#when the cubbies finally win the ws eddie calls to crow about it and threatens to buy him a replica ring

[alchemistc]

Wayne teaching a pleading Eddie about baseball in the heat of the summer because Steve has spent months investing in all of Eddie's special interests and Eddie has come to the terrible realization that he's mostly shit on Steve's music and hobbies for most of their friendship so he buys tickets to a baseball game on a whim as a "surprise sorry I'm a shitty friend" gift except like, he doesn't have a fucking clue about sports in general and he doesn't want to look STUPID.

Wayne, with a put upon sigh, sitting in his recliner and declining to comment on the tiny green shorts Eddie is wearing because the last time he brought up Steve's propensity for leaving his goddamn clothes in Eddie's room all the time Eddie had iced him out for three whole days. The trailer doesn't have AC and it's hot as hell so whatever, if Eddie wants to continue to deny that Harrington is clearly leaving bits of himself behind to test out the waters then Wayne isn't going to push it.

Wayne, trying to explain infield and outfield and pitchers and catchers ("Okay I know that one," Eddie says with a wiggle of his eyebrows and Wayne scowls.) and runners and scoring and innings.

Harrington's Beemer pulling up on a Friday afternoon and Wayne greeting him at the door while Steve asks Wayne if he knows what Eddie has planned and Wayne shrugs because he still doesn't understand why they need a day and a half to make it to the game, and Eddie's excited for this surprise.

Wayne waking up on Sunday afternoon to the sound of the trailer door slamming open, laying in bed listening to hushed voices and the sounds of bacon frying on the stove, rolling out of bed to find his nephew still wearing his damn sunglasses inside, so clearly they'd had themselves a good time, and then Wayne blinks and his eyes focus and -

"What the hell are you wearing, kid?" he asks and Eddie yelps, bangs his head on the open cabinet door, hisses when the movement knocks the glasses off his nose and the light hits his eyes and Wayne very carefully does not mention the way Harrington presses in close to examine Eddie's head, fingers pressing into Eddie's hair and it's a familiar closeness but there's definitely still something more there than there was two days ago.

His nephew is wearing a goddamned Cubs jersey in his goddamn house and Steve's eyes flit to the Cardinals hat hung on the wall with growing comprehension and possibly a little terror.

"Everyone knows the merch is half the experience, Wayne," Eddie tells him and Wayne contemplates snacking him upside the head because his goddamn nephew has had the audacity to fall in love with a goddamn Cubbie fan. Right under his roof.

Over breakfast Steve explains the rivalry and has to stop himself from talking shit about the Cards more than once. Wayne admires his restraint but nearly shoves his own head right in the oven when it turns out Steve had likened everything Eddie didn't understand about the game to DnD scenarios and managed to make a fan out of Eddie.

Wayne doesn't have the heart to threaten to burn the jersey. Not when Eddie is making connections between the Curse and one of his old campaigns and Steve is staring at his nephew with such a helplessly fond look that Wayne feels like he's interrupting something.

Not when they suddenly have a standing appointment to sit around their small TV, Eddie in his Cubs jersey and Wayne with his Cards hat firmly pulled over his head and Steve in between them quietly drinking his beer while Eddie yells at the ump through the TV about a called strike that is "Clearly off the plate, man, are you BLIND?"

Not when Eddie comes in late one morning and leans against the door with two fingers absentmindedly pressed to his lips and suddenly Steve's over most nights, hooking his ankle over Eddie's and curling his fingers into Eddie's and stumbling over sudden sirs again even though Wayne thought he'd curbed that months ago.

He does, however, draw the line when Eddie tries to give him a Cubs hat for his birthday.

#waynes from missouri because i say so and its fucking hilarious to think of him finally finding something to bond with eddie over #only for him to be a goddamn cubs fan #when the cubbies finally win the ws eddie calls to crow about it and threatens to buy him a replica ring #steddie headcanon #wayne munson #eddie munson #steve harrington #30+40 yr old eddie munson collecting bobble heads of cubs players and dropping by waynes to leave them around like a taunt