hybrid_prince | Open Post

"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.

"No one would let me name him Shepherd. They said it wasn't very suitable," Teddy shrugs. So yeah, his lamb. But he rises and spares a kiss to Tommy's forehead before slipping out of the white room and through the main room to open the door.

And damn if the slap he earns opening the door doesn't echo.

"Teddy Altman," Billy hisses at Teddy, and all the words that came after that were Krakoan because he was so angry. And shouted so Tommy could hear, not that Billy knew Tommy was there. "You fucking asshole. How could you THINK to hide Tommy's children from him. I don't care if you're an Emperor or if you left me, but you hurt him, and if you didn't have those children as shields, I would put you in a damn closet for a few years and keep you sealed in there for hurting my brother. And where is he? Did you send him back? Because I'm not okay with you just playing with him and sending him away!"

Tommy's face softened. He watched Teddy walk away, trying to get himself back under control again but he just ... fuck he loved Teddy. And he wanted a chance to love the kids, and not fuck it up.

He sat up when he heard his brother's furious voice. Shit, Billy. He appreciated it, but yeah. It was complicated.

Tommy got up and darted over to stand next to Billy. "Hey - I'm here. We were talking. Thanks for the defense, but I'm okay. It's okay." Tommy gave Billy a small, shy smile that wasn't really like him. "He uh, thought the same thing I did. Thank I hated him."

“Could, uh, one of you speak English?” Teddy asked, looking back and forth between the twins. “I’m sorta lost.”

Billy just sighs and mumbles, his hand glowing blue. And Teddy shivers.

“Did you just... dump a language in my head?”

“No, teaching a non-mutant Krakoan intentionally is against our laws. I just placed a brief charm to let you understand it while I’m here.”

“Your magic has gotten stronger,” teddy observed. But he still hasn’t let billy enter. “Could... I borrow it? Let Tommy speak and understand Skrull and Kree? Maybe... share some memories?”

That earned a distrusting look.

"Sorry." Tommy didn't even always realize they were speaking Krakoan, since he'd had it Billy'd into his head. It was like a switch he forgot to shut off.

He sighed, rubbing at his head absently. "I want to, if you can. And just ... look, we should all talk. You're part of this too. You and Teddy were a thing way before aliens decided we needed to put on a show. And he already figured out about you and David - he saw the ring. But you know I've been ... he missed me, B. Like I missed him. He thought I'd hate the kids and him, and that I'd be weirded out."

The look on Billy's face said that he figured they probably SHOULD be freaked out. Which almost earned a growl from Teddy. Because how could the guy think that way about HIS kids? That's not okay.

"Listen, we can talk about it after dinner," Teddy sighs, fingers carding in his hair. "Right now, the kids will be very confused and upset if their Papa 'pretends' he can't understand them, and if he doesn't know how to act right... Could you...?"

Billy rolled his eyes. "Grant Knowledge," he intoned, and with a wave of his hand and a burst of blue light heavy blue-silver bracelets fell into his hands.

There was nothing that said Billy was irritated more than dragging out reality warping.

The larger bracelet was passed to Teddy, who put it on, because he TRUSTED Billy like that. The other Billy held out to his brother.

"It will serve as an inherent translation talisman for Tommy, he'll be able to speak whatever languages you speak, Teddy, so long as you both wear them. The other thing is if you run a finger over yours, Teddy, it will impart to him memories that he MIGHT have had if you had LET HIM."

Tommy took the bracelet and slipped it on. He gave his brother a grateful hug - probably startling to Teddy, since Tommy had never done that so easily when he'd known them both around one another. Things changed.

"I know it's all messed up," he told Billy. But we'll figure it out, okay? I'm sorry. I'll come get you after dinner?" he offered, giving Billy's wrist a squeeze and then letting him go, spinning the bracelet on his wrist for a second.

“I’m not invited?” billy asks. Seemed an oversight.

“I... B, this is going to be a first for the kids. And when they are over stimulated I can’t get them to sleep. Given the last time they got upset Kathryn started getting a bit rocky around the eyes, I don’t want to give them too much immediately. Intangibility and a space ship? It could get hem hurt. It terrifies me.”

Oh. Maybe Tommy should have thought of that. But he was already nervous about being around his kids for the first time and overwhelmed with everything else. He wasn't sure he wanted to navigate Billy, Teddy, and himself at the same time too.

"Tomorrow?" Tommy asked him quietly. "I just ... they're used to me and I know fuckall about them, Billy. I'll eat with them and try not to fuck it up and then we'll all talk and tomorrow we can all eat with them and you can hang out with your niece and nephew and I'll try not to stop time or anything while I freak out about that."

"Tomorrow," Billy agrees, but he doesn't sound pleased.

Teddy just wraps an arm around Tommy's waist, a silent and familiar show of support

"Sorry," Tommy said, a little helplessly. But he still leaned into Teddy's side without thinking, whole body tiling toward him without thought, like it was natural still after all this time. His body knew Teddy's, instinctively fit against his and craved his nearness and touch.

"We'll figure it out," Tommy said again. "Go hang with David for a while? Try to figure out how you two are gonna teach toddler skrulls?"

Billy did... not really like it from the look on his face, but he lets it slide. For now, the narrowing of his eyes said.

"Fine, but only because he's tired," Billy sighs, walking away, and leaving the two alone. Teddy, meanwhile, closed the door and considered Tommy.

"Would... you like some different clothes? I've got some here I use when I'm you. They look great on you."

Tommy winced inwardly. He wasn't looking forward to the part of this where he had to try to explain things to Billy and David. Or anyone else. He knew it wasn't going to make sense or seem ... healthy or whatever. But he'd been ignoring what was healthy for a long time anyway. He felt guilty and confused and nervous as hell. But beneath it, he couldn't help a steady little stream of happiness. Teddy didn't hate him. Teddy loved him. Teddy didn't blame him. It was like being able to breathe for the first time after years of dragging in shallow gasps.

"Uh yeah, sure. Whatever they're used to is good, I guess?" Tommy said. "I don't want to freak them out, Ted." The version of him they knew right now, they obviously loved. Tommy didn't want the real him to take that away from them.

And Teddy smiled, kissing Tommy's forehead and and then reaching out to stroke the bracelet at his wrist. Enjoy the soft moment of Tommy just bouncing his baby girl on his hip, singing a Skrull nursery rhyme, their son looking up jealously.

"They love you. And that won't change.}

Tommy shut his eyes, startled by the memory. It was ... sweet. But he couldn't help worrying still. What if he just didn't live up to the version Teddy had made of him. "You made me seem really good to them," he said quietly. "I dunno if I'm gonna be that good at it, Ted. I'll try, though."

He pressed his hand lightly to Teddy's stomach. He wanted to ask what it'd been like, if Teddy hated it, if it hurt. But they'd have time later. He didn't want to get started talking now - they might not stop. "I hate that you had to do all this alone," he said instead.

"You'll be great," Teddy counters. But...

"I chose this," he says after a moment. "I chose to be alone in this. But I'm lucky. The... nursemaid I have for them? She's... She's my mom's daughter. I guess we're sorta, like, siblings?"

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