Chapter 23 - I See Dead People
It hadn't escaped Tommy's notice that James had sat with Tyler for dinner, and something about how quiet the two of them could be in a crowd while they talked just rubbed him entirely the wrong way. Especially when Billy was already upset at the idea that James could move on so fast.
"And you're sure we can use that room for a place to crash?" Tyler was asking low as they left dinner.
"Yeah, don't worry about it," James replied - but that seemed to be the breaking point for Tommy anyhow. "There aren't a whole lot of other reasonable options anyhow."
"Oh, of course. Why am I not surprised that you decided to shack up with the big blonde you couldn't keep your lips off of before," Tommy said loudly enough to draw attention from anyone still in the corridor.
"What the hell's wrong with you?" James snarled, glaring at Tommy with his hands balled up in fists. "I wouldn't-"
"Yeah? You forget I was there for the first time around?" Tommy shot back, and James started the rush forward.
Mia popped up between the two of them even as Tyler took a few steps back, looking shocked, and James started swearing at Tommy.
"Tommy, that's too far," Mia said with one hand on both James's and Tommy's chest. Especially when James looked like he was ready to cream him even for the insinuation.
Unlike any environment where the kids had gotten into tiffs before, though, the crew of the Starjammer was entirely ready to see a fight - regardless of why there would be one. Nate rushed in to push his brother back while Mia pushed back Tommy, but the crew were closing ranks and shouting in various alien dialects for them to fight, making the job that much harder for Mia and Nate to manage while both of them tried to get both Tommy and James to back off.
"Woah, woah, what is going on here?" Corsair's voice rang out, and the crowd of pirates parted as he made his way to the center of the trouble. "Fighting? Among yourselves? Really, boys?" Corsair took stock of how both of them were glaring and dropped his jovial tone. "Alright, this isn't going to work. I promised my son and your mother that I'd keep you safe and sound. Somehow I doubt they'd be alright if I let the two of you settle whatever this is … like this."
"I only need the one leg to kick his ass," Tommy blurted out - but all that really did was get a deeper, more rolling growl out of James, with Nate whispering at him to cool off.
"Alright. I don't know what this is about, but last I checked, weren't you two set to be brothers-in-law?" Corsair asked, derailing both of them as they seemed to rethink exactly how this was going down.
James let out a sigh and forced himself to look away from Tommy - who glanced over to see the expression his brother was wearing just beyond the crowd and immediately felt badly about how this was going.
"That's what I thought," Corsair said, then stepped into the middle to take a hold of each of their arms. "Come on. We've got a way to deal with this."
"I doubt my mom will appreciate you throwing us in the brig." Tommy was half glaring at Corsair now.
"Probably not," he agreed. "Which is why I'm not."
James looked over his shoulder behind them to see that most of the crew was following along, blocking them both from taking off - not that they had anywhere to go.
"Whatever it is you two are all riled up about - figure it out," Corsair said before he shoved both of them into a room well away from anyone else. "I'm going to tell you not to fight, but if you do, that's on you. Quit acting like a couple of jackasses."
A moment later, before either could raise up much of an argument, the door slammed shut in their faces, and they could both easily hear the tumblers fall into place that told them they were locked in.
"Like I can't just go through it," Tommy grumbled.
James had thought the same thing, but again … if they got out, then what? He let out a groan and made his way across the room, already disgusted with how this was going. He hadn't done anything, but if Tommy was any kind of a metric on how Billy was feeling …
"This is a waste of time," James grumbled to himself. "Just … stop."
"Stop what, calling you out? Not gonna happen."
James glared at him for that one. "Making up stories and trying to stir up shit, you mean."
"You and Tyler-"
"He needed a place to go when he's on edge. Not gonna apologize for it."
Tommy turned toward James with his whole body, his arms still crossed, before he decided to go for more of the truth. "Look, I do actually like my brother and don't like seeing him this stressed, ya know? He's scared to lose you."
"Not like I have any control over that," James said. He wasn't surprised that Tommy was looking out for Billy, but he wasn't going to let anyone assume like Strange had that he was done, either.
"Yeah, okay. Talking to a brick wall, I get it." Tommy let out a deep scoff from the back of his throat and got up to pace. "The thing that gets me is how you're so ready to take my damn head off from screwing up, but it's going to be so easy for you to break Billy's heart, you little hypocrite."
"You're comparing what you chose to do to whatever I've got no chance of deciding for myself?"
"Oh, don't give me that," Tommy said sharply. "This started way before the department. You checked out the second Noh died."
"That is pure horseshit."
"Wanna bet?" Tommy shot back. "Because I was there. I had front row seats."
"Billy was trying to keep you in one piece, and I was doing what little I could to keep Mia going. Again. That's all Noh had to do with anything."
"Uh-huh. So when Billy says you were sharing your heaven with him… you're not at all tempted to just give up and go back? You keep talking about how you're not even sure you're gonna survive. And I'm saying it's real convenient for you that you've already got someone waiting for you on the other side, so this works out for you no matter what, doesn't it?"
"You have no damn clue what you're talking about. And I don't have anyone waiting."
"I think I get to ask when it's my brother who's getting his heart broken every time you check out of reality!" Tommy shot back, nearly shouting. "Billy's the one constant in my life, do you get it? That's my brother!"
"Yeah. I get it," James said, glaring Tommy's way. "You don't know how any of that happened, and I doubt you care."
"I care that you keep trying to leave him. And considering what he told me about how you couldn't even keep it together to stay out of Purgatory, I'm not real convinced you've got your heart in anything right now," Tommy said angrily. "I swear, this happens every other week. Something bad happens, and Billy has to beg you to not do your stupid self-defeating crap, and you know who has to pick him up when you leave? Not you. Every single trauma-inducing, dramatic Big Event, and Billy's beside himself - beside himself - trying to keep it together for you and then, what? You turn around and go to heaven with the hot alien guy who made it blatantly obvious he was interested. You think I don't know my brother keeps wondering if he's being compared? I get to hear what he doesn't want to tell you because he's scared you'll leave, but damn, you really think you've got the moral high ground while you drag my brother through everything in your wake and think it's okay because he's still in love with you?"
When Tommy turned around, ready to get deeper into it when James wasn't answering, he certainly wasn't expecting to find that he'd slid to the floor and was entirely still.
"Mom!" Tommy didn't even think before he called for Wanda, knowing her spell would let her know that one of her kids needed her. He lost most of his bluster and ran to where James was still lying on the ground - and not breathing. "Damnit all, I was just telling you not to leave Billy, you idiot!" He shook his head and started on chest compressions before he gave James a breath. He took a deep breath and yelled for his mom again - and then went right back to it.
Tommy worked for what felt like forever before James started to respond. Tommy stared at him, watching carefully as James took a few good breaths on his own, then a few very quick shallow ones just before he moved - fast. He pushed himself away from Tommy, skittering backward and looking positively scared out of his skin. It took James a long while to take in everything in the room around them, and then, he curled in on himself and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes as he tried to catch a breath. He hadn't acknowledged what had happened or that Tommy was there, but he was shaking and obviously not alright.
Tommy was out of breath himself, so he didn't say anything as he leaned back, taking deep gasps of air. But he managed to get enough of a breath that he could at least ask, "You okay?"
"Great."
"Yeah." Tommy dragged both hands down his face. "So, um, please don't do that."
"Wasn't trying to do it," James said, focusing on something across the room from Tommy with a deep frown as what little color he had drained out of his features.
"Yeah, I get it. I just…" Tommy took a few more deep breaths. "What… is happening, exactly?" he said between gasps.
James shook his head but didn't look away - not when instead of just hearing the voices that he had thought were memories, he could see everyone that had been watching their conversation. Apparently. "I don't know," James whispered.
"That's helpful." Tommy ran a hand through his hair. "So. Elephant in the room."
"You were in the middle of telling me what a piece of crap I am. Continue."
"No, I'm hitting pause on that to ask you where you were," Tommy said. "Because I'm not stupid, and I know what Billy told me about his spell, and you're not scared of me."
"No."
"And death has got to be scary, yeah, but, like, that's not what freaked you out."
"Not… really," James agreed, still staring across the room. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head, then turned toward Tommy. "What?"
"You're scared of wherever you were, so where were you?" Tommy asked, frowning toward the wall James kept staring at.
James' shoulders relaxed incrementally, and he gave Tommy a dry look. "I'll give you three guesses."
"You were close to falling into Purgatory before, right? But I'd expect you to be more, I dunno, resigned. Like how you usually are." He narrowed his eyes. "Right?"
James shifted his focus to the floor but couldn't get a handle on anything but shock and some angry sass - and that just didn't seem to fit.
But the quiet only seemed to set Tommy off again, even if this time around was much less anger and more pleading. "Don't… this … this is what I was trying to… when you just give up on anything good for yourself. Don't do that." He shook his head and got back to his feet. "Whoever you're seeing? Whatever's on the other side that you're looking at? I'll bet anything they'll back me up that you're supposed to be in Heaven, with them."
"They don't really get a vote," James said.
"Yeah, but still. Hell's not… you're not that bad. You're stupid and self-destructive, but you're not my grandfather."
James's eyes flashed as he looked up at Tommy finally. "No. I killed him."
"Yeah, to stop him," Tommy said, waving his hand. "We've been through that."
"You think that matters?" James asked.
"I think it better, or Billy's joining you in hell for Katarina and whatsisface that wanted Kate so bad," Tommy shot back.
James shook his head at that, though. "You can't compare your grandfather to her and her idiot brother. He was doing what he could with what he thought he had to work with. He wasn't evil."
"Was a big enough threat he had to be stopped, though." Tommy waved his hand. "We're getting off topic. Point is: you're not supposed to be in hell."
"Maybe I am. Maybe since then, it's changed enough that it's where I belong."
"You've literally done nothing but get surgery and tell my brother the truth; I think it takes a little more than that to switch sides," Tommy said dryly. "Look, I'm pissed at you, but-"
"We're not getting anywhere. Why don't you just go ahead and hit me already?"
"Promised Mia I wouldn't break my hand."
"So find a weapon first," James said flatly.
"What, and secure my place in hell for killing a hero? I'm already headed there; let's not make it a sure thing."
"I'm not a damn hero," James growled out. "And no, you're not."
"Sure, James. I'm definitely gonna listen to your opinion of me," Tommy said.
Once again, James turned his head to look across the room, and it was fairly obvious he was locked on to something Tommy couldn't see - but he wasn't showing his cards on what he saw. Or heard. "I know. Anything else I've screwed up that you didn't get off your chest yet?"
"Kinda lost the wind in my sails saving your life, sorry," Tommy said, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, well, you didn't have to do that," James said flatly. "No one would have been surprised."
"What, that I let you die? Yeah, I know," Tommy said darkly.
"No, that I died in spite of everyone's best efforts." He turned back to Tommy, looking pale still. "What do you want me to do? Really? You want me to just … get the hell away from him? I don't know what the right thing to do is anymore, and if you're so convinced I'm going to screw it up again - just … tell me what to do."
Tommy dragged his hand down his face. "The whole friggin' reason I'm mad is that right there. The 'oh, no one will be surprised when I kick it', the 'it's okay if I die', the 'it's okay if I go to hell; I deserve it woe is me' would you shut up already? You're killing my brother when you drown yourself, so pick your sorry self up and stop trying to leave him!"
"I'm not trying to leave him," James said as evenly as he could.
"You're not trying that hard to stay! Every other thing out of your mouth this whole time has been about how you're just accepting it. You're just gonna lay down and let it happen."
"Because I already had accepted it before I came back," James snarled. "I don't know what to do with this - especially when we all know I don't get a say in how this plays out! You get that, right? I don't know what's happening most of the time, and more often than not, I don't know where I am." He gestured to where he'd been when he woke up just a few moments earlier. "It's like that, and yeah - this time was different, but -" He let out a frustrated growl and covered his face with both hands. "Everything is so freakin' loud." The last part was just over a whisper, and though Tommy didn't see it, the rest of the people James had seen seemed to realize what had been happening - and what was happening now - because they all very suddenly got quiet enough that James removed his hands and looked up to where they were.
Which was when Kurt realized that, for him, it was a two-way street - and gestured for everyone else to stay silent.
"Thank you, helpful," James muttered.
"Sure, yeah, glad you got it off your chest," Tommy said, frowning as he came to sit down close to but not exactly next to James.
"Wasn't talking about … nevermind."
"They backing me up? The angels or whatever you're seeing? Telling you you've got a fighting chance and to go marry my brother or whatever?" Tommy asked after a long, long beat of silence.
"No," James said, then turned toward Tommy. "Not exactly. More like arguing about why I stopped breathing and glitched out my pacemaker."
"I'll look into the adamantium - or ask Forge to, anyway. Or talk to someone on the crew about, I dunno, where we are in space. Space does weird things," Tommy said.
"Don't worry about it. Not like I can get rid of the adamantium, so if that's the problem …"
"Yeah, still gonna look into it, seeing as I really want you and Billy to get married," he said, sounding more subdued than before. "I mean it." He paused again. "I don't know if you… remember or… saw it, but, like, I saw what happened. With the metal. I tried to stop it. Because, you know, you're good for him. Even if you hate me."
"I don't hate you; I hate what you did. I hate that it took so much for you to see how wrong it was - and I know that you got to where you knew exactly how badly you screwed it. But … I could barely see anything when the bonding happened,and I couldn't move."
"It was right after I took my own arm off," Tommy said, sliding down the wall so that he was seated opposite James and they could talk. "I was trying to find Billy, found you instead."
"Sorry bout your luck."
"Yeah, me too. I think I mighta been able to call for help if I'd found something else, but I managed to walk into the room full of Very Important People," Tommy said with a snort. He shook his head. "I dunno. Been having nightmares nonstop, and maybe I'm, you know, pissed beyond all reason at all of it. It's been a really, really bad run for you. And me, but you know. No one'll notice if I'm off my game."
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you," James said after a while. "I couldn't breathe without everything hurting when you were in the wall. Still hurts, most of the time."
"Yeah, don't worry about it, sorry about whatever I said in there because I know I hit a fever at some point, and I blacked out a few hours, so there's no telling what fever-high me said."
"If you said anything, I missed it," James lied, deciding that even if he could remember more than a few little sounds, he'd keep that quiet.
"Good."
"You and Billy took care of each other after Apocalypse, so I didn't get much of a chance to stop in," James said after a while. "Even there, I wasn't trying to hurt you. In case you missed that part."
"Took a minute, but I figured that out, yeah," Tommy admitted. "Which I guess I appreciate. I mean, the guy sent me to get you assuming I'd die and he'd get Billy, so… I'm glad my death's not on your conscience."
James turned toward him. "That was never going to happen."
"Well, yeah, now we know Billy got Demiurge protection-"
"No," James said, shaking his head. "I wasn't going to touch you. Or did you miss that every one of those idiots next to you died?"
"I kinda figured the sparing was me-specific and didn't look at it too hard?"
James seemed to finally be getting his feet under himself after his brush with the other side and he gestured with one hand as he leaned against the wall, one arm still around his knees. "Everything you just said about trying for Billy's sake?" He waited for Tommy to look toward him. "Apply that to yourself and Mia."
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," Tommy said with a hollow laugh.
"You a fortune teller now?" James said. "Because I know more than I should."
"Yeah, and I know I'm a wreck and no good for her, and she needs space to mourn, you know, and-"
"Shut up, that's … well, yeah, she needs space, but she still loves you, you moron."
Tommy blinked several times. "...mm?" was all he managed to say, and it wasn't even really audible except to James.
"Mm-hmm," James replied, just to keep it to the same level.
Tommy was quiet for a while longer before he let out a soft, disbelieving scoff. "Well, that kinda throws off my plans to find a place in space," he said, stunned enough not to pretend that wasn't his plan.
"Why the hell would you want a place in space?" James asked with his nose scrunched up. "You couldn't run anywhere."
"I 'unno," Tommy said in a shrug. "Everyone can find me on Earth."
"And if your brother wants you, he'd wish you across the galaxy while you were brushing your teeth."
"That's kinda why you need to stick around," Tommy said. "I mean, first and foremost, don't die, because I do actually like when we're friends, even if that's complicated."
"It's not complicated." James stretched his legs out in front of himself. "You screwed up, and you realized it and have been trying to make up for it from the first time you saw Mia with Noh."
Tommy didn't even try to deny it. "That obvious, huh?"
"Ah, yeah."
"Damn. I'm a good spy in other ways, though, right?"
"She's been paying attention to that since you helped her on moving day."
"Yeah, that's, ah, that's about when David knew he was breaking up with me."
"When she was still with Noh," James pointed out. "She noticed."
Tommy nodded more times than was necessary as he thought it over. "And you wouldn't take my head off if I asked her out - you know, when I'm not a sleepless wreck?"
"Provided I'm still alive …" James took a deep breath. "If you ever do what you did before, I can't promise that I won't take off your head."
"Which one?"
"Dropping her because you got scared and trying to mask it as you want to screw other people."
"Not what I…" Tommy let his shoulders drop.
"That's sure as hell what it came across as."
"No, I get it. I was trying to make a joke…"
"You were trying to be cooler than you thought you were," James said. "And you panicked when you realized how head over heels you were for her. Did that ever fade? The head over heels thing, not the trying to screw anyone with a nametag."
"I kinda thought it would."
"Of course it didn't," James said.
Tommy took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay, so um. Do I want to know what your mobile peanut gallery is saying right now because I feel like everything I didn't want people to know about just came out…"
"They knew anyhow," James said. "And if you really want to know, her dad is pissed off that I told you all that - but I'm on her side, so …"
Tommy smirked lightly. "That's me. Not the 'take home to dad' prince," he said with the whisper of a tease.
"As I understand it, he liked you all the way up until the moment your brain withdrew into your pants."
"Pretty sure that's what blew it for everyone, let's be real," Tommy pointed out.
"You learned though - right?"
Tommy put his hand over his heart. "Swear on my remaining limbs I learned my lesson."
"Okay. Then we're good as far as that goes."
"Okay." Tommy paused and tipped his head. "And, for the record, I've already got half my speech written for yours and Billy's wedding."
"If he still wants to do that, you mean," James said.
"Like that's a question."
"It very much is," James argued.
"Well, I guess it's my turn to give you insider info," Tommy said.
"You don't have to. I told him I wanted him to take his time. I mean it."
"Yeah, he's taking his time to process so he can go back to you. Why do you think he's hanging out with me? He doesn't want to be awkward around you."
"Maybe he wanted insider tips on how to pick up crown chasers," James teased.
"Oh yeah. I pointed him in all the wrong directions. Expect headlines by the day after we get back to Earth," Tommy shot back, smirking hard.
"Knew it."
They had actually fallen into a companionable quiet by then, which was when Wanda poked her head in and looked between them. She'd obviously gotten herself there as soon as Tommy called for help - or as soon as she could, anyway - but by the time she'd worked up the magic to find them in space and get to the room they were in, they'd been talking. And that had been so long coming that she didn't want to interrupt.
Still, Tommy had called for help.
"Everything okay in here?" she asked, and Tommy instantly sat up straighter.
"Mom, he died and went to hell right in front of me."
Wanda turned with her whole body toward James. "What is he talking about?" she asked in a harsh whisper. "You were in heaven."
"Before," James said flatly, sounding tired. "I was in heaven before. Guess that was the mistake."
Wanda narrowed her eyes at James, and he could see red sparks dancing across her fingers before, all at once, she seemed to know exactly who was in the room with James. And she took a step back when she realized how crowded the room was, with both of James's parents, Kurt, Noh… and Erik standing with Charles and Pietro.
Her gaze lingered on her brother for a long time before she shook her head and demanded, "Explain this."
James ran a hand through his hair. "They don't know any more than you do," he said before they could speak up themselves.
"Not about why we're visible to you, no, but as for your place?" Noh shook his head. "He's supposed to be here if he dies. I asked an angel myself, since these Terrans are so biased and dramatic and emotionally involved that I didn't trust their assurances either."
"Yeah, the Terrans are the biased ones," Tommy muttered reflexively, though he was staring at all the people in the room, particularly his grandfather. And he was rethinking a lot of what he'd said.
"Way to be a tattletale, Noh," James said. "Run to the angels… who wouldn't do anything if they had the power to."
"Go straight to the most direct answer, you mean, to see if a fight needed to be had. Akihiro was ready to join me if there was a fight. I think we were both a bit disappointed."
"Aki's ready to start the fights," James said as he rolled his eyes. He turned toward Tommy, just because he knew Tommy wasn't up to speed fully. "My brother. Half brother, anyhow."
"This both answers questions I had and opens up more," Tommy said dryly.
"Well, you might have had more time to do that if you'd strangled me like you wanted to - could have made it worse. You had time."
"You're hilarious," Tommy said, and Wanda shook her head at both of them.
"I'll need to talk to Strange about that tether. And ask Billy if he can sense anything," she said, trying to get them both back on track.
"Why?" James asked with a frown. "Strange was asking me if I wanted to stick around. I'm not so sure he's too invested in that part of it."
"He'll do as I say to keep my son alive," Wanda said simply, her eyes flashing red - which had both Pietro and Erik grinning.
"Well, the pacemaker's shot," James told her, then held up his arm that had the cuff Tony gave him. "But I think I can program this to do the same job if I get a few minutes. If you want me to."
"Yes, please," Wanda said, going so far as to kiss the top of his head when he was still seated.
"Want to help?" James said to Tommy, in an attempt to give him an exit from the crowded room.
"Uh, sure. Unless Mom needs me to go kidnap the Sorcerer Supreme or something," Tommy said, and Wanda chuckled.
"I'm sure she can snap her fingers and make him heel easily enough," Erik said, speaking up for the first time.
Wanda smiled, but Tommy's smile died instantly. "I'll go get Billy," he said, zipping off to grab his brother - which was enough time for him, anyway, to shake off his annoyance that his grandfather still liked to praise power and control.
He still managed to get back in time to hear the end of what James had been saying to him, though. "... can't believe they let you more than ten yards away from Charles when you talk like that every time you open your mouth."
"I'm right here, and it makes no difference," Charles said with a fond smile James's way.
"O…kay, why is this room full of dead people?" Billy asked, even as Tommy was smirking at James.
"Hey, Mom put up a spell so we can see what James is seeing. He sorta died again. I did CPR, and now Mom can approve him for the next step in the wedding application," Tommy said, straight-faced.
James waved half heartedly. "It's new. The seeing dead people thing. I could only hear them before."
"And you didn't tell me?" Billy asked, frowning around the group.
"You … were busy," James defended. "And to be honest, I wasn't sure what was happening. I thought it was memories, not … current."
"Yeah, that makes sense I guess…" Billy trailed off as he looked around the room yet again, his gaze falling on Erik and Pietro in particular. "Got your message, by the way," he told Erik.
"Yes, I saw," Erik said, looking irritated. "I wasn't expecting him to deliver it as he did."
"Yeah, I guess open honesty would shock you," Tommy said dryly.
"I'm glad he did," Billy said before Erik could argue. He held his grandfather's gaze. "You'd have been angrier if he lied to me, right?"
Erik sighed. "We all knew there wouldn't be any hesitation about who he would choose had he been given a choice." He made a point to look toward Noh pointedly.
"I'll not apologize for trying to find joy in a place designed for joy. I'm only sorry it's caused heartache," Noh said with his chin tipped up Erik's way before he looked toward Billy in particular. "I am sorry for that. Had I known his stay was temporary, I wouldn't have pushed. It was eight months in Heaven for me before I had the heart to flirt in even a teasing manner; I only pushed because I wanted him to be happy and not in Purgatory."
"Didn't exactly work anyhow," K said, breaking the silence for their side of things. "And entirely irrelevant now." She turned toward Wanda. "If you come up with something we can do-"
"I may need your help," Wanda admitted.
"Anything you need," Logan agreed.
"Then be ready for whatever is on the other side of that tether," she told Logan frankly. "It's coming. I don't know that we can stop it at this point."
The two of them shared a little smirk. "If it comes our way, it'll regret it," Logan swore. "And if we can get away with it, we'll go hunting for it."
"I can work this spell a few times so long as you're connected to James," Wanda said.
"You'll probably have a bigger crowd next time," K said.
"I'm sure. I'm surprised Jubilee isn't here, honestly."
"She'll be ticked off that she missed you," Logan said. "Distracted watching over Scott."
"What's going on now?" Wanda asked in a sigh. "I swear, I leave him alone for five minutes…"
"Nothin'," Logan said. "She's just … decided that's where she wanted to be. Watchin' him pace and try to pull enough hair out to look bald."
"Knowing him, she's probably right," Wanda said, still smiling at Logan. "It's good to see you again, by the way. Even if I hope to have this spell reversed sooner than later."
"I thought you were trying to finish it," K said, frowning at her.
"That's what I meant," Wanda said, frowning back. "But it's easier to explain it as reversing what's going on now."
"As long as he has a shot at being happy, we're square," K said.
"That's the plan," Wanda promised. She nodded to herself and then walked over to where Erik and Pietro were, smiling softly. "We're always busy, aren't we? I need to deal with this before anything else happens, and I wish I could hug you both, but it is good to see you."
Pietro got as close as he could to actually hugging her, even though they were on different planes. "Yeah, yeah, being queen and all," he teased her. "We'll hold down the fort. You know I've always got your back."
Wanda looked like she might cry, so she backed away, pausing to give Erik a tight smile and a whispered "love you" before she grabbed Billy, already discussing how she wanted to work with him and Strange to investigate what Hell was trying to do to the tether Billy had created - and leaving an opening for the other two to follow.
"Okay. Cool." Tommy looked toward the open door, paused, and then, to James's utter surprise, pulled James into a hug so quickly James couldn't react until it happened. "Please don't die, okay?" He cleared his throat and stepped back from James. "So, like, I can still see everybody you can see. I think my mom left the spell on in this room."
"That's gotta be for you," James said, gesturing toward the gathered crowd.
"Yeah, but I don't-" Tommy pressed his lips together and let the sentence die unsaid.
"Thomas, I-" Erik cleared his throat when he saw Tommy go tense and refuse to look at him. "I just want you to know how proud I am of-"
"Stop." Tommy held his hand up before Erik could say much more. "I get it," he said, though the tired tone he was using already had Erik's shoulders falling. "I do. More than you think I do. You want it to go away because you feel bad, but you can't undo it." He gestured toward Kurt with one hand. "I can't un-hurt Mia; you can't undo making me the unfavored heir. So I get it. You're sorry. But I don't actually want to hear it right now, even if Mom wants us to get along. I'm glad you're with your boyfriend in Heaven or whatever; hope you're enjoying it."
"They are," K half sang for Tommy's benefit while Erik grasped for something to say. "And it irritates everyone with sense, thanks."
"I'll bet," Tommy agreed easily.
"I guess I'll be seeing you," James said toward the group, though he was frowning as he said it.
"Though I am not complaining, I hope we resolve this sooner than later," Kurt said, then looked toward Tommy. "We'll be around, of course."
"Great. Send him back my way if he starts to drift, huh? That was hard work when I can't break the ribs for CPR," Tommy said, only half joking.
"That is the plan," Kurt agreed, smiling pointedly.
"Okay, that's illegal," James said as he started to leave. "You can't go from veiled shovel talk from beyond to conspiring. That's just weird."
"Sure we can," Tommy said. "Haven't you forgotten? Everything about our lives is weird."
"Yeah, well … you might need to remember how to do that heavy lifting CPR when I get a chance to sit down with Mia," James said. "I tried to talk to her twice now, but she's so worried about your new arm… which now has defensive capabilities, too…"
"Yeah, well…" Tommy glanced toward Noh and cleared his throat. "So, I maybe told her…. Stuff."
"Doesn't change things," James said. "She needs to hear it from me."
"No, yeah, I agree. Just maybe, you know, lead with the threat of Purgatory and the, you know…" Tommy groaned. "God, I gotta be a big person, but you should lead with the, you know…"
"Predatory Kree?" James suggested with a smirk.
"I was gonna say eight months of being upset about it, but I like your version better," Tommy said, to a quiet "hey" from Noh.
"She'll probably be madder that he's playing around with my brother now," James said - even if Noh hadn't hinted at it much at all … James knew where Noh's attention had been before he showed up. "I could tell her he was hitting on her dad?"
"Only playfully," Noh defended himself.
James smirked his way. "And literally everyone else, too?"
"Naturally."
"That takes away from how special she is, though, so I don't think I'll go that route," James said.
"Then please tell her that she's the only one I have said 'I love you' to," Noh said, more seriously this time.
"That is, actually, what I was thinking," James agreed.
"And that I'm sorry to have left," Noh added. "And that she's stronger than anyone I know and will be a dazzling hero."
"She is a dazzling hero," James argued. "And a goddess."
"Of course."
James turned toward Tommy. "Seriously - do you think you can help me modify Tony's cuffs? I don't want to pass out halfway through soldering and melt the circuit board."
Tommy blinked. "Sorry, I wasn't sure if your conversation was over. The spell blinked out a few seconds ago, right after the whole… 'love you' conversation. I guess Mom figured that was long enough for me to yell at my grandfather."
"That makes sense," James said, frowning. "Sorry about that. I can't tell either way."
"No problem." He nodded once and set his shoulders. "C'mon. I think between you, me, the goddess and the Maker, we'll get your heart problems figured out."
"We can try, anyhow," James agreed.
For the most part, the kids who had been sent out to space were blowing off steam, being dramatic, and getting a lot of the crew's attention. And that worked perfectly fine for Bobby and Remy, who had picked a room and faded into the background, letting the kids get the attention they needed while they waited out the whole thing.
They hadn't really had a shot at getting time alone together anyway, not with everything going on. Remy had barely physically recovered from Sinister nearly taking him out before the department struck, and then everything in the aftermath of the department had been about patching everyone up and then dealing with potentially saying goodbye to James.
This was the first time, really, that they had quiet and nothing pressing as a distraction, and they didn't leave their room for anything but food for a good, long while.
That particular morning, though, Bobby was restless. It wasn't anything big, either, not to start. It was just that he was still a little sore, especially his leg, and he slept on it weird or something. Just something little. But that set off little reminders in his head while he was still sleeping, and the next thing either Remy or Bobby knew, the temperature in their room dropped a good thirty degrees instantly at the same time Bobby curled in on himself.
And that was … a different experience for Remy. He had dealt with Bobby teasing him and everyone else over the years being suddenly icy or icing things over, but Bobby wasn't in his ice form - everything around him was cold.
In spite of himself, Remy didn't start out by saying a word - until he moved and got the full picture of exactly how cold it was in their room - and then, he started swearing up a blue streak in Cajun French as he shifted to try and calm Bobby down.
At first, Bobby had shied away and tucked in tighter - and made everything colder - while he was still asleep, but the swearing had started to wake him up. By the time he heard Remy switch from swearing to trying to call his name to get his attention, he woke up enough to realize what was going on - at least that he'd only been dreaming. He didn't quite notice the cold, but he could tell he was curled up.
He cleared his throat and purposefully uncurled himself. "Hey, Rem," he said, his voice hoarse with sleep and the remnants of fear.
"Rober', you gon' freeze me inta a cube wit dat." Remy let out a low laugh. "An' den de best you got is 'hey Rem?' Gon' have to do better'n dat." To accentuate his point Remy threw his arm around Bobby's middle and pulled him over closer. "Try agin."
Bobby laughed, still clueless about the temperature shift before he leaned in to kiss Remy. "Better?" he said, smiling - and the temperature did shift, though it was much slower to warm up than it had been to cool down.
"Lil' bit," Remy agreed. "What gotchoo so cold? Ain't like a big surprise, but usually dere's a warnin'."
"What are you…" Bobby looked down at himself. "What, did I shift in my sleep again? I didn't mean to."
"Nah, you jes turn de room inta the Arctic."
"Oh." Bobby looked around and suddenly noticed more than just Remy in the room - and noticed that Remy was deeply under the covers.
"Gon' force me to start wearin' clothes to bed," Remy said, sounding supremely insulted.
"And we can't have that," Bobby said, closing his eyes to concentrate, because he really hadn't meant to do that.
"Ain't no body never wanna see dat happen."
"Yeah, well, should warm up soon," Bobby said, pulling the covers up to his shoulders to match him as he let go of the temperature drop.
"So?"
"So… sorry?" Bobby offered.
"Ain't worried bout dat," Remy said, shaking his head.
Bobby took a deep breath, sighed, and shrugged. "I mean, you know how it is. You disappeared for the better part of a year after you got out of Magneto's cells. You know how it is when you get a reminder."
"So you wanna disappear for a while?" Remy asked with a troublemaking look.
Bobby couldn't help but grin. "Okay, I'm listening."
"Dat it. We go."
"Okay. We should - we can't miss Scott getting surrounded by Southerners forcibly welcoming him into the family, but after that…"
"Thought they do dat every other Sunday."
"Fair, but I'm pretty sure the wedding's gonna be even worse."
Remy shrugged carelessly. "Ain't too far off from Mardi Gras."
"Perfect. We'll go to Mardi Gras after the wedding."
"So, what you wanna do while we wait?"
Bobby smirked at that. "Well, we're awake, might as well have fun with the early morning, right?" he said and kissed him.