#hopper at billy and steve's wedding: i never agreed to this | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

solarwriting · 5 years

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Remember Me *b.h*

Pairing: Romantic!Billy Hargrove x Fem!Reader

Word Count: +1.8k

Warnings: Death and major spoilers for stranger things 3

Requests: I combined two because they kind of fit.

“Hii can you do a Billy Hargrove imagine where the reader (hoppers niece) is trying to protect El from billy so she tries to talk to him like telling him memories they had together to wake bill up basically?” from @versaceismehoe

and

“write an imagine where y/n watches billy die in season 3 and they are both dating. instead of max crying into Eleven, have her cry into the reader and maybe they just hold each other and cry..??”

A/N: I wrote half of this on my phone and I’ve been writing this off and on since 7 pm and it is now almost 5 am

also the gif doesn’t really fit with the story but he looks good in it so i’m using it

MAJOR STRANGER THINGS SEASON THREE SPOILERS

He had El and she looked so helpless. He laid her limp body on the floor of Starcourt. “Leave her alone!” Y/N screamed at Billy, moving quickly to stand between him and El, “El get back!”

Everyone had started throwing firecrackers at the Mind Flayer, it weakened Him and Billy and Y/N knew this was her chance.

“Billy, I know you’re in there. Please wake up, I need you to wake up. I need you.“ She begged.

"Remember when you asked me out? And our first date?”

School had just ended and Starcourt Mall was brand new, Y/N got a job at Burger King. Billy had been going in to the restaurant everyday for a few weeks. He’d flirt with Y/N, testing the waters before asking her out on a proper date.

“Hey, when do you get off?” He asked her out of the blue one day.

“Oh, in about an hour. Why?” She asked, confused.

“I’ll be right out front ready to pick you up for our date, okay?"

She blinked, "Okay. See you in an hour.” She agreed as he grinned and walked out of the fast food joint, a smirk plastered on his face.

After an hour passed, Y/N’s shift ended and she collected her purse and exited the eatery. As he promised, Billy was in front near the doors. He leaned against the walls the smirk returning to the spot on his face when he saw her walking towards him.

“What exactly does this date entail?” She asked when she was closer to Billy.

His smirk only grew in size, “Whatever you want."

She quirked her brow and stepped closer, "Whatever I want?”

He nodded.

“Let’s go to the movies then. We can go to Back to the Future, there’s a showing in five minutes.”

Billy furrowed his brow, “But that movie seems so boring.”

It was her turn to smirk again, “Exactly.”

It was safe to say the two didn’t spend a lot of time watching the movie.

“Hey,” Y/N pulled herself away from Billy’s lips and spoke with ragged breaths, “after this,” Billy moved down to her neck pressing his lips to one spot, “we should get ice cream."

Billy detached himself from the girl’s neck and chuckled, "Whatever you want."

She smiled before pressing her lips to his again, "I swear to god if I have a hickey I’m gonna kill you.”

“Is that right?” He whispered, smirking yet again. Y/N grinned and nodded, “That’s right."

He sighed, “Wanna get that ice cream now?” She nodded before getting up grabbing her purse and Billy’s hand leading him to the theater’s exit.

Y/N giggled as she drug him to the Scoops Ahoy ice cream shop, him having to deal with Steve would be pretty funny. Over the last couple months Billy started to change, it wasn’t very drastic but after awhile, if you paid close attention, you could notice the small changes. Like him being more respectful towards Max and her friends. He also got a job of his own, he was growing up in a way.

People who noticed wondered why, all the girls who usually got all of his attention were cast aside. They questioned his sanity. Why was he ignoring every girl and being less of an asshole than before? What happened?

Y/N L/N is what happened. He saw her and knew he wanted her, and he always got what he wanted. He began flirting with her at school that spring but she was proving to be more of a challenge than his usual conquests. She flat out told him she didn’t date assholes and that he was, in fact, an asshole.

He was shocked by her bluntness but he also appreciated it so he began changing his ways. Now if he was aware he was changing or not, no one knows.

Now at the ice cream joint Y/N placed her order with Robin, a nice girl she didn’t really know, and Billy paid.

“This was nice.” Y/N said as she sat on the passenger seat of Billy’s car, “We should do it again sometime.”

She leaned into him and pressed her lips to his sweetly, none of the hunger from their previous kisses evident. Her hands made her way to the back of his neck, pulling him as close as she could with their position in the car. His hand cupped her cheek, his thumb drawing a small circle. She pulled away and smiled. She got out of his car, leaving him breathless.

“Pick me up tomorrow at three, whatever you want this time.” She called as she walked to her front door a sway in her hips. Billy was awestruck and definitely needed a plan for tomorrow.

“Don’t you remember, that. The movies and the ice cream?” She asked her vision blurring and her eyes stinging.

Y/N saw something flash in his eyes but it whatever it was quickly replaced itself with anger. Billy’s face contorted into pure rage and he stepped forward and grabbed her lower shoulders harsly.

“Billy, please! I love you! Do you remember when we said that for the first time?” She whimpered.

They had been hot and heavy for weeks, if they weren’t loitering at the others work they were at the mall or Y/N’s house because her parents were almost never home.

“Baby, can I ask you something?” Y/N finally asked one night as they were curled up on her couch watching TV in the family room, her parents gone on another business trip. Bill was lying half on his side, half on his back with Y/N lying partially on top of him, his hands on her lower shoulder, lightly drawing patterns with the tip of his finger. Their legs were knotted together and Billy had his head resting in the crook of Y/N’s neck where he’s press an occasional kiss that’d make her giggle.

Billy hummed into her skin, “You just did.”

She laughed, “I mean another question, besides that one.”

“Of course you can, babe.” He answered as he kissed her cheek, “What do you want to ask?” He wondered as continued to kiss her cheek, sometimes moving to her neck or shoulder.

“Well I was wondering if you would like to come with me to Washington this winter, my cousin is getting married and I get a plus one.” As soon as she mentioned Washington and wedding he froze.

“A,” He pauses and licks his lips, “wedding. You want me to go to a wedding,” another pause, “in Washington,” he pauses yet again, “with you?”

She slowly nod, unsure of how to gauge his reaction. “Billy?” She untangles herself from BIlly and jump up off the couch. “Do you want to go?” He’s silent.

“Please say something.” She whispers. He stays silent.

The silence lingers for a few more moments before her nerves get the best of her, “Say something! Please!” Tears started to prick her eyes.

“Why won’t you say anything?” She asks, quieter.

“Because this is insane! Why would you ask me to go with you to Washington? To a wedding!” He was standing at this point, pacing the living room in front of the now nervous girl, “Why would you want me to go all the way to Washington? Why do you want me near your family? Why me?”

Maybe it was because of the shouting, maybe it was because of how quickly the conversation escalated into a mini screaming match, maybe it was something in the air, maybe it was because this had been a long time coming, whatever it was the things that came out of Y/N’s mouth were the last thing he was expecting to hear.

“Because I love you, you idiot!” She yelled. Billy stopped pacing, waiting for a moment trying to figure out if he heard her correctly.

“You love me?” he asked quietly. Y/N nodded nervously but before she could say anything, Billy stepped closer to her grabbing her face and pulling her closer to him, slamming his lips into hers. After a moment of shock she reacted quickly, her hands shot up and grabbed whatever they could. Eventually they ended up in his hair, holding it in fistfuls.

Billy pulled away only for a moment to breath, foreheads touching before reattaching his lips to hers. Lips still connected he pushed her into a wall, his hands now on her hips, trailing upwards under her shirt his fingertips leaving a trail of fire as they moved along her skin.

He began pulling away, Y/N following a bit before disconnecting again. Chests heaving, faces flushed and lips swollen, Billy leaned his forehead onto hers. Breathing heavily, he smiled, “I love you too.”

She sobbed, “Don’t you remember? We’re in love. We have a wedding to go to this winter. You were happy. We were happy.” He remembered, he remembered everything. From the first time he saw her, to the first time they got in trouble for making out in the theater. He remembered it all.

Y/N took a cautious step towards Billy reaching out her hand. His eyes began to sting and his vision blurred, he was crying. He slowly stepped forward and nodded, “I remember.” He croaked out, his voice hoarse.

Y/N sniffled as she ran to hug him, throwing her arms around him and holding him as tightly as possible, “I love you, I love you so much.” She sobbed.

“I’m sorry,” He cried, “I’m sorry.”

Y/N shushed him comfortingly, “No, it’s okay. You’re okay now. We’re okay.”

The Mind Flayer stomped closer and closer before letting out a glass shattering screech before shooting a tentacle at El. Before it could even near El, Billy jumped in and grabbed the tentacle pushing it back, “NO!”

“Billy!” Max and Y/N shouted as more and more tentacles came at Billy, lodging themselves into his body. He was hanging limply when the final tentacle came making itself as sharp as possible before plunging into Billy’s chest before all of the tentacles retracted from his body and slithering away.

You moved quickly, ending up at Billy’s side in an instant, “I got you, I got you.”

“Billy?” Max walked up to him and knelt down next to you, Billy let out choked breaths, “Billy. Billy, Billy get up, please. Billy get up, please, please.” She sobbed.

“I’m sorry.” He choked out before letting out a final ragged breath before he just stopped. He stopped moving, breathing, thinking, remembering, loving. He was gone.

“Billy. Billy wake up. Billy, get up. Please, Billy..” Max sobbed as she shook his shoulders in vain. Y/n and El gently pulled her away from him, “It’s okay.” Y/N sobbed as she held the young teen, rubbing her back as she sobbed into her shoulder.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

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okaybutlikeimagine · 5 years

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Imagine Joyce comforting Billy? Like Billy misses his mom so much, and he opens up to Joyce and she just kind of holds him and let’s him cry on her shoulder? And no offense to Steve, but Joyce is the Number One Mom, hands down.

okay 1. I 100% agree. Love Steve dearly, but Joyce is just the Best Mom Ever

2. aLRIGHT my friend @imdeaddear2 and I were talking about how Joyce is basically a Miracle Worker Mother. Not to put her on a pedestal or anything but I love her w/ all of my heart and i just headcanon her as being so Healing for Billy. Like that one scene from Lilo and Stitch where Lilo puts the little lei on Stitch and he just falls over in total calm??? That’s Joyce and Billy. Like Joyce is able to just put a calming hand on Billy’s shoulder and asks what’s up and he just melts into Soft Boy BillyTM who’s like: Well now that you mention it, it all started when I was 7 years old…

aNYWAY legit Joyce calms Billy down like No Other and I really mean that. Like, even hanging around with Steve doesn’t calm Billy down as fully and consistently as Joyce using her Mom Powers on him does. And i like to think he used to be SUPER formal with Joyce. Always calling her Mrs. Byers and being almost a little cold but uber respectful with her bc this boy was trained to do that. Ever since his mom left his life and Susan entered it, the idea of a mother was gone and the image of a woman he’s obligated to be-nice-to-or-else entered. He was forced to be on his very best behavior, to be ‘picture perfect son’ around her, bc if not then he was being “disrespectful”. And that’s absolutely all he can think about when he’s around Joyce at the first. He turns on the Good Respectful Boy schtick without even trying because that’s what he thinks he needs to do to keep himself safe.

And you bet Joyce hates it with her entire being. She can sense it’s a defense mechanism but 1. It hurts her heart to think about that and 2. It makes her incredibly uncomfortable to be called Mrs. Byers all the time. To constantly have doors held open for her. To basically not be allowed to lift a finger bc Billy is always there saying “Oh, I’ve got the dishes”, “Oh, no, I can make dinner”, “Oh, no, I’ll clean that up.”

And she can just see how tense Billy is about it too and that’s probably the worst part for her. It doesn’t matter what he’ll be doing or what she’ll be doing, the second he sees her, he’s on edge. He straightens his back out and bows his head a bit and turns into this weird shell of who he actually is and it’s heartbreaking to her. Like he’s been trained for this and the reality is he has.

And i dunno how often people talk about this but i really truly feel like Joyce would absolutely love Billy. Like she thinks the real Billy is a very good kid who’s funny and well-intentioned and smart. Hop says he’s a brat but Joyce thinks he’s just got a sassy sort of confidence. Billy may never admit it himself, but he’s very kind hearted. It’s evident in the way he treats El and Will and Jonathan. In the way that he acts when he’s with Steve. In the way that he banters with Hop. He’s just such a good kid who gets such a bad rap and it’s not fair to her. She hears the way people in the street whisper about him when he walks by. She sees the way women will touch him completely unsolicited. She just wants to fold him into a hug and help him.

And eventually she’s able to and it’s so lovely!! Bc Billy is happy for Jonathan and Will that they’ve been able to have a mother like this their whole lives but also holy shit, he’s so fucking jealous. And he doesn’t necessarily feel bad about it, he just feels upset. He feels it bubble up inside of him uncomfortably. He watches the way she interacts w/ them and every day it’s a reminder that he fucking lost that. Lost any chance at that. Lost any chance at a mother at all bc it’s so hard at this point for him to believe that he even deserves one and so he’s lashing out and he’s yelling at Hop and he’s being a brat and Hop has had absolutely enough and when Billy leaves, Hopper goes to Joyce like: “I don’t even know what to do half the time. He won’t listen to me and he won’t talk and I don’t think I’m ever going to get through to him.”

And Joyce has been asked so many questions about Billy and has noticed so many things about Billy that the next time she sees him and he starts to act up and talk back a bit more venomously and Hop starts to get a little more hotheaded, she’s asking if it’s alright if they can go outside to talk. Her and Billy. And he’s still a little stiff, still a little cold, but he’s also fuming with irritation and Joyce can tell and they sit down on the little furniture outside and she asks:

“Would you like to talk, hun?”

Billy shakes his head, mouth tight and eyes tight and shoulders tight.

She gives him a gentle smile.

“We don’t have to talk about what’s upsetting you. We can talk about anything you want. We can just… talk.”

And Billy…… is confused as all hell.

Bc Hop always tries to get right down to the source, is always trying to shrink him, so he doesn’t understand this. He doesn’t understand the… small talk.

He gives her a strange look. He can’t help it. He’s trying to evaluate the reason behind this. She looks to him innocently and gives a small smile.

“Alright?” He responds, voice dubious.

“What would you like to talk about?”

“I have no idea.”

Joyce hums for a second before she’s saying-

“Tell me about your favorite peanut butter.”

And Billy huffs out a laugh, looking her in absolute disbelief.

“Wha-? You wanna talk about peanut butter?”

She laughs a little and nods.

“Yeah, Hop says you have a favorite type of peanut butter. I wanna hear about it.”

And Billy is laughing disbelievingly now, overcome with nervous huffs of air but Joyce just looks at him with amusement.

“I’m serious! Tell me about it.”

Billy shakes his head. Tells her about how he’s always loved crunchy peanut butter. She asks why and he furrows his brow in confusion before he explains he just likes the texture. As a kid he always preferred crunchy things over softer things. He’s always hated applesauce. He says that his mother used to tell him that he would reach for her solid food whenever she would try to feed him baby food. He gets really quiet by the end of his sentence, shies away from the subject of his mother, shrinks a bit.

So Joyce asks him about his car. How long he’s had it? How fast does it go? Billy kind of chuckles again at how silly these conversations are, but he’s less nervous about it. He explains his car, how it goes pretty fast. a little too fast for Hop and Will. how his dad gave it to him to hold over his head.

And he doesn’t know why he says it. He doesn’t know why he mentions his parents at all. But there’s something about Joyce’s kind eyes and the way she looks at him not like he’s broken or injured but like he’s safe.

He stutters around his sentences, spitting out more and more about his parents like something’s pulling it out of him. He’s breathing harder.

Joyce puts a hand on his knee and rubs her thumb on it gently.

Motherly.

It’s alien. It feels dramatic to think that but it is. The last time he had someone to call “mom” was so long ago. Was laced with fear and anxiety and near mourning.

And now here’s someone who’s willingly stepping into that role. She’s purposefully inviting Billy into her life and treating him like he’s one of her children. She didn’t adopt Billy, she has no legal attachment, she could be just like Susan and treat him like a dangerous animal that she has to be nervous of… but she doesn’t. She gives him the same kind eyes she gives Will when he’s had a rough day at school and tells him it’s alright.

“Whatever you wanna talk about, you can talk about. I’m here to listen.”

Billy takes a deep breath.

“If it’s serious or silly, I’ll listen no matter what.” She adds.

Billy wrings his hands a bit.

“I just… it fucking blows.”

“What does, honey?”

“Everything. Thinking about everything. Going out and knowing… knowing I might see him.” Billy feels the hot weight of tears in his eyes. “And… and… I don’t know. Other stuff.”

“What other stuff?”

“Stuff like… like…” Billy feels his chest tighten up, like someone’s winding it up with a key. “You’re… so good with Will. And El. And I… Why are you so fucking nice to me?”

“Oh hun. Because I care about you.”

“Yeah sure but why?”

“Why wouldn’t I, honey?”

“Because not even my own fucking mother cared enough to- not even my own mother stuck around. And I just… I don’t get it. I’m an asshole-”

“Stop that.”

“It’s true-”

“No it’s not. You’re a good kid. You’re a good, smart kid and you’re so kind to Will and Jonathan and I can’t thank you enough for that.”

“I bother them constantly.”

“You talk to them and laugh with them and protect them from bullies!”

Billy pauses.

“Those little punks told you that?”

Joyce laughs. “Yeah. I kind of forced it out of them, but yeah.”

Billy shakes his head. “Why would I let them get bullied they’re my brothers now.”

“Exactly.” She gives rubs her thumb on his knee again. “So… I can be your mom then, right?”

Billy starts shaking a bit.

“I… I guess so.” He says, heavy tears weighing his eyes again.

Joyce smiles warmly, tears watering her eyes as well as she hugs him. She feels Billy’s chest heave a little every now and then. She holds him in a hug until they’re gone.

(And i just had to put this before Jim and Joyce get married bc NOW we need to think about Billy being one of the kids to dance w/ Joyce at Jopper’s wedding bc ♥♥♥♥!!!!!!!!! THAT’S A BEAUTIFUL THING!!!)

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su8arandspite · 5 years

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For Old Time’s Sake

Summary: It’s 1995 in Hawkins. When Heather Johnson returns home for the Hawkins High School reunion, she comes face to face with an old lover. Or, alternatively, the one where Steve falls in love with Heather all over again.

Steve Harrington x oc

Warnings: 18+, mature content, smut

Tags: @casaharrington

The town of Hawkins kept its secrets well. From the outside, and to every kid who made a run for it after high school, not much about the town changed. Small town stillness washed over the buildings and suburban homes that Heather Johnson passed on the drive home to her parents’ place. If not for the empty lot where the Dairy Queen had been and the newly painted houses, Hawkins could have been a time machine to 1985.

She parked curbside outside of her childhood home. Through the trees, just past the Harrington home, she could vaguely make out the ruins of what was once Hawkins Lab. Even abandoned, it brought bile to her throat. When Heather left Hawkins, danger eschewed the rosy lens of childhood she knew it under. Time blurred and muddied her memories, but fleeting images of a boy with a baseball bat comforted her; whatever it was, they defeated it together.

Heather yanked the keys from the ignition. She didn’t come back to dig up old nightmares. Steadying her breath, she hauled her suitcase from the hatch of her car into her old home. Whatever she saw ten years ago in that shadowy building couldn’t hurt her now.

She retired to her bedroom that night with a head swimming in unsaid words and forgotten dreams she bottled up and left here in Hawkins. Traveling through the hallways of her parents’ house brewed an unwelcome, lonely sense of dejavú that could swallow Heather whole.

The door closed softly behind her. Heather looked to the window next door, partially out of habit, partially wrapped up in foolish hope, but instead found the curtains drawn. She longed for the secret notes passed through window panes on late nights and the stolen kisses as he stumbled into her bedroom. That was- they were- long gone now.

Now, standing alone in her girlish lilac bedroom, she felt like a stranger in her own life. The knick-knacks, trophies, polaroids, and photo booth strips belonged to someone else entirely. She thumbed over the picture frame sitting proudly on her nightstand, swiping the dust away from the picture-perfect memory of two smitten teens. Her mother must have retrieved it from the floor and replaced it sometime after she left. The crack down the center obscured her face, but she cared more about the way Steve looked at her. Just as she let herself want, her finger caught on the crack and blood sullied the cheap frame. Cursing, she cushioned the wound between her lips to dull the bleeding.

Heather Johnson blossomed into her own person through the past decade; she had a place to call her own, a job she felt passionately for, everything she once doubted she could earn without her Daddy’s help. Something about Hawkins, though, made that woman shrink slowly back into the scared girl who ran away from it.

High school for Heather looked picture perfect. In some ways, it had been, yet a part of her always felt sandwiched into the tiny pond that Hawkins was and desperate to swim upstream into the outside world. For someone with as many friends and as surrounded by people as Heather the Cheerleader had been, she never felt more lonely. Her friends’ parents worked boring desk jobs that required no traveling and most of them had one boyfriend or another to waste their time with. She kissed as many boys as she could just trying to make up for the loneliness she felt in her parents’ absence; it always found its way back. Until Steve.

Steve Harrington lived next door. He talked too much, slept around quite a bit, and had a poor taste in friends. Heather might nod along and listen as Laurie or Becky rambled off reasons why he could not be trusted, but she never cared to listen. She liked to think she knew Steve perfectly well.

The first time Heather met Steve, she might have agreed with what her friends thought of him. They knew each other only through summer block parties and whatever other events their parents dragged them to until 1982. That summer leading up to sophomore year changed a lot for Heather; her body filled out and her Dad started leaving home more. She took up a job lifeguarding at the community pool and returned to school in August sunkissed, slightly curvy, and in need of a little trouble. Steve, who received a shiny new BMW for his sixteenth birthday, looked exactly like the kind of trouble she wanted.

She had him completely, utterly wrapped around her finger by the end of September. Heather and Steve soiled every inch of that car as summer came to autumn. She only meant to distract herself, but her desire for fire and trouble died down into an ache for the boy next door. Heather let herself love him wholly. Steve became her future; he tamed her rebellious spirit into a lovestruck girl who wanted only for him to stay with her forever.

Forever, for Heather and Steve, instead became the beginning of junior year. He stomped on her heart and spit it right back at her. As Heather pulled back to lick her wounds, Steve zeroed in on his next prey. Nancy Wheeler stood for everything Heather could never be. Girls like Nancy didn’t just offer up their virginities to the first boy who called them pretty or invent their own hangover cures out of necessity. Heather hated the thought of Steve with someone like that, because she could never be half as good. Good girls like Nancy shone like blank canvases void of any tarnish and squeaky-clean enough to bring home to Mom; Heather the Whore and her Father-sized baggage could never compete with a girl like that.

Even now, the sight of that swimming pool nauseated her. Mr. Harrington had it drained years ago, but she only saw the very end of Barbara Holland’s life, the thing that took her, and the boy she still loved already falling for Nancy Wheeler, all right outside her bedroom window. Heather yanked her curtains shut. The demogorgon might be unreachable now, but nothing so far healed her battered little heart.

---

“Joey, you little shit! Let go of your sister’s hair”

Heather clung to the kitchen island, watching as the red-headed toddlers tornadoed across the living room. Carol stormed out of the bedroom sporting only one shoe and looking more grown up than Heather ever imagined she would be. Tommy and Carol’s wedding unsurprisingly predated the prompt birth of their first child by mere months. Between the two nightmares currently messing up their house and the heavily pregnant bump in her purple gown, Carol looked about one temper tantrum away from a spectacular breakdown of her own.

However exhausted parenthood and married life looked to someone like Heather, that new sheen in Carol’s eyes and the bizarrely adult change in Tommy’s demeanor suggested otherwise. The life of a Hawkins housewife, with all its cliquey glory and PTA snobs, suited Carol’s catty nature and, to everyone’s surprise, fatherhood had calmed Tommy’s recklessness. Heather took one look at their messy, chaotic, love-filled life, and her confidence crumbled. Her life in New York outpaced anything Hawkins could offer her, but she couldn’t pretend that she had once not wanted anymore more than this life with Steve.

“For fuck’s sake Tommy, would you hurry up?”

Carol herded her husband towards the door, cursing under her breath at his inability to correctly tie a necktie. If not for the wedding rings and Carol’s baby bump, Heather might have mistaken the scene for a recreation of their senior prom night.

Heather piled into the backseat of Carol’s mini-van. Tommy stuck his head out of the driver’s seat as they sped off to Hawkins High, screaming:

“Class of ‘85, motherfuckers!”

Carol yanked him back into the car by the collar. She added a swift smack to the head for good measure. Heather smiled to herself; at least some things never did change.

As the burgundy minivan pulled into the spot once reserved for Heather’s Jeep, she saw her life from the outside. Without the safety of her green and white cheerleading outfit, Hawkins High School looked a whole lot less impressive than back in the day.

Tommy and Carol dispersed into the crowd not long after their arrival, while Heather gravitated towards the open bar. She greeted passersby who recognized her and watched the crowd swell. She stirred her drink absently and watched the night unfold around her.

Old cheer squad members earned careers in fashion or television or teaching. Her third grade best friend married her ninth grade lab partner. Old Hawkins friends gathered like nothing ever changed, but Heather felt acutely aware that everything had.

Meanwhile, Steve tore himself away from a conversation with a few classmates he only vaguely remembered. He stopped a few feet away from her, as if unsure whether or not to proceed.

Time dealt Steve Harrington the short hand. He stayed in Hawkins, he told himself, not out of fear but just to keep an eye on things for a while. Jim Hopper promised to call if any more monsters popped up. No need, he said. I think I’ll stick around a while longer. First, Nancy and Jonathan Byers, even Billy Hargrove, graduated and took the fast track out of town. By the time Dustin and Lucas and Mike and the rest of the rugrats set off to college, Steve was fresh out of excuses.

Hopper took a quick visit down to the record store where Steve took up a job to pay his bills. He leaned down over the counter Steve worked behind and lowered his voice:

“What the hell are you still doing here, kid? We both know you don’t belong in this shithole.”

“Yeah,” he deadpanned. “You’re probably right”

Hopper, more a father to Steve than his own ever was, refused to let him give up like this. Where Steve saw in himself the self-righteous asshole who vandalized the town movie theater, Hopper saw the young man who readily put his own life on the line to save those kids.

“Look, I don’t really care what you do,” he lied. “Just quit feeling sorry for yourself and do something with your life.”

The next morning, Hopper arrived at the station to find Steve Harrington sitting with his tail between his legs in the chair facing his desk. By that time the next year, he was the latest member of the Hawkins PD. And a damn good one at that, he might add.

For the first time in his life, Steve had everything he could want. Everything, that is, except someone to share it with.

His heart skittered as he worked up the courage to get Heather alone. He’d heard that she came alone and wanted little more than to catch her attention. Things ended so badly between them- his fault, really- that he hardly imagined she wanted to see him again. So, with the same sense of humility as that fateful morning in Chief Hopper’s office, he tapped her shoulder:

“Save me a dance? For old time’s sake.”

Gooseflesh rippled her bare arms; she would recognize that voice anywhere. Heather set her cocktail glass on the bar, turning her head towards him. He looked the spitting image of the nervous boy who first asked to take her out to the movies. Hands scrunched in his suit pockets, and sporting the very same crooked smile she remembered, Steve Harrington stood before her.

Heather’s powder blue dress blended well with her skin tone in the dim gym lighting and her dark hair popped against the fabric. His heart swelled at the sight of her standing in the very same gym they shared their first kiss in. Steve wondered how he ever let a girl like that slip through his fingers.

“Okay,” she said. “For old time’s sake”

He led her by the hand to the makeshift dance floor, feeling for the first time in ages the sweaty anticipation of a lovestruck school boy. Her rosy cheeks swelled with a smile in tandem with her shaky hands as they locked between the ducktail of hair at the nape of his neck. His hands resting easily on her hips, they danced.

“Y’know,” he chuckled. “I really didn’t expect to see you again. I’m glad I did”

The way he looked at her, even after all these years, sent Heather to the verge of tears; no one had looked at her like since she was a teenager. Since she and Steve were in love.

“Yeah,” her voice came out soft and small. “Me, too.”

They’d come full circle. Although life led them in different directions, and took Heather and Steve to the wrong people in their journey to find the love they first had in each other, it seemed their story looped back to that dingy old gym. Steve knew the second he saw her that tonight would be a whole lot more than reminiscing with a lost lover. Even if Heather didn’t know that, yet, Steve didn’t mind waiting.

Steve would wait forever for her if it only meant that he could see that smile one last time. The way her brown eyes sparkled in the dim lighting, the way her hips filled out the fabric of her gown, the way her delicate touch ghosted over him as they danced; Heather was filled with reminders of the way he once loved her. The way Steve still loved her.

Heather cupped his cheek, stroking it with her thumb and watching after him with a melancholy smile.

“I am so proud of you,” she whispered.

Heather clung to her once-lover long past the end of slow songs, the two swaying to synthetic pop tunes. It seemed that each of them darted around fears that, should they let go of each other, they might never get the chance to do so again. Whether she admitted it to herself or not, Heather let herself believe that, maybe, she was always meant to find her way back to him. She felt not like an adult but once again like a teenage girl nervously dancing with the prom date of her dreams.

He nuzzled his nose forward against her cheek. His hot breath fanned out against her skin and pulled her in even more. The sweet, mesmerizing scent of Steve’s rosewood cologne, the ghost of spearmint chewing gum, and a hint of musk hypnotized Heather. As he finally kissed her, Heather folded into his touch. The kiss was a decade in the making, the kind featured on movie screens and cheesy discount novels. Every word they were too afraid to speak into existence and all their repressed emotions poured into the kiss.

Reluctantly, he broke off the kiss. Only as the final song of the night faded into its closing note did Heather pull herself away from his warmth. Steve stole a quick kiss to her cheek. They walked slowly towards the edge of the dance floor.

“Here,” he said. Steve draped his sports coat over Heather’s shoulders.

Hair bouncing along with his lopsided grin, Steve couldn’t take his eyes off of Heather and that captivating laugh of hers. Even as she led him away from the dance floor, Steve found himself absorbed in her. Her neatly styled hair fell rebelliously out of place, the heat on her cheeks and perspiration from nerves and the dancing all adding just the right amount of lived-in smudge to her make-up. Heather looked radiant. The words fell out of his loose lips like thoughts so strong that his mouth couldn’t contain them:

“You’re beautiful.”

She slumped into a seat, letting out a breathy laugh. He slid into the empty chair beside her. Although his mind seemed acutely aware that they were running on borrowed time, Steve swore that the night would last forever. Time was edging on despite his best efforts to run backwards against the current; he would never be fifteen again, and their relationship would never be from a clean slate again.

She thanked him quietly. Another stolen kiss followed. The night grew thin around them, their classmates retiring to whatever lives they put on pause for the night's trip down memory lane, but neither could be bothered to tear themselves away. Heather was quiet for some time afterwards, trying to make sense of her emotions. Steve turned to her, forehead pulled in thought:

“We made quite the mess, didn’t we?”

Heather paused, tearing herself away from the fears of yesterday. Her eyes flickered to him. She smiled sadly. All Steve has to do was stay. When it was Heather’s turn to choose Steve, she decided to run instead. It seemed neither of them had the courage to face the very real feelings between them that even time and betrayal couldn’t seem to erase.

“Yeah,” she said eventually. “We sure did.”

He chuckled dryly, rubbing his palms together in thought. The universe seemed to laugh at them, to revel in the tragedy of their bad timing; love itself just wasn’t enough to make them work. His eyes begged Heather to ease his nerves. Steve needed Heather to give him some sign that this was more than just in his head.

“Why is this so hard for us?”

The worry in his tired face looked all too familiar to Heather. A sinking feeling returned to her stomach.

It wasn’t until the summer after graduation that Heather let herself start to forgive Steve for breaking her heart. With the drama and confines of high school now behind them, Heather and Steve vowed to make that summer theirs. A last hurrah of bad decisions with minimal consequences. What they intended to be a string of crashed house parties and getting drunk by the quarry instead was a summer filled with late-night conversations on the hood of Steve’s car. With Heather often teetering between sunburnt and sun-kissed after a shift at the community pool and Steve sticky and burnt out from serving ice cream at Starcourt Mall, they lacked much time or energy to live out the summer they outlined.

Neither of them really minded the extra time to themselves. In fact, Steve soon found himself excited for his shift to end and comforted by the knowledge that Heather was waiting for him in the parking lot, food in hand. By late June, Heather had his order memorized and Billy Hargrove had stopped trying to get her to hang around with him past closing time. That was how they found themselves devouring take out from Dairy Queen, still in their work uniforms, and sitting closer than necessary on the BMW.

She wiped the grease from her fingers with a napkin, laughing. Heather caught a glimpse of Steve in her peripheral vision- dripping with happiness, a shine to his eyes, his Scoops Ahoy sailor hat sagging lowly on his head.

Having Heather back in his life, even if only for brief, stolen moments on the hood of his BMW and late summer nights thick with their past, the future; it patched up the broken parts of his battered heart. She felt like home. It might only be for the summer, but Steve fully intended to hold onto every second with Heather that he could.

“Hey, Steve?”

He looked so eager, so happy to see her. Steve wouldn’t even know what hit him. That summer, he slowly tore down the walls their break-up built against her and she knew from the start that she couldn’t take him with her. The thing about running away from her problems, it seemed, was that Heather had to abandon every good thing in her life right along with the bad. Unfortunately, that included Steve.

She knew she should have told him from the beginning, that she never should have let herself get that close to him again so soon before leaving town. Heather should have told him, and yet she couldn't bring herself to break it to him. Not that Heather hadn’t tried to; she had, many times. It just hurt too much.

His laughter tapered off into an inquisitive hum.

“Do you ever think about leaving Hawkins?”

Maybe it had treated him less than kindly the past year or so, but it was still the only home Steve had ever known. The thought of skipping town never crossed his mind. He decided a long time ago that he would stand his ground and fight until his dying breath if he had to- Steve was braver, more stubborn than Heather that way. Another reason she would tell herself they didn’t work out; Steve Harrington was a fighter but Heather Johnson was a survivor. And sometimes that meant putting herself first.

“No, I can’t say that I have. Why?”

She shrugged, uncharacteristically shy:

“I don’t know,” she balled the napkin up into a makeshift stress ball. “I-I just think maybe I need to get out of this town, Steve. Parts of me can’t seem to shake what I saw, what I did-“

She let Barbara Holland die. Heather watched from her bedroom and did nothing as the thing ate her whole. And when she saw the damn thing again, she hadn’t been strong enough to kill it. She couldn’t save its future victims.

“Hey,” Steve pulled her under his arm. “Don’t say that, okay? You did what you could… We all did. It’s not your fault.”

Tilting her chin upwards with his fingertips, Steve pressed a meaningful kiss to her lips. She leaned into him. His embrace quieted her thoughts enough to mute her worries away. It wasn’t the first kiss they shared that summer, but something hid behind it that made Heather unable to shake him- so much so that she lost her nerve to break the news to him. She left Hawkins the next morning, while Steve dreamt of seeing her again.

The guilt ate at her from the inside out until the town she once loved only suffocated her with living nightmares and her own inadequacies. Deep down, Heather knew that running away from her problems would not solve anything. Still, she craved a change of scenery, an escape from the reminders of what Hawkins truly was under its all-American suburban facade. Hawkins was, quite simply, home to the gates of Hell and Heather didn’t want to stick around and wait for them to crack their way open again.

They had, eventually, done just that; only, Heather wasn’t by Steve’s side that July Fourth when he needed her the most.

Steve stood abruptly, offering her his hand:

“You want to get a drink?”

Nodding, she smiled. The last thing she wanted was to leave Steve’s side. Heather took his hand and followed him through the parking lot. They walked in a comfortable silence. She squeezed his hand in hers.

“Steve?”

The pair paused beside his car. Heather glanced up at him with the guilt of a child caught breaking their parents’ valuables while playing inside the house.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you I was leaving,” she paused. “I should have.”

Steve’s eyes softened. He brushed loose hair from her face, smiling sadly.

“I know you are,” he said. “It’s okay, Heather. That was a long time ago.”

Forgiven or not, Heather still juggled her feelings of guilt and lingering feelings for Steve between stolen glances on the drive home. He may have absolved her, but Heather still needed

to forgive herself first.

“Come on,” Steve opened the passenger door. “How ‘bout that drink?”

---

The pair of them stumbled into Steve’s old bedroom between stolen kisses and wandering hands. Retracing steps from a lifetime ago, they fumbled blindly in the dim lighting, too utterly consumed in each other to care much for the world outside those walls. There was only the electric rush of pure, raw sexual chemistry and unresolved feelings.

Steve pulled back momentarily, lips dripping in unspoken words. Heather shook her head, stroking his cheek sensually with her thumb:

“Not now, Steve,” she shushed him, her waiting kiss soaking up his silent fears.

He pulled her hips flush against his torso, working blindly on her dress zipper. Steve’s rough palms explored every inch of her flesh that he could reach. He pinched purple hickies into the crook of her neck, chasing after her as her head flopped in pleasure. Heather hadn’t let anyone mark her skin that way in years. Steve made her feel young again, like his touch was the Fountain of Youth and she was Ponce de Leon, drinking him in deeply.

Her dress pooled on the floor around her feet as Steve pushed the thin straps from her shoulders. She looked even more mesmerizing than he remembered. Heather grew into her curves; time transformed her from a bewitching teenage beauty to the woman of Steve’s dreams. And he wanted to feel, to taste, every inch of her.

Spreading her legs apart ever so slightly, Steve dropped to his knees before her. He thumbed at her through the meager fabric of her lace panties. Another hickey on her smooth upper thigh. He groaned at the smell of her arousal. His expert mouth latched hungrily onto her core through the fabric.

Heather wriggled in pure, hot pleasure against his magical lips. Her fingers dug into his scalp, pulling on his hair just the way she knew drove him crazy. Steve pushed aside her panties, buried his nose, his lips into her most sensitive nerves. She tasted like heaven to him, the mere sight of her writhing above him an ethereal vision. Her taste dizzied him and Steve coddled her closer to his lips.

Steve loved the chase almost as much as the kill itself. He knew what he was doing, and knew he was damn good at it, too. If Steve had been a wolf in the bedroom as a teenager, then the only thing to stop him now was a silver bullet. And Heather was his full moon.

Her first orgasm hit hard and unexpectedly early, received by Steve’s eager tongue. He pulled her in by the neck for another kiss. The salty taste of her own arousal clinging to his breath intrigued Heather; touching Steve turned all her other experiences into blurry non-memories. Touching Steve felt like coming home after a long day.

The sight of Steve in all his naked glory sent Heather into a tizzy. She licked teasingly along his length, easing her way into giving him the head of his life. As she worked, Heather focused in on the bliss reflected in his face.

“Jesus,” he whined. “I forgot how good you were at that.”

Eager to be inside her, Steve reluctantly pulled her back up to her feet. He backed her up against the bed. Heather melted back against his pillows, a siren waiting for him to fall right into her trap. He kneeled over her figure. Steve kissed her sweetly. One hand thumbed at her clit. In one fluid motion, he pushed inside her.

Steve loved the way she clung to her. Her touch only egged him on. Steve rutted into her deeply. He made love to her with a veracity and dedication that put every other man she’d been with to shame. It was only Steve.

With one final grunt sandwiched by her name, Steve came deep inside of her.

She fell back against his sheets, spent in a fucked-out bliss. Heather felt her life in the city slipping further from her mind the more Steve Harrington and his magnificent cock drew her to a future here.

“Do you remember what you said to me the night Nancy and I broke up?”

Heather hummed in her sleepy daze, nodding:

“Sure, I do.”

“Did you mean it?”

She rolled over on the pillow to face him, fully awake now. Heather blinked through the darkness. Grasping in the dark, she clamped their hands together. From behind his messy hair, Steve looked like a shivering puppy left out in the rain. A soft smile graced her lips. She thought of the last time she saw that look.

“She never loved me.”

Nancy might have been the good girl toying around with Hawkins’ playboy, but instead she tore Steve to shreds and ran for the hills. Now, he wanted someone to sympathize with him. Heather, though, had no room in her life to be anyone’s second choice.

Heather tossed the hat to her candy striper costume on the duvet, sighing. She pawed at the vomit stain on her skirt with a damp towel. Perhaps the only person in town who had missed Steve and Nancy’s fallout, Heather left Tina’s party early to lull a dangerously intoxicated Brittany Matthews home before she ruined anyone else’s costume.

“What? Why are you even here, Steve?”

“I don’t know,” he shrunk down. “This is the first place I thought of.”

Oblivious to his pity party, Heather fussed about. She tried to clean the night’s memory of her drunken, sophomore team mate nearly passed out on Tina’s front porch right off her dress right along with the stain.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Steve?”

“Nancy,” he suddenly fell sheepish. “She never loved me.”

Heather watched after him, incredulous. Her hands gripped at the soiled towel as she bit her tongue. Steve, craving some sort of reaction from her, pressed on:

“I should have known,” he sulked. “I mean…God, when did I become such a fuck-up? This is bullshit. Of course it was. I should have known no one could love me-”

“Oh, fuck you! I did! I loved you so much, Steve. You had to have known that.

“What? Heather-”

“You broke my fucking heart, Steve. I’m not about to pretend that I didn’t see this coming and I’m sure as hell not your shoulder to cry on”

She tossed the soiled washcloth right at his chest. If Steve hadn’t been crying before, he sure was now. Still no movement.

“But-“

“I think you should leave.”

When he made no moves to do so, some part of her snapped right along with the last string of her heart that still reached out for Steve. She plucked the picture frame from her nightstand, their picture, and chucked it towards him, only narrowly missing his head. It landed on the floor under her dresser, as cracked and broken as their relationship, where it stayed until well after Heather graduated and left home.

“Get the fuck out, Steve.”

He faltered a moment, her words hitting him full-force with the one thing he must have known and feared but chose to ignore for the past year. Thick layers of tears caked his cheeks. Steve moved slowly and fluidly back towards the window he snuck in through, hoping all the while that he might uncover some magic words to undo the damage he slung onto her poor heart. He found only silence, and by the time his feet hit the ground, Steve knew he’d really done it this time.

He wanted only to be the carefree fifteen-year-old who got to kiss her in secret moments shared in the backseat of his BMW and late at night in her bedroom, when her parents were asleep. Steve wanted Heather back, but this was too little, too late. She locked the window behind him.

Looking at him now, her heart ached. The stubborn parts of her hadn’t forgiven him for breaking her heart all those years ago. Yet, she mostly just wanted him.

“Yes.”

Steve pressed his lips lightly to her knuckles.

“For what it’s worth, I loved you too.”

Steve leaned over the extra pillows to face her.

When Steve awoke the next morning, he found himself surprised to see her messy hair splayed out across the pillow beside him, and utterly bewitched by the sight of Heather curling into the sheets as she slept soundly in his bed. He thought, though not for the first time in his life, that he might like to wake each day to the sight.

Later, as he walked her to her car, the idea still bounced around his mind. He grabbed at her hips, using every last drop of cheekiness to woo her away from that car. Steve let Heather go once before and he spent the next ten years regretting it.

“Stay.”

“You know I can’t.”

“What’s keeping you?

She exhaled with a soft laugh. Her home, her friends, her career, all waited for her back in the city. The only thing Hawkins, Indiana had that New York City didn’t was Steve Harrington.

“I’m sorry,” she kissed his lips sweetly. “Goodbye, Steve.”

He stood at the curb, hands balled into his shorts pockets, and watched her drive off until the Honda turned out of sight. Steve smiled after her, sporting the same smile he’d flashed the first time he told her his name, only this time a bitterness hid behind it.

Like Lot’s wife fleeing Sodom, Heather knew better than to turn around, knew his puppy dog eyes would trap her here forever, melt her down into a pillar of salt. And, like Lot’s wife, she did anyways.

She knew she’d see him again, if only in her dreams.

-----

Heather nervously twirled the phone cord around her finger. She stared at the slip of paper and dialed his phone number, her mind stuck over the words. The last time she felt this afraid, Heather lodged an axe into the neck of an interdimensional monster. This time, though, she knew that wouldn’t solve her problems.

“Steve? I need to see you.”

The trek to Indiana did little to calm her nerves. She drove silently, the radio turned down to silence. No matter how many times Heather practiced the speech in her head, it didn’t get any easier.

She stood at his doorstep. Fiddling with her hands, she contemplating blowing him off. Heather felt out of place at his apartment. To her, Steve would always be the boy next door. No matter what happened tonight. She thought of him always as he was then- handsome, full of life, brimming with dreams. Full of love for her.

When he opened the door to let her in, Steve couldn’t dull his smile. He looked almost the same as the boy in her memories. The love hadn’t quite left his eyes yet. It was with the comfort of this thought that she stepped inside.

Steve’s apartment was neat, small, homely. She could see him settling down before the TV with a beer or fussing over his hair in the mirror by the door. The thought made her smile.

He sat down with her on the couch, hands clasping with hers. His bright eyes watched her closely, waiting and ready to accept her back into his life.

“Is everything okay? You sounded upset on the phone.”

“I just- I wanted to talk.”

“Talk?”

He blinked. Steve knew this song and dance and he was tired of trying to keep her here. Tired of letting her toy with his heart.

“I haven’t seen or heard from you in months and you came all this way just to talk?”

Steve told himself he would hear her out, but his emotions got the best of him. He raised his voice in frustration. The abrupt shift in tone caught her off guard. She hadn’t meant to upset him. Heather deflated in her seat, the speech she’d had prepared now stuck in her throat.

“Forget it,” she rose. “I don’t even know why I came here.”

He followed her out onto the sidewalk. Heather walked out of his life too many times for him to let her go again.

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t know! Home, I guess.”

“Don’t you dare walk away from me again!”

The brunette stopped in her tracks, whirled around to face him. Angry, frustrated tears welled in her eyes. He stood just close enough for her to touch. Close enough for her to feel his heart breaking.

“And why not? We both already know how this ends.”

“I love you so much that it hurts. Why can’t you just admit that you want this, too?”

“That’s not why I came back, Steve.”

“Well, then, what? Is this some kind of a game to you-“

“I’m pregnant.”

His expression blanked. Steve didn’t know the first thing about fatherhood. His own gave him next to nothing to start from; the last thing he wanted was to find himself repeating his father’s shitty parenting style. He liked to think that he had finally shed the damage his absentee parents did to him, and that he had found a way to fill the gap their cold demeanor created where affection should have been in his childhood, but that didn’t stop his fears of repeating the vicious cycle.

Heather looked just as afraid.

“Do you really think we’re ready to be parents?”

“No,” he held her hand tighter in his. “But I know that I’m not my father and we can learn from our parents’ mistakes. You’re my future, Heather”

“Do you mean that?”

“Of course, I do.”

They sat together on his front porch steps. Silence engulfed them for a moment as her earth shattering news settled in. Fear crept back up on Heather the longer he stayed quiet. Did Steve want to raise this child with her? Did he want her? Her questions and insecurities were overwhelming.

She broke into tears. “I’m scared, Steve.”

“Me, too.”

He held her close to his chest as she cried. A few tears slipped from his own eyes. Steve combed his fingers through her hair and whispered comforts into her ear. Suddenly, he saw a future for himself. A modest, comfortable cottage with a nice yard for the kids to play in, maybe a dog too, and Heather standing beside him with all the love in the world in her eyes. It was comforting, warm. He wanted that future, with her.

“Stay here, with me. I love you, Heather, and I want to raise this baby with you, if you’ll have me.”

Sniffling, she turned her chin upwards to face him.

“Okay,” she said. “Yes, I will. I love you, too, Steve.”

As he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, Steve knew that everything would turn out okay. He loved Heather Johnson and that was enough for him.

#steve harrington #stranger things #hawkins #school reunion #angst #smut #steve harrington smut #lost love #fanfic #steve harrington x oc #female oc #new #send feedback

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we-are-only-halfway-home93 · 5 years

Text

Beautiful Trauma 1- We Burned So Bright- [Billy Hargrove x OC]

Summary: The worst way to miss someone is for them to be right beside you and you know you can’t have them.

Characters: Billy Hargrove x OC, Steve Harrington x Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers x Nancy Wheeler, Max Mayfield, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, Mike Wheeler, Eleven, Joyce Byers, Jim Hopper

Warnings: Child abuse, underage sex, underage drinking, implied cheating, step-sibling incest, secret relationship, violence, language

Word Count: 2162

Author’s Note: I’ve had this idea rolling around in my head for a while and after the ending of season 3 I felt like I had to get it written. I wanted Billy to have someone who understood him and I felt like the best way to represent that was to have a character who knew him before Hawkins. I gave Max and older sister, Valerie, who loves Billy in spite of who he is and what he does.

“I believe I am in hell therefore I am.”

~Arthur Rimbaud

Valerie jerked suddenly when the Camaro came to an abrupt halt. She lifted her head and glanced at Billy but he didn’t look at her. He got out of the car and slammed the door so hard that the glass in the frame rattled. She sighed and looked out the window up at the house in front of her.

It was October and her mother had just moved her and her sister to Bumfuck Egypt in the middle of Nowheresville America following her wedding to Valerie’s new step-dad, Neil Hargrove. Neil had an infuriating son, Billy, who had gone to school with Valerie in California. They had been close before the wedding. To say the marriage changed things was a bit of an understatement.

The marriage had been a bit of a surprise. One minute Billy and Valerie are enjoying their time together, their respective parents ignorant of their after-school activities when Susan asked her and Max to dress nice because they were having dinner guests.

Valerie was surprised when her boyfriend and his dad showed up with a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine. Billy’s face betrayed very little but Valerie had gotten good at reading him in their time together. He was just as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

Susan had ushered them in and they sat down for a lovely, if somewhat tense, dinner. During dessert, Susan had stopped eating and reached over to hold Neil’s hand. Valerie felt her heart rate pick up at that and could hear her blood pumping in her ears. She felt the hairs on her arms stand on end. She tried to keep the apprehension off her face but she didn’t think she did a good job.

Susan announced that she and Neil had been seeing each other for several months and were ready to announce their relationship to their children. Max was the only one who expressed herself verbally. She told her mother she was happy for her when her face expressed pretty much the opposite.

The rest of the night had been tense and Neil and Billy left soon after. Several hours later, Billy was knocking on her bedroom door, ranting about his father and his sudden desire to date again. Billy’s mother had been gone for nearly seven years and in all that time Neil Hargrove hadn’t dated a single woman. Not one woman until now and it was Valerie’s mom. The universe must’ve been playing a dirty trick if this was their lot.

Valerie had shushed him and held his face in her hands. He had a new black eye and hers started to burn. Billy brushed her off was tender hands and settled them on her bed. He held her until she was asleep and he was gone when she woke up that morning.

Six months after they announced their relationship, they announced their engagement. Valerie cried every night after that. Billy would come to see her sometimes but he never stayed long. They spent most of their time together at school but even then it was few and far between. It was like the engagement created a rift in their relationship.

Susan and Neil made quick work of a wedding. Four months after they announced their engagement they were wed in front of their closest friends and family. Less than one hundred people. The reception was held in the basement of Neil’s country club with even fewer people.

Life moved pretty fast after that. Neil and Billy moved into their house and within two months they announced their move nearly halfway across the country. Some podunk town in Indiana.

Valerie had never been angrier at her mom.

They sold their house and backed their things in record time. The new school year had been in session for almost two months and Valerie just knew that she would be treated like some rare oddity, some hidden treasure newly discovered to be gawked at and observed. She was from California, after all, and, if she had to guess, she bet that no one in this tiny town had ever left.

She heaved the last of her boxes into her room. Neil and Susan had at least had the decency to purchase a four-bedroom house so that she and Max wouldn’t be forced to share. That had been a nightmare for the few months they did it in California.

She turned to the door and watched Billy stalk by with his own box, a set of headphones draped over his neck blaring Metallica. He ignored her.

She took a deep breath and swung herself outside her room, heading towards the end of the hall to Max’s. She leaned her shoulder against the door frame and watched her sister toss various comic books and cassettes on the dresser. All her boxes labeled ‘clothes’ were stacked in the far corner and all her personal possessions were currently being rifled through.

Max looked up and met Valerie’s eyes. Neither of them said anything, content in the shared displeasure that arose from their situation.

Valerie shoved off the door frame and ventured back to her room. She glanced in Billy’s room as she did and ripped her eyes away quickly.

Life was already painful enough.

~*~

Valerie hated Billy’s music.

She didn’t mind it when they were dating but now it was next to insufferable. It might have had something to do with the fact that he listened to it at near-deafening levels but she wasn’t one hundred percent sure.

It was Monday morning at hers and Billy’s first official day at Hawkins High School. Max was attending Hawkins Middle School just down the street and brought her skateboard along to ride down the block.

The engine rumbled as Billy pulled into the high school parking lot. It cut off with a stutter when Billy killed the engine. Valerie turned to him but he was already out of the car before she could speak. She huffed and glared at his back.

She turned then to Max and gave her a forced smile. Max rolled her eyes and pushed at the back of her seat. Valerie stayed put and turned in her seat.

“Do you have everything you need?” Max rolled her eyes again and nodded. “I’ll get whatever books I need today. Mom got it all set up with the counselor.” Max’s tone was exasperated.

Valerie nodded and pushed out of the car. She pulled her seat forward and Max leaped out, dropped her skateboard and pushing away down the broken pavement. Valerie watched her go and slammed the car door shut.

She shuffled around the front of the car and eyed the girls oogling Billy’s ass.

Admittedly he had a nice ass but she felt a certain possessiveness. He hadn’t been hers for a while what with their parents' marriage but they hadn’t exactly broken up either. Mutually, they came to an understanding that being together while living under the same roof was not a good idea, especially with Neil’s temperament. They agreed that it was best for them to ignore their feelings for each other.

To call what she felt for Billy ‘feelings’ was a gross understatement. What she and Billy had was beyond basic teenage emotions. They understood each other. They complimented each other. He brought out the best in her and she in him. For life to come and rudely rip it away from them was cruelty in its truest form.

There were lots of tears shed during their agreement. She had cried for days and Billy had started multiple fights at school.

Neither one of them had been happy since before the wedding. Hell, really since before Susan and Neil announced they were dating.

Valerie pulled up alongside Billy and tried not to be hurt by his refusal to acknowledge her. She knew that this was hard on him but it was hard on her, too. He wasn’t making it easier.

They stopped in the office first thing and got their schedules, locker assignments and combinations. As soon as they were done in the office Billy walked in the opposite direction as her even though their lockers were in the same hallway. She watched him go and felt tears rush to her eyes. She turned with sharp precision down the hall and headed towards her locker.

She twisted the dial with shaking hands and stuffed her back inside, pulling out only a notebook and a pen. She jumped when a load shriek echoed four lockers down from her.

A petite brunette had a tall boy pressed against the lockers. His dark hair was styled in neat swirls across his forehead and along the sides. He was clean-shaven with broad shoulders and long legs. He held himself with an ease and a confidence that was foreign to most high school students.

Billy had it and it was largely what attracted her to him. His confidence with his surroundings and the general high school drama. Both acted as if nothing could touch them. Everything just slid right off their backs like oil in water.

She knew that with Billy it was largely an act, a front he put on to protect himself. She wondered if this boy was the same.

The girl glanced over and saw her looking. Valerie blushed and looked away, into the depths of her locker. She closed her eyes when she felt a presence come up beside her.

“Hi! I’m Nancy. You’re new, right?” Valerie turned her flushed face to Nancy and nodded, taking her offered hand. “Yeah, I’m Valerie.” They shook hands and Nancy turned slightly to gesture to the tall boy she was swapping spit with earlier. “This is my boyfriend Steve.” Valerie shook his hand as well and continued to admire him.

He had an angular face and the shadows dipped in all the right placed. He had a long sloping nose that accented the sharp lines of his jaw and cheekbones. His forehead was strong and framed his eyes in a way that made him look older. He had deep-set brown eyes that looked like they’d seen a lot in their short time. Valerie wondered if he and Billy were so different.

Physically so, yes, quite a bit. Billy’s hair was light were Steve’s was dark. Billy had hard eyes and Steve’s were soft. Billy was shorter but broader, compacted with muscle. Steve was taller and leaner.

She could appreciate Steve’s beauty but he wasn’t Billy.

She sighed and shut her locker. “So, maybe you can help me find something to do in this town.” Nancy smiled and glanced up at Steve. “Actually, I might have something that’ll interest you.” She watched Nancy pull a bright orange sheet of paper from her binder.

~*~

The car ride home was tense. Valerie could count on one hand the number of times Billy had spoken to her since the move

Once. One time and it was to tell her to “Get in the fucking car or you can walk home!” She felt a rage so potent simmer beneath her skin that she was sure he could feel it.

Max hadn’t said anything when she got in the car and Billy peeled out of the parking lot, speeding down the road to their house.

Valerie glared at the side of his head until he looked over at her. “What?” She snorted and shook her head. He slammed his hand on the steering wheel. “Goddamnit! What? Why are you staring at me?”

She scoffed. “I’m just trying to figure out why you’re being such an asshole.” He glared over at her and intentionally jerked the car to the side. She gasped and had to grab the Jesus handle to keep herself from hitting her head. Max cussed.

Valerie shoved his arm and he gave a malicious laugh. “Baby, I’ve always been an asshole.”

Her nostrils flared and she reared back.

It was true. He hadn’t been particularly nice in California but it was familiar anger. Something that was seen often at their old school in their old town.

Here, in this place, his rage was unfamiliar. It was new. There were new reasons for it.

She shook her head. “Not like this. We used to be,” He gave her a sharp look when she started that sentence. Valerie glanced briefly to Max in the back seat but she was focusing too much on trying to stay still from his dangerous driving habits to pay attention to their conversation. Valerie amended her statement anyway.

“We were friends. At least then I could tell why you were angry. Now you’re just cruel.”

Billy smirked at her and gave her a mocking kissy-face before speeding up and flying over the hills. Valerie shook her head and turned away from him. If he saw her tears he would laugh.

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove x OC #nancy wheeler x jonathan byers #nancy wheeler x steve harrington #stranger things #eleven #mike wheeler #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #dustin henderson #will byers #step sibling relationship #jim hopper #joyce byers #beautiful trauma

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