steve had learned from a young age that his soulmate had to suffer abuse. when he had been younger he didn‘t think much into it , he thought he was tripping just like he did often when he was little , scraping his knees up , but there had been one day where there were more burises than usual. when he was around twelve years old his back had been littered with bruises and that when he knew it , that whatever his ‚soulmate‘ was going through , it was though , but he kept it to himself , because as much as he wanted to help and as much as his instinct was to protect the person , he couldn‘t do it. he didn‘t know where his soulmate was. he had no clue WHO it was.
then his relationship with nancy took a rise and part of him had believed for a short amount of time that maybe it had been nancy all along , but it was bitter to find out that it wasn‘t her after all , because he caught feelings for her and then suddenly he was all alone again , because as it seemed nancy belonged to jonathan and not her. part of him was relieved , because at leat he could be sure that nancy was SAFE. that she hadn‘t been beaten up.
the moment his eyes laid on billy he knew it. he couldn‘t tell why , but he knew it. maybe it had been the bruise on his arm , that he could get a glimpse of during practice , the same one that graced his own skin. first he didn‘t think too much into it until he started to notice more bruises that were the same and he felt disappointment settle in. not that it had to be out of all people billy hargrove that was suppose to be HIS person , no but the pain he had been going through , because he knew he just got the bruises that hurt a little , but he never had to suffer from the pain getting them. sure he had been in a fight or two , lost them badly , but that didn‘t mean he was getting beating up on a regular basis. and once he knew , steve didn‘t went too hard on the other. billy seemed to have enough shit dealing with. maybe part of him was so disappointed , because he had been dreaming about meeting his soulmate , still having this romantic , childish fairy tale ending , but how was that suppose to happen , when billy hate his guts and he wasn‘t any better when it came to the other ?
when the bruises got too bad , steve had decided for himself to skip practice , not wanting to be questioned about the bruises. he was bad at coming up with stories and no one would believe him that he won a fight anyway , even if it might help his reputation as ‚king steve‘ , he rather just skipped practice , always telling the coach he wasn‘t feeling too well , that he might caught a cold or something and rather skipped that one instead of not being able to not play for a week.
steve was just putting his books back in his locker and was shutting it when he could feel someone breathing down his neck and he cursed under his breathe as he was pinned against the locker before he could even react. „ what the heck ? if you wanna see me naked , at least buy me dinner first , hargrove. “ , he huffed quietly and he shoved him on his shoulders away or at least he tried to shove him away. he was far too close for his own liking.
god, harrington’s attitude really isn’t helping this any. it’s just stalling the inevitable -- except, maybe .. just maybe, a part of billy’s hopeful that the other boy’s chest isn’t littered in purple bruises, because that might just end up complicating things. not even because it’s goddamn steve harrington of all people -- king steve, the asshole billy doesn’t particularly like solely because he’s always in the fucking way ever since he’d arrived in hawkins. coupled with his attitude and it’s a sure way to rile the blond up, this constant rivalry between the two surely not going to help if his fear would end up becoming reality in the end. because that’s what it is, at this point. fear. he’s scared of what he’s going to find out -- scared his suspicions might just get confirmed, because he can’t have that.
harrington or not, he can’t go through this shit again. because boys didn’t date other boys. it just didn’t fucking happen and if it did -- it was wrong. shunned, hell people could get killed over it. his father had made it abundantly clear what he thought of it as well, when he’d told him to pack his bags so they could leave california before billy had gotten a chance to tell .. well anyone. but not before going through one of his lessons either. by the time they had made it to hawkins he thought he was done with it. sure he always knew that chicks just .. didn’t do it for him, but the reputation he’d made for himself meant it kept neil off his back.
at least over things like who billy goddamn likes. and now -- now there’s this guy, running around with bruises placed on the very same spot billy has them and the blond doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry or just fucking beat up the brunet, because it really feels like the world’s playing some giant cosmic joke on him right now.
“ i said --- take off your shirt. “
billy repeats himself, practically fuming once he’s shoved off of the other, obviously not intending to budge, nor to let the brunet go, until he does as he’s told. “ do it or i’ll fuckin’ do it for you, harrington. “ his tone doesn’t leave room to argue, so the other better do what he’s told.