#and don't even get me started on how Joyce would react to Karen's behavior

[biillyhargroves]

I know I’ve talked about this before but I'm still out here wishing that Joyce got a moment with Billy, because you know that woman would clock what’s going on within five seconds of seeing that kid and she’s not the kind of person who sits back and lets others get hurt. This is the woman who fought to get away from her own abuser, who pulled her sons out of that fire, who took one look at Eleven and decided “I’m your mom now.” Joyce doesn’t let kids fall through the cracks, and Billy deserved at least one person in his life who’d stand up for him, who’d look out for him, who’d show him a single ounce of kindness.

Joyce’s entire personality is built around protecting others, and Billy has never had a single person protect him in his entire life. HIs mother left. His father beats him. His step-mother stays quiet. Grown women, mothers themselves, fawned over him, sexualizing and commodifying his youth, never seeing him as a full person, just a body to gawk at and objectify. Every single adult in his life has failed him, and nothing would enrage Joyce more than knowing that there’s a child whose had to live his entire life walking on eggshells and fighting for control, for safety, for security. A child living the life her boys could have fallen into if she hadn’t made the right choices, if she hadn’t loved them more than she did herself, if she hadn’t valued her children over a marriage that, let’s face it, was probably doomed from the start. She’d be furious to know that nobody, not one single person, had ever looked at Billy the way she looked at Jonathan and Will and Eleven, that no one had stepped up for him, that no one had put him first in their hearts.

Joyce Byers is five foot, three inches of pure Mama Bear Energy and she wouldn’t be able to stand by and let a child get hurt. I have zero doubts that she’d stand toe-to-toe with Neil to give him a piece of her mind, any time, any place, because how dare a grown man lay a hand on a child? (And of course, Hopper would be terrified at all of this, because if this man is willing to harm his own son, what might he do to a stranger butting into his business? But that’s the beauty of Joyce: she doesn’t care. Sure, Neil is bigger than Lonnie, probably stronger than Lonnie, and yes Billy is strong himself, but this is not a burden for a child to carry and she would be hellbent on lifting as much off his shoulders as she could.)

Joyce is the person that Billy deserved. She’d see right through his charm; she’d never fall for the cocky smile, the little winks, that sultry voice he puts on when he’s trying to impress someone. She’d know that it was all an act and she’d get to the bottom of it, and when she saw what was there she’d do whatever she could to help him. She’d mom the hell out of that kid, and he’d have no idea what to do with that, how to react to this genuine love and kindness from a stranger, but maybe one day he’d realize it was how he truly deserved to be treated all along.