revivalproject | Wouldn't It Be Nice ~ The Beach Boys

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Wouldn't It Be Nice ~ The Beach Boys

WHO: Billy Hargrove and OPEN
WHERE: Beach
WHAT: Surfin' USA
WHEN: Daylight hours
WARNINGS: N/A

It should be a crime that he hasn't really used his board here in Temba until now. The pretty white board with green coloring around the edge really popped against his figure and the waves as Billy Hargrove rode them. It was clear there was skill, as he did well in the waves more often than not, with only a few wipe-outs. His board shorts are soaked through, along with his tank top - both gifts from his birthday ordeal Tommy gifted him with back on the spaceport.

If you know Hargrove, and how angry and prickly he is, this seems like a completely different side of him. One that Hawkins doesn't get to see because there's no surf. There's no sand, no sun, nothing that he has in his beloved California back home. And the aliens seemed to understand that giving him the board for the New Tick.

He goes out again, riding through the curl of a wave before he wipes out, coming back to the surface with a laugh before finally swimming back to shore and walking back up the purple sand with it under his arm with the free hand combing through wet curls to brush them out of his face.

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So much worse in Hawkins. Torn from the very state he loved to be put in some backalley nothing town in east jesus fucking nowhere. Here he's gotten better with attitude and temper, easier to deal with than he was in their own world - for as long as that lasted.

Billy hears her, and maybe it's that which makes him wipe out when he turns his head to find her in the distance. He shakes the water from his curls in a shower of water droplets and reaches over to push her head with some force. "What're you doing out here, shitbird? I've been social, so I hope you're not out here trying to get me to move again. Winter's a few months away still."

She'll take easier, she'll take healing but has a long way to go, she'll take all of it, as long as she finally has the big brother she wanted. Obnoxiousness and all.

Max tries to avoid the push, but she doesn't try that hard, and mostly rolls her eyes at Billy.

"You're not the only one who misses the beach. Not everything's about you," she tells him. Then, a slither more seriously, "I did say I would visit once in a while, didn't I?"

Emphasis on the obnoxiousness. He grins at her eye roll, but doesn't try to push her again though it's tempting. It's fun to upset her sometimes. "You sure it's not? Really feels like everything's about me and you just haven't caught that memo yet."

Billy uses his foot to dig out a spot in the sand for a moment, then shoves the surfboard into it so that it stands upright without his support. "You did, but it took you long enough to get your ass out here. I haven't seen you since you marched into the diner while I was eating pancakes."

He's in such a good mood. He's been getting all sorts of boyfriend cuddles and he's surfing again. Billy feels free and all of Temba is better for it, in his opinion. "Been getting up to mischief on that stupid skateboard of yours?"

Max has to roll her eyes again as she tells Billy, "Oh, I got that memo. Then burned it." At least, that's what she's going with, now.

"I've been out here since then, you just happen to not be out here at the time. And I was gone for another one of those personal missions. You didn't even notice, this time!" Max points out to him.

But, beat, she looks away, then back to Billy as she grins. "Yes. Having plenty of fun with my gift, too."

"Typical. Fucking brat." He slides his hand over the smooth surface of the white and green surfboard, wishing he had some wax to smooth over it. He visibly seems to bristle at her accusation and turns swiftly on heel to march over.

"HEY! Do you want me breathing down your neck each and every moment?!" He's yelling because it's habit with her, it's how they talk to each other sometimes. It's fine. Right? Yeah, this is fine. "I'm sorry I didn't notice you were gone and shit, okay?"

An actual apology, because he really hadn't noticed. "It's not like the fucking aliens tell use when they send you on some personal fucking mission or whatever, shitbird!"

It is just how they communicate. It's just normal for them, which was part of why Max half accused him. It wasn't serious.

"Of course I don't! I don't need you breathing down my neck. But you could try to keep in better touch by using that damn device thing!" Max starts with snapping back at him, because, again, it's familiar. It's how they've always done this, but it doesn't have the same bite to it that it once had. She sighs when he apologizes.

"It's okay," she tells him, in a softer tone, because he did apologize, and she didn't miss that. "I know they don't. And they don't give much warning about it, either. At least nothing bad happens on them." So far. Not that she remembers....

Most of their bite between each other was gone, definitely showing how far the two had come in becoming better siblings, and how much closer they'd become, too. Billy will never admit outright how much he actually loves his sister and hopes he can protect her from all the shit the aliens throw at them.

Max's softer tone takes some of the anger that blew wind into his sails, right out. The blond sobers up and looks... not quite scolded. Maybe remorseful, for yelling.

Maybe to make up for that, he grabs her by the collar to pull her in for a tight hug. "I know I keep saying I'm gonna check in on that damn thing, but I'm gonna try to be better at it, okay?" He thinks of when Max first disappeared, over a year ago, when the aliens sent her home and Billy had lost it. Lost it and took it out on Eddie and Steve. Their first truce.

And Max, loves her brother in return. She's not the type to say sappy things like that, though. She shows it by checking up on him (though, she's been terrible at that, too), and by protecting people, as well.

Max gives Billy a crooked smile, one side lifting, not quite apologetic, but there's understanding it.

He pulls her into a hug, and she hugs right back.

"I know you will." That settled, she claps his back, then grins.

"So...how did you like getting to surf again, after all so long? I know I liked getting to board again, myself." She's been on her skate board since getting it, a lot.

Oh Billy won't say it outright. Maybe under dire circumstances he would, but not under normal ones. But his hug is tight, doesn't let go too quickly, even when she claps his back.

Finally, Billy lets go and grins out towards the water. "Tommy set up a surfing ordeal for my birthday on the spacestation, but real waves like this will always be better. Feels good though. Purple sand aside and those stupid lobsters, feels damn good. You wanna try it?"

He doesn't offer his board to just anyone.

The hug speaks enough. She doesn't expect it, and doesn't need to hear it. The fact Billy is working so hard to change, and talks to her at all, their much improved That's all Max needs.

"You sure?" Max asks with suspicion in her tone, but she is, already, reaching for the board.

"They're completely different, skate boarding and surfing." And she'll probably wipe out quickly, but it sounds exhilarating, and she needs that, right now.

They really were becoming good siblings. Being able to say mountains of words through small actions and not saying it. Sprinkle in some yelling and they were almost perfect.

"I wouldn't offer it if I wasn't sure and it's a rare offer. I'm only gonna do that for two people and you're obviously one of them, shitbird." Billy doesn't stop her from getting the board. "I think you could do it, and I'm here if you wipe out and need to get rescued." Put those lifeguard skills to use.

"Make sure to get the band around your ankle so you don't lose my board."

She'll be more than happy with normal siblings, that bicker and fight, but in a more typical level than the kind they did back home. This is good.

"I don't need you to save me," Max wastes no time in telling him, then she pauses and adds, "but I'd appreciate you watching." Just in case, of course.

And she does take the board, not about to waste this chance, either, because she knows Billy is right. He wouldn't make this offer to just anyone, and if she refuses it, she's missing out.

This was good, it was far better. It won't last, whenever the aliens decided they're done with Billy, but for now, it matters. That they could have this when at home they couldn't.

"Oh shut up, you do too," he says and gives her a playful shove. "If you don't need saving that means you don't need me to tell you what to do then, right? Get on the board, shitbird. Impress me." A challenge, an attempt to goad her like he used to. Sand kicks up as he walks from the dry part down to the wet where the water laps at his feet. Even if she wipes out, he'd go get her. Billy knows he's still got work to do, but he could save her if need be.

Max isn't ready for it to end, not ready to say goodbye, not yet. So she tries not to think of that fact, tries to just enjoy now, as much as she can.

"You just keep believing that," Max quips back, but truly, if she didn't trust Billy to save her, she wouldn't have let herself be goaded by him.

But she does. She's seen this done enough times she manages without instruction. She has the band on, and wades out until she finds a wave. Of course, she only manages to ride it for a short bit before she wipes out, with a laugh.

It's different from skateboard, from wheels on the land, but to her, just as exhilarating. Even slipping from the board into the water feels refreshing.

And Billy watches from his spot on the beach. The water licks at his feet, but his gaze is on his sister watching her ride the way without the grace seasoned surfers had. Well, he supposes he’d be the same on a skateboard.

Yeah, Billy isn’t going on one of her boards. At least wiping out in the water doesn’t hurt like hitting the asphalt does.

He trots out just a little when Max wipes out and allows the water to get to his thighs. She’s okay it looks like, allowing herself to slip off of the board back into the water, so he laughs. A bright sound that only she and Tommy got to hear.

It doesn't hurt, at all, far as Max is concerned. The band is a little annoying, but that's a reasonable security, necessary.

Billy laughs, then Max laughs, but, of course, needles him with, "You said you were going to save me!"

Her head's above the water, she's fine. She wades back to the shore, with his board still in hand.

The only use the band has here might be helping the surfer back to the surface. Usually it was to keep a wayward board from knocking someone else on the waves by accident.

Billy grins with his tongue out. "You said you didn’t need saving!" comes the counter. He meets her partway, and takes the board from her - carefully so he doesn’t pull her foot from under her with the band. "Had enough already? Good luck getting your stupid clothes dry, Max."

"That's what taking a little time on the shore is for," Max points out as she gets her ankle free of the band so Billy can take his board. She does give it a look of longing, though.

"I think I can get it, with more time. If you let me try again, another day." Regularly, she means. If she surfed more regularly.

Max looks down before she admits, "It was fun."

"It's gonna take more than a little time, Shitbird. You know that. This place is hot, but it's not Cali hot." He takes it up to the beach shack and leans it carefully against the outer wall and looks her over. "I'll let you take it out again. I just wanna be around when you go out with it in case stuff happens, got it?"

He was allowed to be protective of his sister after all. Billy was hired for lifeguard duty for a reason!

"Maybe we can ask the aliens to bring you your own board. Make it red and blue or some shit so we don't get our stuff mixed up."

"Got it. No surfing without you," Max repeats, then rolls her eyes. She gets it, though. Typically, it frustrates her when adults think she's incapable, but this is very new, and getting caught in an alien planet current and swept out to who knows where? Not smart, and doesn't sound fun.

There's another laugh. "Red and blue? Well, at least if there's red involved we know who it belongs to."

She takes a seat on the sand to start drying off and look at the waves for a little longer.

He frowns for a moment, then gives a shove - albeit, a gentle one. There's nothing too rough about it. "I mean it, Max. No surfing without someone else here. These currents may make waves, but there's no telling what the tides would do, or what was waiting in the water.

"That's true. If I got another board, I'd want her to be blue like the Camaro."

He buries the end of the board in the sand to keep her upright, then plops down next to Max.

"Before you ask, I do plan on going back to the civic center for the winter months. No need for you and Buckley to come evacuate me from here this time around."

Billy shoves, Max chuckles, then reaches to shove him in return.

"I already said I got it!" Max protests, but not loudly.

"Not surprised. Blue for you, then. Red for me."

She laughs at Billy's reassurance.

"Glad you learned your lesson, then. Because we would do it again." They both know she's serious, too. "And I can check on you there." Because she will.

He lets himself stagger with a laugh, kicking up sand before catching his balance once more to walk with her. "Just making sure that my words get through that thick skull of yours." Billy's tongue pokes out and he settles down a little more.

"I know you both would. Annoying shits, the both of you." He runs a hand through the blond curls. "And if you can't find me at the civic center, try the diner. Aside from Tommy and me being together and all that, going there helps with the nightmares sometimes."

"I think you got me confused with you," Max quips back, sticks her tongue out back at him, but she smiles. They both know they're both stubborn and hard-headed.

Her smile falters, and her tone goes serious with the reminder he still has nightmares.

"The dinner is a nice. They have good food," she points out. A beat, then, "You know. I don't always sleep so great. So if it's the middle of the night, and you just want someone to hang out with, you can call me." She shrugs like it's not a big deal, but actually, it would be nice to have some company, sometimes, and it means a lot to her to be even make this offer to Billy.

"Not confused. Definitely calling you out for all the attitude." But he drops that for now. Especially at her expression when he admits that he still has nightmares.

"If they didn’t have good food, I wouldn’t go. Then silence again so she can speak. It gives him an idea, even if it’s small… "so there’s a lady in the city, I heard she does magic with fabric and stuff. I’ll ask her for a hammock, so you have a place here at the beach house. I know it’s far, it’s not great, but you can use it."

An offer to match hers. So they could support each other through the nightmares only the two of them would understand.

Wouldn't It Be Nice ~ The Beach Boys

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