Work Text:
1988
One of the benefits of Eddie not having a “traditional” job is that he’s always available if someone needs him during the day. Whether it’s a ride to a doctor’s appointment or bringing in a forgotten text book, Eddie is almost always able to save the day. Between his private guitar lessons, working at the music store, and gigs the band lands, Eddie is a busy man. It’s just never during traditional work hours. Steve and he miss each other in passing some days, but they make it work and they always make time one night a week for a date night. So it isn’t surprising that Eddie is the one who gets the call from Max’s school on what had started as a normal boring Tuesday.
“Is this the parent or guardian of Maxine Mayfield?” A stern woman’s voice asks as the line connects.
“Yes, this is Eddie Munson, guardian.” Eddie is thankful they had listed both he and Steve on the school paperwork even though he technically isn’t on the adoption papers they finalized last year.
“Mr. Muson, we need you to come down to the school as soon as possible. There’s been an incident involving Maxine.”
“What kind of incident? Is she hurt? What happened?”
“She’s not injured, but we’ll discuss the rest when you arrive.”
Eddie sighs, she must be in a hell of a lot of trouble.
Eddie doesn’t hurry more than usual on his way to the school. If Max isn’t hurt then she must be in trouble, and that Eddie knows how to handle. God knows he put Wayne through enough of those calls back in his day. He just prays that he’ll be able to put on a stern parent face while they tell him about whatever silly thing Max did to break school rules. What he doesn’t expect is for Max to be glaring daggers at a boy about her age, holding her bruised right hand gently in her lap, and practically vibrating in her seat with rage. There’s a woman to the boy’s right, his mother if Eddie had to guess, and the principal sitting behind her large oak desk looking as displeased as ever.
“What’s going on in here?” Eddie asks Max as he takes a seat next to her.
“This fucking homophobe-” Max starts but is quickly shut down by the principal.
“Miss Mayfield, we have had enough of that language!” The principal commands, her voice steely. “Mr. Munson, it’s good of you to join us. Now that you’re here we can begin. As you all know, our school has a zero tolerance policy for violence of any kind. Earlier today, Maxine attacked Eric in the cafeteria. Now, I understand there was a bit of a verbal confrontation beforehand, but that doesn’t excuse Maxine resorting to violence. Now that both children have a parent present, we can take their formal statements and decide on punishment. Eric, as the victim here, can you please go first? We need you to tell us exactly what happened today in the cafeteria.”
The young man to Max’s right, Eric, made a disgruntled noise, earning himself a nudge from his distraught looking mother. “I was eating lunch like normal and then this freak walked past and whacked me in the face with her lunch tray. My chair fell backwards and then she was on top of me and she fu…um.. She punched me. Twice. I might have hit her once, but it was only to defend myself, and then I shoved her off of me.”
The principal gives him a sympathetic nod, “Thank you, Eric. Maxine, your turn. Please tell us what happened today from your perspective. And please be sure to use respectful language this time.”
Max sighs heavily, giving Eddie a sidelong look before beginning. “This actually started yesterday. I hung a picture in my locker of my family going to a pumpkin patch to pick out our Halloween pumpkins and some kids asked me who the guys were so I told them those are my dads. I guess a bunch of kids saw it or heard about it or whatever, but it got around. So then yesterday Eric came up to me four times being rude as shi..” Max catches herself just in time with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, being rude, about the fact that I have two dads. I won’t repeat what he said because you told me to be polite, but two of the words he used were homophobic slurs. I told him to stop and I tried to ignore him, but today when I was getting my lunch he told me I was contaminating everyone’s food with AIDS and… and that really got to me, ya know? So then I was walking past his table and he yelled again about how gross it was that I had two dads. So I called him gross and then he said ‘fight me’ and well… I did. But really, he asked for it! Literally!”
Eddie has to grip the arms of his chair to keep himself seated but he’s ready to give that little punk a piece of his mind too. He looks over to Eric’s mother who is pale and wide eyed.
“Eric Anthony Merritt.” The woman says, her voice low and harsh, “Did you really say those things to that girl?”
The boy doesn’t even have the decency to look chagrined. “I mean, nothing I said isn’t true. She has two dads, it’s disgusting.”
“Hey, kid.” Eddie barks from across the room, “One of her two dads is sitting right here. You might wanna rethink your choice of words.”
“Mr. Munson, I’m so sorry. I don’t know where this is coming from, I…” The woman flounders, mortified.
The principal finally chimes in, “I think we need to take a moment to let emotions calm down before we continue.” After a few awkward, silent moments the principal continues. “Maxine, do you have any witness who can corroborate your side of the story and the things Eric supposedly said?”
Max nods quickly. “Molly and Larissa who sit next to me in English and Geometry heard everything yesterday and then today Josh and Cameron and all of Eric’s friends heard what he said in the cafeteria.”
“Eric, would you like to add anything to your side of things in light of this?”
The boy huffs, “Okay, yeah, I said some shit. But she’s the freak-”
“No, absolutely not.” The principal cuts him off immediately. “We do not permit hate speech at this school either. In light of everything going on here, I think we need to reassess the punishments. Two wrongs absolutely do not make a right, and you were both in the wrong here. Maxine I do sympathize that you were reacting to great provocation, but you cannot resort to violence. So, I think two day’s suspension will suit both offenses. You are excused for the remainder of today and will report back to school as usual on Friday. Your teachers will give you make-up assignments when you return. Mr. Munson, I would ask that you and your partner please speak with Maxine about better ways to resolve conflict. Mrs. Merritt, I ask that you and your husband please have a talk with your son about tolerance and acceptance. Now, I’ve tied up enough of your time today. Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you’d like to discuss this further.”
Eddie and Mrs. Merritt thank the principal for her time and quickly exit, heading off in separate directions. Eddie looks over and sees the woman chewing out her son as she waits to speak to the receptionist about getting the rest of her son’s things from the cafeteria. Max had thankfully thought to grab her backpack before going to the principal’s office, fully expecting to not be returning to the cafeteria. Eddie leads her directly out to his van, waiting until they’re inside before he speaks.
Max beats him to it, her nervous pent up energy bubbling out. “Are you like really mad? I’m sorry I fucked up, I really am. I know I shouldn’t have hit him, but he literally asked for it! If you and Steve have to like punish me or whatever it’s fine, I get it. I know Steve’s gonna be all sorts of disappointed-dad on me.”
Eddie pauses, not even starting up the van yet. He turns in his seat to face Max as he speaks, “What you did was stupid, but it was for good reason. You stood up for yourself and our family today and I am so, so proud of you, kid. So we’re gonna take this little suspension of yours to do a few of the home repairs on Steve’s never-freaking-ending list and then when you go back Friday you will say you learned a valuable lesson and whatever else they want to hear. Got it?”
Max nods quickly, eyes wide in surprise.
“For right now,” Eddie continues, “We both need lunch and I’m thinking it’s an ‘ice cream in place of a meal’ kind of day. So let’s go get cones and we can take one to Steve at work to surprise him. Sound like a plan?”
There’s a beat of silence before Max’s brain catches up. “Yeah, yeah of course. Thanks, Eddie. Seriously, you’re being way cooler about this than I deserve.”
Eddie gives her shoulder a light shove followed by a quick smile. “Nah, I just got into enough trouble back in my day that I know how it is. You’re a good kid, Max. Now if you go punching some dumbass in the face once a week, that will be a problem. But you’ve been with us for two years now and this is the first time you’ve ever gotten into serious trouble. I can live with that. Now, let’s go get some ice cream.”
Eddie starts up the van and they’re a few blocks away before Max speaks again. Her voice is low and her eyes are glassy, “Hey, Eddie?” He glances over with a raised brow so she knows to continue. “I’m really glad that you and Steve are my dads.”
Eddie has to choke back the pained noise that threatens to break free from his chest. Clearing his throat roughly he tells her, “Me too, kid. Me too.”