The Politics of Being Eddie Munson

Epilogue: No Need To Army Crawl Anymore

The birds seemed to be chirping as Eddie's eyes slowly cracked open to his fan spinning round and round in his bedroom. He could tell he was smiling, even in the haze of the early May morning. He knew his chest filled with warmth as he brought his hand up to Steve's hair, as the boy cuddled into Eddie's chest like he did every morning. Eddie began to comb through the messy locks as he let himself wake up. He even let a soft yawn escape his lips as he stretched his legs out from their curled-up position. After a moment, he allowed his eyes to focus on the clock next to his bed and realized that he had beat his alarm clock.

He took five minutes before the alarm went off to ensure he was ready for the day. He looked around his room the best he could without waking Steve. He saw his dress pants, button-down shirt, tie, socks, and nice dress shoes splayed out onto a chair in the corner of his room. Steve did that, even after Eddie said that was his one good funeral outfit.

"Steve, this suit is for funerals. I'm not wearing this tomorrow." Eddie whined as he watched Steve lay out the outfit. The boy had spent all day ironing the shit out of the clothes so they'd look nice for the graduation ceremony.

"You only graduate once, Eddie. I want you to look nice for the photos." Steve scoffed as he stepped back to look at the outfit. He then turned to look at Eddie, a smile spread wide across his face. "You'll look so handsome tomorrow at the graduation, love."

"Maybe I should skip it?"

Steve's eyes almost popped out of his head.

"Don't you even think that shit, Eddie. We did not spend weeks reading that Romeo and Juliet book for you to skip out on your graduation. That's not how this is about to go down." Steve had a firm tone as he tapped his foot and placed his hands on his hips. He clearly couldn't tell that Eddie was joking.

"Sweetheart, I'm kidding." Eddie smiled. Steve softened up a bit. "I just don't want to wear these fantasy clothes."

"You'll thank me in the future, Eddie. You really will."

"I can't see myself doing that, but okay."

"So, you'll wear the outfit?" Steve asked, hopeful.

"I guess." Eddie groaned.

Steve made his way over to Eddie and kissed his lips quick. He pulled away with a clap and then skipped out of the room, happy he won, glad he had Eddie wrapped around his finger.

Check on the outfit. Eddie thought. He then turned and looked at Steve's outfit laid out. Check. His eyes then traveled to his cap and gown. Check. Then to his desk, which had three tickets placed near a notebook. One was for Wayne, one was for Steve, and one was for Max's mom. Check.

As Eddie finished his checklist, his alarm clock went off, stirring Steve awake. Eddie turned the alarm off and then kissed the top of Steve's bedhead. "Good morning, sweetheart."

"Morning, Ed." Steve yawned as he stretched out. "Sleep well?"

"Always do when I'm next to you."

Steve smiled as he leaned up and kissed Eddie's cheek. He then pulled away and sat up, stretching even more when he did so. His back muscles were prominent as he stretched, causing Eddie's mouth to water.

He'll never get over Steve's beauty.

"Close your mouth, or you'll catch a fly." Steve snickered without even looking toward Eddie.

Eddie closed his mouth with an eye roll. "I wasn't looking at you. You've got quite the big head to think that."

"Oh, shut up." Steve laughed as he turned to face Eddie. "I know you better than you know yourself."