Ungodly Hour (Steve)
"Theo?"
Steve had been looking at Mr Tall Dark and Knows-a-lot-about-Cavities when the tone of Harry's voice caught his attention.
Harry's eyes were blown wide, shocked, but not afraid. There was a glimmer in them, a glimmer that matched the note of excitement in his voice.
"You know him?" Steve checked, unwilling to let go of Harry's arm until he was sure. There was something off about the guy, something more than just the heavy bags under his eyes and general shit appearance.
"Yeah." Harry laughed, a bubbled up laugh that Steve had never heard before and when the guy, Theo, apparently, stepped toward him, Harry pulled away from Steve to go to him.
"Theo!" Harry was still laughing when he practically jumped across the driveway to launch himself at… Theo. Theo wasn't any less thrilled to have an arm full of Harry, he was laughing so hard it sounded like sobbing while the clung to each other in a desperate looking embrace.
So… they knew each other like super well then.
Steve probably looked about as awkward as he felt, standing on the outside of what seemed like a pretty big reunion. He should have walked away, just left Harry to kind of cling to his friend, except he didn't trust that guy.
First off, who the hell was named Theo? Secondly, didn't the guy understand how creepy he was just standing in the shadows of Harry's porch? That was like freaking stalker behavior.
Harry didn't think so, Harry pulled away from Theo just enough to where their arms were still on each other and they were staring at each other, completely locked in their own moment.
"How did you find me?" Harry asked, breathless.
Theo shook his head and his smile was so wide it had to be painful. "It's a really long story," he said. Steve had to look away, look down at the ground because the guy had a steady stream of tears pouring down his cheeks.
"You've got no idea…" Theo was so choked up that he couldn't finish whatever he was saying, not just he needed to. Harry seemed to know what he wanted to say.
"Same." Harry was just as choked up and Steve was about to just leave, clearly Theo wasn't an unhappy surprise, then he paused.
"Er… Hop, he's like my guardian, is sleeping… El too. We can sit out here, talk? You don't have to go, do you?"
Steve looked up at the sky that had clouds moving in quickly. It was storm season, the weather changed on a dime in early summer in Hawkins. It was getting cold out too and Steve… Steve really didn't want to leave Harry alone with Theo. There was no telling when Billy would bring Sirianna home.
"You guys can come to my place?"
"I never have to leave."
Sure, Steve got a grateful sounding thanks from Harry, but most of Harry's attention was clearly on Theo's dramatic declaration.
Harry had to rush inside to leave a note for his sister and Steve stood outside with Theo, neither of them talking at first. Steve studied him, looked him over from his disheveled brunette hair down to his boots. It was stupid, Steve should have guessed it, but he couldn't figure out the connection to Harry until Theo twirled his hand in a small circle and a lit cigarette appeared.
"Oh." Steve was an idiot. He grinned at Theo, kind of more relaxed once he realized how he must have known Harry. "Did you go to Hogwarts with Harry?" Steve asked.
Theo lifted an eyebrow at Steve while he inhaled the cigarette, blowing the smoke away in perfect circles that had to be magically assisted.
"You're a wizard?" Theo asked, calm and cool without Harry standing between them.
"Me? No." Steve laughed. "I just figured - you know, magic, you're about the same age as Harry… I guessed."
For whatever reason, and Steve kind of suspected it was just to irritate him, Theo chuckled and looked at the door of Harry's house with big sappy eyes.
"Oh, Harry, he never was one for rules," Theo said, a nearly sickening level of affection in his words. It made Steve kind of angry, though he didn't really have any reason to… except he suddenly wasn't sure that Theo was just a classmate to Harry.
"Yeah," Steve's smile slipped down with the sinking feeling in his stomach… "I guess."
Except Harry, the Harry that Steve thought he knew, was kind of the biggest stickler there was for rules. Harry didn't even speak in class without raising his hand first.
On senior skip day, when Steve tried to convince Harry to skip, he wouldn't do that either. They weren't seniors and Hop told him to have a good day at school he said primly… so who was the Harry that bounced out of his door and smiled at Theo?
The car ride to Steve's place was uncomfortable. Steve was so used to Harry not talking much in the car that he never wondered if he just didn't want to talk to Steve.
"I can't believe you were here," Theo said. "Where's Siri? She's okay, right?"
Steve glanced over at Harry, thought that he would tell Theo to not call her Siri like he did pretty much everyone. He didn't, Steve should have expected that.
"Yeah, she's with her boyfriend." Harry was turned as much in his seat as the seatbelt would go and Steve didn't know why he didn't just sit in the back with Theo like he clearly wanted to.
"Siri has a boyfriend?" Theo sounded actually delighted, which meant… he wasn't like secretly in love with Sirianna. Cool.
"Yeah, Billy." Harry paused then, looked between Steve and Theo. "Er… I guess I didn't… Steve, this is Theo. Theo, this is my friend Steve."
Steve pressed his lips together and tried to grin and nod, tried to ignore that Theo didn't get a qualifier, but Steve did.
They were friends - Steve and Harry. Maybe even good friends.
For the rest of the drive, Steve couldn't stop thinking about how Harry had reached for Steve's hand, said he liked him, and Steve had been too chicken shit to take it.
He was Harry's friend.
Awesome.
Billy still wasn't home when Steve first returned. Theo had politely said he liked Steve's house, but there was something in his voice that almost made it sound like an insult?
"Billy lives here too," Harry said, chatting more easily to Theo on their way inside than Steve had ever seen him talk to anyone. Even with his sister, Harry was quiet and short - to the point.
"Are they brothers?" Theo asked.
Was Steve invisible? He felt invisible as he flipped lights on and watched Harry take Theo to the dining room without ever looking away from him.
"No, Billy's dad - er… Billy just lives here now," Harry said haltingly.
"Ah." Theo seemed to speak Harry because he nodded in understanding while he moved a dining chair to be pressed right up against Harry's side. Harry grabbed Theo's hand and it looked like the most natural movement when Theo turned his hand, curled his fingers around Harry's.
"I'm gonna… get a drink," Steve said, interrupting the… moment. "Harry? You want anything? Theo?" he added, being polite.
"Water, please," Harry said.
Theo looked at Steve and they held eye contact for longer than Steve thought was probably necessary. It gave him a chance to see that Theo, in the light, was actually a good looking guy.
He was kind of thin, pale, looked like he could use some sleep and a hot meal, but… fuck. Yeah, he was a good looking guy and he was sitting at the table, holding Harry's hand like he'd never let go of it again.
"I'll have whatever you're having, thank you," Theo said. It was polite, but dismissive.
Because Harry was there and they had history. They were holding hands and Theo had been so happy to see Harry that he had cried.
Steve… God. Steve really hoped that his chance to tell Harry how he felt - to tell him that he thought about him constantly, that seeing Harry made his whole day better, to tell him that Steve was happy to be his friend and he wanted more - hadn't passed.
Steve took his time in the kitchen, thought that maybe Harry would be hungry. He wouldn't ask for food, but that didn't mean that Steve didn't get nagged by Sirianna if he didn't feed Harry every four hours.
It was kind of funny, crusty. Because Harry would get red and tell Sirianna that he wasn't a baby and Steve didn't actually forget to feed Harry. Sometimes they just got busy, like when they spent an entire afternoon in the pool because Steve was trying to get Harry to try out for the swim team in the fall.
That had been a shit day, the morning anyway. Steve tried to call his mom, for the tenth time since he saw her, and his call went ignored. Again. Steve had called Harry after leaving another message, just to hear someone's voice and Harry immediately offered to come over.
Steve was still thinking about how he'd been jealous of how naturally graceful Harry was in the pool when the garage door was carefully opened and Billy walked in. Steve looked up from the pile of snacks, beer, and water that he'd gathered and Billy grinned.
"I'm not interrupting," he said, in a much better mood than he'd been in for a couple of weeks. "I just wanted to grab some grub, pretend I'm not here."
"Harry's friend is here," Steve said, flat enough that Billy arched an eyebrow. "From Hogwarts."
"Yeah?" Billy looked as shocked as Steve had been when the sound of Harry's laughter made it to the kitchen. "Holy shit," Billy breathed. "He laughs?"
"He laughs." Steve went ahead and popped open one of the beers, drank about a third of it in a go. "For Theo," he clarified.
"Well, God damn." Billy was still looking toward the dining room with both eyebrows high on his forehead. He snatched Steve's beer, finished it off himself. "I gotta meet this guy."
"Spoiler," Steve muttered, gathering up his pile of snacks and drinks while Billy grabbed the rest of the case of beer from the fridge, "he sucks."
Billy hummed, like maybe he didn't believe Steve. It didn't matter to Steve, he'd see it for himself soon. Harry might have sparkly nostalgia eyes, but Theo seemed like a dick to Steve.
Billy introduced himself to Theo as soon as they walked in the dining room together.
"Hey." Billy nodded, plopped down in a chair across from Theo. "I'm Billy."
"Siri's boyfriend," Theo grinned. Steve was pretty sure he talked to Billy much nicer than he did Steve… or was Steve just an asshole? Did he have like a thing against British dudes that weren't Harry?
"Pleasure." Theo reached across the table to offer Billy his hand. "Theo Nott, I went to school with Harry and Siri."
Billy gripped his hand, dropped it, "She doesn't like to be called Siri."
Theo blinked at Billy and then grinned when Harry squeezed his hand.
"I see," he said evenly. Then, just like he did to Steve, he turned away from Billy and focused entirely on Harry.
Billy looked at Steve and shook his head, curled his lip up just a little. Good! That meant Steve wasn't some sort of secret British-hating douche - Theo was just a dick.
Steve sat his ass down in a chair by Billy, crossed one leg over the other with a foot jiggling irritably, and wished he hadn't given up cigarettes.
Sure, at the time, it seemed like a great freaking idea. Oh, smoking is really bad for him and his lung capacity and his stamina, why not quit? Harry hated the smell that Steve had grown immune to and it reminded him that the habit was gross.
But it took Steve no time at all to realize that Harry didn't mind the smell at all when it was Theo who smoked.
"Steven," Theo flashed Steve a smile that was friendly on the surface, but douchey enough that Steve picked up on it. "You don't mind?" Theo turned his empty hand over, made a long cigarette appear between his fingers.
Steve would have said no, because he didn't like being called Steven and it was his house and he could say no. Then Steve remembered Harry's muttered comments about Hop smoking in the house and Steve could picture Harry rolling down the windows in Billy's car with his face pinched in disgust every time Billy and Siri lit up.
Also Billy was lighting a cigarette so Steve would look like a petty asshole if he said no.
"Sure," Steve said, giving Theo just as friendly and genuine a smile as he was given. "Feel free."
"La casa de Steve es tu casa," Billy drawled, winking at Steve when Theo wasn't looking. Steve actually felt like Billy punched him, like… it was just rad sometimes, when Billy acted like they really were friends.
Theo glanced dismissively at Billy and lit his cigarette before replying, "Gracias por la hospitalidad."
Of course he spoke Spanish fluently.
Of course.
"Harry," Theo's voice softened when he focused on Harry and Steve felt like he was watching one of those lame ass chick movies that Nancy was always trying to make him watch. "Tell me everything?" he asked.
And that was all it took.
Harry started talking when Theo prompted him, ten words a second kind of speeds, and Steve was listening, listening to Harry recount what had been years of torture and abuse and misery (not that he called it that, but Steve could read between the lines), but he kept getting distracted by Theo. Theo looked so elegant when he smoked, his eyes locked on Harry's face. Theo looked smart too, like how some people just looked smart.
It was something about his eyes, the way that Steve could just imagine a million little cogs working inside of his mind with every new detail Harry added. Of course he would be smart and elegant and a total dick, that tracked.
Steve was also distracted by the way that Theo cared about Harry, he fucking cared. There were tiny hints, just a tick of his lips when Harry described the robes of the wizards who took him, a ghost of a grin when Harry said how he wanted to go back to Hogwarts when he and Sirianna were free.
It sucked. It really sucked.
Steve didn't understand half of what Harry talked about, about the experiments and a Voldemort or MACUSA, Theo clearly did though.
"Only you could survive that," Theo murmured when Harry finished telling his tale. Theo's eyes were glittering and Steve was pretty sure he was going to cry over it.
It was sad, but Theo hadn't been there, he had no idea. Steve wasn't there either, but Steve saw Harry afterward, Steve - Steve was kind of there for him while Harry tried to be a person again.
"Yeah, because Sirianna's a ghost," Billy said, getting his point across more in a lazy drawl dripping in sarcasm than any cutting remark could have done. It didn't affect Theo though, because Steve was starting to think that he was just too arrogant to be affected.
"Sirianna is a brilliant witch of remarkable strength that I suspect she inherited directly from her mother," Theo said, looking Billy in the eyes daringly. "I would wager that Harry, being the anomaly that he is within our community, was the main target though. Hence, he would have undergone much more research."
How - how the hell did the guy just draw conclusions from thin air like that?
Steve looked to Harry, hoping he'd say no that they were treated exactly the same. Harry didn't, Harry watched Theo and rubbed his forehead, rubbed the tiny silver scar that was shaped like a lightning bolt.
When Theo saw that, he nodded and reached out for Harry, reached across the table to grip Harry's arm in his hand.
"They wanted to know how you survived, right?" Theo asked, too gentle to be fake. Theo wasn't faking anything with Harry and that was pissing Steve off more than anything.
It meant that Theo was actually a caring guy; it meant that Theo actually gave a damn about Harry.
"Yeah," Harry nodded and the two of them were in their own world, a world that Steve had only begun to try understanding.
"The Boy-Who-Lived," Harry and Theo said at the exact same time. For a reason that Steve didn't understand because he didn't know Harry as well as Theo clearly did, that made them both grin… at each other.
Awesome.
"Well, it's getting late," Billy said abruptly, breaking up the deep eye contact happening between Harry and Theo. "Baby bird, why don't you catch a ride home with Steve and I'll take Thad here to a motel or something."
A little less than a year ago, Billy moved to Hawkins. Steve had hoped then that they might be friends, that didn't happen then. Steve had no idea that when it would happen that Billy - Billy would sort of be Steve's best friend in the entire freaking world.
"Baby bird." Theo ignored Billy as he snorted and leaned back in his chair, gazed at Harry sharply as his grin grew. "It suits you, I like it a sight more than Harrikins."
"Oh, God." Harry groaned and covered his face with both hands. Steve grinned at the sight, Harry was rarely ever embarrassed. "Why would you say that? I forgot - oh! Theo!" Harry dropped his hands and became serious once more, more like the Harry that Steve knew. "Ron?"
"Probably furious I didn't wait for him," Theo said in reply to whatever code that was. "Oh! Harry! You'll never believe it! No, I can't - we need Siri! I get to tell you both because it's brilliant, you're going to be thrilled!"
"She's at home!" Harry cried. "I told her I was staying here tonight, but we can go get her!"
"No, you can stay," Steve said quickly. He didn't want Harry to go, he wanted a chance to - to push past everything else and tell him how he felt. Steve thought that maybe he was young, maybe he was wrong, but Steve had missed his shot once and he wasn't going to miss it again.
"Really?" Harry didn't need to sound so shocked, he stayed the night all the time? Steve was going to say so, but Harry turned back to Theo with a broad smile. "Are you tired? I'd like to hear what you've been doing."
Steve… fuck. He meant for Harry to stay and Theo to leave.
"Smooth move, dumbass," Billy murmured to Steve. “Invite him to stay the fucking night.”
Yup. That was Steve, the king of smooth moves.
Without much of a choice, Steve grabbed a blanket and pillow from the hall closet for Theo to crash on the couch. There were guest rooms, places where people Steve liked sometimes slept, but those were upstairs and Steve didn't want Theo upstairs.
If Harry slept upstairs… Steve could talk to him.
Privately.
And he wouldn't chicken out that time or - or think about what else he would lose if he told Harry how he felt. He already lost his old friends, respect from his classmates, and his parents; it's not like Steve had a hell of a lot more to lose anyway.
"Theo..." Harry settled on the couch with Theo, still completely enraptured by him. Harry's bottom lip was between his teeth, a rare sign of stress from him.
"I think if I go to sleep, you won't be here when I wake up," Harry said quietly, Steve probably wasn't supposed to hear from the foyer where he waited with naive hope that Harry would sleep upstairs.
"I think the same thing," Theo said. There was no sarcastic edge when he talked to Harry, just a genuine sort of connection. "Will you - stay, please?"
Steve started up the staircase before Harry could reply, his head ducked and his chest tight. Harry would, obviously he would. As much as Steve could tell that Harry meant to Theo… Theo meant just as much to him.
And Steve should be happy, he shouldn't be a jealous asshole. If someone made Harry happy, then good for them, Steve was happy. It wasn't that Theo had Harry over the freaking moon excited though, it was that Harry was different with him.
Harry was hugging him and reaching out for him and laughing and talking. Harry was an entirely different person with Theo and Steve…
Steve wished it was him.
Billy followed Steve upstairs and Steve didn't have a chance to ask why, he almost didn't care. Steve threw himself on his bed, face down with his arms cradling the pillow under his face, when he was whacked on the back of the head with another pillow.
"Man, fuck that guy," Billy said gruffly. "The dude's an absolute douche. And, I swear to God, he's got junkie eyes."
Steve mumbled a reply, nothing world-altering, just a garbled agreement. Theo did have junkie eyes, big sad brown eyes that lit up like fireworks when they saw Harry.
"Harrington." Billy hit him again, some kind of one-sided pillow fight. "Quit being a pussy. Man up tomorrow, tell Harry all your gay little thoughts about him, watch him kick that guy to the curb, alright? It's not rocket science."
"If it was," Steve flipped on his back, hated himself for how crummy it felt that Harry's friend had shown up, "I'm so sure that Theo would understand it better than I do."
Because Theo seemed smart and caring and he gave a fuck about Harry - many fucks. It made Steve the shittiest friend in the world… too scared to speak up for himself, too petty to be happy that Harry had a friend there.
"Dude." Billy smacked him again and Steve was about to hit him back if he didn't knock it off. "You sound like a bitch. You know that, right?"
Yeah, Steve was well aware, thanks.
When Billy tried to smack Steve again, Steve made an annoyed sound and ripped the pillow from Billy's hands before it could touch his face. He swung it back, hit Billy instead.
Billy laughed, "That's more like it, Stevie! Let's see some fight."
The laugh made Steve roll his eyes, but his lips were twitching as Billy started to hit him and Steve had to roll away with his own pillow to return fire. It wasn't a long fight, just long enough for Steve to take a pillow hard enough to the stomach that his chest loosened back up with a laugh.
Steve did sound like a bitch, he was being stupid. Harry and Theo had been friends years ago, for like - what? A year? Steve knew Harry nearly just as long and Steve knew who Harry had become, Theo only knew who he had been.
They were childhood friends, Steve and Harry were real friends. The kids of friends who buried a body together, fought monsters together, saved the world together - kind of.
What did Theo and Harry have to compete with all of that?
"Thanks, Billy," Steve said when the brief fight ended and he flopped back on his bed. Steve stayed on the right side, leaving the left for Billy if he felt like staying in there.
Billy did, he laid right down on Steve's bed and then tugged the blanket, nearly knocking Steve to the floor, because it was like he couldn't go more than a few minutes at a time without being a dick.
"Yeah, well, I owed you one," Billy said, his voice low. "You know, for Sirianna or whatever."
Billy didn't need to thank him, he was Steve's friend and he had been miserable while he and Sirianna weren't talking. All Steve did was trick Billy into meeting up with her, that was it.
"I'm happy for you," Steve said, realizing that he meant it. Billy being happy made Steve happy. And almost a year ago, Steve being hurt would have been the only thing to make Billy happy.
"Don't worry," Billy said, pausing to yawn in a reminder to Steve how late it was getting. "We'll get you your own Potter twin tomorrow."
Yeah, that sounded good to Steve.
In the morning, he would ask Harry to talk. Steve wouldn't think about his parents or his old friends or the word ‘faggot' at all. Steve would tell Harry that he liked him and he would hold Harry's hand, not flinch away if Harry tried to do it again.
If… if Harry wanted that. Steve thought he did, it seemed a lot like it, but… but Harry didn't laugh as much with Steve as he did Theo.
And that made sleep pretty damn hard to come by that night.
It seemed like Steve had only just drifted off - finally slipping into the kind of deep, quiet sleep that didn't involve obsessing over where Harry and Theo had ended up on the couch - when something yanked him back into the waking world.
"Shut it off," a tired voice complained. "Jesus fuck."
Disoriented, Steve's hand slapped around for his alarm clock on his night stand at first. Why the hell was it even going off? He didn't have a morning shift at the pool, no reason to be up at any set hour until school resumed in the fall. Steve's fingers fumbled across the clock while Billy continued groaning about the sound beside him.
"I'm trying," Steve complained. He toggledthe switch back and forth. The alarm wasn't on.
Steve sat up, slowly at first then all at once.
It wasn't his alarm going off, that wasn't the high-pitched whining that filled the house and had Billy eventually rolling off the bed in a slew of curses and complaints.
"It's not my alarm," Steve said, throwing the blanket off him even though his body was suddenly filled with a cold dread.
It wasn't an alarm clock or even a smoke detector, it was the fucking tornado sirens for Hawkins.