Harringrove Ao3 Favorites Part 2

Dance with me

Triggers/Warnings: N/A

Author: LightsUpInTheNorth

Author's Summary: Steve had barely lit the second cigarette of his smoke break when he was startled by the sound of approaching footsteps. He had chosen to go all the way around the building to be left alone and, obviously, it was a failure. But Steve had dealt with failure plenty of times before. One more time wouldn't kill him.

The fact that the intruder was no other than Billy Hargrove might do the trick, though. Steve sighed, bracing himself for Billy's teasing (which would undoubtedly happen any minute).

If he had imagined how prom would go at the beginning of Junior year, Steve would have seen himself as Prom King, dancing with whatever beautiful girl had been elected Queen before the admirative and envious eyes of their classmates.

But Steve never imagined what Prom would be like, then, because he never thought he had to imagine it. It would just happen, and it would go swimmingly, because he was the King of Hawkins High and that was how everything went in his life, at that point.

He had not foreseen that his entire kingdom would come crumbling down as it had. Gone were the 'friends' that acted as subjects, gone were the invitations to every party, gone were the popularity and the privileges it had brought.

Nancy was gone, too, though it had more to do with Jonathan being a way better fit for her, and less to do with Steve's eviction from his throne.

If anyone had predicted this to Steve the previous year, he would have laughed, not believing a word of it. And if he had believed it, because of some uncanny proof that the prediction would come true, he would have been terrified. He would have hidden it, of course, but the fear still would have been there, in his heart, making his chest tighten and his breath shorten.

Thankfully, it had come out of nowhere. If there had been signs, Steve had not noticed any of them. And he was grateful for that, for his cluelessness. Because, worrying about his fall from grace would have been worrying about nothing.

Because the fall had meant nothing, in the grand scheme of life. Sure, it had stung to see the ones he considered his friends abandoning him as soon as popularity had, changing his status from royalty to nobody. He had soon realized that he was better off without them, though. They weren't real friends. They weren't real, period. They only cared about appearances, and Steve strangely had no fuck to give about those anymore.

He ended up going stag to the prom, and he wasn't even ashamed of it... of third wheeling Nancy and Jonathan, his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. Despite the less than ideal circumstances, they turned out to be better friends to Steve than his followers ever were.

So, when he went outside after chatting for a while and drinking some punch, he didn't do it out of humiliation or self-pity. He just left to get a break, maybe smoke a cig or two, and let Nancy and Jonathan have some time on their own. They were too nice to ask for it, but Steve knew they'd be glad to be free of him for a moment.

And maybe, just maybe... a small part of Steve needed a break because he couldn't take staring at Billy Hargrove from across the gym, which had been tackily decorated for the occasion as it was every year without fail.

Billy had come in with Tina on his arm. He had been wearing a dashing suit, complete with a bow tie and everything, but he had ditched the jacket barely ten minutes in, and the bow tie had closely followed. When Steve had last thrown a glance in his direction, Billy had been looking flushed, with his curls in disarray, his sleeves rolled up and half of the buttons of his shirt undone.