revivalproject | [Video] / [ST S3 Spoilers within]

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[Video] / [ST S3 Spoilers within]

Someone want to explain something to me?

_{[It starts with just voice, Hargrove's voice, out by the beach judging by the sound of the waves. Then it clicks over to video as he figures that part out.

In the viewfinder is a 1979 Z/28 Camaro, but she's absolute mess. There's evidence of a fire under the hood; the windshield is smashed from some impact at it; there's blood where the window meets the driver door; the passenger side is smashed inwards a little bit from something hitting it. Oh, and it sits on the beach and while that's where Billy's been staying, that's not ideal for it.

He has no idea what the fuck happened to his car, but he's both angry and devastated.]}

The fuck happened here? Is this some kind of sick joke, finding and bringing my car to me like this?! We don't even have a mechanic shop here!

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_{[It's about being and looking cool okay, not efficiency.]

Yeah, get that side? Should have some rope over there already.

_{[Those blue eyes watch the hand go to the ring to touch it like a hawk looking for dinner.

And... 'he'. Gladio said 'he'. So forgive him if he falls short in tying a knot and just stares for a long moment.]}

He. _{[A pause.] He said yes. And it was that easy? No...

_{[Billy trails off, trying to figure out how to phrase the question.]}}}

[Gladio circles as directed and reaches to grab the rope.]

Yeah. Noctis. Basically been in love with him most of my life. And he said yes.

[And he's smiling stupidly at his happiness over it all.]

Make sure it's tight. Don't need the wind blowing it away.

_{[He tugs his piece and starts tying it.]}

How is it that easy? You just start dating? Like that? No looking over your shoulder or anything? Just date.

_{[Then propose. And the guy says yes. Like it really is the easiest thing in the whole goddamn world. No hiding. Just being able to be normal like anyone else on the whole fucking planet.]}

Yeah, that's damn true.

[And he knows how to tie things down tightly. He camps.]

I guess it wasn't entirely easy for us, but in the past, other guys I've dated? Yeah. It's been just as easy for me asking men out as it has been to ask out women. Granted, it helps that I can defend myself from the occasional small minded asshole.

Honestly, if it wasn't Noctis specifically, I would have asked sooner. But he lost his fiance just before their wedding day, it was traumatic.

[And the royalty stuff.]

_{[Other guys. It's so casual and no hiding it. He thinks of Eddie and Harrington, how easy it was for the two of them to just hook up when they were both here. No hiding. No glancing over the shoulder like they were being watched.

He thinks of his situation back home, before Hawkins. He remembers Robin saying something along similar lines down in the volcano.

God this did not seem fair that others just got to be whatever the hell they wanted while others had to put on a front just to stay alive.]}

No, like....

_{[He huffs, tying the knot in place and sitting back on his heels.]}

No hiding and shit. No watching over your shoulder n' stuff like that.

[See, the thing was that they could all choose to be whatever they wanted here. They were all just staying alive the best they could. But he does stay quiet and waits to for Billy to speak. Who knows, maybe the active barrier of the car between them keeping Billy from being looked at will help him open up.]

I'll admit, back home my father would be disappointed if he was still alive. But only because of... Well, certain expectations on the lives Noctis and I are supposed to have. No one really cared that I liked men as well as women. No one would give me grief for it. Or, at least, most people wouldn't. And we've got laws, you know? To protect people from systemic poor treatment for it.

But I never felt the need to look over my shoulder about it, not for safety. And definitely not here. Though coming out to Noctis was nerve wracking at the time. Not because I thought he wouldn't accept me. I just wasn't sure how to say it to him specifically. Especially since apparently in his timeline I'm dating a woman.

_{[They could choose, but Billy was stubborn and had a hard time letting go of some habits that were beaten into him until he had been complacent again. His curls bounce in the wind and are probably the only visible thing from Billy to Gladio.]}

Disappointed, but probably didn't do anything about it.

_{[That sentence probably spoke volumes to what Billy wasn't going to voice out loud.

Disappointment didn't get people hit. There weren't laws to protect people like... well, Billy supposes he's like Gladio. Dating women and then he supposes guys. Even if he didn't get an actual chance to.]}

Playboy. Swoop in for him after his fiancee dies, even though you're already dating someone. And people think I'm.

[Gladio sighs. okay, he's got to explain that one.]

First of all, no, my dad wouldn't do anything about it. Even the disappointment would be because he would want me to have children. Both because of family obligations because we are a noble house back home with obligations and a family line and titles and all of that, but also because he knows I'd like them someday. And two guys can't have kids of their own blood together.

[And the 'you don't marry your king' thing.]

Also, it's hardly the same. In his timeline, as opposed to mine. And in my timeline I only just met him again after ten years. Ten years ago, when his fiance died. When one of our best friends almost died trying to protect Noctis, and the world at that. It's not 'swooping'.

Right. Shield and all that shit. Lineage, heirs, bullshit like that.

_{[He glances in Gladio's direction, glad for the barrier of the wrecked Camaro between them. Especially as his joke flops horridly and leaves him wincing instead.]}

I didn't even know people could come from different timelines. Everyone I know of from home that ended up here are the same one, just different points.

_{[He huffs, checks the tie, then moves down to work on the other corner across from him.]}

Whatever. Forget I was asking questions. Just get the tarp tied down.

_{[And just as easily as he started opening up, Billy clamps shut again.]}

Bingo. Shield and all that shit. Not that it matters as much if we manage what we're planning back home.

[He still won't marry his king, but it's okay.]

And come on, being Shield isn't that bad. I got the sweetest ink for it. Noct likes it too.

[Different timelines is... a mess. A serious mess. Noctis is dead back home and he'll never get his happily ever after.]

Only reason we know it's different timelines is because... well, a major event changed. So we're certain. Who knows if you're all from the same one back home too. No way to prove that positive.

[Still, he's thinking as he works as directed. Yeah, he has to ask. Which might hurt this connection, but he has to ask.]

You're like Noct and I. Interested in both. You can be that here. For the time you have.

_{[The tarp keeps visibly moving for Gladio, indicating that Billy is working on his end at least. The car will be protected from the elements at least, and from the snow whenever winter hits.]}

There's only one. Two of us die, _{[Because he couldn't remember if Chrissy did or not in this exact moment,]} and the rest get to keep living. We don't have a timeline like a choose-your-ending book in Hawkins.

_{[The tarp stops moving as Billy goes still with the remark about how he's like Gladio and Noctis. And he knows he can't be like that here. If for some reason Neil was brought here, Billy would be the initiate for Temba's newest graveyard with a rock as his marker. His body is very tense, rigid with his grasp on the rope he's finished tied off.]}

I can't be anything I'm not supposed to be. Here or home. So you... shut the fuck up about things you don't know anything about.

[Or they do. Who even knows. Gladio's not going to argue. He just ties things and knots when he's supposed to.]

Alright.

[He can agree to being quiet about things. Though... Though he has to leave it with one last thing.]

If you were, though, and someone tried to hurt you about it? I'll kick their ass. If you don't beat me to it. No one hurts my students, especially not for being genuine to themselves and being happy. I'll put them in the hospital and let Tae handle the rest.

_{[The tarp is secured, and Billy brushes his hands free of fiber and lingering sand. She wasn't drive-able but she was protected now. Billy doesn't look towards the Shield.]}

You're too fucking late then. And unless I somehow get taken away from here and put back from a time when I was still in California, you'll always be too late.

_{[Always. Everyone was always going to be too late, and there wasn't anything Billy felt like he could do to fix that.]}

[Okay, now Gladio can't help the low growl of displeasure. Was that it? A guy hurt Billy over this. And given how Billy flinches away and doesn't want touched by Gladio, a bigger guy than him. And one with authority.]

So what I'm hearing is if any guy who claims to be your father shows up here, I'm breaking his arms.

[Yeah. That's not a question now. He's doing it for his student. More than that, he's doing it for a kid who never had a chance.]

_{[That gets Billy to look to Gladio. It's a quick movement, rounding on his heels in the sand to turn a furious look at the man.]}

I don't need your help! I can handle it by myself like I always have! I don't need some guy claiming to be my mentor to step in where I didn't tell him to!

_{[That furious look is coupled with a little bit of anguish in his eyes because it's mostly a lie. He has been dealing with Neil for years, on his own, no one in his corner for it. It's Billy's normal and no one else's. His mom had escaped. Things could've been different if she had taken him with her.]}

[Really? Gladio straightens fully and looks to Billy. Looks sad for Billy. Perhaps Billy will see it as pity, but for Gladio, it's anger and grief.]

Sometimes beating up abusive, judgemental assholes is the responsibility of any proper adult. Not just for those they hurt, but for those they will go on to hurt. Be mad at me if you want, but I'll do it anyway.

And a guy that would hurt his own kid for that, you think he wouldn't start shit with a man married to another man? Kicking his ass would be satisfying for its own sake.

_{[He does see it as a pity, and that just riles him up more.]}

You're like all the other fucking adults, sticking your nose where NO ONE asked you to! Get lost! I don't need your stupid training or your help, or anything! Just get the fuck out of here, Gladio!

_{[It's all anger doing the talking because he doesn't know what else to do except reject anything. There's a lot going on for him though, with finding his car wrecked, finding out how it happened, then all of this. He starts off towards his little desolate cabin, hoping that would indicate that he's done with the conversation even if Gladio's not.]}

[And Gladio knows that no adult who would stand by and let a kid get hurt is worth being called anything but trash. But what he isn't doing, right now, is letting Billy walk away like this. Maybe he should. But what he's honestly scared of is the young man destroying things in anger. Using that ask to ruin what home he's making for himself. So Gladio sighs and follows him.]

Tell me that when you're not shouting and angry and trying to hide from being seen and I'll do it. Tell me calmly to go.

_{[Wind blows at his hair as he makes his way across the sand to the beach cabin he's been calling home since reemerging from the volcano. It should be easy to ignore Gladio. But he can't. Because it's something else beaten into him so he stops, a few feet from the door.

When he talks again, it's tight, but quiet.]}

I am not hiding.

_{[It shouldn't be so easy to lie.]}

I am allowed to be angry. And to shout.

_{[He looks at Gladio and his face is just... neutral. Like he's turned off the emotions like he would with Neil in his face.]}

Just get. out. Sir.

_{[And he means that one enunciated word as an insult.]}

Yeah, you are. But while you are, I can see how angry you are. And that makes me scared for you. That you'd hurt yourself, either intentionally, or by lashing out at your environment.

Strange as it is to believe, Billy, I actually give a fuck about you.

[Even though he's been told he shouldn't. Though he does flinch at 'sir'. He can tell that it's an insult. But he had asked Billy for something. And Billy obliged. Even though Gladio knows he's still angry. He sighs and nods.]

Guess I set a bar, and you stepped over it easily. I'm sorry.

[He does summon the weapon guard though. And holds it out.]

Please. I really do want you to have this. To learn how to protect yourself.

_{[It's taking all of Billy's self control to hold the calm demeanor in place with Gladio confronting him. It does take all of it, but it comes so easily to the blond with all the years of practice he has at it.]}

I'm not going to be fucking stupid and hurt myself. I'm not a dipshit.

_{[He doesn't know why Gladio would care so much. He thinks of the alleyway and how he helped Billy through the trauma response [what did Tae call it? PTSE or something?] before giving his word he'd keep the other Hawkins people safe.

Billy looks at the summoned guard but doesn't move to take it. It indicated the next step up in training. He wouldn't have to 'fight' against lobsters or practice aim with chopping firewood.

But Billy doesn't take it. Instead, turns his back to Gladio to start back to the cabin.]}

I'll take it when I earn it.

Trust me, Billy. You already have.

[He turns away to start toward the car, and yeah, he puts the guard on the tarp covered roof. If it gets lost, well, he'll just use another replicator ration to make another one.]

Billy?

[He doesn't turn back but he does make sure his voice is loud enough to be heard. But not so loud that Billy can't pretend he didn't hear it.]

If you were part of my family, no one would ever be ashamed of you for being who you are. For loving who you love. Or for sometimes needing help. The Amicitia line has been around for over a hundred generations and if we learned one thing over that time, it's that there is no shame in letting others care about you. It's what makes us stronger, what makes us able to stand alone when we have to. Because we know in our hearts that we're not alone in the way that really matters.

I think my father would have liked you.

[And so would Cor. Of course there were bad people that would have used his anger too, like the man that killed Noctis and Gladio's fathers. But Titus isn't here, so it's doesn't matter.]

Stand tall kid. I know you've got that in you.

_{[His attitude, and near-nonexistent fuse leaves Billy to believe other wise. He almost started a fight with someone over the network, hung up on his sister, then this whole ordeal. He gets to the door and opens it, and only then looks back at Gladio. He doesn't say anything as the blade guard gets put down on the tarp.

God, Gladio's family sounds like one that might not've made a monster like Neil did. A supportive one that allowed children to grow and thrive with their own personalities instead of being shoved through a narrow tube of expectations.

Gladio doesn't turn back so he doesn't see Billy wipe his face quickly in case he does. When he talks, it's not loud for Gladio to hear, but it's out before he can stop the words.]}

At least one dad would've liked me.

_{[He hears the last bit right before he heads in, closing the door not with a slam, but just a quiet click. To do exactly as he told Gladio he wasn't going to do.

To hide, seated on the floor with his back pressed against the door and his face buried in his arms.]}

[Yeah. That's true. One father would have. Clarus loved his family with every bit of his heart. The only thing that ever came first was their king, and that was something Gladio understood. Granted he was pretty sure his father had been more than a little bit in love with Regis himself.

But he was told to go, and he walks back off into the forest, heading back for the city. He thinks he needs to find Noctis and curl up in his man's arms, just to find some comfort.]

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