Fanon Friday February: Between Seasons 2 and 3

[evilinsanemonkey]

And now for something a little different!

For the rest of February, we're going to do Fanon/theory discussions on Friday. Regular fic rec Friday posts will return in March!

This week's subject:

Between Seasons 2 and 3

I feel like something changed for Billy between seasons 2 and 3, particularly regarding his relationship with Max, and I wonder what theories and fanons are out there!

What did Billy get up to in that time we didn't see?
Did he and Max mend their relationship any?
How did Billy interact with Steve - if he did - and vice versa?

Comments

[slippy]

Bursting into the comm to say, aaaarrgh, "Did he and Max mend their relationship any?" is the question that haunts me! Especially after season 4. They seem to have got better between 2-3, and then for 3-4 there is no more indication of the way Max felt like Billy was her kinda-gross older brother she'd come to be fond of (again? for the first time?). How did it all go down???

I remember that Billy got a new scar on his eyebrow - I tend to think that's a mark from either the showdown at the Byers house or his dad getting at him afterwards for not bringing home Max. And he also got that tattoo - maybe a birthday present to himself? (Nobody else was getting him something that hideous lol.)

It's a firm headcanon for me that Billy got a crush/attraction to Steve basically at first sight, but I think he was suppressing it as much as possible after the s2 finale. For all he's a violent person I think the fight at the Byers house had him going further than he meant to - he was deeply frustrated by the move and everything to do with his family, and took it out on Steve in a way that could have killed him, and it was shocking to Billy when he realised afterwards what could have happened. So I think he decided to stay as far away from Steve as possible. Got weird when he treated him as invisible in basketball, though. I could see Steve approaching Billy to clear the air/draw boundaries more easily than I could see Billy do it.

Also, hello!

[evilinsanemonkey]

They seem to have got better between 2-3, and then for 3-4 there is no more indication of the way Max felt

This is something that frustrates me so much about season 3 especially but definitely season 4, too! It really felt like they had found even footing between seasons 2 and 3, their relationship seemed way less strained than it had previously (I wonder if that ties into your point in your last paragraph about how Billy's feeling post-the s2 Showdown with Steve?) and I wish we had seen either more of it or something about how they got there?

I definitely agree that Steve would likely be the one to approach Billy about clearing the air/drawing boundaries - Billy is much more likely to Suppress and Avoid.