Eddie was ensconced on the couch with a blanket over his legs, since apparently Steve's mothering instincts were in full force, and he had insisted. He was sitting next to Eddie because he couldn't get more than about four feet away without Eddie losing focus. However, he'd taken to ordering the kids around and refusing to answer any questions until everyone was settled, they all had drinks, and food was ordered.

He could have cried when Robin came over to sit the other side of him in a show of solidarity, he wouldn't have blamed her for not making.

The boys and El were crowded onto the other couch with Nancy perching on the end, and Hopper had an armchair. It was almost civilised, but there were teenage boys involved, so not quite.

"Okay," Steve said once everyone was settled, "questions?"

That resulted in a shouting match as all the boys tried to talk over each other in their excitement.

"One at a time," Hopper growled from his chair, which had the required reaction.

"Steve, how did you move so fast?" Mike asked when the other two appointed him spokesman.

"Best guess, demobat blood," he replied. "I swallowed some when we fought them off the first time. It's been changing me ever since, but with everything going on I didn't notice until..."

"This week," Lucas finished for him, having joined the dots.

He nodded.

"I freaked out and went to El," Steve admitted.

"He's not dangerous," El said, giving him a sweet smile.

She didn't look one hundred percent sure when her eyes flicked to Eddie, but then she hadn't been in Eddie's mind. Steve made a mental note to deal with that sooner rather than later.

"Thanks," he said, giving her a smile back.

"And Eddie got this too?" Mike asked.

"Yeah," Eddie replied, "just don't ask for a demo or I will fall on my ass and then Steve will worry."

Steve rolled his eyes but let him get away with that one. He couldn't help that his instincts had been turned up to ten when it came to Eddie.

Dustin was frowning, clearly puzzling something out.

"It's not just the speed is it?" the kid said eventually.

"Nope," Eddie said somewhat unhelpfully.

Steve gave Eddie a look, but all he got back was an unrepentant smile. Eddie was clearly not forgiving him for the blanket for a while. With a sigh, Steve picked up the thick, hardback coffee table book about mountains from where he had dumped it because he hated the thing and casually tore it in half crossways. The spine ripped apart right across the middle in a very satisfying way.

"Wow," Dustin said.

"What else?" Mike all but demanded.

Looking back at Eddie, Steve asked the obvious question with his eyes.

"Might as well show them your battle form, Stevie," Eddie said as way of an answer.

"Battle form?" Lucas asked.

"What does that mean?" Dustin asked at the same time.

"Do not freak out," Steve said, slowly standing up.

He was not sure why he stood, maybe to subconsciously give himself an escape route, but he took a deep breath, so he didn't chicken out. Glancing at El, who gave him one of her small smiles, he took another breath and let the otherness inside out.

"Son of a bitch," Dustin said, staring at him with his mouth open. Steve was dying inside, until Dustin went on: "that is so cool."

Rather than sending Dustin running in the other direction, the kid actually came towards him, and all Steve could do was stare in shock. He belatedly realised that probably looked really weird with red eyes. Lucas and Mike seemed a little more surprised, but Dustin grabbed his hand so he could look at the claws more closely. Steve just let him.

Then the questions began, and boy did the kids have a lot of questions. Eddie giggled, honest to God giggled as Steve flailed at the onslaught. Steve got really good at saying, "I don't know" and he was pretty sure the boys were cooking up some kind of testing regime among themselves. What was scarier, however, was the way Nancy was looking at him with her analysing face, even though she didn't ask any questions herself. Thankfully the food arrived and gave everyone something else to think about.

~*~

Eddie fell asleep after everyone had eaten, so Nancy took the boys home, while Hopper, El and Robin stayed. Once Steve was sure Eddie was sleeping comfortably, as Hopper and El talked quietly, Steve shared a look with Robin and headed into the kitchen. When the door closed behind them, he didn't turn. There was so much he wanted to say, but he had no idea how to do it.

"Hey, Dingus," Robin said, walking up behind him and placing her hand on his back, "you okay?"

A short bark of a laugh escaped him at that.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" he replied, finally looking at her.

"Think it's okay if we ask each other," she told him with a tiny smile. "So, are you going to answer or just avoid the question?"

He did his best to smile back, but it felt kind of twisted.

"No, I'm not okay," he admitted. "I've never been this scared in my life. Not with demogorgons, not with mind-flayers, not even with Vecna. With them I thought I might die, but with this. I'm the guy with the bat or the axe, Robs, I'm ordinary."

Robin's hand was gentle on his back as she began to rub slow circles and she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he rambled on. "I needed to figure out what was going on, and then I needed ... wanted ... I was afraid there might be something of that bastard in me. I thought I might be a monster. I couldn't take that risk, so I went to El."

"And you let her rummage around inside your head to make sure," Robin finished for him when he ran out of words.

He nodded.

"And when she told you what is utterly obvious to all of us who know you, then you let yourself worry about Eddie rather than you," she added.

"We left him there, Robs," he said as the guilt hit him again. "He was all alone. I've been dreaming about him for months."

"You couldn't have known it was real," Robin told him, moving to make him look at her. "We all have nightmares, some of them memories, . You would never have left him there if you thought there was any chance and the moment you suspected he might be alive, even though you're dealing with a fuck tonne of shit yourself, you went back. No one could ask for more."

He didn't know what to say. No matter what, he couldn't shift the guilt.

"I've never been afraid of myself before," he admitted quietly. "I'm so strong, Robin, so fast. What if I hurt one of the kids without meaning to? Or my craving for red meat takes over?"

"Are you afraid of Eddie?" Robin asked, rather than answering his question.

"No," he replied with a frown, "of course not. Eddie would never hurt anyone."

"Neither would you, Dingus," she told him, tapping him on the forehead. "We're all capable of terrible things. I could get in a car tomorrow and mow down pedestrians all along main street. Nancy could get one of her guns and take pot shots at everyone she doesn't like. Hell, El could rip apart anyone she felt like with her mind. But we won't, and neither will you."

"How do you know?" he asked, tone hard edged and desperate.

"Because you're one of the kindest most giving people I know," Robin said while looking directly into his eyes. "You can be a total bitch when you want to be, but that's one of my favourite things about you. Steve, you open your house regularly to a bunch of teenagers you used to babysit. You cook for them for god's sake. You let Hopper and El stay here while the cabin was being repaired. You faced off against Billy Hargrove for Lucas, you took a beating by the Russians to save me. You ferry anyone who asks all over town, and if anyone so much as has a hangnail, you drop everything to rescue them. The only thing this new part of you means is you might actually win a fight without coming back with concussion or bits of you missing."

Robin was waving her arms for emphasis by the time she finished.

"Now give me a hug," she demanded.

So, he did. Robin hugged back ridiculously hard, which was just what he needed. When she finally drew back, he was feeling a bit more settled.

"Okay, so now, show me," Robin said. "I only got to see from the back in there."

"You're sure?" he asked because he couldn't imagine frightening her.

Robin simply raised an eyebrow back. Knowing better than to argue with Robin when she was in that kind of mood, Steve did as he was asked. He braced for disgust or horror, but all he saw was curiosity.

"The eyes are really pretty," Robin said with a smile. "Bet you'd pull a load of girls with those if, y'know, it wouldn't get you in ridiculous amounts of trouble with the government types. How the hell do these claws work?"

He let her examine his fingers, allowing the claws to retract slowly, rather than as fast as he had learned to do it.

"Dustin's right, that is cool," she assured him. "Does it hurt?"

"No," he replied, "just feels really weird, but not a weird as the teeth. That's almost like they're trying to pop out."

Of course Robin wanted to see the teeth, so he showed her. What he really didn't expect was her to lean in close after he retracted the fangs again and reach out.

"Wow," she said, pushing his lip up and out the way so she could see properly, "those are adorable."

Definitely not the word he would have chosen.

"Watch out they're..." he started to say, but it was too late.

"Ow," Robin said, snatching back her finger and sticking it in her mouth. "Let me guess, you were going to say really sharp."

Steve would have replied, but he made the mistake of licking his lips. The flavour of blood burst onto his tongue as the sense of Robin hit him like a two-by-four to the face. There was worry and love and curiosity and so much more. All he could do was gasp through it as it was there and gone.

"Steve, hey, Steve," Robin said, immediately reaching out to steady him. "You good?"

Doing his best to breathe deeply, he patted her hand in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. It took a few seconds to get his brain back in gear.

"You bled on me," he said, in way of explanation.

"Oh shit," she said around the finger in her mouth, "I'm so sorry. Did it set you off your eat-now instincts? Need a bit more? I mean it's still bleeding."

He huffed out a laugh as she babbled at him.

"I'm fine," he promised, "it was just ... um ... intense, I guess. I got a hit of you."

"You saw into my head?" she asked, eyes widening.

"Not exactly," he did his best to explain. "It was more like a sense of everything you're feeling, and wow do you feel a lot."

"Yeah," Robin agreed, "but then you already knew that about me."

Steve nodded, it was kind of obvious.

"I've never got a hit off blood before," he admitted. "Human blood must be different."

"Species synchronicity," Robin said as if that made any sense.

"If you say so," Steve let her have that one even if he only had a vague idea of what she was getting at.

They talked for a while longer before Steve found himself looking back at the door to the other room.

"You okay, Dingus?" Robin asked, since he had stopped mid-sentence.

"Yeah," he said, frowning, before a little spark of fear shot up his spine. "Eddie," he said, because he realised very quickly it wasn't his fear. "Sorry," he said, but he was already on the move.

Eddie was still curled up on the couch where Steve had left him and he looked as if he was sleeping calmly, but Steve knew different. He crossed the room quickly, although not ridiculously fast and knelt down.

"Eddie," he said quietly and gently, reaching out and resting his fingers lightly on Eddie's neck.

Red eyes flicked open at the first touch, fading quickly to brown as Eddie blinked back to consciousness.

"Hey," Steve said, "you were having a nightmare."

"Hmm," Eddie agreed, still half asleep. "Back there."

"Yeah, had a few of those over the years," he replied. "Come on, I know just what helps."

Gently pulling Eddie up a bit in his blanket cocoon, Steve insinuated himself onto the couch, pulling Eddie against him so they were both comfortable.

"You just want me as a cuddle toy," Eddie complained sleepily.

"You keep telling yourself that, Munson," Steve replied, but Eddie was already relaxing against him and falling back into slumber.

Robin came over and sat down on the carpet.

"How did you know?" she asked quietly.

"He's in my head," Steve told her honestly, "like faint background noise unless we're touching, but when he's afraid or hurting it's clearer. I felt the beginning of a nightmare, y'know how they start with that dread."

Robin nodded. They all knew nightmares. Patting him on the knee, she made herself comfortable and Steve glanced up at El and Hopper who were watching them. El gave him another one of her smiles, after all she was one of the few people who could remotely relate. He smiled back and let himself relax with Eddie cradled against him.