Work Text:
Skull Rock was a magical place in more than one way. Of course, it was a great spot if you wanted some privacy, but people knew that it was more than that.
The little spot in the woods had a bit of an urban legend around it. It was said that, if you went inside the skull’s mouth under the light of a full moon, you would be lost forever, trapped in a different realm. A nice story to tell; a fun test of bravery and stupidity.
So, naturally, when Steve was hanging out with Tommy and Carol in that same spot, the topic came up. "Have you ever tried it?", Carol asked him, beer in her hand.
"Of course not. It's complete bogus," Steve laughed.
"Oh, is it? Well, if that's so, why don't you go in now?"
"Yeah, Steve. Why don't you go in?" Tommy grinned, leaning back a bit.
“You go in!”
Tommy simply shrugged. “I’ve been. Apparently, the monsters were too scared of me to abduct me.”
Yeah, sure. Steve had seen Tommy in a fight before. The guy was absolutely useless. With a deep sigh, Steve placed his bottle beside him on the ground and got up. He knew that all he would find in there were cobwebs and bugs.
Without much hesitation he walked toward the entrance, Tommy and Carol giggling behind him like stupid teenagers.
"And you need to touch the back wall," Tommy yelled after him before Steve set a foot inside the small cave.
He'd been right about the cobwebs. He had to get rid of a few before they'd get attached to his face. Kinda grossed out, he wiped his hand at the side of his pants before proceeding deeper into the cave. Soon enough it was getting dark enough for his eyes to become useless, and his lighter only gave him so much light, so he had to slow down to avoid stumbling over smaller rocks.
Eventually his hands found solid rock and he could feel a weight being lifted off his shoulders.
Now he just had to get out again.
As fast as possible in the situation, he turned around and walked right back where he'd come from.
Minutes later, he saw a light in the distance, getting brighter and brighter. He only noticed quite how bright it really was when he was almost outside.
This wasn't just moonlight and a fireplace. It looked like bright daylight.
Furrowing his brows, Steve stepped outside the cave. The forest around him looked like the forest he'd left, even if the trees seemed somewhat greener than he was used to. Maybe a trick of the light. But why was it day all of a sudden?
"Are you lost?"
Steve whipped around as he heard the voice above him. He stumbled out of the cave, anything other than gracefully. Only then did he see the boy that was sitting in a higher point on the rock, looking down at him.
The boy looked around Steve's age but also much younger and older at the same time. His hair were wild curls that seemed to defy gravity, always in motion, even if there was no wind.
"... No? I don't think so at least."
"You don't look like you're from around here," the boy stated, leaning forward a bit, obviously amused by Steve’s appearance here.
"Who are you?" Steve asked. He'd never seen that guy around school, and he was sure he would have remembered such a... unique person.
The boy laughed, jumping down from his spot on the rock. Only now did Steve realize that he was barefoot and wore strange clothes, like he’d just escaped a renfaire. Not that Steve had ever been to one.
"That's a question you better start asking yourself. But you can call me Eddie. Everyone else does."
"Weird answer, but okay," Steve replied, instinctively taking a step back when Eddie approached him.
"You are very beautiful," Eddie mentioned, casually. He had started circling Steve, eyeing him from every side. "And I believe you're more lost than you think."
Steve furrowed his brows, unsure of what to respond. "Thanks, I guess? Listen, I should probably head home. It's been... interesting meeting you." He stepped away from the strange boy and was ready to leave this behind him when he realized a strange emptiness in his back pocket. Frantically, he turned around to find Eddie, holding his wallet, flipping through his bank notes.
"Hey!" He dashed toward Eddie, but when he arrived there, the other boy was already a good 30 feet further away from him.
"You carry interesting things with you," Eddie noted, holding one of the notes against the light and tilting his head, like he'd never seen money before.
"Give that back!" Steve shouted, running at the thief once again. This time he witnessed with his own eyes as Eddie disappeared into dark blue mist and re-appeared further into the forest. "How are you doing that?" Steve murmured to himself.
For the first time, Eddie looked up from the wallet and to Steve, a mischievous grin on his lips. "You want this back? You'll have to catch me." And off he went, running into the forest.
Oh hell no!
Steve took off after him, jumping over roots, dodging branches, but the little shit was simply faster. Sometimes he would even wait for Steve, mocking him, before he was running again. He didn't seem to ever get out of breath.
Their chase continued through the forest until Steve had lost all sense of direction and suddenly found himself standing in front of a house? More like a hut; made out of wood and with a roof of leaves. It was definitely cute, but also nothing Steve would have ever expected to find anywhere outside of a filmset.
The door stood open, Eddie nowhere to be seen. A teasing invite.
Thank God. At least that gave him the opportunity to catch his breath before he approached the building.
From inside, a blindingly bright blueish-purple light greeted him as he stepped through the door. Steve vaguely remembered a horror movie he’d watched that had started kinda like this.
When Steve’s eyes finally adjusted his brain initially wouldn’t comprehend what it was seeing. The inside of the house looked like a trailer. With a cramped kitchen and a fold-out sofa-bed. It wasn’t at all the shape that the little hut had been.
“Make yourself comfortable.” Eddie was sitting on the kitchen table, legs crossed, gesturing widely around the room.
For a few seconds, Steve simply stood there, blinking, trying to understand reality. “I just want my wallet back.”
“Oh, right, sorry. Had to find a way to get you here so you don’t get lost out there,” Eddie said as if that would explain anything, before tossing Steve his wallet. “See, you stumbled in, what humans like to call, ‘the feywild’. And as the keeper of the gate, you are now my problem.”