More Than a One Time Thing (Harringrove)

Dangerous

Steve's parents were home when he got there after school. They hugged him and told him how much they missed him. He had to admit that he missed them too, as any person would. He was sitting in the kitchen with his mom as she prepared dinner. His father was in his usual spot in the living room, watching tv.

"Anything interesting happen while we were gone, sweetie?" His mom asked, her green eyes bright as she smiled at him. Steve returned the smile as he leaned back against the counter.

"Uh, well.. I broke up with Nancy. Or, rather, we broke up with each other." Steve waited for a shocked reaction, but there wasn't one. Not one he was expecting anyway.

"I see. Hm. Suppose it can't be helped." Mrs. Harrington shrugged as she chopped up chicken breasts. When Steve asked her what she meant she admitted that she always thought Nancy was a nice girl, but didn't really care for her as his girlfriend.

"But, like.. why?" Steve found himself asking out of pure curiosity.

"She's a good girl and you're a good boy. That just leads to marriages that no one was ready for, and more often than not it leads to loneliness." She sighed as she put the cut up chicken in an oiled pan. Steve purposely ignored the obvious projection of feelings and let her continue.

"You're young, Steve. You need someone fun, maybe a little dangerous." She said with a playful wink. He grinned and looked down, tapping his foot nervously against the linoleum flooring.

"That's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. I met some-" And before he could finish his life altering sentence the phone rang. Steve sighed as he walked to the hallway to pick it up.

"Steve? Steve, this is Lucas. I could be wrong but I think something is wrong with Max and probably Billy. When I told him she got signed out he booked it, he was going like seventy, dude. I didn't have time to even get my bike out of the car." Lucas said in a rush. He explained that Max told him before that her step dad was a total asshole, "She told me that he hits Billy a lot and-" That was all Steve needed to hear before he hung up.

"Hun? Who was that on the phone?" His mom asked as he ran to get his keys. He said it was just a friend and that he had to go. Steve knew his mom was probably really disappointed because she wanted to spend time with him but he had to make sure Billy was okay. He has to be okay, he said to himself as he gripped at his stirring wheel.

We're supposed to go on a date tonight. Supposed to be okay.

He tried to act calm as he parked his car behind Billy's. He took in deep breaths as he walked to his front door. It took a minute before the door opened, and he was greeted with a red and sweaty Mr. Hargrove.

"Can I.. uh, is Billy here? Can I see him?" Steve asked as politely as he could. The older man looked at him up and down, sucking his teeth as his gaze came back up to Steve's eyes.

"He's just in here, come on in." He pulled Steve inside and shut the door behind him with a hard slam. The first thing he noticed was Billy looking up at him with wide, broken eyes. His long curls had been cut unevenly, shaking as silent sobs wracked his body.

"Billy?" Steve called out his name in pure disbelief. His beautiful boy was broken and stripped of his confidence. He looked over at Neil, seething with rage. Steve wanted to hurt him. He never got the chance though as Neil pushed him against the front door with his hand gripping tightly around his throat.

Everything happened so fast after that. Neil was pushed off of Steve and Billy was on top of him, beating him.

"Don't touch him-don't ever fucking touch him-" He yelled as he gave blow after blow to his father's face. Steve begged for him to stop, but it was like he couldn't understand him. Finally his movements slowed and he fell limp against the floor next to his bleeding father.

Steve put Billy's face in his hands in a panic, calling for him, trying to make him wake up but he wouldn't. He barely even noticed the front door swinging open with Hopper and his gun raised. Max ran in from behind him and fell on her knees beside Steve.

"He won't wake up." Steve muttered as tried to shake Billy. Jesus, Steve heard Hopper say as he called for an ambulance. His hair, Max mumbled as she studied him and looked over his bruised knuckles. Steve ran his fingers over what was left of the mangled hair.

"You're still pretty, baby." No matter what.

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