Chapter Text
Feeling a familiar concoction of apprehensive, worn down, and a little bit overwhelmed (ya know, parenthood), Steve ran his free hand down his face and across the back of his neck, rubbing at the tense tendons for no less than the tenth time today. He hated the feeling, hated the idea, but he’d finally reached the end of the line. The day has come, whether he was ready or not. He looked down where his other hand was currently occupied in the steel grip of a determined little soul. He figured it couldn’t hurt to ask one last time, “Are you absolutely, positively, one hundred percent sure hun?”
The silent eye-roll-to-death-glare Steve got back was undoubtedly one that his daughter inherited from him, and a feeling of something like regret-guilt-pride bubbled up in his chest and out through his eyes and smile at the sight. What a little shithead, I just love her so much. Whether or not this look was genetic or learned behavior still remained a mystery.
“Don’t give me that face Jenna, I just think you might still be a little young, that’s all.”
“Dad – ugh!” The attitude on this child, damn. “I am like, the last girl in my grade not to have my ears pierced. Some girls even have two piercings. It’s embarrassing. Casey got hers done when she was still a baby!” Steve’s arm flung this way and that while his daughter waved her own in the fanfare and drama of her argument with passion and gusto, never once dropping their interlocked fingers.
“Yeah well, I’ve always felt like it should be your choice and-”
The loud, frustrated huff from hip level was impressively strong. “YES! And it’s my choice and I want to get them!”
Ah shit, Steve had talked himself into a corner. Seven years old and smart as a whip, lord knows she didn’t get that from Steve. The argumentative nature against a parent however, yeah, that he would admit to passing down.
“Fine, fine, yes, we’ll do it. I wish you’d wait a little longer but-”
“You promised,” Jenna spoke through furrowed brow and tight teeth. So much attitude, but Steve gets it.
It’s true. He had been putting off this request for over three years now. Putting it off and putting his foot down not because he couldn’t afford it, not because he didn’t think Jenna wouldn’t look good, or like them, or take care of them even, but because he can’t imagine what he’ll do when the needle goes through. His baby, his little girl, getting hurt on purpose. And with a needle no less, he hated needles.
Does he think she’ll be okay? One hundred percent. Just last year Jenna fell while riding her bike and scraped her elbows and knees to shit, dirt and crumbles of the blacktop rubbed in to the cuts and blood trickling down to her ankles, ruining her favorite socks. But other than a couple of startled tears, he gave her a little Neosporin and a popsicle for bravery, and then she was right back to hauling ass down the sidewalk, practicing riding hands-free despite Steve’s neurotic yelling from the front porch. He’s convinced that day was the catalyst for his current sneaky gray hairs that are sprinkled into his coif. The beginning of the end he supposes.
And then there was the year before that, referred to as the ‘tree incident’ between the two, when a branch broke and Jenna tumbled out of the old birch in their backyard, breaking her wrist trying to catch herself. The doctors at the ER said she was the most well behaved patient of the day, adults included. Both Jenna and Steve got to pick from the treat jar treasure chest for their bravery, Jenna for her cast and Steve for not having a meltdown. It’s one of Jenna’s favorite stories to bring up to new people about how embarrassed her dad was being offered candy for not crying. Any time he mows or rakes leaves around that particular tree, he either fake punches it or gives it a dirty look, calls it a ‘bitch’ tree instead of birch and chuckles at his cleverness. How dare it not support his daughter. He’ll cut it down, he will.
Needless to say, Steve’s always been a bigger baby than his actual baby. Anyone who would question it need only ask Robin about him relying on her for moral support during Jenna’s infancy and getting her routine shots. No one had bigger feelings that day than new-dad Steve, blubbering while holding his little girl who did nothing more than make a rumpled face and one pitiful whine before he lost his mind and his heart clenched tight, ready to whisk her away from the tired but oh-so-patient nurse.
And now she wants to get her ears pierced. Intentional poking of a needle! Pain on purpose! It’s been the only time Steve’s ever questioned if he and Jenna were related. Fed up with asking for her birthday and Christmas three years running, Steve told her if she got all A’s and helped with her chores with no whining, then yes, she can get her ears pierced. A small part of him held out the hope that he could catch her on the chores bit, but the last four months whizzed by with her being a perfect angel. Toys put away, bed made, teeth brushed, and litter-box scooped with no complaints, just a smug smile that she knew he wouldn’t go back on his word. The little brat. God he loves his kid.
The walk around the mall leading to Claire’s was a little less busy than Steve would’ve thought, even for a weekday. Sure, not many people went to malls anymore, but it was still a little shocking when he thought back to his childhood and how it was still the place to be. He remembers when he couldn’t wait to be old enough to drive his friends here and hang out, loiter in the food court and go see a movie, maybe buy some new clothes or music from FYE, whatever they could do with their allowances. Makes him wonder what this place would’ve looked like in its heyday. His parents said that it was the largest, most modern, chic, and totally cool (their words) mall of its time. Little to no updates had been done and the architecture screams I-was-cool-in-the-eighties throughout the place. Fountains and mirrors, gold chrome railings and glass block walls, palm trees and neon lights. All it’s missing are women walking around with too big hair and dudes with atrocious mullets.
Turning the corner to where he vaguely remembers the store being, his heart sinks when he sees how dead this section of the mall truly seems to be. Big metal grates are pulled down every dark store front, overhead lights only lit halfway.
“Ah fuck.”
“Bad word,” Jenna mumbles, not yet catching on to what Steve noticed.
“Baby, I got some bad news.”
His daughter stops her jaunty steps where she was most definitely making sure to walk in the center of every tile to look up to see what Steve does. “Ah fudge.” The corner of Steve’s mouth rises with the understanding of what she really meant to say and decides to let the intention slide since she censored herself.
“Well, I don’t think we’re getting your ears pierced today honey.”
A small, defeated sigh escapes her lips and she looks back down at her feet, scuffing the toes of her sneakers on the floor. “S’okay.”
And if there’s one thing Steve hates as much as his daughter getting hurt, it’s her getting disappointed. She is unfortunately no stranger to the feeling. ‘Why don’t we see grandma and grandpa anymore?’ (Because they’re disappointed in me and my life choices and now it’s awkward and tense when we’re all in the same room.) ‘Where did Lucky go?’ (He accidentally got out and ran away and no matter how many late nights I searched and searched, I never found him. I hope he was taken in by a new family that prospered from the cat distribution system and refuse to accept any other outcome.) ‘Am I ever gonna meet mom?’ (Now that one hurt. Yeah, Steve’s still not sure how to explain that one to a second grader. A whoopsie-daisy with an expired condom at his high school graduation party and a phone call from the hospital nine months later asking if he wants to be a dad or sign away his baby to the foster system seems like a tough conversation to have with someone who hasn’t even gotten the birds-and-the-bees talk yet. God help him when that day comes.)
So, he can’t stand the kicked-puppy expression and little black rain cloud hovering over his daughter’s day. Crouching down to her height, he lifts her chin to look at him and he tries to turn it around. “Hey, how about we get a smoothie, or a pretzel, and I’ll look up some other places to go, hmm? We can still do this.” He lifts their joined hands to kiss her knuckles, hoping his willingness to keep trying gets her to smile.
She doesn’t answer, but nods her head and takes the lead, pulling him in the direction of Auntie Anne’s. Okay, a pretzel it is.
The line is somewhat long and while he waits, Steve drops Jenna’s hand to scroll through his phone, looking up other Claire’s. He knows that’s not the only option out there, but otherwise, he has no idea where to go. That’s where Robin said she got hers done when she was little so that’s good enough for him.
The line moves like molasses and there’s only two people behind the counter that Steve can see, so he does his best not to let the wait get to him. He will be as patient and pleasant as can be. He’d been the one on the other side of the register before in his teens (he still hasn’t eaten ice cream in the same capacity as he used to before donning those heinous, frankly demeaning little shorts and stupid fucking hat) and knows how shitty customers can be. He will never be that guy.
Long minutes pass and then it’s finally their turn next when Steve realized he’d been on his phone the whole time when he should’ve asked Jenna what she wanted. He knows it’s a cup of pretzel bites with nacho cheese, but he always makes a point to ask. Looking down to his left, Steve doesn’t see her and thinks she switched sides or walked to the counter to look at the options, but he doesn’t spot her there either. In fact, he can’t see her at all.
“Jenna?” He calls out, trying not to panic. She can’t have gotten far. He scans the storefronts again and gets on his tiptoes to see around the line behind him and still nothing. “Excuse me.” Steve whispers to the man behind him and makes his way to the middle of the walkway, frantically looking up and down each way of the hall for any sign of his kid. No no no no…
What should he do? Scream her name? Call the cops? Collapse into the fetal position and cry? All valid options in his mind but luckily, before doing anything stupid or mortifying, he spots her walking towards him with a tall, dark haired man and a short blonde woman in tow, neither of which he recognizes. Her hand is holding onto the woman’s and his daughters got a determined look in her eyes, marching right to her dad. Steve meets them halfway and crouches down to wrap Jenna up in a tight, somewhat frantic hug.
“Where did you go?! Why did you walk away from me?” He gives her a once over, patting arms and holding her face, moving it this way and that for any signs of something gone wrong, and as scared as he is, she seems cool as a cucumber.
She shrugged and thumbed back at the guy behind her, “I saw Eddie walk by and asked him for help.” As if that was a reasonable thing to do and say.
Steve’s face scrunches up in confusion, shaking back and forth, unable to understand what she could mean. “Help with what? Who’s Eddie?”
“Hey, sorry, um, that’s me.” Steve looks up and gets his first good look at the couple in front of him. The blonde woman who was pulled along by Jenna was wearing a shy smile, sort of in an apologetic manner. Her hands were now clasped and withdrawn into her hoodie sleeves as if she felt awkward and nervous, rightfully so he imagined. She was just tugged along by a child she didn’t know and was now witnessing Steve have a bit of a meltdown right in front of her. She looked nice, a small thing, nearly half a foot shorter than he was he guessed despite her platforms, and maybe only a hundred pounds soaking wet. She really was fairly pretty, a natural kind of beauty, but with a slight edge to her. She had on light make up and he caught a glimpse of some small gauges and a septum ring that really did suit her face.
The man who spoke up, hand still awkwardly held in the air declaring himself Eddie it would seem, was, well, fuck, okay, even in this semi-terrifying moment, Steve clocked the man was gorgeous. He was probably as tall as Steve, taller for sure wearing those heavy boots by at least an inch or two. His ripped skinny jeans and faded band tee that draped off his torso were the more tame things about his appearance. Nearly each finger had a heavy ring on them and chains hung from his pants and jacket. Tattoos covered his forearms and wove their way up to his collar bones and even bled onto the sides of his neck. His dark hair was definitely long, but it was pulled up in a loose bun with tendrils framing his face along with his bangs. More chains hung from his neck and he had not one, not two, but three facial piercings (the nose rings he gets, but what on earth is that bar between his eyes? You can do that? Steve wondered) as well as both ears gauged. Dark clothes, dark hair, dark (but sweet) eyes – it was a sudden and hard-hitting thought, but if Steve would’ve been back in high school and this guy was in a band, oh yeah, his poster would’ve been hanging on his wall for sure.
Steve shook his head to clear those thoughts, him and the other girl were probably a couple anyways, they looked like they would be dating, their styles so different from Steve’s own and significantly cooler, and focused back to the problem at hand. He looked back at his unbothered daughter, “I don’t understand baby, why did you walk away from me? You know that’s dangerous and you’re not supposed to,” Steve scolds. They’ll have a longer talk about this later, but because she seems fine, he has to know what made her think it was okay.
“We were standing in line forever and I saw Eddie walk by with Chrissy and I wanted to ask him what store he went to to get his piercings and DAD, he works at a place that does piercings and tattoos! We can go there!” She exclaims, jumping up and down in excitement.
Steve is floored at his child’s supreme confidence and lack of wariness to strangers (even though stranger danger had been well established many times since she could walk and talk), but it seems she managed to befriend(?) two people who for all intents and purposes seemed to be doing the right thing and bringing his daughter back to him after she wandered off.
Still, he had to set Jenna straight. “Honey, you can’t just do that. You don’t know what could have happened.” He stood up and spoke to the pair still standing awkwardly by. “Thank you both for staying with her and making sure she was okay. I’m so sorry about that.” He looked back and forth between the two, “You’ve met Jenna,” he huffs and holds out his hand for introductions, “I’m Steve.”
Chrissy shook his hand quickly and dropped it while Eddie took his time before letting go, holding eye contact just as long, even doing a quick up-and-down on Steve, and wasn’t that interesting? Steve thought, so maybe it’s mutual. Poor timing and heart attack inducing event aside, he couldn’t be too mad. “No! No, it’s okay, we’re glad she knew where you were. I almost shi-” Eddie looked down to Jenna and back to Steve, “pooped my pants when a kid walked up to me by themselves, I thought they were lost and I would’ve been freaking out too.”
“You were going to say shit.”
“Jenna!” Steve playfully scolded through gritted teeth.
Eddie and Chrissy chuckled at the exchange.
“It’s no trouble.” Chrissy said. “Jenna here stopped us just a few stores down and told us that she was supposed to get her ears pierced today but it didn’t work out?”
Steve took a deep breath, the last of his anxiety going with it. She was safe, he’s holding her hand, and they’re going home, that’s for sure. “Yeah, I promised her she could get it done but it seems like this mall is dying and Claire’s went with it so now I don’t know where to go. Although, I don’t know if we should go at all considering someone scared me to death.”
“No! Dad please! I’m sorry, I won’t do that again. Please can Eddie pierce my ears?” She pleaded, bouncing up and down, yanking on his hand.
Steve looked to Eddie who himself huffed an awkward laugh and blushed. He shuffled his feet and took a bit of loose hair and wrapped it nervously around his finger, bringing it to the front of his face. Well that’s kind of cute. “She asked where I got mine done and I told her I did them myself.” Steve’s eyes widened at the idea. “But! But, I did them at my shop! I own a tattoo and piercing parlor so it was done by a professional and in a clean environment, got the certificates and license and everything. I did Chrissy’s too, ask her.”
“Oh yeah,” Chrissy hurried to say, apparently charmed or maybe amused by Eddie’s nervous behavior, “Eddie’s the best around for sure, been doing it for years and years.” She paused, tilting her head in thought, seemingly trying to decide if she should say something. “Can I, I’m sorry, can I ask a question? I don’t want to step on any toes, but I wanted to ask, did you say you were going to Claire’s? Why there?”
Steve shrugged his shoulders, “I dunno, it’s the only place I knew of. My best friend got hers done there when she was a kid so I figured we’d go there. Why do you ask?” He didn’t want to assume she was going to be judgy, but he was curious why she had asked.
“Sorry! Not trying to sound like, I’m questioning you or anything. Um, it’s just not the best place to get it done at? And they don’t have the best jewelry? I’m not just saying it because my friend here owns a shop and I work there too, but as a person with piercings, I would recommend for her to get them done at a real shop, or like, tattoo and piercing shop sorta place I mean. You’re guaranteed to get a sterile environment and the people do it day in and day out like me and Eddie, so they know what they’re doing. And the metal that’s used is totally a safer bet!” Eddie nodded along to everything Chrissy had said.
Steve was actually impressed by the info, that sounded way better than going to a store in the mall. But, “I’m not trying to make assumptions, I’ve literally never set foot in one, but, is a tattoo parlor a kid-appropriate place? Like, I’m so sorry if this sounds bad, but like, I don’t know, is she gonna see anything she shouldn’t?” Steve imagined something like in old movies and TV shows with nearly-naked women artwork or some kind of skulls and real hardcore kind of aesthetic. He had no idea if he was off base but he had to ask.
Both Eddie and Chrissy chuckled as if there was some kind of joke Steve should be in the know about. Eddie spoke up this time, “You look like a guy whose never been to a tattoo shop.” It’s said with no hint of jeering or malice so Steve takes no offense because, well, he knows he totally looks like a straight edge kind of guy. Not a total loser, but the polos and same haircut since he was sixteen do him no favors here. He wondered if he was too different of a style of guy that Eddie might be interested in, having a kid aside. But Steve kept catching Eddie check him out and that blush seemed evidence enough, so maybe not. “So no,” Eddie continued, “you’d be okay. I know what you’re thinking, and yeah, some shops like that exist, but my place has a different...ambiance. Chrissy and her girlfriend helped me design the place to be like, super laid back and welcoming.” Oh. Again, good to know. “We focus on the cozy and chill vibes, I promise. Nothing too scary. But this chick can handle anything, right kiddo?” Eddie held a fist out for Jenna to bump back which she did, and while she didn’t say anything, merely grinning back, Steve was sold. Also a little turned on he had to admit. He likes people that are good with kids. He’s got one so it would be necessary, but it nonetheless it makes his heart flutter to see the smile on his daughter and Eddie’s face. He’d really like to see that smile more than just today.
“Alright, how do we make an appointment?”
“Oh shi- shoot. Yeah. Let me give you my number and we can set something up.” Chrissy rolled her eyes fondly before looking down smiling to herself, nudging Eddie’s arm. He shook her off and blushed again, Steve smiled to himself, hoping he was right as to why.
“You don’t have to hold back on your cussing. I tried but having a seven year old can be tough as hell and a well timed expletive can really make you feel better in the moment.”
Eddie laughed and pulled his phone out, Steve doing the same to exchange info.
“Sweet. Well thank you guys again and one more time, I’m so sorry about Jenna and if she scared you or anything.”
“Hey no, no worries. See you around lil miss?” Eddie asked, smiling at Jenna and squatting down to hold his hand out for a high five. Jenna, whose never not given something one hundred and ten percent, smacked Eddie’s hand with enough force to echo in the open air of the mall. This child, Steve thought. Eddie ‘youched!’ playfully and shook off the no doubt stinging in his palm but was all smiles as he and Chrissy turned to walk away, both waving one last time to Steve and Jenna.
So not his girlfriend (just a friend and employee), good with kids, and Jenna likes him. All good to know.