WHO: Stephen Strange and Tommy Shepherd WHAT: Two "old men" discuss family and the future over unlimited salad and breadsticks at the Garden Olive WHEN: October 22, at the start of the early bird special WARNINGS: None! STATUS: Complete!
Was it just him, or was ‘The Garden Olive’ actually just the Mirror Dimension (or the equivalent - the Vallo Dimension) version of The Olive Garden? Because everything about this place was familiar, from the way none of the chefs or wait staff actually went to Tuscany to learn the trade, to the fact that the secret ingredient was butter (if everything was butter, it was guaranteed to taste good) to the salad and breadsticks that kept coming - there were already a couple of tables of middle-aged women on their seventh or eighth basket of bread, and you know what? Fine.
Stephen wasn’t really here for the quality of the food anyway. He was here because of the overabundance of food (seriously, these portion sizes were insane) and because he was trying to ‘do a solid’ for a young whippersnapper who wasn’t really that young anymore - plus he had a kid. And apparently that kid wasn’t even a glimmer in the eye of Tommy or his baby mama yet either, which added another Layer to this whole experience.
With Iryna, he could sort of see how he and Wanda decided to have a kid at some point - he wasn’t exactly a spring chicken though, so he must have agreed to fatherhood rather than retiring to purchase a piece of real estate that was a cave someplace, hunkering down and avoiding the world. Interesting times, at least, and while a shit ton of breadsticks wouldn’t solve anything maybe it just helped to not be immersed in the situation.
“So - how’s fatherhood going?” he asked a distinctly older Tommy. This was weird. Everything was weird. Did they need a bottle of wine with lunch today?
Tommy loved the Garden Olive. Probably because of their unlimited breadsticks and never-ending pasta bowl and the way he could find loopholes in every "bottomless" offerings a restaurant had. It also helped that it was very much like the chain restaurant from home-home, and that this version was closed in his Vallo future. Something about health code violations, except he couldn't remember if that was before the murder pixies or after bear-maggedon.
Trying to piece together his memory helped him not to focus too much on Strange across from him. A younger Strange. One who was just starting his relationship with his mom, and before his alternate universe half-sister was born. Timelines were complicated and dumb, a hill he would die on, even after all the shit they had been through in Vallo.
"I feel like I should be asking you that?" Tommy said, shoving another garlic breadstick in his mouth. He quickly chased it with half a glass of water. Rinse, repeat. "I mean, fatherhood for me? It's been weird. It's always going to be weird, but don't tell Sil that. I don't want to fuck up even more than I have. Pretty sure I was a mega-ass to her as teenage me." Tommy paused, before correcting, "Teenage me is always an ass, general apology, it doesn't get better."
Tommy raised an eyebrow at Stephen. "Is it weird for you?"
Well, now that was a good question. Stephen honestly wasn’t sure which part was weirder - the fact that present Tommy had somehow swapped places (or merged?) with future Tommy, and future Tommy had all these memories of being a dad and what the family was up to, whereas Stephen wasn’t privy to any of that (though apparently his future self had known this would happen, both he and Wanda, and they’d prepared Iryna for such a moment. Mind, blown).
Maybe he should just file this all under ‘brainfreeze’ and figure out how to deal with it as best as he could.
“Very,” he admitted, chuckling, a flinty sort of laugh as he stabbed at a jalapeño with his fork - the salad was just as good as the breadsticks, but instead of butter being the key ingredient it was salt. His blood pressure was going to be through the roof (and having a teenager definitely helped with that). “But - it’s been interesting meeting Iryna.” Wanda absolutely loved this - she was also the more lenient parent, clearly, due to feeling like she missed out on so much with Billy and Tommy. At the end of the day though, Iryna was a good kid and Stephen was absolutely over the moon for her.
For this total daddy’s girl who set up her own room in the Sanctum on her own, with her sootstain lashes, layers of gothic eyeliner, and terrible metal music that vibrated the walls. “I also don’t know if I’d call you a mega-ass - maybe only slightly,” he teased. “Your kid’s not burning down diners so I think you must have done a pretty decent job. Are you happy too, in the future?”
"I will take slight ass, doc," Tommy said, with a wild grin. All the features were still there, just older, rougher, fatherly. He still managed to throw a meme, gif, or ridiculous assumption at the people who talked to him. He couldn't shake off being a troll, he just was more aware of the right timing—comedic timing was better. Also Toph tended to smack him upside the head when he said something stupid as an adult.
"Sil's a good kid. I think she's embarrassed by us, so she compensates to be a little, I don't know, what's the word, normal? We're gonna go with normal. Although being able to do that lava bending shit and speed around makes for a fun combo. I have someone to race with, you know?" Another breadstick was consumed before he blinked.
"And yeah, I'm happy. Everyone keeps asking when Toph and I are getting married, and honestly not doing it to be spiteful is actually way better than actually tying the knot." Tommy waved it off, like it was a conversation he had a lot, and he had learned to nonchalantly move past it. "I mean you seem happy in the future—shit, am I not supposed to say that? Or do you already know it with the time stuff? You and my mom are happy now too. It's not even a question, I know. Or I did know then, and I know now?" Tommy was literally going to hurt his brain trying to figure it out.
“It’s not like you need to get married,” Stephen said - and he was fully on Tommy’s side here. “It works for some couples, for others it probably doesn’t.” Apparently he and Wanda were married, according to what Iryna indicated, which was okay with Stephen too - he wasn’t allergic to the idea, but definitely stood by the notion that it wasn’t for everyone. “And I think every teenager is embarrassed by their parents and overcompensates. Seems perfectly normal to me.”
Orders placed and menu closed, he went for the shrimp scampi - even though that, here, was probably about as authentically Italian as a can of Spaghetti-o’s. But it would be tasty at least (and he asked for another basket of breadsticks too, because Tommy was chomping through these like Pac-Man and Stephen wanted to be prepared). “I’ve seen many, many timelines,” he shared, glancing down at the Eye of Agamotto, which remained closed and dormant for now - he wore it around his neck, almost always, or he had it tucked away in a little pocket dimension if he was within the Sanctum and just lounging around. “A flicker of this one, maybe - but no details. Nothing solid. Things are always changing too, always in flux - I guess if I’m happy, if we’re all happy, that’s the most important thing. I’m sure I love being a grandpa. Do I have an old coffee can just filled with a bunch of rusty nails and a ‘You’re the Best Grandpa’ mug I drink my metamucil out of?”
Please say yes. That would make his entire existence.
"Not filled with rusty nails, but those little strawberry candies with the liquid in the center that I think might actually be poison? It's like a test of trust, some Hunger Games shit, if you know what I mean." Tommy paused, going for the last breadstick and realizing he should be polite, wait for the second basket Stephen ordered. Teen him wouldn't have bothered, adult him had manners.
"And if you don't know what I mean, Billy did a good job educating everyone on pop culture for literal years, so you will. He got my kid into Dungeons and Dragons, and it was a whole thing." Tommy might have gone a little hard on the heavy sighing and calling people nerds. But when the nerd was his own daughter he managed to scale it back, show some interest, and admit that sometimes he enjoyed watching Lord of the Rings.
"But yeah, you have the grandpa mug. But you also have the best dad mug too. You alternate," Tommy said with a shrug. He had bought that mug for future Stephen when he first learned he was going to have a half-sister, for humor. The irony now was that the joke did not age well, and it became less of a joke the longer Stephen was with Wanda. He was a good dad.
They had all really grown as a big complicated family as the years went on. "I know you get hints and shit for your timestone, but spoilers, this is the best timeline."
Oh. Oh. That was - surprisingly touching, and Stephen needed a minute here. Because previously, the idea of having children - any children - made him want to ‘nope’ out into the stratosphere. It wasn’t that he didn’t like children, it was more that he just didn’t believe he was exactly fatherly material. He didn’t join teams, he didn’t have friends - relationships, romantic ones, were a complete and utter failure. Stephen Strange was one who abided by ‘go it alone’ and as the Sorcerer Supreme, he had been convinced that his expertise at being a warrior of all things mystical came at the price of loneliness that felt like a stormcloud which never went away.
The longer he spent in Vallo, the more he saw that was just plain wrong.
“I - well,” he stammered, smiling a little, a look of fondness in clear blue eyes - a thawing ice storm. “I’m...really glad I earned that dad mug. And I know I’m not your actual dad, now or then, but...I like getting to do the job. Even if slight-ass you doesn’t really need me to, but - I’m always here. For those moments when you maybe change your mind.”
And he nudged the bread basket toward Tommy, because he could definitely have the last buttery stick. The next basket would be along soon enough.
Maybe Tommy said too much. Wasn't this against some paradoxical time loop self-fulfilling prophecy business? Memo to self to bug his brother and his step-dad—the Stephen that Tommy knew—about it when he got back
"Are you having An Emotion?" Tommy asked, halfway to snarky and halfway to serious. He didn't mean to stir up unexpected feelings. But since they were similar in age right now, Tommy understood. They had so many things in common that his younger self was missing out on. Tommy didn't think he was destined for loneliness, but bad parenting before the Kaplans and before Wanda, didn't make Tommy run to start making babies. He grew soft through the years, and he didn't hate it.
"I get it, I do. And I'm glad you've been there and will be or whatever. Not that Wanda isn't a great mom, because she is, she's always going to be. But sometimes it's different, being in a position where being a parent wasn't in the cards and suddenly it was, and suddenly you're a dad to babies and full grown kids."
He eyed the offered breadstick, and ate it with alarming speed. That was certainly a fatherly gesture from Stephen if Tommy ever saw one. "Give it some time though, teen me will come around. For being fast as hell, I can be really slow about other things."
Stephen was definitely having An Emotion. It was some pretty powerful stuff. Good timing for the breadstick emptiness too because, like clockwork, the Garden Olive server waiting on their table appeared with yet another basket plus the actual food (that wasn’t butter sticks and dangerously delicious salad) - sometimes miracles truly did happen.
“Oh, I definitely believe that teen you will come around,” he grinned, though there was more of a softness there rather than a sharpness. “And, you know - teen you isn’t so bad anyway. I’m pretty fond of him as he is.”
He could just tell that Tommy was a squish deep down - maybe he’d seen some shit but he was also pretty tender-hearted in a sense and there was a lump of gold in his chest right where that specifically tender heart was too; Stephen could see it. Maybe they had that in common too.
“I mean, he scares the fridge demon at the Sanctum. That’s a pretty impressive feat.” Probably because Tommy could shovel in the contents of everything the fridge held, without batting an eyelash.
"You're fond of teen me because he taught you the Spongebob meme thing, right? It was the meme. I knew it. I always wanted to ask, but you know, time and shit got away from me," Tommy said as his food was dropped out in front of him—spaghetti marinara, and a stupid amount of chicken parmesan. He went through the routine of tucking in a napkin to the collar of his shirt. Much more sophisticated than his younger self, who would have dived in without thinking.
"That Sanctum demon is no joke. Some day, I think it's gonna retaliate one day when I least expect it," Tommy said with a shrug. He was halfway through his first plate before he paused, chewed, swallowed, and squinted at Stephen. "So what's this gonna mean for you here?"
Again this was a timeline thing, and again Tommy was wondering how much impact this would have in the future, but talking to the Sorcerer Supreme, Tommy figured he would have stopped him if he messed up too much shit. "Like, you know you have a kid with my mom. And that you're going to be a grandpa, and shit man, gramps is gonna be a great-gramps—oof." Tommy made a yikes face and continued. "Does that make you feel more confident in your choices or less? You gonna rework your mental plans? Pretty sure teen me is going to have some existential crisis, but meh, what's new."
The double lunch and the napkin in the collar - both utterly charming, and Stephen had to just take a second to appreciate both things before he twirled some pasta around his fork and attempted his first bite of Garden Olive cuisine (and his own napkin was placed neatly in his lap). Though he paused when Tommy brought up the possibility of an existential crisis - all of this definitely gave him a lot to think about.
“I think that - I’ve always been a person who makes my own choices,” he mused. “I look at alternatives and if neither suits me, I’ll go for a third - something I create. So am I confident in my choices? Still am, yeah.” He went for another breadstick from the fresh basket - may as well take one before they were all consumed, though he was definitely fine leaving the rest for Tommy.
He broke it in half and used it to dip into some of the sauce on his plate - best of both worlds here. “Following a thread, any future thread, is dangerous - you can’t control it. You can’t change it. To have that kind of power would mean losing parts of yourself that make you you. And I’m okay with not knowing all of the details - to getting there whenever I get there. I can try to tell teen you to just - surrender to ‘whatever happens, happens’ but I know it’s easier said than done. I guess the thing to keep in mind is that nothing is ever written in stone. Fate, time - it isn’t as sure as the cut of a blade. It’s more like a myriad of paths that form, like when a hammer cracks on ice. I don’t know what path we’ll take in the end. We just kind of have to see.”
Even though Tommy was considered adult by society's standards, and even though he lived, what felt like, a hundred lifetimes, he was always still a child at heart. There were parts of him that still felt like he had something to learn from authority figures and that his opinions and experiences would always be childish. He realized now, listening to Stephen, that it wasn't about age. It wasn't about adulthood or childhood. In fact, it wasn't even about fate or destiny, or any other bar that he needed to reach. There was wisdom everyone had, and Stephen had tons of it to share.
He was quiet for a long time, going through his plate of spaghetti with a slowness that was uncommon for a speedster, before he nodded. "That's pretty good," Tommy said, pointing his fork at Stephen from across the table as if to be like ahhh, you got me there. "Whatever happens, happens. I sure as shit wouldn't listen when I was younger, but damn if that isn't the truth."
Tommy stabbed into a piece of chicken parmesan and half of a breadstick—combo bite, kill two birds with one stone. "You don't mind if I borrow that hammer and ice bit? Pretty sure that's going to make me sound super fucking cool to Sil." That was Tommy's way of saying Stephen sounded cool.
“Go right ahead,” Stephen huffed a laugh, fondly, as he dug into this endless mountain of pasta. He wasn’t sure if he sounded cool, personally, but that endorsement from Tommy seemed like high praise indeed so he’d take the compliment for what it was. “And if Sil wants any other grandfatherly wisdom, I guess she knows where to find me.”
Family was always welcome at the Sanctum. And he wanted to take advantage of them while they were here - because the future wasn’t set in stone. This was just a little glimpse of it, a taste of what could be - though Tommy was right. This timeline seemed to be the best one, for a whole bunch of different reasons.
No matter what though, they’d always have the Garden Olive. Maybe there was some comfort in the constants too. Especially when it involved breadsticks.
“Or for, you know, poison strawberry candy. I’ll see if I can find some of that, for future times sake.”
"Not gonna lie, sometimes I send Sil to other people in our family for advice because like hell if I have anything good to offer her," Tommy said, and it sounded a little sad. Like he knew was lacking in the father area somehow. But Tommy also knew his strengths and his weaknesses, and that's why he wasn't a single parent. Toph was headstrong enough for the both of them.
"Usually it's just fuck those people and don't do dumb shit if you're gonna fight something. It's worked pretty well, but Billy has all that Lord of the Rings worldly advice that somehow manages to sound legit," Tommy said, with another shrug and another bite of food. He nearly cleared the chicken parm, and even he was surprised by how fast it was going.
"But if you're looking to poison someone with strawberry candy in a trial run, can I suggest my brother? He's probably the most gullible of the family, and I say that nicely. I'm allowed to." Tommy paused, eyeing their glasses. "We're gonna get wine, right? It feels appropriate to drink with you right now. Toast to kids and family and all that. "
“We’re definitely getting wine,” Stephen nodded. “And that seems like a pretty good toast to me.” He’d make it happen - next time their table was checked on, he asked for a bottle of red. Something to wash down those multiple meals with - and like its mirror restaurant back home, the Garden Olive had its own wines too. This one was a roscato, like a moscato (clearly) but red - sweet and a bit acidic, no unpleasant aftertaste.
He was sure that they’d get through this whole bottle easily, and probably end up a little bit wine drunk - which was fine. Stephen could take the day off for once in his life.
When the bottle arrived and was (fancily) uncorked and poured into glasses, he lifted his in a toast. “To kids and family and all that - and to being better at advice than you think.” Because Tommy was - he had a way about him as well. He was obviously a great dad who did the best he could possibly do, stepping up to help Toph and help take care of their kid, and Stephen was proud of him.
It was also the Spongebob meme generator - he’d been right about that too. What a time to be alive.