tot acerba funera, the abcs of neil hargrove's death
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tot acerba funera, the abcs of neil hargrove's death: a is for acupuncture by handydandynotebook, hellisasapphicslasher (handydandynotebook) for lucdarling
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
21 Mar 2021
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“I’ll make it right, Max, I’ll—“
“No, you won’t. You. Can’t.”
Icy teeth tear into Susan’s heart. She steps back and quietly exits into the hall. Going back to bed is futile so she finds her way to the kitchen. When she gazes at her ring, the tiniest speck of red glints upon the stone, smaller than a sesame seed but unleashing powerful waves of nausea all through her insides.
-- or --
Susan struggles with guilt and finds a new way to help her husband relax.
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tot acerba funera, the abcs of neil hargrove's death: b is for blood eagle by handydandynotebook, hellisasapphicslasher (handydandynotebook)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
08 Apr 2021
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The next several weeks are moderately more annoying and less graceful. Neil spends them drinking whiskey more and hitting Billy less. Billy spends them snorting coke with the pain meds he chases down with booze and gazing longingly at the sword he’d mounted on his wall over the summer.
It’s a replica of a viking sword. Billy bought it just because he thought it looked badass, the solid bronze pommel and guard, neat markings carved into the handle. Now that they’re learning about vikings in school, he keeps thinking about doing something more with it. He keeps thinking about wielding it.
Though Billy would never admit he pays attention in his history class, viking stuff is pretty cool.
-- or --
Left alone with his father, Billy puts viking lore to the test.
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tot acerba funera, the abcs of neil hargrove's death: c is for camaro by handydandynotebook, hellisasapphicslasher (handydandynotebook)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
17 Aug 2021
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Billy stops the car.
The headlights illuminate Neil sprawled on the cement.
Billy doesn’t know how he gets out of the car to standing over Neil. He doesn’t understand how it happens. But one moment his hands are still on the steering wheel and the next moment the blood around his father’s mangled arm is parting around the scuffed toe of his boot as it flows down the driveway, drowning the anthills and weeds between the cracks in the concrete.
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In a moment of impulse, Billy hits the gas.
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tot acerba funera, the abcs of neil hargrove's death: d is for dilaudid by handydandynotebook, hellisasapphicslasher (handydandynotebook)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
19 Aug 2021
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Susan’s smile fades slightly and she only bobs her head before ducking out of his room. Couple days go by and Billy doesn’t bring it up again. He’s home most of the time right now. Doesn’t leave much beyond his appointments and taking walks with Max just to get out of the house. He isn’t cleared to drive yet and while he’s never been one to follow the rules, he genuinely doesn’t even feel up to driving. Admitting that is a bitter pill to swallow. Billy’s swallowing a lot of bitter pills these days.
Being home so much, he wants to think he’d hear it if Neil started really going at Susan.
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Billy begrudgingly (or not) grows closer to Susan during his recovery in the aftermath of Starcourt. When Neil starts putting hands on her, he decides to stand up to yet another monster.
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tot acerba funera, the abcs of neil hargrove's death: e is for escape by handydandynotebook, hellisasapphicslasher (handydandynotebook)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
28 Aug 2021
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“Are you alright!?”
The driver practically flings herself out of the seat and Susan recognizes her as Joyce from the general store. She doesn’t close the door behind her and hurries to Susan’s side, dragonfly eyes wide. Susan blinks rapidly, wetting her lips with her tongue and crinkling her nose at the unpleasant flavor she finds. She swallows instead of spits, lest she appear rude.
“Oh my, I must’ve interrupted date night,” Susan realizes as she studies the smaller woman’s appearance, dressed in a deep emerald cocktail dress, dark hair crimped. “I apologize…you, um, you look lovely.”
-- or --
A bedraggled Susan wanders into the path of a car and finds herself befriending a bewildered Joyce as she struggles to place just how she got there.
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tot acerba funera, the abcs of neil hargrove's death: f is for filial by handydandynotebook, hellisasapphicslasher (handydandynotebook)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
30 Aug 2021
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“I should’ve left a long time ago. But I couldn’t bear to leave you behind.”
Because Billy knew what to do when you couldn’t ask. Billy recognized it in your eyes, read it in the motions of your flailing hand, the urgent grasping at air. He knows you well and he knows what to do now too, as he studies your grim eyes and traces his hand along the contours of your body.
“He won’t kill you,” Billy promises with more certainty this time, as he realizes what must be done.
-- or --
You're Mrs. Hargrove and maybe it breaks your heart, maybe it rips it into teeny tiny pieces, but something must be done about your husband. And your son is your truest, most trusted confident.
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tot acerba funera, the abcs of neil hargrove's death: g is for grinder by handydandynotebook, hellisasapphicslasher (handydandynotebook)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
14 Apr 2022
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“Oh, Momma, what’s wrong?” Max pads over and rests a hand against the small of her mother’s back. She can feel the knobs of her spine and reminds herself to make sure she gets some protein in her tonight. Eating is one of the many things her mother has trouble remembering to do now.
“Max,” Mom gasps, lowering her hands from her face. “Max, sweetie, you need to leave. G-Go to the mall, or go see a movie.”
“Uh. No…I’m going to stay in tonight, okay? The weather’s too crappy to go out.”
“No, no, you have to go,” Mom insists, jittery with anxiety. “I made a mess in the kitchen and when Neil gets home he’s going to be furious!”
Max’s heart sinks. She shakes her head and forces a smile she hopes is reassuring as she strokes a hand through her mother’s wispy white hair.
“Neil’s gone, Mom, remember? For a long time now.”
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Max doesn't usually think about her abusive stepfather, prefers to keep the awful memory of the man tucked in the nether regions of her mind. But one day she discovers his decades past exit from her life may have had more story to it than she was initially led to believe.
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tot acerba funera, the abcs of neil hargrove's death: h is for high heels by handydandynotebook, hellisasapphicslasher (handydandynotebook)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
04 May 2022
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She thinks about her days fighting monsters, with her wits, wrist rocket, fireworks. She always had the backup of The Party before. She doesn’t have backup now, solo on the sidewalk, no plan prepared in her head or weapon in her hands. She’s just a girl in a prom dress silver like tinfoil or silver like starlight, depending on whose eyes you’re looking through.
There’s no doubt in Lucy’s mind that if she were trapped in a monster’s den, Max would come for her. Even if they were fighting, broken up for the umpteenth time, Max would run like the wind to her aid, fight to claw her free from harm until her fingers grew bloody. Max doesn’t quite know how to pick her battles, charges into each and every one that crosses her path. Lucy knows how to pick her battles, how to focus her eyes on a target and catapult her ammo with precision, how to hold her breath and walk away.
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Prom Night is perfect until it isn't. Lucy's fears about the things Max hides about her household are confirmed in real time, and she can't just leave.
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tot acerba funera, the abcs of neil hargrove's death: i is for iron by handydandynotebook, hellisasapphicslasher (handydandynotebook)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
27 Aug 2023
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Max doesn’t know anybody who had a busier New Years than Billy in 1985 and in 1986 he’s nowhere but the ground, the worms eating whatever’s left of his rotted Swiss cheese corpse.
Max cries about it for awhile. Then she throws stuff she knows won't break against the wall and pummels her pillow with her fists.
When Mom gets home, she’s too exhausted to stay up to watch the ball drop on TV. She gives Max her dinner and a bottle of sparkling apple juice, and doesn’t even bother taking off her uniform before she collapses on their blowup bed, possibly already conked out when her head hits the pillow. Max feels hollow by the time she goes to bed, snuggles up to her mother for comfort and receives only snores.
-- or --
Max's mother surprises her in the middle of the night, bustling her into the car with the jaw-dropping announcement they're fleeing Hawkins, Indiana. Theoretically leaving Neil means they'll be safe from Neil. But nothing's ever as simple as it seems to be.
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tot acerba funera, the abcs of neil hargrove's death: j is for javelin by handydandynotebook, hellisasapphicslasher (handydandynotebook)
Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
27 Aug 2023
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Summary
“What did I do to deserve this?”
“Don’t play dumb, Susan, you know exactly what you did,” Neil accuses, voice like ice.
She genuinely doesn’t.
There’s no point in arguing, never is. Susan sinks her teeth into her lip and dumps her ruined flowers into the yard waste bag. She doesn’t think the day could get worse. And then, as Susan tugs the bag to the curb, she spies Max watching from the kitchen window and realizes her daughter had seen everything.
It wouldn’t be the worst thing Max has seen in their house. Knowing this only twists the knife. Susan meets her daughter’s gaze for just a heartbeat, then bows her head in shame.
-- or --
Susan's sense of self crumbs in the wake of her husband's escalating violence and intensifying control tactics. She takes the first steps toward plotting her escape, finding an ally in Joyce Byers. Max, meanwhile develops a surprise interest in javelin throwing. Susan encourages her to pursue it despite the expense, if only to keep her daughter out of the house and away from the danger as much as possible.
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