Moonlight - Part 4

Moonlight - part 4

Word count: 1.3k (almost 1.4)

Part 3, part 2, part 1

"What's wrong with Steve?" Eddie can't help but ask, the question coming out a little quicker than he'd like to admit as worry etches itself across his brow, betraying him completely.

"I don't know, I just.. he's not answering the phone, his car is in the driveway but he's not home, and nobody knows where he is." Nancy tells him, her arms still crossed in front of her chest as she bites the inside of her cheek. Eddie looks outside, it's not a full moon, so where would he be? If he went to the woods, wouldn't he call Eddie for help for their weird agreement? Wouldn't he have told someone?

"Who else did you go to?" Eddie asks. Nancy stops biting the inside of her cheek with a small pop of her lips, shaking her head quickly like a dog. "Just- it doesn't matter. I'm just worried about him." Nancy says, stepping into the trailer and looking around, wrinkling her nose at the smell of cigarettes and Eddie's weed.

"It kinda does matter though, if you wanna know where he is. What if he's just hanging out with a friend or something?" Eddie says, going to his laundry basket to grab an old shirt that hasn't been washed in... he doesn't actually know, it's not a shirt he wears often. He gives it the quick sniff test to make sure it doesn't at least stink before tugging it on over his mass of wild curls that he's pretty sure has crumbs in it from laying on the couch he also eats Chips Ahoy cookies on.

"He's not, he basically only has Tommy and Carol and they're out on a date." Nancy replies, following him down the hall. Eddie refrains from asking if Steve is also on that date, even if it's a real question he has. Sure, he's worried, but it's Steve. And he says that.

"Look, Steve isn't some damsel in distress, he'll be fine wherever he is. I know you're worried, but he's Steve." He tells Nancy, and she lets a breath out from her nose, looking off to the side. He's never been great at reading expressions, but it's clear she's pretty damn annoyed.

"I'm not cheating on him." She says, clenching her jaw. She huffs when Eddie doesn't bother to hide his confusion, leaning against the wall with crossed arms. "It's stupid, but he saw me with Jonathan and now he's basically throwing a fit over nothing." He's heard that word to describe Steve a lot. But this time it's his actions, and not his brains. Sure, compared to himself, Eddie doesn't think Steve is stupid, but that's his own self deprecating brain speaking. In his eyes, Steve is perfect. Too perfect. Rich, popular, a jock, attractive. And Eddie is what? A freak. A stupid, unwashed, freak.

Eddie just walks over to the small cramped kitchen to stir the pot of Spaghetti-O's, not wanting to bother with this anymore. "Steve is gonna be fine." Is all he says, and not even he knows why he's saying it.

After a few more moments of silence, where Eddie is hoping Nancy will just leave him the hell alone so he can eat his Spaghetti-O's in peace without talk of Steve, because lately everything has revolved around that idiot. That stupidly perfect, rich, popular, idiot. But then she speaks again.

"I know you've been talking to him." Nancy says, taking a step forward. "Has he said anything weird?" She asks. Anything other than the fact that he's a werewolf? Anything other than the fact that his parents are horrible? No, not really. Eddie pinches the bridge of his nose, a habit he picked up early from his uncle, and a clear sign he wants Nancy to leave him be so he can be alone. When he doesn't answer, she nods, looking around once more before she finally leaves.

And yet Eddie can't stop thinking about Steve. Is something wrong? Should he call? Should he check? No, he shouldn't.

But he realizes he's already out the door, shoes on his feet and keys in hand. He finds Steve with Tommy and Carol at the movies– despite what Nancy said about the two being on a date. Tommy is holding onto the bottom of a ladder as Steve climbs, Carol having spray paint at the ready.

"Steve? The hell are you doing?" Eddie calls out, the sound of his own voice echoing against the brick, making Steve look over his shoulder.

"Nothing." Steve says firmly, shaking the can of spray paint. Jesus, if Eddie was caught doing something like this he'd be in the back of Hopper's car, and Steve? He'd probably get a slap on the wrist. "Looks like something you'll regret."

"Go home, freak, nobody wants you here." Tommy says without a glance towards Eddie, eyes still on Steve as if he worships the dude. Eddie steps closer anyways, not caring if he'll get beaten or not, he's gotta stop Steve from doing whatever the hell he's about to do, whether he goes home with another vague thanks or a black eye. He doesn't know why he cares– he doesn't want to care, doesn't need to care. But there's a nagging feeling in his chest, right in that spot between his ribs that feels like there's a hook there, pulling him towards the situation. He should go. Nobody does want him here, he should go.

He should go.

But he doesn't, stepping forward only still, crunching the leaves that scatter the sidewalk as he approaches Steve and his two Igors, who finally turn to look at him, about to speak and spew their filth. He feels the need to step back, as if their words really will stain his already dirty white reeboks with green and brown sludge.

"Get down from there, whatever you wanna share with the town probably isn't worth it." Eddie tells Steve, looking up now, pushing past Tommy and Carol who he can feel glaring at his back, their eyes practically burning holes through his pajama shirt and skin. Steve just.. looks at him. Up and down. Then he tosses the spray paint can down, a loud sigh escaping his lips.

"Nancy–" He starts, going down a step, but Eddie raises his eyebrows.

"I talked to her. Nothing happened, and you just disappearing like that had her worried enough to show up to the trailer park." Eddie says, not looking fondly on the memory from 10 minutes before because if she hadn't come over then he'd be lounging on the couch in his Garfield pants with his beloved pot of Spaghetti-O's... he's still wearing his Garfield pants. Dang it.

"She showed up to your place?" Steve asks finally stepping down and turning to face Eddie, running a hand over his face and pinching his nose, his eyes having a sheen over them Eddie has never seen before.

"Yeah. She was worried– looked annoyed though. You might wanna go apologize, you two are good together." Eddie says before even taking another breath, needing Steve to be distracted and be around him less and less until he can be gone from his life for good. He tries to think of something else, anything else. The fact he left the stove on, the fact he's wearing Garfield pants, the fact he probably left the door wide open. Why was he in such a hurry to find Steve? Steve, of all people on this earth, had Eddie leaving the stove on and the door open. And Eddie doesn't even know why.

Because he refuses to like Steve. Refuses to feel anything but hate for the boy with honey eyes and golden skin.

"I shouldn't be here." Steve says, looking back to Tommy and Carol as if just now realizing the fact. "Ya think?" Eddie can't help but say.

"C'mon, Tweedledee and Tweedledum can do this on their own." He adds, nodding over his shoulder. He shouldn't be doing this. Shouldn't be still talking to Steve or motioning for him to follow. Shouldn't be letting him follow. Shouldn't be doing any of this.

But he also feels he shouldn't be a lot of things, and he is anyway. He is with pride, without disgust or guilt. So why can't he just love this boy for a day?

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tag list: @manda-panda-monium @anaibis @irregular-child @gregre369 @cartercaptainofthemoon @oatmilk-vampire @she-collects-smut

What app I think the Stranger Things characters would have the most screen time on:

Mike - Twitter. That boy has Twitter Blue and 95% of his tweets are quote tweets.

Will - Instagram. He follows a lot of art accounts, posts art himself. He wants to do commissions at some point.

Dustin - He is someone who refused to use TikTok until he was convinced into it and the algorithm put him on the nerdy D&D side and now he’s addicted.

Lucas - Lucas isn’t a big doomscroller, he posts stuff occasionally but he’s not the kind of guy to spend hours on his phone. So, audiobooks. Or, Pokemon Go. If people still use that.

Nancy - She’s too busy for it to doomscroll and she barely uses social media either, when she does it’s usually to do with the newspaper. The most used is some kind of Match 3 game she goes on when she’s on public transport or just waiting around.

Jonathan - Spotify. He treats his phone like a walkman, it’s just Spotify

Steve - He’s not big on social media so it’s iMessage because he spends most of his time messaging Robin. They probably text each other three feet away from each other at work.

Erica - If kids still use Snapchat then it’s that. If they don’t then it’s TikTok. I have a vivid picture of her spending all her free time on Snapchat but honestly is it even still a thing.

Max - Youtube I think. She’s watching those long ass video essays.

Robin - Another TikTok user. Again, criticised it at first but the algorithm sucked her in. And sure, Nancy doesn’t have a TikTok but she’s absolutely watching Robin scroll through her fyp for two hours a day. Oh or Duolingo because she has like a thousand day streak she refuses to lose even though she is absolutely too fluent for it at this point.

Argyle - Subway Surfers. I have nothing else to say he just screams Subway Surfers.

Eddie - I have no clue. Probably Reddit.

"how could you like him he's a literal murderer" ok he's also not fuckin real either becky

my adhd ass seeing a map and world building in a new book before the first chapter even starts

so glad i found you

for @steddielovemonth prompt 'love is coparenting'

rated t | 1,428 words | cw: mention of previous marriage (steve's) | tags: established relationship, single dad steve (except he isn't anymore *wink wink*), steddie dads, modern au, marriage proposal

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

"Sarah, come on!" Steve yelled from the kitchen, his eyes drifting to the clock that he hoped was lying. They were gonna be late for school. Again.

"Daddy, I can't find my jacket!" Sarah came running through the kitchen, only half-dressed, no backpack in sight.

"What do you mean? It was on the hook last night."

"It's not now."

Steve groaned.

And then a jacket was thrust into his hands and a sleep-rough voice was in his ear. "Found it on the floor in the bathroom."

Steve grabbed the jacket from Eddie, kissing his cheek in thanks.

"Eddie found it, let's go!" Steve yelled before whispering to just Eddie. "Thank you, baby. Sorry for waking you up."

"Needed to get up anyway. Wanted to say bye to Sarah."

Steve watched as Eddie walked over to the cabinet that held their vitamins. He reached in and grabbed the gummies Sarah was supposed to take every day. Steve wasn't always the best about remembering them, but Eddie never forgot.

He reached in the fridge next, grabbing the smoothie Steve forgot about and handing it to him. "Since I know you didn't eat anything," Eddie kissed his cheek again and leaned against the counter holding the gummies for Sarah.

"Thanks, Eds," Steve said as Sarah came crashing back into the kitchen and reached for her jacket. "Why did you move this into the bathroom?"

"I didn't."

"Ah, I fear the ghosts are at it again, Steve," Eddie said, smirking when Sarah giggled. He handed her the gummies once she had her arms in the jacket. "Vitamins to make you big and strong, your highness."

"Thanks, Dad."

Everyone froze. The clock on the wall stopped ticking. The air was sucked out of the room.

Sarah was bright red, and because she wasn't the type to stick around an awkward situation, she turned and walked out of the room.

Eddie blinked at Steve, lips parted as he tried to remember how to breathe.

He'd been with Steve for just over a year, and while he didn't technically live with them, he spent more time at their apartment than his own. He was on Sarah's emergency pick-up list, took her with him to run errands when Steve had to work late, bought her things when the budget allowed just because he wanted to, and would read to her most nights that he stayed over. In many ways, he was her dad.

She hardly knew her mom, only spent two weeks every summer with her and was perfectly fine with that. Steve's ex-wife had admitted from the beginning of the pregnancy that she thought it was a mistake and when she filed for divorce when Sarah was six months old, Steve wasn't surprised. She had no interest in being a mom the way Steve had so desperately wanted to be a dad. But even still, Eddie never wanted them to feel like he was trying to force any type of parental power.

She'd called him Eddie until this moment, and he'd been completely fine with it. He would've been fine with it forever if it meant he got to have them both.

"I can talk to her. I don't think she meant to say it and it's okay if you don't want her to. She'll understand and-" Steve started rambling, trying to prevent Eddie from panicking.

But he wasn't. He was just doing his best not to start crying.

"But did she mean it?" He asked, voice shaking as he realized how much he did want her to call him Dad.

"I dunno, Eds. Probably. You know she never says things she doesn't mean. But we can talk to her-"

"No. I mean, yes, we should. But not because I don't want her to." Eddie took a deep breath. "I've kinda been her dad for a while now. It feels like it, at least. We've been in this together for most of the last year, ya know? I wanna be this for her and for you."

Steve was going to melt into a puddle, maybe right through the floor into the apartment below them. The nice old couple who lived there would have to mop him up.

"Daddy? Da-Eddie?" Sarah's small voice said from the doorway.

"Come here, sweet pea," Steve got down closer to her level. She was tall for her age, but even at eight years old, she was barely level with his chest. "Do you wanna call Eddie Dad? There's no wrong answer."

Eddie nodded, getting down to her level, too.

"It won't hurt my feelings if you just said it by accident, princess. I promise I love being your Eddie," he smiled at her.

He meant that, he wouldn't lie to her. But a small part of him hoped she wouldn't go back to calling him just Eddie after that. Not after he had a taste of what it could be like to be her dad.

"Well, you do dad stuff with me. Like when we built that birdhouse because I was scared the robin would have her eggs in a tree and they'd fall and crack and the babies would die. And when you took me shopping for a dress so I could go to Daddy's awards for work. And you always read to me with the voices and stuff." Sarah was playing with her hair, a nervous habit she'd somehow picked up from Eddie in such a short time. "And that's stuff that Daddy does with me all the time too, like when you're not here with us to do it. And sometimes even when you are and you both do it it feels like I have two dads. I like having two dads."

Steve and Eddie were both barely holding back tears as she spoke. She'd always been incredibly brave about her feelings.

"I like doing all that stuff with you, princess. But I would love it all no matter what you called me, okay?" Eddie said around a barely contained sob.

"But you love Daddy and me right?"

"Of course."

"And you kinda live with us."

He let out a wet laugh. "Yeah, I guess I kinda do."

"And you maybe will get married?"

Steve nearly choked on his own breath. "Sarah, honey, remember I told you that kind of decision is something that takes time and-"

"Yeah, princess. I think maybe we will. Not right now, but someday," Eddie interrupted.

Steve resisted glaring at him. He knew better than to make promises to a child, they'd already been over this before, and he could already see Sarah's wheels spinning.

"Wait-"

"So I can wear a pretty dress?" Sarah asked, as if that was the most important thing. "Can I hold both your hands?"

"If your Daddy is okay with it when it happens. But you know what has to happen first?" Eddie poked her dimple, smiling at her with teary eyes. "He has to say yes."

Sarah looked over at Steve, who was...confused.

"Daddy! Say yes!"

"He's gotta ask!" Steve exclaimed. "And he doesn't have a ring. We've only been together a year."

"Stevie."

Something in Eddie's voice made Steve pause and look at him instead of Sarah.

"I have a ring. Not with me, but. I already know you're it for me." Eddie held Sarah's hand and Steve's. "I just wanted to make sure Sarah was okay with it first. So. Sarah Harrington."

"Yes, Dad?"

Jesus, Steve was pretty sure he would die from this. In a good way, maybe the best way, but Jesus Christ.

"Would it be okay if I ask your dad to marry me? I could be your other dad and I promise I can read to you every night."

"Hm." Sarah thought for barely a second before she beamed at Steve. "Daddy, I'm saying yes. So you have to say yes. I want Eddie to live with us forever."

The most important thing to Steve was someone who Sarah loved and who loved Sarah in return, someone who was part of their family because they wanted to be, someone who felt proud to be theirs.

Eddie checked off all of that and then some.

He looked at Eddie and smiled. "Well, you heard the princess. Yes!"

Being late for school turned into being absent from school. Steve and Eddie skipped work for the day so they could all be together. Eddie went to his apartment to get the ring and Sarah made decorations for a "real" proposal.

He didn't mind that it wasn't anything extravagant. None of them did.

bts from hoard