After Starcourt, Billy doesn’t like being touched.
Which is hard for Steve, because he has the urge to casually touch Billy whenever they’re alone or in familiar company. He wants to hold Billy’s hand, grab his waist to pull him in for a hug, just hold him.
But Billy shies away every time, for the first while. When he’s feeling brave, he’ll give Steve a kiss, which delights Steve to no end. It’s more of a peck than a kiss, but Steve accepts it with a grin, treasuring the way Billy’s cheeks go pink as he pulls away and leaves the room.
Before Starcourt, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.
It’s funny how different it all is now.
Except, it’s not funny at all.
But, Steve has to laugh or he’ll cry.
About six months after it, Billy asks to sleep over. His kisses are lingering, he sits right next to Steve on the couch and lets their knees bump and touch. He’s in control and Steve makes sure that Billy knows that, always.
He’s got the patience of a goddamn saint, Robin tells him.
But, does he? He’s impatient. Selfish. He wants to grab Billy and pull him close and kiss him with tongue and just feel their skin pressed together again.
He doesn’t, because he loves Billy more than his own urges and desires, and he supposes to other people who don’t live in his brain would see him as patient.
Not coveting what he already has.
Because Billy was hurt, he was stripped of everything, left broken and used and Steve’s been helping him pick up the pieces.
Just like Billy helps him, in the ways that he can.
Which is this, tonight — their first sleepover in almost seven months.
He makes himself a pathetic little bed on the floor, ready to give Billy his entire bed, but his boyfriend frowns when he sees it and asks, in a soft and lonely voice, “You’re not sleeping with me?”
“No! I mean, yes — I can, if you want?” Steve breathes out in a rush, his eyes wide, hopeful.
Billy nods, his blue eyes just that, blue — in every sense.
Steve bends down and scoops up his pillow and blanket from the floor, tossing them onto the bed before climbing in, careful to be still as Billy climbs in, too.
They’re not sharing a blanket, which is fine, because Billy kicks it off in the middle of the night. He used to, anyway. Steve wonders if that’s changed, too.
Once they’re settled down, facing each other, Steve stuffs his hands under his pillow and gives Billy a smile, “Comfy?”
“Yeah,” he mumbles, although his brows are pinched in thought, or maybe conflict.
Billy’s mouth moves, unsure, before he mumbles, “I…I want to ask you…something.”
Anxiety swirls in Steve’s stomach but he nods anyway, “Anything.”
“It’s hard for me to ask,” Billy whispers, avoiding Steve’s gaze now, instead looking down at the blankets between them, “I just…I know it’s been hard, for us, lately.”
Steve won’t deny that. “Mhm,” he hums gently, nodding, encouraging.
It’s like pulling teeth to get Billy to say what he truly wants, but Steve would wait the rest of his life for him to utter one word.
“I want you to…touch me, a little,” Billy finally whispers after a minute or two, his eyes glancing at Steve’s and he looks so vulnerable like this.
Steve can’t deny the hope that fills his chest, soothing his anxiety, but he pushes it down as he nods, “Yeah, honey, I can do that for you…”
Tears well up in those blue eyes and Steve wants to hold him, but he won’t, not until Billy tells him to.
“It’s…it’s so stupid,” Billy breathes out, wiping at his eyes, “It’s just…this thing my mom used to do, she’d…run her fingertips down my back, or my arm, slowly and…it would make me so tired, and it felt so good, like I was safe and…” his voice breaks a little, his tears slipping down his temple, “You make me feel safe, so…so…”
“Yeah,” Steve nods, almost in awe as he stares at Billy, “Yeah, and no, that is not stupid, okay? I’d love to do that for you, I want you to feel safe with me, I’m so glad that you do…”
Billy gives him the smallest smile, something thankful and honest, unable to trust his voice anymore.
“You want to start where? Your arm?” Steve suggests softly, patiently, and his breath catches in his throat as Billy nods and reaches over, resting his forearm between them on the bed.
Slowly, Steve moves his hand until he’s got his fingertips hovering over Billy’s wrist, glancing at him again as he asks, “Ready?”
Billy nods and Steve gently flutters his fingertips down the length of Billy’s forearm, from wrist to elbow, before pausing and checking his boyfriend’s face.
Billy’s nodding again so Steve repeats it, slowly and gently, and after a minute, he sees Billy relax.
Like, actually relax. His eyelids get heavier, his jaw isn’t clenched, his brow isn’t furrowed.
And, honestly, it’s making Steve relax, too.
He isn’t sure how long he does it for, but he watches Billy fall asleep, looking the most peaceful he’s ever had in months.
Steve feels his eyes burn at the realization, swallowing around the lump in his throat as he gently tickles Billy’s forearm, watching his boyfriend fall asleep to his touch for the first time in a long time.
He forces himself to keep doing it until his arm and shoulder are screaming at him, almost locked up from keeping that position for so long, but it’s beyond worth it in his opinion.
In the morning, when Billy wakes up with sleep lines on his face, looking the most rested he has in a while, Steve feels hope flutter in his chest again.