Dead Wrong (Billy)
Billy already knew that magic was kick ass, he'd seen Sirianna fight off monsters with magic and he'd had Harry heal his own broken bones with it. It didn't make it any less awesome to see when the dude, Sirius Black apparently, waved his wand and started repairing all the damage done by the tornado.
The tree crushing the garage, gone. The garage roof put itself back together. All the shattered glass on the floor flew toward the cars and they started fixing themselves quicker than Billy could even follow.
Within a minute of Sirius telling Sirianna his name, they were in the garage that looked like nothing had ever happened. Sirius had never looked away from Sirianna and Billy would have been concerned if Sirianna wasn't staring back at him just as fucking silently thrilled as he seemed to be.
Billy wanted to hate Sirius on principle, some random guy breaking in and waving a wand around, but his car was fixed so he would give him half of a chance until he stopped being Mister Nice Godfather… whatever the fuck that title meant.
"I want to hug you, except I think your bodyguards might break my neck," Sirius said, grinning at Sirianna and using a heavy version of the light accent that Sirianna had. "You - Merlin, Sirianna, you've got no idea…"
Yeah, Sirius was ruining his half chance when his eyes watered up. The last thing Billy felt like doing right then was watching a grown man cry.
Actually, the last thing Billy felt like doing was standing in the garage like a dumbass when the newly repaired door was thrown open and another fucking stranger burst in the room.
Tall, as fucking ginger and freckled as Max, and of course zeroed in on Billy's girlfriend, the dude ran across the garage and shouldered Sirius away so that he could throw himself at Sirianna.
"RON!" Sirianna screamed at the top of her lungs. Her hand was yanked from Billy's while she was spun around in the arms of… fucking Ron.
Billy pressed hard on his left eye, tried to physically push away the headache he could feel building up with every throb of his head. Steve gave Billy as pitying a look as Billy had given him when they realized Baby Bird spent the night on Steve's couch in Theo's arms. If Steve thought Billy was going to roll over and let his girl get taken by some British ginger fuck then he was fucking wrong though.
Over Billy's dead body was he losing Sirianna.
"SIRIANNA!" Ron laughed and spun Sirianna around in a circle. "YOU'RE BLOODY ALIVE!"
"AND YOU'RE HERE!" Sirianna squealed. "RON!!"
"SIRIANNA!"
"And Steve," Steve whispered under his breath. Billy snorted unwillingly and it brought the attention of Sirianna's ‘bestest friend' - she had a thing for befriending red-heads, didn't she? - to him.
"You're all grown up and shacking up with blokes!" Ron said, grinning stupidly when he put Sirianna on the ground. "Ron Weasley," he said, offering Billy his hand.
"That's Billy, my boyfriend," Sirianna told him while Billy briefly shook his hand. Thank fucking God she cleared that up quickly, Billy wasn't going to stand on the side like a dumbass - like Steve had. "And that's Steve, my friend."
"Lovely! Introductions out of the way!" Sirius shoved Ron some so that he could get closer to Sirianna. "Maybe we go inside, find Harry?"
"And Theo," Ron added, looking around the garage with interest while Billy was mostly focused on his arm around Sirianna's shoulders.
"They're chasing the tornado," Billy said, working real hard to keep his temper in check. Billy was not going to snap and rip the arm off Ron, he wasn't going to knock Sirius on his ass for his endless and creepy staring.
"That sounds about right." Ron chuckled and he was still holding Sirianna to his side while he looked around the garage and Sirius was still staring at Sirianna and Billy was real close to exploding.
The day had been fucking wild enough, Billy was reaching his tolerance for bullshit and it wasn't even noon yet.
"I need a drink," Steve said loudly. "Billy, beer? We need beer."
Yeah, they did need beer.
Billy stayed in the kitchen, holding a cold Busch to his aching head and waiting before he walked in the living room where Sirianna and her magic fucking family, friends, whatever waited. It was quiet enough in the kitchen, still dark with the power out and the sun hidden outside by the clouds. Billy just needed a fucking minute, just one.
In the last few hours, Harry ran off with a sleazy ass wizard to find a tornado, probably breaking Steve's little gay heart. A tornado tried to tear Steve's house down - and Billy didn't even want to look at the pool house until Harry was back to fix it if all of Billy's shit was ruined. Sirianna had a fucking episode in the basement, a bad one. The way she screamed… fuck. Billy thought he was going to have to drive through the storm to get her to a hospital.
Except he wouldn't have been able to, apparently, since his car had been smashed again. Sure, Sirius fucking Black fixed it up quickly, but Billy wasn't thrilled to find out some random dude and an old ‘friend' of Sirianna's had been stalking her either.
Billy gripped the sink with one hand and held the cold bottle to his head with the other while he tried to take a minute to deal. It was a fucking lot, not exactly how he saw his day going.
"Billy?" Steve walked in the kitchen quietly, made his way over to where Billy stood. "Harry's back," he said, enough bitterness in his voice to tell Billy that Harry and Theo were back.
"Awesome," Billy muttered. What he really wanted was more of Steve looking like a kicked dog, Harry being all sparkly eyed over some douche, all on top of whoever the fuck Sirius Black was and Sirianna's bestest friend Ron.
"Sometimes," Billy popped the cap off his beer and raised it toward Steve in a mocking toast, "I think I should have taken my chances in my car."
Steve smiled because Billy was getting soft and shrugged a shoulder up.
"Yeah, might be more comfortable right now. If it matters… I'm glad you're here."
Steve was such a fucking sap.
Everyone looked cozy in the living room. Sirianna sat between Ron and Sirius on the long end of the couch, Harry and Theo were buddied up on the short end. Since there was only one recliner and Billy wasn't sitting on Steve's lap, he leaned against the wall and slowly finished his beer while everyone else seemed to be sizing each other up.
"I don't… actually know you." Harry was the first to speak and he stared at Sirius Black with his eyebrows pinched together. "Are you friends with Ron?"
"His name is Sirius," Sirianna said, the same second that Sirius said, "I'm your godfather."
That clearly didn't clear up shit for Harry, which Theo jumped on immediately.
"It's a long story," Theo told him. "Sirius was friends with your father."
"He escaped Azkaban to find you two when you went missing," Ron jumped in. "Remember Scabbers, Siri? My rat? He was an animagus!"
Billy's eye twitched in rhythm to another pounding of his head. Why the fuck did everyone except him get to call her ‘Siri' in their stupid fucking accents? It wasn't just the accents that he preferred coming from Sirianna's mouth, it was the way they talked over each other and interrupted and nothing made any fucking sense.
"My daring escape, my godchildren, my story!" Sirius said, louder than Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber.
"And yet you would still be a fugitive from the law if it weren't for us," Theo said.
"Theo doesn't get to tell the story because he's a wanker who couldn't wait five bloody minutes for us before fleeing the country."
"Orphan privilege, you see. I didn't have any parents to get permission from."
Billy loved his girl, he did. Billy was fucking embarrassingly in love with Sirianna. But Billy was going to lose his shit if he had to sit there and listen to a bunch of people he didn't know and didn't give a damn about argue over who told what story.
"I should go check on Max," Billy said abruptly, killing the conversation. Sirianna started to stand up and Billy shook his head lightly. It didn't matter if her long-lost best friend was a dude with his arm on her shoulders, Sirianna wasn't a fucking cheater and Billy wasn't going to treat her like one.
"You're leaving?" Steve asked, giving Billy the most pathetic look. Yeah, if Billy was a better guy then he'd stay and play emotional support friend for Steve, but Billy sucked and he didn't want to be there anymore.
And there was a chance that Max had been as freaked out as Billy had been over the tornado. Earthquakes were one thing, hurricanes were another thing, but that fucking tornado came from nowhere and could have killed her. There was a basement in her place, but would Neil or Susan have known to take her down there?
"Yeah, I'll be back," Billy said.
"Hold on!" Sirianna pushed herself off the couch and started following Billy on his way to the kitchen. When they were out of the living room she lowered her voice and took his hand in hers. "Do you want me to come with you?" she asked, looking up at him so genuinely that Billy felt even worse for his bullshit annoyance.
"I always want you to come with me," Billy said, adding a wink just to make her blush. "Nah, stay here, babe. Catch up with your friends, or whatever."
"You're sure?" Sirianna stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed Billy when he nodded. She tried to pull away too quickly and Billy wrapped an arm around her, kept her close for an extra few seconds with his forehead against hers.
The tornado had been bad, Sirianna's panic attack had been worse.
"I love you," Billy reminded her softly. She didn't pull away, didn't tighten up, so he said it again. "I love you."
She wasn't ready to say it and Billy didn't like it, but he didn't like when they were fighting more. So he kissed the top of her head once before telling her to stick with Harry until he got back. Billy didn't like Theo, didn't trust Sirius, didn't know Ron - but baby bird would keep an eye on Sirianna for him until Billy was sure that Max wasn't flattened by a tornado.
The Camaro started right up for Billy and he did finally look over to the pool house when he backed out of the driveway. It was fine, somehow. It looked like part of the roof had been fucked up, but it was still standing and hopefully dry on the inside.
There were plenty of trees down as Billy drove through town. Steve lived on the edge of Hawkins, in the fringes around the woods. It looked like most of the houses in town stayed standing, not as many cars were lucky. Billy winced when he saw Heather Holloway's Mustang buried under a lamppost that had been torn from the ground.
Shit. Billy didn't even think about it, but there were a hell of a lot of trees around the city pool too. He hoped he had a job to return to, he'd need to go check on it after he did Max. If it came down to it… Billy wondered if he could bribe Harry into magicking away any damage done so that Billy and Steve didn't lose their jobs.
Harry usually liked to hang out there, ogle Steve like a schoolgirl, he might do it for free really. Or, he would have, before Theo fucking Nott showed up.
God, Billy hoped he left soon. The guy was a douchebag - worse than King Steve had ever been. It pissed Billy off to see how Harry just latched on to him, athough… Billy warned Steve when he was screaming about finding a fake girlfriend that he needed to figure his shit out.
It wasn't Billy's fault that nobody seemed to listen to him.
Billy kept the radio down while he slowly made his way through town. His fucking head was making him feel nauseous and there were too many people flocking outside of their homes, checking out the damage, for Billy to feel like blaring his rock.
Jonathan Byer's place looked fine when Billy drove past it - Chief Hopper's car was in the driveway so Billy assumed that the Chief and El had stayed safe with them. Sirianna's house was fine, it only had a tree down in the front yard, nowhere near the house.
Billy was hoping that Max's place would be just as fine… surely that house wouldn't be the only one in town to be flattened down to the ground…
It wasn't. Billy could see the house as soon as he turned on the block - no trees even landed in the yard. There were shingles and sticks blown everywhere, but Billy felt the knot in his chest loosen at the lack of actual damage done.
That was until he saw Max sitting against the side of the house in the drizzling rain, her legs pulled to her chest, and her shoulders shaking with what better not have been tears. Billy slammed the Camaro in park right on the curb out front and jumped from his seat, his mind filling with images of Neil losing his shit and only Max around to catch the fall from it…
"Max!" It wasn't until Billy yelled at Max that he realized she wasn't alone. There was a dog, a tiny little fucking polka-dotted puppy, that had been hidden from Billy's sight by Max's side. It jumped up when Billy started crossing the yard and ran toward him, jumping up with muddy paws and big brown eyes.
"Billy!" Max didn't look hurt, but Billy knew that Neil could kick her ass and never leave a mark anywhere that Billy could see. She rushed to Billy as quickly as the little dog had and made Billy huff when she threw herself at him. Max was sobbing, ugly fucking heaving sobs, and clung to Billy tightly.
"I'll fucking kill him," Billy swore lowly, careful as he rubbed Max's back in case she had any bruises or welts there. "Where is he, Max?"
"He left." Max sniffled and wiped her face on Billy's fucking shirt before she looked up at him looking absolutely miserable. It only took her a second to see the dark look on Billy's face for her to start talking. "Wait! Billy, he didn't hurt me! Not like you're thinking, I swear to God."
Yeah, Billy believed that. Max was bawling, Neil was a loose cannon…
"It's not me, I swear. It's Ziggy!"
"Ziggy?"
Billy slowly looked from Max's swollen and sad eyes to the pup beside her that had its tail wagging and its head cocked while it looked right back at Billy. Ziggy, he assumed.
"Ziggy," Billy said again, sighing at the pup and Max. He shoved Max back just enough that he could grab himself a cigarette and took a few seconds to compose himself as he lit it. Billy was sure he could piece together the gist of it, but he still told Max to explain once he was ready.
"This is Ziggy." Max kneeled down in the mud by the pup and it jumped right up on her for head scratches. "I found him last week, he was all alone, Billy! He didn't have an owner or anything so the Party —"
"The fuck is ‘the party'?" Billy asked. It sounded like the lamest street name he ever heard.
"Uh… Lucas, Dustin, Will, Mike, and El," Max said. At least she blushed, so she knew it was a stupid nickname for her group of geeks. "Anyway! We hung up posters and everything but nobody claimed him and… and I've been letting him stay in the basement. Nobody even noticed! He's such a good boy! Yes you are, aren't you, Ziggy?" Max rubbed Ziggy's ears and Billy worked on his cigarette while she got sniffly again. "Until today. Neil found him and - and he said I can't keep him, Billy!"
Yeah, of course Neil fucking said that. If Neil didn't want to raise a kid, there was no chance he wanted a fucking shoe-chewing, floor-shitting, food-needing puppy in the house. Billy had asked for a puppy once, promised he'd take care of it… Neil smacked him across the face and asked how the fuck Billy was going to be responsible for a dog when he didn't have a job.
"So you gotta get rid of him, it's not the end of the world, Maxine," Billy said. Compared to why Billy thought she was crying? It didn't mean shit really.
"Billy…" Max had fresh tears filling up her eyes and Billy was so God damned sick of seeing people cry. "I love him," she said, hugging the damn dog to her like it was her own child. "It's not fair! I told him that I'd take care of him and that he was here for days and he never noticed and Neil started screaming and Mom even took his side! She told me to take Ziggy to the pound, Billy, the pound. Do you know what they would do to him there? They would kill him!"
"Am I supposed to be so moved by this heart-breaking story?" Billy asked blandly. "Oh, no, Susan took Neil's side- I'm shocked. Neil's an unreasonable bastard, what a fucking crisis."
"You don't have to be a dick," Max snapped at him, glaring as quickly as she had been crying. "I thought that you'd understand."
Billy understood that Max was an idiot if she thought that Neil was going to let her keep a fucking pet. And Billy thought she was an idiot for trying - did she want to see some innocent dog get kicked the second Neil saw a paw print on his carpet?
Max and the dog both froze in place when a car turned on the block and Billy was sure he knew who it was based on how quickly Max's eyes widened before he even turned.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.
Billy dropped his cigarette, stomped it out, and glanced over his shoulder to see Neil's car driving down the block. He had already seen Billy, he was too fucking close, Billy wasn't going to be able to leave without saying something. Even if Billy hauled ass to his car, it would leave Max in the line of fire.
"I'm so sorry," Max whispered, standing up as Neil parked his car in the driveway. The dog whimpered, probably picked up on the sudden tension, and Billy impulsively bent down and scooped it up in his arms.
Ziggy licked his face just as Neil called out to him.
"Hello there." Neil walked toward Billy with a polite smile on his face, a look that Billy had never seen aimed in his direction before. His eyes flickered toward the dog and Billy didn't imagine the brief shadow of dislike he showed toward it. "Is that your dog?" he asked.
It was surreal, fucking surreal. Neil stood there talking to Billy like they were strangers, like Billy wasn't his flesh and blood fucking son - like Neil didn't teach Billy to walk and Billy had no idea what his wedding ring felt like when it cracked across his cheek.
There really was no memory of Billy in Neil's mind, not even a hint of confusion in his eyes. Billy already knew it, he knew Harry didn't do anything half-asses, it still knocked the wind from his chest.
"Yes, sir," Billy said, falling in habit as he straightened up, squared his shoulders like a man. "I really appreciate your daughter keeping him safe for me. Little rascal ran out and I've been looking all over for him."
"You should get him one of those collars with the tag," Neil said, so fucking pleasantly. "Might be handy if he's a runner."
"I - yes, sir, I'll do that," Billy said, tripping over his own words. "Thank you."
"Of course." Neil stepped closer, offered Billy his hand. "Neil Hargrove, my daughter Maxine. I don't think we've ever met."
They had. They had almost seventeen years worth of memories together - memories that only Billy remembered. There were plenty of bad, but Billy had some good times in the mixture too. Those memories only belonged to Billy though… just him.
"Billy Har-Harrington," he said, speaking quickly as he gave Neil a firm handshake with Ziggy bunched up in his left arm.
"Any relation to the Harrington family here in Hawkins?" Neil asked, clearly catching Billy's slip-up. It wasn't like Billy could use his own fucking name, not to the father who didn't know him.
"Yea- yes, yes, sir," Billy said, lying quickly. "Steve's my cousin, I- I moved in with him."
"Well, I'm sure you'll be happy here," Neil said. He shifted around and tossed a loose arm around Max's shoulders. Max couldn't have looked any more wide-eyed and startled by the conversation, almost as fucked up by it as Billy was.
"My family certainly loves it here," Neil said. He kept up his polite smile for a moment while Billy couldn't be sure what his own face looked like. "Well, if that's all, it was nice meeting you."
Billy mumbled something, something that was probably disrespectful and fucking childish before he held Ziggy a little tighter and jogged back to his car. He could feel Neil's eyes on his back, watching to make sure the stranger didn't pull anything stupid.
It was fucked up, it was so fucked up that Billy thought he might actually throw up.
Ziggy was placed in the passenger seat so that Billy could turn the car on and pull away from the house as quickly as he could. He glanced in the rearview mirror, like a sick fucking addiction, and saw Max lifting her hand in a small wave as he drove off.
It was fucking sick; magic was as sick as it was awesome.
Billy drove aimlessly at first, probably shouldn't have been on the road at all. His hand with the cigarette shook on the ledge of his unrolled window and Billy had the radio as loud as it would go to give him something to think about.
It was just Billy and the music, Billy and the rock… the song changed and Billy hummed along with the tune before the lyrics started and Billy was thrown off-guard again.
"My child arrived just the other day. He came in the world in the usual way, but there were planes to catch and bills to pay."
Billy fumbled with the radio, flipped the station to the other rock station. Ziggy whined in the passenger seat before crawling across the middle console and curling up in Billy's lap. Billy tried to shove him away, back to the passenger seat, and he whined again.
"You're a pain in the ass," Billy muttered, glaring down at the dog for a second. It's only answer was to nuzzle into Billy's stomach, awfully sweet for something that caused Billy's headache to fucking triple.
Ziggy didn't seem to mind that Billy didn't like him, he just woofed softly when Billy dropped his cigarette and pet him. Spoiled fucking dog, it had no reason to act so sweet towards Billy.
Billy and Ziggy drove around for a bit while Billy shook off the conversation with Neil. When Billy saw the trailer park where Munson lived, he turned in there on a whim. Trailers didn't seem real tornado proof, it probably wouldn't hurt any to make sure that Munson didn't get smashed. Billy wasn't sure which trailer was Munson's, not until he drove through what looked like a fucking horror show of destruction and found Munson standing in front of one of the more fucked trailers.
"Shit." Billy got out of the car and put Ziggy on the ground while he checked out the damage. The trailer was still there… technically. But it was fucked. It looked like a real shittily assembled gingerbread house, like the one Max brought home from school a few years ago.
The walls were bent in at the top, a part of the roof was completely missing. It should have been a complete fucking loss.
"I can't…" Munson was standing in front of the trailer, a joint burning itself down between his fingers while he had eyes for nothing but what used to be his home. "I can't even call Wayne, no - no phone."
Wayne was Munson's uncle, or something. Sirianna knew him, she said he used to be a regular in Benny Hammond's diner before Benny had been killed.
"Fuck, man." Billy wasn't sure what to say, he knew how hard it hit to lose a home. Munson had a van, it looked like it probably hadn't been there when the tornado ripped through, but that shit would get real old real quick. Billy offered Munson a cigarette, didn't mind when Munson traded what was left of the joint for it.
A couple of hits wouldn't hurt, it might even help the sharp pain that continued to grow behind Billy's eyes.
"Maybe it's not so bad," Billy said after taking a slow and deep drag. It didn't help his head yet, but it wasn't hurting any either. "Yeah, I mean, Steve and I can come out later, take a look, right? Who knows? Walls like this are probably real easy to fix."
Easier if Harry would help. Since Harry was the one who adopted Munson like a stray dog, he probably would - if he wasn't busy with Theo.
Munson laughed, sort of hysterical and Billy would really fucking appreciate it if he didn't start bawling.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure this is a really simple fix, Billy," he said, more sarcastic than Billy had heard him get before. Billy liked it, it made Munson more relatable, less fucking annoying.
"Yeah, I am sure," Billy said. He clapped Munson on the shoulder and tossed him a lazy grin. "Why don't you come stay the night with me? I've got beer, food, a TV."
Damn. And a bunch of fucking wizards fucking around at Steve's place. Maybe, if Billy was lucky - and his day wasn't giving him any hope of that - the unwanted ones would be gone when Billy returned.
Munson was a stoner though, even if he saw some magic he'd probably chalk it up to a real good trip.
"Harrington won't mind?" Munson asked. Billy could tell he was leaning toward it - and why not? Steve didn't mind Billy crashing there, he let Theo fucking Nott stay a night, Munson was at least their sort-of-friend.
"Nah, it's cool," Billy said. "Come on, I gotta stop by Melvards and grab some food for shit head down here," Billy pointed at Ziggy with his boot, deciding that he was kind of sweet - and it was Max's dog anyway, what was Billy supposed to do? Dump it in a ditch?
"They're closed, no power," Munson told him. He made a grabby motion for the joint and Billy swapped him for the cigarette, just high enough to think that shit sucked, but so what? It had to get better sometime. It was a bad fucking day, that was it.
"So we'll feed him a burger or something," Billy shrugged. Dogs probably liked burgers, there might even be some hot dogs or something for Ziggy.
Billy snorted and Ziggy jumped up with his tail wagging and tongue flopping out of his mouth - could he feed hot dogs to a dog? Yeah, it would be fine.
"Alright, cool, thanks, man." Munson pushed his hair back and offered Billy a shaky smile. He wasn't so bad, not really. "I'll follow you."
Billy whistled for Ziggy, grinned when the pup ran right to him and jumped on him. Ziggy wasn't bad either, he was actually fucking adorable.
"Alright, I can see why Max tried to sneak you in her place," Billy said, scooping the pup up and carrying it to his car with half of a grin. "You don't want to be there though, Ziggy, there's a fucking psycho in that house."
Ziggy barked and Billy nodded, settling him on his lap for the drive.
"Exactly," he said, like the dog could fucking understand him. It was dumb as hell, but the normal kind of dumb. The not-magical, not tornado-related, not strangers stalking his girlfriend, not memory-erasing, not headache-causing kind of dumb.
Just dumb.
Billy's head felt better, fucking great really, and he cruised through town with Munson behind him and Ziggy on his lap and the radio playing only good music. The tornado was gone and Neil would never remember that Billy was his son. Sirianna was safe and she didn't love him - might never.
None of that was shit that Billy could control. Hell, all Billy could control was his car and he was probably doing a shitty job of that too.
Everything was out of his control and Billy had no reason to be grinning when he turned in Steve's driveway, but his headache was gone and that was great fucking news.
And Sirianna was outside, she turned and smiled when she saw Billy's car - that was even better news.
"Billy, you're back!" Sirianna bounced to the car and she paused when she saw Munson's van pulling in behind him. "And you brought Eddie?" she asked.
"And…" Billy threw his door open quickly and pulled Ziggy out to hold up like a gift. "Ziggy."
"Oh my GOD!" Sirianna didn't even pause to kiss Billy, oh, no, she was all about that dog though. She snatched him from Billy and Ziggy immediately started licking her face with his tail wagging all over the place. Sirianna laughed and Billy smiled to see her standing in front of him, wearing his jacket, just laughing while their new dog introduced himself.
"Careful, Z-Man." Munson hopped out of his van and shuffled up with a self-conscious grin. "I wouldn't be kissing Sirianna, Billy seems like the possessive type."
"That shows what he knows, hm, Ziggy?" Sirianna was smiling at Ziggy and at Billy and it made Billy feel taller than Steve's whole mansion. "Billy's perfect."
"Yeah," Billy was barely stoned, but he could feel his high growing just from his girl looking at him the way she was and saying shit like that. "Perfect," he agreed.
"Sooo, before I actually throw up…" Munson had a shitty backpack slung over his shoulder and he hefted it up real subtly. "My fair Sirianna, your dashing knight has offered to share his humble abode with me for the eve. I swear on my honor as a gentleman to leave his virtue in tact for your pleasure, if you would only show me where to go?"
That - that was the annoying shit that Munson did that got on Billy's nerves. Who said weird shit like that? Who went around talking about a dude's fucking ‘virtue'? Sirianna didn't mind, she laughed and tried to curtsy while she moved Ziggy to one side so she could offer Munson her left arm.
"Normally, I only share my dashing knight with Steve, however, I will grant you this very great honor," she said, winking at Billy over her shoulder while she walked toward the pool house with Munson.
It was a hell of a lot cuter when Sirianna said weird shit.
Billy leaned against the tree that he was pretty sure had wiped out his car earlier to light a cigarette before he went to hunt Harry down. Munson wasn't going to stink up Billy's place for long, even if Harry refused to fix a damn thing and Billy had to get real good at construction real quick.
"Hey, mate."
Oh, Jesus Christ. Billy looked up at the sky that was lightening, the dark clouds moving on to terrorize another town, when Ron Weasley and his annoying fucking voice walked out of the garage, directly toward him.
"Hey," Billy said, trying to find the middle ground between ‘don't fucking talk to me' and ‘don't tell my girl that I'm actually a prick'.
"Someone get a dog?" Ron asked, squinting at the pool house where soft barks could be heard.
"My sister gave him to me," Billy said with his cigarette dangling. "Sirianna stole him."
"Sounds right," Ron said, he started to grin at Billy and Billy thought they'd get through the conversation without wanting to knock Ron's teeth out of his skull, but he was wrong. Ron suddenly cleared his throat, straightened up. If he thought he was intimidating Billy, he was fucking wrong, wasn't he? Ron didn't have a damn thing on Neil.
Billy only raised an eyebrow, let him know that he wasn't worried in the slightest.
"Speaking of Sirianna," Ron said, as if they had anything else they'd talk about, "she said you two are dating."
It wasn't a question and it seemed like common fucking sense so Billy didn't say anything, only took a draw off his cigarette and just stopped himself from blowing the smoke in Ron's face.
"What are your intentions with her, Billy?"
Billy ignored the sarcastic way that Ron said his name - like Ron was a rad fucking name or something - and tried to keep from grinning. Was that the game? Some sort of big intimidation tactic like Ron was Sirianna's long-lost older brother? Billy could see himself in Ron's shoes one day, glaring at some piss ant who showed up to meet Max's no-longer brother.
Billy wanted to give some off the cuff answer, just to see Ron steam and unable to do jackshit about it. He could have, could have said his intentions were to fuck her stupid and then move on to the next chick he found, but who cared? Sirianna knew he loved her, why would Billy care if her bestest friend knew it too?
"My intentions?" Billy inhaled again, tried to put his words together so they couldn't be misunderstood in any way. What were Billy's intentions, his plans?
"I'm going to stick around this shithole town, keep her safe from fucking monsters and crazy shit. I'm going to save up money, as much as I can, so that the second she graduates we can hit the road, find us a place of our own. I wanted to live on the beach, a house that has the ocean for a backyard, but it'll be alright if we're a few miles away, far enough she doesn't have to see the water if she doesn't want to.
"Then I'm going to marry her. I'm going to fucking beg and plead until she agrees to spend the rest of her life with me. I figure I'll surf, she'll fly in the skies, and I'm going to make sure she's as happy as she makes me. For the rest of her fucking life, I'm going to keep her safe and happy."
And one day, God, Billy hoped it was one day soon, she'd love him back.
Billy finished his cigarette, crushed the butt under his boot before he looked back at Ron. "That clear enough, mate?"
"Yeah." Ron chuckled and he reached out to slap Billy's shoulder, not too hard - friendly. "That's about as clear as could be. Except I wouldn't let her fly over an ocean, she's bloody reckless on a broom. Did she ever tell you about how she fell during a quidditch match because she wanted to catch the snitch before Harry?"
No, she sure didn't. But Billy didn't have anywhere to be, he didn't mind at all when Ron launched into a story about his girl who hated to lose during her first ever quidditch match.
The tornado was gone, Billy's head wasn't pounding, and Ron turned out to have plenty of stories about little Sirianna Potter being a damned menace at her school of magic.