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Tillman and Hewitt didn't really know each other in their time playing blaseball. They didn't really interact unless they had to during games, but even then they only played games against each other for four seasons in total during Tillman's career on the Thieves. The Mints had never played the Crabs before ascension and of course he owed Hewitt $50 and was known for just all around being the fucking worst- and why would Tillman know someone who's basically a nobody on a team that "sucks ass on a good day?"
So they didn't talk. When Tillman went to the hall, Hewitt didn't really think too hard on it. I mean yeah, sure the guy sucked, but he couldn't help but feel bad about him getting dragged back. It had to be pretty awful to get brought back to life knowing your days are numbered but never knowing when (or if, he had to remember that this was the first time that someone had been returned. that had to feel like shit, to be the first when someone else has been permitted to stay for nearly 20 years now) they were going to end, to be given that second chance yet to know that you're on even thinner ice than you had been in your first life. Though, he didn't feel too bad. He was still some rich kid who thought he was entitled to whatever he fucking wanted and let his rich mom pay for shit and he never felt the consequences of any of his own actions. Yeah, he didn’t feel that bad.
Hewitt Best all but forgets about Tillman Henderson and the $50 he owed him from all those years ago. He's nothing more than a name said in hushed tones when the tragedies of blaseball are brought up, or something for people to get a good laugh out of. He wasn't well liked, and Hewitt didn't care about him.
Hew spends the next four seasons (and all the siestas in between) learning how to be a better captain. He becomes a fan favorite, something he had no idea how to even begin to sort out his feelings about, and he’s better than he’s ever been at Blaseball. He gets attacked by consumers which is never pretty, he gets put on the idol board for the first time, too, and he hates it. He hates the game, he loves his team.
He dies on the 70th day of Season 18.
Being in the hall isn’t what he expected. It’s not quiet, no, but it isn’t loud either. There’s something about it that just feels so overwhelming about it that he’s almost paralyzed with the weight of it. Of all the people who had died before him, sitting in front of him now and taking in the sight of him. People who have been here for decades. Who have slowly seen more and more people come into the hall and never get out. He keeps his distance for those first few days, still hoping the mints can pull it through this year but not having much hope, and he only talks to Whit and Eddie, old friends who knows how he feels. Who want to know about their families and who they left behind. Who know how to comfort him exactly.
Hew gets acclimated to the hall and makes quite a few friends. People he knew, briefly, in life, people he’d never met before at all, too. It helped to get to know who you were spending the rest of eternity with.
Hooking up was an accident, something that was never supposed to happen and only came out of the two of them arguing (about “something stupid” Tillman will say. “about whether or not communism is just a fucking meme” Hewitt will counter) and getting a bit too carried away. It was never meant to be anything more than that, a one time thing. But Hewitt didn’t expect Tillman to latch onto him like a duckling, not even interested in actually dating him or anything just having his own special brand of existential crisis on being the “type” of gay person who sleeps with men casually. He didn’t think he “did” that. Hewitt is too nice to not talk to him after everything, not that he could shake Tillman annoying the hell out of him at every waking moment of he tried, and they formed a begrudging friendship.
They’re not close, at first. It’s still mostly just Tillman bugging him and asking him random stupid questions, usually about whatever stupid thing he’s doing at the moment but sprinkled in with even more questions about what it “means” to be gay.
“Haven’t you already had this conversation with someone? Didn’t you date a couple of guys last time you were alive?” Hewitt asks him with genuine curiosity, though he has to fight the boredom and impatience creeping into his voice. Tillman tells him that he did, but he blew it again because he couldn’t fix himself in time. Or maybe he just ran out of time too fast. Or maybe he just didn’t realize he needed to change soon enough. He almost cries that day, and Hewitt feels bad. Strangely enough, it’s not pity, like he felt the day he was returned, but the real genuine human emotion of sadness and sympathy for Tillman fucking Henderson. He realizes that he just hadn’t had the change to experience the real world, and he hadn’t had anyone tell him he was wrong before in any way that mattered. That he was one of the first people (save for the few friends he seemed to talk to in the hall now) who had actually talked to him like a person and not “that one asshole” or whoever they imagined him to be.
So they become friends. Then they become better friends when Pudge leaves the hall. Then they become close friends when the monitor starts to get uneasy with the increased pressure from management, making the hall an even more miserable place to live in than it already was.
They’re just friends. Good ones, though they’ll never admit it and still insist that they hate the other. Hewitt still thinks he’s a rich asshole with mommy issues and unresolved trauma, and Tillman still thinks Hew needs to loosen up a bit and learn to relax for once in his life.
The hall still celebrates season winners, they have to celebrate the few good things in life death that they still have. On the day the Breath Mints win their first championship, there’s a tremendous celebration in the hall– the only Breath Mints still there are Whit, Eddie, and Hewitt after all. It’s the best party the Hall has had in ages, and Hew hasn’t felt this good since before getting attacked by consumers. He pulls aside from the party to take a breather alone, and Tillman is there, too, avoiding everyone. He asks him why he’s alone, expecting him to complain about the noise or say some stupid thing about how he’s too “cool” for parties, but he’s quiet. He looks away, and tells him it’s because he didn’t feel welcomed there. And that he didn’t want to ruin his big day by being there. Hewitt is a bit stunned by the admission, but he pushes through and tells him that he couldn’t singlehandedly ruin his night– nothing could ruin that night. Tillman brings up the fact that he’s an ass, and he doesn’t even like him anyways. He’s a cringe loser. Hewitt tells him he’s his close friend, and he knows that, and Tillman tries to push back and keeps telling him that well so what if he doesn’t care the other people do.
And that’s when Hewitt kisses him.
It’s nothing special, it’s not even their first kiss– that happened years ago and was something they both made an effort not to think or talk about- but it feels like it is. Tillman just stands there, and just as he’s about to get his bearings and start kissing back Hew pulls away and apologizes. Says that was uncalled for and he doesn’t even know where that came from. They go back and forth about it for awhile, but they find out that somehow- against all odds- they fell for each other and fell hard. That it was fun, being together, and they could have even more fun BEING together. That they don’t really know what to do with the feelings, but that it might be worth figuring out between the two of them. It’s an understanding that they’re going to get through it together.
They start dating, and when the mentions of the Rising Stars and the Semi-Centennial start happening there is a worry there. Talks of events and new teams is never good in Blaseball, they’ve both come to learn. The Shelled Ones Pods, for one. Hewitt has a particular rough go of it, knowing that he’s nothing more than a puppet of a capitalist figurehead who wants to use him and his labor– his life, even- for a spectacle. Tillman tells him that he’ll be right there the whole time, and Hewitt knows he’s right, but there’s something there. Something in the back of his head screaming at him what’s missing?
It isn’t until the day of the Semi-Centennial when he finally figures it out. He curses himself for not seeing this coming– the vault, the weather, the insidious tone, the fucking consequences of the Ego and the actions that the fans never seem to consider. He should’ve known they were going to get vaulted. That it wouldn’t be so EASY as a possible free ticket out of there.
When Tillman gets st– collected by the Vault Legends, it takes everything in him not to scream. Fuck. He wasn’t in love with him, he didn’t even like the guy, they were just dating and it was uncomplicated and he cared about him and he liked him and FUCK. They GOT him. They were supposed to get out of this hellhole together.
It wasn’t supposed to mean anything.
They were just supposed to have fun.
He doesn’t want to lose him just yet. Not like this.
They were going to figure this out together.
He reaches out his hand.
And he falls hard.