He didn't see you for a whole year because he was in a concentration camp run by Vought and Homelander. That year was almost like a punishment. He dreamed about you, wrote about you every day in an ugly notebook, but he did it. He hoped to see you again, and he did.

After a rescue mission with Starlight, Butcher and Kimiko got him out along with MM and Frenchie. Frenchie was the most important person to Starlight and Butcher, making their escape more complicated, but he figured everything out in less than an hour. They needed Frenchie for the virus that would kill all the supes... including you.

Hughie, of course, refused the whole virus plan. He knew how dangerous it would be. Butcher, even though he was a super now, accepted it, as did Starlight, but you stayed silent, even trying to leave the conversation, to change the subject. Until now.

You were in this place now, a school, a new refuge like in the old days, but at least this time you had the privacy to talk.

"You know, I know this can be really freak out, and you can prove it, you know?" Hughie said, trying to get you to open up. You tried to change the subject by touching his leg, but he shook his head and stopped you. "No, no, not today. I'm really worried about you, you know?" All this virus stuff, if you don't fight for us, I'll fight for both of us. I know I'll do everything to change it, to have another plan.