One Night in Bangkok ~ Murray Head

[playingtough]

WHO: Billy Hargrove, Tommy Shepherd, Max Mayfield, and YOU!!
WHERE: Agrii Ship
WHAT: Agrii New Tick
WHEN: New Tick things
WARNINGS: Billy’s got a gun weapon

The message gives Billy time. Time to pack up his axe, tape player, vase of shells, sleeping meds, and Tommy’s blanket he had been borrowing since coming out of the Warrens. In exchange, he had left one of his for his boyfriend in the diner. He hopes, while arranging all this stuff in his room on the ship, that they’re not going someplace with fireworks like last year.

Billy couldn’t be that lucky.



Under Pressure ~ David Bowie, Queen

This is almost worse than last year’s arrival.

The snow village was one thing, but this? With the aliens cheerfully greeting them, slinging a red and blue striped scarf around his neck? No. He doesn’t like it. One of the Agrii get too close to try and help with the accessory, and Billy pushes them. That gets him the space he wants and he moves at a quick pace further into the ship.

Even with his more… aggressive approach to the Agrii, some are still… bowing to him? As he walks. It’s enough to take some of speed out of his step. Why were they bowing to him? Fucking aliens. Was it something they had done down on Temba? The Warrens come to mind, the trip down into the depths of them with the rest of the group, but then he remembers the ordeal of the ship. Helping Soldier with his axe. Was it related to that? There was no telling.

But Billy walks slower, keeping quiet as he moves from the arrival party and bowing aliens.

Despite all of the decor glittering around all of them, Billy’s noticed something else. Even with all of the festive decorations and merry music, something doesn’t feel right. It feels… tense. Like the crest of tension right before a fight breaks out. That’s a feeling he’s familiar with and it puts him on edge a little himself as he tries to make his way towards the living quarters. There are different colors decorating Agrii, like they’re part of factions. It vaguely reminds Billy of politics back at home, how Neil had been a staunch supporter of red in the red versus blue Billy himself only half paid attention to on the television.

Video Killed the Radio Star ~ The Buggles

Now this he remembers from last year. The gifts. Everything was clearly labelled, but Billy couldn’t resist testing a couple not marked out for him. Which results in him getting a little zap from one of the robots roaming around on patrol. With a devious grin, he pushes one off of the table before retreating away from one of the robots starting for him. "Quit it, quit it, it was a joke!" he shouts at it when he’s got enough space between himself and it.

Finally he finds a large and flat one for him, a small box wrapped in orange, and one more pink one shaped with what he hopes isn’t a book.

Please don’t be a book.

He goes for the flat, large packaging first, ripping the paper until his mouth drops open enough to show his shock. In his hands is a brand new Hawkins High varsity jacket, with his name embroidered in fancy script on the right side. There’s a basketball patch stitched onto the right arm, and the ‘Class of’ in matching fancy script over the bold numbers of ’85’.

His own letterman jacket. Something Neil would’ve never paid for back home. Something he’d never get now. It doesn’t even cross his mind that they’re in Tommy’s colors, too. Happy coincidence.

Shrugging it on (perfect fit, holy shit), Billy moves onto the other packages. The orange wrapping gets pulled apart and a small box opened to find some brass knuckles. They fit his fingers great, and feel like a great weight. His axe was great, but what if he lost it? There were plenty of people in the city that were stronger than him - maybe this would even it out.

And then the last one, Billy pulls to him. More wrapping paper to litter the ground and he blinks at what are clearly DVD cases. Ten of them with various movie titles he recognizes. But what kind of shit was this? He cracks open Halloween and pulls out the disc to inspect it.

"Is this some weird fucking Frisbee?"

We Built This City ~ Starship [Closed to Tommy]

Message 1: mDe fort no boom in our room. thats where i’ll be if you need me tomothy

Message 2: < 3

And he has. Billy’s taken as many pillows and such as he could find to act as squishy walls. Over the top is a sheet, then a blanket, pulled down and tucked under the wall of pillows to help keep it in place. Inside, there’s a couple of pillows for them and a blanket, the tape player with its headphones ready to go, and the bottle of Billy’s sleep medications.

Oh, and something wrapped up in some green cloth under the tape player.

Fort No Boom is go. He repeats, Fort No Boom is a go.

Billy picks up a glass of water he brought with him, chugging half of its contents before pacing a little. They knew about the fireworks in advance, but would it be a different reaction knowing it ahead of time? Would it be easier now that he had someone with him from beginning to the end? Unlike last year, where Tae and Tommy stumbled upon him after the panic attack started.

Damn. He’s already feeling a little nauseous with dread. He continues to pace, with one hand going up to gently scratch at the scarring on his left arm.

Faith ~ George Michael [Closed to Max]

‘come to cockpit.,Shitbird’

It was a space for the two of them. Billy and Max have had a couple of sibling talks in here, and without their permission, or some dick with Engineering overriding it, they can sit here and talk with someone accidentally walking in on them.

It’s also quiet, if you ignored the hum of the ship’s workings around them. It’s just a hum, nothing compared to the Camaro when she’s fired up, but this is… nice. Soothing at least.

Billy’s got his feet up on the dash, the notebook on his communicator open as he practices the texting. Still slow, but there’s been improvements at least.

Comments

Video

[crystalmaster]

Radley has to chuckle at Billy's reaction to a DVD. "Nah, it's what came after video cassettes," he says. Looking a bit annoyed he adds, "In my time it's really hard to even get VCRs now. Everything's discs or digital. And if I'm recording off of TV, I'd still rather record on a tape."

[playingtough]

Billy's got his usual 'I'm standoffish because I'm confronted with something new and I don't like it' demeanor about him when Radley approaches to explain about the discs. "What the hell is digital? Is that more future bullshit?"

Like cottagecore? Maybe cottagecore was digital.

The blond does hold up the disc to inspect it better. Shiny on one side, the other side black with the title in its font in white with Micheal Myers on it. It did seem like a different version of the sticker you'd see on a VHS tape.

"...You can record stuff off of the TV?"

[crystalmaster]

“Yeah, it’s like the videos on our comms,” Radley says. “There’s no physical object except the device being recorded to.”

He nods. “It’s pretty cool. I’ve still got a lot of video cassettes back home that I recorded movies and TV shows on from the channels.”

[playingtough]

Oh. He figured the videos on the devices were just alien things. Not actual technology in a future he doesn't get to see. "Huh. Never heard of that."

He flips the disc around, getting smudges on the shiny side before pressing it back into the DVD box. Oh, that click of it settling into its space is satisfying. "Yeah? I've got some tapes of porn back home."

Some of that stuff was great to workout to when no one else was home

[crystalmaster]

“Actually, digital is more than just that,” Radley muses. “Those discs are called Digital Video Discs.” A laugh. “I don’t always think about that. They’re usually always abbreviated as DVD.”

… Okay. Not Radley’s thing, but he won’t judge. “Whatever floats your boat,” he says.

[playingtough]

Billy starts rummaging through the other titles he got, frowning at a couple and grinning at others. Nightmare on Elm Street - Max would love that one. But as he looks through and listens to Radley, something else comes to mind.

A problem.

"Wait. If VCRs are used for VHS tapes, what do you use for a disc? A DVD disc? Wait, do you call it a DVD disc or just a disc?"

[crystalmaster]

“A DVD player,” Radley says. “And I’ve got a portable one, actually. I found it for sale at that space station. It’s not a real big screen, but it’s better than nothing. I can show you how it works.

“The discs themselves are usually called DVDs,” he adds.

[playingtough]

"A DVD player," Billy parrots. He looks a little stumped at all of this, but hey. Tapes were his personal top tech back home, not discs.

Billy flips through the last of the movies and puts them aside for the time being. "Yeah? I wonder if there's a movie theater or something in the city where we can play them. Maybe make a Temba movie night or something. You got a TV wherever you're staying at?"

[crystalmaster]

"I've just got the DVD player that has its own itty-bitty screen, but I bet Donnie would know how to hook up a bigger screen," Radley says, remembering when Donnie set up a movie night some months back.

Video (But maybe she flopped down before gifts opened so they can open together?)

[work_wife]

"Hey," Robin greets as she flops down next to Billy with her own stack of gifts. As she settles in Little Bear flops with her, a big filet of fish in its mouth as if it was his own gift. "Figured you wouldn't mind me sitting around."

Her voice sounds a lot better now. Apparently healing was something she was moving forward on.

She is content to focus on silence here, not wanting to bother Hargrove much, but to let him know that he's still got friends around. But, of course, her eyes are drawn aside as she catches sight of the coat.

"I don't remember you having one of those," Robin says. "Though I guess you weren't the sort to parade around in it."

Just like Steve hadn't been, even though he'd had one. She'd seen it.

Yeah! They can flop down to be bros

[playingtough]

Billy looks up just as Robin joins him, grinning at her arrival. "Buckley, and friend canine. Don't remember your name." Was he even told Little Bear's name? He doesn't remember. It's not terribly important at the moment. "You're sounding better, Buckley."

He holds up the jacket after unwrapping it, taking in the colors and his name embroidered in that fancy cursive script. The blond seems floored by this gift, and lays it in his lap to run hands over the fabric. "I... I didn't have one."

Billy's throat bobs as he swallows hard.

"My d... Neil never bought one. Didn't think it was worthwhile to get one for the money they cost." His hands skim over the basketball patch, then back his name. "I wanted one. The only thing of that shitty school that I thought was actually kinda cool. And," he starts with emphasis. "It would have had my name on it. I guess the aliens have a way of knowing what he want."

Camaro, surboard, and now his very own letterman jacket.

There's a passing moment where he wonders what Tommy would look like in it.

[work_wife]

"Well now you do," she says, reaching out to touch his arm lightly. Because clearly this mattered to Billy, and she was glad he could have something that mattered to him.

That said, she was absolutely going to unwrapping her own gift and... No. No.

She groans as she looks at the familiar blue and white of a Scoops Ahoy uniform. Well fuck.

"At least they seem to be nice to you."

[playingtough]

The light touch gets attention. Billy says nothing, but he rarely does outside of Max and Tommy. She might get it though. Especially with how he doesn't lash out, or pull away from it. The jacket gets laid in his lap while she unwraps her own gift and....

Billy leans over to look past all of the pink wrapping to see the uniform that looks... well, it's not pretty.

"What the hell is that? Some knock off Popeye getup for you?" Now he laughs, wholeheartedly as he reaches in as though to pick it up.

[work_wife]

She groans again at the comparison. Not that far off, Hargrove. Not that far at all. She lets him pick it up. NOt like she intends to wear it.

"While you were off seducing all the girls in town at the pool, Steve and I worked at Scoops Ahoy in the mall. That was my uniform. I hated it so much. Especially working with Steve. I had to do the job to pay my parents back for sorta wrecking the car. And a few others. I wanted to save up to go to France, but god... My sophomore year was weird for more than apparently there being demons lurking in town or whatever."

[playingtough]

"Seducing all the girls and being the best at it," Billy adds with a smug grin before letting her continue. The grin turns bigger hearing about Steve's own uniform and if Robin's was anything to go by...

He'd almost pay money to see Steve in his.

But that's not what really gets his attention. Billy's interest piques at the mention of wrecking a car. "What the hell did you do to wreck a car, Robin? And what kind of car was it?"

[work_wife]

Yeah, he probably was being the best at it. He was still new and interesting then, and she'd seen him without his shirt on. She knew girls were probably in to that.

"Uh... Well, technically it was, like, five? And one was ours. God."

She closes the box with the clothes and leans back a bit.

"Yeah, it was probably still gossip then so... Uh... Did you hear about the way that someone hit a number of cars coming in to crash prom the school year before you showed up? Blew in and danced with a weird senior girl and blew back out because the teachers were chasing her for being an underclassman at senior prom?"

[playingtough]

Girls were totally into that. Being a lifeguard at the pool was the second best thing to happen to Hawkins (the first best thing was him moving there in the first place).

His gaze flicks from the gift box back up to her face as she starts into the story. "Eh, not really. So now you gotta tell me because that sounds an awful lot like some shit you'd do, Buckley."

We Built This City

[doubled_speed]

There isn't even a knock on the door. Just the whoosh of it opening, and by the time the sound arrives, there's TOmmy. More than that, there's a new, massively big, massively fluffy green blanket wrapped around Billy's shoulders.

"Hey babe," Tommy greets, kissing his boyfriend's forehead. "Looks pretty great here. Looking forward to a cuddle and gift comparison."

He's less worried about the noise around here, but he wants Billy to feel as comfortable as possible in the face of what was coming next. Just like he has every time he's expected anything like fireworks.

[playingtough]

There is a whoosh but before Billy can even react, there’s a blanket of green covering him and a boyfriend kissing his forehead. Billy doesn’t look bad, not like last year, but it’s clear he’s nervous. So nervous he’s shaking.

"Hey," he answers back with. That feels stupid but he can’t take it back.

Billy takes the blanket in his hands to wrap around himself and also Tommy. "I didn’t take you away from anyone did I?" He hopes not.

A gesture to the fort. "I put all my stuff in it I use for sleep. Didn’t know what you’d want. Also got you something. Something small, because it’s Christmas or whatever. Or cold enough to be close enough back on the planet."

[doubled_speed]

"I don't care if you took me away from anyone," Tommy counters. The other question doesn't bear considering. Billy's winning the battle here.

"And it's New Years, not Christmas. Hell, it's even past Hanukkah by me and Billiam's count. But I'll take anything you care about offering me, handsome."

[playingtough]

"Right. Hanukkah. Gotta get you right next year if I remember." Billy would figure out a way to remember. For Tommy. The guy does so much for him already. "It’s not big, like your birthday one," punctuated with his hand reaching up to gently tap Tommy’s necklace. "But it’s… nice at least."

Now he opens the blanket enough so he can move towards the bed, with one of his hands going down to link his fingers with Tommy’s. "How long until the fireworks start? Do we know?"

His hand is shaking, even as he brings his legs up to get into the bed.

[doubled_speed]

"Don't worry about it. I'm still learning. Not like I can be a good little Jew here. And I'm also Romani. Which is pretty prone to blending of things, so there's that too. Probably works, right?"

He doesn't care if Billy doesn't remember. Still, he's impressed there's going to be a gift. Not that he presses for it. No gift is as good as their fingers tangled together as they move toward bed.

"Nope. But we'll be safe here together. I promise."

[playingtough]

"If it works for you, I guess it'll work for me. For now." He gives a shaky smile as he pulls them down to the fort - Tommy's new blanket included.

Inside it's dim because he forgot something for a light, but he opens his communication phone thing so there's some kind of light for them to see by. The things he mentioned having in the fort are well out of the way of the two guys making themselves comfortable. "I know we'll be safe. And if we're not, I know it won't take you long to come up with a fix."

Tommy had last year, inspiring this year's Fort No Boom. In advance this time because he was being smarter about it since he knew now they were part of the festivities.

Once inside, he sits upright and pulls Tommy into his lap so he can embrace him tightly and press his face into the guy's shoulder. His heart hammers wildly in his chest, threatening to beat right out and escape.

[doubled_speed]

"My fixes tend to be 'get away quickly'," Tommy points out. But he's also busy wrapping himself around his partner now that he's snuggled in close.

"Hey tehre," he says, his voice softening when he feels Billy's pounding heart. He reaches up to run his fingers through Billy's hair. "You should only be revved up that much for me being sexy, Sunshine. It's going to be okay. I promise you it's going to be okay. We won't hear a single thing from here."

[playingtough]

That was true. Tommy was good at getting away really, really quick.

Focus. Focus on Tommy. On the hand in his hair. The weight of him in Billy’s lap. Focus, focus, focus. His hands hold around Tommy’s back, gripping into that shirt like the speedster would suddenly disappear.

Because Tommy could, if he wanted.

Billy knows he won’t.

He breathes in and out, trying to listen for Tommy’s to match to. He would be okay. Safe here. No fireworks in here, no raging monster with appendages ready to ream him into his death. "You are sexy. My… my sexy motherfucker."

A little rub of his face on that shoulder. His grip eases a little. Breathing in and back out. "You really think we won’t hear it in here?"