hyperactive | ic contact || deerington.

like a psychopath, maybe.

[ tommy probably would chug pizza soup just because billy wouldn't, and tommy has to be a little shit like, all the time. ]

why would i want the autograph of some guy who's gonna ditch me for my lame-o brother?
by the way, he becomes your responsibility at that point.
this is your only warning.

Edited 2020-04-02 01:36 (UTC)

Psychopaths can have friends.

[ actually, that's kind of not true in his experience. they just have nephews they take advantage of, or gaggles of cronies to emotionally manipulate. or a family to be psychopathic with. all bad news all the way down. ]

If you want to leave him in the hands of someone who will absolutely try to bring out the worst in him, I am more than happy to adopt your brother.
He will legally become my son.

so you divorce me just to become - what?
my... dad?
you know what, nevermind.

Edited 2020-04-02 04:30 (UTC)

Billy.

[ yes. that's apparently what he said. don't call him out. but also: ]

Go to your room.

YOU'RE GROUNDING ME???

DON'T TAKE THAT TONE OF VOICE WITH ME?
KIDS THESE DAYS? NO RESPECT.

TONE OF VOICE??
TONE OF VOICE WHEN THIS IS A TEXT.
UGH YOU'RE SO LAME DAD THIS IS WHY MOM IS COOLER THAN YOU.

wait who's mom?
actually, doesn't matter.
don't speak to me or my son ever again.

[ and attached is a zoomed in picture of a pastel green stuffed alpaca, somewhere across billy's room. it's facing the wall. ]

DON'T BRING YOUR MOTHER INTO THIS!!!
YOUR MOTHER
WHO'S NAME
is
Vanessa.
She's an olympic athlete. Has a field's medal. Starting her own indie game development team.
Likes chicken fingers but not enough to steal mine.
She goes to another school. In Canada. But she's definitely real, and I'm definitely married to her. For reals. Don't blow this for me. Billy.

[ anyway. ]

Don't take away my time with Frogger, either. I love him.
Even if he is Blair Witching it pretty hard right now.

[ billy just... laughs. it's like, what? eleven something at night by now if not later, and this is probably one of the weirder conversations he's had over text. not the weirdest, but top five at the very least.

stiles is good people. billy likes stiles. ]

okay, actually.
that's a little creepy now that you've made that comparison.
one sec.

[ there's a thirty second or so lull in the conversation, and then another photo. a selfie this time, with billy crouched down next to frogger, who has been turned around. billy's free hand is up by his face, making stupid peace sign, and though he looks a little tired, he's still smiling, with teeth. ]

there.

[ stiles thinks two things in quick succession. the first is that this is a pretty cute selfie, something that just kinda hovers in the back of his mind before being nudged away by his next thought - which is that billy looks pretty tired. stiles isn't exactly in a position to criticize anyone for looking tired, these days, but - he does feel pretty bad for keeping billy up if he'd rather get to bed. ]

Now you guys look like you're playing one man hide and seek.

what?

[ ... ]

oh, because he was turned around like he was counting?
maybe we are.
it's called family bonding.

No, no. You haven't heard of one man hide and seek?

[ stiles starts writing up an explanation, but - you know what? this place is spooky enough without telling billy that he might be killed by a haunted doll in his sleep, especially when stiles stlil thinks he needs to chase him off to bed. he just - types out a quick nevermind and moves on. ]

Actually, it's kind of late?
I should probably let you get to bed, I guess. I don't wanna keep you from getting your beauty sleep.

i'll go in a minute.
but first tell me what one man hide and seek is

Oh my god.

[ stiles doesn't want to do this. it was a stupid joke, something that didn't mean anything, and now that billy's pushing, something about putting this whole thing into words is wildly unsettling for stiles. he wants to tell billy to just forget it and go to bed. there's all this anxiety in him, this guilt and this dread, and stiles figures it's just-- shame from keeping billy up just to explain a dumb joke, but it still takes a second or two for his throat to work well enough to put words to his thoughts. he can't read the message his phone is sending, but that voice to text accessibility is really paying off. ]

Okay, so - supposedly, there's this tried and true method of communicating with ghosts. Demons, specifically.
Evil spirits are desperate for a body. They're trapped between this world and the next longing for the safe housing of a physical host.
One man hide and seek is the game - the ritual - that you follow in order to offer a dolls body as a willing vessel to whatever spooky, malicious ghost that might want it. It's this long and intricate series of steps you've gotta follow involving a bathtub and some salt and a nametag and a bunch of other things, and then, yeah. Boom. Presto change-o.
Haunted Frogger.

[ as stiles' texts come through and start to bump each other up the screen, billy glances back and forth between frogger, still next to him, and his phone. all of it sounds kind of urban legend-y, like saying bloody mary into a mirror three times, or la llorona - but those stories still kind of creepy billy out, and the more he stays there, crouched next to the stuffed alpaca with it's black, beady little eyes, the more he just wants to pick it up and put it outside his bedroom door.

he opts for getting up and padding back to his bed instead. ]

'a bunch of other things', like taking a selfie with the doll?
i definitely haven't done anything with a bathtub or salt or a nametag.
i don't even have a nametag.

Well. Good. He's probably not haunted, then.
Probably.
I hope.
Just let me know if the walls start bleeding or if he starts talking about his friends Slappy and Chucky.

[ anyway, wow, he hates this. the weak part of him suddenly wants to ask billy if he wants to come sleep over at logan's with him, but that seems like something of an imposition. he still... considers it though. ]

Sorry. Bad joke.
The only thing haunting Frogger right now is my possessive and needy desire to win him a wife, as you know.
We should hang out at the arcade again sometime soon. Start racking up some tickets.

"you should go to bed" he says, right before talking about bleeding walls and talking, demon-possessed inanimate plush dolls.

[ guess who's gonna be up for a little bit! it's billy. it's fine. ]

i'm up for the arcade any time
and i still have a couple tickets left over after buying
sorry, after adopting frogger, so we've already got a head start.

Okay, well.

[ a pause. stiles types what he wants to say, backspaces it, then types it out again, word for word. ]

Wanna arcade it up with me now?
I know it's late, so if you really do need to sleep, that's totally okay, I'm not gonna keep you up past your bedtime.
But I'm gonna be awake for a while, so if you wanna spend an hour or two hanging out before you're tired enough and less haunted enough to pass out, maybe we could spend some more time together?

no, i'm up, i'm up.
and i'm gonna pretend that you didn't just suggest i have a bedtime like i'm ten.
anyway, is the arcade still open this late?
if it is, it's suddenly my favorite arcade.
you know, despite the teeth.

We can find out together, I guess? It's usually pretty bright at night, but, like. That doesn't mean much. This place is so bizarre that Bill Murray could be freshly busting ghosts overnight to keep the Arcade safe another day and I wouldn't be surprised.
Worst case scenario, we break in, raid the prize kiosk and run like hell. It'll be fun.

[ he's kidding, he's not gonna do that. if only because his dad would be disappointed in him. ]

Want me to come and pick you up?
I literally live, like, right next door to it, but. I could still come and pick you up.

i used to think it was cool that alaska had the whole 24 hours of daylight thing going on for part of the year
now? not so cool. i never thought i'd miss nighttime so much.
kinda hoping you just spoke venkman into existence, though, not gonna lie.

i'm not gonna make you walk all the way here just to walk all the way back.
i can meet you at the end of your street though in like 15?

Kinda hoping that too.

[ well, he wasn't planning on walking, he just wanted to show off his very nearly broken and duct-tape riddled 20+ year old jeep, but once billy blows him off he can't exactly smoothly bring that up again. man, he shouldn't have said he lived near the arcade. he's not sure why he feels like he's missed an opportunity here, but he kind of does. ]

Yeah, okay. Bring Frogger, though?
We've gotta see who he clicks with.

bring the maybe-possessed stuffed animal with you.
sure, okay.

[ kidding! jokes. he know it's not haunted, but if he lowkey, secretly eyes frogger from across the room for a few long seconds before getting up to change his clothes and find his shoes, nobody has to know. ]

yeah, yeah, i'll bring him.
and the extra tickets, too.
i think there's like 35 left? somewhere around there.
not a whole lot, but it's a head start.

[ anyway. billy trades his sleep clothes for jeans and a t-shirt, slides frogger into his backpack, crams the extra tickets into the front pocket - and then heads out into the night! into the day, at what should be nighttime, but whatever. it's quiet out, which is kind of nice but also kind of eerie when it's so bright and sunshiney. squinting, billy adjusts the strap of his bag against his shoulder, locks up behind him, and starts the short trek to go meet up with stiles.

as he approaches the end of stiles' street, billy lifts one hand and offers a lazy wave, though it's more of a sideways swipe, similar to a jedi trying to brain-hack someone with the force. he lets his backpack slide off his shoulder and holds it out to stiles once he's close enough, smiling a little tiredly. ]

Hi. Here, spend some time with your son.

[ it takes... a surprisingly long time for stiles to convince himself not to bring roscoe out to the end of the street, but considering he's been staying at logan's place and actually picking her up would involve walking home just to drive for like, three seconds, it doesn't seem all that worth it. he sends a text to billy with a promise to be there soon and a joke about annabelle, and in just a few minutes, he's made his way to the end of the street he promised to meet billy at. by now, the cultists that have been fucking this place up have all but gone into hiding, so he doesn't run into any trouble on the way, thank christ - but if he'd suspected they were still out, he wouldn't have invited billy to play stupid fucking teeth games with him, so.

he greets billy with a similar jedi hand-wave, which was just supposed to be a cute imitation but feels to stiles, after he's done it, like a socially awkward way of accidentally mocking his new friend. he winces a little and turns the half-wave into an awkward neckscratch, clearing his throat as his sneakers scuff at the asphalt beneath them, and when billy offers him frogger, stiles takes him a little too quickly. ]

I really should spend more time with him. It's not good for a child to grow up barely ever seeing one of his parents.

[ stiles gives the dude a consoling pat on the head, clutching the alpaca to his chest with a shall we? and a thumb thrown towards the arcade. he guides billy inside, shifting his arms to hold frogger against his side, his other hand inside the pocket of his hoodie. it's getting too warm to wear thick, red cotton and heavy denim jeans, but these are the clothes stiles has from home, so he wears them as much as he can.

they get to the arcade and stiles goes straight to the prize kiosk. everything's open and running, just like he thought, and the two of them are the only people here, which is actually pretty nice. the neon lights, the quiet outside of dinging games and whistling machines, and the building being as big and as largely windowless as it is makes the atmosphere kind of cozy. stiles feels as if it could be a real night outside, for once. this could be a pretty decent date spot, if he had anyone to fucking ask out. ]

Okay. [ but - priorities. stiles sets frogger on the counter and points him at the large wall of plush toys, careful to angle him so he can see them all. ] The more I think about this, the more creeped out I am by the concept of winning someone a bride, but we're here, so we're committing. We've gotta figure out who he likes.

[ once frogger is freed of his transport, billy slings his mostly-empty backpack back up onto his shoulder, wriggling a little and twisting his other arm back so he can push it through the strap, wearing it fully and properly instead of just letting it hang from one shoulder. he misses whatever awkwardness stiles might be feeling, or maybe he just chooses to ignore it, hooking his thumbs underneath the straps of his bag near the sides of his chest and curling his fingers over the front of them.

billy lets stiles lead the way, lingering for a beat before following after him and taking an extra, wide stride to catch up to his side. quietly, he ruminates over stiles' more-than-likely offhand comment about children growing up without one of their parents around, and he finds himself wondering how long ago his mother passed away. for some reason, he'd assumed it was kind of a recent thing (recent being like, within the last three to five years), but he realizes now that he doesn't actually know.

and he's not about to ask, either, and ruin whatever easy mood they've got going. they're going to the arcade! at night! while it's bright as shit outside, but it's still 'late', and that's what counts. there's no room for blue moods.

for whatever reason, billy doesn't expect the place to be practically deserted save for the one or two floor staff wandering around, but it's kind of... cool. it's not exactly quiet, but the soft whirr of electronics and the gentle mishmash of different theme songs playing from their consoles is weirdly soothing when it's not overlaid with chatter and the click of buttons being mashed and the distant hum of people trying to decide what to order from the concessions. as they cut through the floor toward the prizes, billy slides a slow turn-around in his step, kind of basking in the seclusion. he's never had an entire arcade to himself before.

well, to himself and stiles, but billy doesn't actually mind his company at all.

when they get to the prize counter, billy crosses his arms and leans his elbows on the glass, peering at the prizes in the glass case below before drawing his attention back to the wall of plush toys. he turns his head and rests his chin on his shoulder, looking up at stiles with quiet amusement as he meticulously sets frogger up to gaze upon his choices. billy turns his head again, rests his ear on his shoulder, slides his elbows forward a little to stretch out his back. ]

We're not winning him a - a bride. We're winning tickets, which we'll use to buy—... a. Okay, yeah, that's— let's just not think about that.

[ billy uncrosses one of his arms and straightens up a little, gesturing toward the prize wall with a lazy sweep of his arm. ]

Well, Frogger? What do you think?

[ if he's looking at stiles instead of the stuffed animal he just addressed, well. whatever. ]

ic contact || deerington.

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