Chapter 37 - Magic Tricks

James and Billy had, of course, seen the broadcast from James' lab at the top of Stark tower. "Oh boy," James said dryly. "Your Grampa's making headlines again."

"Yeah, he does that," Billy said, leaning back on James's chest on the couch that James sometimes crashed on when he had a long project.

"That makes him the world's worst helicopter parent, you know that right?"

"Are you sure? You're the one who's constantly worried about your dad…"

"Total reverse of whatever this is," James said, giving him a little squeeze. "Besides, mine's got anxiety from this mess, not … world domination."

"Fair," Billy said, leaning back enough to kiss James' cheek. "You've got your 'I'm going to do something about this' look. Usually, that means a date or some adventure, but this time…"

"It can mean that too. We were going to do that anyhow this weekend, but … In a little bit, my siblings plus Kate are going to come through that door all worked up and frothing to tell me I need to hurry up and pull my head out - or something to that effect." James let out a breath and leaned his head on Billy's. "As much as I get it, and have to admit … it's time, I still don't know if I want to show up all … me."

"Nothing wrong with being you," Billy pointed out.

"Except, you know … there is. Everyone has the same reaction to me that your grandfather or your mom had - to a lesser degree, but still," James said. It was the first time he'd admitted that he actually did care about what people around him thought. Even Magneto to some degree. And Billy honestly hadn't expected it.

"Well, Tommy gets that sometimes from people who knew my Uncle Pietro. He died from that same stupid mess, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. It's different though. You both have nothing but good stuff to say about Pietro. My mom hardly exists on paper and I don't even know what to think about Logan, okay?"

Billy frowned and turned so that he was looking at James better. "Wasn't he an X-Man and an Avenger?"

"Yeah, but he was also a killer and into black ops and mercenary work. He was a living, breathing weapon, Billy. Both of them were. So what does that really mean when everyone tells me how much I remind them of him? Is that their way of saying that's where I'm headed, too?"

"Absolutely not." Billy watched him for a long time before he took a deep breath, held it, and took both of James' hands in his. "So," he said slowly, "you know how my powers let me sort of… bend reality?"

"Yeah," James said slowly, frowning as he watched him. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Well, what if we peeked at your past?" Billy asked, holding James' gaze for a long moment as James really processed what Billy was saying.

"Wait. You've been thinking about this for a while," James said finally. "Haven't you?"

Billy flushed. "Well, yeah. I kinda wanted to do something, you know, spectacular to tell you… you know. How much I -" Billy swallowed hard and blushed all the way to the tips of his ears. "- you know."

James smirked and shook his head. "No. No idea. What are you talking about?"

"Oh, shut up," Billy said, smiling brightly as the blush receded. "My point is that I think I can do it without time travel."

"That's a bonus," James said, arching one eyebrow higher, though he wasn't sure what exactly Billy was proposing yet.

"So, I was listening to Betsy talk about our how our minds hold all sorts of details that we can't readily recall, and I think all I have to do is work up a spell to look at the memories you don't even know you have," Billy said. "I was going to wait and do it for your birthday because you are crazy hard to shop for, so ... I had to come up with something kind of special."

James watched Billy in quiet admiration until it was clear Billy was growing uncomfortable under his studious gaze with no comment to clue him as to what James was thinking. "You're really sweet, you know that?"

Billy flushed again. "Yeah, well, so're you."

James leaned in to steal a kiss that went on for a little longer than he'd initially intended, resting his forehead against Billy's when the kiss met its natural end. "You know I trust you, right?"

"Kiss like that and I might not think straight enough to do it," Billy said, grinning crookedly before James went for another kiss just for the fun of it and to get a laugh out of Billy - which it did.

"Alright Romeo," James said when the kiss broke. "If you think you've got a way to help me, you know I'll be eternally grateful. And if not, we'll just have to slip out and grab a bite alone then find a quiet spot to pick up with this again. You know. If you can't think straight."

Billy grinned crookedly. "Okay, stay still," he said before he rested his hands so that the tips of his fingers were at James' temples. Billy recomposed himself and started to chant quietly, his eyes glowing brightly - and the next thing James knew, he was watching his memories from when he was barely old enough to walk, only he was seeing it from the perspective of an outsider.

There was a lot more for James to see than he'd thought would be there - and though there were a ton of memories that were buried deeply in his subconscious, not a one of them was of what his parents were like on the job. Not one. He wasn't sure what he'd expected, but no one had told him about them like this. He wasn't prepared to see the level of affection that was clearly so commonplace between his parents and himself - or even just to watch them interacting with each other and so obviously deeply in love. When he heard them laughing while the tiny version of himself was wrapped up between them, he held his breath and just soaked it up for as long as the memory and the peeks lasted, burning every moment into his mind as he tried to hold on to them tighter. The feeling welling up in his chest nearly choked him as longing came back like a tidal wave at what he'd missed out on by losing them.

Scott had been right. The files and folders - dossiers - they didn't hold a candle at all to the people they were, and though Scott had tried to tell him, his retelling had fallen short of what James had just seen himself. When the spell had run its course, James was openly shocked and clearly emotional.

Billy didn't move for a long moment as he watched James carefully. He was concerned that something had gone wrong in tampering with his memories, but as soon as he managed to accidentally draw James' attention, James leaned forward to curl into Billy and just - hold on with a whispered out 'thank you' that was barely loud enough for Billy to hear.

"Oh. Okay." Billy curled protectively around James, still half afraid that he'd done something to hurt him. "I - I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to-"

"No," James said softly. "I wasn't expecting … any of that. They were amazing. There was so much love. I didn't- I didn't know."

"So…"

"So I think you would have liked them," James said.

Billy smiled at that and kissed the side of James' head while he was still holding on and trying to put it into perspective. "Then I'm glad you got to see them," he said. When James had started to get a handle on his emotions, Billy started a kiss that would likely have progressed into something else had the other kids not shown up right then.

"Oh. We can come back," Kate said, thumbing over her shoulder. "Or we can get you to sign off on the uniform and then come back?"

The two boys sat back from each other and James covered his face with one hand for a long moment as he got himself reined in again, though Nate was watching him with a concerned expression.

And while outwardly, he looked like a mess, it was obvious to James that there was really only one path ahead of him. "Let me see it," James finally said in a sigh with one hand held out.

Kate grinned crookedly and rushed over to show him what she and Jan had drawn up. It was a more updated version of Logan's old uniform, but tailored to James' taller build with an updated cowl that didn't have points that were as tall or obvious as Logan's had been.

While James studied it and Kate jiggled her foot waiting for his reaction to it, Nate and Rachel shared a concerned look and held a very private conversation. Rachel had been watching Billy for a while now, and seeing her little brother so emotional had her on the defensive. Clearly, Nate needed to know everything Rachel did - and all she suspected as well. Their brother had never been overly shy about showing his emotions, but this was beyond normal for him, and they didn't like it.

Kate, however, seemed to be doing her best to ignore the clear evidence that James had been crying. "Now, I know it kind of looks like it's just the same thing, but we've got accents here and here," Kate said. "And the yellow is way less garish…"

"You know, I actually like the brighter yellow, but … no yellow. Not yet. I'm not ready for it," James said, then cleared his throat, recovering quicker now that he had something to focus on. "As much as I love this look, I'm going to have a big enough target on my back when I step out in something with stripes anyhow. And yellow was his." James' voice broke on the last word, though it wasn't clear to anyone if it was the usual upset concerning Logan or something else until James got his emotions under control and finished what he was thinking while holding Billy's gaze. "I need to earn that."

But Kate pressed on, striking while the iron was hot. "Okay, well, we can change the colors and drop the stripes no problem," Kate said.

"Keep the stripes. I want them. Just make it red and black," James said, then pointed to the head. "And use a similar cut to the original cowl. I don't want my whole face covered like this design. As stupid as it sounds, I don't want any idiots thinking I am Logan and there is some difference at my chin and jawline."

"Okay, so… kind of a mix between Wolverine and Cyclops' uniforms… with some James flair in there… I like it," Kate said, smiling and already making notes on the design as James continued to look it over with her.

"What do you think?" James asked Billy, taking the drawing from Kate so Billy could see it better, though that had Nate and Rachel sharing a look.

"I think you'll look great," Billy said with a growing smile as he took the sketch. "Red is my favorite color, so… I'm in favor."

"I just don't want to take yellow and screw it up," James said.

"You wouldn't," Billy promised, though that was one step too far for the other two Summers kids.

"This is way more input than you've given since we started," Rachel said, obviously concerned with how upset James still looked, and wondering what had happened before they'd come in. After all, it had been years that the Summers kids had tried to get their brother on board. This felt too easy after all the fight they'd gotten from him. "What happened here?"

"Do you know why I've avoided this?" James asked turning her way and flat ignoring the fact that his lashes and cheeks were wet still.

"Because you don't want to kill Dad?"

"No. Well - yes. But it's because the second it makes mainstream anything that I'm alive and anything like my parents, all hell is going to break loose," James said. "Think about the cabin when we were kids - when it got broken into by special ops or all the times we had to split up when we were little - all the bouncing around I did with Tony and Natasha and Kitty - the month long stretches you spent with Alex or Storm. All of it was to hide from those people that want to use mutants as weapons. Those organizations aren't gone. I read the reports from back then and I go over them now as soon as Natasha does. They wanted us. Not Dad. Us. I don't know what they'd do to you and Nate, but I do know what they'd do to me. I've known that since before I got my abilities, and since I started to heal it's been like I've been waiting for them to find me and kill me or worse ... and I'm very sure I don't want metal replacing my bones and someone controlling me. And they would."

"But someone has to stop them," Rachel said, glad to hear what James had been holding on to for so long, but also unsure of where that was taking him. "Or they'll go after other kids."

"Why do you think I'm going along with it now?" James said. "It's a risk I have to take while certain people try to start a fresh war. If I don't … I might as well just hand myself over to one of the weapons programs, because they won't stop looking for me or you."

"Well, I'm glad you're on board," Nate said, shoving James in the shoulder as he leaned over the couch and kissed Kate's cheek. "Wouldn't feel the same without all three of us."

"Just start taking bets on how long before they start calling me by Logan's codename," James said dryly.

"Well, what do you want to use?" Kate asked, genuinely curious.

"I don't know," James said. "But I know what will happen and how it'll end up anyhow, and knowing what I do now about Logan… I don't want to fall short of what he was. I know I don't measure up to him."

"You won't know that until you see what you can do," Rachel said. "I know I'm trying to live up to my mom. No reason you can't live up to him."

"We're not going to let them get to you," Nate said, clearly upset by what James had said. Yes, Scott had warned them for years, but it had sort of meshed together for Nate. Hearing how James had processed it explained so much on how reluctant his big brother had been and for the first time in his conscious memory, really, Nate could feel the weight of the threat James had been concerned with.

"I'm not afraid of that so much anymore," James said. "Eventually they'll try anyhow. Let them come."

"Yeah, we'll take 'em down," Kate agreed with a crooked grin.

"But - if we're going to do this," James said as he reached over and took Billys' hand. "Billy and Tommy said they wanted in too." He turned to Billy. "And I sincerely hope you won't hold it against me if I end up stabbing Grampneto."

"How about the rule is you don't stab him unless there's no other way to deal with him," Billy said. "He's actually not terrible when he's on Genosha."

"If you knew how much it hurt to use the stupid claws, you'd know that part goes without saying," James told him, then squeezed his hand. "I don't want to hurt anyone. And I don't want to upset your family. Not really. Tick him off, sure. But I don't want to hurt him and I promise I won't stab him or anyone else unless they try to take out one of us first. Anything short of that and the claws won't even come out."

"Then I think we're on the same page," Billy said, before he yanked the sketchbook back from Kate and turned to a fresh page. "So I had some ideas for me, if you're taking notes…and part of it will involve keeping my royal cape."

On Genosha, the shockwaves from Magneto's foray to the States was being felt by much of the population. Years of isolation and a major separation from even their closest neighbors left them feeling like a giant target any time Magneto stepped away from the island and started his speeches and sabre shaking.

It had been a while since he'd bothered to go to the States, but considering that both of his grandsons were attending school there, it was really just a matter of time before he'd turned his attention that way. And with his attention focused on the States, it was only a matter of time before that came back to bite the citizens of Genosha. They all knew it. They all were afraid of it. Except, of course, the royal family and their guards.

But for those outside of the palace, it honestly wasn't rosy. Supplies were in high demand for anything imaginable. Yes, the population was fed and safe - and homelessness was non existent, but that didn't mean they were happy. They had enough to survive, and they were away from humans mistreating them, but aside from being able to use their powers and wander the streets freely, but they also couldn't leave Genosha. That was something reserved for royalty. Not even former X-Men were allowed that liberty.

Which was in large part why Bobby Drake often found himself in trouble. He kept looking for ways to get away from Genosha - even if it was only for a moment or two - but that simply wasn't possible. And every time he was caught trying to leave - which was often - he'd end up spending time in Genosha's prisons.

He'd lost muscle tone over the years from spending so much time locked up - though he was getting to be impressive with his powers considering he spent every available moment practicing when he was out of lock up - away from the dampeners that kept the prisoners where they were supposed to be. It was just luck that Kitty had managed to keep out of the prisons with all the tech she'd been hoarding and developing just so they could find out what was happening in the world outside of the island nation.

So when they saw for sure that Magneto was stirring up the Avengers … and saw that some of the newer anonymous young members were obviously Scott's kids …

"Would you look at that," Bobby said, eyebrows high on his head. "That's got to be Rachel."

"Oh yeah," Kitty agreed, nodding her head as the camera zoomed in on the young Avengers on screen. "She's been on the team for a while. Nate is the new face now."

"He shouldn't be old enough for that," Bobby said, though he was smiling at the screen. He'd been in the jail for over six months. He hadn't seen Nate's debut with the Avengers, but he was incredibly proud. Though after watching for a moment, his smile began to slip. "We should have been there to help them."

"They have the Avengers to teach them. They'll be fine," Kitty said as she sat down next to him.

"Yeah. Against like … Hydra or AIM. Not Magneto." Bobby shook his head. "What's he so tweaked about anyhow?"

"The princes are going to Xavier's," Kitty said. "And Erik doesn't like the way the rest of the world works."

"So something he'd probably let slide if his precious little crown princes weren't out in the middle of it," Bobby said with a sigh. "Great."

"Well, at least they're not X-Men, right?" Kitty said, though her tone was entirely down as they continued to watch the broadcast. "The professor never would have allowed it to get this bad."

"No, he wouldn't have," Bobby agreed as silence fell between them. His sense of humor had been beaten down by a vicious cycle of imprisonment and trying to stomach the 'all is well' propaganda that the citizens of Genosha were used to. "I miss them."

Kitty nodded quietly. "Yeah. Me too," she said under her breath as the broadcast continued softly until Bobby got up and flipped the switch to turn it off.

"Come on. I just got out of jail again. We should take one night to celebrate before I figure out how to get us off this island."

Kitty smiled to herself. "Right. Might want to wait until Erik is going to be off the island."

"Which would be great if we knew when he'd be gone."

"Um … holidays are coming. That should be enough time to plan. The Guthries can keep an eye out for when he leaves, and I know that he's already planning to be the one to go get the boys," Kitty said. "Alex told me."

Bobby nodded slowly. "Then we have a little time."

"Has Jan said anything about the um … project she was working on?" Billy asked as he and James walked out of the subway close to where the Summers actual home in Brooklyn - though James still wasn't taking him to the house - but Billy had wanted to see some of the sights that Lorna had told him about. All of those sights of course, were much closer to the Summers house than they were to the Barton's apartment building.

"She's working on it," James promised. "But she's got to do the work when no one will bother her and get nosy." He gestured to the coffee shop two blocks down from the house to direct Billy on where they were headed. He was entirely sure that Lorna had tried to push them toward the right neighborhood to bust James out, but he hadn't been ungrounded often enough to consider getting the clearance from his dad to bring Billy by. Yet. He wanted to, of course, but there was an order of getting things done and pushing Scott before the mood was right was a sure fire way to sink himself.

"Yeah, but maybe I'm looking forward to seeing how they look," Billy laughed with a crooked smile. "Especially since it's still too cold for swimwear."

"You're relentless," James laughed before they got into line to order. They were fairly quiet as they made their way through the line since this was one of the more conservative neighborhoods in Brooklyn, comparatively. So at least until they got down to the park by the river, they were going to play it fairly cool.

Or that was the plan. Until they stepped out of the cafe, smiling and laughing at a quiet private joke only to stop dead when Rabbi Cohen called out to James. "Are you ready to let me set you up with a nice girl, young Mr. Meuller?"

James spun on the spot, his smile firmly in place as the Rabbi got close enough to clap a hand on his shoulder. "Hi, Rabbi Cohen," James said, utterly out of his depth on how to get him to stop his usual teasing. But he knew that Toby Cohen would just get worse about it if he didn't say something. So, he decided that he'd try to buy a little time if he could. "Have you talked to Dad at all lately?"

"A little," the Rabbi said, still grinning, though he turned to Billy for a moment, just as approachable and friendly as ever. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend? I don't think I've gotten to meet any of the kids you hang out with yet."

Billy was plainly amused and couldn't stop himself from joining in on the teasing, curious on which way he would get to pick on him. "Yeah, introduce me, James," Billy said with a grin.

James gave Billy a look, but turned back to Rabbi Cohen looking perfectly relaxed. "Rabbi, this is my boyfriend, Billy," James said. "He wanted to see the bridge from the park."

Rabbi Cohen blinked a few times as he looked between the boys, who were both smiling politely as they reached out to hold hands. "Well. At least tell me he's Jewish."

"I am," Billy said with a grin as he smiled wider at Rabbi Cohen and shifted his coffee so he could shake his hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

Rabbi Cohen grinned at that and burst out laughing. "Well good! One of you Mueller kids listened to me at least! I'm going to expect a better meeting with the two of you after Hanukkah!"

"Sure thing, Rabbi," James called out, though Cohen was still clearly entertained and Billy was beaming as the two of them continued to the bridge. "Chag urim sameach."

"Good! Keep teaching him, Billy," Rabbi Cohen shouted as Billy broke into a laugh and put his arm around James' back.

"I like him," Billy laughed.

"Of course you do," James said with a chuckle.

Their discussion fell short when the Brooklyn Bridge came into view - and Billy let out a delighted sound on getting a fresh view of the city. It was exactly what he'd wanted to do before the school break and he was riding a high from the little encounter with the rabbi. It was moments like this that made it indescribably hard to keep telling his grandfather anything about the Summers family - and he hoped that Erik hadn't noticed how little he was saying about them in particular, though he doubted that Erik would let it slide once they were in person.

But that wasn't supposed to be the case until the following day - and he had a date with his sweetheart who had just introduced him to his rabbi. Things were looking up as far as Billy was concerned.