Running Through Storms, Chasing the Lightning - Harringrove

3. sunglasses in the passenger seat of the camaro

Billy wants to go harass Steve at work, really, he does, but apparently Heather took off and no one’s been able to get in touch with her and apparently, Billy is the only one who can cover for her, which is a bunch of bullshit.
The mall isn’t even that far away for fuck’s sake! And his shift is so close to over. He doesn’t even know if Steve will be there.
It’s like the damn place is taunting him.
That is, until.

Someone clears their throat rather loudly next to the life guard’s chair.

“Steve Harrington, in the flesh,” Billy whistles, trying to mask the conflicting feelings twisting in his chest. Part of him is so utterly, uncompromisingly delighted that Steve is here like Billy could summon him with a thought alone and the other wants to claw and scratch and hurt, because how dare Steve be here, acting like he cares?

Steve just frowns at him, as if he knows exactly what’s going on in Billy’s head and says, “Do you know Russian?”

Billy blinks at him because whoa, that is absolutely not what he expected.

“Why do you need to know and why the fuck do you think I would know Russian?” Billy snaps, trying and failing to keep the venom from his voice.

Steve frowns at him again, getting that cute wrinkle between his brows. “I’ll tell you later, if you offer to help, and you were wearing some stupid t-shirt that looked like it had Russian on it the other day so I was curious. I know your shift is almost done, so I was going to offer to drive you to the mall so you could help out and I'd explain.”

Beneath his flippant, devil-may-care tone, Billy can feel that gentle, soft concern that Steve had in his eyes that night that he dragged Billy into his house.
Part of Billy feels breathless and floaty, like his heart is cradled in Steve's hands, beating in time with every word he speaks. Another part of Billy wants to scream at how unfair the world is because he feels like he's fucking imprinted on Steve motherfucking Harrington like a baby duckling.

Billy breathes deeply, steeling himself to tell those big brown eyes 'no', but what comes out instead is, "I'm driving."

Steve looks just as shocked as Billy feels, but Billy forces himself not to betray anything on his face, instead smirking at Steve, raising an eyebrow, as if daring him to disagree.

Steve bites his lip for a moment, falling silent and contemplative for a long minute that feels like forever, before he looks up at Billy, squinting his eyes against the sun.

"If you drive, we take your car."

Billy nods in agreement, then slides off his sunglasses and passes them down to Steve.

"Wouldn't wanna ruin those pretty eyes of yours," He explains, with a wink. "I get off in fifteen, so wait for me,"

With that, he hops off the life-guard tower and walks away to yell at some misbehaving kids, leaving a dazed Steve behind.

+++

Billy never drives distracted.
Never has, promised himself he never would.
Until now.
Because all he can look at is Steve in the passenger seat, chewing his lip, Billy's sunglasses on his head, pushing back his hair, a singular, stray strand curling across his forehead, nigh-on rebelliously.
Steve meets his eyes in the rear-view, and raises an eyebrow, like he's asking 'what are you looking at?'. It's the cutest fucking thing Billy's ever seen.
He twists his mouth up to hide a smile, however it ends up looking more like a scowl, which has Steve wrinkling his nose again and frowning, pulling the sunglasses down to rest on his nose, then crosses his arms, turning to glare, behind the glasses, out the window.
Now that he's not being watched, Billy laughs quietly to himself.
A kitten.

+++

Billy quietly parks the car, turning slightly in his seat to look at Steve.

"So, before I go in this damn mall to hang out with you and your toddler squad, you're gonna tell me what the hell we're doing here?"

Steve gives him a look, most likely learned through his three, long years of parenthood and says, "It probably won't be the whole toddler squad. Just Dustin! Who hates you, by the way," Then, he thinks for a moment, tapping Billy's sunglasses down off his head and onto his nose, before adding, "Also, I have no idea."

Billy arches an eyebrow, trying to intimidate Steve into responding.
Steve arches an eyebrow as well and Billy can't see his eyes behind the sunglasses but he knows that Steve Harrington is sitting in the passenger seat of his Camaro, bullying him.
He fights back a grin.

+++

When they arrive, Robin is wiping down the counters, gaze swinging up to meet Steve's.
She puts her hands on her hips, with the cleaning rag still in hand, with a vicious glare.
Her eyebrows shoot up into her bangs as Billy walks in behind him, hands tucked into his back pockets as he rocks back on his heels.

"Well?" He huffs, glaring at the back of Steve's head as Steve pushes up the sunglasses again. "Show me the Russian, Harrington."

Steve purses his lips, crossing his arms.

"I have to change into the stupid ass uniform first, wait out here."

"If you're changing, can I have my sunglasses?" Billy sighs, holding his hand out expectantly.

Steve looks at him, contemplatively, before giving a minute shake of his head.

"Collateral, Hargrove! Don't go anywhere,"

And with that, he disappears into the back room, leaving Billy alone up front with Robin.
Robin looks at him, shocked expression still firmly fixed on her face.
Billy bares his teeth at her, causing her to flinch back and hurry away to clean another part of the counter.

When Steve returns, it's with a hiss of "Not a word,", most likely about the dorky little sailor uniform, as he drags Billy into the back.
Dustin glances up, from where he had settled himself back at the table, after having stepped out into the back hall to allow Steve to change.

"On the white board, work your Cali-boy magic," Steve commands, pointing towards a board in the corner.

"You know I'm not a super genius, Harrington. All I know is the few words I've picked up from Russian Metal." Billy scoffs, rolling his eyes as he begrudgingly picks up the board anyways.

"Doing better than the rest of us, Billy," Steve says absently, like he doesn't even realize how absolutely fucked Billy is after Steve said his first name. He shoots a meaningful look between the two of them; Billy and Dustin, while Dustin looks at Billy with disgust and apprehension. "And don't try to kill each other while I'm on my shift."