#vanleebogdan

[bigolemantiddies]

@vanleebogdan

Billy is a sealkie, his mom was one too. Neil has his skin, that's why he controls so much of Billy, and one of the reasons why they came to Hawkins is too keep Billy away from the ocean too

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It would have been bad enough losing his coat to Neil forever, but losing the ocean? He couldn't see it, and the wind didn't even bring the smell of it in. He was landlocked, he was alone, and he couldn't run. Didn't have anywhere to run to.

No wonder he bit. No wonder he snapped and pushed back, refused to fit in and defied the man who stole his coat in anyway he could.

He was going to be stuck here forever, Neil leeching his magic to keep himself young, surrounded by /dirt/.

Until.

Until a set of big brown eyes looked right through his human form.

Billy's inherent charm didn't work on him. Eddie didn't seem to be easily seduced, at least the usual selkie tricks wouldn't cloud his eyes over the way Billy wanted. Seduce and lose, that's how he did it.

But Eddie stuck around. His music was enchanting to Billy, and he wondered if this human was more magical than he initially thought.

He was just a human. Just a very, very annoyingly nice human. Refused to leave Billy alone, even when Billy started fights and threw nasty words, Eddie hung around.

So Billy let him. He was the best damn thing about this dry town.

Eddie knew what he was, told him so, promised him through kisses that he would steal Billy's coat from his awful father and then they'd be free from this town. Billy just smiled and held him tighter, untrusting of this human man but charmed by him. There was no way Eddie could get his coat, and even if he did Billy was sure he would keep it for himself. Trapped again in another man's control.

Then it happened. One night Eddie was banging on his window, told him to hurry, they needed to go. Billy obeyed, unsure but unable to stop himself from clambering out the window in his room and tumbling into Eddie's arms. His van was running, packed it seemed, and Eddie rushed them into it, peeling away from the trailer park and towards the highway.

It wasn't until the got passed the Hawkings town line that Eddie relaxed and responded to Billy's demands for an explanation, reaching into his backpack and handing Billy a dark and shiny pelt.

His coat. Eddie just handed it back to him.

"You could use this to keep me. I'd be your wife and would do whatever you said if you had this."

"I don't want that." Eddie's brown eyes were soft as they looked at each other. "I stole it for you. It's yours. We're going to California and you're getting back to the ocean."

It took a bit for the words to sink in. Billy's coat dampened as tears dripped onto it, grateful, happy tears. Relief that he had his life back. Sadness his mother never got to see the ocean before she died.

They drove and drove until they finally hit the coast, and by then Billy couldn't help himself. It had been years since he swam, but his body would never forget. The ocean welcomed him like the arms of his mother, his coat wrapping around him until he was free. Home.

But, Eddie.

Billy's head surfaced near the edge of the dock he had dove off of, leaning into Eddie's hand as it reached down to pet him, tears splashing into the water. They couldn't be apart, not now. Eddie drove hundreds of miles for him, touched his coat and didn't demand a thing from him.

Billy's arms shot out of the water and around Eddie's neck, dragging him into the water and to the bottom. He struggled, but Billy held tight, pressing their mouths together until finally his body stilled. The ocean would take him, she would make him one of her own.

Their bodies settled to the sandy ocean floor, and Billy began to tear at his own skin, stitching it to Eddie's, melding them. Eddie's eyes shot open, he coughed out the rest of the air from his lungs, and took a deep breath of the water.

Together. Forever. The ocean would be their home.