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Wayne Munson wasn’t a man who was easily rattled.
Thirteen years of raising Eddie had given him a nearly unflappable sense of self.
He’d seen the kid in full armor, covered in what looked suspiciously like blood.
(It was apparently ketchup mixed with BBQ sauce for a realistic feel, whatever the fuck that was supposed to mean.)
He’d seen him the first time he got too high, having to put him in the bath fully clothed and hold him until he calmed down.
He’d caught Eddie kissing a boy for the first time two weeks after he caught him kissing a girl for the first time because he ‘had to find out if he really liked both.’
Coming home at eight in the morning to both the Cunningham girl and the Harrington boy on his couch, curled around his Eddie like twin bookends was certainly not how he expected to end a double shift, but he was going to have to roll with it as per usual.
Wayne pauses in the doorway, halfway through kicking off his battered shoes when he makes eye contact with the three of them. He sees the way they all freeze, the terrified look in the eyes of their guests that they are clearly trying to hide and he softens immediately.
“Mornin’ y’all.You staying for breakfast?” He finishes toeing his shoes off and hanging his coat by the door before turning back to them.
Both kids look like deer in headlights still and he has to hold back a smile, worried it may give them the wrong impression of him.
“I swear I don’t bite, unlike my kid from what I can see.” Eddie groans loudly at that statement, tossing one of the pillows from the couch at his head.
The Cunningham girl seemingly hides a laugh in Eddie’s neck, warming his heart as he walks toward the three of them.
The boy stands, offers his hand like he isn’t wearing Eddie’s clothes in their living room.
“Hi, I’m Steve Harrington and that’s Chrissy.” He turns to grin at Chrissy as he talks, a soft look in his eyes that Wayne recognizes easily.
He shakes Steve’s hand, dropping it after a moment to pat him on the shoulder before heading to the kitchen.
“Nice to meet both of y’all but it’s a bit bold of you both to think I haven’t been hearing both of your names for years.” He throws over his shoulder to an indignant squawk from Eddie.
“Oh my god, Eddie! You had a crush on us?” Crissy’s voice crows teasingly.
“How embarrassing for you, Munson!” Steve adds before Wayne hears both of them dissolve into giggles.
“I know where you sleep Wayne!” Eddie’s voice carries to him where he’s opened the fridge to dig through it. There’s a handful of eggs and some breakfast sausage that he pulls out to scramble, figuring that’s pretty universal at least for everyone.
“Can I help?” A quiet voice from behind him speaks up, startling him before he recognizes it as Chrissy.
“You can grab some bread to toast if you wanna help, darlin’.” He points to the cupboard that doubles as their pantry, resisting a grin as she smiles brightly at him before turning to head that direction.
She’s quiet for only a moment, seemingly picking her words carefully.
“Did he really talk about us?” She sounds shy, uncertain of herself for someone who has always sounded larger than life in Eddie’s descriptions.
He stops her with a gentle hand on her arm. “Oh sweetheart, you would think both of you hung the moon for how he’s talked about you. He would be mortified if he knew I was telling you this but I was so worried that he was hung up on a fantasy. I could tell the moment I walked in that that wasn’t going to be the case though.”
Wayne can tell it’s the right thing to say by the way her entire being lights up at the words. He’s startled when she wraps him in a soft hug, eyes watery where they’re pressed into his shoulder.
It takes him only a moment to wrap his arms around this small girl, hoping that this is what she needs from him.
“We are trying to keep him. I know it seems crazy, but we really want to keep him.” Her voice is muffled but he can hear the strong emotion in it, making him tighten his grip on her.
He’s not sure what’s going on between them and his boy but he wouldn’t ever begrudge Eddie the kind of affection that they seem ready to shower him with.
“Already trying to steal our girl, Wayne? So incredibly uncool, old man!” Wayne looks up to see Eddie and Steve wrapped around each other in the doorway, the statement making Chrissy giggle where he’s holding her before she steps out of his arms.
“Maybe this was my plot the whole time, Eddie! Maybe I dig the silver fox look, you know. Had to get close to you so I could steal your uncle from you.” She tosses him a wink before grabbing the bread off the counter again to the chorus of overlapping protests.
Wayne cannot help the grin on his face this time as he starts cracking eggs and frying up sausages for them all. They bicker like they’ve been together for years, Eddie folding into the mix easier than he has ever seen his boy manage before.
He’s seen so many people come near Eddie, always existing on the outside of his orbit.
Most people come and go, using Eddie for how big his heart is and how he’s always willing to do anything for people. It’s broken Wayne’s heart for years watching Eddie give away any piece of his heart that he thinks someone will hold.
He’s not worried that this is the same at all. He can see the pieces of the two of them that they’ve freely given Eddie in the short amount of time they’ve been there.
Wayne sees the softness they shower him with in the kitchen as they move around each other like they do so every morning.
A pile of plates appears at his elbow courtesy of Steve, the toast buttered and set on the table easily, one of the pieces burnt just the way Eddie liked it because he heard Chrissy ask him so she got it right.
Eddie pushes a cup of coffee into both of their hands while they wait on the eggs to finish up and Wayne can hear the quiet smack of a kiss from both of them at the gesture.
Breakfast is an easy affair once they all sit down and tuck in. He listens as they talk and tease, his long day catching up to him so he really only talks when one of the three of them ask him something directly.
“I’m going to be out for a few days, Wayne. Gonna spend some time with them.” Eddie’s bright red as he says it, the tips of his ears near burning.
Wayne quirks an eyebrow at him, trying really hard not to laugh. “You three be safe, then. Call me once in a while so I know you’ve come up for air.”
Eddie chokes on his sip of coffee, the other two howling with laughter and Wayne takes that as his cue to head to sleep finally.
He drops a kiss on Eddie’s head as he passes, running a gentle hand over both Chrissy and Steve’s shoulders as well before he heads back to his room.
The muted tones of the water being run and the three of them speaking lulls him to sleep, a smile on his face.
Yeah, his boy is in good hands.