Archive of Our Own

“i still feel bad that i didn’t bring anything,” eddie mumbled as he leaned toward steve as they walked in the door to the byers house. steve smiled at him.

“i already told you, joyce said not to. i get it. threw me off my first dinner, too,” he whispered to him, squeezing his hand. billy held the door open for robin and smirked at her.

“brains before beauty,” he said. she reached out to slap him but he ducked and she ended up getting a hold of his hair instead. steve sighed as he pushed around them to get inside. he locked eyes with joyce who was just smiling at robin and billy, shaking her head.

“oh, those two are always going at it like that,” she said, turning to look at him and eddie. “hi honey,” she wrapped her arms around steve as she said it. he smiled, instantly feeling a comforting warmth as he hugged her back. joyce byers is an exceptional woman and it’s an honor for steve to have her in his life.

“hi joyce,” he said. he kissed her temple before pulling away. she then looked at eddie and wrapped her arms around him.

“other honey,” she said, earning and laugh from eddie as he hugged her back.

“mama joyce,” he said, kissing her cheek before pulling away.

“billy i am going to kill you!” robin shouted. steve and eddie turned to look at them, still standing in the doorway, arguing. an audience has formed consisting of el and max, who had just come from el’s room, joyce, hopper, and that murray guy steve has only met once.

“oh no,” eddie mumbled as robin jumped on billy’s back, grabbing on to the collar of his shirt. he had a grimace on his face as she did it. steve and eddie didn’t waste any time as they rushed toward them. eddie got his arms around robin’s abdomen as steve got his around billy’s.

“cut it out! you’re acting like children!” steve yelled right in billy’s ear. he flinched turning to look back at steve.

“yell a little louder next time, please, sir,” billy said, earning a snort and a giggle from max and el.

“god, billy. you’re like a six-year-old” steve grumbled as he let go and pushed him away from robin.

“you’re also like a six-year-old,” eddie mumbled to robin. she huffed before smiling at joyce and giving her a hug. joyce let out a laugh at her, rolling her eyes.

“joyce,” hopper said, his tone expressionless. everyone turned to look at him. “no more kids.”

“i’m quite enjoying this dynamic,” murray said, grinning at steve. steve furrowed his eyebrows. hopper turned to give murray a look and the man chuckled. steve sighed, grabbing a hold of billy’s collar.

“harrington, i swear to god,” he grumbled as steve pulled.

“go play football with the kids. they wanted you to,” steve said with a sigh. billy smoothed out his shirt, kissing joyce’s other cheek. he flipped steve the bird as he walked out the back door, a grin on his face. eddie chuckled from beside steve, slinging his arm around his shoulder.

“why is he worse than the kids?” hopper asked.

“because he’s an asshole,” steve, eddie, and robin all said at the same time before laughing at each other. joyce smiled fondly at them before going back into the kitchen. steve looked over at the girls and smiled at them, seeing they were already looking back. he made his way over to the couch they were on and max scowled at him. there’s no space for him and she already knows that he’s gonna sit down anyway.

“no, steve,” she said. he just smiled at her. “there’s no room-“ he sat down right on top of her and she grumbled through her laughter at him. eddie watched him with a fond look in his eye as el giggled at steve and max.

“quite comfy, maxwell,” steve said as he leaned back on her.

“quite heavy, stephanie,” she pushed at him for a second before eventually giving up. robin sat down on the arm of the couch next to them and eddie sat down on the floor in front of el. he backed up against her legs and el smiled before starting to play with eddie’s hair. el loves playing with hair. doesn’t matter who’s it is. eddie has told steve multiple times that el is the most adorable kid he’s ever met and would do anything for her.

the front door opened again and in piled nancy, jonathan, and argyle. jonathan had said that argyle would be in for christmas. 

“hey brochachos!” he called as he walked in. steve snorted before waving at him.

“he’s high already,” robin mumbled to steve. he smirked and nodded his head. max finally got him rolled to the side enough so that she could get out from under him. she huffed as she moved to the floor in front of steve like eddie was in front of el.

“so is jonathan,” eddie whispered as he looked up at steve and robin. he locked eyes with eddie and felt his cheeks get a little warm. eddie smiled at him upon seeing it and steve rolled his eyes, looking away.

“braid my hair,” max said, handing steve a hair tie. he smiled as he took it from her, palming the top of her head to tilt it back towards him so he could start on a french braid. he could feel eddie’s eyes on him as he tried to focus max’s hair and he tried not to let it distract him. the three who just walked in all said their hellos before moving towards the group on the couch.

nancy and jonathan gave murray awkward hellos that had steve lifting an eyebrow. nancy looked at him and waved him off, as if to say ‘don’t ask’ and he chuckled before continuing max’s hair.

“wait,” was said from the chair. they all looked over at murray as he looked between the older teens. “this is steve.” nancy’s face went red and jonathan coughed into his fist before putting his hands in his pockets.

“i’m confused,” steve mumbled, looking between the three. murray had a big smile on his face and he let out a laugh.

“yes. this is steve,” jonathan said, rolling his eyes. steve looked down at eddie, who was looking back at him with confusion.

“interesting,” he mumbled, the smile still on his face. steve is so confused.

“murray. we’ve met before,” steve said, giving the man a look of confusion.

“oh yes, i know. just didn’t put two and two together until now.”

“steve! come play with us!” dustin yelled as he and lucas ran in. steve looked up from where he was putting the hair tie around the end of max’s hair. he looked at dustin for a second before he sighed. lucas did a little yell and a fist pump before going back outside. max snorted at him and steve chuckled.

“max. lets go kick some ass,” steve whispered in her ear as he got up. she smirked and held her hands out to him. he laughed as he pulled her to her feet. “eds.”

“stevie.” he said as he looked up at steve with a smile on his face. steve internally groaned at the sight. eddie munson’s smile is gonna be the death of steve harrington. murray raised his eyebrows at the two.

“come on,” steve waved his hands. eddie looked up at el and she smiled at him before nodding. he got up, kissed her cheek and thanked her for the braid before he followed steve and max outside, whispering a ‘i’m not playing stupid football, but i have no issue drooling as i watch you’ to steve.

~

steve spent almost the entire time they were all eating just watching eddie interact with his found family. he’s sure that he’s got some kind of sappy look on his face because robin just keeps rolling her eyes at him even though she’s got a little smile on her face as she does it. he really wants to put his hands all over eddie like normal but he refrains. they always try to tone it down when they’re with joyce and hopper. they know about and support the couple, but they still find it a little awkward to be as handsy as they are in front of them. eddie is leaned back in his chair next to steve, talking to argyle. argyle was a great addition to the family. he’s always full of such positive energy and he’s always so nice and uplifting.

“i’m gonna start putting food away,” joyce said as she stood up. steve started to move to help her but she gave him a look and pointed at him. he slowly sat back in his seat; eyes wide. robin snorted and hopper chuckled before following her into the house. that left all the older teens at the table with murray. everyone started to fall into a comfortable silence as the food coma started to settle in.

“joyce byers everybody, what a woman,” billy said as he rubbed his stomach. the other teens all smiled and nodded their heads. steve could see murray looking at him and he furrowed his eyebrows.

“what’s up man?” steve asked, looking at him. murray just grinned at him, leaning back in his chair.

“murray-“ nancy started but was cut off.

“there’s some tension,” murray said. nancy sighed and set her head in her hand before looking over at steve and eddie. she mouthed a ‘sorry’ to them in which returned confused stared back at her. “there’s a lot of sexual tension in the air tonight.”

“gross, murray,” jonathan mumbled but billy snorted out a laugh at that and leaned forward, smirking.

“do share,” he said to murray before looking at steve and eddie, wiggling his eyebrows.

“what’s your deal?” murray asked, pointing between steve and eddie. “you reek.”

“oh my god-“ robin cut herself off to laugh out loud. steve and eddie looked at each other with confusion written all over their faces before looking at the others.

“oh come on, now,” murray said, giving them a ‘tsk tsk’.

“murray, they’re fine-“ jonathan started to say.

“there’s clearly feelings here,” murray interrupted again.

“murray!” nancy exclaimed, looking at him with wide eyes. murray looked over at her expectantly. “they’re in a relationship. they have been for like, a while. they’re in love. there’s always sexual tension. it’s disgusting. they’re good. they’re better than good.”

“i knew you two were in love the moment i saw you guys,” argyle said, smiling over at them. steve felt his face heat up and eddie smiled over at him.

“how could i not be? have you seen him?” eddie asked, looking at steve with a giant smile on his face. steve’s face felt hot and there was a round of chuckles. “you’re a smoke show and a half, baby.” he leaned forward to kiss steve’s cheek as he said it.

“they’re obsessed with each other, if you know what i mean,” billy said, smiling at murray as he said it. steve groaned, copying nancy from a second ago and hiding his face in his hands. eddie dropped his arm to wrap around steve’s waist, moving closer to him.

“dear god,” murray mumbled as he watched the two. “this is almost worse than you two not knowing.”

“right?” robin asked, looking at him. “they’re like, super gross but it’s so fuckin cute.”

“it is cute,” nancy said, smiling at them.

“you wanna know what did it for me, murray?” eddie asked, earning a laugh from robin, billy, and nancy. steve just groaned and shook his head with a smile on his face. jonathan and argyle were smiling as they both looked around the table.

“oh please share,” murray said, looking interested. steve brought his arm up to rest on eddie’s shoulders as he grabbed the back of eddie’s neck. he squeezed it once, softly before just leaving his hand sit there.

“so we were in the upside down, right?”

~

hopper got a fire going when it started to get dark. everyone dragged chairs over to sit around it. steve opted to put a blanket on the ground to sit on. robin sat next to him and eddie took it upon himself to sit in between steve’s legs, his back against his chest. steve had his arms around eddie, right under his armpits and his fingers were laced together at his chest. billy looked at the three before scoffing in disgust and grabbing a chair. ‘ya’ll are fuckin crazy’ he said as he sat down in it. eddie reached up to give him a smack and billy smacked him back.

the kids all sat around on blankets as well, smooshed together in a giant group. they were all passing stuff to make smores around and laughing. steve couldn’t help but smile at them. he can’t believe how lucky he got. he can’t believe that he has all these people in his life that love him. he doesn’t deserve it. he knows he doesn’t. but he’s gonna soak up as much of it as they’ll let him.

he sighed and dropped his head forward, resting his forehead on the crease where eddie’s neck meets his shoulder. eddie squeezed his forearm and steve pressed a kiss where his forehead was before picking his head up.

“i love you,” he whispered, turning his head to press his lips to eddie’s temple. eddie turned his head and connected their lips quickly, softly. he then kissed his cheek before pulling back to rest his head back on steve’s shoulder, smiling up at him.

“i love you so much,” he whispered back. steve smiled at him, squeezing his arms tighter around him before letting them hang loosely again.

“i’m gonna barf,” robin mumbled, making billy snicker. steve and eddie quietly laughed at her and she rolled her eyes.

“why didn’t you bring vickie?” billy asked as he pulled on a piece of her hair to get her attention. she instantly turned around and wacked him in the stomach and he laughed as he shoved her hand away.

“steve,” nancy said suddenly. he turned his head to her and she crawled over to him and eddie from where she was sitting with jonathan. eddie snorted at her as she did so and she started giggling, not realizing how far she was actually crawling.

“oh my god,” billy mumbled, shaking his head at her. steve could feel murray’s eyes on him, has felt them the whole night. that guys is so weird, psychoanalyzing everyone all the time. she got over to him and then smiled before sitting his steve’s right.

“nance,” steve said, smiling amusedly at her. she just smiled back before leaning closer to him.

“are you wearing an engagement ring?” she whispered. eddie smiled as he heard it and looked up at them. “and is eddie wearing a matching one?” robin squealed and fell back on the blanket, clearly having heard what nancy said. billy started cackling at her before lightly giving her a shove in the side with his foot. she just started giggled and billy rolled his eyes. “side note. i love robin and billy’s relationship.”

“nance,” steve said again, still giving her the same smile. she looked back at him, and he could see in her eyes that she was not sober.

“steve,” she said in the same tone of voice. he struggled not to laugh as he leaned toward her ear this time.

“are you high?” she started giggling and eddie let out a loud laugh at her before sitting up and laughing more.

“what?! wheeler! share, you bitch!” billy whisper shouted, looking offended. they were in stitches at that. at this point, everyone was watching the five of them laugh over god knows what. steve looked over at joyce and hopper who had smiles on their faces as they rolled their eyes.

“jonathan! argyle!” eddie cupped his hands around his mouth as he whispered it. jonathan and argyle looked over at him at the same time and he waved them over. they both smiled and got up to go over to them.

“you guys lookin for purple palm tree delight?” argyle asked, not as quiet as he thought he was being. hopper mumbled out an ‘oh my god’ at them before snorting and whispering something to joyce. she sighed before shaking her head, the smile not leaving her face.

“dude. you said that really loud,” billy said with a laugh, giving hop a sheepish smile. he just rolled his eyes and waved them off. billy turned to look back at argyle, who was already getting up to go grab, what steve assumes is weed. steve stood up as well, giving hop the same sheepish grin that billy gave him. hop saw and snorted out the beer he just took a drink of, making them all laugh again.

“it’s a good thing i drove today,” eddie mumbled as he looked up at steve. steve just looked back down at him with a smile that eddie has come to know as a fond one. he held his hands out to him to be pulled up and steve obliged, getting a smile from eddie.

“where are you guys going?” dustin asked, looking over at them with an eyebrow raised as robin helped nancy get up. the group froze, turning to the kids, who were all staring at them.

“none of your business, shitbird,” billy said, giving him a look. will and max rolled their eyes at them, already knowing.

“what if we want to come?” mike asked them with a scoff. steve turned to look at him.

“no.” he said, voice hard, looking around at all of them.

“god. you guys are so stupid. they’re going to get high,” max said to them. lucas started snickering at them.

“get high?” el asked, looking art max. will tapped her arm and said something to her.

“what?! and you’re just going to allow that, hop?!” mike shouted, looking at hop for help. will turned to mike with his face scrunched up and steve almost laughed at it.

“i know nothing,” he said, looking at mike. mike’s eyes widened.

“hop! you don’t even care?” dustin asked, waving his arms around. hop rolled his eyes before leaning forward in his chair.

“listen. you guys have all been through a lot of shit. steve gets the shit kicked out of him once a year,” steve scoffed and hop gave him a look before raising an eyebrow at billy. robin started giggling at that and threw her arm around billy’s neck as he looked at his feet at the comment. “he almost died. eddie actually did die. let’s not even get started on billy. they were all in the upside down. i think they deserve for me to turn my head when they wanna let loose.”

“i fully agree, by the way,” joyce said, giving them a smile.

“i mean, with that logic, i was also-“ dustin started with his hand raised like he was waiting to be picked on by a teacher.

“absolutely not,” steve and hop said at the same time, glaring at dustin. he put his hands up in defense, his eyes wide.

“not only are you too young, your mother would fucking kill me, henderson,” steve said, giving him a look. “and i like claudia’s meatloaf too much to let that happen. so! sit back down and shut up.” hop rose an eyebrow at dustin as he grumbled and sat back down with a sour look on his face. max had a smirk on her face, aimed at dustin and he rolled his eyes at her.

“what about me? i ‘actually did die’ too,” max said, giving hop a pointed look. eddie tugged on steve’s hand, still chuckling as he pulled steve toward his van. the rest of them followed as they made their way out front. they all piled into the back of eddie’s van, laughing as they got situated.

“alright amigos,” argyle smiled as he pulled out a baggie of pre-rolled joints.

“i think argyle might be my favorite person here,” eddie said as he grabbed one from him and lit it. steve gave him a blank look. eddie was purposely not looking at him, but steve could see his lips quirk from around the joint.

“damn,” billy said, looking at steve. “you suck his dick and you aren’t his favorite person here.” that got everyone either gagging or laughing and steve’s face got hot.

“baby, you know i love you, argyle just has really good weed,” eddie said, finally looking at him.

“marry argyle then,” steve said, snatching it from him and taking a hit. eddie’s jaw dropped and billy choked on air. robin squealed and nancy gasped. jonathan and argyle just looked between each other and at the others, already too stoned to make sense of anything.

“that’s what i originally moved over to you for!” she exclaimed.

“oh honey,” billy started, looking at her with a smirk. “they’re definitely going to get married when they can.”

“i still think we should have a thing, just for the family,” robin said, laying her head on steve’s shoulder. steve stretched his legs out in front of him, which meant they were resting on eddie’s lap. he instantly rested his hands on steve’s ankles and smiled at him. “it wouldn’t be legal, but like, we could still do a ceremony. it could be really cute.”

“that could be cute. we could do it here, in the back yard,” jonathan said, nodding his head from beside billy, leaning over to look at steve. god. he looks fucking blasted out of his mind, but he is so engrossed in this conversation and steve doesn’t even understand how. so he just shakes his head and smiled fondly before reaching out to boop jonathan on the nose. he scrunched up his face as nancy and argyle giggled at him.

“we’ve uh-“ steve said, clearing his throat and passing the joint to billy. “we’ve kind of talked about it.” he held his gaze on eddie as eddie looked back at him. eddie started running his thumbs back and forth over steve’s ankles, not breaking eye contact.

“oh god, there they go bein all gross and in love,” robin said, trying to sound grossed out but it came out light and like she was smiling. steve felt his face get hot and he looked away from eddie, hearing the giggles around them.

“i’ve never seen people look at each other like you do,” argyle said, eyes lidded and a big smile on his face. “it’s truly magical. and i am honored to be able to witness it, brochachos.” steve narrowed his eyes at him and tilted his head. “you guys are soulmates, totally.”

“i think argyle might be my favorite person here,” steve said, getting a scoff and a sputtering sound from eddie.

“damn,” billy said again, lower this time, his eyes wide as he stared down at the floor of the van.

“billy’s gone,” nancy giggled before looking at robin and giggling harder. steve turned to look at her and he grinned at her half-closed eyes and dopey smile on her face.

“so is robin,” he said, kissing the top of her head before looking at eddie again. he was already looking back at him with a grin on his face.

~

steve put his car in park and looked over at billy as he got out. steve popped his trunk and got out as well. walking back to grab a bat out of it. they’re at the quarry. they do this sometimes. they have since about a week after billy got out of the hospital. it’s a good stress reliever. him and billy will grab a bat each and pick up pieces of gravel to hit. 

“you’re being awfully quiet today,” steve said as he looked at billy. billy sighed as he picked up a rock and threw it in the air before swinging and hitting it. 

“didn’t sleep a lot last night, tired,” he said with a shrug.

“nightmare?” steve asked, following what billy did and hitting the rock. billy nodded his head before hititng another rock. “what happened?”

“show me yours and i’ll show you mine.”

“damn.”

“yeah. those eyebags gucci?” billy asked, giving him a smirk. steve snorted and rolled his eyes. 

“my parents are home and all they've been doing is argue. they didn’t even tell me they would be back. my mom saw my ring. i lied about it, fucking obviously. i haven’t seen eddie very much this week because whenever i can get away, he has band practice and i haven’t been sleeping because of it. i need to move out.”

“i had one of those dreams where it felt so real that i when i saw max die in it, i went to wake her up just to make sure she was okay. you died too, that’s why i called you on the walkie at fuckin three this morning.”

“jesus. we all need therapy.”

“oh, so much therapy,” he agreed while nodding his head.

“we should have hop give his government friends a call. see if they can get us a therapist. do it as a group,” steve said with a laugh.

“god, could you imagine?” billy snorted and shook his head. “that poor bastard would be in over their head.” 

“oh damn, just you wait until you uncover the trauma from when a guy i now trust with my life almost fuckin killed me.”

“oh god-” billy cut himself off to laugh as steve joined in. they didn’t hear the set of tires that pulled up next to steve’s car through their laughter. billy reached to push steve’s hair from his forehead where the scar was, looking at it and then backing away.

“tis but a scratch,” steve said, bowing dramatically and getting a whole new round of laughter from billy. 

“eddie never should have let you watch holy grail!” there was a door slamming and they both jumped before turning to look in the direction of the sound. fucking tommy hagan is leaning against the driver side door of his car, looking at them with an eyebrow raised. they both looked at him and then looked back at each other before shrugging and picking up a rock each to hit. 

“fore!” steve yelled before hitting it, getting a snort from billy.

"are you suggesting coconuts migrate?" billy quoted in a bad accent. steve's laugh came out like a 'hehehe' sound, which made billy laugh all over again. "what the fuck was that?!"

"i don't even know, man, it just came out of me!" steve said through laughter. "god i love that movie."

"did you watch life of brian yet?"

"haven't been able to yet. hey, do i remind you of lancelot?" billy started cackling as steve said it. "seriously? i don't know if i should be flattered or offended!"

"definitely offended!" he said through his laughter. "who told you that?!"

"eddie said it to robin and she agreed."

"eddie-" billy cut himself off as he bent forward, still laughing hard. "god! i really do love that guy, stevie."

"wow. i love when the laughter is at my expense." steve grumbled but with a smile and a shake of the head.

"oh! rob and i were talking about going to see 'overboard'," he said after he calmed down. "you, ed, and nance should come. get the stoner twins to come too."

"kurt russell, right?" steve nodded as he said it. "yeah sure, i'll see if he wants to. i'm sure rob has already asked nance, who will take care of the dopey brothers."

"oh like doobie, that's a good one, i have to admit," he said with a snort. steve threw his arm up and sputtered.

"rob and eddie said it was stupid!"

"eddie doesn't like the doobie brothers and robin will oppose to anything you say just to piss you off."

"i know," steve sighed with a smile. billy rose an eyebrow at him. "i just love her so much."

"she's definitely your soulmate. that's for sure. you two share a fucking brain. it's annoying," he said as he hit another rock. he glanced over at tommy again before rolling his eyes.

“so... not that i don't love that i get to hear about how domestic you two are," he stopped and they turned to look at him. "but... we’re at the ‘pretending the other doesn’t exist’ point now? and i'm still really intrigued to find out how you two got so chummy,” billy snorted.

“just mind your business and we’ll mind ours, tommy,” billy said, walking back over to steve’s car.

“where ya goin, bill?” steve asked, watching him with a brow raised. billy gave him a grin before reaching in through the window and opening the glove box. he pulled out a joint and waved it at steve.

“argyle’s shit,” he said as he walked back over. "can't tell eddie. he might stop letting me smoke for free every time."

"i don't give a fuck what eddie thinks. he knows argyle's california shit is the best," steve hummed as billy lit it and took a hit. billy huffed a laugh as he handed it to steve before walking back and sitting on the hood of the car. steve looked at tommy as he took a drag, finding that tommy was already looking at him.

“what are you doin here?” he asked him. tommy just shrugged his shoulders, the corner of his mouth going up in a little half smirk.

“was driving around, decided to come up here. imagine my surprise when i run into you two.”

“imagine his surprise!” billy said sarcastically. steve coughed to try to cover his laugh and billy rolled his eyes before glaring at tommy.

“i heard munson’s name a bit,” tommy said, still looking at steve. 

“what about it?” steve asked, leaning on the hood next to billy as he passed the joint back to him.

“where’s he at?” tommy asked. his eyes still have not left steve. 

“who’s askin’?” billy asked. steve’s eyes flicked over to billy before moving back to tommy as steve tried not to smile. tommy scrunched his face up at that and glared at billy.

“i don’t know why you care so much, hagan,” steve said, taking the joint back. “in fact, none of my life or who i hang out with is any of your business. and yet, you’re always asking people about me or watching me when you see me out in public.” billy looked at him with wide eyes with his head tilted down as if to ask ‘are you gonna do this right now?’.

“oh you would think-”

“don’t even try it with me, tommy. i know people, remember?” steve said, raising an eyebrow at him. “billy was one of those people you asked.”

“he asked about eddie,” billy said, giving steve a smirk. tommy looked angry. “think he’s jealous.”

“fuck you, hargrove! jealous? of what? steve hanging out with a bunch of fuckin weirdos and kids?”

“of eddie,” billy said, turning his smirk to tommy, tilting his head.

“that fuckin freak fag has nothing for me to be jealous of,” tommy said with a laugh. steve felt his blood boil and his jaw clenched. billy noticed and gave him a little tap with his foot. steve let out a humorless laugh and shook his head. “you finally have something to say, harrington? or are you gonna let hargrove fight all your battles?” billy rose an eyebrow and looked at steve before shrugging.

“if you call him a freak or a fag again, you’ll regret it,” steve said, same hard voice he used the other night at the byers house. billy pursed his lips and looked away from steve.

“oh please. you couldn’t even beat up byers-”

“don’t bring jonathan into a conversation about you having a crush on me.” steve said through his teeth. tommy faltered and billy took an audible breath. “do you think i’m stupid, hagan? did you think i didn’t notice?”

“what?!” tommy laughed out, looking somewhat panicked, trying to deny it. “hargrove do you hear this shit? accusing me- harrington, i think you’re the fag here actually. is that someone you wanna hang around with, hargrove? fucking disgusting.”

“you got a problem with queer people, steve? cause i don’t.” billy said, holding his hand out as if to give steve the floor.

“no, billy, i don't,” steve said, playing along. they both looked over at tommy at that. “so tommy, what if i was? i don’t think it’s a big deal either way. and then what does that make you? because truly, i think you’re projecting. and i am 100% certain that i can tell when someone i’m not interested in, has a crush on me.”

“watch your fucking mouth, harringt-”

“or what? you’ll what? kill me? beat me up? spread an awful rumor about me? tommy, i gotta be honest, i’ve been through worse shit in the last few years than you could ever even imagine. anything you do to me or say about me isn’t going to have the affect you want it to. there’s nothing wrong with you liking boys, tommy. the sooner you accept that for yourself, the sooner you’ll stop being so fucking miserable all the time.” billy’s eyes almost bugged out of his head as he tried not to laugh. tommy looked like he was gonna explode.

“you are unbelievable,” tommy said with a shaky laugh, shaking his head at steve.

“in case you’re wondering, or it wasn’t clear, billy and i won’t tell anyone about this conversation. mostly because neither of us care about you enough to talk about it with anyone, but also because we’re not the type to out people. that’s not cool and not fair. but maybe you should leave before it gets any more awkward for you.” tommy stood there for a second before he got back in his car and sped out of the quarry. 

“jesus fuckin christ, steve,” billy said with a laugh. steve felt his stomach turn as he watched tommy drive off.

“why don’t i feel good about that?”

“probably because you guys have known each other since you were kids and you’re friendship ended abruptly because he’s a bad person.”

“oh. shit. is that what’s happening inside me right now? am i finally mourning our friendship?” steve asked, rubbing at his stomach. billy shrugged his shoulders at him.

“eh, maybe,” he said, standing up. “can i stay at your place tonight? i don’t give a shit about your parents but i’ve kind of had enough of susan and her constant playing of christmas music around the house.” steve snorted and nodded his head. "hey! we should all take a trip to california!"