Chapter Text
Things were weird. After. After that night at the Byers’ house. Max kept expecting Billy to say something. To blow up. She kept expecting Billy to be Billy. Instead, Max didn’t see Billy at all for days afterward. The door to his room stayed shut. Max could hear his music, occasionally, but otherwise it was like Billy didn’t even exist.
When he finally emerged, he acted like nothing had happened. He looked tired and sad. Covered in faded bruises. Max wanted to say something, but she didn’t know what. She said nothing, because that seemed easier.
It wasn’t that Billy was silent, exactly. He still talked, they still bickered here or there. But he didn’t say anything about that night and what had happened. What he had done. What she had done.
The closest he came to talking about it was a couple weeks later, when Max was getting in his car after school. Billy was watching Dustin climb into Steve’s car.
“Do you trust him?” Billy asked.
“Dustin? I don’t know. He’s weird but he’s nice, mostly.”
Billy rolled his eyes, “No, dipshit. Harrington.”
“I don’t really know him? Dustin trusts him, and I guess maybe the others do. He seems okay, I guess.”
It was true, she really hadn’t known Steve that night. And even now, she didn’t actually know him personally. Not aside from the monster stuff. But Dustin seemed to trust him implicitly. In a way Max had never really trusted anyone, she realized.
“You have to be careful with people like that, okay?” Billy said, finally.
Max scrunched up her nose and said, “Like what? People who don’t like you?”
Billy huffed.
“You know that’s not what I’m saying,” He paused. “Older people who hang around kids, who want you to trust them, who make you feel cool. You have to watch out for people like that.”
Max tried to figure out what Billy was saying, or trying to say. He wasn’t very good at that stuff. Saying what he meant. Sometimes, it felt like Billy expected Max to take all the pieces he gave her and puzzle it out on her own.
“So I should stick around people who make me feel uncool?”
“Can you just… This isn’t a fucking joke, Maxine, just listen to me. You think a guy pals around with kids because he’s so fucking nice? Just. Fuck. Some people are bad news. They want something from you. You gotta stay clear of people like that, you got it?”
And maybe Max didn’t know Steve very well but it didn’t stop her from feeling a little annoyed that Billy would say that Steve could be “bad news”.
“Bad news? You mean, like you?” Max said, more than a little unkindly.
But then Billy went pale, hands shaking where they gripped the steering wheel. He looked like he might be sick, Max thought. For the briefest moment, she wished she hadn’t said anything at all.
Except. Except, what had she even said that was wrong? She ran back through the conversation, but came up empty.
Max thought, not for the first time, that Billy made up reasons to be mad at her.
Eventually, Billy said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
And Max knew she should drop it. There was never really a point in arguing with Billy, anyway. And he wasn’t wrong, she didn’t know what they were talking about, exactly. She knew that. But… the words left her mouth anyway.
“No, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Steve isn’t an asshole, like you. Whatever you’re worried about, he wouldn’t do that.”
Billy’s grip on the wheel tightened. Max wondered again what she was missing. Why was Billy so concerned about Steve? As if he was ever worried about Max otherwise!
“And you know what? I told you to leave my friends alone. And my friends trust Steve.” Max knew she should stop, but then barreled on, words spilling out before she could help herself. “Or did you forget how that fight ended?”
Billy tried to hide the way he flinched, but Max knew. She felt bad, briefly, but she also didn’t. It didn’t seem fair that she should feel bad for Billy. And, if she was being honest, she felt a little thrill at the power she now had. That she could make her big bad stepbrother flinch.
The ride home was silent. Billy didn’t even turn his music on. Maybe, Max thought, it wasn’t some trick. Maybe Billy was actually worried about something. But she dismissed the thought quickly. When had Billy ever actually cared about anything?
As Max was opening her door, Billy said, in a softer voice than Max had ever heard from him, “I’m just trying to look out for you.”
She slammed her door shut anyway.
But she kept thinking about it. Wondering why Billy couldn’t just tell her what his problem with Steve was. Thinking, maybe, this was just another way Billy wanted to ruin things for her. Turn her against her friends. It seemed like something he would do.
He had seemed upset, though. Not angry. Worried? Sad? Max wasn’t sure. He had been… something. Had Billy faked that? Did he even know how to fake feelings like that?
If Billy was bad at saying what he meant, the only thing he was worse at was expressing how he felt. Unless it was anger. Or annoyance, maybe. Frustration. But whatever that had been, whatever he had been feeling during that conversation. She wasn’t so sure he could fake something like that.
No, he must have meant it. She just didn’t know what “it” was.
The next morning, Billy drove them to school like usual. Music up loud, no conversation. It was almost like it had never happened. Any of it. But Max knew. And she thought, if nothing else, she had to warn her friends. Or, really, warn Steve.
Billy had promised to leave her friends alone. But only because Max had threatened him. And drugged him. He couldn’t really argue with her then. He had to agree, had to promise. He’d had no choice. But he could go back on it. Max wasn’t sure how long her threat could hold him off, or if it made any difference at all.
And Steve, well, he wasn’t really her friend, anyway. He was Dustin’s friend, maybe. If even that. Dustin’s sort-of kind-of brother? Something. A guy who looked out for Dustin, and the others maybe.
Max wasn’t really sure how to broach the subject with her friends, though. She didn’t know how to explain it. What Billy had said, especially because she still wasn’t really sure what to make of it. But also, she didn’t know how to explain… That he meant it, that he meant something. How she knew or why it mattered.
Max didn’t like Billy. Not really. But. She knew him, and her friends didn’t.
So she didn’t say anything. She waited until they were meeting up at the arcade after school. She waited until she saw Steve dropping off Dustin. And then, Max was shouldering her way past her friends, putting distance between them and Steve.
“Hey, nerds, I need to talk to Steve about something.” Max said, motioning for Steve to join her away from the others.
She waited until the others went into the arcade. She didn’t miss the strange look they gave her before Mike shrugged and turned to go inside, the others following.
So, she explained. Max told Steve what Billy had said the day before. She expressed that she was worried, because Billy didn’t seem to like Steve. And, after the way Billy had fought him at the Byers’ house, she wasn’t sure what Billy would do next.
Max had thought that Steve would be worried. Or annoyed, or something. But instead, he got this weird look on his face. He kept asking her questions. Not just about what Billy had said, though he did keep asking her to tell him exactly what Billy had said.
But Steve also had a lot of questions about what things were like before. In California. What Billy was like. What was the same, what was different. How and when things had changed. Did she know who he hung around? Did she know the things they did? Did she know did she know did she know? So many questions.
And Max just didn’t get what the big deal was. Billy was just being weird! He was making up rules. He was making up rules about the way things worked, the way the world was. He did that. Why did Steve have to be weird about it, too?
Eventually, Steve said, “Max, I think I might owe Billy an explanation.”
“WHAT?” Max shouted.
Steve sighed, running a hand through his hair, “Billy was… He was under the wrong impression. It was my fault, I didn’t think about how it looked. How things might look to somebody who didn’t know what was going on. We had a lot of things to worry about, you know? And Billy showed up… And, honestly, he’d been getting on my nerves all week. I shouldn’t have let him get to me, but I did, and things got out of control.”
“But–” Max interrupted. “But he almost killed you, Steve!”
“You’re as bad as Dustin.” Steve rolled his eyes. “He didn’t almost kill me. He knocked me pretty good, but I was able to fight, wasn’t I? In the tunnels?”
Max thought about that. Okay, maybe. But what if she hadn’t stopped Billy? He still might have killed Steve, if he’d kept hitting. She said as much.
“Okay, maybe. I don’t know, Max. We don’t know what would have happened, we can’t be sure.” Steve tilted his head, hand going back to his hair briefly, before continuing, “Listen, I’m not saying it was okay. What Billy did. But I think I’m starting to understand that he had his reasons for acting that way.”
And it bothered her. That Steve seemed to know exactly what Billy had been trying to tell Max, while Max felt as lost as ever.
“Why do you even care?” Max snapped, feeling frustrated because she was starting to feel stupid, “It’s just- he’s Billy. Why do you care? I was just trying to warn you.”
Another sigh. Why did Steve have to keep sighing? It felt like he was rubbing it in. That Max didn’t get it, that she was so clueless.
“I know you think Billy hates you, but… Max, he was worried about you. He was scared. He still is scared. He just wants to keep you safe. I know that’s hard to believe… I’m wrapping my head around it, too. But. Just, trust me, okay?”
Max rolled her eyes, “You’re not going to tell me what this is about, are you?”
“I think you need to wait for Billy to tell you himself. It sounds like… He wants to tell you. Some things are hard to talk about.” Steve shifted on his feet, “Listen, can you let Dustin know that I’ll be back to drive him home later?”
Max nodded, absently.
She wanted to trust Steve on this, she did. But she also couldn’t help but think that Billy would always find reasons to be mad at her, or to control her, and that this was just one of them.
Talking, moving, just existing around Billy feels like trying to step around a maze of carefully laid traps. If she’s late coming out to his car, next time she’s skating home. If she’s early coming out to his car, can’t she see he’s busy? She says she likes something, Billy says he hates it. She asks Billy to slow down, he speeds up. She asks to listen to different music, he turns up the volume to tune her out.
But she has to admit, this feels different. And Steve seems to know exactly what trap Max has walked into. All Max can do is stand still and hope it doesn’t close around her.