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Steve sat in his car, looking out of the window to see Dustin walk up to the entrance of the school. If someone had said to him that by the end of the year he would be the designated babysitter of five kids, soon to be six because he was sure Jane would join the party soon, he would have laughed and called you insane. But look at him now, on a cold friday night, not only driving Dustin to the Snowball but giving him advice on hair and girls.
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud sound of someone smacking the top of his car, making him jump in his seat. He looked to his side just to find Billy fucking Hargrove there, hand on top of the Beemer and crouching to look inside the car with a smirk on his face. Steve groaned and rolled his eyes at the image in front of him. He didn’t want to deal with this today nor ever. What the hell did he want?
“Hey, Harrington, can you get out of the car for a minute?” The blonde asked, his voice roughed because of the cold weather in Hawkins.
Steve shook his head and sighed before speaking. “What for? So you can pummel my face again? I still have some bruises, man.”
He saw Billy flinch and take a step back.
“No, I just want to talk real quickly.”
“Yeah, not happening. You gotta something to say, you say, but I’m not leaving the car.” He crossed his arms and looked ahead, staring at the Hawkin’s Middle School parking lot.
Billy crouched, trying to balance himself on the car so he wouldn’t fall, and looked inside the car. “Fine. Look, I just wanted to apologize. Things got out of hand that night. I was pissed off and, I don’t know, man, I took out on the wrong person. And I don’t hate you. Like, for real. I was just messing with you all those times ‘cause it’s fun to rile you up, but I’m sorry for that too.” He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, like he was trying to figure out his next words. “I also plan on apologize to Lucas. I have nothing against him, okay? I was trying to protect Max and myself. I’m not the racist one in the Hargrove house, you know what I mean? So, yeah, sorry for fucking up your face. For what it’s worth it, it’s healing great and you still have a pretty face that bitches would die for. I left something for you on the top of your car, just grab it before someone sees.”
With that Billy turned around and walked away to his Camaro, starting the engine and fleeting the parking lot, Scorpions playing loudly on the stereo.
Steve took a deep breath and tried to understand what the hell just happened. Did Billy really apologize? Did he let it out that maybe his dad or Max’s mom was the racist piece of shit in the family? Also, what did he left on his car?
He opened the door and raised his arm, palming the Beemer’s roof trying to see what was on there. His hand reached something and he brought it down, opening his palm and seeing a very well rolled joint. He let out a soft laugh because who the fuck gives a joint as an apology? Maybe that’s how they do in California.
Things were weird the next few weeks. Not bad or good weird, just weird. Mostly Billy had kept to himself, keeping a safe space between him and Steve. No teasing, no nicknames, no pushes during basketball. Hell, Billy was playing nice at basketball, shouting tips to Steve and helping him up when Steve fell. Steve didn’t know what to do with all of that.
He was now outside the Palace Arcade waiting for his kids – he had accepted that they were his kids now – when he heard the Camaro’s engine and music coming near. He looked over to see Billy parking near him, his typical jean jacket and sunglasses covering his blue eyes, bobbing his head in sync with the song on the radio.
Steve walked in the direction of the car and stood a few feet from it, talking louder so Billy could hear him above the music. “Hey, Hargrove. Just wanted to let you know that Max will take a while to come outside. They asked me for some quarters ‘cause apparently they needed to finish their little competition.”
Billy turned his head to look at Steve, not changing his expression and only muttering something that look like “damn, Maxine, we’re going to be late” and nodded at Steve.
“Also, I accept your apology. Just apologize to Lucas like you said you were going to do and we’re even.” With that Steve turned back to go back to his car and leave Hargrove alone.
“Wait, Harrington!” Steve turned back to Billy, who was now leaving the car. “Hm…Thanks for that. And yes, I’ll apologize to him today.” He said, taking off two cigarettes out of his jacket’s pocket and a lighter, his arm stretched out to Steve, offering one of the smokes. “You wanna smoke while waiting for the shitheads?”
Steve shrugged. “Sure, why not? And thanks for the joint. Made that night a little more enjoyable.” Steve had gone home after taking Dustin home and lit up the joint in his room, getting high while listening to some tapes that he had gotten a few days earlier. He felt relaxed for the first time in forever, no Upside Down shit on his head and he even slept the whole night without nightmares.
“Yeah? Good shit, right? I have more if you want.” Billy was now leaning on his car, staring at Steve behind his sunglasses.
“You offering to be my dealer?” Steve teased but was actually interested in the offer.
“Nah, man. I won’t sell it, I can give you some, when you need it. Think of it as a way to make it up for your face.”
Steve was going to say that they were okay, that he didn’t need anything, that Billy was forgiven, but come on, if Billy was willing to share his weed with him for free he wasn’t going to complain.
“Ok. Sounds great, thanks.”
Billy just shrugged and looked over to the Arcade, a red hurricane coming out of it with five boys on her heels. “Finally. Let’s go, Maxine. We’re going to be late.” He shouted to her, who rolled her eyes at him and made her way to the car, while the boys were right behind her, making their way to Steve’s car. “Hey, Lucas, can I talk to you really quickly?”
Everyone’s head turned to Billy when the phrase got out of his mouth. Lucas looked at Billy and then at Steve, who nodded in a way of saying “go ahead”.
“Yeah, okay.”
The other kids and Steve got in his car while Billy and Lucas walked to Max, who was standing near the passenger’s door. They couldn’t hear what Billy was saying but they saw Lucas nodding while shaking Billy’s hand and Max next to them with a huge smile on her face.
Lucas walked to Steve’s car, getting in. “What did he want?” Dustin asked since they were all curious. Steve knew he got an apology, but he still was curious about what exactly Billy said to the boy.
“He apologized to me. Explained why he tried to make me stay away from Max and then offered to drive us to places if we need. He just asked us to be safe while walking around town alone ‘cause apparently his dad is the racist one in that house.”
So Steve was right, Neil Hargrove was the shitty one, not Billy. But why did Billy get so angry when he saw Max and Lucas together? Why did he say “I was only trying to protect Max and I”? Something else was going on and Steve was going to find out what.
Steve approached Billy at his locker a few days later. He could feel everyone staring at him, probably waiting to see if Billy was going to punch him again.
“Hargrove.” The boy turned to the sound of Steve’s voice, face blank staring at him. “Do you think you could get me some more of that energy drink?” Steve tried to act normal; he didn’t want people to know that he was asking Billy for weed.
Confusion showed on Billy’s face, the boy leaning on his now closed locker. “What are you talking about?”
Steve groaned and rubbed his hands on his face, letting out a groan. “You know? The energy drink you gave me a few weeks ago.” He now had his face cocked to the side with a “Hargrove don’t be stupid, you know what I’m talking about” look on it.
The younger boy grinned at him, finally getting what Steve was talking about. “Oh, I remember. Yes, sure man. I can get you some. I’ll drop it off at your house after school.” And with that Billy turned to walk to his next class.
“But you don’t even know where I live!” Steve replied, watching the boy walk away.
“I have my ways, don’t worry, Harrington.” Billy said, turning his head over his shoulder to look at him and kept walking, leaving Steve alone in the hallway looking confused.
~
Steve got home after school, his huge house silent as always, as his parents were on another business trip and wouldn’t be home until the weekend. He decided to shower before making something to eat.
The hot warm water of his shower hitting his body and he let out a sigh, the knots on his back getting loose. He closed his eyes, letting himself relax for a while, his worries going down the drain with the water. God, he needed to relax so he could sleep through the whole night. His hands massaged his scalp while he thought back to the night of the Snowball dance and how well he had slept after smoking the joint Billy gave him.
Billy. Oh shit.
Steve totally forgot the boy was supposed to stop by to drop his stuff and Billy hadn’t said what time he would be there. He groaned, finishing his shower, choosing to wear a shirt and his pajama’s pants to wait for the blonde.
A few minutes later he heard the familiar roar of the Camaro getting closer and got up the couch to open the door. Billy was parking his car on the driveway, next to Steve’s and turned off the music that was blasting inside the dark blue car. Steve stared at the boy while he made his way to the door.
“King Steve opening his own door? What? The servants are not home?” Billy grinned at him, standing in front of him.
Steve rolled his eyes and leaned on the door. “I don’t have servants. So, you gonna come in or do you want to give the weed here, where Ms. Norbury can see what’s going on and call Hopper?” He turned his back to Billy and walked inside again, Billy following his steps and closing the door behind him, both boys walking to the room.
Steve jumped on his sofa, his back on the cushions and long legs draped on the arm of the couch while Billy was standing there, awkwardly, like he didn’t know how to behave. “You can sit, the chair won’t bite you.” He motioned to his dad’s leather chair next to him.
Billy sat down and pocketed his jacket looking for his shit. “I didn’t know if you had paper so I took the liberty to roll two joints for you, you majesty.” He dropped the weed on the center table while looking around the room, taking in the details of Steve’s house. He could see some framed pics that showed a tiny Steve in different places, some of him alone, some with his parents. He found one above the TV and laughed out loud. It was Steve, who must have been like eight in the picture, wearing only white undies and sitting in the kitchen’s floor with flour and eggs around him in a mess.
“Stop laughing at me, dickhead. You going to light up the first one or I’ll have to get up and search for my lighter?” Steve said from the couch, his arm draping out of the couch, drawing patterns on his mom’s tapestry.
Billy looked over him with a confused face. He wasn’t planning on staying and getting high with Steve but whatever, he was already there and he didn’t have plans for the rest of the day. He shrugged, grabbing the lighter on his pocket and lighted up the joint, taking the first hit before passing it to Steve.
That was the first time Billy hung out with Steve at his house, but not the last.
It became routine for them to hang out at Steve’s after they had dropped the kids at the arcade or when they didn’t had to play babysitter to them. At first they kept to themselves, smoking in silence until Billy opened his mouth one day to ask him if Steve really had a pool, which lead to them going outside so Billy could see it. They started with small talk and the small talk turned into deeper convos. Both boys had started to open up to each other, a friendship blossoming.
The kids had noticed it. Billy was not a dick anymore, at least not that big of a dick; he still teased Max and her little friends, but even gave them rides when Steve couldn’t. Dustin had been worried about Steve going back to being an asshole, which led to Steve sitting down with him to talk about how he wasn’t going back to his old self and how he just needed a friend of the same age as his.
Steve had told Billy about it and Billy joked about how he was glad Steve’s little brother were cool with their friendship and Steve took the opportunity to ask him about his and Max’s relationship and what was going on in their family.
“Something happened in California, before we had to move out. I’ve always blamed Maxine but it wasn’t her fault. It was mine. Actually, no, it wasn’t mine. It was my dick of a father’s fault. He’s the bigoted one in the family. Fucking asshole. But yeah, I kinda took it out Max ‘cause my dad took it out on me.” Billy dropped his head down between his knees, not looking at Steve, who was sitting in front of him on the middle of his TV room, the center table dragged somewhere so they could have some floor space. “He hits me. I don’t even remember when it began. I guess it must have been after mom left us. He used to say how I reminded him of her and that he didn’t like to be reminded of someone who left her husband to get away with a younger man.”
Steve made sure to let Billy know that if needed he could always go there and if shit got worse they could tell Hopper, who Steve was sure was going to help them.
Three days later Billy was at Steve’s door at 2 in the morning, with a blossoming bruise on his left eye and blood around his nose. It was a cold night and Billy only had a shirt on him, like he didn’t even had time to grab his jacket, or keys – Steve realized that the Camaro wasn’t anywhere and that Billy must have walked there.
That was the first time Steve helped Billy clean up and the first time Billy crashed at his house, the mattress from the guest room dragged all the way to Steve’s so Billy could sleep on it and not be alone.
Billy kept crashing there when things got too hard at home and he kept sleeping on the mattress until one day they were hanging out in Steve’s room, Steve with his back on the headboard of his bed with Billy laying down next to him, listening to some tapes that Billy had gotten that week. They had smoked earlier, the high hitting them in a flash and the hungry not too long after, so Billy had taken the liberty to make them some burgers.
They were mostly quiet, listening to the songs playing and sometimes making a comment about them. Steve had been staring at Billy, who had his eyes closed, for a long time, taking in his features. Billy had really long lashes that looked like a doll’s. He could still see the faint bruise on his right eye, that Neil had put it there earlier in the week. His eyes moved to Billy’s nose and then to his mouth. Steve knew it was weird to stare at his friend - his male friend - like this, but he couldn’t help it. Billy was gorgeous. His full red lips, the tip of his tongue between them just hanging out. Sometimes Steve thought about how it would feel to have those lips on his.
“I can feel you staring at me, Harrington.” The younger boy said, not bothering to open his eyes, just turning his head facing where Steve was seating.
Steve felt himself blush but kept looking at the boy next to him. “Just wondering if you’re crashing here tonight, that’s all.”
Billy opened his eyes and looked at Steve through his lashes. “You already tired? I can move down to the mattress so you can sleep, man.”
“You can stay. I mean, if you want too. Is that too weird? It’s a big bed and more comfortable than the mattress.” Steve tried to act normal while panicking on the inside. Sure, he and Billy were friends and they hung out, but sharing a bed was another thing.
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Billy nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine. Do you mind if I grab some sweatpants to sleep in?” Billy normally slept in his boxers and shirt but he knew it was better if he had pants on if he was going to share a bed with Steve. It was easier to hide if something decided to come to life inside his boxers during the night.
“Yeah, go ahead. Bottom drawer.” Steve replied while moving himself to get more comfortable and lay down. He closed his eyes, relaxing and then felt the bed dip beside him and Billy moving around to lie down too, leaving some space between the two of them and covering them with the blanket.
When Steve woke up the next morning, their faces were close to each other on his pillow and Billy looked peaceful in his smile, a tiny smile on his lips. Steve decided he could use some more sleep and closed his eyes again, his forehead now touching Billy’s.
The mattress was moved back into the guest room later that day.
It was the first week of summer in Hawkins and Billy was pretty sure he would melt anytime soon. The weather in the shithole wasn’t like the summer back in California, it was actually horrible and he hated it so much. He was on his Camaro with all the windows rolled down, trying to not sweat too much while on route to Steve’s house.
He knew his parents were away for the week, once again, but he didn’t know if Steve was at home or not. He didn’t even care; all he wanted was to finally use that big pool that the boy had on his backyard. Steve had given him a copy of his key a few weeks ago and he was going to use it if Steve wasn’t there.
He finally turned on Steve’s street, making his way to the house and parking his Camaro next to the Beemer. Seems like Steve was home after all. Billy walked up to the door and used his key to open it.
“Steve? You home?” He shouts out, trying to hear anything inside the house before entering, closing the door behind him and taking off his shoes and socks.
“In my room!” A voice replied from upstairs and Billy made his way up, reaching Steve’s room to find the door open and Steve laying in his bed in nothing but what it seemed like a really short pair of basketball shorts.
“Are you fucking stupid or what? You have a huge pool outside and you’re inside your room dying of heat? Thank God I’m now here to save you from this miserable day.” Billy said, leaned on the doorway and Steve turned his face to look at him. Billy was wearing a white tank top with black bermuda shorts, his sunglasses covering his blue eyes. But what made Steve surprised was to see that Billy had put his hair up in a bun. It was the first time he saw Billy without his hair down. He looked good with his mullet down, sure, but somehow Steve found Billy with a bun even more handsome.
“I don’t want to use the pool. I always get burn if I stay too long in the sun.” He complained but he knew it was going to be in vain. Billy would probably pick him up and throw him in the pool if needed.
“Don’t be a bitch. Up and go, Steve. I can help you with the sunscreen and monitor the time so you won’t get red as a lobster, you child.” Billy replied, already turning his back to Steve and going down the stairs, planning on finding some beer and hit the pool.
Steve sighed and got up to find his trunks so he could change before Billy had the chance to drink all his beer alone.
~
He stepped out to his backyard, finding Billy spread out in one of the chairs, his tank top and pants gone, showing his tiny red trunks. Steve was sure he was going to pop a boner by the end of the day and it was going to be that red trunks’ fault.
“Did you buy your trunks in the kids section of the mall?” Steve sat on the chair next to Billy, snatching the beer from his hands and taking a gulp and moving to sit on the pool chair next to Billy’s
Billy let out a loud laughter and looked at Steve behind his sunglasses. “Hey, don’t talk about my trunks when you were just wearing a booty shorts. Where the hell did you find those? In a sex shop?”
Steve blushed and smacked Billy’s arm before turning to grab the sunscreen tube he had put down next to the chair. “Leave my booty shorts alone and do what you said. Help me with this shit.” He tossed the tube to Billy and took off his shirt so Billy could spread the sunscreen on his back. He heard Billy get up from his chair, sitting behind him, legs open making Steve sit between them. “What are you doing? I was going to turn my back to you.”
“This way is easier, trust me. Now give me your hand so you can start spreading this on your face before your nose gets red like Rudolph’s.” Billy opened the tube and squeezed a tiny amount of the product in Steve’s hand and on his.
He started by putting some screen on Steve’s shoulder, spreading it equally, to cover every part of it. He heard a soft moan escape Steve’s lips and smiled to himself. He kept moving his hands on his shoulders, now giving him a massage.
“You’re so tense, Harrington. Are you not sleeping well again? I think I’ll need to crash here more often to take care of you, don’t you agree?” Billy practically purred in Steve’s ear while moving his hands to undo the knots on his shoulders.
Steve blushed, the thought of Billy taking care of him hitting in the softest places. He didn’t reply and kept spreading the sunscreen on his faces and arms.
Billy finally took his hands off Steve’s shoulder to apply more sunscreen on his hands, which were now making their way to the rest of the brunette boy’s back. Billy’s big hands were walking all over his back, spreading the screen and feeling the softness of Steve’s skin. He had to fight with himself to not just lean in and drop a kiss on Steve’s back. If he did that Steve would probably jump ten feet in the air and punch him after.
He moved his hands to each side of Steve’s hips, spreading the last of the sunscreen, his fingers rubbing a circle in a spot before he realized it was going to be weird if he didn’t take his hands off soon. “There you go! All done here. Now you finish the rest of your body and don’t forget your feet!”
Steve turned his upper body to thank Billy and was surprised to see how Billy was from him. They stared at each other until Billy laughed softly. “You have white shit on your face, Steve. You really are a child.” Billy moved this thumb to spread the sunscreen that was left on Steve’s cheek, the other boy moving his face to nuzzle Billy’s hand.
Billy froze for a few seconds, not sure what was happening. He saw Steve close his eyes, his breath out of rhythm and his face still leaning on Billy’s hand. He decided to move his thumb again, this time caressing the other boy’s cheek, smiling to himself when he saw that Steve was smiling too.
“Steve?” He said softly, not wanting to break up whatever was happening between them.”
“Yeah?” The reply came even more softly, the boy still smiling with his eyes closed.
“I’m going to kiss you, okay?”
Steve’s smile got bigger before he opened his eyes to stare at Billy’s blue eyes, finding fondness and what seemed like some fear on them. “Okay.”
Billy’s eye light up, the fear in them vanishing, so he leaned in, his lips locking onto Steve’s softly, just an innocent peck at the beginning. He could feel the smile Steve still had on him before the boy opened his mouth a little to let Billy’s tongue slip in, the kiss getting deeper. Billy’s other hand found its way to the back of Steve’s neck, holding him in place.
They kissed for what it seemed like forever, the kiss softening before they stopped to get some air. Steve let out a chuckle while looking at Billy.
“What, pretty boy?” Billy’s lips were even redder than the normal and it only made Steve want to kiss him again, but he was still catching his breath.
“Kissing you in real life is even better than in my thoughts.” Billy laughed with him before pecking Steve’s lips again.
“Good to hear that because I plan on kiss you a lot.”
They spent the rest of the day lying on the pool chair and in the pool, exchanging kisses here and there, both boys with their heart warm just like the summer that was just beginning.