#☪ || i will defend you; take care of you; and do right by you; even if you have a knife to my throat; especially then (clarphy)

[canmargesimpson]

Chapter 3:

Chap 1 & Chap 2

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☪ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Just as Eddie said, he eventually went on tour across the USA, leaving Steve and Gimli all on their own in the house. And the worst part is that they never got a call back from the adoption agency. Now that Steve was all alone and the only  thing he thought about was the kids and kids and more kids,  eventually became a strange topic for him. After that fight with Eddie, they both agreed to wait till they were both home for enough time to take care of a child.

So he tried to spend as much time on the basketball court of the school he worked in, playing alone and trying to think of anything but Eddie or the kids. He sometimes would also use the school’s pool, to bring back the memories of him being the captain of the swimming team back in hawkins. The more he ran or swam, the less the thoughts of kids were inside his head, and the less he missed eddie. So for the past week it has become a routine to, end work, go do whatever sport he felt like doing till 7 o'clock striked. Then he would go back to his office, get his stuff and head home to Gimli.

Today was Friday, November 4, 1996. Steve was drying his hair as he walked to his classroom with the blue towel on his hands. He had just spent the last 4 hours swimming over and over again at the pool, since Robin had a date and he was all alone. Since it's friday, he would usually have a movie night with Eddie, but since he’s not there, Steve just kept his head under the water to forget his loneliness. His shoes echoed through the completely empty hall. But as Steve started walking slower he realized that wasn't the only sound in the hall. He heard soft cries and sniffs from the half open theater class. 

Steve has been through enough trauma to know he shouldn’t follow the strange noise coming from the dark room, and especially if he is on his own and with nothing to defend himself with, but the cries were so heartbreaking, he didn’t even care if it was a trap. When he started working as a teacher, his empathy levels went through the roof, and whenever a kid had a slight frown on his face, something in him made him reach out and make sure that kid is not going through a hard or bad time. But still a nostalgic feeling crept over his shoulder and made him feel this slight panic on his stomach, what if it was a trap?. He immediately discarded the noise from the upside down since the last time he checked, Demogorgons don’t cry, and the gate was closed over 10 years ago. But it still could be a thief or some robber, so to defend himself. Before he could actually step into the theater class, he looked around the lockers to find a Tennis racquet which he grabbed and placed in an attack position in case of an emergency.

He took a step into the dark room to find a completely Victorian age set on the stage. It looked right out of a Shakespeare play, with deep red drapes, a large wooden table with a plastic shaped wine glass with a fake dagger next to it. But on the deep right end of the stage where a tall bed with big pillows and red velvet bedspread was located, was a dark haired girl sobbing into her hands. She was clearly under the probably fake bedspread and was wearing a black hoodie. 

Steve’s teacher and mommy instinct switched on as he left the stupid tennis racquet and turned the drama class light on. The girl on the bed gasped completely shocked to realize she wasn't as alone as she was. She looked towards the door to find her Counseling teacher in the entrance.

“Mr Harrington?”

“What the hell are you doing here?!” he asked with a loud and firm voice. He really wanted to approach her and hug the life out of her, but since he was a teacher, he needed to put the authority hat on. He walked down the step while placing his towel behind his neck. 

“I-I- I should go '' she stumbled out the bed as she grabbed a backpack on the floor filled with pins that loudly clashed as she moved the backpack harshly. Before she can even step out of the stage Steve is already walking up the stairs from the side stage.

“What’s going on? Why are you crying? '' He said as he gently placed his hand on her shoulder, for her to flinch and move backwards. 

“It’s nothing” she sniffed

“Nothing? You’re at school on a Friday because of nothing?,” he asked rhetorically. The girl seemed amused so he just came up with a better way to open to her “How about we go back to my office i believe i have some cookies left that are about to expire”

“I-” she looked at the floor and then mumbled quietly “I… okay”

She gave in quicker than he thought, so he nudged to the office and she just nodded. She went back to the bed on the stage and removed from under the bed a sports duffle bag filled with stuff. She then picked up her sneakers and started to put them on. Steve was quick to grab her bag and put it on his shoulder to help her a bit. Once she was all laced up, they both walked to Steve's office in a tense and uncomfortable silence. 

Once they got there, Steve opened his drawer and took out just what he remembered from earlier. It was an Oreo pack that was about a month old. As the young girl sat down in front of him and quickly grabbed a tissue from a little yellow box with some drawings of sheep. 

“Let’s see” Steve turned them around to find the expiration date “it says it has a few days more, how about we eat them before i have to throw them” 

“S-sure” she sniffed as she blew her nose.

Steve opened the package and offered the girl in front of him a cookie, which she gladly accepted. He took one for himself and left them on the table that separated them. He then crossed his arms over his chest, knowing he had to put his teacher shoes on for this conversation.

“So… School on a Friday night, sleeping on the theater bed and now eating cookies with the basketball and swimming couch… would you like to explain to me how we got here…… I’m sorry, um I don’t know your name” he says honestly which kinda made her laugh

“Julia… Bennet” she said as she swallowed her cookie and wipe the few tears she had left

“Bennet…. Is your brother Owen? He’s on the basketball team that’s why I ask” he said. He does have the parents' contact, so maybe he could take her back to her house.

Her face, though, shifted clearly. Julia looked down at her lap where her thumbs fiddled together, she nodded quietly. Steve clearly realized that maybe her brother wasn't the best subject to talk about at the moment, so he just left that information in the drawers for now. 

“Now Julia, would you like to explain to me how you got here? It’s quite late, and i'm pretty sure your parents must be looking for you” 

She scoffed loudly before covering her mouth with her hands while staring back at the coach. 

“Im sorry” she mumbled

Steve nodded and took another cookie, as he indicated her to start talking

“Well i… I got home after school, and I invited my best friend over for a sleepover. Do you know Katya?” she asked

“Howard?”

“Yeah”

“Yeah, she’s in the swimming team”

She looked back down and her stability started to break as she let out a small sob

“Well” her voice was seconds away from breaking, but she didn’t seem to care, because she kept trying to speak as if everything was okay “we were in my room and we were just talking … then I- well she- and i….” she stumbled 

“Take your time sweetie” Steve said as he pushed the oreo package towards her. She took one quickly and shoved into her mouth. After a few bites, we swallowed harshly and grabbed another tissue to wipe her eyes. 

She inhaled and looked up trying to make the tears stop. 

“We kissed?” she shrugged while cringing at herself “and- jesus christ…. My brother walked in and h-h-he told my d-” and after that she broke as she shoved her face on her hands and cried

Steve got off his chair to kneel next to her, placing a hand on her back and softly caressing it. He knew in that exact moment how the story continued. I mean, Eddie went through something quite similar, so he only placed the pieces on his mind and made a quick and smart decision.

“Okay, let’s go” he said as he grabbed the cookies, his own bag, and Julia’s bag.

The girl pushed her hair back asking where

“There is no way you are staying the night here, and no way I'm taking you back home. So you are gonna spend the night me, i have an extra room, and you can spend the weekend if you want to”

“Mr Harrington you don’t need-”

“I do” he interrupts and looks her in the eyes “I have to make sure you are safe, that’s my job, so now grab your stuff and let's get moving, alright?”

Julia smiled and stood up. They both walked to the only car left in the parking lot left, in complete comfortable silence. Steve placed her things on the back as she sat on the passenger looking at the cassette collection. Steve noticed she was quite interested in his favorite, so as they drove back to his house, Steve and Julia sat side by side listening to Eddie’s music. Julia seemed to know the songs quite well which made Steve smile. Once they got home, Steve took her to the guest bedroom that was usually for when anyone in the party stayed over, or anyone in Eddie’s band needed a place to crash. 

“Now this is gonna be your room, we have a small bathroom attached to it, it has some products and stuff if you need. This room is quite nice because the sun doesn’t really get here till sunset, in which this room turns into this… Golden box, and my hus- roommate says” Steve smiled tightlipped

“You have a roommate?” Julia asked quite scared

“Yeah but he’s not really here for the moment. He’s currently out of town… to see family”

“Okay” she nodded

Steve then walked out to let her have her space, and to make sure the house was clean. Since Gimli is the only one home 24/7, he would push things off the tables or even take some of Eddie's clothes into the living room where he would sleep on them. So Steve was picking up some band t-shirts on the floor, some decorations and a dirty sock, when Julia came out of her room and stood on the door looking at the floor. She was wearing her pajamas, which consisted of a band t-shirt  shirt (a band that Eddie definitely would have known), and some long sweat shorts that reached her knee.

“Mr Harrington?” she called, and he instantly placed the stuff on his hand behind his back to make sure she didn’t see the mess “Are you…. Are you gonna call the cops on me?” 

Even though he believed it wasn't possible, his heart broke even more.

“What?! Where did you get that from?”

“My dad…” she sniffed “he told me that… homosexual should be dead” then gasped “and… taken to jail- and i” and finally sobbed like a kid “don’t want to go to jail Mr Harrington- I swear i’ve tried to change but-”

Steve started to cry now too. He ran to her and held her as he would have held his younger self. The way he would have held tiny steve, comforting him, telling him that being confused over his sexuality is normal. She buried her head on his chest sobbing loudly. So loud that Steve didn’t hear the door opening.

“Honey! Im Home-” Eddie yells but stops as he witnesses the single most cutest thing ever. His husband was holding an 11 year old girl who was crying. 

“Eddie?” Steve looked up to see him holding a bouquet of flowers and a duffle bag “wha-”

And what happened next was just a blur. It was a mix of both grown ups crying because they missed each other, and the small girl crying at the comfort both adults gave her as they told her that being queer isn’t illegal and that they would protect her in any way possible. Even though Eddie didn’t really know who she was, he comforted her and told him his experience of getting kicked out of the house for his sexuality and how at the end of the day it was for the best. Later at night the three of them, and Gimli of course, curled up on the couch and ended up watching the old VHS tape of Mary Poppins. Julia, who was on the edge of the couch with the fat, short, orange cat on her lap, fell asleep by the end of the movie, and so did Steve. Eddie, knowing his husband had a rough day, stood up and carried the girl to the guest bedroom.

She stirred awake as he left her on the bed

“Shhh shhh, it's okay, don’t be scared, '' he whispered. “I'm just leaving you at bed, okay? Nothing else”

Julia’s eyes fluttered and looked up at the adult who had his face covered by his hair

“T-thank you” she murmured under her breath as she took the duvet and covered her shoulder “mr..”

“Call me Eddie kiddo'' he winked as he kneeled in front of her “and, it's the least we could do. Beside” he felt a small purr and lean on his legs to look down at the cat who seemed to want to get on the bed “It looks like Gimli the Dweeb seems to like you” He took the cat and left it next to the girl who smiled at the sight of the cat.

“He’s really fat” she laughed

“Yeah he is” Eddie smiled as he scratched the head of the cat. “Now” he stood up softly and looked down at the girl “what do you want for breakfast tomorrow? We usually have some leftover waffles and if not I could make you some pancakes, how about that?”

Her eyes lit up at the thought and she just nodded quickly while biting her lip to stop herself from smiling. Something that Eddie copied realizing that the fact of seeing a girl so happy made him happy. He messed up her hair and left the room, leaving the door half an inch open just like Wayne used to do when he was a kid. 

As he was out of the room, he saw Steve sleeping soundly. Eddie woke him up and took him to bed. He changed his clothes and tucked him in, and then it was his turn. Once they were both on the bed, Steve curled up into Eddie bare chest, Eddie dared to speak.

“So” he started as he turned off the lamp “who the kid we are babysitting?”

Steve lets out a laughy breath through his nose

“Her name is Julia. I- i found her at school, apparently she was gonna spend the night there”

“What happened?” Eddie asked as he played with the boy’s hair “why did she get kicked out?”

“Um… she told me that she invited her best friend to sleep over and they kissed, her brother walked in and ratted her out to her dad. She didn’t say much after that, so i just guess he kicked her out and left her friend at her house”

“Wow… can’t believe 20 years later this shit still happens” Eddie sighs as shakes his head “the worst part is that its probably not gonna stop”

“I know” Steve started redrawing Eddie's chest tattoo of a bat. “I just didn’t expect it from his brother. He’s usually so nice and like… not homophobic” 

“Not everyone who looks like good people are good people” Eddie shrugs

“Mhm”

The room falls silent.

“Thank you for bringing her here” Eddie then says “I'm really thankful that she didn’t go through what I did. And you being there is like wayne being there for me, so really thank you”

Steve raised and kissed Eddie in the lips for the first time in the day. They mumble “I love you”’s as they snuggle till they both fall asleep and the Harrington Munson household goes quiet.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☪ .* :☆ﾟ. ───