Work Text:
Dustin was the first person to notice the simple silver band on Eddie’s finger.
Considering the kid was the most observant out of everyone in the party (and admittedly the first to see them), that didn’t surprise Eddie in the slightest. Neither did the unholy shriek he let out as he grabbed at Eddie’s hand, his grip nearly bruising.
“What the hell is this?”
Eddie didn’t mistake the undercurrent of hurt in his words, and even though it had been the right choice, he was under no illusion it was going to cause some … issues, with their family.
“You know what it is, kid,” Eddie said, ruffling his hand through Dustin’s curls.
Though, kid wasn’t quite the right word anymore, Dustin getting ready to graduate from college next year. It didn’t matter. Eddie would never stop seeing him as a kid. His kid.
“Where’s Steve, I’m gonna ring his neck,” Dustin huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.
Steve, oblivious to Dustin’s sleuthing and wearing one of Eddie's shirts, came downstairs into the kitchen where this conversation was taking place. Eddie wordlessly handed Steve a coffee – made to his preference, obviously – Steve taking it gratefully with a kiss to Eddie’s temple. It wasn’t his fault he missed Dustin glaring daggers into the back of Steve’s head. He hadn’t had his coffee yet. Eddie knew better than to hope for observant Steve before coffee.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Dustin asked, hands on his hips in a very Steve-like way.
“Henderson,” Steve griped between sips. “It’s still early and you’re in my house at an entirely unacceptable volume. Take it down like, fifty notches.”
“My house too, sweetheart,” Eddie teased.
Steve waved a hand in acknowledgement. “The point stands.”
It was his left hand that he waved though, and Dustin howled with indignation at the matching band on Steve’s ring finger. Steve winced, Eddie chuckling at the theatrics. This was certainly not the first time a similar scene had unfolded in the kitchen. Sometimes it was Will, sometimes it was Lucas or Mike. On particularly brutal mornings it was more than one of them at a time. Often it was Dustin, the kid having more energy in his pinky than most people did in their entire body.
“Why are you – oh,” Steve said, as though finally realizing the source of Dustin’s distress. “Christ, I thought something was actually wrong,” he muttered, rolling his eyes.
Dustin threw his hands in the air, letting them fall back to his thighs with a noisy slap. “Something is wrong, if you and Eddie could get married and I didn’t even know!”
From across the counter, Eddie found Steve watching him, a soft smile on his face. As it had since Eddie had fallen for Steve while on the run for murders he hadn’t committed, Eddie’s heart beat louder in his chest, his limbs feeling warm and his head a bit fuzzy. He’d never get over how lucky he was that Steve had decided to take a chance on a nerdy freak like him. Had walked into building a life with Eddie like it was the most exciting yet natural thing in the world. Had taken his inheritance from his parents and spent it buying them this home so they could spend every morning waking up together and every night falling asleep in each other’s arms.
“Stop looking at each other like that and start explaining yourselves,” Dustin chastised, his eyes narrowing as he glared between the two of them.
Steve snorted. “Henderson, we literally can’t get married. Don’t know if you noticed but we’re both guys. The US government kind of frowns upon us and all that.”
“Also, fuck the government,” Eddie supplied unhelpfully.
Dustin wasn’t willing to accept that as an answer. “I need reinforcements.”
He picked up the home phone, started dialling numbers. “Code red, Steve and Eddie’s place,” he said, not bothering with greetings or saying goodbye. He’d never really gotten the hang of using a phone instead of a walkie talkie.
Within ten minutes, the kitchen was full. Six sleepy kids, plus Robin, Nancy and Jonathan. Steve’s inheritance had been … substantial. The kind of money Eddie could have never even conceived of being real. Steve hadn’t wanted it though, had only taken it because it gave him the opportunity to do something important.
He’d kept them all together.
Hawkins was a thing of the past, an abandoned ghost town. Rebuilding would have cost more money than it was worth, so the government washed its hands of the whole place. They’d all needed to relocate anyways, and that’s when Steve started thinking. And planning. Late one night, Eddie was strumming on his guitar, humming a new song, scribbling lyrics on a notebook. They were in Steve’s parents’ house, most of his things in boxes. The party hadn’t left Hawkins yet, still trying to figure out what to do, where to go. Steve had burst into the room, eyes alight with excitement. I’ve figured it out. He thrust a piece of paper and a stack of real estate clippings at Eddie, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
A real estate developer had just built brownstone row houses in Boston and they were going to the market. Eddie studied the listings. There were enough of them, for everyone. The piece of paper was filled with scribbles and notes and at the bottom, a series of numbers that all added up to less than Steve’s inheritance. I can afford all of them, Eddie. We can all stay together.
Eddie hadn’t questioned it, the insane cost of purchasing that many properties, or that he would live with Steve. They had been practically living together since shit went sideways anyways, and they’d found they quite enjoyed it, even before admitting just how much.
It had taken absolutely no convincing for everyone to take their things and move to the Boston brownstones. The kids’ parents couldn’t sell their homes and were out of work, all essentially starting from scratch. They took Steve up on his offer without thinking twice. Being offered a free home in a bustling metropolis where they could start over? Better than anything they could have hoped in the aftermath of Vecna.
Eddie knew though, that Steve just needed everyone close. They all did, relying on each other for support as life resumed to normal and they learned that living after the fight was some days more difficult than the fight itself. Nightmares, flashbacks, struggles to find happiness. Steve kept them all together, mentally and physically, and Eddie had fallen desperately in love with him for giving everything he had to what was becoming their family.
In moments like these, however, when the kitchen was full and everyone was talking over each other, Eddie didn’t know whether he wanted to hug past Steve or smack him over the head. The volume was positively ear splitting.
“Can someone please tell me why we are all here, on a Sunday, well before nine in the morning?” Robin asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily. “Code red is serious.”
Eddie noticed she was wearing a shirt that definitely belonged to Nancy. Oh, he was going to find out what the hell that was about as soon as his house wasn’t full of miscreants.
“This is serious,” Dustin huffed, gesturing at Eddie and Steve who were now sitting side by side. The counter separated everyone from them, as though they were on trial. Eddie hid his smile at the thought.
“Henderson, if you don’t tell us what’s going on,” Max said, not even needing to finish the threat.
Dustin gestured at Eddie and Steve, his eyes bugging out of his head like he couldn’t believe they didn’t notice what he had right away. “They got married!”
“You what?” Mike shrieked and then all hell broke loose.
There was no stopping the absolute mania that was unleashed. “Thank Christ we don’t have any neighbours other than these animals, or we’d be getting noise complaints,” Eddie muttered, pulling out a stool beside Steve and taking a seat, prepared for a long morning.
Steve laughed, reaching his hand over as Eddie did the same, interlacing their fingers. “We knew they’d be like this.”
“I was at least hoping they’d wait until a more reasonable hour.” Eddie’s words lacked any venom, a shiver rocking through him as Steve brushed his thumb on Eddie’s wrist.
“Hey!” Dustin yelled, getting their attention. “If you two are done with your little side conversation, the rest of us have questions.”
Eddie put a hand up, silencing the onslaught that was surely coming. “We will answer one question from each of you and then we’re kicking you out to enjoy the day in peace. Make ‘em count.”
“That’s unfair,” Dustin started, but Eddie cut him off with a shake of his head and a single finger. One. “Christ, fine, give us a minute.”
Dustin ushered everyone into the other room, presumably to get organized – or bully people into asking his questions so he could get the answers he wanted.
Robin though lingered back. “Do I still get a question if I was the one responsible for safeguarding the rings?” She punctuated her words with an overly dramatic wink.
Steve stood, pulling her close and smacking a big wet kiss on her cheek that she scowled at, wiped away with a disgruntled laugh. “Sure Robbie, you want a question, you got one.”
“Ugh forget I asked, Dingus,” she said, shoving him away. She ruffled Eddie’s hair as she passed, heading to join the others in the living room.
“Love you too Robbie!” Steve called out sweetly as he took his seat again, laughing when she flipped him off.
Finally alone, Eddie leaned over, tracing a line down Steve’s jaw. “Hey, husband.”
“Hi, husband,” Steve said back with a grin, cheeks pinking adorably.
Eddie hummed, his finger dipping lower, tracing Steve’s collarbones. “I like that.”
Steve’s eyes fluttered closed. “They’re gonna ask us so much shit, you sure you ready for the can of worms you’ve opened?”
“Our kids are heathens but they’re well meaning. I think they just want to know you’re happy Steve.”
Steve’s eyes blinked open, all soft and sweet the way Eddie loved most. “They want to know you’re happy too.”
“I am sweetheart, I am.” Christ, Eddie didn’t have enough words inside of him to articulate how happy he was, which was saying something. He never ran out of words.
Eddie dropped his hand to Steve’s thigh and squeezed, relished the little shiver that ran through Steve at the gesture. He leaned in, eyes focused on Steve’s lips, when the party came back into the kitchen, Dustin in the lead.
“We’ve got our questions,” he said like a battle commander, arms crossed.
“Already?” Eddie mused, not moving an inch farther from Steve. Not quite willing to admit he’d missed the window to make out with his husband.
Dustin started strong. “Why weren’t we invited?”
“Because we didn’t have a wedding,” Eddie answered simply, finally sitting back to face all of them. “There was nothing to be invited to.”
Dustin pouted. “But you have rings.”
Eddie shook his head. “That wasn’t a question, and you don’t have a second anyways. Next.”
“Can we throw you a wedding?” Nancy asked, her hands clasped hopefully.
“No wedding,” Steve said.
“Why not?” Jonathan asked, then smacked his forehead. “That wasn’t my question but whatever. I’ll keep it.”
“One day, when the world isn’t so ass backwards and we can do it legally, I’m gonna marry him for real,” Steve said, that twinkle in his eyes that made Eddie want to kiss him breathless. “We’ll even get the damn government involved and do the paperwork and everything. Until then, no wedding.”
Nancy frowned, but seemed mollified.
“Who proposed?” Max asked, all the kids leaning forward eagerly.
Eddie raised an eyebrow, curious what had them all so invested in the answer to her question. “I did.”
“Uh, that’s not how I remember it,” Steve argued.
“We need a clear answer,” Max insisted, tapping her foot impatiently.
“How was it not me?” Eddie asked, turning to face Steve with a wide smile on his face. “I asked. I had the rings.”
Steve shrugged. “It was my idea.”
Eddie quirked an eyebrow. “Please, go on.”
“It was!” Steve insisted. “We were laying in bed, and I said I wanted to do this forever.”
Max gagged, Nancy making a cooing sound.
Eddie held the side of Steve’s face. God he loved this idiot, who thought those words were a proposal. “And what happened next?”
“Uh … Not in front of the kids,” Steve said around a laugh.
Eddie rolled his eyes while the kids groaned. “Before that.”
Steve got that dazed look in his eyes when all of Eddie’s attention was on him. “Mmm, can’t seem to remember.”
If Eddie wasn’t so in love, he would have smacked him. “Feigning amnesia, Harrington, really?”
Steve grinned. “I did spend most of my late teens and early twenties getting repeatedly concussed.”
“Will you get to the point?” Dustin huffed.
“The point is,” Eddie said, bringing his attention back around to the amassed group. “I asked him, because yes, I also want to do this forever as he put it, and I had the rings cause I’d been thinking about asking him for a while now and so we just … made vows about spending our life together and Christ Henderson are you crying?”
“No,” Dustin said, wiping tears that were clearly falling.
“This is so romantic I’m gonna be sick,” Lucas said, Max nodding fervently in agreement. Eddie didn’t miss the way their hands were clasped tightly together. They might pretend to be hardasses, but he knew those two were sickly in love, too.
“Alright so who had Eddie?” Mike asked, pulling out his wallet as the kids started talking at once and passing around cash.
Eddie was going to throttle them for having bet on his relationship. “I thought you went into the other room to figure out what questions to ask?”
“We did,” Mike said without looking up. “This bet was made a while ago.”
Eddie quirked an eyebrow. “When?”
The kids ignored him. He repeated himself. “When?”
“I dunno, like a month or something after the first encounter with Vecna,” Mike said as he handed a fistful of bills to El.
“Uh, we weren’t even a couple then,” Steve said, brows furrowed.
“Semantics,” Max said, waving a hand. “You two were like … inevitable.”
Eddie sometimes felt the same, unable to imagine any path in life that wouldn’t have led him to Steve Harrington. Then again, he still pinched himself a lot that this was his reality. That life would be this kind to a guy like him.
True to form, Steve was soaking it all in with a begrudged expression he saved for the kids just to rile them up.
Eddie pinched the bridge of his nose.
Nancy was standing close to Robin, Jonathan watching them with a soft smile. Her eyes were on her brother though, eyebrow quirked as he finished doling out cash. “Alright I’ve got to know, who bet what?”
“We had Steve within six months, so thanks for that asshole,” Max said while Lucas nodded.
Will crossed his arms as though he was annoyed. “I said Eddie, on their first anniversary.”
Dustin glowered. “I had my money on Steve doing it at our high school graduation.”
“And I said Eddie after we all graduated college,” Mike grumbled.
Which left … El, standing smugly. “I said Eddie, on a random Saturday, before we graduated college.”
“Which honestly, kind of feels like she cheated,” Max said, shooting her friend a look.
“Not cheating,” El said, accepting the cash with a small smile. “Just … observant.”
Eddie rubbed his thumb into his eye socket to ease the tension building there from the way these kids hadn’t changed over the years, not one little bit.
“And just so we’re clear, for my own sanity,” Eddie said, eyeing each of them as though he could force the truth out of their conniving little selves. “Before Steve and I became … well, Steve and I, you placed bets on a proposal?”
“Well, not exactly,” Mike said, forehead scrunching like he was thinking back all those years ago. “It started as an argument between Lucas and Dustin.”
“Oh yeah!” Lucas exclaimed, face split open with a smile. “I asked Dustin how it felt going from having no dads to two.”
Dustin rolled his eyes. “And I said I hadn’t. That Steve – with his constant scolding and hands on his hips when he’s disappointed in us pose – definitely made him mom.”
“It was absolute chaos from there,” Max said, shaking her head. “You know how they can get.”
Eddie certainly did.
Max took over the story. “And then the argument turned into a will they ever stop being idiots and admit they’re into each other thing. Except, like I said, you guys were kind of inevitable so a bet where we all agreed you’d get together wasn’t interesting. Then it just became a matter of when. And we weren’t entirely convinced you weren’t already together at that point and just hiding it from your kids so, yeah. It became about when you’d get engaged. Cause as if the government has ever stopped you two from doing what you want.” Max finished her sentence with a smug little grin, arms crossed over her chest. “And really, just because you did a proposal and wedding at once, doesn’t change the parameters of the bet.”
Eddie resisted the urge to rub at his chest at what he’d learned, a move he’d picked up from Steve. It had been the first tell, that maybe Steve was starting to feel for Eddie what Eddie was so obviously feeling for Steve.
It had happened in quiet moments where they were talking, Steve eliciting a laugh from Eddie that would make Steve rub his chest.
It had happened in loud moments where the kids would all be roughhousing or arguing over nonsense and Eddie would attempt to corral them into order and Steve would watch on, rubbing his chest.
It had happened in the routine moments of life when they were best friends and nothing more, like when Eddie packed up his boxes of personal effects beside Steve’s in the van, and later they carried them out, not paying attention to the named labels on the boxes, wordlessly piling everything into one bedroom, Steve rubbing his chest at their toothbrushes resting side by side.
Now, years later, Steve still did it sometimes. Had done it last night, as he’d told Eddie he wanted this forever.
Someone was snapping their fingers in Eddie’s face. Dustin. Who else?
“Earth to Eddie, we have questions!”
Eddie rolled his eyes. “Here I was thinking you were too busy dolling out cash winnings for your elicit bets.”
“We’re done that, obviously,” Dustin said with all the attitude contained in his body. He was lucky Eddie loved him or he would have wrung his neck.
“Alright, continue,” Eddie said with a flourish of his hand. Except none of them did, all looking between each other as the silence stretched on. “I was expecting way more out of you lot.”
They all looked a bit lost, like the momentum of the excitement was waning and in its wake was just … their family. Happy for them.
Robin started it. Steve and Eddie would blame her for it later. She’d wrapped her arms around the two of them and squeezed tight. The kids followed next, then Nancy and Jonathan. It was a bit suffocating, so many people wrapped around them, but it was nice, too. Eddie thought maybe this was what family was always supposed to be. So much love that wrapped you up tight – in the good moments, in the bad moments, in the ones in between.
Trying not to draw attention to it, Eddie wiped a tear away as they all let go. They were good, his kids. Even if they were a pain in the ass.
“Well, if you’re done accosting us, Steve and I have plans that do not involve the rest of you, so don’t even ask.” Eddie levelled them with the fiercest look he could that he was sure they ignored.
“Ugh, gross,” Mike complained, which he always did. Eddie couldn’t really blame them. Who wants to think about our parents hooking up? as Max had once so eloquently put it. And fair enough.
They filed out of Steve and Eddie’s place with promises to be by for family dinner on Tuesday (it worked best with everyones’ class and work schedules).
Only Robin hung back. “I see you drilling those eyes into me, Harrington. Spit it out.”
Steve leaned forward, elbows on the counter, fingers steepled under his chin, glaring at his best friend. “I’m just realizing … You knew he had rings and didn’t tell me.”
Robin rolled her eyes. “Uh, yeah, Dingus. I wasn’t going to spoil that.”
“We made a pact,” Steve positively whined. “No secrets ever. I called you like twenty minutes after Eddie and I kissed for the first time!”
“And I came here immediately to report to you when Nance and I hooked up for the first time,” she retorted, shocking the life out of Eddie.
“So that is her shirt,” Eddie supplied dumbly.
“Obviously,” Robin said with a wave of her hand. “Keep up, Munson.”
“When?” Eddie asked, blinking slowly. Robin and Nancy…
“It’s still new,” she admitted, tugging on the hem of the shirt. “Like, less than two weeks new, so just temper your excitement, ‘kay?”
“Two weeks after our first kiss, I told Eddie I was in love with him,” Steve supplied, the memory making Eddie feel fuzzy and loose limbed.
“Well, you two did everything backwards. Living together with six kids before you even kissed. So excuse me for not following the Harrington Handbook.”
Eddie couldn’t disagree, nor could he find it in himself to want anything different. It might have been an unconventional story, but it was theirs.
Robin put her hands on her hips. “So, you gonna stay mad at me, or are you gonna say thank you Robin for facilitating my idiot husband in making all my dreams come true?”
Eddie was offended. “Why do I get called an idiot?”
Steve pushed off from the counter, wrapping his arms tight around Robin who returned the hug fiercely. “Thank you Robin, for … I forget what you said. But thank you anyways. I love you.”
Eddie watched Robin’s face crumple with happy tears. “God you’re such a Dingus. I love you too.” She pulled back, wiped her palms down her cheeks. “Okay, I’m leaving before I really start crying. Enjoy your day, lovebirds.”
And then there were two.
Eddie was feeling a bit off balance, if he was being honest with himself. It was incredibly difficult for him sometimes, being around the kids, the love. Even now. Even all these years later. To accept this life that they’d built was real. To relax enough to enjoy it and not worry every moment of the day that it would be taken from him.
Some nights, when he couldn’t sleep, nightmares chasing him awake, Eddie thought about what his life would be like, without Steve. He knew they were all a big family. That they loved each other fiercely. But did they love Eddie because he was one of them, or because he was with Steve? If Steve kicked him to the curb tomorrow, would Eddie still have a place with them? He hated taking up mental space with these thoughts but sometimes it was hard to shake them.
“Hey,” Steve murmured softly, his hand coming up to rest on the side of Eddie’s face. A vinyl was playing gently in the background, the heavy metal beats contradicting with the soft atmosphere of the mid morning sun pouring through the window. “I can hear you thinking.”
Eddie shrugged one shoulder, not wanting to burden Steve. “Love you.”
Steve tutted, took Eddie’s hand in his and pulled him to his feet. “I love you too,” he said, those eyes scouring Eddie’s face as though he could find the answers to his questions there.
With a familiarity that could only be born of years spent living together, they began to dance. Nothing fancy – Steve had two left feet, something that surprised Eddie considering how athletic he was – just a gentle swaying of bodies while they held each other.
“Talk to me, baby,” Steve murmured, pressing his body close.
The heat coming off Steve relaxed Eddie, as did the lack of eye contact. Sometimes it was easier to spill truths in the cradle of Steve’s arms, his forehead resting on his boyfriend’s – husband’s – shoulder.
“I just … want this.”
Eddie thought, perhaps, that was the dumbest way he could have phrased what was on his mind.
That same familiarity that had them wordlessly dancing also had Steve understanding, immediately. Eddie felt the typical shame well up something fierce as Steve’s steps slowed to a stop. He averted his eyes, that instinct to shrug it off, hide under the veil of his hair, refuse to acknowledge any weakness raging strong. Steve wasn’t having it though, soft hands cupping Eddie’s face.
“Nothing will take it from you,” Steve said, thumbs brushing the corner of Eddie’s lips, along the side of his nose. “Family isn’t conditional. They’ll love you forever no matter what. I’ll love you forever no matter what.”
Not for the first time, Eddie recognized how lucky he was, to spend his life with Steve, who never lost patience with him, even when he needed reassurance for the things he already knew.
“You sound an awful lot like one of Joyce’s hand painted wall signs,” Eddie teased, letting his grin stretch wide.
Steve laughed, his eyes dancing with mischief. “Where do you think she gets the quotes from?”
Eddie didn’t resist this time, rubbing at his chest with the heel of his hand as he leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss to Steve’s lips.
To music about the pulling of strings and smashing of dreams, Eddie continued slow dancing with the love of his life as the sun shone bright in their kitchen.