Billy Hargrove

Random Trivia/Headcanon #8 — PTSD (TW: panic attacks)

Flickering lights drive Billy absolutely insane. Not because they're annoying, but because somewhere deep inside him, they have become a warning signal for terror. The moment a light starts stuttering and flashing, his body reacts before his mind can catch up. In his memories, flickering lights don't mean a faulty bulb — they announce danger. Demogorgons. The Upside Down. Vecna. They mean something is coming. Something terrible. And if he can't leave quickly enough, the fear can spiral into a full-blown panic attack.

Some days are easier than others. In brightly lit places, where other light sources drown out the flickering, he can sometimes force himself to endure it. But the moment the flashing becomes too noticeable, too impossible to ignore, the dread returns immediately.

Fireworks are just as bad. Every explosion makes his body brace for catastrophe. What most people experience as celebration, Billy experiences as a relentless reminder that disaster can arrive without warning — and that sometimes the lights start flickering just before everything goes wrong.

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