April 26th, 1986

"I would love for someone to start explaining what's going on here."

Hopper was sitting on the bed, rubbing his head and staring down Steve, Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan. The kids were in the living room, with Dustin watching over Eddie, who was still laid back on the sofa. He was coming around, but was still mostly out of it.

Steve spoke up, "The kids just wanted to watch some movies."

Hopper didn't back down. "This cabin is only safe if it stays hidden! Parties are not a great way to keep a place hidden!"

"I know! But this isn't a party! We were watching a movie in the dark. And they all confronted me about what we were hiding and I couldn't boldface lie to them! We all promised not to do that."

Hopper considered the statement.

Dustin stuck his head in the door. "Eddie's awake."

Hopper sighed and stated pointedly, "This isn't over."

They all nodded, and Robin's eyes cut eagerly toward the living room. Once there, they found Eddie sitting up and eyeing everyone suspiciously.

"What…the hell…happened…now?" He asked in confusion.

Robin dropped onto her knees on the sofa next to him and spilled eagerly, "You threw Hopper across the porch! With…your mind. Or something. He scared all of us, and you went all superpower on him! We thought it was El, but…it had to be you…"

Eddie looked at her like she'd grown another head.

Dustin crossed the room holding an empty pizza box and stood in front of Eddie. "Here…lift this. With your mind!"

"Oh my god, Dustin! Not again!" Lucas groaned. "He's not El and we're not twelve!"

Eddie shook his head. "I'm really starting to think you guys have kidnapped me and you're fucking with my head."

"Language!" Hopper called out.

Dustin sat down on the coffee table. "We're not fu…messing with you. The whole town really thinks you're a murderer. All that shi…stuff absolutely happened with Vecna. And you seriously just threw a person! With your mind !"

Eddie still looked skeptical, but there was a hint of fear in his eyes as well. Eleven sat on a stool by the kitchen counter chewing on her thumbnail, her brow furrowed in thought. Steve was certain that she, probably more than anyone else, was trying to figure out how this was possible.

"Come on!" Dustin held out the pizza box. "Just try to hold it in the air. For like, a second."

Eddie swallowed hard.

"Okay," Hopper spoke up. "That's enough. It was probably El who pushed me without realizing it. She's done worse when she was mad at me."

El looked like she wanted to protest, but held her tongue.

"It's late and your parents have all started calling Karen and Ted's house. It's time to go home."

There was a chorus of groans and arguments from around the room.

"You can plan a sleepover or whatever another time. I'm not going back to six angry parents tonight. So…car. Now."

Still grumbling, they all gathered their things and headed out the front door. Hopper swapped his truck keys for the ones to the Wheeler station wagon and told Steve to swap it back with his car the next day. Then the whole brood slunk out, leaving quite the mess and an exhausted Steve Harrington behind.

Eddie leaned back on the sofa and rubbed his face. Steve dropped into the armchair. The clock in the corner ticked. Neither said anything for a long time.

"Did that seriously happen? Me…throwing Hopper? Don't lie to me, Harrington."

Steve sat up straight. "Yeah. It did."

"And it wasn't…El?"

Steve shook his head. "You don't remember doing it?"

"I was scared. I remember seeing a figure and…I don't know. Maybe I thought about pushing them back?" Eddie leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his hair hanging around his face. "Everything about this is fucked up, man."

Steve huffed. "You don't have to convince me of that."

Another quiet moment passed. Hesitantly, Eddie lifted the pizza box from the coffee table. He tested its weight and made sure it was empty. Steve watched as Eddie set the box down again. After a quick, uncertain glance, he focused on it. At first, nothing happened. Then, Steve's breath caught in his throat.

The box moved. It shifted and lifted slightly from the table.

Eddie startled backward and the box dropped with a soft clatter. Steve stared at it, and then shifted his gaze to Eddie. He somehow looked even paler, and his dark eyes were wide with disbelief.

Steve cleared his throat. "Have you…ever been able to do that before?"

Eddie shook his head fiercely. "No. Nope. Definitely, no."

Thoughts were swirling around in Steve's head as he tried to make sense of it. The best he could offer was, "Maybe something from…that place…got inside you? And gave you powers?"

Eddie ran his hands through his wild hair. "Maybe. But…you said Will was in there for a while, right? That thing was feeding off of him. Why doesn't he have powers?"

"I mean, he can sense Vecna sometimes. That's kind of a power."

"I think moving shit with your mind is a slightly bigger deal than sensing someone!" Eddie looked like he was on the edge of a panic attack.

"Hey," Steve crossed the space and sat next to Eddie on the sofa. "This is crazy, sure. But you're okay. Everyone is okay."

Eddie leaned forward, arms on his knees again. "I've got otherworld-bat-saliva in me. Or something. And you said it's a…hive mind. What if this is the beginning of something bad? Like straight up possession or something? And why can I barely lift a pizza box right now, but earlier I threw a person ?"

"Maybe it was adrenaline? I mean, Hopper scared us. People can get crazy physically strong when adrenaline kicks in. Maybe it's the same for…mental powers?"

"Maybe," Eddie softly agreed. He still looked unsettled.

After a minute, Steve carefully put his arm around Eddie's shoulders. Eddie sagged into him, as though he wasn't physically or mentally ready to handle any of this and the burden had to be shared. And Steve, who was never one to hug his friends, was surprised at how good it felt to be needed. To provide tactile comfort.

They stayed that way for a long time, until Eddie started to nod into sleep.

April 27th, 1986

The next morning, Steve woke up on the sofa. The night before, he insisted Eddie sleep in the bedroom. With Hopper staying with Joyce, there was no reason not to use it. And Steve was tired of sleeping in the chair.

Stretching his limbs, he stumbled to the bathroom and then the kitchen, looking for juice. The fridge was badly in need of supplies. After draining the last of some questionable orange juice, he peeked around the doorway into the bedroom to check on Eddie. He found the bed empty.

"Eddie?"

He looked around the cluttered space. Eddie still needed help to walk any distance, so it made no sense for him to be missing. Steve made his way back to the living room, looked around the small space, and then checked the bathroom.

"Eddie?" He called out again, worried.

His thoughts started to race, imagining someone had come after his friend in the night. Or Eddie got spooked and tried to run. Finally, he threw open the front door and burst outside. After frantically looking around, he finally spotted Eddie sitting in one of the chairs at the far end of the porch. He was staring out into the trees so intently he didn't realize Steve had come out the door.

"Eddie! What are you doing? How did you get out here? You scared the shit out of me!"

Eddie turned, finally realizing that Steve was talking to him. "I walked. Very slowly. I didn't mean to scare you. But it's nice to know you care this much." Eddie flashed his contagious smile.

Steve crossed over and dropped into the other rickety porch chair.

"I had to get out of that cabin. If I wasn't crazy before, I'm starting to go crazy in there," Eddie explained. "And I'm still trying to process yesterday."

Steve nodded, his panic turning to empathy. "Makes sense. If I woke up and didn't remember all this shit, and then started moving stuff with my mind, I'd freak out too."

Eddie stared out at the trees for a moment. "Do you know if Hopper has had any luck finding my uncle?"

"I'm not sure. I can find out."

Eddie nodded. "I know people don't think much of him, but he's the only family I've got. The only connection to…normal."

Steve felt a sudden, strong twinge of understanding, and Eddie's words cut deep. They touched something in Steve that he held very close and tried hard not to let anyone see– that he knew what it was like to go through life feeling alone. Watching other happy families, happy kids. Seeing easy relationships among people who freely gave affection while he returned home every day to either an empty house or parents who were so distant, they may as well have been gone. Steve's mother lost interest in him years ago when he got too old for her to dress up and show off like a doll. And his father lost interest when Steve decided not to work for him. That's all he was to them–a trophy or manual labor. Steve didn't know Eddie's whole story, but he knew what it was like to feel adrift, to reach out for someone, anyone, who felt like home.

"Wayne's a good guy,' Eddie went on. "He works hard. Took me in when I was 12 years old. And he didn't have to. I don't think I've ever really told him I'm grateful…"

"Hopper will find him," Steve reassured him. "We'll help find him. If that's what you want."

Eddie turned and cocked his head. "When did you start to care so much about other people, Steve Harrington? It's messing with my head a little. I was pretty sure you had no idea that I was alive before all this."

Steve tipped his head to the side. "Well, all of…this…has changed all of us. And we kind of got a crash course in what's important."

Eddie held his gaze for a minute, his dark eyes hard to read. Then he looked back out into the thick forest. "You guys have kind of made your own little family, haven't you? You and Nancy and Robin and the kids. Even Joyce and Hopper."

"Yeah," Steve chuckled, "I guess we have. Kind of a family of misfits."

"All the little lost sheep…" Eddie said mostly to himself. He shook his head and turned back to face Steve. "So, have you professed your undying love for Nancy Wheeler yet?"

Steve was taken aback. "No. As of today, she is still happily in a relationship with Jonathan Byers. And…wait…do you remember us talking about that?"

"Yeah. She dove in the lake after you. And I said…"

"Something about it being a sign of true love," Steve cut in. "But I didn't tell you about that. That happened in the woods. In the upside down. Do you remember it?"

Eddie looked momentarily confused, and then his face colored with recognition. "I do."

Steve broke into a broad smile. "You're starting to remember stuff."

Eddie's face was a mix of emotions.

"Do you remember anything else?"

Eddie hesitated. "No. Just that conversation. And walking in the woods." He changed the subject. "So your love for Nancy goes unrequited, huh?"

Steve swallowed hard and looked away. "She only seems interested in me when things go to shit."

"Ah…" Eddie stated. "Trauma bonding."

Steve frowned. "Maybe."

"What about Robin?" Eddie asked. "She seems inexplicably in love with you, too."

Steve snorted. "I am absolutely not her type."

Eddie looked genuinely surprised. "Really? You seem so… close."

"We are. She's…my best friend. Maybe the first best friend I've ever really had."

Eddie gave him a skeptical look. "So Tommy and that mean girl just weren't doing it for you?"

Steve huffed. "Come on. We both know they're assholes and I haven't talked to them in two years. And how do you know so much more about me than I know about you? We went to the same school."

Eddie's smile faltered. "Easy. You went to a school where you were King Steve, with rich parents and a pool and everyone loved you. And I went to a school where I was Eddie-the-freak-Munson, the foster kid who lived in a shitty trailer and couldn't pass enough classes to graduate. Same schools. Two totally different worlds."

Steve started to defend himself, but stopped. He tried to imagine what it would've been like to be ignored or made fun of for not four, but six years of high school. "Well," he stated, "now you have superpowers. So fuck all of them."

Eddie stared at him for a moment, deadpan. Then he broke into laughter. "I guess that's one way to look at it."

"And," Steve continued, "you've got the whole rockstar thing going on, right? I mean, from what Dustin says, you rock pretty hard. You've got the 'bad boy' image. Girls love that, right?"

Eddie looked away, and Steve could tell that he struck a nerve. But he wasn't sure exactly how or why. Suddenly, it occurred to him.

Is Eddie a virgin?

Steve sat with the thought for a moment. Eddie had to be almost 20 years-old. He was a third year senior, after all. Sure, he was a little unusual, and he'd never been popular. But Steve couldn't imagine there hadn't been someone who found him attractive. Or at least, interesting. And if he was a virgin, there was a time when Steve would've immediately used this information to tease and gossip. But now, he felt sad. Sad that he's been so oblivious to how different his high school experience was from so many others around him. Adulthood had a way of smacking you in the face. Hard.

Eddie was looking out at the trees again, pensive.

Steve offered, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to touch a nerve. If you've never been with a girl, it doesn't matter."

Eddie turned, his eyes wide. Suddenly, he burst out laughing again.

"What?" Steve had no idea what was so funny. "I'm just trying to be…not a douche. As you once said."

Eddie finally stopped laughing. With a grin still on his face he said, "You're right about one thing. I've never been with a girl ."

Steve stared at him, utterly confused.

Eddie's grin grew even brighter until it was absolute chickenshit. His eyes danced with amusement. After another long pause he said, "I guess you'll work it out eventually." Then he winked at Steve. "Won'tcha, big boy?"

Steve sat there for several minutes absolutely confused. And a little angry that Eddie was fucking with him. He was just trying to be nice, and now, for some reason, Eddie was smirking at him.

I guess he's proud that he's never been with a girl? He's so weird.

And then it hit.

Steve reeled.

Before he could stop himself he said, "Oh my God. Is everyone gay?"

Eddie burst out laughing again. "That is such a straight thing to say. I'm assuming you know at least one other non-straight person, and now it feels like we're all coming for you?"

"No!" Steve argued. "It's not! I just…shit."

Eddie leaned back in the chair. "Still want to stay in this cabin alone with me?"

Steve was taken aback. There was a time when he would've run as fast as he could. Anything even slightly off of normal was fodder for him and his friends to use to bully others. To feed their own fears and insecurities. Now, he hated the implication that he had once been that kind of person.

"Why would I leave?" He eventually asked. "I need to see you move some more shit with your mind. It's fucking awesome."

Eddie studied him, gauging his sincerity. Then he smiled, grateful.