Archive of Our Own ^beta

Even before they started dating, Billy knew that Steve was a package deal. If you started dating Steve, or hell, even if you just wanted to hang out with him as a friend, you would be roped into the lives of six middle schoolers.

At least in Billy’s case, one of them is his sister, so he kind of didn’t have much choice in engaging in her life anyway.

To Billy’s disadvantage, none of said middle schoolers like him. None of them think him good enough for Steve. That, or they’re just jealous Steve isn’t spending all his free time with them anymore.

When Billy gets home after basketball practice, Max is already there. Her door has been left slightly ajar, and Billy can make out the voices of her and some of her friends. He hasn’t really been around them long enough to be able to distinguish one from the other.

“I just think this was a stupid idea,” he hears Max say, as he stomps from the front door towards his bedroom. “We could’ve come up with something better. I mean, you’ve basically just given me something to deal with. I’ll be the one to take it back outside.”

Billy throws his door open, then closed, blocking out Max’ voice. He drops his jacket on his bed, and pulls the drawer of his nightstand open. He’s about the go rummaging around for a new pack of cigarettes when movement in the corner of his eye catches his attention.

He turns his head.

And his heart jumps into his throat, racing, as he goes scrambling away from his bed.

There’s a spider on his wall. It’s like a moving smudge crawling up his wall, spindly legs outstretched. If he’d put the tips of his thumb and pointer finger together, he figures that would be the size of it. It is, honestly, one of the biggest he’s ever seen.

He swallows down the lump in his throat and feels himself go trembling all over. He backs away towards the door, never letting his eyes stray from it, and grasps blindly for the door handle. Once he finds it, he’s quick to get the door open, stepping out into the corridor outside his bedroom.

“Ma- ax!” his voice breaks the first time, and he swallows again, trying to breathe in deep. “Max! Get here!”

Billy hears her door open fully, the floorboards creaking as she steps out.

She’s not being quick enough.

“Max, hurry the fuck up!”

His chest is starting to heave a little, the longer he has to look at it, but he doesn’t dare turn away, too afraid it will find some hole to hide in, or crawl behind his posters.

“ Max! ”

“Calm down,” she says, suddenly beside him. She’s got a thick paper in one hand, a big glass in the other. Her eyes are locked on the wall by his bed, and she rolls her eyes as she steps into his room.

And Billy suddenly remembers the snap of conversation he’d overheard less than five minutes ago. She already knew there was a spider in his room. She knew, because-

His eyes snap to the other end of the corridor, where Sinclair and Steve’s favourite stand, grinning. Taking some weird fucking enjoyment out of Billy being fucking terrified. His hands won’t stop shaking.

“It’s not even that big,” Max says, and Billy flinches, not expecting her voice so close already. He turns to face her, but instead comes face to face with the upside down glass she’s holding up towards him.

He lets out a little shriek, even though the glass is pretty opaque so he can’t even make out the spider. The knowledge that it’s there, inside, and so close to him, Max’ palm pressing the paper to the opening the only thing keeping it away from him, is enough to make him jump backwards. He hits the doorframe hard, the wood digging into his back as he clenches his eyes shut for a moment, trying to put as much distance between them as possible.

Max’ little friends both start laughing, and when Billy opens his eyes, even Max is grinning. But at least she’s moved the glass away, holding it close to her chest instead.

Billy feels a sudden burst of anger. He’s tried to keep it down since that night in November, has tried especially hard since he and Steve started dating, but this time it feels justified.

“What the fuck was that? You put it in my room!”

Max shrugs. She doesn’t get scared when he shouts at her anymore, not after she threatened him with a nailbat - Steve’s fucking nailbat - and drugged him. “It was just supposed to be a little prank.”

“And if I hadn’t seen it?!”

“Then you wouldn’t have know it was there,” she answer simply, turning on her heel to walk towards the front door. “And when you found out, you’d call me to come remove it. It’s no biggie.”

It is . Billy can’t stop imagine the scenarios. He could’ve found it on his towel as he was going to shower. He could’ve accidentally stepped on it. His dad could’ve been home, and then Billy wouldn’t have been able to shout for Max, he’d have had to go to her room to get her and by the time they got back the spider could’ve been anywhere. He could’ve touched it in the morning as he fumbled to turn off his alarm, or reach for his glasses. He could’ve woken up with it next to him, on his bed, the wall by his face, his pillow.

But Max doesn’t give him time to reply, doesn’t spare him a glance as she nods to her friends. “Come on, let’s go let this little guy out into the backyard.”

It takes Billy almost ten minutes to move from his spot, and then he goes out into the living room, a shudder going through him at the thought of stepping into his room.

For a week afterwards, Billy inspects everything before daring to touch it. He feels both Susan’s and his dad’s gazes on him as he does it, and thinks they must think him ridiculous. Or insane.

—

Steve’s decided that forcing his friends to hang out with Billy, when their feelings for him clearly all fall on a scale between dislike and outright hatred, is the best way of proceeding with this relationship.

Billy wishes he could be irritated, but the truth is that he does want Steve’s friends to like him, or at least accept him. Steve’s parents are never home, so these people are almost more of his family than they are.

And if Billy’s completely honest, he’s a little jealous of the bond they all share. Billy didn’t even have that with anyone back in San Diego, and he definitely doesn’t have it with anyone here in Hawkins. And maybe a small part of him longs to go back to the way his and Max’ relationship was before everything completely fell apart.

Maybe a big part.

So, he doesn’t complain too much when the doorbell rings from downstairs, causing Steve to sit up on the bed and lean away from Billy. He grins sheepishly at Billy.

Billy longs to reach out and grab his shirt and pull him back down, to keep kissing. But instead, he licks his lips and sighs. “How many of them did you invite, again?”

“Like… all of them?” Steve says. The doorbell rings again, and Steve’s getting off the bed, reaching out to drag Billy up with him. He keeps a hold of his hand the entire way to the front door, like he’s afraid Billy might run away.

Billy takes a couple steps back once Steve goes to actually open the door, though.

Pretty soon all six of the kids, accompanied by Nancy and Jonathan, are crowding in the room.

“What’s he doing here?” Dustin - Billy’s actually learned most of their names now - asks, scowling. The other boys look equally as displeased, Nancy, Jonathan, and Max looking a little uncomfortable. The only one who doesn’t seem to mind his presence is Jane, but then again, she’s pretty new to the group. She wasn’t there in the autumn. Billy hasn’t done anything to annoy her yet.

“We’re dating each other, man,” Steve sighs. “Of course he’s here.”

Billy feels a burst of warmth in his chest. It hasn’t even been a month yet, but Steve’s still ready to defend Billy’s place in his life. It’s nice.

“Alright, everyone to the living room! Billy, can you get out some drinks? I’ve gotta go grab something in my room.”

“Sure,” Billy says shrugging. On his way to the kitchen, he passes by the kids and hears Sinclair mutter something about hoping Billy won’t poison their drinks. He grits his teeth and bites his tongue to keep from lashing out.

Steve’s got a couple cans of coke cooling in the fridge, so Billy finds a tray and places them down on it. He’s also got a few bottles of beer, and Billy isn’t certain he’ll be able to get through this completely sober, so he grabs four of them for his fellow teens and an opener for the caps.

Everyone’s made themselves at home in the living room once Billy gets back, Jonathan and Nancy on the loveseat and the kids spread out on the couch or on the floor. Thankfully no one’s taken the corner of the couch Billy’s starting to consider his, what with the amount of times he’s spent curled up there with Steve petting his hair.

He hands Jonathan and Nancy each a beer, and then takes his seat. They’d been talking before Billy entered, but quieted down once he stepped in, and the silence is tense. He wishes Steve would hurry the fuck up and bring them all out of their misery.

Finally, finally, he hears Steve’s running steps down the stairs, and then he’s appearing in the doorway. He’s got a beanie, a notepad, a timer, and a bunch of pencils in his arms.

“We’re playing charades!” he announces, and Billy closes his eyes, sighing. But Steve seems so excited he doesn’t have the heart to complain. “I want everyone to write down like, five to ten things, and fold them and put them away in the beanie. It can be anything you want, movies or books or people or actions or whatever.”

Steve hands them each a sheet of paper and pencil, and they begin scribbling. Billy writes Metallica, Surfing, Rocky, Poltergeist, Risky Business, Dune, Fahrenheit 451, Dracula, Peter Pan, and Treasure Island , and figures that’s good enough. He rips the paper into ten pieces, and folds them into little notes that he dumps into Steve’s beanie.

Once everyone’s done, Steve starts shaking the beanie to mix all the little papers together. “We’re ten people, so five in each team. I’m thinking Billy, Nancy, Jonathan, and I in one, but we need one of you guys to join us,” he says, nodding to the kids.

Immediately, they break out into chatter, none of them wanting to leave each other but all of them recognising the logic in Steve’s words. Eventually, Max sighs, and inches closer to Billy.

“I’ll do it,” she says, and Steve smiles at her.

“Welcome to the winning team,” Nancy says. She laughs when Mike exclaims in protest. Billy finds himself feeling slightly less apprehensive about hanging out with these people.

But then it goes to shit pretty quickly after that. Billy has to admit that it isn’t so bad at first. Nancy goes first, and they win that round.

But pretty soon, Mike is standing there, and he’s prancing around and acting like a real asshole. Then Dustin shouts, “Billy!” and Mike nods. Dustin and Lucas high five while Mike takes a bow, and everyone - including Steve - chuckle or outright laugh.

“‘The asshole, parentheses Hargrove parentheses’,” Mike reads aloud, dropping the note in the little pile of finished ones on the coffee table.

Billy huffs and glares. He crosses his arms tighter over his chest, and does his best to make it seem like he isn’t trying to hug himself. He doesn’t have any right to be mad, or hurt, or whatever this weird feeling in his chest is.

Still, when it’s his turn, he doesn’t get up. He stays rooted in his spot in the corner of the couch, and he does his best to seem like he thinks this whole game is beneath him. Max rolls her eyes at him. Billy ignores her. Steve shoots him a disappointed look. Billy pretends he didn’t see it.

He’s good at that. Pretending.

—

“I’m getting a drink,” Billy tells Steve. “You want anything?”

They’re in Steve’s bedroom, working on homework. Billy’s sister and the rest of the little shits are downstairs, practicing their pie-making skills. Billy thinks it’s for the Byers-mother’s birthday, but he’s not sure. He hadn’t really been listening when Max told their parents what her plans were. Had just been glad he could go hang out with Steve, instead of having to babysit her somewhere else, or act like a glorified chauffeur.

Steve doesn’t seem to have heard at first. He’s chewing on his lower lip and drumming his pencil against the side of his head, into his hair.

He looks painfully cute like that.

“Steve?” Billy repeats, raising his eyebrows.

“Huh?” Steve says, turning his head to look up at Billy. He’s lying on his stomach on his bed, textbook open on his checkered blue bedspread. “Nah, I’m good.”

“‘Kay,” Billy says, leaning down to press a quick kiss to Steve’s lips.

He can already hear Max and her friends from halfway down the stairs. He doesn’t get how they can be so loud. It’s like there’s twenty of them instead of six.

Billy doesn’t bother knocking, doesn’t bother announcing his entrance in any way, because it’s the kitchen, it’s his boyfriend’s house, and the door is slightly ajar.

He regrets it a second later when a baking pan with a half-burnt pie comes crashing down from the top of the door and lands on his head. The pan knocks hard into his temple before it continues its descent to the floor, clattering at his feet.

The kids are laughing.

Billy can’t see shit. He can taste whipped cream on his lips, and he’s pretty sure there’s mashed cherries in his eyes, irritating his contacts.

Fuck this.

He turns on his heel and slams the door shut, going partly on muscle memory to find his way to the front door where he’d left his jacket. He digs out his lens case and marshes back up the stairs.

“Steve!” he calls out, keeping one hand on the wall to not stumble into it. “I’m gonna take a shower!”

Billy doesn’t bother waiting for an answer, just turns into the bathroom and locks the door behind him. He’s not going to complain to Steve about Billy’s kid sister and Steve’s little children. Billy’s too prideful, and there’s something too pathetic about that.

Besides. Billy thinks about hazing, and that he knew what Steve’s group was like, so he’s really only dragged this on himself. Back in California, when Billy joined the basketball team as a freshman, the older guys had made them all go jump into the sea, naked, in the middle of the night. They turned off their flashlights for a couple minutes too, so it was pitch black in the water.

That is basically what this is. These… pranks. They’re just a way of testing Billy, of initiating him into the group. Billy’s going to prove to them he’s alright now. He’s not going to lose it and start screaming or lash out with his fists. That’s probably what they’re afraid of. They want to see if Billy’s good enough for Steve, and Billy gets why they’d worry, because he’s kind of a shitty fucking person.

Still, when he gets his contacts out and starts washing his eyes with water in the sink until he can see again - it’s blurry, of course, but the normal kind of blurry - and gets a good look at himself, it gets a little harder to accept the kids’ shit.

Because there’s cherry pie and whipped cream in his hair, and all over his face, on his earring, and down at the collar and left shoulder of his shirt. It’s one of his favourite fucking shirts too, a faded Scorpions one his mum used to wear before she left. Fuck. Fucking hell.

His vision grows blurrier, and Billy does his best to pretend it’s because of the lack of contacts.

He pulls his shirt off, tries to wash off the worst in the sink with water and soap. Then his jeans and underwear, and jumps into the shower to clean his hair.

Steve’s got coconut conditioner. Billy might take a little extra just so he can smell like Steve, just for the comfort of it.

He stays in there a while, just letting the hot water run down his back and relishing in the quiet. But eventually he has to shut it off and get out, lest Steve comes knocking.

He doesn’t bother putting his clothes on, just gathers them and his lens case in his arms and walks out, one of Steve’s towels wrapped around his waist.

Steve looks up when Billy steps back into his room, and Billy thinks he smiles, but he’s not sure. He hasn’t put in his contacts again, because he knows he needs to clean them better before he does, and he doesn’t have new disinfectant solution with him.

“You good?” he hears Steve ask as he turns around, dumping his clothes on Steve’s desk chair.

“Yeah,” Billy says, dropping the towel and reaching for his jeans and underwear. He can feel Steve’s gaze boring into his back. Or ass, more likely. He allows himself a small grin, despite everything. “You staring, pretty boy? Like what you see?”

“You’re distracting.”

Billy hums, pulling on the underwear and jeans. He stuffs his case into the pocket of his jeans, but leaves the shirt crumpled in the chair. It’s got a wet patch where Billy tried to clean it.

He turns and throws himself down in the bed behind Steve, curling around him and reaching out to hug him from behind.

“You’re being oddly cuddly,” Steve laughs.

“Tired,” Billy says. It’s kind of true.

“Not gonna continue on your homework?”

He shakes his head, nuzzling his nose into the hair at the back of Steve’s head, the crook between his neck and shoulder. The truth is that he can’t fucking concentrate if he can’t see, and he’s going to get a headache anyway, but it’s worth it to not have to tell Steve what happened in the kitchen.

“… No shirt? I’ve still got stuff to do, you know, but it’s hard with you acting like a very sexy octopus.”

Billy starts inching back, feeling a little dejected. “‘M too hot,” he lies.

“Yeah you are,” Steve says, and Billy smiles despite himself. He reaches out for Billy’s arm, pulling him closer again. “Hey, get back here. I’m missing my octopus. You’re like a warm blanket.”

Billy curls back around him, closing his eyes. Steve kisses his forehead.

“Sleep if you’re tired,” he says, and Billy decides he just might.

—

Billy’s dad doesn’t bother knocking.

Billy’s on his bed, reading a novel for English, when the door bursts open. This is a common occurrence, which doesn’t always mean that something bad will happen. So Billy isn’t afraid, not at first.

He drops the book to his stomach, open on the page he was on, and turns his head to give his dad his full attention. That’s important. Neil doesn’t like it when Billy won’t look him in the eye when he’s telling him something.

“Why are you going around terrorising middle schoolers? I try to raise you to be a respectable young man, and then I hear that this is how you spend your time?”

“What?” Billy asks, scrunching his eyebrows together and staring at his dad. Out of everything he could’ve possibly have wanted from Billy today, this is so far from what Billy would’ve imagined.

“Two of your sister’s friends just came by. Told me how you’ve been behaving towards them, hoping I’d put a stop to it.”

Billy’s mouth opens, then closes. “I…”

“The Wheeler boy, Billy. Susan is friends with Karen, and you know I like Ted.” Likes them because they’re the type of respectable family Neil likes to pretend his own is. Probably wishes a bit of that boring normalcy will rub off on them. His dad sounds disappointed, and like he thinks Billy’s an idiot. “And the Chief’s daughter! Is this how much you want to be known as the local delinquent? You want to end up in prison as soon as you turn eighteen?”

Billy scrambles for words. “I haven’t-“ But he cuts himself off, because he has. But that was just that first week in Hawkins, and he’s apologised for that.  And to his knowledge, he hasn’t done shit to the Chief’s kid.

Neil raises his eyebrows. “Oh no? You haven’t? Don’t try me, boy.”

And now Billy knows how this is going to go. It doesn’t matter what he says, it doesn’t matter if he hadn’t actually been an asshole to Wheeler. Because his dad trusts them, trusts little Wheeler from the respectable family, and his little girlfriend, the Chief’s daughter, way more than he trusts Billy, his asshole of a son who keeps messing up. It’s way more believable that Billy’s messing with Max and her friends than that they’re showing up at his doorstep just to fuck with him. And Neil doesn’t like his children fighting with each other.

Still, when the night ends with Susan driving him to the hospital, Billy does wonder if Max has figured out what sometimes happens between him and his dad yet. And if she has, has she told her friends? Do they laugh about it, happy that Billy’s getting what he deserves? Did Wheeler and the Hopper girl know something like this would happen, when they came by and talked to his dad?

He’s not sure he wants to know.

—

A week after the impromptu hospital trip, Billy’s at the Wheeler’s with Steve to babysit the little shits for a parent-free sleepover.

Wheeler’s parents think Nancy and Jonathan and Steve and Billy are all going to babysit, but in reality, Nancy is going with Jonathan to his house for some alone time, and Ms. Byers is supposedly doing the exact same at Hopper’s cabin. Or so Steve tells him.

Billy’s just happy they get to spend some time together outside of school. Part of his punishment for annoying Max and her friends was being grounded for a week.

The other part was his dad smacking him around a little. He’d pushed Billy to the floor, and Billy had landed wrong, his hand shooting out to catch himself. He didn’t dare say anything, even as the pain made his vision go white for a second.

If Billy wasn’t behaving like a shit, or an idiot, then Neil wouldn’t have to punish him. And unless he’s bleeding out (which hasn’t happened yet, thank fucking Christ) or something is visibly broken (which has happened, but not that often), then Billy doesn’t have any right to complain about his punishment.

So he’d swallowed down the pain and shut up. Had grabbed a painkiller from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and stayed in his room until he was called to help Susan with dinner.

At which point he lost his grip on a pot filled with boiling water and burnt his wrist - the same fucking wrist - so bad he started crying. Susan drove him to the hospital.

A sprained wrist and a second degree burn. Grounded for a week.

And apparently, the kids had been very happy with that. Not the first part, Billy doesn’t think they know why he’s sporting a brace, he can’t imagine his dad had told Max while Billy was at the hospital with her mum. What a fucking image that is: Neil and Max on opposite ends of the kitchen table, eating spoiled dinner by themselves, and Neil reassuring her that she won’t have to worry about her stepbrother, because he’s put a stop to it.

Nah, Billy can’t imagine that happening. Which means the kids are probably just happy they didn’t have to see him for a week. Steve had joked about it at lunch, saying how happy they were to have him for themselves again. Then he’d snuck his hand beneath the cafeteria table and squeezed Billy’s hand, quickly, before anyone could see. Had told him he’d missed ‘hanging out’. So there was that, at least. His boyfriend had missed him.

Billy could live with that. It might just be enough.

“I’m gonna order some pizza, and then you and I could watch the game?” Steve says, walking towards the kitchen, Billy trailing behind him.

The kids are all down in the basement, and like this, with the house so quiet, he can almost pretend they’re alone. Can imagine this house - or a similar house because the design choices aren’t really ones Billy would make - as theirs, as being older and free from his dad and free from the bullshit, and sharing a home with his boyfriend.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Billy answers absentmindedly, still stuck in his daydream.

Steve grins at him like he knows Billy isn’t really listening, but there’s so much love in that gaze that Billy loses the ability to breathe for a second. Fuck. He’d never thought he’d have anything like this. And now he’s standing here daydreaming about a future, a future with the guy he loves, and somehow it doesn’t seem impossible.

Steve picks up the phone, calls the pizzeria and Billy finds himself chuckling when he somehow rattles off eight different pizza orders in quick succession.

“What?” he asks once he’s hanged up.

“Nothing,” Billy says, still grinning. He shoots his hands out and catches Steve by the waist, Steve laughing in surprise, and pulls him backwards towards his chest. He leans his head against the back of Steve’s neck, smiles into his hair. “It’s just that I sometimes forget how much of a mum you are.”

Steve huffs a laugh, swatting at Billy’s arm. “And what did I do this time to remind you?”

“You knew everyone’s pizza orders by heart. Mine too.”

“Yeah,” Steve says, and Billy thinks he’s smiling. “‘Course I do.”

Billy hums, burying his face deeper into Steve’s hair. It smells like that Farrah Fawcett hairspray Steve likes to pretend is his mum’s, but Billy’s seen too many empty ones in the trash compared to how little time Steve’s mum is actually home to be able to use them.

He holds Steve a little tighter, nuzzles the skin at the nape of his neck. “Love you.”

It just slips out.

It’s the first time he’s said it. First time either one has.

For a moment, Billy’s frozen. Steve, too, it seems like.

He sucks in a sharp breath, but doesn’t move away. Because it’s true, and Steve’s free to go if he wants to. Billy won’t force him to stay there, in his arms. “You don’t have to say it back, I-“

“Shh,” Steve says, and reaches for Billy’s uninjured hand. He moves it up to his lips, kisses the knuckles. “Love you too, you silly little shit.”

“Yeah?” Billy asks, allowing himself a small grin.

“Yeah,” Steve says. “In fact-“

“Steve!” That’s Dustin, steps coming down the hallway towards the kitchen, effectively ruining the moment.

Billy steps away, quickly, before Dustin gets there. Steve looks a little disgruntled but Billy doesn’t want this moment any more ruined by the look that would surely be on Dustin’s face if he’d seen them like that.

Billy can handle them not liking him. It’s fine, whatever, they don’t have to. He gets why they don’t. But he thinks that if Dustin were to say something backhanded about how shitty Billy is, while Billy’s cuddling with Steve, he might just snap and start shouting.

Better to avoid that situation before it happens.

—

Billy wakes facing Steve the next morning, legs tangled together on the Wheelers’ pullout in the living room.

He spends a couple minutes like that, just looking at Steve’s relaxed face through his unfocused gaze. It’s moments like this that Billy wishes his eyesight wasn’t shit, wishes he could just wake up and be able to see Steve clearly.

Steve blinks his eyes open, sees Billy and smiles. Then he yawns, suddenly and loudly, and Billy laughs.

“‘Morning,” he says once Steve’s settled back down.

“‘Morning, love,” Steve says softly. “Any fun plans for today?”

“Well…” Billy starts. His heart flutters at the nickname. “The Wheeler’s won’t be back until three, and my dad and Susan aren’t expecting me and Max home until dinner, so…”

“We could drop the kids off at the Arcade and go to my place?” Steve asks, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“Mhm,” Billy answers. “Something like that.”

“I should get started on breakfast. They’ll be awake soon.”

“You’re such a mum,” Billy laughs, turning so he’s lying on his back and bringing his arms up above his head, stretching himself out. Steve’s told him he looks like a big cat when he does that.

But he doesn’t say that now. No, instead he lets out a sound Billy doesn’t think he’s ever heard him make.

He turns his head to look at him, trying to gauge his expression. He’s pretty sure Steve’s eyes are blown wide, and Billy doesn’t get why.

“That’s it,” Steve says, low and angry. “That’s it, I’m going to fucking-“

“What?” Billy says.

Steve doesn’t reply, just stares at Billy’s arm. The one with the brace on.

Billy lifts it up, and can immediately tell there’s something written or drawn on it. His stomach sinks before he’s even pulled it close enough to make out the blurry letters.

Then it sinks some more.

Asshole.

Shithead.

Written in black sharpie on his brace.

Well, it’s not the most creative insult, that’s for certain. Billy lets his arm fall down to the blanket covering his chest. He’s pretty sure you’re not supposed to draw on the brace. It’s not a cast.

“I’m so sorry, Billy,” Steve is saying. “I’m sorry, I’m going to-“

“No,” Billy says quietly. “Don’t.” Because for all their faults, the little shits are basically Steve’s family. Steve’s an only child, he isn’t particularly close with any extended family, his parents are barely ever home. The kids have adopted Steve into their group as an extra mum and older brother combo, and Steve’s adopted all of them in turn.

“What?” Steve almost shouts it, sounding so incredulous, and Billy winches. “What the fuck, Billy, they can’t-“

“They don’t have to like me, Steve,” Billy tells him.

“Maybe not, but they sure as shit have to accept you. Accept that you’re part of my life now, because I love you, and I’m not letting them-“

For all that Billy’s insides get all warm and fuzzy hearing that, he can’t let him continue. “It’s fine.”

“No, no, it’s really not, they-“

“Steve,” Billy says, slowly and evenly. “I don’t want you to go down there and shout at them. I don’t want you to say anything.”

Steve still looks like he wants to protest.

“Okay?” Billy prompts. He’s terrified that if Steve does go ahead and yell at the kids, then they’re going to think that it’s because Billy asked him to. That Billy made him.

Billy refuses to be the reason Steve looses his family.

Steve sighs. “Fine. But I’m not letting you walk around like that. There’s gotta be pens in Nancy’s room.”

And so they end up spending the morning doodling on Billy’s brace. Steve’s pretty alright at drawing, so he draws a basketball player and the Camaro. Turns the words into a wave and adds little hard rockers and nods to metal music. Billy writes down the names of his favourite bands, little pieces of song lyrics, a couple skulls.

It looks a mismatched art project by the time they’re done, but at least the words aren’t discernible anymore.

—

Billy’s right on the edge between tipsy and drunk when he gets to his car on Friday, almost two weeks later.

Steve had a test to study for, and had promised Dustin and Sinclair to take them to go see some new sci-fi movie.

Little Wheeler had been very mad about not being allowed to go because of a family dinner, as Nancy had told him that day during class. Billy’s surprised by how much he doesn’t actually hate hanging out with her. She’s better than Carol, anyway, and Nancy’s also in the same year group as Billy, so they actually share classes.

Max had been hoping to hangout with Jane, but that got cancelled because the Chief and Ms. Byers decided on an impromptu bonding session for their slowly developing family unit. Both Billy and Max remember how that went for them, with Neil and Susan forcing them together, but at least Will and Jane are already friends.

Billy had ended up resolving to spend his Friday night watching movies with his little sister, but then Susan decided to take Max out shopping, and Billy didn’t really want to chance it being alone with his dad, so he’d left, too. Billy’s dad doesn’t really mind Billy going out partying, as long as it doesn’t end with him in a jail cell or with a ticket for speeding or driving drunk. That’s generally it; Billy’s dad doesn’t give a shit what Billy does, as long as he isn’t doing something wrong, getting them a bad reputation or costing them any extra money.

But being alone with his dad makes him feel like his every move is being watched, and a Neil without any distractions is a Neil who is very aware of any minute mistakes Billy might make.

Still, when Billy gets to his car, he wonders if maybe it wouldn’t have been better if he’d just stayed at home. Could’ve always gone to bed early.

Because one of his tires is off. Completely off. Someone’s placed it on top of the hood.

When Billy first sets eyes on it, he wonders if he’s more drunk than he’d thought. If he’s taken something by mistake. If he lost his contacts, and is seeing things.

But he steps closer, and yeah. That’s one of his tires, on top of the hood.

And there’s a little note stuck to his windshield by its wipers. Billy gets it free and holds it up to the light of a streetlamp to read it.

‘You shouldn’t drive drunk.

It’s not safe.’

- J & W

Billy reads it again. And then one more time, just to make sure he’s read the sparse message correctly.

Jane and Will, he guesses, but what the fuck? How did they get here, how did they know he’d be here, how the fuck did they get the tire off his car?

Or maybe they had the Chief with them, maybe this is their version of fucked up family bonding. Maybe this is the Chief’s new idea on how to take care of teenagers who drive home drunk from parties.

Fucking hell. Billy’s going to have to walk.

—

His door is thrown open the next morning, and Billy startles awake. He fumbles for his glasses on his nightstand, putting them on and blinking blearily in the early morning light from his window.

His dad’s in the doorway, and he looks momentarily shocked to see Billy. Then his features settle into a stern look, lips pursed. “Where the hell is your car?” Ah. He’d thought Billy never got home last night. That explains the surprise.

“Got a flat tire,” Billy mumbles in response, yawning. His head throbs, but at least he doesn’t feel too nauseous.

“You walked home?”

“Yeah, dad. Didn’t have much choice. I’d have frozen if I slept in the car.”

Neil’s quiet for a moment. Billy wonders if he’s trying to figure out if he’s going to be angry, or blame Billy. “You’re paying for a new tire, son. I ain’t helping you there.”

He leaves and closes the door behind him.

Billy pulls his duvet up over his head and groans loudly.

—

The kids decide to have their latest DnD session at Steve’s place, and with Neil and Susan out of town for the weekend, Billy decides that he and Max can both stay the night there with the others.

To his knowledge, Max and the rest of them stayed up way later than he and Steve did, probably played their game well into the night. Billy couldn’t care less. Steve went down and told them to go to bed at eleven, then he locked the door to his bedroom for some private time with Billy, and Billy forgot most of everything that’s bothering him in his life by that point.

But now, standing in the bathroom down the hall from Steve’s room, he wonders if he’s actually going insane.

He could’ve sworn he left his contacts in their case on the edge of the sink last night, because that’s where he always leaves them.

But they’re not here now. He’s looked everywhere, has crawled around on the floor like Velma from Scooby Fucking Doo trying to feel for the case, just in case he’s actually going fucking blind and they’ve just been knocked on the floor by one of the kids acting carelessly.

But they’re nowhere to be found.

Which can only mean one thing.

Still, Billy gives them the benefit of the doubt as he marches back to Steve’s room. He stops in the doorway, eyes focused on where he thinks Steve is still lying on the bed.

“Did you move my case?”

“What?” Steve mumbles, still sounding groggy form sleep. He’d barely woken up when Billy left a couple minutes ago.

“My contacts,” Billy explains. “The case for my contacts. Did you move it?”

Please say yes, Billy thinks. You wouldn’t do it without a reason. You wouldn’t do it just to fuck with me.

“No,” Steve says, sounding confused but at least more awake. “Why? What-?”

Billy breathes out loudly through his nose. “Because if you didn’t, then that means that one of those little shits took them.”

Billy might not be able to make out Steve’s expression, but he can feel him staring at him. Then,

“I would like to say that they’d never do that, but after, well…” He nods at Billy’s forearm, still in its brace. It’s coming off on Monday. “I’ll go talk to them.”

Billy nods, and plops down on Steve’s desk chair. Once Steve’s pulled on clothes and left, Billy rests his elbows on the desk and his head in his hands, rubbing his temples from the headache forming there.

The door opens again a couple minutes later, and Steve emerges. “They say they didn’t take them.”

Billy nods, sighing. “Drive me home. I’ve gotta get my glasses.”

Steve nods back, and stays close to Billy the entire way to the front door, where he leaves him to tell the kids where they’re going, then leads him down the driveway to the Beemer. Billy keeps his eyes closed as Steve drives him to Cherry, trying to abate his headache.

He’s quick to step inside, grab his glasses and throw on a hoodie, pulling the hood up as he steps out of the house and back into Steve’s car. He doesn’t like wearing his glasses, gets insecure with them on. At least these ones are nicer than his old, big and ugly ones his dad got him and the other kids used to bully him for.

He feels the resentment build as Steve drives them back, and doesn’t waste a moment shooting out of the car and throwing the front door open, Steve hurrying to catch up to him.

“ Max! ” Billy shouts, not caring one bit that he sounds angry. He’s fucking furious. It was one thing before, when they were just fucking with him, but this is serious. They’ve taken something Billy needs to live his goddamn day-to-day-life and it isn’t funny. “Max, get your shit, we’re leaving!”

He turns on his heel, digs out the Camaro’s keys from his jacket and unlocks his car.

Steve catches him by the arm before he can get in. “Billy-“

“Not now, Steve,” Billy says, and winches at how angry he sounds. He softens his voice, adds, “I can’t, okay? I- Fuck.” His voice breaks, and he swallows, tries to calm his breathing.

Steve looks like there’s nothing he wants more than to hug him, maybe kiss him, but he glances at the houses surrounding them and doesn’t. Instead he nods. “Okay. See you Monday?”

“Yeah,” Billy says, climbing into the car. “See you.”

Max comes running a minute later, getting into the car without a word. Billy pulls away, tires screeching.

—

Billy’s lying on his bed when the phone rings a couple hours later. He ignores it, figures Max can answer.

But it must’ve been something important, because a minute later she’s opening his bedroom door.

“Steve called,” she says, and Billy turns to look at her. “Said he found your contacts. He’s coming over with them.” She starts to close the door, on her way to leave and go back to her own room, but stops at the last minute and adds, “They were underneath the bathroom mat, you know. My friends told you they didn’t take them.”

Billy thinks about how he’d crawled around on the floor of that bathroom, had felt around the edges of that mat. He doubts they were there when he was looking.

He’s just glad Steve doesn’t repeat what Max said when he gets there and gives them to him.

—

“What happened?” are the first words out of Steve’s mouth when he opens his door a Thursday almost two weeks later.

“Hey, pretty boy,” Billy says instead of answering. He smiles crookedly, and ignores the way his split lip stings when he does so. “Can I come in?”

Steve’s worried eyes stay trained on him, even as he steps aside to let him in. “Dustin’s here,” he tells him. “Go wait in the bathroom upstairs. I’ll be there in a second.”

As soon as he steps inside and catches sight of himself in the mirror, the blood on his shirt, Billy’s turning back and heading down the stairs. Figures he’s gonna ask Steve to borrow a change of clothes.

He stops halfway down, Steve’s and Dustin’s voices loud enough for him to hear.

“Listen, he’s been in a fight, and he’s hurt, okay? So I’ve gotta-“

“I’m sure he deserved it. He’s-“

“Dustin!”

“Sorry! It was just a joke…”

Billy’s heard enough. He pads back up the stairs quietly, back to the bathroom and sits down at the edge of the tub.

His dad punched him. Knocked him into the kitchen counter. Barely half an hour ago.

Billy chews on his lip, ignores the sting there, ignores the sting in his eyes.

The bathroom door opens, and Steve steps inside, gently closing it behind him. He smiles a little uncertainly at Billy, and crouches down to get the first aid kit out from the cabinet beneath the sink.

He wets a piece of gauze and perches on the tub next to Billy, reaching up to clean the blood away from his lip and nose. “What happened?” he asks again.

Billy doesn’t think Steve’s figured out what his dad’s like yet, but he’s pretty sure he’s got his suspicions. Billy’s not about to tell him, though. “Didn’t you hear? Got into a fight, probably deserved it.”

Steve sighs. “I told him to shut it. It wasn’t funny.”

“I know,” Billy mutters. “Sorry.”

Steve shakes his head. “Don’t be. He was being a little shit.”

“Yeah he was,” Billy agrees, and Steve grins. He touches a sensitive spot, and Billy flinches, Steve’s smile falling.

“Sorry,” Steve whispers. He reaches up, strokes Billy’s cheek. “Good news is, I don’t think you’re hurt too bad, but your nose’s probably going to bruise. How you feeling?”

“Better,” Billy says, smiling softly. He pulls himself up to standing. “I’ll get out of your hair.”

“You don’t have to. You could stay here, and-“

“Steve. I’m not playing third wheel to you and Dustin. Besides.” Billy breathes in deep before continuing. “He’s mad because he feels like I’m taking you away from them. And he’s right.”

Steve grimaces. “I can spend time with both of you. And he’s the one who told me I needed to get more friends my own age!”

“Oh, so I’m just a friend, am I?” Billy smirks.

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah,” he says, pulling Steve up and close by his shirt. He pecks him softly on the lips. “Go spend time with your kid.”

Still, as Billy gets downstairs and goes past the doorway to the living room, seeing Dustin glaring at him, he can’t resist giving the kid the finger on his way out.

He’s gonna drive around for a while. Maybe spend some time up by the quarry.

He’s glad Steve didn’t press him too much on what happened. It’s easier to just have people assume Billy gets into fights with his peers, easier than to have to try to explain.

For all that he loves him, he knows that Steve, Steve who is friendly with the Chief, will want him to go to the police. Steve may have his own problems with his absent parents, but it’s not the same as what Billy’s dealing with.

Billy doesn’t want to end up in foster care, not when he’s almost a year from eighteen, he doesn’t want to leave Steve or Max or loose his car, loose all his stuff.

And the thing is, his dad isn’t always bad. Most of the time, he ignores Billy. But he’d take Billy to games back in San Diego, he gets proud of Billy when he gets a good grade, he goes to his basketball games and cheers loudly next to Susan, he helped pay for Billy’s car.

It’s not always so bad. Just sometimes.

—

Billy gets in his car a week or so later, and reaches for the glove compartment where he keeps all his cassette tapes for the Camaro.

What he finds, is a bunch of rocks.

He stares baffled at them, until suddenly, he gets it. He thinks this may be the first of the kids’ pranks he actually finds funny.

Rocks, in the compartment where Billy keeps his rock music. Hah.

It’ll be a pain to get them out and make sure there’s no dirt left from them, but at least it’s pretty harmless.

He turns around to check the backseat, and on the floor he sees a bag with Melvald’s logo, filled with his tapes.

Something tells him this one was Will’s idea.

—

When Steve had first asked him to go with him to the Byers’, Billy had hesitated. He remembers too well what had happened last time he was there. It had taken both Max and Steve to convince him that Ms. Byers would be fine with having him.

Now he finds himself in the Byers’ kitchen, picking up a plate with a piece of chocolate cake. Everyone else is there as well, and Billy feels out of place, so he sticks to a corner of the room. Steve’s on the other end of the room, talking to Nancy, and Dustin, Mike, and Lucas have been sending him glances since he first stepped inside.

He’s eaten half the piece of cake when he feels it. A sharp twinge in his belly. He feels ill, nauseous and his next breath catches in his throat.

Billy knows what this is. Except… it shouldn’t be. The first thing he did was pull Ms. Byers aside and ask her if there were nuts in any of the food, and she’d assured him there wasn’t.

But she must’ve forgotten something, must’ve forgotten the cake, because Billy’s throat is swelling shut and he’s starting to panic.

The hand not holding his plate goes up to clutch at his collar. The other one starts trembling so hard he looses his grip on the plate and it goes crashing to the floor. Distantly, Billy thinks that this is the second time he’s broken one of Ms. Byers’ plates.

The noise of the plate smashing into pieces brings the others attention to him, and Billy manages to choke out a shaky, “ Steve ,” before his legs go out from underneath him.

Someone screams, but he can’t concentrate enough to figure out who. He lies there wheezing on the floor, feeling like his hearts going to burst out of his chest. Saliva drops to the back of his mouth, but he can’t swallow it down, thinks he might choke on it.

Steve comes running and falls to the floor beside him, reaching for his hand, the other hovering above Billy’s chest like he doesn’t dare touch him. “Billy?! Billy, what’s wrong, what happened, are-?” His gaze moves to where Billy thinks his plate must’ve landed. Steve turns sharply to look over his shoulder. “Were there nuts in the chocolate?”

“No, no, there shouldn’t have been any,” Billy distantly hears Ms. Byers say. “It’s my recipe, but Claudia made it with the boys last night. She’s never changed the recipe before, I can’t imagine she’d-“

“We’re sorry!” Dustin shouts. “We thought… We thought he just didn’t like nuts, not that he was-“

“You what?!”

“Call 911!”

“Max, don’t-!”

Billy looses track of the conversation, doing his best just to stay conscious. It feels like he’s going to die. This has only happened once before, and that was almost ten years ago.

He thinks he’s crying.

Max’ red hair falls in his face, and he feels her hands on his cheeks, forcing him to look at her. He doesn’t know where she came from, how long she’s been there, she wasn’t in the room when he collapsed.

“Billy, Billy, hey? You with me? Is it still in your bag in the trunk?”

Billy does his best to nod, knows she means his EpiPen. He should really keep it on his person, but Billy’s been great at avoiding nuts for going on ten years now.

He feels someone’s hands feeling around his pockets, feels his keys being pulled out, and then Max is gone, shooting off like a rocket, revealing Mike behind her.

“Hey, H-Hargrove. Breathe. Just… Just try to breathe, Billy.”

“He can’t, Mike!” That’s Nancy, shouting and dragging her little brother away. “Not after you’ve poisoned him!”

Billy closes his eyes, feels Steve squeeze his hand. There’s a muted thud, and someone’s grabbing his leg, holding it still. Next comes a sharp shot of pain in his thigh, and Billy thanks the heavens for Max.

—

“Where is he?! Billy?! Son?!”

Billy’s on a stretcher outside the house, an ambulance close by. The EMTs decided to wait to drive him to the hospital once Ms. Byers told them she’d called his parents, and decided to let him rest outside in the fresh air. He’s got Steve, Max, and Nancy by his side, Jonathan hoovering a few steps behind them with his mother. The kids are being chewed out by the Chief inside.

Billy lifts a tired hand to signal to his dad and Susan where he is. Steve and Nancy step back, closer to Jonathan, as they come rushing to him and Max.

An EMT goes up to them and starts talking, and Billy hears him commend Max for getting his EpiPen and knowing where and how to inject him. Susan hugs her close, smiling at her daughter with teary eyes. Billy knows his dad’s going to slap him for being so stupid he didn’t keep it on his person, but not now. Now, Neil is worried, and relieved that he’s alive.

Now, he’s going to act like the Dad Billy barely remembers.

“Mr. Hargrove-“ Ms. Byers starts, but Neil interrupts her.

“What happened here? What’s going on, how irresponsible are-!”

The front door is thrown open, and Billy hears Max’ friends as the Chief throws them out onto the porch.

“Apologise,” the Chief says, pushing them forward.

Neil doesn’t let them get that far. “Are these little rascals responsible for why my son had an allergic reaction?!” When the Chief doesn’t immediately answer, he turns to look at Max for affirmation. “Maxine?”

“We’re sorry,” Mike says before she can answer. “We thought… We overheard him saying he didn’t eat nuts, we just…”

“We thought he didn’t like them!” Dustin exclaims. “It was just supposed to be a joke, a prank! We-“

“You realise he could’ve died?!” Neil shouts. For once, his anger isn’t turned towards Billy, and Billy almost finds himself relishing in it being turned at his little tormentors. His dad can be scary, especially when he’s yelling. “You could’ve murdered him!”

“Sir,” an EMT calls. “We should head to the hospital now.”

Neil points at the kids, eyes first the Chief, then the kids. “We’re calling your parents. And you’re going to help pay for the hospital bill.”

Billy closes his eyes as he’s loaded into the ambulance.

—

If Billy’d been asked, he’d have given it, at most, a week. A week of his dad being worried and nice and mad at Max’ friends.

But almost three weeks in, and he’s definitely gone back to ignoring Billy as much as possible, although he still won’t let Max hang out with anyone other than Jane. Billy’s under strict instructions to immediately pick her up from school, not letting her linger with her friends, and to be honest, Billy’s happy with that. He doesn’t want to see them.

The first week, Max had seemed to agree on that. He’d seen the boys calling after her, had seen her shout at them and throw her middle finger up behind her back as she ran towards the Camaro.

She’d stuck close to Billy the first few days, too. Had seemed almost as shaken as he was.

But by now? She’s miserable.

And Billy might not always like her, or how she’s been fine or even participating in her friends mission to fuck him over, but she’s still his little sister, and he’s tired of seeing her moping.

So for maybe the first time in his life, Billy decides to take the high road, and seeks out his dad and Susan.

They’re in the living room, Susan with a romance novel and Neil with the paper. Both look up when he stops in the doorway.

“I think Max should get to hang out with her friends again. She’s miserable.”

“William,” Neil starts, and it’s the voice he uses when he thinks Billy’s being ridiculous. “They could’ve killed you.”

Susan visibly swallows and looks down at her lap.

“They didn’t know,” Billy says, shrugging. Tries to play it off, suppresses the memory for what it had felt like, collapsing on the Byers’ floor and not being able to breathe. “They’re kids, dad. They wouldn’t want to murder  someone, they probably just thought I’d spit the cake out and embarrass myself. You’re punishing her too by not letting them hang out. She didn’t do anything wrong, she wouldn’t have let them make the cake if she knew what they were planning.”

Neil frowns. “I don’t-“

“What if Billy were to supervise?” Susan speaks up. “They could start by hanging out in public, and Billy’d be there.”

Billy doesn’t want to be there. He wants to stay as far away from those little shits as possible, but he can’t say that, not when he’s making the argument for Max to get to hang out with them again.

His dad’s jaw is working, the way it does when he’s thinking hard on something. “Alright. But…” He lowers his voice, won’t meet Billy’s gaze. “I thought I might lose you, Billy. Thought you’d leave me, and in a worse way than your mother. I want you to tell me if anything concerning happens.”

Billy nods. He’s never going to tell his dad what he’s thinking.

Once I’m gone, I’m never coming back. It’ll be the last time you see me.

—

Billy does not want to be here.

He’s just dropped Max off at the Arcade to hang out with the boys outside of school for the first time since they accidentally tried to kill him.

And per his instructions, he didn’t leave, instead he’s leaning against one of the only walls not with a game machine against it and keeping watch.

Although he’s not doing much of that.

He’d seen Dustin and Will greet Max and immediately felt a shudder go through him, cold sweat running down his back.

It’s a silly reaction. They’re just kids, and it’s like he’d told his dad, they didn’t mean to induce an allergic reaction. He shouldn’t be all clenched up, coiled like a spring ready to snap.

From time to time he can feel their gazes on him, but he doesn’t dare look up and meet them.

There’s some shouts of joy from Max’ group, and he looks up to see Mike and Lucas rounding the corner.

‘“Hey, H-Hargrove. Breathe. Just… Just try to breathe, Billy.”’

Fuck.

He breathes in shakily, crosses his arms over his chest and pretends he isn’t trying to hold himself together.

“What’re you doing here? Besides worrying a hole into the floor.”

Billy looks up to see Nancy in front of him. She must’ve come to drop of Mike and Lucas. Billy hadn’t noticed.

“Huh?”

She looks down at his foot. Billy follows her gaze. It’s tapping like crazy. He can’t seem to stop.

“Oh. Yeah. And,” He nods at Max and her friends. “Babysitting duty. She only gets to hang out with the boys if I’m there to keep an eye on them.”

Nancy frowns. “That seems like a cruel and unusual punishment.”

Billy huffs a laugh, ends up choking on it. “For me or them?”

She shrugs. “Both, I guess.”

She moves so she’s leaning against the wall beside him, and they watch the kids quietly for a few minutes. Billy groans and throws his head back.

“Take me away from here.”

“Yeah?” Nancy asks, and he glances at her to see she’s raised her eyebrows at him.

“Or you could just put me out of my misery. Steve says you’re a good shot.”

“Hah.”

The boys are cheering Max on, and she must’ve won, because they shout louder. Max laughs and leans back against Lucas.

Billy’s chest goes tight. There’s a lump in his throat.

They hid a spider in his room, made a pie fall down on his head, went to his dad to complain about him, wrote stuff on his brace, took his tire off his car so he had to walk home, hid his contacts, and accidentally - but still somewhat deliberately - made him have an allergic reaction.

There’s a pressure behind his eyes that won’t go away no matter how many times he blinks.

“Billy?”

“I can’t do this,” Billy says, and pushes away from the wall, storming out of the Arcade.

He’s going to start crying.

He can’t do that here, in public, where people can see. He-

He turns towards the alley behind the Arcade, runs into the shadow behind a dumpster and punches his fist against the brick wall. The skin of his knuckles splits, and Billy hisses at the pain radiating from his hand.

Nancy appears so suddenly Billy jumps, taking ahold of his hand and pulling it away from the wall.

“Billy, Billy, no, you were just in the hospital a few weeks ago…”

His hand shakes in her hold, his breaths coming sharp and quick.

“I… I- I can’t-“

He can’t look at her, can’t look anywhere. Get ahold of yourself.

“Hey, listen. Get in my car, and I’ll drive. I’ll just go tell Max where you’ve gone, okay?”

Billy shakes his head. “I can’t, my dad-“

“Oh, fuck your dad, Billy!” She lowers her voice, says, “You’re clearly about to have some kind of breakdown, and you don’t want to do that in the alley behind the goddamn Arcade, so I’m driving you. Get in the car.”

Billy doesn’t reply, just pulls his hand out of hers and staggers out of the alley, over towards Nancy’s car. She unlocks it, and he climbs into the passenger seat, watching as she heads back inside.  She’s back a minute later.

They don’t speak, and in the back of his mind, Billy wonders where she’s taking him.

He shouldn’t be surprised when the car stops, and Billy looks up only to find them parked outside Steve’s house.

But he is.

“No,” he says.

“No?” Nancy asks incredulously.

“No,” Billy repeats, shaking his head, feeling the trembling of his body increase. “No, drive me home, dad and Susan won’t be home yet, I can-“

“What, walk back to the Arcade when it’s time to pick Max back up? Don’t be ridiculous.”

He’s not. He’s not being ridiculous, he’s just- Steve’s never seen him like this. On the verge of sobbing his eyes out.

You don’t show people when you’re sad in his house. You bury those feelings down deep until you’re alone, and only then do you let them out. Billy doesn’t- Billy doesn’t know how to-

But Nancy’s already gotten out of the car, is already ringing Steve’s doorbell, and Steve’s there, opening the door and speaking quickly with her, both of them shooting a look at him before Steve’s putting on his shoes and following Nancy back to her car, back to Billy.

Steve opens the door to Billy’s side, crouches down so he’s almost eye level with him.

“You wanna come inside?”

“I can’t-“

“Come on,” Steve says, taking Billy’s hand. “I’ll clean your hand, hm?”

Billy’s too tired to protest, so he just lets himself be helped out of the car and led up the driveway and inside Steve’s house.

He fumbles when he takes off his boots, his leather jacket. Steve takes both from him, puts them away and leads Billy to the closest bathroom. He sticks Billy’s hand beneath the spray in the sink, cleans the blood and grime away, and kisses the back of it once he’s done.

Billy’s breath hitches.

Steve rubs his arms. “What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing,” Billy stammers. “Nancy… I don’t know why she… I’m okay. I’m fine, I-“

“You’re trembling all over, Billy,” Steve says gently. “Why’d you punch the wall?”

“I don’t… I don’t know,” Billy whispers. “It was just… It was just too much. Them laughing and being happy and… and looking at me.”

Steve frowns, but doesn’t seem confused about who he’s talking about. Nancy must’ve told him about where they’d been prior to Billy’s little freak out. “Did they say anything?”

“No,” Billy shakes his head in exasperation. “No, they just… And I know I shouldn’t even feel like this! I shouldn’t be scared of a few kids! I don’t even want to be, I just… I just saw them, and I know they’re Max’ friends and I’m happy for her, but they… I just, I couldn’t stop it, just seeing and hearing them having fun like that and sending me glances, it made me feel ill.” He looks up at Steve, begs him to understand. “I know they’re like, you’re family, and I don’t want to ruin that-“

“Hey, hey, hey. I love you. I love you. You’re not ruining anything.” He pulls him in and Billy buries his face in Steve’s chest, trying not to care when the tears keep coming. “Something really scary happened to you, and it’s okay if you still feel… bad.” He places his hand in Billy’s hair, stroking it. “They’re really sorry, you know. And they didn’t mean to do it. Their parents got really mad, grounded them. I got really mad, too.”

“I know,” Billy mumbles. He’s glad Steve can’t see his face when he continues,” I just… I thought if I didn’t say anything, if I just let them continue without getting angry, they’d realise I’m not… like that, anymore, like I was back in November. I apologised, and I’ve been trying . But they just… I guess they just hate me.”

Steve holds him a little tighter. “They don’t hate you. I know it seems like they do, but they don’t. I think… I think, if you want, you guys should meet up and talk?”

Billy stays quiet for a moment. “Can I think about it?”

“Yeah,” Steve says, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. “Yeah.”

—

A few days later Billy’s sitting in the corner on Steve’s couch, reading, when he hears the front door open. Steve’s voices calls out to him, and Billy mentally prepares himself for seeing the boys again. It’s going to be fine. He wants this to work. He puts the book down, still open but page down on the couch.

The boys filter in, one by one, each sending him little hesitant glances as they sit down. Steve comes in last, sitting down beside Billy and giving his hand a squeeze.

At first, nobody talks, and it’s awkward. Really, really awkward, the silence stifling.

Billy knows he’s a scary guy, he’s done his best to cultivate an image that keeps people away, but he doesn’t want to be like that to them. He did, back when he thought they’d kidnapped Max or lured her away into the woods, but that changed months ago.

Dustin breaks the silence. “We’re sorry. We really are. We didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”

Billy breathes in deep before speaking. “Not this time, no, but every time before that you did.”

“It’s just…” Lucas starts, but doesn’t seem to know how to continue.

Billy sighs. “I get that your protective of Steve, I get that I’m scary and an asshole, I get that you wanted revenge, but…”

“We took it too far,” Will says. “You didn’t deserve all that.”

“Yeah, you’re not… really all that bad,” Mike says. “Steve must still be dating you for a reason.”

Billy scoffs.

Lucas shoots Mike a glare. “Point is, we’re sorry. We just wanted to mess with you at first, but Will’s right, we took it too far.”

“You should’ve just accepted his apology back in December,” Steve says. “Or told me if you felt like you didn’t want to ever hang out or needed time.”

“Yeah,” Will agrees, looking down at his lap.

The all look a little sheepish, a little guilty, apologetic, but nobody says anything more.

Until Dustin’s gaze lands on Billy’s book. “Are you reading Dune?!”

Billy glances down at the discarded, well-worn book on the couch beside him. “Yeah.” Who did you think put Dune in when Steve made us play charades? I’ve read it countless times.

Will’s eyes go wide. “You like science fiction?!”

He doesn’t really get why they’re shouting, why they’re so surprised. He shrugs. “Of course I do.”

“No fucking way,” Mike says.

“Hey!” Steve says, pointing at him. “Language.”

Billy bites his tongue to keep from laughing.

“We’ve been trying to get Steve to watch sci-fi movies with us for months,” Lucas says.

“We could have a marathon!” Will suggests, and Dustin’s eyes go big.

“Yes!” he shouts. “Here! And with you there, Steve would have to agree to watch!” He winces then, as though realising that Billy might not actually want to hang out with them. “If you want to, that is?”

Billy considers it. He looks to Steve to gauge his reaction to this development.

And Steve looks absolutely terrified at the thought of having to sit through hours of science fiction.

Billy grins, and shoots a conspiratorial look at the boys. “Yeah, why not?”