#this got so freaking long | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

symbioticsimplicity · 1 year

Text

Billy lives AU where Billy was also taken by the Russians after Starcourt.

He managed to live by the akin of his teeth. Part of his consciousness ripped off a chunk from the mindflayer, just a small bit, just enough to keep his body alive when it shouldn’t be. His injuries healed, slowly, but more interestingly (at least to the Russians) his body adapted to the chemicals the mindflayer had forced it to consume.

They try to study those effects, as well as the effects having part of a hive mind trapped inside of a foreign body. Physically Billy gained accelerated healing, an extreme tolerance for acids and most toxins, as well as a few psychic abilities that he has little to no control over.

These tests however render Billy all but feral. Billy who was already so accustomed to being abused and tormented, now with the subtle influence of the mindflayer still left (not enough to control him, just enough to constantly whisper to him, to tempt him).

He's their most difficult subject by far. He can't be approached without sedation, something they learned early on, but even sedation doesn't last long enough to be fully viable. He has caused more damage to their crew and other subjects than anything else and as a result they keep him isolated as often as possible.

When Joyce and Murray break Hop out, they find Billy too, although they don't immediately recognize him. (The physical effects of everything he's been through have changed him a little. His hands and mouth are black, with black veins visble on his neck and forearms, his head is buzzed, and not to mention the Hannibal Lector get up they keep him in. His eyes are the same though, and that's what Joyce recognizes)

Its Joyce's idea to take him with, and he's pretty well drugged up when they grab him so he doesn't fight the way he ordinarily would.

The problem is from there, once he perks up, he's viscous. He fights like his life is on the line, and he's much stronger than his half starved body would suggest he should be. He wings Murray and almost injures Joyce too, though she manages to stumble onto the one thing that jars him out of his frenzy enough to start talking him down.

She mentions Max.

Its like her name is a trigger word for him. He freezes entirely, mid swing. Joyce capitalizes on this and starts telling him anything she can think of about the girl to help calm him down. She tells him about her new skateboard, about the song she's had on repeat all summer, and even how much the girl has missed him.

That opens a huge crack in him, and he actually speaks for the first time since Starcourt. He whispers with absolutely heartbreaking disbelief, "She missed me?"

Joyce, her mom senses now throughly activated, assures him that she has, tells him that they're going back home, that they're willing to bring Billy with them if he promises not to hurt anyone. She shouldn't be promising this but all she sees is "Hurt kid who really needs some help".

He stops fighting, and agrees with a nod.

He doesn't speak for the rest of the journey, and he still can't be touched without triggering him so they're careful to avoid that. He also doesn't sleep or eat which Joyce finds incredibly worrying but can't do much about.

When they make it back, the group is waiting for them. They told Max ahead if time who they found there too, warned her that he wasn't quite the same, but she couldn’t give two shits honestly.

When he sees her, its like the light flips on in his eyes. She's so familiar to him, the one thing he'd been able to keep a hold of in his mind through all of this, that when he sees her he just breaks.

She's the only person who can touch him without triggering him and she uses that privilege to hold him while he shatters. She doesn't know what happened to him, none of them really do, but she’s determined to help him heal regardless. She feels like she wasted enough of their time before hating him for something she now knew all too well wasn't his doing.

Billy's recovery is rough and slow going. Physically he's doing far better than anyone in his position should be. They discover that he can still eat, just not....food. They tried that once and he got violently ill. The mindflayer permanently reworked his body to be able to digest toxic chemicals, and that's the only thing he can stomach. They try several before finding which ones he actually likes and which ones will feed him but he doesn’t really care for. (Draino, for instance is fine but it tastes weird, where as Pinesol? All day long.)

Mentally however he's a wreck.

He sleeps but only for an hour or two so its hard to miss. He's terrified that if he sleeps too long the mindflayer will find a foothold and take him over again. Plus he's so afraid of the nightmares. He hasn't had one, but he knows if he does, it'll be bad for every one.

He can't tolerate groups, or the smell of antiseptic, bright lights or temperatures too hot. Too cold sucks too but at least it doesn't cause him physical pain, just extra mental anguish. He's still incredibly touch averse, and will panic if restrained in any way.

Max ends up having to ask the group for help caring for him, because he's far too hurt for her to handle on her own.

Joyce has a little leeway with Billy since she kept her promise and brought him back home, back to Max. She's also a gentle motherly presence, which is something he's been starved for long before the Russians. He's still wary, but he'll let her help more often than not.

El, also becomes part of the recovery squad. She understands uniquely what its like to have been a test subject, and to have part of the upside-down living inside. She is familiar enough to him to not immediately trigger him, and small enough that she doesn't register as a threat. The mindflayer reels whenever she's around, which hurts a little but Billy hates the goddamn thing so he'll put up with the headache to torture the thing back.

She teaches him what she knows about how to use her powers, and consequently his own, teaches him how to navigate his mind to the best of her ability, and how to build up mental walls against the mindflayer. It helps IMMENSELY, and before he knows it, Billy has built a box to lock the mindflayer inside of.

It also has the unintended side effect of letting Billy explore his consciousness and address his traumas in a unique way. He's able to see his memories from the outside, see how he's been treated without bias, and come to realize how desperately unfair it was.

For a while it makes him angrier, because he can see how much all of that cost him, how badly it really hurt him, and how much of his life it ate. The year the Russians took from him is nothing compared to the 18 that Neil took.

But with time and care, especially from Max, El, and Joyce, he learns to refocus on the life he's still got left. And once he starts thinking of it that way, he lives with a vengeance.

He refuses to let any more of his time pass in pain. Yeah, things are still rough, he still doesn't like to be touched without someone notifying him that they're going to do so, and he still jumps at loud noises. He's having nightmare, but at least he sleeps enough to have them. The mindflayer is quiet, all sealed up in its box, and he's got a near constant eye on his sister, safe and sound.

Things could be better, and someday he'll make them that way. Because if nothing else, Billy Hargrove is a survivor.

#this got so freaking long #stranger things #billy hargrove #max mayfield #joyce byers #el hopper #billy lives au #angst #i like to think that Billy would be the type of person to eventually thrive out of pure spite #fuck everything thats tried to hurt or kill me I'm gonna live my best life just to piss you all off #everything your tried to deny me I'm taking #everything you tried to take from me I'm protecting #and I will live Yes I will live on #and I'll do it happily because I know it kills you to see #Billy being the most spite fueled survivor is everything to me tbh

26 notes · View notes

call-me-strega · 2 months

Text

Dc x Dp Prompt #14: The Valentines Day Debacle

“debacle • \dee-BAH-kul\ • noun.

1 : a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river

2 : a violent disruption (as of an army) : rout

3 a : a great disaster b : a complete failure : fiasco.”

~ It was Valentine’s Day and Jason regrets agreeing to go on this date.

Weelll, kind of, but not exactly.

This “date” was actually a covert-op with three caped chaperones because he, Steph, Tim and Cass were all on cases that ended up being the same case.

Steph and Tim had caught wind of some allegedly magic potions becoming popular among college students used to help students score dates with their up coming Valentines. There weren’t any outright love potions but confidence boosters, things to increase your attractiveness, luck boosters, thing to get people in the mood. They had been investigating into it to make sure this wasn’t secretly a drug ring but found it to some real magical bullshit. They’d located the source’s lair/lab where they brewed the potions but not the potion brewer themselves.

Cass had been in Hong Kong when she caught wind of one of her targets following rumors of a witch who specialized in potions to grant small boons and bewitching charms. After dealing with her target she started tracking down the witch to find out her goals and intentions. She followed her trail across Asia, Europe and a good portion of the eastern seaboard before her path led her to Gotham.

Jason was investigating some upper middle class chick that started hanging around the alley trying to get in with the prostitutes and drag queens(and only succeeding in making them suspicious). She met several young men who abandoned the gang allegiances too trail after her like puppies. His investigation showed she was also circling Gotham elites and was in search of gossip on two things: people looking for love and a beau for herself.

They had been going over their cases at a team meeting when they realized their 3 targets were all the same woman. Between the four of them they pieced out she was some new age witch, descendent from an older family line looking to get rich and in a relationship. Her potions weren't really actively harmful but her use of them to gain the upper hand in business deals and amass a following of boytoys she decided weren’t hunky enough for her but would do as muscle was.

Tim and Steph knew she was planning on selling her potions at the Valentine’s/Winter market place in Robinson Park coming up. Jason and Cass knew she was looking to net some more followers while they were there so the plan was simple. One of the guys would go undercover to try and get recruited while the others stayed nearby for back up. They’d try to get some information out of her and if the need for it arose, to take her into custody and hand her off to the Justice League Dark. They’d already talked to Zatana to have her ready to come to Gotham should things go awry and gotten a charm from her to prevent them from getting put under her control.

Oh if only this didn’t go so wrong.

Unfortunately for Jason, he matched their little witch’s tastes to a tee. Thus, he was the one stuck being dragged around market under the guise of having agreed to a date with her. She dragged him around, made him pay for her things, tried to use his stature to intimidate others and was generally rude to the other patrons and staff. Oh, Jason despised her but grit his teeth and pretended to play nice. Cass was investigating her stall and Steph and Tim were tailing them.

Finally over the comms he heard the team confirm Cass had found the info she was looking for and he could finally ditch little miss witch. He broke it to her that he thought this wouldn’t work out and her eye just twitched. She must have tried to charm him because she asked him to stay with her and become her main beau, which he soundly refused. This set her off on a rage as she screeched over how her charm didn’t work and how Jason would have been perfect if she’d been able to get him under her thumb. He tried to back off when she lashed out with a magic rope insisting once she captured Jason he’d be the perfect leader to her adoring little boyfriend army.

So yeah she was more psycho than anticipated.

Spoiler and Red Robin began to swoop in for the rescue which only served to enraged her further. That’s when the team learned that she was talented in more than just potions. She used her magic to start awakening magical creatures in the park surrounding them. Nymphs shed from trees and little snow golems formed and began attacking RR and Spoiler.

Black Bat had run over to extract Jason when the witch noticed her. She shrieked in outraged proclaiming if she couldn’t have Jason no one else would and that he could become fish food for the frost creatures of Far Frozen before picking him up with a spectral vine and slamming him through the frozen lake into a swirling blue portal. Cass tried to go after him but the witch quickly engaged her with too much feral rage to realize she was outclassed in hand to hand against Black Bat. By the time Steph and Tim fought off the nymphs and golems it was too late. Whatever whirling portal had been in the lake closed and Jason was no where to be found.

As Jason pushed through the ice he had one final thought before he felt himself black out: ‘Worst Valentine’s Day ever.’

~ The first thing Jason felt when he came to was cold. He was still submerged under icy water. It was chilled him to the core but was almost soothing in a way. As if cooling of a burn. As is opened his eyes the world seemed to move in slow motion. He was still underwater surrounded by chunks of ice. He could make out sounds of distorted yelling as the world seem to get even slower.

Suddenly he felt something grab his collar and place itself under his arm. Jason was unceremoniously hoisted out of a frozen river and laid out on a river bank. He let out a harsh cough and his head got dizzy. He tried to regain his wits long enough to see who pulled him out.

It was large figure, maybe an inch or two taller than his 6 foot, with the bulk of a viking and the looks of one too. The man appeared to be around the same age as Jason, possibly older, and very concerned. He had messy white hair that was tied(or braided? Jason’s vision was still blurry) in the back. He was wearing armor made of some sort of hide leather and a dark gray metal (iron?) and covered in snow-white furs.

Jason stared at his savior trying to get his wits about him, willing his vision to clear. That’s Jason felt a warm fur cloak wrap around him as the man said something Jason wasn’t able to comprehend. He let out another harsh cough and felt himself being picked up in a princess carry. His rescuer moved incredibly fast for someone carrying a man of Jason’s stature. However, the motion did not help with the dizziness or the cold. Jason shivered, curling towards his “heroic knight” and pulling the cloak tighter around himself. This spurred the man to go faster.

Finally, everything stopped moving and Jason felt himself encompassed in warmth. Several more furs were wrapped around him and he was laid down to rest. At last Jason’s vision cleared enough to see the other man’s face properly. He had a rugged face and a strong jawline. He had a small scar near his eyebrow and round eyes with light eye bags beneath them. He had a straight nose and bow-shaped lips.

Jason felt the world slow down again and realized he’d soon pass out from the cold. The man lifted Jason’s head and slipped a pillow underneath. A rough hand gently pushed the wet hair out of his face and caressed his cheek. Jason stared into the man’s eye. They were kind, gentle, and such a vibrant green they seemed to glow. The man gave him a small smile and the last thing Jason heard before falling asleep was a soothing voice telling him “Rest, we will take care of you.” And with that Jason felt himself relax and fell asleep.

~ When Jason came to the first thing he saw was a 20-something-foot tall yeti with an icy cybernetic arm looming over the foot of his bed.

He promptly screamed and fell out of bed.

A vaguely familiar voice called out from another room.

“ FROSTBITE! I thought I told you not to scare him!”

In walked the man that had saved Jason from an icy death. Upon closer inspection now that he wasn’t dying the man seem 10 times as beautiful than Jason remembered. He almost seemed to have this ethereal glow to him. The man continued to admonish the yeti who just laughed heartily and continued on with whatever task he was trying to complete. The man turned his attention to Jason, smiling at him in apology and lifting him back into the bed.

“ I’m sorry about Frostbite. He won’t admit it but I think he gets a crack out of scaring his patients,” He said with a placating chuckle. His mirthful eyes met Jason’s puzzled ones and he continued on as he began to fiddle with few thermoses, seemingly searching for one in particular.

“ You must be quite confused. I don’t exactly know how you ended up here but this place called the Far Frozen. I felt a pulse of magic near the river and went to investigate and ended up fished you of the water. You were nearly frozen so I brought you back to village where you could get warmed up and medics like Frostbite could help you before the actual frostbite set in.”

He chuckled at his own joke before placing a cup in Jason’s hands.

“ It’s soup, drink up. It’ll help you get warm.”

Jason hesitantly took a sip of his soup. It was surprisingly good! He continued to sip his soup and Jason observed the man. He had a rather muscular build Jason noticed, staring at the man for no other reason than assessing if he’d be a potential threat (and for absolutely no other reason). Danny finished closing up his thermos and continued to speak.

“ I promise once Frostbite treats you for any illness or injury. I’ll help you get home. -Oh where are my manners” he held his hand out for Jason to shake. “You can call me Phantom.”

“ Call me Jay,” he replied, taking Phantom’s hand and a glance at his biceps. Phantom pulled away and stood up.

“Well, I’ll let you get back to resting. I’ll come back later when Frostbite gives you a check up and we can talk about how you got here and how to get you back” He turned and began to walk out before turning his head back one last time and waved. “I’ll see in a bit Jay.”

Jason watched him go and fell back into bed having finished his soup. As he pulled the furs and blankets back over himself he thought ‘Well maybe it’s not the worst Valentine’s Day ever.’

225 notes · View notes