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D.Va and Billy R., backdated to 4/13/18
Hana and Billy eat all the candy ever, and play some video games!
Goodnight had been adamant that Billy couldn't turn up on a girl's doorstep in school sweats and make a good impression. Billy didn't see why Hana being a girl would make a difference; Pam seemed to like him just fine, sweats or none. He suspected Goody was, at best, teasing him, and at worst, being full of shit again. But he'd taken the advice changed into his other outfit, the dark jeans and white t-shirt that were just a little big on him, and even tied his hair back.
Truth be told, he wasn't sure what he expected of this visit. Everything he'd ever been taught in the People's Republic said he and Hana would have more in difference than in common. But they'd said the same about people like Goody, and Goody was the best person Billy had met in his life. Plus they'd sent him away to that hospital. So their lessons were very much in doubt. Nothing to do by learn by moving forward, he supposed.
Plus, he was curious about the offer of candy.
Billy paused on the threshold of room 201 and knocked.
Hana opened the door and greeted Billy with a happy squeal. She had not dressed up for the occasion, wearing only a t-shirt with her bunny logo and a comfortable pair of black leggings. “Hi! I’m so glad you’re here!” she greeted warmly in Korean, extending a hand for Billy to shake. “It’s great to meet you in person.”
“It's nice to meet you too.” Billy smiled and clasped her hand eagerly. It even better to speak to her than to meet her. For as little as he'd used his own language the past year or so, the familiarity of it put him at ease in a way he could barely remember. “Have you been here for long?”
Hana stepped aside so Billy could come in. “I got here at the end of March. Everyone has been great. You’ll love it here.”
"Everyone's been helpful so far," Billy agreed. He stepped into the room, taking in the pink bedsheets, stuffed bunnies, and the gaming system mounted on the wall. “The staff all seem sincere about this place just being a school, if that's all we want of it. And Goody thinks it will be a good place to at least get his 'G.E.D'. So I think we're going to stay a while, unless something weird happens.”
Hana wondered where exactly Billy was from. His Korean was kinda stiff and antiquated. It sounded really pretty, though! “Weirder than teenagers with superpowers?” she joked as she closed the door. “Goody’s your roommate, right? I’m sorry you guys were being kept in that awful place.”
Billy laughed softly; Hana hadn't said anything untrue, but Goody being his roommate was the smallest of so many things he was to Billy that it struck him as funny.
"Yes, he's my roommate. I'm glad of that; it's great to have him around all the time now. He was the only good thing about the facility where they were holding us. This place?" He gestured at the room and the window. "It's completely different. It's like nothing I've seen before. We're still exploring it.”
Hana wanted to give Billy a hug. She’d heard about the Right from the other kids in the school, but she couldn’t imagine what Billy must have been through. “It is pretty incredible. Like something out of a comic book.” She plopped herself down on her bad, legs tucked up under her Lotus-style.
"I wouldn't know about that," Billy admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. After a moment, he settled cross-legged on the floor. Sharing the bed was a Goody thing; he wasn't sure he wanted to be that close to anyone else yet. "I'm still getting used to seeing sky. There's so much space! And I know it's ridiculous, but I feel like I'm going to fall up every time I step outside." His smile went a little sheepish. "So, yes. Lots to get used to.”
“How long were you there?” Hana asked. She hoped she was reading Billy right and that this was something he was okay with talking about. He seemed pretty open about it, but she didn’t want to overstep.
"I'm not sure,” he admitted. "The only way I had to tell time at the last place was by how often meals came. And no way at all in the hospitals. And I don't remember the last time I went outside before here.” In truth, he didn't actually remember ever going outside before Xavier's, but he had a concept of it, so he was sure he must have. "So... a long time, I guess.”
Hana just barely managed to not let her jaw drop. Thoughts a whirlwind of how awful that must have been, she gave him a smile instead because, if she were Billy, she wouldn’t want people gaping at her like she was some freak show. ”I guess you have a lot of time to make up for then.” She grabbed the bag of candy and drinks she’d had sitting ready and waiting in her bed and deposited herself on the floor across from Billy. ”And we’re going to start with candy.”
Billy blinked, dumbfounded at the sheer variety of shape and color Hana revealed as she opened the bag: there were wrappers in every hue he could think of, covered in photos of fruit, food, cartoon people and animals, or simply loud, eye-snaring script. Being able to read most of the packaging still gave him little idea as to the actual contents. Orion Gosomi? Haitai Bon Bon Drink? Nongshim Banana Kick? Malang Cow Chews? Peach Water Jelly? What was it all?
He started to reach for the bag, but making up his mind as to what to try seemed impossible and he finally let his hand drop back to his knee.
"Um. Help me? I have no idea what to try."
“All of it is not really a good answer, huh?” Hana dumped the bag out and lined up all the different candies, snacks, and drinks. She considered her choices with a frown of concentration that wrinkled her nose. Finally, she picked up a bag of Haitai Sweet Plum Candy and tore it open. “Here. These are one of my favorites.” She tipped a few of the candies onto Billy’s palm, then poured a few into her own.
Billy carefully unwrapped the hard, pink round from its clear plastic. It tried to skitter out of his palm in the process, but he managed to corral it and pop it into his mouth in one quick movement.
"Oh." He rolled it over his tongue in surprise. "It's sweet, but not as heavily as what they have in the cafeteria. It's very light."
“Right?” Hana popped one of the candies in her mouth with a smile and hummed happily around it. “I like American candy, but sometimes it’s too much, you know?”
"Um. Not really," he admitted. "But I'll accept your expertise.”
Hana felt like an idiot. Man, was her foot shoved way far into her mouth right now or what? “Oh, right. Sorry.” She gave a bright smile. “Well, that just means we’ll have to have an American candy taste-testing party some time too.”
"Please don't apologize," he said. "It's not your fault. I know I'm ignorant in ways other people around here aren't. I'm trying to catch up, but you don't need to feel bad that you're not used to it.”
Hana thought it was on her to be more conscientious, but she didn’t want to make Billy uncomfortable, so she offered him her hand. “I won’t feel bad if you promise not to hesitate when I fuck up. Deal?”
Billy shook her hand, offering a tentative smile. "I don't see you doing anything that bad. But OK. We have an agreement.”
“Awesome! Now!” Grinning, Hana grabbed the bag of strawberry Malang cow chews and shook it. “Candy number two! These come in plain milk too, but the strawberry is The Best.”
---------------
After a truly epic amount of candy had been consumed, the only logical thing was to work off some of it. Which meant introducing Billy to video games, of course!
It went somewhat less well than the intro to candy had.
Billy frowned at the screen as he managed to mis-time his third attack in a row, sending his little tower defender to a messy, pixelated death.
"I'm having a hard time concentrating," he admitted. "Nothing on the screen is real, and I think that's why it has a hard time keeping my attention. None of it matters, does it?”
“Nope! It’s just for fun!” Hana was watching Billy play with her chin in her hands. It was so cool getting to share this experience with him. It was like her own, personal Let’s Play! “We can play a different game if you want? Want to try a racing game? Or a fighting game?”
Billy's interest perked up a bit. "Fighting games? Is that anything like the Danger Room?”
Hana hopped up to pick a few options off the shelves. “Not in the virtual reality, you actually hitting stuff sense.” And, man, wasn’t the Danger Room just the coolest thing ever? “You’re controlling a character and fighting a character that someone else is controlling. There are one on one games, and team games.”
"But why pretend to be training up our fighting skills when we could actually be doing it?" There was no scorn attached to the question, no inference that the games were a waste of time, just a request for an explanation.
“Because it’s fun. It’s like...” Hana tried to think of an example. “Okay. It’s like how you hang out with Goodnight. You don’t do it because you have to, or because you get something out of it. You do it because you like it. It’s fun to be around him.”
"I enjoy being around Goodnight, but..." He faltered. "I apologize. 'Enjoy' is the wrong word. We need each other. Without Goodnight, I'd still be nothing. And he... I think they might have finished killing everything left inside of him." Billy set the control down carefully; his hands kept wanting to shake. "I think I'd lose myself all over again without him."
Wow, that was heavy. Hana had never felt like she depended on someone that much, not even her parents. She put a hand over Billy’s and gave him a smile. “There’s this English saying: A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I think you’re both stronger than you realize. To be that strong together, you’d have to be pretty strong on your own.”
"Mm." Billy didn't agree. He might be the weakest link in their two-person chain, but that didn't make him strong. Goody had been the one who reminded him how to be a person, even when all Billy had done was try to kill him. Goody had held himself together, even after their handlers had tried to take everything away from him. Billy had mostly ridden in his wake.
"Anyway," he murmured, "it's great to be around Goodnight. But it does matter. A lot. It's not just about... having fun.”
Man, Hana was batting a thousand. “Bad analogy, then,” she said with an apologetic twist of her mouth. “But the rest stands! Some stuff you do just because you like it. Video games can help with hand-eye coordination and critical thinking skills, but that’s not why I play.”
"Mm. OK." Billy offered her a faint little smile. "We can try a fighting game. There's no penalty for failing them, right?”
“Nope!” Hana said brightly. She navigated her way through the console’s menu, closing the game they had been playing and ejecting the disc. “Or we could do something else if you’d rather. A different kind of game, or a different thing entirely.”
"No, it's all right. We can't hurt anything for trying. And I suppose that's new enough to be an experience itself."
Goodnight had been adamant that Billy couldn't turn up on a girl's doorstep in school sweats and make a good impression. Billy didn't see why Hana being a girl would make a difference; Pam seemed to like him just fine, sweats or none. He suspected Goody was, at best, teasing him, and at worst, being full of shit again. But he'd taken the advice changed into his other outfit, the dark jeans and white t-shirt that were just a little big on him, and even tied his hair back.
Truth be told, he wasn't sure what he expected of this visit. Everything he'd ever been taught in the People's Republic said he and Hana would have more in difference than in common. But they'd said the same about people like Goody, and Goody was the best person Billy had met in his life. Plus they'd sent him away to that hospital. So their lessons were very much in doubt. Nothing to do by learn by moving forward, he supposed.
Plus, he was curious about the offer of candy.
Billy paused on the threshold of room 201 and knocked.
Hana opened the door and greeted Billy with a happy squeal. She had not dressed up for the occasion, wearing only a t-shirt with her bunny logo and a comfortable pair of black leggings. “Hi! I’m so glad you’re here!” she greeted warmly in Korean, extending a hand for Billy to shake. “It’s great to meet you in person.”
![bunny logo](“https://i.imgur.com/38bFFY0.png"){kind=link}
“It's nice to meet you too.” Billy smiled and clasped her hand eagerly. It even better to speak to her than to meet her. For as little as he'd used his own language the past year or so, the familiarity of it put him at ease in a way he could barely remember. “Have you been here for long?”
Hana stepped aside so Billy could come in. “I got here at the end of March. Everyone has been great. You’ll love it here.”
"Everyone's been helpful so far," Billy agreed. He stepped into the room, taking in the pink bedsheets, stuffed bunnies, and the gaming system mounted on the wall. “The staff all seem sincere about this place just being a school, if that's all we want of it. And Goody thinks it will be a good place to at least get his 'G.E.D'. So I think we're going to stay a while, unless something weird happens.”
Hana wondered where exactly Billy was from. His Korean was kinda stiff and antiquated. It sounded really pretty, though! “Weirder than teenagers with superpowers?” she joked as she closed the door. “Goody’s your roommate, right? I’m sorry you guys were being kept in that awful place.”
Billy laughed softly; Hana hadn't said anything untrue, but Goody being his roommate was the smallest of so many things he was to Billy that it struck him as funny.
"Yes, he's my roommate. I'm glad of that; it's great to have him around all the time now. He was the only good thing about the facility where they were holding us. This place?" He gestured at the room and the window. "It's completely different. It's like nothing I've seen before. We're still exploring it.”
Hana wanted to give Billy a hug. She’d heard about the Right from the other kids in the school, but she couldn’t imagine what Billy must have been through. “It is pretty incredible. Like something out of a comic book.” She plopped herself down on her bad, legs tucked up under her Lotus-style.
"I wouldn't know about that," Billy admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. After a moment, he settled cross-legged on the floor. Sharing the bed was a Goody thing; he wasn't sure he wanted to be that close to anyone else yet. "I'm still getting used to seeing sky. There's so much space! And I know it's ridiculous, but I feel like I'm going to fall up every time I step outside." His smile went a little sheepish. "So, yes. Lots to get used to.”
“How long were you there?” Hana asked. She hoped she was reading Billy right and that this was something he was okay with talking about. He seemed pretty open about it, but she didn’t want to overstep.
"I'm not sure,” he admitted. "The only way I had to tell time at the last place was by how often meals came. And no way at all in the hospitals. And I don't remember the last time I went outside before here.” In truth, he didn't actually remember ever going outside before Xavier's, but he had a concept of it, so he was sure he must have. "So... a long time, I guess.”
Hana just barely managed to not let her jaw drop. Thoughts a whirlwind of how awful that must have been, she gave him a smile instead because, if she were Billy, she wouldn’t want people gaping at her like she was some freak show. ”I guess you have a lot of time to make up for then.” She grabbed the bag of candy and drinks she’d had sitting ready and waiting in her bed and deposited herself on the floor across from Billy. ”And we’re going to start with candy.”
Billy blinked, dumbfounded at the sheer variety of shape and color Hana revealed as she opened the bag: there were wrappers in every hue he could think of, covered in photos of fruit, food, cartoon people and animals, or simply loud, eye-snaring script. Being able to read most of the packaging still gave him little idea as to the actual contents. Orion Gosomi? Haitai Bon Bon Drink? Nongshim Banana Kick? Malang Cow Chews? Peach Water Jelly? What was it all?
He started to reach for the bag, but making up his mind as to what to try seemed impossible and he finally let his hand drop back to his knee.
"Um. Help me? I have no idea what to try."
“All of it is not really a good answer, huh?” Hana dumped the bag out and lined up all the different candies, snacks, and drinks. She considered her choices with a frown of concentration that wrinkled her nose. Finally, she picked up a bag of Haitai Sweet Plum Candy and tore it open. “Here. These are one of my favorites.” She tipped a few of the candies onto Billy’s palm, then poured a few into her own.
Billy carefully unwrapped the hard, pink round from its clear plastic. It tried to skitter out of his palm in the process, but he managed to corral it and pop it into his mouth in one quick movement.
"Oh." He rolled it over his tongue in surprise. "It's sweet, but not as heavily as what they have in the cafeteria. It's very light."
“Right?” Hana popped one of the candies in her mouth with a smile and hummed happily around it. “I like American candy, but sometimes it’s too much, you know?”
"Um. Not really," he admitted. "But I'll accept your expertise.”
Hana felt like an idiot. Man, was her foot shoved way far into her mouth right now or what? “Oh, right. Sorry.” She gave a bright smile. “Well, that just means we’ll have to have an American candy taste-testing party some time too.”
"Please don't apologize," he said. "It's not your fault. I know I'm ignorant in ways other people around here aren't. I'm trying to catch up, but you don't need to feel bad that you're not used to it.”
Hana thought it was on her to be more conscientious, but she didn’t want to make Billy uncomfortable, so she offered him her hand. “I won’t feel bad if you promise not to hesitate when I fuck up. Deal?”
Billy shook her hand, offering a tentative smile. "I don't see you doing anything that bad. But OK. We have an agreement.”
“Awesome! Now!” Grinning, Hana grabbed the bag of strawberry Malang cow chews and shook it. “Candy number two! These come in plain milk too, but the strawberry is The Best.”
After a truly epic amount of candy had been consumed, the only logical thing was to work off some of it. Which meant introducing Billy to video games, of course!
It went somewhat less well than the intro to candy had.
Billy frowned at the screen as he managed to mis-time his third attack in a row, sending his little tower defender to a messy, pixelated death.
"I'm having a hard time concentrating," he admitted. "Nothing on the screen is real, and I think that's why it has a hard time keeping my attention. None of it matters, does it?”
“Nope! It’s just for fun!” Hana was watching Billy play with her chin in her hands. It was so cool getting to share this experience with him. It was like her own, personal Let’s Play! “We can play a different game if you want? Want to try a racing game? Or a fighting game?”
Billy's interest perked up a bit. "Fighting games? Is that anything like the Danger Room?”
Hana hopped up to pick a few options off the shelves. “Not in the virtual reality, you actually hitting stuff sense.” And, man, wasn’t the Danger Room just the coolest thing ever? “You’re controlling a character and fighting a character that someone else is controlling. There are one on one games, and team games.”
"But why pretend to be training up our fighting skills when we could actually be doing it?" There was no scorn attached to the question, no inference that the games were a waste of time, just a request for an explanation.
“Because it’s fun. It’s like...” Hana tried to think of an example. “Okay. It’s like how you hang out with Goodnight. You don’t do it because you have to, or because you get something out of it. You do it because you like it. It’s fun to be around him.”
"I enjoy being around Goodnight, but..." He faltered. "I apologize. 'Enjoy' is the wrong word. We need each other. Without Goodnight, I'd still be nothing. And he... I think they might have finished killing everything left inside of him." Billy set the control down carefully; his hands kept wanting to shake. "I think I'd lose myself all over again without him."
Wow, that was heavy. Hana had never felt like she depended on someone that much, not even her parents. She put a hand over Billy’s and gave him a smile. “There’s this English saying: A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I think you’re both stronger than you realize. To be that strong together, you’d have to be pretty strong on your own.”
"Mm." Billy didn't agree. He might be the weakest link in their two-person chain, but that didn't make him strong. Goody had been the one who reminded him how to be a person, even when all Billy had done was try to kill him. Goody had held himself together, even after their handlers had tried to take everything away from him. Billy had mostly ridden in his wake.
"Anyway," he murmured, "it's great to be around Goodnight. But it does matter. A lot. It's not just about... having fun.”
Man, Hana was batting a thousand. “Bad analogy, then,” she said with an apologetic twist of her mouth. “But the rest stands! Some stuff you do just because you like it. Video games can help with hand-eye coordination and critical thinking skills, but that’s not why I play.”
"Mm. OK." Billy offered her a faint little smile. "We can try a fighting game. There's no penalty for failing them, right?”
“Nope!” Hana said brightly. She navigated her way through the console’s menu, closing the game they had been playing and ejecting the disc. “Or we could do something else if you’d rather. A different kind of game, or a different thing entirely.”
"No, it's all right. We can't hurt anything for trying. And I suppose that's new enough to be an experience itself."
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