the floorboards and shelves of that cellar inside her are further decaying. It feels like one day to crumble alltogether and take that sour bottle with it. "Me neither." She says.

Steve let's a huge sigh that turns to a short laugh. "Thank fuck. I'm gonna be honest, even if I'm not fucked up one day I don't think I'm gonna be able to live more than a thirty minute drive from you."

"Glad we got that settled. What else don't you want?"

"I don't want to leave Dustin until he's graduated high school. I'd rather not have to get on a plane to have to see him"

That feels like an easy given for him, and the idea that she's still got at least a year to figure some of her shit out. "Alright Hawkins bound until 89 and then driving distance to Dustin. Works for me. "

"So where do Vic and Eddie fit in to this plan?" She asks.

He gives her a 'duh' look. "As long as Vickie remains good to you, she's allowed to be around for it all."

She gives him a 'fair enough' look. "And same for Eddie and you, then." to which he nods.

"What about you? What don't you want?"

With the base things, a base timeline and the knowledge she won't have to feel so alone ever again, it's easier to get to this. "I don't want to live somewhere or do something that makes me hide or feel small."

"You're really good at the whole radio thing." He offers. And by Hawkins standards, yeah they were doing pretty good. A good chunk of the local population tuned in. "You totally could do it somewhere bigger."

She snorts, she liked to think so, but doubted it would actually work out. "Well if I did that, then you're stuck as my producer forever."

He grins. "Works for me. I've got no other prospects."

She gives him a bit of a glare. They'd discussed before that his parents had only actually agreed to pay for him applying four of the top ten universities in the country. She'd figured for awhile that there was something fishy about how he'd not been accepted into university. Yes, his grades weren't fantastic. But he'd passed everything and he'd for sure have been considered for some athletic scholarships if he'd been allowed to apply for just regular universities. If he wants to apply to places again, she's confident he'd get a couple acceptance letters. "There's loads of things you could do."

He snorts. "Like what?"

"You could totally be a coach or a teacher. It's like kids have a natural instinct to look up to you."

"Erica and that Derek kid sure didn't."

"True." She says. "Not at first. You won them over. Erica still makes fun of you, but she also threatened Eddie for you if he ever wrongs you." It had been terrifying, but also very sweet. "Now Derek is obsessed with you now and you know it."

His lip twitches up halfway. "Maybe." He's still a bit baffled by the kid. "Maybe I could be. Would be kind of cool." His head turns to face her. "You could be anything you want, Robin. We've got time to figure it out." His expression shifts to a smirk. "And between the mall fire, military isolation, and running a rebellious radio broadcast, we could have such crazy application essays(?)"

"We've signed so many NDA's though." She points out. Even Dr Owens couldn't get them out of it. There was a hell of a lot of secrets they'd have to keep.

He scoffs and furrows his brow. "Don't pretend you haven't been scheming on how exactly how to get around them without getting in trouble."

She grins back at him. "Oh absolutely I have."

She feels his hand bump against hers, and she follows his movement until their palms press together and their fingers are interwoven. "We're all gonna be okay. Yeah?" He says.

She squeezes his hand. "Yeah. We'll be okay." They smile softly at each other.

He groans. "Fuck. Now we have nothing else to do but figure out how to de-closet the most repressed kid in America."

She groans back. They don't get off that floor for a long, long while.

He kind of felt like a bit of a creep herding Mike Wheeler into the Wheeler basement with Robin following at his feels, but it was for the greater good.

A few days before when he and Steve were out for lunch, he'd told Steve that Mike and Will have been acting weird. He had initially been concerned that perhaps Mike was feeling homophobic things and was prepared to sit down and educate the guy into submission. Mike had been 'aghast,' in Dustin's words, at the concept that he could ever be against anything about Will. He had taken the list of cool gay people that Dustin had offered.

The idea that the tension was so huge it was becoming obvious enough that Dustin had picked up on them had the two young adults accelerating their plan.

"You gonna tell me why you're holding me captive in my own basement?" Mike says with bite in his voice.

"We're not holding you captive." Steve says with an eye roll. "Sit." He says, gesturing at the couch as he goes to grab one of the folding chairs the twerps use for DnD for himself. The sets them up directly facing the kid.

"We just wanted to talk to you." Robin says gently.

“Haven’t I talked to you both enough recently?” Mike says with his nose scrunched and lip pulled back.

“Nope.” Robin and Steve say at the same time as they sit. He gives them an unimpressed half glare.

“How have things been going?” Robin continues. “Like with your friends?”

The dark haired boy groans, tipping his head back so it hits the headrest of the couch. “Jesus Christ, is this about how Dustin thinks I’m homophobic? I’m not.”

“We know you’re not.” Robin says right as Steve says “He thought that for like five minutes and you proved him wrong, anyway.”

Mike narrows his eyes at them. “So then whats wrong? What did I do?”

Since a few months into their friendship, they’ve had a habit of speaking together. Sometimes the same words perfectly in sync somehow, or just tackling half of what they’ve got to say each. So, again at the same time, Robin says “You didn’t do anything wrong” and Steve says “You’re not in trouble.”

Which, they were definitely trying to settle Mike’s nerves but they clearly haven’t as his shoulders visibly raise with tension. Though he’s twice as tall and broad as he was when Steve first met him, and he’s grown into his features in a way that is starting to push his looks from boy to man, he looks so much younger right now. They’ve clearly dodged around the point long enough based on the way his fists are clenching. Robin gently continues. “We want to talk to you about you and Will.”

He crosses his arms. "What about Will and I?"

They'd decided before that they absolutely would not tell Mike about Will's feelings for him. That was Will's secret to spill if (please) and when (dear god soon please) that secret was revealed to anyone, but especially not the middlest Wheeler. The young artist wasn't going to budge anytime soon. This was their only paths, and dodging around the issue isn't getting them anywhere. Steve decides to just put the kid out of his misery and go right for the direct path.. "Are you aware that you've been flirting with him?"

If he weren't practically ghostly white already, he would have paled. "Wh-what? I don- I'm not- f-fl- no." The kid stammers, trailing off and averting his eyes. He looks like he wants to get up and run but can't manage the strength or coordination enough to just stand.

"Hey." Steve says with enough force that it snaps Mike out of his babbling. "It's okay if you are. And obviously you're safe to us, we're literally a lesbian and an ally." He says, gesturing to Robin and then himself.

Robin balks at him. "Steve, you have a boyfriend. You're not an ally anymore."

"Oh yeah." Steve says, resisting the force inside of him that wants to trail off dreamily with the thoughts of his and Eddie's three week anniversary at his apartment the other day. "Lesbian and a half-gay guy."

"Bisexual." Robin corrects.

"That's what I said." He says, waving a hand at her.

"Anyway." Robin says, clasping her hands together in her lap and turning back towards the boy who had confusion largely overtaking the distress in his body. "What Steve means to say, is that we have become aware of some subtle things that point towards you doing and saying some things to Will that are maybe coming across as flirting. We would like to know if you are or not." His mouth opens and shuts, twitching in an effort to find the words as his eyes dart back and forth between the young adults. "Mike, are you flirting with will on purpose?"

Finally, after a solid thirty seconds of silence, the words he settles on are "So what if I am?" said oh so softly.

He and Robin try not to make their simultaneous sighs of relief too obvious and he honestly doesn't think they completely fail. "Then that would be okay. But there's different reasons people flirt, right?"

"We know it's not cause you're making fun of him. We know it's nothing meanspirited or whatever." Steve quickly interjects, wanting to nip that in the bud before Mike goes back to assuming he's being accused of being mean.

Robin smiles at him in the way he's aware means 'thank you.' "Some people flirt with their friends just cause it's fun and feels nice. Doesn't always have to mean something." She posits. But then, she leans forward in her chair, bony elbows on her knees. She manages to make it not look intimidating or awkward. "But I don't think that's what's going on, is it?"

Mike lowers his gaze to his hands, where he's picking at his cuticle. He shakes his head. When Will had pulled him aside hardly two months ago, Steve had channeled his history of captain speeches and pep talks. He takes a different approach this time. Voice gentle, "You're flirting with him cause you like him, right?"

The younger boy still doesn't look at them as he gives a shaky nod. Steve and Robin gave each other a look that married their excitement and apprehension. Mike huffs. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

"Like what? Steve Robin asks with concern.

Thick dark brows furrow on pale skin. Words tumble out of his mouth at a rate that almost rivals Robin when she goes off on a tangent on wind insrtument rankings. "We were supposed to be best friends and grow up and marry women and be each other's best man at our weddings. It was supposed to be easy and normal but now-" He cuts himself off, sidetracking to "Obviously there's nothing wrong with him not marrying a woman."

"We know you're not homophobic, Mike." Steve comforts. It at least earns him an upward tilt of Mike's lip that lasts hardly a quarter of a second.

"I guess when he came out out, it's like I had a realization that I might not always get to be the guy he's closest to, you know? And I got, like, so mad when I thought about it." It seems that once the lid was taken off of it, everything Mike has shoved inside this box in his brain is all tumbling out his mouth at once. It's got to be such a terrifying relief. "At first I was thinking I was just best friend jealous at his hypothetical boyfriend, right? He'd be like some pretentious guy with flowing prince hair he meets at art school or a gay bar or whatever else in New York and he's not gonna get Will like I do but Will would still want to be around him alone than me, right? But then I realized it- I wasn't thinking friend thoughts. Or at least not just friend thoughts cause he's still my friend but nothing about it makes sense anymore because all of a sudden I'm mad because I want him to be kissing me instead of his stupid hot hypothetical boyfriend."

"Okay." Robin puts her hands up at him like she's trying to approach a scared snarling stray dog. "There's nothing wrong with any of those thoughts, you know that, right?"

Mike shrugs, worrying at his cuticle again. If he keeps going he's probably gonna rip it till it bubbles with blood. He'd rather not have grab from the pack of tissues he keeps in his back pocket for Robin's random nosebleeds. "It's easier to get that the gay thing is fine seeing Will. How could anything about him be bad, you know? But also, seeing how good everyone is being to him about it helps. I hope that, like, if I were gay and came out to them, it would probably be fine."

"Hate to tell ya, kid. But having a crush on a boy does mean you're kind of gay." Steve consoles. "Doesn't mean you've always only ever been gay, but you're definitely at least gay for Will."

The boy sighs and runs his hand through his dark hair. Under his breath, Steve is pretty sure he hears him say something like 'I can't believe I'm coming out to fucking Harrington.' "Yeah. I mean, yeah. The more I think about it, I don't know if I was ever even in love with El. I love her, obviously. But not like this. Never as intense as this. I'm pretty sure," He huffs a breath of air out. "I'm definitely in love with him. I can't figure out when it started, but it's been there for awhile."

From his peripheral vision, he can see Robin containing herself from an audible 'aw.' Instead she says. "I'm glad you've been able to start figuring this out. Any idea what you want to do about it?"

Mike wrinkles his nose. "Stew until either this feeling goes away or Will gets a serious boyfriend?" Both young adults send him a twin disapproving look. "Well what am I supposed to do?"

"You could always tell him how you feel." Robin offers gently but pointedly.

It earns them a disapproving look right back along with a scoff. "No way, get real."

"Why not?" Steve says, almost offended. They're being so incredibly real.

Mike rolls his eyes. "Why would I tell him when I know it would only ruin things. He'd never want me back like that." Which does make Steve feel like he's going to implode at the backlog of moments since Will confessed his crush to them where the brown haired boy sighed fancifully as he talked about this lanky asshole. How embarrassed the shorter boy had been when he let them look through his sketchbook, finding it full of extremely well detailed etchings of the teenage wheeler. "And even if he did, he shouldn't. I mean, I was such a shitty boyfriend to El, he had to make up a stupid story about this painting so I could man the fuck up and be better to her. I was a bad boyfriend to her, and I was a bad friend to him, too. He deserves someone who's good just because. Not someone like me, who always fucks up and says the wrong thing like I do."

Steve and Robin were familar with the concept of the painting. Will had told them about it when he'd been at the station as the afternoon faded to the evening, when they'd let the boy have a single beer since Steve was driving him home later anyway. The younger boy sounded mournful as he told the story of making that painting and then the turmoil of what followed. How aparently the painting still hung on Mike's wall. So forgive Steve if he stands up with a huff from his chair and puts his hand on his hip. "Well that's a load of bull."

"Excuse me?" Mike says with his eyebrows raised and tone pissed off.

"Yes, you have been a dick before. You've said some fucked up stuff. You've made some shitty choices. So what? I know you've apologized and I know you've apologized, and obviously you're trying to be better. Just because you've fucked up before, that doesn't mean you're stuck like that forever. I mean, look at me. Robin or Steve would have been fucking idiots to give me a chance anytime before I was a junior."

Robin leans back in her chair, looking up at Steve with approval. "Where as now, he's literally the best, both boyfriend wise and best friend wise."

Steve smiles down at her. He still isn't really sure how be became worthy of all her praise, but he's doing what he can to keep earning it. "It's not really up to you to decide if you're good enough for him. If he did give you a chance, what would you do?"

"Anything." Mike says, no hesitation. "Anything he needs or wants. Anything I could."

"Why?"

For all his focus on how he's always said the wrong thing, Mike has no problem as words flow from his mouth now. "Because he deserves it all. He's so kind and smart brave and selfless. He's always been the best of us, even when he's been dealt the worst hand. He's always been a natural artist, but he still pushes himself to keep getting better. And, I mean, obviously he's beautiful, anyone can see that. But the inside is even better than the outside. He's just- he's Will. He deserves to get everything he wants and more."

"Okay." Steve says, sitting back down. "So do it."

His wide mouth gapes at them like a fish. "How?"

Steve grins at him. "I've got an idea."

"This is a stupid idea." Mike says, outside in the unmaintained field behind the Squawk.

The air was cold that night in early February. Almost all of the snow has melted away with some small piles remaining. It left everything a little extra damp and dingy. Still, it wasn't bad enough outside yet for them to bring their activities inside."Come on, at least give it a shot." Steve says, broadsword in hand. His hair was perfectly windswept as he gives Wheeler one of his customary bitchy looks.

The weapon had once belonged to the Hawkins High School drama department, last used in the 1985 production of Othello where they had a boy who was 'really Italian' playing the titular role. When things all went to shit and the town caved in, Robin had swiped it from the school after her third shift volunteering. She had wanted a weapon. It was a stupid choice, both because it was dull and impractical as shit. The thing had lived under her bed ever since. She'd also grabbed a fake knife, one where the plastic blade (too thick to look real from closer than ten feet away) sinks into the hilt; though that was taken for comedy purposes rather than deranged survivalist instincts.

Now, Robin leans against the hood of Steve's car as Steve is in a solid stance with the blade at the ready. Five feet away from him is Mike, slouching with the baseball bat he's lazily holding digging into the dirt. "I don't understand how this is supposed to make him want to date me."

Obviously, they weren't going to tell Mike that there was absolutely no worries there. Will very much wanted to date him, he just didn't believe that he possibly could and have it work out in his favour. They are having to come at it from a different, but still true, perspective. "I've told you, Will likely does not see you as an option right now. You need to do something that throws off how he thinks about you, then you can make a move."

"And how exactly is spinning a sword supposed to do that?" Mike asks incredulously.

Steve rolls his eyes in a near perfect circle, a trait she's almost jealous about just because of how dramatic he makes it look. "Will's a nerd and this is the type of shit nerds think is sexy. Do it in front of him and while his jaw is on the floor you're complimenting him and asking him out and then bing bang boom you've got a boyfriend.

The look Mike sends over to Robin is clearly a 'are you kidding?' type look. She does not accept it. "I'd listen to him if I were you. His advice is like seventy percent of how I landed Vickie."

Steve scoffs. "I coached but you played, it was fifty-fifty, Rob."

Which is needlesly adorable of him to say but she continues. "He's right, you've just gotta do something that makes him consider you in a new light and that will be easier if he's dazed by hotness."

They hear the door to the building open and shut twenty feet behind them as Mike says "There's no way spinning a sword has that power."

"How's it going out here, sweetheart?" Eddie asks as he approaches them with a smile. He'd been inside, preparing for his guest appearance on the broadcast the next day. He was using his position as officially innocent in the slightly less shitty version of Hawkins they now lived in to give Robin and the town a metal education.

Steve shoots Mike a wicked grin and then looks back to his boyfriend. "Watch this, babe!"

The former jock and monster killer extraordinaire does a flawless underhand spin of the sword, punctuating it with a cute little toss of a few inches out of his hand just because he's a show off.

Even worse (better?) than expected, Eddie is stumbling over his own feet and barely maintaining a standing position. His mouth hanginggaped and eyes focused on her best friend through it all. When he's finally almost got his composure, his eyes dart to Mike, then Robin, and then back to Steve as he lets out a pained sigh. "It's so fucked up you did that and we can't just leave immediately."

Steve and Robin each hold a hand out in a 'see?' gesture at Eddie. His "What did I tell you?" is matched by her "What did he tell you?"

Mike takes a deep breath and does a tiny shrug. "Point taken. Show me what I'm doing with my hand at the start again." He says now more demanding than requesting.

Steve does give him enough instruction than he can practice with the baseball bat, and then runs inside for a quick 'chat' with Eddie inside. Then, it's back to full force practice.

Mike is for sure good at a lot of stuff. Robin still doesn't know him very well at all outside of world saving purposes, but she's heard a lot of things about him from Will (biased) Dustin (less biased) and Eddie (totally objective but affectionate) in recent weeks. One thing they could probably all agree with was that he was no athlete.

Still, Mike did graduate to practicing with the sword once it had been ten tries without hitting himself in the shin. An hour later, they were all pretty satisfied that he had a 90% chance of nailing it. And as Vickie would say later that night when Robin recounts the afternoon to her, "Even if he fucks it up, then Will is just going to be concerned and want to care for him which can also end up being effectively hot." Which makes perfect sense to Robin, and not just because she's still holding out hope for her girlfriend to bring home her candy striper uniform home for some recreational activities they wouldn't dare try in their stolen moments at the hospital.

The kid oscillates between 'I have to try, this is for Will' and 'dear fucking god this is supposed to be for Will this is such a bad idea.' Still, by the time Nancy comes to pick him up with Holly in the back seat for a 'Wheeler sibling bonding night' to the movie theatre, he almost seems like he's going to follow through with the plan in the coming days.

"Do you think he's actually going to do it?" Asks Steve, taking his place beside her on the hood of his car. Her butt was cold and half numb, but she didn't want to go back inside yet, even as white flakes started to fall from the sky in maybe the last snowfall of the year. For so long the outdoors of Hawkins had a threatening air, it's too peaceful right now to miss.

She shrugs. "I hope so. Will sure as hell won't make the first move, so he'd better."

Steve nods as his eyebrows raise. "If it does work out, we're gonna have to get another hobby."

She hums back. "Our monster killing energy sure did get transferred into matchmaking, didn't it?"

"So what's next? Macrame?"

"Model making?"

"Magic tricks?"

"Marbles?"

"Well we'd better not resort to Monopoly. If Erica finds out, she'll clear out my wallet again."

Robin can't help but snort. She remembers the day fondly, as long as she forgets about her own humiliating defeat in the game. "I still don't know how you let her talk you into using real cash, you're broke."

"I know! She's too good of a negotiator, she could talk anyone into anything." Which is very true. She's relieved the middle schooler is currently using her powers for good. (describe?) Steve taps the hood and then stands, starting to head back towards the station. "Come on, we'd better get inside. We've got hobbies to do."

"Oh yeah?" Robin raises an eyebrow as she moves to follow him. "What are we doing?"

"Back to basics. Movies, Rob. Movies." He says without looking back at her, knowing she'll be caught up within three steps.

"Huh, thought you'd be picking making out considering that little chat with Eddie you had earlier." She says teasingly as she matches his step.

"Huh, good point. New plan, we pick up Vickie, we all watch a movie, and then we all can make out." She wordlessly wrinkles his nose. "Ew. No." He practically gags. "I was so confused when I thought I was into you like that, I'd rather kiss an old trout than you or Vic."

She cackles loudly and unashamed. "Feeling's mutual, Stevie. We take it back to your place so you boys can take your room and we get the couch." He goes to open his mouth "And yes obviously we put on music when the movie's over but Eddie does not get to pick this time."

He shrugs. "Fair enough, but you can't let Vic play an entire Kenny Rogers tape again."

"So is our next group activity going to be makeout mix-tape making, then?"

Valentines day had always been one of Steve's favourite holidays. As a middle schooler, that meant half the girls in his class giving him candies or handmade cards and then picking one or two of them to kiss on the cheek behind the gym. In high school it started to mean making out and sex, which he was also a fan of. When he was with Nancy, he'd done his best to spoil the fuck out of her. He'd picked her up for school with a huge bouquet of flowers, had chocolates for her at lunch, and then a whole evening of cheesy romance which she'd taken on with a stiff grin. He'd tried to sit down and write her a poem, but after three hours and a notebook worth of paper crumpled on the floor, he'd given up and grabbed a card from Melvard's.

His first Valentines say as a single loser a few months after she dumped him was spent at the Henderson house on the couch with Dustin while Claudia went out with a guy from her office. He and the kid watched movies and ate junk food, and honestly it had worked out to be a pretty fun night even if he was feeling like a sad sorry sack.

Now, he was still feeling absolutely blissed out the day after his first Valentines with Eddie. Steve had always been in charge of engineering romance. They couldn't really go out together, it just felt too obvious. But he had Eddie over and cooked him a nice dinner. Roses were out of his budget, but he'd still managed a small bouquet of some darker coloured flowers that contrasted completely with the blush on Eddie's cheek as he'd stammered his thank you.

To his surprise, after dinner was done, Eddie had to run back down to his van and came back up with his guitar. Steve had never been serenaded, let alone with a song written just for him. He was almost more overjoyed a few hours later when, tangled up in the sheets of Steve's bed, Eddie let him know that he'd recorded a tape for him of the song already. It hadn't left his Walkman since.

Robin had a similarly magical night, leaving her in a similar state as Steve. She'd been playing plenty of ooey gooey love songs on their broadcast all week and was showing no signs of letting up that Monday morning.

Things in Hawkins were…he hesitates to say good because that feels like a jinx, but it does feel accurate. Still, there was endless construction. The church still had people always ready to be loud and wrong, though far less of them now. And he still thought he saw a demo-whatever out of the corner of his eye every now and then. But overall, it was good. Like for the first time since 1983, they could all breathe.

He's not sure if it would be better or worse without the yells of their gaggle of teenagers Eddie dropped on them, since they'd had the day off school for Presidents day immediately as their broadcast ended. There's definitely worse things to deal with than loud laughter and chips spilled on the floor.

Only El, Will, and Max were allowed to go through their shelves of records. El and Will because they're polite and gentle. Max because there was no way she'd let them get away with telling her no. The rest of them just got to sit around and enjoy.

An hour or so after the kids arrived, after Steve finishes helping Lucas mop up the can of Sprite that had tipped over onto the couch, he spies Will and Mike in the corner of the basement It had been almost two weeks since the sword spinning lesson, and neither he nor Robin had been able to get either of the teenagers alone to talk. Dustin hadn't even been helpful as he'd tried to gently press for details, only saying "Yeah everyone is chill again" which gave them absolutely nothing.

But now, there they were heads leaning in close and body language relaxed. Steve moves to make eye contact with Robin from across the room, only to find she's already looking at him with her eyebrows raised. She looks to the boys and then back at Steve as if to say 'are you seeing this?' He responds with his eyes that he sure as shit is.

Will says something quiet, and then bumps his elbow against Mike, tilting his head up towards the stairs. The shorter boy grins and nods, then walks towards the stairs. By the time they start walking upstairs, Mike's hand has gone from hovering at the small of Will's back to making full hand to back contact. This time when he looks to Robin, her eyes are absolutely bugging out.

None of the kids notice that two of their members had disappeared. After a brief silent conversation, both Steve and Robin say that they'll be right back. "Drinks." Says Robin.

"Yup, we need more drinks." Confirms Steve with a nod.

Lucas asks them to grab him a Coke, which thankfully evolves into Dustin and Max both wrinkling their noses at him and starting off their tangents about how the new Coke is still shit. It provides the perfect cover for them to silently scramble upstairs.

The two teenage boys aren't immediately visible on the main level. Steve is about to whisper asking if they should check outside when Robin slaps her hand over his mouth and points at their recording booth where just the sleeve of Mike's blue shirt can be seen peaking out from behind a shelf of records. With all the skill of people who have snuck past demogorgons more than a few times, they approach the open door of the booth.

Mike has the shorter boy pressed up against the shelves, one hand craddling his neck and the other slid into the back pocket of Will's jeans. In the twelve seconds they watch for, it seems tanned hands can't decide where to settle on Mike as they dart from his shoulders to his hair to fisting his shirt. But no matter how indecisive his hands are, his lips are more than content to keep up their movement against Mike's.

One could argue that it was a little creepy for them to just stare at them as the teenagers made out, but rather than leering he and Robin are bubbling over with excitement and pride as this did truly feel like their accomplishment in a way. Plus, they wouldn't just be standing there so long if the boys weren't completely oblivious to the world around him.

As he grins like a kid on Christmas morning with parents who loved and know him, he raises an eyebrow at Robin who is practically vibrating in an unspoken question of 'do you want to do the honours?' She nods, takes a breath, and says "Well it's about damn time!"

The younger two separate with a gasp, though Mike only takes a half step back and takes his hand on Will's rear; he one tenderly placed on his neck remains. Both start trying to say a whole lot of words, but they only come out as disjointed attempts at sentences. They look startled, but it's a relief to see not even a drop of fear in their eyes though their cheeks flush red. Steve keeps the smile on his face as he says "We were getting worried you'd never sort your shit out."

Will puts his hand on Mike's chest to push him back just enough that he's no longer pressed into the shelves and can face the older pair. Mike scoffs as he steps back "Come on, I would have done it eventually without you guys."

Robin's tone is teasing as she says "You sure about that, Wheeler?"

The shorter boy's eyebrows knit together in confusion "Wait, they talked to you about me?"

Mike looks sheepish, shoulders shrugging. "They kind of figured out I was into you." He says as a statement though the raising pitch of his voice has it coming out as more of a question. "Steve taught me the sword move." Will's brown eyes dart between the three individuals a few times before his own smile starts to grow and he bubbles over with laughter. "What? What's so funny?"

Will finally manages to calm his breaths, wiping away a bit of moisture at his eye. "I told them I had a hopeless crush on you months ago."

Mike has a lot of nerve to look pissed off at the older two "Wait, seriously? Why didn't you tell me that before?"'

To which Steve scoffs and Robin says "Bro code."

The lanky dark haired kid spouts of a typical string of curses, but Will just smiles softly at him. "I didn't want to tell you cause I thought I'd ruin everything, and I probably would have freaked out if I knew they'd told you about my feelings. Like, I don't even know if I would have known you were being genuine or if you were just asking me out cause you felt bad or something."

Mike looks at him affronted. "I'd never do that."

Will grins back. "Well I know that now. But besides," He puts his hand on Mike's shoulder, stroking his thumb up and down. "Your nerves kind of made it more romantic."

Though they'd returned to their normal colour, Mike's pale cheeks go back to a burning red. This time it's accompanied by a soft look. "Oh. Well, I guess that's, you know, understandable or whatever. That you two kept your conniving mouths shut."

When Robin extends her hand for a fist bump, Steve meets it. "Since you're forever in our debt for this," she says, "It's only fair that you tell us how the whole thing actually went."

The two teenagers have matching dopey smiles. Mike apparently did nail the sword spin, and it did leave Will blushing and stammering as planned. Then he of course proceeded to drop the thing on his foot, and as he was doubled over in pain and the shorter boy rushed to see if he was okay Mike spilled "Hey do you want to go out with me sometime? Not in a friend way, in like a romantic gay way." It was nowhere near as smooth as Steve planned it, but it worked.

Steve wants to ask about their first date, and he knows Robin wants to know who kissed who first. But, they'd already been up there a fair few minutes. Definitely more than long enough to have grabbed drinks. So instead of demanding all the juicy details (which he for sure will be doing later) he says "We should probably all get back down there."

Will nods, pulling his hand reluctantly away from Mike and leaning away like he's preparing himself to be under watchful eyes. It makes Steve's forehead crinkle. "Have you, you know, told anyone else that you're together?"

Mike nods, less ready to stop touching his boyfriend. "Will told Jonathan and El. Mom and Nancy know, too."

Steve wants to ask how that went. He's sure Nance was completely cool with it, probably teased him affectionately in a way that could almost come across as a little mean but was actually Wheeler speak for 'I'm proud of you and I love you.' Robin for sure desperately hopes that his mom accepted it easily, is sure she would considering what that bad ass lady was ready to sacrifice for her kids well being and happiness. Instead of asking about that, he asks "Have you told your friends?"

The boys shake their heads. "Do you want to?" asks Robin gently.

Will, a still shy shadow of the boy who had been terrified to tell anyone about himself for so many years. Who needed to tell Steve first to give him the courage. "It's probably easiest if we just continue to keep it a secret for now."

This time, it's Mike who asks "But do you want to?" in the sweet tone he's been using to speak to Will for years.

The shorter boy shrugs sheepishly. "I mean, yeah. I want to. But we don't have to rush it, I know it's all new to you."

Mike pulls his boyfriend towards him by the sleeve of his sunflower yellow t-shirt and settles an arm around him. "If you're ready, I'm ready."

Wide brown eyes blink up at him, voice soft as he says "You're sure?"

He nods with a smile. "Yeah. I mean, not gonna lie, figuring out I'm some type of gay totally threw me for a loop, but the being in love with you for ages made sense right away." Beside him, Steve hears Robin's soft awe. "Besides, if they know about it then that gives me way more opportunity to, like, hold your hand and stuff. If you want, we can just go do it right now."

Steve and Robin are desperately trying not to ruin the moment, so they're holding back their urges to slap their hands blindly at each other until they're in a firm side hug. They instead stand so still, the effort almost has them vibrating as they make bug eyes back and forth between the lovebirds and each other. Will blushes. "Oh." He blinks rapidly a few times. "Yeah. If you're sure, yeah. We can do that."

Mike flashes a megawatt smile. "Great, then let's go."

The two boys begin their descent back towards their friends. Robin and Steve scrambling after them, barely remembering to make a pit stop at the fridge for a bottle of Pepsi because Steve was raised to be a good host. By the time they're halfway down the stairs, Mike and Will are already standing in front of their friends. The taller of the pair clears his throat awkwardly. "Hey, uh, guys. We've got something to tell you."

The radio show host and her producer and her producer stand silently at the bottom of the stairs. Mike licks his lips and looks down at Will, giving him a nod. Will's pleased smile is visible from his side profile as he looks at their friends and says "Mike and I are together."

Lucas grins ear to ear. Beside him, Max has a small smile, which switches to a quick glare at her own boyfriend, and then back to a smile at the young couple. El looks like how she does in the moments after she's won a card game. Dustin stares at them confused, bless his big science brain.

Steve can Mike's skinny shoulders sag in a sigh of relief and then raise back up to a confident posture. "Romantically. Like," He's never described anything Mike has done as adorable. In discussions with Robin over this pair he has used the words nice, sweet, and (?), yes. But adorable? Never. The lanky weirdo didn't seem capabe of the concept. And yet, when he links his fingers with Will's and says "as boyfriends" the word fits too well.

Now, he isn't worried about standing perfectly still and ruining a moment because he knows he couldn't possibly distract. He throws an arm around Robin right as she reaches for him.

The second it clicks for Dustin, he bounces up with arms extended. "That's great! That's awesome guys!" He wraps his two friends in a hug. Lucas and El stand to to the same, though El gives an extra hug to her brother. Max waits impatiently in the back on the couch, and once he's free she brings Will in for a hug. Mike raises an eyebrow and brings his arms out in a question, to which she replies "Don't touch me, Wheeler."

A few minutes later as the boys are made to spill the spill the details of the relationship origin, he does see Max extend a fist to him which Mike bumps with a goofy grin. She rolls her eyes, but she doesn't even try to hold back her joyful expression.

The topic didn't stay focused on the young couple for too long after that, there was just too much for them to be excited by in a world where they had already prevented the apocalypse. Their upcoming nerd campaigns, El's progress on learning the drums, the trip to Indianapolis they were trying (and succeeding) in convincing Steve to drive them for. By the time Jonathan arrives to pick up Will, Mike, and El no one is even acknowledging that in the past hour, the two boys haven't let go of each other's hands for longer than thirty seconds

He and Jonathan were on better terms these days. Steve doesn't think they'll ever be good friends or anything, but he trusts and respects the guy more than enough even if he is fun to fuck with. The sleepy teenagers get in car, but Jonathan hangs back and gives Steve a tiny almost smile. "So I'm guessing they told everyone?" Steve nods. "How'd it go?"

"Good, everyone was happy for them. I'm glad they finally figured their shit out."

Jonathan puffs air out of his nose in what could almost be labelled as a laugh. "Right? I've been kind of waiting for this for years" He says, looking back at the car containing the twerps with a fond gaze.

Steve makes a pained 'oof' sound. "Rob and I only figured it out a few months ago. That must have been fucking agony, dude."

This time, Jonathan's smile is real "That's an understatement." He says, calling Steve dude at the end in a mocking tone that has Steve grinning.

"Mike's a punk and kind of shit with feelings, but he'll be good to him."

The older Byers boy nods. "Yeah, they'll be good." He gives Steve an awkward but friendly clap on the shoulder. "Thanks for looking out for them." And he darts off to his car, driving the young boyfriends and the girl with a whole life ahead of her off into the peaceful night.

Later that evening, after Dustin has already been dropped off at home, it's just Lucas and Max in the back seat of his kind of shitty but fully functional car. Robin is asleep in the passenger seat, head and neck somehow perfectly straight against the headrest. In the back, Max too is asleep against her boyfriend's shoulder.

"So, I saw Max give you some cash. What was the bet this time?" Steve asks.

He'd been witness to many of the young couple's bets. (list examples) Typically, it was Max who came up victorious. Lucas' lip twitches up in a sleepy smile. "We both kind of figured something was going on between them. She bet that whatever it was, it would come out on accident. I said they'd tell everyone on purpose."

He tries to force down his smile, but figures it's fine since he's looking at the road so Lucas won't see anything. "Sounds like you really know your friends."

Steve neglects to tell anyone about what came before the confession. Lucas deserves the win, since he's right as far as they know. Besides, he'll probably just use the cash to take Max for milkshakes or a movie.

For a place that was mostly just a creepy cabin to her up until recently, the area outside Hopper's cabin was a beautiful place for everyone to gather in the early spring air. Hop was manning the grill, grinning under his moustache. Joyce, Karen, and Steve are bringing out side dish after side dish to the folding table that sat on one of the most even spots of ground. Everyone was scattered around on lawn chairs, blankets, and towels. El is currently in charge of music, so they're enjoying her mixtape which transcends genre, a mash of bubble gum pop, metal, and a single opera song. She's not been able to identify whose influence has caused that last addition to her musical palate, but Robin is excited for her to keep listening to new things.

This was the first time since it all went down that absolutely everyone was able to be in the same space together. They'd gathered in smaller groups many times, but this time Mr. Clarke and all of the kids had been able to come. Argyle had even been able to hop on a plane and visit for the first time since the fence that had forced him out were torn down. His hair was somehow even longer than the last time they'd seen him, the stuff shaking behind him at whatever Jonathan just said. Robin thought she might never get over how much of a relief it was to be around people she didn't have to pretend around, not even one bit.

Karen had pulled her and Steve aside almost immediately after they'd arrived. In the first couple months after the Upside Down ceased to exist, she had looked understandably exhausted. Had worn high necked sweaters and turtlenecks, and when her children weren't looking she had fear in her eyes. Not of them, of what had happened to them.

Now, the woman wore a floral dress with a neckline that scooped down a few inches past her collar bones. Her wounds seemed to have healed nicely, though Robin could see they were still inflamed, mottled red and pink. In time, they'd settle down the way the marks on Steve's abdomen had. But for now, Robin was glad she wasn't so afraid of their visibility. She was too much of a glamorous, vibrant woman to hide herself.

There was a lightness to her that came from more than the nakedness of her ring finger as she took a hand each of the young adults in hand as she thanked them both profusely for what they had done for her children, for the town, when they'd had no obligation to do so. Steve tried to shrug it off, saying it was no sweat. Karen corrected him, saying it was a lot of sweat, actually. That she could never really communicate how grateful she was to them.

Her two older children have apparently been telling her more and more about it all, now that the horror wasn't quite so fresh. She'd been doing her best to take it in stride, and she was just glad that none of them had had to go through any of this alone. Emphasizes that she could never repay them for all they had done, though they assured her that she didn't need to.

Once she was done thanking them for that. Her smile was a little more awkward as she said "You know, Mike has also told me about how you both helped him and Will figure some things out. I'm glad they have you two to talk to. And I'm sure it's nice for them to see you and, erm, you and your partners so happy together. If there's anything I've learned from all of this, kind people like you deserve all the happiness you can get."

Both Robin and Steve had to take a lap around the property to blink back tears before they could rejoin the rest of the group.

Once food was served in a chaotic flurry of teenage boys trying to grab enough to fill their bottomless stomachs and everyone else groaning at them to save some for the rest of them, they settled wherever they could find a place to sit.

Vickie was currently engrossed in a conversation with Mr Clarke and Dustin. While Robin was language brained, her gorgeous stunning wonderful girlfriend excelled in the sciences. Whatever it was they were talking about, Vickie's eyes were bright. So enthralled in the discussion that she hadn't touched any of the food on her plate while Dustin's own was half empty.

Eddie was currently standing stock straight while Hopper talked to him about who knows what, his uncle clearly trying to hide his wry smile behind his moustache.

Steve plopped himself down on the front porch step of the cabin, keeping a firm hold on his plate so his burger and various types of salads stayed in place. "So, what do you think?" Robin hummed in question, for once not knowing what he was talking about. "World is saved and we finally got these two's heads out of their asses." He says, jutting his chin out at where Mike and Will sat with their sides flush together on the bench, the taller boy currently bearing an offended look at whatever Max just said as Will laughs softly. "What the hell else are we supposed to do in our free time now?"

She shrugs. "No clue." She sat there thoughtfully for a second and Steve shoved a forkful of Karen's macaroni salad. It was incredible, Robin had already finished hers. She wondered if asking for it would be weird for her to ask for semi-regular bowls of the stuff as repayment for helping save her youngest from Henry's wack ass prison. "Honestly, I think we just get to…be. For now. Relax. Breathe."

Steve nodded. "Just be."

They locked eyes, and then simultaneously burst into laughter. They both knew that they were hardly capable of relaxing for more than two hours at a time before they got terribly bored.

Once their breaths have calmed, she looks out at the group of people who all had their mismatched lives thrown together so unexpectedly. "I don't know." Robin says. She looks out and sees the youngest of their group running around in a game of tag, plates finished. Nancy with her arm around her mom's shoulders while her mom holds her around the waist, smiles bright on both their faces. Sees the two young boyfriends holding hands, Mike using it to his advantage to kiss the back of Will's hand in an act that makes the boy blush. Looks over at the girlfriend who she gets to love openly here, see how relaxed she is. At Eddie, who is currently giving Erica a piggyback ride while she laughs joyously. At everyone who had thought, for one reason or another, that they would not survive this; seeing them as they thrive. Then, finally, she looks back to the man for whom the words 'platonic soulmate' only scratch the surface of how she feels for him. "Whatever we do, we've got time to figure it out."

Steve's smile is soft and warm as he gazes back at her, bumping his shoulder into hers affectionately. "Yeah. We've got plenty of time."