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They couldn’t really do much about their new… situation. Not immediately, anyway, which was a shame, thought Billy as he sat across from Steve on Friday at lunch. Chrissy sat next to him, and wow was she different than he had expected. She had always been so quiet and tentative around the basketball and cheer teams, but here—
With him and Steve, she was animated and laughing and almost never stopped smiling.
… It was kinda cute, honestly.
“Hey,” Steve said suddenly, perking up. “How about we hang out tomorrow?” he suggested almost shyly, ducking his head to hide his pink cheeks. “Like. Like for our first, uhm.”
“First date?” Chrissy finished in a low murmur, leaning forward with an encouraging little smile.
Wait. Was he liking Chrissy, too? Wait, were all three supposed to be dating, or just both dating Steve? That hadn’t really been made clear, though it almost sounded like Chrissy and Billy would be dating Steve but not each other. It was a little disappointing, honestly. He liked women who could manhandle him a little bit, but… But he didn’t want to ruin something that seemed so good. Not when home was so shit.
“I’ll drop Max off at the arcade after lunch and have a free afternoon,” he offered, swallowing when Chrissy shifted her warm smile to him.
Fuck.
“Pick me up,” said Chrissy. It didn’t quite sound like a request and it didn’t quite sound like a demand, either.
Either way, Billy swallowed nervously. He kind of just… wanted to please her, stupidly enough. “Yeah. Gimme your address.”
Across the table, Steve was just… watching them. There was something hungry in his gaze, something that made Billy hot and flustered as he gave Chrissy a pen and paper to write her address down.
Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.
Max gave him a stink eye when he handed her a whole ten dollars to add to the allowance she would be spending. Sure, he’d taken it from his stash he was saving up to get out of fucking Indiana, but—
“You tell Neil we spent the day together, got it?” he snapped, waving the ten around. “I’ll pick you up around six for dinner. If you need me, call Harrington’s place.” He knew she had his number—had since that night that things went to shit. After Chrissy had dragged him and Steve behind that brick wall and Steve had been kissed by both of them, Steve had apologized, explaining it was all a misunderstanding. If Billy had apologized and had given him a gentle kiss in return for beating his face in—
Well, that was between the three of them.
“You took me to the movies,” she replied with a straight face. “We went window shopping to get ideas for Christmas presents.”
Smart. He handed her another five, pretending it didn’t hurt. But she grinned and thanked him before scampering off. At least she would be quiet, and he probably wouldn’t get his ass beat for taking his sister out and taking care of her.
Hopefully.
Billy blew out a long breath and made his way to Chrissy’s house. She didn’t live too terribly far from Cherry Lane, actually, which was kinda nice.
And she was already waiting outside, shivering in her large coat. She opened the door before Billy even stopped, hissing, “Go!” before the door was even shut. Billy knew that look, knew that wide-eyed fear and tight draw of the brow that mocked him in the mirror almost every day.
“You, too, huh?”
Fuck. He shouldn’t have said anything. His grip tightened around the wheel at her sharp gasp. He really shouldn’t have said anything—
“Steve… Steve knows,” she said, voice trembling. Billy couldn’t look at her as she continued, “My mom—says I—I need to eat less, and I’m not good enough unless—”
“My dad beats me,” he found himself saying, to his surprise. “Calls me slurs. Caught me with a boy. That’s why we’re out here. Trying to make me straight or some shit.”
Chrissy’s tiny hand felt so light on his thigh he nearly jumped, jerking the wheel in his surprise. Both muttered a quick sorry, and Billy hated the thick silence. He’d fucked up. He had to fix it. Respect and Responsibility. Billy tapped his fingers against the wheel, biting his lip as he made another turn. The houses were getting bigger, lawns wider.
Quietly, he placed his hand, palm up, on the gearshift.
“I’m not gay,” he said quietly, keeping his eyes on the road.
A tiny hand slid into his, linking their fingers together. He curled his fingers over her hand, surprised at how much he dwarfed her. “Oh,” said Chrissy, and looking over he could see she had a pleased little smile. “So—”
“You can kiss me, too. If you want.”
There. She could do with that as she wished.
They pulled up to Steve’s house in silence. The place was fucking huge, honestly. A larger house than anyone really needed. Chrissy’s hand tightened around his before she pulled away with a smirk. “Race you to the door!”
She was out of his car before he could even protest. He swore, scrambling out of his car to try to catch up to her. By the time he made it to the massive lawn she was already primly slowing down to brush invisible dust from her jeans as she walked up the steps. By the time Billy reached the stairs, she had already knocked and Steve was already opening the door.
“You little—” Billy snatched Chrissy up, tossing her over his shoulder easily and she nearly kicked Steve in the face in her flailing. He ignored her pleas to put her down, grinning at Steve who just rolled his eyes and motioned for them to come in.
“I can’t believe I like you two,” Steve muttered as he closed the door, arms crossing and failing to look unamused.
Billy could feel Chrissy twisting to look around him. She sounded entirely too pleased with herself as she said, “We bring joy into your life, don’t deny it.”
“Would you put her down?”
Billy, however, felt pretty bold after the car ride. So, he smacked her ass and grinned at her squeal. Shock, though, overrode that when tiny hands gripped his ass hard. “What the fuck?”
“Put her down,” Steve repeated with another roll of his eyes.
He did so carefully, his large hands nearly encompassing her tiny waist.
Damn. She needed more food on her bones.
And then he was yanked down and glossy, bossy lips pried his mouth open.
And. Yeah. He could see why Steve had moaned that day they had both kissed him.
… He kinda liked it, he wasn’t gonna lie about that.
“Oh,” Steve squeaked behind them, eyes wide with surprise Billy noticed after Chrissy let him go. “Oh?”
“Turns out we’re all bi?” Chrissy said with a little laugh.
“Something like that.” Billy wasn’t sure if he really liked the bisexual label for himself, even if he did like both men and women. But he’d go with that, if it made them both happy. But the way Steve was watching them made him feel antsy so he shoved past them and ventured into the house. “You got drinks in this joint, pretty boy?”
Steve stammered and stumbled after them, pushing them towards the living room to sit while he got waters for everyone, per Chrissy’s insistence. Chrissy pushed him down onto the couch and perched primly on the edge of the coffee table in front of him, coat shed and legs crossed neatly at the knee. She gave him a hard stare, tilting her head towards where she had placed her coat on the other couch.
She… wanted him to take his coat off? Billy figured that was a safe enough bet and tossed the leather onto her puffy coat.
“Good boy,” she murmured with a soft smile.
Well, shit. What the fuck?
Steve came back with three glasses of water. Chrissy got hers first, then he handed one to Billy. Chrissy was watching through lidded eyes as she took a quick sip and placed the glass next to her.
“Who put Chrissy in charge, anyway?” Billy grumbled once Steve had finally sat on the cushion next to him at Chrissy’s insistence.
“I did.” Chrissy’s smile was entirely too innocent. “If Steve had the choice, he would be barefoot and pregnant—”
Steve choked on his water, spluttering and coughing as he glared at Chrissy with teary eyes. “I told you I wanted six kids, not—”
“Barefoot and pregnant,” Chrissy repeated louder, shushing Steve with narrowed eyes. She turned her steely gaze to Billy, who couldn’t help gulping at the sudden attention. “And you just need someone to take care of you, don’t you, baby boy?”
Billy, really, could only stare at her with wide eyes. His goddamn face was heating up, he could tell. Goddamnit.
As if she hadn’t completely shattered and rearranged their worlds, Chrissy added, “And I need to be in control of something. We all win!” she said sweetly, smiling so innocently that Billy was almost fooled into believing it. Her smile softened and she reached out to cradle both their cheeks. Her soft hands were nice on his heated skin. “If you don’t like that dynamic—”
A soft keening noise came from his right. He turned just in time to see Steve’s mortification before he hid his face behind his hands and his knees.
“Fuck,” Steve muttered, sounding absolutely horrified. “I can’t believe that sound just came out of my mouth.”
Chrissy threw Billy a mischievous grin before crowding into Steve’s space. She placed her hands on the back of the couch over his shoulders, pressing her chest into his knees. She was keeping an eye on Billy even as she leaned forward towards his ear. “What’s wrong, baby girl—”
“If you don’t stop we are going to have a problem.” Steve sounded strangled and hoarse, curling up tighter as if that would save him.
Even Billy knew that was futile. And he wasn’t unaffected, either. Hot damn, where the hell had this been? Where the hell did Chrissy get all this confidence? And Steve being all shy and needy? It was… doing things to Billy that he was maybe a little scared to admit he liked. Especially when Chrissy started running her fingers through Steve’s hair even as she stared Billy down with hungry eyes.
“You don’t want to be our baby girl, Stevie?”
Steve fucking whimpered. Fucking whimpered. Billy was about to go absolutely insane from his sweet little noises. Fuck. Who gave him permission to be so sweet?
“I’m not opposed,” Billy finally croaked, clearing his throat to no avail.
Chrissy looked a little too pleased. “Billy will be our baby boy, and Stevie will be our baby girl. I’ll take care of you.” And she was looking directly at Billy when she said this, eyes so soft and caring and—and it was a little hard to breathe, for a moment.
So untraditional. So unlike what his fucking dad was trying to force him to be. He was supposed to be the provider, the protector, whatever else macho bullshit his dad screamed at him all the time for, tried to beat into him. But… But he wanted to be the soft one, wanted to be the one taken care of, wanted to preen and parade around knowing that he had two wholeass people in his corner, backing him, lifting him up.
Potentially loving him.
“Okay,” he found himself saying quietly.
Steve peered around his fingers, ears and cheeks still bright fucking red. Chrissy grinned at him, happier than he had ever seen her. She leaned into his space, kissing him hard and gripping his hair tight to tilt him how she pleased. He couldn’t help moaning into her mouth, eyes fluttering shut as he let himself go boneless in her hands.
Another whimper brought them back up for air. Steve was watching them, eyes wide and mouth just slightly parted. Fuck, he looked delectable.
Chrissy leaned forward into Billy’s ear and fake whispered, “I think someone is feeling a little left out.”
Her hand was still in Billy’s hair, and he really didn’t mind when she tugged him towards Steve to give him a kiss, too.
“You have a hickey,” Max said, sounding annoyed as she slumped into the passenger seat.
Billy, still feeling a little floaty after the all-afternoon makeout session, traced where he figured the bruise was. Steve had been a little too friendly to the spot just under his ear, but he hadn’t realized there had been a hickey left behind.
“Thanks,” Billy muttered, reaching for the glovebox for the concealer. Quick, practiced hands covered the spot with ease.
“So?” Max demanded as they pulled from the parking lot.
“I ain’t telling you shit.”
“I know it was Steve.” Billy could practically hear her rolling her eyes. “You dating, now, or what?”
“I ain’t telling you shit.”
“Whatever.”
It could be his secret for just a little bit longer.