𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲 | 𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧
part five | chapter list
summary you’re a single mom living three trailers down. eddie thinks you’re the prettiest girl he’s ever seen. queue sleepy kisses, baby kisses, cheesecake and cherry ice pops, and dinner with uncle wayne. [8k]
warnings teen mom!reader, fem!reader, r is junie’s birth mother, fluff, hurt/comfort, eddie being a girl dad (<3), tw for mentions of not having much money, new established relationship! idiots in love!! and junie being the sweetest baby ever
𓆩❤︎𓆪
You don't think you've ever seen Eddie asleep before. You rack your brain for a memory, even the suggestion of one, and come up blank. Maybe I dreamt it, you think to yourself, hesitating with your hand held aloft above his peaceful face.
He looks like a dream.
What he'd said last night — before the kiss, and after — echoes. You can feel his hands on your face if you close your eyes, the heat of each gentle palm, the scratch of a silver ring. He's missing his jewellery now, because he takes it off before bed. You can't believe you hadn't known that. All these details. His lashes kissing the delicate skin of his under eye, the way his lips thin in sleep from being pressed together. You reach toward him with a shy hand and brush a bundle of curls from his cheek, exposing the ridge of his cheekbone, begging to be kissed.
You'd been tired, so tired, and then he'd come back, and he'd crashed hard. You understand it. It'd been the most exciting moment of your life, and on top of that, he'd taken care of Junie for most of the day beforehand.
You've slept sparingly. The sun leeches in through the window one small ray at a time. Junie makes a small sound behind you, stirring in her toddler bed. You nibble your lip guiltily, wanting one more minute, just one, to look at Eddie uninterrupted.
You turn around and your reluctance melts, Junie a picture of a good long sleep. Her hair is a mess, her lips still pouting, and her eyes are partly open. She sees you're awake too and smiles, and the guilt of wishing she'd sleep in intensifies. She climbs down from her bed and rushes up to yours.
"Hey, baby," you say softly, holding out your arm.
She grabs the sheets and you help her up, folding her into your chest with a contented sigh.
She's tired, and she lets you move her around with little protest. Which isn't to say she's despondent: her hands latch onto your t-shirt, and her tiny chin rises as she stares you straight in the eye.
"How did you sleep, bubby?" you whisper-coo, hand spread over the breadth of her shoulders, the other crushed under your own weight. "My hand's going numb."
You pull you arm out and hold her face. "That's better. Good sleep? Do you feel happy?"
"Good," she says. "Feel good?"
You huff out a delighted sound and drop your nose to hers. "I feel super good, Junie baby. I'm so happy, because you're happy, and you're so smart."
She smiles more.
"Can you say that, baby? Say, 'I'm so smart."
Junie wiggles against your torso, hands at the neckline of your sleep shirt. "Smart," she says.
"Yeah! Yes. 'I'm so smart.'"
"I'm so 'mart."
"Yay!" you cheer again, your inflection celebratory even though you're still speaking in hushed tones. You don't want to wake Eddie, but maybe you do — is this the kind of thing he's interested in being a part of? "You're so smart. So so smart, and pretty and kind and soft."
You stroke her cheek with the back of your index finger, hoping to tickle her into giggles. "So soft," you murmur, "my lovely soft girl. You know why you're so soft? It's 'cause you're such a good girl, and you let me wipe your cheeks after dinner even though you hate it." You're speaking quietly enough that some of the words sound worn, syllables lost.
Junie doesn't need to hear them to know they're dripping in love. She rests her cheek against your upper arm, chub against chub, and you sink down with her, closing her in for a cuddle.
Your fingertips brush over the nape of her neck.
"Love you," you say, kissing her head absentmindedly.
"Love you," she says back.
She'd been a slow-learner, and she's still behind the majority of her age group, but none of it matters. Hearing her say anything at all is a gift. Hearing her says she loves you?
You laugh. There's nowhere else for all the happy to go.
Your hopes of sleeping again are dashed when she sits up and sees the lump of a body behind you. If she's confused she doesn't show it, hands pressed to your tender side as she climbs over you and onto Eddie's stomach.
He doesn't rouse at first. He sighs, his arm lifting where it's trapped under the sheets, your faded cornflower blue quilt that he'd praised unnecessarily. It's pretty, he'd said, back flat to your mattress as you'd imagined him a hundred times before.
You're pretty, you'd said. He'd opened his arms to draw you in for another hug. They'd felt endless all night.
Junie gets to his chest and her face fills with recognition.
"Eddie," she says happily.
He hums but still doesn't wake. Junie pulls down the blankets, and he raises his arm. Eyes closed, he wraps it around her, pulling her to his chest with a contented sound. She giggles, tiny baby giggles, and starts to play with his hair.
“June,” he mumbles.
“Eddie,” you say, apprehensive, forcing a lightness, “we have company.”
“I can feel that,” he says.
To your — your pleasure, your elation, he turns onto his back and his free hand finds you. His fingers curl around yours and he holds them, thumb pressed to the knuckle of your index finger.
His eyes open slowly, his lashes parting, his face dipped down to take Junie in.
“Hey, sweetheart,” he says.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning,” he repeats with a laugh. “Aw, Junie, your hair! I’ve never seen you before mommy gets you dressed. Uncle Wayne would say you look like me when I wake up, when I was a kid he,” —Eddie talks through a yawn, smoothing the baby hairs out of Junie’s eyes— “used to say I looked like Linus from the Peanuts strip.”
“That’s so mean,” you say. You're relieved. You should've known Eddie wouldn't care. He loves her.
"You know who you look like?" he asks her.
She shakes her head. His face lights up.
"Animal! Grown up Animal, not the baby."
Your stomach rumbles. Eddie looks at you with concern, though that concern is a mild, soft thing. He sees you properly for the first time since he woke up, Junie held to his chest, hair as messy as hers, as yours probably is, his t-shirt neckline rolled from wear, and he visibly melts.
"D'you wanna go out for breakfast?" you ask.
He shakes his head. "Come here."
"What?"
"Just come here. Lie down."
You ease off of your elbow and slide toward him. You rest your head very carefully beside his, and are immediately delighted when he kisses your cheek.
"How are you feeling?" he asks, pulling his arm out of hiding to steer the side of your face to his. Your noses smush together, eyes closing on instinct. "Hey, how are you?"
"How are you?" you ask back. He sounds super tired.
"Y'always do that. You can't just answer me? You're–" He kisses you, then, softly but with a sluggish imprecision. "Impossible."
"I'm impossible?"
"You're impossible," he promises.
You try not to squish Junie as you wrap your arm around her and bring a hand to his cheek. The tiniest rebirth of stubble scratches your fingertips as they rove up his cheek to the smoothest plane under his eye. You turn your finger until the nail is flat to his skin, stroking a fascinated back and forth.
"I can't believe you're real."
Can't believe you're real, and you chose me, and you're here now letting my baby pull at the sweat curls tight at your neck.
"Do I look bad?" he asks.
You roll your head back enough to see his smile. It makes your heart skip in the best way, how handsome he is, and you have to dive in again to kiss the line between his lips and his cheek. He's really warm. Before him, you'd forgotten how this could feel, the heat that another person can give you and how protected it leaves you.
"You look really nice," you say, your finger rubbing up and down his cheek. A teardrop to his chin that falls and climb over and over.
"Eddie," Junie says, weaselling under your arm.
"What, baby?" he asks.
She tucks herself up under his chin and lifts her head. It's awkward, but babies are like that. Always wanting to be where they aren't.
"Junie?" he asks.
She looks up, dishevelled hair especially fierce.
"You said my name, remember? Did you have something to ask me?"
She giggles at his tone but doesn't answer. Your stomach makes some more aggressive sounds and Eddie shoots up like bamboo, baby held to his chest and hand behind your head.
"Mom's dying."
"Eddie."
"Mom's super duper hungry," he says, stroking your forehead apologetically. "Now move, mom, so we may enter your kitchen and make super duper breakfast."
"Oh, no, let me change her first," you say. "Poor girl, I slept through the entire night."
He passes her over to you and you stand so he can slide out of bed. His smile grows. "Hair fairy got you both," he says.
You glare. "You are not exempt."
"Can I use the bathroom?"
"Don't ask! Since when do you ask?"
"Do you want to go first?"
His caring is sweet but unnecessary. "No. Please go, and spend like ten minutes in there? I promise we'll be much prettier when you get back."
"You're beautiful now," he says, though he obeys your ask and treks out of the bedroom with a wanton groan and a stretch that shows a lot of back. It's more than likely on purpose.
"I'm with my baby!" you yell, laughing.
"Don't know what you mean."
You strip Junie down to her smalls, change her diaper, and rub a nice lotion all over. She loves the skin to skin and stays still until you offer her today's options, two dresses, one blue and one a lighter green. She chooses the green, so you put green butterfly clips in her hair to match, and white socks with lace in black shoes. She looks awesome.
"Girls?" Eddie shouts. "Can I come out now?"
"I was kidding," you murmur to yourself, laughing.
You comb your fingers through your hair and meet him in the bathroom doorway with Junie's hand held in your own, glancing at each other through the gap.
"I wasn't serious."
"Sweetheart," he says, bending at the waist like he's been punched, "look at you. Juniper the Beautiful, holy sugar."
She only smiles.
"I can take her, yeah? I'll make breakfast. Do you want to get dressed?" he asks you, concern again softening the lines of his face.
"Sorry," you say.
"For what?"
He takes your face into his hand, cupping your cheek. You meld into it like you're one and the same, two pieces of the same puzzle clicked back into place. Junie’s hand in yours makes three.
"Alright, Junie, breakfast," he says, pulling apart and away with a humorous brevity, stealing her little hand from yours.
They walk together down the hallway, hands swinging.
"We'll go get breakfast!" you call. That's why you'd put her shoes on.
"I can make it," Eddie says, voice carrying in the quiet. He shoots a smug look over his shoulder. "I can make it, seriously. Just have a minute for yourself, why don't you?"
You wonder if that's code words for you look like shit right now, but you firmly believe Eddie wouldn't tell you that even if you did. You wash up in the bathroom and then get changed into a new-old skirt that you sometimes wear to work though you're not supposed to and a nice shirt that doesn't go. You take it all off and try again. And again.
You pull on a pair of tight sweatpants and the band t-shirt he'd bought you all those weeks ago. For a moment you stand there, face in your hands, and then a big hand presses to your shoulder blade and scares you into flinching.
"Oh, shit," you say.
Eddie laughs a storm and gets his hand under your armpit. That's worse, and you squirm, but he doesn't budge, pulling you toward him for a tight-boned hug.
"You're taking for ages," he says, parroting one of Junie’s newer phrases.
"Well." You shove your face into the top of his shoulder. "I think I'm nervous. Do I look stupid? Nothing fits me."
He hears your embarrassment and your panic and hoists you backward, hands curled around the tops of your arms as he gets a good look.
"You look pretty, and like you need something to eat." He presses his lips together, a funny picture of nervousness to mirror your own. "I know we should probably talk about it, but I don't really know how to do that. Just. Are you still– You don't regret it?"
It sounds clunky in his mouth.
"I don't regret any of it," you say sincerely.
"Good," he says, recovering quickly from this show of vulnerability with a good heaping of bravado, "'cause I was really hoping to get to do this again."
His hands climb your shoulders, settle neatly in the curves of your neck. He holds your face. You wait for him to kiss you.
"What? I brushed my teeth."
He presses his lips to yours all wonky with laughter. It's fleeting, not nearly as long as you want it to be, but Junie shouts something from the kitchen and draws both of your attention.
"It wasn't about you brushing your teeth," he says, back of his hand rubbing yours as he overtakes.
Junie stands in the kitchen with a spatula, a whisk, and the rolling pin, an array of items from the bottom drawer she's in the middle of relocating.
"Sorry I left her, I just wanted to make sure you weren't, like, trying to think of ways to let me down easy. I put the TV on. Not that you can't let me down easy," he says, bending to face Junie.
You shake your head as he starts to help her take things out of the drawer. You don't keep anything sharp in it for this exact reason, Junie's enthusiastic upheaval.
He catches your look. "I'll put them back! Promise."
"It's fine, you know she does it all day anyways."
And really, he should know you won't mind because whenever he's here he helps. Cleans, cooks, soothes her small tantrums and her bigger distresses, like when you won't let her eat laundry powder with the tiny shovel that comes in the box.
He's even started playing the bad guy sometimes. It sounds crazy, but having someone who's willing to say no for you is a sharp relief. To get to be the comforter rather than the nag, and to share a smile over Junie’s distraught head.
"This is positive reinforcement."
"I know both of those words, and yet," Eddie says, closing the now emptied drawer with his foot.
"You helping her take stuff out teaches her that those things should be taken out." You pull open the fridge. "But it doesn't really matter, I'm just saying. Do you want orange or apple juice? June?"
You hold out the carton of apple juice and the gallon of orange. The orange juice is awful, a concentrate with too much sugar, and it's delicious, so Junie picks that one without hesitating. You give her half juice half water in a sippy cup.
"Is mine watered down too?" Eddie asks, accepting the glass you press into his hand.
"I even mixed in some pedialyte. You're welcome."
He nods with more genuineness. "Thank you. Now sit down! I'm making breakfast. I'm gonna make it. What do you want?"
You look at him, fresh but still sleep rumpled, and you think about how hungry you are, and you really like him so much and you get why he wants to do this, but.
"Listen, let's go out. Let's get waffles and syrup and strawberries and nobody will have to do the dishes."
He buckles way too fast. It feels like a big compliment, how quickly you can erode his resistance.
"Alright. Fine, but not because I couldn't have made all of those things."
"Of course not."
"You look crazy pretty when you ask for things, you know? All this time I've been begging you to ask for things and now I'm a little worried. D'you always smile like that? I could be in trouble."
You boo at him and he smiles all the way to the car. He's still smiling as he drops his hand onto your thigh, pulls out of the driveway, and starts down the street leading out of the trailer park. It takes you a minute, but eventually you realise you can touch him back, laying your hand on top of his experimentally.
"Do I look stupid?" he asks.
He's stolen one of your hoodies to hide his slept on shirt. His jeans look messed up from sleeping in, but they're baggy.
"You don't… You could start leaving clothes at my house, you know? If you wanted to– stay again." You swallow a nervous giggle. "I mean."
"Of course I want to stay again. I'd love to. I love being with you."
He squeezes your thigh. If it weren't for his pinking ears, you'd assume him unaffected.
"Okay. Good. You can stay the night whenever you like, handsome, 'cause I love being with you too."
You wonder and worry if your declaration is too close to an I love you he doesn't want. You do love him, have loved him for a while, but you have no clue what you even are. Last night, you'd said best friend. He's more than that, he has to be.
You're in sync, or he can read your mind. He says, "We'll talk about it. After you get some breakfast in you. Your stomach's so loud they just put a weather warning on the radio."
"They did not."
—
Wayne puts a beer down in front of his nephew and doesn't pull any punches.
"If you get that poor girl pregnant, I will disown you. Not her, mind you. Just you."
Eddie thinks this is a very weird thing to say, but he also knows that Wayne is mostly kidding.
"I'm not going to get her pregnant."
Satisfied, Wayne sits down next to Eddie on the couch, the two of them tired from a long day at work, the TV on quietly in the background. It's the same thing they do everyday, or everyday before Eddie met you and your baby.
"I get to meet her, or we just gonna meet at the wedding?"
"Funny," Eddie says. "You can meet her whenever you want to. I kind of didn't think you'd be interested."
Wayne sighs, scrubs his jaw.
"Son, I want to meet her. Her and the baby. I didn't know if it was gonna work, but…" He smiles at Eddie. Eddie thinks that it's a mix of pride and love, and it has a lump forming in his throat near instantly. "I should've known, huh?"
Eddie makes himself scoff.
"Yeah, you should've."
"Only thing you ever half-assed was high school."
"You had to get that one in there."
Quick wit and nipping comments aside, Eddie knows Wayne truly does want to meet you and Junie, and that he should've a long time ago. It had been a cop out to say he didn't think Wayne wanted to meet you, because he knew his uncle had been curious and — he's family. Wayne is Eddie's family, and you and June have become the same.
When he brings it up to you, he does it carefully. With flowers.
You open the door and throw your arms around him, smashing the flowers unapologetically. He chuckles into your neck, pulls you tight to his chest. You smell like the diner.
"How come you never used to do this before?" he asks.
"You never did either."
You take his face into your hands and kiss him, before your usual shyness takes over and you pull away. He's having none of it, grabbing your wrist before you can escape to offer your flowers.
"Here. You'll have to give me one back for Junie, though."
You give him the biggest flower of the bunch, a huge pink carnation with perfect petals and a thick stalk. Your fingertips brush his as you do, and his eyes are drawn to them, your hands, the bump and bone of your knuckles. You still have a scratch from work down the length of your pinky, and they're scrubbed raw as usual from cleaning. He worries you're a little compulsive about cleaning, but he supposes you'd had to have been, all by yourself. He resolves to treat them kindly at the next possible opening.
"Thank you."
You don't blink at his bag from Bradley's. You try not to look at it; Eddie won't accept a thank you and you're trying to let him give you things, as per the arrangement.
As in, you, with Junie in your lap and fresh cream on your cheek, had agreed to be his girlfriend three days ago in the booth of a diner that wasn't Benny's. He hadn't been as brave as he could've been. It felt unreal to him to be with you, to have kissed you more times than he could remember, and to have you smiling back.
"Listen, I know you said we're best friends, and we are, you're my best friend, but I– we're more. I want to be your boyfriend." He rolled the word around so you'd know how strange he though it was. "But if you've… changed your mind–"
You'd reached across the table, pads of your fingers stroking the back of his wrist. "Why would I change my mind?"
"You realise, if we're together, you have to let me take care of you all the time?" he'd asked, full of nervous energy and really, really pleased. Proud to have you.
"I think I can deal with it."
He'd rubbed the toe of his shoe against your ankle and finally told you about the cream on your face.
"Junie?" he says now, eyes searching for your lovely daughter.
"She's in the bedroom."
"What for?"
You squeeze your hand through the crook of his arm, press your cheek to the top of his shoulder, and laugh. "She's making Eddie's bed, apparently. I tried to explain that you won't be sleeping here all the time but I might have made it worse."
Did you make it worse, or had your toddler misunderstood? He hates how even in the small things you'll blame yourself. This feels like a completely blameless situation, and, if anything, it's his fault, he's the one who stayed the night, and then another night, and another. He'd gone home between those days, had even gone to work, and really didn't mean to spend the night each time. It's addictive to get to sleep with you so close by. Getting to kiss you with your arm slung over his chest, your tired eyes staring up at him lovingly — he's a good person but he's weak, too.
He knows it's a little improper to stay this close so soon. If he thought for a second you weren't okay with it he'd be out the door.
"Eddie?" you ask.
"What?"
"You're staring straight through me," you say, sounding both amused and concerned. "What are you thinking about?"
"You, mostly. You and June. You know, Wayne wants to meet you."
You shake the bouquet at him, brows furrowed accusingly. "Is this a bribe?"
"'Course not… Are they working?"
"I don't need flowers. I want to meet him too. It's weird we haven't met before. You keeping us apart?"
"I absolutely am. I was a gross kid, I don't need him to tell you all of that now I actually got you."
Eddie draws away from you reluctantly to put his bag on the table, as well as June's flower. He pulls out the dinner he's brought for tonight and his most important purchase, a vase big enough for your flowers. It's simple clear glass with dainty enamel flowers around the circumference.
"For you, my sweetheart, a vase for the flowers. You want me to cut the stems?"
You beam at him, a shining smile that makes his chest feel fizzy, a can of soda on a rollercoaster as the sound of thumping comes from the bedroom, small footsteps racing to the door.
"Think she heard you," you say. You smile, take the vase, and kiss his cheek in a silent thank you.
Sure enough, Junie appears down the hall and Eddie's barely taken three steps when she's laughing and pawing at his legs, having raced all the way.
"Eddie," she cheers, arms up in the universal sign for 'grab me before I start screaming'.
He's more than happy to get his hands under her arms and pull her to his chest, your mini me breathing hard as she settles. Her hand presses into his collarbone, her lips puckered up for a kiss. He doesn't usually kiss her, doesn't really know where the line is, but denying her feels cruel. He kisses her cheek and feels her lips press to his cheek at the same time.
"Thank you," he coos, "thank you for the kiss, baby, I'm happy to see you too."
"See you," she says, patting his neck.
"How do I look? Handsome?"
She tangles her fingers in his hair.
"So, Uncle Wayne, does he like me?"
Eddie leans against the countertop you're facing so he can see your face. "He's never met you."
"Duh, but does he like me?"
"Probably. He has a bunch of reasons to like you and none not to like you."
"Doesn't hate me for stealing his baby boy?"
Eddie wonders if he's going red. "No, god, he'd thank you for it. Man hasn't had a quiet night in a decade and a half." You laugh softly, fingers weaving through flowers to arrange their leaves and stalks, and he catches a flash of uncertainty as it twists your mouth. "Seriously, he'll like you. I know everybody says it 'bout everyone, but Wayne's a good man."
"I know he's a good man, just…" You frame the flowers with your hands and step back. You smile at him to unsuccessfully hide an insecurity he can spot a mile away. "I'm not the girl people would pick for their son, you know?"
He raises his eyebrows, feels bad and drops them. Eddie lives in a trailer park, and has done for most of his life, it's not like the people around here are prudent about love and partners: Eddie's obviously not the first guy to ever date somebody who already has a kid. He doesn't wanna brush it under the rug, though. Your worrying worries him.
"I think you're exactly who he'd pick." He smiles at you in warning. You asked for this, sweetheart, buckle in. "Gorgeous girl with a perfect body," —you snort— "'n' a heart of gold." He pats between Junie's shoulders where she's oh so quiet in his arms, an affectionate slump over his heart. "And her pretty baby, too. I'd choose you for my kid. You know, if I was old. And I had one."
You wrap Junie up with one hand, the other placed sweetly over his shoulder. Your thumb strokes into his skin. "Thanks, Shakespeare," you say, letting your head dip down until your lips are flat to his shirt.
He drops his head into yours.
"Do you think he should come over for dinner?" you ask quietly.
"What, today?"
"It's gonna make me nervous thinking about it otherwise. What did you bring? Or maybe I can get pizza?"
He encourages your head back, palm to the side of your head. He strokes down until his hand covers your ear and curls around the curve of your neck. Insanely, he thinks it is a privilege to get to see you upset and to get to try and fix it.
"I can ask him, and he's not fussy. You're sure you want to do this today? I could host, you know, or we could go out."
You shake your head, looking grim. Dread clear in your eyes, you say, "I'll obsess over it. Can you call him before I lose my nerve, please? Do you think that would be alright?"
You ask like he genuinely might say no. He hasn't had the power to say no to you for months.
"Yeah, sweetheart, I can call 'im."
You offer to take Junie and it's funny because she doesn't need to be held right now and yet neither of you want to put her down. She's relaxed and Eddie doesn't see why she should have to be anywhere else but in his arms, hiking her up his chest in one arm to use the phone. He slots the receiver between his shoulder and his head and types in Wayne's number without having to look. He's typed it hundreds of times, at friend's houses, at the school nurse when his Mom's didn't work anymore, at the Hideout. Just to say, I'll be home late, but don't worry.
He extends the invitation with a teasing tone. "You wanna come around for dinner? Old lady's asking."
"You can't call her your old lady, son, not yet. That's a privilege you gotta earn."
Eddie laughs down the line. "What's wrong with old lady? I'm keeping it respectful, classy, aren't I? She's making burgers."
"You better be helping her."
"How can I help her? I'm on the phone to you."
"What time am I expected?"
"Let me ask." He pulls June back up where she's slipping, mouth lifted from the phone to grab your attention. "What time are you thinking, sweetheart?"
"It can be done whenever he wants it," you say, elbow deep in ground beef.
"Give us an hour, okay? Don't fill up on shit."
"Yeah, boy, I won't. Better leave me alone to wash up, or I can come in my overalls–"
"Alright, Wayne." He hopes it sounds like 'love you'. "See you in an hour. Don't forget."
"Yeah, 'cause I'm that old," Wayne says, followed by the sound of the phone on the hook.
Eddie passes it to Junie where she'd been dying to have a turn. He can't let her play too long, guilty already watching you chopping and dicing and washing. He sets her up on your couch with her army of teddies and a peach juice box from Bradley's. He'd picked them up thinking they were weird, and that he'd wanted Junie to try them if she hadn't before. She seems pleased with it, back and legs straight across the pillow, head bent in a way that would give a grown up a sore neck for the foreseeable future, socked feet wiggling along to the music playing on her show.
He returns to find you washing your hands. Eddie wants to kiss your neck but doesn't have a clue in the world if he's allowed to do that now or ever, so he folds his arms over yours like a hug.
"Can I get some of that?"
You squirt dish soap into his palm. He's expecting grumbling and complaining at his weird position, but you say nothing, only laugh. You wash his hands for him, thumb rubbing down the small hills of his fingers until he has to wash off the suds, squishing you to the countertop edge with a feigned apology.
You squeal with laughter. "Get off," you plead.
"I'm so tired, suddenly, I don't know what it is."
"Eddie," you moan, well and truly sandwiched under his weight.
He pecks your neck and stands properly in search of a hand towel to dry off your dripping hands. He towels his, passes it to you, and uses his dry hands to cradle your face. He thinks you look beautiful but admittedly very tired, and lowers his voice to an adoring murmur.
"You can go sit down, if you want to."
"Oh, no, there's too much to do," you say, and though you're denying him, your face lists heavily into one of his hands. You close your eyes for a moment before looking up at him through your lashes. "I can do it."
"I know you can do it, I just don't want you to have to."
He pulls you closer, his elbows pushed into your shoulders.
"I'm really good at making burgers. S'like, my signature dish. That's why I got stuff for burgers, 'cause I wanted to cook tonight."
You still don't budge.
"Go on," he murmurs, "go get your cuddles."
Junie, upon realising Eddie would be sleeping in your bed, has taken to climbing on top of him and insisting she get to stay in the big bed. She's hogging him, and it's clear you're not unaffected. Not jealous, not bitter, but missing your baby.
You're in mild withdrawals, and it makes sense. After all, she gets her extreme need for affection from you.
"You're sure?" you ask, frowning softly.
"Yes," he says, laughing and pushing you away gently, "trust me, sweetheart, I can make dinner. You gotta take my flower for June, though." He picks it up off of the counter and twirls it under your chin. "I forgot all about it, you distracted me."
You take the flower but hesitate in front of him.
"Kiss?" you ask, eyebrows popped up.
He bends backward, hand coming up to cover his mouth. "You have it bad, huh?"
"Forget I asked," you faux-threaten, spinning on your heel to leave.
Eddie follows, spins you right back around with a hushed, "Where do you think you're going?" and kisses you, hand sliding up your cheek.
One kiss turns to two, your lips parting slightly under the pressure. He grins and goes in for a third.
—
You don't sit down for long. You steal a Junebug cuddle, in which she insists on sharing her juice box with you and kisses you upwards of twenty times. You giggle giddily, the petals of the flower you've tucked behind her ear almost blinding you with each one. They're drooly and gross and lovely to begin with, less wet when you leave to find something for her to wear.
The dress she wears now is dirty from daycare, and the applesauce, crackers, and peanut butter you'd given her earlier stain the neck. You pick out a simple matching set of not-quite pyjamas. You want Wayne to know you dress her well, but you'd feel bad if she had to suffer any longer in clothes with buttons and zips.
Once she's changed, she's somehow even happier than she was. Now she's settled into daycare and your routine, she's over the moon all the time. She's finally settled in, and you have Eddie to thank for a good chunk of it. He's a great part of her routine, another person who wants to love and dote on her. While you know you'd been doing a great job by yourself, any extra love at all is welcome. You could love him for how he loves her and nothing else, only there's a thousand other things about him to love.
Like his singing. You can hear him humming, then riffing, spatula scratching the frying pan as he rocks out to a song you can't hear. You're playing with Junie's toes, as strange as it sounds, wiggling and tickling the sole of her feet.
"Mommy?" she says breezily.
"What?" you ask, leaning to her eye level, fluffy bed socks in hand.
"Special treats for dinner?"
You can't believe the improvements in her speech, though it's natural, and it would've happened eventually. And it blows your mind because you'd known she was in there, she's a great listener and she's so patient for a toddler, but knowing she's having these thoughts and then having her voicing them now is something else completely. It's amazing.
You tuck the sock under her pant leg and beam at her. "Yeah, baby, we're having special treats after dinner. Eddie's making burgers with the cheese," you hum, offering your open hand for her to hold. "And… his Uncle Wayne is coming by for dinner. So we're gonna meet him and say hi to him and be super nice, okay?"
"Okay. What's for treats?"
"I don't know, you'll have to ask Eddie. Should we go ask him?"
She nods enthusiastically and slides off of the sofa, gand in yours. She walks with a wobbly confidence into the kitchen, where the smell of searing hamburgers and black pepper is cloying.
Eddie turns with the spatula, slouched with one elbow on the counter. He perks up when he sees Junie in her fresh clothes.
"Hey, bub, look at you!"
"She has something to ask you."
Eddie crouches down. "Anything. What do you want to ask me, Junie?"
"What's for," —her voice is small, high-pitched and clumsy but sweet— "... have for…"
"Dessert," you whisper. "For treats."
"What's for treats?" she asks, smiling.
You sigh with pride and Eddie mirrors your expression. "Well," he says, reaching out to readjust the flower peaking in front of her hair, "I brought two things, cherry ice pops and cheesecake."
"Oh," Junie says, "my gosh."
You leave them in their love bubble and change into your nice (bleach stained, agonisingly bleach stained) jeans, rather than meet Wayne in your waitressing skirt and blouse. Eddie wolf whistles as soon as you emerge, Junie now happily perched on his hip as he moves the burgers onto a plate to wait in the oven. Junie turns and drops the slice of cheese she was holding, startled at the noise.
"Is this awful?" you ask, pointing to the thin line of bleach across your thigh.
"'This' is killer," Eddie says.
"No, but can you see the bleach?"
"Not really. If you need new jeans, we can go get some."
The I can't afford it begs to be said, though you know exactly what he'll say in response.
"Not right now," he amends. "They look fine, okay? He won't notice. I had my first tattoo for three weeks before he saw it."
You lean over the sink to open the window and let some clean air in. Eddie goes back to the plate, and Junie drops another slice of cheese.
The knock at the door startles you. You're unprepared, terrified, and you haven't wiped down the dinner table yet. Eddie sees your panic and shakes his head at you.
"It's fine. You want me to answer?"
"We should both answer," you say, with a confidence you are not feeling.
You hold your hands out for Junie. She's a safety blanket.
Please like me, you think, letting Eddie pull you to the door.
—
You have nice shoulders. Eddie feels like he's had this thought before. Often, he looks at you, and he finds something new to catch onto and to obsess about. This hasn't changed in the few days you've been together. It's gotten worse.
He can see the top of Junie's head against your shoulder but not her sleeping face. You sway her from side to side and he can see you arms shaking with the effort it takes to have been holding her for this long, your quiet humming now a whisper of sounds. The gentle thudding of your hand against the bottom of her spine stops, and you turn to look at him, a question in your eyes.
He nods. Looking good.
You ease her down into her toddler bed and spend some time pulling the blankets over her legs, tucking her small army of teddies in beside her.
Finger to your lips, you and Eddie creep out of the bedroom and back into the kitchen. There's nothing to clean. His Uncle Wayne is a stickler who couldn't not help clean up.
Wayne had definitely liked you. You're still glowing with it. It had been a great time, not nearly as awkward as you'd feared, and Eddie's feeling pretty content right now. You waste no time collapsing on the couch. A sippy cup under your hip, cushions in disarray at your head. Eddie grabs the half of the cheesecake that's left and two spoons and sits right next to you, thigh to thigh, no need for friendly space anymore. He forces the spoon into your hand, slides the cheesecake onto your thigh, and moves the sippy cup out of the way.
"My arms are too tired," you mumble, dropping back into the cushions. Junie had piled them all up behind Wayne's head. She was extra, extra nice.
"Want me to feed you? I can baby bird you."
"Ew. That image never gets any less disgusting, Eddie."
It's been Eddie all day. What's a guy gotta do to get a 'handsome'? A 'baby'?
He laughs around a spoonful of cheesecake and twists his foot behind your calf, linking your legs. You've managed to finally get cable, and an episode of Jeopardy plays on mute across the room. There are toys everywhere, the kind of mess that you'll spend three hours putting right, sorting and spritzing and wiping with Junie behind you pulling things back out.
Eddie's already got the clothes here to stay, and Wayne had said, "See you tomorrow," when he left, but Eddie asks anyway.
"Can I stay over?"
You sit up to drop your face heavily into his shoulder.
"Please, handsome. Don't want you to go home."
There's the pet name he'd been searching for. A warmth climbs all over, a twinge in his stomach. He heaps cheesecake onto your spoon and presses the handle into your fingers. You eat it slowly, tip of your tongue making an unexpected appearance when a crumb sticks to your lip.
You make a sound that should probably be illegal and drop the spoon into the cheesecake casing, freeing your arm to wrap it around his chest. You nuzzle your nose into his skin, sniffing.
He laughs from happiness and nothing else, making good work of the cheesecake while you doze. He's not an animal, leaving some for you and June if you want more tomorrow, but he isn't temperate, either. He's thinking this might be the perfect life, you and your baby, Uncle Wayne laughing at your kitchen table, Junie in the high chair beside him trying to make a babbling conversation. She'd managed a couple of proper words and an impressive sentence, much better at answering than asking but trying either way.
"You're a ringer for your mom, kid, you look like twins," he'd said softly.
"Ring-ring," she'd said happily, excited to have understood. She'd offered her hand to him, pinky and thumb stuck out.
Wayne, grinning, had answered the phone.
"June loved Wayne," Eddie says conversationally.
"Junie loves everybody," you say through a yawn, hand soothing up and down his side greedily. "Not like she loves me and you, but she does. She keeps hugging all the other babies at daycare and they don't know how to stop her."
"What? You've never told me that."
"I didn't know 'till this morning." Your fingers find and breach the hem of his shirt, pads tracing to the small of his back.
"God, you're cuddly tonight. Here, let me–" He moves the cheesecake. "Come here."
You groan, "No, this is fine."
"Sit on my lap, loser."
"I'm heavy."
True or not, Eddie wants you in his lap, and he's selfish, pulling at you like a kid not getting his way. You end up flopping over his lap to stop him, curled into an uncomfortable but darling position. He gets his hand behind your ear and turns your face, wanting to see your eyes and your nose and your lips.
Your eyes are bright in the lighting.
"Wayne liked you," he says, stroking down the shell of your ear with his thumb.
"I can see why you're so kind," you say.
You smile at each other.
"I don't know what I did."
Eddie leans down, tilts his head to line up with yours, his eyes flicking between the lightness softening your gaze or the curve of your top lip, calling him in like a siren. "What did you do?" he murmurs.
"To get so lucky," you say. "I don't know. I must have been a saint, in a past life."
"A past life," he repeats.
Your eyes find his and narrow. He knows where you're looking, that little dot of dark hiding beneath his eyelashes. You move over his lap carefully, hands behind his neck to anchor yourself. Your thighs against his thighs, ankles locking him in, your hands always so gentle where they play in his hair.
He thinks there's a kind of melancholy to moments like this. He panics, in his way, in his head, because there are no guarantees. This perfect night with a perfect girl could be it. There are many bad things that could happen, unspeakable, and he gets this trip in his chest like a fuse shorting out.
He should slow down and tell you what he feels. How you're his and he's the lucky one, goddamn, he's never had luck like this in his life.
He smooths his thumb across your lips and stops at the corner, momentarily ashamed of his big, clumsy hand, and permanently in awe of your softness, your goodness, how it lines every feature on your brilliant face.
You lean in for a kiss.
Your lips are parted, and he thinks you might've read his mind, the hunger and the fear he'd felt, the heart-pounding reverence, that split second of wanting to say something he shouldn't yet. It feels like you read his mind; your lips kiss and kiss and your hands tremble minutely behind his head. The heat of your tongue shocks him like the first drag, has his hand bawling in the fabric of your shirt, a low sigh smothered by your attention.
Your nose touches his. In the days since his confession you've endured a frankly overzealous amount of his kissing. He's had you in bed, in the kitchen, just outside the front door. Some heavy handed, some sweeter than sugar, none ever for anything but kisses. Your ardency surprises and excites him — his pulse is a freight train, pounding in his veins as you yield. Your head tips back slow, your gasping breaths a golden sound he endeavours to keep forever.
When you lay back, it's quietly, hand at his front and encouraging you to lay with him. He props himself up on his side, one hand feeling for your upper arm, wishing you'd worn something with shorter sleeves so he could feel your skin. The other covers the column of your throat. He can feel your too-fast breathing in his palm, your shallow gasps.
Your eyes close again as he ducks in. He rubs a line with the tip of his nose next to yours, the heat emanating off of your skin thickening the air. Or, that's what it feels like.
"Kiss me," you say under your breath. This close, you might as well have shouted it.
He kisses you until not one of you can breathe properly, and a little after that, too. His thumb ghosts under the curve of your breast and he can feel the tightness of the question between you, a string pulled taut by your hand and his.
"Sweetheart," he says, trying to pour all of his affection and something deeper into the word, "do you want to…"
"What?" you ask.
He lifts his head off of yours and waits. You open your eyes in confusion, though that confusion quickly turns when you hear what he's hearing.
Movement. Little feet.
He pulls his weight off of you and helps you up, brushing down your hair, your hot cheeks. You move away from his hand without malice, and when he turns he's not at all surprised to see baby Junie in her pyjamas, the ear of a teddy clasped in a small fist.
You press your arm to his.
"Sorry," you whisper.
He turns to you, blinks three times quick. "Baby, it doesn't matter." It's unfortunate, but not as unfortunate as your mortified expression. He holds his hand out to Junie where she's meandering toward you, exhausted steps unsafe but determined.
She reaches his knees, and Eddie helps her up to sit between you both, his arm behind her head.
You stroke her hair. The look you give him is pensive and loving at once. You lift your chin, and he presses a saccharine, chaste kiss against your kiss bitten lips.
Junie falls asleep again near immediately. Eddie finds your hand in the mess of limbs and gives it a good squeeze.
"Bed?" he asks.
You slouch down. "In a minute?"
He slouches down with you, letting his temple drop against yours over Junie's sleeping figure.
"Whatever you want."
𓆩❤︎𓆪
thank you for reading! im so happy they’re together this is my fave part of every fic, aimless adoration <3 im not sure what to write for part sis so I’d love to hear what you want to see there, thanks so much
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the boss’s goddaughter
pairing: tony dinozzo x gibbs goddaughter!reader
summary: you think it’s your lucky day when you bump into a super charming attractive guy at your godfather’s office. that is, until you realize the guy is an agent on your godfather’s team
word count: 1.9k
warnings: pinch of swearing, implied smut, and really really flirty and charming tony
You huffed to yourself, looking down at your watch. You were currently waiting in line in the lobby of the NCIS headquarters to get your visitor badge.
Gibbs was your godfather and the closest thing you had to a father figure. He had invited you to spend the day with him at the office since his team didn’t have an active case.
It was your first time coming to his work. The long line you were waiting in, and had been waiting in for twenty minutes, was making you question your visit.
“Excuse me, miss,” you heard someone say beside you. You turned and saw a man in a gray suit. He was attractive, very attractive. You noticed the shiny NCIS badge hooked on his belt.
You gave him a polite smile. “I’m Anthony Dinozzo. Please call me Tony though,” he said, reaching out to shake your hand. You could feel the butterflies in your stomach already.
“Nice to meet you, Tony. I’m Y/N,” you said, getting lost in his eyes. He noticed the way you bit down on your lip as you stared at him. He was an investigator after all, which meant it was his job to notice body language cues.
That meant he could tell you were just as into him as he was into you.
“That’s a beautiful name. I see you’re stuck in the infamous line for a visitor badge, but today is your lucky day. You see, very beautiful women do not have to wait in this line, come with me.” He said, lifting the queue rope out of your way, so you could walk under it.
“I didn’t know NCIS had this policy,” you said, tilting your head to the side. He smirked at you. “Don’t worry. You are a beautiful woman, and we will make sure you are very well taken care of,” he said, with a twinkle in his eye.
He gestured for you to follow him. He walked straight to the front of the line. “Hey, Brian. I need a visitor pass, man,” Tony said, chatting up the man working at the counter. He quickly was handed the pass, and he turned around with a smile.
He slowly clipped the badge onto your shirt, staring into your eyes as he did it. He walked you over to the elevator, where you both waited for the doors to open.
You weren’t ashamed to admit you were checking him out. He was doing the same to you.
The elevator doors opened slowly. “Ladies first,” he gestured for you to walk inside.
As soon as you did, his phone started ringing. He whipped it out of his pocket and looked at the name. “Shit, this is my boss. I really gotta take this. It was really nice to meet you, Y/N,” he said, smiling at you. The elevator doors closed, and you traveled up to the floor Gibbs had told you to go to.
You noticed Gibbs sitting at his desk and headed in his direction.
He jumped up from his seat when he saw you. “Good morning,” he said, walking up to you and kissing your cheek.
“It’s nice to see you, Gibbs.” You said, smiling at him. He grabbed a spare chair and rolled it over to his desk, so you could sit beside him.
“Y/N, this is Tim McGee,” he introduced you to the man sitting across the room from him. You quickly shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. You are Gibbs’s ?” He started to ask.
“Goddaughter. It’s nice to meet you too,” you said, politely.
“Traffic not too bad this morning?” Gibbs asked, taking a seat. You copied his behavior, sitting down on the chair. “I took the subway because traffic was supposed to be terrible.” You told him.
You noticed two cups of coffee on his desk. “You really have to work on that caffeine addiction of yours,” you joked. He chuckled to himself. “One is for you,” he said, handing you the cup.
“Well in that case, I guess I’ll allow it,” you teased. You took a sip and realized it was black coffee. You made a face as the bitter liquid hit your taste buds. “This one is yours,” you said, switching cups with Gibbs.
McGee was shocked. He had never seen Gibbs let someone drink out of his cup and not throw it away after. This was a whole new side to Gibbs.
“So, is there anyway you could find me information on a guy I ran into in the lobby? A cute guy. He worked here.” You asked, doing puppy eyes at Gibbs.
He wrapped his arm around you. “I love you, but I don’t need to know about your love life. That’s too much information for me. Talk to McGee about it, he’s the computer guy.” Gibbs replied.
You giggled to yourself at the disgust on his face when you mentioned a cute guy. Gibbs was very protective over you.
Tony arrived on the floor and stepped out of the elevator. Heading to his desk, he spotted McGee. “McProbie, I need you to look at security footage from the lobby. I was talking to this absolutely gorgeous girl.” Tony explained. You started giggling to yourself as you recognized him.
Tony wasn’t looking at Gibbs, so he hadn’t even noticed you yet. “She shouldn’t be too hard to find,” Gibbs chimed in, causing Tony to look in your direction. Tony froze when saw you sitting next to Gibbs.
“She’s not an ex-wife, right?” Tony joked, trying to ease the tension. He knew Gibbs was protective, and whatever Gibbs’ relationship to you was, Gibbs wouldn’t like Tony hitting on you.
Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Gibbs scowling at Tony. “This is my goddaughter,” Gibbs snapped.
“I’m feeling like I should shut my mouth now,” Tony said, sinking down to sit on his chair. “Good idea,” McGee said, chuckling at the situation.
“Really? Dinozzo is the guy?” Gibbs asked, looking over at you. You shrugged with a smirk on your face. “What? He’s charming,” you said, feeling like a schoolgirl.
Your gaze drifted back over to Tony. He winked at you, causing your cheeks to heat up.
“Dinozzo, go flirt somewhere else.” Gibbs snapped.
Tony was a little too eager. “Really, boss?” He asked, getting excited. Then, he got a glare that told him that Gibbs was telling him to stop flirting.
“Nevermind, I’m shutting up now,” Tony said, focusing back on his computer. The room got deathly silent as the three men continued working.
You noticed how McGee would smile to himself every time that Gibbs glared at Tony. McGee was very entertained by the whole situation. Gibbs, not so much.
Gibbs phone began to ring. He snatched it up off the desk before answering. He said a few words, and then stood up from his seat.
“I’m going down to Abby’s lab. You two? Not happening.” Gibbs said, before walking out of the room.
As soon as Gibbs got in the elevator, Tony walked over to you. “How about we go get some privacy?” He whispered, with a smirk on his face. He grabbed your hands, helping you up from your seat.
“Probie, cover for me,” Tony said, as he placed his hand on the small of your back and guided you. “If Gibbs catches you, you’re dead,” McGee called out.
Tony led you over to behind the stairs. “So, Gibbs’ goddaughter, huh? What’s that like?” He asked you, curiously.
“He’s the only father figure I’ve ever had, so he cares too much sometimes. And being over-protective when it comes to future boyfriends is just part of the deal.” You told him.
“Future boyfriend?” He quipped, smirking at you. You hadn’t completely meant to say it. It kind of just slipped out. You felt your cheeks heat up.
“Well, if you wanna be,” you replied, putting the ball in his court. “Oh, trust me, I wanna be,” he said, leaning in and kissing you. He weaved his fingers through your hair as your lips moved against his.
You ran your fingers over his stomach. You could feel his muscles through his shirt. His lips tasted like vanilla, and you felt like you were addicted to the taste.
You had a fluttery feeling in your stomach as he moved one of his hands to your waist. He pulled away to take a breath. “God, Gibbs would kill me for doing this,” he mumbled.
He leaned in to kiss you again, but you pulled your head back. “If you want to be a future boyfriend, you’re gonna have to stop thinking about my godfather when you’re kissing me.” You told him, running your fingers over the lapels of his jacket.
“Yes, ma'am,” he nodded, leaning back in to kiss you again. You let your lips connect this time. You were glad Tony had picked a more private place for you both to talk.
He moved your hands so they were resting on his sides underneath his jacket. He smirked against your lips. You ran your hands up and down his sides as he held your waist with one hand and cupped your face with the other.
Gibbs cleared his throat. You both jumped apart. Tony quickly smoothed out his shirt and his jacket. “Hiya, boss,” Tony said, nervously.
Gibbs took a step closer to him. “If you hurt her, you will be in a world of hurt, Dinozzo.” Gibbs threatened. He walked back towards his desk.
Tony stepped back closer to you. “So, you have any plans tonight?” He asked you, smoothing out where he had ruffled your hair.
“That depends on if you’re actually going to ask me out.” You smirked up at him. He was surprised by your little sarcastic comebacks and kind of turned on by them too.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do,” he said, grabbing your waist. His lips lightly grazed against yours.
You moved his hands off of you and took a step backwards. “Still waiting for you to ask,” you quipped.
He smiled at you. “Would you like to go get dinner tonight?” He asked, grabbing one of your hands. From the expression on your face, he knew you were waiting for more.
He wasn’t sure what you were waiting for, but he knew there was more. “And…?” He hesitated, trying to read your mind.
“And come back to your place,” you whispered, finishing his sentence for him.
“And come back to my place?” He repeated what you said, as if trying to fully process it. His eyes were wide, and his shock was obvious.
“And what would we be doing at my place?” He asked, cocking his head to the side. You smirked at him, and he felt his stomach do a flip.
“Use your imagination, Dinozzo,” you whispered in his ear, winking at him. He almost felt weak in his knees. “I can’t say no to that,” he replied.
You grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him in for another kiss. He was quick to kiss you back. You were like a drug to him.
“Dinozzo, back to work!” Gibbs snapped from the other side of the stairs.
He pulled out of the kiss and sighed. “On it, boss,” he replied. You grabbed his hand before he could walk away from you. “Wait a minute,” you whispered.
You wiped your lipstick off his lips quickly. “I’ll see you tonight,” he said, returning to his desk.
You were right behind him, taking your seat back next to Gibbs.
“Now you know why I waited so long for you to visit me at work.” Gibbs said, looking over at you.
“You knew this would happen?” You asked, shocked. This also caught Tony’s attention.
“Yeah, I knew. I know you both like the back of my hand. Whether I like it or not, you both are a great fit.” He admitted.
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