ax_main | Tamara and Warren, waaaayyy backdated

After the initial debacle with Lil, Tam and Warren relax and discuss love lives! Also, a srs moment.

Thanksgiving vacation was about to end, and Tamara was sooooo not ready for that. Back to the drag of classes and homework and being forced to interact with Yana... Blah. Even now she was supposed to be writing some kind of report, but she wasn’t having much luck. Laying on the floor with her wings stretched out on either side and a blank Word doc open in front of her, she pulled out her phone instead.

At least there was one bright spot - Shinobi would be coming back. Which put a stupid little smile on her face, but she had the sunny reading room to herself for the moment, so whatever. And the lighting was great, so yeah, stupid selfie time. She flipped open Snapchat, playing with filters and poses until she found one she liked (https://pin.it/73thobgqhtqoj4).

...of course, as soon as she took the picture, she heard the door open. Figured.

"What? Talking selfies without me? Tam!" Warren chuckled and came to kneel next to her.

Tamara folded the relevant wing close to her back to make room for him (and honestly, make sure there was no accidental wing crushing...) with a laugh. “Hang on, lemme send this one first,” she said, doing a poor job of hiding her little smirk as she sent the pic off to Shinobi.

"Oooh for Shinobi! Yeah send one of me too. Wait lemme..." Warren pulled up his shirt to show the bottom of his abs, still kneeling next to Tam, and winked.

“Ohmygod, you’re the worst,” Tamara told him, but pulled a playfully coy face face and snapped a pic of them both anyways, adding some text: Warren’s getting naked for you I guess?? :P

"Like he'd expect anything less," Warren said with a snort, watching over her shoulder.

“Does JP know you send nude pics to Shinobi?” she asked with faux-curiosity, but her not-so-innocent blink up at him conveyed or should I tell him? as she sent the photo.

"Please, as if I'd dare." Warren winked. "But seeing as I spend the entire summer and spring showing off my abs anyhow, this much, I can show."

Warren hadn’t said anything yet, which meant he probably didn’t know about her and Shinobi.

“Still, I’m gonna have to formally request that you quit trying to seduce him,” Tamara said, using her best Business Voice, playful smirk tugging at her lips. “An official Paws Off motion, if you will.”

"What's this?" Warren cocked an eyebrow and smirked right back. "Official! That's a serious word..."

Tamara laughed, rolling her eyes. “Don’t get too excited, it’s still me and Shinobi, so ‘serious’ is probably relative.” Okay, maybe she was downplaying a little, but it was new and, well, poorly defined. Didn’t matter, she was still stupidly happy.

"I'm happy. For both of you." Warren grinned hugely, because no matter what she said, he was gonna make a big deal. For those two, it was a big deal. "When two of my favorite people appreciate each other, it makes me feel all warm inside."

"Dork," Tamara accused affectionately, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Don't tell, you'll ruin my image." He winked.

"What, bros can't be dorks? Since when?" Tamara teased, flipping through the Snapchat filters until she found something dumb with bear ears for two, then held up the phone and made a surprised face for the camera.

Warren also looked surprised, but at Tamara, as if he didn't have the same dumb ears. Then, after she clicked, "So tell me what happened. Details about what I'm sure was a crazy over the top romantic evening that inspired you two to unlikely commitment."

Tamara laughed as she sent the latest photo off. "More like we were hanging out at the Hellfire Club and I asked him?"

"Appropriate for Shinobi." Warren pushed up onto his knees and chuckled. "Private dining room? Suite? Gardens?"

"Greenhouse," Tamara replied, smirking a little. Warren was kind of the best to tell things like this too. "With champagne."

"Oh, damn, good one Shinobi." Warren stood and moved to the nearest convenient backless place to sit. "That guy should write a book. Except no one would be able to read it because he uses so damn many five dollar words per sentence."

"What do you mean, good one Shinobi?" Tamara demanded playfully. "The champagne was my idea, thanks."

"Well, I meant for the greenhouse--that was a smart choice for romance. Not sure I would've thought of that, and I'm a soppy bastard." Warren winked. "But well done you on the champagne."

"I'm telling you, it wasn't some big romantic moment," she said, rolling her eyes at him (but still grinning). "You cheeseball."

"Having two boyfriends has made me squishy." Warren chuckled. Then got a little more serious. "Which reminds me... I really am sorry about how things went with Lil. I'm gonna talk to Shen about doing the thing. Just been fielding a lot of bullshit lately."

"Welcome to the out-mutants club," Tamara offered dryly. Yeah, there was a ton of bullshit. "You guys doing okay?"

Warren nodded but said, "As much as can be, I think. It helps that we've got each other and a good community here, for sure. Plus, Simon still has his sister and JM and JP are speaking again. Thank god. That was a nightmare."

Tamara raised an eyebrow. "Should I ask?"

Warren shook his head. "That way lies madness. I don't get the sibling stuff, but both boyfriends are providing one wild education."

"Can't say I get it either, but I've just got half-brothers I had to babysit all the time," Tamara replied with a shrug. "But the whole family thing didn't really work out for me, so..." And there was a twinge of... something, in her chest about that, but she pushed it away and smiled at Warren.

"No, it didn't. Not for me either." Warren blew upwards, sending blond hair flying. "My parents cut off contact. And money. Via their lawyers."

"...shit. Shit, Warren," Tamara said softly, stunned for a moment.

Warren shrugged, but his face showed that it wasn't as easy as he liked to pretend. "It's what I expected, more or less. An embarrassment too far." His smile was wry.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Not like there was anything Tamara could do about it if not, but all the same.

"I've got my own portfolio, which is tied up with the fake apartment and PR, and I've got a few more ventures in mind. I don't need money for anything except the whole public-mutant thing, so I should be able to swing it." It didn't occur to Warren that she might not be asking about money.

For once, Tamara wasn't at all upset by the money talk. Using his wealth to protect people he cared about was just how Warren worked. "You gonna tell the media about it?"

"No," Warren replied. "It'd be too easy to turn it into a Poor Little Rich boy story, and whether they do it for me or against me, it takes the attention off the important stuff. Plus, I don't want people questioning Jean-Paul or Simon about their families' reactions. Not that you can't find out everything about JP's past with a google search, but still. There's some painful stuff to dig up."

Tamara frowned but nodded, wings sort of deflating around her. "Still, to tell people what kind of prejudice mutants are facing..." Even Warren wasn't immune.

Warren nodded. "I'm not saying I'll never put it out there. I'm just not ready--not for that. Kinda the one door I don't want to swing open right now." Mainly so he wouldn't have to think about it too much. But also, "And I really don't want anyone to start on JP and Simon about that kind of stuff. Jean-Paul's life has enough of that anyhow, and Simon..." Warren shook his head. It was so frustrating that no one knew what either of them were going through and giving up. And Warren knew Tamara got annoyed with him about JP sometimes especially. Ugh.

“Yeah, I haven’t talked about it in my videos yet either,” Tam replied, gaze falling to the floor. It was a weakness she hated admitting to, because it felt like her step-dad was winning or something. It wasn’t like she regretted her choices, like, at all, but being thrown out and losing her home, crappy as it had been... Fuck. “It’s like every time I try to figure out what to say, my mind just goes blank.”

Warren leaned forward and nodded. "I know. I mean... I think it's important to keep some things for ourselves though. No point dealing with trauma in public. We're giving a lot of ourselves already."

“Yeah, but people need to know,” Tamara said reluctantly. “Like, if Xavier hadn’t showed up, I don’t know where I’d be right now - and I feel like half the school is refugees, so just think how many mutants must be out there without a mansion over the heads, y’know? If no one talks about it, how can we expect people to take it seriously?” So went the argument in her head, round and round...

"We don't have to do it all at once," Warren said, resting a hand on her small shoulder. "When we're ready, is all I'm saying."

“Tell that to the people who get hurt in the meantime,” Tamara said, though without any bite, because Warren was right. She sighed. “I’m really glad you guys came out. Like, I know you didn’t do it for me or anything, but being a lone voice was tough.”

Warren smiled wryly at the first thing. It was true, but... there were limits. There had to be. "We did do it for you, and for different reasons than we did it for--whoever else is on the list. You did an amazing job holding the world on your shoulders, honestly. But it way past time for other people to step up and help."

Well, there was nothing else for it - Tamara muttered “hang on” as she carefully pressed herself upright without hurting her wings, then leaned in to give Warren a hug, practically collapsing onto him (he could handle it). “Thanks,” she mumbled, kind of embarrassed (she wasn’t really a ‘hugger’), but it was overpowered by gratitude for the moment. “You’re an awesome friend.”

Warren smiled, wings rustling in pleasant surprise as he hugged her tight. Man, she was tiny. “You too.”