Chapter Text
Dec. 1
Billy wakes to the sound of knocking on his bedroom door. It’s not timid so it’s not Susan. It’s not pounding so it’s not his father. He sits up, confused. That would leave Max, but when the hell has she willingly wanted to talk to him?
He gets up and opens the door, not caring that he’s wearing shorts and nothing else. His eyes widen when he sees Steve Harrington standing there. “Uh… Shit, dude. What the hell?” He grabs a shirt from the floor, tugging it on over his head as he mentally tries to prepare for what he thinks is going to be a fight. “Look, if this is about last night, you should know that-“
“Skating.”
That wasn’t what Billy expected to hear. “Wait… what?”
“Skating,” Steve repeats, no trace of anger in his tone.
Billy arches an eyebrow. “Okay… what about it?”
Steve tilts his head slightly. “Do you do it?”
“At the moment? No. Why the hell do you want to know?”
Steve nods and ignores the question. “Get dressed in something suitable for the weather. I promised the kids I would take them ice skating and I’m not watching them on my own.”
Billy crosses his arms and takes a step forward, no longer comfortable with how Harrington walked in and threw him off balance. “In what universe do you tell me what to do, King Steve?”
Steve lowers his voice and leans in to make sure nobody can overhear. “In the universe where you kissed me in front of all of our friends in order to prove a point.”
Billy’s eyes widen and he jerks backward a step. He’s about to argue when something Steve said catches his attention. “You mean your friends.”
“Our friends. Don’t be a dick.”
Billy frowns. “Jesus…. Seriously? I’ll tell everyone that it was a prank.”
Steve shakes his head. “Get dressed. I’m going to help Hopper.”
“Hopper? Wait, what? Why is he here?” He follows Steve to find Hopper in his living room gesturing for his father and stepmother to sit down while Max stands off to the side. She walks to Steve when she sees them enter and steps behind him and in front of Billy, her eyes still on the scene unfolding in front of them.
Neil glances over at the movement, shooting a glare at Steve before turning back to Hopper as he hasn’t noticed Billy yet. “I assure you that I will pay for any damages my son has done, officer.”
“Chief. I’m the chief of police, Neil.”
Neil Hargrove frowns, not used to being spoken to so informally. “Chief, my son is a troublemaker and I assure you that he did not learn that behavior in this house. I take great pride in teaching respect and responsibility.”
Billy can’t hold back his confusion anymore and steps around Max and Steve. “What’s going on?”
Neil is up in a heartbeat at his son’s voice and moving toward Billy. “What have you done now?”
Billy flinches and that seems to be enough for everyone. Hopper grabs Neil by his shoulder, Susan starts to cry, and Steve pushes him behind him where Max suddenly grips his hand.
Hopper pushes Neil into his seat. “Sit down.”
Billy flinches and that seems to be enough for everyone. Hopper grabs Neil by his shoulder, Susan starts to cry, and Steve pushes him behind him where Max suddenly grips his hand.
Hopper pushes Neil into his seat. “Sit down.”
Billy’s eyes widen and Max squeezes his hand. He isn’t certain why he hasn’t let go yet.
Neil glares at Billy and ignores Susan as he falls back on the couch. He straightens his spine as if trying to show he wasn’t just manhandled. “I apologize. Billy is a difficult child.”
Steve turns and pats Max’s shoulder. “You should go outside with the others. They’re down the block waiting.”
Max looks up at Billy and then back. “What about you?”
“I’m going to wait for Billy. It’ll be okay. I promised, right?”
Max nods and finally releases Billy’s hand before gesturing to Steve to come closer. She whispers something and Billy watches Steve’s usually kind and warm brown eyes turn to steel. As Max walks out, Steve’s gaze shifts to Neil.
Hopper gives a subtle shake of his head toward Steve as he sees the boy’s hands clench into fists.
“Mr. and Mrs. Hargrove, it’s been brought to my attention that there may be some inappropriate discipline happening in this house.”
“Excuse me?” Neil turns red with fury.
Hopper ignores the interruption. “And that your wife may be covering it up.”
Susan pales, but doesn’t protest as she wipes at her tears.
“Now you listen!” Neil stands up, face reddening more by the second.
“No, you listen!” Hopper is in the man’s face now and Susan looks scared, but keeps her gaze on the floor. “I’m talking to you man to man, but also chief of police to suspected abusive father. I’m letting you know that allegations have been made, and I will be watching very closely to make sure that nothing is going on here that violates the law. If I find evidence that you’re harming Billy or Max in any way, I will return and I will take those kids with me, do you understand?”
At the threat of losing Max, Susan reaches up and curls her slender hand around her husband’s wrist in a silent plea.
Neil yanks his arm away from her and glares at Billy before looking back to Hopper. “Yes. I understand.”
“Good. Now, the kids are going skating and I expect they’ll be pretty late. Max will stay at my house with my daughter and Billy can sleep over, also, to keep a good eye on Max. Is that going to be a problem?”
Neil shakes his head, vibrating with rage. “No. No, it won’t. But… I’d like them both back by dinner tomorrow.”
Hopper nods. “I’ll do my best.” He turns and looks at the boys. “Billy, you can’t go skating in a t-shirt and shorts.”
Billy is still staring at the whole spectacle, not sure if it’s real. “What? Oh…. Skating?”
Steve turns and pins Billy with an incredulous look. “Yeah, skating. You’re helping me watch the kids. Get your stuff. You won’t be back until dinner tomorrow.”
“Oh. Yeah, okay.” He heads into his room, still stunned. He grabs some clothes and some toiletries and rummages through his closet until he finds a bag that was long forgotten after his mother died. He eventually walks out to see Steve standing much closer to a still seated Neil. Billy’s not sure what the look is on Steve’s face, but considering the Chief is standing between them, facing Steve and talking low, Billy thinks that Hopper is trying to talk Steve down from something. Steve’s clenched fists are another indicator.
He isn’t about to let this continue because he knows what his dad could do to the King if he puts his mind to it. “Ready.”
Steve turns, lightning quick, and his rage filled face turns into something softer immediately when he looks at Billy. “Hey, okay. Come on.” He pushes Billy in front of him and escorts him out while Hopper brings up the rear.
Billy turns to Steve as he watches Hopper get into his own vehicle. “What just happened?”
Steve shakes his head. “You are clueless a lot, aren’t you?”
Billy is about to tell Steve where he can shove his cryptic conversation when he hears his name being called and is suddenly hit by a red-haired torpedo. “Oh my God, Billy! I’m so sorry!” Max backs off suddenly as if reminded that she doesn’t do hugs with her stepbrother. “I mean… so what happened?” She looks to Steve for an answer.
“Nothing. At all. Let’s relax and go skating, okay?” He takes the duffle bag from Billy. “You have a lot of stuff so… I’ll help you. My car’s at the park so we can load up the trunk and squish everyone in afterward or something. We'll figure it out.” He takes off to join the other kids, leaving the stepsiblings to follow behind.
“Billy?” Max looks up at him.
Billy’s still not entirely sure what happened, but Max is his best chance to find out. “What the fuck just happened back there?”
Max shrugs. “I don’t know. I talked with El and the guys and I guess things got weird after we left last night. I don’t know any more than that, but… but I’m glad it happened.”
Billy frowns. “Why did I even ask you?” He walks quickly to get away from her.
Max rushes to catch up. “Billy, stop being a dick for a minute and listen.”
Billy stops and turns. “What did you say to me?”
“Billy, please?”
“Not now, Max. Later, okay?” He walks on ahead and catches up with the others.
Max frowns but decides to respect his need for space right now. She lags behind, but stays close enough that she can hear the others laughing and joking up ahead. She’s grateful when El joins her and walks next to her in silence.
Billy doesn’t talk until they get to the rink in the park. He looks around, stunned. He heard the local park had winter weather sports, but didn’t realize just how elaborate it was. The rink is decorated to look like the Christmas spirit threw up in a slightly elegant way. There are carts along the edges with hot chocolate, soft pretzels, and something that smells deliciously peppermint.
“Wow…”
Steve turns and smiles at him. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool, right?”
The kids are already running over and either renting skates or putting skates on that they brought. Max is over in line to rent and Steve sits and starts to take off his shoes. He glances at Billy. “You getting skates? The guy knows to charge it to my account so no worries about money today. It’s my treat.”
Billy sits down and opens his bag, stopping himself from making a snarky comment about not needing the rich kid’s money. “I have my own.”
Steve glances over and lets out a low whistle. “Wow, you sure do. Those are pretty awesome.”
Billy smiles softly as his fingers brush over the side of the blades that he still lovingly sharpens when he thinks about it. “My mom got them for me. I don’t even know if they’ll still fit.”
“You don’t talk much about your mom.”
Billy thinks about that for a bit and wonders if he can talk about her at all. Her death, along with his father’s reaction to it, seemed to place a wall around his emotions that he never bothered to take down or even consider breaking through.
Steve notices the hesitation immediately. “Hey, you don’t have to talk about her if you don’t want to. I don’t mean to pry. I mean, we barely know each other, right?”
Billy shrugs and decides to push a little to see what happens. “Yeah, true. But I did give you the best kiss of your life yesterday.”
Steve laughs suddenly at the confident tone. “Wow, not cocky at all, are you?”
Billy is stunned and keeps up the teasing since Steve isn’t shying away from the subject. “Wouldn’t you like to know…”
Max appears as if out of nowhere. “Ew. Like… ew. Are you two… flirting?”
Billy frowns and looks up at her, but doesn’t find any judgment or disgust on her face, like he would find on his father’s face. Instead, she’s amused. He honestly has no idea how to handle the lightness about a subject he feels he’s been tortured for, for half his life. Steve, thankfully, handles it.
“Max, if I have to put up with you and Lucas making lovey dovey eyes at each other all the time, you can handle an afternoon of me appreciating how hot your brother is.”
Billy’s eyes widen in surprise. Steve thinks he’s hot? Sure, Billy thinks that he’s damn good looking, but he never thought for a second that Steve would think that about him, too. He files that away for later, but he also remembers that Steve is probably just trying to prove a point to Max and is using Billy to do it. He turns his attention to his skates, grateful as hell that his mother had bought them big “to grow into” and that allows them to fit now. He remembers how his mother had laughed as she put more and more pairs of socks on him just so he could wear the things, with promises that they’d be the correct size one day. He fights back the nostalgia as he silently tells his mother that she was right and he finally fits into them perfectly.
Max rolls her eyes. “I do not make… lovey dovey eyes.” She sighs. “Fine, but if you two kiss like you did last night, do it where I don’t have to watch because…. Ew.”
Steve laughs and claps Billy lightly on the shoulder, startling him out of his thoughts. “C’mon, man. Lace those bad boys up and let’s get out there. Just no pointing and laughing at me.”
“No promises.”