30 Quills: When The World Is Against You (#17~ In my eyes you do no wrong . . .)
A/N: Because Kaciart’s work never fails to inspire me . . .
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When The World Is Against You
30 Quills challenge: #17~ In my eyes you do no wrong . . .
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It seemed to Billy, that the world was against him. That everything was scheming to make his life impossible, and to mortify him to the Nth degree, because really, how else was he supposed to explain his current circumstances?
Teddy’s jaw was bruised. Why? Because Billy had tried to levitate a park bench. For a few minutes, everything seemed to be going great, but then the thing took on a life of its own. It wheeled out of his control and decided to fly off-- into Teddy’s face. He apologized profusely, flailing and panicking, but Teddy had simply given him a smile, a little tight with pain, but assuring him he would be okay in a little while. At least it did look a lot less purple than the last time he had glanced at it. Thank God for healing factors.
Eli, however, would not stop glowering at him every chance he got. Why? Because after the levitation failure, Billy thought he would try something a little more contained, like igniting a fire inside a one of the garbage cans. Only, said can decided to explode, and the hot embers of its ignited contents rocketed onto Eli’s leather jacket, the one his grandmother sacrificed a whole lot of savings to obtain last Christmas. Now the thing smelled like a dead cow, and had several burn holes in it. Billy had offered to try and fix it, but the intensity of Eli’s glare had made him quickly find something else to do-- as far from Eli and his murderous intent as possible.
Nathaniel, on the other hand, was cursing quietly under his breath. Why? Because Billy had attempted to conjure up his lightening. He was so keyed up and anxious about the day’s previous mishaps that he decided maybe charging up slowly would be the best way to prevent another disaster. Except all that ended up doing was creating a static charge, and Nate-- trussed up in his Iron Lad suit-- became an instant magnet. Every trinket of metal or plastic origin, bottle caps, soda cans, candy wrappers, plastic bags-- you name it-- were sticking to his suit to make him look like a some eclectic ultra modern scrap heap sculpture. Billy had offered to help him pull the junk off, but Nate had kindly suggested with a strained smile that he just keep practicing, perhaps a little farther away from the others-- maybe a lot farther away from the others.
Dejected and more than a little mortified, Billy had slinked off until he was sure no one would be in range of his crazy back-firing powers. He tried to quiet to his mind, ignore the burn of his previous failures, to simply picture the lightening he was wanting to create. Taking a deep breathe, Billy thought of dark clouds and the rumble of thunder, the way they would light up from within with electrical charges. He tried to imagine those charges shooting to the ground, lighting up the landscape. Billy was so focused on his imagined storm, that he didn’t notice the real one that suddenly enveloped the sky in a rush of dark angry clouds, rumbling deep and threatening.
His hands crackled with blue energy, and he opened glowing eyes in triumph only to flail back when a real and massive bolt of lightening cut the ground not two feet in front of him, attracted by the charge he had been creating. He fell back on his rump with a loud oomph, and that was precisely when the sky decided to tear open, pouring buckets of torrential rain upon the unsuspecting cityscape. His partners in anti-crime all cursed colorfully, ducking for cover, but the rain was so bad it had them soaked within the first few seconds.
“Guys, let’s just call it a day,” Nate shouted over the downpour, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice, but Billy could hear it anyway, “Same time tomorrow, okay?”
“Fine, later then,” Eli nodded to them sharply, still scowling under his ruined leather jacket and jogged off to catch the bus back home without another word.
Nate, protected from the damp by his armor, rubbed his head with a sigh as he floated up towards the mansion. He paused a moment to help Billy up and opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, then seemed to change his mind, patting his shoulder instead, “See you tomorrow, Billy.”
Billy just nodded, because he didn’t trust his voice, eyes firmly glued to the ground and arms wrapped around his skinny frame. The rain was cold, and he hadn’t brought a jacket, and he was just going to stand and wallow in his misery for a minute, because he fucking felt like it. Yep, the world was totally against him.
Something stopped the worst of the rain from pelting down on him, and the warm body suddenly standing very close to him made his eyes widen. He glanced up from long legs, up a powerful torso and froze at broad wide-set shoulders when a strong chin brushed against his forehead as Teddy-- fuck, shit, Teddy-- leaned over him. His breath ghosted over Billy’s damp hair, making him shiver and he thought about stepping back because fuck if sometimes Teddy didn’t seem to have a concept of personal space and--
“Well, this is refreshing,” Teddy joked quietly, pushing the newspaper he was using to marginally shelter them a little further over Billy’s frame, leaving his own back unprotected.
“Yea,” he agreed with a derisive snort, arms tightening around his stiff body against the cold, “If you like acid rain.”
“Psh,” Teddy leaned down to catch Billy’s eye with an unabashed grin, “who needs pH balance anway?”
And just like that, Billy relaxed, because somehow Teddy always managed to make him feel like it was okay to let down his defenses. He rolled his eyes with a fond huff, “You’re such a weirdo sometimes . . .”
“Takes one to know one,” Teddy smirked as Billy glared up at him, before his expression shifted into something more earnest, “Listen, no one’s expecting you to suddenly become Thor overnight. That’s why we’re all here practicing, alright.”
Billy looked away dejected, “If you could call it that . . .”
“Hey, I can’t begin to tell you how much crap I broke and then had to lie about when my super strength started developing. I’ve had a lot of time to practice. So has Nate and Eli too. You just discovered your powers what? Four months ago?”
“Um . . . two.”
“See! You can’t expect to be a wiz at ‘em immediately.”
Billy pinned him with a sour look.
“Sorry, unintentional pun, I swear,” Teddy shrugged with an apologetic smile.
Billy found it hard not to believe him, so he looked away, stubbornly trying to return to his wallowing, because that’s all he felt like doing and Teddy was trying to push him into a warm and fuzzy place that was entirely too comforting and just a little bit scary for reasons he’d rather not think about-- Where was he? Oh yea, wallowing.
“Hey,” Teddy prodded him with his chin, forcing Billy to look up, “I think, I might know something that could help you. Mom’s got these books and well . . . Why don’t you come over for a little while? We could take a look at them, and maybe try some stuff out together, hm?”
Billy gave him a shrug accompanied by a noncommittal hum, his gaze shifting sideways.
“My mom makes a mean hot cocoa,” Teddy drawled, brows raised for emphasis.
He pursed his lips at the childish bribe, because Billy Kaplan was a stubborn bastard, and dammit if he wanted to wallow, Teddy should just let him wa--
“With whip cream, and marshmallows . . . and shots of espresso.”
He snapped his eyes forward so quick their noses nearly collided, “Why didn’t you say so? Let’s get out of this godforsaken rain!”
Teddy smiled at him in that funny way he sometimes did, the way that made Billy’s stomach flutter, and moved behind him a little so he could grab onto edge of the paper as they headed for the station. Billy smiled back, but shooed the silly butterflies away because dammit he was not ruining this too.
They skid down the stairs of the subway entrance just as the train’s doors were starting to close. Teddy grabbed his hand, not really giving Billy time to object, as he hurdled them towards the train to catch one of the doors before it finished closing. The car was crowded at this hour, and although he nudged a space open for them, Billy still ended up mostly squished between the doors and Teddy’s broad chest. When Teddy’s arm found its way across his shoulders to steady him as the train started moving, Billy felt heat suffuse his face, his breath catching in a way he hoped would go unnoticed.
“You okay?” Teddy asked innocently.
Of course he would notice, Billy thought, because the world was against him today. Teddy was giving him that stupid funny smile of his again, and he wished he could torch those damned butterflies.
“Yea, it’s just-- kinda stuffy in here,” he grumbled out, eyes anywhere but Teddy.
That was his excuse and dammit, he was going to stick to it.
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Fin
~30 Quills Index~
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When The World Is Against You
30 Quills challenge: #17~ In my eyes you do no wrong . . .
~+~
It seemed to Billy, that the world was against him. That everything was scheming to make his life impossible, and to mortify him to the Nth degree, because really, how else was he supposed to explain his current circumstances?
Teddy’s jaw was bruised. Why? Because Billy had tried to levitate a park bench. For a few minutes, everything seemed to be going great, but then the thing took on a life of its own. It wheeled out of his control and decided to fly off-- into Teddy’s face. He apologized profusely, flailing and panicking, but Teddy had simply given him a smile, a little tight with pain, but assuring him he would be okay in a little while. At least it did look a lot less purple than the last time he had glanced at it. Thank God for healing factors.
Eli, however, would not stop glowering at him every chance he got. Why? Because after the levitation failure, Billy thought he would try something a little more contained, like igniting a fire inside a one of the garbage cans. Only, said can decided to explode, and the hot embers of its ignited contents rocketed onto Eli’s leather jacket, the one his grandmother sacrificed a whole lot of savings to obtain last Christmas. Now the thing smelled like a dead cow, and had several burn holes in it. Billy had offered to try and fix it, but the intensity of Eli’s glare had made him quickly find something else to do-- as far from Eli and his murderous intent as possible.
Nathaniel, on the other hand, was cursing quietly under his breath. Why? Because Billy had attempted to conjure up his lightening. He was so keyed up and anxious about the day’s previous mishaps that he decided maybe charging up slowly would be the best way to prevent another disaster. Except all that ended up doing was creating a static charge, and Nate-- trussed up in his Iron Lad suit-- became an instant magnet. Every trinket of metal or plastic origin, bottle caps, soda cans, candy wrappers, plastic bags-- you name it-- were sticking to his suit to make him look like a some eclectic ultra modern scrap heap sculpture. Billy had offered to help him pull the junk off, but Nate had kindly suggested with a strained smile that he just keep practicing, perhaps a little farther away from the others-- maybe a lot farther away from the others.
Dejected and more than a little mortified, Billy had slinked off until he was sure no one would be in range of his crazy back-firing powers. He tried to quiet to his mind, ignore the burn of his previous failures, to simply picture the lightening he was wanting to create. Taking a deep breathe, Billy thought of dark clouds and the rumble of thunder, the way they would light up from within with electrical charges. He tried to imagine those charges shooting to the ground, lighting up the landscape. Billy was so focused on his imagined storm, that he didn’t notice the real one that suddenly enveloped the sky in a rush of dark angry clouds, rumbling deep and threatening.
His hands crackled with blue energy, and he opened glowing eyes in triumph only to flail back when a real and massive bolt of lightening cut the ground not two feet in front of him, attracted by the charge he had been creating. He fell back on his rump with a loud oomph, and that was precisely when the sky decided to tear open, pouring buckets of torrential rain upon the unsuspecting cityscape. His partners in anti-crime all cursed colorfully, ducking for cover, but the rain was so bad it had them soaked within the first few seconds.
“Guys, let’s just call it a day,” Nate shouted over the downpour, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice, but Billy could hear it anyway, “Same time tomorrow, okay?”
“Fine, later then,” Eli nodded to them sharply, still scowling under his ruined leather jacket and jogged off to catch the bus back home without another word.
Nate, protected from the damp by his armor, rubbed his head with a sigh as he floated up towards the mansion. He paused a moment to help Billy up and opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, then seemed to change his mind, patting his shoulder instead, “See you tomorrow, Billy.”
Billy just nodded, because he didn’t trust his voice, eyes firmly glued to the ground and arms wrapped around his skinny frame. The rain was cold, and he hadn’t brought a jacket, and he was just going to stand and wallow in his misery for a minute, because he fucking felt like it. Yep, the world was totally against him.
Something stopped the worst of the rain from pelting down on him, and the warm body suddenly standing very close to him made his eyes widen. He glanced up from long legs, up a powerful torso and froze at broad wide-set shoulders when a strong chin brushed against his forehead as Teddy-- fuck, shit, Teddy-- leaned over him. His breath ghosted over Billy’s damp hair, making him shiver and he thought about stepping back because fuck if sometimes Teddy didn’t seem to have a concept of personal space and--
“Well, this is refreshing,” Teddy joked quietly, pushing the newspaper he was using to marginally shelter them a little further over Billy’s frame, leaving his own back unprotected.
“Yea,” he agreed with a derisive snort, arms tightening around his stiff body against the cold, “If you like acid rain.”
“Psh,” Teddy leaned down to catch Billy’s eye with an unabashed grin, “who needs pH balance anway?”
And just like that, Billy relaxed, because somehow Teddy always managed to make him feel like it was okay to let down his defenses. He rolled his eyes with a fond huff, “You’re such a weirdo sometimes . . .”
“Takes one to know one,” Teddy smirked as Billy glared up at him, before his expression shifted into something more earnest, “Listen, no one’s expecting you to suddenly become Thor overnight. That’s why we’re all here practicing, alright.”
Billy looked away dejected, “If you could call it that . . .”
“Hey, I can’t begin to tell you how much crap I broke and then had to lie about when my super strength started developing. I’ve had a lot of time to practice. So has Nate and Eli too. You just discovered your powers what? Four months ago?”
“Um . . . two.”
“See! You can’t expect to be a wiz at ‘em immediately.”
Billy pinned him with a sour look.
“Sorry, unintentional pun, I swear,” Teddy shrugged with an apologetic smile.
Billy found it hard not to believe him, so he looked away, stubbornly trying to return to his wallowing, because that’s all he felt like doing and Teddy was trying to push him into a warm and fuzzy place that was entirely too comforting and just a little bit scary for reasons he’d rather not think about-- Where was he? Oh yea, wallowing.
“Hey,” Teddy prodded him with his chin, forcing Billy to look up, “I think, I might know something that could help you. Mom’s got these books and well . . . Why don’t you come over for a little while? We could take a look at them, and maybe try some stuff out together, hm?”
Billy gave him a shrug accompanied by a noncommittal hum, his gaze shifting sideways.
“My mom makes a mean hot cocoa,” Teddy drawled, brows raised for emphasis.
He pursed his lips at the childish bribe, because Billy Kaplan was a stubborn bastard, and dammit if he wanted to wallow, Teddy should just let him wa--
“With whip cream, and marshmallows . . . and shots of espresso.”
He snapped his eyes forward so quick their noses nearly collided, “Why didn’t you say so? Let’s get out of this godforsaken rain!”
Teddy smiled at him in that funny way he sometimes did, the way that made Billy’s stomach flutter, and moved behind him a little so he could grab onto edge of the paper as they headed for the station. Billy smiled back, but shooed the silly butterflies away because dammit he was not ruining this too.
They skid down the stairs of the subway entrance just as the train’s doors were starting to close. Teddy grabbed his hand, not really giving Billy time to object, as he hurdled them towards the train to catch one of the doors before it finished closing. The car was crowded at this hour, and although he nudged a space open for them, Billy still ended up mostly squished between the doors and Teddy’s broad chest. When Teddy’s arm found its way across his shoulders to steady him as the train started moving, Billy felt heat suffuse his face, his breath catching in a way he hoped would go unnoticed.
“You okay?” Teddy asked innocently.
Of course he would notice, Billy thought, because the world was against him today. Teddy was giving him that stupid funny smile of his again, and he wished he could torch those damned butterflies.
“Yea, it’s just-- kinda stuffy in here,” he grumbled out, eyes anywhere but Teddy.
That was his excuse and dammit, he was going to stick to it.
~+~
Fin
~30 Quills Index~