Smoking About You

Chapter Three

The group runs outside, leaving Billy and Eddie hopefully safe in the house

When the group gotten to where the ground had been torn open by Vecna, there was nothing there

Eleven bends down and runs her hand across the crack that was left, glancing at the group to see if anyone had an idea what happened

"So we defeated him?" Will asks, looking at everyone waiting for an answer, but all he gets is a nod from El. "Do you think Billy and Eddie are awake?"

And it's almost like the group had forgotten about the two boys left in the cabin on their way outside

Everyone rushes back into the cabin and is surprised but relieved to see Eddie sitting up right on Hopper's couch

"Eddie?" Dustin says, walking closer to his friend, Eddie looks up from the ground."Henderson? Henderson!" Eddie jumps up, hugging Dustin

"You're awake!" Dustin shouts, smiling,

"Yeah, yeah, but where am I?"

Max looks off to the slightly open door that goes to Hop's room

She walks into the room quietly, but her eyes widen when she sees her brother sitting on the side of the bed

Max walks closer to the bed and sits down beside him,"Billy?" He lifts his head up after hearing her voice

"Max? You're okay.."

Steve hears Billy's voice from the living room and walks into Hopper's room without thinking.

When Steve walks into the room, he sees the pair hugging, something he never thought he'd see

Billy's head was resting on Max's shoulder while Max was letting out a quiet cry

Billy pulls away from Max, smiling at her, then noticing the boy in front of the door

Billy couldn't get himself to say anything, so instead, he dropped his head, which made Max turn around and see Steve.

She waves her hand at Steve for him to come closer, but he just shakes his head

This time, she motions again but with sad eyes. 𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵, he let's in walking to them both sitting down beside Max looking at Billy

𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦..𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘥

If only Steve could figure out why every time he closed his eyes, whether to smoke, sleep, or just relax, Billy entered his mind

Before Steve could get lost thinking about Billy again, the door creaked open, revealing Lucas, Max's best friend, but who was afraid of Billy

"Oh- um.." Lucas stutters seeing that Billy was awake

Billy knew who came in through the door and chose not to look up but did wipe his eyes, which caught Steve's attention

Steve thoughtlessly placed his hand behind Max and on Billy

𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵

Why did Billy like it, too?

"Is he awake, Sinclair?" Hopper says, walking through the door, "Ah, good, we need you all in the living room, "

Before they could ask Hopper already left and Lucas followed, the three get up walking out the door

Everyone is now standing in the living room while El, Eddie, Max, and Billy are sitting on the couch, and Hopper is in front

"Me, El, the Byers, and Jonathan's friend will be staying in my cabin, but we're gonna need a place for Eddie and Billy."

"Can't Billy stay with me and my mom?" Max asks, looking at Billy, "I wish, but everyone knows about Billy. It'd be too risky."

Hopper begins again,"Unlike Eddie, who the town thinks is missing so he can -"

"I told Eddie's uncle that he died." Dustin says

Steve drops his head, and Eddie's eyes widen while Robin holds in a laugh after seeing Eddie

"Well, Henderson," Hopper says, walking closer to Dustin, "You can tell his uncle he's not!" He finishes with a fake smile

"So where is Billy gonna stay?" Joyce asks, "Right..does anyone have any extra rooms?" Hop asks, looking around

"Steve has plenty." Robin points a finger at Steve, "Huh?" Steve looks up from the ground

"Harrington, would you let Billy stay at your house for now?" This makes all the kids look at Steve remembering the fight

"Yeah sure" 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺. 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨!

Billy turns around, and both make eye contact. Before they knew it, Steve was in the driver seat, and Billy was in the passenger seat heading over to Steve's house

Neither would talk to each other, maybe they were just nervous, the radio was not playing but Billy was too scared to ask and Steve was too scared to move at the moment

Back at Hopper's cabin, Dustin was arguing, saying that he didn't wanna tell Eddie's uncle, then the phone rang.

"Hello?" Joyce says into the speaker, "Is this Jim? Jim Hopper?" It was an older man on the other line

"No, this is Joyce, but I'm with Jim. Who is this?" The group at the cabin looks over to Joyce while she talks

Joyce takes the phone away from her ear and looks at Eddie, "Eddie, do you know Chrissy Cunningham?"