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Steve has had an eventful few days.
Unfortunately, the only thing that can follow the overwhelming high of watching a literal monster army fight itself while his boyfriend controls it is the low of how they all spend the days after, which is mostly just anxiously waiting for him and Max to wake up. El and Will had both needed rest, too, their own connections to the Upside Down draining them throughout the entire battle, but they wake up after around a full day of sleep during which everyone else catches up. Vecna's temporary-death had really affected Will, making him fall to the floor in the middle of El's time in the salt-pool and convulse like he was having a seizure, and El having to connect from the normal world into Eddie and Max's minds to command what was left of Vecna's army had also taken a toll, but both of them seem (mostly) okay once they're awake.
Apparently after making sure Will was alright they'd had a brief yay-Vecna's-dead celebration before realizing that something was still wrong, that the army were still coming and he must have planned it that way on purpose, which is when El had gone in. Steve also listens to a lot of Dustin-led recaps about everything that Eddie and Max had done, complete with sound-effects and physical movements like he's acting out a movie.
Steve doesn't focus on most of it, mostly just staring at Eddie's tangled hair from where he's sandwiched in Hopper's fold-out couch, a bat-covered elbow sticking out. Hopper starts complaining about not getting to use his couch, complaints that only grow when Max wakes up before Eddie does. Steve tells himself it's fine, that Eddie has napped for weeks before and in comparison three days is nothing, but he's starting to get antsy, refusing to leave the cabin and leaving Robin to run Family Video by herself.
When Eddie finally wakes up, grumbling into the pillow and kicking his legs out as he tries to unfold himself, Steve is there, immediately pulling him out. He's muzzy and confused, but he seems less tired than Steve has seen him in ages, his eyes brighter and his entire back cracking when he stretches. "How long was I out?"
"Three days." Steve says.
"I really am Christlike."
He says thoughtfully, sitting up and looking around. It's mid-evening, so everybody else is nearby, and Steve calls them all to let them know that Eddie's up. Hopper and El are (obviously) already there, which results in an awkward fifteen minutes where Hopper gives Eddie a handshake and tells him that he's a "stand-up kid" and a "hell of a musician", which Eddie seems genuinely touched by. Eddie also thanks El (and Max when she shows up) profusely for helping him, because he knows he wouldn't have been able to do it by himself.
After everybody else is there and sufficient hugs have been distributed (extra from Robin and Dustin), Nancy is the first to breach the what now line, ignoring the way it makes Eddie groan and punch the pillow like he'd been hoping they'd never have to talk about it.
"So...Vecna really made you turn him?" Lucas asks, like he still can't believe it. To be fair, Steve has had virtually no details to give him.
"Yeah. He said all of this shit, you know, condescending 'You don't even know what you can do with your power' type stuff, then he said something about how when I slept there that he, like, set up a 'failsafe', then he started controlling me and forced me to bite him."
"He fully controlled you?" Jonathan asks, exchanging a concerned look with Nancy.
"He couldn't change what I was thinking or make me want to, or anything, he mostly just controlled my body." Eddie says, fiddling with his sleeves in jerky, anxious movements at the memory.
Then Eddie glances over at Will. "He also said something about Will, about how he'd been hoping for him."
Will's eyes go very-slightly bigger, his arms moving to wrap protectively around himself. "But I don't..."
