Not what you expect

From theatrical_muse: Write about a time you realised that someone close to you was not the person you thought you knew.

I bet you think I'm going to write about Avon. Well, I'm not. It upsets him, you know.

Nah, I think I'll tell you about Tarrant. I thought he was just an arrogant Alpha fly-boy with curls on the inside of his head as well as the outside and a predilection for selling crewmembers off to other curly-haired maniacs as if they were spare parts--until his brother got killed. He seemed all right, or at least his usual self when he came back with Avon, but later on, he came over to me and just said, "Thank you."

My mouth must've dropped open. "What for?"

"For giving a damn. I saw your face when Deeta died."

He started to walk away then, but he looked a bit, I dunno, lost, so I jumped up and grabbed his arm. "Look, you wouldn't want to talk about him, would you? Toast his memory? Get drunk?"

He just stared at me.

"Or not. All right, just forget--"

"I'd like that, Vila."

So we went to my cabin and I got out some of the bottles I'd been saving, and we did all of the stuff I'd suggested, but in reverse order come to think of it. I think he liked having someone to tell it all to.

He's not so bad, old Tarrant, when you get to know him. Mind you, he said the same about me.