My @steddiebang2024 fic is finally here! None of this would have been possible without the amazing support of my best cheerleader and best beta reader in existence, @hbyrde36 and the girlies constantly keeping me encouraged and cheerleading me on. On top of that, I had the absolute pleasure to be working with one of the most talented artists in this space and all around good bean and very sweet person, @arelliann. I literally screamed when I found out we would be working together for this Big Bang and continued to melt down at every single piece of art they sent me. Beautiful artwork and dividers by them. Go check them out and show them some love! Hope you enjoy this fic as much as I do. 🥰
Part 1
[Part 2] [AO3] [Art]
Down in the meadows, surrounded by fields of blooming flowers and bountiful crops as far as the eye could see, a lone figure on horseback cantered along.
He wove expertly through the rough and small roads and walkways, moving behind farmhouses and grain storage buildings, trying to stay out of sight of the gleaming white castle behind him.
The mid afternoon sun glared down from above, but not as stifling as it had been earlier on in the day. The sweet fragrance of thousands upon thousands of flowers wafted through the air from the Rainbow Sea, mixed up with the gentle rustling of the tree branches and the babbling of the river.
The figure had to duck down low toward his horse's neck to avoid taking a branch to the face as they came upon the riverbed, his gray palfrey barely being led, confident in her route.
Slipping expertly from his saddle, Crown Prince Steven Harrington glanced behind him, knowing well he couldn’t be seen from the castle in his hidden little refuge, but still, he checked every time.
It was a small little curve along the shore of the River Vita, blocked in by trees and shrubbery with enough grass and space for Bimmer to entertain herself while Steve stole however many hours he could, hiding away here.
The river itself wasn’t a terribly fast moving one but it was deceptively deep, a danger to anyone who didn’t know what they were doing. Luckily for Steve he’d been swimming in this river for as long as he had been able.
It might not have been the smartest thing in the world, sneaking out here alone to work off the stress of the day, stealing a moment alone, but he couldn’t help it. It was one of his most favored spots throughout the kingdom and it always helped him to relax his racing mind.
Steve was a strong swimmer, at least that’s how he justified it to himself. He was trained and careful and able.
Not that Robin or Hopper ever saw it that way. But he’d managed to slip away without either of them noticing and he would take the opportunity to swim whenever it was presented to him, though he didn’t think it would be long before his absence was realized.
Being the Crown Prince was full of benefits, but the downside was that he always seemed to be constantly needed, though that was mostly due to his own unique situation, rather than something the first born of other kingdoms had to deal with.
Steve’s father, King Robert wasn’t a cruel or uncaring man, but he was extremely uninterested in ruling.
He preferred the hedonistic and enjoyable parts of being a king. Celebrating, hunting, whoring, drinking.
However, dealing with the day to day? Meeting the people to hear their concerns, acting as an intermediary between warring guilds, overlooking the treasury, directing their surplus crop, trading the flowers, making sure their people were happy, provided for and treated well, organizing the guard...
King Robert didn’t have any time for it, and as such, his one and only child Steve had been shadow ruling the kingdom for as long as he could remember. Almost as soon as the king came to the realization that Steve could, he had set him to it.
It was all Steve had ever really known.
And he loved it. He really did.
This was his home, his kingdom, his responsibility. He wanted his people to be happy, he wanted to maintain the beauty of the Rainbow Sea, he wanted to carry on the Harrington legacy, he wanted to be good.
But sometimes… sometimes it was a lot.
It was a lot all the time, if he was being honest with himself, but he was comfortable with it.
This was what he had been raised for after all and in his short twenty four years, he’d become almost expert at it.
Steve didn’t think there was anything he wouldn’t do for the good of his kingdom.
Bimmer shook her head with a frustrated snort, bringing him back to the present where he had been standing, staring out over the River Vita with her reins in his hand.
“Sorry, girl.” He muttered, patting her muzzle and draping the reins over her neck. “Go on.”
She bumped his hand once and then wandered off to graze.
She was an expertly trained horse, strong and tall with a gleaming light grey coat, almost white in color to go with her bright mane and tail. She was beautiful and one of the many loves of his life.
He rarely needed to tie her off to stop her from wandering, she liked to keep watch over him while he swam.
Steve stripped himself bare, taking care to hang his carefully embroidered doublet and undershirt from a tree branch to keep them as clean as possible.
He didn’t want to give the staff in the laundry more work than necessary.
Most of his clothes had been expertly decorated with delicate flowers and climbing vines, occasionally even with some of the kingdom’s sweetest fruits. His clothes were beautiful and he took great care with them, not wanting the hours of work put into them to go to waste.
The cool breeze brushed against his skin and Steve sighed, feeling the stress of the day get washed away in the current of the river as he submerged himself completely, the shock of the cold enough to inject some energy back into him.
Steve took off, up and down the bank, swimming with and then against the gentle current until his muscles began to ache and tire and the sun had dipped a little lower, slowly bathing the clouds in soft pinks and oranges.
He was catching his breath, sculling along on his back, eyes closed, head tipped to the sun when he heard a throat clearing above him.
Steve was intimately familiar with that gruff and perpetually irked sound and he continued to float for a moment before peeking an eye open to look up at the figure towering above.
Captain Hopper glared down, his arms crossed over his leather clad chest, a deep frown on his face.
He raised an eyebrow at Steve’s complete shameless nudity and huffed, much in the same way Bimmer did when she wasn’t getting her way.
“You’re giving me gray hairs, kid.”
Steve grinned to himself, allowing his eye to slip closed again.
“You’ve been saying that for years, Hop.”
“You’ve been giving them to me for years, Harrington. The hell are you doing out here alone?”
Steve shrugged, the water sloshing around him.
“I’m fine.”
“But you might not have been.”
“I’m a strong swimmer.”
“Not stronger than mother nature. If your royal ass was to drown out here, then where would we be?”
Steve scoffed.
“I wasn’t going to drown, Hop. Don’t be so dramatic. And anyway, haven’t I taught you what to do in that kind of situation? Press on the chest, breathe into the mouth-”
“Steve.” Hopper sighed, closing his eyes as if praying for patience and Steve had to give in.
He knew Hopper was right, knew that it wasn’t exactly the safest thing to be doing, going outside the castle walls alone, to swim in a force of nature alone.
But… it was fine.
It wasn’t like anything exciting ever happened in his life. Things were calm, normalized. Day in, day out, Steve always knew what was coming and he was happy with it that way. He was happy with where he was right now.
“Get your clothes back on, kid. C’mon.”
Steve knew he had to, knew that he couldn’t hide away here forever, but he was feeling a little petulant. He shot Hopper the biggest pout he could muster.
“Five more minutes?”
“No.” Hopper growled at him. “You better be out of that water in the next ten seconds or I’ll take Bimmer back with me and make you walk.”
Steve straightened up in the water, with a performative squawk, shaking droplets from his lashes. He was still deep enough that the water flowed across his stomach, taking some power away from the effect of putting his hands on his hips.
“On my own two royal legs?” He exclaimed in mock outrage. “Hop, how could you? I demand my litter!” He slapped a hand against the water.
“I’ll litter you in a minute.” Hopper scowled. “I’ll bring you back in your very own casket if you keep pushing. Out. Now.”
Steve crossed his arms with a scowl of his own, really hamming it up with a comically furrowed brow but Hopper didn’t waver. Didn’t even crack a smile. So Steve sighed and waded back to the shore, stepping out without an inch of shame in his nakedness.
Hopper wasn’t phased in the least.
“Your nudity doesn’t scare me, Harrington.” Hopper said, leaning against a tree while Steve pulled his britches on over his legs. “Or have you forgotten that I was the one who had to try and catch you as a three year old when you decided you hated clothes and went on a run around the castle? Do you have any idea how irritating a naked, angry three year old is?”
Steve scrunched up his nose but still tried to not let too much of his embarrassment show.
Tugging his undershirt back on over his head, he scraped his wet hair back from his forehead and shrugged his doublet back on, not bothering to lace either of them up.
“Did you happen to notice my absence or did someone send for me?” He asked, tucking his shirt away into his pants.
“I fear Your Royal Highness has had a duty of today slip his mind.” Hopper answered, not cryptic at all, with a little glimmer in his eye.
Steve paused in his movements, trying to remember what he could have forgotten he had to do today.
He’d met with Merill and Eugene about their land dispute. He’d met with one of the Coin Keepers, Ted Wheeler about potentially taking on Erica Sinclair as an apprentice. He’d read the letters and memos sent to him from the various guilds. They’d finally figured out how to streamline their flower trade route through the River Road, what else could he possibly be forgetting-
It hit him all at once.
He let his head drop back with a loud groan.
“Yep.” Hopper sounded way too happy about it. Steve supposed this was some kind of justice for escaping away to swim today.
“Fuck.” Steve whispered.
“Steve you promised!” Dustin’s shrill voice echoed off the stone walls of the kitchens, cutting through the low din of the cooks and servers finishing up their work for the day and beginning to prep what they needed to for tomorrow.
By the time Steve had gotten back to the castle, evening had set in and Dustin was glaring up at him from a wooden table in the corner, his arms crossed and his foot tapping against the flagstone floor like an angry parent.
“I know, Dustin.” Steve sat down at the table as well but almost immediately had to lean out of the way as a kitchen maid was forced to reach across him to get to a stack of bowls piled up and needing to be washed.
Steve handed them over to her with a warm smile and she grinned back at him with a small, “Thank you, Steven.”
“I’m sorry.” He turned his attention back to Dustin. “Things started piling up today and I forgot.”
Dustin scoffed, sticking his nose in the air. “How can you expect to be a good king if you forget your people. Your promises?”
“Dusty!” Claudia exclaimed, hovering like she almost always was, in front of the large suspended cast iron pot, hanging over the constant burning hearth, stirring.
The rest of the kitchen staff reacted to Dustin with varying levels of shocked laughter or badly hidden snorts.
Joyce poked her head out of the walk-in pantry, just to swat Dustin lightly over the head with a rag. “Show some respect!”
“Yeah, Dusty.” Steve gave his shin a gentle kick. “Show some respect.”
Dustin grumbled to himself, something that sounded distinctly like show you some respect before slamming both hands down on the table. “Lucas gets to ride all the time!”
“Lucas is Captain Hopper’s squire. It’s pretty much his job description. It’s different.”
“And he’s learned how to hunt and shoot and bow and he’s not even using a training sword anymore! Hopper’s got him practicing with a blunt metal one now!” Dustin threw his hands into the air, nearly swatting a kitchen boy a year or two older than him in the arm, but the boy seemed so used to it, he just expertly weaved around the flying gesticulations with barely a glance. “I could be a squire.”
“It all sounds very fanciful, Dusty.” Steve leaned his elbow on the table. “But are you forgetting all the other things Lucas had to do to get to where he is? Yes, he gets to ride all the time, but he’s also up at dawn, shovelling shit from the stables. Yes, he’s learned his way around a sword and bow but don’t you remember all the cuts and bruises he was walking around with? Or this time last year when he couldn’t train for two months after he broke his collarbone on his good side after getting thrown from his horse?”
“I wouldn’t have that issue! I don’t even have collarbones!”
“And,” Steve pressed forward, “Lucas doesn’t have time for much else besides those things. He doesn’t get to harass the librarian for hours on end with constant questions.”
Dustin glared at him from across the table. “I’m not harassing Mr. Clarke. He loves my questions.”
“If you were to be in Lucas’ position, you couldn’t do that. You couldn’t study the natural sciences and alchemy like you love to. In addition to that, Lucas has been in training since he was six years old. You’d have a lot of catching up to do.”
Dustin slumped back in his chair, arms crossed again and a frown on his face. He looked disappointed if not a little upset and it just about broke Steve’s heart.
Fuck, he was too soft with these kids.
“I promise, Dusty. First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll take you out riding, okay?”
He’d have to shift his schedule around a little. He usually went through his correspondence with the further villages and towns of the kingdom in the mornings, but he could put them off for an hour or two.
“Can I ride Bimmer?” Dustin asked, almost immediately perking up.
Steve shrugged. “I don’t know. You’d have to ask her. But if she’s okay with it, then I am.”
“She’s a horse, Steve.”
“So? Doesn’t mean she has to put up with a little shit-head with no collarbones if she doesn’t want to.”
“But- okay. If she does let me, then I can? I can ride your horse?” There was such a hopeful glint in Dustin’s eye. Steve was powerless to deny him.
He heaved a put upon sigh and hands on his hips, “Yes, okay. But only around the perimeter!” He shouted the last part after Dustin who had shot up from his seat with a whoop and burst out of the room.
“Mike! He’s gonna let me ride Bimmer!”
Mike had only just come in from the gardens, arms full of herbs which were dropped to the floor with an angry squawk, beginning an argument because Steve never let him ride Bimmer.
Claudia giggled to herself as Steve slumped back in his chair.
“You give in too easily, dear.” She said over her shoulder to him.
He leaned his cheek into his fist. “You know what he’s like.”
Claudia smiled again, tuning back to the pot.
Steve was just about to open his mouth to offer some help when there was a great clatter on the stone steps leading up from the kitchen.
Robin nearly ran into the wall, her face was flushed from exertion, one pant leg was untucked from a boot which was coming unlaced and her undershirt was half hanging out of her still beautiful but not quite as lavishly embroidered waistcoat.
She’d caught herself against the archway, her wild eyes scanning the room before Steve felt them land on him.
“Oh shit.” He breathed, springing from his chair in the next second and making a break for it through the kitchen.
“You!” Robin screeched, footsteps pounding after him while the staff scampered, like they were jumping out of the road to escape a wayward horse and cart. “Get your fucking ass back here, Harrington!”
“I didn’t do anything!”
Steve burst through the door leading out into the herb garden, Robin hot on his heels. He didn’t know why he’d chosen the damn herb garden to escape to, it was enclosed.
He literally had nowhere to run.
“You call trying to drown yourself in the river not doing anything?” She shouted, swinging a gardening glove she’d picked up at him as she slowly stalked closer while Steve was backed up against an impenetrable stone wall.
“I wasn’t going to drown, Buckley.” He snapped back, trying to catch the glove in his own hand as she swatted at whatever part of him she could reach. “I’m a strong swimmer!”
“Stronger than the river, Steven?” She was able to pop him over the head and he finally managed to catch her wrist and wrench the glove from her grip, swatting her back.
“Get off my ass, adviser. I’m fine aren’t I? Forgive me for needing a moment to myself.”
Robin was trying and failing to bat his hands away.
“You can have as many moments to yourself as you’d like, Your Highness, but not on a dangerous river when no one knows where you are!”
Steve whapped her on the arm and in retaliation she levelled several slaps against his chest.
“The river’s not that dangerous!”
“You wouldn’t even be the first monarch to drown in that river!”
“I didn’t fucking drown!”
“Yet!”
“Is that a threat?”
“You’re damn right it is! I will drown you myself next time, I swear on your stupid hair-”
“Hey! Don’t call my hair stupid, your face is stupid.”
“Ugh!” The sound came out of Robin like some kind of cross in between a scream and a groan. “I can’t believe this is the thanks I get for my years of service!”
“Service, my left nut. You’re a pain in my ass, Buckley.”
Steve still had the glove clasped in his hand, though it was down at his side now and Robin had stuck her hands on her hips, the two of them glaring.
“You’d perish without me.” She sniffed, looking down her nose at him.
“Whatever.”
Robin pursed her lips, tapping one finger against her hip.
“Did you enjoy yourself, at least?”
Steve grinned, swatting her lightly one last time over the shoulder.
“Yeah.”
“You said first thing tomorrow morning, Steve!”
Steve stuffed his goose feather pillow over his head, trying to block out the pinks of the early morning sky invading his room.
The light was barely there, the sun hadn’t fully risen yet, but it was still reflected around the room. The brightness of Steve’s lime-washed and plastered walls seeming intent on keeping him awake, the delicate paintwork of climbing vines and florals doing nothing to dull the glare since Dustin had thrown open the curtains.
“I didn’t mean the ass-crack of dawn, shit-head!”
“You’re up now aren’t you?”
Turning his head a little, Steve peeked an eye open to glare at him.
“I shouldn’t be.”
“Not all of us are royalty who get to sleep in.” Dustin snarked back with his arms crossed.
“Sucks for you because I am royalty who gets to sleep in. Now if you don’t fuck off and come back at a more reasonable hour, I’m telling your mother what happened to her good copper pot.”
Dusting scowled back just as hard before turning on his heel and stomping out.
“Fine, asshole!”
“And close my curtains!” Steve shouted after him, but Dustin had already slammed his bedroom door closed again.
He was still yawning and grumbling to himself as Dustin dragged him by the arm down to the stables. What he wouldn’t give for some kind of injection of energy, some way to wake himself up. He prayed for the day something like that was discovered. Maybe he could talk to the castle herbalist about it. Argyle always had something strange cooking.
Steve squinted against the glaring sunlight, slumping when Dustin finally let go of his arm to shoot off into the stables on his own, shouting at Steve to keep up.
Fuck, how did the kid have so much damn energy?
When Steve finally made his way inside, his senses assaulted with the smell of wood, leather, hay and horse, Dustin was standing in front of Bimmer’s stall, blinking up at her with wide nervous eyes.
“She’s bigger than I thought she was.” He muttered. “I’ve only ever seen her at a distance.”
Steve placed a hand down on Dustin’s head, using the other to pet over Bimmer’s muzzle.
“She’s very gentle. But you don’t have to ride her if you don’t want to. I could take you out on a smaller-”
“No.” Dustin turned to look up at him. “I said I would, so. I will.”
It took a little bit, getting Bimmer to respond positively to Dustin after she had reflected his nervousness initially, but soon enough he was comfortably in the saddle, practically vibrating with excitement. Steve stuck close by, astride Thunder, a jet black stallion prone to wandering but easy enough to pull back.
Dustin’s smile only grew wider as they went on a slow trot around the curtain walls and before long he was in top form, spewing about the latest things he’d learned whenever they passed something that caught his interest.
“Hey Steve, did you know that Mothers Bounty used to spit liquid fire and ash?” Dustin said, pointing over at the lone flat topped extinct volcano that always loomed in the background. “It’s where our pumice stone comes from and the reason we can grow so much here.”
“Yes, Dustin, I did know that.”
“Hey Steve, did you know that Queen Vita drowned in the River Vita,” The river itself babbled up at them. “Isn’t that crazy?”
“That’s a rumour.”
“Hey Steve, did you know that the people of the Abyssal Forest use needles and ink to mark their skin?”
Steve blinked rapidly over in Dustin’s direction while a soft breeze blew through the trees next to them.
“They do what?” He asked, trying not to think too hard about sticking needles into his skin. Willingly.
“Yeah!” Dustin turned to him with the brightest smile. “They have to get the needle in quite deep for the ink to stick, but if they do, their designs can stay there forever! Isn’t that so cool?”
Steve had to repress a shudder. “Yeah, man. Sounds… so cool.”
They continued to ride on in silence for another moment and Steve would have found it peaceful if he didn’t think that Dustin suddenly falling silent after spitting out endless facts was very strange. He was fidgeting ever so slightly with Bimmer’s reigns, like he was trying to build up to something.
“So. El and I have been talking.”
Well, that was never a good start.
Steve just hummed in agreement, waiting for Dustin to continue, reaching up to pluck a leaf from an overhanging branch as they slowly made their way back to the stables.
“She’s hit a blockade on her studies of the Rainbow Sea. You know how she’s been trying to figure out how to grow the Nightbloom?”
“Absolutely not.” Steve didn’t quite snap, but it was a close thing.
“I didn’t even say anything!”
“You’re gonna ask me to take you and El on an expedition to the Abyssal Forest so El can talk to the people who live there about her flower and so you can harass them about their inked skin-”
“But, Steve! The Nightbloom doesn’t grow anywhere else and no one else I have read about inks their skin-!”
“Over my dead body, Dusty-Buns. There’s a reason their community is so closed off. That forest is dangerous to those who don’t know how to traverse it. Most who try end up lost forever. You think I’m gonna lead both you and El to certain death just for a flower and some ink?”
“Steve-!”
“Dustin.” Steve pulled Thunder a round to a stop in front of Bimmer. “I’ve said no. You’re just going to have to find some more books about it. It’s not happening.” He stared him dead in the eye. “Have I made myself clear?”
Dustin scowled at him, and the rest of the ride back to the stables was frosty but Steve wouldn’t budge.
Dustin could sulk and complain and be as upset as he liked, but Steve was not going to lose him or El in a dark and endless forest just because he wanted to meet some inky people and find out how to grow a flower.
In his haste to get off Bimmer once the stable hand had taken her reins, Dustin’s foot slipped from her stirrup and he fell hard onto one knee.
Steve threw himself from his own horse, swinging down in less than a second but Dustin had already sprang back up, brushing past him with a muttered “I’m fine.”
Steve stared after him, not knowing whether he should feel hurt or indignant. He only wanted what was best for the kids and he understood Dustin’s disappointment at not getting to go on some kind of stupidly dangerous mission but at the same time, did he really expect Steve to put all their lives at risk for no reason?
“Shit, what happened?”
Steve turned to find Robin walking through the stable doors, coming from the direction Dustin had just left in.
“We had a disagreement.” Steve sighed, hands on his hips. “He wanted me to take him and El into the Abyssal Forest.”
Robin’s eyes widened. “What the hell for? Is he trying to get you all killed? And no offense to the kid, but your death might not be the best thing for the future of this kingdom.”
He snorted, a little deprecatingly. “I know, right? Someone should have told my parents to have another kid. Would help to take the pressure off.”
Robin gave a little nod, sucking her lips into her teeth. “Speaking of pressure…”
“I know, I know.” Steve shook his head, giving Bimmer a pat and nodding at the stable hand who was corralling the two horses back into their stalls. “I’m going up to my study now to start on my correspondence so there’s no need to bully me.”
He grinned at her but it slipped from his face almost immediately when she didn’t follow suit, just continued to bite her lip.
“What is it?”
Robin took a deep breath in, like she was bolstering herself.
“Your parents have requested an audience with you.”
Steve’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline.
“What for?”
“I don’t know. They wouldn’t tell me.” She shrugged, trying to hide the worry in her eyes, but she was never able to fully hide from him.
The fact that they hadn’t shared what they wanted to talk to him about was not a good sign.
“Well.” Steve put his hands back on his hips. “Fuck.”
Robin nodded.
[Part 2] [AO3] [Art]
This fic will be updated daily! 🥰
