Howard Bassem didn't understand heroes.
The people who would put their life on the line for the town, for the people, for little kids and useless older kids – Howard just didn't get it. He didn't get how people could throw away everything for someone else. How someone could override the desire to survive with the desire to look cool and have people like you, or whatever it was that heroes wanted.
He mentioned it to Edilio one day. They weren't close friends; Howard wouldn't even go to say that they were friends. They were just both on the council, both of them involved in the 'well-being' of the town. Edilio because, hell, he was Edilio, and Howard because, hell, he had to take care of Orc. But the two of them had been the first two at the meeting once. It had been weird, usually Astrid was there first. Or Albert. Howard had been itching to get out of the house and left early. He didn't know what Edilio's excuse was.
"Why do you do it?" he asked. He was smiling. Edilio glanced at him like he hadn't been expecting conversation. "The hero thing. The, protecting and serving the town thing."
Edilio blinked a few times. Howard waited a few seconds, and then kept talking.
"I mean, I guess you get paid for everything," he said. He tapped his fingers against the desk. "And it beats picking cabbages. You get to be close to our favorite surfer, though how you deal with Astrid spouting off all the time I don't know-"
"Astrid's fine," Edilio said, interrupting him. Howard blinked a few times.
"Wow, I didn't know you were capable of talking back," he said. "Congratulations. A few more months in this hellhole and we might have you jaywalking. Give it a year and you'll be one of my most valued customers."
Edilio shook his head. Howard leaned forward, egged on by Edilio's lack of telling him to shut up.
"The way I see it," Howard said, tapping his fingers on his legs. "You're doing all of these heroics. I've seen you run around with that gun, shooting stuff and being badass or whatever. And you're not even one of them."
Edilio leveled a stare at him and Howard leaned back. Edilio had hit a growth spurt, or something – he'd always been taller than Howard, everyone was taller than Howard, but lately he'd seemed a lot bigger. Which was ridiculous, given the food situation.
"I do my job," Edilio said. "If you want to call me a hero for that, go for it."
"But you don't have to," Howard said. "Why do you? I mean, you've got one of the most dangerous jobs in the FAYZ. I guess you don't have Drake in your basement, but I mean – you're the one who goes after him when he gets out, while I try and get Orc off of his ass to take care of him. You don't even have a power like they do."
"Neither do you."
"Yeah, but I'm not the one doing the heroics here," Howard said. "I'm surviving. You're going above and beyond, buddy."
"Someone has to," Edilio said shortly, turning away. That was when Astrid came in, that was when Howard gave her a cheeky remark that made the surfer coming in after her glare, and that was where the conversation ended.
…
The next time Howard Bassem ran into Edilio alone, he had a backpack full of booze.
He didn't know how Edilio would react to him with all of this, but he figured that he could always say it was for Orc. Which… wasn't completely untrue, he'd found a few cans of beer that he'd end up giving to Orc, but most of it was for his supplementary income. Minimum wage, man. Sucks.
"Hey, hero," Howard said, nodding to him. Edilio gave him a sort-of nod back, obviously confused. Howard grinned. He'd never get sick of this. Before the FAYZ, before all of this had happened and even a bit after it had all started, he never would've said a word to the kid, unless it was derogatory or something like that. But something told him to make good with him now, or at least as good as he could.
He didn't know if Orc could drink himself to death, but he seemed to be trying, and Howard wanted to have some sort of back-up plan.
The two of them stood there, a bit of awkwardness creeping into the situation. It was early, too early for most kids to be up, but Howard did his runs early, before Orc could question him and before the noise started from the basement. He wasn't surprised that Edilio was up early, either. He was surprised that Edilio was content with standing on the sidewalk opposite him when his backpack clinked whenever he shifted from foot-to-foot.
"Do you have a weapon?" Edilio asked. He was reaching for a blade at his waist. Howard did, in fact, have a weapon, for all the good it would do him - a foot-long blade in his backpack, nestled between bottles of vodka and brandy. Maybe if he was smarter he'd carry it, but he did have a pocketknife jammed in the back pocket of his jeans, and the only way he'd win a fight with anyone older than eight was if they didn't know a fight was happening.
"He's at home," Howard said, and Edilio hesitated, then handed over the blade. He was carrying a semi-automatic, too, but Howard didn't think he'd be handing that over. Howard turned the blade over in his hands. It was nice, he guessed. It could hurt someone.
"You should carry a weapon," Edilio said. "I mean, if someone wanted to hurt Orc, they could just go for you, couldn't they?"
Howard laughed at this, a real, surprised laugh. "Man, you think that'll hurt Orc?" he asked. "We've got a… what do you call it, a symbiotic relationship? I get him beer, I sew his clothes, and his presence makes it so I don't get the shit beaten out of me. I bet someone else would step up. It's getting harder to find this stuff, though."
He hesitated.
"Maybe I should leave a recipe for the shit I brew. Or – am working on. And don't give me that look, like what I'm doing is illegal. You're illegal."
Edilio winced a little, but less than he would have if it had been a few months before. That button wasn't working so well anymore. He'd have to find a new one.
Howard shifted, and the bottles clinked in his backpack. "That doesn't sound like beer," Edilio said.
"Beer comes in glass bottles, too," Howard said. He didn't like to get those for Orc, though. He'd get glass everywhere – and, sure, Orc'd be fine, but the glass would get caught in his body and then the next time he gave Howard a 'friendly pat on the back' he'd get stabbed. Edilio's eyes narrowed a fraction and he spun Howard around, unzipping the backpack. "No laws against this, man!"
"Last I checked, Orc doesn't drink vodka," Edilio said. Howard sighed.
"Look, man-"
"Are you selling this?"
He'd noticed the tiny little JIF peanut butter packet at the bottom of the backpack. Great.
"I saw a kid with this yesterday," Edilio said, speaking slowly. "He was so happy to have it. Either you stole it, or-"
"Or what?" Howard said. He shrugged the backpack off of his shoulders and grabbed the vodka and the peanut butter away from Edilio. "It's called supplementary income, idiot."
"I know," Edilio said. He looked troubled, for some reason. "Are you – are we not paying you guys enough?"
"Hell no," Howard said. "We're getting paid for watching over that weird hybrid. But, thing is, you're paying Orc. And you know how much Orc eats? I don't know if he needs to eat. He's made of rock. But if he can get drunk, he probably needs it. So I sell alcohol to little kids."
He swallowed. He wasn't going to mention the other stuff he sold. A one-man black market, that was Howard Bassem.
…
Respect wasn't something that came easily to Howard Bassem. Especially not nowadays, when everyone who would have normally earned respect – parents, some adults, people like that – were gone. But if there was one person who did have his respect, it was Edilio Escobar.
His throat was raw, his eyes stung, and now that he'd stopped bawling he was feeling horrible about it. All of the others were gone, it was just him and Edilio, sitting side-by-side with their knees pulled up and shivers coming over both of them. Edilio had taken his arm off of Howard's shoulders.
They were both quiet. Howard had the idea that Edilio didn't know what to say to him, or how to say it. That was fine. A lot of people had their own idea of what they wanted to say to him, and most of the time he didn't want to hear it.
"You're alright," Howard said, finally. Edilio looked at him. Howard couldn't quite meet his eyes, so he just wrapped his arms around his knees and rocked back a little. "I don't really respect anyone in this damn place. But you? You're alright. You know. For a hero."
Guess who's re-reading the Gone series?
Seriously though, Howdilio is basically my favorite. And even though this is kind of ambiguous, it's just - c'mon. I love them. I love them a lot. Even though I still can't write Edilio.