A gift from above

3

Steve wakes up, slowly, to the sound of sizzling bacon in the kitchen. He smiles, thinking of his much-beloved fantasy in which Eddie wakes him up with breakfast in bed. He lets himself imagine, for a moment, what that would be like, and basks in the image for a few seconds.

Then those seconds are over, and Steve figures he should probably get up and make sure Eddie's not trying to feed pieces of bacon to their day-old baby.

Steve trods quietly down the hallway towards the kitchen, already thinking about how he's going to thank Eddie for making breakfast. Would a hug be too weird? A handshake? No, a handshake would definitely be weird, what the fuck is wrong with him? He could always just say thank you like a normal goddamn person.

He's right in the middle of considering the possibility of a bro hug when he hears the smoke alarm start to go off. And then he abruptly remembers that Eddie can't cook. At all. He runs the rest of the way into the kitchen, skidding to a stop when he takes in the scene before him.

There's a whole load of burnt bacon filling up the trash can, a small fire on the stovetop, Matilda crying in her baby carrier, and finally, Eddie standing on top of Steve's kitchen counter, seemingly trying to strangle the smoke detector with a dish towel.

Steve takes a second to process the absolute absurdity of this scene, pinches the bridge of his nose, and desperately fights the urge to laugh. Eddie, having heard him come in, twists his head around to look at him. There's a beat of silence.

"Hey," Eddie says awkwardly. "Did I wake you?"

Steve blinks, then quickly moves to smother the fire on the stovetop and then scoop up Matilda in his arms, shushing and rocking her the best he can. He peers up at Eddie, who's blinking owlishly at him from the kitchen counter. "Yes, Eddie," he says finally. "You woke me."

Matilda starts to settle down after Eddie's effectively murdered the smoke detector, and Steve sets about to making her a bottle. He looks up at Eddie. "Get down from there. We can just order pancakes instead."

Eddie raises his eyebrows. "You can do that?" he asks wonderingly, clambering down from the counter.

"The wonders of the internet, Eds," Steve replies. He hands Matilda to Eddie and he kisses her soundly on the forehead before setting her back in her carrier. Steve's heart twists painfully at the sight, but he firmly ignores it. Platonic co-parenting, he reminds himself. You've got this.

Steve pulls up Uber Eats on his phone and orders pancakes, as promised, and the app helpfully informs him that someone will deliver them in thirty minutes. Great.

He and Eddie sit in slightly uncomfortable silence for a few seconds, the only sound being Matilda determinedly sucking on her bottle. Steve's gaze drifts to the mangled smoke detector on the wall, hanging by a single red wire. He wonders, somewhat maniacally, how this morning would be going if Eddie and Steve were a proper couple. He imagines himself asking Eddie, Any plans today, babe? And Eddie replying Just spending time with you, love. Of course, that conversation would never happen, because Steve would sooner change his name and move to Antarctica before suffer through the embarrassment of calling Eddie babe. And of course, because Eddie is Eddie, their morning would still probably be going about the same even if they were together. Which they're not.

Still, because Steve can't stand the silence, he blurts out, "Any plans today?" and adds on babe in the privacy of his own head. He still blushes a little, though, at the gall of his fantasy self.

Eddie looks at him a little strangely, but answers readily enough. "Nah, just staying here with you and Tilly." The conversation is enough like the one in Steve's head that he twitches a little.