Work Text:
Max can’t eat anymore. Everything tastes like the Upside Down, and Billy gets that. So he tries making new foods for her, cuisine they've never had before. Because if they don't know what it's supposed to taste like then it can't be a trick.
Max crawls into his bed every night, so he leaves a spot for her. Has new and complex snacks that he can keep in his room in the nightstand so he can try to get her to have a midnight bite when she does come in crying, too skinny and hollow. “For me,” he begs. “For you.” Their rebuilt family.
She has him take one bite for each of her's, a deal she gets to make with him. Billy drives them to the few international markets they can find, and then discovers the community college has a cooking class they can attend together.
They’re the only brother-sister duo, but a few moms who signed up for when their kids come back from college practically adopt them as their own. They get invited over for dinner often, and it’s always a new intricate dish. They don’t know the details, but know Max is picky.
They find out she likes Indian food, but not French. Billy likes stir fry, it's easy and fills them both up. They start inviting people over to taste their dishes, and the Party spends at least one night a week at their table.
One day, on a day that’s supposed to be An Easy Day, someone hands Max the same meal she’d thrown up after Vecna had shown her visions of dead Billy and broken her arm. She doesn’t realize until she’s halfway through a swallow, and almost passes out choking. She calls Billy, sobbing and incoherent with fear.
Billy drives the Camaro like he stole it, and he finds her sobbing in the lunchroom. He snatches her into his arms, letting her soak his shirt with her tears. When she calms down he gives her the emergency Snickers he always has on him, it’s her safe food
She clings to him the way she always wanted to be able to cling to her mom. It's tight, face buried in his curls, and maybe a little gross, she'll apologize later, but right now Billy is HERE and he loves her and he's gonna protect her- even from stupid snacks. She splits the candy.
He drives her to the arcade after, and they spend hours playing games together. Steve shows up with the rest of the kids after school, and when Max is distracted with her friends he gives Billy as much comfort as he can.
Billy nuzzles into his chest, the stupid Family Video vest and poofy hair making him laugh after the day he's had. “It's gonna be okay,” “I know. It’s just taking a while.” Billy murmurs. “I’ll be here while you wait.” Steve replies, kissing his forehead.
They drive back home and Max plays Cyndi Lauper at top volume while Billy doesn’t say a single word. He makes them Hamburger Helper for dinner, it’s as close to pre-Vecna comfort food as either of them know. After dinner they sit in front of the TV and watch Tales From the Crypt, fake monsters.
Max sits on his lap when they watch tv and she doesn’t even make a snarky comment about it. “You should invite Steve over.” Her voice is small, cracking halfway through the sentence, and her eyes don’t leave the TV, but her grip on his arm tightens.
Billy waits til it loosens, the panic subsiding, before he sets her on her side of the couch. “Max, wanna tell me what you mean? We’ve had a lot of miscommunication in the past and I want to make sure you know what you’re saying” She nods. “You and Steve. He’s helping, right?”
Billy can feel his chest seize up. Can feel the blood rush to his head. It isn’t that Max is wrong, no. It’s that…he didn’t think she knew. But of course, he always underestimated her. “Does he help you too?” Maybe she needed another brother. She shrugs. “He's a mom. Call him.”
Billy laughs, he’s spent hours on the hood of his car out by the quarry listening to Steve moan about how the kids all call him “mom”. Max is right though, he is a mom. He’s great at hugs and gentle words, all the stuff Billy still struggles to give people.
Max leans back into Billy’s side,she’s become a sucker for physical contact (from a strict few) over the months. “You’re alike, you know.” She almost whispers the words. “You’re just…a dad. And you’re the type of dad who needs a mom. A mom like Steve.” Her nose scrunches.
“I just mean..” she huffs, scratching at her arm. A nervous tick, after Vecna broke it. It could become so much worse, on bad nights. “I mean, you’re good. So good. Don’t think that I think Steve’s the most good…I mean, the best. Okay? I don’t. D-don’t leave. I love you.”
Billy shushes her, he can see the spiral starting. “I get it Max, it’s okay. I understand what you’re saying. Yeah, Steve is definitely a mom. And I…” He chokes up, unsure. “I’m really glad you see me as a dad. Especially after…” He can’t say the name.
Max can see Billy struggling too, and presses her forehead into his shoulder. A cat. “He wasn’t a dad. He was just a different type of monster. Just as bad. Worse, sometimes.” She poked him. “So, call mom?” No one meant Susan-gone years ago.
“Yeah, let’s call Mom”. He dials Steve from their landline and when he picks up he barely gets the first half of the sentence out before Steve says he’s on his way over. He pulls up with ice cream and hot cocoa, exactly what they needed. “You, Steve Harrington, are a mom.”
“Mom’s here?” Max calls from inside, voice muffled by distance and also blankets. She’s made a nest, the perfect size for her, Billy and Steve. Her family. “He’s here!” Billy calls, face full of fondness as he pulls him in. “Max needed us both tonight. Mom and…me.” “And her Dad.”
Billy nods, tears at the corners of his eyes. He sounds the night wrapped around his two favorite people, laughing at the Cryptkeeper and eating Moose Tracks. Max falls asleep between them, and when he gets tired he carries her to bed. Steve kisses him, a quick peck.
The kiss is soft, and makes his lips tingle.
They had a few hours to cuddle in peace before it broke with Max, screaming. It was a painful, raw shriek, a child in pain and scared, and Billy was up and in her room before he was even aware. “B!” She screamed, sheets twisted around her legs, sobbing so hard she was practically gagging, her arms extended blindly towards him. If she wasn’t so scared, part of him would be honored at the trust- a child extending themselves towards their home, their person. “N-need you! He was- it was-you! ‘N Steve!”
Steve flies into her room when he hears her, and the two of them wrap themselves around her. She’s wailing, broken and pained, and Billy’s heart is shattering into pieces. He knows what she’s seen, because he sees it too sometimes. Sometimes it’s Steve rising up from the ground
Billy pins her arms down under his own, pulls Steve’s on top of his too, and eventually the flailing stops and it’s simply babbling and broken hearted sobbing. Which is worse in a way, but still lets her keep them close without breaking her arm again. “Breathe, Max.”
She turns her face into Billy’s collar, a muffled scream making him flinch as he, in turn, presses his face into Steve’s hair. Broken, the three of them. He wants to break down totally as well, and he resists for a second, but Steve is a warm weight against him and he feels secure enough in this moment to give in just a little. It feels good to let go, better when Max starts to breathe normally and Steve doesn’t let go of him.
It takes almost an hour for Max to speak again. “I-Im sorry. Ruined your n-night.” Billy pets her hair down, shushes her and kisses her temple. She looks at Steve, a small smile on her face. “Hey, mom. Thanks for c-checking on me.” Billy curls more into Steve, and Max relaxes.
Steve doesn’t move for a while, letting them both settle. Billy barely feels him go, but he knows the moment he comes back because a warm blanket is wrapped around him and Max. He lifts her up, bringing her to his room. He lies down, letting her snuggle into him.
“At least I know where she got her nesting habits from, now.” Billy chuckles weakly, voice soft. “Like you don’t sleep covered in blankets, Billy.” Steve smirks, brushing hair away from Max’s face. In that moment, it finally does feel like a family- their own version of one.
In the morning Billy is going to make them breakfast, he’s working on perfecting his crepe technique, but right now he doesn't want any more than this. Well, one thing. He wonders if Steve might want roommates. He’ll even make dinner every night.