Room 307, Monday Early Afternoon

[dollpocalypse]

The second Topher stepped out of his portal onto the Causeway, he wanted to turn back and head back to Peter's place. That place had technology, a blissful lack of noise and visitors, and a guilt-free environment free of awkward apologies and blaming himself for stuff. Basically, it was perfect. Fandom was... not.

It was even less perfect after Topher went to class, where all that guilt-free philosophy imparted unto him by Peter was promptly zapped away by the same scarily-persuasive Wiggin rationalizing that had gotten it into his head in the first place. Weighed down by the fresh reminder of all the bad stuff he'd done that week, he trudged back to his room and without even bothering to close the door properly, strode on in, flopped on the bed, and stared at the ceiling.

Seriously, he'd love a portal back to Haiti. Even one that took him through a layover filled with giant rats would be fine. Maybe if he intentionally took one of those, the schadenfreude would be enough for Peter to let him stay a little longer?

...Whatever, he could dream.

Comments

[ultron_junior]

Yeah. Forgiveness was not necessarily Victor's thing, precisely. It was harder to do when you could never forget.

"So," he said, and tried his hardest to think of something to say that was not a fist in the face. "Want a sandwich?"

Not the least civil thing he could have said, at least?

[dollpocalypse]

"...I am not sure how to answer that without dying."

Good answer, Topher!

"Do... you... maybe want some Doritos?" That was almost fair, right? Several months' worth of meticulous sandwiches in exchange for... oh, crap, he was totally going to get punched. Again.

[ultron_junior]

Victor snorted. "No. Thank you, but no."

Look, manners stuck, okay?

"I'm not going to kill you," he said, stepping in and closing the door most of the way behind him. "I'm not going to kill you because, a, it would be way too easy, and b, I'd get kicked out if I did. But, seriously, that was messed up."

[dollpocalypse]

Topher grimaced and made a tiny noise that might have been a whine. "I know," he admitted. "I'm. I mean. You know. Sorry, and stuff. I... yeah, it was completely messed up."

[ultron_junior]

"Completely," Victor repeated, thawing the slightest bit because the word sorry had been invoked without prompting. "It just -- what even was that? You didn't even have me, like, assassinating your enemies. I was just ... making sandwiches."

Not that he wanted to be an assassin.

[dollpocalypse]

"There was the Billy thing," Topher felt compelled to remind him, even if the idea of it made him feel -- and look -- a little disgusted now. "But otherwise I guess I... mostly liked being the one to do the assassinating."

Um.

"Sorry?"

[ultron_junior]

"Sorry?" Victor repeated, with an incredulous laugh. "No, I should probably thank you. I don't need dead friends on my conscience."

He ran a hand through his hair. "I haven't even talked to Billy yet," he admitted. "Just ... not sure where to start with him."

[dollpocalypse]

"He was really cool about it when I talked to him," Topher offered. "Like really cool. Him and Peter both." And it was getting a little maddening, honestly. "It's... probably easier to get over the whole thing if you were one of the good guys."

So... sucked for them.

[ultron_junior]

"Yeah, well, not something I'd know," Victor said dryly. "But at least I have the cyborg excuse. You ... what is your excuse, anyhow? Not just for me, but for helping her."

[dollpocalypse]

Oh, that was a fun question. Even Ender hadn't gone there. Way to go, Victor.

"I guess I sorta liked her... values?" Values. Yes. "Like the dress code and the no-touching and the part where I got to tase people who treated me like crap instead of, you know, just getting treated like crap, and... it was fucked up, okay? I wouldn't do that here."

[ultron_junior]

"What, because there isn't a dress code here?" Victor asked, and sighed, and ran a hand through his hair again.

"I'm not going to get it," he decided. "I'm Catholic, so I kind of know about repression, and I'm still not going to get it. But saying you wouldn't do it here ... that's a start, right?"

He had to hope it was, or that punch would sound better again.

[dollpocalypse]

"You're Catholic? And a cyborg? Huh." TOPHER, YOU WERE MISSING THE POINT. "Does that completely... you know, work?"

Oh, yes, right, the actual topic.

"But, uh. Yeah. I guess. And if I get like that again, ever, you can punch me if you want." How generous! "I mean, you can still do that. Given the circumstances."

[ultron_junior]

"Why do people always ask me that?" Victor wondered rhetorically. "My mom was religious. You don't need to think something's literally true to believe in it."

He glanced over, smiled the tiniest bit. "Anyhow, I'm not going to punch you," he said. "I might just kill you if you ever do anything remotely like that in the real world, but no punching tonight."

[dollpocalypse]

"Awesome," Topher said, relieved. "That sounds like a good deal." Considering all the times he'd been punched and all.

"Hey, how did things end up for you in the other universe, anyway?" he suddenly remembered to ask. "I was... in a closet, so I missed some stuff."

[ultron_junior]

"Me?" It took Victor just a second to get his focus back. "Um, nothing. I kind of got in a fight with this guy Jaime, lost, got Stark to fix me, cursed your name a bunch, then wandered around feeling really guilty for about 12 hours."

He frowned. "How come you were in a closet?"

[dollpocalypse]

Right. The other person Topher owed an apology to.

"Good thing Tony was around," Topher said, and if he kind of mumbled it, well, that was his business. "The closet thing was 'cause of Kenzi. She sort of knocked me out."

[ultron_junior]

"I owe Kenzi ice cream," Victor decided. "I mean, I should probably say I'm sorry and all that, but ... kind of not."

[dollpocalypse]

Topher shook his head. "Nah, it's good she did that," he said. "Even if it did mean Peter wound up tied to a chair for like a day before the normal world set back in and I got to go untie him."

Blaming Kenzi entirely for that was a bit unfair when Topher had tied him up in the first place, but.

"So were Billy and Jaime the only people you, you know, hurt?"

[ultron_junior]

"I guess?" Victor said. "I wasn't ... you know. All that nice to most other people, but I don't remember any other fights."

He looked at his hands, as if imagining them shooting sparks. Two fights was more than enough. (Though he still thought the thing with Jaime had at least been a fair fight, by superhero standards.) "What was your body count?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Um." Oh boy. "Well, I used the disruptor on Kate and Peter, I sent you after Billy, I -- oh, well, there was reprogramming you, if that counts, and I blew up that alley with Stephanie in it."

So nice going, Topher.

"Oh, and this girl Elle and I were going to go into detention to torture her friend, but we never had time."

[ultron_junior]

"Wow." Victor would be edging over just a little. "That's, uh ... you were busy, huh?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Yeah, it was... kind of crazy." Topher rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess it could've been worse? I could've been Barton."

[ultron_junior]

"Yeah, well, Clint Barton's always been a punk," Victor told him. "In my reality, anyhow. I don't know the one here. So ... not exactly a shocker he went bad."

Victor could possibly be slightly less judgmental about people he didn't actually know, but certain opinions died hard.

[dollpocalypse]

"Yeah?" Huh. "I thought he was, you know, an Avenger."

According to Tumblr, anyway. Which was usually a super-credible source!

[ultron_junior]

"Now," Victor told him. "Started out as a thief, and there's some other shady stuff. Plus he was dead for a while."

Which was ... not such a big deal, if you were from where Victor was from.

"I dunno, I just never liked him back when I was into the fanboy stuff. Probably should give the one here a chance."