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A Room of One's Own; tag: Billy
Topic Started: Feb 22 2013, 10:07 PM (381 Views)
Ted Kaplan-Altman
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Mutant Skrull Physiology
Time: 3:47 pm
Date: Feb 18 2013


Are we really going to do this? Ted asked himself, not for the first time, as he sat facing Billy on the couch in this stranger's living room. And, as he had each time before, he told himself that yes, they really were, and it would be awesome. Maybe not here, necessarily, but somewhere. That said, here was looking pretty good to Ted... they'd looked at quite a few places since making the decision during Arisia to move into an apartment of their own, but this was by far the nicest of them. Well, of the ones they could afford, anyway.

And besides, the redheaded man who was renting out the place, Mitch, wasn't a stranger. Not entirely, anyway. Once they'd met face-to-face, Ted had recognized his name and appearance from one of the dossiers he'd studied after the Invasion: he'd been one of the many mutants the Skrulls had abducted and impersonated, in his case in February of 2012. Ted had read those dossiers over and over during the subsequent months, wanting to make sure he'd never forget the men and women whose lives had been stolen by his... well, his something. The Skrulls weren't his people, not really, he understood that much, but still there was some kind of connection with them he couldn't completely sever, any more than Tommy and Billy could sever their connection with Magneto no matter what atrocities he committed. And part of that connection, like it or not, was feeling somehow responsible for what the Skrulls had done to people like Mitch.

What he hadn't expected was to be recognized in turn! Not, he was relieved to discover, for anything related to the Skrulls, but from the day the Sentinels had attacked Mutant Town. Apparently Mitch had been one of the locals helping stop them, and Ted ripping the giant robot's head off had apparently been memorable. He was actually a little embarrassed by that, but it was what it was.

All that aside, though, the place was pretty sweet -- it was a detached two-story house, not just an apartment, with three nominal bedrooms, a living room, and an eat-in kitchen. With just the two of them living there, they could each have their own workspace as well as a common area to have guests over and stuff. And the rent was surprisingly low... in large part because Mutant Town was still kind of underpopulated, but it was low even by the Town's standards. Apparently the owner had moved to Sanctuary with his family back when Wanda had put up the Mutant Town Dome -- not SHIELD's finest hour, that, though given who was really running the show back then that wasn't surprising -- and Mitch had been renting and being general handyman for the place ever since. But he was apparently moving now and looking for replacement tenants, and while Ted admittedly felt a little weird renting from Sanctuary residents given the political climate, he also wasn't inclined to hold the mutant nation's citizens accountable for the actions of their leadership, especially when he felt irrationally accountable for the events that had chased those citizens there.

"So," he said to Billy, "what do you think?" Mitch had gone upstairs to do something or other and give them some privacy to talk it over. "I kind of like the place, to tell you the truth. And we're not going to beat the rent."

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Wiccan
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Having taken the day off from school to meet with his mother which Billy had used to set the worlds to right among other things clearing the Witch's mood up for the first time in the past few days. So with Billy thinking clearly for once the could had taken advantage of the free time and organised some more viewings of apartments and places they could rent out. Given their inexperience and the fact they were still kinda kids in their own right, they'd picked the ones that they liked the look of. Most of which they couldn't afford at all given Teddy's trainee wages and what little money Billy had, so they were having to be realistic with where they could afford to live especially with all the other expenses that would come with it.

A week before the pair had sat in Billy's room at the institute and with the laptop they'd mapped out roughly (or so they thought), all the expenses they'd have renting their own place, the essentials for them being food, water, electricity and most importantly the internet connection. With the other three and everything else coming in, in a varying scale of importance.

So they'd seen some places now, the pair of course liked the ones they couldn't afford and many of the really cheap ones were instantly dropped off the list on the basis of them being just gross to live in. Even if Billy could magic the insides into being whatever they needed, even if he really wanted to avoid doing that, unless they absolutely really had to.

Their search had then brought them to this place, it wasn't too far from X-Corp where Billy had spent sometime when he was younger doing an internship, as far as Billy was concerned it was also the best place they'd found so far. It was far larger than he was expecting them to be able to afford too. Which was another added bonus, given the size of Billy's family it'd be able to fit everyone in without feeling like they were stuck in some sort of sardine tin with no room to move.

The only slight awkwardness about this place was that the owners lived in Sanctuary having moved their when Billy's mom had created the dome over the district, but that was in the past now and Billy wouldn't be about to bring it up. Mitch who was the current occupier, who Billy knew of from his time at X-Corp had headed upstairs after giving them the tour of the place leaving them on their own on the sofa in the common area.

Billy sat with the few pieces of paper with the place's details on in his hand, flicking through them despite having just seen everything. "I like it," offering Teddy a smile. "We're not gonna beat it for rent, I'm pretty sure we can afford it." He'd need to double check everything on his laptop, which he didn't have with him given the fact he thought he was going to be spending his morning walking around Central Park in the snow, when in fact he'd spent it sat in Central Park in a bubble of springtime.

Looking around the room, he was thinking how they'd have it, which they'd been told they'd needed to do when they looked around one of the other apartments, "Can you see us living here?" Billy could picture it, but then when you altered reality to fit how you see things you could see pretty much anything existing. "We'd need to get some more stuff I think." He said honestly and perhaps a bit naively, but it was a general observation and it was still money they had to factor in over all.

His mood was gradually improving after the talk with Wanda and the troubles he'd had in the last few days were being pushed aside in favour of all the good things that were to come. "It'd be easy for you to get work, and still be easy for me to get to the school."
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Ted Kaplan-Altman
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"Yeah, I think we can afford it," Ted agreed. The rent was a lot more than either of them was paying now, but not much more than what both of them were paying together. And while their monthly expenses would be higher as well, since utilities were mostly included with their rent right now, they'd run the numbers back when they'd first decided to get their own place and had convinced themselves they could make it work. "We'll be eating a lot of ramen for a while, though," he added, only mostly joking, "and dropping by the Institute to cadge meals." Actually, if all went well he'd be finished with his training period by the end of the year and be promoted to junior agent, whereupon money would become a lot less tight. In the meantime, they'd make do somehow. "And, yeah, I can totally see us living here. It'll be nice not having to listen to anyone else rattling around the house, you know? Not to mention not having anyone else listening to us," he added with a sly grin.

Billy's point about getting stuff was a good one, though. The home was reasonably furnished right now, which was unsurprising if the owners had left in a hurry during the Purifier crisis... teleporting their family to Sanctuary was one thing, teleporting their furniture was something else again. But it would be nice to get some of their own stuff, when they had the spare funds for it. Still, for now... "We can talk to the guy about maybe renting some of the stuff along with the house, maybe? But we'll figure that out," he said after a moment's pause. "Even if we have to sit on milkcrates and eat dinner on the floor for the first few months. I mean, it can't be worse than when we first got to Utopia, right? And that got to feeling downright homey by the end. Well, bugs notwithstanding, anyway." He shuddered at the thought, and made a mental note to check the apartment for roaches. It would be a while before he could face bugs with equanimity again. "It could use a paint job, though, before we get too settled in... the color scheme is kind of drab, don't you think?"

He chuckled at Billy's comment about their commute. Given that his office was based in a helicarrier hovering above New York, pretty much everywhere in a fifty mile diameter was about equally convenient for him, and as a teleporter Billy was even less constrained than that; he could live in Siberia and still commute to Westchester every day. Not that Ted had any desire to live in Siberia; their visit on Valentine's Day had been quite enough for him. "OK, then, let's do it!" he said, getting to his feet quickly, suddenly excited by the prospect. "I'll go tell Mitch to get the paperwork ready."

After they'd dealt with the logistics, and were chatting more casually, Teddy asked "So how did your visit with your mom go?"

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Wiccan
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Billy's smile grew all the more with the affirmation that they could afford the place, "Well I can always sell some of my memorabilia," He was being pretty serious, he'd rather have the place with Teddy than some of the collectable items he'd picked back up since the destruction of the school, he'd have to take a look at what he had when he got back and which would be the easiest to sell. "If you're cooking, I can live with ramen." He added with a cheeky grin, Billy wasn't the biggest fan of cooking though he could just about scrape by if he had to. Though ramen wasn't so bad once you got used to it, and if money actually was a problem, he was sure he could magic get food from somewhere, though the idea of him using his powers for it brought up the conversation he'd have with Wanda earlier in the day, causing him to scowl briefly before he pushed it aside.

"Mum and Dad would always let us go over theirs for food too." Rebecca and Jeff had been extremely accepting of Billy and Teddy's relationship, which was pretty much how they'd been with all things Billy related, he was their first child albeit through adoption but he was still their son and they accepted him how he was. "Mark and Jason would appreciate us being around more too." Billy's younger adoptive brothers were much younger than Billy, with Mark being eleven and Jason being nine, both of whom had gotten used to Teddy being with Billy quite quickly with them treating him just like another older brother.

The idea of actually having total privacy suited Billy to a tee, he'd caught Teddy's sly grin, his cheeks flushing a little as he caught his meaning. "Yeah there's that too," his own lips pulling into the lopsided grin of his.

Nodding in response to Teddy's suggestion about asking if they could rent some of the furniture in the place, "Mum and Dad might be able to help there too," He'd grown up in pretty comfortable surroundings and Rebecca and Mark might just have some furniture that they didn't need anymore that they wouldn't mind letting the couple using at least until they found their feet.

"I don't mind what we have though," he added afterwards, the furniture, how much they had, or what it looked like really didn't bother him. "It'll be our place, that's what's important." He said with a grin, he was still using the term 'our place' a lot even if they didn't have one officially yet. It was just the natural progression of their relationship and like all new things it needed wearing in so Billy was making the most of it while he could.

Looking around the walls, Billy nodded, "It does look a bit old," the idea of them decorating the place how they wanted it to look kind of amused him. Painting, decorating and DIY were all things that older couples did, not couples that were just turning or had recently turned twenty in Teddy's case. On the other hand though they weren't a regular couple, if there was such a thing in the mutant community. "No white though," Billy added with a smirk. "I don't want to live in a hospital."

It was pretty clear that this was the place for them though and Teddy confirmed that when he said that they should do it. Billy could have been smutty, and added something to that, but he wouldn't. Not yet at least. "Great!" Billy beamed, slipping the papers that were in his hand back into the bag. He got up and went to let Mitch know that he'd need to sort out the paperwork, giving Billy the opportunity to take in the room again. In his minds eye he was thinking how he'd like to have the room laid out, where they'd put their own stuff and all those sorts of things, his plans changing at least a handful of times and they'd probably change a handful more times when he and Teddy started sorting it out between themselves.

With the important stuff out of the way, they'd gotten a bit of a chance to talk, of course the topic of Billy's visit with Wanda was going to come up. It had been Teddy's after all. "Well it wasn't quite the quiet walk in the park I thought it'd be." He shook his head a little with a smile, the springdome which it had been named now, after thunderdome from the Mad Max films had been cute. "Me and mom sat in a little bubble of spring time and we had hot chocolate." Billy was being a little evasive and he knew Teddy would pick up on it, but it wasn't exactly easy to admit to having a full on meltdown and making yourself cry over things that were really beyond your control.
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Ted Kaplan-Altman
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"I don't think it'll come to that," Ted replied seriously when Billy offered to sell his collectibles, though he was touched by the offer. He knew how much Billy valued those items, and how much he still missed the stuff that had been destroyed along with the old mansion. Of course, that had been the least of what had been lost during the Purifier attack, and it was hard to take the loss of some collectible items too seriously in the wake of the destruction of their home and the deaths of so many friends. Still, that was no reason to pile additional losses onto it, either. "It's not like we're scrounging behind couch cushions looking for loose change, here. And, hey, if it gets too bad we can go the Heroes for Hire route, pick up some extra cash that way, right?" He'd meant that last part as a joke, and in any case he was pretty sure it would violate his employment contract with SHIELD.

He grinned at Billy's reference to his family... the non-mutant family, that is. The Kaplans had been about as welcoming of Ted as he could possibly expect, and then some, both before and after he'd come out to them as a mutant and as their son's boyfriend. Granted, that wasn't always a comfortable thing... Ted still blushed when he remembered Billy's mom taking him aside for an excruciating conversation about safe sex. Well, if you could call it a conversation when Ted's side of it had mostly involved involved incoherent stammering, as the desire to protest that they weren't even doing that competed with and lost against the desire to not be discussing his sex life with his boyfriend's mom! When New York passed the Marriage Equality Act she seemed even more thrilled than Ted was, and he'd been waiting ever since for her to start hinting that he ought to be making an honest man out of her son. But even taking the uncomfortable boundary violations into account, he had to admit it beat what a lot of his classmates had had to deal with. And he grinned even more broadly at Billy's reference to his brothers, who were awesome. "Yeah, I'd like that," he admitted sheepishly. Growing up an only child, he'd always wondered what it would be like to have younger siblings, and Mark and Jason had pretty much adopted him as one of their own from the moment he started hanging out with their older brother, even when everything about him had still been a secret.

Of course, one of the most important things about him was still a secret, and he felt guilty keeping his real heritage from them... but he also wasn't sure it would be fair to tell them, and force them to keep that secret. He'd been struggling with that dilemma for months now, and was no closer to resolving it. Nor was he going to worry about it tonight, he decided. There were too many other things going on. He reached out to take Billy's hand as he talked about his conversation with Wanda. Though he hadn't said anything specific, Ted could tell from his body language that it had been fraught. Unsurprising, really, given the way Layla had wound him up earlier in the week. They'd talked about that after their Siberian adventure, and Ted knew Billy was worried about losing control of his powers, so he'd thought maybe Billy needed to talk to someone else with the same kinds of powers... his mom.

Which isn't at all hypocritical, he told himself privately, his mental voice tinged heavily with irony. After all, it's not like I'm struggling with anything that my mom is uniquely qualified to appreciate, right? He acknowledged the point, but dismissed the thought for now; right now he was more worried about Billy.

"Well, hot chocolate is nice," he replied tentatively. "And we can all use a little springtime in February." He considered asking more pointedly whether she'd helped him come to terms with his anxiety about his powers at all, but ultimately decided not to... he'd come around to it in his own time.

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Wiccan
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"Well if you're sure," Billy chewed on his lip, he felt a little guilty. Compared to Teddy, Billy didn't have much of a wage and he couldn't help but feel he was bringing much less to the table than Teddy was, when he wanted to contribute equally. Of course he'd miss the items but really they were only items, sure they were rare and some had autographs on and stuff, but really at the end of the day they were just a hobby and sometimes people had to sacrifice the things they liked for the things they loved. The idea of being Heroes for Hire made Billy grin. "You'd be my sidekick then? Or vice versa." He stuck his tongue out a little playfully, of course they couldn't do it not seriously for a few reasons, the biggest being Teddy's contract with SHIELD but the idea of Wiccan and Hulkling against the world did have a bit of a ring to it that Billy found appealing. "We'd need completely new alias' if we ever did that." Alright so Billy was perhaps putting too much thought into it, and his imagination was certainly getting ahead of him.

Teddy's grin wasn't missed and that made Billy smile, it was cute. Billy had kinda expected there to be at least a little awkwardness when Billy finally started bringing Teddy home. Teddy was Billy's first boyfriend, the first boy he'd brought home to meet the family and Billy's first love. Of course the whole coming out thing had been a little expected, Rebecca said she had always known and accepted it, Jeff however apparently hadn't known but still that didn't stop him loving his son. So it was only a matter of time until Billy brought someone home and like Teddy he too had, had to endure the awkward conversations which generally resulted in Billy burying his head in a pillow or just trying to escape to any other point in the house that wasn't the room Rebecca was in.

The talk of Billy's younger siblings made Teddy grin even more and Billy leaned in and planted a quick kiss on the corner of Teddy's grin. "You know, you are awesome right?" Teddy was awesome with Jason and Mark and that was all that Billy could ever ask from him. He could of kissed him hell of a lot more and still not be close enough to express how much Teddy meant to him and how much getting on with the siblings meant, including Tommy who was far from the easiest person to get on with in the end. "We could see if we could call round for dinner today if you want? I'm in no rush for getting back to the school. We could tell them about here and everything." Throwing the idea out there, he didn't know what Teddy had to do for the rest of the day, but if he was free, Billy would of course be making the most of the time with his boyfriend.

Teddy's hand reached out and took Billy's, the witch's fingers working their way into the recesses between Teddy's own fingers. Billy squeezed Teddy's hand a little harder than he normally would, not that it was anything to worry about Teddy was superstrong and Billy was well.. not super strong. As Billy thought about everything that Wanda had discussed, he could feel the emotions welling up inside him again, he wasn't going to let it beat him and he needed to tell Teddy and perhaps the sharing would help. "I uhh.." He chewed over the words carefully he didn't want to sound too dramatic, "I was stupid and let myself get wound up and I made myself cry." It really hadn't helped that he'd used that argument about Teddy having to return to Skrullos and him using his powers to stop it. It was a tender subject around both of them, having made the pair of them upset at one point or another, but it was one of the easiest ways Billy could get his point across.

The admission of his weakness caused Billy's cheeks to flush red with embarrassment, his hand tightening around Teddy's again his fingers trembling a little, "But mom said I should ignore what Layla said, precognitive's may know the future but that doesn't always mean that they know what they are talking about and in all likelihood Layla is lying to suit some end that I don't know about." Which was really what he should have done all along, and had even been suggested to him more than once, but Billy was a Maximoff and stubborness was notorious in his family. "We're going to look at me getting some help with my powers too, I need some proper training with someone that understands what I can do and who can help me mold the clay properly and responsibility." He looked at Teddy offering him a weak smile, feeling all the better for starting to get it off his chest.

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Ted Kaplan-Altman
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"Hm, well, let's see," Ted mused in response to Billy's question about sidekicks, "who gets top billing here? Wiccan and Hulkling, or Hulkling and Wiccan? Hm. I've got more name recognition, I think, but I'll grant that's not entirely a good thing." While Ted had read enough reports to believe that his namesake and Dr. Banner's alter-ego wasn't quite the monster that the media made him out to be, he was perfectly aware of how the world saw him. And while his fellow namesaker, if that were a word, which it wasn't... while Jennifer Walters, the other person to share the Hulk's name, was more broadly known as one of the good guys, she didn't have half of her cousin's notoriety. (Well, not as regarded gamma-irradiated destruction, anyway. Ever since they'd let Marko out of Thunderbolts lockdown and made him a regular SHIELD agent, there had been other aspects of the She-Hulk's reputation Ted couldn't help but wonder about, though he was sure that asking either of them about it would just get him punched right through the helicarrier's hull.) "And you've got the whole religious tie-in, which has some marketing advantages. I'm taller, but you've got better hair. Yeah, I dunno, I think it's kind of a toss-up," he concluded before Billy suggested different aliases.

"What would you choose?" He frowned in thought, thinking about different codenames that would suit Billy. "'The Scarlet Warlock'? 'Chant'? 'Godling'?" He chuckled at the last one; it was a word Billy sometimes used to refer to himself, though mostly tongue in cheek as far as Ted knew. "'Wish'? 'Genie'? 'Alladin'? 'Gandalf'? Nah, Sebastien would kill you if you took that one."

He was surprised by Billy's kiss, but returned it enthusiastically nevertheless. "Sure, I've got nothing planned this evening, and I haven't seen your folks in a while. We can invite them to the housewarming," he suggested. Then he let that subject drop as Billy finally opened up about his talk with his other mother. He was relieved that Wanda also was skeptical of Layla's motives, but even more so that they were looking into real training. "That's great! I mean, Layla aside, training is really the only way to get in control of your mutation, you know that as well as anybody. Doesn't matter what it is. So, who's on tap: your mom? Sebastien?" There weren't very many people on the planet who understood reality warping well enough to train someone as powerful as Billy... actually, Ted was pretty sure Sebastien didn't qualify, much as he respected the agent's skills more broadly. And Wanda... well, she had a lot of strengths, but he wasn't sure teaching was necessarily one of them.
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Wiccan
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"Well you've got the looks, the more obvious powers and despite the connection to Hulk, at least you aren't actually related to him, so you can carve your own path away from him." He grinned, whereas should his familial connection to the House of M ever become common knowledge worldwide he'd have to live his life with being synonomous with terrorists, not that he held that view. But it would be the thing that the uninformed humans would latch onto, much into the same way that if Teddy's heritage came out that would be the thing that they latched onto. "We could do the whole Batman Robin thing." It was kinda an odd comparison but it worked, at least in Billy's mind anyway. "Though I refuse to wear tighty whities over tights. Though the domino mask could be fun." As far as he was concerned though he already had the perfect uniform and he couldn't see himself changing it much over the coming years, so long as he stayed roughly the same size and shape anyway. Even the circlet would always work as it didn't look like hairloss ran in his family either.

"I guess I've got the religious tie in, but we both have the other minorities between us." He'd never thought about his religious denomination being actually coming in handy at all when it came to superhero stuff. He wasn't the strictest Jew in the world, sure he kept mostly Kosher and stuck to the tenets as best he could. But he'd been raised a reformist by Jeff and Rebecca which while the biggest sect in America was one of the smaller more out there sects over all, which added on top of his lifestyle and choice in partners put him on the edge of Jewish culture. "I think we're just better off going equal partners. S'not like we really need one or the other to be a sidekick. Unless you want me following you around anymore than I already do."

Billy looked thoughtful, "I like Wish, or Genie." Tapping his chin thoughtfully as he put some thinking into the idea of new codenames. "If I wanted classic, I'd just go with The Scarlet Witch. Don't think mom would appreciate that though." He said with a cheeky grin. "Since you came up with mine.." his grin grew wider. "I get to come up with yours." Putting on a 'serious' thinking face, he thought of all the different fandoms they liked and places he could pull names from. "Well could go with something class like Captain something or other." Now he just needed the something other. "Captain Universe?" That'd be pretty big boots to fill, but Billy knew Teddy could do it. He was trying to avoid picking up on Teddy's Skrull side or he'd suggest something like 'Super Skrull'. "What about Shazam? Or his other name Captain Marvel?" Billy liked the last two best.

Teddy returned the kiss and Billy's smile grew a little stupid. Shifting himself he dug his hand into his jean pockets and pulled out his Blackberry, typing a text as he listened. 'Hi mum, can we come over for dinner tonight? xox'. "We're going to do a big house warming then?" Billy hadn't put a huge amount of thought into the house warming, he didn't want to get his hopes up before they'd even found a place. "With the size of this place, we could have everyone over." Though the idea of having all, the family over was a little daunting. Billy's biological side hadn't met his adoptive side and Billy's biological side hadn't met Teddy's mom. There was room for it to all be one big powder keg, but that was what families were for right?

After the initial awkwardness Billy allowed himself to calm down, his grip around Teddy's hand loosening slightly as his thumb ran along Teddy's back and forth idly. "It's actually neither of them." Billy said with a grin. "Sebastian I think would be too busy with his Agent stuff and training you. Mom well she has a lot to do too and I'd rather get to know mom properly rather than have her being my teacher too." Billy's grin grew wider at the thought of who he was going to ask, it was too cool to pass up and he knew he'd learn hell of a lot from him. "I'm going to give you three guesses." The mischievous look now crossing his face.

As the pair talked, Billy's phone vibrated and the star wars theme started indicating he had a new text message, looking over it briefly Billy smiled, before typing a reply. "We gotta be there by six, Mum's making burgers."
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Ted Kaplan-Altman
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"Well, you could always wear the original Robin costume instead," Ted offered. "You know, the green bikini briefs and the pixie boots. Which, you know, was undoubtedly a clever Batman tactical move," he said, rolling his eyes, "because having a fourteen-year-old boy running around town in his underwear and slippers guaranteed that nobody would ever look him in the face long enough to notice that Robin looks an awful lot like Dick Grayson wearing a domino mask." He gave a sideways glance at Billy's legs, which were quite demurely clothed in a pair of jeans, and mock-leered. "I mean, seriously, are we supposed to believe that nobody ever recognized him? Or Green Arrow... dude, you do realize the mask doesn't cover your chin, right? I mean, how many men with full blond goatees can there be in Star City, anyway?"

He grinned at the Shazam reference, and bit his lip in concentration as he slowly changed shape, his naturally muscular frame growing larger and ridiculously overmuscled, his hair turning black, and a red skintight uniform just barely visible underneath his street clothes. His face hadn't changed very much, though, and he lacked the trademark white-and-yellow cape. "Sorry, I'm still not very good at this," he said, reverting back to his normal appearance. "And I don't know how the heck shapeshifters manage real clothes. I mean, skintight stuff is one thing, but a cape? And that yellow braided rope, and... geez. I don't know how they do it," he repeated. "Hey, is Mystique still living Down Under? I may just visit and ask her for a couple of shapeshifter tips." Of course, that would mean revealing he was a shapeshifter, which she was probably smart enough to work out his heritage if she found out, but it might be worth it. "Anyway, I thought you had magic lightning copyrighted or something. Well, you and Thor. Ooo, there's an idea," he said in a voice of sudden revelation, "we could call you 'Thorling'! We'd be a matched set, then, right? Thorling and Hulkling. And Tommy could join us, he could be Quickling... and Ant-Man's daughter is a SHIELD agent, she could be Ant-Man-Ling, um, Girl..." he trailed off, unable to make that quite work. "Antling? Nah," he shook his head, "I have to admit, 'Stature' and 'Speed' are just cooler. Maybe we could go with the S thing instead? Stature and Speed and Scarlet and Shazam! and, um... dude you were supposed to kiss me to shut me up before I ran out of lame ideas. You're just leaving me hanging here. Not cool!" He made up the difference by kissing Billy again, before musing "I do kind of like 'Captain Marvel' though."

He nodded when Billy talked about inviting his entire family over. "They'd just barely fit, I think. Well, depending on how far you go... I mean, there's the Kaplans, and Wanda and Simon, and Pietro and his family, and Tommy and Megan and the Shepherds, and whatever other relatives you might have lying around in alternate timelines or pocket dimensions or inside ornate bottles on desert islands or, you know, hiding behind the furniture or something," he continued, increasingly amused. "Of course," he added, "my family doesn't take up much space, which helps. You know, especially if they shrink themselves real small." Which wasn't exactly funny, at least not to Ted, but he was beginning to think that it might be funny some day, which he supposed was progress.

He allowed that subject to drop in favor of thinking about who Billy's teacher could be. "Well, huh..." he started. There just weren't that many reality-warpers in the world, which on balance was probably a good thing, but... "...if it's not Wanda or Seb, then... geez, I dunno. Longshot?" Probability manipulation had some things in common with reality warping, as it had been explained to Ted, though ultimately the two were more different than similar. When that guess was rejected, he thought a lot longer, and said even more tentatively "Um... that Canadian Shaman guy? No? But if you're... wait," he said, his eyes widening, "are you seriously... yeah, sure, why not go to the top?" he asked, rhetorically. "So, does that make you Sorceror Supreme in Training? Sorceror Pretty Damned Cool?"
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Wiccan
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Reality Warping/ Nice Pashmina
Billy's face contorted at the suggestion of wearing the original Robin outfit, the outfit was completely awful and Billy wouldn't be caught dead in it, not if ever got the choice anyway. He'd rather wear something completely outlandish than that. jabbing Teddy playfully in the side, "Don't get your hopes up Mister. It's got as much chance as you wearing a Rocky outfit for a uniform." His grin growing increasingly more cheeky. "Well the villains were never that smart so they probably couldn't see the wood for the trees." Lifting his hand up he idly stroked his own chin, "I quite liked the goatee though. I'll need to grow an epic Merlin style beard when I'm older, y'know to fill all the magical stereotypes." Perhaps not he thought moments later, a weeks worth of stubble was bad enough a full beard would drive him crazy.

Billy watched on as Teddy changed shape, it was a surreal experience seeing your boyfriend turn from the guy you were used into one of the comic book heroes you have stashed away in one of the many boxes in your bedroom. Billy's grin widened not seeming to notice the flaws, "Why are you apologising?" Billy smiled after Teddy apologised for not being not very good at it. "You're still getting used to it, you have no reason to apologise. Not to me, not ever." Placing his hand over Teddy's for a moment, "It was just as good as the comics if you ask me." Sure Billy was biased, but was at least trying to be encouraging. "I guess it's like growing extra limbs or something?" Billy didn't really have any experience with shapeshifters other than he knew Mystique was probably the best. "I'm too nervous to play around with illusions, what if I made myself look like I dunno.. like some guard or something and I was stuck in that persons skin forever?" Perhaps one day he'd need to finally take the plunge and try it out, but for now he was quite happy sitting in his own skin and not trying anyone else's on for size.

"She's still there as far as I know. I could speak to Uncle Al if you like see if he can speak to her and set something up?" Billy didn't really know all that much about the shapeshifter other than she was once one of his grandfather's most trusted people and that she had somehow defected and delivered his cousin Nate. Which he supposed made her ok in his books, at least she was trying to better herself. "I want to go see Nate and Lorna, so I could teleport us down there, then you go see Mystique and I go see the fam." He didn't have to go see baby Nate, but any excuse to go see the newest member of the House of M was easily snatched up by Billy.

"Hulkling and Thorling? We'd be a great set. Though I'd need some sort of magic weapon, like a stave or something. I don't think Tommy is allowed anywhere near any of the young female SHIELD agents after last time he snuck aboard the helicarrier." Granted that particular mistake was Tommy's fault, he couldn't blame his brother completely but he could have had some self restraint none the less. "The four S's sounds fun, like the three stooges, just better." He grinned, "Maybe I like the ramblings?" Not that he complained as Teddy shut him up as he kissed him, "I happen to be a fan of Captain Marvel too." Taking advantage he quickly kissed his boyfriend again. "Just making sure there's no more rambling." It clearly wasn't the case, but it was an easy excuse to use nontheless.

Billy started to count how many there were in his family on his free hand, quickly counting the fingers on the hand that was holding Teddy's too making use of fifteen of their fingers. "Well there's seven if we just count immediate family, so Kaplan's, mom, Simon and Tommy. Five more if we count uncles and aunts and cousins and girlfriends and yeah.... That's not counting Scott, Jean and Rach." It was lucky that Billy had gotten used to have such a large and extended family, otherwise he'd probably have become lost in all the relatives he had. "I'd leave off my family though for yours. It's not like all mine needs to be there, I'd be happy with just the Kaplan's, mom, Simon and Tommy. We can see my side whenever we want."

Billy grinned excitedly as he let Teddy have his guesses, staying quiet though unable to hide his stupid grin. Several times he wanted to pipe up and say nope to the wrong answers but finally Teddy got it right. Turning on his spot on the chair so he could look at Teddy. "You would not believe how it happened!" He said excitedly, his voice starting to get a little quicker. "There me and mom were sat talking, I'd just had my melt down then this voice came out from nowhere like the Cheshire Cat." This was one of those times where Billy showed just how much a fanboy he was, he was worse than a eight year old talking about some super new awesome TV show that was starting soon. "Then there he was! Saying how he had been neglecting me and mom over our shared powers and how he wanted to help teach us control!"

Billy's grin grew from ear to ear now. "Can you believe that?! He came looking for us! So I guess that does make me his apprentice!"
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Ted Kaplan-Altman
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Mutant Skrull Physiology
"Well, they do say it makes you go blind," Ted tossed back mildly in response to Billy's awful pun, "and besides, his villains were totally smart, they were just insane. There's a difference. As for the Rocky outfit, though, hm..." Ted tilted his head to one side, as though considering it. "Well, it's not like the cold would bother me," he said, "but really the other agents would start to talk. I mean, nothing but an aviator cap is a bit out there, I must admit..." he trailed off, managing a pretty close approximation to a straight face. He knew what Billy had meant, of course, but that didn't stop him from bantering. "If I do, though, then you have to wear the white gloves and the antlers," he insisted. "It's only fair."

He nodded when Billy chastised him for apologizing; his instructors both at SHIELD and the Institute always told him the same thing, though none of them were quite as sweet about it. "No, extra limbs are different. It's like..." he paused, trying to come up with an explanation that might make sense to someone whose body shape was mostly fixed. "Like, growing a third arm, the hard part is figuring out how it all hooks up, from the inside out. Where does the bone connect? How do the muscles work? Clothes are easier than that, way easier, I think they are anyway... it's all surface, right? But it's like... well, so, I can do this," he said, concentrating as his hair slowly grew out for a while, until it was hanging at shoulder length. "And it's real hair, but it's almost like it isn't part of me at all. I could cut it off, for example. Growing clothes should be like that, but I just can't seem to get it. You know, how like when you first tried to whistle, or snap your fingers, or do a Vulcan salute, it's hard to get your fingers or your lips to actually do what you want, but then after a while your muscles just get it and you don't even understand why it was hard in the first place? I think it's like that, a kind of muscle memory, but I can't quite make it work. And, yeah, I think maybe she could help," he agreed. He wasn't exactly sure how well SHIELD would take him consulting with a former Brotherhood member, but then again maybe they didn't have to know.

"Well, if you were being Thorling, you'd need a hammer, wouldn't you?" he asked reasonably. "As for Tommy... Cassie would squash him like a bug if he tried anything she didn't approve of. But I haven't seen her around the carrier for a while; I guess they reassigned her. So would Rachel, if he made a move at the housewarming. Besides, isn't he still dating Megan?" Ted tsked disapprovingly. "I get that he's not the sort to settle down, but still."

As Billy told the story of meeting Dr.Strange in the park, Ted got just as excited as he was. "That's so cool! Did you get his autograph? Does he talk, you know, like the way he talks, all the 'flames of the falklands' and 'orb of agammemnon' stuff or whatever, is he like that in private too or is that just kind of a performance?" He waved that away when Billy got to the important stuff, though, giving the boy an excited hug. "Sorceror's apprentice, huh? That is totally awesome. Now you're going to need that wizard's staff... we should have bought it at Arisia, after all. Or you could go Disney and use a broomstick, I suppose, but that ended badly in the original."
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Wiccan
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Reality Warping/ Nice Pashmina
It took a few moments for the meaning of Teddy's retort to sink in, his facial features mirroring the blankness in his mind, until he figured it out and he giggled a little once the meaning had dawned on him. Once the giggling had subsided he pondered a little more on the subject of villains, "I guess if you are counting just the super villains like Joker, Two Face and Penguin. Sure they should have noticed, but the regular every day grunts that wound up in the cheesy fight scenes probably didn't have the IQ to notice." Teddy actually appeared to be considering the idea of a Rocky outfit, his grin growing as he listened to his response. "The cap would be optional. Of course." He interjected with a wry grin. "Though at least you'd always have the element of surprise with anyone you come up against on missions." Of course if Teddy had to get the new outfit it'd be only fair that Billy did too, "Just the antlers and the gloves?" Despite it only being banter between the pair there were some things that Billy just wasn't confident enough to pull off. "I.. uh, I suppose. It's only fair after all."

Billy listened to the explanation about extra-limbs and how they were different to the growing of clothes, shapeshifting was pretty cool at it's heart, the fact you could 'grow' new outfits, limbs and appearances out of nothing. Teddy's explanation made sense though, "So rather than it just being about imagination and focus which is kinda how my powers work. You've actually got to understand biology and stuff. Makes sense," Billy wondered how learning to shapeshift clothes could be easier, "Perhaps it's one of them things you wont really get until your thrown into a situation where you actually need clothes?" Billy added a little hesitantly, "Like say for some reason your uniform got blasted away by some mutant power, and you needed a new uniform or risk being starkers in the middle of the city then all of a sudden boom! You've shifted a new uniform." Not that Billy was actually suggesting he try it that way it was just one of the things that came to his mind when thinking about it. "I'll speak to Alex for you then, I'm sure he'll be willing to help you out and speak to Mystique."

Lifting his hand up, Billy ran his hand through Teddy's now longer blond hair. "You know." His grin was growing wider. "When you're working with the elementary age kiddies you have to learn quite a few new skills that normally you wouldn't have to use." He was trying hard not to giggle now as several images ran through his head, "I could give you some nice pig tails or plaits." the laugh finally got the better of him and he bit his lip and looked at Teddy trying to hide the grin, "You'd look very pretty."

The sillyness died away and they were talking about Billy needing a weapon if he was to be Thorling. "I'm not exactly front line material am I though? If I was fighting with a hammer, I'd probably look like I escaped from the asylum or something. You could pull off a weapon like that though, I'm just too scrawny."

Billy grinned at the idea of Cassie stepping on Tommy, ok he shouldn't have but it was still a little funny, "Tommy and Cassie went to school together, and if you believe anything that Tommy says. The pair of them shared a moment on board of the helicarrier." Billy rolled his eyes at the prospect, "I don't think we'd have to worry about him with Rach, she is a cousin kinda? I guess." Billy still wasn't completely comfortable with the idea of Tommy and Megan dating, it was as if two worlds were colliding that Billy was quite happy keeping separate, but now he was having to deal with the fact that one of his good friends was dating his identical twin brother. It was all levels of wrong, but he guessed he had to just accept it and stay out of it, "I think they are official. Now if there's such a thing with Tommy." Billy shrugged a bit, "Megan was pretty eager to get out of class on Valentine's, but then so was I. So I never got to ask what she was planning." Billy couldn't judge Tommy too harshly, he'd been pretty accepting of Teddy and Billy even if he did have a habit of making crass jokes and having the uncanny ability to appear at awkward times.

Teddy's excitement at the revelation at who Billy would be working with, only caused Billy to get more excited, "I didn't think to ask for one! But we've got history? So I could ask him anytime! I'll get him to write one out to you" Despite Doctor Strange being awesomely awesome, Billy was still of the opinion that he owed Doctor Strange a lot for a variety of reasons, the biggest being the fact that he was really the person responsible for saving Wanda and then there was the guilt that Skrull-Tommy had attacked the Doctor. "He didn't do any spells no, but he was all mysterious and Gandalf like." Billy's voice was still running in fifth gear and the grin was budging from his face, so much so that his face was starting to ache from it all, as Teddy gave him the quick hug, Billy too returned it, pulling back. "I guess this is like getting my letter to Hogwarts?" The fact that Teddy was just as excited as he was, made the revelation all the more fun and awesome and just about every other positive emotion he could think of, it was then he realised after the past couple of days just how much he needed this. "We'll have to keep an eye out at the next con we go to, though I'd rather avoid going down the broom route. Elphaba melted when she got wet, and I don't particular want to go melting now. Not unless you can think of an easy way to bring me back."
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