Chapter Text
Steve grumbled awake, turning over to face away from the bright window and to his still sleeping partner. Steve had no idea what time it was, but considering the beaming sun and the muffled voices of the kids downstairs, he figured it was time to get up.
“Eddie…” Steve patted Eddie’s arm. “Wake up, baby.”
Eddie slowly blinked his eyes open. “Wha…?” He turned to look at Steve and saw how bright the outdoors were. He threw an arm over his eyes and dipped his head into Steve’s chest. “Five more minutes?”
Steve rubbed his husband’s back up and down. Eddie wasn’t technically his husband, it was only the late 90s and they still lived in Indiana, but Steve called him his husband because in every other sense that’s what Eddie was. They lived together in a comfortably sized home, they each had stable jobs, and most importantly they managed to adopt six kids together, though Eddie liked to call it abducting instead of adopting. Steve made sure to not let him say that in front of the officials.
It was a Saturday morning, which meant everyone was off work and escaping the hellscape of school. The kids were definitely up and at ‘em. Steve could faintly hear cartoons playing from downstairs and the wack of foam swords. They usually didn’t let their dads sleep in on the weekend, so Steve could understand why Eddie wanted to soak up every minute of it.
“Let’s just lay here until they start a mutiny,” Steve whispered to Eddie, who chuckled and sunk deeper into Steve’s side.
The mutiny started quickly after. The oldest, Michelle, threw their door open. She was accompanied by her younger brother Wayne, who was holding a nerf gun and pointing it at the couple. Michelle raised one hand to assert her authority.
“Fathers,” She commanded. “If you do not get up and make us waffles within the next ten minutes, I will release Wayne onto you.”
Eddie and Steve were frozen in bed, almost impressed at the scene they’ve created. They definitely got their theatrics from Eddie. Wayne smiled as he adjusted his toy gun at the two, one eye closed. There was no doubt in Steve’s mind that Wayne wouldn’t do it.
“I submit.” Steve raised both his hands as if he was under arrest and slid out of bed. He was dressed in a nightshirt and pajama pants, but there was really no point in changing. Eddie followed him out and Wayne ushered them downstairs to the kitchen with a gun pressed against Eddie’s back.
The two quickly began to work on breakfast, eventually resulting in 15 nicely toasted and plated waffles with berries and syrup to accompany. The kids swarmed the table, cheers of rehearsed “thank you, dadsssss” erupting.
“Thank you, Wayne, for not killing us.” Eddie joked as he joined his kids at the table. Wayne smiled, clearly proud of himself, and willingly put his gun down. “Lord knows we’ve almost died enough times,” Eddie muttered to Steve under his breath.
Steve clapped his hands to get the herd of children’s attention. “Listen up, as we’ve mentioned before Dad and I will be going on a date today, so you aunts are coming over to watch you at one, got it?” The kids gave their affirmatives and went back to munching on waffles. “You told Robin all the rules, right?” Steve turned to Eddie.
“There’s a pre-made salad in the fridge, if a kid wants a snack to throw an orange at them, don’t let Billy around the swingset alone, and if Dusty starts crying play Metallica.” Eddie listed off.
Steve nodded, reassured. Eddie and Steve usually had date nights every other week to get some alone time, and Nancy and Robin always jumped at the chance to watch their kids. Nancy was strictly opposed to having more than two kids and Robin wasn’t sure she could handle the responsibility yet, so it was sort of like a free trial for the couple. Sometimes the two would come over unannounced just to mess with the kids. The dads were not at all disrupted by their visits, it was never easy taking care of six kids, but it made the two guys so happy. Steve got the big family he always wished of going on vacations with and protecting, and Eddie got an obligatory dungeons and dragons group that couldn’t say no to his family game nights.
Tonight they were going to the movies to watch ‘Blade’, well they were supposedly going to watch it, but knowing them they’d probably make out a little in the back of the theater then fall asleep until the lights came back on. Steve was excited nonetheless.
Being in the kitchen meant Steve could finally get a time check, it was around 10:30 so he was still able to get some time in with his kids before the aunts took over. Dusty was only four, he loved having Eddie read to him, using fantastical voices for each character, so while Eddie was occupied reading Shel Silverstein to the boy, Steve busied himself with watching Michelle and Joan play video games. Michelle was 10 years old and Joan was eight, so Steve tried to use their age as a reasonable excuse for letting them play Street Fighter. Hell, if he was ten and heard about Street Fighter he’d want to play it too. Even at thirty-something, he’d join in every once in a while when someone needed a break.
Wayne and Billy were the menaces of the family after spending too much time with the Hellfire Club Eddie was determined to continue even after all these years. It almost became group therapy for the attendants after all the bullshit they’ve been through with the upside-down, but the kids didn’t know about that just yet. Billy was 5 and Wayne was 6. Wayne was probably the smartest boy in the family, but he used his powers for evil and would frequently prank other members of the house. Today his victim was Billy, who was just trying to finish filling in a coloring page when Wayne tackled him from behind while screaming. Most of the time his ‘pranks’ weren’t even pranks, but that’s what Wayne decided to call them so the rest of the family just went with it. The two boys began wrestling on the carpet, Wayne was winning but Billy was putting up a strong fight to at least not get pinned.
Tiffany on the other hand, well, she was the quiet member of the family. The men adopted her when she was 7, now she was 8 and one of the newest members of the family. She had always seemed quite shy, everyone tried their hardest to make her feel welcomed, but she committed to staying to herself. Eddie was able to develop a close relationship with her that Steve was quite jealous of, but still appreciative that she had someone she felt safe with. Right now she was eavesdropping on Eddie reading to Dusty while playing with dominos. It was quite peaceful to her, and though she knew no one was quite sure if she was enjoying herself, she couldn’t be happier with who adopted her. She loved her dads and her siblings, she just had a hard time of showing it. Eddie, however, seemed to understand and would occasionally tell her embarrassing stories of his past to make her laugh. Some of those embarrassing stories involved Steve, but Tiffany was sworn to secrecy about those.
So that was the run down of the Harrington-Munson family, a family Steve couldn’t be more proud of. His parents weren’t really involved in their lives anymore, he was actually glad about it. Instead, Eddie’s Uncle Wayne and the absolute unit which is their friends were all the family and love he needed. Uncle Wayne was a big part of the reason they stayed in Indiana. The original plan was to move to California, but Uncle Wayne couldn’t really come with them, he was just too critical to Eddie’s life to be so far from. So the family stayed, and Harrington was more than happy with the decision if it meant his husband got to spend time with his Uncle.
Steve snapped back to reality as Joan defeated Michelle in their video game. Joan started shouting in excitement, she was a notoriously bad winner. Michelle just face-palmed and faked a whine of distress. Steve patted Michelle on the back in sympathy then stood up to check on the rest of the nuggets. Eddie must’ve had the same idea because right as Steve turned into the playroom he bumped into the back of Eddie’s leather jacket. At some point, he must’ve gotten dressed, which was more than Steve could say. Eddie turned around, smiling as he saw his husband.
“Baby!” Eddie greeted.
“What’s going on in here?”
“Dad said he was going to play guitar for us!” Billy shouted. It was clear he eventually lost the earlier battle with Wayne, his clothes were all stretched out and his hair was more disheveled than usual.
“Oh, he did?” Steve looked at Eddie expectantly. “Well, that sure is something I’d like to see.” Steve has heard Eddie play guitar a million times before, but it never got old for him. Munson lit up with so much passion and focus when he played, every performance was so flawlessly electric. Maybe that was just his heart talking though.
“Then you shall.” Eddie swept around Steve and towards where he kept his guitars as the kids got back to roughhousing. He re-entered the room, guitar slung across his shoulders and seated himself on the couch. The kids immediately began to crowd around him, everyone except Michelle and Joan. Even Dusty was rested on a pillow seat with his eyes focused on his dad. Steve joined Dusty, holding him in his lap. “Any requests from the crowd?”
“Backstreet Boys!” Billy shouted.
“Who taught you that?” Eddie said in shock. He whipped his head to Steve, who tried to innocently shrug. Eddie shook his head. “Disgusting. Betrayed by my own family. I’ll show you some real music.”
And he did. He played a medley of different Metallica and Dio songs with some Nirvana threw in as a compromise to Steve. It was like a little at-home concert, eventually, Michelle and Joan even got in on the fun. The kids sang along and Wayne even head banged like he saw Eddie do so many times in the car. Sadly, it neared one in the afternoon, and Steve realized they had to get ready for Nancy and Robin to takeover.
He kissed Dusty out of his arms and snuck into the master bedroom. He always liked to dress up a little better than usual for date night, so he wore a polo shirt with black dress pants and comfy loafers. Compared to his usual t-shirt and jeans it looked a bit more sophisticated. He touched up his hair while smiling at himself in the mirror, trying to imagine what could make him look more appealing to Eddie despite the fact that he’s been dating the man for more than a decade. He liked to treat every date like it was his first, keep the romance alive ya know?
When his appearance was to his likely he re-joined the family room and saw that the aunts had just entered the house and were greeting all the children.
“Aunt Robin!” Tiffany yelled, well, the closest thing she’s ever done to a yell, and hurried over to hug Robin’s legs. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too, baby,” Robin said, ruffling the little girl’s hair.
Nancy was already playing peek-a-boo with Dusty, who seemed to think this was the most fascinating game of his life. Yeah, they were in good hands. Robin looked up and saw Steve watching the scene.
“Daddy Steve!” Robin beamed at him. He walked over to meet her and she gave him the tightest hug he’s ever experienced. “So what’s the occasion tonight?” Robin bounced her eyebrows.
“Hopefully fall asleep while watching Blade,” Steve chuckled. He felt Eddie come up beside him and rest a palm on his shoulder. “What do you say?”
Eddie faked a yawn. “Perfect to me, babe.”
“Ewwwww,” Joan and Nancy said in unison, looking at the couple in teasing disgust. “Daddies got cooties!”
In a flourish of movement, Eddie pulled away from Steve and wrapped his arms around him. “Not cooties!” He exclaimed in fear. “Save me, darling!”
He draped himself in Joan’s arms as she laughed at her mess of a father. Steve shook his head, hands on his hips in what Robin called his mom pose. “C’mon, we got places to be.”
Eddie hopped out of Joan’s arms, giving a smothering kiss on her forehead before he rejoined Steve. He pointed at Robin, “Remember the rules?”
“Salad, orange, swingset, Metallica.” Robin sang.
“You betcha!” Eddie took Steve’s hand and guided him towards the door. He opened the door and turned his body to address the kids who were all waving goodbye, “Be good! Or no cartoons for a month.” Wayne stuck his tongue out at Eddie, knowing damn well that was an empty threat, but the kids were gonna follow it anyway. Eddie stuck his tongue out in response, even going out of his way to form the devil's ears in his hair. Wayne wanted to grow his hair out to be like Eddie, but never liked it when it went past his ears, so his attempt at replicating the devil horns was not quite as successful.
Steve closed the door after he blew kisses at everyone, turning to grin at Eddie. “I pray for those women.”
“Every day, baby.” Eddie agreed. They walked down to the driveway and got into Eddie’s car. As they pulled out of the driveway they saw Tiffany looking out the window, Dusty in her arms. Steve waved to her and she waved back.
“I miss them already.” Steve sighed.