Chapter 33 - Detective Katie Barton - Matchmaker

As it turned out, the punishment this time was on par with what the punishment had been the last several times the boys had gotten carried away with having a little too much fun. Home and school for Nate; home and work for James. But that was only because Tony had told Scott that he had James working on a special project. Had it not been for that, he'd have been home. Something about being a bad influence on Magneto's grandkids and how much hellfire that could rain down on everyone.

He understood it, honestly, he did. But it had always been more okay to let loose at the institute and now? With the lingering concern that having too much fun with the twins could cause Ororo- and everyone else - trouble, James was just glad he had something to do at the lab.

It really wasn't even that pressing, but when asked if James was working on anything important, Tony had picked up on the tone Scott was using and stepped up to cover. Which was how, while Nate was likely drooling through Algebra class waiting for lunch, James found himself combing through code.

"I guess you did something wrong by being a kid," Tony said as he handed James the flashdrive. "So … how about you try to look guilty while you sift through my code. That sounds like it's some kind of punishment."

James sighed heavily and turned toward his laptop to get started. "Anything in particular that I'm looking for - or will I just be mentally scarred when I find it?"

Tony shook his head at him. "I know everyone keeps saying otherwise, but .. you really are so much like your mother sometimes." He watched as James stared at him with a perfectly open expression. "I'm absolutely sure she started a fight with Magneto the first time they met, too."

"I didn't start it. I was just going to finish it."

"See? Tiny K right there," Tony said with a proud smile before he clapped James on the shoulder and then headed off. "Have fun with the code. When you get done with it, I'll be in the garage."

And though Tony didn't know it, that was exactly the kind of thing James needed to hear after a full afternoon of almost everyone telling him he was just like his father. He smiled to himself as he stared at the flashdrive, then blew out all his breath and settled in to get to work.

Nate, meanwhile, was bored out of his mind. There was no practice after school since the team was taking a rare day off during the season because they'd been pushing so hard - and winning. His coach didn't want them to get overstressed and hurt themselves if it wasn't during a game, after all.

Which made it all the more unbearable that he was grounded. He could have had a normal-ish date night. Alone. With Kate. But no-o-o-o. He had to go straight home where there was supervision and pointed silent glares from his father if he happened to accidentally have too much fun while he was grounded. Nate was pretty sure the terms of how he got grounded were just an excuse anyhow .

As far as he could tell, the twins didn't even like their grandfather - and clearly, their parents thought sending them halfway across he world to Westchester was smarter than keeping them near stupid Grandpa. Besides. James and Nate getting caught would hinge on one of the twins telling their grandfather that they'd gotten in trouble. Which, from what he'd gleaned from their thoughts that hadn't centered around who the twin boys thought were cute, simply wasn't gonna happen. So this whole grounding thing was a prime example of Nate and James' father overreacting. Again.

"Come on," Kate said as she slid over next to him at lunch. Halfway through the day and he was still moping. "You need to lighten up. Your whole family needs to lighten up."

But that was enough to get Nate to defend his dad. "He's just trying to protect us - and I see what he was worried about. Even if he was a little overzealous. James is grounded too."

"Yeah. In the tower. With Tony supervising him. Soooo grounded." Kate rolled her eyes. "All that really means is that you don't get to go with me back to Westchester." She tipped her chin up and smiled at him.

"You're not going to hang out with the white-haired one, are you? He's trouble."

"Nope," Kate said as she sent off yet another text. "I'm going to hang out with his twin brother - who is truly hilarious, by the way. He needs advice."

Nate stopped and tipped his head as he watched her. "You're not serious, are you? They're both probably trouble. And … do you really think my brother is going to be interested in a guy? After the string of girls that he's been going out with? He's got some pretty good taste in girls, Kate. Sure, most of them are questionable with their family history, but … they are definitely girls."

"Don't know until we ask. Gently. Indirectly." Kate fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Or you could cheat and peek. I mean, I know he's harder for you to read than other people when he wants to be, but this isn't state secrets. This is the simple matter of whether he'd go for the cute Magneto-grandson."

"Um … I'd need Rachel to help if you want to be sneaky about it. But I don't like doing stuff like that to family. You could just ask him. Of course … the fact that he's the grandson of Magneto might be enough to set off his trouble magnet. Still … no. Even for the good teasing, I'm not going to help someone with that much potential power chase after my idiot brother."

"Yeah, but you should see how nervous Billy is about this, and I don't want to put him off his first crush away from the island," Kate said, her eyes wide. "He's not used to having to ask - he doesn't know how!"

"Kate. Between someone I just met and my brother, I'm going to pick protecting my brother every time. Besides … they came here to learn how to be normal. Might do him some good to get shot down. I don't even know how James would handle that. I don't think he's ever been hit on by a guy."

"Na-a-a-a-ate." Kate leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Come on. What if they work well together? You can't protect him from that?"

"And I wouldn't want to protect him from someone that was good for him," Nate said as he took Kate's hand. "What if James gets ticked off at me for this? Then what? We're getting along well right now! What if the evil in Billy's family skips a generation and this is just another example of my brother drawing in another dangerous mutant - like he's some kind of catnip for evil or something."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Stop that. Billy isn't evil."

"Fine. But I have a hard enough time getting James to consider suggestions on where to stop for drive-through or if he's even going to try to be on a team. Besides, do you want to ask your sister something like this out of the blue?"

"Lexi already told me she likes boys and girls. She informed me. Because Mom sat us down for the explanation when we were, like, eight."

"Because you guys talk all the time, but you know, this is not 'the talk'," Nate said. "We got the full talk. I just don't know if James has ever shown an interest at all in a guy - and maybe it's easier for girls to consider going both ways, but it's not so simple for guys, okay?"

"No, this is just a quick little peek to see if it's even a remote possibility. Come on; I'm not asking for much! Just tell me if Billy has a chance, and I'll make him do the rest, pinkie swear!"

"Why don't you ask him?" Nate said.

"Because I'm not a telepath," Kate pointed out.

"No, but you do like to talk about everything." He projected the last half as well as said it for added emphasis.

"Yeah, but if I ask, it feels like a setup, but if you peek, then it's just exploratory committees of Summerses."

"It's still a set up!" Nate laughed. "Brothers don't talk about that."

Kate grinned and fluttered her eyelashes again. "Aww, big strong boys scared of talking about feeeeeeeelings."

Nate did his best to school his expression. "Yes. Yes we are. We're not empaths."

"Poor scared Nate," Kate said, still grinning maliciously.

"Poor scared Kate," Nate shot back. "Scared of big bad James. Since … forever probably."

Kate rolled her eyes and then simply whipped out her phone and texted James:

Hey, having an argument with your emotionally-stunted brother. APPARENTLY you guys don't have the talk as in-depth as WE do, and he seems all kerfluffled about the whole subject.

James was quick to reply, too. I don't know what you're talking about. He seems perfectly normal to me.

Well, you probably had the same 'talk.' Kate grinned. ANYWAY, point is, apparently he didn't even know I already knew Lexi swings both ways (and as you know, so do I, thank you very much), so I'm polling: what about you? Boys, girls, or both? And will your answer surprise your idiot brother?

It took a minute or two for James to reply. I'm not going along with a set up no matter who it is. I've still got Izzy pestering me every chance she gets and that started just to keep her off your back.

I'm not taking responsibility for that and anyways, that was NOT the question, James. At this point in this argument, I'm genuinely curious how you boys FUNCTION.

The only time someone asks something like that is when they want to set you up. Get a hobby, Kate. And maybe read a biology book or two before you find out the hard way how us boys function. The answer, by the way is 'on autopilot and often.'

Oh, come on. You're just as emotional as he is.

Oh. Far more, I'm sure.

Probably.

I'm getting emotional just talking about this. I can't take it.

Poor lamb. He has the same weakness. It's okay. I'll just wait for you to go doe-eyed over some boy or girl and there's my answer.

Yeah, okay. You do that. Love you, Kate. (But not like that. I'm not going to poach my baby brother's girl.)

I'd hope not. Your brother and I are practicing birds and bees.

I'd have to throw myself off the tower if I had Hawkward thoughts like that about you.

Dramatic. Do you need a cape now or does that only happen when you reach EXTRA levels of drama?

For the first time since the beginning of their rapid fire texts, there was a real pause. Wait. I get options? No one told me there were options. Is that why you were pushing the designs at me so hard? You think I need a cape- even though I can't fly? Wow. That's a terrible costume choice.

Well, there is a scale. For example, Tommy is EXTRA dramatic but no cape… Billy is hilarious and dramatic but has a cape… Magneto is EXTRA dramatic and has a cape…

This scale seems off. Tony is also extra dramatic and has no cape. And Cap only has one when he wraps himself in a flag and poses dramatically with a bald eagle screeching overhead. Otherwise I think it's more tied to the 'look' that fliers go for. I'd need a secondary mutation for that to work.

I bet Tony would have a cape if the armor would let him….

You should poll him too. Betcha he'll turn about fourteen different shades before he answers. You know. Because you're one of the kids. But he could have a retractable cape. He might, actually. Has everything else shoved in that armor.

Don't think I won't. And I'm asking Rachel too.

I already know the answer there. For Tony and Rachel. And I think you do too.

Yeah, but I like to hear things out loud sometimes. And I mostly asked you because you're INSCRUTABLE, James.

Probably because this is a text.

I know. But still. Inscrutable. Sometimes, I gotta just ask.

You did ask. And I thank you for thinking of me in your not at all scientific polling to set me up. But it's not a question I'm answering - so you can set me up.

Well, James, love you and all, but you have not helped me win against your brother, and this is sad.

Yeah, that probably won't ever happen.

Oh, don't do that. His head is already the size of Jupiter.

He got that from Dad. Oops.

So what's your excuse?

I have been reliably informed that both of my parents were the biggest hard heads ever. So. There probably. Reinforced by Dad. It's okay. Everyone is disappointed.

Bless your sweet little soul, Kate teased. It's okay. I still like you. (Just not like that.)

Get back to your classes. Just because you're utterly smitten with my brother doesn't mean you should fail just to graduate with him.

You've got such faith in my multi-tasking abilities, Kate teased. Bye now! Off to flirt!

"So. How'd that go?" Nate asked smugly, arms crossed and already well aware of how it had gone.

Kate rolled her eyes at him and kicked him under the seats. "Shut up. I'm texting Billy now. If you boys can't just give me an answer, I'll make the Maximoff take the risk whether he likes it or not. They'd be too cute to pass it up, and if James says no, I've got my answer and I'll help Billy find someone cute to make up for it."

"Don't act like that wasn't what you wanted from the beginning anyhow," Nate laughed.

"Hey, I promised Billy I'd look into it, and I keep my promises!" Kate said, one hand over her heart. "Fully!"

Nate raised one eyebrow in an expression just like his father before he started projecting the musical version of the Matchmaker song into her head, only accenting certain lines with his own mental voice adding to it.

"Aww, and I thought you wanted more kisses," Kate said in a sigh.

"Awwww, I thought you could multitask."

"Not with your terrible singing in my head," Kate shot back without missing a beat. "It's so distracting. How do you sound like a cheese grater even mentally?"

"Would you prefer the actual Broadway version? Because I can do that too if I think about it."

"Or," Kate said, rolling her eyes before she stole a kiss, "you could do neither of those things and skip history with me. Seeing as you're trying to fail it anyway."

"I am. But I am also grounded, so I don't know what I'd skip it for if you already said there would be no kissing and only picking at me," Nate said off-handedly.

"I denied kisses for the mental singing. Cut that out and there is something fun to skip for," Kate said, fluttering her eyelashes.

"Oh. well. That's a totally different story," Nate agreed with a crooked smile.

America had taken to hanging out at the tower pretending she wasn't entertained by the fact that the adults were starting to ask her when she was going to join the Avengers. She was Kate's best friend and knew there was a different team to look forward to, and she was waiting for that one to coalesce before she'd join a team. She wanted to join the team that would draw down the worst trouble - because she was actually attached to those idiots and figured they could use some backup.

But in the meantime, there were people to play with. Lexi had tried to flirt with her a couple times, but she wasn't touching that with a ten-foot pole, not when she was a) Kate's little sister and b) a little too young to have fun.

But the real reason she was at Avengers tower as often as she was? She'd been in trouble a few times, enough that Officer Wright had issued her a serious warning. And she was maybe supposed to be keeping her head down after she might have maybe kicked a guy's balls into orbit when he tried to put his hands on her. Maybe.

And seeing as the Avengers knew that America didn't do subtlety, she was supposed to stay there. And play it safe.

So, naturally, as soon as Kate came by with a visitor, wearing a look that America recognized from when they were dating that usually meant plenty of fun, America was on board before she even saw who the visitor was.

And then, America saw a face that she recognized - only much younger than the version she worshipped. He didn't look like she'd imagined he would; he was wide-eyed and innocent and slightly… off. Her powers allowed her to cross dimensions, so she could sense the right Billy, and this? This wasn't quite it. She must have been off in her estimation of which reality she should have stopped at.

For a long moment, America felt her heart drop. The whole point of her dimension hopping had been to find the Demiurge…. This was one, yes, but not the one who had created her universe. And she didn't know what to do with that information.

But… looking at Kate's wide smile, she decided not to bring it up. Ever. No one else had known why she'd come to this dimension, so no one needed to know she'd gotten it wrong. She liked this reality. And the eye candy. And hey, if she truly hated it, she could find a different one when she was older - after she made sure her idiot friends all survived their X-Men debut.

The moment lasted only a few seconds, so she was sure Kate and Billy Kaplan hadn't noticed it, so she grinned and waved them into the living room. "Didn't know you were giving a tour. Hey, chico. Welcome to the non-ivory tower."

Billy raised his eyebrows at her wording and leaned over to Kate. "You been snitching on me already?"

"Um, no?" Kate said, one eyebrow raised.

America smirked. "Family resemblance," she explained easily. "Welcome to the rest of the world, Cape Wearer."

Billy glanced over his shoulder just to double-check that he wasn't wearing a cape - he had specifically dressed in jeans and a tee shirt so he'd blend in - and then rolled his eyes when he heard America laugh. "Oh, come on."

America smirked. "I'm America Chavez, by the way. Since Kate's slow with the introductions."

Kate rolled her eyes as Billy stepped forward. "Billy Maximoff."

America nodded to herself. Maximoff, not Kaplan. That's probably the difference I'm missing, she thought before she smiled. "Well, come have a look. The view will blow your mind, and then I'm sure Kate has the rest of the tour planned out." As she said it, she met Kate's gaze and raised both eyebrows, and Kate broke into a troublemaking giggle once Billy ran to the windows that, gods, made her wish she wasn't the bigger person and had kept her for herself instead of letting her run to Nate. She loved that troublemaking giggle.

The funny part was that she was mostly past things with Kate; it was just the little things like that which made her sure she had to find someone with as much of a flair for trouble. Someone fiery.

But that wasn't the most important thing at the moment. The most important thing was that Kate was ready for trouble, and America put her arm around Kate's shoulders to pull her aside so they could quickly talk about Kate's plans. And once she heard Kate's theory about James and Billy being the cutest… well, how could she resist? Could be fun.

So once they'd decided that America would distract Tony from trying to prank or play with James by feigning interest in the Avengers so Kate could take Billy to James' workshop for the "tour," America had to step up the teasing. She liked James, after all, and since this wasn't the Demiurge? She was much more comfortable pushing his buttons.

"So, Cape Wearer, how evil are you? Scale of one to ten."

Billy blinked at her. "What?"

"One being Kate the Endlessly Optimistic Butterfly and ten being the Phoenix on a Bad Day."

Billy cracked a smile at her scale and then held his hands out to the sides. "Um… one?"

"Two," Kate corrected him. "You get a point just for the family nonsense."

America looked between Kate and Billy and then smirked and shrugged. "Well, I have to go talk to a Stark. Wish me luck."

"We'll see you around!" Kate said, grinning as she seized Billy's arm. "Come on, Billy. I know where to go next."

Minutes later, Kate let herself and Billy into James' lab after having explained to Billy what the story was with James and Tony and the whole internship thing. Which had surprised Billy, all things considered. But it didn't make the picture any less ridiculous after hearing how smart James was to find him sitting at a bench - back to the door with his forehead resting on the table in front of the laptop and his hands on the back of his head.

"What are you doing?" Kate asked before she hopped up on the stool next to him.

"Coding," James replied thickly before he slowly picked up his head. "What does it look like?"

"Like you're trying to communicate with the workbench. Smashing your face into it not working, huh?" Kate teased, grinning as James gave her a dirty look.

"What do you want, Kate?" James asked. "You never come in here unless you want something, and I told you that if I come up with more trick arrows, I'd tell you about it.."

Kate didn't drop his gaze as she pointed at Billy. "He broke his cell phone." When James turned toward Billy, Kate grinned wider behind his back, urging Billy to run with it. "And I said you could fix it."

Billy hesitated for just a moment before he slid the phone to James.

"Is there a reason you didn't take it to the carrier?" James asked, though he turned to look at Kate more than Billy for that.

"More reliable this way," Kate said with her chin in her hand. "And … I may have told him you could upgrade it a little."

"May have," James said, shaking his head before he turned back to the bench, closed the laptop, and got up to head over to the right bench. On the way over, he cracked open the phone and set the battery aside on the bench as he sat down. He didn't say a word as he took the phone apart and began removing what looked like some important components.

Within a minute or two, James was working fast, not really paying attention to what Kate or Billy were doing as he switched out a few things with some circuit boards that he had in the drawer next to him.

He pulled the magnification over as the soldering gun smoked - and with a weary sigh, James leaned forward and started making some major alterations. The moment that he caught the telltale scent of anxiety, he did what he could to ease Billy's mind. "I'm not touching any of the memory. Your contacts, apps, and pictures will be fine, even if they haven't been uploaded."

"Okay, I wasn't too worried about that," Billy admitted as he moved a little closer to watch him work.

"Sorry, you just … smelled anxious," James said distractedly. "I won't screw up anything important, but I'm taking the tracker and tying it to a pigeon."

"Wait, what tracker?" Kate asked hopping up to slip over and see what it was James was talking about.

"Don't all cell phones have trackers?" Billy asked.

"No," James said, making a few new connections. "They have GPS for maps that you can turn on and off integrated with the internet, but they don't have something exclusively to track. most of the time, to track you using the phone's capabilities, it's being done through triangulation with cell towers and by request. This is not that. This is an honest-to-God, spy-quality tracker." He set the soldering gun down and pulled over the tiny mass in question. "It's not standard equipment on any cell phone. Someone put this in after it was bought."

As Billy frowned at the little device, James put the phone back together. "Do you need the battery yet?" Kate asked, holding the little silver square.

"Toss it in recycling," James said as he slipped something new in place and snapped the phone back together. "Any other superfluous excuses you two have to come up here?" He watched both of them as he handed the phone back to Billy and watched the look on his face as he powered it up - shocked already at the difference.

"Yes," Kate said, bouncing to her feet. "Billy wanted to see the tower and your lab - and try to talk you into teaching him to drive, so … have fun!" She rushed out, leaving the two of them behind as Billy stared at her open-mouthed at the full betrayal.

The door closed behind her with a sound of finality, and it took a full thirty seconds before Billy finally turned back around to see James watching him with an open expression. "Alright. What's going on?" James asked. "Kate can be somewhat sneaky, and cleary, she wasn't even trying, so come on. Spill."

"It … was just ... " Billy held up the phone and gestured to the room at large.

"Yeah, I knew she was lying from the minute it came out of her mouth," James said, then leaned forward. "And she knew that I knew. There was nothing wrong with that phone." When Billy looked like he'd been thrown under the bus, James explained by tapping the side of his nose. "Lies stink. Even little ones. Didn't she tell you that?"

"She did not." Billy ran a hand through his hair but honestly didn't know James well enough to give it a shot yet. "She's not lying about the driving thing, though. I think I'll need to get a license to get around." He smiled sheepishly. "We didn't realize how restrictive travel would be here."

James raised an eyebrow at that, but Billy really wasn't lying. Now. "I know I don't look it, but I'm only sixteen. I'm hardly an expert."

"But that just means the test is still fresh in your mind, right?" Billy did his best to keep his nerve up. He also wasn't used to needing to go so slow if he was interested in someone, but there was zero response from the teenagers here when it came to the royal mutant family - as they were called home on Genosha. "And I had fun when Kate broke your car."

James finally smiled a little and nodded. "I'll talk to my dad and see how long he plans on keeping me grounded, little prince. No promises on how long that might be."

Billy frowned slightly at that. "I guess I don't understand what the charges were to get you in trouble."

"Honestly?" James asked, and when Billy nodded, he gestured to himself. "Being a bad influence. Covering for Mia when I didn't realize how interested she is in your brother - I'm gonna have to threaten him, by the way. On principle." Billy grinned at that. "And I guess the fact that I was ready to take on the old man is bad for mutant safety on a worldwide level. So … I kind of stepped in it."

"Isn't the same true of threatening the lesser prince?" Billy teased, relaxing a little as they started to talk.

"If Magneto is so out of touch that he can't understand why protecting Storm's daughter is a priority, then I guess I'll have to explain it to him."

"You're not afraid of him at all?"

"Not even a little." James smirked crookedly. "But, yeah. If you want help learning how to drive, I'll help you. Just not in secret."

"I didn't mean to make it sound like I wanted to keep it a secret," Billy said. "My parents told me to have fun and make friends. Just … please ignore what Grandfather was saying and doing. He's like that with everyone. Besides, I had a blast on those trails."

James smirk widened, though he managed to get control of it quickly enough. "Alright. We'll figure it out." He thought about it for a long moment. "But not this week. Week one is forbidden to even try and get out of trouble. Dad needs a cool-off period."

"What about next Friday when you're out of work?"

James held his gaze, but shook his head. "I can't. Nate has a football game, and he really does get all puffed up when the family goes to cheer him on. Unless … you wanted to go watch the game with us. That might even count as outreach."

"If I have Kate pick me up, you won't have to ask," Billy pointed out, but that had James shaking his head.

"Two things. One: I'm very sure that I understand the hard work you had to do to get around your Grandfather, but … a word of advice. Try not to go around the adults. It just makes things harder and causes more trouble," James said. "And two: Kate is a cheerleader, so she won't be around to give you a ride. But … yeah. If you can get a ride to the game, or if I can get the Jeep together to get you, you should come to the game. I'll still talk to my dad about driving lessons. He'll probably want to make sure I'm not showing you how to power slide or something."

"I'm sure," Billy said, looking a little disappointed, though he decided that direct was probably wisest path. "I was hoping for something more one-on-one." It took James a beat or two to realize what was up, and when he did, he blinked a couple times, and his lips parted as he tried to reply. "Unless there's no way you'd be interested. Then yeah, I still want to learn how, and supervision … sure."

"No, that's not - no," James said, shaking his head. "I wasn't expecting … you just surprised me."

"Kate said you had only dated girls, but I was hoping that maybe that was a 'so far' situation," Billy said, blushing high on his cheeks as he tried to smooth things over. He broke eye contact first as James continued to watch him with a curious expression on his face. "So … maybe … nevermind."

"Gimme your phone," James said, his hand out and waiting for it, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Why?" Billy asked even as he handed it over.

James shook his head as he unlocked it and took a few moments. "Stop using Kate as an intermediary," James said as he once again gave Billy his phone back. "She doesn't know half of what she thinks she does."

"You gave me your number," Billy said, looking surprised.

"Yeah," James replied, barely smiling, though he looked a little nervous. "That way, once I'm not grounded, you can call me, and then we can talk about going out. And not just for driving lessons. That would be a terrible date."

"And in the meantime, we can text," Billy said slowly, smiling wider the more he thought about it.

"And take a little time to get to know each other. By the time I'm ungrounded, you may not want to go out with me."

"Yeah, right," Billy said, waving the notion off immediately. "Even if they did treat me like royalty back home, I didn't want to ask any straight guys out. I was just …"

On seeing that Billy was clearly still nervous too, James decided to try and explain himself. "I really don't like all those labels," he said, reaching out to catch Billy's arm before he could walk away. "As far as just dating girls? My dating options are slim, and to be honest, I hadn't met a guy I was interested in until now. Not to mention, I kinda figured you were off limits after I got grounded for trying to finish that tour."

This time it was Billy's turn to look surprised when he realized what James had said. "Oh."

"How long is Kate going to leave you stranded?" James asked, when it was clear Billy was off his game. He took a step back and headed back to the laptop just to give him space.

"I … don't know," Billy admitted. "I - I'm not really stranded, though. I could wish myself back to the school, and she knows it, so I think she's just… leaving the exit to me."

James let out a little 'huh' but didn't comment further for a long while. "So what do you want to do about that? As much as I've spent time with Mia, instant travel that far isn't really something I'm used to."

"Oh, well, then, you should try it," Billy said, extending a hand. "Five minutes? Tony won't tell if you disappear for just a little bit, right?"

"Tony … is a little preoccupied," James said, hesitating only for a second before he took Billy's hand.

Billy smiled and then started to chant: IwanttobeinthewoodsinWestchester over and over again until they blinked into existence in the woods near the lake, and Billy grinned. "I've got to be pretty specific with the spells, so some of them get long… but I can get around."

"Lot more useful than what I do," James said.

Billy shrugged. "Depends," he said. "I also once accidentally rewrote reality so that I was an only child. Mom had fits until we could figure out how to reverse it. So I'm also kind of more dangerous than you are."

James turned his way with a teasing look. "You deleted your brother? What did he do?"

Billy blushed. "It was stupid," he said, turning even pinker somehow.

"Always is. Still wanna know."

"It's just… he told me the guy I was going out with was only doing it because we're royalty." He sighed. "He was right, and that made me even madder. And instead of taking it out on the guy, I… sort of… maybe… blinked Tommy out of my life." He held up both hands. "I instantly regretted it. Wasn't on purpose."

James blew out a breath and fell silent for a long while as they started to walk through the trees, then decided it was wisest to share some of his own stupidity to hopefully get Billy to feel a little better about sharing something so private. "When I started to come into my powers, I tried to figure out the genetics to stop it."

Billy frowned. "Why?" he asked - genuinely curious, since he hadn't grown up thinking the X-gene was anything but, well, superior.

James gestured to his face. "The closest thing I can tell you is that I didn't want to be me. Your grandfather's not the only one that takes issue with what I am. My parents were hunted most of their lives because of this stupid powerset. So growing up, I always thought of it like a death sentence. Still do." He smiled tightly. "I tried to find a way to reverse it. Just delete the X-gene. I think I was eight-ish? So … There. See? Everyone does stupid things."

Billy looked like he wasn't sure what to say before he finally leaned over and bumped shoulders with James. "For the record, no matter what my grandfather thinks, I like your powerset. It gives you a kind of … fearlessness." He blushed bright red, all the way down to the tips of his ears.

"I'm going to say thank you but also respectfully disagree," James replied before gently shifting the subject. "I can't even imagine the trouble you got into for your brother, though. How are you not grounded still?"

Billy shook his head. "Mom has the same powers. She's made some huge mistakes too, so she knows how hard it can be."

"Ah," James said, long and drawn out. "So she does play favorites," he had to tease.

"Actually," Billy admitted quietly, "if there was a favorite? It'd be Tommy. She never really got over losing Pietro, you know. Tommy gets away with a lot because of it."

"I can believe that," James agreed, then bumped Billy back. "How about we talk about something that doesn't end with pure misery for the people we love?"

Billy nodded his quick agreement. "How about… I'm about five years behind the mainland on movies. Where should I start? The school has a good collection…"

"What kind of films do you like?" James asked.

"Depends on the mood," Billy said with a shrug. "Usually action, but I'm also a romantic sap."

"What's your go-to to get out of a funk?"

"Oh, in that case, it's always something scifi," Billy said, then paused and smirked. "Usually with the bad guy in a cape getting his comeuppance. Not that Grandfather is the root of half my drama problems. Noooooo."

James couldn't help but laugh at that. "Did Kate show you the text thread from earlier?"

"Um, no, she just said she texted you and you are emotionally inscrutable and wouldn't help her win her bet with Nate."

"True enough when you only can read Nate as far as inscrutable goes," James said, then pulled out his phone to pull up the thread for him. "She's been fishing. Badly. I just had to ask, what with the cape reference."

Billy blushed as he read it through. "I… didn't want to push you if you weren't… not everyone takes it well, you know…"

"You're not pushing me," James said, still smirking crookedly at him.

"Yeah, it's just… I've had that happen, you know, where someone is straight but I'm also the prince, so then they have to examine whether it's safe to say no, and… it messes with a person…"

"We're not on the island." James smiled honestly at that. "And I'm not afraid of you or your family, little prince."

"Even knowing I could poof you out of existence?" Billy asked with a teasing smile.

"Poof away."

"But I don't want to, and I have to want to."

"Then why would you even bring it up?" James asked with a laugh.

"I don't know… because I wanted to be impressive?" Billy asked with one eye shut.

"That is definitely impressive. But I'm used to heavy-duty powersets around me," James said. "Bruce Banner helped tutor me when I was younger. I spent two hours the first session peppering him with Hulk questions and pestering the snot out of him. We played with Thor whenever we had to come to the tower when I was sick …which was often. All kinds of people could have snuffed us out. Being the least powerful person in the room doesn't bother me."

"Oh good," Billy said, then glanced down at his phone. "I… should probably get you back to the tower before you get in trouble, huh? If I want to see you at the football game, I mean."

"It wouldn't be unusual for me to slip away without anyone catching it. Not like I haven't learned how to evade the cameras in the building." James held up both hands. "You have to if you're going to prank Tony."

"Now it's my turn to be impressed," Billy said, smiling wider. "Alright then. Let's stay a little longer."