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“Hey, Teddy Bear!”
Eddie quickly scans for the voice piercing the buzzing swarm of paparazzi outside his home. It’s a cold winter night, yet after his public outburst with Robin a week ago and the ensuing onslaught of viral videos, they never seem to leave. Attention that used to have him feeling on top of the world now only leaves him feeling like the scum of the earth.
The overtly personal nickname rings through his memories, filling him with hope and dread in equal measure.
If I’m your baby, Eds, then you’re my Teddy Bear.
A swath of red hair and a high fade catch his gaze against the light snowfall. The boy’s usual charming smile’s been replaced with a cold stare, while she’s actively scowling. Eddie rushes through the crowd, excited to see them after so long despite the circumstances. He pulls them into the safety of his home, slamming the door behind them.
“Did you honestly think Steve was the only person you abandoned?” Max asks, before Eddie can even say hello.
Abandoned . A low blow, throwing Eddie’s childhood in his face, at least before he was adopted in all but name by the Wheeler’s. But coming from Max, he thinks maybe it’s fair play. She’s always been more Harrington than Mayfield, Lucas too. Out of the bunch, they’ve always been Steve’s kids.
“Mike had to go back to therapy. Nancy actually cried,” she spits, pacing the foyer while Lucas stands stoic by the door.
“I didn’t think they’d-” Eddie starts before he’s interrupted.
“What? That your family wouldn’t be upset, feel as betrayed as Steve?” Lucas finally speaks up. “So when you bragged about outgrowing your roots , that wasn’t supposed to mean us too?”
Eddie shrinks in on himself. He’s being admonished in his own home, and he knows he deserves it. He knows , truly. He just can’t handle the overwhelming aches of guilt and regret, which pang louder with each disappointed loved one. Another reminder he’d surrounded himself with people who only care about Metal Munson.
He’s foolishly desperate to win back his family, people who loved him for himself. He wants to be Eddie again. His baby’s Teddy Bear.
“What-” he tries again, forcing words around the growing knot in his throat and watery eyes. He’s cried so much lately. “Why are you here?”
Max eyes him skeptically, glancing at Lucas and sharing a look Eddie can’t decipher. They make a silent decision, and she moves to stand by her husband at the door.
“Steve’s getting married this summer,” she states, like it’s nothing. Like it’s not the end of Eddie’s world.
The tears fall, then. He loses control of a sob before he gets his voice back. “To who?” he pitifully asks, pretending he actually wants to know.
“You don’t know her,” Lucas replies.
Her. Her. Herherherher.
“Oh,” Eddie says softly. He can’t stop shaking, or is the earth quaking beneath him.
Max sighs, sympathetic, and rips his world open further still.
“Steve wants to talk, but you’ll have to get through Nancy first.”