Steve was doing his best to make sure everyone had drinks, be it alcohol or something age appropriate, and stay in the background. The last thing he wanted was to be quizzed about his part in everything. The looks he had been getting from the Buckleys were bad enough once Robin had filled them in on the details Owens had left out about Starcourt. He'd also noticed several sets of eyes on the scar around his neck.

Max's mom was the only adult without a glass of something in their hands, which Steve took as a very positive sign. His mom had taken over making sure the woman was alright and Max was glued to her mom's side as well. Most people had wine or beer, but his dad had headed off any issues with Ted Wheeler by furnishing the man with the good Scotch.

So far Steve had managed to keep his distance from Dustin's mom, mostly because Eddie hadn't, and she'd almost squeezed the life out of him. Steve loved Claudia, she was a great mom and treated him like a second son a lot of the time, but he wasn't sure how many grateful hugs he could take. Listening to their story retold, even without all the details, had dragged up a lot of memories. He would really have liked some quiet time to put everything back in its boxes in his head, but he couldn't exactly just disappear.

All of the older members of the party seemed to be equally on edge, so they were all holding it together as a group. The kids seemed to all be dealing with it as well as they usually did, which was still amazing to Steve. El was even giving little demonstrations of her powers up close for various people.

It made his skin itch that he couldn't make sure she wasn't damaging herself while she did it. As if she knew what it was doing to him, she looked up and gave him a little smile after every time. She'd only had one tiny nosebleed so far because she wasn't doing anything particularly hard, it was just the quantity that had set her off.

"You look like you're about to vibrate out of your skin."

Steve looked down to his side to find Erica was standing next to him.

"Yep," he agreed, because there was no point in denying it. "How are you doing?"

"I'm too young to fully conceive of my own mortality," Erica replied with her usual poise and confidence, "but I could use some ice cream."

It was obvious she wasn't quite as fine as she was making out, but he appreciated her efforts and the out she had given him.

"That I can do," he replied. "Come on and you can pick from the flavours I have in the freezer."

That earned him a genuine smile. They headed into the kitchen and then into the pantry where the chest freezer resided. He always kept the corner of it stocked with ice cream for just such moments of need and he pulled out the tubs Erica chose. Taking them back into the other room, he set about making her a sundae with the sauces he knew she loved.

"Is that ice cream?"

He looked over to find Mike standing in the doorway as he presented the concoction to Erica.

"It is," he replied. "Care to set sail on an ocean of flavour with us?"

Mike was clearly as tense as the rest of them, but managed a smile at that.

"You're not wearing the uniform," he said, walking in fully, "and um, yeah, thanks."

"I burned it. Pull up a stool," Steve offered and headed back into the pantry because he knew he had Mike's favourite flavour still in the freezer.

Somehow it seemed to be like one of Eddie's magical summoning spells, because as he scooped ice cream, Dustin appeared. Then Lucas, then Max, then Will and El. Before he knew it, they were laughing and bickering and trying to steal spoonfuls from each other's sundaes. Basically, they were acting like kids, and it made him smile.

"You guys are having ice cream without me?" Robin's betrayed tones broke him out of his reverie.

"We would never, we saved you some," he promised and held the bowl he had been about to tuck into out to her.

"Scoops Troop forever," Erica and Dustin piped up as Robin crossed the room.

It was ice cream, it was kind of dumb, but Steve still had to pinch the bridge of his nose to push down his sudden desire to cry. It had been a very stressful day and that he could help the kids with something so small got to him. Robin bumped his hip, giving him a small smile as she read him perfectly as usual.

"Dustin, don't you dare," he said before Dustin could throw sprinkles at Lucas. "You make a mess you're cleaning the whole kitchen."

Dustin grumbled but put the shaker down.

"Tell me why I put up with this again," he said to Robin, because it was just what he needed to prevent him embarrassing himself.

"Beats me," Robin replied. "Pass the strawberry sauce."

He did, picking up another spoon at the same time and helping himself to a spoonful of Robin's sundae. Probably said a lot that she didn't complain in the slightest.

~*~

Erica and Dustin were having a staring contest to see who could claim the last scoop of fudge ripple when Steve looked up and noticed there was a delegation in the doorway. Dustin's mom, Erica's mom and Mike's mom were all huddled in the opening.

"Oh, hi," he said as soon as he noticed them, "sorry, do you need the kids?"

"Oh, no," Karen said, stepping into the room, "we were just wondering where they went."

"Ice cream," Dustin said with a grin and all but bounced over to his mom.

"Steve owes me ice cream for life, so I was cashing in," Erica said.

"I do," Steve agreed with a nod, "a deal is a deal."

"That's quite a deal," Sue Sinclair said.

"Um, ah, Scoops," Steve said, not quite sure how to explain it now he had opened his big mouth.

"Negotiations about ice cream are a good distraction when dealing with Russians," Erica said, and Steve almost died of heart failure.

She hadn't technically lied, but she had just covered for him with her mom.

"Everyone else is just crashing our party," Erica added.

"It's ice cream, of course we are," Mike said, still nursing his bowl.

"I'm afraid we're out of the most popular flavours," Steve said, "but I do have some other ones in the freezer if you ladies are interested."

"Thank you, Steve," Claudia said with a smile, "but I have already eaten far too many of your mother's lovely hors d'oeuvres."

"And I have seen our kids with ice cream, and I like my limbs attached," Sue added her own polite refusal.

"Mom," Lucas complained as if he was mortally embarrassed.

"I'm not sure it's quite the weather for ice cream yet," Karen said, also smiling, "but I wouldn't mind a coffee."

"Oh, of course," he replied, jumping into action.

He'd been so focused on the kids he had forgotten about making sure all the adults had drinks.

"Dingus, sit," Robin said before he could get to the coffee machine, "you've been running after everyone all afternoon. I've got this."

He went to protest since this was his house, so it was his responsibility, but Robin gave him a look. His protestations died on his tongue. When El linked her arm through his and dragged him towards the kitchen table he had no choice but to go. Apparently, he was being ganged up on. Erica gave him a small superior smile and the boys wisely chose not to comment lest they become targets as well.

"Can I have a hug?" El asked very seriously as she pulled him into a chair beside her.

"Of course," he replied and opened his arms.

This had to have been so hard for her and he felt her relax as she wound her arms around him as he did the same for her. El was so strong and he would give her anything to help her stay that way. His instincts also kicked in the moment his arm overlaid the bare skin of hers and he was pretty sure she had instigated the hug for that very purpose. He congratulated himself on knowing what he was doing for once, even as he automatically checked her over, boosting her own healing just a little to make sure her nose was not sore. It barely took a thought given how well his abilities seemed to know her.

"I like your hugs," El told him. "They make me feel safe, like my dad."

"Well, I learned everything from my dad," he replied, letting her get comfortable. "He is the best hugger I know."

"I might barf," Max said, but she was grinning broadly as she said it.

"If you want a hug too, all you have to do is ask," he shot back, giving her the most innocent of smiles.

She scoffed at him as if that was the furthest thing from her mind, but he made a mental note to make sure Max got another hug before she went home. She was still the same brash, independent Max on the outside, but she needed all their support right now. The shadows of Vecna's games were still in her eyes.

"Anyone else for coffee?" Robin asked as she handed a cup over to Mike's mom.

"Me," said a voice from the door.

Steve looked over to see Eddie hovering in the doorway.

"I'm beginning to get jittery," Eddie added with a grin as if it was a joke.

"Won't coffee make that worse?" Will asked with a thoughtful little frown.

"Nope," Eddie replied, "weirdly the opposite actually."

"Well, that makes sense then," Dustin said.

"What does, faithful party member?" Eddie asked with his usual dramatic style.

"I was trying to work out why you keep failing to graduate but you can write a whole detailed DnD campaign in two days. Y'know to see if there was anything we could do to help," Dustin replied, "and I mentioned it to Suzy. She thought you might have undiagnosed attention deficit disorder. One of her brothers has it and one of the signs can be that caffeine has the opposite effect that it's supposed to. Would explain why you can't concentrate for shit in class, because God some of those are boring, but get hyper fixated on things that actually interest you."

It was all delivered in Dustin's usual vaguely offhand tone as if he could have been talking about the weather. Eddie for his part just kind of stopped.

"That does sound surprisingly like me," he eventually said, clearly surprised and also a little embarrassed.

"Dustin," Steve said, "now might not have been a great time to bring that up."

"What? Why?" Dustin asked, apparently genuinely confused by the gentle reprimand.

One day Steve was determined to teach his young friend to think before he opened his mouth.

"Nah, it's okay," Eddie said, recovering quickly, "something to think about at least. Better have that coffee soon then, or we might need Supergirl to get me down off the ceiling."

"I would be glad to help," El said, still snuggled up to Steve's side.

"On it," Robin said and the awkwardness in the room began to dissolve.

Steve saw the three mothers exchanging looks, clearly seeing the dynamic between their children in a new light. It wasn't as if he could blame them. They had had a lot of information thrown at them and it must have rearranged their world view. Steve knew that feeling all too well, from afar and everything recently.

Eddie began to demand to try what was left of the ice cream, which helped remove the last vestiges of discomfort that remained. What Dustin had said made sense, even though Steve had never heard of attention deficit disorder. Eddie had one of the sharpest minds he knew, right up there with the kids, Nancy and Robin. That he had failed high school twice seemed more and more bizarre. He made a mental note to ask Dustin about it later and turned to Claudia, asking about a recipe they had talked about the last time he had been over to her house.

It was a nice neutral topic and he really did want to know what went into her tater tot casserole.