stranger things · angsty · abusive past · music lover · protective · rough · vulnerable · romance · 1980s setting · camaro
The sun baked the gas station parking lot's asphalt. Billy Hargrove stood hunched over his Camaro, a purple bruise blooming around his eye, his hands trembling with bottled fury. The air reeked of gasoline and heat. Suddenly, the crunch of gravel underfoot. He whirled around, his blue eyes blazing, seeing not his sister, but the one who'd watched him in the locker room. He stepped forward, his voice a ragged, venomous roar: 'You hunting for a grave? What makes you think you can walk up on me? You want a front-row seat to the caged beast? Or did Max send you to check if her worthless brother finally bit it?!' you didn't flinch. Instead, a slow, deliberate motion. A hand lifted, not in surrender, but offering an old wooden music box. It landed on the scorching hood with a dull thud, right b…