Chapter Text
Billy growled, sniffing at the piles of skin at his feet, claws poking at the rapidly decaying flesh. It smelt wrong, not edible, the sour scent making him think of an ugly colour of yellow and brown. He snorted, the edges of his face stretching out so he could lick the chunks up. No use in leaving it, extra protein right? It was weird, chewing on his own flesh like it was soft, wet, jerky. It tasted surprisingly good, satisfying, and made him less jumpy for whatever odd reason. Maybe it was just the mouth feel, like chewing gum and really enjoying the flavour during class hours.
Once finished, Billy came back from his thoughts to find himself dragging his tongue along the concrete. The chlorine and blood mixed as good as a vodka tonic, not his favourite, but something tolerable. He knew Steve was gone, the fear that soured the air and grew fainter and fainter with every passing moment made his heart twist up. He figured it was a fifty fifty chance that the older teen would freak out, Billy saw a chance and took it. For what reason he didn’t really know, he’d come to apologize to him, not rip free of his too tight skin and tower over the pool like a creep.
His jaws snapped together, teeth clicking, his petal face pieces twitching as he sniffed around. The chlorine taking up most of his nose’s attention, it had a sweet but sour scent. Made his mouth water slightly, his claws twitching closer to the edge. Billy let into the urge, slipping into the water, letting it consume his heavy body, carrying it gently to the bottom. It was like floating in a black abyss, sightless, surrounded by a sweet but sickly smell, wrapped up tightly by a force he couldn’t control. It was oddly comforting, he felt like this should make him panic, but it didn’t.
After Neil, things changed. It was the first time he stretched out, fully stretched, and it was relieving just to stretch and zone out. Let the world spin on and take control while he just sat back and let his eyes close. He was afraid to admit that it wasn’t the fact he didn’t remember killing Neil that scared him, it was the fact he remembered all of it. Every single moment. Dragging him by his leg out the back door, his jaws clamping down so hard he remembered feeling Neil’s bone crack under the pressure. He remembered the satisfaction he felt as ribbons of Neil’s skin joined the blood soaked grass. He flexed his claw tipped fingers, remembering how nicely his knuckles flattened Neil’s skull. The crunch of thick bone ringing out as he positioned his fist back and forth.
Billy was afraid to admit in the moment, he almost didn’t open his eyes. He almost let himself sink to the bottom, never to open his eyes again, never to worry about anything because he was a fucking monster. Billy Hargrove had accepted the fact that he was a monster as he smashed his fathers face to the point it was behind recognition. He was ready to bolt after realizing Neil had stopped breathing, his heartbeat had silenced, leaving Billy heaving and claws flexing as everything started to stretch out more. As his jaw opened wide, ready to consume, leave behind nothing but crimson grass that would be washed clean from the rain.
It was the smell that brought him back, the smell of concern, worry, mixed with apple spice and cinnamon. That had him open his eyes into that same dark abyss, the realization coming crashing down on him as that smell filled his senses over the stench of Neil’s blood. He remembered towering over that smell, and the warmth that touched him, that distracted him from taking off into the Hawkin’s forests.
“It’s okay sweetheart, you can stop now.”
Susan was the one that brought him back, that saved him in some odd way. He was grateful for her, for the first time in his life since meeting here, that night was the first night he started looking at her like she was a mother. One that could maybe help ease the pain he felt about his birth mom. It was odd, had he thought about that a few years prior he would have laughed.
Susan? My mom? Yeah fucking right.
Now, Billy wasn’t so sure. It had felt natural to call her mom, like he did earlier, it was the first time since July, back when the shadow had taken him, that he’d felt a comforting warmth envelope him. Talking with her on the porch, laughing with her, her scolding him, her just being there with him. She’d really stepped up, claimed him as her own and here he was, a monster, just like the shadow, she’d seen him rip Neil into nothing, and she still chose to try and comfort him. She fought to get him back out of Owen's custody and Susan Mayfield won.
He sighed, the water that flowed into his mouth felt nice, oddly filling. He could feel his extra face appendages floating, the petals swaying with the settling water, it felt nice, not to be as heavy, to feel about as weightless and empty like he did above water. His therapist, Pam, would frown at that, he trilled at the thought of her thin lips pressing together, her green eyes calm, but sad. Pam would tell him to stop sulking, apparently he did that alot, and it was unattractive and childish to do so. Billy didn’t seem much wrong with it, sometimes you just needed to sulk and be angry.
“Billy, sulking is a way of closing yourself off, same with your outbursts of anger. When you close yourself off from the people you want to understand you all of those emotions build up, then for you they all come out in an explosion of anger. You just need to learn how to talk, to not drop bombs on people and just try and talk to them.”
He growled, sending up a stream of bubbles around him as his claws scraped at the pool tiles. Pam annoyed him to no end, here he was trying to talk to Steve, do what she asked, just open his mouth and talk and it came back and bit him in the ass.
“Billy Hargove, turning into a monster in front of a boy who has been through three years of monster related trauma is most certainly not what I meant.”
Billy could hear her shrill annoyed voice now, it maybe wasn’t his best idea. He was tired of this, all of it, everyone danced around the fact he’d died All of them except for Steve, and that was because Billy told him not to. Billy told him, and Steve didn’t and now Billy is sitting at the bottom of Steve Harrington’s stupid pool sulking because he jumped the gun and decided to monster out in front of Steve and Steve was long gone by now, probably rounding up Nancy and Johnathan to come drag him out of the pool and kill him because Billy was a monster and-
“Billy?” Steve gripped his bat tightly, eyes wide as he looked around the patio. No fleshy glowing portals, no prowling demodogs, no MindFlayer crawling out of the trees to attack him. Just the deck chairs, and the pool which lights flickered every so often. He slowly made his way closer, looking around, on high alert as his body was still shaking and begging him to turn tail and run back into the house. Max told him not to be scared, that it was just Billy, just, in an upside down monster form that Max didn’t think was important enough to let anyone know about.
“Billy, you still here man? Max called, her and Susan are worried about you.” Steve sighs, he’s sure that the blond-now-monster is still lurking around somewhere in his backyard, and he really didn’t want to look in the shed. Even before the whole upside down fiasco bullshit happened, that shed was just weird and ominous in general. He also doubted Billy could smash himself in the thing without splitting it open, which meant the only place left was probably the pool, or Billy had hightailed it into the forest and- wait, wasn’t that blood stain supposed to be the pile of Billy’s skin that had fallen off?
“Billy now would be the time to come out and not scare the shit out of me because at this point I think I’ll drop from a fucking heartattack.” Steve slowly made his way toward the pool, avoiding the patch of concrete that was stained a dark crimson. His eyes lingered on the stained concrete, his fingers curling tightly around the bad handle. He turned, looking back at the his house, wondering if it was still okay to just turn back now and give up. Would Billy even recognize him? Would Billy just rip him into tiny little shreds then swallow him up? What was he supposed to do if Billy was gone? Go looking for a ten foot monster in the Hawkins woods? Yeah right, like Steve could step foot in the forest by himself, one wrong cast shadow or snapping twig would send his fight or flight response off and he’d bolt. Hell, what if Billy was on the prowl for human flesh? What if-?
Steve blinks as something hits his hair, he reaches up to see, fingers gently brushing through the tangled brown locks. He must have zoned out while going through his what if list. His hand brushed through something wet, some of it felt like water, other parts felt thicker and sticky— kinda like drool. The brunette paused at the thought, a small smirk starting to bloom on his lips as he took in a deep breath, then slowly let it out. Steve slowly tilts his head up, eyes going wide as his head cranes back further to take in the hulking figure that was not hovering over him. Those familiar face petals seemed less scary and more intriguing now that he knew that odd looking elongated skull that sat in the center of those toothy petals belonged to Billy and not another fucked up minion of the MindFlayer.
“Hey Hargove, glad to see you’re still here and not off eating people’s cats or something.” Steve flinched as the blond-now-monster snorted, sending more droplets of pool water and strings of drool down on his face. Steve huffs and drags a hand over his cheek, flinging off the wetness. “Watch it man, your drool could be like acid or something.” He spun on his heels, now facing toward the pool as he watched the creature heave itself out of the pool, it’s claws scraping against concrete leaving shallow grooves behind. The brunette reminded himself that this wasn't an it, this was Billy, just, different. Dustin would definitely be a good person to have around at the moment. He’d probably be nerding out about how Billy has a freaky monster form and a perfect back story to be some kind of villain.
A deep growl pulled Steve from his thoughts, he shook his head to clear his train of thought, to focus on the situation at hand. Here he was, bat in hand, standing in nothing but a shirt and basketball shorts, quite literally surrounded by Billy Hargove. Who, in a strange turn of events can apparently turn into a ten foot something monster with a handful of terrifying features that reminded Steve of what a hell the last three, almost four years had been. Though, with a closer look, Billy somehow looked like a creature from a different dimension, well, technically he was now, but Steve wouldn’t have thought he was from the Upside Down. His body was sleeker, not as lumpy as the Mindflayer was. The skin was a dark black, spots where his scars stood out due to their mulberry purple red coloration. His eyes wandered up to the bone white skull that stared down at him, the tooth lined petals framing it just like a flower. It looked like some type of dog skull with a mix of human and jagged teeth, parts of the skull were covered in the same purple red flesh that the inside petals were composed of, as if they at one point were attached to the skull itself. Steve glanced down, his grip tightening on the bat as something bumped into it. Billy had another fucking pair of arms.
“Dude, I’m not going to lie, this is fucking crazy.” Steve looked back up and threw a grin up at him, only for the brunette to notice and make the connection. “Oh shit, you don’t have eyes. What the fuck, can you even see me?” Steve waved his hand teasingly in front of Billy’s snout while chuckling. “That must suck, not being able to see- HEY!” He jumped hearing the loud clack of Billy’s teeth as he lunged forward to snap at his fingers. The bat toppled to the ground, and Steve as clumsy as ever manages to somehow trip over it and fall back. He shouts in at a sudden pain in his shoulder, closing his eyes right expecting to hit the concrete.
After a few moments he slowly cracks open one eye, looking around he finds himself held steady by his arm. One of Billy’s giant taloned hands, the wide palm of his hand wrapped easily around Steve’s forearm. All his weight was suddenly put onto his shoulder from falling, it aches in protest as the brunette steady’s himself back on his feet. Billy doesn’t let go, but his grip starts to loosen.
“Thanks.” He gets a puff of air blown in his face and a snap of teeth in return. “Sorry I booked it, you just scared the fuck out of me. Give a guy a warning next time instead of just stripping off clothes. I went full panic mode.” Steve sighs, gently tugging his arm free. Billy huffs, letting a growl bubble up out of his throat, he supposed it was time to let the brunette's arm go.
“Does it hurt…? When your skin falls off?” Billy shakes his head, “Have you told anyone else, besides Max and her mom?” Another head shake. “How long has it been, since this has been happening?” Steve assumes that the head duck and twitch of shoulders is a shrug. He sighs, running a hand through his hair. Billy growls, claws clicking against the concrete as he stalks toward the house. It’s odd, watching him on all fours- well six technically, cross the distance, then turn back to look at him as if to say you coming or what Harrington?
“You are damn lucky my mom just had the contractor instal French doors.” Steve huffs as he jogs to catch up with the creature, shooing him back to get to the doors. The brunette couldn’t help but snicker at the thought of him shooing an inter dimensional creature that could rip his head off, let alone shooing Billy Hargrove. Who could also rip his head off, he isn’t quite sure which he’d rather go with if he actually had a choice. He fiddles with the second door lock near the top, listening for the click. It was awkward, Steve standing quietly fiddling with the door lock, while Billy hovered silently. A soft click finally sounded after what felt like ten minutes had dragged by, Steve almost said fuck it and let the younger just rip the damn door off. He felt like an idiot for taking so long, but nothing he could do about it now besides push it open.
He watched the creature duck down and wiggle his way in, shoulder hitting the chandelier causing it to swing back and forth. Billy clicked his jaw, hunkering down more and sulking his way into the living room where he could spread out and flop down on the floor. The china cabinet shook, plates and bowls rattling softly for a moment before quieting down. Steve leaned against the entrance way to the wall, watching as Billy lumbered around like a dog till he managed to find a comfortable position. Which happened to be curled around the coffee table like a giant snake, head resting on the far side of the couch two of those tooth filled petals acting like a pillow for the skull. With one big sigh the other three sagging alongside the rest of Billy’s body sagged with the exhale.
“Tired?” A tail flick was the only response he got before it snaked around his calf and knee, gently tugging him away from the wall. Steve sighed, giving in and letting the tail tug him closer. “It’s okay man, just sleep for a bit okay? You’re safe here, not to mention when you wake up there will probably be chinese food.” Steve felt like he was just talking out loud, Billy might have been already asleep for all he knew. Though, the grip on his leg didn’t loosen even as the rise and fall of its chest evened out. He sighed.
After a few moments of struggling to free his leg and gently setting Billy’s tail down- which in retrospect he never thought he’d need to gently set anyone’s tail down in order not to wake them, but then again Hargrove did just turn into an inter dimensional monster by his pool and Steve let him in the house- to try and avoid disturbing him. Steve decided his life was just going to be weird. Probably until he died, and somehow, looking at Billy Hargrove- whose full name happened to have the word Ocean in it- as a ten foot tall weird looking Demogorgon hybrid of some sort that was sprawled out in his living room and dozing peacefully, he was perfectly okay with that.