Chapter Text
___Eddie___
Their trip back home to Hawkins could have been… Better. But, seeing Wayne made it worth it for Eddie. Seeing his son and his uncle interact, watching someone else fall just as in love with Theo as he is, made it worth it.
God, it was nice to come home, though.
The little cottage feels like paradise as they come up over the hill, and Theo bounces happily in the backseat as the surroundings become more familiar to him. Steve sits beside Eddie in the passenger seat, a smile on his face as he laughs with Theo, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes all the way. It really hasn’t since they saw Tommy.
Eddie understands why. He knows how scared Steve’s been of people back home finding out about Theo, and for someone as loud mouthed as Tommy Hagan to be the person who finds out? It’s only a matter of time before everyone in town knows.
Including Steve’s parents.
Steve’s anxiety wafts off of him in waves, scent sour, even though Eddie knows he’s doing his best to keep himself steady for Theo. To his credit, the excitable pup in the back doesn’t really seem to notice at all. Not when they get him out of the carseat, not when they get inside and he beelines for Robin’s room to give her a hug.
Once they’re alone in the room, Eddie grabs Steve by his waist, pulling him in close. Instead of fighting it, Steve sinks his back into Eddie’s chest, resting the back of his head against his shoulder.
“Hi,” Eddie whispers, nudging his nose against the side of Steve’s neck, his hair tickling his face, “You okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” Steve replies, shrugging his shoulders a little bit. Eddie sees his eyes close, “Just… Nervous about Tommy.”
“I won’t let anyone hurt our family, Steve.”
“I know. I’m not worried about anyone hurting us, I’m just worried about my.. My parents finding out-“
“There’s no need to be. When I say I won’t let anyone or anything hurt you or Theo, I mean emotionally or physically. Your parents won’t ruin the life you’ve built for yourself if I’m around.”
In his arms, Steve slowly flips around, staring straight into Eddie’s eyes with those gorgeous, unforgettable hazel eyes. They dance between Eddie’s, like he’s trying to find something. It takes a moment, but he just nods.
“… Alright.”
“I promise, Stevie. You’re safe with me, both of you.”
Despite the promise, there’s a few days that follow where Steve seems to be on high alert. He jumps anytime the phone rings, he makes Eddie and Theo go to work with him a few times, and anytime a car happens to roll by outside, he’s peaking out the window like he’s sure this time it’s going to be his dad.
But, as the week moves on and nothing happens, Steve calms down. He settles back into their life easier.
Eddie keeps his guard up, just to prove to Steve that he’s serious. That he’s going to take care of them, no matter what, from anyone and everything.
A little over a week after they arrive back at the cottage, Eddie comes back from town to find that one of the drawers in Steve’s dresser is open and empty, minus a note sitting in the center of it.
‘Figured you’d want to unpack your suitcase.’
With Theo’s help, Eddie’s clothes fit perfectly into the space.
It’s just a couple days later when Eddie goes into the bathroom to find another shelf hanging on the wall with his hair products and cologne sitting neatly on it. He doesn’t even know when Steve had enough time to do that, and it’s never brought up. It’s a silent gesture, one that Eddie happily takes.
Every morning, Steve wraps Eddie in his arms before he leaves for work, pressing his face directly into his scent gland. It makes Eddie’s alpha rumble every time, because this sweet omega goes to work smelling like him. Voluntarily. Happily.
The biggest step to Eddie is that Steve no longer hesitates to leave him alone with Theo when he goes to work. He simply scents them both, kisses Theo on the head, and tells them he’ll see them both later. It’s a change that Eddie didn’t expect to happen so quickly, but he welcomes with open arms compared to when Steve didn’t even want Eddie in the same room as Theo.
Every night, they pile into Steve’s bed, limbs thrown over each other in an embrace. They sit face to face, almost nose to nose, talking late into the night after Theo has fallen asleep across the room. Or, on nights when Theo wants to sleep with them, they create a spot from him right in between them where they lay and stare at their son together.
Tracing his moles the mirror Steve’s, twirling curls around fingers just like Eddie does to his own.
It’s in one of those secret moments that Steve steals Eddie’s breath away with a single sentence.
“If we had more, they would be just as perfect as he is, don’t you think?”
We.
Not ‘I’, not Steve on his own.
We.
The smile that spreads across Eddie’s face is the most genuine one he’s ever had in his life. Because the truth is, Eddie doesn’t think he’s ever been this happy. This content to be right where he is. Rockstar life seems so trivial when he’s laying in bed with a boy he’s thought about every day since the first night, and their son.
This is what life is supposed to be about.
Behind them is lost time, but in front of them is hundreds of days that have yet to happen. Theo growing up right in front of their eyes, the possibility of more pups in the future. A life that is exactly what they make it.
“Yeah, Stevie. They would be.”
_____________
It’s been nearly a month since they were back in Hawkins, and Steve has been working more lately now that he doesn’t have to worry about a babysitter. A little extra cash goes a long way when your toddler is growing out of all of his clothes almost every week.
Eddie doesn’t mind though. He loves the one on one time he gets to spend with Theo, watching Snoopy and making Mama dinner before he gets home.
Sure, he misses him when he’s gone, and he feels bad that Steve won’t just stay home and let Eddie pay for everything, but he understands Steve’s used to his routine. He’s already allowed Eddie to derail it, he doesn’t want to completely demolish it.
A little bit before noon, Eddie and Theo are sitting on the floor of the living room, drawing on blank paper across from each other with a pack of crayons. Theo is coloring a sun in the corner of a drawing of his family, and Eddie is sketching out a logo for his band’s next album when the phone rings.
Eddie raises an eyebrow, glancing up at the clock hanging above the kitchen entrance. Steve’s lunch isn’t usually for another thirty minutes, but maybe the diner is slow today. He smiles over at Theo, who’s so enthralled with his coloring that he doesn’t seem to have noticed the phone going off.
“I’ll be right back, buddy. I gotta go get the phone.”
“Otay, daddy.”
He ruffles Theo’s hair when he gets up, making the toddler giggle and playfully pat his hand away. He doesn’t think there’s a better sound in the world than his son’s laugh.
“Harrington-Buckley-Munson residence,” He says as he picks the phone up, “Eddie speaking.”
“Who the hell is this?” The deep male voice on the other end says, and Eddie’s eyebrows furrow together.
“Eddie. I just said that. Who is this?”
“Where is Stephen?”
“You’re really not good at listening, are you? Who is this?”
“Where is my son?!”
Eddie’s heart drops to his stomach, he goes silent, and there’s a brief moment of panic in his chest. That panic quickly turns to anger, though, and his hand wraps tightly around the phone, his teeth gritting against themselves.
“… This James?” He says through them, jaw locked in place.
“Listen, I don’t know what kind of garbage my son has picked up off the side of the road over the last couple of years, but you need to tell him to call me-“
“No, I don’t.”
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t have to tell him shit when it comes to you. You’ve done enough in his life to ruin it, I’m not letting you do that anymore.”
“He’s my son-“
“Well, he’s my mate,” He snaps, unthinking, “And I’m not going to let you fucking hurt him anymore.”
“… Mate?!” James all but screams into the phone. If Eddie wasn’t trying to prove a point, he would pulled the phone away from his ear, “You better not have bitten my fucking son, do you hear me?!”
“Thought that was what you wanted, Jamesy-boy. For your precious little omega son to be mated. Well, you got your fucking wish. Except, he’s doing it on his own terms, with his new family, who actually fucking cares about him. So, don’t goddamn call here again, do you hear me?!”
Without giving James so much as time to respond, Eddie slams the phone back on the receiver hard enough to shake the wall. He’s steaming. He can feel it rolling off of him in waves. His hand is shaking, still grasped tightly in his palm, his breathing is heavy and uneven.
“Fuck,” He whispers to himself, shaking his head, “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
How does he tell Steve that his parents called? That he lied to his dad and said they were mates? How does he tell him that he yelled at James and hung up on him? James wouldn’t show up here, right? Eddie doesn’t think he’d be able to control himself if he did. This is his home, his family, and his alpha rumbles a deep set growl in the back of his throat at the idea of anything or anyone trying to threaten what’s his.
“… Daddy?” A tiny voice whispers, and when Eddie looks over at his son, his heart breaks. Theo is holding Snoopy tightly against his chest with both arms, his eyes are scared and nervous, bottom lip quivering a little bit.
“Hi, buddy. I-.. Did you hear that?”
Theo nods. Eddie’s grip on the phone lessens as he drops to his knees right there on the kitchen floor, opening his arms up for his son to walk into. Even with the nervousness wafting off of Theo, he walks into Eddie’s arms, using one arm to hang off his neck and the other to hold Snoopy up. Eddie hugs Theo tighter than he’s ever hugged anyone, rocking him side to side.
“Who that?”
“On the phone?”
“Mhm.”
He hesitates, weighing his options. On one hand, he promised himself he would never lie to Theo. On the other hand, he doesn’t want to worry a little boys whose emotions are bigger than he could ever be. Eddie sighs.
“No one, baby. It’s okay. Daddy’s got you.”
“Bad guy?” Theo asks, nodding towards the phone. Eddie nods.
“Yeah, a bad guy. But, remember how big and strong Daddy is? Do you think I’m gonna let anything happen to you or Mama?”
“Or Bobbie?”
“Or Bobbie.”
“Snoopy?”
“Especially not Snoopy. I won’t let anything happen to any of you. I promise.”
“Otay, Daddy.” Theo says, burying his face into Eddie’s neck as he hoists them both up. He knows that Theo is too little to understand the weight of Eddie’s words and how much he means them, but that’s fine. The only person in the world who needs to know how far Eddie will go to protect his family is Eddie himself.
He knows he has to tell Steve about his dad calling when he gets home, but for now, he chooses to curl up on the couch with his son in his arms, because there’s a feeling in his chest that everything is going to go to shit soon.
But, this moment is good. This moment is pure. He kisses his sons head
__________
Eddie mulls over how to tell Steve for the rest of the day, but he has a hard time finding the right time or the right words. He knows that this is going to destroy Steve in one way or another, that he’s going to have to watch Steve’s biggest fear become a reality for him.
He planned to tell him as soon as he got home, but then Steve walked inside in such a good mood that Eddie couldn’t ruin it. He had an actual pep to his step, his scent back to its normal state for the first time in a week, and the smile on his face was genuine.
He can’t ruin that immediately.
So, he moves it to dinner. Decides that after they eat, he’ll tell Steve. Until Steve asks Eddie if he wants to watch a movie with Theo after they get done, and by the time that it’s over, it’ll be Theo’s bath and bedtime.
Eddie doesn’t think he’s doing a very good job at hiding his frustration with the phone call earlier. He keeps catching Steve looking at him with furrowed eyebrows, like if he stares for long enough, he’ll be able to read Eddie’s mind.
But, Steve never brings it up. Instead, he laughs through grilling steaks while Eddie and Robin play with Theo in the yard, and then he sits thigh to thigh with Eddie on the bench on the back porch while they eat.
After Theo goes to bed. He’ll tell him after Theo is asleep.
They do bath time together, Theo laughing and playing pretend that he’s a mermaid for the entire time. Steve is laughing, and it’s such a genuine sound.
Once Theo is clean and in his PJ’s, Steve puts him to bed while Eddie does the dishes, prepping what he’s going to say to him. He needs to keep himself calm when he talks about, he knows he’s going to need to reassure Steve that he will not let anything happen to him or Theo, that James Harrington has no stake in their lives anymore.
He smells Steve approaching before he hears him, and he looks over his shoulder to see the beautiful omega walking through the kitchen door in a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top. He looks sleepy, and he smiles sweetly at Eddie.
“Are you almost done with the dishes?”
Eddie looks down at the dishes he thought he had been doing, but he guesses that all he’s actually been doing is staring at them, lost in his own thoughts. When Steve notices, his eyebrows furrow together again, and he looks towards Eddie with concern written all over his face.
“You’ve seemed kind of off since I got home. You alright?”
It’s now or never, apparently.
For a fleeting moment, he considers not telling Steve about James’s call. He could keep it to himself, keep an eye out for anything changing, and do whatever he can to protect his family.
But, he knows that if he did that and Steve found out? He’d never trust him again. He just got that trust back, he can’t afford to lose it again.
So, he turns around with a sigh, wiping his water-logged hands onto his jeans, and looks Steve in his eyes.
“Something happened while you were at work today, but I don’t want you to freak out when I tell you. Everything is okay.”
“What happened? Theo didn’t get hurt, did he? Did you?”
Eddie shakes his head, taking a few steps closer to Steve, because he has this feeling in his chest that he’s going to need to steady him when he tells him.
“No, no one got hurt. We got a phone call today.”
In front of him, Steve freezes. He looks at Eddie wearily.
“From who?”
“… Your dad.”
When Eddie thought that he would have to steady Steve, he thought that he would have to be there for him to lean on while he processed the information. He didn’t expect that he would have to completely stop Steve from hitting the ground.
For a moment, Steve is just staring at Eddie, fear in his eyes as they dart back and forth between Eddie’s own. Like he’s trying to wait for the moment that Eddie says this is some kind of sick joke, but when that never comes?
Steve’s knees buckle under him, and then he’s falling. Eddie barely catches him before he completely hits the ground.
“Whoa, Steve-“
“You’re lying. You’re fucking lying. You have to be fucking lying-“
“I’m not. I-“
“Oh my god, I think I’m going to be sick.”
Slowly, Eddie completely lowers them to the ground, keeping Steve half way in his lap as he does. Steve’s scent has gone completely sour, full of fear and anxiety, of sadness and anger. All of the happiness that he got to smell on him earlier is gone in the blink of an eye.
On that kitchen floor, Steve sobs harder than Eddie thinks he’s ever heard anyone cry. It wracks his whole body, he’s choking on his own spit and tears, and Eddie just holds him through it. That’s all he can do.
When Steve asks for a play by play of what happened with his dad, Eddie gives it to him. He may leave out the part where he accidentally called them mates, because he doesn’t need to add that to the list of things Steve is panicking about, but he tells him the rest.
“He’s going to ruin everything.” Steve sobs, and Eddie shakes his head.
“He can’t do anything to us, Steve. Not to you, not to me, and not to Theo. And even if he tried, you know I wouldn’t let him.”
“You don’t- You don’t know him, Eds. You don’t know him. You don’t know what he- What he’s capable of-“
“I don’t give a rats ass what he thinks he’s capable of. We haven’t done anything wrong. You were an adult when you left, you live in a house that was given to you by your grandmother, you pay your own bills, you support yourself. What is he going to do?”
“I- I don’t- I don’t-“
“Stevie, baby.” Eddie says quietly as he tilts Steve’s head up to look at him. His heart breaks at the sight of his puffy, red, tear stained face. There aren’t words to describe the feeling his alpha is experiencing right now, seeing his omega so distraught. He brings his hand up to brush away the tears before they can even fall, feeling Steve’s eyelashes brush against the pad of his thumb.
“I’m not going to let anyone, not even your piece of shit dad, ruin the life you have worked so hard to create. So what if he doesn’t accept you, us, or Theo? What’re we losing in that? Someone who never deserved you in the first place? Good. Maybe this isn’t a bad thing in the long run, maybe you’ll finally get your chance at closure, at getting to show your father that you’re a billion times the parent that he could even dream of being.”
Steve doesn’t respond, not really. He whimpers and tucks his head into Eddie’s scent gland, but he doesn’t say any words. He doesn’t need to. What he needs is to be taken care of, which Eddie can do.
He scoops Steve up off the kitchen floor like he weighs nothing, carrying him all the way to their bedroom, placing him down in the nest. Steve curls up in the center of it, and Eddie lays on the closest side to the door while still being able to wrap his body around Steve’s to hold him close.
It’s times like this where he wished he could release calming pheromones the same way Steve does. But, he can’t. So, he keeps his arms locked tightly around Steve, face in his hair, chest pressed against his back. He rumbles out one of his almost purrs, kisses the side of Steve’s head when he feels his breathing staring to even out.
“I won’t let anyone do anything to either of you,” Eddie whispers long after Steve falls asleep, “I promise.”
Instead of sleeping, Eddie keeps his eyes on the door, just in case.
__________
After that moment in the kitchen, Eddie is glued to Steve’s side. He can’t let him out of his sight, even if Steve wanted him to. He doesn’t think he does, though.
Theo and Eddie start going back to the diner with Steve, which their son doesn’t seem to have any complaints about. They sit in the corner booth together, drawing and laughing, all while Eddie keeps a keen eye on where Steve is, and who is walking through the door.
He doesn’t know if James will show up here, but he wants to be ready in case he does. Because Eddie will keep true on his promise to not let anyone hurt his family.
At night, Steve lays a little closer to Eddie than he had before, if that was possible. Eddie lays on his back with Steve splayed out almost entirely on top of him, and he draws shapes into Steve’s bare back.
For a week, nothing happens. No one shows up, no one calls again. Eddie still goes to work with Steve, but by the end of that week, he’s calmed down some. They both have. Steve’s scent starts to go back to normal, Eddie doesn’t feel on edge, and Theo doesn’t seem to notice any difference. Robin keeps a close eye on everyone. Their pack seems okay.
Until one day, nearly two weeks after that phone call, they come home to a car that he doesn’t recognize sitting in the driveway of the cottage. But, in the drivers seat, Eddie sees Steve’s body go stiff, his knuckles wrap tightly around the steering wheel, and he knows before he even hears what Steve says.
“… That’s my dad’s car.”
Steve parks the car a little bit down their small driveway since James is parked directly in front of the house. Eddie’s anger starts festering before he can stop it, and from the back seat of the car, Theo whimpers.
“Daddy?”
“Robin, I need you to get Theo inside without James seeing him,” Eddie says, staring directly at the man who steps out of the driver seat of the other car. He looks vaguely like Steve, but also nothing like him at all. Where Steve is full of love and happiness, James Harrington is nothing but hard lines and hatred. He can feel it wafting off of him in waves, even from this distance.
“Eddie-“ Steve whispers, but Eddie shakes his head as he grips the door handle.
“Go inside with Robin, keep Theo covered. I don’t want him to see him.”
“Eddie-“ He tries again, but Eddie is already opening the door of the car, getting out with his head held high, never breaking eye contact with James.
This is his home. This is his family. His territory.
“Stephen, get out of the car.” James says in a voice that grinds on Eddie’s every nerve. He growls at him.
“No. You don’t talk to him.” Eddie says as he in front of the beemer, and it’s the first time that him and Steve’s dad make eye contact.
It’s short lived, though. James looks at Steve like he’s dirt under his shoe, before his eyes go back to Steve in the car.
“Stephen-“
“Hey.” Eddie raises his voice, “You don’t talk to him. You talk to me.”
“And who exactly are you?” His voice doesn’t raise, but the bite is there. “I’m here to see my son, not the lowlifes that he’s been hanging around-“
“Well, he doesn’t want to see you.”
“I don’t care what he wants, he’s going to talk to me.”
“No,” Eddie says, taking another few steps closer to James. His anger is palpable. He can feel it rolling off of him in waves, souring his scent completely, but he wants it to. He wants James to know just how unwelcome he is, and just how willing Eddie is to protect what’s his. “He isn’t going to do that because he doesn’t want to. What’s going to happen is you’re going to get back in your car, and drive far away, and never fucking come back here.”
James laughs at him. It makes Eddie angrier, if that was possible.
“So, he’s dropped so far down that he’s letting someone like you speak for him? Is that what’s happening? Stephen, I raised you. I kept a roof over your head, made sure all your needs were met. You owe me a conversation about how-“
“Steve doesn’t owe you fucking anything.”
By this point, Eddie is only a few feet away from James. He keeps his chest square, his head up, he lets his fangs elongate, and that growl in his chest to grow. James barely looks phased by it. His scent is angry, but mostly steady. When he looks at Eddie, he can see that anger swimming in his eyes.
“After he’s gone off and gotten pregnant by someone like you and ruined The Harrington name, he does owe me a conversation.”
“Maybe if you wanted that, you should have shown up five years ago when your son disappeared off the face of the earth.”
“We have-“
“No. Because if my son disappeared for five fucking seconds, I would be tearing apart the world to find him. You went five years without so much as a phone call. You’re a worthless excuse of an alpha, of a father, of a fucking person. And you need to get the fuck off my property before I make you fucking regret it.”
That seems to break the dam that James was holding his anger back in. He’s stomping to close the gap between him and Eddie, a growl of his own forming in his chest, and he gets his face incredibly close to Eddie’s. He can smell his foul breath, his soured scent, how James is trying to get him to back down by overpowering him with it.
Eddie doesn’t.
He won’t.
They’re chest to chest when he hears the car door open, but he can’t look away to see who it is. If he does, he gives James the satisfaction of what he wants. He refuses to do that.
Vaguely, he can hear Theo crying, and his heart tugs. The front door of the cottage opens and closes, and at least he knows that his son is safe from this monster in front of him.
But, Steve’s scent is still in the air. It’s getting closer.
James pushes forward another step, trying to force Eddie to back away. He doesn’t. They growl at each other, eyes locked, and Eddie thinks he could kill him right here and feel no remorse about it.
A soft hand lands on his arm, tan and strong, and Eddie wants so badly to look at Steve to see if he’s okay. He doesn’t. He can’t.
“Dad, you need to leave.”
“You need to get your thing under control.” James says, and Eddie snaps his teeth at him.
“He’s not doing anything wrong,” Steve says, grip tightening on Eddie’s forearm. “He’s doing what a respectable alpha would do. Protecting his family. Something you don’t know anything about.”
An overwhelming sense of satisfaction washes over Eddie when James is the first one to look away. It’s short lived, though, because now James is looking directly at Steve. Eddie steps in front of them, keeping Steve out of view.
“I wouldn’t know anything about protecting my family?” James seethes, “That’s all I’ve ever done.”
“No, it’s not.” Eddie and Steve say at the same time. Steve rubs Eddie’s arm gently.
“All you have ever done, dad, is keep me under your thumb. Try to mold me into someone I wasn’t, and then hate me when I couldn’t be the person you wanted me to be. That isn’t protecting me. That’s you caring more about the image your name carries than your own child.”
“Protecting our name is how I protected you. You have no idea what The Harrington name means-“
“No, I do. I know exactly what the Harrington name means to you. It means a child who took care of himself. Who was only allowed to be a child if other people were around. It means money. It means a loveless marriage. But, for me? The Harrington name means love. It means happiness. It means laughing and running around in that field with my son. Because I did that. Me. I made it something to be proud of, despite what you did to it.”
Pride swells in Eddie’s chest at the look on James’s face, the utter shock that Steve would say any of that to him.
“Stephen-“
“So you need to leave, Dad. Because you’re not welcome here.”
For a moment, Eddie thinks that maybe James will relent. That he’ll get in his car and leave, never to come back here.
But, of course it isn’t that easy.
One second, James is taking a step back. The next, his hand is on Steve’s arm, pulling him towards him.
“You’re coming home with me.”
Eddie loses his fucking mind.
In a single moment, he has James arm pulled off of Steve’s, pushing and shoving him hard away from him. Apparently, that’s exactly what James wanted to happen, because he tries to launch himself at Eddie.
There’s a swing at his head, but Eddie is quick to duck, before charging at James’s center with his arms wrapped around his waist. Eddie is growling, almost snarling, before throwing James to the ground. He doesn’t know where the strength comes from, probably adrenaline, but he gets on top of him, keeping James’s arms pinned down with his knees.
Under him, James is flailing, kicking his legs, trying everything he can do to get Eddie off of him. The anger is hot white, building and building as he looks down at this piece of shit who decided that he was going to hurt his family. He raises his arm up, fist clenched, but right before he can bring it down, Steve’s hand lands on his arm.
“Eddie, don’t.”
“He’s-“
“I know. But, don’t. Your son is inside.”
Eddie is still growling at James when Steve pulls him off of him, and he watches as James scrambles to his feet, trying to knock all of the dust off of him. There’s a sick satisfaction in the way that embarrassment wafts off of him.
“So, not only did you run away and get knocked up, you did it with someone with a temper.”
“He doesn’t have a temper unless someone is threatening his family. Because he loves us.”
“You need to come home, Stephen. You can bring the pup, but this ends here. You have responsibilities as a Harrington, ones I’ve let you ignore for long enough. It’s bad enough that I will have to figure out how to cover who the pups father is, but I’m sure that we will be able to find a respectable alpha who will claim him. You’re my son, and you need to act like it.”
Eddie sees red all over again.
No one is taking his son from him.
No one is going to pretend to be his sons father when he’s right here.
Theo is his.
Steve is his.
He goes to take a step towards James again, just to show him who is in charge here, but he’s surprised when Steve steps in front of him, right up to his dad, almost mimicking the pose that Eddie has been in since they got here. His head is held high, he’s staring right into his dads eyes, and he’s angry.
“You know what?” Steve says, pointing a finger at his dad, “You have no right. No fucking right. I haven’t been your son for the past five years, and I won’t be for the next twenty. You have no right to show up at my house and demand that I go anywhere with you when you didn’t even give a fuck when I left. You had five years to find me. Five years to care where I went, but that never happened. And that’s your loss. Not mine. Because I have a beautiful life, a beautiful son, and a perfect family that you could have been a part of if you didn’t have a stick shoved so far up your ass.”
“Stephen James-“
“No. I don’t fucking care if you’re going to get mad at me for talking to you disrespectfully. You deserve it. You’ve deserved it my entire fucking life. Because if being a parent has taught me anything, it’s that it’s so easy to love and accept your child for who they are, but somehow, you failed at even that. I don’t need parents who don’t see how hard I tried, who don’t care about me, and don’t care about my son.
For a moment, there’s a brief period of time where James Harrington just stares at Steve, like he doesn’t know who he is. Because he doesn’t. He doesn’t know Steve. Not like Eddie does. Not like Theo, or Robin, or Benny, or Claudia. James Harrington doesn’t know his son because he never took the time to.
He had a child for the sole purpose of furthering his name. Not because he wanted someone to love.
“Fine,” James says, adjusting his shirt again, “You want to stay here in this dying town with this? Then do it. But in the future, when you realize the mistake that you’ve made, do not come crawling back to me.”
Together, they watch as James Harrington crawls back into his car and drives away. Their hands are interlocked between them, and Eddie throws his middle finger up in the air until he can’t see the car anymore.
__________
Robin did a good job of keeping Theo shielded from what was happening outside. He doesn’t seem to really know what happened, just that Daddy and Mama scared off a bad guy.
The rest of the night is tense, to say the least.
Eddie has a hard time keeping his anger down. All he wants to do is go track down Steve’s dad and rip his throat out with his teeth. It’s hard to eat, it’s hard to relax, it’s hard to find the right headspace to play with Theo before bed.
It’s harder to sleep.
Every sound the house makes, Eddie is getting out of bed to go check it out. He knows that no one is here, but his alpha won’t let him rest. If James comes back, he has to be prepared.
The fifth time that he goes to get out of bed, Steve wraps his arms around him and pulls him into his chest so tight that Eddie can’t move.
“Eds, baby,” Steve whispers, “You need to sleep.”
“Can’t.”
“You have to. No one is here. Nothing is happening. The doors are locked. We’re safe.”
“But-“
“Go to sleep. It’s okay.”
With Steve’s arms wrapped this tightly around him, Eddie can’t move. Every time Eddie goes to get up, Steve tightens even more. Eventually, he just has to let himself relax, and sleep lulls over him before the sun is rising.
In the morning, Eddie wakes up before anyone else. He’s dripping in sweat, his body aches, and his head is throbbing. He feels like he has the worst hang over of his life.
He takes a deep breath, but that is a mistake, because the first thing that Eddie smells is Steve.
Not his natural chocolate scent, but the smell of morning slick between Steve’s legs.
With the position that they’re in, Eddie’s crotch is pressed against Steve’s ass, and he grinds up against him. It shoots pleasure up his body, feeling like straight electricity, and he moans quietly.
Steve blinks awake, raising his head to look back at Eddie, before his nose scrunches up.
“Eddie, Jesus Christ. Why is your scent so intense right now?”
“Wanna fuck you,” He whispers back, sliding his hand from Steve’s waist to his ass, grabbing it, “Need to fuck you.”
“Eddie. Your son is sleeping three feet from us.”
He whimpers, the heat in his body rising, and he grabs at Steve’s ass again, pushing his hips forward until they brush against him so that he can feel how painfully hard he is. Steve groans quietly, which really only spurs Eddie on. He’s doing what he’s supposed to. He’s making his omega feel good, he’s being a good alpha, the only thing that would make him better is if he fucked him full of pups and mated him.
There’s a brief few moments where Steve lets Eddie grind against his ass, where he seems to get lost in it too, but then a hand shoots back to physically still Eddie’s hips. He whines in disapproval.
“Wait, look at me.” Steve says, flipping over to look at Eddie. He’s so beautiful. Eddie’s heart skips ten beats looking at Steve. He can’t tear his eyes away from him if he tried.
“You’re beautiful. My beautiful, perfect omega.” Eddie smiles, leaning in to bury his face straight towards Steve’s scent gland, drinking in that spiced chocolate scent. He only gets a moment of that pure bliss before Steve pulls him back to make him look at him.
“Are you-… Eddie? Are you going- Are you fucking pre-rutting?”
Eddie shrugs, trying to push himself back into Steve’s neck.
“No,” Steve shakes his head, holding onto Eddie’s shoulder a little tighter, “Are you going into a rut?”
“Shouldn’t be.”
“Do you feel like you are?”
“I feel like if I don’t fuck you in the next five minutes, M’gonna explode. Please, baby? Please?”
“No, not with Theo in the room,” His voice is stern, and Eddie whines, “Eddie, we cannot have sex with our kid in the room. You also can’t go into rut with him in the room. So, you need to let me get out of bed, wake him and Robin up, and make some plans.”
“You’re leaving?” Eddie whines again, trying to pull him close. No, he couldn’t leave. Eddie was a good alpha. He was doing everything that he’s supposed to do, he’s going to make Steve feel so good if he just lets him, he’s going to give him another beautiful baby for them to love so much. He’s going to make him his for the rest of their lives.
“Just for a few minutes. I’m gonna go wake Robin up and ask her to take Theo to Claudia’s for the next couple of days, and see if she can stay with someone too.”
“And then you’ll come back?”
“And then I’ll come back.”
“Gonna spend it with me?” He asks, and he feels drunker than any alcohol could ever get him. Steve smiles, brings one hand up to hold his face.
“Do you want me to?”
“Mhm. Want you. Want you to be here. Want you forever. My pretty omega-“
“Don’t get too carried away right now, Eds. Can you stay in here while I get everything settled?”
Without hesitation, Eddie nods. He’ll do whatever Steve says. Whatever he wants. If he wants him to be good, he can be good.
_________
Eddie doesn’t get a real chance to say goodbye to Theo before he leaves for Claudia’s. Which is probably a good thing, but it hurts his heart knowing that Theo is gone for a couple of days and he didn’t get to hug him goodbye.
His head is swimming when Steve finally comes back into the room, though. The door shuts quietly behind him, and he gives Eddie a soft smile. God. He wants to eat him alive.
“Hey,” Steve smiles, “How’re you feeling?”
“Hot. Everyone gone?”
“Mhm. They left a few minutes ago, told Robin to call me if she needs anything. You did really good controlling yourself until they left, Eddie.”
“I know.”
“Do you want a treat for being so good?” Steve asks, hands fidgeting with the bottom hem of his shirt. Eddie nods, almost drooling.
From across the room, Eddie watches with apt attention as Steve, piece by piece, removes his clothes. It starts with his shirt, tossed to the side, and Eddie’s eyes roam every single piece of exposed torso that he can see. He wants to mark him up all over it. Bite marks, hickies, whatever he can manage.
Then it’s his pants and boxers in one swoop, and Eddie’s mouth waters as the smell of Steve envelopes the room. He wants to bury his nose in the source, wants to drink all of that slick up with a messy tongue until Steve is seeing stars.
He’s not fully in his rut yet, probably won’t be until he’s inside of him, but he sure feels like it right now.
If he was any more aware of himself, he might have noticed the way his hands are gripping into the side of the bed with all the restraint he can muster up. Steve seems to notice. Eddie gets the pleasure of watching Steve roam his eyes over him, a smile playing on his face, before he raises his hand and with a single finger, gives Eddie a ‘come here’ motion.
Even if Eddie was in a clearer mind, he would have gone.
He stumbles on his own feet to get close to his omega, but the minute that he breaks into his personal space, hand lands on his chest. Eddie whines.
“Ah,” Steve tuts, “None of that. You wanna be a good alpha, right?”
Mindlessly, Eddie nods. Of course that’s what he wants. That’s what he always wanted. To be good for Steve. To be the best.
“Do you think you can fuck me into an early heat?” Steve says, and it sounds like a challenge, “Wouldn’t it be so nice to spend them together?”
A growl, another nod. God, does Eddie want that.
“Can you smell how wet I am already? At just the thought of letting you have me however you want when you’re your most primal?”
A deep inhale. A quiet moan. He nods again, head spinning.
“Then I guess you’d better get started, Alpha. Taste me?”
Obediently, without question, Eddie drops to his knees right in front of Steve. The scent of slick is almost overwhelming, the thick dark hairs of his inner thighs are noticeably wet, and Eddie moans at the sight of it when Steve spreads his legs just enough for Eddie to see his target.
Any restraint he might have had earlier goes out the window when he leans forwards and runs his tongue through Steve’s cunt. The first taste of him is like the sweetest nectar known to man, and once he has it on his tongue, any coherent thoughts about being slow and gentle disappears. Especially when Steve lets out a quiet, breathy little moan above him.
His hands wrap around Steve’s thighs, going straight to hold onto his ass in an attempt to push his face even further in. His omega has never tasted this sweet before, he doesn’t think.
“Fuck, Eds.” Steve whispers above him, and that only spurs him on. Changing his pace from focusing on Steve’s clit to running his tongue down to his entrance and dipping inside. He can feel Steve’s cunt throbbing against his tongue already, like he might be already fighting away falling off that edge.
It doesn’t matter if he is, though. Eddie isn’t going to stop. One isn’t enough. He has to make Steve feel good for the rest of their lives. He needs to get him nice, relaxed, and ready to take him fully, to be fucked full of pups again, because God does Eddie want to see Steve pregnant with his baby again.
“You gotta slow down, alpha, I’m gonna-“ A hand wraps in Eddie’s bangs, trying to pull him back, and he doesn’t mean to growl, it just happens. He doesn’t want to move. He wants to stay right here, suffocated between Steve’s thighs and drowned in his slick.
When Steve cums the first time, his hand is still in Eddie’s hair, his thighs tremble and shake around him, and a half choked out moan falls from his lips like he wasn’t expecting it to hit him so fast. Eddie doesn’t stop, though. He keeps his mouth suctioned around Steve’s clit, flicking his tongue in every direction, swirling it around the swollen bead to prolong the effects.
“Okay, okay- Eddie, just a second, I need a second-“
This time, when he pulls Eddie’s head back, it’s with another force to actually break him away. He whines and growls, trying to dive back in because he wasn’t done yet, but Steve holds him in place.
“Look at me,” Steve says, and Eddie does. He’s beautiful. The most beautiful person that Eddie’s ever seen. He looks down at him with a fond smile, Eddie’s heart skips a beat, “Taste good?”
“You have no idea. Gonna get drunk off your pussy.” Eddie replies, fingers digging into the plumpness of Steve’s ass. He laughs above him.
“Take me to bed, alpha.”
Up from the ground in seconds, almost knocking their heads together in the process, Eddie pulls Steve in close with his hands now pressed to his lower back. They’re chest to chest, staring eye to eye, and all he wants to do is fucking kiss him.
So, he does.
His lips fall upon Steve’s, and they move together like they’ve always done. A perfected push and pull, one that even five years after they met has never faltered. Kissing each other is in their blood, it feels like.
When Steve wraps his arms around Eddie’s neck and jumps without warning, he catches him. They’re still kissing as Eddie walks them to the bed, laying Steve down in his nest a little too rough, but he can hardly be blamed. The coherence he’s holding onto is by a thread before his alpha fully takes control.
The new angle that they’re laying leaves Eddie’s cock resting against the hot warmth and wetness of Steve’s pussy, and he moans when he moves his hips back and forth for the slightest bit of friction.
“Can I fuck you?” He whispers, almost begging, “Can I please fuck you?”
Steve nods, letting his legs fall from around Eddie’s waist to the bed, fully exposing himself to him. Part of Eddie wants to get right to it, push himself fully in because he knows that with how wet Steve is, he’d slip right in.
But, vaguely, a piece of his brain reminds him of Steve saying he hasn’t had sex since the last time they did. Over five years ago.
Part of Eddie is elated that he’s the last person to get to experience this part of Steve, but the other part of him can’t fathom that no one else jumped at an opportunity to be with him in any capacity.
His hand reaches down between them as he leans down to Steve, pressing his lips against his once again. Through the slick and wetness, Eddie pushes two fingers into Steve’s cunt, a tight but not uncomfortable fit, and he revels in the moan that falls from his omegas lips immediately.
He fights control of his alpha for the moment to make sure that he doesn’t hurt Steve. There will be plenty of time this weekend for him to have him as fast and hard and unforgiving as he wants, but this time? He needs to take his time. He needs to make sure he’s ready.
With a careful precision, Eddie moves his fingers in and out of Steve. It’s slow at first, building up to a faster pace the more he can feel Steve relaxing around him. His thumb is angled up at Steve’s clit, rubbing it in small circles as he fucks him with his fingers.
They’re trying to kiss through the whole thing, but it’s hard when moans keep falling from Steve’s lips, when he gasps quietly into Eddie’s mouth or whines as he tries to fuck himself down harder on his fingers. A third finger slips in easily after a while, and then his pinky as well. There’s sweat coating Steve’s body, his back is arched, chest flush against Eddie’s, and he’s a panting mess by the time he finally speaks.
“Please, alpha, need you. Need your cock, your knot, please just fuck me already.”
“Yeah? You need it, baby? Want me to slip right into your pussy like it was made for me?”
“Please, please.” Steve whines, pushing himself down on Eddie’s hands once again, grinding his hips in slow circles as he does.
When Eddie’s fingers withdrawal, Steve gasps, pushing his hips up off the bed like he’s seeking something, anything to go back inside. Eddie’s pretty omega just wants to be full. Full of him, full of cum, full of pups. He can make all of that happen this weekend.
The same hand that had been buried inside of Steve wraps around his throbbing cock, a premature knot already forming at the base of it, and he moans at the wetness and warmth left over from Steve. He smears it up and down his shaft, head falling back, eyes closing.
He must get lost in the moment for a moment, because Steve kicks him in the leg to bring him back to earth.
“If you like my slick all over your cock so much, then fuck me already.” He says, and Eddie nods, lining himself up with Steve’s entrance.
Eddie’s never been a religious man. He’s never bowed his head and prayed to God before, never felt the holy spirit bless him like some people claim to have.
He gets the closest he’s ever been to heaven when he finally pushes into Steve.
Hot wetness squeezes his cock immediately, knocking the breath completely out of him. A low moan falls out of him the further and further that he sinks, his hands are shaking, and he feels like he’s losing his virginity all over again while trying not to cum in the first ten seconds of being inside someone.
It’s made worse when Steve moans too, one arm coming up to cradle the back of Eddie’s head while the other holds onto the bed for dear life.
“Fuck, fuck- Oh, fuck. Holy shit. Alpha, you’re so big- Fuck. Forgot what this felt like. Forgot what you felt like.”
“Good?” Eddie asks, leaning down to nose against Steve’s jaw and neck, peppering kisses along it as he goes.
“So good. Oh my god.”
Once he’s fully inside of Steve, he sits there without moving for a moment. Steve’s tight. He’s squeezing his cock in unimaginable ways that feel so good for Eddie, but still he waits. He refuses to hurt him.
Another kick to Eddie’s leg and an angry huff from Steve, “Move. Please move-“
“Don’t wanna hurt y-“
“Alpha, I want you. I need you. Please. Please fuck me.”
The self control that Eddie had been hanging onto snaps like a twig at the needy sound of Steve’s voice. If his omega needs to be fucked good and hard, then that’s exactly what Eddie is going to give him.
He pulls back from his resting position, slowly, watching the way that Steve’s face falls into a blissful state, before he pushes back in roughly. The sound of Steve’s moan reverbs through the whole room, and after that? Eddie couldn’t stop if he wanted to.
Eddie loses tracks of how many times they fuck that night, of what it feels like when his knot slips into Steve’s body for the first time in five years and locks them together. It goes down fast, he knows that much, but he doesn’t think his cock leaves Steve’s pussy for the majority of the night.
____Steve____
Steve wakes up to the intense scent of petrichor and leather, wrapped in a pair of pale arms that hold him like he’s the most precious thing in the entire world. Eddie’s head is tucked into the crook of Steve’s neck, right over his scent gland, and he can feel the soft puffs of warm air there.
It feels like home.
He doesn’t know how many times that they had sex last night, or if the first time even ended. He can’t remember a time that Eddie wasn’t inside of him once they started, a time where lips weren’t pressed to some part of his body, when he didn’t feel like Eddie was worshipping him.
A quiet purr makes its way to Steve’s chest as he leans back into Eddie’s touch, but the alpha doesn’t stir in his sleep.
His body doesn’t hurt from the roughness of last night, and he feels that familiar warmth pooling in his body that he knows means he’s in pre-heat, even though he shouldn’t be for another few weeks.
He had said it off-handedly last night as a joke, that Eddie could fuck him into his heat for them to spend it together. He didn’t think it would actually happen.
But, there’s no mistake that feeling in his chest, in every limb of his body that is just begging to be touched. No denying the aching between his legs for Eddie to be inside of him again.
Steve curses under his breath a little bit as he tries to remove himself from the mess of limbs he’s wrapped in, because if they’re going to be doing this together, he needs to prepare. He needs to bring water, food, some washrags, and new towels/bedsheet in here. There’s a good chance that once Eddie wakes up and realizes what’s happening with him, he won’t let him out of his sight.
Carefully, he slips out of bed, tip-toeing to the door like he does when Theo is sleeping in the room. He’s become a pro at sneaking around his house without making a sound.
He gathers everything that he thinks they’ll need. Water bottles, a lot of granola bars and bags of chips, some apples and bananas, an arm full of towels and two sets of sheets. The ache in his groin grows with every passing moment that he’s away from Eddie, his omega missing the presence of his alpha more than he can put into words.
The door to the bedroom is opened carefully, and Steve tries to sneak back in, but the moment that he walks inside, he’s met with a mess of dark brown curls staring at him.
Eddie is pouting, his pupils already blown wide, and Steve can’t help the smile on his face.
“Where did you go?” Eddie asks.
“Had to go get us some stuff.”
“Why-“ Steve can see the exact moment that Eddie realizes what’s going on with Steve. The way his eyebrows raise, his eyes go wide, before narrowing him in an animalistic way.
It makes Steve feel crazy.
“Steve.” Eddie says, voice deadly calm.
“Yes, Alpha?”
“Put that stuff down, and come here. Right now.”
Steve honest to god giggles at that, dropping the stuff he has in his arms in the corner of the room, before flinging himself into bed with Eddie.
After that, it’s kind of a blur.
When Steve’s heat kicks in full force, they can’t stop. Neither of them physically can restrain themselves anymore. It feels like they’re wild animals, it’s disgusting, and Steve loves it.
They fuck on almost every surface in the house. In the kitchen, on the counter, on the couch, in the bathroom over the sink and in the shower. It’s all hands, teeth, and pleasure.
It’s all full of love.
That’s all it is.
It’s pure, unbridled love.
Towards the end of their connected cycles, Eddie is buried deep inside Steve’s cunt, fucking him like his life depends on it. Steve can feel Eddie on every part of his body, inside and out, but especially where Eddie has his head tucked against Steve’s mating gland.
He’s mouthing at it, licking it, running his teeth along it like he wants to claim Steve right then and there, but is holding back with the restraint of a hundred men.
Steve wishes he wouldn’t.
He wants Eddie to bite him. To make him his. He’s wanted that since the first time they had sex, but even more now.
Because Steve knows that Eddie will take care of him for the rest of their lives. He knows that Eddie will be a good dad to their son and any future pups they might have, that he’ll do everything in his power to make sure that their every need is met. He feels safe. He feels at home.
He wants that to be his. Forever.
So, he knows when he says what he says, he means it.
“Bite me,” Steve whispers in his drunken haze, “Bite me. Make me yours, Alpha.”
Eddie pulls back to stare at him, and when their eyes meet, he can’t miss the flash of color that runs through them. Steve’s only heard about this in books or in school, about fated mates eyes flashing a bright color before mating, but he’d never believed it before.
In his heat induced haze, that’s the only thing that makes sense right now, though.
Of course Eddie is his fated mate. It makes perfect sense. In any other circumstance, no one should have been able to find him once he left Hawkins. But, Eddie did. Through everything keeping them apart, something brought Eddie to him. Something bigger than both of them. Something in their blood that brought them together.
Eddie was meant to be his. He was meant to be Eddie’s. It makes perfect sense. They already have a perfect family together.
“Don’t say that unless you mean it-“
“I mean it. Make me yours. I want to be yours. Alpha, please.”
In a second, Eddie’s face is pressed into him again there’s a growl against his neck, face pushing in even closer to him if it’s possible. A tongue flicks against his skin, dragging from edge to edge on his mating gland in an almost wild manner, teeth dragging against the surface. His omega whines the longer and longer it takes him to bite him. He wants this. They’re meant to be. His alpha, his mate, his, his, his.
“Mine,” Eddie growls, voice almost unrecognizable, “My omega.”
“Yours,” Steve nods, “M’yours.”
It’s an unexplainable feeling when he feels Eddie’s fangs elongate against his neck, the sharp point of them dragging on soft, pierceable flesh. His head falls to the side to expose himself even more, giving Eddie all of the space in the world to do exactly what he needs to do. He isn’t scared. He’s ready. He’s waited his entire life for this moment.
“Want you to bite me too,” Eddie grumbles, “Make me yours.”
“Omega bites don’t work the same-“
“Don’t care,” He runs his tongue up the length of Steve’s throat, teeth dragging the entire time, “Bite me. Wanna be claimed.”
“Me first,” Steve whispers, one hand coming up to Eddie’s head to push him back down to his mating gland and hold him there, “Bite me first.”
Eddie nods, his hips starting to move into Steve once again at an almost lightning pace. They both moan, Steve’s grasp on the back of Eddie’s head tightens, and he can feel the edge of Eddie’s knot trying to bully its way into his cunt. It doesn’t take long for it to, hot cum spilling inside of him, filling him to the brim.
But, the moment that Eddie’s knot pushes inside, it finally happens. Teeth clamp down on his mating gland, fangs sinking deep into his skin, and nothing on earth could possibly compare to this feeling.
Every nerve in his body is on edge in the best way, he feels electricity run through him like the best orgasm he’s ever had times one hundred. He moans louder the deeper that Eddie bites down on him, his body going limp under his alpha. When Eddie finally pulls away and looks at Steve, there’s blood on his lips, trailing down his jaw just a tad. It’s a gorgeous fucking sight. Eddie’s mouth covered in Steve’s own blood was something that would be locked in his brain for the rest of their lives together.
“Bite me,” Eddie gasps out, tilting his head to the side to expose his mating gland to Steve, something most alphas would never even think of, “M’yours.”
With the hand on the back of Eddie’s head, Steve raises himself up until he’s nose to throat with that sweet petrichor scent, breathing it in deeply. His fangs aren’t nearly as long as Eddie’s, he won’t be able to make nearly as decent a mark, but if that’s what his alpha wants, that’s what his alpha will get.
Mouth open, he clamps it to his mates neck, biting down right on his mating gland. Eddie sucks in a sharp inhale of air, before a quiet moan reverberates from his chest. The taste of copper fills Steve’s mouth the harder that he bites down, somehow sweeter than anything he’s ever tasted before, and part of him never wants to let go.
The only reason that he does is because he’s desperate to look into the eyes of his mate. His fated mated.
Eyes that are glowing when they meet.
It’s almost amazing how fast Steve’s brain clears from heat-haze to himself.
“Y-Your eyes,” Eddie whispers, seemingly the most clear headed that he’s been in days, “They’re-“
“Glowing?”
Eddie nods, Steve smiles.
“Yours are too.”
A wobbly little smile spreads across Eddie’s blood stained lips as he nods in understanding, his forehead coming down to rest against Steve’s carefully. The bite mark on his neck throbs. He loves it.
“I missed you so much, Stevie.”
“I love you.” Steve replies, carding his fingers through Eddie’s curls.
“… You do?”
“Love you more than anything in the world. Except Theo.”
Eddie laughs, cupping Steve’s jaw with one hand, leaning down to kiss him. Their blood intermingles
as they kiss, and maybe it’s symbolic of the bond they just created.
“I love you too,” Eddie says between kisses, “I’ve always loved you. Since that very first fucking night I was lucky enough to spend with you.”
“Every single one?”
“Even when you were gone. I think I might have loved you before I even knew you existed.”
Tears well up in Steve’s eyes, and he nods his head, “I’ve waited my entire life for you.”
“No more waiting. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
Another kiss.
“I love you.” Steve whispers.
“I love you too.”
And for the second time in Steve’s life, every bad thing that’s ever happened to him makes sense. Everything he’s gone through that led him straight to this moment, underneath the love of his life, a throbbing bite mark on his neck, makes sense.
He’d do it a hundred times over if this was the outcome every time.
Later that night when Eddie’s knot has gone down and they’re laying side by side, Eddie’s eyes closed and quiet snores coming from his mouth, Steve thinks about how lucky he is. So many people never get to have a fraction of the love and understanding that Eddie has shown him over and over again, and will continue to show him for the rest of their lives.