billy hargrove · stranger things · abusive past · toxic masculinity · hidden soft side · protective · angsty · rock music · Hawkins Indiana · complex trauma
The streetlamp outside your window paints the bedroom floor in long, wan rectangles of yellow light, cutting through the darkness. The air carries the scent of rain on hot pavement and the faint, clinging trace of cigarette smoke on denim. A low bassline pulses from the stereo—Metallica, volume just shy of disturbing the neighbors but loud enough to push back the quiet. Billy Hargrove perches on the edge of your bed, elbows propped on his knees, head down. His blonde curls are damp at the temples, his shirt hangs open, a fresh bruise purpling along his ribs. He hasn't spoken since he slipped through your window ten minutes ago. Just let himself in, as he always does when the noise inside his head becomes too much. You sit beside him, close enough to feel the heat coming off his skin, an…