Chapter Text
“Who are you supposed to be?” Sam had his hands on his hips, muddy water dripping off his hair and onto his face.
The wild-haired man grinned, bowing and holding out his hand, his fingers adjourned with rings of silver. “The name is Dev, You Highness.” He looked up at Sam through his eyelashes. His dark eyes twinkled with something akin to mischief. “And, might I say, the rumors are true. You really are the prettiest Prince that Ameron has ever seen.”
Steve’s POV
This coffee wasn’t doing anything for Steve. Though, coffee rarely ever worked for him these days. Or ever, if he was honest. He wished it would work. He guessed that after all those sleepless nights caused by trauma of the Upside Down (not that they had stopped, just slowed to maybe one or two nightmares a week) his body was overly tired all the time. That, and his somewhat recent career choice of being an author.
It was funny. Hilarious. He could hear Henderson (the little shit) laughing at him now. And that was why he had decided to publish his novel under a fake name. It was easier this way. No strings attached. Steve could continue on, writing and publishing his fantasy trilogy without anyone ever asking him questions. And, boy, would they ask questions.
He sighed, setting his mug on his desk and giving up on the coffee. He’d been staring at his notebook for thirty minutes, trying to think of a way to start the second book. It was a weird feeling, writer’s block. He hadn’t experienced it at all when he had written the first book. After two weeks of constant writing (much to his right wrist’s dismay), he had finished the first draft. Another two weeks and he was sending it off to publishers. A year later, it had been released, and now his publisher was asking when he thought the next one would be ready. Thank God Tonya was a Saint. If he’d been picked up by any other publisher, he had a feeling they wouldn’t have appreciated this much of a delay.
Steve picked up his pen, hovering the tip over the blank sheet of paper. Maybe if he just started writing nonsense, he would have a breakthrough and be done with the book by tomorrow morning.
The phone rang, causing Steve to jump and drop the pen, leaving a short ink mark at the top of the page. He sighed, dropping the pen and running his hands over his face. There were only two people that called him, and he was needing a distraction. He got up, stretching his arms as he walked over to the phone, and picked it up.
“Harrington residence,” Steve leaned against the wall, yawning. Stupid coffee.
“STEVE!” Robin’s voice jolted Steve awake. Fully Awake. Maybe he just needed Robin to scream in his ear every morning. The volume of her voice even caused his hearing aid to cut out.
“Jeez, Rob, lower your voice,” Steve sighed. “Already can’t hear.”
“Shit, sorry, Steve,” she sounded guilty.
“It’s fine Rob, don’t worry about it,” he sighed again. After getting whacked in the head so many times, Steve had realized he couldn’t hear people talking to him as easily, asking them to repeat their words. He’d gone to a doctor, where they’d done a hearing test and, sure enough, his hearing was below average. Not terrible, just not normal for the average guy in his early-to-mid-twenties. “Why’re you screaming at me at -” Steve checked his watch. “ - nine thirty in the morning?”
“Well, lemme tell you ,” she sounded excited. Steve smiled to himself. He missed Robin. The apartment they rented together was too quiet without her around. She and Nancy had decided to go on a two-month-long trip to California. Leaving Steve alone with their cat, Dexter. “We ran into someone we know last night. At a bar.”
Steve raised his eyebrows. “Someone we know? In Los Angeles?”
“I would ask you to guess, but I absolutely cannot hold it in any longer,” she squealed. “ We saw Eddie! ”
Steve ignored the sudden flutter in his chest. “Munson? Really? What’s he doing there? How’s he doing?”
“Whoa, there, Steve, this isn’t 21 questions,” she snorted. “He got signed to a record label , Steve! Corroded Coffin is officially a member of Grunge Inc .”
Steve felt himself smiling. “Shit. Good for him. Wow. He deserves it.”
“ And there’s more . He’s got a few months before they start recording their music, so Eddie was talking about how he needed to figure out somewhere to stay and write songs - y’know, cause LA doesn't really inspire him all that much - and then he asked where I live now, and I told him I live with you in New York, and - oh my god, Steve he’s coming back with us to New York !”
Steve felt his heart fall three stories. Eddie. He was going to see Eddie. Officially-signed-to-a-record-label Eddie. Almost-murdered-by-demobats Eddie. Steve’s bisexual-awakening Eddie. The never-told-him-about-his-feelings Eddie.
The Eddie he based his protagonist’s love interest off of.
“Oh. Shit. That’s - shit.”
“You good, Steve? I figured you’d be happy. I mean, you two got pretty close after everything. Until Eddie moved, anyway.”
Steve took his glasses off, massaging his temple with his hand (hearing and sight were below average, apparently). “Yeah, no, of course I’m happy. Just. You said he’s coming with you?” He felt the panic set in. “Aren’t you coming home tomorrow?”
“Yeah?” Robin sounded as if she were suspicious of Steve’s reaction. “He found a last minute apartment to rent, too. Pretty lucky, honestly. Looks nice.”
“Yeah. Lucky.” Steve was definitely no longer tired. “I, uh, gotta go. Realized I haven’t fed Dex yet this morning. Uh. Say hi to Eds for me.”
Steve could hear the smirk on her face when she replied, “Will do, Steve.”
…
Obviously, Steve didn’t get any writing done.
Instead, he paced around the apartment, trying to occupy his time with anything that wasn’t thoughts of Eddie Munson or his face or his eyes or the fact that he wrote an entire novel about how much he loved him . God. if Eddie ever connected the dots… No. Steve couldn’t think like that. Hell, Eddie was going to be a famous rockstar. No way would he have time to read some dumb fantasy book by a random author no one had ever heard about.
Right?
Eddie did love fantasy shit. Who’s to say he doesn’t like to read everything fantasy-related, including random authors no one has ever heard about?
Shit.
Shit .
Steve had to play it cool. It would be fine . As long as his stupid gay fantasy novel/love letter to Eddie Munson wasn’t mentioned, he would be fine .
Steve didn’t sleep that night. Not that he really had time to, anyway. Robin and Nancy’s flight came in at 6:45am, which meant Steve was in his car on his way to pick them up at 6. He parked, putting his flashers on, and ignoring the dirty looks of the lovely drivers of New York City. He was parked by the curb. Legally. At a pickup spot. Steve decided you could just breathe in this place and someone would have a problem with it.
Someone knocked on his passenger side door and Steve turned, ready to start shouting, but then whatever words were about to come out died in his throat. There was Eddie, looking the exact same, his hair pulled up in a wild bun, his eyelids smudged with eyeliner, his eyes sparking, his mouth grinning. Steve gave a lame smile and wave, and unlocked the car, popping the trunk. He saw Robin and Nancy too, Robin giving him a grin and an eyebrow wiggle (why she did this, he had no idea).
He got out, taking a deep breath. Just hug Rob and Nance and help them get their shit into the trunk. Don’t let your dumb, five-year-long crush on Eddie Munson ruin your life.
Robin basically tackled him on the sidewalk. “Ugh, I missed your big dumb face!”
Steve rolled his eyes, but squeezed her back, grinning. “Yeah, yeah, missed you too, Rob. Don’t appreciate the insult, though.”
She gasped and whacked him on his shoulder. “You know I’m kidding, Steve.” her expression softened. “I did miss you.”
He nodded. “I know, I know.”
Steve turned to Nancy, giving her a hug. “Missed you too, Nance.”
She gave him a small smile. “You too, Steve. How did you manage without your other half?”
“Barely. It was awful.” It was meant to be overdramatic, but Steve was honestly telling the truth. Being alone in their apartment… It made Steve appreciate her company even more. Robin rolled her eyes, and elbowed him. “Um. Ow?”
“Steve Harrington,” Eddie slammed the trunk shut, apparently being done putting everyone’s stuff away while Steve, Robin, and Nancy had been having their reunion. He took a few steps closer, Steve trying not to notice the many new tattoos, or the piercings, or the cropped tee he was wearing, or the small sliver of stomach that said cropped tee was exposing. “What a sight for sore eyes.”
Steve tried to keep from grinning - truly, he did - but something about Eddie’s smile, those fucking eyes , made Steve weak. “Munson. Heard you’re on your way to becoming a famous rockstar.”
Eddie shrugged. “What can I say? It’s my destiny .” He leaned in as he said this, causing Steve to get a whiff of cigarettes and cologne.
“We should, uh, get outta the way before a new yorker decides to kill us,” And then Steve was in the driver’s seat, waiting as his friends entered the car. He had been expecting Robin to hop into the passenger seat, but instead she got into the back with Nancy, leaving Eddie to ride shotgun.
Eddie immediately started to fiddle with the radio. When he decided the radio wasn’t doing it for him, he started rummaging through Steve’s console. He must have found a tape that satisfied him, because he put it in and turned up the volume. It was Queen’s The Game .
Robin talked most of the way there, with Nancy sometimes chiming in. Steve just smiled and tried not to get them killed in New York traffic.
Soon enough, they were at their apartment, and they all got out of Steve’s car, taking things out of the trunk. Steve and Eddie carried most of the bags, and Steve silently thanked his past self that he and Robin had decided to rent an apartment that had an elevator in the building.
Robin unlocked the door, and the four of them filed in. Steve took what he knew of the luggage was Robin’s into her room. Robin immediately started searching for the cat. Eddie set his own things down by the door, as did Nancy.
Steve was walking out of Robin’s room when he bumped into her. “Shit. Sorry.” Steve smiled when he saw she was holding Dexter. “I see you found this little shit.”
“Yes I did,” she gave the black cat a kiss on the head. Dexter started purring. “Might’ve missed him more than I missed you.”
Steve shrugged. “That’s fair.” he gave Dexter a chin scratch. “Where’s Eddie’s place? I can drive him if he needs to…” he stopped talking, seeing Robin’s grin. “What? What is it?”
“You know that neighbor of ours that unexpectedly died?”
Steve’s eyes widened. “No.”
She nodded. “Oh, yes. Eddie’s gonna move in across the hall.”
“Hey, guys, we should get breakfast!” Eddie shouted from the living room. Steve just sighed and walked with Robin back into the living room.
“I second that,” Robin gave Dex one last smooch before she dropped him on the floor. He immediately wandered over to Eddie, rubbing on his legs. “There’s this incredible diner down the block.”
Steve’s mouth watered at the thought of Freddie’s Diner . “Yeah. Okay, yes, definitely. Let’s go to Freddie’s .”
“ Freddie’s it is,” Eddie grinned. He squatted down to pet Dexter, which was when Steve saw something sticking out of Eddie’s bag that made him feel like the room started spinning.
Sticking out of Eddie’s bag was a copy of Steve’s book.
Oh fuck .