the_freak | Dear Billy

The scowl makes Eddie's guilt fall away, and he rolls his eyes defensively, huffing a laugh.

"Yeah, man, I've seen your handiwork," he quips easily. Again, not him exactly, but him before the split.

He follows Hargrove's gesture and nods, pulling over. "...It's nice," he offers, mostly to break the silence once he's cut the engine. Hell of a downgrade for Max.

The handiwork could be seen in scars and hushed conversations of crossing the blond when his personalities were still whole. When he was still influenced by the man that raised him in the abuse his mother escaped from.

Once the car stops, Hargrove exits and slams the door behind him. Yet, even with his apparent haste to get out of the vehicle, he stands at the steps. Worn and a bit broken from people and time. There's no furniture or lights to indicate someone's home. The lawn is overgrown, the foliage out of control. Hargrove knows that Susan would be sadden by that - the flower bush had been her favorite to care for.

Hargrove still can't get his feet to move, seemingly cemented to the concrete stairs as he looks at the house. Neil was gone, it was just a house. "It's not," he finally answers with and his baby blues Slide over to meet Eddie's dark ones. "A place I lived, nothing more, really." It had been missing a mother's touch.

His mother. Not Susan.

Unsure if he should follow, Eddie slides out of the car a bit belatedly, crossing round slowly and casually wandering after in a manner he can easily abort if that glare's turned on him again. He pats himself down to pull out a smoke before realizing Hargrove still has his pack, and by then he's caught up, toeing absently at the stairs. He seems to understand Hargrove's meaning, at least if his uncharacteristic silence is a clue, meeting his gaze and giving a slow nod.

Another beat and he takes a few steps, breaking the invisible barrier Hargrove can't seem to cross, rocking up on his toes to peer at the place before looking back.

"You wanna check inside still, or- ?"

It looks like a prison, with the white supports of the screen wrapping around the porch. Hargrove didn't realize how much of one it was until this instance, staring up at the house. He's vaguely aware of Eddie moving around outside of his like of sight. It's only when the metalhead moves past him towards the house does it shake Hargrove out of his thoughts.

"...Yeah. It's not too far in at least." He pulls a loose brick from the pillar on the porch to pull out the spare key they had left for Max. It slots into the keyhole with ease and the door creaks open.

Inside, the living room is pretty barren dust fluffs into the air as Hargrove heads in with slow steps. Last he had been here, his mind had been controlled by that thing from the Upside Down. The good thing though, was there really was no Neil. Furniture was gone, and almost all traces of a family living here.

Save one item.

He heads to the mantle, hand going to a dusty vase that had been left behind. Within, it was filled halfway with shells that weren't found anywhere near Hawkins. Hargrove traces lines through the dust that had settled on the sea-green glass.

A viable shudder runs through him and he sits, quickly. In time, too, as he goes lax for a long moment or two. Eyes have fluttered shut before they snap open and he ducks in a breath like a man waking with a start.

"...Where m'I?" Came the sleepy and soft voice of Billy as he looks around.

Following after, Eddie's feet wander a bit absently while Hargrove moves to the mantle, taking in the space and imagining what it might have looked like before.

"Hargrove??" His head turns when Hargrove drops, half afraid to approach, and once he's gathered the courage he's delivered the jump scare of Billy starting awake. "Jesus Christ man," he mutters, shaking off the fright before his brow creases. Shit they really are like two different people...

"...Billy?" He feels suddenly very unqualified for this shit. Is he supposed to keep Billy from knowing, like...how you don't wake up someone who's sleep walking? "You're um...we're in your old place, man. Just pickin' up a few things."

It's strange, waking up somewhere else than where you went to sleep. He had been in the hospital when he fell asleep, with Eddie...dragging him? Dragging him somewhere. Then it had been sleep until now. His house? No, it was empty.

Billy sits up, looking around. First at the emptiness of the room around him, then at Eddie when he hears his last name, then first. He blinks, still a bit confused but he didn't seem to be in any danger. That had to be good at least. Boots scuff against the floor as he gets up, shaking some of the dust out of his hair.

Picking up some things? Weird. Why would he bring Eddie? "Yeah, it's me. What're you doing in here?" He spies the glass vase of shells again and goes over to take it down quick. Like it'll disappear if he doesn't. He holds it, protectively, and then looks around. "...If my weight set isn't here," which it clearly wasn't, "then this is all I need." All he wanted.

What is he doing here? Hell if Eddie can answer that one. He toes at the ground and shrugs. Something about Hargrove's words earlier makes him feel he shouldn't reveal too much, but it's hard to explain away how exactly the pair of them wound up here. "M'just...I've got the car," he gestured lamely out towards the front like that explained it, watching Billy cradle that vase curiously.

"Yeah? We should probably get out of here then." Before the cops spot that stolen car out front and the wanted man inside. Not that Eddie really know where exactly he's planning on dropping Billy, assuming he even wants to come with him.

He's got the car. Billy scowls, but it doesn't have the meanness of it like it used to in school. "Better not be my car you've got." Though going over to the window and peeking out, no it's not his. And not Neil's. That's a relief. The vase is held tight against his chest. Even as Eddie speaks, he's moving again, going through the hallway into his room.

Cleared out. Remnants of... something on the floor. Like burnt marks in the shape of something... he couldn't quite put his finger on. He gets close to the thought, or that's what it feels like, when there's a sharp tug. The vase is almost dropped and one hand goes to his forehead. What the hell?

Once he calms, it passes, and Billy makes haste back to the door. "Then lets go," especially before anyone comes back - if there's anyone to come back here.

"I wish." Hell, even if Billy/Hargrove/Whoever kicked the shit out out of him, it might have been worth it to get his hands on that thing for a bit.

Eddie lingers where he is, unsure if he's been unceremoniously dismissed by Billy walking out, or if he's just checking out more of the place.

"'Cause I'm the one holding us up, jeez," he mutters playfully when Billy emerges again, hurrying to catch up.

It's only once the car's started that he bothers to note- "...not really sure where we're headed," as he pulls away from the curb. There's Harringston's, but he's not sure Steve OR Billy would be all right with that without a good deal of convincing first.

Edited 2023-03-09 02:52 (UTC)

He doesn't even know where his car is at. The junkyard? With Max and Susan, wherever they went? Eddie said they went to the trailer park, didn't they? That was safer at least. Especially with Neil gone. No more broken dreams, no more broken plates.

When they leave the house, the blond lingers on that same step to look at it once more. Maybe he'd come back. Maybe he wouldn't. Those would be thoughts for another day.

He climbs into the stolen car and puts the vase between his legs to hold. Still no seatbelt, but shifts down into the seat. "...I don't know where to go." Especially since Eddie said he was dead. Dead men only had one place, and it was in the ground. But he wasn't dead. Not yet. "Neil's gone, Susan doesn't have any custody. Just a step-mom." Fingers move against the side of the vase.

Eddie drives without any real destination for the moment, but he nods easily, like it's not daunting at all to have no where to go. At least he feels a little less alone in that now. Henderson, Harrington, all of them have their people and their places, as much as they try and help, they don't really know what it's like. It's a shitty thing to find an upside in that bit of forced common ground, but Eddie can only feel marginally guilty in the moment.

"...If you want her I'm sure we can look into where she's at," Eddie offers. She's been in the hospital with Max, not that Eddie's been able to approach her. Hell she's probably convinced he did this to her. He's not sure where she's staying since the 'earthquake' though. Being so close to one of the gates he doubts their place is still standing. "But uh...I might know a place we can crash for now? If you want?" He drop the offer to bail casually, like he doesn't care one way or the other.

Edited 2023-03-09 03:19 (UTC)

"No." A simple answer, though coming out quick and in a hard tone. "Susan is wrong and I don't want her." Fingers clench against the glass, but he's not being aggressive. If anything, this side seems calmer than Hargrove. Eyes watch the road as Eddie drives. "As long as there's no government, no scientists, no cops, let go."

Those people were too dangerous. He wasn't strong enough to deal with them anymore. He pulls up one leg so it bends and he holds it to his chest. His stomach growls and he scowls slightly. "...I guess I'm hungry. Where you're taking us, does it have food?"

"Those are all harder to avoid lately," he warns, case as point- the pass a military vehicle on the side of the road and Eddie pointedly turns his head to hide his face as they pass, "But um...yeah, this place should be pretty safe." It had been before.

He pauses then and frowns faintly. Right...food. That could be a problem. He can ask one of the group to do a food run for him, but that risks them seeing Billy, and they'll want to know why he's out at Rick's again... Fuck. "Not really," he admits with a frustrated sigh, but better they think of this now then once they get there. "...I'll think of something."

Edited 2023-03-09 17:30 (UTC)

A lot of shit was hard to avoid these days. Billy could only hope that after almost a year in the darkness, no one would remember him here. Or maybe he should be thankful that someone does because who the fuck knows where he'd be if he hadn't found Eddie. Probably incarcerated or some shit.

The sight of the cops gets a similar reaction: Billy turns his head and slinks further down in the seat he's occupying. The other's answer to him draws him out of hiding his face and there's a nod. "Okay." Soft, again, which is the opposite of how Hargrove acted for certain.

"Do you know long I was gone? I was... I was down someplace and whoever put me there left me." He shifts in his seat, uncomfortable for a moment. "I remember driving to the steel mill in town at night and then everything went black until it wasn't. Fireworks and a girl. Then there was pain and darkness again. I think it might've been Fourth of July?"

Eddie looks...uncomfortable, hesitating as he works out how to explain (again), and he wets his lips anxiously.

"It's uh...It's the end of March now," he explains, giving a nod to confirm Billy's rough memory of the date. "...'86," he adds, in case that wasn't obvious. He glances over at Billy to gage his reaction. "It's a lot dude, I know. I'm sorry."

Why did Eddie look uncomfortable? Billy wonders if he said something wrong, or if it was something else. He sits there, fingers still on the vase like it was his most prized possession, and just... watches teh other.

"And I'm dead." Not physically at least. Only by government standards which was so ironic. Weren't those scientists working with the government? Maybe that was their game-play all along. But the end of March. Almost a year. It's when Billy thinks about it does he finally sit up.

"Wait... end of March?" He frowns and thinks. Then looks to Eddie. "What day is it?" Apparently this was very important.

"And you're dead. But again. Pretty good looking for a dead guy, so you've got that going for you at least."

What day? Eddie looks reflexively at his watch, but nope, that shit's still broken. He has to mentally count, gesturing vaguely with his fingers before answering with mild certainty- "The...twenty seventh?" He pauses to redo that mental math before nodding again.

The remark alone makes him grin with little crinkles from the amusement at the corners of his eyes. That was a good point. Even dead he was the best looking guy in town.

And then Eddie remarks about the day and Billy thinks about it. Then laughs - though this sounds hollow. "Gone for so long and I still didn't even miss my birthday. I'm alive for it and I guess whatever date people decided I was dead." The amusement just isn't there in his tone despite the smile on his face. Maybe he'll get to live to see his twenties.

"Where are you even taking me? Better not be anywhere near the lab. I never want to see that place again."

Billy looks a little more like his old self when he grins like that, and Eddie feels a heat in his cheeks that he tries to ignore.

"When's the big day? First birthday after a deathday seems like a pretty big deal, we gotta mark the occasion." Eddie realizes belatedly that he's talking as though Billy's going to want to stick around after tonight.

"Wh- um...nah, uh- up to an old friend's place. By Lover's Lake?" Eddie assures. "Might make a quick stop for food though. Place is pretty cleared out."

Billy looks at him, wondering if he's seeing color in that pale skin or if it's a trick of the light. Either way, he doesn't question it, and instead chooses to look down at the shells in the vase. There's quite the variety, some bleached out from time in the sun somewhere else. Somewhere else in California.

Lover's lake? He wasn't entirely familiar with the place. Blond curls fluff around his head as he rests it against the headrest. Stomach growls again, filling the void between them. Billy might've mentioned being hungry, but he doesn't look angry or even worried about it. It's something he's accustomed to at this point.

Wasn't that a fucking thought.

"Never been there." There's a beat of silence. "...Thanks. For helping me."

Eddie in turn doesn't question why the hell Billy wants a bunch of shells sp dam bad that he's clinging to them like they're his one life line.

Billy doesn't answer about the birthday, but Eddie doesn't press about that either. It doesn't really matter. It's not like they're really going to be celebrating together.

He shrugs a shoulder. What else was he supposed to do? Just leave him? He thinks of Chrissy and frowns faintly.

"Don't worry about it," he assures, frown growing deeper at that growl, and he reluctantly pulls over into the parking lot of a shop. He considers a moment and then starts shrugging out of his leather jacket. "Hey, Billy? You think you can manage to go in for us if I give you some cash?" he asks, passing the jacket over to help act as disguise.

Honestly, they're the one thing in his life that hasn't changed. The one thing that he knew had been good before everything was turned to chaos and then moving out of California to this place.

He's about to elaborate on it when there's a jacket being passed to him. Smells a little... well, not like a hospital, but something related to drugs maybe. Billy's not sure if that's true or if his nose is just out of whack from inhaling abandonment and dust for so long. He holds it in tight fingers, wincing at the mental tug in his mind. It doesn't go any further than that and a nod comes at the answer.

"Yeah, I can do that." The vase gets picked up and gently set on the floorboard at his feet. "Make sure nothing happens to that, okay?" He gets out of the car and shrugs the jacket on. Luckily it covers up how dirty he is, and most of the dried blood. With everything that's happened in Hawkins, maybe no one would question any of it.

That was easier than he'd hoped, and Eddie's glad he doesn't have to make up some BS reason he's not the one going in. He offers a tight smile and nods. "Cash in the pocket, grab whatever you like, go wild," he offers.

It's on Harrington, he thinks with an amused smile, trying not to stress over having pretty much nothing to his name. How different was that really from before?

Meanwhile, after a glance at that vase (fingers itching to toy with it), Eddie practically climbs into the back seat to grab his bag, out of breath by the time he none to gracefully seats himself and tries the walkie talkie. No one's picking up to give an update to and he sighs dramatically

"Come on, man, I could be Vecna chow and none of you would even know it," he hisses into the device before tossing it into the back. This is fine. Everything is fine.

Billy, as Eddie will find, is easier to ask of things than Hargrove. And he's hungry, so if it's a means to getting some food, then he'll do it. One hand goes into the pocket, then other to find some cash. There's a lot more than he expects, but the blond doesn't question it. The bell at the door chimes as he heads into the store.

It doesn't take long to find some stuff that'll work. It's a small shop so there's some small items to just heat up at least, and some snacks. Billy picks out a decent variety, and heads towards the counter. A pause. The blond adds a couple bakery items and then continues to checkout. There's enough money in the pocket, so he picks out a pair of Pepsis to add to it before taking the bag and heading back to the car.

He gets back in time to see something tossed into the backseat. "Got some easy food. Stuff to heat up, bread and-" He produces a plastic container housing a pair of cupcakes. There's a little box of blue candles sitting neatly on top.

"March twenty-ninth. Since you asked when my birthday was... so I got these." To share because no one wants to spend a birthday alone.

It all probably better than Eddie would've done, and he looks relieved that it's gone off without incident. Which makes him feel a little guilty then, since part of him knew it was risky as hell sending Billy in there.

His expression brightening a little at the pair of cupcakes, and eh ducks his head. Looks like Billy might be sticking around after all.

"...Hope you don't expect me to deliver the birthday spankings, Sunshine," he teases with a flirtatious grin.

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