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sidekickjoey · 2 months

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‼️WIP Weekend‼️

I've been tagged in quite a few WIP posts this week, so I figured I'd post a few snippets here to make up for it <3 Not going to follow rules because of the fact this is making up for a lot of missed posts, and this unfortunately will not include my Steddie bang fic because that shall stay ✨secret for now✨ buuuut if you want to see some rules, here are some :)

If you tagged me in anything prior, I love you and thank you!!!

Under The Cut:

Little 'Upside Down Doesn't Exist!AU' drabble set vaguely after S2 based off of this love note Steve wrote to Nancy.

Teacher!Steve AU/meet ugly-ish where Eddie's daughter is his student he's trying (and failing) to help not be so miserable at school.

Silly little scene where Steve, after weeks of begging and pleading, finally lets Eddie drive his car.

No pressure tags: @xpaperheartso @steddieasitgoes and literally anyone else who wants to do this!! Lemme see your fics!

Love Note:

He doesn't know why Steve would do such a thing.

For the record, Eddie's seen Steve do some pretty wild, out-of-left-field things throughout the years. He's seen him put up with Tommy and Carol as if they are palatable (they're not). He's seen him try out for the basketball, baseball, and swim team all in one year (and succeed, the perfect jerk). He's even seen him drop everything to drive the strangest gaggle of kids around Hawkins with a smile on his face -- something the natural high school order of things™ dictates as a social foul of the highest degree.

None of that, though, has ever stumped Eddie as much as this.

"Eddie," the 6x8 note read, previously wedged into his locker, "I want you to know I'm not mad at you. It's okay that you winked at me in the hall last Wednesday. It's better than okay. You looked really upset with yourself when you walked away but you shouldn't be. I liked it. I like you, a lot. I hope you feel the same about me. Steve x"

Eddie has stared at it for what feels like eons.

There just is no way it can be real. In no universe would Steve 'The Hair' Harrington do and say something like this to him, Eddie Munson, lord of the freaks, very much of the male variety and by no means offering much else. Steve says these kinds of things to girls. Pretty girls. Girls like Nancy Wheeler, who have always had their act together and ooze perfect partner material with every flirty look or flourish of their hair. Steve's kindness and admiration has no business being placed in the hands of someone like him when girls like that are roaming around, desperately waiting to become his sweetheart.

So, it has to be a shitty prank.

Teacher:

Steve stood at his perch with the remaining gaggle of kids at the carport when he spotted him, approaching from the left. This man was bounding over breathless, his curly brown hair getting whipped in the wind from that day and making him stumble with each clumsy stride he took. Every nerve in his body was telling Steve the guy meant danger, that he needed to protect his kids. But then, Delilah, little quiet sulking Delilah, let out the most enthusiastic squeal and made a b-line for him. To Steve's amusement and immense confusion, the man did the same back with her and gave her a huge hug.

Leaving his kids with the first grade teacher, Steve went over to investigate.

"Hi, are you, um, Mr. Munson?"

The guy, who had picked up Delilah and tucked her against his hip, suddenly dropped his smile. Clearing his throat, he held the little girl a bit closer. "Yeah, though Eddie's alright for now. Why, uh, why do you ask?"

"I'm Mr. Harrington, Delilah's teacher," Steve said, slowly, desperately trying to figure out in his head why this man was so spooked. "Sorry to pry, but I noticed she was pretty upset all day and showed up alone. Is everything okay? You know, back at home and stuff?"

The guy -- Eddie -- somehow managed to sink further into himself. "Oh, shit. Shit, I'm sorry."

"Sorry?"

"Her mom had her for the first time this weekend," Eddie replied, little Delilah burying her head into the crook of his neck. "It's...it's all so new, a-and she must not have realized....shit, I'm so sorry, Mr., um. Shit, what was your name again? Wait, no I got it, Harrington! Yes, Mr. Harrington, listen I swear, I'll walk Delilah in every morning that I can. You hear that, sweetheart?" Rubbing her back, Eddie nuzzled her where she still held him close. Steve's heart broke at the way she seemed to hold him even tighter back. "I'm sorry, we're gonna' make this okay."

Car Stuff:

"You gotta' be careful with her, Eds. She's real special."

"I know, Steve, I know. I won't hurt her."

"She just means a lot to me, and I wouldn't know what to do if something ever happened-"

"I'm driving your car, Steve, not handling your firstborn," Eddie bemoans as he looks to the passenger seat. Steve is sitting there a pile of nerves and, now, about as pink as a tomato from embarrassment.

"I just know how you drive, man."

"Like a bat outta' hell?"

"Yes," Steve deadpans. "With flames chasing it and stuff."

"Aw, you flatter me."

"Eddie."

Giggling with glee, Eddie waves Steve off. His hands grip the steering wheel - a perfect 10 and 2 grip - as he starts the engine, revving it just to add a little more sweat to Steve's brow. One look at the boy and his own white knuckles on the door says it works. His eyes plead to Eddie's.

"She's my only car, man."

Eddie tsks. "You think I'm gonna murder her or something. I'll have you know, I spent a whole summer learning how to fix pretty little things like her up from the point of ruin. Made $400 from the good patrons of Hawkins for my work."

"Is that supposed to comfort me?"

"Nah, just shut you up a little," Eddie teases with a wink. Steve goes pale at his side.

#WIP Weekend #steddie #stranger things #tag games

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bananarama-fantana · 5 years

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Trouble in Paradise

Steve Harrington story (updated re-post)

chapter one - chapter two - chapter three - chapter four - chapter five - chapter six - chapter seven

Chapter One - ‘Homecoming’

Word count: 3465

Warnings: smoking, drinking, pretty much just a bunch of teen angst (I didn’t sleep for three days writing this so the only real warning is to always stay hydrated and sleep)

Masterlist

I wasn’t bitter.

I kept telling myself that. I wasn’t bitter and I certainly wasn’t a bitch, even if Carol wanted to say otherwise. I just had that icky feeling I got.

It all seemed far too reminiscent of the Homecoming dance my junior year, when he’d asked out Holly Peterson and the pair had stood up on stage shamelessly sucking face with cheap plastic crowns on their heads for everyone to see, all the other cheerleaders swooning, the American high-school dream. I remembered the first half of the night, with Carol and the vodka she’d stolen from her mom’s (not so secret) hiding place. We were sitting on the ledge next to the sinks in the girls bathrooms while she did her mascara and her hair, listening to her bitch about Tommy and the cheer-team and practically every other person in our school. I’d had my dress pulled up to my knees, ruining all the creases, drinking as much as I could stomach to try and cover up that same icky feeling.

Carol was a friend out of convenience more than anything, a bitchy older sister who I let drag me around to parties to get drunk with. I had only really seen her have actual emotions a couple times that I could remember, once when Tommy cheated on her the first time and she’d cried all the way through 5th period, and the next after her brother told her he was joining the army. Other than that she was just Carol all the time. She was never really someone I wanted to spend time with but despite being one of the most popular girls in school she really didn’t have that many other friends. Ever since Kathy Gates caught her giving a blowjob to Kathy’s long-time boyfriend Pete, the whole crowd turned on her like an angry mob. On some level I kind of felt sorry for her, she was still a person after all and the whole thing had been him, not her, but at the end of the day Pete and Kathy exchanged their promise rings and Carol spent her time with me instead. Before I knew it, I was dragged into the whole charade right next to her, like the Wicked Witch of the East and the Wicked Witch of the West: the twisted sisters of Hawkins high.

“And like she’s got this smile like she thinks she’s fucking better than me all because she’s vegetarian!” she was saying, adding about the millionth coat of mascara to her eyelid.

“That’s total horseshit, I saw her eating a cheeseburger like last week,” I replied, jumping down from the ledge next to her and straightening out my dress.

The dizzying air full of hairspray and perfume was nauseating in itself. Music was already playing in the sports hall, the drums from Venus by Bananarama echoing along the corridors, reminding me painfully of the whole bullshit scene that awaited me back at the dance. It took a couple seconds to realise just how drunk I was after standing up, almost going over on my ankle, trying to walk in my borrowed pair of sequined high-heels. Carol was cackling as she watched me.

“Way to be a light-weight, Y/n!”

“I’m fine,” I protested, pushing fingers over my scalp to try and give my hair a little more volume. I had looked better in the car but this would have to do.

“You look like shit,” She said, continuing to laugh. I gave her a dark look as she took the vodka from me with a face like the Cheshire Cat. “I don’t know what the fuck your being a bitch about though, Clark obviously wants to screw you,” She said before taking a drink.

Clark was my date that night, a senior and a douche. He wasn’t the type of douche Carol would hang around with though, he was a kind of pretentious douche, he went to college parties, smoked Marlboros, he’d read Bukowski’s ‘love is a dog from hell’ and now he thought he was the shit, I had talked to him once at a pool party in the suburbs and figured just as much. Carol liked him because he had friends who were in college, I only really liked him because he had good weed. To be honest there was really only one reason why he was my date though.

Steve fucking hated him.

Even the memory of that way of thinking still made me feel ill. It had always felt pathetic. Every girl in the whole school was looking at Steve the same way I was and that made me sick to my stomach. There was a big part of me that wanted to scream that he wasn’t even that great. Sure, he had the hair and the looks and the charm, but the guy was a dufus, a total airhead, he was barely making it through high school and he wasn’t even smart enough to care.

I had known him longer than I could remember, guessing that we must have first met in kindergarten some time, growing up in that same small town world right beside each other our whole lives. Somehow always reflecting the other, like parallel lines that only really crossed during games of tag or dress up, or when he used to pretend to be a wizard or a knight, wielding a twig as if it were a sword to fight off all kinds of mythical beasts: a childish fantasy, foreshadowing a nightmare that would come to life just a decade later. In elementary school I would let him use my pencil sharpener and borrow my sacred coloured pens even though we weren’t that close. In middle school I had helped him with his English assignment when he never even bothered to finish reading the book, he called me a genius that day and it made me blush. He tried out for the basketball team and kissed Macy Johnson behind the bleachers the same day I got my first period and choked on my first cigarette, one that I had been given by one of the older girls as right of passage. In Freshman year I stood in the halls and listened to the story of how the newly appointed ‘king Steve’ had lost his virginity to a sophomore, while he ate rice pudding out of a little plastic cup in the cafeteria and read a poem I had written anonymously in the school paper, arguing with Tommy that he thought it was actually ‘pretty good’.

It wasn’t until I had been raked into the whole Carol business that we really started hanging out though, with her and Tommy playing tonsil tennis every minute they were within reach of one another, leaving me and Steve to sit and talk about ‘whatever’ to fill the time.

It was those nights at his house, sitting at the edge of his pool or in his car talking about just life or getting high or drunk or just sitting that made me realise how much I really liked him. Not just some school girl crush like in the 8th grade but actually knowing him and seeing him and thinking he was magic.

I liked to think he was different with me, as sad as that sounded, that I'd gotten to meet the ‘real’ Steve not just the douchebag facade, but that kind of thinking only breaks hearts faster. Carol didn’t know about any of it at that point, at least I hadn’t told her about it, but that night at homecoming was sort of the end of our sisterhood, at least as it was back then.

“Clark would screw a fucking lamppost if it laughed at his jokes,” I replied, giving her a look.

“Yeah but he’s cute though so why not?” Carol said easily.

“I’m not in the mood”.

“You’re never in the goddamn mood! I mean Jesus, I’ve got Tommy, Steve’s got Holly, if you’re planning to ditch Clark you’re just gonna’ look dumb!” That was the thing with Carol, she always had a picture in her head. What she wanted people to see. What she wanted all the other cheerleaders looking over at her to see and be jealous. I was her ‘best friend’ but I was more like an accessory.

The mention of Holly brought bile up in my throat again, making me wince, the icky feeling coming back, “I need another drink”.

Carol had pulled me back to the sports hall not long after that, happy with how she looked now. The sight that awaited was not a happy one, however, someone having clearly succeeded in spiking the punch. The whole room descending into a chaotic mess of filth; sweat, saliva, and showering glitter, with every other couple seemingly attached at the mouth.

It took no time before Carol and Tommy were all over each other already and something about that made me feel even more sick than before. Clark had been waiting around at the door talking to some girl, he was saying something about how he’d not been to a school dance in years, he thought he was too good for them. It took me a while to spot Steve in the crowd, whispering something in Holly’s ear while he handed her a drink and she played with his hair. He looked great. The whole thing was a disaster.

“You guys wanna go outside for a smoke or something?”

“Sure, baby,” Carol had replied to Tommy sweetly, at whatever point during the dance, leading the group outside into the night.

We were a motley crew, hiding behind the bike sheds round the corner of school to smoke. Avoiding the teachers, making us feel like adults for once, high on teen rebellion. Tommy and Carol just continued to feel each other up, holding cigarettes between their fingers now as well. Clark looked pretty put out, I almost wanted to just tell him to go talk to that girl again but Carol had told him to come and now all he was doing was standing around awkwardly trying to look cool while I gritted my teeth and bit down harshly, ignoring him and smoked my cigarette.

Holly was still giggling at all of Steve’s stupid fucking jokes, fluttering her eyelashes in her nauseating powder-pink cardigan. I had heard them all before too many times to count, each time somehow worse than the last.

“Hey, are you okay?” Clark’s voice broke me out of my enraged trance.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

He pointed at his lip, indicating mine. I'd been biting it again, so hard it had started bleeding. I swore to myself, trying to wipe it away.

“I’m fine, it’s just a habit.” He looked sceptical.

“Again?” Steve laughed, coming closer to hand me a tissue with a goofy grin and a cigarette between his teeth. A few nights prior I had bust my lip on the side of Steve’s pool after falling flat on my face. I had been pissed off with him that night but he was used to it, he probably just thought Carol was driving me nuts again. He hadn’t even laughed when I had fallen, just scrambled quickly over to me in a string of swears and curses, asking if I was alright and helping me to my feet.

The rest of the school week had been spent with him nagging me every two seconds that I needed to “quit biting at it, Y/n. It’s never gonna heal if you keep biting it like that” all while Holly stood next to him, fawning over him, hand on the back of his head running fingers through his hair.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, it’s nothing,” I reassured, dabbing at the blood. I couldn't even feel the pain through the buzz, the blood was the only problem.

Holly gasped, hands coming up to her face, “oh no! She’s got blood on her dress!”

“Shit!” The dress wasn’t mine, it was a rental, and they were never going to accept it back looking like that.

“Hey, it’s fine you can get that shit out with like baking soda, right?” Clark said.

Steve scoffed. “What are you, man, a serial killer?”

Steve had never liked Clark so when he had rocked up to the dance with me hanging on his arm Steve hadn’t been impressed, whispering to me under his breath that I “could do better than that douchebag” not because he liked me or anything but just because I was his friend. He had said before that I was the only friend he had who he could have a real conversation with. We were just kind of like that. I didn’t like Holly either and I had told him just as much, he had just put it down to me having a thing against cheerleaders, I always said I thought they were all too uptight.

“What the fuck is your problem, asshole?” Clark bit back, Steve loving finally getting a raise out of him, he’d finally hit the gold he’d been digging for all night.

“Look, just drop it, Clark,” I cut in before Steve could say anything more and cause a scene.

“No, I’m not gonna just drop it, Y/n. I came out here with you for a good time and all I get is this moron riding my ass the whole night!” He said, gesturing to Steve.

“Leave then, man, go talk to Sadie fucking Lawson, that’s what you really wanna do,” steve sang back.

It was then that Carol broke her silence.

“Holy fucking shit!” her eyes were wide as she wiped her mouth, stepping forwards and looking right back at me, “I just figured it out!”

She looked at Steve and then back again. I let in a sharp breath.

“What the fuck are you talking about Carol?” Steve said exasperatedly. She was just laughing now. I closed my eyes, I knew what was coming.

“You don’t wanna fuck Clark, because you wanna fuck Steve!”

“What?” Tommy cut in, holding her arm and turning to look between us, he started to laugh too, “Oh my god. You’re right!”

I sighed, they were drunk, they were just drunk.

“Look, shut up, man. That’s obviously not true!” Steve was saying awkwardly, looking over at me cautiously, “Right, Y/n?”

When I didn’t immediately reply Carol and Tommy burst into more laughter, making my guts churn. It was like someone was suffocating me from the inside and stabbing me all at once, and all I could do was stand there and look into Steve’s painfully oblivious eyes.

“‘Course not, they’re just drunk,” I finally breathed out, running a hand through my hair and avoiding his eyes again.

“Bull-shit!” Carol yelled.

“Shut the fuck up, Carol,” I had snapped, feeling tears stinging at my eyes, the vodka pushing my emotions right to the surface, with a vengeance. She stopped laughing after that.

“What did you say to me?”

“I said, shut up.” It was a simple answer, that was silently begging her to just ‘stop’. But she didn't, taking a step towards me.

“Hey woah- woah, calm down, okay?” Steve brought his hands up between the two of us. Carol and I had fought before and it was never pretty. People at the dance had started to wonder over now too, after hearing all the ruckus. A crowd of spectators forming around the spot, drawing more attention.

It felt like the whole of Hawkins high was watching my life fall apart.

Over a year later I had still never quite managed to live it down, the whole school somehow burying my friendship with Carol in a night. We hadn't spoken again after the fight, which had somehow escalated so far that she had tried to rip out a chunk of my hair. I had stopped hanging out with her altogether the next day.

At one point she had called me late at night saying she missed me, but I knew that if I brought it up in person she would pretend it had never happened. But over the course of our high school lives we still went to the same parties and now, in senior year, the whole thing felt just like dé jà vu.

“You still like him, don’t you?” She was yelling over the music, drunk out of her mind.

Steve was dancing with Nancy Wheeler this time, dressed as Joel and Lana from Risky Business. The perfect couple to all appearances. The perfect couple, perfectly happy.

“You’re such a bitch, Y/n,” she slurred when I ignored her, repeating herself for about the fifth time that night. “Has anyone seen Tommy?”

“God! Carol, he’s an ass!” One of her new friends, Nicole, was groaning beside me. I guessed they had broken up again but I didn’t really care.

“Yeah, but I miss him,” she pouted, steadying herself on the sink and sliding herself across the tiled floor of Tina’s kitchen.

"I miss Steve,” I thought aloud, taking another sip of that weird drink and wincing. I really was that drunk, huh?

“Steve’s an ass!” The friend stated confidently.

I thought back to the Byers house last year, the demogorgon ripping through the wall and Steve hurling himself at it with no hesitation.

“He’s not so bad.” I shrugged.

Carol laughed. “He’s totally an ass!”

I liked to think I had changed a lot in a year, but Carol hadn’t. It was almost comforting. At least some things hadn’t changed. Despite Hawkins lab and inter-dimensional beings trying to eat everyone's face off, Carol was still the same-old Carol.

“Don’t you have a boyfriend anyway? Weren’t you dating some college guy, uhh... Pete something?” Nicole asked, leaning closer. She certainly seemed to know a lot more about me than I knew about her.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I answered with a grimace. In truth Pete was barely even a friend, sure I had slept with him but that had mostly just been because I had been drunk and he had been there, even if he was total dogshit in the sack. He sort of reminded me of Jonathan Byers when I first met him, he had a similar demeanour, granted a bit more put together, but mostly just watched a lot of Japanese horror movies. He didn’t keep to himself as much as Byers did though.

I had been surprised when Jonathan showed up at the Halloween party, when he told me Nance had invited him I was even more surprised. I hadn’t spoken to either of them at all since last year, I had seen him at the record store on Main Street a couple times, or in the halls at school and smiled, but that was it. The year before had left us all pretty broken, all starting when Jonathan’s brother had gone missing. A couple weeks later I cut my hand, heard a noise and thought nothing of it only to be woken up by something coming through the wall above my bed. I hit it with my bedside lamp at first, screaming at the top of my lungs, but it had done nothing, not even a scratch, so I ran out, still screaming like hell. The neighbours hadn’t heard me, they were in florida.

There was a quilted blanket my nana had given us lying out in the living room that night and when I hit the bottom of the stairs I had somehow kicked it into the fireplace on accident, the whole room going up in seconds. Whatever that thing had been, it had crawled back to where it came from, cowering away from the flames.

When the police and the firefighters showed up they thought I was insane, told me I must have been hallucinating from all of the smoke. Nobody believed me, not one, not until I spoke to Jonathan.

A year later here we all were, all four of us who had been there, signed the NDA's and everything, bound to secrecy. All in the same room but never further apart. Jonathan met my eyes across the room, he had been watching Steve and Nancy with just as much jealousy and disdain as I had, cradling a red solo-cup and a growing ball of hatred in my gut.

I hated to admit any of it, hated myself for still liking Steve, hated him for becoming less of an asshole, but most of all I hated that this time it was different.

This time he was in love.

#Steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #Steve harrington imagine #Steve harrington x oc #stranger things imagine #stranger things series #stranger things #dailystrangerthings #steve #Steve x reader #Steve harrington oneshot #Steve harrington headcanon #Steve harrington au #stranger things headcanon #Steve harrington hc

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hunnywrites · 5 years

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Sixteen Candles: Part Two

Summary: It’s the day that Vivian has been looking forward to nearly her entire life: her sixteenth birthday. But between her sister’s wedding overshadowing her big day, and praying that her crush Billy Hargrove will finally notice her things aren’t going too well for her. If she can just survive the under the sea dance at her school and avoid the really weird and creepy Tommy H her night might be salvageable. Maybe.

Pairing: Billy Hargrove/OFC

A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out! Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner!

“Not a single happy birthday, Robin. From anyone. They almost acted like I was fucking invisible on top of it,” Vivian huffed as she and Robin made their ways through the halls of Hawkins High. Tommy hadn’t even said anything to her and she had at least been expecting some sort of creepy comment from him.

“Maybe this is some sort of a trick. Or like a joke,” Robin offered. “Like, maybe they’re pretending that they forgot, but when you get home they’ll have some sort of surprise party?”

Vivian rolled her eyes. “I doubt that. They’re not thoughtful enough to think of something like that. God, I shouldn’t even be surprised. Everything’s been about Sarah lately anyways,” she grumbled, stopping in front of her locker and angrily unlocking it. It had always sort of been that way. Sarah was the golden child. Perfect at everything she did. Carol got attention because she was always getting into trouble. Vivian was the quiet kid with a B average in school. It was sort of easy for her to seem invisible to other people. “Besides, I have bigger problems at the moment.”

Robin gave her a disbelieving look. “Bigger problems than your family forgetting your birthday? Do tell.”

“I ran into Billy in my kitchen last night.” Vivian said simply.

Robin stared blankly at her for a moment before cracking a smile and raising an eyebrow. “...Is that all?”

“He said he liked my shirt. And he told me happy birthday.” now that she said it out loud it didn’t sound all that impressive.

“Wow, you’re practically married.” Robin teased.

Vivian slammed her locker shut and held up a finger. “That’s not all, miss sassy pants. I almost asked him out to the dance.”

Robin seemed speechless for a few seconds. She blinked wildly a few times, titling her head at her best friend. Vivian said all the time that she was gonna get the courage to ask Billy out one day. Neither Robin or Vivian actually believed her whenever she’d say it though. “You almost asked?”

The pair took off down the hallway once again. “Well, I brought the dance up, but before I could he said that Cheryl was gonna make him go with her.” she said with a dramatic eye roll.

“Sounds romantic.” Robin laughed.

“I totally don’t get it. Why even date her?” Vivian groaned. That was a stupid question. Cheryl was gorgeous. Even if she was a pain in the ass. And it wasn’t really like Billy was a guy of substance as Robin just loved to remind Vivian.

“Oh, I can think of one reason…”

Vivian glared over at Robin. “It’s my birthday. No reminding me that they’re boning.”

“Just trying to add perspective,” Robin grinned. “Try and keep you as sane as I can when it comes to the whole Billy subject,” it was a fair statement to make, much as Vivian didn’t want to admit it. “I suppose this means we’re gonna spend the night at the dance stalking him around the gym until he notices you?”

“...I wouldn’t put it that way.” Vivian muttered.

“No? How would you?”

“...Shut up. Like we have anything better to do.” Vivian and Robin never did much at dances. They normally liked to avoid them, but every once and awhile Vivian’s mom forced her to tag along with Carol in an attempt to make Vivian more “normal”. So usually they’d park out on the bleachers with some punch and make fun of other people until Carol and Tommy decided they were ready to leave.

Robin laughed and shook her head. “Viv, I’m just teasing. If you wanna spend your birthday stalking Billy Hargrove then I can’t really say no,” Vivan shot Robin an unimpressed look. “Oh look, speak of the devil…” Robin nodded her head down the hall.

Vivian turned to look as Billy made his way around the corner. His arm was draped casually around Cheryl’s shoulder and she was talking animatedly about something, but it was obvious he wasn’t listening to much of what she was saying. His eyes landed on Vivian and Robin, and a slow smile graced his lips before he nodded his head in their direction before he and Cheryl passed by them.

Vivian looked over at Robin. “Tell me I didn’t just imagine that.”

Robin’s eyebrows were raised as she watched Billy and Cheryl disappear down the hall. “You didn’t imagine that.”

“...Maybe there’s hope for this birthday afterall.” Vivian said with a somewhat dreamy sigh.

Robin let out a soft laugh and shook her head. “Let’s just get to biology before we’re late, birthday girl.”

---

Lunch was hands down Billy’s favorite subject in school. Sure, it wasn’t technically a class, but that was sort of the point. The bell at the end of his algebra class would ring and Billy would be the first one out of the room. He’d get a coke from the vending machine by the cafeteria and go out to his car and smoke.

Some days, like today, Tommy, Carol and Cheryl and a few of their other friends would join him. Tommy and Carol would usually switch between bitching about their classes and playing tonsil hockey while Cheryl would lounge out on the hood of Billy’s Camaro. Even though he had told her more times than he could count never to sit on his baby. What a pain in the ass.

“Billy,” Cheryl pouted over at him. “I forgot my purse in my gym locker. Can I borrow fifty cents for a coke?” Billy resisted the urge to roll his eyes before fishing two quarters from his pocket and handing them over to her. She pressed a kiss to his cheek, leaving a pink lip print behind, before hopping off of the Camaro and sauntering back towards the school. He watched her until she disappeared inside before turning his gaze to Carol. Tommy was talking to some other guy from the basketball team, so for once she was alone.

“Hey, Carol,” he said, lighting a cigarette. “What’s the deal with your sister?”

Carol looked at him like he was speaking a different language. “What the hell do you mean what’s the deal?” she asked.

Billy rolled his eyes and blew out a puff of smoke. “I mean like her situation. Is she seeing anyone?”

Carol let out a loud snort, covering her mouth the quiet her loud burst of laughter. “Seeing anyone? Fuck no. She’s a total dork. She’s like a total loser virgin. I don’t think she’s even kissed a guy,” Billy might not have put it so bluntly, but he couldn’t say he was all that surprised. He was pretty sure that other than Carol, the only person he’d ever seen Vivian around with was that girl Robin. “What do you care anyways?” she asked.

Billy only shrugged. “Just curious.” He’d always had a mild interest in Vivian. He reminded her of the girls back home in California. Easy going. Pretty. Plus he particularly liked how she looked in her leather jacket. He found her more attractive than Carol, but then with a shitty attitude like hers he couldn’t really see how anyone could find Carol attractive. Except Tommy, of course. He was so dumb Billy was sometimes genuinely surprised he could string a whole sentence together. And it wasn’t exactly a secret that Vivian had a thing for him. He noticed the way her cheeks would turn all pink whenever he was around. It was cute.

“You thinkin’ of gettin’ with that, Hargrove?” Tommy grinned, throwing his arm around Carol.

Carol let out another snort. “Good luck.” she nearly spat.

“Yeeeah dude,” Tommy laughed. “Don’t let Cheryl find out! Man, she’d totally kill you.”

Billy rolled his eyes again. He didn’t give a shit if Cheryl found out. They weren’t dating. He could do whatever he wanted. If there was anything he even wanted to do. “How about you mind your own business for once, Tommy?” he asked, flicking the butt of his cigarette away. “I gotta get to class.” he muttered before walking off. Of course it was a lie. But any excuse to get away from Tommy and Carol was good enough for him.

It irritated him sometimes. These two weren’t really his friend. They’d dumped Steve Harrington and latched onto Billy as soon as he had moved to Hawkins because he was the new cool kid. He couldn’t talk to them about anything real. He couldn’t ask Tommy for advice about girls or anything else. Any time he complained about the fact that he genuinely couldn’t stand Cheryl, Tommy would make some perverted joke and Billy would regret opening his mouth. So sometimes it was just best to walk away.

“...Did he just say he has to get to class?” Tommy asked as Billy disappeared towards the school.

---

Vivian came home to a surprise, but it definitely wasn’t the one she had been hoping for. Her mother, Sarah and Kevin were all home, but they all barely acknowledged her presence as she walked into the kitchen. There had been this tiny part of her that wondered if Robin had been onto something. Maybe they were just pretending to forget her birthday and she’d come home to a cake and decorations. But that definitely wasn’t the case. So instead of sitting around being blatantly ignored on her birthday, she decided to go throw her own pity party up in her bedroom. But her bedroom wasn’t empty.

“There’s our little Vivian!” her grandpa greeted loudly, throwing his arms open wide as Vivian walked into her room. She looked around with wide eyes. Their luggage was everywhere. And there was so much of it. She was almost worried that it meant that they would be staying longer than just the weekend. Her grandpa wrapped her in a tight hug as her grandma smiled on at the pair, but still no happy birthday.

“Uh, hi grandpa...what are you guys doing up here?” she asked warily.

“Your mother said we could stay up here for the weekend,” her grandma explained. She had an almost pained expression on her face as she looked around Vivian’s room. “You know, Vivian, this room of yours isn’t very ladylike,” she scolded. “These posters are all very...violent looking. Why couldn’t you decorate a bit more like Carol or Sarah?” she asked.

It took nearly all of Vivian’s energy to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Instead she only shrugged. It never did any good to argue with her grandma. She’d only rat Vivian out to her mother and she definitely didn’t want a lecture today of all days. “It’s just how I like it, grandma.” was all she said. Even though she wanted to add a comment about how they could find somewhere else to stay if her room wasn’t good enough. Her grandma pursed her lips.

“Awwww, leave her alone honey. This is what all the kids are into these days, right, Viv?” her grandpa asked, grinning widely at her and nudging her side with his elbow.

Vivian looked between the two of them for a moment, almost to give them the chance to realize that they too hadn’t wished her a happy birthday. “...Yeah. It’s what all the kids are into,” she said dryly. This had to be a goddamn joke.

“You know, Vivian,” her grandma said. “If you took all these horrible things down and maybe dressed a little more like Sarah I’m sure you could get yourself a boyfriend. Don’t you think, George? You’re really quite pretty underneath all this...grunge,” she poked the tip of Vivian’s nose. “And you’ve got quite a nice little figure!” Vivian’s eyes widened. Was this actually happening?

She took a big step back from her grandma and let out a nervous laugh. “Right. So...I’ll let you two get settled in then...go find out where I’m supposed to be sleeping…” she didn’t give them the opportunity to say anything else. Vivian whirled around and stomped back downstairs and into the kitchen. She felt like she was in the twilight zone or something.

“Grandma and grandpa are staying in my room?” she asked.

Her mother turned towards her, giving herself a small slap to the forehead. “Oh, yes! I knew there was something I was forgetting to tell you! I’m sorry, hun. I offered it to them awhile ago and I never mentioned it,” she let out a small laugh and shook her head. “My mind is everywhere these days.”

Vivian blinked a few times. “Oh sure, sure...is there anything else you’re maybe forgetting to tell me?” Vivian asked expectantly.

“Hmm? Oh…” her mother shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’ll fix the couch up for you tonight, okay?”

Vivian let out a small huff. This had to be the curse of being the youngest child or something. “How come Carol gets to keep her room? Where am I supposed to get ready for the dance?” all of this on top of the fact that she didn’t even want to go to the dance was the icing on the cake. Metaphorical cake, because she sure as hell wouldn’t be getting a real birthday cake at the rate her day was going.

“God, do you ever stop complaining?” Sarah asked. “Just get ready in my room or something. I’ll be gone by then. You’re giving me a headache.”

Vivian glared over at her sister. “I’m giving you a headache?” she asked. “Can you even hear yourself whenever you’re crying over your flowers not being the right color or whatever it is you’re always bitching about to mom?”

“Enough you two!” their mother sighed. “Vivian, language. Sarah, leave your sister alone. Can we all just relax? Everything will be handled. Now ,Vivian, go...do your homework or something.” she waved her away. Vivian shot another glare at Sarah before heading out into the living room and flopping face first onto the couch dramatically and letting out a loud sigh.

“What are you so upset about?” Carol asked, crossing her arms as she looked down at her sister with an amused expression.

Vivian lifted her head and shot an incredulous look at her. “Let’s think for a second, Carol. Can you maybe come up with a reason I might be upset?”

Carol only shrugged. “...I guess I’d be pretty bummed out too if I was such a dork.” she said with a smug grin.

“Yeah, well, better to be a dork than a raging bitch.” Vivian spat.

“Vivian! Language!” her mother called from the kitchen. Vivian let out a groan.

Carol snickered before heading to the stairs. “Dork.” she said, laughing again before bounding up the stairs.

That was it. Vivian didn’t care that it was her birthday anymore. She didn’t care that Billy had smiled at her in the hall that morning. She wanted this day and this weekend to be over. She wanted Sarah and Kevin to fly back home and only come to visit at Christmas. She wanted her room back. But first she would have to get through the school dance.

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove fic #billy hargrove x oc

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