Butterflies Volume II

Chapter 24

At an empty gas station, Billy waited for Hughie to leave the toilet. There was a lot of thinking done in the time it took to drive there, and so close to New York Billy had to act quickly. He checked over his shoulder and when he found no one to be around, Hughie unlocked the door.

He halted as he saw Billy blocking his exit, "hey uh..." He lifted the key to the toilet.

"You really are the spitting image of my little brother."

He really was, and if he grew to be an adult Billy would have wanted him to turn out like Hughie. He could see it all before him, Lenny joining him on his adventures. That was Hughie. No matter how he treated him, Billy saw him as a younger brother. Right from the very start. And as that image became more potent, the more Billy wanted to look away as he thought of Lenny's words. He would get Hughie killed if he continued letting him follow him. It was leading him on a tight rope only Billy could balance on, and watching as he fell into the depths. It was useless using reason, because Hughie had set his own mind.

"What?"

Billy punched him, square in the face, knocking him out cold as he fell to the floor. The image brought back his younger brother, and although it pained him, he knew he was doing a good thing for once. Moving Hughie's legs inside the toilet room, he shut the door and walked out.

But then he thought about every move he made for the next several minutes as he drove on back to New York. He thought about how he knew Hughie would be mad he hit him. He thought how mad Violet would be when he next saw her. He thought about the clarity he would feel when it was all over. The sky was blue as he gripped the wheel, mulling over the last couple weeks since bringing the boys back together. Billy's brain was so full of thoughts at the moment, and he looked into the front mirror at Soldier Boy as he began to wake up. Though what he wanted to see was Violet, like many moons ago when she stared out the window with her hair lightly lapping in the wind. Instead he was faced with one of his biggest mistakes.

Soldier Boy groaned as he sat up, "where's the cum guzzler?"

Billy was quick to reply to ignore his comment, "you were spot-on about him. There I was, filling up the motor, I turn around, the little git had done a runner."

"We needed him to get near Noir."

"Ah, don't you worry about that, guv," Billy replied, "I got it all worked out."

Soldier Boy gave him a look but hardly cared about it now being a duo. He wouldn't question. In a way he was too set in his own ways to even question the idea that Billy could be lying. All it took was to speak in his words for him to believe you. Billy held a narrow gaze with him as he went back to sleep consoled by the idea he was in control.  If only he never opened the tank, because they had Violet, they didn't need him. He was a fly hanging onto their windscreen, tagging on for the ride but so unwanted. His own mission never mattered to Billy, and so his feelings of regret settled in with all the others that were so haunting. Though Soldier Boy can let loose on Homelander any way he wanted, it didn't matter if he would die to do it. Billy would let that happen.

✧✧✧

Hughie had called a couple hours later. Annie had to pick him up, as those two needed a moment to talk. Violet liked to have thought the reason he was coming back was because Billy made the right decision, or at least a partially good one. Hughie only would have called if he no longer was with Billy, so the obvious was there. So that had to have meant Billy told him, or at least removed him from any contact with Temp V. Violet sat on M.M.'s sofa, and contemplated. If Hughie was no longer in contact with it, did that mean Billy was too?

The hard side was she doubted that, because once he set his mind it was hard to sway him. She could be optimistic, though that didn't often work for her in the past. Holding her phone in her hand she thought of calling again, but then M.M. would give her a look and she would turn it off. Sat beside her Lola was deciphering the tension in the air, her head dashing between them all as they silenced in the living room. It wouldn't be long until she had to leave and go back to her safe world, so Violet held her hand just to keep present. M.M. had hinted that she should be with Lola, that she was better for her. By holding her hand, Violet grew herself convinced by the idea, that her little crush on her best friend could be worth it.