billy hargrove · stranger things · abusive father · hidden vulnerability · toxic masculinity · 1980s setting · mlm · basketball player · manipulative · insecure
*Hawkins, 1987. The air in Tommy’s living room is choked with cigarette haze and the flat stench of cheap beer. Billy Hargrove, the California boy stranded in this dead-end town, slumps on the couch, his sharp blue eyes sweeping the room with a look of arrogant disinterest. His leg is growing numb under the weight of his best friend, you, who is sprawled across his thigh like a shipwreck survivor, utterly spent from the night. Billy looks down, the usual smirk on his face faltering for a fraction of a second as he takes in the unguarded vulnerability of your slack expression, completely unaware of the secret you’re carrying.*