I go around a time or two-

[notaspeedyhobo]

Who: Tommy Shepherd and Kate Bishop
When: A day or two after Tommy's last dream went up on the network.
Where: 3D
Summary: Tommy is still in the doghouse for having a ~sexy dream~ about Kate, so he's turning the bottom bunk into a Mancave. Kate will not have this ugly, masculine monstrosity in their room.
Rating: Uhm, PG to be safe?
Warnings:

Comments

What do we do with our time?

[artemisaim]

Kate really hasn't been sleeping much either. She's been sleeping at scheduled times for small blocks of time but it's still not much. She really didn't need to add to the stream of dreams that were flowing through the network and if avoiding that meant sleeping a little less, she was all for it. It was a small price to pay for not having her personal thoughts broadcasted to everyone else in the Facility. After the nonsense about her mom, she was pretty much done with this week. She liked to think that she was handling the whole thing pretty well, really.

But then of course Tommy just HAD to go and dream about something dirty and embarrassing. Sure, she knew he couldn't control what he dreamed and he couldn't control the fact that everyone saw it but it was still embarrassing. Besides, after that, she could use a little distance for a few days. But by now the sulking was getting old and she was ready to be done with it. The whole "mancave" crap Tommy had set up on the bottom bunk was getting pretty annoying too.

So, when she returned to their room after stopping by the rec room to put books back, she marched right up to the bed and pulled the sheet down.

"What are you even doing?"

Everything that is beautiful.

[notaspeedyhobo]

He was a little startled when Kate yanked down his fortress walls and demanded to know what he was doing, and actually jumped a little - managing to hit his head on the underside of the top bunk. "Ow!" He hissed, crouching a little instinctively and glaring up at the 'ceiling'.

"What was that for? You know I'm just going to tie it up as soon as you leave the room again."

He's been spending his time coloring. The bottom bunk bed is covered in sheets of construction paper with crayon doodles - cartoony almost stick-figures of the Young Avengers facing down villains, pictures of the Avengers. He was currently working on a notable one of Iron Man with a bottle of vodka in one hand, drunk-bubbles over his head, and a Captain America scolding him.

"I'm making art, Kate."

Past tense is easier to write in

[artemisaim]

She just rolled her eyes at him when he jumped up and hit his head, tossing the sheet aside. He was just so graceful and talented. It was sort of amazing that he wasn't just one big ball of brain damage by now. "You're going to give yourself a concussion if you're not careful."

The coloring was probably why he'd been so quiet the past few days. It was a little unnerving, when Tommy was quiet, because it usually meant he was up to something evil. She had more than enough reason to be concerned when it came to him. She sat down casually on the bottom bunk near him, looking at his drawings. Enough of this crap. It was time to act like adults. Which they weren't technically but details.

"I see that. Those are pretty good. I think you've really captured Iron Man in this one," she said, pointing to the one of Iron Man with the vodka bottle.

xD It is

[notaspeedyhobo]

"Yeah, well. Bottom bunk." As if that explained everything. Yep, that's why he's going to give himself a concussion, not because he's clumsy as hell sometimes when he's not moving at superspeed. He just peered at her curiously when she moved to sit by him, just now adding the wings to the sides of Cap's head in the drawing.

He was immediately suspicious. She was complimenting his drawings instead of making a sarcastic remark about them? He's come to expect snark from her, and when he didn't get it, he was understandably confused. He just shrugged one shoulder and tossed the white crayon aside, only to pick up a stump of blue and another sheet of paper. "It's something to keep me awake."

[artemisaim]

"That's not an explanation for anything." Really, sometimes Tommy just didn't make any sense. Like saying "bottom bunk" explained why he was trying to give himself brain damage. Well, more brain damage.

"I guess. I just wasn't aware that you were five," she added, giving him a look. And there's his snark. Really she couldn't hold off forever. Besides, maybe teasing him wouldn't get him to act normal. If that didn't work, she could always just shove him off the bottom bunk too. It probably wouldn't be too hard to do.

"So, how long are you planning on hiding out in your blanket fort to pout?" Or she could...do that.

[notaspeedyhobo]

"It's an explanation for everything." And that was Tommy just trying to be a pain in the ass, as usual. He totally didn't have brain damage, either. Well, not much. He had been tossed around a few times since joining the Young Avengers, but hey, that was generally what speedsters were for. At least they were resilient.

When he finally got the teasing he was expecting, though, he stuck his tongue out at her. If she was going to call him five, he'd act five. Although, this was more normal... "I figure you'd be even more pissed at me if I decided to while my time away with the dirty magazines Billy magicked up for me." He still had those? Oh yes. Tucked under the mattress of the bottom bunk now, actually. Why he was keeping them, he had no idea.

"I'm not pouting. I'm entertaining myself. Would you rather I go blow up the vending machines instead? Because looting is always fun, too." His hand flew over the sheet of construction paper with four different crayons - a light blue, a green, a white, one that was sort of skin-tone-ish. He drew fast, like he did everything fast, and before long, a picture started to appear - two cartoony sort of figures, that style he had used for all the other drawings because he couldn't do much else, both white-haired. One was dressed in green, the other in light blue.

It was two speedsters racing, and his finishing touches were the blur lines behind them.

Fff, icon

[artemisaim]

"Whatever you say, Shepherd." Now he was just trying to be a pain in the ass. Kate could just tell. Then again, it wasn't really hard to tell when Tommy was just trying to be annoying. He was kind of really obvious about it. He was pretty good at it too. Sometimes she really just wanted to shove him out of a window or something.

She rolled her eyes when he stuck his tongue out at her, giving him an annoyed look. So that's how it was going to be, huh? But then she blinked a bit and just stared at him. "You still have those?" Ugh, she thought he had gotten rid of them. Why did Billy even give them to him in the first place? God. She needed to find those things and get them out of this room.

"You are too pouting. And no, I wouldn't like that either. Besides, why would you want to loot the vending machines around here? All they have are those food bars." This was getting more and more stupid as time went on. So instead of saying anything else Kate decided to just sit there quietly and watch him draw. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke again.

"What will it take to get you to quit pouting like a little kid?"

You know you love the icon.

[notaspeedyhobo]

"I thought it was whatever you say goes, Bishop," he retorted, though there was a real teasing note to his voice there. He really was obvious about being a pain in the ass, but that was pretty much what he was for, wasn't it? Of course. And sadly, if Kate shoved him out a window, he'd probably just be back two seconds later.

He snorted quietly when she rolled her eyes at him, holding in a laugh. She had managed to get rid of a few of those magazines, but not all of them. "Yes. They could be useful. I could... trade 'em for something." Maybe. He wasn't even sure.

"...I could... loot water." But then people would probably get pissed at him. He actually had no plans of doing it, it was basically just him pouting. Like a little kid. "I am not pouting like a little kid." That's his story and he's sticking to it.

He tossed aside the drawing of himself and Pietro and grabbed another set of crayons, another sheet of paper. This time, his colors were purple, black, yellow, skin tone, red, white, blue, grey, green... When his next doodle took place, it was a little more refined than others, though the style was still far from professional, all sketchy and minimalistic. But it was recognizeable, the people in it. Kate, drawing her bow, and Cap, preparing to throw his shield, in the statuary garden of Avengers Mansion.

There was even a little Bucky flailing in the pond in the background.

I do

[artemisaim]

"It is. Glad to see you're learning." Of course she was only kidding. If he could be obnoxious, so could she. And yes, she was well aware that he would be back in two seconds if she pushed him out a window. That's why she didn't do it. Well, that and the fact that they were currently in space. He probably wouldn't survive a trip out the window into space and she really didn't want to kill him. Not right now, at least.

"Because porn is really a tradeable asset, right?" she said, rolling her eyes again. She just had to keep wondering why Billy even gave it to him. "I have water stashed away in here. But you can loot some if you want. Just don't expect people to be happy with you." She wasn't even going to comment on the "not acting like a little kid" thing. He was, even if he would never admit it.

There was more silence as she just sat back, watching him draw. He wasn't the best artist but the things he drew were at least recognizable. She couldn't help but smile a bit, leaning closer to him and resting her chin lightly against his shoulder so she could look over it. "Is that Bucky in the pond?"

[notaspeedyhobo]

"If I don't learn, you hit me until I do," he said lightly. The teasing was at least putting him in a slightly better mood. It was normal, he knew how to handle this. And somehow, it meant that they were going to be okay.

Tommy just made a face at her when she mentioned she already had a water stash. Okay, fine, no blowing up the vending machines. "...I'm still not sure why Billy even gave that stuff to me." He still had a couple of pixie sticks, too, surprisingly. Maybe he just kept the magazines to piss Kate off when they were fighting. No one would ever know.

But then he turned his head slightly to glance at her when she leaned against him, looking over his shoulder. "...Yeah. You would have thrown him in it." If they were still home. If they weren't here. Maybe he was kind of homesick. "Kinda wish Cap were here, y'know? He's at least a real artist. We could actually have stuff for the walls."

[artemisaim]

"That's because it's the only way I've found to make you learn. You're surprisingly resistant to lessons." Kate was a little less dramatic feeling about this whole thing than Tommy was. They had one little argument that wasn't even an argument. It was nothing to get so upset over.

"Who knows. Billy's weird sometimes." And it wouldn't surprise her if Tommy did keep the magazines just to piss her off. That seemed like something he really enjoyed doing. He was just so good at it too. When he mentioned that he wished Cap was here, she was quiet for a minute. Having Cap around would be nice. But...this place really sucked. "I don't." She wouldn't wish this place on anyone. Really she was glad that everyone else they knew was home and safe. They were so much better off there. No matter how much she might want to see them. And...she wanted to see them pretty bad. Maybe she was a little homesick too.

"...I was never actually mad at you, you know."

[notaspeedyhobo]

A snort. "Learning's for losers." Okay, maybe he was being a little overdramatic, but the stress just... got to him sometimes. It was bad enough this week that everyone had to see his own personal hell, but then they got to see his own little personal heaven, too? Maybe he just hadn't been here long enough to understand 'don't let them get to you'.

"Sometimes?" Have the flattest expression ever, Kate. Billy was always weird, in his book. Even more so here, apparently. Maybe this place had gotten to him, too. But then he seemed to realize just what he had said - about Cap. "I know. I wouldn't wish this on him. It's one of those... contradictory things."

He was quiet for a few moments, listening to her say she hadn't been mad at him. "...I know that." He didn't want to talk about it. Talking about things wasn't something he did.

[artemisaim]

"Clearly." Tommy had a tendency to be overdramatic about things, Kate was noticing. She could understand that this week was stressful and embarrassing, it was the same for her. And she probably could have handled the whole thing a lot better. But hey, everyone made mistakes. She was not immune to this, as she was quickly learning. She didn't respond when he pretty much said that Billy was always weird, instead just giving him a look. She didn't think Billy was ALWAYS weird. Just...every now and then.

"I know what you mean." She didn't want to be here. But more than anything, she didn't want to people she cared about to be here. It wasn't fair, not even close.

"So stop pouting? It was just...a silly dream right?" Except he probably didn't think that the content of the dream was silly at all. Bah.

[notaspeedyhobo]

He couldn't help that he had a flair for the dramatic. It was in his genes, just like his uncle, like his grandfather. They both could have handled this whole situation better, he knew, but they were only teenagers. It was hard to remember that sometimes, that they were just sixteen, but they were - they couldn't expect to handle everything perfectly. And Tommy found a sort of comfort in that imperfection.

"I'm not pouting," he repeated, sliding his latest drawing into a pile. They weren't good, but he was thinking about keeping them, putting them up somewhere, a reminder of home and everything they missed. A reminder of everything they wanted to go back to. "I'm coloring. It helps with the stress, doing something with your hands."

He slid a sheet of white construction paper over to her, and a pile of crayons, a little smile lighting on his lips. It's somehow mischeivous, playful, fond. "Try it."

[artemisaim]

Kate wasn't even going to address Tommy's flair for the dramatic. She knew it was there and she knew he had gotten it from his uncle and his grandfather. That's why she wasn't addressing it. It was weird to think that he was really anything like them. "That's still your story, huh?" He was pouting down here. It was pretty obvious.

"You can pout and color. I trust your multi-tasking abilities." Now she was just teasing him. But she blinked when he pushed the crayons and paper towards her, looking down at it. Coloring? Really? Now she felt five. Oh well, maybe that wasn't a bad thing. With a shrug she picked up the black crayon, starting to draw. She drew two large icebergs with a flat piece of ice in between. Then she picked up the blue crayon and added some water in front of the ice. On the flat piece of ice she added a little penguin. A little angry penguin with a red mask and a blue shirt.

[notaspeedyhobo]

Probably for the best that it not be addressed. Tommy would either be sad at the mention of the relatives he'd never get to know now, or he'd start crowing about how much like Magneto he was, how he was Magneto's favorite, and... That just wasn't good for anyone's sanity. "It's my story because it's true. I pouted yesterday, I'm coloring today," he said, smiling wryly over at her. Okay, he had still been pouting today, but he was making a point. Possibly.

He watched Kate pick up the crayons and start to doodle, leaning against her side lightly to crane his neck and stare down at the drawing taking form. At first he was confused, because. They had never been to the Arctic or anything (Tommy always liked to draw just people he knew, or places he'd been.), but when that little penguin took on a red mask, an angry face, and a blue shirt, he burst out into laughter, draping himself over Kate's side to bury his face against her shoulder.

"Eli... Eli's a penguin now?" He kind of did remind Tommy of an angry little penguin sometimes.