revivalproject | Buffets and Birthdays

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Buffets and Birthdays

WHO: Tommy Shepherd, Billy Hargrove, Otherwise Open
WHERE: Various Buffets, Station Hydroponics, various in closed starter
WHAT: Tommy eating his fill (and yours), Growing Things because of course, and showing Hargrove a good time (no they aren't dating what are you talking about)
WHEN: Throughout March, March 29th in closed
WARNINGS: None

I. Eating Your Fill

The advantage of places like this was that Tommy could always get as much as he wanted to eat without having to rely in protein paste to fill things out. And, well... There was always buffets. And man wasn't Tommy enjoying them now, getting himself steadily onto 'must pay double' or 'do not serve' lists. Which was fine with him.

One day might find him in an all you can eat salad bar, piling on all the alien vegetables and making notes on his comm device about what things he might want to get seeds or seedlings for. Another is a place specializing in a wealth of soups, where he's again taking notes (this time on flavor combinations for cooking). Or, if you're really lucky, you'll find him on a day where he's got three different mounds of noodle dishes in front of him, happily chomping his way through them while just sitting back and watching the alien species around him.

No matter which buffet you find him at, one thing is sure. The staff is giving Tommy a disapproving look of some variety or other, he's got a stack of dirty plates near him, and he's at his table alone. Maybe go up and talk to him. He'd be happy for a companion.

II. Growing Pains

Of course to keep himself fed and to stock up the greenhouses of the ships requires something important: some form of trading capital. And where else was Tommy going to find it than through the work he'd been throwing himself at for years? Sure, he could work as an extreme speed courier on a lot of planets they have ended up on, but the space station clearly doesn't need that. With the various types of transportation it's clear that he'd not be the best price per pound for transport, and it wouldn't learn him as much. Which is probably why anyone coming to take up Station Operations on the offer to do some work in hydroponics in exchange for seeds and cuttings will find Tommy there, at most hours of the day.

Today he's humming softly to himself as he goes through and carefully clips small handfuls of greens from some salad vegetable, meant for someone's dinner, or perhaps to prune things back for better growth. But he still smiles in seeing another He Row and waves them over.

"Hey, you here to be my new assistant? They said that there was someone new coming in to work today. I'm happy for a familiar face."

III. It's Not A Date, It's A Birthdatey | Closed to Billy Hargrove

Sometimes the best thing you can do for a bro is to make sure they have a good day. No, more than that. A great birthday. And it's something Tommy had started planning the moment they set foot on the station. Sure, he was fitting it all around his work, but he was meticulously planning something out.

And now here Tommy was, showing up at the hammock where he's more than once seen Billy sleeping near he water on the ship.

"Hey, Sunshine," he says, smiling as he nudges the hammock. "Get on your damn feet. We're going on an adventure."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I know, it's weiiird right? I mean- I guess we've fought together and stuff, but I always felt like a kid then. This feels different. He's pretty cool. Less uh...grumpy maybe than our Cap?"

There's that shy look again, but Billy flashes an easy smile. "...It's going really well. I think we're good for each other? You're still...okay with us not living together any more, right? You're doing good?"

"Our Cap has seen more," Tommy points out. He was out of the ice sooner. That much is clear.

As for living alone, Tommy does what he always does when he's alone. Puts on a brave face. Just smiles and nods.

"Less effort to get to work, no one bitching if it isn't flawlessly clean."

"Seems like," he agrees.

"Yeah?" Billy tries for a hopeful probing look. He feels guilty in a lot of ways. But they're both adults. Both sometimes exploring their own love lives...

"I didn't bitch," he adds with a laugh, "I...nagged. Lovingly."

"Does anyone ever nag out of love?" Tommy rolls his eyes.

HE doesn't sleep nearly as long as he did when he knew Billy would fuss over him. The space is more personal, it's more him, it's likely to be a home. But Tommy never does well alone. Hard to feel like he's not trapped if no one can see him.

"You can totally nag out of love. Mom did it all the time." You don't nag someone you don't love.

"Maybe you and Mr. Sunshine could be roomies. You know...if you're missing having someone around to nag at you."

Mary nagged Frank. Failure of use of the word 'don't'.

"Mister Sunshine is repairing the cabin Vizh and Katara made," Tommy says, and his voice sounds a little tight there. His best friend living in the home built by the closest thing to a father he ever had, brief as it was, and one of the better friends. "He's happy by the ocean."

Billy has a bit of a blind spot when it comes to a bad home life.

"And maybe he'd like a hand?" he pushes lightly, shrugging a shoulder. "Maybe you'd like the ocean too."

Yeah, well Billy's the one that the universe liked and found important enough to make sure that he had a good family. Of course he forgets about bad shit.

"Ocean isn't bad when there isn't the risk of storms sending me plunging into it when I'm on it," Tommy says. "And the guy deserves his peace. And I'm not cramping his style. Eventually some chick is going to show up, he's going to remember he's the second most handsome man on the planet, and he's going to want that privacy."

Because even Tommy can admit that Stark is stupidly hot.

"Maybe, but...I mean- have you asked? Maybe he doesn't like being alone either?" Cause, yeah- he can see past your grins Tommy. You need someone around.

And here Billy assumes Tommy means himself. Stark is very hot. But very firmly situated in the father figure category for Billy now.

"No, he's pretty clear about preferring that much. I mean, he left the hotel to get away from the people he know."

And he can live with being alone. He's done it most of his life. He's used to it, so why pressure for change?

"Pretty sure he'd be uncomfortable sharing the space with me anyway. He's from the 80s, Bee-Bee. The most closeted of times. Let's not get confused here."

"Yeah, but not to get away from you," Billy counters. Not that he knows much about the situation really.

"Thought you were just friends, what does the closeted-ness of the 80s have to do with you living together?" Is it 'cause you're not just friends?

Really? Tommy rolls his eyes.

"Seriously man, what's this bee in your bonnet about me and Billy? Your romance with Soldier going so slow you have to invent things in my life?"

But come on man, of course the 80s matter.

"He knows I'm bi. That can't be comfortable for a straight guy from a tightknit time period who was clearly raised in a very fucking 'ist' and 'phobic' household to live with someone who is open and unashamed of himself. I like our friendship, I like helping him. And I'm not going to make him feel awkward in a space that is clearly meant for one being expected to change in front of me or something."

Hey. That's not fair. Billy's head ducks, and his expression is briefly tense, needing a breath to let it go.

"It's going fine actually."

And-

"Didn't figure you'd keep spending all this time with someone who was going to act on those 'ist' and 'phobic' tendencies. If he hurt you or said shit you would've put him in his place by now, right? You don't have to live with the guy, I just...I worry about you. And straight people and not straight people have managed a whole lot of friendships over the years. Even in the 80s."

Tommy sighs and shakes his head. Why are you doing this, Billy? Tommy is almost tired from it.

"I think he can move beyond a bad dad, yes. But that doesn't mean I need to make him uncomfortable. Small steps, okay? And living with people is a whole form of intimacy. Especially given I live with a super power slash disability. I want a friendship, not things falling apart because he can't handle my socks on the floor. And he's still body conscious."

Cause he cares about you. And you obviously like this guy AND he might like you back. AND-...Billy feels fucking guilty about moving out and being...happy.

"Fine- I wasn't.... it was just a thought. You know whatever's happening better than I do."

No. Hargrove wouldn't like him back. Which is okay. And Tommy clearly doesn't like him. Because when he likes people, they leave. And if Hargrove leaves he dies. So no, Tommy doesn't like him.

"B?" Tommy runs his fingers through his hair. "Man, I love you, you know that, right? And I appreciate the support. I do. I just feel like you think there is more going on than there is."

He does though...

But Billy nods. "...I'll back off," he promises, "Just...glad you have a friend."

He does though. Which is not something he's figured out yet. Teasing him on how far he's going for his best friend (a new term for them) is one thing. Making him face the discomfort that comes with abandonment issues related to him caring about people... Probably not a safe space just yet.

"Me too. Though, fuck... He sorta put together the multiple parents thing. I may have to properly explain the whole retroreincarnation thing soon. Sonic's brain broke when I did and he's at least used to weird as shit."

Fuck, wasn't that going to be a thing when Billy finally asked about it for real.

"It's not thaaat complicated." It is. "We tell it often enough, I've got the story pretty much nailed by now," he teases lightly.

"Sonic clearly got a headache, and I used visual aids. And I didn't even get into your divinity," Tommy points out. "And his world has these weird magic chaos gem things."

Billy's entire brush with the supernatural left Billy basically dead, so he definitely wasn't prepared with Earth-616 causality and fate and magic BS.

"Explaining it to people not from home is harder."

Billy makes a face at the mention of the whole...god thing. Yeah that's...complicated.

Wait- "Visual aids?" he prompts with an amused look, head tilting curiously.

"Torn up bits of paper to make a timeline," he says with a shrug.

Sonic's a speedster like Tommy. Sometimes visual aids are useful in those cases.

"I just... I don't want him to see me as something scary and unknowable. You're the one that is special. The universe has made that pretty clear. I'm just a guy that goes fast."

Oh. That. Billy's brows twist sympathetically, though he looks uncomfortable with Tommy's insistence.

"You're not scary Tommy. Lots of us have weird...origins." Soldier's got his whole traumatizing past. And his time with Drift Fleet. The twins have the mess that is where they came from and what they are... "It doesn't have to define you. And I'm just a guy too," he reminds. For now.

Not what they are. What Billy is.

Important.

Billy the heir of so much power and purpose. Tommy the plus one.

"You're not just a guy to me, little bro. I've seen things you're capable of, even if you don't know it yet. You're amazing. Reality bends to you, like it does to Mom. Only more. I'm just a guy that goes fast and has scars and trauma and so much bullshit. And that's baggage a dude with PTSD so bad that even the sound of fireworks sends him into a panic spiral doesn't need to deal with.

It's scary still to think about. Pressure that Billy's not near ready for, and more guilt over the disparity in the hands that life has dealt Tommy & Billy.

"It's all I wanna be." Which is ironic. If they could just switch places...

"...the fireworks are hard on Soldier too," Billy offers, not sure where exactly he's going with that at first. "...I think sometimes people who have been hurt can see how other people are suffering easier than people who haven't. You're so much more than just a guy who goes fast, but even if that was true...you help people. And you're allowed to have your own baggage."

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