[Billy opens his mouth as if to protest, but it doesn't last. Why object to a necessity he feels as deeply as breathing itself? Comfort ad coddling and hugs are a temporary solution, but damn if it doesn't help for a while when it's from someone who knows- someone who understands. It's why Teddy's held him together all this time.
He shuts his mouth again, purses his lips, and quietly slumps against her, his head on her shoulder. Maybe he should feel bad about this- that heroes are supposed to be strong and resilient, that they're supposed to fight back this sort of pain and bury it and just be okay. Because as soon as they're not okay, the rest of the world suffers. Needs of the many and all that. That's what heroes do.
But he remembers the draft again: not the blood and the gore and the death, but of a brief encounter outside a hospital room, when he'd hugged the man behind the mask of Iron Man and been held back like a lifeline for that one moment. Shown he was a human, not a machine or a collective of batteries and wealth and science and sarcasm.
Captain America himself had made them Avengers, and he'd died. Avengers get killed. Avengers suffer. Avengers cry. Avengers break down and cling and Avengers need to be held.
[action] it's my favourite hobby
He shuts his mouth again, purses his lips, and quietly slumps against her, his head on her shoulder. Maybe he should feel bad about this- that heroes are supposed to be strong and resilient, that they're supposed to fight back this sort of pain and bury it and just be okay. Because as soon as they're not okay, the rest of the world suffers. Needs of the many and all that. That's what heroes do.
But he remembers the draft again: not the blood and the gore and the death, but of a brief encounter outside a hospital room, when he'd hugged the man behind the mask of Iron Man and been held back like a lifeline for that one moment. Shown he was a human, not a machine or a collective of batteries and wealth and science and sarcasm.
Captain America himself had made them Avengers, and he'd died. Avengers get killed. Avengers suffer. Avengers cry. Avengers break down and cling and Avengers need to be held.
It's okay to feel like this.]