hybrid_prince | Open Post

No breaks. But, one second they're alone in the room, the next a seam appears on the wall and it opens, with a Skrull peeking their head in. Not just any Skrull either.

"Kl'rt?" Teddy asks, shocked. And only cringes back when he sees Kl'rt go that darker green that is clearly a blush. The older Skrull says something in Skrull that Teddy doesn't understand, but he sounds disgusted.

Teddy flinches away from that look.

"Dorrek. We have found you," Kl'rt says, bowing. "It has been long. Please, if you and your Consort's brother would step from the room, I will summon a medic."

Tommy started to move to flank whoever was coming in, but they didn't seem threatening. He didn't RELAX when he realized who it was, but he didn't think that's who put them here, either. So rescue party, probably? Not the one he wanted, but he'd take it.

Tommy scowled though as soon as Teddy flinched, moving back to his side automatically, arm curling around him. "Hey, if you're getting us out, maybe just get us the fuck clear of here then call out the doctors?" Or not at all, since he might trust Teddy, but the rest of the skrulls were iffy at best. And Tommy didn't like doctors to start with.

"Tommy, please," Teddy insists, his voice soft as, when Kl'rt stands aside, he moves past the man. "Kl'rt wouldn't hurt me."

In fact, as he walked past, Kl'rt put his fist to his breast, a military salute.

"I must insist upon a medical examination before we leave. Come into the hall, the air is clearer," Kl'rt insists.

He probably wouldn't. It was just everyone ELSE that was iffy. Plus he'd made Teddy look upset. And they were still in enemy territory. It all itched. "Whoelseishere?" he asked. It came out too fast to be understood and he grimaced, repeating himself more slowly. Billy? Kate? David? SOMEONE Tommy trusted all the way?

He pursed his lips and looked at Teddy, shrugging reluctantly. "Whatever you wanna do." He just wasn't going to let Teddy out of his sight, either.

"A unit of my men," Kl'rt answered. "The rest are on the ship."

"Thank you for finding us," Teddy spoke, and was shocked when the cloak Kl'rt was wearing was stripped off to be curled around Teddy's shoulders.

"My Emperor, we will always carry you from harm," Kl'rt answered.

"Can we at least... have somewhere away from that room to sit?"

The Super Skrull frowned before nodding and striding away, clearly expecting them to keep up.

"Tommy, I know how you remember him, but... I've been in contact with him since my time in AIM. Since the sword. I have been keeping in touch. He came to find me because he's loyal to the throne I'm set to one day take."

Tommy grimaced. Yeah. His men. So not theirs. Where the fuck WHERE their people? How long had it even been? Was it some weird dimensional time thing where it felt like forever to them, and it'd been like a day back home?

He watched Kl'rt cover Teddy up, wondering why Teddy hadn't just shifted, but this was probably easier anyway if they were just going to do a check up in a second anyway.

He threaded his fingers through Teddy's as they followed, not thinking to not. After however long it'd been, touching Teddy, being in reach ... it was just natural. Habit. Even when it might have stopped being necessary. "Iknow," he said. Because he might not be in the front lines, but Billy told him stuff sometimes, or Teddy, and they'd talked a lot while they were stuck here. "He'll take care of you. Just ... worried about if there's anyone else here we didn't see, or anyone else coming to get us." Or if he'd get ditched, but Teddy wouldn't let that happen.

"They wouldn't let anyone hurt me," Teddy counters. That they had been grabbed was no doubt because the Skrull had agreed not to have anything more than a scout on the planet. And until Teddy failed to report in, measures had not been taken, clearly.

"Here, your majesty," Kl'rt prompted, guiding them to an open gathering area. With chairs. Looking into a room through a glass panel. A room that looked much like the one they had been in.

"What is this place?" Teddy asked as he sat, pulling Tommy down to sit next to him. He didn't even notice that they were holding hands.

"A..." Kl'rt stopped, clearly trying to derive the proper word in English. "A zoo of sorts. This race collects rare species to display for amusement. It took much for us to find you. Favors were called in among many people to find you without giving things away. Even the Kree rendered assistance. They would not have a son of Mar-Vell here."

Oh dear. That... was about what Teddy had figured. And he feels more nauseous.

With a gesture a Skrull quickly approached from a nearby armed contingent. The Skrull lowered their weapon and started pulling things out of a bag, even as they spoke rapidly with Kl'rt. And, after a moment, their eyes went back and forth between Tommy and Teddy, huge, even as their skin deepened to that deeper green of an embarrassed Skrull.

"I know. I just don't think they'd care much about anyone who ISN'T you," Tommy muttered.

Tommy fell quiet though, shadowing Teddy inside, hand still in his and then sinking down next to him, leaning up against him. It felt weird with the sheet around him, the cloak around Teddy. He was so used to just ... skin.

The explanation made Tommy pale a little. Yeah they'd said it, and thought it but ... he'd hoped they were wrong. So they really had just been entertainment? God that was so fucked up. Like when kids went to the zoo and giggled at the monkeys jerking off. It was humiliating and weird and Tommy decided he just ... wasn't going to work his head around that now.

He pushed it aside.

Tommy watched warily as the strange Skrull approached instead, and then rolled his eyes. "I'm not going anywhere. We don't have anything left the other one hasn't seen, anyway."

The medic mostly ignores Tommy after a moment, and he starts scanning Teddy. Soon enough he moves on to scan Tommy. After that he grabs Kl'rt and pulls him away. Still more talking. A lot of talking.

"That's probably not good," Teddy sighs, fingers in his hair. This is stressful.

Tommy sighed too, turning his head and rubbing his cheek against Teddy's, an automatic, affectionate gesture he'd never done before all this and didn't even think to second guess now. "It's fine. Probably just still have whatever fucked up alien chemical it was in our system and they're weirded out by it."

Still, he keeps half an eye on them, squeezing Teddy's fingers. "You okay?" he asked, just because he needed something to say and he was ... worried without anything concrete to do about it. Worrying about something immediate kept him from worrying about what happened when this was over and they got home, too, or thinking too much about being an exhibit.

"No," Teddy admits, squeezing Tommy's hand. Tommy might still be affectionate, but Teddy, well... he feels like a mess.

"Dorrek, please," Kl'rt summons. And Teddy rises. He gestures for Tommy to stay behind, and then moves to the Super Skrull, only to be left with the medic.

Meanwhile Kl'rt moves toward Tommy, stopping to look down at him.

"We will provide clothes and take you back to Earth."

"Me neither," Tommy admitted.

He felt cold and unnerved as soon as Teddy let go of him and told him to stay, and Tommy frowned, standing to fidget, sheet or no.

He looked at Kl'rt. "Both of us," he said. "Clothes'll be great, but we're both going back to earth, right?" he asked. Because he didn't know if they were going to want their future emperor go now that they had him, and Tommy hated that thought. Teddy was supposed to get to hang on earth until he was ready.

Kl'rt doesn't even bother answering, not at first. Instead he looked to Teddy, as if the answer would be there in how Teddy was staring at the medic, looking shocked and a bit ill.

"That is not wise. He will be coming home with us. Earth is... not the right place for him at this time."

Tommy's prickle of unease ramped up to genuine panic when he saw Teddy's face. "What? Ted, what's wrong?" he asked, trying to shrug off the hovering Kl'rt and make his way over to Teddy. "Earth's his home, Billy's there, probably freaked the fuck out about where he is. Yeah it's where he belongs!"

Teddy definitely hadn’t expected Tommy to break away from Kl’rt. In fact he was a few kinds of shocked to have Tommy there, just short of in his face. That didn’t make it easier to look Tommy in the eye. Not after what Kondil told him. What state he was in. No, Earth wasn’t an option anymore.

“Tommy, I...”

How could he say it without ruining their lives?

He couldn’t.

“I have to go with them. I have obligations. You can tell Billy I’m okay.”

Not that he would be home, though. He can’t. Teddy can’t go home again.

NOT being right there, in Teddy's face, it still didn't feel right. None of this felt right. The look on Teddy's face, especially, since he looked ... sort of sick and maybe scared? But like he was scared of Tommy?

Maybe it was just what had happened starting to set in?

"That's not ... Ted, that's fucked up, b-" Tommy bit his tongue almost hard enough to bleed to stop the baby from slipping out. He'd stopped worrying about that, too, since shit like that just popped out all the time when they had sex, so what the fuck did it matter if he said "babe" or "baby" or something when they weren't in the middle of it?

But it mattered now. "You shouldn't just run off and be alone. If you don't want me there, then just ... come back with me and we'll get Billy and he can go with you, okay?" And then he wouldn't be alone with all these people who weren't THEIR people.

"Billy can't come with me," Teddy counters, and he can't help the slight touch of anger welling up in him. Tommy, stop making this difficult! "No one can come with me. I'm... I'm an Emperor and I have to go to me people now. I will have them take you home. I'll write Billy a letter if you want."

Please, just let him go and hide.

Tommy's eyes narrowed. "Why not? You can go to your people. Even if it has to be RIGHT NOW for some fucked up reason, youdon'thaveto go alone. You have m - you have Billy, you have the rest of us. You can't just get ABDUCTED and then write a letter!" And Tommy didn't want him to leave Tommy either but ... he knew that wasn't what he was supposed to want. He GOT it. And just because he was being a weird shit about it didn't mean Teddy didn't want to put as much distance as possible between them now. He couldn't understand that. He didn't ... feel that way, even if he probably should. But he GOT it.

But Teddy shouldn't have to be alone, ever. And it didn't count if there weren't people who knew him and loved him as more than a ruler with him.

"Billy has his own fate," Teddy answers. "And if I don't do this for myself, then I just... keep being in his shadow."

That was the conversation that had put them together, in one place, to suffer all of this. The conversation they had been deep into. Perhaps... that would be enough? He hoped so.

Even if more than anything, he didn't want to go. Didn't want this to be real.

Kl'rt approached, concern on his face as he bowed briefly to Teddy.

"We must go, now. Before they strike back. A pod will take the Consort home," Kl'rt spoke. Strange, that he was now referring to Tommy as that.

"Yeah," Teddy agreed, fingers carding into his hair. "We should go. I guess I'll, like, send a messenger or something to Billy. But tell him I'm okay."

"Billy's fate is with YOU," Tommy said. Christ, had he fucked this all up. "That's not a shadow that's just ... alongside." Yeah they'd been talking about it ... but Tommy couldn't get his head around the idea of Ted being alone. He wasn't meant to be. He was Teddy.

"The Consort's not FUCKING HERE," Tommy snapped. He looked back at Teddy. "I ... can't they bring someone back here at least? So it's not just YOU? I get if you don't want me around but ... Kate?" Someone, at least.

"Tommy, please," Teddy says, reaching out to touch Tommy's arm. He's so... strained. And there's a flash of fear in his eyes. "This is what I have to do. I'm sorry."

With that he wraps his hand around Tommy's arm, super strength applied. Holding him in place for the doctor to approach and inject Tommy with a sedative. It won't last long, Teddy knew it. And they wouldn't hurt him. Long enough to get TOmmy into a shuttle and have it start toward Earth so Teddy can...

Can what?

Flee. Flee and live the life forced upon him. To miss everyone he knows and loves.

Tommy was struggling with what to do. Every instinct he had said that Teddy shouldn't be alone without people here to watch over him and keep him safe. But he also knew that Teddy didn't want it to be him, and that made sense.

That little flash of fear though, it put Tommy on edge, and he went stiff, practically thrumming in place, whipping around to look and see what Teddy was seeing that he wasn't. Which just made it easier for Teddy to grab him.

The fucked up thing was that for a second, it still felt better, because Ted was touching him. But then Tommy realized. He was strong, but not as strong as Teddy, and all he could do was jerk his head around to look at him. "What the fuck? Ted, I-"

He jerked as the sedative went in, fear flashing across his face too as he struggled for a flash of a second, not breaking away but making it hard for Teddy to hold on without working for it, sheet falling away. And then he sagged, abruptly going still and silent.

"It is for the best, he will not understand," Kl'rt observes, his voice soft as Teddy watched the other SKrull carry Tommy off.

"He'd never forgive himself," Teddy counters. But neither will Teddy. And he follows along with Kl'rt, ready to be led to the Skrull ship. He'll miss Earth but... There's nothing he can do about that.

Tommy woke up well into the trip back, disoriented and so fucking cold, even though someone had put some kind of clothes on him. He was in a room, by himself, and that felt wrong.. He didn't have that driving need to touch burning at him, but he'd been plastered against Teddy for so long - had his voice in Tommy's ear, his hands on him, his comfort through nightmares and fits of restless anxiety at being locked up. Tommy had been trapped, but he hadn't been alone. Teddy had wanted him gone badly enough to drug him and get his friends to drive him home.

It was stupid as fuck, but Tommy kind of wanted to cry. He wanted Billy, but he also wanted to do anything but face Billy. And he wanted to be with Teddy, but he knew that was even more screwed up.

He rubbed a hand over his face and got up, going to test the door.

It wasn't locked, it turned out. The few skrulls on board were polite and distant, even when Tommy yelled at them, and absolutely ignored him when he demanded to know what was going on with Teddy.

He was dropped back on Earth outside Teddy and Billy's apartment. Where they'd been taken from in the first place. Tommy stared at the door and then turned away, not able to make himself go in. He sped to David's place instead, letting himself by breaking the lock. He'd pay him back later, and then calling for him tentatively, looking around until he saw the date on the TV.

Seven months. They'd been gone seven months. It'd felt longer, but maybe not that long too. Tommy was definitely long since kicked out of his shitty apartment. He wondered what happened to his stuff. "David?" he called again, then started looking for a phone.

Look again, Tommy. It wasn't just a different month. It wasn't just time passed. It was that the apartment looked different. The television wasn't David's. There were no computers around. That wasn't the couch that Tommy had crashed on before. There was a lot of 'this isn't David's'. There was a lot of signs that things had changed.

Which didn't mean he didn't get a response. It was just that when it came, it was from behind Tommy, out of the front door. And there stood David, standing a bit taller, looking a bit more confident, but touched with relief. And in strange new clothes. White pants, a yellow coat, and a bag with a funky version of an x with a circle inside of it over his chest. And beside him... Nightcrawler. Not to mention the smell of brimstone in the air, implying a recent teleportation.

"Tommy, is that you? You should, uh, come out of there."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

if you aren't okay with this lmk and I'll change it

Fine with me, he'll have to come for him later

no subject

no subject

no subject