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

Well damn, that was a question. And while he adds a few other things to order, he mostly lets Billy take the lead.

"You're not wrong. I just try and keep it tamped down around you. Respect and all that."

Billy orders a lot of food, mostly to recoup from surfing and also to share with Tommy. He remembers how the guy mentioned needing more food when they were trapped in the Warrens.

"Boundaries, right? You’re respecting mine." When his drink arrives, he drains the glass nearly in one go. "I really haven’t had a birthday like this in years. Surfing new clothes, my favorite dessert? I stand by the fact that you won’t outdo this birthday by a longshot."

Hey, Tommy would eat anything Billy didn't. That's no problem. Would make him feel good and fed.

"That's what friends do," he agrees. "Some of my friends are amused when I do it. But your comfort is more important. And how do you know ice cream cake is your favorite if you haven't had it yet?"

New goal, even better birthday somehow.

That's mostly why he was ordering more than he was going to eat. He leans his body forward and props his head up with a hand where the elbow rests on the table.

"Because who the fuck doesn't love ice cream?" Billy doesn't dwell on the topic of boundaries. He doesn't even realize he's been respecting Tommy's lately - such as not calling him the five-lettered f-word. "Nothing you do could make me as uncomfortable as I have been before, mostly because I know you won't stoop to the same level as Neil."

Mostly because Tommy knew better than that. "So does it have anything special with the magic? Sparkler candles? Color changing frosting? Little hidden plastic surprise in it? Or did you go for simplicity with just a pretty normal and delicious cake?"

"Well, it's a pretty delicious and normal, but I asked him for number candles."

Because number candles are cool as shit, right? Super cool! He always wanted them.

This would be the part where he remarks about wanting the numbers '69' for his candles, but Billy doesn’t. His own boundaries that Tommy is respecting is what stops him. Better to not say it when he’s having a difficult time knowing what all these feelings are anyways.

"Never had number candles. My mom used regular ones, and whatever age I was turning was how many she used." The food is dropped off for them, along with a refill for the drinks. "I ordered too much. If you didn’t get enough, just take off my plate."

"I mean, what am I going to do with 19 candles? No, better to have to cool ones."

He wasn't used to cakes when he was growing up so he couldn't share any notes from his own youth. Better not to think about how that hurt. This was a happy day.

"Oh, I'll always take more," Tommy says with a smile. "I've spent a whole month getting banned from places."

"You could do things with them. Light some sparklers. start a bonfire with them on the beach. Get creative, Shepherd." He picks up what looks like a fork and digs into the food. He can't let himself think about it too much or he won't get too far in eating it.

"Banned? What the hell are you doing in other places to get banned, Tommy? Pissing people off and starting fights? Shoving chairs or mattresses out of windows?" He grins around the utensil before taking another bite.

"Eating too much at the all you can eat buffets," he says honestly as he starts into his own food. Because he knows he's got a bottomless belly. Or nearly so. To get sufficient food for a change is a damn rush. He may have over indulged. "Having full energy is really refreshing."

"I remember you in the warrens. During the volcano," Billy says carefully, gesturing vaguely with his fork for a moment. "I didn't know you could eat too much at a buffet. You think that'd be the point." There's a scowl that's hidden in his full mouth but it shows in his eyes. It's not there for too long.

"Don't be a glutton, you gotta save room for cake." Billy eats more, filling his own hunger get replaced with energy. "And yeah, I'm sharing it with you, Mr. 'I'm going to fast run over ice to save my best friend from fireworks and make him a pillow fort in his cabin'."

"I can put away more than someone my size should be able to," he admits with a laugh. But he's happy to keep eating here. He was more than these people wanted to deal with and he doesn't care. It's too good to do it.

"Wait, you're sharing cake with me? Score!" This is so awesome. "I feel like I'm the one benefitting today. Real sun, good food, good company, and ice cream cake."

"No, it makes sense. All that running and speed, works at your metabolism and you gotta eat." More bites. Billy remembers the Warrens and how hungry Tommy had been because everyone was on rations. He had given one of his last lollipops to Tommy in hopes it would help.

"Uh, duh. You went through two weeks of planning all this out. Of course I’ll share." He points the fork at Tommy. "Only with you because you planned and did all of this."

"You're worth planning for," Tommy says. "You deserve this. You deserved this for years."

Because he believes it. They had been failed by their families, so it's up to them to make something good of what is left. Or their new families. Which Billy didn't have.

"You do this kind of planning for all of your friends?" Or for Kaplan? Billy feels curious about it before he can stop it and shoves another bite into his mouth. Hopefully Tommy doesn’t take that the wrong way.

"Or is this just for the 'best friend that I used to be a sponsor for' kinda thing?"

"I don't have other friends who grew up with the shit sort of families and birthdays we had," Tommy notes.

Because yes, he is already certain Billy had it bad like he had as a kid.

"And for the others, we plan in groups for get togethers."

Okay, that was a very fair point. Tommy had seen Billy's home life, and just by admissions, Billy knew of how bad Tommy's was.

Fuck Frank and Mary.
Fuck Neil.

None of them could give either Billy or Tommy days like these.

He looks down to the food for a moment, realizing... that he's just... he's just really lucky to at least have a friend like Tommy. Someone that had some kind of faith in him enough to get him back on the right side of life instead of just being so angry all the time.

"After all this, looks like I've got plenty of time to think up something for your birthday."

Perhaps they could have given Tommy and Billy days like this, but they chose not to. And that's on them. So Tommy tries to claw back good days wherever he can. Though he has to chuckle at the idea.

"You know you don't have to, right? My brother and I tend to share that day, so I don't expect people to plan for us."

Though they hadn't done much of anything this last year. And that was... okay.

"Did I mention your brother? No. I said your birthday." Billy gives the speedster a pointed look. "Just because you share a birthday with him doesn’t mean I’m going to plan for him. Doesn’t work like that with me, Daisy Dukes."

He finishes with his helping and pushes the plate still heaped with food to Tommy. Billy did order more than he needed after all.

"Good thing I got plenty of time to work out what I’m gonna do."

That's... an offer and Tommy nods because he doesn't think that's going to work out. Something will happen to ruin it. It's just like that. That's how life goes. Instead he focuses on taking the plate and starting to down the food.

"A practical eternity," he agrees. Because time can pass so slow for them. Or race.

"Yep, I’ll have to start making notes," and he looks between them while Tommy digs in whole heartedly. "Like ample food. Even if I have to figure out how to hunt or some shit."

Which is something Billy isn’t familiar with. But he’d give it a shot because why the hell not.

"It’ll give me something to do between all the shit the aliens throw at us."

"Don't pay for my levels of food, man," Tommy says. He knows it's not easy to keep up with.

But he'll let the guy plan if he wants it.

"You don't have to strain yourself for me, man."

"Shut up, I’ll do what I want." Once Billy had his mind on something, there was only a slim chance of him backing down on it. He leans back in his chair and finishes off his water while Tommy eats.

"I won’t strain myself for it. Why do I get to be worth it to plan all this for, and you’re not? That’s not very sponsor/friend/best friend of you, Sheoherd."

Yeah, he will. Tommy chuckles at that and shakes his head. But the other part... Damn, that's a bit of honesty they don't need on a day like today.

"I couldn't stop you from doing what you wanted even if I tried."

"Nope," with an emphasis on the 'p'. Billy takes a little bit of what looks like a noodle and uses his fork to launch it at Tommy’s face with a devilish smirk.

"You can outrun me, but you can’t stop someone like me." Or, Tommy could, but it’d have to involve fireworks or a sauna. "And who would want to run from a piece of work like me?"

And of course, Tommy fucking dodges. Who wants noodle face? But he's smiling.

"And here I thought I'm supposed to be the unstoppable force, and you the immovable object. But no, I don't think I want to run from you."

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