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#harringrove for palestine
mrsblackruby · 5 months
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look it’s you’re choice to watch strangers things or not but talking the talk is different from walking the walk and i see no need to support a show made by Zionists for my own luxury when i could literally boycott or pirate it if i wanted too.
like just accept the fact that if you choose to promote watching stranger things on Netflix you didn’t choose Palestine. Like and I’m not saying this to come for anyone cuz all of our taxes funds the bombing campaign but I’m not gonna pretend paying taxes isn’t contributing to the genocide when it is.
watching Stranger things promotes the genocide so I won’t be watching
Cancel that subscription and I oop—
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ihni · 3 years
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For @flippyspoon, who supported Harringrove for Palestine in exchange for this doodle. Prompt: “dance battle”, based off a conversation on discord.
Poor Dustin. XD
(Also, I had so much fun googling 80s dance moves.)
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merlinthecowboy · 3 years
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here is a little something for @ihni thanks so much for donating and participating in harringrove for palestine!
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yikesharringrove · 3 years
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We’re Us
A little commishy for my bxtch @thinger-strang.
Read on Ao3
This shit is SOFT
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“Dustin, we all saw that fireball hit you,” Will said accusatorily, gesturing to the red bean bag on the ground at Dustin’s feet.
“Okay, first of all, you’re supposed to call a pause of play before using my real name,” Dustin said, all in one breath. “And second of all, the fireball only hit my lute, therefore I sustained no physical damage.” Dustin gestured to the cereal box that was taped to a jump rope, slung over his shoulder like it was a prized instrument.
“No, it didn’t. We all saw it hit your shoulder. You’d lose that arm at least, and take probably, like, fifty damage points.” Lucas pretended to aim a bow and arrow at Dustin while he spoke.
Dustin was getting dangerously close to huffy territory.
“Fine. Whatever. I’ll take the stupid damage points. Can we resume play yet?”
Everyone nodded, and they fell right back into battle.
It wasn’t often they took the game off the DnD board, but the weather was perfect, summer beginning to make itself known a little earlier than usual, giving them April days that were clear and perfect and made for the best LARP sessions known to Indiana.
Will aimed a fireball at Max, and launched it right as she darted out of the way. It sailed past her, missing her left hand by less than an inch, and she laughed wildly, raising her pool noodle sword and aiming blow after blow at him.
The bean bag hit the fence and went spiraling awkwardly into the small alley between the house and the old wooden fence
It was Will’s last fireball, and he hurried to retrieve any he could reach, dodging as best as he could around Max’s wild sword-wielding.
She tended to wallop them as hard as she could, somehow knocking the wind out of them with her soft excuse for a sword.
Will scrambled to pick up his bean bag from the overgrown grass and curling weeds, catching his breath quickly in the alley where he couldn’t be seen.
And then a sound drew his attention away from the battle.
It was a soft sound. He wouldn’t have heard it if the rest of the party had been so quietly focused on battling one another less than twenty feet away.
But he did hear it, and his head whipped around to find the source of it.
Steve and Billy.
Against the house.
Kissing.
It was like time stood still.
Like Will had been hit by one of Mage El’s freezing bombs.
Steve had Billy pushed up against the side of the house, their bodies pressed flush together.
Steve was clearly propping up Billy with his body, Billy’s mobility cane, the one he had let them cover in stickers, was laying forgotten on the ground.
Billy’s arms were wrapped around Steve’s shoulders, his hands curled in the fabric of Steve’s t-shirt. Steve had his arms wrapped around Billy’s waist, half holding him close, half not letting him fall without his cane.
They were kissing like they were trying to devour one another, and Will realized that the sound he had heard was a moan.
It wasn’t like seeing Lucas and Max kiss, or Mike or El, or even Nancy and Jonathan.
Seeing Billy and Steve,
Will knew he shouldn’t be seeing them.
He knew this was wrong, and people said two boys kissing was foul and bad.
But this didn’t look anything but, well, loving.
The way Steve was making sure Billy didn’t fall while they kissed, the way sometimes they would pull back and smile, their faces never moving more than a few inches away from one another.
One of Billy’s rough hands left its place clawed in Steve’s t-shirt, reaching forward to brush one thumb clumsily down his cheek.
They pulled back from one another, smiling stupidly, still staring into each other’s eyes.
Billy brushed his thumb down Steve’s cheek again, and Steve moved like he was nuzzling into the touch, turning his head to the right, pressing a kiss to Billy’s rough, scarred palm.
It made Will feel like he was floating in space with nothing keeping him down.
Steve pressed a kiss to Billy’s cheek, then his nose, then his other cheek, and Billy’s cheeks flushed and he giggled, a sound that was so foreign to Billy Hargrove it almost made Will rub his eyes to make sure he was seeing the right person.
And Billy smiled, so calmly and easily.
It made his whole face change. He looked like a completely different person.
And Will realized, he’s never actually seen Billy smile like this.
The only times he’d come close, we tight tiny things that never reached his eyes and were dropped within a second or two.
This was a genuine smile, full of genuine happiness, and god -
They’re in love.
They’re two boys, and they’re standing right in front of Will and they’re in love.
They went back to kissing, moving their heads slowly side to side, their mouths opening and closing and Will was so aware of having never kissed anyone before.
“Will, seriously! I’ve been yelling for you-”
Mike stopped talking the second he rounded the house.
He was stalk still, his mouth hanging open like a dead fish at what he saw.
Will’s heart was thundering against his ribcage, and he tried to push Mike back towards the game, pleading quietly at him to move.
And then the rest of the group was joining them. Faces mirroring Mike’s dead fish expression as they stared, open-mouthed, at Steve and Billy.
Will had his back to them, but in the quiet, he could hear. He could hear the soft sounds and the moans, and even the giggles that made his face go hot and his stomach do a whole gymnastics routine inside of him.
Will was staring at each of his friends in turn, pleading with them to just turn right around, and continue on with play as nothing had ever interrupted their battle.
Like they haven’t just stumbled on a huge and dangerous secret.
He went as far as to push Lucas, gently shoving him backward saying go! Go! Under his breath.
The last thing he needed was for Steve and Billy to notice them here. To realize what they had seen. What they know.
And then-
“What the fuck?”
Billy and Steve broke apart, looking towards the entrance of the alley, and seeing all six of the party, staring at them.
Max had been the one to speak, and she was looking at Billy oddly, almost like she didn’t know who he was.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked, her voice quavering slightly.
Billy looked like he wanted to ground to swallow him right up.
Steve scrambled for the forgotten cane, keeping one hand on Billy’s elbow as he crouched down.
The movement made Will’s stomach flop over.
It was practiced.
Once Billy was standing on his own with the cane, Steve approached the kids calmly, his hands raised up like they were all wild animals that might attack at any moment.
“Look, I know how this looks, and you guys can’t-”
“It looks like, you guys were making out .” Dustin’s tone was hollow, and he looked as struck dumb as the rest of them.
“I know, and I mean, yeah. We were, but you need to listen -”
“Steve.”
Steve whipped right around when he heard the murmur.
Billy was standing slumped over against the house, one scarred, shaking hand covering his face, the other clutched so tightly to his cane his knuckles were white.
“Bill, I’m here, okay? I’m not going anywhere. You’re okay.” Steve rushed to Billy’s side, holding onto his elbow again, brushing his fingers softly through Billy’s short hair, winding his fingers through the wild curls that were just long enough to form. “I’ll deal with this. It’s okay. They’re not going to tell.” Steve glared at the kids when he said that, as if daring them to argue.
Billy kinda, fell forward, leaning against Steve once again, his face going into Steve’s neck.
Steve didn’t react, still brushing his fingers through sandy blond curls.
“You all know what could happen to us if people found out?”
Nobody answered him.
Truth is, they did know.
They knew the stories about young men being beaten nearly to death. Being run out of town or put in the hospital over nothing but a rumor.
Being gay wasn’t something that was tolerated in Hawkins.
Hell, Will himself has been pushed around and called queer as long as he could remember.
Even by his own father.
“We won’t tell anyone.” Will felt like how Billy looked. Like he was shaking apart right in front of them. “I promise. We won’t. Not anyone.” He could barely get the words out. It was like his jaw had locked up with the rest of his bones.
He thinks it would kill him if anything happened to Billy and Steve over this. They needed to keep them safe.
He needed to keep them safe.
“Yeah. I promise,” El parroted. Steve beamed at them.
Will knew El had been very confused the first time she heard about Ryan Anderson, the high school sophomore that had been humiliated and beaten so badly his family had to leave town six years ago.
She didn’t understand how a boy that liked to kiss other boys was something that merited violence.
Hopper had surprised them all by saying that it didn’t, but some people felt like it did.
Who you kiss doesn’t matter as much as who you are. If you’re a good person, it’s all just extra fodder. But some people like to they’re better than anyone that’s different than they are.
El had called those people bad and that was the end of it.
“Billy, I won’t tell.” Max didn’t take her eyes off Billy while she spoke. “I swear. I’ll never tell anyone. Not even mom.”
Billy’s hand flexed on the handle of the cane, and his knees gave a wobble. Steve kept him upright, leaning over to murmur into his ear.
Will could just barely make out the words I’ve got you.
“I promise, too.” Dustin’s cereal box/lute was forgotten on the grass at his feet. “The party protects each other. It’s one of our laws.”
“Yeah, we stick together. This isn’t different.” Max gave Lucas a watery smile when he spoke up in turn.
Mike was quiet.
It was well-known how much he disliked both Steve and Billy.
All of the kids had some trouble trusting Billy after everything that had happened last summer. Billy didn’t seem to blame them. He kept to himself, even when he moved from his cold room in the military hospital into the Byers’ spare bedroom seven months ago, he was like a ghost moving through the house.
Only Steve could make him come out of his shell in those early days. Only Steve could make Billy join them for dinner and movie nights, take slow walks around the yard with his walker, and later with his cane. Only Steve could make Billy’s shoulders relax from their defensive position up around his ears, and now, it was finally dawning on everyone why.
The kids mostly left him alone, only Max and El bridging the gap and actually speaking to him. Max had been determined to see Billy through his recovery, glaring at him and watching like a ginger hawk while he did his physical therapy, practicing his grip and moving buttons from one bowl to another.
El would sometimes talk to Billy in a hushed voice. She would get him on his own and hush words like Papa and Mama and bad and Billy would have to retreat to his bedroom for slowly decreasing amounts of time.
Nobody but Joyce and Hopper knew what she saw in Billy’s head. They were just informed that he wouldn't be returning home after his two-month stint in the military hospital. Max hard clenched her jaw and nodded jerkily and nobody dared ask any further questions.
He and Will traded a lot of good mornings and tended to generally avoid eye contact when they came across one another in the house.
But none of them hated him, they were just a little weary.
Mike, on the other hand, had some unexplained vendetta against both Billy and Steve and Will found himself willing Mike to be kind in this moment. To not see this as some power over them, or something.
“Okay,” he said slowly. “Dustin’s right. We protect each other.”
Steve gave them a smile that was so dazzling and bright, it almost gave off its own light.
His eyes were shining and he gave a watery laugh.
“They really meant it when they said children are the future.”
“Who said?” El asked him.
“I don’t know, actually. Just people, I guess.” Steve shrugged, jostling Billy who was still nestled in his shoulder. “Look, seriously guys, thank you. I can’t even imagine how I would’ve felt if-nevermind.” He cut himself off quickly, shaking his head. “It just means a lot. To both of us.” Steve smiled at them one last time, this time much softer and thoughtful. “You’re good kids.”
Nobody said anything else. They didn’t know what to say to Steve.
“I came back here to get my fireballs. I, uh, I got ‘em.”
Everyone looked back at Will, and, almost like they were coming out of a trance, began picking their makeshift weapons back off the grass, and chattering idly as they went back to the yard in order to continue their battle.
Will lingered for a second, looking over his shoulder at Steve and Billy, who were still wound together.
They were talking softly, and Will was pleased to see Billy lift his head back up, still looking pale and nervous, but smiling at Steve.
He leaned back down and planted a kiss on Steve’s neck, right above the edge of his t-shirt.
Will felt his face go hot, and tugged himself away, going back to the game.
It wasn’t until well after dinner, when everyone else had gone home, that they spoke about it again.
Will. Will! Do you copy? Over.
The static rasping of Mike’s voice through the walkie-talkie was coming from under Will’s bed where he had stashed it.
He quickly turned down the volume dial on the side before answering.
“Yeah, Mike. I copy. Over.”
“We need to talk about today,” Mike said through the walkie. “I mean, did you have any idea? Over.”
“No. I didn’t,” Will said, truthfully. Finding out had made a lot of things clunk into place, but that doesn’t mean Will knew. “Over.”
“It’s just, neither of them seem the type. You know? Over.”
Something about that statement didn’t sit too right with Will.
Before he could respond another voice crackled through the channel.
“This is gold leader joining the conversation to let Mike know he’s being a dick. Over.”
Will laughed. Trust Dustin to listen in on the conversation and come forward to defend Steve.
“Lucas, do you copy, too? Over.” Will waited a moment after he asked.
“Yeah, I copy. I wanted to hear what you all were saying first. I don’t really know what to think about all this. Over.”
“I don’t think there’s much to think about. Steve seems happy. Billy too, I guess. Over,” said Dustin.
Will’s heart swelled with a pride he didn’t quite understand at Dustin’s words.
Outside in the hall, the phone rang.
Will heard his mom scramble to pick it up, calling softly down the hall for Billy, and the unmistakable thumping of Billy and his cane coming to take the call.
He heard his mom scrape a chair over for him and retreat to her room, giving him some privacy.
“It’s just scary, you know? Like, something really bad could happen to them if anyone else found out.” Will thought for a second. “You think anyone else knows? Over.”
“Robin. She was making comments to Steve a few days ago about his secret relationship and I kept asking him about it until he punched me in the arm. She knows. Over.”
“I’m just confused,” Mike sighed down the line. “Steve dated my sister for like, a year. And Billy is always disgusting and flirting with my mom. Or at least, he would do that. You know, before. Over.”
“Yeah, that’s just Billy being Billy,” Max chimed in.
“You have to say over when you’re finished. Over.”
“ Fine, dickheads. Over.”
“That makes sense, but Steve and Nancy doesn’t. Over.”
“Lucas, it doesn’t have to make sense. David Bowie says he likes guys and girls. Billy has, like, three different magazines where he says that. Over.”
“Max is right. We don’t have to understand any of this. They seem happy, and good together, and that doesn’t really concern us. Over.” Will was hoping he could speed through the rest of this conversation. He could hear Billy in the hall, shifting and murmuring something Will couldn’t make out but was dying to overhear.
He had a feeling he knew who was calling.
“But, now it does concern us. We know. And as we’ve previously established, the more people that know, the more danger they could be in. Over .” Dustin almost sounded as though he might cry.
“Then, we can’t talk about it. Not unless we know for a fact that we aren’t going to be overheard. And maybe we should give them codenames. Only call them something like Han and Leia when there’s a chance of someone listening in. Over.”
“I like Lucas’s codename idea, but I’d rather die than call them Han and Leia. Over.”
“Okay, Mike, it was the first thing that came into my head! What, you think you have a better idea? Over.”
“I don’t know. Harold and Maude? Over.”
“That’s stupid, Mike. Clearly, they’re Bert and Ernie. Over.”
Will snorted at Max’s suggestion. He heard Billy coughing wildly in the hall. He listened carefully to him until it died down and he knew it wasn’t a bad one.
“I think we’ve come to an agreement. If we need further discussion, codenames: Bert and Ernie. Okay, my mom wants me to spend time with her tonight. So this is gold leader, signing off. Over and out.”
“I’m going too. Over and out,” Mike said.
“Over and out,” said El, not surprising any of them that she was listening in. She did that a lot. Simply listen to her own walkie, and when asked why she didn’t say anything would shrug and go nothing to add. They only asked that she sign off so that they knew she got whatever information they had discussed.
Everyone followed with their own sign-offs, and Will twisted the top knob on his walkie, shutting it off.
There was a moment of silence out in the hall, and then three beats on Will’s door.
He found Billy on the other side, slumped in the chair under the phone, his cheeks going red.
“Can’t get up,” he grunted. “Can’t reach the hook.”
Will didn’t say anything, nodding quickly and avoiding eye contact as he took the phone, placing it carefully back on the hook.
Billy got stuck in chairs fairly often.
His core muscles had been slashed up worse than anything else, and sometimes he just needed a good pull up.
Will took hold of his wrist, leaning his body weight backward to yank Billy to standing.
Billy kept his weight heavily on his cane, patting Will once on the upper arm in thanks.
“You guys know Steve has one of your little walkie-talkies, right?”
“ What ?”
Will genuinely didn’t know that.
“Dustin gave him one. I don’t know when, but he’s got it.”
“So, uh, so he heard. Everything.”
“And relayed it all to me through an embarrassing amount of tears, by the sounds of it.”
But Will could see that Billy’s eyes were brighter than usual in the dark, and suddenly Will remembered that there had been a wet spot on Billy’s sleeve.
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I mean, well, you’re good kids. All of you.” Billy patted him on the shoulder again. “I was shitting myself out there when you found us. Thought for sure one a’ yous would go squealing.”
“Maybe we would’ve. Before.”
“Never thought I’d be grateful for nearly being turned inside-out.”
“And I never thought I’d be grateful for being found dead in the water, but here we are.”
“Yeah, shit’s pretty weird if you stop and think about it for a few minutes. Near-death experiences really put your sexuality in perspective.”
“Is that why you two started dating? Perspective?”
Billy huffed a breath, looking up towards the ceiling. He coughed twice, and Will could pretty much hear his lungs rattle and crackle.
“Yeah. ‘S why we started dating. Both of us kinda realized there’s no sense in feeling like shit about the things that can actually make you feel not like shit.”
“So, you’re in love? Both of you?”
Billy’s cheeks were flooded with color, the deep red spreading all the way back to the tips of his ears.
“I think so. We’re both a little too fucked in the head to say it, but,” he shrugged lamely, not bothering to finish his thought, and looking anywhere but at Will.
He gets it, though.
Fucked up parents make for fucked up kids.
Will considered himself the luckiest person on Earth, and any kinda parallel universe, that he had his mom to stop, and later heal, all the damage his dad had caused.
“Well, I’m glad that you have it. Both of you. I mean, we saw you guys. And after everything, it's good that you’re happy.” And Will meant it.
Even before last summer, he had never seen Billy look the way he did when he was kissing Steve. Look that calm, and relaxed, and that goddamn happy. It really meant something.
Especially to Will.
Because he had never thought of someone looking that happy when they kissed someone else.
He had never thought of a boy looking that happy when he kissed another boy.
Billy surveyed Will for a moment, still leaning heavily on his cane in the hallway.
Will had the suspicion that Billy could see right through him.
“He came to visit me a lot when I was in the hospital. Steve, I mean. I don’t know why he did. It’s not like we were friends or anything. But one of those days, when I was barely awake he started talking about everything that happened those couple days.” Billy shifted closer to the wall, bracing himself with one hand as he lowered himself back into the chair. “The Russians. I don’t know what he’s told you kids, but it wasn’t pretty.”
“He hasn’t said anything. I mean, we all saw how he looked after, so we figured maybe he got in a fight.”
Billy chewed on his bottom lip.
“Look, you gotta swear not to tell any of the others this, but, uh, it was a bit more than a fight.”
Billy was giving him a meaningful look and something churned around in Will’s stomach.
“Torture?”
Billy gave a tiny, shaky nod.
“He started talking about it. Said after that, he started thinkin’ about shit different. Said he thought he was gonna die down there and that nothing would change without him. It was heavy, and I was mostly feeling the same way, and I think that’s why he told me. Knew that I could get it. After that he kept visiting, and I noticed that I didn’t hurt as much when he was there. Or maybe I did, but having him there, squinting at the t.v. ‘cause he can’t see worth a’ shit, or making some stupid comment about a nurse on the floor just made it easier. He makes a lotta shit easier.”
“I think that’s what it should be like. I don’t think love should make things harder.” Will thought of his mom and dad, and how different she acted with Hopper.
Like she didn’t hurt as much when he was there.
“It was hard in the beginning. I mean, before we got together. I thought that he didn’t feel the same way, you know? That I was just being an idiot, feeling like that for my best friend. But then he told me. He’s always been a lot braver than people give him credit for. Anyway, he told me, and it should’ve been fucking terrifying. And I was scared of people finding out. Still am, but it’s like, even if we get run outta town, and everyone we care about turns against us, it’ll be fine because we’re not just me an’ him, we’re us .”
Billy blinked quickly, almost as if he was surprised by his own words.
They clanged around in Will’s head.
We’re not just me an’ him, we’re us.
“You don’t have to be scared, though. I mean, of people finding out. Of turning against you both. We won’t let that happen. Not about something like this.”
Billy gave him a weak smile.
“I guess it makes sense. I mean, you all took me in after killing half the town. Tracks that you wouldn’t throw me out for. Being gay.”
“There are worse things to be than gay.”
“Psycho killer not one of them?”
Will gave Billy as unimpressed of a stare as he could muster.
“That wasn’t you. You forget, I know what it was like to have him controlling me. I know what it’s like to not do anything to stop him, even when you are fighting with everything you’ve got. I nearly killed my mom. I even might have, if I’d been stronger. You fought against him, and in the end, you won. I never could’ve done that.”
Billy just stared at the wall slightly above Will’s left shoulder.
“I killed people, too. When he had me. Led a whole group of people right into a trap. And it still scares me what he did. But I know that it wasn’t me that did it. It wasn’t you that did any of that, Billy.”
“I tell myself that. Hell, Steve tells me that about every five minutes. Just hard to watch yourself doing that awful shit and not be able to tell your body to knock it off.”
Will didn’t know how to respond, so he didn’t.
Billy was right. It was a nightmare watching yourself hurt people around you, feeling like you were in the backseat, screaming at yourself to stop.
But Billy had done what Will couldn’t’ve.
Right at that last moment, he stood up to the thing controlling his every move.
Stood up to that horrific flesh monster, adn died rather than let it kill El.
El, who he didn’t even know.
And then Billy’s bedroom door down the hall opened slowly, and Steve poked his head into the hall, swearing under his breath when he saw someone in the hall with Billy and trying to duck out of sight, knocking the back of his head into the doorframe and swearing again.
Billy laughed, a low wheezy laugh that ended in a short coughing fit.
“Real fuckin’ subtle, Harrington,” he choked out.
The door opened once more and Steve stepped out into the hallway, trying to look casual.
“I didn’t realize it was you there, Will. How’s it goin’?”
Billy laughed again, and gestured for Steve to come and help him stand up.
Steve did so quickly, smiling warmly at Billy when he had righted him on his feet, and keeping hold of Billy’s arm.
“Why are you sneakin’ in my window like some kinda perv?”
“Because I wanted to talk. I have a lot of emotions today.” Steve turned to address Will. “You kids are gonna be the death of me. And I mean that in the nicest way I possibly can.”
“Yeah, well. You guys are family.” Will shrugged, feeling very awkward when both Steve and Billy. Looked as though their eyes were overbright. Will panicked, trying to think of an exit strategy before he saw either of them cry.
He had seen them both in too many intimate moments today.
“Um, I’m pretty tired, so I think I’m gonna go to bed. Let me know if you need, uh, help tomorrow. You know, heading of my mom or anything.”
Will turned on his heel and slipped back into his own bedroom.
“Alright, Bert. It’s been a long day and I’m gonna need some help getting into bed. My legs have gone totally stiff.”
“Oh, in no way am I Bert! I’m totally Ernie. You’re Bert. Think about it: you’re surly, and rude, and-”
“Gonna dump you if you don’t shut up and help me go to bed.”
“Spoken like a true Bert.”
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catharrington · 3 years
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Deeper than skin by @neonponders (rated M, 14k words COMPLETED)
He didn’t hear from Billy the next day.
Or the next.
As bad as Steve felt, he couldn’t say he minded. Nor would he be surprised if Billy never called him again. The idea brought a lonely peace during the commute to work, reading his magazines on the train before keeping them safe in a folder that he stuffed inside his backpack. Even if Steve’s chest felt like a cold balloon, with its latex worn thin and tired, he had his little things to keep him warm.
Then a knock on his apartment door.
Steve answered it with a cheek full of cake, interrupted from making his grocery list of actual nutritional value -
Billy had never visited before. Steve stared at him long enough for him to ask, “Are you going to let me in?”
Steve glanced at the box under his arm and turned into his apartment with a sigh. Billy closed the door behind him as he remarked, “You don’t know what’s in it yet.”
There wasn’t exactly anywhere for Steve to theatrically storm off to. His kitchen was also his living room, and a half-wall partitioned the bedroom off to the side. His apartment was one long rectangle, and Steve remained stuck in the middle of it.
“Billy, I don’t know what you want from me that you think you can get from expensive things.”
“I don’t recall asking for anything in return,” he drawled while removing his coat.
“Don’t take that off,” Steve retorted.
“I’m taking it off.”
(Oh, oh!I love this fic a whole lot! There’s some amazing tropes that are all turned on their heads and squished together. And y’all know I love my sad boy Steve with daddy issues, or mommy issues. Go ahead and give it a read, please! Thank you so much Neon for donating to Harringrove for Palestine!! And if you want to donate I still have openings, check out my pinned post for more info)
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opaldraws · 3 years
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Hey! I'm participating in Harringrove for Palestine! That means I'm accepting commissions in exchange for a donation to any of the charities listed on @stranger-steeb 's announcement post (found here)! I have 3 line art slots open and 1 full color slot open. If you have any questions or need some more details about what I'm offering, dm me or respond to this post!
Also I cannot stress this enough, please dm me before donating if you want to commission me in case my slots are full or I'm not comfortable accepting your commission.
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neonponders · 3 years
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Surprise! Here’s a part 2 for my fic, Deeper Than Skin ~ read on ao3 •
Thank you SO MUCH @edith-moonshadow for donating to Harringrove for Palestine, AND letting me indulge in my fic some more. 
👠 👠 👠 👠 👠 👠
Billy’s thumb pressed along Steve’s arch, holding the pressure for a few seconds as he went along . . .
He peeked up at the sound of ocean-swaying breaths at the head of the bed. As if he could hear the exact moment Steve fell into REM sleep, clutching Billy’s latest gift to his chest.
An elephant ear leaf plushie. It was half the size of Steve, and it’s heart-shape tucked under his chin to pillow his cheek perfectly. The soft micro-fleece behaved like crushed velvet, the light absorbing inside the dark, unsettled fibers where Steve touched it.
Billy had gotten very good at choosing gifts for him.
Steve’s apartment was slowly filling up with Billy’s tokens of affection. The window seat had become a shelf for Steve’s shoe boxes; only three so far, but Billy intended to get him a proper shoe rack, or renovate his closet
Or have Steve move into his place. Billy wanted nothing more in the world. To get home to Steve slumped on the couch, immediately complaining of incongruent television plots as if Billy had never left the room. To see Steve’s shirts and clutter in their closet despite Steve being gone for work. To put his shoe collection on display in any room Steve wanted, so he could live in the open with his interests, instead of walking laps in their closet.
Not all of his gifts were expensive. That proved the trick. The key to Steve’s locked tight heart. Most were certainly pricey, but once Billy knew what he liked, what he constituted as worth it, then he couldn’t help himself.
A coffee table book of The New Yorker’s covers, spreads, and topmost articles throughout the 20th century. Steve stared at that thing for hours.
The elephant ear pillow clutched to Steve’s chest now, among other plant cushions. Steve claimed he couldn’t keep anything alive, so Billy gave him a pink and blue sedum succulent, a purple and green echeveria, and a monstera leaf. He now lay in his garden, sound asleep despite Billy’s rolling a cold tennis ball around his heel.
It was dangerous, this bruised ache in his chest.
Even with Steve right here, Billy felt sore with affection. The desire to wrap an arm around Steve’s waist was ever present, to pull their bodies flush together, or to tuck himself into Steve’s chest and never leave.
This ravenous greed dulled with Steve nearby, soothed with Steve happy and content, but Billy knew he had to be patient. Steve sometimes retreated inside himself, behaving as if Billy were already one step out the door. He had no idea what power he wielded over Billy.
He eased Steve’s slippers onto his feet and returned the tennis ball to the freezer. He put some of the dishes and pans from the drying rack back in the cabinets. He straightened the rug underneath the coffee table. Tidying. As self-sufficient as Steve lived, Billy had picked up quickly enough that his outward affections were done through actions.
He liked making dinner with Billy at home. He even coerced Billy into the first grocery store he’d stepped into in years.
Steve enjoyed pulling Billy onto his chest to watch a movie. Billy liked that too, even though he wished Steve didn’t stuff his utility invoices into the kitchen utensil drawer before Billy arrived.
They were both strong personalities who valued control, but Billy had learned such a thing came in different mediums. Steve didn’t like the leash of money. “Don’t collar me in diamonds. I’m not a poodle,” he’d once said.
Billy did not take kindly to commands. To exist like a bull guided by the ring in his nose.
Yet here they both were, Steve slowly allowing Billy to furnish his interests, and kissing Billy’s cheek when he reluctantly accepted the task of chopping onions.
Billy sat on the bed and rubbed his arm. If anything, Steve only fell deeper inside his slumber. Slowly, Billy lifted him out by planting kisses along his hairline. All at once, Steve emerged with a shake of his head, as if to swat Billy off before the chuckle in his chest made Steve moan, “Bhh…lly?”
He slanted his arm across Steve’s body, pressing his hand into the bed. “Hi, baby. I’m heading out. I should be back next Friday.”
Steve’s full, parted lips twitched with a puzzled grimace. “Huh?”
“I’m going out of town.”
One of Steve’s eyelids hung lower over his groggy eyes. Billy thought it looked cute. “You wait till I’m half-asleep to tell me?”
Billy huffed a laugh, but it faded quickly. “I told you during dinner. I asked you to come, but you said you couldn’t get the vacation days.”
Steve’s eyes sagged closed in a long blink. He sniffed loudly and rubbed a palm over his nose while he shifted for better attentiveness. “I can’t get vacation days with only a twenty-four hour notice.”
“There was something about sick days from two jobs not aligning for an extended vacation,” Billy recalled stiffly.
Steve did not respond well to the bitterness. “I’m not my own boss. If I’d had more time, I could’ve done a long weekend—”
“I’ll be gone for two weeks.”
That left Steve’s mouth open while he shifted to sit up more on the pillows. “You didn’t say that during dinner.”
It should��ve been some consolation, Steve’s being upset at such a time frame. Two weeks apart was hardly unbearable. For regular people. For Billy, it only confirmed his distaste for Steve’s unrelenting schedule.
“Now you want to go?”
Steve’s eyes hardened as much as they could for being freshly disturbed from sleep. “It was never about not wanting to go. I literally can’t without being thrown off the payroll.”
“You work two jobs.”
Steve’s eyes wandered, as if searching for his meaning. “Yeah?”
Billy didn’t want to talk about this the night before he left but his frustration won out. “You don’t have to work two jobs. You know that, don’t you?”
He could see something wilt behind Steve’s face. “What are you saying?”
“You know what I’m saying.”
“No. I don’t.”
“Steve,” he sighed, lifting off his hand to sit on his own. “You know I don’t mind paying for things.”
“You’ve made that clear,” Steve returned stiffly.
Billy pointed turquoise eyes at him. “Money is meant to be spent. Why won’t you let me spend it on you?”
Those eyes locked on the muscles in Steve’s jaw clenching. Steve could feel those irises on him, dissecting him. He wondered if Billy saw his mother’s closet. More like a bank vault. Full of insurances for the day she finally saw fit to drop her husband and all of his betrayals, all of his business blunders that she was tired of dishing a sapphire out for to cover the losses.
An ironic thing, Mr. Harrington’s greatest business scheme: apologizing with luxurious things. Marrying a woman smarter than himself. Maybe that’s why Steve had sought out Nancy all those years ago. Why he loved Robin’s company and conversation. He did feel safe in strong women’s company. But their safety was hard earned and shrewdly won.
Respect how a woman spends her money, Stevie. Even if you don’t know where it comes from.
Sweetheart, you’ll never understand what it is to be a woman in a man’s world.
I love your daddy as much as he infuriates me beyond belief. But where I come from, nobody is handsome enough. Nobody is wealthy enough. A Rolex is a man’s prideful status symbol. A woman’s bags are her divorce lawyer’s payments. A man’s car is the steed to a shining knight. A woman’s diamond necklace is her first apartment out of an unsafe home.
Am I really just a trust fund kid? Steve had been brazen enough to ask. Another diamond in his mother’s closet.
She had stroked his cheek, raked her fingers through his hair and around his ear before pinching his earlobe in that way she did. Like she wanted him to keep looking right at her. Don’t turn your head.
Anyone who treats you like a trust fund for money or a good time is plastic, baby.
She hadn’t taught him how to navigate this, though. Maybe if he’d been a daughter, he’d have gotten that lesson. How to not be ensnared by money. How to keep wealth as a key to a cage.
But Steve only knew the cage. Had grown up in it. Had to face heartbreak and loneliness to break out of his gilded bars.
He did not judge his mother for relying on his father. As she’d said, she came from a different world with a different mentality. But Steve couldn’t do it anymore. He couldn’t meet all of his father’s caveats. Had too much fun being broke with Robin to desire gilded masks and grey grey grey grey grey suits.
A warm hand touched his arm. “I don’t like it when you do that,” Billy said. “Go somewhere I can’t reach.”
Steve’s hand overlapped his. He hoped it came across as encouraging instead of farewell. “Get your work done. There’s no point in me taking a vacation if you’re working the whole time.”
It didn’t work. Billy’s features stiffened, far from pleased.
And when he left the apartment, Steve felt his path like a negative space dug out of his home. Billy Hargrove had always dominated a room, but Steve was afraid of being wrung out before he left with permanence. Steve didn’t think Billy was a cage at all.
But he didn’t think he was strong enough to be a diamond in Billy’s closet.
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memes-saved-me · 3 years
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Let's Get The Hell Out Of Here
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A commission from @gravegroves for their generous donation for Harringrove For Palestine ❤ Thank you!!
It felt insane, like some sort of dream. As if it wasn't really happening but as Steve loaded up the trunk of the beamer with whatever supplies they could grab in time Billy couldn't help but stop to try and process the past few hours. The world turning upside down within a day, most likely the end of the world itself.
The back seat was filled with suitcases and boxes. First Aid kits, blankets, a tent, clothes and whatever else they could think of. Things they hoped would keep them safe, as safe as possible as the vines began to spread from the lab.
"Is that it?" Steve turned.
"I think so," Billy replied and handed him his jacket as he pulled on his own. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
He looked up at the house for a moment, his childhood home now shrouded in the dark of the night. Empty as it always was, but this time he was glad his parents were far away. They had more of a chance.
"What else do we do? Sit around and wait for the Demodogs to come and take us out?" Steve replied and walked over to Billy to take his hands. "If the world's ending I wanna go out fighting with you."
Billy smiled. Their foreheads met.
"Let's get the hell out of here."
With that, they were in the car. Speeding through the streets, houses empty as the residents of Hawkins gathered at the town hall for safety. Not that there was much to be found there. Some had the same idea as Steve. Run. The smart ones now blocking the main exit.
Hopper and Joyce grabbed the kids and their families the moment it all went wrong, as soon as it became clear there was no way to win this time. Max telling Billy to stay alive and get to the border as fast as possible.
Billy knew the backroads like he had lived there his entire life, a piece of knowledge that saved their lives that day. Except, as they turned a corner they saw it. The lab itself.
"I forgot this road went past it. Shit," Billy thumped his fist on the dashboard hard.
"We gotta do it," Steve looked at him. "If we don't get to Mexico before those vines it's over."
That was the plan, get somewhere warm. Hot, too hot for the creatures of the Upside Down to survive. A plan they needed to see through quickly because the vines had already reached the school, pool and the Byers. A simple plan in theory but not so much in practice as they had just discovered.
Knowing they would most likely have to fight their way through Steve kept driving until they heard the familiar roar in the distance. They were driving right past the nest. The forest around them turned blue as if they had entered the Upside Down itself. Familiar sounds echoing as they got closer and closer, the pressure in the air increasing.
It was then, just as the lights of the building came into full view that the car was hit by something. Something big enough to tip it slightly, throw Steve off and nearly drive off the road but he managed to steer back to the direction they were heading.
"Go!" Billy yelled and impulsively reached to grab the sleeve of Steve, gripping it as he floored it.
"I'm trying!" He shouted back but the car wasn't moving.
"What the hell?"
Another roar, but this time it came from behind them. They turned to see a Demogorgon towering over the vehicle, far taller than any Steve had seen.
"It's holding the car," Billy said and he was correct.
The monster lifted the rear, stopped the back wheels from touching the road.
"Holy shit," Steve breathed and reached for Billy in return, both of them staring at the creature but holding on to one another in a desperate attempt to feel safe.
"I'm gonna kill this bastard," Billy grabbed the spiked bat from the back seat and climbed out into the chilled night air. "Who do you think you are? Huh?"
The Demogorgon dropped the car but Steve's foot was still on the gas pedal which sent the car speeding away down the road, leaving Billy alone with the monster. He froze for a moment as he realised just how much danger he was now in, no backup close enough to save him.
Then, just as the creature stepped towards him, lifting its arm to slash at Billy he swung the bat with his full strength and it lodged into its side.
It cried out but when he went to pull it back, take it for another swing it wouldn't budge. No matter how hard he pulled or twisted he couldn't get it back. That was when something else came at him, sending him to the wet ground. The Demodog began scratching at his chest, growling in his face as he tried to push it off but it wasn't budging.
Just as he thought that right there would be his final moment, he heard the screech of rubber on concrete and the honk of a car horn. Something that distracted the dog enough for Billy to push it off and scramble to his feet.
"Move!" Steve yelled as the headlights got closer and closer until just as the Demogorgon lifted its arm again the hood of the beamer sent it flying over the car and onto the road. "Get in!"
He didn't hesitate. "Took you long enough!"
"The gas peddle was stuck!" Steve replied.
The anger disappeared as they looked at one another, Billy's hands moving to touch Steve in whatever ever way possible. Steve's hands pulling at his clothes to check his wounds. Nothing life-threatening but definitely in need of cleaning.
"You better warn me next time you decide to try and get yourself killed," they both moved forward to press their foreheads together again. "I need you."
"I ain't going anywhere," Billy replied and kissed him.
A kiss that tasted like metal and dirt, fast and hard like they needed to know the other was alright. To make sure they knew how scared they truly were. A kiss that was interrupted by the dog jumping onto the hood of the car and throwing itself at the windscreen.
Steve backed up, hitting the Demogorgon once more for good measure as the dog fell off the car. The beamer picking up speed before he turned sharply and continuing down past the lab.
"That was pretty hot," Billy smirked. "If we weren't in serious danger I'd tell you to pull over."
"Save it for Mexico," Steve smiled, changing gear before taking his hand over the stick. "We got plenty of time for that when we get the hell outta Hawkins."
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archipelagolago · 3 years
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I'm going to be writing for Harringrove For Palestine and here is my info about that :)
- I don't write nsfw
- I'm not writing omegaverse (bc i don't know all the lore)
- I don't write incest
- I DO write most other things
+
Prices
$5: 500 words
$10: 500-1,000 words
$15: 1,000-3,000 words
$20: 3,000-5,000 words
+ "pay what you can": I'll be accepting prompts for 3,000 words or less at this level & if I, personally, am inspired by your idea I will write it.
Send me a message if you are interested or would like more information!
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frightenedofrabbits · 3 years
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Harringrove for Palestine
I am taking part in the Harringrove for Palestine event and will be accepting writing commissions to support humanitarian efforts in Palestine.
Pricing will be $1/100 words.
I ask that payment be made to one of the approved charities which can be found on @stranger-steeb master list (I’ve also reblogged this master list so it’s easy to find). Simply send me a screenshot of your donation on here and I will get writing.
I’m open to writing anything Harringrove or Destiel. Content wise, I’m fine with writing pretty much anything except for things that would include excessive violence or gore. If you’re curious, just be sure to check in with me before hand to make sure I can write what you desire.
Thanks to everyone for supporting such a wonderful cause.
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ihni · 3 years
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For @edith-moonshadow, who so kindly supported Harringrove for Palestine in exchange for this doodle. Prompt was “one of them baking something from their childhood to share with the other”, which was so cute and also fitted me very well because I love baking (and side note, those muffins are A+, and I know this from personal experience!).
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merlinthecowboy · 3 years
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a harringrove for palestine commission for @jerry-hornes-foot who requested steve looking cute with a flower crown and a peace sign and i couldnt decide which version i liked the most so im posting both!
yes this is supposed to be a pride and yes billy is dragging him away for some corporation's guilt cookies
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yikesharringrove · 3 years
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Harringrove for Palestine
Hi all! This post is thirty years late BUT I’m opening up my commissions for Harringrove for Palestine.
More information can be found on this post here that @stranger-steeb was so amazing to put together! You can find other folks offering commissions and a wonderful list of reputable charities and organizations to donate to.
My rates are as follows:
5K word cap
$1/100 words 1K - $10 2K - $20 3K - $25 4K - $30 5K - $35
In order to make a commission, slide into my DMs BEFORE donating any money in order to discuss what you want, word count, and themes and ideas. We will put together an idea and a fixed number for you to donate. Once you’ve donated, send me a receipt or confirmation that says to where your money went and how much, just so I can be sure. Please cover up any details about yourself like name, card information etc.
I will send the fic to you upon completion and you can decide whether or not you will allow me to post it publicly, or if you jsut want to keep a lil something for yourself :)
Much love to everyone.
Love, Yikes 🌻
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femmeharringrove · 3 years
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harringrove for palestine sign-ups
hello everyone!
i'm gonna make an official post for this later, but right now i'm going to make a sign-up post for the harringrove for palestine fundraiser!
if you're a writer or artist or any sort of content creator, please reblog this and dm me so i'll know you want to sign up. i'll then compile a list of participants and make the official announcement post once we've got some creators signed on!
additionally, i'm looking for some reputable charities and organizations we can have people donate to, so if you know of any please dm me so i can check them out and add them to my list!
please spread the word as much as you can so that we can all do our part and help the people of palestine! i've seen this community come together twice before to do amazing things, and i am confident we can do it again!
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catharrington · 3 years
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I hear her voice in the morning hour she calls to me, the radio reminds me of my home far away. Driving down the road, I get a feeling that I should’ve been home yesterday. Country roads, take me home to the place I belong
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I love the colorful clothes he wears, and the way the sunlight plays upon his hair. I hear the sound of a gentle word, on the wind that lifts his cologne through the air. I’m picking up good vibrations
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(So excited to show off these moodboards! This is @thinger-strang ‘s reverse Au with Hawkins native Billy and California boy-toy Steve moving to town. This was so much fun to imagine and read all the ways an Au like this can change a character yet keep them the same. Make sure to check out thinger-strang to read more on the Au!!!
Thanks so much for donating to Harringrove for Palestine!!! If you would like to donate and get a board or fic please check out the pinned post on my blog)
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opaldraws · 3 years
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For @draculcid who commissioned this piece for Harringrove for Palestine :) Thank you for donating!
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