What It All Comes Down To

[doubled_speed]

WHO: Tommy Shepherd, OTA
WHERE: Around Temba
WHAT: Coming Down From It All (Post House of Billy)
WHEN: The first week post event [Forward Dated]
WARNINGS: CW: Referenced sexual encounter in thread with Kyle, Referenced child abuse in thread with Kyle.


A. Keeping The Diners Supplied The Diner
"Delivery of fresh produce."

Tommy's tired. Perhaps that's why he's coming in later than normal with supplies for this meal shift. Perhaps that's why he looks frazzled and his hair is limp and he's not racing in with all speed. Clearly it's not the heavy crate loaded down with all sorts of foods from the green house, because that's never slowed him down before. But sleep after something like what they'd gone through was... Well, unlikely.

"The cyanana harvest is starting, so I'm thinking about trying to figure out how to make some sorta pudding out of it. That's a thing, right? Banana pudding or something."

He'd been enough out of it on entering that he didn't even know who it was he was talking to. Like hell he'd thought about how the kitchen help rotation was working now. Nor did he care. He was too tired from all his dreams to care.


B. Healing Power of Horticulture The Greenhouse
If there was one place that Tommy often found peace, it was the greenhouse. Today Tommy was trying his best to work there without getting too complicated with other people. For this he'd done the best thing he could do: working the mint wing. The advantage that came that the specific wing was sealed off from the rest of the greenhouse to keep it from spreading too much. Tommy moved slowly through it with a woven rush basket, humming quietly under his breath some German pop music he remembered from back home. While he moved he clipped little sprigs of mint to pass on to Glownies as a treat.

The advantage of the sealed area was that when the doors opened, Tommy knew someone was there. He could hear it. He turned to look at the door and frowned.

"Can I help you? I thought I was soloing the mint today."


C. The Solitary Island Closed to Aeon
It took a while for him to find her, but Tommy had wanted to have an excuse to get away, but he didn't want to be put into a position where his stupid brain could interrupt him. There had been someone interested after all, and so he'd raced through the city until he found her.

"Aeon," he said, offering a hand up for a high five. "You doing anything? Because if not, island time."


D. Wild Card
[Feel free to hit me up on Discord or Plurk to discuss places Tommy could get cornered. Or just have someone come to his actual home. Other options are to find him lazing by the fountain, on top of a tall building, or hiding out with the glownies which he normally does not visit.]

Comments

[kyley_b]

"Totally fine."

Kyle starts putting things into containers. He looks at the master list tacked to the wall to see what is on the menu for the day.

"...I wish that knockoff action figure of yours survived."

[doubled_speed]

See, this is part of why Tommy liked other people working at the diner: they planned better than he did.

"Yeah, me too. That's one of the sweetest gifts someone's gotten me. And the fact that I could be important enough to get a knock off figure is sorta cool."

[kyley_b]

"Dude, there was more of them, too! Like other colours. None of em were correct. It was totally awesome."

Kyle is smiling as he puts away things they won't need until the following day.

"You're pretty cool."

[doubled_speed]

Tommy smiled, trying to focus on Kyle's joking because it made him feel better. "So no red one then? What a shame. I mean, I guess I'm REALLY green, but it was nice, having that connection to Wanda."

He pulls his case of mushrooms out and sets them aside, putting his hands over them to get them vibrated just enough to shed moisture to store them longer.

"Dude, I'm amazingly cool."

[kyley_b]

Kyle shakes his head. "Right, that's her thing."

He glances over and grins. "Yeah. Yeah, you are. And I'm never allowed to make fun of your costume now. I cannot believe I had a grownup version of a stupid outfit I made as a kid."

[doubled_speed]

"Well, her magic is that. And it's like, tied to ancestry back home for her," TOmmy shrugged. Something it wasn't for this Wanda.

"It did look good on you," Tommy counters. "And I can't believe I didn't figure out who you were. Though I admit, I'm glad to not be, you know, in red spandex and that mini cape. Oh god, it was bad."

[kyley_b]

"Which sounds fucking fascinating. Like, I'd seriously love to hear how it works."

Kyle cackles. "Dude, the guy who sold me your action figure? HE clocked me! And we'd just met!" He looks over.

"Aww. I liked it, you looked sexy."

[doubled_speed]

"I wish I knew more about it. But I'm Speed, not Wiccan. I'm not the inheritor, I'm not the mystical one. So I guess it's not for my knowing."

And if he sounds slightly pained over that, he's trying to hide it. But come on, hearing that some VENDOR had figured Kyle out was breaking his heart. He thought he was smarter than that.

"I guess I just tried to respect who you were."

Looked sexy. Tommy blushes and doesn't look at Kyle. Was this flirting? Were they allowed to flirt? He doesn't even fucking know. They need ground rules, but Tommy doesn't do ground rules so he can't even offer them

[kyley_b]

"Maybe some day I'll hear stories," Kyle muses.

Kyle cackles again. "And you did. But it's funny. You were like... I dunno. So fucking sweet. And I appreciate the respect, dude. Nobody respects me."

Kyle's not usually a flirt. It embarrasses him and feels awkward. But this is a man he now remembers as being both a friend and lover.

[doubled_speed]

Maybe he will, but Tommy? Tommy doesn't expect he'll hear it. But he tries not to smile at the idea that he was so good to Kyle. Wow.

IT's weird, the way they have all these familiar, worn channels of a relationship, but at the same time they're strangers. How does he figure all of this out?

"Well, clearly the Agrii think you're worthy of respect.

[kyley_b]

"This would not be the first time I've been abducted for reasons that turned out to be a mistake," Kyle says dryly. "So I'm not really putting much weight on it."

He turns to start work on things that need to be cooked ahead of time. He's not a great cook, but he's not bad - his mom taught him.

"I'm hoping we can figure out how to make flour some day."

[doubled_speed]

Wait, what? Tommy looks at Kyle in shock.

"You've been abducted before? Fuck, that's messed."

But maybe Kyle does have a purpose here. He hopes so. Everyone deserves to belong.

His eyes flash in pleasure at that question.

"Clarice and I talked about it, off blanket. I got this tool, to let me try and do it with my speed. But I haven't tried it yet."

[kyley_b]

Kyle nods. "Oh, sure. Lots of times." Like that's totally normal.

"Really? Dude. We could like... make knishes. I totally remember how, my mom taught me. Oh, wait, do we have eggs? I bet we can find space chickens."

[doubled_speed]

It's not normal. His brother-in-law is an alien and it is NOT normal.

Knishes? Tommy both doesn't know what it is from this life, and absolutely loves them from the other world. He groans. He wants that bad.

"I don't know, but we'll figure it out if we ask Clarice I think. Hold on."

He started to move to cabinets under things and finally takes out what looks like two pieces of stone with a handle and a whole in the middle.

"This is supposed to let me make flour or meal."

[kyley_b]

Kyle smiles. "Clarice is kinda great," he says. "Member of the Gingers Club."

He watches with growing excitement. "So we just need a wheat type thing! This is gonna be so awesome, babe!" He realizes what he's said agnes blushes.

"Dude. Dude, sorry."

[doubled_speed]

"I don't know, she isn't that bad."

Tommy liked that she thought of things and tried to help him figure out how to make the diner better. And fuck, she treated Tommy like an adult. Not everyone older than him was like that.

The babe has Tommy freezing, his face going red. He holds the device before him very carefully, to not shake it apart with the tremors going through him now.

This was awkward.

"It's like having a loose tooth, you know? You think you've let it go, that you've forgotten the wiggle. Then your tongue finds it for half a second and there it is, only thing you can think of for a while."

[kyley_b]

"Oh, OUCH, being ginger is a compliment." He gestures to his own hair.

But then Tommy's freezing and yeah, Kyle's gone and made it awkward. He hates himself.

"I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. I swear, I'll stop. I'm not trying to make it weird."

[doubled_speed]

"I didn't mean it like that," Tommy said quickly, wincing. He thought Kyle's hair was nice. He'd enjoyed pulling it. Which he HATES remembering.

"It's not easy, wanting to jump you and knowing I don't even know if the middle name I have for you is fucking real."

[kyley_b]

"I'm teasing. And I do like Clarice a lot. She has big sister vibes."

Kyle freezes because NOBODY ever wants to jump him. "Uhm. I. Don't have a middle name," he says, cheeks red. "But. I mean. I know what you mean. Do. Uh. It's like... do you still like the same stuff here?"

[doubled_speed]

Big sister vibes? Tommy's never had a big sister, so he wouldn't know. Tommy, though, for his own sanity, keeps his own eyes on the cooking tool. Because looking at Kyle would make life harder.

"I suppose it depends. Like, I like playing with electronics stuff, Stark's been teaching me some. Well, I've been watching. And I knew some of that already. But I guess I'd need to think a bit more specifically and figure out what does and doesn't make me confused."

[kyley_b]

Kyle nods, falling silent for a while as he works to get things set up for the day. Eventually he risks a glance over at Tommy again.

"I get it."

[doubled_speed]

Get it? Yeah, he probably does. Tommy takes a deep breath.

"I still don't know what to do here. About all of this. Like, what if I assume you like something here because I remember it, and you HATE it?"

[kyley_b]

Kyle smiles in spite of himself. "I mean... I'd tell you? I figure you'd tell me if I did the same." He pushes his mop of hair back.

"I'm not gonna yell at you just because we might get mixed up. Besides, offhand I can't think of anything I like that I hated over there or vice versa."

[doubled_speed]

"Alright," Tommy answered and moved to start chopping for a salad for lunch.

It meant he could have his back to Kyle and not see the reaction to his question.

"What about contact? Like... where are the lines? My instinct is just to fucking lean all over you all the time."

[kyley_b]

Probably a good thing they weren't looking at each other, because Kyle could feel himself blush.

"Uhm. I mean. I'm used o being leaned on. Growing up I was really physical with all of my friends. So it's fine."

He wasn't entirely sure if that was true, or if he was just not ready to let go of it yet.