Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Can't you hear that scratching?

There's something at the door...

- The Amazing Devil

*****

The Wolf visits him again tonight.

Thrashing and clawing at the sheets, Steve whimpers.

It sits before him, deep blue eyes fixed on Steve as he dreams. Never fully corporeal, the Wolf is blurred at the edges, hazy and as elusive as smoke. It trembles sometimes, as if at the effort it takes to hold its form, to tame its shape into that of a beast.

“What do you want?” Steve drops to his knees in the dreamscape, tugging at his hair in frustration.

The Wolf flicks its shadowy tail and cocks its head to one side.

The scratching is back.

That familiar sensation in the edges of Steve’s mind, an annoying persistence that has plagued him for weeks now. It’s getting stronger, that insistent tug, that scrape of invisible claws against his psyche, and he shakes his head to try and dislodge it.

The ringing in his ears only increases, and the Wolf pads closer to him.

Steve sucks in a breath, tipping back to lean on his hands. He holds that breath as the Wolf pauses just inches from him, its cold snout reaching towards Steve’s throat.

At first, Steve had run whenever the Wolf invaded his dreams, but that hadn’t helped – the Wolf never chased, but would always be waiting for him whenever he fell asleep again, just as it is now.

The ringing in his head dials up to a shriek, a thousand cicadas screaming in his ears, and Steve grabs his head with both hands and squeezes.

The Wolf just looks at him, black fur rolling and swirling like an inky sea.

“Go away,” Steve whispers, then repeats it, his voice increasing to a shout. “Go away, go away, GO AWAY!”

The Wolf lets out a low growl, then turns on its haunches and slinks back into the darkness.

Steve wakes with a start, gasping for air and damp with sweat. Rolling over, he switches his lamp on and sits up in bed just to breathe for a minute. His head is throbbing, the ringing quieter now but still there, always there.

Wincing, he brings a hand to his side – the bites from the bats are on fire, pulsing with agony, despite should have being healed weeks ago.

Out of habit, Steve glances out his window. The light from the moon bathes the edge of the trees in a soft glow, and sure enough, there it is.

A small movement, a flutter of leaves, and a patch of swirling darkness, somehow blacker than the night.

When Steve’s eyes fall on it, the Wolf disappears into the trees.

Steve sighs and lifts the hem of his t shirt, looking down at his bites. The edges are ringed with a fiery red, the holes not fully closed. Curiously, he brings a finger down to one and cautiously pokes at the skin, regretting it immediately when a burst of agony nearly sends him collapsing back into the pillows.

Panting, Steve waits for the pain to fade back to its ever-present dull throb.

Robin had told him a thousand times to go back to the doctor, but Steve had waved her off every time. He’d spent enough time around doctors and hospitals recently – he’d swallow some painkillers and push through it, as he always did.

They’d heal eventually, right? Everything did, with time.

Not everything.

Steve’s gaze is drawn to Eddie’s bloodied vest. It hangs over the top of his wardrobe door - its home for the past few months.

He needs to clean it. Needs to do something with it, gift it to Dustin maybe, but he can’t bring himself to touch it. To wash it would be like washing away the last reminder of Eddie, the last reminder of the sacrifice he’d made for them. Steve needs it there as a visual reminder that Eddie’s body still lies cold and alone in the Upside Down – that they’d left him there to rot.

That Steve had left him there.

He needs it there to punish himself.

And it works - every morning for the past three months when he wakes and stares at it, he feels a little colder inside.

He looks at his watch – it’s nearly six a.m. If he’d still been working, he’d have to be up soon to get ready and pick up Robin before their Family Video shift started – even with a gate to hell running through town, Keith had kept it open. But Steve had stopped turning up weeks ago, barely able to drag himself out the door between his lack of sleep, headaches, and the agony deep below his bites. Sunny days were particularly bad; his eyes would throb and blur in the light, and a migraine would hit him like a freight train if he was outside for more than a few minutes at a time.

He can’t bring himself to care.

Not with Max still in a coma, Dustin deep in a depressive haze, and Eddie fading from their lives a little more every day.

Eddie, who’d held a bottle to Steve’s throat and awoken something inside him he didn’t know existed. Eddie who’d called him big boy and grinned at him, all dimples and warmth; Eddie who’d followed Steve into hell when he barely knew him; Eddie who’d promised not to be a hero and then gone and given his life to protect everyone else – and goddamnit, that was Steve’s job, he should’ve been there, it should’ve been him…

Steve’s spiralling again, he knows. Maybe if he can just get up and eat something he’d feel a little more alive, a little more human, but food tends to make him vomit and his appetite had fucked off weeks ago.

And so there was little else for him to do but sink back into his pillows, tugging the sheets up over his head and silently begging for some proper sleep.

After several more hours of fitful tossing and turning, his dreams plagued once again by the Wolf, Steve is woken by the phone ringing from the kitchen.

Groaning, he kicks the covers back and stumbles towards the sound, only cracking one eye open slightly to guard against the daylight pushing through firmly closed curtains

“Hello?” he mumbles into the phone, voice hoarse.

“Hey dingus, just checking you’re alive,” Robin’s voice greets him, Steve recognizing the ding of the bell above the Family Video door in the background.

“Mmm,” Steve grunts.

“Bad night?” Robin guesses, her tone sympathetic. She knew he’d been having headaches and trouble sleeping, but Steve hadn’t told her the rest.

About the Wolf.

His friends deserved some peace.

“Yeah,” Steve says with a sigh.

“I’m out with Vickie tonight, but I thought maybe I could come over tomorrow and -”

Steve zones out after a moment, frowning as he feels something wet trickle over his belly button.

Ignoring Robin’s chattering, he lifts his t shirt again, freezing when he sees the black gunk oozing from his bites.

“I’ll call you back,” Steve croaks and hangs up, cutting off Robin’s protests.

He lurches to the bathroom, nausea roiling in his gut, and makes it just in time to hurl into the toilet, tears prickling at his eyes as the action strains his abdomen. Shakily, he reaches for a clean towel and wets it, dabbing at the mess on his sides, unable to hold back a whine as agony ripples through him.

More black liquid bubbles out. Steve blindly fumbles in the cabinet for the first aid kit which had been well-stocked for several years now. He quickly wraps a bandage around his abdomen, hissing at the pressure on the bites, and ties it off, hoping it’ll be enough to stop the flow of whatever the fuck that is.

At this point, he knows he should call someone.

But the kids would be at Max’s side, and he can’t dump this on them anyway. Robin would panic and drag him to hospital, and Steve just can’t right now, he wouldn’t be able to stand seeing her worried face, he doesn’t deserve her concern, damn it.

Hopper? Steve briefly considers it, but shakes his head angrily. Hopper had been through enough recently, and he had his own family to worry about now. The bandage would help, and then maybe he can clean the bites better, he just needs to wait a bit for the pain to die down, he needs some fucking sleep…

Steve’s stomach rolls again, and he staggers out his back door, dropping to his knees and taking some long breaths of fresh air in an attempt to keep the nausea at bay.

A growl makes his head shoot up, and he scans the tree line behind the pool anxiously.

The Wolf is sitting in the shade.

It looks smaller than when Steve had previously seen it, and its outline is blurrier than usual, paws almost merging with the dirt, hazy and ever-shifting.

Steve freezes, fists clenched on his thighs. The Wolf had never appeared during the day before, and until now Steve had been able to dismiss it as a reoccurring dream, a phantom that occasionally spilled into his jumbled waking moments.

The ringing in his ears increases, and the itch deep in his head returns, a single claw running over the outer wall of his consciousness.

The Wolf regards him coolly, and Steve stares back at it, heart pounding in his chest.

“What are you?” Steve whispers, and the Wolf perks its ears towards him, mouth falling open to reveal rows of shadowy teeth just as black as the rest of it.

That spurs Steve into action.

He scrambles to his feet, pushing back through the door and reaching for the nail bat he keeps next to it.

Frustrated and fucking tired, he strides towards the Wolf, gripping the bat tightly with both hands, preparing to swing.

The Wolf stands calmly, facing Steve, and growls deep in its throat.

Steve’s pace doesn’t falter, and he raises the bat with all the strength he has left.

The bites pulse under the bandages, and Steve feels the gunk soak through and drip down his waist.

The ring in his ears is now a roar. Steve’s head spins.

“Leave me alone!” he yells at the Wolf, who still stands its ground.

Sweat trickles down his back and Steve gasps for air.

The claw that had been tickling at his mind before now tears at it mercilessly.

Merely feet from the Wolf, within striking distance, Steve swings with all his might.

“Steve.”

Eddie.

It’s Eddie’s voice, breaking through the cacophony in his head.

Steve buckles, the bat sailing harmlessly past the Wolf and sinking into the ground with a dull thud.

The Wolf watches as Steve collapses into the dirt, a sob wrenching from his throat as his abdomen makes contact with the hard ground.

“Eddie?” Steve gasps.

The Wolf stands over him now, muzzle lowering to Steve’s throat, and Steve tips his chin back.

This is it, it has to be.

This is death, and he welcomes it like an old friend, one he’s met and evaded too many times in his short life.

He has no interest in evading it any longer.

But the Wolf’s jaws don’t close over his jugular like Steve was expecting.

Instead, its nose continues downwards, pausing over Steve’s bandaged sides and letting out a huff.

The Wolf backs off, glancing up at Steve one more time before turning tail and vanishing into the undergrowth.

Steve isn’t sure how long he lies there in a feverish haze, tears streaming down his cheeks as the pain in his sides only increases.

He calls out for Eddie several times, but no response comes. Steve starts to question whether he’d ever heard him at all.

It was him.

He knows it was him.

And if there’s any sort of chance that Eddie is alive, that he’s still here, then Steve has to find him.

It’s dark again by the time Steve drags himself to his feet, propping himself up on his bat, his brain full of nothing but Eddie.

“Harrington’s got her, don’t ya big boy?”

Steve inches himself back towards the house, every step a marathon.

“Look at us. We are not heroes.”

His chest heaving, Steve makes it to the back door, leaning against it for a moment to try and get his breath back.

There’s dark stains on his t shirt and top of his pants, the bandages all but useless now.

“Henderson told me you were a badass. Insisted on the matter, in fact.”

Steve takes the stairs one at a time. Forces his legs to cooperate until he reaches the bedroom.

With a grateful sigh, he allows his knees to give out and falls face-first onto the mattress, not caring about the mess from his bites soaking into his sheets. Any position is agony; he’s long past trying to get comfortable.

The room swirls around him, and Steve’s eyes fall shut, unconsciousness taking him immediately.

The Wolf is waiting for him.

This time, Steve sits cross-legged in the dark across from the creature, his pain faded in his dream but not entirely gone. The claw is back in his mind, pushing and scratching, and Steve watches as the Wolf’s front paws twitch.

Exhausted, Steve allows his mind to relax for a moment.

The buzz in his head becomes deafening.

“Let me in,” a voice whispers, and Steve startles.

That had come from inside his head, much like Eddie’s voice had earlier, but this wasn’t Eddie.

The Wolf sits across from him, only shadows between boy and beast, its dark blue eyes boring into Steve.

“Brother, let me in.”

Tears streak down Steve’s cheeks and he nods, his eyes falling closed, and any barriers he’d unknowingly formed in his mind come crashing down.

The buzzing in his head disappears, giving way to blessed silence.

The Wolf pads forward until its nose brushes over Steve’s cheek. Steve thinks he should be afraid, but he isn’t.

Perhaps he’s just too tired to care.

But to his surprise, all Steve feels is cold air against his face, like a wisp of fog.

He opens his eyes and his gaze locks with the Wolf, brown meeting blue.

The black room Steve had found himself sitting in disappears, replaced by the familiar vines and shadows of the Upside Down.

He looks around, realizing with horror where they are.

“No, please, not here,” Steve whimpers.

But the Wolf only sits next to him, looking to Steve and then to the spot where Steve had wrenched a sobbing Dustin away from Eddie’s lifeless body.

Steve had dreamt about that moment every night for the past three months, seeing Eddie’s corpse lying there, cold and alone, and he’d woken up screaming more often than not.

But Eddie isn’t there now - the ground is empty.

The Wolf touches its cold nose to his shoulder, and Steve looks at it, dumbfounded.

“I don’t understand.” Steve’s voice trembles. “Why are you showing me this?”

The Wolf huffs, almost sounding frustrated. It walks over to the spot where Eddie’s body should’ve been and sits pointedly.

“Come.”

The voice is back in his head, muffled and distorted, but there.

“You want me to come over there?” Steve questions, confused.

The Wolf growls, low and guttural, and Steve jumps.

“Come through,” the voice says again, more insistent this time.

“Through what?” Steve hisses, and the Wolf waits. “The gate?” Steve’s eyes widen in realization. “You want me to come through the gate?”

The Wolf’s ears prick up.

“But…why?”

A flash of Eddie erupts in his mind, taking over the scene in front of him. He looks…different, his skin paler, his t shirt tattered and bloodied, his eyes hollow and dark, but it’s Eddie.

Steve scrunches his eyes shut firmly and clenches his jaw till it aches, a trick from childhood to pull himself out of dreams.

It works. He forces himself awake.

His crash back into consciousness is violent, and Steve thrashes as pain slams back into him full-force.

In a daze, he stands, shuffling to his wardrobe and pulling Eddie’s vest over his shoulders.

He doesn’t know why he does it, but it feels right.

Grabbing his nail bat in a shaky hand where he’d dropped it by his bed, he makes his way slowly to the front door.

As he staggers along, Steve leaves a trail of black gunk along the white carpet. Numbly, he thinks about how much his mom would hate that. How she’d yell, she’d scream herself hoarse, the stain on the carpet more important than the ones on her son’s bandages.

The black gunk is almost pouring from him now.

He imagines his parents coming home, if they ever do, and finding the mess he’s left behind.

From far away, he hears himself laugh.

He passes the phone in the kitchen, resting there for a moment and distantly noticing the blinking voicemail button. He doesn’t listen to the message.

He knows it’ll be Robin, and she can’t help him where he’s going.

He fumbles for his car keys on the bench, gripping them tightly and making his way outside.

The darkness is dulled by the glow of the full moon, but Steve knows there’s no one around to see him. The Loch Nora street is all but empty now, most of the residents having left Hawkins months ago when the doorway to hell ripped through the middle of it.

That main gate would be guarded and swarming with soldiers, Steve knows, so he turns the beemer in the direction of Forest Hills.

As he drives, the remaining pain in his bites fades away.

Steve feels his heart beating sluggishly, his blood feeling ice-cold as it’s forced through his veins. He doesn’t even realize he hadn’t turned the headlights on – he can see just fine after all, even when the moonlight is mostly blocked by trees.

He rolls into the now-abandoned trailer park, stopping the beemer in front of Eddie’s ruined trailer.

There had been guards here at first, but when there was zero activity detected at this small gate they had given up and joined the patrols of the main gate in the middle of town.

Police tape tied haphazardly across the door flaps in the cool breeze, a dull orange glow emanating from the sliver of a gate inside.

The trailer had been split in two when the main gate had formed, the contents spilling out onto the surrounding ground.

As he approaches, Steve spies a novelty mug lying in the dirt, an acoustic guitar in several bits strewn around nearby. Shredded band posters cling to the sorry remains of a bedroom wall.

Echoes of Eddie’s life, left here to rot. Just like Eddie had been.

Steve walks easily up to the trailer, frowning briefly at the black stain that now covers him from stomach to ankle, but it doesn’t bother him for long.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he thinks it should bother him, it should bother him a fucking lot.

But it doesn’t.

The pain has gone, his head is quiet, and Steve feels more at peace now than he had since the moment he’d walked away from Eddie in the Upside Down.

As he approaches the gate in the trailer ceiling, kicking his way through the rubble, the Wolf walks alongside him, cold air enveloping Steve’s hand as its nose nudges at him encouragingly.

When did the Wolf arrive?

Steve doesn’t know, doesn’t care.

The roof is badly damaged but the gate is still visible, a thin crack splitting through the night sky and running into the remains of a wooden beam.

Steve steps up onto a chair he found propped up the by the gate, and looks down at the Wolf.

“This is what I’m supposed to do?” he asks aloud, but he already knows the answer.

The Wolf inclines its head, and Steve reaches above him, fingers curling into the vines that wound their way around the edge of the gate.

He tosses the bat through first, listening as it lands with a thud. His shoes squelch as he jumps up, black ichor squeezing out of them like a sponge, and he drags himself through the gate and into the Upside Down.

He feels his bites tear open at the exertion, but there’s no pain.

With no sheets to cling to this time, Steve slams heavily into the ground on the other side, the Wolf pouncing delicately through and landing easily next to him.

“Show off,” Steve mutters, and the Wolf blinks at him, sitting and waiting for Steve to roll to his feet.

As soon as he has, however, the Wolf is growling, hackles raised, black teeth bared threateningly.

“What is it?” Steve murmurs, grasping his bat and scanning the blackness for danger.

The demogorgan charges at him with incredible speed, materializing out of the darkness so quickly that Steve barely has the opportunity to raise his bat.

The Wolf dives at it, shadow meeting flesh, and the demogorgan lets out a shriek as teeth sink deep into its arm.

The Wolf tugs it away from Steve, giving him the chance to swing the bat hard into the demogorgan’s gut.

Chortling gutturally, it spins to Steve, face opening up and displaying endless rows of teeth, preparing to close around Steve’s head.

Steve braces himself.

But the bite never comes.

The demogorgan pauses, open mouth just inches from Steve, and it breathes heavily, scenting the air around him. As if confused, it recoils slightly.

Steve swings again, aided by the Wolf still dragging the creature backwards.

Shrieking at the impact, the demogorgan lashes out at Steve, clawed hand connecting hard with his head and sending him flying backwards.

Steve hits the ground heavily, head smacking back into damp dirt.

His vision spins, and he tries to lurch to his feet, but finds himself unable to move.

Distantly, he hears the Wolf snarling and grappling with the demogorgan.

And then his blurry eyes pick up a third figure joining the fray.

A familiar figure, armed with a crude spear, jabbing furiously at the demogorgan’s head.

Steve’s head swims and he loses sight of anything after that, the sound of his rapidly-slowing heartbeat thudding in his ears.

“Steve, you with me, big boy?”

Eddie’s voice, but whether it’s out loud or inside his head, Steve doesn’t have a clue.

He tries to open his mouth to respond, but no sound comes out.

Steve loses himself to blackness, the sound of the Wolf howling the last thing he hears before he exhales heavily and goes still.

Chapter Text

Don’t look back, them days are gone

Follow me into the endless night

I can bring your fears to life

Show me yours and I’ll show you mine

Meet me in the woods tonight

- Lord Huron

*****

Steve wakes with a gasp, his eyes adjusting quickly to the dark surroundings.

He’s still lying where he fell. Propping himself slowly up on his elbows, he jumps at the sight of the motionless demogorgan lying a few feet away.

“It’s ok, it’s dead.”

Eddie’s voice comes from his other side and Steve’s head whips around.

“Welcome back.” Eddie grins, all teeth and dimples.

Steve’s vision swims.

Eddie’s alive, he’s here, he’s safe, he’s…

Different.

He’s…wrong.

His skin is ghostly pale, dark eyes ringed with black.

The Upside Down has always been freezing cold, and yet Eddie is in just his ripped jeans and tattered Hellfire tee, looking perfectly comfortable. He’s sitting cross-legged next to Steve, his chin resting on intertwined fingers.

Next to him sits a fox.

Not an ordinary fox - this one is all black, fur shifting and waving in a non-existent breeze.

Steve is reminded of the Wolf, and he glances around to see the large creature sitting nearby, flicking its tail casually.

Steve’s gaze quickly returns to Eddie.

“Eddie,” he breathes, sitting up and reaching for the other man.

Eddie smiles, something soft and familiar, and scooches forwards. “Hey, Steve.”

He falls into Steve’s arms easily, like he’s meant to be there.

They’ve never done this. Never had any physical contact outside of Eddie shoving him against the wall of the boat shed, Eddie’s shoulder nudging against his own, keeping his balance as they traipsed through the Upside Down, a brush of hands while exchanging a plastic bag-wrapped torch. Necessary touches, most of them - to the outside eye anyway.

But here, there’s no one to see them, no one to question the way Steve accepts Eddie’s touch so readily.

And any hesitation, any bullshit about masculinity he’d learnt from high-school locker rooms, from the cruel hands of his father was long dead; it had died months ago, had slunk away in the middle of the night as Steve lay awake and gasping and desperate for Eddie.

Steve clings to him now, arms wrapping around a skinny waist and squeezing tight.

“Eddie, how -” Steve starts, but Eddie hushes him, brushing a hand over the back of Steve’s head. “I’m so sorry,” Steve’s voice hitches with a sob and he buries his face into Eddie’s neck. His skin is cold, but Steve barely notices. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

Eddie pulls away a little to look at Steve’s face. “Why are you sorry?”

For leaving you here to rot. For letting you come in the first place. For making you be a distraction. For allowing you to be a sacrifice, when it should’ve been me, fuck, it should’ve been me…

The Wolf yips quietly, dragging Steve from his thoughts, and he locks eyes with Eddie again.

“I left you here,” Steve chokes out, “I left you in this fucking place, and I’ve thought about you every day, and all the ways I could’ve fixed it, and -”

“Steve,” Eddie whispers, “none of it was your fault, you hear? I made a choice that day, and I’d do it again. Besides, I think you’ve punished yourself enough.” Steve frowns at that, and Eddie continues. “I heard you. At night, sometimes, I’d visit your house. Well, this version of your house,” Eddie gestures to the gloom around them. “And I’d sit by your bed and I’d hear you crying out at night, and I wanted to help you, I wanted to talk to you somehow, but I couldn’t get through to you, I wasn’t strong enough.”

The Wolf pads over, sitting next to Steve.

“Wolf could, though,” Eddie explains. “He’s…connected to you. It’s a long story, I’ll explain it all in time.”

A little overwhelmed, Steve brings a hand up to his forehead, feeling for the wound that must’ve been there after the demogorgan hit him. To his surprise, he feels nothing but a small scar, the skin having closed over already.

Pulling away from Eddie, he grasps at his t shirt, dragging the hem up and tugging the stained bandages aside. His bites are in a similar state – the scars much larger and more jagged, but healed, black gunk dried and sticking to the skin around them.

Steve looks back up at Eddie, his eyes questioning.

“…yeah, so that happens,” Eddie lifts his own shirt up, displaying the myriad of scarred flesh on his abdomen. The scars had faded to white, the skin crudely pulled back together and sealed. “Look, don’t worry, I know it’s a lot, but I’ll explain as best I can, ok? Just…we should probably move first.”

“The gate, we can go back through, we can go home.” Steve gestures to it, to the small orange slit glowing in this version of the Munson trailer.

Eddie shakes his head, jaw clenched. “We can’t. I’ve got somewhere we can go, though. You trust me?”

Yes.

“Where to?” Steve takes the hand Eddie offers him, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet.

The Fox springs into life, pressing itself up against Eddie’s leg and flattening its ears. The Wolf was standing again too, shadowy fur bristling along his hackles.

“More coming.” His voice, the one Steve is learning belongs to the Wolf, sounds in Steve’s head, clearer than he’s ever heard it so far.

At the same time, Eddie nods at the Fox, an exchange unheard by Steve passing between them.

“We need to move.”

He takes Steve by the arm and pulls him away from the murky trailer park, heading into the trees.

Following Eddie through the damp trees, Steve hops easily over vines, stepping where Eddie does. The Wolf trots along behind him, and the Fox darts ahead of Eddie, scampering silently through the undergrowth.

As they walk, the forest lightens a little, the dark not so heavy here, not so cloying. The thick particles swirling around them give way to cleaner air, and Steve notices the vines growing smaller and thinner, until finally there are hardly any at all. He stays close to Eddie, not wanting any distance between them, not now, not when he’s finally gotten him back.

After walking for some time, Steve decides to risk opening his mouth.

“Where are we going?” he asks quietly.

“Almost there,” Eddie answers, reaching behind him for Steve’s hand. Steve takes it without question, and Eddie guides him forward into a small clearing, and points at a familiar-looking cabin.

It’s Hopper’s.

Steve had only been there a couple of times, helping to rebuild it in the week after the gate had opened. It’s intact here, and while the odd vine or two still coils around the nearby trees, the cabin itself looks completely clear of them. It’s still dark and dingy, but there’s a sense of warmth surrounding the cabin – or as close to warmth as one could get in the Upside Down, anyway.

Steve frowns, glancing at Eddie. He has so many questions he isn’t sure where to start.

“Is it…safe?”

Eddie squeezes his hand. “As safe as you can get, here.”

“It’s OURS.” A female voice echoes in Steve’s head, full of venom, not as clear as the Wolf’s had been.

The Fox is staring at Steve intently, and he raises an eyebrow at Eddie, feeling that tell-tale scratch at the edge of his consciousness – this time lighter, but sharper.

“Yeah, that’s Fox,” Eddie says with a smile. “Don’t fight it, just let her in. She’s pretty persistent.”

“Doesn’t belong to Him,” Fox hisses, louder this time, and Steve gives her a nod.

“Yours, not his, got it,” he said shakily, not having a clue what she meant.

Fox slinks away towards the cabin, seemingly happy with his answer.

Still holding Eddie’s hand, Steve allows himself to be led inside, the Wolf lying down in the doorway and watching the surrounding trees quietly. Fox curls up into a ball on the tattered couch, bushy tail tucked over her nose, and Eddie pulls Steve into the bedroom and sits him down on what he supposes is now El’s bed back in his world. There’s junk everywhere, furniture tippled over, the floors thick with grime – it’s not how Steve remembers it from the normal world – this version of the cabin looks like it’s been empty for a long time.

“Eddie,” Steve starts, bringing their linked hands to rest on his knee. “I’m so happy you’re here, but what the fuck.”

Eddie chuckles. “Yeah, look, I don’t have all the answers, but I can give you some. Go ahead, hit me.”

“What?”

“With questions, big boy.” Eddie smiles affectionately, and Steve bites his lip and looks down at his lap.

“Right, um…” Steve thinks for a minute, not sure where to start. “How are you…alive? No offense, but when I last saw you…you were dead.” The last few words come out hoarsely and Eddie rubs a thumb over the back of Steve’s hand.

“I don’t really know the answer to that one,” he says softly. “It’s something to do with the bat bites, I think. I woke up, and everything had gone to shit, there was a huge gate, Vecna was nowhere to be seen. Thank fuck for Fox, I don’t know what I would’ve done without her.”

“What are they? Fox and the Wolf?”

“From what they’ve told me, they’re a part of this place,” Eddie waves a hand, gesturing to their surroundings. “They were here long before Vecna, and they want him gone. Everything here’s connected, right, like a hive mind?” Steve nods along. “Well, they’re part of it. And so are we now, somehow. That’s how we can talk to them.”

“Do they…have names?”

“Not ones you could pronounce,” come’s Fox’s haughty reply, and Steve jumps, not realizing they were being overheard.

“I go with Fox and Wolf, they seem happy enough with it,” Eddie tells him with a shrug.

“Why didn’t you come home?” Steve absently pokes at one of the rings on Eddie’s fingers. “There’s a massive gate, couldn’t you come through?”

Eddie shakes his head sadly. “I tried. Fox stopped me every time. Said I was a part of this world, now, and I couldn’t go back.”

“But what happens if you do?” Steve persists.

“I got halfway through the gate, once.” Eddie inches closer to Steve, pressing his leg up against Steve’s and bumping their shoulders together. Steve’s heart sings at the contact. “It wasn’t easy to get to it, they’re usually swarming with bats, or some other thing, but one day I got there. It was painful as fuck, like nothing I’ve ever felt. Like every part of me was being ripped apart. Fox dragged me back and I didn’t wake up for days.”

“How did Wolf come through, then?” Steve questions, glancing out the doorway to where the creature was lying, clearly guarding the front door. “I mostly saw him in dreams, but he was definitely physically there a couple of times.”

Eddie shrugs. “They’re different to us. But it took a huge amount of effort for Wolf to get to you, it nearly destroyed him.”

“He’s bigger, here,” Steve points out.

Wolf had been the size of a large dog when Steve had seen him outside his house, and he’d been blurry, malformed, weak perhaps. But since arriving in the Upside Down, Wolf was larger than any dog Steve had ever seen, easily standing a little above waist-height against Steve, his form much more solidified and definite.

“They’re much stronger here. They’re not meant to be in our world.”

“He called me brother.”

“Fox calls me that sometimes, too. Like I said, they’re part of us now.” Eddie looks to where Fox is sleeping on the couch and smiles softly.

“What about Vecna?” Steve asks. “We fucked up, we didn’t kill him, has there been any sign of him?”

“He’s still here,” Eddie confirms, and Steve feels a cold tingle down his spine at that admission. “He’s injured, still, and he’s weak, that’s how Wolf and Fox broke free from his control. But he’s not gone, no.”

“Well, shit.”

“Yeah. How’s everyone back home? I visit their houses sometimes, like I did yours, I went to the hospital too. I can’t hear any of the others as easily as I could hear you, but I picked up on some bits…” Eddie trails off. “Max,” he whispers, his face drawn in sadness.

Steve clutches at his hand. “She’s still in a coma, they don’t know if she’ll wake. The kids, they miss you so much. Dustin especially, the kid’s a mess. I could barely get him to leave the house the past few weeks, he…he’s not doing well.”

Eddie is quiet, and Steve sees an overwhelming sadness in his eyes.

“Eddie,” Steve murmurs. “I…I missed you, too. So fucking much.”

“I’m sorry,” Eddie crumples next to Steve, free hand coming up to rub over his face. “I just wanted to help, I wanted to do something, I needed to protect Dustin, I didn’t really care what happened to me, but I didn’t mean to put you all through that.”

Steve winds an arm around Eddie’s waist, tucking him into his side, and Eddie leans his head against Steve’s.

“It’s been so fucking lonely here, Stevie,” Eddie whispers. “Fox kept me going, and Wolf joined us later, but for a long time I would just sit in your house and cry whenever I heard an echo of you.” Eddie chuckles sadly and swipes at his face. “I’d visit other places too, follow these…shadows of everyone. The kids, Gareth, and I looked for Wayne but I couldn’t find him. But you…I kept returning to your house. It felt like…like I was meant to be there. Kinda pathetic, I know.”

“It’s not,” Steve assures him. “I don’t know how much you heard when you were in this version of my house, but…I wasn’t ok.” Eddie presses himself further into Steve. “I wasn’t sleeping, I couldn’t eat, I…I just wanted you…I wanted you back. I felt so fucking bad, and I didn’t know how to help the others, nothing I said or did could bring Dustin out of the state he was in. I stopped visiting Max, because every time I did it just reminded me how badly I fucked up.”

“Stevie,” Eddie interrupts, tilting Steve’s chin to face him. “It’s not on you, ok? It isn’t. And…although I’m sad that you’re stuck in this place too, I…I’m glad you’re here with me. I’m so fucking glad.”

Steve twists so he can wrap both arms around Eddie now, running a hand up and down his back .

For a fleeting moment, Steve wonders what his dad would say if he saw him like this. Cuddling up with the town freak, seeking comfort in the arms of a man he barely knew but wanted to know, so badly it hurt.

He’s not entirely sure what his dad would do - knows it would be nothing good.

But his dad isn’t here, and they’re just two boys hiding in the dark.

“Eddie?” Steve asks after a while.

“Hmm?”

“Am I stuck, too? You said...” Steve’s voice fades, and Eddie plucks absently at the hem of Steve’s t shirt.

“Oh, I just meant, with the gates being guarded and everything, it’s really not easy to get to them,” Eddie says eventually, not meeting Steve’s eye.

“Well, I’m not leaving without you, anyway,” Steve tells him, and Eddie glances up at him from under messy bangs. “Not again.”

They sit in silence for some time, Eddie clinging to him, open in his relief to finally have another person there with him. Steve’s going over everything Eddie has told him, replaying it in his mind and trying to make sense of it all.

Eventually, he breaks the silence.

“So…what do you eat around here?”

Eddie looks at him, a little surprised. “Are you hungry?”

Steve ponders that for a second. “Well, no, but I guess I will be eventually…”

“Well, we’ll worry about it then,” Eddie says dismissively, and Steve decides not to push.

“Are there…clothes, here?” Steve gestures down at his ruined t shirt and pants, the once blue and grey fabric now almost completely black. “I know a shower’s out of the question, but I wouldn’t mind getting changed.”

“Yeah, it’s old stuff of Hoppers, though. Most of it’s all moth-eaten and damp.” Eddie stands, rifling through some of the drawers. “I, um, I should change too, I guess.” Eddie glances down at his blood-stained Hellfire shirt, appearing suddenly self-conscious. “I never saw the need, you know, because it was only me and Fox for a long time, and I’m quite attached to this shirt, and -”

“It’s ok.” Steve squeezes Eddie’s wrist gently as he joins him next to the drawers, looking through the pile of flannel shirts. “If you want to keep wearing it, then you wear it. Don’t you get cold, though?”

“No,” Eddie says, handing Steve the smallest pair of jeans he could find. “Are you cold?”

“…no. I should be, though, right? I was freezing my ass off last time I was here.”

“Don’t think about it too much.” Eddie gives him a grim smile. “I’m gonna find you a belt. I’ll just, ah, I’ll just wait in the lounge while you change.”

“No.” Steve grips Eddie’s arm, stopping him when he goes to leave the room. “Um, sorry, just…don’t go? You can just…turn around?”

Eddie’s eyes rake over Steve’s face, taking in his wide eyes and desperate expression.

“Sure, ok.” He runs his fingers briefly over Steve’s hand and sits on the bed, facing away from him.

Steve’s shoulders drop in relief, even though he feels a little embarrassed. He’d spent three months without Eddie, and now that he has him back he can’t bear to even be in a separate room to him.

He makes quick work of his soiled clothes, tugging them off and throwing them in a soggy heap. He screws his nose up a little at the thought of borrowing a pair of Hopper’s briefs, but it’s better than the chafing that would no doubt occur if he goes commando in jeans in this damp place. They’re too big, the same as the rest of the clothes, but Steve rolls the jeans up at the ankle and folds the sleeves of the soft flannel shirt several times. His Nikes are a bit of a lost cause, but they’ll have to do for now until they can find some more shoes that fit.

He gratefully takes the belt Eddie had found in the wardrobe, doing it up on the tightest hole to keep the jeans above his ass.

“We could do a run to your place, sometime,” Eddie says once Steve is dressed, “grab some of your clothes and stuff.”

“I’d like that,” Steve replies gratefully. He pauses, looking to where he’d left Eddie’s vest on the bed, and Eddie follows his gaze.

“Keep it,” Eddie tells him after a moment.

Steve shakes his head. “It’s yours.”

“I like seeing it on you. It seems…right.”

Steve grabs the vest from the bed, shrugging it on over his shirt, relaxing under the familiar weight of it.

Eddie’s eyes crinkle at the edges as he smiles softly.

They leave the bedroom for the lounge, Steve’s hand firmly in Eddie’s, never straying far apart. Fox yips grumpily when Eddie shoos her off the couch, making room for him and Steve to sit, and she deposits herself in Hopper’s arm chair instead.

Wolf quietly enters the room, sitting next to the arm of the couch.

“Wolf?” Steve asks tentatively.

“Brother,” comes the response.

“Um, can I…” Steve holds a hand up curiously, reaching towards Wolf. His fur still had a smoky quality to it, but Steve can make out individual hairs now, unlike when he was in the normal world. Soft whorls break up the pattern of his coat, muscles rippling and shifting with every movement underneath it.

Steve’s fingers meet cold fur, and Wolf twitches under his touch, eyes watching Steve closely but calmly. Where he had felt only cold mist previously, Steve now feels coarse hair, and he buries his fingers into the thick coat on Wolf’s neck. Wolf tilts his head, allowing Steve to run his hand further down his neck.

*****

Eddie watches, his gaze soft, as a small smile spread over Steve’s lips.

Fox lifts her delicate head, glancing between Eddie and Steve. She hops lightly off the chair and makes her way silently to sit on top of Eddie’s feet. Her muzzle nudges at his hands and Eddie laughs quietly, taking one of his rings off and handing it to her. Fox takes it in her teeth happily, lying down and placing it between her two front paws, watching the way the faint glow of their surroundings flickers over the metal surface.

Wolf has his head on the arm rest now, his eyes heavy-lidded as Steve strokes behind his ears.

Eddie draws gentle circles on Steve’s palm with his thumb, feeling safe for the first time in what felt like forever.

He knows this won’t last, that there’s so much more he has to tell Steve eventually.

But for now he just basks in the moment, shamefully relieved that Steve is with him again.

Everything else could wait.

Chapter Text

When the curtains call the time

Will we both go home alive?

It wasn’t hard to realize

Love’s the death of peace of mind

- Bad Omens

*****

Steve’s unsure how long the four of them sit in that dim lounge – it could’ve been an hour, it could’ve been an entire day. Time seems to move strangely here, or rather it seems to not move at all – the lack of a day and night cycle was making it difficult to keep track.

He caught Eddie up on everything he’d missed over the last three months - not that there was much to tell, as Steve had spent most of it wallowing in his bedroom, and it seems Eddie had bore witness to a lot of that. He explained that Hopper and El – “the girl with the superpowers we told you about” - had lived in this cabin again very briefly on their return, before moving in with the Byers family to a house on the edge of Hawkins.

Fox interrupts when he then starts to speak about Max.

"Max,” she chitters, and Steve notices Eddie glance towards her, so he must’ve heard her, too. “We know Max.”

“What? How?” Steve sits up, hope building in his chest. Was she here, too?

“Saw her.”

“Where?” Eddie asks urgently.

Fox blinks her blue eyes slowly. “Inside.”

“Inside where?” Eddie’s leg bounces in agitation. “The hospital?”

Fox cocks her head. “Inside,” she repeats.

“What does that mean?” Steve questions, and Fox swishes her tail, remaining silent. “Wolf?” Steve turns to him for help.

“She is here. Or, part of her is. With Him,” Wolf explains. “While He sleeps, so does she.”

“Vecna?” Steve guesses, and Wolf inclines his head.

“That is your name for Him. We have others.”

Eddie nudges at Fox gently with his foot – she’d been distracted by the ring she was tapping at with a paw. “Can we help her? Can we get to her?”

“No,” Fox says simply.

“Not now,” Wolf adds, “she is…wounded. To sever the link between Max and Him would be fatal for her.”

“But we can do something eventually, then? Even if not right now?” Steve presses. “You said not now.”

Wolf bristles a little, gaze flicking to Fox and back to Steve. “There is a chance that when -”

“No,” Fox snaps, and Wolf’s mouth shuts with a clack of teeth. Possessive, she winds herself tightly around Eddie’s legs. “Too dangerous.”

“There’s a chance? When, how?” Steve leans towards Wolf, but the creature remains silent, Fox fixing him with a stern glare. “Tell me!” Steve demands, and Wolf lets out a frustrated huff, curling a lip up and displaying a row of teeth.

“Steve,” Eddie says gently, placing a hand on his arm. “We’ll figure it out.”

Steve sinks back into the couch with a sigh.

“We could go check on her, see if we can hear anything,” Eddie suggests, “at the hospital. And we could make a stop at your house, too.”

“Isn’t it crawling with demogorgans and shit out there?” Steve points out.

“Not really.” Eddie strokes the top of Fox’s head and she leans into his hand. “There’s lots around the gates, but there’s not many anywhere else. They don’t actively seek us out, either, it’s only if we approach a gate or cross paths with something that they attack.”

Steve frowns. “Why aren’t they looking for us? Hive mind, right? They must know we’re here.”

“They don’t want you. Not while He sleeps.” Fox tells them.

“Why not?”

“You are -” Fox starts, but Eddie interrupts.

“Not important to them,” he says quickly. “We’re not important to them right now.”

Fox shares a brief look with Eddie then turns away, padding out of the room.

“Let me grab some stuff, and we’ll get going.”

Eddie stands, and Steve follows him to the back door where a bag sits. Eddie rifles through it, handing Steve a flashlight and grabbing one for himself.

“Bring the bat, just in case,” he adds, taking his spear from where he’d propped it up by the door earlier.

Steve carries it over his shoulder as they exit, pausing when Fox and Wolf remain in the cabin.

“Aren’t they coming?”

Eddie shrugs. “They do their own thing,” he says, boots sinking into the damp dirt as they walk. “If we need them, they’ll be there, though. They don’t need to walk everywhere like we do, they can just sort of…appear. Like…” Eddie snaps his fingers. “Like opening up a dimension door.”

Steve raises his eyebrows, shaking his head. “Dimension door?”

“It’s a spell, in Dungeons and Dragons. You can travel to somewhere you can visualize.” Eddie waves his hands animatedly as he spoke, and Steve smiles fondly.

“You could just say teleport, man.”

“Ah…yeah. Well, they can teleport, then.” Eddie steps over a thin vine without even looking down – he must have walked this path enough times to remember where they are. “They stay at the cabin, when they can. They like it there.”

“Fox said it was…theirs?” Steve treads more carefully than Eddie, his eyes scanning the gloom around them.

“Yeah. She doesn’t like explaining much,” Eddie laughs briefly. “But from what I can gather, she lived somewhere nearby before Vecna arrived. Wolf, too. And maybe more of them.”

Steve nods. They move more quietly now, as the darkness closes around them again. The strange particles are back in the air, filling Steve’s lungs, but he finds it doesn’t bother him nearly as much as it had during his previous foray into the Upside Down. He coughs a few times, more out of habit than anything else, and then forgets about them.

As they reach the edge of the trees, Eddie takes his hand, pausing and looking around before moving forward. Steve clings tightly to Eddie’s icy grip as they move, passing several rusty cars parked along the side of the road.

The silence surprises Steve. The last time he’d been here, the Upside Down had rumbled with earthquakes, creatures had shrieked in the distance, vines had writhed around with damp slaps. He heard none of that, now – the only sound is his harsh breathing.

Eventually, they reach Steve’s street. The vines are coiled thickly here, stretching across the road in several places and winding around streetlights. Steve calculates every step before he takes it, while Eddie moves with practised ease, almost athletically, which is not a word Steve ever expected to associate with Eddie.

He’s so focused on not treading on a vine that he smacks right into Eddie’s back when he freezes in front of him.

“What?” Steve hisses, and Eddie silently points his spear ahead of them.

A pack of demodogs are scaling a fence. Or they were, before stopping and turning to look at Steve and Eddie.

Steve counts at least six of them.

The one at the front opens its mouth slightly, the flaps peeling back as it lets out a chortle, the others forming a semi-circle behind it.

As one, they stalk towards the two men.

“Get behind me.” Eddie shoves Steve back, not waiting for any argument, and brandishes his spear.

“There’s too many, we should try get to a house -” Steve whispers urgently, adjusting his grip on his bat.

“No time, they’re too fast.” Eddie’s jaw twitches as he clenches it. “Don’t let them surround us. Call Wolf.”

“What do you mean call -”

The demodogs break into a sprint, and Steve snaps his mouth shut, preparing to swing.

Eddie jams his spear hard into the head of the first demodog, grunting as the impact sends him stumbling backwards. He tugs at his weapon, but the spear is firmly lodged in the mouth of the dying creature.

Cursing, he drops to a knee and pulls a knife from his boot, stepping in front of Steve again to meet the next one.

Steve sidesteps Eddie and brings his bat down firmly into the skull of another demodog. Shrieking, it twists away, pulling loose and leaving a layer of black gore dripping from the nails.

It retreats, shaking its head furiously, spattering gunk everywhere.

The remaining dogs regroup, slinking forward more carefully. Steve stands shoulder to shoulder with Eddie.

Two demodogs split off, circling around behind them, and Steve rotates to face them, his back pressing firmly against Eddie’s.

He can feel the other man trembling.

“Where the fuck is Fox?” Eddie whispers, voice shaking.

The demodogs leap forward as one, mouths flying open and teeth snapping at them from every direction. Steve slams his bat into the neck of one and sends it reeling, but another is upon him straight away, mouth closing around his arm and tugging.

Steve screams when teeth sink deep into his forearm, but the explosion of pain he expected doesn’t come. He can feel his flesh tearing, can feel something dripping down his arm, but it doesn’t hurt.

Eddie twists around when he hears Steve, letting out a cry and sinking his knife into the throat of the demodog that’s diving for him.

As Steve is dragged forward several paces by the demodog latched onto him, he sees Eddie trading blows with the remaining one, moving faster than Steve thought possible. He’d dropped the knife at some point, but he dances out of reach every time the dog lunges at him, and kicks his boot repeatedly into its side.

A flurry of movement, a swirl of smoke in the dark and Fox appears at his side, letting out a screech and diving at the demodog, sending them tumbling, Fox snapping and biting at anything she can reach.

With that demodog distracted, Eddie runs to Steve, scooping up the bat where it had been dropped and bringing it down several times on the demodog’s back. The dog snarls and buckles under the blows but remains locked onto Steve’s arm.

Eddie grunts with frustration and throws the bat aside, grabbing the demodog’s petal-like jaws with both hands and pulling with all his might.

With inhuman strength, he wrenches the dog’s mouth apart, arms straining with exertion.

The demodog screeches, paws scrabbling uselessly at the ground as its jaw is ripped in two.

It releases Steve’s arm, stumbling back several steps before it collapses, twitching a few times and then going still.

Steve looks down at his tattered arm, confusion flooding him.

It doesn’t make sense – he can see bone, he can see blood dripping from the end of his fingers, but he can’t feel it.

The blood is black.

But no – that couldn’t be right. It was just dark, the light was making it look that way, he’s seeing shit.

Experimentally, he tries to move his fingers, but they won’t even twitch. He throws a panicked look to Eddie.

“It’s ok,” Eddie says, tongue flicking over his lips and wetting them. “Don’t panic, I promise it’ll be ok.”

“Eddie,” Steve chokes, feeling lightheaded because this is very much not ok, but then Eddie’s quickly throwing an arm around his waist, steadying him.

“It’s ok, you’re alright,” Eddie breathes into his ear, and Steve grabs at his Hellfire shirt with his good hand, clenching his fist in the fabric. “But now would be a really good time to call Wolf.”

Steve drags his eyes away from the mess of his arm and follows Eddie’s gaze to the other end of the street, where a larger group of demodogs are converging.

Fox finishes tearing the throat out of a demodog, then steps in front of Eddie, brushing up against his thigh.

“Go,” she says firmly, hackles raised.

“Not leaving you, Fox.” Eddie swallows thickly and stands his ground.

Fox growls and snaps at his ankle, sending him back a step, Steve stumbling along with him.

“I will distract them.”

“There’s too many, they’ll kill you,” Eddie argues, dropping to a knee next to her, keeping one eye on the demodogs still lingering a cautious distance from them.

“They would have to catch me.” Fox’s lips pull back, teeth displayed almost in a grin. “And they are stupid, and slow. They will not.”

Not waiting for any further argument, Fox takes off, tearing towards the demodogs and then darting off to one side. The dogs let out a collective chortle and start after her, prey drive kicking in, not able to resist a chase.

Eddie swears and grips Steve again, pulling him towards the nearest house.

“Eddie, I can’t feel my fucking arm, w-why can’t I feel it, why the fuck can’t I feel anything -” Steve’s babbling now, but he can’t help it, his words pouring out in a stuttery daze.

“It’s ok, Stevie,” Eddie murmurs, shoving the front door of the house open with his boot and manhandling Steve inside.

He shuts the door quietly behind them and guides Steve with a hand on his back as he lurches into the lounge and collapses into a chair.

“Is there…are there bandages or something, here, maybe the bathroom -” Steve pants, one hand wrapped around his upper arm above the gore. Should he put pressure on it? He doesn’t really want to touch it, if he’s being honest, thinks he shouldn’t be putting his grime-encrusted hand anywhere near exposed fucking bone, but -

“You don’t need them,” Eddie says calmly, crouching in front of him.

“What the fuck do you mean, look at my arm!” Steve lifts it closer to Eddie, as if he somehow hasn’t seen it already.

“I know.” Eddie’s voice is far too steady for Steve’s liking. “I promise you, you’ll be fine. We just need to wait. Remember your bites?” Eddie reaches up and runs a thumb over Steve’s waist, above the scars there. “This will heal, too. It doesn’t hurt, right?”

“No,” Steve admits after a moment, “but it really should, why doesn’t it?”

Eddie ducks his head. “It’ll be ok, so just…try to calm down.”

A slam against the front door interrupts them, the wood tearing off its hinges with a crack.

Eddie leaps to his feet, grabbing Steve’s bat.

The high-pitched gurgle of a demogorgan sounds, and Steve goes cold all over.

It’s on them in seconds, squeezing its tall frame through the doorway and charging at Eddie.

Eddie swings hard, bat connecting, but the demogorgan barely pauses, swiping angrily at Eddie. He jumps aside, the claws missing him by inches, and kicks savagely at the creature’s leg, bone snapping as Eddie’s boot comes down hard on a pale leg.

The demogorgan shrieks and Steve uses the moment to throw himself out of the armchair, reaching for a metal poker leaning up against the fireplace and stabbing it as hard as he can into the demogorgan’s abdomen.

It sinks in easily, the skin parting like rotted fruit, the tip of the poker emerging out the back of the creature with a spray of black blood.

The demogorgan hisses and lashes out at Eddie who’s swinging the bat again, interrupting his attack and slamming him hard up against the wall.

Its mouth opens in a roar, spittle flying as it screeches in Eddie’s face.

Eddie’s wide eyes meet Steve’s, who is desperately looking around for anything to use as a weapon.

Eddie opens his mouth, trying to talk, but the demogorgan's hand closes around his throat and over his mouth, claws starting to dig in and he can’t get any words out.

“Get off him!” Steve screams, grabbing at the creature’s slippery back, trying to tug it off Eddie, but his fingers can’t get any purchase on the slimy skin.

“Call Wolf.”

Eddie hadn’t spoken out loud, he couldn’t.

Instead, his voice had sounded, clear and calm, in Steve’s mind. Just like Fox, like Wolf.

Steve grabs for the end of the poker sticking out of the demogorgan’s back and wrenches it, causing the creature to stagger a little and swipe an uncoordinated arm back at Steve.

How is he supposed to call Wolf? He’s too far away, he couldn’t hear him. But…

In a moment of desperation, with his eyes locked on Eddie’s, Steve screams for Wolf as loud as he can in his head, throwing the full force of his fear behind it, his fear for Eddie…

“Brother,” comes the response, “I am here.”

Wolf materializes a moment later, letting out a deafening snarl and leaping at the demogorgan, jaws closing around the back of its neck and dragging it backwards.

The demogorgan chortles and grasps desperately at Wolf, trying to dislodge him, but Wolf growls furiously and buries his teeth deeper, claws opening up deep lines in the creature’s back.

Eddie is released, and Steve picks up his bat with his good hand, yelling as he smacks it repeatedly into the exposed abdomen of the demogorgan.

The creature falls to its knees and Wolf sinks his teeth into its throat, tearing and ripping at flesh until the demogorgan gurgles and goes still.

Steve throws himself at Eddie, running his hands over his stomach, his chest, his neck, checking urgently for injuries.

Eddie watches him, still trembling, and when Steve is satisfied he’s relatively ok he wraps his uninjured arm around Eddie’s waist, burying his face in Eddie’s shoulder and sucking in deep breaths.

“You’re ok,” Steve mumbles into Eddie’s shirt. “You’re ok.”

“Yeah, Stevie.” Eddie runs a hand up and down his back soothingly. “I’m fine. And you will be, too.”

Eddie grabs Steve’s bloodied hand and holds it up, tipping Steve’s head back so he can see it.

The bone is no longer exposed, muscle knitting back into place over the top of it. The black blood is starting to dry already, and Steve looks at it in amazement.

“This is what happened with your bites,” Eddie explains gently, “you just weren’t awake to see it.”

Wolf sits next to Steve, grounding him with his steady presence, and Steve brushes his hand over Wolf’s neck. It comes away wet with demogorgan blood, but Steve doesn’t care.

“Thanks, Wolf,” he murmurs, and Wolf flicks his ears.

“Fox?” Eddie asks Wolf aloud, but her response sounds, a little faint, in Eddie and Steve’s heads.

“Fine, little one.”

Eddie’s head thunks back against the wall in relief.

“I will check for others.” Wolf vanishes in a whirl of black smoke, leaving Eddie and Steve alone in the house.

“Holy shit,” Steve breathes out after a moment.

“Yeah,” Eddie murmurs in agreement. “I…didn’t expect that, I’m sorry.”

“You’re sure you’re ok?” Steve’s hand brushes against Eddie’s, and Eddie turns his hand to allow their fingers to intertwine.

“I’m fine,” Eddie says softly. “Your arm looks far better already.”

Steve murmurs in agreement. There are still gaping holes from the demodog’s teeth down his forearm, but the skin is slowly inching back together, the wounds closing.

Eddie slides down the wall to sit on the cold carpet, Steve joining him, and both sit in silence for a few moments, recovering.

Steve absently twists one of the rings on Eddie’s finger, fingertips ghosting over Eddie’s knuckle.

“You said they don’t usually attack?” Steve breaks the silence eventually.

Eddie turns to him. “They don’t,” he says hoarsely, “not unless I approach them, or try to go through a gate. I don’t know why they decided to now.”

“I was so fucking scared, Eddie,” Steve whispers, and Eddie squeezes Steve’s knee with his other hand.

“I know, I’m sorry I put you in that situation, Steve, you’ve been through so much in a short amount of time -”

“I wasn’t scared for me,” Steve blurts, and Eddie gives him a questioning look. “I was scared about losing you again. That…that was too close, Eddie, I can’t deal with that again. I can’t lose you again.”

Eddie grips Steve’s hand tighter and slips an arm over his shoulder, Steve’s head tipping to tuck against Eddie’s cheek. Without overthinking it, Eddie presses a kiss to Steve’s temple, and the two sit in silence again, cold and pale and bloodied, each taking comfort in the knowledge that the other is still there.

After a minute – or an hour, again, Steve can’t really tell – Fox takes shape out of a puff of mist.

She glances between Steve and Eddie, and settles on her haunches in front of them, fixing them with her blue gaze.

When she speaks, her words are solemn and heavy.

“He is awake.”

Chapter Text

And a fox somewhere is hiding

That light I thought was blinding brought me here

I look into the waters and see a face I don’t understand

- The Amazing Devil

*****

“Who’s awake?” Steve asks urgently. “Vecna?” He turns to Eddie when Fox doesn’t answer. “Does she mean Vecna?”

Eddie looks questioningly at Fox, and Steve senses he’s missing out on a private exchange again.

“We need to move,” he says eventually, grabbing at Steve’s arm, tugging him upright.

“What’d she tell you?” Steve demands, yanking back on Eddie’s hand. “Is it Vecna?”

“Not safe,” Fox reiterates.

“Tell what the fuck is happening!” Steve spits out, and Eddie turns back to him, eyes wide.

Steve’s breathing hard, his arm tingling violently as muscle and skin is visibly stitching back together, and they’re covered in demogorgan blood and gore.

He’s had enough of being left in the dark.

Eddie swallows. “Yes. It’s Vecna.”

Fox growls at the mention of his name. “He is weak still, we must leave now.”

Eddie nods, still clinging to Steve’s hand. “We’ll stop by your house first, we’re so close and you need some decent shoes, and I don’t know when we’ll get another chance.”

Fox scowls at that suggestion, lip rising above sharp teeth, but Eddie pulls Steve past her. They step over the corpse of the demogorgan, Steve briefly sliding in the black liquid pooled on the floor, but Eddie keeps him upright, keeps him moving, out the door and several houses down, to a familiar red door, to the Harrington house standing large and looming, somehow even more foreboding to Steve here than it is in his own world.

Wolf shadows them to the door and remains there, a silent sentry while Steve and Eddie enter the house.

“Food, we should…we should check the cupboards, see if there’s anything -” Steve rambles, his hands trembling, but Eddie shakes his head.

“Don’t need it. Go get your clothes, some shoes.”

“What do you mean we don’t need -”

“Go!” Eddie insists, waving him up the stairs.

Steve goes, hopping the vines snaking their way over several steps. Once in his room, everything familiar but also not at the same time, he grabs a duffle from his wardrobe, starts stuffing it with clothes. Eddie’s rifling around in his drawers, looking for anything useful, and Steve’s about to warn him away from his bedside drawer because there’s stuff in there, there’s lube and condoms and a magazine or two that weren’t exactly…straight that Steve’s sure he had even in 1983, but he almost laughs out loud instead. They’re stuck in the Upside Down, being hunted by creatures determined to kill them, and now apparently Vecna’s awake.

He had better things to worry about than Eddie finding his gay porn.

By the time he’s quickly loaded up the bag, Eddie’s perched on the end of his bed, running his fingers over the musty-looking covers. There’s a thoughtful look on his face, and when he meets Steve’s gaze he smiles slightly.

“I came here a lot,” Eddie murmurs. “And just sat here. I could hear you a lot. You…you screamed in your sleep, sometimes.”

Steve pauses, Eddie’s words sinking in deep. “I had nightmares,” he whispers.

“I know.”

Steve shakes himself slightly, turns back to his duffle. “I’m all done,” he announces, zipping the bag shut.

Eddie eyes him up and down. “Shoes, Steve,” he reminds him.

“Right. Right, shoes. Sorry, I...” Steve trails off, opening his wardrobe again and scanning the shoe rack at the back of it. His hiking boots are there, bought by his father after he’d promised Steve it was something they could take up together one year.

The boots are pristine. His dad never got around to taking him.

Steve snatches them now, kicks off his ruined Nikes and shoves his feet into them. Eddie nods his approval, takes his hand, and leads him back to the stairs.

“Wait!” Steve says, when they’re almost out the door.

Fox growls from the front step, pacing back and forth.

Steve darts back down the hallway, Eddie silently following him into his father’s office.

“It’s here somewhere, he showed me once, told me he’d get me one of my own sometime but only when I proved I was man enough for it.”

Steve’s carefully sliding open the drawer on the large mahogany desk, eyes lighting up when they settle on his prize.

It’s a revolver, some antique one that his father had purchased for no doubt a disgusting amount of money. Steve grabs it, along with the box of cartridges next to it.

“Let’s go,” he tells Eddie, and the two run back to the doorway, joining Wolf and Fox there.

Fox darts ahead, nostrils flaring as she scents the air, and picks out a path for them. Wolf is at Steve’s side, moving silently despite his hulking frame.

“I took too long to find you.” Wolf’s voice sounds in Steve’s head.

Steve shakes his head. “No, you came right in time.”

“Don’t talk aloud. It isn’t safe here.”

“Then how am I supposed to -”

“Like you did before. Talk…inside.”

“Like…inside my head?”

Wolf lets out a soft huff, one that Steve now recognizes as frustration.

Steve frowns, focuses. The vines are thick ahead of him, lying across the road. Wolf and Fox are avoiding them easily, and Eddie isn’t struggling much either, but Steve has to watch where he’s putting his feet, swears the vines are getting larger…

But he gathers his thoughts. Thinks back to when he yelled for Wolf, powered by desperation then – now, he just feels a little silly trying to talk to the creature in his head.

“Reach out,” Wolf tells him, “find me.”

Steve’s brow crinkles. What he’s supposed to be looking for, he’s not really sure, but he tries. He pictures Wolf in his head, pictures himself reaching for him, thinks hard until he’s sure he’s going to trigger a migraine…

He jumps.

Cool mist brushes against his consciousness, and Steve recoils from it.

Wolf shakes his head a little, black mist falling from his thick coat as he does.

“Again.”

Steve carefully steps over a vine, thankful for the stability his new boots are lending him.

In his head, he reaches out again, coiling imaginary fingers around that mist this time, doing his best to hold.

“Like this?” His words are small, tentative, but Wolf rumbles in approval.

“You are quiet, but I hear you. You will improve.”

“Can I talk to Fox too?”

Wolf glances up at him just briefly, his eyes amused, a look so human it nearly had Steve stumbling.

“If she’ll let you in.”

“What about Eddie? He talked to me before.”

“You and Eddie are…different. I do not know all your rules, not yet.”

“What do you mean, different? Like…we’re human?”

Wolf huffs. “You are…not natural.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“All in time, brother.”

“Why do you call me that? Brother?” Steve’s hand is still in Eddie’s. He hasn’t let go since leaving the house.

“Would you rather I call you something else?”

“No, just…” A part of Steve liked it. Being referred to as brother.

He’d never had a brother, never been a brother, thinks the closest he ever came was Dustin.

“It’s fine,” he settles on, and Wolf grunts in acknowledgement, then breaks away to scout ahead of them with Fox.

Steve stumbles, his foot almost coming down on a vine. Eddie grabs him, tugging him back, not letting him fall.

“Thanks,” Steve whispers. “Is it just me, or are there more vines now than when we got here?”

Eddie nods, jaw clenching.

They make their way back to the cabin. Relief washes over Steve as they approach the familiar building – it’s still clear of vines, like some invisible force is keeping them at bay.

Spilling through the door, Steve beelines for the bedroom after kicking off his boots, desperate to get out of his gore-spattered clothes. Wordlessly, Eddie follows.

Steve strips his vest off, throwing it onto the bed. “What the fuck is happening?” he hisses, working away at the top button of his shirt with trembling fingers. “Vecna’s awake? Is he gonna find us? Why were we attacked, you said…you said they wouldn’t unless we went to the gate.”

“I don’t know,” Eddie replies, his voice flat.

“We need to find a way out of here. We need to…need to get back home, warn everyone.”

“Steve -”

“Max…do you think he’ll go after Max again? Finish off what he started? She’s vulnerable, we need to -”

“Steve!” Eddie repeats, more firmly now, snapping Steve out of his rambling state.

He looks at Eddie, at his pale face, at the whites of his eyes standing out in the dark.

“You’re shaking.” Eddie’s voice is gentle now, and he steps closer to Steve. “Here, let me help.”

Eddie slowly moves Steve’s hands away from his shirt and starts undoing the buttons for him. His fingers brush over Steve’s chest, cool light touches that have Steve swallowing thickly. He’s covered in blood, his own and demodog and demogorgan and fuck knows what else, his torso still stained with gunk from his now-sealed bites, and he has no doubt he reeks.

Eddie doesn’t seem to care. He finishes with the buttons and eases Steve’s ruined shirt from his shoulders, carefully unrolling the sleeve from his rapidly-healing arm. Steve watches, blinking slowly, wondering when the last time anyone treated him with such care was.

A long time ago.

“You um…you want help with those as well?” Eddie gestures to Steve’s jeans.

“Oh…” Steve looks down at them, letting out an awkward chuckle. “No, I can probably manage those. Thanks.”

Eddie nods tensely. “Or…there’s a pond. Out the back. If you want to…wash off, at all. It’s not the cleanest, but it’s the only option I’ve found so far.”

“Lead the way.”

They pass Fox when Eddie grabs some musty-smelling towels from a cupboard. She’s sitting in the corner of the lounge and licking her coat clean. Wolf is lurking outside, walking anxious laps of the cabin, sniffing at the air.

Eddie leads Steve a short distance from the cabin to a small murky pond of water. It might’ve been nice, in the Right Side Up – a little oasis in the woods. Steve wonders if Hopper knows about it, makes a mental note to ask him one day. If they ever get out.

When they get out, Steve tells himself firmly.

The two of them pause at the edge of the water.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Eddie mumbles, “and I even have some soap out here.” He squats down, untying a plastic bag and holding out half a cracked bar of plain-looking soap. “Found it in the cabin a while back.”

“So I’m just gonna…” Steve gestures down at himself, then at the pond.

Does Eddie want him to just…get naked? Here, in full view of him?

Honestly, Steve’s beyond caring at this point. When Eddie doesn’t reply, just darts his eyes away, Steve drops his pants along with the briefs.

If Eddie’s trying to be subtle in the way he glances back at Steve, then he’s not successful.

Steve can practically feel his eyes rake over him as he turns and enters the stagnant-looking pool, bare feet squelching through thick mud. Eddie’s shedding his clothes behind him, taking the time to hang his grimy Hellfire tee over a tree branch before following Steve in.

Steve had braced himself for cold, his shoulders migrating up towards his ears in anticipation of it, but he finds the temperature doesn’t seem to bother him. He wades in deep, trying not to think about what might be in this water. Cupping his hands, he gathers some of it in his palms, and it’s discoloured but at least it’s water. There’s nothing moving in it, thankfully, no sign of any fucking…demofish, or even worse, a demoeel…

Steve’s in up to his chest now. He can’t help but sneak a glance behind him as Eddie joins him with a small splash – he gets a glimpse of pale skin warped by scars, one dusky-pink nipple, a mess of gnarled skin where the other should be, and then he’s quickly looking away again.

“Here,” Eddie’s voice is low, barely audible as he passes him the bar of soap.

Steve knows anything could be out there, despite the cabin feeling somewhat safe. But they have Wolf and Fox at least, and having them on guard duty makes him feel a little better.

He lathers the bar in his hand. It’s an old Irish Spring one, he thinks, or at least some bad Upside Down copy of it. Gingerly, he wipes some of the lather over his injured arm, waiting for the burn.

It doesn’t come.

Steve washes it more vigorously, massaging soap into the fresh scar tissue, scraping his nails through the thick black gunk around it to dislodge it. Bit by bit, he cleans himself off until he can see pale skin below blood and grime again.

He hands the soap back to Eddie. Watches openly as the other man rubs it over his skin, as he wipes himself clean.

Then, for a moment, both of them are still, face-to-face.

“You’ve got…um,” Eddie blurts out, “here. Turn around.”

Steve does as he’s told, and bites back a surprised groan when he feels Eddie’s fingers brushing through his hair, scratching across the back of his scalp. He’s massaging soap into his roots, working it in deep. Steve can’t help it when his eyes close, when his head tips back a little, pressing into Eddie’s touch.

He’s had a fucking stressful day, ok? The universe can give him a little break.

Eddie guides him to lean back further, keeping a steadying hand between his shoulder blades as he rinses the soap out with the other.

“There you go,” he murmurs. “All clean.”

“Your turn,” Steve insists, placing a hand on Eddie’s wet shoulder and guiding him to turn around.

Then he’s burying soapy hands into Eddie’s curls, fingertips working to detangle and clean. He watches Eddie visibly relax into his touch, sneaks a look at the man’s face, takes in slightly-parted lips and eyes closed in comfort.

It’s been a long time since anyone had touched him like this, Steve figures.

Steve takes his time, savouring the task, until finally Eddie’s hair is as clean as he could possibly get it.

Reluctantly, he taps him on the shoulder. “Right, you’re um…you’re all done,” he says, a little awkwardly.

Eddie jerks himself out of his languid state, nodding sharply, jaw clenching. “Thanks.”

After a beat, they exit the pool. Eddie hands him a towel, wraps one around his own waist, then scrubs his Hellfire tee in the shallows.

Once again, Steve waits for the feeling of cold, expects to shiver just as he would after stepping out of the shower into a cold room.

He’s not cold.

Frowning, he dries himself off, catching Eddie’s eyes on him at least once or twice.

They return to the cabin and change into dry clothes. Steve’s grateful for his familiar Levis and old gym hoody, Harrington written on the back of it in block letters. He hadn’t worn these particular items for years, but they were still his, and fit just fine unlike Hopper’s larger clothes.

He’s going through the cupboards in the cabin kitchen, disappointed at only finding a stray can or two of food when Eddie joins him. He’s in a borrowed pair of Steve’s sweats and one of Hopper’s shirts with the sleeves rolled back several times.

“What’re you doing?”

“Looking for food,” Steve replies, peering down at the can of peaches in his hand. “You think these will be ok?”

“You don’t need it.” Eddie’s shifting behind him, reaching for the can, but Steve turns away.

“Yeah, you said that before, but that makes no sense. What have you been drinking here, by the way? That nasty pond water?”

Eddie’s still alive, so he must be drinking something, right?

“Are you hungry?” Eddie asks, avoiding Steve’s question. “Thirsty?”

No.

But that couldn’t be right, could it? He’s struggling to estimate how long he’d been down here for, but it had to be nearly a day now, surely. And he’d barely eaten anything in the days leading up to returning to the Upside Down either – he’d been too nauseous, too damn tired to make it down to the kitchen to sort out anything resembling a meal.

“Yes,” he lies.

Eddie frowns. “Really?”

“There a can opener around here?” Steve’s pulling drawers out, searching through utensils. There would be one in the present-day cabin, surely, but this is the 1983 version of the cabin, back when it was run-down and barely used, and it’s proving to be quite inconvenient.

“Doubt it. Steve?” Eddie reaches for his arm, but Steve shrugs it off.

He hears Wolf enter the room, claws clicking on the wooden floor. The creature sits in the doorway, looking between Eddie and Steve, watching quietly.

“What about a knife, is there…yeah, perfect.” Steve holds up a small, sharp knife from the back of a drawer and sits the can down on the bench, starting to press the blade to the rusted edge of the lid.

“Steve,” Eddie tries again, but Steve shakes his head.

He needs to…he needs to eat, needs to do something normal, and then once he’s got some food in him they can talk about Vecna, they can make some sort of plan, they can get out of here…

The knife jerks in his grip, sliding across the top of the can, and he narrowly misses slicing his finger open. Not that it would matter, he supposes, since apparently his skin has gained the ability to just knit itself back together.

“Hey, can you listen to me for a second? Just…just put that shit down.” Eddie’s up close to him now, hand gripping Steve’s wrist, trying to guide it away from the can.

Steve eases the point of the blade down again, and this time it sinks in, the top of the can peeling back as he jiggles the knife. He lifts the can to his nose, ignoring Eddie’s protests, and takes a sniff. It smells…ok, and the peaches look like peaches, if a little greyer and gluggier than they should be.

“Trust me, you don’t wanna do that, you’re only gonna throw it up.” Eddie warns him.

“Don’t be stupid, we gotta eat something.” Steve knows it’s been a while since he’s eaten and the peaches in their sugary syrup might be kinda rich on an empty stomach, but surely it couldn’t be that bad. “I’ll only have a little bit, and we can save the rest, I’m not an idiot.”

“That’s not what I meant, you…” Eddie sighs when Steve scoops out a peach half with his fingers. “You know what? Go on, then. You’ll see. Just…you might want to do this outside.”

Steve plops the fruit into his mouth. It’s relatively tasteless, the texture unpleasantly mushy, but he chews and swallows it down just fine.

Eddie stares.

Steve stares back.

Wolf’s tail sweeps across the floor.

And then, Steve feels it. A sudden cramping in his stomach, his insides churning.

Urgently, he shoves past Eddie, past Wolf, and sprints to the front door, throwing it open just in time to throw up all over the steps.

Eddie’s behind him, rubbing a soothing hand up and down his back as Steve groans, spitting filth from his mouth.

“Just get it out, big boy,” Eddie’s murmuring.

Steve heaves again, and then he’s reflexively sucking in air and reaching back to cling to a handful of Eddie’s shirt.

“The fuck was that,” Steve pants out.

“I told you,” Eddie says, but there’s no spite in his tone – it’s just an honest statement.

“That happen to you, too? When you tried to eat?”

Eddie nods.

“What about water? The same?”

He nods again.

“Why?”

Fox slinks onto the porch, locking eyes with Eddie, some silent communication passing between the two of them.

“Let’s go inside.” Eddie’s voice is gentle, placating, and Steve recognizes that tone.

It’s the same tone that Hopper had used when he’d told him he couldn’t give him another warning for his out-of-control parties, that he to involve his parents this time. The tone the school receptionist had when she’d sat Steve down to tell him his grandma had passed away, that his mom had rung the school office with the news but she was too busy to wait for them to bring Steve to the phone.

That tone meant bad news. The kind of news Steve should be sitting down to hear.

Numbly, he follows Eddie back inside. Lets himself be guided onto the couch. Watches distantly as Eddie drags the armchair over to sit opposite Steve, close enough to reach across and intertwine their fingers.

Steve looks down at his limp hand cradled in Eddie’s.

Wolf, silent as ever, takes up residence on the other half of the couch, his long body half hanging off the edge of it. He rests his muzzle on his giant paws, looking up at Steve with a calm gaze.

Even Fox gives him what might be a sympathetic look before she curls into a ball by Eddie’s feet. The end of her tail twitches occasionally, cat-like.

“Ok,” Eddie starts, giving Steve’s hand a squeeze. “This is, ah, this is going to sound fucking nuts, but I think you’re used to dealing with that by now, so hopefully you’ll believe me…”

“Eddie?”

“Yeah?”

“Just tell me.”

“Right. Yeah. Well…” he leans forward a little.

Their intertwined hands rest on Steve’s knee, pale and still stained slightly black despite their improvised bath.

There’s a pressing against Steve’s consciousness, dark and gentle, comforting almost. Wolf.

Then Eddie speaks again.

“You’re dead. You and me. We’re both dead.”

Chapter Text

I took a little journey to the unknown

And I’ve come back changed

I can feel it my bones

I fucked with forces that our eyes can’t see

Now the darkness got a hold on me

- Lord Huron

*****

Steve blinks several times, taking in Eddie’s words.

“We’re…what?”

“Dead. Technically. I mean, we’re becoming…something else, I think, it’s like we’ve been…changed, or something, we’re not just like…walking corpses, but -” Eddie’s talking fast, wringing his hands in his lap.

“But…but we’re still here,” Steve argues, swallowing against the dread rising in his throat. “We’re not dead, we’re…we’re fucking walking around, we’re talking, our wounds heal!”

“Check your pulse,” Eddie says, more calmly.

“What?”

“Your pulse. Try and feel it.”

Steve stares at him. At the man he thought he’d lost, the man who’s body he’d seen lying in front of him several months ago.

He puts two fingers to his wrist.

He waits.

A minute passes, then another.

Steve shifts his fingers, because surely he’s just got them in the wrong spot, he never had much luck when they had to do this during that first aid course he took for his lifeguarding job…

There’s nothing. No little patter under his fingertips.

He lets his hand fall back into his lap and sit there limply.

“Hold your breath,” Eddie instructs him next.

Steve does. He’s pretty good at this, he was the swim team co-captain after all.

But he was never this good.

The minutes are passing. Steve’s waiting for his lungs to start constricting, for that tightness in his chest, for that need to suck in oxygen to kick in.

It doesn’t.

Finally, he opens his mouth again.

Wolf’s head finds his thigh, nudging him.

“Brother…” Is all he says, all the comfort he can offer.

“When?” Steve whispers.

“You were dying. In your house, your bites were festering, the infection slowly killing you. All that black shit coming out? That was the infection, it had completely taken over your system. Your body was trying to expel it, but it was losing. Even if you’d gone to a hospital, they wouldn’t have been able to do anything. It’s like…a slow-acting poison. There’s no cure, Wolf told me. I could…I could feel it, could feel you getting weaker every day. We tried to reach you. Wolf -”

“He was in my dreams,” Steve says hoarsely.

Eddie nods. “You blocked him out for a long time. He couldn’t talk to you. But we had to reach you, we had to get you here, because if you died back there…that would’ve been it for you. Lights out, dead. But here, you can come back. It happened to me. It’s like…the Upside Down knits us back together again. Then I managed to talk to you, that one time. You had the bat, you were about to hit Wolf.”

“Sorry,” Steve chokes out, grasping for Wolf, hand burying in the ruff of his neck.

Wolf just blinks up at him.

“Wolf showed you me. He knew it was the only way to get you to come here. You died when you came through the gate, after the demogorgan hit you, but you wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway.”

Steve sits with that for a moment. He’s still waiting to hear the blood rushing in his ears, to feel the thud of his heart, but he doesn’t.

He’s dead.

“It took you a little while to wake up. I was worried you weren’t going to, but Wolf promised me you would. Then your wounds started to close over, and I knew.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Eddie ducks his head, apologetic. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t…I didn’t know how to tell you. There was so much going on, and I was worried about how you’d react, and I was just so happy to have someone else around…I’m sorry.”

“Is this why we can’t go back through the gate?”

“Yes,” Wolf answers. “What keeps you going here cannot reach your world. If you return, you will be dead within the hour.”

“So what, we just…” Steve stands, shoving Wolf’s head from his lap. “We just…fucking stay here? What about our friends, what about…about Robin, I can’t just…leave them!”

Eddie holds up his hands, shaking his head. “No, we can’t. And look, I think…I think we’re changing. Becoming…something else. We’re stronger here, have you noticed? It takes some time, so maybe you haven’t yet, but I can do shit I never could before. You think I could’ve taken on a pack of demodogs like that a few months ago, ripped one apart with my bare hands? Hell no.”

Steve looks down at himself. At the scar on his arm that had healed further still, becoming a wide silvery-white line.

His gaze returns to Eddie, who’s watching him worriedly, biting a lower lip.

“What the hell are we changing into?” Steve croaks out.

“More,” Fox intercedes, her voice gentler than Steve has heard it yet. “You are…something new. More. The shadows were curious, they have not seen anything like you before. When He arrived, He did not give them a chance to see Him before enslaving them, shaping them to serve Him. You are…the same shape as Him, but you are different. You are…good.”

“The shadows?” Steve asks, frustrated.

“Yes,” Fox answers. “It is the closest word you have for them.”

“What the hell are they?”

“They are…everything,” Wolf rumbles, “they are us. They make up the world around us. Or…they did, until He transformed them, bent them to His will. Some of us hid from Him, lived in the corners and far reaches of this place. When the children entered our world, we felt it. We saw you. We saw the girl, even in His mind.”

“Max?” Steve guesses.

Wolf inclines his head. “Her. And the other.”

“El,” Steve realizes.

“It is the first time anything has harmed Him like that,” Fox continues. “The shadows watched as He burned, as He ran and hid. And they found you.” She looks at Eddie, eyes softening. “It was your body, but…there were echoes inside you. From our kin, however dark and twisted they’d become while entrapped in the bodies of the bats. The shadows brought you back. They want you to fight Him again.” She turns to Steve again. “They brought you back in the same way.”

Silence settles over the room for a moment.

And Steve…doesn’t know what to feel.

He’s shocked, of course, and a little angry that this had been kept from him until now, but most of all it’s just…too much.

He stands, pulling away when Eddie reaches for him.

“Steve -”

“No, just…just give me a minute, ok? Just…I just need some space.” Steve backs away, heading for the door.

“It isn’t safe out there,” Eddie argues. “Let me come with you.”

“I just need to fucking breathe for a bit, ok?” Steve snaps, ignoring the irony in his words.

Eddie flinches at his tone, and Steve pangs with momentary guilt, but then he’s shoving his way through the door and out into the dark.

Eddie doesn’t follow him. Steve’s grateful for that. He needs a moment to himself, needs to just…think.

What they really need is a plan, some way of getting the fuck out of this place, of contacting their friends, but to do that they’d have to go somewhere else – to one of their houses, to Family Video, to the hospital, somewhere where they’d be noticed by the others.

Steve makes his way into the trees a short distance from the cabin. Where it had been quiet when he first arrived here, now there are noises creeping in – distant rumbling sounds, the screech of some far-away creature, the damp slithering of vines spreading further and further across the forest floor. He manages to find a small spot clear of them near the base of a tree, and sits down to lean back against the trunk.

He is awake.

Vecna. He’s back, maybe weak like Fox had said, but he’s still here, somewhere. Gathering his strength perhaps, recovering, regrouping.

He’s awake, and I’m dead.

But he doesn’t feel dead – if death even has a feeling.

Sure, now that he concentrates on it, he notices his chest isn’t rising and falling with breaths. He isn’t hungry or thirsty, he doesn’t need to pee, he doesn’t even feel particularly tired, even though he should be exhausted after everything that’s happened today.

He’s still himself, though, he thinks – if a little different.

There’s a barely-perceptible noise behind him. Once upon a time, Steve doesn’t think he would’ve noticed it – perhaps his senses have heightened along with his ability to heal.

“I think we’re changing,” Eddie had said, “becoming…something else.”

Wolf peels out of the shadows, padding up beside him. He steps carefully, avoiding the tangle of vines, and sits himself next to Steve. Blue eyes appraise Steve calmly.

“It is dangerous to be alone,” Wolf tells him.

“Well I’m not, am I?” Steve mumbles, talking aloud despite Wolf’s earlier warning, trying to cling to something normal like talking out loud, even if it’s to a fucking wolf. “You’re here.”

Wolf rumbles, deep in his chest. “It is harder to talk to you from a distance now. Harder to…find you, if we are separated. Now that He is awake, He is…clouding everything. It is why it took me so long to get to you before.”

Steve tips his head back to rest against damp dark. “What do we do now?” he whispers.

“We fight.”

A quiet chuckle escapes Steve, humourless. “I was never very good at that, Wolf.”

Wolf tilts his head.

Steve continues. “My friends…they got hurt on my watch. Eddie died. And I…there was nothing I could do. All I’ve done since coming here is nearly get killed – again, I mean – and you and Eddie and Fox have had to save me. Fox said the shadows brought me back? I don’t know why they bothered.”

Wolf makes a soft chuffing sound. “Do you know that this isn’t my usual form?”

“What do you mean?”

“I chose it. After I saw you and your friends fighting Him. After I first visited you in your dreams, when I saw…you. Who you are. This shape,” Wolf looks down at himself, flicks his ears. “is a reflection of you. I needed to appear as something you understood, something that made sense to you.”

“Why a wolf?” Steve barely notices himself shifting to silent communication with Wolf, but it feels more seamless now, that press of his mind against the comforting shadow now familiar.

“Because you are a protector. You guard your friends, especially those younger than you. Your pack.”

Steve blinks. Feels a wave of sorrow at the mention of his friends. Robin, Dustin, Nancy, the other kids…would they be worried about him? Would they be looking? Robin would be, he knows – she probably would’ve been to his house by now when he didn’t respond to her messages. She’d find his car missing, the black gunk all over his carpet, she’d probably contact Hopper…his beemer would be found eventually, at the trailer park. And maybe someone would come through the gate after him, not knowing that Vecna was waking up…

They had to contact them.

“Are you ready to go back now?” Wolf asks.

Steve steels himself and nods.

Dead or not, he’s still got a job to do.

He stands, Wolf at his side as they make their way back towards the cabin. Even in the short time he’s been outside, the vines have thickened even further, making their progress slow. Steve’s got a hand on Wolf’s back for balance as he hops and stretches to avoid them.

But just as they’re almost at the edge of the trees, he stumbles.

His fist tightens in Wolf’s fur, but he can’t stop his boot from coming down on the edge of a thick vine.

It squelches under his weight.

Then, lightning-quick, it wraps itself around his foot and squeezes.

Steve grunts, trying to tug out of its grip. The vine vibrates, the length of it quivering, and a hush falls over everything else, almost like the world itself is listening.

In the distance, there’s a rumble.

Wolf growls. Lowering his head, he snaps at the vine, lips drawn back to display rows of black teeth.

The vine recoils, flinching away, relinquishing its hold on Steve’s foot.

If his heart could beat, it would be hammering, but Steve settles for quickening his pace behind Wolf. They reach the cabin which is still somehow clear of the vines, and tuck themselves away inside. The door closes behind them a soft click. Steve knows the immediate sense of security it gives him is false, but he doesn’t have time to linger on it.

Eddie’s standing there, looking worriedly at Steve.

“You ok?” he asks.

Steve shrugs. “I guess,” he says, with the hint of a chuckle because if he doesn’t laugh he’ll fucking cry.

“He knows where we are,” Wolf huffs.

Fox bristles at Eddie’s side. “He cannot touch us here. Not yet, not while he’s still weak.”

Wolf gives her a look, solemn and earnest.

Any sense of safety Steve had felt before in these walls continues to fade away.

“What do we do?” Eddie’s got a hand on Steve’s arm, just holding.

“We have to contact the others. Tell them what’s happening, warn them.”

“His soldiers will be everywhere now,” Fox points out.

“Where’s the safest place where we might be able to find someone? The most isolated place?” Eddie asks Steve.

Steve thinks for a moment. The kids were frequenting the hospital, but that was in the middle of town and would no doubt be swarming with demodogs and the like. Same with Family Video, and the school. They might find someone at Steve’s place if they come looking, but there was no way he wanted to go back there right now. Out of the kids’ houses, the only one that was isolated by any sense of the word was the new Byers house. Since they had only recently moved in, maybe Vecna didn’t even know about it…

“Joyce and Hopper’s place,” Steve decides, “it’s not far from the quarry, just east of it. Maybe we can reach El?”

Fox perks up at the mention of the girl, her lips curling back in almost a grin. “We like El.” She heads for the door, tossing a look back over her shoulder. “I will find us a path in that direction.” And then she’s bounding out into the dark.

“Steve…” Eddie says quietly, but Steve’s walking past him, into the bedroom, grabbing his duffle bag off the bed.

“It’s fine, Eddie,” Steve replies sharply, unzipping the bag and looking around.

It’s not fine, nothing really is, but it’s not Eddie’s fault, Steve knows. He sighs, before remembering he doesn’t even really need to for any other reason than habit.

He softens his tone. “It’s just gonna…take some getting used to, ok? I mean…I literally died, just…give me a minute to wrap my head round that, ok?”

Eddie nods.

“Anything you want to put in here?” Steve asks, motioning to the bag. “I mean…I don’t know if we’re coming back anytime soon.”

Eddie grabs a few of Hopper’s shirts from the drawers, stuffs them in the bag, along with his half-shredded Hellfire tee. Steve shoves his arms through the sleeves of Eddie’s vest, shoulders the duffle, and grabs his nail bat.

He’s ready.

Wolf leads them out into the trees. He’s got his nose to the ground, following some invisible trail left by Fox. It’s dark, the air clogged by those familiar floating particles, and it doesn’t take long for Steve to grasp for Eddie’s hand. The vines are ever-growing, inching their way closer and closer to the cabin. Shrieks sound in the distance, unidentified creatures awakening after a long slumber.

Several times, Wolf pauses to sniff the air. He changes direction, leading them around some hidden danger, paws treading silently across the damp ground.

On the other side of the trees, they hit a road. The vines are not quite so thick here – the further away from central Hawkins they go, the less dense they seem to be. The air feels lighter, and Steve finds himself inhaling gratefully despite knowing he doesn’t actually need to breathe anymore.

They reach the quarry, and Fox doubles back for them, turning her gaze to Steve.

“I do not know the way from here,” she says.

Steve nods, and steps out ahead of the group. They follow what is a dirt road in the Right Side Up, but here it’s a mess of a black tarry substance, sticky and heavy on Steve’s boots. If his legs could ache, Steve knows they would be by now, from the effort of this walk alone.

Steve’s only been to the new Hopper-Byers house a couple of times. The first time, it was for a subdued housewarming, the guests doing their best to be happy, to be normal just for a single evening. Hopper had grilled, Joyce had made salads that had been…well, edible, at least, and Steve and Robin had sat together and smiled and done their best to join in the conversation. But despite their best efforts, the evening had been tainted by the knowledge that one of them still lay comatose in the hospital, and another was gone from their lives completely.

Not completely, though, as it turned out.

Eddie’s pressed close to Steve as they walk. There’s plenty of room for them to spread out here, and yet their thighs brush with every step, and Eddie’s hand doesn’t leave Steve’s.

“It’s not far now,” Steve whispers, for the benefit of everyone because he’s only learnt how to speak silently to Wolf so far – every other time, it’s been Fox initiating the conversation with him. Steve wonders if he could stretch out, find Fox with his mind, brush against her consciousness just as he had with Wolf.

Beside him, Wolf freezes.

Steve glances down at him, sees the way the creature’s hackles are raised, his mouth open just slightly as his nostrils flare.

A demodog steps into their path.

It’s alone, and small, and skinny. Surely not too much of a danger to them, Steve figures, but then Fox is growling, her voice slamming into Steve’s mind.

“A scout,” she spits, and then she’s lunging towards it, Wolf hot on her heels.

The demodog scuttles backwards, turning on its heel and running for the trees. Wolf falls behind, but Fox is right on its tail, and sends the two of them tumbling when she leaps for it, razor claws digging deep into its soft hide. Wolf catches up and despatches the downed demodog quickly, before returning to Eddie and Steve.

“They are looking for us,” he says solemnly.

Fox growls again, pressing herself up against Eddie’s legs. “We need to move.”

Steve leads them the rest of the way to the house. It’s on a quiet back road, only a few other houses nearby, surrounded by fields. In the Right Side Up, there’s cows in one of those paddocks, and a swing on the porch that Hopper had rigged up for El. But here, it’s just a plain two-storeyed house surrounded by black earth and a few scraggly trees.

They make their way up the steps, past where the swing will be one day, and into the house. Wolf paces around it, checks every room, then pads up the stairs as silent as a shadow. It’s only when he returns and gives them a single nod that Steve and Eddie proceed into the lounge and sit down heavily on the damp and rotting couch there. A single vine coils around the chimney above the fireplace, throbbing in time to some invisible beat.

“So…now what?” Eddie starts, glancing around the room. “Is it like…the lights, do we use the lights again? Like we did in the Wheeler house?”

“I guess. I can’t hear anyone at the moment, can you?” Steve strains his ears for any sign of El, of Hopper, Joyce, Will, Jonathan, anyone…but there’s nothing.

“No.”

They’re quiet for a little longer. Then Fox tilts her head, flicks her tail from one side to the other.

“She is close. Eleven.”

“Ok, well…here goes nothing.” Steve reaches for the lamp beside the couch, the bulb emitting a dull orange glow. He taps his fingers against it several times, the light coiling around his digits, sparkling against his skin.

Eddie’s eyes go wide, and he can’t hide a smile, clearly just as enthralled by this as he was the first time. Fox sidles over, nose brushing against Steve’s hand as she, too, is intrigued by the dancing light.

Steve taps it again, then snaps his fingers at Eddie. “What’s the SOS thing?”

Eddie leans over, bats Steve’s hand out of the way, and taps a rhythm against the bulb.

Then, they wait.

There’s nothing. They try again, and again, but receive no kind of reply, no indication that anyone on the Right Side Up has noticed.

Until Steve hears the trace of a familiar voice, female and faint. She’s talking to someone…Will, perhaps?

He grips Eddie’s arm, meeting his eye in a silent question.

Eddie nods. He’s heard it too.

“She is here,” Fox announces.

Eddie taps on the bulb again. And again. Keeps going, a little desperate now, the taps all merging together and probably nothing remotely like an SOS at this point, but he keeps going regardless.

“Come on, El,” Steve murmurs, his knee bouncing up and down with nervous energy.

From the doorway, Wolf adds an encouraging chuff.

*****

In the Right Side Up, El places her school bag down by the door and slips off her shoes.

“I want to see Max before visiting hours finish,” she tells Will.

“Mom and Hopper are working for another hour, so they won’t be able to take us,” Will replies. “We could ask Jonathan, but he’s driven us there nearly day this week already.”

El frowns. “It needs to be today. Something is…different. I need to see her.”

Will nods slowly, face going pale, and he touches the back of his neck. “I thought…well. I thought I felt something before. Just briefly. And I know I should’ve told someone, but everyone’s still recovering and I didn’t want to but…I think he’s back.”

“Yes,” El says quietly, sadly.

Her eyes are drawn to the lounge. To the coffee table in the corner, where that ugly lamp still sits, the one that had come with the house and that Joyce insisted was an antique even though Hopper said it needed to go.

The bulb is blinking. Rapidly, frantically, and she’s wise enough by now to know it’s no electrical fault.

She turns back to Will. He’s seen it too.

As they approach, El frowns, because she can hear something, a familiar voice and someone else despite there only being her and Will and perhaps Jonathan in the house. It’s distorted, and she grabs for Will’s hand, shooting him a questioning look. He nods, and strains to listen with her.

“That’s not SOS anymore, you’re just whacking it.”

“…don’t even know SOS!”

“I’ve seen the kids do it before.”

“Look, I don’t think it matters…just need someone to notice the light.”

El bends down in front of the lamp, staring intently at it. Will crouches beside her.

She reaches for it.

“Steve?’

There’s a pause, and the flickering immediately stops, before starting again tenfold.

And then the bulb shatters.

Chapter Text

God loves you, but not enough to save you

So baby girl, good luck taking care of yourself

So I said fine, ‘cause that’s how my daddy raised me

If they strike once then you just hit ‘em twice as hard

- Ethel Cain

*****

“Now what?” Eddie asks, looking mournfully down at the broken bulb.

“Drag that chair over, we’ll use the main light.” Steve snaps his fingers towards the kitchen table, where several rotting dining chairs are parked.

Eddie brings one over and Steve climbs up, stretching to reach the bulb overhead in the middle of the lounge. He taps at it, lets the light swirl around his fingers for a moment.

They listen.

Distantly, they hear voices, the dragging of a chair leg against floorboards, and then the light pulses several times.

Excited, Steve taps it again.

“El? El, can you hear me, it’s Steve.”

There’s a muffled response.

“…times. Not clear.”

El’s voice.

Steve nods, raises his voice. “Ok, one tap for no, two for yes, ok?”

Fox growls in response to the noise level, shooting Steve a warning glare.

The bulb pulses twice.

“…safe?” Comes the distorted question.

Steve has to use some guesswork, figures El’s asking if he’s safe which is a…loaded question, at the least.

“Um…” Steve taps the bulb once, then pauses, taps it twice, hopes El interprets it as…sort of.

“Are you…”

He only catches a few words, and huffs in frustration.

“El, I hope you can hear this, I’m in the Upside Down, I went through the gate at the trailer park, I’m…stuck here, and it’s not safe for anyone to come after me. Vecna, he…he’s back, he’s awake, and everyone’s in danger. Please tell me you copied all that?”

There’s a pause, and then two pulses of the light.

Yes.

“Should I tell them about you?” Steve hisses down to Eddie.

Eddie shrugs.

Steve thinks of Dustin. Of his silence since believing Eddie had died, his daily trips to the cemetery, the dark cloud that had hung around the boy ever since.

And he nearly tells El.

Almost announces that Eddie’s alive - well…sort of, that’s he here with Steve, that he could maybe even talk to Dustin through the lights.

But he doesn’t.

Because if he learns that Eddie’s here, there’s nothing that could stop Dustin launching himself through the nearest gate to get to him. Maybe Mike and Lucas, too. Probably Erica.

And Steve’s not having that.

The possibility of those kids doing the same just for Steve doesn’t even cross his mind.

“…come back? Through the gate?” That’s Will’s voice this time, echoing and foggy but definitely him.

Steve drums his finger once against the light.

Fox stretches up, shadowy paw brushing against Steve’s thigh, and he looks down to her.

“Ask if she can feel Him.”

Steve nods, and repeats the question to El and Will.

There’s two surges of light in response.

Fox huffs, seemingly displeased, and lowers all four feet back to the ground.

“…tell Hopper. Get you out.” El’s voice drifts down to them.

“You can’t come down here, El,” Steve implores. “It’s too dangerous, you can’t let anyone through the gate, you understand?”

There’s a moment with no reply, and Steve gnaws at his lip, staring at the naked bulb.

“…help you.”

Steve slaps at the bulb once, perhaps a little too hard.

“No. You need to look after everyone up there, I think you need to go to Max, she’s in danger.”

“…Max?”

“Yes, Max, go to Max, can you hear me?”

“Steve? …still there?”

Steve almost growls in the back of his throat in frustration. They need a better way to communicate than this. Holly’s Lite-Brite, maybe, but they’d have to go to the Wheeler house for that again, and somehow get the attention of someone there…

There’s a snuffling noise outside the front door, followed by a high-pitched chortle.

They’ve been found.

Wolf growls and makes for the door, and they hear the clacking of claws on the rotten porch boards as the creature out there retreats.

Steve drags his eyes away from the door, turns back to the light. “El? Can you hear me? Will?”

“…can feel him. Here. Need to…run. Steve, run!”

Will’s voice sends shivers up Steve’s spine.

Wolf’s frozen in the doorway, staring out, and Fox’s lips are pulled back in a snarl as she shoves herself hard up against Eddie’s legs.

Eddie grabs instinctively for Steve’s hand, steadying him as he hops down from the chair.

And then, they feel it.

A chill enters the Hopper-Byers house. Slithers its way in through the door, past their hulking sentry, extinguishes the faint glow from the bulb on ceiling.

The air turns thick, everything darkening around them.

Steve’s hand shakes in Eddie’s.

A feeling of dread settles over the place. Steve swears he hears his father’s voice, hears him yelling, hears bottles smashing and his mother crying, feels Billy’s fist on his face, a needle in his neck and Nancy declaring him bullshit, Dustin crying over Eddie’s body, screaming at Steve to do something.

He drags his gaze to Eddie. Finds him wide-eyed and trembling, wonders what he might be hearing, knows it’s nothing good.

“Eddie,” Steve whispers, tugging on his hand.

Eddie doesn’t look at him. He stares ahead, unblinking.

Steve turns to Wolf, sees the creature looking above to the ceiling, every hair standing on end. Fox is circling Eddie, soft yips coming from her as she tries to get his attention, tries to drag him out of whatever nightmare scenario he’s trapped in.

In a moment of panic, Steve thinks of Max. Of the cemetery, of the trance-like state she went into, of her lifting into the air in a scene that still fuels some of his recent nightmares.

“Eddie!” Steve hisses again, squeezing his hand.

But then his dad’s there.

Not just his voice, but he’s really there. He’s beside Steve, on the couch, gesturing at the TV with the remote in hand.

Briefly, Steve thinks that’s strange, wonders how the TV’s even picking up a picture down here, but it’s the evening news, a story about the AIDS crisis. Richard Harrington shakes his head in disgust.

He turns to Steve.

His eyes are black.

“You see, Steven?” he’s saying. “You see what happens to people like them? It’s a punishment, a punishment from God, and they deserve it for living the way they do.”

In an instant, his dad’s behind him.

There’s a hand on the back of Steve’s neck, cold and gnarled, squeezing tight.

Steve’s head is forcibly turned towards the TV.

“You see?” His father’s voice spits in his ear. “Is that what you want, son?”

“Steve!”

It’s Eddie.

His voice cuts through Steve’s mind, and the image of his father wavers and flickers like a bad TV signal. Steve turns away from him, searches for Eddie in the dark.

His hands are on Steve’s shoulders, shaking him hard.

“Steve!”

He hears Eddie’s voice out loud this time, panicked and desperate.

Steve jolts, and his father is gone.

He’s back in reality, Wolf pressed against his side, Eddie right in front of him. All at once, the cold presence slinks back out the front door and away.

“It’s ok, I’ve got you,” Eddie murmurs, hands squeezing Steve’s upper arms.

Breathlessly, Steve calls out for El again, but gets no response.

“W-was that..?” Steve’s voice trembles. He reaches up to cup Eddie’s elbow with one hand, his presence steadying him.

Wolf nods. “Him.”

“Testing His strength,” Fox adds, pacing by the door. “He is weak still, but He will be back. We need to go.”

“Go where?” Eddie throws one hand up, the other still gripping Steve, eyes wide.

Wolf rumbles, hackles still raised.

“We need a better way to communicate with everyone,” Steve decides. His father’s voice is still rattling around his mind, settled deep, making his voice quiver. “The kids are smart, maybe they can come up with something.”

“You know they’re gonna come through the gate, right?” Eddie tells him.

Steve shakes his head. “No, that’s why I didn’t tell them about you.”

Eddie scoffs. “What, you think they won’t come in here after you? Dustin, Robin once they hear?”

Steve falters. Because…maybe, those two would. Pictures El and Will on the phone or walkies to the others, relaying their news right now. Imagines Robin striding towards the nearest gate, knows no amount of armed guards will keep her away.

He swallows. Maybe contacting El had been a mistake.

But no, he had to warn them.

Eddie tilts his head, studying Steve. “You really think you mean so little to them?”

Steve turns away from him, looks at Fox instead.

“Can they track us? Vecna, the demodogs…no matter where we go, will they find us?”

Fox pauses, uncertainty flickering in her blue eyes. “I do not think He is strong enough yet. He can…find us, more quickly now, but not follow us everywhere. And His servants report back to him. But…there is a way. To move unseen.”

Wolf growls, the sound reverberating around the room.

Fox snaps back at him.

The two creatures stare intently at each other, an unheard debate happening in front of Steve and Eddie’s eyes.

“What is it?” Eddie asks, exasperated.

“We will go to the Edge,” Fox tells them, already making for the door.

“The edge of what?”

“Of here. The Edge.” Fox trots out the door without elaborating further.

“Wolf?” Steve questions, but he’s already padding out after Fox, only offering a frustrated huff.

Eddie shakes his head, takes Steve’s hand again, and together they follow them back out into the dark.

*****

They’re on the move for what feels like hours.

Fox and Wolf don’t tire, only make their way steadily down back roads, through forests, across dried-up river-beds and past decrepit farm houses.

Steve doesn’t tire either, he supposes – not physically, at least.

But somewhere deeper than muscle and bone, he’s aching for rest. Wants to find the nearest soft surface and just…curl up there for a while, let his mind catch up to everything going on.

He tries to ask Wolf about where they’re going, but he doesn’t offer much. Only repeats what Fox had told them, the edge, and strides silently forward.

The vines are still expanding, stretching further and further across paths, wrapping higher around tree trunks, growing in number as well as size. Steve wonders how long it’ll be until they choke everything around them and make it impossible for them to travel anywhere at all.

“Are you alright?” Eddie whispers to him as they walk.

“Hmm?”

“Just…after what happened at the house. I know you must’ve seen some stuff, because I did too, but…I really thought for a moment that he had you, that you were gonna start lifting like Chrissy.”

“Sorry, Eds,” Steve murmurs, rubbing his thumb over Eddie’s knuckles. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, it wasn’t your fault, I was just worried. Really worried. I was yelling your name, and you didn’t respond for a while, you were just…frozen.”

“I heard you. Eventually. It’s what…pulled me out of it, I think.” He turns to Eddie, seeks out his face in the heavy darkness. “What was it for you? What, um…what woke you up?”

Eddie smirks. “Fox bit my leg.”

Steve manages a tiny chuckle at that.

“Didn’t hurt, of course, but I could still feel her damn teeth sinking in.”

Fox sneaks a look back at them from up ahead, an amused chortle filtering through Steve’s mind.

Hopping a vine, Steve takes a moment to adjust the duffle on his back.

Eddie eyes it, then holds out a hand. “Here, give me that for a while.”

“S’fine,” Steve says, shaking his head.

Eddie rolls his eyes. “You know, you don’t always have to carry everything. Hand it over.”

Reluctantly, Steve lets the bag slip from his shoulder and into Eddie’s waiting hand.

“I promise I’ll keep your precious polos safe, big boy,” Eddie tells him with a wink, and tucks the bag securely over his back.

Eventually, the landscape starts to become more…empty. Steve’s struggling to orientate himself, doesn’t recognize this seemingly endless road. There’s no landmarks to go off, no houses, no signs, nothing to tell him where this would be equivalent to in the Right Side Up.

Does the Upside Down have an end?

Steve supposes it must, right? But is there anything beyond it, or will they just…step right off the edge?

The thought makes him shudder.

Steve steps over another vine, then looks ahead for the next.

There’s none.

Either they haven’t reached this far yet, or there’s something…stopping them, like back at the cabin.

Fox pauses, sniffs the air, then turns back to them.

“Close,” she says simply, then trots on again.

But there’s seemingly nothing here. Just a coal-black road, and endless nothing. The sky’s lighter, Steve notices, glowing a soft yellow, a contrast to the red and black clouds behind them, split occasionally by lightning down the middle.

Then, he starts to feel it.

For a moment, he thinks it’s Vecna again. Wraps his fingers tighter around Eddie’s, shoots him a worried look.

There’s…shadows, brushing up against his face, his arms, ruffling his hair and then melting away again. Hushed whispers sound in his ears, the language nothing like his own.

At first he’s perturbed by them. But slowly, he relaxes. Unlike the menacing presence of Vecna earlier, these shadows just seem…curious. They don’t harm him, they simply touch and retreat again, no harsher than a fall breeze.

The frown on Eddie’s face tells him he’s experiencing the same treatment.

Fox stops up ahead. She sits, tail twitching, looking towards the sky.

“What is she doing?” Steve whispers to Wolf.

Wolf shakes his coat, shadows dancing around the edges of his frame. “Talking.”

“To who?”

“The others. Like Us.”

“Friends?”

Wolf rumbles. “Perhaps.”

The shadows continue to press against Steve and Eddie, growing more confident now. One pokes harder at Steve’s cheek, a cold finger prodding into his skin, and Steve slaps at the invisible presence.

Wolf growls, and the shadow retreats.

After a few tense moments, Fox returns to them.

“They want to know you,” she says.

“What do you mean?” Eddie asks with a frown.

“They do not…trust. He has tricked them, many times now. That is why they hide out here. Before they will help, they want to know.”

“…how?” Steve glances around them, wondering how the fuck he’s meant to prove his worth to some shadows. “Do we…talk to them?”

Fox scoffs, shakes her head. “Need to let them in.”

“In where?”

While seated, Wolf’s head is almost level with Steve’s. He reaches up, brushes his cold nose against Steve’s forehead.

“In here. If you will allow it.”

The shadows are on his skin again. Caressing, waiting.

“Well, fine, but how am I supposed to -”

Wolf grunts, and tears his claws against the ground. Steve remembers seeing that before, back when Wolf was first trying to gain entry to his mind, when they couldn’t yet communicate effectively.

But this time, he’s knocked to his knees by it.

Wolf’s tearing at the edges of his psyche, claws sinking deep.

“Brother, let them in,” Wolf urges when Steve instinctively clamps his mind down, when he shoves a mental block up against the rips Wolf is making.

“What if…what if they’re bad?” Steve argues, hands sinking into the black dirt in front of him. “What if they won’t…leave?”

“Then I will remove them,” Wolf’s voice is firm. “And I will hunt them. They know this.”

Beside him, Eddie’s crouched with his head in his hands, eyes squeezed shut as his mind is no doubt invaded as well.

Steve opens his eyes for long enough to meet Wolf’s. Sees those deep blue eyes looking back at him, fierce and honest.

Trusting his brother, he opens his mind, and lets the shadows in.

*****

He’s four, and his mom is laughing. In her lap, he feels safe and secure. Her hand’s running through his blonde locks, her friends are cooing down at him, and she’s saying things that Steve doesn’t understand yet but he knows she’s talking about him.

He’s eleven, and Tommy’s at his house, and he’s saying how lucky Steve is. That he has the house to himself for his birthday, that his parents had an expensive cake delivered right to the door, that they can eat as much as they want and there’s no one there to tell them no.

He’s fourteen, and he’s kissing a boy. It feels right, the boy’s firm and solid under his hands, and Steve thinks this is the happiest he’s ever been. But then the boy’s shoving him away, calling him a queer, saying it was just a joke, and if Steve ever told anyone he’d kill him. He doesn’t tell anyone. Thinks his father knows anyway, thinks he can see it all over him, feels dirty and tainted and used. He forces a laugh when Tommy corners a kid by the lockers, calls him a fairy, trips him in the hallway. Later, he vomits in the school bathroom, wipes away tears with toilet paper and hates himself just a little more than usual.

He’s seventeen. His hand is cradling Nancy’s, he’s rolling his hips into her, looking down at her and trying to convey how he feels, how much love he has for her. He fights for her, for Jonathan, swings a bat against a creature he’s never seen before, throws himself between them and the monster and fights for them both. Later, he feels her drifting away from him, her gaze straying to Jonathan, and Steve’s leaving a party with tears on his cheeks and ‘bullshit’ ringing in his ears and wondering why everyone leaves him in the end.

He's nineteen and holding back a door as Russians pound on it from behind, yelling at Dustin and Erica to go, to get themselves out. He’s sitting on a hard bench with his face pummelled in, doing everything he can to keep his torturers’ attention on him rather than the girl that was becoming his best friend held captive with him.

He’s twenty, and cradling a sobbing Dustin, pulling him away from Eddie’s body. Steve’s crying too, and everything hurts – his jacket’s soaked through with blood from the bites on his sides, the bandages useless now. Dustin’s clawing at Eddie’s limp form, and Steve stares for a moment, at the wide, unblinking eyes of the boy he thinks he could’ve loved. Somehow, he gets them to a gate, boosts Dustin through, then Nancy, then Robin. Ensures he goes last, won’t let anything get to his friends – he’ll die before he lets that happen.

*****

All at once, the shadows retreat, leaving his mind in a rush like water down a drain.

Steve collapses to his side in the dirt, chest heaving even though he has no need for oxygen. He scrabbles towards Eddie, reaching for him as he’s twitching on the ground, tugs him half into his lap and circles his arms around his middle until he slowly stills, until he blinks up at Steve.

“Coulda fucking warned us,” Eddie groans eventually.

Next to Fox and Wolf, there’s a swirling cloud, shadows circling together like a school of fish.

“Well?” Steve chokes out. “We pass your test, or what?”

Fox tilts her head, then nods. “They will help.”

“Awesome,” Steve grumbles, rubbing at his temples.

Eddie’s hand is fisted in the fabric of his vest, keeping Steve sitting upright.

“What can they do?” he asks Fox.

“Can…cloak us. Help us travel unseen.”

“But it is dangerous for them,” Wolf adds, “so we must only use them when we really need it.”

Fox clacks her teeth, displeased at that suggestion, but Wolf exhales heavily.

“They have suffered enough,” he tells her firmly.

Under her breath, Fox huffs something suspiciously like cowards, but Wolf chooses to ignore it.

“Where now, then?” Eddie asks.

Steve clenches his jaw.

“The hospital.”

*****

Once they reach the main street of Hawkins, where the vines stretch and writhe over almost every available inch of space, Steve feels the shadows brush up against him again. They’re gentle, if a little disconcerting – damp and cloying against his skin.

“What are they doing?” he asks Wolf.

“Hiding you from Him,” Wolf explains, head low to the ground as he picks his way over the vines.

Steve nods. “Um…thanks,” he mumbles, not sure if the shadows can even hear them.

They pulse against him in acknowledgment.

Hawkins Memorial Hospital stands in front of them. The sky’s red above it, crackling with lightning, thunder rumbling behind it.

There’s no doubt in Steve’s mind that this is some sort of focal point for whatever’s happening here.

On the way, Eddie had explained that while he’d visited the hospital before he’d only ever caught tiny snippets of the kids – mostly El and Lucas visiting Max. He’d never…felt anything to suggest that any part of Max lingered there still, but now that she’s awake…

A short distance away, Steve drops to his knees, motions to Eddie for the duffle. He grabs the revolver from it, triple-checks the safety and tucks it down the back of the pants like he’s seen in movies, hopes like hell he doesn’t accidentally blow himself a new asshole.

He’s got his bat, Eddie his spear, and they’re bracketed by Wolf and Fox.

Looking up at the hospital, he takes a second to steel himself. Thinks of Max, wonders if any part of her is actually here, but knows they have to start somewhere. At the very least, it’s a likely place for them to try and contact the kids again.

With a small nod from Eddie, they start forwards, stepping over vines and up the main steps.

Suddenly, a large shadow lunges from above him.

It barrels straight into Steve’s chest, immediately knocking him flat on his back.

Steve scrabbles at it, hands meeting short rough fur and tugging. Eddie’s raising his spear but Fox has darted in front of him, making him pause, and Wolf is standing over Steve with his tail straight up in the air.

Steve freezes as he meets blue eyes.

Pinning him down, baring razor teeth at his throat, is a lioness.

Chapter Text

Weightlessness, no gravity

Were we somewhere in between

I’m a ghost of you, you’re a ghost of me

- Gregory Alan Isakov

*****

Steve stares up at the beast, wide-eyed.

Her maw hovers over his throat, one enormous paw pressing hard on his chest. She sniffs at him, eyes narrowing in confusion, before letting up the pressure just the slightest bit.

A warning rumble emits from Wolf, and Fox slinks in close to the lioness.

“Sister.” Her voice is a whisper.

“What are you?” Lion’s voice erupts in Steve’s mind, shoving its way inside.

“They are friends,” Fox insists.

“Let him go,” Wolf grumbles, teeth on display.

Lion’s clever eyes dart from Steve, to Eddie who’s still gripping his spear, to Wolf and Fox. They follow the subtle movement of the shadows surrounding them, watching them twist and turn and contort at the edges.

She doesn’t remove her heavy paw.

Steve’s tongue flicks out over his lips. He thinks of red hair, of a young fierce girl, and on a hunch, he blurts: “Are you here for Max?”

Her attention snaps back to him. “You are…a friend of Max?”

Eddie nods quickly. “Yeah, yeah we are. We came here to see if we could help her.”

Lion looks to Fox. The little creature nods once, and Lion relaxes her paw, allowing Steve to sit up. Eddie’s at his side immediately, hand running over his back and helping him up.

“I have been…searching for her.” Lion tells them. Her tail flicks, the shadowy tuft at the end of it settling on the road. “It is like she is here, but not. Not completely. But a short time ago, I felt something. Like…she woke when He did.”

“Do you know where she is? How we could…get to her?” Eddie asks.

Lion eyes him briefly. “No. She is with Him. The part of her that lingers here is only…a shadow of her. A hollow one.”

“This is where her body is. In…our world.” Steve gestures between himself and Eddie. “She’s alive, but in a coma. Like…a long sleep. The doctors say she might not wake up.”

“She won’t. Not while He has her. He…consumes. He takes. He has her…I do not know what you would call it. Her…essence.”

“Like…her soul,” Eddie says gravely.

Lion nods once.

“Can we go inside?” Steve asks. “We came all this way, we might as well check the place out. Maybe El or the others are here by now, we could try and talk to them.”

Wolf and Lion elect to remain outside, tracing silent paths of the hospital perimeter. Fox trots between Eddie and Steve as they enter through a side door, stepping gingerly over vines – some of them have grown to near knee-height, turgid and writhing on the sticky floor.

They pass through dank hallways. There’s the occasional glow from a lightbulb, but mostly it’s dark, and silent but for the occasional clap of thunder overhead.

Steve knows the way to Max’s room. He’s spent plenty of time there, ferrying the kids back and forth, making trips to the vending machines or café to get food for Lucas - because grieving or not the kid’s gotta eat – and taking his own turn watching vigil over an uncharacteristically still Max. Confidently, he leads Eddie by the hand towards her room.

Rounding the final corner, however, he slams to a halt.

There’s a demogorgan roaming the hallway.

Steve freezes, swallows, sees Eddie clap a hand over his mouth beside him.

“Be silent, little ones,” Fox’s voice sounds in his mind. “It cannot see us.”

As if reminding them of their presence, the shadows press closer against Steve and Eddie, cool mist brushing over their skin.

The demogorgan pauses. It turns towards them, eerily still as it stares in their direction, clearing sensing something but seeing nothing.

Steve reminds himself he doesn’t need to breathe. His heart doesn’t need to beat. There’s no reason for them to be heard, no burden of human necessity to make some involuntary sound.

The demogorgan looks away, and continues down the hallway in the opposite direction.

“They are stupid,” Fox’s voice chitters away, almost sounding amused as she paces along beside them again. “And ugly.”

Quietly, Steve pushes the door to Max’s room open.

The vines are thick in here, all converging in the centre of the room, on a bed with sheets stained black but empty of anything else.

“Fucking hell,” Eddie whispers, “I’ve never seen so many here before.”

“They can’t…hear us, right? The vines?” Steve questions.

Fox chortles in his mind. “No. Only feel.”

Small mercies, Steve supposes.

He listens. Distantly, there’s voices – Lucas, El, Will, perhaps more.

“…you’re sure it was him?” Lucas is asking.

“Yes…spoke to us. Through…lights.” El explains.

“…said he was…stuck?”

“Yes.”

“But if he…through a gate, why can’t he…back through?”

“We don’t know…said he was stuck, and…wasn’t safe for any of us to come through.” That was Will, sounding the calmest out of any of them. Steve’s heart twinges, knows he’s only calm because of how much he’s been through in recent years.

He’s had practice.

“Why would he…in the first place? I mean, I know he’s not the smartest, but -” Steve recognizes Erica’s voice now, and rolls his eyes.

“Erica!”

“What? Just the facts!”

“Robin did sound upset yesterday. Said…Steve wasn’t answering his phone or…door, and that his car…missing.”

There’s a few garbled sentences in reply, but Steve can’t quite make them out. He looks at Eddie, but he only shakes his head.

He wants to yell to the kids. Tell them he’s ok, reiterate that no one is to come after him, but any noise from them will draw the demogorgan in the hallway and who knows what else.

Instead, he taps at the fluorescent light on the wall. It’s barely glowing here, but Steve remembers the harsh light it emits in the Right Side Up hospital room, recalls the way it assaulted his eyes every time he’d blink awake after dozing off in that cheap plastic chair beside the bed.

“…get Dustin to -”

“…need to tell Hopper…”

“We can’t go after him, it’s not -”

“….wouldn’t leave us down there!”

There’s scraps of an argument filtering down, but it’s like listening to them underwater now, a connection that seems to fade in and out on a whim.

Steve taps at the light again, faster now.

“…see that?”

“It’s just…stupid light.”

“No, look!”

Steve stops, then taps again once.

“…-eve, is that you?” El’s asking. “One for no, two for…”

Steve taps twice.

“Holy shit…”

“Shut up and listen!”

“Steve, are you safe?”

Steve taps once. He wants to tap twice, tell them yes, he’s ok, but these kids are smart. They’ll sense the lie immediately.

“…get you help. Just need to…”

“Can you go somewhere…”

“….any weapons?”

Steve pauses, doesn’t know how to answer a barrage of questions he can barely hear.

“…Max with you?”

That, he can answer, and he taps once for no.

But suddenly, the light pulses under his fingers, even though Steve’s not quite touching the bulb. Once, twice, in quick succession.

Yes.

Eddie’s head snaps up, eyes meeting Steve’s.

“Max?” Steve whispers, as loud as he dares.

The light glows, yellow light building until Steve’s worried it’ll be noticed from outside the room, and then it fades again.

“Look!”

“What?”

“The heart monitor, it just…”

“You’re seeing shit, it didn’t -”

“…did, I saw it too!”

“Max? Max…hear me?”

The voices reach Steve and Eddie in fits and stutters. Steve’s still staring at the bulb, willing the tiny glow there to grow again.

It doesn’t.

He whispers Max’s name again, tells her one touch for no, two for yes, but there’s no reply.

Whatever happened had had an effect in the Right Side Up, however, judging by the excited voices Steve can just make out.

“…stopped now.”

“Get a doctor!”

“…nothing’s changed.”

“It did though, for a second!”

“You’re dreaming, Lucas.”

“…still there, Steve?”

He taps the bulb twice.

“…come up with something. The others can...”

“…until we can -”

“…hide somewhere?”

It’s useless. Steve can’t make out what they’re trying to tell him. The important thing, he supposes, is that they know he’s here.

And that Max seems to be too.

Part of her, at least.

Just for a moment.

The door swings open, Steve immediately reaching for the cold butt of the revolver tucked down his pants, but it’s Lion.

Her eyes are wide, tail outstretched as she looks frantically around the small room.

“She was here. Felt her.”

Steve nods.

“Where?”

He opens his mouth, then closes it. Instead of talking out loud and giving themselves away, he reaches for Lion in his mind. Bypasses Wolf’s huge, hulking shadow that always lurks in his consciousness now, skirts around the smaller, more elusive presence of Fox that he hadn’t yet tried to reach for first, and finds Lion.

She swirls in a ball of golden mist, prickly and agitated when Steve tries to press inside, but after a reluctant moment she opens to let him in.

“I don’t know,” Steve tells her silently. “It was like…she was here for a moment, and then gone. Whatever happened, my friends in my world noticed too. Something must’ve happened with her body.”

“She is trying to pull away from Him,” Lion replies, and she’s proud.

“Can she do that?”

“I…do not know. Not completely, surely, or it would kill her.”

There’s a thump from the hallway. Footsteps, claws scraping against cold floors, the shriek of something alerting, grouping together.

Clearly, they aren’t the only ones that felt Max’s brief presence.

“Out, out,” Fox urges them, nipping at Eddie’s heels like a dog herding sheep.

Steve takes Eddie’s hand, the gesture automatic now, and they run, the shadows shrouding them from view.

Wolf meets them outside and falls into step beside them as they run. Steve turns back, sees figures flitting past the windows of the hospital, searching the hallways.

When they’re a short distance away, Lion falls behind.

Steve tugs at Eddie’s hand, slows them down, turns to face Lion.

She’s staring back at the hospital, powerful jaw clenching.

“Lion!” Steve hisses, doesn’t know if that’s actually her name, but he’s had no complaints so far.

She looks to him, then back to the hospital.

“I will stay,” she tells him.

Steve knows she’s talking to Eddie too, feels him stiffen beside him. Steve squeezes his hand.

“It isn’t safe,” Eddie says quietly, still alert for any danger around them.

Lion dips her head in acknowledgement. “No. But if any part of Max is here, then I will stay.”

Wolf rumbles, and nudges Steve away.

“We can’t just leave her!” Steve protests.

“She will not leave,” Wolf tells him simply. “If some part of you lingered here, however small, I would stay too.”

Steve feels a pang of emotion at his words, lets his hand come down to settle on Wolf’s neck. Wolf chuffs, then pushes at Steve’s thigh again.

They leave.

Steve turns back, just once, to see Lion padding silently back towards the hospital to resume her vigil alone.

*****

They walk. To where, Steve’s not sure. They’re following Fox, the creature trotting ahead with her nose to the ground.

She’s trying to find somewhere safe for them to hole up, Steve guesses. He’s not sure there’s anywhere safe left – thinks even the cabin will be overrun with vines now, or at the very least it’s compromised – Vecna knows it’s where they were hiding before.

Steve follows in a slight daze. He’s feeling suddenly…strange. Like everything’s buzzing under his skin all of a sudden, his fingertips tingling, ears ringing. He looks to Eddie, wondering if he’s feeling it too -his face is drawn tight, he’s clenching and unclenching a fist every now and then, frowning down at it.

Steve catches his eye, raises his eyebrows in question.

Eddie nods.

They’ll talk about this later, when they get to…wherever they’re going.

Back towards the Edge, Steve thinks. It was certainly the place with the least amount of vines, where Vecna’s presence was still weak and stretched too thin. But there’d been nothing out there, no buildings, no trees, nowhere to take any form of shelter.

He supposes they don’t really need it – he doesn’t feel the cold anymore, doesn’t need food or water or even a roof really – but some walls around him really wouldn’t go amiss right now, just for the slight amount of normality they could offer.

As the landscape turns barren around them, as the vines peter out, Steve knows his assumption was correct. They’ve reached the Edge once again.

The shadows peel away from his skin with a final soft caress. Vecna has no eyes out here, there’s no need to cloak him and Eddie for now.

“Now what?” Eddie asks.

Fox cocks her head. “Are you not going inside?”

“Inside…where?” he waves a hand at the empty space ahead of them.

Fox chuffs, turns to the side, whispers something to the coiling shadows. The shadows twist tighter, tumbling quicker, and Wolf growls low.

“Show them,” he demands, and the shadows hiss and then disperse.

Out of the empty, a house is revealed.

It’s small, more of a cottage really, and it’s tidy and clean, sticking out like a sore thumb in this hell-hole.

Steve and Eddie gape up at it.

“What is this place?” Steve murmurs.

Wolf looks up at him. Fox pauses, one paw in the air, and frowns at him in a way that’s so human it surprises him.

“You do not know?” she asks, uncharacteristically soft.

Steve shakes his head.

“You will,” Wolf says, “In time. Not yet,” he utters the final two words to Fox.

She nods once, then clambers up the porch steps, sits beside the door, waits for them.

Steve looks to Eddie. Reaches for his hand, holds it tight, and the two of them make their way up to the door.

“Why were they hiding this?” Eddie asks Fox as they step inside.

The hallway is so clean that Steve kicks his boots off. He’s afraid to touch anything, feels dirty and stained and…like he shouldn’t be here. Not in these clothes, not in this scarred and muddy skin.

“To keep it safe,” Fox answers.

“Even from us though?”

“From everyone.”

Steve walks gingerly down the hall. There’s marks on the wallpaper – square and rectangular shapes, little holes and spaces where pictures might’ve once hung. Eddie peels off his jacket when they enter the lounge, hovers over the comfy-looking couch, reaches down to trace his fingertips across the soft brown cushions. There’s a fireplace opposite it, and Steve blinks in surprise at the sight of coals glowing red-hot in the bottom of it.

“Who lit that?” he gestures towards it.

Fox looks to Wolf, who shakes his head, but Fox speaks anyway.

“You did.”

Something coils in Steve’s gut. The strange feeling from earlier intensifies, and he feels unsteady on his feet all of a sudden, reaching to Eddie to balance himself as he tries to make sense of Fox’s words.

“What do you mean, we haven’t…we haven’t been here before.”

“Not yet,” Fox repeats Wolf’s earlier words.

“Hey, you ok?” Eddie murmurs to him, and Steve shakes his head.

“I feel…weird,” Steve croaks, hanging on to a fistful of Eddie’s jacket.

Eddie places a hand on his waist, supporting him. “Me too. Let’s sit down.”

Steve slumps onto the floor. He’s too dirty for the couch, doesn’t want to mar the clean surface. Eddie follows suit beside him.

“What is wrong?” Fox asks sharply.

“Don’t know,” Eddie mumbles. “I feel strange, like…like I’m gonna burst out of my skin.”

Steve nods. He’s blinking heavily, shaking his head a little in an effort to clear his vision. The ringing in his ears has intensified, and everything’s suddenly too warm. He tugs at his collar, feels sweat breaking out on his forehead but that’s impossible, right? He’s dead, after all.

Wolf pads over to him. Gives him a cautionary sniff, sits back on his haunches, tilts his head.

“Well?” Steve asks, awaiting his verdict.

Wolf shakes his head. “You are new. I do not know.”

“Are we dying?” Eddie’s voice trembles. “Again, I mean?”

Fox looks between the two of them. “I think you are…changing.”

“Into what?” Eddie hisses, but their friends are silent.

Steve unshoulders his pack, grabs the gun from his pants where the butt of it’s digging into his lower back and places it on the floor beside them.

“We safe here?” His words slur, blending together, tongue too heavy in his mouth.

“Yes,” Fox confirms.

“Good, ‘cos I think…I think I’m gonna pass out,” Steve blurts. Eddie wraps an arm around his waist, and Steve can feel him shaking.

Wolf clenches his jaw, looks towards the window, then back to Steve.

“I will watch over you, brother,” he promises.

Steve’s head swims, he clings tighter to Eddie, and then everything fades to black.

*****

He wakes an undetermined amount of time later.

Eddie’s on the floor beside him, eyes still closed as Steve blinks sluggishly.

He sits up. Grunts at a crick in his back, runs his tongue over cracked lips and looks around the room. The fireplace is still glowing a soft orange, the warmth settling into Steve’s bones. Fox is curled up next to Eddie, paw resting over her nose but her eyes running worriedly over her charge.

Wolf sits beside Steve, chuffing as he sees him moving.

“Wolf?” Steve blinks again, this time in surprise, because he hadn’t even thought to speak out loud. Talking to Wolf in his mind seems easier now than breathing used to be, it’s instinctual and right.

“How do you feel?” Wolf’s voice is warm and deep and clear, clearer than Steve thinks he’s ever heard him before.

“Um…” Steve twitches his fingers, stares down at his hand for a moment. The buzzing feeling in his skin is fading, the shriek in his ears gone. “I don’t know, I think I’m fine?”

Something’s different though. It’s like everything is sharper – Fox’s tail tapping against the floor is louder than it should be, a glance out the window reveals the shadows circling the house in far greater detail than he’s noticed before. Almost in a daze, he stretches a hand towards Wolf, runs his fingers over his black fur, thinks he can feel each individual hair on his fingertips.

He looks to Eddie. Reaches for him, runs a hand down his arm, wills him to wake too so that Steve feels a little less alone with whatever’s happening to him.

Eddie twitches. Crinkles his nose, opens his eyes slowly.

A rush of breath leaves Steve without him even really realizing.

He’d thought Eddie was pretty before. Beautiful, even, with his sharp features and big brown eyes and heavy eyelashes. But now that his vision seems heightened, he’s noticing things about him he hadn’t before – it’s like he can see every one of Eddie’s defined curls, he could count those eyelashes if he wanted to, could see a kaleidoscope of browns in his eyes, he can see every fibre of Eddie’s being.

Eddie stares up at him. Runs his eyes over Steve’s face reverently, and Steve wonders if he’s taking in every detail just as Steve is with him.

Steve swallows. Feels laid bare before Eddie’s soft gaze.

“Steve…” Eddie whispers, but it’s not out loud.

Eddie’s voice caresses Steve’s mind, and it’s soft and warm and safe.

There’s an ache in Steve’s chest. Something building, and he flinches for a moment, presses a hand over his heart then lays it over Eddie’s chest, ignores the muck on the front of his jacket in favour of gripping him tight.

There’s a brief pause. Distantly, Steve can hear his father in his head. He’s spewing a tirade of hate, spitting about faggots and AIDS and something about God but then Eddie’s brushing against his consciousness again, and Steve feels nothing but warmth.

He kisses Eddie.

Thinks it’s on a whim, but knows deep down it isn’t, thinks of constant touches and stolen glances and Eddie’s hand in his hair and on his skin, knows that this has been building for a long time and he can’t hold back any longer.

There’s danger outside, and Steve’s still fucking scared and he knows they need a plan and he can’t stop thinking about their friends and hopes to hell they’re safe, but right now there’s only a warm room and nothing trying to kill them and Eddie.

Eddie makes a soft noise, reaches up to cup his face, cradles it so gently that Steve lets out a whine and kisses him harder, dragging himself closer to Eddie and clinging to every part of him he can reach.

And somewhere between limbs intertwining and Eddie’s tongue softly pressing to the seam of Steve’s lips, their hearts begin to beat again.

Chapter Text

Let’s hide under the covers

We don’t know what’s out there

Could be all our demons, darling

- The Amazing Devil

*****

“Eddie -” Steve pants, and it’s out loud this time because he’s panicking a little at the sudden thump in his chest. After feeling nothing but stillness for some time now, his own heartbeat feels alien.

Eddie gasps against his mouth, slams a hand against his own chest, wild eyes finding Steve’s.

“I know, I know, me too,” he says breathlessly.

It’s slow at first – the pump of Steve’s heart – like it’s waking up, remembering what to do. And it hurts, his chest constricting tight and Steve winces against Eddie, fingers scrabbling for the back of his jacket and squeezing tight as he grits his teeth against the resurgence of pain.

Eddie’s eyes are clamped shut, every part of him tense as he holds onto Steve for dear life. Wolf’s growling, Fox circling them worriedly, but after a long moment the pain recedes, Steve’s pulse quickening and then finally settling into a steady rhythm.

“You ok?” Eddie murmurs to him, sucking in deep breaths.

Steve nods, hair brushing against Eddie’s neck, takes a breath of his own because he sort of feels like he needs to now.

“What happened?” Steve asks, not even sure who he’s directing the question to. “Are we…I mean, we’re alive again? Right?”

Wolf stoops down, brings his muzzle to Steve’s face, fur tickling over his nose. “You are…different. Again. Something new.”

Steve sighs, a little sick of being something new. He just wants to be Steve.

“Maybe…” Eddie ponders, arms still looped around Steve’s waist, holding him to his chest. “Maybe when Vecna woke, whatever is inside us did too – the shadows? Like…the Upside Down woke up, the vines, Max…maybe we did too, it just took a little longer?”

Slowly, Fox nods. “You have come…full circle.”

“But what does that mean?” Steve huffs, frustrated. “Are we still us, or is this something bad? Like…could Vecna control us, or whatever?”

“Do you feel bad?” Wolf asks quietly.

Steve thinks for a moment. Clenches a fist, unclenches it. Runs a hand absently down Eddie’s back. Feels nothing but concern for his friends and a heavy ache in his tired bones and something stirring in his gut at his continued proximity to Eddie.

There’s no evil overlord in his mind, no murderous intent, no sign of anything else controlling his thoughts other than himself.

“…no,” he answers eventually. “But I’m…tired.” As he says the word, he realizes the extent of it. He feels like he hasn’t slept in a month, a sort of exhaustion so complete he’s ready to curl up right here and take the world’s longest nap.

Eddie chuckles softly. “Me too. I haven’t been tired in…months.”

“We need to come up with a plan though,” Steve argues, even as he sags further against Eddie. “Need to find a way to help Max, to contact the others more reliably, to make sure no one comes through the gate after us -”

“I will handle the gates,” Fox pipes up. “I will check them, for your friends. While you sleep.”

Eddie brushes a hand over her smooth back, Fox chittering lightly at him.

“And I will guard this place,” Wolf rumbles, “so you can rest.”

Steve’s reluctant, but sleep’s tugging at his bones now, and he can’t deny it much longer.

When Eddie takes his hand and pulls him down the hallway, Steve follows. The master bedroom’s through the last door on the right at the end of the hallway, he knows.

Frowning, he wonders just how he knows that.

But then the door’s clicking shut softly behind him, and Eddie’s working the vest over his shoulders and off, then undoing Steve’s belt and tugging his t shirt up over his head.

It isn’t cold. Not here. In fact, even far from the fireplace, the room emanates warmth. The walls are painted a pale yellow, the bed large and cozy-looking with a thick comforter and a patchwork blanket folded at the end.

Steve looks down at himself. Expects to see his skin covered in the familiar layer of Upside Down filth just as their clothes are, but finds no trace of it. He’s clean, if still paler than usual, not even a hint of dirt under his nails, as though whatever had changed within him had wiped the slate afresh.

He’s naked, apart from his briefs.

Eddie’s got a finger hooked through the band at the top, and he’s looking at Steve questioningly.

Steve swallows and nods.

Eddie slips them down, Steve placing a hand on Eddie’s shoulder for balance as he steps out of them.

Blushing, Eddie looks up at him, his eyes wide and earnest, looking like he can’t quite believe he’s got Steve naked in front of him.

Steve’s hands go to Eddie’s waist. He lifts the Hellfire tee up carefully, making sure not to widen any of the tears in the fabric, slips it up over equally clean skin, tracing his fingertips over it as he goes.

Eddie shivers. Steve grins.

Soon, Eddie’s just as naked as he is.

Steve thinks there’s a lot he’d like to do right now. Could start by attaching his lips to Eddie’s neck, kissing his way down, running his tongue over silvery scars just to see how it made him squirm, finish up on his knees with Eddie’s cock in his mouth.

But he’s swaying on his feet, the events of the past few days rapidly catching up to him, and sleep calls to him incessantly.

“Come on, sweetheart.” Eddie’s in his head again, and it makes Steve feel dopey and safe and stupid.

Smiling, he takes Eddie’s hand and burrows himself under the covers, throwing an arm across Eddie’s middle and intertwining their legs.

The bed is insanely comfortable and feels oddly like home, like he’s been here before, a million times over.

In moments, he’s in a deep, dreamless sleep.

*****

When Steve wakes, it’s to comforting silence.

Eddie’s looking back at him, a small smile on his lips.

Steve leans forward, kisses him with no finesse, still half asleep, but Eddie hums into his mouth anyway.

It’s nice here. This room is a safe little bubble, and Steve almost forgets where they really are for a moment.

He quickly remembers.

Jolting, he pulls away from Eddie.

“Eddie, we have to -”

“Shhhh,” Eddie murmurs, brushing a hand over Steve’s cheek. “Wolf or Fox would’ve come to get us if there was anything wrong.”

Steve reaches out with his mind. Immediately finds Wolf’s presence, looming in the background of Steve’s consciousness, the creature ever-alert but quiet, close, resting. Fox is further away, she’s moving, patrolling, but calm.

Steve relaxes a little. Sinks back towards Eddie, lets himself be pulled back to his mouth. Steve huffs out a laugh when Eddie licks his way inside, opens his mouth and lets him take. He shifts against him, pressing up against Eddie’s thigh, eyes opening suddenly when he’s reminded that he’s very naked under these covers.

Eddie misinterprets his surprise for reluctance, pulls back with a frown. “Is this ok?”

“Yeah, I mean…yes, seriously, I just…sorry. Are you ok with this?” Steve fumbles, because Eddie’s face is close and his eyes are beautiful and his breath is puffing across Steve’s lips.

Eddie smirks. “Think I’ve thought about this since I was about…sixteen.”

Steve barks out a laugh. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, you kidding? You in P.E, in those little gym shorts? You have no idea what you did to me.” Eddie pokes him in the thigh for emphasis.

Steve hisses in response, feels his cock kick.

“Thought you hated P.E,” Steve teases, unable to stop his hips from grinding forward a little.

“Oh, I did,” Eddie murmurs, adjusting his thigh so it’s just fucking right for Steve. “You were the only good part, big boy.”

Steve whines, somewhere deep in his throat and embarrassing, but Eddie only chuckles and tugs him closer, bringing their mouths together again.

And then he’s nosing into Steve’s neck, tongue darting out, and Steve tips his head back and pants as he grinds forward into Eddie’s leg again, feels his cock fucking leak, hopes this magically clean house comes with magically clean spare sheets but stops caring when Eddie reaches down and wraps lithe fingers around his length.

He’s breathing heavily into Eddie’s throat, suckling across it and making pale skin bloom with colour. The Upside Down ceases to exist as Eddie pumps him harder, murmuring praise in his ear, and Steve’s somewhere else, somewhere safe and far away from here.

Eddie’s in his head. Steve can feel him, tracing a teasing finger down the edge of his consciousness, and Steve shivers and writhes and wants. He opens his mind immediately, lets Eddie in deeper, wants him in and over him and everywhere.

“Fuck, Eddie,” he pants, shoving his hand under the sheets and wrapping it around Eddie’s hard cock.

Eddie hisses, fingers stalling for a moment when Steve pumps him once, twice, pulls his hand back to quickly lick it then returns to his task.

This is going to be over embarrassingly quickly, Steve realizes. Blame it on the amount of time that had passed since anyone had touched him like this, blame it on Eddie and his stupid handsome face and clever hands, or on the fact that this was the closest Steve had come to feeling anything other than terror for a long time now, blame it on his body adjusting back to being alive, but Steve’s about to come hard. It doesn’t help that he seems to be feeling everything tenfold, every callous on Eddie’s fingers, every wet press of his tongue on Steve’s skin sending sparks through him.

“Eddie, I’m gonna -” He moans as Eddie quickens his pace, presses his thumb to his leaking head.

Eddie bites at his collarbone, hard enough to make Steve hiss. “I know,” he murmurs. “Go on. Want you to. Wanna see you come, Stevie.”

That does it. Steve hides his face in Eddie’s neck, stifling a moan as he comes over Eddie’s hand, his hips bucking forward, hand squeezing Eddie’s cock until he grunts and grinds into him.

Lungs heaving, Steve pants open-mouthed, going slack against Eddie but resuming his hand, forearm tensing as he steadily jerks him off, pausing to run an index finger over the vein on the underside causing Eddie to whine and squirm.

Eddie’s a biter. It shouldn’t have surprised Steve, not really, but he grunts as Eddie’s teeth worry at the top of his shoulder, at the side of his neck and lower, lower, leaving imprints in the top of his chest and around a nipple.

And then Eddie bites down particularly hard, Steve hissing but he’s finding he fucking likes it, and Eddie’s coming in wet streaks across Steve’s slick fist, white stars bursting behind Steve’s eyes at the same time.

Eddie rolls away. Enough to lie flat on his back, to suck in air, to turn his head and grin dopily at Steve.

“Did that really just happen?” he murmurs, eyes twinkling.

“Yeah, I think it did,” Steve replies, huffing out a laugh.

“…cool,” Eddie adds lamely.

Steve smacks him lightly with a pillow. “Cool?” he splutters exaggeratingly. “I make you come so hard you nearly bit my nipple off, and you give me cool?”

Eddie laughs, shoves the pillow back towards Steve. “Thank you King Steve, oh lord of handjobs,” Eddie mocks, flopping dramatically back into the mattress.

Steve pokes him in the side. “You’re a strange one, Munson.”

“You and me both, Harrington.”

As the afterglow recedes, the air grows tense again. With come drying tacky on his hand and stomach, Steve sighs, and supposes it’s about time they clean up and head out to face the world again.

Eddie senses the shift. Slowly, with a bone-deep reluctance, he eases the covers back and steps out of bed, stretching his arms over his head and cracking his neck.

Steve tilts his head and admires the view, because he can.

Eddie winks at him. Heads over to the set of drawers opposite the bed, rummages through them, pauses and holds up a t shirt.

“What is it?” Steve asks when Eddie doesn’t turn around for a moment.

Eddie holds the t shirt out for Steve to see. It’s black, slightly frayed around the sleeves, some band name Steve’s never heard of printed on the front.

“This looks like something I’d wear, right?” Eddie ponders.

“I guess?”

“Hmmm.” Eddie resumes digging through the drawers. Pulls out similar t shirts, dark jeans, pastel and striped polos. “You recognize any of these?” Eddie asks.

Steve shakes his head. The clothes are similar to his ones back home, though. And, like everything else in this house, they’re clean, no trace of the musty, rotten scent that clung to Hopper’s clothes in the cabin, or Steve’s in his Upside Down house.

Eddie shakes his head, confused, and finally returns to Steve, laying some clothes out at the end of the bed. Wordlessly, he takes a spare t shirt and gently wipes across Steve’s stomach, then motions for his hand and does the same, cleaning him up.

Steve watches quietly, lets Eddie rotate his hand, heart clenching at the gentleness of the act. And sure, without soap and running water there’s only so much a worn t shirt will do, but they make do. Hell, maybe this place does have running water – working plumbing in the Upside Down seems a stretch to Steve, but stranger things had happened of late.

Dressed again, the two of them pause by the door. Steve looks over his shoulder at the bed with the rumpled, still-warm sheets, and sighs.

He takes Eddie’s hand. Smiles as encouragingly as he can, and they head out towards the lounge.

It’s empty. The fireplace still glows, and Steve stretches his hands out in front of it while he internally reaches out for Wolf.

Brushing against his mind, Steve senses him nearby, patrolling amongst the shadows outside the house.

Suddenly, Fox’s voice sounds in his mind; she’s faint and a little hard to make out, but she’s there.

Eddie’s head snaps up at the same time, hearing her too despite the distance between them.

“There is movement. At the gate. Where you entered.”

The trailer park.

“Movement, like…Vecna? Demogorgans?” Eddie asks.

“No. Something is…coming through.”

“We’re coming,” Steve replies resolutely, already striding towards his bag on the floor.

Fox snaps out a sharp bark, and both boys wince. “No. It will take you hours to reach me.”

Steve feels Wolf stirring, tuning in to the conversation, his presence drawing nearer as he begins to return to the house.

“It could be our friends,” Steve argues.

“Then I will keep them safe.”

“If it is, you need to tell them to go back. They can’t be here, Fox, it isn’t safe.”

Fox growls, clearly displeased at being told what to do. “Maybe they can help.”

“Nope, no.” That’s Eddie now, shaking his head. “It’s too dangerous. Fox, send them home, then come back here.”

Fox grumbles something, and all of a sudden she pulls away, their connection going quiet.

Eddie curses under his breath, and Steve turns to him, frowning.

“What happened? Where did she go?”

“She cut us off,” Eddie huffs, “She’s done it to me before. After I tried to go back through the gate after she warned me not to. She’s…sulking.”

Steve blinks several times, processing the idea of a powerful creature from an alternate dimension giving them the silent treatment.

Quietly, Wolf pads through the front door.

“What do we do?” Steve asks him.

“We wait.”

“You could go to the gate, you can travel right there,” Steve urges him, “make sure no one comes through.”

“I will not leave you unprotected,” Wolf says firmly.

Steve throws his hands up, tugs at his hair. Eddie runs a soothing hand down his back.

“Fox will take care of it,” he murmurs.

For the next few minutes, Steve paces the lounge. He picks up his revolver, checks the ammunition several times. He’s pretty sure he’s loaded it correctly, but wishes Nancy was here to check. She’d know what to do. Hell, if Nancy was here, she probably would’ve sorted out this entire mess by now, and him and Eddie would be home, along with Max.

But there’s just Steve and Eddie, some enigmatic shadow creatures, and a whole load of loose threads he can’t piece together.

Several times, he tries to reach out for Fox, finds only a solid black wall.

Until, finally, she deigns it time to speak to them again.

“I have your friends.”

Steve’s heart leaps to his mouth.

“Who? Where?”

“All your names sound the same,” Fox chitters. “There is a girl, and a boy. I think. Humans confuse me.”

“They came through the gate?” Eddie asks.

“Yes. I tried to send them back. Tried to do as you asked. They wouldn’t listen. They are…stubborn. And difficult to talk to. It is like I am screaming at them, but they only hear a whisper.”

Steve briefly recalls his first few times speaking to Wolf, remembers their difficulties in communicating. It must be even worse with people who are…ordinary, Steve figures, with no shadows swirling through their veins.

“I am bringing them to you,” Fox continues, “there is no other choice.”

She’s right. Steve knows that, deep down. This house is an oasis, the only safe place remaining in this hellscape. And it was only a matter of time before someone came looking for them.

Steve sits on the couch, head in his hands. Eddie sinks down beside him, places a hand on his knee.

“Brother,” Wolf rumbles, feeling Steve’s stress echo back across their bond. “Your friends are my friends. I will not let them be harmed.”

Steve’s throat closes over as he momentarily chokes back a wave of emotion. He reaches out a hand to Wolf, sinks his fingers into thick fur, clings tight as Wolf blinks back at him, solid and steady and strong. Beyond all doubt, Steve trusts him, knows Wolf would step between them and any danger in a heartbeat.

But if Vecna’s growing in strength, if he’s gathering his numbers, then Steve doubts he’ll be enough.

There’s little else for them to do but sit and wait. It would be a long journey from the gate to the Edge, and they’d have to move silently, even with the shadows offering them cover – and Steve’s not even sure they’ll have that protection – the shadows had been mistrusting, reluctant to help at first, so would they help their friends now? Maybe they’d recognize them from when they’d been in his and Eddie’s heads, sifting through memories?

He hopes like hell they will.

Inside the sanctuary of the house, there’s no noise. The rumble of the thunder, the crackle of lightning from outside doesn’t reach them here. There’s only their breathing, and the occasional pop from the fireplace, the steady flames never seeming to go out.

“What did Fox mean? About this place? That we…hadn’t been here yet?” Steve asks Wolf, doing his best to keep his mind off stressing about his friends.

Wolf twitches his ears, looks away. “It is…complicated.”

“What is?”

“Time.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“I cannot.”

“Why?”

“Because, if you know the future, then it could be…altered. And then perhaps this place will cease to exist at all. It is why we waited this long to bring you here.”

“What is it though? This place?”

“You will come to know it. In your own time.”

Steve throws his head back in frustration. Wolf pads away, choosing to sit in the doorway and keep vigil out over the front porch.

Time passes, until finally Steve hears the soft crunch of boots on dirt, hears a hissing of quiet voices. They’re sounds he never would’ve picked up on a short time ago, but his ears prick and he stands, joining Wolf in the doorway, Eddie following.

Tears jump to his eyes.

Fox is trotting towards the house with two figures in tow, shadows swirling thick around them, making them difficult to see.

But Steve would know them anywhere.

It’s only the days of being conditioned to remain quiet that keep the shout in his throat, but nothing can stop him from pushing past Wolf and running to Robin and Dustin.

Robin meets him halfway, wraps her arms around him and buries her face in his neck, whispering his name over and over. Steve squeezes her tight, lifts her up off the ground, her feet swinging as she chokes out a laugh, tears on her cheeks.

It’s not long before she’s being shoved aside, however, a smaller pair of arms wrapping around his waist.

Steve loops an arm around Dustin’s shoulders, the other coming to his hair and ruffling it, then cups the back of his head and clenches his eyes shut against the tears threatening to spill.

Dustin’s whining into his chest, voice thick with emotion. “You left, why’d you leave, why didn’t you tell us, we thought you were dead for a while, you asshole.”

“Sorry buddy,” Steve says hoarsely, “not dead.” Not anymore, anyway...

“I hate you,” Dustin whispers into his chest.

Steve’s heart pangs, but he forces a sad smile. “No you don’t.”

Dustin looks up, eyes red-rimmed and wet. “No,” he answers, “I don’t.”

And then his eyes widen. He’s looking over Steve’s shoulder, staring at…

Eddie.

“Dustin, I -” Steve starts, but Dustin’s already striding towards Eddie, stopping a few paces in front of him, his mouth slightly open in shock.

Robin clings to Steve’s arm. She’s staring at Eddie too, colour drained from her face.

“Eddie?” Dustin asks, quietly, shaking.

Eddie swallows. Steve can see his throat move from here. His eyes dart to Steve, then back to Dustin.

He nods. “Hey, Dustin.”

“No, you…you died, I saw you die!”

Standing at the bottom of the steps, Dustin looks small. He looks back at Steve, and it’s like he’s a little kid again, the one that had walked the train track alongside Steve and talked about hair and girls and bullshit that no longer seemed to matter.

“It’s him,” Steve promises, “It’s really him.”

Dustin breaks. He crumples in on himself, backpack slipping from his shoulder. Steve strides towards him but Eddie gets there first, scooping the boy into his arms and holding him close while Dustin cries, muffling his sobs into his t shirt.

Chapter Text

Though some would harm you, none, not one, no none

Would raise to you a hand nor thumb

Not while by you, I stand and hum

Love run, love run

- The Amazing Devil

*****

For a long time, they sit in front of the fireplace and talk.

Dustin’s pressed in between Steve and Eddie, Robin plastered to Steve’s other side, her smaller hand in his. They talk about their panic when Steve went missing, about the search for his car, about getting Hopper involved. They talk about the messages relayed by walkie from El and Will after they’d spoken to Steve, and about what had happened at the hospital with Max – her heart monitor had spiked just for a moment, the doctor had come in but found no further signs that she was waking up.

They’d been forbidden from entering the Upside Down by Hopper. He was coming up with a plan for Steve, he’d told them, but he wasn’t moving fast enough for their liking. The main gate had been more active the last couple of days, rogue demodogs spilling through occasionally to roam the town until the military dealt with them. Because of that, the security around it had increased tenfold, and there were regular patrols around the smaller gates, too.

With the news that Steve had gone through a gate, and his car having eventually been located at Forest Hills, Dustin and Robin had made up their minds to come looking for him themselves, not content to wait for Hopper.

“He’s been working up at the old radio tower with Murray,” Dustin told them, “The old WSQK one? They’re trying to make something with a strong enough signal that it can reach the Upside Down, and then the military can send people down here. But they need people at this end too, and Hopper volunteered to bring some technicians down here, but the government’s put their foot down, they want more research done first, and they’re all a bunch of scared little assholes. Hopper’s being watched closely, and he nearly stormed down here after you himself, but they stopped him.”

Robin and Dustin had packed a bag each after that and called a meeting with the rest of the party, plus Nancy and Jonathan.

Everyone had been dubious about re-entering the Upside Down, but Robin and Dustin refused to budge. They were going after Steve, either with their help or without. Robin’s parents were told she was staying at Vickie’s for a few days, and Dustin’s mom is under the impression he’s at Mike’s.

In the end, it was decided to only send the two of them. The smaller the group, the less noticeable they’d be, and both Robin and Dustin had been in the Upside Down before. Reluctantly on board, the party had hidden in the trees outside Forest Hills, before Nancy had approached a military patrol and pretended she’d seen a creature in the forest.

With them distracted, Robin and Dustin had gone straight through the gate.

“And that’s where we found…her,” Robin says now, turning to Fox. “And at first, we thought she was something bad, but then it was like…she spoke? Not clearly, and I couldn’t understand much, but it was like she…showed me you.” She looks at Steve and Eddie. “And I didn’t understand, because you were dead.” She prods Eddie in the shoulder. “But I saw you both, images of you walking through the Upside Down with this fox. She kept walking off then coming back for us, she even bit my shoe at one point and tried to tug me along.”

Fox’s lips pull back in a smug grin.

“So we followed. We saw a few demodogs, even a demogorgan at one point, but it’s like they couldn’t see us?”

Steve nods. “The shadows, it’s what Fox and Wolf are sort of…made of? They’re protecting us, hiding us from Vecna.”

“Fox and Wolf?” Dustin repeats with a scoff. “Those are the best names you could come up with?”

Steve glares. “Well what would you have suggested, peabrain?”

“I don’t know, surely they’ve got actual names, did you ask?”

“I did, actually, and -”

“Children,” Robin interrupts with a sigh, “I think we’ve got more pressing issues right now?”

Steve slumps back into the couch.

Robin turns to Eddie. “Start talking.”

Eddie talks. About waking up in the Upside Down, about Fox, about visiting the kids’ houses and the hospital just to hear them speak. He leaves out the detail of just how many times he found himself at Steve’s house, but Steve doesn’t call him out on it. He talks about Steve coming through the gate, fighting the demogorgan, and then he pauses, looking to Steve.

He’s clearly not sure whether to tell them everything.

After a moment, Steve clears his throat. Robin and Dustin are like family, they’d risked life and limb to come in here after him, they deserved the full truth.

“I died,” he says hoarsely.

Robin blinks at him. “What?”

Eddie gives him a tiny smile, a reassuring nod.

“The infection from the bat bites was killing me,” he continues. “I was sick, really sick, and I kept seeing Wolf. In dreams at first, and then in my backyard. He showed me Eddie, told me I needed to come here.”

Robin squeezes his arm. “Why didn’t you tell me? I knew you weren’t feeling well, I knew you were sleeping like shit but every time I tried to help, you pushed me away.”

Steve winces at the hurt in her tone. Because he hadn’t meant to upset her, had just been reluctant to burden her with his own crap after everything they’d been through.

“I’m sorry,” he manages. “By the end, I wasn’t really thinking at all. It’s more like I was…acting on instinct? I came through the gate, and there was a demogorgan. It hit me, and that’s what did it in the end. Eddie was there. I came back, the same way he did – the shadows brought us back, it’s like they could…sense something lingering in us from the bats, and they woke it up.”

“So are you like…are you vampires, or something?” Dustin pipes up, looking between Eddie and Steve. “Because honestly that’d be kinda cool.”

“Dustin!” Robin chides, and reaches behind Steve to slap him on the shoulder.

“What?” he exclaims. “I’m just saying, it would be!”

“We’re not vampires, man,” Eddie says, rolling his eyes.

“We are…something else, though,” Steve tells them carefully.

Robin narrows her eyes at him. “What do you mean?”

“For a while it was like we were…reanimated? Our hearts weren’t beating, but we were walking around. We didn’t get hungry or tired, and any injuries would heal.”

Robin immediately shoves her hand against Steve’s chest, then frowns. “Your heart’s beating now, though.”

“Yeah, that’s…sort of a new development.”

“New as in a few hours ago,” Eddie adds. “Or, a day, maybe. I don’t know how long we slept after that, felt like a while.”

“Are you hungry now?” Dustin reaches for his backpack. “We packed the essentials – I’ve got snacks, and water bottles, there’s walkies for if Hopper manages to get the radio tower fixed, and there’s a knife in here somewhere…”

Now that food crosses his mind, Steve feels his stomach rumble. Still, he can’t help but think back to the last time he tried to eat something – slimy peaches sliding down his throat, then immediately making a violent reappearance. He shakes his head when Dustin holds out a granola bar, and takes a water bottle instead.

Robin’s still staring at him.

“You died,” she whispers.

Steve glances at her, looks away. “I know. Sorry.”

Robin huffs out a brief laugh, but there’s tears in her eyes. “Only you would apologize for dying, dingus. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant…I literally lost you, and I didn’t even know it.”

“I’m sorry that I didn’t say anything to you. Back when…when things were getting bad,” Steve murmurs. “It’s just, you were finally starting to seem a little happy again, you were getting to know Vickie, and I didn’t want to bring you down.”

“You needed a hospital, Steve,” Robin tells him, voice thick with disappointment. “Whatever was happening with me didn’t matter, not compared to that.”

“Wolf and Fox told me it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, that there was no cure. If I hadn’t come here, I would’ve just…died at home. For good.”

Robin’s breath hitches at that, and Steve squeezes her hand.

Dustin’s still looking wide-eyed at Eddie occasionally, as if he can’t quite believe he’s really here.

“We had a funeral for you,” Dustin says to him quietly. “I had to comfort your uncle. Those assholes from the basketball team kept graffitiing your grave, and I was there every day cleaning it up.”

Eddie swallows thickly. “I’m sorry, man. I, uh…well, I’ve sort of been…stuck here.”

“I know,” Dustin says quickly. “Just…it was hard.”

Eddie nods, and pulls him to his side, one arm slung over his shoulders.

“So…these guys are definitely friends?” Robin says eventually, gesturing to where Fox and Wolf are sitting in the corner of the room.

“Yes,” Steve answers immediately. “They’ve looked after us this whole time. We can…talk to them. Much easier than you can.”

Carefully, Steve takes a sip from the water bottle. He feels Eddie’s eyes on him as he swallows, as he waits to see if his stomach will accept it this time.

Nothing happens.

Relaxing, Steve takes another mouthful. He doesn’t want to waste it, but he is a little thirsty. Not nearly as thirsty as he should be, he thinks, but the feeling’s there unlike the absentness he’d grown used to.

“You look…different,” Robin comments. “You’re too pale. And where’d you get that?” She points to the scar on his forearm, and Steve looks down at it.

“Oh, a demodog sort of…used me as a chew toy. It’s fine, it healed,” he says dismissively.

“…right,” Robin replies, dubious.

They continue to talk. Eddie nibbles on a granola bar, holds it out for Fox to sniff at, and they laugh when she screws her nose up and jumps away from it.

It’s…unsettling, having Robin and Dustin here, in this world that had become just Steve and Eddie. He’s missed them, and he loves them to death, but his stomach churns with worry - now he’s got two more people to look after, two people who are vulnerable and fragile compared to him and Eddie – if they’re bitten by a demodog or worse, they won’t just heal up like they did.

Wolf senses his unease. Moves to lie at his feet protectively, ears rotating as he listens to them talk quietly. After a while, Dustin reaches down cautiously, stroking a gentle hand across Wolf’s back. Wolf twitches, then relaxes, sighing heavily as Dustin pats him.

Dustin smiles. Steve feels Wolf flare in his mind, warmth settling there.

“They are…pack?” Wolf’s voice sounds in Steve’s mind.

“Yeah,” Steve replies, “yeah, they are.”

Wolf’s mind nudges against Steve’s again. He sees Wolf bounding along, smaller shadows following behind him, tumbling and swirling, hears soft yips. Briefly, he wonders if Wolf has a family, if the shadows even work like that.

“Pup.” Wolf decides, of Dustin. “Yours.”

“Well…no, not really.”

Dustin’s laying out the contents of his pack on the lounge floor, showing Steve the walkie and how it works and all the spare parts and batteries he’d packed so Steve didn’t even need to “ask that question anymore”. Steve laughs, ruffles Dustin’s hair, catches Wolf looking up at him knowingly.

“Fine, maybe he is. Kind of,” he admits to Wolf, who chuffs lightly back at him, then returns to resting his massive head on his front paws.

Together, they explore the rest of the house. Steve and Eddie hadn’t looked around much yet, hadn’t had much reason to, but Steve finds he already knows where everything is. There’s three bedrooms, a bathroom at the end of the hall, and a small, tidy kitchen off the lounge. With no power, nothing works – the oven and fridge are dead, but to his surprise the kitchen and bathroom taps run with clear water when turned on.

Eddie stamps his feet excitedly and gives Steve’s shoulder a little shake when they watch the water flow into the sink.

“We can actually shower,” he exclaims. “That’s so much better than that disgusting pond behind the cabin.”

“How is there water here?” Steve ponders.

Eddie shrugs. “I don’t care, honestly.”

“I think we should boil it before we drink it,” Steve says worriedly, “just in case. We can heat it over the fire.”

Eddie runs a hand over his back, smiles softly. “Sure thing. There’s pots in the bottom cupboard, under the plates.”

He pauses. Frowning, he goes to the mentioned cupboard and opens the door, staring down at the pots inside it.

“How did I know that?” Eddie scrubs a hand across his face. “It’s like…everything’s so familiar here, like it’s my own fucking house or something, but we’ve never been here.”

“Not yet,” Steve reminds him.

Eddie pinches the prow of his nose, closes his eyes. “Honestly, we dealing with like…time shit now, too? I know the Upside Down was frozen in time, but this is…something else.”

“I don’t know,” Steve admits. “But I think we don’t worry about it right now. There’s more important stuff.”

Eddie nods, bracing himself with one hand against the bench. Steve reaches for it, settles his own hand over the top of Eddie’s. Dustin and Robin are in the lounge still, bickering quietly about something.

“You ok?” he asks Eddie silently. It feels natural now, so easy to slip into Eddie’s mind, to merge together with him.

“It’s just…it’s a lot, you know? Seeing them again. Especially Dustin. I bled out in his arms, and when he mentioned Wayne…I miss him, Stevie. I’ve missed everyone, but Wayne still doesn’t know anything. He thinks I’m dead.”

Steve steps closer to him, rests their foreheads together. “I know. I’m sorry.”

Eddie sighs, relaxes into him a little. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

“So we’ve got enough food for like…four days, if we’re careful.”

Robin’s voice snaps both boys out of their haze, and Steve jerks away from Eddie a moment too late.

He looks to Robin, sees her in the kitchen doorway with her eyes darting between the two of them. She opens her mouth, then closes it again.

“Robin -” Steve starts, but Robin quickly interrupts.

“…so just, don’t eat it all at once,” she finishes bluntly, and then she’s striding out of the room again.

Steve goes after her. Waves a hand at Eddie when he moves to follow, traces Robin’s steps out the front door and onto the porch, where’s she’s leaning over the railing, looking out at the dim emptiness around them.

“Robs?” Steve murmurs, but she doesn’t turn to face him. Sighing, Steve settles beside her, nudging her shoulder.

She gives him a tight smile.

“You ok?” Steve asks, and she nods, but it’s shaky.

“So…you and Eddie?” she states, with a lift of her eyebrows.

“Um…yeah,” Steve confirms, then chuckles, a little awkward.

“I never knew,” Robin says quietly. “That you were…into men. Like that. I mean, I suspected for a little while when we were working at Scoops, because I thought maybe there was some other reason you kept striking out with all those girls other than you just being kind of hopeless -”

“Hey -”

“- but then there was Heidi, and Linda, and all those other girls while we were at Family Video -”

“I like both, Robin,” Steve tells her gently.

“Since when?”

“Since…forever, I guess? I just didn’t really…understand what it was. I thought everyone was a bit in love with their best friends, but turns out that’s not really true.”

Robin frowns at him.

“Tommy,” Steve clarifies.

“Tommy Hagan?” Robin splutters, then fake gags over the railing. “Seriously, and you had the audacity to tease me about Tammy Thompson?”

Steve shrugs, huffing out a laugh.

Robin’s face turns serious again. “Why didn’t you tell me? I mean, I came out to you. I told you everything. You could’ve told me, you know? And then…” Robin trails off, looks down at where her hand rests next to Steve’s.

Steve places his hand over hers. “Then what?” he asks softly.

“Then I wouldn’t have felt so alone in that fucking town,” Robin whispers.

Steve pulls her to his side. Wraps an arm around her, lets Robin cling to his t shirt and lay her head against his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Robs,” Steve murmurs. He feels like he’s done a lot of apologizing today.

“It’s ok,” Robin mumbles into his shoulder. “It’s not like you have to come out. I didn’t mean it like that. I just…I feel like I don’t…know you anymore. So much has changed, and you didn’t tell me when you were literally dying, and…I miss you. Do you know how hard these last few days have been, not knowing where you were? And then when we did learn you were down here, I didn’t know if you were ok, or why you’d gone, why you’d gone without me. And now I’ve finally found you, but you tell me you died and came back…different, and Eddie’s here and alive too, and you are him are…what, together?”

Steve fumbles for a moment, because he doesn’t really know what he and Eddie are at the moment, what to call their relationship.

He feels Eddie reaching out in his mind. A careful brush of a finger in Steve’s thoughts, checking in, everything ok?

“Yeah,” Steve reassures him, and Eddie pulls away gently, satisfied.

“I don’t know what we are,” Steve tells Robin carefully. “I mean, it’s not like we’ve really had time to talk about it.”

Robin snorts. “I guess not.”

“I slept with him,” Steve blurts. “Not like…not like that, I mean we slept in the same bed, like, we did do some stuff, but -”

Robin holds up a hand to cut him off. “Ok, ok, enough. I know I wanted you to tell me stuff, but the thought of you and Eddie going at it is kinda turning my stomach a bit.”

Steve laughs. He pokes her in the ribs, grins when she turns to slap at his hand.

Steve loves her, so fucking much. And while he’s still worried, terrified about how he’s going to keep her safe along with Dustin, he’s so happy she’s here.

*****

“We need a way to get a message to the others,” Dustin announces.

They’re back in the lounge, the focal point of the house. Dustin’s halfway through a 3 Musketeers bar despite their earlier insistence to ration the food. Robin’s on the floor next to Fox, her rings laid out in front the creature for her to play with, tapping at them with gentle paws, Robin grinning as she does.

“We told them we’d contact them as soon as we could,” Dustin continues. “We could go back to the Byers’ house, or the hospital, since that’s where you’ve been able to make contact before -”

“Uh uh,” Eddie shakes his head. “The Byers house, definitely not, Vecna found us there earlier.”

“And the hospital’s crawling with demodogs and shit since they sensed Max there,” Steve adds. “Can’t El do her trance thing? She could find us down here, and at least she could see that you’re ok.”

Dustin shakes his head. “She tried. After you spoke to her through the lights. She said she couldn’t find you, that it’s like you’re on a different…frequency, or something.”

“Sure, but maybe she can find you guys,” Steve suggests.

“Not here,” Fox advises, “this place is too well hidden.”

Steve and Eddie look to her.

“Even from her?” Steve asks.

Fox nods once.

“What’s she saying?” Dustin gestures at Fox.

Quickly, Steve relays it for him and Robin.

“Well, I think we should go to the radio tower then,” Dustin suggests. “I don’t know if they would’ve made much progress with getting the signal working, but we could at least communicate with someone there, let the others know we’re ok. And about you,” Dustin looks to Eddie, who shifts awkwardly on the couch.

“You think that’s a good idea?” he asks carefully. “I mean, as far as we know, me and Steve are still stuck down here anyway. Might not be a good idea to get everyone’s hopes up, you know?”

Dustin fixes him with a look so serious that Steve’s about to step between the two of them.

“Do you know how much they’ve missed you?” Dustin says, almost coldly. “Mike and Lucas especially, but Erica too. She’s convinced it’s her fault somehow, because she got found by those jock assholes and then her signal to Lucas got delayed. Will’s tried to get them to play D&D again, but no one wants to, because they look at the DM’s chair and just think of you and how you’re not there.”

Eddie turns away, flinching at the words. Steve reaches across, places a hand on his knee, watches Dustin’s eyes flicker down to it and back again, a moment of understanding crossing his face.

“We’re telling them,” Dustin continues, mind made up.

Eddie nods, Dustin’s tone leaving no room for argument.

“Are we ready for Hopper to find out you’re here?” Steve asks Dustin. “If he comes down here guns blazing, Vecna will find him in seconds.”

Dustin ponders that for a moment. “It’ll be the weekend. El visits him often then, and there’s far less people around on weekends. Maybe we can get her attention without Hopper noticing.”

“Can we get to the radio tower, do you know it?” Steve asks Wolf.

He tilts his head. “Where is it?”

“Dustin, can you tell Wolf where the radio tower is?” Steve asks.

Dustin blinks at him. “Me and Robin can’t do your telepathy thing, it barely works -”

“Out loud, you moron,” Steve says, leaning across to flick him on the back of the head.

Dustin glares at him, then turns to Wolf. The massive creature looks down at him expectantly.

“Um…so it’s on a hill, on the east side of Hawkins…” Dustin sneaks a glance at Steve, and whispers, “Can he hear me?”

Steve nods, and Dustin continues, explaining the location in detail to the patient wolf.

“It is a long way,” Wolf rumbles to Steve. “But we can get there.”

“It’s a long way from here,” Steve repeats to the others, “so we’ll go tomorrow.” Or as close to tomorrow as one can get down here, he supposes – but they need to sleep, Dustin and Robin especially, they’d already had a long walk with Fox from the gate.

Robin picks her rings back up, but Fox hisses until she hands one back, leaving it on the floor for the creature to stare at, blue eyes following the way the reflection of the fireplace flames dance across the metal.

“Wanna go pick a bedroom?” Steve asks.

Dustin darts ahead, Robin letting him go, picking up her backpack to follow him down the hallway. Steve and Eddie leave them to it for a while, taking the chance to hastily strip their own bed and toss the sheets in the corner, grabbing new ones from the linen cupboard and making up the bed afresh.

Steve kisses Eddie beside the bed, eases him up against the wall and slots their bodies together for a fleeting moment. Footsteps in the hallway have him pulling back sheepishly, and he heads to the door, opens it to find Dustin standing there in a fresh set of clothes.

“You good, buddy?” Steve asks him.

Dustin nods. Then he’s stepping forward, tugging Steve into a firm hug.

“Don’t ever disappear again, asshole,” Dustin mumbles, and then he tilts his head back to look at Eddie. “You better be good to him,” he warns, and Eddie throws his hands up defensively.

Steve smiles and pats his back, holds him until Dustin’s ready to let go.

Later, when all of them are in their respective rooms, Steve hears Wolf pad down the hallway. Listens as he noses the door open to Dustin’s room, as he clambers up onto the bed and flops down protectively by the boy’s feet.

Eyes still closed, Steve smiles, and curls further into Eddie’s arms.

Chapter Text

Cause you are in the earth of me

You are in the earth of me

My head’s not yours, it’s mine

Cause you are in the earth of me

- The Amazing Devil

*****

Steve thinks they’ve been here too many times already – selecting weapons, speaking in hushed tones, tooling up like they’re going to war.

They’d used Dustin’s watch, still set to Right Side Up time, to get up at six a.m in the hopes of reaching the radio tower in several hours. Now, bags packed, Steve with the revolver tucked in his waistband and bat over his shoulder, Eddie with his spear and Dustin and Robin the knives they’d brought, they set out from the house.

Immediately, Steve misses it – the warmth, the familiarity offered by those walls.

He turns to look back as they walk, watches as the shadows swirl around the house again, shrouding it from view just as they do to the group once they reach the border of the Edge.

Fox disappears into a puff of smoke and reappears frequently – scouting ahead and then checking back in, grumbling a few times about the humans being slow. Wolf stays with them, ears pricked and alert, scanning their surroundings.

At Fox’s advice, they skirt around the majority of Hawkins town. It’s crawling with packs of demodogs, and Steve hears the tell-tale shriek of a demogorgan emanating from there several times as they make their way down back streets, down quiet farm roads, avoiding as much danger as they could.

Robin’s scared, Steve knows. The last time she was here, they were almost choked to death, the world split apart, their friends were killed. She’s clutching his hand, head swivelling at every noise, but she smiles tensely whenever Steve checks in with a squeeze of her hand.

Terrified or not, she’s at Steve’s side, and he knows that’s where she’ll stay.

Dustin walks alongside Wolf, the two of them having seemingly formed a bond of their own, despite their lack of two-way communication. Steve feels Wolf’s presence warm and expand to try and envelop Dustin, senses a litany of pup, pup, pup, and relaxes in the knowledge that Wolf would die before letting anything hurt the boy.

They walk for hours. Their progress is made slower by the large vines they have to frequently hop, Steve lifting Dustin over a particularly large one, ignoring his quiet protests at the indignity of it.

Demobats swoop directly overhead at one point, and Steve has to wrap a hand over Robin’s mouth to keep her from making a sound, shaking his head frantically at her.

“We’re hidden,” he mouths, “we’re ok.”

She nods, eyes wide, and he moves his hand away.

When the bats continue on, Eddie’s left sheet-white in their wake.

Fox returns without a word, winding between his legs, butting at his trembling hands.

Steve goes to him, cups his face. “Eds, it’s ok, I’ve got you.”

Eddie’s mind is tumbling, pulsing in time with his rapid heartbeat, and Steve tries to carefully grab hold of it, tries wrap himself around it and coax it to slow, to calm.

All at once, Steve’s on his back, arms and legs held outstretched by spiny tails, teeth tearing deep, he’s being eaten alive, he’s fucking dying –

“Brother,” Wolf interrupts, when Steve starts to shake. “Come back.”

Claws in his consciousness. Scrabbling at the edges, ripping the memory, Eddie’s memory, to ribbons.

Steve stumbles back, gasping for air, Robin’s hand at his back. Dustin’s slapping at Eddie’s arm frantically.

“What’s wrong with him?” Dustin hisses. “Is it Vecna?”

Eddie’s eyes are wide, and he’s shaking all over.

“No,” Steve whispers, “he’s just scared.”

Gently, Steve eases Dustin aside, and takes one of Eddie’s hands between his.

“Eddie, it’s ok. They’re gone. We’re safe.” Steve pushes himself up against Eddie’s frantic consciousness again, feels Fox doing the same, pictures cupping it in his hands, strokes and soothes until the swirling slows, until Eddie drags his gaze to Steve and breathes again.

“Sorry,” Eddie blurts out, then quietens his voice. “Sorry, they just – the bats, you know.”

“I do,” Steve whispers, still shaken by Eddie’s memory.

“You saw it.” Eddie’s staring at him, and Steve feels naked under it.

“I did.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put that on you. I didn’t even know that could happen.”

“It’s alright. You ok now?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Talk later?”

“Yeah.”

They continue, Steve watching Eddie closely, not satisfied until the trembling in his hands stops completely.

Dustin’s watch shows twelve pm when the radio tower finally comes into view. It looms at the top of a small hill, the red and black sky a grim backdrop behind. A concrete building displays WSQK on the front, and to the rear is a tall tower, a latticework of rusted metal with an antenna and large dish at the top. Vines wrap their way halfway up the length of the tower, another curling around the bottom of the K on the sign, tilting it askew with its weight.

They approach cautiously. There’s a door on the side of the building, heavy and almost rusted shut, and Steve cringes when he shoulders it open, pauses to see if anything else heard the scrape of metal on concrete.

A beat passes before they breathe again and hurry inside, the door closing more easily behind them.

Dustin and Robin each produce a torch from their packs, illuminating the dim interior, but it’s only for his and Robin’s benefit – Steve and Eddie can see in the dark just fine. They make their way to a large room full of equipment and buttons, control panels that Steve guesses would be brightly lit up in the Right Side Up. Here, they remain lifeless, everything covered in a layer of black gunk. Fox sniffs at it, turns her nose up.

They listen. For Hopper, for El, for anyone.

Eventually, voices trickle through, scraps of conversations.

“…making progress with the -”

“We’ve got the green light to -”

“Not confirmed yet -”

“…activity increasing at the main gate -”

Steve recognizes Murray’s voice amongst it, but not Hopper’s yet.

“Should we try and get their attention?” Eddie whispers.

“No, we should wait for El,” Dustin tells him.

“What if she doesn’t turn up today?” Robin asks.

“Shut up,” Steve hisses, because he could’ve sworn he just heard Hopper.

“Harrington’s still missing…pick up the pace, because…don’t care what some government puppet told you, we need to -”

It’s definitely Hopper.

There’s the distant creak of a door, faint footsteps from behind them.

“El…be with you in a minute,” Hopper calls.

Dustin peels away, heads towards the door where they’d heard what must be El arriving in the Right Side Up.

Steve follows. He pictures El by the door, maybe hanging her coat up on the hook there.

There’s a light above the door. It’s barely glowing here, but it’ll do, if they’re quick.

On the same page, Eddie reaches up and taps it several times. He pauses, repeats the taps, and pauses again.

There’s silence from the Right Side Up.

And then, a tap in return, the light sparking several times.

“…going to the restroom,” El says loudly, presumably to Hopper but for their benefit.

The group makes their way out of the room, following the flickers from the lights in the hallway, down a set of stairs, and into the bathroom.

There, they wait.

Until El’s in front of them, red dribbling from her nose.

On impulse, Steve reaches for her shoulder, squeezes it gently to prove to himself she’s real.

She looks at them all in turn, eyes lingering on Eddie for a long moment. She’s never seen him, Steve realizes, except in pictures Mike and Dustin had shown her, along with the stories they’d told about him. Steve had heard them himself – stories about a larger-than-life DM, about the older boy who had taken them under his wing at high school when no one else would, about how he’d made the ultimate sacrifice to protect Hawkins.

“Hi,” she says eventually.

Dustin grins. “Hi.”

“You are…safe?”

“Well…sort of,” Robin replies.

Fox slinks to the front of the group, pausing with one front paw in the air, gazing up at El. El stares back at her.

“It’s her,” Fox practically purrs.

“Yeah, that’s El,” Steve confirms.

“Is the radio working yet?” Dustin asks her.

She shakes her head. “Dad says they’re close though. I tried to ask Murray, but he is…grumpy.” She turns to Eddie again, frowns. “You are…supposed to be dead.”

“I know, but he came back,” Steve says quickly, “we both did.”

El tilts her head. “You…also died?”

Steve nods. “But we’re back now, so…”

El’s frown deepens. She steps towards Steve, eyes piercing his face.

“No,” she says.

“No…what?” Eddie asks.

“You are not back. Not completely. You are…different. Like part of you is…in shadow.”

Worry settles in Steve’s stomach at her words, but he shakes it off, focusing on more pressing matters.

“El, we spoke to Max. I mean, very briefly, through the lights at the hospital, but she was there.”

El nods slowly. “I felt her. It was like she…came back, but only for a short time. Her heart monitor spiked, and the doctors came in, but they said it was probably just an anom…anomaly. It hasn’t happened again.”

Her head snaps up, as though detecting a noise that even Steve and Eddie can’t hear. Wolf’s uneasy, pacing behind the group.

“I can’t stay,” El says quickly, “he’s looking for me. Henry…Vecna. And you need to get somewhere safe.”

“We have somewhere,” Steve tells her.

“Good. I think the radio will be working soon. So maybe then you can use your walkie to talk to us.”

“Hopper’s gonna kill us, isn’t he,” Robin laments, and the side of El’s mouth quirks upwards.

“Not…kill you, no. But he will not be happy.”

In an instant, El’s gone again, leaving them alone in the dark bathroom.

“Now what?” Robin adjusts the pack on her shoulder.

Steve sighs. “I don’t know. Back to the house I suppose?”

“Not before I sit down for like…five minutes,” Robin huffs, gingerly selecting a section of floor clear of vines and plonking herself down. She opens her pack, pulls out a bag of jerky and a box of granola bars, hands them out to the group.

Steve chews slowly, carefully, still not fully trusting of food. He’s not all that hungry anyway – while he can eat now, he doesn’t feel as though he particularly needs to to survive.

While the others talk in hushed tones, Steve’s mind wanders to Lion. He wonders if she’s ok, tries to mentally reach out to her, finds only a hint of her presence far away.

“I want to go back to the hospital,” he says eventually.

Dustin pauses, then talks around his mouthful of food. “Thought you said it was crawling with demodogs.”

“It is,” Steve confirms, “which is why I’m going on my own. The rest of you are going back to the house.”

Robin starts to protest, but Steve’s eyes drift to Eddie, who’s watching him with his head tilted.

“You’re sure?” Eddie’s voice sounds in his mind.

“Yes.”

“I…I don’t like it.”

“It’s not safe for Robin and Dustin. And I can’t leave them alone, so you need to stay with them.”

“I know, but you’ll be on your own, and I can’t just -”

“You can. Please. Wolf will be with me, anyway.”

“We go together, or not at all,” Robin’s arguing.

“Yeah, don’t be a dumbass, Steve,” Dustin adds.

“It’s not up for debate,” Steve says sternly. “Me and Eddie, we’re…different now. We can handle this place better. We’re stronger, we’re faster, it’s like…like our senses are better. I’ll be in and out, I just want to check things there and see if I can contact Max at all. Fox and Eddie will take you guys back to the house.”

“You’re determined to do this, huh?” Eddie says gravely, and Steve nods. “Fine. But if you’re not back within a few hours of us reaching the house, I’m coming after you.”

“Deal,” Steve whispers, and squeezes his hand. “Wolf?” Steve turns to the creature, who inclines his head in acknowledgement.

Steve takes only his revolver and nail bat, wanting to travel light. Outside the radio tower, he farewells the others, pressing a chaste kiss to the corner of Eddie’s mouth.

And then it’s just him and Wolf and the Upside Down looming ahead of them.

They make their way towards Hawkins town. Steve moves quickly, running silently, not tiring despite his fast pace. Wolf keeps step beside him, stretching out long limbs, leaping vines and keeping a keen eye out for danger. Through their bond, Wolf’s presence sings, overjoyed at being able to run again, not having to hold back for the sake of slower beings.

They slow, however, as they get nearer the hospital.

Steve feels Eddie in his mind, feels his soft consciousness pressing against his own, and Steve reaches out to it, strokes it with an invisible finger until it pulls away again, satisfied Steve’s ok.

Next to Wolf, Steve crouches as they let a pack of roaming demodogs pass them by on the street. There must be close to twenty of them, Steve thinks, led by a larger one that occasionally walks on its hind legs only – a demogorgan in the making.

Thank fuck for the shadows tucked tight around his skin – without them, Steve knows he’d be long dead by now. For good, maybe.

As they approach the hospital, Steve barely even breathes. There’s two demogorgans by the entrance, and countless demobats settled like crows on the roof. Bringing Dustin and Robin would’ve been fatal – one misstep, one hissed word, and they would’ve been heard.

Steve reaches out for Lion again. Wades through soupy darkness to find her soft golden glow, brushes against her carefully. Her consciousness rotates and unfurls, bumping against Steve’s.

“Why have you come back?”

He can’t see her, but he hears her nonetheless.

“To check on you and Max,” Steve replies.

Lion makes an indignant noise. “I am fine.”

“And Max?”

There’s a moment of silence, and then Steve hears the shriek of a bat, watches them scuttle and separate frantically as Lion bounds down from the roof, snapping at them as she goes before melting back into the blackness and reappearing at Steve’s side.

“I have been trying to talk to her. When He sleeps.”

“Vecna…sleeps?”

“Sometimes. Not as often, now. But when He does, I try to find Max. Her mind is locked away with His. It is…difficult, to move there undetected by Him.”

“Did you manage to find her?”

“Yes. I could not say much, but I showed myself to her. I showed her you. And your friend.”

Steve nods. “Is there any way to separate her from Vecna?”

“Not that I have found yet.”

“If you manage to speak to her again…can you give her a message from me?”

“Yes.”

“Tell her I’m coming for her. Tell her her friends are ready to fight, and I won’t let Vecna keep her.”

Lion purrs, and she butts her large head into his side. “You are wasted as a human,” she murmurs, blue eyes dancing. “Should’ve been a lion.”

Wolf huffs at her, and Lion vanishes again, Steve listening to the bats panic and fly up into the air when she reappears behind them, hears her chitter darkly in amusement in his mind.

More than anything, he wants to go inside the hospital, wants to try and contact Max directly and promise her he’ll make this ok, that he’ll save her. But Wolf growls a warning, sensing Steve’s intentions – the hospital is too well-guarded, Lion will have to pass the message herself.

Picking their way through vine-clogged streets, Steve and Wolf head back towards the Edge.

“Eddie, we’re ok, we’re heading back,” Steve calls to him.

“We’re about halfway back to the house,” comes Eddie’s response, a little faint at this distance. “See you back there.”

It all goes smoothly for the first hour of walking.

Until Steve feels a cold probing at the back of his neck, hears a harsh whisper on the wind, sees Wolf freeze ahead of him.

“He’s searching for us,” Wolf tells Steve. “Be quiet, and shield your thoughts.”

“How?” Steve asks frantically.

“Imagine a wall. Tall and solid. Think of nothing else.”

And that’s terrible advice, Steve thinks, because as soon as someone tells you to only think of one thing, the brain automatically seems to conjure a hundred different ideas –

“Now!” Wolf demands.

Steve slams a wall up in his mind. Does his best to focus on that and only that, sucks in a breath when he feels cold nails scraping up against it. Those nails tap and scratch lightly against the barrier, seeking out any little gap, and Steve’s head throbs with effort.

His pupils dilate, seeking out any threat in his dark surroundings. He can’t see anything, nothing but the trees and a black road underfoot, but Vecna’s here – some part of him, at least.

Thinking of nothing was never going to work.

Instead, Steve keeps his head full, keeps it busy – imagines the wall, yes, but also thinks every inconsequential thought he can muster – Family Video, Keith’s sneer every time he walks in, the stray cats on his street that he hopes someone else is feeding, thinks of Star Wars and his car and when his parents might bother coming home, thinks of everything except Eddie and Robin and Dustin and the house that is their haven.

Vecna’s nails scrabble at him now, but Steve holds firm.

But suddenly, his skin feels lighter, almost naked…

The shadows. They’re pulling away in fear, even while Wolf’s growling at them. Steve feels them peel back from his body, feels them slink away meekly, leaving them exposed and vulnerable on the outskirts of Hawkins.

Vecna pulls away eventually, and although Steve had managed to keep him out of his mind this time, a mental wall won’t save him from the demogorgan that starts to shriek from the trees beside them.

“Run,” Wolf barks in his head, and Steve doesn’t need to be told twice.

He’s fast now, eating up the ground as he sprints alongside Wolf, hurtling himself away from the trees.

But he’s not faster than a demogorgan.

He can hear it, heavy feet slamming against the damp ground, hears it chortle and hiss, hears the footsteps double and knows without turning around that a second one had joined the chase.

They’re going to be on them in seconds. Wolf could outrun them, perhaps, but Steve knows he’ll never leave him.

“We have to fight,” he tells Wolf urgently. “They’ll call more, and we can’t lead them to the Edge.”

Rumbling with displeasure, Wolf silently agrees.

Wolf slams to a halt, rotates on his haunches, and launches himself at the closer of the two demogorgans.

Steve has a moment to heft his bat, briefly considers the revolver but doesn’t want to draw the entire Upside Down to this spot unless he has no other choice.

The demogorgan slows as it approaches, petals unfurling on its face as it screeches, swiping a hand at Steve.

Steve dodges, reflexes lightning-quick, and brings the bat down on the creature’s outstretched arm, snapping bone and rendering the limb useless.

It lurches backwards with a hiss, forearm dangling, and Steve risks a glimpse at Wolf, sees him sparring with the other creature off to one side.

The demogorgan rushes Steve again. This time, it anticipates his dodge, whirls to the side just as Steve moves, and its claws sink deep into his shoulder.

Pain exploding in his vision, Steve cries out, feels his sleeve soaking through with blood quickly.

But he doesn’t have time to stop, to acknowledge the pain for any longer.

He twists, slams the bat down on the demogorgan’s side, lets the nails sink in as deep as they’ll go and then drags it free, the creature writhing and chortling.

It swings, he ducks. He steps around it, the demogorgan struggling to keep up as Steve circles, looking for his opening.

Wolf growls as he tears at the throat of the second demogorgan.

Steve’s opponent falters for a second, looking to its kin, and Steve leaps forwards and brings the bat down on its head hard, hits again and again when the creature staggers sideways.

Even when it crumples to the ground, Steve delivers a final blow, the bat punching through the damaged skull like it’s no more than an overripe peach.

The bat slips from his fingers. He turns to inspect his shoulder, grunts at the pain broiling away there, the three slashes cut almost down to bone. Pain certainly wasn’t something he’d missed, as disconcerting as its absence had been at the time – and now that it’s back, it almost takes Steve’s breath away.

Wolf limps over to him. Steve frowns, drops to a knee beside him, sees black blood dripping down a foreleg.

“We need to go.” Wolf’s voice is strained in Steve’s head, thick with pain.

“You’re hurt.”

“And so are you. We will heal, but it is not safe here, more will come, and soon.”

Steve nods, shoves himself back to shaky feet, and picks up his bat now dripping with black gore.

The same black still leaks steadily from his shoulder. He’s not normal then, not really human, his blood still black where it should’ve been red.

Eddie’s in Steve’s mind. Frantic, running his hands over Steve’s consciousness.

“What is it, what happened?” he demands.

“Vecna, the shadows were scared and left us, the demogorgans found us,” Steve replies, his voice shaking even in his mind.

“You’re hurting, I can…I can feel it, your shoulder?”

“Yeah. S’ok. We’re on our way.”

“I’m coming -”

“No!” Steve snaps, then softens. “No, I need you with the others. Please.”

As they make their way as fast as they can manage towards the Edge, the bleeding slows, the pain lessening just slightly. Steve risks a quick look at his wounds, sees the edges of the cuts smoothing out, moving minutely slowly to knit back together.

So he can still heal, he supposes, even if it’s taking a little longer.

The two of them stumble into the Edge. The shadows find them again, gingerly reaching out and pressing against them, but Wolf grumbles and flashes his teeth. They pull away but remain close by, and Steve hears them whisper in their own strange language, their voices soft and sorry.

The house welcomes them with open arms, and Steve practically falls through the front door.

Robin’s there, eyes wide, before Eddie runs past her and wraps his arms around Steve.

“I’ve got you, it’s alright,” he murmurs.

Steve grips onto him, sees Fox bound over to Wolf, nosing at his injured leg.

“I’ve got the first aid kit ready, come on, let’s get you to the couch,” Eddie says gently, helping him to unsteady feet.

Steve nods and follows, lurching behind Eddie, Robin and Dustin at his back, gritting his teeth against pain.

Chapter Text

I’ll tear the fibre from the filament

I’ll be the limit of your light again

I want to taste you better

I want to taste you better

I will be watching for your enemies

To let them know that they contend with me

- Sleep Token

*****

Eddie sits Steve down on the couch, starts rifling through the first aid kit – Steve figures he must’ve grabbed it from the bathroom cupboard, where he knows it usually lives – and ignores Steve’s protests.

“I’ll be fine, it’ll heal eventually, the bleeding’s already slowed right down.” Steve hisses as Eddie cuts his tattered sleeve and eases the fabric away from the wound.

“Don’t care, I’m gonna look after it till it heals,” Eddie mumbles. “Robin, can you go grab me some antiseptic? It should be in the -”

“Medicine cabinet,” Steve finishes for him.

Eddie nods, shares a look with Steve.

“You’ll be ok, right?” Dustin asks worriedly, hovering behind Eddie.

“’Course, buddy,” Steve assures him, manages a quick smile. “Go check on Wolf for me, ok?”

Dustin nods quickly, heading back towards the hallway to do as Steve had asked.

Robin returns with the antiseptic, hands it over to Eddie, rubs a hand across Steve’s good shoulder.

Eddie unscrews the lid, presses a cloth to Steve’s arm to catch the drips, and is about to dump the contents of the bottle on the wound when Steve catches his wrist, making him pause.

“Is this really necessary?” Steve asks through gritted teeth.

Eddie gently uncurls his fingers from his wrist. “It might heal, but I don’t want it getting infected before then. What if…what if it’s like the bats, or something? You might be able to heal the cuts but can you heal sepsis?”

“Can he heal rabies?” Robin hisses to Eddie.

Steve rolls his eyes, slumping back on the couch in defeat. “It didn’t bite me, Robs.”

“Right. Well, just checking.”

And then pain jolts through him when Eddie tips the bottle up, strong-smelling antiseptic flowing over the cuts. Tears spring to his eyes and his hand shoots out, finding Eddie’s waist and squeezing a handful of his jacket.

“Sorry, sorry, sweetheart,” Eddie’s whispering.

Steve feels him in his mind. Cupping a hand to his consciousness, stroking, soothing. Taking his mind off the burn that follows in the wake of the antiseptic.

Once it’s over, Steve’s trembling lightly, keeping his jaw clenched to stop a whimper escaping – Dustin’s nearby, and Steve refuses to scare him even more than he already had.

Eddie carefully guides a bandage around his shoulder, fastening it with a safety pin, then tilting his head to assess his work. Happy with it, he kisses the side of Steve’s sweaty head.

“You ok?” Robin asks him, and Steve nods.

“We have to be more careful next time. The shadows…they’re terrified of Vecna. We can’t trust them to help if he shows up.”

“No more going off alone,” Eddie tells him sternly.

Reluctantly, Steve agrees.

Dustin re-enters the room, Wolf limping in behind him.

“Are you alright?” Steve questions immediately.

“Fine, brother.”

Steve recognizes that tone. Has heard it in his own voice a million times, the false assurance that he’s ok, that they’ve got bigger things to focus on, to stop worrying about him.

He shakes his head. “Come here.”

Wolf makes a disgruntled noise but eventually makes his way over, sitting in front of the couch, weight off his injured leg.

“Will any of this stuff help you?” Steve asks out loud, motioning to the contents of the first aid kit strewn beside him.

Fox trots over, places her front paws up on the seat, sniffs suspiciously at the items.

“I do not need -”

“Wolf, just let us help,” Steve interrupts, exasperated.

“What’s he saying?” Robin asks.

“He doesn’t want any help, says he’s fine,” Eddie answers for Steve.

Robin rolls her eyes. “Well, that sounds familiar.” She shoots a look at Steve, then kneels down beside Wolf. “Give me your paw.”

Wolf glances at Steve, seemingly balking a little, then back to Robin.

“I’d let her help if I were you,” Steve advises him.

Wolf concedes, holding out a massive paw to Robin. She rests it on her knee, parts the black fur higher up, inspecting the source of the blood dripping down his leg. Carefully, she cleans the wound, Dustin handing her items when she asks for them, finally winding a bandage around it and tying it off. Wolf looks down at it, eyes wide, then back to Robin. Slowly, he leans forward and licks her hand once. Robin smiles and strokes his neck.

“Now I know you’re a big strong magic Upside Down wolf but you have to be careful with it, ok?” Robin tells him, and Wolf yips in acknowledgement.

Steve watches, eyes soft, shoulder throbbing, Eddie’s arm looped around his waist and thumb rubbing circles there.  

Finally, Robin rocks back on her heels. “So…anyone got any idea what we do next?”

Steve sighs. Eddie’s mouth quirks to one side.

“We need to keep trying the walkie,” Dustin pipes up. “Once they’ve got the signal tower finished, we should be able to speak to Hopper or Murray.”

“The…walkie will not work here,” Fox tells Steve and Eddie. “Not at the Edge.”

Eddie relays this to Dustin and Robin.

“Then we’re going to have to head back towards Hawkins to test it every day,” Dustin decides. “Twice a day, preferably.”

“We’re gonna run out of food in a few days anyway,” Steve reminds him.

“Then we’ll go back for more.”

“Oh? And you think you’ll get back through the gate unnoticed, and then be able to come right back again?” Steve raises his eyebrows. “I don’t think so.”

“Well what else are we supposed to do?”

“If they get the radio working, then we’ll talk to Hopper, and he’ll know you’re here. You think he’s just gonna let you come back with more supplies?” Steve points out.

Dustin deflates a bit. “No,” he mumbles.

“No,” Steve reiterates.

“Well then…what do we do?” Robin takes a seat on Steve’s other side, sinking down heavily.

“Let’s just hope they get the radio working, ok?” Steve settles on. “Give it a day or two, and if not…well, we’ll think of something else.”

“He grows stronger every day,” Fox says solemnly. “He managed to find you today, even with the shadows hiding you at first. He does not like the Edge, He…fears it, I think, but eventually He will come here. He will guess it is where you are hiding.”

Steve and Eddie fall silent, choosing not to relay that disheartening bit of information to the others for now.

“I need a shower,” Steve sighs.

“You’ll wreck your bandage,” Eddie huffs.

“Fine, a bath then.”

Steve shuffles down the hallway to the bathroom, Eddie at his side like a shadow, helping him undress in the bathroom and pressing kisses to pale skin when it’s exposed. Eddie chuckles when Steve squirms, because he’s sweaty and kinda filthy but Eddie fucking licks a line up his chest anyway.

“Eddie,” he huffs, belt clinking as Eddie undoes it with deft fingers.

“Mmm hmm?” Eddie smirks up at him, tugs his jeans down.

“At least wait till I’m clean.”

Eddie hums, helping Steve step out of the denim, leans in close to turn on the taps behind Steve. “Kinda like you like this,” he whispers, and bites down on Steve’s good shoulder, earning him a muffled squeak from Steve.

Eddie turns to meet his eyes, pulling away quickly. “Sorry, you’re probably sore, I’ll…I’ll stop.”

Steve rolls his eyes, grabs a handful of Eddie’s shirt and tugs him to his mouth, kissing him hard.

“Not sore enough to miss out on this,” Steve tells him silently. “Now get your damn clothes off, you’re getting in this bath with me.”

Eddie stumbles in his haste to shed his clothes, hopping on one foot to rip off a sock, throwing everything haphazardly into a corner.

He’s as naked as Steve now, and despite the dull ache in his shoulder, Steve fucking wants.

But there’s only a door and a hallway separating them from their friends, and if they overhear anything then he won’t be able to look them in the eye when they emerge. Robin’ll probably kill him for assaulting her ears or something, anyway.

Instead of pressing his body to Eddie’s like he so wants to, he takes his hand and steps into the bath. He only just manages to hold back a perfectly innocent moan at the feel of the hot water enveloping his skin, closing his eyes in bliss as he sinks down further, making sure to keep his bandage out of the water.

Eddie’s fingers brush over the edge of the bandage, ensuring it’s tucked in securely. His gaze lingers, something broiling hot and dark behind his eyes.

“Eddie?” Steve questions.

“I won’t let them hurt you again,” Eddie whispers, pressing against Steve’s consciousness, surrounding and enveloping him in warmth. “I’ll tear them apart.”

Steve’s lips part and he blinks up at Eddie, the air thick with tension.

Eddie clenches his jaw and moves, presses a hand to Steve’s back, gently leans him forward to slip into the water behind him, legs splayed around Steve’s. Steve’s back rests against Eddie’s chest, and he takes a moment to just breathe.

Eddie soaps him up, working the lather deep into his skin while Steve’s heart pitter-patters. He lets his head tip back to rest on Eddie’s shoulder as he works away, listening to the litany Eddie keeps up in his head.

“You’re fucking hot, you know that?”

Eddie scrubs at his hand.

“Love these. How are your hands so big? Have you ever really looked at them?”

“Not really, Eds.”

“Well I have. Often. And trust me, they’re wonderful.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.”

Eddie lifts Steve’s hand to his mouth, kisses his knuckles, then surprises Steve by sucking the index finger into his mouth, running his tongue over the pad just briefly, huffing out a laugh when Steve startles against him and pants.

“You like that, Stevie?”

“You can’t just…”

“What?”

“Can’t just start something you’re not gonna finish.”

“Who says I’m not gonna finish it?”

Steve turns to glare at him, and Eddie laughs, putting his hand back down in the water again.

“Robin and Dustin might hear.”

“Worried I’ll make you scream, big boy?”

Eddie rocks his hips forward, just enough that Steve can feel him hard against his back, and he swears quietly.

“Honestly, kinda.”

Eddie chuckles again, and resumes lathering up the soap, swiping a hand across Steve’s chest. His fingers linger there, scratching through chest hair, thumb rubbing circles over a nipple until Steve exhales sharply and presses back against Eddie hard, earning a hiss from the other man.

Eddie’s nipping at the back of Steve’s neck, teeth worrying away there, sending little sparks of pleasure-pain through him, and if Steve hadn’t been hard as a rock before, he sure is now.

“Eddie, I -”

Eddie pauses.

“You ok? You want me to stop?”

Steve wrestles with himself for a moment.

“…no.”

Eddie’s mouth resumes its path across his neck.

“Just…”

“Just what, Stevie?”

“Make me stay quiet.”

Eddie groans softly at that, one hand immediately dropping lower and wrapping around Steve’s cock. At the same time, he covers Steve’s mouth with his other hand.

“This ok?” he checks, and Steve nods frantically.

They don’t take their time. Both of them are too worked up for that, Steve with the remnants of adrenaline still in veins, Eddie with the sheer relief that Steve’s here with him and safe.

Eddie jerks Steve’s cock hard and fast, keeping his hand pinned over Steve’s mouth, tongue laving on his neck when Steve pants and squirms. Steve feels his breath puffing hot on Eddie’s hand, a small whine escaping him. Eddie clamps his hand down harder in response, Steve’s cock twitching in his hand.

“Gotta stay quiet, Stevie,” Eddie berates him, a hint of smugness in his tone.

White starts to burst behind Steve’s eyes, and he sucks air in through his nose, feeling the muscles in his stomach and thighs tighten. He forces his hips to stay still to prevent a tsunami of water falling over the sides of the bath.

Eddie’s foot nudges his legs further apart, and then he moves under Steve, sliding further forwards until –

“That’s it…fuck yes.”

Steve feels Eddie’s cock slip between his thighs, the other man clearly less concerned with flooding the bathroom than Steve was as he thrusts gently. It’s not ideal with no lube, but Eddie doesn’t seem to care, his hand flying faster along Steve’s length, panting into Steve’s uninjured shoulder.

Steve’s grip on the side of the bath tightens, pain tinging under his bandage but he couldn’t care less, not when Eddie’s squeezing his cock and pausing to run his thumb over the head like that.

“You gonna come?” Eddie gasps in his mind.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m gonna…” Steve tenses his thighs, creating a tighter space for Eddie to thrust into.

“Fuck, how are you real?” Eddie groans in response.

Steve comes with an explosion of white behind his eyes, sagging back against Eddie, breathing hard when Eddie’s hand slips away from his mouth to grip his hip instead.

Eddie thrusts into him harder, a grunt making its way out from between clenched teeth. Steve twists and reaches between their legs, gets a hand around Eddie’s cock to still his hips, distantly concerned about the noise of the water slopping against the side of the tub.

“Come for me,” Steve urges him. “Come for me, wanna see it.”

“Fuck, Steve.”

Eddie thrusts one, twice, and stills, cock twitching as he comes under the water. Steve’s gone soft, but he still twitches through Eddie’s orgasm, an aftershock of white rippling through his mind.

Slowly getting his breath back, Steve’s silently disappointed at how quickly the stickiness on his thighs is washed away.

Next time, they’ll do this in a damn bed again.

*****

It’s late at night. Or, Steve estimates it is anyway – they’d gone to bed around 11pm according to Dustin’s watch, but he wakes with a snap now.

There’s something outside.

He sits up. Feels Eddie stir beside him, sees his eyes blink open in the dark, watches his pupils immediately dilate and adjust to the dim.

“Something’s wrong,” Eddie confirms.

Steve nods. Silent, he slides out of bed, wincing at the twinge in his shoulder, but it’s certainly hurting less now than it had earlier.

“Wolf?” Steve reaches out.

“He is scouting,” Wolf responds.

Fox slips into their minds, growls lowly. “The shadows are braver here, they are holding firm. For now. He cannot see us.”

“Shield your minds,” Wolf instructs, “like I taught you.”

“What does he mean?” Eddie asks Steve.

Steve immediately conjures an image in his mind. It’s not a wall, as such – not some hulking impenetrable shield – rather, it’s a fence he imagines. Tall white pickets. Straight and orderly, like the one his dad had painted when Steve was a kid, when he’d yelled at Steve who had wanted to help but gotten drips all over the manicured grass below.

It’s a more effective barrier than anything else Steve knows.

He presses against Eddie’s mind. Exchanges the image, expands the fence, wraps it around Eddie too. Eddie catches on, slams his own force behind the fence, holds it firm, stretches it higher.

“Robin and Dustin,” Steve grits out in his head, most of his concentration going into shielding him and Eddie.

“They still sleep,” Fox replies.

“He’ll find them.” Steve’s heart slams in his chest. He pictures Dustin and Robin, slumbering peacefully (he hopes). He reaches for them just as he’d reach for Eddie’s consciousness, but it’s not the same. While he can sense them, he can’t touch, can’t communicate like he can with the others.

He wraps the fence around them anyway.

Sweat beads on his forehead, and he trembles lightly at the effort of holding the barrier around all of them.

Eddie takes his hand. Surges his mind outward, merging with Steve’s, taking some of the strain off Steve.

Wolf and Fox are by the door, stock-still, poised to fight if needed.

Vecna’s consciousness floats into the Empty like an icy breeze.

The walls of the house shudder.

No, not the walls – the shadows outside them, hiding them from view.

“Stay,” Wolf whispers to them. “Help us, and I will guard you.”

Outside, there’s a hiss on the wind. The shadows recoil, and Steve’s head fills with a litany of their voices, disembodied and terrified, but they regroup and hold firm around the house.

There’s a figure outside Steve’s white picket fence. He strolls along the length of it, ambling through Steve’s mind, becoming clearer the closer he comes.

A blonde man stops at the centre of the fence. He turns slowly, and Steve shivers as cold blue eyes stare back at him, sharp gaze cutting through to Steve’s core.

Eddie squeezes his hand, hard.

The man raises his hand, runs bony fingers along the top of a picket. His sleeve falls back, revealing the 001 tattoo on his wrist.

“Steven,” he says, his tone almost gentle, calm. “Won’t you let me inside?”

Steve grunts and shoves his mind hard up against the fence, feels Eddie right behind him. Wolf joins them, patrolling the length of the fence, snarling and snapping towards Vecna.

The fence grows higher, and Vecna laughs from the other side, the sound sending shivers down Steve’s spine. His head throbs, exhaustion setting in.

Suddenly, Vecna morphs, the vision of the young blonde man falling away, replaced by someone older, broader, with thick dark hair slicked stubbornly back from his forehead.

“Why are you with that boy, Steven?” Richard Harrington asks coldly, eyes darting to Eddie. “He’s a faggot, you know that? Is that what you are now too?”

Steve clenches his jaw. The fence wavers, just for a moment, the image spluttering then holding again.

“I can fix this, son,” Richard continues. He eyes the fence, gaze dark and hungry. “Let me in, we can talk, we can make this right. I can make you better. Your mother, she’s worried. Let me in?”

Steve’s cheeks are wet with tears he hadn’t realized had spilled. He thinks of Eddie; warm hands, soft mouth, whispered words, thinks of how fiercely he’d fought for Steve, thinks of sharing baths and clothes and spit and come and shoves back at Vecna, at his father.

Vecna flinches back from the fence, snarls, Richard Harrington’s face burning away again, revealing scorched flesh and writhing vines coiled around it.

Steve sways. Eddie’s hand is at his back, a grounding presence.

“I’ve got you, sweetheart.”

Eddie’s consciousness expands. Encompasses Steve’s, tucks him safely inside, and then slams into Vecna’s with all his strength. Fox surges with him, a streak of orange and black, snapping and hissing.

Vecna retreats with a sneer. He stumbles backwards, fiery gaze burning into Steve’s mind one last time before he dissipates, fading into nothingness, Wolf’s consciousness lunging and biting at his heels.

Steve’s fence vanishes from his mind, and he collapses to his knees.

Eddie wraps his arms around him, preventing him from falling over completely. They’re drenched in sweat, both of them, sticky and shaking and clinging on to whichever part of the other they could grasp.

Wolf is out the door, nose to the ground, checking for danger. Fox is pressed up against Eddie, tail coiled over his arm protectively.

“It’s alright, it’s ok, he’s gone,” Eddie murmurs, but his own voice is trembling.

Steve sucks in air, feels Eddie doing the same behind him. Neither of them had moved a step during the whole ordeal, but Steve feels like he’s just run a marathon. There’s a migraine starting to broil away behind his eyes, pain stabbing from the base of his skull all the way into his teeth.

“Need to check on the others,” Steve forces out, finds his voice croaky and wrecked.

Eddie nods. “We will. Just breathe for a second.”

Both physically and mentally, Eddie holds him. His mind cradles Steve’s, keeping him afloat, soothing the cracked edges like a balm and coaxing them gently together again.

Finally, when Steve’s shaking slows to a tremble, Eddie helps him stand. But Steve only gets a few steps before he’s stumbling, grabbing onto Eddie for support.

“Easy, careful,” Eddie tells him. He’s having trouble holding Steve up, the strength clearly sapped from his own limbs as well.

“I will check the others,” Fox assures them, bounding ahead towards Robin’s room.

Steve shakes his head as Eddie tries to lower him back to sit again.

“Need to see them myself,” Steve insists.

Eddie gives him a solemn look, then nods, and slowly the two of them make their way after Fox. Steve’s head spins, the hallway rotating ahead of him, but they make it to Robin’s room.

She’s still asleep. Splayed out on her stomach, mouth slightly open, and Steve’s heart twinges with affection. Dustin is much the same, but curled in a ball, blankets pulled tight around him.

Steve and Eddie had just fought for their lives, albeit in their heads and silently, but their friends had slept through it.

Good, Steve thinks to himself. The less they have to witness in this hellhole, the better. He’ll shield them from everything he can, even if it kills him.

“You know, sometimes you have to let people help you,” Eddie reminds him gently. “They’re our friends, they want to help.”

Steve clenches his jaw, says nothing. Thinks if only Robin had slung ice cream with someone else that fateful summer, if only Dustin had found anyone else to help him look for Dart, then maybe they’d be better off. Better off without him.

Eddie wraps an arm around his waist, kisses the back of his neck.

Steve tastes salt on his own lips. He licks it away.

Wolf returns, padding quietly into the hallway, hackles still raised.

“His soldiers are at the border of the Edge,” he explains. “They’re too afraid to enter at the moment, and the shadows are still holding firm around the house. But it will not be long before He regains His full strength, and then they will enter. Tonight was just a taste.”

“What do we do?” Steve slurs, the hammering in his head making it too difficult to communicate silently.

Wolf stays silent, looks away.

“Wolf? What do we do?” Steve urges.

Wolf huffs, turns back to Steve, his eyes grim.

“I…do not know.”

Chapter Text

I can feel the walls around me closing in

Just running forwards, a life like wires

As I see the past on an empty ceiling

I play along with the life signs anyway

But hope to god you don’t know this feeling

Yet in reverse you are all my symmetry

A parallel I would lay my life on

- Sleep Token

*****

When Robin and Dustin wake, Steve and Eddie are still in the lounge. Despite being exhausted, sleep had mostly evaded them, both of them too afraid to allow themselves to rest. Now, they’re sitting on the couch tucked close to each other, Fox at Eddie’s feet, tail flicking occasionally.

Steve fills them in.

He leaves out some of the details – Vecna appearing as his father, the sheer amount of energy it had taken for Steve and Eddie to hold him off – but he tells them what he must. That Vecna’s hunting them, that he might try to enter their minds, that his soldiers are gathering near the Edge.

“We need to talk to the others,” Steve says eventually, after taking a deep breath. “The walkie has to work. I, um…” he glances to Eddie, who gives him a grim smile and takes his hand. “I don’t think we can do this alone anymore. We need help. We need El, we need Hopper, and I think it won’t be long before Vecna starts making a move on our world anyway.”

“But the Edge is out of walkie range,” Dustin points out. “So we’d have to get through Vecna, get through the demogorgans or whatever is out there, and close enough to the radio tower to get a signal. That’s if they’ve got it working yet.”

“If anyone has a better idea, we’re listening.” Eddie scrubs a hand over his face, pale and tired-looking.

Robin opens her mouth and closes it again.

The room stays silent.

“We’ll have to move fast,” Eddie continues after a while. “So it’ll be me and Steve going. You two,” he gestures at Robin and Dustin, ignoring the protests building. “are staying here. It’s the safest place we know. And Fox or Wolf are staying with you.”

“What if…” Steve blurts, an idea forming in his head. He thinks back to a stolen RV all those months ago, to a slightly larger group forming a plan, Dustin talking about Vecna’s vulnerability while in a trance, Max volunteering herself as bait.

He could be bait.

He swallows, continues. “What if I distract Vecna. I could…let him into my mind. Keep him busy while you slip past, Eds.”

“No.” Eddie’s tone is harsh, unwavering.

“It’s…not a bad idea,” Dustin says reluctantly. “It worked with Max, at least for a while -”

“Oh yeah, that ended well, didn’t it?” Robin snaps, then turns to Steve. “I don’t like it. What if you can’t hold him off?”

“I just need a memory, right? That’s what Max said. A good memory to hide in.”

“You’re not doing it,” Eddie says firmly, clutching Steve’s hand.

“Eds -”

“No. Think of something else.”

Wolf, having watched the interaction silently until now, lets out a sigh and pads over to the couch. “It might be the only way.”

Eddie glares at him, but Wolf continues, nose nudging at Steve’s hand.

“I will stay with you. Help you fight Him off.”

Steve nods, a little shakily.

Eddie stands abruptly, shaking his head. “You’re not fucking listening, we aren’t doing this! I’m not having you just…just offer yourself up to him, what if you end up like Chrissy? Like Max? We only just held him off earlier, and that was with both of us.”

“Well what else are we supposed to do?” Steve snaps back.

Eddie clenches his jaw. He turns away, and Steve’s heart throbs at the flash of fear he catches in his eyes before Eddie storms out of the room, down the hallway towards the bedroom.

“I’ll go -” Dustin starts, but Steve grabs his arm.

“No. Leave him for a bit, I’ll go and talk to him soon.”

Fox scowls at Steve, but even she hadn’t argued with his idea. She might be a little angry at him for upsetting her charge, but they were out of options for any other plan.

Robin lays a hand on Steve’s forearm. “Do you really think you can do it?”

Steve huffs out a humourless laugh, looks down at his hands. “Honestly? I don’t know. But I think it’s our only shot at getting Eddie through Vecna’s lines. He’ll still have to dodge the demogorgans, but if I can keep Vecna occupied…it might work.”

Robin looks at him for a long moment, her face heavy, and Steve thinks in that moment she appears a lot older than she really is.

He remembers scooping ice cream alongside a teenager, next to the girl who teased and berated him but also taught him so much, taught him about acceptance and love and unyielding friendship in the face of so much trauma.

Turning his head, he meets her gaze.

Robin nods.

“I’ll stay with you,” she murmurs.

“Can we play music here?” Dustin asks, glancing around the room. “Is there…tapes, or anything? A cassette player, batteries? I want to have your favourite song ready. Just in case.” He frowns. “Actually, what is your favourite song? I know you’re always playing Wham in the car but please don’t tell me we’re gonna be at the end of the world blasting Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go -”

Steve rolls his eyes. “Ok, first of all, that’s not their best song anyway -”

“That’s an understatement.” Dustin raises an eyebrow.

“Is it something by Abba?” Robin hisses, conspiratively. “It’s ok, you can tell me.”

“Oh my god, no.”

“You did have that Super Trouper phase.”

“Will you two shut up? It’s Dancing in the Dark, ok?”

Dustin tilts his head, seemingly assessing that answer, and nods. “I’m gonna look around, see if I can find a tape.”

“I think you should rest for a bit,” Robin tells Steve quietly. “You’ll need your strength.”

Steve runs a hand over his face, then nods.

Body and mind weary, he pads down the hallway, pausing briefly to run a hand over Wolf’s neck.

At the bedroom door, he knocks once, opens it quietly, lets it close with a click behind him.

It’s dark inside. Steve had noticed the dull yellow light of the Edge starting to fade, being slowly replaced by the oppressive blackness of the rest of the Upside Down. But here, in their bedroom, the darkness is almost comforting – it’s a cave, warm and familiar, sheltered and shadowed from the outside world.

Eddie’s lying on his back on the bed.

“Did you change your mind?” he asks, without looking at Steve.

Steve doesn’t answer, doesn’t have to. Eddie’s in his mind anyway, he knows that it’s made up.

Eddie sighs.

“Can I come over?” Steve asks.

Eyes filled with tears he stubbornly won’t let fall, Eddie nods.

Steve goes to him, lies beside him, slings an arm across Eddie’s waist and drags him closer. For a moment, Eddie resists, before he crumbles into Steve’s side and wraps himself around him.

“I don’t want you to do it,” Eddie whispers, pressing his face to Steve’s chest. “I could distract him instead, and you could take the walkie. I just…I just keep seeing Chrissy, and Patrick, and what he did to them…Steve, if that happens to you -”

“It won’t,” Steve cuts him off gently, cupping the back of Eddie’s head, gently running his fingers through thick hair. “And it’s gotta be me. He’s already come for me several times now, it’s like…it’s like he wants me. But I’ll be ok.”

“How do you know that?”

“It’s not easy for me either, you know?” Steve dodges the question. “The thought of you being out there on your own with god knows what chasing you…it’s killing me, Eds, but I don’t know what else to do. But look, the others will be with me, I’ll have Wolf, and Dustin’s finding some music, ok? I’ll be fine.”

Eddie looks up at him, eyes wet. “You promise?”

Steve winces, heart clenching.

“Yeah. I promise.”

Eddie kisses him, and Steve closes his eyes. Lets himself be lost in Eddie’s mouth for a few moments, holds him close, large hand splayed across Eddie’s back. He presses his mind to Eddie’s, gently, asking, and Eddie immediately parts and lets him in, lets Steve warm him from the inside, wrap their minds together and holds him in every way possible.

Then, they rest.

They may not have much time before Vecna makes a move, but they can’t go into this fight as exhausted as they are.

Robin wakes them a few hours later. She hands them granola bars, water bottles, makes them eat even though they’re nearing the very end of their food reserves.

It’s going to be all or nothing, this fight, Steve knows. They either distract Vecna for long enough for Eddie to slip through and make contact, or they fail and are trapped here, with some or all of them dead.

Eddie doesn’t take much with him. He’s got the walkie, spare batteries because Dustin insisted, Steve’s revolver, and his spear.

At the door, he ruffles Dustin’s hair. Hugs Robin, then turns to Steve.

“You’re stronger than him. I know you are. Whatever he shows you, it isn’t real. Just…find a good memory, and stay there, ok? And…and I’ll be back before you know it.”

“You better be. Come home to me, ok?”

“Always.”

With Fox at his side, Eddie steps out into the dark.

Heart pounding, Steve and the others return to the lounge, and Steve sits in the middle of the couch, Robin and Dustin beside him. Wolf sits in front of him, silent and solemn.

Dustin had found a cassette player and a well-worn copy of Born in the USA while Steve slept, and had conveniently paused it before track number eleven.

“Ready?” Robin asks quietly.

Steve swallows thickly. Thinks of Eddie out there in the dark, brushes his mind against his for a moment, feels warmth in response.

“Yep. Let’s do this, I guess.”

He closes his eyes. Feels Robin take his hand.

In his mind, he travels across the Edge. Seeks out the border just as he would another mind, follows the thick darkness rolling in, pushes his way to the centre of it.

His mind touches something dark, a chaotic energy, swollen with hunger and rage.

At first, he pulls back, flinching away from the uncomfortable presence.

But then, he presses forward again. Prods against that blackness, struggles to find a way in but scrabbles away until the mind gives way like a wound, letting him slip inside.

Demogorgans gather around him. Troups of demodogs patrol the outskirts of the Edge, where the shadows stretch as far as he can see ahead of him, guarding their border and holding a line against the army building there.

He looks down. Sees elongated, bony limbs, long digits with claws at the ends, wet pale flesh –

The demogorgan screeches, shaking its head, and Steve grips tighter to its mind. Maddened, it staggers forwards, lumbering into the line formed by the shadows. They hiss and strike out, and Steve feels his flesh sizzle and burn cold, distantly hears the demogorgan shriek as he pulls away, as he lets go of its mind and floats away.

Pulling back, Steve seeks out Eddie. Finds him immediately, drawn to him like a homing beacon, sees him striking out across the Edge with Fox ahead of him. The shadows wrap around them closely, and they whisper at Steve’s approach, reach out to his mind with a cold but careful touch.

Steve waits, allowing Eddie to make a some more progress. He doesn’t want to battle with Vecna for any longer than he has to, after all.

But finally, he can’t delay any longer.

He returns to the chaos of the gathering minds of the demogorgans. They’re small, and the demodogs smaller still – too small for Steve to grab hold of as he had the demogorgan’s.

But this time, he seeks out another.

Pushes past the sea of damp, dark minds, shoves his way towards the centre.

He doesn’t even get a chance to set eyes on Vecna’s consciousness.

A flash of clouded blue eyes in his mind, and Steve goes cold all over, breath knocked from his lungs.

“Steve? Are you ok?” Robin’s voice is distant, murky.

“Steven.” Vecna’s voice is taunting, lazy.

Steve feels him stroke up against the edge of his mind, head throbbing in the wake of his touch. He’s feeling for the fence, Steve supposes, and he immediately builds it. It’s not as strong this time, there’s not the same force behind it, but it would be too suspicious for him to let Vecna stroll right on in to his mind with no barrier up.

“I want to talk to you,” Steve manages.

Vecna laughs, but there’s interest in the way he brushes against the pickets. He pushes carefully but relentlessly, water seeking any gap in a dam.

“I thought maybe we could…come to an arrangement,” Steve says, quietly.

He feels Eddie press insistently against his mind, blocks him out, feels the hurt resonate through him.

Vecna looks at him. He’s not Henry this time, not Richard Harrington, he’s just Vecna, deformed and charred from the flames from their encounter months ago.

“What…arrangement?”

Slowly, Steve syphons his energy away from the fence. Allows Vecna to think he’s breaking through it, lets the image blur and flicker.

“I want Max.”

Vecna grins, burnt lips pulling back from twisted teeth. “Max belongs to me, and she always will.”

“What if I could offer you something in return?”

Steve waits for Vecna to surge harder against the fence, and then he lets the image splutter and die completely. Vecna eyes him triumphantly, and steps right on through into Steve’s mind.

Steve’s ready.

He immediately reforms the fence behind Vecna, locks him in, slams all his strength behind it.

Vecna turns to look at it, appears momentarily confused, then looks back to Steve.

“You think you can trap me in here?” he says, almost incredulously.

“Not for long.” Steve shrugs. “But long enough.”

He turns on his heel and runs, feels Wolf behind him.

Enraged, Vecna growls, and follows.

Steve’s on a train track with Dustin. He’s younger, less burdened despite the stress of school and Nancy and Billy fucking Hargrove. But Dustin’s chatting away, asking him about girls and hair and listening intently to what Steve has to say, looking up at him like Steve’s his hero, like Steve means something. It’s the closest Steve’s ever come to feeling like he has a little brother.

He walks the track. Tosses meat from a bucket, tells Dustin four puffs of the Farah Fawcett spray.

For a short time, it works. Until the rain starts, blood-red and thick, splattering on the metal bucket. Steve turns to Dustin, stumbles backwards as the kid’s face starts to melt, as he continues to talk as if nothing’s happening.

Steve runs. Thrusts himself into another memory. He’s in a bathroom with Robin, the stench of blood and puke thick in his nostrils but he’s happy. He’s laughing his way through his muppet impression, and Robin’s eyes are shining as she slaps at his knee.

There’s someone else out there like him.

Ok, maybe not exactly like him, but Steve’s known for a long time that he wasn’t normal, he wasn’t like all his other friends. He was more like the people he saw on TV sometimes, the queers, the fairies, the people his parents hated so much despite never knowing any.

Well – they thought they didn’t know any. Steve’s been under their nose the whole time.

Dustin and Erica barge in.

“Ok, what the hell?”

And Steve laughs harder, lets his head tip back against the stall wall, feels the remnants of the drugs licking through his veins, feels loose-limbed and a little unhinged as Robin snorts and tips forward to grab his arm. He thinks he’s never felt friendship like this, thinks he could tell Robin anything and it would be ok, thinks they’ve faced Russians and torture and a minimum wage customer service job and there’s not much left to hurt them now.

He had no idea, back then.

But then Dustin speaks again, and Steve frowns because he doesn’t remember this happening, doesn’t recall the words that fall from Dustin’s mouth like poison.

“I overheard you guys from outside. You’re…queer? You like girls? What’s wrong with you, I thought you were cool,” he spits at Robin, then turns to Steve. “Are you like that too? Is that why you’re friends? That’s disgusting. Can’t believe I ever wanted to be like you.”

Steve knows it’s not Dustin. Knows the kid would never say that shit, but the words cut to his core anyway.

He hears footsteps approach outside the bathroom. Wet slapping of flesh on tiles. Vecna catching up again.

Steve tries to stand, finds his limbs uncooperative, feet glued to the floor.

Dustin’s yelling a tirade of abuse, spit flying from his mouth, and Robin’s crying, her nails digging into Steve’s arm hard enough to draw blood.

“It is Him,” Wolf’s voice drags Steve back from the edge of panic. “This is not your friends. Ignore Him, and run.”

Steve closes his eyes. Dustin’s voice fades away, the bathroom vanishing.

He’s outside, at the edge of some trees, music thumping away from a nearby house. Someone throws up in a bush nearby then staggers back inside, red plastic cup still in hand.

Sixteen year old Steve had come out here to just breathe.

Inside, a girl was waiting for him. Polly or Molly or something, he can’t remember. Blames it on the alcohol buzzing in his veins, knows it isn’t really that. He just couldn’t bring himself to be interested, didn’t like the overpowering floral perfume she had on, didn’t like the way she’d draped herself over his lap and traced her fingers across his chest and then pouted when he’d tried to politely tell her no.

That guy from the trailer park, Munson, he’s usually on the outskirts of a house party, hidden in the shadows, offering up weed and whatever else he could get his hands on.

Steve looks for him now. Finds him leaning against the trunk of a tree, cigarette dangling between his lips, eyeing Steve curiously.

“Want something, big boy?”

Eddie’s younger, his voice a little higher, but that edge of cockiness is still there.

One day, Steve will love him.

But not yet.

Tonight, he just shares a few moments solace with someone who gets him even if Steve doesn’t understand why yet.

Eddie smiles as Steve inhales, then exhales a cloud of pungent smoke, coughing a little.

Eddie laughs, pats him on the back.

“You never seem to get better at that, Harrington.”

“This shit’s strong, man.”

“You know me, only the best.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“So…wanna tell me why you came out here looking all miserable? And don’t tell me it’s because the music’s shit, I already know that.”

“Fuck you, it’s not that bad.”

Eddie smirks, nudges him with his hip.

Steve still blushes, even now, the memory of it creeping across his skin.

“So what is it, then?”

“Nah, you won’t get it.”

“Try me.”

Steve looks at him. Takes in pale skin glowing in the moonlight, the slightly too-big leather jacket hanging from narrow shoulders, large dark eyes looking earnestly back at him.

He takes another hit. Feels the weed turn his head a little sluggish, lighten his limbs, loosen his tongue.

“You don’t ever do anything you’re expected to, do you?” Steve asks him.

Eddie frowns, shrugs.

“There’s this girl in there,” Steve clarifies, gesturing clumsily back at the house. “Told all her friends she was gonna get with me tonight. She’s a little older than me. Probably knows what she’s doing. Probably thinks I know what I’m doing, too. But I don’t…I don’t really want to. Do anything with her. But Tommy said…well, he was, like, happy for me. Slapped me on the back, you know, told me I’d be getting some later if I played my cards right with her.”

Eddie raises an eyebrow. “So you…don’t want to fuck her?”

“No.”

Eddie shrugs again. “So don’t.”

“But…I don’t want to like, disappoint her. And all her friends will talk, and -”

“So let them. Who cares?”

“But she wants -”

“What do you want, Steve?” Eddie interrupts.

He steps closer. Steve blinks slowly, brain stalling because Eddie’s pretty, and up this close Steve thinks he could count his eyelashes if he tried.

“I…don’t know,” Steve says.

Eddie smiles, softly now. “Well, how about you hang out here with me until you figure it out?”

Eddie’s easy to talk to. Back then, Steve couldn’t understand why Tommy hated him so much, why he called him a trailer-trash freak – Eddie’s one of the coolest people he’s spoken to, and Steve always enjoys these fleeting moments with him at parties.

Tonight, in particular, with the warm breeze and the weed hitting just right and Eddie invading his personal space every chance he gets, nudging and prodding and leaning in to laugh in Steve’s ear, he’s happy. Something about this feels right, far more so than the drunk girl sprawled across his lap earlier.

Steve knows the moment comes to an end soon. Knows that Eddie takes his hand, Steve panics, pulls away, goes straight back inside and finds Polly or Molly and fucks her for the sake of it, fucks her to forget about the feel of Eddie’s hand on his.

But this time, when Eddie reaches for Steve’s hand, he takes it. Just to feel Eddie again, even if it’s not his Eddie, not yet. He links their fingers together, steps closer to Eddie, looks up…

Eddie’s glaring at him. Lips pulled back from his teeth in a sneer.

No, no, no. Steve’s heart thumps and he tries to tug his hand away, feels Eddie’s fingers clamp around it like a vice.

“I was reaching for the joint,” Eddie growls. “You think I wanted to hold your hand? Really? You’re pathetic, Harrington. No love from daddy, don’t want those girls inside, so you came looking for me? You’re an embarrassment.”

It’s not him, Steve forces himself to repeat in his head. Not Eddie, it’s not him, it’s Vecna, you need to get away –

He hears howling from the trees. Wolf, but he’s far away.

The music falls silent behind him, the house fading away along with the forest.

There’s only him and Eddie now.

Not Eddie.

Vecna.

“He doesn’t want you.” Vecna presses his forehead to Steve’s, and it’s cold but he’s still Eddie, still beautiful even when he’s this cruel. “You think he loves you? Thinks he even likes you? He’s only hanging around you because there’s no other option. You are nothing. You’re hollow and stupid and vain, and you are alone.”

Steve chokes on a sob. He calls for Wolf in his mind, for Eddie, for Fox, anyone, but gets no response.

“Your friends cannot help you, cannot hear you.” Eddie’s face fades away, revealing Vecna’s form. “Did you really think you could trap me here? In this…small mind? You are as stupid as you are arrogant.”

Closing his eyes, Steve desperately tries to conjure another memory, a good one. Thinks of swimming in Lovers Lake with Tommy as a boy, thinks of quiet evening shifts at Family Video with Robin on the counter swinging her legs and chatting away, thinks of the first time he took the beemer on the open highway and pushed the peddle to the floor, windows down, music blaring, thinks of the bath with Eddie, careful hands gliding across his skin, mind cradled and held so gently…

Vecna laughs.

“I have you now, boy.”

The memories fall away. Steve’s in the dark with Vecna.

And he’s reaching a gnarled hand out towards him, settling it over his face.

“It’s time. Time for you to join me.”

Steve’s limbs are frozen. He can’t move, can’t pull away, he’s screaming but not making a sound.

In the corner of his eye, he sees a streak of gold.

But he can’t focus on it, because suddenly his eyes are rolling back in his head, and everything else falls away.

*****

“Put the music on NOW!” Robin’s screaming, pushing Dustin off the couch, clutching on to Steve’s arm as he shakes. “Steve? Steve, can you hear me? Steve, wake up, come back!”

His eyes have rolled back, showing only the whites, and he’s shuddering under Robin’s hands.

Wolf’s growling, paws up on Steve’s thighs, muzzle an inch from Steve’s face as he snaps and claws at Steve’s mind, fights to get back in after Vecna pushed him out.

Dancing in the Dark floods the room as Dustin hits play with shaky fingers.

For a moment, they wait.

Steve’s sweating heavily, lips parted but there’s no sound coming out.

“You can’t start a fire without a spark, this gun’s for hire, even if we’re just dancing in the dark,” Bruce sings, but Steve doesn’t react.

“It’s not working!” Dustin cries, shaking Steve hard by his shoulders.

“You’re gonna hurt him!” Robin yells.

Suddenly, Steve’s limbs unfurl.

He lifts up from the couch, arms going limp, hovering above the back of the couch.

“No, no, no, no,” Dustin chants, hands in his hair. He turns the volume knob up as high as it’ll go.

“Man I ain’t getting nowhere, I’m just living in a dump like this, there’s something happening somewhere, baby I just know that there is.”

Steve rises higher, hair brushing the ceiling.

“Do something!” Robin yells at Wolf, tears streaming down her cheeks.

The shadows circle the house wildly, tumbling and swirling outside the windows.

“You sit around getting older, there’s a joke somewhere and it’s on me. I’ll shake this world off my shoulders, come on baby the laugh’s on me.”

With a sickening crack, Steve’s left arm snaps.

Robin starts to scream.

Chapter Text

Maybe I could use a hand

I must admit I’m out of bright

Ideas to keep the hell at bay

Distractions only last a day

The night is so impossible

It haunts the few who dare to look

Its marks are so hereditary

I’m terrified of having kids

But I’m damned if I give up tonight

I must repel the dying light

- Sam Fender

*****

Steve can hear Robin screaming.

It’s distant, but there, and he can hear something else too – music, familiar.

“Stay off the streets of this town, and they’ll be carving you up all night. They say you gotta stay hungry, hey baby I’m just about starving tonight.”

Vecna’s hand takes up almost his entire field of vision, and what little he can see is turning blurrier by the minute. His left arm is aching dully, and he tries to move, tries to break free again but he’s held fast, firmly in Vecna’s clutches now.

Far behind Vecna, a circle opens in the blackness.

Through it he can just make out Robin’s tear-streaked face and Dustin frantically yelling.

Steve struggles. Grunts with the effort, manages to twitch a hand but it’s no good, it’s not enough. He could fight harder, but he needs to talk to Vecna somehow, needs to see Max, needs to get her out of here, he can’t just run…

Vecna’s lips peel back from his teeth as he grins at Steve’s plight.

Suddenly, a flash of gold darts between the portal to his friends and Vecna.

Vecna stumbles back as Lion slams into his side, burying her teeth into his ribs with a growl.

Steve feels Vecna’s control on him slip a little, and he gasps for air, but still can’t move his feet.

“Steve.”

He blinks, tries to clear his vision, knows he must be going completely insane now because he hadn’t heard that voice in months, she couldn’t be here…

Max is standing in front of him.

She’s whole, her limbs healed, her eyes bright blue instead of milky white.

Off to the side, Lion still has a hold on Vecna, shaking her head savagely as he bellows and swipes at her.

“Steve, you need to run,” Max repeats urgently. “She can’t hold him for long, you need to go now.”

“Max?” Steve croaks out. He clenches a fist, his muscles slowly unlocking, limbs starting to cooperate.

“Yes. Now hurry up, go through the portal.”

“How are you here?”

“I’m in his mind. Where he goes, I can too. Sometimes.”

“Wait, I can…I can talk to him, I can trade places with you. It’ll be ok, you can like…go back to your body again, you’ll wake up in the hospital, and -”

Max rolls her eyes. “Oh my god, we don’t have time for this. You’re dying, right now. Hurry up.”

She shoves him, and Steve stumbles to his knees, throwing an arm out instinctively and frowning as it collapses under him, unable to take his weight.

“Max -”

“GO!” she yells, dragging him to his feet and pushing him towards the portal.

For a second, Steve looks at her. He’d give himself for her in an instant, if only she’d allow it.

“I’ll get you out of here, Max. I promise.”

Max gives him a smile, small and sad. “Say hi to El for me. And Lucas,” she whispers, and then she’s fading, dissipating into orange mist and joining with Lion’s golden glow, bolstering the shadow creature’s strength as she snarls and pins Vecna’s consciousness down.

Steve runs. Hates himself for doing it, but he runs with everything he’s got, pushes himself faster and faster towards that portal, towards Robin and Dustin calling his name.

“You can’t start a fire worrying about your little world falling apart, this gun’s for hire, even if we’re just dancing in the dark.”

One more stride, another, and then he’s hurtling through it and back into his body.

His eyes snap open and he falls several feet, landing in a heap on the carpet.

Pain slams into him, forearm on fire, agony streaking down to his fingers and up to his shoulder.

He cries out, clutches it to his chest as Robin grabs him, as Dustin cries and kneels beside him while the walls look on, while the fire crackles and pours out whatever warmth its got.

“Steve, Steve, you’re ok, we’ve got you,” Robin’s blabbering, hand rubbing frantic circles into his back.

“I played the song,” Dustin’s sobbing, “I played the song, but it didn’t work, it took too long, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“S’ok,” Steve manages, but it comes out mostly incoherent.

He’s shaking all over, gritting his teeth as his arm throbs, and he briefly wonders how long it’ll take this new body of his to knit bone back together again.

“We need to make you a sling, or…or a splint, or something.” Robin’s talking with her hands, flapping them now, one hovering over Steve’s injured arm.

“It’ll heal.”

“Yeah, but it needs to heal right, otherwise you won’t be able to use it…oh my god, I don’t know to reset a bone! Just…just stay still, ok, I’ll get the first aid kit.”

Wolf noses at him, soft muzzle brushing against Steve’s cheek.

“I’m sorry, brother.”

“Not your fault.”

“He is…strong. Far stronger than He was before. I could not protect you.”

“It’s alright, Wolf.”

Wolf rumbles at that, unhappy.

“Steve? Steve, can you hear me?” Eddie’s back in his mind full-force now, as Steve drags down the mental barrier he’d put up against him.

“Yeah. I’m ok.”

“What happened? You…you blocked me out, I couldn’t get to you, you were with Vecna and I couldn’t see you, I thought…I thought he’d fucking killed you.”

“I’m fine. Did the radio work?”

“Yes.”

Steve breathes out a sigh of relief, watching distractedly as Robin tears through the contents of the first aid kit, tipping everything out onto the floor.

“I spoke to Hopper. He didn’t believe it was me at first, but he knows my voice. I told him…well, as much as I could, but I had to be quick. Me and Fox are back in the Edge now, heading for the house again. No one saw us, not with you distracting Vecna.”

“Eds?”

“Yeah?”

“When you get back…” Steve trails off, feels Eddie coax a gentle hand over his mind. “Just…just don’t freak out, ok?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m fine, everyone’s ok, it’s just…it’s nothing ok? I’ll be fine.”

“Are you hurt? I thought I felt something in my arm, thought it was sore from lugging this spear around…”

“It’s not the spear,” Steve confirms.

“Steve -”

“It’s ok, alright? Just…I’ll see you soon, yeah?”

“I’m going as fast as I can. And I’m not promising to not freak out, because I know your definition of ‘fine’, sweetheart.”

Steve relays the news to the other two, relief flashing over Robin’s face at the knowledge that Eddie had made contact. And then, he tells them the other news that he’s still reeling over.

“I saw Max.”

Dustin’s head snaps around. “What? Where?”

“She’s in Vecna’s mind. Trapped there. She got me out, told me to run, her and Lion held Vecna off.”

“Holy shit.” Dustin sinks down heavily into the couch, hands in his hair.

“This is good, right? It means she’s still out there, some part of her at least,” Robin says enthusiastically.

“Well, if you can call being trapped with Vecna good, then sure,” Steve replies.

“It’s better than dead,” Robin decides, busying herself with the first aid kit again.

Is it? Steve thinks to himself, pictures that dark place, imagines being trapped there for even half as long as Max had been.

He should have stayed. Should have fought harder against Vecna, forced him to listen, to come to some of deal to get Max out of there.

Swallowing tears, he forces his mind from that train of thought for now.

Robin selects several of the strongest-looking bandages, then sends Dustin into the kitchen for anything that’ll work as a splint. He returns with a large wooden spoon, holding it out shakily, still staring at Steve with wide eyes.

“Ok, this is probably going to really hurt and I’m really sorry,” Robin blurts out. “If you need to squeeze someone’s hand or something then I’m volunteering Dustin – ”

“ – hey!” the boy protests.

“But, just, try not to move, ok?” Robin finishes, hands shaking as she presses the spoon up to Steve’s arm.

Even that small touch has Steve’s stomach churning from the pain.

He clenches his teeth together, keeps his tongue well back in his mouth to avoid biting through it, and nods.

Robin wraps the first bandage around the makeshift splint and his arm, and Steve squeezes his eyes shut tight and sucks in a breath.

“Steve? You can squeeze my hand if you need to, I don’t actually mind, I don’t care if it hurts,” Dustin insists, holding his hand out to Steve.

Steve shakes his head. He won’t hurt the kid, even unintentionally.

Instead, he digs his fingers into the rug on the floor, knuckles turning white as he strains to keep still while his best friend finishes splinting his arm with quavering hands.

“Ok, I think that’s the best I can do,” Robin says eventually. “So, now we’re going to tie this behind your neck…” She fastens a triangle bandage behind his neck and eases his arm into the sling, apologizing as Steve hisses at the movement. “Dustin, are there any painkillers lying around here?”

“There should be Advil and Tylenol in the medicine cabinet, but I don’t think there’ll be anything stronger,” Steve answers for him, tipping his head back to rest against the base of the couch.

“How do you know, have you already looked?”

“No, I just…I just know.”

Robin frowns. “This is like…that thing you mentioned about the house, how Wolf and Fox said you’d been here before but not yet?”

Steve nods.

The front door opens, Eddie and Fox pouring through.

The former runs to the lounge and stops short when he sees Steve, taking in his injured arm, the splint, the sling.

“Oh, Steve,” he sighs, deflating. He drops his spear to the ground and approaches, squatting down in front of him.

“It’s ok, Eds.”

“It isn’t,” Eddie says, shaking his head. “This was Vecna?”

“Yeah,” Steve says quietly, eyes downcast. He can barely even look Eddie in the eyes, because this is what he’d been so scared of, what Steve had promised him wouldn’t happen - that he wouldn’t end up like Patrick or Chrissy.

He almost had.

Eddie’s eyes darken, his jaw visibly clenching.

“I saw Max,” Steve blurts out, just to change the subject. He recounts what happened, how he got away, how he’d spoken to Max – but he leaves out the part about his offer to trade places with her. It’ll only upset Eddie even further.

Eddie takes it in, then explains to the group what had happened with the radio.

“As soon as you distracted Vecna, the demogorgans and everything else just lost any interest in the Edge. They started wandering off, like he was the only thing that had been keeping them there. I walked right on by, and they couldn’t see me, but I’m not sure they would’ve cared anyway.

We kept running, kept checking the walkie until it finally got a signal. I had to run through a few channels before I found the frequency they were broadcasting on, but then I heard that investigator guy – Murray, from the news? And I spoke to him, and he got Hopper, who took a little convincing but we got there. I told him we were down here. All of us. And that we needed help. I told him Vecna’s getting stronger and there’s enemies everywhere, and that we were about to run out of food, and I told him about the Edge.

That’s about all I had time to do before we started running back. He said to just hold on, that he was sending help.”

“When though?” Robin asks, exasperated. “We can’t just sit around here much longer.”

“It’s Hopper,” Dustin emphasizes, “he’s probably already on his way with a flamethrower or something.”

“El said the military weren’t letting him anywhere near the gate,” Steve points out.

Dustin snorts. “Good luck stopping him.”

“Fox, can you check the gates?” Eddie asks.

She sighs tiredly, then clambers back to her feet from her sitting position and vanishes in a puff of black.

“So…what do we do now?” Robin questions.

“We wait,” Eddie decides, then looks at Steve. “And you and me? We’re gonna talk.”

Steve looks away, but nods. He’d known this was coming.

He follows Eddie down the hall, brushing his right hand softly against the wall as he does. He could almost swear he hears it whisper back to him, feels it guide him along towards the bedroom, the warm darkness wrapping around them when they step inside and close the door behind them.

Eddie’s quiet for a moment, before he gestures for Steve to sit on the bed.

“What happened?” he asks quietly. “What went wrong?”

“He found me,” Steve murmurs. “I was running through different memories, and I guess he just…caught up.”

“You’re sure that’s what happened?” Eddie raises an eyebrow. There’s anger bubbling away, Steve can feel it radiating from him, but it’s soft, born from nothing but concern and fear.

“What do you mean?” Steve frowns.

“I mean…you blocked me out. Right after you asked Vecna if you could come to an…arrangement. And all I’ve felt from you since you let me back in is guilt.”

“I only said that so he’d be interested!” Steve replies, insistent, but the words feel weak even to him. “I needed him to come after me.”

“So why block me out, then?” Eddie presses. “If that’s all it was.”

“I don’t…” Steve flounders a little, winces as his arm throbs. Eddie rubs his back, still soothing him despite being obviously upset. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I needed to get his attention, and it worked, and I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine.”

“It’s just my arm!”

“It almost wasn’t!” Eddie snaps, then catches himself as Steve flinches away. “If he’d had you for a few more seconds, if Max hadn’t intervened, you’d be as crumpled and dead as Chrissy right now.”

“Well I’m not, so don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t worry about it?” Eddie barks out a laugh, exasperated, and runs a hand across his face. He takes a deep breath, lets it out again. “You were going to offer yourself up in place of Max, weren’t you?”

“I told you, it was just -”

“Stop lying to me.” Eddie’s in his head now, and Steve shoves back at him a little because that’s not fair, but Eddie only wraps around him again, warm and familiar. “Please. Just tell me the truth.”

It’s Steve’s turn to take a deep breath. Tears threaten to spill again, and he scrubs a hand across his eyes stubbornly. “I don’t think you want to hear it.”

A small noise escapes Eddie, and he shuffles closer on the mattress, loops an arm around Steve’s waist.

“I do.”

Steve looks at him. At the man that shares his bed, his mind, his heart, and knows he can’t hide from him, not anymore.

“I would’ve done it,” Steve confirms eventually, heart clenching at the emotion that flashes through Eddie’s eyes. “If Vecna had agreed, I would’ve died to get Max back. She’s…she’s a kid, Eddie, and I was supposed to look after her. I let her down, and now she’s blind and broken and trapped in there with him.”

“Steve -”

“I think that’s maybe why the music didn’t work at first. Because part of me didn’t…didn’t want to get out, I wanted to make a deal, I wanted to save Max. But Vecna wouldn’t listen, he wouldn’t…he wouldn’t let me fix it, wouldn’t let me make it right.” Steve’s shoulders start to shake as he chokes back sobs.

Eddie presses closer to his side.

“If anyone should’ve gone down fighting on that day, it should’ve been me.” There’s tears falling down Steve’s cheeks now, tracking down to his jaw. “But instead it was you, and Max, and everyone else was so fucking broken by losing you two. If it had just been me -”

Eddie shakes his head. “Don’t.”

Steve ignores him. “It would’ve been better, if it was me. Sure, maybe Robin and Dustin would’ve been sad for a while, but they would’ve moved on. It’s not like my parents would’ve missed me. And the kids would have you. And so I thought…this was a chance to make things right, you know? To get Max back.”

Eddie’s silent for a moment, seemingly stunned.

“Don’t you dare,” he grits out eventually. “Don’t you dare think you wouldn’t have been missed. Those kids love you, they’d go to hell and back for you, hell Dustin literally has. And you really think Robin would’ve just ‘moved on’? Losing you would’ve broken her heart. And I…honestly, if I’d come back to the house and seen you snapped and broken on the floor I think it would’ve killed me.”

Steve shakes his head, eyes squeezed shut. Eddie tips his head forward, rests it against Steve’s.

“Do you understand?” Eddie presses. “I…I love you, Steve. So fucking much. You’re so loved, even if you can’t see it.”

Steve sobs audibly now, breath escaping him in a rush because in all his life no one’s ever said that to him, those three words that Eddie tells him so freely. He reaches for him, buries his good hand in Eddie’s shirt, lets his face fall to Eddie’s shoulder when he beckons for him.

His arm aches like hell, and his movements are stiff and limited by the splint, but he collapses into Eddie like a moth to a flame.

“From now on, we don’t face him alone, you hear me?” Eddie soothes him, coaxes fingers through his hair. “Promise me. If we have to fight him again like that, we do it together, or not at all.”

Steve clutches him tighter.

“Steve?” Eddie prompts, out loud this time.

“I promise,” Steve whispers.

*****

Later, after a few hours’ rest, they emerge into the lounge again.

Dustin’s asleep on the couch, curled up next to a still-awake Robin, Wolf watching over them.

“If our friends come for us, will the walkies work once they’re in the Edge?” Steve asks Wolf immediately. Eddie’s hand is wrapped around his good one, not ready to let him go anytime soon.

Wolf tilts his head. “Perhaps. There is no way to communicate with this place from the outside, but if they make it here…then yes, maybe.”

Eddie’s quiet, and Steve senses him checking in with Fox, face straining a little at the effort of communicating while she was so far away.

“Fox has checked several gates, and no sign of anything,” he relays, “but she’s still got more to check. I told her to be careful, that depending on who comes through, they might be a little more…‘shoot first, ask questions later.’”

Steve pictures Nancy, loaded shotgun in hand, pictures Hopper landing in the Upside Down ready to cause carnage, and nods. There might even be military with them, and Steve knows they’ll likely fire at Fox on sight.

“How will we get them here? Is that even the plan?” Robin points out. “Are they just gonna wander right past Vecna’s army? Because we’re not distracting him again, no way.”

Eddie shares a look with Steve. “No, we’re not doing that. Not alone, at least, and not unless it’s a last resort.”

“Ok…so what do we do?”

Steve takes a slow breath, and looks to Wolf. “I think it’s time to talk to your shadow friends outside.”

*****

In the Right Side Up, Wayne Munson’s loading his hunting rifle.

It’s old, and it’s been years since he used it, but he’d looked after it well. Living in Forest Hills, he’d never known what sort of riff raff was going to show up at his door, and after what happened with Eddie…well, he’d shoved the barrel of it out the door several times to scare off that group of jocks that regularly arrived at his new place to graffiti Eddie’s van.

He’d kept it. The van. Eddie’s van.

After the trailer had been destroyed, it was one of the few things he’d had left of his boy, Hopper returning it to him once the feds were done with…whatever they do. The government had sent him a cheque, enough to buy a new place on the edge of town, and Wayne had shifted his life there.

But he’d never stopped looking for Eddie.

Whatever was going on in Hawkins wasn’t…normal. Wasn’t godly, wasn’t natural. Anyone that couldn’t see that by now was either blind or stupid, and Wayne was neither.

Even if Eddie was dead, then Wayne was going to find out the truth. He was going to bring his boy home, even if it was only his body.

In the Vietnam war, Wayne had been a radio operator.

While some of those skills had become rusty in the years following, he hadn’t entirely forgotten. With the remainder of his government pay-out, Wayne had bought himself the most sophisticated radio set-up he could afford, and he quickly learnt how to use it.

He spent his days with a cigarette in hand, listening. Scanning through channels. Filtering out the rubbish, skipping through the music stations, going cold all over whenever he caught a scrap of Metallica or Iron Maiden.

Eventually, he worked out the frequency that the military was broadcasting on. It wasn’t easy, they switched channels often, but Wayne barely ate, barely slept, just stayed seated in front of the machine and scanned through channels until he found them again.

A lot of the terms they used made no sense to him, and they seemed to speak in code a lot of the time, but it was enough to confirm that whatever was going on in Hawkins was worse than he could ever have imagined.

And then, one day, he picked up a new broadcast.

WSQK radio.

They were running tests. A lot of it was boring, just code words being passed back and forth, along with technical babble that he struggled to understand with his outdated knowledge.

But this morning, everything had changed.

Jim Hopper had been on the radio. Talking to someone that Wayne couldn’t hear, but had immediately had him sitting up stock-straight in his chair.

“Munson? Eddie Munson?” Hopper had barked. “Give me one good reason why I should believe you.”

Silence for a moment, and Wayne had slapped the top of his radio and toggled several switches, but couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t hear the person Hopper was responding to.

“It’s really you?” Hopper had replied, voice softening a little. “And Harrington’s with you?”

A moment later –

“Buckley and Henderson too? Jesus Christ, do none of those kids have any survival instincts? Right, ok, tell me where you are.”

Wayne had gripped the table so hard he was surprised it hadn’t cracked under his fingers. Hell, how he’d longed to hear Eddie’s voice, even a tinny and distorted version of it down the radio.

“Just hold on, alright? I’m gonna get help to you.”

Now, Wayne slings a pack over his shoulder. He doesn’t know what he’s walking into, but gearing up for war is second nature to him, even after all this time.

He locks the house behind him. Slips into the driver’s seat of Eddie’s van, turns the key and listens to the ancient motor rattle, lets the familiar noise wash over him.

Pulling out of the driveway, he points the van towards the radio tower.

He’s going to get his boy.

Chapter Text

And every step I choose to take begins to set the world aflame

And the soldiers march behind me

I can hear them beat their spears

And for the first time in all my life

I know I’m more than what I fear

- The Amazing Devil

*****

The shadows swirl around the house. The whirlwind they’d formed while Steve was with Vecna has slowed, but they’re agitated still, pressing close when the group steps out of the house and then dancing away again.

There’s less of them, Steve notices immediately.

“Most of them are at the border of the Edge, holding the line,” Wolf explains.

The shadows brush and tickle against Steve’s cheek, poke curiously at his splinted arm, whisper and chitter amongst themselves. The bone’s healing, Steve can feel it knitting back together, feel it itch and ache and become whole again, just as his earlier wound from the demogorgan had almost done. Soon, he’ll be able to forgo the sling, and then the splint not long after.

“How do they feel about going on the offensive?” Steve asks Wolf.

Wolf tilts his head. Glances over at the twisting school of shadows, then back to Steve. “I would not ask that of them. It is too much.”

“Well, we might not have much of a choice. If Vecna gets in here, he’ll kill everything, including them. Or enslave them, just as he did with the others. Do they realize that?”

Wolf nods once. “Yes. But they are…afraid. They have lived with the threat of Him for so many years now, been pushed back further and further from their lands. Guarding the Edge is one thing, but attacking is another entirely.”

While Steve and Wolf converse, Dustin’s reaching a hand out to the shadows, a smile spreading over his face as they flow through his fingers like a current.

“My friends are coming,” Steve continues. “I don’t know how many yet, but the shadows need to be ready to fight, to help us, whether they want to or not. There’s no other way out of this.”

Wolf remains quiet, tail flicking once across the ground.

“Do you understand?” Steve directs that question to the shadows still floating around Dustin.

They hiss and murmur to themselves in a dialect so ancient-sounding there’s no way Steve will ever comprehend it.

“If Vecna gets into the Edge, there’s nowhere else for you to run, is there?” Steve presses. The shadows swirl faster, tightening into a ball like a frightened school of fish. “You’ve helped us so much so far, and I’m grateful, but we need you to do more. Otherwise…otherwise I don’t think we can win this. You’ll lose your home, and maybe more.”

Steve feels Eddie and Robin’s eyes on him.

When he gets no response, Steve sighs, shoulders slumping a little. “Well, think about it, but think quickly. And then let me know.”

He turns away. Something grips his elbow lightly, a tendril of shadow, flinching away when Steve pauses and faces them again.

When the shadows speak again, it’s as one. A mixture of male and female voices and everything in between, young and old, harsh and soft.

“We will fight,” they murmur to his mind, “for you. And for us.” The words are slow and slurred together, the shadows trying to form a language alien to them, but they’re learning.

Steve nods, a triumphant smile spreading slowly across his face.

“Thank you.”

*****

They wait.

For news from Fox, for any sign of Vecna making a move, for the walkie to crackle, anything.

Robin and Dustin are hungry. Steve can literally hear stomachs rumbling, quietly hands them bottles of water – it’s all they’ve got now. He and Eddie seem to be able to cope for much longer with nothing in their stomachs, but their friends are pale and tired-looking.

Finally, Fox reports back.

“The gates are quiet.”

Steve slumps back into the couch.

“They’re coming though, right?” Robin presses. “They wouldn’t just leave us here.”

“No way,” Dustin adds.

“Maybe they got stopped,” Eddie waves a hand. “Maybe the gates are too well guarded from their end now.”

“Well now what,” Robin starts, but Eddie shushes her, Fox’s voice echoing through his and Steve’s heads once again.

“There is…something new. A ripple between worlds, I can feel it.”

“Where?” Eddie asks urgently.

“We were there before. Steve’s…den.”

“Den?” Steve questions, frowning.

“I think she means your house,” Eddie points out.

“Your house? What’s happening at your house?” Dustin asks.

“Fox?” Eddie prompts. “Is it safe to have a look?”

“Most of His beasts are at the Edge. I will check Steve’s den.”

“Be careful,” Eddie adds firmly.

There’s a faint scoff in return from Fox, and then she falls silent again.

“Why would something be happening at my house?” Steve ponders, after catching Robin and Dustin up.

Dustin shrugs. “Beats me. There’s no gates anywhere near there, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Unless…” Steve trails off. He thinks of Barb, of his pool, of blood in the water and crushed beer cans and the smell of chlorine. He thinks of the missing person report, of the visit from the cops, of his dad standing over him and yelling, of the hand that struck his cheek. He thinks of Nancy, who never forgave herself for what happened to Barb.

He thinks a part of her never forgave him, either.

“What is it?” Robin’s voice is soft.

“Remember Barbara Holland?”

Robin’s brow furrows. “From school? The girl that went missing? Yeah, she was on the news. The lab was involved, right?”

“Kind of. She, um…she went missing from my place.”

“From your pool, right?” Dustin sits up, cogs starting to turn behind his eyes.

“Yeah. She got snatched by a demogorgan there, pulled into the Upside Down. What if…”

“…there’s still a gate there?” Dustin finishes for him. “Or remnants of one, anyway.”

“But even if there is, can anyone open it?”

Steve and Dustin share a look.

“Eleven,” they say in unison.

“There is a gate at Steve’s den,” Fox confirms after a moment. “A new one. And…there are people. Four people. The girl, she is here.”

“We have to get to them,” Steve says, then adds for Dustin and Robin’s benefit: “They’re there. At my house, Eleven and three others.”

“How?” Eddie asks, “I only just got past Vecna before, and I’m not letting you distract him again.”

Steve throws up his hands. “I don’t know, but we can’t just leave them out there, they’ve got no idea of the shitstorm they’re going to walk into.”

Suddenly, the windows begin to rattle.

Wolf rises from his haunches, on full alert, and slinks to the doorway.

“It is the shadows,” he tells Steve. “They want to speak.”

He noses the door open and looks up at the sky as the shadows swirl overhead.

“They say He is moving. He is…falling back.”

“He’s going for El.” Steve’s realization leaves them all grim-faced. “We need to get there first. Wolf, can you ask them to fight, to try and slow him down?”

Wolf rumbles deep in his chest, but he must silently repeat the request to the shadows, because a moment later they’re hissing and whispering amongst themselves. Finally, they pull away again.

“They will do what they can to slow Him,” Wolf confirms. “If all else fails, they will retreat here and protect the house.”

“Good.” Steve looks at Robin and Dustin. “How do you two feel about running?”

*****

Setting out across the Edge, Steve debates with himself whether he should’ve made Robin and Dustin stay behind at the house.

It would’ve been faster for him and Eddie to come alone, but lately every time they’d split up there’d been…unfortunate consequences. And if the shadows faltered in the wake of Vecna’s army, if his attention turned back to the Edge, then the house could be the most dangerous place in the Upside Down.

No, they needed to stick together, even if it slowed them down.

Fox had checked back in, had let them know she’d tried to approach the group in Steve’s backyard only to have a gun pointed in her direction. She’d retreated, instead scouting out the safest path for them to follow into Loch Nora.

They keep far away from the clash of red skies against black at the border. A cacophony of noise comes from that direction, dominated by the shriek and chortle of demogorgans. Wolf darts ahead and vanishes, reappearing not long after back at Steve’s side.

“The shadows are wrapping around them,” he explains, “He is trying to turn the lines, to send His beasts towards your friends. Towards the girl. But they are enraged by the shadows, and His control is waning. Now is a good time to slip past, while His focus is on them.”

They do exactly that.

With a skeleton crew of shadows concealing them, they step right over the border of the Edge, away from the fighting.

“They were stretched all the way along here earlier,” Eddie whispers. “Now, it’s like they’re all…converged.”

Dustin pulls out the walkie from Eddie’s pack and holds down the transmit button.

“This is Dustin Henderson, does anyone copy me? Over.”

Outside the Edge, they should be in range of anyone else in the Upside Down, and surely their friends had brought a walkie along…

Silence for a moment, then a crackle of static, and they collectively wince at the noise.

Dustin curses and tries again. “Does anyone copy? Hopper? El? Goddammit, I need an answer -”

“We hear you kid, loud and clear.”

It’s Hopper.

For a brief second, Steve feels like he could cry. Because there’s finally someone else here, someone older and capable, and even hearing the Chief’s voice has a little bit of the weight lifting from his shoulders.

“Are you still at Steve’s house? Over.”

“Yeah, we’ve been trying to contact you but were about to give up and come looking, over.”

“No, stay where you are, we’re coming to you. But Vecna’s coming too, he wants El, it isn’t safe, over.”

A beat, and then Hopper responds, “Understood.”

They quicken the pace. Robin’s puffing, and Dustin’s clammy with sweat as they jog along beside Steve and Eddie. But to their credit, they don’t complain, and they don’t ask for a break. They grit their teeth and run, knowing their friends’ lives likely depend on their reaching them before Vecna does.

Jumping vines, they reach the outskirts of Hawkins. Avoiding main streets, they head east, the houses growing larger and more lavish – even here, rotten walls stretch tall - the closer they get to Loch Nora.  

Next to Steve, Dustin stumbles.

Steve grabs for him, wincing as his broken arm is jostled, and tugs him upright seconds before the boy lands on a pulsing vine.

Dustin’s trembling with effort, sucking in lungfuls of air, and Steve calls a halt.

“No, we’ve gotta get to them,” Dustin pants, “I’m ok, I promise.”

“You can barely breathe,” Steve argues.

Eddie pulls a water bottle from his pack, hands it to Dustin who takes a long drink before passing it over to Robin who’s not faring much better than him.

“If only there weren’t so many damn vines, then we could bike,” Eddie laments.

For a few precious moments, they rest. And then Steve’s urging them on again, placing a hand on Robin’s back to help her along.

“Pretend we’re like…the Three Hunters,” Steve hears Eddie saying quietly to Dustin, “tracking Uruk-hai across the plains.”

“Only if I get to be Aragorn,” Dustin mutters back, eyes fixed on his feet.

Eddie helps him over a vine, flashes him a smirk. “Nah, I’m Aragorn. You can be…Gimli.”

“Hey!”

Steve hasn’t got a clue what they’re talking about, but he scoffs out a laugh anyway. Whatever it was seemed to have motivated Dustin, and he quickens his steps, chasing Eddie down the road with Wolf bounding beside them.

“You doing ok?” Steve asks Robin. He’s breathing easily, not at all affected by exertion, unlike his best friend.

“Fine,” Robin manages between pants.

“Nearly there,” he encourages, pressing her forwards.

Rounding a bend, they hit his street.

Motivated by the proximity of their friends, they speed up, Fox joining them now and streaking ahead.

They’re almost at his driveway when they hear them.

Clearly, they've been making too much fucking noise, and with far fewer shadows concealing them they're doing a poor job of staying hidden.

The collective chortle of a pack of demodogs has Steve’s blood running cold. The beasts leap the fence of a neighbouring property, trampling over each other in their haste to reach Steve’s group.

Immediately, Steve shoves Robin behind him, sees Eddie doing the same with Dustin, and Wolf and Fox snarl and charge towards their attackers.

More demodogs scramble over the fence, pouring out from one side of the street. There must be nearly twenty of them, and they stretch around the group, surrounding them. The stench of rot drifts from them, and Steve feels Robin’s hand fist in the back of his jacket.

Wolf tears the head clean off one of them, tosses it to one side and rumbles a warning to the next one approaching him. The dogs skitter around him, giving him and Fox a wide berth.

Steve turns one way, then the next, desperately looking for a way out, but the ring of demodogs is drawing tighter and tighter around them.

Dustin and Robin are gripping their knives now, both wide-eyed and pale.

Steve’s heart thumps in his chest. He should’ve left them behind, should’ve made them stay at the house, maybe they would’ve been safer there. But now, because of him, they’re about to be torn apart in the middle of his street in this godforsaken hell-hole.

He grits his teeth, tests the weight of his bat in his hand.

He’ll die before he lets anything touch either of them.

“Ready?” Eddie asks.

“Uh huh.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too, Eds.”

The demodogs leap forward collectively, and then everything’s a blur.

Snapping teeth, growling and hissing, harsh blows with his bat. Steve whirls around Robin, strikes as hard and fast as he can, sends two dogs stumbling away, gravely injured, a third stone-dead at his feet. Fox is at Eddie’s side, biting savagely at anything she can reach, while Wolf keeps a group of them busy off to one side.

But they can only keep this up for so long.

Steve hears Dustin cry out, spots a demodog slip past Eddie’s spear, mouth unfurling as it hisses and lunges for the boy.

Steve yells, throws himself towards them, screams for Eddie or Wolf or something, drops his bat and fumbles for the revolver.

Even the shadows pull away from them, rushing for the demodog...

A shotgun blast rings out, and Steve flinches at the sound of it.

The demodog topples over, scrabbling at the pavement, convulsing.

Nancy Wheeler runs towards them, shotgun in hand, with Hopper hot on her heels. There’s another man behind them, rifle raised, and Steve gapes at him, feels Eddie’s sharp intake of breath beside him.

But then another demodog snaps at him, and Steve’s attention is dragged back to the fight. Robin shoves his bat back into his hands, just in time for Steve to swing it into an open maw.

Gunshots echo, demodogs falling one by one, Steve and his friends peeling away from them to give the others a clear shot.

But seconds after the final demodog falls, there’s the shriek of a demogorgan as it hurtles towards them from the other end of the street. It’s no doubt been drawn by the gunfire, and more will follow.

Steve braces himself, steps in front of the others again, Wolf pressed close to his side.

Bullets slam into the creature, causing it to hiss and stumble slightly, but it barely slows.

On Steve’s other side, Eddie readies his spear, the tied-on knife glinting as a flash of lightning arcs overhead.

Jaw clenched, Steve pulls his arm from the sling, ignores the spark of pain and grips the bat with both hands. For a moment, he thinks of basketball. Of a very different opponent who who taught him one valuable lesson.

He plants his feet.

Moments from striking, the demogorgan stops, as if meeting an invisible wall.

It screeches, mouth unfurling, thick spittle flying.

With a sudden crunch, its head snaps to one side, neck broken like a matchstick.

There’s a dull thud as it hits the ground, wet flesh meeting concrete, and then it lies still.

Steve turns.

Behind them, El stands with her arm outstretched, blood dribbling slowly from her nose. She lowers her arm, drags her sleeve across her face, and smiles at Steve.

Eddie peels away from Steve’s side. He runs to the man standing behind Hopper, dropping his spear halfway, Fox watching him curiously.

Wayne Munson runs to meet him, arms outstretched, rifle abandoned on the sidewalk.

He scoops Eddie up, and Steve’s heart clenches as he hears Eddie sob, as he feels the echo of the sheer amount of emotion passing back to him through their bond. Wayne holds him close, lips moving as he says something, and Eddie tucks his head into his shoulder and sags against him.

Steve thinks he’s never seen Eddie look so small as he does now, cradled by his uncle.

His attention is pulled away by Nancy, who’s greeting him with a one-armed hug, careful of the now-abandoned sling still around his neck.

“Steve!” she breathes.

“Hey, Nance.”

“We thought you were dead for a while there.”

“Well…not dead,” Steve says, a little sheepishly.

She frowns, looking him up and down.

“You look…different.”

“Yeah, um, it’s kind of a long story.”

“Harrington?” Hopper’s still got his gun half-raised, watching Wolf cautiously as he paces behind the group.

“He’s a friend!” Steve assures him. “So is Fox.”

Wolf pads over to Steve, sits beside him, gore dripping from his mouth.

“You sure about that?” Hopper presses.

“We’d be dead without them,” Steve insists. “I promise you, they’re friends.”

Eventually, Hopper nods, lowering his gun. “We need to get out of here.”

Steve nods. “There’s a place, it’s safe, but it’s a bit of a hike, and we need to hurry up.”

“Where?” El asks.

As quickly as he can, Steve explains the Edge, where it is, about Vecna’s army converged there.

El looks to Hopper, something unspoken passing between them.

The Chief sighs. “Are you sure you’re up to it?”

She nods. “I want to try.”

“Try…what?” Robin asks.

“Opening a portal. From here, to there.”

“You can do that?”

“She’s never tried, we’ve only talked about it,” Hopper answers for her, receiving a brief glare from El in response. “Opening existing gates to the Upside Down is one thing. We had to use the one in the pool because the other gates were too heavily guarded, we never would’ve gotten through. But opening a portal within the Upside Down from one place to another…”

“I can do it,” El says firmly. “I’m stronger than I used to be.”

“Be careful,” Hopper replies.

“I need to know what it looks like. This…safe place.” El gives Steve a questioning look.

“Um, it’s a house,” Steve starts, not really sure how best to describe it. “It’s got…a little front porch, and it’s not affected by the Upside Down like the other houses are.”

El shakes her head, and Steve trails off.

“I need to see it,” she clarifies. Her eyes rove over Steve’s face, and he feels exposed. “You can show me. Close your eyes.”

El stands in front of him. Steve does as he’s told, then feels El’s smaller hand slip into his.

“Show me,” El says again.

Steve thinks of the house. Remembers the safety within its walls, clean sheets and running water and a crackling fire. Pictures the shadows circling it, guarding it, this final bastion surrounded by nothingness.

Beside him, the air fizzles and pops.

Steve twitches away, but El squeezes his hand, and he keeps his focus on the house.

He cracks open an eye, watches as El carves open a portal, cleaving through the air like a knife through butter.

There’s blood pouring from her nose now, eyebrows drawn together with effort.

“Go,” she utters.

Steve ushers Robin and Dustin through first, Nancy following close behind. Eddie and Wayne step through next, Wayne with a heavy pack over his shoulders. Fox sits up on her haunches, reaching a paw up to the edge of the gate, eyes wide with wonder. She gazes at El for a moment before following Eddie through.

“You next,” Hopper orders, gesturing for Steve to follow.

With Wolf beside him, Steve steps through. It’s not like clambering through a gate – there’s no vines writhing at the edges, no squelch or suck of moisture clinging to his clothes. He simply walks into a black gateway and steps out onto the front step of the porch, safely back in the Edge.

Hopper and El are close behind him, El immediately turning around and raising her arm again, trembling as she seals the portal shut behind them.

Drained, she stumbles backwards, but Hopper’s there to scoop her up and carry her into the house.

They all file inside, Hopper laying El down on the couch and gazing around the lounge, a frown on his face.

“The hell is this place?”

“We don’t really know,” Steve replies, “but it’s…safe. As safe as anything can get down here.”

Slowly, Hopper nods. Still eyeing Wolf worriedly, he squats down to unzip his pack, pulling out ration packs and holding them up. “You lot hungry?”

After unanimous nods all around, he hands them out, then takes a seat next to El.

“Now,” he says seriously, “I think we’ve got some catching up to do.”

Chapter Text

Pulling your face close, wanting the inmost

Show me I’m not afraid of you now

I’m not afraid of you now

Villian and violent, infant and innocent

Baby, both arms cradle you now

Both arms cradle you now

- Andrianne Lenker

*****

As quickly as they can, the Upside Down group shares their story with their Right Side Up friends. They begin with hushed voices, casting anxious glances out the window every now and then because did they really have time for this with Vecna and his army breathing down their necks?

But, as it always did, the house manages to project a sense of calm over all of them.

The fire crackles, bathing the room in a soft orange glow, and the thick walls drown out any noise from the fighting at the border.

Despite himself, Steve relaxes as he talks.

He and Eddie leave little out.

El already knows they’d both died and come back, and so Steve explains it as best he can. He tells them about Wolf and Fox, about Max and Lion, about his encounter with Vecna that had left him minus a working arm. He and Eddie tell them about the shadows, about how they’ve been travelling unseen, how the Edge is their last remaining home.

And then, it’s Hopper’s turn.

“I heard this one on the radio,” he gestures at Eddie, “and El came clean, told me about your little…operation down here.” He fixes Robin and Dustin with a stony look before continuing. “I went to Doc Owens. Since he was released by the military, he’s been working with El, training her. He’s knowledgeable about this place, about Henry Creel…Vecna, whatever. But the government doesn’t trust him, not after he spent all that time working with Brenner. He tried to talk to the powers that be, tried to convince them to send soldiers into the Upside Down.

But no one would listen. They turned him away, told him guarding the gates was their priority, and no one was to enter the Upside Down. Not only that, they doubled the watch on the existing gates, they must’ve been expecting someone to try and enter after that. El gathered everyone –”

“The party,” El interjects sagely, then lowers her head back to the couch again, eyes heavy.

“Yeah, the party,” Hopper continues, then points at Dustin. “Your friends, Joyce, Jonathan, Nancy, Doc Owens, Murray…we met in the bunker below the radio tower. And we decided a group of us had to come down here, there was no other choice.”

“Ok, but how did you get involved in this?” Eddie asks his uncle.

Steve’s been wondering that too. He’s only encountered Wayne a handful of times – briefly, at Eddie’s funeral, but Steve had been too busy trying to console a broken-down Dustin to do much more than offer his condolences. Another time, in the breakfast isle at Melvald’s, Steve with a mostly-empty basket in hand and Wayne staring silently at the Honeycomb cereal with a faraway look in his eyes. Steve had approached him, then. His bites had been burning at the time, itching beneath the hastily-wrapped bandage, but he’d known his pain was nothing compared to that which Wayne was feeling. He’d asked after Wayne’s new house, if he needed any help unpacking or lifting furniture, but Wayne had merely shaken his head and walked out of the store empty-handed.

But as far as he’d known, Eddie’s uncle had still been in the dark about the Upside Down.

“Been listening to the radio,” Wayne explains. “Always knew something strange was happening in this town, and since you…” he trails off, looks at his nephew. “Well, I knew something sure as hell weren’t right. I heard the transmissions from the radio tower. Heard them say your name, and I packed my bag and headed straight there. Burst right on in to one of their meetings, and wouldn’t take no for an answer when they tried to make me leave.”

Hopper sighs. “In the end, we told him. All of it.”

“I said if they didn’t, I’d go to the papers, I’d come back every single damn day, I’d start messing with their signal and scrambling their transmissions,” Wayne adds, and Steve swears he sees him swell with pride a little bit.

Eddie crinkles his nose. “There’s no way you’d have the equipment to do that, old man.”

Wayne barks out a laugh. “No, but they didn’t know that.”

“We had to come up with another way of getting down here,” Hopper picks the story back up. “And that’s where Wheeler comes in.”

Nancy nods, straightens her heavy jacket, and talks. “I told them I had an idea, but I’d only tell them if they let me come with them.”

“Why?” Steve asks.

Nancy blinks at him several times. “Because you’re my friend?” she points out, like it’s the most obvious thing on the planet. “You all are.”

“We did need someone else competent with firearms,” Hopper points out. “Every single one of your friends was champing at the bit to come down here after you lot, you know that? I almost had to tie those two Sinclairs and Mike goddamn Wheeler up, little shits were that determined.”

At Hopper’s words, Steve feels a wave of warmth for his friends, feels it echoed back by Eddie.

“And so, I told them about the pool, and the old gate there that maybe El could reopen. The street’s almost deserted after the main gate opened, I think you were one of the last people still living there Steve,” Nancy says. “It’s totally unguarded, no one even thought of it. We walked right on up to it, El opened it, and here we are.”

“Owens is still trying to get through to the military,” Hopper adds. “There’s been more activity at the main gate lately – demodogs, bats sometimes – so their attention is focused there, but they’ve been warned that Vecna’s awake and will likely make a move soon, he’s trying to convince them to help sooner rather than later. Murray’s making sure the radio tower’s always manned in case we need to communicate.” As he finishes his sentence, Hopper frowns.

He’s watching Fox.

The creature’s up on her hind legs, front paws resting on the arm of the couch, gazing down at El.

“She won’t hurt her,” Eddie quickly assures him. “She’s just fascinated.”

Hopper swallows thickly, jaw clenching, but he makes no move to stop Fox as she lowers her muzzle to sniff at El’s cheek. The girl opens her eyes and manages a tired smile.

“Hello,” El whispers.

Fox’s eyes widen, and she chuffs happily before sitting back down.

“You a bit starstruck, Fox?” Eddie teases, letting Steve in on the conversation too.

“I do not know what that means,” Fox replies haughtily, turning away with a flick of her tail.

“So,” Nancy says eventually, collecting the discarded paper bags from Robin and Dustin’s devoured ration packs. “What’s our next move?”

“We need to talk to Max,” El murmurs, shifting on the couch.

“But that’ll probably involve alerting Vecna, and that almost killed Steve last time,” Robin argues.

“I can help Steve this time,” El continues, determined. “We can fight him together. In here.” She taps a finger to a forehead.

“You’re not doing that without me,” Eddie says quickly.

“Eddie – ” Wayne interjects, but Eddie shakes his head.

“No. We’re doing it together.”

“Look, I’m still trying to wrap my brain ‘round all this,” Wayne says, leaning forward on the couch, elbows on his knees. “But if this…Vecna has the power to kill you with his mind, is that really something we should be poking into?”

“We don’t have a choice,” El answers. “We need to talk to Max, we have to help her, and she can fight Vecna from within as well.”

“Ok, and what about his army?” Nancy points out. “You said there’s hundreds of demodogs, demogorgans all gathered by the Edge?”

Steve nods.

“We need the military.” Hopper grips the bridge of his nose. “If they can fight his army while a group of us deal with Vecna…”

“His beasts lose focus when He is distracted,” Wolf contributes to Steve.

“We need to draw him away from the Edge,” Steve tells the others. “The demodogs, all the others…when Vecna’s not around, they lose interest, they stop fighting as a cohesive group.”

“So how do we do that?” Robin asks.

“The hospital,” Dustin says after a moment. “You contacted Max there once before, right? And you said it’s often heavily guarded? It’s obviously a place he cares about, a place he wouldn’t want us wandering around?”

“So I guess we’re gonna…wander around it?” Robin raises an eyebrow.

“You betcha,” Eddie says with a grin.

“And once we’re out of the Edge, we can communicate with Murray, and hopefully Dr Owens,” Steve adds, nodding as the plan starts to loosely come together.

With the bare bones of a plan, half of the group turns their minds to resting – El needs to recover, and Robin and Dustin are completely beat, eyes growing heavier now that they’ve got food in their stomachs. El and Robin share her bed, while Dustin retires to his own. Fox vanishes to scout the border, to see how the shadows are faring against Vecna’s army.

Steve’s crouched on the lounge floor, taking stock of their new supplies – the ration packs, the torches, the ammunition, matches, first aid supplies – Wayne and Hopper had come well prepared. He feels a hand on his back, hums softly, not needing to turn to know it’s Eddie – he felt him coming.

“How’s your arm feeling?” Eddie murmurs.

“S’ok,” Steve answers. “Probably don’t need this sling anymore.”

“You sure?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Here, I’ll untie it.”

Eddie’s fingers brush the back of his neck as he undoes the knot there, then tosses the sling to one side and helps Steve to carefully straighten his arm out.

“What about the splint?” Eddie asks.

“I think it can go, too,” Steve replies softly. “I can’t fight very well with it.”

Eddie’s eyes are sad as he runs his fingers over his bandaged arm.

“Let me look at that, son,” Wayne interjects, clearing his throat where he’s standing in the doorway.

Steve startles, pulling away from Eddie just a little, but Wayne only shakes his head and squats down beside him, gesturing for his injured arm.

Eddie gives him an encouraging smile and slowly, slowly, Steve holds his arm out for Wayne. He flinches minutely at the first touch of Wayne’s calloused fingers on his skin – remembers his father’s large hands, smoother but colder, remembers how they could grab and slap and hurt.

But Wayne’s gentle as he peels back the layers of bandages, as he removes the makeshift spoon splint and studies the bruising that had blossomed from his elbow downwards. He pokes and prods around the site of the injured bone, asking Steve what hurt, and Steve would nod or shake his head in response.

Eventually, Wayne rocks back on his heels. “Well, I don’t understand it, but you boys really do heal up crazy fast, I think you can go without the splint now.” He frowns at the scar forming higher up on Steve’s arm, peeking out below his sleeve. “Eds, have you…you got a lot of scars, too?”

“Yeah,” Eddie says quietly. In his mind, Steve glimpses flashes of bats, of teeth, feels flesh and muscle tear as Eddie’s eaten alive. Eddie swallows. “They don’t look as bad now, though. They’re um…well. They’re fine.”

Wayne nods, but his face is pale.

“Wayne, I -” Eddie starts, but he trails off, reaching a hand out to his uncle’s shoulder.

Steve watches them interact, and silently asks Eddie if he’d like him to leave.

“No,” Eddie answers, voice small. “Stay? Please?”

“I’m alright, Eds,” Wayne says, even though he doesn’t look it. “S’just…a lot, you know? Everything that’s happened, everything you’ve been through, the way you’ve…changed, though that ain’t your fault, I know.”

Steve can’t even imagine how Wayne’s feeling right now. He remembers the day he learned about the Upside Down, the first time he saw an alien creature crawl out of the wall of the Byers house. But all on the same day, Wayne’s learnt about the existence of the Upside Down, found his nephew returned from the dead, and been thrust into the middle of a war he knows very little about.

A lot is an understatement.

“I know,” Eddie nods. “But I’m so happy you’re here. I missed you, so fucking much.” His voice cracks with emotion, and Steve reaches for him on instinct, hand finding Eddie’s knee and squeezing.

“Back at you, kid.” Wayne blinks back tears, before his eyes drift to Steve’s hand on Eddie’s knee.

Steve freezes.

Realizes he’s a fucking idiot, because what if Wayne doesn’t know about Eddie’s preferences, what if he’s not safe, and Steve’s just gone and put them in another kind of danger…

His heart pounds in his ears. It’s like he can feel his father breathing down his neck, towering over him, and he waits for the harsh words and even harsher blows.

“Eds, I’m sorry, I didn’t think –”

“Sweetheart, it’s fine.”

Wayne looks up, locking eyes with Steve, and he must see the panic building there because he quickly raises a placating hand, squeezes Steve’s upper arm gently.

“All I ask is that you’re good to him, son,” Wayne says simply. “I don’t care ‘bout anything else.”

Momentarily, Steve’s too stunned to speak.

Instead, he nods, and his father’s presence, however imaginary, fades from the room.

“See?” Eddie says softly. “He’s safe.”

With a brief smile, Wayne pushes himself to his feet and heads for the kitchen, where Hopper and Nancy are discussing plans in low voices.

The fire crackles and pops softly.

Steve meets Eddie’s warm gaze.

“Hey.” Eddie’s voice is gentle.

“Hey,” Steve repeats, smiling.

“You ok?”

Steve leans in, kisses him quickly. “Now I am.”

Eddie smiles into his mouth, lifts a hand to cup his cheek, his touch soft. His thumb brushes away a tear. Steve blinks and another falls, surprising him, because he’s happy.

For a moment, Steve lets everything else just slip away. It’s just him and Eddie, in the safety of their lounge. There’s no war being fought around them, no danger waiting on the doorstep, nothing. Just Eddie’s shining eyes and familiar touch and the fireplace crackling beside them.

He could live here, he thinks. In this moment, in this house, with Eddie.

But all too soon the calm is shattered by the sudden reappearance of Fox.

She’s panting, shadowy fur ruffled and out of place, looking more harrowed than Steve’s ever seen her.

“Fox?” Eddie questions, immediately beelining for her.

“The line barely holds,” she gasps out. “Soon, He will break through.”

Eddie’s jaw clenches, and he shares a look with Steve, before turning towards the kitchen.

“Hopper!” he calls. “Think we might need to fast-track this plan.”

*****

For a time, they argue about who will go to the hospital, and who will stay behind - if anyone.

Steve and Eddie are in favour of them going alone with El – after all, they’ll have Fox and Wolf for protection, and it’ll be easier for them to slip in unnoticed.

But the others wholeheartedly disagree – if the three of them are engaging Vecna in his mind, maybe Fox and Wolf too, then who will protect them in the meantime? They’ll be vulnerable, as Dustin points out, just as Eleven or Vecna are when they’re in a trance state.

Steve questions what the hell they’ll do if Vecna sends his entire army towards the hospital, argues that they need eyes here, too, but Nancy interjects this time, says there’s no way Vecna can reduce his numbers too much on this front, or the shadows will overwhelm them.

Defeated, Steve sighs.

They’re all going.

The distance isn’t an issue, at least – El can portal them right there.

“I want some of us stationed outside,” Hopper orders, turning to Robin, Dustin, and Nancy. “You three are going to hang back, find somewhere to hide, and stay there, got it? You’ll have a walkie, and I want to know about anything that moves outside that hospital. I also need you to get in touch with Murray and tell him we need military back up now, I don’t care what it takes to get it.”

The three of them nod.

“Good.” Hopper glances at Nancy. “You’re in charge of these two.”

“But -” Dustin whines, but Hopper quickly cuts him off.

“No buts, Henderson, got it?”

Cowed, Dustin nods.

“Me and Wayne will watch you three, while you’re doing your…” Hopper flaps a hand. “Mind thing. Make sure we don’t have any unwelcome company. El, you up to this?”

She nods once.

“Good. Everyone gear up, we’re leaving in five.” Hopper catches Steve’s elbow as he turns away. “Can you talk to your…wolf? Ask him to get a message to the shadows, let them know to just hold on a little longer?”

“Yeah…” Steve looks to Wolf, where he’s sitting in the corner, intelligent eyes staring back at them. “But you know you can tell him yourself, right? He can hear you, you just…can’t hear him.”

Hopper grimaces. “Nah, I’ll leave the…dog-whispering up to you, Harrington.”

Wolf’s voice resounds in Steve’s head, ancient and offended.

“Tell the large man I am not a dog.”

“He didn’t like that,” Steve relays.

Hopper flicks a nervous glance at Wolf, who opens his mouth slightly, lets Hopper glimpse teeth. And then he’s disappearing, off to carry out Hopper’s request begrudgingly.

Steve had assumed El would be opening the portal outside again, but she’s standing in front of the fireplace, gazing into it.

“El?” he prompts softly.

“I think we should do it here,” she answers, without turning around. “It feels…right.”

“Whatever you think’s best,” Steve answers with a shrug.

Once the group is ready and Wolf has returned, El raises her hand. The flames jump in the fireplace, and the air shimmers and parts at her command, the portal opening up in the lounge.

There’s the tiniest dribble of blood from her nose, and El wipes it away, frowns at the stain of it on her sleeve.

“That was…easy,” she comments, confused. “Much easier than last time. It is like the house…the house is helping.”

They’ll question that, sometime when they’re not about to walk into imminent danger again, Steve thinks.

Quietly, solemnly, the group steps through the portal.

They emerge in the hospital carpark, weapons raised, Wolf and Fox on high alert.

This time, they don’t have the benefit of the shadows concealing them – none could be spared from the border, where Vecna’s army had formed a spear head and was about to push right through.

But it appears Vecna had drawn almost all his own forces to that battlefront as well – the demogorgan sentinels Steve had previously seen here were gone. The occasional demodog still roamed, a skeleton crew of guards pacing the area, but it was nothing they couldn’t deal with.

And Wolf and Fox dealt with them, quickly and quietly eliminating the few remaining demodogs.

Just before Nancy leads her group away, Steve notices the way she glances down and spots his and Eddie’s intertwined hands. She looks up, gives him a questioning look, then a small smile.

“Be careful,” Robin whispers to Steve, hugging him quickly before she, Nancy, and Dustin head away to find a suitable spot to keep watch from outside and contact Murray.

Hopper eyes the remaining group.

“Ready?”

They nod and approach the main entrance.

Just short of it, they stop.

Steve sucks in a breath at the sight of the demogorgan lying across the doorway, not visible from the carpark. There’s deep gouges in its chest, and it’s as dead as can be.

In a puff of smoke, Lion appears behind it.

Casually, she sits, flicking her tail, a paw resting on the thigh of the demogorgan.

“I felt you coming,” she says to Steve and Eddie, by way of greeting. “Thought I would deal with the guards for you.”

Beside them, Fox’s lips pull back in a grin.

Hopper’s rifle points at Lion, but he glances at Steve. “This another one of your…friends?” he asks.

“Yep,” Steve confirms.

El tilts her head, then slowly approaches Lion, reaching out a hand to her.

“You…know Max?” she guesses. “I can feel her here. With you.”

Lion nudges against her hand and purrs, the sound reverberating in the dark space around them.

“We want to try and speak to Max,” Steve tells Lion. “And it’ll probably end up drawing Vecna here, and quickly.”

She eyes him, flicks her tail again.

“Then we better hurry,” she says simply, and turns to slink into the darkness of the hospital lobby.

They follow. Eddie and Steve’s superior vision cuts through the dim space with ease, and they search for any sign of danger lurking, but see none.

Lion really had taken care of the guards.

Hopper and Wayne have their rifles raised, walking close behind the others as they make their way to Max’s room.

Even if they hadn’t known the way, they needed only to follow the vines.

They all converge at Max’s room.

Steve steps around them slowly, carefully, holding out a hand to help El over them, and then they’re gathered cautiously around an empty bed in the middle of the room.

El reaches slowly for the edge of the bed, runs her hand across the mould-encrusted mattress.

“Max,” she whispers. “Max, are you here?”

The light above the bed flickers once, twice.

El turns to Eddie and Steve. “I’m going to try and speak to her. You can help.”

They nod, and Steve closes his eyes, takes Eddie’s hand when El slips her hand into his own.

It’s dark. All around him – nothing above, nothing below but blackness.

In Steve’s mind, El walks ahead of him, head swivelling as she searches.

He turns, sees Eddie beside him, wide-eyed and pale.

Fox and Wolf join them, padding around the empty space, Fox sniffing the ink-black surface at her feet.

“Max?” El calls.

The air ripples, Lion coming into view, darting ahead of El and prompting them to follow.

“She is hiding. In a memory, somewhere safe.” Lion explains. “But I will take you to her.”

The blackness shimmers, giving way to something else, something familiar, the main street of Hawkins on a warm day. The record store, Steve’s beemer parked outside.

It’s dazzlingly bright and colourful after so much time spent in the Upside Down.

Suddenly, Steve’s breath leaves his lungs in a rush, realization dawning on him.

He knows this memory – he’s lived it.

And the thought of it being a safe place for Max causes a rush of emotion to wash over him.

“I know where she is,” Steve tells the others.

With purpose, he strides towards the record store.

Chapter Text

And I feel you there

In the middle of the night

When the lights go out

And I'm all alone again

Say what you want, but say it like you mean it

With your fists for once, a long cold war

With your kids at the front

Just give them one more day then you're done

- Ethel Cain

*****

It’s early October, 1985.

Steve remembers it as an uncharacteristically warm fall day. He’d just parked his car up for a Family Video shift, had stepped out and immediately stripped his jacket, fumbled around for the keys because he’s on opening again, when he’d looked up and spotted Max Mayfield standing awkwardly outside Hawkins Records.

She’d made eye contact with him briefly, then quickly returned to looking determinedly at the ground.

“Max?” he’d asked, and she’d ignored him till he’d repeated her name again.

He’d barely seen her since…since Starcourt, since Billy.

“Hi,” she’d muttered as he approached.

“You waiting for it to open?” Steve had waved a hand at the record store. “Ben’s always late.”

Max had nodded, and offered nothing further.

But Steve had seen the distant look in her eyes, the shadows around them, the paleness of her face, grief and guilt etched into every micro-expression.

And so he’d stayed with her. Chatted away, even if was somewhat one-sided, delayed opening up Family Video because who cared, it wasn’t as though there was a queue of people waiting to rent movies at 9am. Hawkins Records had finally opened, Steve had wandered in with Max, smiled as her expression lightened a bit at the sight of the new Kate Bush tape on the shelf. He’d done his best to talk to her a little, ask her how she was doing at home, if she was keeping in touch with friends, if she wanted to come and hang around Family Video for a little bit, if she needed a ride home.

At the time, Steve hadn’t thought much of it – he’d just been doing his best to cheer up a grieving kid.

But clearly it had made an impression on Max, because it’s where she’s chosen to hide for now.

Steve steps inside the record store behind Lion. Max is there, cross legged on the floor, thumbing through a box of discount cassette tapes she’s lifted down from the shelf.

Eddie and El are outside still. Giving them a moment, perhaps.

Max looks up, smiles.

“Hey, Steve.”

Steve swallows. Glances around at the dusty store, marvels at how well Max’s memory has recreated every detail.

“Max -” Steve starts, then clears his throat, starts again. “You saved me. When Vecna…when he had me. Thank you.”

She shrugs, flips over a tape to look at the track listing, shoves it back in the box. “It’s fine. You guys have all saved me, more times than you know. I have so many memories to hang out in when I need to.”

Steve nods, crouching down in front of her. “That’s good. Is this how you’ve been avoiding him?”

She nods.

“He looks for you, then?”

Another shrug, just one shoulder. “Eventually. I’m supposed to be dead. But I’m…not. Not entirely, anyway. He doesn’t like that.”

She rifles through tapes again, the cases clacking together. Lion lies down beside her, and Max idly strokes the back of her neck.

Steve reaches above her, to the new releases shelf, and grabs a tape.

“It’s this one you’re after,” he says, offering it to her.

Kate Bush, Hounds of Love.

He’s never paid attention to the track listing before, but he sees it now, printed on the reverse.

Track One - Running Up That Hill.

Max had told him all those months ago, with downcast eyes and in hushed tones, that she’d been waiting outside just for this new release. That it was her first time out of the house in a while and she didn’t want him to make a big deal out of it.

Now, Max snorts, takes it from him and tosses it aside.

“Think I don’t know that? I’ve been through this memory like…ten times now,” Max scoffs.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Why this one?” Steve frowns. “Like why not…Lucas, or something with El, or -”

“I go to those often too,” Max explains. “But I can never stay too long in one memory, or he’ll catch up. And he’s angry now, after I…helped you.”

Steve clenches his jaw. “Sorry.”

Max is quiet for a moment. She holds up Bon Jovi questioningly, to which Steve nods because Bon Jovi’s cool, and she places it aside.

“You know, you were more of a brother to me on this one day than Billy had been in all the years I knew him.”

Steve’s floored by that admission.

Because in his eyes all he’d done was talk to her a bit, ask her if she was alright, he’d honestly thought he’d annoyed her at the time…

“You talked to me about music,” Max continues, still looking down at her tapes. “And you didn’t yell when I teased you about liking Wham. And when I didn’t have enough for the tape you paid the rest. And you let me sit in Family Video when mom was late picking me up, you gave me candy and you didn’t…” She sighs. “…you didn’t treat me like I was some broken little kid. You just…talked to me. Like I was normal.”

She holds up another tape – The Clash’s London Calling – and Steve shakes his head, and Max shoves it back in the box with a shrug.

Steve’s still at a loss for what to say, and he’s doing his best to come up with something when Max finally looks up, making eye contact with him.

“I used to wish you’d been my brother instead of Billy.” She huffs out a humourless laugh. “And that makes me feel like a piece of shit because Billy literally died for me and El, but I can’t help it. He was an asshole, he was so difficult to live with, but in the end when it was life or death he saved me. But you didn’t wait until it was life or death, you know? You walked into the record store on a random Tuesday and saved me and you didn’t even know it, did you?”

Steve stays silent, an answer in itself.

Max smiles. “I listened to that tape all night when I got home. And all the next day. I don’t think I ever really stopped, to be honest.”

She pauses, looking at another tape. Steve tilts his head to look at the front – David Bowie’s Heroes.

“Bowie rocks, on occasion,” Steve tells her, and Max sets it aside with the others.

“You know, I think it would’ve been really cool to have a little sister,” Steve murmurs, and he doesn’t miss the way Max’s eyes briefly well up, before she stubbornly blinks and looks down again.

“Why’re you here, anyway?” she asks, breaking the moment.

At that, Steve smiles. “El’s here. And Eddie, they’re outside. We came to talk to you, to see how we can -”

“El’s here?” Max exclaims, face lighting up, and then she’s scrambling to her feet, cassettes being scattered as she runs for the door, Steve forgotten in her haste to get to her best friend.

Steve follows more slowly, leaning in the doorway to watch Max and El embrace, Eddie locking eyes and smiling at him.

“Are you…really here?” Max asks El, pulling back to look at her in wonder. “You’re not in the pizza freezer or whatever again, right?”

Eddie flashes Steve a confused look. Steve can only shrug in return, the reference going over his head.

“I’m in the Upside Down,” El confirms. “We went to the hospital to see if we could talk to you. Your lion brought us here.”

Lion sits behind Max, blinking slowly as she watches the girls interact.

“We need your help,” El says, hands on Max’s upper arms. “And we want to try and break you free.”

“I don’t think I’m much use, I’m just…stuck,” Max replies, frustrated. “I was able to help Steve because he was in Vecna’s head, and when I’m not hiding in a memory that’s where I end up too.”

“And what if we go into Henry’s mind?” El prompts.

Max shakes her head. “No, that nearly killed Steve before.”

“He won’t be alone this time,” El says, determined. “We will all be with him.”

Wolf stands beside Steve, and Fox presses up against his legs – the closest thing to affection he’s ever received from the smaller creature.

“It’s dangerous, I don’t know if -” Max starts, but Steve intervenes.

“There’s no choice now, Max,” he says, as gently as he can. “Vecna’s getting stronger all the time, and so is his army. We need to distract him, pull him away from the fight, and we need to try to defeat him somehow.”

Max falls quiet for a moment, then turns back to El, her gaze steel.

“What do you need me to do?”

*****

When they reach out for Vecna’s mind again, Steve’s trembling.

Eddie’s holding his hand, El standing in front of the two of them, Wayne and Hopper watching their backs.

Max, well – Max has her own assignment.

Together, the three of them traverse the Upside Down in their minds, Fox and Wolf sprinting alongside.

They don’t have far to go – Vecna had already been halfway to the hospital, no doubt drawn by El and Max.

On the outskirts of Hawkins, they collide.

Vecna’s presence is an enormous black cloud, and Steve’s immediately enveloped by it, panicking when he loses sight of the others. Cloying tendrils swirl around him, choking, throttling, stabbing at his eyes and ears and mouth.

“Stay calm,” El’s voice is distant but there, and Steve sucks in a breath.

Wolf’s growling somewhere nearby, snapping and striking out.

“Steve?” Eddie calls out, but Steve can’t see him…

Suddenly, Vecna’s consciousness is sucked backwards, away from Steve, and he can see clearly again.

El’s got him.

Hand raised, blood flowing from her nose, she’s shaking but she has him.

Vecna’s cloud kicks and slams against her invisible force, coiling together and forming something vaguely human-shaped. A guttural roar rips from the centre of it, chilling Steve to his core.

Eddie’s there. Hand in Steve’s, sheet-white, but he brushes over Steve’s mind, bumps against it gently like a cat rubbing its head against a leg.

Steve breathes a little easier.

“Go now,” El grits out, “I’ll hold him as long as I can.”

Steve swallows, squeezes Eddie’s hand, and feels Wolf at his back.

He lets himself drift closer to Vecna’s consciousness. Feels it buck and writhe as he reaches for it, recoiling at the burst of cold that washes over him. Again, he steels himself, and pushes forward, past the cloud, further, deeper.

He’s met by a little boy.

Cross-legged in the middle of a room, a room Steve recognizes – the Creel house attic, but here it’s intact, the floorboards not half rotted away like he remembered – he sits.

Icy blue eyes appraise Steve and Eddie.

“You aren’t supposed to be here,” a young Henry Creel tells them. “Get out.”

“No,” Steve replies, just as coldly.

Wolf and Fox circle Henry, Fox with a lip curled up, Wolf with his hackles raised. Henry eyes them curiously, but without a hint of fear.

He raises a hand slowly and snaps his fingers once.

Wolf and Fox burst into shadow, formless as they drift away, fading into nothing.

“No!” Steve yells, desperately seeking Wolf’s presence, but there’s nothing there. “Wolf? Wolf, can you hear me?”

There’s no response, and Steve feels the ache of emptiness where Wolf’s presence had made its home in him.

He turns to Eddie, sees him hold out a trembling hand to the last wisps of smoke where Fox had been. His face is unreadable, but Steve feels fury flood their bond, and both return their attention to Henry.

“What did you do to them?” Eddie snaps, striding forwards.

Henry blinks once, slow. “This is my domain. I made them go away. And I will do the same to you -”

The walls of the attic shudder. Henry glances around him, a glint of nervousness crossing over his face for the first time, before it’s replaced by a slow smile.

“Interesting,” he murmurs, as if to himself. “She will not let me. She’s strong.”

Steve feels a glimmer of pride, pictures Eleven holding firm.

“Let our friend go,” Eddie demands.

Henry stares. “Friend?”

“Max.”

“Ah,” Henry nods in recognition. “Maxine has been…somewhat of an inconvenience, but she is with me now.” He taps his forehead. “In here. And there, she will stay.”

*****

Side by side, Max and Lion sneak along the vast edges of Vecna’s consciousness. They steer well clear of the centre, where Steve and Eddie are distracting him, drawing his gaze away from Max.

It’s delicate work. They step gingerly around tendrils of shadow that throb like nerves, creeping around in the black hole of Vecna’s mind.

Max has a destination in mind – she’s been there before, several times, but never been able to linger long before having to flee into a memory again. But this time, Vecna’s attention is elsewhere.

As quickly as they can, the two of them reach it. A slight shimmer in the blackness, a tear in the fabric that leads to a small dark room.

Chrissy, Patrick, and Fred are there – or what little remains of them – disembodied memories and souls, the parts of them Vecna has trapped and holds within him. Max doesn’t understand why he keeps them, only knows what El had explained to her – that Vecna consumes his victims, becoming more powerful by locking their essence away rather than destroying them outright.

Lion looks around the room, watches the bursts of colour flash as souls float by – a flash of green that Max knows is Chrissy, a light red as Fred drifts past, a flare of orange from Patrick.

There’s other colours too – other souls, but they’re lethargic and slow, moving only by habit rather than out of any hope for escape. Briefly, Max wonders who they might be, and just how long how they’ve been trapped here with Vecna. Years, perhaps. Decades, even.

Max thinks about just how close she’d been to ending up like that, and she swallows thickly.

“Can you guys hear me?” Max whispers. “Chrissy? Fred?”

There’s a tittering amongst the souls, a small acknowledgement that they’ve noticed Max.

“I’m here to set you guys free,” Max continues, pausing to see if her words have any further effect.

But the souls only continue their slow circling of the room, seemingly uninspired.

“Did you hear me? I can get you out. You don’t have to be trapped here anymore, you can…you can be at peace,” Max’s voice cracks a little at her last sentence.

There’s no way to bring them back to life, she knows. Their bodies are bent and broken and six feet under – there’s nowhere for their souls to return to.

But they be free from him.

Max clenches her jaw. “Hello? Do you guys want to get out, or not?”

“Max?”

The voice is light and feminine, and sounds a thousand miles away.

But it’s recognizably Chrissy.

“Max Mayfield? From school?”

“Uh…yeah,” Max answers. “Look, we don’t have much time, so we need to -”

“Your hair is pretty.” Green light brushes up against Max’s face.

“Thanks, but -”

“Prettier than mine.” Chrissy’s voice is glum.

“If we don’t hurry up, Vecna will find us, and I won’t be able to get you out,” Max presses, urgently now.

“Mom always said my hair was too flat, and that it was the colour of straw.” Chrissy sighs. “Such boring hair.”

“You’re Lucas’ ex, right?” A second voice, seemingly Patrick’s, joins the others.

“…sorta.”

“How is he? I haven’t…haven’t seen him in a while. I haven’t actually…seen anyone, really.” The orange soul swirls a little faster, agitated. “Do you know where we are? I don’t…I can’t…”

Max closes her eyes for a moment, takes a deep breath.

“Ok, look, I’m gonna explain it as quickly as I can, so all of you shut up and listen,” she hisses. “And then we’re getting you out of here.”

*****

“WSQK, this is Dustin Henderson, do you read me? Over.”

Dustin’s crouched behind a concrete divider in the Hawkins Hospital parking lot, Robin and Nancy on either side of him. The two girls are peering out into the darkness around them, Nancy with her shotgun in hand.

“Henderson, this is WSQK, we read you, go ahead.”

Dustin grins, recognizing Murray’s voice.

He can’t help himself.

“Confirming this is…Bald Eagle? Over.”

He doesn’t have to hear the exasperated sigh to know Murray’s just done exactly that.

“Yes, Henderson, this is…Bald Eagle. What’s the situation down there? Over.”

Dustin explains, as succinctly as he can, that they require urgent military backup in the Upside Down, and to deploy to the east of Hawkins town – near the Edge.

“That’ll be a no-go, Henderson, the military’s concentrated on the main gate. Is Jim with you? Over.”

Dustin curses. “Bald Eagle, if you don’t get those soldiers down here right now, you’re gonna have demogorgans crawling all through goddamn Hawkins, you hear me? Once they’re finished taking the Edge, they’ll pour through the gates, and everyone up there will die. We have a chance to stop them here and now, we have help down here, but we NEED those soldiers, you hear me?” Dustin snaps, takes his thumb off the transmit button for a moment, then stabbing it back down to add a muttered, “over.”

The radio falls silent.

“Way to break it to him gently, Dustin.” Robin rolls her eyes.

“We don’t need gentle, we need the goddamn military,” Dustin claps back.

“He’s not wrong,” Nancy agrees.

“Henderson from WSQK.” Murray’s voice crackles down the radio again.

“Go ahead Bald Eagle.” Even here, at what feels like the end of the world, Dustin’s not gonna miss a chance to rub Murray Bauman the wrong way.

“I’ll get you your back up. Keep me updated, over.”

“Copy that, Bald Eagle. Over and out.” Triumphant, Dustin lowers the walkie.

“Now what?” Robin asks.

“We wait, and watch,” Nancy answers, her face set in a grim line.

*****

Inside the hospital, Wayne stands beside Jim Hopper. His shoulder aches a little from the weight of his rifle, but he holds it steady and watches over his boy and his friends.

Eddie and Steve are standing stock-still, eyes moving behind closed eyelids. The girl – El, Wayne remembers – is frowning, nose still bleeding despite Hopper wiping her face a few times, sweat beading on her forehead. The giant wolf and the smaller fox are sitting beside Steve and Eddie, eyes also closed.

“So they’re…in his head? In…Vecna’s head, who’s also Henry Creel, Victor’s boy?” Wayne voices to Hopper. He’s struggling to wrap his brain around all of this – despite knowing something strange was going on in Hawkins, this is so much bigger than he’d ever imagined.

“Yep,” Hopper confirms, keeping his gaze on the doorway.

“Right…” Wayne nods – once, twice, frowns. “How are we gonna kill him? You said…you said the Wheeler girl shot him point blank several times, that they lit him on fire, and he still didn’t die.”

“Well, I’ll keep shooting him till he does this time,” Hopper grumbles. “That’s if he even turns up.”

“But your girl…she can fight him?” Wayne gestures to El.

Hopper nods. “She’s strong. But she can’t do it alone. Or…or I won’t let her, anyway.”

Suddenly, a high-pitched whine comes from the fox, and she scrabbles backwards, pawing at her head. The wolf growls and shakes his head, claws scraping across the hard floor.

Hopper’s rifle swings, trains on the beasts.

“What is it?” he snaps. “The hell’s wrong with them?”

The creatures burst into mist.

Wayne watches as they swirl and writhe, knocking around the room, before vanishing into nothing.

*****

Henry Creel’s scribbling away at something on a piece of paper in front of him.

Steve frowns down at it, stepping closer to see.

Henry’s hand pauses around his pencil, and he tilts his head back, sharp blue eyes meeting Steve’s again.

Clasping the paper to his chest, he smiles coldly.

“Do you want to see it?”

Eddie’s voice enters Steve’s mind, and Henry watches them cooly as they converse.

“We could grab him,” Eddie hisses, “hold him down. Do you think it would work? Do you think…do we think we could…y’know.”

“Kill a kid?” Steve asks, a little taken aback.

“It’s not a kid,” Eddie says slowly, carefully. “It’s Vecna. He’s making us see him like this.”

He’s right, Steve knows.

But the idea of it…still makes him sick to his stomach.

“I got the idea from another friend of yours, you know,” Henry continues, as if the two men standing over him aren’t silently plotting his demise. “For this particular drawing.”

Slowly, he turns the paper around.

“Courtesy of Will Byers.”

There’s a monster drawn on the page.

Huge, reptilian-like, with eight heads each at the end of a long neck, a gaping mouth in the centre.

“Thessalhydra,” Eddie whispers.

“You’ll meet it soon.” Henry’s voice is unnervingly soft. He smiles again, and it sends a chill down Steve’s spine. “Won’t that be exciting?”

Chapter Text

Welcome to the storm, I am thunder

Welcome to my table, bring your hunger

Think of all the horrors that I promised you I’d bring

I promise you, they’ll sing of every time

You passed your fingers through my hair and called me child

Witness me, old man I am the wild

- The Amazing Devil

*****

“What is that thing?” Steve questions, gesturing to Henry’s drawing.

Henry smiles wider, holding the picture up like a kid excited for his mom to stick it to the fridge.

“Thessalhydra,” Eddie repeats. “It’s from D&D. It’s eighteen feet long, has eight heads that grow back if you sever them. It can even spit acid, although that’s an ability it can only use once per day -”

Steve holds up a hand. “Right, got it. Great, sounds awesome,” he mutters.

Suddenly, Henry’s head snaps up, startling Steve and Eddie, and then he vanishes along with the Creel attic.

Steve and Eddie are left standing in the dark, nothing but blackness around them.

“What happened, where’d he go?” Eddie hisses, but Steve only shakes his head.

“He sensed Max,” El’s voice reaches them. “I’m trying to slow him down, but he is…determined.”

“What do we do?” Steve asks, heart thumping in panic.

There’s silence, and Steve paces in the dark before yelling, “El? What the hell do we do?”

“It is too late,” El’s tone is mournful, defeated. “He has her.”

*****

Max guides the three disembodied souls to the edge of Vecna’s mind.

They circle, trepidant, as Lion paces there, seeking something at the edge of the dark cloud they’re in.

She finds it. Extends her claws, looks to Max.

“Ready?” she checks.

Max nods.

With a strong swipe, Lion slashes her claws against Vecna’s consciousness.

The reaction is instantaneous.

A roar sounds from somewhere behind them, Max scrambling as Vecna’s mind bucks and shakes.

“Go!” she yells to Chrissy, to Patrick and Fred.

Fred’s soul slips through the tear made by Lion, followed closely by Patrick.

Chrissy lingers, green light swirling in front of the exit.

Around Max, everything’s shaking. The invisible walls around her constrict and contract, and Max knows they’ve got only seconds until Vecna finds them, until he drags them back to their makeshift prison or worse.

“You have to go,” she repeats to Chrissy.

“But…” Chrissy’s voice, soft and scared, emanates from the green light. “But what’s out there? If I leave, where do I…where do I go?”

Max clenches her jaw before responding. “I don’t know. But anything’s better than here, right?”

Chrissy lingers. “Even nothing?”

“Even nothing,” Max responds firmly.

“Good luck, Max Mayfield,” Chrissy whispers, and then drifts away, her soul leaving Vecna’s clutches.

“You next,” Lion tells Max insistently.

And she almost makes it.

But Vecna’s mind swirls around her, black shadow tugging tight around her throat, pulling her back further and further, tossing Lion to one side when she growls and throws herself at him.

With the suffocating mist clamping down around her, Max can’t even scream.

*****

On the opposite side of the Upside Down, Wolf wakes.

He’s disjointed, unformed, just a mass of shadow and blackness and hurt, as though he’d been torn apart at his very seams.

He had been. By Him.

Slowly, painstakingly, he rebuilds himself. Shapes himself back into teeth and claws and fur and long limbs. Thinks of his brother as he does it, molds himself in his image – strong and brave and loyal.

He stands. Wobbles on shaky legs, blinks to clear his vision.

And he reaches out to his brother.

Steve’s far away, just the smallest pocket of warmth in the middle of a wasteland. Wolf tries to talk to him, tries to merge their minds again, but the effort almost has him tumbling back to the ground. There’s no way he has the strength to dissipate and reappear where he needs to be – he’ll have to make this journey on foot.

Slowly, every fibre of his being on fire, he limps towards his brother.

*****

Murray had kept his word, Dustin thinks as several soldiers approach his hiding spot in the hospital carpark.

Sam Owens is with them, bracketed by two soldiers who immediately stand back and train their weapons to their surroundings, searching for any sign of danger.

“Dustin?” Sam calls to him, voice muffled through his protective suit.

“Here!” Dustin waves.

“Please tell me there’s more of you,” Robin flaps a hand at the two soldiers.

“Everyone else is deploying east, to the location you described,” Sam tells them. “I was hoping you could point me towards Jim so I can talk to him.”

“Sure, but listen…if you see a big shadowy wolf, or a fox, or a lion, you can’t hurt them, ok?” Dustin tells him earnestly.

Sam blinks several times. “Come again?”

“Look, we don’t have much time but they’re friends, ok? Just don’t go shooting them.”

Sam’s confused gaze drifts to Nancy, and she nods in confirmation.

Sam sighs. “Gotcha. Don’t hurt the animals. You hear that?” he checks with the soldier beside him, who nods. Sam turns back to Dustin. “Take me to Jim?”

*****

Steve and Eddie return to the hospital room, opening their eyes and meeting Hopper and Wayne’s worried faces. El’s still got her eyes closed, still trying to keep track of Vecna.

“Your pets, they sort of…disappeared,” Wayne tells them worriedly.

Lion’s gone too, not even a hint of her strong golden presence left in the room.

Immediately, Steve reaches for Wolf. Pushes their bond further and further in his mind, searches across vast distance until he finally locates a familiar but small ball of shadow.

It’s Wolf. Diminished, weak, but it’s him.

Steve wraps around him. Tries to talk to him, but gets no verbal answer.

But Wolf’s consciousness stirs in recognition, presses against Steve’s, both cold and warm all at once.

“Wolf’s alive,” Steve confirms, just as Eddie nods.

“So is Fox. She’s far away and too weak to talk, but she’s alive.”

“El?” Hopper has a hand on her shoulder, watching worriedly as the girl flinches and trembles. “El, get out of there, wake up.”

“He has her, he has Max,” she repeats, ignoring Hopper. “He’s…angry. Angrier than I’ve ever seen him. The others, Max set them free. He is…weaker without them. I think he is going to hide.”

“Can you find him?” Hopper asks, and El shakes her head. Hopper adjusts his rifle where it’s slung over an arm. “Alright, you’ve done enough for now El, you need to come back to us.”

Slowly, El opens her eyes. A tear drips down her cheek.

“Max,” she whispers.

Hopper pulls her into a one-armed hug, holding her close as El cries into his chest.

“I couldn’t stop him,” she sobs. “I lost her again, dad.”

Steve blinks rapidly, his own tears forming, and Eddie wraps an arm around his waist and pulls him close.

“We’ll get her back,” Eddie murmurs to him. “I promise.”

“I’ll kill him,” Steve says through gritted teeth. “This time, I’ll do it properly.”

The radio at Hopper’s hip crackles, Dustin’s voice bursting through.

“Go ahead, Henderson,” Hopper tells him.

“Doc Owens is here. Can we come in, or shall we meet you outside, over.”

“We’re done here,” Hopper decides, still holding El up with one arm. She’s exhausted, blood drying on her chin and neck where it had dripped down from her nose. Into the radio, he says, “Wait outside, we’ll come to you, over.”

“Copy that, Chief.”

After quickly liaising with Owens, it’s decided that El needs somewhere to rest and recover, and Hopper wants to go over their next move.

“You can go to my house,” Steve tells Hopper. “It’s by the gate if you need to reopen it, and I think any…unwanted company will busy at the Edge.”

Hopper nods.

Steve turns to Dustin and Robin. “You’re going with them.” He eyes Nancy next. “And so are you.”

“But – ” Dustin immediately protests, but Steve cuts him off.

“No buts, no arguments, we don’t have time. You’re all going to my house to stay safe and to protect El.”

Nancy fixes him with a look that cuts to Steve’s core. “What are you going to do?” she asks, but Steve can see in her eyes she already knows the answer.

Steve looks at Eddie, who nods, already aware of Steve’s plan, and clenches his jaw.

“You’re going to the Edge, aren’t you?” Robin says quietly. She might not be in his head like Eddie is, but she can still read him like a familiar book. “To fight with the shadows?”

“Eddie, I just got you back.” Wayne reaches for him, grabs Eddie’s wrist like he can keep him here. “I’ll go with you.”

Eddie shakes his head. “You won’t keep up with me and Steve. We’re sorta…made for this place. We can get to the Edge within an hour, but not with anyone…” he drifts off, unsure how to finish his sentence.

“…slowing you down,” Wayne finishes it for him, and Eddie winces but nods.  Wayne pats him on the cheek, eyes welling up. “You be damn careful, you hear me? And you come back to me, I don’t care ‘bout anything else.” He looks to Steve. “And you too, son.”

A quick round of farewells later, and Eddie and Steve are left standing hand-in-hand outside the hospital, blood-red sky clashing with dull yellow in the distance.

“Ready to repay some favours?” Steve asks.

“Born ready, sweetheart.”

*****

The Edge is in chaos.

Demogorgans clash with the shadows, with the soldiers that had entered through the main gate at the closest point to the front line. Flamethrowers roar and bullets skitter through the dark sky, sending Vecna’s creatures staggering backwards and shrieking. The shadows swirl around them, pouring into gaping mouths, grey flesh sizzling under their touch before they move on, leaving carcasses strewn across the battlefield.

Without Vecna here to control them, demogorgans and demodogs alike are falling in droves, albeit taking plenty of Hawkins soldiers with them. They lose all cohesivity, and Steve spots several squabbling with each other, driven mad by gunfire and the shadows pressing them further and further from the border of the Edge.

Eddie and Steve dive into the fray, weapons raised.

The shadows dance over their skin, whispering in greeting.

And then there’s only the stench of burnt demogorgan and a desperate clash of Steve’s bat against flailing limbs.

He and Eddie move swiftly and efficiently, shoulder to shoulder with the shadows, the human soldiers off to their left flank as they attack Vecna’s army from two sides.

Steve slams his bat into the mouth of a demodog as it lunges for Eddie, and Eddie stabs his spear right through the gnarled spine of a demogorgan when it so much as looks at Steve. After that, they fight back-to-back, each guarding the other as they push the creatures back further and further from the Edge, stepping over the dead and dying as they move.

Eddie takes a swipe from a demodog to the leg, grunts and leans against Steve.

“I’m ok,” he promises, immediately sensing Steve’s worry.

“I’ve got you, just rest for a moment,” Steve insists.

The shadows swoop over them, circling around the two of them protectively, giving them a few minutes to breathe. Steve drops to one knee, tugging the leg of Eddie’s pants up and assessing the wound below his knee. It’s not too deep, but the blood has soaked down to his sock and boot, and Eddie winces as Steve ties a shred from his shirt around it.

“Can you walk?”

“Mmm hmm. It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine, you’re hurting, I can feel it too.”

“I’m ok, I can still fight.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

The shadows peel away again, returning to the fight.

Steve throws himself back into battle with a vengeance, striking at anything he can reach.

A demogorgan runs for them, mouth unfurling as it readies for a swipe at Eddie.

Steve growls, the noise primal and ripping from his throat because Eddie’s his and his alone, and nothing will hurt him again.

His bat slams down on the demogorgan’s head. Again, and again, the creature buckling under the blows. Effortlessly, he dodges long talons, twirls the bat in his hand, pummels it down again and again, faster than a shadow, blood roaring through his veins.

The demogorgan goes still.

Steve looks up, breathing heavily, Eddie’s hand fisted in the back of his jacket.

There’s several demodogs staring them down.

Steve hefts his bat, prepares to face them, feels his lip curl up in a snarl.

The fight doesn’t happen.

Faltering in front of him, the demodogs slink away, doubling back to seek out a weaker foe, perhaps one that hadn’t just single-handedly turned a demogorgan to pulp in front of them.

Steve’s not sure how long the battle goes on for - everything’s a blur of sweat and blood and smoke. Eventually, his arms start to ache even with his new strength. Slowly, the rattle of gunfire starts to die down, flamethrowers sputtering to a halt.

The last remaining demogorgan flees, along with a small pack of demodogs. A group of shadows break off in pursuit, and Steve sinks to the ground and breathes heavily. He’s covered in muck – gore from their enemies, Eddie’s blood on his hands, sweat and the black gunk that covers the ground in a sticky layer.

Several soldiers approach, one crouching down next to Eddie and pulling out first aid supplies for his leg.

“Harrington?” The one in charge questions, and Steve nods breathlessly. “I’m gonna need you both to step aside.”

“Huh?”

“Over there, please.” The soldier gestures to one side with his rifle.

“Why?” Eddie asks as his leg is hastily re-bandaged.

Ignoring them, the soldier yells back to several of his comrades. “Davies, Smith, get up here.”

Two soldiers approach, flamethrowers in hand. They stand on either side of their leader, as the one attending to Eddie steps back and also joins them.

As one, they train their weapons behind Eddie and Steve.

Right towards the shadows.

“No, no!” Steve yells, leaping to his feet and standing in front of the flamethrowers. “They’re friends, they helped us, you saw!”

“I saw a bunch of in-fighting between creatures I don’t know shit about,” the soldier barks at him. “We’ve dealt with half of them, and now it’s time to deal with the other before they decide to turn on us.”

“They’re not attacking you!” Steve feels the shadows swirling behind him, growing agitated but still standing firm. They brush curiously against his back, across his neck. “If not for them, I’d be dead, and so would the whole of Hawkins in time!”

Eddie scrambles to his feet, limping to Steve’s side.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” he tells the soldiers through gritted teeth.

“Get out of the way,” the soldier says, voice dangerously low.

“You want to hurt them? You’ll have to go through us.” Steve hefts his bat, locking eyes with the soldier.

A vein in the soldier’s forehead pulses. He holds up his hand, his comrades watching him nervously, waiting for his final order.

“…friend?” the shadows whisper to Steve and Eddie, the word drawn out and shaky but the question clear.

Steve hesitates. If he says no, he risks having the shadows turn on the soldiers. But he can’t lie to them either.

The battlefield falls silent. The small group of men stare each other down, locked in a tense stalemate.

Suddenly, there’s a murmuring of voices off to one side, the click of multiple weapons being readied to fire.

Wolf limps towards Steve. Slowly, with every step taking great effort, he ignores the soldiers and makes his way down the line with his head lowered.

“Wolf?” Steve calls to him, joy thrumming through his veins.

Wolf’s consciousness nudges against Steve’s, small and quiet but unmistakable.

“Brother,” he whispers.

“What the hell is that?” the soldier snaps, swinging his own rifle around to train it on Wolf.

But Steve’s already dropping down to one knee, opening his arms to his wolf.

Wolf picks up his pace, and then he’s with Steve, head resting on his shoulder while Steve’s arms squeeze around his neck.

Eddie smiles, reaching out to stroke Wolf’s back while Steve hugs him close. Wolf rumbles, tired but content.

“Fox is coming,” he tells Eddie. “She is still some distance away, but she is returning to you.”

“I was so worried,” Steve murmurs to Wolf out loud, face pressed into thick fur. “I thought…I thought maybe…” he trails off, not even wanting to finish his sentence.

Wolf pulls back, regards him with dark blue eyes, and shakes his massive head once.

Steve looks up, watches the soldier slowly lowering his weapon. Wolf follows Steve’s gaze, turns his calm eyes to the soldier.

“He’s like them, like the shadows,” Steve tells him slowly, still with a hand buried in the ruff of Wolf’s neck. “They won’t hurt you. Just leave them alone, please.”

After a long moment, the soldier nods. He gestures to his men, who turn and walk away, before pulling out his radio to communicate with the powers that be on the Right Side Up.

“Can you talk the shadows for me?” Steve asks Wolf. “I want to tell them thank you. That they can return to their home now, that their fight’s over.”

Eddie squeezes Steve’s forearm. “Are you sure? We might need them again.”

Steve shakes his head. “They’ve done enough. Now they can…rebuild this place, however it’s supposed to look. We’ll take care of Vecna for them.”

Wolf sits up slowly, raises his head to the sky as the shadows swirl around him, listening.

Then, with a final soft brush over Steve’s skin, across Eddie’s, the shadows drift slowly back towards the Edge, leaving a soft yellow glow in their wake.

*****

“Dustin, you there?”

Steve’s voice comes through the walkie, distorted by distance.

Dustin leaps up from the couch in Steve’s lounge, grabbing the walkie and bringing it to his mouth.

“Steve? Are you guys ok? Over.”

“Yeah, we’re ok. We won here, buddy. Vecna’s army is gone.”

For a moment, Dustin’s eyes fall closed, and he grips the walkie tightly, relief flooding through him. Robin, Nancy, Wayne and Sam gather behind him. El’s resting in one of the bedrooms with Hopper watching over her, but Dustin will relay the news to them soon.

Wayne reaches for the walkie, and Dustin hands it over.

“Steve? You n’ Eddie are both safe?”

There’s a pause, a brief crackle of static, and then Eddie’s voice bursts through.

“We’re good! Took a little slice to my leg but it’s nothing serious. You guys ok?”

“We’re just fine, over,” Wayne replies.

“We’re going to go back to the house.” It’s Steve’s voice again. “Wolf’s here, but we want to wait for Fox and regroup. Can El portal you all here?”

Dustin sighs. El’s exhausted, Hopper had practically had to carry her up to bed, and she needed to save her strength for when they inevitably encounter Vecna again.

Sam must be on the same wavelength, as he takes the walkie from Wayne and speaks.

“Steve, this is Dr Owens. El needs to rest. We can wait a few hours, see if she’s up to it then? Over.”

“Alright. We’ll be out of range once we’re in the Edge, remember? But if we don’t see you in a few hours we’ll head out and radio you again,” Steve answers.

Dustin’s itching to snatch the walkie back and remind Steve to say over for god’s sake, but he refrains for now.

“Sounds good. We’ll see you in a bit, over and out.” Sam hands the walkie back to Dustin.

Dustin sinks further into the couch with a sigh, and prepares to wait.

*****

While the soldiers remain by the border, checking for any sign of survivors from Vecna’s army, Steve and Eddie make for the little house in the middle of the Edge.

Eddie limps slightly, but Steve has an arm wrapped around his waist supporting his weight. They’re slow, with Wolf still weakly padding along beside them, but it doesn’t matter.

The air feels…lighter. Clearer, the yellow glow lukewarm against Steve’s skin. Vecna’s presence is not entirely gone, but it’s lifted significantly here, like a cloud rolling back to let in the sunlight.

The house welcomes them warmly, the door already open for them as they stumble inside. Wolf immediately claims the spot in front of the fire, sagging down heavily with his head on his paws, asleep in moments.

Steve helps Eddie to the bathroom. There, they shed clothes, tossing filthy items aside and stepping into the tub, Steve turning the shower on hot, hot enough to turn skin pink and warm them down to their bones.

Gently, without saying a word, he washes Eddie’s hair, running his hands carefully through it to untangle unruly strands. Eddie watches, lips slightly parted, eyes wide.

Once clean, Steve wraps a towel around Eddie and rebandages the cut on his leg. The bleeding has stopped, the edges of the wound already starting to pull back together again.

Steve takes Eddie by the hand. Leads him down the hall to the bedroom, closes the door quietly behind them, slips the towel off his hips.

He kisses him. Slow, unhurried, opening to let Eddie’s tongue slide across his own.

Eddie steps back until his legs hit the end of the bed, bringing Steve with him as he sits, guiding Steve with hands on his thighs to straddle his lap, making sure to avoid his injured leg.

Steve gasps into Eddie’s mouth as his cock brushes Eddie’s. Eddie reaches up, cups Steve’s cheeks, deepens the kiss until Steve’s panting and rocking his hips, grinding himself over Eddie’s thighs.

Suddenly, Steve pulls his head back. He looks down at Eddie with his eyes blown wide, then brings Eddie’s hand to his mouth and slips two fingers inside, pink tongue running across knuckles, leaving the digits spit-slick.

Slowly, Steve guides Eddie’s hand down. Below his cock, then higher, arching up slightly to let Eddie trace a finger around his rim.

“Are you sure?” Eddie asks, breathless even in Steve’s mind.

“Yes.”

“We don’t have any lube, or –”

“Want it,” Steve practically whines.

“Alright, sweetheart,” Eddie soothes. “But slow, ok?”

Steve huffs, but he nods, his head tipping forward as Eddie continues to circle his hole for a long moment, before gently pushing a single finger inside.

He tenses – he can’t help it – the feeling is strange, alien, pinching a little.

“Hey, you want me to stop?” Eddie checks, pausing his ministrations.

Steve shakes his head stubbornly and grinds his ass back into Eddie’s hand because he fucking wants this.

“Slow,” Eddie reminds him, stilling his finger until Steve claws at his chest in frustration, tweaking a nipple and causing Eddie to buck his hips up in response.

Eddie brings his free hand to Steve’s cock. Strokes him slowly, and Steve breathes out, feeling himself relax enough to allow Eddie to press deeper inside him.

Perhaps it’s his new body, perhaps it’s the adrenaline still lingering in his system, but Steve finds himself opening up for Eddie more easily than he realistically should.

Still, Eddie moves achingly slowly. He adds another finger drenched in spit, brushes across something that has Steve whining and Eddie clamping down on the base of his cock to stop him from coming because not yet, it can’t be over yet.

With a slick sound, Eddie withdraws his fingers, and Steve’s brow draws tight in frustration until he feels the thick cock brushing up against his ass instead. His face goes lax again, Eddie resuming his long strokes as he carefully slips inside Steve for the first time, the way eased by pre-cum and spit.

Steve’s head tips back, mouth falling open because he’s so full and Eddie’s not even all the way in yet.

“You’re so fucking tight, Stevie,” Eddie murmurs. “Holy shit, you feel so good.”

Eddie’s hands fall to Steve’s hips, forcing him to stay still and adjust to the intrusion but Steve doesn’t need to adjust, not when this feels so right. He and Eddie are one, more now than ever, and when Eddie’s finally fully inside him Steve could almost cry.

“Move, fucking…move, please,” Steve pants.

“You’re ready?” Eddie asks, voice shaking a little. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Fucking MOVE,” Steve demands, and Eddie obliges.

He snaps his hips upwards and Steve gasps, slaps a hand across his own mouth to keep in a cry. He sinks back down in time with Eddie’s thrusts, Eddie’s hands on his hip helping him along.

Leaning forward, he captures Eddie’s mouth again, more just breathing into it than kissing him but Eddie doesn’t seem to mind, only quickens his thrusts, tiny sounds escaping him with each one.

When one of Eddie’s hands snakes around his cock again, Steve knows it’ll be over soon.

“I love you,” Steve gasps out, Eddie’s hand sliding up and down his cock, thumb running over the head, collecting a spurt of pre-cum there and Steve’s wet, practically dripping onto Eddie’s lean stomach and the sparse hair there.

Eddie sits up, mouth finding the side of Steve’s neck where he bites, teeth toying with the skin not hard enough to break it, but enough that the sensation shoots directly to Steve’s cock.

Their minds meld together, Eddie wrapping around Steve’s and holding, colour bursting behind eyelids.

Steve comes on the spot, muffling a cry into Eddie’s shoulder.

Eddie pumps him through it, keeping up a litany of “I love you, I love you,” in his head until he’s going still and emptying inside Steve.

Steve sags forward, cradled by Eddie as he feels the warmth filling him. When Eddie goes to slip his softening cock out, Steve grunts and shakes his head, wrapping his arms around Eddie and clamping his thighs down around Eddie’s to keep him there.

“Stay,” he mumbles, “just for a bit. Please?”

Eddie chuckles, the sound low and warm, and Steve’s spent cock kicks weakly.

“Alright, sweetheart. I gotcha.”

Chapter Text

I’ll smile as I climb the stairs (to the light)

To the light that you keep burning there (all hell)

And our muscles that are waltzing

And our shadows that are bold sing

Come rip up the flesh of my fears

I know your fingernails are the colour of rust (come back)

And your veins are all empty of dust (but our voices)

But our voices collide with each howl of the tide

Singing all hell and its fire waits for us

- The Amazing Devil

*****

In the Right Side Up, the rest of the party is gearing up for war.

They’d been practically living at the WSQK station for the past few days, listening to the radio, hovering over Murray’s shoulder and annoying the living shit out of him.

Joyce is there, too, and Jonathan.

It had been a team effort between Murray, Dr Owens and Joyce to get the military to finally agree to venture into the Upside Down – but mostly it had been Joyce, 5’3 feet of fury until eventually they’d caved. They’d agreed more easily to allow Joyce and the party to follow later – they’re the only ones with any real experience dealing with this place and its…occupants, after all.

Lucas is making sure his slingshot is all in order. He’s got a proper one now, from War Zone, and steel ammunition replaces stones from the school playground. He’s got a bat too, got Jonathan to help him hammer nails into it just like Steve’s. He can’t quite twirl it as effortlessly as the older boy does, it just doesn’t look as cool when he does it, but he’s working on it.

Maybe Max will think it’s cool, when they get her back.

Or maybe she’ll roll her eyes, call him lame.

Lucas won’t mind.

Erica huffs at him when he gets the strap of his bag tangled in the nails on the bat, reaches over to help him untangle it.

She’s not going with them – no, Erica has a job of her own, once she’s seen them all off. She’ll be remaining at Max’s hospital bedside, and watching over her…body, or whatever part of her remains in the Right Side Up.

To Lucas’ surprise, she hadn’t even protested – perhaps she realized how important of a job it is.

Mike clutches his walkie, resists the urge to radio Dustin again asking him to check on El.

“She’s sleeping, Mike,” the last reply had been, “just like she was ten minutes ago when you last checked. Over.”

It’s killing him, being here in the relative safety of the Right Side Up while she’s down there going up against Vecna. But she’d made him promise to stay here, to help protect the others.

It’s a promise he’s willing to break, now.

Will sits quietly in a corner, listening to the crackle of the radio, the reports from the soldiers.

“Creel’s army has been eradicated,” they say, “and there’s no sign of him. All’s quiet down here.”

But Will knows it’s not over. Not by a long shot.

He can feel Vecna. He’s weakened, yes – but he’s angry, had scuttled off somewhere to recover and rebuild.

Just what he’s building, Will isn’t sure.

But whatever it is, it’s big.

And they won’t leave their friends to face it alone.

*****

“She’s here,” Eddie murmurs in Steve’s head.

They’ve been in bed for a few hours, and Steve’s still lost somewhere pleasant between sleep and wakefulness, his mind warm and soupy and his tired limbs wrapped around Eddie.

“Huh?” he mumbles back.

“Fox,” Eddie clarifies, rolling out of bed excitedly and stumbling as he steps into some pants.

Steve follows him, donning some clothes as they go, rubbing at bleary eyes.

Eddie throws open the front door just in time to see Fox limping up the steps.

She pauses mid step, a paw still in the air, then lets out a chirping sound from the back of her throat.

Eddie pushes past Steve in the doorway and runs to her, kneeling at the top of the stairs with his arms open.

Fox falls right into them.

Her eyes close as she hooks her head over Eddie’s shoulder and nuzzles his neck, softness overtaking her usual haughty exterior.

“Hello, little one,” she hums, letting Steve in on the conversation as well.

Wolf pads up alongside Steve to greet his friend, and Steve strokes the back of his neck.

“I saw the dead on my way here,” Fox adds, pulling away to sit in front of Eddie. She turns to Steve as well, huffs out a breath. “You had fun without me, then?”

Steve snorts. “Not sure I’d call it that.”

“Has there been any further sighting of Him?”

“No,” Eddie tells her, “but we’re working on it.”

“Good,” Fox says, with a single nod. “I would like to claw out his eyes.”

With that, Fox slinks past them, taking Wolf’s previous spot by the fire and curling up there, ignoring his rumbled protest. Flicking her tail up to cover her nose, she promptly falls asleep.

Steve turns his attention to Eddie’s injured leg. He kneels down and changes the bandage, shivering at the feel of Eddie’s fingers burying in his hair. The wound’s almost healed but Steve wraps it well anyway, won’t take any chances. He kisses above Eddie’s knee when he’s done, accepts the hand offered to help him up, presses a kiss to Eddie’s smile as well.

It’s not long later that the air stirs and vibrates in the middle of the lounge, colours warping and twisting as the portal opens and their friends step through – Robin, Dustin, Nancy, Wayne and Sam followed by Hopper and El.

The little oasis that is the house has never seen so many people, Steve thinks, but it seems to welcome them in anyway. The fire roars just a little brighter, and there’s room for them all – couches and armchairs being filled, Dustin and Robin happily taking seats on the rug next to Wolf and Fox.

“We heard from Murray and Joyce,” Hopper says, exhaling heavily as he takes a seat, propping his rifle up beside him. “They’re coming through the main gate soon, they’ll have a military escort.”

“No.” Steve shakes his head. “They should stay up there where it’s safe.”

Hopper fixes him with a look. “You think I didn’t say that, too? Have you ever argued with Joyce?”

Steve winces a little, and Hopper raises an eyebrow.

“Didn’t think so. She’s coming, and so are the others, whether we like it or not. I’d rather they have some help instead of trying to sneak in unannounced. I’ll go and meet them at the border – the less government agents we have sniffing round this place –” Hopper gestures to the room around them. “- the better. No offence,” he adds, turning to Sam.

Sam waves a hand. “None taken. I’m more of a one-man operation these days, anyway.”

“I spoke to Will, as well.” Hopper clears his throat. “He says he thinks Vecna’s…building something?”

Eddie goes pale next to Steve, and they share a look.

Hopper sighs. “What is it?”

“When we were in his head, he showed us something, said we’d meet it soon,” Eddie starts to explain. “Something he’d drawn. It was…like a thessalhydra.”

Hopper blinks several times. “In English?”

“It’s one of the thessalmonsters,” Dustin pipes up. “It’s a crossbred hybrid creature. It’s enormous, has eight heads and a big gaping mouth in the middle -”

“Right, this is one of your fantasy monster things again, then?” Hopper rolls his eyes.

Dustin narrows his eyes. “It’s from D&D, if that’s what you mean.”

“But it’s not actually real -”

“The demogorgans are real!” Dustin splutters. “So why not the thessalhydra?”

“Ok, ok,” Hopper holds up a hand. “But how can he just make that?”

Nancy shifts where she’s perched on the couch, brings her hands together to clasp them over her lap. “You said…a gaping mouth in the middle?”

Dustin nods.

“And…and eight heads? Are they all on a long neck? And…and does it have a tail, with sort of…pincers on the end?”

Swallowing, Dustin nods again. “How’d you know that?”

Nancy turns to Steve and Eddie. “I saw it. When Vecna had me in a trance that time, in Eddie’s trailer, remember I told you what he showed me? My family dead, Hawkins overrun with monsters, and a -”

“ – giant creature with a gaping mouth,” Steve finishes, voice hoarse.

“Exactly.”

“Ok, but we can stop it, right?” Robin cuts in. “We know about it, so we have an advantage. We can stop it before it gets to Hawkins.”

“How in the hell do we stop somethin’ like that?” Wayne asks, exasperated.

“Cut off its heads?” Even Hopper sounds dubious.

“They grow back,” Dustin points out, and he’s managing to sound a little smug even now.

“Right, but they take twelve days to grow back,” Eddie argues.

“In D&D, yes,” Dustin argues, “But none of the monsters Vecna has made so far have been identical to their counterparts, it’s just the best analogy we have -”

“I’m getting a little tired of analogies,” Hopper grumbles.

“Well, it’s worked so far!” Dustin replies haughtily.

“How does Vecna even know about this crap?”

“He’s been in Will’s head,” Nancy says quietly. “And Will’s really knowledgeable about all that stuff, right? So Vecna must’ve seen this…thessalhydra in his thoughts somewhere, and now he’s trying to recreate it.”

“Great, that’s just…that’s just great,” Hopper huffs. El’s dozing off beside him, her head propped up on his lap.

Silence falls over the room for a long, tense moment, before Robin announces,

“Well what do we do now?”

Softly, El speaks up.

“Will,” she says.

“Hmmm?” Hopper asks, looking down at her.

El sits up a little, blinks tired eyes. “Maybe Will can find Henry…Vecna. They are…connected. In a way that he and I aren’t.” Her face falls, sadness settling there. “I thought maybe Max could help too, but every time I try to reach out to her she is…gone.”

Steve’s chest pangs. He and Eddie had tried to reach out for Lion too, but their connection was silent.

“She is not dead,” Wolf’s voice sounds in Steve’s head - Eddie’s too, by the way he turns to look at the creature. Wolf lifts his head a little, the movement still heavy with bone-deep weariness. “Lion. She is…scattered, like I was, like Fox, but she will recover.”

“Then why can’t we reach her?” Steve asks.

“I think she has chosen to stay. With the girl.”

“Max,” Steve clarifies, and Wolf dips his head. “So she’s…back in Vecna’s head? Are they trapped?”

“I suspect so.”

“Wanna let us in on whatever you’re talking about?” Hopper interrupts, gesturing between Steve and Wolf who are staring intently at each other.

Steve catches the room up on their conversation, and then Hopper speaks again.

“It’s time for me to head out to the border and meet Joyce and the others. Munson, Harrington, you coming with me?”

“We could just go on our own, it’ll be quicker,” Eddie suggests.

Hopper shakes his head. “I want to see what that military lot are up to. I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them.”

“On that, I’ll come too.” Sam stands, straightens his protective suit that Steve had to admit looked a little ridiculous in the house. “I need to liaise with them, and some people back home.”

Hopper nods, then turns to the others. “Everyone else, I suggest you get some more rest while you can. There’s more ration packs in my bag, but go easy on them.” That last statement is directed firmly at Dustin, who rolls his eyes.

Wolf starts to rise to still-shaky feet. “I will come with you.”

Steve goes to him, places a hand on his back. “Stay, you need to rest.”

Blue eyes look back at him, and Steve can see the reluctance there, so he adds, “Look after them for me?” and gestures to Dustin and Robin.

With a heavy sigh, Wolf slumps back down to the floor, one eye already closing, the other stubbornly open and watching the room. Fox still sleeps soundly beside him, curled up next to Robin.

“You will call if you need me?” Wolf asks sternly.

“Sure,” Steve says quickly. Only if it’s life or death, he thinks to himself, because his brother needs to heal.

But his thoughts are no longer his alone, and Wolf rumbles in displeasure, but Steve’s already heading for the door.

Eddie takes his hand, and they step out into the Edge with Hopper and Sam.

*****

Will’s feeling sick to his stomach as they make their way through the main gate. There’s a ramp constructed on both sides by the military, so their entry is less…violent than what had been described by Dustin about his last venture through the gate in Eddie’s trailer.

The Upside Down looks a little less bleak than he was last here, at least. The sky seems ever so slightly lighter, the vines across the ground are shrivelled and dying, and there’s no far-off shriek of demogorgans or packs of roaming demodogs to avoid.

There’s soldiers all over the place – jogging back and forth with firearms, pitching tents on the blackened ground, barking orders into radios, carrying boxes of equipment up and down the ramp to the gate.

It’s organized chaos, and Will’s not sure whether to entirely trust these people, but he has to admit it does feel a little safer with them here.

But something’s wrong.

Terribly wrong.

He can feel it – that sharp pinch at the back of his neck, getting worse and worse with every step he takes into the Upside Down.

Shivering, he tries to shrug it off for now, but every one of his hairs is standing on end.

His mom rubs a hand across his back, smiles at him in that warm but concerned way of hers.

He manages a smile back, and she keeps close beside him as they walk, Mike falling into step on his other side, Lucas and Jonathan at his back.

There’s a group of six soldiers walking with them away from the gate, towards the place Hopper had described to Murray and Joyce over the radio – the Edge.

The closer they get, the more the bodies are piling up.

Demogorgans, demodogs, human soldiers – they all litter the ground in droves. The human casualties have been covered with blankets, but there’s no mistaking their shape.

Will tries not to look. Keeps his eyes trained ahead, on the yellow glow of the sky in front of them.

He hears Jonathan’s sharp intake of breath as he looks across the battlefield, feels him step a little closer to Will and their mom.

“Why do they look like that?” Mike hisses to Will.

“Huh?” Will replies absently.

“The demogorgans and stuff…the battle was recent, right?”

“Um, yeah. Less than a day ago, by what Hopper told us.”

Mike’s quiet for a moment, pondering something.

“So why are they decomposing already?” he says eventually.

Will forces his gaze to the nearest corpse – a disembowelled demodog.

It’s half turned to black goop, gelatinous liquid seeping out and pooling on top of the ground.

“He’s right,” Lucas mutters behind them. “It’s like they’re…melting.”

“Maybe that’s just what happens to them here?” Jonathan supplies.

“But it’s cold,” Mike adds. “Surely it would take longer for them to break down here.”

“Maybe you should get those flamethrowers out again,” Joyce tries to suggest to one of the soldiers. “Burn this whole area, just in case.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary, ma’am,” the soldier replies shortly. “As you can see, they’re very dead, and that would be an enormous waste of fuel.”

With a squelch, a bubble of black goop bursts beside them, then trickles further across the damp ground.

“You’re sure they’re dead?” Lucas mutters.

Will’s stomach starts to churn even more.

Determinedly, he sets one foot in front of the other, doing his best to ignore the sinking feeling deep inside.

*****

The two groups reunite at the border of the Edge, surrounded by soldiers watching them closely.

Mike and Lucas run immediately to Eddie, and he embraces them both, an arm slung over each of their shoulders.

They’d been informed he was alive, but knowing and seeing him were two different things. Steve smiles and leaves them to it, instead laughing awkwardly as Jonathan pats him on the back.

“So…you died,” Jonathan says, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Uh huh.”

“And…came back?”

Steve nods.

“…cool.” Jonathan shifts from foot to foot, then finally relents. “It’s good to see you, man.”

Steve relaxes, sagging a little. “You too, Byers.”

He’s pulled into a firm hug by Joyce once she’s let go of Hopper, and Steve squeezes back, a little unsure at first but quickly warming to it.

Lucas and Mike tear themselves away from Eddie for long enough to greet Steve, and he laughs at the nail bat poking out from the top of Lucas’ backpack.

“Just like mine, huh?” He resists the urge to ruffle the top of Lucas’ head, reminds himself they’re not kids anymore.

Lucas shrugs. “Yours is better.”

“Well, I hope you don’t have to use it,” Steve adds, a little more seriously.

His eyes drift to Will. The kid’s hanging back, looking visibly uncomfortable, hand frequently coming up to rub along the back of his neck. He’s about to call out to him, ask if he’s ok, when they’re interrupted by an approaching soldier.

“We need to see this…house, where you’ve been staying,” the soldier says bluntly.

Immediately, Steve shakes his head, sees Eddie doing the same.

“It’s ours,” Steve practically growls, not even sure where the words come from, but he knows in his heart they’re right. He feels Wolf wake and stir, feels him lend his strength, feels it in his teeth and claws.

“Nothing here belongs to you,” the soldier replies coldly. “We’ll return with you to inspect the area.”

Eddie steps forward, jaw clenched, lip curling up, and for a moment Steve sees a flash of Fox in his features, territorial and wild. “You won’t. You’re not welcome there.”

The soldier pauses, staring Eddie down, white knuckling the butt of his rifle.

Steve stands shoulder to shoulder with Eddie, fury rising from an unknown place.

He’s not even sure why he and Eddie are so aggressive over this – the soldiers are from their world, they’d helped them in the fight, they weren’t exactly enemies…but Steve’s not sure they’re friends either.

And somewhere deep inside is an overwhelming need to protect the house, their house, from these people. The thought of heavy boots traipsing through the lounge, rough hands inspecting the warm fireplace and rummaging through the sanctuary of their bedroom sets him alight with rage, feels it echo back tenfold through his bond with Eddie.

Sam Owens steps between them, sensing the tension crackling in the air.

“Let’s just take a breath,” he says calmly. “I’ll stay here to discuss it, and the rest of you can return to the house, how does that sound?” he says to Steve’s group.

“I have orders to inspect the house,” the soldier repeats, louder now. Several of his comrades are stepping closer, and Steve sees Hopper edging himself in front of the kids, shifting his grip on his rifle.

Steve almost lunges at the man, but Jonathan’s arm wraps around his elbow.

“Don’t,” Jonathan whispers urgently.

Adrenaline courses through Steve’s veins, the sheer desire to protect taking over rational thought.

But the impending fight doesn’t happen.

On the verge of chaos breaking out, they’re interrupted by a deafening screech from overhead.

No, not one screech – hundreds.

Everyone but Steve and Eddie clap their hands over their ears immediately, the two of them only able to cope with the cacophony because of their newfound strength.

The sky above them darkens, a shadow drowning out the yellow glow.

Steve tilts his head back, realizes it isn’t a shadow at all.

It’s the demobats.

A whole swarm of them, travelling as one, a giant moving blob of black in the sky.

A noise escapes from Eddie, and Steve feels terror, Eddie’s terror, slam into him.

He grabs for him, finds his wrist, lowers his hand and intertwines their fingers.

The bats don’t swoop downwards. They continue to fly, seemingly uninterested in them, even as soldiers are stumbling and trying to focus for long enough to train their weapons upwards.

“It’s ok, they’re not attacking us, it’s alright, I’ve got you,” Steve repeats to Eddie in a desperate litany, but the other man is terrified, face sheet-white.

Finally, as the bats draw further away, the noise fades to a more tolerable level. Steve wraps his arms around a trembling Eddie, holds him tight.

“What the hell are they doing!” Hopper exclaims, Will and Joyce tucked protectively behind him and Jonathan.

“They’re going somewhere,” Steve replies, running a soothing hand up and down Eddie’s back.

“They’re going to him,” Will says, shaking all over.

Silently, they watch the group of bats in the distance. They’re somewhere over Hawkins town centre when they stop.

As one, the swarm of bats plummets downwards at high speed.

Their shrieks go silent.

“What happened?” Mike asks breathily, eyes wide, hands still lingering by his ears.

“They went to him,” Will repeats, sickly pale.

“Right, let’s get to the house,” Hopper barks. “Doc, stay here, try and talk some sense into this lot,” he gestures between Sam and the soldiers, then steps close to the soldier they’d been talking to before. “I suggest you don’t come anywhere near the house unless it’s agreed by all of us,” he says, voice low and dangerous, the voice of a police chief long-used to dealing with self-important men. “Otherwise, you might not like what happens.”

If the soldier replies, Steve doesn’t hear it. He’s busy pulling Eddie back to his feet, wrapping an arm around his waist, guiding him away, back to the house, back to their home.

“I’ve got you,” he whispers, “it’s ok now. It’s all gonna be ok.”

Chapter Text

And the days blur into one

And the backs of my eyes

Hum with things I’ve never done

Sheets are swaying from an old clothesline

Like a row of captured ghosts over old dead grass

Was never much, but we’ve made the most

Welcome home

- Radical Face

*****

The house wraps around the larger group, closes the door behind the last of them, shuts out the darkness beyond. The fire roars a little higher, flames licking the roof of the open fireplace, bathing the room with warmth.

It watches on as reunions take place. As Nancy hugs Jonathan close, as the other kids huddle around Dustin and listen as he rapidly introduces them to Wolf and Fox, as Joyce kneels down beside El still lying down on the couch, as she brushes hair back from her forehead and talks quietly to her.

In particular, it observes Eddie, Steve, and Robin, standing off to one side. Not quite as intertwined as the rest of them are – they are not mother and daughter like Joyce and El, not best childhood friends coming together again after time apart, not family reuniting. They’re on the fringes of this group, and yet the house feels the love for them pouring off everyone inside, whether they realize it or not.

And then, when everyone settles again, so does the house. The walls expand with a small creak, the warmth inside causing the wood to shift minutely.

They don’t know it, but the house has met every one of these people.

It can feel the echoes of the kids set up in the lounge in front of the TV, of Steve humming along to a record while he’s frying eggs in the kitchen, of Robin with a huge black canine at her side setting up little hanging pots on the porch and laughing when Eddie tries to drag over a heavy bag of soil. It can hear Eddie waking with a start in the night, shaking after a nightmare, Steve soothing and humming and holding.

It feels snow on the roof, the beating rays of the sun, wind slamming up against the windows, but holds firm through all of that. Sometimes, a few roof tiles flap loose, but Steve nails them back into place with Eddie holding the ladder and watching him worriedly from below. The two of them paint the rooms, hang up photographs, sweep out the fireplace, replace any rotting floorboards in the porch.

They look after the house, just as it looked after them.

It sees everything, all at once – older versions of these same people, all coming and going, Robin crying and clutching to Steve as she farewells him for college, the kids grown up and visiting with their partners, some with children, Hopper and Joyce with a lot more grey hairs and grandkids in their arms.

It’s confusing, at times – what is happening now, and what is still to come.

But always, there’s Steve and Eddie – they’re the beating heart of this place, they’re the backbone and the strong walls and the roof overhead.

And so the house watches over them now, while they rest and regroup, sheltering them from the world outside its walls.

*****

Hand in hand, Will and El sit beside each other on the couch, Joyce and Hopper bracketing them like bookends.

After taking a little time to rest, to eat, to shower, the group is huddled once more in the lounge.

Steve watches as El’s eyes move below her lids, as she grips tightly to a pale-looking Will.

They’re trying to find Vecna. El’s reaching across the Upside Down with her mind, and Will’s acting as a guide, a steering wheel of sorts, using his connection with Vecna to locate him. There’s a walkie crackling quietly with static between them, the white noise helping El focus.

“Wouldn’t he be at the Creel house?” Robin whispers to Steve, who shrugs.

“Maybe it’s not big enough for what he’s making,” Eddie points out gloomily.

El cracks open one eye, shoots a glare in their direction, and the two of them fall silent again.

“The school,” El says eventually. “He is at the school.”

“Can you see what he’s doing?” Hopper asks quietly.

El frowns with effort. “The bats…they are on the field. They are…dead. All of them.”

Steve sees Eddie untense a little beside him, an almost imperceptible movement to anyone else, but not to him. A small rush of relief flares across their bond.

“Henry is…standing in front of them. He is…” El stops abruptly, and Will starts to shake next to her.

“No, no, no,” he stammers, tugging at El’s hand, eyes still firmly shut.

“What is it Will, what’s wrong?” Joyce grips his shoulders, face drawn in concern.

“He is turning around,” El continues. “He…he’s seen us.”

“Get out of there, just leave, come back here,” Steve insists.

El doesn’t answer. Blood streams from her nose. Will’s whining under his breath, and Joyce tries to talk to him, tries to calm him, but it’s not working.

All of a sudden, he goes lax, his hand slipping out of El’s.

And starts to slowly lift from the couch.

“Music, now!” Eddie shoves Dustin towards the cassette player.

They’d prepared for this – and while they’d hoped it was only the worst case scenario, now it was unfolding right in front of them.

Dustin slams his finger on the play button, and The Clash’s Should I Stay Or Should I Go begins to pour from the speakers.

Joyce is crying, Jonathan having joined her efforts to hang on to Will, to stop him from levitating up towards the ceiling.

Mike and Lucas are yelling for Will, telling him to come back, to listen to their voices, that he’s not alone, that he can beat him.

Hopper’s patting El’s cheek frantically, asking her to wake up.

Wayne grips his rifle and looks terrified.

A deafening crack rings out from outside, an invisible force slamming into the house.

The walls shudder but hold.

Joyce and Jonathan are thrown from Will, tossed aside, Jonathan’s head striking the corner of the coffee table. Nancy runs to him, cradles him against her as Joyce staggers back to her feet, helped by Wayne and Robin.

And Will continues to lift, higher and higher above the couch, eyes open now but rolled back in his head.

Amongst the screaming, a single voice rings out, quiet and firm:

“No.”

It’s El. She reaches a hand out to Steve, another to Eddie.

They share a brief look, then take her offered hands.

Steve feels Wolf pressing against his consciousness, gathering himself to go with him, but Steve pushes back firmly.

“No, not after last time. Stay here. Please.”

Reluctantly, Wolf withdraws, and Steve feels a pang of sadness from Eddie, knows he’s just done the same with Fox.

Steve closes his eyes. Feels Eddie’s mind merge with his, opens to let him in.

And then they’re standing next to El on the Hawkins Middle School playing field thick with writhing vines.

Vecna’s there. His arm’s outstretched over Will’s face, Will convulsing and shuddering below him, trying to get away but held firm.

Should I Stay Or Should I Go reverberates around the area but it’s too late, Steve thinks.

He and Eddie run towards Vecna.

The ground squelches below their feet, and Steve glances down to see black gunk sliding and oozing towards the centre of the turf, slowing their progress.

“Let him go!” Steve yells, but Vecna ignores them, concentrating on Will.

El’s behind them, hand outstretched, desperately trying to use her powers to drag Vecna away but he’s resisting with all the strength he’s got left.

Steve doesn’t have his bat here. Eddie’s equally weaponless.

But he remembers the moment he’d reached out to the battlefield at the Edge, when he’d brushed up against the mind of a demogorgan, wrestled it into submission, sent it mad with rage.

“You with me?” he whispers to Eddie.

“Always,” Eddie replies, their bond flaring bright and warm.

Mere feet from Vecna, Steve halts and slams their combined minds into his consciousness.

It’s vast and black and ugly, Vecna’s mind.

It’s powerful.

But Steve latches on, imagines teeth and claws burying deep and holding, feels a burst of pride from Wolf and knows his brother is with him at least in some capacity.

Vecna growls and whips around, one hand still keeping Will in place but his progress paused.

Steve continues to scrabble at the edges of Vecna’s mind, shredding whatever he can reach into ribbons, sees bursts of a lab and a cruel man with grey hair and needles and a much younger El and kids, so many dead kids, and Steve roars in his mind and rips harder, deeper, Eddie channelling his own strength into the action.

But when Vecna strikes back at him, it knocks the breath clean out of Steve.

Cold grips his mind, turning it sluggish and near-frozen, and Steve gasps as he’s knocked backwards violently.

Eddie’s there. His mind buffering the blow, wrapping around Steve’s and cradling, protecting.

As one, they surge forward again, backed by a wave of force from El.

Together, the three of them grapple with Vecna again, finding the wound Steve had made in his mind and tearing it open, further and further until Vecna stumbles backwards.

Unable to divide his attention between them and Will any longer, he retracts his hand, allows Will to collapse to the wet ground.

“We need to leave now,” El insists.

Steve knows they won’t last long with Vecna’s full power aimed at them. He and Eddie pull back, retreating from Vecna’s mind, finding their way back out…

But there’s resistance behind them.

A smile spreads across Vecna’s face.

He’s drawing the walls of his mind closed, shutting off their exit, trying to keep them here.

But there’s still a little gap, a tiny pinpoint of light.

“Run,” Eddie tells him, and Steve does, pouring all their combined strength into that one miniscule spot.

It’s just enough for them to burst through to the other side.

They ignore Vecna’s growls, ignore the pile of dead demobats starting to jerk and shudder beside them, and sprint for Will and El.

Steve scoops up Will’s still form, and Eddie takes El by the hand.

Together, they cut the connection with Vecna before he can retaliate again.

And slam violently back into their bodies in the house.

Steve pants, held upright by Robin who’s got her arms around him tightly. He looks desperately for Will, sees him with his head in Joyce’s lap, blinking open his eyes as she cries and hugs him close. El’s with Hopper, blood from her nose covering her mouth and neck. Jonathan’s bleeding from his head but he’s awake, clutching Nancy’s hand and slumped down in front of Will.

And Eddie’s beside Steve, pale and cold but safe, Wayne crouched down on his other side.

“The school,” Steve pants. “Whatever he’s building, the…thessalthing, he’s doing it there.”

“He’s using the corpses,” Eddie adds shakily. “The demobats – I think he’s using them to form the thessalhydra.”

“We saw the bodies from the battle, all the demogorgans and stuff, they were sort of…breaking down, and they were moving,” Lucas says, standing with Mike and Dustin, the three of them looking wide eyed and small.

“So he’s using them too,” Nancy deduces.

“Like the Starcourt monster.” Robin’s still got her arms around Steve from behind. He reaches up, squeezes her wrist, still trying to slow his breathing.

“We need to stop him before he can finish it,” Hopper says firmly. He glances at several of them in turn, receiving nods in return. “I need to talk to Sam, see if he’s got the military on side yet or not – we might need them. And we need to relay the news to Murray, make sure everyone’s ready back home just in case.”

“We can do that,” Eddie says, gesturing between himself and Steve. “Gotta go out beyond the Edge to get a radio signal through, and we can do that quickly.”

Hopper nods, then turns back to Will and Joyce, watching grimly as Joyce whispers quietly to Will, brushes hair back from his forehead.

“No more mind games with Vecna, everyone hear me?” Hopper says, stern. “We took a chance this time, but it was too damn close. When we face him again, it needs to be his physical body, something we can actually hurt. Agreed?”

There’s nods all around.

Steve’s not exactly keen to delve back into the cold cavern that was Vecna’s mind ever again – not unless there’s no other choice.

A short time later, he and Eddie head for the border of the Edge with a walkie, Wolf and Fox trotting along beside them, keen to stretch their legs and test their strength.

They avoid the area where the soldiers are stationed – that’s a task for Hopper and Sam right now, and not one that he and Eddie particularly want to be involved with.

It’s nice, in a way. Just him and Eddie, Wolf and Fox, striking out across a land looking a little lighter by the hour. The air feels slightly cleaner with each breath Steve takes, and he can’t help but feel a little hopeful that Vecna’s presence is retreating, at least from this place.

Shadows dance across his skin, and Steve smiles.

Their old friends greet them with a whisper, brushing across their skin, ruffling the fur of Wolf and Fox until the latter snaps at them a little, but there’s no malice in it.

For a short time, the shadows follow, as if checking in, before they peel away again, returning to whatever task they’d been busied with before Steve and Eddie wandered past them.

They’re hand in hand, he and Eddie.

“Do you think Will’s ok?” Eddie asks him silently.

Steve’s…not sure.

He knows how it feels, to come that close to being killed by Vecna. And while Will was lucky enough to escape uninjured, the terror had still been written all over his face while he’d been sat between Joyce and Jonathan as Steve had been getting ready to head out. Added to everything Will had already been through at a much younger age than himself…

“He’s been through a lot,” Steve lands on eventually. “I just hope this is all over soon, you know? And then they can go home and just be…kids.”

“They can go home,” Eddie echoes, emphasizing the first word.

“Hmm?”

Eddie gives him a sidelong glance, smiles grimly. “You and me are still stuck here, remember? I mean, we can test it out sometime, but as far as I know we still can’t get back through a gate without dying. Again.”

“I know,” Steve replies sombrely. “But just, one thing at a time, ok? The priority is defeating Vecna and getting the others home safely.”

“Even if we end up stuck here forever?”

Steve shrugs, squeezes Eddie’s hand. “Stuck with you, that’s not so bad.”

Eddie grins, his eyes crinkling at the corners in the way that Steve loves.

And while Steve had meant what he said, he still didn’t really want to linger on the prospect of being here indefinitely. Would they age? Would their bodies grow old, wither, die? Or would they just be twenty-something forever, while their friends aged and lived and died above them?

“We should be in range now,” Steve says, pulling his mind away before his thoughts could get too dark.

Eddie holds up the walkie, transmits to Murray.

“Go ahead, Munson.” Comes the reply.

Eddie fills him in on the latest, but keeps the information as vague as he can, knowing the military’s likely listening in. He explains Vecna’s building something, that Hawkins is in trouble, that they need to start making arrangements in case something big comes through the gate.

“Understood. And I’ve got news for you, too. About the gates. Over.”

Frowning, Eddie clicks the button back down, tells him to go ahead.

“There’s a lot of activity at the gates, the readings have been going crazy. I’ve got some of my own equipment by the gate at the trailer park, and it’s…off the charts, over.”

“Do you think they’re...getting bigger?”

“The opposite, actually. They’re fluctuating, becoming…unstable. If I had to speculate, and I will, I would say they’re getting ready to close, like whatever’s holding them open is getting weaker, over.”

Eddie and Steve share a worried look.

“How much time before they close?” Eddie asks.

A sharp laugh barks down the radio. “If I could work out that sort of information, Munson, I’d be in charge of Hawkins goddamn Lab.”

Steve rolls his eyes, takes the walkie from Eddie. “Can you tell us anything useful about it, then? We got a lot of people down here that’ll be cut off if those gates close.”

“I really can’t say, I need more time to look into the data,” Murray responds. “They haven’t physically moved yet, so at a wild guess you’ve still got time on your side, over.”

“Gotcha. Keep us updated, Murray.” Steve shoves the walkie into his jacket pocket.

“El said Chrissy and the others got away from Vecna,” Eddie says quietly.

“And they were the reason he was able to open the gates in the first place,” Steve continues.

“El also said he was weaker now,” Eddie replies in his head, switching effortlessly between verbal and telepathic communication – it makes no difference to them now, requires no extra focus, their minds as familiar to each other now as their voices.

“So he can’t keep the gates open without them? He’s only got Max left, maybe he doesn’t have enough power now.”

“Correct,” Wolf chimes in. “Without them, he cannot keep the gates intact for long.”

“But El can still open gates, right? So even if the other ones collapse, she could open the one in your pool, get everyone out?” Eddie ponders.

“I don’t know,” Steve replies honestly, turning to start the walk back to the house. “I mean, we’ve always been sort of guessing how everything works down here. Let’s just…let’s just get back to the others, see if they can figure anything out, Dustin’s a little brainbox.”

Eddie huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, kid’s smart. Did I ever tell you about the science fair trip I went on with him?”

Steve gives him an incredulous look. “You went to science fair?”

“Well, not as a participant. I was more…moral support.”

“Riiiight…”

“Anyway, Dustin basically single-handedly solved this mystery that had been going on for years…”

*****

Part way back to the house, they catch up with Hopper on his way back from speaking with Sam and the military.

“They still want to look through the house,” Hopper tells them with a sigh. “Doc’s staying with them to try and keep the peace, but I’m not sure how much longer that’ll last. Might not be a problem though, because -”

“It’s ours,” Steve interrupts through gritted teeth, his back immediately up.

Hopper holds up his hands. “Hey, you don’t gotta tell me, kid.”

Eddie’s hand ghosts across Steve’s, and he forces himself to calm down.

“I know,” he mumbles. “Just…I don’t want them anywhere near it.”

“Anyway, like I was saying…one of the officers was talking about picking up some strange readings from the gates,” Hopper says.

Eddie nods. “Yeah, Murray mentioned it too, said they’re fluctuating, losing power maybe.”

“There was talk of the soldiers pulling out of the Upside Down all together, and just letting the gates close behind them.”

“But…but what about Vecna?” Steve points out. “If we all leave when he’s still alive down here, he won’t stop, he’ll just find a new way to break back through – he’s done it enough times already, don’t they realize that?”

Hopper shrugs. “There’s no reasoning with them. Like I said, Doc’s trying, but let’s just focus on Vecna for now, alright? We need to deal with him quickly, before the damn gates close.”

“About that, Hop -” Eddie starts, but Steve cuts him off.

“Don’t. Don’t tell him about us.”

Eddie shuts his mouth. “Why not?”

“Because he’s right, we need to be focused on Vecna right now, I don’t him worrying about how we’re gonna get back through the gate. There’s more important stuff to deal with first.”

“What?” Hopper prompts, looking at Eddie with an eyebrow raised.

“Nothing,” Eddie mumbles, and Hopper gives him a strange look and strides on ahead.

“…Stevie?” Eddie prompts after a moment.

“I just…I don’t want the kids to be worried, if he tells the others,” Steve says. He feels Eddie’s mind push gently up against his, bright and warm. “And Robin…I don’t want to worry them about this. Not yet, they’ve got enough to deal with.”

Eddie steps closer to him as they walk, brushes his fingers lightly over the back of Steve’s hand.

“Alright,” he says, albeit reluctantly. “We’ll wait. But we gotta tell them eventually, ok?”

Steve nods glumly. Eddie takes him by the hand, and together they follow behind Hopper back towards the house, with Wolf and Fox in tow.

Chapter Text

This is the murmur of the land

This is the sound of love’s marching band

And how they hold you like a gun

And how I sing you like a song

I heard when I was young

And buried for a night like this

- Winter Aid

*****

“Everyone happy with the plan?” Nancy asks them all, face serious as they gather in the lounge once more.

It’s several hours later, and they’d had a little time to eat and talk and think.

They’ve all come to a similar conclusion – that they’re running out of time, that there’s not a lot more to be done than to simply confront Vecna and try to stop him before he sets his monster loose.

Hopper had wanted Will and Joyce to stay at the house where they’d be safer, but the two had flatly refused – they’d go with their friends, their family, and do what they could to help. The chief hadn’t been remotely happy about the amount of kids on this venture either, but when he’d suggested they too stay behind he’d been met with such an outcry of resistance that he’d thrown up his hands and given in.

El, Steve, and Eddie would attack Vecna’s mind as they’d done before, guided if needed by Will. Dustin, Mike, Robin and Joyce were to watch their backs and keep them safe in the meantime.

Hopper, Wayne, Nancy, Jonathan and Lucas were gunning for Vecna himself.

Wolf and Fox would go where they were needed most.

And if the thessalhydra was already formed when they arrived, well…the entire group would focus on it, leaving El to keep Vecna busy as long as she could.

They couldn’t count on military back up. Perhaps they’d show, perhaps they wouldn’t – Hopper had told them where Vecna was, and that they planned to attack him. Whether the soldiers chose to stay and fight or flee back to the Right Side Up before the gates closed was out of their hands.

“Remember that Max is still with Vecna,” Lucas says urgently, “and we need El or someone to reach her, to get her out before we kill him. Because if we kill him when she’s still in there…” Lucas trails off, unable to finish his sentence, but the meaning is clear.

The group looks away, some nod, all grim.

“We’ll give El as much time as we can,” Hopper decides. “We’re leaving in five.”

Quietly, Eddie takes Steve by the hand, leads him down the hallway, into their bedroom, the door closing behind them and shutting out the noise from the lounge.

Steve wraps his arms around Eddie’s lean waist, holds him close.

“You ok?” he whispers.

“Nervous,” Eddie murmurs. “What if…what if this doesn’t go the way we want it to, what if someone gets hurt?”

“I’m worried too,” Steve admits, runs a hand down Eddie’s back, brushes over his mind simultaneously. “But we have to do this, we have to face him now, because if we don’t then all of Hawkins is in danger.”

“We could make the others go home.” Eddie’s voice is hopeful, childlike.

Steve hums, indulging him for a moment.

“Let the gates close,” Eddie continues. “And we might be stuck here, but we’d have Wolf and Fox, and we could hide here. Just us. In this house, with the fireplace and the…magic taps and clean sheets and music…”

Steve knows he’s not being serious. That Eddie would miss Wayne too much, miss Dustin, and all the others. But for a moment, he lets himself imagine it – a life here with Eddie, in this house that seems to be made for them.

“He’d find us eventually,” Steve whispers, presses a kiss to the side of Eddie’s head.

“I know. But we’d have a little time.”

Steve smiles, small and soft. “Time for what?”

Eddie kisses his neck. “Use your imagination.”

Steve chuckles. He pulls back a little, cups Eddie’s cheeks, thinks there’s nothing so beautiful as Eddie Munson looking at him like that.

“If we get out of here, I’m going to marry you, Steve Harrington,” Eddie promises out loud, and the house hears, lets the words sink into the walls and stay.

Steve’s smile spreads. He brushes a thumb over Eddie’s bottom lip, drinks in the earnest expression on his boyfriend’s face.

“Then let’s go beat Vecna, huh?” Steve announces, and Eddie nods resolutely.

“Wait, was that a yes?” Eddie questions, following Steve out of the bedroom.

Steve tips back his head and laughs. “Were you even asking, Eds?”

*****

When the group steps through El’s portal, they’re quiet, solemn.

It opens out onto the road a short distance from the school, and they quickly take stock of their surroundings.

It’s quiet.

Close to the school, there’s still vines stretched out across the ground, pulsing and throbbing in that sick but familiar way. But behind them, only a short distance from Vecna, they’re as dead as the ones that now litter the rest of the Upside Down.

Vecna’s power in this place is fading – that much is clear.

But all of his remaining strength is now centred here, at the school.

As one, the group moves forward. Wolf pads alongside Steve, and Fox trots on ahead to check that their path is clear.

They make their way through the carpark. Steve passes by the spot he used to park his beemer, remembers mornings sitting there with Nancy, stressing over his essays, rolling his eyes when Dustin flipped him the bird on his way past then laughed and waved. He remembers watching Billy Hargrove pull up in a car even cooler than his own, remembers a shock of red hair and attitude when Max stepped out of the passenger seat and slammed her skateboard down on the tarmac for the first time.

Max.

Steve’s heart clenches. He hopes like hell they can help her, that soon she’ll be safely back in her body.

He hopes they’ll all be safe.

He looks around at his friends, at this group of people that had walked right into hell to look for him, to help him. In turn, his eyes run over them all, landing on Robin last and lingering there.

She feels his gaze, flashes him a small smile. Steve steps closer to her, takes her hand, squeezes it.

“Thank you,” he whispers, “for coming after me.”

She smiles again, eyes watery now. “Anytime, dingus.”

Steve loves her. Will die for her, if it comes down to it.

He hopes it doesn’t.

He’s got a lot of reasons to keep living once this is all over, and they’re all walking beside him now.

“He’s here,” Will confirms quietly as they approach the main entrance. “At the field still. He’s…distracted, he’s still focused on the thessalhydra.”

“Good, let’s use that,” Hopper says. “Steve, get your group to the courtyard, where we’d discussed. The rest of you, with me.” He grips his flamethrower with both hands, shares a final look with Joyce and El, and peels off towards the field.

Wayne lingers for a moment in front of Eddie and Steve.

“You boys be careful,” he tells him.

Eddie nods. “Put a bullet in him for me, old man.”

“You betcha. See you soon, you hear me?”

They part ways.

Steve and Eddie head for the courtyard not far from the field – it’s sheltered on three sides by classrooms, but within an easy sprint of the field if they’re needed there in a hurry. They sit, El and Will between them, Joyce, Mike, Dustin and Robin forming a semi circle around them, weapons in hand. Steve’s bat is propped up by his knee, his dad’s revolver on the bench next to him.

Wolf and Fox pace around the group, clearly on edge, Wolf’s hackles raised.

“We need to hurry,” Fox says, “his monster is almost complete.”

Steve’s looking at Will. The boy’s eyebrows are pinched together, and he’s rubbing a hand across his temple.

“What is it?” El asks him.

“It’s like he’s…reaching out to me,” Will answers, voice hoarse. “He knows I’m here, but he only cares about the thessalhydra. There’s something missing, like he doesn’t have all the knowledge he needs to build it.”

“Well, don’t let him get it!” Mike says urgently.

“I have an idea,” Will replies, glancing down at the bench. “But I can’t share it, not if you’re about to go into his mind.” He looks at El, Steve and Eddie. “I don’t want him to know what I’m doing.”

“Is it safe?” Joyce kneels down in front of him.

“I think so. I need you guys to trust me.”

El takes his hand, holds it in her lap. “I trust you.”

“Do what you need to do,” Steve tells him. “But only if it’s safe, ok?”

“Right back at you,” Robin says to Steve.

He nods, then reaches for Eddie’s hand, and El’s with his other.

There’s a crackle on the walkie in Dustin’s hand – their signal from Hopper that his group is in position near the edge of the field.

“Ready?” Steve asks El and Eddie.

“Yes.” El closes her eyes and Steve and Eddie surge their minds forward, clinging to her coattails as she propels them across the school grounds and right into Vecna’s vicinity.

This time, their minds meet a solid black wall. Stretching high, higher than the eye can see, smooth and hard without a single visible crevice.

Steve teeth are jarred as they rebound off it like bugs on a windshield.

Clearly, Vecna’s better prepared this time.

Steve and Eddie recover, minds circling each other, pressing up against the wall around Vecna’s mind.

El walks between the two of them, hand outstretched, gazing up at Vecna’s defences.

“What do we do?” Steve asks her.

El frowns, concentrating. “We need to draw him out. Or…or try to get Max’s attention somehow, maybe she can help us from within.”

Steve nods, opens his mind, casts it out searching for any trace of Max or Lion.

Immediately, a finger of cold slithers into his head – Vecna, worming his way in.

Steve shudders, gripping Eddie’s hand tighter.

Eddie growls, grabs for the intrusion, rips it from Steve’s mind and covers up the wound left behind like a balm.

“I’ll keep him out,” Eddie promises, wrapping himself tighter around Steve’s mind, guarding it like a fortress. “You find Max.”

Steve reaches out again. Ignores the almost impenetrable wall in front of him, bypasses Vecna’s mind because he’s not looking for that right now, he’s looking for the little girl trapped alongside it.

At first, there’s nothing. Steve searches in the darkness, tries to focus on everything Max-like he can think of – Kate Bush, skateboards, striped t shirts and ice cream cones in summer, bright red hair, her fierce loyalty towards her friends, her eyes rolling at same lame joke Lucas cracked, the dusty floor of Hawkins Records as they thumb through tapes, old eyes on a younger face –

A flash of gold cuts through the dark.

Steve follows, tries to lock it down, focuses until his mind aches.

“Lion?” he calls.

“Here,” comes the faint reply.

The gold swirls, Lion’s mind becoming more corporeal, unfurling into the shape of a dark feline.

She steps towards Steve.

“You came?” she breathes.

“Of course,” Steve replies, crouching down in front of her.

For a moment, Lion hesitates. Steve’s immediately reminded of Max, looking away and scoffing as one of her friends tries to pull her in for a hug.

But, like Max, Lion gives in after a short time.

She bounds forward, slamming into Steve’s mind, her large head rubbing possessively over his neck and shoulder.

Steve swears he hears her purr, but doesn’t mention it – he’d like to keep all his limbs, after all.

“Where’s Max?” Steve asks, once Lion pulls away again.

She flicks her tail. “Trapped. He has her locked up, deep within. I can reach her, but it is difficult.”

“Is she hiding in memories again?”

Lion huffs, looks away. “He will not even allow that, now.”

“And you’re trapped too?” Steve confirms.

“Yes. I can wander this place more easily than Max, He doesn’t have the same control over me. But I cannot leave.”

“We’ll get you out,” Steve promises. “But first, we need to get to Max, but Vecna’s defences are too strong for me to get through.”

Lion tilts her head, pondering something. “There is a way.”

“What is it?”

“You will need Wolf.”

There’s a deep rumble within Steve’s mind, Wolf entering the conversation despite Steve having made him promise to stay far away from Vecna’s consciousness – he was afraid of him or Fox being banished again, or worse.

Clearly, his wolf hadn’t listened.

“It is dangerous,” Wolf adds.

“Whatever it is, can you do it?” Steve asks insistently.

“…yes,” Wolf says reluctantly.

“Great, tell me.”

Wolf grumbles again, and Steve looks to Lion.

“You will join your minds. You cannot roam freely here, He has shielded himself from humans – even you and Eleven, as much as He can,” Lion explains. “But Wolf and I are not human. Wolf can carry you through this place to Max, and then I can carry her to the edge of his place, but we will then need a way out.”

“My friends are here, they’re ready to fight,” Steve says, clinging to this glimmer of hope.

He feels Eddie press against his mind, too busy to talk – he and El focusing on keeping Vecna out – but he’s listening.

“Brother,” Wolf implores, “it can be done, but you need to understand – your mind will be with me, and no longer in your physical body. You will be helpless outside of this place.”

For a moment, Steve pictures himself sitting on the bench in the courtyard, his friends beside him.

They’ll take care of him.

He trusts them.

But Wolf’s not finished.

“And if He finds us, if He casts me out like He did last time…your mind will break. Will…scatter into a thousand pieces, and your body will be left a shell.”

Steve feels Eddie press more insistently against his mind now. Steve sends a soothing wave down their bond, almost coos to Eddie. I know, I know. It’ll be ok.

“Well, then we’ll be careful,” Steve says, as positively as he can muster. “This is our only chance, right?”

The resounding silence from Wolf and Lion is answer enough.

Steve nods once.

“I’m ready. What do I do?”

*****

Hopper’s group has eyes on Vecna.

He’s standing with his back to them, looking at the towering pile of black sludge in front of him.

It’s moving, that pile, contorting and growing taller and taller by the second. Hopper catches a glimpse of a demogorgan arm, several spindly wings, a row of teeth roiling and twisting as the pile takes shape into something horrific.

Eight heads, all on a long neck, a gaping mouth in the middle…

The thessalhydra is coming to life in front of their eyes.

“Come on, El,” he murmurs.

They’d signalled the other group a short time ago, let them know to start distracting Vecna, but if Hopper didn’t hear something back soon then they were going to have to just go in guns blazing.

There had been a moment when Vecna had twitched, looked briefly over his shoulder, but then he’d simply turned back to his task again.

He didn’t look particularly distracted to Hopper.

He’d hoped they’d have some of the soldiers here with them.

But it looks like they were doing this alone, as usual.

And judging by the way the makeshift thessalhydra is starting to uncurl its long necks, to stretch out thick, fleshy limbs, their time’s running out fast.

Hopper turns to the group behind him. Wayne gripping his gun tightly, the better one that Hopper had given him. Nancy with her shotgun, looking as determined as Hopper had ever seen her. Jonathan at her side, nervous but ready, and Lucas behind him, the youngest one of his bunch but holding his slingshot tight, pockets loaded with deadly steel ammunition, nail bat in his backpack.

They’re all ready.

Hopper can’t wait any longer.

He raises his hand, and as one, his group steps out of cover, weapons raised.

*****

Eddie’s cradling Steve’s mind close, surrounding it with warmth, keeping it safe from Vecna’s prying hands. He can feel Vecna scrabbling at the edge of his own consciousness too, but El fights back, shoves him away, forces him back behind the safety of his wall.

They’re seemingly at a stalemate – the three of them unable to enter Vecna’s defences, but he’s equally unable to invade their minds.

Eddie knows what Steve’s doing, he’d heard the plan.

And he’s not happy about it.

But he knows, deep down, there’s no other way.

He’d wanted to trade places, wanted it to be him and Fox going in after Max instead, but it makes more sense this way. Steve knows Max far better than Eddie does, and if either of them can coax her out of her prison, it’s Steve.

When Wolf and Steve merge together, it’s…odd.

Eddie feels a rush of cold through their bond, feels two heartbeats thrum back at him instead of one. He reaches out for Steve, and he’s there, but different – he and Wolf are so intertwined that Eddie can’t tell them apart, struggles to tell soft hair from fur, hands from claws, pink lips from teeth.

“Eds,” Steve murmurs, but it’s barely above a whisper, his voice weak and small. “I’m still here.”

Steve’s mind is bigger, filled with black but a different sort of black to the Upside Down – this is the black of the night sky, dotted with sparks of silver, boundless and wild and edgeless. It’s Wolf, but it’s also Steve, and it still feels like home.

Fox checks in, brushes her mind up against his, but remains in the safety of her physical body, watching over Eddie and Steve and their friends.

Eddie expands his mind, wraps it around SteveandWolf, defends it from Vecna as they prepare to infiltrate through the wall.

*****

Will’s deep in concentration.

Vecna’s still rooting around in the back of his skull – but he’s trying to be subtle, dipping a spider-leg of consciousness into Will’s head at a time.

It’s far from a direct attack, but Will feels it anyway.

After all, he and Vecna are intertwined in ways he can’t even begin to understand.

He knows what Vecna’s after. He’s rifling through Will’s knowledge of the thessalhydra, studying stats he’s got tucked away in the deep recesses of his knowledge – Will’s not sure why he cares how accurate the monster is, but assumes it’s Vecna’s way of taunting them further, or perhaps it’s a young Henry’s need to get everything just right. He’s checking the size – eighteen feet high, and yes the saliva’s acidic, running through all the details he’d only seen briefly the first time he’d been in Will’s head.

Will clenches his jaw, but he can’t try to cast Vecna out, not yet.

He doesn’t want him to know Will’s even aware that he’s in his head.

And so, he can’t hide his knowledge of the thessalhydra. Can’t undo the memories of playing DnD with his friends, with studying the monster because he’d been positive Mike was building up to unveiling it in a campaign and he’d been right.

But he can add something in.

Quietly, subtly, he can weave a weakness in that wouldn’t be found in any DnD manual.

It can’t be anything too sweeping or out of place like guns, because Vecna would spot the lie a mile away.

Will opens his eyes. Steve, Eddie and El are still beside him, their eyes still closed.

He’s running out of time – Vecna’s reaching the end of Will’s thessalhydra knowledge.

His eyes land on his answer.

Will thinks back to years ago, when he was a little boy, watching his father with Jonathan, watching him shove a revolver in his hand and force his arm up to aim at a rabbit in the woods. Remembers his dad being drunk at the time, alcohol heavy on his breath, muttering about steel and lead and things Jonathan needed to learn instead of sitting in his damn room with his headphones on all day.

Lonnie Byers might have taught Will one useful thing after all.

As carefully as he can, he rewrites a tiny section of the stats below the thessalhydra in his mind. Adds something in, something small, something that Vecna might see but surely care little about.

And then, with a small but triumphant smile, he waits while Vecna takes in that little piece of new information, waits for him to take the bait.

If Vecna’s making his monster as accurate as possible, then let him.

*****

SteveandWolf slip through the barrier around Vecna’s mind like water through a crack.

Lion’s in front of them, not fully corporeal again, her mind leading them through the tangled web of Vecna’s consciousness.

They step carefully, SteveandWolf. Huge paws padding silently, gently – they’re all too aware of the consequences if Vecna notices them there.

Steve feels almost as if he’s floating.

He’s not in control of his limbs, he’s detached in a way, but he feels safe with Wolf carrying him. And so, he looks through Wolf’s eyes as his brother takes him deeper and deeper into Vecna’s head, following close behind Lion.

Eddie’s presence is more faint, but Steve can still feel him through their bond, an ever-present source of warmth even here.

In the furthest reaches of Vecna’s mind, there’s a deep dark cave, with thick webs drawn tightly over the entrance.

SteveandWolf slip past those webs too, the silk barely rustling in their wake.

In that cave, Max’s soul sits, a tangle of red mist circling slowly.

As they approach, the mist solidifies slightly into the outline of the girl Steve knows. She smiles weakly at Lion, reaches a hand out to her.

Her eyes widen a little when she sees Wolf approaching quietly.

“Max,” Steve murmurs, feels Wolf project his voice outwards to the girl.

“Steve?” she whispers. “What are you doing here, how -”

“I’m here to get you out,” Steve interrupts, “and we don’t have much time, so I need you to listen, ok?”

*****

The crack of Nancy’s shotgun, of Wayne and Jonathan’s rifles ring out in Lucas’ ears, leaving them ringing.

Vecna shudders as the bullets strike home, and then he turns to face them, one elongated hand stretched out to the side.

Lucas raises his slingshot. Hopper’s flamethrower clicks and hisses as he readies it.

With a crunch, a section of the wooden fence around the field breaks free, and Vecna lifts his hand, the wood rising into the air at his command.

Hopper curses, shoves the others behind him and Wayne.

Lucas thinks of Max. And he’s terrified for her, terrified if they kill Vecna now they’ll be killing whatever remains of Max along with him.

But he has faith in his friends. In Steve, and Eddie and El.

They’ll get her back.

Lucas lets fury fuel him as he pulls back on his slingshot, as he levels it towards Vecna, aiming for his head.

Right before Vecna directs that wooden beam for them, a solid steel ball collides with his forehead.

Lucas’ aim has never been so accurate as it is now.

Vecna stumbles, and the wood falls harmlessly back to the ground.

Wayne fires again, followed by Nancy and Jonathan, and Vecna roars and staggers again.

The group advances.

The range on Hopper’s flamethrower is short - they need to get closer.

Lucas sends off another ball from his slingshot, watches it tear right through Vecna’s rotting shoulder and out the other side, as deadly as a bullet at this range.

But Vecna’s turning away.

Back to his monster that now towers above them.

He holds out his hand, ignores the bullets slamming into his back.

Hopper yells, and they break into a run.

The thessalhydra takes a lumbering step forward.

And then, eight heads begin to roar.

Chapter Text

And what you see is not the dark

It’s just the gods upturning inkpots ‘cause they know what you’ll become

And to those gods, I will speak bluntly

“We’ve an accord, if you ever touch or harm him,

Please rest assured, that you might not fear a man

But to a woman by the end, you’ll kneel and plead”

- The Amazing Devil

*****

“He said he’ll kill them if I try to leave,” Max whispers, and Steve’s heart breaks.

He’s been trying to convince her to come with them, to merge with Lion, to let her carry her out of this place.

“Lucas, El, you, all my friends, even my mom,” Max continues. Her soul has taken shape into Max, but she’s flickering, dull, tired.

“Max…” SteveandWolf sit in front of her and lower their head. “He’s going to kill them if we do nothing, don’t you understand? Lucas, all your friends…they’re fighting him right now. And we can help them, we can fight him from within, we can get you out of here and weaken him.”

Max looks away. Draws shadowy knees up to her chest, hugs them tight. “You go,” she sniffs. “Get out of here. Take Lion with you.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Then you’ll die here too.”

“Fine.”

“Fine,” Max huffs, stubborn as ever.

Lion watches her intently, and Max’s shoulders sag a little while later, the two of them sharing a conversation SteveandWolf aren’t privy to. The feline sits, closes her eyes, concentrating on something.

Gradually, sound starts to trickle into Max’s prison.

Sounds from outside.

Gunfire. Screaming.

Their friends.

The roar of a monster that sounded big.

The rattle and choke of a flamethrower.

Lucas shouting.

Max’s eyes snap open.

She looks at Steve.

“This is happening right now?”

Steve nods.

Max looks troubled, then resolute. She turns to Lion.

“Get me out of here.”

*****

Wayne has no idea what in the hell’s going on.

He only knows he needs to keep this thing away from his boy, from these kids.

The hydra-thing everyone had been talking about is like something out of Eddie’s books – it’s enormous, damn near thirty feet long including that spiny tail.

And the other creature – Vecna – is controlling it, pointing it towards them.

Wayne fires off another volley, concentrating on Vecna for now but it seems to barely be doing a damn thing except pissing him off and he doesn’t have endless ammo.

In fact, at this rate, he’ll run out within a few minutes.

Jim had run in close at one point, yelling at the others to fire everything they had to keep the monster busy, and tried to char-grill Vecna with his flamethrower.

But he’d barely singed him before Vecna had hissed and knocked him aside with an invisible force, sending the chief flying backwards and landing hard on a concrete walkway.

The kids had yelled, Nancy had blasted off a shot right at Vecna’s chest, but the vines from the ground had coiled around him tightly, absorbing most of the impact from their weapons.

And the hydra-monster is learning its strength, gaining its footing like a child rapidly learning how to walk. Its heads flail around, black gore dripping steadily, saliva raining from its mouths and sizzling as it lands on the ground.

What the hell can they do against that?

The Byers boy is helping Jim to his feet, Nancy and Lucas are sending lead and steel in Vecna’s direction, and the monster turns its sights on Wayne.

The ground shakes as it takes a step forward, and another, and another.

Wayne swallows and raises his rifle.

He thinks of his boy.

Remembers sitting around the little table in their old trailer, sharing breakfast when he’s arrived home from his night shift and Eddie’s dragged himself out of bed for school. Eddie’s hair’s a mess, he’s going to be late for his first class again, but he’s teasing Wayne and laughing over his Garfield mug and Wayne loves him to hell and back.

It is hell, this place, he’s decided.

But if this monster wants to get to Eddie, to any of these people, it’s going to have to go through him first.

The others are yelling behind him, screaming, scrambling to help him, but there’s no time.

Wayne breathes in. Lets it out slow.

And fires his rifle, aiming for the centre of one of the many heads.

At the same time, there’s a breeze beside him, stirring the air and rustling against his jacket.

From nowhere, a black mountain lion emerges, shadowy and blurred at the edges but unmistakable to Wayne.

It launches itself at the monster with a shriek, colliding with a neck and sinking claws in deep.

Wayne’s bullet slams through the jaw of one of the heads and explodes out the other side, leaving a gaping crater and causing the beast to roar.

That’s one head completely out of commission, to Wayne’s surprise.

There’s another stir in the shadows beside him.

Wayne looks down, sees Eddie’s fox beside him. She looks up, and Wayne’s never seen an animal smile before he swears that’s exactly what this fox does, grins almost ferally and then throws herself into the fray.

Everywhere he looks, the air is shifting, more and more shadows emerging. Some take on forms – there’s an enormous bear towering in front of Jim, half up on its back legs as it bellows at Vecna, a lion shaking its mane as it stands next to Lucas, a wolf smaller than Steve’s but with its lips curled up in a terrifying snarl alongside Nancy.

Others simply stay as shadows and surge at the beast, striking and surging into its mouths and throttling, withdrawing when the monster roars and shakes its heads violently, then striking again.

Wayne looks to Vecna.

He’s making a move, holding a hand up towards the shadows, slamming an invisible wave of force at them.

The shadows recoil with a hiss, some of them dissipating completely. The fox and the mountain lion hang on, jaws still wrapped around flesh, snapping and tearing.

Vecna draws his hand back, prepares to repeat his attack, but Wayne sends his next bullet right into that hand.

He growls, dropping his hand to his chest and snapping his head around to look at Wayne.

Wayne’s got three rounds left.

He’s going to make them count.

*****

Eddie and El are still pummeling against Vecna’s defenses, against that towering black wall.

Eddie’s not sure if it’s having much effect besides surely giving him a severe headache, but he keeps trying anyway. At the same time, he’s knocking back any attempt of Vecna’s to worm his way into Steve’s mind – it’s getting easier, defending those attacks.

Vecna’s attention is elsewhere.

He can hear Robin and Mike yelling distantly.

“The thessalhyrda’s here, it’s coming, whatever you’re doing you need to hurry up!”

“Steve? Steve, can you hear me?”

“El, are you there? We’re gonna have to get out of here soon, it’s not safe.”

He can feel Fox fighting. Can feel her teeth dragging through black gore, can feel her claws scrabbling and kicking, sends her what strength he can – he doesn’t have a lot to lend right now.

Suddenly, there’s a ripple in the wall ahead of them.

SteveandWolf slip through, and Eddie breathes a sigh of relief.

They turn, looking back at the wall expectantly.

“Where’s Max?” Eddie asks.

“Right behind us,” SteveandWolf reply, their voice that strange yet familiar mix of the two of them.

But nothing happens. The wall stays solid.

SteveandWolf lunge for it, collide with a crack and fall backwards.

“What happened?” El cries out.

“He must’ve….must’ve seen us, I don’t know!” It’s predominantly Steve’s voice from Wolf now, on the edge of panic.

“Max!” El screams, beating a fist against the wall. “Max, can you hear me?”

Eddie casts his mind out for Lion, finds nothing.

“What do we do?” he asks desperately.

SteveandWolf are silent.

El draws back from the wall. Stares up at it, something dangerous flashing across her face.

“Let her go,” she demands. “Let her GO!”

She holds up a hand and screams, so loud that Eddie claps his hand across his figurative ears, so loud that SteveandWolf flatten their ears against their head.

Blood pours from El’s nose, her eyes, her ears.

Eddie pours his strength into El, channels it towards the centre of the wall, feels SteveandWolf behind him, feels Fox give what she can, always sharing, there’s nothing they don’t share.

The wall splinters.

Cracks right up the middle, shattering like ice.

On the other side of it, little Henry Creel turns to look at them, fear flickering across his face.

Lion’s suspended in front of his outstretched hand.

He takes one look at El, at SteveandWolf growling before him, at Eddie ready to rip him apart with his bare hands, and withdraws his hand.

Lion falls to the ground with a thud, a faint red glow flickering behind her black fur – Max, tucked within.

Henry turns and runs.

Before Eddie can stop them, SteveandWolf streak after him, right into the depths of Vecna’s mind.

*****

Nancy’s almost out of ammo.

The thessalhydra swipes its tail like a whip, narrowly missing Jonathan’s head – Nancy drags him out of the way at the last minute, swings and fires her shotgun, taking out a piece of the pincer on the end of that tail.

Her arm’s stinging where a few drops of the creature’s saliva had landed, her jacket melting away and the acidic liquid sizzling into her skin.

There’s a wolf beside her.

From time to time, it attacks, but keeps returning to her side, just like the large hound dog next to Jonathan.

The wolf is black with dark blue eyes, just like Steve’s wolf but smaller, leaner, faster.

It looks up at her now, and there’s intelligence there, like it could speak just like Steve’s wolf and Eddie’s fox do to them.

Nancy hears nothing.

But when the wolf presses protectively against her legs, she knows this is a friend.

They’ve managed to take out four of the thessalhydra’s heads. Their bullets seem surprisingly effective, despite not having much effect at all on Vecna, and Hopper’s enormous bear had bitten one of the heads clean off.

The bear and Wayne’s mountain lion are now doing their best to beat back the thessalhydra, jaws locked down around one of its thick legs and dragging it backwards, trying to topple it, but the creature’s too big. Fox dances between the two, snaps at whatever she can reach, a whirlwind of teeth and claws. Lucas’ lion pounces on the tail, pinning it down, teeth crunching as they sink in deep.

Hopper and Wayne are slowly advancing on Vecna, dodging the debris he occasionally sends raining in their direction.

Suddenly, Vecna cries out, the sound eerie and sending shivers down Nancy’s spine.

He brings his hands up to his head and drops down to one knee, bellowing, and Nancy swears she hears the echo of Eleven screaming in his roar.

This is their chance.

Nancy runs for him, her wolf following behind, Jonathan and his dog at her side.

She pumps the shotgun, readies it to fire.

Hopper’s almost at him too, his flamethrower sputtering as the last of the fuel begins to ignite…

A shockwave slams outwards from Vecna, toppling everyone in its path.

Nancy’s propelled into the air, shotgun falling from her hands, her wolf whining and crying out.

Her head hits the ground with a crack when she lands, and everything turns to black.

*****

SteveandWolf pursue the boy through the dark caverns of Vecna’s mind.

They’re fast, but this is his domain - he knows every nook and cranny. His head whips around every now and then, terror in his eyes when he sees the giant wolf tearing after him.

Faster, Steve urges Wolf, and his brother responds, stretching out long limbs, limbs made for this, to chase and hunt and run.

Together, they slam around corners, sink claws into the black surface below them to gain purchase, push themselves harder and harder, fuelled by rage and a sheer desperation to end this.

They sprint past memories. Past a white room with a rainbow on the wall, past a little blonde girl in a blue dress, past the outside of a freshly-painted Creel house.

As they gain on him, Henry starts to push back at Steve’s mind.

Richard Harrington’s there, causing SteveandWolf to stumble for a moment. His face slams into Steve’s head, spewing a tirade of abuse, and Steve’s mom’s crying behind him, begging Steve to stop, to stop sinning, to listen to his father, the father currently raising a fist in front of his face.

SteveandWolf lift a paw, slash claws through the middle of the image, disintegrate it into nothing.

They’re not Steve’s family, and nothing they say matters to him. Not anymore.

His real family is fighting for their lives nearby, and Steve will stop at nothing to help them.

They charge after Henry, eating up the distance between them.

Stretching out their muzzle, SteveandWolf can almost reach him, can almost close their teeth around the back of his neck.

Henry runs faster. Throws his hand out to one side, conjures a vine from nowhere, launches it towards SteveandWolf.

They leap over it, reflexes lightning-quick, two minds working as one.

It allows Henry a split-second to get ahead again though, and SteveandWolf growl and force their legs to move faster, faster.

*****

Eddie has El in his arms, the girl barely conscious, blood still flowing from her nose. Lion’s beside him, looking down at El and rumbling in distress.

He cries out for Steve. Throws his mind outwards, searches, feels Steve’s heart hammering back through the bond.

He’s alive, but he’s far away, and Eddie has no chance of catching up with him.

He cuts what little remains of their connection with Vecna, opening his eyes in his body again.

It’s chaos in front of him.

Robin, Joyce, Mike and Dustin are standing protectively around them. Will’s clutching on to a limp El, who’s barely able to open her eyes.

Steve’s sitting still beside him, eyes still closed, ghostly white, Wolf sitting opposite him and equally unresponsive.

Lion’s here. She’s weak, but she’s here, and Eddie can feel Max’s soul safe within her.

The Upside Down is shaking.

The ground cracks, thunder booming from below, and Eddie thinks the entire place is about to tear itself apart.

There’s a thessalhydra coming for them.

It’s missing half its heads, but that’s about the only saving grace here – it’s crumbling whole classrooms as it walks, gore spilling from severed necks, chortling and roaring as it approaches.

Vecna’s not with it. Eddie can’t see him, not anywhere.

And he can’t see the others. Wayne, Hopper…none of them.

He casts his mind out for Fox. Feels her nearby, but she doesn’t respond when he calls her name.

Joyce has Wayne’s old rifle in her hands, the weapon looking big in her small hands, but she grips it tight and tucks it into her shoulder, standing in front of her kids.

Dustin’s clutching Steve’s nail bat and looking like he’s about to be sick.

Mike’s got a makeshift spear, similar to Eddie’s.

Robin’s got an axe in hand, casting desperate looks back towards Steve.

“Where is he?” she yells at Eddie. “If you’re back, why isn’t he?”

“He’s with Wolf,” Eddie stammers, “they went after Henry.”

“We need to move, can you carry him?” Robin points to Steve.

Eddie nods. Steve weighs more than him, but it doesn’t matter. Eddie can do it, of course he can – he’ll carry him all the way back to the house, if he has to.

But they don’t get the chance.

Just as Will and Mike have gotten El to her feet and Eddie’s about to lift Steve, the thessalhydra slams its tail into the classroom beside them. Glass shatters, bricks go flying, and dust rains down.

Will collapses as something strikes his head, Mike dropping down beside him and feeling for a pulse, nodding back at the others and shoving pieces of brick from his friend’s limp form.

Debris piles up over their exit, blocking the path.

And the thessalhydra advances.

*****

SteveandWolf have Henry cornered.

They’ve reached the edge of his mind – or the centre, Steve isn’t sure, but it’s clear that Henry’s out of space or energy to run.

He stands alone in the dark, shoulders heaving, eyes darting left and right.

SteveandWolf circle him, teeth bared.

Henry raises his hand. Snaps his fingers, and Steve’s heart leaps to his throat.

But nothing happens.

Henry tries again.

SteveandWolf remain.

Henry’s strength is waning.

“What do you want?” Henry asks, his voice wavering. “I can give you it. Name it. I can build anything. I could build this place however you want it. The gates will close soon, unless I stop them. You’ll all be trapped here.”

SteveandWolf growl, the noise reverberating around Vecna’s mind.

“I can stop the thessalhydra. Before it kills your friends. It’s about to, you know.”

SteveandWolf snarl, snapping their teeth, and Henry jumps.

He might be telling the truth, Steve knows that. But now is not the time for bargaining.

He has to trust that his friends can deal with the thessalhydra.

SteveandWolf look at the boy.

And Steve can’t help but just see a scared little kid, despite knowing it’s Vecna, and knowing what he needs to do.

But he’s not sure if he can.

The bond with Eddie thrums and pulses within him, and Steve pauses, listens, sends a question back to him, feels a tear slip down his cheek.

*****

Eddie’s crouched in front of Steve, tapping at his cheek urgently.

“Steve? Stevie, can you hear me?”

There’s tears raining down Eddie’s cheeks.

This is the end, he thinks.

They’re trapped.

Wayne’s rifle goes off with a crack in Joyce’s hands, the bullet blasting through an eye on one of the thessalhydra’s heads.

Another head down, but there’s still three more. Plus the gaping mouth in the centre of the main body, the body that’s now hauling itself over the top of the wall of debris.

Dustin’s screaming, for who or what Eddie’s not sure.

SteveandWolf are far away, but Eddie can feel them.

“Eds?” comes Steve’s weak reply. “I have him. I don’t know if I…can I do this? Eddie, do I do it?”

Eddie casts a look behind him, grabs Steve’s limp hand, watches Robin, Dustin and Joyce standing strong in the wake of the thessalhydra, Lion beside them.

They’re brave, but they’ve got mere minutes left.

Eddie turns back to Steve.

“I’m with you, sweetheart.”

In his mind, he takes Steve by the hand. Turns him away from the scared boy in front of him, cups his cheeks, kisses his forehead.

“Let me,” he whispers.

A tear streaks down Steve’s cheek, and he nods.

Eddie takes over. Feels Steve’s mind part before him, letting him in, moreso than he’s ever been before. He lets his mind flare, wraps around Steve’s, tucks him away safe and sound within.

Eddie looks down through Steve’s eyes, sees Wolf’s paws.

With Steve’s mind shielded within, EddieandWolf lunge for Henry Creel.

*****

Robin stands between the thessalhydra and Steve.

She’s shaking, axe gripped tightly in her hands, standing with Dustin and Joyce.

She won’t let it get to her best friend.

She’ll stand her ground, whatever it takes.

One of the remaining heads snakes forwards over top of the debris pile.

Robin yells and swings, the axe biting into its neck, Dustin screaming beside her and pounding Steve’s nail bat into flesh over and over.

The head retreats, black gore pouring from multiple wounds.

The creature gurgles and clambers higher up the debris, scrambling and scraping its way towards them.

Robin can see the mouth in its centre now. A gaping black pit, surrounded by rows and rows of teeth.

Two heads shove past her, a shot ringing out from Joyce but missing, the round burying harmlessly in brick instead.

They’re going straight for Steve, mouths opening up, saliva dripping from them and narrowly missing an unconscious Will as Mike drags him aside. Lion swipes at them but her energy is failing, and she does little more than distract it for a few moments.

But a few moments is all Robin needs.

She throws herself forwards, pitches into a roll, hand closing around her prize – the revolver from the bench seat beside Steve.

Letting the momentum carry her, Robin continues to roll under the outstretched neck of the beast.

On one knee, she turns, holds the revolver in both hands, aims it for the centre of the gaping mouth in the middle of the thessalhydra.

She thinks of Steve. Of ice cream, of bad movies, of she sounds like a muppet, of a friend she’d die for in a heartbeat.

She fires.

Chapter Text

If I don’t make it back from where I’ve gone

Just know I loved you all along

If I don’t make it back from where I’ve gone

Just know I loved you all along

If I don’t make it back from where I’ve gone

Just know I loved you all along

- The Amazing Devil

*****

Robin empties all six rounds right down the gullet of that gaping mouth.

The thessalhydra shrieks and writhes, its final two remaining heads withdrawing from Steve. Its body slams against the ground as it buckles and lurches, debris scattering as it staggers backwards.

Robin grabs Dustin, tugs him close, holds her arms up over their heads as acidic saliva rains down from above as the creature’s heads flail in its death throes.

And then, with a loud thud, it collapses and goes still.

“You killed it,” Dustin breathes, staring at the body of the beast. He looks to Robin, eyes wide, grin starting to spread across his face. “Robin, you did it!”

“Are we sure it’s dead?” Mike says, voice shaking, Will and El lying beside him still. “Surely it’d take more than a few bullets to do that.”

Will coughs, starting to sit up a little, tries to say something.

“Will, it’s alright, just keep still honey.” Joyce is crouched over him, pressing a strip of cloth from her shirt against the wound on his head.

“Brass,” he croaks, ignoring her. “It had a weakness to brass.”

Dustin frowns. “No it doesn’t.”

“It does, because I gave it one,” Will explains. He sits up further, helped by Joyce and Mike. “Vecna was in my head. I showed him what I wanted him to see. There’s brass in bullets, right? Especially in antiques like that. Like…Lonnie’s.” He gestures weakly to the old revolver still in Robin’s hand.

Robin tosses it aside, runs to Steve’s side. He’s pale, his eyes moving behind closed lids. Eddie’s sitting in front of him, both hands on Steve’s, deep in concentration.

“Steve? Can you hear me? You can come back now, ok?” Robin shakes his shoulder a little, but gets no response. “Eddie?”

She turns to Wolf next, buries her hand in the ruff of his neck, wills the massive creature to hear her.

“Wolf? Anyone, please!”

The three remain silent.

“We need to check on the others,” Dustin says, his face miserable as he kneels in front of Steve. “Lucas, Nancy…I can’t hear anything from the field.”

Robin bites her lip and nods.

“I’ll go with you,” Mike tells Dustin, leaving El and Will in the care of Joyce.

“Be careful!” Robin says firmly. “If Vecna’s there, don’t get too close. Just look and come right back, ok?”

The two boys nod, retrieving their weapons and starting to clamber over the debris pile, over wet limp limbs of the thessalhydra.

Robin squats down in front of Steve and Eddie, her hands clutching theirs, and waits.

*****

SteveandEddie are intertwined.

Their minds float, joined together like interlocked fingers, their bond flaring with warmth.

Steve’s crying, and Eddie thinks maybe he is too, but he wraps himself tighter around him, around that strong golden glow that is Steve.

Steve hears Wolf howl, feels his heart soar with the noise, feels the urge to throw back his head and join in.

It’s triumphant, that howl.

Eddie can hear Fox yipping somewhere in the distance, listens as the rest of the shadows take up the call, as the black space before them fills with their cries.

Henry Creel is gone.

Vecna is gone.

EddieandWolf had torn him apart from the inside, shattered what remained of his mind.

Wolf approaches now. Brushes his mind up against theirs, soft, questioning.

He’s asking if they’re ready, Steve realizes.

If they’re ready to return to their selves, to be divided again.

Steve never wants to part from Eddie again.

He sees everything – every memory of Eddie’s, sees Wayne as a younger man welcoming a runaway Eddie into his trailer, sees Tommy Hagan bully a kid in the hallway, feels the rage surge through him, feels the crack of Eddie’s knuckles against his childhood friend’s cheek. He feels the butterflies in the pit of his stomach as he stares at himself in the boatshed, pushed up against the wall, holding a bottle to his throat as his hand shakes.

He’s Steve, but he’s also Eddie.

And he feels Wolf too. Feels boundless strength in his limbs, feels sharp claws and strong teeth and a fierce loyalty to his pack.

To his family.

It’s bigger than him and Fox and Eddie, Steve realizes.

Wolf has actual family here, waiting in the safety of the Edge, drifting with the rest of the shadows.

Steve feels his longing to see them again, despite Wolf trying to tuck that knowledge away from him.

Eddie smiles, hums, pulls Steve closer, feels what he feels - this desperation to never part.

“It’s alright, sweetheart,” Eddie murmurs. “I’ll still be here. Time to go check on our friends, huh?”

Part of Steve wishes he could stay a little longer, cradled within Eddie’s mind like this.

Robin’s voice sounds from somewhere far away, calling Steve’s name.

Eddie’s right.

Steve turns to Wolf, nods.

They’re ready.

His brother slashes razor claws across Steve and Eddie’s minds, and Steve closes his eyes and holds in a gasp of pain as his mind tears away from Wolf’s, as it plummets violently back into his body.

His eyes snap open.

Robin’s in front of him, her face grey with dirt and dust, but it lights up when she sees he’s awake.

“Steve,” she whispers, and then she’s grabbing for him, tugging him into a hug that Steve’s limbs are slow to respond to but he forces them to comply, to wrap around and hold her tightly.

Eddie’s close to his side, an arm wrapped around his waist, murmuring quietly in his ear.

Steve lets go of Robin after a moment, lurches forward off the seat, and falls into Wolf. He squeezes him tight, both arms around his neck, and buries his face into soft fur.

Wolf chuffs and rumbles at him, turning his head to lick at Steve’s cheek until he laughs through tears.

Then, Steve’s attention is drawn to the enormous corpse of the monster lying in front of them.

He turns a questioning look to Robin.

She shrugs.

“I shot it.”

Steve raises his eyebrows.

“You…shot it?”

“Yes.” Robin holds up his revolver, wiggles it. “With this.”

“And that…worked?” Steve looks from the little revolver to the massive body of the thessalhydra.

“Will helped,” Robin adds.

Steve looks to where the boy is sitting with El and Joyce, the two kids awake but looking exhausted.

“Where’s the others?” Eddie asks.

“Dustin and Mike went to check,” Robin tells them. “But now that you’re back, we should probably go and see if they’re ok. Did you…what happened with Vecna?”

Steve shares a look with Eddie.

“He’s gone,” Steve says quietly.

Robin’s eyes go wide. “Like…gone gone?”

Steve nods. “I think so. But I’d like to make sure.”

Eddie helps him to shaky feet. With Wolf padding ahead of them and Lion behind, Steve, Eddie and Robin head cautiously towards the school field.

*****

Dustin and Mike peek around the side of a half-intact classroom to get a view of the field.

There’s a crumpled-up figure lying in the center of the grass, vines shrivelled around it.

Shadows surround the body of Vecna.

There’s a bear, a wolf, Eddie’s fox, among others.

A small group of soldiers step out of the trees, Dr Owens leading them. The soldiers are armed with flamethrowers, which they immediately raise towards the shadows.

Dr Owens raises his hand and yells something at them, and they lower their weapons, instead focusing on any remaining vines on the school field, burning them to ash.

Dustin searches for their friends. Sees Nancy and Jonathan sitting up, arms around each other, both bleeding from head wounds. Hopper’s helping Wayne to his feet, and Lucas is approaching them slowly, limping heavily.

A medic from Sam’s group runs to Nancy and Jonathan and begins to assess them. Dustin watches, hands shaking, feeling sick to his stomach from adrenaline.

“Are you ok?” Mike calls to Lucas, jogging forward to sling an arm around their friend’s waist to help him walk.

Lucas nods, winces. “Twisted my ankle, I think. Is everyone else ok?”

“A bit beat up, but yeah,” Mike answers.

“Max?” Lucas asks anxiously.

“I don’t know yet.” Mike pats him on the shoulder. “Steve and Eddie were still sort of…in their trance-thing when we left.”

The ground rumbles and bucks below them again, another earthquake sending cracks splintering underfoot.

Once it stops, Dustin looks out across the field again, to the soldiers cautiously approaching Vecna’s body, to the shadow creatures eyeing them warily.

“What happened here?” he asks.

Lucas exhales heavily. “We were fighting Vecna, and then it was like…something hurt him, really bad, and he made this sort of…shockwave. It knocked us all back, I think I hit my head on the fence because I don’t remember much, but when I woke up I saw the shadows tearing him apart.”

They watch as the shadows part to allow the soldiers through. Hopper’s with them now, Wayne at his side, and the group stands in a semi-circle around Vecna’s remains.

A lion pads towards Lucas. He’s huge, with a shadowy mane that sends mist scattering as he shakes it.

Dustin feels Mike tense a little at his side, but Dustin’s not scared of these creatures, not even a little. Not since Steve’s wolf had quietly nudged open the door to his bedroom in the house, not since the silent animal had laid across the end of his bed and kept him company until he’d stopped shaking, until he’d finally drifted off to sleep.

The lion sits in front of them, taller than Lucas, blue eyes appraising him.

Lucas reaches out, brushes his hand across that thick mane, the lion rumbling in response.

And then he’s fading away. Slowly losing form, turning back to pure shadow, dancing across their skin before vanishing, merging back in with his kin slowly circling above.

The other shadow creatures follow suit, apart from Eddie’s fox who still sits beside Wayne.

There’s a faint noise behind them, and Dustin turns, raising Steve’s nail bat in anticipation.

But he immediately lowers it.

Eddie, Robin, Steve and his wolf approach, with Lion trailing behind.

*****

Steve’s got an armful of Dustin. The kid runs to him, Steve almost being bowled over, his body exhausted and weak.

But he grins and hugs the boy right back, watches as Eddie embraces Lucas and Mike in turn beside him.

And then Lucas is kneeling in front of Lion, a slight frown on his face as he cautiously reaches for her.

“He knows her,” Lion tells Steve and Eddie. “He knows Max. I have seen him, in her memories.”

“Yes,” Eddie replies. “That’s Lucas.”

“Lu-cas,” Lion says slowly, sounding out the word, then nods once. “She can sense him.”

Below her shadowy fur, Lion flares red, Max’s soul swirling within.

“It’s Max,” Steve tells Lucas, dropping to one knee beside him. “She’s safe, Lion’s got her. We just need to get her back to her body somehow.”

He almost tips sideways as the ground shakes again, Eddie grabbing him and keeping him upright.

“We need to get the hell out of here,” Robin exclaims. “This whole place seems like it’s going to implode or something, and you know how I feel about earthquakes.”

“The gates are closing,” Steve says solemnly. “He said they would.”

Fox spots Eddie and yips at him, bounding over to him, front paws on his chest as she stretches up and licks at his chin. Eddie laughs, ruffling her coat.

“Thanks for looking after my uncle,” he tells her.

“He is pack,” she replies simply, then looks to Steve. “You are right, the gates will close soon.”

Steve and Eddie share a look.

Steve’s heart thuds.

“We gotta go!” Robin grabs for his elbow, tugs him to his feet. “We’ve gotta grab El and Will and Joyce, the main gate’s not too far, but we need to go now.”

“Go,” Steve tells her quietly.

“Huh?”

“Go,” he repeats firmly.

Robin frowns. Looks from him to Eddie and back again.

“What’s going on?” she asks, her face starting to crumple.

Steve opens his mouth to reply, to tell her somehow, but they’re interrupted by Hopper and Wayne joining them, Wayne pulling Eddie into a hug.

“We gotta round everyone up and get back through the gate,” Hopper announces.

The ground quivers below their feet again, as if agreeing.

“Most of the soldiers have already gone, and Sam’s been told some of the smaller gates have already closed,” he continues, then gestures to the soldiers still standing at Vecna’s corpse. “These are the few he convinced to stay and help, even if they were a little late as usual. Where’s El? Joyce, Will?”

“They’re ok,” Robin tells him.

Mike’s made his way over to Nancy and Jonathan, crouching down beside the medic checking them over. There’s a bandage on the side of Nancy’s head, her cheek streaked with blood, but she’s awake and Steve can see her responding to the medic.

Hopper waves his hands. “Right, let’s move then, I’ll grab Joyce and the kids.”

He leaves before Steve can say anything, striding towards the courtyard where they’d left Joyce and El and Will.

Robin’s still staring at him.

She knows.

She knows there’s something wrong.

The ground trembles under their feet again.

Eddie’s hand is clutching Steve’s, anchoring him even while his mind’s racing.

They’d known this was coming.

But they’d barely had time to think about it, the reality of being separated from friends and family, of being trapped here for…however long they lived, Steve supposes. And the shadows will rebuild, he knows they will, will turn this place back to how it should be, it won’t always be a desolate wasteland, and he’ll have Eddie and Wolf and Fox…

But Robin. Dustin. All of the kids, Nancy, Wayne. His shitty job at Family Video, if it’s still his, tossing candy at Robin’s open mouth while she sits on the counter, trading gossip back and forth about customers. Driving Dustin to school, advising him what to wear on his rare meet-ups with Suzie, bickering back and forth, the kid’s wide grin when Steve’s car rolls up his driveway.

Cheeseburgers, trips to the lake, long drives in his car, Star Wars – the one with the teddybears – watching shitty TV with Robin and getting a little drunk on Friday nights, running through the park in spring, feeding the neighbourhood stray cats…

It’s all catching up with him now, the enormity of what he’s losing.

His bond with Eddie aches, and he turns to see his boyfriend looking at Wayne, despairing.

Steve squeezes his hand.

Wolf approaches. Quietly, calmly, and sits in front of Steve, Fox at his side.

“Is there a way?” Steve asks them. “Is there any way for us to get home? I know you could go through the gate for a short time, so surely there must be some way…”

Wolf and Fox share a look.

“What is it?” Eddie crouches in front of Fox.

“You cannot pass through the gate because you belong neither here nor there,” Wolf explains. “You are human, but also shadow. You don’t belong in either world, and the gates reject you. Each world pulls and pushes you away at the same time. You are…different. New.”

“What are they saying? What’s going on?” Robin presses, but Steve shakes his head, focusing on Wolf and Fox.

“We could remove the shadows from you,” Fox picks up the conversation hesitantly.

“I’m sensing a ‘but’,” Eddie mumbles.

“But…it has never been done before. You are the first of your kind, the first to be both. And it could kill you.”

Steve’s stomach drops.

Robin’s hand is on his shoulder.

“Tell me?” she asks softly.

Steve does.

She listens, along with Dustin, Wayne and Lucas. The world’s crumbling around them, the earth roaring and cracking, but Steve explains as quickly as he can. That he and Eddie can’t go with them, that the gate will reject them, that there’s a chance but it’s not necessarily a good one.

“So what’s the alternative?” Robin blinks, a tear streaking down her cheek. “You just…stay here? Forever? Shut off from us once the gates close?”

Steve nods, avoiding her eye.

Wayne’s got an arm around Eddie’s shoulders, having listened gravely the entire time Steve spoke.

“If you boys stay, I’m stayin’ too,” he says firmly.

Eddie shakes his head. “No. No way.”

“What the hell do you think’s waiting for me back there, Eds?” Wayne turns Eddie to face him, shakes him slightly. “These few months you were gone, I had nothing. Looking after you, picking up your damn dirty washin’, yelling at you to turn your music down, sharing cigarettes on the porch even though I told ya it’s a bad habit…looking after you was my life, and I don’t want it any other way.”

Eddie’s crying now, too.

“But you could make a new life,” he says, voice hitching. “You’ve got friends, and your job…”

Wayne shakes his head. “You’re my life, Eddie. Those months not having you around were the worst time of my life. The thought of living the rest of my life like that? …I’d rather be dead, son.”

“We have to try it,” Robin insists. “What Fox and Wolf told you. Getting the shadows out of you, we have to try.”

“They said it could kill us,” Steve points out.

“And maybe it won’t. And I can’t…I’m not leaving you here.”

For the first time, Lucas pipes up.

“El brought Max back. After she died, she restarted her heart. We’d have her with us, so maybe if the worst happened, she could bring you back too.”

“We can all help. I can’t lose you guys, not again.” Dustin’s pale, still gripping Steve’s bat in one hand, the other hand on Wolf’s neck.

“Stevie?” Eddie murmurs, brown eyes finding Steve’s. “What do we do?”

Steve breathes in heavily. He brings a hand up to Wolf, strokes across his neck.

“If we do this, if we go back…will we ever see you again?” he whispers.

Wolf’s face softens, his ears dropping a little.

He shakes his head once, and Steve’s heart breaks.

A quiet sob wrenches from his throat, and his head tips forward, his eyes closing.

He’s so fucking tired.

Wolf chuffs, presses his mind to Steve’s.

“We must return to the house,” he tells Steve and Eddie gently. “Whatever you decide, it is the safest place.”

Steve nods.

The ground rumbles, like thunder underfoot.

They regroup. Hopper’s got Will in his arms, the boy blinking sluggishly, head still bleeding where he’d been struck by debris. Joyce and Mike have El between them, steadying her whenever she sways on her feet. Nancy’s on a stretcher, the soldiers carrying it, Jonathan walking beside her.

“You need to get through the gate, now,” Steve tells Hopper.

“What are you -” the chief starts, but Steve shakes his head.

“There’s no time, the others will explain. But I need you to do something.”

Hopper clenches his jaw. Steve implores him with his eyes, begs him to just do as he’s asked, to just accept that Steve needs this.

After a moment, Hopper nods.

“There’s a house. Back home, on the outskirts of Hawkins. Across the bridge over Roaring Creek, down a windy dirt road.” Steve closes his eyes, pictures it. He doesn’t know the address, not yet, but he will. He knows how to get there like the back of his hand – he’s been there so many times, after all – or will be.

It’s difficult to keep track.

What’s already happened, what will happen, it all…blurs together.

Just like he knew where to find the sheets in the house. Just like how his clothes were already in the drawers. Just like the fire already burned in the hearth because it had already been lit.

He describes the location to Hopper in detail. Recalls Eddie stepping out of the beemer in the driveway, laughing at the dust kicked up on the hood of the car, then marvelling at the forest nearby, the trees stretching tall, ancient and strong.

But is he recalling it, or foretelling it?

He barely knows anymore.

But Hopper listens, and that’s all he needs.

Steve and Eddie hug everyone in turn. Even Mike doesn’t grumble, just pats Steve on the back and tells him to come home.

Robin, Dustin and Wayne had been desperate to stay.

After all, they’ll need someone there to help them to the other side, Robin had argued.

But Steve had a plan, and had put his foot down firmly, had insisted they return with the others. He and Eddie had fought back tears as Lucas and Mike each wrapped an arm around Dustin and guided him away, as Robin and Wayne had finally given in after they’d promised they were coming home.

Robin had hugged Steve. Had held him close, made him promise to come back while choking on tears, and Steve had promised, but he’d also told her that he loves her so fucking much.

Just in case.

Lion pads behind Lucas, carrying Max safely along with the rest of the group.

She turns back once. Locks eyes with Eddie, then Steve, and each of them feel a rush of warmth.

And then they’re gone, beyond the school buildings, out of view, heading towards safety.

Eddie takes Steve’s hand, the two of them alone in the Upside Down again, just the shadows at their sides.

“Ready?” he asks, and Steve nods.

They’re tired, but their feet carry them swiftly through a land tearing itself apart. Black bleeds away  into the cracks in the ground below, the rot seeping away and giving way to rich brown dirt, to trees mostly barren now but the occasional streak of green promising eventual life.

Occasionally, they stumble in the wake of an earthquake, but they steady each other and continue forwards, towards the Edge, towards home.

The house stands solid and firm against a golden sky.

Darkness has given way to light in the Edge. The air is warmer, lighter, and Steve breathes in deep, exhales the last of the clogging particles of the Upside Down and lets the shadows carry it away.

Those shadows are dancing everywhere Steve looks. They ruffle his hair, swoop down to greet Wolf and Fox, swirl around the porch steps and up again, up and up as far as Steve can see.

In the distance, the ground still rattles and shakes, and Steve knows that far from here the gates are still closing.

Wolf pauses on the porch steps. Looks out towards the land, tips his head back, and howls.

Several wisps of shadow peel away from the main group darting around overhead.

They brush up against Steve, blur at the edges, clump together again, forming shapes, not as corporeal as Wolf and Fox but they’re there. Another shadow circles and rolls above them, larger, and Steve catches a glimpse of a she-wolf, not quite as trusting as the shadows now rolling across Steve’s feet but she presses briefly against Steve, whispers across the wind to him.

Six shadowy wolf pups stumble over each other, knee-height on Steve, yipping up at him.

Steve smiles, drops to a crouch, holds his hand out to the pups.

Wolf rumbles happily, lowering his muzzle down to his pups.

Fox swipes gently at one of them, chuffing as it tumbles and clacks baby teeth at her.

“They’ve been hidden for so long, but are now free,” Wolf says, blue eyes on Steve. “Thank you, brother.”

There’s a complicated mixture of emotions roiling off Wolf, passing unbidden to Steve through their bond. Joy at being reunited with his family, a sense of triumph and pride at finally defeating their enemy, relief in the knowledge that it’s over.

But there’s a heavy sadness there too.

Because Steve’s made up his mind, and Wolf knows. Knows he can’t stay here, not really.

Knows they’ll be parted soon, one way or another.

From the distance, there’s a roaring sound, louder now, the ground twisting and lurching, drawing out the rot like pus from a wound.

Steve accepts Eddie’s offered hand and pulls himself to his feet.

Wolf locks eyes with him again.

“It is time,” he says, and he turns away, heading into the house with Fox behind him.

Hand in hand, Steve and Eddie follow them inside.

Chapter Text

You taught me the courage of stars

Before you left

How light carries on endlessly

Even after death

With shortness of breath

You explained the infinite

And how rare and beautiful it is to even exist

- Sleeping At Last

*****

Inside The House, all is calm.

The fire flickers, painting the lounge in a soft orange glow.

Everything is familiar, from the empty squares on the walls where pictures will one day hang, to the cassettes strewn about on the coffee table, to the hoody of Steve’s Eddie had borrowed slung over the back of the couch.

Wolf stops in front of the fire, sits, looks at Eddie and Steve.

His eyes are soft, sad.

But they all know what needs to be done.

Steve kneels in front of his wolf. Wraps both arms around his thick neck, buries his face into cool fur, does his best not to break.

“Thank you,” he whispers. “For saving me so many times.”

Wolf rumbles, lays his muzzle on Steve’s shoulder.

“I will miss you, brother.”

Fox has given up all pretences and is practically burrowed into Eddie’s lap, letting out a sad whine as he holds her close.

Eddie’s crying. Steve is too, he realizes, tears soaking into the ruff of Wolf’s neck.

He wants both.

Wants his life back in the Right Side Up, wants his friends, wants Eddie to be back with Wayne and his band again, wants to find a job he enjoys and share breakfast with Eddie every morning and cook him dinner at night and go for holidays and visit Dustin at whatever fancy college the kid gets accepted to one day.

But he also wants his brother. Wants Fox as well, wants to watch Wolf’s pups grow, wants to see this place renew itself and begin again and flourish without Vecna poisoning the land.

Wolf chuffs, presses their minds together. He pulls back slightly, presses his forehead to Steve’s.

“Live well,” he says softly, and then he stands again, takes a step backwards, waits for Fox to do the same.

Hand in hand, Steve and Eddie stand in front of the fireplace.

To their left, the lamp flickers. Once, twice, three times.

It’s time.

*****

Erica sits at Max’s side.

The nurse had kicked her out late last night, sent her home, but she’d come back first thing this morning.

Lucas had radioed her a short time ago, let her know they were coming home.

With Max.

And Erica doesn’t know how, but doesn’t really care either – Lucas and Max are safe, and that’s all that matters.

Machines beep, the rhythm infuriatingly steady but reassuring at the same time, because it means Max’s heart is still beating, means she’s still fighting.

The walkie on her lap crackles again.

“Erica, do you copy? Over.”

She picks it up.

“Go ahead, Lucas.”

“We need a distraction. We’re coming in, but it’s probably best that the nurses don’t…well. They can’t see us. You understand?”

“Copy that, operation distraction is underway.”

Erica tosses the walkie aside, strides down the corridor to the hospital cafeteria, grabs a handful of ketchup sachets from the counter, and returns to Max’s room.

For a moment, she looks down at the sachets in her hand.

She sighs.

The things she does for her brother and his friends.

One by one, she tears them open. Smears the contents of one packet across her front, squeezes another out into her hands, and tips the rest into her mouth, holding the liquid there.

Then, doubling over in her best impression of being sick, she heads out into the hallway and calls for help.

*****

There’s enough going on in the reception area of Hawkins Memorial hospital that Lucas and Lion slip straight past the front desk.

Soldiers still fill the waiting room, many still there to be checked out after their fight at the Edge, others there after the earthquakes that had rocked the town during the closing of the gates.

Nancy, Jonathan and Will need to be looked at too, and they’re immediately whisked away to a back room with several doctors in tow.

Mike talks frantically to the lady at the reception desk, waving his arms in a dramatic recount of the ‘earthquake’ that had injured his friends, turning attention away from Lucas.

Lion’s beside him, but she’s formless, just a wisp of shadow floating along in his wake, pressing close in this unfamiliar place.

She’s weak, here. She can’t stay for long, Dustin had explained on their journey back through the gate.

But she’s obvious enough that if anyone were really looking, they’d notice the swirling mist next to Lucas.

He hurries as best he can with his sore ankle. Down several corridors, to the right, to the right again.

There’s a commotion up ahead.

Erica’s voice echoes back towards him, and Lucas has to hide a small smile.

“Can I get some goddamn service in this place, can you not see I am unwell?”

He sneaks a look around the corner.

Erica’s in the middle of the corridor, several nurses surrounding her.

She’s covered in something red. It’s all down her pink top, all over her hands, dripping from her chin, some even smeared on the wall nearby.

It looks like something out of a horror movie.

And even though Lucas can smell the ketchup from here, Erica’s doing a very convincing job of heaving violently.

He makes for Max’s room. Slips inside, closes the door behind him.

Lion dances across Max’s prone form.

Lucas swears he can hear a whisper between them as the shadow begins to glow red, as it presses up against Max, as it merges with her.

For a moment, nothing happens.

And then the beeping begins to quicken, machines spiking.

Lucas grabs Max’s limp hand.

“I’m here,” he tells her, “it’s alright, Max. Can you hear me?”

Max’s eyes blink open.

They’re not milky white, not how Lucas had last seen them.

They’re blue, but darker than he’d ever seen them, dark like…

Like Lion’s, like Wolf’s, like Fox’s.

Shadow pulls away from her, minus the red glow now.

As a nurse charges into the room, summoned by the chiming monitors, Lucas takes one last look up at Lion, at the shadow swirling weakly overhead.

“Thank you,” he whispers.

Lion brushes softly across his cheek, and then she’s gone, drifting back out the door and down the hallway, making for the remnants of the main gate, back to her home.

*****

Hopper, El, Wayne, Robin and Dustin are at The House.

It had been easy to find with Steve’s instructions, and just as abandoned as he’d promised it would be.

Despite being run down and with an ancient for-sale sign half knocked over by wind in the driveway, all of them recognize it as the same place that had offered them sanctuary in the Upside Down.

They head inside and set up in the lounge, El taking a breather on the moth-eaten couch while she can.

She’s exhausted, but she’d promised Hopper she can do this.

She will do this.

For Steve, and for Eddie.

Wayne stokes the fire, uses his lighter, the one with his initials etched into it, the same one he’ll leave to Eddie one day.

El’s not sure how she knows that – time feels strange in this place, like a convergence of past and present and could-haves and must-be’s.

The fire starts small, then roars to life in the hearth, shadows flickering across the room.

“Ready?” Hopper asks El, crouched down in front of her.

El nods.

Dustin taps the lamp three times.

El holds out her hand, gathers the last of her strength, and prepares to tear open the last gate between worlds.

*****

Lion drifts through the human world, a wisp of shadow past the distracted humans.

She can’t see, not anymore.

That gift had been passed to her sister.

But she doesn’t need her sight – the shadows call her home, and she follows the sound of their familiar song, across paved streets, past sirens blaring, away from the soldiers in the streets.

Through the gate, narrow enough now that she brushes each edge as she passes through.

It snaps closed behind her.

She’s home.

All she sees is black.

But her siblings hold her close, guide her to safety, and Lion purrs, riding the wake of a soft breeze.

Her home has never felt more alive.

*****

One last time, Wolf presses his mind to his brother’s.

Feels warmth, feels strength, feels love surge back at him.

He sees Steve as a pup, angry and alone, sees him older, colder, with false friends behind him and his soul stuffed away deep inside, sixteen and a king. Sees him fall from grace, feels his heart break, feels it heal again under Eddie’s careful touch.

He sees everything, revels in it for just a moment longer.

A tear slips from a blue eye, runs down to his muzzle. Wolf snuffles a little in surprise because he’s never cried before, didn’t know he could, thinks maybe there’s more of Steve in him now than he thought possible.

But it’s time to send his brother home.

And so Wolf steels himself, digs his claws into hardwood floors, and shreds.

The effect on Steve’s mind is instantaneous.

His brother drops to his knees, crying out, bracing himself on his hands as their bond starts to sever.

Wolf calls to the shadows inside Steve. Calls them home.

Mist pours from Steve’s mouth, from his eyes.

The same is happening to Eddie, the boy crumpling in front of Fox as she scrabbles at the floor, tearing at his mind at the same time.

Steve’s breathing heavily, slumping down to the ground fully now, and Wolf pauses. Snuffles at him, chuffs, reaches out to him but their bond is weak now, fading by the moment.

“Do it,” Steve pants out loud. “Finish it.”

Wolf rumbles, deep in his chest. Steve is becoming paler by the minute, and Wolf can hear his heartbeat slowing, the thudding lethargic and weak.

This could kill him.

But his brother is strong.

Wolf’s known that since the very beginning.

Closing his eyes, Wolf digs deeper, tugging at Steve’s very consciousness, calling the shadows away from bone, from sinew, from scars, snapping at their heels and chasing the more stubborn ones out.

They rush into the walls, those shadows. Into the floor, the ceiling, the very foundations.

In the corner of his eye, Wolf sees a tiny shadow tuck itself into Steve’s shirt pocket.

His soul aches, but rejoices at the same time.

Steve’s pulse slows, and slows.

The Wolf and The Boy share a final look.

And then Steve’s slipping, falling into a place Wolf can’t follow.

*****

El channels every ounce of strength she’s got into forcing the gate open.

Now that Vecna’s gone, the barrier between the worlds is healing, and it’s much harder for her to punch through.

But she does it, because she has to, because her friends are counting on her.

The House pours its strength into her hands. The flames jump higher, the lamp beside Dustin flares, the lightbulbs overhead pulse and glow, brighter and brighter.

And the house in the Upside Down answers, calling back to its twin, and El feels where the two meet, tugs at that invisible string until it snags taut.

Past, present, and future collide in The House.

The air splits apart in front of the fireplace, and they’re face-to-face with the prone forms of Eddie and Steve, of Wolf and Fox standing over them. Behind them, their fireplace is equally alive, flames jumping up to lick at the bricks above.

Wayne and Hopper waste no time.

They hurtle through the gate, Wayne slinging Eddie over his shoulder and Hopper scooping Steve up into his arms.

Once they’re back through, El locks eyes with Wolf and Fox.

She cannot talk to them, not like Steve and Eddie could. Not like Max.

But she whispers a thank you anyway, promises to take care of their charges.

Wolf throws back his head and howls, one last farewell to his brother.

And El lets the gate close for the final time.

*****

Eddie blinks awake slowly, winces at the feeling of someone patting incessantly at his cheek.

“Eds, come on, open your eyes for me son.”

It’s Wayne.

Eddie feels like he’s been hit by a damn truck.

Everything aches, especially his head that feels like it’s about to pound out of his skull.

He coughs, bats weakly at Wayne’s hands.

“There you go, I gotcha,” Wayne murmurs, helping Eddie sit up slowly.

Immediately, Eddie’s hit by the absence.

Fox.

Where once he could reach their bond as easily as lifting a finger, could feel her warmth, share her strength, now there’s a hollow space.

And that hurt him far more than anything physical.

“Steve,” he gasps out, clutching at Wayne. “Steve, is he…”

Wayne leans forward. He’s blocking Eddie’s view purposely, Eddie can tell, but he needs to get to Steve, needs to just see him, make sure he’s alright…

“Hopper’s working on him. So’s his girl, alright? They’re doing everything they can.”

No.

Eddie pushes past Wayne. Crawls to where Steve’s lying, flat on his back, Hopper with two fingers to his neck and El…

She’s got a hand pressed to his heart, her eyes closed in concentration.

Robin’s got one of Steve’s hands in hers, and she’s sobbing, clutching it tight.

Eddie takes the other hand. Brings pale knuckles to his lips, kisses softly.

“Steve…”

He reaches out in his mind, expects to find nothing, but maybe…maybe there’s a tiny scrap of their bond remaining, something Eddie can find.

There’s a tiny glow. An ember where there’d once been a raging hearth.

But it’s enough.

Eddie cups the remains of Steve’s soul, shields the tiny flame.

He feels energy slam into Steve’s chest, El’s hand still there, willing his still heart to beat again.

Eddie leans down, brings his mouth to Steve’s, pours breath into his lungs.

Turns his head away, does it again.

“Steve, come back to me,” he pleads.

The ember flickers, catches.

And Steve’s heart begins to beat again.

*****

The House cradles Steve and Eddie close.

It had heard many arguments of late from their friends, from their family, about where they should be right now.

In hospital, some say.

At least in a house that didn’t look like it was about to fall over, others insist.

But the girl knows.

Eleven.

They need to be here.

This is where they will heal.

And she convinces the rest of them. Convinces the police chief to pull some strings, to allow them to stay here, away from prying eyes.

Nobody else wants The House, after all – no one cares that it isn’t theirs on paper yet.

The House has always belonged to Eddie and Steve, and them to it.

And so it keeps the fire burning bright, keeps the curtains slightly parted to let the light into the bedroom, and lets them rest. Lets them heal.

*****

Steve’s in Eddie’s arms.

A bird sings outside, and a second answers. Sunlight peeks through old curtains.

He’s warm.

Slowly, he opens his eyes.

Eddie’s asleep still, long lashes framing closed eyes.

Steve reaches out. Brushes a hand gently over Eddie’s cheek, smiles when Eddie makes a soft noise and presses closer in response.

It’s been several days since the gates closed for the final time.

For Steve and Eddie, most of it has been spent in this bed asleep.

But they’ve never been alone – they’ve had a whole host of guests through at different times. Robin and Dustin are near permanent fixtures, and Joyce kept coming over with food – Eddie and Steve could only manage a little bit at a time, but Joyce didn’t mind, only took their dishes away and promised to come back with more later.

Wayne and Hopper were there every day, immediately beginning work on the most urgent tasks around The House – boarding up holes, repairing windows, checking the plumbing that somehow still worked. Hopper found an ancient horseshoe half buried by the gate, and Steve had asked him to nail it up by the door, told him it just felt right. Eventually, Joyce would scold the men, tell them they were making too much noise, that the boys needed to rest, and Hopper would head out and Wayne would sit at their bedside instead.

The kids visited as often as they could.

Lucas told them about Max.

That she was still in hospital, but that she was making rapid progress and might be able to go home soon. That she could see again, and was desperate to visit them once she could.

But for now, the place is relatively quiet.

Steve can hear someone cleaning up around the kitchen, but the noise is distant. He wonders, as he has several times before, if anyone has noticed them squatting in this house yet, if anyone cared. With so much going on in town, with the closing of the gates and the clean up after the earthquakes that had rattled Hawkins, Hopper had told them it was the least of anyone’s worries.

The chief’s Blazer frequently parked out the front deterred too many prying eyes, at least.

Steve sinks back down into the mattress again, limbs still heavy with exhaustion.

The inhuman strength they’d had in the Upside Down is gone, having drained out of them along with the shadows. Eddie had slipped in the bathroom yesterday and bruised his elbow, and Steve could still see mottled purple there – they would no longer heal like they once had.

But Steve can live with all of that.

There’s something else he’s not sure he could live without, though.

Experimentally, he reaches out for Eddie in his mind.

It’s not easy. Eddie’s no longer right there, he has to search, has to concentrate.

But he finds him.

Slumbering, quiet, but there.

Steve smiles. Presses his mind to Eddie’s, hums softly when he feels Eddie respond, feels the warmth drift back to him.

The shadows had taken so much from them, but perhaps they’d left them a little something in return.

Or perhaps the bond between Steve and Eddie’s souls had simply been too strong for anything to sever it.

Steve shuffles closer to Eddie.

Closes his eyes, falls quickly and easily back into sleep.

He dreams of Wolf.

*****

SteveandWolf run.

The Upside Down is a blur of green and gold around them.

Steve grins as Wolf’s long limbs stretch out below them, feels his lips peel back from sharp teeth.

EddieandFox run alongside them, darting out ahead, snapping playfully at shadows dancing overhead.

Five pups run behind SteveandWolf, and distantly, Steve wonders where the sixth has gone.

He can’t talk to Wolf.

Not even here, in his dreams.

But he doesn’t need to – they’re one and the same, strong and sure as they traverse the healed landscape.

They’re at Hopper’s cabin. At the clearing where Steve had first found himself sheltering with Eddie.

There’s a pond behind it.

Where it had once been dark and murky with a tinge of Irish Spring soap, the water is now clear and clean. SteveandWolf splash through it, huff when EddieandFox skim a paw over the top of the water, sending it splashing into their face.

Behind the pond, there’s a den. Wolf’s pups tumble over each other, racing inside, yipping as they go.

While Steve and Eddie rest and heal in their own world, here they run, sharing in Wolf and Fox’s glee at seeing every inch of their new world.

*****

Once they’re finally deemed healthy enough, Steve and Eddie purchase The House.

They drive into town to meet the agent and sign the papers. She’s surprised, visibly confused in fact, that anyone is prepared to buy it in the state it’s in, despite the two of them having practically moved in already right under her nose.

It doesn’t cost them much.

Steve used whatever savings he had left, and Eddie contributed what he could with a little help from Wayne.

They pull up in front of the driveway now, and Eddie throws back his head and laughs as he steps out of the beemer.

“What?” Steve grins.

“Bet that’s the dirtiest she’s ever been,” Eddie cackles, running a finger through the dust on the hood.

Steve rolls his eyes, leaning on the door for a moment. While he’s feeling much better now, even the short trip into town has taken a lot out of him.

Eddie walks to his side, loops an arm around Steve’s waist, kisses his temple.

He’s pale, Steve can see, with small beads of sweat on his forehead – it seems the day has taken just as much out of Eddie.

But the papers clutched in Steve’s hands were worth it, he thinks as he looks back at the house. Mentally, he calculates what needs to be done next – definitely new paint, but that would need to wait until after any rotten boards are replaced. Some of the bricks in the chimney are cracked, and the garden is terribly overgrown, and he wants new shutters and curtains and rugs for the floor and shelving in the bedroom…

Eddie exhales beside him.

“Look at that,” he says softly, tipping his head towards the trees opposite the house.

The sun’s setting, the sky a burnt orange above the towering, ancient trees.

“Fox and Wolf would love it, don’t you think?” Eddie continues.

Steve nods, feels the ache deep in his soul, in the empty place where Wolf used to be.

He can reach him in dreams, but it isn’t the same.

Eddie pulls him closer. Senses Steve’s loss, feels the same thing himself whenever he thinks of Fox.

“Let’s go inside?” he whispers, and Steve nods.

Slowly, pausing for breaks along the way, they make their way into The House.

*****

Days pass. Steve and Eddie do small tasks around The House, aided by their friends. Wayne borrows a trailer, orders the kids around in the yard, tasks them with weeding and mowing and carrying it all back to the trailer to take it away and dump it. Hopper puts new boards up on the porch, pulls the wonky front door off the hinges and replaces it with a new one, Steve standing by and passing him nails and tools.

Robin comes along to the store to pick out paint colours with them. The people of Hawkins stare at Eddie, at the man accused of murder, the man who Hopper had had cleared of all crimes but that they still didn’t trust.

Steve glares at anyone who dares to look at him for too long, stands close to him, resists the urge to bare his teeth and growl because they’re not in the Upside Down anymore, he can’t tear these people apart for just looking at Eddie the wrong way.

But he sort of wants to.

Wolf would.

Instead, he picks up the paint with a huff and marches up to the counter.

He’s chosen a soft yellow for the bedroom – the exact shade he’d seen on the walls in the Upside Down. The rest of the house would be done in soft pastels, including a duck-egg blue for the hallway that Robin loved and so did Steve. Eddie had taken a little more convincing, but gave in eventually when Steve pointed out he’d let Eddie decorate the entire lounge, had let him fill the shelves around the fireplace with all his books and agreed to let him paint constellations on the roof of the spare bedroom.

The stars would stand out and shine against the blue, Eddie had implored him.

Fox would’ve loved it.

When they return to The House, Max and Lucas are sitting on the steps to the porch.

Steve jerks the handbrake on, steps out of the car, and runs for her.

He’s still regaining his strength, and he hears Eddie call out from behind him to be careful, but Max grins and pushes herself to wobbly feet, aided by Lucas, and opens her arms.

Steve pulls her close. Max squeezes him tight, not a hint of the stubbornness Steve had been accustomed to there – she hugs him openly, smiles bright, blue eyes shining.

Steve pulls back, hands on her shoulders, and studies her for any sign of anything wrong. But Max is healthy-looking, the colour starting to come back to her cheeks, even if she’s still reliant on the crutches propped up by the porch while her muscles strengthen again.

Steve grins. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too, dingus,” Max says, tongue between her teeth.

Steve laughs at that. “You’ve been spending too much time around Robin, I think.”

Max shrugs. “She’s cool.”

“Mmm hmm,” Steve replies, eyebrow raised.

Eddie catches up, offers a fist bump to Max, shoots Steve a surprised look when she tugs him into a hug as well.

There’s a moment of awkward silence afterwards. Of…weight between them, of a heaviness they’re not ready to delve into yet, of shared trauma and the knowledge of everything that had passed.

Max turns her gaze downwards.

Steve exhales slowly.

“Want to look at some paint colours?”

A small smile returns to Max’s face, and she nods.

One day, they’ll talk. The three of them, or maybe with all their friends and family around them. They’ll share everything that happened during their time in the Upside Down. They’ll cry, they’ll stumble over their words, they’ll finish each other’s sentences whenever it becomes too much for one of them.

But not yet.

Now, they’ll take the lids off the paint. Stir it. Drag a chair over for Max to sit in, Lucas cross-legged at her side, painting whatever part of the hallway they can reach. It’ll take a long time, and no doubt be down in uneven chunks depending on who’s helping them on any given day, depending on physical ability and energy levels but none of that matters.

Eddie takes Steve by the hand, leads him to the bedroom, closes the door behind them.

He sits the tin of paint down on the floor, cups Steve’s cheeks and kisses him.

Steve sinks against him, lets Eddie hold him close, opens his mouth and lets him in.

*****

Later, much later, when they have The House to themselves and the tins of paint have been put away for another day, Eddie strips Steve of every layer.

Slowly, reverently, he peels the shirt from his shoulders, slips the belt from his jeans, mouthing at every inch of bare skin along the way.

There’s the faint slither of scars left – on Steve’s forearm, his shoulder. Eddie has some, too.

They’ll never heal completely, not all the way, not without the abilities they had in the Upside Down.

But that’s ok.

Steve sinks back onto the mattress with a sigh, watches with hooded eyes as Eddie sheds his own clothes, as he straddles Steve’s hips and meets his mouth with his.

They move together, familiar and well-practiced now, and its not long before Eddie’s sinking into Steve with a soft noise, Steve sighing into his mouth in response.

Here, joined like this, the echo of their bond flares the strongest.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Eddie hums, and Steve’s soul soars. “There you are.”

*****

One night, a little past midnight, Steve jolts awake.

There’s a scratching at the front door.

His heart pounds, sweat running cold.

What the hell is it? Something from the Upside Down? A demodog, perhaps? The gates are closed, but maybe it’s not over, maybe something had slipped through, had gotten past the soldiers…

Eddie wakes beside him, disturbed by Steve’s movement.

“Can you hear that?” Steve whispers.

Eddie nods, moonlight seeping through the new curtains and making his skin glow.

Together, they clamber out of bed. Steve grabs Lucas’ nail bat from under the bed – one day, he’d throw it away, he’d promised Eddie, but not yet, not yet.

Eddie’s hand is on the small of Steve’s bare back as they walk down the hallway, past the pictures they’d put up on the freshly-painted walls – there’s one of Steve and Robin in their Scoops Ahoy outfits, a younger Eddie and Wayne, several of the kids, Eddie and Steve standing on their newly-renovated porch with the yellow violas planted by the steps – and to the front door.

Where something is, indeed, scratching lightly at the door.

Whatever it is, it doesn’t sound big.

Steve frowns. Raises the bat, waits as Eddie listens against the door, as he shrugs and unlocks it.

He pushes the door open an inch, peers out.

A smile spreads over Eddie’s face.

“What is it?” Steve hisses.

Warmth pulses back from Eddie, a shadow of what their bond had once been but it’s there, just small and young again.

“I think it’s for you,” Eddie says, grinning now, and opens the door completely.

There’s a puppy at their doorstep.

Its coat is ink-black, and its paws are enormous, but it's skinny and rough-looking, like it had been on its own for a long time.

But Steve’s drawn to its eyes.

Dark blue, familiar.

He drops to one knee.

Holds a hand out to the pup, who leans forward and sniffs it, eyes locked on Steve.

A rumbling noise comes from the chest of the pup, higher-pitched than what Steve was used to, but unmistakable.

This is Wolf’s sixth pup, Steve is sure of it.

Experimentally, he reaches out with his mind, tries to talk to the pup, but receives nothing in return.

Instead, he strokes a hand over the pup’s back, marvels at the way its thick fur feels under his fingers – there’s no mist, no blur at the edges. This pup had once been shadow, of that Steve is certain – but it isn’t any longer. This is a puppy, through and through, whether wolf or a wolf-like dog he isn’t yet sure.

“C’mon, let’s get you inside,” Steve murmurs, scooping the puppy up into his arms.

*****

“It is Wolf’s,” El confirms the next day, holding her hand out over the puppy. “I thought I saw something when we brought you back through the gate, a shadow tucked up in your shirt.” She gestures to Steve. “It must’ve found its way into a suitable host.”

Wayne tilts his head, assessing the puppy currently laying in front of the fire, looking up at his audience with big blue eyes.

“Mangy looking thing,” he says, and the pup huffs in response. “Reckon it would’ve died, if it hadn’t ended up here.”

“Maybe that’s why the shadow…possessed it?” Dustin theorizes. “Saved its life too, in a way. The shadows can’t survive here long, right? So it’s taken on a new form, one that belongs here. Perhaps it was the only way for both of them to survive.”

“There’s no wolves around here though, so is it…a dog?” Robin asks, bending down to stroke the puppy.

“Doesn’t matter, he’s cute,” Max replies.

“I guess we’ll find out,” Steve says, smiling as the puppy mouths at Robin’s fingers. He puts a container down on the coffee table in the lounge, hands shooting in and coming away with freshly-baked cookies – a hobby Steve’s taken up, a way to keep his hands busy and his mind distracted which he needs sometimes.

They name the puppy Wolf.

It’s only fitting, Steve thinks, and as the puppy grows bigger and bigger, he reminds Steve more and more of his father.

When he finally reaches full height, he’s bigger than any dog Steve’s ever seen, but not quite the size of Wolf. That was a good thing, he supposes, or it would certainly raise more questions whenever anyone drove past The House and saw the large creature that guarded its front door.

Wolf Jnr, as Dustin had dubbed him, slotted into their lives seamlessly. He snuffled around in the yard when Steve was weeding and planting and only needed to be told once not to terrorize the chickens in the coop behind The House. He’d wait out the front to welcome Eddie and his van home from his record-store job each day, would leap up to lick at their visitors’ cheeks – much to Robin’s joy, and Wayne’s grumbling acceptance. The kids would throw a ball for him out the back by the orange tree, and the proud animal would resist at first but eventually bound after it.

And while they couldn’t communicate in the way that Steve and the original Wolf had, he had a way of always knowing what Steve was thinking anyway.

Occasionally, when nightmares shook either Steve or Eddie, Wolf would know, would come silently padding into the room from the lounge, would hop up on the end of the bed and ground both of them with his presence, blue eyes shining in the dark, a spitting image of the creature Steve had farewelled in the Upside Down.

Gradually, Steve’s dreams with his brother become fewer and further between. Eddie reports the same happening with Fox. It was as though they were slowly pulling away from each other, moving on with their own lives, separating almost completely as the two worlds continued to heal.

And that was ok, Steve had decided.

Because occasionally, every once in a while when the moon was full and there was a howl on the horizon, Steve would still run with his wolf.

And then he would wake in Eddie’s arms, smile warm and soft, press himself even closer, feel Wolf’s tail thump against the end of the bed.

He has the best of both worlds.

*****