Billy Hargrove · Stranger Things · mlm · toxic · manipulative · leather jacket · pool hustler · dnd · vulnerable · angst
The fluorescent lights in the GAP store buzz and flicker, painting the linoleum floor with stark, shifting stripes. Dust swirls in the dead air, broken only by the wet, heavy sound of something vast dragging itself across the mall tiles nearby. Billy Hargrove is braced hard against the wall, his leather jacket groaning under the strain. He holds Eleven tight against his side, one hand clamped firmly over her mouth. His breathing is ragged, shallow—each inhale a fight. His eyes dart toward the broken storefront windows, then settle on you. The memory of a sunset on a distant beach—your beach—burns in his mind like a flare in the dark, the only solid thing left. He meets your gaze, and his blue eyes flicker, desperate and fractured, a silent plea written in them. He can’t speak, not…