They were in Siberia, on a job for the BPRD. Just the two of them and two standard agents, dropped off at a small village in the middle of the snow. They were lead to a manor where there was a haunting going on, though one they had never seen before. The owner of the manor greeted the agents with them, pointed out what rooms they may use, and wished them good luck. He and his very rich wife were not staying the night.
Manny and Blake moved about setting up cameras and machines here and there, while Hellboy and Bill got to take a personal tour of the manor. No one said he couldn't smoke in the house, so lighting up a cigar he nodded to Billy to follow and started out of the control center Manny was setting up. It was the old Ball Room.
Leaving the ballroom and going into a large hall he blew a puff of smoke and huffed. "I can't believe Dad sent us to this place. It's like some kind of wealthy favor being asked of us. Check out the ghost, he says. It'll be easy, he says. Ha, they could have sent any old monkey to do this."
It was fucking cold and Billy already wanted this mission over and done with so he and Hellboy could get back to the warmth. He'd been quiet most of the trip over and during the introductions, feeling out with his mind as much as he could, trying to get a sense of what they were deal with.
Mostly, the whole place felt cold and there was an obvious disturbance.
His focus is brought back to the now when Hellboy speaks and he follows him into the hallway, hands shoved into his pockets and leaving the bare minimum space between them, leeching HB's body heat. "You know, he sends us out here because you react like this every time he does."
"Well aint you perceptive." He said with a snort, taking a long drag off his cigar and letting the smoke curl into the cold hall way. He lifted his lighter arm and looped it around the other's shoulders, leaning in a moment to hiss, speaking on a hushed tone. "Hate to break it to ya, but if I reacted nicer he'd still send us to shit locations like this. Better get used to it, bud."
It was partly true. HB got asked to go on jobs by rich people and to keep funding coming in he ended up going out. And who ever he worked with best at the time got dragged along with him. That... would be Billy right now.
"Yeah. Perception is kinda my thing, jackass." That arm offers far more warmth than the cold air of the building and Billy leans into it, snorting at the confirmation that they'd still be on the shitty missions. "Yeah, well next time can the shitty location be somewhere too hot? S'fucking' cold."
He's about to offer up more snark when he feels it. They're passing another room and the temperature seems to drop even further and the chill that runs down his spine reminds him of the Upside Down.
"There's something here." Stopping, Billy places his hand on the door and frowns. "HB, I don't like this."
This is why he likes Billy. He's a jerk just like Hellboy was. Or at least he was willing to sass back to him unlike others. "Careful what you wish for, or we'll end up in Hell." He snorted, taking a step further and feeling the other stop short.
He paused as well, frowning now as Billy got one of his feelings. HB didn't always get the cold right away, which was a problem with Ghosts and things like ghosts. For him he ran hot blooded, so it took a minute for him to feel it. Billy on the other hand was a magnet for shit like this.
He watched the other touch the door, and squared up to look at it as well. "I'm not too fond of the situation either, but hey, might as well check it out. Can't be another ball room. Maybe a lounge?" He said offhandedly, moving to reach for the door handle, pushing it open, the door swinging inside. "After me."
"Cold reminds me of Him." Which reminded him of all the people he'd killed, the kids he'd tried to hand over. The lack of control he'd had, the fear and the anger. He likes it cold. Yeah, Billy would take Hell over this any day.
Billy shakes his head, unable to make out anything more than the cold that seems to leech into his bones, causing him to ache all the way through. "Whatever it is... it's angry."
"I know, kid." He said softly, and yet again mentally cursed his father for this assignment. If he was really going to send them to a shit rich funded assignment, at least leave the one who has problems with the cold out of it.
"Yeah well, it aint seen me angry." He said on a huff, pushing his way inside. His breath showed on the air now, and it felt like a wind gusted through the hall from the room. A game room. Pool table in the middle of the floor. Darts on one wall. A table for cards, the works. "Well, it's kind of a lounge. Hoidy-toidy kind of ritzy shit." He said and shuddered as another gust blew at him. The drapes bellowed like a window was open.
Billy visibly shudders as soon as the door is open and for a brief moment the world is dark and cold and covered in slimy vines that threaten to engulf him before he's back in the mansion again, a familiar red giant standing before him.
"Yeah, but at least it can see you." So far, they couldn't see it but it was definitely there. Goose flesh forms all over Billy's body and he sticks close to Hellboy, follows him in despite every instinct telling him to run.
"Yup, will do." He feels something unpleasant and unconsciously reaches out to grab Hellboy's coat. "HB, it's here. It's right here."
Even HB shuddered a moment, but for a completely different reason. He didn't know what it was like for Billy to feel these things, didn't know how deep it could go, but he did know he respected the guy for working with them even with shit powers like his.
"Yeah, now to see it as well... where are ya, ya little blighter..." He said, searching until he felt Billy grab his coat. He stopped short of the pool table, turning to look around. He saw nothing.
"Alright. It's here, but wher--" DOINK! A pool ball, the number 8, bounced off one of Hellboy's horns and launched off to the side. Another flew at Billy. "Son of a--"
Billy feels himself struggle to differentiate between where they are and where he's been, the cold messing with his mind so he misses what Hellboy says.
He doesn't miss the pool ball bouncing off his head though and he throws a hand up just in time to freeze the second one in midair, inches from his head. "Told you it was angry." The ball drops with Billy's hand, black veins receding from where they've spread out around his eyes.
"Yeah yeah, you told me so. --Ow, ow! Stop it!" he growled as two more balls flew to hit him in the head, just in time to see Billy stop one of them himself. "I HATE ghosts." He groused, holding his stone arm up to block more incoming attacks for both of them.
"It's more like a poltergeist, and that means we've got trouble." He hissed, as a pool stick came up out of no where to whack him in the back of the back. At the same time, Billy would feel something wrap tightly around his middle and yank, pulling him clear across the room and into a wall, then up it a few feet, like it was trying to drag him through the wall and unable to do so!
"Billy!" HB yelled, chasing after him after he picked himself up off the floor from the strike.
Billy's about to ask what the difference between a ghost and a poltergeist is when he feels something strong wrap tight around his middle and rip him off his feet. The sensation reminds him of when that girl had thrown him into a wall and tried to crush him with a set of weights.
Except this time there's nothing to fight, nothing to push back against and Billy feels fear.
"Hellboy!" With a yell, Billy pushes back against the invisible pressure, eyes turning black and veins returning to mark the skin of his arms and around his eyes. Suddenly, the pull is gone and he drops as quickly as he'd risen.
He's running across the room as fast as he can, hitting the coms at last. "Poltergeist! We've got a poltergeist!" to Manny and Blake. Who were clearly in the wrong part of the damn manor setting up equipment.
He hit the wall as Billy called his name, and tried to grab him, only to see him start to fall. Arms out he caught the other, trying to cradle him a bit in the catch so the stone arm didn't end up hurting him in the fall.
"I got cha, I got cha. We're no good like this." He said, not sitting Billy down as he started to back towards the door. "Going to need some relics."
There's blood dripping from Billy's nose by the time Hellboy catches him and the psychic doesn't try to fight the hold the demon has on him as he leads them out of the room. As soon as they're back in the hallway. Billy uses his mind to pull the door closed behind them and immediately sags into Hellboy's arms.
He backed out the door and as the door slammed shut for a moment he had to wonder if it was the ghost or Billy who closed it. Seeing the eyes and lines though, he knew it was Billy. The nose bleed too.
He held onto him a moment longer, moving away from the cold and the door, then carefully sat the other on his feet, though he kept him close, making sure he was stable.
"Mischievous spirit. Generally angry. Most likely very old, as they haven't crossed over. This one feels powerful too." He tugged the other to follow with him, wanting to get back to the command center. "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us. You alright?" Fuck, that scared him, watching the guy pinned to a wall like that. They were going to have to grab relics and traps.
As soon as his feet are on the floor again, Billy wipes his nose on his sleeve, stepping back into Hellboy's space to leech his body heat and try to regain some sense of warmth. He feels shaken and he isn't sure if it's the borderline flash back or the whole being-pinned-to-a-wall-by-a-ghost thing; it's unpleasant regardless and he needs to get his bearings back if he's going to be of any use to the mission.
"Oh, great. What fun." He nods slowly. "Yeah, I've had worse. It's the cold... It's suffocating."
HB's staying there near him, letting him get his footing once again. His flesh hand reaches up to brush back some hair from the others face, tipping his head a bit to take a look. He hates the nose bleeds. It means he's using his powers hard. Or so he feels. He frowns at the other and raises a brow as if asking 'are you alright?
They're a ways away from the door and the cold isn't as bad here, but he knows Billy doesn't DO cold well. Even with the thick BPRD Jacket he's wearing, he looks chilled. And he doesn't blame him. The ghost would be cold enough as it was.
"Come on, there was a fire place in the ball room. We'll plop you down in front of that for a bit until Blake and Manny get the equipment set up. I can check out the game room again on my own."
"I don't want you going against that thing alone." He knows Hellboy can handle himself; has seen it with his own two eyes. And he's well aware that the demon is significantly older than he sometimes seems and he's obviously handled himself well enough to survive that long. But Billy cares about him and he isn't about to lose someone else he cares about because he's weak. Again.
"I just need a minute. I'll be okay to go back in now that I know what to expect."
"Alright, alright. Don't gotta twist my arm, kid." He reached his hand out and ruffled the others hair a bit, giving him a small smile. "But I do want that fireplace, myself, so... let's head back. We need relics and I know there is a case in there that has some."
"That'll give you time to rest and warm up." As he said that, the doors in this hall way all started to rattle and shake, beating a tune in a horrible way. He noded his head to go, pulling Billy along with him.
"Stop calling me kid. Makes you sound old." He smacks Hellboy's hand away but follows him back towards the ballroom easily, shoving at his arm despite how little it does. "Relics. You keep saying that and it makes you sound old too." Doesn't matter that that's what they were.
Billy shivers at the dramatic change to the hallway and almost trips over his own feet when he's dragged away, mind slipping into memories for the briefest of moments before he catches up with what's happening. "Seriously, all that's missing from this place are monster vines."
There was a boyish smile at that, wagging his pushed away hand like he was slapped or something, even if it didn't hurt. "Ow, a spit fire." He said with that grin, pushing lightly at the others head. "And I am old." He was found in 57 after all, and now it's the 80's. He's old, but still a teenager in a way. He aged differently.
"Relics. That's what they're called. I brought a few different kinds, for protection." He said, and ushered them into the ballroom, because forget standing in that hall all that time. He closed the door and could see Manny and Blake had come back for more things. But neither were there. A fire was going but it was small. HB moved past Billy towards it, to toss a log on and stoke it a bit.
"No vines. No monsters. Just a very angry ghost. Poltergeists are spirits that have been left too long with out being checked. That no doubt died in a bad way. Easiest way to disspell them is to salt and burn their bones. But we gotta know who it is first."
"Yeah, no shit, grandpa. And yet somehow you still act 13." It gets a smile out of him and he supposes that's better than the terror that kept trying to creep up into the back of his mind and push him back into the dark.
"I know that's what they're called. Doesn't mean it doesn't make you sound like some old ass librarian or some shit. Treasure hunter." Billy hustles over to the fire as well, dragging an arm chair over with a thought and he drops into it while Hellboy stokes the flames to get some real heat going. "Shoulda made you bring a second coat. Trade out once it got warm, Space Heater."
He shivers again. "The... place I went. There were vines and creepy plants distorting the world. It's what the cold reminds me of. I just... I keep seeing them, out the corner of my eye." Billy scrubs a hand over his face. "Fuck, I'm a mess."
"I totally act my age." He said as if his age was 19. He stoked the fire and peeked over to the other as he hauled a chair over. "Watch your mouth. It sure sounds like a polite way of calling me my father." He said, but then smiled faintly.
Drawing back from the fire, he pulled his coat off, twisting it around and dropping it gracelessly over the others head, covering his entire body. It smelled of gun oil, cigar smoke and spice. It was warm too. "I don't need one. It's going to get goop on it anyhow from our ghost friend, I bet. There's always goop."
As the other talks about That Place he shivers, moving over to grab a trunk and wheeling it over near the fire. He plopped down on the floor by the chair, opened the doors to the trunk and started to rummage. "I might have something in here that could help. Maybe. If anything, it wont be grabbing you like that again."
He paused, looked up at the other, then reached a hand out to rest on the others covered knee. "I'll keep you from being a total mess."
"What? Twelve?" Billy laughs and it gets louder when Hellboy accuses him of calling him his father. "Hey, if the shoe fits."
There's a soft 'oof' when HB's coat drops over his head, but he gratefully pulls it down and tucks himself into it without even feigning being indignant. The warmth is immediate and it smells so strongly of the demon there's no way to mistake this place for There.
"When it had me, there was this girl it wanted me to k--" He takes a deep breath. "It tried to make me hurt her. Fuck she was strong. She threw me through a solid brick wall like I dart through a piece of paper. That's what it felt like." Billy doesn't talk about That Time often, but when he does, it's always with a soft, shame filled voice and a ton of guilt.
Billy watches that hand and nods slowly before meeting the demon's eyes. "I know, HB. And after this, we go somewhere warm, yeah?"
"Wow.... Wooow. Thanks. I'll remember that." He said but there was no real heat to it.
He didn't mind the other burrowing into the coat like it was his new home. He actually peeked over at him once in a while and had to hold back a smile about it. He instead pawed through jars and bags, things on chains and leather ropes and what not. Trinkets relly. A trunk full of them.
He paused though as the other spoke. He knew little of That Place or That Time. They were still learning more on that as Billy opened up. Not pushing him too much beyond the first barrage of questions the poor guy got (and HB remembers barging into the interogation room and putting a stop to it in a huff. The poor guy had enough once he had recovered enough to talk).
He reached a hand up to touch at the others cheek a moment, trying to get his attention to focus on him. "You got me now. I'm not going to let anyone throw you through a wall if I can help it. I can't promise, as you just got tossed INTO a wall? But I sure as hell wont let it stand. And I'm not letting this little ghost mess around either."
He said, then held up a jar that had a blue tint to it, and inside it seemed dusty, but there was some animal tooth in it, with some dried flowers. The whole thing was barely an inch. It was on a leather rope. "For you."
"You sure old man?" And wasn't that just contradictory to his previous statement?
Billy watches him rummage with only the slightest bit of focus, losing himself to the memories of the cold and dark, of the lack of control that had left him broken and lost. Hellboy treating him like a person had played the largest part in him getting some semblance of normalcy back. Well, as normal as things could be now that he had crazy powers and was working with a demon fighting monsters. Whatever.
Leaning into that warm hand, Billy offers a small smile. "I know. I trust you." He takes the jaw carefully. "What is it?"
"I'm the one who's sure here. Are you sure?" He shot back lightly.
Hellboy knew what it was like to be treated like a monster. He'd grown up under the microscope, from not only his father but others too. Though his father did treat him more like a son then anything else. A co worker second. A very close second.
He leaned a hand back on the floor, looking up to the other. "It's a tooth in a jaw. Not sure what animal it's from anymore, but it's got runes on it inside. It's a Malnair's Jar of Protection. Some pagan saint. Put it on and keep it close. It's meant to ward off ghosts and the likes."
Putting the necklace over his head, Billy tucks it into his shirt before reaching out to shove a hand through Hellboy’s hair, scratching at his scalp gently. “What would I do without you, HB?” To be fair, they were a team. They always had each other’s back and there was a something that hummed along underneath that went unacknowledged more often than not. “What about you? Got anything in there to protect yourself from it?”
They're both dressed down in shorts and sprawled out over the large bed that belongs to large red man that Billy finds himself sprawled over, chin resting on his own hand on Hellboy's stomach. The fingers of his spare hand trail over the lines of chest, taking in each dip and divot, tangling in the hairs there and pulling gently just to see what the half-demon does.
His own scars are on full display, jagged red, pink and white marks, all healed but still in various stages of the scarring process, determined by how deep the Mindflayer had torn into him in what should have been his last moments.
He hums at the trace of fingers, huffs at the tug at the hair there but doesn't push him off. Not like it's all that uncomfortable, really. His tail twitches restlessly against the mattress, but the rest of him's calm enough as he traces along the skin under his own hand in turn.
"Demon blood comes with some perks? At least yours has character."
Billy presses a soft kiss against Hellboy's chest before continuing on in his assessment of the half-demon's skin. He's not without his scars but, unlike Billy's own, HB's are more internal, leaving only the worst of his experiences marring his skin as a reminder of what he endured.
"My favourite perk is how fucking warm you are." He sprawls across him, pressing as much of his face and bare chest against him as he can, absorbing that warmth like a leech. "Yeah? I guess they're pretty badass."
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Manny and Blake moved about setting up cameras and machines here and there, while Hellboy and Bill got to take a personal tour of the manor. No one said he couldn't smoke in the house, so lighting up a cigar he nodded to Billy to follow and started out of the control center Manny was setting up. It was the old Ball Room.
Leaving the ballroom and going into a large hall he blew a puff of smoke and huffed. "I can't believe Dad sent us to this place. It's like some kind of wealthy favor being asked of us. Check out the ghost, he says. It'll be easy, he says. Ha, they could have sent any old monkey to do this."
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Mostly, the whole place felt cold and there was an obvious disturbance.
His focus is brought back to the now when Hellboy speaks and he follows him into the hallway, hands shoved into his pockets and leaving the bare minimum space between them, leeching HB's body heat. "You know, he sends us out here because you react like this every time he does."
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It was partly true. HB got asked to go on jobs by rich people and to keep funding coming in he ended up going out. And who ever he worked with best at the time got dragged along with him. That... would be Billy right now.
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He's about to offer up more snark when he feels it. They're passing another room and the temperature seems to drop even further and the chill that runs down his spine reminds him of the Upside Down.
"There's something here." Stopping, Billy places his hand on the door and frowns. "HB, I don't like this."
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He paused as well, frowning now as Billy got one of his feelings. HB didn't always get the cold right away, which was a problem with Ghosts and things like ghosts. For him he ran hot blooded, so it took a minute for him to feel it. Billy on the other hand was a magnet for shit like this.
He watched the other touch the door, and squared up to look at it as well. "I'm not too fond of the situation either, but hey, might as well check it out. Can't be another ball room. Maybe a lounge?" He said offhandedly, moving to reach for the door handle, pushing it open, the door swinging inside. "After me."
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Billy shakes his head, unable to make out anything more than the cold that seems to leech into his bones, causing him to ache all the way through. "Whatever it is... it's angry."
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"Yeah well, it aint seen me angry." He said on a huff, pushing his way inside. His breath showed on the air now, and it felt like a wind gusted through the hall from the room. A game room. Pool table in the middle of the floor. Darts on one wall. A table for cards, the works. "Well, it's kind of a lounge. Hoidy-toidy kind of ritzy shit." He said and shuddered as another gust blew at him. The drapes bellowed like a window was open.
"Nope. Don't like this. Stay behind me."
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"Yeah, but at least it can see you." So far, they couldn't see it but it was definitely there. Goose flesh forms all over Billy's body and he sticks close to Hellboy, follows him in despite every instinct telling him to run.
"Yup, will do." He feels something unpleasant and unconsciously reaches out to grab Hellboy's coat. "HB, it's here. It's right here."
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"Yeah, now to see it as well... where are ya, ya little blighter..." He said, searching until he felt Billy grab his coat. He stopped short of the pool table, turning to look around. He saw nothing.
"Alright. It's here, but wher--" DOINK! A pool ball, the number 8, bounced off one of Hellboy's horns and launched off to the side. Another flew at Billy. "Son of a--"
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He doesn't miss the pool ball bouncing off his head though and he throws a hand up just in time to freeze the second one in midair, inches from his head. "Told you it was angry." The ball drops with Billy's hand, black veins receding from where they've spread out around his eyes.
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"It's more like a poltergeist, and that means we've got trouble." He hissed, as a pool stick came up out of no where to whack him in the back of the back. At the same time, Billy would feel something wrap tightly around his middle and yank, pulling him clear across the room and into a wall, then up it a few feet, like it was trying to drag him through the wall and unable to do so!
"Billy!" HB yelled, chasing after him after he picked himself up off the floor from the strike.
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Except this time there's nothing to fight, nothing to push back against and Billy feels fear.
"Hellboy!" With a yell, Billy pushes back against the invisible pressure, eyes turning black and veins returning to mark the skin of his arms and around his eyes. Suddenly, the pull is gone and he drops as quickly as he'd risen.
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He hit the wall as Billy called his name, and tried to grab him, only to see him start to fall. Arms out he caught the other, trying to cradle him a bit in the catch so the stone arm didn't end up hurting him in the fall.
"I got cha, I got cha. We're no good like this." He said, not sitting Billy down as he started to back towards the door. "Going to need some relics."
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"Okay... What the fuck is a poltergeist?"
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He held onto him a moment longer, moving away from the cold and the door, then carefully sat the other on his feet, though he kept him close, making sure he was stable.
"Mischievous spirit. Generally angry. Most likely very old, as they haven't crossed over. This one feels powerful too." He tugged the other to follow with him, wanting to get back to the command center. "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us. You alright?" Fuck, that scared him, watching the guy pinned to a wall like that. They were going to have to grab relics and traps.
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"Oh, great. What fun." He nods slowly. "Yeah, I've had worse. It's the cold... It's suffocating."
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They're a ways away from the door and the cold isn't as bad here, but he knows Billy doesn't DO cold well. Even with the thick BPRD Jacket he's wearing, he looks chilled. And he doesn't blame him. The ghost would be cold enough as it was.
"Come on, there was a fire place in the ball room. We'll plop you down in front of that for a bit until Blake and Manny get the equipment set up. I can check out the game room again on my own."
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"I just need a minute. I'll be okay to go back in now that I know what to expect."
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"That'll give you time to rest and warm up." As he said that, the doors in this hall way all started to rattle and shake, beating a tune in a horrible way. He noded his head to go, pulling Billy along with him.
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Billy shivers at the dramatic change to the hallway and almost trips over his own feet when he's dragged away, mind slipping into memories for the briefest of moments before he catches up with what's happening. "Seriously, all that's missing from this place are monster vines."
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"Relics. That's what they're called. I brought a few different kinds, for protection." He said, and ushered them into the ballroom, because forget standing in that hall all that time. He closed the door and could see Manny and Blake had come back for more things. But neither were there. A fire was going but it was small. HB moved past Billy towards it, to toss a log on and stoke it a bit.
"No vines. No monsters. Just a very angry ghost. Poltergeists are spirits that have been left too long with out being checked. That no doubt died in a bad way. Easiest way to disspell them is to salt and burn their bones. But we gotta know who it is first."
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"I know that's what they're called. Doesn't mean it doesn't make you sound like some old ass librarian or some shit. Treasure hunter." Billy hustles over to the fire as well, dragging an arm chair over with a thought and he drops into it while Hellboy stokes the flames to get some real heat going. "Shoulda made you bring a second coat. Trade out once it got warm, Space Heater."
He shivers again. "The... place I went. There were vines and creepy plants distorting the world. It's what the cold reminds me of. I just... I keep seeing them, out the corner of my eye." Billy scrubs a hand over his face. "Fuck, I'm a mess."
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Drawing back from the fire, he pulled his coat off, twisting it around and dropping it gracelessly over the others head, covering his entire body. It smelled of gun oil, cigar smoke and spice. It was warm too. "I don't need one. It's going to get goop on it anyhow from our ghost friend, I bet. There's always goop."
As the other talks about That Place he shivers, moving over to grab a trunk and wheeling it over near the fire. He plopped down on the floor by the chair, opened the doors to the trunk and started to rummage. "I might have something in here that could help. Maybe. If anything, it wont be grabbing you like that again."
He paused, looked up at the other, then reached a hand out to rest on the others covered knee. "I'll keep you from being a total mess."
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There's a soft 'oof' when HB's coat drops over his head, but he gratefully pulls it down and tucks himself into it without even feigning being indignant. The warmth is immediate and it smells so strongly of the demon there's no way to mistake this place for There.
"When it had me, there was this girl it wanted me to k--" He takes a deep breath. "It tried to make me hurt her. Fuck she was strong. She threw me through a solid brick wall like I dart through a piece of paper. That's what it felt like." Billy doesn't talk about That Time often, but when he does, it's always with a soft, shame filled voice and a ton of guilt.
Billy watches that hand and nods slowly before meeting the demon's eyes. "I know, HB. And after this, we go somewhere warm, yeah?"
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He didn't mind the other burrowing into the coat like it was his new home. He actually peeked over at him once in a while and had to hold back a smile about it. He instead pawed through jars and bags, things on chains and leather ropes and what not. Trinkets relly. A trunk full of them.
He paused though as the other spoke. He knew little of That Place or That Time. They were still learning more on that as Billy opened up. Not pushing him too much beyond the first barrage of questions the poor guy got (and HB remembers barging into the interogation room and putting a stop to it in a huff. The poor guy had enough once he had recovered enough to talk).
He reached a hand up to touch at the others cheek a moment, trying to get his attention to focus on him. "You got me now. I'm not going to let anyone throw you through a wall if I can help it. I can't promise, as you just got tossed INTO a wall? But I sure as hell wont let it stand. And I'm not letting this little ghost mess around either."
He said, then held up a jar that had a blue tint to it, and inside it seemed dusty, but there was some animal tooth in it, with some dried flowers. The whole thing was barely an inch. It was on a leather rope. "For you."
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Billy watches him rummage with only the slightest bit of focus, losing himself to the memories of the cold and dark, of the lack of control that had left him broken and lost. Hellboy treating him like a person had played the largest part in him getting some semblance of normalcy back. Well, as normal as things could be now that he had crazy powers and was working with a demon fighting monsters. Whatever.
Leaning into that warm hand, Billy offers a small smile. "I know. I trust you." He takes the jaw carefully. "What is it?"
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Hellboy knew what it was like to be treated like a monster. He'd grown up under the microscope, from not only his father but others too. Though his father did treat him more like a son then anything else. A co worker second. A very close second.
He leaned a hand back on the floor, looking up to the other. "It's a tooth in a jaw. Not sure what animal it's from anymore, but it's got runes on it inside. It's a Malnair's Jar of Protection. Some pagan saint. Put it on and keep it close. It's meant to ward off ghosts and the likes."
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Putting the necklace over his head, Billy tucks it into his shirt before reaching out to shove a hand through Hellboy’s hair, scratching at his scalp gently. “What would I do without you, HB?” To be fair, they were a team. They always had each other’s back and there was a something that hummed along underneath that went unacknowledged more often than not. “What about you? Got anything in there to protect yourself from it?”
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They're both dressed down in shorts and sprawled out over the large bed that belongs to large red man that Billy finds himself sprawled over, chin resting on his own hand on Hellboy's stomach. The fingers of his spare hand trail over the lines of chest, taking in each dip and divot, tangling in the hairs there and pulling gently just to see what the half-demon does.
His own scars are on full display, jagged red, pink and white marks, all healed but still in various stages of the scarring process, determined by how deep the Mindflayer had torn into him in what should have been his last moments.
"How is your skin so perfectly clear?"
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"Demon blood comes with some perks? At least yours has character."
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"My favourite perk is how fucking warm you are." He sprawls across him, pressing as much of his face and bare chest against him as he can, absorbing that warmth like a leech. "Yeah? I guess they're pretty badass."