Steve knew that look on his mother's face. It was time for the long overdue conversation about everything that had been going on in Hawkins. The house was finally devoid of people except for Eddie and Wayne, even Robin having gone home, and Steve wasn't sure if Wayne and his mom had conspired, but he had spotted Wayne and Eddie sitting in the backyard looking like they were having a serious conversation.

"You want to talk," he said.

"If that's alright with you," his mom replied. "I would like to understand all this from your point of view before I even attempt to explain it to your father. I still cannot believe they would not let you tell us."

"National security I guess," he said. "Grab a chair, this might take a while."

His mother came over and sat down at the kitchen table next to him. He'd originally been looking for Eddie but had rerouted to having a coffee and a snack when he'd spotted his boyfriend was with his uncle.

"What do you want to know?" he asked, taking a sip of his drink to cover the nervousness that was fizzing through his stomach.

His mom frowned for a moment and then sighed quietly.

"Everything?" she asked. "How did you become involved in all this?"

Steve took a deep breath.

"Well, I found out what was going on when I went over to the Byers house to apologise," he replied, "but it really all began for me when I invited Nancy over for a small party with Tommy and Carol when you and Dad were out of town, and she brought her friend Barb."

"The girl killed by the chemical spill?" his mom asked.

He nodded.

"Only not a chemical spill, a Demogorgon, and she was taken from our pool," he replied. "It took her into the Upside Down and killed her." He paused, not sure he wanted to say what was in his head. "It's possible it was really here for me," he eventually admitted.

His mom put her hand to her mouth.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because of what I can do," he replied. "We have a theory that Will was taken because of his latent abilities, so he was useful to Vecna who was controlling the hive mind. It's possible he sent the monster for me too, but it found Barb instead."

"Oh, darling," his mom said, reaching out to place a hand over his on the table. "You do know it's not your fault though?"

He gave a small sad smile at that.

"So I have been told by both Robin and Eddie," he replied.

"Well, they are both right," his mom told him firmly.

He nodded, because it was easier than going into the guilt he still felt. No matter what logic said he was probably always going to feel it because, whichever way he looked at it, Barb had been there because of him.

"Jonathan and Nancy worked out what had happened," he went on, glossing over the how, "and they were trying to find Will. I went to the Byers and a Demogorgon invaded and I helped out with Jonathan's nail studded baseball bat. After that there was no going back."

He continued to explain everything he remembered and everything he had learned from the others as his mom put in the odd question, and he did start to feel strangely lighter for being able to tell everything from his point of view. His mom had held his hand hard when he explained about Billy Hargrove and the plate, but she didn't stop him as he kept talking. Then they got to the part about Starcourt.

"So, you ended up in a Russian base beneath the new mall?" his mom asked, tone rather higher than her usual speaking voice.

He nodded.

"How did you get out again?" his mom said.

"Well, we found where the Russians actually were, and I managed to take out the Russian soldier with a phone. First fight with a human I have ever won. But then he got away from us," he explained. "So, we ran and Robin and I held a door for as long as we could against a hoard of Russian soldiers so Dustin and Erica could get away."

"You were caught?" his mom asked, her expression full of horror.

"Yeah," he admitted. "But Dustin came back and got us out, and we got back up to the mall."

His mother gave him a look.

"Steven," she said, "I have known your tells since you were a toddler. What did you just miss out?"

He looked down at his fingers, picking as his nail as he took a few settling breaths. His hands were shaking ever so slightly, but he couldn't stop it.

"They thought we were spies," he said quietly. "They wanted to know who we worked for. I couldn't let them hurt Robin, so I made sure they concentrated on me. I told them the truth, but they didn't believe me."

"Steve," his mom said very gently, taking one of his shaking hands again, "are you telling me you were tortured? I remember the state you were in after the fire, you said something fell on you."

"I wouldn't call it torture exactly," he said, trying to downplay it for her sake. "They hit me."

"Darling," his mom said as he looked up at her through his eyelashes. "They were demanding answers and hitting you. That is the definition of torture."

She reached out, pulling him in and holding him close.

"How did I not see?" she asked herself as Steve did his very best to hold it together.

"I didn't let you," he said quietly.

"But Dustin came back and got you out?" his mom asked eventually, letting him sit back in his chair.

He bit his lip.

"Oh my god," his mom said.

"Dustin did come back, but not until after the Russians dosed me and Robin with some kind of truth serum," he admitted and settled in for the next part of the arduous conversation.

He didn't try and miss anything out after that. He explained about the Mind Flayer, Billy Hargrove, what they had found out happened to Hopper, the Byers leaving, the disaster that was spring break, and the final battle they had eventually won.

"When I woke up, I had no idea I had powers," he admitted. "I healed Robin without even realising and then El called Will and I for help, she was stuck in the Void, and I still thought it was all her. Then I thought I was dreaming once I got home, because I kept seeing Eddie when I went to sleep. But then he was whole and real, and in the pool, and it became kind of obvious something was going on with me."

"Darling," his mom said from where she had moved her chair about as close to him as she could get, "I think, perhaps, you have a knack for self-delusion."

He managed to smile at that.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Will already had it all figured out. It's just, I've never been part of that side of it before. I'm the muscle. I try to make sure the kids don't get themselves killed. I couldn't believe I was anything more."

"Oh, Steve," his mom said, "you've always been more than just the muscle. I've seen how those kids look at you, Darling. You might not think you're special, but they sure as hell do."

"Mom, if we had a yearbook, under my picture it would say 'least likely to have psychic powers'," he countered.

"It's not these new powers that make you special," his mom said simply. "They are extraordinary, but I've always known that about you. They just add to a young man I could not have been prouder of anyway. And we'll probably have to tie your father down when we explain all this to him to stop him doing something silly like trying to tell the whole world how proud he is of you. I know you two have had a bit of a rough patch over the last couple of years, but he has never stopped loving you."

Steve blinked back the tears prickling at the back of his eyes.

"Oh crap," he said, swiping at his cheek as he completely failed, and one rolled free.

He had promised himself he would not cry. However, apparently his emotions had not gotten the message. His mom didn't comment and simply enfolded him in her arms again. He was taller and a lot broader than his mother these days, but as she held him, he felt like a little boy again. A part of his psyche that had been broken for a long time felt like it started to heal.

~*~

"You look kind of shellshocked."

Eddie's voice broke him out of his thoughts, and Steve looked up to see his boyfriend standing in his bedroom doorway. The way Eddie was standing, slightly unsure and fidgety said a lot as well.

"You too," he observed and patted the bed next to where he was sitting.

After talking with his mom, he'd wanted some time alone to process everything. Talking about it had stirred up a lot of feelings he had thought he'd put away. He was pretty sure most of Eddie's trauma was too new to have been packed into the back of his mind, but it was clear they were in similar boats.

"Wayne wanted to know everything," Eddie said quietly, sitting down with something of an exhausted slump.

"Yeah, so did my mom," Steve agreed. "Do you think they conspired?"

"Given with how scarily they seem to be getting on, probably," Eddie replied.

"They're trauma bonded too now," he commented. "I mean it wasn't Upside Down levels of fruit loop shit, but it was enough. I don't think this town is ready for the team up that is my mom and your uncle, but they're gonna be stuck with it."

"Heads will literally explode and no doubt they will blame Wayne or me," Eddie replied, leaning into him.

"Before or after my dad threatens to shoot them?" Steve said, without really meaning to.

Eddie pulled away a little and gave him a look for that.

"My mom is the level-headed member of the family and now that she is friends with Wayne, my dad will be too, and when mom tells him everything, he's gonna get protective," he explained. "You know how I sometimes get a little over excited?"

Eddie hadn't been there for most of his episodes of almost losing it because of lot of that had been to do with the Upside Down, but he'd done it a couple of times at school, so he suspected Eddie might have seen those.

"Like the time the basketball team wrecked the drama room by having an impromptu party and you, a junior at the time, went ballistic on their asses?" Eddie checked, leaning back in.

"Yep," Steve said with a nod. "Well, I get that from my dad. My mom goes cold and logical when she's angry, my dad, not so much. There were a couple of months after I graduated where we mostly yelled at each other if we communicated at all. Mom did her best, but we're both stubborn."

"Well, I was impressed with your explosion that time, even though at the time I never would have admitted it," Eddie said. "That room was spotless after they cleaned up their mess. Someone even glued the arm back on the throne, and I have it on good authority, that was dodgy for years. I thought your mom said your dad was a bad shot?"

"He is," he replied, "but that won't stop him from threatening, even if he doesn't have a gun. When I was in elementary school there was this kid who tried to bully everyone and I stood up to him, gave him a black eye. His dad cornered me one day outside the school and made me cry. My mom had to hide the keys to the lock box with the rifle. I don't actually know what happened in the end, but my dad had bruised knuckles for a while."

Eddie was silent for some time.

"Stevie," Eddie said eventually, "your parents are terrifying, and my dad's in prison, so that's saying something."

"Yeah well, Wayne is pretty terrifying too," he replied. "I am almost as glad I am not on his shit list as I am about not being on Joyce's."

"Wayne's a pussycat," Eddie said.

"Wayne's your family," Steve countered. "You didn't see the looks he was giving me when we went to tell him about you."

"And he is a good shot," Eddie finally agreed. "Always been more of a dad to me than my real one. I still stand by my 'your parents are terrifying' though."

Steve shrugged.

"I keep wondering what would have happened if I'd been allowed to tell them about the Upside Down mess right in the beginning," he confessed. "My mom mentioned therapy after our talk today. Not sure how I feel about it."

"Sorry, not my area. I met a therapist once with the single aim of making sure my dad didn't do worse than neglect me," Eddie said. "Could you even talk to a therapist?"

"Apparently Owens gave my mom some names of therapists with security clearance when she asked," he revealed, "but I'm still not sure I could trust them."

"Yeah, especially with your new powers," Eddie agreed.

"We've always helped each other," he said. "The walkies are there for more than code reds."

"Group therapy then," Eddie said.

"Us against the world," Steve agreed.

"Christ, I wish we had some weed right now," Eddie decided after a few moments silence. "If any situation called for mellowing out, this is it."

"Wonder if weed would have any effect on my healing," Steve mused, because it was better than thinking about the darker thoughts running through the back of his brain. "Come to think of it, wonder if I can get high anymore. I removed the painkillers from Max's system before I healed her injuries and I seem to heal myself mostly instinctively."

"That is ... well ... useful I suppose," Eddie said, "but every man should be allowed to get high once in a while. It's good for the soul."

"Actually, haven't since Starcourt," Steve said quietly. "Kind of afraid I might flashback to Russian thugs and truth serum. Haven't drunk more than a couple of beers either. Thought about it several times, but never done it."

"Sweetheart," Eddie said, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him close, "how the hell are you such a well-adjusted human being?"

He managed a small smile at that.

"It's all a façade," he replied. "I actually have an evil lab in the basement and am planning to take over the world to deal with my Daddy issues."

Eddie's mouth opened in mock shock.

"Was that a comic book reference? Oh my god, Steve 'The Hair' Harrington just made a comic book reference," Eddie teased with a gasp. "Be still my beating heart. Are you a secret nerd?"

Steve gave a loud gasp, because he could be just as dramatic when he wanted to be.

"Take that back," he demanded as if it was the worst insult on the planet.

"Oh, good sir, no offence was meant," Eddie replied, dropping into a terribly exaggerated Southern accent. "Please forgive the impertinence."

For good measure Eddie took his hand, kissing the back of it. Steve's heart swelled. It was silly, but it was so damn adorable, and Eddie would probably kill him if he said that out loud. The talk he had had with Robin all about falling in love, what seemed like an age ago now, popped into his head. There was no denying it anymore, he had it bad. He was very much in love with Eddie Munson.