Chapter 40 - Dirty Little Secret Comes Out

Usually, when James came by to visit the school and gave Billy advanced text notice, that meant Billy was waiting to see him with a huge grin on. This time, though, he was on the couch in the living room with his headphones in distractedly grinning over whatever he was listening to.

James didn't interrupt him more than to just slide onto the other end of the couch, and put his arm up on the back of the couch, then waited for him to finish whatever it was he was up to. He didn't want to interrupt when Billy was concentrating on something that hard.

Suddenly, Billy seemed to notice he wasn't alone. "Oh, hey!"

"Wow. Knew it was a matter of time, but still."

"Sorry. There's this new podcast…" Billy pulled one of the earbuds out and let it dangle around his neck. "PodXcast… It's kind of amazing. Total fangirling of the team. Way better press than the news gives us."

"That really doesn't take much," James pointed out as he slid closer.

"Okay, that's true," Billy admitted. "But seriously, you should listen. She's making a lot of our points for us without getting fed any lines…"

"You sure you didn't just wish her into being?"

"That's what Tommy said…" Billy admitted, blushing. "I didn't though."

James was grinning at him for that. "Subliminal wish?"

"Hey, if I was going to wish someone into being, it would be a big, strong, sassy - oh hey! Look! You're here!" Billy teased and then stole a kiss. "Yay!"

"Alright, that makes up for missing that I was here," James laughed.

"I swear, I just was wrapped up in this podcast," Billy laughed.

"Mmhmm, I'm forgettable. I know." He took a second to give Billy a chance to respond, but when he didn't do more than just stare back, he took the second earbud. "Alright. Hit me. Whatcha got?"

Billy grinned and resumed the podcast, which was talking about the latest X-Men mission - this one going to help some kids that had been busted as mutants accidentally using their powers when they got scared during a Hydra raid. It had actually been pretty seamless… the kids were all Avengers anyway, so they'd seen the trouble brewing and switched gears to help once Hydra was taken care of.

The girl running the podcast - who just gave her name as Alyssa - was gushing about the whole thing, obviously thrilled. "This is exactly what the X-Men used to be! I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the Avengers as much as the next girl who loves eye candy, but it's nice to know there's someone out there who can save a couple college kids from losers…"

She went on for a while after that, covering a lot of the same arguments the kids had made to their concerned parents - and the whole time, Billy was grinning at James, watching his expression.

"Well?" he asked. "Pretty awesome, right? And she's not even a mutant!"

"She's definitely enthusiastic," James said, nodding. "I really didn't expect there to be someone this … well. We haven't been doing this for too long, you know?"

"Yeah, but I think that just speaks to how badly everyone missed the X-Men, you know?" Billy said.

"Definitely," James agreed. "How long has this 'cast been going on?"

"A couple weeks after our first mission," Billy said. "I think she didn't want to jump on board until she knew we were serious and not just… some publicity stunt, y'know? A lot of people thought we were working with my grandfather… still do, actually…"

"That'll change," James said.

"He's already threatened to drag me and Tommy back to Genosha by our ears," Billy said with a smirk.

"We'd be forced to stage a rescue," James replied with a crooked grin.

"Well, actually…" Billy leaned forward a bit. "We're headed back for Spring Break to see Mom anyway, so we sort of placated him, and promised him we'd listen to what he had to say. Mostly so he'd stop threatening to wrap us in metal and shuttle us home if we don't behave?"

"Nothing says a loving gesture like a metal cocoon."

Billy shrugged. "He's… grumpier the older he gets," he said mildly.

"Stop. You're scaring me." James was smiling mildly as he joked around.

"Thinking of the future?" Billy teased, grinning wider. "Worried I'll be a grumpy old man?"

"Yep, and then what would we do?"

Billy grinned and then kissed James. "That, probably."

"Does that help with the grump?" James raised an eyebrow. "Or would it help if I pointed out that at some point, I really won't age anymore?"

Billy grinned. "You mean I get eye candy for the rest of forever? I like this idea."

James laughed and pulled him a little closer. "Dad said Logan was pushing 150 when he died and didn't have a single gray hair."

"Nice. I'll probably go silver like my grandfather," Billy said.

"Well that's not horrible. I mean … look at Tommy. He's already white, right? So he'll probably be bald by that time."

Billy snorted, then leaned back to rest against James' shoulder. "You could come if you wanted," he said. "See the island, I mean."

"Do you want me to?" James asked, smirking crookedly.

"If I say it's because I want you to meet my parents, would you totally bust me for falling too hard too fast? Because I just… it matters to me if you get along with my dad and my mom."

"You get along with mine," he said. "It's only fair, right?"

"Ooh, you know what? We should probably bring him so he doesn't get, like, separation anxiety. And I know Kitty and Bobby would love to see him again."

"I'd have to ask anyhow," James said. "He was doing a good job of controlling his panic attacks when I go with Tony to the other side of the country. Different continent would probably still trigger an arrhythmia. Besides, he could use a break, let's be honest. Besides, if we're in Genosha, we're not running missions, right? If you mean it, I'll ask him tonight."

"Yeah, I mean it," Billy said. "I've never gotten to take a guy home before. Kinda exciting."

James smiled a little wider. "Alright then. We'll see if Dad's game. So … until then, what are we doing?"

Billy grinned crookedly. "We're writing the future where you're ageless and I'm the only twin with hair and you take care of me 'til the day I die and kiss the sense out of me every night …"

"Just every night?"

"Of course not. Mornings, noon, and whenever I say, too."

"Oh, obviously. So … practice for that then?"

Billy grinned and then stole a long kiss. "Yes. That."

"What's that for?" James asked as Katie slid a latte to him while pulling up a chair in his lab. He'd been locked in the tower with Tony for days working on the military project and entirely concentrated on whatever it was the new 3D printer was churning out - not that he'd told anyone what it was yet.

"Just trying to be nice, that's all," she replied with a smile. "That's all."

James raised an eyebrow but haltingly took the coffee. "I'm not saying I believe you … but thanks." He took a sip of the coffee then settled in as Kate got comfy, peeking over at what he was working on.

"Is that for the team?" she asked when she saw the tiny, sharp edges. When James looked up at her, she batted her eyelashes and grinned, knowing it would at least get a smirk out of him. He was practically her brother, as it was - the fact that she was dating Nate hadn't changed that much.

"Absolutely not," James said, then pulled a small tray over to let her take a look. "Just for you. But you knew that or you wouldn't have brought me coffee, right?"

"I … might have heard from Jan that you were working up something new." She grinned as she pulled the box closer. "What are they?"

"Low dose sedative," James answered. "You had all kinds of deterrents, I figured it was time you got something that would sedate a threat harmlessly."

"So I can totally save Nate's butt when he gets in trouble," Kate decided as she picked up the container and grinned at the fact that it wasn't just a handful of them like Tony usually made for her Dad - this was enough to last her for months. "Awww, you do love me."

"I'm pretty sure I have to at this point," James said as he went back to his work. He'd just reached for a screwdriver when it and every other metallic component in the lab suddenly started to float. At first, James frowned, then looked to Kate, who looked just as confused as he was an instant before they were hit by a tremendous wind as the metal holding the glass in place on the outer walls peeled back to admit Magneto, who looked thunderous.

"Can I help you?" James said as dryly as he could manage about half a second before he found himself wrapped up tightly in wires and whatever bits of metal Magneto had pulled out of the walls around them. It was tight enough to keep him from fighting back, but not quite tight enough to dig in deeply.

And before Magneto could say anything, a ball of plastic wire covering hit him in the back of the helmet. "What, do they not teach you how to say a polite hello on Genosha? What is your problem?"

"This doesn't concern you, young lady," Erik said shortly.

"Um, you wrapped up my second favorite Summers. I'm concerned."

"Kate, just go," James said from between his teeth. "He's not going to do anything stupid like piss off his grandson by being more of a jackass and actually hurting me." He glared at Erik with every bit of venom that they'd gotten acoss on their first meeting at Xaviers. "He knows that would blow up in his face. He's just like this."

"Yeah, well, I'm protective of you, so… there," Kate said with a shrug. "Hi, Magneto, by the way. What's got your cape twisted?"

"That is a private matter," Erik said. "And it doesn't concern little Avengers and would-be X-Men."

Kate gestured toward James with one hand. "Um, you attacked someone on both teams in the presence of an Avenger in Avengers' tower, so I'm just gonna have to disagree with that assessment. Assault by magnetic burrito is still assault."

"He's just mad I'm with Billy," James said. "It's not about the teams."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Seriously? Your grandkid finds a beefcake and you're pissed about it?"

James stared at her in disbelief, and Erik seemed to be doing the same, though before James could find the words to respond, Erik got there first. "That has no bearing on matters."

"It's not that he found someone, it's that it's me," James said. "I'm not the right kind of mutant."

Once again, Kate rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh. Not bad enough there's the human-mutant divide, now we gotta do subdivisions?" She gestured to James. "What's wrong with him anyway? He's a total cutie and a genius and he's got all the Summers manners drilled into his head. Come on."

"Why are you here?" Erik asked with a sneer, though when the banging on the door got louder, he flicked his wrist to send an entire bench across the room to barricade the door better. "And more importantly, why haven't you even tried to defend your friend if that's how you feel?"

"Well, one, I like Billy and I think he'd be mad if I used his grandfather's cape as a hangman's noose? And two, I'm here because James and I are friends. And three, I didn't bring any wooden stake arrows. So… we can be civilized, right?"

For a moment, Erik simply blinked at her before he started to walk toward her. "What is it that you do again, Miss Barton?"

"Cheerlead?" Kate offered with a winning smile.

For an instant, he looked almost amused. "Ah. Now it makes sense. The Avengers will only allow you to parade around as so called 'X-Men' if you keep a token human in your ranks."

"If that were the case, it'd be exactly what the professor would have wanted," James shot back.

"Peaceful coexistence," Kate agreed, nodding fervently. "Isn't that the point?"

"Not anymore" Erik said, turning her way with a snarl. "I think there's been more than enough human interference with mutantkind. And I've had enough of your influence as well."

"Can't take the truth," Kate muttered to James. "Good thing Billy got the sense his grandfather missed out on. Must be his dad's influence."

"I think, Miss Barton, that you'd find you'll live longer if you mind your own business," Erik said. "And as for you." He turned toward James looking just as livid as ever while tightening the metal slightly - but enough that Kate could see it moving. "Do not dismiss my offer to protect your little group. Unless of course, you're simply biding your time before you find yourself discovering your real usefulness inside of a lab isn't going to be conducting the experiments. The company you keep will determine who it is holding the leash - and who you drag down with you."

James glared back at him, but surprisingly didn't have anything to respond with before Erik simply dropped him and found his own way out, demagnetizing the barricade that had been shoved against the door, though the windows were going to need professional repair. Which meant that James needed help to get out of his wrapped up state and his lab was wrecked for the time being.

"Kate," James said after a moment. "Are you okay?"

Kate sniffed slightly and tipped her chin up. "Of course I'm okay," she said. "You're the one in a metal cocoon."

"Just … find something to cut through this crap, please."

"Good thing I hang out in your lab," Kate muttered, looking through James' tools until she found a precision laser and a wire cutter. "Okay, tell me if I get too close…"

James turned his head away from Kate and the cutter, only cringing a few times when he got burned from the laser or the wire cutters pinched more than just wire. He was quiet and clearly angry as she worked, though it wasn't until she was done that he spoke again. "Not a word."

"About which part? The metal bodysuit or the fact that Magneto now knows you're a beefcake?" Kate asked with just a bit of her usual teasing - though she wasn't quite on her game and James could see it.

James barely smirked as he shook his head. "He's just mad. We're both fine, and my Dad does not need to worry himself over this." He gave her a significant look. "I'm sure Billy already knows that he was coming to talk, so just … let it go."

"Yeah, well, I at least have to tell my parents I got busted as a human," Kate said, wincing slightly. "Nate made me swear to tell the Avengers when that happened. He's kinda cute when he's protective."

James gestured around them. "Fifty bucks says the redecorator already knows anyhow, but yeah. You need to tell them that much. For your own safety. Just … ah … leave me out of it."

"Still gonna look out for you - you know that, right?" Kate said. "You're pretty much family."

"I'll be fine, Katie." James' tone was clearly down as he turned and simply started cleaning up a little bit before the sounds of pounding grew louder with shouts accenting the hits. He looked at Kate for a moment, then started pushing the bench out of the way to admit half of the Avengers. "Katie strained her sass-box," James said, then went back to salvage mode while the adults began to take in the damage.

"I couldn't help it," Kate said, then waved at her mom with the tips of her fingers. "Hey, Mom. Promise I'm okay. James backed me up, right, James?"

"Yep," was the sort response, and it was clear he was closing down and getting madder the more he thought about it. "Great rebound, Hawkeye."

"What did he want?" Steve asked, surveying the damage with his eyes narrowed - the Avengers didn't have to ask to find out who was responsible.

"To be sassed," Kate said. "Oh, and to meet Billy's boyfriend."

"It's fine," James said, though he wasn't looking at any of them and he didn't realize how irked he really looked with the determined glare he was wearing .

"I know that look," Natasha started to say, but Kate cut in. (After all, she wanted to back James up, and she knew he really was worried about his dad getting too stressed about it.)

"James is… kinda pissed off on my behalf," Kate put in, blushing red. "I got… busted. As a human. Because I couldn't help James except to sass." She glanced up at the other Avengers. "Oh, and he thinks that means the Avengers won't let the X-Men exist as a team without human supervision, so that's fun."

Tony swore outright and started to pace - at least until James pushed a few tablets into his hands. "He didn't take anything with him. It's fine."

"He really was mostly just here to make threats because James is so obviously a bad influence on Billy and I'm such an evil human," Kate said, rolling her eyes. "I sassed him away."

"What kind of threats were made?" Natasha asked with a frown.

"Nothing," James said.

"Be a good human and don't interfere," Kate said at the same time - because her version of mad meant she was going to complain about it.

Natasha arched one eyebrow high. "Is that all?"

"Jackass spilled my coffee," James said under his breath, blatantly avoiding answering her as he picked up the now-empty cup then walked over to grab his coat. He turned toward Tony, not even looking at Natasha. "Am I going to work with you tomorrow, or do you want me to just stay home until this gets fixed?"

"I'd say dealers choice, but I kinda think you might need a day if you're not even going to answer questions," Tony said, looking far more stressed out than he had in a long time.

"Fine," James said, his lip almost curling as he spoke. "Let me know when I can come back." He started toward the door, only pausing to kiss Kate's cheek. "Glad you're alright. Thanks again for the coffee."

Of course, Kate wasn't doing a very good job hiding the fact that James had been threatened, no matter how hard she was trying to hold the line. Obviously, her mom was suspicious. But she had been worried enough about James that she hadn't pressed Kate in front of all the other Avengers.

Her dad, on the other hand, was a whole other thing.

Kate was on the roof of the Bartons' building pegging empty soda bottles with dimes - something her dad had taught her to do not long after she was adopted - when Clint sat down with her.

"You know you can't protect him from Magneto on your own, right?" Clint said.

Kate glanced up at him quickly and then went right back to what she was doing. "It's fine, Dad."

"It's not, Katie," Clint said in the exact same tone and meter she had been using. "What did he say to get you to clam up?"

"Dad…"

"Katie," Clint said, copying her whiny tone.

Kate rolled her eyes. "You know I hate it when you do that."

"Well then don't blow me off and I won't have to do it."

Kate huffed out an annoyed breath, but again, Clint stood his ground. So, she hunched her shoulders and rested her chin on her knees. "He just doesn't want his dad to have a stroke worrying about him, okay?"

"That's a valid concern," Clint agreed, scooting closer. "But maybe it would be better for him to know the truth instead of twisting himself up worrying the what-ifs." When Kate raised an eyebrow his way, he shrugged. "I speak 'worried father'."

Kate shook her head and rested her head on his shoulder. "It really wasn't a big deal. It was the supervillain version of Luke going after Scott when James and Dani were a thing. Except with more drama and 'don't mess with my warped vision for the world if you want to live' in there. With swishy capes."

"So was it Luke-level or Red Skull-level? I think I've lost track somewhere," Clint teased.

Kate laughed. "Honestly, it's hard to tell with him. He definitely threatened me and more or less told James not to associate with riff-raff if he didn't want to end up with the riff-raff being thrown out or whatever. So sort of a tangential threat? I didn't hear all of it. But he also wrapped James up in metal as an introduction before he said anything at all, so he's pissy about James and Billy and will almost definitely try to break my second favorite Summers if Billy gives even the slightest indication he's not interested or, heaven forbid, they don't work."

"Kate, that's not nothing from Magneto."

"I know," she said. "But … James isn't wrong either. He's not going to stop dating Billy, and besides, we're already pissing Magneto off wearing the X's, so this isn't new information, right?"

"It is, but the attempt to play it down was valiant."

Kate smiled and snuggled into Clint a little more. "So, can we not talk about supervillains for a minute? I already got interrogated by Uncle Tony and Uncle Steve."

"Oooh. Double-teamed?"

"With Mom playing referee."

"You need ice cream, then."

"Yes. Yes, I do."

Clint had only waited long enough for Kate to get distracted texting with Nate before he told Scott the whole story - and then Scott had waited until James was gone the next morning to get himself breakfast before he even started to dissect everything he'd learned.

He wasn't just thinking about the incident with James, either. He still hadn't forgotten Kitty's warnings or the fact that Magneto was showing his face far more often outside of Genosha - and drawing down exactly the anti-mutant sentiment that the X-Men and Avengers had managed to keep at bay with their avoidance tactics.

It was starting to feel distressingly familiar, right down to Magneto threatening the feral on the team for being inferior.

Kitty's call was almost enough to get him thinking about dealing with Magneto himself, but knowing his son was in danger too, not to mention his younger son's girlfriend - well, he didn't like the way this was going. He might not have been leading the X-Men anymore, but he hadn't lost the ability to plan ahead and strategize. And mitigating the damage Magneto could do was crucial now - before he got too much traction.

He just didn't like his options with the X-Men disbanded and the Avengers even bigger targets because they had failed to stop the first X-Men from being killed off. He knew Magneto still harbored a grudge. A big one. If they stepped in, he'd kill them. He'd barely held back on Genosha the first time because Tony had been helping Scott at the time.

He sighed and shook himself out of his thoughts when he heard the familiar knock at his front door that meant Toby was there. He hadn't had time to process all this information and form a plan yet, so he put it out of his mind for the time being.

"Why the long face?" Tony asked when Scott opened the door and invited him in wordlessly.

"James is getting a hard time for dating Billy," Scott told him honestly.

"He had to know that was going to happen sooner or later from someone," Toby reasoned. "Who was it being a pain?"

"Billy's family, actually," Scott said. "He's dealing with it. I'm waiting to see how he deals with it before I decide if I need to step in." He gave Toby a tired smile. "He's almost an adult. I'm trying to remember that."

"Well," Toby said slowly. "How bad can it be? The two of them seemed good together when I saw them last. Billy seems like he's stable, so he probably had a good home life … it'll blow over, I'm sure. Your boy isn't the type to start much trouble, that I've seen."

"We'll see," Scott said. He paused. "Do you know who Billy's grandfather is?"

"Does it matter?" Toby asked.

"It's Magneto."

Toby paused, staring at Scott for a long moment. "Well that explains why he's suddenly showing up again."

"Yeah." Scott let out a long sigh. "We'll see how this goes. Billy's parents were Avengers. He seems to take after them. But I'm keeping an eye out."

"You're still not sure about the boy then?" Toby asked.

"I'm as sure as I can be when Betsy tells me he and his grandfather are in regular contact."

Toby went back to stirring his coffee, though it was clearly a habit and not out of necessity at all. "What exactly would Billy and his crazy grandfather have to gain by messing with your boy?"

"So far, the worst trouble has been that James is close with the Avengers."

"How is that a problem?" Toby asked.

"To be honest, Magneto never forgave them for not stepping in to help mutants in a more substantial way before the professor and everyone else was killed."

"So … what? Association would mean the kid is guilty of turning on mutants, or ... "

"Toby, all of this is new intel for me too. When I was an X-Man, there were times we could work with Magneto and he was a dependable ally. Other times, he was an egomaniacal villain trying to take the world down with him. I still don't know which way he's leaning. I'll let you know when I do."

Toby nodded at that. "And you know, if your boy needs to talk to someone …" He shrugged. "He's welcome to sit and have coffee anytime. I know he won't talk."

"Thanks, Toby."