"How are you doing?" Steve asked when Eddie walked into the kitchen after seeing Wayne out.

Steve had let Eddie and Wayne have time alone, but what he had heard when it was time for Wayne to leave had made it more than obvious it was very hard for Eddie to let his uncle go. Steve would have invited Wayne to stay, but unfortunately, Wayne had to work, and Eddie couldn't be seen by anyone yet, so that was how it had to be. They'd even decided that Wayne bringing over all of Eddie's stuff might look too suspicious, so they were going to continue as they were for a little while and worry about details along the way.

"Out of my depth," Eddie replied after a few moments silence.

"You and me both," Steve agreed. "Everything's good with your uncle though?"

Eddie nodded.

"He's still there for me," Eddie said, wandering in and sitting on one of the stools at the centre island. "He reminds me of my mom like that, always in my corner no matter what. My dad is a useless piece of shit, but my mom was an angel. I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if she didn't die."

"I'm sorry," Steve replied as his stomach twisted for his friend, "I didn't know about that. Must have been hard."

"Yeah," Eddie agreed with a shrug, "but Wayne picked up the slack. I was even more of a mess than I am now when I got dumped on his doorstep."

"You're not a mess," Steve countered.

"In case you forgot, local drug dealer with a satanic cult," Eddie said immediately, giving him a look.

"You did what you had to to survive, and you had rules about dealing I have never heard a dealer having before, and only idiots think DnD is a cult," he responded. "And yes, this town is full of idiots. You helped us save the fucking world, so do not sell yourself short."

He surprised himself with his vehemence. From the look Eddie was giving him, Eddie was surprised too.

"Sorry," he apologised, going back to making coffee.

"I didn't realise you were so passionate about me," Eddie replied, and he could hear the joke in the words.

He point-blank refused to blush at the teasing.

"I'm passionate about all my friends," he said without turning. "No one's going to give us credit for what we had to do, so we're just going to have to do it among ourselves."

"I kind of missed the actual world saving though," Eddie said. "It's all really hazy. For all I know I was on the other side."

"You were there for the first half, El made it very clear she couldn't have finished the bastard off without what we did first, the Upside Down had made him too strong. And I don't think you were, on the other side I mean," Steve said, flicking the switch on the coffee maker and moving to lean on the counter so he could see Eddie again.

"You think you would have known?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "I didn't start having the dreams until after El finished off Vecna, but if you'd been against us, I think I would have picked it up. And someone would have seen you. A lot of his minions died because of us, the shock of us taking him down in the Creel house finished them off. He had more waiting, but most of them were immature and the few demogorgons left he used as generals. I think he would have used you like that if he could have, so I don't think that was an option."

Eddie looked down at his hands, playing with his fingers almost as if there were still rings there. Where Eddie's rings had ended up was anyone's guess. Dustin had taken the necklace from Eddie's body, but the rings had been lost after that. Eddie's hand seemed kind of bare without them.

"What do I feel like to you?" Eddie finally asked.

"Right now?" Steve asked.

Eddie nodded.

"Hmmm, you're like a fizz of energy at the back of my brain," he decided after thinking about it for a few seconds. "I know you're there, like the sun on my skin sitting by the pool, a comforting warmth that I don't really notice until I think about it."

"I don't think anyone has compared me to comforting warmth before," Eddie said, biting his lip. "More like buzzing annoyance. You're warmth too, but you feel like calm. Not sure my brain is ever calm."

"Not sure mine is very often," Steve admitted, "but when I have a purpose, I get focused."

"And I'm your purpose?" Eddie asked.

"At the moment, yeah," he agreed, pushing off the work surface and walking over to the island. "I don't do well without goals, that's one thing my dad does get right about me. I almost flunked high school because all my goals got torpedoed by everything. I realised I just didn't want what I'd been told to want anymore, and I completely lost focus."

"That," Eddie said, then paused, "that," he went on, "is surprisingly deep, Stevie. Did you figure out your new goals yet?"

"Not really," he replied. "Don't think I can until the gates are fully closed for good and Hawkins is really safe."

"Not even your six little nuggets and Nancy?" Eddie asked.

Steve laughed and shook his head.

"That was the end of the world talking," he explained. "I backslid. I love Nancy, but not like that anymore. I'm not sure she and Jonathan are right for each other either, but they'll have to figure that out for themselves when the Byers move back properly after the school year finishes for Will. Not my business."

"Not what I expected you to say," Eddie admitted.

"Just occasionally I can be self-aware," he said with a grin.

"Awww, don't go smashing all my preconceived notions about Steve "The Hair" Harrington," Eddie complained in an over-dramatic fashion. "I'll have to rearrange my whole world view."

"Oh no," Steve replied and put his hand over his heart, "whatever will you do? It's not like you've had to deal with earth shattering discoveries like other dimensions and monsters or anything like that. Oh wait..."

Eddie's laugh was like music to his ears. It was one of those full body laughs that Eddie seemed so good at, where every part of him seemed to be involved. Steve could bring his own form of dramatics to things at times, but he had yet to perfect such a reflection of enjoyment. The best he could manage was gently laughing along.

Of course, eventually the laughter died and he could see Eddie's thoughts returning to more serious things.

"Does it bother you, this connection between us?" Eddie asked after a little while.

"No," Steve replied without having to think about it, "but I would understand if it was bothering you."

Eddie looked at him for a while, head on one side and tongue slightly poking out. It was utterly adorable, and Steve prayed he wasn't blushing under the scrutiny.

"Why doesn't it bother you?" Eddie asked. "You're suddenly connected to someone you barely know. This doesn't feel like something that's going to go away."

"I know enough," he said. "I know you're brave and loyal, you're funny, talented, and fundamentally good. This," he waved his hand between them, "is weird, but I'm not going to lie, it's a damn sight easier having someone to go through it with that understands than if it was just me."

"Yeah," Eddie agreed after a couple of seconds of silence, more a breath and a full-on sound.

Eddie looked away and the coffee maker spluttered, distracting Steve for a moment. He went over to it to check because occasionally it did strange things ever since Dustin had used it for one of his experiments.

"I'm not brave," Eddie said, drawing back his attention. "That ... with the bats, was the first time I didn't run."

"When you're outnumbered, the best thing is to run," Steve disagreed, stepping back over to the island. "You're one of the bravest people I've ever met and I'm not talking about all this Upside Down shit. You gather together the outcasts, the bullied, the freaks as you so delicately put it, and you protect them. You stand on tables and shout, and don't think I don't know that's to keep the eyes on you and not them. That takes courage I never even remotely considered until I got some sense beaten into me by Jonathan fucking Byers."

"Sometimes I stand on tables because otherwise it feels like my thoughts will explode out of my head unless I say them," Eddie countered.

"Well then, if you ever feel the need, there's a very expensive table in the other room that would probably benefit from some footmarks," Steve said.

The tiny smile that that garnered from Eddie was worth all the breath it took to say it.

"Just for the record," Eddie said, "I think you're one of the bravest people I've ever met too."

"Guess we get to be brave together then," Steve responded. "Now, enough of the deep shit, do you have opinions on dinner?"

"Well," Eddie said with a big grin.

~*~

Steve yawned, running his fingers through his hair as he realised he'd been dozing off in front of the TV. It had been just him and Eddie for the evening. Robin's parents didn't seem to mind how much time she spent with Steve since the whole earthquake and aftermath, but they did like to see their daughter every once in a while.

"Bed?" he asked, turning to where Eddie was clearly also nearly asleep on the other end of the couch.

"Don't wanna move," Eddie complained.

"Well, you can sleep here if you feel so moved, but your back with thank you for a nice comfortable mattress," he replied.

"I am young and spry, I sniff at mattresses," Eddie replied, but pushed himself up and away from the arm of the couch.

"I can tell, Grandpa," Steve joked back.

Eddie's outraged face was a picture.

"How dare you, Sir! I demand satisfaction," Eddie declared, rising to his feet and drawing an imaginary sword.

"I think you forgot something," Steve shot back, grinning.

"Another afront," Eddie continued in equally dramatic fashion. "I shall not be moved, Sir, not until I have you at my mercy."

"Well, we can't have that," Steve said and ducked in under Eddie's dramatically waving arms.

The screech could probably have been heard on the moon as Steve casually threw Eddie over his shoulder.

"Unhand me, Harrington," Eddie yelled.

"Can't let a guest put their back out," Steve replied, keeping a good hold on Eddie's wriggling form, "so I guess I'll just have to carry you upstairs."

"Jock bastard," Eddie complained, but significantly stopped struggling. "How is it fair we both have superpowers, but you're still stronger than me?"

"Life's never fair," Steve replied, heading for the staircase.

"You know, Harrington," Eddie said as Steve put his foot on the first step, "if you'd wanted a damsel in distress, all you had to do was say."

After which Eddie slapped him on the ass, hard. It took a huge effort of will not to react to that as his heart fluttered.

"Help, help, I'm being abducted," Eddie cried in an outrageously bad Southern Belle impression.

"Just for that," Steve responded and took the stairs two at a time, before throwing Eddie onto the bed in his room.

"Big boy, are you about to take advantage of sweet little me?" Eddie asked, face flushed and hiding behind his hair, even as he giggled.

"You wish," Steve replied, laughing back no matter what thoughts that sent flashing through his brain.

Eddie had been through hell, Steve was supposed to be looking after him and making it weird would not help that at all.

"You disappoint me, Stevie," Eddie said, sitting up on his elbows.

"You're breaking my heart," Steve joked back, walking into his ensuite.

He decided to brush his teeth while he pushed down his growing feelings for Eddie. Now was not the time.

"So, we sharing a bed again?" Eddie's voice carried from the other room.

"Unless you want to take one of the spare rooms," Steve replied, not wanting to push Eddie into anything he was uncomfortable with.

Nothing came back for a few moments.

"No, I'm good sleeping in here," Eddie eventually said. "Don't want to disturb you though. Not sure I'll make it all through the night."

"And you think I will?" Steve asked, sticking his head back into the other room. "I can count the number of times I've managed to sleep without, at minimum, weird dreams on one hand since the whole end of the world. I was just getting over last summer too, but Hawkins apparently loves retraumatising us."

He went back to putting toothpaste on his toothbrush.

"Oh, and don't be surprised if the phone rings in the middle of the night," he added. "Robin will probably call at some point, or Dustin, but he'll likely use the walkie."

"You realise that people our age and younger should not have a need for these coping mechanisms, right?" Eddie asked and Steve looked up to find him standing in the doorway.

"Yeah," he agreed and shrugged, "but that's life in Hawkins, so we deal with it."

Eddie was giving him one of those thoughtful looks again.

"You're remarkable, Steve Harrington," Eddie said eventually, "confusingly remarkable."

Steve wasn't sure how to respond to that.