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Billy thinks Steve Harrington was born with stars in his eyes.
He met Steve in high school. They didn’t really talk or ran in the same circles. But everyone knew the golden boy, he moved from the midwest and played ball well enough. His hair was long and shiny, his smile sure and charming. Steve was cute in a boyish sort of way that drove Billy crazy but after one of the guys tried to get Steve into their fold and Steve politely declined they never really interacted. Not until that day six months before graduation.
Steve is like an intelligent type or at least, that’s what Billy thinks. He doesn’t do well in Lit or Bio but it seems he likes numbers okay. He just doesn’t know how to write all his thoughts on paper and once you understand what he’s trying to say it kinda makes sense.
Billy’s favorite teacher asked him if he could help Harrington because she’s not Billy’s fave for her pretty face, although that helps. Porter sees what Billy sees so she says to them “Steve I love your essay it’s beautiful. But I can’t grade this if you don’t make sense of it,” she looks at Billy for a second and gestures with her hands “Billy here can help you, he’s great at getting to the point and he can guide you with grammar.” she looks back at Steve. He’s calm but his face is flushed.
“No, yeah I get it. The words just- yep I can use his help. Thanks”
-
Billy doesn’t know him that well but after helping him for a few hours at the library and reading his words he can guess why Ms. Porter said Steve’s essay was beautiful.
They are finished for the day but Billy secretly hopes they can meet tomorrow too, so he says.
“Space, huh?”
And Steve looks up from putting his stuff in his backpack with this smile and his eyes shine and he breathes “yeah, I love space.” and Steve talks for twenty minutes about all these things Billy sort of knew but never really paid attention to.
How he really wants to find life out there but not like ‘I want to believe’ sort of way but maybe. And he looks so bummed out when he says he has human years to do it so it’s impossible, really.
Billy wants to tell him that it isn’t.
And maybe that’s when Billy falls for the stars too.
-
Billy doesn’t realize he also loves Steve until way later than he should. He knows it might seem silly but he realizes he loves Steve on July 7, 2003. When they watch Opportunity launch into space and Steve cries big fat tears over his beer in their dorm. It isn’t silly to Billy because he can remember the words he wrote back in high school. It’s really important and he loves that about Steve.
Following him to college seems like a big clue but honestly, Billy had no plans after graduation ‘til Steve looked at him and pitched him the stars.
-
So the little Mars rover kinda plays a big part in their relationship (even if Steve doesn’t know) and Billy has to smile because Steve made him such a nerd. Now Billy talks about space with fervor and most of their friends are nerds too! Occupational hazards the lot of them. But since they do work in NASA he will take them. What has become of him? He snickers to himself. Drinks his coffee and enjoys the view of his boyfriend making eggs the way he likes in a borrowed Metallica muscle tee.
Spies the curve of Steve’s ass peeking from the shirt and gets hungry for something other than breakfast. So he gets up to fondle Steve a bit before they have to go to work.
Billy reads articles and follows Opportunity on twitter so he sees the updates and shares them with Steve. His boyfriend loves robots way too much.
On June 10, 2018, during the bus ride while Steve sleeps on his shoulder he sees the google alert. Maybe under duress, he will admit to crying over the little rover dubbed Oppy that went offline after a storm hit Mars.
-
Periodically Billy would check for updates but the little explorer seems to have run out of time and luck and it makes Billy frown in disappointment.
And if Steve sees him down he will come and hug Billy and whisper nice things like he always does. And he will kiss his hands and his cheeks and ask if everything’s okay and kiss his neck until Billy makes the sound, the ‘happily annoyed at Steve’ sound and has to detach a Steve barnacle from himself before he caves and laughs.
-
Just before midnight, he wakes to Steve sniffing quietly beside him on the bed, his phone bathing the room in blue since Steve loves attacking his eyes with the brightest setting known to man on a phone.
“Babe, what are you crying about?”
“I’m just- sad.”
Billy turns and gets his arm around Steve. Thinking this is about some dog video he found while fucking up his recommended on youtube.
“About what?”
“Opportunity ended her mission,” Billy freezes. “And her last words where My battery is low and it’s getting dark.”
Even if they both know that’s not exactly what the rover sent through communication it’s the gist of it that’s so mournful. Opportunity relied on solar power and that it knew in a way that the sun wouldn’t reach the panels is something crushing.
It’s pretty sad so this time it’s Billy who kisses Steve until he smiles.
The next day he steals Steve away for lunch and instead takes him to the observatory (after begging Sinclair for the help) and when they look up to the sky searching for Mars Billy hugs Steve from behind and holds his hand, the one that bears a golden band. The same one that Billy has.
And as they try to find Mars Billy whispers the part of the essay he loved to Steve.
-
I’m in love with the stars and the magic they spell before my eyes. And I’m in tears just thinking on the countless travelers that we sent out to explore.
Knowing they wouldn’t return. That every step they took got them further from home.
To gaze at the stars and the planets and the mist made from billions of galaxies only to send it back home proudly displaying their work. Unable to portray their beauty in full.
It makes me feel so hopeful and so heartbroken at the same time.
How lonely must a human be to look up at the lights in the skies and fall in love with something so far away? A million years of distance and your heart aches for it. I think I know what those travelers feel when the light goes dark and you are closer than anyone has ever been to the destination.
You just took the step to guide others and one day you will reach the stars, in the footsteps of strangers.
Steve Harrington’s what do you see yourself doing in five years, excerpt.
