jaybug.mp3

summer bones  •  Ch. 6/?  •  sequel to songbird

So, Billy cranks up the radio and guns it, revving till he hits eighty, ninety, tires squealing on the tight turns. Then he lets himself get lost in his favorite daydream.

He hasn’t thought of it in a while, on purpose, trying to be good and better and settled, cause that’s who Steve thinks he is these days. There’s nothing worse than the disappointed squiggle in Steve’s forehead that makes Billy feel about two inches tall.

But he isn’t Good, Better, Settled Billy right now. He’s Reckless, Worthless, Better-Off-Dead, so he watches the little, red needle on the dash tilt dangerously high, and then he pictures the Camaro crashing.

Sorry to pry but I am just wondering if you are still going to updated the songbird series? It’s my favourite harringrove fic of all time and the highlight of my Sundays 😭

summer bones  •  Ch. 6/?  •  sequel to songbird

Billy doesn’t bother to hide the tears he has to blink away, reading and rereading the inscription. His mind reels at all the little meanings in Steve’s simple words. That he remembered the book at all, that he read through it and marked it up, that he quoted lines of Billy’s favorite poem back to him. And that, to read I am to see to it that I do not lose you, knowing the end is weeks away—

Billy closes the cover so, so gently and lays it down on the carpet, so he won’t sob into the pages. He scrubs a hand over his eyes and curls his nails into his palms, so he won’t break down and get on his knees and beg Steve the way he’s wanted to for months—come with me, come with me, if you love me so much, if you don’t want to lose me, then don’t.

summer bones  •  Ch. 4/?  •  sequel to songbird

CH 4 SNEAK PEEK 

“Here,” says Billy, all casual, like Steve isn’t vibrating with impatience.

“Two?” Steve asks with exaggerated excitement, deciding he’s gonna deal with all this attention by really playing up how much it means to him, just to see how red he can make Billy’s face.

“I mean, if you only want one…” Billy starts, reaching to take one back, but Steve snatches them out of his reach.

“Too late,” he says, already ripping the paper off one and then the other in quick succession, to prove his point. With the wrapping gone, he’s left with two cassette tapes, which he’d sort of guessed from the shape. They’re nearly identical, but one case says, Good Fucking Music, and one just says, Love You.

Steve tries to temper his smile and raises an eyebrow at Billy in mock frustration. “Really? Like, thirty songs? You know it’s really not a contest.”

Billy rolls his eyes. “It’s not thirty songs,” he says.

TBC... tomorrow ;) 

summer bones  •  Ch. 3/?  •  sequel to songbird

April drags on in rainy days, but May goes by in a blink. Before Steve has enough time to truly process it, Billy goes from trying on his graduation robe in their bedroom to wearing it across the stage at Hawkins High one sunny Saturday morning.

Steve sits on a flimsy foldout chair wedged between Max and Will, and watches Billy try not to smile as he gets his diploma. Later, after the hugs and photos with Nancy and Jon, Steve drags Billy into the janitor closet by the gym to congratulate him properly.

Billy kisses him after, licks the taste of himself from Steve’s mouth and then presses his face to Steve’s neck the way he does when he’s overwhelmed and doesn’t want Steve to know. Steve lets him hide, feels his own heart clench and grow just knowing he can make Billy feel that way—loved that much.

“I’m so proud of you,” he murmurs into Billy’s curls, tucking him closer against his chest. He knows it’s easier for Billy to hear girly shit when Steve can’t see his face. “You’re the smartest person I know,” he goes on. “You’re gonna do such awesome shit in college, like. Write books and win every award and, like, break records and stuff.”

Steve’s eyes sting thinking about it, all the great things Billy’s gonna do without him, but he blinks them away and chokes down the selfish pleas crawling up his throat—please, please don’t leave me here, I’ll be so lost without you, I’ll die.

summer bones  •  Ch. 2/?  •  sequel to songbird

He doesn’t realize with the letter, is the thing.

No one in the whole world and least of all Hawkins would claim Steve Harrington is the sharpest tool in the shed, but there’s probably a few bleeding-heart teachers from high school that might’ve sworn up and down that he’d’ve figured this one out sooner than he did.