not a weapon.

"I kind of thought you'd remember less than that," Billy admitted purely from the shock. Maybe it was a tidbit he should have kept to himself, but this was his brother. He had so much to say, and he was going to end up starting on the wrong foot eventually. He watched with unwavering eyes as Tommy took quiet for a moment, a very long moment.

"Whatever it is, I won't get mad at you," he promised. "Are you going to get mad at me?"

Tommy squirmed under his eye contact; well, at least that was the same.

"What?! No, why would I-?" He blurted out, shaking his head to clear his thoughts and get back to what he really wanted to say. "I think that you're my brother, but I don't think that you're my brother. Like, I don't think I'm in the right place."

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" Billy's brows furrowed. Was there a chance that Tommy had all his memories? Or that there didn't seem to be any gaps? Or... who's life did he remember? Tommy seemed to shuffle forward, and that had to be something good. Right? Billy did the same, just mirroring him with that tiny, tiny distance between them. "I mean... I didn't know who I was looking for, or what, until a few weeks ago. And then, I could only remember the last three years. Do you remember it all? Or just... I don't know."

"Okay pause, I'm confused. You only remember the last three years? Nothing from earlier?" Tommy asked, pausing mid-step. Okay, that was 100% something new; As much as he wished that he could forget parts of his childhood, he remembered it all, and to his knowledge, his Billy did as well.

He was silent for what felt like an eternity before he spoke again.

"So here's the thing, but promise you won't get mad at me. I've been hiding something from you and I think its kind of important."

"Sometimes it's just stuff that looks like a coincidence," Billy said. He treaded carefully now. Confirmation was one thing. Does anyone else feel lighter? He remembered Alice saying, and he could get it now. Tommy was here, in front of him, and solid. His fingers twitched to reach out, pull him in. This was what it was all for, and yet-? His throat felt too tight and bitter with iron. "What do you know? Or remember, I guess?"

He furrowed his eyebrows at the question. "What'dya mean?"

Tommy wasn't always the best at reading others, but he could at least tell that Billy wanted him to be closer. He took a few steps closer but didn't reach out to completely close the distance between the two. He'd leave that for Billy.

#𝙗𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙝 ➟ ooc

idk what's in my water today to get me on such a tommy grind but woowee i'm cooking.

"I guess that depends on what you mean by good," He returned quietly. All he could do was nod for a moment. He'd always thought of this moment; what came after worried him. "Are you a big fan of coincidences?"

"I guess it does." Tommy agreed, finally looking up at Billy. "Not really a fan, but they keep happening anyway."

He stared at the other boy; It was strange, meeting what he could only assume to be another version of his brother. There were still things that were consistent: the dark, curly hair; the way he seemed to see more than Tommy ever did. The most striking difference was that they didn't look much like each other. He was so used to his brother being a near carbon copy of him, aside from their opposite colourings, that this was a little strange.

purplearchcr

[ @gimmespeed ] ⤐ | CONTINUATION

𝙊𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙, 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙙. Even as teenagers, she found herself constantly bumping heads with the speedster. His arrogance and smug attitude were impossible to deflate, and her thick skull and need to be right at all times still hadn't cracked either. He'd run away as he often did. Maybe Kate hoped her words would make him run. Either way, it sucked all the same. He didn't stick around to find a fix to this whole mess.

Not that either was good at apologizing.

Three days had passed. Three days and she was still a little heated over it, even if she told America she wasn't. Her friend never believed her anyway. She'd stared at her phone countless times, written and erased about a dozen text messages to Tommy, and resorted to simply tossing her phone aside just as she had moments ago. Only, this time it seemed to summon him.

He found her in an instant. He called out her name, but gave her no real chance to respond before he zipped into her room and handed her less than presentable flowers.

❝ Oh --- ❞ again his impatience wins. Kate can't even begin to say much of anything before he planted a kiss on her lips. For a moment, she accepted the kiss, the next, she was ready to shove him off and punch him on the shoulder. Lucky for him, he was a million times faster than her. Jerk.

❝ Is this your cheap way of apologizing, Shepherd? ❞ She scoffs, but holds the bouquet of flowers delicately. ❝ I'm still pissed, if you didn't notice. ❞

#𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙩 ➟ rp #𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙫𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙗 ➟ queue #purplearchcr

"What, are they not good enough for little miss socialite?" He responded quickly, cringing as it came out meaner than he had intended.

It came as no surprise that she thought the bouquet prominently featuring dyed daisies and carnations was cheap -- it was. Tommy had picked them up at a bodega on his way over and they had probably cost him less that $20.

"I can tell." Tommy said softly, staying quiet for a moment that felt like an eternity, " I should've let you know where I was going."

It certainly wasn't an apology, but he would have to be in a pretty dire situation to even consider uttering the 'S' word after an argument.

"Y'wanna get ramen or something?"

Yet another one of his strategies to avoid actually talking about it or admitting that he was wrong; get close to an apology and then change the topic and hope that she goes along with it. The success rate of it was only abut 50/50, but he and Kate had been through so many of these stupid fights over the years that he figured she'd let him get away with it. Or not.

"Those gosh darn kids," Billy said, clearly not believing a single word. "I've just been looking for someone named Tommy, that's all. But I guess, that would be too much good luck for me. Besides, he would be very good on his feet, I don't know if he's even capable of tripping. The epitome of grace, really, couldn't possibly be you."

"Always up to no good." He replied softly, still trying to avoid meeting Billy's gaze for as long as he could. "Are you really? Seems like quite the coincidence then, doesn't it?"

So. There was the name. The showing up out of nowhere. The proclivity towards unexpected. A show of speed. Billy crossed his arms and raised a knowing eyebrow, weight shifted onto one leg.

"Poppers?" Billy repeated. "That's what you're going with?"

"Yep. Damn kids." Tommy said, cringing internally at how weak his lie was.

He may be a compulsive liar, but it doesn't mean that he's a good liar. He really should just admit it to Billy, but he's already put enough energy into the lie that it would be a waste to just drop it.

"It's harder to avoid these days, I bet," Billy said. For him, the woo-woo had always been there, creeping into the corners of his head, unable to ignore.

Not as hard to ignore as that. Billy's eyes snapped to the movement, the way the world blurred around it, the detail lost completely. Then his eyes snapped again, to where he knew Tommy's eyes would be. "Tommy?"

He shrugged, letting the motion do most of the communication, "Kinda."

"Jeez, some kid must'a left some of those snap poppers out on the road." Tommy lied quickly, knowing as soon as the words came spilling from his mouth how stupid it sounded. His eyes darted around, desperately trying to avoid Billy's gaze.

Way to blow it, Shepherd. Literally.

runawaysfromthepride

#➟ silly

legion-transcendent

@gimmespeed asked: "What does it matter whether I feel guilty about it or not? I still did it. Being sorry doesn't change that."

AND WEAPONS DON'T WEEP: STARTERS

“No, it doesn’t,” David says, tone heavy. “You can never take back what you’ve done but y’ can try to heal the damage you’ve cause. Y’ can try to do more good than evil.”

David takes a deep, steadying breath. A hand rises to rub at his eyes. He feels a headache coming on but he’s not sure if it’s Tommy’s fault or because this sort of conversation makes him think about everything he regrets. Everything he’s ever done to cause harm and suffering. These things that weren’t entirely his fault, but he has to continue to carry. These things that might happen again because he knows himself. He knows how cruel he can be. How capable he is of forgetting how easy it is to ruin lives.

Does Tommy know that? Does he understand the consequences people can cause? With or without the powers they have?

“I know the guilt sucks. I know it feels awful,” David continues, hand lowering. “But it serves a function. It means y’ care. It means you’re willin’ an’ capable of doin’ better, of bein’ better. What happens now is up to you.”

#𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙩 ➟ rp #𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙫𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙗 ➟ queue #legion transcendent

If there was one thing Tommy had learned over his childhood, floating from foster home to foster home and his days in juvenile detention, it was that lying was often easier than actually allowing yourself to feel your emotions. No one can hurt you if they can't see a weakness.

He had spent years building up this shell, hiding away his feelings from the outside world, to a point where it was easier to lie about it than to tell the truth.

There was a time where he was being branded as a teenage terrorist for not-so-accidentally blowing up his high school, both by the Springfield newspaper, and later by his teammates on the Young Avengers, but Tommy had tried his best to move past that.

"You don't know anything about me-" He bites back without thinking, falling back into old habits. "I get that you and my brother have some kind of thing going on together but that doesn't mean that you actually know anything about me."

Tommy clenches his hands into fists, squeezing hard but not quite hard enough to draw blood, and sighs. He looks down at the ground and scuffs at the pavement with his well-worn running shoes.

You can't run from everything, Shepherd.

"I do care, but I act like I don't because it hurts less when people leave or get hurt."

Billy laughed. "Are you saying that just because of my eyeliner?"

It was just a joke, but he found he meant it in real fun, rather than any instinctive push back or retort. "Yeah, I believe in the woo-woo spooky stuff. My parents and I were always big horror fans, and if we've got aliens trying to wipe us out, a geriatric frisbee guy protecting our asses, and a personified robot zooming around, then what's wrong with some woo-woo?"

"Well it certainly doesn't help." He replies easily, laughing at the other boy's joke.

Tommy shrugs at the other's comment. "Okay, fair enough. I try to avoid it if I can; makes my brain hurt. I'm more of a 'physical things' guy I guess."

He keeps rubbing his toe against the concrete, channeling some of his pent up energy into the pebbles beneath his feet. It doesn't take long for one to explode with a loud *SNAP*.

"Shit."

#𝙗𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙝 ➟ ooc

i am a tommy shepherd jersey accent truther and also believe that he is a big ska punk enjoyer. making him annoying, sorry not sorry /j

"Connected?" Billy said with a laugh. It sounded like a jest, really, just fun. But... no. That would be silly. Although, he had said his name was Tommy. He watched with more curious eyes as Tommy moved about.

Always moving. Always going somewhere. He wondered what Agatha would say about that. He kept the smile still, and continued the joke. "Connected how?"

"I dunno. You were the one talking about how there's lots that can't be explained." Tommy looked down at the ground, pushing some gravel around with the toe of his beat up sneakers. His body itched to run but he was trying his best to stay here, to stay talking.

"Can't explain it exactly but you seem like you'd been into all that woo-woo spooky stuff."

#𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙚𝙙 ➟ headcanon

something that makes me so sad about tommy is that he claims that he doesn't like contact, doesn't like being touched, doesn't like to talk about his feelings, yet he is simultaneously extremely touch starved and sensitive. he just can't admit it to anyone because of a fear of being seen as weak and his abandonment issues.

morinotsume

Logan couldn't help a fond, if somewhat faint smile at the analysis of Wanda as a 'sentimental lady'. She sure was, that was the catalyst for this little adventure after all. She'd been a little forlorn for a couple of days following her birthday, but he'd seen a bright smile when she had told him about how her mother used to celebrate she and Pietro's birthday (or at least, the one they chose to celebrate, the day Django and Marya had been entrusted with the baby twins).

He had exactly two seconds to say he'd rather not, before -- "Hurp--" -- he was nabbed and dragged along with Tommy. And he had enough time to think about how much he hated speedsters as the world twisted inside-out before he was dumped on his feet again with only a lingering, head-spinning thought of kid's pretty strong as he shook the dizziness out. "Cripes…" Slowly, he looked around, gaining his bearings. The fields were awash in flowers, a kaleidoscope of colors up and down the foothills. "Ah… pink. She said they're pink. With little purple bits in the center."