Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Billy makes an appearance at Cindy Mitchelson’s party like he’s supposed to, drinks a few shitty beers and stares at his watch until it’s time he can leave. He’s bored with it, sure, but it’s good to keep up appearances. Besides, Steve’s parents are home and he’s being forced to endure dinner at the country club, and Eddie is doing something with the shitbird and his pack of brats in Sinclair's basement, so it’s the party or stuck at home with Susan. Not much of a competition.

The only exciting moment of the night had been when Jason Carver had stormed out like a prissy little asshole, ignoring everyone as he slammed the front door. Otherwise it's been watching Tommy trying to pick up chicks, embarrassing as it is. There are a few guys that graduated with Steve here, pretending it’s okay to be hanging out with high schoolers when they’ve already graduated. He feels pathetic just watching a 20 year old hit on a 16 year olds.

(He knows it's hypocritical - his boyfriend's regularly fucking a high school student, and all friend's outside of Eddie are teenagers - but considering what they've been through, it feels totally different.)

Billy lets himself out on the back porch to smoke, dodging the longing looks of the 15 year old girl he knows Dustin tutors in Biology. Cindy lives in the older part of town, where the streets are lined with big old Victorian houses with turrets and wrap-around porches, and he makes his way to the side of the house, where he knows no one will be. He figures he might be able to sneak off after a cigarette if no one catches him.

His plan is ruined when he comes across Chrissy Cunningham crying.

He knows her, obviously, thanks to getting sucked into their mess, though they're not as close as Billy is with Eddie. She does know about Steve and him, since they can’t keep their hands off each other when they know they're safe, but is cool about it. After fighting interdimensional monsters, he supposes it’s hard to be weird about a couple of homos.

She’s been pretending it hasn’t happened, for the most part. Put down the axe she had wielded without an issue over spring break and went back to her pom poms and prom court and tennis skirts and make up. Billy gets it; after years of Neil he got good at hiding when shit was fucked up, and judging from the way Eddie talks about how much of a bitch her mom is, Chrissy’s in the same boat. He’s always figured that’s why it never made him nervous that she knew he liked men. They both knew how to keep secrets.

“Cunningham?”

“Billy,” She says, her voice small through the tears, “Can you take me to Eddie’s?”

She sounds like his mom and Susan did after a fight with his dad, and something in his gut shifts.

“Sure thing, Princess,” He says, surprised how awkward it feels to use that term for anyone but Steve, “you want to meet me out front, or do you not feel okay to do that?”

She shakes her head, “Can we just… go? Or do you need to say goodbye to your friends?”

“Sweetheart, we both know my friends aren’t chugging shit beer and trying to fuck one of your cheer team friends in this house.”

That gets a smile through the tears, at least. She slips her arm in his, and he leads her the long way around to the front yard and the Camaro.

“You’re the reason Carver stormed out, aren’t you?”

That brings on a fresh wave of tears, and Billy decides to shut his mouth and start the car.

He maneuvers them out of the neighborhood and towards the center of town easily enough to the sound of her sniffles.

“I hate this so much,” She says, quietly, “Don’t you hate it? Not being able to be how you want to be?”

Billy shrugs. He’s used to it. Neil getting possessed and killed at the mall made things easier, sure, but he’s never going to be out like that, except in front of the very small group of people that already know.

“I feel so stupid, comparing what I have to deal with to anyone else. I mean, so many people have been dealt worse, and not even talking about the weird Hawkins stuff. Girls who get hit by their boyfriends, or bullied, or like - well, like-”

“Or like me and Steve?” Billy shrugs, “It fucking sucks either way, Cunningham.”

“My mom would kill me,” She says quietly, still crying, “My mom gets mad if I do anything that she doesn’t approve of. She doesn’t even like if - if I drink anything but water or eat too much for dinner. 'Watch yourself, Chrissy, you won’t find a good man with fat thighs.’ I’m not even allowed snacks in the house anymore, because then I’ll hear all about how big I’m getting and how she’ll need to take out my uniform. I can only imagine Eddie… And -and I don’t -” She hiccups “- I don’t know what Jason would do. Especially to Eddie, he’s… they still think he’s some satan worshiping freak. They still think he kidnapped me and that's why I was gone with you guys for those days. He’d be in danger, because if Jason started something, Eddie would be the one to get in trouble.”

“You broke up with him though. That took guts.”

It did. Especially because of gossip in this town. Hell, Billy doesn’t give a shit about the gossip, only vaguely pays attention in case his or Steve’s names get brought up, and even he knew within a few hours of Chrissy giving Jason the ‘it’s not you, it’s me' line.

She nods, “I had to. It wouldn’t be fair. But they just… Everytime I see him, and if he’s been drinking, it just… he thinks he can try to beg his way back to me and then if I don’t respond, he gets mean and does whatever he wants.”

Billy finds himself white knuckling the steering wheel.

“Whatever he wants?”

Her eyes widen at the implication.

“Not like that! He hasn’t… I mean, Eddie would try to murder him if he even tried. I haven’t… not ever,” He can see her face is on fire from the corner of his eye, “I never wanted to be with Jason and Eddie is waiting for me to be ready.”

Jesus, Munson must be a saint. It took him three minutes to climb Steve like a tree and get his mouth on him when he realized there was something there. And as much as he’s not into chicks - like, at all - he can see the appeal of Chrissy. She has that whole naive queen bee thing going for her. Hard to resist for straight guys for sure.

She frowns, looking around, clearly only just realizing they’re going the opposite way of the trailer park.

“Billy, where are we…?”

“For one, because of my sister, I know Eddie and the nerds are doing their DnD shit at Sinclair’s-”

He turns down Main, towards the southend of town.

“ - For two, the McDonalds on 77 is open until 12,” He says, firm, “We are going to make up for every time your shitty fucking mom got mad, Sweetheart.”

“I don’t have my purse.”

“It’s on me.”

Chrissy is quiet for a long time.

“Strawberry shake?” She asks, and Billy is relieved to find out she sounds more like her normal, chipper self and less like the girl that’s been crying in his car for the last 20 minutes.

“Apple pie?”

She crinkles her nose, “French fries? Maybe chicken nuggets, too. I didn't eat dinner.”

He's not surprised.

“Anything you want, Chris.”

She smiles.

When they show up at the Sinclair's, Chrissy is half way through a medium strawberry shake and an order of fries, laughing at Billy’s story about nearly beating up Steve, the kids, and the Demodog in the Byers’ fridge.

Max’s nerds whine when they see him, but Munson drops what he’s doing to go to the two of them, a worried look on his face.

“Everything cool, Hargrove?”

“It’s fine!” Chrissy chirps, smiling brightly, “I just… got sick of the party, and Billy and me left. I missed you, so we came here.”

Eddie smiles like the sun rises and sets on her, pulling her over with him so she can sit in his lap at the table, causing all the kids to groan.

“Come on! We were in the middle of a one-shot! This is cheating.”

“I don’t know how any of this works, Dustin,” She giggles, feeding Eddie a fry from the container in her hands, “I don’t know how I’d cheat either since I’m not playing?”

Dustin starts to yammer on about why, exactly, this totally counts as cheating, and Billy rolls his eyes.

“Did you get anything for me?”

Billy jumps a little at Steve’s voice, completely missing the fact that he was piled onto the couch with Erica and Max.

“Hello to you too, Princess.”

Steve kisses him, sliding his arms around his waist. Henderson's annoying voice whines something, and he flips him the bird.

“Hi Baby. Did you get anything for me?”

“No idea you were here, so not really. Shouldn’t you have already eaten? I thought you were getting your fancy steak and lobster or whatever?”

Steve huffs, “Yeah, I did too. Kinda hard to eat when you’re getting the ‘what are you doing with your life, Steven?’ ‘Why don’t you have a girlfriend, Steven?’ shit. I barely ate and now I'm fucking starving.”

“I told you, truth’s the best excuse. Even told you exactly what to say before you left.”

Steve rolls his eyes, “Yeah, ‘I’m getting railed by trailer trash every night you’re not home, Mom’ would go down great.”

Henderson’s annoying little voice starts getting louder, interrupting them, “You interrupted, we should get something as compensation!”

Billy sighs and drops the bag he's holding on the table, not caring if he messes up their shitty game setup.

“Which one of you nerdy fucks wants a cheeseburger?”

Turns out Steve and Chrissy’s matching smiles are worth the 10 bucks.

Chapter Text

People keep looking at Billy.

People usually do. Chicks check him out, guys look at him with envy. He wears his half open shirts and tight jeans and leather jackets and they oggle the fuck out of him, either wanting him or wanting to be him.

This is different. They’re whispering about it, looking at him funny, giggling behind their hands.

It’s not until fourth period that he overhears why from a few freshmen that don’t know how to be quiet.

Chrissy Cunningham lost her virginity to Billy Hargrove after Cindy’s party.

Billy took her home and fucked her, her parents out of town visiting her uncle in Michigan. Ate her out until she was screaming for him to let her ride his dick.

Chrissy Cunningham is a slut who let Billy go all the way and didn’t even make him wear a condom.

Chrissy grabs him when he's heading to lunch, tugging him to the smoking area between the cafeteria and science building and ignoring the people watching them.

“I’m so, so sorry,” She says, her eyes big and wet, “I don’t - Tracy asked me how I got home last Saturday and I said you took me home after me and Jason fought and-”

“Chill, sweetheart, okay? Unclench, breathe a little,” Billy sighs, “I’ll tell them to fuck off and nothing happened. You’re still a virgin, everyone's going to buy it if you tell them that, so I don’t get why the fuck this is a big deal anyway.”

She looks at him, sheepish, like she wants to say something but doesn't know how to.

“...Shit. Eddie?”

She chews her lip and nods, “He took me home on Saturday and I didn’t want to be alone since my parents were gone. We were just hanging out, watching a movie, and he was being so sweet... he didn’t even try to get me to do anything. He was just happy to be with me. I thought about what Jason had said to me, about how no one would want me, and it just… made me realize how much Eddie was willing to do for me, and after everything that happened with Vecna and the upside down, what was the point of waiting if I loved him?” She laughs, “It probably sounds so stupid, but…”

“Nah. I mean, sounds too… John Hughes for me, but whatever.”

Chrissy tilts her head to the side, her smile something Billy would itch to slap off if it was on anyone else's face.

“You know who John Hughes is?”

“Look at who I’m dating.”

“It is very Breakfast Club,” she says, tapping her chin like she’s thinking, “Don’t know if you’d be more Andrew and Alison or Bender and Claire though.”

“Fuck you, I take back anything nice I’ve ever said about you.”

She smiles at him for a moment before stepping forward to wrap her tiny arms around him, her cheek pressed to his chest.

“Thank you Billy. You’re a good friend.”

Billy puts an arm around her shoulders, giving her a squeeze.

“Don’t worry about it, Chris.”

“What the fuck is this?”

Billy rolls his eyes. Of course Carver’s lame ass would find them. Jason’s alone, thankfully, his little minions somewhere else. He’s reminded of Wheeler’s dad when he rolled up after they all defeated Vecna, his hands on his hips and making a face at his long hair and earring, not caring his daughter nearly died, only that she was seen with Billy.

“This is what you dumped me for?”

Billy scoffs, “I didn’t fuck her, Carver, chill. You embarrassed the shit out of yourself and made her want to go home, and I gave her a ride.”

Jason curls his lip at Billy in disgust, “Like I’m supposed to believe that you didn’t do anything. Everyone knows how you are with girls Hargrove-”

“I’m - I’m allowed to have friends, Jason.”

She sounds unsure of herself, but she still takes the step forward, putting herself between Billy and her ex-boyfriend.

“Not like him, come on, Chris-”

Billy snorts, “She your property?”

“She’s my concern when she’s being taken advantage of!”

“Nothing happened, God Jason,” She sounds irritated, her arms crossed, “We left the party together. He was leaving and –”

Jason rolls his eyes and scoffs at her, which pisses Billy off.

“Jesus Christ, I’m not interested. At all. And If I wanted to fuck her, I would have.”

She turns, and gives Billy a dirty look.

“Sorry sweetheart-”

“You don’t get to call her that!"

Jason’s face is an outstanding shade of red.

“He’s allowed to call me whatever I want him to call me,” She says, and she sounds so much like the girl Billy remembers from the upside down that he smirks, “Billy’s my friend, and I’m allowed to hug friends, even if they are boys. I’m allowed to have those friends drive me home. I wasn’t when you were my boyfriend but you’re not my boyfriend anymore so it doesn't matter what you think!”

Jason grabs her by wrist and she winces.

“This is what you chose,” He sneers, “This is what’s so much better than me?”

Chrissy looks terrified. More importantly, the hand in his grip is changing purple from the lack of blood supply.

“Jason you’re hurting me-”

“No!” He jerks her, and she nearly trips over her own feet.

Billy’s going to fucking kill him.

“Hey fuckface!"

Before Billy can even properly look to see Eddie -because of course it's Munson, he's probably been watching from a distance, same as everyone else who's been watching since Chrissy tugged on his sleeve to get him cornered - Jason’s on the ground, clutching his bleeding nose.

Eddie is there, his chest heaving under his ugly vest. There’s blood on his rings and his eyes are impossibly dark, only changing when Chrissy places her hand on his arm.

He holds Chrissy’s face in his shaking hands, eyes searching for something wrong in her’s.

“Oh baby,” He says softly, apparently not liking what he’s seeing, “It’s alright. It’s okay.”

He pulls her in and she cries, face pressed against his neck.

“It’s okay, I’m here.”

Jason turns over, looking at them both with blood running down his face.

“You stupid fucking fag-”

Billy stands on his hand, making him yelp. He crouches, digging his heel in as he does so. “Nah, I don’t think so, Carver. I think Chrissy has made it abundantly clear who she actually wants to fuck, and it ain’t me. Or you, for that matter. I’m pretty sure what Chris and Eddie are doing makes sure he isn’t whatever shitty thing you were going to call him.”

Billy holds his chin, tilting it up so he can look at the couple standing next to them. Eddie got an arm around her, defensive, and Chrissy’s fingers are clenched around the fabric of his t-shirt.

He pats his cheek, patronizing, before Billy removes his boot from Jason’s hand and he jumps to his feet. His sole focus on Billy now.

“Maybe I was wrong about who the faggot is here,” Jason sneers, “Maybe I should’ve listen to what they have the say about you.”

Billy keeps his face neutral as he stands up, despite something hot and panicky coiling in his gut.

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“You seem to spend a lot of time with Harrington, don’t you? You were obsessed with him all last year and now you spend all your time with him and these losers. Tommy said he sees your car parked by his house overnight all the time,” He tilts his head to the side, “You have a lot sleepovers, Hargrove?”

“Jason, just- just- fuck off and leave us alone!”

Jason rears back like he’s been slapped. Billy watches Chrissy’s chest heaving, furious, almost possessed look in her eyes.

“I don’t want you... I never really wanted you! You made me feel so bad about myself all the time, I hated being with you. I was supposed to be this perfect fucking princess and if I wasn't you acted just like my mom, like you were so disappointed in me for existing. That's why I never wanted to have sex with you -"

"Chrissy-"

"Eddie doesn't care if I eat too much or - or don't wear the right thing or like to read or don't smile all the time. Eddie loves me. And that's why I had sex with Eddie on Saturday, not Billy, and why I never will with you.”

Jason looks like he's short circuited.

“Chris, you don’t-”

Chrissy scoffs, shaking her head and wiping her eyes.

“Just leave me and my friends and my boyfriend alone, you asshole. I never want to speak to you again.”

Something in Jason snaps and he turns on heel and stomps off. Billy and Eddie both stare as Chrissy catches her breath.

"Holy shit," She laughs, covering her face with her hands. When she pulls them away, she gives them both a confused look when she notices how they're staring.

“What?”

Billy grins,“Did you just say fuck?”

“Yup, Hargrove, I think she did. More than once, even.”

"Shit too, I think."

Eddie puts on a face like he's thinking about it, "Mhm, I think you're right."

Chrissy rolls her eyes, “You guys suck.”

Billy laughs, lighting up a cigarette. After a few inhales he hands it off to Eddie who takes it with a nod of thanks.

"What the fuck was with all that shit about Steve?" Eddie questions, handing the cigarette back to Billy, "First he claims you'll fuck any chick that looks at you, then you're gay for King Steve?"

Chrissy shakes her head, "I don't think he believes it, I think he was just trying to get a rise out of Billy so he'd have an excuse to fight, since he pointed out the obvious that it wasn't him I was in love with. If he hits you, people will ask questions and figure out we're together, if he does it to Billy he's like... defending my honor? or something," She shrugs, "It doesn't matter. I'm sick of this, and I don't care who knows I love you."

Eddie's eyes go warm and soft, and Billy groans.

"Is this how it's going to be now? You two being all shitty and in love?"

"Pot meet Kettle," Eddie snorts, "Dude, I've had to deal with your crying over how in love you are."

"I've never... cried."

Eddie looks at him like he's a liar, and Billy stares back. Billy isn't going to let him have the satisfaction of admitting he's definitely as bad about Steve as he is about Chrissy.

Chrissy chews her lip, “Can we can ditch now? Go bother Steve at work or something? I really don’t feel like dealing with what's going to be said about us in fifth period.”

Billy and Eddie share a look.

“Shit, Munson, we’ve created a monster.”

Chrissy shoves Billy’s shoulder, laughing, and Eddie’s arm finds its way around her waist as the three of them head for the parking lot.