Chapter Text
The Queer Son
He was a cocky and careless bastard.
Or at least that was what everybody in Hawkings seemed to think about Billy Hargrove.
People generally avoided him like the plague, because apparently, he was nothing but trouble.
But it wasn't just that, no.
Apparently, somebody decided spreading rumors on his aggressivity was a great way to make him feel welcome in that shithole of a town.
That somebody, Billy knew, being either Susan or that little bitch of his stepsister. Probably both.
So now, people went on about how much of a saint his father Neil was for putting up with a scumbag like him.
For still granting him a roof over his head, even though he was a complete jerk of a son.
Oh, Billy thought, if they only knew.
But of course, people only see what they want to see.
That's why nobody ever asked him why he always had far more bruises and injuries than anybody else in town.
Nobody seemed to notice the slight limp he'd had for weeks, nor the cast on his left arm that didn't allow him to play basketball for a whole month.
They just assumed he got into fights. Because he was a bad guy, and bad guys are always searching for trouble.
Those were normal things for Billy, all part of his daily punishment, as his father liked to call it.
But there were also times when Neil got so mad that the boy literally had to fear for his life.
The last time being only a few months prior, when they'd just moved from Cali.
He'd debated if throwing it away was the right thing to do.
He knew that packing it with the rest of his stuff was dangerous, but Billy had put so much effort into finding the right pictures to cut from Susan's old magazines.
His folder being absolutely number one jerk-off material. Young men in almost-non-existent designer underpants, with hard-rock muscles and breathtaking features.
Yup, Billy wasn't definitely going to get rid of that.
The long trip had been pretty much uneventful.
Billy had managed to keep his folder away from his father's eyes.
As soon as the car stopped in their new yard, he'd made sure that his box was the first one to be taken inside. In the safety of his new bedroom.
But of course, things never seem to work out for Billy.
Three days after, on his first day of school, Neil had wandered into his room in search of god knows what, and managed to find his precious folder.
Not only had his father found out about his homosexuality but also that apparently he had a taste for black men too.
Needless to say, when he got home that afternoon he'd had one of the worst raw beatings of his entire life.
"Billy, what the fuck's with this queer trash?" Came Neil's angered question.
"I...I don't..." He was speechless. And fear seemed to have him paralyzed. He was dead, so fucking dead.
"You what, uhu? No son of mine is a goddamn queer!"And with that Neil was on him, forcefully pushing his head against his bedroom wall.
"You useless shit!" A powerful slap was thrown on his cheek, making him wince from the impact.
"What a fucking fairy, can't even take a slap!" A shower of punches started on Billy, making him fall on his bedroom floor.
He tried to shield his head with his hands as best as he could, the last thing he needed being a concussion.
Then a hand grabbed him by his blond hair, forcing him to stand up.
"Look at me, fag!" Another hand grabbed his chin, forcefully making Billy look at his father through his bloodied nose.
He was so scared, he could feel Neil's piercing gaze on his skin.
"Such a fucking disappointment, even your mother would be disgusted!"
That was it, the thing that hurt the most. His father always knew how to make him suffer.
Pain blossomed in his guts as another fist connected with his body.
He wanted nothing more than to curl himself into a ball, but Neil's hand on his hair prevented him from moving.
The blows went on and on, until Neil heard the sound of Susan's car, meaning that both her and Max were home.
That's when he stopped himself, cleaning his bloodied hands on Billy's Jacket.
He muttered a quiet "faggot" under his breath and left the room, making sure that the door was closed.
God forbid Max or Susan had to see the teenager lying on the floor beaten within an inch of his life.
A whole week had passed before Billy found the strength to get out of bed and drive Max and himself to school.
He'd still felt a bit dizzy but nothing unbearable.
He'd had to throw away his folder.
His father insisted they had to see it being torn apart with their own eyes, that's why he drove them to the landfill.
Billy swore he could have cried. Seeing the huge machine tearing his fantasies away in a thousand pieces, felt as if his entire adolescence was being canceled in an instant.
Plus, seeing his father admiring the scene with a sickening smile of pure satisfaction, really felt like a punch in the gut.
"And that's the end of this queer thing, understood?" Billy literally had to blink back the tears before a chocked "yes sir" managed to slip out of his mouth.
Three months had passed from that last raw beating and Billy had tried to avoid another one at all costs.
He'd tried to get good grades in almost every subject, drove Max everywhere she wanted to go and even joined the basketball team.
Of course nothing could have saved him from his daily punishments, but all in all, it wasn't that bad.
He'd even shagged a couple of chicks from school.
He couldn't remember the names though.
Not even their faces to be completely honest. Having imagined that boy from the basketball team was the one he was fucking senseless instead.
Steve was his name. Fairly tall, with deep brown eyes and a magnificent quiff of dark hair.
He looked exactly like the boys he'd kept in his folder. So damn gorgeous.
One day, as he stopped to buy a pack of cigs, he noticed a particular magazine standing in the rack.
It looked like one of those things Susan would buy.
There was a boy on the front page, and Billy swore, he looked like Steve fucking Harrington.
Hargrove subtly approached the glossy magazines and started leafing through the said one.
When he finally found the right page, he was flabbergasted.
Here was the boy. His back turned to the camera, with his long fingers tangled into his voluminous quiff of dark hair.
A black pair of tight underpants was the only thing he wore, making his gorgeous ass look a billion times better.
He felt a strange sensation in his guts. He knew he couldn't but he absolutely had to.
So, before he even realized what he was doing, he ripped out the page and made it disappear under his denim jacket.
One thing was sure, if his father ever found that thing in his room he'd be dead.
But Billy found himself not really caring at the moment, for the first time in months he finally felt alive.