Just an observation:) Was looking at s2Steve gifs and honestly I so get why Billy was going feral about him.
Not only season 2 was imo Steve's peak Look and Character season, but also. Him and Billy ended up being ultimate pulling-pigtails, hard-to-get scenario with gut punch ending - but not for obvious reasons.
By schoolyard drama standarts Steve should have responded to Billy upstaging him as alpha dog, they could have hot-blooded rivarly and maybe allyship after. Yet Steve wasn't playing by the rules bc a) he already denounced his circle in s1 b) he's involved in supernatural horrors beyond comprehension plot.
So it gets almost (rom)comical in the beginning, Billy showing off all he’s got so Steve would aknowledge and challenge him while Steve isn’t interested, occupied with Upside Down past (different coping mechanisms lead to breackup with Nancy) and present issues.
It gets much heavier in 2.9, after we see abuse Billy gets subjected to. Inter-dimensional creatures are not the only monsters that can mess you up, but Steve doesn’t know this about Billy. But even before Billy threatened Lucas, by the way, Steve wasn’t going to clue him in on monster stuff.
