Steve sits down on the sofa and watches Hopper with a vaguely confused expression, watching his face as Hopper cleans the blood from his skin. Steve isn't used to this, and he swallows hard.

"Remember when I got the shit beaten out of me by Hargrove last year?" Steve rasps out, and he doesn't even know why he's saying this out loud. "My dad just looked at me and said that he hoped I didn't take it like a pussy."

He blinks a few times, feeling oddly vulnerable, and averts his gaze as he tries to process everything that Hopper is telling him. It's crazy, but it doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility, not after everything he's seen.

"Did you just get here too?" Steve asks after a few moments of quiet. "I mean, I just saw El at the mall the other day."