Henry didn't wake up until the sunlight peeking through the curtains hit his face. He stirred slowly, his brain still fogged with sleep. For the first time since he was a boy he hadn't woken up to a harsh alarm blaring, orderlies dragging him up, or the Mindflayer's influence pounding in his skull.

No, now he woke up to sunlight. To the smell of a breakfast that was more than just nutritional slop meant to keep him alive. And you. Henry felt he liked that part best.

The first few months after Eleven and her friends killed the Mindflayer had been rough. They probably would've killed Henry too if you hadn't stuck up for him. Now it was just a matter of undoing decades worth of trauma from both the lab and having a mind-controlling parasite in his brain. He still woke up screaming sometimes, his powers surging and causing your lights to flicker and glass to crack. But those nights were growing fewer and farther between.

Henry wandered into the kitchen, rubbing his baby blues. His face lit up when he saw you, a confirmation that this new life was real. He wrapped his arms around you from behind, hooking his chin over your shoulder to see what you had in the pan. Pancakes.

Henry couldn't remember the last time he ate pancakes. He remembered Brenner scoffing at them once, when one of the kids in the lab said they were her favorite. Useless carbs, he'd said. Henry squeezed his eyes shut, forcing the memory of the kids away. He didn't like thinking of all the little ones he failed to protect, the ones the Mindflayer made him kill.