They weren't exactly a sit in front of the TV and vegetate kind of family, but everyone was so wiped out from the day, that's that what everyone seemed to fall into. Steve and Eddie had an end each of one of the couches, his mom and dad were sitting close to each other on the second and Wayne had taken up residence in the armchair.

Steve didn't even realise he'd dozed off until the ringing of a phone woke him. He was halfway to it before he had even registered, he was moving.

"Hi, Robs," he said as soon as he picked it up.

For a second there was silence from the other end of the line, which immediately worried him.

"How did you know it was me?" Robin asked.

That brought him up short.

"No idea," he replied, because he was more worried about the tone of Robin's voice. "Not important right now. What's wrong?"

He heard Robin take a deep uneven breath.

"When we got home," she said, "we started talking. Mom and Dad wanted to know what happened, how, how I really got involved in all this. I told them everything. Once I started, I couldn't stop. I thought ... I thought it was cathartic, but now..."

She trailed off.

"It's okay Robin," he said in the gentlest way he knew how, "I'm coming to get you."

He waved at Eddie across the room, beckoning him over.

"I'm going to leave Eddie on the phone with you, okay?" he explained. "I will be there before you know it."

"Steve," was all that came back.

He'd heard Robin like this before, in the weeks after Starcourt. Sometimes it was just too much. Her parents might know now, but the whole party already had their coping mechanisms and he and Robin had been each other's for nearly a year now.

"I'm coming," he promised before handing the receiver over to Eddie. "Just talk, please," he told his boyfriend.

"Can do," Eddie replied as Steve grabbed his keys and the walkie that was sitting beside them.

"Steve, is there anything we can do?" his dad asked from the other side of the room.

"Not yet," he replied. "Maybe later. Thanks."

He headed out the door quickly. The drive to Robin's house was so familiar he could do it in his sleep. He probably broke several traffic laws, but he wasn't paying attention, so he wasn't sure. Pulling up outside of the Buckley residence, he was out of the car almost before the noise of the engine cut out.

The front door was already open. No need to climb in windows anymore. Mrs Buckley simply directed him towards the stairs. He found Robin sitting on the bottom step with the phone to her ear but face blank as if she was barely registering anything.

"Hey, Robs," he said, sitting down next to her and gently prying the phone from her fingers.

She leaned into him instantly as he wound his other arm around her shoulders.

"Eds, thanks," he said into the phone. "See you later."

"Bye, Steve," Eddie replied, and Steve put the receiver back on the cradle.

"Everyone's safe," Steve promised, even as Robin curled up against his chest, ear against his sternum.

He knew she was listening to his heartbeat. Sometimes all Robin could think about when she was like this was how they had been tied to chairs and she had had no idea if he was even alive. He would never stop her from making sure.

"You're okay," he said, kissing the top of her head, "I'm okay, everyone's okay."

"Keep thinking if you weren't... well y'know..." Robin whispered. "What they did... you could be dead."

"Yeah," he agreed, totally getting what she was saying even without all the words. "But I am, and they messed up with us, and I'm not."

He glanced up at Robin's parents who were standing further down the hall by the front door. They were holding each other, worried frowns on their faces as they witnessed first-hand what the trauma had done to their daughter for the first time. Robin had been so careful to hide it from them. She didn't have to anymore and Steve guessed that was both a blessing and a curse. He tried to convey that everything would be okay, but they couldn't read him as well as Robin could, so he wasn't sure how well he managed.

"Couldn't do this without you, Dingus," Robin said into his chest.

"Me either, Robs," he assured her. "Where else am I going to find a platonic soulmate who will put up with an ex-jock idiot?"

"Not an idiot," she said, and slapped him on the arm.

"Many would disagree," he replied.

"Where, I'll fight them," she replied, before the tiniest sob escaped her.

Without hesitation, he wrapped his other arm around Robin as well and pulled her close. It was an awkward angle, but he didn't remotely care.

Robin was not a big crier, as Steve had learned over their friendship, but when she did cry, she cried hard. He held her while she let it all out.

"I feel dumb," she said eventually, sometime after she had cried herself out.

"How many times have you explained to me that crying is good for you?" he replied without hesitation. "Nothing to feel dumb about."

"Made you come all the way over here," Robin said, without lifting her face from his chest.

"Still doesn't beat the time you rode all the way to my house on your bike in the rain because I called you on the walkie at 3am," he countered. "Never too late, too much, or too far," he added for good measure.

Robin finally pulled back a little at that and looked up at him.

"Love you, Dingus," she said quietly.

"Love you too, Robs," he replied and popped another kiss on the top of her head.

Her eyes slowly shifted from him to where her parents were standing.

"Love you too," she said in a tiny little voice.

"Oh, Sweetie," her mom said, finally moving closer.

"Sorry," Robin apologised.

"Nothing to apologise for, Love," her dad assured her.

Steve let her go as her parents approached and she ended up in a three-way hug. He couldn't help wondering how many similar scenes there were in Hawkins this evening now that everyone's parents finally understood what had been going on.

~*~

Steve was crashing. He could no longer escape the inevitable. All the nervous energy he had expended during the day was coming back to haunt him. In other circumstance he would have stayed at Robin's house, but he had been all too aware of his parents and Eddie waiting for him back at his place. Hence, he had packed Robin in his car, invited her parents to use one of the guest rooms and driven back.

He kind of remembered giving his parents a quick explanation, not that he was sure how coherent he was, then getting Robin's parents settled, but he really had no recollection of making it upstairs. The minty taste in his mouth suggested he had manged to clean his teeth, but he didn't remember doing it. Or pulling on the sleep pants he was wearing or ditching the rest of his clothes.

"Okay, bed."

Turning his head, he found Eddie standing next to him in the bathroom.

"Hey, Eds," he said, smiling dopily, simply because he wanted to.

"You are adorable when you're running on fumes," Eddie replied, leaning in, and pecking him on the lips. "Come on."

Eddie grabbed his hand and led him into the other room. The moment he saw Robin sitting up in the other side of the bed, be clambered in himself, lying down and dragging her to him. She curled up against him, head on his chest without a word and he wound his arm around her back. It wasn't the most comfortable way to sleep, but he knew what Robin needed. Once she was comfortable, he held out his other hand to Eddie.

"I am going to die of cute overload," Eddie muttered as he climbed in. "My dark and dangerous image may never recover."

"Hate to break it to you, Lord of Dorks," Robin replied sleepily, "but you lost that ages ago."

"Are you challenging me?" Eddie asked even as he made himself comfortable, "because I can demonstrate how I got my reputation."

"Bring it on," Robin mumbled, clearly just as exhausted as Steve felt.

"Sleep," he insisted as the closeness of his two favourite people in the world lulled him the final distance towards slumber. "Love you," he whispered as he drifted off.

~*~

Eddie was hanging off Steve's back as he added seasoning to the eggs he was cooking. A touch of paprika was amazing to get the tastebuds going.

"Good morning, boys."

He felt Eddie go ridged for just a second at the sound of his mother's voice.

"Mrs H," Eddie said after a moment, moving back from Steve in a casual move that still had Steve's heart thudding in his chest.

He hadn't realised anyone else was up yet. Robin had curled up into a little ball and gone back to sleep when he had extracted himself from the pile of bodies in his bed. He had been a little surprised when Eddie had also decided to get up. That was until Eddie had revealed his pearly white fangs. They'd been as quiet as physically possible, hoping the noise of the shower running would cover everything else.

Steve was never going to get over how good Eddie feeding from him was. It probably had something to do with why they had almost forgotten themselves once they came down to make breakfast. He really couldn't get enough of Eddie, and it seemed to be mutual.

"Your son is being mysterious and won't let me see what he's making," Eddie went on. "I'm sure you raised him to have better manners. Would you make a guest climb over you to get a peek at what's for breakfast?"

It was a smooth excuse.

"You tried to add extra salt," Steve did his best to play along. "You are a menace."

He turned to give his mom a smile. She smiled back, but the lingering look she gave him had his stomach twisting in knots.

"Morning, Mom," he said, praying that his perfectly calm façade was convincing.

"I gave up trying to interfere with Steve's culinary exploits many years ago," his mom said as she walked over to the coffee pot. "He's been a better cook than me since he was twelve."

"That's an exaggeration," he countered.

"Oh darling, it's not," his mom said. "I've never been particularly domestic, and your grandmother is the one with the gift in the kitchen. It definitely skipped a generation. I hate to break it to you darling, but all those cookies I made you as a child, straight out of a packet."

"Mom, how could you?" Steve played along. "And I told all the kids at school how great a baker you were. Does rather explain all the Pillsbury packets I found in the trash that time though."

Eddie's giggle at that sent a delightful fizz up Steve's spine. Wow, did he have it bad.

"Elementary school bake sales were always a dark time in my life," his mom said, hand over her heart as he glanced round.

"I've heard they can be brutal," Eddie joined in.

"Some parents can be very competitive," was his mom's response to that. "But I did make a very good friend when we paired up against a dad who took it way too far. The strongest bonds can be made in adversity."

"No word of a lie," Eddie said and caught Steve's eye for a moment.

"Can I get either of you boys a coffee?" his mom asked, dragging his attention back.

"Not for me, thanks," he replied, "but I'm pretty sure Eddie runs on the stuff by now."

"I cannot help it that my system requires caffeine to function smoothly," Eddie protested in his grandest tone. "You heard what our boy genius had to say."

"And that was?" his mom asked.

Steve gave Eddie a quick glance.

"Oh, Henderson thinks I may have ... um, Steve what was it called?" Eddie said.

"Attention deficit disorder," he supplied, having made a mental note of it. "Apparently one of the symptoms can be that caffeine has a calming effect rather than what it does to most of us."

"I'll take the excuse anyway," Eddie commented with a grin.

"I had to ween Steve's father off too much coffee," his mom said, as Steve transferred the eggs to a plate and popped them in the oven before moving on to doing some toast. "Unfortunately, when one reaches a certain point in life, caffeine is not always best for one's health."

"Wayne had to cut back and add in tea a couple of years ago after a scare," Eddie revealed. "Turns out six cups at breakfast can give a guy palpitations."

"Steve's father was at a similar level," his mom revealed. "It started in college. I'm sure he ran on the stuff. Such fond memories, well mostly."

"You met your husband in college then?" Eddie asked.

"Steve has heard this story many times before," his mom replied, "but, yes, his father and I met while we were studying at the same school. And talking of adversity, we met at what, at the time, I thought was the darkest point in my life."

"That sounds ominous," Eddie commented.

Steve smiled to himself, his mom was right, he had heard this story before, so many times.

"Steve's father found me sitting in the rain, crying my eyes out because I had just been spectacularly dumped," his mom told Eddie. "I must have been a sight. I had been sure I was madly in love. We had come together from high school, following each other to the same college, only for me to have my heart broken in less than three months."

"How utterly terrible," Eddie said, dramatic as ever.

"It was," Steve's mom said, playing to her audience. "I was heartbroken, and Steve's father was so sweet. He took me to my sorority and made sure I was taken care of. Then he came over the next day to make sure I was okay. We became firm friends."

"Just friends?" Eddie asked.

"Yes, at the time he had a girlfriend," his mom replied. "He was the most eligible bachelor on campus thanks to being a Harrington. I became very good friends with Marie, his girlfriend, as well. They helped me get over the breakup."

"How is Aunt Marie?" Steve asked. "We haven't seen her in ages."

"She called just last month," his mom replied. "She has a new show coming up in July. Apparently, she's branched out into ceramics."

"You're still friends with your husband's ex?" Eddie asked, clearly confused.

"Oh, sorry, I'm getting sidetracked," his mom apologised. "Yes, it was an amicable split. I fell in love with David, and I was doing my very best to pretend I hadn't because he was with Marie, but one day she came to me and told me she though David and I were a far better fit and she was going to let him down gently, so I should take my shot. Marie dropped out of college soon after, moved to San Francisco and became a successful artist. She was my maid of honour at my wedding."

"Aww, love conquers all," Eddie said with a dopy smile that made Steve's heart skip a beat.

"Indeed," his mom said, "and Marie is a shining example of how love is always right when you follow your heart."

"So, she found her perfect match as well then?" Eddie asked, even as Steve froze where he was standing.

"She did," his mom confirmed, "and they have been very happy for almost as long as David and I have."

"That's awesome," Eddie said.

Steve turned slowly to look at his mom because he knew something Eddie didn't. The way his mom met his eyes, giving him a warm smile, sent his heart thudding. He was pretty sure he knew what she was saying without actually saying it. He also realised he had been an oblivious idiot.

"They don't just live together because they're both artists," he said as reality dawned.

"No," his mom replied, even though it hadn't been a question.

Eddie had a cute little crinkle in his forehead.

"I feel stupid," Steve said.

"It's what they let people believe," his mom said kindly. "It's safer that way."

The crinkle became a deep grove in Eddie's brow.

"Aunt Marie lives with Auntie Annie," Steve put his boyfriend out of his misery.

He could literally see Eddie's brain processing that piece of information.

"San Francisco," Eddie whispered as if that made everything make sense.

Steve saw exactly when the rest of the implications of the conversation clicked in Eddie's head. Those big brown eyes he loved so much seemed to get larger and Eddie appeared to forget how to breathe for a moment. Eddie's gaze darted to Steve's mom and then back to him several times. Given that Steve was feeling just as unmoored, he wasn't very good at being reassuring.

He was almost sure his mom was trying to let him know she suspected what was going on between him and Eddie and it was okay. However, that was such a big concept with so many ramifications if he was wrong, he didn't know what to do. The fact that they might have been so obvious in only a couple of days also worried him. Of course, his mom did know him very, very well.

His dad chose that moment to walk into the kitchen.

"Good morning," his dad greeted.

"Morning," his mom replied, walking over to give him a peck on the cheek and hand him a mug of coffee. "We were just talking about Marie and Annie."

"It's been too long since we've seen them," his dad replied. "We should get round to arranging a visit. When was Marie's exhibition again?"

"Not until July," his mom replied. "I'm sure we can have things settled enough by then to make some time for a trip."

And the conversation continued from there as if his mom hadn't just dropped a bomb on Steve. Eddie was better at pretending than him, hiding behind his larger-than-life persona while Steve went back to getting breakfast ready. He had so much to think about.