revivalproject | Drowning in an endless sea

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Drowning in an endless sea

WHO: Max Mayfield & Billy Hargrove
WHERE: Temba - diner
WHAT: Confused about a message Billy left her, Max hunts him down
WHEN: After Billy leaves her messages on unread
WARNINGS: the usual bad language and sibling lashing out / lectures

After Billy's message, and subsequent leaving Max on unread, she - in a fit of frustration, rushes out of the hotel to physically hunt him down. She checks the beach shack first, as it makes the most sense, but she doesn't find him there.

Luckily, she has her skateboard on hand, now, so she's not stuck running or walking all the way back. It's during this her mind clicks together - right, Tommy. Diner!

She speeds her way over there, scoops her skateboard up and enters the diner looking for her brother. Max has a mouthful ready for him!

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He is not at the beach shack yet, still making the civic center his spot until he can make it down there. It’s been a good thing he hasn’t gone back to that beach shack after his encounter with Tommy in the diner, too.

The very same diner he’s currently eating breakfast in a booth all the way in the back. When Max enters like a firework, he only looks up at her.

"Who pissed in your Wheaties, Max? Need me to beat the shit out of someone?" he asked, not realizing it was him who was going to have the anger turned on him.

Good thing she thought of the diner, and he just happens to be there, then, or she might get more annoyed at having to play hide and seek with him every time she wants to have a conversation.

He speaks, and Max heads straight for his booth. She stands there, expression tight.

"You're gonna beat yourself up? I would pay money for that."

Oh there’s a scowl and Billy drops his fork to the plate he had been eating from. There’s remnants of pancake on there but he’s focused on her with that expression. One he doesn’t like because it reminds hinbog other shit he doesn’t want to think about.

"The fuck are even talking about, shitbird? Why the hell are you even mad at me?"

Don't mind the voice shouting from the kitchen. Clearly there is no one there.

"Maybe you should answer your comm more often, Sunshine!"

Max rolls her eyes at Tommy's involvement, then shouts back, "Sunshine, really? You're more sarcastic than I gave you credit for. But I got this, Speed."

She turns back to Billy and nods her head in the direction of the kitchen, "But that. You," she points at him, "don't get to drop half information like that, in a message, then not continue and leave me on unread."

With that, Max slips into the seat across from Billy and lowers her voice. "So what happened with Tommy?" Her lips lift into an eager smile. She wants the full dish - that's why she's mad!

Billy also rolls his eyes, like the two of them are in sync with each other on Tommy's little added quip from the kitchen. He doesn't mention the nickname Tommy's been using for him, but does raise his brows at his sister's nickname for the speedster.

He can't even argue for himself about the answering his not-a-phone-but-still-a-phone device thing. "I don't know if you've noticed but I'm really bad with using that thing. I didn't know where you were when I needed to tell you, so I figured you'd find me after I sent the message." A shrug and another bite of pancake.

At her smiling request, Billy looks around to see if there's anyone else present. Or at least in earshot. It's still pretty early, so it's just the two of them in the diner with a third one probably keeping an ear out from the kitchen.

"I had a really bad nightmare. I still have them sometimes even with the shit Tae gave me. But I tried sending a message through the phone thing, but came here." His feet brought him here without Billy really even needing to think about it because he had mentally been at Steelworks, not Temba.

Another bite and he pushes the plate to Max if she wants some bit of pancake leftover. "He got me settled back down from it. Then it just... kinda happened. He told me and I told him and bam." He leans back in the booth, watching Max.

"Oh, I've noticed," Max tells him, pointedly, then rolls her eyes again, "And I don't know if you've noticed, but that's not an efficient system. The least you can do is say where you'll be, so the other person can find you."

She's not so happy to hear about the nightmare, but she also imagines he'll be having those for a while. "I'm glad he was at least there for you after that."

Max's eyes widen at the plate, when it's pushed close, as she realizes how hungry she is after earlier. She doesn't waste time take a bite for herself. Then she finds herself smiling, lips turning up.

"Good." Her eyes turn to the kitchen, again, and she has some questions for Tommy, but for now.

"But how does it feel, for you? To have that not just spoken, but fulfilled?"

“Are you really shocked that Billy Hargrove, bad boy of the California Surf, hardly wants people to know where he is?”

Tommy asks this as he appears at the table. He places a plate with a short stack of pancakes in front of her with a wink.

“Breakfast, since I’m in a good mood. Now excuse me, I’m going to get dough started for pizza for later.”

He pauses long enough to stop and kiss Billy’s cheek.

“Be gentle on her, Sunshine. I worry the same way over my brother, and he does know how to text.”

And then he’s gone back to the kitchen before someone can comment.

God, what an attitude today. It's enough to make him scowl at her, a glimpse of his old self there. That crumbles away when Tommy appears with another plate of pancakes and he grins. There's no way Max can be mad at him if she's too busy eating, and eating pancakes.

He looks smug at the kiss to his cheek before he pulls Tommy down so Billy can return it with his own to that smooth cheek. "She's my sister, so she's tough." And then Tommy's gone so he focuses back on Max. "You think I want people to know where I am all the time? And you found me fine, shut up. If anything, you get to go out on your skateboard more looking for me, so I'm doing you a favor."

Of course Billy would twist this into something good from him.

"Otherwise, it feels.... weird. A good weird. Like Neil's gonna somehow come out of the shadows and beat me within an inch of my life, but I know he's not. And Tommy, or you for that matter, wouldn't let that shit happen anyways."

And she'll scowl right back - yeah, he's getting the attitude.

She opens her mouth to tell Tommy to stay out, even if she's late to respond, but gets side-tracked by the pancakes. Forget it. She's hungry after that search.

"Don't try to turn this around," she tells Billy after she's had a bite. "You can private the message. Nothing is stopping you from doing that. And if I knew you were, we could find each other faster." She rolls her eyes at the skateboard rationalizing.

"Maybe, I would rather be skateboarding on ramps, instead of all over the place looking for you."

Then Billy says it feels good weird, and she smiles all over again.

"He won't. He's not here. And if that asshole shows up, he's not touching you."

Thank God for pancakes. Warding off that damn attitude better than Billy ever could (not that he actually tried most of the time anyways). Her lecturing him about using the comm more just makes him want to leave.

Billy almost does. It's there, in his face, probably in his body language.

He, instead, focuses on talking about Neil and how he wasn't here. "I know he's not here. But you don't live for years with a guy like that and not feel like he's going to come out of nowhere to beat the shit out of me. You saw what he was like Max, you just didn't get to experience the same amount of time I did."

Walking away would, in fact, just cause her to give Billy more shit about the comm, but she's past that, with both pancakes and the conversation about Neil.

"I get it. It's going to take time." Max points out, "You taking this step in that direction is a good thing. And every time you feel unsafe," her eyes flicker down, then back up, "then we'll just remind you. As many times as it takes."

She eats more of the pancakes before she continues.

"Don't expect that to change over night. Was surprised this happened when it did."

"I didn't expect any of this, as fast as it seemed to happen. Like I said, I came here after a nightmare, he settled me back down from it and it just... kinda happened. I guess because I wouldn't stop holding his hand or some shit because I was trying to get out of my head." He thinks of the hot chocolate, and how Tommy had to make it using one hand because Billy refused to let go of the other. How he didn't want to go up the stairs without the lights on.

"The diner is safe. Even if no one is around to remind me that I'm safe in Temba, being in here does it, too." His gaze sets on her, unwavering. "Same for you. Anyone tries to give you shit and I'm not around? Come here. Not only is it safe, but there's shit you can use as a weapon, if you don't want to clobber them with your skateboard."

"I wasn't expecting it, either." Max chuckles, softly, because not like she's involved, she's just happy for Billy. And maybe Tommy, too.

"Of course I don't want to do that to my skateboard. I just got it back," Max points out, then smiles right after saying it.

"But Harrington's teaching me to punch. And I'm learning from Gladio, too. So," she shrugs, "I can punch things." But she files the information away, anyway, because running is something she's good at, too. "Good to know, though."

He matches her chuckle with his own, and then snags a small bit of pancake from her plate to eat. Billy does seem happier, and definitely scowling less than usual.

Until she mentions Harrington. It's easy to bristle like an angry cat, visible for a long moment before he settles back down. Promises and truces. And Harrington was helping Max, which was a good thing. "Good to hear it. Gladio can definitely teach you all of that. He's a... master of arms or something like that in his world. He and Soldier have been training me. Which means you might be able to punch wimps, but you won't be able to punch me."

A challenge, of course. "I'm still at the civic center, too. When it gets warm enough I'm gonna head back to the beach shack and live there with my surfboard."

Max's eyes look down as Billy makes off with some of the pancake, but it's only fair - for now. She's happy enough, she'll share.

She doesn't miss the bristling, but notes Billy at least remains calm.

"Oh," Max totally rises to that bait, though she sounds more amused than anything, "I'll be able to punch you. I just don't want to."

Gladly, Max stuffs more pancake in her mouth, then grins.

"I'll go visit you. Help fix it up.

Billy has gotten a lot better lately in regards to Harrington. Sometimes they met in the civic center and trained a little side by side. It was a complicated work in progress.

He grins. "No you won’t. You’re just covering your ass that you don’t wanna punch me because you know you can’t." But it seems more likely that she doesn’t want to punch him. Not everything they’d been through both at home and here.

He steals another bite and then puts his fork down. "Yeah? Maybe I’ll set up a guest hammock in case you come by at night or some shit so you don’t have to sleep in the floor."

And it would have a dual use in case Tommy came by and decided to stay. A win-win situation to the blond.

"So does my boyfriend meet my sisters approval then?"

Billy has gotten better in a lot of respects, and Max notes the Harrington reaction, as well.

"I don't want to punch you, yet, but you keep pushing and that's going to change."

She grins when he mentions the hammock, though. "I like that idea. Because you say that, but we both know it's going to be you sleeping on the floor. Better to have a hammock, instead."

Max takes another bite of the pancakes, forcefully, like she's protesting Billy's theft by eating more, then grins at his question. She puts her fork down, before she answers.

"I approve of his pancakes." She grins for a bit longer, then adds, "But really, I think he'll be good for you. He's been good to me from the moment I arrived, so Speed's good, as far as I'm concerned. And...."

Max sighs out as her eyes roll up, it's sappy to say, but, "You deserve something good."

Yeah, Max is right. Billy would give up the bed for her to use if she was staying. He’s slept in worse predicaments that sleeping on a beach shack floor wouldn’t be a bother for one night.

A hammock would be better though.

He notes how she bites into her pancakes like a kind warning and laughs, both at that and her approval at the pancakes. "He’s good at cooking."

The blond ducks his gaze down at her observation. "I feel like I don’t sometimes, because of how I… I used to act but you’re right. I do. And he is good. A lot better than I figured I deserved but he wants me and I want him. That’s all that I want."

Billy wants to be wanted by someone in more than a friendship way. He wants someone that was his to take care of and to return the gestures. "He’s good. Been in my corner since I beat the shit out of his face."

A hammock is much better.

She gives a chuckle and shakes her head.

"He is. I give him that." And more than, but Max doesn't like being serious for too long.

Still, she clamps down on that instinct to reach over for Billy's hand, so she can make herself clear when she says, "The way you used to act? Was a cry for help. Was because you were being denied good things. So it doesn't work like that."

Her eyes widen, and she shakes her head again, this time with a sigh. "Hopefully, you have a better handle on that and aren't beating the shit out of people?" Beat. "Unless they deserve it. Of course."

There's a subtle reaction to Max pointing out that his behavior was a cry for help. A flinch? A quickly reined in instinct to lash out? Billy wants to shoot back that he doesn't deserve the good things after all of the shit he did, both during being possessed and after. Billy knows he's not a good person, but he was getting better. Untangling himself from an upbringing of hate. He has to be getting better if Max's noticed.

Instead, he glances towards the kitchen, then back to his sister. "Well, in my defense, he antagonized me until I snapped and did it. Pushed every damn button until I finally got him. So he deserved it. And then I haven't done it again. Found Gladio during the whole volcano bullshit - which was before you came back here - and he started training me."

The uncertainty on his face melts into mischief as he leans in to whisper to her. "Tommy told me I should message you and then not say anything back by the way. So that was his fault.

Billy's reactions aren't missed by Max. She tenses for a second when he flinches, but she knows he doesn't lash out. She won't deny he is getting better, by a lot.

There's a shaking of Max's head as she hears his rationalizing. "Sounds like you're justifying it, to me, but okay. It's in the past, anyway, so I'll let it slide." She takes another bite of pancake.

Max stops to the revelation, and slowly chews some of the pancake.

"Is that why I'm getting buttered up?" She grins. "I'll be sure to give him more shit for it, later."

"Brat." Billy nabs one last bit of pancake and uses his fork to launch it at her face with a smirk. "Not justifying, just explaining what happened."

God, she was such a little sister.

He laughs a little bit at her reaction. "He's in a good mood and probably trying to keep on your good side, too. I gotta get better at the texting thing. Maybe I'll practice by sending you shitty messages."

"Asshole," she doesn't miss a beat in throwing back at Billy, complete with sticking out her tongue. "Still rationalized it." Still going to argue.

He takes a bit of pancake, and Max pulls the plate back, but not out of his reach, and they both know it.

"Well," she smiles, "it's working. For now." She shakes her head at Billy.

"Do it and I'll send you shitty messages right back."

"Shitbird." Nothing was out of his reach here. Billy's bigger than her so if anything, he could get stuff out of her reach more than anything. Tommy would probably get it down for her. Or she might snitch about it to Steve and get him to get it down.

His mouth opens and snaps back closed to catch the piece tossed back at him. He chews it like he's won some kind of game. "Good. You two gotta get along since we're dating and I'm not gonna have my little sister harass him." He makes a shooing motion with his hand. "Get going, Mad Max, unless you wanna watch me make out with him."

Or Max might headbutt him to get it down, she'll find a way.

Her face scrunches up at the make out mentioned. Yeah, she really doesn't want to see that.

"Fine. I'm out. But you better actually work on texting more," she says as she abandons the plate of pancakes, not entirely finished. She's sure, if he wants to, Billy can finish it off.

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Drowning in an endless sea

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Xi approved and encouraged me.

:3 <3

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wrap? and these two need to discover memes - easier on Billy, funny for them both

80s kids with memes. heavens help temba... Also I'm good for wrapping up <3

could be hilarious, though, and ty, wrap!