* FAST / FURIOUS *

“It’s a valid question. The stakes are too high for the answer to be that simple. But if I don’t have any after, I’ll be freezing then.”

[ sms // tommy ⏭😎 ]: bde !!! [ sms // tommy ⏭😎 ]: hat’s gross you don’t know how many small children have put their mouth on that before you [ sms // tommy ⏭😎 ]: maybe just… start fights outside of every restaurant. maybe eventually you’ll make your way up to being banned from disney like grandpa

it took a great deal, but she only nodded when he mentions nate and jonas. it was no secret at this point, but it still hurt to think about, that nate could do something so horrendous. but now, she was far more worried about Tommy. she listens, hugging her knees to her chest at first once she’s down and sitting next to him. as she listens, she doesn’t realize, but her eyes become more and more confused, not at his explanation, but at why. she didn’t pretend to know what their grief had done to them, she knew grief all too well after her dad was killed, and knew it affected people in hard ways. when he opened his eyes, cassie didn’t know what to say, instead moving to lay next to him, wrapping her arms around his middle as she hugged him. she squeezes as he continues, but waits until he’s done to speak.

“rein in the getaway car of thoughts for a sec,” her voice is gentle, and she moves so she’s looking up towards his face, still hugging him, “you matter. you count. you’re valid. we care about you. and you’re allowed to have feelings just like everyone else, Tommy. i want you, i like your feelings, you’re so important,” she could spend the whole time reassuring him if he’d let her, but she knows there’s more to what he said, “i wish i had answers for why that all happened. i know that being an Avenger, young or not, is complicated, but you never stopped being a Young Avenger, Tommy. there’s no way, i know that. you wouldn’t be thinking about our values if not. but… i also know that people do straight up shitty things while grieving,” the curse is rare coming from the girl, “and i think that you have a right to be angry, and feel whatever you’re feeling,” she squeezes his middle again, “i can’t imagine the team without you. I know it’s selfish, but I don’t want to. and now that we’re all together, we have a chance to make things right again, at least a little bit,” because she’s all too aware things still don’t feel completely right without Jonas or Eli. she pauses, curling in closer to him, “please don’t think you don’t matter, Tommy. you mean so much to me.”

Tommy wraps an arm loosely around Cassie in response to her hug. With his free hand he wipes at his eyes. “Look at what you did Cassie, I’m leaking,” Tommy jokes because he has to. He needed to do something to at least slightly distance himself from this emotional breakdown. “Easier said than when that car is going 900 miles per hour,” Tommy says as he gives her a light squeeze. Once she gets properly into her speech Tommy does fall silent though, listening to her as closely as she had listened to him, it was only fair.

Teddy can’t help but raise an eyebrow at the way Tommy reacts to him. Once upon a time it might not have seemed all that weird. Teddy might’ve been fooled by the fake smile, but he knows Tommy better now. His brother-in-law isn’t going to trick him that easily.

“Uh huh.” Teddy says with a smile, still watching Tommy closely. “I haven’t seen you since we all met up to talk about the team. Everything alright?”

Tommy knows he’s failing to convince Teddy and he’s hit with a wave of regret. Never in his life should he have allowed another being to get close enough to see through his bluff so easily and for a brief moment he looks around, try to see if there are any ways left to exit this conversation.

[ sms // tommy ⏭😎 ]: oh worm that’s #disappointing  [ sms // tommy ⏭😎 ]: uhhhhhh ? ihop ? waffle house ? 

“Sorry, T, I’m just…it’s hard crying for a change that sometimes seems impossible, y’know?” Dawn shook her head, knees pulled into her chest with her arms wrapped tight around them. “I know it’s heavy, but there’s not a lot of people I can talk to. Gotta be that optimistic face of the mutant rights movement, after all. Can’t let them see me crack.”

“Ohh… I understand, I think. So it is like.. agreeing.” Klara liked when Tommy taught her more English. Really, she just liked hanging out with Tommy generally.

[ sms // tommy ⏭😎 ]: i’m always fighting ppl ! that brotherhood energy ! [ sms // tommy ⏭😎 ]: denny’s parking lot

wanda’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. she wasn’t sure if it were her instincts as a mother or as simply someone who cared but her eyes squinted and she used her telekensis to shut the door behind him. a clue that she wasn’t busy and it wasn’t a bad time at all. “THAT HAD BEEN A JOKE,” mostly. it was mostly a joke. “though clearly a bad one. what’s on your mind, tommy?” she’s curious and concerned in an instant – and she has to force herself from overstepping far too much than she already has. “you can tell me anything.”