revivalproject | [Backdated] Storm: Our Lives On Display

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[Backdated] Storm: Our Lives On Display

WHO: Tommy Shepherd, Open
WHERE: Temba
WHAT: Two Stormy Memories
WHEN: During Storm Week
WARNINGS: CW: Child Abuse in starter 2

I. A Memory of Delight

Storms. Tommy hates the storms. In fact, if he could just have 100% less storms, he'd be very happy. The happiest a man can be. With the storms he's just... He's lesser. It's always upset him. Always hurt him. Always left him frayed around the edges. But hey, this time they were supposed to be spotty? So he tries to go about his life.

Problem is, this one hits when he's alone, and man if Tommy wasn't on his way back from the new Avengers manor or whatever Tony was calling it. Turned out he didn't like being in his room there, still a work in progress, when the storms and world felt so draining. So walking back was a thing.

And of course, that's when a storm rolled in over him. The second the rain started he felt his powers go and Tommy just cursed. Because, well, what the fuck was going on here? Why did the rain hate him in particular? Cursing one more time, this time in Polish just for good measure, he finds a bit of stone overhang and sits his ass down. If he doesn't move, logically he shouldn't have troubles, right?

Except there's something different today. Of course there is. The rain is getting thick enough that it's hard to see beyond his hand and for some reason... it almost looks like he's in his room above the diner, which makes no sense at all.

II. A Memory of Pain | CW: Child Abuse will be depicted in threads from this starter

That was an experience that was shaking, and for a while, Tommy just stays back in his room at the diner, cuddled up by the fire even though it made him too hot because it just reminded him of what was happening in the moment. It was safer. It was better.

It wasn't enough because anxiety was prone to driving Tommy out of comfortable situations. Which was why he was outside again, heading for the greenhouse. His other safe place. The one that made him feel like he was useful and had a place where he fit in. Even if he had no powers, he could help the plants, right?

What a mistake that was, going outside. Because while it was clear when he stepped out, by the time he made it across the square and was nearing the greenhouse, the rain started. And this time, well, the change comes quickly.

Too quickly.

Comes in the form of his feet stepping not on the road but on familiar worn down wood. He knows the creak his foot produces almost instantly. And there's the sound of a truck door closing.

Sure it's Tommy there, but it also isn't Tommy there, because to another person's eyes it's Tommy but younger. Tommy but with hair as dark as his brother's, not a hint of white in it. A younger, childhood Tommy who is flinching at the sound of booted footsteps nearing in the rain...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Soon as he remembered... He came to save Tommy? Good thing it's raining, because he's definitely maybe sort of moved to tears by that information.

"Okay," he says. "Just pick me up. I believe in you. Just don't drop me. My bones are more fragile when I'm not powered."

He knows it from experience. But he gets slowly to his feet and lets Billy figure out what he's doing.

Billy gets to his feet and nods. He gathers Tommy up like the roles are reversed from the lake incident with Kaplan. Sometimes even superheroes needed to be saved. "If I catch a cold, I'm moving in on your couch and making you suffer having a sick me, just so you know."

He keeps a firm grip under Tommy's knees and the other around his back. "Hold onto me." Billy starts at a careful jog, going in the direction of the civic center.

Frankly, superheroes needed saved a lot more than the average person. They just didn't like to advertise that fact.

"You can have my bed," Tommy answers. Because there would be no way he wouldn't snuggle up so the guy might as well have the good space.

He throws an arm around Billy's neck to stabilize himself and leans close.

"Thank you."

"Bold of you to think I wouldn’t take it anyways." With his boyfriend secured against him, he picks up the pace. At least he’s somewhat warm, starting to put off heat from the exercise. At some point he slows just so he can press a kiss to the white hair.

"You’re lucky you got a hero for a boyfriend, Daisy Dukes. But you’re welcome." The pace gets picked up again. He can see the civic center not too far. "You hurt?"

"Not bold. Just hoping you'd be practical."

Tommy... isn't warm. His body isn't running at its usual furnace levels. And so he's shivering in the guy's arms.

"I don't know if I'm hurt. It's... Focus is hard when this happens."

"Nothing practical about being the sexiest guy in this city." Hopefully talking is helping. His grip flexes to strengthen his hold. "You were trapped in a memory. The memory where I think I texted you and you made me hot chocolate. We confessed and were boyfriends now. I know it’s hard to focus on anything when I’m involved."

He finally reaches the doors and after a moment of balancing and shifting, pulls the door open to duck inside. "Straight upstairs of locker room for shower?"

Yeah, okay, he snorts in amusement at that one. Billy, you're a charmer. Please never stop. Especially when you're so good at distracting him.

"Oh. That night. Right. I guess it's better than the thing that Leo almost saw. But yeah, you're a grade A distraction, babe."

Once they're inside Tommy breathes a small sigh of relief.

"You sure you'd be okay with a shower? I mean, the temperatures..."

"I don’t need to shower, I’ll just dry off." He wonders what Leo almost saw, and how bad it was. Maybe he got that memory in the diner because of how strong his own memory resonated with it.

He hasn’t made any move to put down Tommy.

"You can shower, I’ll bring you some dry clothes, even though they’ll be too big on you." He heads towards the locker room and noticed his bundle damp from the rain, brought in by someone who found it. "Sound like a plan?"

"You should warm your body up some," Tommy corrects, but he doesn't know how to get Billy to listen. Maybe he'll help with toweling him off.

As for getting carried, well, he doesn't bother asking to be let down.

"You just want me in your clothes."

"I'll warm up, don't worry." He pads across the way and heads to the locker rooms. No one really comes in here it feels like, or maybe Billy will just say that because he exercises when no one else is really around.

He smirks. "I don't hear you complaining about getting into them, either. Also they'll cover you a lot and help keep you warm." He squats down to help get Tommy back on his feet. "Go ahead and shower. I'll go get the clean clothes and a towel for you, okay?"

"Warming up to me isn't the same as getting your core body temperature up," Tommy points out. But whatever, he's not going to argue any more than he already has.

He does snort once he's back on his feet, though. Oh well. He'll just have to deal with it when it comes.

"If I wanted into your pants I could do that easily. But I'll take this cheat code. And I'll try and not make you wait too long."

"You could, but you respect me enough not to do it." A brief pause before adding, "you respect us enough."

Because if Tommy really want to do it, no doubt he would’ve already.

He reaches up to ruffle Tommy’s hair with a grin. Then he heads out quickly to give Tommy privacy to shower and to get a clean set of clothes. And a towel. The guys gonna need that, too. It takes a few minutes to get up to the room he had been using to change into his own dry clothes and then gather up the stuff for Tommy before heading back down. The blond goes into the locker room and sits on the bench with his back to Tommy. "I got your stuff out here babe. All fresh and dry. Might even smell like me, so bonus for you."

He does. God does he ever respect Billy enough for that. Maybe not himself, but definitely Billy. Definitely what they are too. Which doesn't need said. They both know it. So Billy goes off and Tommy goes to get a hot shower.

And hey, there's Billy too. While Tommy is just taking his time to be warm and safe, there's his guy.

"Yeah, it will be. Comforting when the world is fucked to high hell."

Billy knows enough about Tommy to know that respect is a big thing for him. The blond wants to be good for him. While his boyfriend is soaking in all the warmth in the safety of the shower, Billy towels off then changes just out of sight. Yeah, he's a little cold, and should warm up, but he'll deal with it.

"Yeah, this memory thing is fucked. I hate it." With his fresh clothes on, Billy goes over to flip the towel over in Tommy's reach on one of the hooks without glancing at the guy. Privacy and all that.

God does he wanna peek though.

"Towel for when you're done." He goes to lean against the wall out of sight while Tommy finishes up. "I would've tried to find you faster, but I got caught in that shit, too. Robin found me first. Then when I left her, got caught again and Gladio found me. Then I went to find you." Knew Tommy would be worse off by far.

Like Tommy would even have a problem with him peeking. Everything was at Billy's pace, after all, not his own.

"Thanks man," he says as he turns the water off. "I'm sorry about how you got hit by it, though. I'm... used to the trauma of it. But I'm glad you had support on the way."

Tommy wouldn't. Billy's trying to be a Good Boy and not peek and make his partner uncomfortable. He hears the squeak of the taps and turns his head towards the opening without looking in. Okay. Maybe one little peek in.

Just a peek.

"Probably because we share that memory it was easier for it to grab hold of me." There's a soft sound of him shrugging. "As much as I like holding your hand and cuddling, we couldn't do it out in the rain. Well, maybe we could, but it's not ideal."

Uncomfortable. Laughable. He'd love the distraction of flirting. As it is he takes the towel and wraps it around his waist. Mostly because he wants to be decent to not make Billy uncomfortable. Only then does he step out.

"I didn't feel the rain when I was in it. And that... wasn't the start of it. I was out there a while.'

Billy straightens up off of the wall he's been leaning on when Tommy reappears. "You looked like you had been." He moves in close, reaching up to cup Tommy's jawline in his hands. The hold is firm at first, then it loosens so he's not so rough.

He leans in to press their foreheads together. "When you snapped out of it... God, you looked so lost." Scared, even. Billy finds he didn't like that, but even he can't beat up a storm.

"I'm still lost," Tommy confesses, the words falling from his lips in spite of not wanting to admit it.

He doesn't want to seem weak in front of his boyfriend. But at the same time, he promised honesty. Openness. So he's trying. Though now he's also shaking, standing there being touched all gentle. He's shaking because he's broken.

"I'm always lost in the storms. I'm not me during these. I'm weak. I'm easily injured. My mind feels like it's in a fog. And I'm always terrified about what might happen when midnight comes. I should just... wait for things to clear up and head to the island and wait until people tell me it's passed."

"You're not lost when you're with me. Ride the waves, but hold onto me, okay?" Tommy's seen him weak, so this stupidly felt fair. It shouldn't, but somehow it does. A thumb sweeps at that cheek and he looks at Tommy, still keeping their foreheads together. "I got an idea, okay? You get dressed and I'll be right back okay? I'm not leaving the building, I'm just gonna go grab something."

An idea? God what fucking idea could he have? Tommy bites his lip and doesn't grumble. He just nods. It's not like he could change quickly and follow Billy after all.

"Don't be gone long."

Just trust him on this one okay? Billy kisses his forehead. "It's just in the other room," and then he's off, jogging out of the locker room. He heads back to the door and picks up the bundle he had dropped somewhere outside. There's not really a lot in there, just his essentials. It gets taken upstairs to his room really quick, but then he's racing back down and jogging back into the locker room.

Right back over to Tommy. He doesn't even ask, just puts on the little 80s headphones that came with Max's Walkman and then pushes the play button. "It's one of Max's. Helps me sleep sometimes."

It was a Madonna tape from Max's first visit to Temba, and not this other Max's tape. Don't make him think about it too hard. What Billy doesn't realize is that the music isn't even playing. The play button is pressed, but the device just doesn't work. He doesn't realize it, thinking that maybe the volume is too low.

Edited (wibbly wobbly stormy warmy) 2024-07-14 00:56 (UTC)

Tommy is jealous about how confidently Billy's moving around without the power on. Not even kidding. He envies that. He'd be too scared to do so, too certain he'd fall and hurt himself. He's done it before in storms. Twice. He's got shit luck with them. So he is very cautious while he dries off and dresses.

Then Billy's back and putting headphones on and... Oh. Oh the sweet young man. Tommy's hands come up to take the headphones back off.

"Billy. Thank you. The sentiment is beautiful, babe, but... but it's an energy storm."

Why was Tommy taking them off? He frowns, until he's given an explanation. Shit. Right, energy storm. It's not gonna work.

Fuck.

More mental explictives.

Billy yanks the headphones back with more force than he means to. He's not mad at Tommy, but more at himself for forgetting. There's a whisper in his ear to throw the tape player, but he instead puts it on the bench instead. "Sorry. Forgot."

He breathes out, focusing on what Gladio's taught him about trying to control his anger, then runs a hand through his curls. "C'mon, I can take you upstairs and we can cuddle until the storm blows over." It's said less like a suggestion. Billy holds his hand out in offering for Tommy to take. "I can lead you, or I can carry you. Your choice, babe."

"It's okay. Hell, it's really good of you to think of me like that. To come up with a reasonable solution in another situation. Makes me think I should replicate some earplugs or something before the next time."

Thank you for not throwing it, though. Repairing it again would be sad. He does reach out, though, his own fingers joining Billy's in those beautiful, if damp, curls.

"Lead me. If there are stairs I'd feel we're both safer without the weight in your arms. But you can carry me around to compensate for it later, okay?"

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