Chapter Text
Billy was in the hospital after the Starcourt incident. He stayed in the hospital for a week for monitoring. He feels like he probably should have stayed longer because as far as he’s aware it was a damn miracle he was alive. Held together with stitches and prayers. Whatever that thing at the mall was fucked him up bad. Both his lungs were punctured, the thing missed his heart by a hair but his sternum was shattered, and his kidney ruptured so they needed to remove it. There's a metal plate over his sternum so his chest doesn’t cave in.They took skin grafts from his thighs to patch his sides and chest. The doctors were pretty sure he would have bleed out before his wounds healed.
Now his body is covered in scars. He had scars on his hands and wrist from holding off that weird tentacle mouth thing. Two on his back over his shoulder blades. They matched the ones on his sides. The one at the bottom of his ribs was more circular than the other four. The scars still hurt like their open wounds. It’s like a constant burn, it’s not agonizing, just uncomfortable. The other doctors, the government ones, say it should stop hurting after a few months.
After he got out of the hospital it hit him the amount of time and medical procedures that went into keeping him alive. He had a brief moment to panic over the medical bills before the chief had informed him that the government guys had taken care of it. Billy didn’t know how to feel about that. It felt suspiciously like hush money. He was waiting for the other shoe to fall and rebreak his ribs when he was informed that he had to go to mandatory counseling sessions. Every Friday He went to Ms. Kelly's office after lunch to talk about the “mall fire”. Harrington had explained the whole upside down thing to him when he woke up in the hospital.
Apparently a lot of things happened while he was nearly dead. Neil and Susan had gotten a divorce after Neil wanted them to leave Hawkins while Billy was in his coma. Susan and Max stayed in Hawkins while Neil packed his bags and sped out of town. Susan sold the house on cherry lane and the Mayfeilds moved into the trailer park. And now Billy lives with them because he doesn’t have the money to get his own place or the ability to earn the money seeing as he’s in constant pain. Susan gave him her room and elected to sleep on the couch.
He hates the way Max looks at him. She looks so concerned for him. He doesn’t know if he can blame her. He had taken to wearing sweatshirts and hoodies instead of the typical button up shirts ironically unbuttoned all the way down, save two or three buttons. He knows he looks like shit. His face looks pale despite the California tan he knew he still had. His hair lost some of its golden quality. He hasn’t bothered with it lately because he didn’t see the point. Everyone else looks at him either like he might break or like he’s going to drag them to the grave with him. He thinks he was more likely to do that before he had already been broken. Before he crawled his way back to life.
It was Friday which meant he had to see Ms. Kelly today. He was laying in bed like he had been since three in the morning because of the memories of tearing flesh and “don’t be afraid, It’ll be over soon” in his own monotone voice plagued his dreams. His skin felt too hot despite the fact that he was only wearing boxers. He was covered in sweat and the heat wasn’t helping his splitting headache. The universe decided to give him a middle finger in the form of Max pounding on the door yelling at him to get his ass up before they miss the bus. Billy groans, covering his face with his arm. He and Max rode the bus to school now because his car was totaled after that whole ordeal.
Billy took a deep breath before he slowly sat up in his bed. As soon as he did his sides lit on fire. He let out a quiet gasp at the pain but pushed through it as he stood up from the bed. He threw on some jeans and a hoodie. He stopped at the bathroom and took three Tylenol tablets for his headache and chest pains before he stumbled into the kitchen. Max had already made him a cup of coffee and was waiting at his seat. Max knew that he hated Fridays. The coffee was just the way he liked it and he hid his smile at the gesture.
After they ate breakfast they walked to the bus stop where the bus was just pulling up. They took their usual seat at the front of the bus. Max just put her headphones on and Billy just stared out the window watching the houses blur past.
The day went by slowly. Billy didn’t really talk to people anymore. He didn’t have the energy to keep his cocky devil may care attitude up. When lunch came around he had taken to sitting with Max. They still weren’t your typical siblings but he didn’t really have anyone else to hangout with. So, he sat with the freaks. For the most part they just ignore him but sometimes he would notice one of them glaring at him. They would usually look away when Max glared right back.
After lunch he went to Ms. Kelly’s office. The Door opened and locked eyes with Chrissy as she walked past him. He decided to ignore it as he walked into the room.
“Billy,” she looked up and smiled at him. “It's nice to see you again. How’s your family doing?” She was trying to get him to warm up to the conversation. She knew he hated these sessions. He just put on a fake smile. He was practiced enough at it to make it look real.
“They’re good. Max is getting good grades and Susan is looking happier this time around.” It’s true Max is doing well in most of her classes and Susan seems more lively now that Neil is out of the picture.
“And how about you? How are you doing?” She was apparently down beating around the bush. Billy kind of wished they could stick to pleasantries a little longer.
“I’m great.” he mustered up some fake cheer, “I haven’t kicked the bucket yet, so that’s good.”
“That’s good to hear. Are you still having nightmares?”
“I still have them every now and again. Not too frequently anymore.” He had them nearly every night.
“Glad to hear your nights have been easier. What about the headaches? Last week you said they were getting better?”
“Yeah, they're much better now. Not as frequent as before.” they were only getting worse.
The session continues until they reach the fifteen minute mark. They say their goodbyes and Billy goes to his day moving from class to class. After school he waited for Max’s club meeting to be over. He has no clue why she joined hellfire because he’s pretty sure she had no clue what Dungeons and Dragons was before she joined. He was waiting for her because Steve agreed to take them all home after the game and Billy didn’t want to take the bus home by himself.
He would never in a million years admit that he was kind of proud of Max when they defeated the guy they were fighting. All the kids were cheering and celebrating as they walked outside. They all piled into Steve's car as soon as he unlocked it. Billy stared out the window on the way home when his headache suddenly spiked.
“Oh my God, Billy. Your nose.” Steve pulled to the side of the road and turned to him. Grabbing some napkins for him. Billy whipped his hand under his nose pulling his hand away to find blood smeared on his hand. Not the first time you’ve had blood on your hands. Billy took the napkins to wipe up the blood. The kids stopped their conversation in the back of the car and Max looked worried when Billy looked at her in the rear view mirror.
“Relax, It’s not even that bad.” he said while holding the napkins to his nose.
“You better not have bled on my seats Hargrove.” Steve pulled back on to the road.
“Fuck off Harrington.”