* heather & billy + some babysitting adventures. / @thcrnedroses
it’s not unlikely for billy to be getting worked up in the middle of the garage at his work, at the auto shop downtown hawkins. completely MIND BLOWN when heather’s called in to ask him to help her babysit tonight. BABYSIT.
‘no. i’m not helping you with that. not in a million freakin’ years am i helping you babysit. do i look like someone just DYING to be around babies? i hate babies. they’re just--” stuttering, voice trailing off, trying to find a reason why he’s so triggered at the idea of babies. it’s such a deep rooted reasoning. he’s so freaked out by them, because he’s jealous. he hates they’re always so vulnerable-- loved and cherished by most parents and he’s....not.
‘i don’t know, they’re weird. and useless. do it on your own.’ before slamming the phone and storming away from it. not even his phone to slam. one of his co-workers are watching him stalk off, judging him like he needs a bucket of ice to cool such a temper down over...babysitting?? only thing he can muster, the baby must be his and he’s hating everything to do with it. jeez, pretty judgy for a guy. then again, most guys ARE as gossipy and judgmental as females.
that mindset all changed later that night, though. when billy showed up, acting like he never said that.
‘i heard there was weird stuff going on... like girls going missing kinda weird. so i decided i had to come over and make sure the only girl who doesn’t get on my nerves doesn’t go missing.’ that was his excuse when he showed up and heather asked him what about hating babies. but, they both know, he was just worried about her. he didn’t even go home and clean up, he’s still dressed in his dirty jeans and his blue short sleeved mechanic shirt that his billy written in cursive on his left chest bone.
and while he was still freaked out by a baby, he quickly became the one to get the fussy creature to quiet down. and got a big head from it, too. plus deep down....it made him feel nice that another person didn’t hate his guts, that something he’s so weirded out by was the thing to be the nicest to him. and... they’re not so bad when they’re relaxed and clinging on to your finger with all five of their smaller ones. he definitely doesn’t hate them. they’re not useless either, this one has at least put enough warm feeling in his heart.
after some time, he left the room to go to the kitchen then came back to to their living room fort they made. pillows and blankets layering the carpet, it was his idea. he didn’t want to place the kid in her crib way upstairs where those rumored monsters could snatch her while they were down here sleeping on the couch. who knows... maybe he’s attached now. maybe he gets attached super easily to certain beings, like the same thing that happened with him and heather. now, he feels like’s protective over a third girl in his life. max, heather, now this chubby cheeked weird little creature. that’s why he decided they could build a blanket fort, for fun. but it was a way just to make sure nothing happens to the helpless baby-- so she can sleep in between them.
billy’s standing across the room, still acting like he needs to keep his distance. but here he’s actually just caught completely in a trance, a sweet expression has never really crossed his expressions before until now. no smile dared to show upon his ever so broody and stoic features until this moment. staring at the girl he loves so much... being so endearing with the smaller human as they coo at each other before the baby drifts off into a slumber. at first, he really was jealous. but now he... likes the sight of it. how can he not find himself smiling when he’s daydreaming of family things he never even thought about... before his eyes got a glimpse of seeing what having a new family would be like.
he gets the idea from this sight alone. he could come home from work and spend the rest of his evening acting exactly like this with heather, building blanket forts and sleeping in the floor with his new family. it’s just dawned on him, that he doesn’t have to stay trapped in his old one and that’s why it’s so hypnotizing. one day they could have a new one. and a better one. and...it isn’t stupid to think of it like this. that’s what he tells himself when something tries to tell him he’s getting so far ahead of himself. those nagging thoughts that are always there to tell him he’s meant to be alone for the rest of his life.
blue eyes widen like quarters the second heather’s voice snaps him out of his thoughts, scared and flinching at being caught in such an intimate thought.
‘you’re staring.’
‘.....’
‘and you’re smiling.’
‘what? no, i’m not.’
‘remember? i’m just standing here...being body guard.’ billy picks himself up from leaning off the doorframe, coming over to her in the living room floor. sits down in the floor and crawls up to heather in their blanket and pillow pallet, the baby in between them, ‘making sure... no monsters get you guys.’ voice deep and trying to swoon her with his batting lashes, leaning in to kiss the corner of her lips before leaning back on his propped elbow. smiling in amusement, they both know he’s making shit up. but at least what he was really thinking of can keep going unsaid and he can go back to smiling at them in endearment. blue hues sparkling and definitely gone back to admiring. and wide awake to protect them, like he promised.