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“He can’t be dead. He just can’t!” Steve’s eyes are welling up. He has fallen down on the floor feeling like he can’t get up anymore. His eyes start to get blurry because of the tears, but he still can make out Robin in front of him. Steve can see her mouth is moving and she is clearly saying something to him, but he can’t make himself focus on her voice.
Robin seems to give up trying to make him hear her and just grabs his hand and pulls him up, starting to drag him away. Steve still looks back over the railing to the ground only to see the lifeless corpse of the boy, who he had fallen in love with.
Robin succeeds in dragging Steve out of the building where there are already ambulances waiting. She guides Steve in one of them. “Steve, can you hear me?” She looks worriedly at him trying to see any kind of reaction that he is hearing her. When Steve isn’t saying or doing anything her face changes to look desperate. “Steve, please! Say something! Anything, just show me you are still here with us!”. “Miss please step back, your boyfriend clearly has some kind of trauma going on”.
“He’s not my boyfriend!… Just tell me he is going to be okay” Some man is trying to guide Robin away, getting her to be checked too. “Get off me bastard! I’m fine” she yells to the guy refusing to move.
“Robin… please” She stops yelling right away when the quiet words from Steve hit her. “He…. he is de…. gone… Robin he's gone!” Steve looks up to her with tears falling down from his eyes. His face breaks Robin’s heart and she can’t do anything than look down and let the man finally take her to be checked too. “Sir, we have to take you to the hospital, is there anyone we can contact to inform them of your location?” Steve looks at the man even more sadly. He doesn’t have anyone. His parents don’t even know what he has done the whole summer or even cared where he is.
“No… can we just go” he whispers quietly. To his surprise they obey him and close the ambulance's doors. Steve can still see the kids outside through the window. He is glad that all of them are safe, but at the same time it hurts him to see them run to hug their parents when no one is there for him.
When the car starts moving his eyes wanders to Max who is crying on the ground and it hits Steve. He might have lost his boyfriend, but Max lost something even more important. She lost her big brother. Steve feels guilt wash over him. He had only thought about himself when there was a kid who would have needed him.
Steve lays down on the bed when he can't see anyone outside anymore. “Sir, we need to ask a couple questions from you”. Steve nods for the man to show he is listening. He asks the basic questions, what’s his name and age, where he lives etc. Steve answers without even thinking about the questions, but then comes the one that startles him. “What do you remember happening in the mall?”.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe some monster from upside down came here and killed him!!!” Steve screams inside his head, but for the man he just shook his head. For the first time since he saw Billy's destiny Steve starts to feel the pain all around his body. He tries to move his hand and feels awful pain hit him. He lets out a groan which results in the same kind of pain from his side.
“Your arm is broken and we believe a couple of your ribs are too” Steve glares at the man. “I did not realize that” he mutters, but so quietly that no one could have heard him. Steve can see how the paramedics are starting to put in his arm IV drips and soon he hears someone saying they are going to give him something to ease the pain. Steve really doesn’t listen to what it is. It doesn’t take long before Steve starts to feel himself getting sleepier and sleepier and soon he has fallen asleep.
“I thought you hate me, pretty boy” Billy smirks to the boy in front of him. “Shut it, Hargrove” Steve rolls his eyes, closing the space between them again. “How could I hate something so beautiful?” Steve thinks in his head, still too scared to say it outloud to the other boy. Thinking he might back off if he shows how much he actually loves him.
Steve wakes up from the hospital and for a minute he isn’t sure where he is or what is happening. He looks around the room feeling the pain coming back. “Oh now I remember” he bites his lips trying not to groan while trying to hold back his tears thanks to his dream. Or actually memory. Luckily it doesn’t take long before a nurse happens to come check on him and chooses to give him more medicine. Steve is grateful that he can fall asleep again. Right now staying awake is the worst thing he can think.
“Steve, do you ever think about just running away from this shitty town?” Steve looks at Billy. He had once again come to his place after his dad had beaten him up. This time it was quite a bad one too. Steve was just cleaning his cuts when the other boy surprised him with his question.
“You are really asking that?” Steve smiles to him. “ I think it every fucking day” he returns to clean the cuts. Billy smiles and takes Steve’s hands from his face to his hands. “Would you run away with me?” Steve doesn’t need to think before answering him back. “You would just need to ask” He kisses the bruised boy in front of him carefully, scaring he might hurt him. Billy kisses back to the sweet kiss forgetting the pain he is feeling around his body.
“I love you” Billy whispers when they part. Steve’s heart probably skipped a beat after those 3 words they hadn’t said before this. “I love you too”
“Billy!” Steve screams still half asleep. For a second he thinks he saw the familiar mullet wearing boy in his room. “Stupid memories, stupid mall, stupid monster… YOU STUPID FUCKING SACRIFICING IDIOT!” Steve’s screams are heard outside the room and the nurses are rushing in to calm him down. They in the end need to drug him to make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone, especially himself. Steve tries to fight against sleep. He has started to dislike the sleep state too.
“Are you ready?” Steve looks worriedly at the man under him, but still a hint of lust in his eyes he couldn’t hide. “Just do it, pretty boy. You know I can take it” Billy smirks to him. He still looks so cocky even in a position like this. Steve easily guides himself inside the other one, trusting slowly. “Fuck” Billy moans, the cocky smirk changing to groaning and little pained expression on his face. Steve starts to trust first slowly and then faster when Billy's moans get louder.
After that they stay laying on the bed. Steve leaning his head on the other boy’s chest. He has kept thinking about Billy's question from some time ago. “Can we leave after the 4th of july?”. Billy raises his head to look at Steve a little surprised. He had been sure that in the end it would have been him asking from Steve, not other vice. “Works for me, we can leave on the next day towards California” Steve smiles sweetly and gives him a peck on his lips. “Is that a promise?”. “I promise” Billy smiles.
This time Steve wakes up with tears falling down his cheeks. He again thinks he is seeing Billy in the room leaning on the wall. “Go away” he mutters closing his eyes wishing his mind would stop torturing him. “Is that a way to treat your boyfriend Harrington” Steve opens his eyes in shock looking at the same place, but it is empty now.
He can feel hand brushing on his cheek and after a couple of times blinking his eyes he sees Billy sitting on the bed smirking at him. He looks just as perfect as he did on the day before the mall. His blue eyes are shining in the dark room. He actually is beaming all around light which should be weird in the dark room, but Steve’s brain isn’t on the clearest right now.
Steve can’t make himself stop crying. The sadness and hurt because Billy’s death hasn’t gone anywhere. Actually he really hasn’t had time to even start to process the whole thing. Just like Billy could read his mind he smiles apologetically to him. “I’m sorry, pretty boy. I never meant to hurt you” Steve can feel hand on his cheek again. “You promised we could leave to California… together” Steve whispers with a broken voice. “We will… someday, you see” Billy leans to kiss him. Steve can feel the familiar rough lips on his and he is sure he is going to melt on that place.
“Steve! Seriously we should start going to the carnival if we don’t want to miss it” Billy is waiting on the outdoor impatiently waiting for his boyfriend to get down from upstairs. He can’t believe he actually promised to go to the carnival with Steve’s pack of kids. But he does know how much those kids mean to Steve.
“Calm down, I’m coming” Steve rolls his eyes carrying a suitcase on his arms as he is walking the stairs down. He leaves it in the living room with the other ones. Steve smiles at the man he fell in love with and holds his hands. “Tomorrow”. “To our California” Billy smiles at him, squeezing his hand before letting it go when they walk outside. They walk towards Billy’s car dreaming about the life they are going to be able to start tomorrow.
This time Steve doesn’t feel that much pain anymore. He can also see light shining inside his room and after getting his eyes to focus he can see Robin sitting on a chair next to his bed. She looks to be quite okay if not counting the bandages and bruises around her body. “You okay there?” She turns to look at Steve when his hoarse voice hits him. She tries to smile, but it’s clear she has been really worried. “I’m as fine as you can be. You?” Steve shows thump up which makes Robin let out small shuckle to his stupid attempt to make things better.
Suddenly Steve remembers what happened last night. “Where is he?” Steve starts looking around his room his expression starting to turn more excited. Robin looks confusedly to him. “Who?”. “Billy of course” Steve rolls his eyes. Robins confused expression changes quickly to sadness.
“Steve… you know what happened to him… he is dead. You saw him die” Robin carefully says, taking hold of Steve’s hand. “No he isn’t. He visited me last night” But even Steve doesn't believe his words when they leave his mouth. She lets go of his hand and wraps her arms carefully around him, trying to make sure she isn’t hurting him.
“He promised we would leave together… he promised… he promised we would have life together. Just us two… without any of this fuck up bullshit. Not his dad, not my parents, not this supernatural shit… just us… he promised I wouldn’t have to live without him”.
Robin can’t do anything else than let the broken boy cry on her arms. “He waits for you wherever he is, I know that” She whispers to him. Steve tightens his arms around her even though his ribs are screaming at him.
“You will get to your California together”.