“Okay,” Robin said slowly after Steve had explained it to her. “You were trying to home-brew a spell to make, in your own words, ‘Billy Hargrove hot for you.’” Steve was staring very deliberately at the floor. 

“Yes,” he said, “and you don’t have to say it with that tone.” 

“Oh dingus,” she replied, “I absolutely do. I’m going to skip right over the question of why you would even want that, given that Billy Hargrove is a complete tool, and ask you to walk me through what you actually did for the spell instead.”

“He’s not that bad,” Steve muttered under his breath. 

“He is,” Robin said. “You’re just blinded by his abs.”

“They’re nice abs.”

“That I cannot dispute. The spell, dingus.” Steve walked her through it. At the end of the demonstration, she frowned.

“You’re sure that’s exactly what you did? You didn’t change anything?” Steve shook his head. 

“You can check my notebook. I logged everything because it was a home-brewed spell. That’s exactly how I did it.” Robin pulled his notebook across the table toward her and ran a finger over the page as she mentally catalogued the steps Steve had just gone through. She sighed when she was done and then shook her head.

“It doesn’t make sense,” she said. “I have a deep philosophical disagreement with what you were trying to accomplish because you’re my friend and you can do better than that douchebag, but it should have worked.” Steve sighed, frustrated. 

“I know it should have worked. I may suck at a lot of things, but I am good at this.” Robin nodded. 

“You are,” she agreed. “Run me through it again. And focus on the parts at the end, where you could tell something was off.” Steve sighed and started over. 

Three hours later, they were no closer to identifying the problem. They had been over the spell what felt like a hundred times, and it was airtight—it absolutely should have worked. 

“Tell me again how you knew something was off,” Robin asked. 

“For the hundredth time,” Steve said, “the casting felt wrong. I released the spell, and it felt fine initially, but then it felt like it kind of…ricocheted? Like it headed off in one direction and then suddenly expanded in all directions at once?” Robin nodded along. 

“But what would cause that?” she wondered aloud. 

“Nothing that I know of,” Steve said, again. “A protective spell or barrier would cause a simple directional blowback—the spell would have rebounded, but not expanded. And it was a low-level spell, so it wouldn’t have activated the wards.”

“And we’ve been doing regular sweeps for anomalies, so it was unlikely to have been any kind of ambient magical interference.” 

“Right,” Steve agreed. “And even if it was, that could have redirected the spell, but it shouldn’t have dissipated it like that.” Robin groaned and banged her head against Steve’s heavy wooden worktable. She left it there for a long moment, and then she abruptly sat up, eyes narrowing. 

“Hypothetically speaking,” she said, “what would happen if you cast the spell on something that had two layers of protection?” Steve narrowed his eyes as well. 

“You mean something supernatural?”

“Something supernatural that was also carrying a protective spell.” Steve thought hard for a long moment, and then slowly started nodding. 

“That could do it,” he said, running over it in his head. “The spell would make it past most magical protective barriers because it wouldn’t register as harmful, but a more sophisticated barrier would react.”

“And if a supernatural creature’s magic responded at the same time…”

“It could cause a rebound effect that would build on itself,” Steve said. 

“Sending the spell off in all directions at once,” Robin finished. Steve narrowed his eyes.

“But us and El are the only magical creatures in Hawkins,” he argued. 

“Us and El and Billy Hargrove, apparently. Now grab your notebook and get your shoes on. I have some questions for the former douchebag King of Hawkins High.” Steve hesitated. “You have to know what he is to reverse the spell, right?” Steve nodded. “Ok, so. Shoes. Now.”

Billy raised an eyebrow when he opened the door to find Steve and Robin outside his apartment. It was five in the evening, and still brutally hot. 

“Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum,” he drawled in greeting. “What can I do for you?” Robin cocked her head. 

“Whatever you are, you’ve done an exceptional job hiding it,” she said, looking intently at Billy. The smile vanished off his face, and he took a step back from the door. 

“I don’t know what you’re playing at,” Billy started to say, and Robin rolled her eyes. 

“Oh, come on,” she said, and with a twist of her wrist, her fingertips lit up in rainbow colors. “Takes one to know one?” Billy stared at her hand for a long moment and then sighed and stepped aside to let them in. Billy sat in an armchair to one side of the coffee table. Robin relaxed into the couch while Steve perched nervously at the edge of it. 

“So you’re what,” Billy asked, “a witch?” 

“Got it in one,” Robin said. 

“And Harrington?” Billy asked. 

“Oh, Steve is special,” Robin said. “Pure witch bloodline on both sides, with a touch of High Fae in there somewhere.”

“That’s a fancy pedigree,” Billy said flippantly, and Steve flushed. “So why are you here, exactly?” Billy asked. It was a question Steve had been hoping to avoid. Robin turned to Steve, as though she was also waiting for him to answer that question. 

“It, uh, came to our attention that you might not be entirely human?” Steve tried not to make it a question and failed. Billy’s eyes were intent on him. 

“And how, exactly, did it come to your attention?”

“That’s not really relevant,” Steve said, and Billy smiled. 

“Then I think we’re done here,” he said, leaning back in his chair. 

“What?” Steve asked. 

“Or,” Billy said, “we can make a trade. You tell me how you discovered my secret—without leaving anything out—and I’ll answer your question.” Steve glanced over at Robin, eyes wide. She shrugged. 

“It’s a fair deal, dingus.”

“Is it, Robin?” Steve asked, a little hysterically. She wasn’t the one who was about to be spectacularly humiliated. 

“Final offer,” Billy said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Ugh, fine,” Steve said. He really did need to know what Billy was to undo the spell, and he didn’t want to know how long the heatwave would last without intervention. A long time, probably. Steve looked up at the ceiling as he spoke. “I tried to cast a spell on you, and it did not go as planned. The reaction of the spell made it clear that you were not entirely human.” Billy was nodding. 

“What was the spell supposed to do?” Steve blushed immediately and deeply. Billy grinned. 

“It was, um…” Steve trailed off. He wasn’t sure he could say it out loud. There was a very long silence.  

“It was supposed to attract your attention,” Robin finally said. Billy raised an eyebrow at her. “Your…amorous attention,” she clarified. Billy’s grin went wider. 

“Aw, baby,” he said to Steve, “you didn’t have to go to all that trouble on my account. Pretty boy like you could have just asked.” Steve groaned and buried his face in his hands. Great, now Robin and Billy were going to mock him forever. 

“So what are you, exactly?” Robin asked. 

“Wow, just jumping straight to the extremely personal questions, huh Buckley?” Billy replied, and then his eyes narrowed. “Wait, is that why the weather’s all fucked up?” Robin nodded. Billy looked at Steve, who still had his face in his hands. “Your spell did that, Harrington?” Steve finally looked up and sighed. 

“Yes,” he said, avoiding eye contact. “I clearly didn’t account for whatever you have going on magically in addition to whatever protection spells you’re carrying, so the backlash built on itself and spread out over Hawkins.” Billy gave a low whistle. 

“That’s a lot of power you’re packing, Harrington.”

“Like I said,” Robin cut in, “Steve’s special.”

“Guess so,” Billy said slowly, and there was something Steve couldn’t read in his tone. There was a pause, and then Billy spoke again. “I’m a nixie,” he said to Robin. She nodded thoughtfully.  

“Water spirit, right?” she asked. Billy nodded. 

“Which is one reason my asshole dad moved us away from the ocean. I have less power here.”

“So why haven’t you gone back?” Robin asked. “You graduated almost a year ago.”

“Nope,” Billy said, shaking his head. “I already answered your question for the day.” Robin stood up. 

“I guess that means we’re done here,” she said, looking over at Steve. “Do you have what you need to reverse the spell?” Unfortunately, he did not. 

“It would be easier if I could…touch you,” he said to Billy, looking at a spot over his left shoulder instead of at his face. “It’s the fastest way to get a feel for your magic, which will make it a lot easier to undo the spell.” Billy gave a tight nod, and Steve stepped past Robin to get closer to him. He reached out tentatively toward Billy’s arm.

“Hey,” Billy said quietly, and Steve stopped reaching. “I meant what I said. You don’t need a spell for me to be interested in you.” Steve finally met Billy’s eyes. They were wide and sincere and very, very blue. 

“Yeah?” Steve asked, and for the first time since they had entered the apartment, he smiled. He took another step toward Billy, who nodded, an answering smile on his face. Steve reached out and ran his fingertips down Billy’s forearm. Billy shivered, and his breath hitched a little. Steve closed his hand over Billy’s wrist and closed his eyes. He let go of his shielding enough to let Billy’s magic wash over him, and it was cool and refreshing against his magical senses. He opened his eyes to find Billy’s eyes on his face, his expression open and a little hopeful. He swayed a little closer. 

“I’m just going to head out,” said Robin behind him. 

“Sure,” murmured Steve, not listening at all. Robin opened the door to let herself out just as Steve’s lips touched Billy’s. “Fix the heat wave first!” she yelled over her shoulder as she closed the door behind her.