[Being unaligned is a pain. He's gotten used to it; it serves a purpose. Everyone loves a bad boy, especially in the social media game. But it's a pain, everywhere outside of his work.
Everyone expects you to be a hero when you're special. Billy's, well, he's not the hero type. He's not the villain type. He's the type that prefers the money, the free time, the ability to blend in. But sometimes people look, because he's registered. The information's out there - Billy Hargrove, metahuman. People - especially now, with this goddamn cult - are always asking why haven't you -, and the pressure is mounting. It's spreading to his comments, to his subscription numbers.
He can't go get a coffee now without feeling like someone is looking at him, dying to ask him if this'll be the year he joins the Guardian Alliance or if he's, you know. His dad was Guardian Alliance. Distant memories of absentee parenthood, the way it made him cruel with the pressure of it.
He can feel eyes on him now, even as he weighs his options between fucking organic carrots or the weird looking ones. Finds his jaw tense as he glances and gives, well, you a raised eyebrow, nose scrunching. ] What?
YOU'VE GOT MAIL . . .
[He has a dream, sometimes. He's covered in black veins, sitting on the edge of a bed in a vast nothingness. There's no sound, no smell. He sits, staring straight ahead, repeating his own name over and over. Then, gently, softly, a girl comes to him, can't be any more than fourteen. She says: can you see me? and Billy thinks yes, yes, but I can't see you, he'll see you too -
But he doesn't know what he is. Lately the dreams a little different. The girl reaches for his hand, and when she speaks her voice older. Familiar. She says you have to wake up, Billy, or this isn't your life, Billy.
He wakes from those dreams, sweating. Tries desperately not to wake Eddie as he catches his breath, tries to keep the terror to himself in case it spills out. Enough of them leads to online, to people who have similar dreams too, and it's mortifying, sure. But it's - it helps. ]
CALIFORNICATION IS ONLINE.
CALIFORNICATION: I had the fucking dream again. The girl. Does anyone else hear the voice clearer now?
SIXTEEN CANDLES . . .
[WILD CARD - Billy's a sex worker and social media influencer and this has p much stayed the same. You can run into him on the street, at paid events, sometimes even at Guardian or Society events as a paid guest!
Or just. At the gym, grabbing a beer ... Going through the vinyl section of the local record store, not sure why he longs for the 80's so bad...]
billy hargove - stranger things - au'd
[Being unaligned is a pain. He's gotten used to it; it serves a purpose. Everyone loves a bad boy, especially in the social media game. But it's a pain, everywhere outside of his work.
Everyone expects you to be a hero when you're special. Billy's, well, he's not the hero type. He's not the villain type. He's the type that prefers the money, the free time, the ability to blend in. But sometimes people look, because he's registered. The information's out there - Billy Hargrove, metahuman. People - especially now, with this goddamn cult - are always asking why haven't you -, and the pressure is mounting. It's spreading to his comments, to his subscription numbers.
He can't go get a coffee now without feeling like someone is looking at him, dying to ask him if this'll be the year he joins the Guardian Alliance or if he's, you know. His dad was Guardian Alliance. Distant memories of absentee parenthood, the way it made him cruel with the pressure of it.
He can feel eyes on him now, even as he weighs his options between fucking organic carrots or the weird looking ones. Finds his jaw tense as he glances and gives, well, you a raised eyebrow, nose scrunching. ] What?
YOU'VE GOT MAIL . . .
[He has a dream, sometimes. He's covered in black veins, sitting on the edge of a bed in a vast nothingness. There's no sound, no smell. He sits, staring straight ahead, repeating his own name over and over. Then, gently, softly, a girl comes to him, can't be any more than fourteen. She says: can you see me? and Billy thinks yes, yes, but I can't see you, he'll see you too -
But he doesn't know what he is. Lately the dreams a little different. The girl reaches for his hand, and when she speaks her voice older. Familiar. She says you have to wake up, Billy, or this isn't your life, Billy.
He wakes from those dreams, sweating. Tries desperately not to wake Eddie as he catches his breath, tries to keep the terror to himself in case it spills out. Enough of them leads to online, to people who have similar dreams too, and it's mortifying, sure. But it's - it helps. ]
CALIFORNICATION IS ONLINE.
CALIFORNICATION: I had the fucking dream again. The girl. Does anyone else hear the voice clearer now?
SIXTEEN CANDLES . . .
[WILD CARD - Billy's a sex worker and social media influencer and this has p much stayed the same. You can run into him on the street, at paid events, sometimes even at Guardian or Society events as a paid guest!
Or just. At the gym, grabbing a beer ... Going through the vinyl section of the local record store, not sure why he longs for the 80's so bad...]