Work Text:
September of 1997
It's been about two years since the Eltingville club finally broke up. Bill hadn't seen any of the club since then but when his mum finally forces him to get a job he surprisingly gets one at all, and this one happens to be at the Stop&Shop in Eltingville.
This was the only place that was willing to hire him, and because his mother was threatening to kick him out forever if he didn't get and keep a job, so he had to stay at this stupid job.
it wasn't the worst job ever. I mean he could be cleaning shit for a living, that would probably be the worst job ever .
"hey bill, you've been work'in here for a few months now right?" "uh yeah?" "great can you train our new hire, thanks." Steve Bill's manager asks, or he at least poses it as a question but despite only working here for few months he knows that it's really not a question.
Bill doesn't really care though training someone at least lets him get to know the new guy. "when?" "in an hour" fuuuck at least a little more warning would be nice. the hour passes fairly quickly. the new guy comes out from the back of the store with Steve and Bill cant believe his eyes.
It's fucking Joshua Aaron Levy. a boy that Bill grew up with and then just randomly couldn't for two years is walking towards him right now. Bill would never admit this but he did get a feeling of joy when he saw him. "William." Josh 'passive' aggressively says to Bill "Joshua" Bill says retuning the same tone "oh uh I was going to introduce you two but it seems you already know each other" Steve says awkwardly and wanders away
"I'm shocked they would hire such an asshole like you to work at a cash register" "yeah fuck off, Lard-ass i have to train you and I'm not looking to get fuck'n fired over your ass" Bill does actually train him on how to use the register with only a few petty name calling incidents happening here and there for three of four hours before their lunch break.
Bill doesn't usually bring a lunch at all if he's hungry he'll just buy something from the store, this gives him a perfect opportunity to call Josh fat along with some other insults leading to a small fight where there are some slaps here and there but because of the cameras in the break room they didn't get too violent, especially because they had to look okay to the customers they would be helping later.
when Steve looked at the footage that night(it's just some weird habit he has) he was disappointed in the two of them and did reprimand them. leading to another fight breaking out during their walk home, this time it breaks out in an alleyway where nobody can see them so it does get pretty brutal.
Bill comes home with a bloody nose and covered in bruises . Josh goes home looking about the same. Luckily Bill manages to hide from his whole family when he gets home, because if they saw him they could probably assume he met with one of the old club members seeing as he hasn't looked like this for two years.
The next few days go about the same except they saw each other a little less because Josh didn't need as much help as he settled into the job.
~~~~~~
Bill had a day off today, and that means he gets to sit in bed and do nothing all day. normally he would jerk off or something but he can't get stupid Joshua out of his head, for someone he's supposed to hate Bill doesn't hate Josh that much, if anything he actually enjoys having an old club member around. the only way Bill can think to describe it is nostalgia, but as soon as these thoughts come up he shoves them right back down.
Thinking of Joshzilla in any way other then negative just feels weird, wrong even. To try to take Josh off his mind he does try porn but in all the videos he manages to tie Josh into it no matter what,so instead of trying to distract himself from Josh he decides to just lie on his floor and think.
Not even Bill truly knows what he was thinking by doing this, but he does know that thinking more about Josh didn't help with his problem of thinking about him, if anything it made it worse.
Bill's mind spiraled while he did this , the more he thought about Josh the gayer the thoughts got, but as usual he just pushed those thoughts down. Bill doesn't know how long he did this for but by the time he stopped laying there it was dark,and he was hungry.
~~~~~~
October of 1997
Bill's got work again today, and unfortunately Joshenstein is working as well , and because the universe just seems to truly hate Bill they're both working in the warehouse together.
when they clocked in Steve told them "I need you two to stop fighting" "especially during you shifts and while near this building's property" Josh seems to be okay with that, but Bill doesn't like that idea because deep down he knows that the only way for him to be able to interact with Josh is by starting fights, especially because of the club breaking up and them no longer having a reason to talk outside of work.
They did get to working and totally not mostly just slacking off , and of course a fight inevitably broke out. this fight in particular was bad Bill wasn't exactly sure what stared it but i was something about the comic book store incident.
"YOUR ASS STARTED IT AND THEN TRIED TO BLAME THE REST OF US!?" Josh yelled as he threw a punch towards Bill "YEAH SO WHAT IF I FUCKING DID" Bill replied as he tried and failed to dodge Josh's punch , as the fight escalated so did the volume of the yelling. By the time Steve walking in they were both extremely bloodied and Bill was straddling Josh and punching his nose repeatedly.
Steve called the cops and told them they were both fired and charged with a fine of 1000$ luckily they both got away with no jail time.
~~~~~~
Bill's mum was more than disappointed about his, but was nice enough to not kick him out as he did pay the fine on his own
Bill wanted to message Josh but he couldn't do that without revealing himself as greedo318. Instead of messaging josh he decided to sulk as he sat with an ice pack he got from the police station held against his nose.
Bill also may or may not of stolen a bottle of booze from his mum that he was planning on drinking later when she fell asleep.
~~~~~~
Bill's had enough. Stupid fucking Josh. as Bill keeps thinking about the fight the two of them had earlier rage grows in his stomach, along with something else. the something else is some feelings Bill has been trying to shove down for way too long ; trying to convince himself that he's not a fag.
Before Bill can even realize it he's on his way to Josh's house, Bill cracks open the bottle and chugs sip after sip enjoying the nice burning sensation whist trying to think of what the hell he was going to tell Josh when he sees him, would he even say anything or would would he just punch him. Josh and his stupid fat and acne filled face. The walk to Josh's isn't usually too long but time has been moving slower since he started walking.
Bill's mumbling nonsense while looking down at his shoes when plonk he smashes into someone, it's too dark to see who it is but he can tell the dude is FAT "hey man, are you okay?" it's Josh.Bill could tell — even if Bill never hears Joshua sound concerned he can tell.
"fuck *hic off" most of Bill's bottle was gone at this point "BillɁ̦ is that you?" "I told you to fuck. off. Josh."
"No." josh sternly replies to him with "why not? Why can't you just get out of my fucking head like anything else. why do you have to just keep coming back into my head no matter what. Like *hic a fucking computer virus!"
Bill can feel his face getting hot, was he crying? "why is it that whenever i think about you I feel a weird warm sensation in my core? why is it that you are the only person in the club I've ever actually feared losing" Bill's nose is running down into his mouth. " and why is it you that's turning me into a fag" Bill puts emphasis onto you, and practically cries out the word fag. Bill walks up to Josh and slaps him, then grabs the collar of his star wars t-shirt, and kisses him. The kiss is filled with so much hate and love. Bill held it for awhile before letting go leaving Josh dumbfounded.
"now's the time where you call me disgusting and say you never want to see me again"
Bill's still crying, he's just standing there in the dark waiting for a response,any response from Josh "I don't know what to say…" Josh's heart was beating fast, he hadn't even expected to see Bill he was just walking around for a breath of fresh air
Josh not being able to put his feelings into words goes and hugs Bill, it's the best and most loving hug Bill's ever received. Josh then tilts Bill's head up and kisses him gently, just as a way to tell Bill how he feels without actually telling him.