Beyond the Battle: Action & Consequence (Steddie, Stranger Things)

Chapter 33: Resting

Steve's nose twitched, which in turn sent a message to his stomach, which poked his sleepy brain into floating from the dark depth of restful sleep, back to the waking world. There was still a hand in his hair, only it was a different hand and was scratching at his scalp with blunt fingernails in a way that made him want to purr. Luckily for his dignity, his higher brain began to cooperate before he did. 

There was no doubting that his thoughts were still a bit on the slow and muddled side, but he was perfectly used to that after an Upside Down related incident. This one might have been government sponsored, but it had been about powers and stuff, so in his head it still counted. There was a bowl of something on the coffee table in front of him, which was where the nice smell was coming from. It took him a second to realise the table was the one from the pool room, because he definitely remembered seeing the main one in several pieces.

Blinking, he looked around a little without trying to move. He was kind of surprised to find Argyle sitting on the couch opposite the one he was lying on. Things had definitely moved on while he was asleep.

"Hey, my dude," Argyle said with a big smile, "welcome back from dreamland. I hear it has been quite a day."

He hummed a reply.

"How're you feeling, Stevie?" Eddie's familiar voice asked, even as the fingers massaging his scalp stopped moving.

"Hungry," he admitted as he valiantly fought from making a pathetic noise of complaint at the loss of Eddie's touch.

He felt much more rested and with it this time around and decided to chance sitting up. Eddie gave him a small boost as he carefully swung his legs down and tried pushing himself into a sitting position. Somewhere along the way he noticed that the iv was gone from the back of his hand. Clearly, he had been asleep a while.

The living room had also been tidied. It was not up to its usual standards, but, apart from the bullet holes in the wall, it looked pretty normal. The front door had been patched so it was no longer hanging open. It was also dark.

"Here," Eddie said, leaning forward and picking up the bowl from the table, "you have this one. Joyce has been producing some of her wonders."

"It's yours," Steve said, rubbing his eyes as he came to the obvious conclusion.

"And there is plenty more in the kitchen," Eddie said. "I promise I did not get my cooties all over it yet, so eat up."

That made him smile. It also made him want to lean over and give Eddie a kiss, but not being alone made that a problem.

"What did I miss?" Steve asked, accepting the bowl despite his reservations.

"Well, to start with everyone over twenty is conspiring in your kitchen," Eddie told him, looking much happier as soon as Steve began to eat. "We have no idea what they came up with, because they wouldn't let us in on it, but your mom looked very pleased with herself by the time Owens left, and Owens didn't look defeated, so I think they were conspiring together."

"Mom was an attorney before she had me," Steve said, more than a little proud of how his mom was dealing with the whole Upside Down situation. "She went back to it once I was old enough. She heads the legal department in the firm, doesn't trust anyone else to do it properly."

"Your mom is one stand up lady," Argyle agreed from the other couch.

"The only thing I heard was Hopper mutter something about no one being able to touch this town with a fifty-foot pole." Eddie added, "so whatever they've come up with it's probably good."

"It is."

Steve turned to find his mom coming from the direction of the kitchen.

"Hi, Mom," he said, giving her a small smile. "Are you saying jump and making government people ask how high?"