[All the anger that Teddy was feeling - not to Billy, but to the situation, to months of seeing him struggle to correct himself, to the force that possessed Billy in the first place - all that anger ends up draining out of him as Billy goes through the process of shouting the word, taking it back in horror, and withdrawing. Hearing him speak, say things that sound so familiar, and just... watching his back.]
Billy...
[He really is scared. It's not just a punishment, or just making things hard on himself - he's genuinely terrified of the word. After all this time... Teddy had hoped that Billy could help himself, heal himself, get to say the word. But he's not, and he'd been afraid of it all this time...
Slowly, Teddy closes the distance between them and reaches out to first lay his hand on Billy's shoulder blade, then slides both that and his other arm around to hold him around the waist, lips brushing against his hair until he can reach his ear. After seeing him withdraw like that, he knows he needs to address something first before going back to the topic at hand.]
[action, february 1st]
Billy...
[He really is scared. It's not just a punishment, or just making things hard on himself - he's genuinely terrified of the word. After all this time... Teddy had hoped that Billy could help himself, heal himself, get to say the word. But he's not, and he'd been afraid of it all this time...
Slowly, Teddy closes the distance between them and reaches out to first lay his hand on Billy's shoulder blade, then slides both that and his other arm around to hold him around the waist, lips brushing against his hair until he can reach his ear. After seeing him withdraw like that, he knows he needs to address something first before going back to the topic at hand.]
It's okay, it's okay... Nothing's happening. I'm fine, everything's fine... It's okay.