Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Senior year was going well for you so far. You’d managed to maintain a decent GPA, assignments were going well, and you’d managed to stay out of any drama. You were on track to get your diploma and leave Hawkins far, far in your rear view mirror. With that in mind you walked confidently into your home economics class, getting set up at your desk while the other students filed in. Soon enough the smell of cigarettes and L’Oreal Valance wafted by and your desk mate sat down. Billy Hargrove was something of a living legend at this point, or perhaps a walking lesson on morality and the dangers of drink and rock’n’roll depending on which group think you subscribed to. Personally you figured the guy was harmless, if a little pretentious. You had him in a couple of classes this year, and despite the fears and concerns of your friends he had been a perfect gentleman. From the brief passing comments exchanged you got the feeling that he just wanted to get of of Hawkins as much as you did. With that you'd come to an easy peace, offering a pencil when his was missing, writing test answers within his line of site during pop quizzes. In exchange he left you alone, and diverted the wrath of the cooler kids somewhere else when they teased you in the corridors.

Miss. Mulligan came in quickly after, pulling behind her a cart covered by a dust sheet. Classmates were murmuring amongst themselves in barely concealed curiosity but Billy simply groaned and tapped your arm with his pencil, “Please tell me you babysit on the regular?” 

“Babysit? I mean yeah but what’s that got to do with anything?”

Billy simply blew a sigh through his lips and eased back into his chair. “Every damn hick school does this project, you tellin’ me you haven't noticed kids hauling flour sacks around before?”

Snapshot memory fell into place as Miss. Mulligan began distributing flour sacks and baby clothes to each desk, her whiny voice piercing your thoughts, “Okay class, we’re wrapping up the semester with a project, one that will count towards 10% of your final grade for this class so I don’t want anyone thinking this is a blow off assignment.” She pointedly looked over at Billy who simply smiled serenely and offered a little wave of his fingers. The rest of the class was spent going over the details of the project: for the next two weeks you and your desk mate were co-parenting a sack of flour. Aside from logging feeds, diaper changes, and family activities in your printed log book you also had been tasked with babysitting an actual baby and reporting on the experience, as well as going to a grocery store and budgeting for a week’s food for your family of three. At first glance it didn’t seem to demanding, but when you looked over at Billy, he was completely ignoring the “baby” in front of him and instead had his sunglasses down and his head tipped back in his hands like he was napping. You began to have reservations and wondered if you were going to be doing the bulk of the work on this. 

Glancing over the “birth certificate” you braced yourself and began filling out information.

“Okay, gender and name? Let’s go for a boy, boys names are easy enough right?”

“Sure, whatever you say.”

You rolled your eyes and under the name you scribbled Robert Hargrove for lack of a better name. “Okay so I guess I'll take Bobby first and then we can swap over tomorrow morning before class?”

Billy looked over from where he'd been flirting with Daphne on the next table over and waved away your question, “Yeah sure thing doll.”

You felt your temper rise at being dismissed like that. With jerky motions you proceeded to stuff a baby hat over the top of your flour sack, before hastily swaddling it in the blanket provided. The bell had rung so you grabbed your things and hoisted Bobby into your arms before kicking the leg of Billy's chair.

He lazily turned to look at you, fiery eyes glaring at you from over his aviators the only thing suggesting he might be annoyed with your interruption.

Huffing a sigh you tried to pin him with an intimidating look, “I know you think you're too cool to try, but I actually want to get a decent grade so can you at least make an effort for this assignment? Or are you going to continue living up to the bad boy reputation and be another dead beat dad?”

You thought you saw a flash of something like hurt at your words but before you let Billy get the last word in you quickly turned heel and sped off to your next class. Honestly you could hardly believe you'd spoken to him like that, you were never one for confrontation, but you had plans, and you couldn't let anyone get in the way of them. 

The rest of your Monday was simple enough, at lunch Barb helped you draw on a face for Bobby, she and Nancy listening sympathetically while you ranted about your lab partner. 

“Babe, it could be worse. At least you should be able to fill out the booklet yourself so you'll know it's done correctly.” Nancy offered, always taking the practical approach to these things. Barb nodded as she popped a melon from her fruit cup into her mouth. 

“Exactly, just focus on what you can do and I'm sure you'll manage to get a decent grade, you're still on track for California.” 

You sighed heavily and tried to let your friends reassurance wash over you. They were right, they always were, but you still needed the reminder that this wasn't going to threaten your goal. Your mind drifted to ocean breezes and lapping waves as you thought about your ultimate dream to make it to the West Coast. For someone who'd been born and raised in a land locked county you couldn't imagine anything more wonderful than having that vast ocean right on your doorstep. Looking over at the table occupied by Billy and his crowd you just hoped your friends were right. You knew Billy wasn't all bad, surely he could relate to your desperation to leave Hawkins behind you. 

Things were fine until Wednesday afternoon. It was your turn with Bobby for the day, but you needed to talk to Billy about when you'd complete the assignments larger tasks of grocery shopping and baby sitting. You had a neighbor on your road who you already watched for, so you'd already offered to look after baby Ruthie next week. You wanted to make sure Billy would be around so you’d stopped by his car on your way home in hopes you could catch him and make plans. While you waited, standing just to the side in case he yelled at you for scratching the paint, you spotted and couple of the basketball team making their way over. You crossed your fingers and hoped they would leave you alone, but soon you spotted Darcy and Tina with them and you knew the two cheerleaders wouldn't pass up a chance to harass you. 

“Oh hey! Look it's Billy's fake baby mama! You know this is the closest you actually have of making that happen right? Just cause your lab partners doesn't mean shit.”

Darcy popped her bubblegum as if to punctuate her statement, her perfectly groomed eyebrows lifted as if to challenge you. 

“I'm not sure what you're suggesting Darcy, I just need to get Billy's schedule for the project.”

One of the basketballers, Chase, had come up on your left and quickly grabbed the flour sack from your arms, hoisting it high up out of your reach. 

“Knock it off Chase, you're going to burst it!”

Chase laughed and tossed the “baby” over to his teammate Derrick, the pair of them now making a show of keeping it out of your reach while Darcy and Tina laughed cruelly. 

Just as you were starting to feel tears of frustration prick at your eyes you heard Billy’s unmistakable growl carry across the lot, “What do you assholes think you’re doing with my kid there?”

Immediately the air shifted into a feeling of discomfort as Billy snatched the flour baby from Derricks arms and gently placed it back with you. Pulling out a pack of cigarettes, Billy casually lit up while squaring up to Chase and Derrick, not even bothering to look them in the face as he cut off their protests of innocence, “Nah nah nah, I don’t wanna hear what you idiots think I wanna hear. If I flunk this class cause you airheads mess with it, what do you think will happen? That’s a question numbnuts, what do you think is gonna happen?”

Chase and Derrick spared a quick glance to one another before Chase, arguably the leader of the pair spoke up, “You’ll, uh you’ll be mad? But seriously man we didn’t think-”

Billy laughed unkindly. Blowing smoke out of his nostrils he pointed to Chase’s forehead, “Exactly, you didn’t think. 10 bucks says you were going along with whatever those two airheads over there suggested. Cause I know you’re too much of a bitch to actually want to fuck with me right?” 

You had to suppress a gasp at how brazen Billy was being. Chase and Derrick had both had it in for Steve when he’d been so-called King of Hawkins High, so when Billy had taken over the two of them had quickly pledged their allegiance to the Cali bad boy in hopes of riding his coattails to the top, and Billy was all too aware of this. Derrick, always the dumber of the two, looked like he might actually protest what Billy was saying, despite the fact that everyone knew Billy fought dirty and fought to win. If it came to fists you had no doubt Billy would pull some wild card move on the pair so he’d emerge the victor. 

Chase lifted a hand to block Derrick from moving closer to Billy, shaking his head, “Look man I’m sorry okay, we won’t fuck with your project again.” Billy nodded along, sucking a harsh inhale from his cigarette before flicking it to the side. 

“Sure, now apologize to her.”

“Her? That nerd? Dude what are you-”

“That nerd as you put it is my old lady for the project. That means the next two weeks she’s directly attached to my grade, so she’s my responsibility. Apologize.” 

Chase and Derrick muttered a quick apology before backing off, talking over Darcy and Tina who had started up their complaints once out of earshot of Billy. Meanwhile Billy strode over to unlock the car, throwing you a blank stare, “You getting in or what?”

Stunned by the turn of events you meekly nodded and slid into the passenger seat, quickly buckling yourself in as Billy blasted the radio and peeled out of the parking lot.

Chapter Text

Once Billy was out of the lot and your heart rate had calmed down you shifted in your seat, adjusting your skirt before clearing your throat.

“Thanks for that.”

Billy glanced over at you before lazily returning his attention to the road. He hadn't asked for your address so you figured he had a destination in mind. You tried not to get too nervous about that. This was exactly the kind of situation Barb had warned you against, getting into Billy Hargrove’s car and he could be taking you anywhere.

“Don't mention it doll. Like I said, my grade, my responsibility. 'Sides, can't have you thinking I'm a deadbeat.”

You froze up, thinking back to your comment from Monday. You fiddled nervously with the baby blanket you still had Bobby wrapped in. “Right, of course. I'm sorry about that by the way. It's just… it's just really important that I get out of Hawkins and my grades are all I've got to do that really so… yeah, um.” You trailed off awkwardly, Billy didn't seem phased though.

“So what did you want to talk about? You were hangin’ around my ride for a reason?”

Okay, familiar ground, that was better. “Um yeah! I wanted to ask you when we could do the grocery shopping element for the project? I've already spoken to my neighbor who has a 9 month old baby, they're going out next Thursday so we can watch her for them then if you're free?”

Billy just grunted in acknowledgement so you plowed on, figuring if he had a problem he'd say. “I mean if you aren't busy now maybe we could go to the grocery store and get that part done?” A shrug, nothing more. Okay you just had to sweeten the pot. End of the day Billy was a guy and your mom had told you the easiest way to get what you want from a guy is to feed them. “We could actually do some grocery shopping, I'll cook you dinner as a thank you? For earlier? Um, I make a really good lasagna?”

Billy slowly smiled and took the next right turn towards town. “Alright princess, let's go grocery shopping. Not like I got anything better going on.”

Once you were parked you grabbed a shopping cart, Bobby nestled snugly in the baby seat. Billy followed along, occasionally trying to sneak in a pack of snacks or a six-pack while you made notes on how much everything cost. Spotting that Billy was clearly bored you started directing him to various items. Billy seemed amused mostly, clearly not that used to being bossed around seeing as most girls would simply giggle and do whatever Billy asked. With his help you quickly had everything you needed for dinner, plus you now had a list of prices for what you figured you'd need for a family of 3.

At the till you got a confused and judgemental look from the lady at the register, before she noticed the baby in the cart was actually a bag of flour. She shot you a smirk as she scanned the pasta sheets. “Well aren't you a sweet little family?”

Billy, realizing he was in his element tipped his sunglasses down his nose and turned on the charm, “Well that's awful nice of you to say ma’am, thank you. You have family of your own?”

You hid your smile at Billy's antics as you packed up your bag.

“Oh well, it's just me now, but I've grandkids, 4, 5 and 7, they keep me young!”

Billy grinned, “Well I bet they do Myra, I wouldn't have pegged you to be a grandmother, you've got that youthful glow about ya.”

“Oh goodness! You're just like my Jimmy was, bet he's all sugar with you hon!” She winked at you like you were both in on the same joke. You decided to play along, Billy beaming at you like he was having all the fun in the world.

“Absolutely! All sugar, no spice this one. A total sweetheart.” Fluttering your eyelashes at Billy he grinned, miming an arrow to his heart.

“Aww, well that’ll be $7.10, and I’ve thrown in a little something extra for you two. Have a lovely evening.”

“And you too Myra, take care now.”

You snorted, packing your bag back into the cart and heading out to the car. Billy followed soon after, guiding you out the shop with his hand on your lower back. You figured he was just continuing to play up for Myra’s benefit but you couldn’t ignore the flutter of butterflies in your stomach as the heat from his hand transferred through your cardigan and blouse.

“Are you like that with everyone then?”

Billy grabbed the groceries and loaded them into the boot of the Camaro. “Why? You getting jealous princess?”

“Hardly, I just wonder if you ever turn it off.”

You both slid into the car, you quickly firing off directions to your house.

“What? My personality?”

You laughed, shifting in the seat to face Billy. “No, you know! The whole…. ‘well that’s awful nice of you ma’am’, the flirting with anyone with tits and a heartbeat.” You’d shifted your voice down in a crap imitation of Billy which made him cackle, silently mouthing the word ‘tits’, seemingly surprised at your language. You couldn’t blame him honestly, you know what people assume of you from the twinsets and knee length skirts.

Billy seemed to actually consider your question, tapping his fingers in rhythm with the Ratt cassette playing over his cars sound system. “I don’t know it’s just.. it’s fuckin’ fun you know? Plus, people tend to be a little more generous when they think you might fuck them. You know she slipped us like, 2 whole candy bars for free right? All cause I reminded her of her dead husband.”

You had to admit he had a point. For the rest of the drive you were quiet, the silence between you hovering somewhere between comfortable and awkward. Billy pulled into your drive with ease and you were quick to hop out, Billy close behind with the groceries. All of a sudden you felt a wave of nervousness wash over you. You'd never had a boy over before, even under platonic pretences. Given Billy's reputation it added a level of danger to the setting. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking…

Pasting on what you hoped was a welcoming smile you ushered him inside, “Okay so my mom is out of town for work so you won’t need to like, move your car or anything. The kitchen is just through here if you wanna put the bag down?” You looked over your shoulder to spot Billy peering into your front room, very obviously looking over the various family pictures you mom had up on the wall. You braced yourself for some kind of comment but the blond merely gave you a conspiratorial smile and tugged on your hair as he went past through to the kitchen, “Gotta say, the bunches are a cute look.”

You felt your cheeks flush crimson as you spotted the photo he was referring to. It was your first day of high school and you mom had insisted on getting a picture of you by the front door. To say you had been in an awkward phase was putting it lightly, all gangly limbs and self-conscious smiles. Again you tried to muster your most intimidating glare while you started unloading the grocery bag, Bobby propped up on the kitchen table.

“Look, we can’t all be Chrissy Cunningham’s and Vicki Carmichael’s. Some of us have to rely on…other strengths.”

Billy cocked his hip against the counter, arms crossed in a way that made his arms seem impossibly larger somehow. “Alright, easy princess. Just a little teasing. Didn’t mean to put you on the defensive.” You narrow your eyes, not believing him for a second. “Is that supposed to be your pissed face? Cause I’ll be honest sweetheart, you just look like an angry little kitten.”

Oh god, you were going to die of embarrassment. You were resolutely NOT going to think about the little shiver when he called you kitten, you weren’t! You hoped to God Billy didn’t notice the blush staining your cheeks or the way your hands shook as you pulled on your mom’s apron and tied it round your waist before prepping vegetables for dinner.

“Um, so if you want a drink we’ve got coke and tab in the fridge.”

“Got any beer kitten?”

“N-nope, but um, I’m pretty sure my mom’s got a bottle of red wine stashed in the cupboard behind you. I can use some in the lasagna as well actually.”

“Wine? Keeping it classy I guess. Makes sense though, you’ve got that whole domestic thing going on.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at that, quirking an eyebrow at Billy as he hunted around for some glasses. “Domestic? I’m hardly Carol Brady.”

Billy pushed a glass over to you before taking a generous swig from his own and pulling an unlit cigarette from behind his ear, “Mind if I light up?”, you shook your head, “And are you kidding me? The prissy little cardigans, the pencil skirts? Not to mention the ridiculous notes in that booklet? You know it’s a sack of flour right?” His words seemed harsh but you could tell from the tone of his voice he was joking around with you. “Kitten, you’re wearing a frilly apron for fucks sake.” Billy reached over, tugging at your apron strings tied neatly at your waist, pulling you closer over to where he stood.

You breath caught in your throat as your eyes locked on those icy blues of his. Billy seemed completely at ease, large, warm fingers toying with the bow you had tied at the small of your back. Shakily you managed to inhale, his scent of hair products and smoke invading your senses. His plush quirked up into a satisfied smile, lit cigarette balanced oh so carefully between his lips. All too soon the spell was broken as you turned your attention back to cooking.

“I do mean it though, I'm not some domestic goddess or whatever. It's just, mom travels for work a lot so it's just me on my own most of the time.”

“Where's your old man?”

Your chopping became more forceful, “Fuck knows. He walked out when I was 6. No letter, no explanation. So no, not exactly the Brady bunch.”

Billy was looking at you with an odd expression, like he was trying to put two puzzle pieces together. “My mom did the same, I was 8.”

You raised your wine glass to his, “Well here's to deadbeat parents.”

Billy snorted, gamely tipping his glass against yours “Yeah I'll drink to that.”

After that conversation veered towards music, with Billy taking great pleasure in discovering your secret metal tapes you had hidden away under ABBA and Holland & Oates. By the time the food was ready the pair of you had found another bottle of wine and were sat shoulders pressed close on the sofa, laughing about nothing while Jeopardy played on the TV. The two of you had the flour baby tucked up on a near by armchair, both of you joking at how domestic the whole thing was.

Emboldened by the alcohol you paused to poke at Billy, enjoying the way the wine had stained his lips a deep plum colour. “So I get your mom just…” you both made a vague hand gesture and Billy nodded for you to continue, “So is it just you and your dad now?”

Billy let his head loll back onto the sofa, his gaze unfocused on the ceiling as he spoke. “Nah, he remarried. So now we're all pretending to play happy family in the middle of fucking nowhere to make him feel better about how his first wife hated him so much she ran out in the middle of the night.” You were too scared to speak up, you had the feeling Billy didn't talk about this much. “Never saw the point of wanting the whole wife and 2.5 kids thing, the guy's an asshole, pretty sure Susan will leave eventually as well. But I don't know, I can see the appeal if it's anything like this.” At this Billy gestured at you, still clad in your mother's ridiculous apron.

You toyed with the tie, the wine dulling your senses and loosening your tongue. “You mean the dolled up housewife waiting at home or me specifically?”

Blue eyes shot up to meet your gaze, the blond looking as if he was reassessing you. He rested his elbow on the back of the sofa and used it to leverage himself closer to you, close enough to feel the warm puff of his breath across your heated skin.

“And if I said it was both? That I like the idea of comin’ home to you, knocked up with my kid, makin’ me dinner, fixin’ me a drink? What would you say to that kitten?”

You caught your bottom lip between your teeth, thighs desperately pressed together as his voice plunged into a whisper.

“Cause I thought you had plans, hm? You're gonna leave this hick town in the dust. Isn't that what you want kitten?”

Slowly you nodded, “Yeah, that's the plan.”

Billy sat back, his mouth pulling into a cruel smirk. “So what's the point in askin’ stupid questions like that?”

Before you could figure out a reply Billy stood up from the sofa and grabbed his jacket from where he'd thrown it over the back of a chair.

“I'm gonna jet, I'll see you in class.”

He made his way to the front door, with you scrambling to follow after.

“Billy you've been drinking, why don't you leave your car overnight, or you could crash on the couch here?”

He waved you off, already strolling over to the Camaro. “No can do doll, like I said, the old man is an asshole. Gets all particular about me dropping my step-sister at school.”

You hated it but you could see you weren't going to win this. At least you knew he didn't live too far away, he'd mentioned he was only a few streets down from you. All the same, you felt like you needed to say something more, it felt like the evening was ending on a sour note and you couldn't figure out why or if you'd done something.

“Wait, Billy!” You jogged over as he was sliding into the driver's seat. “My mom is barely ever home. If, if you ever need a break from your dad, you can always come here.”

The smile Billy gifted you with was small, but it seemed genuine. He turned on the ignition, the deep sound of the motor filling the otherwise quiet night.

“Thanks kitten, I'll keep that in mind.” With a wink Billy closed the car door and quickly pulled out of the driveway, leaving you wrapping your arms around yourself and wondering what just happened.