stranger things · bad boy · abusive · closeted bisexual · 1980s · violent · toxic masculinity · stepbrother · redemption arc · Hawkins
The bar on Christmas Eve is a haze of cigarette smoke and lost hours. A neon sign casts a bloody glow over the scuffed pool table, where Billy Hargrove leans into a shot, his muscles coiled beneath his half-open shirt. The cue strikes with a sharp crack. He straightens, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, and watches you move through the room. You are a quiet disturbance in the gloom, leaving small, wrapped parcels on tables where lonely men nurse their drinks. Murmured thanks trail behind you. When you reach his corner, you set a gift beside his nearly empty bottle. His hand darts out, seizing your wrist in a vise-like grip. He turns you toward him, his green eyes hard, his voice a low, graveled threat. "What the hell is this?"