Home The Hard Way *Single Dad! Eddie Munson X Steve Harrington Steddie Series*

Part Four

On Sunday morning Steve showed up at the truck stop for lunch. He timed it just right today, walking through the door only moments after Eddie punched his timecard for the end of his shift.

"So," Steve started as he took his usual seat at the bar. "How we feelin' about that car?"

Eddie filled two coffee mugs, sliding them both to Steve before making his way around the counter. He sat next to Steve, wrapping his fingers around his mug. "Will he do $300?" Steve nodded before taking a drink from his own cup. "Then I'm interested." Steve smiled as the two made plans for him to pick Eddie up in a few hours.

The man selling the car was much older than Eddie. He acted a lot like Wayne. No nonsense, all business. He didn't want to make small talk with the boys when they showed up at his house. He counted the twenties Eddie handed him, then handed over the keys and title.

"Needs new tires," was more or less the only words he said. Steve assured both the man and Eddie that he would make sure that was all taken care of.

The next morning was Eddie's day off. He had been looking forward to spending time with Lucy and Wayne. He thought maybe they'd go to the park, or just a stroll around town and enjoy the nice weather. But instead today seemed as though it would be full of phone calls. Trying to find the cheapest insurance, the cheapest mechanic, the cheapest place to get new tires since he could put those on himself.

"There's a kid at Joe's that does good work," Wayne told him after his third phone call of the morning. "Pretty boy, but he's good with cars."

Eddie knew Joe and his shop well. He'd spent many a day and many a dollar there before he left Hawkins, when he still had the Chevy. He nodded, figuring Joe might be his best bet. Maybe, if he were lucky, he'd let Eddie pay off the repairs over time.

When Eddie pulled his new-to-him car into the parking lot at Joe's, the dashboard clock had just ticked past 1:15. He'd ended up spending the morning with his family after all and Lucy was now safe with a neighbor. She was a few years older than Eddie and had two kids of her own. She assured him watching her while he ran to the mechanic would be no big deal.

He put the car into park beside an old Ford pickup that had no hood or tires. A parts car. He looked out over the parking lot and spotted someone with their head firmly planted under the hood of a new looking Cadillac.

He couldn't see who it was, but they were working hard. The sleeves of their white t-shirt rolled up, exposing toned, muscular shoulders. Sweat and grease gleaming under the early summer sun as he hunched over his work. Eddie couldn't help but to notice that his t-shirt was riding up in the back, exposing a strip of tanned skin just above his jeans.

Eddie's mind was a million different places as he sat in his car. Would he be able to afford to fix this piece of shit? Is Lucy okay with the neighbor girl? Who was this "pretty boy" his uncle told him about? Was he the one up to his elbows under the hood of the Cadillac across the lot? Would he have to pay his neighbor for watching Lucy if it was less than an hour? Who the fuck is under that hood?

Just as Eddie was reaching to open the car door, the mystery man turned to face him. Just like that first morning in the truck stop, Eddie was stunned to stillness. Steve Harrington. In all his glory.

He smiled a soft, uneven sort of smile as he walked towards Eddie. He wiped grease from his hands on an old shop towel that he shoved into his back pocket as he got closer to the car. Eddie was finally able to swing the creaky door open, standing to greet Steve when he reached him.

"Told ya I knew a guy," Steve laughed.

"Conveniently forgot to mention that I also knew the guy," Eddie giggled. He was almost nervous, he realized. He shoved his hands deep into the front pockets of his jeans, feeling his cheeks go warm as the sight in front of him.

Steve Harrington wearing jeans that didn't fit quite right. Covered head to toe in grease and oil. Eddie noticed again how toned his arms were. A few years of fixing cars must have turned him from the soft boy Eddie had known to a hardened, almost chiseled young man. Eddie felt his mouth go dry as he took in Steve's figure.

"So, uh," Eddie caughed, the silence between them just a few moments past awkward. "How much you think it'll be?" He asked, kicking at the tire with the toe of his shoe.

"Pop the hood?" Steve asked, but he was already taking steps towards the front of the vehicle.

Eddie did as he was told. He reached into the driver's side door and pulled up on the small latch near the steering wheel. The hood popped and Steve lifted it over his head, resting it on the strut beneath it. Eddie was entranced by the way Steve's arms moved. He mentally slapped himself for looking at Steve like that when he was trying to help him. Sure, it had been a while since Eddie had gotten any action. But this was Steve.

He came to stand beside Steve, crossing his arms as he looked over his shoulder. "Good news is the engine is actually in pretty good shape," Steve announced, looking up over his shoulder to Eddie. "Made sure of that before I even told you about it. But everything else seems to be at various levels of fucked."

Eddie smiled down to him, "Gve me a list."

"In order of importance; brakes, pads, alternator, and tires first. Have you been having trouble starting it?"

"I've only driven it twice," Eddie giggled.

"Right," Steve smiled. "Just asking because John said it would need a new alternator when we talked about it. That's why he dropped the price. But that's a fairly easy fix. Shouldn't take more than a few hours."

"A few hours and how much money?" Eddie finally asked.

Steve stood up straight, crossing his own arms to match Eddie's stance. He leaned back against the car, resting his butt against it, his head stopping just in front of the open hood. "I could do it for free," he offered with a shrug.

"No," Eddie answered. "Not happening. How much?"

"Look, Eddie, I'm not saying I'll give you a whole new car or anything. But we have plenty of less shitty parts lying around to get you by."

"Okay fine, but you're not doing it for free."

"I'm offering," Steve argued. "Just let someone be nice to you for once."

"I don't need charity, Steve."

"It's not charity. It's one friend who is able to help another friend. That's kinda what friends are for," he smiled. "Plus, I know you're trying to get on your feet. And I'm no expert, but I hear babies can be quite the money suck."

Eddie sighed, his gaze falling to his feet. "So, you know about Lucy, huh?"

"Didn't know her name was Lucy," Steve answered. His lips formed a smile around her name and Eddie felt a pang in his chest. He'd always liked Lucy's name, that's why he picked it from Billie's otherwise awful list of names. But hearing Steve say it with a lilt of affection made him like it that much more. "But even I could put two and two together when you were buying diapers at Melvalds the other day."

"You don't have to do all this for free," Eddie argued again, a bit less urgently. "Don't think Joe would appreciate you being on the clock and not making money, anyway."

"Bring it by after 6 and he won't even know," Steve shrugged again. "I'll work on it for a few hours a night and you can pay with the pleasure of your company."

"You'd really do that?"

"I really would."

Eddie wanted to hug Steve. He didn't, of course. Steve was covered in gunk and they'd never hugged before. But he wanted to. He accepted the offer,  begrudgingly agreeing to be back the following evening at 6 pm.

When Eddie knocked on his neighbors door fifteen minutes later he couldn't stop smiling. She'd brushed off his offer to pay at first. When he explained that he'd need someone to keep an eye on her for a few hours a night while he got his car fixed, she was sweet and understanding. She finally agreed to let him pay her $10 a week for a few hours of sitting with her in the evenings. She laughed, arguing that he didn't need to pay her to watch his daughter sleep. But he insisted.

Once the pair got home and he settled into the couch, he let himself think. He looked to Lucy, playing with toys on the floor. He glanced around him at the living room he'd grown up in. He realized in that moment that maybe moving back to Hawkins wasn't a punishment. Maybe he should have been here all along.