Operation: Child Endangerment

Bet you never thought I’d update this one….

Part III

Billy doesn’t sleep until his official watch is over. He’s just too wired, all his senses in overdrive, and he can’t get his mind to calm down enough to even close his eyes. He sits on top of the elevator until Robin clambers up to tell him that it’s his turn, and then he follows her back through the hatch and over the haphazardly stacked boxes to a bare spot on the floor for his watch.

Everyone else is asleep. Erica is sprawled out on the floor with Robin’s handkerchief across her face, and Billy feels his chest clenching just a little when he looks at her. She looks so relaxed, so open, like she’s got nothing to fear - and suddenly he just wantsthat for her, wants her to keep that headstrong confidence that she only has because she’s never had to be afraid. He watches her chest rising and falling for a few minutes, matching his own breaths to hers. It helps him to feel calm.Dustin is snoring quietly in a corner, and Steve is sitting up against the wall with his head tipped back and his mouth open. After their strange, delightful conversation - and it wasdelightful, as much as it’s embarrassing to admit it - he’d stayed up on top of the elevator with Billy for another quarter of an hour or so. They hadn’t spoken much, but it had felt like the beginnings of a truce between them. He gave Billy a crooked smile when he finally got up to climb through the hatch to try and get some sleep.

Read the rest on AO3.