#billy ic

[gghoulish]

steve stealing billy’s shirt vs. billy stealing steve’s shirt;

  “Is that my shirt, Harrington?” Billy didn’t even know whose house they were in, right now— probably wouldn’t know them by name, either. Everyone had gotten pretty fucked up last night, so everyone was asleep or wandering around for food. People who had been drunk were waking up hungover, or maybe even still drunk, for all Billy knew. His only interest and concern was the pretty boy in front of him, honestly.

  “Not my fault you threw it in that potted plant. Tommy puked on my shirt, so I’m wearing this. You can never keep a shirt on, anyway,” Steve was just tipsy enough to be that daring, and Billy raised an eyebrow. Well, it didn’t matter, anyway, he still had his jacket. Maybe he should thank Tommy, because Steve sure looked pretty damn good in his shirt…

_______________________________________________

  “Why the Hell are you wearing my shirt?” He’d left Billy alone for a few minutes— the dumbass had fallen asleep at his house last night, so he was nice and let him take a shower. But then he came back into his room and Billy had stolen one of his shirts.

  “Well, you always complain that I never have a shirt on…”

  “It isn’t even clean!”

  “So? Want me to go shirtless?” Yeah, like the guy didn’t already have a shirt somewhere in the house. Steve sighed, regardless, trying to ignore the way Billy’s tongue flashed out of his mouth, licking his lips as he grinned.

  “No, fuck it. Do whatever you want,” he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. If anything, he was mad that Billy looked cute. Mad that he wasn’t really mad about him stealing a shirt. He was having a lot of conflicting feelings.

  “Always so nice to me, aren’t you, princess?” Steve gave him a quick glare after he heard that, before he pointed to the door, impatient for Billy to leave. He had to go pick up Max, anyway.

    That didn’t stop Billy from winking at him and taking his sweet ass time in leaving, though.

[gghoulish]

i just had the super vivid idea of billy’s tactic of Forgive and Forget being like, approaching steve one day and being all, ‘punch me, harrington. do it as hard as possible. then we’ll be even’ and steve’s kind of :/ about that idea because on one hand he’d love to punch billy but on the other he’s a mother of 101 and he’s got higher standards than that. but he does anyway and like... after months of being paranoid post s2, tension eating away at him and being on edge that whole time, he lands a punch that’s a little too strong. actually knocks billy the fuck out, which he doesn’t anticipate

so steve is panicking because he didn’t think he could do that, and he’s standing over billy like hello??? hargrove??? please tell me i didn’t fucking kill you? and he is just kind of grabbing at billy’s shirt and shaking him and billy comes to, dazed and VERY confused, with steve standing over him looking like a worried fucking mom, and honestly

he just fucking laughs, blood pouring down from his nose and into his mouth and making him cough, but he’s still fucking laughing. he’s never going to get over steve harrington looking down at him, framed by the dying glow of the sun, looking like a damn avenging angel

‘didn’t know you had it in you, pretty boy’ is all he says as steve lets him go. billy’s just kind of laying there on the ground, a hand on his stomach as he tries not to laugh himself to death. he’s not about to admit that steve nearly knocking him into the next life was a little bit hot, but it was. billy had asked for a lot of trouble over the years, but this may be the one time he didn’t regret his antics

and after that, billy ‘i don’t having coping mechanisms or know what a healthy relationship is’ hargrove acts more like a friend than an enemy. stays at the arcade parking lot and makes small talk with steve whenever the kids are off doing whatever. billy even apologizes to the little shits, more than once, too. and over time it just feels normal. steve realizes that the whole debacle was billy’s twisted ways of making mends, and he hadn’t been out looking for an ongoing fight, so the tension between them eventually melts into something softer and nicer

well, as soft and nice as anything to do with billy hargrove can be. he is still the dude who gets into play fights with steve whenever possible, just because he likes the physical and emotional friction. the kids still think he’s liable to kill steve, but max figures out that billy’s having fun somewhat early on. much to her dismay, steve was also having fun, despite all his moments with crossed arms and cold glances. it’s a balancing act, leaving everyone else on their toes, while billy and steve somehow felt comfortable with each other despite it all

and finally, steve gets that job at scoops ahoy and billy makes sure to make his life a living hell of innuendos and smug looks. he also lets steve come to the pool after hours a few times (dude has his own pool, sure, but he drops the kids off and can’t always pick them up before closing), though not without paying the price of being shoved into the pool fully clothed at least a few times

that’s just what friendship with billy hargrove is like

[gghoulish]

   “You’re always calling me pretty boy, but you’re the prettiest boy I’ve ever seen---” Steve’s voice broke through his thoughts, and he heard a little laugh come from the brunet. “Hell, might just be the prettiest person I’ve seen. Girls don’t have shit on you, do they, Hargrove?” It was said almost wistfully, Steve’s gaze on anything but Billy as he leaned against his car.

   “Risky to go sayin’ that kinda shit, Harrington,” it was an empty warning, filled with none of the usual bite that Billy had. Instead, it was filled with something warmer. Billy was prone to completely shutting down such affectionate compliments, but a part of him liked it when Steve said stuff like that.

   Ok, maybe it wasn’t just a part of him that liked it. He fucking craved it. Couldn’t let Steve know that, though. His head was big enough with all the hair, without his ego being inflated, and they had a delicate and dangerous dance going on. He didn’t need to know how saying that kind of shit made Billy’s heart flutter and face feel warm.

   “You never really complain,” Steve’s courage seemed to return as he cocked his head towards Billy, an eyebrow raised. He seemed to be challenging him, and to his credit, it was a challenge even Billy didn’t want to take up--- not when Steve was throwing curve-balls at him. Steve wasn’t stupid, he bordered on witty when he was lucky.

   “My mama raised me to be polite, thank you very much. Appreciate what god gives you, and all that,” Billy rolled his eyes as he spoke, doing his best to divert the attention from the situation at hand. He simply crossed his arms and looked away, trying not to let Steve’s word stick in his head for too long.

   “Whatever you say, Hargrove.”

[gghoulish]

   “Oooh, I’m Billy Hargrove, I don’t know how to keep a shirt on and I lure children into the woods so I can cook them in my house made of candy.” With or without context, Steve looked like a jackass as he angrily threw together the stupidly intricate order that one of the kids had given him.

   “Hey, Steve, remember when we said Billy was coming to pick Max up?”

   After hearing what Dustin said, he looked up just as he added the last topping and spotted a very pissed Billy, arms crossed, standing next to Max, who was giggling.

   “Oh shit.”

   Robin was barely holding herself together and it only got worse when Billy picked the cup of ice cream up and promptly dumped it on Steve’s head. Robin hadn’t even caught her breath from her laughing fit by the time Billy had left.

    “Damn, you’re even worse with guys than you are with girls, Harrington. Impressed that you even remembered Hansel and Gretel, though.”

[gghoulish]

   He had to pick Max up, what else was new. She was late as always and he let the Camaro idle as he sighed, taking a drag of his cigarette. It felt strange to be parked at the highschool, but Max was getting older. All the kids were. Another blink and they’d be graduating, off to do better shit than he was.

   He let his gaze sweep over the schoolyard, taking in the details. Not much had changed. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a group of kids--- one of them looked familiar, and he was getting pushed around.

   Billy tensed as he watched the exchange. Noticed who it was--- the Byers kid. The one that was hopelessly awkward and incapable of finding a girlfriend. Billy had overheard more than one phone call to the kid, where Max was trying to set him up with someone or comfort him for a failed date.

   No one really seemed to notice that the kid was gay. Unless they happened to be an asshole, someone with a vendetta. Billy didn’t need to be within earshot of the group to know what kind of shit was being thrown around. Faggot was the favorite word of any Hawkins teenager with a desire for trouble. The kid could pass among his friends, who gave him the benefit of the doubt, but strangers were not so kind.

   Something about it made him feel bad. Like he had to do something. Truth be told, Max wasn’t a girl who needed much defending--- a guy could talk shit to her and she wouldn’t hesitate to slam her skateboard into their shins. That made Billy proud. But seeing a kid--- scrawnier than all the others and pathetic to boot--- be pushed around, made him feel--- protective.

   He was out of the car before he thought much on it. There was no Max around to protect Will (and every other friend of the poor kid seemed to be absorbed in their own shit), so it looked like it fell on Billy’s shoulders. Okay, maybe it didn’t, but he wasn’t going to stand for this bullshit.

   “Hey, shitheads. Leave the damn kid alone,” he was taller than the lot of them--- they looked at him at first with harsh expressions, but then they realized they were at a loss. He caught one of them by his shirt, the one he’d seen pushing Will hard enough for him to tumble to the ground.

   “You try that shit again and you’ll need a new fucking face, you got that?” He said it quietly, only loud enough that those within a few feet could hear what he said. Quiet as he was, his voice still conveyed that he was very serious. He seemed to pick the right one of them to harass, because the others took his lead when Billy dropped him and he went running.

   “Okay, come on, kid. You can have a ride with me and Max,” the switch flipped and he was no longer mad, just leaning down to offer Will a hand. He seemed skeptical of the offer, but eventually took Billy’s hand and accepted the help.

   “A--- alright. Th-thanks. I... I was gonna take the bus home, but...” He trailed off, frowning. It was only a few seconds later that Billy spotted Max, who may as well be a red-haired beacon, coming towards them.

   “Will?! Are you okay? Did Billy do something?” As much as they had been getting along lately, she still gave him a scathing look. Billy knew she wouldn’t hesitate to lash out at him, and honestly, if he was as low as to hurt Will of all people, he’d willingly let her fuck him up. But that wasn’t the case.

   “No! I’m fine, Max. It was a misunderstanding.... Billy--- uh. He helped me out. He’s gonna drive me home,” he obviously didn’t want to admit to the bullying he’d undergone, even if it was hard to ignore. But the fact that he stood up for Billy was nice. Especially since Max had her skateboard in hand and was not shy with flinging that fucking thing around. Billy tried to make the breath he let out seem casual, instead of a clue towards him having been tense to begin with.

   “Mmhmm,” Max obviously was a little on edge, looping an arm through Will’s as she lead him to the Camaro. “C’mon, Will. I’ve got a cassette of Billy Idol. We win the vote since there’s more of us than him.” Well, Billy wouldn’t complain. At least the skateboard hadn’t hit him today. Yet.

[gghoulish]

   As if a vehicle for karma, Billy was just arriving for his shift when he saw a familiar face getting ready to settle down by the pool, his shitload of kids in tow. Naturally, he looked Steve Harrington dead in the eyes as he said, “if you start to drown, I’m letting you.”