Work Text:
Drink up, baby, look at the stars
I'll kiss you again, between the bars
---
Slow down.
The words meant nothing to him. He’d been told it his whole life, but the words held no importance, had no value to him.
Slowing down meant letting the world stop for a minute, allowing for things to settle down and get comfortable. It meant giving things time to work themselves out.
For Tommy, things never did.
If you were to ask him, he’d tell you the world was against him.
So, he ran.
He ran so the world couldn’t keep up and come crashing down on him again.
He didn’t stay in one place for very long, a day or two at the most, and then he was gone again, like a breath of wind in a tornado. Unnoticed.
Out of all the places he stayed, he stayed as far away from New York as he could. New York meant Billy and Teddy, New York meant Kate and Cassie and Eli. New York meant the Young Avengers.
New York meant David.
The Young Avengers weren’t a team anymore, so there was no reason for him to stick around. Sooner or later they would’ve gotten hurt.
So, he ran.
He saw them on the news sometimes, glimpses when he passed TVs in window shops. Billy and Teddy had joined another Avengers team. Kate was a private eye based out of LA. He saw her once, walking down the street. She was still gorgeous, and she still could’ve kicked his ass in a second.
Tommy turned his head before their eyes could meet. The Young Avengers chapter of his life was over. It was time for something new. Something different.
He couldn’t seem to find what that ‘new’ was.
He’d had a job for a bit. It was okay until he and David tried to go after Patri-not and he wound up god knows where.
His memories of that place were pretty much non-existent. He remembered terror, and that was it. He didn’t think he wanted to remember more than that.
He ran before the incident, too. But he always came back to New York. It was a source of stability for him; and as much as he wouldn’t admit it, he had started to become comfortable in that stability. But after what had happened, with Cassie dying and everyone going their own way, the running became a constant thing.
He spoke to nobody, let no one get close. He had the occasional hookup sometimes, but he never said his name and he was gone before morning hit.
There was nothing there for him, so there was no point in sticking around.
So, he ran.
He always did.
---
A few days passed. He found himself aimlessly wander the streets of New York. New York was familiar to him, but it wasn’t home.
Tommy wasn’t sure where home was.
It was New York once, for a fleeting moment a few years ago, but that was gone. It sure as hell wasn’t in Jersey, with his birth parents. And it wasn’t Mount Wundagore, the home of his real mother. His home was the streets; His home was the wind in his hair, and the freedom he felt running. But it wasn’t enough; there was still something missing.
He ended up back in New York one day. He walked down the street playing with loose change in his pocket, lost in his own head.
He was quickly interrupted when he slammed head first into someone.
“Shit! Sorry dude, I wasn’t looking where I-”
“Tommy?”
There, in front of him was David. He stood there, frozen. He did not need this again. Tommy’s thoughts began to race and his instincts were telling him to run.
“I didn’t know you were back in town.” David’s voice brought him back to the present.
“I was, uh, just stopping by I guess,” Tommy shuffled awkwardly, wanting to melt through the sidewalk. He really didn’t need this. He didn’t think he could handle it.
“Oh.” There was a hint of disappointment in David’s voice. “It was good to see you, then.”
David gave him a slight nod and continued on his way. Tommy waited until he couldn’t see him anymore, and he ran.
He ran until his lungs couldn’t take it anymore. He collapsed in an alleyway in god knows where. His mind was going a mile a minute. He didn’t realize that there was a steady stream of tears going down his face. He propped himself up against one of the walls, taking time to try and calm down.
He’d tried for so long, hoping that maybe he could hide from the real reason he was always on the move. He’d been making excuses for why he was running; he’d shoved it down into the corner of his brain he didn’t look; repressing it as best as he could and it had worked, for the most part.
Until he had a rude awakening in the streets of New York.
---
Tommy spent the next few weeks avoiding the shit out of New York and thinking. He thought about his birth parents and growing up. He thought about the Young Avengers and himself. Mostly though, he thought about David.
He thought about David a lot. More than he would ever admit to anyone, and a lot less platonically than he would ever admit to anyone.
David wasn’t the only boy he thought about, though. He thought about the boys he’d claimed to hate back before he accidentally vaporized his school and realized that it was nowhere close to hatred. They were crushes. The most important thing Tommy realized over those weeks was that he was bisexual.
He went back to New York 3 weeks after his big realization. It was late when he entered the city. The streets were quiet, for New York, at least. Neon signs lit up windows in seedy looking bars, and the only lights on aside from those were in 24-hour convenience stores; and the occasional light in an office, someone working late, most likely.
He kept walking, ignoring the nagging feeling that he was being watched.
Eventually, he turned into a cheap looking motel he could stay in for the night.
Or nights.
He wasn’t sure he if was running this time.
---
Tommy had found a seat at the top of a building, legs dangling over the edge, shitty beer he’d swiped from a bar on 41st street in hand.
The air became almost electric, and he didn’t need to turn to know who it was.
“So at what point were you going to tell us you were back or were you just gonna stay for a bit and take off again?”
Tommy didn’t turn, taking a sip from the bottle. “Good to see you too little brother.”
“You’re joking.” There was an edge to Billy’s voice, one Tommy didn’t recognize. “You don’t know how much worry these disappearing cause, do you? I’m pretty sure Kate thinks you’re dead and Da-”
Tommy whirled around to face his brother, anger coursing through his veins. A wave washed over him, and he realized how long he’d actually been gone for.
Billy was taller now, jawline sharper. His hair was longer than it had been the last time Tommy had seen him, and another earring had been added- Teddy’s doing probably. But he was still a skinny twink, and he was still his brother.
This didn’t get rid of the fact that he was mad. Maybe it was the fact that Billy could’ve found him at any time or the fact he was about to mention David, or maybe it was some other deep-rooted shit he was ignoring. Whatever it was, he didn’t care. All he knew was: he was pissed off, and his temper took over.
“Shut. Up.” Tommy’s voice was low, and the bottle in his hand shattered. “You do not get to come up here and bitch me out about how I live my life, okay? Not everyone is lucky enough to have perfect powers and a perfect boyfriend and a perfect life, alright? Not all of us have parents who accept them for things they can’t control, Okay? I didn’t get the luxury of parents who supported them or bought them-” He started but cut himself off, before continuing.
"Not all of us are the favorite of everyone they’ve ever met and not everyone’s meant to be happy.” There was acid in his tone, but that didn’t stop his voice from cracking at the end.
“And you and I both know damn well that if you cared that much, that you could’ve found me at any time you wanted. So don’t come here with your fake worry bullshit. I don’t need it.”
Billy’s face twisted and he started to speak “Tommy, I-”
Tommy sped off before he could finish, not caring what he had to say.
And he was back in something that he was comfortable with; the wind in his hair and the ground under his feet
---
This time, however, he didn’t leave New York.
Instead, he sulked for a while, until his anger fizzled out. He kept walking until he found himself staring at the balcony of an apartment building.
He knew whose it was, and he knew why he’d come.
In a flash, he found himself looking through the bars on the window, regretting his decision. He had turned to leave when a voice stopped him.
“Do you always hide on people’s balconies after an argument.”
David had opened the door and was leaning on the windowsill, the bars casting a shadow.
“I didn’t mean it.” Tommy said, “I didn’t know he was going to tell you guys.”
“He told me. I don’t know about anyone else.” David shifted. “How’d you get up here, anyway. I’m pretty sure you have super speed, not teleportation.”
Tommy gave him a forced smirk. “You’re two floors up, not thirty. Get enough momentum, you can jump.”
David raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, okay.” His tone changed. “Seriously, though. What’s going on? Ever you came back from wherever that… thing took you, you’ve been off.”
Tommy started to form a sentence, but David cut him off. “Don’t try to deny it. I’ve noticed it, your brothers noticed it, everyone’s noticed. What’s up.” It wasn’t a question.
Tommy paused, before he explained, stumbling over his words. David blinked after he finished.
“Could you explain that at a normal pace, please.”
“Fuck it.” He sighed, going closer, grabbing David’s shirt and kissing him through the bars. It wasn’t a long one, but long enough to get the point across.
“Oh.”
Tommy began to panic, breathing rapidly.
“You could’ve started with that, you know.”
“What?” Tommy was sure he was hearing things.
“Look. I still have no goddamn idea what you said, but if it has anything to do with you kissing me, I think I’m okay with it.”
“I’m bi.” Tommy inhaled sharply. “And I reallylikeyou and that the reasonivebeenrunning because I don’t know how to handle it and imprettysurethiswasamistake because iknowyoudontfeelthesame.” Tommy blurted.
David paused before disappearing and opening the door next to the window. “Come in.”
Tommy followed at the slowest pace David had ever seen him. They got inside, and David took him by the hand.
“I guess it’s lucky I feel the same way, then.” David leaned in, kissing him on the cheek lightly
“You look like you’re going to cry.” He said after he pulled away.
Tommy sat down on the couch. “I think I might.”
David sat down next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders and pulling him in close. “That’s okay.”
Tommy relaxed eventually, and the two laid cuddled up on the couch in each others’ arms, sharing the occasional kiss.
Tommy did have a home.
And he had found it.
It just took some time.