[Closed] When the Loneliness Strikes

[doubled_speed]

WHO: Tommy Shepherd, Gar Logan, Wanda Maximoff
WHERE: Tommy's Dome, Wanda's Dome
WHAT: Alone Event - Comforting
WHEN: July 13th and on
WARNINGS: Traumatic history, references to torture and mental abuse, one thread may lead to sex, it will be marked when it gets there.


Waking Up Alone | Closed to Gar

There was a specific sort of feeling that comes with waking up, one that Tommy hasn't felt in a long time. The last time this had happened had been when he was locked up, when he wasn't sure what day it was, what month, what year. When the only thing that was certain was that he would be awoken and there would be pain.

It was a sense that came with every morning, waking up in an empty space, walls he could touch with both hands at once by just reaching out, it had nearly driven him mad. And now his personal dome gave off the same feeling. Isolation, darkness. There was no one there.

The pain is so deep, the fear so overpowering. Tommy blurs around his dome at full speed, searching, seeking trying to find something that he knew couldn't be found. The certainty was absolute, and he found himself screaming into the void around him. They were all gone. They were gone and they had left him, all alone in the darkness. Where was Gar? Hadn't Gar come by earlier? Why had he left? He had promised, hadn't he? Promised he would be here with Tommy, and now he was gone too.

Just before the nightmare faded from his dome, Tommy found himself collapsing onto his couch and trying so hard not to sob.

United In Pain | Closed to Wanda

When it all passes and he has a moment, Tommy does the only thing that makes sense. He races to Wanda's dome, hands immediately coming up to start pounding on her door. After how he'd felt, he needed to not be alone. He needed to be near his mother, the only true family he had here. Maybe she wasn't HIS Wanda, but she would get it, right? The fear of being alone, of being isolated. Worse, he knew it would have to be so much more for her, because she had lost people in ways he didn't know that others would really get.



[OOC: If someone wants Tommy in particular around related to this, hit me up with a message here or on plurk churbooseanon and I can make something.]

Comments

[doubled_speed]

The moment she's there and in his arms he hugs her tightly. Hugs her and holds her close. This is the right thing. She's here, she didn't disappear. Tommy squeezes and buries his face in her hair.

"I thought you left. Everyone leaves, and I thought you left."

[minus1twin]

"I wouldn't leave. I will fight to stay at your side." She held him tightly and for a few seconds, she refused to let him go. "I love you Tommy. I love you so much." The tears that she'd been fighting spilled from the corner of her eyes.

"I was so scared that I had lost you."

It had felt like everyone was gone and there was no power in the world that could bring them back.

[doubled_speed]

She may have been scared to lose him, but he had feared abandonment. Tommy had spent too much of his life alone, and in the more than a year that he'd been here, Tommy had gotten closer to Wanda than just about anyone he was close to back home. She was the rock that his sanity was built on.

"It was horrible. Like being in juvie again."

[minus1twin]

There was a short wave of her hand as she closed the door behind them.

"Neither of us are alone." So it didn't matter if the sphere had made it seem like they were. It was a lie. A terrible lie.

Wanda pulled back just enough to see Tommy's face. She was crying a little but smiling too. Her heart had been pulled from her chest while trapped in that loneliness but now it was like every atom in her body was singing. "My beautiful boy. I don't know what I'd do without you." She might give him strength but he gave her strength in return.

[doubled_speed]

Not hers, but hers enough that it doesn't matter. That he's happy with the statement. But that doesn't stop him from nearly crying too. Damn, they're a mess.

"I don't know either. Fucking hell, Mom, I don't know. I don't know how to lose you."

[minus1twin]

It was better not to think about it. There was always a chance that one of them would be taken from the sphere or perhaps there will be a day that all of this inevitably ends but that didn't matter. She cherished every last moment she had with her son.

"Me neither. So I will find you. Wherever we are taken... I won't stop looking for you." She smiled at him. "You don't have to believe me. One day I'll prove it to you."

[doubled_speed]

Prove it to him. How silly. He could be taken away, and then she'll have her own family to go home to.

"Thanks. No one but Billy has ever come looking."

[minus1twin]

She didn't have a family to return home too and the friends that were left on Earth could survive without her. Tommy, on the other hand, needed her and she needed him.

"That's what family does."

They find each other.

[doubled_speed]

Needign is a hard thing for him to admit to. For right now, he's so happy to embrace her. He knows she's here, and it helps. Helps more that she wants him.

"You're the best family I've got."

[minus1twin]

"It's the same for me." She hadn't completely let Tommy go but she'd shifted the hug so that they could comfortably speak. It was difficult, in the memory of that loneliness, to let him go.

"Why don't you spend the night? We can make popcorn and watch a movie." There were a lot of movies that she hadn't seen while growing up in a war torn country and she was using her time at the sphere to make up for that. Some of the movies she watched were questionable in nature, randomly selected but most were decent movies.

[doubled_speed]

Best family, huh. Tommy can't help the soft smile.

"Yeah, I... I can do that. But we'll need a lot of popcorn," he notes. Whatever she wants. Even if movies hurt his head a bit. "You wanna come over to my place for it? It's a single, got more space. Better couch."

WAit, no, abort.

"You know what, you probably have more snacks.

He hasn't cleaned his dorm since Gar left to babysit Speedy for a bit.

[minus1twin]

Wanda's eyebrows arc in a curious expression but she lets it slid. "Whatever you want to do is fine." They might eventually be interrupted by Ultron but Wanda's metal roommate had a tendency of sticking to himself. She didn't think it'd be a problem and it wouldn't be unwelcome if he joined their movie night.

"I have a box of the microwave popcorn." It probably wouldn't be enough but five bags for Tommy and half a bag for her.

"You'll have to wait for the microwave so we should microwave them back to back."

[doubled_speed]

Listen, his couch smells like things he DOESN'T want his mom smelling right now. Thanks.

"Who said I had to wait for the microwave?" Tommy counters as he pulls away from her, grinning. "I vibrate things, remember? Usually it makes stuff hot. Wanna see if I can pop corn?"

[minus1twin]

She would be thankful had she known the state of Tommy's couch.

"Really?" Wanda gently released him and walked over to where the popcorn box was. "I'd like to see that." She passed over the box and then put in a movie. It was going to be background noise more than anything but Wanda didn't mind. She wanted to spend time with her son, doing something.

"Let's see if you make a mess while doing it."

[doubled_speed]

"Uh, maybe we should get a towel or something to clean up with, just in case it doesn't go well," he muses.

Anywhere else he might not care. But somewhere that it could make things messy for Wanda? Yeah, Tommy's going to be a bit more concerned.

[minus1twin]

Wanda smiled. "I'll clean up later. I don't mind the mess." She still doesn't have a job, at least not in a traditional sense. So there was more than enough time for her to clean.

"And Thor might come over and help me clean it up." Bev's dog ate everything that fell on the floor.

[doubled_speed]

Well then. Tommy grins and grabs a bag, unfolding it and putting it right on the floor. The floor is more durable than the table, after all. And he holds his hands out toward it, pushing his power through it, his hands vibrating a bit as he waits. And finally the first popping sound. He grins and keeps going.

"Still weirded out by the dog's name."

More with Loki gone.

[minus1twin]

Wanda clapped and laughed when she saw the popcorn bag begin to expand. She knew that Tommy could do it but it was exciting to see with her own eyes. "Well, yes but Beverly wanted to name it and I couldn't tell her no." Wanda might have given her the dog but after that, it was out of her hands.

"It's nice to have a little reminder of him." Thor was someone who Wanda liked overall, even if he didn't spend a lot of time on Earth.

"Oh! Don't let it pop too much."

[doubled_speed]

Thor wasn’t someone Tommy cared about one way or another back home so he hadn’t cared too much. Still, it had seemed to strike Loki weirdly so, yeah. But he totally would have gone with Steve.

But he doesn’t respond to her right away. Losing focus on this part of his powers could be disastrous. So he holds the conversation in the back of his head as he focuses hard on controlling the power, keeping it as minutely focused as he could.

The one or two off pops was soon sounding not unlike a microwave. And soon the pops became rarer so Tommy stopped, lowering his hands with a smile. If he looked a touch tired, well, could he be blamed?

“Let’s see how this turned out.”

He reached out and opened the bag and looked shocked to find a cloud of steam and the popcorn was warm. Then again he wasn’t used to actually touching the things he blew up.

[minus1twin]

A microwaves used waves at a specific frequency to vibrate the molecules of the item to be warmed. This was very similar to the use of Tommy's powers and so, the popcorn was perfectly popped.

Not that Wanda knew all of those specifics but it was interesting to learn. "With you around I'll never need a microwave." She took a bit of popcorn before moving over to the couch, waiting for Tommy to make more or take the seat next to her.

She didn't expect him to watch the movie but she was going to wait for him anyway.

[doubled_speed]

Damn right microwaves did, and Tommy didn't know that. He just knew he was fucking proud. Look at that fucking bright grin of joy. This was a thing he had done.

"Fuck, I need to try this more. Imagine if I could get water boiling. Cooking would be HELLA easier if I didn't have to wait for some things."

He grabs a bit of popcorn and pops it into his mouth before starting on another bag. Once that one is done he smiles up at her and then joins her on the couch.

"They didn't really think, in super juvie, that I needed to learn GOOD uses for this stuff."

[minus1twin]

Wanda laughed. "You should give it a try. In fact, there might be a lot of things that you can do in your own way that others can't." She was very proud of him. Not just for the act of popping the bag of popcorn but to want to use his powers in constructive and unique ways.

There were things that only Tommy could do and Wanda was proud to see him using his powers constructively. She hadn't done that when she'd first gained hers.

"Well," Her head tilted to the side. "We both know that they weren't that smart. You and I will have to think of ways we can use your powers. I think cooking might be a good start. If you can heat things up, even pans, it'd make cooking easier for you but you'll have to practice to get it right."

[doubled_speed]

"I can explode steel, so yeah, a lot of practice," Tommy sighs. Because really, the goal here HAD been exploding the popcorn. Just in an edible way. Which was weird.

"There doesn't tend to be a lot of people who believe in me."

[minus1twin]

"Have you thought about going back to school? To specifically find uses of your powers in sciences? I know that Antonio teaches there, he might be able to help guide you. I would try and help but I don't think the classes I am taking would be of much help." They were all in relation to physiology.

Wanda smiled and reached over to grab Tommy's hand, squeezing it affectionately. "I believe in you. I've seen you do amazing things."

[doubled_speed]

School? Tommy cringes.

"Yeah, because I need more people telling me I'm an idiot, a failure, and a waste of their time," Tommy grumbles. He was SO certain he was dumb.

Sorry, Wanda. He knows he isn't bright. She shouldn't have that much faith in him.