hybrid_prince | Open Post

Tommy's stomached dropped. They were his. His and Teddy's. Teddy had made them recognize him, but he never told Tommy. He wasn't going to tell Tommy.

He hadn't wanted his kids to hate their other dad, but he didn't want anything to do with Tommy himself.

Tommy felt sick and confused. He had no idea what he was supposed to do or say. "Yeah. Bath time," he said hoarsely. Not that it did any good, since they still couldn't understand him.

He handed the little girl off to her nurse, prying her gently off his arm when she hung on. He waited until they were being taken away before he asked, voice choked. "What's their names?" He was struggling to remember to keep his powers contained, keep calm and focused. It didn't come easy, still.

"They've got a few," Teddy sighs before turning to his guards and waving them away. The guards definitely don't look pleased with that. But they still obey when he waves them away. It isn't until they retreat that Teddy speaks again, in plain English.

"Kathryn is older. Thomas is younger. And they're menaces. Intangible when they touch. They also seem to make illusions. But I'm terrified they're going to go through the hull and..."

The fear in his voice is horrible. The pain. His children, he clearly loved them.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't... use both the names you wanted," he whispers.

"Oh holy shit," Billy says, his voice full how disbelief. "You two have..."

Teddy runs his fingers through his hair.

"I need a moment with Tommy," Teddy interrupts Billy. "David, Billy, if you could... Just up and around the corner. The guards are likely lingering. Tell them I want you taken to a private room. I have to... I just need a moment."

Tommy could hear it, how much he loved those kids. Despite how they'd been made, how hard it was for him to even say two words to Tommy, Teddy still loved them with all his supersized hero heart. It was ... very Teddy, and hearing it stabbed Tommy right in the chest.

He ignored it. "You didn't have to ... ChristTed." Tommy looked away, taking in deep breaths, counting them for control. He'd named one after Tommy. Even with everything, he still named one after Tommy, like he didn't blame him. He didn't know what Tommy knew.

"You don't have to. I know you didn't want me to come. I get it," Tommy said quickly. I won't..." Try to talk to them? Try to get in the way? Tommy had no idea what he was saying.

Billy and David exchange a look. And Billy maybe pointedly takes David's hand to drag his fiance away. Soon enough only Teddy and Tommy are left.

"I didn't want you to have to look at me. I didn't want you looking at me in disgust after..."

After how important Tommy had become to him. Teddy wraps his arms around himself, as if seeking comfort. A gesture Tommy would absolutely be familiar with. It happened only when Teddy was scared or felt vulnerable.

"After what that place did to us. After what it made you do. Kl'rt and Ry'lin explained it to me. The place was a breeding program. To make rare and unique weapons, in addition to the zoo. They pumped the air full of these pheromones that trigger these ancient, Skrull mating urges. They must have done something similar to you. When they found us, I was already..."

Teddy blushes a dark green.

"You didn't want kids, and I knew you'd never be able to look at me again. And you'd never want kids who were... that came to be like that. So I came back here. Where they'd be among their people. Where they could be loved, by both their fathers. But I couldn't tell you. I didn't want you to hat them. They did nothing wrong."

More than two years and barely a dozen words exchanged since they left that room. And as soon as Teddy's arms came up like that, Tommy was stepping toward him to try to wrap his arms around him, kiss his face, stroke his hair, plaster against his back. He caught himself, flushing a little at how strong that instinct still was. Teddy had been Tommy's source of comfort, but Tommy had tried to be the same for him, too.

He rubbed his hand along his own arm instead. "Yeah ... I ... fuck. Ted. I'd never hate kids for that. Especially not your kids. Our kids. I hate that they took us and fucked up everything for you and that you can't even look at me now. I get it, but I fucking hate it. But I don't hate YOU. I wouldn't hate them, either."

Tommy took a deep breath. "If this is why you stay away ... Earth's your home too. You should come back. Visit, at least. I'll ... whatever you want me to do. Whatever makesiteasier. For you and then. I'm sorry. For ... I made it worse for us. I didn't know I was doing it, but I made it longer, and that's probably why you managed to be there long enough for it to work and for me to be a clingy asshole. So I'm sorry. I just want ..." Tommy stopped, swallowing again. He didn't know how to end that sentence. So he stopped trying. "Thanks," he said instead. "For making them know who I was. For not making them hate me."

"How could I hate you, Tommy?" Teddy asks, looking at him in shock. "I... I knew you'd hate me. Hate what I did. How I took advantage of you being there."

Wait, longer? Teddy looks confused at that. But no, he can ask later. Instead he needs to deal with this.

"Sometimes, I think they love you more than me, Tommy. They're... scared of me. I'm a shit dad when I'm not you."

"You drugged me and sent me away, you can't say more than two words to me on video calls. They put US there. You didn't do anything to me. You didn't take advantage of anything. It was ME. They didn't even fucking need the drugs. Not for me, not after a while. I figured you knew that and hated it."

Tommy shrugged. "They didn't look scared of you. And I saw your face, you love them. They don't know me, Ted. Maybe it's you pretending to be me, but it's still you. So they love you. How could they not? You're not shit at anything."

Oh no, he is bad at being a single father. Even with the nursemaid. Because he was so focused on them loving the father they wouldn't know that he didn't know how to make them love HIM. But that isn't his point right now.

"I didn't hate you. Tommy, I..."

How do you tell a guy you love them when the way you got there was so weird?

"I laid an egg, Tommy. That two babies hatched out of. There was no way you wanted a piece of that."

Tommy can't see it. While Billy got angry and frustrated with Teddy, Tommy never could. He blamed himself and in doing so just kept putting Teddy as the guy who did his damnedest to be good to Tommy despite hating that he had to be there and feel the way the drugs made him feel. He might know Teddy well - flaws and all - but in this at least he can't see Teddy as anything but good, and loving, and lovable. How could he not be a great dad? He loved them that hard despite where they came from.

"I know. You hate what they made you do with me. It ruined you and Billy, and it made you do things you wouldn't have wanted to do. But you're ... you so you didn't hate me. Doesn't mean you wanted to have to be near me or look at me or talk to me. I don't blame you Teddy. They're probably better off not being around me anyway, right?" Maybe. Kids seemed to like Tommy okay, but then they'd never been HIS kids.

Tommy blinked and then he couldn't help it, he laughed a little, shaking his head. "Ted ... you're an alien. They do shit different. It's weird, yeah. But ... you know. Weird's not bad." They'd been locked up together for years. Tommy had learned to appreciate the things Teddy's body could do that weren't the norm. It was hard to change that attitude, eggs or no.

"Tommy, I don't hate you. It's the opposite."

Dammit, this was stupid. They weren't talking and they should be. And it sounded like Teddy had read it all wrong. So he moves forward and pulls Tommy into his arms.

"I love you, and that's wrong and I know you don't feel the same. But I always will. So I tried to protect you. And give our kids the best I could."

The opposite.

Tommy stared, but he didn't have time to burst into the kind of hysterics that answer demanded, since Teddy was grabbing him, and hugging him, and it felt like coming home in the most ridiculous fucking way possible.

He made a strangled noise that couldn't settle between a laugh and a sob and wrapped his arms around Teddy's neck. "You ASSHOLE," he said. "You sent me away. I love you. It's been almost three fucking years and I can't STOP. I still can't sleep right without you. I don't need you to protect me. I need you WITH me."

Yeah, well, what chance did Teddy have on that day to KNOW that Tommy would still want him? He had known, he had been TOLD just what had been done to them and why. That likely the only reason there was affection after seven months (and he'd thought it impossible that so little time had passed), was because of the chemicals in the air. That it would fade.

He'd been certain Tommy would HATE him. That his feelings would fade. But they hadn't. They wouldn't STOP. And Tommy saying that, MEANING that. Teddy just hugs Tommy closer.

"You love me? You love me? Oh god, Tommy. I could... If I'd known, if I could have even known, I would have begged you to come here with me."

God, Tommy wanted to just climb him and cling. "I didn't want to LEAVE you. Jesus, Ted. You weremywholeworld for two fucking years. I was FUCKED without you. I loved you. I STILL love you. I thought I was so fucked up, that you hated what they made us do and I just MISSED it because I had you there and once we were out, I didn't."

He drew a watery breath, still holding tight. "What about Billy? You were with him, that got fucked because of me and aliens. I don't know what I'm doing ... god, I missed you." Tommy breathed the last and gave in to what he wanted to do, pressing a brief but fierce kiss to Teddy's mouth.

"Two ye-," Teddy asks, utterly shocked. Of course that gets cut off by the mouth pressed against his, and Teddy can't help it. He picks up Tommy and after a moment is pressing him against a wall, like things hadn't changed a bit. That didn't change the fact that he was mad at Kl'rt. Apparently his guards hadn't told him that much.

At last he manages to pull his lips from Tommy's and take a breath, though he still held him against the wall.

"I'll be fair. I did hate what they made us do. Because they made us. Because we didn't get to decide. But that doesn't change the feelings that were there. And I've missed you. I can't think of how many sleepless nights I've had without you. Which, you know, happened more after the little ones slept through the night."

Billy. That's complicated. But come on, just let him love this.

"Tommy, I... Billy and I were falling apart before this. We had been. That's why you were there that night. Why we were talking. And come on, you think I couldn't see that ring he's wearing now? It's not the one I gave him."

Tommy grunted when his back hit the wall, but he just wrapped his legs around Teddy and wound fingers into his hair, kissing back and sinking into the feel of Teddy's mouth, the smell and taste of him. He'd missed this so much. He'd chased feeling just a little bit like this with so many other bodies and it never did anything for him, just gave him a moment or two, maybe a night of sleep if he was lucky. But this ... he'd tried so hard not to remember but he always did, and it just all came rushing back like he hadn't spent two years trying desperately to tamp down on what he felt.

"I hate that they made us," Tommy agreed. "But they didn't make you calm me down when I freaked out about being trapped, or when I was sick before they figured out they hadtoletmerun. They didn't make me want to try to figure out how to help you sleep without dreaming when you were having a rough night. They didn't fucking make me love you. That was me. I fell for you, and I fell apart when you sent me back. I kind of almost destroyed the universe with time knots or paradoxes or whatever the fuck you want to call it, like twice." Since Tommy thought that they MUST have told Teddy about the time difference, since the Skrulls were the one who confirmed it for David.

He dropped his head back against the wall, fingers coming up, tracing along Teddy's jaw, over his lips. "I ... fuck. I thought he'd come back here and you'd seeeachother. Remember you loved each other. And then David and you would fall for each other too and it would be you three and I'd be alone, and I'd still be fucking GLAD because I hate the idea of you out here, alone, without any of us. I hate it, Ted. I've hated it since the day I left. But I was so fucked up about watching it happen."

"I thought I was protecting you," Teddy insisted. But then he's stopping again.

"Time knots? Paradoxes? What? Tommy, you're not making any sense. I... Shoot, I promised the kids I'd be at dinner tonight. It's been a bad week. I need to wash my hands and get to the dinner table. But we need to talk about this. Are you... are you staying here while Billy and David help? I..."

He hopes his voice isn't too hopeful. Too scared of rejection.

"You could stay with me."

Tommy looked at him, puzzled. "My powers? Your people knew, they confirmed it for us. I do time shit now too. I did it to us while we were captive."

He shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere. If you want me with you, then yeah. I'll be there. I can't ... fuck, I can't walk away from you again when you WANT me there. Just ... you can tell me about them later too then. The kids?" Tommy asked tentatively.

"If you choose to stay, you'll know all about them. I'll..."

Wait, Billy's magic.

"There may be a chance Billy can share my memories of them with you. So you know how to talk to them. The songs you've sung them to sleep with every night, to their knowledge. Just take up all you were to them as a Dad."

Because there is no way he'd want to deny Tommy their kids, now that he knew. But... No, it'd be stupid to suggest that Tommy just go back in time, go back to then, and show up right as Teddy was being stupid and just raise their children together.

"Time, huh? All I've wanted was more time with you."

Oh, Tommy hadn't thought of that. "Yeah. If he can do that, that'd be good." Tommy didn't like people fucking with his head generally. But Billy was different. "I've got no idea what the fuck I'm DOING as a dad though, Ted. You know me, you know I'll fuck that up."

God, Teddy did know him. Had seen him at his absolute worst. And was still talking about loving him. Tommy didn't know what to DO with that. He felt a hundred pounds lighter all the sudden.

He laughed, shaking his head. "You can have that. You can have as long as you want." Even without his powers, Tommy didn't want to go anywhere. He didn't even want to let go right now.

"I don't know that," Teddy counters. "I've seen you with other kids. With Billy's brothers. With Molly. And... I think parenting is learning about it. With the memories..."

With the memories he thinks Tommy WILL know what to do with it. At last, though, Teddy put Tommy down, though it was clearly reluctant. And he caught Tommy's hand up in his own, leading him down the hall and around the corner. No Billy and David, clearly they'd gone off to let David rest.

"I, uh... should apologize for my bedroom," Teddy mumbles. "I mean, the chambers anyone can get to, and the kids, it's all colorful and opulent. But I turned the study off to the side of it into a bedroom and it's..."

Small. Horridly white. Very little decoration beyond pictures of the children and things he's slowly built up to being used to. That place affected them both, and over time Teddy's added homely touches, but there is on one hand the very showy rooms he shared with his children, and on the other there is the place that evoked the familiarity of the relationship he couldn't get to again.

Tommy just ... doubted it. There was a difference between loving a bunch of a cool kids who hung out with you some time, and making sure no one hurt them, and being someone's parent. His parents (such as they were) fucked him up as a kid. Most of the people he knew had parents who fucked them up, one way or another. Tommy didn't want to do that to those two, cute little green kids who'd clung to his legs and asked him to pick them up.

He didn't want to be right though. Maybe he could settle in as like an uncle or something, as they got older. If he was shit as a dad.

Fuck, dad. That was going to take some time to get used to.

"It's your room, you don't have to apologize," Tommy said, fingers in Teddy's, walking close enough to bump shoulders or hips now and then.

He thought Teddy had meant it was messy or something. But once inside, Tommy got it. He hadn't done the same thing, but he was living in shared space that really belonged to David and Billy. And he'd been trying not to think about it. But he couldn't deny that as soon as the door closed behind them, alone in a colorless room with Teddy touching him, some part of Tommy's chest that had been tight for years just ... loosened up. It was screwed up, yeah. But they were both screwed up, and in this way - they matched. "I get it," he said softly. He turned, leaning up to kiss Teddy again without letting go of his hand, soft and lingering - loving, really. And there had been a lot of those kinds of kisses in a room like this - they'd both just convinced themselves it was only on THEIR side.

"The thing is..." Teddy sighs after the kiss and pulls Tommy to a soft white sofa, so he can sit on it and take off his cape and crown. Dinner is for Dada, not Emperor Dorrek. "After Mother, I always thought the color white was going to send me into fits. And it did, at first. I was so fucked up there when it started. And now... it's just you colored."

Which was silly. Because Teddy and Tommy were BOTH very green, right? Teddy sighs and lets go of Tommy's hand at last.

"I should let you know that, uh, if you stick around... Well, I don't think accidental kids will happen again. I've learned a lot about being a Skrull. Apparently it took us so long because of the Kree blood. Something about how it interacts with Skrull genetics makes it a lot harder for us to have a kid. It would totally have to be more deliberate. And..."

There's a knock from beyond his door. From the main room's door. Teddy curses and stands.

"I've got to answer that. You can stay here."

Tommy trails him over and then drops down next to him, still close enough to be touching, watching him shed the crown and cape. "We were both fucked up. It was just ... nothing to me. Just a prison, at first. But after a while. Fuck, I missed the world, I missed David and Billy and our friends and ... TV and books and all that shit. But it started to just feel like us. In our space. Like a home, I guess. Just a screwed up one. When I got back, there was just people everywhere. Everything was too loud and too bright and ... there wasn't you. It was like I couldn't handle anything because half of me was missing." Which sounded sappy as hell. But it was true.

He barked a sudden, startled laugh. "I didn't really think about it," Tommy admitted. "I figured without the drugs or whatever they did, you'd have to uh ... want to do it on purpose, right?"

He looked up at the knock, sighing. "Yeah. Go, eat dinner. I'll be around when you're back? Unless they don't want me in the emperor's rooms without you."

"Cute that you think you're not joining us for dinner, even if you aren't hungry," Teddy dismisses Tommy's comment. "Now that Kitty Cat and Little Lamb have seen you and me at the same time and are CERTAIN we're not the same person, they're going to refuse to eat their dinner without both of us."

And Teddy needs his precious kids to eat. Sorry, Tommy. It's family dinner time. Good thing the kids are too young to really process if it's awkward. They'll pick up on it, yes. They likely won't remember it.

Tommy laughed again, shaking his head. "Kitty and lamb. Those kids are gonna kick you when they get older," he teased. "I don't mind. But should we wait until we can do the memory thing? So I don't say something that freaks them out? Plus I can't speak Skrull or Kree."

Tommy didn't mind the idea, he was just a little afraid of it, too. And he didn't want to step in on something that was their tradition. Even if he was their father, they didn't really know him, they just thought they did.

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