Author's Note:

This is my first multi chapter fic! I'm an avid reader and not normally a writer so be gentle with me!

This story takes place after Season 4, but with some slight changes: Max didn't die, but did suffer from the broken bones, meaning the huge crater's didn't open in Hawkins, and Nancy, Steve & Robin managed to kill Vecna. Eddie was dragged out of the Upside Down barely alive, but managed to recover. When El arrived in Hawkins she closed the gates. The Upside Down is bye bye.

All my info about Dungeons & Dragons is through Google and friends so if I've got anything wrong feel free to correct me.

Story title is from Troye Sivan's song of the same name. Chapter title is from his song Seventeen, both inspired some of the moments in this story

Thank you to my love lettersfromtheswamp for Beta-ing and encouraging me to write my own fic for once, go check out her adorable Steddie camping trip fic! It's on AO3, I've also uploaded this on there under my username weird_witchcraft.

Chapter 1: Let's See What All the Talk's About

July 22, 1986

It's a Tuesday at Family Video and Steve Harrington is bored out of his mind. He's reorganized the new releases twice today and tried to avoid talking to Keith as much as possible. Keith is always quizzing Steve on film trivia and giving him a hard time for not being as knowledgeable about movies as Keith feels a Family Video employee should be. It's either that or Keith asking for tips with the ladies, but then ignoring anything Steve has suggested the moment a pretty girl walks in.

Steve's interest in any Family Video patrons has seriously tanked ever since their spring break from hell. And if he's honest with himself he was losing interest in shallow relationships before that. He still can't believe he told Nancy his family road trip fantasy, especially while she was still with Jonathan. As much as he still loves Nancy, and knows that he'll always love Nancy, he also knows that they've both moved on. He just doesn't want to admit how much it still stings that his first real relationship crumbled after Nancy called everything "bullshit". He knew that Nancy carried a lot of guilt over Barb's death, and that created cracks in the relationship that he once thought was perfect, but he doesn't blame Nancy for moving on quickly. Her and Jonathan had some kind of connection that had made Steve feel deeply insecure at first but he had come to terms with over time. He knows his awkward speech about wanting a bunch of nuggets in an RV was just hard being thrown into a life or death situation with Nancy yet again. He had clung to the lingering comfort of their relationship and stupidly told Nancy that he wanted her to be a part of his one day family. She should know better than anyone that his family life had been less than perfect, especially after those stiff and awkward family dinners he was forced to bring her to while they were dating. He hoped that Nancy understood that he'd said what he said under duress, desperately searching for reassurance from the one person who he'd loved more than anyone at one point in his life.

Maybe that's why he held his friendships with Dustin and Robin so dearly, they got him and loved him for who he was, and recognized how far he'd come from the jackass he had been.

Steve's wandering thoughts are interrupted by the ring of the bell on the front door, he looks up and sees Dustin entering the store. Steve breaks into a big smile. "Henderson! How you doing, man?"

Dustin walks towards Steve with a big smile on his face, "Steve! I was hoping you'd be working today!"

Steve closes the distance between them so they could do their dorky handshake.

"My mom's at the pet store getting cat food for Tews and she let come in to rent a movie from your fine establishment"

Steve put on his best customer service voice, "Alright my good man, what are you in the mood for this afternoon? Can I interest you in one of our new releases?" Steve gestures grandly to the new release wall behind him.

Dustin chuckles at Steve's fake persona, ignoring the question completely. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you if you want to try Dungeons & Dragons-"

Steve cuts him off quickly. "Dustin, we've talked about this, you know it's not my thing."

He felt weird enough that he spent so much time with a bunch of kids, let alone choosing to subject himself to their nerdy fantasy game that he had little hope of understanding.

"But c'mon Steve! Eddie is putting together such a cool campaign and we need another player since Gareth and Jeff are out of town and Lucas always wants to keep Max company in the hospital. I think you'll be surprised by how much fun you'll have! Eddie thinks you'd be a badass."

That gave Steve pause. Eddie was going to be there, and wanted him to play?

Steve hadn't seen Eddie in a couple months, not since Dustin's birthday party back in May. Steve's mind wanders back to that party where Eddie sang a song for Dustin. His hands had been decked out in their usual rings, but they were a strange contrast to the acoustic guitar he had played. Steve had found it sweet that Eddie had wanted to make a good impression on Dustin's mom so he'd left his electric guitar and amp at home.

But his voice. Jesus Christ, his voice had left Steve feeling all sorts of things, including warm and fuzzy. A guy so into metal should not be allowed to have a voice like that, all masculine but also soft and silky. Steve had found himself fantasizing that Eddie was singing to him instead of Dustin.

"Earth to Steve, come in Steve?" Said Dustin, waving his hand in front of Steve's face.

"Sorry man, long day," replied Steve, giving his head a shake to clear it of visions of Eddie's hands on that damn guitar. "Uh, yeah. I suppose I can give it a try…"

"Really? Awesome! You won't regret it! It's going to be so fun! Here-" Dustin pauses to shrug off his backpack and pull out a red book. "You should start familiarizing yourself with the rules," he slaps the book against Steve's chest.

"Henderson I'm already regretting it if you're giving me homework," Steve scoffed back.

"Too late! I'm calling Eddie when I get home and telling him you're in!" Dustin said smugly, full of teenage sass.

Then he reaches past Steve and grabs Spies Like Us off the new releases shelf and walks towards the counter for Steve to ring him up. They say goodbye and Dustin promises to call Steve and let him know when their Dungeons and Dragons night will happen.

Thankfully by the time Dustin leaves it's time for him to go home. Steve used to dread going home, either to an empty house where he felt lonely, or if his parents were home, to a house where he felt judged and unable to relax. At the beginning of July Steve and Robin had moved into a little two bedroom place right after Robin graduated.

Robin's parents weren't too keen on her moving in with a boy, no matter how much they liked Steve, and Steve's parents felt he was throwing his life away not going to college and moving in with a girl who his father is sure he'll "knock up" in no time. No matter how much they tell people they are "platonic with a capital P" there are always going to be people who think that Steve and Robin are together. This works well for Robin, and she jokes that Steve is her beard, but it's less than ideal for Steve since anyone that knows them from Hawkins High assumes he's already taken. Not that it matters anyways since Steve is taking a break from the shallow girls he was trying to date, ones that could never really get him, or understand what he had been through.

He needed time to heal, mentally and physically especially since the scars on his abdomen were hard to explain. Sure, the government had covered their tracks yet again by saying that the toxic chemical spill that killed Barb had leached into the grounds of the abandoned Hawkins Lab and caused the deaths of three Hawkins teens who had been partying there, as well as hallucinations in several others, thereby discrediting anyone who dared to discuss the events during spring break - including Jason Carver, whose family had thankfully moved away shortly after the final showdown with Vecna. Steve strongly suspected the Carver's had been paid off by the government to keep them quiet. Good fucking riddance, thought Steve.

As Steve and Keith lock up and say their goodbyes, Steve tries to focus on happier things, like how he's excited to see Eddie again.

Wait. Not excited. Just… looking forward to it, sort of. He and Eddie had bonded during the lead up to the fight with Vecna, and after that when Eddie was in the hospital. But Steve wasn't sure how to spend time with Eddie, outside of that, outside of the trauma and the near death experiences. It felt strange wanting to be Eddie Munson's friend but not knowing how he would go about it since they had next to nothing in common.

On the drive home Steve decided he would take Dustin's request seriously: he would read the Dungeons & Dragons rule book and he would try to have a good time, even if only to make Dustin and Eddie happy.

Later that evening, after eating some macaroni and cheese that they made for dinner, Steve and Robin settle on opposite ends of their new (old) couch. Their feet tangled in the middle while they both read in a comfortable silence. Steve's forehead starts to hurt from his brow being so deeply furrowed while trying to understand this Dungeons & Dragons shit. He's sure to make a fool of himself at this "campaign", but the only thing that keeps him trying is thinking about Eddie giving him one of those grins.

Steve tries not to dwell on how much he wants to make another guy happy despite only behaving this way in the past towards girls he was interested in when the phone rings loudly, startling him and Robin out of their quiet time.

Robin curls herself around on the couch to grab the phone behind her and answers with a buoyant tone. "Buckley Harrington residence, how may I direct your call?"

Steve can't hear the person on the other end of the line but notices how Robin's face lights up with a big smile.

"Eddie! How are you?"

Steve's heart stutters. Eddie Munson was calling them? Was he calling for Steve? Had Dustin already told Eddie that Steve was going to play their nerdy little game? It was a little spooky that Steve had just been thinking about how much he was looking forward to seeing Eddie smile again and then suddenly Eddie was there, calling them. Like Steve had summoned him with his thoughts. Did he somehow inherit some freaky telepathy from the demobats and now know that Steve Harrington found his smile adorable? Steve hoped not.

"Oh yeah I'm good, yeah, it's a pretty basic place but we're making it our own, yeah great! You'll have to come over some time. Okay, here's Steve."

Robin covers the end of the phone with her hand. "Eddie says he has some important business to discuss with you. Does it have something to do with the Dungeons & Dragons manual you're giving yourself a brain aneurysm trying to read?"

She wiggles her eyebrows at him as he scoffs and untangles their feet, jumping up to snatch the receiver from her hands. "Mind your own business Buckley."

Steve walks towards the kitchen, as far as their phone cord will stretch for some semblance of privacy, even though he knows Robin will be listening the whole time.

He runs a hand through his hair and takes a breath to prepare himself.

"Hey Munson," he says, forcing himself to sound casual. "What's up?"

"Harrington, my main man! A little birdy tells me that you're eager to join me on a noble quest to a fantasy realm."

Steve rolls his eyes. "Eager am I? More like weak willed when it comes to requests from persistent teenagers."

Eddie laughs and continues in his haughty tone, "Fear not fair maiden, for I will be your guide!"

Steve tries to ignore the squiggly feeling in his gut at Eddie calling him a "fair maiden".

"Dustin gave me his rule book, and I'm trying to understand it but honestly man, some of this stuff goes way over my head. How do I even decide what character to be?"

"I can handle that for you," Eddie says, sounding completely at ease. "Don't worry your pretty little head about it. You just focus on learning the basic rules. We'll help you through it, the boys will complain and tease you but they'll love you for trying."

Steve can feel himself blushing and is grateful that this conversation is taking place over the phone. Why does he get flustered every time Eddie makes a comment about his appearance?

"Alright, thanks Munson. How much time do I have before we do this thing?" He says, hoping he has more time to figure out this game before he makes an idiot out of himself.

"I'm still working on the campaign, it'll take me at least a week, maybe more if anyone in this damn town gives me a job," Eddie says, sighing.

"Still looking huh? Maybe I can talk to Keith, see if he'll reconsider" Steve says.

"Aw, I'm touched you want to work with me Stevie boy, but this is something I've got to handle on my own. You know those government goons said I have to keep my nose clean. Plus, Family Video has too many people coming and going, there's bound to be people who show up and cause trouble for the Freak."

"I just don't think you should have to handle it! Your name was cleared!" Steve says, frowning.

"Harrington," Eddie sighs again. "I've been the Freak for years, this isn't new to me, don't worry about it."

Steve wants to argue with him more, because he always wants to argue with Eddie, regardless of the topic but Eddie cuts him off before he can say anything else.

"Alright, King Steve, Dustin or I will call you and let you know when the campaign is ready, talk later."

"Okay, later" Steve replies and with that, Eddie hangs up.

Steve feels a rush of disappointment at the abrupt end to their call and at Eddie's suggestion that Dustin might call him instead. Steve is left holding their phone, once again feeling annoyed that Eddie can't seem to accept that other people care about him and want good things for him. He's also annoyed at the "government goons", as Eddie called them, that have put stipulations on Eddie for giving him and his Uncle Wayne a new place to live in. Their silence should be enough for all the shit they went through.

"So, are you going to fill me in or what?" asks Robin as she stands from the couch and stretches.

"There's nothing to tell. Dustin finally got me to agree to play their silly D&D game after years of badgering me about it," Steve says.

"You know, it's okay if you want to be friends with Eddie. I'm not threatened, I know I'll always have your top friend spot," She says to him with a wink but then softens her tone. "You guys were getting along really well, and we all went through a lot together. It's okay for us to want to cling to one another when no one else in this town understands what we went through."

"It's just so frustrating Rob, like he won't accept our help to get a job, even though those government agents said that's a condition for them having the house. He can't even sell weed anymore. I just wish we could make the town change their minds about him," Steve remarks, irritation welling in him at all the shit Eddie has had to deal with despite doing nothing wrong, other than maybe selling drugs in the past.

"Maybe we can talk to Hopper and Joyce, see if they know anyone who might hire Eddie?" says Robin thoughtfully.

"Good idea! I'll call them," Steve checks the time. It's 8 pm, a little late for a call, but he knows they'll all still be up, probably watching a movie since it's the summer and not a school night. With Hopper back and the Upside Down sealed off it didn't take much to convince Joyce to move back to Hawkins and right into another government-provided house with Hopper. Steve was still foggy on the details the government agents had laid out for Hopper's return from the dead, something about him working undercover. Steve was surprised that anyone in Hawkins believed all the government lies and cover ups after all these years, but he supposes it's easier for them to understand than the truth.

Steve dials the new Hopper/Byers number and waits a ring and a half before Will answers. "Hello, this is Will speaking"

"Hey Will, it's Steve, can I talk to Hop?"

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, more to come soon! The next chapter will be from Eddie's POV.

If you're a D&D player please feel free to comment suggestions on what Eddie would make Steve's character cause I'm having trouble figuring that out!