Hearing the phone ring at two in the morning was not how Eddie wanted to wake up. Still, he got out of bed and stumbled down the hallway to answer with a bleary, "Yeah?"
"Eds?"
"Steve?" Eddie rubbed his face and frowned. "What's up?"
"Nothing bad, I just... had a nightmare. Needed to hear your voice." Steve sounded so quiet and his breathing hitched at the end, making any lingering annoyance Eddie felt vanish. "I'm sorry it's early."
"It's fine. I've told you, call whenever you need to. Doesn't matter the time." Eddie walked back to his room, stretching the cord as far as it would go so he could sit at the end of his bed. "Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really, just the usual."
Vecna, broken bodies, demobats...
The list was endless.
"Can you keep talking?"
Eddie hummed, looking around his room. His eyes landed on The Two Towers on his nightstand and he picked it up. "I can read to you?"
"I'd like that."
He flipped open the book and skimmed the page he was currently reading. "So... Sam, Frodo and Gollum have just passed through the Dead Marshes and are approaching the walls of Mordor. Sam has awoken and overhears Gollum talking." Eddie cleared his throat and put on a higher-pitched rasp. "Sméagol promised-"
Steve laughed and Eddie broke character to laugh too. "Sorry, sorry," Steve gasped, sounding a lot better now. "I'll behave."
"Good, no more interruptions," Eddie warned half-heartedly before starting again.
He'd just gotten to the part where the group were captured by Faramir when Steve started snoring. Eddie smiled to himself and bookmarked the page. He wondered if Steve would remember any of this in the morning and couldn't help secretly hoping he'd get another call.
"Goodnight, Steve."