Pick Me Up, Dust Me Off

[helpdesk_hero]

Life hadn't gotten easier after Utopia. Not by a long shot. Where, after that, does a human being go? Sure, one of the greatest geniuses in the world, but that doesn't mean he has a place in it. Instead he'd gotten to shore, dressed up in casual clothes, and mostly hitchhiked across the country. All the way from San Francisco to here. Chicago. Home.

It's taken two months to get this far, and he's in no great shape. There's a bit of a beard on his cheeks, his clothes are torn up, and he feels like shit. Do you... how do you get comfortable enough to go home in this sort of state? How does he go back and hope they accept him? He feels... miserable. David sighs and sips lightly at the cup of coffee in his hands, keeping them warm. Some person bought it for him, and he's still got to figure out how to get over to Hyde Park and his family's house. To figure out a story.

Two nights he's been in Chicago and he doesn't know what to do. He feels so weak. So useless. Such a broken man after the fall of mutantkind, yet again.

Comments

[zoomandboom]

"I've got some sweats and a tee shirt or something," Tommy said, vanishing again and coming back with a worn pair of blue sweatpants that might be a little short on David, and a tee shirt with a muppet on it that he'd stolen from Billy.

Tommy handed them over. "There's laundry downstairs if you wanna do some later. Machines don't cost anything. It'sfuckin'freezing down there though."

[helpdesk_hero]

David looks very thankful for that. But he's not sure the clothes he has right now will stand up to washer. They might just fall apart.

"Thank you. You're very generous."

[zoomandboom]

Tommy shrugged. "Laundry doesn't cost me anything either." He knew David meant more than that, but Tommy didn't want him to feel like he had to make too big a deal about it. He just ... had room. If it'd been him, he probably wouldn't have let anyone try to help him. But he'd have wanted someone to offer, too, and to mean it, even if he couldn't believe it.

"Shampoo and stuff is all in the shower," Tommy said. He flashed David a smile. "Don't fall over or anything though."

[helpdesk_hero]

"I probably can't use your shampoo," David shrugs. But hey, he'll figure it out. And he heads for the bathroom. It's nearly half an hour before he comes back out and he sits down to get some food. Yeah, the pants don't fit well, but it's something.

[zoomandboom]

"Oh, yeah." Tommy shrugged. "Sorry, I only have cheap white guy shampoo."

Tommy went to get some paper plates and plastic spoons and then plopped down to dig into a sandwich, pushing David's toward him when he sat down. "Feel better?" he asked around a mouthful of turkey.

[helpdesk_hero]

"Not fully," David admits. He'll probably want another three showers before he feels that, but he definitely eats when it's offered.

"Do you make a habit of picking up destitute mutants when you're traveling?

[zoomandboom]

"Well eat, then you'll probably feel better."

He leaned back, shoving a couple of chips in his mouth and shaking his head, swallowing before answering. "Nah. You're the first. If I did it regularly I'd probably have an extra blanket or something. So you can feel special." Tommy smiled at him. "Look, Iknowit'sweird. But it just sucks to have a team and somewhere to stay and then not. So I figured I'd help out."

[helpdesk_hero]

He felt anything but special. He's just... a human. Terrorist. David frowns as he thinks about that. He has to seem pathetic. Tell him he's pathetic and he'll believe it.

"I lost my team on M-Day. More or less."

[zoomandboom]

Tommy tilted his head, watching David for a second. "Yeahwell. That's kind of on my family too. So you could probably tell me tofuckoff if you wanted to." He shrugged uneasily.

[helpdesk_hero]

On his family? David doesn't really know about that. He heard of some of this, but he wasn't certain how much to believe.

"You're the only guy giving me shelter, so that would be a waste."

[zoomandboom]

It was complicated, and even Tommy wasn't sure how much he knew about it. He always backed away from Wanda, even after he'd taken a step forward. He was just always off balance around her and didn't know how to deal with it. So he'd never asked a lot of questions, and just knew the story the way he'd heard it. He just knew it was fucked up, and a lot of people suffered or died because of it. When Wanda wanted something, it just happened. That was why Tommy existed It seemed hypocritical of him to apologize for that when he was made the same way a lot of other people got unmade. That didn't mean he wasn't sorry though.

"Okay. Well if it makes you feel less weird about it, just say I owe you, then," Tommy said. "Sandwich any good?"

[helpdesk_hero]

"It's okay," David admits, working through his sandwich. "Had better. Had worse. But it's food. Food is good."

[zoomandboom]

"I'll try somewhere else next time," Tommy said. "Take some of the salads or whatever if you want, too."

Tommy shifted as his phone vibrated in his pocket and took it out. He saw Billy's name on the notification and frowned a little, ignoring it for now. He'd talk to his brother, Tommy just kind of felt like he had to be prepared for that, sometimes. So he didn't blurt out the wrong thing.

"So what are you going to do? When you go home? Go to school or something?"

[helpdesk_hero]

Well that's an idea. David pulls some coleslaw closer. He doesn't even bother asking about the message on his phone. Instead he glowers at the question.

"Harvard didn't want me when I was a mutant. But definitely wanted to make time for me when I was human again. College... doesn't appeal right now. And no one will accept me. Not when I'm labeled a terrorist."

[zoomandboom]

Tommy was surprised by the vehemence. "There's probably a few, maybe outside the US or something. But I don't blame you for not wanting to if they were dicks when you still had your powers." Tommy wondered if it made David uncomfortable or pissed him off, seeing Tommy use his powers. There wasn't much Tommy could do about that - he pretty much hit overload if he didn't use them after a while and started to crawl out of his own skin. But it would suck, to watch someone else be able to do shit when you couldn't anymore. "Can you dance? You could strip," he offered instead of anything serious.

[helpdesk_hero]

David knew more than enough time with other mutants to know they can't restrain themselves. That they shouldn't. He just... still feels uncomfortable. But he's very good at hiding it, of course. But he blushes at the suggestion.

"Picked that up from Emma Frost. Her moves don't apply to the male form. And I think there might be some dignity left in me."

[zoomandboom]

Tommy took a second to picture that. "Huh," he said. "Nah, it'd be hot coming from you, no matter if you learned it from Frost first. Plus stripping could be dignified, dude. But okay, no stripping for you." Tommy smiled at him and shrugged. "What do you actually like to do?"

[helpdesk_hero]

Oh god, did he just? David flushes a bit and looks away. He doesn't much know what to do with this moment that is happening. Other than try and pretend it isn't.

"I don't know, to be honest. My life sorta got destroyed before I got to learn about myself much."

[zoomandboom]

The blush was pretty cute. Tommy didn't mean anything by it - just harmless flirting. But he couldn't deny that David was hot. Sad, and worn down and a little too thin - but hot.

"Well ... I guess if you'vegotnothingplanned, you've got time to figure it out or something, right?" Tommy said, shrugging and unwrapping his second sandwich to bite into it.

[helpdesk_hero]

He used to be built too. So for him, this is REALLY underweight.

"I suppose I do. Of course, the moment I go home my family is going to want answers from me. Decisions. Action."

And he can't just not go home. Not again.

[zoomandboom]

"So tell them you'll let 'em know as soon as YOU know," Tommy said. "You can always say you're just gonna get a job and figure it out? You could always quit and get a new one. There's always somewhere that'll hire mutants, no matter what." Or former mutants, but Tommy didn't like saying it like that. "I can hook you up with them." Tommy had gotten pretty good at finding the mutant-or-powered friendly places in each city, since he found work there a lot too.

[helpdesk_hero]

"How many places do you know that hire what amounts to someone who is on government watch lists as the former head of the youth division of what the US government classifies as a terrorist organization rather than an independent nation?"

Because he's pretty sure that's small.

[zoomandboom]

"I can't give you a number, but you're not the only one who's in that boat. There's gonna be somebody. It might just be offthebooks, or it might suck. Or we could get you fake papers, if you want. I know a dude. I don't know. It's your life, so you can do what you want." Tommy started to say, again, that David could stay here longer if he wanted to, but he'd already offered. It was probably just going to start coming off creepy soon.

[helpdesk_hero]

He needs time to think. And his family won't give him that. But... safety and shelter might help. If he has somewhere safe to stay he isn't begging. But he's also not getting money from that to provide for his own food. It's... an awkward balance.

"I need to think about it," David sighs. "I expect I'm not exactly going to get a job easily. Even being what I am. I just... need time to think."

[zoomandboom]

Well, if he was gonna say he needed time, then Tommy was gonna remind him he'd offered it. "Like I said - you can stay here however long I'm here. So, take your time to think and figure out what you wanna do. You can go see your family but not have to crash there so you don't have to just handoveranswers?" he suggested.