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It’s past eleven pm when there’s loud knocking on the door and a voice saying “Eddie? Are you there? I’m sorry, I’m here so late, I just…I didn’t know where to go,” and Wayne immediately recognizes it as the Harrington boy’s voice, because…well, because it’s always him. (He’s not even surprised that Steve apparently knows his work schedule because,) Hell, he spends more time here than at his own house.
“Oh, Mr Munson,” Steve says, when he opens the door. “I didn’t know you would be in, I’m sorry, I’ll go-”
But he can’t even finish speaking because Wayne grabs him by the shirt and pulls him into the trailer. Into the light.
“Fuckin’ hell, boy. Where’d you come from? Got your ass beat in a back alley, or what?”
Steve is visibly uncomfortable, obviously caught off guard because he didn’t even think Wayne would be there and now he’s just grabbed him like this but-
Well, he kinda couldn’t help himself right now. Because he’s used to Steve looking like he’s ready for a golf club meeting, in a preppy polo shirt and light washed jeans and looking way too much like his father, but now…now he looks like somebody dragged him through hell. His left eye is almost swollen shut, his lip busted and there’s blood all over his face. His usually always so poofy hair hangs flat in his face.
Wayne lets go of him.
“Uh, something like that,” Steve says, a little breathless, but Wayne can see the lie in his eyes. There’s no way this really came from somebody needing to validate their masculinity or even from all the shit this guy seems to be involved in (as in, Steve knows Eddie’s nightmares and how to calm him down). Wayne knows what emotional hurt looks like and that boy’s filled with it to the brim. At least right now because he’s not strong enough to put up his facade.
“Come on,” Wayne grumbles and nods to the couch. “Eddie’s not here, Firehell night, or whatever he calls it, but somebody has to take care of you.” One quick look outside confirms his suspicion that Steve’s shiny car is in fact in the driveway. He closes the door. “I ain’t lettin’ you drive when you can’t even see.”
Steve looks a little lost in the middle of their living room and it’s a little strange considering the kind of ease that he normally moves around the place with, like it’s his home too. Wayne takes an ice pack out the freezer and throws it at him, relying on Steve catching it with the effortlessness of a high school jock. He does. “I’ll get the first aid kit, you make yourself comfortable. If you want you can finish my beer too, might help with the pain.”
It’s not the most responsible thing, some other people might say, but a little alcohol right now won’t kill the boy. And maybe it can help a little to calm his nerves, Steve’s survival instincts seem to be running at full speed.
Wayne disappears into the bathroom and takes a deep breath. Eddie was such a clumsy child that at some point they just stopped putting the first aid kit away and it’s been sitting on the windowsill above the toilet for years now. Wayne reaches for it and smiles at the memory of his boy, his wild curls just starting to grow out, grinning widely with his torn open knee, because he may have fell but he also managed this really cool trick and Wayne saw.
That kind of smile is rare these days. He’s been through too much and it pains Wayne deeply, seeing him like that.
Eddie means everything to him. He’s not his nephew, he’s his son, ain’t no denying that. At least emotionally. He loves him more than he ever knew he could love and when Eddie was gone after the earthquake…Wayne doesn’t know what he would do if Eddie really…if something had really…he doesn’t wanna think about it. Doesn’t even want to think about him in that hospital bed, eyes closed, body covered in bandages and bandages and even more bandages, sleeping, high on pain meds and other drugs, barely clinging to life.
But at least he got to see him again. Wayne had already almost lost hope when that Henderson boy approached him to talk about Eddie. For a small second he thought he would give him the news of Eddie’s death.
Thank god and all the heavens Wayne stopped believing in long ago, that instead he said “I know where he is”. And that now, it’s all over, Eddie’s alive, up and kicking, completely fine, just with a couple more scars than before. Okay, a lot more scars. And more nightmares. And trauma. Wayne still doesn’t really know what happened, Eddie can’t talk about it. At least not to him.
But that’s fine. Because with the scars and the trauma also came so many people who, Wayne can see, care about his son just like he does. Henderson, the redhead from the trailer opposite to theirs, all these other little nerds Eddie plays that game with, that Wheeler girl who believed him in a second, back when the whole goddamn town thought Eddie was a murderer (when Wayne’s boy had once cried after Wayne accidentally stepped on a snail), her boyfriend (?) and the blond chick that works at the video store.
And well…apparently Richard’s son, too.
And now that boy is sitting on his couch with blood on his face. Wayne sighs and makes his way back to Steve.
He is pressing the ice pack to his face, staring at the table in front of him, completely out of it, doesn’t even notice Wayne coming back, like he’s not there mentally, but some other place. A scarier place maybe.
Wayne still remembers the first time he saw Steve here. He came home from a night shift early in the morning and saw a shiny BMW parked next to Eddie’s van that hadn’t been there when he left the day before, and thought no good could come from that. And then there was Steve Harrington in his kitchen, looking like a goddamn reincarnation of his father (not that Richard was dead. Kind of a shame, if Wayne was honest), in his pretentious expensive clothes and the way he carried himself like he was above it all, the way he straightened his shoulders when he saw Wayne and called him Mr Munson, sir and tried to charm him over with that picture perfect Harrington smile Eddie unfortunately seemed to have fallen for. Wayne immediately decided to not like him.
Back then, Wayne would have maybe thought that for Steve Harrington a trashy trailer would already qualify as a scary place, because he was used to shiny marble tabletops and golden door frames and couldn’t handle the smell of old walls and a broken sink.
But now, after having witnessed Steve in here, in that exact trashy trailer, like it’s where he belongs, after months of being able to rely on Steve’s shoes being right there next to Eddie’s, whenever Wayne came home, months of waking up late on weekends and there still being leftover eggs for him that clearly Eddie hadn’t made (that boy was a lot of things but a chef definitely wasn’t one of them), he may have formed a little bit of a different opinion on the boy.
He can admit that, yes, okay, maybe Steve isn’t as bad of a person as his father is.
And this, Steve staring into nothingness, looking scared out of his mind, and beaten to shit…this, Wayne is not used to.
“Hey,” he says (softly, though he’d never admit that) and Steve flinches, flinches hard, even lets out a little whine and Wayne furrows his brows and sits down next to him, but at a safety distance. “It’s okay, boy, I won’t hurt you,” he says, and feels a little ridiculous, like he’s talking to a scared puppy, but Steve kind of looks like a scared puppy too.
He’s scared…of Wayne.
Wayne almost laughs at that, because really, sure, a lot of people are deceived by his gruff exterior and grumpiness but in reality he’s about as dangerous as his son (that being not dangerous at all), and he thought Steve of all people who has seen him sipping hot chocolate, not even coffee, out of his Best Dad In The World mug (that Eddie got him after the first time he got arrested, as an apology, and Wayne almost cried because of the Dad), would know.
But no, Steve looks really afraid for some reason, and okay, yes, he came here for Eddie and this situation is a little uncomfortable for the both of them, but Wayne’s just trying to help him. Take care of him.
But then, when Steve flinches again, the sleeves of his shirt ride up a bit. And Wayne can see that, whatever happened, someone has grabbed Steve roughly enough for his wrists to start bruising too, and then Wayne starts connecting the dots, remembers…didn’t Eddie mention something about Steve’s parents being in town?
Wayne wouldn’t for a second put it past Richard Harrington to hit his own son.
It makes sense that he’s a little jumpy in the presence of another father figure.
“I won’t hurt you, kid, and I also won’t ask, okay? I jus’ wanna help. Here, I’ll wet this and then you can clean your face y’self, if you don’t want me to do it. You can put this cream on the bruises, I’ll get you Tylenol, and you can lay down in Eddie’s bed and rest, alright? Don’t want you walkin’ around with a bad concussion.”
Steve mutters something under his breath that sounds a lot like “Wouldn’t be the first time” and Wayne just decides to ignore it. If the boy wants to elaborate, he can. But Wayne won’t ask, he was serious about that.
Steve is still on edge but then he nods and they do just what Wayne suggested. But Steve relaxes a little more and when he winces at the small cut in his left cheek, he gives the cloth to Wayne, with a whispered “can…can you?” and Wayne takes over, feeling thrown back to when he had to patch little Eddie up every other day.
And if Steve closes his eyes at some point and seems to almost enjoy the gentle touches, Wayne won’t tell a soul. He decides then, that maybe, even though Steve is still not good enough for his boy, because nobody is, he can get on board with their relationship.
It’s obvious Steve cares about Eddie. And he’s not an evil monster, or in any way like his father. He’s just a boy.
“Look,” Wayne says, when he’s done cleaning and disinfecting and has put bandaids over the cuts best he can, and Steve looks at him, eyes wide and honest. “M’not gon’ lie to you, I didn’t really like you at first,” he says and sees Steve swallow. “But that was maybe a lil’ harsh of me. I know you ain’t nothing like your father.”
Steve seems a little lost, taken by surprise, delighted, but not really sure what to make of it, sad, probably because of the mention of his dad.
“You’re alright, Steve. I’m okay with you being here. You don’t have to think you’re unwelcome if I’m here. Eddie wants you here. So, I guess, I do too.”
“Uh…yeah? I- thank…you?”
Wayne only nods. “But I swear to god,” he says. “If you ever hurt him…I will not hesitate to break every bone in your body.”
Steve’s eyes go soft. “Mr Munson, I…I would never hurt him.”
Wayne can’t shake the feeling that Steve’s not really picking up what he’s putting down here.
“He means…he means a lot to me,” Steve says. “I really care about him. I really…really like him.” It’s quiet and sounds a little choked off, almost like Steve is letting him in on a secret here. Wayne doesn’t know what to make of it.
“I know,” he says. “I can see that. That’s why I’ve come to…tolerate you, boy.” He still can’t get himself to say like. They’re not quite there yet. “I’m okay with your relationship, it’s fine with me, is what I’m saying. You have my blessing or whatever, if you want it. Just don’t. Hurt. Him.”
Steve looks at him. Confusion on his face, a crease in his brows that makes him wince because the skin is cut open there a little, too. Then he blinks. Once. Twice.
“Oh,” Steve says. Then again, “oh,” a little quieter. His expression changes; from confusion to something pained almost. “Mr Munson, I don’t…” he takes a deep breath, his voice a little shaky as he continues. “I don’t think he…I don’t think he likes me like that.”
He doesn’t say “it’s not like that.” Neither does he say “I’m not like that.”
That’s the first thing Wayne notices.
He also notices the way Steve fists the hem of his shirt in his hand and picks on his thumb nail with his other hand. The way his eyes are looking anywhere but Wayne and Wayne just…there’s nothing left of what he saw of his father in him. There was already barely anything left when he witnessed Steve in his trailer like it was home, rummaging through the fridge and jokingly insulting Eddie on his bad choice of cheese, but now if somebody told him that this boy shared any DNA with Richard Harrington, Wayne would barely believe them.
“What d’you mean?” he asks, because he can’t have possibly misread this, can he? Steve is always here, Eddie can’t shut up about him, they drink coffee together in the morning and beer sometimes in the evening and Steve sleeps over and even keeps him company when Eddie is furiously preparing that game he’s so obsessed with, sitting next to him with glasses, reading one of Eddie’s long ass books. Steve has his own toothbrush over here. Steve is even…he’s even…
“You’re wearin’ his ring.”
“I- I know,” Steve nods and visibly swallows. “I asked him for it. I’m also wearing Robin’s necklace and this stupid button belongs to Dustin. I…I like having things of my friends on me. To remind me they’re…here. You know?” his voice grows quieter and quieter the longer he’s talking and it’s making Wayne wonder what kind of hells that boy has gone through. The same one Eddie has and maybe…maybe even more. It’s sorta breaking Wayne’s heart, because he’s seen Steve smiling and laughing and teasing Eddie with a glint in his eyes and now…now he just looks broken. And scared and…small, in a way.
Like a little boy.
Like Eddie, when he showed up on Wayne’s doorstep twelve years ago.
“You’re not…”
“No,” Steve whispers and it seems as if it hurts him, saying it aloud. “No, we’re just…we’re just friends.”
But Wayne can openly see on Steve’s face that that’s a lie. For him, at least, it is. It might not be for Eddie though, judging from the pain in the boy’s eyes, and that…well.
Wayne definitely didn’t see that one coming.
“Oh,” Wayne says and then Steve whispers “I should probably go” and is gone before Wayne can stop him. Wayne just sits there, a little worried because is Steve really about to go back to his house, to his father, where he just came from? Where he just came from, looking like he got beaten up for half an hour straight? Is he really gonna drive, even though he still can’t see with his left eye? Is he not gonna rest, even though he clearly should?
But then he hears the sound of gravel under Steve’s tires and sees the headlights leaving and…there’s not really much he can do now, is there?
Except maybe rethink everything he thought he knew about the boy.
_____
The next time he sees Steve is about a week later. And it’s all like he’s used to, Steve’s face looks normal again and his bruises have faded, at least the one on his face is barely visible, he only notices because he knows.
And it’s just like it always is, Steve and Eddie coming out of Eddie’s bedroom, Steve in Eddie’s clothes and really, how was Wayne supposed to not think they were a thing? This is not very platonic behavior.
They make eggs and toast without talking, it’s a blind routine, and Wayne quietly observes over the edge of the newspaper he’s reading. There’s gentle touches between them, Steve brushing a strand of hair out of Eddie’s face, Eddie leaning against Steve and looking over his shoulder tiredly, Steve bumping his hip into Eddie’s just to make sure he’s still there, right by his side. Then they make soft conversation, talking quietly and smiling a lot.
It’s the same way it always is, but today Wayne notices things he didn’t before. He sees the way Steve looks sad after he’s looked at Eddie too long, he notices how Eddie mentions some girl and Steve looks tired, and how, when Steve leans away a little after Eddie says “sure, pretty boy, whatever you say” it’s not because he wants to. It’s not in a subtle I don’t like you way. It’s not to protect Eddie from heartbreak because he likes him as a friend, and doesn’t wanna lead him on. It’s to protect himself. Wayne can see that now.
Steve doesn’t want to fully get lost in this weird relationship thing that they have, because if he lets himself fall into it, he’s scared he’ll never be able to get out of it, get over Eddie, if he has to. Because he thinks Eddie doesn’t like him back.
Which is bullshit if you ask Wayne. He knows his boy and Eddie’s as in love as they come. Wayne has never seen him like this before Steve, so caring and soft and…concerned sometimes.
“I’ll drive you,” Wayne hears Eddie say and then Steve protesting immediately but Eddie’s having none of it.
“Steve, you’re still concussed. Please. I’m driving, end of discussion.”
Wayne sighs quietly over his coffee.
It’s all none of his business, but he just can’t help but eavesdrop a little today, because he thought they were together and now that he knows they aren’t…he can’t figure out why.
But then he hears Eddie talk about that girl again and telling Steve to just go for it in the same sentence he calls him princess and flirts with him and Wayne…he sighs again.
Eddie’s protecting himself too, he realizes that.
It’s a very sad thing to observe. Both of them dancing around each other, scared to get hurt, scared to destroy what they have. He swore himself to stay out of this, but when Steve is in his work uniform after breakfast and Eddie shuffles him out of the trailer softly and pulls his hands away, eyes screwed shut for a second, right after Steve leans into the touch, Wayne decides that he should maybe talk to him. He can’t keep seeing them do this to each other. They’ve both been through enough.
Eddie comes back after about half an hour and Wayne is still sitting in the same spot with his newspaper.
“That ain’t fair, son,” he says without looking up and Eddie stops on his way to his room.
“What?”
“Leadin’ him on like that.”
“Huh?”
Wayne looks up, Eddie seems confused.
“Ya can’t play with his feelings like that, Eddie.”
Eddie looks even more confused now. “Feelings? Are you…are you talking about Steve?”
Wayne snorts and puts the paper down on the table in front of him. “Nah, I’m talking bout the other guy you spend all your time with.”
Eddie looks at Wayne like he isn’t really sure what to say, is contemplating things in his head. He scratches his ear and takes a step closer. He raises his brows.
“Well, y’know how you keep insistin’ that it ‘isn’t like that’ with you two?” Wayne asks. “I mean, I ain’t ever believe you but…even if that’s really the truth for you…I don’t think the Harrington boy’s on your page about that.”
Eddie swallows, unsure now, a little insecure, pulling his hair in front of his mouth in the way he always does.
“What are you talking about?” He seems alert, a little scared maybe even. Wayne shrugs.
“I’m jus’ sayin’, Eddie. Don’t hurt him. Think his daddy has done enough of that already.”
“I’m not…I would never-”
“Y’already are,” Wayne interrupts. “Every time you pull your hands away or tell’im to go for that girl.”
“What do you-…Wayne, Steve’s straight,” Eddie says and sounds like he actually believes that.
Wayne furrows his brows. “I raised you, kid, but that stupid ain’t comin’ from me.”
“Huh?” Okay, now he’s just in denial, isn’t he? Or shock, maybe.
Wayne sighs. “Ed, have you seen the way that boy looks at you? Fucking hell, he might not be a lot of things but he is definitely in love with you.”
“Wayne.” Eddie sits down opposite of him and looks him directly in the eyes. “What?” he says, pointedly, intertwining his fingers as for a prayer.
“Look, I decided to maybe give him a little bit of a shovel talk-”
“You what?”
“And realized you might be the one needin’ it.”
“Wayne, why would you-”
“I thought you guys were a thing,” he says. “I was convinced you were in a relationship and when he tol’ me that you weren’t, he just…damn, did that boy look sad.”
Eddie still looks a little scared, but now there’s something hopeful under there. He looks away, doesn’t meet Wayne’s eyes, studies his hands.
“He doesn’t go for the girl, Eddie. And he sleeps here every night.”
Eddie swallows. “You think– you really think he–“
“Yeah, son. And I think you should talk to him.”
Eddie looks at him, Wayne can’t really figure out what’s going on behind his brown eyes. Then he just gets up and slips into his room without another word.
Wayne just sighs, takes another sip of his coffee and turns back to his crossword puzzle. He’s done what he can. The rest is on the boys.
_____
Wayne told himself to stop eavesdropping, he never wanted to spy on them, really, but they’re just…they’re right there and they look so happy and he just can’t get himself to look away.
Plus, they know he’s here, he’s sitting on the goddamn sofa, for all eyes to see.
But Eddie and Steve only seem to have eyes for each other. As usual, but now it’s without the glint of sadness that Wayne only noticed two weeks ago.
“Oh sure, because you’re so much better at that,” Steve is saying right now, his hands fisted in the fabric of Eddie’s Dio shirt, Eddie’s arms around him. They’ve been kissing in between sentences, not at all bothered by Wayne’s presence.
“I never said that,” Eddie grins back and Steve’s smile only widens and it’s at that moment that Wayne realizes that Eddie never fell for the Harrington smile. The fake one, that Wayne detested. He only fell for this one. The one Steve gives only him. Eddie fell for Steve’s Eddie smile.
“Okay. But you still think Robin is right.”
“Robin is always right.”
Steve sighs. “Ugh. I hate that that’s true.”
Eddie laughs. Then his face gets a little more serious and he cups Steve’s face in his left hand. “On a more serious note though…it’s okay. You know that, right? You’ve had severe head trauma, baby, it’s alright that some things are harder for you. You don’t have to be ashamed about that.”
Steve then just stares at him, his admiration, his love for Eddie blatantly obvious on his face. The pet name clearly did something to him, something else than the usual princess or pretty boy Eddie threw around with even before the last two weeks.
Baby is different, Wayne supposes. It’s definite. Real. Possessive, almost. It’s a look, I can call you baby. You’re mine, we belong together, for everyone to see.
Eddie seems to see it too. “What?” he asks, amusement or something similar in his voice.
“Nothing, I just…” Steve chokes. “Eddie, I…I…” love you. It’s obvious he wants to say it, it hangs in the air, lingers there.
Eddie’s eyes go impossibly soft. “What?”
Steve sighs, screws his eyes shut for a second, gives up, looks away. “Nothing.”
Eddie just smiles. Kisses him again. “It’s okay, baby,” he says. “You don’t have to say it.”
Wayne is starting to feel like he’s seriously intruding on something, like it’s not his moment to witness, but it was their decision and he’s gonna make this even more awkward if he gets up now and reminds them of his existence. Plus…it’s nice to see them like this. Not the making out part, god no, but just…good for each other. Happy together.
“I want to,” Steve sighs, frustrated. “I really want to Eddie, I’m just-”
“Scared, I know. But you don’t have to be.” Eddie brushes a strand of hair out of Steve’s forehead, presses a kiss to it. “Because I love you back, Steve.”
Steve’s breath hitches, he smiles, almost sobs, in a way. “You do?” he asks and Eddie smiles, nods, leans his forehead against Steve’s.
“Yeah. So much. It’s embarrassing, really.”
Steve laughs and presses against Eddie who just pulls him into a tight hug. They’re whispering stuff now, Wayne can’t understand them, but he smiles.
If the Wayne from half a year ago could see him now, glad about Eddie being with Steve Harrington of all people…
Well, then Wayne would just tell him to look at the way they look at each other. Steve is the closest thing to someone ever being good enough for his boy.
Because actually…don’t tell anyone, but he’s not just come to tolerate Steve.
(He actually kind of likes him.)