The Bet [2] | b. hargrove
SUMMARY: Billy Hargrove never turns down a challenge.
PAIRING: Billy Hargrove x Reader
WARNINGS: Language, angst, fluff, eventual smut
NOTES: Um, thanks for stickin’ around? Also that gif should be classified as porn because of reasons. Posting this because I can’t wait any longer.
The damage to your car would cost a whopping $400 to fix, a hefty amount more than your piddly savings account was boasting. Randy Donner, the owner of the body shop, had even given you a small discount because he knew your father really well, but the final number was still stuck in your head. Maybe your dad’s insurance would cover it.
Fortunately, your dad wouldn’t be home until after your shift at Hawkins’s only comic book store, so you could stave off that conversation for a few hours. What pissed you off the most about the whole thing was that there wasn’t even any paint transfer from the other vehicle.
After leaving Randy’s body shop, you had just enough time to run home and change before your shift started. You threw on a pair of rattier jeans and a plain black shirt, an unofficial uniform of Comic Book Palace. Lacing your sneakers, you called out a quick goodbye to your mother and headed into town. You pulled your car into the rear lot.
Your coworker, Lil, was leaning against the counter when you walked in, the bell above the door announcing your arrival. She snapped her gum, looking at you blandly.
“You’re late,” she muttered. Glancing at the clock above her head, you scoffed.
“By like, three minutes, Lil. Give me a break.”
“Whatever. I’m leaving. Have fun.”
Lil was a character. The two of you didn’t necessarily get along, despite sharing similar feelings about working in a comic book store. Read: you despised it. But that’s as far as your similarities went. Lil was into smoking and drinking and wearing nothing but the color black, she cursed like a sailor even when customers were present, and her overall attitude just screamed fuck off. You weren’t really sure how she managed to land her job, but Lil was pretty enough, and your manager had a thing for pretty girls.
At that thought a slimy shiver slid down your spine. Marv owned the store and managed it full time instead of paying someone else to do it. He was in his late twenties and creepy as hell, but you supposed you had to have a level of creepiness if you were a twenty-something-year-old man who owned a comic book store.
Throwing your bag into the locker in the break room, you grabbed your name tag and pinned it to your shirt. One good thing about your job was the lack of official uniforms. You punched in on your time card, offering a polite wave to Marv as he sat in his office balancing books. He gave you a lewd smile, not shy in the least in giving you a once-over. You rolled your eyes when your back was to him.
You spent the first portion of your shift straightening out the comics, facing the shelves, and dusting around the counter. Sheesh, did Lil do anything productive on her shift ever?
At ten of four the bell over the door rang, and you looked over to see your quartet of favorite customers piling into the store. You grinned widely at them as they tripped over each other to get to the counter.
“Did it come in? Do you have it?” Dustin asked, the others repeating the same questions.
“Calm down, calm down. Yes we have it. It just came in yesterday.” Ducking under the counter, you dug through a cardboard box and pulled out four copies of the latest Iron Man comic. You laid them on the counter and the four boys in front of you scooped them up and nearly ripped the pages in their rush to open them.
Dustin, Mike, Will, and Lucas had been coming into the comic book store longer than you’d worked there. When you first started, you hadn’t had a clue about comic books, but that changed after just one meeting with the boys. Dustin had started it off by asking how you even got a job at a comic store if you knew nothing about them, and then he wandered to the shelves and picked up a comic.
He threw it on the counter, ordered you to read it despite the fact that you were on the clock, and then spent the next thirty minutes explaining everything to you about that particular issue.
It was an odd sort of friendship that blossomed from that first day, but the boys had become your favorite customers and your best friends.
They ended up migrating to the circle of chairs closer to the back of the store, chattering away about the new issue. You smiled after them, shaking your head, before resuming your duties of keeping the store clean. Your cleaning eventually brought you over to the boys.
“Oh so did you hear? Someone beat Dustin’s score on Dig Dug,” Lucas teased, his teeth glimmering against his dark skin as he grinned. Your eyebrows rose and you looked over at a grumbling Dustin. “Some kid named Mad Max.”
“But you’re the champ of Dig Dug! How could someone beat your score?”
“No clue, but he did it.” Lucas was still smiling like the cat that ate the canary.
“You’re enjoying this too much, Lucas,” you said with a smirk, pointing the feather duster at him.
“Just means that Dustin is still second best. Wha-bam!” Lucas gestured wildly with his hands, miming dropping a bomb.
“All right, all right, that’s enough,” Dustin stated, closing up the comic book as he finished it. “Let’s go. It’s dinner time.”
The boys continued to bicker as they handed you back the comics, thanking you for letting them hang out for a while, and then they left.
After them, you had a total of one other customer, a girl about the same age as the boys. Her hair was bright red and she held a skateboard under her arm.
“Hi, can I help you find anything?” you asked her. Her head whipped around to you.
“Um, do you have any Captain Marvel?” she asked timidly, her face tinging pink. You smiled politely and nodded. Stepping around the counter, you led her down the aisles until you found the Captain Marvel section.
“Any particular issue you’re looking for?” She shook her head. “Okay. Well, have you read her comics before? If not, I suggest starting from the beginning. We have issues one through twelve in stock right now, but we might be getting more in the next few weeks. Let me know if you need any help okay? My name’s Y/N.”
“Max,” the girl replied with a small smile. “Thanks.”
Max ended up staying until you were closing up the store, getting lost in the world of Carol Danvers. Knowing Marv was still in the back room, and probably would be for most of the night, you offered to wait with Max for her ride to come pick her up. She waited up front while you fetched your bag, took off your name tag, and once again waved politely at Marv.
“Have a wonderful night, Y/N,” he said lasciviously. Cringing, you hurried back up to the front where Max was waiting.
You sat on the curb with her next to your car, asking her about school and what got her into Marvel comics. The sound of a revving engine halted your conversation as a blue Camaro came flying into the lot. Smoke streamed from the driver’s side door. You and Max stood up and your eyes glanced over to the Camaro; you suppressed a groan when you saw its driver. The passenger window rolled down and the smirking face of Billy Hargrove greeted you.
“You work at the Nerd Palace, princess?” he taunted, bringing the cigarette to his mouth to take a long drag. You scrunched your nose as he blew it out towards you, waving it away.
“Smoking kills, you know,” you groused. Max smirked as she stood up to put her skateboard in the backseat. “This is your brother?”
“Step-brother,” she corrected sourly.
“I am so sorry, kid.” You smiled as she laughed, but it dropped when you shot Billy a glare. Max flipped the passenger seat forward and sat down it, closing the door but leaning out the window. “Next time I’ve got some cool comics for you.”
You ignored Billy’s derisive snort and his grumbling, something along the lines of “cool and comics don’t belong together”. Max, meanwhile, smiled and nodded excitedly, and without saying another word, Billy floored it, tires squealing as he peeled out of the lot. You watched as his taillights faded into the distance. Shaking your head, you got into your car and prepared yourself for a long discussion with your dad about your car.
The Bet Masterlist | Part Three
Tag List: @hotstuffhargrove@50shadesofbillyhargrovedaddy @dacremontgomerylover @steveharrigntons @cherryblcssm @runningoutofwordstosay @kaitlinlexiexx @devenrenee @infinitelycharmed23 @inkthieves @shanominom @livinglike-jimmorrison @thoughstofaredhead
To be tagged please send an ask!.
stormborns
prguitarman
titsay
origamiaround
izzy806
