COWT - seconda settimana

[sidhedcv]

prompt: equilibrio

If you would’ve asked him a few years ago, Billy would’ve said that he was definitely going to die young. Tommy H. asked one time, back in high school, and laughed when Billy answered, finding that kind of cowboy bolstering extremely funny.

Billy laughed too, and everyone else at the party laughed too, thinking it was some badass answer to a stupid existential question.

Billy laughed and didn’t find it funny at all.

It was the kind of thought that always lived in the back of his mind, whenever Billy thought about his future, what to do with school, with jobs, with Max, with his life.

Why think about any of this, when you’re sure you’re gonna die, eventually, in just a few years? Why think about any of this, if you’re just one shout match away from bleeding out on the floor of your own room? One drunken drive away from crashing into a tree? One sleepless night in the car away from freezing to death in fucking Hawkins, Indiana?

Coming back to California felt like an impossible dream for so many years, Billy found it hard to believe it wasn’t some concussion-induced hallucination even with his feet buried in the scorching sand and the smell of the ocean all around him.

And now, now he lives with Steve Harrington. They live together. As a couple. Sharing the same space, the same bed, sharing a good morning kiss every morning and a welcome back kiss every time one of them gets back from work - and none of it makes sense, to Billy, but he’s not about to question his luck, or this weird balance he’s found in his life.

“Have you ever thought about kids?” Steve asks out of the blue, while they’re hanging out on the couch of their tiny apartment, Steve neatly tucked into Billy’s side in a way that makes his heart pound with something he can’t really put a name to.

Billy blinks once, twice, and then huffs out a laugh. That’s exactly the kind of weird ass question he’s come to expect from Steve, especially when they’re high and tired from a long day of work.

“Yeah, I’ve thought about kids.”

They’re loud, messy, and usually covered in something that Billy has no interest in naming. There are loads of kids on the beach, where Billy works as a lifeguard, and sometimes he even gets to teach them how to surf.

He doesn’t mind, he’s a pretty good teacher. And the moms always tip him more than what he makes for an hour of teaching, which is nice.

Steve beams at his answer and turns on the couch so that he can still be fit snugly beside Billy and look into his eyes at the same time. “You have??”

“Yeah, course I have,” Billy replies, distracted like he always is when Steve flashes those big doe eyes.

He should find the question weird, should ask exactly what Steve means, why he’s talking about kids all of a sudden - but Steve kisses him in a way that makes him forget about anything else.

They spend the rest of the evening making out on the couch, like they're teenagers once again, and it doesn’t take long for Billy to forget the weird question.