A/N: I've had a few people asking if I'll be including the supernatural aspects of the show, and I will be! This takes place just after season 2 and will include the events of the third season! I'll also be including more character cameos. We'll meet Joyce in this chapter, and she and Hopper will make a few appearances throughout. Steve will also start to get peppered in and become a big part of the story! I've also had a few concerns about Teddi's dad, and I just want y'all to know that while he's an important part of Teddi's story (and the future plot) it won't be a focal point or even a major part of her relationship with Billy. But I want to thank you all for the comments! It means so much and I'm so glad you guys are loving this so far! I'm also open to more prompts/drabbles/etc for Billy and Teddi and exploring their relationship more so my inbox over on my hunnywrites tumblr is always open!

Hawkins was a blur. Teddi felt like she was on some sort of alternate dimension. Her head hadn't stopped hurting since the night before and now everything just seemed...hazy. Slow. Weird. She was also well aware that she was the only person in town wearing sunglasses. She hoped that no one would really notice that the gloomy, cold, winter afternoon just seemed a little too much for her to handle. She'd done her best to cover up the giant bruise on her left eye with makeup, but it was still too noticeable for her liking.

Teddi was embarrassed. She knew she shouldn't be. Her dad was a jerk and that was all. But still, she felt like if anyone saw her black eye and put the pieces together they would judge her for it. After leaving the coffee shop the day before she had gone home to change for work, and her father had come home early. They had gotten into an argument over how often she was out. He blamed her for leaving her "poor mother" home alone all day and night. Teddi had been dumb enough to try and argue back, and now she had a lovely shiner to remind her of just how bad an idea that was.

At first she had been worried she'd had a concussion. He had hit her twice. A hit across her face with the back of his hand as punishment for talking back that had made her ears ring, and then another hit directly to her eye for good measure. She still remembered how shocked she had been after it happened. It had been a long time since he had ever laid a hand on her. It happened all the time when she was younger. Teddi had always been too little to really understand that the way her father taught her lessons was far from okay. Around the time she entered middle school and she was beginning to realize all of the other kids didn't have parents that hit them, Teddi's dad had gotten a big promotion at his construction job. He'd started making really good money then and Teddi stopped existing for the most part. After that the abuse mostly just been verbal. All bark and no bite. But with the added stress of being completely broke and stuck in a shitty job that he hated, Teddi assumed this was just an excuse to let some of his frustration out like it had been when she was a kid.

She didn't really know if her mom had any idea that it had happened. Teddi had only seen her once that morning and that had been it. Her dad had stormed off after. Teddi assumed he was off to some bar to drink his stress away. But to avoid pissing him off any more than she already had she called Keith and told him she couldn't come in. He had been understanding of course. It was the first time she'd called out since she'd been hired. And it was probably for the best anyways, considering how she looked.

There had always been that voice in her head telling her that she should tell someone about her home life. But over time she had convinced herself that it would only bring more trouble. What if she told someone and they didn't believe her? What if they told her father? Eventually she had gotten into her habits of avoiding her parents and it hadn't been much of an issue all too often. And what was the point now? She was almost out of the house, and this was probably a one off occasion. So she would just stick it out.

Teddi felt really awful about ditching Max and Billy though. She never broke a promise. Ever. Now she would have to come up with some sort of an excuse for when Billy no doubt confronted her about it. She just prayed that his "date" with Cheryl Burns had gone well so he would be in somewhat of a good mood.

Teddi walked into Melvald's drug store and pushed her glasses further up her nose. There weren't many people around, but thankfully they were all too busy with whatever they were doing to pay much attention to her. She grabbed a bottle of aspirin and headed to the counter where Joyce Byers was waiting. Teddi had only spoken to Joyce a handful of times when she would come to the arcade to pick Will up, but she was probably one of the sweetest people Teddi had ever met. She was a little overprotective of Will, but from the little Teddi had heard of Will's disappearance about a year ago she couldn't really blame Joyce for being that way.

"Hey Teddi," Joyce greeted her warmly. Joyce looked from Teddi to the large windows and out to the slightly overcast day. She quirked an eyebrow and smiled. "Bright out today?"

Teddi hesitated a moment before letting out a nervous laugh and slowly taking off her glasses. "No. I uh had a little accident getting out of my van yesterday. The driveway was like super icy and I slipped. Looks great, right?" she joked, motioning to her eye.

Joyce made a face. "Oh jeez. Are you okay, hun?"

"Pffft, totally. My ego's more bruised than the rest of me." that wasn't completely a lie either. Joyce gave Teddi a slightly uneasy look.

"Well, alright. You be more careful next time though, huh?"

Teddi nodded. "Oh I definitely will. Um, I'll see you at the arcade later I guess? I should probably go. My shift starts soon."

"Oh! Sure, sure," Joyce handed Teddi her bag. "Yeah, I'm picking up the kids for movie night at our place. I hope you feel better, hun."

"Thanks, Ms. Byers. Later!" she nearly ran outside and shoved her glasses back on. Teddi was headed straight for her van when she heard the sound of a door slamming.

"Larsson!" the tone in Billy's voice made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She turned to face him, fidgeting with her glasses awkwardly and offered him a small smile.

"Hey, Billy. Look I'm so-"

"Where the fuck were you last night?" he seethed, stomping over to her. She took a step back from him in shock. She expected him to be angry, but not this angry.

"Something came up…" she offered weakly.

Billy raised his eyebrows, his head tilting to the side. "Oh yeah? Like what? Do you have any idea how much shit I would've been in without you? If Max had run off?" so that's what it was. He might have gotten in trouble, and he was taking it out on her. "I'm waiting, Larsson." he snapped, taking a step closer to her.

Teddi's anger outweighed anything else she was feeling. She wasn't in the mood to deal with one of Billy's tantrums when she had actual problems to deal with. "Leave me the fuck alone, Billy." she bit out, turning to walk away.

He grabbed her arm, spinning her back around. "Was this some kind of a joke?" he asked. "Trying to pull one over on me for throwing you in the pool? You want me to say sorry?"

Teddi jerked away from him and took a small step back."I want you to go away! I want you to stop being so fucking mean for once! Jesus, what is wrong with you? The whole world doesn't revolve around you, Billy! I have shit going on in my life and I can't be at your beck and call!" They both stood there on the sidewalk, both still and glaring at each other. But while Billy was nearly standing over her in this menacing stance with his jaw clenched so tightly he felt like his teeth might shatter, Teddi was pulled away from him almost like a frightened child. Her arms were crossed against her chest like she was trying to shield herself from something. From him.

And it wasn't until that moment that Billy realized she was scared of him. She'd never been scared of him before. She'd always met him head on. That little, nicer part of Billy was screaming. Max was right, he was an asshole. His face softened a little, and he took a step back from her. He shoved his hands awkwardly in his pockets before fumbling to light a cigarette. Teddi let out a deep breath and adjusted her sunglasses. "Why are you wearing those?" he finally asked.

"It's bright out." she snapped.

Billy studied her quietly for a moment. It was a hunch. His own paranoia talking maybe. But between that bad feeling he'd had the night before and how absolutely cliche Teddi looked he couldn't help by wonder. Before he could give Teddi a chance to protest or smack his hands away, he reached forward to snatch her sunglasses off. He felt his stomach drop when he saw the large, nasty bruise on her eye. "Jesus, Ted, ...how'd you get that?"

Teddi wouldn't meet his eyes. Her bottom lip shook, and Billy watched as big, fat tears pooled in her eyes. He shifted uncomfortably. "I slipped on ice last night in my driveway. That's why I wasn't at work. I hit my head and I felt like shit." He had a feeling it was a lie, but he didn't push it. He'd made stupid excuses like that before after having to go to school with a busted lip or a black eye. That anxious feeling in his chest was back. Billy didn't know anything about her parents. He didn't know their names, or what they looked like. Max had made a comment that Teddi had moved to Hawkins after her dad had gotten laid off, and now he was working construction on some mall that was being built outside of town. Still, he never would have guessed that Teddi's parents might be hurting her.

But then the dam broke. Teddi broke out into tears, and Billy nearly recoiled from her. He nervously handed her her sunglasses back, holding up his hands in defense. "Christ, Teddi. Don't do that. People are looking at us." he begged.

"They're probably looking at us because you were screaming at me!" she argued, leaning against her van and slipping her glasses back on. "God, this is so embarrassing." she whimpered, nearly doubling over to hide.

Billy took a drag of his cigarette, unsure of what to do. He hated it when people cried. He looked up to see a few people glancing over in their direction. "What?! You've never seen someone cry before? Keep fucking walking!" he snapped.

Teddi only groaned. "Oh my god. You're making it worse," she moaned. "Look, I'm sorry okay? I should have left a message with Keith or something. And I'm sorry if you guys got in trouble or something-"

Billy shook his head, waving a hand at her. "Nothing happened...Max was just worried is all. I got sick of listening to her." he wasn't sure why he even said that.

"Shit. Is she mad at me too? I'll be in tonight if you wanna bring her over…"

"No one's mad, Larsson," she shot him a look. "Okay, so I was a little mad," he let out a loud sigh. "You just drive me up the fucking wall sometimes. I mean, I got to do shit to Cheryl Burns last night that you wouldn't believe and after all of that I was still pissed off that you ditched. Do you have any idea what that's like? How frustrating that is?"

"I think you might just be a little too full of yourself." Teddi sniffed.

Billy rolled his eyes. Now she was starting to sound like Max. "Look, are you gonna be alright? Do I need to...like, drive you home or something?"

Teddi looked a little shocked at his offer, but shook his head. "I'm not going home...but thanks, I'll be fine," Billy nodded, flicking the rest of his cigarette away. "Uh, can we maybe not tell anyone about this? Ever?"

"Who am I gonna tell? I only hang around you and six year olds, remember?" he asked, turning and walking back to his car.

Teddi sighed loudly, reaching under her glasses to wipe her eyes one last time before getting into her car. 'You just drive me up the fucking wall sometimes.' that was rich coming from him. At least she had never screamed at him in front of the whole town. Okay, maybe not the whole town, but still.

She had a pretty good feeling now that Billy knew something was amiss. The way he had looked at her after he pulled her glasses off almost made her wonder if he could read her mind. He looked...sympathetic almost. Which was a really weird feeling. It bothered her more to wonder why he had seemed sympathetic. Billy didn't care about anything that didn't directly involve him.

If anything maybe this would lead to something good. Maybe this was a new side to Billy and he would back off a little...unlikely, but she could hope. Maybe she would be able to enjoy that Christmas party that was coming up in a few days without having to worry about him trying to pester her or snap at her or whatever he would do depending on his mood.

Teddi shook her head, deciding to shove all of this to the back of her mind and focus on getting to the arcade. She wouldn't be able to wear her sunglasses inside. So she would have to count on her lying skills and the bright, neon lighting inside to help disguise the truth. If it even came up. She wasn't really expecting for a bunch of preteens to be half as observant as Billy (as strange of a thought that that was to have). Especially when video games were involved.

Keith was already there when she arrived. He was stationed at his usual post behind the prize counter looking like he might actually die from boredom. Teddi smiled at him, pushing her sunglasses on top of her head. "Hey Keith, your saving grace is here." she joked.

"They're really at it today. An eight year old spit gum in my hair...man, what happened to your face?" he asked, making a face once he spotted her black eye.

Teddi's smile only faltered a little before she let out what she hoped to be a convincing laugh. "Oh yeah, this is why I couldn't come in last night. I ate shit on some ice. It's a great look, right?"

"I didn't know you were such a klutz." shockingly Keith's teasing didn't quite have the same charm that Billy's had.

"Me? Pfft. It's a miracle I'm still alive," she laughed nervously. "I'm gonna go put my stuff in my locker and I'll take over. No gum spitting eight year olds next door." she didn't give him a chance to answer. She slipped past him and into the door behind him that read 'employees only'. The break room was incredibly shitty. At least the one at the pool had a vending machine. This was just barely too big to call a closet. There was a single row of lockers crammed in the corner next to two games that Keith had been saying he'd get around to repairing, and a tiny fold out table and chair. Needless to say, Teddi preferred taking her breaks in her van.

She pulled a small zipper pouch out of her bag and picked out a compact. She touched up the makeup around her eye, grimacing at how noticeable the bruise still was. At least Keith had bought her story. Tossing the pouch back into her bag, she grabbed the painkillers she'd bought before her run in with Billy and dry swallowed two before tossing her bag into her locker.

She walked back out just in time to see Max, Lucas and Will walking in. "Hey guys!" she greeted. "Sorry about last night, Max. I had a little accident." she pointed to her eye.

Max only shrugged. "It's no big deal. I mean, Billy was super pissy, but I figured you were like...sick or something. Hey, you think you could help us pick out a movie? Everyone's supposed to be meeting us here. We're gonna hang out at Will's later."

Teddi was officially confused. Billy had told her that Max was worried last night when she didn't show. She shrugged it off. "Uh, yeah! Yeah, sure. Just come find me when you guys are ready. I have a few machines with sticky buttons that need fixing."

"Please tell me one of them is Galaga. I haven't been able to play in two weeks. My high score is in jeopardy, Teddi." Lucas said, folding his hands together as if he were begging her.

Teddi laughed. "Yeah, I'll take a look at it, okay? Can't have high scores in jeopardy. Later, little dudes." even though Teddi now had some new questions about Billy, the interaction left her feeling relieved. All that worrying about coming in to work was over nothing. Now she could actually enjoy her shift. Even though most of it would be wiping down machines from whatever gunk the kids of Hawkins seemed to always have on their hands.