AU-gust, Day 4: Runaway
My Little Runaway (5+1)
In the aftermath of the “earthquakes” – Wayne doesn’t buy that government bullshit for a second, earthquakes his ass – Hawkins becomes entirely uninhabitable. And said United States government, out of the goodness of its heart, deigns to relocate all of its remaining citizens to one of the nearby towns in Indiana (except for Eddie and his friends that got all mixed up in that bullshit Wayne still doesn’t fully know about; all of them get relocated to Illinois, Wayne included.)
And it's nice, in the immediate aftermath, having all of them around, Jim and Joyce and those kids. They make Eddie come to life in a way that Wayne had worried he’d never see again during those first few days in the hospital. It’s nice having other adults to talk to, who understand the circles under his eyes, who wake up alongside their own kids when they start screaming. Hell, it’s even nice living next to the Harrington’s boy – Steve, who looks just like his father yet couldn’t act more different. Steve, who shepherds around the kids and that girl with the short blonde hair without a complaint.
Steve, who is starting to spend a lot of time in Eddie’s bedroom these days.
So despite the hullaballoo and pain it took to get here, Wayne is grateful that they all live so close, that their houses are all in a row on that sunny suburban block. He’s grateful to have a house, with neighbors that are actually his friends. And he’s grateful that when Steve and Eddie do start dating, when Eddie is all but moved into Steve’s small house next-door, that he’s still close enough to see his kid every day.
(At least, he’s grateful for it at first.)
1. The Lawn Incident
The first time it happens, they aren’t dating yet.
“WAYNE!”
Wayne startles at the sound of Eddie’s shout as he sprints through the front door, screen shutting behind him with a loud bang.
“What? What is it?!”
The government is after them. That kid from Hawkins is there, he’s got a gun. Eddie’s hurt, he’s bleeding, he’s –
“Get me away from him!” Eddie screeches, gesturing at the door he just ran through. Wayne grabs for his rifle (the one he keeps next to the door just in case) and runs forward, expecting to see a mob on his doorstep –
There’s no mob.
There’s no sign of anyone. Just Steve Harrington mowing Claudia Henderson’s lawn across the street, shirtless –
Wayne sets the gun back down by the door and turns to shoot Eddie an unimpressed look.
“What? What?! Didn’t you see that? He’s trying to kill me!” Eddie pants, peering out the window and ducking as Steve turns. He sees Wayne and waves.
“He’s not the one you need to worry about killing you, boy.”
Wayne leaves Eddie to his moaning about the boy’s physique and tan and sweat and heads to the kitchen. (Surely 10 AM isn’t too early for a beer.)
2. The First Date
Wayne’s honestly grateful that the Harrington boy moves faster than his own nephew. If it was up to Eddie, he’d be pining for years. Steve, on the other hand, didn’t hesitate to invite him to dinner the next time he saw Eddie after The Lawn Incident. And he has the insight to plan their dinner date for the following day, meaning Eddie only has twenty-four hours to work himself into a tizzy.
(Granted, that’s plenty of time for Eddie to accomplish that, but still.)
Anyways, Wayne has to sit through Eddie parading across the living room in various band shirts of varying quality before Eddie finally decides on the one he’d tried on first (Iron Maiden, and Wayne doesn’t have the heart to tell him that maybe a grinning skeleton isn’t the best idea for a first date but hey, the Harrington boy already knows what he’s getting into), and Eddie’s debating the merits of sneakers versus boots when the doorbell rings.
Eddie spins around so fast to stare at Wayne that Wayne has to stifle his laughter. “He’s here!”
“You gonna get the door then, or are you just gonna let him decorate the porch?”
“Right, right,” Eddie mutters, first to Wayne and then to himself. Throwing his shoulders back, he takes a deep breath and makes his way to the front door. Wayne watches as Eddie nods to himself once, twice, and pulls the door open –
And then just stands there, blinking at the Harrington boy, before slamming the door in his face.
“Eds? Everything okay?”
Eddie whips around and backs up against the door, pale like he’s seen a ghost. He tries to whisper something to Wayne, but Wayne can’t hear it. “Sorry?”
“I said HE BROUGHT ME FLOWERS!”
“Are you gonna let him in and get a vase or – ”
“Huh? Oh, SHIT - ” Eddie turns back around and throws open the door. The Harrington boy is standing there with an amused grin on his face that only grows wider as Eddie starts babbling, snatches the flowers out of his hand and makes a break for the kitchen, leaving Wayne and the kid to look at each other.
“He’s a little excitable,” Wayne finally breaks the silence, and the Harrington boy laughs.
“I know. I like that about him, though.”
Wayne lets himself finally smile at the Harrington kid – Steve. “Me too, kid. Me too.”
3. The GED
“Wayne, you gotta hide me!”
Wayne barely has time to set his coffee down before Eddie is sliding into the living room and diving behind the couch. “Oh? And what’s the emergency today?”
Eddie pokes his head up from behind the chartreuse couch cushion. “Wheeler’s gone crazy, Wayne! Do you know how many flashcards she has?”
“More than a few, I’d hope. Your test is coming up next month.”
“They’re color-coded,” Eddie hisses. The doorbell rings and he dives back down, making a meep sound.
Wayne rolls his eyes and stands up out of his rocking chair. “I guess I’ll get the door.”
“NO NO NO - ”
He opens the door and Steve is standing there, alongside the older Wheeler girl and Steve’s friend Robin. “Wayne,” the Wheeler girl greets him with a tight smile, and then she’s passing him and powerwalking into the living room, Robin at her heels. (And judging by the immediate hollering Wayne hears, she finds Eddie relatively quickly.)
“Evening,” Wayne greets Steve over the din of voices in his living room. “I take it studying’s going well?”
The sound of something breaking cuts Steve off before he has a chance to reply, and Steve shoots a nervous look at Wayne. “It’s, uh, it’s going. I think Nance might have met her match.”
“Mmm,” Wayne hums, and then something else crashes onto the floor and ya know, Wayne didn’t need to watch Bonanza tonight anyways.
“I heard Hopper got some new IPAs from Wisconsin?” Steve offers, wincing as the sound of Eddie and Wheeler arguing meets its crescendo.
“Let me grab my jacket.”
4. The Fight
Wayne’s not expecting there to be any lights on when he gets home from the shop that day; Eddie had said something about an anniversary dinner with Steve, something about six months of dating, so it’s a shock to walk through the door and see Eddie swaddled under a blanket, eating ice cream while watching The Thing.
“Everything okay, son?”
“Of course! I mean, what would I have to be upset about?” Eddie snaps, forcefully digging his spoon into the Chunky Monkey.
“Right,” Wayne says, and then slowly makes his way into his bedroom where he makes a call.
“Eddie, please, I just want to talk - ”
“Sorry, son, it’s just me.”
A choked-up Steve sighs over the phone. “Hey Wayne.”
“Hey, kid. You mind telling me why Eddie’s on a mission to clean out Ben & Jerry’s tonight?”
Steve sniffles. “I asked him to be my boyfriend. Like, officially.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Eddie assumed we already were, which is bullshit because I asked him, like, after our fourth date and he said no, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to be ‘Steve Harrington’s Boyfriend’ or whatever but apparently it was a joke and, I mean, it’s not like I’ve been dating anyone else but I just thought - ”
“That he meant what he said, right,” Wayne huffs out a breath. “Let me go talk to him for a bit, okay son?”
“ ‘kay. Thanks, Wayne,” Steve replies quietly, and then he hangs up the phone. Wayne takes a moment to look at the ceiling – Lord, he loves his kid, but this is not what he wanted to be doing on his Friday – but he heads back into the living room anyways and turns off the TV.
“Hey!”
“Son, we need to talk.”
“About what?”
“About what you said to Steve, that’s what.”
Eddie grumbles, stabbing his spoon through the bottom of the ice cream carton. “You’re on his side then?”
“Hey, you’re my kid. I’m always gonna be on your side. But that means sometimes I gotta tell you when you’re in the wrong and right now, son, you’re in the wrong.”
Eddie throws his head back against the couch with a sigh. “It’s just – he should have known!”
“Eds, we both got a bit of that Munson-meanness in us. We both know that sometimes our jokes don’t sound like jokes. How was your boy supposed to know that if you didn’t talk to him about it after the fact? He can’t read your mind, kid.”
“I know, I know, I fucking know!” Eddie scrunched his face up and threw the empty ice cream carton to the side. “It’s my fucking fault and I just – I hate that he thought I was just trying him out for six fucking months, as if I’d actually do something like that to him!”
“Well,” Wayne sighs, “then it sounds like both of you let your own shit get in the way of things. And the only way you can fix it now is if you talk it out.”
“And say what?”
“That it was a stupid joke and that you’re not the sort of person who’d treat anyone that way. And for the record, kid, I think he knows that. He might be gone on you, but he’s not the type of guy who’d stay with someone who treated him badly.”
Eddie bites at his lip for a little bit. “Okay. I’m gonna go talk to Steve.”
“Good,” Wayne nods, and then Eddie is fast-walking to the door –
And he still has Wayne’s blanket.
“Bring that blanket back!”
“Yes, Wayne.”
“And some more Chunky Monkey!”
“Yes, Wayne!”
(Wayne’ll be lucky if he sees either in the next year.)
5. The Game
It’s a perfect fall Sunday; a cool breeze flows in through the open window, Wayne has a cold beer and a new can of peanuts in front of him, and the Colts are starting as receivers for the first playoff game of the season. He has four blissful hours of peace in front of him, just him, his football team, and –
“WAYNE!”
Wayne groans as Eddie slams into the house. “WAYNE, I need – no, no, no, WHY? You’re watching the game too?!”
“It’s the playoffs, son,” Wayne says. Or, rather, he tries to say; a whole stampede of footsteps follow Eddie into the house and suddenly Wayne’s surrounded by his kid, six teenagers, a pre-teen and the Corroded Coffin boys (who were in town for a visit).
“Whatever, he can watch the game Eddie, we just need a table - ”
“ – grab the extra chairs, we can get it set up - ”
“Wait, wait, wait, set up what exactly?” Wayne asks but the teens have scattered, running to all ends of his house to set up something at his dining room table and – ah, yes. Their dragon game.
“Really, son?” Wayne asks as Eddie walks by and snatches a couch pillow. “Can’t you do this at your house?”
“I promised Steve that he could have the house if his team made the finals or whatever - ”
“The playoffs, Ed.”
“ – yeah, that’s what I said, but we need to finish up this campaign before Jeff and Gareth go back to school and - ”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Wayne scoops his beer and his peanuts up and heads for the door.
“ – only six hours or so and – hey, where are you going?”
“I’m running away,” Wayne replies drily as he shoots Eddie a final wave. “Steve has a bigger TV anyways.”
Eddie lets out a theatrical gasp, but Wayne is too far away to hear whatever else he has to say.
(Steve does have a bigger TV. And Jim and Charles are fans, too. Maybe they have more of that IPA.)
+1 The Proposal
Wayne’s used to it by now, the sound of his front door slamming shut. It usually signals that Eddie’s in one of his moods, or is excited to share something about the store or Steve or their brand new puppy – Strider, because his kid is a nerd – or because it’s been seventy-two hours and at that point Eddie usually feels the need to make an entrance to check in on Wayne because it’s rare these day that they go three days without at least checking in, but when Wayne goes to check the door, it isn’t Eddie standing there.
It's Steve, and he’s panting.
“Steve? You okay, son?”
‘Yeah, yeah,” he nods, “I just – I don’t know how much longer I can put it off.”
Wayne feels warm all the way in the cockles of his heart. “It’s just ‘til this weekend, son.”
“I know! But Eddie’s so smart,” Steve complains, running his fingers through his hair, “he’s so smart and he knows something’s up and I’m trying not to act weird but because I’m trying not to act weird then he knows that I’m acting weird, and I’m afraid he’s going to pull away again and I just – we just keep having moments where I want to tell him and I keep having to stop myself and I don’t know if I can wait any longer – ”
“Then don’t.”
“ – and I – what?”
Wayne shrugs. “If you don’t want to wait any longer, then don’t.”
Steve looks lost. “But I – I just want this to be perfect. Eddie deserves something perfect.”
“Kid, you are his something perfect,” Wayne replies, and Steve flushes bright red. “You could ask him while he’s on the shitter and it’d be perfect because it’s you.”
“You really think so?” Steve asks shyly. “I mean, not that I’m going to ask him when he’s going to the bathroom - ”
“You probably could do a little better than that,” Wayne agrees, and the two men are laughing when Eddie bursts into the room behind them.
“WHAT is going on here, hmm?” Eddie exclaims.
“Eddie,” Wayne starts, trying to stop whatever monologue is coming but Eddie cuts him off.
“No, Wayne, don’t try to tell me something isn’t going on because something is going on and you,” Eddie says, turning to point at a bright-red Steve, “you are being incredibly suspicious right now and if I didn’t know any better, I would say that you keep running every time we’re in the same room because you don’t want to be with me anymore but that can’t possibly be true because I woke up with you - ”
“EDWARD ANTHONY MUNSON,” Wayne interrupts, completely unwilling to hear whatever scandalous thing was going to come out of Eddie’s mouth next, but it turns out he didn’t have to be the one to interrupt Eddie after all because Eddie has stopped talking entirely. He’s just standing in Wayne’s living room and gaping at Steve.
Steve, who is kneeling on Wayne’s shaggy carpet, a black ring box in his hand.
Wayne’s throat tightens up as soon as he sees the tears lining Eddie’s eyes. “Steve?”
“I was going to wait until next weekend,” Steve starts shakily. “I had a whole plan. I was going to take you to Metallica next weekend and wait until they started playing our song - ”
“Nothing Else Matters.”
“ – right, ‘Nothing Else Matters,’” Steve replies, his own eyes swimming but he’s beaming at Eddie, he’s smiling up at Wayne’s son and shit, Wayne’s going to need a handkerchief himself, “and then I was going to slide this ring onto your hand and – I know that we’ve only been together a year, I know it’s really, really fast – ”
Eddie’s half-laughing and half-gasping for breath, tears streaming down his face and collecting in the corners of his smile.
“ – and I know that it’s only for us, really, but being with you – this past year has been the best year of my life and maybe it makes me selfish, but I want the rest of them, too. I want them all with you, Eds. Will you - ” Steve swallows, bracing himself, “would you do me the honor of being my not-at-all-lawfully-wedded husband?”
Eddie nods and gasps and shouts out the word “YES!” and then he’s throwing himself on top of Steve, laughing and crying together and kissing and then Steve is sliding the ring on Eddie’s finger – a small black diamond with a silver band, one that Wayne had helped Steve decide on out of four possible choices – and then they’re kissing again and murmuring words of love into each others’ mouths and the moment is everything Wayne has ever wanted for Eddie but if Eddie keeps kissing Steve like that it is going to quickly become something Wayne doesn’t want to see, so he interrupts.
“Congratulations, sons,” he says, and then Eddie is jumping up and running in Wayne’s arms, laughing and jumping and asking if he knew and if he wants to see the ring and if Wayne knew it would ever be possible for Eddie to be this happy.
“Oh, I knew,” Wayne replies with a sly grin. “Knew it the day you ran away because you saw him mowing Claudia’s lawn shirtless.”
“Hey!”
“Aww, my little runaway,” Steve says, hugging Eddie from behind and pressing a smattering of kisses against his cheek. “Just as long as you let me run away with you from now on.”
“Deal,” Eddie says, turning to smile at Steve and yeah, Wayne can give them a few moments while he digs out the IPAs. (They’re not champagne but hey, they’ll do.)
(And having Steve as a son-in-law? Yeah. That’ll do too.)
