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[walkingballpit]

All in all, it had been about a 27 hour day. That’s what happens when you wake up in one universe, have a full day of weirdly gut-twisting goodbyes, cross your fingers and jump universes with three friends from different points in the timeline.

He had held his breath for what felt like an eternity until his brain acknowledged that, yes, they’re all there. He mentally held it longer, until someone said something- he can’t remember what - that confirmed the others remembered the time in the other universe as well.

They’d landed in the middle of a mess, of course, because when don’t they? But the addition of a heavy hitter like Rich and a few curious Legionnaires who had come to “do the tourist thing”. One mess was handled, but it still made the news.

That began an endless cycle of explaining. To the other Warriors, local authorities, friends that texted, a pissy Tony Stark who showed up uninvited at the mountain. Robbie had tried to let Rich handle that - not trusting himself or Vance with that job. But then Querl chimed in, and several hours later, Robbie still had a headache. If there was any question before, the New Warriors were still off the Christmas card list.

People had been peeling off since then, heading out or heading to crash in their bed or whatever extra beds they were able to find in the maze of a mountain. Robbie kept finding excuses not to do the same. It was irrational, he knew, but he was worried trying to sleep would lead to waking up to find it was all a dream.

Or not waking up, because they were all dead.

Or just to sleeping alone, if Vance decided that that habit stayed in Vegas.

That was why he was wiping off the tables in the former genocide planning room, aside from it being crumb city after a dozen people had junk food for dinner. It was easier than finding out that things were going to be different. Or the same. He had a vague idea that he’d crash on the couch when he got too exhausted, but Robbie tried not to think about it so that it wouldn’t be completely planned.

Comments

[sir_vancelot]

It was always interesting to see Rich be the diplomatic one. But, then, Vance figured he'd gotten a lot of practice at that while he was fighting a war in space.

It had definitely come in handy when it came to mediating between Querl and Tony Stark. Watching somebody else dealing with Tony was great. Honestly, if he'd had popcorn, he'd have been eating it while watching.

In the end, though, everything got sorted out, Tony Stark got kicked out of their mountain again and food was ordered while stories were exchanged. Vance had joked that they bought supper with the money from Kaine's swear jar, which had ended up with a couple more dollars in it by the end of the meal.

Finally, though, pretty much everybody had headed off to find a bed to fall into for the night. Or, in Querl's case, probably find some lab that they hadn't found yet and do...God only knew what.

Vance had changed out of his uniform, finally, running his hand back through his hair as he made his way back to the ex-genocide planning room. Which somehow always ended up being the place they ate. That probably didn't mean anything good, honestly, but in this case it was big enough for everybody. Pausing in the doorway, he watched Robbie for a moment before walking in. "Hey. Sorry for the mess."

[walkingballpit]

Robbie took a step back from the coffee table when Vance’s voice startled him. He had won the fight to not jump or overreact at the surprise, but he still shot Vance a sheepish look and mumbled, “Guess I’m a little wired.”

Looking around at the remains of the mess, Robbie shrugged and picked at what he hoped was dried guacamole. “Nobody made the whole mess, unless you started a food fight when I wasn’t looking. Which I already know you didn’t, because you’re you.”

He grinned at Vance, relaxing at that utterly certainty. Some things were immutably normal. “Is it weird, being back? I feel like I’ve missed so much, but I didn’t miss anything. They did.”

There was a time when he wouldn’t have been the first to admit feeling awkward, but he’s had too many recent examples of how sitting on his feelings has made the situation worse. If Robbie’s feeling a little like a square peg in a round hole, Vance... should know. “It’s cool if it’s just me though.”

[sir_vancelot]

"I think being wired is pretty understandable." Vance walked over once Robbie had seen him, snorting at the certainty. "Yeah, the only time I was ever involved in a food fight, somebody else definitely started it." By flinging the food at his head.

He leaned against the side of the couch, shaking his head. "No, it's not just you. It is weird. It's..." Vance frowned, crossing his arms. "The corridors are wrong. I bumped into my own door when I went to get changed. I found myself jumping at the sound of Selah's voice or Kaine's grumbling. So, yeah, no, it's weird.

"Which, in a round about way, kinda brings up something we should talk about."

[walkingballpit]

“We could get Kaine to bitch at you until you’re less twitchy,” he mused. “We wouldn’t even have to bribe him, just ask him how his day’s going.”

The amusement and relief that it’s not just him were superseded - more like steamrolled - by Vance saying they need to talk. Vance didn’t have to emphasize it, no one ever said there’s something we should talk about if they just want to talk in general.

It was a struggle to keep the smile in place, but he managed to only let his expression fall to neutral rather crestfallen. Robbie thought that might’ve been the start to his parents telling him they were getting a divorce, but he can’t quite remember. It seemed about right.

Which fit with what he was thinking to himself, didn’t it? What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. He expected Vance to break things off with him, now that they’re back to a world that still considered the New Warriors a ‘tarnished brand.’

He should make it easy for Vance, but Robbie had no clue what an adult breakup entailed, let alone how to keep it clean enough for them to stay friends. Unlike one of the more recent times they had to talk, Robbie won’t consider trying to excise Vance from his life. He can’t do it - he wasn’t emotionally prepared for it then, and he’s only let himself get more attached.

“Okay, shoot. You want help beating up the mean old door, or do we need to park Wundagore at a CVS so you can buy earplugs?” Joking around was the only real option he has, until Vance ripped off the proverbial band-aid.

[sir_vancelot]

He'd gotten good at reading Robbie's body language. Which was one reason he pulled away from the couch and walked over, putting his hands on Robbie's shoulders.

"I was going to ask how you wanted to tell the team." Because he knew that part of Robbie was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. "I mean, we could wait for somebody to realize we're coming out of the same bedroom in the morning, but I somehow think that would just end up slightly awkward for somebody." Pause. "Probably us, depending on who found out first."

[walkingballpit]

The scheduled interruption - ‘tell the team what?’ - was itself interrupted. Vance wanted to tell the team about them before someone noticed they were sharing a room. Meaning that they were going to continue sharing. Shit, they were going to continue to be a them.

Robbie sagged under Vance’s hands without the monolith of anxiety and dread to keep him ramrod straight and brittle. Also, in small part, that he can’t do the Vadar voice for ‘I find my lack of faith disturbing.’ If it was anything else, but he can’t joke about how on edge he’s been. The breath that he’d been holding came out almost like a whistle. “You want to tell the team about me?”

The question sounded raw and awed, and an off-kilter Robbie scrambled to misdirect from the vulnerability (how dare he sound so needy, something screamed in the back of his head). “Shit just got real.

“Seriously, I don’t know. I can barely get through a conversation with Rich about it. I just... I want to date you and have absolutely nothing else change. Things were finally getting good here. You’re - it’s private. And believe me, I realize the irony here. Fifteen year old me would not be shy about dating anybody, but only half the people I knew then would’ve asked me how I got you.” Being able to smoothly use the word dating in relation to Vance was a fairly recent development. Robbie’s worked to get this comfortable. If Vance wasn’t ending things, Robbie had more of a reason to shut everyone else out. It was still an uneven relationship, in his eyes, and it was bad enough feeling guilty for owing Vance the responding ‘I love you’ for like two months now. He couldn’t stomach Vance getting ribbed about them being in luuuurve when Robbie hadn’t actually said it and maybe couldn’t ever manage it. Vance didn’t deserve salt rubbed into it.

But Vance was right. They would find out, because Robbie had no intention of staying away. He fidgeted as he raced through several plans, trying to make up the time he spent not thinking about it. His hand messed up the back of his hair; he chewed his lip. Finally, he offered a half smile. “I think we’ve got three options. 1, make out where someone can see us and let gossip take its course. 2, wait for Rich to blab to Sil and let gossip take its course. 3, pray Aracely doesn’t set one of us on fire when she picks up some sordid stray thoughts and let gossip take its course. I like the making out route.”

He winked at Vance, hoping against hope that Vance would focus on this last.

[sir_vancelot]

The way that Robbie sagged meant that he'd said the right thing. Vance tightened his hands on the other man's shoulders, resisting the urge to draw him in, at least for a moment. Just because they were actually having a serious conversation.

"Yeah, I want to tell the team about you. About us." He smiled slightly. "Though I'm thinking maybe not the making out in public." Because, yeah, he gets that Robbie wants to keep some things private. "Though I really don't want to wait for Aracely to catch sordid stray thoughts, either."

Because he'll admit that he has a few himself.

"On the other hand, being affectionate first thing in the morning will shock a few of them into silence."

[walkingballpit]

The scene appeared in his head fully crystallized. He would stumble into the kitchen, bleary-eyed and tangled, and head straight for the coffee. Vance, awake and perfect, wouldn’t intervene in the acquisition of caffeine, but would kiss him right where cheek meets mouth. Soft and chaste, but so unspeakably intimate that Robbie got secondhand embarrassment from his own imagination, heightened by the fact that, yes, he would like something that sweet if there wasn’t an audience.

It’s the sort of thing teammates can’t resist commenting on (and stunned silence is just a rain check). He wouldn’t hesitate to tease the others.

“Whatever you’re comfortable with.” He doesn’t see a disaster looming no matter how they inform the others - just jibes and his own thin-skinned nerves. Maybe Kaine’d curse, but when doesn’t he? “And don’t get all huffy about it’s not all about what you want. I’m going to be freaking out until I know how everyone reacts, so it doesn’t matter how they find out, to me.”

[sir_vancelot]

"At the end of the day, their reaction doesn't change anything." Because he knew that Robbie needed to hear that, too. "In that case, though, I may just make an announcement the next time the team is all together. Nothing like ripping the bandage off."

Right? The team already knew most of what had happened to them, after all. So it would be easy enough to explain the relationship as what it was, something that had happened while they'd been in that other world and would be continuing.

[walkingballpit]

“It doesn’t?” Vance has changed, hasn’t he, from the careful straight shooter chasing his picture perfect dream life. He used to try so hard and care so much about what other people thought. They both did.

But that was years ago. There are so few people whose opinions could change his mind now - and he already knows how most of them feel about his relationship with Vance. No offence to the rest of the team, but it’s Silhouette that he’s nervous about.

Vance is so calm about this, so reassuringly hokey with his talk of ripping off band-aids. No, it wouldn’t even matter what Sil said. If it doesn’t matter to Vance what anyone thinks, Robbie won’t give up being this close to Vance, and... that’s it, really.

He sits down on the couch hard and gives Vance a small smile, which morphs into a huge but awkward grin that he nervously chuckles off his face while he cracks his knuckles. “It doesn’t matter to me. I just don’t- didn’t want to to deal with you getting told that you could do better. Maybe you can, but we... you know. Fit.”

Which is why he’s been dreading what he thought was inevitable. The idea of giving it up was crippling. “My life would suck without you. I just want to be good enough that everyone’s like Vance’s life would suck without Robbie.”

[sir_vancelot]

Vance goes over to sit down, nudging Robbie's shoulder with his own. "I don't know about everybody, but I know that my life would suck without you." And he manages NOT to sing that. Because there are levels of hokey that he's willing to do during this conversation and that's one too far.

"It doesn't matter if anybody thinks I can do better, because I know I can't. This is..." He sits back, considering. "You're right. We fit. We fit better than I've fit with anybody else." Even Angelica. Maybe especially Angelica. "And I think anybody who thinks that to start will realize how well we fit."

It's maybe not something that someone like Sil would have seen when they started out. But, then, when they were both younger, Vance and Robbie wouldn't have worked as well as they do now. "Frankly, though. I think we fought too hard to get to where we're at right now to let somebody else's opinion make a difference."