Wynonna, Tommy and Billy Backdated 02/01
Feb. 1st, 2018 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_main Billy introduces Tommy to Wynonna and gets an idea in his head.
Billy threw the M&M in the air, leaning as far back as the stool he was sitting on would let him and caught it in his mouth. The clack of the chocolate shell against his teeth felt like victory and he sat back up to grin at his brother. “I’m the most talented person in the entire world, all because I can catch chocolate in my mouth.”
He tapped at the plate with his finger that had his half-eaten sandwich on it but eyed the pickle Tommy had yet to eat. “Can I have your pickle?”
"Not you too," Tommy sighed melodramatically, though a sardonic grin was already playing on his face. "That's all anyone ever wants from me. I may not have Shaw money or powers with slick visual effects, but I'll have you know," he splayed one hand over his heart (but nudged his plate toward Billy with the other), "that I have depth. Ambitions. Style. I am more than just a fantastic piece of ass."
Billy made a face and looked down at the pickle that he had wanted just a moment ago before that whole thing. Then he pursed his lips, reaching to grab it and take a huge bite out of it. Reference to his brother’s dick or not, a pickle was a delicious pickle, damn it. “Maybe you should show that depth and not look like you’re the three-foot kiddie pool all the time. Also, thanks for the compliment.”
Wynonna wasn't entirely sure what she walked in on when she wandered into the kitchen (alright, you caught her, she was looking for donuts, okay?). She saw Billy and some other dude eating snacks and trading ass compliments.
Seemed like her kind of afternoon. "Hey Billy."
Tommy glanced up over Billy's shoulder as someone new came in. No, not new, he'd seen her around - cafeteria, maybe? - but damned if he could remember if he'd ever learned her name. He leaned on the counter and arched a knowing eyebrow at Billy. "You're holding out on me, little brother. Are you going to introduce me to your friend?"
Billy glanced back when he heard his name and smiled a little when he saw Wynonna. He gave a small wave and tried to scoot his chair back, so he could at least see her without breaking his neck. “Hey, Wynonna.”
He gestured to Tommy with a wave. “Tommy, Wynonna. She has a magic gun. Wynonna, Tommy. He’s my speedster twin brother.”
The furrow in her brow that started with 'little brother' morphed into wide eyes. "...twin? Also, what the hell is up with all the speed twins?"
Tommy nodded and flashed her a smile. "I know, it's hard to tell. Sadly I got all the good looks between us." Billy was probably going to turn his half-finished pop into a chainsaw or something for that one, but it wasn't like Wynona was Billy's type. "Magic gun?"
Billy rolled his eyes at Tommy’s comments, but kept his mouth shut so Wynonna could answer about her own mutation.
Cocky. Wynonna could work with cocky. Leaning up against the table, she answered, "Keep it in my panty drawer," with a wink. Figuring that probably was not the answer he was looking for though, she shrugged and added, "It shows up, bang bang, byebye other mutants’ powers for a little bit. I mean, in theory. Your brother knows--I'm a crap shot."
Billy couldn’t help it. Even though he had absolutely no interest in women or their down town area, the word panty made his cheeks heat and he had to look down at his plate for help. “Uh, Yeah, I mean, no!” His head shot up to make sure she hadn’t taken offense. “You’re not a crap shot. You just need practice.”
Tommy stilled for a nanosecond at the idea of 'bye-bye powers,' but Billy didn't seem hugely worried by the description. Granted, his idea of what constituted a credible threat was pretty seriously out of whack with reality, but that was Billy for you. "She shot you? Nice going. You need to log some more hours in the Danger Room, get those reflexes in decent shape."
To Wynona, though -- she wasn't rolling her eyes at him (yet), so he'd take that as encouragement. Why not have some fun? "I'd love to hear more about that gun drawer sometime." Tommy grinned, his eyes alight. "But the power gun -- like Illyana's sword, it just appears when you want it? That's pretty slick."
"When I want, when I don't want--I'm not really so good with self-control," Wynonna joked with a grin of her own. Then, she added, "And no Billy's have ever been harmed in the making of my practice." God, that was cheesy. She was a cheeseball. She wanted to make a face at her own lameness.
“Yeah,” Billy replied, tossing an M&M at Tommy. “I have never been shot and I’d like to keep it that way.”
He turned a smile onto Wynonna, pushing the bowl of chocolate towards her in a silent offer.
"Heavily armed and limited self-control? I have the feeling we're going to get along very well." Tommy grabbed the M&M out of the air before it could hit him, and snagged some more out of the bowl for good measure as it went by. He popped one in his mouth with a wide and speculative smile. "With that accent, I'm assuming you're not another New Yorker. Where'd Xavier drag you in from?"
Wynonna was never one to turn down free chocolate. She snagged a handful of M&Ms before answering, "Middle of bumfuck nowhere Purgatory. And yourself...ves?"
“Purgatory? Never heard of it.” Billy commented quietly, surprised how quickly Tommy had flipped on the flirting, but then again Wynonna was pretty and had boobs so maybe he shouldn’t have been. “I’m from New York City. He’s a Jersey boy. It’s a long story, but we have different parents.”
"Jersey born and Jersey bred, someday I'll be Jersey dead," Tommy joked, giving Billy a bit of a look for tiptoeing close to the origin story drama -- but he'd summed it up well enough, anyway. "Are we talking bumfuck-nowhere Children of the Corn, or more like The Good, the Bad and the-" he hesitated, grinned. "-I'm not going to finish that line. I don't know if I want to be staring down the barrel of your gun quite so soon."
"Children of the corn meets the wild west is more like it," Wynonna joked back, ignoring the family drama. Hey, it wasn't like she didn't have her own fair share of family shit she didn't want to get into. Pulling a face she added, "Might still be better than New Jersey though. You're not Pauly D are you?"
“Ha!” Billy laughed sharply, looking at his brother with a wide grin. “Ya know, you might pull off the look well.”
Tommy made a disgusted face at Billy. "Wash your mouth out with soap. Newark's North Jersey. We only go down the Shore to wreak havoc on the boardwalk in the summer."
"Listen to you--'the shore,'" Wynonna made a face to tease him.
Billy snickered. “I knew I liked you for a reason.” He turned to Tommy and held up his hands in surrender. “Alright. No more state rivalry, we have enough to hark on each other for without that.”
"Says the Yankees fan," Tommy zinged back grinning, because the last word was his. It was the smallest compensation he could ask for, really. "You're both missing out, that's all I'm gonna say." He reached across the counter for the M&Ms and grabbed another handful, flashing a smile at Wynonna as he did so. "Are you taking powers training, or is it more of a 'time on the shooting range' thing?"
"Aw, you didn't like me for my good looks?" Wynonna joked with a smirk. "And a little from column A, little from column B. Figured this school could help prevent me from just being a crazy chick with a gun."
Tommy nodded along with the explanation. "There's nothing wrong with that, if that's a life goal, but a little variety never hurts. I wouldn't look at this guy for compliments on your looks, word of warning. He wouldn't know a cute girl if she came up and bit him." And with the werewolf sisters around, that might actually happen one day. "He's the gay twin," Tommy explained with a grin, and shifted his legs out of reach of Billy's feet.
"Gay doesn't mean he's blind," Wynonna told him easily with a shrug. Of everything Wynonna was self-conscious about like, oh, her sanity and family, her body was actually something she was pretty chill with.
Billy had been about to try and take out Tommy’s shins, frowning when his brother predicted his plan and moved out of the way. “She’s right and what the hell? The gay twin?” He asked, eyebrow raised. “What does that make you, then?”
"The evil twin, naturally," Tommy grinned, and stroked his chin thoughtfully. "How do you think I'd I look with a goatee?"
"Goatees belong on goats only," Wynonna told him faux serious. "And evil? Aren't you in a school that plays superhero?"
“I think superhero is a bit of a stretch.” Though they had the X-force, they seemed more inclined toward mutant issues and saving, not an everybody thing. “Though, Wynonna is right. No goatees please. I think you’d look good with a beard, maybe? A nice bushy white beard so you could become the world's youngest mall Santa.”
Tommy shook his head at Wynonna's suggestion. "I'm no superhero. Not Santa, either-" that one was directed at Billy. "Though I could get behind the idea of being in charge of the naughty-or-nice list."
"Can't say I've ever been on the nice list," Wynonna joked with a grin and a wink. Who were they kidding though? This school was totally playing superheroes.
Billy watched the two of them, Tommy was flirting, but it seemed like Wynonna was too? Had she been like this when he met her? Or did he just ooze gay so she really didn’t try? Huuuuuh. Interesting. Maybe.
“Alright. Even though I brought up Santa, I’m pulling the Jewish card here and putting a stop to it.” He tapped his hand on the counter as if his word was final. “On to another topic. Are you going to join the X-Force, Wynonna? Though, if we aren’t against mutants and just humans...can your gun do anything against non-mutants?”
"Can't say I'm really the superhero type," Wynonna admitted with a slight frown. Or, you know, a team player for that matter. A few too many trust issues for that to be her speed. "And nope, Peacemaker is a mutant only kind of gal. What about you guys?"
He was going to get an eyeroll from one or the other of them after saying that he wasn't trying to be a hero, but whatever. Tommy shrugged. "We're both doing it, at least for now. Not that it's amounted to a whole lot so far, mind you. Only one of my little field trips was sanctioned.”
“I’ve only been to Limbo twice and was put out of commission both times after, so I haven’t had any X-Force missions so to speak.” Billy shrugged a little, but it didn’t really bother him. “But maybe someday soon, ya know, if I can learn to actually get my magic under control.”
Wynonna wasn't sure she wanted to know what Limbo was. "Do they have you wearing spandex?"
"Are you asking to see my butt in Lycra?" Tommy flashed her a grin, ignoring Billy's mention of Limbo and all those memories entailed. "Sorry to disappoint. The one recon I went on for Xavier was before he'd ever mentioned the vigilante team deal, and we just wore casual shit. Sweats and hoodies, mostly."
"Less hot, but okay," Wynonna teased with a grin of her own. She was more of a leather gal herself, but sweats were definitely comfier.
“Okay, it’s time to stop talking about Tommy’s butt. I don’t care if it’s lycra or baggy ass sweats, you guys can do that on your own time.” Billy made a face like he had eaten a lemon and shook his head. “So, no uniforms, at least not yet. Maybe we’ll have to come up with something on our own. I wouldn’t mind that actually.”
"If I see you show up at practice in a Star Trek uniform, I'm flushing your head down the toilet myself," Tommy advised Billy, making a show of his disdain.
Wynonna couldn't help but laugh at the guys. First for the butt comment, and then for the Star Trek jibe. It just felt so...normal. And Wynonna hadn't felt normal in a long time.
“Well, you just like to take the fun out of everything.” Billy stuck his tongue out at Tommy but couldn’t help but smile at Wynonna’s laugh. “Don’t laugh. He just threatened me with a swirly. Those things are a killer on the ears and nose, water all up in there and not helpful like a Nettie pot.”
Tommy snorted, the smile playing over his lips. "Don't be such a baby." There was something odd and a little disconcerting happening in the room, the vibe lighter and easier than anything he'd felt in... didn't matter how long. And Wynonna was laughing along with them, pretty and vibrant and apparently into it. Tommy's memory - the stupid jerk - served up an image of Shen, laughing in his arms, brushing her hair aside to expose her neck-
That didn't matter. Asked and already answered. Shen didn't want him. Not enough to even consider for an instant the idea of wanting only him. So, forget about all of that and move on. "Do you have siblings?" he asked Wynonna, focusing on the girl actually in front of him. "Ever have the uncontrollable urge to jettison them into space?"
If this were a movie, the record would scratch right then. Because how do you answer that when they took your older sister into the woods to kill her? Smile dropping slightly, Wynonna cleared her throat and answered as honestly as she could, "Waverly is far too adorable to send to space."
Billy watched her smile dim a little and worried for a minute that they had moved into an area that wasn’t a fun topic for her. But she answered about a sibling named Waverly and he smiled a little. “Waverly and Wynonna? Your family like the letter W a lot? Waverly is your....sister?”
Tommy caught the throat-clear and re-evaluated. Family was a touchy enough subject for a lot of kids at the school, so one more wasn't super-surprising. Billy stormed ahead like a steamroller anyway, but Tommy took the chance to give her an out. Just in case. "You have a problem with Ws, William?"
Wynonna appreciated the out. As much as she loved to boast about her genius baby sis, she wasn't ready to go into the inevitable follow up questions about the rest of the Earp clan. So instead, she smirked at Billy and agreed, "Wow, William. You might be an Earp with a name like that."
Billy realized what Tommy was doing and felt bad for not thinking before he had opened his big mouth. He gave them both a weak glare and shrugged. “Maybe with that last name I would like William better, but since it’s not I’ll stick with Billy.”
"You think? 'Billy Earp's got a ring to it," Tommy teased, but more gently than he'd been doing. "It's probably for the best. Anyway, your folks are alright."
"You're too normal to be an Earp anyways," Wynonna agreed with a shrug and a self-deprecating smile. "Now Tommy on the other hand..."
Billy snorted a little, a happy smile coming to his face as he glanced over at Tommy. Wynonna was fun, and he wondered if Tommy thought so as well. Could he Emma Woodhouse this up? No, Emma was a shitty matchmaker, but he could maybe give it a nudge. “I think she’s complimenting you by calling you weird cause the way she said normal didn’t sound great.”
That little smile on Billy's face meant something was up, but Tommy ignored him. For now. "I'll take it," he grinned and shrugged. "Who wants to be normal, anyway?"
"Highly overhyped," Wynonna agreed with her own grin. "No offense, Billy."
“Yeah yeah.” Billy waved her away with his hand and pulled the bowl of M&Ms closer to himself. “Fine you weirdos. No chocolate for you.”
It took less than a split-second for Tommy to head over to the cupboards, grab a second bowl, fill it to the same level with raisins, swap it out for the M&Ms bowl and retake his seat, only a flicker of light to show that he'd moved at all. He pushed the bowl of M&Ms towards Wynonna with a grin, and a sigh and a shake of the head for Billy. "Rude."
Wynonna, not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, eagerly shoved a handful of M&Ms in her mouth. "Dude you're fast."
Billy had a raisin half way to his mouth before he realized what Wynonna was eating. He gave his brother a glare and then popped the disgusting shriveled grape in his mouth, swallowing without chewing. “Joke’s on you, I love raisins.”
His expression made it obvious just how true that wasn’t, and Tommy just grinned wider, turning his attention back to soaking up Wynonna’s praise. “The Beaubiers can outdo me in short sprints, especially since I’m not a flier, but I can break the sound barrier with enough open space to wind up.” It wasn’t a brag if it was true, right?
Wynonna smirked at Billy's grimace before turning her attention back to Tommy. She thought it was...funny? Cute? how proud he was of his powers. It was kind of refreshing, too be around people happy with their x-gene. "Woah there speed racer, remind me not to give you too much open space."
Billy snorted a laugh as politely as he could and while they were distracted made a move for the M&Ms.
Tommy caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and whipped his hand out to grab Billy's before he could swipe the bowl. He didn't bother using his powers for more than a quick burst, but Billy had the windup as an advantage. He'd already started to pull the bowl back towards himself by the time Tommy's hand came down on the edge, flipping the bowl and sending the last of the M&Ms flying.
"Way to go guys," Wynonna laughed, plucking an M&M off the floor and shoving it in her mouth. Hey, five second rule, right?
Billy watched the multi-colored candy scatter with an unimpressed expression, turning to look at Tommy as gestured to the mess and the girl eating from the floor. “Look what you did, now all we have is raisins.”
"If you hadn't tried to swipe them back when I'd stolen them fair and square, we wouldn't have this problem," Tommy informed him loftily, his lip twitching.
"Boys," Wynonna chuckled.
“Stolen and fair don’t exactly go together.” Billy pointed out, trying his best not to grin.
Wynonna had a nice laugh, Tommy decided. Not snide or sharp like his tended to be, but when was the last time he’d kicked back like this, without feeling like he had to watch his back constantly? Swimming with Shen. Hanging out with Pam or Alex at Asteroid M, sometimes. And what any of that meant... he really didn’t know. Just that for once, he didn’t have the urge to bolt.
“Whatever happened to 'honor among thieves'? Anyway, you’re the one with the whole Sorcerer’s Apprentice thing going on,” Tommy flashed Wynonna a brief glimpse of a warm smile, his comments directed entirely at Billy. “You’re on clean-up detail.”
"Cleaning is really not my square, so I think that might be my cue," Wynonna told them jokingly. "Tommy, if you can find more junk food, you're welcome to join me in my avoidance of responsibilities."
“Er-excuse me?” Billy fixed Wynonna with the best betrayed look, before turning to Tommy with a glare. “You two can’t just high tail it out of here while I have to pick up zillions of small candies off the floor when it was your fault.”
He stuck his tongue out like the mature teenager he was. “Besides, we’ve all seen how well ‘cleaning up’ went for Mickey. You want M&M monsters everywhere?”
"I dunno, man. I think I just got a much better offer," Tommy teased right back, cracking his knuckles and starting to get up off his stool. "Junk food, I can find," he promised Wynonna with a grin. "Dine in, or eat out?"
"Well I mean, we'll miss the show if we eat out," Wynonna gestured to Billy and the ground with a grin. She left out the Unless you mean a different kind of eat out , on the tip of her tongue.
After all, she hardly knew these guys.
Billy rolled his eyes and didn’t dare touch on that wording in front of these two, looking down at the mess and tried to think of the best wording so they wouldn’t actually end up with candy monsters.
"Fair." It hadn't actually been a way of asking around the edges of a date then; that was fine. He'd met her all of ten minutes ago and his personal life was one that could most charitably be called 'complicated' at the best of times.
Tommy dropped to his feet and turned on the speed, zipping around the kitchen to collect necessities -- a bag of chips from one of the cupboards and a bowl to dump them into, a thing of sour cream dip from the fridge that still smelled okay, a two-liter of pop and two - no, three cups, because he wasn't actually being a dick today. He paused to consider the M&Ms on the floor. He could be a good guy and clean them up, but then they'd lose the serious entertainment value of Billy trying to animate them. He grabbed the dustpan and brush from the closet anyway and swept the candies into a contained heap in the pan, leaving that on the floor so that Billy's spell would still have a target.
Then he sat down and let time spring back to itself.
Wynonna laughed, "I could get used to this kind of fast food."
Billy had figured out the phrase he wanted and only blinked once to find that the scattered candy had been pushed into a dust pan. He turned to look at the snacks that were now scattered along the island and finally let an amused smile come to his face. His brother’s powers were pretty fucking cool when Tommy wasn’t being annoying with them and he shook his head, looking back at the candies. “Alright let me try this... I want the M&Ms in the trash. I want the M&Ms in the trash. I want the M&Ms in the trash.”
His hands glowed blue and so did the candies in the pan as they started to shake and move toward where the trash was at a sloth’s pace. Billy sighed at this unimpressive show of power and got up to open the closet, so the slow-moving pan could get to the trash. “Any century now.”
Tommy couldn't help it -- not that he was actually trying. He just about bust a gut laughing at the fucking ridiculous scene, tears coming to his eyes. "Holy shit, dude," he wheezed, only to start laughing again once he'd gotten the words out.
Wynonna started laughing too. These slow M&Ms were just too much.
Billy glared at the two of them while his slowly moving pile finally made its way to the trash, levitating just as slow before the pan dumped them in the trash and he closed the door. “Alright, chuckle heads. Laugh it up now, one of these days I’ll actually have a hold on my magic and then you guys will be sorry.”
It was an empty threat, but whatever and he made his way back over to his seat. “You done yet?”
"Never," Tommy replied cheerfully, though his laugh had died down to a faint snicker. "And I'll play those odds."
"Since it seems like you have about as much magic control as I have aim... I'm with Tommy, you're on kid," Wynonna agreed with a grin.
“I’ll have you guys know that you two are the literal worst for my self-confidence so thanks for that.” Billy groaned with a roll of his eyes and moved to check his phone. “Ugh. I have to start back on my mountain of extra credit. Tommy, I’ll be finished hopefully by seven, wanna catch that thief movie you want to see? I’m going to need something to take my mind off math.”
Tommy's eyebrows went up for a moment, Billy's offer catching him more off-guard than he wanted to admit. A good kind of off-guard, though. "Yeah, sure. Assuming you don't die under a textbook avalanche before that." He grabbed a handful of chips and glanced back at Wynonna. "Den of Thieves; it's a new heist flick, it's supposed to be pretty good. If you wanted to come along," he offered. It was rude to talk about plans in front of someone and not include them, after all. Only reason. Really.
Wynonna pretended to think about it for half a second. "Hot crimes and hot popcorn, count me in."
Billy blinked, he hadn’t expected Wynonna to join but he wasn’t opposed to it either, so he gave them both a thumbs up. “Sweet. Wynonna, I don’t have your number yet wanna give it to me real quick so we can coordinate?”
"Asking for my number, bold move," Wynonna joked, fishing out her old flip phone from her pocket. She kept it on her mostly because the only person who had the number before the mansion was Waverly. "See if you can program it in this brick."
"Seriously?" Tommy snagged it before Billy could reach over, turning the ancient relic over in his hands. "Even my phone from before was better than this one," he joked. That one -- along with all the names, numbers and texts from his first life -- was long gone, same as whatever the Right had done with his clothes and backpack when they'd grabbed him. He found the contact list with only a little bit of poking around, but tapping on a billion buttons to get a single letter to pop up was enough to try his limited patience. "Ugh. People used to text on these things?"
“Give me that.” Billy said, trying to contain a grin as he took it from Tommy and started to enter his name and number. He had never really used the letter to number system, but after a bit he was able to get his name and number as well as another’s into her phone, flipping it shut and handing it to her. “There. I gave you Tommy’s too, just in case.”
"Shhh, you'll hurt her feelings," Wynonna teased, accepting her phone back with a grin.
"Sometimes the truth hurts," Tommy advised sagely, returning her grin. Would she actually text or call him? It would take a lot more effort on that old piece of junk, less of an impulse move. "Talk to Xavier, he can get you a better one. One that's actually from this century."
“Unless you want to keep it.” Billy gave Tommy a look, maybe she had it for sentimental reasons. He didn’t even think they made those things anymore, so what if she was keeping it for other reasons. “But Kitty let me keep my phone, she just upgraded it, so my electricity wouldn’t fry it and when we went to Limbo it didn’t bust.”
Wynonna frowned for a split second before smoothing out her face. "Would they make me change my number?"
Tommy shrugged. "I don't see why not. Numbers are all portable. I didn't keep mine, but-" It's not like anyone from his previous life was going to be trying to get in touch with him anyway. "I bet it wouldn't be a problem."
“Nah. I’m sure Kitty could do it no problem.” Billy reassured, his faith in Kitty solid as he gave Wynonna a smile and then started to walk backwards toward the door. “Okay. Homework. Both of you, at seven.”
He pushed through the door with his back and was gone with a swing of it.
Tommy tossed off a sarcastic half-assed salute at being given marching orders by his so-called little brother and settled his elbows on the table as he relaxed. "So how do you know Billy?"
"We caught each other trying to practice our powers," Wynonna admitted with a half shrug and small smile. "He didn't annoy me, so I tried my best not to shoot him."
"I'm impressed," Tommy grinned. "On both counts. Usually he's easily annoying enough for that. How quick is your draw with the gun?" His train of thought jumped tracks, but only kind of. It was still related. "It'd be interesting to put you up against a speedster."
"Oh, my draw is quick. Top notch. My aim on the other hand..." Wynonna grimaced with a slight shrug. "Well, there was a reason I was practicing."
"Same reason we're all here," Tommy filled in, meant to be supportive. Also, a lie, since he was pretty much there because he didn't have anywhere else to be, but close enough. "We should hit the Danger Room. I'd love to see you in action sometime. With the gun, I mean," he added with a cheeky grin.
"You're on," Wynonna agreed with a grin.
Billy threw the M&M in the air, leaning as far back as the stool he was sitting on would let him and caught it in his mouth. The clack of the chocolate shell against his teeth felt like victory and he sat back up to grin at his brother. “I’m the most talented person in the entire world, all because I can catch chocolate in my mouth.”
He tapped at the plate with his finger that had his half-eaten sandwich on it but eyed the pickle Tommy had yet to eat. “Can I have your pickle?”
"Not you too," Tommy sighed melodramatically, though a sardonic grin was already playing on his face. "That's all anyone ever wants from me. I may not have Shaw money or powers with slick visual effects, but I'll have you know," he splayed one hand over his heart (but nudged his plate toward Billy with the other), "that I have depth. Ambitions. Style. I am more than just a fantastic piece of ass."
Billy made a face and looked down at the pickle that he had wanted just a moment ago before that whole thing. Then he pursed his lips, reaching to grab it and take a huge bite out of it. Reference to his brother’s dick or not, a pickle was a delicious pickle, damn it. “Maybe you should show that depth and not look like you’re the three-foot kiddie pool all the time. Also, thanks for the compliment.”
Wynonna wasn't entirely sure what she walked in on when she wandered into the kitchen (alright, you caught her, she was looking for donuts, okay?). She saw Billy and some other dude eating snacks and trading ass compliments.
Seemed like her kind of afternoon. "Hey Billy."
Tommy glanced up over Billy's shoulder as someone new came in. No, not new, he'd seen her around - cafeteria, maybe? - but damned if he could remember if he'd ever learned her name. He leaned on the counter and arched a knowing eyebrow at Billy. "You're holding out on me, little brother. Are you going to introduce me to your friend?"
Billy glanced back when he heard his name and smiled a little when he saw Wynonna. He gave a small wave and tried to scoot his chair back, so he could at least see her without breaking his neck. “Hey, Wynonna.”
He gestured to Tommy with a wave. “Tommy, Wynonna. She has a magic gun. Wynonna, Tommy. He’s my speedster twin brother.”
The furrow in her brow that started with 'little brother' morphed into wide eyes. "...twin? Also, what the hell is up with all the speed twins?"
Tommy nodded and flashed her a smile. "I know, it's hard to tell. Sadly I got all the good looks between us." Billy was probably going to turn his half-finished pop into a chainsaw or something for that one, but it wasn't like Wynona was Billy's type. "Magic gun?"
Billy rolled his eyes at Tommy’s comments, but kept his mouth shut so Wynonna could answer about her own mutation.
Cocky. Wynonna could work with cocky. Leaning up against the table, she answered, "Keep it in my panty drawer," with a wink. Figuring that probably was not the answer he was looking for though, she shrugged and added, "It shows up, bang bang, byebye other mutants’ powers for a little bit. I mean, in theory. Your brother knows--I'm a crap shot."
Billy couldn’t help it. Even though he had absolutely no interest in women or their down town area, the word panty made his cheeks heat and he had to look down at his plate for help. “Uh, Yeah, I mean, no!” His head shot up to make sure she hadn’t taken offense. “You’re not a crap shot. You just need practice.”
Tommy stilled for a nanosecond at the idea of 'bye-bye powers,' but Billy didn't seem hugely worried by the description. Granted, his idea of what constituted a credible threat was pretty seriously out of whack with reality, but that was Billy for you. "She shot you? Nice going. You need to log some more hours in the Danger Room, get those reflexes in decent shape."
To Wynona, though -- she wasn't rolling her eyes at him (yet), so he'd take that as encouragement. Why not have some fun? "I'd love to hear more about that gun drawer sometime." Tommy grinned, his eyes alight. "But the power gun -- like Illyana's sword, it just appears when you want it? That's pretty slick."
"When I want, when I don't want--I'm not really so good with self-control," Wynonna joked with a grin of her own. Then, she added, "And no Billy's have ever been harmed in the making of my practice." God, that was cheesy. She was a cheeseball. She wanted to make a face at her own lameness.
“Yeah,” Billy replied, tossing an M&M at Tommy. “I have never been shot and I’d like to keep it that way.”
He turned a smile onto Wynonna, pushing the bowl of chocolate towards her in a silent offer.
"Heavily armed and limited self-control? I have the feeling we're going to get along very well." Tommy grabbed the M&M out of the air before it could hit him, and snagged some more out of the bowl for good measure as it went by. He popped one in his mouth with a wide and speculative smile. "With that accent, I'm assuming you're not another New Yorker. Where'd Xavier drag you in from?"
Wynonna was never one to turn down free chocolate. She snagged a handful of M&Ms before answering, "Middle of bumfuck nowhere Purgatory. And yourself...ves?"
“Purgatory? Never heard of it.” Billy commented quietly, surprised how quickly Tommy had flipped on the flirting, but then again Wynonna was pretty and had boobs so maybe he shouldn’t have been. “I’m from New York City. He’s a Jersey boy. It’s a long story, but we have different parents.”
"Jersey born and Jersey bred, someday I'll be Jersey dead," Tommy joked, giving Billy a bit of a look for tiptoeing close to the origin story drama -- but he'd summed it up well enough, anyway. "Are we talking bumfuck-nowhere Children of the Corn, or more like The Good, the Bad and the-" he hesitated, grinned. "-I'm not going to finish that line. I don't know if I want to be staring down the barrel of your gun quite so soon."
"Children of the corn meets the wild west is more like it," Wynonna joked back, ignoring the family drama. Hey, it wasn't like she didn't have her own fair share of family shit she didn't want to get into. Pulling a face she added, "Might still be better than New Jersey though. You're not Pauly D are you?"
“Ha!” Billy laughed sharply, looking at his brother with a wide grin. “Ya know, you might pull off the look well.”
Tommy made a disgusted face at Billy. "Wash your mouth out with soap. Newark's North Jersey. We only go down the Shore to wreak havoc on the boardwalk in the summer."
"Listen to you--'the shore,'" Wynonna made a face to tease him.
Billy snickered. “I knew I liked you for a reason.” He turned to Tommy and held up his hands in surrender. “Alright. No more state rivalry, we have enough to hark on each other for without that.”
"Says the Yankees fan," Tommy zinged back grinning, because the last word was his. It was the smallest compensation he could ask for, really. "You're both missing out, that's all I'm gonna say." He reached across the counter for the M&Ms and grabbed another handful, flashing a smile at Wynonna as he did so. "Are you taking powers training, or is it more of a 'time on the shooting range' thing?"
"Aw, you didn't like me for my good looks?" Wynonna joked with a smirk. "And a little from column A, little from column B. Figured this school could help prevent me from just being a crazy chick with a gun."
Tommy nodded along with the explanation. "There's nothing wrong with that, if that's a life goal, but a little variety never hurts. I wouldn't look at this guy for compliments on your looks, word of warning. He wouldn't know a cute girl if she came up and bit him." And with the werewolf sisters around, that might actually happen one day. "He's the gay twin," Tommy explained with a grin, and shifted his legs out of reach of Billy's feet.
"Gay doesn't mean he's blind," Wynonna told him easily with a shrug. Of everything Wynonna was self-conscious about like, oh, her sanity and family, her body was actually something she was pretty chill with.
Billy had been about to try and take out Tommy’s shins, frowning when his brother predicted his plan and moved out of the way. “She’s right and what the hell? The gay twin?” He asked, eyebrow raised. “What does that make you, then?”
"The evil twin, naturally," Tommy grinned, and stroked his chin thoughtfully. "How do you think I'd I look with a goatee?"
"Goatees belong on goats only," Wynonna told him faux serious. "And evil? Aren't you in a school that plays superhero?"
“I think superhero is a bit of a stretch.” Though they had the X-force, they seemed more inclined toward mutant issues and saving, not an everybody thing. “Though, Wynonna is right. No goatees please. I think you’d look good with a beard, maybe? A nice bushy white beard so you could become the world's youngest mall Santa.”
Tommy shook his head at Wynonna's suggestion. "I'm no superhero. Not Santa, either-" that one was directed at Billy. "Though I could get behind the idea of being in charge of the naughty-or-nice list."
"Can't say I've ever been on the nice list," Wynonna joked with a grin and a wink. Who were they kidding though? This school was totally playing superheroes.
Billy watched the two of them, Tommy was flirting, but it seemed like Wynonna was too? Had she been like this when he met her? Or did he just ooze gay so she really didn’t try? Huuuuuh. Interesting. Maybe.
“Alright. Even though I brought up Santa, I’m pulling the Jewish card here and putting a stop to it.” He tapped his hand on the counter as if his word was final. “On to another topic. Are you going to join the X-Force, Wynonna? Though, if we aren’t against mutants and just humans...can your gun do anything against non-mutants?”
"Can't say I'm really the superhero type," Wynonna admitted with a slight frown. Or, you know, a team player for that matter. A few too many trust issues for that to be her speed. "And nope, Peacemaker is a mutant only kind of gal. What about you guys?"
He was going to get an eyeroll from one or the other of them after saying that he wasn't trying to be a hero, but whatever. Tommy shrugged. "We're both doing it, at least for now. Not that it's amounted to a whole lot so far, mind you. Only one of my little field trips was sanctioned.”
“I’ve only been to Limbo twice and was put out of commission both times after, so I haven’t had any X-Force missions so to speak.” Billy shrugged a little, but it didn’t really bother him. “But maybe someday soon, ya know, if I can learn to actually get my magic under control.”
Wynonna wasn't sure she wanted to know what Limbo was. "Do they have you wearing spandex?"
"Are you asking to see my butt in Lycra?" Tommy flashed her a grin, ignoring Billy's mention of Limbo and all those memories entailed. "Sorry to disappoint. The one recon I went on for Xavier was before he'd ever mentioned the vigilante team deal, and we just wore casual shit. Sweats and hoodies, mostly."
"Less hot, but okay," Wynonna teased with a grin of her own. She was more of a leather gal herself, but sweats were definitely comfier.
“Okay, it’s time to stop talking about Tommy’s butt. I don’t care if it’s lycra or baggy ass sweats, you guys can do that on your own time.” Billy made a face like he had eaten a lemon and shook his head. “So, no uniforms, at least not yet. Maybe we’ll have to come up with something on our own. I wouldn’t mind that actually.”
"If I see you show up at practice in a Star Trek uniform, I'm flushing your head down the toilet myself," Tommy advised Billy, making a show of his disdain.
Wynonna couldn't help but laugh at the guys. First for the butt comment, and then for the Star Trek jibe. It just felt so...normal. And Wynonna hadn't felt normal in a long time.
“Well, you just like to take the fun out of everything.” Billy stuck his tongue out at Tommy but couldn’t help but smile at Wynonna’s laugh. “Don’t laugh. He just threatened me with a swirly. Those things are a killer on the ears and nose, water all up in there and not helpful like a Nettie pot.”
Tommy snorted, the smile playing over his lips. "Don't be such a baby." There was something odd and a little disconcerting happening in the room, the vibe lighter and easier than anything he'd felt in... didn't matter how long. And Wynonna was laughing along with them, pretty and vibrant and apparently into it. Tommy's memory - the stupid jerk - served up an image of Shen, laughing in his arms, brushing her hair aside to expose her neck-
That didn't matter. Asked and already answered. Shen didn't want him. Not enough to even consider for an instant the idea of wanting only him. So, forget about all of that and move on. "Do you have siblings?" he asked Wynonna, focusing on the girl actually in front of him. "Ever have the uncontrollable urge to jettison them into space?"
If this were a movie, the record would scratch right then. Because how do you answer that when they took your older sister into the woods to kill her? Smile dropping slightly, Wynonna cleared her throat and answered as honestly as she could, "Waverly is far too adorable to send to space."
Billy watched her smile dim a little and worried for a minute that they had moved into an area that wasn’t a fun topic for her. But she answered about a sibling named Waverly and he smiled a little. “Waverly and Wynonna? Your family like the letter W a lot? Waverly is your....sister?”
Tommy caught the throat-clear and re-evaluated. Family was a touchy enough subject for a lot of kids at the school, so one more wasn't super-surprising. Billy stormed ahead like a steamroller anyway, but Tommy took the chance to give her an out. Just in case. "You have a problem with Ws, William?"
Wynonna appreciated the out. As much as she loved to boast about her genius baby sis, she wasn't ready to go into the inevitable follow up questions about the rest of the Earp clan. So instead, she smirked at Billy and agreed, "Wow, William. You might be an Earp with a name like that."
Billy realized what Tommy was doing and felt bad for not thinking before he had opened his big mouth. He gave them both a weak glare and shrugged. “Maybe with that last name I would like William better, but since it’s not I’ll stick with Billy.”
"You think? 'Billy Earp's got a ring to it," Tommy teased, but more gently than he'd been doing. "It's probably for the best. Anyway, your folks are alright."
"You're too normal to be an Earp anyways," Wynonna agreed with a shrug and a self-deprecating smile. "Now Tommy on the other hand..."
Billy snorted a little, a happy smile coming to his face as he glanced over at Tommy. Wynonna was fun, and he wondered if Tommy thought so as well. Could he Emma Woodhouse this up? No, Emma was a shitty matchmaker, but he could maybe give it a nudge. “I think she’s complimenting you by calling you weird cause the way she said normal didn’t sound great.”
That little smile on Billy's face meant something was up, but Tommy ignored him. For now. "I'll take it," he grinned and shrugged. "Who wants to be normal, anyway?"
"Highly overhyped," Wynonna agreed with her own grin. "No offense, Billy."
“Yeah yeah.” Billy waved her away with his hand and pulled the bowl of M&Ms closer to himself. “Fine you weirdos. No chocolate for you.”
It took less than a split-second for Tommy to head over to the cupboards, grab a second bowl, fill it to the same level with raisins, swap it out for the M&Ms bowl and retake his seat, only a flicker of light to show that he'd moved at all. He pushed the bowl of M&Ms towards Wynonna with a grin, and a sigh and a shake of the head for Billy. "Rude."
Wynonna, not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, eagerly shoved a handful of M&Ms in her mouth. "Dude you're fast."
Billy had a raisin half way to his mouth before he realized what Wynonna was eating. He gave his brother a glare and then popped the disgusting shriveled grape in his mouth, swallowing without chewing. “Joke’s on you, I love raisins.”
His expression made it obvious just how true that wasn’t, and Tommy just grinned wider, turning his attention back to soaking up Wynonna’s praise. “The Beaubiers can outdo me in short sprints, especially since I’m not a flier, but I can break the sound barrier with enough open space to wind up.” It wasn’t a brag if it was true, right?
Wynonna smirked at Billy's grimace before turning her attention back to Tommy. She thought it was...funny? Cute? how proud he was of his powers. It was kind of refreshing, too be around people happy with their x-gene. "Woah there speed racer, remind me not to give you too much open space."
Billy snorted a laugh as politely as he could and while they were distracted made a move for the M&Ms.
Tommy caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and whipped his hand out to grab Billy's before he could swipe the bowl. He didn't bother using his powers for more than a quick burst, but Billy had the windup as an advantage. He'd already started to pull the bowl back towards himself by the time Tommy's hand came down on the edge, flipping the bowl and sending the last of the M&Ms flying.
"Way to go guys," Wynonna laughed, plucking an M&M off the floor and shoving it in her mouth. Hey, five second rule, right?
Billy watched the multi-colored candy scatter with an unimpressed expression, turning to look at Tommy as gestured to the mess and the girl eating from the floor. “Look what you did, now all we have is raisins.”
"If you hadn't tried to swipe them back when I'd stolen them fair and square, we wouldn't have this problem," Tommy informed him loftily, his lip twitching.
"Boys," Wynonna chuckled.
“Stolen and fair don’t exactly go together.” Billy pointed out, trying his best not to grin.
Wynonna had a nice laugh, Tommy decided. Not snide or sharp like his tended to be, but when was the last time he’d kicked back like this, without feeling like he had to watch his back constantly? Swimming with Shen. Hanging out with Pam or Alex at Asteroid M, sometimes. And what any of that meant... he really didn’t know. Just that for once, he didn’t have the urge to bolt.
“Whatever happened to 'honor among thieves'? Anyway, you’re the one with the whole Sorcerer’s Apprentice thing going on,” Tommy flashed Wynonna a brief glimpse of a warm smile, his comments directed entirely at Billy. “You’re on clean-up detail.”
"Cleaning is really not my square, so I think that might be my cue," Wynonna told them jokingly. "Tommy, if you can find more junk food, you're welcome to join me in my avoidance of responsibilities."
“Er-excuse me?” Billy fixed Wynonna with the best betrayed look, before turning to Tommy with a glare. “You two can’t just high tail it out of here while I have to pick up zillions of small candies off the floor when it was your fault.”
He stuck his tongue out like the mature teenager he was. “Besides, we’ve all seen how well ‘cleaning up’ went for Mickey. You want M&M monsters everywhere?”
"I dunno, man. I think I just got a much better offer," Tommy teased right back, cracking his knuckles and starting to get up off his stool. "Junk food, I can find," he promised Wynonna with a grin. "Dine in, or eat out?"
"Well I mean, we'll miss the show if we eat out," Wynonna gestured to Billy and the ground with a grin. She left out the Unless you mean a different kind of eat out , on the tip of her tongue.
After all, she hardly knew these guys.
Billy rolled his eyes and didn’t dare touch on that wording in front of these two, looking down at the mess and tried to think of the best wording so they wouldn’t actually end up with candy monsters.
"Fair." It hadn't actually been a way of asking around the edges of a date then; that was fine. He'd met her all of ten minutes ago and his personal life was one that could most charitably be called 'complicated' at the best of times.
Tommy dropped to his feet and turned on the speed, zipping around the kitchen to collect necessities -- a bag of chips from one of the cupboards and a bowl to dump them into, a thing of sour cream dip from the fridge that still smelled okay, a two-liter of pop and two - no, three cups, because he wasn't actually being a dick today. He paused to consider the M&Ms on the floor. He could be a good guy and clean them up, but then they'd lose the serious entertainment value of Billy trying to animate them. He grabbed the dustpan and brush from the closet anyway and swept the candies into a contained heap in the pan, leaving that on the floor so that Billy's spell would still have a target.
Then he sat down and let time spring back to itself.
Wynonna laughed, "I could get used to this kind of fast food."
Billy had figured out the phrase he wanted and only blinked once to find that the scattered candy had been pushed into a dust pan. He turned to look at the snacks that were now scattered along the island and finally let an amused smile come to his face. His brother’s powers were pretty fucking cool when Tommy wasn’t being annoying with them and he shook his head, looking back at the candies. “Alright let me try this... I want the M&Ms in the trash. I want the M&Ms in the trash. I want the M&Ms in the trash.”
His hands glowed blue and so did the candies in the pan as they started to shake and move toward where the trash was at a sloth’s pace. Billy sighed at this unimpressive show of power and got up to open the closet, so the slow-moving pan could get to the trash. “Any century now.”
Tommy couldn't help it -- not that he was actually trying. He just about bust a gut laughing at the fucking ridiculous scene, tears coming to his eyes. "Holy shit, dude," he wheezed, only to start laughing again once he'd gotten the words out.
Wynonna started laughing too. These slow M&Ms were just too much.
Billy glared at the two of them while his slowly moving pile finally made its way to the trash, levitating just as slow before the pan dumped them in the trash and he closed the door. “Alright, chuckle heads. Laugh it up now, one of these days I’ll actually have a hold on my magic and then you guys will be sorry.”
It was an empty threat, but whatever and he made his way back over to his seat. “You done yet?”
"Never," Tommy replied cheerfully, though his laugh had died down to a faint snicker. "And I'll play those odds."
"Since it seems like you have about as much magic control as I have aim... I'm with Tommy, you're on kid," Wynonna agreed with a grin.
“I’ll have you guys know that you two are the literal worst for my self-confidence so thanks for that.” Billy groaned with a roll of his eyes and moved to check his phone. “Ugh. I have to start back on my mountain of extra credit. Tommy, I’ll be finished hopefully by seven, wanna catch that thief movie you want to see? I’m going to need something to take my mind off math.”
Tommy's eyebrows went up for a moment, Billy's offer catching him more off-guard than he wanted to admit. A good kind of off-guard, though. "Yeah, sure. Assuming you don't die under a textbook avalanche before that." He grabbed a handful of chips and glanced back at Wynonna. "Den of Thieves; it's a new heist flick, it's supposed to be pretty good. If you wanted to come along," he offered. It was rude to talk about plans in front of someone and not include them, after all. Only reason. Really.
Wynonna pretended to think about it for half a second. "Hot crimes and hot popcorn, count me in."
Billy blinked, he hadn’t expected Wynonna to join but he wasn’t opposed to it either, so he gave them both a thumbs up. “Sweet. Wynonna, I don’t have your number yet wanna give it to me real quick so we can coordinate?”
"Asking for my number, bold move," Wynonna joked, fishing out her old flip phone from her pocket. She kept it on her mostly because the only person who had the number before the mansion was Waverly. "See if you can program it in this brick."
"Seriously?" Tommy snagged it before Billy could reach over, turning the ancient relic over in his hands. "Even my phone from before was better than this one," he joked. That one -- along with all the names, numbers and texts from his first life -- was long gone, same as whatever the Right had done with his clothes and backpack when they'd grabbed him. He found the contact list with only a little bit of poking around, but tapping on a billion buttons to get a single letter to pop up was enough to try his limited patience. "Ugh. People used to text on these things?"
“Give me that.” Billy said, trying to contain a grin as he took it from Tommy and started to enter his name and number. He had never really used the letter to number system, but after a bit he was able to get his name and number as well as another’s into her phone, flipping it shut and handing it to her. “There. I gave you Tommy’s too, just in case.”
"Shhh, you'll hurt her feelings," Wynonna teased, accepting her phone back with a grin.
"Sometimes the truth hurts," Tommy advised sagely, returning her grin. Would she actually text or call him? It would take a lot more effort on that old piece of junk, less of an impulse move. "Talk to Xavier, he can get you a better one. One that's actually from this century."
“Unless you want to keep it.” Billy gave Tommy a look, maybe she had it for sentimental reasons. He didn’t even think they made those things anymore, so what if she was keeping it for other reasons. “But Kitty let me keep my phone, she just upgraded it, so my electricity wouldn’t fry it and when we went to Limbo it didn’t bust.”
Wynonna frowned for a split second before smoothing out her face. "Would they make me change my number?"
Tommy shrugged. "I don't see why not. Numbers are all portable. I didn't keep mine, but-" It's not like anyone from his previous life was going to be trying to get in touch with him anyway. "I bet it wouldn't be a problem."
“Nah. I’m sure Kitty could do it no problem.” Billy reassured, his faith in Kitty solid as he gave Wynonna a smile and then started to walk backwards toward the door. “Okay. Homework. Both of you, at seven.”
He pushed through the door with his back and was gone with a swing of it.
Tommy tossed off a sarcastic half-assed salute at being given marching orders by his so-called little brother and settled his elbows on the table as he relaxed. "So how do you know Billy?"
"We caught each other trying to practice our powers," Wynonna admitted with a half shrug and small smile. "He didn't annoy me, so I tried my best not to shoot him."
"I'm impressed," Tommy grinned. "On both counts. Usually he's easily annoying enough for that. How quick is your draw with the gun?" His train of thought jumped tracks, but only kind of. It was still related. "It'd be interesting to put you up against a speedster."
"Oh, my draw is quick. Top notch. My aim on the other hand..." Wynonna grimaced with a slight shrug. "Well, there was a reason I was practicing."
"Same reason we're all here," Tommy filled in, meant to be supportive. Also, a lie, since he was pretty much there because he didn't have anywhere else to be, but close enough. "We should hit the Danger Room. I'd love to see you in action sometime. With the gun, I mean," he added with a cheeky grin.
"You're on," Wynonna agreed with a grin.
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Date: 2018-04-05 10:09 pm (UTC)