He hasn’t been back to the trailer for anything longer than a quick shower and a change of clothes. The idea of going back, of sleeping, of eating anything… It makes him sick to even consider. So he does only that little bit before he moves to set about his stealthy surveillance.
And what Tommy determines by noon is that no one else even sees it. They don’t really see Billy and recognize the differences. The way Billy looks sick and dizzy whenever he moves. The way he squints against the sunlight. There’s a moment when Billy should be watching the pool when he seems to pass out, and no one sees it.
Never before has Tommy wanted to scream. Never before has he wanted to shatter a building just because he can. Never before has he wanted to make the world burn if it might make one thing in it better.
For the first time he realizes he really does understand his grandfather, and not Magneto. The longer he watches not-Billy puppeting his boyfriend like an awkward sack of meat, Billy’s will still lingering just at the surface, the more he wants to be like Ultron and just destroy everything. Wants to throw himself into this Upside-Down and find the being behind it all and break him until there isn’t even dust left.
It’s all Tommy can do to stay up in the tall tree he had decided to use as his perch, holding his binoculars and watching. He watches as Billy stumbles back inside, his arm burned in a way that no one notices. Tommy keeps watching as Billy disappears back into the employee locker room and doesn’t come out.
Watches when Billy comes back out but the girl that eventually followed him in doesn’t.
Watches when the pool closes and a while after Billy comes out, carrying that girl over his shoulder.
And of course he watches later at the steelworks as Billy carries her down into the darkness.
What hurts the most is when, half an hour later, the two come back up together. When she isn’t scared anymore. When both of them are blank faced.
In that moment Tommy knows his Billy is buried too far away for him to find.
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branchandroot
Sunday, June 30th, 1985
Date: 2023-10-01 03:44 am (UTC)And what Tommy determines by noon is that no one else even sees it. They don’t really see Billy and recognize the differences. The way Billy looks sick and dizzy whenever he moves. The way he squints against the sunlight. There’s a moment when Billy should be watching the pool when he seems to pass out, and no one sees it.
Never before has Tommy wanted to scream. Never before has he wanted to shatter a building just because he can. Never before has he wanted to make the world burn if it might make one thing in it better.
For the first time he realizes he really does understand his grandfather, and not Magneto. The longer he watches not-Billy puppeting his boyfriend like an awkward sack of meat, Billy’s will still lingering just at the surface, the more he wants to be like Ultron and just destroy everything. Wants to throw himself into this Upside-Down and find the being behind it all and break him until there isn’t even dust left.
It’s all Tommy can do to stay up in the tall tree he had decided to use as his perch, holding his binoculars and watching. He watches as Billy stumbles back inside, his arm burned in a way that no one notices. Tommy keeps watching as Billy disappears back into the employee locker room and doesn’t come out.
Watches when Billy comes back out but the girl that eventually followed him in doesn’t.
Watches when the pool closes and a while after Billy comes out, carrying that girl over his shoulder.
And of course he watches later at the steelworks as Billy carries her down into the darkness.
What hurts the most is when, half an hour later, the two come back up together. When she isn’t scared anymore. When both of them are blank faced.
In that moment Tommy knows his Billy is buried too far away for him to find.