doubled_speed | For Wearingthestars

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For Wearingthestars

I wish I wasn't alone.

The words were whispered from inside the relative safety of the tiny closet in Tommy Shepherd's bedroom in Springfield, New Jersey. Whispered because there was no way that he wanted Frank or Mary, fighting in the living room, shouting and screaming, to hear them.

I wish I wasn't alone.

Repeated as Tommy held his hands out before him in the darkness palms up. He put as much conviction behind them as he put into anything he said starting with those two words. He had found rather quickly that whatever this power of his was, it came more readily when he framed it as a wish.

I wish I wasn't alone.

He repeated a third time. Three times always seemed to be the right amount when it came to willfully using his power. Even now he could see the faint green glow of energy radiating from his hands, trying to catch his words and shape them into whate he was asking for. At school he didn't always need it three times. He could feel the energy building in his gut like a tidal wave and crashing over him when he wished the bullies would leave him alone, or that he'd actually gotten a good grade so Mary wouldn't yell at him, or that the shirt that got torn up and bloody was clean so Frank wouldn't hit him for wasting good clothes.

Now, though, the words didn't seem to catch, and after a moment of held breath, the energy faded back, leaving behind only the briefest flash of sparks and static that he had to shake out of his hands. Apparently even magic, or whatever this was, couldn't help him.

It was a stupid wish, anyway, Tommy realized as he pulled his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. And then, of course, he flinched at the sound of a breaking plate. They were getting bad tonight. He didn't want to be alone, not with them shouting like that. Sometimes it turned into Frank driving off to drink. Sometimes Mary stormed to their room and locked the door, leaving Frank on the couch. The former tended to mean Frank not coming home at all that night, and when he did the next day he smelled like booze and some other woman's perfume. The latter tended to mean Tommy couldn't sneak some breakfast in the kitchen before school, or being caught if he tried and he really didn't want to be on the receiving end of Frank's belt.

“Dammit. All I wanted was someone to talk to.”

He feels the rush of power even as he feels his body go limp and the world go dark around him. It’s a strange mix between a sneeze and passing out. When the sensation passes things are weird. For one thing, he can’t feel his body. There isn’t the cold of his room or the rough drag of his scratchy wool sweater that is too small for him or even the gnawing in his belly. No, there is just the swelling feeling of his magic, a prickly energy across his skin, and this place.

This new place is nicer than his room. There is more space. There are nerdy decorations on the wall. There are no cracks anywhere or dents from fists or broken furniture. He hates seeing how much nicer this place is than his home. But he is more interested in why his magic brought him here. And in the soft green light everything around him seems bathed in. Tommy raises his hand, or maybe just the concept of a hand, and is faced with the scary truth. His whole body is green and transparent. Okay. That is a bit weirder than normal.

Welcome, Tommy Shepherd, to the world of astral projection. And Billy Kaplan? Meet the strange, glowing ghostly boy in your room.

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"You didn't come here for me," Tommy snaps, and when he turns to look at Billy there's a flash of green light in his eyes. Green light that highlights the tears that are running down his cheeks. "You couldn't know I was here."

Betrayal in his voice. So much betrayal. The wave of a hand, though, gets a green barrier around them, a bubble rising up around them in a defensive manner. And it even manages to get Billy's team in it. And Tommy left standing there, angry.

"I told you to stay safe."

The betrayal in that voice roots Billy's feet to the ground, and his brows creases, guilt tearing at him. He didn't know. And he had an ulterior motive for wanting to find him. A selfish reason.

"...We needed help."

Help. Of course. Tommy sighs and shakes his head. Then he crosses his arms over his chest as he ignores the sound of bullets striking the barrier.

"Billy, what's going on?" Kate demands, coming up to them.

"Electrokinesis doesn't make barriers," Eli adds, scowling.

"I'm a witch," Tommy dismisses. "And I'm trying to figure out whether I'm just going to try teleporting you all away and dealing with these assholes myself."

There's a guilty but pleading look on Billy's face. Clearly, whatever this is that's led him back to Tommy is important.

He looks Kate and Eli over quickly to be sure they're all right.

"You don't need to deal with them. Just come with us. No one else needs to get hurt."

"Billy, he looks just like you," Kate observes, shocked as she comes up, reaches out to almost touch Tommy's face.

And Tommy dodges the hand.

"Yeah, I've noticed. This is how we look. Deal with it," Tommy sighs. "Now all of you get closer together. It should be easier to teleport you if..."

"If you're not with us, then we've got to deal with you," Eli counters. "Because we've just let a dangerous mutant loose."

"You have no idea," Tommy counters.

"Billy," Cassie whispers, at his side, "you've got to say something. He seems to take you seriously."

"I know-" Billy answers Kate, though now is hardly the time or place to start explaining why.

He shoots Eli a look, and bites his lip at Cassie's whispers, nodding. "Tommy- please- I need you to come with us. I know they hurt you. I know it's not fair. But if you hurt them then you're just confirming everything they believe. And I really need your help- I can't do this without you."

There's a long moment of silence, and Tommy sighs, the light going out of his eyes, though the barrier still stays up around them. He reaches out and touches Billy, a hand on his cheek.

"You know I'm here for you, Billy. You tried. But after, I don't promise I'm going to stick around. Just... what do you need?"

Billy leans into the touch, the first time he's be able to really feel it, and he allows them both a sort moment to just be.

He nods then. "Get us out of here first, then I can explain."

Feel it? Feel what? Maybe that low ache that suddenly doesn't seem to be there anymore? Hopefully. Because Tommy almost feels calm for the first time since his powers started. Almost like if he tried, he could reach out with his mind and feel Billy there.

That would be the day, wouldn't it? he thinks with a sigh. But he nods at Billy.

"Everyone stay close."

Tommy moves to the middle of the dome, of the room, and raises his hands. Bright green light trails after his hands, an echo of power and light.

"You can really teleport us?" Eli asks, stepping closer.

"Never done it before. They didn't know about the magic, so they've only trained the whole flying and lightning thing. But when I need the magic, it always gets me where I need."

Tommy's eyes move briefly to Billy, and then he is hovering off the ground, the light spreading around him more.

"A few miles from here may be the best place to start," Vision suggests.

"Hold on tight," he says, even as the light radiates out from him, blinding bright, and then they're in a field a few miles away.

And Tommy, having used a lot more magical energy than expected, is immediately falling out of the air above them.

It's a strange sensation, suddenly somewhere else, and Billy's not sure he likes it, though he's grateful to be far away from that place and in one piece. He hurries forward to catch Tommy, giving a relieved sigh.

"You really did it. I'm sorry," the latter is whispered with a guilty expression. Because even if it was Tommy's magic that took the memory from him, he can't believe he left Tommy to that fate for so long.

Well, Tommy's definitely shocked over being caught. But he catches his breath, staring up at his mirror. Dark where he's light, hazel eyes where his are green. Two parts of one impossible thing.

"Too much energy. Fuck that was bad. What's... can I just have a minute? Please?"

He smiles faintly, eyes skimming over Tommy as well. Seeing him in the flesh is different some how. It's...strange. But exhilarating.

He nods quickly. "W-yeah, yeah of course-" he reassures, showing a patience that might surprise the rest of his team.

Speaking of, he looks about with an apologetic look. "So...uh...I didn't remember this...going in," he offers, hoping they don't think he'd keep something like this from them.

And this would be the first time Billy could see that Tommy looks similar but not the actual mirror of Billy. Not a pure copy, but damn close.

"I imagine you would have said it," Kate assures Billy, watching as Tommy walks away slowly. "And you definitely would have told us he was magic."

"He's violent," Eli snaps.

Identical in almost every way, but like someone coloured them with different palettes.

"I would've," he agrees, and then turns to glare at Eli. "You'd be violent too if they locked you up for a mistake-" he snaps right back, still determined to believe Tommy's innocence in that matter. "You saw that place- that's not a normal detention center. God only knows what they were doing to him in there."

"Experimenting," Tommy calls back. He's not so far that he can't hear what is going on. "They wanted a living weapon. Did you know you could kill a person with the right bit of electrical current delivered across the heart? That you can render someone brain dead with the right shock? I do."

There's a sickness in his voice, like he's disgusted to even know.

"I can shape electricity into blades, I can fly, and I can kill. What more could they want? What more can you want?"

More people to use him. The only one he trusts, frankly, is Billy.

The other Young Avengers, though, are a bit busy looking horrified.

There's a low rumble in the ground beneath them courtesy of Billy, anger spiking a little too high for him to control in that moment, and his face grows pale at the thought.

And despite all that's riding on this, he doesn't want to be just another person using Tommy.

"...We just want your help. No killing anyone. And if you don't want to- that's...it's fine- we can keep looking through the fail safe list for others, but- the Super Skrull took my- took someone import to us, and...I need to get him back. But I'm not strong enough. We couldn't stop him on our own."

Everyone stands there silently, caught up in their own thoughts. Tommy, on the other hand, returns to Billy's side.

"A Skrull? I don't... I don't know that I can help, but for you, I'll do whatever you need."

He doesn't care about anything but Billy. Billy is all he has in the world.

"I can try and figure out where your whoever is."

"Teddy," Billy supplies, and it's clear whatever Teddy is to Billy it's something important. In the space of Tommy's absence some new person has entered his life and found an important place in Billy's heart.

"I'm sorry- I know we just got you out- I wouldn't-...ask, but-I need to get him back, Tommy."

Replaced. Tommy doesn't even bother to hold back the brief flash of pain from his face. Just nods and turns away, closing his eyes. He's spent too much time with thoughts of Billy being his touchstone at night. The proof that he wasn't alone. That someone out there, if they remembered him, would care about him.

"Like I could ever deny you anything," Tommy sighs.

Which is a plain and simple truth. He cared too much about Billy. Hadn't he said it before? It felt like Billy was the other part of him, and he wasn't going to betray that.

"...H-he's my boyfriend," Billy offers up when he sees that flash of hurt. Not competition, not a replacement. Teddy occupies a different place in Billy's heart than Tommy. There's room enough for both of them, and he doesn't want Tommy to feel excluded. He'd have been orchestrating rescue attempts for Tommy long before now if he'd been allowed to remember. But now it's Teddy that needs saving, and the clock is running out.

See, in Tommy's head, it is a replacement, it is competition. Because they aren't family and he might have Billy on a pedestal.

"Give me a minute to find him," Tommy says. "His full name?"

"Theodore Altman," Cassie offers, and Tommy nods, closing his eyes. He can do this. He can TOTALLY do this.

He starts to mumble under his breath as the green magic rises up around him once more.

Billy practically holds his breath, as though any possible movement or sound might disrupt him, praying silently in his mind for it to work.

Once Teddy is safe he can deal with...all of this. With Tommy. And Teddy. And Teddy's Mom. And the apartment. And- god this has been a hell of a day.

Tommy raises off of the ground, floating with more light around him, shining as he mumbles under his breath.

"He's definitely a lot more than I expected," Eli sighs. "If only Nate had found him before."

At last the light fades and Tommy turns in the air to look at them.

"Found him. One more teleport. It's really all I can handle."

He's the sort of power their team's been lacking, and Billy watches with a smile tugging at his lips despite how stressed he still is. "If only."

"That's all we need," Billy encourages with a grateful expression. Just get him to Teddy and he can handle the rest. He'll take on the Super Skrull single handedly if he has to. He's not taking Teddy anywhere Teddy doesn't want to go.

Is he? Tommy wouldn’t know. All he knows is that Billy found him. Helped him. Saved him. And he owes the man this much. And Tommy can’t say no to him.

“Give me your hand,” Tommy asks, reaching for Billy. “I think I can draw on your power some. And I’ll need it for this.”

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