1988

Wayne walks out of the post office in downtown Hawkins with a small package from Eddie under his arm and a rare smile on his face. The kid’s been gone a month. Away on a summer-long tour with his band, performing for metalheads around the Midwest and East Coast as a supporting act for a bigger band that Wayne can never seem to remember the name of.

Despite the handmade ‘#1 Corroded Coffin Fan’ t-shirt in his closet, Wayne wasn’t about to up and leave his job at the plant to follow around a bunch of twenty-somethings on the road. He wouldn’t have wanted to cramp their style anyway. Besides, Steve had assured him before they left that he’d look out for Eddie and the rest of the guys. Wayne figures if he can trust anyone to take care of Eddie, against all odds he’d trust Steve Harrington to be up for the job. 

Steve’s more responsible than Eddie or his bandmates, more hardened and grown up. Probably from all the shit he went through with Eddie a couple of years back, all that along with the apparent absence of the elder Harringtons has led Steve into becoming a respectable young man, though one that had to grow up too soon. 

It was easy for Wayne to like Steve after Eddie told him all about how Steve saved his life. He talked up all his friends, new and old, telling Wayne how they came to his rescue. But he certainly did go on about how ‘brave and badass’ Steve was the longest. 

Plus Steve kept turning up, checking in, wanting to make sure Eddie was healing up. It was easy for Wayne to like the kid, especially when he was the only friend of Eddie’s who would watch football with him. He’s polite and respectful, hardworking with a good sense of humor, so he’s A-Ok in Wayne’s book. It was easy to see why Eddie was head over heels for the guy, not that he’d said as much in any words to Wayne, he just knew his boy. Plus that stupid lovesick expression he wore whenever he talked to Steve on the phone was a dead giveaway.

Far as Wayne could tell, nothing had come of it yet, but he had his inklings that Steve’d make an honest man out of Eddie someday. It wasn’t too much of a surprise when Eddie mentioned that Steve would be joining in on the tour, before they left it seemed like Steve was driving out to Indianapolis almost every time he had a couple days off.

When Eddie’d moved to Indy last year, desperate to get out of Hawkins. Steve had seemed sad and withdrawn at his going away party. After a few drinks Eddie threw his arm around him and said, “Don’t look so glum Stevie, you can visit any time.” And Steve did. 

Eddie moved in with his buddy Jeff who was already living there with a couple of other guys, and somehow, against all odds, Eddie’s little band got back together. They started practicing together again, finally securing a gig at a bar that Eddie was working at. 

Wayne had driven out with Steve to see that first gig and he couldn’tve been more proud. Seeing Eddie on stage, in his element, with no one from back home there to spoil his good mood. Wayne hadn’t realized how withdrawn Eddie had gotten back home, it wasn’t until he saw him there that he realized how much more settled Eddie was within himself. Like this was what he was born to do. 

After their show, Wayne and Steve stayed the night in Eddie’s shitbox apartment. Eddie had insisted that Wayne take his bedroom. He and Steve slept out in the living room, on the floor, curled up in sleeping bags like they were little kids at a sleepover. Something Eddie unfortunately missed out on when he was younger. It was sweet to see them in the morning, huddled close together like they’d fallen asleep whispering to each other, their faces smooth and slack with sleep. The worry lines so prominent on both of their young faces smoothed out. Plus Wayne had seen the way Steve’s arm was out in front of him in his slumber, like he was reaching out for Eddie in his sleep. 

Since Eddie’s little sheepies—as he liked to call them—weren’t allowed to come along to Indy on a school night, nor would they have been allowed in the bar, Steve had brought along his parent's video camera to tape the show. After that Steve became Corroded Coffin’s unofficial videographer, bringing his video camera to all of Eddie’s shows driving back and forth from Hawkins to Indianapolis, and sleeping over at Eddie’s most of the time. 

Wayne wondered why Steve didn’t just move out there, but he didn’t want to pry. Or lose his Sunday night football buddy. Wayne misses Eddie more than he thought he would, their little—government gifted—house feels empty without him, so he appreciates when Steve comes over to keep him company.  

He’d been a bachelor for most of his life, and was a trucker through to his thirties before he settled back in Hawkins. It’d been an adjustment when Eddie came to live with him, and now it was a rougher one to get used to life without Eddie there every day. He never thought he’d miss all the noise that Eddie came along with. Stomping around the trailer, clumsily dropping things and making a racket, blasting his music at all hours, sometimes waking Wayne up in the middle of the day.

Not that it happened all that much, Wayne’s always been a deep sleeper. His mama used to crack jokes that he slept like a log even as a baby, gave her an awful fright a time or two. But poor Eddie nearly shat himself the first time he woke Wayne up. It was about a week after he moved in, when he was trying to make himself some macaroni and cheese while Wayne was sleeping. He nearly burnt the trailer down. Eddie felt awful, almost worried himself sick apologizing, but Wayne had just taken one look at the blackened mess in the bottom of the pot and said they’d need to go to Melvald's and buy a new one. No harm done.

✨ 📹 📼✨ 

After running some more errands, Wayne arrives back at their house—well, his house now. He’s thought about selling it and moving back to Forest Hills; he doesn’t need a big house with three bedrooms all to himself, but he figures it’s nice to have a room for Eddie on the rare occasion he comes to visit.

Wayne unpacks his groceries and makes himself dinner even though it’s the early afternoon and he has the night off. He likes to stay on his schedule rather than recalibrate to normal hours on his day off and get less sleep. Once he’s got his food and a beer on his TV tray he settles in his armchair and unwraps the package from Eddie. The tape simply says ‘Watch Me’ on the top in Eddie’s messy writing, with neater, block writing on the side label ‘Corroded Coffin, Summer ‘88 Tour - For Wayne’.

The video starts with Eddie in front of the camera. He’s in a shitty motel room sitting on a bed. He’s smiling, happy, bouncing a little bit like he’s full of energy.

“Hi, Uncle Wayne! We made you this tape—” A cough comes from behind the camera and Eddie rolls his eyes with a grin.

“Well, Grant made you this tape cause he’s practicing his skills on the road, he’s gonna take all the footage we record and make a sick music video for Corroded Coffin, it’s mainly for a project for his film class in the fall but also so we can send it into MTV and other places to hopefully get some kind of record deal.”

“Anyways, Grant said we should start this off with a ‘talking head’ so here’s my head, talking! I miss ya old man, but don’t worry, Steve’s making sure we eat and sleep between shows and we’re having a blast.”

“We’re gonna send the kids their own tape but if they come calling because they want to see your version don’t be surprised, they’re a greedy bunch of little shits.” Eddie winks at the camera and Wayne chuckles. 

Dustin had already been asking Wayne if he’d gotten a tape yet when he and his mother stopped by the other night. They’d come to bring him a casserole and Wayne’s suspicious that Eddie’s trying to make sure he doesn’t get too lonesome without Steve in town to check in on him. Normally, Wayne’d grumble and complain, saying that he’s just fine on his own, but the Hendersons are good company. It certainly helps that Claudia’s easy on the eyes and a great cook to boot. Wayne’s looking forward to having an excuse to visit when he returns her casserole dish.  

The tape cuts to black, some white lines dance on the screen and Wayne swears under his breath and grabs the remote, trying to figure out what went wrong before there’s a shot of Eddie on stage with a blast of music loud enough to make his old TV speakers crackle. 

Wayne’s seen Eddie perform enough times, but he’ll never get sick of it, even if the music isn’t his taste. Eddie always did light up when he was playing his guitar, even when he was little and Wayne got him an old acoustic from a pawn shop for his birthday. Wayne could strum a few tunes and was able to teach Eddie a couple of things, but his nephew quickly learned past his skill level. 

Eddie practiced and practiced, taught himself, and learned from a few other people along the way. He just had an ear for it. It wasn’t long before he was writing his own songs. Wayne saved some of his old notebooks, covered in Eddie’s messy scrawl that barely improved as he got older. When they moved out of the trailer Eddie found them, cringing with embarrassment and demanding that Wayne burn them all, batting Steve away when he asked to see. 

Wayne figured Eddie didn’t want his friend reading the lyrics that were clearly about other boys at school. Eddie had tried to write so you couldn’t tell, but he’d been about as subtle as a brick back then. He learned to hide himself better over the years, mostly to keep himself safe. He got enough trouble for the clothes and the music and the fantasy games, didn’t need to add liking boys to the list of reasons he’d get bullied. Not that he ever really talked about it with Wayne, but he came home with scrapes and bruises enough times that Wayne knew when he was getting pushed around.

Back when Molly first got sick, she was in and out of the hospital while they tried to figure out what was wrong with her. Al was playing the dutiful husband for once and didn’t leave her bedside. So Eddie stayed with Wayne, but he’d had to keep working the night shift. Eddie would sleep on the couch at his neighbor Ethel’s place, just to make sure he wasn’t alone by himself. She was a nice lady, a little older than Wayne, who liked to dote on Eddie since she never had any kids of her own. 

She always had at least three cats of her own, along with feeding all the strays that tended to gather around Forest Hills. Wayne blames her for Eddie’s obsession with taking care of them all. Even if Wayne’d never let Eddie have one in the trailer—on account of his awful allergies, one touch and he’d be sneezing his nose off for the rest of the day—Wayne still bought extra tuna and cat food for Eddie to feed ‘em throughout the years.   

Wayne remembers walking over to Ethel’s trailer one morning to pick up Eddie after his shift. He found Ethel in the kitchen, making flapjacks while Eddie sat on the couch, wrapped up like a pig in a blanket, hair sticking up in all directions as he watched a rerun of The Partridge Family.

“Oh that Rueben sure is handsome,” Ethel had said from her spot in front of the griddle. “I wish Shirley would just give him a chance. I’d marry him in a heartbeat.”

“I’d marry Keith in a heartbeat,” Eddie swooned absentmindedly. “He’s so talented.”

Ethel looked at Wayne, brow furrowed and a concerned expression on her face before she turned to Eddie. “Eddie, honey. Men can’t marry other men, you know that right?”

Eddie went white as a sheet, eyes darting between Ethel and Wayne. “Uh, yeah,” he laughed, but it came out wrong, forced. “I was just joking.” He extracted himself from his blanket nest and jumped off the couch. “Gotta go see a man about a horse,” he announced as he beelined for the bathroom. 

“What?” Ethel asked, confused, as Wayne tried to hide his smile. “Oh, for peets sake! What have you been teaching that boy, Wayne Munson?” She crowed when she finally clued into the meaning of Eddie’s toilet humor. 

“He learned that one at school I think,” Wayne said with his hands raised in surrender. One of Ethel’s cats circled his feet, making his nose twitch. “Hate to cut and run but…” Wayne gestured helplessly to the cat, who eyed him innocently, meowing and pawing at his leg. 

“Go on then, before you blow the roof off with your sneezin’,” Ethel said kindly. “I’ll send Eddie back over with a plate for you once he’s done turning my bathroom into a toxic waste site.”

Wayne had retreated to the trailer, Eddie following not long after, looking nervous. Wayne just loaded up their breakfast with a hearty dose of syrup and didn’t say anything else about it. Sometimes he thinks back and wishes he’d flat out told Eddie that it was okay, that even if the law said he couldn’t marry another boy, Wayne would still love him no matter what. But Wayne’d never got the hang of talking about his feelings, so he’d left it. 

Now that he’s watching Eddie on stage, miles away from where Wayne sits, he wishes he’d made it clearer how much he cares about his boy. Especially with the way the camera stays focused on Eddie the whole time, catching every time he looks over and smiles, throwing the occasional wink. Steve holds the camera steady, following Eddie as he moves around the stage. To his credit, he only flinches back slightly when Eddie runs forward, sticking his tongue out and raising his fingers like devil horns inches away from the lens. 

Wayne just hopes that Eddie’ll tell him when they finally do get together. 

2015

Wayne’s sitting outside on a lovely spring day. There’s a light breeze, but the sun is warm, and the lavender bushes nearby sweetly perfume the air. He closes his eyes and breathes in the scent, quietly listening to the light chatter around him until Claudia sits down next to him, lightly patting his leg as she whispers, “It’s time.” 

Music starts from behind him and he turns slowly in his seat, hands resting on his walker in front of him as he twists around to see Eddie and Steve, hand in hand as they walk down the aisle together. They’re both beaming, Steve nodding and waving to everyone he sees as Eddie bops his head to the music. It’s one of Eddie’s, a love song he wrote for Steve way back when they were first figuring things out. 

When they reach the front row Eddie reaches out and rests his hand on Wayne’s shoulder, a quiet hello before he and Steve join Dustin under the rustic wooden archway that their son built for the occasion. 

Dustin opens his mouth to start the ceremony, but Eddie cuts him off, squeezing his arm once before turning to the gathered guests seated in front of them. Eddie commands their attention easily as he starts his story. 

“A long time ago a woman who was very kind to me during a rough time in my life said ‘Eddie, honey. Men can’t marry other men, you know that right?’ ” 

Wayne wheezes out a laugh at Eddie’s impression of Ethel, voice higher and more girlish than hers had ever been. Always the jokester Eddie wiggles his eyebrows and waits for everyone to stop laughing.

“She said it sweetly, she was a nice lady, not hateful I don’t think… just concerned, but I almost shit myself when she said it because I hadn’t realized I’d been running my mouth and giving myself away. She was right, at the time, 'cause it was the seventies and nothing was legal back then, but I didn’t let the law stop me from smoking weed and it certainly wasn’t gonna stop me from being gay.”

“It didn’t stop me from meeting the love of my life—and hating his guts for the better part of high school,” Eddie continues, snorting when Steve protests “Hey!”  

“Love you, Stevie,” Eddie says, blowing an exaggerated kiss at Steve, who to his credit mimes catching it and putting it in his suit pocket. He addresses Steve directly as he continues his speech. “We’ve been through a hell of a lot together over the past thirty-odd years. All the highs and lows, the ups and downs…everything was worth it to bring me here today when I can finally call you my husband.” Eddie pauses again to let the crowd ‘Awwww’. 

“So I’m gonna say what I should have said to dear ol’ Ethel way back when… Watch Me.” 

✨ 💍 👬 ✨ 

Later, during dinner, Grant sets up a video spanning Steve and Eddie’s life together. Starting with some footage of them on that first tour, clips of them goofing around, some of Corroded Coffin on stage, zoomed in, clear that the man behind the camera only has eyes for Eddie. There’s another shot, of an empty venue, camera on Grant while he runs some wires from backstage.

“Oh and if you can get some more shots of the crowd that would be great, and panning shots of the stage. Try not to zoom in on Eddie so much, I know he’s the lead singer, but we need some more shots of Gareth,” Grant says lightly, a knowing tease as he looks up at Steve behind the camera, leaving the obvious unsaid. 

“Uh, y-yeah… of course! No problem, man,” Steve stammers, nearly fumbling the camera. 

“So I was thinking we could get another camera at a pawn shop or something, set it up with a tripod in the light booth, that way we can get some wide shots.”

“Yeah, great idea,” Steve agrees.

The video cuts to another shot, a later show from that tour, where they did set up another camera. Eddie’s singing loudly, head thrown back as Steve moves in close beside him. Then Eddie looks up, grins, and circles Steve, swiveling his hips as some girls in the front row scream at him. 

Gareth and Jeff sit on a motel room bed, and Grant speaks from behind the camera. “So how long do you think it’ll take before Steve and Eddie get together?”

“Aww c’mon man, I thought we were gonna record something for my mom!” Gareth whines.

Jeff laughs and says, “I give it another week before Eddie breaks. Especially if we keep making them room together.”

Cut to a shot of Gareth and Jeff from behind, seemingly unaware of the camera. They’re walking past room doors at a motel and Gareth stops at one, raising his hand to knock when Jeff stops him, gesturing to the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign hanging from the knob. The video becomes shaky as they all run away giggling. 

Gareth and Jeff are still in the same clothes, but now they’re sitting at a table in a diner. 

“You guys owe me so much money,” Jeff says, with a smile. 

“Nuh-uh no way, we did not bet on it,” Gareth argues. “We all knew it was inevitable.”

“That is not what you said last week, you said and I quote, ‘No way, it is never gonna happen.’ Hate to break it to ya, Gare-Bear, it happened!”

“I think it’s sweet,” says Jeff.

“I think they’re gonna be annoying as fuck,” says Gareth, all snark, but the smile on his face gives him away. “Why are you filming this man?”

“I dunno, I just think they’re gonna last… it’d be fun to show them this one day.”

There’s a montage of more shots from that summer. Eddie and Steve standing close, sometimes with their arms around each other, just looking like good buddies to the untrained eye. More of Eddie dancing around Steve on stage. A close-up of Eddie laughing in a motel room, wearing a ripped-up t-shirt with a couple of hickeys visible on his neck.

“You should wear this one instead,” Grant says from behind the camera, holding out a t-shirt to Eddie. 

“What?” Eddie asks, looking confused as he shakes out the shirt. He holds it up to his chest and looks down at the Def Leppard logo. 

“Get it, 'cause you look like a leopard?” Grant laughs, ducking as Eddie barks out a laugh and throws the t-shirt at the camera.

As the video goes on there’s more footage of Steve and Eddie, at birthdays and barbeques, Halloween and Christmas, on vacation together. Their kids as tiny babies, growing up and going to college, becoming adults. Claudia sniffs next to him and he hands her the handkerchief from his pocket, ignoring the wetness in his own eyes. As time goes on there are always shots of Steve on stage with Corroded Coffin, still dutifully filming even when the band makes it big enough to have a proper camera crew. 

Finally, the last segment of the video is the band performing earlier that year at a big metal music festival in California. It cuts between Steve's recording from his phone at the side of the stage and footage from the crowd. At this point, the fans are all very familiar with Steve and his frequent appearances on stage. When Eddie finally came out publicly, it had been to a mass of support and well wishes from their fans. The positive response majorly outweighed anything negative that was said. They ignored it all anyways.

Whoever’s filming from the crowd zooms in on Steve’s face, looking proud as he stands off to the side, bopping his head to the music. Eventually, Eddie does his usual thing, pulling Steve out further on stage, dancing around him, pushing him up against a speaker, and screaming the lyrics into the mic as he crowds over Steve. At the end of the song, he stands up, pulling Steve by the hand with him. 

“Everyone give Stevie a round of applause,” Eddie says to the crowd, holding Steve’s arm up as he goes bright red at the attention. “Maybe you’ve all heard the news, but we’re getting maaaaaaaaarried.” The crowd screams their congratulations as Eddie grins and pulls Steve into a kiss, dipping him dramatically and laughing when he almost drops him. 

When the video ends and the lights come up again everyone claps. Steve stands up, wiping his eyes, and gives Grant a big hug. “You asshole,” he complains into Grant’s shoulder. “I can’t believe you never showed us that before.”

Grant just smiles, and says, “I was saving it for today.”