I'm fine, I promise.

sweaty hands

Up the stairs he went his worry growing larger and larger as the trail disappeared and the water was heard. Steve was glad to hear the water running in one of the rooms, meaning Billy's not bad enough hurt that he can't stand in his own.

As much as he wanted to enter his room to find the bathroom door open and the shower curtain closed, he knew that Billy would've felt more comfortable in his home away from "home".

Over the last couple of weeks, the guest room closest the Steve's room stopped being a guest room. Sure, Billy's name isn't written on a sign hung on the door, but to look into the room would be another question.

The closet is filled with a couple of shirts, usually ones he left there on accident and Steve took the initiative to wash them, hanging them up. The bed side draw contains a few pairs of pants, but mostly shorts from when he comes over immediately after basketball practice.

Not much else was in the room of his, except a couple of books that his father would think were too feminine, they're classics. (Of course Anne of Green Gables is going to be "girly", it's about a young girl.)

He hesitantly open the once guest room door to find the rest of Billy's clothes piled in a heap, laying in front of the bed.

"Uh, hey, Bill? You in here?", he called out into the room, not stepping in very far.

  When Billy's visits became more and more frequent, Steve decided they should lay out some ground rules to make sure boundaries didn't get pushed or make things between them uncomfortable. They both have problems that if too much information was disclosed, their relationship would be... made troublesome.

  Steve knew that Billy hadn't been close to a person in years about certain things in his life. He didn't want to ruin what they had just because he didn't stop when he should of, knew enough was enough.

  "Yeah, I'm in here. You can come in," Billy's voice rang out from the bathroom as the water still ran and all you could hear, besides the sound of the droplets hitting the shower floor, was his feet hitting the creaking white tiles. 

  He must already be done with his shower or waiting to go in; whichever was the case, Steve wanted to see if Billy was okay, whatever that even meant to them now. Billy was always in some state of distress whether it was emotionally or physically, but Steve would do his best to mend it for the time being, if that was even possible to do for him. 

  A well known fact about Billy, at least for Steve, was that he was awfully guarded about most aspects about himself. The main things people knew about him was his sexual prowess and that he came from California. Other random facts about his life, either important or not, was rudely ignored, the easy way he's able to scare people into silence, or pushed away with a distasteful joke, basically a jab to get them off subject.

  Steve decided he would take advantage of his friendship with Billy and try to heighten his experience of life while trying to paint over the chips in the paint. No matter what people would say about Billy, he would continue on his goal. Trust him, many people have came up to him and would try to dispel whatever niceties Steve had to say about him. How could they try to lecture him about Billy's temperament and "pyscho eyes" when he's dealt with them one on one, in a personal fashion?

  As much as everyone wanted to treat Steve as if he was a small, defenseless child, he could take care of himself and make his own choices, even if they end up hurting him. He's seventeen fucking years old, old enough to learn from his mistakes. He wishes people would start remembering that he's been taking care of himself for years and was the one who saved Nancy and Jonathan. Why could they see he's capable of everything they are, most things anyway? Sure, he's slower on certain things, academic wise, but whenever any of them need help, they come to Steve first to solve their problems, after they've trial and error enough to know they're ways won't work.

  He'd take his chance with Billy. It'd either get burned in the process or ... everything will work out?

  "Harrington, what's going in there? You've gone dead silent," his voice once again rang out from the bathroom. 

  "Right, sorry. Just got caught up in my own head, again," Steve said walking fully into Billy's bedroom and into the bathroom, not before knocking on the slightly open door just incase.

  The warm air immediately reached Steve as he walked into the bathroom and was met with Billy's staring eyes. He sat on the closed lid of the toilet with a towel wrapped around his waist and his curly hair laying evenly on his shoulders. Steve felt as if he instantly went red in the face and hoped that wasn't the case. For all the times he had seen Billy naked, why did he have to react to something so innocent compared to previous views? Probably because he was naked in his home, completely fine with Steve being there. 

  Leaving those thoughts behind, he began racking Billy for any major/minor injuries. Any meeting with Neil Hargrove was never a good meeting, so anything could of happened. The calm expression Billy wore most definitely made Steve worried. A mad, yelling, violent Billy was better than him calm. Calm meant that he had excepted what had happened and justified it, as far as Steve could tell.

  Over the past few months, whenever he would get in an angry tizzy over a meeting with Neil, he would be in a crying rage or a cooling calmness, that honestly scared the ever living shit out of Steve. 

  A calm Billy would go into his bathroom would hum his mother's favorite song while cleaning his wounds and looking at himself in the mirror. A calm Billy would talk to Steve about how his day had been and whatever some stupid kid did at lunch. A calm Billy would go back home, pretend it never happened just to let the cycle repeat. A calm Billy accepted that this is just what happens to people like him, Billies. In a world full of Neils, he'd have to deal with because someone is always going to hold that position, even if it isn't as violent. 

  Steve wanted the angry Billy who would scream and yell, talk about how one day that house was going to be in flames with that asshole in it. One day Neil was going to get his, whatever punishment he deserved, maybe by Billy, the law, or God himself. Angry Billy would tell fanciful little stories about what he's gonna do when he gets out of this hick town. Sometimes its his life of a movie star with his Golden Retriever and his million dollar mansion. Sometimes it was a simple as living in a shit apartment he could hardly afford and working for shit wages at shit hours. Steve liked those the best, hearing the way Billy sounded as if he would hate the whole situation, but the look of his face couldn't fool the blind.

  "Chill it, Stevie. I'm not as hurt as you think. He just told me to pack my shit and leave by Friday. Bringing that up, I have a question?" he said standing up and combing/tweaking his hair in the mirror, all casual,

  "Of course, hundred times yes. You can stay however long you want, wherever you want. Hell in my from if you want, wait, I mean, wherever you feel comfortable sleeping since you are a guest and my mother has put me through many years of manners, not even counting lectures for lacking manners-"

  "Steve, chill out. I got what you meant, quit rambling. I was gonna ask what's for dinner tonight; I'm hungry as fuck. I knew you wouldn't throw me out when I overstayed my welcome. You'd never get sick of my charm, would you babe?"

 ive finally got a new computer, so I don't have to write on my phone. so more updates :*) wish me luck