#bc sure billy and max weren’t exactly friends

[i-miss-lotor]

I'm still hurt by how much Max listened to Running Up That Hill because she probably imagined so many times what would happen if she died instead of Billy and even wished for it

[cherrybracelets]

someone you loved [b. hargrove x reader]

song inspo | masterlist

word count: 2.9k / warnings; none really. alcohol mention. a bit angsty. panic attack tw

an: okay well. i said i would give billy fluff and i failed bc this turned reaaaaallllyyy angsty. it’s very good though. anyways, as always pls listen to the song because it’s an important element of the fic, and PLEASE leave feedback. requests are open as well!

You and Billy Hargrove needed each other, and that was a known fact for the both of you. Billy was trying to 'turn a new leaf' after his incident, and you desperately needed to piss off your parents. So two months ago, Billy proposed that the two of you start fake dating. Your good girl image would help people realize he really had changed, and his bad boy imagine would, well, make your parents furious.

And it was working, exactly how the two of you had planned. People were really starting to take notice at Billy's change in personality, the fact that seemingly overnight he had transformed from an angry man, full of hate, to someone capable of dating you. Billy only put on his bad boy personality in front of your parents, and even then, you knew it was all an act. You knew him before, and he was a completely different person. Something deep within him had changed, and he was trying so hard to make sure other people saw that as well.

You both agreed not to let your relationship go on for too long, but you had grown comfortable with each other. You had both really enjoyed each others company, and you hadn't talked about 'ending things' in weeks. Although there technically wasn't anything to end, when you thought about the idea of no longer having him there, it made you feel a bit empty.

The truth was, Billy was probably your only real friend. You had friends, sure, everyone does, to an extent. But Billy actually cared enough to get to know you, the real you, not the person you pretended to be around everyone else. You put up this act around people to try and seem like the perfect, cookie cutter girl. It was all bullshit, everyone was bullshit, but when you were with him, you didn't really care if he saw who you really were, because you saw him, too.

The two of you were hanging at his house tonight, just listening to music and reading trashy magazines in his room. You were shoving handfuls of popcorn into your mouth and flipping through your latest Cosmo, while Billy was sitting on his bed flipping through college brochures.

"No shot I'll get into any place like this," he whined, tossing the pamphlets into the nearby trash can.

"Do you even want to go to college?" You responded, turning towards him with a look that read 'you can't lie to me.'

"My dad does. I think I'd be better off just becoming a mechanic."

"So if that's what you want to do, do it. We've talked about this," you said, throwing your magazine on the ground and hopping up on the bed next to him.

"I know, living a life full of lies will only lead to an angry death. But you're not one to lecture," he retaliated, crossing his arms and facing you.

"Lying to your friends about what movies you like is way different than lying to yourself about what makes you happy." You placed a hand on his upper arm, trying to comfort him. He let out a large sigh and nodded, letting you know he understood.

"What makes you happy?" He asked, tilting his head slightly awaiting your response.

"Good question. I haven't really figured that one out myself, if I'm being honest." You looked down at the floor, trying to come up with times in your head that you were truly happy, truly yourself. All the times you could think of were when you were with Billy. You looked back at him, his face still locked on yours. "I do know one thing I like, though, and that's music. Turn the radio on!" You said, excitedly hopping up off the bed and to your feet. Billy reached over to his side table and flipped the radio on. Everybody Wants To Rule the World started blasting, making both you and Billy laugh hysterically.

You started jokingly jumping around and dancing, trying to get Billy to get up with you. You got in his face, moving your head rhythmically and grabbing his hands. The song ended, and the radio host came on, telling 'all you people listening, it's time to slow things down a bit.' The opening chords to I Can't Hold Back started playing, and you stuck your hand out to Billy.

"Dance with me, kid." You wiggled your fingers, trying to get him to put his hand in yours.

"I, uh, I don't dance. Especially slow dancing." He shook his head, avoiding eye contact.

"C'mon. You have to slow dance. What are you going to do at your wedding?" You crossed your arms in frustration and pouted at him.

"I don't think I'm gonna get married."

"Why do you say that?"

"I just don't think anyone would ever be able to love me." His face changed when he said that, a little bit of the twinkle in his eyes fading out.

'But I love you,' you thought to yourself, the thought so far buried in your head, you almost didn't hear it. Almost. But you definitely felt it, in that moment. You felt your heart shatter at the thought of Billy feeling so unloved and alone, you wanted to take him in your arms and hold him, showing him that you would do everything in your power to make him feel love. You shook the thought out of your head, knowing how crazy it would be to actually have feelings for him. This wasn't real, it was just pretend. That's how he felt, too. He was just using you, and you were just using him.

"It's late, B, I have to get going," you murmured, avoiding the last conversation completely. Billy shook his head, nodding vigorously at you, also doing his best to forget what he just said.

"Yeah, for sure, I'll walk you out."

You followed Billy to his front door, making sure to say goodbye to Max on your way out. When you got to the door, you opened it quickly and turned back around to Billy, smiling softly up at him.

"I'll see you soon, yeah?" He was standing close to you, close enough to smell the musky cologne he had bathed himself in. His leather jacket smelled slightly of beer and cigarettes that had been bled into it.

"Yes. Dinner tomorrow?" You asked, staring deeply into his eyes. He placed his hand on your hip, just lightly enough to almost make it tickle.

"Yeah. I'll call you." He smiled at you, and pulled you in for a hug. You buried your face into his chest, listening slowly to his breathing. You heard his heart beat, too. You liked to hear his heart beat, you liked to know he was real. After everything that happened to him, sometimes you felt like you needed to check, make sure that he was still there. That he was still Billy.

The hug lingered a little too long, but neither one of you really wanted to let go. You felt him kiss the top of your head, and you quickly broke the hug, confusion and lust running through you. You backed away from him, deciding if you didn't leave now you weren't sure what would happen. Billy was blushing, once again avoiding your gaze.

"Let me know when you make it home safe, yeah?" Billy looked at you, eyes full of sadness and worry, not wanting to let you walk away. He wanted to grab you, to kiss you, to tell you how much he needed you. But he couldn't, because in his head, you didn't love him. You were just playing pretend. All he'd ever be to you is just a blip in your extraordinary life, but to him, you were everything. You had saved him. You had shown him how amazing it was to feel loved, right when he was almost about to give up.

You nodded at him, and gave him a small wave, heading towards your car. When you got in, you drove away as fast as you could, not looking back, but still sure he was standing there watching you leave. You felt shaky, almost light headed, Billys scent still stuck in the air. You turned the radio on and blasted it, hoping to drown out the sound of your own thoughts.

"God damnit!" You yelled, shaking your head furiously. You turned the music up even louder, speeding your way back home. When you pulled in the driveway of your house, you took a minute alone in the car before walking in. You took several deep breaths, grounding yourself, and made your way into your house.

"Young lady," you immediately heard upon entering. "Now I understand you are no longer in high school, but that does not mean you can stay out until whenever you'd like."

"Dad, it's like ten o clock. Relax," you groaned, rolling your eyes at the man staring angrily at you.

"Do not speak to me like that, (Y/N). As long as you are under my roof, you will follow my rules. " His voice was booming, arms crossed tightly.

"I guess I'll get my own roof, then! I'm sure Billy would love to have me." You angrily turned around and started walking quickly up the stairs to your room. Your dad was yelling behind you, but you tuned him out. You ran into your room quickly, slamming and locking the door behind you. Your dad had stopped yelling, and his tyrant was seemingly over, for now. You took a few deep breaths and threw your head back, trying to stop yourself from crying. You had felt a lot of emotion today, way more than you had anticipated.

You took it upon yourself to take a long, hot shower, washing away everything that happened today. But no matter how long you stood in that shower, you couldn't get the smell of him to go away. It stood there, surrounding you, embracing you. You couldn't get away from him, not that you even wanted too. You got out of the shower, throwing on some old pajamas and climbing into your bed.

Now, you didn't really believe in fate, or the universe doing things on purpose. In your mind, everything was random, just an act of chance. But what happened next changed your view on fate completely. You hadn't been sleeping well that whole night, waking up every half hour or so, tossing and turning. That wasn't normal for you, you were usually a great sleeper. But something in the back of your mind kept telling you something was... wrong.

At around 1:15 in the morning, you sat up in your bed, angrily groaning at life, not letting you fall asleep. And in that instant, your phone rang. And you picked it up almost immediately, not even considering the time. But you were extremely lucky, because if either of your parents had woken up and realized it was Billy calling you this late at night, well, you would be dead.

"(Y/N)?" You heard Billy say, his voice shaky and weak. It sounded like he had been crying. Your heart instantly dropped, thousands of different terrible scenarios popping into your head.

"Billy, what's wrong?" You said, quickly and panicky.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his words stuttered.

"Yes... yes, I'm fine, why?"

"You never called me, and I just... I had a nightmare... I saw you hurt..." He had started crying again, you could hear the choppiness in his words.

"I'm coming over." You stood up quickly, wanting to get to him in a hurry.

"No... you don't..."

"Billy, stop. I'll be right there, okay. I'm not letting you be alone like this. I'll see you soon, you're going to be okay."

"Okay."

You hung up the phone, placing a hand over your chest. You felt terrible, you always remembered to call. But you didn't have time to feel bad, you had to get to him. You needed to be with him. Something had come over you, maybe just the power of love, but you would've traveled across the world just to be with him right now. You quickly and quietly snuck out of your house and into your car, hoping the engine starting didn't wake your parents. But at this point, you didn't care. You drove quickly, well above the speed limit, not giving a single damn.

When you pulled into Billys driveway, you saw him sitting alone on his porch, shaking and crying. You barely managed to turn your car off before you hopped out and ran to him. You wrapped your arms tightly around him, holding him while he moved back and forth. You took your hand and placed it on his cheek, wiping away a few tears as they came.

"You don't need to worry anymore, Billy. I'm right here, it's me." You looked him in the eyes, trying to get him to look at you.

"I saw... I saw..." he stuttered, voice trembling.

"It wasn't real, okay? Whatever you saw, it was just in your head. I promise you." You took his hand in yours and squeezed it tight, assuring him you were really there. He nodded slowly, his body almost collapsing into yours with exhaustion. You held his body, silently breathing with him, listening for his heart beat. You felt it, stronger and quicker than ever.

"Let's get inside, okay? It's cold out here." You helped Billy up on his feet, and you quietly walked him inside to his bedroom. You held up his body on your own, trying your best to not let him fall and wake up his dad. You got him into his room, closing and locking the door behind you. Billy flopped loudly onto his bed, still shaking slightly. You covered him up with a blanket, rubbing his arms to warm him up.

"Don't go, please," he whispered, grabbing your hand in his and wrapping his fingers up with yours.

"I would never leave you, B. I'm here." You squeezed his hand, and brushed his hair out of his face. He opened up his arms and you crawled under the blanket with him. His body wrapped around yours, his arms tightly holding you. You felt his heart beating against your face as you laid on your chest. The feeling faded out as you slowly fell asleep in his arms.

You woke up the next morning in a panic, your parents for sure already calling Hopper and reporting you missing. You sat up quickly, waking a sleeping Billy beside you.

"Everything okay?" He mumbled, still waking up.

"My parents are going to kill me," you responded, hurriedly.

"Well, if they were really that upset, don't you think you would've heard by now? It's almost noon," he said, pointing to his alarm clock.

"That's weird. Maybe they finally decided to stop caring about me." You looked at the alarm clock again, still shocked your parents hadn't called Billys.

"Thank you, for coming last night. I just... lost myself, I guess." Billy sat up next to you, and embarrassed look on his face.

"I'm sorry I didn't call. It was my fault." You put your hand on his cheek, and he rested his head in it.

"Can I tell you something?" He asked, his eyes staring into yours.

"Of course."

"I'm in love with you. And not in a pretend way. After my mother died, I never knew I could feel love again. And you've made me feel it... a thousand times more. I don't think I would still be here if it weren't for you. You don't have to feel the same way, I just need you to know." Billy looked at you, feeling sick to his stomach after just putting his heart on his sleeve for you.

"Billy... fuck... I love you, too. I feel it everywhere, I can't sleep... I can't get you out of my head. And I don't want too. I love having you in my life, I don't want that to change."

"I don't think I can be with you... I'm not a good person, I've hurt people. Really bad. And you deserve someone a thousand times better than me. You deserve to be endlessly happy, and I can't give that to you." A few tears fell down Billys cheeks and he realized that no matter how much he loved you, he was terrified too. If he ever hurt you, he would never be able to live with himself.

"Look at me, Billy. You aren't that person, anymore, okay? You are full of love, and light. You deserve happiness, too. You deserve so much fucking happiness. Please, let me give that to you, let me show you what you deserve." You wiped the tears away from Billys cheeks, but felt a few fall down your own face as well.

Billy leaned toward you and kissed you, his lips soft, moving slowly with yours. His hands were on your face, pulling you closer to him. You wrapped your hands around his waist, hugging him tightly. Your tear filled faces crashing into one another, bodies moving in sync. Billy broke the kiss abruptly and was smiling widely at you.

"I love you. Stay with me, please?"

"Yes, Billy. I love you. I'll be here forever."

[bylerly]

alright everyone. after my rush of emotions after that season, i’ve had time to decompress, and make an actually cohesive list of my thoughts about the season. as you could probably guess - MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!

first, let’s get the (much) shorter list out of the way. here’s what I enjoyed:

the acting. i want to mention how good millie was, because she was fantastic, but i almost feel like i shouldn’t, bc el took SO MUCH screen and plot time, that millie was given every opportunity to be good. she doesn’t really need any more special mention. otherwise - noah (with the little he was given) and sadie were particularly great. so were winona & david, but that goes without saying.

the elmax friendship. these two deserved it. and max bringing el out of her shell, showing her how to become her own person.... incredible. 10/10 i love them both

alexei. feels weird saying this, but he was probably the new addition I enjoyed watching the most. it would have been kind of cool to see him live past season 3.

an lgbt+ confirmed character. this one is a little.... tricky for me. as happy as I am that there is a queer woman written into the show... I feel like it’s a cop out to not have to confirm will’s sexuality. robin confirms her sexuality in less than a season, but after three with will, we still only get ~subtext~? still, this is a positive portion, so.... I guess that was something I was happy with

el moving in with the byers at the end. finally. this is one of the only things that is keeping me excited for s4. i guess i can only hope for there to FINALLY be some good willel interactions next season, but if this season has taught me anything, it’s not to get my hopes too high :-)

jancy ending s3 on a good note. parts of their storyline were fantastic, some were disappointing. but i really dug their dynamic, and the realistic struggle between the two of them, with nancy not really understanding jonathan’s class struggles, and jonathan not grasping the weight of the misogyny being thrown at nancy. their final moments at the empty byers house at the end were especially lovely.

el no longer being OP, and not being undefeatable. i love el. i really, genuinely do. i love her character, i love her traits, i lover her power. but the duffers were relying too heavily on her to constantly save the day with her powers, and it was happening too often. one of the faults of s2 was the constant thought of how easily el could’ve fought off all these threats if she was just there. i think it’s incredibly interesting to not only see her get completely worn out, but totally lose her powers. like mike said, i’m sure they’ll come back, but i want so badly for el to not just be defined by her powers.

a platonic m/f friendship. yes, one of them is confirmed queer, and they would’ve probably been romantically linked if she was straight. but i’ll take what i can get when it comes to this. platonic opposite sex relationships?? r i s e

now for the meat of my thoughts ~ what I didn’t like:

mike’s characterization. the writers completely made him into a dick this season. i get it, he’s a teenager, so he’s going to be an asshole sometimes. hell, in a recent post, I defended that, saying it’s good writing. but I underestimated just how awful he’d be, completely blowing off his friends for any chance for a second alone with el. I understand that he loves his girlfriend of course, but s1-2 mike loved his friends just as much. he was so utterly unlikable this season, that it seemed like he was a different character.

lucas as comic relief. this is so lazy, and i’m so angry for both the character and caleb, both of whom deserve so much better. he really had nothing to do if it wasn’t related to max, and the writers further reduced him down to a one-dimensional, kind of dumb, mediocre boyfriend, and that is not the highly intelligent, brave, kind lucas that i know and love.

will’s sidelining. god, this made absolutely no sense. noah fucking shined last season. he stole pretty much the entire thing. every critic, even those who disliked the season, had nothing but good things to say about his performance. furthermore, will has so much potential in so many different directions in so many aspects of his character. however, once he revealed to his friends that he was feeling the upside down/MF’s presence... they may as well have written out his character. he was sidelined almost to the point of background character. they gave him very little to do emotionally after that castle byers scene, and even fewer lines.

total lack of willel scenes. phew, if this wasn’t a bummer. will spoke a single line to el, and maybe one or two throwaway lines about her. if there is one thing most of the fans can agree on, it’s that will and el have the biggest connection to the upside down, the biggest unspoken connection, the most parallels, and the most intriguing potential relationship... and they really just said “fuck it” and didn’t have them interact at all. (that’s poor writing folks!) they better make up for this now that they’re living together.

amount of eleven scenes. i love her so dearly. i really do. and i’m so happy she grew into her own, not through mike or hopper. but the amount of el plot and screen time this season was actually difficult to watch. every other scene centered around her. so many characters and so much of the story went undeveloped, while she got way, way more than was necessary. additionally, take any kid’s plot (other than dustin), and guaranteed, it revolved around el. people were starting to catch on that the show was favoring her character more than even most shows’ mains.... and this season took it to a level i actual didn’t think it would.

the comedy. it was so awkwardly written. so much of it threw off the pace of the show. it seemed forced, and just... not very stranger things-esque, where the comedy was typically well-written and blended into dialogue.

the baddies. this was a huge letdown, too. i understand that the monster was large, but it was far less menacing to me than, say, the MF’s physical form. it had gore points, sure. it felt incredibly boring and predictable. in the same vein, i thought the ‘zombie’ style storyline of heather & co. would be deeper than that, but that was literally all it was. again... not interesting to me. billy was a rehash as well. the russians definitely had potential, but even that plot wound up being incredibly one-dimensional.

billy’s screentime. this was one of the things i was absolutely furious about. he got more screentime than the party (minus el) combined. they wanted for us so badly to empathize with him, to humanize him... i’m sorry, but you wrote a character that almost killed a boy for being black, that abuses his sister, and is a misogynistic asshole. abuse doesn’t excuse that, and it’s insulting to abuse survivors to say that billy inevitably became this way because of his dad, and that he deserves our uwus for it... and actually got el’s. he took screen time away from characters who desperately needed it, and that’s something i will never look at the duffers the same way for.

the scoops troop. I wanted to love erica... but i feel so indifferent to her. she was way too much this season. and robin. again, i love that she’s confirmed queer. and i dug her character more. but even then... i don’t know. i would have rather never had her introduced, and allowed established characters to have been better developed. and as a whole, the whole storyline of the troop was just what I feared: underwhelming and awkwardly placed.

high steve & robin. won’t elaborate on this too much, bc there’s not much to elaborate on. it just felt so wildly out of place and unnecessary.

that dustin/suzie number. what the hell was that? what could have been a 20 second joke was stretched out WAY too long and was bizarrely placed. just because you have an actor from broadway, doesn’t mean he needs to sing. and even if he does sing... you couldn’t have found a better time or situation? i literally was just staring at my screen in disbelief as that whole thing happened. entirely unneeded.

the amount of flashbacks. i understand most casual viewers wouldn’t remember certain things because of how long it’s been. but they literally put a recap at the beginning of the season. that’s what it’s for. and there were also plenty from like.... the episode before??? the amount they included took away so much time, that it almost just seemed like they didn’t have enough footage, and they had to fill their time stamp somehow. at some point, it just becomes insulting to the audience’s intelligence.

the overall tone. this season did not feel like stranger things in the slightest. off the top of my head, the castle byers scene and the byeler scene in mike’s garage were the exceptions. the first few episodes did have some moments. but overall... it kind of felt like some weird, high budget commercial or something. the charm, distinct aesthetic, and nuance of seasons 1 and 2 was non-existent.

the post-credit scene. there was some last-minute hype up in the reviews for this. was that supposed to be shocking in some way? i suppose this is more the fault of the reviewers who hyped it, but... really? a demodog? we’ve seen that before... i guess more the point was to show that the russians officially have some kind of technology for this. but still, an underwhelming reveal. more intriguing to me, was if hopper was the american in the cell he mentioned at the start of it. or maybe brenner?

the neutral:

that ending. on one hand, it was incredibly predictable. they literally placed an obvious shot of it in the trailer (easy to deduce that the byers had moved out, and that it was fall, so it was an epilogue scene). i was convinced that there would be a twist element they weren’t showing us, but nope. on the other hand, i thought some things were done beautifully (which wasn’t exactly a trend this season). as i mentioned, i loved the jancy moments. i really did like the hopper voiceover, although it was a little trope-y and heavy-handed... i still got a little emo, ngl. those goodbye hugs were somethin’. and, as i said before... el! moving in! with the byers! gimme

so uh... that’s it, i guess. no one really asked, but i needed to get my thoughts out. what did you guys think of the season?

[stardustgirl05]

The Sauna Test 2

I wasn’t planning on writing a part two but it sounded fun and I was bored so here we are. here’s part one and the inspiration post and if y’all want a part three lmk and i will do it. tbh i like part one better but probably bc its more angsty.

warnings: language, flashes to the upside down (so scary stuff), a pinch of byler like always, mild angst, yelling, mentions of violence

other notes: despite the title this actually takes place during s3e5, The Flayed

-------------------------------

The phone had been ringing for several minutes now. 

Nancy was starting to get worried. Yes, it was early, and yes, Jonathan probably still hated her for getting them both fired, but if the Mind Flayer was coming back, and it definitely seemed like it, then talking to Will would be her best bet. 

“Hello?” an angry voice from the other end of the line answered.

“Jonathan!”

“Do you realize what time it is?”

Yep, he was still mad. For sure.

“Listen to me, okay?” Nancy could feel that old feeling of panic starting to bubble up again. Something bad was happening, and again, no one was listening to her.

“It’s 6am, and I had a late night with Feagan and the gang so—”

Nancy thought that sounded like a lie, but at this point, she didn’t care. “I’m at the hospital with Driscoll.”

A pause. “What?”

“She’s been sedated for a few hours and the doctors are still running tests.”

She could hear Jonathan wake up almost immediately. “Nancy, please tell me you’re joking.”

“It’s not a joke, and yes, I know I’m insane, and irrational, and out of touch, but save your lecture because I really don’t give a shit right now, I just…” Nancy took a breath to calm herself. The few people out at this hour have been giving her weird looks during the whole conversation. 

“I need you to put me on the phone with your brother.”

“What?”

“Jonathan, please.”

Nancy was praying this would work, that Will would remember enough to give her something, anything, about what she had just witnessed in the hospital.

“He’s not even here,” Jonathan said, and Nancy felt her stomach drop. 

“Where is he?” She knew her voice was getting more and more frantic, but if this thing was commanding Mrs. Driscoll, then it was commanding others too. If she knew her brother and his friends, it’s that they always ran head first into the chaos, exactly where Will could be in the most danger. “Is he safe?”

“Why wouldn’t he be safe?” Jonathan’s voice was quavering. Nancy almost regretted saying that, reminding him of the past two years in which he had to watch his brother go through hell, but if something had happened to him...

“Nancy, why wouldn’t he be safe?”

“So you don’t know where he is?”

“Nancy!” Jonathan’s voice was on the brink of yelling now. “Tell me what happened at the hospital.”

Nancy’s eyes started to brim with tears. “It...I don’t know, it looked like that night, in the cabin, when we burned the Mind Flayer out of Will, but worse…” She heard Jonathan curse on the other end. “Do you know where he is?”

-----------------------------

“So...it felt like when he possessed you?” Max’s eyes drilled into Will’s. She looked scared. All of them did. He couldn’t help but wonder if they were scared of him.

“I mean...yeah. Like that.” 

The whole morning, the group had been grilling Will on the events of the previous night. Will didn’t want to tell them that the cold feeling never went away. He didn’t want anyone to worry. He didn’t like being the center of attention, but at least they were somewhat focused on other things. Between speculating about what happened to Will and the constant asking of are you sure you’re alright?, Mike had been whining about El and El had been working on finding Hopper. As it turned out, he was in Illinois. With Joyce. While everyone found that a little weird, they had bigger things to worry about. 

A loud knock on the basement door caught everyone’s attention. 

“Not now, Mom!” Mike screamed, and instead being greeted with his mother’s annoyed tone, Nancy’s voice screamed from just up the stairs.

“Mike, open the door!” 

The group just stared at each other in confusion. Finally, Mike got up. Nancy and Jonathan came running down the stairs, shoving Mike out of the way. “Will?” Jonathan said, looking frantically around the room.

“I’m right here,” Will said, confused as to why Jonathan’s face was twisted with fear.

“Oh thank god,” Nancy breathed, and Mike turned on his sister abruptly. 

“Okay, what is going on right now? Why do you two look like you just ran a marathon?”

Nancy and Jonathan looked at each other. Nancy took a breath and explained everything she had just seen.

“What time was this attack?” Mike piped up once she was finished.

“Last night,” Nancy said, still looking fearful.

“Right, but what time last night?”

“Around nine.”

Jonathan turned on Nancy. “You waited all night to call?”

“I was waiting for the doctor to run some tests.” 

Will’s eyebrows knitted in confusion. “You weren’t there?”

“Well I’m here now, aren’t I?” Jonathan snapped.

“Hallelujah,” Nancy quipped back. 

Nancy and Jonathan had been avoiding eye contact for the whole conversation. Everyone could tell something had happened between them. It was almost comical, seeing their tense and awkward interactions.

“So wait, what were you guys doing last night?” Nancy said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

They all looked at each other. Will looked at the ground. Finally, Mike spoke.

“We, uh. We went to find Billy and...and we tried to get the Mind Flayer out of him. With a sauna”

“What?” Nancy and Jonathan exclaimed in unison. 

“It was working, for a bit,” Lucas said slowly. “But then he got out of the sauna and then he tried to possess Will again and then El threw him through a wall and he got away.”

The room went silent. Jonathan slowly turned to look at Will. “What do you mean ‘tried to possess Will again?’”

“Jonathan—” Will whispered.

“Why would you go with them, when you knew this would happen? You’re lucky he didn’t do anything to you,” Jonathan yelled. Will squeezed his lips together. “He didn’t do anything, right?”

“I don’t know, he...he did something to me. Like he was trying to control me again. Like I still have some of the Mind Flayer left in me.” Will’s voice was shaking. He knew he was on the brink of tears, like he always was when he talked about the Mind Flayer or the Upside Down.

“Yeah, Billy made Will collapse. It was freaky, it was like Will couldn’t hear us at all,” Max said, leaning closer to El. Jonathan looked furious.

Suddenly, a chilling sensation tore through Will’s body. His lungs constricted in pain. His head started pounding again, as Mike’s basement faded away and all that was left were shadows, and little white spores flitting through the air. 

“Mike?” Will said quietly, standing up from the couch and trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness. He heard a sound from outside, something all too familiar. Will couldn’t move. He knew he had to run, but he couldn’t risk being seen. He looked down to see vines creeping over his shoes, trapping him. The sound was coming closer, and it would find him again he would find him again he needed to run and hide and not let him see and he had to get back to Mike—

“Where are you?”

A singsong voice echoed from all sides. Will felt the back of his neck start to tingle, like the feeling of being watched. The toxic air pierced his lungs and stung his skin and he started to get dizzy—

“WILL!”

Will’s eyes shot open to see his friends surrounding him, Mike’s hands on his shoulders. He felt El’s hand on his arm, and Jonathan’s hand on his forehead. 

“Was it another episode?” Mike asked, staring intensely at Will’s face. 

“God, you’re freezing.” Jonathan lowered his hand. “What happened?”

Will sat back down, breathing heavily. He tried to focus on Mike’s face, looking increasingly more worried the longer Will didn’t speak. He opened his mouth, and a wave of nausea fell over him. He squeezed his eyes shut to stop the spinning.

“...Will?” El’s voice was quiet as she sat down next to him. “Was it Billy? Was he there?”

Will shook his head. 

“No, it was...well, it sounded like Billy. But it wasn’t. It was him. And he knew I was there.”

Nancy and Jonathan exchanged a look. “Is it...in you again? Do we need to burn it out?” Nancy said, her eyes wide.

Will shook his head. “I don’t think he actually possessed me this time. He’s just trying to scare me, I think. I know too much.”

“Well, what do you know?” Lucas leaned forward. Will noticed that he and Max were holding each other’s hands tightly, their knuckles turning white. “I know how he works. How he thinks and everything. He views me as a threat because...because I got through his control in the past.”

Lucas sighed in frustration. “Well, if you could do it, why can’t Billy?” 

“I—”

Will’s neck tingled again, like a warning. “I think something’s wrong.”

Nancy stared at him. “What? What’s happening?”

He looked up at them, eyes wide.

“It’s Mrs. Driscoll.”

[jancys-blue-bayou]

Yeah so Stranger Things 3 was painfully bad

Yeah yeah big negative post about ST3 coming up. Just... holy shit, my expectations weren’t exactly high but jesus I didn’t think it’d be this bad. Wow. Mindboggling to think it was made by the same dudes who made season 1, it feels like a different show. Some of the worst writing I’ve seen in a long while, parts of season 3. This got very long because it was very bad so it’s under the cut. Starting with the few positives and then away we go...

Of course there were bright spots, I thought what we got of Jancy was generally good (just wish there had been more of it. Just like... more lines between them, a few moments could’ve gone on longer...like after the awesome hospital fight scene jesus just let them fucking desperately embrace and profess their love for each other, it was awesome how they relentlessly kept going at the monster to save the other but can we please just have a few more seconds for a comfort moment after?) I liked how they handled the fight btw, apart from the Oliver Twist comment yeah yeah heat of the moment but still felt OOC with that loa a blow. Nancy and Karen scene was nice and um... well Max and El bonding was nice. And um... Mr Clarke! And I kind of dig Murray.

My main issues with it:

- The product placement. Jesus Christ. Okay, ST has always been a show with noticeable product placement. But it’s gone from things like a Coke can prominently on display on a table in s1 (El crushing it with her mind) to literally having a straight up ad for Coca Cola in the middle of a tense scene. That’s the big offender that made me go wow you’re really doing this to yourselves huh, there are many others ofc (everything at the mall ofc, Slurpees being in hyperfocus for a bit, and a lengthy talk about Burger King. These smaller things one by one wasn’t the worst but all combined jesus it was too much, all added together and then bam the Coke commercial was wow... Congrats on the like 80 sponsorship deals and esp the new ST themed arcade hall by Coca Cola hope it was worth completely selling out for.

- Relatedly, the original fucking song. Holy christ talk about jumping the shark. That was the oddest, cringiest, weirdest shit I’ve seen in a long time. Gaten’s a great singer don’t get me wrong, but there’s a time and place for it and an original song stuffed into the middle of the tense climax of the season is not it Duffers. Just a blatant cash cow, hoping to bring in more money via the song.

- Robin. Sorry but holy cow what a Mary Sue. Hey here’s this super cool girl who’s cool™ and funny™ and super smart™ and NOT Nancy (like they seriously for real said in a scene, they actually for real had to pit Robin and Nancy against each other for no reason). And she conveniently has these specific skills needed for the plot (which she gets involved with for no real motivation other than having nothing better to do, lazy writing). Said skills were so over the top unrealistic it completely sucked me out of it. To start with, this random girl in small town Indiana in 1985 speaking French, Spanish and Italian um... does Hawkins High have the most amazing language department or what? Very un-american in that case... and okay then, her knowing those languages wouldn’t help jackshit with understanding Russian. Russian is a notoriously difficult language to learn and it is not related to the Romance languages at all, Robin knowing those languages and oh, having “a good ear” bc she’s in band (?!??! what?!) wouldn’t help her at all. Having the alphabets on the wall and listening to strange words in a foreign language she has no understanding of would never work. No way for her to understand what is she’s hearing, what letters are in the words just, nothing. It’s completely ridiculous. The good thing is she’s a lesbian, crushing Stobin that made me LOL. Btw, I don’t get what age they were writing her as? She’s still in school but later says she and Steve was in the same class, and she knows who Nancy is but Nancy, who is still in school, doesn’t know her even though presumably they’d be in the same year at little Hawkins High? Was it just sloppy writing or what?

- Too. Much. Plotting. What happened to “this season is about the characters” um there was just so much plot stuff and action sequences and barely any character driven moments at all. Those intimate moments that made s1 amazing. Generally regarding plots felt the Russian plot was messy and not well-written also what happened to the US government as the big bad? Unless they’re setting up a big Cold War thing for s4. And felt the zombie thing was wasted, could’ve been used differently like I’d have thought it’d be used like the MF spreading it’s influence over vaster areas and being harder to keep track of etc.

- Too little Will. Will’s whole thing with feeling left out etc was just dropped halfway through it felt very undercooked. His arc was just dropped wtf.

- NO BYERS FAMILY INTERACTIONS WTF. The sequence in the first episode when Jancy has overslept and Joyce wipes the lipstick off Jonathan was cute (but could’ve been even cuter I’d have preferred a short fluffy Jancy moment here just as they wake up before they realize they overslept, bc we didn’t get much pure fluff, and then it’d been awesome if Joyce would’ve just called Nancy into the house to mess with them). But like... that’s kind of it. For the Byers family. Talking to each other in the whole season. When they partnered Jancy with the kids many thought awesome we’ll get Byers bros talking and teaming up (and Nancy and Mike) but there was just nothing. Not even a family hug after the battle at the mall, just Joyce hugging Will, with all this tightknit little family has been through you telling me Jonathan wouldn’t join in?

- No Will and El bonding wtf? SUCH a wasted opportunity. They’ve built this unique awesome connection over s1 and s2 and now in s3 would finally be able to bond normally for real and... nothing.

- Turning Hopper back into an even bigger jerk than he was at the start of the show, neglecting all his character development. What was the point of the whole El and Hopper thing they devoted so much time to in s2 if Hopper’s back at it with the yelling and all now? And jeez his constant whining to Joyce about every man she interacts with holy christ that got annoying. Generally Hopper was such an annoying asshole this season I was so tired of him by the time he “died”.

- TOO MANY CHARACTERS. Jeez, I know I’m on about it all the time but jesus christ there is way way too many characters in this for 8 episodes which hurts the narrative and screentime for interesting characters is just... yeah.

- Speaking of screentime, did we really need that many identical generic fight scenes between Hopper and the Russian guy? Jesus Christ it’s so boring watching fight scenes like that, so repetitive (compare to the hospital fight scene which was dynamic and awesome). Also regarding screentime did we really need to devote so incredibly much of it to Steve and Robin being comedic relief while drugged? Yeah yeah mix light and dark and all that but jesus christ at that point in the narrative shit has hit the fan lean into the dark.

- Totally expected of course but still, the furthering of Steve Memeington. My god they actually had him literally call himself daddy... christ.

- The Billy and Karen/all the other middle age women remains gross and bad in a billion ways. Also completely pointless for the plot, they could’ve come up with any other way to get Billy to the factory. And what did it give Karen in development? Just the realization that yeah I’m tired of my husband but I’m not leaving my family and I’ll stick with him just ‘cause? Okay but did we need her almost sleeping with a kid a year older than her daughter for that? Icky. Also the editing of the scene where Billy hits her was so weird. Also that was weird as fuck.

- The ending. Okay christ my main gripe with this is because of a point above: No Byers family interaction at all! Joyce and Hopper talk briefly about her thinking about moving once or twice but she never talks about it with her kids... obviously she did in the timegap but we need to see that to build to the thing. Having no Byers interactions the whole season and then just oop we’re moving is so weird. I’m also not sure if Joyce’s motivation for moving (her bad memories of Hawkins) would be enough. For sure an argument for it, but an argument against is the one Hopper presents to her (and though he’s not around still there’s still a support system around them there, especially for her kids which she loves above all). Speaking of her loving her kids above all, she knows they love their friends/girlfriend/boyfriend to bits, have walked through fire with them and are each others support system as mentioned, would Joyce really just uproot them from that? There’s also some purely practical things that stuck out to me immediately: the timeskip for the epilogue makes it so they move when the schoolyear is already well under way and Jonathan has started senior year, feel bad for Jonathan there in a number of ways. Also, how the hell did Joyce manage to sell her house and what did it fetch? Her rundown house on the outskirts of a now infamous town with an incredibly bad rep? Even if the buyer bought it for the land the land doesn’t look special, just find it hard to believe she could get much for it. And where did they move? Where did she find a place? And work? Did she have something lined up or? I guess we’ll see.

- Oh and speaking of work, that was another thing that was just dropped, the mall killing downtown and the protests just fell out of the story. But, with what happened to the mall wouldn’t business come back to downtown (possibly reason for Joyce to want to stay if Melvald’s going out of business was another reason to move).

- Sorry but Mileven took way too much space.

- Again, no Jonathan and Will actual brothers bonding. But a whole lot of Steve and Dustin meme fanservice wank.

- Erica is just the sassy black girl trope non stop the whole season and nothing else and it’s so grating and... I was gonna say disappointing but I had no faith in the Duffers regarding this. Just because a bit character becomes a meme doesn’t mean they need to become a main. *cough* Steve *cough cough* Sorry.

- Last but not least, the woobiefication of Billy. Uggggghhhh. Disgusting. And having Max cry over him WTF?!?!?!?!?! staaaaaaahp.

[themikewheelers]

Hey! Im pretty new to the fandom (since like summer) and i was wondering if there were any crazy fan theories before s2 came out? Like the speculation over s3 has really got me thinking how much people predicted before the show came out last time? I’ve really enjoyed reading your posts so thanks ♥️

Okay so crazy fan theories idk if u mean crazy like, funny, or crazy like INTENSE so I’ll just answer for both lmao. There were a LOT of funny theories before the show came out. I mentioned one of them the other night, which was the El/Mike MORPH theory, but if u didn’t see that post, basically when the first s2 teaser came out there was a shot from the scene of El and Hopper’s fight where El is crying. It was the first look we got of El in s2 so that was the first time we were seeing her curly hair and all that, and also in the shot (which didn’t make the final cut of the show) she was covering her face, so at first we weren’t 100% sure if it was her. Millie and Noah ended up confirming that it was, but a LOT of ppl were still convinced it was Mike, which led to a bunch of ridiculous theories that in s2 El was going to morph into Mike, that they were actually the same person, there would be a body swapping plotline, etc. like there were a lot of variations of it but it can all be p well grouped under the same theory. The main other FUNNY theory coming to mind is my personal favorite, PregNancy. A completely baseless-yet-popular theory that was exactly how it sounds, Pregnant Nancy. It rlly only started bc in the trailer they included the shot of Nancy crying in the Holland’s bathroom, so a lot of people ran with this whole idea that she’s crying cause she just took a pregnancy test and there were a lot of spiraled out theories like whether it was Steve or Jonathan’s baby and all that. Those are the two main comedic theories from s2 that I remember and ppl who were here for them can all remember hauntingly and joke about

As for ACTUAL theories, jeez there were a LOT. There were some rlly good ones too. I remember a rlly popular one was that after someone leaked some set pictures of Millie filming the scene where El gets off the bus in Chicago, a lot of ppl started theorizing that Eleven was hiding out there with some friends Hopper had there or smth (Now we know that “the city” Hop used to live in was New York, but we didn’t know that pre-s2 so ppl figured it might be Chicago and he had an old apartment there or smth). There were also a LOT of theories centered around the tunnels, bc that was some of the only plot hints we had going in to the season. People caught on pretty quickly after the trailer came out that the drawings in the Byers house were a map of the tunnels, and stuff spiraled from there. I remember one theory I personally believed was that the tunnels were what Will used in the Upside Down to get around and hide from the Demogorgon. Another big theory was that the red cloud that the Mind Flayer appeared in in Will’s visions was going to be an actual physical storm coming to Hawkins, which came p much from the few shots of it in trailers alongside the fact that the show originally released some fake episode titles when they announced s2, and one of them was “The Storm”. The old title for “The Lost Sister” was actually “The Lost Brother” and a LOT of theories came from that, ranging from pretty accurate like it being another experiment, to completely off base, like one I remember was it being about a 4th Wheeler sibling (Mike’s twin) who died (p much just came from the fact that Mike has a bunk bed). OH and if you remember the DnD scene at the end of season 1, aka everything with the proud princess, the lost knight, and the weird flowers in the cave? Everyone was CONVINCED those were supposed to be clues for season 2. Literally 99% of s2 theories mentioned those 3 things, and in the end they were complete red herrings. A lot of theories also came from Dragon’s Lair, as the Duffers hinted a lot that there would be symbolism in the game. Now we know that “symbolism” was rlly nothing more than foreshadowing that Lucas would end up with Max and not Dustin (”Princess Daphne is still mine!”) but for a long time we thought it was PLOT foreshadowing. And lemme tell you anon, I personally did SO MUCH research on that game and watched the gameplay so many times making theories. The plot of the game is about a knight rescuing a missing princess from a dragon, and a lot of ppl (me included) thought that was going to foreshadowing for Mike saving El from whatever was the reason she was still missing. For a LONG time ppl thought El was going to be in the Upside Down for a full year. If you read any pre-s2 fics, there’s a good chance that’s going to be referenced, bc for so long we didn’t have ANY clue where she could be so we just assumed she was stuck in the Upside Down as a default. It wasn’t until a year after the show came out that it was confirmed she’d been out of the Upside Down since the beginning. So yeah for a long time there were a LOT of theories about the kids doing a rescue mission to the Upside Down. Another theory that came from Dragon’s Lair was that Dustin was going to die, bc his character dies in Dragon’s Lair and people thought that would be similar foreshadowing to how in s1 Will’s DnD character was taken by the Demogorgon, then that’s what happened in real life. Speaking of character deaths, a LOT of people thought Steve or Hopper were gonna die. There wasn’t rlly explanation behind it, but everyone kinda agreed, their character arcs as of the end of s1 were set up well if the show wanted to kill one of them off. Another big plot theory that I remember was that the Upside Down would be spreading to the real world, bc the tag line for season 2 was “The World Is Turning Upside Down” and people connected it back to Mr Clarke’s line about how the gate could swallow everyone up whole. That theory KINDA became true and the gate was spreading in s2, but it wasn’t the plot of the season or anything, and it wasn’t near as serious in reality as people theorized it to be. There were a also LOT of theories about Will too, and a lot of them were some variation of Will having powers. Oh and since one of the episode titles is “The Spy” there were a lot of theories about who the spy was, the most common ones I remember were Max, Billy, Bob, and Hopper. The first 3 bc they were the newbies (no pun intended on Bob’s end) and Hopper bc we kinda knew he had some connection going on with the lab, but didn’t know the nature or what was going on or anything. OHMYGOD and how could I forget the Thessalhydra. The FREAKING Thessalhydra. Another DnD related theory that I spent HOURS of my life dedicated to researching only for it to amount to NOTHING. The Thessalhydra is another DnD monster, and it was also mentioned in the campaign at the end of season 1, and everyone was convinced that would be the new monster from s2. There weren’t a lot of theories about the Mind Flayer going into season 2 just because we didn’t know enough to even have theories, but almost every theory that did exist assumed that the shadow monster was the Thessalhydra coming to Hawkins following the Demogorgons defeat. Another one I remember is since we got shots of Joyce, Hop, and Bob wearing scrubs in the trailer, people thought they were going undercover in a hospital to either 1) kidnap Will out of it or 2) steal medical files.

As for theories that were accurate, there was a surprising lot. Honestly in reality a LOT of stuff that happened in season 2 was stuff ppl either theorized about, but their theories went WAY more in depth & went beyond what actually happened, or it was smth ppl figured was too obvious to be true. So honestly in the end we definitely OVER-theorized a lot for s2. El and Hop was one of them. Hopper hiding El in a secret cabin in the woods was one of those things that everybody in the fandom thought about, but most of us thought it was too predictable to be true (especially because one of those original episode titles was literally “The Secret Cabin”). Everyone pretty much assumed that Dustin’s pollywog was really the slug Will threw up, and there were even a lot of theories about it being a baby Demogorgon (though I don’t think ANYONE anticipated the demodogs). Or like I mentioned before, a lot of theories about El going to Chicago, but none of them were even CLOSE to what really happened. Kali’s original name in the show was Roman, and they kept her SUPER secretive. When the final trailer of the show came out, they included a shot of the gang wearing masks, and I remember someone was able to figure out that one of them was Roman/Kali, and that’s rlly all we knew about her going in. I actually remember someone sent me an ask back then thinking that the girl next to her might be El in a mask too, and I specifically remember looking at that picture thinking “Nah that’s not her” bc I mean, no one expected anything like episode 7. They had announced there was going to be an independent episode, and I remember our theories ranged everywhere from a musical episode to flashbacks of the year between 1 and 2 to a whole episode dedicated to Terry and MKUltra. But at no point did anyone come even close to figuring out the truth. There’s a lot of smaller details ppl anticipated too, like the Stancy breakup or Bob’s death, and even a good chunk of the plot honestly, even if no one rlly theorized the exacts, the whole kinda premise and concepts we had brought up a lot before and we had loosely figured it out. But there was also so much stuff no one ever thought of before, like the Demodogs or everything with ep7 or the lab shutting down or Will getting possessed.

All in all honestly we did a pretty good job. Everything we COULD figure out based on the information we had we did for the most part, to the point where honestly this time around the show is being WAY more secretive in s3 because they don’t want us to figure stuff out again. Like I said before, honestly we over-theorized, we took all the information we did and definitely overthought everything a LOT and ended up going a lot more intense with it than what ultimately happened in the show lmao

[hairringtonsteve]

two ships passing in the night, part ii.

(billy hargrove x reader)

summary: late night coffee dates never seem to turn out the way that you think they do.

word count: 4,610

a/n: i’m so tired but this needed to come out bc i’m so excited for this.

part i. part iii.

taglist: @jems8241

Well, fuck.

Those two words had been rattling around your head for the last three days as you replayed the events of that night over and over in your head. It wasn’t even that big of a deal. You’d merely caught up with a former fellow student from Hawkins. That was all. You definitely weren’t replaying his soft, easy grins, or the way his lips had felt, rough against your cheek. You weren’t throwing around the idea of grabbing coffee with him again. You weren’t thinking about him and Max, the two of them with just the other on Christmas.

You sure as hell weren’t thinking of inviting him to your house for Christmas. That wasn’t even in the realm of possibility.

“You think we should go for red sprinkles or green sprinkles?”

Steve held up the two bottles to you, as though he genuinely thought that you would have an opinion one way or the other.

“What?”

“Red or green, Y/N? We’re burning daylight here.”

“Just get both. You know Dustin would complain if you only got one color and not the other.”

“That’s true,” he said, shrugging his shoulders as he put the two items into his basket. He pressed his lips together, sidestepping from the sprinkles to the chocolate chips. “Should we get mini or regular size?”

Your gaze flickered from him to someone behind him. Your whole body tensed when you caught sight of that small grin of his. It was still jarring to see him like that, without the mullet or angry look on his face. He looked between you and Steve, the grin sliding into a small smirk, reminiscent of the ones from back in high school. Your heart sped up a little as he watched you. God, this was insane. There was no rational explanation as to why your heart decided to switch to doubletime. Literally none.

In an instant, two bags of chocolate chips appeared in front of your eyes. You jerked back, frowning as you blinked at them.

“Regular or mini?”

Somewhere down the aisle, you heard chuckling. Steve’s entire back straightened at the sound, like it was a demogorgon waiting to attack. The chocolate lowered as Steve let his hands drop to his side, taking his time in turning around to face the source of that dreaded noise.

“Hargrove. What the hell are you doing here?” His words were hard and flat. He shifted to the side a little, just enough to put himself in front of you. Billy tilted his head at the two of you before stepping forward, hands in his pockets as he shrugged.

“I’m visiting for the holidays. Or is King Steve not allowing me into his kingdom?” He lacked most of the heat from his high school days, but you picked up on just enough. His gaze flickered from Steve to you, softening just a little. But when he turned his attention back to Steve, it hardened right back up.

“If I say that you’re not allowed, will you leave?”

“Only if you ask me nicely.” He offered the brown-haired young man a lascivious smirk, raising his eyebrows up and down to punctuate his point.

“Just fuck off, Hargrove. Jesus.” Steve took a step towards Billy, eyes blazing. You reached out for him, fingers wrapping around his bicep as you tugged him back. Billy watched the two of you carefully, his face easing into an unreadable mask.

“Just go pay, Steve. I’ve got to go grab some milk, and then I’ll meet you up there,” you said, leaving no room for argument. He looked from Billy to you, and then back to Billy, before letting out a sigh and rolling his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something - probably something along the lines of asswipe or motherfucker to Billy - but you shook your head, pointing to the end of the aisle. He let out a breath through his mouth, sighed, and miraculously headed down the aisle.

“Wow. You’ve really got your pet well trained, Y/N.”

You gave Billy an unimpressed look, cocking your brow as he walked towards you, stopping when he was within arm’s reach.

“You can cut the shit, Billy. We both know you’re not that pissed off at him.” He watched you for a beat before shaking his head, allowing a slow, easy grin to slide across his lips.

Your gaze lingered a second too long.

“Sorry. It’s just easy to get him riled up. And you’ve got to admit, he was mean to me first. I was going to be a nice little angel until he went and had to be a dick.”

“Yeah, well you didn’t have to be a dick back. Then you were just egging him on.” Billy just gave a shrug of his shoulders, taking another step towards you.

“Maybe I’m just a dick. You ever think of that?”

“You weren’t a dick the other night.” He took another step towards you, this time making him just as close as he’d been when he’d told you good night a few days before. Without meaning to, your heart started to stutter out its doubletime speed, reminding you that your heart had definitely been pounding since you’d first spotted him in the aisle.

“Maybe you make me less of a dick, then.” He ducked his head as you kept your eyes on him, your focus slipping for just a second to his lips. In an instant, you felt the ghost of his kiss against your cheek resounding through your mind.

“Maybe you just need to stop being a dick,” you murmured, letting the corners of your mouth tick upwards.

“Maybe we need to get coffee again.”

“You’re what?”

“Steve, just calm - “

“You want me to calm down? Are you kidding me right now? Billy Hargrove is a psychopath. Or are you forgetting how he made our lives a living hell senior year? Or how he tried to beat up a kid? Or how he -”

“What are the odds that you’d believe me if I said that he changed?” Steve let out a scoff as he ripped out the sprinkles from the plastic bags and slammed them onto the counter.

“I’d ask you what you hit your head off of. You can’t be serious, Y/N. Someone like him? He doesn’t change. He’s a fucking prick that just so happens to be -”

“Who’s a fucking prick?”

Steve fell silent as you lowered your gaze to the floor. Of course the entire fucking party would come into your kitchen at the exact moment that Steve was losing his shit.

“Your asshole of a stepbrother,” Steve spat. Max looked between you and Steve, furrowing her brows as the rest of the party started to speak at once. “Didn’t we already know that?”

“He isn’t even around anymore, who cares?”

“Guys, I thought I saw him the other day when I -”

“He’s an asshole, but he’s getting better.”

Max’s words left everyone in silence. She stared at everyone, looking from one person to the next before her focus settled onto Steve.

“He’s an asshole, but he’s trying, at least. He came to Hawkins because he wants to fix things with me. Or try, or something. He’s different now. I think. But I won’t know until I talk to him, and the last thing I need is for you shitheads to run him out of town before that happens.” By the end of her little speech, Max was practically snarling the words out. Lucas reached up and laid his hand on her shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze as she leaned into his touch.

“Okay. I trust you.” His words were exactly what she needed, apparently, because you visibly saw as she deflated. She turned to you, her fingers tapping against her leg, looking as though she were debating on saying something.

“Billy said that he talked to you the other night?” All eyes in the kitchen turned to you.

“Uh, yeah. We did. He told me a lot.”

“Did he tell you that he was in jail?” You gave a nod of your head. “Good.” You weren’t exactly sure why that was good, but for whatever reason, it appeared as though you’d earned Max’s seal of approval when it came to the situation.

“So, uh, Steve, you got the regular chocolate chips, right?” Dustin asked. It was obviously to every single person in the room that he was trying to change the subject, but despite that, it worked.

“No? I got the mini,” he said, picking up the bag of chocolate and waggling it around in the air. Dustin let out a cry of frustration, a scowl settling onto his features.

“What? How could you get mini? There’s not going to be enough chocolate in the cookies! They’ll be ruined!”

“Now listen here you little shit, you never once told me that I was specifically supposed to get regular chocolate chips. You just told me to get them! You never specified! What was I supposed to do?” Steve continued on with his rant as Dustin made his way towards you. He mirrored your position, arms crossed as he leaned against the counter top. His hip knocked against yours, causing you to look over and catch the small, satisfied grin that was on his face.

A warmth settled in your chest, remind you that despite the fact that they might not agree with the situation, they had your back. Or at least, Dustin did.

The aroma of freshly baked cookies floated through your house despite the fact that they’d been baked hours ago. The party had filtered out throughout the night, Steve being the last one to leave as he’d tried to argue with you once more, but you refused to have it. Instead, you’d pleaded to being exhausted and needing to head to bed as soon as possible. There had been a flicker of guilt in your gut as his eyes softened and he instantly went into overprotective-mom mode, asking if you needed anything to make you feel better.

Of course you’d declined, but not before telling him that he was the most caring friend you could ask for. He’d gotten a little sheepish at that, ducking his head and grinning before wrapping his arms around you in a tight hug.

“Just feel better, okay?” He’d mumbled against your head, giving you one last, tight squeeze before heading out the door.

Steve was a good friend, you knew that. He was just concerned about you, and your apparent sudden lack of sanity. But people changed, right? You liked to believe that. You knew that some people were just terrible people, that no amount of naive wishing could change that. But Billy seemed different. Or rather, he seemed like the same Billy, just not as much of a fucking prick as he used to be. The young man that you’d run into the store that day didn’t strike you as the type to want to beat up a thirteen year old.

You were slipping on a pair of pajama shorts and a t shirt when you heard the knocking at the door. Steve must have forgotten to grab his badge. Ever since Hopper had officially welcomed him onto the force, Steve had been showing his badge to literally anyone who would pay attention. But that had developed into a nasty habit of forgetting it places - the biggest one being your house.

“Keep your pants on, Harrington. I’m coming, sheesh,” you yelled, thankful for the fact that your parents had declared it date night and had gotten a room in the next town over. The knocking intensified, which made you roll your eyes. “I swear to God, Steve, if you keep knocking, I’m going to take your arm and shove it so far up your ass that you’ll be-” You whipped open the door, pausing in mid sentence when you saw who it was.

“Well, shit. What’ll he be doing with his arm shoved so far up his ass?”

“Puncturing a lung,” you respond, staring at Billy with wide eyes. “What’re you doing here?” When he’d mentioned getting coffee again, you hadn’t really thought that he’d meant so soon. Or that he’d be showing up to your house to make due on said coffee.

“I thought, maybe, that we could, uh, well…” He trailed off, shoving his hands into his leather jacket pockets. It took you a moment to recognize it, but the worn leather took you back to a time when you’d first met Billy, in the midst of that crazy week with Will and the Mind Flayer.

“I can make a pot of coffee, if you’d like?” You’re not sure where the offer came from, but it hung in the air for longer than you would’ve liked. Eventually, Billy gave a nod of his head, pressing his lips together as you motioned for him to head inside. You padded towards the kitchen, your heart giving an awkward jolt at the sound of him closing the front door behind him.

In the back of your mind, you wondered if Steve would have an aneurysm, knowing that you and Billy Hargrove were alone in your house.

“So, what were all those chocolate chips for?”

“Steve and Dustin are on a baking spree. And since my house is around halfway for everybody, they all just kind of decided to meet here,” you said with a shrug. Flicking the light on in the kitchen, you took in just how messy everything was. Pans littered the counters with baked cookies on top, most pans having at least two layers of cookies, sometimes three. The boys had tried to clean up, but it had gotten a little distracting with Mike singing Christmas carols at the top of his lungs, and Lucas launching himself across the kitchen to shut him up.

You reached out and grabbed a cookie, shoving it into your mouth and holding it with your teeth as you snagged the can of coffee grounds. You worked in methodical silence, pouring spoonful after spoonful of them into the already there coffee filter. If there was anything that your dad had taught you, it was to always empty the coffee filter and replace it with a new one the second you were done. Made life just a little bit nicer, he said, when you could just skip that step any time you wanted to make yourself a cup.

“Youwancookti?” You asked through your mouthful of (slightly less) chocolatey goodness.

“Do I what?” Billy asked, his voice sounding closer than you’d expected. Your whirled around to see him leaning against the counter, close to where you’d been earlier. It was disconcerting. You chewed up your cookie, swallowing as you watched him.

“Do you want a cookie?” You took care to enunciate your words this time, even holding up a cookie to make sure that he got what you were saying.

“You know the last time someone asked me if I wanted a cookie was Mrs. Wheeler, who was trying to hit on me?” Your eyes widened as he picked up a cookie and took a bite out of it.

In a brief moment of insanity, as you watched him bite into the cookie, you could kind of understand why she would’ve tried it.

“Bullshit,” you said, instead focusing on that utter lie as opposed to his mouth and those lips.

“It’s not bullshit. It was that, uh, that night I was looking for Max. When the shit hit the fan.” You watched him carefully. Max had never said if she’d ever told him what had actually been going on that night. With the embarrassed way that he was looking at you, you figured that he had no clue just how much danger he could’ve been in that night.

“When did that happen, before or after you passed out in the Byers’ living room?”

“Before, thank you very much. I was looking for Max and thought she might know something. So I was charming,” he paused, tilting his head as he shot you - what you presumed to be - the charming grin that he’d shot Mrs. Wheeler. It was like he’d turned up everything one thousand percent, and as much as you hated to admit, it made every single cell in your body just stop. “And she was into it. Like, really into it. Practically had to chase her off at some basketball games.” He muttered that last bit under his breath, causing you to laugh out loud, which made his eyes widen.

“What?” You asked, suddenly a little self conscious. There were times when your laugh could only be described as booming.

“Nothing, nothing,” he mumbled, shaking his head. A little bit of red colored his cheeks, but you pushed that aside. It was warm in your house.

For a couple of seconds, the only sound was that of the coffee pot, gurgling away quietly in the corner next to the stove.

“So… Max mentioned you today. Kind of came to your defense,” you said, treading carefully. You snagged another cookie and took a bite.

“Yeah?” He toyed with the cookie in his hands, tapping the bottom of it before lifting it up and taking a small bite. “We grabbed dinner last night at the diner.”

“You did? That’s great. How’d it go?”

“Alright, I guess.” He gave a shrug of his shoulders before they slumped down, and you assumed that was the end of that. You turned around, reaching into the cupboard when he started speaking again. “Turns out that she, uh, she didn’t know that my dad was beating the shit out of me until after she threatened to nail me in the crotch.” You’d frozen in your movements when he’d started speaking again, but a snicker still escaped your lips at his choice of wording. It was quiet, and you wondered if he’d thought you’d laughed about something else. Your fingers wrapped around two mugs as you dragged them towards the edge of the shelf, setting them onto the countertop. When you turned back to him, his eyes were downcast as he worried at his lower lip.

“What is it?”

“I thought that she’d known, y’know? That she’d just been such a fucking bitch when we moved here. But she had no clue. I knew that he acted different around her, but… Not that different. I never put it together. I should’a put it together,” he murmured. You left your post by the coffee pot and walked to him, stopping only when you placed your hand on his arm.

“Neither of you knew, Billy.”

“I know that! But, well, I just - I treated her like shit because I thought she hated me despite the abuse, called me a dick despite it or that I deserved it or something. And she just thought that I was a dick for the sake of being a dick. Which I was, but… I fucked up so bad with her.” You could practically see the thoughts rolling around Billy’s head, causing a storm of memories that couldn’t have been good.

Your thumb brushed up and down his arm. You didn’t have any magic words that would make this better, or even make him feel better. To deny any of that would belittle what Max and Billy had gone through, not to mention being an outright lie. He’d made her life a living hell. His life had been a living hell.

“Can I have some coffee?” He asked, his voice small as he looked down at you. You tilted your head up to get a good look at him. There was something in his eyes, some kind of sadness that just tugged at your heart.

“Yeah, Hargrove, you can.” You headed back to the coffee pot, pouring you each a mug before you began to dig around in the closest drawer for some spoons. “There’s some milk in the fridge, and sugar in that ceramic pot to your left.” You turned around, holding out the mug to him as he pulled the milk from the fridge.

It took a minute or so of fixing your coffee to just the way you liked it, but after that, you headed to your couch. You sat on one end, sitting cross legged with a blanket draped across your lap, mug in hand as you watched Billy take his time in sitting down. He wandered the room, examining every family photo and trinket that adorned the shelves.

“You’ve got a lotta pictures of you up here,” he hummed, glancing over his shoulder at you.

“Yeah, it’s so my parents don’t forget what I look like while I’m at college.” You settled back against the seat, the warm drink in your hands making you feel drowsy despite the caffeine.

Damn college for making you immune to coffee.

Billy made sure to wait until you were looking back at him to roll his eyes. He took a sip from his mug, lingering by your childhood photos for a few seconds longer before making his way to you. He sat on the couch, closer than most people would have sat. Without really thinking about it, you shifted your position, straightening out your legs and tugging your feet under Billy’s thigh. He quirked a brow at you, most likely noting the way your cheeks instantly burned red.

“It’s a habit,” you mumbled. And it was. You had cold feet. Every single member of the party had gotten used to you shoving your feet under their legs to steal their warmth. Steve would shriek and squirm, hating the way that it felt. The rest dealt with it with varying degrees of annoyance.

Billy, however, just smirked and shook his head.

“So what’s up with you and Harrington?”

“Nothing?”

“C’mon. You mean to tell me that you’re not doing it?”

“No?”

“I told you about my dad and Max. Least you could do is not lie to me.”

“I’m not lying, Billy. Steve and I are like siblings. There’s nothing there.” He let out an mhmm, which annoyed you to no end. “Trust me, Billy, people know when I like someone.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. There are signals and everything.” You grinned at him from over the lip of your mug as you took a sip.

“You mean like how you were staring at my mouth when I was eating that cookie? Or how you were staring at my mouth in the grocery store? Would those be signals, Y/N?” You spluttered out coffee, making it dribble down your chin in a rather unattractive manner. But Billy didn’t mind. In fact, he leaned forward, using his thumb to wipe away the line of liquid that had spilled from your mouth down your chin. “Are they?”

All you could do was slowly nod your head.

Billy Hargrove might’ve changed. He might not be the angry prick that he’d once been. But Billy Hargrove was also the same in a lot of ways, too.

And deep down, you would’ve been lying to yourself if you’d have ever said that you hadn’t wondered what it’d be like to kiss Billy Hargrove.

You’d thought that he’d rush it, that he’d just jump right in, lips on yours, hands on your hips, and fucking go for it. But no. First he set his coffee mug on the ground, then taking yours out of your hands, being careful not to spill any. Then he got himself situated, his calloused hand grabbing at your ankle to tug you down a little. Your pulse was rising steadily, already feeling hot all over.

He was tilted a little on the couch, so you scooted forward to get closer to him. Your action brought a small smirk to his face. The smirk almost made you chicken out. It reminded you of high school, when things had been a lot shittier all around. But thoughts of the other night filtered in as well, when you’d spent hours at that diner talking about everything.

So without further ado, you leaned in and kissed him.

He hadn’t been expecting that, you could tell. His whole body froze, lips not moving an inch for a couple of seconds. Then his brain caught up with what was going on, and it was hands all over.

First, his hands were cupping your cheeks, making sure that you stayed nice and close to him. Your lips were moving against his as your hands tangled up in his shirt, clenching tight. HIs hand moved to your waist as you swiped your tongue across his lower lip. He granted access easily, deepening the kiss in a way that made your head spin. His hand went from your waist to your ass, pulling you into him.

Honestly, it got a little blurry after that. It was just a haze of kissing and touching and pressing and wanting and all you were able to think about was that you hoped he was responsible enough to pull away because you sure as hell weren’t and you’d need to breathe sometime.

Eventually, he did pull away, pressing another soft, quick kiss against your lips before resting his forehead against yours.

“Was that a signal?” He smirked, his hand giving your waist a squeeze.

“That was a fucking beacon, you dumbass.” You teased, tilting your head up so you could kiss him again. This time it was softer, slower; a drink of cool water on a hot day. He still had a hand against your cheek, although now it slid down to rest against your neck, fingertips brushing against your jaw.

“What are the odds that you’ll let me do that again?”

You pretended to think about it for a long minute, which didn’t sit well with Billy. He started peppering soft kisses against your jaw line, the hand on your waist moving to slip under your shirt.

“High. Really high,” you breathed out, sighing as he hit a particularly sensitive spot on your neck.

He pulled away once you’d answered, a smug grin teasing his lips as he watched you. A yawn snuck up on you, leaving your lips as you raised your arms above your head to stretch. Billy watched as your shirt raised a little, exposing a thin strip of skin.

“Can I stay tonight?” You hesitated. Making out was one thing, but you weren’t planning on sleeping with the man. “I just really don’t feel like walking home,” he said with a shrug.

“You don’t have your car with you?”

“Nah. I figured that I’d keep up with our tradition, and walk in the freezing cold,” he said, giving you a flat look. You weren’t sure if he was being serious or not, but decided against asking.

“Well, I guess if you went all that way to keep up our tradition…” You trailed off, offering him a small smile. Without warning, he tugged your ankle down farther so you were laying down on the couch. He shifted you around, pushing you forward a little so that way he could lay behind you. An arm wrapped around your waist, draping across it as you snuggled back against him.

It wasn’t the most comfortable position you’d ever been in, but it was nice enough.

“Billy?” He let out a hum in response, nuzzling his nose against the back of your neck. You bit your lip, taking in a deep breath as you mustered the courage to ask him something that you’d been thinking about the last couple of days. “Do you want to come here for Christmas?”

[hellimagines]

Worth My Time--Billy Hargrove

Masterlist

Request: “Hey i was wondering if you could do a billy hargrove story where the girl reader ends up meeting billy whenever hes out looking for max and he shows up at her house but max isnt there and he comes in bc the reader gives him directions to the next house & she just got out the bath (pretty much the whole scene with mrs wheeler in ST2) except the reader is the sister and they never seen eachother before & they’re both really turned on with one another and end up fucking then. thanks so much!!! (cont.) also in the story i just sent in can billy have short hair like dacre really does but everything else can be billy lol if that makes sense! sorry forgot to add that in.”

Summary: When a certain blond interrupts your bath, it’s safe to say you’re a little mad.

Warnings: slight smut, cursing

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x Wheeler!sister

Word Count: 1,207

A/N: I’m sorry this isn’t full smut. I’m sort of burnt out when it comes to Billy smut, so I’m really sorry!

It was late, around 8 o’clock or so, and you found yourself submerged in your warm bath. Your (h/c) hair was pulled into a messy bun, making sure none of the dry strands came in contact with the water or the scented bubbles. You had never felt more blessed in your entire life. For once, you were the only one home. Your parents were out on a date night (the first one they’d had in months), your twin sister Nancy was out on a rendezvous with Jonathan Byers, and your younger brother, Mike, was out with his friends. So you were left on your lonesome, chin deep in cherry scented bubbles with your Signature Soy candles releasing sea blossom and peach dahlia aroma’s. You could feel yourself drifting off, bubbles fizzing at the tips of your fingers and occasionally floating high enough to pop on your nose.

But then. Then the most obnoxious knock you had heard came from your front door. Your eyes flew open, anger bubbling higher than the ones in the bathtub. You waited, not making a sound. There weren’t any cars in the driveway, so maybe the visitor would think nobody was home and leave. But then there was another knock, more incessant than the last. Then another. And another.

“Oh for the love of…” you grumbled, pulling yourself out of the bath. Bubbles clung to your wet skin, and you didn’t bother washing them off- you wouldn’t be entertaining your guest for long anyways. You ripped your black, velvet robe from the back of the bathroom door and haphazardly wrapped it around you. It formed a perfect V down your chest, stopping slightly below your boobs. The robe kept them covered, but you didn’t pay much attention to it as you stormed down the stairs, making sure your visitor could hear your angry stomps.

You swung open the front door, with full intent to wreak havoc on the person in front of you. However, the only thing you could muster was, “What the fuck,” when you were met with Billy Hargrove. He stood at the front door, his red shirt barely buttoned past his belly-button, and his leather jacket around his shoulders. He had cut his hair recently; the once long, curly blond locks were now short and wavy. His eyes racked up and down you, a lazy smirk forming.

“Hello to you too, Wheeler,” he grinned, propping his forearm on the door frame, leaning forward a bit. “Didn’t mean to catch you at a good time,” he snickered.

“Then leave,” you snapped, beginning to shut the door. But his boot had shoved its way through, keeping the door from closing.

“Can’t do that, doll,” he sighed. “Ya see, my little sister, Maxine, has gone missing,” he said sadly, a false expression on his face. You rolled your eyes, cracking your jaw in annoyance.

“You and I know damn well you don’t give two shits ‘bout  Max,” you huffed, crossing your arms over your chest. Unbeknownst to you, this only made your unsupported boobs lift up, your robe slipping slightly. Billy’s smirk grew, as he struggled to keep his eyes trained on your own.

“That’s where you’re wrong, babe. I care about Max. And I’d very much like to find her. You wouldn’t happen to where she is, would you? Only take a moment to get an address,” he grinned, briefly flicking his eyes over your shoulder to confirm that nobody else was in the house. You thought for a moment. You could just give him the address of the Byer’s easily, and send him on his way. It would only take two minutes, at most.

“Hurry up, it’s freezing,” you snapped finally, opening the door wider for him. Billy came in, eyeing you as you shut the door and began to walk to the kitchen.

“Wouldn’t be so cold if you had on more than that robe,” he snarked, leaning over your kitchen counter. You snapped your head up at him, giving him a glare.

“I was having a nice bath before you showed up, actually. I didn’t exactly have time to get dressed,” you huffed, ripping off a piece of paper from the tablet hanging on the wall. You reached into the kitchen drawer and pulled out a pen.

“Didn’t mean to disturb you princess,” Billy snickered, watching your every move. You rolled your eyes and returned to the counter, leaning across from him.

“She, and the others, should be at the Byer’s. They usually play Dungeons and Dragons here, but because Will’s been having a tough time lately, I guess they went there,” you explained to him, beginning to write down the address. Billy couldn’t hear you. He was too focused on the way your chest pressed against the countertop, your hand furiously scribbling down words. The black robe had slipped off your shoulder slightly, and he could see faint traces of bubbles in the divet of your collarbone.

“Well,” he said slowly, removing himself from the counter, “if she’s over there and just playing a board game, then I guess she’s not in any danger,” he said, moving himself closer to you. You looked up at him, your eyebrows furrowed.

“Hargrove, what the hell. You drive all the way over here, make me get out of the damn bath, stand in the cold while I’m dripping wet, only to tell me ‘it doesn’t matter’? Are you shitting me?” you exclaimed, slamming the pen down on the counter. Billy was right beside you now, his blue eyes no longer trying to hide their gaze as they travelled your body.

“Mhmm… Let me make it up to you,” he hummed, reaching a finger out to diffuse the bubbles in your collarbone. Your skin shivered at his warm touch, your cold body wanting to get closer.

“And why should I do that? What makes you think you’re worth that kind of time?” you asked, quirking an eyebrow as he stepped forward, his hand sneaking around to your waist. He jerked you closer, your hands slamming into his chest.

“I’ll show you I’m worth that kind of time,” he whispered, before leaning down to kiss you roughly. A small gasp escaped your mouth, but you reached up to run your hands through his hair, tugging at the short strands.

His hands gripped your hips, lifting you onto the counter behind you, the cold marble causing you to shiver. His mouth nipped from your lips down your jaw, sucking a dark mark at the edge of your jawline.

“I can’t cover that up, Hargrove,” you yelped, yet the legs you had around his waist pulled him closer.

Billy smirked against your skin, making his way down to your chest. “That’s the point, doll face. Now shut up, your bath is gonna get cold soon,” he purred, pulling the velvet material of your black robe away from your boob, exposing your nipple. Instantly he pulled it closer to him, sucking on the sensitive flesh. You tilted your head to the side, using your grip on his hair to keep him in place as you moaned quietly.

If this is what kind of time Billy Hargrove was worth, than you didn’t mind at all.