#and I get it! I am KEENLY aware of all the reasons someone wouldn't want to be friends with me

[laughinglynx]

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[starsinshadows]

heather asked @godstrayed:

ㅤㅤ' it's always the last person you want to see that you end up running into, huh? '

They have reason to avoid each other. Billy knows why he wouldn't want to see Heather as he's keenly fucking aware of what he had done to her while flayed. Not only attacking but stuffing her into the trunk of his god damn car. She had probably been terrified to death she was going to be murdered. The thought made Billy sick even though it had been the monster wearing his face it still had been him and the last thing he wants to see is fear reflected in someone's eyes.

However, Hawkins is only so big. Considering all the damage fucking done it's a surprise he hasn't ran into her sooner. What was he supposed to do? Write her a handwritten letter of apology for nearly killing her? Getting her loved ones killed? For all the people who died because he was foolish enough to get infected first? Stomach bile rises and he shakes his head, "Don't worry I was just leaving anyways."

ㅤIn a town like Hawkins, especially with a school like Hawkins, never seeing each other would have been impossible, so it was pretty damn obvious to Heather that Billy Hargrove was avoiding her. For a little while, she got it - they were both raw and recovering, and that kind of trauma and grief needed some time. She didn't really want anyone around her at first, so if Billy didn't want to see her, that was fine with her. After awhile, however, she had to wonder, and the only cure for the wondering was to find out.

ㅤShe worked herself up to it, because she knew that he'd been possessed by the monster just like she had been - it was that thing that had used his hands to attack her and throw her in his trunk, to drag her down into the Steelworks basement to expose to it. He'd been a puppet, just as she had afterwards when she'd helped him take her parents. She knew all of that, but she had been terrified and she should have died - and it was Billy's hands and face that had been presented for her nightmares, an actor in a terrible show. She worked herself up to saying anything at all because the last thing she wanted was for him to see any of that, for both of their sakes. He didn't deserve the blame, but she didn't deserve to be afraid, to show fear. Never again.

ㅤ"What if you stayed instead, Billy?" she offered, trying to keep it mild, but her eye contact was firm as she watched him. She wouldn't falter because perhaps both of them needed this.

ㅤ"Don't you think we're overdue, anyway? I don't know about you, but if one more person gives me that sad, pity look, I'm probably going to scream in their fucking face. Pretty sure you're the only guy around here who wouldn't think I was nuts, or I guess, would get why I am," she told him, trying for a smile at the last bit. "That faraway picnic table's free, you can give me one of your smokes."

[kigozula]

Gladiator Chapter 229

His fingers trailed over her face delicately, brushing a few stray hairs off her face, before saying:

"What sort of father could ever be disappointed in a daughter like you?"

Her words tumbled out of her in a clumsy, interrupted yet interconnected mess… and then they stopped once she felt the weight on the bed shifting, once her father took his seat by the side of her mattress. Azula swallowed dryly again, venturing a wary glance at his face…

His brow was drawn together… but not in wrath. Not in disappointment, or displeasure.

Was that… compassion?

"If what Zhao explained is true… then I'm not certain anyone could have done better" Ozai said "Whether you or anyone else. It may not sound encouraging of me to say so… but the threat you faced seems to have been one of the very worst the Fire Nation has handled so far. And to think it happened to rear its head exactly when you were substituting for me…"

"Do you… truly believe that?" Azula asked, her chest heaving as she breathed far more frantically "Y-you're not… disappointed?

Stray dogs often flinched out of habit when anyone raised a hand in their direction, assuming the world was out to get them, regardless of whether there was ill intent in the gesture or not. It was unexpected that a Princess would ever react the way such humble creatures would, and yet she gasped, recoiling when Ozai's hand appeared within her field of vision…

Only to cup her face delicately.

His eyes were golden, clear… and emotional. Far more emotional than Azula remembered seeing them. Was she imagining things? Was all this a dream, a rather strange one? Or was her father truly offering her a gesture of kindness… one she wasn't entirely sure she deserved?

His fingers trailed over her face delicately, brushing a few stray hairs off her face, before saying:

"What sort of father could ever be disappointed in a daughter like you?"

Her lips parted, though no words came from them. Her eyes gazed at her father, struggling to unravel this unexpected, unbelievable glimpse of the single kernel of kindness that still nestled in Ozai's dark soul. Her mind, muddled by the effect of her chi's corruption, couldn't process his words immediately.

"As far as I understand… you saved the Fire Nation with your actions, however reckless as they may have been" Ozai said "If the truth is as Zhao spoke it… then you were vital to ending this threat. As your Fire Lord… your loyalty to your nation fills me with pride. As your father, however…"

"As… my father?" Azula repeated, once Ozai fell silent for a moment. He swallowed hard, his teeth gritted.

"I'd rather appreciate it… if you wouldn't give me such reasons to fear for your health and wellbeing anymore, is all" he determined "I'm proud of you… but I am quite distressed by how readily you've jumped into danger, not only in this situation but in countless others. I want to believe Zhao, truly… that you did it because no one else could. But if you do anything like this again, and I discover someone other than you could have handled the problem without you jumping headfirst into danger…"

"You'll… scold me?" Azula asked, her question more childish than she expected it to be. To her surprise, Ozai laughed softly.

"Perhaps" he said "It sounds so very daunting when you put it that way, doesn't it?"

"It… it does" Azula smiled too, weakly.

"Then I suggest you give me no reasons to do so" Ozai said, lowering his hand. Azula grew keenly aware of its warmth only once it wasn't touching her skin anymore "You… you're recovering slowly, from what I've heard?"

"I guess… I'm not too aware of my improvements yet" Azula mumbled "I was unconscious until yesterday in the morning, I think… I don't really know. I can't remember much… not from yesterday, or from the previous day"

"You can't remember how you wound up in this shape, then?" Ozai asked. Azula bit her lip.

"Barely. I… I was hoping to help my dragon, and then… then I was wounded" she whispered "My guards kept the Spear in check, I… I think. Then I was on my dragon, and then… then Sokka helped me"

"The gladiator?" Ozai asked. Azula tensed up, as though she had forgotten who she was talking to.

"Y-yeah. He… did something. I don't really remember what" Azula whispered: it wasn't a lie, at this point she only knew something had exploded before Sokka found her, and she didn't even dare ask what it was "He tried to help… t-then I fought the Spear with my fire a-and his sword, and… I can't remember what happened to me after that. Just… woke up here"

"I see" Ozai whispered: again, he startled her by reaching to brush her hair out of her face "It seems the world constantly wants to put you to the test, does it not? The challenges you've faced… it's uncanny that someone has been able to overcome them as often as you have"

"Maybe I'm just… a lot less lucky than I thought I was" Azula said, with a weak grin. Ozai smiled and shrugged.

"I suppose. Though that you've survived, and recovered, from all your ordeals so far indicates that maybe fortune still favors you, to a fault. Perhaps it will favor you this time as well"

"I… hope so" Azula said, closing her eyes as Ozai withdrew his hand again.

The weight on the bed had been comforting, to a fault: it vanished once Ozai rose to his feet again