Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Stranger Things
A/N: I wanted there to be more plot in this chapter, but it ended up being all romantic and stuff, so sorry about that… the next one will answer a lot more questions.
Chapter 16: Promises
"Eleven… Can you hear me?"
"Open your eyes and look at me." Heavy lids and what felt like to be an unnatural force, prevented her from being able to follow through with the command.
"Who are you?" Panic flooded her voice as she attempted to lift her hands to her face, to pry open her eyes, but they were heavy… everything was so heavy.
She couldn't move—couldn't see, all she could hear was this stranger's low and menacing voice. He was so close, was he just next to her? She couldn't feel his breath on her, was any of this even real?
What was happening? Hadn't she just in bed… had someone taken her?
"Billy?" She slid her hands across the bed, patting, searching, desperate to find him next to her.
"No one is here Eleven, no one but you and I."
"What do you want?" She struggled against the growing magnetic force holding her body down.
"You've forgotten Eleven—forgotten who you are… and where you've come from." The voice approached closer, hot breath trickled into her ear, causing her skin to crawl with fear.
"Let me remind you." He roughly gripped her wrist, still unable to open her eyes, she pulled back as hard as she could, terrified of what this stranger was going to inflict on her.
"Let me go!" She shouted, frantically trying to free herself from his unbreakable grip, but she only seemed to be able to gain enough movement to wiggle her fingers ever so slightly.
"I'm sorry Eleven… this will hurt, but it's necessary. —Necessary for you to remember…. For you to understand."
She laid powerless, frozen, her body felt as though it had weights attached to it, but yet-- there was nothing touching her. She tried her hardest to struggle against this seemingly invisible power, but her efforts accomplished nothing. Out of helplessness, tears been to well up in her eyes and a thick lump formed in her throat. She laid destitute awaiting her fate… this pain… what was it?
A hand grasped roughly at her forearm; she was sure that this force would snap it in one blow. As the hand tightened across her wrist, a sharp stinging began to burn at her delicate skin.
"STOP! --PLEASE."
"IT HURTS." She cried, clawing and wiggling as much as she could trying to escape this bionic source, but of course it was no use, he wouldn't let go until he was finished… Finished making his point. The stinging only grew stronger… was it burning? No, it felt like it was eating away at her flesh.
"I can make this all stop; you just need to remember. —I need you to remember, we will be able to help each other."
"I don't know what you're talking about…please stop, it hurts so much." She cried in a whimper.
"YOU PROMISED ME!"
"GET OFF OF ME!" She shouted as a jolt of her power released, sending this intruder spiralling across the room, a loud thump and the sound of shattering glass followed.
--
On a count of the night prior Billy had awakened early the next morning, a mixture of sexual frustration and unease from the creature that had been lurking outside, forced him to slip downstairs around dawn. After a heavy workout he decided to kill time further, by reinforcing the house any way that he could. He had been knees deep in barbed wire when he heard the commotion from upstairs.
"What the hell was what?" He jolted his neck in the direction of the stairs, he couldn't think of a reasonable explanation as to why he would have heard such a clatter. He proceeded to bolt up the stairs in a panic, skipping every other step to reach El as quickly as he could.
Had something gotten into the house? How had it got past him?
He reached the door in a matter of seconds and scanned the room with wide blue eyes, looking for the culprit to the turmoil he had heard from downstairs.
"GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME!" El chanted still appearing to be in a distressed sleep. Noticing the obvious nightmare, he briskly made his way over towards her side of the bed, sweat beaded on her forehead and her eyes were crinkled in stress.
"El wake up!" He shook her vigorously and watched as her big brown eyes fell open, "It's only a dream," his eyes sparkled as he sensed her relief from his presence. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself into him, nuzzling her face into the croak of his neck.
"Guess you got your powers back, huh? He motioned towards the new hole in the wall.
"Yes, I guess so," She shrugged gently, still captured in his embrace.
"Do you always break stuff when you have nightmares?"
"No." She winced at an unknown pain in her wrist… hadn't that been a dream? She pulled away from him abruptly to inspect further, sensing his growing suspicion she escaped his hold and quickly clutched her wrist in her other hand to hide the wound. "I need the bathroom—" with a steady pace she made her way to the sanctuary of the toilet and slammed and bolted the lock behind her.
"What the hell, what's wrong?" Confused and taken aback by her bold escape, he followed in behind her, "Are you alright?" He placed a hand on the closed door.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just tired… I'll be out in a minute!" She turned the tap on in an effort to mask her panicked stumbling and then flung the mirrored cabinet door open, hoping and searching for something-- anything to hide her still painful wound.
A cry erupted from her lips when she glanced down to see the damage. She was shocked to see that her once small and easily hidden tattoo was now in much larger, darker lettering and like the original branding, the tattoo was all red and inflamed around the edges…
"011"
Hadn't it been a dream?
She clasped her hands around her lips attempting to silence the tears that were now freely falling down her face, this was over, the lab was over. Why was this happening? How was this happening?
"Hey you know… If you're sick, we don't have to meet up with the shit birds… I know we said we would talk to them about last night, but it can wait a few hours." Billy pressed his ear to the door; he was sure he could hear a faint sobbing through the thin pine. Something was wrong he knew it, she'd shut him out, why?
"El, let me in." He worriedly turned the knob.
"No, I'm fine, I'll get ready. Just a minute." She choked on a throb in her throat.
"Let me in, or I'll come in my way."
"Hang on!" She fumbled her way around the bathroom, continuing to search for something to hide her fresh branding, something… a bandage? No that would be too obvious… something else, something inconspicuous…
"Open the goddamn door El!" Billy banged, judging to see if his fists would do the job or if he'd need to put his foot through the door.
"Just a SECOND!" She spotted atop of the shower, her black bandana, in a panic she winced in pain as she sloppily wrapped the fabric as best she could around the fresh wound. Before opening the door, she quickly tried to regain her composure.
He couldn't know, how could he, when she didn't even know what it meant or how it had happened.
"El, I swear to God, you don't open this door, I will break it down!" Making the decision to place a hole in the door, he balled his fist and began to writhe his arm behind his back, as he was ready to let loose, the door sprung open at rocket speed.
"What?" she grinned innocently, pushing past him lightly, hoping to hell he wouldn't stop her to question her further.
"What the hell was that all about?" He grasped her upper arm tightly to stop her.
"Hey! Stop it, you're hurting me." She lied, following through with a fake wince.
Sighing frustratedly, he released her arm and she quickly made her way back into her own room and slammed the door shut.
What the hell is going on.
Billy made his way back into his room, searching for some sort of evidence to help him figure out what had happened… Hadn't she just had a nightmare?
She'd used her powers to send something into the wall… but what had actually put the hole into the wall? Where was this thing, a chair? A piece of furniture?
--
"So… are you going to tell me what you dreamt of last night? Or are we just going to pretend like nothing happened?" He took his eyes off the road for a second, attempting to read the expression on her face.
"I…--"
"It's nothing, I'm sorry, I don't know why I ran off, I just needed a minute." She gave him a half smile, hoping it would be enough to throw him off the scent.
"It didn't seem like nothing… -- " he lazily threw his arm over the steering wheel, to tap the dashboard, "why were you crying?" he looked over to her again, noticing that as he did she turned her body towards the window.
"I wasn't crying." Annoyed he let out a deep growl of frustration.
"Fine, you wanna be a pain in the ass, go ahead, I don't give a shit." He angrily reached for his smokes in his shirt pocket and lit up without another moment's notice. Ignoring her completely, he briskly cranked the radio and didn't give her another glance until they had reached town.
"Can you make your way to the arcade; I need to stop at the hardware store." He revved the engine as he pulled the car into street parking.
"And go straight there… no detours, alright? --There's tons of people looking for you at the moment." He pulled the keys out of the ignition and watched as she crossed the brightly lit street. He considered his decision of allowing her to go on her own, he had his apprehensions of being seen with her the main reason being that they would draw too much attention together.
"Yes, I'll be fine." She quickly made her way out of the car and bolted across the street, with the intention of hiding her identity, she pulled the hood of her coat up over her hair and made her way towards the arcade.
Pain in the ass.
Why wouldn't she just tell him what was going on?
Noticing large crowds El decided to take a short cut down one of the side alleys, it was darker down there, no streetlights or shops were around, no one would be there to recognise her. Once down the alley and covered by a cloak of darkness, she dropped the hood of her jacket and continued her way towards the arcade, as she hastily skimmed a still very dark corner, she bumped head on and straight into the chest of an unexpectedly familiar face.
"Oh, Hi—"
"Umm… I'm actually glad I've bumped into you…Well If I'm being honest, I haven't exactly bumped into you, I saw you come down here…"
Rob.
"I wanted to apologize for what happened the other night… at the party."
"I was drunk. And I guess, well… -- I was probably a bit of an ass… think we could start again? Maybe I could take you out some time?"
"I don't think so." She attempted to push past.
"Why not?" He pressed, grasping her arm assertively, his eyes were angry... surprised by her blunt rejection.
"Because—I don't have to give a reason."
"Excuse me?" He scoffed, still holding her firm where she stood.
"Let me go." She squirmed against him, mildly panicked by his firm hold, she peered around her surroundings, no one was around, and the streetlights appeared to be far and few in between.
"Do you even know who I am? I've got girls lining up around the block to go out with me--You should consider yourself prime meat, I don't normally go out of my way to give them another shot."
"I don't see any waiting." She glanced towards the corner sarcastically raising an eyebrow at his comment.
"You're a little bitch hey." He shoved her towards the wall, releasing her arm he placed his hand across her chin to hold her steady, "I think you should come with me, I'll show you what you're missing out on," He suggestively locked his eyes with hers.
"No." Her anger became burdening, should she just give him a gentle shock, should she scream, should she threaten him? She couldn't use her powers, she'd done that last time and he'd ran his mouth… told everyone at the party, doing it again would only seal her fate to his suspicions.
"Why not?" He purred, "You're not hung up on old Hargrove, are you?" He leant into her neck breathing her all in at once.
"Get OFF!" She shoved with all of her might, it wasn't enough to spiral him but it was enough to surprise him and send him off balance. She took her chance and began to run, but as she did he caught her by the forearm, his grip digging into the fabric of her bandana.
"Let goooooo." She gasped at the sharp pain, "No, I'm talking to you! —what do I have to do to make you freak out enough to make you do that fucked up thing you did to me last time? I know you're not right--."
--
Billy had made his way into the hardware store, grabbing a handsaw and another packet of nails he headed towards the counter to make his purchase. Taking a short cut to the arcade he exited the hardware store in the opposite direction that El had taken. He made his way into arcade in record time, not needing to scan the room as the group was already waiting impatiently for his arrival.
"Where's El? Max peered in behind him.
"What are you talking about, she should have been here like ten minutes ago." He creased his eyebrows in shock.
"Seriously you lost her again!" Steve rolled his eyes in judgement.
"No wait… look! It's okay here she comes now!" Max pointed towards the door at the brunette's approach.
But something wasn't right… at first her iconic red rain jacket was all that was visible but as she made her way into the door, it was clear she was distressed. Why was she out of breath? Had she been running?
"Jesus, what's wrong?" Max quickly made her way to the door, to aid her seemingly upset friend, "El what's wrong, why were you running?"
"Nothing--." She stuttered, it felt like the entire room had their eyes on her.
"I'm was just—"
"Hey, come on I really am sorry --" a voice shouted from the door, that voice, he'd followed her. Had he sunk his teeth so far in that he'd risk following her into a public place?
Apparently, he hadn't counted on running into Billy inside of an arcade because the regret of his tunnel vision, was clear on his face.
"—oh Hargrove… I... --"
"I wasn't expecting to see you… here… in an arcade, with a bunch of nerds..."
"Well that's funny that you think that… Because I was wondering why you would be following a girl in here, that I could have sworn I warned you to stay away from, just a couple of days ago." He gave a psychotic smirk, "it would seem you have a death wish Robbie." He released a casual drag of his already lit smoke.
"Well actually we were just having a chat, weren't we?" He winked straight towards El's direction.
"Yeah, chatting." She murmured, swallowing her urge to send him flailing through the glass window. She hoped to hell the two young men would just drop it, the last thing they needed was more attention brought to themselves.
"Did he touch you?" Billy clenched his teeth as he turned to face her, afraid to show him her face, she kept her head down and gently shook her head, "No, I'm fine, don't worry about it."
Rob had known all along that she couldn't tell Billy the truth, not if she wanted to keep the peace and not if she didn't want the two of them to end up in another chaotic brawl. No, she couldn't let that happened, in front of her friends, in an arcade of all places.
Still riddled with anger, testosterone and only just a 'hint' of protectiveness; it took all of Billy's will power not to smash the prick's teeth in. He clenched his fists tightly attempting to release some of the pent-up aggression, he'd have to settle on a more subtle approach-- for now anyways. "– You come near her again and I'll finish what I started the other night." He spat lowly, grasping his enemy's shirt tightly, he threw him out the arcade door.
"Holy crap El, what the hell happened?" Max whipped her friend into a frantic hug, "Come on let's go and talk—you guys start without us, we just need a minute." She hurried her friend off to the sanctuary of the restroom.
"I guess we can start the meeting now if all the drama is finished for the night—girls just get in the way anyways" Lucas scoffed from the back of the pack.
"Can we even call this a meeting if Mike doesn't show up because he's shitty and Nancy and Jonathon are off somewhere being all gross? No one apparently gives a rats ass that there's some thing running around the woods— and my guess is it's probably a Demogorgon." Dustin piped up, "I say we blow it up… The lab— easy peezy." He casually stomped off towards the Pac man machine.
"Yep, that works for me." Lucas shrugged his shoulders and followed in behind his friend.
"So this has been great— let's try it all again tomorrow." Steve mocked with a fake grin, "it's actually not a bad idea though, maybe let's talk to the chief tomorrow during hospital visiting hours about getting some fire power hey?"
"Yeah sure what ever." Billy unknowingly agreed, his attention completely fascinated on the restroom door.
"And then after… Let's go and shave each other's heads?" Steve added, testing to see if he was evening listening, "Why don't you just go and check on them, instead of staring at the door like some kind of perve."
"Huh? I'm not staring, I was just uhhh-- I should have kicked that douchebag's ass."
"No, you shouldn't have-- there's a time and place for 'ass kickings' and a gaming arcade is not one of them." Steve roughly tapped his ex-enemy's shoulder, "Why don't you stop kidding yourself, stop staring at a door and get in there and talk to her. You know you want to." He smiled genuinely, before heading into the direction of the rest of the pack.
--
"El you should tell Billy what Rob did, he's always been kind of an asshole to me, but one thing for sure, he's never let anyone push me around."
"It's fine, I'm fine, I don't want him fighting like he did the other night, it made me feel all sick inside."
"So, what the heck is going on with you two anyways? You seem uhhh… very close all of the sudden… Please tell me you are not doing the nasty with him, I will seriously be sick."
"I don't really know… It's sort of complicated I guess." El dusted her feelings under the rug as she jumped down off the bathroom counter. "And no… None of 'doing the nasty'," She snorted to her friend as they made their way out the bathroom door.
And there he was waiting for her, back pressed anxiously against the wall, a cancer stick pressed nervously between thumb and index finger. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah, but what about the meeting?"
"Sorta up in the air, I'll tell you about it in the car, I want to get some more boards up." He gestured for her to follow him, "You want a ride Max?"
"No, it's okay, Lucas's mom is picking us up at 10:00."
"Suit yourself." He shrugged.
"I'll see you tomorrow okay?" Max hugged her friend goodbye and watched as her and Billy made their way out in the night.
--
When Billy and El arrived back at the house, he wasn't surprised in the slightest when she dismissed herself into the privacy of her room. She had been acting weird since the morning and he was going to find out the cause before the night was over.
On a mission, he made his way up the stairs and abruptly knocked on her door, she hesitated for a moment, knowing the more he saw of her the more likely he'd pick up on the things she needed to hide from him.
"El, let me in," there was no lock on the door, and he knew it. However, an invitation was going to have a much more positive start to their conversation, so he waited a moment before entering.
"I'm really tired, I think I'm just going to go to bed." She quickly threw her flannel back on, before his inevitable forced entry. It wasn't even the tattoo she was worried about anymore.
"That's fine, I just want to talk to you first," He placed his hand on the knob contemplating turning it. "I know you're hiding something--."
"Look... I promise I won't get mad. Whatever it is-- you can tell me."
Just as he was about to make the decision to open the door, she beat him to it, "promise?" She opened it a little further.
"Yeah. I promise," seeing his opportunity he pushed the door open and yanked her into an overdue hug, "what happened tonight with Rob?" He pressed breaking their contact slightly, to interrogate an honest answer from her.
"I took a short cut—" She whispered, pulling back the hair covering her face, she reveal a bright red handprint clean across her cheek.
"WHAT THE FUCK." He released her angrily, "WHY wouldn't you tell me tonight when he was RIGHT THERE."
"Because… you get angry," she flashed a sarcastic glance, "I didn't do anything to him either, because of last time… if he knows about me… he'll start to tell people."
"Did anything else happen? Wait. Don't tell me, I can't. – I actually can't hear it. If I have to hear that he fuckin'—"
There were no words to describe the sick and twisted feeling that was present in his gut. It was like a scolding hot metal poker, twisting and turning his insides. How dare this sick fuck attack her, he shouldn't have even been talking to her let alone touching her. Didn't he know who the hell she was, who she was attached to, "URRGH, I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL HIM."
Out of anger, he threw a psychotic punch into the wall. Leaving only dry wall behind, he made his way in the direction of the stairs.
"I'll be back later— I've gotta go."
"Billy!" She cried, pulling his hand towards her, "You promised me-- you promised you wouldn't get angry!"
"Please don't go—Stay here with me. Bad things always happen when we are apart." The tears now pouring down her face, didn't seem to make a difference to his unbreakable rage.
"STOP." She shouted, holding her hand out to freeze him in place.
"El, what the fuck! Stop it."
"No, you promised!" She stalked towards him, a frown present on her face, "You going, is only going to make things worse right now, if you weren't so angry you'd be able to see that."
"I need you here, with me, right now." She forced him to place a strong hand across her cheek and instantly noticed his stance weaken. Before she could finish another blink, his lips were locked onto hers.
His kiss was desperate, as if he were marking her lips as his. He wanted them to be his, he wanted all of her to be his. There was still just one thing holding him back from fully accepting it, that fear, was he enough? Could he ever be enough? He hadn't been so many times before, how would this time be any different?
"How did you do that?" He whispered in her ear, "make me not angry anymore, I know I should be."
"Don't know, just did." She gave a frustrated growl as she fondled her way through his belt buckle, finally opening the clasp, she pulled frantically attempting to free him from his restraints. Following her lead, he proceeded to kick off the the remaining denim fabric and with a chesty growl, he placed strong forearms under her thighs and hoisted her up into his waist. He then made his way towards the bed—any bed.
Entangled in a deep kiss, he could barely see where he was headed, placing a single hand out his padded his way in through the bedroom door, swinging it fully open with a solid blow.
He spilled her out onto the bed, it was lucky for El she had only done a couple of the buttons up on her flannel, because his hunger had been so extreme that the few buttons that had been done, were ripped from her body and her beloved shirt was discarded to the floor. Their remaining clothing seemed to just melt away after that, leaving only their skin to burn into each other's. As Billy laid naked on top of her, he could feel how ready she was, every time she writhed beneath him the tip of him grazed her warm slickness, it must have been feeling good for her, because whenever she moved into him she moaned beneath him. If it had been anyone else, he would have just drove into them with such force he'd be pulling finger nails out of his back afterwards.
"you sure you want to do this?" he mumbled as he kissed her neck.
"Yes," she hummed as he slipped a finger inside, "I'm sure!" she jolted and clamped down as he placed a second.
"It might hurt a bit, tell me—"
"Billy. I want this. —I trust you." She held his face in her hands to make her point clear, accepting her point he thrust his tongue into her mouth and worked his way down the contours of her body, slowly ensuring a moan escaped her lips with every inch he took.
It'd been so long since he'd done this… especially with a virgin, he'd almost forgotten that look of arousal that they would give him… but there was that other look mixed in with it again… what was it... adoration? It was different, new… Good.
He spread her legs quickly, working a finger in between her wet folds. He accompanied it with the trust of his tongue, when she couldn't keep still beneath him anymore, he knew she was ready, he crawled his way back up her body and leant his lips down to her ear.
"try not to break all the windows this time—" He whispered, as guided himself inside her.
Holy shit, it was too much.
He felt her claw her way around his shoulders and he knew then that his first thrust had been painful, but as he slowed his movements down, he noticed her pushing into him to follow his rhythm. Was she enjoying it?
It was feeling really good—too good, he would blow his load soon if he didn't stop.
"Billy, babies." She whispered under ragged breath, her thoughts had been in the same place as his, "yeah, hang on," He reached and fumbled into the bag on the floor. Pulling a small packet out he placed it between his teeth.
Placing the thin piece of rubber on, he made up for lost time, by aggressively finding his way back between her legs and into the sanctity of her pulsating heat. He pulled them both up into a sitting position and encouraged her to bounce atop of him. Her breathing became rapid and her eyes knotted in focus at the sensation.
He smirked at the knowledge that she was getting close, as he placed a sloppy kiss on the side of her mouth he reached a hand down between them to finish the job he'd started. As a scream of satisfaction escaped her lips and the sound of popped pillows and feathers sprinkled down atop of them, he let him self go inside of her.
