#Nancy wheeler deserves better

[allyricas]

Nancy Wheeler, oh how you are so chronically and intensely misunderstood.

But we all know female characters can't have flaws can't have depth can't be seen fully complex people with layers sigh...

[onstrangerthighs]

I'll never understand the purpose of painting certain characters like Nancy Wheeler and Billy Hargrove out to look bad in fanfiction/fanon. Either I see people making them into abusers or claiming they're homophobic, or in Billy's case saying he'd "call your fav/you a slur" or "hate crime your fav/you".

Nancy isn't homophobic. Using her parents as "evidence" to support your weird head canon is anti's behavior repeated. It doesn't make you any better if you don't call her an abuser, but you proceed to say that she's both homophobic and a cheater. You don't have to make posts about it. You might use her as a device in harringrove fanfics where she's in the way of Billy and Steve getting together... when she's: canonically dating Jonathan and currently has no romantic interest in Steve. She wasn't the one who came up to him with this dream of six nuggets. When Billy entered the show, Steve and Nancy's relationship was already on the rocks. She was never an obstacle for harringrove.

Chrissy was never an obstacle for steddie, either. But that ship made into one. Why do you view female characters as interferences to mlm ships? Why do headcanons about lesbian/bisexual/aroace Nancy bother you so much that you feel the need to constantly complain about it?

This next part goes for antis of both Nancy & Billy: the character you are bitching about is not canonically accurate, so you might as well be making an original character up.

[blessingignorance]

Both ships suck ass, And Nancy should just go to college snd not become baby making machine for Steve

do u ever stop to think about this whole love triangle discourse and end up laughing bc there shouldn't be a discourse to begin with? like one boy wants nancy in his life and says that she's the most important part and the other boy looks like he's two seconds away from being put out of his misery because of his relationship with nancy to the point he's ghosting her and she thinks he's cheating. also do u ever think about how both of these boys talks about nancy? how they describe her? and the reasons they love her? how they see her?

first we have jonathan saying this:

first of all, i love his lack of energy go girl give us nothing (why he looks like he wants to d word, ur literally talking about ur girlfriend 😭) so, that's him saying all the reasons he loves her, and ofc we know that nancy is like that but why he's talking about her work ethic and not about her, like u should all read this post about how much nancy cares about other people and how being a reporter allows her to listen to other people's stories and help them, but jonathan only talks about that, work work work, how she behaves in work, how she is ambitious at work which we know she is, that's not a bad thing at all, i love how determined she is, how she works hard for that, it's actually one of my favorite traits of nancy, but i don't see people (and jonathan) talking about what drives that ambition forward which is helping other people, now going back to jonathan's speech which is even more ridiculous when we watched s3, because according to him he loves how hardworking nancy is, and yet:

wait a second, drop the story? i thought you loved how she's never done a single thing halfway in her life? and then:

anyways, that doesn't sound like someone who loves all these things he listed in season 4, now moving forward to steve, i was talking before how jonathan only said things about nancy's work ethic and not about her and what drives her forward but can u believe that steve does that? and not the fully developed steve in season 4, no, the s1 steve, the one who still messed up from time to time

i think it's very refreshing to see someone describing nancy and acknowledging how caring she can be, how she worries about other people, how she wants to help people, and he sees that, and this isn't even a big speech bc good knows narrative wasn't at their side in s1-s2, it's just crazy to me how there's scenes of nancy being there for jonathan in awful times (when will was being possessed, she held his hand, she was there, and yet not a single thing about that, about how much she's caring and protective) it's just sad bc do u see how she describes him? "caring, compassionate, protective, never back down from what's right (only when he wants to lie to her countless times i guess)" how could he not do the same for her? THE nancy wheeler who stood in front of A CAR to protect him and her friends when billy was about to crush her, and you know this isn't just an issue with jonathan, i feel like this is an issue with the fandom too, i feel like the fandom only seems to care about that side of nancy, like her career is the only thing she cares about and nothing more, and that's just isn't nancy wheeler, but then again, she's one of the characters people misunderstand the most in st (just like her brother, i guess is the wheeler's curse) we have 14 year old mike wheeler listing how much he loves el on her bad days, on her good days, with her powers, without her power, for exactly who she is, and all jonathan can say about his girlfriend is "she works 👍"

[ryan-waddell11]

stop blinding them, they struggle enough.

[shieldofiron]

Steve: Uh... how long have you been down here, Billy?

[harringroveera]

AU where Billy escaped the Vecna’s curse because he’s not a hurt kid anymore & he’s already found his family

[swirly-beetle]

i love nancy and i love steve but i hate stancy, they dont work together and neither of them are villains they were just traumatized kids who hurt eachother didn't necessarily have malicious intentions

I despise when people, especially some Steddie shippers and Steve stans (& Hardcore Nancy antis) make Nancy out to be the villain and baby Steve. In s1, Nancy pointed a gun at Steve to SAVE him, not because of the slut shaming he did to her or any other bad things. Nancy's whole b*llshit speech was about how they were pretending like everything is okay, like they didn't kill Barb. This wouldn't of happened if Steve had actually tried to help her grieve instead of dismissing them more than once. Alcohol + bottled up feelings obviously don't mix well, I know Nancy drinking was not Steve's fault but he did say he wanted them to act like stupid teenagers for the night. Steve himself said that he needed that speech anyway. Nancy did not cheat on Steve, they basically confirmed their break up when Nancy visited Steve's gym class and they talked outside. When Steve went to visit her and said "What do I have to apologize for?" under his breath, it proves that he still thinks he did nothing wrong which proves once again he can't face reality for what it is and if he did apologize to Nancy then he it would be an insincere apology. In season 4, Nancy didn't flirt with Steve at all. If anything, all we saw was Nancy being caring towards him and worrying about his safety which is the bare minimum. We also saw that Nancy is attracted to him which is understandable but that doesn't mean she all of a sudden loves him now.

[eskawrites]

sometimes i still think about the fact that nancy is one of the most powerful, plot-critical characters in stranger things, and how she has led her own arc every single season--from driving the search for barb to taking down the lab to figuring out the flayed to being a fucking general by the end of season 4. and about how she was taking care of the kids during the last half of s3 and how she was the leader of the hawkins group in s4. like, i really cannot emphasize that enough. once the main character with superpowers and the actual war veteran chief of police are out of town, nancy is the unquestionable leader. the person everyone turns to without thinking twice. i’m serious. nancy is a teenage girl who has her every move questioned and doubted and still the only people more powerful than her in the show are a girl with superpowers and a war vet.

and when danger--physical danger--shows up, she doesn’t fucking hesitate. she’s diving straight into the upside down. she’s leading the older group to safety again. she’s shoving aside the 5 different traumatic experiences she just witnessed to put together a multi-step military operation and she’s taking point to go shove a shotgun in vecna’s face. and yeah, they end up not being alone when they face vecna because el is there, but nancy doesn’t know that. she’s fully intending on going to kill an adult man who has control over an entire dimension and has been murdering people with his mind, even though she has no backup, no superpowered el, no hopper and his government contacts, nothing.

and yet.

AND YET

the vast majority of natalia dyer’s press for s4 was about a love triangle. and i get it, a lot of interviewers can’t get away with not asking those questions, but you know what else you could ask about? nancy’s growth over the last 4 seasons. how it felt being the leader of the hawkins gang. how she thinks nancy feels after losing another friend. what was running through her head when vecna had her. what her thoughts are regarding nancy’s plan, or what’s going through her head during that final scene when she’s *checks notes* standing behind the show’s protagonist and looking at The Plot as it rises from the ground.

or, i don’t know, ask her what it’s like being the person handling guns on set. what those upside down night shoots were like. what her thoughts are on nancy’s choice of college! what she thinks about the perm! for fuck’s sake there are only a thousand different questions that would’ve been far more interesting or at least personal to her character. but no. every interview boils down to team steve or team jonathan, as if a tired, already resolved love triangle is anywhere near as interesting as literally any other part of her character

[starry-eyed-steve]

I don't like how the Jancy fight got resolved here. Basically, Jonathan said it was okay for Nancy to be an ass to him about his financial situation because she was ultimately right. His problems got never addressed by the narrative because, yes, Nancy was right about the story, but Jonathan wasn't in the wrong either to call her out on her privileges. Unfortunately, Karen's pep talk prior to that did nothing but reinforce Nancy's behavior because ultimately Karen told her to keep going no matter who you hurt. Nancy didn't get a chance to grow because the show treats her as someone who can't do wrong. She still doesn't understand Jonathan and his struggles, and the show doesn't care either for this.

Neither of them really apologized. Nancy said she didn't mean it but couldn't say sorry, and Jonathan abolved her from it because in his mind, he deserved it. And definitely, the icing on the cake was Nancy's comment about him "better not doubting her ever again," destroying the small apology she gave. Again, showcasing she didn't learn or grew from this fight/situation.

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

A/N: I had to write this. I needed Nancy and Steve being parental as well as Steve being bitchy. Everyone's relationship is up in the air except for Robin and Joyce's. Joyce is clearly with Hopper. Robin is always with Vickie because people hate on Vickie for no reason. Anyways, love to all, no matter what you like. Unless you like Billy, then I'm judging you harshly.

Steve was already annoyed because his date backed out at the last minute, but now he was even more annoyed when he found out from Robin that they wouldn't be at Lucas's game. Just for one night, Lucas wasn't asking them to abandon the game completely but to take one night off. Don't they understand that this is what Lucas was afraid of? Not being able to be a jock and to be able to still be a nerd? Of losing his friends? One night wasn't an unreasonable thing to ask for. Sometimes, being a good friend means supporting them when they need it even if you don't like it or understand it, not all the time but sometimes. How do they expect Lucas to compromise for them when they need it if they never do it for him?

Steve was too in his own head to notice that someone else was striding towards the drama room. He arrived at the doors at the same time as Nancy. Their hands reached for the door handle. They stared at each other, and for a moment, Steve had forgotten what he was doing. Nancy looked so beautiful when she wasn't angry at him. Oh, she was angry. Was she angry at the same thing he was? Oh, right, Mike, Dustin, and Erica.

"You mad at the kids for abandoning and replacing Lucas, too?" Steve asked.

"Yes!" Nancy exclaimed.

"Well, let's do this together then, shall we?" Steve asked.

They opened the doors, causing them to bang loudly against the walls. Nancy and Steve stormed in, their hands on their hips.

"Hey, assholes!" Steve and Nancy exclaimed in unison.

They paused and looked at each other in surprise for a moment before turning back to them.

"Oh my God! They're together and they're both pissed!" Dustin shrieked.

"You're damn right we're pissed!" Steve yelled.

"Lucas asked for one night for you guys to be there to support him, and you couldn't give him that?" Nancy asked.

"It's not our fault Lucas went to the dark side!" Mike exclaimed.

"The dark side? So, all people who play basketball are Darth Vader?" Steve asked.

"You know Darth Vader?" Dustin asked.

"Of course, I do! I can be a little nerdy sometimes!" Steve exclaimed.

"He reads comic books, too!" Nancy yelled.

"What? Why didn't you say?!" Dustin asked.

"Whenever I try to join in on your conversations, you brush me off and scoff!" Steve yelled, and then his eyes went soft, as well as his voice. "Do you guys just think of me as a dumb jock who gives you free rides?"

"Nice mom guilt," Nancy whispered to him.

"Thanks," Steve whispered back.

"I mean, really, everything that Steve’s done for you. . .for Lucas, especially in Starcourt. He saved Dustin and Erica's life!" Nancy exclaimed. "And do you just think that all people who enjoy basketball are assholes?!"

"Nice dad guilt," Steve whispered.

"Thanks," Nancy whispered back.

"Hey, Mike, didn't you promise Will that you wouldn't join another party?" Steve asked, snapping his fingers at him.

"That's right, I mean, if D&D means so much to you, then why are you sitting here in another party?" Nancy asked.

Mike opened his mouth and closed it again, unable to find the answer. Dustin looked incredibly guilty. Good, Steve thought. Eddie scowled and stood up.

"Who gives a fuck about some stupid laundry basket game?" Eddie asked. "This is when we play. It's not our fault that Sinclair chose the wrong game."

"Lucas gives a fuck about that laundry basket game!" Steve snapped. "He wasn't asking for you to give up the game completely, he was asking for one fucking night so he that he wouldn't feel like a freak for enjoying both games! He wanted his friends to accept him for that and for someone who stood up on a fucking table to preach against forced conformity - yeah, Robin told me about that - here you are trying to force Lucas and his friends to only comform to D&D!"

Steve was pleased to see that Eddie looked like he had been slapped in the face.

"That's not - I mean - ," Eddie stuttered.

"Yeah, Robin was pretty much agreeing with you until you went after science and band," Steve said. "I mean, are you telling me that all of you have the same exact interests? Do you all like the same food? Do you all like the same music?"

"The problem isn't basketball. The problem is that every group has their assholes but they also have their good people, too," Nancy said, looking at Steve.

"And sometimes people can crossover into other groups," Steve said. "It happens."

"We didn't think Lucas actually enjoyed basketball," Dustin said.

"Yeah, he told us he wanted to stop being bullied," Mike said.

"Hm, and which group was he talking about?" Steve asked.

"What happens when one of your players gets sick?" Nancy asked.

"Well, yeah, we postpone then because it's a good excuse," Gareth said.

"A championship is a good excuse," Nancy replied. "But it's nice to know that you guys aren't completely heartless."

"Heartless?! We're not the ones beating the shit out of people because of what they like!" Eddie snapped.

"No, you're just letting them know that they're replaceable if they decide they need to explore other options," Steve said, and then he scoffed. "Can't believe I ever had a crush on you."

Eddie's eyes widened as the whole table gasped dramatically.

"You're fucking with me," Eddie said.

"No, I'm not," Steve said. "I like men and women. I know that liking more than one thing is a hard concept for you to grasp."

"That's not, I mean, you can like whatever you want, but liking basketball and D&D is different than that," Eddie frowned.

"I don't see how," Nancy said, shaking her head. "Do you guys play every day of the week?"

"Well, no," Eddie said.

"Well, if you don't play every day of the week, then it's not going to be the end of the world if you wait just one more day?!" Nancy asked.

"Okay, enough of this. I don't care if you guys come or not, but Dustin, Erica, and Mike, you guys are coming to the game to support your friend," Steve said clapping his hands.

"But - " Mike started to say.

"You heard your mother! I mean, your Steve! You heard Steve!" Nancy exclaimed, shaking her head again.

Mike and Dustin ducked their heads as they gathered their things. Erica held her head up high as she did the same thing.

"I didn't do anything wrong, they tricked me!" Erica exclaimed.

"Erica!" Nancy scolded.

As they were leaving with the kids, Steve overheard one of them - Frankie? - speak up.

"I wasn't ever going to say anything, but I, uh, kind of like watching basketball," Frankie said.

"Fine, fine! We'll go to the goddamn game," Eddie said.

It didn't take long for them to catch up with the group.

"Decided to join us assholes, huh?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, look, you were right, and Nancy was right. . .it's not going to be the end of the world if we wait one more day," Eddie said. "And of course, I know that Sinclair isn't going to turn out like those assholes especially if he has the support of his friends."

"Yeah, well, I'm not the one you need to apologize to," Steve said.

"Yeah, that's true. . . So, you have a crush on me?" Eddie asked.

"Had. As in past tense," Steve replied.

"Yeah, I suppose I deserve that," Eddie said. "I am curious to know if you are seeing anyone, though."

"I just tore you a new one," Steve said, looking at him in confusion.

"I know," Eddie grinned.

"Well, I'm kind of seeing someone," Steve said.

"Kind of?"

"It's on and off."

"Is he being intentionally vague?" Eddie asked Nancy.

"I can't say," she grinned.

"By the way, was I little too bitchy in there?" Steve asked Nancy.

"No, you were perfect. I know someone else who would have loved it like a certain someone did," Nancy said.

"Okay, you two aren't bad assholes, just annoyingly vague assholes," Eddie said, and they both giggled. "This is going to be a long game."

The game wasn't so bad as Eddie had thought it was going to be, especially when Chrissy jumped up and waved excitedly at the sight of him. He eventually got caught up with it when Lucas was sent in to play. He was glad he did come when he saw the pure joy on the young man's face when he saw almost everyone he cared about was there to cheer him on. When Lucas scored the winning shot, Eddie hugged Nancy and Steve both tightly. He needed to be reminded every once in a while that it's not just about him and what he likes. He started Hellfire to give lost sheep like Lucas a place to belong, and he almost ruined that because of a few bad eggs who happened to like basketball. Besides, people needed to know that just because you have different interests doesn't mean you have to be enemies.

"Thank you for making me come," Eddie told them. "I would have regretted it."

A week or so later. . .

"So, Nance, what were you saying about it not being the end of the world if I postponed the game for a day?" Eddie asked with a cheeky grin as he laid in his hospital bed.

"We stopped it before it could happen," Nancy rolled her eyes. "Do you regret going to Lucas's basketball game?"

Eddie grinned as he thought about the pure joy on Lucas's face.

"Nah!"

"Well, no one stayed dead, so there's that!" Chrissy grinned.

"Well, Hopper's still dead," Steve said.

"Oh, yeah," Chrissy frowned.

Suddenly, there came a knocking at Eddie's hospital room door. Robin got up to answer it.

"Steve, you were wrong. Hopper is very much alive!" Robin exclaimed. "Holy shit!"

Robin let Hopper and Joyce into the room. Moments later, Vickie skidded in behind them.

"Hey, guys, did you hear? Someone said they saw Chief Hopper wandering the hospital!" Vickie said and glanced at Hopper for a moment. "Hiya, Chief! Isn't that crazy, Robin? He's supposed to be dead, right?!"

"It takes her a moment," Robin said. "She gets there eventually."

"Oh my God! . . . Eddie, is that your mom?"

[kwikquik]

Yeah, yeah “Steve and Nancy want different things in life” but also please see that he doesn’t actually listen to her in a way that gives her back what she asks for, wants, or needs. That’s it, that is all that matters.

[chaotic-ace-arts]

Time to bake these guys.

Can't wait to detail these and then gloss and add the chains ^-^

[navnae]

The fruity four going to a house of mirrors and Robin and Nancy are dying of laughter watching Steve and Eddie bang their heads against every mirror they walk into.

“I think this is the way *BONK* GODDAMN IT!” Eddie yells while rubbing his forehead. Him and Steve started getting frustrated.

“Why did I even agree to go to this *BONK*” Steve growled at the mirror he just slammed into.

“You have to take your time dingus *BONK* ouch!” Robin didn’t even realize she was standing in front of a mirror until her forehead connected with it and it hurt really bad.

“All of you are going about this the wrong way, it’s about tactic and calculations *BONK*” Nancy paused trying to gather her thoughts after colliding with a mirror just like everyone else.

“Not so easy is it! *BONK* FUCK!” Eddie cursed. His head was throbbing at this point.

All of them continued to bump into mirrors and giving themselves headaches until one of the staff guided them out after five hours.

[onstrangerthighs]

The Ugly Truth

Despite wishing her mother good night thirty minutes ago, Nancy’s eyes refuse to shut. Whenever she starts to drift off, she sees Barb crawling out from underground to blame her for what happened that night. Nancy would argue her case, but there’s no defense. She failed her friend. Barb hadn’t even wanted to go along in the first place! 

I’m going insane just lying here. Maybe some warm milk will calm me down.

She passes the bathroom on the way to the stairs. Mom’s not in the tub? I didn’t hear the water go off. Huh. 

The front door is open, and there’s the boy from Tina’s party who came speeding into Hawkins High School’s parking lot with his car radio on full blast. The boy Steve keeps staring at like a stunned fish. She’s shit with remembering names. Ben… something? 

Curiosity gets the better of her. She stays very still on the second step, ears and eyes peeled. 

Mom answered the door in her bathrobe? Nancy shifts her attention to Ben- no Billy, his name’s Billy. He seems… tense. Fidgety. 

“I’m Nancy’s mother.” 

“No.” 

For some reason, Billy saying that in a clearly sarcastic tone makes her mother twirl her hair and giggle, “Yes” like a schoolgirl with a crush. 

You’ve never acted this way with Dad. 

“Mrs. Wheeler.” 

“Um, I’m sorry, and you are?”

“Billy. Billy Hargrove.” He extends a hand for her to shake, and when she does, he puts his other hand over hers.

What the fuck is happening? Why aren’t you pulling away? 

“You must be here for Nancy.” 

“Nancy? No, no, no.”

One no would’ve done the trick. 

“Not my type.” 

Nancy snorts into her hand. 

“Uh… No, actually I am looking for my little sister Max. Goes by Maxine. She’s been missing all day, and, uh, to be honest with you, I’ve been worried sick, you know, so…”

“Oh.” 

You sound almost… disappointed. Why would you be, unless… No. Surely not. 

“I thought she was at Lucas’, but Mrs. Sinclair said your house is the…the designated hangout, so, you know… Here I am.” 

This has got to be the worst pretend pickup line I’ve ever heard. He’s got no interest in you, Mom. You know that, don’t you? 

Billy comes in, and if he notices Nancy lurking at the top of the stairs as he goes into the kitchen, he doesn’t say anything. 

“Their driveway is pretty dark this time of night,” Mom says, scribbling down an address for him. “So drive slowly.”

“Always.” He pockets the address and takes an extra bitter oatmeal cookie for the road. 

Under the kitchen light, her mother dies, and all she sees is Karen Wheeler biting her bottom lip as she watches him walk away, her eyes glued to his ass. 

Nancy doesn’t remember when her gun appeared in her hands, but her brain is surprisingly clear when she pulls the trigger. A bullet goes right between Karen’s eyes. 

Killing people is surprisingly easy when you see who they really are. 

Billy lies flat on the floor, hands cupped over his ears. 

“I’m not going to shoot you.” 

“You killed… your mother. God, Hicktown is fuckin’ crazy!” 

Boy, he really catches on quick. 

“You don’t know the half of it.” Nancy steps over Karen’s body and dials the number of Hopper’s secretary. She’s more likely to pick up than the Chief himself. “Hi, this is Nancy Wheeler. I need to talk to Chief Hopper. It’s important.”

She hears a grunt, and prepares the crocodile tears. Billy stares at her with a mix of awe and horror as her lower lip begins to tremble. “My mother st-started acting really strange. She turned the air conditioner down because she “liked it cold”. She-she loved the house being warm. Her voice came out all-all deep and empty. I looked into her eyes, and I knew my mother wasn’t…” she takes a shaky breath for added effect, then continues, “I knew she was gone. So I… I shot her. I don’t want to go to jail! I’m so scared, Chief.” 

“You did the right thing, calling me. I’ll stop by your house and take care of things, okay? Do you have anywhere else to go tonight?”

“I’m not sure. I-”

 Billy’s not on the floor anymore. His headlights are on. Crap.

I need to make sure he knows not to say anything. 

Nancy gets into the passenger seat and he sends her a dirty look. 

“You should really start locking your doors. It’s a safety precaution.”

“... I will keep that in mind. Now get out of my car.” 

“You said you were looking for your sister, right?”

“She’s not my sister.”

“But you said-” “I know what I said. Look, I’d prefer to forget everything said and done in your freakshow house, Wheeler.”

“Nancy.” 

“Fine. Nancy.” 

“I know where Max is.” 

“I’m not giving you shit in exchange for that information.” 

“Well I should hope not.” Has this sort of thing happened to him before?

“I know how to keep a secret. I just… why did you do it?” 

“We were always arguing. She never heard me. What pushed me over the edge was how she was with you. It made me want to puke. She should’ve stuck to her own age group.” 

Billy goes eerily quiet, hands gripping his steering wheel until his knuckles turn white. His shoulders slacken, and he unclenches his jaw to offer her a weary, appreciative smile. 

“Max is at the Byers’ house. Mike’s there, too. I can’t take him back to that house. He didn’t know… I don’t suppose you have room where you live?” Billy tenses up again. 

She takes that as a no.”

“I’ll be your guide to the Byers’. I’m sure Mrs. Byers wouldn’t mind us staying over.” 

He gives her a terse nod.

“Us includes you, Bonnie.”

Billy blinks several times, temporarily breaking out of his grim state. “Bonnie? Hold on, why the fuck am I not Clyde? Clyde’s a man.”

Nancy lets out a long sigh. “Do you actually care about that crap?”

“... No. I don’t,” he admits. “Bonnie has better hair anyway, so it fits.” 

“You think you’re funny, huh.” 

“I think I’m a fucking riot.” 

“Humor is subjective.”

“It was your joke!” 

****** “Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Don’t cream your pants.” 

Okay, now I wish I’d shot myself instead. 

“Nancy???” Steve exclaims, dragging his eyes away from Billy’s chest. 

So that’s why Billy took his jacket off. 

She snickers, shaking her head. Steve Alexander Harrington, you haven’t changed one bit. 

Billy seems to be glowing from Steve’s attention. Dorks. 

“What’re you doing here, amigo?”

“Yeah, I could ask you the same thing, amigo.” 

Oh, Steve, you’re not fooling anyone. 

“Looking for my stepsister. A little birdie told me she was here.”

Nancy awkwardly waves. I doubt they’re even aware I exist. 

“Huh. That’s weird. I don’t know her.”

“Small, redhead, bit of a bitch?”

“I heard that!” a girl yells from inside the house. 

“I wanted you to!” 

“You guys are going to wake up the whole neighborhood!” Nancy yells.

“I think we’re a little quieter than a gu- guy who’s bangin’ his wife.” 

“Are you two… friends or something?” Steve says, squinting like he’s come face to face with an impossible math problem. 

“Amigos in crime.” 

“You didn’t tell him any embarrassing stories about me, did you? Nance?” 

“Stories? What stories?” 

“It’s a school night. We should all head inside and get some rest.”

“Nance!” 

“Shut up, Steve.”

“Yeah, shut up, Pretty Boy.” 

“Keep the flirting to a minimum, there are children present.”

Steve’s jaw drops. “WHAT? FLIRTING?”

Billy cackles, slapping his knee, his face matching the color of his shirt. 

New hobby unlocked. 

*****

“Does Mrs. Byers have any grub around here? I’m gonna check the fridge.”

“Billy, I wouldn’t do that if I were you-"

“WHAT THE FUCK-”

[onearmedlegend]

I’m just imagining that Billy’s finally free of his father’s clutches; he’s gone to jail. The Mind Flayer is gone. Max was invited to the Byers for what they called a family dinner. But what didn’t make sense was that people unrelated to them were there? The little Byers’s friends and big Byers’s girlfriend. Oh, and the Police Chief. And Harrington. Basically everyone who hated him, great.

Except for that weird girl El. Who helped him more than he can ever say.

Max said she wanted to go, and Billy had no problem with that; there wasn’t a horrendous ‘curfew’ to be home by anymore. There wasn’t going to be any slurs and punches and throws and things (Billy) thrown around if they were late anymore. No skipping school for injuries or pretending bruises were from someone on the basketball team anymore.

But people were still scared of Billy around town. They knew of his father’s actions and were worried he’d be the same. Or they looked at him with pity as if they had any idea what happened between closed doors.

What used to be unfiltered, flirtatious, and longing stares and empty conversations—now were rapid flashes of glances before scurrying away to the safety of their homes. As if Hawkins was safe. Everybody was too scared to be out on the streets for too long before something in the nights, or god forbid day, swept them off to someplace terrible.

After that summer, more people were afraid. Billy understood. They didn’t, not really. But Billy did. And he was afraid for himself. Of what he could do, now that he saw what that thing did to him without permission. Without fear. Without care. Without a second thought.

So Billy kept his distance when they arrived. Max took off towards the Party, who were all hanging out in the living room. They were setting up the game of D&D or something, but Max watched and pretended to listen. She was pleasantly comforted by their presence. El looked up at him and smiled. He smiled back, and her head dropped to the board game at hand. Nobody else noticed.

Harrington was sitting on the ground next to the kids. Harrington took him by surprise; he wasn’t related to anyone here. He dated older Wheeler a while ago (a year now?), and she was with older Byers. Was he invited by Mrs. Byers? That got Billy’s head scratching.

But then he saw the curly-haired kid named Dustin look back at him and yell something. (It was more of a squawk, but whatever). Max shushed him and apologized to Steve with a smile, and Harrington shrugged her off, softly grinning. Sinclair, little Byers, and little Wheeler asked if he wanted to join, and he calmly said, “Nah, this isn’t my game. You kids go right on ahead.”

The older Byers was cozying older Wheeler on the couch. It was like they were in their own little world. Both of their eyes were glimmering at each other, or maybe that was all the Christmas lights shining from the Christmas tree. No matter what, Billy could tell they were where they wanted to be.

Mrs. Byers and the Chief were huddled in the kitchen arranging everything accordingly. It made Billy charmingly confused that a broad, intimidating man like the Chief was being fussed around by this anxious woman slapping his hand when he took a cookie off the plate. Billy slipped a chuckle but covered it up with a fake ‘clearing of the throat’.

That was when they all realized Billy was there. Time seemed to come to a halting scratch when they saw him. He offered a little wave and small, “Hello.”

The kids mumbled, “Hi, Billy.”

Older Wheeler and Older Byers almost glared at him behind their acknowledgments.

Harrington was more in shock rather than anything else.

Mrs. Byers ran up to him and greeted him with a squeeze of the shoulder.

The Chief took an apple, bit into it, and strode over to him with an unreadable but questioning stare. “How are you tonight, kid?”

“Good, sir. Yourself?”

“Good. Have you tried the cookies yet?”

Billy was frozen. “Oh, um. No?”

“Even better.” He leaned in and patted Billy’s shoulder. “There’s still plenty left.”

“Hopper!” Mrs. Byers exclaimed. “No eating cookies before dinner!”

Billy chuckled when the Chief shrugged and walked back into the kitchen.

A pair of arms wrapped around his waist. A little voice could be heard into his jacket. “Hello, Billy!” Billy looked down and saw a little girl with blonde hair put into two ponytails hiding at his side.

Older Wheeler hopped off the couch and ran towards the little person hugged into Billy’s jacket. She pulled the girl off and got down to her eye level. “I’m so sorry! Holly, you can’t just ran up and hug people like that, it can scare them!”

“But,” her voice squeaked, “we were supposed to say hello with hugs!”

“Yes,” older Wheeler agreed, “but he didn’t see you!”

Billy cleared his throat. “It’s um…it’s okay. She’s all good.”

Older Wheeler looked surprised and relieved that Big Bad Billy wasn’t going to be pissed at her little sister. Her shoulders dropped as she sighed and got back up. Mrs. Byers called her into the kitchen just then. She walked away, with one last glance saying, “Thank you.”

Harrington walked up to the little girl, Holly, and swooped her into his grasp. He said, “Lookie here! Whatcha doin’, Holly? Hm?”

Holly giggled into his chest as she mumbled, “Nothing.”

Seeing Harrington being good with kids was one thing. Harrington being good with little kids made Billy’s heart skip something awful.

Billy’s face flushed as Harrington’s hair fell forward with a soft giggle. Harrington looked up at Billy and then Holly. She reached out towards Billy.

Steve’s eyes went big. “Ope, looks like she wants you to hold her. You got her?”

“Oh, um…I think so?”

“Billy!” Holly exclaimed and leaned forward, almost completely out of Steve’s hold. Billy held his arms out and arranged himself to hold her properly.

Billy looked at Holly as she started messing with her sweater sleeves. He smiled at her and asked, “That better, Holly?”

“Yes!” she laughed and hid in his neck.

“Yeah?” Billy asked in a lighter voice to meet hers.

“Yeah!” Holly leaned forward and hugged her little arms around his neck. Billy was caught off-guard by the gesture.

Harrington hid his smile behind his hand. His eyes softened when he realized Billy was hugging her a little tighter than before.

Billy’s eyes were tearing up faster by the minute. Harrington reached out his hand and wiped away a stray tear with his thumb. They both shared a sad stare.

Because if Billy was crying over the fact a little kid trusted him, even after all of his actions that summer, that wasn’t anybody’s business but his and Harrington’s.

[ryan-waddell11]

I’m missing them so much rn