a Harringrove fic idea
***
They weren't friends. Weren't anything. Didn't talk much. Weren't enemies or rivals or .. literally anybody to each other. Since that memorable fight at the Byers they didn't even notice one another, minding their own business.
So if they weren't and didn't, then why did Billy's death wreck Steve the way it wasn't supposed to?
They weren't friends. Didn't have one single decent conversation.
Eventually all the commotion died down. The Earth went back on its axis, and every day started to be normal. Quiet.
Steve resumed his meek attempts at winning Nancy's heart back, when Jonathan was out of the picture. Gave her the six nuggets in California speech. She wasn't impressed.
Steve himself wasn't impressed much.
It's just that after everything has gone silent, he has the feeling that somehow
Everything is wrong. The recipe lacks one vital ingredient, cause everything tastes bland.
Everything is forced, including his weary wish to bring back what he and Nancy had.
It's gone. He doesn't want it, yet he's asking.
..
One day he can't do this anymore. He packs his bag, puts it in the Beamer's trunk and drives to California alone. Ends up in a town close to the beach, rents a small apartment, finds a job.
Starts living a new life, feeling better,
More true.
However, still looking for something that seems to have been lost without him even realising what
What was it? What is it?
His life's great, yet every day is pierced with unutterable sadness and unrest, and longing.
He goes to the ocean, it's calling him, there's a secret, a mystery it wants to share,
Steve peers into the distance, into the misty emptiness, it is not empty, there's something hidden out there for him, and his heart hurts and yearns, inexplicably.
..
Then years down the line, when he's in his late twenties, there comes a day when Steve meets a guy. On the beach. They are both surfing, well, Steve's just having fun, the guy is much more professional about it.
And the guy looks exactly like the long-dead Billy Hargrove. Only his hair is short, and yeah, he looks .. grown-up, Harrington does too.
Steve even calls out to him, in confusion,
Billy ..?
What? .. Nah, I'm Jason.
Jason Scott.
They start talking, hanging out, and Steve likes him, like .. fuck, he likes him. It's weird, cause the guy looks like Hargrove but he's not, and has a whole different background story, and
He's just not.
Billy Hargrove died a horrible death which Steve witnessed, with his own wide-open eyes.
It's super weird.
They hang out more, and talk and laugh together. One night, they kiss, and they .. oh god, Steve could never imagine
That it can actually feel how it does.
The guy looks like Billy Hargrove. Sometimes Steve can swear, there are little glimpses of Billy in him, but hey
That's crazy, and there can be people in this world looking alike, and Steve didn't really know Hargrove that well, and it's been years, he can't remember him, with much clarity, also he's not gonna get all cuckoo and scare away his
Happiness ..?
Sure feels like it. Feels even truer. What they have, the heat they share, the passion,
It goes deep. It's grown roots.
They don't say the L word but they are living it every day, and it's strange, and blinding, Steve's floating on clouds all the time, intoxicated
Like a teenager.
It feels great, it feels right, no
It is right.
They've found happiness in each other, and the longing ..? Steve goes to the ocean, peers into the distance and sees beautiful sunsets, holding Jason's hand. There might be a little secret still lurking in the glow, but Harrington is too dazzled to notice.
..
Until one evening when Steve accidentally discovers an old worn-out driver's license in the name of William Hargrove among Jason's stuff.
His heart drops, hands shake, throat dries up.
What felt so true burns like a lie.
***
What's going to happen? Is Jason Billy? What the fuck is going on?
***
Jason Scott is from Power Rangers. Can't think of any other name for Billy. Jason Montgomery 🤔
