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

[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.

[helpdesk_hero]

"The second they see me, they won't want me to go," David counters. He'd half worry they'd have him committed out of fear that he was a danger to himself.

[zoomandboom]

"So I'll go with you and bust you out if they don't let you go. Or you don't have to go until you're ready to stay. It's up to you, dude. That's what I'm trying to say, you've got another choice is all. It's not a GREAT choice, but, yanno. It's something, right?"

[helpdesk_hero]

What? David stares in shock. Was that really a thing? Was he really offering that?

"Thank you. You're doing that and I'm a stranger. You're... a good person."

[zoomandboom]

Tommy shrugged. "I'm not. Just ... I don't know what I'm doing either, you know? You've got itwayworse so I'm not like, trying to say I get it. But I've got space. I don't know you, but I know you were an X-Man, and that you probably mostly tried to help people and do the right thing, even if you screwed up sometimes. We all did. Do. So, you should get help since I can help out. That's all." It wasn't that noble or anything. Tommy was pretty low-end as far as goodness went with the good guys. But he did like to help people. It was the only way he'd ever make a difference or matter.

[helpdesk_hero]

Screwed up sometimes? This is David Alleyne. He didn't screw shit up. Ever. He was a good man who did good things.

"Yeah, that makes sense. A lot of it," David agrees with a sigh. "I just... don't feel like I'm a good person worth your attention."

[zoomandboom]

Tommy huffed. "Dude. I'm basically a piece of shit, so, it's not like I'm gracing you with anything special. It's just a place to crash and some food and space to figure stuff out. If you figure it out and you're doing good in a few years or something, maybe do it for someone else." Tommy shrugged. "But anyway. I'll get another blanket and stuff tomorrow if you wanna stay longer."

[helpdesk_hero]

"You don't seem like a piece of shit to me," David counters. But he sighs.

"You're a good man, Speed. Really good."

[zoomandboom]

"Well, you don't know me, either. I could just be doing all this to get in your pants to to make myself look good or something, for all you know," Tommy said with a grin. He shrugged. "But I'vegotmoments, I guess." He might not be the best guy, but there were worse.

"You can call me Tommy," he said.

[helpdesk_hero]

Tommy. Well, he'll try. Mostly, though, he is blushing.

"I don't think you would really want in my pants so that's fine. But you are a good person."

He finishes his own sandwich.

"Do you have scissors and a razor? I hate having a beard."

[zoomandboom]

Tommy scoffed. "Yeah I would. Not in a creepy way where I'm going to jumpyouor harass you or something. But you're hot." He shrugged. He'd have slept with David, or fooled around with him or something. "But you don't have to bang me to stay here, I wasn't doing that," Tommy added, more seriously. Because it wasn't unheard of.

"Uh," Tommy thought. "No scissors, just razors in the bathroom." Tommy didn't grow a lot of facial hair, but he still had to shave, so he had some on hand.

[helpdesk_hero]

Dear god Tommy, you're leaving him flustered. To the point where David is definitely having trouble looking straight at him.

"Trust me, if you even suggested it would have knocked you out. I know how to fight a speedster. Mostly."

Well, he'll have to figure out what to do about most of his facial hair and he sighs.

"Listen, if I just, like, owe you, maybe you'd be willing to buy some small scissors and a an electric razor? My hair is too long too."

[zoomandboom]

"Yeah, good. But I wouldn't anyway," Tommy said with a shrug. "We can spar sometime if you want to get more practiceinthough."

"I have an electric razor. I never use it though so it might be shit. But yeah, sure. Just like, look up what you want and show me and I'll go grab it," Tommy said, pulling his phone out again and handing it over to David.

[helpdesk_hero]

What a helpful man. David smiles and quickly finds some cheap options at a local drug store and takes screenshots of htem for Tommy.

"These? When you have time?"