fireworks - steve harrington

2.03

BILLY THE BULLY

As he did every day, Ren sat in the back of the gym, drawing, or sometimes doing his homework, while Steve had basketball practice. But today was slightly different. He was in a pissy mood because he had bombed his most recent math test, only getting a 65%, so he was just sitting in the bleachers angrily scribbling in his sketchbook.

He only looked up every few minutes, and when he did, he saw Steve and Billy up against each other. "Harrington, right?" Billy asked, trying to steal the ball from Steve. "I heard you used to run this school. That true?" Steve ignored him, but he just kept talking. "King Steve, they used to call you, huh? Then you turned bitch."

"Maybe you should just shut up and play the game." As soon as Steve let his guard down, Billy knocked him to the floor and took the ball from him. But Steve quickly jumped back up and chased after him.

Ren was suppressing the urge to go let out his anger on Billy when Nancy walked into the gym and called for Steve. Shit.

Nancy took Steve out behind the school when he asked, "What are you doing here?"

She kicked a few rocks around on the ground. "I want to get back together. I want there to be an us again. I thought about it a lot last night."

Steve scoffed and shook his head in disbelief, "And what about Jonathan?"

"What are you talking about? Jonathan wasn't there. You and I kissed and then you took me home."

"Jonathan took you home last night. And you tried to kiss me. Then you fell on top of me. But nothing happened."

"Oh, come on, Steve. We were so good together."

"We dated for like two weeks last year, Nancy. That barely counts as a relationship. And I was a fucking asshole the entire time."

"Steve. Seriously."

"No, Nancy! I-I'm in a relationship."

"Yeah, I know. But it's not really a relationship if it's with another guy. It doesn't count." She had gotten more confident, so she stepped closer and touched his chest. "You just need someone to help you ou--"

He roughly pushed her away. He'd had enough. "No. That's not how it works. I-I gotta get out of here." Steve ran off back into the gym, more than a little bit shaken up. Ren looked down at him in confusion once he was back inside and Steve just gave him a small smile, hoping that would be enough for now.

He immediately got back in the game and Billy focused on him again. "You afraid the coach is gonna bench you now that I'm here?" Billy shouldered him, knocking him to the ground again, but this time it was a lot harder for him to get up. Billy came back over after dunking the ball and offered to help him up. But Steve realised pretty fast that that wasn't actually his intention. He leaned down, got all up in Steve's face, and whispered, "I know about your dirty little secret." And then he shoved Steve back down to the gym floor again.

Steve didn't even bother to look up at Ren again. He knew there would be yet another look of confusion on his face, and he just didn't want to deal with that yet. He'd worry about it later. He ran straight to the showers and was the first one actually in there, so he got the most hot water, a blessing in a locker room full of boys who took way-too-long showers. But then Billy came in right after him.

"Don't sweat it, Harrington. I won't tell anyone your secret," there was a long pause before he said, "yet."

"Alright, I'll bite. What secret?"

Billy leaned in way too close again. "You think I don't see your little boyfriend up in those bleachers every day? Watching you? I may be new, but I ain't stupid." Steve audibly gulped. Billy pushed a finger to Steve's chest. "You'd better be careful, or everyone in this whole damn town is gonna know you're a fag." He walked away toward the main part of the locker room.

Steve leaned against the shower wall as the rest of the guys left. He hadn't realised how long he'd been standing under the water until Ren walked in, a notebook in one hand and his backpack in the other. "Stevie?"

"Hey," he breathed. "Sorry, I'll just be another minute. But, uh, you can stay if you want of course."

Ren stepped closer. "What's wrong?"

It took him a few seconds to contemplate whether or not he would tell Ren everything. But his mom always told him that honesty is the best policy, something his father never agreed with, so he let it all out. "When Nancy kissed me last night, she told me she knew about us. And when I talked to her outside, she tried to convince me that I should get back together with her. Billy knows too, and he told me to be careful or everyone will find out."

"Wow." Ren's mind was going wild. If people found out about their relationship, their lives were over. Absolutely no one knew about them, except the two people who could ruin everything. "So, uh, what are we going to do?"

"I have no idea. Maybe we just have to spend less time together at school? Nobody knows about our dates, so we can still have those. I don't know."

"I don't really want to spend less time together, but if we have to, then I guess we have to."

"I just don't want anyone to hurt you. You know how people are around here. People just aren't gay. Or at least they aren't publicly. I just don't know."

"Steve, that's okay. You don't have to know. We're teenagers, and we really shouldn't have to go through shit like this, but we do. Life just fucking sucks."

Steve nodded and towel-dried his dripping wet hair. "It really does."