Running Through Storms, Chasing the Lightning - Harringrove

4. daisy bell and the ocean breeze

They've stayed in the mall until late, until all the other stores are pulling down their gates and turning off their lights.
Robin is leaning back in her chair, pencil resting on her upper lip, as she pushes back against the table with her foot.
Steve is slumped over the window dividing the front of the store from the back room, half asleep, while Dustin looks at Billy with a quiet, begrudging respect as Billy holds up the white board with pride.

“ ‘The week is long. The silver cat feeds, when blue meets yellow in the west. A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly.’ There’s your fuckin’ Russian, asshats.” He snaps.

Steve jolts up, eyes glimmering under the humming fluorescents as a lazy grin spreads across his face, and he says, “You solved it?”

“Were you not listening when he said it, dipshit?” Robin huffs, leaning back dangerously far in her chair, her ass almost touching the ground so she can take the pencil off her upper lip and hit Steve with it.

“I was!” Steve cries, to defend himself. “At least… I think I was.”

Robin sighs and rolls her eyes, straightening herself and the chair back, then standing.
Dustin hurries to stand with her, still looking at her like she might bite.

“Let's just hurry up and close so I can get out of here.”

Steve complies, swapping places with Robin in the back so that she can clear the counters while he clears the backroom.
Dustin packs up his bag, eyeing Billy curiously.

"Why are you still here?" He asks, part hesitation, part aggression.

Billy raises an eyebrow and sneers at Dustin as he says, "Gotta give the pretty, little princess over here a ride home."

Steve straightens, face twisting up into a pout. "You don't have to," He grumbles, turning his back to Billy to go into his locker. "I can catch the late bus back to the pool."

'Not denying the princess comment,' Billy thinks to himself, biting his lip as he stares at Steve.
If any of the others noticed, they didn't dare mention it.

"That music is still bugging me," Steve mutters, turning back to Billy, almost absently drifting towards him. He's swaying on his feet and Billy thinks he must be exhausted. There are bags under his eyes, like he hasn't been resting and, like it or not, Billy worries. "I know I've heard it before,"

As Steve continues to talk, about whatever music he heard in the tape, Billy leans back against the locker behind him and curls his fingers against Steve's hip, to steady him.
Steve doesn't seem to notice, even as Billy slips his thumb beneath the loose material of Steve's shirt and begins rubbing nonsensical patterns against his bare skin. Billy relishes in the feeling of the goosebumps that form beneath his touch.

They walk out of the ice cream parlor and Billy is still guiding Steve by the hip, even as it earns him a strange look from Dustin.
He just retaliates by twisting his face up in a snarl, causing the kid to flinch back.
Robin resolutely ignores them and Billy can appreciate that, says a silent thanks that he'll never say to her face, for leaving whatever the fuck is happening here well enough alone.
Then, Steve's attention is caught by something off to the side, one of those stupid 'Indiana Flyers', just a toy for kids.

"Quarter," He demands, holding his hands out to no one in particular.

"Steve, really?" Robin sighs, while Dustin just looks at him, but reaches into his pocket, fishing for change.

Billy surprises them all as he gets a quarter out of his wallet and passes it to Steve with an acidic, yet achingly fond, "Don't spend it all in one place, Harrington."

Steve takes the quarter from him with a small smile before hurrying over and crouching in front of the mechanical horse, pressing the coin into the slot.

He curls his arms around his knees as the ride starts up, an eerie tune playing tinnily from the attached speakers.

"Daisy… Daisy, give me your answer do," He sings along beneath his breath, rocking from side to side, in time with the song.

Slowly, like a moon drawn into the orbit of a planet, Billy walks over to him, crouching down next to him in front of the ride. " 'Daisy Bell', " He murmurs. "It was on,"

"On the tape," Dustin finishes for him.

Billy glares at him over his shoulder but doesn't say anything, hoping that the venom in his stare is enough.
Steve's face is conflicted; torn between joy at being right and misery at being right as he says, "I don't think that transmission came from Russia."

+++

Steve is quiet in the passenger seat, his head tipped to the side, resting against the window.
Billy doesn't comment, just cranks up the Metallica blaring from the radio and lets Steve stew in his own thoughts.
It's none of his business.
It's not.

"All right, Harrington," Billy snaps, drumming his fingers against the wheel as they pull up to a stop light. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Steve turns and looks at him, really looks at him, as if he's searching, to see if he can tell Billy… Whatever's wrong with him.

He seems to find what he needs, opening and closing his mouth for a moment, floundering, before finally managing to say, "I'm… Scared,"

The light turning green reflects in Steve's eyes as Billy turns his eyes back to the road, smoothly accelerating forward as he tries not to think about what it means that Steve is telling him this, being vulnerable with him like this.
Billy doesn't address it.
Doesn't know if he can, really.

So he just says, "I'll stay over tonight," He realizes how it sounds, face turning red, Billy Hargrove blushing for once in his life, before he clarifies, "So you don't freeze your ass off before we solve this shit for real."

Steve rolls his eyes, turning back to the mirror, but he reaches out and twists his fingers in the material at the hem of Billy's shirt, so he takes that as an acknowledgement, a confirmation, and tries to ignore how it feels less like a 'yes' and more like a 'God, yes, please,'.

+++

Billy doesn't say anything as he and Steve walk to the house, stays silent as Steve presses the keys into Billy's palm because his hands are shaking too badly to open the door himself, keeps quiet while Steve stumbles inside, barely toeing his shoes off in the entryway and making it upstairs.

Billy trails after him, his own shoes discarded next to Steve's in the entryway.

Steve flops back to sit on his bed, not even bothering to change out of his Scoops uniform, so Billy crawls onto the bed with him, jeans and all, tugging Steve up to rest his head on the pillows.
He slides his knee between Steve's legs, while Steve hooks a leg over his hip.
Billy buries his face against the spot where Steve's shoulder meets his neck and inhales, to relax in the scent of his cologne and shampoo, before brushing an absent kiss there.
The fell asleep like that, hopelessly intertwined, with no direction.