Ship? Sailed. @allaboardtheussharringrove - Tumblr Blog

ihni

Summer is almost here! Have a vacation Billy <3

memes-saved-me

The summer trio we deserved

atomicblondeweirdodaceeryontwt

cuepickle

Got a light?

little-orange-in-the-basket

my boys ☺️

lovebillyhargrove

Billy : I'm in love with you.

Steve : *shocked silence*

Billy : *panicking* Haha, April Fool's!

Steve : April Fool's was a month ago.

Billy :

Steve :

Billy : *sprints away*

Steve, sprinting after him : YOU GET BACK HERE YOU JERK AND EXPLAIN YOURSELF!

anonymousstrangerthongs

I’ll never understand how the same fandom that victimizes and sympathizes with will and El, who are classic victims, turns around and calls Billy a villain.

He was abused by his dad. Constantly. That’s not up for debate. But because he didn’t react to trauma the “right way,” people act like he wasn’t a victim too.

And I always see “Well Jonathan was abused and he didn’t act like Billy.” Yeah. Because Jonathan had Joyce. Billy had no one. No support system. No safe parent. Different people survive abuse differently.

You can’t say Billy wasn’t redeemable when he literally sacrificed himself for El. That moment showed who he really was underneath the anger. A good person who was hurt and misunderstood.

I’m not excusing how he treated others. But I find it ridiculous how we only extend compassion to victims who act palatable. Trauma isn’t pretty, and “perfect victim” isn’t a real thing.

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lovebillyhargrove

Fair's fair.

anonymousstrangerthongs

I want to add to the argument of Billy not being the “perfect victim”

i’m not denying that billy was canonically racist and did really harmful things. the way he treated lucas was so wrong.

but i think the show also makes it pretty clear that he wasn’t born that way. when el goes into his memories, we see him as a kid on the beach with his mom happy, gentle, loved. that scene exists to show us who he was before his dad’s abuse and before his mom left.

he’s 17/18 in the show. still a kid. and he grew up with a father who drilled those racist, controlling beliefs into him, and he didn’t have anyone around to teach him something different. no support system, no one showing him another way to be.

i also read his “protect max” behavior as complicated. yes, it’s toxic and controlling. but i think it’s rooted in fear too. he grew up hearing “there are people out there who’ll hurt you” from his dad, and he knows neil would punish him if he let max hang out with lucas. neil uses max to control billy, so billy’s aggression feels like survival as much as anything else.

and season 3 really shows there was good in him. in the sauna, he’s actively fighting the mind flayer he tells el to get away even though he’s in pain. if he didn’t care, he wouldn’t struggle.

then at starcourt, el reminds him of his mom, of the person he was before all the abuse. he breaks free and chooses to save them. his “i’m sorry” to max is the first time we see him make a truly selfless choice.

so yeah. he did awful things. but i don’t think the point of his arc is to say he was just a monster. it feels more like a story about cycles of abuse, and how a kid who was never shown kindness can still choose it in the end.

holding both truths the harm and the trauma feels really important to me.

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aeon-of-neon

Steve absolutely did not walk through the forest in his nice designer clothes and expensive sneakers and turn skull rock into the most popular make-out spot to NOT suck faces with resident bad boy Billy Hargrove there.

robotmango

forever love that the basketball scene is like

billy: hey. hey hey hey hey. i heard you were cool. are you cool. everybody says you were cool. and now you're a little bitch. are you a little bitch. look at me look at me. hey cool cool bitch look at me are you looking

steve: why... is this happening

lovebillyhargrove

Steve, still awake at 3AM : If you work on a farm, and your job is to take care of chickens, you are a chicken tender.

Billy, eyes wide staring at the ceiling :

persiancatjonathanbyers

I LOVEEEEEE when people make Billy smart and not just like a depressed asshole, like yes that boy loves math,and science. He also 2000% reads like old books. I also guarantee that he tries to keep it on the downlow but he gets pissed off and shouts something that makes people realize that he’s like super smart. Like I’m talking all AP classes, top of the class stuff. Please tell me someone else gets this •_•