Keep Me In Your Dreams (Steddie)

Things Just Feel so Wrong Baby, When You're Gone (When You're Gone-Bryan Adams)

Steve woke up early Sunday morning, packed his things, and drove back to Indiana. It was an almost seven hour drive, but he stopped every so often to get a coffee refill so it wasn't so bad. He had Corroded Coffin's CDs with him, so he played them over and over, listening to Eddie's voice, thinking about how Eddie felt in his arms, the way he tasted. It all put a smile on his face as he drove.

Last night, Eddie had been vulnerable, not just on stage, which Steve had never seen before, but then he'd never seen him perform without a guitar before. But he'd been vulnerable backstage as well. He'd said it was anxiety. And when Steve came in, Eddie seemed to get better. Sure, Vic had brought him drugs and Steve was sure those helped a lot. So did the bourbon. But before the pills, when he was holding Eddie in his arms, he could feel Eddie relaxing, giving himself to Steve in the most intimate way possible. Not sexual, emotional.

And he'd asked Steve's name. Did that mean he didn't consider him a simple groupie anymore? That Steve meant more to him than that? Once Steve had given Eddie his name, he still didn't seem to remember him. That was why he'd dropped Dustin's name, to see if that jarred any memories. And it had. He'd seen the brief flash of recognition in his eyes before he adopted the blasé expression he usually wore to mask whatever he was truly thinking and feeling. He remembered Steve.

And Eddie wanted Steve to come back. No more assignments. No more trying to discourage him. He'd offered to put Steve on the guest list to ensure he'd be there. Steve hadn't thought much past the next four shows he had tickets to. He figured that if he hadn't hooked Eddie by that point, it was useless. And if he had, well he'd just think about that when the time came. And now it was looking like that time was here. When he got to New York next week, if Eddie still acted like he wanted Steve around, Steve would let him know he didn't have any more tickets and see if Eddie would offer again to put him on the guest list. If he offered, perfect. If not, that would be the end of it. Steve got to spend time with him and have some fun. But all good things come to an end.

It was mid-afternoon when Steve got to Hawkins and he headed straight for Robin's house. He really should have told her that he'd be gone for a while. But he knew she would have insisted on going with him to keep him out of trouble. Which meant she wouldn't have allowed him to throw himself at Eddie the way he had. She would tell him to have more respect for himself. She would have said that if it took this kind of behavior to get his attention, then that attention wasn't worth having.

But Robin didn't understand what Eddie was like. Yeah, they'd been friends in high school. But that was then and Eddie was a rockstar now. A straight rock star. He had his pick of any woman he wanted, any time he wanted. Hell, he'd been seen out with Stephanie Seymour a few times, prompting something of a feud between Eddie and Axl Rose. He'd been linked with Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, and even the porn star Deidre Holland. With competition like that, Steve knew he couldn't be subtle. That was why he'd stepped out of his own comfort zone and flat out told Eddie what he wanted that first night.

Robin would never understand all of that. She was too sweet, too kind, and too naïve. Those were some of the things Steve loved so much about her. But sometimes, those things got in the way. So, he'd kept it to himself and didn't tell her his plans. He hadn't told Dustin his plans either, other than he was going to see Corroded Coffin and hoped to be able to see and talk to Eddie face to face. Because Dustin couldn't keep a secret. He would have blabbed everything he knew to Robin the first time she asked. The only secret Dustin had ever been able to keep was Eddie's whereabouts when the police were looking for him. It had taken Steve a lot of talking, threatening, promises, and assurances to get that info out of Dustin so they could help Eddie back then. Other than that, Dustin just talked way too much.

Robin opened the front door and scowled when she saw Steve. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him expectantly. He said hello and Robin sighed exasperatedly, turned and walked off, leaving him standing there. Steve went in and shut the door behind him, then went to find her. He waved hello to her parents as he passed the living room then went down the hall to her bedroom. He found her laying across her bed, a magazine in her hand, absently flipping the pages while pretending to be absorbed in whatever she was reading in... Steve tilted his head. Popular Mechanics? What the hell was she doing with that?