Author's Note: I got a request on my tumblr to write a fic centered around Steve recovering from the aftermath of his fight with Billy -- so here it is! The first chapter is pretty short, but I promise he next one will be longer!

Enjoy!

It had been a rough night to say the least.

From demodogs, to Billy, to Max's driving, and then back to demodogs again, Steve was absolutely exhausted -- more exhausted, he was sure, than he'd ever been before.

He'd done everything he could to protect these kids -- and he'd succeeded, thank god -- but now he was paying the price.

The adrenaline that had been coursing through his body for the past few hours had worn off once he'd gotten the kids back to the Byers' house safely. As soon as he pulled into the driveway, he could feel all the energy drain from his body, leaving him with a pounding headache, unable to focus properly on anything he was doing.

Max, who had been sitting in the passenger seat, noticed this, and helped him get out of the car, the others immediately following suit -- even Mike who still seemed a little hesitant of Steve.

They got their guardian-for-the-night into the house and sat him on the couch, Dustin sitting next to him with a concerned hand on the teen's shoulder.

Max and Lucas sat on the other side of Steve, and Mike went to the kitchen to get an ice pack, which was followed quickly by a shout of "What the hell?!"

Steve tried to stand up when he heard the yell, but was immediately -- and far too easily -- pushed back down by the kids. "It's just the dead demodog," Dustin told him. "Oh shit..." Steve muttered, having forgotten about the demodog in the fridge.

"Be cool, Mike!" Dustin yelled in the direction of the kitchen. Mike returned to the living room a minute later holding an ice pack, which he handed to Steve. Then he turned to Dustin, "What the hell is that thing doing in there?!"

"It's a scientific discovery, Mike! We need to preserve it!"

"It's a Demogorgon, Dustin!"

"Demodog!"

"Oh my god... Shut up, both of you," Steve interjected with a groan. He was holding the ice pack Mike had given him to his head, but it was providing little relief from his pounding headache, as well as what felt like the beginnings of nausea.

The two boys stopped arguing to look at him with some concern. He looked bad -- really bad. They hadn't noticed how bad it really was earlier in all the excitement, but now that they got a good look at Steve's face, they saw how bruised and swollen it was.

"...We should get you to a hospital," Lucas said. He'd been watching Steve quietly for the past few minutes and noticed how out-of-it he was. It wasn't surprising that the teenager was in such bad shape -- Billy had beat the shit out of him -- but now he seemed to be getting worse. Maybe they'd pushed him too far.

"No!" Steve and Mike said in unison to Lucas's comment. "What?!" Max, Lucas, and Dustin yelled, making Steve wince at the noise.

"We can't take him to a hospital," said Mike, "What if they ask us questions about what happened?"

"Then we tell them that he got beat up -- we don't need to tell them about the Upside Down," said Lucas with a tone of irritation.

"No," Steve said, "Wheeler's right. With all this weird-ass government... and.. alien... shit going on, somebody's gonna figure out the rest of what happened. No hospital."

Max sighed, both concern and annoyance clear in her expression. "Well what do youwanna do, then?" she asked, looking at the teen sitting next to her.

"...We're just gonna wait here for the others to come back," Steve said. He felt like he couldn't think anymore. The kids wanted him to be in charge and come up with some sort of plan, some sort of solution, and he just didn't know what to tell them, or what to do. He was just so tired...

"Steve!" the kids all yelled in unison, and he jumped a little, opening his eyes.

"You can't go to sleep right now, man," Lucas said, remembering the time Eleven had knocked him out using her powers. He'd told his father he'd been knocked out -- leaving out the part about Eleven being basically magical -- and Mr. Sinclair had told him not to sleep for a while afterwords.

Steve nodded a little, wincing at the pain this action caused him. "I know... I know..." he said with a sigh. This wasn't his first head injury -- though he thought it might his worst -- and he knew that Lucas was right. ...But god damnit was he tired...

He continued wavering in and out of consciousness for the next half-an-hour, the kids doing their best to keep him awake and aware of his surroundings. Near the end of this thirty minutes, the group saw a pair of headlights shining through the window.