The mall. Full of shoppers, all going about their business. Some taking care of children, some strutting around as though they were on a runway. People of all kinds going about their daily lives. Many stores flanked a massive food court, and one of those stores, Forever 21, had fashionable clothing for both men and women in their windows. The store had many shoppers in it as well, all surrounding circular racks of clothes.
"So, Billy, where are you taking Teddy?" Kate Bishop asked, popping her head of long black hair above one of the clothing racks. Billy had been planning a vacation for him and Teddy to get away. Where and how was still unclear to the rest of Billy's teammates, but he seemed confident, as though he had everything planned out perfectly.
"Sorry, Kate, can't say." Billy answered bluntly over his shoulder. He was looking at the clothes on the rack opposite of Kate's.
"Aw, why not?" came a third voice. It was clear that it was Cassie Lang when she popped out of the middle of the clothing rack Kate was shuffling through. Billy and Kate wondered what she was doing in the middle of the clothing rack, but brushed it off. This is normal for her.
"It's a surprise for Teddy. I don't want to say anything…" Billy answered with a tinge of annoyance. "What the hell, do I smell like poo or something?" Billy asked, swatting at a fly that was buzzing around his face.
"I swear, if this fly doesn't shoo! I'm going to be too annoyed to go anywhere!" Billy glared at the fly while blurting this. At that, the nasty little menace shot towards the store's entrance and exited. It buzzed and weaved around and under shoppers, evading their legs. It flew to the upper levels of the mall, and made it's way into the men's bathroom where it swooped under a stall door. Only seconds later, a voice came from the same stall.
"He knew it was me," said the voice.
"Are you finished?" said yet another voice from the stall over.
"How did he know it was me?"
"I don't know, man, but we need to go. If you heard the things-"
"Oh, man, I'm in trouble tonight…"
"Why didn't I just wait in the food court?"
Eli Bradley stepped out of the stall opposite to the fly. He walked to the sink to wash his hands muttering unpleasantly. Finally, out of the stall walked Teddy Altman. He was both flattered and that his boyfriend knew he was the infamous fly, and nervous that Billy would be mad that he was eavesdropping on their conversation.
"He didn't know about the other times though." Teddy said, scratching his head confused.
"Other times?" Asked Eli, his left eyebrow cocked.
"Yeah, I was an ant in his shower this one time and-"
"You watched Billy showering?" Eli said, "Oh god…" He didn't know what to say.
"Eli, I don't need to spy on Billy to see him naked." Said Teddy with a smirk.
"Oh, god, information overload!" Screamed Eli hitting the side of his head, trying with desperation to forget what he just heard. The two made their way to the food courts while Teddy cracking jokes and Eli laughing loudly at each one.
"Wasn't Tommy supposed to meet up with us today?" asked Teddy. Tommy had a knack of getting himself in to trouble. The whole team was constantly looking after him.
"Hey, he's your boyfriend's alleged brother. I gave up looking after him a long time ago." Eli said. He and Tommy didn't always see eye to eye. "Speaking of your boyfriend…" Billy, Kate, and Cassie were exiting the shop at the same time Eli and Teddy rounded the corner. The two groups saw each other at once.
"Hey, ladies!" Eli exclaimed. Teddy couldn't help but giggle. Billy sneered at this attack on his masculinity. They all greeted each other saying their hellos. Eli awkwardly gave Kate a hug and she gave him the same in return. Teddy gave Billy a loving squeeze of the hand that Billy didn't give in return.
The sun was almost setting when they left the mall. Eli and Kate talked as awkwardly as they hugged, Teddy pleaded his case to Billy, and Cassie giggled at a joke Teddy said as he tried to ease the tension. Billy giggled slightly as well. They made their way down a busy New York street, when a burst of wind stopped them in their tracks.
"Hi!" screamed Tommy appearing out of nowhere. The group looked around to see if anybody else had seen a white haired teenager pop out of thin air.
"I thought you were meeting us up at the mall, where did you go- what did you do?" asked Billy warily.
"Oh, don't get your floral panties in a bundle. I had some things to take care of. I have a life you know." He said to Billy who was staring daggers at him. Billy wanted to say "Yeah, a life of crime!" but he was cut off by Tommy.
"Quick question. This little vacation you plan on doing. How are you going to get passed your parents?" "Yeah," added Cassie, "And how about hotel and transportation and-"
"I have my ways," said Billy, "I can do magic remember? Besides, we're only going to be gone three days. What bad could happen in three days?"
The group all said their goodbyes outside of Billy's house. Cassie pleaded one last time for the vacation location, Teddy made one more joke to Eli about getting Billy naked, Eli smacked himself upside the head again at the information overload. Tommy gave them a waved and zipped off to wherever. Finally, Kate gave Billy and Teddy hugs and made them promise to be safe and to have Billy teleport the team in if any trouble had arisen. With a final wave, Billy closed the door and reared on Teddy.
"Heh heh, some day, huh?" Teddy croaked nervously. Billy smiled wryly and said, "Get upstairs, pack, we're leaving in an hour." Thirty minutes passed when Teddy came clunking into Billy's room with three bags of luggage. His room had endless amounts of Avengers paraphernalia. There was three different posters of Captain America, each on one side of the wall. A coffee mug with Wolverine's smug face sat next to a Spider-Man lamp on Billy's dresser. And framed and hanging on the wall that didn't have a Captain America poster was a picture of the Scarlet Witch. She smiled beautifully in Billy's direction. He was laying on his bed reading a magazine, only to look up and see Teddy.
"All done? That was fast." Billy said with a smile now soft and inviting. Teddy felt like a couple metaphorical bricks lifted from his shoulders. He knew Billy wouldn't be mad for long, but still dreaded the minimal amount of time Billy didn't talk to him.
He jumped on the other side of Billy on the bed. They looked for a while into each other's eyes.
"When are we leaving and where are we going?" asked Teddy, brushing his thumb softly on Billy's cheek.
"Soon and you'll see." Billy whispered.
"I'll see? I wanna see it now!" whined Teddy in a joking way. To a person not involved in the conversation at that time, it's easy to misread that statement.
"None of that!" screamed Billy's mom from downstairs.
"None of what, mom?" Billy yelled back.
"You know what, William!" She yelled. Ever since Teddy moved in, there's been a "No doors closed at all times" law enforced ruthlessly by Billy's mother. Billy laughed quite hard at this. Teddy began to laugh as well. He always laughed when Billy laughed. When the laughing stopped, the two stared once again into each other's eyes. Both of them wanted to make out so bad right now. Instead, Billy cupped Teddy's face in his palm, and kissed him on the forehead.
"We have to go soon. Can you go keep look out while I cast a spell?" Billy said jumping from the bed. Teddy didn't say anything. He just wanted to lay next to his boyfriend and make out. Was that so much to ask? Reluctantly, Teddy walked out of Billy's room and watched to make sure nobody was coming up the stairs. Several moments later, Billy gave Teddy the okay to come back in. He entered the room and jumped. There Teddy was, staring at himself. Billy magically conjured a Teddy clone. There were also two Billys. But Teddy knew which one was the real one, he didn't have to second guess it.
"Wow," Teddy said lifting up his clones shirt revealing a birthmark on the right side of his belly button. "Birthmarks and everything. A bit much, don't you think?"
"The first thing my mom is going to look for are birthmarks if she smells something fishy." Said Billy.
"In that case, I think I should inspect your clone. You know, for authenticity" he chortled as he pulled down on Billy Clone's belt loop. Billy swatted his hand away.
Billy reached out his hand for Teddy's. "Cover your ears please," he said. Teddy rolled his eyes playfully. With arms wrapped around Teddy's waist and Billy's magic aura wrapped around him, he chanted his teleportation spell.
"…"
