#stevebilly

“I can’t surf,” Steve squints through the windshield and at the road ahead. The darkened sky. Jesus, they’re screwed. “But I would like to.”

Billy hums. Drums his hand on his thigh across from Steve. “I know I’ve only been in Hick County for like eighteen months, and down there in that shithole for half of that, but I'm pretty sure we’re landlocked.”

“Hm,” Steve tightens his grip on the wheel. Throws a grin Billy’s way. “You know a place?”

“Might do,” Billy’s voice is light. “Why?”

Steve casts a quick glance to the rest of the van. Nobody’s paying them mind. He pinks as he flounders for what to say. He lowers his voice anyway. “Maybe your sudden and biblical resurrection last month just got me thinking.”

“Oh yeah? About what?”

“California,” He mumbles, honest, and clears his throat. Jesus, the guy makes him nervous . Always makes him nervous. Like he’s sixteen and asking Kelly from Math to get his hand under her shirt behind the bleachers again, type nerves. It's new and it's weird and according to Robin, entirely normal.

Late bloomer, she’d said when he’d called in the middle of the night, and that he definitely wasn’t the only one. All he knew was that something had been fizzling between them since the moment Billy had crawled out of the portal and locked eyes with him first.

It sends a thrill through him. Every interaction. Every look, and touch, and.

Billy turns in his seat. His arm rests on the headrest, and his hand against his cheek. He looks.. peaceful. It's beautiful. He is. Covered in monster goo or otherwise. “What about it?”

“It’s.. I kind of always wanted to go.” He says lamely. Grimaces at himself. “I really want to go, actually. It's always been a thing for me. I’ve been thinking about it a lot.”

Billy asks, unsure, “Why are you telling me this now?”

Steve shrugs. He can see Billy watching him, still, in his peripheral vision in the passenger seat. His heart pounds as it climbs his throat.

“Just.. y’know. Just in case.”

“In case what?”

“Like.” He swallows. Jesus, get it together, Harrington. “You said you’re going back, right? After. Once we kill this thing. You can finally go back. You’ll be free.”

Billy wavers. He can see him pondering that. He nods after a moment of more unabashed staring. “I think so. Yeah.”

“And, like, I’m sure you’re - you and Max - are gonna go together, aren’t you? And it’ll be great, you’ll have a great time. I’m just, like. I’m just wondering if maybe.. I’d like to come. If you go - if you ever want to go back, I mean.”

He can’t help but look back at him, nerves itching under his skin. Billy’s battling a smile, his features free of any previous panic.

“It's a long way to go, pretty boy.“

“I mean, if we lug a beauty like this thing,” Steve gestures at the van, at the speedometer. Fifteen miles an hour. “We’d get there in no time.”

A snort escapes Billy. “Oh, yeah, give it a month.”

“Plus, its not like you and Max won’t be arguing the whole time, anyway. Something about Metallica, or dirty shoes on the dash, or whatever. How could I ever get bored?”

“Max won’t come,” Billy corrects him without a beat.

“What do you mean? Dude, she fucking leapt in your arms when you came back. I’ve never seen her so happy, or.. or so openly emotional, so don’t act like she doesn’t give a shit about you or you don’t care for her because frankly? It’s bullshit.”

Billy’s eyebrows raise slowly as he talks. But he can’t stop. Can’t just fucking say what he wants to say.

“Hawkins is her home now,” He says softly. “I’m not gonna make her chase ghosts with me.”

“Oh.” Steve blinks. Works his throat. It's dry. Maybe dehydration would kill him before Vecna. Maybe it’s the sun getting to his head or maybe it’s just Billy. “Right. Yeah, okay.”

Billy raps his knuckles against Steve’s thigh. It's, like, electric. He looks up with a stupid, little gasp and meets Billy’s easy smile. “Doesn’t mean she’s not welcome, or you’re not.”

“You’d want me to come with you?”

“Hell, I’m thinking it’d be nice. If you don’t piss me off.”

Steve’s smile is wide. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, Harrington,” Billy’s cheeks are pink. He looks away to the road too. “I’m down. If you really want that.”

Steve considers.

He had nothing going for him in Hawkins. It had nothing to offer him. Between Scoops and Family Video and three separate applications to community college… he’s been biding time. Staying close. He didn’t really have to stay. So why?

Screw it.

“Let’s say this bastard doesn’t kill us both, then yeah. Yeah, I’m down. You can take me to the Grand Canyon on the way.”

Billy barks out a laugh, “Oh, I can take you?”

“Yeah,” Steve bites his lip. “You’re, like, the expert. And we could visit the Byers’, and maybe Yosemite - oh, shit, and Lake Tahoe.”

Billy drops his head with a silent shake of his shoulders. And Steve should probably be embarrassed, right? It's at his expense. But it makes him feel good. To make Billy laugh, to smile. To be the reason his features are lax and he’s holding in laughter? It's intoxicating.

And Steve finds it easy to picture it. The two of them in California. Just like now, Steve at the wheel and Billy at his side. Just a taste of that, the thought of it, has his stomach curling. He wants that.

Aw, hell.

“Getting a little ahead of yourself, there, Stevie.”

He beams. Can’t help it. “We haven’t even left and we’re on a nickname basis already?“

Billy rolls his eyes. It's half-hearted. It's cute . Steve can’t look away from him.

“King Steve’s a little dated now, don’t you think?”

“Eh,” Steve pulls a face. “Feels like a decade ago, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, Jesus,” Billy wets his lips. Steve’s drawn to it, obviously, and his mouth turns up in a lop-sided grin. He’s about to crash this fucking van, and Vecna’s gonna get the lot of them, but he can’t.. Can’t look away. Billy doesn’t want him to. And he wonders if that energy is gonna consume him. Or when. “You know, I don’t even know what the fuck I’m going back for. I don’t think there’s anything left there for me.”

“So figure it out when you get there.”

“We,” Billy corrects, palm pressed over his mouth. He’s nervous. Did Steve make him nervous?

“We figure it out,” Steve nods. He chews at his lip as they pull into the makeshift parking lot of the gun store Eddie suggested now. It's more of a goddamn warehouse. It makes it feel more real. Makes his gut churn.

“Flirt later,” Robin pops up as Steve parks. She drums her hands on his shoulder, sharing a brief, crazed, wide-eyed look with him before straightening. “We’re ten minutes behind schedule.”

“Why do we have a goddamn itinerary? Bite me, Buckley,” Billy hoists himself out of the passenger seat. He holds out a hand to Steve, all mocking with an exaggerated stance. “C’mon.”

Steve takes it. Lets him yank Steve up, way too aggressive and into his chest. There’s an oof that escapes Steve’s lips, and a smirk on Billy’s.

Robin’s long gone with everybody else when his eyes slide over where they’d say. Billy stands tall. Still smaller than him.

“We do this, you get that son of a bitch, and I’ll teach you.”

“Sounds good,” Steve grins, a little breathless as Billy slides his hands down the vest. He pulls to correct it, and Steve plants his fucking feet, and Billy keens.

~ Plant your feet. Draw a charge ~

It them Stranger Things bois! These two completely own my heart currently and won’t give it back

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