revivalproject | Private Eyes ~ Daryl Hall & John Oates

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Private Eyes ~ Daryl Hall & John Oates

WHO: Hargrove & Open
WHERE: Around Temba
WHAT: Memory time!
WHEN: During the Energy Storm even
WARNINGS: Abuse, homophobia, violence marked in their section

He's got a bag packed, with all of the essentials he needs. Billy's got some plans to head back out to the beach. It's warm enough again, and Max seems okay here in the city again. Tommy can get to him any time he wants (or so he thinks because of the speed), so going back to the coast is fine. It's totally fine. Blanket tied together like a knapsack to hold his few belongings (the surfboard already waiting down at the beach shack), Billy makes sure the Walkman is secure between clothes and pillow before heading out.

The storms are brewing, and Billy knows they have to get going.

So he goes.

But he doesn't go fast enough as the storm settles in around him.

_{[ooc: your character can intervene at any point in the memory if they want!]}

It's a Sin ~ Pet Shop Boys

› › CW/TW: Abuse homophobic language/slurs, violence ‹ ‹
The memory seems like it's at night. It's a bedroom lit by a bedside lamp and it seems dark outside of the window. The time is confirmed by the digital clock showing it's a little after eleven. Billy stops short at the sight that takes his focus away from where he was and who was there instead.

It's him, younger than he is now. A younger Billy Hargove where the Susan Mayfield isn't married into the Hargroves yet. On his bed, still completely clothed, but making out with someone. A someone that was a guy. A guy with shorts cut probably just a little too short, and wearing a some sort of shirt that Billy knows is some sort of tourist shirt from the Mission Beach boardwalk. It feels like Billy's intruding on the memory but he has to move. If he can stop it——

The thud of a distant door halts the two and Billy falls into his memory, his role. He can't save himself, it's already written——

The bedroom door opens, revealing a man that makes the memory feel ice cold. It's the dread that plummets through the younger teen as the two jump apart like they've been burned. It's not enough. His unknown partner fades in the memory as Neil becomes the focus.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Neil was out on a business trip, he was supposed to be gone another day or two, he was back early——

"You little faggot! Didn't I raise you better than that?!" Neil shouts, grabbing his son by his right arm to hoist him up. There's the bang of the door behind Neil as the teen rushes out, leaving Billy along with his dad. He squirms, trying to pull himself free, but that hand just locks down harder. "You know what happens to little pussies that don't learn their lessons?!"

A cracking noise. A scream. Both come from Billy as his arm is twisted and breaks.

Neil shoves him to the floor and stands over his son. "If I... ever catch you being like one of them, I'll make you regret it." But Neil never did after that. Because Billy regretted it already.

He's still curled up as the memory fades in a hard gust of storm wind, cradling an arm that wasn't broken again, protecting it from a man that wasn't there.

Kickstart My Heart ~ Mötley Crüe

Now it's daytime. It's warm and bright, even if it's artificial. It seems like the space station they were on a few months ago, even if they're actually at the beach. The difference between this memory and the other was night and day and Billy tries to hold onto it.

He breaks out into a run as the memory tracks with him like a rolling camera. And he's not alone in this one either. He's running from Tommy, laughing as he flings wet sand at him. "Come to the water with me!" he finds himself yelling, letting himself relive the memory. Where there was a cold dread that iced his veins with Neil, the sunshine of this is like liquid gold in his body.

"Excuse you it's white," Tommy corrects even as he dodges then runs after the blond. "We really doing this, Sunshine?" Billy doesn't get far as he's knocked down into the surf with a laugh and a splash. There's a flurry of bubbles and water as the two wrestle with the waves sliding over them. It's when Billy pins Tommy under him that the memory...

...feels strange. Like the floor rocks underneath and flips over. The memory falls nearly all the way away until it's just Billy and Tommy. It's almost like it's a picture as Billy just seems to stare at Tommy, then sits up to give the speedster space. The memory blends back out to bring the beach back and the world feels right again.

"Sorry, didn't mean to trap you under all of my amazingness like that. Don't let yourself get washed away before we clean up and get that ice cream cake."

But the world still feels unsteady.

The memory fades, as does Tommy, but Bill stays where he is, seated on the beach that fades into the energy storm around them.

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Storms are hard to navigate through, but at least this one doesn't have monsters from home. Probably. Okay, it probably did have monsters from home but that didn't matter, moving on, hello and goodbye.

What this one did have was stepping into... into a beach? Strange. It doesn't make sense. Robin still feels wet, and the beach looks wrong, and... Was that Billy Hargrove running around? She raises her hand to wave only to see the guy from the diner. Chasing Billy. Calling him Sunshine. Teasing him.

Two boys on a beach, wrestling in the surf, aware of only each other.

This wasn't a normal thing to find in the storm.

And then it's gone. A missing memory. Just Billy alone on the hard to see ground. Robin steps forward. Maybe it would be better to pretend she saw nothing.

"Hey, Hargrove. IT's getting wet out here. We should head inside."

Billy doesn't even seem to notice the storm swirling around him. He mentally holds onto the warmth of the beach and the moment, of Tommy's smile up at him. It warms up the cold touch of the other memory on his arm.

He hears her before he sees her, with Billy not even looking up until she's next to him. His curls are damp against his skin, blue eyes like a stormy sea. "Did you... did you see it? The beach?" Tommy's name almost falls from his lips but he stops like he's scared. Left hand reaches up to rub his right arm where Neil grabbed him. "The beach. Tommy took me to the beach for my birthday—"

God, why did he have to ask that? Because it's just so... that was clearly so personal. Robin doesn't know what is going on but she knows that wasn't for her. That wasn't for anyone but Billy. And that's horrible. To have that shared.

"Yes," she admits softly, because lying wouldn't help here. "But I won't tell anyone. I'm glad you had a birthday with him. But you should get somewhere safe, right?"

No, lying wouldn't help. Not when Billy is trying to be better and the other Hawkins people are trying to show they can be trusted. So far Billy knows Chrissy and Robin aren't liars. Munson, too. He thinks Harrington's probably good as well, even with the lingering doubts.

Robin says she won't tell anyone. There's fear there, on his face, as he thinks of the other memory she hasn't seen. "You can't! You can't tell anyone!" Neil wasn't here, Billy was safe, but the memory was painful and sharp like this. He didn't want Tommy hurt!

"We can't tell people. If Neil finds out again--" He struggles up to his feet, taking a couple of unsteady steps towards Robin for a moment before stopping to try and get his bearings. Already he can see the form of his bedroom taking place. "We have to go. Somewhere else. Now!—"

"I won't. We don't out each other, and I won't out your boyfriend either," Robin promises. That isn't how this works. It wouldn't be okay.

Though the idea of 'if Neil finds out again' scares her. Neil was her dad, right? The one that abandoned his family. The one Max was left shaken by. Yeah, no, this wasn't going to happen.

"We're going. Come on."

She reaches her hand out to him. She'd drag him out of here if she had to. Which she might.

Billy isn’t sure, since he’s not in the right state of mind, but he thinks he eluded to Robin what happened and she had pieces it together herself. Maybe that was Harrington. It didn’t matter.

"We—" he swallows hard, then grabs her offered hand like a man desperate to not drown. That’s what this would be. Drowning in conflicting memories until it consumed him. "Where are we going?"

Robin's just smart, okay? She can put those fears together, seeing as she had them herself once. Not that her parents would actually probably judge her for who and what she was.

"Away," she says, pulling at his hand and trying to get him moving. This was all that mattered. "Away until the things stop chasing us. Bonus points if we find a safe building."

Robin is smart. Smarter than any of the dingus guys from Hawkins. The moment she pulls, Billy’s feet follow. The storm has started to show Billy in his room with the other boy and he turns away quickly with his face scrunched up tight.

His fingers dig hard into her hand, like he’s just trying to hold on with all his might. There’s footsteps he can hear and it’s motivation to get Billy moving. The rain swirling around them makes it difficult but he doesn’t want Robin to see that one. The ugly memory that formed ugly reactions from him.

Where are they running? Billy has no idea. Away. Somewhere not the storm. Anywhere but here.

Yeah, her dingui and Hargrove (who is not one of HERs but still a dingus) were just trailing behind because sometimes they didn't see their way through to the practical. Or Jump to the right conclusions. At least this one is following.

"Come on, come on."

They don't need whatever is happening. They need somewhere warm. They need somewhere safe. Hopefully somewhere with the guy's... Crush? Yeah. Crush.

"This way," she says, because she thinks she sees a shadow looming. Maybe it's a building. Maybe it's shelter.

Maybe one day that would change. Maybe one day he’d be lumped in with the other two. Wouldn’t Max be smug about that shit. Either way Billy goes with Robin because it’s better than being in his room with the thump of boots gradually disappearing behind them.

Not letting go of Robins hand, Billy follows the direction they’re going. It looks like the diner maybe. He doesn’t know if Tommy’s home (or if he’s not, that he’s someplace safe), but that doesn’t matter right now. It’d be out of the storm. "C’mon—"

Max would be smug. And they could all celebrate her smugness because she could not let them live it down.

"I'm already coming. You come on," Robin grumbles. She's trying here, and she runs into right up to the building and...

Nope. Not the diner. Some broken ass building with a sign on the door about restoration or something?

"Fuck."

Nope. She would not, especially in her brothers case. Billy supposes that’s only fair since he’d do the same to her and they both know it.

Running with Robin, Billy almost crashes into the door of the ruined building. A curse and the rain continues to soak. "We have to get in!!" Damn, his axe is in the civic center, too. Or somewhere. Wherever it was, it wasn’t with him right now and that was the problem.

"Quick. Try the doors. Or we’ll have to break a window."

Yeah, they did. Robin throws herself, shoulder first, against the door. Which, miraculously, slams open. Small wins. The place looks wrecked and unstable inside, but any shelter in a storm, right?

"Come on," she says, reaching for him again to pull him through.

It helps that Billy puts his weight to the door as she hits it. He falls in as it slams open, but it gets them out of the storm. Then Robin is reaching down and pulling him the rest of the way. Down on the floor, he uses his foot to push the door shut behind him before collapsing against the dirty floor. Water drips everywhere from him, and makes his curls cling to his head, but they're out of the storm at least.

"Shit. This is like... that stupid fucking memory thing. Fuck." He breathes hard and is thankful his face is already wet. "You... you saw all of that memory, didn't you?"

Sorry about the fall, but it was needed. Robin goes to sit on a fallen book shelf, breathing heavily to catch her breath.

"Memory thing? What memory thing? And yeah, I... I saw it. I'm going to forget it, though. It wasn't mine to see."

A few weeks ago the fall would've hurt. For now, it's just an another ache he can live through. He lays there, staring up at the ceiling. Somewhere further in he thinks he hears water dripping.

"Don't worry about it. Others have seen worse." Steve saw where Billy learned how to throw a plate. Also saw the aftermath of his mother leaving him. Munson got to see a bitty Billy so happy on the beach. People got to see what made Billy Hargrove himself, but only one person amongst all of them understood any of it.

"There was a memory thing. Last year, right after I got here, before you showed up. Aliens led us down to this stupid underground bunker for a month or some shit. Lots of sleeping and sharing memories, but there were more memories to choose from. This time no bunker, no sleeping. Just everything on display this time."

He finally cranes his head to somewhat look over at her. "You saw the good memory. The other is... was... I told you about that one. When you found me after I stomped off when Steve kissed Eddie."

"Having seen worse doesn't make it less icky to have invaded your privacy," she points out. It's just not cool.

Not by any measure.

But she listens, carefully, thoughtfully. Memories shared. People trapped with no options because they were sleeping. And now it was happening when it rained. That was miserable. What was more miserable was what he was implying they had outrun.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. This is just... really hard, I know."

With a groan, Billy slowly sits up. He feels almost like he got dropped out of the sky again. The left hand flexes, but he makes sure not to look at that arm before scooting to face Robin better.

"It's fine." His voice is quiet, and that's usually when Billy's dangerous, but he's not moving from his spot on the floor. "I... I don't mind that you saw it. It was just... the moment I realized I liked Tommy." No one had sat in his corner so defiantly and believed in him really like Tommy did after that night in Calibrations.

Blue eyes lift to lock onto her darker ones. "I don't want you to see that other memory. No one has. No one should be able to. I'd put the one with Tommy on repeat if that meant you didn't have to see the other." At least they had shelter in here.

No, it's not fine. But she won't argue. Just listen. The guy could use a friendly ear she suspects. Since she doesn't know he already has a few.

"Alright. Then we'll stay where it hopefully can't find us. And if we head out, we'll hope it's something embarrassing of mine I guess."

Which would be quite the list.

One hand reaches up to shimmy through his wet curls. Water droplets rain around him onto the floor, dampening the dust that's settled. This place is a dump. Did anyone brought into the city even live here? Or maybe this was just the aftermath of the volcano.

"You could always tell me an embarrassing story. You said you had some from that ice cream place with Harrington I think." His boots scrape against the ground while he picks himself up, and goes over to sit on the bookcase next to her.

This place had a formerly lived in look. No, this was a wreck no one had salvaged.

"That's definitely embarrassing for Steve. The guy had ZERO game when it came to the ladies. I don't know how he ever got dates in school."

The storm turns to memory around him, and Gladio doesn't like it. There's something wrong about walking through the storm and suddenly being in some teen's bedroom. He already knows who it is, just from a glance. And he hates that he's just in this intimate moment that isn't his business.

"Dammit, this is just wrong to be seeing. They're only kids. Fucking aliens," Gladio growls. He turns away from the sight in time for the door to open. In time for an angry man to walk in.

Doesn't need to ask any questions ot understand what's going on either. He knows it at a glimpse. The guy that makes Billy flinch away from being touched.

It's pointless. Beyond pointless actually, but Gladio just acts. Winds up and swings a heavy fist at a fucking prick of a father. Who knows, maybe it will do something.

At Gladio's age, it would probably be creepy to be in a teen's room like that. Billy hasn't even noticed his trainer is in the room yet. He sees Neil, and the rush of the other boy trying to get away. The strange teen moves past Gladio and Neil before fading out of the door, but it doesn't matter after that.

The fist almost seems to pass through Neil, but it's enough. The room cracks and shatters like a mirror. Billy hits the ground and scrambles back as his younger self fades away to reveal his actual self again. The memory was gone around them, but still in the rain, Billy was still captured by his fear.

There's nothing but a desperate tone in his voice as he speaks to Gladio. "Don't hurt me! I won't do it again!"

Gladio wants to grab Billy. To pull the kid into his arms, to hold him. To make him know he's safe and it's okay.

But he knows he can't touch Billy without permission. So he doesn't do that. Instead he shakes his head.

"I won't hurt you. And you better do it again. You like a guy here, right? Kissing him if you want to is just natural. No matter what that shithead did to follow up his sourpuss face."

The rain pours around them as Billy states up at Gladio, still seeing Neil for a long moment. His arm aches with a phantom pain almost as bad as the ache in his heart, but he says nothing. Billy waits for the inevitable punishment that Gladio isn’t going to give.

After a few seconds Neil disappears from his vision to be replaced by the Shield, who was here and real. Helping without touching.

"He breaks… he breaks my arm. It was just a memory but that’s what happens." God that explained so much, didn’t it? Then quietly, "I do like kissing boys. I— we’re together. We finally told each other. I don’t want him hurt," even though Neil wasn’t here.

"I like Tommy." He tries to say it firmly, keeping his eyes set on Gladio.

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Private Eyes ~ Daryl Hall & John Oates

Kickstart This

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Sin

Re: Sin

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