[Video] / [ST S3 Spoilers within]

[playingtough]

Someone want to explain something to me?


<sub>[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.]</sub>

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!

Comments

[playingtough]

_{[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.]}

[ziedrich_bearer]

[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.

[playingtough]

_{[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.]}

[ziedrich_bearer]

[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.

[playingtough]

<sub>[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.]</sub>

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.]}

[ziedrich_bearer]

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.

[playingtough]

_{[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.

<sub>[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.]</sub>

I'll take it when I earn it.

[ziedrich_bearer]

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.

[playingtough]

<sub>[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.]</sub>

At least one dad would've liked me.

<sub>[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.]</sub>

[ziedrich_bearer]

[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.]