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[weboftime]

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[weboftime]

He stares away from her, watching his spiders in their terrarium. "I took him over fully in the future. Dragged him through his own nightmares, time and time again. His worst memories on repeat while I controlled his body. At first, I simply wanted that back, but - then I liked being in his head. I told you that it was like a web - each of you are strings in it. When one of them snaps or breaks, I can feel it."

[wishiwasatree]

And why Billy enjoyed that, or continued to allow Henry in his head, is absolutely beyond her.

Well. That isn't completely true. It's a lot like her and Swearengen. He'd hurt her over and over again, but still she'd come crawling back to him.

Sometimes it was nice not to have to think for yourself.

"You liked what about it exactly?"

[weboftime]

"It makes me feel - " He pauses, trying to put it into words that make sense. "Grounded? Being alone in my head for so long when I knew that I could do more, that I should do more, was hard."

[wishiwasatree]

"Did he..." She screws up her face as she tries to put her concerns into words. "Did he talk to you in some way? Keep you company?"

[weboftime]

"I would talk to him sometimes," he admits. "When he would allow it. He talked back most of the time."

[wishiwasatree]

“So,” she mutters, rubbing her head a little with her free hand. “You weren’t alone when you had him. Not a friend, but — probably fairly fucking close for someone such as yourself.”

[weboftime]

"I suppose. If you'd like to call it that."

He keeps his eyes on the spiders. "Now it's only you and Dorian."

[wishiwasatree]

Not a friend, but not an enemy either. Just someone to call his own.

She sits on the edge of Henry's bed.

"You're lonely."

[weboftime]

"I'm not," he insists firmly. "I don't need company. I've done fine on my own."

[wishiwasatree]

"So you've fucking said. Don't change that you want company sometimes, even if you don't know what to fucking do with it."

[weboftime]

"That doesn't make me lonely," he mutters, sitting heavily on his bed.

[wishiwasatree]

"Don't make you alright either."

She glances at him, worrying her lower lip a little.

"Fine, so you're not lonely." She doesn't believe it. "But you miss him all the same."

[weboftime]

"I - " He stops, giving that spray bottle a quick glance. "Miss having that string."

[wishiwasatree]

Fine. Fine, she'll take that. It's probably all that he's going to give her now.

"Did you...want some fucking company then?"

[weboftime]

"No," he says automatically, defensively.

[wishiwasatree]

Maybe...maybe she has to tone down the casual swearing. She frowns quietly and tries moving closer to him -- not too close though.

"You sure? I wouldn't mind spending some time with you."

[weboftime]

That softer side of her is odd, but enough to get his attention. He frowns. "I'm not kicking you out."

[wishiwasatree]

"We don't have to talk or nothing," she continues, still soft. "Maybe just watch a movie together, or we can watch your spiders for a while."

[weboftime]

"Alright."

He sets up his tablet to Frankenstein and lets it play, opening the top of the terrariums and allowing his spiders to wander.

[wishiwasatree]

She's less freaked out by the spiders than she's been in the past, although she still eyes them warily when they start to climb near the bed where she's settled. After a while though her attention falls away from the spiders completely and onto the film.

She really is just happy to keep him company.