Billy and Tommy | Backdated to August 27
Aug. 11th, 2018 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainBilly watches over his brother after Tommy's rescue from the Right. Does this count as bonding?
Billy tapped his foot anxiously against the tile floor, adrenaline and paranoia being the only thing keeping him from slumping over on Tommy’s bed. He watched his brother’s sleeping face for a long while, wondering how exactly this was going to change Tommy.
Kidnapped by the same damn people twice.
Billy growled, remembering how badly JM had beat them and how much he wished he had done more to help her. He glanced down at Tommy’s hand, biting his lip before reaching out to take it between his and pressing it against his forehead with a sigh. “I’m sorry, Tommy. I’m sorry this whole thing happened to you...again. I wis-“
No. Stop. Rewind.
“They’ll never touch you again. Everyone is making sure of that.”
Tommy was used to life going by in a blur. Usually he was the blur who was going by. Today had been a lot blurrier than most, starting from the point where the Right's goons had shown up at the market. He hadn't had the time to be scared then, more concerned with messing with them, getting JP a chance to get away.
The fear had kicked in later, when he was being teleported to god-knows-where. They hadn't come at him with the needles this time, no more ports burrowing into his arms, drip-drip-dripping until his blood ran thick with poison. He had a collar heavy around his neck and his hands tied together.
He'd dreamed that someone had come for him, but that was another lie. There was no point, not when Pietro existed, when JP and JM had his powers but faster. They wouldn't let him out this time, wouldn't give him the slightest chance of busting out. He was still tied up now, pain coursing through him every time he breathed. Straps around his neck and one arm cut into him, wouldn't let him move. The tightness inside his chest exploded into panic and he lashed out against the straps, the pressure holding his hand in place, eyes flying open and air sucking into his lungs in a hard, agonizing gasp.
Billy flinched when the hand in his grasp suddenly jerked, causing one of Tommy’s knuckles to jab into his right eye. He let go as quick as he could and stood so he could lean over the bed to be a little closer. “Tommy? It’s okay! Calm down.”
He resisted the urge to reach out and touch, holding down a person in panic couldn’t be helpful right? He wondered if he needed to call someone or get help if Tommy didn’t stop soon. He tried to lay a soothing hand on Tommy’s knee over the blanket, the touch light and non-constrictive. Light and soft voice. Nothing that could startle him more. “Tommy, come on. It’s me. It’s Billy. You’re at the school.”
That wasn't a guard's voice, or one of the scientists, and Tommy focused on that as the world un-fogged around him. White walls, white ceiling, the smell of antiseptic burning in his mouth and throat- Fear ripped through him, bursting out in a yell of panic. He kicked out, tried to shove himself backwards, away from the unrelenting white, but got hit with a wall of pain instead. Something grated in his shoulder, something else moved in his ribs that shouldn't have been moving, and he froze in place until the agony slowly, slowly began to ebb.
it gave him time to realize who'd been talking, the dark shape next to him solidifying into Billy. No, they didn't get him too not him- but his words sank in even over the screaming in Tommy's bones. "School?" he repeated dumbly.
Billy winced when he saw the look of pain on Tommy’s face at his movements and knew he must have hurt his ribs. People weren’t supposed o move much when they had broken ribs and he nodded slowly when Tommy questioned him. He tried to keep his voice quiet a calm, just in case Tommy still wasn’t all there. “Yeah, school. We’re in the infirmary at school. We got you out of the lab a bit ago, you were pretty beat up so they put you in the infirmary.”
It killed him to see Tommy like this. He’d always hoped to see a side of his brother that wasn’t snark and sarcasm, but never like this. He never wanted to see fear on Tommy’s face ever again and he reached out slowly to take his brother’s hand. “You’re safe. I promise.”
He fucking meant it.
Billy was wrong, so wrong, and Tommy had to tell him, had to warn him. "Safe doesn't exist," he blurted out, his heart still hammering wildly in his chest. He fixed his eyes on the closed door, and no, the handle wasn't turning, it wasn't. "Some places just take longer to go bad."
Billy frowned at that, his stomach turning cold at Tommy’s words and he shook his head. Shit. The one place where they were supposed to feel safe and now Tommy, rightfully so, didn’t think so. He reached out, trying to get Tommy to lay a little more comfortably so he wouldn’t upset his injuries too much and tried to think of what he could say to that. “I promised you’d be safe and I’ll make sure you are.”
He glanced the room, taking in the size of it and got an idea.
“I’ll put a protection spell over the room.” He said more to himself than his brother as he thought through the best way to go about it.
Panic was gonna make Tommy throw up, and if he threw up that was going to make everything hurt even worse, and he was pretty sure he didn't have anything in there to puke anyway. So he tried to breathe it away instead, calm down and slow his racing heart. Xavier's. It wasn't safe, but they weren't gonna jam him full of needles, either. His arms hurt where the ports had been, the old scars burning into him. (No, he was making that up. They were white and flat and old. Nothing more.)
But the collar was off, and Billy was there. That meant something. The girls had all come for him -- JM and Wyn and Shen and Wanda. It was after that that everything went back to being blurry. "You're gonna turn us into chickens or something," Tommy muttered, trying to find his footing again. Only a little while ago he'd made up his mind to die. only now... he didn't have to?
“I won’t turn us into chickens.” Billy muttered and moved towards the door. If he was Yana he would probably need chalk or some kind of items and he hoped since his magic seemed to be more in his words he could do this. It was to keep Tommy safe, it better work. He took a deep breath as he pressed his hand flat against the wood of the door and tried to figure out the perfect wording. “I wish for a barrier. To protect Tommy and keep him safe from all those who want to harm him.”
He was ready to repeat it several times, but when the room started to go blue he went with it and focused on thoughts of keeping Tommy from harm. “Keep him safe. No harm.”
The room flashed brightly and a ring around Tommy’s bed shined gold before fading into the white tile. He turned to look over at Tommy and tried to offer a small smile. “So, there’s that, but I’m not leaving either so if the chicken spell doesn’t work I’ll be here.”
Tommy nodded and regretted the motion instantly, his shoulder flaring into agony and his ribs not far behind. "Shit," he hissed out between his teeth. "What did they do?"
At Tommy’s hiss Billy moved over to his brother’s side quickly, though he really wasn’t sure what he could do. Healing wasn’t his thing. Maybe they could get that new girl, Pike, to help. “You mean the fuckers who took you? I think they beat you pretty bad.”
Billy leaned over so he could gently shift Tommy’s pillow behind him more so that he could lean back while sitting up. Hopefully that wouldn’t be too painful for him. “Pretty sure your collar bone is broken among a few other things...I’d have to look at Doctor McCoy’s chart. The pain isn’t too bad is it? Would pain killers even work on your metabolism?”
"Not enough to make it worth it." Tommy tried to shake his head, but even that was awful and made him want to hurl. "Jesus fuck, this hurts." Maybe dying was a better idea after all.
Billy wished he could heal, or at least have a spell to help with pain, but he was too nervous that something might go wrong to try and that was just what Tommy didn’t need right now. He sat back down in his chair, his rear and back unhappy that he was sitting again, but he ignored it. “Is it a certain thing or just kinda an all around hurt? I can get Doctor McCoy if you need me to.”
"Everyth-," Tommy started to whine, but clamped his mouth shut, fear spiking. Stupid, stupid -- Billy wasn't going to backhand him for bitching, but Tommy's throat closed in on him anyway.
Billy tilted his head at the abrupt halt in Tommy’s words and frowned. He looked upset or almost panicked all of a sudden and Billy had the fleeting thought that maybe he was going into shock. No. Shock was different right? Maybe? Fuck. “Tommy? You okay? What’s wrong? Seriously, I can get the doctor.”
Don’t panic. He hesitated before reaching out to take Tommy’s hand again and tried to look him in the eye. “It’s okay if you need help.”
Billy was talking at him. Dumb -- Tommy hadn't stopped time to give himself a breather moment, and he'd been caught out getting distracted. "What?" Tommy snapped back at him, deflecting. "Don't be weird."
Billy didn’t flinch when Tommy snapped at him, but it was close and he pursed his lips a little. He let out a soft breath, along with any hurt feelings and shook his head. “I’m not being weird, I’m making sure you’re okay. It’s important.”
When he was sure Tommy wasn’t going into shock or wasn’t just going to die on the bed, Billy turned to the small styrofoam cup and pitcher of water. “You thirsty?”
Be normal, stupid. Tommy managed a nod. The fear that gripped his throat began to ease, but only slowly. How did he explain it, how his body wanted to run and when it couldn't, it froze up tight? It made him a big stupid coward, that was what. Someone who couldn't even get himself out this time.
Billy poured the water, watching it fill the cup almost to the brim before stopping. He carefully held the cup out to Tommy, making sure it was in reach of his good arm. He waited until Tommy had his fill, taking the cup back when he was finished and sat back in his chair.
“So,” he started out and gave a cringe. “I’m scared Wanda is going to chew me out.”
Tommy had no immediate answer for that one, except gratitude that Billy wasn't asking him how he felt. Like he even knew how to answer that. "Why?" he asked, the water already making him feel a million times better. Things were still grinding horribly against each other when he tried to move against the sling, and he gave up. "What did you do?'
“I didn’t do the plan. I messed up.” Billy replied quietly, toeing at one of the lines in the tiles of the floor. He hoped Tommy didn’t get pissed about it, cause honestly the plan had been a much safer idea. “I was supposed to just teleport you right back here as soon as I found you, but instead I kind of panicked I guess? JM has gone bananas and we had that other prisoner and then I heard Wanda’s voice in my ear and for some reason I thought...she’s safe. I can get you to her and it will be okay.”
Tommy... remembered some of that. Mostly the beating he'd been getting before the team had showed up, stumbling out into the hall, the wave of relief when Billy'd gotten the power-suppressing collar off of him. The strange girl who'd been prisoner there too. Then the blue, the girls outside, the robots, and finally going back to the infirmary and what passed for safe. Wynonna had been there, which he still couldn't figure out. And none of that was what Billy was worried about. "It was okay," he reasoned. "Everyone got out, right?"
“Yeah.” Billy agreed, because it was true. Everyone was safe now, though the shape they were in wasn’t great, but they were here and the Right had taken a major hit. “I guess, I just...what if everyone hadn’t? What if bringing you guys out there had gotten you more hurt? I mean, there was still that...weird ass thing everyone was fighting. I’m on the team, so I need to listen to orders.”
He pursed his lips a little and then let out a huge puff of air, letting his sink his shoulders a little. He remembered the smell of blood and Tommy’s weight sagging against him, shaking his head a little because there was no blood here. Only the smell of antiseptic. “You’re Okay, though. So, if I get a lecture fine.”
Tommy frowned. "You worry too much. What does it matter what might have happened? None of it did."
“No,” Billy replied, light sarcasm in his voice. “I worry too much? Unthinkable.” He ran a hand through his hair, the strands sticking up weirdly as he sank further in the chair. He let silence take over for a bit, not sure if he should try to push away everything that happened with useless small talk or really try to say something. Neither sounded right at that moment and his urge to fill the quiet with talk was some how dampened, which was a first.
Instead he took a small breath and offered all he had at that moment. “I’m sorry, Tommy. Not for- I’m sorry this happened to you. Again. No one deserves it, but you really don’t. You deserve...to be happy.”
He pressed his lips together, not wanting to ramble and stared down at his jeans.
That was.. weirdly better than him freaking out all over the place, even if it was still deep in the 'I'm way too uncomfortable for this conversation' zone. "One thing I know is that no-one ever gets what they deserve," Tommy snarked. "Good or bad. It's all just different depths of shit on the sandwich."
“Thank you. That was a lovely image.” Billy muttered, pulling a face at the idea. “So, you’re saying that even happy things are just low levels of shit?”
Wrapped in bandages from his waist to his neck, his left arm literally strapped to his side, his face and chest bloodied and bruised from repeated beatings and tazings, Tommy just stared at Billy, stone-faced and unimpressed.
“Yeah...I’m just going to shut up now.” Billy reached back to scratch at his neck and decided that he needed to stop stepping in it with Tommy and just try to be quiet. He didn’t know what to do or how to help except keep Tommy safe so that’s what he would do. Maybe Wynonna would make Tommy feel better, hopefully she would come visit.
Being quiet lasted all of forty seconds. “Are you hungry? I can get us something if you want.”
Was he? Tommy wasn't sure. It was hard to tell what part of him was hurting for which reason. When was the last time he'd eaten anything? Breakfast. When JP had given him shit for his diet, right before it had all gone to shit. As if realizing that he was paying attention to it, his stomach growled. "... yeah," Tommy replied reluctantly. "That'd be cool."
The fact that there was actually something he could do for the other made Billy perk up a little and he nodded, standing up out of the chair for a second before hesitating. Nothing was going to happen to Tommy here. The school was safe. Right? He’d only be gone for a second.
Yeah. Sure. Yeah.
Billy licked his lips for a moment, not wanting to weird Tommy out at his sudden lack of movement and quickly covered it with a question. “What do you want? Name it and I can get it, though it should probably have a little bit of nutritional substance...unlike that chicken tender meatball sandwich you had me try after the game.”
"Chicken has vitamins," Tommy complained right back at him, though the idea of stretching to eat something that big right now made his jaw ache just in principle. "Something I can eat with one hand," he suggested. "Unless you plan to feed me, too."
“Yeah, Sorry. My Florence Nightingale skills don’t reach that far.” If Tommy had actually needed it then...ugh. Stop. Billy shook his head as he thought about food you could eat one handed. “Okay give me a second. I’ll be right back.”
He muttered under his breath and was gone in a flash of blue.
Tommy thought he'd be grateful for the quiet, for a few minutes of not having Billy hovering over him and flinching every time Tommy looked his way. Except quiet wasn't quiet, not in the infirmary. It was beeping machines and low voices from other rooms and the smell of disinfectant that got up his nose and burrowed under his skin and would never, ever wash away.
Billy was still gone. he'd put a safety spell on the room but who knew if it actually worked? Maybe the quiet was the part that was an illusion. Maybe Essex and more of his thugs were out there right now, snapping necks and shooting silenced guns into anyone standing between them and the rescued mutants. Maybe- maybe there was no way to actually escape. Had they tagged him somehow while he'd been unconscious? Some metal thing burrowing under his skin and beeping out a locator beacon - here I am. here I am.
Tommy's heart raced, his back up against the wall, his eyes fixed firmly on the door. Why wasn't anyone coming in?
Billy had tried to be quick, but even he couldn’t get past a small line and then he had to wait for his and Tommy’s order to be ready. When they had called out his name and set the large sack on the counter, Billy grabbed it and dashed outside, easily finding a place where no one would see him vanish. He hugged their bag of food to him as he muttered his spell, glancing around to make sure no one walked around the corner before he was gone with a flash.
“I come bringing sustenance!” He announced as he reappeared back in the room, holding out the bag full of sandwiches and soup like a prize. When he saw the look on Tommy’s face though he immediately let his arm drop and worry creeped up. “Tommy?”
The flash of blue should be Billy-- Tommy relaxed (sort of) when it turned out to actually be him. Fuck, he was jumpy. Jumpy and terrified and generally acting like a big baby. He shook his head, trying to force his heartbeat to slow down. "m' okay. It got too quiet," he said after a second. Half a second? Ten? His powers were still messing with his sense of time. "Thought maybe something ate you," he tried to make a joke out of his fear.
Too quiet. Billy swallowed and then forced a small smile and shrugged at the last bit of what Tommy said. He did move back to his chair though, scooting it a little closer to the bed under the guise of needing to be close to sort out the food. “Eat me? I’m like almost seventy percent bone, I’d be anyone’s last pick.”
He placed out the big tub of baked potato soup and crackers on the little table that could wheel over Tommy’s lap. Then set out a sandwich next to it with a bottle of coke. “I got a second sandwich for you in here in case all of that still leaves you unsatisfied.”
He fished out his sandwich, laying it on his lap before opening the lid on Tommy’s soup and handing him a flimsy plastic spoon.
Tommy’s stomach growled as the smell of the food hit him, and the sheer normalness of that compared to the rest of his day caught him off-guard. Would the world ever make sense again? Had it ever made sense in the first place? The questions were scattered and too big for him all at once. So he took the spoon and made a mournful face at Billy. “What, no fries?”
“I’ll get you fries if you finish all that.” Billy replied easily, refusing to believe he sounded like his mom there. He opened Tommy’s coke too before sitting back to unwrap his own sandwich. He took a small bite, not really tasting much since his mind was elsewhere and swallowed. “Why isn’t Wynonna part of the X-Force? She kicked ass out there with everyone else.”
Tommy would have sped up to eat everything in front of him, except trying to use his powers hurt too much. That had better get better, and fast. "She's not really a joiner," he pointed out around a mouthful of sandwich. "It's not her thing. But yeah. She kicks major ass."
Billy hummed softly, reaching over to take a sip of water from the cup Tommy had used before. “So, is there a title I should call her by or are you two still not putting labels on things?”
Wynonna wasn’t part of the team, but she had readily joined them when Tommy had been taken. She cared about him, that much Billy could see.
"Labels are cages," Tommy replied, his mouth full again. "And I've had more than enough of those for one lifetime. But neither of us is banging anyone else, if that makes you feel better."
Billy made a bit of a face on principle at the idea of the two of them banging and shook his head. “Better? I guess. At least you two have an understanding going on. I’m glad, though. She’s pretty cool.”
Tommy'd used pretty much those exact words to himself, among others, so he just nodded gingerly trying not to set off the waves of pain again. "Who wouldn't want a gunslinger on his arm? I'm a big fan."
“Gunslinger? Where are we? The set of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? Though I kinda get that western vibe from her.” Billy snorted, then frowned when a whole tomato came out with his bite of sandwich and landed with a wet slap on his jeans. “Gross.”
"Hot cowgirl. I dig it, even if you have no taste. And less dignity," Tommy added, a grin flashing onto his face for a second, nodding at the tomato.
“No taste? Have you seen my boyfriend? Still don’t know how I bagged him, but come on.” Billy teased, peeling the mustard covered tomato off his pants and flung it towards the small trash bin. “Now dignity? You got me there.”
"I meant what I said and I stand by it," Tommy snorted softly, cramming the rest of his sandwich into his mouth. He might not be able to do it fast his usual way, but this was better than small bites. "drk."
“Chew with your mouth closed, heathen.” Billy nagged with a smile before taking a huge bite of his own.
Billy tapped his foot anxiously against the tile floor, adrenaline and paranoia being the only thing keeping him from slumping over on Tommy’s bed. He watched his brother’s sleeping face for a long while, wondering how exactly this was going to change Tommy.
Kidnapped by the same damn people twice.
Billy growled, remembering how badly JM had beat them and how much he wished he had done more to help her. He glanced down at Tommy’s hand, biting his lip before reaching out to take it between his and pressing it against his forehead with a sigh. “I’m sorry, Tommy. I’m sorry this whole thing happened to you...again. I wis-“
No. Stop. Rewind.
“They’ll never touch you again. Everyone is making sure of that.”
Tommy was used to life going by in a blur. Usually he was the blur who was going by. Today had been a lot blurrier than most, starting from the point where the Right's goons had shown up at the market. He hadn't had the time to be scared then, more concerned with messing with them, getting JP a chance to get away.
The fear had kicked in later, when he was being teleported to god-knows-where. They hadn't come at him with the needles this time, no more ports burrowing into his arms, drip-drip-dripping until his blood ran thick with poison. He had a collar heavy around his neck and his hands tied together.
He'd dreamed that someone had come for him, but that was another lie. There was no point, not when Pietro existed, when JP and JM had his powers but faster. They wouldn't let him out this time, wouldn't give him the slightest chance of busting out. He was still tied up now, pain coursing through him every time he breathed. Straps around his neck and one arm cut into him, wouldn't let him move. The tightness inside his chest exploded into panic and he lashed out against the straps, the pressure holding his hand in place, eyes flying open and air sucking into his lungs in a hard, agonizing gasp.
Billy flinched when the hand in his grasp suddenly jerked, causing one of Tommy’s knuckles to jab into his right eye. He let go as quick as he could and stood so he could lean over the bed to be a little closer. “Tommy? It’s okay! Calm down.”
He resisted the urge to reach out and touch, holding down a person in panic couldn’t be helpful right? He wondered if he needed to call someone or get help if Tommy didn’t stop soon. He tried to lay a soothing hand on Tommy’s knee over the blanket, the touch light and non-constrictive. Light and soft voice. Nothing that could startle him more. “Tommy, come on. It’s me. It’s Billy. You’re at the school.”
That wasn't a guard's voice, or one of the scientists, and Tommy focused on that as the world un-fogged around him. White walls, white ceiling, the smell of antiseptic burning in his mouth and throat- Fear ripped through him, bursting out in a yell of panic. He kicked out, tried to shove himself backwards, away from the unrelenting white, but got hit with a wall of pain instead. Something grated in his shoulder, something else moved in his ribs that shouldn't have been moving, and he froze in place until the agony slowly, slowly began to ebb.
it gave him time to realize who'd been talking, the dark shape next to him solidifying into Billy. No, they didn't get him too not him- but his words sank in even over the screaming in Tommy's bones. "School?" he repeated dumbly.
Billy winced when he saw the look of pain on Tommy’s face at his movements and knew he must have hurt his ribs. People weren’t supposed o move much when they had broken ribs and he nodded slowly when Tommy questioned him. He tried to keep his voice quiet a calm, just in case Tommy still wasn’t all there. “Yeah, school. We’re in the infirmary at school. We got you out of the lab a bit ago, you were pretty beat up so they put you in the infirmary.”
It killed him to see Tommy like this. He’d always hoped to see a side of his brother that wasn’t snark and sarcasm, but never like this. He never wanted to see fear on Tommy’s face ever again and he reached out slowly to take his brother’s hand. “You’re safe. I promise.”
He fucking meant it.
Billy was wrong, so wrong, and Tommy had to tell him, had to warn him. "Safe doesn't exist," he blurted out, his heart still hammering wildly in his chest. He fixed his eyes on the closed door, and no, the handle wasn't turning, it wasn't. "Some places just take longer to go bad."
Billy frowned at that, his stomach turning cold at Tommy’s words and he shook his head. Shit. The one place where they were supposed to feel safe and now Tommy, rightfully so, didn’t think so. He reached out, trying to get Tommy to lay a little more comfortably so he wouldn’t upset his injuries too much and tried to think of what he could say to that. “I promised you’d be safe and I’ll make sure you are.”
He glanced the room, taking in the size of it and got an idea.
“I’ll put a protection spell over the room.” He said more to himself than his brother as he thought through the best way to go about it.
Panic was gonna make Tommy throw up, and if he threw up that was going to make everything hurt even worse, and he was pretty sure he didn't have anything in there to puke anyway. So he tried to breathe it away instead, calm down and slow his racing heart. Xavier's. It wasn't safe, but they weren't gonna jam him full of needles, either. His arms hurt where the ports had been, the old scars burning into him. (No, he was making that up. They were white and flat and old. Nothing more.)
But the collar was off, and Billy was there. That meant something. The girls had all come for him -- JM and Wyn and Shen and Wanda. It was after that that everything went back to being blurry. "You're gonna turn us into chickens or something," Tommy muttered, trying to find his footing again. Only a little while ago he'd made up his mind to die. only now... he didn't have to?
“I won’t turn us into chickens.” Billy muttered and moved towards the door. If he was Yana he would probably need chalk or some kind of items and he hoped since his magic seemed to be more in his words he could do this. It was to keep Tommy safe, it better work. He took a deep breath as he pressed his hand flat against the wood of the door and tried to figure out the perfect wording. “I wish for a barrier. To protect Tommy and keep him safe from all those who want to harm him.”
He was ready to repeat it several times, but when the room started to go blue he went with it and focused on thoughts of keeping Tommy from harm. “Keep him safe. No harm.”
The room flashed brightly and a ring around Tommy’s bed shined gold before fading into the white tile. He turned to look over at Tommy and tried to offer a small smile. “So, there’s that, but I’m not leaving either so if the chicken spell doesn’t work I’ll be here.”
Tommy nodded and regretted the motion instantly, his shoulder flaring into agony and his ribs not far behind. "Shit," he hissed out between his teeth. "What did they do?"
At Tommy’s hiss Billy moved over to his brother’s side quickly, though he really wasn’t sure what he could do. Healing wasn’t his thing. Maybe they could get that new girl, Pike, to help. “You mean the fuckers who took you? I think they beat you pretty bad.”
Billy leaned over so he could gently shift Tommy’s pillow behind him more so that he could lean back while sitting up. Hopefully that wouldn’t be too painful for him. “Pretty sure your collar bone is broken among a few other things...I’d have to look at Doctor McCoy’s chart. The pain isn’t too bad is it? Would pain killers even work on your metabolism?”
"Not enough to make it worth it." Tommy tried to shake his head, but even that was awful and made him want to hurl. "Jesus fuck, this hurts." Maybe dying was a better idea after all.
Billy wished he could heal, or at least have a spell to help with pain, but he was too nervous that something might go wrong to try and that was just what Tommy didn’t need right now. He sat back down in his chair, his rear and back unhappy that he was sitting again, but he ignored it. “Is it a certain thing or just kinda an all around hurt? I can get Doctor McCoy if you need me to.”
"Everyth-," Tommy started to whine, but clamped his mouth shut, fear spiking. Stupid, stupid -- Billy wasn't going to backhand him for bitching, but Tommy's throat closed in on him anyway.
Billy tilted his head at the abrupt halt in Tommy’s words and frowned. He looked upset or almost panicked all of a sudden and Billy had the fleeting thought that maybe he was going into shock. No. Shock was different right? Maybe? Fuck. “Tommy? You okay? What’s wrong? Seriously, I can get the doctor.”
Don’t panic. He hesitated before reaching out to take Tommy’s hand again and tried to look him in the eye. “It’s okay if you need help.”
Billy was talking at him. Dumb -- Tommy hadn't stopped time to give himself a breather moment, and he'd been caught out getting distracted. "What?" Tommy snapped back at him, deflecting. "Don't be weird."
Billy didn’t flinch when Tommy snapped at him, but it was close and he pursed his lips a little. He let out a soft breath, along with any hurt feelings and shook his head. “I’m not being weird, I’m making sure you’re okay. It’s important.”
When he was sure Tommy wasn’t going into shock or wasn’t just going to die on the bed, Billy turned to the small styrofoam cup and pitcher of water. “You thirsty?”
Be normal, stupid. Tommy managed a nod. The fear that gripped his throat began to ease, but only slowly. How did he explain it, how his body wanted to run and when it couldn't, it froze up tight? It made him a big stupid coward, that was what. Someone who couldn't even get himself out this time.
Billy poured the water, watching it fill the cup almost to the brim before stopping. He carefully held the cup out to Tommy, making sure it was in reach of his good arm. He waited until Tommy had his fill, taking the cup back when he was finished and sat back in his chair.
“So,” he started out and gave a cringe. “I’m scared Wanda is going to chew me out.”
Tommy had no immediate answer for that one, except gratitude that Billy wasn't asking him how he felt. Like he even knew how to answer that. "Why?" he asked, the water already making him feel a million times better. Things were still grinding horribly against each other when he tried to move against the sling, and he gave up. "What did you do?'
“I didn’t do the plan. I messed up.” Billy replied quietly, toeing at one of the lines in the tiles of the floor. He hoped Tommy didn’t get pissed about it, cause honestly the plan had been a much safer idea. “I was supposed to just teleport you right back here as soon as I found you, but instead I kind of panicked I guess? JM has gone bananas and we had that other prisoner and then I heard Wanda’s voice in my ear and for some reason I thought...she’s safe. I can get you to her and it will be okay.”
Tommy... remembered some of that. Mostly the beating he'd been getting before the team had showed up, stumbling out into the hall, the wave of relief when Billy'd gotten the power-suppressing collar off of him. The strange girl who'd been prisoner there too. Then the blue, the girls outside, the robots, and finally going back to the infirmary and what passed for safe. Wynonna had been there, which he still couldn't figure out. And none of that was what Billy was worried about. "It was okay," he reasoned. "Everyone got out, right?"
“Yeah.” Billy agreed, because it was true. Everyone was safe now, though the shape they were in wasn’t great, but they were here and the Right had taken a major hit. “I guess, I just...what if everyone hadn’t? What if bringing you guys out there had gotten you more hurt? I mean, there was still that...weird ass thing everyone was fighting. I’m on the team, so I need to listen to orders.”
He pursed his lips a little and then let out a huge puff of air, letting his sink his shoulders a little. He remembered the smell of blood and Tommy’s weight sagging against him, shaking his head a little because there was no blood here. Only the smell of antiseptic. “You’re Okay, though. So, if I get a lecture fine.”
Tommy frowned. "You worry too much. What does it matter what might have happened? None of it did."
“No,” Billy replied, light sarcasm in his voice. “I worry too much? Unthinkable.” He ran a hand through his hair, the strands sticking up weirdly as he sank further in the chair. He let silence take over for a bit, not sure if he should try to push away everything that happened with useless small talk or really try to say something. Neither sounded right at that moment and his urge to fill the quiet with talk was some how dampened, which was a first.
Instead he took a small breath and offered all he had at that moment. “I’m sorry, Tommy. Not for- I’m sorry this happened to you. Again. No one deserves it, but you really don’t. You deserve...to be happy.”
He pressed his lips together, not wanting to ramble and stared down at his jeans.
That was.. weirdly better than him freaking out all over the place, even if it was still deep in the 'I'm way too uncomfortable for this conversation' zone. "One thing I know is that no-one ever gets what they deserve," Tommy snarked. "Good or bad. It's all just different depths of shit on the sandwich."
“Thank you. That was a lovely image.” Billy muttered, pulling a face at the idea. “So, you’re saying that even happy things are just low levels of shit?”
Wrapped in bandages from his waist to his neck, his left arm literally strapped to his side, his face and chest bloodied and bruised from repeated beatings and tazings, Tommy just stared at Billy, stone-faced and unimpressed.
“Yeah...I’m just going to shut up now.” Billy reached back to scratch at his neck and decided that he needed to stop stepping in it with Tommy and just try to be quiet. He didn’t know what to do or how to help except keep Tommy safe so that’s what he would do. Maybe Wynonna would make Tommy feel better, hopefully she would come visit.
Being quiet lasted all of forty seconds. “Are you hungry? I can get us something if you want.”
Was he? Tommy wasn't sure. It was hard to tell what part of him was hurting for which reason. When was the last time he'd eaten anything? Breakfast. When JP had given him shit for his diet, right before it had all gone to shit. As if realizing that he was paying attention to it, his stomach growled. "... yeah," Tommy replied reluctantly. "That'd be cool."
The fact that there was actually something he could do for the other made Billy perk up a little and he nodded, standing up out of the chair for a second before hesitating. Nothing was going to happen to Tommy here. The school was safe. Right? He’d only be gone for a second.
Yeah. Sure. Yeah.
Billy licked his lips for a moment, not wanting to weird Tommy out at his sudden lack of movement and quickly covered it with a question. “What do you want? Name it and I can get it, though it should probably have a little bit of nutritional substance...unlike that chicken tender meatball sandwich you had me try after the game.”
"Chicken has vitamins," Tommy complained right back at him, though the idea of stretching to eat something that big right now made his jaw ache just in principle. "Something I can eat with one hand," he suggested. "Unless you plan to feed me, too."
“Yeah, Sorry. My Florence Nightingale skills don’t reach that far.” If Tommy had actually needed it then...ugh. Stop. Billy shook his head as he thought about food you could eat one handed. “Okay give me a second. I’ll be right back.”
He muttered under his breath and was gone in a flash of blue.
Tommy thought he'd be grateful for the quiet, for a few minutes of not having Billy hovering over him and flinching every time Tommy looked his way. Except quiet wasn't quiet, not in the infirmary. It was beeping machines and low voices from other rooms and the smell of disinfectant that got up his nose and burrowed under his skin and would never, ever wash away.
Billy was still gone. he'd put a safety spell on the room but who knew if it actually worked? Maybe the quiet was the part that was an illusion. Maybe Essex and more of his thugs were out there right now, snapping necks and shooting silenced guns into anyone standing between them and the rescued mutants. Maybe- maybe there was no way to actually escape. Had they tagged him somehow while he'd been unconscious? Some metal thing burrowing under his skin and beeping out a locator beacon - here I am. here I am.
Tommy's heart raced, his back up against the wall, his eyes fixed firmly on the door. Why wasn't anyone coming in?
Billy had tried to be quick, but even he couldn’t get past a small line and then he had to wait for his and Tommy’s order to be ready. When they had called out his name and set the large sack on the counter, Billy grabbed it and dashed outside, easily finding a place where no one would see him vanish. He hugged their bag of food to him as he muttered his spell, glancing around to make sure no one walked around the corner before he was gone with a flash.
“I come bringing sustenance!” He announced as he reappeared back in the room, holding out the bag full of sandwiches and soup like a prize. When he saw the look on Tommy’s face though he immediately let his arm drop and worry creeped up. “Tommy?”
The flash of blue should be Billy-- Tommy relaxed (sort of) when it turned out to actually be him. Fuck, he was jumpy. Jumpy and terrified and generally acting like a big baby. He shook his head, trying to force his heartbeat to slow down. "m' okay. It got too quiet," he said after a second. Half a second? Ten? His powers were still messing with his sense of time. "Thought maybe something ate you," he tried to make a joke out of his fear.
Too quiet. Billy swallowed and then forced a small smile and shrugged at the last bit of what Tommy said. He did move back to his chair though, scooting it a little closer to the bed under the guise of needing to be close to sort out the food. “Eat me? I’m like almost seventy percent bone, I’d be anyone’s last pick.”
He placed out the big tub of baked potato soup and crackers on the little table that could wheel over Tommy’s lap. Then set out a sandwich next to it with a bottle of coke. “I got a second sandwich for you in here in case all of that still leaves you unsatisfied.”
He fished out his sandwich, laying it on his lap before opening the lid on Tommy’s soup and handing him a flimsy plastic spoon.
Tommy’s stomach growled as the smell of the food hit him, and the sheer normalness of that compared to the rest of his day caught him off-guard. Would the world ever make sense again? Had it ever made sense in the first place? The questions were scattered and too big for him all at once. So he took the spoon and made a mournful face at Billy. “What, no fries?”
“I’ll get you fries if you finish all that.” Billy replied easily, refusing to believe he sounded like his mom there. He opened Tommy’s coke too before sitting back to unwrap his own sandwich. He took a small bite, not really tasting much since his mind was elsewhere and swallowed. “Why isn’t Wynonna part of the X-Force? She kicked ass out there with everyone else.”
Tommy would have sped up to eat everything in front of him, except trying to use his powers hurt too much. That had better get better, and fast. "She's not really a joiner," he pointed out around a mouthful of sandwich. "It's not her thing. But yeah. She kicks major ass."
Billy hummed softly, reaching over to take a sip of water from the cup Tommy had used before. “So, is there a title I should call her by or are you two still not putting labels on things?”
Wynonna wasn’t part of the team, but she had readily joined them when Tommy had been taken. She cared about him, that much Billy could see.
"Labels are cages," Tommy replied, his mouth full again. "And I've had more than enough of those for one lifetime. But neither of us is banging anyone else, if that makes you feel better."
Billy made a bit of a face on principle at the idea of the two of them banging and shook his head. “Better? I guess. At least you two have an understanding going on. I’m glad, though. She’s pretty cool.”
Tommy'd used pretty much those exact words to himself, among others, so he just nodded gingerly trying not to set off the waves of pain again. "Who wouldn't want a gunslinger on his arm? I'm a big fan."
“Gunslinger? Where are we? The set of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? Though I kinda get that western vibe from her.” Billy snorted, then frowned when a whole tomato came out with his bite of sandwich and landed with a wet slap on his jeans. “Gross.”
"Hot cowgirl. I dig it, even if you have no taste. And less dignity," Tommy added, a grin flashing onto his face for a second, nodding at the tomato.
“No taste? Have you seen my boyfriend? Still don’t know how I bagged him, but come on.” Billy teased, peeling the mustard covered tomato off his pants and flung it towards the small trash bin. “Now dignity? You got me there.”
"I meant what I said and I stand by it," Tommy snorted softly, cramming the rest of his sandwich into his mouth. He might not be able to do it fast his usual way, but this was better than small bites. "drk."
“Chew with your mouth closed, heathen.” Billy nagged with a smile before taking a huge bite of his own.
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Date: 2018-11-12 09:20 pm (UTC)