Chapter Text
Billy soon learns why Steve had given him warning. Steve can’t skate worth shit. Billy watches him try and try, but he ends up falling more than skating. Billy attempts to help him a few times, but Steve insists that Billy go have fun and not wait around for him. Billy skates around the rink on his own for a lot of the time, but he soon finds his hand grabbed by Max.
She stays silent for one rotation and then brings up something that has been gnawing at her. “You didn’t correct him.”
Billy looks down at her and feigns ignorance, but he has been wondering if she’ll bring the subject up. “What are you talking about?”
She shrugs. “Earlier, when Steve called you my brother. You didn’t correct him.
“Don’t let it go to your head.” He doesn’t say anything more on the subject, but he also keeps his hand in hers. After a couple more rotations, he decides to ask something of her that’s been bugging him, too. “So… what did you mean earlier? When you were talking about what happened when we left last night. You said it… got weird.”
She bites her lower lip and nods. “Yeah, I mean… Dustin said that everyone was freaked out and Hopper started laughing and that upset Joyce because she thought that Steve was upset.”
“Was he? Upset, I mean?”
“I’m not really sure. I guess he kind of just stood there while everyone was talking about it and then he walked away, outside or to the bathroom or something. I heard Mike say something about Nancy not being able to calm him down. And Will keeps saying that Steve is hurt. Again, I have no clue what that's about and Will is kind of odd. I don’t know if any of that is right, though, because Steve’s not acting like he’s upset or hurt now.”
Billy looks over at Steve again as the other boy struggles to stay on his feet. “No, he’s not, is he?” As he watches, Steve’s feet come out from under him and he lands hard. Billy winces as he sees Steve’s head smack into the ice and practically bounce. He lets go of Max’s hand and races over to Steve’s side.
Billy feels his panic well up when he realizes Steve is unconscious. Billy doesn’t see any blood, but he’s concerned about how hard Steve fell. He’s also not sure why he rushed over or why he even cares. But he reminds himself that he embarrassed Steve last night and he doesn’t like owing anyone a debt so he decides that keeping him alive clears him from spending any extra time with any of these people.
Billy motions to the boys, who are apparently engrossed in introducing El to hot chocolate near the opening in the rink. As soon as they look his way, he yells. “Get someone!” Half of them run off and half of them ignore him and come to see what the fuss is about.
He pats Steve’s cheek lightly and hears the boys making way more noise than necessary. Max slides over next to him and holds Steve’s hand. “Oh no… not again.”
Billy glances over at her. “Again?”
She frowns. “He’s taken a lot of hits to the head and he’s supposed to be really careful.” She doesn’t point out that Billy is the one who caused the most recent injuries.
Billy feels the guilt creep up on him, but rolls his eyes as something hits him. “So he decides to go ice skating?”
Max shrugs. “I… I may have told him that you like skating. I remembered hearing Neil and my mom talking about how you used to go skating with your mom a lot.” She stays silent about the fact that the conversation she heard was one where Neil was giving Susan evidence that Billy was a “fairy.”
She looks ashamed for her part in the accident and Billy looks skyward to silently ask for strength in dealing with guilt ridden kids. “It’s not your fault. He’s a big boy. He makes his own choices.” He backs off as a woman and two men come over. The woman, a doctor who is there with her kids; and the two men, both firefighters there for some charity thing; look Steve over. In a minute or two, Steve wakes up to the doctor leaning over him and checking his eyes with a penlight she pulled out of her inside pocket a moment before.
Billy is impressed with how prepared she is, but then decides that any doctor coming to an ice rink would have to be ready to deal with some sort of crisis when teenagers looking to impress are around.
Billy is shocked when Steve reacts violently to waking up. He jerks so hard that he almost slams his head against the ice again, but one of the firefighters has his hand under Steve to prevent that and was providing cushion. When Steve shoves the woman away from him, Dustin and Lucas manage to catch her before she falls on her butt and the firefighters both start yelling orders at Steve, which only serves to make Steve continue to react. Will and Mike and El stand back and observe.
Billy notices the others coming closer and quickly gets into Steve’s line of sight. “Hey…. Come on, you’re gonna scare these brats and I’m not taking care of them.” He speaks softly, but with as much firmness as he can. The effect is quick as Steve focuses on Max standing behind Billy and then looks back at the other boy.
“I’m… I’m okay.” He tries to sit up, but Billy pushes him back.
“No way. Not until the doctor says it’s okay.” If Billy is weirded out by the distant look in Steve’s eyes and the easy compliance, he doesn’t let it show.
The woman doesn’t seem to be fazed by Steve’s reaction to her and nods. “I would prefer he get checked out for a concussion, but if he has someone with him tonight to wake him up every couple of hours, he can probably check in with his regular doctor tomorrow. But if he starts vomiting or his vision changes, he has to go to the hospital immediately.”
Max nods. “He won’t be alone. And we’ll make sure he’s in his own bed tonight so he’s comfortable.”
Billy finally helps Steve up slowly and guides him over to the edge of the rink, giving a quick word of thanks to the firefighters and the doctor. He gets Steve over to one of the benches and then starts taking off his skates for him. “Okay, these are yours, right?”
Steve nods, but doesn’t do much else. He not only seems dazed, but he’s shut down, too. The kids are crowded around and Billy can practically see Steve drawing himself into a smaller target. He knows what that’s like and he has no clue why Steve is doing it, but he knows what isn’t helpful. He looks at the kids. “Hey, he’s okay for now. You shitheads go enjoy skating after you call someone to pick you up. Steve said he had his car here so… I’ll figure something out.”
Billy unlaces his own skates once he has Steve’s shoes on him and carefully wraps them up. He squats down in front of Steve who still has a look on his face as if he’s not really there. “Hey princess, come on. What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?” He barely manages to stop himself from tucking a stray strand of hair behind Steve’s ear the first time and it’s a lost cause the second time he gets the urge. At the gentle touch, Steve’s eyes move to Billy’s and he slowly seems to come to the present. “You with me, Steve?”
Steve nods. “Yeah… yeah, I’m with you. Sorry… I guess I hit my head pretty hard, huh?”
Billy recognizes a shitty excuse when he hears one, but he doesn’t think Steve needs confronted right now and he’s not really sure it’s any of his business why Steve freaked out anyway. “Look, your car is here at the rink, right? That’s what you mentioned earlier.”
Steve nods. “Yeah, but I was thinking I could walk you back to your place so you could get your car and help me drop the kids off.”
“Sorry, princess. You’re not driving for awhile. I’ll work it out.”
Max comes running over then. “Okay, parents are all on their way. And Nancy is coming and bringing Jonathan so we won’t have to leave Steve’s car or yours.”
Billy smiles softly at her. “Good thinking, kid.”
Max beams at the praise. “Yeah?”
“Yeah, now go have some fun.” He watches her head off and then looks back at Steve. “You want to see if you can keep down some water?”
Steve shrugs and Billy takes that as a yes and goes off to get a cup full of water and another one full of hot chocolate. He hands the water to Steve and sips his own hot chocolate. “Drink up.”
Billy watches Steve slowly drink the water and pretty soon he sees Hopper, Joyce, Nancy, and Jonathan walking toward them. He moves away as Joyce comes over and starts checking Steve over. Billy barely notices the tension in Steve’s posture, but is distracted when Jonathan yanks him around by the arm. “Whoa, watch it.”
Jonathan looks pissed, but it’s Nancy who gets in his face. “Haven’t you done enough? And now you hurt him again?”
“I didn’t fucking touch him!”
Jonathan huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, right. I was there last night, remember? And you nearly killed him in my home not all that long ago.”
Hopper gets between the two and Billy. “Hey… Byers, you did the same thing just last year. Now, everyone shut up for a moment. Billy, what happened?”
Billy glares at Nancy and Jonathan a second more before turning to Hopper. “He’s not a good skater. I was skating with Max and I looked back at Steve in time to see him lose his balance. He was falling all day, but this time he went backward hard and smacked his head. He was out for a few minutes and there was a doctor and firefighters here to help him. The doc said he can rest at home if someone stays with him and then he checks in with his own doctor tomorrow. But if he gets worse, he has to go to the hospital.”
Hopper sighs. “Steve… dear Lord, kid.”
Joyce smiles gently at Steve. “I’ll run to your house with Will and Dustin and make sure things are set up for you to have a relaxing and quiet night. Jonathan, follow me with Steve’s car. Nancy, can you take Lucas and Mike and meet us at my place?”
Nancy nods, but shoots a wary look at Billy. “So Hopper is staying with Steve, right?”
Hopper shakes his head. “I wish I could, but I promised the girls a sleepover tonight. I’ll drive the boys back to get Billy’s car and then Hargrove can take Steve home while I head out with Max and El. Plus, it lets me be there in case I need to have a talk with anyone.”
Billy frowns. “You just want me to drop him off?”
Hopper gestures for the girls to get to the car. “Nope. Steve has a walkie in his house and you can reach me on that. I can give you directions to my house if someone is home, but… I have a feeling that nobody’s at Steve’s place. If that’s the case, you’ll have to stay with him.”
“I’m not a babysitter.”
“I ain’t asking you to babysit him. I’m asking you to be a friend to him right now.”
Nancy scowls. “I think he’d be in better hands with…. Well, never mind.” She frowns. “Maybe I should stay with him.”
Billy snorts at that. “Seriously? You dump him and humiliate him and you think he wants to be with you?”
“Oh and I suppose he wants to be with you because you decided to put your disgusting mouth on his last night for who knows what reason!”
Joyce straightens as she shoos the boys off to her car. “Enough! We’ll do what Hopper suggested. Jonathan. Go. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” She smirks at Hopper. “You sure you can handle two girls?”
Hopper rubs the back of his neck. “Not really, but I’ll manage.”
Joyce grins. “Yeah, you will. Call me if you need anything.” She pats Steve’s cheek gently. “You, too.”
After everyone disperses, Billy and Steve are taken to the house and Hopper stands guard while Billy gets his car. Although driving his car usually relaxes him, Steve is making everything feel a little awkward. Billy isn’t cruel enough to turn the radio on and cause Steve more of a headache, but he also can’t stand the silence. He clears his throat. “She almost got to the Olympic trials.”
Steve blinks a few times and glances over. “What?”
“My mom. She grew up ice skating and nearly made it all the way, but… she was injured. Nothing major, but she decided she didn’t want to risk a permanent injury, and she walked away from that life. But… she turned me onto it. She used to say that being on the ice as a kid was the closest thing to real freedom that she ever felt. Today, I felt it. I wouldn’t have gotten that connection with her if you hadn’t pushed this day onto me. I guess... I’m trying to say thank you. For today.”
Steve smiles for the first time since the fall. “So… you going skating with me again?”
Billy huffs a short laugh. “Not unless we fit you with a helmet first. But then again, that won’t happen since you would never dare to mess up your hair.”
Steve leans back in the seat. “You think you know me so well.” The words are soft, but there’s no sadness in his tone, only an observation.
Billy considers it for a bit. “I guess I do. Sometimes that scares me.”
Steve looks over at Billy again. “I scare you?”
“No, just… I know why I do the things I do, even if nobody else does. But you… I feel like I shouldn’t understand you because understanding you means we have more in common than I thought and I guess… I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, not even you.” He mentally kicks himself as he sees Steve starting to shut down again. He abruptly changes the subject. “You got any good movies at your place?”
Steve nods. “Sure. One or two. I’m not… there’s nobody home so… maybe we should go to Hopper’s place.”
“Nope. Max promised that doctor that you’d be in your own bed. It’s cool, man. I’ll just crash at your place and make sure you don’t die or some shit.”
Steve looks suitably impressed and Billy feels the tension fade again. “So… Billy Hargrove… my hero. You’re not going to attack me and kiss me senseless again, are you?”
Billy smiles widely and licks his teeth slowly as he thinks about the question. He looks over at Steve and winks. “No promises.”