Prince Steve and Harpist Eddie AU (steddie)
Steve Harrington is the only son of the ruler of the Great Hawkins Kingdom. He's supposed to inherit the throne in the future and become the king Steve one day. Also he's definitely supposed to marry some beautiful young lady from a good family and make future successors of the Harrington bloodline. There are some problems though. Firstly, he doesn't even want to rule. Secondly, he's very much gay. Obviously his parents don't know about it and if they knew they wouldn't acknowledge it anyway. He has to do it and there's no room for negotiation.
So for his twenty first birthday the king throws a party inviting all nobel families who have yet unmarried daughters close to steve's age. They want him to choose his future wife on that party and if he won't - they'll choose for him. The day of the party comes way too quickly and he finds himself standing next to his parents' thrones at the head of a ball room. He's looking at all those girls hungrily watching him with the growing dread in his stomach.
His eyes wander until they land on the band playing on the balcony. To be exact - on the devilishly handsome harp player on the left. Long dark curls, eyes contured with a bit of coal as is popular among the bards, halfly closed in dreamy manner. He has never seen anyone as beautiful as him. How Steve is supposed to find himself a wife when a man of his dreams is in the same room? The answer is he can't.
Against his reason, when he sees the band retreat for a break, he excuses himself to his parents and sprints to the second floor, where he's hoping to catch his dream boy. The heavens must be on his sides, because as soon as he turns the corner of the staircase, he sees his target. He calls out to him and walks the remaining distance trying to catch his breath and gather suddenly lost courage. The dream boy looks rather confused and guarded as he wasn't expecting prince Steve here and he can't imagine what interest he would have with him other that something that means trouble. He begins to kneel as is expected of anyone meeting the royalty but Steve quickly says he doesn't want him to. He looks at the young primce's face and he's met with a strar struck gaze. As if the harpist was another world wonder. He's clearly nervous too and the long haired couldn't be more lost about what's going on here. Then Steve as if he heard the harpist thoughts, says he was amazed by their play and he wanted to meet the band personally. He asks them their names and introduces himself too as if they don't know who he is.
Steve feels ecstatic that he managed to praise them without making a fool of himself and now he has a name of the dream boy! Eddie. He's already imagining what this name would look like next to his in the royal chronicles. Eddie, a little charmed by the prince's nervous behavior and not immune to his more than good look, moves past the previous apprehension and starts to chat with Steve as if they were on the same status. He talks about his music and life as an artist while the prince confide with him with the true purpose of this party and why it's impossible for him to choose a girl. They talk standing by the wall with no care to the rest of the world. They both don't know why they feel so comfortable telling each other so much about themselves when they just met but it's like something moves into right place inside them the longer they're together. The peace doesn't last long though and soon they hear guard calling out to Steve, evidently looking for him. Thank heavens they don't see the two just yet so Eddie has enough time to run where the rest of the band went off to some time before. The guards take Steve back to the ball room and for the rest of the night he feels Eddie's eyes on him, as he dances with the girls. He doesn't dare to lift his own gaze back to the harpist as he knows he won't be able to resist going up there again.
Soon the night comes to an end and he chooses the only girl that appeared as much opposed to the idea of marrying as him. Her name is Robin and she was also forced to come to the party by her parents. And evidently the girls here were more interesting to her than him. So he took a risk and made a proposition that if she doesn't want to marry a boy and he doesn't want to marry a girl they should team up and marry each other to please their parents but at the same time keep meeting who that really want. To his surprise she agreed. His parents satisfied that he chose himself a wife leave him alone for the next few days, busy with preparation for the formal engagement and future wedding.
He uses the free time to come to the city in a disguise to look for Eddie. He only has his name and the name of the band. It's enough though. Turns out the band is more popular than he thought and soon he has the name and the hour of their next gig. He's lucky again, the show is in few hours. He finds the place and pay for one of the room upstairs to wait. When the time comes he stands close to the scene waiting for the artist to come. Finally Eddie walks in front of the crowd and immediately notices Steve. His smile is truly blinding and it's like he's energy doubled. He plays with new found purpose, this time also singing a few parts. Steve keeps his eyes on him throughout the concert enraptured by his play and voice.
When the show ends they both stay at the bar drinking together and talking until late hours. When it's closing time Steve takes the musician upstairs to his room where they fall into each other in an embrace, their lips finally meeting. They lay in bed and soon they fall asleep curled together. In the morning Steve tells Eddie about the marriage and his plan made with Robin. Suddenly looking nervous he asks if they maybe could keep meeting even after his wedding? Of course Eddie agrees, he honestly couldn't say no to the prince who apperently stole his heart.
