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To be crystal clear, it's not an obsession. No matter what Steve says, no matter what Max says nor anybody else, it's not. Billy's just caught sight of something fun to do, i.e. to make fun of Harrington and his new girlfriend, and it's normal. He only noticed them by chance, too, when he idly cast his eyes around the mall and happened to land on Scoops, then also happened to watch not too intently as the pair of them whispered something to each other. It was then that his mind was set, and the game began.
"Harrington!" He called rather obnoxiously, throwing his arms in the air for dramatic effect, loving how this made Steve groan and roll his eyes, trying and failing to retreat into the back room in time to avoid Billy, "Might I say you look lovely in the uniform. Really suits your girlish features."
There was something unexpectedly, undeniably feminine about Steve these days. Billy didn't know if he was wearing makeup or doing his hair differently or spraying a little of his mom's perfume on before he left the house, but whatever it was Billy noticed it almost instantly. He draws closer to Steve, only stopping once he hits the counter, his wolfish grin only growing all the while.
"Hospitality," he teased further, wanting some sort of a reaction from the boy. When none came, he cast his eye over to the girl - Robin, her name tag read - who was looking at him, rather unimpressed. "And who might this be?"
Though he spoke of Robin, trying to feign some sort of romantic interest in her, his eyes quickly flicked back to Steve. He could tell how this comment riled him up, how his fist clenched just a little and how his eyes narrowed. Now this was showing Billy was getting somewhere. He continued to smile, and leaned over the counter to speak to Steve, voice lowered.
"I'll take a vanilla ice cream, pretty boy," he ordered, then added, "Pronto; I've got places to be."
Steve made no move to speak to him, to respond to his obvious fishing for conversation. He merely picked up a scooping tool and got to work, though Billy could hardly pretend to miss how aggressively Steve dug the ice cream, and yet how little of the aforementioned ice cream actually made it to the cone. He quirked an eyebrow but said nothing as he dug around for the money to pay.
"So how long have you two been a thing?"
He knew Steve wanted him to leave. He knew Robin probably wanted him to leave, too, which was exactly why he stayed. He began to lick eagerly up the side of his cone, which now had ice cream dripping down it. It was hardly as though he meant to hold Steve's eye as he did so, but accidents happen, right? He cast a quick glance at Robin, who looked so inexplicably bored that it was as though she'd had rather been anywhere else.
"We aren't a thing," Steve explained, folding his arms, mirroring Robin's stance. The pair of them looked at Billy with the same exasperated look, like they wanted nothing more than to see him leave. He couldn't let this happen.
"Aw, look at the lovebirds, whispering and acting the same way, when's the wedding?" he leaned into Steve again, then whispered, "Hey, man, I'm glad you finally got over that Wheeler chick. More for me that way."
If looks could kill, Steve would officially be his murderer. The flames appeared behind his eyes and, unlike he'd ever seen before, Steve looked like he wanted to pummel Billy's face in until he was unrecognisable. This thought did make Billy's smug grin drop a little because it meant Steve probably still had some sort of feelings for Nancy. Why did he? What was it about her? And, most pressingly, why exactly did Billy care so damn much?
With a look back over at Robin, he considered staying to speak more, but felt he was being frozen out more and more by the second, so decided he'd take his leave while he was at least somewhat on top. He bowed his head, refusing to look at either of them as he left, and took off into the rest of the mall, not caring enough to clean up the dripping sides of his overpriced dessert.
**
Movies weren't really his thing. Well, correction, he did like going to the movies, but that was only if he was on a date and he could get a figurative foot in the door whilst the film played. Now, though, after being forced to take Max out of the house for once for 'bonding' (Neil's words, not his), this seems like the only viable place to go.
He knows she wants to be there even less than he does. He can tell by the way her youthful features fall, dragging alongside her arms on the ground. They've never been friends, but he can say at the very least that they agree on a number of matters, namely how little time they actually want to spent together. It's the age difference, the gender difference, the interest difference... they're just different.
They're pretty civil as they get their food and tickets and whatever else, but Max takes the initiative as soon as they step foot in the theatre. He can't tell exactly why, at least not at first, but then he sees what she so desperately doesn't want him to, and he's high-tailing it over, crossing the floor in record time, coming to stop before no other than Robin and Steve.
"What a coincidence!" His voice is sickeningly sweet, high-pitched and totally, undeniably overdone, but that's how he means to for it to come across. Robin and Steve exchange this look that makes his stomach turn, and he feels how his smile sours and turns obviously forced.
"Billy," Steve acknowledges him, actually says his name for once, which is nice. Still, he's still got this expression that's so different to the one he was wearing just seconds prior, as he was looking at Robin and her stupid hair in her stupid scrunchie, with her stupid eyeliner on her stupid face. Billy feels... well, stupid.
She doesn't look unpleasant. It's not like that, mind. He hasn't even begun to consider her like that, no matter what his suggestive looks at Steve imply. He's only playing the role of a creep to get on Steve's nerves; something about Robin puts him off. It's not that she's ugly, as much as he hates to admit it, because she's got an alright face. She dresses in a cool way, with her jackets and skirts and whatever, but he doesn't inherently think of her like an object, which is strange. Plus, the way Steve looks at her, you'd think he was in love with her or something.
"What're you two doing here?"
"Billy-" Max tries to interject, to call him to sit down, to shoot Steve and Robin an apologetic look and take Billy elsewhere to reprimand him, though Billy doesn't let that happen. He just keeps speaking, talking, staring down at the couple planted right beside one another. Seriously, are they joined at the hip or something?
"Hoping for the cover of darkness to conceal your making out," he fills in the blanks himself when nobody else offers him anything to bite on. He nods, scanning the other three faces, pretending like he knows anything and everything, but as always his eyes come back to Steve, "Nice one, man. Get a leg up."
"Okay, I-" Robin seems positively appalled by this suggestion, hence her unexpected outburst. It takes approximately two words before she stops herself, deciding this isn't the smartest course of action to take, but it's enough for Billy. He smirks like he's pleased, though he doesn't think he is.
"She speaks!" He calls, and now he notices he's started to gather an audience wider than themselves, almost like he's the attraction they all paid to see. Perhaps he is, some sort of freak show, mad for no reason and every reason all at once. At this rate, he might explode. "Pray, what is your deal, you two?"
"We're friends, Billy," Steve sighs the words, like Billy should know them already, "Do you remember what that means?"
Billy's stomach sparks. He doesn't feel exactly angry, but Steve's words definitely have an impact on him. He knows he has two choices: either take out this confusion on Steve and start a fight right here, right now, in the cinema, or back down and spend the rest of the film sulking, watching the two of them from afar. Against his better judgement, he opts for the latter and falls back.
He stalks off with Max lingering just behind him, finding two vacant seats in the opposite corner to Steve and Robin. The film starts pretty promptly, and even though it's something he actually sort of wants to watch, he spends basically the entire hour and a half watching the stale interactions of Steve and Friend.
Nothing happens. He waits with bated breath, wondering, waiting, almost hoping for something to happen to put him out of his misery, but nothing at all happens. He watches as they speak to each other intermittently, though never looking like anything more than friends. In fact, Billy'd go so far as to call it familial, like they were related. That thought sent a shiver down his spine for some reason.
By the time the dimmed lights brighten once more and people begin to make their way down the aisles and out of the exit, Billy has absolutely no idea what happened in the film, and he somehow feels even worse about this Steve-Robin situation, if that's even possible at this point.
**
Billy definitely doesn't spend the next week and a half sulking in his room, and in his car. Max tries to imply that he has been, but with a stern look from him and a gesture from her that says 'don't shoot me', the matter is pretty much dropped. Pretty much, because there's still a look that Max gives him every so often, one that he's grown to loathe but accept, and if that's the extent of his torture, then so be it.
Only, things get worse. Even when he's in work, when he's on his shift at the pool, he can't escape it. The heat's back in Hawkins (like it ever left), which means each and every day his pool is flooded with teens and elders alike. Parents and their kids come along, too, and he even sees someone trying to sneak their dog in one time, though that's shut down before it ever becomes his problem.
The problem that arises is this: everywhere he turns, he sees them. Not literally, because a shift surrounded by clones of Robin and Steve is literally his idea of hell, but there's people that look like the two of them just all over the place. One day, there's even two teens that look identical: a girl, with her dark blonde hair tied up to keep it out of her face, and her male companion, whose hair seems to defy gravity. They spend the entire day kissing, and it makes Billy want to hurl.
He shouldn't be feeling like this. His mocking of Steve had previously been purely for his entertainment. He'd never actually wanted to know the boy, so why was he getting like this now? Why, after a good year and a half of torturing the man, has he actually started caring who he's dating, and who he likes and what his feelings are? He used to hit him without a second's thought; what changed?
These questions ring continually in his head for weeks. He doesn't think he sleeps, though he knows that's pretty much scientifically impossible. Whatever sleep he does get is shrouded in sadness, and his waking life isn't much better. Then again, it feels much worse one hot Wednesday evening, when he's working the late shift.
It feels like a slap in the face and a punch in the gut all at once. Simultaneously he wants to leave, and to be sick everywhere. He does neither, of course, because the former would result in him losing his job, and the latter would only make more work for him. No, instead he opts to just look on as Steve and Robin - the real Steve and Robin, clearly fresh from their shift over at the mall - make their way into the pool and begin to swim around together.
It's all relatively okay, until Robin tips onto her back and begins to float. She says something, Billy sees, and then Steve's approaching her. The water makes him all slow, all grace and limbs and, oh God, he's touching her. He puts his arms beneath her and starts holding her up, gently gripping her waist to use as leverage. They stay like that for some time - for far too long, in Billy's humble opinion - before he suddenly dunks her, and she's splashing at him blindly in a fit of rage.
Before he can think properly, Billy's blowing his whistle at them, and it feels like every single pair of eyes come to focus on him, each person wondering what they've done wrong to upset him. His legs shake as he stands, knowing it's too late now to pretend it was just an accident or something of the like; he's got to face the music now, even if he has no idea how he's going to explain himself.
He approaches the pair slowly, with them looking at him all the while. He feels under scrutiny, as though they were the ones to blow the whistle at him. He feels guilty, nauseous, reluctant to continue walking towards them. Maybe he could veer off a little and tell off some kid for something random, to avoid having to talk to Robin and Steve. Obviously they're busy, and-
"What is it, man?"
Steve's addressed him first. That 'plan B' isn't an option anymore, because now Steve's squinting at him, and when Billy doesn't respond for a while Steve takes it upon himself to start to climb out of the pool and - Jesus, would somebody fan Billy? What is it, like a hundred degrees in here? How exactly is he supposed to cope when Steve's looking at him - only him, like he's the only one in the world - and he's dressed like that?
Wow, is Billy's only cohesive thought. If he had a few more brain cells, he'd probably think something along the lines of 'he's surprisingly toned'. The boy is far from ripped, not the sort of muscular as Billy is. He obviously doesn't do weight-lifting, his body presumably all natural, but he's still lean and glistening from the water and... oh, Lord, Billy needs help.
"Billy, hey," Steve clicks his fingers, bringing Billy back to himself, "What's up, man? We're just having a day off. Why'd you blow the whistle?"
Robin, all the while, is wading idly in the water, looking up at them with those big, blue eyes, looking as innocent as a newborn. This only spurs Billy on, who finally manages to form his words, something along the lines of 'you're coming with me', and then he's taking Steve by the arm and ushering him over to the storage closet. They don't go in, but they take cover in the darkness that corner provides.
"Hey, ow, man, watch it," Steve yelps, shaking his arm free once they stop, "What do you think you're doing?"
"You can't do that, Harrington," Billy tells him firmly, then gestures to a nearby sign, "No dunking in the pool."
"Come on," Steve laughs, sounding breathy and in utter disbelief, "You've got to be kidding me. I was hardly trying to drown her, Billy. You really think something bad was going to happen there, if you didn't get involved?"
"Hey, accidents happen," Billy says plainly, then adds, "Don't make me out to be the bad guy for saving your girlfriend's life."
"Jesus Christ, would you give that a break?" Steve looks truly done with him now, "We aren't dating, believe me. If we were, I'd be the first to tell you, bud; you seem pretty enthralled by it."
"I'm not-" Billy splutters a little, cursing himself mentally for doing so, "I don't give a shit about your little summer romances, Harrington; I'm not a girl. I just don't want a dead body on my shift, if you don't mind."
"You're not doing a very good at keeping watch," Steve mocks him, "While you're in here, someone could die out there, and you wouldn't even know it. Maybe we should go check on Robin, hey? She might have drowned already. Since you think she's so incapable of-"
"Shut it, Harrington," Billy orders, taking a step closer, "You don't know shit about me, you don't know shit about this job, so you'd better shut your pretty little mouth."
"Jeez, Billy, I don't know," Steve feigns sheepishness, scratching his head as he says, "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you had some sort of a crush on me or something, what with how you're always calling me pretty. Not to mention your obsession with Nancy and Robin, and now talking about my mouth? God, you'd better just get it over with and kiss me already while you've got the chance. I might drown today, and you'll never know what it feels like."
He knows Steve's joking. He's not an idiot, but at the mention of Steve's mouth, he betrays himself and casts his eyes down to the man's lips. Indeed, he finds they do look rather pretty, pink and supple and, as Steve himself suggests, he might never know what they feel like if he doesn't do something now. It's absolutely insane, he notes, but for some incomprehensible reason he does it anyway.
Absolutely zero thought goes into his actions as he haphazardly launches himself at Steve and kisses him. It's far from the best kiss of his life, with a strange angle and Steve's lips being worse than those of a dead fish, but he does it regardless. First thought, best thought, except as he continues to kiss the man with no sign of reciprocation, he begins to think this wasn't the best thought - or even a thought at all.
He's just about to pull back and avert Steve's gaze, rushing back to his seat and regain his control as lifeguard, then spend the rest of his life avoiding Steve when something shifts. After thirty seconds of nothing, Steve finally comes back to life, and then he's got his hands suddenly on Billy's face, cupping his strong jaw and holding him in place.
Steve kisses like he's never had the need to breathe in his life. He's so desperate, so needy all of a sudden, it's a complete contradiction to how he'd been beforehand: standoffish, close-lipped, seeping hatred into Billy from his very core. Now, while they're hardly in love, they do seem to move well together, fitting their lips and bodies like they were made for each other. It's a notion that knocks Billy sick, and makes his face flush hot, bright red.
He's contemplating sacking off his shift and shoving Steve into the nearest wall instead, or perhaps having the pair of them sneak off and lock themselves in the storage closet and doing whatever they want to one another whilst they're there. He decides against this, however, as he'd like to keep this job, as boring as it can be, and he's like a good reference from it after he leaves and goes on to bigger, better things (fat chance).
So, although every inch of him is screaming at him to do otherwise, he pulls back from Steve, reluctantly detaching himself from the man limb by limb until they're back to their own separate beings once again. It feels sadder now, colder and lonelier, now that he knows how it feels to have them as one. Even so, he forces himself to stay apart.
"Well," he says, feeling the tension of unspoken words in the air. He doesn't know where to begin.
"Right," Steve says at almost the same time, and they hold each other's gaze for a beat too long, and then without another word they make their way back out into the real world, where the sun seems too bright for its own good and there's far too many people for Billy's liking.
Billy makes his way back to his post, silently yet with a little more swagger and a lighter heart than he had initially left it with, while Steve makes his way quickly and quietly to Robin. He doesn't know he's wearing it, but when he gets to her she points out the massive grin on his face.
"Uh, Steve," she tries to seem scared for him, though a smile of her own seeps through, and she sounds cheerful, "Something funny happen while you were there?"
"Nah," he dismisses it coolly, like nothing really did happen, though he knows better than anyone that's not the truth. He catches Billy's watchful eye over Robin's shoulder, smiles at him, and then he confidently states, "But good news, I don't think we're getting kicked out of the pool any time soon."