Work Text:
September 1975
Billy met you one sunny day in the schoolyard while climbing on the monkey bars. You were sitting crisscross on the ground, watching him swing effortlessly from bar to bar. He quirked is eyebrow at you, but you just continued to watch him. When he made it to the other side, he hopped down; the mulch on the ground kicked up under his boots. “Why are you watching me?” he asked.
You shrugged, a charm bracelet on your wrist made small clinking noises as you did. “I can’t make it all the way across. It’s cool to watch other people do it.”
Billy crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s creepy to watch people like that. Do you want me to teach you? Then we can play together instead.”
You tilted your head. “You’d teach me?”
“I mean… yeah? If I really didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have offered.”
Your confused expression twisted into a huge smile. “Okay!”
Billy rolled his eyes. “You’re welcome in advance,” he said, offering his hand.
Your bracelet jingled again as you accepted it. “Well… thank you in advance.”
| < ♥️ > |
July 1979
You and Billy were hanging out in your room; it’s where you both could be found every day of that lazy summer. The weather was hot and your skin was sticky. Billy was shuffling through your record collection and you were laying on your bed, staring at the ceiling. Hook on a Feeling by Blue Suede Shoes began playing from your record player. You hummed along to the tune of the song and Billy flopped down next to you. “When did your mom say the ac would be fixed again?” he questioned.
You sighed. “She said the repairman was busy until Saturday, but he thinks he can fix it on the spot. Just a few more days.”
Billy groaned. “It’s too damn hot in here.”
You giggled at his frustration. “It’s not so bad. The fans are all going and we’ve got ice water.”
Billy huffed. You saw him blow his bangs out of his face out of the corner of your eye. “I hope he really does fix it on Saturday. I don’t care what you say, it’s too hot.”
“You’re so picky,” you teased. He huffed again, puffing out his cheeks.
“Kids! I’ve got popsicles!” your mom called from the kitchen downstairs.
Billy jumped up from his spot next to you. “Oh hell yeah!”
You giggled again, your bracelet making the clinking sounds it always did before you followed Billy down the hall; a mad dash for dessert.
| < ♥️ > |
May 1980
What I Like About You by the Romantics was your favorite song at the moment and Billy never got tired of hearing you sing it. He was sitting on your bed, leaning against the headboard. His hands were resting on the back of his hand and he was crossing his legs. His eyes were focused on you, dancing around your room without a care in the world. “Keep on whispering in my ear. Tell me all the things that I wanna hear. 'Cause, it's true (that's what I like about you).”
Your bracelet was jingling along with the tune, as it always did when you danced. He was almost mesmerized by you at this point– he taught you how to play on the monkey bars and in return you let him stay with you almost all the time. Your family had basically taken him in and offered him the guestroom anytime things got rough with his dad. Even after spending all that time with you, he still didn’t know what your bracelet meant. You wore it every day without fail, no matter if it matched the rest of your outfit or not. It had gained many charms in the five years that he had known you. “Where did you get it?” he blurted out.
You didn’t stop dancing, but you did stop singing. “Get what, buzzkill?”
He rolled his eyes at the nickname– you always called him it when he interrupted your dance time (though he knew you were just kidding around with him). “Your bracelet.”
You did stop dancing at the mention of it. “My bracelet? I’ve never told you?”
He shook his head. “No. I know you always have it on, but I don’t know why. It’s just a part of you to me at this point.”
“Oh,” you said. You walked over to the record player and turned the sound down to a lower volume. You plopped yourself on the edge of the bed. “You know how it’s just me, my mom, and my grandparents here?”
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s how it’s always been.”
“Since you’ve known me, yeah.” You looked away from him and shook your wrist. “The base bracelet and first few charms were from my dad. He passed away just before you met me. Now, my mom gets me a new charm each birthday that goes by to represent the year. It’s nothing fancy, but I just want to carry a little piece of him with me, you know?”
“How did I put that together? I’m sorry, y/n.”
You patted his shoulder. “Don’t apologize, Billy. I couldn’t expect you to know something that I never told you. Now you know.”
“You know you can talk to me about important things, right?”
You nodded vigorously. “Yeah, of course. You’re my best friend.”
He smiled at that. “If you ever need to talk about anything like that, you can.”
“Thank you, Billy.”
He reached out and messed up your hair. “Of course, Y/n.”
| < ♥️ > |
March 1981
Billy was becoming popular as you both got older. You both were students at the local high school now, though you fell into very different social groups. He had always been more popular than you in the school circuit– you were constantly deemed as a nerd– but the popularity gap only grew as you made your way through freshman year. You each had your own friends; he was the vice-captain of the basketball team and you were (somehow already) the president of the school DnD club. His friends never bothered you if Billy was around; even the older kids were a bit afraid of him, but if he wasn’t around, they had a field day terrorizing you/your friend group. Today was no different; the captain of the basketball team was in your art class and he was hawking spitballs in your general direction. You just ignored him until the period ended. Normally, when that last period bell rang you got out quickly and raced to your mom’s car, but the captain, Jake, blocked the way to your locker. “Where ya going, nerd?”
You raised an eyebrow at him. You kept your expression level, but you were freaking out on the inside. “Home?”
You heard footsteps coming up behind you; you hoped to god it was one of your friends from DnD or Billy, but unfortunately, it was another member of the basketball team. “Most geeks are pathetic, but you know what word I would use for you?”
“I can’t possibly imagine what you’d come up with.”
“ Annoying , Freshmeat, annoying is the word.” You rolled your eyes at the comment. He called you freshmeat because you were a first year and he was a senior, you guessed– you never bothered to pay much attention to him. He wasn’t very clever with his insults.
“Fantastic, so glad you found a word to describe how you feel about me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be getting my stuff from my locker and heading home.” You stepped forward, but he didn’t move out of your way.
He grabbed your wrist tightly and you winced. The charm bracelet clinked against itself. “This fucking thing. It’s so damn annoying. Listening to it every 7th period is like being sent to hell for 45 minutes.” His free hand wrapped around the material of the bracelet and before you could say anything, he yanked it so hard it snapped.
An absolutely guttural scream came out of your throat as the charms danced across the floor. You couldn’t process anything around you. It was impossible for you to believe that it had broken so easily. It was old now, but you messed with it all the time; it didn’t seem that weak. You were so caught up in your own thoughts, you didn’t notice what was going on behind you. Billy had pushed past the guy that was behind you. He dug his nails into Jake’s wrist and ripped him off of you. “Hands off, Asshole!”
| < ♥️ > |
April 1981
It had been a few weeks since Jake destroyed your charm bracelet and you still hadn’t really recovered. Your friends were getting pretty worried at this point and you didn’t really have the energy to convince them that you were okay. You canceled your last two DnD meetings; they couldn’t exactly play without their DM. You felt bad, but you just didn’t have the energy to give them a proper session right now. You sobbed softly into your pillow. Why did the world have to suck?
“Honey?” Your mom called from outside of your door.
“Yeah?” You mustered up.
“Billy’s here.”
You perked up for a second at the mention of your best friend, but you slumped back down into your bed almost as quickly as you had risen. “Is he okay?”
“Yes, he’s here to see you.”
You sighed. “He can come in.” You heard some muffled whispering and then your door opened. He shut it softly behind him and you felt the end of your bed dip.
“I think I have something that’ll cheer you up.”
“I appreciate the effort, but I don’t think anything is going to cheer me up right now.” Your sentence was quieted by the pillow, but he still understood.
A very familiar jingle filled your ears and you shot up to face him. He had a bracelet on each wrist– they were different— one looked almost identical to the one Jake had broken and one was the same brand, but with a darker color scheme. “I asked your mom about the bracelet and I got as many of the original pieces as I could from the hall. I got a new one made for you, but it took a little while for Mr. Henry up the road to finish it… and… I got one for me too. We can annoy Jake together.” You were in total shock– you couldn’t believe that he did that. He waved his hand in front of your face. “Earth to Y/n? Hello?”
You couldn’t bring yourself to say anything, you just threw your arms around him and hugged him tightly. “Thank you.”
You couldn’t see it, but he smiled as he returned the hug. “Anything for you, Y/n.”
| < ♥️ > |
June 1984
You couldn’t stop yourself from crying on moving day– your mom got a new, better-paying job in San Fransico so you were leaving the town you had always lived in. The tears just kept coming as you loaded your final boxes into the moving truck. Your mom and grandparents felt bad, but they all knew it was for the best. Of course, you knew that too deep down, but that didn’t make the reality of the situation any easier. Billy was just behind you, carrying the last box. You both set your boxes where they needed to go and turned to face each other. Billy was not one for crying, but you could see the puffiness around his eyes. You didn’t know what you were going to do without him around all the time.
His life was changing too– his dad was in a relationship now and no one saw that coming. “Will you be okay?” you asked.
Billy didn’t know the answer to your question, but he nodded anyway. “Yeah, I’ll be okay.”
You hugged him tightly and he hugged back with just as much force. “I love you, Billy.”
“I love you too,” Billy replied. “We’ll see each other again; I’ll save up my money and come visit you next summer.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
| < ♥️ > |
July 1985
Billy accepted that he was probably going to die. The minute he was attacked by the Mind Flayer, he knew he was doomed. The little bit of time he spent conscious after that, he worked internally on accepting his fate. He wasn’t excited about it by any means– there were so many things that he still wanted to do in life. The biggest sadness he held in his heart was the fact that he never made it back to California. He didn’t have the chance to find his mother and he didn’t have a chance to look for you again. When he moved with his family to Hawkins, his dad cut him off from you completely. He hadn’t figured out your number again and you didn’t have his new address. He wanted to get in the Camaro and go on a road trip in August to find you– just before school started, but now he was in Starcourt Mall. He was in the mall and he was chasing his step-sister’s best friend around. The monster in his head told him to and he couldn’t control his body anymore. He was bent to the Mind Flayer’s will.
The monster was just in front of him and El now; it was scary and huge. He had a deep pit in his stomach about all the damage he had caused in the name of this thing. He didn’t know what he could possibly do to help the situation anymore. He was leaning over El and she placed her hand on the bracelet– the matching bracelet to yours. He felt it wiggle under her fingers. “I saw her… Y/n.” Billy couldn’t speak, but he did process what El was saying. “You were listening to music and she was hugging you… and you were happy.”
Billy felt a tear slip from his eye. Y/n, I’m sorry I can’t keep our promise.
He turned his attention toward the monster and yelled. He moved in front of El and was fully ready to protect her, but the creature screamed out in agony. He and the party watched as the monster and parts of the building started to go up in flames.
| < ♥️ > |
August 1985
Billy felt fuzzy as his eyes were met with bright sterile lights. It took him a moment to get oriented, but he soon realized he was in a hospital. His whole body hurt; pain ran through his limbs and his head was absolutely pounding. He groaned as he tried to sit up, catching the attention of Max, Steve, Eleven, and Dustin who had been quietly talking in the corner of the room. Steve ran over, “Easy! Don’t move so much, you’ll break something.” Billy couldn’t really process what Steve was saying, but he stopped shuffling nonetheless. “Dustin, go find a nurse!”
Steve was gently pressing Billy back into his pillow. Billy guessed it was to keep him from doing any damage before Dustin found a nurse, but he could feel white hot annoyance bubbling up in his chest. Max and El were on the other side of the bed from Steve– both eyeing Billy closely. “What happened, Max?” He mumbled to them. “Who saved me?”
The girls looked at each other for a moment. Their faces held a lot of contemplation, but in the end, they both broke out into smiles. Max leaned on the metal railing of Billy’s bed. He could tell she was nervous, but she also was having trouble containing her excitement. “The monster caught fire,” Steve answered, “it’s all over.”
Billy cocked his head toward Steve and furrowed his eyebrows at him. He lazily lifted his arm up and put a single finger to Steve’s lips. His bracelet jingled with the movement, it made him smile a bit. “Shush. Is your name Max? No, it’s Harrington.”
Max and El couldn’t contain their laughter as Steve just stood there in shocked confusion. “You were about to die, but someone managed to set the monster on fire. Jonathan and Steve pulled you out of the mall,” Max explained.
“Who thought–?” Billy started to ask the question out loud, but he decided to save it for himself. “Who set the fire?”
“You’ll never believe me if I tell you,” she replied.
Billy huffed. “C’mon kid.”
Max was about to give him the answer, but the door to his room burst open. In the doorway stood Dustin and not a nurse– but you. It had been over a year since he had last seen you, but he would recognize you anywhere. “The nurses are on the way, but I ran into Y/n in the hall so I brought her with me,” Dustin said. He sounded completely out of breath.
“How the hell–” Billy couldn’t finish his sentence. He couldn’t even believe his eyes, let alone put together a proper thought.
“No ‘thank you for saving my life’? Just ‘how the hell’?” You teased as you walked over to the edge of the bed. Max and El stepped out of your way and you leaned yourself over the railing. You gently rested one of your hands on top of his head and placed a kiss on his forehead. “You saved me from Jake freshman year, lighting a giant freaky monster on fire was just me returning the favor.”
Much like with Steve, he lazily reached out to you, except he just rested his hand on your cheek. “I love you, Y/n,” he mused idly, just before the nurses came running in.