1992 Valencia Rd. - Early Evening

[first_sixth]

Where, Tommy wonders as he sits in front of the computer, has Jason gotten to. Hayley had mentioned something about sending him on some sort of errand or other while she and the team worked on a solution to the problem of the day.

-Probably to get the worrywart out from underfoot.- The idea is somewhat amusing, really, because Jase can be an

Comments

[original_red]

Ah, but Jase has returned from his errand. Or so he does, four minutes later (yes, exactly!) - entering the lair, carrying a backpack in his hand.

...

Backpack gets dropped in the next second, and he Stares with his mouth open.

"......Tommy?"

[first_sixth]

Tommy promptly abandons the journal and spins the chair around to face his best friend.

"Jase! Hey, Bro, I'd started to wonder where you'd gotten to. Hayley said she'd sent you to the library for her, or something. I was starting to worry."

He knows he doesn't really have to worry, but oh well.

[original_red]

Jase doesn't really recognize anything's been said. He's too busy having reality sink in.

"Tommy," he says, again. "You're okay?"

He grins.

[first_sixth]

"You look like a kid on Christmas morning," Tommy chuckles. "Yeah, Bro, I'm okay." Tommy stands up and crosses the Lair to where Jason's standing. He's about explain how the team managed it, when he pauses and frowns.

"Well... more or less. It's more like we've traded one problem for another."

But at least he's not immobilized anymore.

[original_red]

"It's a lot better than what we had before," Jase points out, and hugs him tightly.

Yeah.

[first_sixth]

The movement takes Tommy by surprise, but it doesn't take him more than a second to wrap his arms around Jason as well. He hugs his friend tightly, at the same time being careful not to inadvertently concuss Jase with the helmet or stab him with the shoulder armour.

"Yeah," he says quietly, "you're right." He seems perfectly happy with the idea of continuing to hold on. "Thanks for staying down here with me, Bro. I know I was really boring company, but it was still nice to not be alone."

The Lair is creepy with the lights off, after all.

[original_red]

"I figured it would suck to be alone," Jase says. "Plus I didn't want something to happen if I left."

Which, of course, it did. But at least something good had happened!

[first_sixth]

"Yeah... Seriously, Bro, thanks. Hayley kept telling me that it was really creepy down here when I was first building the place. Looks like she had a point."

Reluctantly he steps back a bit and sighs.

"Of course, now we need to figure out a solution to the new problem. And given that I'm going to have to play hooky from society until we do, I hope we find said solution pretty damn fast. Randall will probably do jump on my absence as a chance to make my life miserable."

He apparently has forgotten that he has yet to explain what the problem actually is.

[original_red]

Yeah, but that's okay, because Jase can figure it out pretty quickly.

"You're stuck morphed, right?"

[first_sixth]

"Ooooh, yeah." Tommy facepalms, to the extent that he can. "We don't know why, or how to reverse it, either. So in the meantime I get to stay down here more or less constantly."

Tommy plops down on the stairs. "I'll probably start looking forward to battles just because it'll get me out of the house."

[original_red]

"Well, at least you'll have company," Jase says. "That's gotta be something."

Right?

[first_sixth]

"Yeah," Tommy agrees, and then sighs. "But you're gonna have to go back at some point, Bro. Believe me, it's not because I don't want you here. Hell, I'd rather have you around. But you have a job, a life back East that you need to be taking care of. I don't want to see that fall all to pieces just because I had an accident."

[original_red]

"Yeah," Jase agrees, although he really doesn't want to. Life can deal without him for awhile! But he knows Tommy would never let it go, otherwise. "But I'll stay a day or two, then go back."

[first_sixth]

"Sounds good to me. This is going to take more than a little getting used to, especially figuring out how to handle the simple things, and I could use the company. It's not like I'm really going to be able to go upstairs unless we're positive that there's no one else around."

Tommy looks around the Lair until he spots a suitable corner. "Think you could help me manhandle a couch down here? There's room for it in that corner; sleeping upstairs is probably not the best idea for me right now. Too much risk that someone would see me."

[original_red]

"Piece of cake," Jase says. One measly couch? Pfft. He can handle that any day.

[first_sixth]

"Thanks, Bro." Tommy eyes Jason from within the confines of his helmet. "You're sleeping upstairs, though. I'll be fine down here; I don't want you getting back problems from sleeping on the floor or whatever."