Chapter Text
When Billy found out Neil was moving the family away from California to this shit town Hawkins, he’d figure things were going to be worse. There was no water here, no beaches to swim in or surf, no sunny warm weather. It was in the dead of nowhere. What made it worse was the smell of cow shit that entered his lungs every time he took a breath. He’s gotten used to the smell now that he’s been here for a couple of months, but that doesn’t change his desire to pack his stuff, sneak out in the middle of the night, and drive off back to California. The only reason he hasn’t done it is because of Max. Billy knows the minute he’s gone, Neil won’t hesitate to take his outburst on her. As much as Billy hates Max, he wouldn’t wish that on any kid. For now he was stuck as her chauffeur, driving her around anywhere she wanted to go whenever she wanted, as if he doesn’t have things to do. It pisses Billy off how she’s able to get away with whatever she does, making Billy take the fall for it and it ends up with Neil pushing him around because of it. So whenever he did give her rides, he made sure to give her enough shit about it, upsetting her in any way he could.
Things have changed however, ever since that night at Byers. Billy was supposed to go out and enjoy his night, he hadn’t gone out in a while since he was still recovering from a messed up shoulder that Neil had given him for not being home for dinner one night. The minute he heard Neil yell after Susan had knocked on his door, he knew he wouldn’t be going anywhere. Max had been home all day, he even talked to her an hour prior before he began getting ready, so Billy was surprised to hear that she had snuck out. Little shithead didn’t make things easier for him either. It was much more humiliating the way Neil treated him when Susan was there. There would be no brutal beating, instead he showed Susan the way he could control Billy. How vulnerable Billy was to him, how scared he was, how obedient he could be. So you can guess how angry Billy was when he went knocking around, to each house asking if Max was there. All he wanted was to drag Max back home so this whole mess could be over. His anger only worsened when he saw Harrington there on the porch, denying that Max was in the house.
What the hell was Harrington even doing here? That made the situation so much more unnerving, it wasn’t sitting right with him. For a second, he stepped back to think that maybe Max was in some kind of trouble.
All suspicion left his mind however the minute he saw Max peeking over in the window with her little friends, like this was some kind of fucking game to her. Especially with that Sinclair kid, its not that Billy has a problem with him but if Neil ever found out Max was hanging out with him, there’s no telling what he would do to that poor kid. Billy already warned her, but like always, Max never cared about anyone but herself.
That was his last straw.
If Max wasn’t going to understand, Sinclair would.
He didn’t mean to go that far with Harrington. Frankly he doesn’t remember exactly how Harrington ended on the floor, completely defenseless. He remembers feeling the excitement coursing through his veins when Harrington hit him, a set off to his body to just start punching. From then on he only remembers feeling a sting on his neck, and then the sound of his body hitting the floor. That little bitch had drugged him, and threatened him. Max was brave, she wouldn’t hesitate to hurt him and because Billy didn’t want to loose the most important thing, his balls, he agreed.
Hours later, Billy woke up to an unknown ceiling. Confusion turned into realization as the memories resurfaced. He looked up to see if anyone was there, but the house was completely empty. Not even Harrington was on the floor, everyone was gone. Of course that meant that Max had run off once again, little shit. He shivered as he felt a cold breeze hit him, the door was open and the lights were still on. Whatever she had injected him with was still in his system, so he fell back on to the floor two times before managing to actually stand up. He stumbled all the way outside to the porch, only to find an empty parking lot. He paused for a few seconds and rubbed his eyes to see if he was seeing this correctly, his Camaro.
Where the fuck was his Camaro?
His keys.
He quickly patted himself to check for his keys, his keys were gone. What the fuck? For fucking sake, that little bitch couldn’t give him a fucking break?
Billy wanted to kill her. Maybe he should just make a run for it, leave her all alone so she can learn her fucking lesson. Regardless, he couldn’t, not without his baby. Billy wasn’t gonna wait here like a goddamn idiot, the only solution was to walk back. It took him an hour to arrive at the nearest gas station, there would be no way in hell he was going back home right now. For fuck sakes, he didn’t even know what time it was. Neil was probably still up, now waiting to murder Billy. He had cash in his pocket, Max didn’t take that atleast, and he bought himself a pack of cigarettes. He sat there for atleast half an hour, almost going through the whole pack before facing defeat that he had to go back home, empty handed. It was another hour to walk home, with every street he crossed, he dreaded the outcome. He hoped Neil was asleep but just like he expected, the light to the living room was on. Billy stood there just watching the window, he could just imagine Neil sitting on the sofa, beer in his hand, anticipating the moment Billy walked through that door.
Just then a car pulled right next to him, a cop car. The chief of police was there, if he remembers the guys name was Hopper or something, and what do you know, Max was in the passenger seat.
Billy was going to get into some serious shit.
Billy also noticed that Harrington was sitting in back, he was leaning on the glass window, face still covered in blood all fucked up. Both of the doors opened, the chief climbing out first. Max knew she was in serious trouble too, she was wary of even approaching Billy. It wasn’t until the chief called her over that she finally walked towards him. She’ll listen to the chief but not him? Fucking hilarious.
The moment Max was at reaching distance, all the anger came back to him.
His anger had flooded his brain forgetting that the chief of police was there, he grabbed her arm and roughly pulled her towards him causing a yelp.
“What the fuck did you do to my car, you shithead?!I swear to fucking god Maxine, if you-!”
”Hey!” Hopper intervened, pushing Billy back. Billy didn’t let go however, and kept his eyes on Max. She looked genuinely upset, her eyes turning a little red.
“Hargrove, let go of her right now!”
The tone startled him, he finally let go but only by pushing her back until she almost fell. Hopper conveniently grabbed her and pulled her back, great be scared of him. Billy was so upset, but he was also scared shitless. He looked straight at the chief, not before noticing Harrington staring at him intensely through the window. His eyes went back to the chief who looked so tired. He pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closed as he groaned.
”Look kid I get your upset, but it doesn’t give you the right to take it out on her. Maxine isn’t in any trouble, the boys involved her in a situation I wasn’t aware of. Dustin…” he coughed. “Dustin lost his cat and these kids thought it would be a great idea to go look for it.”
Does the chief really think he’s that stupid? That doesn’t explain shit, or even make any fucking sense. Why would Maxine steal his fucking car then?
“And about your car, I’ll bring it here tomorrow. We can talk then, how about it? I can imagine how much trouble you guys are in so I’ll speak with your father to clear some things up.” Hopper sighed.
No, no , no. The last thing he fucking needs is a police officer talking to Neil. Even if Hopper makes up an excuse for the both of them, Neil will find it suspicious. The last time someone came to his house, it didn’t end well. An anonymous person called CPS to come visit his house, Billy had to lie through his teeth that day and yet still he almost died. He was forced to go to school even after so it wouldn’t bring any attention, Billy thought he was going to pass out of the pain.
Hopper left Harrington in the car, and had both of them walk in front of him. Of course the minute Hopper knocked on the door, the door swung open with Neil standing. He locked eyes with Billy instantly and gave him a look. A look that meant he was fucked. His demeanor quickly changed as he happily greeted Hopper, apologizing for any trouble his “knuckleheads” had caused. Billy and Max stood there in the living room as Hopper gave some lame ass excuse that Max went to go save Dustin’s cat and that when Billy arrived he played hero and helped the kids look for it, but they got caught up looking for a kid that ended up getting lost. Neil nodded but Billy knew he didn’t believe a word that was coming out of chiefs mouth. Shortly after, Hopper said his goodbyes and they were left standing there, waiting until there wasn’t a sound heard from Hoppers truck.
Neil looked out the window one more time and then sat down onto the couch, picking up the remote control and shutting the tv off.
“Maxine” he spoke up. “Explain to me what exactly happened.”
“I…” She began, Max knew how to get Neil on her side. It was an innocent voice she used, she had the advantage that Neil loved having a daughter even if she wasn’t his blood. “I’m sorry Dad,” she squeezed her eyes shut and her voice rasped. “It was an emergency, Dustin really needed me to help find his cat. Mews is really important to Dustin’s mom so he was really desperate to find him. I knew Billy was busy and you guys weren’t going to get home until later, so I snuck out and went to his house. It wasn’t Billy’s fault” She said lastly. It was a nice try, but by the look on his face, Neil had already decided Billy was the one to blame.
“Maxine, you can’t just do things like that. Do you know how worried sick we were? You know I don’t like you hanging out with boys without supervision, it’s dangerous” He raised his voice but it wasn’t meant to be threatening.
”I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.” Max shook her head.
Neil sighed before nodding. “You have a good heart Maxine. I get that you were doing the right thing but I will have to punish you for this, you understand? No more going to the arcade or hanging out with your friends for the rest of the week.”
“Yes sir.” Max nodded.
“Now go to you room, I’ll deal with Billy now.”
Billy faced forward, arms behind his back as he stood up straight, preparing for what was to come. Max looked at him for a minute before doing as she was told and headed down the hall to her room. The door made a click sound giving Neil a que to stand up. He rubbed his hand over his mouth, chuckling to himself. Without warning, Neil sent a straight punch to Billy’s face, making him stumble back and crash into a table. He didn’t have time to register the punch before Neil grabbed his shirt and lifted him off the ground to slam him back into the wall.
“I work my ass off all day, providing food, clothes, a roof over your head. I’ve dealt with all of your bullshit Billy, sometimes I even let it go, but time and time again you prove to me how irresponsible and stupid you are! I gave you one job, to look after your sister! And yet you come back at 3 in the morning with the chief of police! I don’t care that you played hero today, if you’d use that worthless brain of yours, you’d given us a phone call. Do you have any idea how worried sick Susan was?! I had to give her fucking pills to get her to sleep! Not to mention the danger you put Max in?! Your job is to protect and look out for her, what you should’ve done is let the police handle it and brought her home!”
“I’m sorry sir,” Billy swallowed, keeping his face straight.
Another hard punch.
“You’re sorry? You’re sorry Billy? How about you stop apologizing like a little bitch and learn from your mistakes instead?! From now I expect you to grow up! You hear me?!”
“Yes sir” Billy could hear his breath shake, he was starting to break.
Neil let go of him, but Billy didn’t feel relieved, he never knew if Neil was done with him yet.
“I’ve got work in 2 hours, go straight to bed. I’ll see what I’ll do with you tomorrow.” He shook his head, Billy stood still as Neil walked away to his room. The sound of the door shutting made him finally breathe in relief. His jaw was throbbing and he felt the blood rush down his nose, he wiped it with the back of his arm. Atleast he wasn’t that mad about the police officer. Billy didn’t bother getting cleaned up, he went straight to his room and closed the door. Taking his boots and his clothes off, leaving him in his boxers before getting into bed.
Fucking Maxine.
The next morning, Billy woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door. There was a few more knocks, then the sound of Hoppers voice was heard, along with the sound of Maxine’s. Billy opened his eyes but he didn’t move. He continued staring at the wall as he listened to footsteps approach his room. There was a small knock, Maxine’s head popped out and she looked at him, hesitating to even speak.
“Hoppers here.” She said quietly. “He brought your car.”
“Bring me the keys.” Billy said automatically, not even looking at Max.
“I think he wants to talk to you.”
Billy clenched his jaw. With that Max quietly went back to the front door and told Hopper he would be out shortly.
Billy sighed as he sat up. Let’s just get this over with. He threw on his shirt and some jeans he had laying around and went outside. Hopper was leaning on the porch, smoking a cigarette. When Hopper laid eyes on him, they went straight to his face. Billy had completely forgotten to clean the blood up. Shit, how could he be so fucking stupid?
“You okay there?” Hopper asked, he narrowed his eyes.
“Fine chief,” he replied. Billy looked over his shoulder to see his baby parked right in front. Except his baby wasn’t intact, one of the headlights was broken.
“Sorry about the headlight, don’t worry I’ve got it covered. I’ll pay for it, just give me a call when you go to the body shop.” Hopper said, turning around.
Billy’s jaw clenched, could this day get any fucking worse. It was good thing Neil & Susan had gone off to work already. Susan had a big mouth, she would tell Neil everything, what was worse was that she was aware of things. Things he could hide away when Neil was at work, but not anymore thanks to Susan.
If she had known Hopper was here again, no doubt she would tell Neil over dinner.
“Look, you’re a smart kid. I know you know that Maxine wasn’t out looking for Dustin’s cat.”
“Yeah, I don’t think being drugged and waking up dead in the morning in a strangers house, with my car stolen, really helps finding a cat.” Billy chuckled.
“Heard what happened,” Hopped sighed. “Harrington told me all about it.”
Hopper turned to look at him, eyebrow slightly raised. It was like he was anticipating Billy’s answer, which only irritated Billy even more.
Billy didn’t say anything for a while, he just stood still as he kept his eyes on his car.
“I’m not gonna apologize to him, if that’s the reason you keep looking at me. He had it coming the minute he lied to me about having Maxine in the house. What the fuck was I supposed to think?” Billy spat out.
“Language” Hopper huffed. “It’s understandable, I’m not asking you to.”
“Well, I think we’re good then chief. If you don’t mind, I’d like my keys back.”
Billy just wanted to be done with this conversation and go back inside to continue the rest of his day. Part of him was curious to know where the hell Maxine got that needle to drug him, but the other part of him truly didn’t care, it could only end up worse for him.
“I’ve gotta talk to you about something else,”
Billy sighed. What more did Hopper need to tell him?
“I don’t know if you’ve asked Maxine what happened yet, and I’m not sure what she’s told you, ”
“Same shit you told me yesterday, chief.”
“Hargrove, I can’t exactly tell you what went on yesterday. Maxine’s a good girl- “
Billy couldn’t help but laugh at the statement, good girl my ass. “Look chief,” Hargrove interrupted. It was always disrespectful to interrupt an elder, but right now he couldn’t even bother to care. “ I don’t give a fuck with whatever Maxine was involved with yesterday. Sure, it was sketchy as fuck, but I’m not one to ask questions if that’s what you're worried about. My only job is to look out for her when I need to. I was pissed off yesterday but it’s not my place to discipline her.” He said, looking directly at Hopper.
“She got led off easy last night anyway.” Billy chuckled.
Hopper didn’t say anything else, he grunted as he pushed himself off the fence.
“Here.” He said as he reached into his pocket, pulling out the Camaros keys. Billy reached out but when he closed his hand to grab them, Hopper pulled back.
“I understand your frustration, but I’ll tell you this as a warning. Don’t ever lay a finger on Sinclair, or any of the kids including Max, ever. Not even Harrington. If I hear you’re giving him a hard time at school, you’re getting in trouble.” The tone in his voice was definitely meant to be taken seriously, Billy swallowed.
Why the fuck was Hopper treating him like the bad guy? Doesn’t he realize the shit he had to go through in order to make up for Maxine’s fuck up?
“Yeah, alright” Billy huffed. Hopper released the keys, making them land onto Billy’s palm. He saw Hopper off as he walked to his truck and drove off.
Billy was itching for a cigarette.
He went inside and closed the door, sighing. His eyes darted across the room, to find Maxine standing next to her bedroom door. She must have been eavesdropping on Billy’s conversation.
“You need to start minding your own fucking business Maxine.” He roughly said, before slamming his bedroom door.
Billy’s punishment wasn’t taken as lightly as Max’s.
“Billy, after you return from school, I want you to put your keys in my bedroom. In the morning, you can grab them only to go to school and drop off Max. The only places you’ll be driving to is school and home, as soon as that bell rings I want you heading straight here. No more goofing off late at night with your friends, and no more dates with those whores.” Neil had told him at dinner that evening. Billy couldn’t fight back, or complain how unfair this was. The only thing he could do was continue eating his food and respond with,
“Yes, sir.”
For the next few weeks, Billy had barely spoken to Max, or even shot a glance towards her. He ended up paying out of pocket for the broken headlight, there was no way he would call Hopper asking for money.
Billy was back to being her chauffeur after a week had passed, driving Max to the arcade and to her nerdy friends house once again.
It was clear he wasn’t welcome either. All the little shitheads stared at Billy whenever he dropped off Max, but Billy could care less.
It was clear that Max felt bad about what happened, the hard look she would give Billy whenever Neil yelled at him to take her somewhere. In the car she tried to make small talk but Billy would only ignore her, instead turning up the music on the radio to cut her off to whatever bullshit apology she wanted to say. For a while, Max had given up trying, both of them had completely stopped talking to each other. Only interacting whenever they needed to get the others attention.
Billy was in his room one evening, working on his homework. He might be a troublesome kid, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about school. School could be his ticket way out if he played his cards right. Billy was pretty smart actually, he had all A’s in class and he made sure he turned in his assignments on time. That’s why the teachers couldn’t give him shit if he misbehaved, he was probably the smartest one out of the whole class.
He was reading a book from his English class, they had to write an essay on what made the book so intense, on edge for the readers. It was a good book, Billy will admit but he was bored out his mind. It was a Saturday evening, he should be out, having fun. But instead he was stuck inside doing his goddamn homework. Billy decided he would take a break, maybe he just needed some rest. He laid down, resting his arms behind his head, laying the book on his face so it would cover him. Billy had almost fallen asleep when there was a knock on his door. He knew it was Max, Neil & Susan were out on a stroll so they were home alone. Billy didn’t move however, or even respond. He stayed laying down ignoring her. Max didn’t take that as indication to leave however, she slowly approached him until he felt her stand at the side of his bed.
“Here.” She said. It was clear Max was handing him something, but Billy didn’t bother to look.
“What is it?” Billy asked.
“It’s money, to pay back for the broken headlight. This is all I could manage to save up.”
How nice of her, Billy chuckled.
“Just leave it on the desk.”
“Billy,” Max sighed, as if this was a big inconvenience for her. “I’m sorry-,”
“Shut the fuck up, Maxine. Whatever bullshit apology you came up with, save it. Just leave the money on the desk, and get out of my room.” Billy snapped. He didn’t mean to snap, but the resentment he had built up started spilling. That’s why Billy refused to talk to her, every single word she would say only made him feel angry.
“No.” Max said firmly. “Billy I’m sorry I snuck out and drugged you, but you were hurting my friends! I wasn’t just going to stand there until you killed Steve! That night we weren’t exactly-“
Billy sat up, throwing the book on his face across the room. Like last time, he grabbed her arm and roughly pushed her forward until she yelped. Max tried pulling him off but it was no use, Billy held her in place.
“Lemme tell you something Maxine, maybe this time you’ll finally fucking understand.” He gripped even tighter.
“Billy, let go!”
“I don’t give a fuck what you did that night. You know better than to stick your nose somewhere it doesn’t fucking belong. That kid Sinclair is a real problem, I warned you before to stay away from him! If Neil had been the one to spot you with that kid, you wouldn’t know the things he would do. If you don’t want to listen that’s not my fucking problem. But it is my problem when you run off, taking my shit and breaking it, thinking you can do whatever you please! My job is to look out for you when I need to, and I can’t do that when you cause this much trouble. Because at the end up the day, I’m the one taking the fucking blame for it! That’s my problem with you, Maxine! You don’t fucking listen!” By the end of it Billy voiced rasped. Max was crying, her eyes were red and filled with tears.
God, Billy was such a piece of shit.
He let go of her, pushing her back.
“I know you won’t stop hanging out with those little shits, so from now on you come to me if they’ve got a problem, you hear me? Neil already pushes me around for things that aren’t my fault, I don’t need to take more shit from him just cause you feel like running off to help your nerdy friends. The least I can do, is keep you out of any trouble.”
Max nodded, she was shaking as she tried to contain her sobs. Billy almost felt bad for her, but she needed to understand.
“But Maxine,” he said just as she was leaving. “If you ever pull some shit like that on me again, I won’t hesitate to hurt your friends. One by one, I’ll make sure you learn your lesson. Don’t ever touch my fucking car.”
_____________________________________
Their relationship slowly returned back to normal. After an excruciating month, Neil gave Billy his keys back. Not before making sure Billy learned from this.
Max never had another emergency or problem.
The days returned to normal, just like how they once were back when he first came. Partying, sleeping around, going to school.
That was, until now.