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rocknrollsalad · 6 months

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STWG Daily Prompt (Nov 10) - "I can explain..."

❤️ pairing(s): clarkson (implied steddie)

🧡 Wayne tries to have a quiet night in with Scott and Eddie, as usual, has other plans for them.

💛 content/trigger warnings: implied period typical homophobia (internal), concussions, injury treating

💚 word count: 2500

💙 Wayne Munson is a lot of things. Hardworking, caring, smarter than he looks, and incredibly private. Something life in the trailer park doesn’t always afford him, people keep track of the comings and goings around them and don’t mind coming over with a barely warmed frozen pie to find out why there’s a new car parked out in front of Wayne’s trailer.

That curiosity doesn’t mix with the reason the car is there, something best kept off other’s lips but Wayne doesn’t have the heart to ask Scott to park somewhere else or suggest they go to his place instead. Surely Wayne’s old truck would stick out like a sore thumb in Scott’s neighborhood and old ladies are busy regardless of their tax bracket.

Not that he’s doing anything with Scott he should be ashamed of. Not anymore, at least. The evening plans consisted of Bonanza reruns, cheap wine, and stealing the root beer Bottle Caps before Scott noticed. A night so unremarkably like any other even the gossipy of church ladies couldn’t find anything to say.

See, privacy was limited. Bartered and scheduled during Eddie’s shifts at work or bribing him to take friends to the movies. There was the occasional out of town trip now that his friend group had expanded but there was always an end to the empty trailer. To the privacy that a man Wayne’s age should have with ease.

Instead, his bedroom folded out into the central room. He slept with his head mere feet from the front door which had proved useful more times than Wayne wanted to admit. Especially now as it was the biggest fault in this layout.

There’d always be a room for Eddie. Wayne didn’t care if the boy was forty-five, he’d still clear a space and welcome him back in and, truthfully, Wayne thought his days of courting someone were long past. This wasn’t a problem he was meant to have and yet he watched the clock. Eddie’s shift ended five minutes ago. By the next commercial break, he’d be pulling in, talking about everything under the sun, and taking half the food out of the fridge.

Meaning there was a respectable distance between him and Scott on the couch, not quite sitting on opposite ends but no longer sitting together. However, three commercial breaks came and went, a bathroom break and a little wander around to move joints that didn’t like to sit still for long periods of time, and a quick trip outside to smoke a cigarette because the smoke made Scott sneeze and not at all to watch down the road for familiar headlights all came and went. No Eddie.

And so Scott moved closer. It was always Scott and for that Wayne was thankful. Too out of practice to make moves on his own, Scott picked up the slack. He was now passing over the coveted root beer candies and pointing out the historical inaccuracies of a bunch of men on a sound stage.

Enough time passed, and Wayne stopped watching the clock. Eddie had probably gone out with friends and forgot to call. The lecture could wait until the morning but Eddie was old enough to take care of himself, Wayne kept alert enough to answer the call from the cops should it come but beyond that relaxed into an Eddie-free night. Something he shouldn’t be celebrating but as Scott stretched out across the couch, laying his head on Wayne’s leg, it was hard not to.

The wine had done this. It always did and Wayne would tell him every time “It’s going to knock you out, take it easy,” and every time Scott would come up with some reason it wouldn’t. He’d had a big lunch, the sun was still shining, and he was really enjoying this movie. An answer for everything and every time it ended this way.

Wayne couldn’t find a complaint to utter though and carried on watching the Cartwrights do their thing. When the corrections stalled and Scott gave up on most midsentence, Wayne eased the man’s glasses off and folded them gently on the table beside him. The protests that followed were from a script, these were the same every time and easily silenced.

By the time he clicked over to the nightly news and nothing came from his nephew, Wayne decided they had the trailer to themselves tonight. And while he should have done so many things, turn off the lights, have another cigarette, lock the door, he didn’t want to risk waking the snoring science teacher.

If they were going to do this, sneak around and date outside the prying eyes of everyone like some teenagers, Wayne could give into a bit of those childish wants. Everything didn’t have to be old man Munson.

Rather than get up, leave Scott to the couch and the good blanket to go off to his bed, Wayne shifted slowly, carefully, until he was lying behind Scott. Propping his head on the arm of the couch, Wayne watched the reporters talk about the events of the day and enjoyed the warmth of lying with someone else. It almost felt too indulgent, like he was only allowed a little bit of this.

Instead, Wayne drifted off as well. An arm over Scott, nestled close. It was one of life’s simple pleasures, surely. Sunsets, hitting all green lights, and cuddling next to someone, it was all magical in a way Wayne had forgotten. Being close enough to smell shampoo, to feel the rise and fall of his chest, and to know he felt safe enough to be here. Wayne was a lucky guy.

He had no idea how long he’d been laying there, the TV station had gone off the air and the static image mixed with the one good street lamp outside. Eddie’s silhouette was in the door that he’d just slammed into the wall. Wayne wasn’t sure if the sound woke him or the need to yell at Eddie for the hole they couldn’t even repair anymore.

Before Wayne could settle on an answer, he remembered where he was and scrambled to sit up. Shoving Scott’s feet out of the way, Wayne sat bolt straight like a sergeant was here for bed inspection.

At about the same time, the sight of Eddie came into focus. There were leaves in his hair which seemed a little wilder than usual. His eye was swollen, surely on its way to blackening, and his clothes were ripped in a few new spots.

That sight and not the embarrassment had Wayne on his feet. Eddie took the words Wayne was about to speak and held his hands up. “I can explain.”

“It better be a good one,” Wayne warned, peering out the still-opened door to check on Eddie’s van or if he’d been followed.

Somewhere behind him, Scott groaned and sat up. It was Eddie’s turn to peer around, judging just slightly. They were too similar sometimes and this was the last moment Wayne wanted to be putting that together.

“Okay, so you know Steve’s best friend? Robin?”

Wayne shook his head. He barely remembered half the stuff Eddie said about Steve. Though in Wayne’s defense, it was a lot. Somehow the kid had replaced Lord of the Rings as the constant topic of conversation and Wayne wasn’t sure if it was an improvement.

“You’ve met her several times. Several. It’s not important. She’s got this possum that’s like living under her porch and…”

There was a bit of relief in the way Wayne relaxed but mostly it was regret. For asking, for not knowing better, or for thinking Eddie had been in a fight, he wasn’t sure. Maybe it was all of it. He knew at this moment, shenanigans should have been expected.

For the first time, Wayne looked to Scott. Both to see if he’d commiserate and if he was okay. He looked asleep still, just sitting up. No help there. Reluctantly, Wayne looked back to Eddie to hear the rest of this tale.

“...so I’m under the porch and I think I got a handle on this bastard, right? I’m gonna get him out of there except we didn’t really, like, check gender or whatever. I don’t even know why we thought he was a guy. Robin named him Jeremy and Steve and me rolled with it. Anyway, Jeremy had several babies he was protective of.”

Ages ago, Eddie set the bar for weird. Telling a story about how he’d broken his arm, he was all of ten and it had something to do with a book Wayne couldn’t remember, a pile of rocks, and several "dragons". It was all very…Eddie. Something that said the next generation was certainly different. But this seemed to raise the bar. It was going to take a bit more to pass this one than Wayne wanted to live through.

“I hate that I have to ask this question, kid, but did the possum give you a black eye?”

“No. You’d think that, right, but their cute little hands aren’t that strong. I punched myself trying to bat Jeremy away. It was so cramped under there, there wasn’t a lot of room to swing around I guess and I got myself.”

“Naturally.”

“Jeremy is still there, we didn’t get him out but Robin said I couldn’t stay at her house. Her parents have rules about boys and sleepovers they’ve been trying to get them to relax about for ages but me and Steve had to leave. I slammed my head pretty good, so they didn’t think I should be alone. Y’know, in case I had a concussion or something.”

“Why didn’t you stay with Steve?”

“I’m injured, uncle, and you’re trying to kick me out of my house? My home?” Eddie flawlessly switched on a pout he’d perfected about the same time he’d mastered getting himself into bizarre situations. Though it was worse with the one eye swollen shut.

Wayne grumbled but walked off to the kitchen, grabbing the bag of peas and carrots. The label was wearing off and Wayne thought they should probably replace these. At some point, they had to be harboring new life forms in there for as many times as it had been thawed and refrozen.

“Go sit in my chair,” Wayne said, slapping the bag to Eddie’s chest and heading over to click the lamp on so he could get a better look at the boy. Trying to figure out what to say to Eddie who looked like he went toe to toe with a biker gang but it was nothing more than his own clumsiness and desire to cheat death.

Eddie skipped over to the chair he usually wasn’t allowed to sit in. Only when hurt or sick. Just because he was in his twenties didn’t mean traditions had to go. It obviously still worked as Eddie plopped into the chair with every ounce of disrespect and pride he had.

Wayne waved his hand to remind Eddie where the veggies were meant to go. Instead, Eddie sat there with that shit-eating grin he was too good at. Something that decidedly Munson. Wayne’s dad had the same Chesire grin. He was sure his grandpa did and all the other branches of the family tree.

“How’s it going, Mr. Clarke?” Eddie said, returning to pathetic and wounded.

Scott opened his mouth but the rebuttal fell flat, he sighed and crumpled. Too tired to be clever and it had Wayne flashing a warning to Eddie.

“I got in a fight with a possum,” Eddie said, not needing Scott’s participation in this.

However, he got it. “Looks like the possum won,” Scott grumbled.

Eddie’s eyes shot to Wayne like he was going to stop that and not stand there laughing. It was deserved and true so there was little Wayne was going to do. Other than laugh.

“You wanna keep playing or should we check this out,” Wayne said, comfortable in the newfound smugness Scott allowed him.

With a heaving sigh, Eddie nodded. Wayne bent down and had Eddie track his finger, watching for any bouncing or inability to follow. Everything looked good, he wasn’t out of the woods but at least it wasn’t a trip to the ER. Those cost too much.

“You’re supposed to use a flashlight,” Scott said, scrubbing his face. He stood up and put his hand on Wayne’s back and continued the same way he’d been talking about cowboy inaccuracies. Wayne was not smart enough for a guy like this. “I don’t know what you were checking but we need to check his pupils. He walked over just fine though.”

“You suggesting we give him a field sobriety test?” Wayne looked at Scott, shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

“It’d work. We wanna see if he’s off balance or easily confused. If he could do his alphabet backward, I think we’d know plenty.”

“I’m not drunk,” Eddie protested.

“No one said you were. It might be a piece of the story you wanna embellish in later retellings. If you couldn’t figure out how to get through the alphabet though, it’d be a cause for alarm. But we could start making a bunch of noise and see if it bothers you, that’s also a symptom.”

“Is this…where did this guy come from?” Wayne whispered.

“That’s Mr. Clarke,” Eddie said.

It shouldn’t have been the answer it was but Scott was using his teacher voice on them. He likely had to develop a bit of sarcasm or permanent exasperation to deal with middle schoolers all day. Wayne liked the spunk, though. A pleasant change. Except for the part where half-awake Scott defaulted to his teacher role. The man likely needed a vacation but who didn't? Who could afford one?

“Alright, let's try a flashlight then,” Wayne said. Not wanting to get into all that with Eddie in the conversation.

“The smaller the better.”

Wayne went rummaging through the junk drawer to find it and the three of them worked to make sure Eddie was okay. All of Scott’s tests proved the same thing Wayne’s did but they decided to keep an eye on him anyway.

Finding a channel that hadn’t gone off air, they watched some B-movie in black and white. Scott and Wayne took opposite ends of the couch, Eddie thawing peas and carrots against his cheek in Wayne's chair. Wayne tried not to mourn what he’d lost, especially while watching over his injured nephew, and decided to enjoy the fact that he didn’t have to explain a thing about what was going on. Somehow they'd become the teenagers in this situation and they escaped getting caught.

Nothing about the night had gone as planned and Wayne wasn’t sure that was a good thing. He might have to get over his problems with the cute little suburb Scott lived in because there weren’t any kids running around that house and what Wayne wouldn’t give to repeat tonight without the interruption.

#okay i'm falling asleep so aesthetically i know this isn't great i'm sorry #i'm only so strong lol #clarkson #stwg prompt #my first one #and i'm finally writing things!!!#it feels so good #i had some great sprints like keep this energy up man #sorry this isn't a DRABBLE either #like i know it's a full one shot #but we're being nice because i'm trying to get out of this slump #hey everyone come see what i wrote now

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