"Just read it again - this isn't that hard!" Billy barked, pointing at a line in the textbook as he leaned in alongside him. Steve grimaced, squinting down at the page as though it was offensive to his eyes.
"You're really not the best tutor on the planet..." Steve mumbled, which Billy bristled at. He didn't need to help him at all, he could let Steve wallow in his own ineptness.
But then Steve wouldn't be this close to him.
"Maybe you're an awful student, Harrington. I had a 4.0, you were...what?" Billy cocked a brow. "2.0?"
Steve made a face, "...2.3."
"And you want to be a teacher?" Billy said, mockingly, internally kicking himself when Steve's shoulders dropped some. "...Look, Harrington-"
They both startled as the chair on the other side of Steve screeched as it was pulled out, and Eddie Munson flopped down in it, grinning brightly. "Don't you two look cozy?"
Steve glanced down at where his shoulder was touching Billy's chest, and he leaned away. "Sorry," he said, as though Billy was opposed.
Mother fucker, Billy thought, eyes narrowing in on Munson. He knew what he was doing, and the sharpness his grin took on when he saw Billy's reaction was vicious.
"Homework? Oh, I can help." Eddie asked, scooting in along Steve, until they were touching. As involved as Billy had gotten into all their bullshit, he and Harrington had never crossed the comfortable touching boundary like Munson and Harrington had.
Even if Billy would very much rather be touching him than anyone else.
"How can you help, Munson? Your grades were worse than his." Billy shot over Harrington's head. Munson just mimicked him silently, because he was a fucking man child.
"Actually," Munson said with a theatrical tilt to his voice. "My grades would have been fine, but I kept getting graded down because they didn't like my aesthetic. Held back for just non conformity. That, and I was selling weed to children."
"Jesus christ," Steve breathed out, rubbing at his temple. "Can we just focus on this, please, and not you two bickering?"
"Say, 'pretty please'." Munson said, so close to Steve he was practically on top of him. Then he glanced at the textbook in front of Steve, and Billy watched as the smile fell from his face. His eyes glazed over, and he began to chew on his lip. "Is this like, uh, advanced level shit or-"
"It's entry level, Munson." Billy drawled, seriously needing a smoke.
Steve's head snapped up, and his expression brightened. Henderson was walking across the library, back to their little corner. He'd been gone for the month, a relief to Billy who had unfettered access to Steve while the little nerd was away at college.
Steve stood, quickly crossing the distance to embrace Henderson, tightly. Munson made a noise in the back of his throat that Billy felt emotionally, seeing Henderson's arms loop around Steve's midsection as they hugged.
"Hey, I missed you." They could only barely hear Steve say it, and only because the library was so quiet.
"Me too," Henderson said, giving one last squeeze, before breaking away and grinning up at his friend. "Hey Eddie! What are you guys working on?"
Steve grabbed a chair and moved to the other side of the table, so he could sit beside Henderson. Henderson grabbed the textbook away from Billy's fingers, not even bothering to greet him. "Oh, okay. You're having trouble with this part, I'm guessing?" Henderson asked, and Steve nodded.
"You remember last month, when you came over and we had pizza, you remember that equation we were working on? This is super similar." Henderson's attention was purely on Steve now. Steve looked like realization dawned on him.
"Oh, right. I see it, but then this question is... Man, sorry, you just got into town right? You probably don't want to be doing this on your weekend." Steve said, and Henderson shook his head.
"It's okay, I'm happy just spending time with you. Maybe we can go back to your apartment to work on it, and we can take breaks when we need to, make popcorn, watch a movie." Henderson suggested.
Billy hated the little shit. He hated all of Max's friends. He was fairly certain she'd made a point of only befriending people who would piss him off.
"Yeah that, that sounds amazing." Steve said, grabbing up his college stuff. He glanced at Billy and Munson, looking mildly apologetic. "Sorry, thanks for helping, but Dustin is only in town for a few days. I'll see you later."
The two left, leaving Billy alone at the table with Munson.
"... How the hell am I losing to Henderson?" Billy breathed out, anger bubbling below the surface.
"How do you think I feel? Henderson was my protege." Munson said, huffing and sitting back in his seat. "You want to come over, get high, drunk, and make out again?"
Billy just dragged him out of his seat, back to his camaro.
