Wayne is hesitant to let Steve help at first.
It’s not because he’s too proud; His pride goes out the window when his nephew is involved.
It’s because he doesn’t believe that a Harrington could actually be on their side about anything.
See, back when Wayne was freshly 18 and trying his best to take care of his widowed mama and his two younger siblings, he often found himself doing odd jobs for money.
One job in particular was driving a car to Indianapolis, picking up someone with too much money, dropping him off in Bloomington for reasons unknown, and driving the car back to Hawkins for $100.
$100 was a lot of money for a simple task, and the bills had to get paid, so he did what was asked without asking any questions.
But he probably should have asked at least one.
He got pulled over halfway to Bloomington, the guy he was driving had a warrant out for his arrest, and Wayne spent the next year trying to get charges he didn’t deserve to have dropped from his record.
Steve’s grandfather was responsible for Wayne never quite getting his record erased, and no one could hold a grudge quite like Wayne.
But Steve was always over before the sun was up, tidying up the places where Wayne hadn’t had the time to commit to, making them meals, helping change Eddie’s bandages, only leaving when he was certain they had everything they needed.
After a week of this, Wayne relaxes into it. He sees what Steve and Eddie might not yet, sees the way Steve holds onto Eddie’s hand longer than he needs to when he’s helping him walk somewhere, sees the way Eddie watches Steve make dinner with a fond smile. He notices how Steve stays later and later as the days pass, finding excuses to stick around because he thinks he needs one.
He’s still worried, but now it’s a concern that Steve will backtrack the moment things become real for him.
If there’s one thing Wayne knows, it’s that guys like Steve Harrington don’t tend to accept their not so straight feelings very easily when faced with the reality of them.
But tonight’s the second night he’s walked in to Eddie asleep on the couch, head in Steve’s lap, while Steve’s fingers play with his hair.
Steve doesn’t move or try to make an excuse for what they’re doing, doesn’t try to explain it as taking care of him.
Just smiles and whispers a hello to Wayne.
Wayne smiles and whispers a hello back.
He doesn’t need to ask. He doesn’t need to say anything.
He can see it in the way Steve’s got him.
He knows that Steve is someone he can let in, so he does.
