#neil isn’t around any more and she just wants billy to be happy

[ickypuppi3]

i like to imagine billy’s mom in that childhood au to be someone who wears colorful clothes and has every room in her house be a bright color because it makes her happy, who dresses billy in colorful clothes too and encourages him to express and stand up for himself, who has a garden full of flowers and paints in her spare time, who has pictures of her and billy strewn throughout the house, who smokes marlboro reds and dances with billy in the living room while her records play, who loves her kid so so much and would do anything for him

[buckysgrace]

Thirty Six

The next morning Billy acted as if nothing had happened. Of course, Kim still expected for them to act distantly in front of their parents, but he had taken to ignoring her completely. She had tried multiple times to brush up against him or try and whisper something towards him but each time she was met with a cold shoulder. She was beginning to worry, thinking that she had done something wrong last night. Everything had seemed fine to her before he went to bed, she didn’t understand how his emotions could sway so easily.

“Have you packed your bag yet?” Max bounced on the edge of her bed. It was hot out. Way too hot to be outside and doing anything without melting away. Neil was gone so she dressed in her smallest shorts and tank top and was still sweating. Kim glanced at the younger girl; glad she was at least excited. Kim just kept thinking about the dreaded bug bites she’d get. She sat up and shook her head.

“Partially but not really. I’m waiting for my clothes to finish drying and then I will get it finished.” She told the younger girl, scooting in a different position on her bed, her head slightly leaning off so the cold air from the vent could hit her skin. Max joined her, kicking her feet up in the air.

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” Max questioned and Kim turned to face her, looking at her curiously.

“Neil?” Kim questioned, watching as her little sister nodded in agreement, “I don’t trust him, but I don’t think mom is going to listen to us yet.” She admitted. Their mother was too stubborn, too afraid to be on her own again.

“I don’t either. I can’t believe he hit her,” Max’s head rested against her shoulder, “Why would she want to stay with someone like him?” Kim felt the younger girl inhale softly, her head brushing against hers with the motion. Kim searched for the answer. It was obvious her mother didn’t love Neil, at least she thought it was. 

“He’s stable, he has a lot of money,” Kim admitted softly. She didn’t think her mom was a gold digger but if she was looking for someone to take care of her daughter’s Neil would be the perfect candidate. She wondered if her mom knew how abusive he was before she married him. She hoped she didn’t, “Hopefully he’ll mean it, that he won’t hit her again.” Kim tried to sound hopeful. Max spun the ring around her middle finger.

“You mean he won’t hit her in front of us. He’s not going to stop. Look at what he still does to Billy. We need to think of a way to get mom to leave him.” Max encouraged, glancing up at her sister with vulnerable blue eyes. Kim thought for a moment, unsure of what to say and even more unsure of how to get Neil out of their lives. It was like he was slowly becoming the boogeyman to her. She was too afraid to even think about him. She no longer wanted to be alone with him after how badly he had made her skin crawl the other day when he’d forced her to hug him. 

“I know,” She told her sister softly, “We’ll figure something out.” Kim promised her. Max was still watching her when she spoke up slowly.

“What if we told dad?” Kim blinked at her, furrowing her eyebrows as she thought about it. Her father still hadn’t answered any of her returning calls since he’d asked her for money. As far as she knew he hadn’t spoken or written to Max either. Their mom wasn’t happy that they had any sort of contact with him so Kim couldn’t comprehend how her mom would react if he showed up. She thought of what Neil would do as well. They both tried to pretend that the two girls didn’t have a father.

“Max,” Kim looked at her little sister, feeling guilt forming inside of her, “I don’t think he could afford to come out here if that’s what you’re suggesting. I think he’s broke.” Kim didn’t think that, she knew it. There was no way he could make it out here. He wouldn’t have anywhere to stay and Kim was sure that Neil and Susan would take whatever they had left and uproot them. 

Max’s eyes were softening, looking displeased with her sister’s answer but she wasn’t mad. She looked more disappointed than anything. Kim understood, thinking of how she had felt when her father had only called for money. She rested her arm around her little sister, pulling her towards her softly. Even though the room was still hot and both girls were sweaty she held her there for a moment, hoping she knew everything would be okay.

“Am I interrupting something?” Billy’s gruff voice pulled Kim away. She glanced over her shoulder quickly, her heart beginning to beat faster at the sound of his voice filling her bedroom. Her mind was racing as she stared at the tight shorts he wore and nothing else. She could see the gleam of sweat down the front of his chest as the sunlight radiated off of him. She bit her lip, doing her best not to stare but failing.

“Yes, actually,” Max looked at him a bit playfully, “We were just talking about how once a month blood seeps out of our-”

“Okay, okay,” Billy cut the younger girl off quickly, a look of disgust crossing his face. Kim wondered if it was because he clearly didn’t care about any blood the other day, “I get it. I was just going to say that dad called and Susan and him are going out tonight. They’ll be back later.” Kim felt Max stiffen next to her and she felt a similar way.

“We could order pizza and some movies,” Kim suggested softly, watching how Billy’s eyes flickered towards her and looked away from her quickly. It was driving her insane, not knowing why he was acting so distant, “Does that sound fun?” Kim turned to look at the younger girl. Max nodded, smiling. 

“Can you take us up to rent a movie?” Max asked Billy, sounding hopeful as she turned to look at him. He hesitated for a minute before nodding.

“Just hurry,” He grumbled, rubbing his hand across his bicep. Kim thought she might start crooning from how good he looked at the moment, “It’s hot. I don’t want to be out long.” He muttered, turning away and leaving. Kim sat up on her bed after Max.

“Will you be okay if I pick out a scary movie?” Kim pretended to think about it. No matter how badly she hated them, she had a hard time denying her little sister anything. She nodded playfully after a second.

“I suppose,” Kim rustled her red hair softly, sending the bright locks in different directions, “If you’re okay if I pick out a romance movie.” She smirked at the discomfort that crossed the younger girl's face. Kim thought her reaction was funny but knew that she was more likely to pick out one of the Indiana Jones movies than anything. It had been a while since she had watched them.

“It’s a deal,” Max crossed their pinkies together and squeezed. Kim smiled brightly, nodding in agreement. She followed her younger sister out of the room, heading towards the shoe rack, “I’m so excited.” Max exclaimed happily. Kim was too but she was dreading heading out into the hot sun. 

“Just don’t be too long,” Billy appeared again, wearing a white shirt that read Everlast over it. She stared for a minute, noticing how it rested high against his midriff. She felt a sensation traveling in between her legs as she glanced at his toned lower abdomen. She gulped hard, looking away. If she wasn’t hot and sweaty before, she definitely was now, “Let’s go then.” He gave Max a look and she scoffed, opening the door wide and inviting in the muggy air. 

Kim slipped on her sandals next to Billy, noticing the way his blue eyes widened as she bent down to lace them, “You’re wearing that?” Her face reddened when she looked up to face the blonde boy. His cheeks were flushed, like he hadn’t expected himself to say that. She peered up at him curiously.

“It’s hot,” She defended herself. Her tank top pulled up towards her belly button, her shorts lingering high up on her thighs, “We won’t be gone long.” She felt almost sheepish at the look he sent her, like he wanted to take a bite out of her.

“Yeah,” He breathed out harshly, his eyes lingering against her pale skin, “Let’s go.” He looked at her seriously after a second before he was brushing past her. She was growing frustrated, unsure of how he expected her to go back to normal when he had been so tender with her last night. She wanted him so badly and it was like he didn’t care.

The air was hot, and the sun felt even worse as she walked down the hill towards his parked car. The grass crunched underneath her sandals, and she was already beginning to sweat despite only being outside for a few seconds. She wondered if it would feel this terrible if she was walking around naked. She opened the door, careful as she sat down on the hot leather seats. She didn’t want it to burn against her skin. She sighed in relief at the cold AC blowing against her face.

She turned suddenly, noticing Billy was still staring at her. She was already too warm to blush, so she didn’t have to worry about turning into a tomato at the moment. He looked away just as quickly, beginning to back his car down the driveway.

“Can I get two movies?” Max tried to ask as sweetly as she could. Kim turned towards Billy, feeling sheepish as she remembered she left her purse inside the house.

“I’ll pay you back.” She muttered as she played with her red hair. Billy turned towards her curiously but shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s fine, and no, you can both get one movie.” It was almost funny at how mature he sounded at the moment. Kim cracked a grin as she rested against her warm seat. The sun didn’t seem so harsh in the car as it was outside. Max grumbled but seemed to accept his answer.

“Are you going to get one?” Kim asked Billy, trying to make any kind of conversation with him. It was hard, he didn’t seem interested in anything at the moment as he only shrugged his shoulders. She was sure that she had said or done something wrong, but she wasn’t sure what. 

“Probably one with boobs in it,” Max grumbled in the backseat as she kicked his chair, “He always gets those types of movies.” Kim grinned at her younger sister, knowing she didn’t realize that those weren’t even the worst of his movies in his collection. Billy scoffed, rolling his eyes dramatically as he pulled into the Family Video. It wasn’t too far away from their house.

“Just don’t take long, I could be doing other things,” He reminded both of them as he got out of his car. Kim eyed him curiously, hoping that didn’t mean that he already had another date. She was beginning to regret her words from the other day, “Come on.” He ushered the two of them inside.

Kim was glad as she stepped into the cool store, soaking in the feeling of the AC as she walked towards the familiar section of movies. She always lingered towards the same area. She was beginning to regret her outfit choice with the look one of the mother’s gave her inside the store, but she ignored it. Billy was showing more skin than Kim was, and she didn’t see anyone giving him a dirty look.

She glanced through the selection of movies, searching for the section beginning in I when Billy snuck up behind her. She hummed softly, ignoring him for a second as she looked for the movie she was wanting. She felt her eyes widening when he placed his large hands across her waist and rested his chin against her shoulder.

“Haven’t you seen this movie a hundred different times?” Billy questioned, pulling her closer towards his chest. She was breathing slowly, her heart beating hard in her chest as he held onto her. They were in public; this was anything but being subtle. Anyone could walk by and see them.

“It’s a good movie,” She defended. It was good, it just happened to have Harrison Ford in it as well. She glanced at him nervously, her cheek pressing against his as she did so, “This isn't a good idea.” She mumbled softly. He smirked, rubbing her soft sides with his rough hands.

“Why? I’m just helping you pick out a movie,” He responded innocently, looking back at the selection of movies innocently. She glanced out of the corner of her eye, confirming that no one else was there. She could hear the voices of a group of people browsing the movies a few aisles behind them, “Is there anything wrong with that?” She could feel the fire burning as he trailed his hands up slowly, touching her skin oh so softly until he was squeezing her boobs in his rough hands. She bit back a squeal, looking at him alarmed and trying to wiggle away. He held her still, a small smirk on his features.

“Billy,” She responded quickly. Her heart was pumping so fast that she was sure he would be able to feel it against his hand, “You can’t do that.” She found her voice cracking a bit as he massaged her soft flesh in his hands. He pressed up behind her, kissing the crook of her neck softly. 

“Why not?” He licked the side of her neck, teasing her softly as he kneaded her breasts softly in his large hands. She bit back a moan as he nipped at her neck, “You look so good today. I can’t help myself.” She could feel exactly what she had done to him. Her face was burning as she fought the urge to grind back against him. They were still in public, in the middle of a store of all places. 

“It’s hot,” She whined out softly as he tickled the side of her neck with his mustache. HIs lips were still brushing against her skin as he held her against him, “Someone will see.” Her heart was thumping hard in her chest in worry. They couldn’t have anyone else catching them. He seemed to notice her worry as he slowly moved his hands away from her. She hated having to tell him no, she wanted nothing else than to be wrapped up in his muscular arms. No matter how badly she wanted it, it was still wrong. They couldn’t erase that between them. 

“You just drive me crazy,” He mumbled, pressing a soft kiss against her soft cheek, “You’re all mine later.” He smirked as he pulled away from her slowly. She felt the warmth fading with him and she could feel excitement building inside of her. She was glad he wasn’t ignoring her anymore. She wanted him just as badly as he wanted her.

“You drive me crazy too,” She admitted sheepishly. She began to reach to tuck her hair behind her ear, but he beat her to it. She stared, watching his blue eyes as his fingers lingered around the curve of her ear. He pinched her earlobe gently, smiling softly as he pulled his hand away from her skin, “I found it.” She reached for her movie quickly, tapping it against her fingertips as he watched her in interest. 

“Let’s go find Max then,” He nudged her shoulder gently shifting her forward as she smiled bashfully, “You know, Harrison Ford is old. Really old.” He added, a small smile hinting on his face. She scoffed softly, feeling a bit defensive.

“He’s not that old. You like older women too, what’s the difference?” She questioned him, watching the amused smirk that crossed his face. He didn’t say anything, his shoulder bumping into hers as they looked for Max. She was, as usual, digging through the collection of horror movies.

“Nightmare on Elm Street or The Evil Dead?” Max looked up at Billy, ignoring how Kim’s face cringed up. He thought for a minute, looking at the other movies that were on the stand. Kim shifted next to them.

“Not The Evil Dead,” Kim looked at both of them desperately, “I had such a bad nightmare afterwards. It’s scary and gross.” She admitted. Max rolled her eyes, her fingertips still lingering on the movie as she thought about it. 

“Nightmare on Elm Street is better anyways,” Billy admitted, crossing his arms as he spoke to the younger girl. Kim watched how his shirt rose even higher. She wondered why she didn’t grab a hold of him when she had the chance, “

“What about Bloodtide?” Max questioned as she looked at the back of the case. She glanced up, looking at her older sister with a smirk, “Never mind. You’d be scared of this because you would be the one to die.” Kim felt her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Why?” She questioned, watching as Billy covered his mouth with his chin. He was pretending to scratch at his skin, but she could see the smile that he was hiding underneath as he looked further down the aisle, “What’s it about?”

“An adventurer hunting in Greece accidentally frees a monster that forces local villagers to sacrifice virgins,” Max mocked, changing her voice dramatically as she looked at her older sister playfully, “You’d definitely die.” Kim’s face heated up.

“That’s not, oh my god,” She sighed softly, not wanting to talk about her sex life with her younger sister, “You’re insufferable.” Kim told her sister, moving away from her. Max was laughing so hard that she started to snort. 

“Is she not, you know what, I don’t want to know,” Billy shook his head, examining the selection of movies at the other end of the aisle as Kim joined him, “Just get Nightmare on Elm Street.” He told the youngest girl. Kim tried to stay neutral in her expression as she thought about how Max had talked about how scary it was months after it had come out. One night in November, after it had been released, Max had stood at the foot of Kim’s bed at midnight and sang the creepy song to her until she woke up.

“If Kim goes towards the checkout Keith may give her the movies for free. He’s always looking for a way to pick up girls.” Max nudged her older sister’s shoulder. Kim glared at her, not liking the sound of her little sister’s plan.

“You know him?” Billy questioned, looking at Max with an odd expression. She shrugged her shoulders, glancing at the two older teens.

“He’s the dweeb that used to work at the arcade.” Max replied casually, smiling softly in Kim’s direction. Kim stared at her confused, having no idea who she was referencing. She couldn’t remember going to the arcade here. That job had been handed off to Billy when they moved here.

“I don’t want to do that,” Kim looked towards Billy, trying to confirm with him that she didn’t have to, “I’m not like that.” She felt like defending herself, but she wasn’t sure why. Max scoffed softly but didn’t look annoyed.

“I would if my boobs were bigger.” Kim raised her eyes in surprise from her sister’s words. Billy snapped his head towards her fast, shaking it quickly.

“No, no you won’t. If anyone even thinks about looking at you like that I’ll break their arm,” Max laughed at Billy’s threat but both him and Kim knew that it was more of a promise. Kim shrugged, knowing how she liked to tease as she began to walk out to the checkout counter with them, “I’m being serious.” He sounded serious too, but all Max could do was giggle again.

“These,” Billy took the movie from Kim’s hand and pushed them onto the counter mindlessly. Max’s comment must’ve bothered him because he stood in front of the two girls, looking irritated as the other boy rang up the movies. Kim figured it must’ve been the Keith that Max had been referencing, “And these.” Billy scooted a bag of M&Ms towards him. Keith sighed dramatically as he began to add the total back up. Kim watched Billy in amusement.

“Can we wait in the car?” Max asked, already tugging his keys from his back pocket. Billy looked over his shoulder, glancing at her.

“Just don’t be driving it.” He grumbled out as he fished out his wallet. Kim looked at Max confused, unsure of why he would tell the younger girl not to be driving it. She followed her little sister out of the door, hating how the sun hit them as they stepped into the muggy air.

“How are we going to survive in the wilderness in this heat?” Kim whined after Max started the car. She ruffled her hair, soaking in the cold AC against her scalp. She was dreading the vacation that Neil had planned for them. She had already read the pamphlet four different times.

“You’re such a princess,” Max teased as she leaned forward from the backseat, “Oh my god, what will you do once you can’t put makeup on?” She shoved her older sister’s shoulder softly. Kim sighed.

“I don’t wear makeup all the time, you know. I just don’t want to die burning and drowning in sweat.” Kim told her, glancing at her in the rearview mirror. It used to bother her when Max would make those comments but since she had grown, she no longer minded them. Susan used to constantly pick on Max for her boyish activities, as Susan liked to call them, so Kim had decided that Max was allowed to pick on her for that. It was more of their mom's fault for starting it.

“There’s lakes and stuff, I think mom said our cabin might have a pool,” Max replied, sounding more excited than ever, “She thinks it will be a good trip.” Kim licked across her bottom lip, tasting her cherry ChapStick.

“I hope so. As long as I don’t burn.” Kim mumbled. Sunscreen had been the first thing she looked for. She needed to apply layers and layers, or she’d be forming blisters and peeling until school started again. Billy walked out from the store and Kim felt her heart drop to her stomach, watching the way he moved. She felt as if she stopped breathing while she watched him, admiring the curve of his body.

“Here,” He tossed her the movies and bag of M&Ms as he slid inside the car. He winced, moving his back away from the hot seat as he adjusted himself. She was still staring, wondering how he managed to look so pretty and golden all the time, “What?” He slid his sunglasses on, looking at her confused. She turned away, blushing softly.

“Nothing, can I have some of these?” She changed the subject quickly as she motioned towards the bag in her hands. Her mouth was beginning to water at the thought of tasting them on her tongue. She moved the way the candy would melt in her mouth. She’d always wait until the shell was soft enough to pull apart with her tongue while she savored the chocolate taste in her mouth. He started to drive them home, glancing at her.

“You don’t want to save those for the movie?” He asked, beginning to light up a cigarette while he drove with one hand. She wondered if she’d be able to do that soon enough too. She smiled bashfully.

“I could, but you see it’s just so hot out,” She started to explain, looking for the spot where she could tear the tab off and open the candy, “And I don’t think we want to eat a bunch of melted chocolate. Right, Max?” She looked back to her younger sister for support. Max was watching her with one eyebrow raised.

“Don’t drag me into this,” Max crossed her arms as she watched them in the backseat, “I’m not the one with the sweet tooth.” Kim stumbled for a moment, looking back at Billy and trying not to pout.

“You can open them,” He spoke after taking a long drag, “I don’t want any right now anyways.” He smiled softly at her as he drove. She was gleeful as she finally tore it open and put a small handful in her mouth. She offered Max some, but the younger girl shook her head no. Kim shrugged, thinking it was their own loss for not eating any.

“Billy,” Max leaned forward again as he pulled into his parking spot, “Are you packed for the trip?” Max asked as he began to shut his car off. He looked back at her confused.

“Yeah, I have been. Why?” He looked at her confused as he grabbed his things and got out of the car. Max shot Kim a look as she ignored, stepping out and holding onto the movies and candy. Max bounced out on Billy’s side.

“Kim hasn’t yet. She’s procrastinating.��� Max bounded up the steps. Billy looked back at Kim with a soft smile.

“Not really surprised,” He told her as they walked up the steps together, “As smart as you are, you’re really disorganized.” He opened the backdoor for her, and Kim looked at him curiously, wondering how much he knew about her that she didn’t know.

“I’m not that messy,” She defended herself, although she knew that it was partially true, “I just like to wait to get the important things done. She rubbed her arm as they walked inside the cooler house. She set the movies down on the coffee table in the living room as she took another handful of candy. Billy followed her, lingering near the couch for a moment.

“Then you get stressed out and cry,” He chuckled, “It’s okay though. You still get the important things done. I’ll order us a pizza.” She shrugged but she found herself tilting her head in curiosity. He always seemed to amaze her. She hesitated as he walked away to grab the phone.

“I’m going to take a shower,” Max walked past Kim, pulling her out of her trance. Kim nodded, reaching for some more candy to soothe her sweet tooth, “We can have a pajama party.” Max replied happily as she grabbed her pajamas from her room. Kim smiled softly, thinking her little sister was acting cute. Even as terrible as everything was going, she was glad she still had the chance to act like a kid. 

“I’ll get the popcorn ready.” Kim told her sister kindly as Max headed towards the bathroom. Billy looked over curiously from the phone as Max sent her a thumbs up and shut the door. Max’s showers were never nearly as long, and Kim suspected that it was partially to do with the fact that her younger sister wasn’t that crazy about water. Billy put the phone up, looking at her curiously as the water turned on. Kim smiled softly, unsure of why as she walked past him. 

“Billy, what are you-?” He pulled her towards him, cutting her off with his lips as he moved against her frantically. She was stunned at first, her nerves building in her stomach as he pressed her against the wall and kissed her harshly. She was stunned, trying to pull herself away from his rough kisses, “Can’t. Max is here.” She whined, trying to speak between his kisses. He flicked his tongue against her open mouth, sliding it across her teeth as he spoke. Max was in the shower; she could come out any time and see her brother kissing her sister against a wall. There would be no explanation. 

“It’ll be quick,” He groaned as he pressed his thigh against her core, rocking into her. She felt the jolts of electricity traveling up her body, “Please. Need you so badly.” She whined at his touch. The way he squeezed her hips and traveled to her breasts left her mind foggy. She nodded, watching as he placed his large hands on her shoulders. 

He pressed on her shoulders until she was on her knees. She stared up at him, watching the cocky smirk that grew on his lips as he freed himself from his tight shorts. She stared, still fascinated by how his cock looked. He pulled her lips apart with his fingers, spreading her mouth apart as he pushed the head of his cock between her lips. She was surprised at how fast he was moving with her. She thought that he usually took his time but there seemed to be a sense of urgency in his movements. She relaxed her jaw, sliding his throbbing cock into her mouth as she traced her tongue around his salty skin.

“Come on,” He urged, tugging her hair back behind her head as he rocked his hips forward. She clenched her eyes shut tightly, gagging as the head of his cock hit the back of her throat. She willed herself to relax as she hollowed her cheeks and bobbed her head. He was tugging on her hair, forcing her to go down further. She gripped his thighs, feeling her eyes burn at the sensation of him touching the back of her throat, “I know you can do it, baby. Please, please.” His words rattled her, traveling straight down to her core. He sounded desperate as he pleaded with her.

She fought every urge she had to keep from puking as he hit the back of her throat with each thrust. Her tongue trailed along the veins on his cock, swiping across his skin as she gripped his thighs hard. She tried to keep her nails from digging into his skin, but she almost felt like she had to with the way he was yanking her by her hair and pushing his cock into her mouth.

She was gagging each time, drool was pooling from her lips as she tried to keep up with his rough movements. It was hard, she was still learning, and it was difficult to try and hold your mouth open far enough that her teeth wouldn’t scrape against him. Not to mention trying to focus on breathing at the same time. Her jaw was beginning to hurt, the ache mirroring in the back of her throat as he pushed his hips roughly into her. He was a grunting mess above her, louder than usual. She liked the sounds he was making, like it was music to her ears as it traveled down her body and rested against her throbbing clit. She hoped he would stop soon, she wanted to feel him stretching her walls out inside of her.

“Fuck,” He cursed, pulling her head down further. Her hands snapped up against his hips and she closed her eyes tightly as he pushed her all the way onto his cock. Her lips burned, throat ached and she could feel tears brimming in her eyes from the lack of oxygen. His balls pressed against her bottom lip as he released down her throat. She was sputtering, pulling away from him quickly as she tried to catch her breath. Cum and spit leaked from her open lips as she panted, trying to fill her lungs again. He crouched down in front of her wiping the corners of her mouth gently, “Did so good, baby. So proud of you. You took my cock so well.” Her heart was swelling from his words and she didn’t have much more to say before he was pulling her up and pressed her back against the hard wall. A protest left her mouth when he dipped his hands into her shorts, pushing her panties aside as he rubbed her wet cunt.

“Oh,” She whined out as he wasted no time in sliding two of his fingers into her wet heat and curling them against her fluttering walls. She gasped as he trapped her against the wall, moving his hands roughly, “S’lot.” She breathed in total awe as he moved his fingers inside of her rapidly. He groaned, sliding his warm lips against the side of her face as her head fell back against the wall. Her muscles were clenching in pleasure as she rocked herself against him.

“S’okay,” He was fingering her harder, curling them against her walls as he peppered kisses along her neck, “Just like that, baby. Fuck yourself on my fingers.” She was trying so hard not to be loud but he made her feel so good. Her hands clenched around his biceps as he rocked his fingers into her. His thumb was brushing against her clit hard each time he moved. She could feel her wetness dripping onto her panties and soaking through her shorts. He slid another finger inside of her, stretching her wide. She felt herself clenching around his thick fingers, urging for more of him.

“Billy,” She whined, resting her back against the wall as her hips moved to meet his fingers. She could feel his rings pressing up against her entrance repeatedly as he slid in and out of her. “Oh god.” She felt her toes curling against the floor as he gripped her hips harshly with his free hand. He was moving so fast and hard; she didn’t have time to process his movements as her hips moved without rhythm. 

“So fucking pretty,” His teeth slid along her cheek as he held her in place, fucking his fingers into her even harder. She was gaping, her mouth falling open as he curled his three fingers up against her bundle of nerves. She was squealing, feeling herself clench down around his fingers as she came with a cry, “That’s it baby.” He was peppering kisses against the side of her face as she rode her orgasm out. She turned her face to look at him, leaning in to press her lips against his when he pulled away. He dipped his fingers out of her entrance, withdrawing them to his mouth as he licked her clean. He watched her intensely for a moment, his blue eyes raking her features before he turned around and left. She didn’t fully process it until he slammed his bedroom door shut behind him.

She stared, her legs still shaking as he left her there against the wall. He hadn’t said one thing, just came to get what he needed before he was leaving her alone again. He hadn’t always stayed to lay with her, but he always cleaned her up and asked if she was okay. Except for now. She wondered if she had pushed him too far last night, but she hadn’t noticed him acting uncomfortable then. She didn’t understand. She tried to catch her breath as a similar loneliness sank into her chest. 

She heard the door to the bathroom beginning to rattle and she moved quickly, heading back to the kitchen. Her legs were still quivering as she washed her hands quickly.

“You didn’t get it started yet?” Max stepped out, wearing her pajamas. Kim pushed the popcorn in the microwave, hiding her red face from her sister.

“I wanted to make sure it was hot when you came out.” Kim lied, fumbling with the timer on the microwave, “The pizza should be here soon.” She muttered, trying to keep her cool as the younger girl approached her.

“Okay,” Max leaned up against the kitchen counter, “Do you want to change, and I’ll wait?” She opened up the fridge and began to pull out cans of soda. Kim nodded stiffly, trying to relax her mind from what Billy and she had just done.

“Sure, I’ll be back in a minute.” Kim told her, almost racing towards her room. She was glad to change, to be able to clean herself up. She grabbed her nightgown quickly and reached for a different pair of panties. She lingered at her doorway, hearing the loud music that was coming from Billy’s room. She wondered what he was doing, what he was thinking. She wanted to know why he would just leave her like that and not say anything to her at all. She felt a lump forming in the back of her throat, but she quickly shook it aside. No, she wasn’t like his other girls. They didn’t mean anything to each other, so it was fine for him to get what he wanted and leave. It was hard to convince herself that she found out soon enough as the lump seemed to grow twice as heavy.

She brought her nightgown into the bathroom, undressing herself as she worked on getting herself clean and not so sticky. She thought about taking a shower but decided against it as got a towel damp. She glanced at herself in the mirror, noting how much of a mess she looked. Her hair was rowdy, cheeks flushed and hot and her skin along her neck was splotchy from where his lips had been. She touched her skin softly, trying to remember the sensation.

She withdrew her thoughts for a moment as she continued on her task of cleaning herself between her thighs. No matter how hard she tried, her thoughts kept lingering back to Billy. She wondered why he was being so cold, so distant towards her. She liked how they had been last night.

She quickly changed, letting her nightgown rest against her upper thighs before she pulled on a clean pair of panties. She left the bathroom, taking the towel with her so she could wash it later. She crossed the tiled floor, soaking in the feeling of the cold tiles against her feet. Max had two bowls of popcorn set up on the coffee table and was currently sitting in front of the TV, setting up one of the movies.

“Which did you pick first?” Kim asked after disposing of the towel and washing her hands. Billy still hadn’t turned, and she was unsure if he would be joining them at all. She sat down on the couch, crossing her legs and pulling her nightgown down low enough that she didn’t expose herself. Max glanced back at her.

“Yours.” She said simply, working on trying to skip through the commercial. Kim thought it was typical that she would pick the lighthearted movie to watch first and save the two scary ones for later. She didn’t protest, not wanting to disturb the mood. Kim kept glancing over her shoulder, looking over at Billy’s room. The door was still tightly shut, and she could hear his music traveling into the room. She had been hoping that he would join them. She didn’t even have to touch him, she just wanted to be near him.

“Did the pizza come?” Kim asked suddenly. The younger girl nodded as the beginning title began to roll. She paused it, standing up quickly to shut the lights off in the living room.

“Do you want to get Billy?” Max asked as she crossed the room, grabbing three plates and carrying the pizza box back over to the couch. Kim wanted to do anything but go into Billy’s room and ask him to join them. He was acting weird and was sending her mixed signals. She rose from the couch, anyway, not wanting to get on Max’s bad side. 

“Sure,” Kim walked around the couch slowly, “Just don’t start it without me.” Kim playfully pointed at her sister. Max rolled her eyes but was smiling as she settled into one of the chairs. Kim hesitated at his door for a second, capturing the loud sound of his music and the smell of thick smoke coming from his room. Her heart began to beat hard as she grew anxious, thinking that maybe he was going on another date. She knocked softly before pushing the door open. 

He was laying on his back in his bed, his ankles crossed as he smoked down a blunt. She watched him for a few seconds, noticing how he had removed his shirt. She blinked slowly, looking at the blue scrunchie that held his hair up over his head. She grinned softly, joy filling the inside of her chest as she took a step into his room and closed the door behind her. 

“What?” He grunted out, sounding almost angry as he glanced towards her. She didn’t let his irritated tone dampen her mood as she crossed the room on the tips of her feet and bounced onto his bed. He looked up at her surprised, nearly dropping his blunt from his lips as she straddled his lap and rested on top of him. Her gown pulled up high over her thighs, exposing her flowery panties to him. She didn’t care. 

“I was called to summon you,” She rested her hands on his bare chest, looking at how golden he looked compared to her, “Max has everything set up.” He blew out a large cloud of smoke, the hint of marijuana tickling her nose. He removed his blunt with one hand, holding onto her hand with the other one. She giggled when he tickled her side softly. 

“I thought I was just buying that for you two.” He responded dryly, looking uninterested. She stared up at him, sure that he was just putting on an act. She leaned down a bit, kissing the tip of his nose. He looked surprised at first but then wrinkled his nose up, making her smile at his movements.

“Please. If you don’t come with me, she’ll drag you out of here.” Kim rubbed his chest softly, feeling the small tufts of hair that was growing there. She knew that Max would literally drag him out of this room. He groaned, seeming to think the same thing.

“Can you give me like five minutes?” She stared at his pink lips as he spoke. She was dying to kiss him but didn’t want to try again after he had ignored her attempt at a kiss earlier. She shook her head no.

“She’s ready now, you better hurry.” Kim crawled off of his lap slowly, shimming her gown back down on her thighs. He watched her, his eyes flicking up towards her in interest suddenly.

“Do you think Max wants to spend the night with her friend? We could have fun instead.” He suggested with a smirk, taking another long drag from his blunt. She looked at his blue eyes, noticing how he didn’t look high at the moment. 

“No,” Kim smiled softly as she inched her way towards the door, “That would be really mean. She wants to spend time with you. Please.” She added as sweet as she could. He sat up at the edge of his bed, nodding as he carefully put his blunt out. He sighed, pushing all of the excess smoke from his lungs.

“I’m coming,” He pushed off the bed and she stared at how his muscles moved when he did so. He was so muscular, so buff that it made her knees feel weak. He smirked as if he knew what she was thinking, “Reconsidering?” He teased as he cupped her butt in his large hand. She gaped, giving him a look before she opened the door and left. He followed behind her shortly and she could feel his eyes following her every movement. 

“You wish.” She teased, heading back towards the couch. She grabbed one of the blankets for good measure, not wanting to get too cold once the sun went down. She smiled at Max who was tapping her foot impatiently on the floor as she waited for the two of them.

“About time,” Max grumbled out in similar Billy fashion, “I hope your pizza is cold.” She stuck her tongue out towards Billy as he walked by. He laughed, ignoring to grab a plate and grabbing a large, cheesy slice from the box as he folded it up to eat it.

“Tastes hot to me,” He shrugged as he sat down on the opposite side of Kim. She resisted the urge to reach out towards him, wanting to feel him even closer to her. She was pretty sure that he had no clue what he was doing to her, “I feel like we’ve already watched this.” He teased as he looked towards Kim. She shrugged bashfully, making her own plate as she curled up against the corner of the couch. 

He didn’t say or do much after that. He was quiet through the whole movie, not even adding in any of the comments when Max and Kim would debate about different parts of the movie. It made Kim sad, even more so worried as she didn’t understand where she had gone wrong. She didn’t want him to be mad at her. She kept thinking about where she had gone wrong last night, even the days previous but she couldn’t find anything. She hoped that it had been from the weed that he had smoked but she doubted it. He was like this a few days ago as well. Always hot one second and cold the next. 

“This is Kim’s favorite part,” Her little sister teased as Harrison Ford appeared shirtless. Kim felt her cheeks warm as she gave her little sister an irritated look, “She always drools at this part.” Max responded smugly. Kim scoffed, tucking her hair behind her ear as Billy looked at her with a lazy grin.

“I do not drool,” She stammered out, trying to control her cool, “He just happens to be shirtless, so what.” She wiggled on the couch cushion, holding one of her knees up to her chest. She glanced at Billy, noticing the amused look on his face. 

“What’s that?” He said with concern, leaning forward as he inspected her. She felt her eyes widen as he watched her, nerves filling in her stomach at how concerned he appeared.

“What?” She breathed out quickly, fearing that a bug might be crawling on her face with the way that he inspected her. His eyebrows were furrowed with worry as he scooted closer, rubbing the corner of her lip with his thumb.

“Ah, just a bit of drool,” He pulled away with a smirk, leaning back against the couch as he sprawled out. Max cackled with laughter, hitting her hand on her knee while Kim’s face erupted into flames, “Don’t worry, you’re all cleaned up now.” He sent her a wink, but she was still scrambling to defend herself as embarrassment tickled at her skin.

“You two are the worst,” She finally spit out, hugging both of her knees to her chest as she scooted far into the corner of the couch, “And you’re not funny.” She added hotly, ignoring the way it only made the other two laugh harder. She thought about pointing out how similar the two of them were but decided to keep quiet as she kept watching the rest of her movie. She could feel Billy’s eyes lingering on her form as his eyes raked her over body, lingering on the exposed skin of her thighs. She ignored him this time, deciding she would pay attention to her movie if they would be giving her this much grief. 

Max was already drifting off after she set her movie up. It had only been on for about fifteen minutes when Kim noticed her head drifting forward, resting against the couch cushion as she curled up like a little baby. Kim had wrapped herself in the blanket a long time ago as she hugged herself, wondering if she could get away with turning the movie off.

“Scoot over, I’m cold,” Billy finally acknowledged her, nudging her thighs softly. She moved without thought, scooting towards the edge of the couch as he nestled in behind her. She could feel her body reacting instantly, soaking in his toned body and the feeling of his skin on hers. Her heart was thumping hard as she stared at the TV screen as he slid his muscular arm over her waist and pulled her against him, “Are you scared?” She faltered for a minute. She had been a while ago, when the movie first started. Now, she was more than comfortable wrapped up in his arms and thinking about anything but the movie that was on.

“A bit,” She said instead, not wanting him to move his arm away from her. She wanted to lay within his arms for as long as she could manage, “He’s scary looking.” She admitted, feeling his warm breath tickling the side of her face. He pushed her hair out of her face, curling it around his fingers as she realized he was watching her. 

“I’ll take care of you,” His lips brushed against her skin softly, tickling down the side of her neck as he spoke. She felt that feeling growing in her stomach again as she looked at Max, worried she might wake up to find them, “Just relax.” He replied and she realized how badly she had stiffened up against him.

Billy was fumbling under the blanket, scooting her closer to him. She shot him a look, glancing towards the younger redhead who was sleeping with her knees up towards her chest. He smirked, lifting her nightgown above her thighs.

“Billy,” She whispered quietly. He looked at her with forced innocence, his fingertips trailing against her bare skin, “Stop, she’s in the room.” He squeezed her thigh softly, his fingertips warming her pale skin. 

“She’s asleep,” Billy whispered against her ear, sending chills down her spine, “She won’t even know.” He promised as he cupped her sides, squeezing his large hands against her soft flesh. She exhaled softly, feeling goosebumps forming on her skin.

“She could wake up,” She bit back a moan as he squeezed her boobs, using his fingertips to pinch her nipples softly. She could feel the wetness growing in her panties, soaking her thighs again, “Billy.” Kim turned towards him worried. He leaned forward, licking the corner of her mouth.

“Just stay quiet, I know you can,” He reassured her, pinching her nipples softly. She could feel his bulge pressing against her backside as he lifted her onto his lap, adjusting himself higher up on the sofa. He adjusted, grinding her down on his clothed cock. She sighed softly, her back resting against his bare chest as he pushed her legs in between hers. He covered them with a blanket, like it would save them in this position, “Just let me have your pussy for a little bit. Please. I’m so fucking hard for you.” His breath was hot against her neck, his nose tickling against her soft skin. 

“B-,” She bit down on her lip hard, catching the moan in her mouth as he pushed his throbbing cock inside of her drenched hole. He rocked her forward, pressing her all the way down as he bottomed out inside of her. She gripped the couch cushions harshly, digging her nails into the pillows, “Please.” She whimpered softly.

“Feel how fucking wet your little cunt is on my cock? Why wouldn’t you want this?” He teased her, whispering quietly. Her walls were fluttering around his throbbing length as he pushed up into her deeper, the head of his cock hitting against her bundle of nerves, “You drive me so crazy.” He growled against her neck, biting on her skin softly.

She rolled her hips forward, gaping in awe as he began to thrust into her roughly. She was doing her best to keep quiet, urging herself to swallow her moans as he pounded into her. 

“Oh my god,” She whined out as quietly as she could, glancing towards the sleeping redhead in the rocker chair, “I can’t do it.” She whined as he dragged her hips back down onto him. His fingertips were digging into her skin, squeezing her flesh softly. 

“You can do it baby,” He rolled his hips up into her harshly, his cock dragging against her walls slowly as she squeezed around him, “You can cum oh my cock pretty girl. I know you can do it.” He dipped one of his hands between her thighs and began to rub at her vibrating clit. She squeaked out, trying to push her thighs together but he pushed her legs apart even further apart with his knees.

She was sweating, fighting back her moans as he hit the bundle of nerves inside her with each powerful thrust. He was playing with her clit, applying different amounts of pressure to her sensitive bud. She tossed her head back, closing her eyes as she focused on his cock dragging along inside her soaked walls and filling her to the brim.

“Billy,” She rolled her hips in awe, biting her lip hard to keep her moans settled in her chest. He held onto her hips tightly, kissing the back of her shoulder as he pushed his cock inside her harder. She was wiggling on top of him, trying to angle her hips in the best position as she clenched down around him, “Feels so, so good.” She panted out in awe as he brushed down on her clit harder. Her pussy was drenched around his cock, soaking down their thighs. His fingertips were digging into her skin harder, making her wonder if he would leave bruises in their wake.

It was hard to form any words, to think of anything other than his cock pulsing inside of her. She glanced towards the small redhead, making sure she was still asleep as she moved her hips rapidly in pleasure. Billy’s hands moved up her nightgown, exposing her to the cooling air as fingered and pinched at her hardening nipples. It sent jolts straight down to her core as she found herself desperately fucking herself onto him, meeting his movements halfway as he slammed into her. 

“So good for me,” He grumbled against her skin, his teeth grazing softly as he pushed into her harder. She let a soft whimper fall from her lips as his movements began to stall. He was still playing with her breasts, massaging her soft flesh and squeezing her nipples in his fingers. She was grinding in awe, feeling her toes beginning to curl as she reached her near, “Fuck, fuck.” He grumbled, snapping his hips up rapidly as she came undone around him. She was clenching around him tightly as he came inside of her, filling her with his sticky fluid. She gaped in awe, her moans coming out quietly as her legs shook around her. 

“You’re bad,” She giggled softly, catching her breath as she tried to calm her racing heart from dancing out of her skin. She glanced back at him, noticing the tightness in his lips as he slowly lifted her hips up and pulled himself out of her, “Oh.” She breathed out softly, already missing the feeling of him inside of her. 

He played with the mixture of them that was leaking from her wet hole, tracing his fingers around her folds and clit as he did so. She sighed out softly, liking the feeling as she felt herself relaxing against his sweaty back. He peppered kisses along her shoulder before placing her panties back over her. She wiggled softly, sliding off of his chest and between him and the couch. She was squished comfortably, looking up at him in complete bliss.

He was glancing around again, his breathing already calming down. He moved his hand away so he was no longer touching her. She felt herself growing frustrated. They had been so good yesterday, he had been so sweet towards her. It was like he was only wanting one thing from her now, completely torn away from the other bits that she wanted in their relationship. She didn’t like that, not one bit. He began to shift further towards the edge as she realized he was starting to get up.

She pulled him back before he could leave, “You’ve been ignoring me.” She told him, straight to the point. His eyes darted away from her face, looking behind her. She resisted the urge to turn and look, wondering if this was a way to distract her. She wouldn’t fall for it this time.

“I haven’t been ignoring you,” He mumbled a bit timidly as he looked back towards her, “I was just busy.” He brushed her accusations off and she felt her eyes narrowing.

“You were ignoring me the other day too, before the Fun Fair. What’s wrong?” She asked him, genuinely hoping that she hadn’t done anything to upset him. She would fix it if he would tell her. He scrunched up his nose, becoming stiff against her as his defensive walls were thrown up.

“Nothing.” He said simply, irritation seeping into his words. She sighed, wrapping her pale arm around his waist and hugging him tightly to her chest. He grumbled, muttering something under his breath but she continued to stay clutched to him. Her face was squished awkwardly against the side of his arm.

“M’not moving until you tell me.” Her words sounded jumbled from the position she was resting in and she was careful not to bite her cheek. He was grumbling underneath her, clearly becoming more irritated with each second. She was playing with fire, but kicked her leg over his thighs just for good measure in case he tried to wiggle free.

“You didn’t call,” He finally spoke up after a few awkward moments. He had tried to gently press her away a few times but then she was back to clutching him even tighter. She looked up softly, moving her face away from his arm as she felt her eyebrows furrowing together, “You said you’d call and you didn’t.” He averted his eyes, purposely looking away from her. She was sure he felt too vulnerable to actually look at her while he spoke.

“Oh, Billy,” She felt guilt swarming inside of her chest, squeezing tightly as she raised herself up on the couch to look at him, “I’m so sorry. I wanted to, I really did. My mom just freaked me out, y’know she was asking if we were together and stuff. I didn’t think it would be safe to call.” She tried to explain herself, not liking the way he continued to ignore her eyes. She rested her chin on the corner of his shoulder, urging him to at least spare her a glance. She really should have tried to sneak out of the room and call him, at least to check up on him.

“It’s fine.” He grumbled as he shrugged his shoulders, knocking against her chin softly. She sighed, leaning up to take his jawline in her soft hands gently. She pulled at his face, making him turn to face her. His blue eyes looked over her features first, straying against her lips and her cheeks before he finally met her hazel eyes. She squeezed his hard face softly.

“I’m really sorry, Billy. I was scared but I still should’ve checked on you. I really wanted to, I promise you. I was just thinking we’d get in more trouble if my mom overheard.” She explained softly again, caressing her thumb across his scratchy skin. He hadn’t shaved yet, she noted. 

“It’s okay,” He searched her eyes for a moment, like he was looking inside of her to confirm that she was telling the truth. She curled up against him again, noticing how he wasn’t as stiff as before, “Really, I’m a little bitch.” She pouted at him, wondering if those were Neil’s words pouring from his lips.

“You can still be upset if someone didn’t do what they said they would do. I should’ve explained it to you earlier,” He looked bashful, like she had exposed something. She let her thoughts get the best of her as he scrunched his face up again, wrinkling his nose as he looked away from her. She leaned forward slowly, pressing her finger against the bridge of his nose and squishing it softly. He snapped his eyes towards her, almost in alarm.

“What are you doing?” He questioned and she could hear the humor in his voice. She smiled big at him, resting her finger against his nose for another second before pulling her hand away.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while. Your nose just looks soft,” She admitted, feeling a soft flush form over her features. She was still happy she did it, “It is soft.” She confirmed, watching the glee that covered his features.

“You’re weird,” Billy told her but his eyes were twinkling, “Really, really weird. You’re cute though.” Her heart was racing as he watched her and she sank back against him, enjoying the way he warmed her body. She could lay here forever. She stiffened, watching as Max rolled over in her chair but swiftly relaxed as the sound of her snores carried across the room. She looked up towards Billy, a bit worried. 

“I can take her back to bed,” Billy spoke up again softly, rubbing his large hand down her pale shoulder. She rested her head against his chest, soaking in the feeling of his skin against hers. She didn’t want him to leave just yet, “Probably better do it before dad comes back.” She sighed softly against his chest, not wanting to be interrupted. She knew he was right though, if her mom came home and saw them curled up like this she would think the worst. 

“Okay,” She slowly released her grip around him, feeling herself pouting as he sat up and pulled away from her. She snuggled back into the couch cushions, trying to hold onto the warmth of his spot as he stood. He glanced down at her, a smile forming on his lips as he slowly picked the smaller girl up from the couch. Kim watched, intrigued at how easily he could lift someone, “I’ll wait for you.” She mumbled softly, he turned and sent her a smirk before he was walking away with the younger girl. She sprawled out against the couch, trying to calm the feeling in her chest. She didn’t understand why her heart was racing so hard or why she cared if Billy was ignoring her. She reminded herself that this wouldn’t last forever, one day both of them would walk away from each other. It made her sad, thinking about being without him one day. She knew it was true, no matter how badly she wanted to deny it. She could still feel their mixture in her panties but she didn’t care, she had grown to like the feeling of his warm liquid inside of her. It made her feel dirty in a good way. 

“You ready?” He nudged her foot softly, brushing his finger across the top of her toes gently. She shifted her feet away quickly, not wanting to get tickled. She looked up at his golden face, admiring the smile that was placed on his features. He bent down slowly, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her up. She squealed softly, her head pointing downwards as he placed her over his shoulder with ease. She felt the giggles forming in her chest, leaving her mouth as she tilted her head up a bit to peer up at him.

“Please don’t drop me,” She giggled out, resting her hands against his lower back so she could hold herself up. She stared as the living room slowly trailed out of view as he carried her towards her room. He squeezed the back of her thigh softly, kicking her door open slowly with his foot. He kept the light to her room off as he traced his steps in the darkness before plopping her down on her bed. Her body bounced off of the mattress three times, a large grin on her face as she finally settled into the soft bed, “Where are you going?” She asked softly, looking at how he began to step away from her bed.

“My room,” He glanced towards her, the amusement fading from his face, “I don’t think it would be good if they came back and found us in here together.” He admitted, trailing a finger against her leg softly. She felt herself pouting, scooting over in her bed to make room for him.

“Just for a little bit? I bet we’d be able to hear when they came in. Please?” She questioned hopefully, looking at the way he seemed to be considering it. She felt her mood dampen when he turned without a word and headed towards her door. She really thought things may change again now that they had talked everything through.

“Just don’t be acting weird, I don’t want to be kicked or anything in my sleep,” He grumbled, closing her door and locking it for good measure. He was referencing how she had nightmares after scary movies, he turned with a soft smile on his lips. She could feel her heart pounding, realizing he was staying, “Not too many blankets, I get hot.” He muttered as he scooted next to her on the bed. She didn’t care. She wouldn’t need many with him. He always kept her warm.

“Okay,” She replied softly, looking over at him with her fingers linked together over her stomach. He messed with her pillows, shifting them until he got comfortable. She watched as he pulled the scrunchie from his hair, letting his blonde curls rest against his shoulders. It had grown so much from the first time she had met him. She couldn’t believe how short it had been at that time, “Just don’t let anything grab my feet.” She grinned, watching the way his eyes turned towards her in amusement.

“Not sure what I could do against a monster, but sure. You’re welcome by the way.” He rolled on his side to face her, resting his hand against his cheek as he watched her. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, not understanding what he meant.

“Thank you?” She replied back, watching as he bit down on his bottom lip. He had a mischievous look on his face as he scooted towards her closer, pressing his warm hand against her pale skin.

“Yeah, now no one can sacrifice you to any ancient demons.” He cackled, his eyes scrunching with laughter as he looked at her reaction. She relaxed her face, ignoring the burning she felt in her cheeks as she shoved him playfully. She couldn’t believe he had just told her that. She felt a joyous feeling in her chest as she traced the lines around his eyes where he was smiling so wide. Her heart was fluttering hard, her stomach flipping as she watched him. Something felt different as an entirely new feeling soared inside of her flesh and bones. She felt like she was looking at him in a different light suddenly as all of her feelings from the previous weeks began to pile up onto her. She exhaled hard, fighting a smile as Billy was still watching her amused. She could stay here forever, she realized.

She was fucked.

[thissortofsorcery]

A Harringrove Season 2 AU that starts like this-

It’s the last week of October and California is less than a smudge in Billy’s rearview mirror. It was a dot, then a pinprick, then a memory, an abstract of happiness and freedom that he’d been forced to drive away from. It might as well have only existed in his head.

He spends the entire 30-odd hours on the road imagining himself turning the car around and hightailing it back home, but he figures that’s why Neil stuck Maxine in his passenger seat, to keep him in line.

Billy hates that it worked. He wishes he had the guts to leave her behind and fuck off somewhere where no one will find him, but he could feel Neil’s eyes on him through his windshield and the truck’s rearview mirror the whole way to Indiana.

At least Maxine looks as miserable as he feels, the little bitch. Like this isn’t all her fucking fault, anyway. Billy can hear her banging around in her room through the shared wall, like if she makes enough noise Susan will let her skateboard all the way back to California to her deadbeat dad.

Billy’s itching for a cigarette, and to put on some music to drown out fucking Maxine, but his boombox is still in the trunk of the Camaro, and he smoked his last cig on the way into town a couple of hours ago.

Fuck it. He’s gotta get gas anyway if he’s gonna drive the shitbird around to buy all their school shit tomorrow. He palms his wallet and his keys and walks a line out of his room and out the front door without slowing down, let them think he’s going to get more stuff out of the car, whatever, and doesn’t breathe out until he’s peeling out of the driveway with Motley Crüe booming from his speakers.

He’ll at least get yelled at for whatever Maxine complains he did during the last leg of the drive, anyway. He drove too fast, played his music too loud, didn’t stop enough to let her pee. Nothing’s ever good enough for perfect Maxine.

A noose has been tightening around his neck ever since he passed the aged “Welcome to Hawkins!” sign at the edge of town. He wonders how long it’ll take until it’s pulled taut.

Hawkins, Indiana was a small, dusty and badly aged town in the dying light of the afternoon when they arrived, and it’s no better now at night with barely any streetlights on. It’s fucking depressing. There’s no one out on the streets, no stores open, only a few porch lights on on the streets he drives past, and most of the town’s landscape is just goddamn trees. Everywhere.

If they hadn’t passed a gas station on the way into town Billy doubts he’d be able to find one on his own at night. But he does.

Billy’s just leaned back against the Camaro with a lit cigarette, just killing time, when a fancy Beemer pulls up to the gas pump behind his. He barely glances at the guy that climbs out of the car but hears him singing under his breath. It’s a nice voice, for a hick.

The singing stops, and he hears a low whistle.

“Nice ride, man.” The guy says, and Billy looks up, and kind of wishes he hadn’t.

The guy’s gorgeous, tall and long limbed in that way that always got Billy’s blood pumping, with big hands and floppy hair and dark, doe eyes. Then the guy smiles at Billy, and his insides revolt. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck his pretty plump mouth and his straight white teeth. Billy wants to maul it, to watch it turn red and shiny wet.

“Thanks,” he says, instead of all that, and takes the last drag of his cigarette. Crushes the butt under his heel. “Fixed her up myself”

Figures he’d run into a hot guy a couple hours into Neil’s imposed exile, not two weeks out of the hospital. But it’s fine. He’s probably never gonna see the guy again.

“No shit.” The guy says, and his smile widens into a grin, like he’s impressed. His eyes twinkle at Billy. “I know the basics, you know, how to change a tire and shit, but that’s so cool that you know that.”

He steps away from the Beemer and approaches the Camaro for a closer look. Billy feels himself grow warm, and prays to anyone that’ll hear that the guy can’t see him blushing in the bad lighting of the gas station. He’s always been embarrassed about how weak he is for a compliment, and he’s really proud of his car and the hours he put into making her purr. This guy has managed to hit every one of Billy’s happy buttons ever since he arrived.

“I’m Steve, by the way.” The guy says, before Billy can say anything else, and offers his hand. “Steve Harrington.”

“Billy. Hargrove. Just moved here.” Steve’s hand is warm, and huge, and his grip is firm but not overwhelming. He lets go too quickly, shoves his hand back in his pocket to mirror the other. Billy takes another cigarette out of the pack just for something to do with his hands, but doesn’t light it.

“Yeah, I was thinking I hadn’t seen you around before. How long?” Steve asks.

“A couple hours ago.”

Steve barks out a laugh. His throat is a long white line dotted with moles. His smile, after, is soft.

“Am I the first local you’re meeting?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, pretty boy.” Billy laughs, and jerks his head towards the store. “I met the cashier first.”

“Oh, darn.” Steve gives him a rueful smile. “Here I thought I’d get to show you the cool spots around town. Guess you’ll have to settle for Old Marge’s knitting club.”

“Isn’t that the best Small Town, Midwest has to offer, though?” Billy snarks, and resentment bleeds into his voice.

Steve, bless him, takes it in stride.

“You haven’t lived until you tried Old Marge’s bathtub hooch, man. One of the cheerleaders lives next door to her and sneaks out a couple bottles when she cat sits. I’ve seen keggers turn into horror movies.”

“Well,” Billy says, eyebrows raised, “I’d pay to see that.”

And if Steve knows where to score some weed, then at least he won’t die of boredom in this fucking town.

“There’s gonna be a party this week.” Steve says. “At Tina’s. A girl from school. Uh, you are in high school, right?”

Billy lets out a laugh.

“Yeah. I’m a senior.”

“Cool! Me too.” Steve looks a little flustered. He scratches at the back of his neck and he smiles a little bit, eyes low lidded, looking at his shoes, all sweet. Billy wants to see him like this everyday. “Anyway, it’s a Halloween party. Nancy, my girlfriend- Nancy and I are going, but you should totally come with us.”

Billy’s good mood pops like a balloon. He tries not to let the girlfriend comment crush his ribs like a lead weight- of course a guy like Steve in a town like Hawkins has a girlfriend, of course he wasn’t flirting with Billy, of course they weren’t going to hop into their cars and drive together to a secluded spot to trade handjobs on the first night Billy’s even in town. Still, it’s a reminder of just where he is, and why. And who’s watching, ready to put him back in the hospital if he falls out of line.

“I’ll think about it.”

Steve laughs, “Yeah, Mr. Cool. Let me know.”

There’s a beep behind Steve, and they both glance back. His tank’s full.

“Shit. I gotta go.” Steve says, and digs around his jacket pocket for his wallet, already walking toward the glass door of the gas station where Old Marge’s waiting. “But look for me at school, I’ll show you around!”

“Sure, Steve.” Billy says, voice low, after Steve’s already turned around. He has a grand old time watching him walk away, ass filling his dark jeans just right. Can’t touch, but can look if you time it right.

In his car, he finally lights his cigarette, turns his music back on, and takes a moment to breathe deep while the noose is just a little bit looser around his neck.

Steve Harrington, huh. Maybe there’s something in Hawkins that’s not so bad.

-----

This is the first fanfic I've written in several years! Trust Billy to give me the writing jeebies. This is an idea I had over a month ago and wouldn't leave me alone.

Also can you tell I have no idea how gas pumps work.

[imeanwhynotbruv]

Stranger things/Black phone crossover Au

(Call me family)

Ok so I absolutely adore stranger things / the black phone crossover au fics. Like I actually can’t get over it or stop reading them, I can’t seem to find all that much on it but when I do I absolutely love itttttt!. Like it’s to the point I can’t get certain HCs out of my head so here we are!

So I think one of my fav plots (I’ve found like one) is of Vance & Billy being related and I can’t get enough! Or Vance being related to Hopper (especially as his son but that doesn’t work for this so Uncle Hop!).

Also I love the idea of them having cute nicknames! Eg

Billy for Vance : Pinhead, kiddo, little guy, terror

Vance for Billy: Billy Bee, bubba

Ok so hear me out. Vance and Billy are half brothers, Billy’s mum left when he was like two years old (bc that’s more convenient 👀) because Neil is an abusive ass who is also very unfaithful.

So like maybe a month later Neil gets with Layla Hopper (Jim Hoppers estranged little sister) who he was on again off again with, she gets pregnant and voila! You have Vance Hargrove!

While little Billy is sad that is mum is gone he’s happy to have a new baby brother (he’s not an ass yet that’s later)

it just so happens little Vance is absolutely obsessed with his big brother. Like he looks at him like he framed the sky just for him and he follows him around like a baby duck.🐥. Even the kids Billy hangs out with just accept that his Lil bro is probs coming too.

At this point Billy takes his big brother roles very seriously. He’s practilly the one raising Vance bc Neil sure as hell isn’t gonna do it, Layla is young, like grossly young for Neil but still legal, and she doesn’t know what she’s doing and while she’s not that bad she’s not the best and kinda just leaves the kids to it.

So it’s Billy doing all the things Like:

• When Neil is being a dick Billy will keep is lil bro distracted so he doesn’t piss Neil off

•if Neil is getting violent Billy will intensionally set him off if he’s worried he might go after Vance

•if his lil bro is having a nightmare he will put him back to bed and keep him company, with promises to watch incase the monster comes out from under then bed.

• he’ll walk Vance to the beach after he finishes School

• he’ll take him to get Icecream /make his meals

•teaches him how to properly insult people and how to make comebacks(just general life things)

Unlike what Billy’s like with Max, he absolutely insists that Vance is his little brother not half brother.like he’ll fight you to prove it cuz he totally would.

Also I can totally see Billy being the one who first takes Vance to an arcade and shows him pinball. Little Vance is absolutely fascinated and it Billy who teaches him how to play the game. They always compete against each other at the arcade, and Billy’s not the kind to just let you win (most of the time) so Vance spends ages practicing so he can win.

Then on the day Vance genuinely beats Billy, he gets a high five and an “about time Pinhead” and from that day in he is affectionately insulted with being called Pinhead and he wears it like a crown!

But no one else can call him Pinhead (cuz Billy won’t allow any disrespect (plus that’s his thing)) so people start calling him Pinball Vance!

Eventually Layla has enough of Neil’s abusive controlling ass and decides to leave him (good for her but my poor babies) and takes Vance who is like 8y/o at that point.

Lil Vance doesn’t want to leave his big brother, lil Billy is sad but he know Vance is probs better off (that doesn’t mean he wants him to go)

So the brothers part ways and promise to call each other all the time but sadly that’s impossible as Neil changes their number out of spite and Billy doesn’t really know where they ended up.

So Layla changes Vances name and he becomes Vance Hopper as a kind of middle finger to Neil.

She marries a guy called George Howle two years later when Vance is 10, this guy is basically Neil again but super manipulative and Layla is too tired to run away this time.

Neil married Susan a year later (he blames Layla leaving on never being married to her)and she moved in like immediately with Max who was 8 (she’s a Year younger than Vance and three years younger than Billy bc I say so)

Neil forbids billy from ever talking about Vance or Layla so Max knows next to nothing about him, barely knows he exists.

Billy is resentful because he feels like Max is trying to replace Vance (which is kinda what Neil is doing) but she’s not she just knows that Billy doesn’t like her so she decides she doesn’t like him. Neil continues to be an abusive asshole.

Billy becomes an ass because he’s a kid with anger issues, no outlet, and abusive dad, a stepmom who willingly looks away when things get bad, an annoying redhead who gets him into trouble and is constantly missing his little brother.

Vance becomes an ass and constantly picks fights due to the neglect of his mother, abuse of his stepfather, anger issues, missing his brother and at this point is practically a learned behaviour.

Ok side note, the grabber has already killed Billy and Griffin (sorry babies 😭)

The grabber kidnapped Vance (when he was 13 bc I need that age), the grabber has to keep Vance drugged bc he’s still pretty big and won’t stop throwing punches. The grabber gets cocky at not being found and Kidnaps Bruce, Robin & Finney (they’re not really in this but that could change depending). Does some of his awful shit to them, especially Vance, because he thinks he’s pretty and the grabber is creepy af.

The Bboys get their chance and kill the grabber escaping, Bruce has to literally carry Vance, Robins arm is broken, they’re all messed up and end up in hospital. Most end up in comas (for plot convienece)

When Layla was going to visit the hospital, she was speeding bc she realised how terrified she was for her son and desperately wants to see him, she gets into a car crash and dies before she ever reaches him.

George refuses to take Vance in because he’s a delinquent and is now traumatised so after they can finally track down Jim hopper (bc Layla had put him in her will as who would be Vances guardian and just never changed that) by the time Vance moved to Hawkins season 2 is ending and Season 3 is starting.

So like he vaguely remembers Jim but not enough to want to go live with him in the middle of butt fuck nowhere.

•••

This might just be referenced and not actually done bc like, it’s just the show mainly.

The Hargrove/Mayfield family move to Hawkins in 1984 (billy16,Max13, because plot and I say so) (season 2)

On the night when Billy is supposed to attack Steve, he gets attacked by a demo dog (not badly just enough to see it at maybe get a bit hurt) outside outside the Byers house. The kids come out and see Billy basically winning against this monster through the sheer will of not wanting to die.

Steve helps him kill it with the bat, Billy gets given all the details and after a minor breakdown and trying to not believe it finally goes along. (Part of him still hoping it’s just a dream). Eventually he joins the party when they go to the tunnels because someone needs to drive and apparently that’s Billy.

Demon dogs get torched. Basically the same ending just + Billy.

•••

End of season 2/ beginning of season three

Vance gets to Hawkins and the fun can begin

(This is getting long so imma stop)

(If you want my other stuff for this au is under the tag= Call me family au)

[suspiciouslackofclowns]

The moment that Billy walks through the door, Steve’s anxiety spikes to one hundred.

It’s not often that something upsets Billy enough for him to cry. Sure, he might get a bit misty-eyed when he’s overwhelmed or angry, but even that couldn’t have prepared Steve for the sight of the blistered shade of red around his boyfriend’s puffy eyes.

He knows then that the blond must have cried on his way home. It hurts even more to think about the fact that Steve heard the car pull up about five minutes ago — sometimes Billy will hunt down his pack of smokes or spontaneously decide to check his oil before coming inside — but Steve’s heart drops when he realizes that he was actually probably sitting out there trying to put a stop to his tears.

“What’s the matter?” Steve asks gently.

All of Billy’s efforts to compose himself go to waste, because he chokes out a sob and bites his lip to keep it from wobbling. Steve has never sprung up from his seat so fast.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he croons. Wraps Billy up good and tight in his arms and frowns when another sob shakes him to his core. “Breathe, sweetheart, you’re alright. Just breathe.”

And Billy listens. He swallows thickly, throat clicking audibly, and takes a few calming breaths before he eventually sags against Steve.

“Sorry,” Billy whispers.

“You don’t need to apologize for anything. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

A brief moment of silence passes and Billy toys absently with the hem of Steve’s shirt. Then he exhales a large sigh and tucks his face into the brunet’s neck.

“My dad told me that he wants me to move back home,” he admits. “Said that living with you is making me lazy, and that he needs to whip me back into shape before I eat myself to death.”

Steve has heard some crazy shit in his lifetime, but this takes the cake. Every cell in his body vibrates with rage, and he instinctively clutches his partner tighter.

It’s no secret that Billy has put on a considerable amount of weight since he was discharged from the hospital. It’s also no secret that he laughs harder than ever, that he smiles more than he used to. And he still walks around shirtless whenever he can get away with it.

Really, all Steve cares about is that he’s happy. And Billy looks the happiest when he’s curled up on the sofa at the end of the night with a nice hot meal in his belly.

“Not happening,” Steve snaps. His voice surprises even himself, and he takes a moment to calm the burning anger in his tone before he speaks again. “You’re perfect how you are, Bill, curves and all. Neil’s a flaming dickhead for trying to say otherwise.”

Billy sniffles and presses closer to Steve.

“I have put on more weight recently…”

“Don’t care,” Steve snips, and winces. He compensates by pushing his fingers into Billy’s curls. “You’re not allowed to go to your parents’ house anymore. I’ll give Max rides when she needs them from now on, and I’ll see about getting the rest of your stuff out of your old room.”

His tone is final. Billy is quiet for a long beat, but then he chuckles.

“I’m an adult, Stevie. I can go where I want.”

“Tough shit, because you’re grounded.”

That earns a snort, which has Steve smiling as he noses a kiss into his lover’s hair. Billy goes quiet again after a moment.

“You really think I’m perfect?” he asks softly.

Steve gives him a particularly tight squeeze.

“Of course, my love. I wouldn’t change a thing about you if I could.”

As luck would have it, Billy starts sniffling again, and Steve shushes him as more tears trail down his cheeks.

He doesn’t mind that his shirt is getting damp in the slightest, or that this probably isn’t going to stop any time soon. He loves getting to comfort his Billy bear even though the more he cries, the more Steve wants to drive over to the house on Cherry Lane and slit some throats. That isn’t really his style, though, so he decides against it.

His trusty nail bat, however, should work just fine.

[lightly-lumiere]

Consider an angsty Harringroveson post-s4 au where everybody lived.

Steve, Eddie and Billy got together after the whole Vecna/Upside Down mess is solved. They’re quite happy with the three of them, supportive of each other and their unique traumas, although Billy struggles a just little bit more (i.e. literally being possessed, the much heavier scarring, tw: Neil). They take interest in each other’s passion, they do cute things together, have an amazing sex life, all the good stuff.

When the Party and everyone is hanging out though, Billy still feels like he doesn’t really fit with them. Always hovering on the outside, not really knowing what to say in conversation, no one really engaging with him. Most are still a little bit wary of him, don’t really know how to talk to him after everything that happened. Once the throuple is revealed to everyone, Billy immediately gets the sense that everyone (with the exception of Max and El probably) doesn’t really like him with them. Something to the effect of - “I get Steve and Eddie, but why him.”

Maybe almost everyone shovel talks Billy about hurting Steve and Eddie, making him extremely anxious about fucking up the relationship. Everyone else seems to think that he will. Steve and Eddie only get shovel talked by Max. Maybe there are occasions where Steve and Eddie are invited to things together, and Billy who knows when he’s not wanted doesn’t insert himself. He finds himself alone more and more. Maybe sometimes people outright forget that he is part of the relationship too. And Steve and Eddie, bless them, all this goes over their heads because they are blinded by the love of their throuple (cheesy I know), and just think that Billy needs alone time or just doesn’t want to be around people.

All of this makes Billy feel really sad and anxious, constantly asking himself when Eddie and Steve are going to drop him. Makes him insecure about his scars and all his baggage. And because it’s Billy he doesn’t know how to express how he feels or even begin to talk about it.

One night, the whole gang is at Steve’s house, having a get together. After half an hour of no one speaking to Billy and him not knowing how to start a conversation with any of them, just quietly ups and leaves to Steve’s bedroom. All of his bottled up feelings come flooding out and he starts to cry and break down. He collapses against the bed and sits on the floor. He tries to be silent, because for all his sadness he doesn’t want to mess up the evening for everyone.

Downstairs, a little bit later, Max notices they’re one head short and that Billy isn’t there. She’d picked up on the tension that the gang had when Billy was around and she’d tried to make him feel better in her own way when she could. They hugged a lot more now. She discreetly goes to where Eddie and Steve are sitting, dipping her head between them from behind. “Billy isn’t here.” She whispers and the two boys perk up immediately, looking slightly wide eyed around the room and sure enough they can’t find a curly blonde head. The rest are distracted enough that Steve and Eddie slip out and run upstairs, where Max said she thought she heard a noise.

They find Billy still in the middle of his break down. They immediately scoop him up into a hug on either side of him and hold him as he cries. Steve and Eddie sort of look at each other wondering about what’s happened. When the tears have dried up sometime later, they ask him.

“What happened Bills?”

“It’s nothing, I’m sorry.”

“Hey no, you don’t have to be sorry and it’s clearly not nothing.”

“You can tell us, it’s okay.”

And so he does.

Not sure how to end this but in my mind they figure it out and work on it together with the three of them :)

[also disclaimer: I don’t think the kids and teens would do this intentionally or maliciously. Also this is fiction, if you like certain characters and don’t like others that’s fine! I’m not gonna tell you what you can and can’t like]

[bakeryblood]

Baby Blues

Billy Hargrove x Male Reader

SFW

cw: Mentions of Pregnancy, Mentions of Abuse

Pt.1

________________________________________

Billy sighed as he rested his head against the cool wood of his closed bedroom door, trying to convince himself to to out. He wanted nothing more than to get his car and just cruise, and despite his father calming down considerably since they got the news it didn’t keep that heavy feeling that swarmed him every time he found himself in the same room as Neil.

A sharp pain in his chest hit as anxiety wrapped around and clenched his heart, he took repeated deep breaths in and out of his nose for a minute before raising his forehead off of his door and letting his hands trail down to make sure he had everything he needed.

Keys. Wallet. Cigarettes. All he had to do now was calmly and quietly make his way down the hall, through the living room and out the front door. The main reason he was so readily expecting a blow up from his dad was that he had quit his job recently, the one and only reason he hadn’t been sent off to the streets after dropping out. Not that his father had actually found it within himself to make the stipulation. He had Susan to thank for that.

Susan, round and heavily pregnant. So large it was a miracle she didn’t physically ‘pop’ at any given moment and she was only a little over half way through the nine months as far as he was aware. When Neil was one more good shove away from having him out of the door she had raised herself up off the couch and placed a hand on his fathers chest, speaking to him softly.

“Neil, Honey..Just let the boy get a job. He should be here when his brother comes..” She spoke up in his defense, for the very first time. Billy licked the split in his bottom lip and hung his head as he held his hand out.

“Thank you Susan. I wouldn’t want to miss that, would I, Dad?” The honorific dripped with sarcasm that seemed to be lost on the man as he sighed and then smiled at his wife as she rubbed her stomach.

Of course they didn’t know the gender of the baby yet, but Billy felt that the decision to call it his brother was just another stab at him and why it made Neil so happy to hear it. Billy was finally being replaced and he would be out the moment that infant hit the doctors hands.

Neil turned to look back at him and pointed his finger in his face. “You don’t get a job in the next three days then even his kind woman isn’t going to keep you in this house, hear me?”

“Yes sir.” He managed to keep a neutral expression as he made sure to give his father the eye contact he so often reminded and demanded from Billy when he spoke to him.

Opening his bedroom door and looking down the hallway at Susan humming to herself to the music she had playing off of the stereo in their bedroom as she neatly folded the recently purchased baby clothes into little squares and placed them in the small dresser they recently made an addition to their bedroom. Max’s door was shut and he could only imagine she was also listening to music to drown out the oldies playing down the hall.

He took one more deep breath as he took a step out of his room and pulled the door shut behind him, then slowly made his way down the hallway until he reached the edge where it met the living room. He could hear Neil talking to someone on the phone, his tone was so incredibly pleasant that anyone in that house could easily realize he was putting on airs for the person on the other end of the line.

Billy couldn’t help but press his back against the wall and listen in.

“Yes. Yes, that sounds very reasonable.” A few seconds passed as Neil listened to whoever was on the other end of the line before responding. “Our daughter will be in school and the other works until six pm usually so if no one will be getting in her way.”

‘The Other’ fucking bastard.

“Right.” Neil chuckled warmly at whatever they had said and then exchanged the phone to his non dominant hand so he could begin scribbling on something.

“Right, We’ll leave the check in the mailbox before we leave and the list will be on the fridge. Make sure you tell her to call the number at the bottom if the eldest is EVER home when she is here.” Neil let his eyes come up to loom at the hallway before tearing the check off at the perforated edge.

Who the hell was he talking to? Was he really getting a babysitter for Maxine or something?

“We’ll be home Thursday night, let your mother know we appreciate her coming and doing this such short notice. We’ll be sure to recommend her services to our friends and neighbors if it’s as top quality as you say. Thank you again, have a good rest of your night.” With that sign off his dad hung the phone back on the base with a clack of the plastic and then rose up out of his chair and headed for the kitchen to do what he needed to do.

Billy was saw the perfect opportunity to slip through the living room and out the front door and he took it as the phone call still had his attention. Services on short notice? He couldn’t imagine someone’s mother was actually going around and babysitting teenagers. Whatever it was Billy was beyond irritated.

Not because his father was taking Susan on a three day trip to visit her family after the doctors appointment tomorrow, but because he was seemingly screwed out of being home during some sort of time frame he had no idea on. It managed to stay on his mind the entire time he drove, listening to his tapes.

After a solid hour and a half of cruising and a trip to the gas station to fill his baby back up he pulled back into the driveway as quiet as possible thinking over his options. Pretend to leave for work like he had been, come back and re-write the list minus the phone number and then convince the woman that their kid must’ve heard Neil wrong.

It was more effort than the wanted to have to put in but it was his only option. He didn’t have shit to do in this town, especially nothing to keep him occupied for four days.

‘Fuck it. Solid plan.’ He rolls his eyes at the situation before sneaking back inside and going to his room, settling into his bed in his clothes to save himself the time and effort of getting dressed again when he’d have to wake up, much sooner than he’d to.

________________________________________

Billy groaned as he heard the sound of his bedside alarm clock blaring a mere six hours later. He flung his arm out in an attempt to find the button to make it stop without pulling his face from his pillow before settling for smacking it off of the bedside table.

Throwing the blue comforter off of himself before doing a push up off of the bed, sitting for a moment, rubbing his face as he looked down at the surely broken alarm clock. “Hated that thing anyways.” He rose up off of the bed and stretched in front of his mirror as he listened to the general bustle of the Hargrove household. He supposed it was just Susan and Neil making so much noise since Maxine would be at school already given it was almost nine thirty.

He almost missed taking the little spitfire to school, the less time they were forced to spend together the less animosity he felt towards her. It wasn’t her fault her mom fell for that douche bag and decided to let herself get knocked up. He’d also given up on blaming her for the move.

She had been right, it was his fault. He could sit and mope about the situation that led them to move here or he could let it go. It had already been a year and he was sure they had moved on, there was no reason to fight so hard to get back to California.

Billy filled his pockets once more and exited the room just as his father was rolling two suitcases down the hallway past him. He stood and waited for a moment before following, knowing they were headed the same place. Once he was on the front porch he pulled out his pack of cigarettes and lit one.

Maybe at one point that would have set Neil off, smacking the shit out of him and knocking the lit cigarette to the ground. But with the baby on the way he was just content that Billy seemed to not be smoking inside the house, something he had spent the first two months drilling and training him to not do. At least to his knowledge.

The kid was coming whether Billy wanted it to or not and the last thing he was worried about impacting it’s health was a little cigarette smoke.

Neil lifted the suitcases into the bed of the truck and looked back to the porch where his son stood, refusing to look at him. “Don’t be late.”

“I won’t be, you act like I’ll get stuck in traffic.” Maybe, just maybe, Billy had come to feel a little bit invisible over the passing months. Maybe that’s why he didn’t try to mince his words as much with his father. Maybe he missed the conflict subconsciously.

But as Neil made his way back up onto the porch and silently passed him by to go inside the nervous itch that crawled along Billy’s skin as he came and went made it all to clear that he was still intact terrified of that man. Constantly expecting something. These next four days were going to be a dream compared to regularly feeling like a prisoner in his own home.

Billy threw the cigarette butt down onto the floor of the porch and stomped it out before setting off for the car to go occupy himself just long enough for them to get on the road. As he drove out to the gas station that sat at the edge of the city limits and pulled around to park behind the build he thought it over more.

Since he’d been out of school what had he actually done? Besides sleep. He used to hold himself to a higher standard than others, he didn’t eat junk food or stay up all night just for the hell of it. His body and taking care of it was important to him, it was one of his only assets. But since moving here he’d dabbled in drugs a little bit, at a house party or something, drank enough beer that he’d have to work his ass off to make up for the extra calories.

But after he dropped out it just felt like it didn’t matter as much. It wasn’t that he was gaining weight and that was what made him notice it, it was the opposite. He’d noticed he was losing the definition he’d worked so hard to get. Sleep, go out and drive, come home and maybe eat what Susan cooked if he could bring himself to be in the same room as Neil and then go to sleep. He’d cut working out from his daily schedule now that he wasn’t applying himself in sports.

Even today, his plans included going home and going back to sleep once he saw that familiar red truck head out of the town towards the interstate.

Billy looked in his rear view mirror and ‘tsk’ed’ at his mess of curls, bedhead ridden as he used his fingers to try to rearrange them to no avail before tossing his hands back down onto his lap. Why bother. There wasn’t one person in this town that was worth him trying to impress.

That’s how he felt in that moment and it continued all the way back to his house as he tromped back inside. He could have went to his mirror and fixed himself up, he could have dressed down into some shorts and went to his weights.

But he settled for throwing himself down onto the messy bed after pulling his shoes off. Sliding his arms under his pillow as he laid on his stomach, falling back to sleep relatively easily.

Not even the sound of someone coming in the front door loudly a few hours later could wake his sleeping form.

Y/N huffed as he dropped his messy, stained canvas duffle bag at the front door. Lugging that thing on and off the bus was a pain in the ass, but getting his license had seemed to turn out to be an even bigger pain as he found out. He leaned against the front door and pulled the folded check out of his pocket and unfolded it, holding it up so he could read it.

Everything was filled out except for the place for him to put his name before he cashed it. The amount wasn’t correct. It was thirty five dollars more than he’d relayed to him a ‘deep clean’ would cost them.

The trip over was now seeming more than worth it to him as he grinned and slid the check safely back into one of the back pockets of his jeans, the one that didn’t have his Walkman tucked in.

Maybe Y/N wasn’t the most forthcoming with Neil Hargrove when he’d contacted his home number that night, having picked it up off of the business flyer on the community pin board outside of the local grocery store. He did have a mother after all, and she did clean houses, just not the ones he picked up for her instead.

That woman worked herself to nearly to death all through out his youth after his dad moved them here and then ran off. The least he could do is pick up the bigger jobs so she could stay home and ‘try to relax’ as she waited for the next call to come in. It didn’t help that their scum, absolute bottom of the barrel, landlord just raised your rent.

Y/N scoffed to himself as he made his way to the kitchen as thought it over. Must’ve been nice having them clean his units after the last three tenants left, nice enough to raise the rent an extra hundred a month. He was already working close at the diner that opened after the locally loved Benny passed and they were massively short staffed constantly. The line cook that had worked alongside him for a month just up and decided to not come in for his shift one night. And the night after that and so on.

It was unfortunate. Because even with that stupid little hairnet he was being forced to wear over his mess of cascading blonde curls and the irritated expression he almost always had on his face, he was really cute. Even so, they never got to speak outside of the kitchen. Y/N had this tendency to get side tracked or space out if he didn’t have his headset on blasting whatever was his flavor of the day.

Once or twice Billy, he knew his name well enough, had pulled it off when he couldn’t get them to look his way and give him assistance quick enough. Y/N reacted and smacked his hand away from his face, not expecting it to be them that he saw in his peripheral.

Even after he took his headset off and apologized the expression on the man’s face as his blue eyes bore into him as he took the hairnet off and set off for the back exit solidified your expectation that he might not come back in.

You successfully managed to cover for him for five, maybe ten minutes until he did come back in to your surprise. That look he’d have spoke volumes to you silently, you expected the small transgression to have been something much bigger to him and if that fucked you for the rest of the night then you would have dealt with it.

You had meant to catch him before he left for the night after close and give him a more formal apology, to tell him that you were not the type to touch people at all let alone in a way that hurts them. But the moment the front doors were locked up and you had come back to help them start in on the dishes he was already gone. And he never came back.

You’d heard the two high school girls that waitressed talking about him and his car, ‘sexy this’ and ‘sexy that’ but that he was so mean before he dropped out they never got the chance to ask to hang out with him. It sounded about right to you.

You looked at the kitchen table as you passed it and the dishes still sitting on it from mornings breakfast. Dishes filling the sink, trash overflowing in the trash can.

An insider looking in on the situation of a man hiring a cleaning service as a gift to his pregnant wife might gush at the idea. How thoughtful of him to pay someone to help keep her off her feet. Fuck that. The least that man could do is take the trash out, pick up his own dirty laundry and so on.

Y/N had been ‘the man of the house’ as his mom put it for years, he never expected her to do what she was paid to do for strangers for him. She also didn’t wake him up for school or see him off to the bus. She didn’t cook and then swiftly grab the dishes to start cleaning up after. He did anything and everything he wished his piece of shit father would and should be there to do.

He rested a hand on the fridge and leaned in to skim over the list left. ‘Dishes, trash, laundry, vacuum carpets, strip and wash beds. I trust that you can think of and do anything else you find necessary.’

Y/N scoffed at the end of the list. Of course he could think of a million things that needed done around the house before a baby was to be brought into it. The note simply rubbed him in all the wrong ways.

The tone in which it conveyed showed that the man was self aware that he wasn’t pulling his weight. Perhaps the children in the house as well but one could assume that he’s leading by example. Your kids aren’t your slaves. It isn’t their responsibility to keep the house clean when you fail to do so.

Sighing with disdain Y/N left the note where it was and took a moment to look for one similar for who ever they had coming to babysit their youngest child only to find nothing of the sort to be found.

Maybe they were a teenager already as well? Maybe they expected the eldest to cook or bring dinner home?

He was reading too far into this and quickly losing time he needed to get a head start on the house before he’d have to leave for his shift at the diner.

[hargrove-mayfields]

Back when things were still easy, Billy and Max used to have sibling days on the weekends when Neil wouldn’t be home, setting aside their issues to have just one day that was meant for doing something fun together.

The tradition had been dropped after the move to Hawkins, and Max thinks that’s where a lot of the strain on their relationship comes from. Without those designated times to let go of some of the tension building between them, they fall to pieces.

There’s one day in particular where it’s just Max at home all by herself, her mother and Neil having gone on a trip to the city she opted out of, when Billy shows up much earlier than he said he would be back, ruining the calm when he slammed the front door so hard a picture frame fell off the wall.

Neither of them say a word to the other, all she gets is an apologetic and glossy looking glance for the noise as he storms past her like she isn’t even there.

She doesn’t see Billy again for a long time after that, just hears the angry music blaring in his room. By now, she’s wisened up enough to know that meant he was probably crying in there, and though she doesn’t know what happened, she feels bad.

It’d been far too long since they acted anything like real siblings, not that they were actually related, but they used to be just as close, so after her brother’s been brooding for literal hours, she knows she wants to do something.

Her opportunity to bring it up comes when Billy makes his grand appearance at her door, stopping by to ask if she ate dinner just so he, quote ‘wouldn’t get any shit for it.’ She nods in agreement and asks, “Do you know what day it is, Billy?”

He shrugs, “28th of June.”

“Well, doy, but it’s also Friday.” Billy raises an eyebrow, missing the point, and Max rolls her eyes. “Friday. You know, like, the one day we get to hang out.”

Too cool for that stuff anymore apparently, he scoffs and leans against the doorframe, and she just knows he’s going to say something snarky, so she turns the puppy dog eyes up a notch, “Please? It’ll be fun.”

It works, Billy sighs way over dramatic and steps into her room, throwing himself down onto her beanbag chair. She can’t contain the smile on her face when he asks with fake defeat, “What did you want, shitbird?”

“I want a makeover day. Like we used to do.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“Why?” She crosses her arms, “Just because that’s what I want to do?”

He fixes her with a look that says ‘seriously?’, and explains, an edge of frustration to his voice, “No, because you know what’ll happen if I’m struttin’ around in nail polish and shit when Neil gets back.”

“They’re not supposed to come back until like, Monday though,” in response to her excuses, he mimics her in crossing his arms over his chest, so she tries harder to reason with him, “And we can always just take it off when we’re done.”

“That’s just a waste of your stuff, then.”

“Come on, Billy, please?” she’s out of actual arguments and he’s winning, so she brings out the big guns, the little sister privilege, the one surefire way she knows will always knock her brother off guard, “I miss you.”

He squints at her, seeing through the attempted guilt trip, but he can’t muster a frown, and he must know it wasn’t all fake, because he says, “Whatever.”

She knows that’s his version of a yes and he’s just too proud to admit he caved, so she squeals and claps her hands together, taking off like a shot to dig under her bed for the stowed away beauty kit. It’s a little wicker basket filled to the brim with nail polish and makeup, the same one they’d used years ago before everything went wrong, and it makes her happy, bringing the old thing back out.

She stops to put a record in her player, choosing Queen as the closest thing to a middle ground between their respective music tastes, they at least both weren’t supposed to listen to it, and drops down into the other chair beside Billy.

On the latch-hook rug in front of them, she starts to empty the basket, lining up all her brightly colored bottles of nail polish, slightly dried out after months of not using them. “What color?”

“Why do I have to go first?” Billy asks. All Max has to say in response is a know-it-all “Because I said so.”

“Fine. You pick.” The moment he says it he looks like he regrets it, Max is notoriously bad at making decisions, but she ignores him and starts holding up bottles anyways.

First, after few minutes deliberation, she chooses a pretty dark green, and he scrunches his nose and doesn’t say anything. She picks a purplish color, which he tosses away on the bed, a very firm ‘no’ that makes Max giggle. Then she gives him a bright orange bottle, and he holds in front of his face, studying it before turning that one down too.

“God, if I knew you’d be so annoying I would’ve just painted them all the colors.” She remarks, lining up her polishes so she could do just that.

“That’s actually probably not a very good idea, kiddo.” Looking a little panicked, he digs through the bottles himself, settling on one he pulls away and stares at for a second before handing it to her and telling her, “Just do ‘em red.”

It confuses her, but she agrees regardless, and makes him turn in his seat so he’s facing her and his hands are flat on the floor. His hands are a little shaky, so her paint job isn’t the best, she even drips some on the carpet, which she hopes her mother won’t notice, but Billy doesn’t say anything about the mess.

With his nails done she moves onto his hair, she wants to do double braids like how he taught her to do in her own hair, so she shoves his arm to get him to turn around. “Scoot.”

He lets her push him around until he’s in the right place that she can reach his hair, but once he’s facing the far wall he tells her, “Don’t you dare use that brush on my hair, Maxine.”

“Jeez, relax. I’m not gonna mess up your princess curls.” She mocked, but she still went for the comb to run through his hair instead.

She waited until she could get it through without catching on any tangles before bothering trying to talk to him. When Billy was upset, he tended to clam up, but she didn’t particularly like feeling awkward in the silence, leaving all the talking to the record player. “Can we talk about why you were mad earlier?”

“Nope.”

“Would you tell me if I told you about my day?” She tries, but he shuts it down again with an “Unlikely.”

“I’ll tell you anyways.” Max didn’t know what had happened with Billy, but she knew she hadn’t had the greatest morning herself either. “I had to ask Lucas to bring me home early because me and Mike got in a fight.”

Billy snorted, and spoke with just as much sarcasm as Max had used on him. She learned that from him anyways. “You and Mike? No.”

“Yeah. He was being a total ass about El, trying to like, own her or something, so I told him to lay off ‘cause that’s totally not fair.”

She knew that Billy, having graduated and turned 18 now, was probably getting a little old for this type of drama, but he was a good listener, no matter how much he pretended not to care, always giving little bits of insight and saying things to make her laugh.

She continues, “Well, anyways he like, totally bit my head off for sticking up for her, so then I told him he was just a miserable mouth breather who’s jealous of El being happy, and he tried to kick me out.”

Billy laughed at that, muttering a little ‘ow’ when the action made Max pull his hair, “But you left before he could kick you out right?”

“Duh.” She sighs a little, the fun part of the story over. “Then when we pulled up outside, Lucas said something stupid about it being my fault or whatever, so I dumped him again.”

“Good. I told you not to take any shit from them anymore.” Billy had been less than happy with her friends a lot recently, when she’d come home from school or from hanging out upset over something they said. They never meant to hurt her feelings, but Billy didn’t like it all the same, and made her promise she’d stand up for herself a little more. Like she did to him.

“Yeah, I guess.” It makes her feel light on the inside, to know Billy was proud of her for following his advice, in his own way at least. “So? What happened to you?”

He shrugs again, and blows her off, “It’s nothing.”

“You were crying.”

“Yeah, and it’s none of your business.”

“Maybe not,” she fumbles with the braid and loses it, Billy’s stupid uneven mullet making it way too hard to braid so many different lengths of hair, “But I’m like, an expert now. El says she likes my advice.”

Under his breath, Billy mutters, “‘Course she does.”

Max purses her lips and pretends she didn’t hear that before continuing her offer, “Anyways, I can always try to help.”

“Listen, it’s just stupid dating stuff. Nothin’ you need to be worrying about.”

“But I’m a girl. I can give advice about that.” She thinks about it for a second, “I mean, I know more about being a girlfriend than having one, but it’s probably about the same.”

“Maybe.” Billy mumbles, focusing all his attention on picking at the nail polish that had missed the edges of his nails, and just from the way he tensed up she can tell she’d overstepped Billy’s boundaries in some way or another.

She finishes of the braid she had already started over twice now and puts a blue scrunchie on the end of it, giving him a minute.

When she starts combing out the rest of his hair is when Billy speaks again, not a drop of his distinctly Billy attitude in his words as he admitted softly, “You know, shitbird, I never said anything ‘bout having a girlfriend.”

That’s confusing to her at first, because he had just told her it was a dating thing, but Max’d been hearing all the nasty things Neil said about Billy for years now, and while she might just be a kid, might be the clueless and annoying little sister, she still knew the weight of what he’d just admitted to her.

It had always made her sad, to know Neil didn’t really like Billy, all the mean words he used, ones she wouldn’t dare repeat, to describe Billy and his friends, all the lies he told about him behind his back. But she doesn’t buy it, what her asshole step-dad had to say.

Her brother was cool, and she liked hanging out with him, when he wasn’t being such a jerk. The fact that he had a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend didn’t change that in the least bit.

She hums, trying to gather words and, her voice strained against the outburst of happiness, says “See? I can totally help with boy stuff.”

[catharrington]

Chasing Pavements. (14 chapters, teen)

Click here to listen to this perfect & beautiful playlist created by @harringrovess

Click here for the moodboard its lovely and matches the tone wonderfully by @draculcid

Prologue:

“You’re never going to be anything!”

That’s what Neil had yelled at Billy’s back as he left for college. As he turned his nose up at the college his father’s friend pulled some strings to get him into. Turned his nose up at staying close to family, working for the family. Helping the family.

This cluster of people living inside their tiny house were never family. They never went out of their way for him, or helped him. Not once. Even if his father insisted every damn thing he did was for Billy’s well being.

All the punches, all the kicks, all the slaps. All the locks on the doors and the missed suppers that were supposed to be teaching a lesson. All the countless lies to the nurses about Billy falling down steps.

None of that was for Billy’s well being. The only one who ever had that in mind was Billy. Not Neil Hargrove. Not his blow up doll of a new wife. And not his freaky red headed step-sister.

Just Billy. And he has a duty to keep looking out for himself. And that meant moving from their haunted mirror-maze of a family home in California all the way to New Jersey.

“On the other side of the country,” his father had said. Had rumbled the disappointment in his voice before Billy could even get out any more details about the school. “You wouldn't be able to visit, ya’know that. Huh? What, don’t want to stay around family?”

Billy’s starting to hate that word. Family.

He drives the Camaro to a used dealership lot. His baby, his 79’ ‘rebuilt from the bottom up’ baby. But he holds up the keys and this slimy guy is offering a lot more money than just the price of the plane ticket so Billy’s got to bite.

Because he’s gotta get out of California as quickly as he can.

He makes a stop at his current high school girlfriend Christine’s house. And he’s sorry, he really is. His chest swells with how sorry he is seeing her face splinter apart and crumble from the news.

She’s really pretty when she isn’t crying, floaty dishwater blonde hair and gray eyes. But when she cries she just kinda reminds him of his mother, back before she left. When she would sit on the floor of their Santa Monica bathroom and just cry. Her face twisting and contorting like she didn’t care if Billy saw it.

And he saw it. And he hates that he hates the sight of women crying.

Christine reaches out for the lapels of his jacket, so Billy takes a step backwards. Just out of her reach. He shakes his head sadly, because he is sad it’s over. Just more sad it took so long.

“This is going to be the rest of my life,” he explains. His voice low just for her to hear.

Christine shakes with her tears. “I-I don’t get it? You said you loved me?”

“Yeah,” Billy exhales, “yeah, I mean I do. And I always will. It’s just, Chris, we’re 19. We’ve got our whole lives. And…,” he doesn’t continue, he just leaves it hanging what he means.

Billy doesn’t have any ties getting on the plane out of his home town and it feels really, really fucking good.

((My entry for the Harringrove Big Bang 2021 @harringrovebigbang 🖤 this is for sure turned into a little pleasure project and also lordly more work than I set out for. But I’m so happy how it came out! And it was so much fun working with a group! I hope y’all enjoy 🖤🖤🖤))

[gravegroves]

Last line however much I wanna share tag.

Tagged by @ihni <3

(Neil is the mindflayer AU)

When Neil comes through the door almost 30 minutes late for dinner, Billy knows it's gonna be bad.

The man has a history of going to bars when his day hasn't been ideal and a drunk Neil is less controlled, spews cutting words as easy as breathing.

Hits harder.

Billy should be on the way to meet Karen Wheeler by now, would have been if she'd not had a crisis of conscience and changed her mind before his shift was over. And it's not like Billy's been gagging for some sagging tit or anything, but it would have gotten him out of the house tonight, out of the line of fire and for that he hates Karen just a little.

Susan flits about the kitchen like a nervous butterfly to pad the time, trying to make it seem like they aren't waiting for someone while the food gets cold. She knows just as well as Billy how much Neil hates it when they start dinner without him.

Billy's knee bounces jerkily under the table where no one can see.

Max is ignoring him, just like she's been doing all summer and Billy ignores her right back.

It's surprising how much it bothers him to know he finally pushed her too far, but if he's being honest, deep down he knows he deserves it.

He's tried buying her shit.

Got her a new skateboard when the silence became like a needle in his side instead of the blessing he'd always wished for and far more annoying than any of her stupid backtalk ever was, tired of it all and wanting her weird punishment to fucking end already.

Found the board snapped in half on his bed the next day.

He's tried toning down the music, not to scare her by driving too fast, waiting patiently for her after school even when she's fifteen minutes late...

But she doesn't break, stubborn in a way she never used to maintain in the past. Now her patience seems endless. The only words she's spoken to him have been unavoidable ones and usually at home where Neil or Susan might question it otherwise.

Max isn't scared of him anymore.

And it's fucked up that he wants that back, just so she'll talk to him again. He knows that but...

Now, Max looks at Billy and there's nothing. He's made himself nothing in her eyes and it just makes him more angry to know he did it all to himself.

He bounces his leg too far and hits the table. The cutlery tinkles and the plates clatter.

They all jump.

Max whips around to glare at him. 

Billy's about to open his mouth to snap at her, patience on a knife's edge and not in the fucking mood, when the sound of Neil's truck rumbles into the driveway and screeches to a halt.

They both freeze.

Susan quickly sits in her chair, picture perfect and ready to play happy family for the millionth time. Billy swears he even sees her practise a smile.

Jesus Christ.

Footsteps thud on the front porch. Billy breathes in and out. The door swings open, slowly.

And Billy knows it's gonna be bad...

He just doesn't expect the gun.

Thoughts race through his mind all converging on the single conclusion that he's finally done something that pushed Neil too far.

Maybe Billy fucked up. Wasn't careful enough and Neil somehow found out about that one visit two towns over when Billy couldn't stand the itch any longer.

Maybe he found the weed under Billy's desk. Neil always said he'd kill Billy if he touched the stuff.

Maybe he finally got fired from work -- is going off the deep end and about to take them all down with him.

Susan is half out of her chair again, eyes wide.

Billy wants to lash out at her for even moving, wants to flip the table with the pale yellow table cloth and dinnerware to match and scream at her for daring to look surprised -- for being so fucking naive.

You knew what you married, you've seen what he's like and yet you're still here!

She's never had a problem looking the other way when Neil goes to town on Billy. Now she's gonna look away as he kills him.

Distantly, some part of him is laughing.

He always hoped he would make it to eighteen and be free of all this. That he would jump in the Camaro on graduation day with a couple of boxes in the back seat and just go.

That ugly laughter thinks he should have known better, a bit of Susan-level naivete on his own part.

"Dad..."

Billy's words have never meant anything to Neil. They antagonise even when he doesn't mean for them to. And Billy hates himself for being so weak, for thinking there might even be some small part of Neil he can appeal to, one that doesn't hate Billy's guts as much as the rest.

Because Billy has never wanted to die. Even on his worst days.

"Dad," He tries again.

Pathetic.

But Neil doesn't spare Billy a glance.

He stares down to the left of Billy and that's--

Neil raises the gun.

And points it at Max.

And it's like the world slows down.

Confusion.

Terror.

Because Billy might be a piece of shit, but he never ever wanted Neil to set his sights on Max, even if there were times when Billy questioned why he didn't. Howled at the unfairness of it all. He never wanted this--

"Neil!" Susan screams and Billy knows that's a mistake. 

He dives. Takes Max and her chair and that goddamn yellow table cloth with all the food down with them.

The shot is loud. There's the sound of a scuffle and a fist hitting flesh and Susan smacks into the kitchen counter and falls to the ground unmoving. Billy can see her slackened face under the table.

The one time she stood up to him and it was far too late.

Useless.

Billy is shaking, staring down at Max staring up at him, terrified.

Measured footsteps approach them and Billy turns to watch Neil's feet walk towards them from under the table.

He stops.

Billy looks up.

Neil's expression hasn't changed and that's the scariest thing. He looks… unaffected. He lifts the gun again and Billy kicks out as hard as he can, right on Neil's kneecap.

And again.

The leg bends the wrong way with a crack and there's something so fucking off about the way the man goes down without a sound. Billy tastes bile on the back of his tongue.

Neil's head snaps around to look at them both, neck twisting with a sickening crack when Billy kicks at him again and connects boot to cheek. He does it out of instinct more than anything else, desperate to put some distance between them, like what you'd do with a tarantula coming straight at you. Every bone in Billy's body is screaming at him to get it away.

He feels a tug on his bicep and flinches bodily.

"Billy, come on!"

Max has crawled out from under him and is pulling on his arm, desperate tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes.

He scrambles up, avoids Neil's awkwardly bent arm reaching out for his ankle and almost trips over the table.

"Get to the car, Max!" Billy yells and leans down to pick Susan off of the ground, so surprised by how light she is he almost trips a second time.

Behind him, an odd cracking sound emanates from behind the table. Billy only catches a tiny glimpse of the scene unfolding before he bolts for the front door and out to the camaro where Max is waiting, wide eyed.

They get in, Max in the passenger seat, Susan lying unconscious in the back. Billy guns the car away as fast as he can, white knuckling the wheel. Doesn't look back.

"Turn left here. I know where to go." Max says, which is a goddamn miracle because Billy can't connect a single thought to another right now.

All he can think about is turning his head to look for the source of that awful sound and catching a glimpse of Neil… uncracking all of his limbs, popping them back into place, one by one, like a toy with twisted sockets.

What the fuck?

.

.

.

Tagging anyone who wants to join in. You're welcome to say I tagged you.

[sh1tbird-shantytown]

i got you homie

Imagine if Hopper was doing patrols and saw Billy storming out of his house as best he could with a limp and his dad screaming out the door after him. Hopper sees this and it's pretty easy to see what's going on there. He tells Billy to get in the car and he tells Hopper to go to hell, but then Hopper gets out and Billy has this visible moment of "oh fuck" but Hop goes right past him and into his house and arrests Neil

He didn’t usually go down Cherry Lane. But ever since he’d met Max, El’s new friend, he’d thought it’d be worth the extra lookout.

He knew which house it was, everyone would in a small town. The house the Carter’s had lived in before they moved off to Georgia. And also the only one with lights on so late at night. That’s what made him roll to a stop.

Billy Hargrove was limping right down the driveway with Neil watching from the doorway with a scowl.

Hopper wasn’t even surprised when Billy turned and gave his father the finger. Tried to be (and still wasn’t) when Neil raged down the stairs and grabbed the boy by the collar. Hopper set his hand on the door handle just as Neil threw his son down to the ground. Rolled his window down a little instead.

“—uch a disgrace. And don’t even think about staying here tonight! I don’t want to see you around here. You can go sleep on a bench, maybe you’ll learn then!”

To anyone outside besides Hopper, it could look like a father giving his disobedient son an empty threat. Except, even in the dim streetlights, Hopper had noticed the bruised cheek. And that limp looked much more severe than just some sports induced rolled ankle.

Hopper kept his eyes on Billy as he rolled his car window down more, “Everything alright, gentlemen?” he called out. Although a hint sarcastically. Both Hargrove’s jumped and looked at him with equally widened eyes. Hopper offered his best neutral smile.

Neil glanced at Billy before looking back up to meet the Chief’s eye, “Perfectly ordinary! Just dealing with business.” His go towards an innocent smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, not quite his soul either. Hopper damn near rolled his eyes.

Billy wasn’t looking over anymore, instead opted to stand up with the time away from Neil’s scorn. Probably his hands too.

“And you, Billy?” he directed to the kid, “Anything to say?”

Hopper, again, wasn’t baffled at the kid’s display when he responded with, “Oh, go to Hell!” Neil didn’t do much, to the untrained eye. But Hopper caught him readjusting his bulky wedding ring. Like he was waiting.

Hopper pulled the latch, cleared his throat as he walked to their driveway. Billy stepped back a few times till he was against the family car. But Hopper didn’t even glance at him. Went straight to Neil and grabbed his arm swiftly before spinning him around.

“Neil Hargrove,” he interrupted the sputtering man, “You’re under arrest for child endangerment. I think I could get a few years out ‘a you, hm?”

“What are you talking about?” spit flew from the bastard’s mouth. “You have no proof towards your accusation,” he seemed smug. Too smug.

“Yes he will,” a small voice rang loudly and mingled in the outside atmosphere. Two figures were illuminated by the warm inside light. Max stood astutely, glaring at Neil handcuffed. “Isn’t that right?” she turned her glare to her mother beside her. As though she dared her to deny.

“Susan?” Neil started to breathe more rapidly.

The older woman didn’t look at any of them, instead looked off at Billy, still standing petrified against the car. Hopper thought he looked like a little boy. It reminded him of his own daughter after she’d seen scenes from horror movies. Or Will Byers when he’d started having his episodes. Or even little Johnathon Byers years ago when Lonnie was still allowed in town.

Hopper yanked the cuffs tighter, ignored Neil’s weak howl of protest.

Susan nodded slowly, “I can attest. I’ve been...” her eyes filled with tears, “I’ve been witness. Just—Get him out of here!” she demanded. Hopper didn’t flinch at the break to her voice and the obvious hostility she felt. He knew it was towards herself. The regret that ate at her. She ran down the stairs. Her slippers made her slip a few times but she made it closer to Billy. Didn’t touch him as Hopper dragged Neil Hargrove over to his the police car.

“Are you alright?” she asked softly, “I— I didn’t—“ she placed a hand over her own mouth.

Billy only answered after Hopper slammed the door in Neil’s face. When Hopper looked back and they made eye contact.

“I’m just...tired.”

It wasn’t fixed, but Hopper knew that look too. It was similar to when his own late daughter accepted she was happy enough. It was the Byers’ when they finally got the restraining order. Christ, it was himself when he’d gotten his second chance with El.

Yeah, it wasn’t fixed, but it was something better.

“Goodnight, son.”

[mediocre--writing]

Billy reconnecting with his mother somehow, whether she hears about Starcourt, they get in touch through letters, or maybe even Neil’s funeral - your pick! You can also come up with a new scenario.

Maybe it’s before him and Steve are actually friends. They’re still a bit hostile but seeing Billy with his mother changes things, even if just a little.

steve wasn’t quite sure what to think.

all through his life, he’s been told by his parents that when someone dies, it is a time for reflection and sadness. you will move on eventually, but it can and will take time to adjust.

which is why he was so confused when, after hearing about the heart attack that killed neil hargrove, why max didn’t seem to be all that sad.

she was hanging around the boys the same as she always did, she didn’t seem all that affected by his disappearance from the world.

the only exception was how she was with billy.

she doesn’t yell at him when he comes early to pick her up or when he honks rather than coming up to knock on the door.

they’re not as tense.

come to think of it, steve doesn’t think he’s seen max’s shoulders slouch around billy until just this week.

but steve’s been picking max up the past few times, the hargroves finalizing the funeral plans and all.

but there was a new car parked on the street. it was the same blue color of billy’s camaro but it was an older, chunkier model, though it shined as if brand new.

steve honked for max twice, waited about five minutes total, then decided to just go knock.

he and billy had made “amends”—enough to be civil—and he was kind to susan and knew max had to be there (her bike was on the front lawn)

after knocking, steve waits another minute and a half before the door opens, susan is tearing up a little, but invites him inside anyway.

steve’s thinking about how aggravated dustin is going to be about steve being late to pick him up.

but once he comes into the house, he forgets about dustins wrath and focuses on the uncomfortable atmosphere in the house.

max has a cup against a door in the hallway and susan is cleaning up pots and pans in the kitchen. he assumes billy—and possibly the mystery car owner—are in the room max is spying on.

steve mouths a ‘who?’ referring to what she’s listening in on.

she looks as though she’s going to respond before her attention is drawn away by a noise inside the room, one that could be heard without the glass.

it doesn’t take but a few seconds for max to scramble up and quickly seat herself at the dinner table steve was standing near and the door opened to reveal two people.

a woman, tall and blonde and had crows feet around her eyes, though it didn’t deduct from her obvious beauty.

behind her, linked by their hands, walks billy, who looks happy despite the tear tracks on his face.

“you’re a very bad spy, max,” she smiles and winks at max, who blushes at being found out. “but you can always improve. don’t wear shoes, they make noise. try socks, instead,”

max just nods and messes around with the glass as she tries to force the blush away.

steve thinks his presence just goes unnoticed because billy has draped his arms around the woman’s shoulders, resting his head next to hers and she rubs his arms in response.

“and who’s this handsome boy?”

“babysitter,” max offers. “not that we really need one, but he drives us around,”

“how sweet,” she smiles (it seems as though you can never adapt to how shockingly kind her smile is, no matter how much she does it). “do you go to school with boppy?”

billy, gently, knocks his head into his mother’s with a groan, whispering something about her ‘shutting up’ and she responds with a light, tapping slap on his arms.

“he’s embarrassed, let me rephrase. do you go to school with billy?”

steve, storing the nickname ‘boppy’ for later ammunition, nods to her question, “yes, ma’am,”

“carrie, nice to meet you,” she smiles, again.

“well, me and steve are gonna head off now!” max says as she jumps from the table and dragging steve out of the house.

“what was that about?” steve asks once they’re buckled in and he’s started the car.

“so... neil died,”

“i’m aware,”

“and carrie—billy’s mom—had heard through a newspaper back where they used to live that he’d died and found the address for the funeral and figured out where we lived by asking around and—“

“you’re allowed to take a breath, max,” steve joked, but max just looked lost in her own thoughts.

“he’s been all clingy and—and different now that she’s here,” max said, quiet and off handed.

“well, he hasn’t seen her in—“

“i think he was 7 or 8 the last time he saw her,”

“so 10 years,” steve was trying to pay attention to the road and keep an eye on max. “he’s bound to miss his mom,”

“what if he leaves?” max ponders quietly, “what if he doesn’t want to stay here and he goes back to california with her. he has no obligations to me or my mom, so why should he stay?”

“max—“

“no! he should go! if he doesn’t care enough to stay then he should just leave!”

“has he even said he wanted to leave?” steve asks, a little amused at max’s overreaction.

“a million times,” max looks around the car and out the window. “it was all he could talk about for months when we first got here,”

“what about now? recently?”

max shrugs, “i don’t know... not really?”

so steve does some thinking. while he picks up the other kids and when they’re off playing around the arcade.

he thinks about how stressed max is. thinks about susan’s tears that afternoon. thinks about how at ease and gentle billy looked while hugging his mom and whispering with her. thinks about how gentle billy has been this past week or so... right since neil was hospitalized for complications after a heart attack.

after all his thinking, steve makes a plan.

billy looks up from the hood of his car to a knocking on the garage wall. he’s interested, however, upon seeing steve standing there.

“yea, harrington?” he asks with a little eyebrow quirk.

“i just wanted to talk to you,” steve offers a half smile, “about max,”

“go right ahead,” billy leans against the counter along the wall across from steve, relaxed and wiping grease from his hands.

“she’s afraid you’re going to leave. she thinks your mom coming to see you means your leaving her,” steve looks around the small garage, “it might be true, i don’t know and i have no right to your life, but please talk to max. i think she’s really scared you are going to give up on her now. thinks you have nothing holding you here, but i know that the two of you have been getting closer and more civil, if not friendly,”

billy stares at steve for a minute, uses a blank stare—not threatening, but not kind, just blank. “i’ll talk to her, thanks,”

billy smiles at steve before he goes back to working on the car.

steve sees this—this something in his face. the smile wasn’t teasing or flirtatious. it was warm and showed actual thoughts behind it, almost made him glow. mad him look like his mom.

and—let’s be honest—the town of hawkins isn’t by any means large. people knew neil hargrove wasn’t the kindest man and max had alluded to his acts of aggression without explicitly stating anything numerous times, but billy is completely different now.

that’s not to say neil hargrove deserved to die—had it coming, maybe—but this was most definitely not the same billy hargrove that steve had seen screeching into the school parking lot.

and wether it was neils absence, carries arrival, or a mixture of both, steve could see a california glow wrap the boy in rays of sunshine, even on the dull, cloudy days in hawkins.

“you gonna stand there for a while or what, harrington?”

steve hadn’t realized he was staring at billy, who was smirking (though not maliciously) in his direction.

steve stuttered, finally excusing himself from the garage and going out to his car, going home.

he attended neils funeral. many people showed up, just out of a neighborly obligation, and it was a quick, run-of-the-mill service.

the highlight of the funeral, in steve’s opinion, was turning around just in time to see billy and carrie leering over the hole that neils casket was in, and sharing a sly smile before, at the same time, spitting into his grave.

and the next week, after steve had noticed carries car missing from they mayfield-hargrove house driveway, and was delighted to see billy snapping at max to not be late as he dropped her off at the middle school.

he was even happier to hear, from max and the party, that carrie had rented an apartment in one of the complexes by the center of town, applying for a few jobs so she could hang around for a little longer. apparently, her and susan had a lot of shared interests and a mutual dislike for how neil treated children.

[dastardlydandelion]

So...what kind of horror movie would you write featuring the Hargrove/ Mayfield family? (That you haven't written already lol)

oh boy, u may regret asking me this bc i am indecisive af and i can’t pick just one!

two that i'm actually writing are max as (g is for) ghostface killer in the abcs of neil’s death and also the max + tory nichols werewolf movie fic outlined here. also some more misc gorror junk bc i’m a demon and esp horny for susan wearing blood splatter. but more ideas commence below:

horror movie #1: another creature feature! awhile back @lucdarling sent me an ask abt max + billy hiding smth from susan and her like, playing along, pretending she doesn't know, and one of the scenarios that popped in my head was them keeping a baby bat as a pet. max finds it and she’s only like six or seven, and she thinks it’s going to turn into a vampire. so here is that scenario except horror edition: baby bat is actually a vampire type creature. not rly a vampire like, what’s prolly popping into ur head, like an undead human like dracula or smth, but like a bat monster that sucks blood.

billy being a lil older doesn’t actually think the bat is going to turn into a vampire. he makes fun of max for believing this, but he helps her take care of it anyway bc he thinks it’s cool. susan, like in the non-horror version, knows abt the bat but plays dumb bc she’s feeling a lot of guilt abt max’s difficulty adjusting to the blended fam (as of rn tho, neil has yet to reveal his abusive nature. the red flags are not yet red, more of a brownish maroon, and he is on his best behavior almost all the time, showering susan + max with affection and keeping the swears out of his mouth when he scolds billy in front of them) and knows the lil furry baby makes her happy. she tacitly cleans up after the bat whenever the kids miss a spot (bats poop a lot, dude) and distracts neil, deterring him from discovering it whenever he gets close.

baby bat gets rly big rly fast. and the older it gets, the more it starts to look monstrous. it still has bat features but it’s just like, different. its fangs grow suspiciously long, its hooks grow suspiciously long. its feet are elongated. a dorsal ridge emerges from its spine, spikes at first just flesh but soft fur rather like peach fuzz eventually sprouting. billy catches on that smth is strange abt this animal when it's as long as his forearm after two wks and still growing. he nearly shits a brick when the bat is clinging to his sweater one day and he steps in front of a mirror and only his reflection looks back at him— no bat.

max laughs at him all like, “stupid brother, ofc there’s no reflection. nosferatu is a vampire, vampires don’t have reflections.” 😂

susan catches a glimpse of the thing when nosferatu crawls out of the home max built it in her closet the same wk billy realizes it doesn’t have a reflection, and also almost shits a brick. she doesn’t know what it is, but it’s NOT a fucking bat. not a normal one, anyway! cue a comedy scene where she’s chasing it around the house with a butterfly net and it’s always one flap *ba dum tss* ahead of her, flying just out of reach. she suddenly regrets not getting rid of it sooner, scolding herself for ever allowing her daughter to keep a wild animal.

she can’t catch it. max comes home, susan tells her she needs to get rid of it. max cries, flips her the bird, refuses. billy tho…billy has mixed feelings. he loves nosferatu but he’s worried it’s going to get dangerous. he loves his dad and his dad is dangerous too. he’s stressed out enough, always on edge, knowing that one way or the other, neil is going to hurt him again. he’s already waiting for his dad to hurt him, he doesn’t need the added stress of waiting for nosferatu to hurt him too. and while max is 100% nosferatu’s favorite, it likes billy too. billy’s been handling it since it could fit in the palm of his hand, it trusts him much more than it trusts susan and doesn’t know any different when billy takes it out of the closet when max isn’t around.

billy frees nosferatu at an abandoned farm. there are always bats flying out of the old silo adjacent to the dilapidated barn. while he knows nosferatu isn’t a *normal* bat, it’s still bat like enough that he thinks it might make friends and be happy here…

yeah, that doesn’t stick. before long, nosferatu is feasting on that colony. leeches the blood out of a couple bats nightly. the number of bats increases with nosferatu’s size. meanwhile, max mourns her missing friend. she’s sullen af and won’t speak to susan at all. she thinks susan is the one who got rid of nosferatu. billy never fesses up and susan doesn’t contradict max’s assumption bc she wants the step-siblings to get along.

neil, meanwhile, is getting more comfortable. those maroon flags are slowly but surely brightening to scarlet. he starts sabotaging susan’s plans with her friends, trying to keep her around the house more and more, quietly but steadily eroding her relationships with other people. he’s getting more visibly aggressive when he disciplines billy. he curses him out with a virulent venom that dunks susan’s stomach in ice water and scares max so badly, she runs to susan and hides behind her even though she’s still so mad that susan got rid of her beloved baby vampire.

nosferatu’s appetite surpasses what the bat colony can offer. it’s like the size of a ten yr old human child now. fucker’s big. it doesn’t just have fangs on top, but tusks on bottom. it can’t go out in the sunlight anymore, the sun sears its flesh. it misses max a lot and before, it wasn’t strong enough to fly back to her house. but now it is. it’s extremely strong, actually.

so bc it's hungry, nosferatu grabs a snack along the way. some nameless rando, it swoops down and sucks dry. nourished and much happier, nosferatu makes its way back home. patiently waits outside of max’s bedroom in the moonlight, tapping its hook against the window until she wakes up. initially max is a lil startled— nosferatu looks so different, there’s a beat before she recognizes it— him?? yk, ig it’s male, the og nosferatu was a guy. sure, why not, nosferatu is a boy now.

once she realizes who it is, she is so! happy! max opens the window and embraces her friend. she isn’t freaked out by the blood on its fangs. she’s always known nosferatu is a vampire, albeit, she was thinking he’d look more like dracula than this bat-monster-thingy.

nosferatu moves back into max’s closet. it hangs upside-down from her rod by its weird, elongated feet. we get more shots of nosferatu sucking rando ppl dry at night, tho he remains gentle with max. when max drags billy in to show her he came back, nosferatu is less friendly with him. he’s not aggressive with billy, but he is standoffish. nosferatu’s thought process is somewhere between human and animal. he doesn’t quite cognitively understand that billy took him to the farm with the intent of getting rid of him, but he does understand that the last time he clung to billy, billy left him alone and never came back. max puts two and two together, and realizes it was billy who “stole” her friend. she yells at him a lot, he yells back, she then ices him out.

billy acts out bc he’s upset. runs away, thinks he’s going to find his mom…the cops find him first and call neil. neil is rly embarrassed and pissed abt the whole thing. he breaks down and beats billy in front of the mayfields for the first time. nosferatu smells the blood and it’s time for the main event! we love dead!neil, yes, we do.

nosferatu flies out the closet and right into the living room where billy’s bleeding and teary but biting his lip so they don’t actually fall. susan’s covering max’s eyes but so shocked and tbh, FRIGHTENED, she doesn’t move a muscle beyond that. neil’s got the belt raised, preparing to bring it down again, and nosferatu smashes right into him. neil stumbles, turns back to see this freaky monster looking thing. proceeds to whip the belt at nosferatu. tries to fight him off with the belt and it doesn’t accomplish much beyond pissing him off more— nosferatu, like most classic vampire types, has a healing factor!

max rips her mom’s hands off her face in time to see her pet sink its fangs into her stepdad’s throat. nosferatu sucks neil dry. billy’s a little dazed, not quite frightened. susan is just dead ass frozen, too scared to scream, even. nosferatu crawls over to billy and nudges at him, making sure he’s in once piece and forgiving him in the same go. max darts over and that snaps susan out of her stupor, but she isn’t as fast as our blood-sucking bat monster.

nosferatu stretches his wings out and with a truly impressive wingspan, hugs both of the kids. <3

horror movie #2: a haunting! this one opens with a bang. it’s a tragic horror, beware. we’re in hawkins post s3. billy died at starcourt mall. neil’s obvi had a longstanding abusive mindset and abusive behavior, but he rly takes his grief out on susan and max. mostly susan. she does her best to protect max however she can, whether that means shielding her w her body, sending her out of the house, getting neil’s goat to inspire his ire in max’s place, etc. but sue simply isn’t around all the time and when she isn’t, but max is, well. yk.

one day neil comes home early (bc he lost his job for a violent outburst, tbh) and discovers susan packing a suitcase.

sue fights hard. she rly does. but neil is bigger, heavier, crueler, and to boot, he caught her completely unawares. he kills her. and no, no it’s not some accidental thing where neil makes one bad move rage-blind. he strangles her with his belt. she’s clawing at his arms and making these horrible choked, trapped animal noises. thrashes and twists her body with everything she has trying to get him off but he’s so strong, his grip is unrelenting, and she's growing weaker, lightheaded with the lack of oxygen. strangulation can induce incontinence and when susan blacks out, her piss streams to the hardwood— neil hears that as much as he felt the clawing and heard the noises, even now he could stop, but he doesn’t. he just. doesn’t think his wife has the right to leave him, esp not after his son just did.

neil burns the body and the suitcase in the woods while max is at school. max has been spending as much time as she can (and often with sue’s prompting) outside of the house, so it actually takes her about two days to realize her mother isn’t around. neil tells a pretty convincing story about how susan abandoned them, voice saturated with apology and sorrow. he takes her out for a fancy dinner and promises he’s going to be a better father-- that being a better father is the least he can do now that her mother abandoned her and they are alone in their grief.

max doesn’t know what to think. she’s been preoccupied with her own grief and pain. she finds it hard to believe her mother would just leave her to neil’s wrath. she has a lot of hangups with susan and anger toward her for marrying neil and not getting them out sooner, but she’s also old enough to realize there would be risks involved with that. it’s hard to reconcile the memory of her mother just last wk pinning max to the wall to protect her from neil’s blows with her own bod just abruptly taking off without a word in the middle of the night. but hey, maybe that’s why susan left. maybe she got sick of protecting her, maybe the pain got to be too much and she turned tail.

but also…it’s early october now, abt three months after billy’s death but still fairly warm outside. yet neil is wearing long sleeves. neil never used to button his collared shirts all the way up, and yet. every collar is buttoned. also, mom’s car is still here. why would mom leave without her car?

that ceramic pelican she loved so much is still here too, on the mantle in the living room. it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing she would leave behind, she's had it since max was a baby.

max almost wants to believe neil because she’d rather her mother abandoned her than be dead somewhere, rotting in a storage locker or a hole in the ground. under the earth with the worms, just like billy. max has the worst feeling low in the pit of her gut. she thinks she knows the truth. she thinks abt going to hopper and hesitates bc she’s not sure she could handle it if he actually found smth. or what would happen to her if he did, where she would be sent, who she would end up with.

this movie would be more on the ambiguous end of things. an arthouse horror, if u will.

the days turn into wks and neil is crawling in his skin. the viewer isn’t sure if the shadows he’s seeing, always, always susan-shaped shadows, are of a ghostly nature or if he’s just hallucinating out of guilt. but the signs gradually point to the former— that smth paranormal is indeed going on. bc those scratches and bite marks susan left in his skin?

they do not heal. they do not get infected. they do not become necrotic. but they do not heal, either. days turn into wks and the wounds still look fresh, like she just left them moments ago. neil can’t wear light colors anymore because his wounds weep red into the fabric. he isn’t just seeing susan’s shadows either, he’s smelling her.

he washes his sheets and pillowcases a dozen times and the scent of her shampoo, her lotion, it’s like it’s woven into the fibers. he walks into the hallway and chokes on the aroma of susan’s perfume. he wonders if max is screwing with him, if max figured it out and she’s trying to torture him into a confession. one day he stomps off to max's bedroom, furious, adamant on confronting her. he grabs her doorknob, prepared to yank it open and then lets out a yelp, jerking his hand back with a sudden sharp pain.

it feels like a bee sting (which would be esp bad for this fucker in anything i write, bc i headcanon him as being allergic). but there’s no stinger. no injury. nothing. neil is freaked out enough that he backs down.

max, on the other hand, is getting gentler signs. when she turns the radio dial in the camaro, it’s somehow always her mom’s favorite songs that come thru the speakers. when she goes to pull clothes out of her drawers in the morning, she discovers that the things she’d just shoved inside in wrinkled balls are perfectly folded, neat as a pin, exactly like how susan always folded. susan was always fond of cardinals and suddenly max is seeing cardinals, pretty red cardinals, in just abt erry tree and shrub.

neil wakes up one night to his wife’s voice whispering “boo” right in his ear. he throws the covers off and discovers ashes in the bed. he doesn’t smell susan’s shampoo or lotion anymore, he smells the kerosine he’d poured all over her body.

his wounds still won’t heal. whenever he looks in the mirror, he catches a glimpse of susan walking past behind him, peering at him from her peripheral. he whips around, heart hammering, but there’s never any tangible person there.

max is almost certain her mother is dead at this point. neil’s been so bizarrely nice to her lately. she never believed in ghosts but her experiences with the upside-down broadened her perception of reality. she doesn’t know how else to explain the songs, the cardinals, the folded clothes. the way that these days, whenever she does feel fear toward neil, it just fades away. her fear melts like popsicles in the sun, immediately replaced by the sensation of a warm, maternal hug, as if arms she can’t see are trying to reassure her she truly doesn’t need to be afraid of him anymore.

in fact, max feels so unafraid of neil and brave, that one night she calls him out on it. he’s grizzled and unshaven in his recliner, beer in hand. she steps in front of the television he’s vacantly fixated on and folds her arms across her chest.

“you killed my mom, didn’t you?”

quick as a flash, neil leaps to his feet. he brings his arm back like he’s going to strike her and susan’s ceramic pelican on the mantle explodes into shards. the lights flicker, the television program cuts to snow with a static roar. every other knickknack on the mantle rattles and framed photos tumble off the wall.

neil very wisely lowers his hand. he slumps, boneless. he doesn’t say a word. max sees the answer in his eyes. it’s the dead of night and she snatches the camaro keys off the hook, marching out of the house, slamming the door behind her. it’s the dead of night and she doesn’t care. she’s going to blow past every stop sign and pound on the chief’s door until he opens up. and fuck, i just realized if this is post s3 he’s supposed to be in russia. shit. i don’t watch this show, but i know abt russia bc i DID watch the clips of that demogorgon that i rly hope isn’t stuck in captivity!! okay, but let’s pretend that didn’t happen?

it’s an au?? i mean, errything i write is always technically an au anyway, bc when i write stuff susan has an actual personality and billy isn’t *completely* abhorrent. okay, so it’s an au and mr. hopper didn’t blow up and un-blow up in russia. he’s still here. so max drives to his house.

she pounds on the door so hard this guy snaps outta bed, thinking someone’s trying to bust it down. she tells him neil confessed to killing her mom. it isn’t true, exactly, but he didn’t have to. so it’s a helluva grim drive back to cherry lane, this time in the cop car.

but when they go inside, chief prepared to arrest neil, no need. neil’s hanging from the belt he strangled susan with, shirtless for the first time since that night, erry seemingly fresh furrow and bite mark on full display. below his dangling feet is a map, the area he burned susan’s corpse in circled in red marker. did he kill himself or did the ghost do it?

up to u, we soundlessly cut to credits without a concrete answer to that question.

horror movie #3: crossover special! stranger things meets the chilling adventures of sabrina. sequel to that fic i wrote where susan makes out with lilith, queen of hell, and lilith kills neil for her. sue officially joins the church of lilith. bc in this ‘verse the church of lilith actually happens after caos s2 instead of the nonsense that was s3 and the inconceivably godawful migraine-inducing shit-fest that was s4.

killing neil was lilith’s only freebee. susan isn’t a witch, she’s a mortal, so in order to reap the other rewards of worshipping the one and only mother of demons, she has to fornicate with the witches and participate in the sacrifices!!!

this is, uh, well. it’s p much a porno, dude, sorry. 😅

this is just an excuse for susan to have sex with lilith, zelda, marie, hilda, big witch orgies + susan. witches bathing in the blood of their sacrifices, susan so nervous and timid but unable to deny her desire. the witch’s dressing her in their gothic garb.

how does the rest of the fam get it on this?

max joins the church too. she has more age-appropriate conduct with sabrina and the weird sisters, and what have you. just smooches and over-the-clothes groping, and whatnot, even tho the weird sisters, at least, would be interested in going further if given the opportunity.

billy dies in starcourt again, so he gets revived in the cain pit! hilda is the one who goes to him after bc she’s been in the cain pit many a time (i am still BIG side-eyeing zelda for repeatedly murdering her sister since childhood). hilda understands how jarring it can be to come back. suddenly alive!billy is freaking tf out but she brings him inside the mortuary, wraps him up in a big blanket burrito and they have a talk. hilda explains that he’s going to be okay and rubs his back while he tentatively sips the hot chocolate she made.

after billy’s calmed down, she brings max and susan in. max and susan can’t do as much magic as the caos witches— they’re mortals, after all, it’s not in their nature —but they’ve gained some abilities thru being in the church, following the rituals, and being carnally involved with the immortal witches. max happily shows him some of her new magic tricks.

horror movie #4: another crossover with caos. heavily inspired by creepshow episode s2e1, model kid (which i already v blatantly referenced in the last axe snafu update and i’m not ashamed, bc it’s a good series i love v much).

billy picks max up from the byers’ place rly late one night. it’s dark and the weather is bad and okay, yeh, he might be a little high. and a little concussed. he pissed neil off pretty bad the other day and okay, actually he’s defo concussed bc he doesn’t even remember what he did wrong!

needless to say, they take a wrong turn somewhere. they end up in greendale. at first max is pissed. she yells at him a lot! yells so loud hilda can hear them thru the walls of dr. cerberus’s comic shop/diner. she goes outside to see what all the fuss is abt, hilda never rly ignores youth in need. we love hilda, she deserved so much better…i’m getting distracted, okay, back to the story.

hilda ushers them inside. max is like, “ooh, comics? horror junk and comics? nvm, i’m not mad anymore.” she pats billy’s arm and wanders away to go check stuff out! hilda makes billy sit down. caos canon established that she’s psychic, at least when she wants to be. she smells the weed but she also sees his life, his trauma. billy doesn’t remember what he did to piss neil off or the abuse that followed, but hilda sees it clear as day.

he’s rude and cranky w her when she probes a little too much for his liking. hilda gently but firmly reprimands him and gets him a milkshake on this house. then she goes to check on max. she steers max to a v particular section of the shop, the one that sells model kits. now, max isn’t *huge* into model kits BUT they are p neat and she enjoys them well enough. more so when the weather is nasty and she can’t go outside. or when she needs smth to do with her hands (a trait she shares w susan) to distract herself and ease some of the anxiety when she hears her brother being beaten or her mother being shouted at.

max is actually rly impressed by the array of models. vintage ones and newer ones. monsters, slashers, final girls, tiny accessories like knives and bloodied heads. but when she gets to the paint-your-own shelf, her jaw drops to the floor.

there’s one that looks just like neil. unpainted, plain gray vinyl, but undoubtedly her stepdad. the expression on the five inch figurine is one frozen in fear.

“i think that one’s calling to you,” hilda prompts her, with the softest smile.

max blinks away her bewilderment altho she still can’t speak. she turns to hilda and turns her empty pockets inside out. hilda just waves her hand. she tells her it’s on the house. that it wouldn’t be fair if she gave billy smth on the house, but not max.

speaking of billy, when he finishes his milkshake, he’s suddenly totally sober and healed!! no more high buzzing in his blood. no more pounding headache or concussion fogging his mind. he doesn’t feel his bruises anymore, rolls his sleeve up, and realizes they simply aren’t there anymore. like they dissolved off his skin.

albeit it’s muttered under his breath, but billy does thank hilda. then he and max are on their way. max shows him the suspiciously familiar figurine in the box. this night cannot get weirder.

max knows what to do with the model kit. she does. she isn’t sure how she knows, but she does. she grapples with it for a long time. neil’s the closest thing she has to a dad these days. and things aren’t bad all the time, ofc.

sometimes neil gives max a ride when mom and billy aren’t available. sometimes he brings her ice cream entirely unprompted. neil’s the one who picks max up off the sidewalk when she wipes out super bad on her skateboard, carries her inside and then later to the car when her cut doesn’t stop bleeding and she ends up needing stitches.

but most of the time he sucks. she can’t rly be herself around him. he's indifferent to her interest at best, scornful at worst. he would hate all her friends. he scares the shit out of her when he’s angry. he doesn’t have a problem belittling her mother in front of her, tearing susan to shreds and making her out like she’s lower than dirt, the most worthless person on the planet. doesn’t have a problem beating billy in front of her or glaring at her with the promise that she’ll be next if she dares to voice her dissent.

max doesn’t always want to do what she knows she’s meant to do with the model. bc she's kind at heart and bc on the good days, she genuinely does have mixed feelings toward neil. never enough to hope he'll be better, he's proven he won't...but maybe enough to hope he won't get worse, either.

then comes the night neil breaks ribs. bad, like we’re talking, a-sharp-spear-of-broken-rib-punctures-billy’s-lung-and-he’s-coughing-up-blood-bad. that’s a trip to the emergency room. in the days that follow, at her next dnd meeting w the party, max places the fully and attentively painted model of her stepdad on the table. normally her pals would protest her derailing the intended game, but they can sense it, yk, that smth is different.

max takes over as dungeon master to the protest of no one, all other mouths sealed as if bewitched and spellbound. she narrators a scene where the demogorgon devours neil and uses the demogorgon piece and the model for demonstration.

when max returns home, neil is strewn across the house in gory chunks and torn wallpaper curls around massive claw marks.

[moonlitwings1]

Icing on Top

Christmas cookies were a tradition in the Mayfield house, and Max isn’t going to let two obnoxious Hargrove men ruin it this year. They didn’t do it the year before because someone thought that cookies would be bad for his cholesterol. Old man problems, Max thinks. If Neil doesn’t want his cholesterol to increase or whatever, why doesn’t he just not eat cookies. Seems simple enough to her. 

Thankfully, Neil’s not here right now. He’s with her mom going last minute Christmas shopping. She could’ve gone with them, but she doesn’t have anymore money to buy anything, spent it all on the arcade last week. She’s just going to give Neil and her mom cards, same as last year. Thank you for being the best mom! Max internally cringes. It sounds so fake every time she writes it. It’ll be even worse to write one for Neil. For Billy...well, she doesn’t know what he likes besides music and being an asshole, so he’ll get a card too.

She doesn’t believe in Santa anymore. Stopped believing when Billy ruined that for her literally the day they met. Laughed in her face and told her she was stupid for not realizing her mom’s the one who puts the presents under the tree. She remembers going to her mom and crying because the new boy just told her Santa’s not real. Turns out, when you stop believing in Santa, you also stop getting gifts from him. So for a couple years now, Max has only gotten one gift under the Christmas tree instead of two like she used to. No more presents from Santa, but at least Neil was happy about that. He said that he never thought this Santa business was any good for kids. False idols or whatever. Religious shit she doesn’t care about. Neil acts like he’s oh so religious, but they go to church about five times a year, and the entire time Neil’s only focused on Billy, who is doing everything in his power to annoy Max.

Well, tomorrow’s Christmas and her mom bought a horrible red dress with little white fluff across the edges, the same kind she’s seen too many little girls wear. She’ll have to convince her mom not to let her wear that. Later. Right now, she has a different focus, cook book stuffed underneath her arm as she searches for the ingredients. 

“Flour, sugar, baking soda, butter, eggs,” she mutters under her breath, repeating the ingredients to herself over and over again. Sounds easy enough. She’s never made cookies by herself before, but wherever Neil is, her mom is, and she doesn’t want Neil to get in the way of her Christmas festivities, as he likes to call them. So for now, she’s going to have to figure out how to do this by herself. She’s definitely not allowed to use the oven without an adult, but tonight, she’s planning to prove that she’s not a fucking child. 

She had just gotten started on the wet ingredients when she hears the back door slam shut, making her flinch hard. You’ve got to be fucking kidding. They haven’t even been gone for ten minutes. Neil must’ve forgotten something. She thinks she’s screwed and frantically starts hiding the bowls when she realizes those steps were far too heavy and obnoxious to be Neil’s. Max almost lets out a sigh of relief when Billy struts into the kitchen. He’s an asshole, but at least he’s not Neil. 

She doesn’t know where he went, probably went to hang out with some girl like he always tells Neil, but she swears the cologne he’s wearing smells vaguely similar to the one Steve had on the other day. Maybe they’re friends now? Nah. Must be some new popular teen cologne, she thinks, rolling her eyes. She won’t give it much more attention. 

“The fuck are you doing?” he asks, the scarred eyebrow lifting. He sounds more interested than angry.

“Making cookies. Go away,” she spits before turning her back to him and bringing her focus back to the wet ingredients.

He hums, amused like he always is when he’s annoying her, “Don’t think you’re supposed to be making anything by yourself, Maxi.”

She pauses what she’s doing, closes her eyes, and lets out a long sigh, tries to control her temper. “I’m not a fucking child, Billy. Go away,” she repeats. “I can handle it. And don’t call me that.”

He peers over her shoulder to look at what she’s making. She tries to ignore him, but she can literally feel him breathing down her neck, and he’s standing way too fucking close to her. She knows he’s doing it on purpose. 

“Maaaax,” he whispers. 

She continues ignoring him, mixing the bowl furiously, but after another minute of Billy just standing behind her, he snorts like somethings funny. And that pisses her off because nothing’s funny right now. He’s just an asshole who’s ruining her Christmas. 

So without warning, she spins around, slams two hands into his chest and pushes him as hard as she can (which isn’t saying much, but she’s not going to admit that). Billy didn’t see that coming. She can tell because he actually stumbles a little bit. So she doesn’t stop there, tries to push him out of the kitchen completely before he regains himself. She wasn’t fast enough.

When he realizes what she’s trying to do, he laughs. It’s not even the scary laugh that he made while beating up Steve last year. He’s laughing at her. The fucking asshole’s making fun of her, and it does nothing to soothe her frustration. This time, she aims a slap at his face, but he catches her wrist before she could do anything. She gasps aloud because ow that stung.

“Ouch, you jackass! That fucking hurt!” 

She starts hitting him with her left hand, gets in a few good hits before he snatches that one away too. If he were any closer, she would bite his wrist. She considers kicking him in the dick, but he must see what she’s thinking because he spins her around and bear hugs her from behind, trapping her arms to her side. They’re both panting now, but one from exertion and one from laughter. 

“Jesus Christ, Maxine,” he laughs. “I didn’t fucking do anything to you. The hell blew your fuse?”

“Stop laughing,” she huffs, struggling in his arms and trying to glare at him, because he still has a sleazy grin plastered on his face. She can fucking hear it in his voice. “And get off of me!”

“You cool?”

She’s totally not cool, but she’s not going to tell him that. “Yes I’m fucking cool.”

“You su-”

“YES IM SURE, BILLY.” 

He chuckles one more time before letting her go. “Whatever you say, Maxi-pad.” 

She decidedly ignores his comment and rubs her shoulder from where his arm pressed into hers. “Can you leave now?”

“Not until you tell me what you’re making.”

“I already said cookies.”

“What kind?” Max knows he’s not actually interested in her cookies. He just wants to find a reason to bug her longer. 

“Sugar. What else would I make for Christmas, dumbass.” She’s lucky he doesn’t immediately attack her for calling him ‘dumbass.’ She probably shouldn’t push it anymore. 

“I want you out of the kitchen in an hour,” he snaps, “And you better not burn this house down.” He strides out of the room before she can reply but not before giving her a stony look that warns of death. Asshole. 

Alone at last. Even if Billy’s home, it’s not like he’s going to leave his room anytime soon. He’ll lock himself in there and stay put for hours. She wonders what he does in there for so long and slightly winces when his music starts vibrating through the house. Max lets out a long sigh. She forgot about that. He usually doesn’t put it too loud when Neil’s home. 

She tries to block out the music and focus on the task at hand. Do they have any more eggs? 

---

Twenty minutes later, Max is staring at the oven proudly, hands on her hips. The cookies are currently baking, and she has a good feeling about them. They’re not pretty, and they’re oddly shaped (since they don’t have any cutouts), but she’s sure they’ll come out ok. She’s not, however, looking forward to cleaning up the entire kitchen. Its a mess, bowls everywhere, and the hand mixer is dripping onto the floor, but she can clean it up later, preferably before Billy comes out of hibernation and screams at her about it. But for now, she deserves a fucking break.

She heads off towards her room, and lounges around for ten minutes, looking through some comics, while waiting for the cookies to finish.

Things were going so well. So fucking well until the fire alarms starts blaring and makes Max jump out of her skin. She hears Billy’s music suddenly shut off. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

She’s too scared to move. She doesn’t move when she hears loud footsteps walking towards the kitchen, and she doesn’t move when the fire alarm stops ringing. She definitely doesn’t move when those loud footprints start getting increasingly louder, coming closer to her room. She’s going to die. She’s going to be murdered by her own brother. She shoots a quick prayer to whatever god out there that maybe she’ll survive this one long enough, so she can tell her mom goodbye. 

Her door bursts open. 

“MAXINE.” She recoils from his voice.“ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID?”

When she doesn’t say anything, his voice goes deathly quiet. “I leave you alone for barely an hour, and you manage to fuck it all up.” 

Max still doesn’t say anything. She imagines she looks like a deer in headlights because she’s totally frozen, sitting on her bed just staring at him. It must piss him off though because he starts towards her. Thankfully, something turns on in her brain and she immediately goes and stands on the other side of the bed where he can’t easily reach her. 

“Jesus fucking Christ, I’m not going to do shit to you,” he says, running a hand over his face. When she still doesn’t move, utterly unconvinced, he continues. “I just want you to see what a bang up job you did of making those fucking cookies, so get out here.”

She’s still not totally convinced, but if she stays there any longer, he might try to drag her out himself so she’s just got to suck it up. She moves cautiously towards the door, side-eyeing Billy to see if he’s going to pounce, but he doesn’t. 

Thank God nothing besides the cookies were burnt. If anything was actually damaged, she wouldn’t even be alive right now. 

“I-I don’t know what happened, Billy. I literally followed the recipe so don’t try to blame me for this,” she snaps, turning around to glare at him.

He scoffs at her. “What happened,” he growls, grabbing the open cookbook and stabbing a finger into the page, “is that you didn’t read the fucking directions correctly and set the oven at 450 degrees instead of 350 degrees.”

Max looks at where he’s pointing and her spirit drops when she realizes that he’s right. It says right there, Preheat the oven to 350°F. She internally curses herself. How did she not see that? If she had just paid attention, she wouldn’t be in this mess. 

He watches her reaction and snorts. “Someone can’t read,” he says, and reaches out to ruffle her hair. She tries to slap his hand away, but it just makes him ruffle her hair harder. 

“Now clean-” But before he could complete his sentence, Max storms out of the kitchen, taking a wide turn around Billy so there’d be a smaller chance that he’d try to grab her. 

When she looks over at him though, it doesn’t look like he was going to anyway. She doesn’t know why he’s like this, why he always switches emotions every two seconds. Five minutes ago, he had barged into her room, murderous, and she was sure she was going to die. Now? Now he’s fucking joking with her. He literally just ruffled her hair like she’s his sister. She hates it. Why can’t he just be normal? 

She slams the door behind her and locks it as she walks in. Thankfully, Neil still hasn’t taken away her lock like he’d done for Billy, so she still has a semblance of privacy. She’s almost in tears, and she doesn’t know why. She’s just...frustrated. The sound of heavy footsteps come her way, and she immediately dives under her covers, pulling the duvet up and over her head. She’s embarrassed from her stupid mistake that Billy will inevitably make fun of her for. Thinking about it just makes more tears sting the corner of her eye. She wants to be left alone, but Billy’ll never let that happen. 

He pounds on the door. “Maxine, open up.”

She doesn’t answer, digging her head into her pillow harder. Maybe if she ignores him, he’ll leave. In the back of her head, she knows that that’s not what’s going to happen. 

"Hey shitbird, get your ass out here,” he says again, back to asshole mode and pounding harder on the door. “Did ya see the fucking kitchen? You better clean that shit up before Susan and Neil come home.”

She still doesn’t say anything. 

“Max,” his voice goes deadly quiet, “if you don’t get your ass out in the next ten seconds, I’m going to-”

“GO AWAY BILLY! I JUST WANTED TO MAKE COOKIES WITHOUT ANYONE BOTHERING ME FOR ONCE AND YOU JUST HAVE TO GO AND RUIN ANYTHING!” 

“You ruined that shit for your-”

“Leave me alone, Billy.” Her voice cracks when she says his name, and he must hear it because he does. She knows she’s going to have to clean the kitchen up eventually, but she can’t bring herself to right now. Maybe it’s because she’s going to start her period any second, or maybe it’s because Billy’s just a jerk, but she feels abnormally upset. Unreasonably miserable. Billy’s antics don’t usually put her in this bad of a mood, and she feels stupid for letting it. 

Ten minutes later, she hears him stomping around the house and the jingle of keys. The back door slams shut, and she knows he just left the house, probably to cool himself down before he actually murders her. 

She’s alone. 

----

Max wakes up startled from her nap with the sound of someone picking at her lock. She looks around widely for the time. An hour has passed, who’s-

The door burst open, and there stands a triumphant looking Billy. “HAH,” he shouts. “I’ve opened the door!”

She doesn’t know what to say to that. He sounds more stupid than usual. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t see him with a smile on his face very often. 

“What are you doing?” she asks cautiously because she doesn’t want to accidentally piss him off. 

“Come out here,” he says. Oh, not this again. She huffs and plops her face right back into the pillow, turning to her side so she’s facing away from the door. She’s not dealing with this again. If she wants to be locked up in her room, why can’t she?

“Max,” he calls, walking closer to her. “Get up, I’ve got stuff for you.” That peaks Max’s interests, and she raises her head a little, getting annoyed when she sees the smirk on Billy’s face. He knew saying that would get her to pay attention. 

“What?” 

“I’m not telling you until you get up,” he says, tugging at her blanket now. She smacks his hand away, and plops her head right back down. 

“Then I’m not getting up. You’re literally the fucking grinch so it’s not like it’s going to be anything good anyways.”

He laughs at that. “So if I’m the grinch, who are you? Cindy fucking Lou Who?” 

Max covers her smile with the duvet. “Just tell me what you got.”

“Nope,” Billy says and walks his annoying ass straight out of her room. 

She decides to stay in bed, refuses to give in to Billy’s obvious plan to get her to come out of her room. But curiosity catches up to her when she hears him banging around the kitchen, and five minutes later, she’s dragging herself out from under the covers and walking into the room. She stops when she catches Billy red handed, literally, with two of his fingers dipped into a small bowl of red icing. 

When he sees her watching, he grins at her, teeth stained red and gross. “Oh hey there Maxine. Didn’t see ya there. I’m really enjoying this lovely frosting,” He waggles his fingers at her for emphasis. “Better take it away from me before I eat it all.”

He’s about to double dip his nasty fingers into the frosting again before Max can’t help herself and has to cut in. 

She runs up to him and smacks his hand away. “Oh my God. Billy, that’s literally so unsanitary. Give it here.” She takes the can of frosting from him, and mumbles you’re so gross under her breath. The cover of the can features pretty sugar cookies all covered in red frosting and sprinkles. If only she still had her stupid cookies. Now they’re at the bottom of the trash can, all black and burnt. 

“Why’d you buy this anyway? Not like I’m gonna be using them anymore.”

Billy drums his fingers on the counter. “It’s so you can decorate your little cookies,” he says. “You’re lucky I’m craving sugar right now.” She hasn’t properly decorated cookies since California when she was with her dad. It might not seem like a big deal to him, but she’s getting excited over it. He can probably tell by the smile that has just spread across her face. 

“I’m giving you a second chance, so don’t fucking screw this up. You hear me?” he’s glaring at her now, all threats and ager. Of course, he immediately tries to ruin the moment. 

 “So you’ll let me make them again?”

“Wouldn’t be surprised if they come out shit again, though. You can’t cook to save your life.”

She huffs. Totally not true. “We don’t have any more butter though.”

He pats the plastic bag on the counter. “’s all in here.” 

She looks over at the bag he touched. So is that where he went while she was sleeping? 

“You went to the store?”

He grunts in response. “Figured you’d need more shit after your first failed attempt.”

“Ok, thanks,” she says, already making a grab for the hand mixer. “You can leave now.” 

“Ungrateful ass,” he snorts. “Last time I left, you burnt the fucking cookies and set off the fire alarm so I don’t think so.”

Max sighs. “So what? You’re just gonna stand there?”

He smirks at her, leaning against the counter. “Hand me the mixer.” 

---

Apparently Billy’s good at baking because ten minutes later he has all the ingredients combined and the dough rolled out on the table. She didn’t roll out the dough during her attempt so it makes sense now why her cookies were ugly even before they got burnt. 

They only bickered a couple times. Once because Max questioned him about how he smells suspiciously like Steve. She didn’t expect him to get so defensive, but he immediately snapped at her and told her not to get into other people’s business. His defensiveness made her think that him and Steve were friends now, and he’s just embarrassed to admit it. Or maybe they’re...more? When she suggested that though, he nearly shoved her head into the dough so that’s going to be the last time she investigates on that. 

The second time, they bickered over whether or not they should add food coloring to the dough. I payed good money for this, shitbird, so we’re using it. They eventually decided to make different batches, some with dye and some without.  

“Do we need to cut them into circles now?”

“The fuck are you thinking? Circles are boring.”

Max rolls her eyes. “Oh I’m ever so sorry for offending you, master baker Billy,” she says sarcastically.  “What do you suggest we do to spice up this atrocious dough.”

Billy points his head towards the plastic bag. “Look in there, junior baker Maxine.”

She reaches out for the magical plastic bag. It’s already given her butter and red frosting. What else could be in there? Her entire face lights up when she sees a can of green frosting, four different cookie cutters, and so many sprinkles. 

“Consider this your Christmas present because you’re not going to get anything else.”

She gapes at him. He’s never done anything nice to her in her entire life. Ok, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but it’s definitely a once in a blue moon occasion. 

“Thank you,” she says, still gaping at him. She doesn’t know what else to say. 

“Yeah well stop staring at me like that.” He reaches across and flicks her mouth shut. “And close your mouth. You’re gonna catch flies.” 

She doesn’t say anything to that, but stares down at the plastic bag again. She’ll decorate a cookie for her mom. A red one with green sparkles. She wonders if Billy’ll decorate one for his dad. Probably not. Guess he’ll go cookie-less. Better for his cholesterol anyways. 

Her thoughts are disrupted when Billy’s fingers smudge bright, red, frosting across her face. She flinches and tries to shove him off but he does it again, icing smeared across both cheeks now. 

“You asshole,” she laughs, reaching inside the plastic bag and pulling out the green frosting. “You’re so on.”

By the end of their frosting battle, they’re both covered in red and green icing. At one point Billy even started showering her with sprinkles. It’ll take forever to get it out of her hair, and there’s barely any frosting left for the cookies, but there was just enough to make it last. 

Their parents were appalled when they walked in on their children covered in sugar, but it was worth it. Neil wasn’t even that upset since her mom was seemed happy enough. Susan followed them around with a camera, trying to convince them to pose together. You guys look so cute! C’mon just one picture. They retreated to their rooms to hide. 

Max ended up with two Christmas presents under the tree that year. 

[fic-over-cannon]

Harringrove Elvis AU

Okay so ever since I saw Dacre Montgomery in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, this AU just won’t leave me alone.

So picture Steve as Elvis. At this point in his career, he’s washed out of the movies, his star is on the decline, and now he’s doing a Christmas special aka an hour long home appliance commercial. He just doesn’t seem to get the opportunities to perform the music that makes him feel alive anymore. (I’m thinking Dr. Brenner would be a good fit for the financially abusive Colonel Parker, Steve’s manager)

Maybe Nancy’s Priscilla and Jonathan is Jerry Schilling (I don’t really see room for a Lisa Marie in this AU). Jonathan and Nancy are together and doing their best to support Steve but they aren’t really a part of showbiz so they don’t fully understand. The kids are all there as the Memphis Mafia but instead of a bunch of hangers on, they’re actually people Steve really likes and cares for. Everyone knows that Steve’s not happy but willing to take whatever opportunities come his way to keep supporting their lives in LA.

Max, who just so happens to have a step-brother in television, decides to do something about the situation. She introduces Steve and co to Billy and his business partner. Their first meeting is similar to how it goes in the movie, but Billy’s got a bit more snark and a bit more bite. This is a Billy who’s a few years out from under Neil’s thumb. He’s not so angry anymore now that he doesn’t have to live with his abuser and he’s built a career that he’s proud of. He’s gotten to a point where he and Max can have a good, if distant, relationship.

And from their first meeting Steve is hooked. Billy, with his stupid soft looking hair, his little neckerchiefs, and big sunglasses. Who pushes him to do more with his music, to make statements, and be true to himself. Who makes him feel like he can be more than a washed up singer and won’t take any of his bullshit excuses to hide his insecurities. Billy shakes up Steve’s whole worldview and doesn’t that just scare Steve?

Billy, of course, has been a fan of Steve’s way back since his first record came out. Steve was Billy’s sexual awakening thank you very much. At this point what Billy feels is mostly hero worship with a dash of lust trickling in. So when he gets that call from Max it’s like every dream he’s ever had has come true. But then Billy meets Steve and he’s everything and more. He’s not the same confident figure that dared the police to arrest him on stage for wiggling a finger, but there’s echoes of him still there. Billy can’t help but needle him, wanting to see the real King Steve buried under years of disappointments and insecurities. It takes Billy all of two meetings with Brenner to realize that he’s got Steve on a leash the same way Neil had Billy on his. And at that moment Billy understands exactly how Steve got to this point and is determined to get him out. It’s when they’re working in the the Christmas special that Billy realizes, oh, the way he loves Steve has changed. It isn’t the shallow kind of hero worship that comes from knowing someone from afar, but something a little more messy and a little more raw.

Cue the angst as Billy thinks that Steve and Nancy are together and Steve thinks he has no chance with someone like Billy. Brenner tries to use Steve’s anxieties against him to keep Billy and Steve apart, because as long as Billy’s around Steve won’t listen to Brenner. Billy has the brilliant idea to bring back Robin and Eddie, Steve’s old band mates, as part of the comeback special. With their help, Steve starts to get out the horrible headspace Brenner did his best to keep him in and get back his passion for music and life. Robin and Eddie have to suffer through both sides of Steve and Billy’s pining (they have a bet on when they get their shot together and realize their feelings are requited).

Finally, The people who love him get through to Steve and help him realize that he doesn’t need Brenner anymore. Billy and Steve get to go on their world tour and Billy FINALLY come clean to Steve about his feelings, fully expecting to be shot down and fired. What he doesn’t expect is the best kiss of his life in the form of one Steve Harrington realizing that he really gets his happy ever after.

[potrix-the-queerschlaeger]

layers (like onions)

Random idea of the day that wouldn’t leave me alone; this little future fic. And it’s not like we can’t all use some more Harringrove fluff, right? Can also be found over on AO3.

- - -

Sadie is having the absolutely worst first day at work, and the lunch rush isn't even over yet.

It had started with the fancy coffee maker spitting steam at her when she’d tried to show her new co-worker that she understood how to use it, burning the back of her hand and her wrist. Then the trash bag she’d been carrying to the dumpster out back had ripped, spilling all over her feet and the kitchen floor, so she’d spent fifteen minutes cleaning up while apologising profusely.

And to top it all off, her first table hadn’t tipped at all, even though Sadie had pulled out all the stops, been all friendly smiles and polite small-talk despite the total shitshow her morning had turned out to be.  

Things don’t look much better with her current table, either.

So far, they’ve yelled across the restaurant for her when she hadn’t been fast enough with their drinks, demanded three additional baskets of the complimentary bread, one of them won’t stop making gross comments whenever she has to walk by, and by the look on one of the men’s faces right now, they aren’t happy with their food, either.

Forced smile firmly in place, Sadie approaches their table, ignoring the urge to roll her eyes when one of them clicks his fingers at her.

Before she can so much as ask what seems to be the problem, the scowling man snaps, “This burger has onions on it.”

“Yes, sir,” Sadie tries, summoning up patience only acquired through years of waitressing, “all our burgers come with tomatoes, pickles, and onions—”

“Well, I don’t like onions,” the man says, slowly, glaring up at Sadie. “I didn’t want any onions.”

“Of course, sir, I’m so sorry,” Sadie apologises, instead of demanding, like she really wants to, “Then why the hell did you order a dish with onions in it?”

(Watch out for the break!)

She pulls her notepad out of her pocket, quickly scribbling down an order for a replacement burger, and underlining the no onions three times. “I’ll put a new order in for you right away, sir. Would you like me to add a side dish as well? Free of charge, of course, as an—”

“No, no,” the man cuts in, and throws the burger he’d been holding down hard enough that it slips off his plate, and falls apart on the table. Which only appears to make him angrier. “Look at this mess. I want you to clean this up, and then I want to speak with whoever’s in charge here.”

The two other men nod, clearly not only used to their friend’s behaviour, but actively encouraging it. “Get to it, sweetheart,” one of them demands, making Sadie bite the inside of her cheek, “before all of our food goes cold.”

“Certainly, sirs,” Sadie scrapes the ruined burger off the table, waving over one of the busboys, “I’ll take care of this right away.”

Despite her words, after putting in the order for the new, onion-free burger, Sadie leans against the wall in the kitchen for a moment, breathing out heavily as she tries to compose herself. The line cook shoots her a sympathetic look, and Sadie smiles back shakily, grateful for the silent support.

Her boss’ office is one floor up, and Sadie isn’t too proud to sneak behind the bar, and make her way to the stairwell where she hopefully won’t be spotted by anyone from her table.

It’s quiet, once the door closes behind her, the voices of the guests and the sounds of the restaurant muffled, and Sadie swallows hard as she starts up the stairs. She’s seen her boss a grand total of thirty seconds so far, when he’d breezed in earlier, with a small child in each arm, a phone clutched between his shoulder and ear, and a frown on his face, while her co-workers had been showing her the ropes.

Mr Hargrove had been supposed to be the one to interview her, last week, but instead, Sadie’d been greeted by his business partner. He’d shaken her hand, smiling brightly, and introduced himself as, “Steven Harrington, but please, call me Steve, everyone does,” before explaining, all sheepishly, that Mr Hargrove was usually the one talking to the new hires, but that he’d unfortunately been called away on short notice.

He’d offered Sadie coffee, and had gotten her a glass of water instead when she’d declined, before dropping down in the swivel chair on the opposite side of the desk, picking up Sadie’s resume with a hum. “I’ll be honest, here, I don’t usually deal with this side of the business,” he’d said, chuckling a little to himself, “but if Billy’s invited you here for an in-person interview, chances are high he’s already decided to hire you. He can be picky.”

It had been said with a sigh, half annoyed and half fond. “So,” Steve had put the resume down again, and shrugged at Sadie, “if you’re still interested, and if the hours and pay you’ve talked about over the phone work for you, I don’t see a reason why you can’t start next Friday.”

Sadie had blinked at him, stunned, and then scrambled to sign the contract. Flexible hours, two free meals per shift, decent insurance, and paying slightly above minimum wage? It had been everything a struggling student like her could hope for, and then some.

Now, faced with the prospect of having to tell her boss that she’s screwing up on her very first shift, Sadie wishes she was anywhere but here. Still, she steels herself, takes a deep breath, and knocks on Mr Hargrove’s office door.

A moment later, a gruff voice calls back, “Come in.”

Mr Hargrove is sat behind his desk, one eyebrow raised, and Sadie hesitates, standing awkwardly on the threshold. The kids—definitely Mr Hargrove’s, going by their wild, curly hair—are playing on a blanket in front of the small couch, where Steve is sitting with a laptop open on his lap.

He smiles and waves at Sadie, which gives her the confidence to clear her throat, and say, “One of the guests would like to talk to you, Mr Hargrove.”

When Mr Hargrove only raises his eyebrow further, she adds, “He ordered a burger with onions, but says he doesn’t like onions. I offered him a new burger with a free side dish, but, well.”

“Fuck’s sake,” Mr Hargrove mutters, which earns him a scolding look from Steve, followed by a stern, “Language, Billy.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mr Hargrove says, with a small roll of his eyes. He gets up from behind his desk, gesturing for Sadie to lead the way. “C’mon, let’s go deal with this shit.”

He’s obviously not happy about the interruption, but Sadie’s glad to notice that his irritation seems to be aimed at the picky guest, not her. The cursing also helps, strangely enough, has her bite back a giggle as they walk back down to the main floor.

Mr Hargrove looks intimidating, at first glance, what with all the tattoos, the denim, and the heavy jewellery. Like those bikers always parked in front of the shady bar a block down from her shitty, shoebox-sized apartment. Only, like, prettier.

Sadie ducks her head a little, blushing faintly. Mr Hargrove has to be in his thirties, is almost old enough to be her dad, and Sadie isn’t even interested in men like that, but she does have eyes. The blond curls, piled into a messy bun on top of his head, the dimples, the striking, bright blue eyes; Mr Hargrove is definitely good-looking.

Frannie would have a field day if she knew Sadie was getting flustered by her old, cranky new boss. Sadie silently vows to never tell her girlfriend a single word about it, ever.

“It’s the booth in the back,” she says, once they reach the main room of the restaurant again, pointing in the general direction, “by the big window—”

Mr Hargrove freezes mid-step when he spots the three men, but only for a second. Then he sneers, teeth bared, “Hell no.”

He stalks over to the booth, fast enough that Sadie has to hurry in order to keep up, and slaps the fork right out of one of the men’s hand with a snarled, “Get the fuck out of my restaurant.”

The men at the table—and a few people within earshot—fall silent in shock, all gaping at Mr Hargrove. Then, the now forkless man pushes to his feet, and right into Mr Hargrove’s space. “William—”

Mr Hargrove doesn’t back down, though, and he has several inches on the other man. “Get out. Right now, all of you. You’re not welcome here.”

The other man’s face twists in outrage. “How dare you speak to me like this? You can’t throw us out, we’re paying customers!”

“Oh, trust me,” Mr Hargrove’s smile is, Sadie thinks, pretty damn terrifying, “I can. And I will.”

“On what grounds?” the other man scoffs, and crosses his arms over his chest.

“Well, let’s see. For harassing my staff,” Mr Hargrove begins, and holds up his hand, counting on his fingers, “or, maybe, the years of emotional abuse? For regularly beating the shit outta me for close to a decade? Or for just generally being a terrible fucking human being, and an even worse father?”

The restaurant is so quiet, after that, Sadie’s almost afraid to breathe.

“Take your pick,” Mr Hargrove finishes, and takes a step back with a sweeping motion towards the door. “But get the fuck out, Neil. Or we will call the police.”

“Honestly, I’d love to see that,” comes Steve’s voice from by the bar. He’s holding the phone, wiggling the receiver when everyone turns to look at him. “Your choice.”

“You—” Mr Hargrove’s father starts, but is wisely interrupted by one of his friends standing up as well, and putting a hand on his elbow with a disgusted, “Leave it be, Neil. The little faggot’s not worth the trouble.”

There are several gasps from the other customers, but Mr Hargrove seems unfazed. Almost amused, actually. “At least my faggot ass can keep a family together. Ginny was, wait, let me think? Wive number five? How’s the divorce going, by the way?”

“Okay, that’s enough!”

If Sadie’d thought Mr Hargrove looked scary, it’s nothing compared to an angry Steven Harrington, apparently.

“You’ve got one minute to get your shit, and get the hell out. Everyone else,” and now he’s all charm again, looking around the restaurant at the shamelessly watching customers, “free pie, for having had to witness this little display of homophobic bullshittery.”

Mr Hargrove takes it upon himself to escort the men out of the restaurant, while Steve goes around apologising for what’s happened. Sadie shakes herself out of her stupor, and follows Steve in order to jot down everyone who’s interested in the free pie.

Before she can head back to the kitchen, though, Steve stops her and asks, quiet enough that only she catches it, “Hey. Are you okay?”

“That was,” Sadie breathes out, then trails off with a helpless shake of her head.

“Not a great first impression on our part?” Steve chuckles, wry smile on his lips. “Why don’t you take a break? Get a slice of pie, too? We got it handled out here.”

Sadie accepts the offer gratefully.

And the pie is delicious.

“Billy’s a fuckin’ master with anything even vaguely dessert related, man,” the line cook tells her, when she moans around her first forkfull. At her hum of surprise, he laughs, and adds, “Yeah, he still does most of the bakin’, even though he’s the boss man nowadays. Ask him for his lava cake recipe, it’s fuckin’ sick.”

The rest of the day is, thankfully, much less stressful.

Sadie gets to leave on time, and slips out the back door with a cheerful, “Goodbye!” thrown over her shoulder, only to stumble to a stop when she nearly bumps right into Mr Hargrove. And Steve. Because they’re standing very close, with Steve’s arm around Mr Hargrove’s shoulders, and his chin resting on top of Mr Hargrove’s head.

Mr Hargrove blinks one eye open at her, but doesn’t move out of the hug. “You good? Sorry ‘bout, you know. All that shit earlier.”

“Oh, yeah, uh,” Sadie stutters, feeling herself blush again, “don’t worry, all good. Thanks.”

“Have a nice night,” Steve says, with another one of those sincere smiles. “See you tomorrow.”

Sadie nods. “Tomorrow. Goodnight!”

She carefully steps around the kids, who are racing each other through the alley, shrieking with excitement. She’s almost by the bike rack when there’s a crash, followed by a warbling cry, and a distinctly toddlery voice going, “Shit!”

“Billy, I swear—”

“C’mon, Stevie, it’s not my fault they—”

Sadie rides off, not bothering to hide her laughter.

(When she comes in the next day, Mr Hargrove is waiting for her. He apologises, again, and introduces himself properly.

“Billy, please,” he insists, grimacing a little. “Mr Hargrove is my father, and, well. You saw that whole shitshow yesterday.”

Then he shows her how to use the coffee machine without getting burned, before Steve calls for him from upstairs. He’s almost through the door when he turns back around, eyes flickering down to the collar of her shirt with a small but genuine smile.

Sadie watches him go, ghosting her fingers over the small rainbow pin Frannie had proudly stuck on her shirt earlier that morning.

She’s pretty sure she’s going to like this job after all.)