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Before they knew it, Eddie and Steve had turned forty. The year was 2006, and they both were starting to feel old as hell. They knew, in the entire scale of their lives, they were still on the younger end. Hopefully. But that didn’t stop the younger kids from roasting the shit out of them anytime they did something deemed ‘elderly’. Steve knew he was in for it when he woke up and went to brush his teeth. He looked up at the mirror and legitimately gasped. His toothbrush fell out of his grasp and into the sink, the ruckus caught some of Eddie’s attention, leading the man to wander into the bathroom to see what the big deal was. “What’s wrong?” Steve helplessly pointed at the mirror, still a bit hypnotized by his own reflection. Eddie looked at the mirror from behind him, trying to see what the man could be getting at. “You’re not seeing another clock are you?”
“No,” Steve answered, not wanting to worry Eddie about something like that for a second. “My hair.” He raked his hands through his hair line, pulling out a few strands. They were graying at the roots.
“Oh, cool.” Eddie said flatly, still not getting what the big idea was.
“Eds!” Steve kept pulling at his hair, as though if he yanked them out the problem would be solved. “This is serious!” He turned back to the mirror, furiously raking through his hair, trying to gauge just how gray his hair was getting.
Eddie grabbed Steve from behind, twirling him around by the waist so the man would finally have to look at him rather than his reflection. “Babe. You’re fine.” Steve’s expression didn’t change, still looking as fed up as before. “You’re hot, dude!”
“I’m old!” Steve threw his hands up. “You don’t have gray hair! You’re still young and cool!” Eddie rolled his eyes, raking through his own mane in an attempt to find gray hairs to show Steve, but he genuinely didn’t have any. Not yet, at least. “Oh, there you go. Shove your fountain of youth in my face, why don’t you?” Steve grumbled, moving to return to washing his teeth angrily.
“Steven,” Eddie pleaded, resuming his hold on Steve’s waist. “You’re not old. And even if you were old, what’s so wrong with that? I know lots of cool old people. Joyce and Hopper, Uncle Wayne, Ozzy Osbourne…”
“That man’s an old kook, don’t even say that,” Steve giggled after he spit out the toothpaste. “He bit a fucking bat’s head off.”
“You know who else bit a bat’s head off?”
“That was life or death and you know it, asshole!”
“Just saying, it’s pretty metallll. Certified cool people activity if you ask me.” Eddie snaked his head around Steve’s neck, giving playful kisses to his ear.
“Well, it’s not fair you get to look so young while I’m here looking like your fucking dad.” Steve groaned, rinsing off his toothbrush.
“What’s so bad about that, daddy?” Eddie smirked against Steve’s ears, but the man flicked water at him in opposition. “C’monnnnn. You look absolutely smokin’, babe. You look your age, I look my age. We’re all groovy.” Eddie gestured to the mirror, pointing out the wrinkles and lines on his own face. Sure, he didn’t have graying hair yet, but his skin was aging and he was a little chubbier than when he was 18. Eddie took aging in stride, excited at the notion really. He liked the look of an old man, when he was younger he would dream about looking like Gandalf when he was older. Eddie began to do vogue like poses in the mirrors, showing off his fine lines and forehead wrinkles. “Is this old and gross to you, Stevie?”
“It’s not gross when it’s on you,” Steve rolled his eyes, turning to face the man’s actual face and not just his reflection. “Dustin’s gonna absolutely shred me for having gray hair. He’ll worship you if you do.”
Eddie groaned, dragging Steve completely out of the bathroom so he couldn’t look at himself. “Steve, Steve, Steve.” He chided, yanking the man down onto the bed. “Dustin would eat your shit off the fucking ground. This kid won’t give a fuck about what color your hair is. If it really bothers you, we can dye it.” That was something that didn’t age, the couple would always refer to Dustin as though he were a kid or a young man despite him being 35 now.
Steve gave a sad smile to Eddie. “Can we?”
Eddie decided to abuse his doe eye powers, he really didn’t want to have to dye Steve’s hair if we’re being completely honest. “If you really want to, we can… But I will severely miss seeing your hot ass silver fox side, Mr. Munson.” He leaned toward Steve, taking his face in a gentle hand and pressing kisses against his partner’s hairline. A special kiss to each strike of gray hair.
“Do you really like it or are you just saying that because you’re my husband and you have to?” That was something Steve and Eddie started calling each other back when Canada legalized gay marriage, they figured it was close enough to the U.S. Sure, there was nothing legally binding in it, but there was also nothing saying they couldn’t just call each other husband in an informal fashion.
“I’m saying it because it’s fucking hot.” Eddie growled, draping a leg over Steve’s side as his hands traveled through the man’s hair. “You’re like a fine wine, baby, you just get better with age.” He pressed suffocating kisses against Steve’s lips, doing everything in his power to convince his husband that he was gorgeous. He really was, Eddie wasn’t lying at all with his words. Every morning Eddie woke up and saw this absolutely gorgeous, beyond perfection man next to him and wondered how on Earth could he get this lucky. The gray hairs were really doing it for him too, but he was afraid to comment on them because he knew Steve would react like this.
Steve gently shoved him off, still not entirely convinced by his advances. “Okay, okay. I’ll wade it out, see if it grows on me.” Eddie beamed at him, the light glinting in his eye as strong as ever. Steve must’ve made the right choice if it got Eddie to look at him like this. He decided to shove the thought away as best he could and go about his day. It was the weekend, so he didn’t have any serious responsibilities, but he did plan on going to the grocery store for a restock.
Meanwhile, Eddie couldn’t stop thinking about the subject. It was something he had been anticipating for a while now, knowing that his husband still held onto some of the ideology he subscribed to when he was the popular high school jock. Looks were important to him, not as much as they were then, but it was still important. In total honesty, Eddie agreed. There was a reason he wore a battle vest or his black handkerchief. The problem was, Steve’s idea of looks came from things people couldn’t change. Eddie’s looks related to self expression, how he dressed himself and styled his hair. Not how many acne scars he had.
Needless to say, the man was determined to somehow change Steve’s mind. While Steve went to the grocery store, Eddie decided to take a visit to his favorite tattoo parlor. He was friends with many of the tattooists, his body becoming a black and white canvas for them over the years. He figured a last minute ask with fair compensation might actually work out.
The bells rang as he pulled open the door, all the workers looking up to see who it was. “Eddie!” They proclaimed.
“Guilty as charged,” Eddie waved in greeting, making his way up to the front counter where Marly was waiting. She was around the same age as Eddie, but her face was filled with so much warmth that made her seem as young as 20. “Marly, my Queen-” He addressed her, wanting to flatter her up as much as he could.
“What is it you want, Munson?” She smirked, already knowing he was about to request some absolute bullshit.
“Nothing crazy! I swear, I just want a bit of detailing added to this baby right here.” His hand pressed against his chest, right over his heart. It was a tattoo of a skull, one adorned with luxurious looks and infamous moles. It was a skull, but with features of the love of his life decorated over it. He got it after the couple had been dating for ten years, Steve couldn’t stop staring at it all day, memorized. He wanted to get a tattoo as an ode to Eddie, but as soon as he walked into the tattoo parlor and he saw the needles he backed out. He opted to just get a necklace with Eddie’s name on it instead.
Marly seemed to consider it, squinting at his chest as if she could see the tattoo. “Mmm, how many details?” Eddie provided a description of what he wanted, the woman further humoring the idea. “Alright, we can squeeze that in. Ben!”
A worker named Ben came scampering over to Marly, he seemed a bit new. Eddie had probably only seen him once since he had been coming here, and if he remembered clearly the boy was only serving as an apprentice. He must be moving up the ranks, good for him. Marly and Eddie told them what he wanted, just a few extra bits that could fairly easily be free-handed. The man seemed up to the task, practically running to sanitize his section of the parlor.
Once everything was prepared, Eddie tossed his shirt off and settled onto the seat. Ben got to work, his hands gently working their way over the already faded ink, they decided to touch up the whole thing a wee bit. The man who originally gave Eddie the tattoo has since retired, but Ben apparently shadowed him. At least, that’s what Ben was telling him as he switched his ink to gray. That was also something new, Eddie had only done black ink before. He liked color tattoos, but he didn’t think they would look that good on him. Today he decided to risk his luck.
Nearing the end, Eddie got a call from Steve. The man wasted no time answering it, showing that he was getting a call to Ben, leading the man to slowly come to a stop. “Hello, dearest?”
“Eds, where are you?” Steve wasted no time with greetings, sounding a bit out of breath over the phone.
Eddie felt his lips clamp shut, he may have definitely forgotten to tell Steve he would not be home by the time the man returned from his grocery trip. “Babe- I’m so sorry,” The man frantically looked around the room, trying to think of an excuse so he could save the surprise for when he got home. “I forgot to tell you, I-” His eyes latched onto a café across the street. “I was going to surprise you by getting a nice dessert for tonight, but the place is fucking packed!” Eddie let the lie flow easily, feeling as though he had been rescued.
Steve literally swooned over the phone, “Eds, you didn’t have to do that.”
Eddie decided to dig his grave, resigning to the fact that he was now going to have to pick up a fancy dessert after the tattoo. “But I want to! You deserve it.” Eddie could sense the man’s desire to protest and downplay himself, but he resisted. It was something Steve had been working on over the years and Eddie was quite proud of him.
“Alright, just get your ass here soon enough, Munson.” Steve had put back on his mom voice, deciding to play mad instead of going on a ramble about how much he didn’t deserve a fancy dessert.
“You gotcha, cutie! Love ya!”
“Love you too,” And with that the two hung up, allowing Ben to resume his tattoo.
“That him?” The boy asked.
“Yep, please tell me there’s a dessert place around here?”
It didn’t take long for Ben to finish the tattoo. Eddie looked at it in a mirror, incredibly happy and satisfied with the work. He paid and tipped the man well, filing his name away for if he ever wanted to get a completely new tattoo. He headed over to a cake shop that Ben had given him directions to earlier, he said they had the best carrot cakes in town. Eddie was never prone to eating carrot cakes, but he figured the place had to have something else that would be a banger to his taste buds.
His mouth was practically salivating as he looked at an incredibly rich, dark chocolate cake topped with cherries and whip cream. “That one.” Eddie said flatly, pointing to the gem. A chef boxed it up for him, the man paid and he headed out, ready to finally see his husband.
When he got home, Steve had already finished putting the groceries away and was busying himself by watching the news on the sofa.
“Honey, I’m home!” Eddie greeted, backing in through the door so he could protect the cake.
Steve beamed up at him, getting up to take the cake so Eddie could close the door. “What did ya get?”
“See it for yourself,” Eddie snatched the cake back again, scrambling over to their kitchen so he could unbox the beauty. “Feast your eyes on this!”
Steve’s eyebrows shot up at the cake, his smile turning into one of shock. “Holy shit! Where did you even get this?”
Eddie figured this was the perfect segway into revealing his original surprise. “Ya know that tattoo parlor I go to? This wasn’t too far away.”
Steve quirked an eyebrow at him, “What were you doing at the tattoo parlor?”
Eddie grinned, “Glad you asked.” He hurried to fling off his shirt, revealing the newly edited tattoo on his heart. The skull looked good as new, but now with the addition of gray streaks through the luxurious hair and crow’s feet wrinkles. It was done in such an artful way that the skull still looked incredibly beautiful, just like Steve.
Steve’s mouth dropped off, his eyes searching over the tattoo a hundred times over, as if he was hallucinating the changes. He let his fingers reach out to touch it, even though it was still covered in plastic wrap and he couldn’t really feel the ink. His other hand went to cover his gaping mouth, he seemed to be in a trance. “Eds…”
“Do you like it?” Eddie asked, a hint of urgency in his voice. It was hard to tell whether Steve’s shock was good or bad, and he needed reassurance soon.
“Yes, yes, I love it.” Steve kept nodding, seemingly finally able to move the rest of his body. His eyes finally met Eddie’s, his pupils dilated in endearment. “It’s incredible. I love it, baby. I love you!”
Eddie felt his shoulders relax, all his anxious thoughts telling him he fucked up finally silenced. “Oh, thank God.” He huffed out as Steve pulled him into a tight hug, his cold skin getting warmed up by Steve’s polo. “I love you, baby. I worship the ground you walk on. Gray hair and all.”
Steve started pressing kisses against the side of Eddie’s head, as if he didn’t know how else to express how happy he was. “You’re so extra, Munson.”
“But you love it!” Eddie grinned, giving a playful poke to his husband’s side.
Steve rolled his eyes, “Damn right I do.” Steve smiled, running a hand through his graying hair, but this time only pride on his face. “Is it hot, Munson?”
“Damn right it is!” Eddie cheered, glad to see Steve was finally on his side. He wrapped his arms around the man, pulling him into a searing kiss.