It was a silent walk home from the Circuit City they busted into. For Kid Wicked, this was par for the course.

For Billy Numerous, this was a feat unheard of in his existence.

When they got back, Billy half-heartedly waved to the rest of the Hive Five. Gizmo was tweaking the microwave, for whatever reasons he had. Mammoth was constructing an elaborate submarine sandwich that could put caterers across America to shame. See-More waved back with just the same lack of enthusiasm Billy had. See-More distracted himself with video games – Tetris and its ilk for the most part, low intensity games.

Wicked followed Billy back to his room, with a look of curiosity on his face. Billy gently opened his door, plopped his butt onto the edge of his bed, and gestured for Wicked to come over with a few flicks of his wrist. He stepped over and sat next to Billy – once again, he sat too close for Billy's comfort, and promptly felt his stomach flip over itself again.

"So." Billy started his sentence, and didn't know how to continue it. He grinded his teeth together a little, thinking and pulling his mask back while he was at it. He blinked, readjusting to the room now that his shades weren't on.

Kid Wicked leaned over the bed, and looked at him with wide eyes, suggesting 'Yes?'

"Why, uhm…why did you do that?"

Wicked could see that it was about to get more and more difficult to express himself. He put up a finger telling Billy to wait, and teleported out of the room. He came back quickly, now holding a notepad and pen in his hands.

'Do what?' Wicked wrote out. 'Break into the Circuit City with you?'

"No, Wicked, th'…th' other thing." Billy mumbled out, weakly.

'Kissing your cheek?' Wicked asked in print.

"Yeah. That. Were ya just bein', y'know, really friendly?" Billy asked, hopeful.

'I think it was friendly.' Wicked started. Then he put a space in, and started the next sentence. 'But I also like you.' He added, with no hesitation, oblivious to how that if he was any more blunt, he could wield his words like a club and kill a man with them. His relaxed body posture did nothing to reassure Billy.

Billy clutched at semantics at this point - anything to give him an inkling of a thought that Wicked wasn't attracted to him. "But, do ya, y'know, uhm, like like me?" Billy said, glad no one else could hear him talking like a 14 year old Texan girl.

Wicked let a smile beam across his face. 'I really do like you. You're fun. You're funny to watch and listen to. You're not serious all the time.' Wicked responded, letting absolutely no complications enter his reasons for liking Billy, or in the way he expressed and explained those reasons.

Billy sighed again. There was no getting out of it. Wicked really did like him. And Billy did like Wicked as a very close friend. In the academy, Billy was grateful to have someone who would listen to every word he said, not once telling him to shut up. Wicked laughed at his jokes, and was just there all the time. Having Kid Wicked around helped Billy to not be so reliant on himself as a best friend, which any man could stand for only so long.

Billy liked Wicked, appreciated him.

But the question he was asking himself is did he like Wicked as much as Wicked liked him.

He then immediately asked himself why he was even thinking about such a thing. 'Ah shouldn't be thinking about this!' he silently told himself 'It shouldn't even be a question!'

Much as he tried to just clear the thoughts from his mind, the question remained. Then Kid Wicked, catching onto Billy's facial expressions, reinforced it by writing 'Do you like me, Billy?'

Billy paused, being hesitant to go with his gut instinct of 'no, don't wanna think about this, let's just forget this ever happened.' A second feeling had emerged, and it refused to go away.

Billy chose the path in the middle.

"Ah…ah dunno. Ah might. Ah might not. Ah have to think about it, Wicked."

Wicked just nodded.

"Ya don't mind me thinkin' 'bout it first, Wicked?"

Wicked smiled again as he scratched words into the notepad. 'You're my friend, of course I don't mind.'

Billy let a very tiny smile shoot back in return, grateful for having a guilt-free chance to work out his own feelings.

A pause stepped into the room, making the atmosphere thick with awkwardness for 30 seconds.

'Can we watch a movie tonight? Together? And build a pillow fort?' Wicked wrote, hopeful.

Billy looked dumbfounded. Then, he felt the nervousness drop from his body like a brick. He grinned and laughed. This is where he felt comfortable. Movies, pillow forts, and the like.

"Ah don't see why not."

Wicked put the notebook away, and tugged at Billy's arm eagerly. 'Let's go pick which movies!'

Billy laughed.