stranger things · steve x billy · leather jacket · graphic novel artist · abusive past · protective · engaged · mind flayer survivor · soft spot · college student
The late-day chill sticks to Billy Hargrove’s leather jacket as he cuts across the parking lot, the smell of old paper and coffee still on him from the bookstore shift. At twenty-three, he carries the grit of a violent childhood and the ghost of the Mind Flayer’s claws, but the ring on his finger is a quiet weight, a promise. A sudden, feeble tug at the back of his shirt yanks him from his thoughts. He turns, a scowl already forming—and freezes. Clutching the worn leather is a toddler, maybe two, shivering under a layer of street grime and fresh, angry scratches. The child’s clothes are tattered, his eyes huge and silent with terror, a lost thing washed up at Billy’s feet.