The Paper Knight and The Killing Tree

by Thrashing-Light

All the trinkets and tracks led into the Killing Tree. Well, trailed into the gate. Steve's whole body was about to shut down because the two least likely people to even be together in the same room, were trapped together in the Upside-Down: Erica Sinclair and Billy Hargrove. And it was all his fault. A story of unexpected friendships and expected hardships. Eventual Harringrove.

9. A Foolproof Plan

The Paper Knight and the Killing Tree

Chapter Nine: A Foolproof Plan

Steve didn't remember much about the El's group vision, or the 'Astral Plane' as Dustin referred to it. He didn't remember Billy's brother, Bayani, Dustin fighting back the Blight that had cursed him, or even getting Billy's necklace back even though he was told all about it.

Apparently only he and Erica didn't remember any of it because she was asleep from overusing her powers. The only thing he remembered was the panic of finding Billy's necklace around his neck, and thinking he worst.

Did he have it because Billy wasn't there?

Had he left? Was he gone?

Was he DEAD?!

He jolted up, head swimming to see a head full of tangled curls and El across the living room of the old house they were in.

His entire body reacted like pressure releasing, coming up from a deep dive to the surface of the water.

Surface of the Cheasapeake Bay. Surface of his pool. Davie. Barb.

T

he Paper Knight and the Killing Tree

Chapter Nine: A Foolproof Plan

Steve didn't remember much about the El's group vision, or the 'Astral Plane' as Dustin referred to it. He didn't remember Billy's brother, Bayani, Dustin fighting back the Blight that had cursed him, or even getting Billy's necklace back even though he was told all about it.

Apparently only he and Erica didn't remember any of it because she was asleep from overusing her powers. The only thing he remembered was the panic of finding Billy's necklace around his neck, and thinking he worst.

Did he have it because Billy wasn'tthere?

Had he left? Was hegone?

Was he DEAD?!

He jolted up, head swimming to see a head full of tangled curls and El across the living room of the old house they were in.

His entire body reacted like pressure releasing, coming up from a deep dive to the surface of the water.

Surface of the Cheasapeake Bay. Surface of his pool. Davie. Barb.

Billy whipped around surprised, and actually had a kinda dopey look on his face. Steve didn't know what to do. It reminded him of when he saw Billy next to the ambulance. He looked tired, and a bit pale, but ok.

Billy was still here.Alive.

But they weren't safe there anymore, he and Dustin decided on Nancy's place (well, Dustin called it 'Mike's' but that didn't matter much). It was safe and closer to the woods they needed to get to.

But then, Billy acted weird. Distant. Billy barely acknowledged him when they packed up from that random chick's house (Steve thought her name may have been Tammy). Billy hardly gave him the time of day.

He could be ignored by his parents, but he couldn't deal with being ignored by him. It speared his gut more deeply than any dismissive word his parents said. More than them covering up his suicide attempt just to make them look like better parents.

Billy pretending he didn't matter while they were packing up to move made him feel like screaming this throat raw.

But he didn't, because this wasn't about him and his emotional meltdowns. They had a job to do and that meant getting to safety.

So Dustin, Hop, and a passed out El crammed in his e23, and Mrs. Sinclair followed him in Billy's z28 with a sleeping Erica and Billy to Nancy's. Steve never would have thought Billy would let anyone drive his Camaro, but that just proved just how far he had been pushed to his limits.

Steve gave them a wide berth out of guilt, they needed space from him. That and he needed to wash up.

After his much needed shower, thank god this Mind Flayer didn't mess with the water, Steve felt like a new man. Probably smelled like one too. He passed by Nancy's room and peeked in.

Billy was safe, passed out in Nancy's bed. Partly because El wanted to sleep in Mike's, and partly because Billy said it would get under Nancy's skin if he got into her sheets.

Why did he have to fall for such adick?

At least he didn't look as dead as he did back at the hospital.

"You don't think that I don't know we're in over our heads? I know. I know. I'mtrying." Hop's voice sounded muffled as Steve sneaked downstairs.

"I'm certainly not accusing you of not trying, Chief Hopper." Vivian Sinclair sounded annoyed, exhausted.

They all were, weren't they?

"Call me Jim, because, really after all this you're STILL going to condescend me?" Now Hop sounded tense, and it made Steve's breath hitch a bit.

No, Steve, you aren't going to hear a thud or a slam because Hop isn't your dad.

"Oh, so you want to play this game, where you put words in my mouthinsteadof letting me say my piece? I'm NOT going to play that fool's game with you." Vivian Sinclair's voice barked, renewed. Fiery. He heard a scrape of a chair against the rough hard wood and Steve sighed through his nose.

Adults could be just as stupid as the kids he babysat.

"I don't… OK, fine go ahead." Hop's words sounded encouraging, but any idiot could tell Hop wasn't going to listen. Not that he necessarily should.

"This hell and the devil that rules it isn't getting less dangerous, it's gotten MORE so. Yes, these children have been blessed with wondrous powers, but we have almost lost each of the them at least once. Now, I vow that til the last drop of strength leaves me, I will help you get these children back safe to their families. Yet, I have to face the reality that this might not include me." Vivian Sinclair sounded like she just told Hop that the sun will come out tomorrow.

Not that she might die here, and she's COOL with it?

"Goddamnit, I don't need this. I don't need you of all people are giving up wh—" Hop responded gruffly. Steve could see him rubbing his hand over his face.

"Chief Hopper please. You're a single father to that special, wonderful girl. She needs you. Before I left, I've already instructed Howard and my sister Marion on next steps in case I didn't make it back, if anyone needs to be doing anything reckless, it should be me. However, I do need you to promise me, on your word as a law enforcement officer, something important." Mrs. Sinclair was trying to sound like she was being the rational one here.

She didn't have to die here, no one did if they could all just work together.

"Whatever it is, no. We'reallgetting out of this, no one is doing the martyr hero act on my watch." This time, Steve heard a thud, maybe a palm hitting a table? Nothing threatening, but to just show how fed up Hop was getting.

Steve also felt like slamming his head against the wall.

"This isn't that. We need to be realistic, not all of us may be able to make it through this." Mrs. Sinclair protested, and even though Steve understood this, so far they had done FINE and they had gone and screwed up right and left.

If they could finally work together, and stay healthy, then they'd get out of here. Maybe notunscarred, but alive.

"No. This isn't what this is. You need to stop beating yourself up about what happened back at the house, with Steve and Dustin getting attacked. You did the best you could." Hop accused harshly, and Steve's jaw dropped.

Up until this point, Steve hadn't really thought of how Vivian Sinclair felt about being here other than bringing Erica back safe. Sure, she was a mother, but she wasn't HIS mother.

Surely tough as nails, quick as a whip Vivian Sinclair didn't feel guilty about almost losing Dustin like he himself did.

Steve knew Vivian Sinclair didn't really like him all that much. She reminded him oddly of one of his teachers in school that pushed him for a 'B' average like she always thought he could get, but never did.

His father at first had it out with his elementary school in Hawkins, saying that they were discriminating against him for being 'well-to-do'. That all was proven wrong when he pulled the same averages at Wilton. His dad had then realised it was about 'who you know' and 'networking' to get ahead.

His mother though, once, leaning against the doorway to the foyer, one navy blue high heeled shoe on, one thrown far across the living room, said that she blamed herself always herself for him not excelling academically.

His mother took another sip of wine to elaborate and say that she should have told him that he deserved better parenting than what he got. That she just wasn't equipped to know what to do with him after what happened at Wilton. But, Steve soon learned that she said that so she could give up caring.

Steve heard Vivian scoff, but not deny anything.

Vivian Sinclair clearly felt guilty about what happened to Dustin. His own parents had always told him he was responsible for his own actions. Steve chose to come here, and Dustin came because he did.

Vivian Sinclair had nothing to do with Dustin almost dying.

So,whydid she and Hop feel so guilty?

Vivian Sinclair wasn't his mother; she shouldn't feel responsible for him. Neither should Hop, but it was kind of his job to like, protect and serve, so he got that.

But nother.

Steve itched to walk into the room to prevent their harsh whispers grating against each other flint and spark a fire. And not that Vivian Sinclair and Hop were married, but he had in the past been particularly good at mitigating arguments between his parents before the flared into actual fights. When he felt like it.

Sometimes Steve got a dark pleasure out of letting them just duke it out themselves. Let themselves curse and snipe each other till his mother got red in the face and his father stormed out. It wasn't his job to mediate for them.

If they didn't want to be responsible for his mess, he wouldn't be responsible for theirs, even IF it kept him up at night. Even if it meant quickly slapping together a cheese sandwich and eating in his room instead being able to cook himself a mean chilli downstairs.

"Are you certain you're not projecting onto me with what happened at Neil's, with Billy? You knew what was going on with him, and led him into the Lions Den regardless." Vivian's overuse of the whole bible reference stuff would have normally gotten Steve's eyes rolling if it hadn't been about Billy.

What did she mean? 'going on' with him?

Steve then decided to slip into the dining room. Hop looked surprised, but Vivian either knew he was eavesdropping, or she just had onehellof a poker face.

"Great, honey, we got caught arguing in front of the kids." Hop drawled sarcastically and Vivian hmphed. Steve wanted to ask about how Billy was, but he figured he could get the answers later.

Right now, he had to show mom and dad how to play nice, but in the right way.

King Steve 3.0, post possession edition.

He spotted the bottle of tequila that Billy had gotten (how had that survived the trip over to Nancy's?) on the cabinet.

"You know Erica is trying to get El to join the girl scouts so they can team up and win the cookie selling contest. Erica said you'd probably buy most of the boxes." Steve started, trying to liven the mood. He figured if he could show their two girls getting along, then maybe they could too.

He lazily circled around to the fancy tequila.

"Huh, I think Jane would like that, getting the badges and such. Camping. I used to be in the boy scouts. Eagle scout. And well, if the cookies are for a good cause, I won't get so much grief about having sweets in the office then." Hop managed a small, far off smile, finger drawing a donut in soot on the table.

He grabbed the bottle and sat down at the head of the table, between Mrs. Sinclair and Hop.

Vivian paused, her face didn't look so harsh as before.

"I would like for our daughters to be friends outside of this wretched place, Jim." Vivian Sinclair said gently and grabbed the bottle of tequila. Before Steve could even say anything, downed a swig.

Hop just stared at her like she had transformed into something he couldn't believe existed, which was hilarious considering where they were.

"Got surprisingly good taste, for a high schooler, Steven." Mrs. Sinclair mused. Ok. He thought he would have to like, convince them to let loose or something. Nope.

"Billy's. I don't usually drink Tequila." Steve explained with a dark smile. It was true, he liked whiskey. Beer.

His mind flashed to the bottles at the bottom of his pool.

Unlike his mother, Mrs. Sinclair left it at one drink and passed it to Hop without him even asking for it.

Hop then looked at the bottle, did sort of a half shrug, and downed a swig as well.

"Yeah, not bad. And it will happen Vivian, we'll make sure of it. That's why we did an ammunitions check, so we can get everyone out." Hop pointed to his head to the counter where the shotgun, some sort of assault rifle, and his service revolver lay. Steve made a face. Skeptical. What kind of plan can you have where you're fighting a supernatural Poltergeist?

Hop handed the bottle back to Steve and, in solidarity, he took a drink as well.

It really wasn't that bad. It didn't burn like the cheap stuff Carol had bought one time for a party they had. Or the bottle of cheap Polish vodka he finished and threw in the pool for Barb.

"Yes, and we determined we are low on ammo. I only have six shells left for the shotgun, you have four for your revolver, seventeen in the m16 with an extra clip of thirty, and the other rifle, the SKS, has only nine. Sixty six rounds in all. " Vivian had it all written out, fighting a ragged yawn.

"We can make due with that." Hop defended blearily.

The crinkling purple bags under Mrs. Sinclair's eyes and the drooping of Hop's usually straight stature told Steve that they should get some sleep before they were both useless.

He knew how to make this happen.

"You're both also low on sleep. I'll keep first watch, you guys can rest with the rugrats. I've been told I'm a pretty good babysitter." Just like at the hospital. "I'm too wired, I'll holler if anything ya know, zombies out of the ground or something." Steve managed a vague zombie hand motion which caused Hop to snort at least.

"Fine. I'll take second watch. Wake me in a few." Hop roughly stood up and meandered towards the doorway to the living room before pausing.

"No playing hero for youeither, Harrington." Hop pointed his finger and despite his weariness he still intimidated Steve a bit. Hop was tough like that.

Steve put his hands up. "No hero here, trust me." That placated Hop enough to simply cast him a suspicious look and go to the sofa.

Mrs. Sinclair rose elegantly despite her obvious exhaustion.

Steve didn't dare say a word as she walked around the long, grimy table to scrutinise him.

"Uh.. " nice Steve, way to be slick.

"Steven, I could have one less finger and have some to spare to count the number of favors I have asked in my life." Her dark, bloodshot eyes bore into him.

Steve tried to anticipate what she was driving at.

"I'm going to watch out for Erica." He struggled to think of something a mom would want to hear. "Man of the house, OK?" Well, until Billy woke up.

A flash of his wide eyes, blue, and frizzy, tangled mullet.

Damn, why he had to like a guy with a damn mullet?!

"Erica is my responsibility, not yours." Vivian said, again straight and to the point. "If I don't make it out of here, I need you to contact my sister, Marion. Erica knows her phone number, ask her not Howard nor Lucas. I need her to come to Hawkins for Billy." Mrs. Sinclair's voice didn't waver, but Steve reared back a bit.

What? Lucas' aunt in Oakland who she'd visit? Oh. She mentioned something about her criminal record. And Marion was the one who bought her the shotgun she's mastered.

Steve didn't know what to say. Why was everyone dumping all this Billy shit on him?

First Max throwing her tantrum in his car, now Mrs. Sinclair. The back of his mouth pickled in irritation.

OK just keep it cool. BeKing Steve.

"Steven, don't mind what Jim said, I am not trying to be some savior, dying for you all. Yet, I walked into hell hoping I'd be able to quickly rescue Erica and Billy, but Lord I was wrong. I underestimated this trial God has set before me, so I want to be prepared. Billy needs someone who can help him with his violent tendencies, and keep him on the straight and narrow." Mrs. Sinclair paused, pursing her lips. "Billy got a second chance my sister didn't get. Billy needs some who understands his struggles, and know he can make something of himself and overcome his trauma." Vivian was giving him that look where he was also supposed to read between the lines.

She was saying she also wanted him help Billy.

Did Vivian Sinclair hit her head or like, inhale some poison fluff or something?

Steve didn't really get it. Here, Billy had his rage on lock for the most part. Steve was the one, after all, who decked Billy across the face. Steve was the one who nearly stabbed Billy and kicked Dustin.

Billy hadn't done anything bad to anyone, not even when Hop drove him nuts.

He even went and got groceries and Eggos for El, and peanut MMs for Erica! He made chili!

Steve had gotten pretty tired of hearing the whole, 'I know what's best for everyone' deal from his parents. And he had gotten pretty sick of adults telling him and his friends what he needed.

His own parents never knew what he needed or went through, Davie's parents never cared what he did, when that's all he wanted. Mr and Mrs. Fain didn't bother with him until Davie couldn't bother him anymore.

Suddenly, a flicker of anger burned in the back his throat.

Who was she to say her sister, who gave guns as presents, was good for Billy? Was this even really about him, or…

Was this really just about Mrs. Sinclair's sister? The Mind Flayer did say she felt guilty about her.

Maybe the Mind Flayer was right. Creepy.

"It's not gonna work. Billy's not like that, he's not like your sister. He said he doesn't do hard drugs, and I believe him. I also think he's got his rage under control at least with us. I mean, who has he hurt here? I don't think he wants help, what Billy wants…" Steve stalled.

What did Billy want?

Billy definitely didn't want Steve after the whole 'I kept your crazy vigilante photo a secret, and put your brother in danger by having El teleport him to the Astral Plane because I got possessed by the Mind Flayer and tried to stab you.' ordeal.

Steve ignored the familiar dead feeling that buckled his ribs, the feeling of worthlessness. This wasn't about him.

This was about Mrs. Sinclair not doing a Joyce thing and being warrior mom just because Mr. Sinclair was safe. It was also about what Billy wanted.

'snick'

It snapped into place, Steve remembered who here really makes Billy look like the photos he saw of him. His secret handshake with Erica, her special nickname.

Erica saved him with her powers. Together they both killed two Demigorgons!

Mrs. Sinclair inviting him over for dinner with her casserole stopped him dead in his tracks from going off the rails and fighting Hop. Billy leapt off his e23 to tackle a Gargoyle the size of a life raft and revealed his powers to save Mrs. Sinclair.

Maybe Steve could fix this whole thing.

"I don't know Billy that well, but I'd bet Billy wants something normal, a clean slate. He wants to be a big brother, you've seen him and Erica. He doesn't want someone like him, like your sister, to 'get him'. He probably wants a family to cook a casserole with. You said he was supposed to come to yours for dinner, remember? That's what stopped him from going off. You and Erica." Steve had his hands up and voice lout at this point. Maybe this would stop this dumb idea Mrs. Sinclair had.

Mrs. Sinclair's dark, shrewd eyes flew open wide.

"You think I should take Billy in and house him? The boy who beat my son in your best friend's house." Mrs. Sinclair asked him like he told her to fly to the moon.

Crap.

He forgot about Lucas, that all felt so long ago.

"He feels bad about that, he said sorry to Lucas. Hop thinks he has PTSD or something. That night, he was out of his mind. He's changed, he's getting better. You've seen how brave he is! He jumped off my car on the back of one of those gargoyles to save you. You know he kept Erica alive, and she like, worships him! He risked everything to distract the Mind Flayer and get those guns for us. Billy deserves a second chance, you have to know that." Steve insisted, tightening his own hand into a fist behind him.

It wasn't fair, Billy shouldn't be judged for that after realizing what kind of dad he lived with for so long.

"You say a lot of good about him for saying you don't know him that well, Steven." Mrs. Sinclair sighed with that stern knowing voice his mother would get.

No way, she knew. Just No way.

"We weren't friends before this, but we're friends now." Steve tried for causal. He wasn't sure how much he was supposed to read into her tone. Like, what did shereallymean?

Jesus, how much did she KNOW?

Did she care about that sort of thing? Thegaything?

Being Gay wasn't something most people would be ok with, Aids and all. Although Steve was sure Nancy told him that anyone could get Aids.

Steve could feel his skin flush despite the perpetual chill in the air.

"Uh huh." She raised her eyebrows at him.Fuck. "Thank you Steve, you're helpful. I believe you, if that boy really wanted to lay a hand serious on Lucas he would have a more than a bump. I also think he's a good person, but I can't let a boy stay in my house if my son doesn't feel safe with him being there." Mrs. Sinclair said a bit regretfully, as she stood up primly and dusted herself off.

She called him Steve. Not Steven.

"Yeah, makes sense. I shouldn't have said anything." Steve couldn't voice the sour pit of disappointment in his gut. Mrs. Sinclair, Erica, and Billy just seemed to fit, but he forgot about Lucas and Mr. Sinclair which who he now remembered, thought Billy was a 'scumbag'.

Steve was being nosey and he was just making things worse.

"You know Steve, you're far too hard on yourself. We wouldn't have made it out of that house alive if you hadn't killed that Demon." Mrs. Sinclair sounded serious, not being nice. That stunned Steve. It was his fault they were in that house to begin with.

"Mrs. Sinclair—"

"Vivian, please."

"Ok, Vivian, uh I think you forgot the part where I was the reason everyone was stuck in that situation to begin with." Steve shuffled his feet and Vivian maneuvered around the table to face him so fast he at first thought there was a Demodog behind him.

"The reason we are all here is Neil Hargrove. Don't you confuse that for a second. We are all trying to survive the consequences of his actions. We are all victims of that… that monster's sin." Vivian sounded so sure of the fact Steve's mouth went dry.

"Yeah. Yeah...I'll take first watch." Steve managed. He remembered peeling out of the Byers' driveway on the way to kill Neil, but it felt like years ago.

Would they ever get out of here?

"I'm gonna find Erica and tell her I'm resting. Your pick-axe is by the front door." Vivian Sinclair put a thin, steel-strong hand on his shoulder.

King Steve 3.0 time.

Steve nodded and made his way down the sooty, chilly hallway that in normal Hawkins was pristine and inviting in that cozy way Nancy's mom liked.

It went to show how people could basically adapt to anything, the airborne fluff, the cold, and the terrifying black plague alone didn't affect them like it did once they got there.

Steve didn't know if that was a good thing. He guessed it was better than being sick or dead.

He spotted his pick-axe by the front door. Hop brought it back with him along a few other tools from Neil's shed and the other rifle.

Steve hesitated at the base of the stairs. He could hear Mrs. Sinclair talking to someone, probably Erica. He debated. No. He wasn't that needy to go up and basically beg for Billy's attention.

He rubbed the pendant around his neck between his thumb and fingers and spotted the pick-axe. Almost in a huff picked up the pick axe, which felt lighter than he thought it would, and went out on the porch to keep watch.

Now that he really looked at it, the street Nancy lived on looked all wrong. Steve wished it unsettled him more than it did.

No. He was somehow getting used to seeing Hawkins look like the zombie apocalypse.

When they all, shockingly, got to Nancy's in town safely, Billy acted like he had in school before he got dragged off to the Upside-Down. He eyed him from a distance and stiffly acknowledged him before bolting up the stairs, practically taking two at a time.

Maybe Steve had misread something?

Maybe Billy regretted it?

Maybe the fumes or whatever they were breathing in had fucked with his mind and he came to his senses?

Maybe Steve should come to his and stop PINING over what was probably a one-time thing.

Well, a two-time thing.

No, not even a thing. They just kissed. It was barely even first base.

JESUS Steve, get your act together. Their lives were in literal danger and here he was hung up like some star-struck chick if Billy Har—Billy Loga liked him back.

Something like thunder, but quicker like drumbeats, rumbled in the distance. Thunderheads crowded the sky and all Steve could do was keep watch, and practice making his golden scales form and spread.

Billy was right, he was getting a hang of controlling his scales. He could get them to form all the way up to his shoulders without a whole lot of concentration.

Which was pretty damn lucky considering his thoughts kept skipping like a broken record.

Steve flexed his fingers and his hooked claws glinted like some sick manicure.

Freak, Steve thought. He was a freak, but at least he could help the others like this. That was better than being not being able to help, and being dead weight. Besides he could make sure he could really control them, and they lasted outside of the Upside-Down, then he could make sure no one knew he was part Godzilla.

Too bad it was too late to hide it from Billy.

His scales had to have scared Billy off or grossed him out. He knew Billy was just jerking him around about being like Vince Neil from Motley Crue.

"Electricity, right?" Dustin materialised to his right and Steve jumped out of his skin. He didn't even grab for his pick-axe next to him.

It'd be more useful than the bat. According to Hop, if you wanted to dig in the forest, you had to use a pick-axe first to get around roots. Steve was glad that Hop thought about stuff like that, the practical stuff.

Well, he was even more glad that Hop and Billy sort of got along now.

Something had happened while they were at, Billy's house, Steve guessed.

They had to have worked together somehow. Steve knew that guys like Billy and Hop, total control freaks, only got along if they did something really cool together. Like Pavarti and Davie on the sailing team couldn't ever sail together until they both had to help out another guy who broke the dagger board on his sunfish.

But something bad also had to have happened because they came back without the police truck.

Just like he came back without their sloop on Memorial day 1978.

Dustin nudged him.Oh. He actually wanted an answer.

"Yeah, it'd be nice if we had some, like at least a porch light. Then I could actually see what's out there." Steve muttered, staring off Nancy's porch, as if he could see much of anything out beyond the yard.

He was keeping watch while the others rested, just like Billy had back at the hospital.

The Mind Flayer was laying low, definitely up to something. What? He had no clue. He wished he could talk to the Mind Flayer like Billy could. He was pretty useless out here as a scout, unless the Mind Flayer did something obvious.

His claws splintered some of the wood step he was gripping onto. He couldn't wait for this to be over.

"Steve. I'm not blind, you know. Like, I was more wishing I was imagining things, but no didn't get lucky on that roll. You and Billy sitting in a tree...do I need to say more?" Dustin clapped his hand on Steve's now rigid, scaled shoulder.

His scales retreated down to his wrists in dread.

"Oh my god…I don't have any idea what you're talking about." Steve's lie sounded hollow and fake like a bad set of golf clubs. He knew he could lie, this should be easy. Why wasn't it?! This was worse than Nancy sending him off to talk to Max.

He turned to Dustin sitting next to him, and he looked like he was having FUN.

Steve knew a trap when he saw one.

"Stevie, El would be so disappointed in you, friends don't lie." Dustin tsked all condescending. "At first I thought that it was unrequited, you know. That Billy liked you, and that you just wanted to bring him back because...well, you're YOU. Nice, and no offense, sort of clueless. I thought that when that nutso, jock-brain finally made his move you'd punch his clock, like you did back at the ambulance." Dustin admitted all non-chalant like his mom could get when his dad would try to pick at her spending habits passive-aggressively. That sparked something.

"I'm not gonnahithim!" Steve reared back in shock, eyes sharp.

"Cuz you likehim." Dustin just grinned at him. The little shit.

"Just because I'm not gonna hit him, doesn't mean I like him. You don't even… What made you think this all the sudden?" Steve played casual and tried to deflect. He could fake casual if he had to. He knew that from playing poker at Wilton with the money his parents sent him. He ended up third in that poker tournament, not too shabby.

He even wasn't really lying. Even if he didn't just kiss Billy, he wouldn't hit him now.

Billy's curls hanging over him, his blue eyes lit up.

Steve did like Billy, but…maybe it was all wrong. Too fast? Wrong circumstances?

"As surprising as it may be, Steve, whether or not you had ooey-gooey feelings for Billy wasn't really a top concern while I was fighting for our lives. My life." Dustin said flatly, and Steve made a face.

A flash of Dustin torn open, guts red and ribs buckled out blipped through his mind.

Thank god for Erica Sinclair's powers; she saved Dustin and Billy.

He must have made a face because Dustin shoved him a bit.

"I thought about it in the Astral Plane, when we went there to save you. You got that the panicked look had on your face when you saw you had Billy's necklace. But, then you froze. I didn't get it, but it's because you thought you had Billy's necklace back because he was gone, right? It's why the first thing you asked about was where Billy was, and not like, 'How am I OK?', or 'What in the hell just happened?'. Steve, you're not that smooth, alright? You're feeling the whole electromagnetic field." Dustin jostled his shoulder a bit and Steve rolled his eyes.

"You've been watching too many of your mom's soap operas. You're blowing things out of proportion, and being way dramatic." Steve struggled here, it's not like…wait.

'snick'

Dustin had said that Billy liked him.

"I'm NOT. El doesn't even need to use her telepathy powers to read you like a book. You, like Billy, and well it works out because he's feeling the electricity right back." Dustin waggled his finger tips around like lightning.

All Steve could do was gape at him.

"Don't flip, Dustin. It's not gonna turn into anything. Be anything. It's just an Upside-Down thing." Anger surged tight in Steve's chest because he totally sounded like some…girl he used to make fun of. Damn it, now he was being like one of those girls he tossed back in Hawkins. Was this irony? No, this was 'turn-about is fair play'.

"Steve, I'm disappointed that you think I'd be 'flipping' over you and Billy liking each other after I almost DIED." Dustin had that thickly fake syrupy voice that was totally condescending. He had a point.

"I'm sorry about that." Steve apologised softly, and pat Dustin on the back with a hand which had long ago lost his scales.

"Holy Toledo Steve, that wasn't your fault. It wasn't Mrs. Sinclair's either, because she already talked to me about it. I knew the risks when I rolled to come here, and it's not always about you, ya know." Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Don't you think I know that?" Steve hissed; this was so not cool. This was so not a good use of their TIME.

"Steve, Steve, Steve….You just need to act like you don't care, even though obviously you care a LOT." Dustin waggled his eyebrows. And…wait.

No. he was not turning that railroad chat around on him.

"You know, it drives them craaaazzy." Dustin almost was laughing by this point and Steve could feel his skin heat up around his ears.

"Billy isn'tsome girl. This isn't even close to the same thing we were talking about back then." Steve was officially a loser. He couldn't believe that Dustin was turning his own dating advice against him.

Some King Steve 3.0 edition he was turning out to be.

"Why? Is it because he's special like Nancy? You can't be a lion, or uh, sneaky like a ninja?" Steve's face burned in humiliation. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if one of those Demigorgons came out and killed him right now.

"Billy isn't at all like Nancy." Steve's face scrunched up. He immediately tried to think of what Nancy was better at than Billy and kept running into dead ends. "Maybe that's the problem." Steve admitted somewhat glumly.

Nancy washis girl. She was everything he needed. Smart, confident, beautiful, took no shit.

"Really? Because that sort of sounds like a good thing since Nancy ditched you cold for Jonathan." Dustin said and it almost sounded like he was DEFENDING Billy.

"Yeah, you're right, she did. I thought she was it, maybe even the one, but it wasbullshit. And going with how Nancy ended up, the same is gonna happen with…" Steve faltered a bit as his stomach spiked and clenched sharp. He didn't want to finish that sentence, and with the way his mouth dried out, it was unlikely to happen anyway.

His claws carved in harder to the wood and he suddenly wished he was drunk. He should have brought that tequila bottle out with him. Steve didn't like the way this conversation turned at all. The sour pinch in his gut from what he realised told him one thing.

He and Billy kissing was a BIG mistake.

"Why? Heactuallylikes you." Dustin cocked his head to the side a bit.

Steve's eyes shot wide and his jaw dropped.

Why was Dustin challenging him on this? Dustin HATED Billy. He called him psycho and crazy and checked all the boxed for everything Dustin generally considered terrible.

"Like, Nancy is cooler, kinder, and is way less angry than Billy, but she didn't like you like Billy does. Will told me that she pulled a loaded GUN on you. Hop just made me finish gun safety training, and lectured to me that you should never point a gun at something you're not 100% okay with shooting." Dustin made a 'this should be obvious' face and Steve shook his head.

Why didthatmatter?

"Dustin, Nancy wouldn't really shoot me. She was just trying to protect me from the Demigorgon." Steve dismissed, though thinking about it. Maybe her trying to force him out and keeping all that from him was a sign that she didn't trust him THAT much.

He was avoiding the bigger implication that she was trying to force him out of her life.

"Steve, let's say for the sake of argument that's right." Dustin put out his hands like a scale. "Someone who pulls a gun on you, versus someone who tries to take on the Mind Flayer SOLO to protect you. They're both kinda shortsighted, but onedefinitelymeans they care more about YOU." Dustin put one of his hands way down to the wooden floor of the deck.

"Ok did you forget that Billy literally beat the shit out of me months ago?" Steve countered and Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Obviously YOU did! Besides if he didn't hit you back at the ambulance, then he probably won't do it again. Billy iscrazyabout you. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still think he's literally crazy, but he's fallen for you. HARD. Erica agrees, and said it happened before you got here." OH. So this is where this was coming from. Were they sharing notes?!

He had seen Dustin and Erica whispering together earlier. Conspiracy!

"So you're what, trying to playSusie Matchmakerwith someone you think is crazy? Thanks for the support. I know you hate him Dustin, why are you even trying to put us together?" Steve finally asked, at this point genuinely curious since Dustin hadn't crossed over to being Billy's cheerleader like Erica had.

Dustin sighed big.

"You're being SUCH a pain. It's like you're looking for any out you can take, like ANY escape! Even if I did hate him,so what? You shouldn't wuss out." Dustin this time slapped him on the back a few times.

Maybe hewasbeing a pussy.

"I'm not looking for a way out. He's the one that's been ignoring me. He's been driving…" Oh shit. Oh shit. Billy was totally using his own moves against him.

The prick. When he woke up he was gonna bust his balls.

"…driving youcrazy? Yeah, well some of that may be because he's been hiding being sick from overusing his powers. El found out with her mind powers after you passed out, and asked Mrs. Sinclair if she could help. Then it became this huge thing because Mrs. Sinclair dragged out how serious it was out of Billy. Apparently he's been throwing up ash, tar, maybe even his owninsides. He should REALLY stop smoking. But anyway, then Mrs Sinclair found out that Hop knew about it back at Exorcism house before they went off to distract the Mind Flayer. Mrs. Sinclair let Hop HAVE IT. She'sscary, like maybe scarier than Mrs. Byers. Hop didn't have much to say, but, well except now he and Billy are getting along." Dustin explained. Steve's eyebrows furrowed in concern.

So that's what Vivian was talking about with Hop back in the kitchen.

Billy was sick and overusing his powers, and went to fight the Mind Flayeranyway.

He vaguely remembered fire back at the exorcism house too. He must have overexerted himself. No wonder he had passed out in Nancy's bed right away.

"He's such a dumbass. I'm such a dumbass….I should have noticed or something." Steve grumbled. Here he was sulking like some brat when Billy was throwing up stuff that you definitely shouldn't be throwing up.

"Yeah, you're BOTH dumb. He thinks you're smart though, which is definitely a sign he likes you." Dustin admitted, finally taking his hand off Steve's back.

Steve didn't say anything. Billy was tough, but not invincible like he wanted everyone to think.

Pause.

"So you don't hate him? Billy?" Steve asked skeptically, a grin curling up his face.

"It's kinda hard to hate the guy who risked his own life twice to save yourbrother, even if he's got rage issues and Max hates him. I tolerate him." Dustin sighed, sounding real reluctant to admit that.

Steve let that settle in. Brother.

So Dustin thought of him like his brother?

Steve smiled despite everything.

"Are you done moping now?" Dustin asked, standing up. He loomed over Steve, as if daring him to cry more about his stupid feelings.

"I'm not moping, I'm keeping watch so everyone else can rest…." Steve defended.

Dustin rolled his eyes.

"…fine. YES. I'm done moping. Wanna help me keep watch, bro?" Steve relented finally, and fussed with the pendant.

"Sure, I can tell you about my ingenious plan, and my theories behind it all." Dustin whipped out his notebook.

"Should you really talk about it out here? Can't the Mind Flayer, like, hear us?" Steve asked, all the sudden back on alert.

"No, I think it can only do that if he takes form and is nearby. It isn'tall powerful. Well, if he is, he makes mistakes just like we do." Dustin took out a pen and turned to a mostly fresh page.

He caught a doodle of Erica and her light coming out of her hands.

Someone made the inner circle.

"You think the Mind Flayer makes mistakes?" Steve sounded skeptical.

"Definitely. Billy thinks the Mind Flayer wants you dead, specifically. He blighted you from the start, when the Demodog bit you when you were under the police truck. He even possessed you, and could make you do anything, right? You had Billy's knife, why didn't he just make you commit seppuku?" Dustin made a motion of carving up and down his chest.

"That's notdarkandmorbid. I think you got a complex." Steve said sarcastically and reeled back. But what Dustin said made sense, from everyone else's point of view.

"Steve, I don't think you can lecture me on complexes." Dusted retorted. Fair.

"Fair. It didn't want in my head to begin with, It wanted Billy." Steve continued. "It more felt like, it was living in my head, I don't think it could hurt me or kill me without hurting or killing itself, so maybe it started to mess with us." Steve finished. The Mind Flayer definitely played dirty.

"So...it' couldn't hurt you, so it was trying to mess with us?" Dustin scribbled down some notes

"I think it was trying to play us off each other. It talked about Billy's knife like it was a sword, it was causing drama because...it was trying to provoke you guys." Steve had thought about it too. About why it didn't just kill him.

"And what? It was trying to make us kill or attack you? We'd never do that." Dustin snorted and Steve nodded.

Was Mind Flayer was just playing mind games with all of them? Including himself?

"I think it figured that out. I think the Mind Flayer wanted out of me to begin with, and was trying to find out a way to mess with us and get out. Maybe it KNEW you all would try get the mind Flayer out of me. The attack, the Alien, Billy's old house, all of it happened AFTER the exorcism. Maybe it couldn't do anything until it got out." A chill jolted down Steve's spine. What if they had played into the Mind Flayer's hand the whole time?

Too little, too late,Paper Knight.

"You think that the Mind Flayer didn't possess you, but you like, bottled him inside you, like a Genie?!" Dustin replied back looking at him as if he had three heads.

Maybe he did.

"Maybe. I mean, it did say it was 'too late' after it got exorcised from me.." Steve's thoughts ground to a halt like a clutch with a corroded flywheel.

"I heard it too, but it wasn't too late, wesavedyou. Well, Bayani, did. I was wrong about him, he's amazing like El, and has cool blue shoes, and I think stole a police car and maybe a dog." Dustin gushed and made hand motions like sirens.

"What if it meant it was too late for something else too? It dragged Erica in here. It could have killed her, but itdidn't. Instead it lured Billy in. It planned that. Then, it knew about El. She said that it almost found her when she tried to find Billy and Erica with the photos in the police station. She said the Mind Flayer was planning, what if it's too late to stop what it's planning?" Steve could feel the scales begin to creep up his arms again defensively.

"We've beat the Mind Flayer every time he's attacked us. We got the upper hand now that I have a plan to kill him. I'm going to brief you now before my official strategy session!" Dustin's gave Steve a confident thumbs up.

"You got a plan? Well let's hear it Dusty." Steve smirked a little and Dustin pushed him.

"No. Dusty, noCabbage, DusTIN. Like I was trying to explain earlier before you kicked me in the chest, I think the vision Billy had when he was flipping out was right. It all comes together into a FOOLPROOF Plan." Dustin spread out his notebook and Steve pushed the sight of Billy bleeding out of his eyes out of his head.

"Steve, remember our campaign Sunday? You know, we all plane shifted and ended up in Shadowfell, which in our campaign is a demiplane of the Ethereal plane. From there we had to fight our way back to the Material plane. And by fight, I mean survive encounters all those low level spect—you following me?" Dustin paused after catching Steve scanning the neighborhood.

"Multi-tasking, I'm on watch, remember?" Steve rolled his eyes, picking up his pick-axe and shaking it with his scaled hand, claws and all.

"Bayani is a seer, and he had a POINT too. He said that the Blight the Mind Flayer cursed you with was ETHEREAL, like it wasn't physically on your skin. It got me thinking, the Upside-Down is actually the Ethereal Plane in Dungeons and Dragons! It all checks out. The Upside-Down has Specters, special powers, and shadow monsters, just like the Ethereal Plane. We're stuck in the Ethereal Plane, fighting our way back to the Material Plane!" Dustin slapped the paper that had 'ETHEREAL PLANE!' scribbled across it in all black pen.

The wind shifted, and as if on instinct, Steve's scales rippled up his arms again.

"You sense something, Steve?" Dustin paused also looking out, going for something under a rancid blanket on the porch.

"Do you have a gun?!" Steve reared back. Like, he knew that Hop gave him lessons, but seriously?!

"Duh, don't shit your pants, safety's on. I gave the wrist rocket to Erica. Made sense, it's Lucas' and all." Dustin waggled a smaller rifle.

"I still have no idea why Hop decided to let you have that." Steve eyed the gun then back to Dustin. It just looked wrong.

"...Billy's idea. He told Hop this rifle will be easy for me to learn on." Dustin admitted. Steve laughed hard.

"Now, that suddenly explains why you like him." Steve elbowed dustin.

"I tolerate him; you like him. Now back to what we were talking about." Dustin put the rifle down.

"You were talking about how the Upside-Down is the Ethereal plane because of the ghosts and shadow monsters, and Hawkins is the Material Plane. We have to get out of the Ethereal plane, and get back to the Material Plane, just like we did on Sunday." Steve recited evenly and calmly. He had actually been working on listening. He owed THAT much to Dustin. If Steve had really thought about it, Dustin had put just as much, or more on the line than anyone else here in the Upside-Down.

Or, he supposed, the Ethereal Plane. Whatever 'Ethereal' really meant. He bet Nancy, or hell maybe even Billy knew.

Steve's mind almost wandered to Billy, but Dustin clapped him on the shoulder, jolting him back.

"I can't WAIT to tell Mike that he's wrong about you! I knew you weren't a lost cause." Dustin brightened and blinked away that glassy look. Steve rolled his eyes. Once he got them out of the Ethereal Plane, he wasn't fronting Mike any ice cream money for a week. The kid could be such a SNOT.

"Great, a thirteen year old no longer thinks I'm a lost cause…" Steve groaned. It was hard to remember a time when he was on top.

"Hey,baby steps. And getting back, it's what El said, everything is connected, just like, altered slightly…you can even say, UPSIDE DOWN. See, in our campaign, both Max and Lucas were participating. Max's character finished off the Changeling Wraith, Lucas' character was polymorphed by Will and he turned into a giant crocodile, and your character tanked the damage." Dustin continued, turning to a fresh page and drawing out what looked like some sort of battle plan in the forest.

"But here, instead of Max and Lucas, it's their siblings, Billy and Erica. Billy said the saw the Mind Flayer's fears, and that you and Erica purify its heart. So the roles from our campaign are all cycled around." Dustin began to map everything out and Steve began to remember all that actually happened in that campaign. It really did seem like ages ago.

Steve was pretty sure 'The Heart of Darkness' a book they had to read in English that Nancy had to explain to him like three times.

"In the adventure, my character just stood there and whacked the monster mostly. I was able to withstand most of his attacks." He tanked most of the damage because he was a knight, well Paladin.

"That was important, if you didn't tank we would have had a TPK, total party kill, anyway, Lucas, who is now Erica, isn't polymorphed. Instead she does Max's role and finishes it off with her Bard spells." Dustin began to put initials for their names. "You don't distract and tank the damage here, you'll polymorph into the dragon to help Erica, Like Lucas did." He circled a heart he drew in the forest.

Steve was pretty sure the Heart of Darkness a book they had to read in English that Nancy had to explain to him like three times

He really hoped he didn't turn into an ACTUAL giant lizard like Lucas' character had.

"So, you're saying that Erica has to do the things that Max was doing in our game, and I have to do what Lucas did in our game in order to beat the Mind Flayer? Erica is Max, and I'm Lucas." It tracks, after all, so far everything we had in the real Hawkins has ended up here, just altered.

"Exactly. Solid plan, right? I stay me, of course. Oh, and because the Mind Flayer dampening El's powers she will just help a little. She has to save her powers until after we kill him so she can open the gate for our escape." Dustin grinned, but his grin wasn't his usual one and he looked away.

Pause.

"Wait. Who is my character? Who...tanks the Mind Flayer?" Steve's stomach hardened and rocketed to his throat. Steve knew the answer. Lucas and Erica...Max and….

"Look,don'tfreak out. He's tough, he's scary, he's a little bit psycho, Hop let him go against him before and he turned into the human torch." Dustin started and no, it was wrong, wrong, wrong. He had heard these words before, in the police station. Mei's shrieks ricocheted through his mind.

"And he nearly DIED! No,absolutelynot. He's the one who needs protecting! I told him I'd have his back, and I WILL. I'm not going to let Billy go against that thingaloneagain." Steve got hot, and the scales rippled up to around his neck and down to his knees. His vision swam and suddenly he saw Dustin in hues of reds, oranges and everything around him in dark blues and greens.

Dustin's eyes flashed as wide as dinner plates.

"Whoa, Steve, your eyes...they're slit like a snakes. The sclera, the whites in your eyes and your irises, are both gold." Dustin looked mostly curious, but also a bit scared. That snapped Steve back.

"Damnit. Not my eyes now. Sorry, didn't mean to scare you with myfreakishness." Steve rubbed them furiously with his scaled hands, blinked a few times and the colors returned to normal.

"Ok, they're brown again….and cool your jets, no one thinks you're a freak, and I wasn't scared. I also never said anything about splitting the party. We got Hop and Mrs. Sinclair too, remember? We are going to all stick together and back you, Erica, and Billy up." Dustin put his hand on his shoulder.

Steve hated all of this. He didn't like that he was turning into some sort of lizard person, sure, but the idea of Billy going up against the Mind Flayer alone…but

'I told the Kingpin that his fight was with me.'-Billy

"It's also the part Billy wants." Steve muttered, knowing that all of this was probably inevitable anyway.

"We'll protect yourlover boy." Dustin made kissy faces, then a huge yawn.

"God, pleasespare me, my life is not one of your mother's soap operas. Take a nap or something. I got watch." Steve groaned and shoved him a bit.

"You want the gun for the watch?" Dustin stood up and picked up the rifle. Dustin held it out for him as if displaying it, his soft hands steady. It gave him a bad feeling. He just pictured Nance pointing the revolver at him, and while it shouldn't have made him wince, it did.

Dustin came in here with a sling shot, and now he had an assault rifle, or something.

"I'm...good, go get some z's, you're not going to impress Erica if you're too tired to pitch your strategy session." Steve reassured and Dustin just put the gun back and sneered.

"I don't need to impress Erica, she's just Lucas' lil sister." Dustin skulked away and Steve just laughed. Dustin never stayed angry long.

---

A few boring stake out hours later

Steve hadn't made much headway with his eyes again, but at least he had gotten used to the swing of the pick-axe instead of the bat. He could also control his scales and claws with much more precision.

And had decided that once Hop came out he'd-

"Hey kid, take a rest, I got the watch." Aaannnd there he was, Chief grouchy himself.

"Thanks, I didn't see anything." Steve said, leaving the pick-axe.

'snick'

Hop lit a cigarette.

"Another calm, before another storm. Might want to go wake up Big Badass and Jane." Hop took a drag and offered him one, but Steve and waved him off.

Steve didn't pause in his step as he walked up the steps. He had sat out there for hours thinking of what he was going to do about Billy and the photos and him slipping about the noose and the dumb kiss. King Steve had a plan.

Steve peaked his head through Nancy's doorframe to see Billy sleeping on his side, straight as an arrow, as if trying to take up the least amount of space possible in the bed.

Beside the bed was a pail, piles of ash were all around it. Steve approached him.

Was Billystillsick?

"I don't need you fretting over me like some mother hen. I'm firing on all eight cylinders." Billy rolled onto his back in the bed and Steve took that as an invitation. So Billy knew he knew.

Steve sat on the edge of the bed and he couldn't help but feel that the roles were suddenly reversed from the other house.

"I'll have you know, I make one badass babysitter. And, I don't fret, I...strategise." Steve looked down on him, Billy's blue eyes looked clear, brow furrowed.

What was he supposed to do here? Make a move? What kind of move? Why was this so different. With Nance he would have definitely made a move by now. But he had hidden a lot from him.

And he knew about his friends.

"Like how you strategised to dig up dirt about me when you talked Hoonie and Mei?" Billy shifted up. This time Steve looked lost.

No, that wasn't…

"Shit Billy, that's not what happened. I just wanted to find you. I didn't even want to know those things, wait that came out-" Billy cut Steve off with a snicker of a laugh.

"Ease up, in the Camaro, Vivian dished the dirt that you were the only one who to tell Max to stop running her mouth. She also told me how the phone call went down, that Mei would only talk to you, because you said you cared. Cute." Billy's eyes flashed and he grinned bright.

He wanted to shove him down into the mattress, mess him up, but he didn't know where that would go.

"You're such a prick." Steve couldn't help, but smirk a bit. "Your family explains a lot about you, the yelling, the stupid names, the bongs, don't think I haven't seen you take one out at Tommy's parties." Steve was sailing into uncharted waters, making...small talk or something.

Billy sat up straight and suddenly they were close. His eyes burned through him like a blow torch. He didn't seem angry though.

"Ask me what you really want to ask me Steve. About My mom, the photo, Antoine." Billy tongued out his bottom lip like he wanted to do something else with his tongue instead. Like he was ready for something.

Billy was being a prick, so he could be one back. Put him off his game.

"Eh, I kinda know a lot about you already, but you got jack on me. How about a game. Two truths, One lie." Steve said non-chalant. "Whoever wins, gets a prize or something." Steve smirked and ran a hand through his hair to get it looking somewhat good.

Billy's smirk fell and he sat up against Nancy's headboard. His hair pressed up against it, but not like Nance's would.

He just had to sleep in Nancy's bed.

"I didn't know Max told you about our game. Fine, Je ne perds jamais ce jeu." Billy leaned back wiggled an eyebrow. Such a show off with his French. He didn't need Nancy to translate it had something to do with winning.

Steve had all those hours keeping watch to think of the three he would think of. He just had to sell it.

"I bet you say you always win or something, but Max told me you lost, once. Had to give her driving lessons but didn't finish, which explains why she could only half-ass drive your z28." Steve jabbed Billy's firm chest on instinct with a finger. Billy let him, but grabbed his wrist in a firm grip.

But his scales didn't shoot up like they usually did in alarm.

"If Max told you about that, then she probably told you about therest. Don't jerk me around Steve. Don't sit in bed with me, and come on to me allsweet, and fling my dirty laundry in my face. I'm NEVER going to be some straight laced, no pun intended, boy scout." Billy hissed defensively, and Steve read in between the lines.

Boy scoutlike you.

Yeaahhh, Billy definitely didn't want to talk about the photo, or whatever happened that day yet.

Steve took a deep breath.

"One, on the night you were taken, I hunted down Neil to prove I wasn't some Paper Knight, and the only reason I didn't was because the Demodog beat me to it. Two, I liked it when my parents fought because it was nice to not be the only miserable one in my family. Three, I killed my best friend, David, on Memorial Day in the Eighth grade." Steve had to hand it to himself, his voice only shook a little bit. His pulse jackrabbited hot and fast in his neck, he wasn't used to just...exposing his secrets like this.

See, they were alltrue.And, if Billy were as good as this game as he said he was, he would know that. That he was definitely not a boy scout, more like a Freakshow.

His palms sweat on his knees as he struggled to keep Billy's unreadable gaze. Billy would think about the scales and the claws and the noose and the FUCK why did he play this game? What was with him and testing everyone around him?

Or was heeventesting Billy? Was he just trying to prove some street cred?

Dustin was right, he had some MAJOR complexes.

Billy sighed through his nose letting go of his wrist. So, he wasrejectinghim? Steve finally broke his gaze to look at the really interesting bedsheets.

Pause.

"Di san...third one. David wasn't just a friend, was he? He wasmore, and there was NO way you killed him." Billy murmured quietly. Steve tried his best to maintain his poker face because he hadn't actually meant to lie.

"First part's right, but it was my idea to take the sailboat out…." Steve flickered his gaze up to Billy who just sighed through his nose.

"I get it, OK? I've seen the same look in the mirror." Billy replied, a bit flat, but not cold nor judgmental.

Antoine.

So whatever happened to Antoine, Billy blamed himself for it. But Steve knew from the photo that Billy wouldneverhurt Antoine. But this also meant that Billy didn't judge him for this. Otherwise he would have like, shoved him off the bed and told him to get fucked.Right?

"As flattering as trying to kill Neil over some manic insults I was spitting, I'm glad the Cujo ripped out his throat and beat you to it. That Putangina, Neil, wasn't worth going full cold-blooded murder over. You're too pretty for prison." Billy winked at him, and Steve flipped him off.

"Like Hop would have arrested me for it, or could have. I tuned my e23 to outrun his chevy on a bad day. I'd drive to Mexico." Steve went for humor and Billy chuckled and licked his lips.

"Canada is closer, y no puedes hablar Espanol, gringo. Besides you're playing off, King Steve. A win is a win, and I told you I always win. Next time try harder." Billy grinned and leaned forward to get closer to Steve. They were face to face.

Why wouldn't Billy make a move? Maybe Billy giving him the cold shoulder wasn'tjustbecause he was sick.

"So, what do youwantBilly?" Suddenly, inexplicably he was reminded of when Billy ignored him. "You're the one who has been playing off. You didn't give me the time of day when we left Tammy's place. You pretended like I didn't matter. Was that just because you're sick?" Steve said, trying to keep his cool but anger simmered under his skin.

"I did because I was the reason you and Cabba—Dustin were almost killed, and you know that. That's why you wanted to come to your ex's house for safety. Because you thought her stupid house, not even her herself, could keep you safer than I could. And...you are probably right.Merde." Billy's tone changed dramatically, gripping the sheets like he wanted to rip them.

Steve's eyes couldn't get wider.

"You're so far off base it'd be a rundown play. First, I chose to come here to getyouout, and the only reason any of us includingyourselfmoron, were almost killed is because of Neil. And the only reason we chose Nancy's place is because its close to the forest and it's where we play DD. There's no like...symbols here, you self-deprecative dick. I can't believe you FROZE me out because of that." Steve nearly blew his stack.

Pause.

"Did you just make not one, buttwobaseball references? What in the hell, Steve who watches baseball?" Billy asked, completely confused.

"I PLAY baseball! It's my best sport, and is that REALLY what you got from all of that?" Steve couldn't believe it, he had more productive conversations with the kids about DD.

"Your BEST sport isn't basketball? You're full of surprises, though I still don't know what a rundown play is." Billy looked at him dead serious. It was when a runner got stuck between two bases but he wasn't going to tell Billy that.

"Well, I still don't know what half the shit you say is because you show off in like a thousand different languages. Turn around's fair game…" Wait, what was that insult Mei used? "...you, Shabee." Steve bantered back.

"You're a quick study too, but your tones are off; you called me a bird. More to the point...did you wear those hot white baseball pants?" Billy asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively. He really DID miss the point didn't he?

"Forget it, man." Steve shifted to leave. Billy wasn't taking him seriously. He was a fuckingidiotfor bringing up his personal problems in the first place. They didn't matter here, they had more serious things to...

Billy grabbed his arm.

"I heard you, Steve. I won't ignore you like that again. Je suis fou de toi." Billy said softly, his blue eyes blazed into his.

"What's that mean? Some insult?" Steve asked, licking his lips, hoping he was wrong.

"Notevenclose." Billy murmured, relaxing his grip on his arm and grazing his fingertips up all the way up to his jawline. Steve's heart glued itself in his throat like some love-struck dweeb.

"Oh." Steve's lips formed a small circle. His golden scales chose that opportune time to spread up his neck to his ear.

SmoothSteve. Real smooth.

He had spent all that time trying to control his powers for them to go rogue NOW!? Steve slapped his hand to his neck which was too scaled and clawed. Billy had seen them before, but did his body really have to go and betray him right as things were about to get hot?

Such a FREAK.

"Hey. I get it, being special isn't fun or good...but your scales do it for me." Billy bit his lip like girls in his Playboy would, and glanced down at the steeply tented grey sheet covering his lap.

Ok,yeah, Billy was really hitting all eight cylinders.

A familiar wooden creak sounded, one he only knew from sneaking into in Nancy's house.

"Not exactly time or place." Steve gestured his head to the doorframe. He wasn't used to being the prude, but Erica wasn't THAT good of a ninja.

"Istillthink you can do better, Big Cityshit." Erica, never shy about putting in her two cents in. She and El stood next to each other in the doorway. El was awake, and looked better. That was good. Billy just laughed on the bed and shifted on the bed to grab his jeans which were folded on the other side of the bed.

"Hey Little Hickshit, I like things that are bad for me: Cigarettes, Twinkies, and King Fishface." Billy's eyes flashed bright. Fishface. He fucking knew he'd never live that nickname down.

Steve could have thrown the 'bad for me' bit back in Billy's face. Saying he wasn't the one who bash his face into pulp on a living room floor. It'd be easy to be right, but he would rather take the 'L'. It wasn't always about winning.

"I know about the Twinkies, but Zingers are where it's at. I'm rethinking all of this now." Steve stood up from the bed putting his hands up in surrender.

A faint static hissed in the back of his mind.

He resisted the urge to shake it out of his head physically.

"Eggos are where its at." El echoed, but Erica gave her a look. "I'm telling you, Jane, you need real waffles, with real maple syrup."

Just then Dustin rounded the doorway.

"Hey, time for the Strategy Session. Hop and Mrs. Sinclair are already in the Dining room!" Dustin piped up, he his notebook and what looked like bigger pieces of paper.

"It's here...I feel the Master." El's eyelids flickered. White Static crackled through Steve's mind. Then a flicker of something out the smudged window caught Steve's attention.

"This isn't good." Steve whispered. A large black mass lurched above the Crandel's house, and a chill sliced up Steve's ribs then knifed up his spine. The mass looked like a huge animal, like a big four legged lion with strings flinging off of it's head. But it had one large tentacle, maybe like an elephant trunk off its head.

It was bigger than before. Steve didn't know how he knew, but he knew it was stronger too. Fear wired shut his throat and the static amplified.

Steve blinked and suddenly everyone was red, orange and yellow, along with the hulking monster behind the house. It was the kind of orange you'd see as life preservers on a sailboat, but Steve could make out two eyes hidden behind the dark blue strings, like hair.

Both eyes almost completely black, the kind of blue that only happened at the bottom of a deep sea. Or the bottom of the Chesapeake bay.

The Mind Flayer glareddirectlyat him. If he had hair on the back of his neck, they would have stood on end, but his nape had long ago scaled over. He couldn't hear anything except static, he didn't even know he had gotten up to the window until his clawed hand scraped sharply against the glass window pane.

They were being watched alright, and Steve knew it didn't matter where they hid, or how fast they ran, it wouldplanfor it.

Maybe it even planned ON them running and hiding.

A blue fog flowed through, blanketing the house and it reared up on two legs, dark strings hair Steve guessed streamed down the head, everything else lost in the fog.

It was just a floating head above the fog, like a blond head bobbing on the surface of the Chesapeake Bay.

Then a menacing wave of static violently rattled through his bones and teeth, nearly splitting his ear drums. Steve winced and when he opened his eyes everything was back to normal colors, and the hulking mass had vanished along with the fog.

His scales softened and his normal skin returned.

Nothing but thunderheads rolled around in the sky like when he first had watch.

"Steve, what's up? Is it out there? Is it playing mind games with you again?" Billy asked anxiously, and Steve shook his head no. Billy had his hand on his shoulder, and this reminded him of when Billy was sitting passenger in his e23.

All the kids were surrounding him and he had to buck up.Man up.

"No mind games, but...didn't you see it? It was standing behind that house huge, bigger than before,twiceas big. It was red and orange for a minute, you all were. Blue and black and red, some green. It saw me, it was watching me." Steve explained, gathering himself.

"No, we didn't see anything, but it sounds like you were seeing in infra-red, like what a lot of reptiles can do. You have darkvision." Dustin said at his right, but the tightening of the grip on his left shoulder caught his attention.

"I heard him; talking shit about haunting us. The Bulgasari is taking a page out of Byers' playbook, by creeping through windows. He's nothing but a cowardly stalker, Puta." Billy stated as cold as a steel blade, eyes locked onto his. He didn't know how Billy did it, he was literally comparing a monster bigger than a house to Jonathan peeping at Nancy through his window.

"Sswa jug-yeo beolil geoya!" Billy spat at the window. Steve didn't know what he said, but it didn't matter. How was he always so fearless?

"You can see the Master when he hides, Billy can hear him, I can feel him. This is good, don't worry." El said from somewhere behind him. Damn mind reading powers, Tela...something. He wasn't worried about himself, he was worried because Billy would have to go up against it while he dug around in the forest with Erica.

But, that's probably what she meant, don't worry about Billy.

"Yeah, and with Dustin's plan, and my Vodou magic, we are going home and beating that puta." Erica high-fived El. So, she knew a bit about Dustin's plan, they were sort of getting along then.

'Remember Son, there is opportunity hidden behind every crisis. That's why I have a job, if a piece of priceless artwork is destroyed, people get an opportunity to rebuild their collection.'His father lectured him once one Christmas when destroyed his presents right after he unwrapped them to make a point about...something.

Here though, it made sense. When he first arrived at Wilton, he was low in the hierarchy. Steve Harrington was a backward outsider in someone else's territory. Yet, once he learned their ways, he was King. He made Wilton his kingdom, Steve Harrington was famous in Wilton Academy, then he became King Steve of Hawkins.

King Steve of the Ethereal Plane.

"Yeah, now we can turn the tables on him. We can take this King down." Steve said confidently, much more so than before. Billy' whipped around to face him, eyes fiery.

"If it's gone then we really need to go over my master plan that Erica already pointed out!" Dustin waved his notebook, pointing downstairs. The rest followed him, including Billy.

Until Billy finally made his move.

Billy roughly turned towards him around and pushed him up against the wall of Nancy's bedroom with enough force to push him off his heels, but not enough to really make noise.

"Buenos Dias, Shabi." Steve smirked knowing full well he had the upper-hand. Billy's hard-on swelled his jeans. Billy put his hands on his hips as if thinking about tearing them off to get at him.

"Ha, closer, mi Rey." Billy canted his head up and swooped onto his mouth and pressed his body flush up against his. Billy hungrily prowled the inside of Steve's mouth and it was hot, slick and everything he wanted. Steve gripped a handful of curls at the base of his skull and a muffled groan came from Billy.

Steve got half hard instantly. God the things he'd do to Billy once he was outside the Upside-Down. He barely got the chance to feel Billy's erection against his leg before he stepped back.

"You have no idea how fired up you made me, saying that. I couldn't have asked for a better reward for winning that game. We're going to run his turf." Billy smiling full on simply dazzled Steve. It wasn't one of his cocky smirks, or maniacal grins.

This smile he hadn't seen before.

No wait, he had seen it before, just not in Hawkins. Billy, decked out like Christmas, smiled just like this in the photo with Antoine.

Billy looked genuinely happy, and he made that happen. Billy was smiling for HIM. Steve's breath hitched from just how big his chest swelled warm and his groin got hot.

He wanted to Billy to smile like his a hell of a lot more often. He wondered what faces Billy made in bed. Did he smile like this or did he unravel? Both?

Suddenly, he was reminded of what Sang Hoon said on the phone.

"Sang Hoon said you were a sap, now I see where he is coming from." Steve chuckled holding up his pendant, and Billy dared looked offended.

"I really am gonna kill Cho Sang Hoon. You're an asshole." Billy tongued out his bottom lip looking away. Was he blushing? Was he embarrassed?

Dustin was right, Billy had it BAD. Itwasmutual.

"And you're a colossal, sappy dickhead, now let's get to Dustin's Strategy session. I think you're going to like his plan." Steve reassured, slapping him on the ass.

"You two, are like Mike and I." El surprised them both from around the the doorframe. Now, El was sneaky like a ninja.

"Oho, Steve what was that about 'not the time or place'? You're corrupting your ducklings!" Billy cackled madly, following El out the room.

But not before grabbing Steve's hand on the way out.

---

WOW it's been a long, long time. I hope this chapter was worth it.

Je suis fou de toi = I am crazy about you.

So it's been a crazy, crazy year for me. A lot of ups and downs and writing simply gave me the slip. I thank you all who have kept up with this fic. Please let me know how you like this chapter.

My updates will be more frequent now that I have overcome my writers block.

Thanks for always supporting me, please please drop me a comment if you liked it

-TL

It'd be more useful than the bat. According to Hop, if you wanted to dig in the forest, you had to use a pick-axe first to get around roots. Steve was glad that Hop thought about stuff like that, the practical stuff.

Well, he was even more glad that Hop and Billy sort of got along now.

Something had happened while they were at, Billy's house, Steve guessed.

They had to have worked together somehow. Steve knew that guys like Billy and Hop, total control freaks, only got along if they did something really cool together. Like Pavarti and Davie on the sailing team couldn't ever sail together until they both had to help out another guy who broke the dagger board on his sunfish.

But something bad also had to have happened because they came back without the police truck.

Just like he came back without their sloop on Memorial day 1978.

Dustin nudged him. Oh. He actually wanted an answer.

"Yeah, it'd be nice if we had some, like at least a porch light. Then I could actually see what's out there." Steve muttered, staring off Nancy's porch, as if he could see much of anything out beyond the yard.

He was keeping watch while the others rested, just like Billy had back at the hospital.

The Mind Flayer was laying low, definitely up to something. What? He had no clue. He wished he could talk to the Mind Flayer like Billy could. He was pretty useless out here as a scout, unless the Mind Flayer did something obvious.

His claws splintered some of the wood step he was gripping onto. He couldn't wait for this to be over.

"Steve. I'm not blind, you know. Like, I was more wishing I was imagining things, but no didn't get lucky on that roll. You and Billy sitting in a tree...do I need to say more?" Dustin clapped his hand on Steve's now rigid, scaled shoulder.

His scales retreated down to his wrists in dread.

"Oh my god…I don't have any idea what you're talking about." Steve's lie sounded hollow and fake like a bad set of golf clubs. He knew he could lie, this should be easy. Why wasn't it?! This was worse than Nancy sending him off to talk to Max.

He turned to Dustin sitting next to him, and he looked like he was having FUN.

Steve knew a trap when he saw one.

"Stevie, El would be so disappointed in you, friends don't lie." Dustin tsked all condescending. "At first I thought that it was unrequited, you know. That Billy liked you, and that you just wanted to bring him back because...well, you're YOU. Nice, and no offense, sort of clueless. I thought that when that nutso, jock-brain finally made his move you'd punch his clock, like you did back at the ambulance." Dustin admitted all non-chalant like his mom could get when his dad would try to pick at her spending habits passive-aggressively. That sparked something.

"I'm not gonna hit him!" Steve reared back in shock, eyes sharp.

"Cuz you like him." Dustin just grinned at him. The little shit.

"Just because I'm not gonna hit him, doesn't mean I like him. You don't even… What made you think this all the sudden?" Steve played casual and tried to deflect. He could fake casual if he had to. He knew that from playing poker at Wilton with the money his parents sent him. He ended up third in that poker tournament, not too shabby.

He even wasn't really lying. Even if he didn't just kiss Billy, he wouldn't hit him now.

Billy's curls hanging over him, his blue eyes lit up.

Steve did like Billy, but…maybe it was all wrong. Too fast? Wrong circumstances?

"As surprising as it may be, Steve, whether or not you had ooey-gooey feelings for Billy wasn't really a top concern while I was fighting for our lives. My life." Dustin said flatly, and Steve made a face.

A flash of Dustin torn open, guts red and ribs buckled out blipped through his mind.

Thank god for Erica Sinclair's powers; she saved Dustin and Billy.

He must have made a face because Dustin shoved him a bit.

"I thought about it in the Astral Plane, when we went there to save you. You got that the panicked look had on your face when you saw you had Billy's necklace. But, then you froze. I didn't get it, but it's because you thought you had Billy's necklace back because he was gone, right? It's why the first thing you asked about was where Billy was, and not like, 'How am I OK?', or 'What in the hell just happened?'. Steve, you're not that smooth, alright? You're feeling the whole electromagnetic field." Dustin jostled his shoulder a bit and Steve rolled his eyes.

"You've been watching too many of your mom's soap operas. You're blowing things out of proportion, and being way dramatic." Steve struggled here, it's not like…wait.

'snick'

Dustin had said that Billy liked him.

"I'm NOT. El doesn't even need to use her telepathy powers to read you like a book. You, like Billy, and well it works out because he's feeling the electricity right back." Dustin waggled his finger tips around like lightning.

All Steve could do was gape at him.

"Don't flip, Dustin. It's not gonna turn into anything. Be anything. It's just an Upside-Down thing." Anger surged tight in Steve's chest because he totally sounded like some…girl he used to make fun of. Damn it, now he was being like one of those girls he tossed back in Hawkins. Was this irony? No, this was 'turn-about is fair play'.

"Steve, I'm disappointed that you think I'd be 'flipping' over you and Billy liking each other after I almost DIED." Dustin had that thickly fake syrupy voice that was totally condescending. He had a point.

"I'm sorry about that." Steve apologised softly, and pat Dustin on the back with a hand which had long ago lost his scales.

"Holy Toledo Steve, that wasn't your fault. It wasn't Mrs. Sinclair's either, because she already talked to me about it. I knew the risks when I rolled to come here, and it's not always about you, ya know." Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Don't you think I know that?" Steve hissed; this was so not cool. This was so not a good use of their TIME.

"Steve, Steve, Steve….You just need to act like you don't care, even though obviously you care a LOT." Dustin waggled his eyebrows. And…wait.

No. he was not turning that railroad chat around on him.

"You know, it drives them craaaazzy." Dustin almost was laughing by this point and Steve could feel his skin heat up around his ears.

"Billy isn't some girl. This isn't even close to the same thing we were talking about back then." Steve was officially a loser. He couldn't believe that Dustin was turning his own dating advice against him.

Some King Steve 3.0 edition he was turning out to be.

"Why? Is it because he's special like Nancy? You can't be a lion, or uh, sneaky like a ninja?" Steve's face burned in humiliation. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if one of those Demigorgons came out and killed him right now.

"Billy isn't at all like Nancy." Steve's face scrunched up. He immediately tried to think of what Nancy was better at than Billy and kept running into dead ends. "Maybe that's the problem." Steve admitted somewhat glumly.

Nancy was his girl. She was everything he needed. Smart, confident, beautiful, took no shit.

"Really? Because that sort of sounds like a good thing since Nancy ditched you cold for Jonathan." Dustin said and it almost sounded like he was DEFENDING Billy.

"Yeah, you're right, she did. I thought she was it, maybe even the one, but it was bullshit. And going with how Nancy ended up, the same is gonna happen with…" Steve faltered a bit as his stomach spiked and clenched sharp. He didn't want to finish that sentence, and with the way his mouth dried out, it was unlikely to happen anyway.

His claws carved in harder to the wood and he suddenly wished he was drunk. He should have brought that tequila bottle out with him. Steve didn't like the way this conversation turned at all. The sour pinch in his gut from what he realised told him one thing.

He and Billy kissing was a BIG mistake.

"Why? He actually likes you." Dustin cocked his head to the side a bit.

Steve's eyes shot wide and his jaw dropped.

Why was Dustin challenging him on this? Dustin HATED Billy. He called him psycho and crazy and checked all the boxed for everything Dustin generally considered terrible.

"Like, Nancy is cooler, kinder, and is way less angry than Billy, but she didn't like you like Billy does. Will told me that she pulled a loaded GUN on you. Hop just made me finish gun safety training, and lectured to me that you should never point a gun at something you're not 100% okay with shooting." Dustin made a 'this should be obvious' face and Steve shook his head.

Why did that matter?

"Dustin, Nancy wouldn't really shoot me. She was just trying to protect me from the Demigorgon." Steve dismissed, though thinking about it. Maybe her trying to force him out and keeping all that from him was a sign that she didn't trust him THAT much.

He was avoiding the bigger implication that she was trying to force him out of her life.

"Steve, let's say for the sake of argument that's right." Dustin put out his hands like a scale. "Someone who pulls a gun on you, versus someone who tries to take on the Mind Flayer SOLO to protect you. They're both kinda shortsighted, but one definitely means they care more about YOU." Dustin put one of his hands way down to the wooden floor of the deck.

"Ok did you forget that Billy literally beat the shit out of me months ago?" Steve countered and Dustin rolled his eyes.

"Obviously YOU did! Besides if he didn't hit you back at the ambulance, then he probably won't do it again. Billy is crazy about you. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still think he's literally crazy, but he's fallen for you. HARD. Erica agrees, and said it happened before you got here." OH. So this is where this was coming from. Were they sharing notes?!

He had seen Dustin and Erica whispering together earlier. Conspiracy!

"So you're what, trying to play Susie Matchmaker with someone you think is crazy? Thanks for the support. I know you hate him Dustin, why are you even trying to put us together?" Steve finally asked, at this point genuinely curious since Dustin hadn't crossed over to being Billy's cheerleader like Erica had.

Dustin sighed big.

"You're being SUCH a pain. It's like you're looking for any out you can take, like ANY escape! Even if I did hate him, so what? You shouldn't wuss out." Dustin this time slapped him on the back a few times.

Maybe he was being a pussy.

"I'm not looking for a way out. He's the one that's been ignoring me. He's been driving…" Oh shit. Oh shit. Billy was totally using his own moves against him.

The prick. When he woke up he was gonna bust his balls.

"…driving you crazy? Yeah, well some of that may be because he's been hiding being sick from overusing his powers. El found out with her mind powers after you passed out, and asked Mrs. Sinclair if she could help. Then it became this huge thing because Mrs. Sinclair dragged out how serious it was out of Billy. Apparently he's been throwing up ash, tar, maybe even his own insides. He should REALLY stop smoking. But anyway, then Mrs Sinclair found out that Hop knew about it back at Exorcism house before they went off to distract the Mind Flayer. Mrs. Sinclair let Hop HAVE IT. She's scary, like maybe scarier than Mrs. Byers. Hop didn't have much to say, but, well except now he and Billy are getting along." Dustin explained. Steve's eyebrows furrowed in concern.

So that's what Vivian was talking about with Hop back in the kitchen.

Billy was sick and overusing his powers, and went to fight the Mind Flayer anyway.

He vaguely remembered fire back at the exorcism house too. He must have overexerted himself. No wonder he had passed out in Nancy's bed right away.

"He's such a dumbass. I'm such a dumbass….I should have noticed or something." Steve grumbled. Here he was sulking like some brat when Billy was throwing up stuff that you definitely shouldn't be throwing up.

"Yeah, you're BOTH dumb. He thinks you're smart though, which is definitely a sign he likes you." Dustin admitted, finally taking his hand off Steve's back.

Steve didn't say anything. Billy was tough, but not invincible like he wanted everyone to think.

Pause.

"So you don't hate him? Billy?" Steve asked skeptically, a grin curling up his face.

"It's kinda hard to hate the guy who risked his own life twice to save your brother, even if he's got rage issues and Max hates him. I tolerate him." Dustin sighed, sounding real reluctant to admit that.

Steve let that settle in. Brother.

So Dustin thought of him like his brother?

Steve smiled despite everything.

"Are you done moping now?" Dustin asked, standing up. He loomed over Steve, as if daring him to cry more about his stupid feelings.

"I'm not moping, I'm keeping watch so everyone else can rest…." Steve defended.

Dustin rolled his eyes.

"…fine. YES. I'm done moping. Wanna help me keep watch, bro?" Steve relented finally, and fussed with the pendant.

"Sure, I can tell you about my ingenious plan, and my theories behind it all." Dustin whipped out his notebook.

"Should you really talk about it out here? Can't the Mind Flayer, like, hear us?" Steve asked, all the sudden back on alert.

"No, I think it can only do that if he takes form and is nearby. It isn't all powerful. Well, if he is, he makes mistakes just like we do." Dustin took out a pen and turned to a mostly fresh page.

He caught a doodle of Erica and her light coming out of her hands.

Someone made the inner circle.

"You think the Mind Flayer makes mistakes?" Steve sounded skeptical.

"Definitely. Billy thinks the Mind Flayer wants you dead, specifically. He blighted you from the start, when the Demodog bit you when you were under the police truck. He even possessed you, and could make you do anything, right? You had Billy's knife, why didn't he just make you commit seppuku?" Dustin made a motion of carving up and down his chest.

"That's not dark and morbid. I think you got a complex." Steve said sarcastically and reeled back. But what Dustin said made sense, from everyone else's point of view.

"Steve, I don't think you can lecture me on complexes." Dusted retorted. Fair.

"Fair. It didn't want in my head to begin with, It wanted Billy." Steve continued. "It more felt like, it was living in my head, I don't think it could hurt me or kill me without hurting or killing itself, so maybe it started to mess with us." Steve finished. The Mind Flayer definitely played dirty.

"So...it' couldn't hurt you, so it was trying to mess with us?" Dustin scribbled down some notes

"I think it was trying to play us off each other. It talked about Billy's knife like it was a sword, it was causing drama because...it was trying to provoke you guys." Steve had thought about it too. About why it didn't just kill him.

"And what? It was trying to make us kill or attack you? We'd never do that." Dustin snorted and Steve nodded.

Was Mind Flayer was just playing mind games with all of them? Including himself?

"I think it figured that out. I think the Mind Flayer wanted out of me to begin with, and was trying to find out a way to mess with us and get out. Maybe it KNEW you all would try get the mind Flayer out of me. The attack, the Alien, Billy's old house, all of it happened AFTER the exorcism. Maybe it couldn't do anything until it got out." A chill jolted down Steve's spine. What if they had played into the Mind Flayer's hand the whole time?

Too little, too late, Paper Knight.

"You think that the Mind Flayer didn't possess you, but you like, bottled him inside you, like a Genie?!" Dustin replied back looking at him as if he had three heads.

Maybe he did.

"Maybe. I mean, it did say it was 'too late' after it got exorcised from me.." Steve's thoughts ground to a halt like a clutch with a corroded flywheel.

"I heard it too, but it wasn't too late, we saved you. Well, Bayani, did. I was wrong about him, he's amazing like El, and has cool blue shoes, and I think stole a police car and maybe a dog." Dustin gushed and made hand motions like sirens.

"What if it meant it was too late for something else too? It dragged Erica in here. It could have killed her, but it didn't. Instead it lured Billy in. It planned that. Then, it knew about El. She said that it almost found her when she tried to find Billy and Erica with the photos in the police station. She said the Mind Flayer was planning, what if it's too late to stop what it's planning?" Steve could feel the scales begin to creep up his arms again defensively.

"We've beat the Mind Flayer every time he's attacked us. We got the upper hand now that I have a plan to kill him. I'm going to brief you now before my official strategy session!" Dustin's gave Steve a confident thumbs up.

"You got a plan? Well let's hear it Dusty." Steve smirked a little and Dustin pushed him.

"No. Dusty, no Cabbage, DusTIN. Like I was trying to explain earlier before you kicked me in the chest, I think the vision Billy had when he was flipping out was right. It all comes together into a FOOLPROOF Plan." Dustin spread out his notebook and Steve pushed the sight of Billy bleeding out of his eyes out of his head.

"Steve, remember our campaign Sunday? You know, we all plane shifted and ended up in Shadowfell, which in our campaign is a demiplane of the Ethereal plane. From there we had to fight our way back to the Material plane. And by fight, I mean survive encounters all those low level spect—you following me?" Dustin paused after catching Steve scanning the neighborhood.

"Multi-tasking, I'm on watch, remember?" Steve rolled his eyes, picking up his pick-axe and shaking it with his scaled hand, claws and all.

"Bayani is a seer, and he had a POINT too. He said that the Blight the Mind Flayer cursed you with was ETHEREAL, like it wasn't physically on your skin. It got me thinking, the Upside-Down is actually the Ethereal Plane in Dungeons and Dragons! It all checks out. The Upside-Down has Specters, special powers, and shadow monsters, just like the Ethereal Plane. We're stuck in the Ethereal Plane, fighting our way back to the Material Plane!" Dustin slapped the paper that had 'ETHEREAL PLANE!' scribbled across it in all black pen.

The wind shifted, and as if on instinct, Steve's scales rippled up his arms again.

"You sense something, Steve?" Dustin paused also looking out, going for something under a rancid blanket on the porch.

"Do you have a gun?!" Steve reared back. Like, he knew that Hop gave him lessons, but seriously?!

"Duh, don't shit your pants, safety's on. I gave the wrist rocket to Erica. Made sense, it's Lucas' and all." Dustin waggled a smaller rifle.

"I still have no idea why Hop decided to let you have that." Steve eyed the gun then back to Dustin. It just looked wrong.

"...Billy's idea. He told Hop this rifle will be easy for me to learn on." Dustin admitted. Steve laughed hard.

"Now, that suddenly explains why you like him." Steve elbowed dustin.

"I tolerate him; you like him. Now back to what we were talking about." Dustin put the rifle down.

"You were talking about how the Upside-Down is the Ethereal plane because of the ghosts and shadow monsters, and Hawkins is the Material Plane. We have to get out of the Ethereal plane, and get back to the Material Plane, just like we did on Sunday." Steve recited evenly and calmly. He had actually been working on listening. He owed THAT much to Dustin. If Steve had really thought about it, Dustin had put just as much, or more on the line than anyone else here in the Upside-Down.

Or, he supposed, the Ethereal Plane. Whatever 'Ethereal' really meant. He bet Nancy, or hell maybe even Billy knew.

Steve's mind almost wandered to Billy, but Dustin clapped him on the shoulder, jolting him back.

"I can't WAIT to tell Mike that he's wrong about you! I knew you weren't a lost cause." Dustin brightened and blinked away that glassy look. Steve rolled his eyes. Once he got them out of the Ethereal Plane, he wasn't fronting Mike any ice cream money for a week. The kid could be such a SNOT.

"Great, a thirteen year old no longer thinks I'm a lost cause…" Steve groaned. It was hard to remember a time when he was on top.

"Hey, baby steps. And getting back, it's what El said, everything is connected, just like, altered slightly…you can even say, UPSIDE DOWN. See, in our campaign, both Max and Lucas were participating. Max's character finished off the Changeling Wraith, Lucas' character was polymorphed by Will and he turned into a giant crocodile, and your character tanked the damage." Dustin continued, turning to a fresh page and drawing out what looked like some sort of battle plan in the forest.

"But here, instead of Max and Lucas, it's their siblings, Billy and Erica. Billy said the saw the Mind Flayer's fears, and that Steve and Erica purify its heart. So the roles from our campaign are all cycled around." Dustin began to map everything out and Steve began to remember all that actually happened in that campaign. It really did seem like ages ago.

"In the adventure, my character just stood there and whacked the monster mostly. I was able to withstand most of his attacks." He tanked most of the damage because he was a knight, well Paladin.

"That was important, if you didn't tank we would have had a TPK, total party kill, anyway, Lucas, who is now Erica, isn't polymorphed. Instead she does Max's role and finishes it off with her Bard spells." Dustin began to put initials for their names. "You don't distract and tank the damage here, you'll polymorph into the dragon to help Erica, Like Lucas did." He wiggled the pepper shaker.

He really hoped he didn't turn into an ACTUAL giant lizard like Lucas' character had.

"So, you're saying that Erica has to do the things that Max was doing in our game, and I have to do what Lucas did in our game in order to beat the Mind Flayer? Erica is Max, and I'm Lucas." It tracks, after all, so far everything we had in the real Hawkins has ended up here, just altered.

'I told the Kingpin that his fight was with me.'-Billy

"It's also the part Billy wants." Steve muttered, knowing that all of this was probably inevitable anyway.

"We'll protect your lover boy." Dustin made kissy faces, then a huge yawn.

"God, please spare me, my life is not one of your mother's soap operas. Take a nap or something. I got watch." Steve groaned and shoved him a bit.

"You want the gun for the watch?" Dustin stood up and picked up the rifle. Dustin held it out for him as if displaying it, his soft hands steady. It gave him a bad feeling. He just pictured Nance pointing the revolver at him, and while it shouldn't have made him wince, it did.

Dustin came in here with a sling shot, and now he had an assault rifle, or something.

"I'm...good, go get some z's, you're not going to impress Erica if you're too tired to pitch your strategy session." Steve reassured and Dustin just put the gun back and sneered.

"I don't need to impress Erica, she's just Lucas' lil sister." Dustin skulked away and Steve just laughed. Dustin never stayed angry long.

---

A few boring stake out hours later

Steve hadn't made much headway with his eyes again, but at least he had gotten used to the swing of the pick-axe instead of the bat. He could also control his scales and claws with much more precision.

And had decided that once Hop came out he'd-

"Hey kid, take a rest, I got the watch." Aaannnd there he was, Chief grouchy himself.

"Thanks, I didn't see anything." Steve said, leaving the pick-axe.

'snick'

Hop lit a cigarette.

"Another calm, before another storm. Might want to go wake up Big Badass and Jane." Hop took a drag and offered him one, but Steve and waved him off.

Steve didn't pause in his step as he walked up the steps. He had sat out there for hours thinking of what he was going to do about Billy and the photos and him slipping about the noose and the dumb kiss. King Steve had a plan.

Steve peaked his head through Nancy's doorframe to see Billy sleeping on his side, straight as an arrow, as if trying to take up the least amount of space possible in the bed.

Beside the bed was a pail, piles of ash were all around it. Steve approached him.

Was Billy still sick?

"I don't need you fretting over me like some mother hen. I'm firing on all eight cylinders." Billy rolled onto his back in the bed and Steve took that as an invitation. So Billy knew he knew.

Steve sat on the edge of the bed and he couldn't help but feel that the roles were suddenly reversed from the other house.

"I'll have you know, I make one badass babysitter. And, I don't fret, I...strategise." Steve looked down on him, Billy's blue eyes looked clear, brow furrowed.

What was he supposed to do here? Make a move? What kind of move? Why was this so different. With Nance he would have definitely made a move by now. But he had hidden a lot from him.

And he knew about his friends.

"Like how you strategised to dig up dirt about me when you talked Hoonie and Mei?" Billy shifted up. This time Steve looked lost.

No, that wasn't…

"Shit Billy, that's not what happened. I just wanted to find you. I didn't even want to know those things, wait that came out-" Billy cut Steve off with a snicker of a laugh.

"Ease up, in the Camaro, Vivian dished the dirt that you were the only one who to tell Max to stop running her mouth. She also told me how the phone call went down, that Mei would only talk to you, because you said you cared. Cute." Billy's eyes flashed and he grinned bright.

He wanted to shove him down into the mattress, mess him up, but he didn't know where that would go.

"You're such a prick." Steve couldn't help, but smirk a bit. "Your family explains a lot about you, the yelling, the stupid names, the bongs, don't think I haven't seen you take one out at Tommy's parties." Steve was sailing into uncharted waters, making...small talk or something.

Billy sat up straight and suddenly they were close. His eyes burned through him like a blow torch. He didn't seem angry though.

"Ask me what you really want to ask me Steve. About My mom, the photo, Antoine." Billy tongued out his bottom lip like he wanted to do something else with his tongue instead. Like he was ready for something.

Billy was being a prick, so he could be one back. Put him off his game.

"Eh, I kinda know a lot about you already, but you got jack on me. How about a game. Two truths, One lie." Steve said non-chalant. "Whoever wins, gets a prize or something." Steve smirked and ran a hand through his hair to get it looking somewhat good.

Billy's smirk fell and he sat up against Nancy's headboard. His hair pressed up against it, but not like Nance's would.

He just had to sleep in Nancy's bed.

"I didn't know Max told you about our game. Fine, Je ne perds jamais ce jeu." Billy leaned back wiggled an eyebrow. Such a show off with his French. He didn't need Nancy to translate it had something to do with winning.

Steve had all those hours keeping watch to think of the three he would think of. He just had to sell it.

"I bet you say you always win or something, but Max told me you lost, once. Had to give her driving lessons but didn't finish, which explains why she could only half-ass drive your z28." Steve jabbed Billy's firm chest on instinct with a finger. Billy let him, but grabbed his wrist in a firm grip.

But his scales didn't shoot up like they usually did in alarm.

"If Max told you about that, then she probably told you about the rest. Don't jerk me around Steve. Don't sit in bed with me, and come on to me all sweet, and fling my dirty laundry in my face. I'm NEVER going to be some straight laced, no pun intended, boy scout." Billy hissed defensively, and Steve read in between the lines.

Boy scout like you.

Yeaahhh, Billy definitely didn't want to talk about the photo, or whatever happened that day yet.

Steve took a deep breath.

"One, on the night you were taken, I hunted down Neil to prove I wasn't some Paper Knight, and the only reason I didn't was because the Demodog beat me to it. Two, I liked it when my parents fought because it was nice to not be the only miserable one in my family. Three, I killed my best friend, David, on Memorial Day in the Eighth grade." Steve had to hand it to himself, his voice only shook a little bit. His pulse jackrabbited hot and fast in his neck, he wasn't used to just...exposing his secrets like this.

See, they were all true. And, if Billy were as good as this game as he said he was, he would know that. That he was definitely not a boy scout, more like a Freakshow.

His palms sweat on his knees as he struggled to keep Billy's unreadable gaze. Billy would think about the scales and the claws and the noose and the FUCK why did he play this game? What was with him and testing everyone around him?

Or was he even testing Billy? Was he just trying to prove some street cred?

Dustin was right, he had some MAJOR complexes.

Billy sighed through his nose letting go of his wrist. So, he was rejecting him? Steve finally broke his gaze to look at the really interesting bedsheets.

Pause.

"Di san...third one. David wasn't just a friend, was he? He was more, and there was NO way you killed him." Billy murmured quietly. Steve tried his best to maintain his poker face because he hadn't actually meant to lie.

"First part's right, but it was my idea to take the sailboat out…." Steve flickered his gaze up to Billy who just sighed through his nose.

"I get it, OK? I've seen the same look in the mirror." Billy replied, a bit flat, but not cold nor judgmental.

Antoine.

So whatever happened to Antoine, Billy blamed himself for it. But Steve knew from the photo that Billy would never hurt Antoine. But this also meant that Billy didn't judge him for this. Otherwise he would have like, shoved him off the bed and told him to get fucked. Right?

"As flattering as trying to kill Neil over some manic insults I was spitting, I'm glad the Cujo ripped out his throat and beat you to it. That Putangina, Neil, wasn't worth going full cold-blooded murder over. You're too pretty for prison." Billy winked at him, and Steve flipped him off.

"Like Hop would have arrested me for it, or could have. I tuned my e23 to outrun his chevy on a bad day. I'd drive to Mexico." Steve went for humor and Billy chuckled and licked his lips.

"Canada is closer, y no puedes hablar Espanol, gringo. Besides you're playing off, King Steve. A win is a win, and I told you I always win. Next time try harder." Billy grinned and leaned forward to get closer to Steve. They were face to face.

Why wouldn't Billy make a move? Maybe Billy giving him the cold shoulder wasn't just because he was sick.

"So, what do you want Billy?" Suddenly, inexplicably he was reminded of when Billy ignored him. "You're the one who has been playing off. You didn't give me the time of day when we left Tammy's place. You pretended like I didn't matter. Was that just because you're sick?" Steve said, trying to keep his cool but anger simmered under his skin.

"I did because I was the reason you and Cabba—Dustin were almost killed, and you know that. That's why you wanted to come to your ex's house for safety. Because you thought her stupid house, not even her herself, could keep you safer than I could. And...you are probably right. Merde." Billy's tone changed dramatically, gripping the sheets like he wanted to rip them.

Steve's eyes couldn't get wider.

"You're so far off base it'd be a rundown play. First, I chose to come here to get you out, and the only reason any of us including yourself moron, were almost killed is because of Neil. And the only reason we chose Nancy's place is because its close to the forest and it's where we play D . There's no like...symbols here, you self-deprecative dick. I can't believe you FROZE me out because of that." Steve nearly blew his stack.

Pause.

"Did you just make not one, but two baseball references? What in the hell, Steve who watches baseball?" Billy asked, completely confused.

"I PLAY baseball! It's my best sport, and is that REALLY what you got from all of that?" Steve couldn't believe it, he had more productive conversations with the kids about D .

"Your BEST sport isn't basketball? You're full of surprises, though I still don't know what a rundown play is." Billy looked at him dead serious. It was when a runner got stuck between two bases but he wasn't going to tell Billy that.

"Well, I still don't know what half the shit you say is because you show off in like a thousand different languages. Turn around's fair game…" Wait, what was that insult Mei used? "...you, Shabee." Steve bantered back.

"You're a quick study too, but your tones are off; you called me a bird. More to the point...did you wear those hot white baseball pants?" Billy asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively. He really DID miss the point didn't he?

"Forget it, man." Steve shifted to leave. Billy wasn't taking him seriously. He was a fucking idiot for bringing up his personal problems in the first place. They didn't matter here, they had more serious things to...

Billy grabbed his arm.

"I heard you, Steve. I won't ignore you like that again. Je suis fou de toi." Billy said softly, his blue eyes blazed into his.

"What's that mean? Some insult?" Steve asked, licking his lips, hoping he was wrong.

"Not even close." Billy murmured, relaxing his grip on his arm and grazing his fingertips up all the way up to his jawline. Steve's heart glued itself in his throat like some love-struck dweeb.

"Oh." Steve's lips formed a small circle. His golden scales chose that opportune time to spread up his neck to his ear.

Smooth Steve. Real smooth.

He had spent all that time trying to control his powers for them to go rogue NOW!? Steve slapped his hand to his neck which was too scaled and clawed. Billy had seen them before, but did his body really have to go and betray him right as things were about to get hot?

Such a FREAK.

"Hey. I get it, being special isn't fun or good...but your scales do it for me." Billy bit his lip like girls in his Playboy would, and glanced down at the steeply tented grey sheet covering his lap.

Ok, yeah, Billy was really hitting all eight cylinders.

A familiar wooden creak sounded, one he only knew from sneaking into in Nancy's house.

"Not exactly time or place." Steve gestured his head to the doorframe. He wasn't used to being the prude, but Erica wasn't THAT good of a ninja.

"I still think you can do better, Big Cityshit." Erica, never shy about putting in her two cents in. She and El stood next to each other in the doorway. El was awake, and looked better. That was good. Billy just laughed on the bed and shifted on the bed to grab his jeans which were folded on the other side of the bed.

"Hey Little Hickshit, I like things that are bad for me: Cigarettes, Twinkies, and King Fishface." Billy's eyes flashed bright. Fishface. He fucking knew he'd never live that nickname down.

Steve could have thrown the 'bad for me' bit back in Billy's face. Saying he wasn't the one who bash his face into pulp on a living room floor. It'd be easy to be right, but he would rather take the 'L'. It wasn't always about winning.

"I know about the Twinkies, but Zingers are where it's at. I'm rethinking all of this now." Steve stood up from the bed putting his hands up in surrender.

A faint static hissed in the back of his mind.

He resisted the urge to shake it out of his head physically.

"Eggos are where its at." El echoed, but Erica gave her a look. "I'm telling you, Jane, you need real waffles, with real maple syrup."

Just then Dustin rounded the doorway.

"Hey, time for the Strategy Session. Hop and Mrs. Sinclair are already in the Dining room!" Dustin piped up, he his notebook and what looked like bigger pieces of paper.

"It's here...I feel the Master." El's eyelids flickered. White Static crackled through Steve's mind. Then a flicker of something out the smudged window caught Steve's attention.

"This isn't good." Steve whispered. A large black mass lurched above the Crandel's house, and a chill sliced up Steve's ribs then knifed up his spine. The mass looked like a huge animal, like a big four legged lion with strings flinging off of it's head. But it had one large tentacle, maybe like an elephant trunk off its head.

It was bigger than before. Steve didn't know how he knew, but he knew it was stronger too. Fear wired shut his throat and the static amplified.

Steve blinked and suddenly everyone was red, orange and yellow, along with the hulking monster behind the house. It was the kind of orange you'd see as life preservers on a sailboat, but Steve could make out two eyes hidden behind the dark blue strings, like hair.

Both eyes almost completely black, the kind of blue that only happened at the bottom of a deep sea. Or the bottom of the Chesapeake bay.

The Mind Flayer glared directly at him. If he had hair on the back of his neck, they would have stood on end, but his nape had long ago scaled over. He couldn't hear anything except static, he didn't even know he had gotten up to the window until his clawed hand scraped sharply against the glass window pane.

They were being watched alright, and Steve knew it didn't matter where they hid, or how fast they ran, it would plan for it.

Maybe it even planned ON them running and hiding.

A blue fog flowed through, blanketing the house and it reared up on two legs, dark strings hair Steve guessed streamed down the head, everything else lost in the fog.

It was just a floating head above the fog, like a blond head bobbing on the surface of the Chesapeake Bay.

Then a menacing wave of static violently rattled through his bones and teeth, nearly splitting his ear drums. Steve winced and when he opened his eyes everything was back to normal colors, and the hulking mass had vanished along with the fog.

His scales softened and his normal skin returned.

Nothing but thunderheads rolled around in the sky like when he first had watch.

"Steve, what's up? Is it out there? Is it playing mind games with you again?" Billy asked anxiously, and Steve shook his head no. Billy had his hand on his shoulder, and this reminded him of when Billy was sitting passenger in his e23.

All the kids were surrounding him and he had to buck up. Man up.

"No mind games, but...didn't you see it? It was standing behind that house huge, bigger than before, twice as big. It was red and orange for a minute, you all were. Blue and black and red, some green. It saw me, it was watching me." Steve explained, gathering himself.

"No, we didn't see anything, but it sounds like you were seeing in infra-red, like what a lot of reptiles can do. You have darkvision." Dustin said at his right, but the tightening of the grip on his left shoulder caught his attention.

"I heard him; talking shit about haunting us. The Bulgasari is taking a page out of Byers' playbook, by creeping through windows. He's nothing but a cowardly stalker, Puta." Billy stated as cold as a steel blade, eyes locked onto his. He didn't know how Billy did it, he was literally comparing a monster bigger than a house to Jonathan peeping at Nancy through his window.

"Sswa jug-yeo beolil geoya!" Billy spat at the window. Steve didn't know what he said, but it didn't matter. How was he always so fearless?

"You can see the Master when he hides, Billy can hear him, I can feel him. This is good, don't worry." El said from somewhere behind him. Damn mind reading powers, Tela...something. He wasn't worried about himself, he was worried because Billy would have to go up against it while he dug around in the forest with Erica.

But, that's probably what she meant, don't worry about Billy.

"Yeah, and with Dustin's plan, and my Vodou magic, we are going home and beating that puta." Erica high-fived El. So, she knew a bit about Dustin's plan, they were sort of getting along then.

'Remember Son, there is opportunity hidden behind every crisis. That's why I have a job, if a piece of priceless artwork is destroyed, people get an opportunity to rebuild their collection.' His father lectured him once one Christmas when destroyed his presents right after he unwrapped them to make a point about...something.

Here though, it made sense. When he first arrived at Wilton, he was low in the hierarchy. Steve Harrington was a backward outsider in someone else's territory. Yet, once he learned their ways, he was King. He made Wilton his kingdom, Steve Harrington was famous in Wilton Academy, then he became King Steve of Hawkins.

King Steve of the Ethereal Plane.

"Yeah, now we can turn the tables on him. We can take this King down." Steve said confidently, much more so than before. Billy' whipped around to face him, eyes fiery.

"If it's gone then we really need to go over my master plan that Erica already pointed out!" Dustin waved his notebook, pointing downstairs. The rest followed him, including Billy.

Until Billy finally made his move.

Billy roughly turned towards him around and pushed him up against the wall of Nancy's bedroom with enough force to push him off his heels, but not enough to really make noise.

"Buenos Dias, Shabi." Steve smirked knowing full well he had the upper-hand. Billy's hard-on swelled his jeans. Billy put his hands on his hips as if thinking about tearing them off to get at him.

"Ha, closer, mi Rey." Billy canted his head up and swooped onto his mouth and pressed his body flush up against his. Billy hungrily prowled the inside of Steve's mouth and it was hot, slick and everything he wanted. Steve gripped a handful of curls at the base of his skull and a muffled groan came from Billy.

Steve got half hard instantly. God the things he'd do to Billy once he was outside the Upside-Down. He barely got the chance to feel Billy's erection against his leg before he stepped back.

"You have no idea how fired up you made me, saying that. I couldn't have asked for a better reward for winning that game. We're going to run his turf." Billy smiling full on simply dazzled Steve. It wasn't one of his cocky smirks, or maniacal grins.

This smile he hadn't seen before.

No wait, he had seen it before, just not in Hawkins. Billy, decked out like Christmas, smiled just like this in the photo with Antoine.

Billy looked genuinely happy, and that reminded him of what Sang Hoon said on the phone.

"Sang Hoon said you were a sap, now I see where he is coming from." Steve chuckled holding up his pendant, and Billy dared looked offended.

"I really am gonna kill Cho Sang Hoon. You're an asshole." Billy tongued out his bottom lip looking away. Was he blushing? Was he embarrassed?

Dustin was right, Billy had it BAD. It was mutual.

"And you're a colossal, sappy dickhead, now let's get to Dustin's Strategy session. I think you're going to like his plan." Steve reassured, slapping him on the ass.

"You two, are like Mike and I." El surprised them both from around the the doorframe. Now, El was sneaky like a ninja.

"Oho, Steve what was that about 'not the time or place'? You're corrupting your ducklings!" Billy cackled madly, following El out the room.

But not before grabbing Steve's hand on the way out.

---

WOW it's been a long, long time.

Je suis fou de toi = I am crazy about you.

So it's been a crazy, crazy year for me. A lot of ups and downs and writing simply gave me the slip. I thank you all who have kept up with this fic. Please let me know how you like this chapter.

My updates will be more frequent now that I have overcome my writers block.

Thanks for always supporting me,

-TL