The Happiest Place On Earth
A Steddie Disney College Program AU in which Steve is Peter Pan and Eddie is Captain Hook, and through collaboration on skits they have to perform together, parade floats they share on which they have to pretend to be archnemeses, and drunken nights of cast member afterparties (not to mention the close proximity to one another stage combat brings), sparks begin to fly, and not just from the fireworks.
Prologue
Chapter 1
“Uh, hi…Peter?”
Steve looked up. It was a petite girl with long, wavy brown hair and big brown eyes. She was wearing a butter yellow tank top and a pastel pink miniskirt. He immediately knew this was his Wendy.
“Hi, I’m Steve,” he paused, then added, “but yeah, I guess you’ll get to know me as Peter,” he stood to greet her, extending his hand.
She smiled warmly, sensing his nerves, and shook his hand.
“Hi Steve, I’m Nancy, but I guess you’ll be calling me Wendy more often soon enough. I’m supposed to show you your room?”
Steve shook her hand back and laughed. “Yeah, I guess I will, and yes please!” he unsure of what else to say to make conversation.
They did end up making small talk on the walk to their accommodations. Steve found out that Nancy was from Miami, that she had a younger brother named Mike who was always using her cast member friends & family discount to bring friends to the parks, and that she was studying journalism at Florida State University. She’d been Wendy for about a month, but: “you get the hang of it pretty fast!” she’d said.
Steve in turn relayed that he was from Bumfuck, Indiana, an only child, and considering majoring in education, and the imposter syndrome began to set in. He told her that he’d applied with his best friend, Robin, and realized he needed to call her as soon as possible to let her know what was going on.
He knew that she’d had her interview with Gates yesterday, but between the timing of his flight and his interview today, he hadn’t gotten the chance to see how hers went.
They made their way to a complex of small, yet homey, brightly colored condos across the street from Gates’ office. They climbed one flight of stairs and she reached for the laminated pocket of the lanyard around her neck. She handed him the key card to his room.
“I’m just across the hall if you need anything,” she gestured to a teal door that was presumably hers, and added, “and here, put your number in my phone and I’ll text it, we’ll need to be able to reach each other if rehearsal schedules change…”
He took the phone she handed him and typed in his number, saving it as “Steve Harrington (Peter Pan)” and handed it back, taking all this information in. Rehearsal schedules…soon enough he was going to be going to rehearsals and performing in an actual play in front of people. Daily.
It’s not that he was nervous, necessarily, more that it was just a lot to take in, in addition to memorizing parade routes and schedules, and learning the basics of stage combat, from what Nancy described.
She typed him a quick, “Hi, it’s Nancy Wheeler,” so he could save her number. Steve slipped his phone out of his back pocket to view the text notification, quickly checking it for a text from Robin – there wasn’t one.
“Like I said, if you need anything at all…” she trailed off, but Steve got the point, and he nodded.
“Thank you, thanks. Yeah, I’m good for now, I’ve just gotta Uber to pick up my luggage I left at the hotel. Meet the roommate,” he said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the door behind him. “You know, the usual.”
“Well then, I’ll leave you to it,” Nancy said, gave him an awkward wave and a smile with no teeth, and retreated to her room.
Steve turned on his heel to face the door to his room. He took a deep breath and steeled himself to meet his roommate. He knocked twice before swiping his key card. The light on the door handle flashed green, and Steve opened the door to his new residence.
“Hello?” he called, making his presence known to whoever he shared the room with. However, after a few moments, it didn’t seem like anyone was home. Steve relaxed a little, his shoulders releasing tension he didn’t know had been there. Now he was free to check out the layout of his new home in peace.
The condo was surprisingly decent, certainly better than his dorm at Ball State. The door led into a common living area, with a beige couch facing an average-sized television that sat on a bland entertainment center. The wallpaper was tangerine orange, with black, grapefruit-sized Mickey heads plastered every few feet.
The kitchenette had a coffee maker and a toaster, and a few dishes in the sink, so Steve knew he probably didn’t have the place to himself for long. He peeked inside a bedroom, finding his own empty one on the first try, and found it to be perfectly respectable, if a little maritime; royal blue walls with red and white stripes, and a large, printed photo of Mickey in a sailor’s hat staring at him from above his headboard.
Steve took this opportunity to whip out his phone, remembering that he needed to call Robin. He needed to fill her in on what was going on with him and find out what was going on with her. He unlocked it and went to his recent calls to find Robin, but the sound of the front door flying open and people entering the apartment made him jump so suddenly that he dropped his phone onto his nautical Mickey comforter.
He stood and made his way to his bedroom door, which he had closed more out of habit than anything else. His dorm at Ball State hadn’t had separate bedrooms, so he was mildly excited to have some privacy for the first time since he’d lived at home. But as he reached for the doorknob, he came to the realization that his roommate wasn’t alone, the muffled sounds he was hearing were the sounds of a guy and a girl making out, and it was getting hot and heavy.
Shit. Of course he had one of those guys as a roommate.
He debated momentarily what he should do. He could sit there and wait until they made their way into the other guy’s bedroom, and either risk being found out when he tried to leave, or endure listening to two strangers having sex in the next room. But it sounded like they were getting comfortable doing what they were doing right there in the living room, and who knows how long they’d stay there when they were finished, so then they would know Steve was there if he tried to leave and they’d think he was a creep, so.
Steve coughed loudly a few times to make himself known.
“Shit, fuck,” the guy whispered in a hiss. “Put your shirt back on.”
Steve listened as the unknown couple in his shared living room scrambled to be presentable, then after a few moments, bit the bullet and opened the door to head back to the living room.
He looked around the room, eyes landing on them in surprise. A steely, athletic-looking blonde guy with a deep side part and a petite, strawberry blonde with big blue eyes, heavy eye makeup and an embarrassed flush high on her cheeks stared back at him, looking like deer that had been caught in the headlights.
“Oh, uh, hi,” he smiled, feigning ignorance at having heard what he had just heard, out of politeness more than anything. He decided he was going to give them the benefit of the doubt; they didn’t know they weren’t alone, so he wasn’t going to judge. “I’m Steve. I was just, uh, checking out the place. I don’t have any of my stuff yet, I just got accepted into the program like, half an hour ago-…”
The blonde guy cracked a smile and stood, leaving his girlfriend on the couch, and made his way over to Steve with an outstretched hand ready for a handshake.
“Hi Steve, I’m Jason. Or, the Beast,” he jabbed a thumb at his chest proudly.
Steve raised an eyebrow and a smirk played at his lips. “As in Beauty and the…?”
“That’s me. And this is my girlfriend, Chrissy. Also known as Queen Elsa of Arendell,” he said proudly, gesturing to her and giving a miniature bow.
“Sometimes Tinker Bell,” Chrissy interjected, still looking embarrassed, but shooting Steve a shy smile anyway. “We’re a little short-staffed on cast members this summer. So we might end up working together some,” she explained.
Steve did remember hearing that. Due to low wages and long hours, high rent, and little time off, Walt Disney World cast members were starting to become few and far between, save for the college program young adults who had nothing better to do with their summers. Speaking of, shit, he really needed to call Robin.
“Do you have plans for dinner? We were just gonna chill here and order pizza, maybe watch a movie. You’re totally welcome to hang out with us, have a few beers?”
Steve pretended to contemplate this offer. He was grateful for it, really. In fact, he was glad his roommate wanted to hang out. But he still had to get his stuff, check out of last night’s hotel, and find out where Robin was. He checked his phone again. It was 4pm, and still, nothing from Robin. But there was a text from Dustin. He made a mental note to read that in the Uber on the way to get his stuff.
“I’m gonna have to take a rain check, sorry. Hotel checkout, and I don’t have any of my luggage. I’ll probably get my stuff, get fast food, come back here, shower, and crash. Long flight yesterday and all,” he explained, failing to mention he wasn’t keen on third wheeling his roommate and roommate’s girlfriend, who were still essentially strangers to him.
Jason shrugged. “Well, if you change your mind, we’ll be here.” They exchanged numbers for convenience purposes before Steve left, tromping down the concrete stairs and sliding into the back of the Uber he ordered. While they stood at a standstill in rush hour Orlando traffic, Steve took out his phone and dialed Robin’s number.
