Apparently Robin didn’t buy the cholera excuse. Something about “what are you, a fucking Victorian waif?”
Well, considering he was being forced back into the social group he’d had in high school, cholera wasn’t far off.
Carol and Tommy were ok. So was McKinney. And even Byers, from what Steve had heard of him, ignoring the whole dating his ex aspect of it. Munson, Holloway, Carver, nothing Steve couldn’t handle.
Hargrove was a different story, especially after the incident.
The incident Robin would never let him forget, despite his pleas to just fucking drop it, for his own sanity.
The night Steve had, after pretty spectacularly falling off the pool table, propositioned Hargrove for a threesome in a closet then had been looked at with such disdain he just left.
Steve wasn’t real excited to relive that joyous experience. Not when he hadn’t really done anything to redeem himself of that truly horrendous experience in the last five years.
Even just examining Billy’s social media, it was clear how inadequate Steve was. He’d qualified for the world championships for surfing, was funny and had actually retained the friends he’d had in high school. None of those things applied to Steve and the last video he’d uploaded to tiktok was his eating an entire bowl of trifle in under a minute.
When they made it to the quiet, indie cafe on the outskirts of town, Steve found that he’d been assigned a seat next to Hargrove. Clearly he was being punished for some unknown evil.
Steve had been in many awkward situations in his young life, over half in Synagogue because his Rabbi had a habit of wanting to “mix things up.” Nothing had quite come close to sitting next to Hargrove in excruciating silence, both sipping a coffee that had been ordered for, not by them.
Despite the fact that under normal circumstances Steve would rather die than have to look at Hargrove again, he looked so pained by the tension that Steve decided to save him.
“So, how’s Missy doing?”
Missy was Max’s golden lab. She was notably beloved across all overlapping friendship groups, but given that Billy was Max’s older brother, he’d have by far the most time with her.
Hargrove visibly deflated like a helium balloon after being asked a question and happily jumped into a monologue about Missy’s various exploits, primarily shoe related.
Mercifully the incident didn’t get brought up once.
Maybe it was because Robin thought being forced to sit next to Hargrove was pain enough, maybe it was because her friends had simply moved on with what they found funny but the last thing Steve was going to do was look this gift horse in the mouth.
Instead, he found himself becoming increasingly engaged in talking to Billy, who didn’t seem to mind being stuck with him that much. In fact, he was talking up a storm, telling Steve about his surfing career, his mental health after therapy, his favourite Instagram filters. It was a wide range of topics that seemed to truly broach who Billy the man was at twenty three.
Robin didn’t attempt to interject at all. She’d grouped the rest of the group all at one side of the table where they sat like a tableau, occasionally staring at Billy. Waiting for Steve to get punched for a second time, no doubt.
Billy flat out insisted in covering the bill by the time they’d finished and then hung around awkwardly after the rest of the group had started to filter out. Steve, not wanting anyone to be left alone, stuck around.
“Steve can we talk?”
Yes they could talk, despite Steve’s heart rate seemingly doubling from resting.
“About that night” Billy started and Steve prepared himself to run. Maybe to New Zealand. The weather was nice this time of year.
“I wasn’t actually pissed at you”
Now that was unexpected.
“I did really like you but I’m just awkward and my face doesn’t show when I’m happy all the time then you just ran away and I’m really just sorry that I scared you. And that I’m doing a shit job of explaining myself. “
All Steve could really say was “oh.”
He knew he was beaming from ear to ear but he didn’t care.
“Thank you for your apology. And uh, if it’s not obvious I like you back.”
They smiled at each other like dorks for a few seconds before Billy obviously regained his confidence, now smirking.
“So. Dinner?”
Even Steve could pick up those inferences.
They went to Billy’s together, squeezing each other’s hands and Steve let himself feel calm.
For @thissortofsorcery
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