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Let's start it here, back in nineteen- seventy [eighty] -sumthin'
I can't pin down the year
When the romance wasn't dead
And love still stood for something
How had he got here? Literally, how?
Steve couldn’t help but shuffle his feet awkwardly in the kitchen as he watched out the window for the familiar 1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z to come roaring in the driveway.
Had it been last year, he would have dreaded seeing that car, but things were a lot different now. Better. Healthier. Weirder as well, given said car belonged to none other than possible demon incarnate William ‘Billy’ Hargrove.
There was a girl [guy]
Who'd lost her [his] way
She [He] blushed red when he came over
And they danced the night away
Originally, he and Billy had been enemies. Hence the title of /originally/. Because now, after a shit ton of therapy and that clusterfuck of what happened at Starcourt Mall, both had really looked at themselves and made changes for the better.
While he had finally put his foot down and cussed his parents to hell, moving out in record speed after to live in a 2 bed with Robin because she’s literally his best friend, Billy had beat this father so bad that the old man disappeared and hasn’t come back, trying to work on and rebuild his relationship with Max and her mother.
Clearly, both had shit to still work on, but at least it was decent now, world-wise as they left the apartment with a wave from the local lesbian and went to a local club that didn’t care who they were, as long as they paid money for their beers. Steve’s never been so red or laughed so much and it’s nice to finally see Billy with a smile on his face.
And he sung as he drove her [him] home and
It was there that she [he] would say
"If I could, then I would save you"
And he smiled and turned away
He’s also never heard Billy sing before and as they’re driving home in the pitchj blackness of early morning while Billy gently glides hesitantly over the notes of ‘Tiny Dancer’, Steve’s pretty sure he’s got a good case of the goo-goo eyes that Dustin has for some of the girls at his high school and while it’s gross, he’s not wanting to stop it, which is even worse.
Billy has also noticed, his attention briefly taken off the road to stare at Steve. “What?”
“If I could, I would save you. Singing.” Steve admits and instead of just smacking Steve then and there like normally Billy would, he just shakes his head before turning back. “God, Harrington, you really are a sucker.”
In six weeks they're saying "I do"
Oh, love just don't go that way no more
Steve almost takes offence at the statement, /almost/, but then again after Billy throws fucking gold ring at him out of the blue 6 weeks later with a flippant “Wanna be suckers together then?”, being a sucker doesn’t sound so bad anymore.
And like the seed becomes the tree;
We take shape of a family
We grow and we change
And face the rain like you wouldn't believe
Even though they’ve only been going out the same length of time, it’s almost comical that they are suddenly in a shitty legal office with even shitter decor as they stand in front of some crusty officiant reciting crap from the Bible that either care about.
And through it all, we're standing tall
And I just don't say it enough
If not for you, no
We wouldn't be standing at all
Dustin’s forcibly over Billy’s side as Robin wanted to come along (“Do I have to witness for him!?” “Yes, you’re over 16 and not wanting money, now stand over there before I shove my nail bat up somewhere the sun don’t shine.”) and it’s almost the hottest day of the year to wear cheap suits at a balmy 94°F (34°C), but the paperwork’s stamped and signed and fuck, finally they can kiss and even though it’s most likely weird and they are going to hell in the eyes of some people, they’re married and they can all burn in hell with them.
Whatever works.
And now it's nineteen-ninety-sumthin'
How the hell did we end up here?
Four kids and a few jobs later
And the pictures fill the pages
Steve doesn’t know exactly where the time goes between the 80s and the new decade, but soon enough, their lives are what can basically be described as organized chaos.They’ve moved from Indiana to Willmington, NC in an attempt to free themselves permanently of the Upside Down and between several average joe jobs and attempting to get their GED’s, they’ve had 4 kids with Robin as well as Max’s assistance over the years and somehow, put a mortgage on a house.
It's been hard, oh it's been hard
But you'd be a fool to give it up
'Cause you know that what we've got
is bigger than the two of us
Billy’s Chevrolet still runs like a dream, but Steve’s 1983 BMW 733i is never free and constantly weighed down by kids and belongings and groceries that pile up and spill over and honestly? Steve’s just that fucking used to it that he doesn’t care anymore.
It's been hard, oh it's been hard
But it's bigger than the two of us
And I will hold you in my arms
When you feel like giving up
Sure, while family life is sedentary and mediocre sometimes compared to what they came from, it’s still better than what once was as Steve’s not woken up in a cold sweat feeling like tentacles are pulling him under the ground for several years now.
Love just don't go that way no more
Billy’s PTSD episodes where he suddenly wanders off and usually ends up in the middle of nowhere like a field or parking lot or something similar like he’s still under the Mind Flayer’s lure are also becoming few and far between and it’s nice to just curl up in bed at night like they are actually normal even though they’re far from it and hold another tightly.
And like the seed becomes the tree;
We take shape of a family
We grow and we change
And face the rain like you wouldn't believe
Sure, some days are harder than most. Billy and he both get into their moods through the seasons and here and there, they’ll have it out with eachother, but eventually, they always come back into each other's circles.
And through it all, we're standing tall
And I just don't say it enough
If not for you, no
We wouldn't be standing at all
Steve still hates his parents’ birthdays and hasn’t called since they left, but Robin, Dustin and even Max’s birthdays become almost regal events on the calendar, followed in succession by each of the kids as they come into their lives and get older just as much as their parents do.
And now its two-thousand-and-sumthin'
We made it here my dear
Grandkids and the mortgage paid off
Is this what dreams are made of?
Soon enough, it’s a new century, far more than they thought they’d last.
Steve’s in his early 50s and Billy’s not too far away from catching up to him. Their home is now officially theirs as of several years ago and despite griping about it all through the 90s and then some, all the kids are grown and have families of their own, grandchildren neither envisaged to have filling bedrooms and dining tables and backyards full of love.
Amazing what two shitty teenagers can accomplish in a few decades, huh?
'Cause baby we made it
Yeah baby, you saved me
But nothing could save him
From the ambulance that day
Unfortunately, the ghosts of the past linger with them despite they are only starting to get grey at their temples, for one day in 2016 after several years of somehow maintaining a life both domestic and idealistic to their generation, Steve wakes to a rainy day, the first of the Summer, and even worse than a bit of rain, a cold body beside him not breathing anymore.
When he went away
The heart attack was sharp
He didn't feel no pain
If you saw him now, then what would you say?
They said it was a heart attack, but Steve only hears that after he’s been swimming in the horrifying clasp of panic, despair and terror for hours as they worked to bring him back from the dead, only to fail and leave him alone again like after he lost Nancy, broken on the hospital floor, wrapped in an orange shock blanket, but colder then he’d ever been in his life.
I love you and I miss you
I owe you everything
And I hope you know
you saved me [Saved me!]
The kids came and some of the grandkids did as well, young as they were, the ones that were old enough to understand when someone died anyway, all crying as he was.
One of his daughters held onto him tightly and eventually, they managed to take him home, but it was just so dark, a soulless space Steve existed in now without the sounds of Billy doing something outside in the yard or watching TV in the living room or snoring from the bedroom as Steve made breakfast or dinner.
Oh mother [father]!
Mother [Father] please don't cry
'Cause you know I miss him too
I didn't even say goodbye
Robin, Dustin, Max, the kids, the grandkids - they try to help. They really do try. They bring some of the light back into the place, as Steve won’t change it one bit, but at least when they are here, the shadowed corners they appear at night and sometimes in the day if he’s unlucky don’t call out to him like old friends and beg for Steve to come to them. He hates that the nightmares have come back without the other here to confide in and the paranoia has slowly seeped back in again over the months.
This house was a safe haven for them, a way to stay out of Hawkins for good and it’s still that, just…not as safe anymore.
And though he's gone, I know he's gone
He lives on in all of us
And I will hold you when you cry
'Cause that's what he would've done [Oh mother [father]!]
He makes the decision to sell quite bitterly, but it’s just a house by the time they remove everything the next year, when it becomes too much to watch chip and wither away like Steve’s soul has been without Billy fixing it.
There’s no trace of the kids, grandkids, Billy, himself - there’s nothing that made this house actually theirs when he walks through it one last time, just because he can.
Yeah, that's what he would've done [Oh mother [father]!]
Yeah, that's what he would've done
It's been hard, oh it's been hard
But he's a part of all of us
He’s moving in with one of the kids. They have a big enough house that he can live on one side by himself and not disturb them on the other unless he wants to. It makes him feel less lonely knowing that, as the silence both in the light and dark is just…uneasy for him after several decades of just pure, unadulterated noise from several ends.
It’ll be nice. Weird, but nice. One of the kids even commented that Billy, wherever he’s currently partying in, slick and swift and the 18-year-old Steve pictures him as still, would be proud of him and he holds onto that with reverence as he shuts the door and turns the keyhole to locked one last time on the porch.
And we will hold you when you cry
'Cause that's what family does
When the keys leave his person, that’s when he slumps, but thankfully, the kids lead him in a convoy of shelter under jackets and love from the driveway to awaiting cars full of just over 30 years of belongings and memories for their next chapter, whether that be storage or placement within a new space, as well as suitcases of love on top of that in the form of grandkids who excitedly chat to him as they drive away.
He actually smiles when his daughter looks at him from the rearview mirror as he can see Billy’s eyes, almost exactly like that night they went dancing together before they were married and turns his head to watch out the window as the sun slips beyond the horizon.
Billy may not be here with them now, but Steve knows he’s not left them. He’s everywhere, in their kids, in their grandkids, in their memories with photos, stories and videos.
That’s comfort enough for him as he falls asleep like old men seem to do in the dusk while they drive onto this new life he’s coming into, lulled by the sounds of a phantom engine on a Camaro and the sounds of ‘Tiny Dancer’ coming from a far away radio he can’t place.
Those blue eyes never leave him, even in dreams and for once, unlike lately, he's totally okay with that.