revivalproject | The Vacation You Didn't Ask For

WHO: Tommy Shepherd, OTA for everyone, come spend time.
WHERE: Risa, pleasure planet to the Starfleet
WHAT: Tommy enjoying time around, eating his fill, all that
WHEN: During Risa Adventures, prior to second contact in their rooms.
WARNINGS: None

The Feedening

Advantage to being on a world that isn't Agrii whatever the fuck was the most simple and important thing. Food. All of it. All of the food and amazing and Tommy spends the morning at a table in a sidewalk cafe, enjoying hot and cold breakfast foods. And at a deli in the early afternoon enjoying a number of sandwiches and side. Then a few other shops where he had other small meals.

But mostly there's the restaurants at night. Where Tommy tries literally everything. Sea food, steaks, soups and stews. The guy even enjoys a Klingon restaurant, because why wouldn't he? And every time, everywhere Tommy goes, he's at a table covered with food with eyes of other patrons staring, shocked by how much food the young man is putting away. And, of course, if someone familiar comes by he grins and waves them over.

"Hey, I can spare a dish or two. Wanna join?"

Pool Side Drinks

Not that speedsters have much use for bodies of water when they can just run over the wet stuff, but Tommy finds a good bit of his early evening at the side of the pool. Clubs are nice and all, but he can just sit and watch people in skimpy clothes, and do it with a fancy little drink and it even had umbrellas in it. They had given him THREE, at his insistence. And a nice cut of fruit that he's never seen before but it is sweet AND spicy and he loves it.

Probably too young to be drinking, but like Tommy cares. Instead he smiles as he watches people, and when he sees someone he recognizes he raises his drink to them.

"Hey there. You should get one of these. The fruit is killer good. Wish we could take a plant of it back."

Secret Nerd in His Element

The one thing Tommy will NEVER admit is to his specific area of nerddom. The one, old, totally fucking horrible show that he totally never should have watched. But it had been a vulnerable time in his life, getting away from the Super Juvie. And the Young Avengers hideout had, apparently, the full boxed set of Star Trek. All of it. Even the terrible movies. And Tommy, in the course of living alone over the years and only needing, like, four hours of sleep a day, had watched them all. Multiple times. To the point of being able to quote favorite scenes, but not whole shows. So really, once they had ended up on Risa, he'd known where he was and been so eager to enjoy the place.

Which included interacting with the local culture, in this case, arguing with a Ferengi. Mostly because he had some serious qualms with their culture.

"Yes," he was saying, voice perfectly even as the Ferengi at the bar with him looked to be seething. "I do think women should be in business. In fact, I've met a few women who not only managed a business, but started it. Right from the ground up. And made themselves wealthy in a world that, like you, might not appreciate them. And the clothes. Damn, a lady in a nicely cut dress is sexier than woman without clothes."

The Ferengi has had enough, and momentarily lunges at Tommy, teeth bared. Looks like there might soon be a fight.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You expect me to do nothing?" she calls, raising an eyebrow. Please. She knows that he's unused to having parental figures who care (and she's still not sure she's qualified to stand in) but in what world would any Wanda just turn away? Surely he knows her better than that.

She is not happy about it, but after a long moment she lets the Ferengi go with a light shove. She's made her point, but he better run.

She's more than qualified, but Tommy won't tell her that. But really, she's maybe more parent-like than most people. Because she's fussing at his fun. But the alien does run off and Tommy sighs.

"Thanks for helping. Really. I just.... it was fun, actually. Being that close to a dangerous situation I could control."

The storms had fucked his head up a lot, thanks.

Wanda says nothing at first, just hugs him tighter than the situation calls for. Her hands are shaking slightly.

He's just...so like Pietro. She has no doubt that if he'd lived longer they would have found themselves in this exact situation. Maybe in a better world Wanda wouldn't have felt like she needed to protect him so fiercely but losing Pietro has given her a tendency to overreact and losing Vision and now Natasha has made her feel like everything's crumbling under her feet. Like she'll lose everything else if she doesn't hold on to it with everything she has.

"I'm sorry, I just..." she trails off, sighs, and releases him. "I knew you could handle it but I didn't want you to be alone."

Oh dear. Those arms around him, so shaky. They might not be noticeable to someone else, but to him? When his skin and body notice things as fast as his mind? Yeah, it's scarily obvious. But the hug. God those hugs are so... comforting. Tommy's own arms wrap around her for just a moment to enjoy the feeling. The way she cares and welcomes him.

Best mother he's ever had, and she's not even that. When she releases him he does so as well and takes a step back.

"It's okay. I'm used to being alone. With Teddy here, it's more common anyway."

He means to be saying that he's cool, he's strong enough to handle it.

Wanda frowns. "I'm not. It doesn't feel very good." And it's very lucky for her that this is a vacation planet and she's not being bombarded by a sea of negative emotions without someone to act as her anchor. She still wasn't planning to stay by the bar for long once she got what she wants, but it could be a lot worse.

"What happened?" She glances around. Maybe not the place, people are definitely still giving her wary looks. "Come on, let's get something to go and find a place to talk."

Fuck no. Talking sucks. Emotions suck. It's bad enough that both Teddy and Billy know that Tommy's felt abandoned by them. But... he can't deny Wanda company. So he grabs up his glass (don't judge him for his drinking so much more than a human can normally tolerate, he isn't even buzzed).

"What happened when? There's been a ton of time, for me, since we last saw each other. Gonna have to narrow it down."

She's used being around people with absurdly high alcohol tolerances and doesn't comment, though she'll be ordering something non-alcoholic, thanks. The last thing anyone needs is for her to have a power-related accident and since the Agrii had kidnapped her, she simply doesn't feel safe enough to not have her full faculties at all times. She can't risk not being ready to save Vision and Natasha and Kitty and the others at a moment's notice.

She's also ordered a large cup of fried cheese balls - she can't eat them all, but she's sure Tommy can help her.

"I thought you were living with Billy. Did you move?"

Fair enough, more than fair enough. But the cheese balls are a good touch. Tommy and dairy are definitely friends.

"It's... complicated. You meet Teddy yet? The fiance? He's here, he's from our future, and of course, the two are totally tied up in each other. Always are. It's fair, love and fate and all that. Just what you get when an Emperor-to-be and a Godling meet and fall wildly in love. Anyway, I moved out of the hotel once we got back from the snow planet. Because, you know, couples and the getting it on thing."

More because he wanted to get out before they could kick him out. Since then... Since then Teddy had insisted that they were family, and Billy had apologized for the space and they were both making motions toward Tommy still being important to them but.

But words were only worth so much. Even when your brother altered reality using those words.

"When we get back, we're supposed to find an old abandoned shop or something. All of us stay together. With them having room for couple stuff. But, like, third-wheel much?"

"I understand. It's easier when you live with a group of people, not only with a couple." But the shops allow for less soundproofing and space than the Twin Roses had in its prime, and it wasn't as if there were other things to occupy oneself with or distract from any, ahem, noises.

And of course she gets it in a much more personal way - she'd always been terrified of what would happen if Pietro ever found anyone serious. She knew, logically, that he would have made time for her but when you have no one else of your own...

"You can come stay with me when they need privacy, if it would help. If you want to," she adds quickly. "If you spend the night I can't promise what happened on the ship won't happen again. I can't control it. But if a few hours away would help...you're always welcome, Tommy."

The couple was his family, though. The best that Tommy had. Even if they had been distant for a time. So he had to figure something out, right? The best he could. Which meant being close to them because they wanted to make it up to him. For not being there for him when he needed it.

Still, the thing was that Billy and Teddy had been Billy and Teddy before there ever was a Tommy in their lives. Not possible for Tommy to be left out of things, or abandoned. Billy hadn't belonged to him the way that Pietro had belonged to Wanda. Tommy had been alone and it killed him.

To be offered space with her, though. To be welcomed into the life of his family?

"I... thank you," he whispers, trying to hide how much that means to him. Except then... why hide it? Tommy offers a wide smile. "And frankly, you kinda made the nightmare less bad. You fought it when I couldn't, and gave me a reason to fight it. I'm not scared."

The Vacation You Didn't Ask For

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