glassofapplejuicee

[glassofapplejuicee]

There's a Starman, Waiting in the Sky

greetings and salutations! second semester has taken me out back and old yellered me,,, but fear not for i have finished up this angsty bingo fill for @harringrovewinterbingo!! this is for A3, with the prompt "Stargazing" AO3 link if you'd prefer!

i rarely write angst so this was a fun, refreshing lil experiment! ty to my lovely beta reader @daisies-and-domming and i hope you enjoy :)

Summary: During a fight with some particularly nasty foes, Steve is rendered unconscious. In reality, it’s only for a few moments, but to Steve? It’s more like twenty. And for better or for worse, he spends those odd minutes back at an all too familiar meeting spot, with an all too familiar blonde.

✪Rating: Teen & Up ✪ Word Count: 2620 ✪ Tags: Hawkins (Stranger Things), The Upside Down (Stranger Things), Established Relationship, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Unconsciousness, Soft Billy Hargrove, Past Relationship(s), Stargazing, Angst, Betaed

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The breath shot into his body like a bullet, sparking his heart and pumping his blood. His eyes flew open and there he was, in all his former glory. 

Billy’s head was crooked, a smug smile plastered on his face as he leaned over Steve's body where it was sprawled out on the ground. His curls had formed near perfect ringlets that hung around his head like a veil, casting a shadow on his usually bright complexion.

“So, you come here often, stargazer ?” 

Billy asked, pulling out an old nickname. The kind of nickname that someone calls you just a few times, before it gets forgotten, abandoned, and left to collect dust on the shelves of your memories. 

“Billy-” Steve started, his mind still catching up to his eyes. 

Oh God. He had to be dead. Through the fog in his mind, he remembered Dustin, or maybe Lucas, calling out his name. Then his knees buckled and he went down. His sense failed him before he hit the scorched earth beneath him, his hearing going first, replaced by a ringing and then- dark . 

And then here he was. It was still dark , he noticed, but here it was merely a moonless night. The kind of nights he liked. The kind of nights he and Billy used to steal from the month’s supply of days, sneaking off to dream amongst the stars and whisper things they shouldn't say. 

Which meant, this must be heaven. He must be dead and this must be heaven. And Billy was some sort of heaven employee, tasked with escorting him to the pearly gates. 

“Am I dead?” 

“Dead?!” Billy fell back out of Steve’s line of sight, a cackle rolling off his tongue.

“You think you’d go out that easy, Stevie? Hell no you’re not dead, you moron.” 

Ok, well good to note that he wasn’t dead. But if he wasn’t dead then where the hell was he? Or was this some fucked up game Vecna was playing with him? Showing him his greatest hits on rerun one last time before the end?

Steve didn’t move, his back remained pressed into the gravel beneath him. He focused on the stars, his eyes catching as they hung above him, recognizing constellations in an instant. He stopped himself from cracking a smile, relishing in the dull prick of rocks digging into his shoulder blades. At least he had figured out where he was. 

The lake. 

Maybe, ten feet from where the water crawled weakly up onto the shore, brushing the sand before retreating back into itself. The coordinates were probably encoded into his DNA at this point. 

But that didn’t fully answer his question. Sure, his weird dream self was technically at the lake, but just moments ago his real self was slinging an axe at those hell bats before bam , lights out.

“Fine. Then if I’m not dead, then where,” he paused, jolting up and finding Billy’s gaze, “then where the fuck am I?” 

Billy matched his stare for a moment. Steve kicked himself for forgetting how blue his eyes were; how softly they used to look at him. 

“I’m not actually sure if I’m being honest.” 

Steve's nose scrunched and the beginnings of a grimace were showing themselves at Billy’s lackluster answer. 

“Honest to God Stevie! I just sort of showed up here when you did!”

He threw up his hands, his brows shooting up with them, visualizing his truthfulness. Steve bought it. Billy was never one to lie, anyways. He would cheat, and steal, and yell, and hurt. Those were some of his favorite things, actually. But lying? That was a hard no. Steve knew that well enough. 

He took a breath in, looking around at the spot, their spot. He hadn’t been there in months but it was just as he remembered. He twisted his spine to take a glance behind him and smiled, there was Billy’s Camaro, his baby , parked next to his own car. As it always was. 

The crickets still chirped their obnoxious song to his left, the brush still moved with the breeze the same way it always did. The branch that had fallen in a lightning storm many years ago was still precariously perched in the tree canopy. It was all still the same hue of green. He mused it must be summer in this fantasy-land he was in; the leaves were vibrant, shining, still full of life and sun and air. Much unlike its current state back in reality, wherever that was, likely frozen over and gray. 

He turned again, shifting his weight to get a good long look at the boy sitting next to him. He felt the tension in his shoulders melt away like the frost on the first mornings of spring. For the first time in months, the muscles holding up his neck relaxed and his ribs expanded all the way out in a breath. 

Billy’s legs were curled up towards him, his arms folded and resting on top of them. His freckled arms were on full display in the low cut white tank top he was sporting, Steve hadn’t noticed until just now, but they almost resembled the stars they had spent so many nights beneath.

They hadn’t meant to become amateur stargazers, but their meeting place just so happened to be the perfect vantage point. Naturally, Steve checked out every book on stars he could find at the Hawkins Public Library, and he even started to learn some of the names of the constellations. Billy had just barely restrained himself from throwing the stack of books into the murky water when Steve had sheepishly pulled them from his bag.

Steve grinned at the memory as his eyes carried themselves down Billy's body, his tight jeans, his scuffed biker boots. The glimmer of light from the gold pendant that hung off his neck may have more beautiful than any star in the sky. Steve’s lungs tightened. He wished he had a camera, with a brand new roll of film to capture this place, this heaven, in its entirety. 

He blinked, looking away from a shockingly quiet Billy. There was still a faint whisper of smoke in the air, and the lingering scent of a few too many Camels. Their distinctive menthol smell blended with Billy’s all too powerful cologne and he rather selfishly took in gulps of air, letting it penetrate his senses.

He wouldn’t ever tell anyone this but after the mall, he went out and bought the same cologne Billy used to wear. It was some fancy shit, Paco Rabanne ; bullshit is what it was. But he still wears it every day like it’s a religion. Robin complained for weeks, begging him to stop assaulting her airways like that. He didn’t have the guts to tell her the truth.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been out here.” 

Steve spoke, his eyes coming back to find Billy’s gaze. 

“It’s been- weird. Not being here with you , ya know?” 

Billy listened, silently. 

“I guess, it’s just, I don’t really have any reason to come back out here.”

There was a beat, Steve waiting for Billy to jump in with a quip, come to his rescue and lighten the mood. But that relief never came. So they sat, drowning in silence. He waited another second longer, holding his breath as he tore his gaze from Billy, forcing himself to watch the lake’s water move. 

"I miss you.” 

Steve’s voice was low, a quick whisper; had you not been paying attention his words would have passed you by. 

Billy remained silent. Not even his face reacted.

“It’s weird man. It’s not like a breakup or anything. I think I would have preferred that, actually. But this? I have to walk through this shithole everyday. And every goddamn day, you’re not here.” 

Steve’s voice crescendoing as he explained, he took a shaky, sharp breath in before his monologue continued. 

“The nights are the fucking worst, man. I have to pretend like I’m not waiting to hear your engine roll up on my driveway. Or see you coming into Scoops on your way to the pool. You never got anything, just stood there batting your fucking eyelashes at me and holding up my goddamn line,” he laughed, an exhausted, cynical laugh. 

“Do you know how fucking hard it is? To pretend . I mean, hell, I have to pretend that we weren't even friends . I run into people, still cursing your name and making fun of everything that happened. They make jokes! Jokes! Like you didn’t matter . Like nobody even knew you! Like you didn’t have any fucking friends or anything . And I can’t say shit to those assholes because nobody knew - they didn’t know about our little meetups, and all the nights and the stars. Nobody knew!” 

His voice warbled, breaking as he added,

“Nobody knew that I-” 

“Steve.” 

Billy’s voice was smooth, stopping Steve’s racing mind in an instant. He outstretched his legs to inch closer to Steve, he ignored the hitch of Steve’s breath as he rested his hand on Steve’s thigh.

“I knew.”

“What-”

“-I knew, Steve. I know . I think I always knew.”

The silence crept back up like a fog rolling in. It prickled Steve’s flesh like hot knives, the tip of a blade being drug down his spine. Not enough to break skin but enough to hurt . 

He huffed, a ‘ hindsight’s 20/20 ’, kind of huff.

“I don’t know why I never said it when you were-” he stopped himself. 

“Alive?” 

“Yeah. That.” He swallowed, it felt like molasses going down. 

“We were scared.” Billy answered, surprisingly serious. 

“Yeah right, you’re not scared of anything.” 

“I was scared of this.” 

Billy’s words settled into the corners of Steve’s mind. There was a beat of stillness before Steve whispered again.

“I wish we could have gotten the hell outta here.” 

Steve looked away from Billy yet again, leaning back into the sandy gravel floor. Billy followed suit, his hand drifting to rest atop Steve’s. The pair looked up, like they had always done, and latched their eyes onto the white dots of stars that freckled the navy blue sky. 

“If that was an option, you know I would, Steve.”

“I know.” 

“Bad timing, eh?”

“Yeah, something like that.” 

There was a sharp pain near his temple and he jolted up, his eyes fluttering shut as a scene of Robin shaking his shoulders desperately played out before him. Her hands gripped into his skin and he felt, for a moment, wet blood seeping in through reality, staining this fantasy. 

A flash of red appeared in front of them, just at the shoreline. It was like a portal. There, a tiny window to Dustin chanting his name, Nancy’s worried eyes as she instructed Robin to prop up Steve’s head, Eddie was pulling at his hair and pacing, reassuring Dustin with baited breath. Robin’s hand came to lightly tap Steve’s cheek, quietly pleading for him to wake up . 

Billy sat up and watched the red window grow darker, a gust of wind following as it grew in size.

“I’m no genius, but I think that’s your sign to head back pal.”

Billy’s suggestion was calm on the surface. But it held a painful bite to it, an unconscious undertone that only Steve had ears to hear. 

“Can’t I stay, just a little longer?” 

“C’mon now, don’t do that. You know I want you to, but I don’t think that’s how it works, Stevie.” 

Their eyes met, both sets glazed over with the promise of tears. The portal was getting impatient as it sent whips of wind at them, whirling and whining as it circled around. Steve’s hair flew into his face, his heart spiked. 

“Will I see you again?” 

“Maybe. But right now those knuckleheads out there need you.” 

Steve’s gaze broke and he looked to the ‘knuckleheads’ on the other side of the whirlwind of deep red smoke. His brows furrowed, glancing back to Billy’s silhouette. His golden curls danced around his shoulders, his pendant swayed back and forth. His eyes were settled gently on Steve, their bright blue had almost dulled, but nevertheless they begged Steve to leave.

He took another look through the window, Dustin had tear marks racing down his cheeks, and Steve felt the ghost of a hand over his neck, likely looking for a heartbeat. The crowd listened anxiously for Nancy’s reply.

Something in him splintered and on wobbly legs he stood, making a few steps towards the terrifying red stain on this perfect dream, his perfect dream. Billy stood with him, walking a step behind, over to the shoreline. 

He kept himself centered on the window, watching as relieved cheers came from the knuckleheads as Nancy exclaimed she had found his heartbeat. He felt it pound in his chest. Getting stronger as he shuffled closer to the mouth of the whirlwind, threatening to burst right out of his ribs.

“You better keep my brat sister safe Harrington!” Billy called over the howling wind. 

They stood just inches off the edge. Steve’s eyes flitted to the two dents in the sandy floor that their bodies had made, it called out Steve’s name like a prayer. 

Billy refocused him, grabbing his shoulders and turning his head towards his. The first tear slinked down from his waterline and he quickly blinked it away, he refused to have his last seconds be blurred by tears. 

He took in Billy’s features, and instantly he wished he had been more of a photo guy when he was alive. All he had was the shitty yearbook photo and a single polaroid. He heart stung knowing he would never see this face again; this face that looked at him like that . That always smiled at his dumb jokes, that shaved his iconic mustache for a week when Steve complained about kissing him, that always searched for him in a crowd, that looked at him instead of the stars most nights. 

Steve wanted to speak. Say something profound, or stupid. Maybe both. But the words dried up and died on his tongue. Too much to say that nothing came out. He hoped Billy could see it in his eyes. He did. 

“And you can call me a sap for this, but I love you too, stargazer .” 

Steve witnessed the smirk paint itself on Billy’s face for only a moment before the rough hands on his shoulder shoved, and sent him careening into the red smoke.

And like taking a second bullet to the chest, his breath was shot back into him. His heart pumped into overtime and he exhaled out a white puff of air into the frigid February sky, followed by his eyes snapping open, quickly adjusting to the light.

“Steve! Holy shit, Steve! ”

“He’s alive holy shit he’s alive !” 

“Of course he’s alive, you moron!” Robin snapped back, her mitten covered hands still cradling Steve’s bloody head. 

“He was out for, like, not even a minute!” 

The faces of everyone finally came into focus. Battle wounded and bloody but there they were. 

“You didn’t think I’d go out that easy, did you?” 

Steve gave a pained smile, stealing the quip from Billy. He knew he would have to tell them eventually what happened, but for now, he could bask in the warmth of his friends' faces, delighted to have him back earthside. 

Their smiling faces and watery eyes lasted only a second before their ears perked at the horrifying screechy sounds of demo-whatever the hell they were, coming from the east. The group collectively sobered, zipping their coats, tensing their muscles, and slinging their jerry rigged weapons over their shoulders. 

Back in the saddle again.

[glassofapplejuicee]

[glassofapplejuicee]

hello tunplr! this is how second semester is finding me (in case you were curious)

[glassofapplejuicee]

One way, or Another

folks! we are so back and we are back with bingo fills. this is my very first fill for @harringrovewinterbingo and im so super excited to share. this is for space C3, with the prompt "Outside Looking In".

and if you'd prefer to read on AO3, here's that link too! ty so much to the organizers of this event and also ty to my best pal and beta reader @daisies-and-domming ok that is all, do enjoy!

Summary: Nancy is walking out of school, cursing the cold weather when she spots Steve and… is that Billy Hargrove? They look like they’re being pretty friendly. Odd but she moves on with life. Until later in the week, she finds Billy tutoring Steve? Ok now it's getting weird, since when are they friends anyway? It isn’t until she sneaks into Melissa’s party that she finds out the truth, the hard way…

✪Rating: Teen & Up ✪ Word Count: 2,900 ✪ Tags: Hawkins (Stranger Things), Hawkins High School (Stranger Things), POV Nancy Wheeler, One Shot, Kissing, Swearing, Winter, Light Spying, Party, Christmas Party, Being Walked In On, Betaed, Platonic Steve Harrington & Nancy Wheeler

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Nancy bristled as the doors opened and the chilly air flowed past her. Stepping out from the school building was like a one way trip to Antarctica. It was just Indiana, why did it have to be so damn cold?! 

She cursed under her breath, hugging her coat tighter to her body as she hastily walked over to her car, Mike was already over there waiting, thank God. She swore she would make him walk all the way home if he was late getting out to the car one more time. Seems her scare tactics worked. 

The wind whipped her loose curls around her head and into her eyes. She winced, bringing her hand up to push the unruly hairs behind her ears. As she opened her eyes again, they caught on a rather strange sight. There was Steve, standing next to…

Billy Hargrove? 

She blinked, thinking her mind was playing tricks on her. But this was no such ruse, Steve was actually there, standing centimeters away from Billy. And it looked like they were talking, laughing even. 

Her brows furrowed, keeping her gaze centered on the boys as she unlocked the car door, blocking out Mike’s whines entirely. There was something clearly awry here. They had beaten each other within an inch of their lives just a few months ago, right? And now they’re all buddy-buddy? Something didn’t quite add up. 

“God Nancy, stop staring at Steve and drive me home! I have important business to get to.” Mike huffed from the passenger seat. 

She didn’t say a word as she pulled out of the high school parking lot. But the idea was in her head now so good luck ignoring it, she needed to know what was up.

***

A few days had passed with no sightings of Steve or Billy, so the whole thing sort of slipped her mind. She had been meaning to ask Mike about it; she had seen that redheaded sister of Billy’s hanging around the Party so maybe she knew what was going on. But with finals coming up, Nancy knew she really needed to focus. 

Therefore, here she was; at the library during her lunch period checking out a few books to help her with her upcoming history exam. She scanned the shelves carefully, letting her fingers trace the spines of the severely worn books. Chadworth, Channing, Chatham, ah!  

She pulled out the book she had been searching for, with a satisfied hum. However, her satisfaction was quickly flooded by confusion at who she spotted through the space her book had made upon exiting the shelf. She leaned closer to the bookshelf, her nose crinkling at the scent of musty pages.

There, at one of the small tables was Billy, intricately explaining something to Steve, who sat caddy corner to him. Nancy’s ears perked up and she twisted her head around, trying to get a better glance at them. She watched Billy wave something off dramatically and snatch a pencil straight from Steve’s hand, erasing something on the paper laid out in front of them.

Her eyes fell down to said paper, attempting to make out the subject they were working on. English, she decided, seeing the many crumpled and crossed out rough drafts of a paper scattered about the area. But what the hell was Steve doing helping Billy with homework? If he was still the same Steve Harrington he was just a year ago, he would have had trouble keeping up with his own work, let alone helping someone else. 

She moved again, shuffling her feet and angling her ear towards the boys, trying to listen to the conversation they were having but to no such luck. Of course the one time they follow the rules is the one about being quiet in a library. She scoffed. She watched as Steve picked up the pencil again, taking a breath in, then scribbling out a few more sentences. 

“No, no, no. Steve— then you need to— like I— earlier.” 

Nancy held back a gasp as her eyes widened. She had it totally backwards, Billy was here, tutoring Steve? Now this was something interesting. 

She cared little about the other gossip, like who was sleeping with who, and oh my god did you see Shannons new hair. But what she had accidentally stumbled on here, now this was something noteworthy! So she couldn’t help the small grin that appeared on her face as the gears in her head began turning once again.

Her eyes flicked down to the small watch fastened to her wrist, shit, class was over in about 3 minutes! She sighed, shifting the book to cradle it against her chest and softly stepped over to the librarian's counter to check out her book. 

***

A languid sigh escaped her as she took in the scene before her. A million different papers, notebooks, and pens were strewn out on her desk, some had even made it onto the floor, surrounding her like some sort of study bubble. She stretched her arms up to the ceiling and her spine made a deep pop sound. She groaned, knowing she should get up and walk around a bit, give herself a break from the constant studying. 

She knew everything on the test anyways, she wasn’t sure why she was so worried about it. Besides, Ms. Becker’s tests were always lazily put together; Nancy was sure that she was stealing questions directly from the textbooks. 

Confident in her abilities (and that Ms. Becker would take the easy way out), she scooted her chair from the desk and stood. Her eyes jumped to the digital clock resting on her nightstand and she huffed, seeing it read 8:10. Her parents were out of town and she promised to pick Mike up from Max’s house at eight on the dot. 

Rolling her eyes, she grabbed her purse and coat from the back of the door and swept down the stairs. She smoothed her unruly hair back, managing to slip on an old pair of Keds as she hurried out the door.

***

“Steve…?” 

She whispered to herself as her car rolled up to the Hargrove-Mayfield house. She watched Steve notice her and swiftly put some space between himself and Billy, who was comfortably leaned up against Steve’s BMW.

She put her mothers station wagon into park, leaving the engine running so it would keep its warmth. She stepped out of the driver's seat, and began the awkward walk to where they were standing, she couldn't hide the questioning expression that painted her features. 

“I told the twerps to get the hell outta my house, so don’t worry, Mike’ll be out in a minute, Nance.” Billy cooed, placing a gross emphasis on ‘Nance’. 

“Hey, Nancy.” Steve spoke, with a tone she couldn’t quite put her finger on. There was definitely a hint of embarrassment in it.

“So,” she cleared her throat, “I didn’t realise you two were friends. I mean last time I checked you were basically mortal enemies.” She tried to laugh, but it came out a little strained.

“Oh you know Stevie, just couldn’t resist me.” Billy said, shooting her a wink. 

“Dude shut up.” Steve muttered, not looking over at Nancy. 

There was an uncomfortable beat of silence. All parties silently begging for their respective kids to get their asses out here so they could all leave.

Before Billy could say anything else incriminating, Dustin, Mike and Lucas came jogging out of the house. Lucas called a ‘thank you for having us’ on his way out, which gave Nancy a smile. He was always the most well mannered of Mike’s friends. 

Mike brushed past her without a word and got straight into the passenger's seat, not even giving Nancy a chance to react before reaching over and laying on the horn. How she wished Lucas would impart some of his manners onto her useless brother.

“I better get going…” 

“Yeah me too, night Nancy.” Steve replied, finally looking up at her.

However, just when he thought she was out of earshot he followed up with, “Bye Billy, see you tomorrow night,” as he watched Billy slink back into his house.

It was an innocent enough phrase but Nancy knew exactly how Steve operated, he was laying on the charm. It was fairly obvious, the way his voice went down an octave, the sugary sweet way he said Billy’s name. 

The gears in her head spluttered and got right back to whirring, what the hell was that about? Not a moment passed as she got back into the car before she turned her head to Mike. 

“What the hell is up with Steve and Billy? Don’t they hate each other? Why are they suddenly friends?” 

“Jesus! Chill out! Someone’s jealous.”

“I am not! I just want to know what the hell’s going on.” 

“Ok, well, I don’t even know! They’ve just been hanging out all the time. He’s always over there anytime we go to Max’s. And, sometimes he’s just there, even if he isn’t bringing Dustin.” 

Mike answered, adding emphasis to seemingly random words, further exaggerating his annoyance with her line of questioning. Nancy hummed, not at all satisfied by her brother's response but it would have to do for now

***

Tomorrow night had rolled around and thank God it was Friday. She had heard through the grapevine that Melissa was having a get-together at her dad’s house that night. She wasn’t technically invited but it’s not like a high school party would have a guest list. Besides, she had a pretty good feeling on this being the function that Steve said he would be seeing Billy at. 

It was supposed to be some form of Christmas party but again, high school party, so in reality it was a normal party, but with a topical holiday title in front of it. She debated asking Jonathan to join her on what she would dub ‘investigative journalism’ but he wasn’t really the party type, nor the investigative journalism type. 

Just as the clock struck 10 o’clock, she headed out of the house with hardly a goodbye to Mike. The drive to Melissa’s was about fifteen minutes so she had some time to fully formulate her plan: First, she’d drive by, slow. But not slow enough to draw attention to herself. Just to scope out if Steve or Billy’s car was even there. If it was, she would park a block over, brave the cold, and walk into the party. 

As she turned onto Melissa’s road, she almost hoped that she wouldn’t find their cars. But just her luck, there was Billy’s shiny blue Camaro illegally parked in front of the fire hydrant. She rolled her eyes but kept on, making her way to the next street over and throwing the car in park. 

The crisp Hawkins wind whipped around her and the snow squeaked under her boots as she hurried to get to the house. I mean who the hell throws a rager in December?! She cursed under her breath, shivering, despite her thick overcoat. 

At last, she made it to the front porch and made her way into the house. From the entryway she scanned the foyer, just barely peeking into the living room. As she discarded her coat onto the mountain of fleece and polyester (in what she assumed was Melissa’s dad’s office), she spotted the familiar bounce of golden curls whisk by. 

She stepped out of the coat-covered office and made her way to the common area, pushing through the hoards of people who were already concerningly drunk just an hour into the party. She muttered her disdain and made her way to the kitchen, finding a corner to press her back up against and scan the room. 

As suspected, Steve was practically hanging off Billy. WThe boys were chatting with Tommy and some girl that Nancy didn’t recognise. She stifled a laugh, she knew Carol must be pissed about that. Steve stood with his arms crossed, shoulders pressed right against Billy’s denim clad torso. Their faces were slightly flushed, indicating that they had had their fair share of the mystery liquid from the punch bowl rested on the countertop to her right. Nancy noted that Billy did most of the talking, while Steve only sometimes nodded, his doe eyes fixed on Billy as he and Tommy conversed. 

Her brows furrowed, she watched for a moment longer but decided it would be best for her to make her way out of the kitchen, in case they decided to turn around. It would be kind of hard to explain why she was stalking her ex-boyfriend and his thought to be rival, at a party she wasn’t even invited to. 

She weaved her way out of the kitchen and milled around the living room, searching for anyone sober or of interest to talk with. As suspected, her search came up dry. So back to hugging the wall it was.

It had been maybe thirty minutes since she arrived, before she spotted them again. This time, they were sneaking up the stairs, giggling like school girls the whole way up. In the meantime she had made some bland conversation with Tina, and then listened to Carol whine about Tommy and his new girlfriend; who according to her was some ‘skank from Jordan High’.

Carol was still crying to Tina and a few other girls when Nancy quietly backed away from the conversation to follow the boys. She watched through the banisters to see which room they went into and the minute the door shut, she hurried up the stairs, shoving past the many inebriated couples making out.

She waited for a few seconds, posed outside the door she watched the boys slip into, weighing her options carefully in her mind. Best case scenario, they have a girl in there and Nancy goes home, scrubs the image from her mind, and hopefully all parties forgive and forget. Worst case scenario this is some elaborate drug deal- or some other definitely illegal situation- that she would now be considered a witness to, and therefore permanently on Billy Hargrove’s shit list. 

And then, of course, the even worse case scenario- that this is somehow tied to the Upside Down. She swallowed, praying that wasn’t the case, but accepting the reality that it was a likelihood, which was part of the reason she was so adamant about finding out just what was going on with their new and unsuspected ‘friendship’. 

She placed her hand on the door handle, as suspected it was unlocked, she took a breath and burst in. As her eyes adjusted upon entering the poorly lit room she saw Billy, his button up hanging off his shoulders and his back pushed up against the wall. Steve’s hands were planted low on his waist and he was- 

Kissing him?!

Her jaw fell to the floor and the boys quickly pushed off each other and launched into explanations. Nancy slammed the door shut behind her, clicking the lock into place as she did. 

“Oh shit- Nancy, I swear to God this isn’t what it looks like-” Steve started, his eyes wide and the back of his hand coming to wipe at his mouth.

“I swear on my fucking life if you fucking tell anyone what you-” Billy growled, hastily pulling his shirt back up. 

“I- I don’t even, you’re- but you-” she started, getting nowhere. 

Nancy had never been caught truly speechless in her life, but she guessed there was a first for everything. She watched the boys tense and their expressions grow fearful, she cleared her throat and produced some semblance of a sentence. 

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean- I was just… I was- I was just-” she took another breath in, “I just wanted to know what was up with you two. I was worried it had something to do with…” she trailed off, letting the obvious end of her statement hang in the air. 

“Oh- no, no no no. Nothing to do with that- we just-” Steve cut himself off with a sharp breath inward, looking to Billy for how to explain this. 

“It doesn’t matter what we were doing, because you didn’t fucking see anything. Got it?” 

Nancy’s voice softened, sensing the fear that was driving Billy’s anger, “I’m not stupid, Billy. I know what I saw but-”

“You shut the fuck up Wheeler or I swear-” 

“Billy! Cool it would ya? She’s…” Steve glanced over at her, “cool.” 

Billy’s shoulders were still tense but he backed off. They all stood in a painfully awkward silence for what felt like an hour, Billy nor Steve wanting to get into specifics but Nancy hadn’t quite solved her case yet. 

“Ok. Well. I should be going. Have fun?” She ended her silence breaking statement with a quizzical look. 

The boys watched silently as she hurried out of the room. She nearly tripped rushing back down the stairs, ignoring the still inebriated couples complaints. She stopped only to filter through the coat pile, before speed-walking to her car. The drive home was almost silent. Only the occasional turn signal click, breaking through the stuffy air.

She sighed as she pulled into her driveway, squeezing her eyes shut and bringing a hand to press at the bridge of her nose. She hoped that at least this would teach her to stop being so damn nosey. 

(But she knew it wouldn’t.)

hehe okie tytytyty for reading !! now go check out everyone else's awesome stuff under the hwb2025 tag ^-^

[glassofapplejuicee]

[glassofapplejuicee]

american here. i was scrolling and all the sudden comments stopped loading in. i exited and reopened the app… i got a pop up that said it “has been banned in the US”

it’s over chat

[glassofapplejuicee]

*meows obnoxiously at you*

*also meowing*: new harringrove brainrot whos excited!!! this time it has a dash of religion and a stolen scene from Home Alone. what a delightful treat! 

(ignore that this is literally two weeks post christmas) ((im still on winter break so i have been doing nothing but writing and editing)) (((thank you ssososooso much @daisies-and-domming for beta reading my slop)))

[glassofapplejuicee]

ok now hear me out- what if we took the season 1 scene with Steve spray painting “Nancy ‘The Slut’ Wheeler”... and we reworked it to be with Billy??? what do we think about that?? hopefully were thinking good things bc that’s what i just wrote- 

(it gets a lil violent so proceed with caution!) 

[glassofapplejuicee]

pspspsps hey you. are you looking for a short and sweet, fluffy, found family-esch stranger things thanksgiving fic that's jonathan byers centric? you are? well you are in the right place pal!!

[glassofapplejuicee]

「 ✦ 𝕸𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙 ✦ 」

Hello and welcome to my page, you can call me Apple! Here is all my writing, in one neat little post!! This will be updated as I write (which is sometimes very infrequent), however you can send in requests/asks if you so wish! Ok I think's that's all, enjoy!

AO3 Tumblr Bluesky

Format: Title: (Rating) where it's posted, ship name, word count

╰┈➤𝔖𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯 𝔗𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰

Get rid of all Bitterness: (T) 𝘈𝘖3, Harringrove, 1100 words

Billy "The Faggot" Hargrove: (M) 𝘈𝘖3, Harringrove, 2300 words

Stranger Things: Thanksgiving Special: (Gen) 𝘈𝘖3, Gen, 1500 words

Tina's Halloween Bash: (M) 𝘈𝘖3, Harringrove, 2300 words

You Light my Light, I'll Light you: (E) 𝘈𝘖3, Harringrove, 12k words

Good Luck, Harrington: (M) 𝘈𝘖3, Harringrove, 1600 words

Senior Trip: (E) 𝘈𝘖3, Steddie/Ronance, 18k words,

Dontcha, Big Boy?: (E) 𝘈𝘖3, Steddie, 2200 words

Modern au prom ficlet: (SFW) 𝘛𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘳, Harringorve

Prom ficlet: (SFW) 𝘛𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘳, Harringrove

Gay code drabble: (SFW) 𝘛𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘳, Harringrove

╰┈➤𝔖𝔠𝔬𝔱𝔱 𝔓𝔦𝔩𝔤𝔯𝔦𝔪

Just a Little Bi-curious: (E) 𝘈𝘖3, Scollace, 3400 words

╰┈➤𝔐𝔞𝔯𝔳𝔢𝔩

You'll Never Know Just How Many Dreams I Dream About You: (G) 𝘈𝘖3, Stucky, 7k words

╰┈➤ℜ𝔭𝔣

Eyes Up Here: (E) 𝘈𝘖3, Crankiplier, 4700 words

Markiplier Makes: Edible Arrangements (and Ethan blush): (T) 𝘈𝘖3, Crankiplier, 3k words

[glassofapplejuicee]

quick prom modern au bc these fellas have rotted my brain

“Robin you’ve got this all wrong!” Steve whined, pacing around his room.

“If I’m so wrong then why are you all worked up about this huh?”

Damn that was a good point, why was he so worked up about this? It wasn’t like he actually liked Billy or anything like that. It was just a funny bit that Robin liked to play, the classic ‘Steve and Billy are super gay and in love with each other’.

Which was utterly ridiculous, yeah sure they were gay but that didn’t automatically mean they were destined to be with each other. 

Steve scoffed, in lue of a real answer. 

“I dunno.”

“Always Mr. Helpful.” Robin sighed, turning back to her phone. 

“Didja do the Wordle today? I’m on my third try and I have like one letter.”

Steve thanked whatever god was out there that Robin had the attention span of a gnat, really helped out when there was a topic he didn’t want to discuss. 

****

The lunch room always had a distinct smell of mold to it, which irked Nancy to no end, so the group often found themselves eating in the library. Nancy sucked up to the librarian enough that she didn’t even bat an eye when the usual four to five teenagers would follow Nancy around like lost ducklings.

“So, you guys have a date to the prom yet?” Jonathan asked awkwardly as they settled into the soft chairs in the back corner of the library. 

Everyone knew he wanted to take Nancy, and that this was his not so sly attempt at figuring out if she had a date yet or not.

“Hell no, you think I’m going to prom? I’m like, way too old for that shit.” Eddie chuckled. 

“But you’re our favorite super senior!” 

“Swear to God Hargrove-” 

Billy just cackled to himself while Robin interrupted him.

“Ok well I DO have a date to prom, so suck it losers.” 

“Oh yeah right Buckley.” 

“Nah I’m serious, I have hoes out the wazoo.” 

Steve let his head fall and hit the table, letting out an over exaggerated groan at Robin’s latest and greatest sentence. 

“Ok laugh it up but I am taking the drop dead gorgeous Heather Holloway and you’re taking…” she trailed off, pretending to think, “Oh that’s right, nobody!” 

Steve lifted his head and scowled. 

“It’s ok pretty boy, I’ll take you if no other upstanding citizen volunteers.” 

Steve consciously ignored the blush that rose up the back of his neck and grumbled out a response. 

“My hero.” 

“Hey you could put that shit on college apps! ‘Takes bitchless losers on dates’, I can see the headlines now.” Eddie quipped, dramatically pantomiming to the group.

****

“Yo Steve-o!” Billy called, jogging up to Steve’s car.

“What, need the chemistry homework again?” he smirked. 

“Dude, that was one time, and no.” he huffed, leaning up against the passenger door, looking over the roof at Steve.

“I came to ask you something actually.” he continued. 

“You know that, uh, joke? Like the bit that Robin always does?”

Steve narrowed his eyes. 

“Like you know that one, well anyways, I just. That’s all to say, or I guess ask, I’m here to ask something-” he trailed off again. “Dude just spit it out.”

“Do you want to go to prom with me?” 

“I mean yeah sure, I assumed we would go in a group together anyways.” 

“No no no, goddammit Steve, I meant like together. With me. With me as your date. With matching boutonnieres and dumb pictures and all that horseshit.” he waved his hand flippantly at Steve. 

“Holy shit really?” 

“Yeah really.” Billy answered wearily, he would never get used to the painfully slow processing speed of Steve Harrington. 

“Huh. I did not expect this. How long have you…” he trailed off. 

“Too fucking long Steve. Now answer the fucking question will you?” 

The corners of his mouth perked up without his permission, “Yeah, I’ll go with you. Matching boutonnieres and all.” 

“Oh thank fucking God, I was so worried you were gunna say no and then I’d have to kill all the witnesses.” 

Steve snorted a laugh. 

“Ok, I got practice so I gotta run, but I had to ask that before I lost my mind. See you later.” 

Steve watched as Billy jogged off back towards the school, he couldn’t stop the dopey grin from showing. He grabbed his phone from his back pocket and shot a quick text to Robin.

ok mybe u were right… on a totally unrelated note, what color should billy and I’s ties be?? 

[glassofapplejuicee]

alright folks i’m calling it quits bc i have a 9am lab tmr and i need my beauty sleep, but i’ll leave you all with a final destielection meme:

[glassofapplejuicee]

[glassofapplejuicee]

SCOTT PILGRIM AND HARRINGROVE???

life doesn't get much better than this folks

I made this when this was trending a little bit ago but now that I'm posting i can't actually share it!!!

[glassofapplejuicee]

Steve’s hand brushed Billy’s as he handed the cigarette back to him. He was surprised he even showed up to prom, he never thought he’d see Billy Hargrove in anything other than skin tight jeans but here he was in a surprisingly well fitted black suit.

And here they were. On the back steps of the school, sharing a cigarette. Another thing Steve would have never guessed would happen in a million years. 

“Pretty boy like you should have a date.” 

“I did. We didn’t click.” 

Billy hummed, bringing the yellow filter up to his lips and taking a deep breath, letting his eyes flutter shut as acid smoke filled around his lungs. 

“Why’d you always call me that?”

He raised an eyebrow, opening his eyes and turning his head to face Steve, gently blowing the smoke into his face. 

“Asshole-” Steve muttered but continued, “pretty boy, why do you always call me pretty boy?”

“I mean I know you aren’t the sharpest tool in the shed but I thought that one was self explanatory.” 

Steve looked at him unimpressed, clearly needing this to be spelled out. Billy rolled his eyes at him.

“You’re pretty.” 

“Right, my bad for expecting a real answer out of you.” 

“That is the real answer.”

Billy looked away, taking a quick drag before elaborating. 

“You’re just, pretty, I suppose. Not many guys are pretty.” 

There was a moment of quiet and Billy swore he heard Steve’s heart beating next to him. Then again, it could have been his own.

“Oh. Well, thanks. I guess.” 

“My pleasure, pretty boy.” 

[glassofapplejuicee]

“What’s the matter pretty boy? Didn't you have ‘Billy Hargrove’s a dirty queer’ on your bingo card?”

OR After their fight at Tina’s Halloween party, Nancy is propositioned by the one and only, Billy Hargrove. Steve spots them and all hell almost breaks loose. But it appears that was all a part of Billy’s plan.

Halloween fic posted BEFORE Halloween, point 1 Apple

[glassofapplejuicee]

i always find out ao3 is down at the most inopportune times. i had my tea steeping and comfy clothes on, ready for a cozy night in bed reading the many tabs i have open.

and then i am hit with “error 503”