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xfiddlin-fishsticsx · 5 months

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Everywhere, Everything

DPxDC

Danny looked up at the door in front of him with dread and nearly considered turning back when an image flashed through his head to remind him why he was here.

He was staring down the barrel of a bulky silver gun at a faceless woman with short red hair. Her finger moved and Danny squeezed his eyes shut to avoid seeing it play out again.

After calming himself down he returned his thoughts to the door, shaky and completely ready to run at the first signs of plotting, he rings the doorbell.

After a few moments he can hear clamoring and footsteps before they stop right in front of the door, several locks click and Vlad finally opened the door to an exhausted, tense, somewhat crying Danny Fenton.

Vlad only let his surprise show for a moment before it turned to honest concern as he ushered him inside, he sat Danny down in a cozy sitting room and disappeared into what could only be the kitchen.

Vlad returned a moment later with two steaming mugs, he set one in front of Danny before standing above him and staring down.

Danny hesitantly looks up at Vlad, screwing his face up to portray his confusion. Vlad gave him that squinty, sort of pouty concern again before signing and kneeling down to look Danny in the eye.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Danny shook his head, “Not hurt. Just tired” and lost.

Vlad studied him, obviously looking for a lie, before huffing slightly and standing up again upon finding no tells that it wasn’t the truth, he moved and sat carefully next to Danny, gently setting his own mug down beside the boy’s and turning to look at him.

Danny looked back. Vlad sighed, “I’m not going to hurt you, little badger, I promise you’ll be safe here”

He spoke softly and though Danny should know better he couldn’t help but trust it. He felt his exhaustion catching up, and all of his anxiety and … slowing down and suddenly he was just tired. And sad.

He felt his chest heave and tears start slipping down his face as Vlad reached out to him.

Hesitantly the man put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him closer when Danny leaned into it. Danny sobbed against him for a while until he wore himself out and Vlad guided him to a room. He promptly passed out on the bed, tears drying slowly. He slept all night for the first time in who knows how long.

——————————

Danny woke up sore and still tired, he slowly came back to awareness and barely avoided panic as everything registered.

He slowly dragged himself out of the bed and to the bathroom to wash his face. Once he felt more awake and clean he slipped out of the room and down the hall to the stairs.

He found the kitchen and consequently Vlad in the kitchen, he only hoped the man was better at cooking than his— the Fentons as he watched him stir something on the stove.

As Danny inched further into the room Vlad caught onto his presence and slowly turned to face him with a soft smile.

Danny looked up at him owlishly as Vlad used his head to gesture Danny to the seats at the counter before returning to the pan.

Danny slunk to the counter and sat down, fiddling with his sleeves and zoning out on the nice countertops.

Soon Vlad was playing food and setting it down in front of him, slowly sliding it into his field of vision. Danny’s eyes refocused to a plate of warm food, a fried egg, hashbrowns and toast.

He slowly sat up and reached for the utensils placed with it as Vlad took a seat next to him with a similar plate and a mug of coffee.

They ate in silence and Vlad directed him to the game/tv room before he left for work.

It was nice, peaceful. Vlad told him not to worry about ghosts for a bit. It stressed Danny out to no end but he was still happy to take the break.

At some point he had made his way back to his room for a nap. It was warm and quiet and he was so so tired.

——————————

One month later

It had been a month since Danny had run to Vlad and Danny has been 18 for two weeks now which meant his parents couldn’t touch him.

Vlad had taken him (and the cops) to go get what he wanted from the Fenton house, luckily they hadn’t been home. They had been trying to reach him though, claiming they missed their son, they missed him alright, or Danny wouldn’t be nearly as whole as he is.

So now he had his things. And his life. And a guaranteed room in Vlad’s mansion and his castle in Wisconsin.

Vlad had pulled him out of school for his last semester so he could try and catch up online a little bit before graduation. Which meant he didn’t really see Sam and Tuck anymore but they met up when they could and called.

Danny and Vlad had been in Wisconsin for a few weeks now, they were both in need of a break so they left Amity, Red had it covered and Danny had been somewhat succeeding in moderating the ghosts so only smaller animals and less destructive beings slipped through without permission.

Danny took a deep breath as he finished up the last of his school work for the week, now that he has time and could work at his own pace he was excelling.

He was on track to graduate early (though he wouldn’t) and he had started taking some preliminary college courses in his free time as well, which he had a lot of.

Danny was thriving.

Vlad knocked on his door.

“Hey, we’re going to a thing this weekend, we both need to get out of the house— err castle.”

Danny snickered, he did feel cooped up though, “what’s the thing? And where?”

“We’re going whether—“ He began “no I know, just curious.”

“Ah, ok, it’s a business party of sorts, for networking and all such efforts, it will be in Chicago I think, or was it Gotham…?”

“Uhh that’s a pretty big difference in location, and an important distinction, I’m down to hit up the crown city of crime but I’d like to be prepared first thank you.” Danny chuckled

Vlad hummed before he came to his final decision, “I think it must be Chicago, I would have remembered for sure if it was Gotham, I shall check nonetheless but I’m nearly 90% certain it’s Chicago. I’ll be right back,” was the last thing Vlad declared as he turned back out of Danny’s room and left to find a device with whatever email or such he had received about it.

Danny laughed to himself at the man’s antics before he got back, he considered the idea of the event more, a rich people ‘networking’ party. Mannn that sounds like a blast he thought sarcastically.

Was he gonna have to wear a suit??

Before he could think anymore Vlad reappeared with his phone and a tablet open looking through it.

“Ah here we go,” he muttered to himself before looking back at Danny, “it’s Chicago, it’s more of a rich people event than business, and it sounds like some younger people have been invited, so maybe some kids around your age…” he trailed off as he scrolled through more, Danny just gave him a look,

“I’m not technically a kid anymore.”

“Hush…it’s formal attire, we’ll have to get you a suit, I’ll take you to my tailor and pick you something nice…there will be food and refreshments but no full meal, good that means we won’t be forced to sit at a table and eat with a bunch of people…”

He trailed off again as he kept looking through it. He hummed softly as he took in information and Danny grabbed his phone as he felt it buzz

Sammy Wammy ;3

Sam

Hey can you call rn?

Danny

Give me a minute

Vlad and I are discussing stuff

Sam

Ok cool text me when ur good!

Danny

Will Do! <33

He quickly texted Sam back as Vlad started talking again

“I just got a flight set up, the gala is on Saturday evening but our flight is Friday morning, we’ll get there and have some extra time to recover before hand… the hotel is provided with the invite so it’s easy and close, I already put in for our room so all we have to do is check in on Friday when we get there…”

He hummed as he looked over what Danny assumed to be either a checklist or just notes, “you should start packing either tonight or tomorrow, I’ll call my tailor and we can go in tomorrow so start thinking about what you want, I’ll help you with that in a moment, I have some thoughts on color and style to suggest but ultimately Jacie will help tomorrow as well…we’ll get shoes and accessories then as well so for now…”

He looked through the list again, a slight furrow in his eyebrows as he went through what they needed to do in the next two days before the trip

“Hum, I think those are the biggest points, I’m not too concerned about your manners or anything, just be you and the rich people can suck it if they’re miffed,” Danny sputtered, “you know you’re a rich person too right? You fit right in with all those gala folks…”

Vlad turned a look on him, “that doesn’t mean I have to like them, or like myself for that matter, I despise these events becuase of the image I am forced to portray, you, my young, vulnerable Danny, have no image to your name yet, that means you have complete freedom this weekend, I’d prefer you be respectful and not drag my name but if you do something foolish I will not hesitate to verbally disown you in the face of the situation.”

Danny laughed again, it felt good, had he not been laughing before? “Honestly that’s fair, I won’t do anything stupid though, I’d rather not have a bunch of pissed off rich people on my ass.”

Vlad nodded approvingly before double checking the list, “ah do you have your work done for the week yet?”

“Yep, just finished up before you came in”

“Even your prep work for the college classes?”

“Yep!”

Vlad studied him for a moment, before smiling and nodding, “good, keep that up and you’ll get somewhere with it, I want better for you Danny, you deserve to get further than I ever did, and further away from those bast—“

His eyes glowed a bit as he cut himself off with a snarl, Danny gave him a sad look, he appreciated the anger, honestly, it was nice having someone aside from Sam or Tuck getting angry on his behalf, it was even better having Vlad do it and still stay in control so easily, Danny had stopped getting angry after meeting Dan, the fear of what he might become worse than any rage he felt.

Even though he knew deep down it couldn’t happen again already, he was here with Vlad and he had yet to feel bad enough to ask for half of him to be removed (like a coward) besides, Danny’s Vlad would never agree to such a thing, in fact Danny had made him swear he wouldn’t ever let Danny do that, and he had promised, even though he was confused.

Vlad walked around his bed to pat his shoulder and Danny initiated a loose hug, he appreciated that too, Vlad let him initiate everything and he respected his boundaries so well too. It was nice having someone who acknowledged that he didn’t always want to talk or be touched.

Vlad had made a lot of progress towards redemption in the last couple of years, even more so in the last month, Danny was proud of him, and thankful for the dedication to be better for him

———————

Another snippet! This one I already have a couple more chapters written for and a very clear storyline set out, this will be a full fic! This is like half of the first chapter which is posted in full on my Ao3 (linked above!) the fic is linked below!

It’s a spirit Halloween fic in which Bruce and Danny become infamous business “rivals” when they’re actually making out in bathrooms and closets bts

Secret relationship and fake rivals, strangers to lovers to strangers back to lovers again. They meet before bruce leaves to train and again when he returns and Danny opens up shop…

#dp x dc #danny phantom fics #rivals to lovers #fake rivals #secret relationship #Vlad redemption #spirit halloween #danny phantom #batman #batfam #tw: weapons #tw: abuse #just at the very very beginning #and it’s not intense at all #fluff #lots of fluff #Danny Fenton x Bruce Wayne #bruce wayne x danny fenton

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steddiealltheway · 1 year

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!!!!! Tw: faked suicide not by Steve or Eddie. There are ⚠️⚠️⚠️ before and after the most graphic parts which can be skipped without needing too much context. I tried to be vague but it can still be triggering. !!!!! (Thank you everyone tagging it as such)

A sort of different type of TikTok Modern AU…

Eddie Munson is a famous rockstar and honestly doesn’t post much on TikTok, but he occasionally finds himself scrolling though the app which is how he finds Steve.

He’s gorgeous. Exactly Eddie’s type with luscious, gravity defying hair, a sharp jaw, pretty lips, and he bets if he had a closer look, Steve would have the most charming eyes. It’s a shame the camera is so far away from him, and Eddie almost wonders why until Billy Hargrove is in the shot.

Eddie’s stomach sours at the sight of the man. Yes, he’s attractive, even Eddie could admit that, but there was something about him that made Eddie feel uncomfortable. Plus, there were a few scandals surrounding the tiktoker regarding previous racist Tweets and comments which he has responded to with a thrust trap to “Nobody’s Perfect” by Miley Cyrus / Hannah Montana.

So yeah. Eddie didn’t particularly like him and the stuff he got away with just because he’s hot.

He tunes back into the video which has him holding his finger to his lips, and Eddie is already rolling his eyes. The caption says, “Pranking my boyfriend, Steve 🤣😱” and Eddie can already tell it has to be fake with all the dramatics that Steve just happens to not see.

But then Billy carefully sneaks behind the couch where Steve is sitting and dumps a bucket full of water and ice onto him which has the man yelling and standing up in shock. He stands still for a minute and then yells, “Why the fuck would you do that, Billy??”

The tone and overall reaction has Eddie actually wonder if the video is fake or if Steve is just a really good actor. But he watches it again and notices that the man doesn’t look toward the camera once and something about that makes him feel really uneasy.

Eddie has to reason with himself, if the man is dating Billy Hargrove then he must not be a great person, and maybe he deserved the bucket of ice water. But Eddie still closes out of the app and tries his best not to think about it.

-:-:-:-:-:-

He opens the app a few days later, having forgotten about the whole incident until he comes across another video by Billy and the word “prank” in his caption catches Eddie’s eye. He sighs wondering why it’s on his for you page, but right before he swipes past it, he catches the gist of the prank.

Billy fills a syringe with mayonnaise and injects it into a donut, and then it cuts to him giving it to Steve from a camera that once again seems to be hidden although Billy keeps glancing at it with a smirk on his face and evil in his eyes. Steve, on the other hand, doesn’t glance toward the camera, but his face lights up with glee when he’s handed the donut. “You got this for me?” He asks in an awe filled tone as if the donut means the world to him.

“Yeah, why don’t you take a big ol’ bite of it for me?” Billy asks, voice low. Eddie watches as Steve shifts uncomfortably and puts the donut down.

“This isn’t another prank, is it? You know I don’t like them,” Steve says which honestly surprises Eddie. His tone is entirely genuine, and he feels like he’s peering in on a private moment.

“Of course not baby. Told you I’d stop,” Billy replies with a big smile.

Eddie can’t help but click on the caption: “Simple prank makes boyfriend storm out!” With a shit ton of hashtags that Eddie doesn’t bother reading.

Sure enough, Steve bites into the donut and immediately spits it out. He doesn’t say a word, just shakes his head and storms out of room.

Billy laughs loudly, “Oh, don’t be like that, babe! You know that was funny as shit!”

Eddie opens the comments, and is surprised to find people actually defending the prank. There are some people who comment shit like, “date me instead! I would never get mad at your pranks 🥵”

There’s only one comment that says, “Don’t really find this funny.” But it’s swarmed with hate comments from Billy’s fans that has Eddie scoffing as he scrolls onto the next video. He watches for a few seconds before scrolling back up when he realizes something. He looks at the date of the TikTok and realizes it was posted the previous month which means…

Eddie sighs realizing that him looking through Billy’s videos will only give him more attention and views, but he needs to know how long this has been going on for. And he really needs to find out if Steve is in on any of it or at least had gotten Billy back.

He begrudgingly clicks on Billy’s profile and scrolls through. He finds several videos with the thumbnail being of Steve mid reaction to a prank, and Eddie notices that every time, the camera is far away, and there doesn’t seem to be a single video of him up close.

The whole thing doesn’t feel right to Eddie. But what can he do about it? It’s not like he can report the videos. He could simply just block Billy and try to forget it all.

He scrolls back to the top and accidentally refreshes the page. He’s about to block him when he notices a new video pop up, where Steve looks like he’s in the middle of a panic attack. Eddie immediately presses on it.

⚠️⚠️⚠️

Billy smiles at the camera, no shirt in sight as he laughs, “This is my biggest prank yet. Steve should be home in less than a minute. And look,” he holds up his phone and shows a bathtub filled with red water that almost looks like blood.

Eddie’s shaky hand covers his mouth. He wouldn’t.

Billy laughs and continues, “I sent him a text that says ‘I’m sorry’ and a picture of an empty pill bottle, and he’s been texting me non stop for the past few minutes. Shit, he’s on his way now so it’s time for me to hide my phone and make this look as real as possible.”

Eddie watches as Billy puts his phone on a shelf and seemingly stacks towels up to cover his phone and hold it in place. He looks away when Billy takes out a bottle of fake blood and stages a suicide. He practically shakes with anger. Steve has to be in on this. He has to just be a good actor.

Eddie’s stomach drops when he hears Steve yelling Billy’s name rushing through the house. He bursts through the door and falls against the wall in shock. “Tell me this is a damn prank Billy. Billy…” he gets closer and shakes him. “Billy!” He yells shaking. “Shit. Shit. No no no. Fuck. What the fuck…”

Steve sits next to the tub and puts his head in his hands having a panic attack. Billy’s eyes open and he winks at the camera before grabbing Steve’s shoulders and yelling, “Boo.” He starts cackling loudly as Steve confusedly looks around trying to catch his breath. “I got you so good!” Billy yells through laughter.

Steve shakily gets up, tears streaming down his face and runs. Billy gets out of the tub and makes his way to his phone. “Don’t worry, I’ll make it up to him later,” he says with a wink before the video ends.

⚠️⚠️⚠️

Eddie sits as the video reloops. He’s shaking with anger. He doesn’t think as he duets the video and mutes the other audio. “This is the most fucked up thing I’ve ever seen. These ‘couple pranks’ are stupid enough and not funny, but to fake a suicide and call it a joke… you have to be an extra type of fucked up asshole. There aren’t enough words to describe how evil of a human being you have to be to do something like this to someone you love. I don’t care if this is staged or not. This is not okay. And fuck you.” Eddie quickly censors Billy’s half of the video with a note of “watch at your own risk.” He doesn’t care if his manager is pissed or if his account is filled with Billy’s fans hating on him or whatever. He presses the post button and turns off his phone. He needs fresh air.

He grabs his keys, a hat, and sunglasses, and makes his way out of his apartment. Hopefully the damn paparazzi back the fuck off today. He makes it down his street and walks quickly, fuming with anger. He weaves in and out of people and curses the busy LA streets.

He turns the corner and rams right into someone walking at an equally fast rate. He holds onto the stranger to steady himself and keep them up. “Sorry,” the man chokes out and Eddie is about to brush it off when he realizes he recognizes him.

“Steve?” He asks. He knew Billy lived in Los Angeles but he didn’t know he lived so close. The thought makes him kind of sick to his stomach. He thinks he might punch him if he ever saw him in person.

Steve wipes at his face and narrows his eyes at Eddie. “Sorry, do I know you?”

Eddie glances around before lifting up his sunglasses and hat, waiting for Steve to recognize him enough to gain his trust. Instead, Steve just stares at him blankly.

Eddie’s heart races. This has never really happened to him. He puts on the hat and sunglasses sheepishly. “Uh, I’m Eddie. I know you from Billy’s TikToks.”

Steve just tilts his head in confusion. His eyes are red and puffy. He wonders if Billy posted the video so soon after his prank and if Steve is currently in the aftermath of it. “Um,” Steve says and clears his throat, “Was I in the background or something? He told me I wasn’t in his TikToks.”

Eddie’s heart drops. He opens his phone and goes to Billy’s TikTok, ignoring the way his own TikTok is blowing up. He turns his phone to Steve and picks a less traumatizing prank to show him.

Steve grabs his phone and his eyes widen. A look of confusion crosses over his face that slowly turns into realization and numbness. “He’s been using me for views after promising he wouldn’t, isn’t he? I even asked if the pranks were somehow stupid content but he said they weren’t. He…” he trails off and shakes his head. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be unloading all of this onto you.”

Eddie shakes his head. “No, no. It’s okay. I’m sorry that I told you.”

He watches as Steve numbly nods and scrolls presumedly through Billy’s profile. He looks down at the screen and back at Eddie. “Is this you?” Steve asks hesitantly as he turns the phone back to him.

Eddie confusedly looks at his phone and sees that Billy has apparently replied to his TikTok already. Then, to his left, he hears a bit of commotion and sees some cameras flashing. Fuck. “Do you trust me?” Eddie asks.

Steve looks at his phone and back at Eddie.

Yeah, that’s a lot to ask of him. “Okay, how about this? You keep my phone, and we run back to my apartment around the corner and talk in private before we both end up in shitty magazines?”

Steve tilts his head and glances toward where a few people with cameras make their way to them yelling, “Eddie! Eddie Munson!”

“You’re not a famous serial killer or something, right?”

“Musician,” Eddie says and holds out his hand. “One who hates Billy Hargrove.”

Steve looks down at his hand and takes it running alongside Eddie who tries not to think about the stories that might come out of this. Gosh, he thought his biggest scandal would be when he came out as gay.

He makes his way back to his apartment telling his doorman, “Paparazzi! He’s with me!”

Hopper just nods in response and opens the door quickly. Eddie sighs in relief when he makes it through and to the elevator. Steve looks at him and asks, “How offended are you that I don’t know you?”

Eddie laughs. “Mildly, but it’s a relief really.” He realizes that isn’t the biggest concern in the moment and changes the subject. “Are you okay?”

Steve sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He opens his mouth but the elevator dings, and Steve almost looks relieved. Eddie doesn’t press it as he leads him to his apartment. “Make yourself at home. Do you want water, coffee, tea, soda, or anything?”

Steve numbly shakes his head, so Eddie grabs two bottles of water and two cokes from his fridge. He puts them down on his coffee table and sits on the couch, watching as Steve kind of hovers in his living room with his arms crossed. “I won’t bite, and I certainly won’t pressure you to do anything. But you can sit on the couch if you like.”

Steve eyes him and asks timidly, “You’re not in on anything with Billy, right?”

It breaks his heart seeing and hearing how on edge these pranks have made Steve. “Fuck no. I promise on my guitar I have never had anything to do with Billy and I never will. Well… unless you count me calling him out on his shit on TikTok.”

The words seem to get through to Steve who sits down on the couch next to Eddie while keeping his distance. “So… that’s why you were on his TikTok.”

Eddie’s heart hammers. He nearly forgot that Billy had apparently dueted his own video. “Yeah, but it has to be really new because I only posted mine literally a minute before I ran into you.”

Steve looks down at Eddie’s phone still in his hands. “Why?”

“Why what?” Eddie asks genuinely confused.

“Why did you call him out?” Steve asks, not sounding angry just… curious.

Eddie shifts and play with a string on one of the rips of his jeans. “His most recent video with the faked suicide. That wasn’t fucking cool, man. None of the pranks he’s done have been okay. And I’m sorry that you were put through them - especially this last one.”

Steve’s face turns almost white. “He posted that? Was I… was I in it? Like… my entire breakdown was…” he trials off as Eddie slowly nods. “Fuck,” Steve says burying his face in his hands. Eddie is about to apologize or go on a rant about how much he hates Billy Hargrove when Steve asks, “Can I see the video you made?”

Eddie’s cheek flush red, but he replies, “Yeah, uh, I don’t exactly remember what I said because I kind of went into a fit of rage and posted whatever came to mind. But yeah, my password is 051599.”

Steve types the password into his phone, and stares at the screen blankly. He looks at Eddie and asks, “I’m not on social media… ever so… could you show me?”

Eddie nods and slides over until he’s a few inches away from the beautiful man, and he does his best to try not to think too hard about how attractive he finds him as he goes to his profile and presses on his recent video. His nose scrunches up at the sound of his own voice, but he doesn’t disagree with anything he said. Billy Hargrove is a dick.

“Can I see the comments?” Steve asks. Eddie nods and clicks on them.

“Woah,” Eddie can’t help but say as he sees blue checkmark after blue checkmark. The top comments are from @ ronancetheromance with the couple saying: “Only an absolutely vile person is capable of such a fucked up prank. #SaveSteve”. Another from @ willthewise: “remember to comment on here instead of the original video so it can get less attention!! #savesteve”. Several of the rest of the streamers who call themselves “The Party” reply to Will’s with the hashtag “SaveSteve”.

“Who are these people?” Steve asks as he scrolls through the comments. He comes across one from @ billyfan4everandalways saying: “Watch Billy’s new video and stop being so quick to judge!!”

Eddie clicks on the replies, and the top liked one - having more likes than the original comment - is from @ ericasinclair: “that ugly mullet man’s explanation is bullshit and everyone knows it. let Steve talk for himself or I’m not buying it. #SaveSteve #CancelBilly”

Eddie nearly follows the girl, but realizes that Steve had asked a question. “Most of them I don’t know personally honestly.”

“Then why are they defending me? I’m nobody,” Steve says as if it’s a common fact.

Eddie turns off his phone and puts it down, properly facing Steve. “I know I don’t know you well, but you are not nobody. And these people are defending you not only because Billy is a dick, but this prank stuff is abusive and shouldn’t be normalized especially with the following he has. Nobody should go through that.”

Steve turns slightly red and looks away before asking, “Can we watch his reply?”

Eddie shudders a bit at the thought, but turns on his phone and goes to his page. “Are you sure? I haven’t seen it yet either, and I’m a little prone to getting pissed at him.”

“I’m sure,” Steve says and even reaches over to open the video.

Billy still has fake blood on him and is scrubbing it off with an angry look on his face. He looks at the camera every so often, and it’s clear that he’s staring at himself in a mirror. What a fucking asshole. “These pranks are harmless, and even my boyfriend would agree with that. He enjoys them and he makes sure to show me how much once the cameras stop rolling and his shock has died off,” Billy says so with a smirk on his face that sends chills down Eddie’s body. “So, stop making assumptions about me and my boyfriend and keep making shitty music instead asshole.” The video ends with him flipping off the camera.

“Charming,” Eddie comments, pausing the video so it doesn’t endlessly loop, and turns to see Steve’s reaction. He runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head.

“He’s lying. I’ve been begging him to stop for weeks. Even slept on the couch in protest. But that last one was the last straw. I just… don’t know where to go,” Steve sits back against the couch and mumbles, “Fuck.”

Eddie shifts and looks at him. “Do you have any friends or family that could take you in?”

Steve laughs humorlessly. “My parent disowned me when they found out I was dating Billy. Didn’t want a bi son ruining the family image. I had to move in with Billy, and he used to be sweet really. Well… I thought he was for the first three months. When his TikTok career took off he moved to LA, and I felt like I had no choice but to go with him. I grew apart from the few friends I had before the move, and I was just stuck with Billy here. And I… I don’t know,” Steve sighs and puts his head in his hands. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to dump all of this on you. I just… haven’t really had anyone to talk to.” The man lifts his head, his eyes are tired and filled with unshed tears. He’s gorgeous really, but that’s the last thing Eddie needs to be thinking about.

Eddie takes a moment to consider things. Steve seems like a good guy. He has plenty of extra room in his too big apartment and money to spare that he doesn’t know what to do with. Honestly, he’s not meant for this lifestyle and never has been. He’s happy that his uncle Wayne is retired and living comfortably off his too big income, but it’s lonelier than he imagined it to be.

And with that thought Eddie tells Steve, “Then live here for a while. No pranks. I won’t use you for clout or whatever. I have a guest bedroom with its own private bathroom, and I usually never have visitors. And I hate parties, so you don’t have to worry about that either. I may be writing songs in the middle of the night, but my music room is fairly soundproof. And trust me, I would appreciate the company or feeling like my money is going toward something important.”

Steve stands up and shakes his head. “It’s okay, man. I don’t want your charity. You’ve already done enough.”

Eddie stays on the couch and says, “Please, Steve, stay a week or just a few days. If you hate it here, I’ll help you get on your way. But trust me when I say you’ll help me too. It’s…” he sighs and runs a hand over his face, “It’s lonely in LA.” He cringes as he quotes the title of his favorite song that he’s written. It’s also his least popular one, but it’s the most honest thing on any of his albums.

“Reminds me of that song,” Steve says with a small smile.

Eddie’s head snaps up. “You know it?”

Steve hums the chorus of Eddie’s song and Eddie joins in. Steve stops to ask, “You know it, too?”

Eddie huffs a laugh. “I wrote it.”

Steve looks at him for a few moments longer with a combination of shock and hesitation. Then he surprises Eddie by asking, “You really wouldn’t mind if I stayed?”

“Not at all. Unless you ended up doing something really drastic like trying to murder me.”

Steve snorts, and Eddie finds it endearing. He tries to shake the feeling away. He can not fall for this man when he’s a guest in his house and especially not after everything he’s been through. But then Steve gives him a real smile and holds out his hand saying, “It’s a deal.”

And when Eddie takes his hand and feels how warm and nice it feels in his, half of him wants to argue that it’s just because it’s been a while since he’s actually had a genuine conversation with another person. But the other half is quick to accept that he’s absolutely fucked when it comes to this stranger that he feels like he’s inevitably going to fall in love with.

#steddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #stranger things #steddie ficlet #tw: faked suicide #tw: abusive relationship #not Steve or eddie #thank you people in tags for reminding me to tag these things

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