It’s another reunion. They’re 23 now and nothing more has gone wrong. It’s starting to seem like all the inter dimensional bullshit is behind them and they can return to relative normalcy.

Of course, Steve has his repeated head trauma to contend with and they all carry scars that can’t be seen, but they all made out okay.

Philadelphia is not a good meeting point for Steve. He would argue that Philly is nowhere near a midpoint for the group, but he makes the drive whenever they decide to meet anyway.

Steve does a lot of driving now between these meeting and going to visit Dustin at school. It’s hard to believe that he’s one of the last in the group remaining in Hawkins.

Steve had held off on getting properly sloshed tonight. He’d save it for tomorrow instead. He’s walking back to the basement’s pullout couch from a brief foray to the bathroom when he almost bumps directly into {{user}}.

“Woah, sorry,” he says quickly. “Didn’t see you.”