"He lives in his own heaven,
Collects it to go from the 7-Eleven,
Well, he's out all night to collect a fare,
Just so long, just so long, it don't mess up his hair."

Rebel Yell - Billy Idol

/

Joss looked around, it was Friday night, 8pm, and the arcade was at its busiest time.

Over the electronic music of all the machines she could hear the slow drum beat and rhythmic bass of Journey's 'Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)', and found her foot tapping in time, feeling the curl of distant guitar soaring, as if trying to take her soul somewhere else, somewhere better. She closed her eyes, her body swaying, mumbling along to the words, getting lost in the music for a moment.

She was interrupted by a sweaty kid asking her to change his money for quarters, which she gladly did. It was dark and close in the arcade, the neon lights the only real illumination, and the crappy plastic fans her boss had dotted around the place barely took any of the night's heat away.

Despite all the excited kids, the mediocre workload, and the rampant humidity, Joss still loved this place. Here in the semi-darkness, she felt she could be herself; none of her classmates visited the arcade, they deemed themselves far too old for its delights. Her peers preferred alcohol fuelled parties, boom boxes and beer cans at the make-out point, or burgers and a movie at the newly opened Starcourt Mall.

There was only one place in this whole lousy small town Joss had ever wanted to go and that was the bar just outside downtown. Deemed by some a crass 'bikers' bar', she knew from word of mouth that they sometimes had live bands play, some even traveling in from other states, rock music. Joss had attempted to go there a year ago when an underground heavy metal band she'd have died to see live was playing, but she wasn't the best in social situations, or in any situation that meant she had to use charisma and charm to slide past obstacles. She'd been an easy mark for the bandanna wearing, leather clad bouncers.

Maybe it was her overly long loitering outside, pacing back and forth like a scared mouse, that had given her away, or just the fact she did not in fact look anywhere near 21? They'd asked her rather smugly for her ID, which Joss did not have, and they'd shooed her away like she was, in fact, just a little pest, having a good laugh to each other about 'damn kids trying their luck'.

Joss had said something very unflattering under her breath, which she was ultimately glad none of those big guys had heard, and then scurried her little 'pest' self around back to where all the empty beer barrels were kept. She'd crouched amongst them, finding a good place to hide, knowing if the bouncers found her again they'd march her to the road, or want to call her mom, or if she was at her most unlucky, the damn police. None of those options were appealing as Joss had already walked nearly three hours across town to get here. So, she'd hidden and waited until her thigh muscles ached, until the sky became fully dark and all the customers were safely closed inside the walls, enjoying their night. She could hear the strains of music through the thin wooden back door. Her first concert enjoyed secretly amongst the stink of stale old beer and cigarette butts. Wild. What a rebel.

Now, Joss stuck to the safety of the Arcade, pretending it was her own venue where she could listen to any bands she desired without a single person giving a crap. She could do what she wanted, be who she wanted, dress how she wanted. It wasn't really the height of anarchy, she still did her job like a good little capitalist pig, but it was her own subdued version of mutiny. Until she could get out of Hawkins, this was her only way to let loose and be herself without fear of reprisal from bouncers, parents or her classmates.

Her denim skirt had existed once as an old pair of jeans, she'd sewed it herself, short, tight and accented with a silver chunky belt buckle Her vest top was a band t-shirt that she'd cut the sleeves off, which Joss thought was very cool. She'd got the t-shirt in California when visiting her dad, his friend had been to a Dokken concert and brought her back a t-shirt in sympathy. It was her only concert t-shirt, as she'd still never managed to go to any, via tiny shit-hole backwoods bar or big shiny venues. Her over-sized denim jacket was full of band patches, with her own hand painted artwork covering the back. Finishing the look was a studded bracelet at her wrist, and her feet were wrapped in her favourite studded pointed toe boots. Her make up was simple but bold; thick black smudged eyeliner and vivid pink blush. Even if someone from school came in, she didn't think they'd even recognize her, or at least Joss hoped they wouldn't.

She tapped her fingers absently to the music and glanced around the room, in an hour this place would be empty and she would be on her way home. Gus, her boss, had given her the closing shift again tonight and that was just peachy with Joss. Closing shifts were the best, she got to rock out all she wanted when she was alone, and when she closed she always got to be in control of all the music choices, the later it got the more it strayed from popular pop tunes to her own little dark-sided rock club.

Her gaze took in around her, as kids shouted, argued and laughed. She noticed a tall male figure bobbing in and out of the larger machines near the front and frowned at the uncanny unfamiliarity of another adult here so late. It looked like they were on a mission, looking for someone. Joss watched them for a moment, trying to gain any more knowledge but the dinginess and stark neon lights blurred their features into only outlines and silhouettes. She knew it wasn't Mark, her co-worker, because he had buzz cut short hair, and she could just about tell this guy had long hair. Besides, she knew Mark was out back, throwing out some trash. Maybe it was an older guy lumbered with babysitting his kid sibling? She shrugged it off and quickly went about her work, changing coins, making slushies and nasty lukewarm hot dogs, and exchanging tickets for prizes.

At that particular moment Joss was searching in the low back cupboard for a cheap plastic watch some kid had won, when a deep smooth voice startled her, and she bumped her head against the shelving, making her let out a string of curse words under her breath.

"Can I get a slushie?"

Joss glanced up, and saw, of all people, Billy Hargrove, standing at the counter.

She eyed him for a second with suspicion but quickly found her customer service voice. "Sure, just give me one minute." Her hand closed around the tacky watch and she brought it over to the eagerly waiting kid. "Here you go," she said, taking the tickets from him. "Enjoy."

She closed her eyes for a second before turning to address him, regaining her calm; she hated dealing with her peers at the best of times, but this was her private space, he shouldn't be here, out of sight out of mind was her best policy.

When she turned and opened her eyes he was still there, leaning his elbow lazily against the counter, his eyes fixed upon her, fingers fidgeting with an unlit cigarette, his brow arched in a quizzical and provoking fashion. "Slushie?" he repeated.

"What flavour?" Joss asked, trying not to take any notice, if felt like he was mocking her with his mere presence.

He placed the cigarette between his lips and grinned a little too wolfishly for Joss' liking. He lit it with a flick of his silver lighter, took a draw and blew out the smoke in a white cloud. "Cherry," he said, licking his lips slightly, not dissuading Joss of the notion of a hunter tracking its prey.

"Cherry it is." Joss turned and put all her attention on the machine as it slopped out half frozen ice and cherry flavoured syrup into a plastic cup. She shoved a straw in the top and turned to him. "One dollar fifty." Joss held out her hand expectantly for the money, and after rummaging around in his tight jeans pockets for a moment he pushed the coins into her palm.

"Daylight robbery," he said, taking the drink, removing the cigarette from his mouth and sucking a little on the straw. He jerked away as if the slushie had bitten his tongue on contact and pulled a thoroughly disgusted face. "Tastes like shit!" he said.

"Yep, they sure do," Joss said, rolling her eyes, ready to turn back to her work, but he caught her wrist in a light grip, the sudden contact shocking her into having no further witty or dismissive comeback.

"I like your bracelet," he said, running a finger across the leather and metal. "You into metal and rock? I saw you singing along to some before."

Joss felt a blush rising in her cheeks but pushed it down, had he been watching her? The word 'stalker' emblazoned itself in her thoughts in the same vivid neon that was splattered across the arcade.

"Sure, I like all kinds of music." She shrugged off his hand and his words with a cool nonchalance she didn't really feel, not wanting to engage him further in conversation, everyone in town knew Billy Hargrove was trouble.

"I like your patches too." He nodded at her jacket. "Van Halen, WASP, Mötley Crüe, Metallica, Ratt." He nodded again. "Cool bands."

"Thanks." Joss still refused to bite.

"Most girls around here don't like that kind of music." He gave her a knowing look through his lashes, flirting unashamedly with her, and Joss felt a little thrill of excitement skitter across her nerves before she could clamp it back down in an act of self preservation. She rolled her shoulders, rolling away the thrill too. He was playing with her. The rat.

Now, Joss could feel herself getting annoyed. "Is that so?" She wiped a cloth over the counter, cleaning up some of the earlier spills. "And just how many did you ask about their musical tastes, I wonder?" She knew his reputation with women was trouble too, and she wanted to make it perfectly clear she wasn't going to play along with any of his nonsense.

He grinned, showing all his teeth, and let out a low laugh. "My, my. You are prickly," he said, shaking his head. "Here I am just trying to pass some time talking to you and you're being kind of..."

"A bitch?" Joss spat, and narrowed her eyes accusingly at him.

"Hey!" He held out his hands, palms up in surrender. "I would never say that," he said, fully laughing now, his tone stating he would say exactly that if he wanted, if he wasn't feeling so charitable. "I was going to say rude." He shrugged and stubbed out his cigarette in the glass ashtray on the counter.

"What are you doing here anyway? No one your age hangs out at the arcade," Joss said, with heavy accusation, cutting right to the problem as she saw it.

"I was waiting to pick up Max, she's... my step... whatever." He faltered. "I was here to pick up my dad's wife's kid." He looked up and saw her sceptical expression. "Look, forget it."

Joss smirked, suddenly quite sadistically enjoying his discomfort. "You mean your step sister?"

Billy shook his head and looked down, laughing, but Joss could feel his marked discomfort. "No, not really." His smile seemed forced. He sighed and pushed himself back into a standing position with his hands. "But... whatever." He stretched lazily. "She isn't here, I guess she went off with her friends again."

"That's kids for you."

"But then I saw you, and I thought I'd be friendly and come say hi. I remember seeing you around school, maybe, you look kinda different though."

Joss didn't really know what to say to that. She thought, or rather hoped, she went pretty much undetected at school. She fought a moment against the urge to recoil from him for discovering her. Was he here to cause trouble? To be the bully she heard about in hushed rumours in the locker rooms? Was he really punishing her for the other day when he'd caught her staring?

"Best to keep your head down and get through the day," she finally said with another shrug, trying her hardest to play it cool.

"So, the arcade is where you can be yourself?" he asked, taking another sip of his cherry slushie before he could think better of it. He made another face and put the cup down, pushing it slightly away in revulsion.

Joss stared at him a moment, trying to figure out his game, and decided that it didn't really matter if he told anyone about her now, there was so little time left in school, so what if he did? It wasn't exactly gossip worth salivating over. If he wanted to go tell the whole school she was a loser, so be it. It would be a short death sentence.

"Things didn't go so well for me in middle school if I expressed myself too much. It's just easier to be no one, than display a target." She thought her words sounded far more confident and distantly cool than she really felt.

"So, you decided to be a secret rebel?" Billy grinned again, and this time the expression lit up his face. "A rebel that only comes out at night." Maybe it was his playful tone, or the sincere look in his eyes but Joss suddenly realized that perhaps him being here wasn't a ruse to trip her up and expose her as a complete loser to the world, maybe this was just what it seemed, a coincidence.

She found she was unexpectedly smiling back, her defences coming down just a little as she decided he wasn't here to cause trouble, just a guy looking for a way to pass a boring Friday night where he had been lumbered with babysitting duties. "Something like that, I guess," she said, and his smile widened at her tone softening to something that sounded almost friendly.

Their eyes held for a moment before the familiar hard rock melody of 'Rebel Yell' by Billy Idol coming through the speakers found their hearing, and they both couldn't contain their laughter.

/

A/N

Hello! First Friday update, welcome anyone stopping by.

Thank you, so much, to those that faved, followed or commented. Thank you Flo! *heartsandhearts* You made me feel posting my little story was worthwhile.

I truly hope you enjoyed and you'll join me next time. I wanted this to be basically a story about Billy needing a true friend, something I feel he probably never really had in at least his teenage life, but he has no idea how to ask or have someone in his life that fulfils that and when someone does reach out, well he doesn't know how to deal with that without trying to control everything and turning it pretty toxic. Anyway, no spoilers, let's see what you think. Comments etc always welcome as long as you keep it kind.

I cannot tell you how stoked I was when season 4 used Journey's Separate Ways as a big moment song! Nothing to do with my fanfic, I know but since I wrote this in 2020, at the time in 2022, hearing it in the show was cool.