As Steve and Max exit the kitchen, they catch a glimpse of Joyce talking to someone by the door. Steve thinks he was wrong that it wasn't Jonathan who pulled up. His suspicions were confirmed when Joyce opened the door wider and Chief Hopper stepped through the door. He didn't know how he confused Jonathan's car with Hopper's, one was a truck and the other was a regular car. In his defense, he was in the kitchen far away from the front door.

"Thanks, Joyce," Hopper says removing his hat as Joyce closes the door behind him. Standing in the hallway, Steve gives the chief a smile and a friendly nod which the older man returns. He wonders why the chief is here at the Byers house but that thought gets parked when he feels Max jab his side lightly with her elbow and motions to follow her towards the end of the hall to Will's room.

The boys were dogpiled around Will's bed with Will in the middle when they came in. It makes sense, they're there to protect their friend. It's kind of sweet. Steve wonders if he was the one who disappeared would Tommy and Carol surround him like that. Would they lay there on his bed and make sure his safe? Would they face down interdimensional monsters for him? Probably not. Steve put those thoughts aside, this isn't about him it's about Will.

"All right – ", Steve starts before being cut off.

"All right, shitheads! Snack time!" Max interrupts Steve in her best Steve Harrington impression. This earned her laughter from Dustin, Lucas, and Mike and a smile from Will. It was a good impression too. In a few years, the kid could be an actress and star in a critically acclaimed 15-minute short film someday. That was suspiciously specific. Not weird at all.

"I don't sound like that!" Steve lies unconvincingly as he puts down the pitcher next to the plate of sandwiches. Max smiles proudly at herself knowing she nailed it.

"You definitely do!" Dustin says with a toothy smile as he gets to his feet. There are snickers and murmurs of agreement coming from Mike and Lucas as they also get off the bed and follow Dustin toward the plate of food that Max brought. Will stays in his bed as the boys join Max happily snacking on Mrs. Byers' sandwiches.

About as good a time as any to check in on Will, Steve thinks. He approaches the bed and catches Will's attention.

"Hey, Will!" Steve greets the boy with a smile. He stops himself from asking him how's he doing or if he's okay. He figured he'd probably gotten a lot of those from everybody else.

"Hey, Steve!" Will says back. The last time he saw Will the kid looked like death. He was pale and clammy and barely holding on. He almost looked worse than when Steve saw him in the hospital last year. Almost. Today though the kid looked fine. Skinny but he thinks that's just the kid's natural build. There's color in his cheeks and life is in Will's eyes as he greets him.

"You know," Steve starts talking as he sat down next to Will on his bed, "if you wanted to hang out you just have to say so, man. We don't need to involve interdimensional monsters or shady government labs."

Is two days too soon for jokes about personal trauma? Steve thinks to himself. Maybe he should've thought through this casual approach he's going with.

Apparently, two days is enough because Will laughs a little and answers, "Well, I asked Jonathan to invite you to my birthday a couple of months ago but you said you were busy. I figured monsters would make you come along."

Steve remembers that invite. He was still too guilty about the things he said to Jonathan to come to Will's party. He ignores the thought at the moment, got to keep it light, "Oh, so you're saying it's my fault?"

"We'll never know now, will we?" Will says with a smile the kid rarely wore. He should wear it more often.

"Whatever. I sent a gift," Steve says waving off the faux accusation.

"Thanks, Steve," Will says in a tone different than he was using for the entire conversation.

"Don't worry about it, man. It was your birthday, I missed it. It was the right thing to do," Steve replied back while thinking they might not be talking about his birthday anymore.

"No, I mean… for everything. For saving Jonathan last year even after he beat you up. For making sure Dustin didn't get eaten by Dart. For protecting Lucas from Billy. For saving Mike from the vines in the tunnels. For burning down the tunnels to help free me from the Mind Flayer… For all of it. You kept my family, my friends, and me safe. Thank you, Steve."

Steve didn't know how to respond to that. He felt warm, proud, and appreciated but he knows he doesn't deserve to feel that way. He was a shitshow. He never should've left the Byers house in the first place. He just put them in more danger before changing his mind and doing the decent thing. He didn't save anybody in the junkyard, the demodogs ran away on their own. He didn't save anyone from Billy, he just got his ass kicked it was Max that saved the day. He didn't save anybody in the tunnels, he was just along for the ride. He didn't deserve any of the praise that Will threw his way but the kid looked sincere. He can't deny it or throw it back to Will's face, he's not that big of a jerk.

"Like I said, don't worry about it, man. I missed your birthday; it was the right thing to do." Steve says with a small smile. Part casual, part serious, part callback.

It must've really satisfied Will because he had on another smile and then he threw himself to Steve's side giving him a hug. It was a good hug. Tight. It was nice. Steve returns the hug with his one arm. Will lets go of him after a beat and Steve gets to his feet.

"C'mon, we don't want your mom's snacks to go to waste now, do we?" Steve nods toward the food. Will nods at Steve and follows him.

Max watches Steve gets a hug from Will. Wait, we can do that? Max thinks as Steve returns the hug and they both stand up to get food.

"—Zoomer?" Mike finishes talking. It was a question directed at her she thinks. Crap, she spaced out. Not her fault Dungeons and Dragons don't interest her. She tried. Really tried to pay attention but she ended up drifting around the room.

"Uh, yeah. Zoomer that's me." Max says.

"That wasn't... Never mind," Mike says as he sighs and grumbles and takes a bite off his sandwich. Max feels bad because Mike is actually trying to be friendly this time but she doesn't push. She'll probably just make it worse.

Steve went to Dustin and Lucas's side of the room. He says something to Lucas making him laugh and he ruffles Dustin's cap as he sat down. Will sits down next to her, joining Mike and herself. She smiled at Will and the boy smiles back. She doesn't know Will but surviving a kidnapping and a possession must mean he's pretty badass.

"So, what did Mrs. Byers want with you and Steve?" Mike asks her changing subjects entirely.

At least he's trying, Max thinks. She should try harder too.

"She just wanted to check if we were okay since we were the only ones missing yesterday. I can't believe you guys got the day off on Monday," Max says, still not sure how to feel about the whole thing. It was weird… but nice.

"I can't believe you actually went to school after what we did. My mom never woke us up that morning and let us sleep in. I don't know how we looked like when we got home but it must've been in a sorry state that they let us sleep in." Mike says.

A pang of jealousy seeped in. Mike got a parent that cared about her child, what she got that morning was her mom not caring she just got home a couple of hours ago and waking her up and then Billy came in to yank her off the bed because he didn't want to be late. If Billy made her walk to school that day, she's not sure what would've happened. Steve wouldn't have known to look for her. Hell, nobody would've known where she was. She's not sure she would've made it.

Maybe that's kindness on Billy's part? Max thinks to herself. It's probably not but a girl can dream.

"I think we're getting a part two because Hopper was eyeing me and Steve before we came here," Max says trying to deflect her thoughts.

"Hopper's here?" Mike asks before he rushed out the door.

Max must've looked confused because Will simply said, "Eleven." Max hums agreeingly as if that explains everything and, yeah, it does explain Mike's behavior.

"Your mom's nice," Max says leaving out the weird part. Mrs. Byers wasn't weird. The moment was.

"Yeah, she is," Will agrees, "She can be overprotective at times but can you blame her? I feel so bad I had to put her through that. To put all of you through that."

"Hey, don't be sorry," Max says while frowning, "It's not your fault, you're the victim here. Wait, no, screw that! You're the survivor here! Not victim. None of us blame you."

Will smiles at her, "Thanks, Max. I'm just… I'm lucky I had you all. I don't know what I would've done without any of you."

Max smiles at Will, this time hiding another sting of jealousy. It's dumb. She shouldn't feel jealous of a boy who got kidnapped and possessed by interdimensional monsters but here she is. Will was lucky, given the circumstances. He had four loyal friends, a family that would move heaven and hell for him, the chief of police and a psychic teenager, and whatever the hell Steve and Nancy's supposed to be.

She can't help but think 'what if'. What if it was her? Who does she have in her corner? A mean stepdad who only got meaner when he drinks, a stepbrother who'd sooner team up with the monsters than save her, and a mother who put her in this situation in the first place. That's who she has. Or at least who she had.

Her eyes wander toward Lucas, Dustin, and Steve, she has them in her corner. Wait, what the hell is she even looking at? Steve is lying down on the floor with his hand stretched out above his head holding a half-eaten sandwich while trying to fend off Dustin and Lucas also on the ground piled on top of him trying to reach said sandwich. Their laughter fills the room. They're idiots. But they're her idiots.

Her junkyard boys. Nope, weird name. Never saying that out loud ever. Thank God this is in my head.

Seriously though, if she was possessed by a monster from the Upside Down, will those three be able to save her?

"—so I just want to say thanks, Max. For everything. You're the best underaged driver/bully beater by a longshot." Will says smiling at her.

Crap, she spaced out again. At least she can follow along this time.

"Don't worry about it, Will. What are friends for?" Max says smiling in a hopeful tone. She hoped they were friends. Will's pretty cool

"Can I give you a hug?" Will asks.

"Um… sure," Max says. Wow, the Byers are a hugging bunch.

Will approaches about to give her a hug but stops, "You won't hit me, right?" The tone was joking. Half-joking.

"I might hit you now." Max replies half-annoyed, why are all her friends stupid?

Will laughs before giving her a hug. It's nice and less weird than the one she got earlier. Friends she can handle, parentals not so much. She hugs Will back. It last for a beat before they broke it off. Mike enters the room with a scowl on his face and sits down next to Will.

"He said no again, Also, El is still sick," Mike says out loud. This got the attention of the three boys who were wrestling. Max isn't sure who won but Steve got at least partial victory because he has peanut butter on his face. Then again, he doesn't seem to notice the sandwich spread on his face so maybe he lost. Will stands up from beside her and drags Mike towards his bed. Dustin and Lucas seem to get the hint because they follow Mike and Will. They're back in the dogpile position they have with Mike in the middle this time. She sits on the left foot of the bed while Steve takes the opposite side, keeping distance. If it was Dustin or Lucas, hell, maybe even Steve she'd move closer but with Mike, she's not sure where she stands yet.

"It's just… frustrating," Mike says in the middle of the dogpile. Will's on his left side while Dustin and Lucas are on his right. "I was looking for her for more than a year and now she's just somewhere in town. Not only that, she's sick. I just want to make sure she's okay."

"How sick are we talking here?" Steve asks, voice laced with concern.

"Hopper says she's just tired. Like really tired," Lucas answers.

"It makes sense. She did do most of the heavy lifting that day. Closing the gate must take a lot out of her," Dustin adds.

"Plus, and I know I only met her the other day, but Eleven is a badass! She just needs a few days to recharge then she'll be all good!" Max says trying to reassure Mike.

"The chief kept her safe for a year. I trust him to take care of her. I, mean, he took care of me," Will says also trying to reassure Mike.

"I know she's tough and I know the chief's doing his best but he kept her hidden for over a year. I know it's for her safety but I don't trust him. He might be keeping something from us again." Mike says, "I just want to make sure she's safe, you know?"

Everybody else nods in agreement, understanding what Mike was feeling.

A knock from Will's open door pulls their attention. Chief Hopper was just outside the door in the hallway with Mrs. Byers standing next to her.

"Harrington. Mayfield. Living room," the chief says. This earns him a slap on the arm from Joyce.

"Don't say it like that, they'll think they're in trouble," Joyce scolds him.

"They are in trouble," Hopper replies.

"Hop!" Joyce says exasperatedly.

"Fine. You're not in trouble. Just… living room," Hopper sighs before adding, "Please."

Hopper sees the two share a look like they're talking with their eyes. Whatever they 'talked' about, it only lasted for a few seconds but it ended with Mayfield rolling her eyes and Harrington plastering a fake smile to his face like all the times Hopper has been called in to one of his parties.

Mrs. Byers smile at them as they head out to meet Hopper just outside Will's door. Mrs. Byers steps inside and heads over to the dogpile of limbs that is The Party.

Hopper turns to the two teens as they got to the hallway and spoke the four worst words in the English language, "We need to talk."