Robbie Baldwin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
walkingballpit) wrote2018-09-19 04:06 pm
walkingballpit) wrote2018-09-19 04:06 pm
(no subject)
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.
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.
no subject
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.
no subject
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.”
no subject
"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."