Firehouse Oasis 118

27. Hen

Hen and Chimney had a relationship that went beyond simple best friends, she knew that, Chim knew that, and so did everyone else. She'd even venture to call them partners or maybe twin flames. Something about the way they'd met so randomly and then it was just assumed they'd stick together after that, even though that wouldn't have been the case with anyone else. Something about the way they'd just clicked the second they'd laid eyes on each other and hadn't stopped since. Something about all of that told her that even if the events of this shit show universe hadn't happened, she still would've found Chim somehow.

All of that was not to say that she didn't have other friends, for starters she had the rest of the 118. Though she'd definitely say that she was the closest of friends with Athena, which she loved. Athena was awesome, she was kickass and matter of fact. They spent a lot of time together too, having girls only days where they tried to figure out the girly things from their childhood that they could barely remember. From there they figured out which parts of it they liked and which they didn't.

It was nice, having someone to do it with, especially someone else who felt like that traditional idea of femininity was such a foreign concept at this point. Someone who wouldn't judge if she decided she did or didn't like something. It was nice just getting to know each other too, chatting for hours while they painted their nails or figured out how to do their hair.

All that to say, Hen noticed exactly how much her friend changed with the arrival of May.

To clarify, it was a good change. Athena became a lot more human, a lot younger, when she brought back May. Which was ironic, that she seemingly became closer to her age now that she had a young child to look after. Hen understood it though, there's nothing like suddenly becoming a guardian to remind you of exactly how young you actually are.

Still though, the biggest change was that Athena wasn't as startlingly independent anymore. She let others help, even asked for it at times.

Like when they'd first brought May back, Athena had clearly been protective of the younger girl even at the beginning, but she'd still allowed Hen and Chim to patch May up. Even if she stood over them, watching everything they did like a hawk. Hen didn't bother being offended by the hovering, she understood.

She'd even actively sought out Hen's help to untangle May's hair. It had clearly been a while since she'd been allowed to do anything for it, and it was wildly unkempt, even matted in some places. They'd done their best, and it'd taken hours, two whole bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and three combs before they finally managed to get it to a somewhat healthy level of washed and detangled.

May had hugged them both once they were done, motioning a thank you and then pointed to her hair, making a scissor motion with her fingers and shaking her head. It'd been clear that she was glad that they hadn't needed to cut her hair. Hen didn't really understand it since she'd never minded cutting all her own hair off, but if it made the girl happy to keep it then Hen was happy to have helped.

She also hadn't seen Athena take a hug from anyone as well as she took a hug from May. Hen also understood that, she'd seen it early with a slightly feral Chim during his early interactions with Denny, and she'd seen it with Buck and Chris and even a bit with Bobby and Buck. Kids sort of softened you, let you be comforted by comforting them. She was glad Athena was finally having that for herself too.

It wasn't only Athena that changed either, they'd all changed to adapt to May, same as they did for any new member. The most notable change having been adding ASL to their school curriculum. Unfortunately they only had the textbook for ASL year one in their library collection, but it was better than nothing. Hen figured they'd look out for more while on any future supply runs and if they didn't find any then they'd just have to start making up signs. It'd be fine as long as they could all communicate with each other.