The Duffers, Projecting: Billy Role Is To Be The Big Bad Bully To Us Our Heroes And He’s Gonna Be Mean

no but I think that if Billy Hargrove ever got the chance to meet Wayne Munson he’d short circuit? like, here is a man that, for all intents and purposes, comes from his walk of life, who is a little bit gruff and sort of rough around the edges, who is raising a boy not too unlike Billy and who shows that boy genuine love and affection the likes of which Billy has never truly known. Wayne would never think of raising his voice to Eddie, let alone his fist. not just that, but he actively defends his nephew against a town that has written him off as a freak. Billy has never had an adult come to bat for him the way that Wayne does for Eddie and I truly don’t think that Billy would know how to wrap his head around that. 

and and and if he ever hung around Wayne??? picture it: Billy going to Eddie’s for the first time, maybe for some stupid school project they got paired up for, maybe just to listen to some music, and Wayne comes home from work. Billy’s instincts kick in, because father figures coming home sets off alarm bells, but Wayne is nothing like Neil. he comes in happy to see Eddie, asks about Eddie’s day, cracks jokes with him. and when Wayne sees Billy side-eyeing him, looking confused, he puts a hand on Billy’s shoulder and he asks, “You okay, son?” and there’s no sarcasm in it, no animosity, it’s a genuine question and Billy doesn’t know what to do so he makes up some excuse to leave.

of course, I love to think of all this ending with Wayne becoming the father that Billy deserved but never got to have, a man who can be a role model to him, that can smooth out his edges and teach him to quell his anger. that Billy and Eddie get close, that Billy hangs around the Munsons, is wrapped up in this warm little family. that sometimes Billy gets to Eddie’s place a little early, when he knows that Eddie isn’t home, just to talk to Wayne, to get the fatherly advice that Neil would never give. that one day, when Wayne is out drinking, Neil Hargrove stumbles into the bar and Wayne notices the bruised knuckles, thinks back on the black eye Billy had tried to hide from him and puts two and two together. that when Wayne comes home a little worse for wear and finds the boys watching MTV on the couch, when they ask him what happened, he looks Billy dead in the eye and says, “Let’s just say you’re not fighting your battles alone anymore.”

mother, son and holy spirit

Friendly reminder that Billy was teaching kids how to swim in Season 3. I can’t get over the image of Hawkins’ resident bad boy, standing waist deep in the shallow end of the pool as he teaches a kid with floaties around their arms how to swim.

im not even surprised it's the billy stans that are supporting grace and the eddissy shippers because if anyone knows what it's like to get hate, it's us.

It’s funny how some people go around bullying/ harassing Billy fans accusing them of “simping after the hot white bad boy” then proceed to turn a blind eye to all the 001/Henry stans in the fandom.

The hypocrisy is amazing.

If you're white, straight or male this ones for you!

Don’t let tumblers toxic community get you down, you as an individual are not evil and have rights to complain about your problems and are no less than others as an individual.

Reblog to let your followers know you care!*

Can you IMAGINE the outrage antis would have if Snape was the one who:

Attacked his crush’s childhood friend unprovoked

Gagged said friend with soap

Hung said friend upside down and exposed their undergarments

Tried to coerce crush into a date with the promise to stop tormenting their friend

Threatened to pull down said friend’s underwear in front of already riled up crowd

They would be frothing at the mouth.

But because it was Mr. James “Blank Slate” Potter, he gets a pass because antis can fill their uwu headcannons into him like how he would have been a feminist HAH.

“BuT jAmEs gReW uP aNd mAtURed bY hIS 7th yEaR”

Umm…no hun, he didn’t. The evidence comes straight from the mouths of Sirius and Remus. You know…his BEST FRIENDS.

He was still hexing Snape behind Lily’s back in 7th year. Whether or not Snape started it first is irrelevant. A mature person would have talked to Lily about what was happening instead of hiding it. Why hide it if you’re not in the wrong?

On another note, NO ONE is really “grown up” at age 17. I’m a 23 year old woman (not that older than James when he died) and I can tell you that there was still ALOT of growing up I had to do when I was 17-21 years old and STILL need to do to this day.

Moral of this rant is that antis are hypocrites and need to stfu.

I feel so gross whenever fanon plays off Snape's parental issues as an excuse that he actively uses, in-universe, to make Lily feel sorry for him and overlook his bad behavior.

Not only is it out-of character for him, the way it's often portrayed gives off the impression that Snape's account of the severity of the situation is unreliable — when the only context his abusive home life is ever brought up is when he's being emotionally manipulative for personal gain, isn't it then likely that he would be exaggerating the situation?

A really prominent trait of canon Snape is that he doesn't like being pitied. He actually hates being seen as a victim. He would much rather be seen as a terrible person than as a hurt, vulnerable one. It's the reason he ends up calling Lily mudblood in the first place. It's why he'd sooner join the Death Eaters than reach out for help.

IDK — Just the fact that some antis apparently acknowledge Snape's canonically abusive childhood, but then spin it into something he consistently takes advantage of to manipulate others for sympathy and forgiveness to the point it comes off as deceptive, when that's actually pretty much the opposite of how he acts in canon... it makes my skin crawl.

As a Billy fan, I agree with your stance. I can understand where the distain for Susan comes from though. Us fans tend to feel angry on behalf of this scared and abused boy who’s other primary caregiver didn’t help him when he needed it most. But, I think it’s important to remember abusive households breed complicated dynamics as well. Perhaps Susan was scared that Neil might turn his wrath on her and her daughter if she dared question his “parenting methods” or make the situation worse for Billy if he had to have “a woman come to his rescue”. Neil obviously had the upper hand in physical strength and financial power, so he could make everyone pay dearly if she ever intervened. Do I think she still had a duty towards Billy as his stepmother to try and do more to protect him? Yes. But fear is a powerful tool. And quite effective in keeping people under your vicinity in line. Sympathy should be extended to Susan as well when discussing the members of the Hargrove-Mayfield household. Just my opinion.

I don’t care about Billy discourse, I don’t hate Billy haters or sympathizers. I just don’t get why Billy sympathizers hate Susan so much, like you will write a whole dissertation on how Billy’s abuse affects how he acts, but when Susan shows up your armchair psychology degree suddenly goes away and the woman too scared to stand up to her abusive husband is actually just a callous bitch who loves to see her stepson in pain ig. Like she is clearly not perfect but oh my god

“I think that maybe a part of me died that day too”