Again

Chapter 5

Eddie talks him through the painting process, and soon enough, they have their own little silent two-person production line going. Eddie breaks the silence first without tearing his eyes from the little figure he is painting in front of him. "So how did super jock Steve Harrington manage to raise two little nerds? Is their mom one? I mean, it's obvious they're biologically yours. Unmistakably!" His last exclamation makes Steve smile happily at the dwarven hero in his fingers.

"No, their mom isn't a nerd either. Very business minded, though. I get why you'd think that, but Corey would give you a run for your money on a basketball court, and Zee, well, the only sport she hasn't excelled at, that she's tried so far, is Tennis, and that's mainly because she hates it" Steve gushes. He wasn't more proud of their sporting prowess than anything else they were into. It was just an area he was proficient in. He understood sports. He could be useful in helping them with that.

"Shit, you and your wife made the ultimate hybrids?"

"Ex-wife", Steve corrects almost a little too quickly.

Steve sees Eddie's shoulder sink in his peripheral vision, and another apology starts. "Sorry, man. I didn't mean to-"

"It's not like that. Just sometimes, things don't work out. I'm real lucky it was amicable, we're still good friends, and that's good for the kids, you know? Me too, of course. It's nice to have someone to talk to about parent stuff, isn't it?" Steve prods the subject ever so gently, so maybe Eddie will talk about Morgan, and Steve can apologise.

"Yeah, of course," Eddie replies, cleaning his brush, but says nothing more. Damn it, Eddie! Steve would have to drag it out of Eddie now, especially because Steve had glared daggers at Morgan last time.

"Has...um...has Morgan been running games for a long time?" Steve asks

"Oh yeah." Eddie says like it was common knowledge, "We started him eaaaarly" Eddie laughs, "He's one of my best GMs, to be honest, which you wouldn't think if you talked him when he wasn't in the hot seat."

"Makes sense," Steve says, smiling at the pride on Eddie's face as he looks around the shelf at Morgan, and the guilt comes crashing down on him. "Listen, Eddie. I'm sorry about last time. I didn't know Morgan was with you-"

"And he's a teenage boy talking to your teenage daughter, looking like he just jumped out of a Sum 41 video. Dude, I would be the same if I was in your shoes. We've both been fourteen-year-old boys," he says, shaking his head.

"He's only fourteen??!!" Steve exclaims, his apologetic look swiftly turning into one of absolute shock, "What is he eating for breakfast? What is Sum 41??"

Eddie snorts out a laugh, making a delicate paint stroke across part of the new model he's picked up. "Yeah, those genes belong to his Mama's side of the family. Loooong line of lumberjacks. Count yourself lucky on the Sum 41 front. I've tried getting him into actual Metal, but he says it's Classic Rock. Cheeky little shit." Eddie adds with a fond smile

Steve looks around the shelf again at Morgan, "Jesus Christ. Are you sure they aren't Goliaths?" Instantly a loud cackle emerges from Eddie, almost tipping his seat too far back and falling backwards. Making Steve erupt with laughter too.

"Hey!! Some of us are trying to immerse ourselves in a game here! Can you two keep it down back there?!" Zee's voice rings out, stopping the chuckling painters immediately. They raise their eyebrows at one another and bite their lips, trying to hold back any more loud laughter and setting for repressed silent giggles that make their shoulders shake.

A few deep breaths later, Eddie is calm enough to talk again, "I tell you what, Harrington. I don't think you've got anything to worry about on the Zee front. She's got it covered." Eddie picks up his model again, "and honestly, I know you'll think I'm biased, but Morgan is a good kid. He might look and sound like a poster child for trouble, but he couldn't be anything further from it." Eddie's tongue presses against his top lip as he concentrates on painting the tiny boots of the elf, then stops and tuts."Ok, so maybe he is a little bit of trouble, but nothing like we did when we were kids. He doesn't smoke, drink, do drugs or get handsy, but being bigger than others, he often gets singled out as the guy to beat, you know? So he's had a few scrapes these last couple of years, and looking the way he does, he gets the sharp end of the stick, whilst the little shit that started it gets off scott fucking free. Assholes."