revivalproject | Who Needs Sleep

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Who Needs Sleep

WHO: Tommy Shepherd, Billy Hargrove, Open
WHERE: Temba Greenhouse, Temba Diner, Temba Area
WHAT: Searching for Billy Kaplan
WHEN: First Day back on Temba, through all of February
WARNINGS: cw: abandonment issues, possible borderline self destructive behavior (in a physical sense)

I. Wearing Out Shoe Leather | Open

At first he let himself believe the absence wasn't an absence so much as the worst form of hide and seek ever. It would be just like his brother to do something like that after all. To have his communication device away from him, or to be talking to the Agrii and not looking it over, or maybe just his brother being temporarily unavailable. Hell, Tommy had even gone down into the under areas of engineering to try and check the tubes there.

And now that he was back on the surface of Temba, well, he was no longer having any damn fun with this game. Because... Because it needs to be okay.

Otherwise...

No. No, he's not going to think about the otherwise, alright? Instead there's a blur of speed throughout all of Temba. It stops here and there, like a humming bird flitting from flower to flower for food. Stops are brief, either to whip up a quick meal in the diner, or to search delicately through plants and trees and fragile ruins. All the while his voice tears through the air, calling the same series of names over and over, seeking, hoping, unable to give up.

"Billy! Billiam! Wiccan! Punk! Where are you?!"

Don't let him be alone. Please, don't... Don't let him be alone again.

II. Comfort In You | Closed to Billy Hargrove

He's tired. So tired. How long had it been since he'd eaten? Since he'd slept? Tommy frankly doesn't know. What he does know is that he goes to the only place that feels safe in his undeniable despair. On some level he remembers the feeling of sand on his bare feet, the result of him running enough to run his shoes to pieces. He remembers the door. Pushing it open. Moving to the bed. Collapsing onto it with a pathetic noise that he'll never admit he made.

Safe. His mind says he's safe. That Billy will be here, sooner or later. Not the one he sought. The other one. The one who will hold him and tell him he's not alone. That he won't be alone. Even if he was. Even if he had lost the other part of his soul (part of the other part of his soul), he would still have someone who cared.

So he needed this.

III. Burning the All Hours Oil | Open

Who needed sleep anyway? There was this whole fucking world to explore. Things to be done. Places to clean up or restore. Plants to be tended. The plants still needed him. People still needed him for food, right? Right. Yeah.

That's why it's three in the morning and he's hand examining every plant in the cumato area, checking the budding leaves for health. Nearby a few Funfronds seem to linger, trying to get his attention with their dancing, but he ignores them. Just focuses as he moves slowly from plant to plant. From spot in the soil to spot in the soil.

HE's been here for hours. Before this he'd been in the diner and cleaned every last surface and every last utensil. Before that it had been dusting in the Civics Center. Before that catching lobsters on the beach. Before that...

God he can't even remember. Hours were blurring together, as much because of his powers as because he was losing himself. His focus, his drive. Strange to think a lot more of it had depended on one person than he was prepared for. Two people now.

But the sleepiness is not good for him, clearly. Because the second he hears someone approaching he flinches. And flinching from a speedster isn't good. Why? Because between one moment and the next he's no longer standing where he was. He's several feet back, a trowel held up before him like it was a weapon meant to defend himself. His eyes are blurry, red from crying, and definitely not entirely there. Like he's lost.

Maybe he is.

"What do you want?" he snaps when he realizes it isn't danger that's facing him.

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"You cure everyone else’s headaches getting me wrangled back down to civilized." Billy sets the plate in his lap and carefully moves an arm around Tommy’s shoulder. "And that’s only because you’re so fucking handsome."

He didn’t know how to fix this for Tommy. Only that he could prolong whatever the inevitable was by distracting his speedster from it. Keeping those feet clean and wrapped; making sure Tommy ate something; keeping him comfortable during this. "How about we go to the greenhouse tomorrow morning and take a look? Maybe find something suitable for a substitute. Then we can go to the gym and I’ll workout shirtless for you."

"Bullshit," Tommy rolls his eyes. Billy would have gotten here even without him. It just would have taken more time. "And I'm fucking stunning."

Though he groans at the idea of walking that far. Going places he worked so hard in for his brother.

"Okay. But only because I like you shirtless."

"You are pretty fucking amazing to look at. We make a physically powerful couple for certain."

The fork‘s prongs stab into another bit that gets offered up to Tommy. "Few more bites for me. And I know you like me shirtless - that was my first clue that something’s wrong because you haven’t tried to feel me up." Billy was still shirtless after all, but that was irrelevant in the wake of his boyfriend‘s grief.

"You should eat too," Tommy points out. He shouldn't be the one eating Billy's dinner. He was supposed to provide for the guy.

WHich of course was a horrible way to think of it, but he was doing so anyway.

"Rude if you're not giving me permission. And I'm tired. I'm so tired."

"Shut up," he starts with, the follows up almost immediately with, "sorry. I want you to have this. I can make another. You’re tired, you ran so fast and for so long you’ve got not shoes and socks left. Let me just take care of you while you work through this, babe."

The fork gets wiggled a little, in an attempt to notice entice Tommy into eating the bite. "If I didn’t want to fucking share, you wouldn’t have any of it."

He gently knocks their shoulders together. "I know you’re tired. Also you’re my boyfriend. You’re allowed to get those hands on me when you want. Especially if I’m shirtless. Feet feeling any better? Probably sore from all that running."

So sore. He's sore and tired and heartbroken. But he takes the bite of lobster and chews it thoroughly before swallowing.

"I don't have the energy for hands on," he mumbles. Or the heart. But he's not saying that.

"You wanna eat the rest on your own? And hey. I didn’t say you had to do anything now. Just that I knew something was wrong when you didn’t stop to admire my handsome bod."

Billy leans over to kiss Tommy’s cheek. "And the remark that you can be hands on is like my door. It’s open for you whenever you want. It’s called boyfriend privileges." Billy finds he wants to fix this. You can’t put tape on a broken heart though, can’t see it shut to stop the bleeding. He had to let Tommy go through this and just be there to help prop him up when he could.

"No," he says, voice soft. "You know how when you're upset food is the last thing you want?"

He's in that mode now. Even if he knows he should really eat. He's so fucking worn out and food means nothing to him. Only reason he's eating is to appease his boyfriend.

"Yeah," he agrees softly. "Mostly I just want to fight or destroy whatever I can get my hands on when I’m upset." Billy eats what’s left of the lobster since he doesn’t have a refrigerator for storage right now.

With that finished, he sets it out of the way on the nightstand and cups Tommy’s face in both hands. "Babe, what can I do to help you right now."

Help? Tommy just looks so tired. So scared. So broken.

"Be here when I wake up?"

It's whispered, scared to be rejected. Scared that even if Billy agrees, he can't live up to the promise.

"Yes." Such a simple word, but Tommy should know that Billy means it. "I’ll sleep on top of you, yo you know anytime you wake up tonight. I’m gonna do shit with the fire and dress for bed real quick. You wanna borrow a pair of my shorts to sleep in?"

He’s already reaching down under the bed where he keeps his clothes (the worn ones in a pile under the hammock) to pull out two pairs of shorts that have extra openings for Agrii-legs.

"I honestly don't want to move."

But he probably should change. It's just... everything feels like a burden right now.

"I'm not used to being this tired. This drained. But I couldn't just not look, right? I had to find him?"

He had to see with his own eyes.

Oh, no extra legs, the shorts just looked weird with how he folded them. Strange. Oh well, normal amount of leg shorts for them then! He holds them in his lap and looks at Tommy before nodding. "Had to confirm it. I get it. I searched the whole house when mom left." Billy gets it and he wishes he didn’t.

He offers the shorts with a hand. "You want me to at least gets your pants changed out for the shorts? I’ll take care of you babe, so minimal moving for my tired man."

"I get why you did. She chose it."

Billy probably hadn't.

For now he sighs and closes his eyes. That's not really going to help him here if he's honest. He has to accept something.

Has to accept help.

"Yes. Please."

Her hand was forced, and Hargrove knew that now. Kid version of him didn’t though.

"Okay. I got you, babe. Lay back, okay?" Billy’s weight leaves the bed and he squats in front of Tommy to work at the fly of his jeans. "Not how I wanted to get your jeans off for the first time, but gotta make sure you’re on the way to being okay, even if it’s just for tonight.

Billy works the garment down and motions almost to throw it - then second guesses it, folds them, and sets them on the bed for later. Then he picks up the shorts to ease one leg in, then the other to pull them up to where the jeans‘ waist had set. "There you go. Wait just a moment."

Billy gets up and goes over to the fireplace to toss another log in. One already in it cracks in two and he grins before going back over. "That should last into the night, long enough for us to get to sleep. Want to get under the covers and let me cuddle you for a bit?"

Another day this whole process should be sexy. As it was, Tommy was too tired to care. He was so worn out, so heartsick, and so very, very tired.

"Yes," he whispers once Billy's coming back from fire tending. "Please. I want to be here."

In the home another friend and his father once tried to build. That Billy had made into a home for real. He wanted to be here.

Billy did his best to make it not sexy. Just a process to get his boyfriend comfortable and ready for bed. He climbs onto the bed and gently tugs Tommy up to the head to lay back on the pillows.

"I know. You always have a place here, babe. Always, got that? This place is yours as much as it is mine at this point. Especially now that your pants are off." Billy pulls the blanket down and then over them before gathering his boyfriend into his arms. Uses his foot to kick Tommy's jeans to the floor with a little smirk. "Off and on the floor."

Always huh? Does he know that he's just ensured that if Billy leaves before Tommy, he's going to become like one of those widows who lingers in the lighthouse awaiting their lost love? Poetic, but sad.

"You could have had my pants off before," he mumbles, trying to tease. But his heart clearly isn't in it. "Just... be here when I wake. That's all I need right now."

"All you gotta do it ask, babe," though it’s super clear that Tommy wasn’t really up for teasing banter. He strokes his fingers over the guy‘s jaw and rolls them so Tommy was laying on top.

"Here. Barnacle for you tonight so you know I won’t leave. I promise I won’t." And if Billy could believe that his boyfriend would come back during a screaming moon night, then maybe Tommy would believe that Billy wouldn’t leave him.

Yeah, he would, but he's already sort of promised that he's never going to do that. So don't ask it of him. He doesn't want to do that and upset Billy. Or be told no. That he's not desirable.

"Thank you," he says, his voice a broken whimper. But no, he didn't want that, at all. Didn't want to be weak. "Tank you."

Going by the birthday in October, clearly Billy is into his boyfriend. Surely Tommy remembers the Californian being a menacing minx before they had to go wring themselves out.

Instead of bringing that up, Billy makes sure the blanket is good and rubs his hand up and down Tommy's back. "I'm here. Go ahead and sleep babe. I'll be right here when you wake up."

Tommy nods and nestles closer, closing his eyes. Because this? This is what he's meant to do. Rest with his boyfriend. Feel safe.

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Who Needs Sleep

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agrii only have one set of legs

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