Wanda and Billy Backdated
Jan. 23rd, 2018 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainWanda goes to check on Billy after he goes back to his parents place and actually gives him good advice!
Wanda paused on the doorstep of the address Billy'd sent her and glanced down at herself instead of ringing the doorbell. She wasn’t altogether sure the black jeans, boots, and red leather jacket she was wearing was exactly "meet her son's parents'" appropriate apparel, but then again, she wasn't sure what would be. At least, she reasoned, it didn't scream mutant teenage terrorist. Even if it was pretty much the same thing she wore on missions.
Still, she reasoned, it wasn't as if they'd caught her on tv yet. And she had a feeling Billy's parents were going to be more freaked out about the resemblance between her and their son than they were what she was wearing, anyway.
She took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell. Time to find out just what was going on with Billy. The rest didn't matter, anyway.
When Billy heard the doorbell he took a deep breath and started climbing down the stairs, watching from the landing as his mom went to open the door for...his mom? He watched as his mom put on her guest smile, the one that was the perfect mixture of welcoming and friendly, even as her dark eyes cut over to him when she saw the young girl out on their porch.
She’s the one, isn’t she?
There was no denying that Wanda looked like him, many would probably think they were brother and sister, but the resemblance was there. He knew his mom was too smart to let that get past her.
Billy gave his mom a weak smile and that seemed to be all she needed before she was ushering Wanda in. “Hello, you must be Wanda. Billy told me you would be coming over. Can I hang up your coat for you?”
"Sure,” Wanda paused to shrug off her coat, revealing a long-sleeved red peasant top. With an awkward smile, she handed over her coat. "Thanks, Mrs. Kaplan," she said, remembering long-ago lessons in manners that Marja'd instilled. "And thanks for letting me stop by." Especially considering it had to be even weirder for her than it was for Wanda, herself. At least she was used to seriously fucked up things happening regularly.
“Of course.” Mrs. Kaplan replied, folding Wanda’s coat over her arm as she moved over to the coat closet close to the front door. “Would you like anything to drink? We have water, juice, coffee or tea?”
Billy decided it was time to move forward and interrupt before his mom started asking a little bit more personal questions besides what beverage Wanda wanted. “Mom, I think me, and Wanda will just head upstairs.”
He got a raised eyebrow at that, but she nodded anyway when she finished hanging up his coat. “That’s fine. Will you be staying for dinner, Wanda?”
Dinner with Billy's family? Part of her was kind of intrigued by the idea, but she squashed it quickly and shook her head. "Actually, I was thinking about kidnapping Billy for dinner, if that's cool?"
Both Mrs. Kaplan and Billy looked at Wanda a little surprised, though she recovered a little quicker than he did and smiled softly. “Well, I guess I don’t mind. You just have to be back before curfew.”
Billy blinked at his mom, then turned to look at Wanda in equal shock. What just happened there? Normally his mom would turn it down flat if he had asked to go out so close to dinner time, so why would she let him go with a girl she’d only just met? Was it a weird mom thing? He gestured at his sweatpants and sweat shirt for a moment. “I’m not exactly dressed to go out...”
“Then you should go change. It’ll be good for you to get out.” Oh. There’s the reason she was letting him, he frowned a little but didn’t feel like putting up a fight, so he nodded. He glanced at Wanda and wondered if he should invite her up, but wouldn’t that be weird while he changed?
“Hurry up. Wanda and I will be right down here.”
Uh oh.
“I’ll be fast!” He told Wanda, as if saying ‘I’ll save you!’ and quickly went up the stairs to find some jeans.
Wanda made a shooing gesture, then shook her head and smiled fondly as she turned back to Billy's mom. "Sure, he will. Fifteen minutes, you figure?"
“Depends on how badly he doesn’t want us to talk.” They both heard a loud thud from upstairs and since her two youngest were in the den, she knew it had to be Billy. It made her smile though; his frantic behavior was more like his old self than he had been in weeks and she turned towards the girl with a smile as she fixed her glasses. “So, I hear you go to Billy’s school. How are you liking it?”
Well, that was probably the easiest way to get around mentioning the Brotherhood, Wanda had to admit, though she kind of wished Billy'd warned her. She shrugged and smiled crookedly. "Not bad, actually. I'm just picking up a couple of classes I need to graduate, but I'm loving Physics so far, and the Comm teacher's cool."
“That’s good. I’m glad you all seem to be enjoying it. I’ve only met a few others of Billy’s friends from school, but they all seem very nice.” She glanced up when she heard Billy yell ‘ALMOST DONE!’ And turned back to Wanda as if nothing had happened. “Physics was fun. I enjoyed that class myself when I was in high school, could never get very much into history though. That is more my husband’s forte.”
"I like history, but I'm not taking the class." Wanda shrugged, having followed the other woman's cue and ignored Billy's yell. "I took the placement test, and apparently read enough over the years to pass the final." She smiled crookedly. "I didn't have to take Comm either, but it's cool having people to discuss books with, so why not?"
That got pleased smiled from Mrs. Kaplan. “Books are always more fun when you have people to talk to about them. I honestly-“
She was cut off though by her son almost running down the stairs, jeans on and looking like he’d try to out run a tornado. “Done!” He gasped, leaning against the banister as he caught his breath. “I’m done. I have pants. We can go. Now. Yeah?”
Mrs. Kaplan stared at Billy for a moment before trying to squash the amused smile that tried to make its way onto her lips. “Yes, you can go. Remember your wallet, phone and keys.”
Billy nodded quickly, patting down his pockets to show her that he had indeed put all her requested items in there as he moved to get both Wanda’s coat and his own.
Wanda's lips quirked upwards. She shouldn't. She really shouldn't, but it was too good to resist. "You might want shoes, too. I mean, just saying. It's kinda cold out there for socks."
Billy shot Wanda a look over his shoulder, at which his mother laughed and reached out to ruffle his hair, glad when he tried to shrug her touch off. “Okay. This whole ganging up on Billy thing got super old yesterday.”
He pulled his shoes off the shoe mat and stuck his tongue out at Wanda, getting a light swat on the back of his head for manner from his mom. He handed Wanda her coat after he slipped his shoes on and smiled at his mom. “Thanks, Mom.”
She gave him a smile back and waved as he headed towards the door.
"It was nice meeting you," Wanda said, and much to her surprise, actually meant it. Billy's mom could have made this seriously awkward and hadn't. It was a definite plus. She shrugged her coat on and followed Billy to the door. "What're you hungry for?" she asked.
“Honestly?” He replied, once he had shut the door and he knew his mom couldn’t hear. “Not much. I’ve been on food watch even before I left school, but I’m not really hungry. You pick. There’s Mexican and Thai down the street or other stuff, since ya know. Manhattan.”
He shoved his hands into his pocket and squinted against the light of the slowly dying sun that painted the sky multiple colors.
"Food watch?" Wanda asked, her eyebrows climbing as she started walking towards a Mexican restaurant she'd seen on the way there. "Just what's going on with you? Because last I checked, teenage boys are always hungry." She grimaced. "If they weren't, we'd have to grocery shop a lot less often."
He gave a shrug, as if that would explain everything and sighed a little. “I’m just not hungry. Apparently, it’s a thing that can happen when you’re depressed or so says doctor mom.”
That was rude, he chided himself, she was an actual psychologist and was only worried. He offered Wanda a weak apologetic smile. “How’s the school going?”
"It's kind of school like?" Wanda shrugged and offered a crooked smile. "Nothing all that exciting, but I don't have a whole lot of basis for comparison." She eyed Billy sidelong. "Nice change of subject. Let's go back to the what's going on with you question for a minute. Depression?"
Billy frowned when the jump in topic didn’t stick and he gave another shrug, not sure what exactly to say. “Yeah, I mean, I guess. That’s what my mom and Teddy think. We’ll see what the doctor says when I go.”
He felt embarrassed by that. The fact that his brain couldn’t function normally, that there was something else that he couldn’t do right.
"Teddy's the meathead roommate-slash-boyfriend?" Wanda smiled a little and shrugged. "I may have heard a few things from Tommy. Apparently, he comes equipped with his own letterman's sweater or something." The details were vague, granted - there'd been a lot of vodka involved - but she was pretty sure that was the general idea.
Billy rolled his eyes at the meathead comment, even when it had been Teddy who had ratted him out to his parents about all this, he still loved him and didn’t like that name for him. “The fact that he actually has a letterman jacket doesn’t mean he’s a meathead. Just means he likes basketball and his arms are amazing.”
He shot Wanda a proud look. “He’s pretty smart too.”
"Well, that's a plus." Wanda eyed him curiously “So, you've got a hot, smart boyfriend. You're well liked - I've seen that, being around the school. You're part Maximoff, so you're hot by definition. What're you depressed about?"
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Didn’t know being your soul kid automatically meant I’m good looking, but I’ll take it.”
He looked down at the sidewalk as they continued, trying to think of the best way to explain what exactly was happening in his head. “I don’t know? I mean, I know like last time, Limbo kind of shook me pretty bad, but I was able to bounce back after a bit with the first trip. This time seems...”
Harder? Deeper? Billy frowned, hating that this was a thing. Why couldn’t he just take a few deep breaths and be normal again. “I know I should be happy. My life is really not bad at all and I know this, but every time I try to be myself again I just can’t.”
"Yeah well, yourself experienced something that seriously sucked. You can't really expect to go back; you can only go forward. Which is hard, because you're reinventing yourself as you go," Wanda reasoned. She shrugged. "Anyway, there's no should be with happy. I was just trying to eliminate the things you hear most teens mention when they say they're depressed, not to make you feel like there was something wrong with you."
He glanced at her, eyebrow raised slightly. “You sound kinda like you’re talking from experience? Or have you dealt with a lot of depressed teens in your life?”
Wanda shrugged. "Little of each? Not sure I was actually depressed, but definitely not in a good frame of mind. And most of the Brotherhood have been through some pretty major shit at one time or another. You come out of it, yeah, but you're not the same person you were going in." She smiled crookedly. "For normal teens, I draw upon stupid teen TV shows. It seems like there's always someone whining about how their life sucks ass. From what I've seen, none of them actually has a clue as to what that actually means."
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking ahead of them as he pushed the words out. “I tried to kill him, Wanda. I tried and wanted to so bad. I know it wasn’t really me, but at the time it was, and I tried.”
He had remembered trying to claw himself out of his own body as he watched Tommy get shocked, watched the way his face contorted in pain and the way his body told him that it was what he wanted. He hated that his eyes watered a bit at admitting that and he tried to blink anything away before she saw.
"It was a seriously fucked up situation." Wanda made a face and looked over at him, ignoring, for now, the fact he was obviously on the verge of tears. "You tried to kill him, yeah. I blasted you and shorted you out, not knowing what the fuck it'd do to you. Tommy nearly smacked you in the head with something. At the end of the day? No one actually wanted to be doing any of it. And you're the only one who can honestly say you didn't have any choice."
“I know!” Billy exploded, but not angrily, and ran a hand over his face. “I know I wasn’t in control, which should mean I shouldn’t feel guilty or down about this. I seriously don’t get it, but every time I go to sleep, or I let my mind wander I see what I wanted to do to him.”
Wanda grimaced, and was quiet for a few moments as they continued walking. Finally, she said, "I nearly killed Pietro, once. It was completely an accident - I lost my temper and fired off a hex that brought down the roof. I wasn't even mad at him, I was pissed at my dad. And Pietro was fine. But for months, every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was the blood on his forehead, and I'd wake up crying for him to forgive me." She shrugged. "Dreams are fucked up like that."
“Yeah they are.” Billy breathed, his dreams being filled up with all kinds of unkind and nasty images as of late. He noticed that they were getting closer to stores instead of homes and he wondered if anyone who walked past them could hear. God, please don’t let them know. “Wanda, I really don’t know what to do. My mom wants me to see this doctor that Professor Xavier recommended, but I don’t want to be looked at like something that’s broken.”
Billy gulped slightly. “But if I don’t figure this out, my grades are going to keep being shit and I’m scared they’ll kick me out.”
"Yeah, and somehow, I kinda doubt your mom's going to let you just drop out and move in with us." Wanda offered a faint smile and shrugged. "I'd say go check the guy out. If he's an asshole, feed him a line of bullshit about how you're feeling much better and get your boyfriend to do your homework until you pull it together. But at least you'll have given it a shot."
Billy turned to look at her, a little bit surprised by her advice and gave her a suspicious look. “Herm...for not wanting to be a mom yet, that almost sounded like responsible mom advice. I mean, besides the faking it if I don’t like it and having Teddy do all my homework.”
He watched her for a moment longer before smiling a little. “Since you’re number three telling me to do this, I guess that means I really should.”
"You think?" Wanda rolled her eyes but smiled and nudged him with her elbow. "Seriously, you've gotta do what feels right to you. But it doesn't sound like a crappy way to start." She fixed him with a look that wasn't entirely contrived. "Also, you need to get back to school. I'm taking classes, so I can see you brats; you could have the decency to actually be there."
Billy laughed at that, his smile growing, and he nodded. “Yeah, alright. I really want to go back anyway. Not saying I don’t love my family but living with all your friends and rooming with your boyfriend is so much better.”
"Gee, I can't imagine why," Wanda deadpanned, then grinned. "Fuck, I need to remember that for the next time Scott defends your Prof's stupid girls' and guys' dorm rules. If he's going to insist that it's so parents won't freak out about who their kids are sleeping with, I need to toss in that they should probably be worried regardless."
Billy threw his head back and laughed, a deep laugh that came from his stomach and god did it feel good. He ran a hand over his mouth as he tried to contain the giggles that followed, and he shook his head. “Yeah, no. That school is like fifty percent LGBT, rooming by gender isn’t going to stop anything.”
Wanda joined in and laughed, mostly out of relief that Billy had. She knew it didn't mean everything was fine - far from it - but at least it was something. "Right? Besides, whatever. Your Professor assigned us rooms. I ended up spending half my nights with Eileen, so Vance could have mine, so Fatale and your brother could bunk in with Alex. Would've been easier if he'd just let us pick in the first place, and we could've placed bets on how fast Eileen and Pyro would've killed each other."
Billy stopped dead in his tracks and looked over at Wanda a little shocked. “Wait....what do you mean Tommy has been bunking with Pam and Alex?”
They had just been talking about roommates getting it on with each other, so...no. No. With Pam and Alex?!
Wanda's eyebrows rose. "I mean Tommy's been bunking with Alex and Fatale," she repeated. Honestly, she knew the school's rumor mill was dysfunctional, but this was ridiculous. "Beyond that, you'd have to ask Tommy - I really didn't want to know the details. Also, a word of advice? I'd seriously recommend not getting in the habit of referring to Fatale as Pam. She's not a fan."
Billy groaned as he rubbed his hands over his face, the place behind his eye already starting to throb with that ever-familiar headache. “Tommy calls her that so I-No! That doesn’t matter. I just...ugh. What the hell, man? He has to pick the one girl who would gladly stab me in the face. And a guy?!”
Why hadn’t Tommy mentioned it? They had just talked about being more open with each other. How long had this been going on? Billy wanted to go back home and crawl under the covers, the sound of the street suddenly a little too loud.
"Isn't that kind of hypocritical?" Wanda pointed out, fixing him with a look. "I mean, it's a guess? But I'm pretty sure your boyfriend is a guy. Also, you're talking about two of my teammates. You might want to keep that in mind before you stick your foot any further down your throat."
“My foot lives in my god damn esophagus, but maybe you could tell her not to dislike me because of one thing I did way back that I couldn’t even control.” Billy snapped a little harshly, irritation spiking suddenly, but it quickly faded, and his shoulders dropped. “I’m not upset that it’s a guy, I’m surprised it’s a guy.”
He winced a little as the headache throbbed.
"And for all you and I know, they could have built a fucking blanket fort and watched bad action films." Wanda pointed out. Granted, she wasn't sure she could picture the fort, but the movies wouldn't surprise her. "Just because he stayed with them doesn't necessarily mean anything was happening. And I have no idea how Fatale feels about you, but if she's pissed, an actual apology might be good. Also, not calling her Pam. The only one who gets away with that is Alex."
“Would apologizing even help or just get me an eye roll or glared at?” Billy asked honestly, because he had already been wondering if trying to make nice with Fatale would be good since Tommy was hanging with her so much, but with this maybe new information maybe he really needed to. Billy took a deep breath and wondered if anything was going to be easy ever again. “Let’s just...go eat. My head hurts.”
"No, I think we need to talk about this, headache or no headache. What's your problem with the whole thing, really?" Wanda asked. "Just that Fatale doesn't like you? Or that Tommy has friends in the Brotherhood?"
“Are you serious right now? Am I not allowed to be a little shocked? I have to just be okay with it right from the get go?” Billy asked, disliking how his temper was starting to rise. There were people on the sidewalk with them and he had to make sure to keep his cool and his voice low. “I have one thing connecting me to Tommy. Only one. Because getting close to him is like pushing a boulder up a muddy hill and I’m scared that him being with another group and with someone who doesn’t like me will mean I barely get to see him again.”
Billy took a deep breath after that and turned around back towards his house.
Wanda rested her hand on his shoulder. "Hey. The restaurant's this way," she pointed out, a little more softly. "You're not going home until after I feed you. I'd rather go up against the Right than your mom."
At her touch Billy froze, body going tight with anticipation, but when her words weren’t angry or irritated he let himself relax and looked back at her. He was quiet for a bit before giving her a small smile. “You think she’s a mutant maybe? Able to strike fear into everyone with just a look?”
"Pretty sure that's just a mom power," Wanda reflected. "I'm gonna need to work on that. Though really, most of the guys back down when I look pissed off, anyway." She smiled back, just a little. "Pietro's pretty much the only one who'll go head to head with me when I'm pissed. I'm guessing you got my temper?"'
Billy reached up to scratch at his head, cheeks coloring a little. “Yeah, I can be a little...hot-headed sometimes. You too?”
"Oh, fuck yeah." She rubbed his shoulder, then let her hand fall to her side, and met his eyes. "Look. I maybe don't get being unsure of your twin; I've never much doubted Pietro'd always be there if there was any way he could. But I saw the look on Tommy's face when he thought you were dead. I think he's more attached to you than you think."
Billy bit his bottom lip and was quiet for a bit before nodding and looking up at her with a small smile. “Yeah? Well, I’m glad it takes him thinking I’m dead to show me love, but I’ll take it.”
He glanced down the way they had been headed and jerked his head towards it. “So, you like Mexican food?”
"Love Mexican food," Wanda assured him. "Does that mean you're hungry?"
“More just trying to sneakily get to know you,” Billy grinned. “But yeah, I guess I could eat a tamale or something.”
Wanda let out a snort of amusement. "You don't have to sneak, kiddo. Just ask." She headed in the direction he'd indicated.
He followed her, reaching out to tug at the sleeve of her jacket so she would stop for a second. “Hey, Wanda? Thanks. I know I got a little upset, but thanks for not blowing up at me when I did.”
"Yeah, whatever." Wanda waved off his thanks but smiled. "Some day when I blow up at you for no good reason, you can figure I owed you one or something."
“Oh good.” Billy laughed. “Can’t wait.”
Wanda paused on the doorstep of the address Billy'd sent her and glanced down at herself instead of ringing the doorbell. She wasn’t altogether sure the black jeans, boots, and red leather jacket she was wearing was exactly "meet her son's parents'" appropriate apparel, but then again, she wasn't sure what would be. At least, she reasoned, it didn't scream mutant teenage terrorist. Even if it was pretty much the same thing she wore on missions.
Still, she reasoned, it wasn't as if they'd caught her on tv yet. And she had a feeling Billy's parents were going to be more freaked out about the resemblance between her and their son than they were what she was wearing, anyway.
She took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell. Time to find out just what was going on with Billy. The rest didn't matter, anyway.
When Billy heard the doorbell he took a deep breath and started climbing down the stairs, watching from the landing as his mom went to open the door for...his mom? He watched as his mom put on her guest smile, the one that was the perfect mixture of welcoming and friendly, even as her dark eyes cut over to him when she saw the young girl out on their porch.
She’s the one, isn’t she?
There was no denying that Wanda looked like him, many would probably think they were brother and sister, but the resemblance was there. He knew his mom was too smart to let that get past her.
Billy gave his mom a weak smile and that seemed to be all she needed before she was ushering Wanda in. “Hello, you must be Wanda. Billy told me you would be coming over. Can I hang up your coat for you?”
"Sure,” Wanda paused to shrug off her coat, revealing a long-sleeved red peasant top. With an awkward smile, she handed over her coat. "Thanks, Mrs. Kaplan," she said, remembering long-ago lessons in manners that Marja'd instilled. "And thanks for letting me stop by." Especially considering it had to be even weirder for her than it was for Wanda, herself. At least she was used to seriously fucked up things happening regularly.
“Of course.” Mrs. Kaplan replied, folding Wanda’s coat over her arm as she moved over to the coat closet close to the front door. “Would you like anything to drink? We have water, juice, coffee or tea?”
Billy decided it was time to move forward and interrupt before his mom started asking a little bit more personal questions besides what beverage Wanda wanted. “Mom, I think me, and Wanda will just head upstairs.”
He got a raised eyebrow at that, but she nodded anyway when she finished hanging up his coat. “That’s fine. Will you be staying for dinner, Wanda?”
Dinner with Billy's family? Part of her was kind of intrigued by the idea, but she squashed it quickly and shook her head. "Actually, I was thinking about kidnapping Billy for dinner, if that's cool?"
Both Mrs. Kaplan and Billy looked at Wanda a little surprised, though she recovered a little quicker than he did and smiled softly. “Well, I guess I don’t mind. You just have to be back before curfew.”
Billy blinked at his mom, then turned to look at Wanda in equal shock. What just happened there? Normally his mom would turn it down flat if he had asked to go out so close to dinner time, so why would she let him go with a girl she’d only just met? Was it a weird mom thing? He gestured at his sweatpants and sweat shirt for a moment. “I’m not exactly dressed to go out...”
“Then you should go change. It’ll be good for you to get out.” Oh. There’s the reason she was letting him, he frowned a little but didn’t feel like putting up a fight, so he nodded. He glanced at Wanda and wondered if he should invite her up, but wouldn’t that be weird while he changed?
“Hurry up. Wanda and I will be right down here.”
Uh oh.
“I’ll be fast!” He told Wanda, as if saying ‘I’ll save you!’ and quickly went up the stairs to find some jeans.
Wanda made a shooing gesture, then shook her head and smiled fondly as she turned back to Billy's mom. "Sure, he will. Fifteen minutes, you figure?"
“Depends on how badly he doesn’t want us to talk.” They both heard a loud thud from upstairs and since her two youngest were in the den, she knew it had to be Billy. It made her smile though; his frantic behavior was more like his old self than he had been in weeks and she turned towards the girl with a smile as she fixed her glasses. “So, I hear you go to Billy’s school. How are you liking it?”
Well, that was probably the easiest way to get around mentioning the Brotherhood, Wanda had to admit, though she kind of wished Billy'd warned her. She shrugged and smiled crookedly. "Not bad, actually. I'm just picking up a couple of classes I need to graduate, but I'm loving Physics so far, and the Comm teacher's cool."
“That’s good. I’m glad you all seem to be enjoying it. I’ve only met a few others of Billy’s friends from school, but they all seem very nice.” She glanced up when she heard Billy yell ‘ALMOST DONE!’ And turned back to Wanda as if nothing had happened. “Physics was fun. I enjoyed that class myself when I was in high school, could never get very much into history though. That is more my husband’s forte.”
"I like history, but I'm not taking the class." Wanda shrugged, having followed the other woman's cue and ignored Billy's yell. "I took the placement test, and apparently read enough over the years to pass the final." She smiled crookedly. "I didn't have to take Comm either, but it's cool having people to discuss books with, so why not?"
That got pleased smiled from Mrs. Kaplan. “Books are always more fun when you have people to talk to about them. I honestly-“
She was cut off though by her son almost running down the stairs, jeans on and looking like he’d try to out run a tornado. “Done!” He gasped, leaning against the banister as he caught his breath. “I’m done. I have pants. We can go. Now. Yeah?”
Mrs. Kaplan stared at Billy for a moment before trying to squash the amused smile that tried to make its way onto her lips. “Yes, you can go. Remember your wallet, phone and keys.”
Billy nodded quickly, patting down his pockets to show her that he had indeed put all her requested items in there as he moved to get both Wanda’s coat and his own.
Wanda's lips quirked upwards. She shouldn't. She really shouldn't, but it was too good to resist. "You might want shoes, too. I mean, just saying. It's kinda cold out there for socks."
Billy shot Wanda a look over his shoulder, at which his mother laughed and reached out to ruffle his hair, glad when he tried to shrug her touch off. “Okay. This whole ganging up on Billy thing got super old yesterday.”
He pulled his shoes off the shoe mat and stuck his tongue out at Wanda, getting a light swat on the back of his head for manner from his mom. He handed Wanda her coat after he slipped his shoes on and smiled at his mom. “Thanks, Mom.”
She gave him a smile back and waved as he headed towards the door.
"It was nice meeting you," Wanda said, and much to her surprise, actually meant it. Billy's mom could have made this seriously awkward and hadn't. It was a definite plus. She shrugged her coat on and followed Billy to the door. "What're you hungry for?" she asked.
“Honestly?” He replied, once he had shut the door and he knew his mom couldn’t hear. “Not much. I’ve been on food watch even before I left school, but I’m not really hungry. You pick. There’s Mexican and Thai down the street or other stuff, since ya know. Manhattan.”
He shoved his hands into his pocket and squinted against the light of the slowly dying sun that painted the sky multiple colors.
"Food watch?" Wanda asked, her eyebrows climbing as she started walking towards a Mexican restaurant she'd seen on the way there. "Just what's going on with you? Because last I checked, teenage boys are always hungry." She grimaced. "If they weren't, we'd have to grocery shop a lot less often."
He gave a shrug, as if that would explain everything and sighed a little. “I’m just not hungry. Apparently, it’s a thing that can happen when you’re depressed or so says doctor mom.”
That was rude, he chided himself, she was an actual psychologist and was only worried. He offered Wanda a weak apologetic smile. “How’s the school going?”
"It's kind of school like?" Wanda shrugged and offered a crooked smile. "Nothing all that exciting, but I don't have a whole lot of basis for comparison." She eyed Billy sidelong. "Nice change of subject. Let's go back to the what's going on with you question for a minute. Depression?"
Billy frowned when the jump in topic didn’t stick and he gave another shrug, not sure what exactly to say. “Yeah, I mean, I guess. That’s what my mom and Teddy think. We’ll see what the doctor says when I go.”
He felt embarrassed by that. The fact that his brain couldn’t function normally, that there was something else that he couldn’t do right.
"Teddy's the meathead roommate-slash-boyfriend?" Wanda smiled a little and shrugged. "I may have heard a few things from Tommy. Apparently, he comes equipped with his own letterman's sweater or something." The details were vague, granted - there'd been a lot of vodka involved - but she was pretty sure that was the general idea.
Billy rolled his eyes at the meathead comment, even when it had been Teddy who had ratted him out to his parents about all this, he still loved him and didn’t like that name for him. “The fact that he actually has a letterman jacket doesn’t mean he’s a meathead. Just means he likes basketball and his arms are amazing.”
He shot Wanda a proud look. “He’s pretty smart too.”
"Well, that's a plus." Wanda eyed him curiously “So, you've got a hot, smart boyfriend. You're well liked - I've seen that, being around the school. You're part Maximoff, so you're hot by definition. What're you depressed about?"
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Didn’t know being your soul kid automatically meant I’m good looking, but I’ll take it.”
He looked down at the sidewalk as they continued, trying to think of the best way to explain what exactly was happening in his head. “I don’t know? I mean, I know like last time, Limbo kind of shook me pretty bad, but I was able to bounce back after a bit with the first trip. This time seems...”
Harder? Deeper? Billy frowned, hating that this was a thing. Why couldn’t he just take a few deep breaths and be normal again. “I know I should be happy. My life is really not bad at all and I know this, but every time I try to be myself again I just can’t.”
"Yeah well, yourself experienced something that seriously sucked. You can't really expect to go back; you can only go forward. Which is hard, because you're reinventing yourself as you go," Wanda reasoned. She shrugged. "Anyway, there's no should be with happy. I was just trying to eliminate the things you hear most teens mention when they say they're depressed, not to make you feel like there was something wrong with you."
He glanced at her, eyebrow raised slightly. “You sound kinda like you’re talking from experience? Or have you dealt with a lot of depressed teens in your life?”
Wanda shrugged. "Little of each? Not sure I was actually depressed, but definitely not in a good frame of mind. And most of the Brotherhood have been through some pretty major shit at one time or another. You come out of it, yeah, but you're not the same person you were going in." She smiled crookedly. "For normal teens, I draw upon stupid teen TV shows. It seems like there's always someone whining about how their life sucks ass. From what I've seen, none of them actually has a clue as to what that actually means."
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking ahead of them as he pushed the words out. “I tried to kill him, Wanda. I tried and wanted to so bad. I know it wasn’t really me, but at the time it was, and I tried.”
He had remembered trying to claw himself out of his own body as he watched Tommy get shocked, watched the way his face contorted in pain and the way his body told him that it was what he wanted. He hated that his eyes watered a bit at admitting that and he tried to blink anything away before she saw.
"It was a seriously fucked up situation." Wanda made a face and looked over at him, ignoring, for now, the fact he was obviously on the verge of tears. "You tried to kill him, yeah. I blasted you and shorted you out, not knowing what the fuck it'd do to you. Tommy nearly smacked you in the head with something. At the end of the day? No one actually wanted to be doing any of it. And you're the only one who can honestly say you didn't have any choice."
“I know!” Billy exploded, but not angrily, and ran a hand over his face. “I know I wasn’t in control, which should mean I shouldn’t feel guilty or down about this. I seriously don’t get it, but every time I go to sleep, or I let my mind wander I see what I wanted to do to him.”
Wanda grimaced, and was quiet for a few moments as they continued walking. Finally, she said, "I nearly killed Pietro, once. It was completely an accident - I lost my temper and fired off a hex that brought down the roof. I wasn't even mad at him, I was pissed at my dad. And Pietro was fine. But for months, every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was the blood on his forehead, and I'd wake up crying for him to forgive me." She shrugged. "Dreams are fucked up like that."
“Yeah they are.” Billy breathed, his dreams being filled up with all kinds of unkind and nasty images as of late. He noticed that they were getting closer to stores instead of homes and he wondered if anyone who walked past them could hear. God, please don’t let them know. “Wanda, I really don’t know what to do. My mom wants me to see this doctor that Professor Xavier recommended, but I don’t want to be looked at like something that’s broken.”
Billy gulped slightly. “But if I don’t figure this out, my grades are going to keep being shit and I’m scared they’ll kick me out.”
"Yeah, and somehow, I kinda doubt your mom's going to let you just drop out and move in with us." Wanda offered a faint smile and shrugged. "I'd say go check the guy out. If he's an asshole, feed him a line of bullshit about how you're feeling much better and get your boyfriend to do your homework until you pull it together. But at least you'll have given it a shot."
Billy turned to look at her, a little bit surprised by her advice and gave her a suspicious look. “Herm...for not wanting to be a mom yet, that almost sounded like responsible mom advice. I mean, besides the faking it if I don’t like it and having Teddy do all my homework.”
He watched her for a moment longer before smiling a little. “Since you’re number three telling me to do this, I guess that means I really should.”
"You think?" Wanda rolled her eyes but smiled and nudged him with her elbow. "Seriously, you've gotta do what feels right to you. But it doesn't sound like a crappy way to start." She fixed him with a look that wasn't entirely contrived. "Also, you need to get back to school. I'm taking classes, so I can see you brats; you could have the decency to actually be there."
Billy laughed at that, his smile growing, and he nodded. “Yeah, alright. I really want to go back anyway. Not saying I don’t love my family but living with all your friends and rooming with your boyfriend is so much better.”
"Gee, I can't imagine why," Wanda deadpanned, then grinned. "Fuck, I need to remember that for the next time Scott defends your Prof's stupid girls' and guys' dorm rules. If he's going to insist that it's so parents won't freak out about who their kids are sleeping with, I need to toss in that they should probably be worried regardless."
Billy threw his head back and laughed, a deep laugh that came from his stomach and god did it feel good. He ran a hand over his mouth as he tried to contain the giggles that followed, and he shook his head. “Yeah, no. That school is like fifty percent LGBT, rooming by gender isn’t going to stop anything.”
Wanda joined in and laughed, mostly out of relief that Billy had. She knew it didn't mean everything was fine - far from it - but at least it was something. "Right? Besides, whatever. Your Professor assigned us rooms. I ended up spending half my nights with Eileen, so Vance could have mine, so Fatale and your brother could bunk in with Alex. Would've been easier if he'd just let us pick in the first place, and we could've placed bets on how fast Eileen and Pyro would've killed each other."
Billy stopped dead in his tracks and looked over at Wanda a little shocked. “Wait....what do you mean Tommy has been bunking with Pam and Alex?”
They had just been talking about roommates getting it on with each other, so...no. No. With Pam and Alex?!
Wanda's eyebrows rose. "I mean Tommy's been bunking with Alex and Fatale," she repeated. Honestly, she knew the school's rumor mill was dysfunctional, but this was ridiculous. "Beyond that, you'd have to ask Tommy - I really didn't want to know the details. Also, a word of advice? I'd seriously recommend not getting in the habit of referring to Fatale as Pam. She's not a fan."
Billy groaned as he rubbed his hands over his face, the place behind his eye already starting to throb with that ever-familiar headache. “Tommy calls her that so I-No! That doesn’t matter. I just...ugh. What the hell, man? He has to pick the one girl who would gladly stab me in the face. And a guy?!”
Why hadn’t Tommy mentioned it? They had just talked about being more open with each other. How long had this been going on? Billy wanted to go back home and crawl under the covers, the sound of the street suddenly a little too loud.
"Isn't that kind of hypocritical?" Wanda pointed out, fixing him with a look. "I mean, it's a guess? But I'm pretty sure your boyfriend is a guy. Also, you're talking about two of my teammates. You might want to keep that in mind before you stick your foot any further down your throat."
“My foot lives in my god damn esophagus, but maybe you could tell her not to dislike me because of one thing I did way back that I couldn’t even control.” Billy snapped a little harshly, irritation spiking suddenly, but it quickly faded, and his shoulders dropped. “I’m not upset that it’s a guy, I’m surprised it’s a guy.”
He winced a little as the headache throbbed.
"And for all you and I know, they could have built a fucking blanket fort and watched bad action films." Wanda pointed out. Granted, she wasn't sure she could picture the fort, but the movies wouldn't surprise her. "Just because he stayed with them doesn't necessarily mean anything was happening. And I have no idea how Fatale feels about you, but if she's pissed, an actual apology might be good. Also, not calling her Pam. The only one who gets away with that is Alex."
“Would apologizing even help or just get me an eye roll or glared at?” Billy asked honestly, because he had already been wondering if trying to make nice with Fatale would be good since Tommy was hanging with her so much, but with this maybe new information maybe he really needed to. Billy took a deep breath and wondered if anything was going to be easy ever again. “Let’s just...go eat. My head hurts.”
"No, I think we need to talk about this, headache or no headache. What's your problem with the whole thing, really?" Wanda asked. "Just that Fatale doesn't like you? Or that Tommy has friends in the Brotherhood?"
“Are you serious right now? Am I not allowed to be a little shocked? I have to just be okay with it right from the get go?” Billy asked, disliking how his temper was starting to rise. There were people on the sidewalk with them and he had to make sure to keep his cool and his voice low. “I have one thing connecting me to Tommy. Only one. Because getting close to him is like pushing a boulder up a muddy hill and I’m scared that him being with another group and with someone who doesn’t like me will mean I barely get to see him again.”
Billy took a deep breath after that and turned around back towards his house.
Wanda rested her hand on his shoulder. "Hey. The restaurant's this way," she pointed out, a little more softly. "You're not going home until after I feed you. I'd rather go up against the Right than your mom."
At her touch Billy froze, body going tight with anticipation, but when her words weren’t angry or irritated he let himself relax and looked back at her. He was quiet for a bit before giving her a small smile. “You think she’s a mutant maybe? Able to strike fear into everyone with just a look?”
"Pretty sure that's just a mom power," Wanda reflected. "I'm gonna need to work on that. Though really, most of the guys back down when I look pissed off, anyway." She smiled back, just a little. "Pietro's pretty much the only one who'll go head to head with me when I'm pissed. I'm guessing you got my temper?"'
Billy reached up to scratch at his head, cheeks coloring a little. “Yeah, I can be a little...hot-headed sometimes. You too?”
"Oh, fuck yeah." She rubbed his shoulder, then let her hand fall to her side, and met his eyes. "Look. I maybe don't get being unsure of your twin; I've never much doubted Pietro'd always be there if there was any way he could. But I saw the look on Tommy's face when he thought you were dead. I think he's more attached to you than you think."
Billy bit his bottom lip and was quiet for a bit before nodding and looking up at her with a small smile. “Yeah? Well, I’m glad it takes him thinking I’m dead to show me love, but I’ll take it.”
He glanced down the way they had been headed and jerked his head towards it. “So, you like Mexican food?”
"Love Mexican food," Wanda assured him. "Does that mean you're hungry?"
“More just trying to sneakily get to know you,” Billy grinned. “But yeah, I guess I could eat a tamale or something.”
Wanda let out a snort of amusement. "You don't have to sneak, kiddo. Just ask." She headed in the direction he'd indicated.
He followed her, reaching out to tug at the sleeve of her jacket so she would stop for a second. “Hey, Wanda? Thanks. I know I got a little upset, but thanks for not blowing up at me when I did.”
"Yeah, whatever." Wanda waved off his thanks but smiled. "Some day when I blow up at you for no good reason, you can figure I owed you one or something."
“Oh good.” Billy laughed. “Can’t wait.”
no subject
Date: 2018-02-07 01:13 am (UTC)(Tommy denies having any feelings of any kind whatever. Shut up, he means it.)
no subject
Date: 2018-02-09 12:41 am (UTC)