( with the anger gone, steve feels a little hollow. or hollowed-out. and he's not sure what he should put in its place. he also feels tired, whether from the drive to get here or the intense emotion that fueled him, he's not sure. either way, the cold wall against his back feels kind of nice, and for a moment he almost forgets that they're sitting on a dirty garage floor hundreds of miles away from hawkins.

he listens to eddie, staring straight ahead at the car eddie was working on, and presses his lips together. if he catches the slip in eddie's words, it doesn't show. but steve might be starting to question why he really came all this way. as much as he cares about dustin, he might be starting to realize that it wasn't entirely for dustin's sake.

he turns his head to look at eddie again, taking in his face, which is easier to see in its entirety with eddie's hair pulled back. it's not a bad look on him. something just behind steve's ribcage aches, somewhere in that hollow space. ) Nah, man. I don't think there's anything you could do to make Dustin hate you. I mean, if there were, this... ( he gestures to the garage, ) probably would've been it.

( he shifts, stretching one leg out in front of him, resting his arm on the knee that's still bent. )

He's just gonna be glad you're okay. And he's gonna want to come visit, like, immediately.