As Indiana broke the seal of autumn, Steve slept. His world was just getting cool enough so that he could shut and lock the windows downstairs without baking alive. For the past few months while his parents were away, his body refused to rest on anything far from an outside door. He had migrated most of his sheets and pillows to the living room, which turned out to be un-coolable. So finally, for the first time in a month, Steve was actually asleep. Until the phone rang, for the fourth time in a minute.

"Yes?" Steve muttered into the receiver, tripping over some cans by the couch.

"You need to give me a ride." Robin insisted, deadpan.

She knew it was his day off. She knew he would've wanted to sleep past noon, but knowing something never stopped Robin Buckley.

"No." He replied. "Bye."

"Wait wait! This is important- like- 'this could be one of the best moments of my life' kind of important."

He leaned against the wall and rubbed sleep from his eyes.

" I'm being serious, Steve. Are you even listening?"

"Why?" He muttered.

She gathered herself, "Eddie found a kitten."

He paused.

"A cat."

She scoffs, "A kitten, Steve. A baby cat. You know, offspring of a larger, adult cat? He has a kitten in his trailer and I need to see it."

Steve blinked.

"So…you need to pick me up."

He rolled his eyes,"You really need to get your license."

"And put my best friend out of a job?" She smiled, "Never."

"God," Staring at the clock in the kitchen, it read 10:30. The rest of the house was quiet, and would be all day. It wasn't like he could go back to sleep anyway.

"Fine. I'll be there in fifteen. Be outside or I'm driving off without you."

"Ye-!"Robin cheered, cutting herself off by hanging up.

Better this than being bored and alone, he figured.

…

The trees paint the hills in greens and yellows, making the drive from Loch Nora, to Robin's–and eventually to the trailer park–interesting for once. Steve didn't remember the last time he paid attention to the world around him as he drove. Aside from almost getting shredded by bats and some half alien psychopath, the past few months had been strangely normal. Or maybe not normal. Like half the time he was sitting behind one of those frosted windows where you could only see the rough shape of things. If that made any sense.

He slowed on the gravel path leading up the street, avoiding a heavy glance at the trailer Max used to live in. Robin catapulted out of the car, bounding up th stairs and knocking before Steve even got the chance to get out. It took a minute for someone to come to the door. Wayne appeared in the front, looking tired, but smiled warmly at Robin's sunny disposition.

"Hi kitten!" She sputtered, holding her hand out for a handshake. "I mean, hi! Kitten. We're here to see it. The kitten." Steve felt a wave of second hand mortification over his body before Wayne let out a laugh.

"Robin, Eddie told me you were dropping by."

She shaked his hand as Wayne peered behind her, likely wondering about the second person standing awkwardly on his stairs. They'd only met briefly after bringing Eddie back from the hospital, and any of the times after that Robin and Eddie would either be at his house or Wayne would be working late.

" You must be Steve." He held out his hand for a handshake. "Come in."

The stoic man led them inside, disappearing into the kitchenette, only divided from them by a counter and some cabinetry. The entire trailer smelled like freshly brewed coffee and fried eggs.

To their right, away from the kitchenette, sat Eddie. He had his hands to his chest, feet next to a shoebox with a T-shirt inside. Warm brown eyes met Steve's slow like honey, as if moving a second too fast would disturb something in the air. Robin sat on the couch next to Eddie tactfully. Steve approached the box, only to see there was nothing inside.

"So, where's the cat?" he asked quietly, adopting the environment of the room.

Eddie's face sparked like a candle. He looked down at his chest and Steve followed his gaze. Tentatively, a small black face pushed through one of Eddie's hands, ears popping free. Groggily, the small thing looked around before meowing, unimpressed, and burrowing its face into Eddie's chest again.

"Holy shit." Robin exclaimed, fingers wrapping around each other in an adolescent sort of tangle. " Can I hold it?"

"Sure." Eddie cupped the black puff in his hands as it tried to stand, legs all wobbly. He pet the cat carefully, making sure his rings didn't get in the way, and passed it off to Robin.

Eddie glanced up at Steve, who was still standing in front of him, "You wanna sit down?"

"Oh," Steve stuttered out, "Yeah. Alright."

He made himself comfortable on the other side of Eddie, leaning forward to watch as Robin set the pot bellied kitten on her lap.

"Where did you find it?" She asked.

"Under our trailer. I could hear him meowing when I was out early the day before yesterday." Steve gave a side glance to Wayne who was in the kitchenette. Eddie never woke up early, only stayed up late. Wayne never looked up, only stirred his coffee.

"No sign of the mom?" Robin asked.

"No mom. No other kittens either." Eddie spun one of his rings idly, watching as the pile of fluff tried to find its legs on uneven terrain.

"Based on how he's walking and just the way he looks he's probably about three or four weeks old." Wayne called from behind the cabinets. "He could be more than that if he was the runt of the litter."

"Do you know about cats -" Steve corrected himself. " I mean– Wayne?"

"Nah. Eddie checked out a few books yesterday." He gestured to a side table near the couch. "Wanted to make sure we did right by the little critter."

Steve turned to face Eddie with a grave look. "You went to the library in town?"

He sighed, nudging him with a knee. "I'm a big boy, Steve. Unlike some of us, books don't scare me."

Steve scoffed, obviously that wasn't the issue here. There were still some fanatics roaming around. People were already looking for a reason to target Eddie before everything happened. People who–quite literally–thought he was the antichrist. Eddie knew that, but obviously Steve wasn't about to push it, not with Wayne around at least. Eddie wouldn't want him to worry. Robin tried to scoop up the wriggling mass, one of the stubby hind legs popping out between her fingers.

"Does he have a name?" Robin asked.

"Not yet. " He took the cat back, which seemed very content to curl back up.

Steve cocked an eyebrow, body angled towards him. "Definitely would've thought you would name it Lucifer or, like– Ozzy or something"

Eddie rolled his eyes. "Do you think so lowly of me, Steve? Am I just a stereotype to you?"

Steve kept smiling and said nothing to the contrary.

"If you must know," Eddie continued "Oz was a thought, but it didn't stick."

"Knew it."

"From the Wizard of Oz, asshole."

"Sure." Steve said, feigning disbelief.

Eddie cocked his head to the side, miffed. "You know what, Steve? Whatever, Robin can help me name him. You've lost that privilege." Eddie scooted up close to Robin, placing an arm over her.

She clasped a hand over her heart, leaning close to the puff of kitten. "I'd be honored, little one."

"What!"

Robin continued, "Uncle Steve would probably call you something like Basketball or Allen Wrench, or" She shuddered to herself, "or Maverick."

"Basketball?" Steve whisper-yelled, "Allen wrench?!"

"So you'd name him Maverick then." She gasped, unable to hold back her smile.

"You are despicable" Eddie shook his head as if weeping for Steve's soul.

"Okay, alright, You know what?" Steve got up from the couch. " The both of you can fuck off, I'm getting a soda." Their cackling faded as he entered the kitchenette.

…

Having a bit of trouble with the pull tab, he set the can onto the counter facing the living room to get a grip on it. Wayne had left shortly after finishing his coffee, and the kitchen still smelled like breakfast and menthol. Looking up, Robin and Eddie were sitting close, holding the kitten between them. Robin cooed over it, petting slowly with an index finger, whispering something over to Eddie. It kind of felt unreal, Robin and Eddie and him. No way this would've ever happened without the whole galactic-disaster-dimension-mindfuck. Jesus, who the hell knows where he would be.

Well, he did. Still around Tommy and Carol. Still a moron. Still, at the end of the day, alone. Robin would have just been a photo in the yearbook. Eddie? He would have bought pot from Eddie. He did, once, before everything. Or Tommy did and he watched. But that was it. Somehow to him that felt just as bad as Eddie being someone he had never met.

Eddie had answered whatever Robin was talking about and slipped a few rings in his flannel pocket. Taking the cat in a now ringless hand, he carefully scratched it behind the ears, with a knuckle rather than his nails–to be more gentle. The lines of his face softened as he brushed his nose against the little creature, a stray beam of light resting on a sliver of Eddie's hair and eyelashes.

Something about it all was strange. Maybe not strange, but Steve couldn't really find the words at least. It was the way Eddie genuinely smiled in that moment, softly. Like he was somewhere else. Like for once, nothing in the real world could touch him.

And something visceral in Steve declared, Good.

"Need a hand with that Steve?" Eddie was looking up at him now. Steve was pressing one hand to his ribcage, the left holding the unopened can. The face he saw now more so mirrored his own, dark circles, blanched. "You were staring."

"I'm good, sorry." Steve quickly pushed the tab up and drank. "I mean, thanks."

"Sure, man." Sitting down again, Steve noticed the kitten clawing his way up Eddie's shirt, trying to weasel into his pocket.

Eddie intercepted Steve's languid observation of the kitten, "Do you wanna hold him?"

"Oh." He'd never actually had a pet before, or interacted with them aside from the occasional dog or two. His parents got him a dog for Christmas once, but after it destroyed a pair of his dad's work shoes, they got rid of it. His name was Jasper.

"Yeah…yeah," Steve nodded.

Eddie set four impossibly small paws in his hands. Attached, the puffy, pot bellied kitten that yawned indifferently in Steve's direction. Carefully, Steve set him down on his stomach so that it could lay down and explore comfortably.

"Hey little bud." He grinned, he still couldn't believe something could be so small. It was impossible not to smile, the kitten teeter-tottering towards his face.

"They kill them this time of year." Robin stated through a bitten lip. " for Halloween."

"Jesus, Robin." Steve cupped a hand over the kitten as if protecting it from the words. "There's a child here."

"Yeah, " Eddie agreed, the back of his neck landing on the head of the couch, meeting Steve's eyes. "I mean, it is true though. Superstitions are a bitch…" He leaned closer to nuzzle his face close to the kitten, reassuring the small thing that was completely unaware of what they were talking about. " Bad luck and evil spirits and that kind of shit."

Steve lifted up a hand to push Eddie's hair away from his own face. It looked less frizzy than usual, smelled like weed and wet earth, maybe tar and nicotine. Maybe he had started up cigarettes again, but at the moment it didn't feel right to ask.

"That's a shitty excuse to kill something." Steve muttered as Eddie leaned back to his spot, cat in hand.

"Uh–Yeah." Steve watched them both for a while, the pot bellied thing disappearing into Eddie's hair. "People don't really need a good excuse to kill something, usually." Eddie surmised, picking a stray eyelash from under his sunken eyes.

"Right." Steve repeated, stumped.

After a minute of silence, Steve managed to break it. "I like Oz." He said to nobody in particular.

"Nah," Eddie doubled down. "Wouldn't make much sense. He's the antagonist of the movie anyway."

"Oh."

"Have you never seen the Wizard of Oz?" Robin peered around Eddie to stare Steve down.

" I mean, I don't think so. Not like– all the way through at least." He looked up, trying to wrack his brain, " I'm familiar with it though."

Eddie shot a glance over at Robin "Oh?" Eddie grinned, "familiar how?"

'I– Yeah, what?" A series of cogs and wheels started up in his brain.

"Eddie." Robin warned.

He scoots a little closer to him, like a kid with a secret. "Would you say you're familiar with Dorothy, in particular?"

"Leave him alone" Robin scolded, pulling at Eddie's ear.

"Why do I hang out with you assholes when all you do is bully me?"

Steve huffed, "You know what? " He looked down at the kitten, scooping it up. "I'm kidnapping your child."

"Dustin? Steve, you know we're co-parenting him. And I don't think he'll let you."

"No, dammit. The cat!" Eddie smiled, obviously he knew what he meant."Your cat is mine, Munson."

Eddie melted to the floor in dramatics, clutching his torso, "Oh king Steve, I beg of you! Do not take my first born!"

Eddie's theatrics still threw him off a bit, but Steve played along the best he could.

"He will be well cared for. And I promise I won't name him Maverick." Steve crossed his heart. "Um–King's honor, or something."

"Oh, you are merciful."Eddie clasps his hand in exalted prayer, sitting up.

Steve's face broke out into a smile, getting on Eddie's level. "I like Goose better."

Eddie fell back in a faint, splayed across the bottom of the couch like a Victorian woman. Robin catches him in the nick of time.

" You monster," she howls as Steve laughs.

He presses the kitten back towards Eddie's palms. Eddie takes him warmly, steadying Steve's hands with his own so the kitten could make safe passage. His hand calluses seemed softer, a detail Steve didn't really know what to make of.

Eddie took his hand away suddenly. "Oh shit. What time is it?"

Robin searched for one of the clocks in the room. "11:15?"

"Oh," Eddie exhaled, "Good, I still have time. I gotta be somewhere around 12:30."

"Where?" Robin asked suspiciously. Eddie rolled his eyes.

"It's fine, just an interview with one of Uncle Wayne's friends. Construction." Steve and Robin's skeptical looks don't budge.

"I've known them since I was in middle school." Eddie adds, " They love me."

"Don't you need some kind of certification for a job like that?" Robin asked.

"Not for entry level. They train and shit. Oh, which reminds me, " Eddie turns to find the box on the floor.

" For the most part, I'll be able to take care of him while Uncle Wayne is working, since we'll be on alternate shifts. But, I was wondering…"

"Fuck yes." Robin predicted. "I would love to cat sit. I love him. He is our son. I would lay down my life for him."

"Okay!" Eddie replied, a goofy smile on his face from the outburst. "Yeah. Four week olds don't need as much attention as the itty bitty ones, but still need to be fed throughout the day."

Finally, after the upteenth time it tried to crawl into his flannel pocket, Eddie plopped the cat in, giving him a head pat.

"Can't leave the wee babe alone." The three of them were standing now, feeling the momentum to start heading towards the door. It was warmer outside now, approaching the warmer part of the day, where winds stilled and the sun was unobstructed by trees. Robin gave her last goodbyes to the cat, pressing a light kiss to its doe shaped head. It blinked in reciprocation.

"Nice to see you man," Steve said, landing a pat on Eddie's shoulder, in a half hug. He then smiled, leaning in to see the kitten.

"Bye Goose," Steve whispered, loud enough for Eddie to hear.

"Oh–you fucker–" Eddie made a grab at Steve's collar with his free hand, which Steve sharply dodged, nearly falling off the first step."Get off my lawn you traitor!"

Turning around from his escape, Steve jogged a few paces back, just to kick park mulch and leaves onto the stairs. Eddie bit down on his tongue trying not to laugh as Steve practically skipped to his car.

"Bastard!" Eddie yelled, hand shielding the kitten's ears.

Backing out of the gravel drive, he got one last look at Eddie in the doorway. The early morning scattering down between the leaves, casting shadows and light spots across his shirt and face. The drive back makes Steve want to crack the windows and let the smell of fall waft in. Robin is less jumpy now, consolidating any excess energy in occasionally bouncing one knee.

"-I just can't believe he didn't tell us right away? You're telling me I could have seen a kitten yesterday? That's twenty four more possible hours worth of kitten time." She raved.

Do you think he's alright?" He says it before he registers what he's asking.

Robin stops, "Eddie? As fine as the rest of us, probably." It wasn't really the answer he was looking for, but it was probably the most truthful one. "An interdimensional alien thing is kind of a fucking lot to handle the first time around, right?"

" Do you think he picked up nicotine again?" He turned onto the main road towards town.

" Maybe." She chews a nail.

" Does he still play guitar?"

Robin turned towards him, her leg still. She seemed to be looking straight into him, computing a number of different things in her brain. After a minute of staring that started to make Steve sweat, she answers.

"You could talk to him yourself sometimes, you know." Her legs begin to bounce again as she looks out to the road. "You should."

"Yeah." He focused away from her. "I should".