Fic for my playlist prompt post, findable here.
Based on Malibu by Miley Cyrus, requested by @ayelen-rocko and @daddydxcre
The day Bill Hargrove turns 18, he does three things.
He slips a thick envelope into the mailbox of the police station, containing pages of surprisingly neat handwriting detailing years of abuse, complete with a handful of polaroids that show him at varying ages, increasingly defiant and resigned, always bearing bruises of some sort.
He slips a much smaller envelope into Steve’s mailbox, containing a short apology and a set of sealed letters for Max and Susan.
He blows out of town blasting music and flipping off the town as he headed towards the west coast without looking back.
The day Max Mayfield turns sixteen, she does three things as well.
She has a party at the Byers with the Party, a couple of kids from school, and far too much sugar for anyone to safely ingest.
She cuts her hair with her new pocketknife from Lucas after reading the letter that Steve gives to her, a little crumpled from being kept in a box under his bed for two years.
She somehow convinces Steve to play chaperone to her and Jane when Susan surprises her with a trip back to California for the summer.
Steve’s never quite been able to tell these kids no.
His father won’t give him the time off work so Steve quits right there and tries not to think about what he’s going to do after summer ends.
They land at nine in the morning and the airport is like any airport; too loud, too crowded, and smelling a bit like a locker room. They’re waiting at baggage claim for Steve’s suitcase and Jane’s duffel when Max drops everything to go running across the space, flinging her arms around a figure Steve’s just realized he would recognize anywhere.
Max is hugging him and punching him at the same time, and Billy is laughing and putting her in a headlock so he can ruffle his fingers through her short red spikes as Steve and Jane cautiously approach. He’s cut his hair too, mullet now a slightly shaggy mop of sun bleached curls on top of his head. In ripped shorts and sneakers and a black tank top, he’s so radically different from the Billy Hargrove who nearly beat him to death that Steve wants to stand here for a minute and count all the changes.
They head outside and all Steve can feel is heat, a wall of hot air slamming into him, and he has to slam his eyes shut against the blazing sun and brilliant blue sky. To his left, Billy laughs and then Steve feels something drop on his head. He cracks open one eye to see a wide smirk.
“You better keep that face outta the sun, pretty boy.” Billy flicks the brim of the hat with one finger before strolling after the girls to the Camaro.
They drop the bags at a cramped apartment Billy rents over a garage, Steve desperately changing into shorts and a tee shirt before they head to the beach so Jane can see the ocean. Billy smiles at him when he puts the hat back on.
The beach is crowded but cooler, the waves both gorgeous and terrifying where they slam into the sand. Max and Jane plunge into the water shrieking but Steve hangs back, hands in his pockets.
“It’s just water, you know.”
Billy’s voice is curious, and Steve shrugs. Swallows down the name Barb, scratches the back of his neck where its beginning to pink up.
“Aren’t there like, rip currents or something?”
Billy chuckles and begins to explain the tides, drawing in the sand and gesturing at the coastline. And Steve relaxes. For the first time in awhile, he feels his muscles go slack as he sits there with Billy under an aqua sky.
“Is it gonna be this hot all summer?” Steve pulls his shirt away from his chest, catches Billy’s eyes as they track the movement.
“All year actually.” Billy lays back in the sand, so at ease here, away from everything Hawkins threw at him. “Hope your ready for an endless summer, Steve.”
This isn’t where he’d ever expected to be, next to Billy Hargrove on a beach in Malibu as the sun sets but Steve is pretty happy with it.
“I could get used to it, I guess.”
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