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The entire situation came about by accident, really.
Steve and Robin had moved out together after Robin broke the simultaneous news that she didn’t want to go to college, and also, by the way, she’s a lesbian. And Steve, well, Steve just needed to get out of Hawkins. He felt like his life wasn’t heading anywhere, working at Family Video, but he also didn’t have better prospects in that town. So, it was out to the city for them.
And, well, a year or so ago, it turned out that Billy needed somewhere to crash for a while. Just until he got up on his feet in the city. Or, anyway, that had been the plan.
“Tell him he can crash on our couch for a while,” Steve heard Robin say into the phone.
Steve mouthed Who? at her, but she waved him away.
“Of course. Yeah, he’s right here, he says it’s not a problem.”
Steve raised his eyebrows and made grabby hands at the phone. Robin pushed him away.
“Yeah, it’ll be fine. Of course. Yeah, tell him to give us a call and we can figure it out from there. Great. Okay, talk to you later.”
Steve looked at Robin, hands on his hips, “What the fuck was that?”
“Max said Billy needs a place to stay for a while.”
“Yeah, and?”
“Oh, don’t be like that. I thought you guys were friends now! And Max is worried about him, she says he needs to get out of Hawkins. Anyway, it’s just until he gets his bearings out here.”
“Fine, but if something goes wrong, remember that this was your idea.”
Robin grinned, “Don’t be a drama queen. Nothing’s going to go wrong. And besides, I think you’ll actually like having Billy around. Your life has gotten so boring since we moved.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
The look on Robin’s face said it all, the judgment clear, “When was the last time you actually went out? Wait— before you answer that, I mean the last time you went out without me dragging you out. For somebody who used to define his entire being around trying to score a date, you’re practically a monk.”
“That’s not fair! I’m in a slump. It happens, you know?”
A multi-year slump, maybe, but Robin doesn’t need to rub it in.
Then, it suddenly hits him, “Okay, wait… How is Billy crashing on our couch supposed to help? You want somebody hotter around all the time? Yeah, that’s definitely going to improve my odds, thanks for that.
She gave him a considering look, “Huh. No, you know what, you can figure it out on your own.”
Steve’s protest was more for show than anything else. He didn’t actually mind if Billy needed a place to stay. But Robin should have asked him! That’s all.
Once Billy was there, it was like he fit right into their lives.
It hadn’t taken long for Billy to get a job working late nights as a bouncer. Meanwhile, Steve woke up at an ungodly early hour every morning because he’d gotten a job at a bakery, which it turned out was something he actually liked doing.
The thing is, it just never made much sense for Billy to move out once he was there. They all saved money, sharing the two-bedroom apartment between the three of them, because Billy insisted on chipping in on everything, even when they told him that he didn’t have to.
The idea came about as a joke. Sort of. Or, like, a temporary solution until they figured something else out.
Steve was stumbling around in the dark, trying to start the coffee pot as quietly as possible. Billy had just gotten in from work an hour or so ago, and Steve really didn’t want to disturb him where he was sleeping on the couch. But he also needed to get ready for work and coffee was absolutely necessary at this hour of the morning.
“Fuck, shit!” Steve whisper shouted, after stubbing his toe trying to sneak back to his room.
“Just turn on a light,” Billy said from the couch.
“Shit, I’m sorry, I was trying to let you sleep.”
Billy yawned, “Don’t worry about it, I can sleep after you leave.”
Steve apologized a couple more times, sheepishly. But Billy kept insisting it was no big deal, he had plenty of time to sleep. And, besides, he pointed out, he was the one crashing on their couch.
“Don’t let me cramp your style, Harrington.”
Later, kneading dough at work, Steve came up with the solution to their problem. Because Billy was right, he could sleep after Steve left. And Steve always slept after Billy left for work, too.
Between their schedules, it just sort of made sense. To share the bed. It made total sense.
Steve would never admit to the other reason. That, maybe, he just didn’t want there to be a reason for Billy to leave. Because Robin was right, Steve’s life had gotten more fun since Billy showed up. The guy was still kind of a dick, but the thing is… Well, Steve only really gets along with people who are assholes. He knows that. Robin’s no ray of sunshine, either.
Steve likes friends who he can bicker with and make fun of and who will tease him back. It’s like… People who are too nice, Steve thinks he might scare them away. Robin says Steve’s a “mega bitch” when he’s cranky. She thinks it’s funny, but there are plenty of people who want nothing to do with him when he’s like that. Billy, though? Billy acts like it’s a goddamn treat when Steve’s in a bad mood.
So, okay, maybe Steve wanted to keep him around.
When Steve explained his idea to Billy, Billy agreed to it, but took some convincing. It was only after Steve assured him over and over that not only was it not an inconvenience, but actually it was more convenient than Billy sleeping on the couch.
When Steve explained it to Robin, she looked even more skeptical than Billy had. But she just shook her head and told Steve to do whatever he wanted with his room and his bed. To leave her out of whatever weird crisis he was going through.
It didn’t matter what Robin thought. Steve knew it was just the logical thing to do. Except, you know, how it didn’t seem to make sense to anybody else.
“It’s economical.”
Dustin looks at Steve skeptically, “Maybe you should get bunk beds?”
“We don’t need bunk beds, it’s not a sleepover.”
“Yeah, because a sleepover would be too weird, and this is totally normal,” Lucas says, raising his eyebrows.
“Look, I don’t know why this is so hard to understand. A bed is just a piece of furniture for sleeping. If we always sleep at different times, why would we need another one?”
Dustin holds up his hands, placatingly, before responding.
“Steve, buddy, we’re trying to work with you here. But you have to know this is weird. You say you’re not dating Hargrove— which would be totally fine if you were! We don’t have a problem with it if you’re gay— but you say you’re not dating him, and I’m willing to believe you. But the evidence is damning.”
“The bed? The bed that we only use for sleeping. And not even at same time. That’s the damning evidence?”
The boys all shrug and Max just nods.
“Okay, well, you know what? It actually doesn’t matter. I don’t have to explain how sharing furniture works to a bunch of teenagers. Now, come on, I said we were going out for a graduation dinner and that’s what we’re gonna do.”
“Is Billy coming?” Max asks.
“You graduated, of course he’s coming. He took the night off and everything. Don’t tell him I told you that, though.”
Steve turns and shouts down the hall, “Billy! Come on, we’re ready to go to dinner!”
A muffled voice shouts back from the bathroom, “Hold your fucking horses, princess!”
The teens give Steve another one of those looks. Whatever.
“He was just in the shower before you got here.”
“Yeah, we got that,” Max says, grinning, “Princess.”
“Don’t even start, he’s just being an asshole.”
Billy was always calling Steve things like that. He’d been doing it since high school, for crying out loud! And they hadn’t exactly been friends, back then. In fact, if anything, teenage Billy had treated Steve like a rival. Nowadays, though, people always acted weird about it. It was like Billy’s words, his stupid names for Steve… It’s like it was all supposed to mean something, suddenly. What? Just because they lived together?
“What was that?” Billy says, shoving past Steve and pulling Max into a loose headlock.
“Let go, you dick!” Max squawks, elbowing him.
Billy just laughs but releases her, “I’m proud of you, kid.”
“Gross, shut up,” Max says, rolling her eyes.
But Steve knows it means something to her. Billy and Max don’t talk like that, usually. Steve’s heard Billy on the phone with her enough times to know that they aren’t sentimental types like that. That they don’t talk that way, in their family. It means something, for Billy to say he’s proud of her. He wouldn’t say it if he didn’t mean it.
“Alright, graduation dinner, here we come!” Steve says, shuttling teenagers out of his apartment.
The diner was within walking distance, thankfully. Steve was glad not to have cars in the mix. Not with this group. The teens had all been driving for a couple years now, but Steve still remembers sitting shotgun while Dustin drove, life flashing before his eyes as the teen slammed on the brakes. Never again.
“Look at those baby faces!” Robin calls out, as the group approaches the diner, “Come on, I got them to shove a couple tables together for you.”
All in all, the dinner goes as expected. The teens are loud and keep talking about things Steve knows absolutely nothing about. But they’re nowhere near as rowdy as Steve had been, at the height of his own annoying adolescence. And he’s happy to listen, nod along, enjoy the moment. He’s proud of them, all of them.
That said, he’s suspicious. Max and Robin keep talking to each other. They keep looking at him, too. Nothing good ever happens when both Max and Robin are in on something. Well, no, that’s not true. Billy moved in because of Max and Robin. But that’s the exception.
“Alright, rugrats, I’m out of here. Girls, you can stay in my room, boys… You’re on your own.” And with that, Robin’s gone.
Robin’s been staying at her girlfriend’s place more and more often, lately, so it’s not any big shock when she announces that she’s not going home with them. It actually helps out, because it means more space to house these teenagers for the night.
Back at the apartment, the teens start looking through their shelves, trying to find a board game or movie. They decide that they can probably manage at least a couple movies, but an argument breaks out over what to watch.
In the midst of the ensuing argument, Max turns to Steve, “I thought you worked early. Don’t you have to sleep?”
“What? No, I don’t work tomorrow.”
“Oh. You and Billy both don’t have to work?”
“Are you kidding? You thought I’d invite you guys out here just for a dinner? We’re hanging out tonight, we’re going out for breakfast tomorrow. What do you take me for?”
“It’s just…” And Max looks amused, suddenly, which Steve does not like, “If you and Billy are both home tonight… Where are you going to sleep?”
And. Oh. Yeah, okay, Steve gets where this is going. Max thinks she’s caught Steve in the lie. The lie that all the kids are so convinced Steve has been telling them this whole time. The evidence is damning, that’s what they’d said, wasn’t it? They think this is the proof they’ve been looking for.
“I was just going to crash out here with the rest of the guys.”
Billy, who has apparently been listening to their conversation, interrupts then, “Don’t be stupid, Harrington, I’m crashing out here, the bed is yours.”
“That’s ridiculous, I invited them, I’ll stay out here.”
Lucas groaned, “Oh my god, are you seriously doing this right now? You should both just sleep in your bed. Later. When we aren’t voting on a movie to watch.”
Steve tries to make eye contact with Billy. Like, can you believe these guys? But Billy doesn’t look in his direction, too focused on the movie selection in front of him. Whatever. They both know it’s not like that.
Even if. Well. Okay. So. Maybe Steve has thought about it. Sleeping with Billy. Literally, like, sleeping in the bed at the same time. Sleeping. But, well, admittedly, not just that. Steve’s thought of a lot of things.
Listen, Billy’s attractive. He’s hot. Steve knows this, he’s always known this. He thought, you know, at first, that he was just noticing it because it’s an objective fact. Some people are objectively attractive! That’s just true.
But, you know, at a certain point you have to admit that maybe your attraction to one specific person is something beyond objective acknowledgment of their good looks. Like, maybe Steve likes to watch Billy lift weights, and maybe that’s not the most objectively heterosexual thing and maybe he thinks not the most objectively heterosexual thoughts while he watches. Like, that Billy looks good when he’s a little bit sweaty. You know? And, he does. He looks really good.
So, listen. Steve’s thought about it. But he likes having Billy around. He doesn’t want to make it weird, he doesn’t want to scare the guy off. And, see, Steve will get over it. Hey, briefly he thought he was into Robin, before he found out she was a lesbian. He got over that, like, no problem. So. This will pass, just like that. In the meantime, Steve will continue on like normal.
Which means absolutely not sharing the bed with Billy. At the same time. They will definitely continue sharing the bed at separate times, because if they stop that, then Billy will have to move out eventually. It’s a fine balance they’re walking. But Steve can manage it!
It doesn’t even end up mattering. Steve may not work tomorrow morning, but he did work this morning. He’s been up a long time, and he’s tired, and they turn out most of the lights so they can watch movies. He must fall asleep at some point, because when he wakes up, he’s slumped over in the armchair with a blanket thrown over him.
Billy’s curled up on the couch and Mike’s passed out on the floor in front of the TV. When Steve creeps over to his and Billy’s room, he sees that Lucas, Dustin, and Will have all crammed themselves together into the bed. Max and El are, no doubt, in Robin’s room.
It's not too early in the morning, not Steve’s usual wake-up time, but early enough that Steve tries to be as quiet as possible moving around the apartment. He starts a pot of coffee and then starts cleaning up some of the mess from the night before. Nothing major, just the snacks and dishes they’d left about.
He nearly jumps out of his own skin when he turns around and Will is standing there.
“Holy shit,” He whispers, “I think I almost had a heart attack.”
“Sorry,” Will says, sheepishly.
“No, sorry, did I wake you up?”
He shakes his head, “No, you’re pretty quiet. You probably have to be, huh?”
“I guess,” Steve shrugs.
“You and Billy really aren’t together?”
“Nope. Sorry to disappoint.”
“But you want to be.”
Will doesn’t say it like a question, not at all. He says it like it’s a fact. And, it is, but Steve’s never told him that. The only person who knows is Robin, and she’d had to claw the fact out of him tooth and nail.
“Keep your voice down.” He peers into the living room to see that Billy hasn’t moved, still sleeping soundly on the couch. “Just. Yes, I want that. But don’t let him hear you. I’m dealing with it, okay?”
Will looks skeptical, “No offense, but I don’t think you’re dealing with it very well.”
Steve sighs, “I don’t know what else to do, kid.”
“You could tell him?”
Yeah, no, Steve’s not even entertaining that one. And he’s about to say so, when Will starts talking again.
“Hear me out, I think he feels the same.”
“And you know that, how?”
Will smiles, “The same way I knew how you felt about him. By paying attention.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll think about it. Did you want some coffee? The pot should be ready.”
Steve and Will drink their coffee and talk while they wait for the others to wake up. Will tells Steve about how he got into art school. What he’s looking forward to, what he’s nervous about. Steve thinks that Will’s pretty lucky, to know what he wants in life. Steve certainly didn’t have then when he graduated.
Once the others are awake and dressed, they head out for breakfast. From there, most of them head home, driven by Dustin and Will. Steve thinks anybody getting into the car with Dustin has lost their mind, but he doesn’t say so.
Max hangs back, though. Billy had already agreed to drive her home later, or maybe at the end of the weekend. The plans are tentative. Whatever she needs. Steve thinks, you know, for all that Billy and Max pretend they aren’t close, they obviously care about each other. Billy makes an effort to be a good big brother, while pretending he isn’t trying at all.
Max had been quiet, the night before. Steve thinks he has an inkling of why. He’s sure Billy does, too. The boys all have plans for college. But Steve and Billy both know that college hadn’t been on Max’s radar.
Things had been difficult at home, since… Well, from what Steve’s gathered, things had always been difficult in that home. Just in different ways. Before, it sounds like Billy bore the brunt of it. After… Neil fucked off, basically, is what Steve had heard. Neil left and Susan had to support herself and Max. And that’s how Billy had ended up sleeping on Steve and Robin’s couch.
When they get back to the apartment, Robin’s home. Steve can’t place why exactly, but there’s something to the atmosphere in the room, Steve feels like he’s walking into something.
And that’s when Robin jumps into a whole spiel. That she wants to move out, because things have gotten serious with her girlfriend. And Steve’s happy for her, he is. But. That changes some things, and Steve has been sort of relying on Robin to get him through things like that, these past years. He moved out of Hawkins— a big change— because Robin was doing it with him.
“So, I guess now your room is up for grabs?” Steve hears himself saying, but he’s sort of lost in his own head.
The thing is… Hmm… Well, it’s sort of weird, isn’t it? To be upset about the idea of having his own bed back. But, he finds that he is. As absurd as the entire concept had been— and yes, okay, Steve can admit it was absurd— he had liked sharing a bed. And it doesn’t make any sense. Billy moving into Robin’s old room won’t fundamentally change anything about their relationship. Billy and Steve are friends. If anything, it would make things more normal.
But that pretense, that thing that everybody always assumed, at first, before Steve explained the complexities of his own thought process regarding the bed situation… How, immediately, everybody assumed Steve and Billy were together. Okay, Steve liked that. He pretended not to, but it felt nice sometimes. To think about it like that.
“Well… Not exactly?” Max says, making eye contact with Billy, “I was sort of hoping it would be okay if I moved in? Not right now, but at the end of the summer.”
Oh. That’s not what Steve had been expecting. He’s relieved, and then struck by how strange that reaction is. He shouldn’t be relieved, he shouldn’t have any feelings either way about where Billy sleeps. Really, he shouldn’t. But he does care, apparently a lot.
“Oh.” Steve’s shocked, but then realizes she had posed it as a question, “Yeah. Yeah, of course.”
“Steve, buddy, are you okay? Are you getting enough oxygen to your brain?”
“Shut up, Robin. I’m just surprised.”
He looks around at the other three and realizes, “Why do I get the impression that I was the only one who didn’t know about this?”
Billy smirks, “Because you were.”
“Awesome, cool, yeah. I mean, obviously I’m fine with it. I think it’s great, actually. Billy’s going to love having you around, Max.”
“Dude, I’m right here.”
Steve rolls his eyes, “You weren’t going to say it and it’s true.”
Robin smiles, then, “So, we’re good? You don’t totally hate me for abandoning you to live with these two?”
“Of course not. Go live happily ever after with your girlfriend. But I still expect to see you, like, all the time. We can have movie nights or something.”
“I will not be encouraging a hermit lifestyle, if I’m always over here you’ll never leave home. You need to go out more.”
“Fine. Sunday brunch, non-negotiable.”
Robin extends her hand, “You drive a hard bargain, but we have a deal, Mr. Harrington.”
“Don’t call me that or the deal is off,” Steve says, even as he’s reaching out and shaking Robin’s hand.
“My apologies, dingus.”
Max looks over at Billy, “How did you live with this?”
Later, Steve tags along with Billy to drive Max home. It’s not the longest drive there and back, but it’s long enough that they stop in at the diner before hitting the road again.
Steve decides it’s a good time to voice what he had been thinking.
“I’m surprised that you didn’t want Robin’s room for yourself.”
Billy glances up at him, over his burger, “Yeah… About that…”
Steve doesn’t like that tone or anything the words could be implying, “Wait, no, you’re not telling me that you want me to move out, are you? Because I can do that, but I don’t have any other potential roommates lined up and I don’t want to live with a stranger.”
“Harrington, breathe. I’m not asking you to move out of your own apartment.”
“You’re moving out?”
Billy groans, “Jesus Christ. No. Harrington, I think we need to talk about the elephant in the room.”
“You’re going to have to fill me in, then, because I’m all out of possibilities.”
“I have a new job opportunity. At an auto shop. My hours would be different.”
Steve is about to speak but Billy holds up a hand, “Don’t freak out on me, Harrington, I’m not done talking.”
Billy sighs.
“So, this job opportunity comes up and I want to say yes. But I got this problem, you know? See, it messes with the whole bed sharing system you came up with. And I’ve wanted to talk to you about that for a while but Buckley was like, He’s having a crisis, Billy, you can’t push him right now. What a load of shit. I thought, hey, she would know better than I would, right? She’s your best friend. So I was waiting it out, like she said.”
Robin told Billy that Steve was having a crisis? Why was she always saying that. Crisis. Steve’s not in crisis! He’s fine.
“Is this an intervention?”
“What? No. Harrington, let me finish what I’m saying. Quiet in the peanut gallery.”
Steve nods and motions for Billy to continue.
“I want to keep sharing the bed. Preferably with both of us in it at the same time.”
Steve feels like his brain short circuits then. No, he’s definitely dreaming right now. Because there is definitely no way he’s sitting at the diner in Hawkins across from Billy Hargrove, who is saying he wants the same thing that Steve wants.
“Wait. Really? Because that would actually solve a lot of problems.”
Billy grins, “Yes, exactly, that’s what I’m saying. But first, we need to clear something up.”
Steve motions again for Billy to continue.
“Harrington, I’ve had a crush on you since high school.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.”
Billy laughs, “Yeah, I could tell. I thought it had been obvious but somehow you never figured it out. But, see, I was getting over my little high school crush. And then I was crashing on your couch and you just… Offered up your bed. Who does that? I thought you might have been propositioning me in some roundabout way, but Buckley laughed any time I asked her about it.”
“I just felt bad that you were sleeping on the couch.”
“I know! And that was terrible because it was too nice. How am I supposed to get over a crush on a guy who would give me his own bed?”
Steve smiles, “You don’t. You don’t get over that crush. Because the guy definitely has a crush on you, too, he’s just too stupid to realize it.”
“You’re not stupid.”
“No? Okay, just kind of clueless.”
“You weren’t actually having a sexuality crisis, though, right? Buckley made that shit up.”
“Huh? No, I wouldn’t call it a crisis. I had a crush on my super hot roommate who likes to lift weights in the common area and is also funny and smart and fun to hang out with. Except, you know, I didn’t realize it was a crush, so I was making a fool out of myself.”
It would have made sense, he thinks. Having a sexuality crisis would have made more sense, probably, than the tangles Steve’s brain had gone into. He hadn’t really… Well, he hadn’t even really thought about the sexuality aspect of it all. Like, okay, yeah, Billy’s a dude and that’s a whole thing but, you know, Steve had been more concerned with making sure that Billy didn’t feel like he had to move out. And somehow Steve had managed to both ignore and overcomplicate the situation at the same time.
“Well, pretty boy, do you want to go home and sleep in our bed?”
“Just sleep? Really?”
Billy grins, “Among other things.”