Work Text:
Steve settles in to his new apartment that he shares with Robin, his salary from Home Videos is fine as an assistant store manager but doesn’t really cut it if he wants to buy/pay for other necessities like food and internet(and treating himself, Dustin and his other kids out from time to time) on top of the monthly rent and utilities.
That being said, the apartment is cozy. It’s not too big, but it’s a decent place that has 2 rooms, 2 bathrooms, a rather spacious living area, and a kitchen. And still big enough to host a housewarming party with everyone. The neighbourhood is friendly and diverse, not exactly an upperclass or middle class neighbourhood but also not a lower class one, it’s a low-middle middle class neighbourhood(decent, and hopper approved), it is also close to their place of work, a good 25 minute drive away.
They’ve been living there now for about a month, and they’re really enjoying the place and the convenience of it, as well as the semblance of freedom and adulthood they get living there. Dustin and will have fun with them whenever they come over to visit and sometimes stay the night(or a few nights… weeks),
Robin is in and out, having successfully wooed her love interest, Vickie, and so will sometimes stay over at Vickie’s place, which is nice. But Steve also secretly feels like she’s using Vickie as an excuse just to escape the one major downfall of their new apartment…
Namely, the tenant(s?) in apartment 203, who lives in the apartment somewhere below them. Steve and Robin haven’t exactly met or seen the tenant(s?) as there are many people in the apartment complex, and those they have had the pleasure of meeting all warned them about apartment 203. Lovely Mrs. Baker (who lives up to her namesake, Steve will absolutely kill for her delicious apple pies), had informed them, that apartment 203, while is “unfortunately very obnoxiously loud, they were just very troubled and misunderstood and in reality, once you get to know them, is such a sweet thing”. Steve maybe hadn’t heard her caution- too busy stuffing his face and existing in a delicious ambrosia- and was recently reminded by Robin when he was shocked by the loud blasting metal music from somewhere below them- waking him up from his food coma, thinking they were experiencing an earthquake.
Robin is gone again, staying over with Vickie, not wanting to be alone -read: bored out of his mind- Steve invited Dustin and Will over, Dustin brought Eddie who’s girlfriend was out for a girls night, Steve didn’t mind, the more the merrier, it helped that Eddie brought some weed over and his guitar. Will brought bags of cheese Doritos (the best of the best) and Dustin brought sodas and booze, Steve ordered pizzas, which arrived 5 minutes after the gang. They’ve had their fill of food and some video games, they’re all slightly warm and blissed out from the combo of booze and good ol’ Mary Jane, having a relaxing carefree jam session while Eddie plays on his guitar (Steve felt like a proud dad when he hears the chops on Dustin and Will. - he didn’t tear up, shut up, Munson!)
They were kind of bolted out of their buzz when the heavy metal started up. To be fair, 203 had been oddly silent the whole week that Steve kind of just forgot about their existence. This was a sad reminder. After they all got over their initial shock, Eddie was actually head banging along to the song, Dustin and Will were also enjoying it. Steve, while reluctant to admit it, now that he can listen to the song, not having been woken up by it, and is still a relatively decent hour of 9:30pm, does actually enjoy it. With the others there with him, they offer to stay the night- after Steve informed them that 203 usually blasts the music until early hours of the morning, if it’s isn’t a short session that Steve has guessed is 203’s playlist when getting ready for a night out, which usually includes “rock you like a hurricane”- and they make use of the free music and turn it into a party.
As predicted, 203 finishes at 3am, Eddie falls asleep first followed by Will. Dustin and Steve ended up talking a bit more. Steve, happy to hear about Dustin’s relationship still going strong with Suzie, Dustin, aware of Steve’s preferences, offers to go and help be a wingman should he ever want to pursue a person.
Steve feels touched, he knows out of all the gang, he’s got a closer bond with Dustin but it never fails to warm his heart how caring and supportive Dustin is of him. He’s proud of them all. After a few moments of comfortable silence, Steve asks Dustin if he’s got any suggestions in regards to getting 203’s attention, he explains that the other tenants have tried posting bulletins to ask 203 to be considerate of the time and volume of his music but they’ve all been torn down and ignored. Those who have tried going to 203 are normally scared of ever going back to confront them.
Dustin suggests that they can call them out/reach out digitally so they can’t ignore or take it down. When Steve says they’re not on the Facebook group for the tenants of the apartment, Dustin suggests they change the name of their WiFi so 203 can see it.
“… and how do we do that?” Steve asks a bit sheepishly.
Dustin shows him how, using Steve’s laptop to change the default settings of his internet so that Steve can change the name or password anytime he wants. For now, Steve changes their WiFi name to “ Apartment203YouAreLoudAsFuck! ”
The two go to bed immediately after, satisfied with their work.
— - —
Steve kind of forgets about it until a few days later, when Robin is back, and asks when he changed their WiFi name.
“How did you? Didn’t know you knew how to do that.”
“Ha ha” Steve deadpans. “Well… Dustin helped, but I know how to do it now, and I know how to change our password should we ever need to.”
“Cool!” Robin says before her face turns serious.
“Sorry I haven’t been around much. I've been having such a great time with Vickie… I can stay here more, I mean, I should do, we both live here, we both pay the rent. I’m sorry for leaving you alone a lot.”
“I’m not alone.” Steve interjects her rambling. He continues on she still looks guilty. “Honestly, I’m not… it oddly feels freeing. Like I’m a real adult now. I’m 26 and I’ve finally got a place I can call my own, renting, but one I pay for with my own money. With your help, obviously, but at least it’s not something my dad gave me or paid for.”
“You do know you can technically pay for this by yourself and still afford food, right?” Robin asks, finally feeling a bit better knowing his situation.
“Yeah, but then I wouldn’t be able to afford fun things like concerts or lots of takeout and treat the gang to stuff. You know I love to spoil them. They’re like my kids.” Steve shrugs nonchalantly.
“True. It would be kind of tight financially for just one.” Robin admits. She looks down at her phone before smirking at him.
“By the way, you have a response.”
“Huh?” Steve asks, confused.
“203 saw your message, our WiFi name.” Robin explains “they’ve responded.”
Steve goes to the WiFi setting on his phone and sees the other WiFi names listed. There is a response, but not one that Steve was hoping for.
Under their Apartment203YouAreLoudAsFuck! Is:
Apartment???SayItToMyFace!#203
“So, are you?” Robin asks.
“‘Am I’, what?” Steve replies, confused. Robin rolls her eyes fondly.
“Are you going to say it to their face?” Robin explains.
“Maybe.” Steve replies after a moment of consideration.
— - —
Steve ends up confronting 203.
It was his day off after having a hectic week at work. He had drawn a bath and was finally able to relax his aching feet when he was startled out of his relaxation by the blasting heavy music. Frustrated, Steve hauled himself out of the bath, threw on some clothes, despite still being wet, and stomped his way to the elevator to get to 203. Once in front of the door, music so loud the bass was vibrating through the floor and into his bones. He pounded erratically at the door while furiously jabbing the doorbell nonstop.
The music stopped abruptly and the door was wrenched open.
Had Steve been paying attention, he would have realized that the music would only play for an hour as the song that was playing was Rock You Like A Hurricane. Meaning, 203 was getting ready for a night out. The tenant of 203 was a gorgeous specimen of a man. He stood there in front of Steve in tight fitting black jeans that accentuated the muscles of his legs and left little to the imagination of what lay between. His skin was lightly bronzed, naturally sun kissed that really complimented his long, blonde wavy hair.
The Adonis’ frown immediately turned into an enticing smile, tongue sneaking out to wet his lips as he gave Steve a once-over.
“What can I do for you, pretty boy?” He asked coyly.
Steve was momentarily distracted by the sultry tone of his voice before the words sunk in and his reason for being here resurfaced.
“You! I’m trying to relax and I’m pretty sure so are the rest of the tenants in this apartment complex but your music is seriously loud! How are you not deaf?” Steve ranted.
203 stared at him, eyes wide and his mouth open in a silent “o”.
“You’re the internet guy.” 203 asked, eyes alight with amusement.
Steve huffs
“Yes, I’m the internet call out.” Steve waves a hand dismissively, “it was the only way I could think of where you’d see and won’t be able to take down, like all the past notices the other tenants have left before I even moved in.”
203 nods in consideration. Eyes scrutinising Steve.
“Look, I know how much unwinding is important to people. We all have hard days and would love to just relax the way we enjoy, but is there any chance you can enjoy your music and unwind a little quieter? If you want to blast your music, would it be alright with headphones? Or if you’d like, as a compromise, would it be possible to listen to your music with headphones while you soundproof your apartment? That way once the soundproofing is done you can blast your music to your heart's content.” Steve suggests.
203 just stares at him, it’s not an angry stare, it’s a look of consideration, but it’s still unnerving being on the tail end of the piercing ocean blue eyes. (Okay, yes and maybe Steve is getting a bit turned on. He’s a single guy with needs.)
“Fine.” 203 says. Steve startles at the agreement.
“Really?” He asks, uncertain.
“Yes, you raised perfectly good points. I’ll try to be a better neighbour.”
Steve was still hesitant about the fast agreement. He gave 203 a suspicious stare.
“Somehow I don’t buy it. This seems way too easy.” Steve says, eyeballing 203.
“Okay, look. I’m kind of a self imposed loner and my brat of a little sister says I need to open up more.” 203 says, after a heaving sigh. “I’m Billy Hargrove. What about you, princess?”
Steve, startled at the change in demeanor and the odd pet name, gapes for a bit before answering, “Steve. Steve Harrington.”
203- Billy, wrenches his eyes away from Steve’s mouth to gaze into his eyes.
“Harrington?” Billy repeats. “You wouldn’t happen to know a Maxine by any chance?”
Steve gives a blank stare.
Billy rolls his eyes fondly.
“Max? Max Mayfield?” Billy tries again.
“Oh,” Steve says in realization. “Yeah, she’s dating Lucas.” Steve remembers happily.
“Yeah. I’ve heard about you Harrington.” Billy says. Steve silently worries about what has been said about him. He thought he got along well with Max but maybe she didn’t think so.
“Max has said a lot of nice things about you.” Billy says, easing Steve’s worry.
“Thank you.” Billy says, heavy with emotion, eyes piercing into Steve’s soul -or so it feels like it.
“I wasn’t always the nicest brother, a lot of factors leaving me with pent up rage. I’m glad you were there for her to guide her and comfort her when needed.” Billy finishes.
Steve is touched by the sincerity of his words. The genuine regret, shame and guilt still lingering in his voice and eyes,
“Well, she’s also had nice things to say about you.” Steve admits, admiring the shock on Billy’s face. How his ocean blue eyes go wide before he composes himself.
“She mentioned, in the past, that she was happy her brother was free from his father. How he could finally be happy and do what he wanted without fear. She said that she was happy that he was happy, how he was now being the brother she always knew he was.”
Steve watches as Billy looks down, soft blond curls brushing against his face. Billy looks up at Steve, eyes bright and shining.
“She’s a great kid.” Billy says before clearing his throat.
“How about we get to know each other?” Billy suggests with a smile curving his lips.
“Uh,yeah.” Steve agrees, ignoring the swoops his insides are giving at the genuine interest from Billy. “I’d like that.”
“Come over tonight, if you’re free. I’ll make us some dinner and we can chat and watch a movie.”
Steve nods his head eagerly.
“Sounds great! I can come over at 6:30pm.” Steve says.
“Perfect.” Billy smiles brightly, white teeth flashing at Steve.
“I’ll see you later, Billy.” Steve says bashful, backing away with a smile as he makes his way back to the elevator. As he gets into the lift he hears words that make his heart beat tenfold, and excitement for tonight.
“See you later, pretty boy.”
At 4pm, as Steve is getting ready, he hears the soft music of “Rock You Like A Hurricane” and he smiles so widely his cheeks hurt. Steve makes a mental note to thank Dustin for his help.
END