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It starts as a joke.
The kids, they’re little shits, who make fun of him on the daily but he loves enough to take them to school and help with their homework. Drives them places when it's raining or cold or they can’t be bothered to bike and packs them lunches when he knows their parents have forgotten. Let’s them sleep in his house when those same parents are out of town, or when Joyce is at work and they can’t all sleep there, and the Wheelers are sick of all the kids spending days and days and days in the basement and like he said it started as a joke.
A comment here and there about him being a babysitter, how far he’s fallen from King Steve to become an unpaid childminder, a joke that isn’t quite a joke after the tenth time. Then when he really falls into the roll, somewhere between the first experience of the upside down and the third, when not knowing when they are, if they’re okay, made his chest tight and his breath shorten until he can get ahold of at least three of them.
Somewhere between there being just four of them to Eleven coming back and Max joining the group they start calling him mom.
And, like, it’s not a big deal. It’s very clearly a joke when he packs them all lunch after they’ve spent the night on his living room floor, and files them all into his car to drop at school with Max rolling her eyes and says a quick‘Sure mom.’ when he reminds them all to bring a jacket because it’s supposed to rain.
He thinks about it, all the way home, and only stops when he gets a call from the schools office for Dustin because he forgot his coat in the car even though Steve just fucking reminded him and-
It’s still a joke four months down the line when he wears more sweaters, and his glasses are used more than his contacts, and he’s working full time, and the ‘moms’ are more frequent than ever.
Not quite a joke when Will and El move away and she whispers a soft ‘I’ll miss you mom’ or when Lucas says ‘thanks mom’ all quiet and shy when Steve calls him after he finds out he made the basketball team. He’s so unbelievably proud of the kid and tells him just that, can feel his smile through the phone.
It’s definitely not a joke when Steve gets attached to it, when it quells that tight feeling, and slows his breathing, pushes away the panic attacks he gets when the nightmares don’t let him sleep easy that night.
They all have moms, Eleven is lucky enough to not only have her biological one but Joyce too and still she chooses him to call mom as well, and the others do too, and he just loves them so much.
Because, well, they need him. They care about him, love him, have no hesitation in telling him even as they’re getting older and sure maybe they don’t say the words as such that often anymore but they call him mom ninety percent of the time now, rarely hears anyone call him Steve but instead has a space in his brain carved out to respond to the word and starts to associate it to love in a way he’s never been able to before.
Knows just how shitty his parents had been and is determined to be better because he gets those kids in ways most of their own parents just never will be able too, and so the role falls to him because Nancy and Jonathon both have siblings in the group and are stuck firmly in the Older Siblings Club and Robin barely knows them all even after the mall and the Russians and their new job at Family Video. They’re closer than ever and yet Robin somehow falls seamlessly into the Older Sibling Club and Steve is still firmly Mom. (And yeah Joyce, Hopper they get it but sometimes it’s easier to talk to, to be around, to be cared for by someone who didn’t know them before and who doesn’t really have any authority over them that they didn’t willingly give him).
So sure, at nineteen he’s somehow became the parent of six and a half kids (because, well, Erica is his too even if she’d glare and call him names if she ever heard that but she’s Lucas’ sister, and she helped them with the Russains and Vecna, so she's his kid whether she likes it or not) and he’s never been able to find it in himself to truly complain about it, about the trust that they bestowed upon past the occasional eye roll at having to take Mike to the post office to send letters to Eleven for the fourth time this week.
Loves every moment of it, honestly, because he’s watching these kids turn into actual people despite all the trauma and gets to see first hand as they develop all their quirks and crushes and hobbies. Will happily listen as they all explain D&D to him again and again and again, when he knows he’ll understand just as little as he did the day before and-
And then there’s Eddie.
Eddie who does understand D&D, who has been held back three years and plays guitar, and Steves never met but Dustin, Lucas and Mike idealises and Max seems annoyed about at the mention of him but never has a bad thing to say so maybe it’s all the late night metal music that Steve doesn’t doubt he has full volume.
Who is with Chrissy when Vecna gets her and is dragged into their world of monsters in a way Steve wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy, with blood and death and murder charges. Who is still stuck with their ragtag group of traumatised teens two months down the line when the town is still not quite all back together but everyone is home and safe and alive.
Who the kids start calling dad, in the same sarcastic tone they’d done with him, and Robin calls his co-parent, and Nancy compares them to a divorced couple who are being civil ‘for the kids’ and Steve can’t tell if he doesn’t like Eddie or if the voice in the back of his head that sounds just like Nancy is right and he is Jealous with a capital J.
“Harrington!” Eddie calls, as he enters Family Video, throwing his arms up in the air with his usual level of flair. Steve thinks about rolling his eyes, doesn’t because he has better manners than that.
They’ve gotten closer recently, because Eddie never had many friends and Steves only recently just gained some that are actually good people, and so they’ve ended up spending most days of the week in each other's presence even if they’re usually joined by a gaggle of kids.
Whether it’s movie nights at Steve’s or D&D in Eddie's trailer, or even sometimes just all of them crowded in Mike's basement doing their own things but enjoying the company nonetheless. Eddie is usually quietly strumming his guitar, humming and murmuring words that don’t make much sense on their own as he scribbles down in a notebook every few minutes. His brows creased, hair sometimes pulled back into a low ponytail or half covering his face forcing him to use his ring covered hands to push it behind his ears every couple seconds and sometimes Steve wants to make his way across the room and push it back himself.
The kids are normally playing some game, or talking, or more likely arguing, he’s never too sure. Nancy and Robin are usually chatting about whichever movie is playing on the small TV in the corner, Jonathan chirping in every now and then when they say something about the camera work, or the lighting, or whatever his little nerd brain picks up on when he draws his attention away from the movie. Argyle is usually happily laying with his head in Johnathan’s lap listening to the sounds around him.
Eddie sometimes butts into one of their conversations, with a cocky smile, and air of ease around him that they’re getting to see more and more these days, and the same amount of theatrics that he always has. With an underlying softness and fondness for the people around him that Steve once pointed out to Robin and she just stared at him without saying anything, he’s not sure what that means but Robins has always been a little weird and socially awkward.
“Munson.” He greets. Continues stacking the tapes next to the register, knows that one of the little shits will knock it off if Eddie doesn’t. Only looks away from them when Eddie leans onto the counter, he glances round the shop to check they’re alone but isn’t completely sure why.
Eddie smiles at him, Steve never wants him to stop.
“So, it’s movie night at yours and the little munchkins have requested a movie that they certainly are not old enough to rent.” He says. Steve frowns, they technically aren’t old enough to rent any movie, they need an adult to have an account with them because of company policy but he knows that’s not what Eddie means (and technically, they can use their parents or Steves, but that’s not the point).
“What movie?” He stops stacking the tapes. Giving his full attention to Eddie as though he didn’t have it already. “Because horror is a no go, they won’t admit it but Will and Lucas will get nightmares and Thrillers really freaks Eleven out, something to do with her past is my bet, and to be honest I think they freak the rest out as well. Reminds them too much of the Upside Down and I don’t really want them watching that especially if they aren’t spending the night because then I can’t be there if they have nightmares and-”
“Steve.” Eddie reaches out, places his hand on his shoulder, cutting him off completely. “As adorable as you rambling is, you need to breathe.” He nods, takes an exaggerated deep breath and then Eddie continues. “I already told them no, said Mom would never approve and that it wasn’t a good idea.”
And Steve’s almost short circuits right then and there because Eddie just called him adorable and also more importantly:
“Mom?” He says softly.
“Yeah? They call you Mom all the time, you haven’t noticed?” And that’s not why Steve said it but it’s kinda, well, cute that Eddie thinks that he’s that oblivious even after years of it happening.
“They’ve called me that since before I ever met you, or Robin for that matter of course I know.” Eddie makes a face, more confused than before, Steve wants to kiss the look off of him-
Which what?
“I just-” He stutters, because what the fuck was that last thought. “Felt kind of like how my parents would say it when they wanted to say no but didn’t want to be the bad guy.” And he was jealous, really, when Eddie first came along and they started calling him Dad but then he got to actually know the guy and this moment right here solidifies the fact that Eddie will do just as much for them as he would.
‘Co-Parents’ Robin had called them.
“I don’t…”
Before Steve can explain more, to make Eddie fully understand why that was what he focused on and the feelings behind it that he’s not sure he quite understands any more than Eddie does because it’s definitely not jealousy anymore the door to the shop slams open and Eddie pulls his arm back so fast Steve would think he was yanked away.
Dustin falls through the door, scrambling to get up just as quickly, checking behind him and vaulting the desk to get behind it, taking the tapes down with him.
Steve doesn’t hesitate to crouch down to be level with the kid hiding under the counter, there’s tear tracks running down his face and he’s panting so hard Steves worried he might pass out if he doesn’t breathe soon.
Nothing can be said Eddie before jumps the counter too, doing his best to avoid both of them but does nothing to avoid knocking the stand full of chocolate bars over. It clatters and Dustin flinches, Eddie is apologising before the last bar even hits the floor.
“Shit- Sorry.” He’s crouching down next to him in the same moment, pressed against him from shoulder to elbow in the cramped space and normally Steve wouldn’t think twice about it but he’d just been thinking about kissing the other man and so the pressure makes his arm feel like it’s fucking on fire. It’s not the time though.
Dustin first. Crush on Eddie second.
(When the fuck did it become a crush?)
“Dustin, kid, what happened? Are you hurt?” He asks, reaching forward gently to check the boy over. Dustin flinches again but seems to realise it’s just Steve and lets him cup his face. “Okay, okay,” He mumbles when he gets no reply. “Just, is it Upside down related?”
The teenager shakes his head, though his obvious panic doesn’t calm down any. Eddie leans more into his space then, anger radiating off him when he talks.
“Someone hurt you?” Dustin hesitates, shakes his head, then hesitates again before nodding. Immediately Eddie stands up, as though he’s going to fight whatever asshole did this. Steve pulls him down with the hand that’s not cupping Dustin's face.
He gives his full attention back to his kid, knows Eddie does the same, and turns the face in his hand to inspect it. The left side of his face is turning red, the beginnings of a bruise forming, Steve should let Eddie kill whoever the fuck did this.
“Mom…” Dustin whispers finally, bringing one hand up to cup Steve’s and squeezes his eyes shut. Steve has watched this kid face trauma most adults wouldn’t survive, fight monsters that still keep him up at night without even a stutter in the jokes and making fun and sarcasm but he has never seen him look so heartbreakingly scared.
“Who?” Eddie says, voice hard and brows furrowed. He’s still angry, but not at Dustin never at Dustin.
“Dad-” He begins, frantic but making Steve’s heart melt anyway. “You can’t- You just got cleared-” Of course the kid is worrying about someone else when he’s just been hit, can’t disagree either way because most of Hawkins is just looking for a reason to get rid of Eddie.
“No one’s going anywhere Dustin, we’re all going to stay right here.” Steve sends a pointed look to Eddie. He understands what it means without words like always, god they really are co-parents. He might just love every moment of it, though he could do without his kids getting hurt in the process. “But you gotta tell us who did this so we can tell Hop and-”
He stops because Dustin is still gripping his hand, tight enough that Steve doesn’t doubt there will be bruises but it’s worth the pain if it helps him feel better.
“What happened Henderson?” Eddie picks up where Steve left it. Proving once again that he just fits into Steve's life in the same way Nancy had before and the way he thought Robin did and every girl before then too.
And maybe he should be more freaked out figuring he likes Eddie in the same way he liked Nancy but his kid is hurt so it can wait, and really it feels like one of the most natural things in the entire fucking world. With the hand that isn’t still being gripped by Dustin, he runs it up and down his face, knocking his glasses slightly before righting them again, they can do this.
“I was- I was talking to Mike through the walkie, we were supposed to meet at the arcade but he was late and so he- he was just letting me know and as I was putting the walkie back in my backpack these assholes turned up.” The tears are still steadily falling, Eddie wipes them away before he can. “Steve- Mom I swear I didn’t say anything, I was just waiting- keeping an eye out for Mike or- or- or for Will and Lucas ‘cause they were on their way too and I was early but I must’ve- I must’ve looked at them wrong? Or-”
“No.” Steve, as gently as he can, cups Dustin's other cheek too. “You didn’t do anything wrong, okay?” He waits until Dustin nods then continues. “Coming here was the right thing to do, always come to me or,” He doesn’t hesitate like he would have if it was anyone else. “To Eddie if you’re in trouble, you hear me?” Dustin nods again. “Are others still on their way to the arcade?”
“Yeah,” He whispers. “I didn’t see them before I ran, what if those guys-”
“On it.” Eddie is already up and jumping the counter again before either of them can speak, he doesn’t knock anything but Steve hears the crack of the chocolate he lands on before he’s rushing out the door, stopping briefly to flip the door sign to ‘closed’.
Steve finally pulls his kid into his arms, hugging him as tightly as he was gripping his hand. He worries that he’s hurting him but Dustins hugging back just as fiercely even as Steve lets himself fall back onto his ass from the crouch he was in. Dustin landing between his legs, arms never leaving.
“I got you.” He murmurs into his curly hair, pulling him impossibly closer as he sobs. “You’re okay, I’ve got you.” Monster and murders are something they’re used to but bullies on the street are old news and unfamiliar all at once. This kid is one of the strongest people Steve knows but some guys managed to make him cry in his arms in a way the Upside Down has never been able to.
Sometimes, he forgets that this all started when they were barely twelve years old, that they’re just kids after it all, that he was still sort of one too and that they deserve better than this. That two years down the line they’re numb to murder and death but this, this is what gets them.
Or maybe it was just the final straw.
“I got you, baby, you’re okay.” He repeats, letting him cry and cry and cry until he can’t anymore. “It’s okay. You’re safe. It’s just us.” Says anything and everything he can think of to make him feel better, says all the things he wishes his mom said to him when he fell and scraped his knee as a kid but never did. “Just us, you’re okay. Eddie’s going to bring the others here and we're all going to be okay.”
“Mom-” His voice cracks, and a sob interrupts him, though Steve doesn’t think he really has anything else to say so Steve just presses a kiss to his forehead before resting his head on Dustins.
“You’re okay. I’ve got you, and I love you, okay? We’re safe, and alive, and I’m right here with you.” The matra of reassurance doesn’t stop even ten minutes later when Dustin stops crying and his breathing has evened out to a pace that Steve thinks he’s not in any immediate danger of passing out, and he wouldn’t be surprised if he fell asleep either.
It takes another three and a half minutes for Eddie to return, Lucas, Will and Mike hot on his heels and a full fifteen minutes after Eddie originally left Dustin pulls away from Steve to look at who entered, he looks scared for a moment until he realises who it is.
“Dustin!” Mike calls, running around the counter as the other two follow, Steve silently thanks them though there's nothing left there for them to knock over. He lets Dustin go so he can be pulled into a group hug, hushed conversations passed between them as he anxiously hovers, always within reach of his boys.
Instead of following the kids, Eddie jumps up to sit on the counter and swings his legs over. His legs barely press into Steve’s arm but he finds himself leaning into it anyway. His whole body feels like it’s on fire when Eddie brings his hand up to rub up and down his back, leans close so he can feel the mans breath on his ear.
“You okay?” He asks, Steve goes to nod then decides better of it and shrugs instead. He isn’t not fine but he doesn’t particularly feel fine either. Eddie accepts the answer, keeps his hand moving to comfort in a way that Steve has never really experienced before.
His parents were never around much, his mom was much more concerned with his dad's apparent affair and his dad had been the tough love kind of man. The love part is more subtle, in his experience, he’s more acquainted with the hit of his fathers fist then he is with gentle pats.
They go away a lot.
Steve is alone a lot.
“Mom? Dad?” Lucas pulls away from the conversation that the other three are still having, Steve crouches back down immediately, Eddie slides off the counter and joins him. It’s cramped, but it’s better than not being able to comfort them.
The names fit together as they always have, Steve would argue they fit even better when it's aimed at Eddie and him. Makes his heart stutter in the way it always has, in the way Eddie makes it skip a beat too.
“Yeah bud, what's up?” His hand immediately goes to the boy's shoulder, eyes scanning for injuries he knows he won’t find. He wonders if that instinct will ever go away after demogorgons, and mind flayers, and Russians, and Vecna or if he’ll forever be hardwired to panic attacks when his kids aren’t in sight, to checking for hidden injuries and secrets that will get them killed.
If one day he’ll be able to sleep without the old shitty walkie talkie Dustin had gifted him, as well as the other teens and adults within their groups, griped in his hand, his bat full of nails peeking out from under his bed and the matching one in the boot of his car, and the knife under his pillow.
If maybe, one day, in the future, the worst injury he’ll have to worry about is scraped knees when someone falls off of Max’s skateboard. When this, right here, huddled under the counter at Family Video hiding from bullies is the hardest thing they’ll go through.
When ice cream and sleepovers and movie nights and shared interests are what keep them together instead of the trauma that has bonded them, brought them together, when Steve can pretend that while he’s glad they’re all here together it wasn’t because of the horrors of another world.
When the next words out of his kids mouths won’t break his heart and rip it into shreds on the shitty floor of his nine to five that he has because his dad cut him off, because his parents finally said enough, because-
“I thought after everything, we’d finally be safe.” Because his kids mean to him more than his parents ever could, because this right here is the most important thing in the world to him.
“I know, kid.” He says, because he can’t lie to them either. “But you are, Eddie got you before anything more could happen. You’re safe here.” He promises though he cannot, should not, would not if this was anything other than some assholes in the street, when he can never be sure of its truth.
He would live and die and sacrifice for these kids, would offer up all of himself at even the hint of it if it would keep them safe. Can’t think of a life in which half of his heart hasn’t been carved out of his chest and given to the gods above as a bargaining chip in their happiness.
If Steve was another man, a better man, he would lock his heart up and kick down every instinct that makes him do roll calls over the walkie talkies everyday. When he’s home alone and eating dinner by himself and the loneliness is creeping up on him and his own selfishness makes his need for them run so deep he caves into it, says ‘Roll Call, over’ even if he saw them just an hour before.
Feels worse when they make a game out of it, when they all decide to prank him and do it in a poor attempt at French and their laughs get cut off so the next person can go. When at the end, Eleven demands he be added too so they can know he’s just as safe and he doesn’t think his heart has quite recovered from that one to this day.
Maybe he is wrong to promise something he will never be able to keep, but Lucas leans in to hug him, reaching out an arm to pull Eddie in too and he thinks it’s worth it.
“Thank you.” Lucas mutters, though he knows Steve was lying. Though he held Max in her arms after Vecna died, when one more minute and she would have had her bones snapped and her life taken and Steve hadn’t been there to hold him too or to save either of them had things gone any worse.
But he hadn’t been mad, Steve doesn't understand why but is entirely grateful.
They pull away, after too long and not long enough all at once and Steve can’t stop himself from pulling Will and Mike into their own hugs because he just-
He needs them all, right now, needs them to be okay because had something worse happened, had it been just people after it all that took one of his boys from him in the end, he would never recover.
(And he kind of gets why his parents don’t like him, gets why they avoid him because surely it would be easier to never have known his kids then to risk losing them. If they die he dies with them, thinks Eddie might too.)
(They really are fucked.)
“If you guys ever feel unsafe.” He starts when all the four of them are all huddled together opposite him and Eddie, still under the counter at his job, looking at him with love he holds so dearly. “Find me, call me, fucking- turn up at my house I don’t care.” He wants to reach out but he doesn’t know who too, Eddie takes his hand, he understands. “I don’t give a shit if I’m working or on a date, the walkie is always with me when I’m not with a phone. Call. Me.”
“Whether it’s because of someone following you, the Upside Down, or a street light flickering and you don’t feel safe walking in the dark.” He squeezes Eddie's hand. “You guys, Max, El, I want you safe, even if you think it’s stupid. Call. Me.” Eddie squeezes back. “And if god forbid you can’t reach me, call Eddie. We’ll come. Always.”
The boys nod, Will whispering out a quiet ‘We will, mom’ and he doesn’t doubt it for a second.
“Okay good.” He glances at Eddie. “You guys feeling better?” Three nods, and a half shrug, half nod from Dustin. “Go pick out a few movies for movie night, I’ll close early and we’ll go pick up the girls.”
He stays crouched, Eddie's hand in his, for a moment after the boys run off. Breathes in and out. Falls back so he can sit back against the shelves under the counter. Eddie moves to sit crossed legged next to him. Doesn’t make a move to say anything.
“I think I love you.” He says eventually. Eddie looks up from where he was tracing patterns on Steve’s hand, mouth open and head tilted to the side like a puppy. “Like sort of, want to kiss you and hold your hand all the time love you.”
’You don’t love me?
Maybe he shouldn’t have said it outloud when he was barely sure, only realised the crush today but he’s always fallen hard and fast and he’s so used to just asking for what he wants.
’It’s bullshit!’
Love has never been his forte, despite his reputation but his boys are brave so he can be too.
“I love you too.” Eddie smiles, beautiful and blinding and as sweet as anything. “Was wondering when you’d notice. Started to lose hope but, well, King Steve has always been full of surprises.”
“Shut up.” He laughs, pushing Eddie away playfully, doesn’t put up much of a fight when Eddie leans back in and presses a long kiss to his cheek. Pulls away only slightly just enough to rest his forehead on the same place with a laugh of his own when the kids start arguing across the store.
“The gremlins await, your majesty.” He laughs again, standing and dramatically bowing with an outstretched hand for Steve to take as a loud ‘Mom! Dad!’ is called to settle the argument over which films to get.
He takes the hand. He could spend the rest of his life like this.