Boys Don't Cry - Steddie

Chapter 14

This chapter is short, I apologize. I have been very depressed and lost lots of my motivation so I just wanted to get this out as soon as possible since I promised it earlier. I'm working on Chapter 15 but idk when it will be out yet. I do have good news for you though! My friend and I are writing a medieval Steddie fic and it's over 20,000 words so far so there's lots of content. I will start posting that some time this week, so stay tuned! I'll let you know about it in chapter 15 too probably. Thank you for your support and patience 💕

Steve didn't know why going to visit Wayne was so nerve wracking. It wasn't like he had never spoken to the man before. Hell, Steve was the one that booked the room for him. There was no reason for him to be so nervous. He walked down the hall next to Eddie, who seemed to enjoy counting off the numbers of each room they passed.

Finally they got to 218 and Eddie stopped in his tracks. Steve almost ran into him. Eddie stood there and stared at the door for a moment like it was intimidating him. He seemed hesitant, maybe even scared. Steve had grown all too familiar with recognizing fear in someone's eyes.

"It'll be okay, Eddie," he reached down and gave Eddie's hand a reassuring squeeze.

Eddie let out a shaky breath, "Can you knock? It's stupid, I- I just don't think I can."

Steve knocked on the door and moved his hand to rub up and down Eddie's back comfortingly. The rusty clicking of a worn-out lock could be heard from the other side of the door and it swung open a second later. There was a moment of silence and Eddie just stood there looking at his uncle.

Then Wayne smiled and pulled Eddie into a tight hug. It took Eddie a few seconds to process what was going on before he wrapped his arms around his uncle. He felt himself starting to cry, but he didn't even care anymore. He was just grateful to still have Wayne in his life, grateful that Wayne hadn't given up on him like his parents did.

The hug lasted a few minutes before Wayne pulled back to hold Eddie at a distance, as if he was trying to get a good look at him. "I thought I lost you, Ed.."

"I'm here..." Eddie smiled weakly. He finally glanced over at Steve again. "Um.. this is- this is Steve."

Wayne nodded and shook his hand, "We met at the hospital I believe?"

Steve nodded, "Yes, sir. It's good to see you again."

He felt embarrassingly nervous about talking to Eddie's uncle, and he didn't even know why. Like Eddie said, it wasn't anything formal about their relationship, he was just there as a friend. He couldn't help but feel like he needed to make a good impression on Wayne regardless.

"Come in, come in," Wayne stepped aside while Eddie and Steve shuffled awkwardly into the hotel room. It was relatively small, but the bed was a queen and there were two arm chairs, so it wasn't terribly cramped for three people.

"I'm guessing the police told you how to get a hold of me?" Wayne looked over at Eddie expectantly.

Confusion flashed over his face as he glanced over at Steve, who looked back and shook his head discreetly. Wayne didn't know that Steve was the one paying for his hotel room. He had assumed the cops had made temporary living arrangements while everything was sorted out with the trailer.

"Uh... yeah.." Eddie responded slowly.

"They were decent to you?"

"Yes. Everything was fine," Eddie scratched at his arm uncomfortably. He hated lying to Wayne. He figured if Steve didn't want him to know the truth about the hotel though, he could at least honor his wishes.

"Good, good. It's nice to see those bastards finally got their heads out of their asses. Now if they would just hurry up with the damn trailer," he sighed.