Reading Time: 107 Minutes

Title: Sing a New Song
Author: Twigen
Fandom: Stranger Things
Genre: Drama, Family, Future Fic / Post-Canon, Horror, Paranormal/Supernatural, Romance, Time Travel
Relationship(s): Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, minor/background pairings
Content Rating: R
Warnings: Violence-Graphic (Canon Typical)
Beta:
Alpha: GalahadsGurl, CorgiQueen14
Word Count: 67,454
Summary: He couldn’t leave him. No matter what Nancy said, Steve couldn’t leave Eddie’s body in the Upside Down. And like hell was his best friend, Robin, letting him go alone. She was his ride-or-die for a reason! Somehow, Eddie was still alive, but when they finally got out, they found themselves somewhere they never expected to be. Hawkins, 2016. Well, crap.
Artist: NotSally

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Chapter 7

Steve stared at the objects surrounding them, shocked. Nothing was familiar beyond the layout of the foyer. The furniture was different. The paintings and decorations were different. The people in the photographs were strangers.

This was his house, but the things inside it most definitely belonged to someone else.

“Uh, it’s definitely your house,” Robin said from beside him.

“But this isn’t what it’s supposed to look like,” Steve replied, frustrated. She had been inside his house many times and should realize that things weren’t the same.

While they stood frozen in the foyer, Steve trying to make sense of what they’d found, a light switched on upstairs, flooding the stairwell with weak light. Steve flinched, some part of him thinking it might be his parents, even though nothing else made sense. No one should be in the house. His parents were supposed to be in Europe through the end of the summer.

Footsteps echoed through the darkness. “Who’s down there? I already called the cops! Don’t come any closer!” an unfamiliar, gruff voice called, laced with anger.

Steve scrambled backward, pushing the others with him as his flight response kicked into overdrive. “Sorry, sorry!” he called, trying to calm the situation down. “I…I think we got the wrong house?” he said, words lilting upward into a question.

Steve couldn’t quite believe what he was saying. He knew this was his house, but what could he do when everything around him belonged to someone else? “We’re heading back out,” he rambled. “Really sorry to disturb you, man.”

And with that, he turned around and shoved Robin and Eddie back out into the front porch, pulling the door closed behind him. Steve froze in his steps again, unsure what to do next now that his only plan was shot to hell.

Something was very, very wrong.

A van very similar to the one that had picked them up off the side of the road the night before screeched to a halt in front of the house. Steve might have urged them to make a run for it if he hadn’t been so discombobulated from the house situation. As it was, all he could do was stand and stare as the situation dissolved around him.

The door behind them opened as people spilled out of the van, hurrying toward where they stood on the porch of what was supposed to be Steve’s house. People from the van quickly surrounded them.

“What kind of bullshit is this, breaking into my house in the middle of the night?” the guy who stepped out of the house behind them yelled as they were led away. “I called the cops! You better not leave! Who the hell are you people?”

Steve chanced a glance back and caught a glimpse of the guy. Something about him was vaguely familiar, but Steve wouldn’t have been able to pin it down at that moment for anything.

Someone from the van crew was trying to calm him down. “Sir, we’re very sorry about this. They were in an accident recently and are a little confused.”

That was the last he heard as the three of them were hustled into the van, and the door closed behind them. One of the people who was sitting with them gave them what looked like a grudgingly impressed look as they were checked out by medical personnel

The shock and confusion from the situation with his house distracted him to the point that he didn’t realize they’d been recaptured. Nothing made sense. Steve had left his house intact just days earlier. How had someone else moved in and completely changed everything in so short a time?

Dazed, it took Steve until they were halfway back to the lab to realize that their escape attempt had utterly failed.

***

Restless anxiety clawed at Steve as he paced the confines of their cell. Because that’s what it was, a cell. They were locked in the room again despite their protests. When they’d tried to leave, they were collected, returned to the room, and locked in again.

But it wasn’t the room that spurred Steve’s anxiety to new levels. It was the house he’d grown up in — that he’d been in just days earlier — wholly altered. None of the furniture was familiar. None of the decorations were what Steve had left behind. His parents preferred cold and impersonal decorations, making the house look like something out of a magazine spread rather than a home.

And the stranger that had come down the stairs was definitely a new addition.

Who had the man been? Steve hadn’t gotten a good look at him, but he didn’t understand why some random person would be in his house. And it was Steve’s house. He was absolutely sure of that.

So what the hell was going on?

Almost as if in answer to his unasked question, a knock on the door brought Steve to an abrupt halt in the middle of the room. He swiveled to face the door as it opened, glancing briefly at Eddie and Robin before focusing on the man and woman who stepped into the room.

“Hey, guys,” the man said.

Steve frowned as he looked at the man’s face, his gaze shifting to the woman for a moment before returning to the man. Something seemed very familiar about both of them, the man more than the woman, but Steve couldn’t quite place what it was.

“Hi,” Robin said, leaning against Steve as Eddie stepped up on his other side.

For a long moment, there was silence as the two middle-aged adults stared at them. Steve felt the skin on the back of his neck prickle, but he couldn’t figure out what was bothering him.

“What is going on?” he asked abruptly. “Who was that person in my house? Why is everything different? Is something wrong with us?”

The man swallowed and glanced at the woman, and Steve’s eyes darted back to her, as well, before he again looked at the man as the silence dragged out.

“There’s nothing wrong with you that we have been able to detect so far,” the woman said, stepping forward slightly. “However, there is something that we need to discuss with you. You may want to sit down for this,” she added and moved to sit in one of the chairs at the table. The man followed her almost immediately as he rounded the table to take the seat next to hers. She looked expectantly at Steve, Robin, and Eddie, who had yet to move from where they stood in the middle of the room.

There were only four chairs, a fact that the two older people hadn’t seemed to realize yet. Robin and Steve shared a glance and perched on one of the chairs together.

“What’s going on?” Eddie asked.

The man glanced at the woman again. “We don’t know exactly what happened, but when you crawled out of the Upside Down, you didn’t end up where you thought you did. Well, you ended up in the location you thought you did, but not the when.”

“Dustin,” the woman murmured, reaching out to place a hand on his arm.

Steve’s eyes shot to the man, and his stomach clenched in recognition as all the things he’d noticed added up to something he didn’t like. “‘Not the when’…It’s not 1986, is it?”

Dustin shook his head. “No, Steve. It’s not 1986. It’s 2016.”

“Henderson?” Steve whispered, feeling detached from the situation as his brain tried to understand what he was hearing.

Dustin nodded. “Yeah, it’s me, Steve. Just thirty years older than the last time you saw me.”

“What the fuck…” Eddie breathed from the chair next to them.

That summed up the situation nicely.

Steve stared blankly at the two lab people in the room with them. People that were technically old enough to be his parents. People that used to be a few years younger than him. Nothing about the situation was making any sense.

“H…how?” Robin breathed. “How did this happen?”

Dustin exchanged a glance with the woman he now realized was Eleven, all grown up. And middle-aged.

“We don’t exactly know. We probably never will,” Dustin said.

Eleven nodded, fixing the same solemn chocolate-brown gaze on them that she’d always had. “It is an unusual situation. This is the first time a gate has fully opened since 1986. If it weren’t for the remnant gate in the lab, we wouldn’t even be here right now.” She paused. “We thought it was over.”

“It is over, El,” Dustin insisted. “This is an anomaly.”

“Uh…” Steve started, his eyes darting between them. “Vecna is dead, right?”

Neither one answered right away.

“Your silence isn’t giving me good vibes here, guys.”

Dustin and Eleven exchanged another loaded glance, then El turned back to them. “We believe he is still dead, yes.”

“Believe?” Robin asked, wrapping her arms around herself.

Neither one wanted to relive the moment they’d gone to the Creel house in the Upside Down. She’d been glorious, of course, with how she tossed the Molotov cocktail at the fucker while Nancy lined up her shot. Setting Vecna on fire had been the highlight of the day.

Dustin cleared his throat and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “The only thing we have to suggest that’s not the case is…uh…you three showing up out of one of his gates in the middle of the road.”

“We are not sure how that was possible if One is gone,” El added. “We have seen no other evidence of his return, though.”

“Is the gate still opened?” Robin asked.

Steve realized he hadn’t thought to look at the gate once they were through. It had been closing around them, so he assumed it had closed fully.

Dustin tilted his head and shrugged a little. “The gate in the road closed up after you three crawled out. The one in the lab is still somewhat open. That one has been mostly dormant for the last thirty years. It only became active a few hours before you crawled into 2016.”

Steve blinked at him and glanced over at Eddie. His fellow time traveler sprawled in the chair next to him, but his eyes gazed fixedly on the ceiling above. The time travel added on top of everything else looked like just one thing too many for him to deal with. Steve wanted to reach out and grab Eddie’s hand, but there were too many people in the room.

He cleared his throat and looked at Robin, flicking his gaze at Eddie when she caught his eyes. She glanced over and, understanding immediately what he meant, reached out and gently took Eddie’s hand.

“So, I just…I don’t understand how we got here. We just never got out in 1986?” Steve asked, shaking his head helplessly. Time travel was so not his area of expertise. He didn’t even like movies with time travel in them, really. The concept was just too confusing.

Dustin and Eleven exchanged loaded glances again. Steve was coming to hate that look on their middle-aged faces. It wasn’t something he would have seen on them as teenagers, which only reminded him that they weren’t in Kansas anymore.

“What?” he prompted, drawing the word out when they didn’t say anything for a long moment.

“Well, Steve. Uh, we buried you,” Dustin blurted.

For a moment, Steve recognized the teenager in the 40-something man standing before him, and then his words developed meaning. “You. You buried us? Like empty coffins or something?” he asked, frowning at the two of them.

Eleven slowly nodded her head.

Steve felt his stomach drop, almost like being on a roller coaster at Cedar Point. “Wha…How?” he breathed. Steve looked at Robin and saw her staring wide-eyed at Dustin and Eleven. Eddie had let his eyes drift closed.

“So…everyone thinks we’re dead?” Eddie asked, voice subdued.

Grief flashed across his face, and Dustin looked away from the group for a long moment. Eleven reached out a hand to rest it gently on his arm. Her face also reflected the same sorrow that they saw. It was challenging to take in that they had buried and grieved them in the past.

Steve didn’t know what to make of that. Wrapping his mind around the idea that they were dead and had been dead for three decades to these people was mind-boggling. He couldn’t imagine being in the same position. Just the thought of the Dustin he remembered being dead and gone was like a kick to the gut. He swallowed hard at the thought.

“So, how did we end up here?” Steve asked.

“And can we go back?” Robin added.

Steve glanced at her, nodding slowly. The situation was still so surreal he hadn’t really gotten around to considering the fact that they were, like, actually thirty years in the future. Because, really, how did that even make sense?

“We don’t know enough about the situation yet to answer either of those questions,” Dustin said. He frowned. “As far as we can tell, the Upside Down has no activity internally, so we’re not sure why the portal connected to now to bring you here rather than back in the past.” He shook his head. “We don’t know what prompted the time jump. Honestly, we may never know.”

Eleven nodded. “And because we do not understand how this happened in the first place, we cannot say whether or not we could replicate it and reverse it so that you can go back to 1986. Or if it would even be safe to try it.”

“So, we’re stuck here?” Eddie murmured. His tone was completely neutral, giving away nothing about his feelings.

“We do not know yet for certain. We are still investigating,” Eleven said quietly. After a pause, she continued. “But, yes, you are most likely stuck here.”

Silence hung over the room for a long moment as the trio tried to digest what they were being told. Steve could only stare at the 45-year-old version of his friend in front of him. Thirty years. It was a lot to comprehend that the 15-year-old he remembered had lived twice that in what was essentially a few hours for Steve.

If none of this had happened and they’d made it back out into 1986, would he and Dustin still be friends in thirty years when Steve was nearly fifty?

Would they still be friends now, or would it be too weird? The people he’d known as children were old enough to be his parents now. And that was another mind-blowing thought. It was too many mind-blowing thoughts in quick succession.

He took a deep breath. “Um…” he trailed off, unsure what he was trying to say.

“Yeah,” Robin said. “This is going to take some time to take in.”

Dustin nodded. “Of course. We’re still trying to make sense of it all, as well. El?”

El sat forward in the chair, her serious adult face reminding Steve sharply of how she’d been as a teenager, but with more confidence in her posture. “I want to run some tests on the three of you to see if we can get any other data that might help us figure out where things stand. It may also help us determine if we can return you to 1986.”

Steve’s eyes darted to Eddie. They still hadn’t informed anyone at the lab of Eddie’s super-fast healing. Steve supposed they would find out eventually, but he wanted to at least put that off until the next day, if possible.

“Tests?” Eddie asked, finally opening his eyes. He looked at the two middle-aged adults in the room with a level of distrust Steve had never seen him aim at Dustin when they were the adults in the room.

“Yeah, nothing invasive or anything,” Dustin said quickly. “Just some follow-up blood work and some scans.”

The trio glanced at each other, all looking slightly unsettled at the prospect of tests. Steve couldn’t see any way out of them, not if they wanted to have any chance of getting home. And they did want to get home, right?

“Uh, I guess some tests would be all right?” Steve said, ending on more of a question than a firm statement as his gaze shifted between Robin and Eddie. He tried to reassure Eddie with his eyes, but he didn’t think the message had been received.

The other two stared at him, their reluctance evident. A long moment passed where no one moved or said anything to interrupt the silence.

Finally, Dustin seemed ready to change the subject, and he grinned at them. Steve caught another flash of that 15-year-old inside the middle-aged man in the shape of his smile. A memory of that same grin sans teeth overlaid Dustin’s face in his mind, and he couldn’t help but return the smile to his friend.

“It’s really good to see you guys, even if this is the weirdest situation we’ve run into,” Dustin said.

“I guess time travel is right up there with decaying flesh monsters…” Steve said. “But I don’t think it’s the weirdest.”

“Maybe,” Dustin said with a shrug.

“So, what did we miss?” Robin asked. She leaned forward, still holding Eddie’s hand in hers. “What have the last thirty years been like?”

El and Dustin glanced at each other again. “We don’t know how much we should tell you yet,” Dustin said, his face creasing in apology. “If you can go back, you shouldn’t know too much about the future. Who knows what you could change if you know what will happen?”

“Come on, Dustin! You gotta tell us something,” Steve cajoled. “Who won the world series last year?”

“Kansas City,” Dustin said, crossing his arms.

“Oh, hey, nice. So, they’re still doing pretty good,” Steve said.

Dustin shook his head. “Nope, last year was the first time they won in thirty years.”

“Huh,” Steve said, nonplussed. “Okay. What else can you tell us?”

Dustin exchanged a look with Eleven, who shrugged. He sighed and looked back at Steve. “I think that’s it for now. Let us figure out if we’re going to be able to get you back to the eighties, and then we’ll go from there. For now, we’re getting you guys some more stuff to keep you occupied, and El will schedule those tests. We’ll figure this out as soon as possible so you’re not hanging in limbo.”

Steve sighed but nodded. Dustin’s voice had taken on a tone he recognized from middle-aged people everywhere. He wasn’t going to get any further.

“All right, then,” Dustin said, clapping his hands together. “We’ll let you guys get some more rest, which I think you probably need after your misadventure earlier,” he continued, the gentle scold in his words obvious.

The handclap was very much a “dad” gesture, as was the scold, and Steve suddenly wondered if Dustin had kids and how many there might be. The thought caused another lump to rise in his throat as he thought about missing all those kids’ births and his position as a possible favorite uncle, considering Dustin had no one else he’d look at like a brother. Their relationship had developed in that direction in the time they’d known each other. Shared trauma had a way of bringing people closer.

“Thank you,” Robin murmured and leaned closer to Steve.

Steve glanced at her. Her voice was much quieter and more subdued than Steve was used to hearing from her. He longed to climb into the bed with Robin and Eddie and take a moment to huddle together. Maybe he would…

Dustin and El were standing and had moved closer to the door, ready to depart. Dustin’s gaze lingered on the three eighties transplants, and he seemed on the verge of darting in to grab Steve into a bear hug. He held back, though, and just gave a little wave as the door buzzed and El swung it open.

“We’ll see you guys this afternoon, all right? Get some rest, and if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

And with that, they were gone, leaving just the three of them again in the room.

“Let’s, uh…” Steve started, pushing himself up from the chair and running his hand through his hair. “Let’s get some sleep?” he asked the other two. At that moment, his goal was simply to get his brain to shut off for a while.

Not waiting for a response, he headed for the wardrobe and grabbed some clean clothes before heading into the bathroom. All he had was some semblance of routine to follow, and his mind was desperately reaching for anything it could grab onto for stability. Avoidance was the name of the game.

It didn’t take nearly long enough to do his bathroom routine, and when he emerged, Robin and Eddie hadn’t moved from the chairs around the table. “Come on, Robin. Your turn.”

She stared at him for a moment before pushing to her feet and walking past him without a word.

Eddie was still just as silent as she had been, and Steve didn’t know what to make of it.

“You doing all right, Eddie?” he asked quietly as he returned to the seat next to Eddie.

The other man shook his head and glanced at Steve, his eyes shouting his fear louder than words could. Steve longed to reach out and grab Eddie’s hand, but the camera still observed them. The shirt Steve had tossed over it had long since been removed, and after their earlier escape, they were no doubt under closer surveillance.

Robin came out of the bathroom a moment later, and Eddie took his turn. While he was in the bathroom, Robin and Steve climbed into the bed in the same positions they’d had the night before, curling closely together for support.

Time ticked past as Steve and Robin waited for Eddie to join them. He was taking longer than either of them had taken in the bathroom, and Steve was just about to check on him when the door finally swung open. Eddie padded across the floor, turning the light off on his way and climbing in on the side next to Steve.

His body was stiff in the bed, and Steve turned on his side to face him, Robin rolling with him until she was pressed along the length of his back.

“You okay?” Steve asked quietly, hand reaching out to rest along Eddie’s arm.

“No, man. I don’t know how to be okay right now.”

Steve nodded, understanding where he was coming from. “Yeah. We’ll figure this out, you know. Just like we’ve figured everything else out.”

At that, Eddie turned disbelieving eyes on Steve. “We haven’t figured out shit, Steve. Everything just keeps getting worse, and it’s not about to stop!” His voice raised to nearly a shout with the last words, and his breath came in fast pants.

Eddie was on the verge of a panic attack.

Before Steve could react, though, all the tension bled out of Eddie’s body, along with a heaving sigh. “What’s the point? My life wasn’t exactly going anywhere, anyway,” he murmured, mostly to himself.

Again, the resignation lacing Eddie’s words stabbed at Steve’s heart.

“Eddie,” Steve started, but the other man shook his head, cutting the words short.

“Just…let’s go to sleep,” Eddie said, rolling onto his side away from Steve.

Sighing, Steve rolled onto his back, one arm coming up to wrap around Robin. Eddie was allowed to feel his feelings, no matter the sting of rejection Steve felt. They would figure this out, he knew.

Because, as cliche as it might be, the only way out was through.

***

Eleven and Dustin were quiet as they started down the hallway, both lost in their own thoughts. It had been surreal to see and interact with Steve, Robin, and Eddie again the night before after so many years. Aside from the nurses’ station near the room the three time travelers were occupying, the hallways in this part of the building were empty.

“Do you think we can find a way to send them back?” Dustin asked, voice soft as they walked.

Eleven shook her head, doubt and foreboding filling her as she contemplated the situation. “I don’t know, Dustin. The idea of sending them back into the Upside Down again…it does not feel right.” She wasn’t sure how to put into words the crawling sensation that traveled over her skin at the thought of them going back through the gateway.

Dustin nodded. “Yeah, I don’t feel good about it either. I’d rather they just stay here, honestly.” He paused. “But that might be me being selfish. I still miss Steve, even though it’s been thirty years since he died.”

Eleven nodded. She hadn’t been as close to the older set of teenagers back when they were children, but she’d liked Steve, and he’d always looked out for all of them. “This is the first time the Upside Down has ever given something back to us,” Eleven murmured. “It feels wrong to throw it away. I am not even convinced they will end up where we want them to if we try.”

“You’ll be able to tell more after you visit the In Between, though, right?”

She shrugged a shoulder. “I do not know. With the gate open, I will likely get more information than I would otherwise.”

“All you can do is try. If it’s too risky to send them back, then we don’t,” Dustin said. “If we’re not sure they’re actually going to get back to 1986, we’re not doing it. I don’t want to lose them again.” He grimaced. “Besides, like I tried to tell Brad, time travel is a sci-fi concept outside of the hypothetical. If we send them back, does the timeline split into two, leaving our timeline intact? How much will things change for us now if we send them back?”

He stopped abruptly in the middle of the hallway. El took a couple more steps before turning to look back at where he was standing with a gobsmacked expression.

“What is it?” she asked, concerned about what he’d just realized that had so startled him.

Dustin stared at her. “What if us sending them back is what leads to their deaths? One school of thought says you can’t change the future. What if the only way they stay alive is by staying here?”

Eleven felt the trepidation of that thought wash over her. “We should not send them back, then. It will not be worth the risk.”

“We don’t even know if it’s possible to send them back,” Dustin reminded her. He started walking again, gaze distant. “They’re so young. They’re basically the same age as the kids.”

That made Eleven smile. “They are a bit older than most of the kids, but I know what you mean.”

“Yeah. Looking at them really drives it home just how young all of us were back then.” Dustin shook his head. “Far too young to be dealing with any of this crap,” he muttered as they reached the main lab.

They walked into a bustling hive of activity.

Chapter 8

Eleven stopped short, frowning. “What is going on?” she wondered, concern growing with each passing moment as they took in the unusual busyness of the observation area overlooking the gate. An air of frenetic energy shot through with dashes of excitement and terror, judging by the looks on the faces nearest to them, permeated the area.

She reached out a hand to a passing assistant, bringing them to a halt. “What is happening?”

“Director Reyes has ordered an expedition through the gate,” he said before hurrying on his way.

The atmosphere of the room suddenly made sense. Anger surged through her. “What the hell does he think he’s doing?” she ground out, craning her neck as she looked for Brad in the sea of bodies.

Next to her, Dustin had gone very still. “Is he nuts? He’s gotta be. I can’t believe he’d do this without consulting with us.”

“We need to find him and put a stop to this.”

Eleven finally saw Brad Reyes and started weaving through the room toward the man’s location at one of the terminals. He looked at something on one of the monitors, nodding at whatever the scientist at the terminal was saying.

“Brad, I need a moment,” she said, voice firm.

The sudden silence surrounding them at her words had the man in question raise his head to look at her.

“This isn’t the time, Dr. Wheeler. Control yourself, please.”

Eleven shook her head, and the coffee mug on the desk in front of her moved a couple of inches. “This is exactly the time, and I am perfectly in control, Director Reyes. A word, please,” she ordered again.

Brad sighed and rolled his eyes in a way that Eleven knew was distinctly unprofessional, but he stepped away from the desk and gestured toward her office. She fumed at his attitude but led the way, Dustin trailing in their wake.

As soon as they were in the office, Eleven rounded on Brad, feeling energy pulse beneath her skin. Dustin closed the door behind himself and leaned against it, apparently content to watch the scene unfold before him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Eleven asked, keeping her voice calm and even.

Brad made a condescending gesture that included an eye roll and a wave of his hands. “Well, since you can’t be bothered to do it, I’m obviously sending a team through the gate to get a read on what’s happening in there.”

Eleven stared at him for a long moment, a surge of energy building within her. The frames on the wall shifted, and the pens in the handmade mug on her desk rattled as she felt her blood boiling in anger. “You do not have the authority to order that kind of thing.”

“I’m the director of this facility!” Brad proclaimed. “Everything that happens in this facility is under my authority.”

“This is my lab and my project. You have no authority to order my staff around or to interfere with how I conduct my experiments.”

Brad scoffed. “Well, it wasn’t like you were sending a team in. You know that’s the next step.”

Eleven scowled at him. “No, I do not know that is the next step,” she countered. “We are not sending people through the gate yet, if at all. I will not risk any more lives to that place, Brad. The Upside Down is completely unstable based on the last readings we gathered. We do not know what is going on in there, and I have not been able to review the test results we have so far thoroughly, and I have more tests planned to see if there are any noticeable effects on our three guests.

“If we send anyone in now, we probably will not get them back,” she continued, staring Brad down. “Will you explain to their families that you acted out of turn and decided their lives were worth the risk without the proper precautions?”

Brad’s face darkened, and his cheeks were splashed with red. “You don’t know that anything bad will happen to them.”

Eleven quirked an eyebrow, knowing she had won for the moment. The energy building in her body slowly started to dissipate. “You do not know that anything bad will not happen to them. Brad, we are scientists. Guessing is not what we do, nor is going into a situation completely blind, which is what you are ordering right now. Call it off,” she ordered, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at him expectantly. Her gaze met his livid stare easily, and she quirked an eyebrow as the moment lingered.

Finally, Brad looked away, a muscle in his jaw jumping with how tightly clenched his teeth were. With an expletive muttered under his breath, he shook his head and turned toward the door Dustin helpfully opened.

“We’re aborting the expedition,” he called as he disappeared into the crowd. The people around him were slowly grinding to a halt as Dustin shut the door and dropped into one of the visitor chairs in front of her desk.

Eleven let her eyes close briefly at the narrowly avoided catastrophe. Because she had no doubt that’s what it would have turned into. They would have lost whoever was sent into the Upside Down…or something equally unthinkable would have happened.

It had been thirty years since the last deaths attributed to the Upside Down. Eleven was not about to add to that count now before she had gathered as much information as possible.

“That guy is a douche,” Dustin said, shaking his head.

Eleven grinned. “Mouth-breather,” she murmured, causing Dustin to break out in fond laughter as they shared a memory of a time many years past.

***

Waking up had been a slow process. Their post-midnight excursion had taken more out of them than Steve had anticipated, but he attributed that mostly to the stress of everything and the conversation after. Not to mention, they were all still recovering, emotionally and physically, from their last time in the Upside Down.

They’d started waking up just before lunch was brought to them, along with the news that the testing was scheduled to begin after they’d finished.

The trio ate silently for a few minutes, each focused on their own thoughts. Steve’s flashed back to the night before when he’d first realized the house he’d grown up in was…very wrong. Knowing that they had skipped thirty years into the future, Steve wondered when, exactly, his parents had sold the house and moved away.

Had they even cared that he was dead? Or was it just a relief to have their embarrassment of a son out of their lives, once and for all? Swallowing thickly, Steve tried not to let his thoughts dwell on his parents and his strained relationship with them for years before becoming involved with the Upside Down situation.

Robin’s fork clattered to her plate, pulling Steve’s thoughts entirely off himself. He looked over at her in concern, which only grew as he took in the expression on her face.

“You okay?” Steve asked.

Robin shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. What if we’re stuck here?”

The question made Steve set his own fork down, lackluster appetite for their late lunch completely gone.

“I mean, my family wasn’t the greatest, but I loved them. They loved me. They mourned me thirty years ago,” Robin rambled. Tears pooled in her eyes.

Steve jumped up and carefully pulled her from her chair and into a hug. Robin clung to him, and Steve wondered if he was the only thing keeping her tethered to reality. The hug had that effect on him, so he didn’t think it was outside the realm of possibility.

“I know, Rob. It’s…a lot,” he murmured into her hair.

After a few long moments, Robin pulled away and wiped the few tears she’d shed from her face. Her eyes still looked slightly wild, but Steve could see her very deliberately pulling herself together.

She sat back down and grabbed her fork once again. “We should finish eating,” she said, though she only poked at the food on the tray. “Who knows what kind of tests we’ll have to deal with.”

Steve stared at her for a moment longer, worry washing through him for her. She gave him a tight smile and nodded back to his seat. After another moment, he moved to do as she directed. The three of them started eating again, the slight sound of their forks hitting the trays the only thing to break the silence.

“It might not be so bad if we’re stuck here, right?” Steve asked quietly. “I mean…if we can’t go back, that would totally suck, but we’re alive and together, yeah?” Steve was aware the optimism was forced, but if he dwelled too long on the negatives of their situation, he would get pulled down into a funk, which was the last thing he needed.

“Yeah, if we have to stay in the future, at least we’re going to deal with it together,” she said, then glanced at Eddie.

He’d finished about half of his tray and didn’t look inclined to do anything about the rest. Instead, he’d slumped down in his chair, arms crossed over his stomach as he studied Robin and Steve with an inscrutable expression. Whatever thoughts were going through his mind were impossible to read from his face.

“What’s up, buttercup?” Robin asked, nudging his leg gently with her hand.

Eddie shook his head and looked away. He didn’t answer immediately, and Steve thought he might not say anything when he finally spoke. “Just…everything. Wayne. Chrissy,” he murmured, slumping forward to let brace his elbows on the table, hands splaying out like he was holding on for everything he was worth. It also allowed him to avoid their gazes as he stared into his half-eaten food tray.

Steve reached out and rested his hand on the table beside Eddie’s. Their fingers barely brushed, but he saw Eddie’s hand twitch at the contact.

Eddie finally looked up at them. “It’s just a lot. If we’re stuck here, what are we supposed to do? We’ve missed the last thirty years. We’re like aliens.”

“Yeah, they’re going to have to spend some time getting us up to speed if they expect us to say. But let’s not borrow chickens before they hatch,” Robin said.

Steve looked over at her, confused, while Eddie gave her a side-eye and a small smile, but at least it broke the heavy mood somewhat.

“But, seriously, let’s wait and see what they say,” Robin said firmly. “If they can get us back, they will. And if they can’t…” She sighed. “If they can’t, we’ll figure out how to deal with that, too.”

It wasn’t the most positive note, but what else could they do?

“We need to finish eating and get ready. Nurse Floyd said, ‘Dr. Wheeler’ was going to come by for us in an hour, and that was twenty minutes ago.”

“Dr. Wheeler?” Steve asked, face scrunching into a frown.

“Apparently, Eleven is Dr. Wheeler,” Robin clarified.

Steve’s face cleared up. “Huh. I guess she and Mike managed to work it out.”

“That little shit,” Eddie said, the corner of his mouth kicking up in an amused smile as he reached out to take up his fork again.

***

The testing was long and tedious. Also, a little scary. Steve couldn’t wait for all of it to be done. It was exhausting, and he was worried about how Eddie and Robin were doing. They’d all been carted off in different directions. It was their first time separated since they’d woken up in the lab. Having them out of his sight was making his anxiety spike.

He’d finally finished the last scan and had been shown to a small meeting room to wait for the others. The room was bland and didn’t do anything to keep Steve’s mind from dwelling on the situation.

It was still hard to believe they were in the future and that they’d somehow lost three decades to the Upside Down. How did he wrap his mind around that? One minute, he was going to battle with the Upside Down again, and the next, his whole reality had shifted out from under his feet.

The only reason he wasn’t a babbling mess in the corner was that he needed to keep it together for Robin and Eddie. He felt guilty for being grateful that they were going through this whole thing with him, but Steve knew if he were on his own, he’d be completely lost.

The door behind him opened, finally breaking him out of his thoughts. Robin was shown into the room, and she plopped into the seat next to him.

Andrew, the male nurse – which, apparently, was more of a thing in the future than it had been in the eighties – smiled in at them. “You guys want something to drink while you wait for Mr. Munson and Dr. Wheeler?”

Steve glanced at Robin, who nodded, and turned back to the nurse. “Water would be great.”

“You got it. Be right back,” he said, closing the door behind him.

“You okay?” Steve asked, turning back to his best friend.

She nodded, but her arms were wrapped around herself. “Yeah, I’m okay. It’s just a lot. I had no idea they had things like that. Do you think they had that kind of stuff in ‘86?”

Steve shrugged. “No idea. It was like being in a spaceship or something.”

“Yeah. Freaky,” Robin agreed, then shook herself and leaned forward. “So. You going to tell me what’s going on with you and Eddie?”

Heat flooded Steve’s face, and he stared at the table. He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Robin poked him. “What do you mean, you don’t know? You’ve been giving him goo-goo eyes for the last couple of days. And you woke up practically wrapped around him yesterday and today.”

Steve shrugged again. “I mean…we, um…had a moment before we went after Vecna when we were getting ready,” he mumbled. “After we made cocktails.” He glanced over at Robin. She was staring at him with a raised eyebrow, and Steve sighed. “Yeah, we made out for a while.”

“Oh, really? After I decided that the state of my love life was insignificant in the face of the end of the world?” she asked, incredulous.

“Well, I mean…It was the end of the world?” he tried with a crooked smile.

Robin raised another eyebrow at him. “And what about Nancy?”

Steve looked away, grimacing. “It was the end of the world,” he said again. “I…I thought she was the one that got away.” He shook his head. “But it wasn’t that. It was the…the dying alone.”

Robin stared at him with large eyes, damp with tears. She nodded slowly and reached out to grip his hand. “Is that what the thing with Eddie was, too?”

“I mean…I don’t know?” he said. “We haven’t exactly had a chance to talk about it. Everything’s been happening kinda fast.” Steve sighed. “I’m not even sure if he wants anything else other than what we’ve already had. Besides, we don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s all so…much.” He finished the thought, feeling more desolate than anticipated as all the built-up emotions started flowing more freely. This was the first chance he’d had to discuss it with anyone.

“Do you want anything else?” Robin asked.

Wasn’t that the question? Steve stared at the bland beige wall opposite where they were sitting and thought about it for a moment. His immediate response was a resounding “yes,” and it was really more a matter of whether or not Eddie wanted anything further.

“Yeah. I do. I really like him, Robin, more than I expected,” Steve said and glanced her way again. She was looking at him with a soft expression on her face. “I mean, he’s so much braver than he gives himself credit for, you know?”

Robin nodded. “Yeah. He’s had a rough go of it. You should talk to him. Based on what I saw, I don’t think you have to worry about him wanting you, though. Not if the looks he’s been giving you were any indication.”

The door opened, and Eddie was there with three bottles of water in his arms. He looked a bit rattled if the wide brown eyes were anything to go by.

“You made it!” Robin called, grinning at him as he grabbed a seat on Steve’s other side at the table.

Eddie slid two of the bottles down toward Steve, who passed one on to Robin.

“Dr. Wheeler will be in shortly. If you guys need anything else, just open the door. We’re right outside,” Andrew said, backing away. The door shut quietly behind him.

Steve, Eddie, and Robin were again left alone in the conference room. They slowly sipped at their water, not saying much at first.

“So, that was fun?” Eddie said, putting the cap back on his bottle and sliding it onto the table. “I vote we don’t do that again.”

Steve grinned over at him. “Seconded.”

“Motion passes unanimously,” Robin agreed. “What did they say when you told them about your healing thing?”

Eddie shrugged, eyes moving furtively around the room. “I, uh, didn’t say anything about it. I just let them see it when they took the bandages off. They didn’t say anything, either, so I don’t know what that means. The nurse did look kind of…surprised, though.”

Steve hadn’t expected Eddie to volunteer the information about his injuries healing way faster than they’d expected them to, honestly. He knew he wouldn’t have mentioned it in the same situation. But he did wonder what they would make of Eddie’s injuries healing like that.

“Do you think they’ll actually find anything in all those tests that will get us back to 1986?” Robin continued after the silence stretched for a moment.

Eddie shrugged. “My luck, yes,” he said, despondency lacing his words.

Steve looked over at him, considering. Eddie did have the worst-case scenario to go back to if they did manage it. Last they’d known, he was still suspected of triple homicide, satan-worshipping, and leading a cult of baby teenagers.

Steve could see how the death of his old life was almost a blessing in disguise, if not for the time lost with his Uncle Wayne.

There was a quick knock on the door, and then it slid open, revealing Eleven. She walked in with a stack of files in her arms, followed by Dustin. He couldn’t believe it had taken as long as it did for him to realize who he was looking at. Now that he knew, it was totally obvious. Dustin was clearly recognizable, from his facial features to his tightly curled hair. The grin, though, was a dead giveaway for his identity, and he beamed it at them as he dropped into the seat next to Eleven on the other side of the table.

Eleven smiled at them, though there was a crease between her eyes as she settled into her own chair, moving the files around in front of her into some order only she understood. “That wasn’t too bad, right?”

Steve grimaced at her. “I’d rather not do it again, but it wasn’t worse than being in the Upside Down.”

“That’s the spirit,” Dustin said, still grinning. He was fiddling with the really thin and plain Trapper Keeper-type thing he’d brought in with him. “Medical tests are never fun, but they were necessary today.”

“Yes, we got a baseline of your blood work when you first came in, so this gave us a comparison to that, at least. The other tests help give us more information to work with.” She looked down at the files on the table and picked one up. “First, are the three of you comfortable discussing the results as a group, or would you prefer to talk privately?”

Steve glanced at Robin and Eddie. They shrugged. “I’m fine with them hearing whatever you have to say,” Steve said.

“Same,” Eddie murmured.

“Yeah, a group setting is fine,” Robin confirmed.

Eleven nodded and got started. “Steve, Robin, your initial results looked fine. I can see nothing of concern, and your injuries are healing nicely.”

Steve frowned at her. She’d very clearly left Eddie out of that.

Eleven moved those two folders aside and picked up the third one. She glanced at Dustin, whose face had taken on a more somber cast, before speaking again. “Eddie, your results are slightly more mixed. You are in good shape, better than you should be, all things considered. We did not find anything of concern in your blood work, though you are low in a few vitamins that we will supplement.”

She paused, folding her arms over the table as she looked at Eddie with her solemn brown eyes. “We are…concerned at the rate your injuries are healing, however. Your recovery should take weeks, if not months, yet it has only been a few days since you arrived, and your wounds are significantly healed. Even the scarring looks minimal.

“Additionally, there are the results from the EEG. As we explained, that test is the one that measures brain wave activity. One of your results was….peculiar.”

Steve looked over to Eddie and found the other man staring at Eleven with wide eyes, though he looked otherwise resigned. If there were one thing Steve would have liked to do at that moment, it was reaching out to Eddie to hold his hand in support. They were positioned too far apart for him to do it covertly, though, so he gripped the armrest of his chair instead.

“What do you mean ‘peculiar’?” Eddie asked.

“Well, when I saw the readings, one wavelength jumped out at me as something I’d seen before,” Eleven began. She looked over to Dustin. “Would you?”

Dustin nodded and opened the binder…which, apparently, wasn’t a Trapper Keeper at all but some kind of electronic device. The cover of the folder stood upright, and what looked like a flat keyboard was on the other side. A moment later, the black screen at the end of the table lit up with indecipherable pictures and graphs.

Steve had never seen anything like it. There was no projector anywhere that he could see. The others were looking around, as well.

Dustin grinned at him. “This is a laptop. Some people call them notebooks. It’s a computer.”

“But it’s not plugged into anything?” Eddie said, carefully leaning forward as his attention was diverted from the conversation.

“Yup, batteries!” Dustin said, grinning again as he spun the machine around to face them so they could see the display. “This stuff just keeps getting smaller and more powerful all the time. It’s a far cry from what you left behind in the ‘80s.”

Steve could only stare, gaze shifting between the small screen and the much larger screen. An overwhelming feeling of being entirely out of his depth swept over him as the enormity of the time difference became apparent. It felt like a bad omen that they were showing this technology to them now when they’d previously done their best to keep them from being overly exposed.

“Don’t worry,” Dustin said. “You’ll get used to these things in no time.”

And that was even more ominous.

Steve swallowed past the lump in his throat. “We’re not going back to 1986, are we?” he asked faintly.

Eleven looked at him with her huge brown eyes, sympathy written all over her face. “No, you are not,” she said simply.

“Oh,” Robin breathed next to him.

“The remaining gate into the Upside Down is opening very slowly,” she continued. “And, we think we know why now. If you look at the screen, you’ll see on the left the brain wave activity that we registered for Eddie. One of them jumped out at me as something I recognized.”

On the screen were a bunch of graphs with squiggly lines that didn’t mean anything to Steve. He looked at Eleven and Dustin, confused. “Okay?”

Eleven nodded at Dustin, and he did something on the computer to make another graph pop up right next to the first one.

“The wavelength in this reading is an exact match to one that we picked up from Eddie,” Eleven explained. She paused for a moment as if gathering herself to say whatever it was she was sitting on. “The second reading is from the gate. We don’t know exactly what it all means yet, but something is connecting Eddie to the Upside Down. We believe this link is the reason the gate is still open. It may also be the reason for your advanced healing.”

Silence greeted her statement. Steve stared at Eleven for a long moment before turning to Eddie. The wide-eyed fear from earlier had been replaced by a careful blankness that hid any emotion he might be feeling. It was unsettling to see that reaction from Eddie. He usually wore his heart on his sleeve, which was one thing that Steve admired about him. Eddie expressed himself and gave little thought to what others thought of him. Everything about him was genuine.

Steve reached out and took Eddie’s hand. He didn’t care if it made eyebrows raise. It was more important to him to support a friend and let Eddie know that he wasn’t alone in whatever they were facing now.

“Hey…you okay?” he asked quietly.

Eddie was still staring blankly at Eleven. At Steve’s voice, though, his gaze shifted, eyes widened slightly.

There was the fear that had been carefully suppressed.

“No, really, really not okay,” Eddie whispered. His hand flipped around under Steve’s and gripped hard like Steve was the only thing keeping him tethered to reality.

“Eddie,” Dustin started, pulling their attention back to the two middle-aged adults in the room. “It’s going to be all right. We detected this in the tests, so now we know about it, which means we can do something about it.”

Eleven nodded next to him. “Exactly. My team is gathering additional readings from the gate, and we will figure this out, Eddie,” she said, giving him a sympathetic and determined look. “Our next step is to take some additional readings from you, as well. We want to get some distance between you and the gate while we take those readings, which means that tomorrow afternoon, the three of you will be going home with me.”

Dustin grinned at them. “In the morning, we’ll do a bit of a crash course on what to expect in 2016.” His face sobered as he looked at the three of them. “It’s going to be a lot to get used to and learn, but we’ll be here for you every step of the way.”

Steve looked over to Robin. She was staring at Dustin and Eleven in a way that looked very much like Eddie’s expression. It was very much like how he felt. Completely dumbstruck. Sideswiped by the idea that they were stuck here, in the future. That they had lost the experience of living the last thirty years.

Eleven and Dustin exchanged another glance as the silence in the room lingered. “We’ll give you three some time to take this in. I know this is a shock,” Eleven said.

“Yeah,” Steve breathed. “I think that would be good.”

The next few minutes were a blur as they returned to their room and settled back in the pushed-together beds. None of them had said a word since leaving the meeting room. They were still silent as they huddled together, still careful of healing wounds.

“What the hell are we going to do now?” Eddie finally asked.

“I…have no idea,” Steve said, running a shaking hand through his hair.

Robin looked at them. “We’re going to take it one day at a time and figure it out as we go,” she said, voice firm. “And stick together. We’re all we’ve got, but we have each other.”

Steve smiled at her and held his hand out over Eddie’s stomach, careful not to lean too much pressure on him. “Yeah. Together.”

Eddie dropped a hand on top of their joined ones and squeezed. “Together.”

Chapter 9

The edge of the counter dug into the back of Eddie’s butt as he leaned against it, but the mild discomfort was worth it. He was grateful that that was the one truly uninjured part of his body. The feeling of Steve’s lips as they met his over and over was the only thing Eddie could focus on. Without the support of the counter, he was sure he would have tumbled into a puddle on the floor. The effort of maintaining his balance on top of that would have been too much.

Eddie wanted to stay in the moment for as long as possible, partly to avoid the reality of their current situation but also because it was delicious. His head tilted back and to the side, giving Steve’s questing lips room to move along the column of his throat. The rasp of Steve’s stubble over his skin sent another shiver through his body, and he panted as his stomach clenched in anticipation.

Unfortunately, Steve didn’t get that memo, and he pulled back, pressing one more kiss to Eddie’s lips as he braced his hands on either side of Eddie’s hips against the counter.

“We came in here to talk in private,” Steve murmured.

Eddie grinned at him. “I think we were talking just fine.”

Steve rolled his eyes, smiling as he peered at Eddie. “Yeah, no problem there.” His smile faded, and his eyes searched Eddie’s. “But is that all this is? Just a distraction? I know we didn’t exactly get a lot of time to talk before everything happened…and now…”

“And now everything is just…I don’t even know, unreal?” Eddie shook his head. “Neither of us expected to be here, and there’s so much we don’t know about the situation.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, nodding. “But…was this just an end-of-the-world thing that got extended, or are you interested in more?”

Eddie studied Steve for a long, silent moment. He’d been shocked as hell when Steve had pulled him back around, leaning into him for a passionate kiss that first time. It had never occurred to him that Steve might be attracted to guys, but the frantic kisses they’d exchanged while the others were busy cleared that up for him. Eddie’s only question then had been whether or not Steve would be one of those guys who regretted it when the situation wasn’t quite so crazy.

But now, here Steve was, asking Eddie if he wanted this to be something more than just making out whenever they could steal a moment. Should he put himself out there, hoping for the best, only to risk having his heart broken for real?

Eddie swallowed harshly and looked away. He could feel Steve’s eyes still lingering on him, and he took a deep breath before glancing back. “I mean…If you’re interested in trying something more, me too.”

The last part came out in a tumble of words, but Steve obviously understood what he was saying if the grin spreading across his face was anything to go by.

“I’m very interested.”

“And you’re sure you’re not just reaching for something familiar?” Eddie whispered, dreading the answer.

Steve’s gaze softened, and he shook his head. “Nah, I was going to ask you out if we survived the Upside Down. I’m just doing it thirty years later, is all,” he added with a wink.

Eddie huffed a laugh. “You dork,” he teased but leaned in for another kiss, anyway.

They got lost in each other again for the next few minutes, and all Eddie could think about was the feel of Steve’s lips and his weight gently pressing him back into the counter. Eventually, though, they broke apart with one final kiss.

“Robin knows, by the way,” Steve said casually.

Eddie felt his pulse kick as adrenaline flooded his body. “You told her?” he yelped.

Steve frowned. “No, she guessed. Apparently, we weren’t subtle enough for her not to figure it out. Don’t worry…she’s cool.”

Eddie shook his head. “Steve…You don’t understand. This isn’t going to be like dating a woman.”

“No shit. I know it’s different. I know it’s not going to be as easy,” Steve said, his voice going earnest as he reached up to gently brush the hair away from Eddie’s face where it had started to creep in over his eyes. “I want this with you. You’re not like anyone I’ve ever met before. And I can’t stop wanting to kiss you.” He smiled gently at Eddie. “Robin is cool. She’s not going to tell anyone. Besides, who would she tell?”

Eddie took a deep breath and tried to think past his initial reaction to someone else knowing he was doing something with a guy. He’d always been so careful, despite whatever rumors circled about him. His tormentors could never confirm anything, so they never knew for sure.

He nodded slowly. “All right. If you trust her, then I trust her,” Eddie said, wondering where his brain was at with this.

Aside from their shared trauma — and now their journey to the future — he didn’t know Buckley or Steve well enough to trust them with one of his most closely guarded secrets. Steve was in the same dangerous boat he was, so that was something, but Buckley…she could let something slip and accidentally out them.

Steve smiled at him. “I do trust her. With my life. She’s my best friend.”

Eddie nodded. “All righty then. That’s good enough for me, I guess?”

There was a knock on the door then. “Are you two ever coming out of the bathroom?” Robin called. “Some of us need to pee.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Jeez, yes.”

“Okay, good. You need to see what they brought us.”

Eddie frowned as Steve backed away. He pushed himself off the counter and immediately regretted the abrupt movement as pain flared from all of the mostly-healed injuries littering his body. “Ow,” he groaned as the pair made their way out of the bathroom and back into the main room.

Robin was sitting on the bed with a pile of flat, plastic cases scattered around her. Judging by the images on the covers, they were movies, but nothing like he’d ever seen. Opposite their beds, another cart had been rolled in, with a large, flat rectangle perched on top of it. The rectangle looked a lot like the screen in the meeting room earlier that day.

“What’s this?” Steve asked, stepping closer to pick up one of the cases.

Eddie climbed into the bed and settled back against the pillows. Even though it meant he had some kind of bizarro connection to the Upside Down, he wasn’t complaining about the accelerated healing it seemed to be providing him. Even the scarring looked like it wouldn’t be as bad as it probably should have been once all was said and done. He still had the lingering pain of the healing injuries, but it was nowhere near the pain levels he remembered being bombarded by when everything happened.

“Movies, apparently,” Robin said. “These are, um…blue rays? They think this will help expose us to modern life, somehow. I don’t see how, exactly. I think these are all science fiction.”

“Huh. No more VHS?” Steve asked as he picked up another of the cases.

He passed the featherlight case for something called The Matrix to Eddie. It reminded him of the compact disc cases he’d seen in the record store in Indianapolis the last time he’d gone before all this had happened. They’d been outrageously expensive, and Eddie was happy enough sticking to his cassettes and records. He pried the case open to look at the disc inside.

Robin shrugged. “I guess not. When I asked, Nurse Floyd smiled and said it had been a while since she’d seen one.”

Steve sighed. “Just the first of many things to get used to, eh?”

“Seems that way. Nurse Floyd said she’d be back to set us up with the player and show us how it works. She also said something about a tv show we should watch.”

A knock on the door interrupted what Robin was saying, and Nurse Floyd stepped into the room with a smile. “Hi, guys. Did you all pick a movie?” she asked, walking further into the room with a box in her arms. She set it on the corner of the bed once she was close enough.

“Um, no, not yet,” Robin answered. “We were just working on that. What was that show you said we should watch?”

“Oh! The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. The first season came out last year on Netflix. It’s about this girl who spends fifteen years in an underground bunker as part of a cult, so she has to adapt to the modern world. It felt appropriate for your situation,” Floyd added with a smile.

The three young adults stared at her. For a moment, Eddie wondered if she was still speaking English. There was so much in that statement that he was trying to parse. He could feel himself starting to get overwhelmed at the thought of everything they needed to learn and get used to in this new time.

“If the first season was out last year, how is it already in reruns?” Steve asked, frowning.

It was Nurse Floyd’s turn to stare at them. She blinked. “Right. It wasn’t on a regular television channel. It was streamed on Netflix, which is a whole ball of yarn to untangle. It’s on-demand, so you can watch it whenever you want.” She smiled at them, a hint of discomfort and sympathy on her face. “Don’t worry. We’ll show you. You’ll be browsing through the available content in no time.

“For now, why don’t you start with Independence Day? It came out about a decade after you went into the Upside Down,” she continued, reaching out to pick up the case.

Steve, Eddie, and Robin gave each other quick looks, but no one had any objections. “Sounds good,” Robin said.

Nurse Floyd grinned at them. “I loved this movie the first time I saw it.

What followed next was a quick overview of how to use the player, the television, and the remote. Once it had started and was on the screen waiting for them to hit play, Nurse Floyd gestured to the box she’d brought in. Eddie was glad Steve and Robin were paying attention. Exhaustion was starting to tug at him, and he wondered if he was even going to make it halfway through the movie.

“I thought you guys might like some snacks while you watch and just to nibble on if you feel like it. I raided the drugstore on my way in today. If you’re missing anything, let me know, and I’ll see if I can find it.”

The gesture was nice. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that, but we appreciate it,” Steve said, speaking for all of them.

“You guys have been through a lot, and I don’t think it’s going to get much easier any time soon with all the new stuff to get used to. If we can do small things like this to help ease the way, we’re going to,” Floyd said.

“Also, you guys can call me Jackie,” she added as she backed toward the door. “Buzz if you run into any problems or need anything.”

“Will do,” Steve said, smiling at her.

“Thanks, Jackie!” Robin called with a little wave.

The door closed behind Jackie, and Robin dragged the box closer. Inside was a variety of candy. Some of it was familiar, though the packaging looked different. Others were brand new.

“What do you think Sour Brite Crawlers taste like?” Robin asked, examining a package of some kind of worm candy.

“I think we’re going to find out,” Eddie said and held his hand out. Robin passed it over.

“Ready?” Steve asked, climbing into the bed on the other side.

Robin bullied her way into the space between Steve and Eddie, pulling the box along behind her. “No canoodling during movie time,” she whispered.

“Robin!” Steve yelped, glancing at Eddie worriedly.

But Eddie wasn’t worried. If anything, he was maybe just the teeniest bit flustered if the warmth in his cheeks and the small smile he couldn’t keep from tugging at the corners of his mouth were anything to go by.

Steve smiled at him over Robin’s head as she turned around and wiggled a bit to get comfortable between them, box settled on her lap. Eddie was struck by the soft look in Steve’s eyes. They were really doing this, he realized, and a mixed wave of anticipation and terror rushed through him.

“Are we ready for this?” she asked, glancing between the two boys on either side of her.

“Trick question, Buckley,” Eddie murmured, leaning over carefully to pick something else from the box. He had no idea what it was, but it didn’t matter. “I don’t think we’re ever really going to be ready for this, but what choice do we have? We’re here.”

Steve sighed and nodded. “He’s right. No going back, so let’s go forward. When did Jackie say this movie is from?”

“Um, a decade after we went into the Upside Down…so ‘96?” Robin said, pulling at the top of the bag of candy she held.

“Well, let’s do it,” Steve said, reaching into the box for the abandoned remote. “What’s this movie even about?”

“Alien invasion. And the Fourth of July?” Robin said, expression dubious.

Steve shrugged. “Here we go,” he said, pressing play on the remote.

***

The following day, after they’d watched a movie called The Martian, they returned to the meeting room for another chat with Dustin and Eleven. Steve wondered why they didn’t just come to their room but decided not to ask because it was nice to get away from the same four walls for even a short time.

“First, I wanted to talk to you about your new IDs

“So, uh…things have changed a lot from the eighties, which I’m sure you’ve guessed,” Dustin started, pacing slightly on the other side of the meeting table.

“Well, yeah,” Robin said, leaning back in the chair with her arms crossed. “The eighties were way different from the fifties, so that tracks.”

“Right. And you know how there were the whole sexual revolution and civil rights movements from the fifties to the eighties, right?”

“Yeah?”

“There’s still a lot about the social culture that is evolving. But I want you to be aware that it’s a different world out there.” Dustin paused in his pacing and looked at the three young adults sitting along one side of the table. “You’re young, so I don’t think you’ll have a problem adapting, but I also want you to be prepared.”

Steve stared at Dustin, confused. “What are you talking about, Dustin?”

Their middle-aged friend sighed and stopped pacing, finally. He propped his hands on his hips. He looked at Eleven with something like helplessness on his face. “I’m not even sure where to start. The political situation in this country is just…chaotic at the moment, to say the least. Donald Trump is running for president. The LGBTQ movement is gaining a lot of ground. Medical marijuana is legal in a bunch of states, and recreational marijuana is starting to get some traction now, too. The majority of wealth in this country is consolidated in the top one percent of the population. Amazon delivers anything you can think of within a couple of days. The internet is like the Upside Down on crack.”

“Dude. What?” Eddie asked, leaning forward. “Marijuana is legal?”

Dustin stared at Eddie for a minute, then huffed a laugh as he shook his head. “No, not quite. And definitely not in Indiana. It’s a cultural movement right now, but it probably will be legal everywhere within the next twenty years.”

“Dustin, there’s far too much to go over in one session,” Eleven said, frowning. “I think slower exposure is the way to go.”

“But they’re going home with you, El! They need to be prepared!”

She continued frowning at him and shook her head. “What social issues do they need to be prepared for to go to my house?”

“Well, I mean,” Dustin muttered. “They’re not going to stay at your house forever, El.”

“I know, but slow exposure will be easier.” She quirked an eyebrow at him. “I was in a similar situation once, remember? It will be an adventure,” Eleven said and smiled at her frantic friend.

“Adventures are cool,” Robin said. “Maybe we can go to the mall. You learned a lot from the mall, right?”

Eleven and Dustin both turned to look at Robin with unreadable expressions. “Yes, the mall was very enlightening. That is a good idea,” she decided, giving Dustin a decisive nod. “We will take them to the mall.”

Dustin stared at her, eyebrows climbing off his forehead. “Yeah. Okay. That’s, yeah…” He sighed and shook his head.

Steve’s head was swiveling between the two of them and then to Eddie and Robin in quick succession. He had no idea what was happening, but it was starting to feel a little overwhelming. “So, ah…when are we getting out of here?”

Eleven swiveled her chair back to face Steve, Eddie, and Robin. “This afternoon. Eddie, we will need to take some readings as we leave and when we get to the house. You’ll wear a device on your head that will transmit the brain waves back to the lab while we’re on the move. I won’t ask you to keep it on for long once we get to the house, but it will help us better understand what we’re dealing with. All right?”

Eddie swallowed audibly next to Steve and nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”

Steve sent him a small smile that he hoped was encouraging. They’d get through this, one day at a time.

“Good. You have time for another movie or two if you want to continue your studies,” Eleven said, glancing at her watch.

It was weird to have movie watching referred to as “studies,” but Steve supposed that was a good way to put it. They were learning about the modern world through the movies, and each one seemed to expose them to a little more.

“Any suggestions?” Steve asked as he stood.

“Iron Man was in that stack that you got, right?” Dustin asked. “It’s the movie that really kicks off the MCU. Came out in 2008.”

“MCU?” Robin said, eyebrows raised.

“Oh, Marvel Cinematic Universe. They’re based on the comics.”

“Cool, we’ll watch that, then.”

***

They’d gotten another cinematic treasure under their belts a few hours later. With Iron Man as an example, Steve was looking forward to seeing more of the movies in the MCU. He hoped the others were just as good.

“I feel like we might need to watch something other than sci-fi,” Robin said, staring at the television where the menu screen was playing on a loop. “This is great and all, but isn’t it going to give us a more advanced version of things than what we’re really going to encounter? I mean, I haven’t seen Dustin or El fling things from their computer to hover in the middle of the room…That’s not really possible, is it?”

“Huh,” Steve said, tilting his head to the side as he thought about it. “Who knows? Maybe it is possible, but just not cheap enough to be everywhere?”

“Then we shouldn’t be seeing it, right?” Robin said. “We need to watch, like… romcoms and dramas or something.”

“Or, you know, we could just get out of here and see the real world?” Eddie suggested, plucking at the blanket they’d draped over their laps for the movie.

Steve was back in the middle this time, and he and Eddie had fiddled with each other’s fingers under the blanket for most of the movie. It had been…sweet, like a first date, almost. In middle school. He smiled to himself and gave Eddie’s hand one last squeeze before he let go and crawled forward to take out the disc from the player.

A thump from behind him pulled his attention, and he looked back over his shoulder. Eddie was rubbing his upper arm and looking at Robin with a pout. Robin was staring at Steve with a very unimpressed look on her face.

“What?” Steve asked.

“Did you really have to crawl?” Robin asked back, exasperated. She jerked her head at Eddie. “Someone was drooling.”

Steve’s gaze shot over to Eddie, who was looking back at him now with wide eyes and a grin. He shrugged, unrepentant.

“What can I say? I like a good view,” Eddie said with a wink.

Even though heat was rushing to his cheeks, Steve couldn’t help but feel flattered at the thought that Eddie had been staring at his ass. He hadn’t even thought about the possibility when he’d been crawling forward, though it was evident in hindsight. He huffed a laugh, amused at the pun in his own thoughts and the situation in general.

Before they could discuss watching another movie, there was a knock on the door, and it slid open. Eleven stepped inside and smiled at the trio camped out on the bed.

“Hi, El,” Robin said, waving.

“Hi, Robin,” El said, still smiling. “I have finished a bit earlier than I expected. We can leave in about fifteen minutes if you are ready?”

“Uh, yeah! Let’s get out of here,” Steve said, reaching over to turn off the TV.

“Great. I’ll be back to get you in a few minutes, then,” she said and eased back out of the room.

“Guess we’re getting out of here sooner than we thought,” Eddie said. Something about the tone of his voice betrayed his nervousness.

“Hey, it’s gonna be fine,” Steve said, sliding off the bed and moving around to Eddie’s side. “We’re just going to El’s house. Maybe Mike will be there.”

“It’s so weird to think of them all grown up,” Robin said as she got off the bed, as well. They weren’t messy, but they had left things scattered around the room, and she was doing her best to straighten things up before they left.

Steve frowned at that, realizing how much of his kids’ lives he’d missed hit him again. They weren’t kids anymore. He’d missed their graduation, their first dates. All the little things that made growing up so momentous had happened without him. Granted, he wasn’t actually a blood relation to any of them, but going through the trauma of the Upside Down was more than enough to bind them in ways stronger than blood.

And that was gone.

At least for the kids…the kids who were no longer kids and probably had their own kids. Steve still felt the same bond with his people. It had only been a handful of days since he’d seen most of them, after all. Even though he knew Eleven and Dustin were here and middle-aged now, the reality of it all was still not quite sinking in.

Everything felt more like a surreal dream than reality.

A hand dropped onto his shoulder, and Steve startled out of his thoughts.

“You okay?” Eddie asked, leaning close to murmur in his ear.

Steve swallowed. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s just thinking about them all being grown up, you know?”

Eddie’s hand squeezed gently on his shoulder. “Yeah. I know. It’s weird for me, too. I feel like I just sat around a table with most of them running a campaign. It’s been thirty years for them and a week for us.” He sighed and shook his head. “It’s tough to take in.”

Steve smiled softly at Eddie despite the welling sadness lingering in his body. “At least we’re not going through it alone, right? We just have to get through one day at a time.”

“Exactly,” Eddie murmured.

Another knock on the door had them springing apart as it opened. El was there, obviously ready to go. She had a purse over her shoulder and keys in her hand. Behind her, Andrew was waiting, holding a large duffel bag.

“Ready?” she asked, nudging the door wider.

Steve exchanged glances with Eddie and Robin, who both looked as eager and intimidated as he felt. He nodded at them before looking back to Eleven. “Yeah, I think so.”

Eleven stepped further into the room with another smile, followed by Jackie. “I have the equipment we need you to wear, Eddie. If you could sit here, we’ll get it set up, and then we can leave.”

Eddie nodded and moved across the room, taking the indicated seat. A few moments later, they’d got the headband situated on his head and something that looked like a watch on his wrist. Jackie was looking at a computer display in her hands. It looked like something out of Star Trek.

“I’m seeing all the readings coming through,” Jackie reported, glancing at Eleven.

Eleven nodded and then started back out of the room. “All right, let’s go.”

The group made their way down the hall, getting the occasional interested glance from the people they passed, but no one stopped to make any conversation. Eddie was obviously trying not to touch the headband, which Steve imagined was incredibly difficult. As they neared a door with a small window, Dustin met up with them from a side hallway.

“All set?” he asked, reaching for the door. He held a hand out to Andrew, and the bag was passed over.

“We are ready,” Eleven agreed.

“Good luck, guys,” Andrew said, smiling once more before disappearing down the hallway Dustin had emerged from.

“Here we go,” Dustin said and pushed open the door. He held it on the other side as they trailed through and into the bright afternoon sunlight of the parking lot.

They were in the open air for the second time since they’d crawled out of the Upside Down. And this time, they knew they were in 2016.

Did the air smell different? Steve really couldn’t tell. The only things that seemed different about this experience were Dustin and Eleven being middle-aged and all the cars in the parking lot looking like slick spaceships.

They followed El to a dark blue SUV. There was a beep, and then the hatchback started lifting by itself. El pocketed the keys as Steve watched, and he realized the feature must have become standard in the future. Dustin dropped the bag into the back and turned to look at the group.

“I’ve got a couple of things to finish here, but I shouldn’t be too long.”

El nodded. “Okay. We’ll see you then.”

With one last long look at the young adults that had crawled out of 1986 and into 2016, Dustin clapped Steve on the shoulder and walked back toward the building. Eleven turned to them, as well. “Ready?”

Without waiting for more than a token response, she walked around to the driver’s side and climbed in, waiting for the trio to figure out where they would sit. Robin claimed shotgun which worked just fine for Steve, as he wanted to be closer to Eddie.

The ride was uneventful. They drove mostly through wooded and residential areas that didn’t look much different from what Steve remembered. Again, the only real difference was the style of the cars on the road.

Eleven turned into a nice residential area that reminded Steve of Loch Nora, the affluent part of town where his parents’ house was located. The two-story homes lining the streets looked newer, though, and he could tell it was a development because they all had a similar design. She pulled into one of the driveways with a car already parked. Steve assumed Mike was home, then.

The car settled around them for a moment as Eleven turned in her seat to look at the three of them. “If you guys get overwhelmed or uncomfortable, there is an office just inside the front door. Feel free to hang out in there if you need a moment, all right?”

They nodded at her, and Steve hoped they wouldn’t need to use the office, but knowing there was a place to retreat to if they needed to was reassuring. With one last smile, Eleven climbed out of the car. Steve ran a hand through his sadly flat hair as they followed, shoving it back and out of his face. They’d had basic toiletries but not styling products, and his hair was flopping into his face.

“We can grab the bag later. For now, let’s get inside,” she said, leading the way to the front door. “We’re here,” she called, walking further inside. She kicked her shoes off just past the door, and the rest followed suit.

There was a clatter from what Steve assumed was the kitchen, and then a moment later, Mike appeared. It was obviously Mike; he still looked basically the same, just with a much better haircut and also middle-aged, but Steve was sure he’d recognize Mike’s nose anywhere. It had always been one of his more prominent features.

However, he forgot all about Mike as another person stepped into the room.

Nancy.

She had aged remarkably well, and Steve found her just as beautiful as he always had. The realization that she must be nearly fifty made his head spin, and he could only stare for a long moment.

“Hi, guys,” she said, giving them that same small smile he’d always loved.

Chapter 10

Nancy stared at them, her eyes shimmering wetly. They’d last seen her before returning to the Upside Down for Eddie’s body.

“I’m so sorry,” she gasped, and the floodgates opened, tears streaming down her face.

Steve felt alarm surge through him at her distress. He’d always hated seeing her cry, and it was no different now that she was so much older.

“This is all my fault,” Nancy continued. “We left you behind, Eddie, and you were still alive, and then Steve and Robin had to go back in for you, and then we thought you were dead, and it was my fault, and now you’re all here, alive, but you missed the last thirty years, and it’s my fault.” The flow of words tumbling out of her finally ground to a halt, only to be replaced by a harsh inhale.

“Woah, Nance…” Steve said, stepping forward with his hands raised carefully. “Oh, Nancy. No,” he said, holding his arms out wider, hoping she would take the comfort he was offering.

She did, surging into his embrace with a desperation that spoke of thirty years worth of guilt festering within her.

“None of this is your fault, Nancy,” Steve murmured into her hair. It was longer and lighter than the last time he’d seen her, the curls more loose wave than the tight perm he remembered.

“Steve is right,” Eleven said, coming closer to them. “If anyone is at fault, it is me for sending One to the Upside Down in the first place.”

Steve closed his eyes, breathing in Nancy’s scent, which was different, but still quintessentially her. “You’re both wrong. All of this is because of Vecna. He started this when he killed his family.”

“But I made you leave Eddie behind,” Nancy said, sniffling. Her tears had slowed, but she was still obviously distraught. “If you hadn’t had to go back in there…We thought you were dead.” Her last words had dropped down to a whisper.

For thirty years, Nancy had thought she’d killed them. The pain in his chest made him feel like his heart was breaking for her.

“Nance, I’m so sorry you’ve felt like this for so long. We didn’t die. We’re here now, but none of that is your fault,” Steve insisted.

Robin joined the hug from the side. “None of us blame you for anything, Nancy.”

“But you should,” she whispered, not letting go of anything. “We shouldn’t have left Eddie behind.”

Eddie cleared his throat beside them and reached out to drop a hand on Nancy’s back. “You did what you had to do, Nancy. I thought I was dead, too, okay? It was a hard call to make, but getting Dustin and the others out was more important.”

Steve’s grip on her tightened. “You have to let this go now, Nance. None of us died, and if the Upside Down hadn’t gotten even more freaky than it already was, we would have climbed out into ‘86. That we’re here now is not your fault, okay? We’re alive. We’ll deal with time travel one day at a time.”

After a long moment, Nancy nodded against his shoulder. “I’ll work on it.”

“That’s all you can do,” Steve sighed. “That’s all any of us can do, right?” he asked, eyes flicking to Robin and then to Eddie.

“Is something burning?” Eleven asked, frowning.

“Oh, shit!” Mike yelped and dashed back toward the kitchen.

With one last sniffle that turned into a huff of laughter, Nancy pulled away from Steve, wiping at the tears on her cheeks. “It’s really good to see you guys,” she said. Her gaze settled on Eddie, and the moisture she’d just wiped away was replaced as new emotion filled her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Eddie. I…” she trailed off, shaking her head.

Eddie gave her a tight smile. “I get it, Wheeler. No hard feelings, okay? It was a shitty situation for everyone involved, and you did the best you could. We’re here now.” His smile blossomed into something that made Steve’s heart flutter. “On the plus side, I’m not being hunted for murders I didn’t commit, so that worked out?”

A shocking bark of a laugh erupted from Nancy, and her hand flew to cover her mouth. “Oh, Eddie. Thank you,” she said once she’d calmed down.

A quick knock on the door caught their attention. Eleven started walking toward it, but it swung open before she could get more than a few steps. An older teenage girl tumbled in, dropping her book bag onto the ground near the shoes with a thump. She was followed almost immediately by a younger boy and a long-suffering Jonathan Byers.

“Hi, Aunt El!” the girl said, smiling brightly.

“Aunt El!” the boy cried, barreling into Eleven for a hug.

Steve couldn’t help staring wide-eyed at them as they walked further into the room. The resemblance was as clear as day. His head whipped back to Nancy, who had raised her eyes to the ceiling with fond exasperation. “Your kids?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

“Mom! You’re already here,” the girl said as she bounced across the room to barrel into Nancy. “I thought you weren’t getting here till later.”

“Did you have coffee at lunch again?” Nancy asked, brushing the hair back from the girl’s face after she pulled away. She sighed and shook her head, then put a hand on the girl’s shoulder and turned her back to face the rest of the room. “Quit being so rude, and let me introduce you. Guys, this is my daughter, Brianna. She’s a senior this year at Hawkins High and is extremely excited because their Spring Break starts today. She’s probably over-caffeinated, as well.”

She held out her other arm to the boy and pulled him into her side when he got close enough. “And this is Benjamin. He’s finishing his freshman year and gets into nearly as much trouble as his uncle and friends used to when they were his age.

“Brianna, Ben, this is Steve, Eddie, and Robin,” Nancy said, gesturing to each of them in turn as she made the introductions. “They’re old friends.”

Brianna’s eyebrows drew together as she looked at the trio standing in their sweatpants and t-shirts before her. “They look like they’re my age. How are they old friends?”

Steve’s gaze swiveled from Nancy and Brianna to Eleven. He had no idea how they were going to handle this. Were they supposed to just…not talk about the time jump in front of Nancy’s kids while they were here? How were they supposed to talk about anything, then? And how would they hide their obvious lack of knowledge about the current time?

“They know about the Upside Down, at least from a theoretical perspective. We couldn’t risk leaving any of the kids completely in the dark, given how close we were to everything that happened,” Eleven said in an aside to the trio, then turned back to her niece. “These are our friends that we thought we lost to the Upside Down.”

“Oh, crap. You’re that Steve, Robin, and Eddie?” Brianna asked, eyes widening as she studied the three new people standing in her aunt’s familiar living room. “How…do you look my age?” Her head moved between Nancy, Eleven, and the three of them.

“That is more complicated,” Eleven said, then gestured towards the living room. “Let’s sit.”

They followed her into the living room, taking in the flat-screen television mounted on the wall and generally trying to absorb the differences between decor in the eighties and 2016. Mostly, everything just looked…clean. It reminded him of his parent’s style, but in Eleven’s house, it looked comfortable instead of pretentious and sterile.

He glanced over at Eddie and Robin to see how they were doing, and his eyes landed on Jonathan Byers. He had also aged well, but he was still doing that eye thing where he stared intensely. Eddie did something like that, too, Steve realized. The thought that maybe it was something to do with the brown eyes flashed across his mind before Jonathan smiled, breaking the weird stare. Steve returned the smile and followed the others to the couch.

Once they were all settled, Eleven looked at the group again. Mike came in from the direction of the kitchen and leaned up against the entryway, folding his arms over his chest.

Before she could start, there was another knock on the door. Steve, Eddie, and Robin jerked slightly at the abrupt noise before the door opened again. Mike had turned toward the door as well.

“Hey, we’re in the living room,” he said, obviously expecting whoever it was.

A woman who could only be Max stepped inside, her bright red hair twisted in a messy updo.

“Sorry I’m late,” Max said, smiling at the group. She did a double-take at the group on the couch and came to an abrupt halt, staring at them. “Damn, you really are straight out of the eighties, aren’t you?” she asked, shaking her head as she dropped down on one of the loveseats next to Eleven. “It’s really good to see you guys. Weird as hell, but what else is new?”

“Uh, yeah?” Steve said, staring as well. He was having such a hard time seeing these middle-aged people who were adult versions of their friends.

“How are they here?” a small voice piped up, and heads turned to look at Ben, where he’d plopped down on the floor between his parents’ legs. “And, what’s with the headgear?” he continued, staring at the gadget wrapped around Eddie’s forehead.

“We are not entirely sure how they ended up in the future. The headband is designed to give us additional feedback,” Eleven said. “But they are here, and all of our evidence shows they cannot go back, so we are working on getting them established.”

Silence descended on the group. Steve could feel the weight of eyes on the three of them from the others. He imagined they were having the same trouble getting used to seeing them in the flesh again after so long…especially when they thought Steve, Robin, and Eddie were dead and now were suddenly before them again as young adults.

It was enough to make anyone’s head spin.

“So, how have you been?” Max asked.

“I think that should be our question,” Robin said. “You only just saw us a couple of days ago before we split up to take care of Vecna. You’ve all lived thirty years that we have no idea about.”

“What happened after we went back in?” Steve asked.

There were glances exchanged all around, but no one said anything immediately. Steve’s gaze went from one person to another, looking for some clue as to what had happened.

“I mean, obviously, we managed to defeat him, right?” Eddie asked, voice unusually quiet, despite the silence.

“Yes, and no,” Nancy said, finally speaking. “Vecna’s body was killed. Based on how the Upside Down reacted, we’re pretty sure his mind was also killed. The gates closed, and we couldn’t get you guys out.”

“But the gate in the road was still there,” Steve said. “That’s how we got out. How did it close up here but stay open there? And how did that bring us to the future?” He could feel a mild throbbing start in his head and hoped it wasn’t a precursor to a migraine.

“We do not know, Steve,” Eleven said. “After One was killed, the Upside Down was destabilized. Most of the gates closed, but the one in the lab reopened partially. It is why we were there when you reappeared. We have been watching that gate all these years, but nothing happened until the three of you came through the road gate. That gate only opened just before you appeared and closed again just after.

“We don’t know why any of this is happening. Why did it take thirty years for you to get out of the Upside Down? Why did you get out at all? There are questions we don’t have answers for and may never know the answer for sure.” Eleven finished and sat back in the chair she’d chosen. Her frustration with the situation was apparent.

Steve appreciated that about her. It was reassuring that she was thinking about all those things and the mystery of how they ended up in the future. They’d lost so many years with the people who’d become their family.

“What happened with everyone else?” Robin asked after the silence stretched for a long moment.

“Well, Dustin and I went to the Creel house to get the others,” Nancy started. “When we arrived, Jason Creever and his goons had beat us there.”

Steve’s jaw dropped. “What the hell were they doing there?” he asked, anger surging as he leaned forward.

Robin’s hand on his arm made him take a deep breath. He knew it wasn’t like he could actually do anything about them now.

“We don’t know, exactly, but by the time I got upstairs, Max had already been broken out of Vecna’s hold. Her arms were broken, and blood was covering her face. Jason was shoving Lucas around, but Lucas was able to get the Walkman going before he got there,” Nancy explained, eyes going distant as she shared the memory.

“El somehow managed to stop Vecna in my head before he could actually kill me,” Max chimed in.

“She was floating in a pizza dough freezer halfway across the country,” Jonathan added. His voice was deeper and grittier than Steve remembered it.

Steve blinked and looked between Jonathan, Eleven, and Mike. They were the ones who’d been there, but that sounded like a completely different story. “Just halfway? I thought you guys moved to California?”

Eleven nodded, expression serious. “Yes, but we were already on our way back to Hawkins. Some…incidents happened in California when all of this started in Hawkins.”

“Huh.”

“I could not have done anything without your group’s efforts in the Upside Down, though,” Eleven continued. “The distraction of his body dying was key to destroying him.”

That statement was met with another round of silence. Steve couldn’t help glancing at Nancy’s kids – and how weird was that thought? – wondering if they should be here for this conversation. Their lack of reaction to the statement, though, meant they’d probably heard it all before, anyway. Steve tried not to worry about it too much.

“So, everyone was more or less okay?” Eddie asked quietly.

He’d been very quiet since they left the lab, Steve realized. Almost withdrawn. There were many people present that he hadn’t met in the past, though. Steve hoped that was all it was, and he couldn’t help looking over to see if Eddie was doing all right.

The other man looked paler than he had been when they’d left the lab. The headband he was wearing looked kind of ridiculous, and Steve wondered if it was doing anything to cause the paleness. Maybe it was just related to the still-healing injuries Eddie was dealing with.

“Yes. Max was the worst off,” Nancy said, then swallowed and glanced at Eddie. “And you, Eddie. You were the only one we thought we lost.”

“At least until we tried to get you three out of there,” Dustin said from the entryway.

Steve had missed his arrival. The man who had once been the closest thing to a brother that Steve thought he’d ever have stood with his hands shoved into his pockets. His face was lined with tiredness, and it seemed clear he’d been working on their mystery of a situation non-stop.

“Hey, Dust,” Mike said from where he’d perched on the arm of Eleven’s chair.

Dustin nodded and stepped further into the room, moving to sit next to Steve on the arm of the sofa.

“We tried to get you out, but the gate…the Upside Down, itself, really, was behaving strangely,” Dustin explained.

“Yes,” Eleven jumped back in. “When I tried to go into the Void, I could see you, but you were frozen in place.” She frowned, expression gone considering as her gaze flashed back to Dustin. “Do you think…?”

Dustin was nodding slowly, eyes unfocused as he thought. “I mean, that makes sense, right?”

“Want to share with the rest of the class?” Max asked, her familiar attitude shining through. Steve was glad to see it.

“Oh, sorry. Yeah. We were just wondering if the Upside Down is – or was – running at a different speed than the Rightside Up. That would explain why El saw you frozen. You were just moving so slowly that she couldn’t see you actually move,” Dustin said. “It took you thirty years in the Rightside Up to make it to the gate in the road.”

“But, then, why did the gate in the road close up? And why did it reopen?” Mike asked.

Dustin shrugged. “Not sure. Maybe it was never fully closed. Maybe when they went through it, they pushed through the opening and into the modern world.”

The conversation continued around them, but Steve tuned out for a minute, his mind wandering as he took in all the physical changes to his friends over the years. He glanced to his right, looking to Robin for reassurance that he wasn’t dreaming. As he looked, his gaze landed on Eddie, who’d slumped further into the seat on Robin’s other side. His head was braced on one hand, and his eyes were closed. He somehow looked even paler than he had earlier.

“Eds, you doing all right?” Steve asked quietly.

Robin’s head whipped to the side. “Eddie?” she asked, reaching out to rest her hand on his shoulder.

“I’m fine. Just…not feeling so great. A bit dizzy,” Eddie murmured.

The conversation in the room had come to a halt as soon as Steve spoke, despite how quiet he’d tried to be. The others were looking on with concern but seemed to have no idea how to help. They all knew Eddie had been on death’s doorstep when they’d returned for him. Hell, they thought he had actually died. His presence in this room belied that thought, of course, but it didn’t take away from the fact that he’d been heavily injured very recently, no matter the rapid healing.

Eleven stood from her seat and walked over to crouch before Eddie. “Eddie, can you open your eyes?” she asked, looking up at him.

It was clear he was struggling to do as she asked. When he did get his eyes open, it was good he was sitting down from the way he swayed.

“Can you tell me what is happening?” El asked.

“Uh. I’m just really dizzy,” Eddie started, still holding his head. “There are black spots in my sight. Feels kinda like I’m about to pass out.”

Steve desperately wanted to go to Eddie, but they were in a crowded room full of people they’d known once upon a time, but they were all adults now. They weren’t the same people anymore. Not to mention, Dustin had taken up the spot next to Eddie.

They were basically alone. Not on their own, at least, but none of the others could really understand what the three were going through.

Robin gripped his hand, sending him a concerned look as they listened to Eleven talk to Eddie and try to examine him. An odd-sounding tune started coming from Eleven’s pants, and Steve frowned, wondering if this was some kind of modern pager.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a slim, flat rectangle. It looked nothing like any pager he’d ever seen.

And it wasn’t one, he realized, as she tapped at one of the long, flat sides and lifted the thing to her ear.

Okay. So some kind of telephone, then. He should have been surprised, but at this point, he wondered if the next thing he’d be greeted with was an actual transporter like the ones in Star Trek.

“Wheeler,” she said, voice terse.

The silence hung in the room, broken only by the slight hum of a voice on the other end of the line. It was too quiet to make out any words, but by the darkening expression on Eleven’s face, she wasn’t hearing anything good.

“All right. Hold on,” she said, pulling the phone away and tapping the screen again. “That was the lab. They’re getting some spikes in the brain wave activity. Do you think you should go back to the lab, or do you want to try laying down for a bit to see if it levels off?” Eleven asked Eddie.

Steve didn’t understand why she was even asking. He thought about asking but figured she probably had a reason. Instead, he stayed silent, focusing on Eddie as he waited for an answer to her question.

“Um, I guess I could lay down for a bit?” Eddie asked, uncertainty lacing his words.

“All right,” Eleven said, looking over Eddie’s shoulder at Dustin and Mike. “Could you get him to the office?”

They nodded and helped Eddie off the couch. He swayed slightly where he stood again, and Dustin gripped his elbow to help steady him.

“All right, bud, we’re just going around the corner here,” Dustin said.

The dad voice coming from Dustin knocked Steve a bit off-kilter, and he wondered if Dustin had practice with that. They hadn’t gotten around to hearing about the details of any of the group’s lives over the last thirty years beyond meeting Nancy’s kids. Steve expected it was quite a bit to go over and would take some time to get all caught up.

Steve and Robin stood to trail after Eddie as they led him to the other room. There was a daybed up against one of the walls opposite a desk with electronics on it. It looked like a small flat-screen television, but Steve didn’t focus on it for long. He was more concerned with Eddie.

Mike moved the pillows around, creating a bigger space for Eddie to lie down. There was a folded blanket hanging over one arm of the bed, and Mike pulled it off, shook it out, and laid it over Eddie as he got settled. Eddie sighed heavily as his head hit the pillows, and he closed his eyes, still holding his head.

“We’ll leave you to get some rest. We’re just around the corner, so we’ll hear you if you need anything,” Dustin said. He reached out and squeezed Eddie’s shoulder briefly, then turned to leave the room. He stopped when he saw Robin and Steve behind him. “You want a minute?” Dustin asked.

Steve nodded, not entirely sure what to say. Robin, at least, didn’t seem to have that problem in this case.

“Yeah, just a minute. We’ve been together since everything happened,” she said, giving a slight shrug.

Dustin nodded, and he and Mike left, letting them get closer to the bed. Robin sat down next to Eddie and took the hand that wasn’t pressed against his forehead.

“Do you want one of us to stay here with you?” Robin asked quietly.

Eddie finally opened his eyes and looked up at them. His gaze landed on Steve, and it was apparent who he wanted to have stayed with him. “I mean, yeah? But you guys should talk to the others for a bit. Catch up. You’ve known them longer, and I’ll be okay.”

Steve frowned. He knew if he stayed behind with Eddie, it would look weird, but he wanted to crawl into the bed and pull the other man close, holding on while he wasn’t feeling well. He sighed and brushed Eddie’s hair back from his face. The headband was annoying, and it kept most of his hair in one place.

“You sure?” Steve asked. “We can both stay.”

“I’m just going to try to sleep. It’ll be boring,” Eddie insisted. “Go hear what they have to say, and then come back and keep me company.” He reached out and gave Steve’s hand a quick squeeze before letting go.

“We’ll be back to check on you soon,” Robin said, leaning down to kiss Eddie’s forehead. It was amazing how close you could grow to someone in so short a time when your lives were at stake, and then you were tossed into the future.

She stepped back from the bed. Steve lingered for a moment longer, and she gently tugged at his arm. He sighed but nodded and stepped back, following her from the room.

It really didn’t feel right to leave Eddie behind.

Steve and Robin returned to the living room, which went quiet as soon as they appeared. Whatever they’d been talking about didn’t look like it was anything good, judging by the concerned looks on the faces scattered around the room.

“What?” he asked, slowing to a stop.

Eleven stepped forward and gestured at him to take his seat next to Robin. He slowly sat, staring up at Eleven. His stomach clenched at the feeling of doom that suddenly enveloped him.

Eleven sat on the coffee table in front of him and Robin. “The results so far confirm that Eddie is connected to the Upside Down in some way.”

Robin sat forward. Her hand reached out to grip Steve’s wrist. “What do you mean?”

“His brain waves are still in synch with the patterns we are detecting from the gate. He’s tethered to the Upside Down,” Eleven said. She shook her head. “I will need to get him back to the lab for more tests.”

“Why aren’t we going now, then?” Steve rasped.

“We need more data. If the distance from the gate is causing him problems, then we need to know that. If he wakes up later and feels better, that is another data point,” she explained. “The longer he is away from the gate, the more information we will have.”

“But what if being away from the gate hurts him?” Robin objected.

Eleven gave her a small smile that Steve thought was supposed to be comforting. “We are closely monitoring his brainwaves and other readings from the watch. I have a team on stand-by if his vitals begin to look troubled. Right now, everything appears stable.”

Robin nodded as Steve stared at Eleven. He felt uncomfortable with Eddie being essentially a guinea pig in this situation. Hadn’t Eddie already been through enough? Between getting pulled into this whole mess by witnessing the gruesome death of one of his classmates, hunted by the basketball and town, attacked and ripped apart by demobats, and then tossed thirty years into the future, Eddie had certainly already endured his fair share of the nightmare their lives had become.

Steve couldn’t help wondering – and dreading – whatever might be next.

Chapter 11

The next time Eddie opened his eyes, the walls had decided they preferred to be stationary. The memory of how he’d ended up in this room escaped him for a long moment. When the fog finally lifted, he remembered being in Eleven and Mike Wheeler’s living room, surrounded by the much-older versions of the people that had been younger than him only days ago.

Slowly, he pushed himself up into a seated position, every muscle in his body aching like he’d pushed himself past the point of endurance. The faint sound of voices was a quiet burr in the background, reassuring Eddie that he wasn’t alone. That this wasn’t all just some dream.

As he sat on the daybed, the feeling of being watched settled like a weight on his back. It made him look over his shoulder just to ensure there was no one else in the room with him. Shutters covered the window behind the daybed, but small slivers of daylight peaked through the slats. Was someone out there trying to look in through the gaps?

Eddie didn’t think so, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of being observed by something. It occurred to him that it was probably more likely that the sensation was coming from whatever crazy link was tying him to the Upside Down.

The thought crashed over him like a wave that he would never be rid of what had happened. In some sense, it would always follow him, whether he was bound to the Upside Down or just lost in the memory of seeing Chrissy Cunningham die on the ceiling of his trailer.

He was indelibly marked by the events of the last week.

There was no escape, even thirty years in the future.

He slumped forward, letting his elbows rest braced against his knees as his hands dangled listlessly. How could he ever live a normal life after everything that had happened, especially after missing thirty years completely?

Wayne was probably gone. He hadn’t been a young man when Eddie had last seen him, and time was a bitter mistress, constantly chipping away at the last vestiges of youth with every passing day. Outside of the people he’d found himself among for the last week, Eddie realized he was truly alone in the world.

The thought was a painful pill to swallow. What would he do when the others decided they’d had enough of his larger-than-life ways? Sure, when they were young, Eddie’s theatrics around the game table had been enthralling. But surely, the passage of time would have dulled the fondness of memory.

His eyes slipped closed as he drew a deep breath, releasing it in a heavy sigh.

There was no going back. All he could do was move forward and take each day as it came, something far easier said than done. The impression of swimming through an endless lake came back to him, and he wondered if every day would be like that, struggling to breach the surface and draw in a life-sustaining breath of fresh air.

Finally sure he wouldn’t fall over, Eddie forced the maudlin thoughts away and pushed himself from the daybed. He tried to return it to the state it had been before his nap, and while it wasn’t quite right when he finished, he figured it was good enough. With one last look around the simply decorated office, he followed the sound of voices down the hallway.

The sound of voices led him to the kitchen, where he found everyone gathered in clumps scattered throughout the kitchen. The delicious scent of cooking food permeated the air. Beers and glasses littered the countertops, and everyone in the room seemed more relaxed than Eddie had last seen them.

Steve was the first to spot him in the doorway.

“Eddie! Hey, you’re up,” he said, stating the obvious with a fond smile laced with worry. With his foot, he pushed back the chair at the table next to him and waved Eddie over.

Eddie nodded as all eyes turned to him. He gave the room a half smile and slouched toward the table where Steve sat with Henderson and Wheeler. Robin perched on one of the barstools at the counter next to Nancy’s daughter, who leaned much closer to Robin than Eddie thought was usual for new acquaintances.

For once in his life, Eddie hated being the center of attention. People he knew when they were thirty years younger filled the room, all looking at him with expressions of concern. He appreciated that concern, really, but he couldn’t help finding it weird. So few adults had ever shown any particular inclination to be genuinely concerned about his well-being. And now, the concern came from a group of people he barely knew, who barely remembered him, he was sure.

Slumping into the seat next to Steve, Eddie saw his fellow time-traveler twitch toward him out of the corner of his eye. He briefly cast his eyes in Steve’s direction, caught the look on his face, and turned back toward the rest of the group around the table before he could do something like chuckle. Steve’s disgruntlement was written across his face.

“Feeling better, Eddie?” Dustin asked, fingers playing with a beer bottle on the table.

Eddie nodded. “Yeah. The room isn’t spinning anymore, so I’m counting that as a win.”

“Glad to hear it,” Dustin said. “You want a Coke or something?”

It wasn’t lost on Eddie that he hadn’t been offered a beer and that Steve had a glass on the table in front of him. Was that because they were too young in Dustin’s “dad” eyes? He decided not to question it, even if a beer really did sound ideal right then.

“Uh, sure,” he said, nodding.

Dustin pushed himself to his feet with an exaggerated groan. He was definitely not a fifteen-year-old anymore. Tiredness sat on his shoulders like a cloak, dark circles under his eyes and clothes rumpled from a long day of work.

It was apparent how much time he was sinking into figuring out what was going on with the Upside Down and the three young adults who had gone inside during one century and emerged into another.

Steve leaned closer for a moment. “Alcohol doesn’t play well with the pain medication we’ve been taking,” he murmured, his breath warm against the shell of Eddie’s ear.

“Ahh,” Eddie breathed, holding back a shiver at the whisper and Steve’s closeness.

Eddie was a tactile person. He liked touching and being touched, at least when it wasn’t when bullies were targeting him. The urge to bury his face in the crook of Steve’s shoulder and neck nearly overwhelmed him for a moment as the need for comfort surged. Releasing a sigh, he let the feeling go and focused on staying in his seat.

A moment later, a glass was set on the table before him, filled with the dark brown liquid he knew was soda. Dustin sat down again and leaned forward, bracing his elbows on the table.

“El said your readings are looking pretty stable. The lab is still getting good readings, so you should be fine. We’re wondering if it was just an adjustment to being further away from the gate for so long,” Dustin said.

The woman in question, whom Eddie had never met when she was a kid, dropped into the chair next to Dustin’s. “Yes, everything looks stable. Max and Nancy want to take the three of you shopping tomorrow to pick up new clothes and things. It will be another good opportunity to monitor you as you get further from the lab.”

Eddie’s hand drifted up to his head. “Do I need to wear this when we go?” he asked, wondering how the headband wouldn’t draw attention to him.

Eleven shook her head. “If you could wear it on the drive out and the drive back, we will be able to get the data we need. You do not need to wear it around the mall, though,” she said.

“Oh, good. Okay. I can do that.”

“We will figure this out, Eddie,” Eleven said, reaching forward to place her hand on his wrist. “I know how difficult this must be.”

If anyone understood what he was going through, Eddie knew it was probably Eleven.

“Bree, dinner’s just about ready. Could you set the table?” Nancy asked from near the stove.

Brianna must have made a face from how Nancy’s shifted when Eddie looked back toward the others in the kitchen, but she got up anyway and went over to one of the cupboards. Robin nearly fell as she leaped off the stool to help her.

Plates and silverware settled on the table, and the next few minutes passed quickly as food was added. The others found seats around the table, though Jonathan and Ben ended up at the counter due to overcrowding. The conversation was light while they ate, generally just sharing information about their recent lives and exposing the trio to a few new modern concepts.

Eddie didn’t have much to add to the conversation. Steve piped in occasionally with questions or comments, and Robin and Brianna seemed to be in their own little world. The eyes Brianna was making at Robin made Eddie wonder if more than just friendly getting-to-know-you was happening at that part of the table.

The feeling around the table shifted as they finished eating. Eddie’s gaze shifted between Dustin and Nancy as he pushed the remaining peas around his plate. He cleared his throat, bringing the others’ attention to him.

“Um, so. Wayne?” he asked. The need to know was outweighing the need to avoid the topic altogether.

From the look on Dustin’s face, Eddie’s fears about Wayne were about to be confirmed.

Dustin’s eyes turned sympathetic as he looked at Eddie. “He passed about ten years ago from a heart attack,” he reported, voice quiet.

The others around the table grew somber with Dustin’s words. Steve reached out and put a hand on Eddie’s back, which at least reassured him that he wasn’t entirely alone. At least, for the moment, anyway.

“Is he in Hawkins?”

Dustin nodded. “Yes. We can visit whenever you want.”

Saying nothing, Eddie gave a single nod in acknowledgment and resumed pushing the peas around his plate.

“Are my parents still in Hawkins?” Robin asked.

“No, they moved away shortly after the funeral. They’re in Vermont now,” Dustin reported.

“My aunt lives in Vermont,” Robin murmured.

“Your parents sold the house right after the funeral, too, Steve. They’re in Florida now.”

Steve didn’t say anything. Eddie glanced over to see his face carefully blank. He didn’t know much about Steve’s relationship with his parents, but he assumed it wasn’t great from the little he’d heard.

Oh.

Oh.

Eddie’s hand twitched with the desire to reach out to Steve and Robin. He wasn’t all alone in his orphaned state, after all. They were alone, too, cut off from the families they’d once had. The families that had buried them and moved on with their lives.

The realization that, while he might not have any blood relatives to rely on, he did have Robin and Steve, who were just as alone as he was, reassured him on a level he hadn’t realized he needed. It put something deep in his mind at rest.

He felt guilty as hell for the thought. They’d gone back for him and found themselves trapped in this distant future without any blood connections to call their own.

***

Later that night, Mike stood in the guest room doorway, looking at Steve and Eddie. “You’re sure you don’t mind sharing?” Mike asked, looking between Eddie and Steve, a sincere expression of concern on his face.

It took everything Eddie had to keep from sending a glance Steve’s way. “Oh, no. We’ll be fine. I…” He hesitated before continuing. “I don’t think I’d get any sleep if I were alone too long, honestly.”

Next to him, Steve nodded. “Yeah, same.”

“All right. If you guys need anything, we’re just down the hall. Get some sleep. Sounds like you’re going to need it tomorrow,” he added, a slight smirk quirking one corner of his mouth up in a smile.

Mike left them to their own devices with one last nod, closing the door softly behind him. They took turns getting ready for bed, sharing the guest bathroom and the duffel of clothes and supplies with Robin.

Once they were both back in the room, Eddie looked at Steve, then slowly sat on the edge of the bed. He was nearly healed, definitely no longer on the verge of bleeding to death, but everything still hurt with a bone-deep ache. The pills El had given him just after dinner had taken the edge of the pain off, at least, but they couldn’t completely disappear.

“You all right?” Steve asked, stepping closer and brushing the hair back from his face.

Eddie reached for his hand, holding it pressed against the side of his face that wasn’t completely covered in scabbed wounds. The warmth of Steve’s hand against his cheek soothed something in him that he hadn’t entirely realized needed soothing. He took a moment to absorb it before swallowing and shaking his head.

“I don’t know,” he said, voice low.

Steve frowned down at him. “Are you feeling dizzy again?”

Eddie shook his head. “No, just sore.” He glanced away. “It’s just everything, you know? I’m not sure if I can do this. It’s so much to take in, and we don’t know anything about what’s coming our way.” Eddie’s voice trailed off as he closed his eyes and leaned forward to rest his forehead against Steve’s chest.

The hand on his cheek moved to rest on the back of his head, slowly stroking over his hair. Steve’s fingers massaged gently at his scalp, and Eddie groaned slightly, pressing his forehead further into Steve’s stomach as he felt some of the tension in his neck give way.

Steve’s other hand came up to the back of his neck and started massaging gently. It felt heavenly. Slowly, the tension from the rest of his body began to ease, and he leaned back, grabbing Steve’s wrist as he laid back on the bed. He tugged gently, pulling Steve along with him as he went. It took a bit of doing, but they managed to get under the blankets. Steve reached over to turn off the light, plunging the room into darkness.

Something about that made his next words both easier and more difficult.

“I’m scared about this…link to the Upside Down,” Eddie murmured into Steve’s shoulder.

Steve shifted, and Eddie found his nose in the other man’s armpit for a moment before they adjusted again. Eddie knew he had embraced the “freak” label, but he really wondered about himself for finding the smell of Steve’s armpit attractive.

“I’m scared about it, too,” Steve said.

Eddie cleared his throat, trying to pull his thoughts back to the very serious conversation they were having and away from the feeling of being wrapped in Steve’s arms, surrounded by his pleasant scent. They were guests in someone else’s house. Also, they had no idea how thick these walls were or how the sound traveled, so…yeah.

“But I know it’s going to be okay,” Steve continued. “El will figure out what’s happening and how to break it. She’s managed every other time we needed her to. This isn’t going to be the exception to that.”

The confidence in Steve’s voice was reassuring, though Eddie still had his doubts. It was a miracle he’d made it out of the Upside Down alive in the first place. He knew he should have died. He’d been prepared for it.

A big part of him felt like he was living on borrowed time. That this link to the Upside Down was the only thing keeping him alive, and if they managed to break it, he would break, too, dropping dead where he stood.

Being in the future didn’t make that thought go away, either. In fact, it only seemed to make it worse. The relationship he’d been building with Steve was just one more straw on the heap of things he didn’t think he deserved. Would that be the one that finally broke the camel’s back?

Eddie sighed and tried to sink further into Steve’s embrace. There was nothing he could do if it were the one, though. Either he’d make it through this as Steve thought, or he wouldn’t. The dice would be rolled, and he’d either roll high or…he wouldn’t.

And Eddie’s luck had never been that good. Why would that change now? Now that he actually had something to lose.

Steve pressed a kiss to his forehead and held him closer. “It’s going to be all right,” he insisted. “Get some sleep. We apparently have a busy day tomorrow.”

Eddie sighed but nodded, pressing his own kiss to the skin beneath his head. Exhaustion was already tugging at him, despite his earlier nap. The drugs were helping with that feeling of drowsiness, he was sure.

With one last sigh, Eddie closed his eyes and waited for sleep to pull him under.

***

Something was following him.

That was the only thought in Eddie’s head as he bolted upright. Darkness pressed in on him from all sides. He couldn’t see anything and had no idea where he was.

His breath came in panting gasps that he’d tried desperately to keep quiet. Too loud, and he knew whatever was following him would find him.

A sudden burst of light blinded him, and Eddie reeled away, hitting the floor with a thump as he landed hard on the ground. Ignoring the pain that flared throughout his body, Eddie scrambled away from the figure looming over him until he could move no further.

“Eddie!” a voice called, finally cutting through his terror as it dawned on him as he recognized the voice. He blinked, trying to clear the sleep from his eyes and taking in the room around him.

Steve was crouched on the floor, hands reaching towards him but not touching. Concern was creased into the lines of his face. “Eddie,” he said again, voice somehow calm but worried all the same.

“Steve?” Eddie rasped and reached out with his hand to grab Steve’s. He needed to know the other man was real and not a figment of his imagination.

“Eds…you back with me?” he asked, voice quiet.

How long had Steve been trying to get Eddie’s attention?

“Uh, yeah?” Eddie asked, voice unsure. He held onto Steve’s hand like it was the only thing tethering him to reality. For all he knew, it actually was. The lingering sensation of something following him was making his skin crawl. It had been so…real.

The knock on the door made Eddie jump. If he hadn’t already been braced against the wall, he would have hit it hard. As it was, he dragged Steve forward and off balance, tumbling into Eddie and squishing him against the wall. It caused a fresh bloom of pain in his midsection.

“Ow,” he moaned, arms wrapping around Steve’s shoulders to hold him close for a moment despite the discomfort.

Steve attempted to pull back, but Eddie held tight. The feeling of Steve against him was helping brush the rest of the feeling of being followed away, and he was hesitant to give it up.

But there was another knock on the door. Steve turned his head and pressed a kiss into Eddie’s neck before slowly pulling away.

“I’m just going to see what’s going on. They probably heard you fall out of bed,” he whispered.

Eddie nodded and let him go, curling in on himself as soon as Steve was gone. A moment later, Eleven was kneeling next to him.

“Are you all right, Eddie?” she asked, her voice quiet in the stillness of the night.

He shrugged. “Yeah? I guess. I just had a dream. Not like that’s unusual, right?” he asked, huffing a humorless breath at his question.

Eleven nodded knowingly. “Yes, it is not unusual, especially given all you have been through recently. I would be more surprised if you were not having dreams,” she agreed.

Something in her expression, though, made Eddie think there was more she had to say. “But…they’re not just dreams, are they?”

“The readings we’re seeing showed a spike in the connection you share with the Upside Down,” Eleven said, her manner blunt and straightforward. Eddie appreciated that about her. He hadn’t known her before, but from everything the others had described, it was a trait she hadn’t lost to adulthood.

Eddie nodded. “Yeah, that tracks,” he murmured, feeling defeat tugging at him.

“You should try to sleep for a while longer. With how much damage your body took, no matter the increased healing, you are still injured, and sleep will help with that,” she said, reaching out to brace a hand on his shoulder briefly before rising to her feet.

“If you need anything, we are just down the hall,” she reminded them, then left the room, the door closing with a soft thump behind her.

A hand appeared in front of his face. Steve was holding it there, waiting for him to take it so he could help him with the climb back to his feet. He accepted the help and was back in bed moments later, once again tucked into Steve’s side. He wished he could hide there for the rest of his life, leave the Upside Down far behind and forget the link even existed.

Eddie knew his dark mood was partially caused by exhaustion and recent trauma. Things would probably look better in the morning if he could get some dream-free sleep.

Just about to fall under again, a slight tap at the door caught their attention. It opened without waiting for their answer, and Robin padded into the room, closing the door behind her. She climbed into the bed on Eddie’s other side without a word, wrapping her arm carefully around his waist.

Something about being embraced by this pair of people who’d come back for him made Eddie’s breath catch.

“I’m so glad we went back,” Steve whispered, brushing a kiss against Eddie’s hair.

“Even though it meant you ended up stuck thirty years in the future?” Eddie whispered back.

“Dingus Two, do not make me hit you,” Robin growled from Eddie’s other side, where she mirrored Steve’s position. Her arm tightened slightly around his waist.

The three settled into silence, and exhaustion tugged at Steve. Before he drifted off, though, he whispered, “Yeah, even though. Totally worth it.”

For a moment, Eddie could only try to breathe through the emotions choking his throat. He couldn’t believe how much he’d come to care for both of these people. Awkwardly, he reached up with the arm under him to grab Robin’s hand and wrapped his other arm tighter over Steve’s stomach, holding on with everything in him until sleep finally pulled him under.

Chapter 12

The light streaming through the window made it clear Eddie had eventually managed to get some peaceful sleep. He was still in the middle of the bed, Steve pressed up against his back, and Robin curled into his front.

How did he manage to go from zero to this with these two? Tears stung his eyes, and Eddie blinked quickly, trying to battle his emotions into something more manageable. They had cared enough about him to brave the Upside Down again to retrieve his dead body, and now they had braced themselves on either side of him, almost as if they could keep him safe just from their presence alone.

Considering he didn’t remember any further dreams after they went back to sleep, he wondered if there could be something to that.

Eddie wasn’t sure, but the pressure of his bladder insisted he consider that question later. He just needed to figure out how to get out of bed without disturbing the others.

That problem was, thankfully, taken from his hands as a knock sounded on the door. Steve stirred behind him, arm tightening lightly around his middle. Eddie sucked in a breath at the slight pressure-pain, and Steve seemed to wake fully in the next moment.

“Shit, sorry,” he breathed into Eddie’s ear. “You okay?” Steve leaned forward slightly while pulling his arm away from Eddie.

Eddie mourned their loss but nodded and didn’t get to say anything as Mike spoke again from the hallway.

“Guys, is Robin in there with you?” he asked through the door.

Robin blinked blearily as she started waking up. Steve hopped out of bed with way more pep than anyone should have this early and padded over to the door. He cracked it open and leaned against the door jamb.

“Yeah. She came in here after Eddie woke up last night,” Steve said quietly.

Mike blew out a breath and nodded. “Okay. That’s fine. We were just worried when she didn’t answer the other door.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry,” Steve murmured.

The whole conversation was kind of surreal. Mike was on one side of the door, being all parental when the memory-Mike in his head had been a total angry shithead. It was good to see he’d grown out of that phase, at least from what they’d seen so far.

“We’re getting breakfast ready downstairs when you’re ready. Nancy and Max will be here soon to take you all to the mall,” he said, and Eddie remembered that hint of a smirk on his face.

Eddie grimaced and rolled out of bed as his need to pee became unbearable. He eased past Steve and Mike with a little wave and headed for the bathroom in the hall.

When he returned, Steve had already changed into the jeans and plain t-shirt they’d been given at the lab. He smiled at Eddie and brushed a kiss on his cheek as he passed to head for his turn in the bathroom. Robin had left for the other room and her ill-fitting clothes.

Eddie dressed and stepped back into the hallway as Steve left the bathroom and Robin emerged from the other room. The three went downstairs and into the kitchen, where Mike and El made food. At some point, Max and Nancy arrived with Brianna in tow.

That last addition surprised Eddie. He hadn’t expected to see the elder Byers child again so soon. Nancy must have noticed that on his face.

“She begged to come with us,” Nancy huffed, rolling her eyes.

Brianna grinned at them as she dug into the pancakes on her plate. “You need someone closer to your actual age to help if you want to blend into the twenty-first century,” she explained.

Eddie didn’t have a good argument for that, and he was a little relieved to have someone who could answer questions.

“Oooh, good idea,” Robin said, hurrying forward to take the seat next to Brianna. The light blush on her cheeks made Eddie wonder if that was the only reason she was glad Brianna was along for the ride. They hadn’t had a chance to discuss the mild flirting Brianna had engaged in with Robin the night before.

The group quickly finished eating, and they were ready to go. They piled into Nancy’s gargantuan SUV. At least it had three rows of seats, so they weren’t squished. Robin and Brianna claimed the far back, leaving Steve and Eddie in the middle and Max up front with Nancy.

Soft music played in the background as they drove through Hawkins, one residential neighborhood after another. Before long, they were on the interstate, where time had less meaning. If it hadn’t been for the new cars on the road around them, Eddie wouldn’t have known they were in another century.

The mall they went to had been built at some point after 1986. They weren’t far enough away from Hawkins for Eddie to be completely unfamiliar with the area, and he definitely would have remembered a mall this close. Especially after what had happened to Starcourt.

The mall loomed before them, with a sea of cars between them and their destination. “Uh, what day is it? I just realized I have no idea,” Eddie said, looking around at the packed parking lot.

“Friday,” Nancy said, sliding the strap of her bag over her shoulder and locking up the car. She led the way across the parking lot with Max at her side and the younger crew trailing behind.

That made more sense, but the mall still seemed very busy for a weekday. Did people not work in the future?

They got inside, and Nancy led them to a map of the mall before she turned to look at them. Her gaze was piercing as she scanned them from head to toe before turning to look at Max. “Hair first?” she asked.

Max nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah. That way, they’ll get the full effect of their new clothes.”

Steve raised his hand. “Hair?” He had an adorably confused look on his face. Eddie thought it also looked a bit scared at the thought of something happening to his coif, which wasn’t standing quite as proud as it had in the past. They didn’t have the same products in the lab before leaving yesterday.

Nancy looked at him with a small, sympathetic smile. “Yes, Steve. The eighties may be trying to make a comeback, but your current style will stick out like a sore thumb.” Her gaze shifted to Eddie. “And, you, unfortunately, need to make the most drastic change. You won’t be able to go out in Hawkins until we do something about your look because there are still enough people around who remember everything that happened back then. You’re kind of a local legend, Eddie.”

Eddie grabbed one of the long strands of hair hanging down next to his face. He had a bad habit of trying to hide behind the strands. With the bandages on his face, it had become even more of a comfort to have the hair to hide behind. And now they were suggesting he cut it all off?

“Do you know how long it took me to grow these luscious locks, ladies?” he asked, dismayed.

Max smirked. “Yeah, your hair is gorgeous, but it will grow back. It’s going to be safer for you all to just…look different and more modern than you do right now. We want to draw as little attention to you as possible while we merge you into new lives.”

She grew more serious, then, and gave them a small smile. “I know this is hard, and it’s going to be a lot, but it really will help. And not just through blending in. From a psychological perspective, you need to cut ties with the past. It will make it much easier to embrace your new lives.”

There was silence from the group as they processed what she said.

“Did you become a shrink?” Robin asked.

Max grinned. “I did, actually. Like it?”

Robin smiled back and shrugged. “Maybe. We’ll see how it goes.”

“Fair enough,” Max said and looked back at Nancy. “Robin’s hair isn’t too bad, but Steve and Eddie both need some attention. I’d suggest we take them to different shops to avoid drawing too much attention.”

Eddie felt a shiver of discomfort at the thought of being parted from the other two, and he looked over at Robin and Steve. They were having another one of those silent conversations that seemed to happen pretty regularly. A moment passed, and Robin nodded before wrapping her arm around Eddie’s elbow and leaning against his side.

Apparently, Robin was going to be with him. When Eddie met Steve’s eyes, he blinked and looked away quickly. Steve’s eyes were filled with that soft fondness he’d only seen a few times, mainly aimed at Robin or Dustin. This time, that look included Eddie. It made a shiver run up his back at the thought of what that look might mean for him. There was so much to explore between them, both physically and emotionally, and Eddie couldn’t wait to get to that point.

He cleared his throat and let his head drop down to rest briefly on Robin’s before straightening back up and looking at Nancy and Max. “Lead the way then, ladies.”

Nancy smiled and looked between all of them. She settled on Max. “You want to take these two, and I’ll take Steve? I have a feeling they’ll want to hit different stores anyway. Steve and I can stop by Gap and Banana Republic while you three hit Hot Topic and…What’s that other store you like?” she asked in an aside to Brianna.

“PacSun,” Brianna responded with that standard teenage embarrassment whenever a parent was involved.

“Right,” Nancy said. “Definitely more Eddie’s and Robin’s speed than Steve’s. We can meet at the food court for lunch?” she asked, looking back to Max.

Max nodded. “Yup, sounds like a plan.” She turned back to the other three and clapped her hands, rubbing them together with excessive glee. “All right, let’s get going,” she said and started herding them off toward one of the hair places on the map.

Eddie took a deep breath, shot one last look at Steve, and followed Max to his fate.

***

Steve followed Nancy through the sparse crowds of people in the mall. It wasn’t nearly as busy as he remembered Starcourt being. Granted, that was during the summer, and it was a weekday, but still. He’d expected to find more people in the place, especially based on the number of cars in the lot. He was glad there weren’t quite as many people to weave through as there could have been. He dreaded thinking about what visiting a mall on the weekend was like.

He didn’t have much time to absorb what he was seeing as they walked, but one thing stuck out to him. “Everything is so…beige,” he said, looking around.

Nancy snorted a laugh. “Yeah. All the crazy colors of the eighties have faded to something called greige. Neutral colors are the way to go these days.”

“Huh,” Steve said. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that yet. While one color wasn’t clashing against another color, it made things a lot more…drab. On the other hand, it also looked very sophisticated.

They turned another corner, and a hair salon was before them. Nancy looked over at him as they walked through the wide opening of the storefront. “Ready for this?” she asked with a small grin.

Steve shook his head. “Not really? But I get that it needs to be done,” he said, running a hand back through his hair again.

Nancy nodded, and before Steve knew it, he’d been seated in one of the chairs by a male stylist. His fingers ran through Steve’s hair, and their eyes met in the mirror.

“So, what are we doing with this lovely mess today?” the stylist asked, smiling jauntily at Steve.

Steve grimaced at his hair being called a mess. “I didn’t get to use my normal products,” he muttered. “I usually have a lot more height than this.”

The stylist raised an eyebrow, still running his fingers through Steve’s hair. “I hear you. Do you want to keep the, uh, height, or are we going for something a bit more modern?”

Next to them, Nancy covered up her grin with a hand as she watched Steve’s torment. He rolled his eyes at her, then met the stylist’s gaze again. “Uh, more modern. But stylish?” Steve winced at the look from the stylist.

“Do you want to go have a look at some of the books?” he asked. “Maybe get an idea of what you want?”

Steve sighed. He wanted to keep his hair the way it was. “I kind of like it the way it is. Can you just…trim it a bit?” he asked. His frustration was starting to rise. He didn’t want to change his hair or his style. He didn’t want to change his whole life. But the choice on that had been taken out of his hands.

There was no going back, and he had to move forward.

The stylist looked at his hair, gaze focused on Steve’s head as he contemplated the brown strands slipping through his fingers.

“Hmm. Yeah, I think I have an idea. You said you already use product, right, so you won’t mind keeping that in your routine?”

Steve nodded. “Yeah, I’m good with that.” He was honestly a little relieved, actually. The idea of keeping his hair care routine was far more settling than it should have been.

With one final drag of his fingers through Steve’s hair, he nodded to himself. “All righty. Let’s get you over to the sink and get started.”

Steve took a deep breath, followed him over to the sink, and dropped into the chair, leaning back so that his head rested in the basin. Cutting his hair felt monumental in a way it had never felt before. As though this action, more than anything else, made it real that they would be stuck in the future forever.

He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to let everything go for the moment. He’d always enjoyed having his hair washed, and that at least hadn’t changed. Steve let everything slip away. He was doing something he never did – putting his hair completely into some stranger’s hands. And, shockingly, he didn’t think he cared.

The stress of the last week was finally cresting over him as everything became clear. They weren’t going back. Their families had moved on and lived lives without them. Their lives would be completely different from the ones they’d thought they would live. A new path had to be forged; this was just the first step in that long journey.

Steve zoned out while the stylist clipped and combed, moving him this way and that. He kept his eyes closed the whole time, not wanting to see anything going on, and content to settle into the soothingly rhythmic sounds of the scissors as they lopped hair from his head. Nancy and the stylist made idle conversation while he worked, but Steve didn’t feel any need to participate. He made a mental note to thank Nancy for the reprieve later.

Finally, the hair dryer was turned off, and the chair was spun a final time.

“Ready to see?” the stylist asked.

Steve took a breath and opened his eyes. His first thought was that he liked it. It was way shorter on the sides and in the back than he was used to, but there was still a good amount of length on the top. It also had a fair bit of volume, which was not what he’d expected to see. All the people they’d passed had distinctly short haircuts, though a few had weird swaths of hair draped over their foreheads and eyes.

“Well? What do you think?” Nancy asked, arms crossed as she stood over his shoulder and looked n the mirror with him.

Steve turned his head to the side, trying to get a look at the back. The stylist appeared with a large mirror that he handed over to Steve before spinning the chair. Steve held up the mirror to get a look at the back.

“I, uh. I really like it,” Steve said. “It’s different, but not too different, you know?”

Nancy smiled at him, something gentle about it that he wasn’t sure he liked. “I know. It looks great,” she said.

The stylist cleaned him up and over to the checkout, suggesting several hair products to achieve his new ‘do on his own. Nancy just plucked them off the shelf as he pointed them out and dropped them on the counter. Steve made a mental note to ask about his Fabergé Organics and Farah Fawcett spray from the eighties, but he had a bad feeling that was another thing he’d have to change.

With that out of the way, Nancy led him through the mall again, stopping at stores along the way or when something caught Steve’s attention. It didn’t take them long to find several pairs of slacks and jeans and numerous tops, sweaters, jackets, and shoes. They even found some polos that Steve was glad to see were still around. Some of what they’d picked up was outside of Steve’s comfort zone, but he liked the look on the mannequins, so Nancy encouraged it.

Nancy pulled out her phone and tapped at the screen for a moment when they left their most recent store. They were loaded with bags, and Steve was ready for a break.

“Max says they’re headed to the food court now,” Nancy reported, then started walking.

Steve hurried to catch up. “Is that where we’re going?”

Nancy nodded. “Yeah. We’ll get something to eat, and if the others are ready, we can head out. We’ve got enough to get started, and we can order more online or come out again.”

Steve blew a breath out as he lumbered along behind Nancy. “Oh, good. I don’t think I can carry much more,” he said.

She tossed a grin over her shoulder. “Not too much longer,” she said.

They continued weaving through the crowds until they finally reached the vast open space of the food court. Nancy stopped and started scanning the crowd gathered in clusters throughout the seating area.

It took Steve a moment to realize what he was seeing when his gaze came to rest on a gorgeous man with a beautiful brown riot of short curls. Steve’s eyes met the man’s, and he could feel his mouth slacken as the realization dawned on him.

It was Eddie.

Steve had never seen him with his forehead free of the thick fringe of bangs he’d previously favored. The close-cropped hair added another difference. The changes made his face look different enough that Steve hadn’t recognized him at first. But he was just as gorgeous as ever. If anything, the new hairstyle accentuated features previously overshadowed by hair that he hid behind. Steve couldn’t stop staring. Eddie had been adorable with his long, shaggy hair, but there was something utterly captivating about his newly cut locks.

Eddie’s expression slowly morphed into a teasing smile, but then he glanced to the side, and his expression dropped.

Steve frowned, looking over to see Nancy glancing between him and Eddie. He cleared his throat. “I see them,” he said unnecessarily.

“He looks good,” Nancy said as she started leading him through the tables and chairs toward where the others were waiting for them.

“Yeah, they both do.”

Robin’s hair had changed the least of any of them. It looked like she’d just gotten it trimmed and shaped to better frame her face, so her style must have been more common today than they’d thought.

They finally reached the rest of the group, and Steve unloaded his bags onto the table they’d already started piling stuff on. He slumped onto the bench between Robin and Eddie and leaned over to drop his head on Robin’s shoulder.

“Hey, dingus. You have fun?” Robin asked.

“Would have been better with you and Eddie along,” he replied. “But it wasn’t bad. And none of the stores we went inside really seemed like your styles. Your hair looks good.”

She grinned. “Yours looks better,” she said, reaching out to fluff a bit. “Mr. Hair.”

Steve’s hand came up protectively, running gently over the new cut to ensure none of the hairs had been rearranged by her shenanigans. “Thank you,” he said, grinning at her. “But, really…I think Eddie takes the cake.”

He looked over to his left, where Eddie was pressed against his side. There wasn’t much room to maneuver, so hopefully, it didn’t look too obvious that they were enjoying the contact. Brianna was on Robin’s other side, which decreased the amount of space for all four of them on the one side.

Max and Nancy stood on the other side of the tables, looking at them with indulgent smiles. “You all look great,” Max said, smile tipping over into a grin. “Definitely not like refugees from the eighties anymore.”

Steve made a face at her turn of phrase, but it was pretty close to what they were. They hadn’t had a choice in whether or not they left the decade, and they’d only been in that situation due to the circumstances surrounding Vecna and the Upside Down.

He sighed and caught himself looking over in Eddie’s direction again. Eddie was looking at him, too, from where he was slumped casually against the seat. He looked good. Really good. Steve had the hardest time tearing his eyes away from the other man.

Clearing his throat, he looked back at Nancy and Max. The look in Nancy’s eyes seemed to have a knowing glint as she glanced between him and Eddie. Steve frowned and wondered, again, if they’d somehow been too obvious.

“Okay, let’s get food, and we can decide if we need to go to any more stores today,” Max said, hands on hips as she surveyed the four young adults in front of her.

Once they’d all returned to the table with their choices and started eating, the conversation turned to what they still needed.

“I think we covered the basics?” Steve said, poking at his plate of Chinese food.

Eddie and Robin nodded on either side of him.

“Can you think of anything we missed?” Robin asked.

Nancy and Max shared a look. “You’re going to need phones sooner or later, but we should probably wait until they’ve got your IDs sorted out, so they’re in your names,” Max said.

Brianna was nodding. “Definitely. It’s practically impossible to live without a smartphone.”

Nancy smiled at her daughter. “It is possible to live without one, but some things are more difficult.”

“What do you guys think you’ll want to do?” Brianna asked, rolling her eyes slightly at her mother as she turned the topic again.

Steve looked between Eddie and Robin, tension creeping along his shoulders. “Um. I don’t know? We haven’t really…thought about it, you know?”

“Don’t worry, Steve,” Nancy said, reaching out to touch the wrist that wasn’t holding a fork briefly. “You three are going to be just fine. There’s plenty of time to figure everything out, and we’re here to help with all of that, all right?”

She smiled softly at Steve, to which he returned with more of a grimace than anything. He hadn’t thought of what he might want to do in this new future. There was still so much to learn and understand.

“Sorry,” Brianna murmured. “I guess that is an early question.” She smiled, the same soft smile her mother had.

Steve was struck all over again as if it wasn’t obvious enough that they weren’t where they should have been.

After a long quiet spell, the conversation turned to more general things. They compared notes and discovered they only needed to stop at a couple more stores and then could be on their way.

Steve couldn’t help but wonder about Brianna’s question, though; it lingered in the back of his mind for the rest of their time at the mall.

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