Stranger Things - Imagines

Billy Hargrove X Reader - Come As You Are

A/N - This chapter was inspired by the song Come As You Are by Beverley Knight. I hope you all enjoy it. 

You let out a soft grumble as you approached the lifeguard chair, sending Billy a reluctant salute when he smirked down at you. Anyone who knew you were well aware of how much you detested the sticky heat that settled in Hawkins every single summer. In all honesty, it was a mystery to everyone why you had chosen to start working as a lifeguard at the pool. There was no real shelter from the sweltering sun. No shade. No ability to hide away inside. You just had to sit in the blistering sunshine for an hour at a time, trying to stay focused on the kids playing in the pool to make sure none of them died on your watch. 

"Morning, Princess," Billy hummed, quickly making his way down the ladder, his smirk only growing when you shot him a warning glance. You weren't in the mood to play today. After all, it was the hottest day of the year. The hottest day on record since '82. And even at 10 AM, you already felt overwhelmed by the heat. "Gotta love this weather," he pressed on, rolling his gum around his mouth as he watched you roll your eyes. 

"Oh, you like sweating to death?" you murmured, taking your whistle between your teeth as you moved to ascend the ladder. 

"What a way to go," he teased, leaning himself beside you when you were a step up, finally eye to eye with him. 

You hesitated for a moment. "If you like it so much, you could just take my watch-"

"Oh, but Princess, then you'd miss out on all this gorgeous sunshine," he chuckled, drawing a soft sigh out of you. "Clarke wants me to clean the men's changing room. Doubt you'd want to be in there with all the gross old dude showering," he corrected. "I'll try and be quick; get you back in the shade before you melt," he added, watching a thankful smile spread across your features. 

"You're the best." He hovered there a little longer as you moved up the steps, situating yourself a little more comfortably at the top, tugging your t-shirt up around your neck to protect it from the rays of sun beating down on your skin. "That doesn't look like being quick," you called down to him, drawing a snort of laughter out of him as he launched into action, climbing up after you so that he could keep talking. 

"Are you going to that party over on Cornwallis tonight?" he started. 

Your brow furrowed slightly. "Nope, I wasn't invited-"

"Well, you've been invited now. You coming?"

You hesitated for a moment. You hadn't been to a proper party in what felt like forever, but that was for good reason. You weren't really friends with the sort of people that threw parties and you rarely got an invite. "I don't know-"

Billy frowned slightly at your answer. "Come on, Princess. It'll be fun," he hummed, practically pouting as you let out a soft sigh. 

"I won't know anyone-"

"You'll know me," he corrected, knocking your knee lightly with his shoulder. "Please."

"What time does it start?"

Billy was grinning when you finally let yourself look back down at him, clearly very proud of how easy you had been to persuade. "I'll pick you up at 9-"

"You don't have to pick me up."

He shrugged slightly as he started descending the ladder. "Yeah, but I want to." He grinned up at you as he took a step back, saluting in your direction. "I'll be back to relieve you of your watch as quickly as I can, Princess," he called behind him as he made his way over to the changing rooms.

*Time Skip*

When Billy knocked on your door that evening, you had still been staring at your reflection in the mirror. Sure, you knew that Billy saw you totally make-up-free and with your hair messy as all hell every day at work, but that didn't mean that you didn't want to put in the effort to impress him. 

You'd pulled the door open, glancing around it at him as you fixed a strand of your hair. "Sorry, I'm running late," you breathed out. 

Billy glanced down at his watch for a moment. "Nah, I'm just early," he corrected, returning his attention to you, his eyes wandering over your outfit. "That's a pretty dress," he told you, reaching out as if on instinct to fiddle with the hem, letting the texture of the material seep into his fingertips. "Real pretty," he repeated softly, letting his eyes lift to linger on your face for a second. "Is it new?"

You shook your head, pulling a bobby pin from between your teeth to fix a stray hair into place. "Nope," you hummed softly, risking a glance in his direction. He looked good. Like really good. But Hell, there wasn't a time you could remember when he didn't look good. "You've just never seen me outside of work before," you added, offering him a small smile.

"Shit," he breathed out, his tongue darting out to wet his bottom lip. "We should change that, huh? See each other outside of work more often-"

"We're going to be late," you interrupted, grabbing your purse and checking you had all the essentials before nudging him backwards out of the front door. 

"No one gets to these things on time anyway," he hummed, letting his arm drape around your shoulders as he led you down the path towards his car. You felt your stomach flip when he opened the door for you, ushering you in and pressing it closed behind you. 

You'd made quiet conversation on the drive over to Cornwallis, the usual easy banter slipping out of both of you until he'd pulled over and turned off the engine. 

"You do look real pretty," he finally uttered, turning his head to look over at you. "You always look real pretty," he corrected. "Especially when you're sitting up in that dumb chair in the sunshine-"

"Sweating my ass off," you interjected, biting down on your bottom lip. 

"Definitely," he agreed, reaching out to take your hand in his, linking his fingers through yours. "Gorgeous," he added softly, glancing up at you to find you smiling in his direction. 

You cleared your throat slightly. "Is this supposed to be a date?"

Billy blanched at the question, sitting up a little straighter. "Do you want it to be a date?"

"That depends," you hummed softly. "You going to take me out again sometime? Just you and me rather than a house full of people?" He nodded quickly, his tongue darting out to wet his bottom lip. "That I want it to be a date."

"Thank fuck-"

You let out a soft snort of laughter, squeezing his hand a little more tightly in your grasp. "So eloquent-"

"I'll be real eloquent for you, princess, you just need to tell me what it means first." 

You snorted again. "You're plenty eloquent without me telling you," you teased, shoving his shoulder lightly.

Billy quickly climbed out of the car, hurrying around the front to open the door for you. "Let's go inside, Princess."

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