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[ there's a pretty long stretch of time before marcus figures out how to stumble his way through a reply. he's already started to overthink what billy asked him - maybe billy was fishing for something marcus didn't give - but it feels like they've moved on too long for him to backtrack. besides, marcus has his reasons for being tightlipped. billy doesn't need to know about them. ]

okay. good.
i wasn't worried about that.
not because - you know, you're somewhere else, or whatever, but -
dude, you were the first friend i ever had. you taught me how to survive in king's. we've always been outsiders together.

[ dot dot dot. ]

if there's one person in this world who has my back no matter what, it's gotta be you.
that's all.

[ equally, billy also takes some time to reply, mostly because he's working on getting his shit together to take to geralt's apartment sometime within the next few hours - he doesn't have much to his name by any means, but he may or may not be trying to figure out what he can take out of the dorms without getting fined or cited for it - but also because he just. wants to make sure he says what he means, the way he wants to say it. ]

dude, that's not even a question
we're ride or die as far as i'm concerned

[ ... ]

you've done more for me than i could ever repay
i owe you my life, man
but even if i didn't, nothing would be any different
i'd still have your back
nothing's gonna change that

cool. same.

[ marcus is touched by billy's loyalty, which makes the fact that he's already hiding shit from him feel all the worse. how does he approach what he wants to say next without fessing up to being in a contract with someone actively buying him an apartment? let's try to thread the needle. ]

i guess i should tell you that i'm actually going to be moving out of the dorms, too.
i found a place to stay. pretty shabby, but, you know. i've squatted worse places.
i can send you an address when i'm all set up.

Edited 2021-05-17 04:29 (UTC)

oh, cool
it's better than the dorms though, right?
running water, locks on the doors
a bathroom you don't have to share with like 7 other people?

just don't get your ass caught squatting
don't be the reason i gotta start flipping burgers or some shit just to bail you out of jail

yeah. king-size bed. that's what i'm looking forward to the most.
you'd like the place, actually.
pretty big garage space, big empty wall. lots of room for tagging, if you wanna paint the place up with me.
no pressure, obviously. don't want to keep you from your high society sugar daddy for long.
are you going to move on from your fuck-the-man insurrectionist lifestyle now that you're part of the upper class?
oh, man. wait.
are you gonna grow out your hair?
what color is it under there, anyway? i always pictured you as a blond.

i go and do something to secure some real food and more than 45 seconds of hot water for both of us and you're giving me shit for it
unbelievable
don't be mad you didn't figure out how to milk the shitty system without actually having to give anything up for it
the man can still get fucked
the only difference is i'm gonna fuck up some free cheeseburgers while i watch

it's brown, by the way

can i come over tonight?

[ he said he'd give billy his space, and billy said he could come over whenever, but marcus, still bizarrely, overly polite at times for a boy who was pretty much raised by wolves, just has to doublecheck. the thought of food is making him pretty impatient. he wants a fucking cheeseburger. ]

you'd look pretty good with your hair grown out. i mean, i was just making fun of you, but the more i think about it...
if you're with some viking monster hunter guy, we could totally sync up your aesthetic.
keep the mohawk, make it a mullet.
grow out a beard. thread some beads into it.
warpaint dicks over your eyelids so the monsters see how they're gonna be fucked before you kill 'em.
could be fun. more metalhead than skatepunk, maybe, but.
you're hot enough to pull it off.

yeah, sure

[ like billy's gonna say no to marcus wanting to hang out. half the reason it took him so long to agree to moving in with geralt after signing with him was because he didn't want to be too far away from marcus. negotiating being able to have his best friend over whenever billy wants was the one thing that finally pushed him over into signing. ]

have you looked at my face?
i couldn't grow a beard if i wanted to, dude
cursed to be baby faced for life
my hair the way it is now is probably the only thing that keeps me from looking like i'm 12
besides, it's cooler
temperature-wise i mean
and i don't have to do shit to it besides slap some gel in it and go
why ruin a good thing if it's already hot

[ according to marcus, anyway.

billy pauses here, like that's all he has to say about any of that, but the little typing indicator bounces around for a minute, disappears, reappears again. ]

anyway
i'm just in it for the free shit and the bigger bed
not really down to kill any more monsters yet

[ rest in shit, gene. ]

you aren't baby-faced.
i mean, you're cute, don't get me wrong, but you definitely look like your age. scrappy teenage punk. total ladykiller. gentlemankiller. whatever.
i bet you could grow a beard if you wanted to.

[ marcus is the king of undercutting himself, and he's already been laying it on pretty thick, so he spares himself the embarrassment of looking too desperate by going on and on about just how fuckable billy is. he... also knows literally nothing about haircare, so. can't really engage with the gel thing. marcus still doesn't know if he's using enough shampoo or conditioner. ]

fair enough.
this place must be pretty nice, all things considered.
you never wanted to learn what they taught us at king's.
maybe now you can forget you were ever there. fresh start, what have you.

it has it's benefits, don't get me wrong
but there are some things i miss about king's, i guess
i don't know about starting over, though
what am i supposed to do, exactly
gene might be dead, but my mom and my brother still live in a shithole with no money coming in
i can't stay here
and if i go back, the mob's just gonna pick my ass up just like they always planned to
there's no such thing as forgetting king's, marcus
it's a nice dream, though

right. you're right.
sorry. that was insensitive.

[ marcus feels-- stupid, and the innate need to impress billy and make sure that he likes him flares up the same way it did when he swore to kill gene, swore that he was the one who did it. his stomach twists and he doesn't really know what to say to come out on top again. ]

listen, this goes without saying, but when we get back home, i'll do what i can to take care of your family.
i'll take on the mob, figure out a way to get lin to help if i have to
maybe saya or maria have the right connections to cancel your dad's debts
if they don't i'll find someone who does
there's bound to be some rich kid at king's willing to pull a few strings for me

don't worry about it
getting someone else to pull strings will just replace one debt with another
between the yakuza and the vatos, the mob might not be so bad
i'll figure it out when we get back
but until then
we got another ramp to build before the old man can change his mind

[ ... ]

oh hey
do you still have

[ he pauses here for a second, wondering how bad of an idea it would be to ask marcus directly if he has a knife billy specifically gave him to... take care of someone, back when marcus was being blackmailed and they both thought it was some kind of test from lin. ]

sorry
do you still have that butterfly

"don't worry about it", he says...
billy, i was a rat long before i came to king's. i slept in cardboard boxes, wore piss-soaked shoes and ate roadkill. on the lucky days.
if i can take on your dad's debt for you, i will.
you were the first person who gave my life a little worth. kind of owe it to you to get you out of this.
we don't have to talk about it right now, but i'll get you out of this.

[ there's a long pause before marcus follows up on billy's question. he doesn't answer, just - dances around it. ]

why are you asking
do you want it back

[ whatever marcus thinks he's going to do about billy's shitty life ahead, billy just simply isn't going to let him do it. marcus has already lived through a lifetime of bullshit - the last thing billy wants is for billy to have to shoulder more of his own bullshit than he already has. he killed gene - billy couldn't ask for anything more than that.

but he's not going to argue about this right now, not when he knows they'll just talk in circles about it, so he lets it go. ]

at some point, yeah
i don't need it right now though
just asking because i'm getting my shit together to take to the new place and i can't find it
wasn't sure if you still had it and i just forgot, or if it's still here somewhere and i just can't remember where the hell i stashed it

i still have it.

[ it's not that he can't get billy his knife back, exactly, but marcus is a little too paranoid to unearth it if he really doesn't need to. he will, eventually, but marcus is just going to procure billy an upgrade, first; he makes a note to get on that the second they're done talking, maybe claim it as a housewarming present, and hope that billy doesn't ask for his original back. he'll see how it plays out. ]

i'm gonna head out. shower, change, then come over.
i'll see you in a couple of hours?

yeah man, whenever
it's 26A, by the way
actually hold on

[ ... ]

yeah, A

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