Steve stood in the darkness doing nothing, just waiting. As it turned out, what Will and El had had planned was practicing communication between them. The fact that he and Will had been able to find El when she was trapped in the Void had caught her attention. Apparently linking up, communicating between them, and combining powers had been something Brenner had been against, except in very controlled circumstances. 

Which made a nasty kind of sense considering the way the man had been intent on controlling his test subjects.

El on the other hand was very enthusiastic about it, now she had others to join her in it.

They'd started off by practicing going into the Void. It was something Steve had only ever done instinctively because of need, but El was a surprisingly good teacher, showing him and Will how she had learned and how her powers had grown. In fact, she was so good at it, literally guiding them with her own powers as they learned the technique, within a couple of hours, both he and Will were slipping in and out without the need for white noise or proper blindfolds.

Once they'd had that down, all three of them sliding out of reality and into the Void at will, they had started more complex things. At first El had gone into the next room and Will and Steve had had to find her in the Void. The first couple of times he and Will had slipped into the Void and had to walk to find El, but then Will had gotten really excited and the next time, they had slipped in right in front of El.

Steve still wasn't one hundred percent sure how that worked, but when he was with Will it was easy. If he was honest, he wasn't clear on if he was helping much or if he was just along for the ride, even when Will explained about how he was focusing on El.

That's why Steve was alone now. He had swapped with El and was playing at being the one to be found. Then afterwards he would swap with Will, and they would try again.

It was actually hard not to try and reach out as he waited. His natural inclination was to try and find the others even if he wasn't sure exactly how to do it. He was staring into the darkness when a thrill of cold lanced up his spine. Only a moment later Will and El ran out of the darkness holding hands.

"Yes I see," El said in a delighted tone. "It is like searching for someone, only Steve feels brighter."

"Exactly," Will replied with a smile.

"I'm still not sure I get that," Steve admitted.

"It is like when I piggybacked into Max's mind," El told him. "I could find her well because I have known her for a long time. I am familiar with the feel of her. With you it is much easier because I feel you more."

"Think of it like people are Christmas lights," Will offered, "but we're a really bright flashlight. Once we know what to look for, we are easy to find for each other."

"I think we can also hide," El said, eyebrows pulling together in a small frown. "I think Papa taught us that before he taught us how to find. I do not know if it was to keep us apart or to protect us."

"After what he did," Steve said, "I'd put money on the first. Can you imagine how powerful all of you could have been if you'd worked together?"

"He did not wish us to be friends," El agreed. "But that is enough about Papa. He is gone and we are learning. We should go out and come back in to see if I can find Steve straight away."

Steve nodded his agreement.

"See you soon," he said and slipped out of the Void.

"Ready, Steve?" El's voice called from the next room.

"Just need a moment," he replied, taking a deep breath and reorientating himself.

El might be used to moving from reality to the Void and back again, but it was still a trial on the sense for him. He wiped his nose, healing the tiny lesion his efforts had caused without really thinking about it.

"Okay," he called back, "going in."

Closing his eyes, he centred himself and let his consciousness shift from one plane to the next. Darkness surrounded him and water splashed under his feet. It felt like only a matter of moments before El and Will appeared directly in front of him. El clapped her hands in delight.

In the end it took El literally taking Steve's hands and showing him what she was talking about for him get the whole flashlight analogy. Where words just hadn't quite made it clear to him, once El directly showed him, it made perfect sense. From there they tried all splitting up, as well as moving further away from each other.

It turned out that when he walked into the woods, leaving Will and El in the house, El could find him easily, but Will struggled if he was on his own. Steve found the same issue, but working together with Will, finding El was not a problem. Of one accord they decided it was probably to do with practice and how much more advanced El was than they were in the use of their powers. While Will seemed to be very good at seeing to the heart of what they were trying to do, some things took more work than others.

Will was already advancing his telekinetic abilities by leaps and bounds. It was just the Void stuff that seemed to need more practice.

It was only when Steve started to develop a headache and realised they had been at it for hours that he gently suggested they call a halt for the day. Healing came naturally to him, the stuff with the Void, not as much, but he couldn't help being a little proud of their achievements. He had to wonder if Brenner had ever realised how much more his subjects could have advanced if he had only allowed them to show each other things directly. El's teaching was remarkable.

~*~

Steve walked into the living room after taking a quick trip to the downstairs bathroom to grab a Tylenol to discover that Eddie had taken over the dining room table in a big way. There were books, notebooks, mini-figures and bits of paper all over it, with Eddie at one end looking like a master craftsman at work.

"Eds, can I get you anything?" he asked as he headed towards the kitchen.

All that came back was an unintelligible, distracted sound. It made Steve smile as Eddie tucked a pen behind his ear and immediately started writing with another one. He had absolutely no doubt his boyfriend was in his element. He was pretty sure he hadn't seen Eddie this relaxed ever before. With a fond shake of his head, he walked towards the kitchen, turning on the oven to preheat as he grabbed ingredients to throw together a casserole that would feed him, Eddie, two hungry teens and Wayne.

He was eyeing some serious carbs since he was beginning to understand more about how using powers affected his metabolism and in turn, Will's and El's. He'd probably already eaten twice his usual calorific intake that day, but his body was telling him he needed more. Given what a busy day it had been, he wasn't about to ignore it.

"Can we help?" El asked, coming through the door with Will as he stuck his head in the refrigerator.

"How are your potato peeling skills?" he asked as he grabbed some ground beef and various vegetables.

"I have been trained from birth," Will replied with a grin. "Do you have a potato peeler or are we wild westing it with a knife?"

"There's one in the second drawer," he said, pointing. "El, you can chop some onions for me if you don't mind."

"Of course not," El said, giving him a big smile.

As he set them all up and they got on with their assigned tasks, he felt content. Their lives were still pretty crazy, but enjoying some simple domesticity made him happy. It made everything feel less complicated for a while.

Once the casserole was in the oven, he set a timer and herded the kids outside to enjoy the unseasonably warm day. It was still spring, but the sun was shining and there was the promise of the warmth of summer in the air. The backyard was bright and inviting and he made himself comfortable on one of the loungers as El and Will wandered off to explore.

It was a really good day.

~*~

"How's it going?" Steve asked, walking up beside Eddie with a bowl of food in his hands.

"Hmm?" was the initial response, before it seemed to dawn on Eddie that he should maybe pay attention because someone was talking to him. "Oh, hey, Stevie," he eventually said, looking up.

"I come bearing sustenance," Steve said, taking a note out of Eddie's dramatic book.

For a second Eddie blinked at him before shaking his head.

"Thank you," Eddie said, "you're an angel. You didn't have to bring it out here, though. If you'd hollered, I would have come into the kitchen."

"I did," Steve replied with a grin, "three times, but don't worry, I get it, you are creating, and I couldn't in good conscience let you starve."

"I do not deserve you," Eddie replied with a smile of his own.

"How is the planning going? I promise not to breathe a word even if Will threatens to paint me in a compromising position," he said.

"I think I have most of it planned out," Eddie replied, the excited light in his eyes, "now I'm just refining things for the players and adding in twists and turns. I keep having to remind myself it's not for the full Hellfire crew. The Cult of Vecna seems so long ago now."

"It's on the other side of the Upside Down," Steve replied. "That can make things feel like another lifetime."

It had only been three years since he had first encountered the Demogorgon, but life before that felt like it had belonged to an entirely different person most of the time. In a way, ever since the final battle, he was a different person because the aftermath had changed even his Upside Down world view.

"I wonder how the guys are doing," Eddie said, eyes going distant for a moment or two.

"Why not invite them to the campaign and find out?" Steve said as the idea occurred to him.

"I'm supposed to be keeping a low profile," Eddie pointed out.

"I know, but you're officially exonerated, and I'm not suggesting you borrow my car and go driving around town so everyone knows you're still kicking, or even pick up the phone," he replied as he thought about it some more, "but we do know the sneakiest bunch of kids in this town. If we run it by them, I'm sure we could come up with a plan."

"We can be really, really sneaky," Will's voice sounded from behind him, and he turned to find Will and El standing on the edge of the living room. "We could even pretend it's a game in Eddie's honour until they get here."

There was a definite crease between Eddie's eyes, but as Steve watched it slowly faded away.

"That could work," Eddie said slowly. "But they're gonna be suspicious of it being here. No offence, Steve, but you're not exactly known for your love of Dungeons and Dragons."

"Just tell them Steve has the best food and everyone wanted to host it somewhere no one would catch on," El suggested with a bright smile. "It might be a good idea to check with my dad first though. He worries."

Steve did his very best not to find that funny because El was being perfectly sincere, but that was probably something of an understatement. He was, however, pretty sure he could talk Hopper into it, and if he failed, he could always sic Dustin on that man.

"You start planning for a full crew and Erica, and we'll deal with the rest," he said. "Now eat up while I go put the leftovers in the oven for when Wayne wakes up."

Eddie looked at the food as if he'd completely forgotten it existed, which was probably a distinct possibility.