Work Text:
What if, after the battle of Starcourt, Billy is alive but due to his injuries, he was in a coma. During this time, Max comes visit him at the hospital and starts to read him "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", because she remembered that Billy told her, one day, that it was the favorite book of his mom and she loved to read it to him before bedtime. And, Billy, despite being in a coma, can hear Max and begins to dream about this story. But, in his dream, he will be Alice.
Billy's dream begins like if he was remembering a memory of him, as a child, and his mom. They are at the beach, enjoying the weather of California, but, suddenly, Billy sees a young girl with bunny ears (aka El) and start to follow her. He accidently falls in a hole and ends up in the Wonderland.
After changing his size to go through the front door, he is back to his teenager/young adult form, wearing his blue jeans outfit (S02 E01). He will meet several characters, who are portrayed by the kids (as the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse), Max (as the Cheshire Cat), Heather (as the Caterpillar) or Tommy and Carol (as Tweedledum and Tweedledee) for example.
And, of course, at the end of his journey, he will meet the King of Hearts, who is portrayed by Steve. Billy is like "Of course, it had to be you, pretty boy..." because, of course, "King Steve", but also, because Steve took his heart the moment he saw him for the first time.
I don't really have a clear idea of how it would end, like is King Steve will yell "Off with his head!" and Billy doesn't protest, wish to die by the hand of the boy he secretly loves? Or does King Steve will want to have Billy at his side, because he has Billy's heart and kiss him? I don't know, but no matter what, the last image Billy has of his dream is Steve, and when he wakes up, the first thing he sees is Steve.
Because, Max asked for Steve to drive her to the hospital (her mom or her step dad don't have time for that) and while she is out of Billy's room for a break, Steve watches after Billy (because, for him, no matter what Billy did to him in the past, nobody deserves to be flayed or killed by the Mind Flayer). He is sitting on a chair, near the bed, listening to Max reading the book, while looking for a better job or a little flat with a low rent.
So, yeah, Billy wakes up, opens slowly his eyes, sees Steve, who sees Billy's waking up and he smiles at him. With a soft and gentle voice, he tells Billy that everything is alright, he is at the hospital and he doesn't have to worry, because his nightmare is over.
(The fun fact is that Steve talks about the Mind Flayer, that Billy is clean, no more flayed, while Billy thinks that Steve is talking about the dream he just had.)