Work Text:
It’s been a year since Steve and Billy moved to California. They are about an hour from the beach and the board walk which was Steve’s favourite place to be.
Steve has found out so much about his boyfriend since they moved. Things he liked- surfing and cocktails- food he hated- broccoli and roast chicken- and how he reacted to Steve leaving his towel on the floor- not at all well. He’s sure that Billy was enlightened by things about him too. Like his nightmares, the bat and the skill to burn nearly all food.
But the boardwalk, he wasn’t ready for that. Billy came in one morning with two pairs of roller skates in his hands and a mischievous grin on his tan face. He hauled Steve outside into the truck they bought when they both got jobs out here, they had sold their cars to afford the house and furniture when they arrived, and drove to the beach.
They talked as they drove. About what to do when Steve gets back from work later in the evening and what they needed from the shops. Its these little things that Steve thought he would never get tired of. The kiss he got whenever he walked in his own house. Billy’s arms wrapped around him at night. The smile his boyfriend gave him whenever he leaves on of his silly found gifts out for him. Billy would never let him say that though. He has kept every single one. From the daisy picked on their first day, pressed between two books, and the chip off a skateboard wheel that looks just like a dick that he gave him just yesterday.
In Hawkins, when this thing started, it was ferocious and desperate but as they found they niche with each other it changed. Steve stumbled through an ‘I love you’ 8 months in, to which Billy replied, ‘Jesus why would you?’ and left for three whole days. He came back and it took him another three months to listen to Steve say it without flinching and another five after that to say it back.
He important people knew where they went and what they had, people. Like Robin, Dustin, Max and Hopper, who had become like a dog to both of them since all the shit went down. Billy kept his scars hidden most of the time, as well as he could but still wore his tanks and crop tops at home that always made his mouth water.
They walked from the lot to the edge of the walk and Steve took in the fresh warm morning air. Billy sat down on the edge of the wooden planks reached for Steve’s feet. He followed suit and sat down before he tumbled from Billy insisted tugging. He buckled up Steve’s skates for him and slid into his with practiced ease. Steve quirked an eyebrow at him and he just stuck his tongue between is teeth and waggled it in a way sure to make all of Steve’s blood rush downward. He knows what that fucker can do with it.
Steve stood up slowly, feeling like a baby deer tottering on fresh legs not at all graceful. He tried to get his body to obey his commands of slide not step and managed to stay on his feet for a couple of blocks, with Billy’s help.
Billy howled at him when he sprawled out trying to slowly avoid an oncoming chihuahua, the dog escaped but his dignity did not. But after getting his breath back, Billy helped him up, kissed him on the cheek and held on to his arm as they skated some more.
That was the first and last time he went skating. Instead, Steve followed Billy up and down the board walk on a rickety old bike, totally not staring at Billy’s ass when he wiggled in front of him. He watched his boyfriend show off and flirt and just be shameless, free and happy.
Something he didn’t know if either of them would ever get to have.
But they did and they were.