36. Chapter 36

Out of all of the people that now apparently matter in Billy’s day to day life, it’s Axel that ends up crashing on Billy’s couch first, citing nosy policemen as the reason for showing up on his doorstep, the proudly named Stiv tugging at the end of his little rope leash in a desperate attempt to greet his brother. SPG, apparently above that sort of nonsense, barely spares Stiv a glance before pissing across Billy’s new floors.

Fucker.

“So, this is gonna be the place, huh?” Axel says as he steps inside, peering around curiously. “Looks like a bondage freak vomited in here.”

Billy catches the tip of his tongue between his teeth and winks, pushing out his chest.

“Oh, baby, how’d you know I like it rough?” he asks, leaning forward to give the taller man his best fuck me eyes.

Axel makes a face and stomps over to the couch, unhooking Stiv’s leash before collapsing into the leather with a soft groan.

“Got any beer?”

Billy does, and once he wipes up SPG’s little present, he goes and grabs two bottles from the fridge, taking a seat behind Axel and handing him the spare.

“So,” he starts. “What’s up?”

Axel grunts, knocking back half his beer before replying.

“Kali likes it here,” he says. “Likes the quiet and the… domesticity of the Chief’s place. Likes being with her sister.”

“... And?”

Axel looks away.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but small towns aren’t really my scene,” he says. “Parents and cops and curfews aren’t really my scene, either.”

“Tell me about it.”

Axel snorts humorlessly.

“Yeah. And I wouldn’t mind if this shit was just a stop, but…” he trails off, fiddling with the frayed edge of his shirt. “I think Kali wants to stick around for longer. I think— she’s been talking to the Chief about… going to school.”

Billy hums but doesn’t say anything, which is good, because Axel’s not done talking.

“The Chief, he kinda likes her, I think,” he says. “And Shirley wants her to stick around, so it’s not like he’ll say no if she decides to stay. But she’s Jane’s sister, and the Chief’s big on family. I’m… I’m not anything, really. Just a guy that helps Kali kill people.”

“Well, that’s bullshit,” Billy says, leaning back into the couch. “I mean, shit, the first thing she asked us was if we could take you too, when we met you guys in Chicago.”

“Yeah, I know.” Axel sighs. “I was the first person to start working with Kali, you know? I was the person who came up with the whole idea.”

Billy blinks.

“Really?”

Axel nods, arms crossed and lips pinched.

“I met her when I was sixteen,” he says. “She was… ten, I think. Maybe eleven, and she’d only been on the streets a few months, so she didn’t really know how to survive. I started of taking care of her, sort of. Took her back to my squat where me and my friends were living. When she started talking— she didn’t talk, not for the first couple of months she stayed with us— she told me all about the labs and what they were doing to her and her sisters. I…” Axel flushes. “Well, y’know, she’d been with me a while, and we all loved her to death, me and my friends. And, y’know, I was always an angry kid…” He trails off, shaking his head. “I was always so fucking angry, and when she told me what happened, I… I gave her the idea. And she ran with it. I think she liked having a purpose, I guess.” He looks down at his hands. “Now, though, she’s got someone else, someone better, and I… I don’t really have anyone, anymore. All my friends are dead, or in jail, or… she’s moving on.”

Billy doesn’t really know what to do with this information dump. Guys don’t tell guys when they’re having a hard time, after all, and nobody ever told Billy about their problems before. Max is one thing, maybe, but Axel’s a dude, and an adult, and… possibly a little red-eyed, under all that eyeliner.

Fuck. When did it become Billy’s job to handle this shit?

“She’s not leaving you behind, man,” he says awkwardly, running a hand through his loose hair. “She’s just… y’know. Changing. Growing up. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you anymore, or that she’s replacing you.”

There’s a pause.

“Why the fuck does it feel like it, then?”

Billy sighs.

“Alright,” he says. “I’m going to do something that you’re probably not going to like, but typically has pretty good results. I’m going to do it, you’re going to deal with it, and then, we’re never going to speak of it again. Got it?”

“What are you going to do?”

Billy sighs, plucks Axel’s beer out of his hands and sets both their bottles on the floor. Then, he leans over and hugs him.

Axel stiffens.

“Fucker, what—”

“Shut up and accept it,” Billy says. “It works.”

Axel stays stiff for a few minutes longer, but doesn’t speak. Then, slowly, he starts to relax, long arms carefully reaching up so he can knot his fingers in the fabric of Billy’s shirt as he tucks his face into Billy’s shoulder.

“Fuck, what am I gonna do with myself?” the punk asks, more to himself than to Billy. “Fuck.”

Billy is uncomfortable, but accepts his fate when the older man starts to cry in earnest, silent even as his shoulders sake.

“You’re gonna be fine,” he promises. “Kali’s not going to leave you behind, you get that? These lab kids, they’re obsessed with family, and as far as I can tell, you count. So stop being such a pussy, will you?”

That gets a little laugh, but Axel doesn’t let go. He doesn’t let go for a long, long time.

Billy doesn’t know how he’s found himself in this position.

*.*

Axel’s passed out on the couch, snoring quietly under a handful of blankets Billy dug out of one of the boxes stacked in his room and the bodies of two idiot puppies. Safe in that knowledge, Billy creeps downstairs into the studio to make a phone call.

“Hop.”

“Chief, it’s Billy,” Billy says into the receiver. “Is Kali there?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I talk to her? Axel’s at my place.”

There’s a pause, then the sound of the phone being passed over, and suddenly, there’s Kali’s voice.

“Billy? Is Axel alright?”

“He’s… fine,” Billy says. “Um, when you’ve got a minute, can you come over? He’s kind of… he’s freaking out, a little bit.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know,” Billy says. “But he’s thinking you’re gonna forget him or some shit in because of Jane and the Chief, and I think you need to tell him that’s not gonna happen.”

There’s a pause.

“Axel’s… worried?” Kali asks carefully. “About… about me leaving him?”

“Something like that, yeah,” Billy says. “The guy broke down in my living room, which was awkward. He’s sleeping now, but like, can you please come and fix this shit? I’ve only got two bedrooms, man.”

“I— of course,” Kali says. “I’ll ask Hop to drive me over.”

“Rad. See you in twenty?”

“Yes. Thank you, Billy.”

Kali hangs up, and after a moment, so does Billy. He sighs.

Why is he the one caught up in all this? Yeah, Axel might not know a lot of people, but he knows Steve, now, and Joyce and the rest of the Byers. Why did he come here to get all emotional? Why Billy? What was it that Billy did that telegraphed to the guy that Billy’s the best choice to pour his heart out to? Because Billy’s not that kind of guy, really. Or he wasn’t. That seems more Steve’s corner than his, anyway.

Kali’s coming, and Axel’s sleeping on his couch upstairs. Maybe Billy ought to go hide anything throwable or breakable.

Yeah. That seems like a good idea.