Chapter Text
Bill stumbled through his front door. He let the door slam onto the wall as he held the doorknob for balance. Each step was agonizing. Bill felt like he could still feel every foot that stepped on him. In his mind, the worst pain was his bag. Everything he managed to put in it ended up destroyed. His scarred skin stretched as he reached his arm out to push against the wall. He didn't care how much noise he made; his mom usually was too drunk to get out of bed by now. He shut the door behind him, too exhausted to care about locking it and slowly climbed the stairs.
His room felt suffocating in the dark. Merchandise seemed to pour out onto the floor only leaving a small path to his bed. Bill fell onto his mattress and immediately went to sleep.
He woke up abruptly to his mother screaming at him. “You fucker! You took my jewelry again didn’t you!?”
Bill sat up, still groggy. He had, but was not going to admit it. “No, you probably just lost it again.”
His mother grabbed his mint condition Kenner’s Batman: The Animated Series Joker and threw it at him. “That necklace was a gift from your father!”
Despite not being that heavy, the package felt like it hit Bill’s sore body like a slap. Bill felt his heart begin to race at the thought of it being damaged. “Oh yeah? Are you sure it wasn't meant for Deborah?”
Bill’s mother froze at the name. Bill knew it was a low blow to bring up his dad's new wife, but, at that moment, he didn't care.
“Get out.”
When Bill made no move to get out of bed, she threw his Harley Quinn at him, then his Batman. “I want you out!” She screamed.
“You're really gonna throw me out for that?” Bill said as he sat up straighter.
“I’ve done so much for you! And you still act like this! I'm tired of trying to help you!”
Bill worried about the more fragile stuff in her reach. He achingly got up from his bed and decided to comply. He shuffled past his mother and left without a word.
Bill wasn't that worried. His mother had kicked him out before and by the third or fourth day, she usually lets him back in as if nothing happened.
Bill spent his time away from home mainly rummaging through the toy aisles of major stores and stealing whatever snacks he could get his hands on. He would have taken some more expensive items if it wasn't for the fact that his injuries made running impossible.
After the fourth day, he figured his mom would be cooled off by now and let him in without issue. He went to put his key in the door, but noticed it had changed.
Confused and angry, he banged on the door.
His mom opened the door after a minute. She looked at him coldly as she asked “Here for your stuff?”
Bill scoffed, “C’mon mom, You're not serious.”
Bill's mom crossed her arms. She looked like she was close to breaking if Bill played his cards right. “Mom?”
Bill's mother shook her head. She refused to look at him, instead letting her eyes glaze over while looking at the ground. “I’ve done everything I could for you. I can't anymore. Get your stuff.”
Bill felt himself getting frustrated. “Mom, you can't just kick me out!”
“If you don't get your things and leave within the next fifteen minutes, I'll call the police.”
Bill froze. He worried about the collectibles he stole being taken. He told himself that he could plead with her more when he's actually inside. He gave a small nod and his mother stepped aside.
He grabbed some garbage bags and started filling them with as much stuff as he could. He wrapped his clothes around fragile collectables to protect them.
As he did, he wondered where he would go.
Jerry was probably still mad at him for what happened at Comic Con. Plus he's sure Mandy would probably convince him that Bill’s a ‘bad influence.’
Pete was out of the question. The few times he ever went to his house, he saw how filthy it was. It would be a terrible place for his collection. Not to mention, he didn’t want to go anywhere near Pete’s roommates.
That only left Josh.
Josh could work. His family was always the richest out of all of them so his house was probably large enough for them to stay out of each other's way even with his parents still there.
He always kept his collection in good shape so there was no worry about his stuff getting damaged while there.
As he placed one last item in the bag, he grabbed his phone and dialed Josh's number, praying that it hadn't changed since high school.
After two rings, he answered. “Hello?”
“Josh, it's me. I need you to pick me up.”
“What? Why?”
“Because my mom is kicking me out and I need to stay with you.” Bill answered as he started placing more stuff in a bag
“Who said you could stay with me!?”
Bill let out a frustrated sigh. “I did. As the president of The Eltingville Club-”
“Oh no! Don't pull that shit with me, Bill! The club’s over!”
There was silence as Bill shoved more into his bags.
“I want something out of this.”
“You're not getting the head.”
“Seriously!? Come on, Bill!”
“No!” Bill looked around his room for things he would be willing to part with. “I'll give you my 1993 RoboCop figure, The Amazing Spider-Man Issue 289, and my Han Solo collectible card.”
“That's it? I want The Amazing Spider-Man Issue 298, Hotwheels Super Elite Knight Rider KITT Diecast Car Model, Wolverine Issue 145, AND your Two-Face Wonder Bread card!”
“You still haven’t got that card? With all you eat, I’m surprised you don’t have a whole card album of them!”
“Yeah, laugh it up! At least I have a house to put it in! Do we have a deal or not?”
Bill wanted to tell Josh to fuck himself, but the sound of his mother knocking made him hold back. “Fine! Just come pick me up!”
Chapter Text
Bill waited at the corner with three garbage bags and two large boxes. He told his mom that he'll call her when he can get the rest of it.
After twenty minutes, Bill decided to call Josh.
“Is your car being slowed down by your weight? Where are you?”
“Unlike you, I have a job to worry about.”
“Yeah, I’m sure Great Power is so lost without you.” Bill snarked.
“Screw you, Bill! You're so lucky I want to make sure you don't rip me off with any knock off crap!”
“Whatever, how far are you?”
“I’m near my old house, I should be there in five minutes.”
Bill hung up without saying goodbye.
A short while later, Bill saw a car pull into his street. He recognized it instantly as Mrs. Levy's old car.
As Josh approached, Bill started to grab his stuff. Josh slowed to a stop and popped open his trunk.
Bill was able to fit a bag and two boxes in between Josh’s junk. Bill made a mental note to try and go through it when Josh wasn’t looking to see if there was anything actually valuable in there.
After slamming the trunk closed, Bill put the other two bags on the backseat. Bill noticed the floor was covered in empty bags and wrappers.
He closed the door and finally went to the passenger seat. As soon as sat down, Bill was immediately hit with the smell of fries.
“You fat ass! You went to Burger King when you were supposed to pick me up!?” He snatched the bag from on top of the cupholder between them.
“I got that on my lunch break!”
“Bullshit! the bag is still hot!” Bill opened the bag to see what was inside. Inside was 2 burgers, a small fry, a large fry, and a Peashooter wristband. Bill could tell Josh ordered a kid’s meal and tossed its box in the back.
Josh rolled his eyes and put the car into drive. “Whatever.”
Bill felt unsatisfied by Josh’s response and immediately reached into the bag for a fry.
“Hey! That’s mine!”
Bill scoffed and put another fry in his mouth. “You were gonna eat two meals for lunch?”
“No, I was saving one for later.”
“When’s ‘later’ for you? Five, maybe ten minutes?”
“Screw you! I’m more interested in the toy anyway.”
“As if that wristband would fit on your fat arm.”
“What?” Josh said urgently, as soon as he reached a stop light, he took the bag and looked inside. “Dammit! It was supposed to be the handheld game!”
Josh took a handful of fries and stuffed them in his mouth.
Bill rolled his eyes and took the bag back as the car behind them began to honk. Bill took out a burger and started unwrapping it.
“Really, Bill?”
“You said you were ‘more interested in the toy anyway.’”
“That was before I found out it was the wrong one! And I told you, that was my lunch! I bought it!”
“If anything, you should be thanking me! I probably just gave you an extra week before you inevitably have a heart attack.”
“No wonder your mom kicked you out!”
“Oh yeah? I'm sure your mom would be so happy to see you not eating kosher just for a toy.”
“Screw you, Bill. You know we were never kosher.”
“Yeah, because your parents knew that even God wouldn't stop you from eating everything in sight.”
Josh quickly pulled into his family's driveway and punched Bill in his arm.
“Fuck!” Bill shouted. Normally, he would have hit him back, but his body was still covered in bruises from the stampede at the convention. Bill instinctively curled into himself as he grabbed his arm. It was painful enough that he worried about throwing up.
Josh was taken aback for a second. He watched as Bill breathed heavily as he regained composure. Josh felt a pang of guilt, but quickly pushed it down. Knowing Bill, he would probably just call him gay for showing any sort of concern.
Slowly, Bill sat back up and hoarsely mumbled “asshole” as a sad attempt to get the last word. Bill got out of the car, still holding the Burger King bag and slammed the door before Josh could say anything else.
Josh opened the trunk as Bill walked towards it. Bill's arm still had a sharp pain from the hit. He felt the individual strands of muscle contract as he moved.
Bill lifted up the garbage bag to put it on the ground with his right hand. He tried to grab the boxes, but it felt like his arm was going to rip off.
“Joshzilla, grab the boxes.”
Josh shut his door. “”Why can't you do it? You’re the one that brought it.”
“Because I don’t want to get bit by whatever lives in here. When was the last time you cleaned it?”
Josh rolled his eyes, but walked to the trunk anyway. “You better have my stuff in there.”
Josh walked to the front door with the boxes as Bill grabbed the rest of his bags from the back seat. Bill caught up to Josh as he set the boxes down and unlocked the door. “If my mom asks, you bought the food.”
Bill was right, the house was far more spacious than his. He could tell Mrs. Levy did most of the decorating; the house was filled with traditional styled furniture.
“Josh?” came from upstairs. Bill saw Josh tense slightly.
“Yeah, mom.” Josh answered back.
They waited as they heard footsteps approaching from above.
As she slowly came down, the first thing Bill noticed was that she had lost some weight. She was still pretty heavy set, but she seemed to be a couple sizes smaller.
“Oh, hello, who’s this?” She asked.
“Hi, Mrs. Levy, I’m Bill.”
“Bill…” She repeated as if trying to place it.
“Yeah, he was a friend from high school. You met him before.”
“Oh… Josh, can I talk to you for a minute?” Before Josh could answer, she was already walking towards the kitchen.
Bill stood at the door as Josh put down his boxes and followed her. Bill could hear that their conversation was pretty heated, but couldn’t make out that many words.
After a minute, his mom came back out with Josh trailing behind. Despite smiling, Bill could tell she wasn’t happy.
“Well, I’m going upstairs. There’s some Greek salad in the fridge if you get hungry later, Josh, it’s very good.” She said, taking on almost a pleading tone when mentioning the salad to Josh.
“It was nice seeing you, Mrs. Levy.”
Josh’s mom let out an indifferent “mhm” without looking at Bill.
When they were sure she was out of earshot, Josh grabbed the boxes and told Bill to follow him.
They went into the kitchen and Josh led them to the basement door. As Josh took the first step down, he flicked the lightswitch to turn on a light at the bottom.
They wordlessly made their way down. Bill could tell that Josh lived down here.
Three of the walls were almost entirely hidden behind shelves and tables of memorabilia. Any space between the shelves had posters hung up. Directly in the center of a wall was a TV display shelf with various gaming systems set up.
Bill would never admit it, but Josh’s set up was always impressive. He had everything organized by franchise. As Bill’s eyes wandered through the Star Wars portion, he saw the headless Boba Fett slightly hidden behind a Jar Jar Binks Pez dispenser.
On the far right of the staircase was where Josh actually lived. On the floor was a full sized mattress, a minifridge with a microwave on top, and a folding table and chair acting as a makeshift desk. Directly under the stairs was a small bathroom with a walk in shower. Next to the bathroom was an entry way to the washer and dryer.
Bill and Josh set the boxes and bags on the floor. Bill took a few steps and tossed the fast food bag on the folding table.
“What did your mom say?”
“She asked if I was trying to give her a third heart attack.” He groaned as he ran a hand through his hair. “I told her that your mom threw you out while drunk. She remembered how heavy of a drinker she could be.”
Bill nodded. He slowly reached into his pocket and took out the Two-Face Wonder Bread card he kept in a plastic card protector. He knew he had to do this quickly before he got frustrated.
“Here. Try not to get your greasy fingerprints on it.”
Bill saw Josh’s eyes light up. He grabbed it with both hands as if it could disappear at any moment. A stupid smile slowly crept on his face. Josh finally glanced up at him and let out a dumb “Thank you, Bill!”
Bill went back to his bags and started rooting for clothes. “Whatever, I’m taking a shower.”
Josh didn’t respond, too busy looking at the card.
Once Bill found a t-shirt and sweatpants that weren’t wrapped around anything, he headed to the bathroom.
He set his clothes on the sink and turned the shower on. As he waited for the water to heat up, he tried to bury down any feelings.
Despite being angry about giving up his card, seeing Josh’s face light up gave him a wave of nostalgia. It felt more intense than anything he got from his collection.
It reminded him of when they were younger, before they even thought about making a club.
Bill then felt stupid for even thinking about it. He put his hand in his other jacket pocket and touched Boba Fett’s head to distract himself.