ax_main | Kitty, Billy and Teddy Backdated 9/16 Party

Kitty teaches Billy how to dance and he actually doesn't hate it! Billy introduces Kitty to Teddy and they finally have their members for a game. Also some lovely rejection happens.

Okay. So, parties were not Billy's thing in the slightest, certainly not these parties, where people were actually drinking alcohol and what could be very loosely called dancing was happening out on the floor.

Billy took a sip of what he had later learned was whiskey and coke and cringed a little. Ah, yes. Alcohol, it tasted so good that it reminded Billy of the time he had accidently sprayed windex in his mouth, at least the coke helped.

He watched a few people and wondered if maybe he should probably just go back to his room, Teddy was here, so he'd have the place to himself.

When suddenly, out of the darkness, like a goddess of parties, Kitty Pryde trotted over to him, two bottles of juice in hand, her eyes alight with mischief. "Billy!! You came!"

He jumped a little at her sudden appearance, but smiled when he saw that it was Kitty. "Yeah. I figured why not, parties can be fun sometimes, right?"

He took another sip of his drink, doing his best not to make a face about it in front of Kitty, because he was a cool guy who drank normally.

"This is my first, actually," Kitty grinned and shrugged, then offered him one of the juices. "But these? These are made of fun!"

Billy took the drink that was handed to his and squinted at it to see what it actually was, but when he could find anything to tell him he took a sip anyway and was very pleasantly surprised. "Holy crap, that actually tastes good! What is this stuff?"

He took a bigger longer sip.

"Something awesome! Who cares? Actually no, you really care - um, I think it's like, juice and vodka or something, but no really, who cares? It's good," Kitty laughed.

Kitty's laughter was catching and he couldn't help his own quiet laugh at how excited she was. He took a few more sips of the drink, liking how much easier this liquid courage was going down than the other had. "Someone seems to be having fun. What exactly have you been up to so far?"

Kitty tucked her lips in, like she was trying to keep something to herself, but she grinned anyway and whispered, "I was on a secret mission, shhhh!"

Billy gave her an amused look, the whiskey from earlier and the juice Kitty had given him starting to make him feel a little warm and happy. "What kind of secret mission? Ya know, if I'm allowed to know without you having to kill me afterward."

"Nope, no. I don't want to jinx it. But! You know what I also did? I ran into this girl who controls weather. Like, better than Zeus controls weather. Like, is amazing. She told me it's supposed to rain tonight!" Kitty told him excitedly.

"Me too!" Billy had said that bit too excitedly, clearing his throats and taking another sip to make sure he was calm when he spoke again. "I mean, I met her. Ororo, right? Shouldn't we not be outside if she says it's going to rain?"

"Later. Later tonight!" Kitty promised. "So, we're good! Don't worry. I checked!"

"Oh. Well that's good at least." He finished the delicious drink she'd brought him and wondered where they came from cause if drinking was like that he wouldn't mind another. He gave Kitty a glance, saw how her cheeks were a little flushed and her big happy smile. "So, besides secret missions and knowing it's going to rain what are you doing? I thought you'd be out there dancing with Bobby by now."

He took up his old drink, which luckily had watered down a little cause of the ice and just knocked it back, only coughing and gagging a little at the taste.

Kitty flushed a little more at Billy's point about Bobby, but upon seeing him tossing back the drinks, she reached out and smacked his arm a little. "Hey! Slow down. You need to slow down. And. Dance. Hey, Bobby won't mind. Dance with me!"

"D-dance?! Oh, Kitty, I thought you knew me." He had danced in several musicals and the dance portion of gym class, but never for fun. "I'm afraid I really don't know how to just dance for the hell of it."

He would need a lot more to drink too.

Kitty pouted. "Okay, no dancing, but I could totally show you some moves if you change your mind."

Billy bit his lip at her pout and glanced out at the people on the dance floor, knowing that this wasn't his old school and he probably wouldn't be openly mocked for at least trying. Also, it was Kitty asking.

"Ah, what the hell. Just promise me no chicken dance."

"What? No. Ew," Kitty grinned and grasped his hand. "I promise. Bobby can't dance either, but it's still fun. Besides, wow, dancing after you've had some of those juices is like walking on clouds."

"That's mildly worrying, but only mildly." Billy laughed as he followed her out to the dance area, feeling silly as he tugged on her hand to bring her a little closer to him. "Alright, teach me, oh wise one."

"Okay listen. First rule of dancing is to loosen up. So why don't you picture me as like, the one person you'd want to be on the dance floor with? But, not really, because Bobby," Kitty grinned.

"Ha ha." Billy rolled his eyes, but grinned and nodded at her advice. He tried to think of who he would like to be dancing with, not that he didn't want to dance with Kitty, but he assumed she meant someone he could be attracted to.

His mind came to blond hair and blue eyes, but there were too many people with that description so he just went with his tried and true. "Okay, you are now young Viggo Mortensen. Good job in Vanishing Point by the way."

"Holy wow, old movie, Batman!" Kitty laughed, then put her hands on his hips. "Okay, this isn't me flirting I swear, but like, first you picture Viggo, then you wanna loosen all up and start to mimic his movements - my movements, but his movements, pretend they're his. You just feel the beat - like this," she told him, starting to move her hips into the bass beat of the song.

Billy bit at his bottom lip for a moment before nodding, doing his best to listen to the best of the music and move his body with it. He was stiff and awkward to start, pretty sure he looked ridiculous next to Kitty moving so naturally, but he took a breath and let himself forget about everyone besides Kitty-Viggo.

"Okay...I think I might be getting it." He let one of his hands trail to her right hip, smiling when he didn't feel so awkward about it.

"You're totally getting it," she grinned, encouraging him to writhe into the music. "And Viggo would eat you up."
He snorted as he followed her movements, feeling weirdly giddy that he was able to do this without really worrying. "I can dream."

That was when his brain remembered something and he pulled her a little closer, wrapping his arm around her waist so he could lean close to her ear. "I might have found a player for our game! Now just convince Ice boy of yours to play."

Kitty blinked at being pulled so close, but then grinned at the question, a blush spreading across her cheeks. "Yeah, I think I can do that." Especially if she promised makeouts afterward.

He pulled back a little to show her his smile, keeping with the beat was turning out easier than he had originally thought as he did a small fist pump. "Than that is at least three PCs and that's pretty awesome."

He was surprised when they had danced through two whole song, not even noticing really besides the very slight change in beat. He went to grab Kitty and him another drink, half through it already when he spotted his roommate and felt he had to make introductions now.

"Kitty come with me!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her along towards the tall blond. "Teddy!"

Teddy turned at the sound of his name, his hand half-raised in a wave. Billy looked... flushed, that was the best word for it, and giggly, and he was dragging a girl along in his wake. "Hey," Teddy greeted them, pausing to let them catch up. "How's it going so far?"

Billy made sure to pull Kitty up in front of him so she was standing before Teddy like a presentation. "Hey! This is Kitty, the girl I was telling you about! She's literally the best person in probably the world."

He realized he was still holding her hand, but eh, her hand was nice to hold and he kept it. He gestured to Teddy, now standing beside Kitty as he made the other set of introductions. "This is Teddy! My roommate and the guy who said he would like to join our DnD."

Kitty grinned, waving to Teddy with her not-hand-holded-hand and then leaned on Billy's shoulder with a sigh. "Hi DnD roommate! You have to play. I command it."

Teddy couldn't help but smile at the united front, though he was also getting the distinct impression that he was going to be pouring Billy into bed that night - and probably pouring coffee down his throat tomorrow morning. And he felt a brief pang of solidarity for Kitty's roommate, whoever she was. "With an order like that from the literal best person in the world, I pretty much can't say no, can I?"

"Obviously not. She commanded it." Billy commented, laying his head against Kitty's with a happy sigh of his own. "She also agreed to talk Bobby into it, so even though it's small we have enough for maybe the start of a game."

He tugged on Kitty's hand. "What do you say, DM?"

Kitty laughed. "I say: totally omg didn't you hear me the first time? Besides, I think I can get you at least one or two other players."

"That sounds like a pretty solid group." And more proof that Teddy wasn't going to be barging in on a private or long-running thing, which made him breathe a little easier. "Yeah, loop me in when you start organizing character creation."

"Perfect! I'm glad we settled that!" He turned back towards Kitty and gave her hand a small tug. "You wanna keep dancing or should I let you get back to your ice boy?"

Then he pointed at Teddy. "You should dance! Kitty showed me and it's actually fun when you don't have to worry about being pantsed or something like that!"

"I know how to dance," Teddy reassured him, trying his best not to laugh. "And I was dancing with Shen earlier. I promise I haven't been a wallflower all evening."

"And Iiiii have to get back to Bobby before he kills me so youuuu," she poked Billy in the chest, "should ask someone new to dance! Go wild! Be free!"

Billy pouted that his favorite dance partner was going to be leaving him, but he had given her the choice so he let go of her hand after giving her one more hug. "Fine, fine. Let Bobby know he's killing me, but whatever."

He turned to look at Teddy and suddenly felt like throwing up at the idea he had, but smiled and shoved his hands in his pockets. "This is stupid, but Um, do you maybe, might wanna dance? Ha."

His laugh trailed off a little awkwardly.

If the world was fair-- Teddy's throat closed in and for a moment, just one, he felt like crying. But there was being different in the way that everyone else around you was, and there was being different in a way that painted a huge target on your back, and this-

God, it shouldn't matter! Everyone was dancing with everyone else, and no-one would care.

Except that somehow, they would look at him, at he and Billy together, and they'd know. And then he'd be on the outside again, alone again. (It didn't have to make logical sense. Feelings didn't.) And he couldn't survive that another time.

"I'd been thinking about asking-" Teddy scrambled for a plausible name. Not Shen again, he'd danced with her already. Then who? "Jeanne-Marie. Sorry about that." The lie came off his lips way too smoothly. Teddy was a liar, a coward and a jerk, and he'd be no good for Billy anyway.

"You should ask Warren," Teddy suggested, every word making him hate himself more. "He's been like the energizer bunny out there tonight."

Billy felt the hot flush of embarrassment move throughout his entire body, letting out a choked laugh as he waved his hands at Teddy while trying to look anywhere but at Teddy's face. "O-of course, no, yeah, that's-that's fine. I'm just gunna go get something else to drink, good luck with Jeanne-Marie!"

He didn't even wait for Teddy to respond cause holy shit that was embarrassing, booking it back over to the drink table to make sure he didn't have to be there anymore.