Chapter Text
Running the mile would have been fine. PE was already at least a little stressful with Billy always there, staring him down, but today was just not Steve’s day. Billy had kept his distance for months, being baseline menacing from afar. Maybe Steve should just get Max to tranq him again. That might help stop the shoulder checking on every fucking lap of the stadium. But apparently Max’s reports of Billy’s shittiness had been on the rapid decline.
Probably would have been less shitty if Steve had someone to talk to in PE, but nope.
Steve had been steadily losing popularity once everyone found out he had gotten into a whopping zero schools. Prom had sucked, couldn't get a date. He just had to stand there and try not to watch Jonathan and Nancy having the time of their lives on the dancefloor. He stopped going to games altogether- basketball season was over anyway. The last month of school was just hearing about parties he wasn't getting invited to, and listening to his former close friends talk about colleges he hadn't gotten into. Nothing to do until summer.
He spent progressively more time by himself or with the meathead kids. Sure he still got a lot of ‘hey’s in the hallway, but more often than not he was off campus for lunch, alone.
Apparently it was normal to have less friends before college? ‘Cause you're supposed to go off and make more Grown Up friends. But this was not before college. This was before nothing. Before a life of minimum wage jobs maybe. Or alone-ness.
Steve was snapped out of his depressing train of thought by a third shoulder check from Billy. So it was definitely intentional.
Why couldn’t Steve just go the fuck home already?
His shoulder buzzed with a weird sort of discomfort.
It didn't help that he'd been having wild as shit dreams about Billy for maybe a week. Like, that kind of wild. And Billy, of all people! Why?!
He’d sort of assumed they were nightmares. Like, that had to be a bad thing, right? But they weren't… I don't know, disturbing? The way he’d thought they'd be. Like he wanted to sleep with Billy or something. But he remembered all the shit about dreams the kids had told him back in the first semester; your worst fear was supposed to be a common dream thing. So maybe feeling every individual muscle in Billy’s shoulders move under his fingertips as he murmured Steve’s name was his worst fear. Made sense.
Right? It should really bother him more than it did. But, like, it was a dream. You’re brain literally just making shit up.
Yeah, that made sense.
It wasn’t like he had anything against gay people. Other than it seeming like, kinda weird, he didn’t think they should all die or anything, like he’d heard other people say. Seemed like people should do what they want, so long as they weren't hurting anyone.
Didn’t hurt anyone to have dreams about his sworn enemy, the guy he’d lost a fight and title of king to.
There was no shoulder check on the last lap though, so maybe Billy just needed to be a wad for half an hour and he’d leave Steve alone but back in the locker room Steve couldn’t stop thinking about his stupid dream. Like what was up with that, brain? Why’d you have to go and make a day worse-
“What’re lookin at, Harrington?”
Steve realized he’d been staring too long in Billy’s direction. Fuck, so maybe he hadn’t cooled off.
“Nothing.” Steve shrugged.
No on else was even around, making Steve extra screwed. Billy looked him up and down, narrowing his eyes. Steve turned away, opening his locker to get space between them, pulling out his jacket. He closed it without looking up, though, bumping right into Billy as he stepped forward.
“Fuck.” Steve mumbled
“What’s your problem Harrington?”
“It was an accident, man.”
“Was staring at me all tough an accident too? Want me to beat your ass a second time?” Billy leaned in.
“Ok, you know, I don't have time for your tough guy act-” Steve made to leave.
“Nah, I’m serious.” Billy pushed Steve’s shoulder back against the locker. “Let’s go again.”
“C’mon, man-”
“Let’s go. Right now.” Billy leaned in further. “I’ll even let you have the first hit.”
“I am not going to fight you.”
“What, cause you're too much of a pussy?”
“No, because I’m not gonna, alright?”
Billy didn’t back away.
They were so close, Steve could practically taste Billy’s breath - mint gum.
Exactly like his fucking dream. He must have licked his lips out of habit. It wasn't like it was on purpose, right? Steve wondered if it was the same part of the brain that told you to jump off cliffs and stuff; you didn't really want to, but you just kept thinking it.
Kiss him.
What the fuck why?
He had absolutely no idea which one of them leaned in only that he shut his eyes when he did. Why? Why did you do that? Billy tasted like mint gum and water and maybe cologne but also maybe just sweat. What the fuck am I doing? It was maybe the hottest thing that Steve had ever done. Kissing Billy in the boys locker room but holy shit . He’d just kissed Billy in the boys locker room. Or had Billy kissed him? At any rate it took longer than made sense for either of them to pull away. How much time had passed? A split second? More? Billy stared at him, completely unmoving. Steve was sure he looked weirded out, too. Billy backed up too quickly to be anything other than totally confused. Then he grabbed his jacket and practically ran out of the boys locker room. Not even a threat to Steve, not a nod, not a word. Nothing.
‘Take another shower’ was Steve’s first thought. Too much raced through his brain as he pulled into his driveway. His mom was back from her latest business trip but he barely even said hi. Shower. He could think and calm down and try to figure out what the actual fuck just happpend. But a shower this time around only brought or confusion.
He’d kissed girls.
A lot of girls.
Very nice. 10 out of 10.
Sure gay people still kinda weirded him out- mostly because people said it should. But he’d kissed another guy. And honestly? 10 out of 10. Well, maybe like, 7.5 out of ten for being yelled at directly prior.
Kissing Nancy was about the same toward the end of their relationship, though - a 7.5.
5, at worst.
So, you know, in comparison- holy shit yeah just compare kissing a girl to kissing a guy like no big deal, right?
Was he gay? No. Definitely not. But kissing Billy had been… cool. Like, really fucking cool.
Come to think of it, there were a few guys he wouldn't mind being kissed by. David Lee Roth, for one. Not any other (former) Van Halen members, though. Well, maybe Eddie. But apparently he was a dick in person.
Billy was a dick. With a chip on his shoulder and his stupid curly hair and oh yeah, did he forget to mention he’s from sunny California?
California was basically Gayland anyway. Maybe Billy had kissed a guy before. Probably not. But like, what if he was gay? Kind made the whole idea less weird? Maybe? Also maybe not. Also he probably wasn’t, and Steve had just lost his mind for like two minutes, which seemed more likely.
Billy thinks he’s hot shit, Steve thought, lying on his bed in sweatpants and an old basketball t shirt. But honestly, he might be. His car was pretty cool. And his eyes were like, freakishly blue. Like, not a real color, just straight up crystals shoved in his cranium. It was kind of weird to think like that about someone who borderline tried to kill him.
The phone rang. Steve answered it.
“Harrington residence, this is Steve. Hey, Mrs. Henderson! What’s up? Yeah I can keep an eye on ‘em. 7pm, you got it. Ok, see you tonight. Thank you. Bye.”
So maybe watching the meatheads would take his mind off the whole thing for a bit. Also maybe not.
-
Fuck. Fuck everything. Fuck Steve Harrington- did he know?
Did he know ?- Fucking son of a bitch. He probably knew! Why else would he do that?
If he knew, that was it. ‘Course he’d probably want his popularity back. If he told everyone Billy was screwed. Steve could blackmail him, maybe. Just to get revenge. What if people found out anyway? Fuck, what if his dad-
Don’t think about that.
Max was already at the car when he got there. He sort of hoped she didn’t notice how winded he was. Either from running or from… yeah. Weirdest thing about actually getting along with Max (most of the time) was that she started acting like she cared about him. Which was, dunno, stressful? He suddenly felt, like, pressure to be a person. Billy never relied on anyone, ever. Been there, done that, it sucked. But having someone rely on him was almost as bad. And if he was feeling weird about something, she could tell. Why did it seem like so many girls could mind read?
“Hey, are you ok?” Max asked him in the car.
He raised an eyebrow, looking sideways at her. “I’m fine. Why?”
“You just um, usually get on my case about being late. But like-”
“Class ran over,” he said in a conversation-ending way.
“Oo-kay.” Max sighed and looked out the window, silent for the rest of the drive.
There was a chance Max already knew about him. She was observant as shit, but smart enough not to bring it up. He started wondering if she had figured it out even a few weeks into them living together. But since she didn’t know for sure, there was no guarantee what her response would be. California was better than here, but general consensus had Billy going to hell. He’d probably go to hell for a lot of other reasons, too. But that was number one. Maybe also all the premarital sex, but did that even count if you weren’t into it?
Probably.
-
“I think I narrowly escaped death today.” Steve said contemplatively through a mouthful of popcorn on the Henderson’s couch.
“How do you mean?” Dustin stuck his hand in the gigantic bowl of the stuff they were making Steve hold.
Steve didn’t really know why he even mentioned it, but it seemed somehow more weird to not say anything. So just say cryptic stuff, maybe.
“Run in with Billy.”
“What’d he do this time?” Max rolled onto her back, feet up against the couch to join the conversation.
“Guys, shut up and watch the movie!” Mike turned over his shoulder to hiss at them.
Max pulled a face.
“Just being weird and lame.” Steve responded to Max and Dustin more quietly.
“Well, that’s his thing,” Max turned back to the screen, flickering with whichever Star Wars movie they were on. They were trying to get El through all of them, mostly so she would understand their references to her using The Force. Steve had absorbed almost none of the information on the screen.
“Yeah he’s kind of an asshole.” Dustin said.
Someone got stabbed with one of those laser sword things. Everyone cheered, including Steve, if halfheartedly.
“Hey, watch your language, young man.” Steve half-joked.
Steve probably couldn’t have focused on the movie if he tried, because god knows what fresh hell awaited him tomorrow.