#pov:outsider

[stevebillyrecs]

handlebar mustaches and chinstrap beards by scribblemetimbers

G | 6k words

“My goodness!” Aunt Caroline says, squeezing and pinching Robin’s cheeks. “You look so beautiful! So much like me!”

“Thanks,” Robin manages to force out, and it’s almost rote at this point: Robin, you’ve put on weight, you look so beautiful, you look like me, and Robin internally sighs because the next in that order, without fail and with much feeling, is:

“So! Any boys?” Aunt Caroline asks brightly.

Fuck.

“Hundreds,” Robin says blandly.

“Robin!”

In which Robin's meddling, match-making relative is in town to trample over boundaries like a rampaging bull, Steve chooses the worst moments ever to practice restraint, Billy helps by being his usual asshole self, and Robin has a revelation.

[thestuckyvault]

tin soldiers by idrilka

In his 2009 book on Captain America comic books, war photography, and American propaganda, Everett claims: “There is nothing to suggest that either the graphic novels issued during the war or the photographs taken during Rogers’ stay with the Howling Commandos can serve as a basis for a queer reading of Rogers and Barnes’ relationship. But even more importantly, there is nothing to suggest that such a relationship ever existed in the first place, and as such, those queer readings are not only misguided, but also libelous” (197).

[from: Lynn E. Anderson, Captain America: Behind the Mask. Steve Rogers and the Contemporary Hero Narrative (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), p. 242.]

In the aftermath of Steve's return to the world of the living and the battle of New York, the academia and the Internet react.

Rated: T, 19.7k words

[stevebillyrecs]

songbird by justaluckybug ( @jaybugwrites )

T | 72k words

It’s January 15, 1985. Max is in Hawkins, Indiana, 2,082 miles from Santa Monica, and in five hours she’ll be fourteen years old. At fourteen, you can be tried as adult. She knows because Billy’s told her, so many times.

It’s January 15, ninety-five days since the worst thing she’s ever done, but there isn’t any statute of limitations on that.

Or, Max is miserable, Billy's in danger, and Steve just wants to help. A take on why Max and Billy moved to Hawkins in the first place, featuring too many 80's songs and also a love story, maybe two.

[stevebillyrecs]

master of puppets, i'm pulling your strings by wearealltalesintheend ( @nancy-wheels )

T | 39k words

And to make matters worst, which is just her luck, really, no surprises there, a car turns the corner, engine roaring, and slows down as it nears the school. Not any car either, no. Billy Hargrove’s blue Camaro is a one of a kind car here in Hawkins, and right now, it’s screeching to a halt.

Great. That’s just– great. The town’s douchebag, just what she needed.

He rolls down the window, lays on his charm, giving her the kind of grin that makes the girls swoon in the halls. Too bad for him, really, this kinda shit isn’t gonna work on Robin. “Hey there, beautiful. You wouldn’t happen to have seen my sister, would you?”

Robin frowns, gives him an unimpressed look. Not really what she had been expecting, but better than being harassed. “Do I look like I know who your sister is?”

*

or, Robin has car trouble and somehow, that changes everything.

[stevebillyrecs]

On mandated uniforms and workplace entertainment by Thei ( @ihni )

Not Rated | 2k words

Robin loves this job. Besides an income, it also provides her with quality entertainment. Especially when she's working with Steve, and Billy Hargrove shows up.

[stevebillyrecs]

Runaway by ohmybgosh ( @ohmybgosh )

T | 12k words

Jim Hopper just wants to find a Christmas present for his telepathic daughter. He didn't ask for all these extra teenagers in his home.

[stevebillyrecs]

You Make Me Not Want To Die by shippingmyarmada

E | 70k words (total)

After a long pause, long enough for Steve to think he’s not getting an answer (not that he knows if he wants one anyway) Billy responds, “All the fucking time, pretty boy.” Because sometimes getting hypothermia sounds more appealing than going home.

They each smoke another cigarette in silence. Harrington’s face glows softly in the cherry light, his eyebrows furrowed as he stares into the inky water.

Aka some sort of character study of Billy Hargrove.

[stevebillyrecs]

Form of Someone Else by saruma_aki ( @saruma-aki )

T | 5k words

“I thought,” she starts, “I thought it had absolute control.”

He looks down at the body, feels his knees give, and he thinks he’s just going to lay down for a second next to Billy, just for a second. He thinks they're both done right now, maybe more so than anyone thinks. “Yeah, well,” he coughs, feeling suddenly so weak, and he thinks he’s feeling the tears now, turning to look over at dull blue eyes, missing their usual hypnotic magic, “you don’t know Billy.” He reaches out, places a hand on his chest and feels the soft thumping. “He’s kind of a fighter.”

[stevebillyrecs]

Don’t Tell Me There’s No Hope At All/ Together We Stand, Divided We Fall by Straight_Outta_Hobbiton ( @straight-outta-hobbiton )

M | 59k words

Billy’s used to being afraid of his father, and he knows he’s not the only one scared. But it’s one thing to know your stepmother gets smacked around every once in a while and another thing completely to find her body on the bathroom floor.

He’s a mess, Max is even more of a mess, and Joyce Byers is a queen among mothers, she really is.

[stevebillyrecs]

you sit and pray, hoping that the stars align series by barbiewrites

G | 11k words (total)

Susan doesn’t know Billy.

[stevebillyrecs]

“It’s like the Body Snatchers!” by ChangeTheCircumstances ( @changethecircumstances )

T | 107k words

Max wonders if her life will ever be normal again, if anything can be normal in a place like Hawkins. She doubts it but there's at least one thing she's sure of: the last person to ever realize what's really going on in this crazy place will be Billy. No way would anything supernatural ever happen to him.

[stevebillyrecs]

Incident at Castle Byers by flippyspoon ( @flippyspoon )

G | 3.6k words

Will learns something about Billy Hargrove and feels a little less alone.