#mama hargrove

[princenotsocharming]

1968

[hyphier]

I keep seeing fics about Billy's mom coming back to find him after Starcourt or like Billy going to find his mom and funding out she has a whole new family but what about, and here me out because angst, if Billy goes to find his moth and finds out that she died? What if he finds out that after she left, she wanted to set up a stable home for him before going back to get him but she's unlucky, falls in with the wrong people, and ends up dead all because she just wanted to make some money so she could support the two of them. What if he finds her only remaining kin (maybe her parents or a sibling or aunt or uncle) and they bring him to her grave and it turns out she was buried here this whole time while he prayed for her to come get him- to come save him. And what if when he finds out how she died, he doesn't mourn the loss of her leaving anymore but mourns the loss of a mother who tried everything in her power to save him but was dealt a worse hand than he was?

[ickypuppi3]

billy’s mom waking him up while it’s still dark, whispering even though neil’s working the night shift. it’s a couple days before his tenth birthday and she’s telling him they’re going to have their very own adventure, just like the ones in billy’s books. she grabs an already packed suitcase from under billy’s bed and kisses him on the nose, tells him to get dressed quick. the two of them leave in an old beat up yellow bug that she managed to get for a third of the asking price and keep parked around the corner until now. they stay with friends and jump from place to place so neil can’t track them down. billy gets used to surfing couches and staying in motels.

he spends his tenth birthday in a diner, his mom gets him a big stack of pancakes and a milkshake with extra cherries. gets a candle out her pocket along with her silver lighter. sings happy birthday and pulls a face when the waitress frowns at them, just to make billy laugh. she sips at her coffee while billy tucks in. smiles when he holds some out with a “c’mon mama, share with me.”

billy thinks it’s neat. thinks it’s the best birthday he’s ever had.

they eventually end up with a place in california, a little bungalow near the coast and billy grows up with his mom. billy gets pretty shirts from the thrift store ‘cause his mama lets him do stuff like that. doesn’t call him a queer, doesn’t force a baseball bat into his hands whilst yelling at him for crying, for being a pussy. his mom lets him read and keep a journal and press flowers between the pages of the neverending story, she plays hendrix and dusty springfield and laughs when billy comes home from his friends’ house with his first piercing at thirteen. she doesn’t tear down his posters or yell when she finds him using her eyeliner.

and everything’s perfect. sort of.

they have bad days- billy’s mom has bad days. billy calls them gray days ‘cause that’s how the world looks when she’s like this. all her color gone. no singing-dancing in the kitchen or baking five different kinds of cake because she couldn’t decide which one was best, no last minute trips to the beach or sitting outside at night and telling billy about the stars. instead she’ll stay in bed, won’t go to work. she’ll stare at the wall blankly and look right through billy when he tries to talk to her. she won’t take the pills the doc gave her and billy doesn’t know what to do. never knows what to do. just chews at his lip until it bleeds, bites at his thumb until it’s red raw. he’ll get in the bed with her. lay beside her and just talk like she used to do with him when he had a nightmare. hum a song to her.

billy’s still pissed at the world just slightly less so. still has that anger and anxiousness simmering just below the surface and shows his teeth when cornered. he’s still hardened in a way that a kid shouldn’t be but. it’s different. there’s no neil. the only bloody noses he gets are at school, when he fights with the kids who call him a fag and a fairy, call his mom a basket case. he uses fists when they laugh and ask if she’s all there with a finger pointing at their heads, ask if billy will “catch the crazy.”

those are billy’s bad days. sitting in the principals office, icing his knuckles.

when he’s fifteen, billy manages to bag a job at the local auto repair by turning up every day and telling howie how good he’d be, that he knows cars and it’s all he wants to do and please please please. eyebrows pulled together, eyes puppy dog wide and hands clasped in front of him until howie grumbles, throws an oily rag at billy. says fine but billy’s gotta pay for anything he damages. someone brings in a chevy camaro and billy asks howie to let him help fix it up. does the begging again until howie laughs. says get a hold of yourself, kid, voice fond as he ruffles billy’s hair.

billy’s four months away from turning seventeen when the doorbell goes. he’s eating a sandwich and watching knight rider. he’s wearing the necklace his mom got him for his last birthday and- he answers the door. doesn’t think twice. freezes when he sees neil standing there. he looks different. hair a little shorter and more wrinkles. where billy’s gained weight, gained muscle, neil’s lost it. his eyes are a little sunken and he’s still got his wedding band on. he reeks of booze. billy has to remind himself to speak, just says “yeah?” his voice comes out small and neil smiles at him. smiles and billy feels this weird twist in his stomach ‘cause .. that’s his dad and he hasn’t seen him in years and it twists and twists and-

turns out. not much has changed. billy realises a little too late that neil will always be neil. they run again. have to leave everything behind. billy doesn’t get to say bye to his friends, to howie, to the car. they leave a lot of stuff behind and head in any direction away from neil. they both try to keep the mood light, take turns driving and play the tapes billy grabbed. they end up in indiana- hawkins. they stay at a motel until billy’s mom finds a place for dirt cheap. it has two bedrooms and a dingy bathroom, a living room slash kitchen and one hell of a damp problem. it’s dirt cheap for a reason.

it’s above a shop in town and- it’s fine. their landlord is an asshole but they’re together and they’ve got a roof over their heads. billy’s enrolled at hawkins high and his mom gets a job at the laundromat. he tells her that he doesn’t need to go to school, that he could just work and help pay the bills but his mom won’t have any of it. says that she wishes she had finished school and that billy’s too clever to waste it. that he has potential.

billy knows the reason she dropped out of school was because she had him. he just nods, rests his head on her shoulder.

it’s billy’s first day at school and his mom drives him to make sure he actually goes. he gets out the car and tries to shake the nerves off. straightens up and puts on his act. plasters a fake smile on his face and it’s working, he’s got most of the girls swooning and the boys at least seem curious. billy looks around and his eyes land on a guy leaning up against a bmw. his hair’s coiffed to high heaven and he’s wearing a polo, preppy as fuck but- pretty. it’s one of the first things billy realises about him, all doe eyes and moles dotted just about everywhere. he’s got a smirk on his face. not aimed at billy but the guy beside him.

pretty-boy walks over to him and billy raises an eyebrow, plays it cool. he introduces himself as steve and billy gets the idea that he’s top dog at hawkins high, is immediately proved right when they step into the building. king steve, freckles calls him. billy laughs- catches steve looking at him when he does and feels his face get hot. steve just smiles wider, calls billy california and tells him to sit with them at lunch. billy tries to ignore the way steve’s smile makes him feel like the rug’s been pulled out from under his feet.

he nods and steve grins. tugs at one of billy’s curls.

says “i think you’re gonna like it here, california.”

[harringroveera]

Mama Joyce & Pride month

[weird-an]

Billy wants to pick Max up and she's there again, chatting to him like he's one of her kid's friends. He doesn't know what to do with it, just listens. It's hard, because he's got a black eye and his temples throb.

"Oh, Billy, are you alright?"

Joyce Byers tries to hug him and Billy flinches so hard he knocks his elbow against the door frame. Tears sting in his eyes and he chews on his cheek to not groan from the pain and a hint of a memory, blonde hair and her hugging him after he picked up the shards from the floor.

Joyce's big eyes widen, but she doesn't say anything. Says goodbye with an awkward wave instead. The memory first feels like a little drop of water. It turns into a puddle. He sees a plate and thinks of her.

It's like Joyce invited her back, but she never really comes back. She is a memory, a ghost. Joyce Byers only invited Billy. To dinner, way too many times. Billy always says no. The black eye fades but she doesn’t

"What are you thinking about?" Steve asks him, a week later, when the memories feel like a river, nearly dragging him away. They are on Steve's bed, just hanging out. They aren't friends, they aren't anything. They kiss a lot and Billy might like it and dreams about it, but he shouldn't.

"Your dick," Billy says. Hears her softly scolding tone in his ear when he busted his knees skating again.

"Billy." Steve uses a different tone, has a different voice, but it's the same thing. Softly scolding. Billy doesn't deserve soft. Billy isn't made for softness. But he can't defend himself from it.

"My mom," Billy whispers. He stares at Steve's swimming trophies. "Because Mrs. Byers tried to hug me."

It sounds stupid. Billy doesn't really know Joyce Byers. He drives Max back and forth, only sees her at the door. He knows she isn't like Mrs. Wheeler and her friends. She doesn't touch him. Doesn't stare. She asks how Billy's day was.

"Oh," Steve says. He's silent for a while.

Billy can hear the ocean and her laughter. His eyes burn like the sun is shining too bright, like it did on their days at the beach, but what's left behind is only the salt of the ocean, shaped into tears.

"I miss her," Billy admits. He has never said it. Only felt it, let himself get torn apart by her absence. "She left, but I miss her."

Steve's hand strokes his hair. "What was she like?" he asks carefully.

"Kind," Billy chokes on the word. "Angry."

He remembers shouts and thuds, hiding in his room or watching, not daring to breathe. He remembers hugs and good night stories.

"I think Joyce is kind, too." Steve says after a while.

"Yeah." That's what Billy is afraid of. If he lets more kindness in his life, it will hurt more. Steve's is already too much on most days. But this isn't the thing he's afraid of most. It's that he wants that hug. To come in and sit at her table. He knows she isn't her. He doesn’t want her to be.

"My mom loved the beach," Billy hears himself say. Steve listens. "Neil hates it..."

The flood of memories doesn't stop. Billy feels it flowing out of him. Steve is a good swimmer. A good listener.

He holds Billy's hand. Billy tells him of her, so that he doesn't drown. It's easier that way.

[fizzigigsimmer]

Moonwood Part 3

|&lt;<Part One|

Steve tries to avoid Billy at school, but Billy just seems to be everywhere. Steve will cut through a different hallway or deliberately hang back in one class before heading to his next just to limit his chances of running into Billy, and yet half the time he’ll run into Billy anyway.

Sometimes Billy will be hanging out next to some lockers with other moonwood guys - it’s weird but Steve can recognize them just by how big they all are - and sometimes he sees Billy leaving a classroom door with his arms slung over a blushing girl’s shoulders and his stomach twists. It’s because of the way Billy always looks at Steve - his gaze always seems to find Steve no matter what he is doing or who he is with, and burn - like he wants to eat Steve alive.

The one place Steve can’t avoid Billy is history class, which they share and have the bad luck of being alphabet buddies in the seating arrangement. Steve’s never been a good student to begin with, but it’s even harder to focus with Billy breathing down his neck. Billy is going out of his way to intimidate Steve and it doesn’t take Steve long to see it. If he gets there before Steve Billy will put his feet in Steve’s chair or up on his desk, and act like he can’t see Steve just trying to get to his seat in peace.

An irritated, “Hey, you wanna move?” from Steve the first time it happens earns him a lazy shrug and a, “Nope” popped from between Billy’s pink lips. 

He made a mistake the first day looking toward the door as the teacher shuffled in with her nose in a steaming mug and her glasses crooked on her nose. Even though she’s on the frumpy side and obviously raises cats for fun, Steve can’t believe how unbelievably cocky Billy is when he laughs and goes, “You’re shitting me. You think Mrs. Samuals is gonna save you? That’s sad even for a pipsqueak.”

So now Steve doesn’t even bother with formalities. When he walks into history and sees Billy's dirty combat boots propped up on his desk, or in his seat, he just shoves them off and does his best to ignore Billy taunting him the rest of class.

“I’m doing you a favor Princess. We gotta build up those arms.”

Billy’s mouth is not the most frustrating thing about him. Billy making mean comments about Steve’s answers when he’s unfortunate enough to get called on is one thing. Steve’s no brainiac and if Billy wants to joke that he’s got nothing between his ears, it’s nothing Steve hasn’t heard before. 

Steve could handle it if all Billy wanted to give him was lip. What he can’t handle is the way that after a week of Billy’s stupid nicknames - Princess, Pretty Boy, and Pipsqueak are his favorites - he’s started to forget that he’s not those things. 

Two weeks of Billy shoulder checking him in the hallways, and slapping him on the back hard enough to rattle Steve’s teeth after making some comment that just highlights how much bigger and stronger Billy is in comparison, and Steve actually starts to feel small.

Steve has his share of problems like any teenager but he’s not used to feeling vulnerable or small. Like something hunted in the forest with the fear of death hanging over him. He’s honest with himself. He realizes he’s always been the guy doing the hunting, and that he probably owes a lot of people back in Hawkins some apologies. This feeling SUCKS; but Hawkins is in the past and there’s nothing he can do about it. All he wants to do is survive the next year, and he’s sure as hell not going to spend it looking over his shoulder and running from his own shadow. Fuck that.

Basketball tryouts are on Friday at the end of his third week, right before the big bonfire. That Monday Steve starts to seriously toy with the idea of going for it. Billy wants to be an asshole, then let him be an asshole. Two can play that game.

Despite Billy’s obvious animosity towards Steve, it’s only really Billy who gives Steve shit at school.  

The first week a couple of guys from moonwood tried shoving him into a locker and picking up the whole “pipsqueak” thing, but they weren't expecting Steve to fight back or for Randy and Chet to come to his rescue and even out the fight. To be fair, Steve wasn’t expecting Chet to stick up for him either because he’s Billy’s best friend and co-captain of the basketball team. 

There’s no way Chet hasn’t gotten the memo that Steve is on Billy’s shit list. But Steve figures Chet must be more mature and realizes that this highschool drama bullshit doesn’t really matter now, and definitely won’t matter to most of them in a year. Good for Chet. He wishes some of his chill would rub off on Billy.

After realizing that Steve isn’t afraid to throw a punch and that calling him names isn’t going to stop him from scoring with the girls they wish they could score with, the other moonwood guys get the memo that Steve’s not an easy kill and seem content to sit back and wait for Billy to do it for them. But thankfully Billy doesn’t try anything harder with him than a shoulder bump and a few dark promises when he’s warning him away from some girl like they’re in a cheap gangster movie. For now he seems fine with his verbal warnings but Steve’s not betting on that holding forever.

Girls are the one area of Steve’s life that doesn’t feel like it’s been turned upside down. He’s shiny and new to the Schiller girls who think he’s some kinda badass for moving to Moonwood and spending his summer hiking in the woods. He knew the national forest is populated with several protected wolf packs, but he’s surprised by how many of the girls have stories about some dumbass who wandered off the public trails and got eaten by the local wildlife. It sounds like simple cause and effect to him, but he supposes it’s more fun to blame it on werewolves.

Anyway he’s a pussy magnet with the Schiller girls because he slept in a tent in the woods a few times, and the Moonwood girls love him because he’s new and he isn’t peeing his pants over Billy giving him shit. 

As Sasha puts it, Steve’s got balls, but he’s not a meathead who thinks a fingerbang under the boardwalk is romance. He listens first to them complain about their parents, their boyfriends, and all the bullshit expectations adults like to heap on teenagers, and then he asks for permission to feel them up. Plus he likes making them laugh. 

They call him cute. Steve’s eighteen-years-old and officially a grown ass man, but to Sasha and the volleyball girls he’s “Stevie-doll”. Steve’s not sure when the Moonwood girls decided he was their doll but Steve’s not as dumb as he looks. 

Any situation that ends with him having the baddest women he’s ever known fighting over who gets the prime cuddle spot is a good situation. The trouble of course with the girls deciding that Steve’s their new best friend and revenge fling all rolled into one is the way it pisses off other guys. Especially the moonwood guys. Randy was not kidding about how territorial they are over “their” girls. It’s kinda messed up actually the way they act like this is the 50s or something and the girls can’t think for themselves. Steve sticks up for the girls cause it’s the right thing to do, but he knows it’ll be trouble before too much longer if something doesn’t change.

It’s crazy but he still wants to try out for the basketball team. Maybe there’s just something in Steve that can’t back down from a challenge or maybe it’s the weird way Steve still feels drawn to Billy despite everything. He doesn’t know why it became a fight and what the rules are, he just knows he doesn’t want to back down from this one.

When Steve tells Sasha what he’s planning he’s expecting her to warn him off it, but he’s surprised when she and the other girls smile and share secretive looks.

“I’m sure you’ll do great, and the guys on the team are really solid. They’d be a good pack for you.”

Steve thinks that’s a very strange way for her to put it. It’s not the first time that Steve has heard that word tossed around casually when the subject of making friends comes up. His grandparents and his aunt do it all the time. But Sasha is so much younger than them, and yet she still refers to the rest of the girls on the team as her “pack”. 

Steve thought it was a joke when they called him an honorary member and made him promise not to let any of the guys steal him away. But he can tell they’re serious now about Billy and Chet and the other basketball guys being good for him.

It weirds him out a little if he’s honest. A lot of things about Moonwood are weird that he has sort of ignored because his head was still spinning from the divorce and his life changing faster than he could take a breath sometimes. But things are slower now and Steve’s noticing more things.

Like how much bigger everyone in Moonwood is. They’re not freakishly big like giants or anything. If he’d met any one of his new neighbors back in Hawkins he wouldn’t have thought anything of it at all. But when they’re all together it’s noticeable that they’re different from the rest of the kids at Schiller High. It’s like someone moved the baseline up a notch without telling him.

He’s started to wonder if the additional height and the muscle is genetic because he hears other people in Moonwood speaking in Lythan, even though it took him a while to pay enough attention to recognize it. Steve realizes there must have been more immigrants than just his ancestor when he came to this country and that there’s a story there. He starts to wonder why he’s never heard it. Why his mom has never told him anything about her side of the family at all. 

When they were estranged that was one thing, but they’ve been here for months and Steve still has so many questions. When he gets home from school that Thursday before try-outs he decides to confront her and get some answers.

Steve’s mom is tall, like a model, with legs and arms that go for miles, and enough glossy hair for a shampoo commercial. He’s never thought of her as ‘big’ or ‘unusual”. At least not before he walks in on her and his aunt repainting the downstairs den, and realizes neither one of them have to use a ladder or a step stool to reach the ceiling with their rolling brushes.

Steve’s dad used to get on his mom a lot about her looks all the time. He expected her to always be the same gorgeous girl he met that one summer between highschool and college and she accommodated him. Steve blinks at her, noticing a lot of things for the first time since they moved to Moonwood.  

She’s gotten tan, and she’s stopped waxing and plucking the way she used to - Steve absolutely gets his hairiness from her side of the family. She's also started to fill out some with all of his grandmother’s cooking. She looks bigger.

She looks happier. Happier than he’s seen her in ages. Robust even. He used to be so worried about her being too thin, skipping meals, and crash dieting all the time, that his perspective of her has been skewed for years.

She is not a small woman. Maybe Steve only ever saw her that way because she was with his dad, who needed her to be. The realization makes him sad, but also suddenly furious. He wants to punch his dad so hard in the face he can feel it like an itch. 

The feeling comes on so strong it kinda scares him and he sucks in a breath. That’s when his mom and aunt Julie finally notice he’s watching them from the doorway.

“Oh! Steve. Hi pippin, I didn’t realize you were home.”

Steve’s mom used to call him that when he was really little, until his dad made her stop. She blinks a little at Steve, realizing at the same time that he does what has just slipped out of her mouth.

“Oh. I’m sorry. I know you’re too big for that now.” 

Steve decides his questions can wait. He just wants to keep seeing her happy.

“It’s fine. What’s for dinner?” he asks with a smile and when she beams at him, he knows he made the right decision.

[Part 4]

Friendly Tags for those who expressed interest: @darleenjade @sweetwaterangel @dragonflylady77 @natchula @tip-tap-tired @sparklingsprinkles @adelacreations

[annoyingexboyfriend]

M A M A

B O Y

mama's boy

mama's boy.

mama's boy

mama's boy.

[hg-deranged-edition]

Hello people of Harringrove nation… I come bearing my transmasc art for the third day in a row. Enjoy my thoughts on what tattoos I think they’d get after top-surgery! Also yeag I used the same torso for all of them what about it. And I gave them all different top surgery scars

First off, Billy. I thought of two alternate tats he could get- one because it looks kickass and the other for sentimental purposes.

First off is my extremely rough approximation of where Mr. Hargrove’s scars would land. Scorpions because funny song and sun because longing for California, and finding warmth in your own heart.

The second tattoo that I spent far too much time on- Actually a coverup for Starcourt. I chose Gardenias, dandelions and purple hydrangeas for no particular reason. :^) Also because Billy’s mother embroidered flowers onto his shirts. Or at least I think that’s why he has flowers on his shirts in his childhood flashbacks…

Next, Steve’s tattoos. Yeah I’m not gonna lie I gave him deq. Or tribal Kurdish tattoos. Plan on getting something similar one day. This was purely because it looks cool. And it’s nice to think of

And finally, bonus Eddie. Haha. Heehee. Hoho. I wonder what his tats resemble. And yes I trojan horsed Harringroveson into this

That’s all, folks.

[idkevenknowwhattoput]

Harringrove Mama Mia!

(Omegaverse if you want idk this is a prompt for writers)

Lily Harrington has lived on the island her whole life, with her father/or mother steve Harrington. They run a like tourist hotel together that hasn’t really done well over the years. Lily is 20 now and is getting married to the love of her life, but the thing is she has no one to walk her down the isle. Steve offered too but Lily wants a traditional wedding where her father walks her down the isle but the thing is, Lily doesn’t know who her father is and Steve won’t tell her anything, so she finds Steve’s journal from when he was younger and she found 3 potential men that could be her father, Eddie Munson, a guitarist who dated steve and spent the summer with in 1986. Billy Hargrove, a good looking guy who had Steve for the summer of 85 and Steve wrote a lot about billy. Tommy (or Jonathan whichever) spent the summer with Steve in 84, Tommy wasn’t a long fling, and Tommy is married to some women named Carol now. The dates matched up but lily didn’t know which one was her dad so, why not invite all of them what could go wrong?

(Also chrissy as Rosie and Robin as Tanya)

[pixielle-hrrngrv]

i never consciously realized… if Billy graduated Summer of '85 like implied in canon (tho i stand by the fanon of Billy being in Nancy and Robin's grade, it's just a vibe) and he died on the 4th of July... he likely was less than a MONTH away from going off to college and finally getting to build his own life. to be himself.

if he was gonna go, he would've already committed to his school by then and that was at the forefront of his mind.

lifeguarding was probably his Summer job to get him the gas and travel money he needed to drive cross country and get back home.

[ickypuppi3]

once again thinking about billy growing up with his mom, the two of them running from neil and jumping from place to place to avoid him catching up with them and eventually settling somewhere for a bit and making it to 1983 but then the doorbell goes one day and it’s neil, so. they have to run again and end up in hawkins for some reason and bam! king steve meets mamas boy billy. flowery shirts, swim team ‘n all ..

[harringroveera]

From the moment Jim & Joyce adopt Billy, he’s always gonna use the mom card

[suspiciouslackofclowns]

When Steve is out of the house running errands all day one afternoon and Eddie is home hosting a D&D campaign, things get a little tense when they’re both under the roof again later that evening.

The guys, bless their hearts, keep chatting and joking amongst themselves while Steve leans over the back of the couch. Sets a firm hand on Eddie’s shoulder and squeezes, pressing him into the back of the couch as he bends down right next to his ear.

It would almost be sexy if there wasn’t a chill shooting up Eddie’s spine.

“I’m going to make another trip outside to get the rest of the groceries,” Steve whispers. “And if he isn’t in here sitting on this couch with you by the time I come back, Munson, I can tell you right now that I won’t be happy.”

Eddie nods. He’s certain that his face must be ghost-white, especially when the grip on his shoulder loosens. Steve pads to the front door and lets it close hard behind him. Eddie shoots up out of his seat.

“What was that about?” Jeff muses.

“Yeah,” Gareth adds with a snicker. “Trouble in paradise?”

Eddie wrings his hands together as he steps around the couch. Glances out the window and spies Steve heading down the walkway towards his car parked in the street.

“I didn’t check on Billy.”

That seems to stump the guys. Grant raises an eyebrow.

“Why does that matter?” he asks. “Hargrove’s a big boy, I’m sure he’ll be alright.”

Steve dips into the back seat. Eddie fights the urge to gnaw on his nails, and shakes his head. Grant mirrors the movement with a question on his face.

“He used to get locked in his room,” Eddie breathes. “For days, sometimes without food. And I didn’t go let him know it was okay to come out.”

He knows how insane he probably sounds — Billy is usually out and about when Eddie’s friends come over. Usually in the garage or out in the yard making himself busy.

But what they don’t know is he has to be coaxed out of the bedroom when people are over, typically by Steve.

It’s been abundantly clear for years now that Billy has debilitating anxiety. He can’t make phone calls even if they’re important, and he can never stay out in public for too long before he starts to get worked up. All of this, of course, Dr. Owens has tried to help mitigate.

He’s prescribed different meds, tried to talk Billy into seeing a therapist, but nothing has been the answer so far.

The best Eddie and Steve can do is support him.

And right now, it really seems like Steve’s way of supporting him is going to be tearing Eddie limb from limb with his bare hands.

I asked you to do one thing, Eddie can already hear him saying. Make sure he’s comfortable and that he gets something to eat, because you know how much he struggles with that.

The worst part is that Eddie does know how much Billy struggles with that. And he still didn’t fucking check on him.

“Well, better late than never?” Gareth says. He groans and rolls his eyes when Eddie casts him a look of offense. “Dude, just go check on him!”

Eddie steals another glance outside before he stalks down the short length of the hallway, stopping just outside the bedroom door. He sighs to himself. Gently raps his knuckles against the wood before he twists the handle.

Inside is dark. The light from the kitchen pours in, showing a sliver of the bed, and he sees movement inside.

“Hey, Billzebub,” Eddie coos. Steps fully into the room. “How’re you feeling? You hungry?”

From somewhere in the darkness, there’s a sniffle. Eddie’s heart shatters into a million pieces as he nears the bed and takes a seat on the edge. Finds Billy’s silhouette underneath the covers and sets a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Towards the front of the house, Eddie can hear the front door open and close, and the silence that persists after.

He can’t really make himself fear Steve’s wrath right now, though.

His mind is elsewhere.

“I’m sorry,” he says. Leans over and hugs his partner despite the awkward angle, lying on top of him more than anything else. “This room is for sleeping and being naked in. Not for being alone all day.”

Billy huffs a sad laugh at that, but then a little sob hiccups out of him and cuts the sound off.

“It’s okay,” he manages.

His voice is raw and broken. Makes Eddie want to lie down in the middle of a freeway.

“It’s not. We’ve talked about it and you’ve expressed your needs, y’know? I promised that I’d be there for you and I wasn’t.”

“I’m just being a fuckin’ baby,” Billy whimpers.

Eddie squeezes him.

“You’re not a baby for having emotions. You’re not a baby for expressing them, even when it feels like it. Okay?”

A beat of silence persists before Billy swallows thickly and nods. His breaths are stuttered when he inhales, but they eventually even out when Eddie smooths a heavy palm over his back.

It almost makes the brunet tear up thinking about how this wouldn’t be happening right now if he had just been a decent boyfriend. If he had been there when he was needed. He knows that Billy isn’t mad, and that Steve’s anger will pass, but the guilt weighs heavy on his shoulders nevertheless.

Once Billy seems decently melted into the mattress, Eddie hums.

“You wanna get something to eat? We can order out whatever you want, or I can even cook.”

Billy huffs a laugh and Eddie grins.

“No offense, but I think your cooking would just make me cry again.”

“Oh, so the crybaby has jokes, huh?” Eddie muses. Crawls up until he finds the blond’s head poking out of the blankets. “C’mere, I’ll give you something to cry about.”

He starts pressing kisses all over his face, completely pressing him into the bed all the while, and Billy snorts. He writhes when Eddie reaches his neck and blows a raspberry against his skin, encouraging a laugh to rattle out of his chest.

Eddie only stops when there’s a polite knock on the doorframe. Glances up but keeps Billy sufficiently pinned down while he lets him catch his breath.

Steve is standing there, merely a silhouette. Eddie can tell that he’s smiling.

“Everything okay in here?”

Even though it’s still mostly shadowy, Eddie finds Billy’s face again easily when he looks back down. Admires the giddy little expression on his face and doesn’t stop for a second to mourn the one that it’s replaced.

“Yeah,” he says. “Everything’s perfect.”

[i-used-to-wear-the-fedora]

Mama Claudia AU, In Comes Steve

"So when were you going to tell me that your stepbrother's trying to seduce my mom?" Dustin slammed his hands on the table Max and the rest of his friends were sat at inside Scoops Ahoy. The redhead choked on her milkshake at the accusation. Coughing and hacking as Lucas pat her on the back in an attempt to help her breath again.

"Excuse me? What?" Max asked incredulously, watching Dustin wedge himself in the booth on the other side next to Mike.

"Your brother. I came home to find him at my house with my mom doting on him!"

"Oh." The girl rolled her eyes. "For a minute I thought you actually saw them kissing or something."

"They might as well have! She was feeding him casserole!"

"She's been doing that for a couple of weeks dude." Mike said, semi annoyed as he grabbed some napkins out of the dispenser to wipe off the mess caused by Dustin shoving him.

"Weeks?" Dustin gaped.

"Yeah he keeps bringing leftovers in Tupperware home." Max added.

"Don't know why you're surprised." Lucas shrugged at his friend. "She's been doing it since you went to camp. You know how she gets."

Mrs. Henderson was famously overprotective. Mike's mom always mentioned something about Mr. Henderson being the reason she was like that but none of the kids understood what that meant. She drove Dustin, and subsequently them, everywhere. Joining the PTA, crossguard and almost anything else that involved her son. It was smothering sometimes but Dustin still loved her.

"Face it Dustin." Mike gave up on wiping the ice cream off as he turned to his friend. "You've been replaced."

"Shut your damn mouth." Dustin snapped and Mike defensively threw his hands up. "I have not been replaced. She was just lonely. But now I'm back and he can stop showing up."

"Nah little dude, I don't think it works that way." The group turned to see Steve leaning on the front counter, head on his palm. "Couldn't help but listen in and I kind of agree with Debbie Downer over there. Your mom is really attached to Billy. I saw her going through the JC Penny's clearance rack to buy some clothes for him. Asked her about and she said she wanted him to have something nice to wear for o-er, a date he was going on."

"Are you shitting me?"

"Can't say I am. Now are you going to actually buy anything or are you going to stick around all day and take up space like the rest of the shit birds?"

"Hey, we bought ice cream!" Mike protested as a timer on the counter behind Steve began to ring.

"And that's my break. Robin! Your turn to man the front counter." Steve called out as a girl came out from the back and the kids turned to each other when Dustin asked.

"Since when did Steve start to use the term 'shit bird'?"

~~

"Hey! No running!" Billy blew his whistle from where he was perched atop the lifeguard chair. God he hated Saturdays. Too many people thought the public pool was a free babysitting service, parents dropping their kids off and fucking off to wherever they wanted to go. They didn't even get paid to do it like with swim lessons.

"Hey blondie," a knock on his chair made the teen look down to see Heather leaning against the wooden tower, "your shift's over. Boyfriend's waiting for you outside."

"He's not my boyfriend." Billy said as he climbed down. Despite the oversized sunglasses, the blonde knew she was giving him a disbelieving look.

"Okay well your sugar daddy is parked in his BMW outside and still wearing his little sailor uniform so have fun with that. Meanwhile I'm going to be dealing with little Willy Horowitz who, despite having almost drowned twice this week, has yet again been abandoned by his father who is currently hitting on single moms at the pool side."

"Yeah, sucks to be you." Billy smirked as she flipped him off. Plus side of taking morning shifts was getting off just before shit started hitting the fan. Heading into the locker room, the boy punched in the time clock and he was officially off. Shrugging on his red jacket, Billy made his way out to the parking lot where Steve was indeed sitting in his new, white BMW. Waving to the blonde as he got in the passenger seat. "You're early." Billy glanced around to make sure there was no one else in the parking lot before leaning in for a kiss.

"Yeah, managed to convince Robin to let me take a longer break if I did all the closing duties."

"Really? Well I'll have to give her a personal thank you. How's she feel about tater tot casserole? Mrs. Henderson has once again given me far too many leftovers to actually eat." Steve snorted extremely loudly at this. "What?"

"Dustin stormed into Scoops Ahoy, shouting about how you were seducing his mom and getting her to make you food."

"Yeah. I know. He freaked out when he saw me yesterday." Billy revealed. Pulling out a cigarette and trying to light it before Steve snatched it out of his hand. "Hey!"

"What did I tell you about smoking in my car?" Steve asked as he put the car in gear before beginning to drive. "Besides that shit is bad for you. Gonna die early if you keep that up."

"Who says I don't want that?"

"Me, asshole." Billy laughed at how serious Steve sounded. "I'm serious, could you at least try the nicotine gum I gave you? Or...I could tell Mrs. Henderson about your nasty little habit."

"You wouldn't."

"I would. Come on, for me." Billy knew if Steve wasn't driving he'd be giving him the signature Harrington look. Big hazel doe eyes pleadingly looking up at his not so secret boyfriend. Even imagining it made Billy seemingly relent.

"Fine. I'll try it. But next date night? You'll have to do something special to convince me."

"Don't worry, I've got a few things planned."

[steveharrirngton]

So..Gator really is Billy.

[yikesharringrove]

Billy and Steve giving each other their T shots, sharing each other's binders, trying to gauge how to pack, figuring out how to layer, the whole nine yards together 🥲😭

"Hey, can I borrow the black one?"

Steve had a binder in just about every color. All purchased on the credit card of parents who begrudgingly accepted him after three years of family therapy.

They didn't get him, but at least they threw enough money at him for the myriad of things he used to get that sweet, sweet euphoria.

Billy, was a different story.

His mom's health insurance covered only some of his HRT, and the binder had really been a splurge for them. It was tan, and fit well, but sometimes he didn't want a nude binder poking out underneath his clothes. Sometimes he really wanted a noticeably black one. An outlandish pink one.

He owes it to his mother, who left her husband and took him halfway across the country, to be unapologetic about his transman swag.

They were lucky that Steve's binders fit Billy, Billy's wider ribcage making up for Steve's larger tits.

Steve flicked the black one at Billy, a towel wrapped around his shoulders, hair wet and dripping onto the floor.

"What are you even wearing tonight?" Steve was half-dressed, baggy jeans and a t-shirt. He was looking through his closet, the metal hooks on the hangers screeching against the bar as he pawed through button-up shirts.

Billy turned his back to wiggle his boxers up his hips.

"Just the usual. Don't overthink it, Harrington. Not like it's your first date."

The pillow hit Billy in the back of the head.

"Okay, jeez, Pissy. Put on the stripey shirt like you know you want to, and we'll call it a day."

Billy turned around, now dressed and ready, only to find Steve flushed and fidgety, already wearing the striped shirt. The forest green was Billy's favorite color on Steve, and the baby blue made it look a little brighter, a little softer.

Steve wore the shirt every day for two weeks after he had found it at the second-hand store outside of town. And now he wore it every time he felt even slightly uncomfortable.

Billy crossed the room in a few strides, pulling Steve into his arms.

"We'll have fun, Stevie. Just you wait."