Chapter Text
Forty-five minutes. Just forty-five more minutes. Steve couldn’t help but sigh looking at the clock on the wall above the nurses station. He swore that looking at it caused the second hand to stop ticking away. Just forty-five minutes left.
He loves his job, he really does. But God, he’s been pulling repeat twelve hour shifts and he’s exhausted. His shift tonight underneath the fluorescent lights of the hospital, had been particularly difficult; the Saturday 7 pm to 7 am shift is always the worst. It’s usually a blend of drunks who have, thankfully, only hurt themselves getting up to stupid shit, and a fuck ton of foreign objects in the body ER visits. God, the stories Steve takes home.
“Hey Steve, the doctor just cleared the parents of the patient in Room 4 to take ‘em home. Most likely a low grade fever caused by teething. Told the parents to keep an eye on the child, but really isn’t anything to be too concerned about at this point. However, the parents did want me to pass along their ‘thanks’ to the ‘lovely nurse who was so sweet to their baby.’” Steve gave a quick smile to Jean, the head nurse, before going back to filling out the paperwork for his shift.
“Thanks Jean, let’s hope that the end of the shift is just as easy and there aren’t any-” before Steve could finish the sentence, the tell-tale light of the ambulance pulled up to the ER bay and it was back to work for the team. Steve checked the clock, so much for 45 more minutes…
-.-.-
Steve was almost certain that he was dead. He is but a mere corpse dragging itself to the third-floor walk up he shared with his roommate, his best-friend, his Platonic soulmate with a capital “P”, Robin. Robin, who if he is lucky, is up and making breakfast that he can snack on before sinking into his bed for the next twenty-four hours.
He puts the key in the lock and is disappointed to hear silence throughout the apartment. No sign of Robin in the apartment; if she were in the apartment she would be up getting ready for work. Steve let out a sigh, she must have stayed at her girlfriend’s, Vickie’s, apartment last night. He couldn’t blame her, if he had someone to cuddle up with at night, he absolutely would take advantage of it as often as possible.
After an internal debate of what was top priority, sleep or food, sleep having won out, he’s shocked out of his drowsiness from a pounding on his door. “Rob, if you forgot your key again, I swear I’m going to kill you!”
“Steve, let us in! It’s a Code Red alert. Did you hear me, CODE RED!” Steve sighed at the sound of Dustin Henderson’s voice, but couldn’t help being worried. Generally “code reds” were something serious.
“Henderson, I love you, but if you are fucking with me right now, I’m not above committing homicide!” Steve swung open the door to be met not with just the face of Henderson, but two of his other kids, Will and Mike, and a man as well. A very handsome man if Steve’s exhausted brain isn’t mistaken. “What the hell is this about Henderson? I just finished another twelve hour shift and I’m fucking exhausted. You know this!”
Dustin pushed his way past Steve beckoning the others to join him. “Look Steve, it's a long story. But this guy is our friend Eddie, and we’re pretty sure he needs stitches.”
“Well then what the hell are you doing here at 9:00 in the fucking morning. Take the guy to a goddamn hospital!” Steve pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “I’m a nurse Dustin, not a one-stop shop for you to bring random men to!” No matter how attractive said men were. Even as Steve made his argument he began to assess the damage. Now taking the time to assess the man, Eddie, was holding what looked like a rag to his jaw.
“Look man, I don’t want to cause any trouble. I’m sure I’ll be fine, but the kids insisted…” Eddie began…
Dustin rushed to defend Eddie, “we know you have the stuff since you had it to sew Max up when she crashed on her skateboard and -”
“Please Steve, it's our fault.” Will whispered. “Mike’s and mine…”
Steve whipped around to look at the most unassuming member of the “party”. “What do you mean it’s your fault? I know you didn’t do this to him; what happened?” Suddenly a lead weight settled in his stomach, he suspected he knew how this story was going to end.
Eddie jumped in before Mike or Will could continue their story, “Dude, this is absolutely not your fault. The only people who are to blame are those assholes.” That was all the softening up that Steve needed to capitulate. Who was he fooling, he never turned his kids down, and a pretty face worked wonders convincing him.
“For fucks sake, fine.” Steve pointed at Eddie, “you, follow me.” Steve looked over at the kids, one of you make me a coffee and a bagel. I don’t do free labor.”
Steve gestured for Eddie to follow him to the bathroom and pointed to the toilet, “sit. Move that rag so I can get a look.” Eddie removed the rag from his jaw. Steve assessed the damage and hmmed, “looks like you need a couple of stitches after all. Look, it’s not illegal per se, but it is pretty damned frowned upon for me to do this, so I’ll only do this if you agree to not spread the word around. The kids trust you so-”
“Look, I won’t say anything, Man. Honestly, I wasn’t even going to get it looked at but the kids insisted that they ‘knew a guy’.” Eddie leaned back up against the back of the toilet and rested his head against the wall.
Steve breathed out a sigh of relief and got out his disinfectant spray to clean his counter before getting the rest of his supplies out. “What’s the rest of the story? How’d this all go down?”
Eddie sat back up to attention, “Look, the story is complicated and there are things that aren’t mine to give away.”
Steve stopped his prep to give the other man an assessing look, before asking, “If this is about the boys, I know.” Eddie returned Steve’s searching look with his own.
“You know?” Steve gave an assured nod.
“Look, if it helps move this story along. I myself fly the pink, purple, blue flag.” Steve tried to assure the guys sitting in his bathroom with an oozing wound.
“Ah, so you do know after all. I don’t need to worry about the risk of another hate crime being committed. Look Man, the boys and I camped out last night at the arena to get concert tickets…”
“Fuck, the Queen tickets, I’d forgotten, I told them not to go if they couldn’t get an adult to go with them…” Steve berated himself, he should have known better. He should have checked in with them and made sure they weren’t planning on going alone.
“You’re the one who told them to ask me!” Eddie looked surprised at whatever connections he had made. “You’re Steve. Steve, Steve. I should have put it together earlier! You can’t blame me as my head has been knocked around a bit this morning. It’s nice to finally put a face to the name, and what a pretty face it is.”
Steve was confused. Probably because he’d worked multiple back to back shifts at the hospital. He was clearly missing something and was lost, who was this guy? Also, was this guy seriously flirting with him with his face, well jaw, oozing? “Look Dude, nice that the kids talk about me, but who the fuck are you?”
“I’m Eddie, Eddie Munson, I run the D&D club at UofCh.”
Steve groaned, “Of course you are.” Eddie raised a brow at this, “I have heard of you Dude. The kids fucking love you. Henderson worships the ground you walk on. I’m not entirely sure if Will is in love with you or wants to be you. I’m sorry that I didn’t put it together, but you really weren’t what I was expecting.” Honestly Steve had always figured the kids were exaggerating how cool, “their” Eddie was. Not some gorgeous, rock star type with a leather jacket, tattoos, and rudely distracting jewelry.
“I’ll be honest Stevie, you weren’t exactly who I was picturing either. The kids mostly talk about you like you’re some middle-aged mom. But then Henderson mentioned that you had great hair and were kind of a jock. Really mixed messages there.” Steve snorted, not all surprised in how the kids described him.
“So what happened?” Steve steered the conversation back to the issue at hand.
“If you know what’s going on between those two, then the story really isn’t that complicated. We stayed overnight outside the arena. No issues. We had a good time. Jamming out, playing cards, whatever. We got the tickets no problem. After we got the tickets, obviously the kids were excited. Mike and Will, well, in their excitement they shared a quick kiss, but it apparently wasn’t quick enough because some douchebags saw it. Started giving them a hard time. I stepped in and ended it, but not before one of them got a good shot in. The boys felt guilty and said they knew a guy who could fix me up, and here we are.”
“Those fucking idiots. I love them, but God they’re stupid sometimes. Thanks Munson, for taking them to get those tickets. But also for what you did for them, that really could have ended in a disaster if you hadn’t been there for them. No matter how much of a fighter they are in their little D&D games, that definitely isn’t true in their real lives. I owe you a ton for being there for them. Not just last night and this morning, but also on Campus. I know their first year as freshman got off to a rocky start, but joining your club definitely helped the transition. And like I said, they really look up to you.”
“No problem Stevie. As annoying as those little gremlins can be. I do actually care for them more than I am comfortable admitting in their presence.” Steve snorted.
“I hear you. It’s their tone, right? Look, I’m ready to get this going. I’m going to clean the area then give you four or five stitches. Here take these, they’re just your basic over the counter pain meds. This really shouldn’t hurt too bad, I’m a fairly deft hand it should only pinch a bit. Try not to flex though as that will make it worse.” Steve leaned and began cleaning the other man’s jaw. God, he smells good, smoky, spicy, probably whatever cologne or aftershave he used, and musky. Steve refocused to the task at hand, he was a goddamn professional and didn’t need to be smelling his patient. Steve finished cleaning the wound and pulled away to get his medical needle and thread.
“So how does an ER nurse/former jock know a bunch of nerdy kids and become their mom? I’m assuming you know the others in the so-called party as well?” Steve turned back to Eddie once he had what he needed.
“Look, no more talking until I’m done? Got it, you’ve got a handsome face and you don’t want me fucking it up with a scar because you couldn’t shut up while I did your stitches.” Eddie nodded and Steve smiled at the faint blush on the other man's face. Sure, he was a goddamn professional, but he wasn’t at the hospital. What could a bit of harmless flirting do?
“I met the kids when we were still in high school. I dated Wheeler’s older sister Nancy. A lot of shit went down, which is a complicated story and I’m not even legally allowed to talk about it. But we’re all trauma bound, or some crap. I became their babysitter/chauffeur/suburbanite mom,” Steve could see Eddie stifling a laugh in an effort to not move, “after everything went down and the rest is history. Almost done, I’m tying it off now.” Steve finished his work and looked back up, “Alright, you can talk now. How did it feel? Not too tortuous?”
Eddie smiled, “No Man, thanks a lot. I definitely owe you one. You have a nice, gentle touch Stevie.” Then the man had the audacity to wink at him. Steve was exhausted, he was way too tired to be beaten at his own flirtation game that he wasn’t even entirely sure he was trying to play at.
Before he could even try to stop himself, “Anytime you need a nice, gentle touch, I’m your guy,” and to make it worse, his mouth decided to not stop there, and added, “I’m always looking for a daddy to share parenting with.” Steve knew then that he hadn’t died earlier from exhaustion, as he was now experiencing a painful humiliation of letting his mouth run away from him with a complete stranger.
However, thankfully to Steve’s continued existence Eddie began laughing. “Thanks man, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. But the ship might have already sailed on that one as I’m fairly certain that ship sailed as when Mommy said no to concert tickets without adult supervision, they came and asked me.”
“Alright then Daddy,” Eddie stiffened slightly so Steve rushed on before awkwardness could kick in, “keep these dry for the first 24 hours. After that, keep them clean and make sure you pat them dry with a clean towel.” Steve glanced warily at the rag he’d been holding to his face earlier. “Once dry, put one of these bandages over it. If you feel any pain, swelling, increase in redness, pus, or anything weird, go to a real doctor! Got it?”
Eddie nodded, “Thanks Nurse Stevie. When can I take them out?”
Steve glared, “You will not be taking them out. You will be coming back to see me in three days and we’ll take a look.” With that Steve exited the bathroom to hopefully find breakfast waiting for him a la the little gremlins as Eddie had called them.
“Children, get out of my apartment. I don’t want to see any of you for at least 48 hours.” Steve held open the apartment door and waited for his children to get out. “You don’t have to go home but you do have to get the hell out of here.”
Dustin leading the pack, “Thanks Steve, you’re the best! I knew you’d come through for us!” He gave Steve a tight squeeze and then hastened out to the landing.
Mike, always a tough one, “Thanks Dude,” and gave him a quick knuckle bump and left.
Will looked at Steve with his puppy dog eyes, “Thanks Steve, I’m sure Eddie told you what happened. Thanks for always being there for us, it’s hard with Jonathan being so far away, but having you as a second brother almost makes up for it.”
Steve opted to give Will a tight hug, “Anytime Will. You know you can always come to me.” Will joined his friends.
“No hug for me Stevie? I’m the wounded patient here?” Eddie joked as he walked towards the door. Steve, seeing a chance, gave the long-haired man a hug.
“For my favorite, illicit patient of the day, why not? Remember what I said, don’t get it wet until tomorrow. Keep it clean. If you need anything let me know. Henderson has my number. Come back if you need any help. I’ll see you in three days.” and with that Steve shut his door and went to collapse on his bed in blissful slumber, coffee and bagel forgotten.