It was only the Young avenger's first meeting and Teddy was already impressed. "You're a spellcaster?"

His team mate blushed. "Kinda…it's never actually worked." He saw Teddy's face drop a little and he added hurriedly, "But I have potential."

"Have you tried the spells from Harry Potter?"

"Well, no- I've never actually read it."

"What?! How?"

"It just seems a bit…" he made a face which made Teddy's heart thump, "hmm."

"Come on over to my place- I'll lend you the books; you won't regret it, I promise."

Billy blushed again.

Teddy's room would have given a pigsty a five star rating.

"Sorry."

"Oh, don't worry, my place is exactly the same- only, with a heavy sprinkling of OCD cleaning."

Teddy smirked. "I think the first book's in my mom's room. I'll just go and get it."

"I'll look in here for the others."

"Cool." He exited stage right and Billy let the smile engulf his face. For once, someone he liked was talking to him without using four letter words. He turned to the chest of drawers beside the bed and looked inside.

The 2006 nude X-men calendar was inside.

The male version.

Billy gasped and pushed it aside to find a picture of newspaper cutting of when a fight with Electro had disintegrated spiderman's clothes and an underwear advert featuring Captain America. He pulled open the drawer beneath to see a signed copy of Northstar's book and a Queer As Folk DVD.

Then he heard a voice behind him. "Guess I should have hidden them better."

Billy spun on his heel to see Teddy standing in the door, the book in hand. "I- I…"

Teddy walked over and slammed the drawer shuts, not making eye contact his strength splintering the wood. "Sorry."

Billy found his voice. "For what?"

"Creeping you out." He sank down on the bed. "I guess you want to leave." Tears welled in his eyes. "I…"

"Teddy, please, I- I'm cool with it." The blonde looked up. "In fact," Billy sat down on the bed and stared at the ground, a secret of sixteen years welling up and tugging at his vocal chords. "I'm…more than cool." He leant over and, pausing for only a second, pressed his lips against Teddy's. Then, suddenly, they were rolling over on the bed, their tongues locked around each other. Teddy halted the motion, pinning his new beau to the bed.

"One thing- if we're gonna do this," he smiled wickedly, "Well, I could never be with a guy who hasn't read Harry Potter."