A/N: Day four! As soon as I saw head injury I knew it had to be about Steve. Prompt: head injury /waking up disoriented /can't pass out

Summary: Steve reflects on his major headaches from the Upside Down while driving to the hospital to see Max.

If you had told Steve this would be his life a few years ago he would've laughed in your face. Now though he was far too used to it all.

Steve was currently driving Dustin and Robin to the hospital so they could meet with Lucas and Erica. The others that had been at the cabin when the sky started raining dust from the Upside Down and were currently set to meet them in the hospital.

Still Steve couldn't stop thinking about how he couldn't believe this was his life. There was many things that he wouldn't change, like him making actual friends- even if they were all younger then him. There was also a list of things he would change though, starting and basically ending with anything to do with the Upside Down.

Steve didn't even want to think about the fact that without the Upside-down he would probably be the same jerk he used to be and wouldn't have become friends with his friends.

He found himself getting lost in his memories about how he was first dragged into this mess. He could still remember that day very well.

Steve's head had still been hurting from his fight with Jonathan but even worse his heart was hurting about Nancy. For the first time in forever he felt himself feeling ashamed of his actions. Maybe he hadn't been right to let his friends treat Nancy the way they did.

So with guilt swelling in his gut and his mind made up he went to apologize to Nancy. It didn't take him long to figure out that Nancy was up at the Byers house.

He had made his way up the road and convinced himself to just go up and apologize. When Nancy had opened the door she hadn't been very welcoming which in all honesty wasn't that surprising.

Steve had been trying his best to be chill and apologetic about the situation but when he spotted her hand wrapped in a bloody bandage his emotions from the last several days exploded.

At the time he hadn't understood that Nancy willingly did it in order to avenge her dead friend so he instantly blamed it on Jonathan.

For a brief few minutes he wanted to believe that he wasn't part of the problem in his failing relationship. For a brief few minutes he was able to pin it all on Jonathan. Soon after he had rushed in to save Nancy and Jonathan from the monster, he found himself thinking about how he was wrong and he was the problem in their relationship after all.

His fight with the monster caused his already painful headache to turn into an unnecessary splitting feeling. When the government came they were quick to wrap up his injuries and give him some medicine but his head was still screaming. Not only physically but also mentally. He didn't fully understand at that time what he had gotten himself into but he had known the seriousness of the situation.

Steve back then was naïve and thought it was all over but had even still felt his head get dizzy at the explanation he got about what had happened.

Steve glanced back towards the rear seats and watched as Dustin and Robin started shoving each others legs claiming that the other was in their space. Even though he wished the Upside Down and it's monsters would just die already part of him was glad that the first encounter hadn't been the end- if only for the friendships he gained.

After all the second time it happened he had still been a bit of a jerk. He had been trying to be better but change doesn't happen over night. Dustin had been the one to drag him into the mess this time. Once again he was trying to apologize to Nancy, when Dustin came up to him requiring his help.

He knew that at the time he was far from Dustin's first choice to have help but he was the only one available. It really showed how much time could change people. He went from being the last person Dustin would even think about asking, to Dustin's first choice to share information with.

At that time he didn't feel much like helping but was practically forced into it. His bond with Dustin was quick to grow that night as they hid from the Demo-dogs with Max and Lucas.

Part of him could remember feeling the protective feeling he got over the kids forming. Even though they had only just met, in that moment he realized the person he wanted to become.

It wasn't till later that night when it fully hit him though. Once again he had lost a fight and ended up with a killer headache from his effort. Still the pain was worth it because Billy hadn't been able to hurt the kids.

After he had drove the kids back to the Byers, he plopped on the couch and practically faded from existence. He heard later from Mrs. Byers that all the kids slept around him as he laid on the couch.

Apparently he woke up a few times completely disoriented. The kids pitched in and said that he kept muttering nonsense. They also said that one time he woke he thought he was still in the car and that Max was driving, which caused Steve to try stopping the kids by yanking them away from where they were sitting.

Ever since that day him and the kids had been a lot closer. Even though he didn't always want to admit it but he was willing to do practically anything for the kids since then. Which is why when he worked at Scoops Ahoy he let them use the back to sneak into the movies.

Speaking of Scoops Ahoy that lead to the next big headache and he meant that quite literally. He never expected that not getting accepted into collage would lead to him being involved with taking down Russians and making new friends but at this point he shouldn't be surprised.

Steve should of stopped Dustin while he had been ahead of himself- the moment they got stuck in the elevator he had admitted that to himself.

Still things had been going alright, he had even won his first fight but then he had been stupid enough to leave the knocked-out Russian alone. He told the others to run but Robin stayed with him so the others could escape.

It didn't take long for Steve and Robin to get captured. After that everything went down hill fast.

First he was tortured by the Russians because apparently Robin and him were working for the government. Which led to him yet again having a crushing headache. That should of been his first sign that everything was going to get worse.

He never seemed to get headaches until right before some giant monster came from the Upside-down and tried to kill them all. Sadly he was proven right when Eleven saved them, only to collapse from being injured by once again another monster.

His pain from the torture only increased as he drove back to the mall after the mall lights started flashing and the others didn't reply. Without any other option in sight he crashed his car into Billy's to save the others.

The impact caused him to lose his vision for a couple of moments. After it came back he found himself finding it hard to look at the flashing lights. Which is why the bright light from the fireworks were such a pain but very much worth it. If he listened to his pain and gave up, his friends and most likely himself too, would be dead.

Once the whole thing was over, paramedics checked him over. They wrapped up his injuries and gave him some painkillers, all while giving him a diagnosis that he didn't even bother listening to. It was probably something about making sure to take the medicine they gave him, being extra careful for the next few days or weeks, and the usual if it doesn't go away or gets worse to go to the hospital immediately

Once they were done with him, he went over and joined the others. That's when he learned that Hopper had died- which apparently Hopper was alive and was going to be meeting with them too.

Steve watched as one by one they were driven off to be returned to their families. The Dr. Owens guy promised to replace the destroyed cars and had them each escorted home.

That night, even though Steve was in a lot of pain, he couldn't fall asleep. The thoughts about everything that had been happening was striking him too deeply. He rolled around his bed for what felt like hours before getting up and heading towards the phone. Right before he could reach it the phone rang.

He was relieved when Robins voice filled the phone. The two of them talked over the phone for the rest of the night, willing to talk about anything in order to just hear the others voice.

That was just about the only good thing he thought of when he thought about Scoops Ahoy; his friendship with Robin.

After that he had hope that the Upside Down wouldn't come again but deep down knew that what had happened at the mall couldn't possibly be the end.

He was proven right when Chrissy died. After that things got even worse; the more he learned about Vecna the harder it got. Nothing would slow down either and before he knew it Max was dead and Vecan had one.

His head was hurting from being chocked almost to death so many times in a row. What was worse than the pain in his head was the pain in his heart.

By some miracle Max was revived and the splitting of Hawkins was put on hold. Still that led him to his current situation- scrambling with the others to figure out what they were going to do.

As he pulled into the Hospitals parking lot he found himself hoping that they would be able to fight Vecna and win without losing anybody else; and maybe without getting another headache.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this story about Steve for day four! Thank You so much for reading! Thank you to everyone who liked and/or commented on this. Till next time!