#billy hargrove was not redeemed

[bigdumbbambieyes]

tw mentioned abuse

Billy always wakes up before his boyfriend and probably always will. But, he’s not complaining — he loves waking up in Steve’s bed, tangled up in the sheets as he blinks the sleep away from his eye. As always, he immediately turns his head and spots Steve there, his face pressed into his pillow as he sleeps soundly. The rising sun peeks through the curtains, spilling across his boyfriend, highlighting his dark hair a soft brown against the blue bedding.

Shuffling over, Billy presses a quiet kiss to Steve’s shoulder before untangling himself from the sheets and getting out of bed, pulling up the shorts he borrowed from the pretty boy as he heads to the bathroom—

And runs into Mrs. Harrington, who’s wrapped up in her house coat with rollers in her hair, cup of coffee in hand.

“Oh!” She gasps, jumping and spilling some of her coffee on the floor, grasping at the fabric of her housecoat over her chest as she stares at him. After the shock quickly wears off, she’s chuckling softly and sighs, “Jesus, you scared me.”

“Sorry,” he smiles softly, glancing down at the floor where the coffee spilled, “Was just gonna use the bathroom.”

“Yeah, of course,” she hums, but makes this soft tsk sound of disappointment as she reaches up to brush a blond curl back from his forehead, where he knows the bruise from his father is. With sadness laced in her voice, she whispers, “Again?”

“It’s fine, Mrs. H,” Billy mumbles as he looks at her again, gently pulling away from her touch.

“No, it’s not,” she huffs, anger replacing that sadness as their eyes meet. Steve has her eyes. Kind, but fierce. Caring. Worried. “Oh, if I ever run into your father again, I won’t be nice like I was last time.” Before she knew what he did to Billy.

But Billy smiles again, a little more amused, because she’s 5’4’’ and could be blown away by the wind if it were too strong of a gust, but she’s got a fighting spirit. He knows where Steve got that from, now.

“I believe it,” he hums, touched by the way that Steve’s family cares and how they care about him. They don’t have to, but they do, and Billy doesn’t take it lightly or for granted.

She gives him that sorry smile and places her manicured hand on his arm, giving it a gentle squeeze, “You know you’re welcome here whenever you need it, Billy. Lord knows we have more than enough room for one more.”

“Yeah,” he chuckles softly with a nod, “And, thanks. Again.”

Another nod and she pulls her hand away, saying, “Coffee pot’s on downstairs,” before she heads down the hallway, back to her room to get ready for the day.

Looking down at the coffee spill, he lets out a soft sigh and frowns. If that had been his dad and Billy had made him spill his coffee, he’d be knocked upside the head. Or worse.

But, not here. In the Harrington house, he’s welcomed and wanted and the coffee pot is left on for him. He has a space here, whenever he wants it. And he always does.

As he’s wiping up the small spill, the door to Steve’s bedroom opens and his boyfriend looks sleepy as hell — eyes half shut, hair a mess, lines pressed into his skin from the bed. Billy stands and smiles at him, filled with warmth and affection as Steve waddles over to him and wraps his arms around him, pressing a kiss to Billy’s cheek as he mumbles, “Morn’.”

“Morning, peanut,” Billy whispers, wrapping his arm around Steve’s shoulders and pressing a kiss to his mouth, then another to his cheek.

“Coffee?” Steve whispers, pressing his nose to Billy’s cheek, his eyes shut again as he struggles to wake up. It’s annoyingly cute.

“Mhm,” Billy hums happily in agreement.

[runraerun]

[shieldofiron]

Actually it is a little crazy that Steve went from canon homophobe and slut shamer, who yes apologizes, to being God’s specialest princess who would never be with Billy because he’s a bad person. And or depending on the fic that Billy would easily be able to manipulate and take advantage of him. Like… okay. This is your man? Mr Beefy start a fight?

[hopelessromanfic]

just read a comment saying “billy wasn’t a bad guy” as if that mf wasn’t a hate crime personified

[theferalwitch]

My thoughts on fictional characters, people and their complexities (Billy Hargrove included lol he's the main focus. As are a lot of my posts)

Uh. Mild TW Mention of slurs and fictional violence!

I think I start caring about people who are morally objectionable because I know for a fact I too can be morally objectionable. If they can be loud and angry and mean and people understand them and love them surely. Surely one person can understand and love me too. I think this is part of the reason why so many people care about the villain of the story. They're not excusing what they've done. They understand what they've done, but they don't. Yknow. They just don't look at them and go " BAD MAN MUST GO AWAY FOR GOOD". They understand the complexity of the character and the way they came to be where they got to today. Or atleast the potential complexity like with Billy Hargrove.

I look at the guy an yeah as a character he's done some bad stuff. He really has. Laying out what's canon here.

Broken Max's skateboard.

Tried to run over children.

Implied violence towards Max.

Racism towards Lucas

And this is just what I can think of-

However he's been hit by his father (considering the reaction to it I doubt it's been the first time)

Called slurs by said father.

With his memories of his dad and his mom's fights well. We know what happened there.

Has rightfully gotten upset at Steve lying to him about Max being there at the house he was at. With a bunch of boys. At night. (All he knew was Steve's reputation and he doesn't know these kids. Billy is a guy. He knows what could have happened) Ended up wilding out and getting drugged by something unknown. (Which I can see why they did it in the heat of the moment. Does that excuse it? Absolutely not)

I'm not even gonna touch on Karen Wheeler. She's a predator end of story.

Now to put this all in perspective Billy is a child during most of this. And barely legal working at the pool. Children should be held responsible for their actions if they truly intend to harm or abuse someone else. No question. In his environment? I can understand why he developed the way he did.

Because I was in some of those same situations. My friends were. Families were. I've seen people who rose above their raising and some who didn't. I was fortunate enough to claw myself out of that hole. I still do every day.

Now Billy Hargrove never got that chance. All we saw was the angry, destructive, loud kid that partied fought and drank.

Whats the point of this you ask? I fuckin see myself in the kids actions. I was angry and destructive and just flat out mean to people.

Sometimes those impulses come from a really dark place and it's hard to control. Hard to deal with. Especially if you don't have the tools and the support behind you. Maybe if he'd been given a chance to change he would have. Guess we'll never know.

I wanted to end this by saying that well. I know this was a ramble. But I think I wanted to say is people and characters can be complex things. I wanted to use Billy as an example for that and to make myself feel a little better for being considered too much. To angry. To traumatized. Taking up too much space. Coz if he can be loved like. So can I. So can you. 💜

[sketchy-scribs-n-doods]

the way i wish there could be more good faith analysis and fic about billy having adopted racial prejudice from his dad and then learning to properly recognize it and grow past it in order become a better person. i wish there was more posts and fics that tackle the bullshit lucas has had to deal with as a black kid in small town indiana because the duffers never even considered it. but the sheer puritan black and white thinking and performative activism or moral virtue signaling or whatever the fuck that is so pervasive in this fandom means that even the few posts and fics that dare to try and actually tackle racism tend turn it into either a punishment narrative, are depressingly shallow about it, make it about hating and liking the 'right characters', or miss the mark entirely

like i get it, homophobia/transphobia is easier to explore and talk about for most fans. it's complex and multi-layered just like other types of oppression, but so much of fandom is queer and dedicated to shipping and labels that yeah, i can see how talking about it is just. easier for a lot of ppl. also a lot of fandom is white. and lots of white gays get weird about discussing racism in their spaces. y'know the deal, but i digress. from what i can see, very few ppl want to explore how racism affects our favorite characters and the stories they live in. i know some ppl are probably afraid of getting it wrong, or they don't know anything about it and don't feel like they should. it's like, my blorbo is queer and so am i, so why wouldn't i talk all day about that? i get it. but it honestly just means a lot when someone tries earnestly. i have read beautiful fics about trans love through hardship by cis authors and such genuine fics about connection in the face of racism's poison by white authors.

there is just SO much untapped potential in exploring lucas and max and billy and patrick and argyle and all the other characters directly and indirectly affected by bigotry and racism within the narrative that never got the acknowledgement it deserved. plus it's super weird being used as a 'gotcha!' by white fans that hate billy (as if poc fans of billy aren't capable of seeing it for the bullshit it is) or seeing lucas' treatment in the show get brushed aside like it's nothing or how argyle gets sidelined an awful lot in the fandom (and don't even get me started on how messy the classism in this fandom can be, the borderline erasure of eddie's poverty and its effects on who he is as a person in fic is insane sometimes)

anyway. idk if any of this makes sense, but i can count like maybe 3 good fics and maybe a dozen good posts about billy that actually address this in good faith and only maybe a dozen more for every other character i mentioned. and i desperately want more. i am brown and queer and i want healing and love for all of these characters and i am going to have to start churning out more of it myself at this rate.

[every-dayiwakeup]

The only irredeemable thing about Billy is that he litters

[fantasticallyfruity4]

the idea that billy would be domestically violent/ abuse romantic and intimate partners is SUCH a bad take. he isn't just a product of an abusive household, but he is most scarred by A) watching his mother endure it, and B) the aftermath of his mother leaving the violence. 

and also, to state the obvious, is scared of NOTHING quite like the way he’s afraid of being anything like his father.

he A) is a major mommas boy. his love for his mother prevents him from hurting anyone he loves, or even just fools around with that way.

and B) if he hurt his significant other, even by accident, and they left him because of it? he wouldn't fight them on leaving of corse but it sure as shit would break everything in him.

hes a charmer in cannon. I think he'd be a very charming, smooth talking S/O, maybe not the best but I can't see him being abusive, sorry,

lazy characterization. 

[muertawrites]

billy x fem reader

Billy and reader are married and have a son/daughter and he/she is only a couple days old and so reader is still extremely tired so when their son/daughter wake the both of them up with crying billy calms their child back to sleep and talks about how amazing reader is and starts to reminisce on the great memories of their youth and he eventually joins reader back in bed and he looks at her with such love and admiration before he soon falls asleep

billy hargrove is an abusive, irredeemable heap of festering garbage.

the idea of writing anything about having a family with him makes me physically ill.

i'll consider writing this for eddie or steve but not billy.

[thevestigeofvanillaan]

a little present for my absence🤷‍♀️.

soundgasm links!!

Jealousy. (Part 5).

The Sleepover.

Library. (Part 3).

Thanksgiving. (Part 10).

Sneaking into your High-school Friend's Room

Your Boyfriends Father Helps You out during NNN.

A Christmas Dinner.

Are you feeling like a Good Girl again?

Fuck me? How about Fuck You. (Part 1).

Fuck me? How about I Fuck You Again. (Part 2).

some of these are from a series that i didnt add all the links to. but, these are my favorite ones from the series (it's called "The Boy Next Door" I think lol). oh and sorry if i messed up which part they are, i did it from memory. all the links are m4f and have different kinks and shit like that.

Here's (them in order as listed above): what I thought about them.

I enjoyed this one, I feel as though this entire series sounds a lot like Tate Langdon (ahs). This guy is known for sounding like Evan which he very much so does.

Again this guy sounds like Evan, which is.. hot. I can't really remember much from this one but I remember really liking it which is why I copied the link lol.

This one probably makes more sense if you listen to part 1 which is when you and (Tate) met at the church and he masturbated you in the back. Also I forgot what part 2 even was so sorry.

I like this one. But, if you like this one and part 5 I wouldn't recommend listening to the one called anger which I believe is after part 10.

This one was okay. If you're into that kinda like masturbating in front of someone else kinda thing this is what you'd wanna listen to. Oh, and this was def Steve Harrington (st).

This one, too, was okay. I didn't hate it. If you like dilfs, or cheating, or both, then this one's for you.

I really like the story part. The very beginning where he's telling a story is so sexy.. but the kinks and subby stuff wasn't my style. This gave Billy Hargrove (st) btw.

Again, I don't remember much of this one but if I copied the kink then I probably enjoyed it. I think this one possibly sounded like Steve? But I'd have to listen again.

Don't think this one gave me an idea of a person, but his voice is attractive. He kinda has an accent that's hidden in certain words but you can hear it.

I love this one. Part 2 > Part 1, if im being honest. I like how he redeemed himself for being such an asshole and how he realized that you're actually worth his time. Loved this one.

[sokkastyles]

I've heard that Azula was meant to be male originally. I wonder how different the writing would be for the character and how different the fans would react to it. I am glad that they made Azula female tho.

I remember hearing that male Azula was also supposed to be the older sibling, which does change the story quite a bit. It makes Ozai's favoritism into a simple issue of succession. Male!Azula would be naturally favored because he would be the crown prince. Zuko would be raised to be subservient to his younger brother and that would be considered normal. Even Zuko being sent on a quest to find the Avatar becomes much more reasonable from that perspective as a practicality. Historically, second sons often went on those kinds of quests because it gave them something to do that wasn't "usurp my older brother for the throne."

Ozai would be even more aware that this was a issue, since he himself usurped his older brother. Actually, now that I think of it, it's really rather odd that Iroh, as crown prince, was the one out campaigning while Ozai stayed home, and that gave him an opportunity to stage a coup against his brother. A politically savvy Azulon would have sent Ozai out to man the siege of Ba Sing Se while Iroh was at home preparing to inherit the throne.

As for how fans would receive Zuko's older brother? I know a lot of people might argue that male characters are more easily forgiven than their female counterparts, and I have no doubt that a male version of Azula would have people ready to excuse his every move (see the inexplicable fandom that has sprung up around the likes of Billy Hargrove), but I also think the ways in which he would be excused would be vastly different.

Because with Azula there's a lot of "oh, she didn't really mean it," especially when it comes to the way she treats her brother. This idea that she actually really loves him, she just doesn't know how to show it, or twisting the things she does and says to him in canon so that they're actually proof of her love. I've been thinking about this a lot in terms of people saying they want to see Azula be "humanized," and what they usually mean is that they want to see her given redeeming qualities. Which to me reeks of a misogynistic double standard because most male characters aren't required to show kindness or be really loving deep down to be recognized as human. Being cruel and arrogant and sadistic are also human traits, and women are just as capable of these things as men.

I also think that because Azula is female and Zuko is male, there's a certain perception that she can't hurt him that much, either physically or emotionally. And the first one can be dismissed because the show takes place in a world where bending eliminates most differences related to physical strength. The second one is just wrong and relies on misogynistic beliefs about boys being less emotionally vulnerable than girls.

I do think that the Ursa blame would still be present if Azula were male, and possibly worse, because there would be that Freudian current about how Ursa damaged her son by not being the perfect madonna figure.

If Male!Azula were still the younger sibling, I think it would flatten the character in a way because it makes his cruelty and resentment of Zuko about envy for the throne. One of the most interesting things about Azula is that the fact that she is younger and girl makes her cruelty towards her older brother less expected, and more personal. And it takes something away from the character to try and excuse it away or soften it.

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Don't reblog Billy or H*rringgrove with my posts. I hate that guy. I despise that child abusing, racist motherfucker. I'll gladly dance and spit on his grave. You may support domestic violence, but I don't. I would never put Steve Harrington in a position where he ends up being abused by his partner. It's fucking disgusting. Billy nearly killed Steve, and he enjoyed doing it, too. The look of pure enjoyment on his face as he continued to beat on an unconscious Steve. . .my God, why would you ship Steve with a monster like that? I mean, the only reason why Billy didn't kill Steve was because Max stopped him before he could. Yeah, that's a great partner for Steve. Even if Billy managed to redeem himself and survive, that man would still be too broken to be put into any sort of romantic relationship. I hate H*rringgrove with every fiber of my goddamn being. Steve deserves better than someone who nearly killed him. . .I wonder if you would still be singing Billy's praises if he had managed to not only kill Steve but Lucas as well as Max and all the other kids as well. He couldn't leave any witnesses alive. The Duffers wrote him specifically to be a monster like Brenner. It's astounding how you continuously excuse all of Billy's evil, vile disgusting behavior. You can say all you want that it's because Billy was abused but you don't care at all about that because if you did, you'd care that Max got abused by Billy, you'd care that Lucas was thrown against the wall by Billy, you'd care that he threatened to run over the kids in order to force Max to agree with him, you'd care that he nearly killed Steve. Steve was the one protecting Max, NOT Billy. Billy didn't step up until s3 when all the good had to be dug out of his head by El. If it hadn't been for El rooting around in his head, Billy never would have realized he was the problem. You can say all you want that Billy is abused, but I'll never believe that you actually give a shit that he was, considering all the bad he's done that you continue to ignore. I believe that Billy is definitely attracted to Steve, but it's an automatic turn-off for Steve to see someone hurt children, and that's canon that Billy Hargrove did that. The only way Steve would sleep with him was if he was forced to. It doesn't matter if Billy did try to be a good guy after season 3, Steve wouldn't be comfortable with it.

[intothedysphoria]

Apparently Robin didn’t buy the cholera excuse. Something about “what are you, a fucking Victorian waif?”

Well, considering he was being forced back into the social group he’d had in high school, cholera wasn’t far off.

Carol and Tommy were ok. So was McKinney. And even Byers, from what Steve had heard of him, ignoring the whole dating his ex aspect of it. Munson, Holloway, Carver, nothing Steve couldn’t handle.

Hargrove was a different story, especially after the incident.

The incident Robin would never let him forget, despite his pleas to just fucking drop it, for his own sanity.

The night Steve had, after pretty spectacularly falling off the pool table, propositioned Hargrove for a threesome in a closet then had been looked at with such disdain he just left.

Steve wasn’t real excited to relive that joyous experience. Not when he hadn’t really done anything to redeem himself of that truly horrendous experience in the last five years.

Even just examining Billy’s social media, it was clear how inadequate Steve was. He’d qualified for the world championships for surfing, was funny and had actually retained the friends he’d had in high school. None of those things applied to Steve and the last video he’d uploaded to tiktok was his eating an entire bowl of trifle in under a minute.

When they made it to the quiet, indie cafe on the outskirts of town, Steve found that he’d been assigned a seat next to Hargrove. Clearly he was being punished for some unknown evil.

Steve had been in many awkward situations in his young life, over half in Synagogue because his Rabbi had a habit of wanting to “mix things up.” Nothing had quite come close to sitting next to Hargrove in excruciating silence, both sipping a coffee that had been ordered for, not by them.

Despite the fact that under normal circumstances Steve would rather die than have to look at Hargrove again, he looked so pained by the tension that Steve decided to save him.

“So, how’s Missy doing?”

Missy was Max’s golden lab. She was notably beloved across all overlapping friendship groups, but given that Billy was Max’s older brother, he’d have by far the most time with her.

Hargrove visibly deflated like a helium balloon after being asked a question and happily jumped into a monologue about Missy’s various exploits, primarily shoe related.

Mercifully the incident didn’t get brought up once.

Maybe it was because Robin thought being forced to sit next to Hargrove was pain enough, maybe it was because her friends had simply moved on with what they found funny but the last thing Steve was going to do was look this gift horse in the mouth.

Instead, he found himself becoming increasingly engaged in talking to Billy, who didn’t seem to mind being stuck with him that much. In fact, he was talking up a storm, telling Steve about his surfing career, his mental health after therapy, his favourite Instagram filters. It was a wide range of topics that seemed to truly broach who Billy the man was at twenty three.

Robin didn’t attempt to interject at all. She’d grouped the rest of the group all at one side of the table where they sat like a tableau, occasionally staring at Billy. Waiting for Steve to get punched for a second time, no doubt.

Billy flat out insisted in covering the bill by the time they’d finished and then hung around awkwardly after the rest of the group had started to filter out. Steve, not wanting anyone to be left alone, stuck around.

“Steve can we talk?”

Yes they could talk, despite Steve’s heart rate seemingly doubling from resting.

“About that night” Billy started and Steve prepared himself to run. Maybe to New Zealand. The weather was nice this time of year.

“I wasn’t actually pissed at you”

Now that was unexpected.

“I did really like you but I’m just awkward and my face doesn’t show when I’m happy all the time then you just ran away and I’m really just sorry that I scared you. And that I’m doing a shit job of explaining myself. “

All Steve could really say was “oh.”

He knew he was beaming from ear to ear but he didn’t care.

“Thank you for your apology. And uh, if it’s not obvious I like you back.”

They smiled at each other like dorks for a few seconds before Billy obviously regained his confidence, now smirking.

“So. Dinner?”

Even Steve could pick up those inferences.

They went to Billy’s together, squeezing each other’s hands and Steve let himself feel calm.

For @thissortofsorcery

[curiositysavesthecat]

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[fizzigigsimmer]

How do you feel about fem!harringrove? And do you possibly have any headcanons about them? 🧐

I love them. What's not to love. It's everything you love about harringrove and more. Sadly I haven't come across too many longform fem!harringrove fics, though I may no be looking in the right places.

Steve already has such a female coded story arch. I've talked about this before, but he is (quite accidentally on the Duffers part) a subversion of the Queen Bee story trope. Haughty rich bitch, gets humbled, dethroned and either "gets just deserts" or "gets redeemed "learns from their mistakes". Which is why he was PRIMED to slide right into the "Princess & The Bad Boy" trope with Billy. Our bodies were ready. Joe was ready. But alas, the Duffers - they were not ready. But yeah, fem!Steve is super easy to imagine right down to the "everyone thinks I'm just a slutty bimbo, but there's so much more to me" angst fest, set to the backdrop of negligent hopeless parents who think presents are a substitute for actual parenting.

Fem!billy is my favorite to imagine. Not only because she'd be a knockout (seriously, my dream woman) but because of all the ways it would (and wouldn't) change the plot, the character, and our perception of the character. I've talked about this before too, but I earnestly believe that a "Billie Hargrove" would have survived on the show. She'd be allowed to be a victim (which she is), she'd be allowed to be messy, and fans would be allowed to celebrate her. She'd treated to the slytherin effect. Which is to say that she wouldn't be universally loved, but she would be embraced by a large subset of the culture and championed by the narrative as a face for the "othered community". A bad ass with a heart of gold just waiting for the power of friendship and healing cock to thaw her anti-social ice queen persona. Every edge lord and lady could safely find their representation in her, and Netflix would happily invent new ways to take their money for the privilege, season after season.

If she and Steve were both girls, they'd end up reluctant frenemies, and then best friends by the season finale with a heaping dose of queerbait in between. Because gal pals! lol and if Steve was still a boy Billie would 1000% be trapped in a love triangle (a la Archie, Veronica & Betty) with Steve and Nancy. The good girl would probably win, but I can also the Duffers patting themselves on the back and thinking they really did something by trading in their bland boring endgame couple for the obviously more exciting one.

[gothixm00nz]

I'll never understand people liking Micah Bell. It feels like a Billy Hargrove situation all over again, but at least Billy had some slightly redeeming qualities. There's nothing about Micah that is at all redeeming.

He's a nasty little sewer rat, racist redneck pussy. He says terrible things to the entire gang, sucks up to Arthur and Dutch, and then goes on and starts talking some racist shit about Lenny, Charles, and Javier. There's absolutely nothing good about him.

If this motherfucker says anything else bad about my boys again, I will fucking string him up like a goddamn Christmas decoration I swear to fucking god.