#i think karen should die in season 5 so i can pop the biggest bottles actually

[ariesbilly]

years later when theyve moved far away from hawkins, have been together for a couple decades, married or something close to it, settled in their life, steve getting a call from nancy that her moms died, theres gonna be a funeral. doesnt formally invite steve but its heavily implied he's welcomed to come.

and of course steves gonna go. he's stayed close with nancy all these years and he knows she has jonathan and mike and holly and her own family to lean on but theyre friends so... not going doesnt even feel like an option

and its kind of just assumed billy will go with him back to hawkins, to the funeral as his plus one. because theres not a whole lot they dont do together and they certainly havent traveled without each other, so when billy tells him its a hard no on that one, steve doesnt get it.

steve still doesnt get it when billy gets an attitude whenever steve starts talking about how sad it is for nancy that she's lost her mom, how "at least karen went peacefully", when he keeps pushing how he wants billy to go with him and "fine you dont have to go to the funeral but just come to hawkins with me for a little getaway"

and its not until steves pushing for billy to go again, muttering about how hes an asshole under his breath when billys getting all pissy and steve says something along the lines of "i seem to recall a few rumors back in the day about you being real friendly with her so i dont understand this stick up your butt all of a sudden!"

its meant to be a joke, kind of. a little bitchy, a little teasing, but he definitely wasnt expecting for billy to go off like a bomb, laying out in black and white just exactly what was going on with him and karen back in the day. how its taken billy years and years of therapy to unpack all that shit and realize how fucking gross it was and how a grown adult woman was using him to fill some void in her marriage and how he was so desperate for someone to notice him, to like him, that he didnt think twice when the moms around town would fawn after him, a teenager. a kid. and when he thinks back on that time now it just leaves him feeling dirty so, no, he does not want to be around people mourning karen wheeler and what a great wife and mother she was. sorry for nancys loss or whatever but he's gonna pass.

and now that that particular secret has come to light, steve doesnt really feel like being there either. calls up nancy and makes up an excuse that he cant get any time out of work and he's so so sorry about it, but he'll try visiting hawkins when he can to make up for it.

the flight to indiana is already booked but steve calls up and changes it to any other place that he can, doesnt matter. adds on another ticket for billy. while everyone from hawkins is at the funeral theyre locked away in a hotel room forgetting about it all. billy healing in his own way.

#i think karen should die in season 5 so i can pop the biggest bottles actually #harringrove