Series/Disclaimer: Young Avengers which I do not own.
Warning(s): None
Author's Note: Uhhh. I don't really have many notes on this chapter. I think some of my sentences were a tad confusing but for the most part understandable.
This chapter was short and in foresight I'm thinking a lot of Billy's chapters might end up being a bit shorter than I intended. However, hopefully the next time I write for my lovely warlock that will be remedied. But as for now, enjoy the brief insight we get into him.
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He yawned and stretched his arms as high above his head as possible to shake the sleep from his muscles. The obnoxious but familiar sound of the vacuum cleaner from below guided him as he got unenthusiastically dressed and left the mess of his room. Shuffling down the stairs, he paused on the fourth step from the bottom where he normally would have jumped from. When he was first adopted he had loved the house's stairs and took up jumping down the last few. Just a few years ago he had felt brave enough to jump down the last three but ever since the incident, he hadn't had the energy to do it. But at the same time, he was vaguely aware of the most subtle increase of his heartbeat and the fact he was holding his breath.
Uprooting his feet from the stair he continued his decent, though slightly faster than he had started, "Teddy?"
"I'm in here!" The voice of the shape-shifter emitted from the study just loud enough to be heard clearly. Billy turned immediately as the door was opening and the sound was killed, taking to leaning against the wall near the doorframe while Teddy wound the cord to the hyped-up dust buster. Stepping around it, his eyes scanned over Billy slowly and with question, as though considering his next movements with utmost caution but trying not to be obvious about it. Unfortunately, Teddy always seemed particularly obvious in his actions to Billy.
Has he always thought so much? Billy uncrossed his arms, allowing Teddy to respond to the invisible hint by placing his hands softly on the slim hips. Warmth coursed through his semi-conscious body from where they touched, "How'd you sleep?"
Billy shrugged, his hands sliding up the thick arms holding him and resting on broad shoulders, "I slept."
"Almost twelve hours," Teddy said in his most flattering but sincere voice. A strange feeling he couldn't decipher – Pride? Or was it nausea? – tightened in his throat at the words. He swerved his gaze towards the abandoned vacuum cleaner to hide what might have been unintentionally reflected in his eyes.
"Are you done?"
"Almost," Teddy's own gaze turned down the hall towards the front of the house, "I've still got to vacuum the family room."
"I'll do it," he spoke up, nearly cutting Teddy off which resulted in a confused mumble before Teddy shook his head.
"No, it's alright. I can handle it."
"I know you can," Billy replied, hoping he sounded good-humored and not sarcastic as he slipped away from his boyfriend, "But I'll do it."
"Billy-"
"They're my chores, Teddy," his voice held all the quickness of his twin and shortness of someone suddenly quite annoyed. He placed his hand on the machine, readying to move it when a larger hand warmly covered his own.
"I know they are," Teddy started softly, "But I've already started and I planned on moving the furniture-"
"I can move the furniture," Billy's vision traveled up to the other's and narrowed. Something flashed in Teddy's blue gaze before shifting immediately to hesitation and, what made Billy even more irritated, concern.
"You don't know if you can control it, Billy."
"I can control it! I'm not helpless so stop babying me, Teddy! I don't need it!" Making no point to quiet the outrage at Teddy's insinuation towards his vulnerability, he knocked the other's hand away from his own. As he yanked the vacuum cleaner towards the living room Teddy's mouth set in a frown both of confusion and impatience just as Billy, fueled by a sudden rage, plugged in the vacuum cleaner and began the task furiously.
"Fine!" he called in a voice more forceful than before, briskly walking after his boyfriend, "But let me move the furniture!"
"I told you I can handle it, watch!" Raising his hands, Billy's dark eyes focused on the television across the room. The fact that he had to chant, a technique Teddy had suggested and helped him with, clung to his skin like an itchy sweater that only made succeeded in making him feel overheated, "IWantTheTelevisionToMoveIWantTheTelevisionToMoveIWant-"
Teddy remained silent, watching as the bulky electronic device was engulfed in a signature blue aura and gradually lifted off the entertainment stand. However, despite keeping his focus, Billy was not calm in the slightest and any disturbance could cause his spells to go awry. The previous night's events, Teddy's patronizing attitude, his mother's wake-up call, and even the loud hum of the vacuum put a weight on his psyche. It was a weight that Billy refused to acknowledge but was still there regardless of his most dire attempts to ignore its existence. But he refused to stop, he could do it, he knew he could…
"Billy watch-" Teddy began but was too late to hold any influence over the sudden explosion of events.
The hefty television shot off the stand and straight towards the blonde who turned green without thinking – a shape that he usually adopted when using his super-strength. The television collided with him, heavy enough and at a fast enough speed to send him back into a wall with a small table laid out in front of it; decorated with pictures and trinkets of Mrs. Kaplan's. Billy's jaw fell open in shock and horror as the area was virtually destroyed, objects smashing under the weight of both Teddy and the television and the wall splintering. His spell ceased almost immediately when he stopped chanting, the hard weight falling into Hulkling's arms. Teddy hadn't gone through the wall but there was a web of cracks embedded enough to tell that if he hadn't stopped it would have been more than a simple possibility.
The dark haired superhero stared at the damage he had done, unable to even call out to check if the other was alright. Soon the weight of the television shifted just slightly, blue eyes finding his from around the black plastic. Teddy tried to convey something through them and when Billy showed no sign of understanding he opened his mouth to call out to him – but was beat to the punch by Mrs. Kaplan's panicked shouting from outside.
