sugar baby billy you say???
Steve’s a trust fund kid, his daddy is rich, Scoops pays below minimum wage, but Steve’s wallet is always fat and his bank account is obscene
Billy is Billy though and when Steve tries to buy him something as simple as lunch Billy gets worked up and tells him to go fuck himself and his money bags,
It takes a lot of work and a lot of trust and a lot of Steve explaining to Billy what a present actually is and that Steve’s not Neil and there’s no double meaning, ‘it’s, like, me showing you how much I care about you, dumbass, so will you just take the fucking album already, good freaking god al-fucking-mighty’
It starts off small. A cassette. Some vinyl. A free sundae at Scoops (it’s the only time Billy will eat that many carbs and sugar at once and he’s so grumpy about it but he does slap Steve’s ass and say ‘thanks’ hours later in the backseat of the BMW)
Then there’s the gold earring Steve buys for his birthday and Billy’s reaction is to say ‘fuck you’ and kiss Steve and put it on right there in Steve’s room
The walkman causes Billy to not talk to Steve for two days but then Billy’s climbing into Steve’s room at one in the morning and telling him he’s such a douchebag and Steve says ‘We’re peas in a goddamn pod then, aren’t we?’
They’re little gifts that aren’t a lot of money for Steve but for Billy are pricey and hefty with meaning - no one just buys Billy anything, no one is nice to Billy for no reason, no one just wants to show they care and want him to be happy
Billy tries to get Steve presents, stresses over it, thinks he has to, that if Steve gets him something then of course he should get Steve something back, that’s how it’s supposed to work (nothing big, but things he thinks Steve will like, haircare products Billy knows will make Steve’s hair pop or music Steve’s never heard of but needs to right now)
Steve tells Billy he doesn’t have to get Steve anything - Steve’s not expecting anything back when he gives Billy a skull ring or a a belt with a buckle that hits you in the face it’s so big and awful and horny as heck
Steve does it because he’s thinking of Billy
He really doesn’t expect anything back
He knows their situations are different - Steve says it as delicately as he can and Billy has to smoke two cigs before he can begin to reply to that one
So he doesn’t push himself to return the favor anymore
Steve shows he cares by buying him things and Billy shows he sort of cares too by calling Steve pretty boy and a million other pet names that make Steve buzz and smile
Then the camaro gets wrecked.
The powder blue angel gets t-boned and Billy spends that week first afterwards being pissed off and mourning, not giving a shit about his wrist being broken
His car is totaled and his heart is visibly shattered and like hell does he have money to get his one and only fixed up pretty like she used to be
He pays for the car repair. Gets the camaro sent to the best shop in Indiana. He expects Billy to be angry at him, the old kind of angry back when he first moved to Hawkins, before they started all this
But Billy puts his head on Steve’s shoulder and clutches at Steve’s shirt and he’s trembling and Steve can feel his shoulder getting wet and can hear Billy struggling with someone caring about him this much for the first time in years
In the months between, Steve drives Billy around wherever he needs to go, they spend every day together, they’re attached at the hip and every night ends with Steve kissing Billy and telling him ‘See you in the morning’ and Steve’s there in the morning to give Billy his morning kiss and to take Billy to work, never late, always on time, proving he’s someone Billy can rely on
And when Billy gets the camaro back, somehow even better than before the crash, he tells Steve thank you - seriously and without any curses or jokes about Steve and his money bags and his rich daddy
Billy knows he can’t ever reciprocate, there’s nothing he can give that would begin to equal what Steve’s given him (Billy’s got nothing and he’s always, deep down, never thought he was much of anything either)
So Billy holds Steve closer, tries to open up more, finds it’s not so hard when he lets the walls down and Steve doesn’t disappoint or hurt, he seems to love even harder - and Billy finally let’s himself love without holding back
After all this, Billy’s a little more accepting of Steve’s presents
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