oh boy howdy, does he have trauma!
When he stops, it’s in some random part of some suburbs-y town. Thankfully, there’s no one else around.
Okay, time to look for clues so he can find his brother.
And his mom, too, now that he thinks about it! And dad-
...actually, mom and dad should probably go on the “later” list too.
He finds a waterlogged phone in the pocket of his cargo shorts, but it doesn’t turn on when he messes with it. Which- ugh. Then again, it’s not like he has Billy’s number. He didn’t even have a phone, in the Hex, so he doesn’t even know how to work one. Maybe it’s not such a problem that the thing’s broken after all.
He does, however, find a slip of paper in the phonecase. Score! It’s got a number written on it- useless, and he isn’t really sure he’d want to call whoever it is anyway -and an address. That one’s more helpful.
...unfortunately, it doesn’t have a town name. Or a state name. Is he even in the states? He must be, those kids had sure sounded American. Anyway, the paper is missing all the info he needs. Boo. But then again, he supposes “Thomas Shepherd” hadn’t really felt the need to jot that down.
He sits on the curb, balancing his chin on his fist, and decides that now might be a decent time for some of that “later” he’d assigned himself.
Okay, importance order! Or rather, which-of-these-is-the-least-mind-meld-y order. He doesn’t really want to think about the fact that he died. That dilemma is most definitely off the table. His parents?
...his dad is dead. He knows that. His dad wasn’t real in the first place- unless Billy brought him back, too? And his mom...
Well, his mom hadn’t brought him back. So he really has no clue what her status might be. Maybe the weird-scary government people had killed-and-or-imprisoned her? She had tortured an entire town. Very much not a cool move. Then again, who could touch her?
She’s probably fine, he decides. Fine and somewhere that is not here and probably not with Billy, either, ‘cause then her magic would likely be intertwined with his and it definitely isn’t. Maybe they can go find her, too! After he reunites with Billy.
She’d probably want to see them again. She is their mom, after all. Maybe she’s even looking for them!
So, pending on mom and dad. Need to find Billy. And as for him...
Huh. How is he doing? Like physically, not the mental stuff he definitely not avoiding.
...well, besides for coughing up all that water, he seems... fine? Actually, scratch that. “Thomas Shepherd” was not very fine, it seems. His elbows and knees are all bruised, like he fell on ‘em, and there are all sorts of weird scars and stuff, like someone hurt him or something.
Who’d hurt some kid? And not even a magic one!
Okay, other than that. He uses the dead phone as a crappy mirror, and squints at what is apparently his own face.
...huh. That’s weird. Oh, that’s so very weird. It’s... not his face. Except it is! It is his face, and it’s not, all at the same time. It’s... almost his face, actually. Brown eyes that aren’t his and long hair that isn’t his and there’s a bruise on his cheek that he did not get and-
He turns around and vomits the rest of the water in his lungs into the grass.
Oh, he does not like this. Does Billy feel like this?
Does he even look like Billy anymore?
He gags again, but at this point he is pretty certain there is absolutely nothing left in his stomach.
He does not like this. He does not like this. He wants to be him again and in his body in his home and with his brother-
Where is his brother?
“Billy?” he chokes out, trying to stop the burn of tears he can feel welling behind his eyes. “Billy, where are you? I need you- can you hear me?”
Billy can hear things, Billy always heard him, maybe-
Maybe he-
There’s nothing. No response. There’s no response and his brother is missing and he needshisbrotherbackwhereishewhereishewhere-
Tommy Maximoff, newly alive and so very alone, buries his face in his hands and cries.
There is something hollow in his chest when he stands, rubbing his wet face on the drying sleeve of his t-shirt. Something gaping, that he can’t fill on his own.
He needs to find his brother. Billy is out there, somewhere, probably alone too and lost and he’s probably looking for Tommy and he needs to be there for his brother, that’s his job. He is supposed to be there for his brother.
He needs to find Billy.
Okay. Back on track. Find out where he is, and then-
He’ll figure out the “then” when he comes to it.
The address is really his only clue- might as well use it. Go and find where “Thomas Shepherd” lived, get whatever stuff he’ll need, and then get out. Easy enough, right?
The street takes a little while to find, but once he does the address is only a few houses down. It’s a... sad sort of place. Rundown and leeching the happiness out of the air.
Or at least, it feels like that. He doesn’t know why- he has some guesses -but that’s how it feels, the faint thread of fear squirming through his gut sending goosebumps across his skin and a trickle of cold sweat down his spine.
Even if he doesn’t recognize this place, this body does. And it doesn’t like it. Not at all.
The door is unlocked, when he reaches it, which should be good news for Tommy but “Thomas Shepherd”- his body, at least -does not seem to agree.
He feels sick. He feels afraid.
He doesn’t like this feeling hedoesn’tlikethisfeelinghewantshisbrother-
“Boy?” a voice calls, heavily masculine and drunk- how does he know what that sounds like, no one was ever drunk in the Hex -and he reacts on instinct, flinching and ducking his head, trying to make himself as small as possible.
Please don’t see me please don’t see me please don’t hurt me-
Why is he scared about being hurt? Why are his thoughts like this? There’s the pressing, growing urge in his chest, to run and not look back, and it scares him, his legs aching with the need to run-
There is a man in front of him, tall and drunk and angry, and Tommy is running before he can think because running is safe and running is easy and he could lose himself to the feel of wind in his hair and the ground beneath his feet-
He makes it two blocks before he thinks about the fact that he has no money, and no phone, and no food, and no idea where he is.
That man, he decides quickly, probably did not deserve things like a phone and money. If he knew how to drive, he’d likely steal the car, too, but he doesn’t and besides, he can run so much faster than those dumb things.
Stealing, he discovers, is extremely easy when you move at approximately the speed of light. Stealing from someone bad has the added benefit of feeling very, very good.
Take that, man I don’t remember but clearly do.
He is back down the block, stolen phone in hand and a wad of cash in his pockets, before the man even notices.
Tommy Maximoff: 1. World: 0.
His body knows the phone password, even if he doesn’t, and it unlocks easily. He pulls up the maps app, and grins.
He’s on his way, Billy.
Wait for him.