only_good_teacher | (no subject)

The world is warm and quiet as he drifts back to consciousness. His arm is slung over Henri's waist, and Henri's arm is curled under his neck in a sleepy hug, and for the first time in a long time, Tommy feels like he's somewhere he could belong.

He murmurs something in French, turning his head to kiss Henri's shoulder, but realizes as he rouses that the smell of the room is different.

Tommy distinctly remembers Henri's cologne, mingling with the oil he uses in his beard to make something heady and musky that had driven Tommy wild the night before. That's completely gone now, not even faded into the pillows or clinging to Tommy's skin. He blinks awake. Even without his glasses, he can see the room is wrong, too. Instead of tall, narrow windows with gauzy curtains, there's a broad wall with art hanging on it, and a huge walk-in closet. There's a dog on the bed. Henri doesn't have a dog.

Tommy's eyes settle on the man laying beside him.

That. That is not Henri.

With a yelp that very nearly borders on a shriek, Tommy flails backward, away from the strange, notably older man in the bed beside him. He scrambles back so quickly that he fails to keep track of the mattress — a second later, the surface gives way and Tommy topples to the floor with a thud and an oof.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tommy waves the toy a little for Bopp to 'chase' even as he continues to focus on Daniel. "So I might just vanish? Or you might? That's fucking terrifying." He doesn't understand how Daniel can be so calm about this, how he could be calm about his own lover becoming his younger self, or any of it.

Tommy swallows hard. "I think I need some air," he admits.

“Sure,” Daniel agreed. Daniel had accepted that people he knew and cared about would vanish without any further contact a lot earlier than when he’d arrived in Darrow and maybe he was too casual about it now. He never really knew what was normal after the ETO and the SSR and what wasn’t. “Patio’s there, but if you need to wander a little more, take this, please.”

He wrote his phone number on a sticky note and handed it to Tommy.

“My number. If you get lost and you call that, I’ll see if I can figure out where you are and come get you.”

"Thanks," Tommy says. He folds the sticky edge of the note down to stick it to the back of the paper, then folds the whole thing in half and tucks it into his pocket. "Yeah, I'll, um. I won't be out long." He actually has no idea how long he'll be out, but it seems rude to say that to Daniel, to leave him hanging and worrying if his lover's younger self would be okay.

"I'll go out and get some more coffee while you're exploring the place. Take a jacket, though. It'll be a little big, but it's better than nothing," Daniel suggested. He wasn't going to keep Tommy here if he needed to get some air and clear his head about all of this. Plus, it might help him understand that Daniel wasn't blowing smoke. Daniel would still worry till he came back, though.

Bopp got up and came over to Daniel and he tousled her little ears. She always knew when he needed to pet her, and he still wasn't sure if that was training or just her personality.

"Right," Tommy says. "You said it's January." He lets Daniel tell him which jacket and shoes to wear, and once they're both on, he instinctively grabs the wallet from the small table by the door. He drops it immediately, flashing Daniel a guilty look. "Shit, sorry, I— habit, I guess." He huffs a nervous laugh. "That's probably not even mine."

“It is,” Daniel assured him. He didn’t smile at the way this Tom knew where to grab his wallet and keys. Apparently that habit was long-standing. Honestly, if not for the fact that this was very weird, Daniel was learning a few useful things about his steady. He’d remember them. He liked learning new things.

“Mine’s the other.”

Daniel’s was a high quality, classic black leather bifold wallet that Tom had just given him for Christmas this year after Tom had insisted that Daniel had accidentally washed his other wallet one too many times.

Tommy nods and picks the wallet back up. He picks a thumbnail against one corner of the wallet like he's thinking about opening it, but instead tucks it into his back pocket. Anything inside he doesn't need to see just yet, anyway. Chances are it'll just be more shit that makes him feel weird and lost, anyway.

Which is why he's going out to get some air, he reminds himself.

"Um. I'll be back." He tries to hide a wince at how fucking lame that sounds, and adds, "I won't be too late, or anything." Then he nods and offers Daniel an awkward wave before ducking out at last. It's cool outside, and Tommy takes a bracing breath before he starts walking.