Written for the @harringrovemicroficandart challenge for September. The prompt was: ☀️Summer & Jealous💚
ao3 | rating: T (just for language) | length: 1k
summary:
Billy takes another puff of his cigarette before blowing the smoke out the window in a pathetic attempt to delay the inevitable.
“I saw you with her.”
“With who?”
“Teal leotard! Fucking Jane Fonda, I don’t know!”
“Cindy? We were just talking.”
“She was touching you! And you weren’t—you didn’t stop her.”
“Baby…” Steve smiles. He fucking smiles! The no-good cheating bastard…
Or, Billy catches Steve cheating. Or does he?
Billy should’ve known when he had to park his Camaro at the ass end of the Starcourt parking lot that the place would be packed. The heatwave was driving everyone inside, and the mall had a pretty bitchin’ AC system. Billy didn’t mind the heat—in fact, he’d be out there right now, shirtless, soaking up some rays if he didn’t have to pick Steve up from his shift at Scoops.
The whole him and Steve thing was still sort of fresh. They’d been messing around for a while, but it was only in the last few weeks that they’d agreed to put a label on it.
Boyfriends.
Jesus Christ…
He knew moving to Indiana would change him, but he didn’t know to what degree. Not the queer part—Billy knew he didn’t like girls. The only thing that got his dick hard was another dick.
But the boyfriend part? The holding hands at the movies, the making out on the hood of his car, the pet names, the Valentine’s Day gifts… he was turning into a fucking sap.
It’s almost embarrassing how gone he is for Steve.
So when Billy catches sight of an exceptionally pretty girl through the glass store front of Scoops, clad in one of those leotards that look like they're painted on, and with her hand buried in Steve’s hair—he sees red.
Billy’s furious entrance through the glass doors was somewhat damped by the stupid little bell chiming above him.
The girl jumps, pulling her hand free from Steve’s—his boyfriend’s—hair.
“Oh, hey Billy.” Steve says, all smiles.
And as much as Billy wants to fucking explode, he keeps it bottled up. Knows he can’t lose it right now. Instead, he focuses on taking deep, even breaths.
Both the chick and Steve stare after him, waiting for Billy to make some kind of reply. When it’s clear that that isn’t gonna happen, she just turns back to Steve.
“Well, thanks for the tip, Steve. See you tomorrow.” She says.
“See ya.” Steve returns. The girl then gives Billy a wide berth as she walks out of the store.
“Ready to go?” Steve asks, like nothing was amiss.
Or maybe this is just Steve’s own way of keeping his cool. Maybe… he was waiting until he got Billy alone to explain. To call this whole thing off.
It was all sort of too good to be true anyway. Real pie in the sky shit. It was stupid. Billy was stupid.
So he just nods, not trusting his own mouth. Doesn’t know whether he’ll yell or cry.
It’s not until they’re walking across the parking lot that Steve nudges him with an elbow. “You okay? You’re kinda quiet.”
Billy’s fingers are suddenly itching for a cigarette, so instead of answering Steve, he fishes out a smoke and his lighter.
“Did something happen? Your dad? Did he–”
“It’s not my fucking dad.” Billy snaps.
“Then what is it?” Steve stops walking. He looks at Billy with his head tilted, eyes squinting against the sunlight.
Billy takes a drag of his cigarette and holds it in his lungs for as long as he can before he exhales through his nose. It barely touches his frayed nerves. “Don’t play dumb with me.”
The line between Steve’s brows deepens. “What?”
But Billy turns his back to Steve, taking long strides toward his car.
“Wait! You can’t just–”
“Do you really wanna do this here?” Billy turns, motioning with his cigarette to the handful of random shoppers just searching for their own vehicles.
“Do what?” Steve asks in a voice pitched higher than normal.
“I saw you!” Billy barks, probably too loudly. But in the moment he doesn’t fucking care.
“Saw me? Saw me do what?”
Billy just huffs and takes his last remaining steps until he reaches his vehicle. “Just get in the car. I’ll still drive you home.”
They get in, but when Billy puts the keys to the ignition, Steve swipes them from his hand and holds them out of reach.
“Harrington, I swear–”
“We’re not going anywhere until you explain to me why you’re practically foaming at the mouth.”
Billy takes another puff of his cigarette before blowing the smoke out the window in a pathetic attempt to delay the inevitable.
“I saw you with her.”
“With who?”
“Teal leotard! Fucking Jane Fonda, I don’t know!”
Steve pauses for a beat. “Cindy? We were just talking.”
“She was touching you! And you weren’t–-you didn’t stop her.”
“Baby…” Steve smiles. He fucking smiles!
“It’s not funny!” Now it’s Billy’s turn for his voice to go high.
“It’s not funny, you’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just–Cindy’s married.”
“So? Married people cheat.”
“So she was just asking me where I got my highlights done, because she wanted some. I told her my boyfriend put me onto Sun-In, and I was just explaining to her that it didn’t dry out my ends. I told her she could feel my hair to prove it. And, I don’t know, maybe that’s weird but I wasn’t really thinking about–”
Billy’s mind had gone blank after hearing— “You told her you have a boyfriend?”
Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, like he actually had been caught doing something wrong, Steve confesses, “well, her yoga instructor is definitely gay and she doesn’t seem to care, so I figure it wouldn’t be that big of a deal… Look, I know it’s stupid, and dangerous but… I like telling people.”
Steve’s excited to be dating him, Billy realizes, his chest suddenly feeling tight enough to burst. So excited that he wants to tell people.
“Oh.” Is all he can say.
Steve finally lets himself laugh. “I’m sorry! It’s just… You’re really cute when you’re jealous.”
“Shut up.” Billy says, but there’s no heat behind it. He leans over and presses his lips to Steve’s.
To his boyfriend’s lips.
Jesus Christ…
He’s so fucking gone. It should be embaressing, but Billy’s too fucking in love to care.
Hello, fellow Harringrove friends! I'm sorry I abandoned this blog for a while, but it was a super intense summer IRL and I worked on a lot of event fics! Moreover, my PC betrayed me and I was absent from tumblr for techincal reasons!
Anyway, I'll try to manage the blog in the best way possible, so I am thinking if maintain the monthly formula or change it, every suggestion is welcomed!
And as now is the beginning of the month, I think it's better to start the challenge the first days of every month, so it will less confusing if you want to join us!
I want a lot of fun for this new beginning, so the prompts will be different, also to apologize for being silent durin all the summer!!
Prompts
September/Summer/Jealous
Word count: less than 1000 (let come back softly)
Remember to tag the blog and the hasthag #hmaSeptember
Remember that we are an art challenge too!!
AO3 collection
We have now a master collection where you can find all the previous collections!
