#implied ellumax

[ellewritesandrants]

I didn't know it would go in this direction but here's a fem!Billy fic that started as an exploration of how it would have been like for her to be born a girl instead of a boy and ends with her being shared by the queerplatonic besties, Steve and Robin.

Imagine little Wilhemina “Willa” Hargrove trying and failing to style her hair like her mom used to do before eventually giving up and just throwing it up into a ponytail or a bun. Imagine little Willa Hargrove getting rid of all of her dresses because her mom used to do up the zipper and her dad would never bother so she stuck to shirts and pants instead.

Imagine little Willa Hargrove being taken to the mall to by clothes by her father, who refused to get anything remotely girly because he hated anything that reminded him of his ex-wife, even calling Willa Billie instead. Imagine Billie being raised essentially as a boy by a largely absentee but still abusive father but with the pressure to learn how to keep up a household because that’s what girls were good for.

Imagine tiny Billie being sent to her grandmother’s house during the weekends to learn how to be a woman while her dad drunk the weekend away but with her dad forbidding her grandmother from teaching her to be girly. She just needed to know the practical shit because she didn’t need to be like her mother who loved makeup, dressing up and perfumes and all of that shit.

Imagine tiny Billie Hargrove burning herself making pancakes but with an adorable smile on her face the first time she tastes them and they’re exactly like how her mom used to make them. Imagine tiny Billie Hargrove being taught how to do the laundry and ironing at such a young age because God knows her dad would never be bothered to, and her grandmother couldn’t always come over to help.

Imagine little Billie being told she wouldn’t amount to anything because she was a girl and proving everyone wrong. She played baseball better than the boys did, swam faster than the boys did and she got better grades than the boys did, all while doing all of the household chores and studying on her own. She was determined to prove them all wrong so anything boys could do, she could do better.

Imagine Billie falling in love with surfing after a few boys from school dared she couldn’t, not realizing that she’d learned how to skateboard just to spite them all and show them up at the rink. Imagine Billie breaking every stereotype about girls so well that all of the boys were intimidated by her so they collectively decided that she must like girls if she doesn’t act like other girls even if that wasn’t necessarily true.

Imagine tiny Billie so used to keeping the house up and running that when she meets Susan and Max, she’s immediately happy to share the house chores with someone else. She’s never even entertained the thought of having a sibling because her father always pretended she didn’t exist or hated her existence because he hated that Billie looked so much like her mom even dressed as she was so when she found out about Max, she had conflicting feelings. She didn’t need to worry though because little Maxine Mayfield worshipped the ground that her older sister walked on.

Not only did she skateboard to school and cook her own meals, Billie was also on the varsity teams of different sports all while getting top marks. Max was Billie’s little shadow and Billie grew to love having someone she could teach all of the stuff she learned, especially about girls being able to do anything boys could. Her dad didn’t believe it but Billie did and that was all that mattered.

Susan had been on the fence about Billie from what she’d heard from Neil but she was lovely, a bright, young girl who had beautiful features that she chose to hide. When she’d brought how proper girls acted to Neil and possibly showing Billie a little bit about it, they’d had their first real argument, showing Neil’s true colors and she realized that the way Billie acted and dressed wasn’t solely her choice. She’d been a lot more understanding of why Billie covered up completely in overalls and sweaters when her own bruises started to be visible and her makeup would run out pretty fast.

Neil praised Max for emulating Billie and for not being like the other girls. Max was the only one safe in their household out of an unspoken pact between Billie and Susan. In their household, Neil despised anything too girly or feminine, much preferring his daughters to be tough and strong like he was. He didn’t care about making them fit what society wanted because his ex-wife had been the one who cared about things like that and he refused to bow down to her whims ever since she left. He’d do anything he felt necessary to toughen them up but Max was too young to take to the shooting range so it was just Billie alone who was forced to tag along.  

When Billie had been old enough to drive, Neil initially didn’t want to teach her until Susan made him realize that if he got her a car, he could get her to do the grocery shopping and all of the other errands. Susan didn’t want to learn how to drive but Billie did so after making her promise to drive her mom and her sister wherever and whenever they wanted, Neil conceded to teaching her and letting Susan buy her a car.

However, Neil was also big on keeping Billie and Max away from boys because he didn’t want them to be corrupted. When Neil saw Billie hugging her male best friend on the beach in her swimsuit, he lost it and decided that he’d rather move them back to his old hometown where it was lot more conservative and money lasted a lot longer.

He’d also heard that his ex-wife was in town, looking for her daughter because her new husband had wanted to meet her child and there was no way in hell he was going to allow that to happen because he didn’t waste the past eight years raising Billie only to have her mom take her away.

He uprooted his entire family and brought them to his childhood home to avoid being found by his ex-wife. When they get to Hawkins, he quickly enrolled the two kids into their new schools and he found jobs for him and Susan pretty quickly too since he knew most of the people still there.

Billie had been more than content to keep her head down this time around to avoid fighting but from the second she arrived, whispers and rumors were already being spread. It didn’t matter that she was in honors classes, she must be a delinquent with the way she drove her car. It didn’t matter that they had no idea who she was, she must be a dyke based on the way she dressed. Billie was sick of all of this but thankfully, Nancy, the girl who showed her around to her classes was nice enough to tell off the people spreading rumors and be her first friend there.

Billie’s invited to sit with Nancy and her friends at lunch so she does, finding herself annoyed when Steve Harrington implied that girls couldn’t play basketball or baseball as well as boys did. Jonathan had managed to diffuse the situation but she’d still promised herself that she’d show him who ruled the court once she got the opportunity. Thankfully, her dad was friends with the coach and he’d bragged all about his daughter at Neil’s welcome back to Hawkin’s party so she’d been invited to join their basketball practice later.

It starts up a friendly little rivalry in basketball with Steve while Nancy became her study buddy since they had the same classes and they’d ended up partnering every chance they could get. Jonathan was nice especially when they saw each other at the Quarry with her dealing with the new bruises and him not saying a word but getting his first aid kit out. Somehow, Nancy had managed to convince Neil to let her sleepover for Halloween as long as she was there when Max trick-or-treated with Nancy’s younger brother, Mike. As soon as the Max was home safe, Billie was dragged off by Nancy to a Halloween party where she watched a drunk Nancy essentially break up with Steve.

She may or may not have gotten a crush on Steve at that point which is why she’d tried to comfort him only to be rebuffed in favor of chasing after Nancy who’d been taken home by Jonathan at that point. Steve’s too much of a gentleman to leave Billie at the party alone when he’d driven them over so he brings her to Nancy’s house and checks up on a sleeping Nancy before he left. Billie understood that he really did love Nancy and that she didn’t have a chance.

She just supported Nancy in her dilemma in choosing between Jonathan and Steve, jealous of her friend for having such problems but never to the point of acting on it. While Billie had made a good girl friend, Max was still struggling to find a friend since the boys were weirdos who may or may not be crazy. When Lucas offered to show her something that would prove they weren’t crazy, Max wasn’t stupid enough to go by herself when she had her older sister who was way stronger to defend her in case things went wrong.

Surprisingly, things do go wrong but with Billie there being the badass that she is, when Steve and Dustin arrive, they’re greeted by the sight of Billie swinging her crowbar, looking like an avenging warrior from one of the comic books. Dustin suddenly realizes where Max got her being badass from. Billie definitely helps them with everything and somehow, they make it out alive.

When Joyce realizes that Billie was hurt, she goes into protective mom mode and she realizes that Billie also had bruises that weren’t from the demodogs. She gets Hopper to escort them home and see if her suspicions are true. They were and Hopper happily takes care of Neil and sends him off.

Max finds out about what her sister and her mother have been keeping from her and they have a heart to heart about everything that Neil put them through. Billie even drives them to the nearest mall a few towns over and Billie buys her first makeup and skincare products along with new underwear and clothes. With Neil gone, she’s finally allowed to explore her femininity.

When Max starts being interested in what Billie is doing, Billie willingly drives her and her new friend, El to the mall for their own shopping trip, helping them find clothes that are cute and still practical. Nancy even helps her and they talk a little bit about crushes and relationships because Billie used to be banned from them. Nancy wants to help Billie navigate being a girl so they do masks, makeup, nail polish and all sorts of shit just so that she can try it. When Nancy finds out that Billie’s never even been kissed, she’s sworn to secrecy by Billie.

During the Snow Ball, Nancy convinces Billie to join in her and Jonathan in chaperoning the kids so Billie, Max, and El all get ready together for the Snow Ball. For the first time ever, Steve sees Billie in a new light as she twirls on the dance floor with Dustin after seeing him left out.

With a bit of alcohol and prodding, Nancy gets Billie to confess about her crush on Steve after he graduated. Nancy works her magic and gets her to apply to work at Scoops Ice Cream Parlor with Steve and a girl named Robin. Initially, she’s jealous of the easy camaraderie between Robin and Steve but when Billie catches Robin looking at her differently than she does Steve, she catches on. Billie herself is bisexual so she doesn’t exactly mind either of their attention, but she doesn’t know how to flirt properly in her eyes. She’s a natural flirt.

Steve finds himself conflicted as to who he likes better but Robin takes the option away from him when she confesses she’s a lesbian while they’re trying to figure the whole Russians in the mall thing Dustin uncovered. Instead of Tammy, they talk about Billie who has no idea how pretty she actually is.

Naturally, they’re treated to Billie seducing the Russian to steal a gun and shooting the other guards point blank in their knees before kicking their guns away. Steve learns that Billie’s an ace shot that way and he realizes he has a thing for women who can shoot guns.

The Scoops crew find out about the Mindflayer who had taken a plotting Neil Hargrove who was going back to take what was his as his host. Neil takes control when he realizes that the monster is going to kill his daughters and take them away from him. He loses the battle but manages to tell his daughter that he loved her.

Hopper isn’t taken by the Russians since Billie had already dealt with the worst of them and Joyce doesn’t move because she had to focus on her and Hopper’s family and their recovery from everything.

Billie finds her freedom after weird. Sure, her dad is gone and he’s not hurting her anymore but her dad is gone. She’s effectively been left by both parents and while Susan still loves her and she has Max and Susan, it’s still not the same.

Both Robin and Steve notice what’s happened and they both try to help her as much as they can. They agreed to have a friendly competition to see who wins Billie’s heart and to try not to sabotage their friendship while going after the same girl. Billie also managed to get a job at the same record store with Steve because she gained a bit of popularity after changing the way she dressed, enough that the cheerleaders were trying to befriend her.

She befriends Chrissy and fights Jason on his views on women, even going so far as to threaten him to take a swing at her and see where he ends up. Billie gets Chrissy to confide in her about her ED and Billie confides about her dad’s abuse to Chrissy. With Nancy busy with her job at the Post, Billie and Chrissy become new best friends so when Chrissy starts getting weird headaches and hallucinations, she has Billie to turn to. Billie had been introducing Chrissy to her type of music then and Chrissy realized that listening to music helped keep her headaches at bay.

Chrissy isn’t the first victim anymore so Eddie isn’t branded as a murderer but Jason does still lead a crusade against him since Eddie was putting the moves on Chrissy after they broke up. Eddie actually saves Chrissy that night since Billie was there, telling him to play whatever Queen song he had memorized if he wanted to save her since that was the last album they had been sharing.

Fred was the first death followed by Patrick who ends up being killed in front of the entire basketball team, causing mass panic. Chrissy is targeted again after but Billie saves her only to have her own encounter back to back and they realize that Billie and Chrissy are meant to be the final victims when she complains to Chrissy about the hallucinations she got too.

With Chrissy and Billie helping out the group and no one needing to be saved on a different continent, everything goes somewhat smoother and Eddie doesn’t die even if he is injured. With Billie and Chrissy there to help with research and the fighting, everything goes a whole lot smoother.

Robin and Steve spend a lot of the time squabbling over Billie’s attention while she just lives her best badass self in dealing with the monsters of the Upside Down while Eddie fanboys over Chrissy using her cheerleader skills in fighting the monsters.

Nancy is just happy to have more support and to have her best friend there to help her but she doesn’t dare go after Steve since she and Jonathan weren’t split apart by thousands of miles and Billie had already told her that she liked Steve. Steve was also too busy trying to figure out how he could win Billie away from Robin to flirt with Nancy. Also, since Joyce and Hopper were there, they were able to help the group be better prepared and have a greater fighting chance at everything.

The survival skills her father practically tortured in Billie made her the group’s best bet in surviving the Upside Down and they take her advice to heart when they went to deal with Vecna. When Billy had the opportunity to take her anger out on Vecna who’d appeared as her father, she didn’t hesitate to stab and mutilate him in her mind, allowing El to get the last hit.

Billie had actually taught Max how to shoot a gun after Neil died as part of their recovery, so she had no hesitations in shooting Jason Carver in the knee when he tried to go after Billie for poisoning his girlfriend’s mind.

They manage to deal with Vecna since he wasn’t able to open the other two gates with Eddie protecting Chrissy and Max and Lucas protecting Billie and they manage to bring his corpse to the real world before closing the Upside Down for good with El’s powers.

It becomes a big government hush project and they all sign a shit ton of contracts and NDAs and get huge payouts especially for the Mayfield-Hargrove and Byer-Hopper families but they’re free to be real teenagers again after. It was surreal for Billie, Steve and Robin to return to their job at the video store after literally saving the world but that was their life.

Billie, Nancy, Jonathan, Robin, Chrissy and Eddie graduate that spring with all of the kids, parents and Steve there to cheer them on. By then, the queerplatonic friendship of Steve and Robin had progressed to sharing a girlfriend together even if Robin could never be attracted to Steve and they had a wonderful schedule as to when they could have her to themselves or when they had group dates.

Billie went along with it because she grew to like them both and if her younger sister could have two partners, so could she. Susan didn’t bat an eye after finding out the truth about the Upside Down, all too happy to just have her daughters be alive to criticize them about their relationships.