#b.h.

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“Hello brother.” Elijah walked into the Klaus’ home, where he currently resided. A place to crash while he worked on finding a home for Alex to occasionally house hop into as well as call his own.

The idea seemed inconspicuous, seeing as Alex would rarely be there as it is. She’s cautious of who would spot her anyway which had him worriless for her feeling of safety and comfortability. At least he would have an area that would be comfortable for her and they could spend time together.

Elijah squinted his eyes, recognising the background. The gym where Alex did gymnastics. She looked graceful in his brother’s painting yet the thought of Niklaus knowing this scene had his veins with adrenaline.

“I can hear your pulse rising.” A hum came from the ginger.

“I swear brother, if you-“

“You’ll what? Pluck my heart out? Beat and drain me? All I did was I pay her a visit to chat. No blood shed, so need to worry.”

Elijah sighed, turning on his heel. He adjusted his cuffs, retrieving his phone to fix the stray hairs that shifted throughout the day. “There’s always a reason to worry when it comes to you.” Though quiet, it hung in the air like the very bricks accenting the house’s atmosphere.

Elijah approached the steps to the Salvatore’s entrance door, knocking and waiting with a stoic exposure.

“Alex! That’s all you.” Damon turned the page of a newspaper he read

“What? Why.” She was caught up in a book.

“Because it’s Elijah.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Everyone knocks in their own way. His is formal, swift with pauses. Everyone's is quick and sporadic.”

“Fine.” Alex sped to the door, bookmarking her page with her finger.

The Original greeted her with a smile as the door swung open.

“Hey.” Her tone was casual.

“Evening Alex.”

“Sooo, do you wanna come inside or have me come out there?”

“Out here would be great.” He could see her joy bloom at his wording.

“Gotcha.” Alex looked over her shoulder to set her book down and close the door behind her. “So what bring ya-“

One blink and the brick exterior changed to the forest. “Here. … Why the secludedness?” She was getting a bit suspicious here.

He wanted to hold you to his chest and tell you things were gonna be okay, to take you away from this place. But he couldn’t. He could barely comprehend what happened to him or if that thing came back for him. You were safer away from him. Your heart would mend, it would no longer feel pain when you thought of memories of him. You would grow old, and Billy would be nothing more than the man you used to love. He couldn’t risk putting you in any danger. He loved you too much to put you in danger, even Billy wasn’t that selfish. Terror coursed through his veins even 3 weeks later. The fear never settled within Billy. What lied under Hawkins, Indiana needed to stay down there. Whatever took Billy, took his freedom, and took his life was pure evil. None of that was going to touch you. Not if he could help it. He saw you, that night walking out of Starcourt Mall. Hand in hand with Max, tears streaming down your cheeks. Max looked like a zombie, she barely responded when medics rushed to their sides. Police officers surrounded the two of you, waiting to get your statements. Tears left his own eyes when he saw you finally lose it. The officer grabbed you before you fell to the ground. Letting out a scream that brought unease to the group of bystanders. Billy Hargrove had died in that mall. He died in your arms. You watched the life slip from his eyes. Held him as his body started to grow colder and his body stiffened. They say you tried to fight the officers who dragged you away from Billy Hargroves body. The problem was, he wasn’t dead. Billy was stuck in a world where death thrived, and evil had been born. He was scared when he heard his name being called out in a statement to the Hawkins nightly news. Left with nothing but confusion. He was there, standing next to a tree, flesh, and blood. When he finally figured out the man they said was dead was the man from the empty Hawkins, his heart sank. It was impossible to go back. He saw what the fake Billy had done. There was no coming back from that, too much carnage and death had followed him. No one would believe his story, nor would anyone treat him kindly. He couldn’t blame them, thirty people were dead because of what was essentially Billy. If he ever told them the things he saw down there, the only thing he would receive is a one-way ticket to the psych ward. He retreated into the woods after watching you for a few more minutes. A 7/11 came into view, so with wallet in hand, snacks were bartered, and a motel was called. The Camaro was long gone. Not that he would look for it even if he did have a clue where this fake Billy put it. Fake Billy. That guy or whatever he was, was a menace. Billy wanted nothing more than to put his head through a wall and send him straight back to hell. Glimpses of what the fake Billy did, flashed through his mind while he was down there. Like he was living vicariously through the fake Billy. He felt the warmth of your skin on his lips. He felt your heartbeat against his side as if you were curled to his side. When he opened his eyes, imagine his disappointment when you weren’t there, like it was all a dream. It must have been some cruel and unusual form of punishment to be jealous of himself. So that brought him to now. Three weeks at a shitty motel came to an end. His funeral was over, and now it was time for him to say his own goodbyes. Max was taken home by Susan and Neil. You stayed back with Harrington and Dustin until you couldn’t stand to be there anymore. That girl he talked to in the dark place, paid her respects with Nancy’s brother. All of them disappearing into their cars. Billy made his way to the airport, after a trip to the bank he quietly, probably suspiciously, emptied what was in his bank account. It wasn’t much, but it would get him to where he wanted. He would figure out the rest later. He just wanted to go home, back to the sandy beaches, warm weather, and where the sunshine never said goodbye. Back to California, he had a few friends who were getting a house and wanted him to come. There was no better chance, they would have no idea that “Billy Hargrove” was dead. None of it made the news beyond the local circuit. He gave one final swan song to Hawkins, Indiana.

One year later Plans change, they fall through, and sometimes someone is left behind. Billy didn’t mind, though, he was fine on his own. Had a steady job, changed his name and moved on. The thought of you was the only thing that could break him down. He wondered how you were. Were you happy? Were you as miserable as Billy was? Part of him hoped so, hoped that you cried yourself to sleep like he did. When he stopped being selfish, all he wanted was for you to be happy. Billy grabbed his surfboard from the water and brought it to the sand. Digging it into the sand, he sat next to it. He loved to surf at sunrise. No one was there that early, families only started coming when he left. He grabbed his things and gathered them in his arms when he wished he would’ve never heard again. “Billy?”

Love was cruel and not worth anything in the end. It’s just a consumeristic ploy that gets you to buy movie tickets and to sell chocolate on Valentine’s Day. It wasn’t real. It was all lust, love at first sight? Fake, what they're really thinking is, ‘my god, that person really is fuckable.’

Sighing, you went into your powder pink bathroom. Feet slipping on the water Steve had left after his shower. When all his clothes were in the correct hampers, you quickly passed the kitchen, deciding to skip dinner. You weren’t that hungry, working at a diner was hard, but the free food was a good perk. Especially for a broke college student. 

Your room was dark, the door screamed against its hinges as you shut it. As much as you loved Steve, you were glad he was always gone. In part because it’s what you preferred and you didn’t want to infect in with your sadness. Was it really that pathetic that you were currently reaching for a half-empty bottle of cologne to spay onto your sheets? That in two minutes, you would light three cigarettes and hold them near your pillow? Maybe, but it was the only thing keeping you afloat. Especially now. 

With the cigarettes burning in your hand, you picked up your favorite picture of him. It was a rare one, he was actually smiling. It wasn’t one of those signature smirks he always gave. It was real. The real billy. No one really gave the real Billy a chance. They wrote him off as a punk as soon as they saw him. People are quick to judge when they don’t know the whole story. Just like love, the truth was more painful than what they told us growing up.

“Why can’t I move on?” You whispered to yourself. You took a drag of the cigarette that sat lit between your fingertips. A coughing attack took over, and you groaned reaching for some water. You couldn’t understand his appeal for them, never had, and never will. After all three were burnt, you laid down in your bed that was now plastered in his scent. It wasn’t perfect. Your sheets weren’t mixed with his shampoo, his hairspray or the way his skin smelled after a basketball game. But it was close enough to lull you to sleep for a few hours. 

“Hey! Wake up, we gotta go. It’s an emergency. Pack a bag we’re going to the airport,” Steve shook your shoulders ripping you away from a peaceful sleep. Your heart climbed into your throat and made you sick to your stomach. When you finally gained full consciousness, you watched as Steve ran around the room putting things he thinks you like in a bag. 

He motioned for you to hurry and rushed to his own room to do the same. Grabbing more essentials and getting dressed, you found Steve waiting in the living room for you. He had a toothbrush in his mouth, the paste dribbling down his chin. His shoulder held the phone close to his ear, confirming two flights to LAX. It was two am, and it was officially proven that Steve Harrington was crazy. 

~~

Three days earlier

Billy’s eyes widened as he saw a brown-eyed boy with a bowl cut standing in front of him.  A chill ran up his spine, he knew this kid. The boy smiled before he took a small step back. 

“Will Byers, Jonathan's brother, I was a friend of Max’s?” Billy nodded, finally putting the pieces together. They weren’t friends by any means, but he’d seen him around. He never tried to date Max, so there was no point in getting to know him. 

“How are you alive? We all saw you die, you sacrificed yourself to the mind flayer. How did you survive? Did El bring you back to life?” Rather than frightened, the boy looked confused. He looked as if Billy being brought back to life was an acceptable answer. There was no fear, only confusion, and genuine concern. And for some reason deep down, Billy didn’t feel afraid to tell him the truth, so that’s what he did. 

“Everything was dark, it was Hawkins but with the life taken out of it. It was so cold. No matter what I did, I could never get warm. Sometimes I was in a dark room with water, and I saw that girl you know there too. I tried to get to her, but she left before I could reach her,” with every word he said Billy got more and more withdrawn. A cold breeze running through his body. Will shivered the more he talked 

“We call it The Upside Down, I’ve been there too. When they thought I was missing, that’s where I was. The thing that you saw down there, and what died in the mall was a mind flayer,” the young boy sighed knowing this was information overload. But he also knew that Billy deserved answers. 

“It possessed me too, except I wasn’t stuck in the upside-down. I’m not sure how that happened. A couple of years ago, the U.S. government used Hawkins as one giant experiment, trying to find out that the supernatural existed, to use it as a weapon. Things turned sour, and it left a big mess for my friends, it’s how we found El. She’s the girl you saw down there.” 

On any regular basis, billy would’ve told the young child to go fuck off and give some insult about how he was crazy. But Billy heard the stories about Will Byers, the boy who came back to life. He’d once found an old missing poster with him on it. So for now, he didn’t find it that crazy, especially paired with Billy’s own experiences 

“I saw her touching me.. not me per se but, whatever looked like me. I was sitting on my bed in my room, and she was real and apparently so was I. I tried to yell, to run to get there but nothing was enough. Now it just feels like it’s watching me, following me.”

“We’re connected to it now, to the mind flayer. Even in death, I can still feel it. Maybe it will never leave, maybe it will go away. It’s terrifying, but I don’t want it to control my life. Do you?” A simple question, yet it caught him off guard. He had moved on, things were going fine he had a job, a home, and a small group of friends. But if he asked himself if he was truly happy, he probably would’ve said no. He was scared shitless. 

“Can I ask you for a favor?” Billy whispered. The boy nodded, knowing that despite everything, the two young men would do anything for each other. 

“Can you call someone for me?” 

~~~

Present:

The car moved shook with the bumps along the pavement. The smell of sea salt was becoming stronger, the closer you got to the beach. It was beautiful, that’s what Steve said at least. Your mind was racing, your heart stopped, and your chest slowly moving. You didn’t know how to feel. When you touched down in Los Angeles, you figured something was off, but when Steve started driving towards Palos Verdes, you knew something major must be wrong. You had begged and pleaded to know if El and the rest of the Byers family were okay. It terrified you to no end when Steve remained silent. It took you screaming your lungs out for Steve to finally pull over to a local diner. 

Now you sat in the passenger seat tears streaming down your cheeks. You didn’t know what to say, you couldn’t breathe, you couldn’t even blink. Billy was alive. Steve told you everything on the side of the highway, at first you thought you heard him wrong because of all the cars driving past. But Steve stood there barely looking you in the eyes like he felt guilty for giving you the information. He hasn’t said much either since you stepped in the car. Explaining it all either drained him or he was afraid to say anything more.

“Billy Hargrove died in the Starcourt Mall from a freak gas leak. If that’s not true, that means the truth is more painful than what actually happened” Steve sighed, he had no idea how to comfort you. He couldn’t tell you everything was okay or it would be fine because it wasn’t. 

Billy was alive, you knew that in your heart. You prayed for so many nights it was all a joke and Billy was pissing his pants from how funny it was. That he would pick you up from work and drive you home. That the man you all thought had died just looked a lot like Billy, and you didn’t know who he really was. 

Yet somehow the truth was much worse than that. Billy knew your heart was shattered, he knew that you were in pain, and he was the only one who could save you. Instead of coming back and risking questions, he walked away. He walked away from you, Max, and everyone else. He watched you and decided you weren’t enough of a reason to come back. He lived it up in California while you got to hold max when she cried herself to sleep every night. Maybe everyone was right, he wasn’t redeemable he was just an asshole. 

“Do you want to see him?” Steve asked you, the beach was only a few minutes away, and your anxiety grew with each mile closer. 

“How am I supposed to look at him after everything. I thought he died in my arms and it turns out he was alive the whole time? Why didn’t he come to me?” A small part of you knew why he did what he did, he was scared and alone. 

“You’re the only person who’s looked at him with pure kindness, he was confused and had nowhere to go. Can you blame him for running away?” He reached over and grabbed your hand. A small gesture that brought you great comfort. 

“How many people know?” 

“Only you, me and Will. Billy wanted to make sure you knew before the others. I’m not sure if he ever plans on telling the others.” He pulled into the beaches parking lot. The glow of the setting sun burned your eyes. He was down there, in the flesh for the first time in over a year. 

You figured out later that the last time you saw the unflayed Billy was the night of the accident. He had just dropped you off, and he said he would see you tomorrow, that he loved you and to be safe. He kissed you and smiled before getting into his car and driving away. After that, Billy started pushing you away, using you only for sex. Until that stopped too and he barely spoke to you. Then he died. You’d felt guilty for so long for not seeing the signs. 

“What if I can’t forgive him?” the whispered confession left your lips in shame. Was it fair to have spent a year grieving for this man only to push him away when you finally got him back? 

“Then you move on, but you won’t know until you see him. So go, he’s waiting.” that was his gentle way of kicking you out of his car. 

You stepped onto the hot pavement. The heat immediately suffocating you, this wasn’t Hawkins anymore. You saw Will standing close the steps, silently greeting you. He gave you a warm smile like he was telling you everything was going to be okay. Will nodded towards the water before going to sit in Steve’s car. 

Taking a deep breath of the salty air, you made your way down to the water. The hot sand sinking underneath your feet. Billy was here, this was the moment. Was he still the same? Would you still love him? Had he moved on? Was he just as broken as you? Your mind flooded with all these questions as you kept walking. Billy wasn’t there yet, giving you a small second of relief to catch your breath. 

A small tap on your shoulder broke you from your thoughts, it was hesitant, and he was obviously just as nervous as you were. There he was. When you turned around, the man you loved more than anything was again standing in front of you. He had been kissed by the sun, and his hair was wilder than ever before. His green eyes were bright against his now tanned skin. 

A surge of anger ran through you as you shoved him away, again and again, and again. He took all of it. He grabbed your wrists when you started beating his chest. Bruises would appear later, but Billy knew full well he deserved all of it and more. 

“I’m so sorry,” he begged. His heart was beating so fast against his chest; he was afraid it would kill him before he could get the words out. You looked so perfect, he never doubted you would, but after a year you weren’t just in his dreams anymore. Your face was perfectly clear, the nightmares about forgetting your face vanished. 

He caught you before you fell to your knees into the sand and lowered his own body to you. He ran his fingers through your hair and held you close to his chest. Repeating that he was sorry and that he loved you so much. He begged you to forgive him. 

As he held you, your lungs filled with the smell of cigarettes, his cologne, and the smell of dried sea salt against his skin. He was back, he was warm, life was coursing through his veins. Every image of his cold body being whisked into a black back was replaced. You loved him, he was your one and only. The only man you could ever think of loving. Forgiveness was already given,   and explanations could wait until later. You had all the time in the world, nothing would separate the two of you again. He would always be there for you, he was your forever and always, and you were his.