When the sun peaks from behind the trees, bathing Hawkins in its shy glow, Eddie pushes the door of the gym open, cackling at one of Steve's remarks. After their night spent wandering outside, supporting each other's weight from their shoulders, they both feel lighter. Still ecstatic from their time away from it all, they share glances and laugh, amused by inside jokes they made up on the road.
Now, they look at each other under a new light. While Steve doesn't see Eddie as an aggressive ticking bomb anymore, Eddie doesn't see Steve as a pompous chick magnet. They find new qualities in each other, whether it be their sharp sense of humor or the comfort they feel in the other's presence.
As Steve gazes at Eddie's head full of hair from behind, his lips curl up into a smile, his cheeks reddening.
While he finds it depressing that Vecna's attacks affected so many, he finds solace in the fact that he's not the only one ridden by guilt and feeling responsible for all the souls trapped in the shelter until they find a new home. If they ever do.
Before Eddie can turn to Steve again to offer him a cup of coffee, a fist closes around the collar of his t-shirt, brutally stopping him in his tracks. A warm yet furious breath blows upon his face, only two inches away. Steve bumps into him, not being able to stop on time.
"Where were you?!"
His traits distorted by anguish, Wayne doesn't look like himself at all. Eddie hasn't seen him in such a state since the last time he got in trouble before Chrissy's murder. Yet, relieved that it's only his uncle and not one of the popular Hawkins High seniors, he lets out a sigh and relaxes, patting the hand closed around the fabric.
"I needed some fresh air, Wayne."
"Fresh air? In the middle of a crisis? Don't you fuck with me, Edward!"
"I couldn't sleep, so I called Steve," he defends himself, showing the palms of his hands. "We went to grab slushies at the 7-Eleven on the highway. We weren't even far!"
"Slushies? In May? All night?"
Steve rests his hand on Eddie's shoulder, trying to free him from his uncle's grip at first. When he realises that he's not strong enough, he leaves it there anyway, poking his head next to the two.
"It's true, Mr. Munson," he insists. "We weren't at the 7-Eleven all night, of course, but we were just driving in my car. Nothing more."
"Stay out of this, Harrington."
"Hey, don't speak to him like that!" Eddie spits, rage filling his dark eyes. "Why does it matter to you that I went out? We're stuck here anyway, wandering around like fucking ghosts! At least I got to get out and clear my head with a friend!"
Wayne grunts and shoves Eddie, bouncing against Steve's arm. Before he explodes and starts an argument with his uncle, Steve keeps him away, nodding at him.
"Mr. Munson, Eddie did nothing wrong. You can imagine how much this whole situation has been weighing on him. You can't be mad at him for trying to find some sanity in all this."
The older man glares at him, but begins to relax. No, he can't be mad at Eddie for wanting to find escapism after being wanted for murder and hiding in the forest and random abandoned places for days on end. Everyone wanted it too, himself included.
"I get it," he whispers. "But you scared the shit out of me, Eddie. Finding your cot empty, in the middle of the night! Thought someone got to ya."
"Thankfully not. Listen, I know you're worried, but I'm good. Jason isn't here to threaten me and get my head on a stick or whatever. His little friends left town."
"I know, I know. But… I don't wanna lose ya a second time, Eddie."
Eddie throws his arm around his uncle with his lips pressed together. Wayne pulls him into a tight embrace, digging his fingers into the ripped denim jacket. Steve steps back, burying his hands inside his pocket. He throws a glance inside the shelter, finding volunteers piling up boxes and installing tables near unused cots.
There, hunched over a grocery bag, he spots Robin with her hair disheveled and rings under her eyes. Smiling, he walks over to her, hanging his jacket to the coat rack one of the elderly refugees brought when the shelter opened. Without waiting for her acknowledgement or directions, Steve bends over the bag, helping her unload it.
"Morning, Robs."
"Shit, Steve, you scared me shitless!"
She laughs, covering her chest with her hand, holding a bag of sliced bread with the other. Something about her seems different. Despite her obvious exhaustion, her eyes sparkle with joy, while her lips remain curled, unable to return to normal.
"Well, someone looks happy today," he notes with a grin, putting the groceries down on the table. "Any particular reason?"
"No."
Robin chortles, blushing at her thoughts.
"I spoke to Vickie yesterday."
"What? Seriously? What did you talk about?"
"Movies. Like, The Hunger."
"God…"
The two of them share a laugh as Robin kicks the empty bag to the side and organizes the groceries. Once she's done, Steve joins her and begins to make peanut butter sandwiches before the children's breakfast time starts. She stands next to him, passing him slices as she carries on.
"She loves that movie. She went on for well over five minutes about the kiss. I told her that we watched it together at work out of curiosity, and she said that she found it too bad that we didn't watch it just the two of us."
Steve stops in his tracks, dropping his jaw.
"Holy sh— that's basically a marriage proposal, right there!"
"Right?!" she exclaims, biting on her lower lip as she beams. "I pretended that I didn't pay much attention to it because we were at work and I had to take care of customers, so she invited me to her house on Friday to watch it!"
Their palms clap in a high five, which earns them a glare from a nearby parent reading next to their sleeping child, wrapped up in blankets in their bed. Robin apologizes and dips a knife into the jar of peanut butter to spread onto the slice before her.
"I still can't believe I'm going to see Vickie's house. What do you think her room looks like?"
"Why would I ever think about that?" Steve scoffs before pausing. "Seeing her, I imagine something that screams Molly Ringwald."
"Oh, really?"
Scrunching her nose and looking up, Robin tilts her head.
"I don't see it."
"Then you're blind, Robs."
She scoffs at him and focuses on the sandwiches. Once a large pile of sandwiches is made, they realize that the entire shelter has awakened. Children begin to queue at their table, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, some still wrapped in their comforters. Steve beams and gestures at them, inviting them to approach. Robin passes him plates, upon which he sets one sandwich per child, before handing it out to them with kind greetings before they move on to the next table to fetch orange juice.
In the midst of the first shift, he spots Max sitting alone on the opposite side of the shelter, her headphones covering her ears framed by her uncombed red hair. Bringing her knees close to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, she seems distant, disconnected from her surroundings. As though haunted by something.
Someone taps on Steve's shoulder, bringing his attention back to his table. Between Robin and him stands Vickie, with her short hair freshly washed and dried, smelling of lavender.
"Hi, Steve," she greets him happily. "Thanks for helping at the table today!"
"Hi, Vickie! Yeah, um, I was here pretty early, so I thought I'd help Robin."
"I can take over if you want. You've worked hard already."
"Yeah, Steve, she can take over if you feel tired," Robin insists, giving him the big eyes without Vickie noticing.
Receiving the message loud and clear, he nods, handing the peanut butter knife to Vickie, who gladly stands in his place, her face turned to Robin. He wipes his hands on a tea towel behind them and crosses the gym to find Max.
She hardly looks up as he comes up, sliding along the wall to sit next to her. He doesn't speak at first, preferring her to make the first move. After a few seconds, she raises her hands to slide the headphones off her ears, letting them rest around her neck and on her collarbones.
"Hi Steve."
"Hi Max. How are you doing today?"
"Fine."
Her gaze remains fixed on the dusty ground, avoiding his at all costs.
"Am I bothering you?" he asks.
"No."
"Good. How did you sleep? Managed to get some rest?"
"You're incredibly chatty this morning."
Steve snorts, diverting his eyes to scratch at a piece of dirt under the sole of his shoe. She remains silent, watching his fingers as she rests her cheek against her legs.
His heart sinks at the sight of her irises, still impacted by the temporary loss of her sight. Ever since Vecna's attack in the Creels' House, the cunningness that inhabited her eyes vanished, replaced by bitterness and the will to distance herself from everyone. But Steve knows that deep inside, she wants to be surrounded. She tells it without words, with coldness at the beginning of an encounter blending into genuine relief and comfort in laughing with others.
"Do you want me to bring you your breakfast?" he whispers, as though speaking too loud would startle her in the middle of the hubbub.
"No, thanks."
"You need to eat, Max. You can't go on like this."
She sighs and finally looks at him.
"Fine. Can I get a sandwich and juice?"
"Coming!"
He drags himself up onto his feet and tousles her hair, earning a shy chuckle from her. As he walks back towards Robin and Vickie's table, he waves at Eddie, sitting next to his uncle on his cot. The young man beams at him, reciprocating the gesture. For some reason, Steve feels an instant warmth seizing his heart and his stomach.
Weird.
Once at the table, Robin hands him a plate with breakfast for Max, while Vickie compliments him for taking care of her, giving him a small tray to help him. He then picks up a glass of juice at the next table and eyes the vending machine the school installed at the beginning of the crisis. He trots up to it, slips the coins he has in his pocket in the slot and presses its buttons.
Max stretches her legs out as Steve arrives with the tray, laying it down in her lap. She immediately brings the cup to her lips, hearing him sit back next to her. He rummages through his pocket and shakes two bags of Skittles triumphantly.
"Bonus snacks for you."
"You didn't have to."
"I insist."
She grins and rests her head on his shoulder. He encircles her with his arm, squeezing her tightly before loosening his grip, letting her bite into her sandwich.
"How's your sight improving?"
"For now it's still blurry, but I see depth a bit better. Reading's still hard."
"Don't forget to take it easy, huh?"
"Remind me again when I have to do my exercises," she grunts with a raise of her eyebrows.
Her teeth tear another piece off the sandwich and chew it inside her mouth, bringing her some well-earned energy. Steve presses his cheek against the top of her head, noticing Robin grinning at him from the other side of the hall.
"Max?" he calls out softly, remembering his conversation with Eddie during the night, when the two of them talked about the events and how much they left their marks on them.
"Mmh?"
"I'm sorry about your sight and… everything, really. I can't help but think that I should've been more careful with you and that I should've stopped you from going to that house alone."
"Lucas was with me, I wasn't alone."
"Right, yeah."
He runs a nervous hand through his hair, glancing at Eddie. Despite his new friend's motivational talk on their short getaway, he struggles to find the courage to put his feelings into words. Eddie insisted that after the life-changing experience they shared, Steve should be more honest with the people he knows and loves. Although Steve considered himself rather honest already, struggling to keep secrets to himself, their talk made him realize how much he was bottling up in fear of having his heart shattered.
Like his feelings for Nancy, or the culpability towards Max.
Drawing a deep breath, he squeezes Max one more time.
"What I mean is, I'm sorry that I didn't support you more. That… That I wasn't there on time to get you out."
"Steve…"
She sits back up and turns towards him, fixing him with her bloodshot eyes.
"That wasn't your job," she sighs. "You stuck to the plan we came up with. If you'd bothered with me, the others could've been in danger. I mean… greater danger."
"I know, bu—"
"No buts. You did what you could. We all did. You couldn't help what happened."
He shrugs and tilts his head back, staring at the ceiling while she finishes her sandwich.
"And please, never tell me that you didn't support me."
Steve looks back at her, his cheeks flushing red.
"Huh?"
"You were there the entire time," she explains with a grunt. Getting into heart-to-heart conversations has never been her forte. "Lucas told me that you were the first to come to me on Billy's grave. You were the one who found me because you knew something was wrong. In the car, you couldn't even focus on the road because you kept looking into the rear-view mirror to make sure that I wasn't in a trance again."
"Shit, you noticed?"
"Dude, you were staring."
He chuckles with a shrug, soon imitated by her.
"You never underestimated me," she continues. "You respected my choices even when they scared you shitless. And you've been there ever since we beat Vecna. Coming to the hospital to visit me as soon as you could, bringing me stuff I might need or want… Everyone's been here for me, but you've been there the most. And that's what matters. I don't give a shit about you not coming on time. You saved me anyway. Yeah, it's shit that I got blind, but without Eleven, I would've been dead. Strangely, I prefer not seeing."
"Thanks, Max."
"I'm not trying to comfort you, to be clear."
"I know. But thank you. You know I'm here whenever you need, huh? Only a phone call away if I'm not at the shelter."
"I know."
They grin at each other, interrupted by Dustin, Lucas, Mike and Eleven coming in. Steve waves at them, before giving Max's forehead a peck.
"I think I'm gonna go home. You've got my number, right?"
"Yeah. Dustin has it too."
"Okay. See you."
He jumps onto his feet and greets the others, patting Dustin's back as he makes his way towards the exit. He advances shyly towards Eddie, now sitting alone, reading a comic book lent by one of his neighbors.
"Hey, Ed. I'm going home, I think."
"Gonna get your beauty sleep?"
"You know it. Can't keep up this beautiful face without it."
Eddie snorts and puts the book down to hug his new friend. Inside his chest, his heart races, nearly shattering his ribcage. He hopes that Steve can't feel it, not knowing that he experiences the same thing.
Steve pulls away reluctantly, blushing as he finds himself only a few inches away from his friend's face.
"Um… So, yeah… I'm going."
"Sleep well, Sleeping Beauty," Eddie teases. "When are you coming back?"
"I don't know. Family Video reopened, so I have to work a few shifts there."
"Might catch ya there, then."
"Okay. Otherwise, you know my number."
"I think I do now, yeah."
They laugh awkwardly, avoiding each other's gaze. Eddie pats his shoulder and watches him go, his poofy hair bouncing with each step. Once Steve greets Robin and Vickie and walks out the door, he lets himself fall upon the cot, confused by his own reaction.
Despite his uncle's reaction upon their return, this night away is one he already cherishes. The deep and shallow conversations, the hours spent listening to music and releasing their pressure, relieving themselves from their pain… He couldn't think of a better way that this night could've ended. Of course, in better times, he could have pictured card games or hanging out somewhere with a pack of beers.
But there is no better situation, although each new day brings some improvement.
While he's still ecstatic about their night out, his heart breaks to see Steve go. Knowing that he's most likely going to fall asleep soon, he kicks his shoes off and slithers under his blanket, picking up the comic book and resuming it. After minutes of flipping the pages, he realizes that he's staring at the drawings without seeing them nor reading the words. With a sigh, he shuts it and puts it back onto its owner's bed.
Dustin calls out for him, but he replies by gesturing that he's going to catch some sleep. As his head rests onto the pillow and his eyelids flutter until they remain closed, all he can see in the dark is Steve's smile, bringing one onto his own lips.