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Chapter Text

“Chief?”

“Yeah?” Hopper responded.  It was barely eight o’clock; he’d just made it to the office.

“Principal Wallace needs you down at the high school.  The Hargrove kid’s sleeping in his car again, and they can’t get him to wake up.”

Hopper sighed.  He’d caught Billy sleeping in his car in various spots around town, usually the school parking lot.  He’d never had the heart to give the kid a ticket or bring him in for it, but he’d wished he had after hearing about Billy from El and the other kids. It'd been warmer outside every other time he caught him though.  It was late February now, and the temperature had dropped below freezing last night.

In the past, Billy had always been out of his car before anyone else got to school.  Hopper was sure he’d done it far more often than he got caught, but Billy always had excuse.  Locking himself out while his parents were out of town was a favorite, but he’d gotten more elaborate eventually.  Today, there were clumps of teenagers around Billy car, peering in as Principal Wallace pounded on the window.  Inside, Billy slept on.

“He must be drunk,” the principal said when he spotted Hopper.  “Only way I can see to sleep through all this.”

Hopper shook his head and grabbed the K-tool from his car.  Beneath the layers of clothes and blankets, Billy was blue-lipped and too still.  Hopper got the door open quickly and squatted by Billy’s head.  There was bruising under both of his eyes, like someone had hit him in the nose, and his lip was split.

“Kid,” Hopper said, shaking his shoulder.  Billy still didn’t wake up, so he pulled the blankets back and prodded his side.  This time, Billy moaned, and Hopper recoiled at the feeling.  His abdomen was rock hard and distended.  Hopper pulled up the layers of Billy’s shirts and jackets and faintly heard the principal murmur “Oh my god.”

Billy’s entire torso was mottled with deep purple bruising.  It was clearly fresh, and it made Hopper nauseous to look at.  There were too many bruises to identify any kind of impact point.  It looked like he’d fallen off a cliff or been run over.  Hopper put two fingers against the teenager’s neck and frowned again.  Billy’s pulse was weak and fast.

“Get on my radio and call for an ambulance,” Hopper said to the principal, fixing Billy’s shirt and wrapping him in one of the blankets.  “Tell them he’s bleeding internally, and I’m going to meet them halfway.”

While Principal Wallace did as he’d been told, Hopper lifted Billy out of the Camaro as gently as he could and put him in the cruiser.  Once the teenager was buckled in, he got into his own seat and turned on the sirens.  There were students all around, whispering and eyeing Billy’s unconscious form, and Hopper spotted Steve Harrington watching from a distance.  He had to honk to get the students out of his way so he could leave the parking lot.

Halfway to the hospital, they switched Billy from the squad car to an ambulance, and Hopper did his best to recap the situation.  They’d found him that morning, looking like he’d been there all night, and no one could wake him.  When the EMT asked if there was any history of abuse, Hopper started to say no before he though of the black eye Billy’d had last time he caught him sleeping in his car. 

“I don’t know,” Hopper said instead.  He escorted the ambulance with his sirens on, beating the steering wheel and cussing himself for never looking into Billy’s home life.  When they reached the hospital, the EMTs had Billy out of the ambulance and through the doors before Hopper even got a look at him.  Nearly an hour went by before he heard any news.

“Good to see you, Chief,” Dr. Montgomery said.

“Yeah, wish it was better circumstances,” Hopper said.  “How’s the kid?”

“Well, he’s got hypothermia, and it may have saved his life,” the doctor said.  “The cold slowed down the bleeding and the swelling.  He’s got a blood transfusion going right now, and we’re working on getting him warmed up.  He’s got a concussion too, but honestly, that’s the least of his problems right now.”

“Any idea what happened to him?”

“Massive blunt trauma,” the doctor said.  “With injuries to this degree, I’d usually say a car accident, but they told me you found him in the school parking lot.  If a person did this, they used something like a bat or a crowbar.”

Hopper felt like he might be sick at the image.  For all his swagger, Billy was barely seventeen.  “Is he awake?” he asked.

“He wasn’t real coherent when I left him, but he was coming back to,” the doctor said.  “There’s something else you should know.  I saw him a couple months ago for some broken ribs, and he’s lost weight since then.  I didn’t exactly get him on a scale while I was back there, but I’d say at least twenty pounds.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Hopper said, sighing.  The doctor nodded and directed him back to Billy’s room. 

Principal Wallace called while Hopper was waiting for Billy to come around.

“Are his parents there yet?” the principal asked once Hopper had updated him on Billy’s condition.

“No, I haven’t seen them,” Hopper said.

“That’s odd,” Wallace responded.  “I spoke to his father personally.  It's been at least an hour since then.”

It was another nail in Neil Hargrove’s coffin.

Another twenty minutes went by before Billy was himself enough to recognize Hopper.  “Chief?” he croaked weakly.

“Hey, Billy,” Hopper said.  He sounded exhausted.  “Do you know where you’re at?”

Billy looked around the room, squinting at the IV in his arm.  He went to tug it, but Hopper leaned over and stopped him in time.  “Hospital?” Billy said.  Hopper nodded.  “What happened?”

“We found you in the parking lot at the high school this morning, and you wouldn’t wake up,” Hopper said.  Some recognition came back to Billy’s eyes.  “You're bleeding on the inside, and you have a concussion.  Being in a car all night didn't do you any favors either.”

“Oh,” Billy said, too disoriented for a wiseass response.  Hopper nodded.

“Yeah, oh,” he said.  “You want to tell me what the hell happened?”

Billy contemplated it for a moment before he answered.  “I got in a fight,” he finally said, grinning lazily.  The gesture stretched his split lip, but Billy didn’t flinch.  Hopper tried to tell himself that was because of the pain medicine they’d given him, but he couldn’t help thinking about how Steve said he’d grinned and laughed when they fought.

“With who—Godzilla?” Hopper responded.  Billy tilted his head back to laugh, and his lip started to bleed.  “You look like you were in a car accident.”

“Maybe that’s it,” Billy said, settling back into his pillows and licking the blood off his lip.  “I hit my head, you know.  It’s hard to remember.”

Hopper sighed.  “I’m just trying to help, kid,” he said.  “If someone did this to you, we can do something about it.”

“I don’t need help,” Billy said.  He rolled over to face the wall.  “Let me sleep, Chief.  Get back to saving the world.”

Billy was clearly done with him, but Hopper couldn’t bring himself to leave.  He made one last attempt to get through to the teenager.  “What if it’s Max next time?” he said.

He didn’t turn around, but Hopper got the feeling Billy was rolling his eyes.  After a moment, he said, “It’s never Max.”

Chapter Text

A day and a half later, Hopper went back to the hospital.  Billy looked less frozen, but that was the only improvement.  He was feeling well enough to give his nurse trouble though.  She looked relieved when he stopped talking long enough to leer at Hopper standing in the doorway.

“Chief,” Billy said.  “What brings you here?”

“Your dumb ass needs a ride,” Hopper said.  “Did you fill out your discharge papers?”

“Yep,” Billy said, popping the P.  “Let’s get out of here.”

His charm faded when it was time to transfer from the bed into a wheelchair.  He didn’t say anything, but he went quiet and pale.  He’d just recovered when it was time to switch from the chair to Hopper’s car.  He didn’t speak again until they drove past the high school.

“My ride’s back there,” Billy said.  Hopper glanced over and raised an eyebrow.

“You really think I’m going to let you drive like this?” he said around the cigarette in his mouth.

“Well, my house isn’t this way either,” Billy said.  “Where are we going?”

“My place.”

“Gross, you pervert, I’m not-”

“Shut the hell up, Hargrove,” Hopper barked.  “Unless you want to die of a brain bleed, you need someone to wake you up every two hours.  You got someone at home willing to do that?”

Billy slumped against his seat and went quiet again.  Hopper glanced over after a few seconds, but the seventeen year old kept his gaze out the window.

“My daughter’s excited to have company,” Hopper said, trying to sound friendlier.

“Your daughter,” Billy repeated.  “Right.”

“Her name’s Jane,” Hopper continued, “but we call her El.”

A few months after they closed the gate, Hopper had told some of his coworkers that he’d gotten custody of a child from a previous relationship, and the gossip mill took care of spreading the word.  He said he was homeschooling her this year to let her get caught up.  It wasn’t as good as having El out in the world, but the story allowed for her to have nights out like the Snow Ball and set the ground work for her to enroll in school next year.  Billy had only ever seen her through the window while he was dropping Max off.

She was waiting in the window like she did for Mike and the other kids when they pulled in.  Billy struggled to get from the car to the door, and El helped Hopper get him situated once they were inside.

“I made dinner,” she said while Billy caught his breath on the couch.  “Eggos.”

“That sounds great,” Hopper said.  “Why don’t you go get it and I’ll grab the TV trays, so we can eat in here with Billy?”

El nodded and hurried back to the kitchen.  Once she was out of earshot, Hopper spoke lowly.  “It’s her favorite, alright?  Just eat it.”

Billy looked confused, but he seemed to understand when El returned with plates of freezer waffles.  He said thank you when he took his, and they ate in front of an old western movie on TV.

Hopper set his alarm for every two hours so he could trudge across the house drowsily to wake Billy.  The seventeen year old cussed him every time but would eventually give him his full name and the president.  When Billy’s pain medicine wore off in the middle of the night, Hopper pretended not to notice El watching them from her bedroom door while the older teen shook and held back tears.  None of them had gotten much sleep before it was time for Hopper to head back into work.

“You two be good,” Hopper said as he shrugged into his jacket. Billy mumbled a response, still half asleep, and continued flipping channels. “There’s food in the fridge you can heat up.  Eat something other than Eggos.”

El followed him to the door, and Hopper lowered his voice.  “Keep an eye on him, okay?” he said.  She nodded.  “He’ll probably sleep, so make sure he doesn’t stop breathing or anything.  Wake him up and make sure he’s coherent if he sleeps longer than three or four hours.”

“Coherent?” El repeated.

“Yeah, word of the day,” Hopper said.  “Make sure he’s talking sense and knows what’s going on.”

“Okay,” El agreed.  “Have a good day.”

“You too, kid.”

Billy had settled on a channel by the time she went back inside.  They watched together in silence for several minutes before El went to her room to get a book.  When she returned and started reading, Billy eyed the thinness of the book.

“How old are you?” he asked during a commercial.

“Thirteen,” she said.  “Almost fourteen.”

“Isn’t that a little old to be reading James and the Giant Peach?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.  El glanced down at the book in her lap and frowned at him.

“No,” she said.

The day passed slowly.  El was accustomed to it and occupied herself with books and movies.  Billy was less used to sitting around.  Under normal circumstances, he spent as little time at home as possible.  When he was there, he was always doing something—working out, tinkering with his car, getting ready to go back out again.  Now, he barely had the energy to sit up straight.

“Are you asleep?” El asked him when he’d been quiet and still for too long.

“About to be,” Billy mumbled. 

“I’m supposed to watch you,” she said.

“Says who?”

“My dad,” El said.  She was trying to get in the habit of calling him that so she wouldn’t slip up and call him Hopper in public.  It was still weird though.  “Because you’re hurt.”

Billy ignored the reminder.  “How long have you lived with him?”

“Not long,” El said.  Billy glanced over from the TV to see that she was watching him owlishly.

“So what do you do around this place?” he asked.

“We have games,” she suggested.

They were on their third round of Candy Land when Hopper got home.  He pretended not to notice how Billy sat up straighter and tried to look more serious as soon as he came in.  “You guys stay out of trouble today?” Hopper asked as he locked the door back behind him.

“Yes,” El said.  “Dinner?”

“Yeah, soon,” Hopper said.  “I’ll go get it started.  You two finish your game.”

It didn’t take long to heat up dinner, but Hopper took as long as he could.  For a split second before he heard Hopper come in, Billy Hargrove had actually looked like a kid.

Chapter Text

Billy couldn’t stand long enough to take a shower, so he took a bath instead.  He declined El’s offer of bubbles, but he used the Epsom salt Hopper had left out on the counter.  It helped with the soreness, and Billy stayed in until the water went cold.  It was the first bath he’d taken since he was six years old; they hadn’t lived in a house with a tub since his mom died.  It was also the first time in more than a week he’d gotten clean somewhere other than the gym showers.  When he finally got out, no one gave him any grief over how long he’d hogged the bathroom.

By his second day at Hopper’s house, Billy had decided El was a pretty alright kid.  A little weird, sure, but she was quieter than Max and not as bossy.  She definitely didn’t take any of Billy’s shit, but she seemed to understand that being in pain made him tired and bitchy.  When Billy started acting like a jackass, she’d give him a hard look before going to her room so he could have the living room to himself for a little while.  After an hour or two, she’d return with a book for Billy to help her through or a board game for them to play at the kitchen table.

“Why are you mean to Max?” El asked while they ate dinner.  Hopper was late, his food getting cold between them.

“It’s complicated,” Billy mumbled into his plate.  El didn’t respond.  She just kept staring at him until the seventeen year old started to squirm.  “She doesn’t listen.  When I come to pick her up and say we gotta go or we’re going to be late, she just ignores me.  It doesn’t matter to her because she’s not the one dealing with the consequences.”

El frowned.  The word ‘consequences’ made her think about her fight with Hopper, but Billy said it like it meant something else.

“What kind of consequences?” she asked.  Billy shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter.”

After a long pause, El asked, “Do you think you’re the monster?”

Billy looked up and said, “What?”

“Sometimes…” El said carefully, “when someone hurts you, you hurt other people.  But that doesn’t mean you’re the monster.”

Billy’s eyes narrowed.  “Did someone hurt you?” he asked, and El nodded slowly.

“Papa.”

Billy’s face went pale, and his jaw locked.  In the other room, he heard Hopper’s key slide into the lock.  “Can you go to your room for a minute?” he asked El.  The muscles in his jaw were twitching, but he didn’t sound angry.  “I need to talk to Hopper.”

El looked confused, but she nodded and left the table.  Billy met Hopper at the door.

“Hey, guys,” Hopper started to call, trailing off when he saw the look on Billy’s face.  “What’s the matter with you?”

“Do you hit her?” Billy spat.

“Do I what?”

Billy lashed out and toppled the end table beside him.  The lamp and a stack of magazines crashed to the floor.

“Do you hit your fucking kid, Hopper?” the teenager repeated.

“Christ, no!” Hopper said.

“Then why the hell did she just tell me her papa hurt her?” Billy yelled.

“I’m not Papa.  He’s—” Hopper cut off and lowered his voice.  “He’s the guy she was with before me.  I didn’t even know El existed until a last year.  She doesn’t call me that.  She barely even calls me Dad.”

“Oh,” Billy said.  Now that the adrenaline was fading, he was aware of the pain in his torso from moving so quickly.  He glanced down at the upended table and the broken lamp.  “Sorry.”

“You’ve known my kid for two fucking days, and you’re ready to fist fight a cop for her with your insides still bleeding,” Hopper said.  “You know I have a gun, right?”

“It’s not like I had a fucking plan, okay?” Billy said, scowling.  Hopper shrugged.

“As far as I’m concerned, the more people looking out for her, the better,” he said.  “Did you and El eat yet?”

“We were when you got here?” Billy said.  “I can go put your plate in the microwave.”

He disappeared into the kitchen without waiting for Hopper to respond, one hand pressed against his stomach protectively.  The chief watched him go for a second before going to get El from her room.  She was waiting for him, chewing the inside of her cheek nervously.

“Is Billy okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, he’s fine,” Hopper said.  “It was just a misunderstanding.  Are you ready to go finish dinner?”

“Yes,” El said, following him out of her room.  “He’s a good reader.”

“Well, he is a good bit older,” Hopper said.

“Not that much older,” El said.  “We could be friends.”

“I think you’re already friends,” Hopper said. 

El smiled, and he had to bite back a sigh.  With the two of them staying in the house together all day, there was no way to keep her from getting attached to him, but Hopper couldn’t ignore the possibility that Billy would be gone as soon as he could stand on his own two feet for more than a minute or two.  Hopper was willing to have Billy there as long as he wanted to stay, but he couldn’t force him to be there any longer than that.  It’d break El’s heart if Billy took off and never came back.

El reached out and took Hopper’s hand, smiling softly, like she knew what he was thinking.  “Let’s go eat,” she said softly.  He nodded, and they walked to the kitchen together.  Billy was back in his seat, and he glanced down at his plate skittishly as soon as they came in.  It was hard to reconcile this boy—bruised face, uneasy, willing to go to blows for the safety of a child he barely knew—with the Billy Hargrove that Hopper had met in the past.

“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” Hopper said while they ate.  “If you’re both up for it, we could go see a movie.  Get out of the house a little.”

“Yes,” El agreed quickly, nodding.  “Billy?”

“Sure,” he said hesitantly.  “That sounds good.”

Chapter Text

This, Billy concluded as soon as they reached the theater parking lot, was a bad idea.  At first, getting out of the house had sounded nice.  It’d been three days since he’d been around anyone other than Hopper, El, and the nurses from the hospital.  But now that he was here, he was acutely aware of the bruises on his face and the fact that walking from the car to the door left him breathless.  The three of them looked like some kind of dysfunctional little family, and everyone who recognized any of them stared.  An acne-faced boy Billy had knocked over a half-dozen times in gym gaped from behind the counter while Billy and El lingered behind Hopper while he bought the tickets and popcorn.

It wasn’t so bad once they were seated, though.  The movie had come out earlier that month, so there were only a few other people in their theater.  It was too dark for Billy to see if he could recognize any of them.  If he couldn’t see them, he figured they couldn’t see him either.

The previews had just started when three more people walked in.  Billy recognized them even before they walked close enough for him to see their faces, and he felt his stomach drop into his boots.

“What’s wrong?” El asked when she noticed he’d gone quiet.  She’d been too preoccupied with the popcorn to see Billy watch them walk in.  It took several seconds for Billy to get the words out.

“My dad.”

Neil Hargrove was sitting three rows down from them and a little to the right.  He had his left arm around Susan, and Max was sitting on the other side.  With her red hair and yellow sweatshirt, she stood out the most, but Billy couldn’t pull his eyes away from Neil.  None of them had given any indication that they’d seen him, and Billy prayed that’d hold out.

“We can go,” Hopper said quietly, leaning forward to look at Billy.  The seventeen year old was pale under the dim light of the screen, but he shook his head.

“No, he said.  “They’ll see me if we get up.  Just watch the movie.”

Hopper leaned back, but he didn’t stop watching Billy.  The teenager was too anxious to be self-conscious, and he’d chewed his bottom lip bloody before the movie started.  It was only an hour and a half, but it felt much longer for all of them.  Billy never relaxed.  His right leg bounced the whole movie, and he didn’t respond to any of El’s whispers for fear of being overheard.

When the credits started to roll, they stayed in their seats, waiting for the Hargroves to leave.  Max started to stand, but Neil gestured at her to sit back down.  She didn’t seem to understand why—she hadn’t seen Billy—but she dropped back into her seat.  The two groups stayed seated until everyone else had left the theater.  Billy’s heart was thundering in his chest, and he couldn’t even bounce his leg anymore.  When the lights came on, Neil let Max and Susan walk ahead of him.  They waited in the aisle, looking confused, while Neil paused in the center of the row.  He looked up behind him and smiled.

“Nice day for a movie, isn’t it, Chief?” he said.  He didn’t wait for a response before heading out the side door.  Max stared at her stepbrother until Susan ushered her after Neil.  Beside Hopper, Billy was about to shake out of his skin.

“You’re okay, kid,” Hopper said.  He tried to sound reassuring even though what he really wanted to do was follow Neil Hargrove out and beat the shit out of him in the parking lot.  “Let’s get out of here.”

Billy was frozen though.  He’d gone pale again, and he looked like he was about to throw up.  His expression told Hopper that this was going to get worse before it got better, so the older man stood and started working on getting Billy to his feet.  His legs wouldn’t hold him though, so Hopper slung one of his arms over his shoulder and pulled him up.

“I…” Billy mumbled.  “El…”

“It’s okay, Billy,” she said quietly.  “We’re going home.”

They had to make it to the car first.  Billy was hyperventilating, and the hallway was a blur around him.  Hopper was more pulling him than leading, and he was dimly aware of the popcorn kid from gym class staring before a too-familiar voice went, “Whoa, what happened to him?”

“Harrington,” Hopper said, halting.  He dug his keys out of his pocket and thrust them at Steve.  “Go start my car and get the back seat unlocked.”

“What—”

“Go,” Hopper barked.

Steve hurried off, and the sudden motion made Billy’s vision blur again.  “Chief,” he gasped.

“You’re okay,” Hopper repeated, pulling Billy towards the door Steve had disappeared through.  “Halfway there.  Just breathe, Billy.”

When El opened the door for him and Hopper, the blast of cold air cleared his head just enough for Billy to get his legs back.  His breathing still wasn’t right, but he took a little of his weight back off Hopper and started walking straight on his own.  “There you go, kid,” Hopper said, not letting go of him.

Steve had the cruiser running and the doors unlocked when they made it across the parking lot.  Billy stumbled into the back and slouched down in his seat, eyes closed.  El got in on the other side, watching the older boy anxiously.

“What the hell happened?” Steve asked, but Hopper just shook his head.

“Thanks for the help,” he said, getting in.  Steve stood in the parking lot, looking lost, and watched them drive away.

Chapter Text

They didn’t get much out of Billy for the rest of Saturday.  He stayed on the couch in an old sweatshirt and a pair of gym shorts for most of the day.  He didn’t eat dinner, and he didn’t talk anymore than he had to.  It frustrated El, but Hopper talked her into giving him space.  Sleeping must have helped, because he seemed more like himself when they all got up Sunday morning.

Nothing Hopper said or did could convince Billy to file a report, or even admit, that his father had been the one who beat him half to death.  Every time he thought about Neil Hargrove swinging a baseball bat on his teenage son, Hopper wanted to get in his car and hunt the bastard down himself.  Getting arrested wouldn’t do either of the kids any good though, so he had to content himself with knowing Billy was away from his dad.  Based on what the teenager had said and Max’s confusion at the theater, it didn’t seem like she was in any danger.

It took a while for them to make any more trips out of the house after the movie.  Billy pretended to be a cocky little asshole every time, but Hopper noticed how much time he spent looking over his shoulder.  The day before Billy went back to school, Hopper made preparations.

Steve Harrington was home alone, like usual.  There’d been a marked change in his behavior after Nancy left him for Jonathan.  He spent a lot of time driving the kids around and keeping them out of trouble.  He’d stay a while sometimes when he dropped Dustin off for game nights with El, and he was comfortable with Hopper.  He let him into the house and wandered to the kitchen, offering him a drink.  Hopper shook his head.

“I’m here about Billy,” he finally said.

“Did something else happen?” Steve asked.  It’d been a week and a half since Steve had seen them at the theater, two weeks since they’d found Billy in his car, and Hopper hadn’t discussed either event with him.

“No, nothing new,” Hopper said.  “He’s going back to school tomorrow.”

“That’s good, I guess,” Steve said.

“I want you to keep an eye on him,” Hopper said.  Steve snorted.

“Seriously, Chief?” he said.  “You remember that time he beat the shit out of me, right?”

“You don’t have to be his friend,” Hopper said.  “You don’t even have to talk to him.  Just keep an eye out.  I know the kind of influence you have at school, and Billy needs a little of that on his side.  I want you to call me if he shows up beat to hell or if you hear some new bullshit rumor about him getting beat up or falling down a flight of stairs drunk.”

Steve thought about it for a moment, running a hand through his hair, before he sighed and nodded.  “He was real messed up, wasn’t he?” he asked.  Hopper nodded.

“Internal bleeding was the worst of it,” he said, “but he had a concussion too.  And hypothermia from sleeping in his fucking car while it was thirty degrees out.  He can go back to school, but it’ll be at least another month before he’s back to normal.”

“And you don’t think it was a fight?” Steve said.

“The doctor said if a person did it, they used a bat or a crowbar,” Hopper said.  “He was in the hospital for two and a half days, and I was the only person who came in for him.”

“His family didn’t come?” Steve asked, and Hopper shook his head.  “I would have brought Max if I’d known she hadn’t seen him.”

“I don’t think they’ve seen each other in a couple weeks,” Hopper said, leaving out the theater.  “Listen, if I hear that word of any of this gets out at school, I’ll kick your ass myself.  I’m not telling you this so you can make fun of him or feel sorry for him or anything.  I just want you to know enough to look out for him.”

Steve nodded.  “I get it, Chief.”

The next day at school, Steve couldn’t help watching Billy in class.  Everyone was, so the other boy didn’t notice him any more than anyone else.  By third period, the gossip had settled on a story now that they could finally ask him about what had happened.  According the girls whispering through their chewing gum in Steve’s math class, Billy had used his fake ID to get into a bar two towns over.  He’d flirted with the wrong girl and been too drunk to defend himself when her boyfriend and his friends got him outside.  He’d driven back to Hawkins and fallen asleep in his car, and that was where they found him.  No one seemed too curious why Billy was in the school parking lot.

Billy was in Steve’s gym class, and he watched him present the coach with a doctor’s note.  Coach Anderson read it and then examined Billy’s face.  The split lip had healed, but the bruise under his eye was still a mottled shade of yellow.  Steve was too far away to hear in the noisy gym, but judging by Billy’s facial expression, the coach’s response had been less than kind.  Billy snapped back at him, still too quiet to hear, before grabbing his backpack and leaving the gym.  Coach Anderson watched him go before blowing the whistle for the rest of them.

Hopper had said he didn’t have to talk to Billy, but the eighteen year old couldn’t help going after him.  Coach Anderson said yelled as he went, and Steve mumbled a vague excuse.  Billy didn’t turn around when he heard the door open again.

“Billy!” Steve called.  The younger boy paused and turned around.

“What do you want, Harrington?”

Steve hesitated.  “Coach is a dick,” he finally said, and Billy snorted.

“Yeah, he is,” he said.  He adjusted the backpack strap across his shoulder, and Steve wondered how bad it hurt to carry a backpack with the bruises he still had.

“I…” Steve started.  “It’s good that you’re doing better.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Billy laughed.  “I’ll see you around, Harrington.”

“See you,” Steve repeated.  He stood in the hallway, feeling goofy in his gym clothes, and watched Billy leave again.

Chapter Text

Billy was steadily making his way through the pile of makeup work he had from missing two weeks of school.  In the time between the final bell and Hopper arriving home, he’d work on it at the kitchen table.  Despite most people’s assumptions, he wasn’t actually a bad student.  His dad wasn’t so much strict about grades as he was about every aspect of Billy’s life.  He did have a faint amount of pride in his grades though, the ghost of seeing his kindergarten report cards on the fridge.  That didn’t fit with the persona he put on, though, so he tried not to think about it.  He was no honor student, but he kept his grades up just enough to satisfy the feeling in his gut.

Watching Billy work made El want to join, so she intensified her studying.  Her vocabulary and reading were improving steadily and she spent enough time with the boys to have a passable grasp on science, but her math skills were still behind.  The party had dug out some of their old workbooks for her, and she’d work through the unused pages across from Billy.  When she couldn’t figure something out, he’d work through a couple of problems with her.

“Billy,” she said a few minutes after he’d talked her through exponents, “what’s that?”

He glanced down at the necklace he’d been absentmindedly tugging at and took it off to show her.  “It’s Saint Anthony,” Billy said.  “He’s the patron saint of lost things.”

“Lost things?” El repeated, glancing up from examining the medallion.

“Some other stuff too, but mostly lost things and lost people,” Billy said, nodding.  “He’s the one people pray to when they can’t find their keys.”

She gave the necklace back carefully, and Billy put it back on before picking his pencil up.

“Why do you always wear it?” El said.  She’d never seen him without it.  He had it on even when he was sleeping or fresh out of the shower.

“My mom gave it to me,” Billy said.  He didn’t talk about her often.  It made him feel raw and vulnerable in a way he hated, but El wasn’t going to use it against him.  “She died when I was little, so it’s…”

“Special,” El said, and he nodded.  “What happened to her?”

“A car accident,” Billy said, clearing his throat.  “She and my dad had a fight, and she went for a drive to cool off.  It was raining, though.  The other guy didn’t even see her.”

El reached across the table and touched his hand.  “I’m sorry,” she said.

Billy cleared his throat again and shook his head.  “It was a long time ago.”

“I have a Mama,” El said after a long pause.

“Most people do,” Billy said seriously.  He laughed a little, so she did too.  “How come you don’t live with her?”

“Papa hurt her,” El said, “and now she can’t think right.”

“Damn,” Billy mumbled.  El nodded.  “At least you have Hopper.  He’s a good guy.”

“Very good,” El agreed.

A car came up the road slowly.  It was past five, so they were both expecting to see Hopper when they looked out the window.  It wasn’t him, though, and Billy frowned.  The house was out in the middle of nowhere, and there usually weren’t many cars driving by.

“That van’s been through three times,” Billy said, “and you look like you’re seeing the boogeyman every time.”

Without waiting for a response, he stood and headed for the front door.  “Billy, wait!” El said, but he went out into the yard anyways.

“What the hell do you want?” Billy yelled at the white van.  It came to a stop, and a plainclothesed man stepped out on the passenger side.

“Go back inside,” the man ordered.

“You keep driving by, and there’s fuck else out here,” Billy said, not noticing the man’s hand drifting toward the gun at his waist.  “What the hell’s your problem?”

 The man went to draw his weapon, but El didn’t let him get that far.  She jerked her head, and the man cried out as his arm bent unnaturally.  Billy’s gaze flew between the screaming man and El as blood began to drip from her nose.

“Billy,” she said through gritted teeth.  “Inside.”

He hesitated, but a threatening look got him onto the porch with her.  At least there, she could get in front of him if she needed to.  El looked at the man and his partner inside the van and wiped the blood from her nose.

“Go.”

Unlike Billy, the two men didn’t hesitate.  As soon as the passenger door closed, their tires were throwing gravel.  Hopper pulled in seconds after they sped off.  Billy and El were still on the porch, exchanging looks.

“What just happened?” Hopper asked.

“Don’t I want to know,” Billy said, “because I didn’t miss that.  Just because I don’t know what the fuck I just saw doesn’t mean I didn’t fucking see it.”

 “Bad guys?” Hopper said, and El nodded.

“She just broke a dude’s arm by looking at him,” Billy said.  “What the fuck was that?”

Hopper sighed and scrubbed a hand down his face.  They’d done a good job so far explaining El’s background in a way that wouldn’t put Billy in any danger, but there was no covering this up with a tidy little version of the truth.  He’d seen more than enough, and he wasn’t some middle school kid Hopper could dismiss and send on his way.  El realized that Billy was about to get the whole truth and grabbed his arm.

“I didn’t lie,” she said insistently.  She seemed to know thinking, even for a moment, that she’d been bullshitting when they talked about their mothers would devastate Billy in a way he’d never admit.  “About Mama.  I didn’t lie.”

“We better get inside,” Hopper said.  “It’s a long story.”

Chapter Text

Once El told Mike, word made its way through the party quickly.

Billy Hargrove knows.

They didn’t have to say what he knew.  Billy knew everything that had happened in the past year and a half.  El told Mike over the radio, and Mike told the rest of the kids in class.  Steve heard about it from Dustin on the way to school and then again when Nancy and Jonathan approached him at his locker.

“Billy Hargrove knows,” Nancy said quietly.

“Yeah, I heard,” Steve said, glancing around to make sure Billy wasn’t around to overhear them talking about him.

“And you’re not freaked out by that?” Nancy said dubiously, eyebrows climbing.

“I don’t know,” Steve said with a shrug.  “I mean, not really.  I guess I kind of expected him to find out sooner or later.”

Since he’s living with Hopper, he thought but didn’t say.

“Steve, he’s such a jerk,” Nancy said

“He’s not that bad.”

“Dude, he beat the shit out of you,” Jonathan said.

“Yeah, I remember,” Steve snapped, slamming his locker shut.  “If I can get over him beating the shit out of me, then you guys can too.”

“Since when are you defending Hargrove?” Jonathan said.

“Since they found him half-dead in the parking lot,” Steve said.  “Jesus, don’t you guys feel bad for him at all?”

“Because he hit on the wrong girl?” Nancy said.  Steve rolled his eyes and started to walk away, but the couple followed him.

“Do you think he just likes sleeping in his car when it’s thirty degrees out?” Steve said.  “You get here early too, Nancy.  I know you’ve seen him.  We all just pretend like we don’t because we don’t want to think about it.”

“So someone beats the shit out of him and that makes it okay for him to beat the shit out of someone else?”

“No, but it makes it make sense,” Steve said.  “He’s not as bad as he was then.  He’s not going to tell anyone, Nance.”

“You better be right about that,” she finally said before disappearing down the hallway.  Jonathan lingered a second longer and then followed her.

Later that week, they had one unseasonable warm day.  It was still chilly, but Coach Anderson decided to take his classes outside anyways.  Billy hadn’t been cleared to exercise yet, so he was supposed to be walking laps while the rest of them ran.  Instead, he was smoking under the bleachers.  Steve spotted him when he paused to stretch out a cramp, and Billy held up a pack of cigarettes amicably.

“Your Majesty,” Billy said when Steve approached and took a cigarette.  He flicked his lighter, and Steve leaned in.

“Thanks,” Steve mumbled, sliding his hands back into the pocket of his sweatshirt to keep warm. Billy wasn’t wearing a jacket.  “Aren’t you freezing, man?”

Billy laughed.  “This is nothing,” he said, and Steve thought of the frost on his windshield that morning in the parking lot.

“So, uh…” Steve said.  “The kids say you know?”

“What, about your little end-of-the-world club?” Billy said, and Steve nodded.  “Yeah, Hopper and El told me after I saw her break some dude’s arm with a dirty look.  It makes zero fucking sense, but it explains a lot from back in the fall.”

“Yeah, I guess it looked weird for me to be out at the Byers’ with the kids when you don’t have any of the context,” Steve said.

“Real fucking weird,” Billy said.  “I still can’t believe King Steve was out in the woods fighting monsters with my redheaded stepsister and the fucking AV club.”

“Well, I still can’t believe Billy Hargrove saw The Breakfast Club with the chief of police and his thirteen year old kid,” Steve said.  Billy looked like he might hit him for a fraction of a second, and then he laughed.

“You’re alright, Harrington,” he said.

“Yeah, I try, I guess,” Steve said.  “So you’re staying with Hopper?”

“Yeah,” Billy said.  “It’s a pretty good gig, so I figured I’d stick around a while.  Beats the hell out of the Camaro.”

“Why were you in your car in the first place?” Steve asked.

“My dad told me to get the hell out, so I got,” Billy said.  “I’d been in there a week and a half already when the cold snap hit and I needed more jackets and shit.  I went by the house to get some stuff while he was supposed to be at work, but he caught me.  That went over real well.”

“That’s messed up,” Steve said.

“He didn’t mean it,” Billy said, and something about the sentence was incredibly sad.  Steve couldn’t help but think about Billy telling himself that when he was the kids’ age, or even younger.

“There wasn’t anyone you could have stayed with?” Steve asked before he could think better of it.  Billy just shrugged.

“Everybody spends a couple nights in their car every now in then,” he said.

“I haven’t,” Steve blurted.  Billy frowned at the bleachers and took a long drag off his cigarette.  “Sorry.  I don’t know why I said that.”

“I don’t know why the hell I’m telling you any of this anyways,” Billy said.

“Because I’m alright,” Steve said.

“I guess,” Billy said.  “So Max has known about this the whole time?”

“Not the whole time,” Steve said.  “We’re not really supposed to talk about it, so it took a while for the kids to break down and tell her.  Dustin and Lucas got in a pretty good fight over it.”

At the mention of Lucas, Billy looked guilty and a little sick for a fraction of a second.  For some reason, Steve felt compelled to get the expression off his face.  “The kids barely remember the fight,” he lied.  “There was a lot going on that night.”

“That reminds me,” Billy said.  “Next time you take Max into underground tunnels to fight some demo-shit or whatever, don’t.  Alright?”

“I didn’t have much of a choice.  They kind of kidnapped me, remember?” Steve said.

“Yeah, in my fucking car,” Billy said.  “Little shits.”

Steve laughed, and Billy glanced up the track.  A cluster of boys jogging were coming up on them.  “You better get going, Harrington,” Billy said.

“Yeah,” Steve said, standing up from where he’d been leaning against a pole and grinding out his cigarette.  “Don’t freeze to death back here, alright?”

“I thought I told you not to tell me what to do,” Billy said.  Steve laughed and set off at a jog.

Chapter Text

A month after the incident in the parking lot, Billy had a check up at the hospital.  He’d told Hopper he could drive himself, and Hopper had told him it’d be a snowy day in Hell, and that had been the end of the conversation.  It was a short appointment but a slow hospital, so Billy would miss most of his morning classes.  Hopper noticed his lips thinning every time he looked at the clock, but the teenager didn’t say anything.

“Well, you’re healing up as well as we could hope,” the doctor said at the end of the appointment as Billy pulled his shirt back on.  The bruises were still there, but they were faint.  “You can start exercising again, but I want you to ease back into it, okay?  Walking, then running, then you can try basketball and weights if you’re feeling up to it.  It might take another month, though.”

“Okay,” Billy said, sliding off the exam table.

“One more thing,” the doctor said.  “You’d lost twenty-three pounds between the last two times we saw you, and you’ve only gained four back.  I want you to step it up on your eating.”

Billy nodded, and Hopper pretended not to see the nervous glance the teenager shot his way.

Once they were outside at Hopper’s car, the chief said, “It’s almost 11:30.  Let’s stop for lunch, so you don’t have to eat cafeteria shit.”

They both ordered burgers, and Hopper tacked on a milkshake to the end of the order.  When the waitress returned, Hopper slid it in front of Billy.  “The doc said you need to gain weight,” he said.

“Thanks,” Billy mumbled.  Hopper nodded and kept eating his fries.

That night, Hopper was hosting another game night for the kids, who were making short work of demolishing a stack of pizzas.  It was the first time Billy had seen his stepsister in a month and a half, and they were both doing their best to avoid each other.  Billy didn’t have a bedroom to retreat to though, and he hadn’t sunk low enough to go hide in El’s yet.  Instead, he hung out on the couch in the living room, trying to look aloof, while the kids played Dungeons and Dragons at the kitchen table.

Mike and Will had arrived first, Joyce dropping them off.  Hopper was one of the few people she was fine with leaving in charge of Will.  She came inside to talk for a little while, and Billy did his best not to make eye contact with her either.  The other three kids arrived together, with Steve fucking Harrington, of course.  Between him, Lucas, and Max, Billy was tempted to take a walk just to get out of the house.  It was still early spring though, and a month of being warm in Hopper’s house had made him soft.

“Hopper said you hadn’t eaten yet,” Steve said, dropping a plate of pizza in front of Billy before sitting down on the couch.  “You’ve got to get it while it’s there with these kids.”

“Thanks,” Billy mumbled half-heartedly, picking up a slice.  Steve was still eyeing him, so he forced himself to take a bite.  They cut the TV on for some background noise and made small talk—music, basketball, school.

“Want to go for a drive?” Steve asked when they’d both finished eating.  “These things usually take a while?”

“I’ve got to—” Billy started to say, but he paused.  Hopper hadn’t told him to do anything, not even watch Max or El.  It wasn’t like when Neil and Susan had company; there was no secret mission for Billy to run in the background, so they’d look like a normal family.

“You guys go.  I’ve got this,” Hopper said, nodding toward the kitchen table.  The boys were getting rowdy again, Max making fun of them and El smiling shyly. 

“You sure?” Billy asked.

“Get out of here, kid,” Hopper said.

Steve drove, and to his surprise, Billy didn’t try to argue that.  He got in the passenger seat and fiddled with the radio for a few seconds.

“I’ve got cassettes,” Steve said.  “The box is behind your seat.”

Billy unbuckled and twisted around to grab it.  He glanced over the options for a moment before saying, “Not bad, Harrington,” and selecting one.  He ejected the old tape, dropped it back into the box, and put the new one in.

“It’s kind of nice having someone else who’s not thirteen at Hop’s,” Steve said.

“Yeah,” Billy agreed.  “You want a cigarette?”

“Sure,” Steve said.  Billy lit two and passed one to Steve before rolling his window down.

“You and El seem like you get along alright, though,” Steve said.

Billy nodded and took a long drag.  “That’s one badass little kid,” he said, and Steve laughed.

“Yeah, they’re all tougher than they look,” he said.  He glanced at Billy.  The younger boy was curled in on himself, knees propped against the dash.  “Your sister’s tougher than any of those boys.  I think El’s got her beat though, with the psychic powers and all.”

“She’s not my sister,” Billy said, but there wasn’t any bite to it.

“Aren’t you cold?” Steve asked, gesturing at the open window.

“I don’t want to stink up your car, Harrington,” Billy said.

“It’s fine, Billy,” Steve said.  “I’ve got mine up.”

Billy shrugged and left the window down.  “So how come you spend all your time chauffeuring a bunch of eighth graders?”

“I don’t know,” Steve said.  “Dustin, like, imprinted on me like a baby duck or something.  And since Nancy dumped me, I’ve got the time, so I might as well, you know?”

“Yeah, I get it,” Billy said even though he didn’t really.

“I know it’s weird, but after round two with the Upside Down, all the dumb teenager stuff just seems kind of pointless,” Steve said.  Bullshit, he though.  Steve’s gaze was locked on the road, so Billy let himself stare.  “They’re kids, but at least they know what happened.  Driving them around and making sure they have fun just seems more worthwhile than running around with Tommy or whoever.”

“You’re a better person than me, Harrington,” Billy said, shaking his head.  “When shit hits the fan, I save my own ass.”

“You’d surprise yourself,” Steve said.

“No, I wouldn’t,” Billy said.  He rolled his window up and rested his head against the glass.  They were quiet for a long time.

Chapter Text

“Billy…” Steve said after a long pause.  “I don’t think you’re a bad guy.  I think… I think you just haven’t really had a chance to be the good guy.”

Billy didn’t respond, so Steve glanced over at him.  The younger boy’s head was drooping toward his chest where he was curled up in the passenger seat, and Steve laughed despite himself.  He’d fallen asleep.  Steve cut the radio down and drove carefully.  Billy was still sleeping when Steve looked at the time and decided it was time to head back to Hopper’s.  They sat in the driveway until Joyce pulled in behind them.

“Hey,” Steve said.  Billy didn’t stir, so he reached out to shake his shoulder.  The seventeen year old jolted awake as soon as he touched him and pressed himself as close to the door as he could get.  “Sorry.  You fell asleep.”

“Oh,” Billy said once he’d taken in where they were.

They both went inside and helped Hopper harass the kids into wrapping up their game.  They all took their time saying goodbye to El, especially Mike, and then they filed out the door into Joyce and Steve’s cars.  As soon as they were gone, Billy flopped face-first onto the couch.

“Fun night, kid?” Hopper asked El.  She nodded, still watching the tail lights fade out the window.  When she turned around and saw Billy, she frowned.

“He has his shoes on,” she said.  “You’re not supposed to sleep with your shoes on.”

“It’ll be alright,” Hopper said.

The next day was Saturday, but Hopper had to work.  Billy had time to sleep in, but it was hard to do when he was sleeping in the living room and Hopper had to pass through getting ready.  Instead, he cut the TV on low and watched reruns in his makeshift bed.

“Billy, would you mind taking El to the mall to get a new pair of shoes?” Hopper said.  “She’s outgrown the ones she’s got.  I told her we’d got today, but I don’t know what time I’ll be back.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Billy said.

“Good, she’ll probably have more fun like this anyway,” Hopper said.  He opened his wallet and took out a few bills.  “Here’s some money for the shoes and gas.”

Billy put it into his own wallet as Hopper left.  El got up an hour later and stumbled into the living room with bedhead, still in her pajamas.  Billy made Eggos, and they ate together in front of the TV.

“Hopper left money for us to go get shoes for you,” Billy said as he ate.  Although he still lacked El’s passion, he’d warmed up to having Eggos several times a week.

“The mall?” El said, and Billy nodded.  “What time?”

“Whenever you want to go, I guess,” Billy said with a shrug. 

“Now?”

“Well, you have to finish eating and get ready first,” Billy said.  El nodded and scarfed down the rest of her Eggo.

Half an hour later, they were on the road.  El was selecting a tape while Billy gave her a rundown of each one’s merits.  There was an odd sort of kinship between them that Billy had never had with Max.  El understood that there was some fundamental piece of him that was broken beyond repair, and she left that alone.  Max was too undamaged to get that.

They rode to the mall in companionable silence.  El people-watched while Billy cruised for a parking spot.  There were a fair amount of teenagers around, so he popped his jacket collar and prepared himself to run into one of his classmates.

“Alright,” Billy said as they got out of the car.  “Hopper left $25, so we’ve got to stay on budget, okay?”

“Okay,” El agreed.  “Have you been here before?”

“Yeah, a couple times,” Billy said.  “Have you?”

“No,” she said.

“That’s alright.  The shoe store’s not hard to find.”

It took them time to get there though.  Even though El had been making more trips out in the past several months, the mall on a Saturday was still a lot for her.  There were people to watch and stores to peak into around every corner.  Billy had to shepherd her along, promising they’d browse once they’d found her shoes.

The shoe store itself was easier to handle.  It was quieter, and there weren’t so many people to distract El.  She had a clear preference for converse, so they found that aisle quickly.

“What size are the one’s you’ve got now?” Billy asked.

“Size?” El repeated.

“Yeah, you need bigger ones, right?”

“Right,” El said.

“Look on the tongue,” Billy said.  “It’ll say women’s or US or something above it.”

“The tongue?” El repeated, eyebrows climbing.  Billy laughed.

“Give me your shoe,” he said.  El toed out of one and handed it to the older teenager.  “This is the tongue, okay?  See, it says what size it is.  These are a six, so let’s try six and a half.”

“Okay,” El agreed, and Billy pulled a box.

“Try those on,” he said.  She sat on the bench and slid the shoe on, lacing it up carefully.  “Fit okay?”

“Yes,” El said.

“Let me see,” Billy said before prodding the end of the shoe to see where her toes were.  “Yeah, six and a half is good.  Now let’s pick a color.”

It took nearly fifteen minutes, but El finally settled on red.  She wore them out, the old pair in the new box under her arm.  With their goal accomplished, Billy let her lead them around the mall for an hour.  Eventually, they ended up at the pretzel stand.

“Do you think they’re cool?” El asked.

“Do I think what’s cool?” Billy asked.  She nodded down, and he said, “Oh, your shoes? Yeah, I wouldn’t have let you get them if they weren’t.”

He smiled as he said it, so El laughed.  She tore off a piece of the pretzel he’d bought her with the leftover money and offered it to him.  Billy shook his head.

“Why didn’t you talk to Max last night?” she asked.

“You know we don’t get along,” he said.  “We’re just not close.”

“Max said,” El started hesitantly, “that you used to be different.  She said that you got angrier when you moved here.”

“Nobody likes moving their junior year,” Billy said.  “Imagine if you had to leave Hopkins and all your friends and all the places you like.”

“Why does that make you angry with Max?” El asked.

“We moved because Neil didn’t want to be near her dad,” Billy said.  “My mom’s buried in California, but he didn’t even think about that.”

“I’m sorry,” El said.

“I used…” Billy said.  He cleared his throat and looked down at the table for a second before he made eye contact with El again.  “I used to think how my dad treats me was normal.  I couldn’t remember it ever being any different, so I figured that’s how it is for everybody, you know?”

“Yes,” El said.  She understood.

“I realized it wasn’t when I got older, but I figured he was… he was hitting Susan and Max too once they came into the picture.  Then they got married and we moved here and,” Billy paused and shook his head, “he wasn’t.  I’ve never seen him lay a hand on either of them.”

“I’m sorry,” El said.  Billy shook his head and reached across the table to tear off a piece of her pretzel.

“I don’t want him hitting them,” Billy said.  “I’m not that awful.  It’s just… it’s not fair.  She’s not even his kid, and he likes her better than me.”

“I like you,” El said, and Billy snorted.

“Thanks, kid,” he said.  “You done with your pretzel?”

El nodded, and they stood from the table.  Billy waited while she stuffed her trash into the garbage can, and then they walked back out to his car.  El picked a new tape, without Billy pitching each one to her this time, and Billy just drove.  They were halfway back to Hopper’s house before either of them spoke again.

“Billy?” El said.

“Yeah?”

“I like you better.”

Chapter Text

Any easy routine formed quickly.  Billy went to school on weekdays, and then afterwards, he and El would do homework together at the kitchen table.  On Friday nights, the kids would come over, and Billy and Steve would hang out.  If Hopper had to work on Saturday, he would invent an errand for Billy and El to run together.  A lot of the time, this was Billy driving El to the arcade.  It was finally warm enough for him and Steve to hang out in the parking lot while the kids were inside. 

Later, it’d occur to Hopper that things were going too easily.  Billy and El understood each other, and Billy and Steve were actually approaching genuine friendship.  The kids were warming up to the presence of a new member in their group.  Billy was gaining weight.  He and Max could speak civilly to each other without looking like they were going to burst into flames.

On a Friday night, two and a half months after Hopper found him sleeping in his car, Billy and Steve went for another drive while the kids played DnD.  Billy was driving, and Steve was nodding along to the music in the passenger seat.  It was comfortably cool out, so they parked along the side of deserted road and got out to smoke.

“Have you decided what you’re doing after graduation, Harrington?” Billy asked.  Steve shook his head.

“My dad went ahead and paid my deposit for me to go to school, but I haven’t decided if I’m going yet,” he said.  “It doesn’t feel right to leave.”

Billy shrugged and said, “Yeah, but you’ve got to live your life.  The school’s only like an hour away, right?”

“Forty-five minutes,” Steve said.

“See,” Billy said.  “You could be here if the kids needed you.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Steve said.  “What about you?  You’ve got another year, but what are you thinking about college?”

Billy snorted.  “Yeah, right,” he said.  “I can’t afford that shit.  I doubt they’d take me, anyways.”

“Yeah, they would,” Steve said, frowning.  “I know you’re not dumb, Billy, so quit pretending.  And if you start working this summer, you could save up if your folks aren’t going to help out.”

“I’ve been on Hopper’s couch since February, so I don’t think paying for college is real high up on my dad’s list of priorities,” Billy said.  They smoked in silence for a moment before he spoke again.  “Do you really think I’m smart enough for college?”

“Yeah,” Steve said.  “I mean, not like… Harvard or anything, but I think you could go to the same places as most people.  You could probably get a scholarship to play basketball too, and that’d help with the money.”

“Yeah,” Billy said thoughtfully.  “I used to just think about getting the hell out of here as soon as I was eighteen, you know?  Just drive for a day or two and go back to California.”

“Do you still have family there?” Steve asked.

“I’ve got an aunt about an hour from where we lived, but we haven’t been close since my mom died,” Billy said.

“You were little then, right?”

“Yeah,” Billy said.  “She died when I was six.  Car accident.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve said.

“She was a good mom,” Billy said, not looking at Steve.  “I miss her.”

“She’s buried in California?” Steve asked, and Billy nodded.

“My dad hasn’t gone to see her in years, though,” he said.  “I used to get the neighbors to take me before I could drive.”

Billy was leaning against the hood of his car, and Steve joined him.  It’d gotten a little colder outside, but the engine was still warm.  “Are you going back when you graduate?” Steve asked.

“That used to be the plan, but,” Billy shrugged, “I don’t know.  Being away from home… it’s not so bad here.”

Billy dropped his cigarette and ground it out with the toe of his boot.  His jacket was only half zipped, and the blue button up underneath made his eyes stand out even in the dim light.  His face was flushed with from the cold, and his tongue darted out to wet his lips.

Steve was kissing him before he even knew what he was doing.

Billy went stiff with surprise for a split second, and then he relaxed.  One of his hands went up to Steve’s cheek, and the other stayed braced against the hood of the car.  Both of Steve’s hands found their way into Billy’s hair, and his rushed momentum had him almost falling forward onto the younger boy.  When they finally pulled apart, Steve’s breath clouded up in front of him.

“I’ve got to go,” Billy said.

“What?” Steve said, dumbfounded.

“I’ve got to go,” Billy repeated.  He pointed up the road.  “Hopper’s house is that way.  It’s only like a fifteen minute walk.”

“You’re leaving me on the side of the fucking road?” Steve asked as Billy got into the driver’s seat.  He didn’t get an answer.  Billy turned the key, yanked the car into gear, and tore out of the grass, leaving a cloud of dirt behind him.  He didn’t go back toward Hopper’s house.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Steve said to himself, watching Billy’s taillights fade.  He stood there a moment longer, halfway expecting him to turn around, before he started walking toward the road.

When he made it back to Hopper’s, Billy still wasn’t there.  The kids were too busy with their game to notice he’d come in alone, but Hopper did.  He eyed Steve’s shivering for a moment before he spoke.

“Where’s Billy?” the chief asked.

“We had a fight,” Steve lied.  “I guess he went to cool down.”

Hopper didn’t look surprised.  Billy had mellowed with time away from his father, but his personality hadn’t totally changed.  Steve tried to wait for Billy to come back, but eventually he had to go or else the kids would miss their curfews.  It was almost a relief to be out of the house.  El had been watching him owlishly, like she knew he was lying about why Billy took off.

Two hours after Hopper and El had gone to bed, Billy crept back into the house.  They’d left the door unlocked for him, and he was careful to ease it shut soundlessly behind him.  Normally, anyone walking around would wake Hopper and El, but Billy had a lifetime’s experience sneaking around his father.  In the ten minutes he was in the house, neither of them stirred.

Billy didn’t touch any of his belongings.  He left his school bag by the table and his bed made up on the couch.  He went into El’s room, opening the door just enough to get through so it wouldn’t squeak.  Her hand was sticking out from under the covers, palm up.  Billy took his necklace off and curled her fingers around it.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” he whispered.  “It’s going to be okay.”

When El woke up hours later, Billy was long gone.  She became aware of the object in her hand slowly, clutching it tighter reflexively.  When she was finally awake enough, she sat up to examine it closer, but there was no need.  She recognized it was Billy’s necklace instantly and went flying from her bed.

Billy’s stuff was still in the living room.  His bed hadn’t been slept in, and his car wasn’t in the driveway.  El ran into Hopper’s room and started shaking him.

“He’s going to kill him,” she gasped desperately as she shook him awake.  “Papa’s going to kill Billy.”

Chapter Text

“Slow down,” Hopper said as he sat up.  “What time is it?”

“Papa’s going to kill Billy,” El said again.

“El, your papa’s not around anymore,” Hopper said, rubbing his eyes.  “You just had a bad dream.”

El shook her head and said, “Not my papa.”

“Wait, do you mean Billy’s dad?” Hopper asked.  El nodded.  “Shit.  Billy didn’t come back last night?”

“I didn’t see him,” El said while Hopper hurried to get dressed, “but I had this when I woke up.”

She held out Billy’s necklace and hoped Hopper would understand the significance of Billy leaving it behind.  He never took it off.  He wore it in the shower, he wore it at practice, he wore it while he was sleeping.  Hopper didn’t know that it was from his mother, but he had to realize that it was important to Billy.

“I need you to call Steve and find out what the hell they fought about last night, okay?” Hopper said.  “Radio me once you know.  It might help me talk Billy off whatever ledge he’s on.”

“I’m coming with you,” El said.

“No, you are not,” Hopper said harshly as he put his gun in his holster and grabbed his keys off the dresser.  “If Billy went home, I might be arrested Neil Hargrove.  I can’t make an arrest with my kid in the car.”

As he opened the front door, headlights briefly blinded him.  A slim, longhaired young man got out of the car, and relief briefly surged in Hopper.  Then, the headlights went off, and he could see more than a silhouette.  It was Steve.

“Chief?” he said.  “I didn’t think you’d be up.  I just… I had a bad feeling about the thing with Billy last night.”

“I don’t have time for this,” Hopper said, going toward his squad car, but El was eyeing Steve and his car.

“We’ll just follow you,” she said.

“Jesus Christ,” Hopper groaned.  “Fine!  Get in the fucking car, both of you.”

El and Steve both scrambled into the back, and Hopper didn’t wait for them to buckle before he threw it into gear.  “What’s going on?” Steve asked lowly, turned to El.

“What did you and Billy fight about?” Hopper barked at Steve.

“Nothing, it was nothing,” Steve said.

“Then why the hell didn’t he come last night?” Hopper said.

“He didn’t come back?” Steve asked.

“No, and El thinks he’s gone back to his dad, so don’t bullshit me, Harrington,” Hopper said.

“We didn’t fight.  We, uh,” Steve stuttered.  “Shit, I kissed him, okay?”

“Fucking hell,” Hopper said.  In the rear-view mirror, he saw Steve curl in on himself.  “Not you, Steve.  Billy’s dad is always calling him a faggot, that’s all.”

“And now Billy thinks he’s right,” Steve said numbly.

“So he went back,” Hopper finished.  He drove faster.

Despite the hour, there was a light on downstairs at the Hargroves’.  Hopper ordered El and Steve to wait in the car and locked the door, but with El, it did no good.  They followed him to the door.  Hopper knocked and identified himself as police, but no one came.  There was a crash inside though, and the door was flying off its hinges before Hopper could knock again.  He glanced down at El, who wiped the blood from her nose and nodded at him to go ahead.

They followed the noise into the living room.  Billy was on his back on the floor, eyes half-closed, not fighting back.  His father was over him, both hands wrapped around the teenager’s throat.  Neil Hargrove looked up and saw Hopper.  Realizing that he was out of time, he dug his thumbs in harder at the base of Billy’s throat.  El held out a hand, and Billy’s father went flying into the wall.  He was still conscious though, so Hopper grabbed him.

Once he was free, Billy rolled onto his side, coughing so hard it sounded like he would be sick.  Painful-looking red marks were already blooming on his neck.  El pulled the St. Anthony medal from her pocket and thrust it at Billy as she crashed onto her knees beside him.

“I found you,” she said.  “I found you, it’s okay, I found you.”

Billy’s eyes were glazed, and Steve knew he wasn’t really seeing them.  There was blood coming from his nose and his lip was split again.  He was breathing in short gasps, and he smiled a little at El’s voice before he closed his eyes.

“Billy,” El said insistently.  “Billy, wake up.”

Hopper had Neil Hargrove handcuffed and was taking him out to the squad car.  Steve could see him on the CB, likely calling for an ambulance, through the window.  Steve squatted next to El and touched her shoulder.

“El,” he said quietly, “why don’t you go look for Max?  We need to make sure she’s okay.”

El wiped her nose on her sleeve again and nodded.  She disappeared down the hallway, opening random doors.  Steve took her spot next to Billy.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.  “I’m sorry.”

Down the hall, El had found Max.  She was awake in her bed, crying quietly.  There were no bruises on her face, no blood on her lip.   I’ve never seen him lay a hand on either of them, Billy had said.

“Why didn’t you call Hopper?” El shouted.  Max just cried harder.  “Why didn’t you get help?”

El left her there and returned to the living room where Hopper had just come back inside.  “Ambulance is on the way,” he said, nodding at her.  She nodded back and went to sit beside Steve.  Billy was still out, so she slipped the necklace over his head carefully.  Hopper in the floor on the other side of Billy and carefully took his wrist to feel for a pulse.  There were no bruises on Billy’s knuckles.  He’d never struck his father.

“Neil is arrested, whether Billy likes it or not,” Hopper said without taking his hand off of the seventeen year old’s wrist.  “If he’s okay with it, having everything in place from when I got custody of El should have me set up to foster until he’s eighteen.”

Steve and El nodded.  Between them, Billy hadn’t moved.  They could finally hear faint sirens.

“This is going to be hard on him,” Hopper said, “and we’ve all got to be ready for that, understood?”

They nodded again, and Hopper got up to go wake Susan Hargrove.  Steve reached out and squeezed Billy’s hand once before going to stand by the door, watching for the ambulance.  El sat alone and waited for Billy to wake up.

Chapter Text

Billy looked good.  He’d been scrutinizing his appearance in the mirror for the past several minutes, but he was hard pressed to find anything wrong.  His shirt was ironed, and the blue made his eyes stand out.  He’d had a haircut two weeks before, and it looked good.  The khakis Hopper bought him when his weight leveled out fit well, and his shoes were clean.  He ran his finger over one of the small scars on his face, but he could admit to himself that they weren’t noticeable anymore.  The bruises around his neck were almost completely gone too.

“Come on, Billy,” Hopper called from outside the bathroom door.  “Dustin’s mom just pulled in.”

“I’m coming,” Billy responded, and Hopper went to answer the front door.

“Hey, Chief,” Dustin said.

“Hey, kid,” Hopper said, waving to Dustin’s mom as he stepped aside to let the teen in.  El smiled from where she was waiting on the couch in a new blue dress and her red Converse.

Billy came out of the bathroom, drying his hands on his pants, and grabbed his wallet off the coffee table.  He looked nervous, not anxious, so Hopper figured they’d make it through the night without any major catastrophes.

“Look,” Dustin said, smiling.  “We match.”

Billy looked at his own blue button down and then back at Dustin’s.  His lips went thin, and he turned back toward the bathroom.

“No,” Hopper said quickly, grabbing Billy by the shoulder.  “We don’t have time for that.  It’s not the same shirt.  They’re just both blue.”

“Okay,” Billy agreed, nodding as he took a shaky breath.  “Let’s go.”

They made it ten minutes before the ceremony started, but the gym was already packed.  There weren’t any seats left, so the four of them found a spot standing with the other latecomers in the back.  Nancy and Mike waved from the bleachers, and El grinned before disappearing to squeeze in with them.

“There’s Steve,” Dustin said, pointing at the gym door.  Steve waved from behind the glass, and the graduating seniors began to trickle in.

Billy had, understandably, been a bit of mess since Hopper arrested his father three weeks prior.  In exchange for them dropping the attempted murder charge, Neil Hargrove had pled guilty to child abuse.  That kept Billy from having to testify in court, and he would be eighteen before the earliest possible date his father could be released.

Hopper was his legal guardian for the next several months, and he was doing his best to show Billy that his place with them was permanent.  The cabin only had two bedrooms, but they bought a fold-out couch for the living room and set up some storage for Billy in El’s room.  Hopper was thinking about looking for a new place over the summer.

Summer was going to be good for them.  Hopper had already made up his mind.  Steve would be around for him and Billy to figure out their relationship, which was still tender and fragile after Billy’s freakout when Steve kissed him.  Billy would get to recover physically and emotionally, and the kids would get to know him as the person he was away from his father.  Then in the fall, Steve would go to college—near enough to be around but far enough away for Billy to have some space—and Billy would start his senior year.

And El would start school.

At fourteen, she’d be starting ninth grade with the rest of the kids.  Hopper was quietly terrified to send her to high school, but it helped to know that Billy would be in the same building.  She could use a popular, terrifying older brother who everyone knew would beat the shit out of them.

Billy and his stepsister hadn’t been in the same room since Max and Susan watched the EMTs load him into an ambulance.  Hopper knew they weren’t going to be able to avoid each other forever though.  He hadn’t wanted to put Billy through the stress of hosting a game night, but Hopper had seen Max at the Byers’ when he dropped El off last week.  She’d seen him too and frozen where she was standing between Lucas and Jonathan.  El was still angry with Max and Susan, and Hopper couldn’t blame her.

“Steve’s next,” Billy mumbled, watching the line of seniors move.  When Steve crossed the stage, Billy smiled as he clapped and the kids all cheered.  They were straight back from the podium, and Steve’s eyes latched onto them before he looked for his parents.

“That’ll be you next year,” Hopper said.  He elbowed Billy lightly, and the seventeen year old nodded.  It was the first time that Hopper had seen him look certain that he would graduate.

“Yeah,” he said.  “Do you, um…  Do you think I’m smart enough to go to college, Hop?”

“Of course you are,” Hopper said.  “I got you some pamphlets last time I was at the high school.  They’re at home.”

Billy blushed, either at Hopper picking up college brochures for him or at the idea that he had a home.  He turned back to the graduates and watched Steve rejoin his class.  The rest of the ceremony went by slowly, but none of them minded.  They all took pictures with Steve before they left, and Billy and Hopper lagged behind as the kids raced toward the cars.

“Billy, you know I’m proud of you, right?” Hopper said.  Billy ducked his head minisculely.

“It’s not my graduation, chief.”

“You know what I mean,” Hopper said, snorting.  “You’re doing really well.  I know this year has been shitty for you.”

“Yeah,” Billy acknowledged.  “This time last year, I thought moving was going to be the worst of it.”

Billy kicked a rock along the pavement in front of him, and neither of them spoke for a moment.  At the top of the hill, El had won the race to the car.  The kids were chattering happily, none of them in any rush to leave.

“Do you think he would have killed me?” he finally asked.  While the effects of Billy’s father were very clearly felt on a daily basis, they didn’t talk about him very much.  “If you hadn’t shown up?”

“I don’t know, Billy,” Hopper sighed.  “I’m just glad you’re away from him.”

“Me too,” Billy said.  “He’s still my dad though.”

“I know,” Hopper said, watching as Billy stared at the kids and chewed his lip.  “You’re going to be fine, kid.  Every day is going to get a little easier than the day before.  It’s all going to work out.”

Billy glanced over at Steve’s car and saw that the older boy had waited for him.  His cap was tossed in the backseat, but he was still wearing his gown and cords.  Steve smiled when he saw them, and Billy’s expression softened.

“Yeah,” Billy said.  “I know.”