Ronnie, Dio, and Bow

Eddie is standing at the crosswalk when he feels a small hand grab his. With his long hair and painted nails, he’s used to kids assuming he’s a woman. Imagine his surprise when he tries to pull away only to have the little hand tug at his fingers and move his arm around. A little girl with the biggest head of hair he’s ever seen in his life, is staring at his arm like she wants to rip it off and take it with her. Hearts, stars, flowers, and other random little scribbles are all over her arms and fingers. Eddie goes to pull his arm away before she gets any ideas, or a sharp object, when she suddenly yells out. 

“Daddy! Look, he draws on himself too. Look at his hands!” She holds up Eddie’s hand and shows off his tattoos, like she’s secretly Vanna White on the weekends. She tugs a little harder and pulls him down closer to her. Before he can stop her, she begins to push his sleeves up so she could look at the ink on his arms. 

“Veronica Harrington! Oh my gosh sir, I’m so sorry.” Eddie looks up and practically swallows his tongue. A tanned god with mole dotted skin and equally magnificent hair stands before him. Hearing sir fall from his beautiful pouty lips short circuits Eddie’s brain. He is so taken by the beautiful man before him that he’s planning their future together, making sure he has enough sunscreen on, and regularly taking him to get his beautiful moles checked out. He realizes the man is talking to him as he pulls his daughter’s hand away. “Ronnie, we do not grab on to strangers and man-handle them. He’s a stranger, what if he was dangerous?” 

Eddie can’t even be offended, he dresses the way he does to keep people away. He gets it. What he’s not prepared for is Ronnie Harrington being a little ball full of sass. “Daddy! You and aunt Robin said that scary looking people with rainbows were safe, look at him!” She jumps up and thumps him on the chest where his rainbow patch is sewn in. “See right there, rainbow.”

His body moves on auto pilot as he points at himself with both thumbs. “That’s me, rainbow.” His eyes widen in horror as he realizes what he’s done. Who the hell is he right now, Ask Ashley? The man bites his lip to stop himself from smiling and Eddie has to resist the urge to pluck his lip from between his teeth, he wants to be the one to bite this man’s lip. They cross the street, allowing him to get closer and closer to his destination, and the end of this self imposed torture. “Uhh, you know this has been lovely, but-”

“How did you get them so dark?” Eddie’s eyes flick down to Ronnie who’s matching him step for step and still staring at his tattoos. 

They stop in front of the shop and Steve squats down to her eye level. It makes Eddie’s heart kind of stutter, he should maybe get that checked out. “His are a little more permanent, Ronnie.”

“You use permanent markers!? Wow. You’re so cool, Rainbow.”

The man sucks both lips into his mouth and snorts softly. “I don’t think his name is Rainbow sweetie. Right…” He stands up looking eager to learn Eddie’s name.

Eddie puts his hand on his chest like he’s talking to Tarzan. “Eddie.” He glances down at Ronnie who’s eyeing both of them carefully mumbling how much better of a name Rainbow is. “I agree little lady, Rainbow is a much cooler name. You’re the one with the awesome nickname though, I could only be so cool as to be called Ronnie.” Steve’s bright smile is almost strong enough to blind him, but he perseveres. “I think what your daddy was trying to say is that I have tattoos, that’s how they are so dark.” Eddie tries to ignore the way Steve’s face flushes at his use of daddy. “You never know, you might decide drawing on yourself isn’t good enough and you want to draw on other people. That’s what I did, opened my own shop and everything.” He gestures towards his shop, Hellfire Tattoos. 

Ronnie is amazed to learn that you can draw on other people as well as yourself. As they walk into the shop she is explaining how her daddy won’t let her draw on him or the walls. Before he can scold Steve for not letting his daughter express her creativity freely, Dio the Cat makes his presence known as he waddles towards them. His yowls of fury echo off the walls of the shop causing Chrissy to poke her head out. 

“I don’t know if you can tell, but your cat is very upset with you.”

“You wonder why he dislikes you, you won’t feed him when I’m late.” Eddie shoots back.

“You are less than 10 minutes late and we could both see you in the window. It’s not like he’s going to starve to death.”

“Christina, don’t be mean to my cat. He can’t help it, he's big boned.” A loud purring distracts Eddie from sparring with Chrissy. Dio has staked his claim on Steve and is slinking his way between Steve’s legs, rubbing himself all over him. 

“I think you’ve finally found someone that your cat likes. Marry him.” Chrissy deadpans. 

She walks into the lobby where they are all standing and Ronnie gasps at her flower tattoos that go down her arms. “Are you a princess?”

Chrissy’s eyes twinkle. “He’s also got a cute kid! I am absolutely a princess, come on kiddo, I can show you my book while Eddie flirts with your dad.”

Ronnie takes Chrissy’s hand to follow her, but turns back with a parting message. “Hey Bow you can totally marry daddy, he likes boys too so it’s ok.”

Chrissy pokes her head back out and the twinkle in her eye makes his blood run cold. There’s no telling what she’s about to say to Steve. She stage-whispers, “Eddie or I guess Bow now, likes daddies too, so I think your marriage will work out just fine.”

Eddie and Steve have matching red faces as they watch the women in their life run off to go play. Steve runs a hand through his hair nervously. “You know, I think we are in trouble. I have two more just like her.”

“Daughters?” Eddie wasn’t sure if he was ready to be a stepdad to 3 kids, but he’d make it work.

Steve points to the lesbian pride flag on Chrissy’s door. “No lesbians, I have a feeling they are going to be like the Four Horse-Women of the apocalypse when they all meet.”

“So the wedding is on?”

Steve’s eyes trail up and down his body. “Might be. I’m curious to see what other kinds of tattoos you have under there.”

“Oh big boy, you have no idea.”