He'd like closer. Of course he would. It's only been three weeks since that day in the schoolhouse, and of course they'd broken some of those rules the other night, after Wanda disappeared and they spent half the night together drinking and talking, him and Tommy and Nida, but...it wasn't the same. He missed holding Nida's hand, and having an arm around him, and being able to offer that easy comfort that made his pulse race at the same time it made him feel safe and comfortable. He misses it, but it isn't fair, and as much as Nida wants to support him, he remembers those words in the schoolhouse. He doesn't want to confuse Nida. But...he can offer comfort without confusing, right? There has to be a middle ground, even if he doesn't want a middle ground at all.

"Yeah, I mean, everyone deals with things that hurt like that differently. I hermit in my room and basically turn into a useless depressed lump, Tommy runs. We all kind of find our own way to deal with it, and it's not always healthy. I definitely wasn't." And Nida...Nida became the SeeD, the soldier to process. Billy gets it. He does.

Maybe better than Nida, even, and those words Nida says have all thoughts of middle ground flying right out of his head as he instinctively slides his arm over Nida's shoulders, turning to pull him into a hug. "Nida, you have every right to be upset," he says. "They're your parents. It doesn't matter whether it's ancient history or it happened yesterday, or if you remembered everything. It is right, and it's totally normal, and you feeling what you feel doesn't take anything away from what Seifer or Jason or anyone else feels. I'm sorry you had to remember like that."