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[Okay, so. Post-draft, he's given himself a few days of seclusion and bed-rest (apparently being infected with a zombie virus is exhausting), and even Billy can freely admit to himself that he's been pretty depressed lately, a fact for which he feels no shame considering that depression was well and truly earned. One can only spend so much time fretting, moping, and dwelling on one's own misery for so long, however, and today? He's decided that enough is enough. Billy will be going out today, limping around the village and visiting the people who were on the draft whose fate he's still uncertain of. The ones he can't find or has no reason to actually visit, he'll check with a light location spell, and he'll spend a few hours at Seventh Heaven people-watching out the window while he doodles in a book that Teddy had given him containing a series of patterns (much like this) that resemble inkblogs, and bit by bit Billy's turning them into something like this instead. It's been a tiring week, though, so you could always catch him napping on the table, instead.

At some point he'll attempt to find Peter, and when both a location spell and a teleport fails, he tries to teleport to the apartment he'd been staying at instead, finding it almost completely emptied. All he manages to dig up is a small cartridge that, after a moment of scrutiny, he identifies as a web fluid cartridge. His fanboyish glee at the discovery is tempered by the fact that the empty apartment means one more piece of bad news.

After his visits and window-watching is done, he'll return home to make the announcement, along with one more message-]

Hey out there... just wanted to let his friends know that Peter Parker went home. So... sorry. Yeah.

[Locked to Loki]

...We still on for tomorrow, or do you want to take a break? Because... you know. [Draft. Awfulness all around. He wouldn't blame Loki if he wanted to take a week off.

Later on in the evening he'll be over at Ben's barbeque, if anyone wants to bother him while he's there.]

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[That was a cheap shot and she reacted instinctively:] It worked out just fine for Logan. We had ta keep him locked up an' guarded from the first night.

[She wasn't going to get through to him if she was angry, but heaven help her, it made her shake. They had come so close to it being all for nothing.

Rogue took a controlled breath.]

Your life isn't worth so little, Billy. You've got people who care about you. Killin' off all the folks who got infected might've been the safest thing ta do... but what would that make us?

[No different than them. No different than the ones who wanted to kill mutants just because they were dangerous. No different than the Malnosso. Above all things, you had to value life. Or else why was she even alive at all? She was a walking monster, a weapon, anything in her that was good or natural had been twisted to steal the very souls of other human beings. She should be dead, if all the value to life was other people's safety.

And she didn't know it, not fully, but this was at the core of why she wouldn't allow anyone to kill Logan, why this had affected her so strongly. Because by Billy's reasoning, she should have been killed a long, long time ago. And so should have most mutants.]

Edited 2012-11-16 07:55 (UTC)

[At that, he does look up, his eyes hard, defensive and angry. He dodged a bullet, he knows, and maybe he made a bad call, but given the choice again? He's not sure he'd have chosen differently. Not because his life has no value- he knows how much he's worth, and it isn't nothing.]

Mutants aren't monsters. Mutants have free will, thoughts and emotions, the ability to understand right from wrong or friend from foe. That isn't what a monster is. And I told you- it was supposed to be a last resort- if there was no other choice. If it was a choice between me or someone else, someone healthy and sane.

[Like her, or - god, Pepper, the real victim on the day Cap died - or Teddy- if someone, if Loki had been there before he lost it and attacked Teddy and there'd been no way to save them and bring them back- he'd have been very, very glad for that promise, because Teddy would live and he'd be spared the knowledge and memory that he'd eaten alive the one he loves more than anyone in the world.]

I don't care. I don't care how it sounds, to you or to anyone else. I would rather die than take someone else's life. Anyone's life, but especially the life of someone I love.

[There's a pain in his voice that can't be measured, memories and history and a lot of unspoken fear. But there's determination, too- pure conviction. The voice of someone who doesn't regret his choice at all.]

I can do that.

[It's an invitation Teddy picks up on, and of course he jumps on it. He loves any opportunity to carry Billy, even if the latter were more joking about it than anything.

So he leans in and, with a kiss to Billy's cheek, he slides his arms under his knees and around his shoulders, then easily slides him against his torso as he straightens out of his kneel and stands.]

Don't forget, I promised TLC for you, too. [He says as he nudges the door open with his foot and heads towards Billy's room.]

[As soon as Teddy lifts him up, Billy slides his arms around his boyfriend's neck, tilting his head to rest comfortably in the crook between his neck and shoulders, and smiles faintly. For all his pride and determination to defy the homophobic slurs about femininity he'd had thrown at him since middle school, sometimes he likes being carried like this. There's nothing safer than the arms so strong they hold him effortlessly, and there's a certain degree of romanticism to it that even he can't deny.

He's no one's princess. But Teddy is, in fact, a prince.]

Mm-hm. Like I said- busy night.

[His tone expresses just how much the idea bothers him- that is, not at all.]

[Whereas Teddy just enjoys carrying people, especially the one he loves most. He definitely respects that pride and has quite a fair bit of it himself, but when Billy gives him permission like that? Teddy can't help indulging in that part of him that loves supporting people.

Yeah, Billy is no one's princess. But that doesn't mean Teddy can't spoil him and treat him like a prince every once in a while.

Teddy grins in response to that, and soon enough, they're in the room that might as well be his as well, for as much as he hangs out and sleeps there. Once he makes it to the bed, he sets Billy down, carefully of course, and climbs up on his knees beside him.]

So.

So. Pampering. [Once settled against the covers, Billy stretches out gingerly, arms over his head and back arching. ...Yeeeep, he needed that. Once finished he smiles up at Teddy, wearing the expression of the most self-satisfied cat, one hand sliding down to toy with the material of Teddy's shirt a bit.] The next question is, who goes first? I'd suggest flipping a coin for it, but we don't have one...

[He ponders it for all of two seconds before lifting his fist towards Teddy, thumb facing the ceiling. Rock paper scissors lizard Spock, y/n?]

[Teddy raises his eyebrows, as if silently asking if he's really challenging him to this game, before his lip quirks up in a smirk, and he holds out his own first, thumb facing the ceiling. Rock paper scissors lizard Spock it is.]

Okay. 1, 2... [And after a pause, he moves his fist and:] Rock paper scissors lizard - [He stops his fist, giving the Vulcan Salute.] Spock.

Rock. Aww, I thought for sure you were doing lizard.

[Billy sulks a bit, dropping his defeated fist; he doesn't particularly care who goes first, but he doesn't like to lose in a geek battle. The sulk fades when something occurs to him, however-]

...Wait, uh. What exactly did you win?

[Well, he's not going to let Billy drop that fist without pointing at it like phaser and making a quiet shooting sound. VICTORY.

But the question makes him blink, then slowly lower the hand phaser before pulling it back to scratch the back of his head.]

You got a point. It's kind of a win-win here... [After a moment of thought, though, a smile comes up again.]

All right, I got it. I won the right to choose if I'm the pamperer or the pamperee first. [And as he reaches to slide a hand down Billy's chest:] I think I'll choose pamperer.

[Billy can't help but lift a brow at that, his gaze shifting down to follow the movement of Teddy's fingers. Hmm...]

So you're saying that even when I lose, I win? I can get behind this.

[He leans back against his pillows, hands moving to clasp together behind his head, and smiles up at his boyfriend, ready to watch his every move (or at least until Teddy gets him too distracted, something he's very good at).]

Alright, Altman, do your worst.

[Thankyou Billy, you've just broken Clint's brain.]

Yellow... but... but how do you do anything stealthy wearing yellow? It's kind of the worst possible colour and...

[Only if you can trust them. The people Robin trusts in Luceti is a very short list.]

It can wait. Get better first, okay?

[Don’t even pretend you aren’t serious, Tony.

Billy’s reply gets a genuine laugh out of Pepper.] Well, I meant if you needed to catch a nap while you were working. But I think it’s safe to say you’re welcome over here pretty much any time you’d like to visit.

I feel that you are up to the challenge. You haven't put your head in your hands or to the table yet! You are already improving.

Oh, so you want my worst, huh?

[He presses a few light kisses to the side of his neck, then one on his jawline, then a couple on his ear, before he whispers into it:] Here I was going to give my most mediocre. All right then.

[The hand that had been sliding down comes to a stop on Billy's abdomen as Teddy presses a kiss to a still clothed collarbone, then down on his sternum, and once he reaches his hand, he sides it down once again, now over his waist and hip, until it stops on his thigh.]

You've been using these all day, haven't you? [And there's another kiss, right at the spot where the hip and thigh connect.] Your legs.

Good thing I like magic. Otherwise I'd be kind of doomed.

[It's hard to imagine ever getting that far, to be honest- it had taken so much work just to get to the point where chanting could get a spell to work perfectly. And while it's true that since then he's made a lot of progress, and sometimes even been able to use his magic without chanting at all, it's never been particularly easy. Could he ever really be that strong, even with practice? His confidence has always believed otherwise.

But maybe that's what's holding him back in the first place.]

...You think I can do it?

Mm... except for when I flew up the stairs.

[Billy squirms a little, his legs sliding together a bit. He's not sure what Teddy's thinking, but he's pretty sure he'll enjoy it either way. Nothing about this is mediocre, and he's barely started. And if this is his reward for losing, well.

He'll have to think of something really good when it's his turn.]

[He laughs.] Indeed. 'tis always best if you love it.

[Loki nods gravely.]

Yes I do. The trick will be when you think you can do it.

[You've got issues, bro.]

Yeah, I can't do it now. Even I know I'm not at my best- but in a few days I'll be okay.

[He's a terrible person like that.]

You're still thinking like a spy. Superheroes are all about flashy costumes, good style, showing up at the last second to save the day. Why do you think my cape's bright red?

It hides blood well?

...

Y'see... There have to be more efficient ways of doing this.

Besides, I'm pretty sure that I'd look terrible in yellow.

Don't worry, I'm sure that before this conversation is over I'll get a nosebleed and pass out or something.

[...Huh. Well, he's caught him there, hasn't he? Especially considering the nature of his magic and how he makes it work.

When I think I can do it... He glances down, staring at his hands and focusing. He doesn't summon his magic to manifest, but he feels it there, the spark of hidden electricity on his fingertips, the thrum of energy beneath his skin, flowing through him like blood through his veins. It's there, deep and powerful and incomprehensible.

But his. Always his.

When he thinks he can do it. No...]

When... when I know I can do it.

[He agreed with Pepper, but Tony being Tony, can't just agree outright.]

What she said.

[Well now he's going to want to scour every inch of his cape to check for blood, thanks, Hawkeye ~~is this revenge~~]

I think anyone looks terrible in yellow. It hasn't stopped Wolverine, or a lot of other supers.

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