][ 008

[team_sociopath]

You can pace the room if you’d like, but it’s barely a cage; long enough to lay out on the floor in either direction, but not much bigger. At first it seems empty; but after a time the shallow sound of breathing is perceptible, coming from one of the walls. There’s a bed there, little more than a cot, with a supine body on it. Was that there

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[repeatshimself]

[Billy is curled in the corner, a massive power suppressor fitted over his head and his face, and he's chanting, but nothing is happening. He finally opens his eyes to see Tommy, and they go wide, and he reaches out for his twin's hand]

[team_sociopath]

[His hand curls around Billy's reflexively at the touch, though for a long, long moment-- and here there is no measure, so each minute lasts an uncertain eternity-- it doesn't seem to change things. Then he wakes, abruptly; their outstretched arms pull taut as he sits up and flattens himself against the wall, his other hand flat against it. Tommy yells, hoarse and incoherent.]

[repeatshimself]

[Billy yells back, but his is muffled by what's on his head, and he grips Tommy's hand tighter.]

Tommy, Tommy!

[team_sociopath]

[Maybe it's hearing his name, maybe it's his twin's grip, but he comes out of his half-aware distraction and focuses on Billy's face. Where Billy's face ought to be, anywhere, and there's an odd fluttering breath-- nervous laughter, because why put a power suppressor on someone in a power suppressing cell?]

Billy...

[repeatshimself]

[Billy is taking slight, hyperventilating breaths]

Why are you here with me, can you get us out?

[team_sociopath]

Get us out.

[He shakes his head, hair falling over his eyes and half-blanking his expression. Tommy's shoulders are hunched over a bit as he leans forward.]

No way. Been trying as long as I've been in here.

[repeatshimself]

[Billy crawls up on the cot, holding on to his head now]

Powers aren't a good enough reason, I want to go home-

[He starts to chant, like a spell, but nothing happens]

[team_sociopath]

[Tommy turns rather numbly and stares for a moment, squinting in the dimness before he lifts his arms to try and unlatch the suppressor on his twin's head. For all the good that would do.]

Home where?

[He laughs, humorlessly. Because for all intents and purposes he's got nowhere to go, if he's here. It's not like his parents particularly want him back.]

[repeatshimself]

Home with you and Teddy.

[Because right now that's what makes up home. He squirms, but the power suppressor doesn't move, it's heavy, and he puts his hands around Tommy's arms, the only level of comfort he can manage right now.]

[team_sociopath]

Dork.

[It's reflexive and good-natured, and just for a moment, things seem a little thinner. The room feels larger. The walls seem less impermeable. Tommy starts, but it doesn't last; the nightmare closes back in on them, and he grasps Billy's arms in return because there's nothing, nothing at all he can do. Maybe if he wasn't so dead set on never admitting how much this makeshift family means...

But that's conjecture too sophisticated for dreams.]

[repeatshimself]

Don't, don't make fun.

It hurts to try and laugh.

[He holds onto Tommy like Tommy can make everything better. Billy would never admit - not ever - how much he loves his twin, because it's not something he talks about.]

[team_sociopath]

[He makes a noncommittal noise that probably, roughly, means sorry. This is just one of those things that exists as long as it's not acknowledged. But, well, obviously he's got reasons to stick around.]

I don't get why you're here.

[repeatshimself]

Prison.

[The words make it so that Billy almost feels the cold cell he had been in, but this is Tommy's dream]

[team_sociopath]

Yeah, but.

[He shakes his head, a little dizzy. Wrong one, bro. ]

[repeatshimself]

[He shakes his head, too]

Dunno.

[team_sociopath]

[And of course, if Billy's here, that means Billy's not coming to get him. The room feels a little smaller, again. Glumly, all he can do is hang on and wait.]