|
  |
Saturday night at the theater. While the movie starts at midnight, it's a little before ten in the evening and Teddy's waiting outside for Billy, leaning back against the wall by the doors in. He's wearing a letterman jacket with a scarf draped loosely around his neck but he doesn't seem to be minding the cold.
*
Billy doesn't really have a car of his own, but his family does have two— so he gets to borrow his mom's old station wagon, which is in absolutely no way how oue shows up looking *cool*. In fact, its the antithesis of cool. And while he can just teleport if he wants to, that doesn't really do much good if he has reason to go somewhere with someone. Not that he thinks he'll need to, but scouts are always ready for anything. And in this situation, that means parking two blocks away and walking. Since its freaking cold, Billy is bundled up in a turtle neck and a jacket and a scarf. As the dark haired twin walks down the street, he notices the jock in the jacket and arches a brow even as he can't help but grin. Of *course* that guy has a letterman jacket. Cautiously, he looks around as he nears, as if expecting something horrible to happen at the last minute.
*
Teddy looks up and down the street, checking his watch as the hour approaches but it's still early so he's not particularly impatient. Then catching sight of Billy, he pushes away from the wall, smiles and raises a hand to attract his attention. "Hey." he says as he walks over to meet him. "Find the place all right? There's a diner just down the street a bit if you want to go there and get something to eat."
*
"As a general rule, someone with a letterman jacket is bad news for me." offers Billy as he comes up beside Teddy, looking the blond in a sidelong way, determining just how broad his shoulders are and concluding: yep, this has to be a setup. "Seeing a letterman jacket usually means someone is going to try to punch me. Or at the very least shove me into a locker." He has some bad history with jocks at his school, to say the least. "Then again most jocks at my old school don't know anything about sci-fi, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." A quick, albeit small, dimpled grin is offered. "Food would be good, though." he agrees with a quick nod.
*
"Punching isn't high on my list of things to do to you." Teddy assures Billy then pauses a second. That didn't come out quite right. Move on. Quickly. "And I've never shoved anyone into a locker." He gestures down the street and heads in that direction. "I'm good at sports, is all. Just not good enough to get a scholarship at it." Not that he tried since he doesn't like sports /that/ much.
*
Following along, Billy blinks a moment: "There's a list?" he wonders, and he starts working up one in his head: a swirly, noogies, let's see… Distracted a moment he shakes his head, "I'm awful at sports." he admits, "That doesn't mean I'm like not athletic? I like to swim. And go hiking outside the city. And… stuff." He seems a touch defensive on this. "But sports are different. I'm not quite sure why, but they are. I can't hit a baseball if my life depended upon it, and if someone throws a football at me the overwhelming urge is to duck and hide." He grins a bit bashfully at that one.
*
Teddy shrugs at the admission. "So? Not everyone is good at the same things. Besides, can't you /make/ yourself good at them if you really wanted to?" He did call himself a reality warper or something like that. So why not use it for that too? As promised, the diner is just down the street a bit and he heads inside where it's warm and not at all windy.
*
Billy trips, stumbles, and has to grab at Teddy's arm to not fall. Why did he trip? That suggestion there. He forgot he spilled so much! "Errr." Righting himself, a bit flushed, he gives a shrug, "That's what Doctor Strange says I am, but I don't know how it works. Mostly I just have these abilities. I can fly. Control electricity. Move stuff with my mind, which I think of as sorta controlling air. For awhile I thought I was maybe like Zeus' grandson or something, but lately my parentage has turned out to be — weirder then that and apparently I'm just a mutant." This last bit is said real quietly. But, diner! Once inside, he starts peeling off some layers, the jacket and scarf in particular.
*
Teddy helps steady Billy with a hand on his back. "I don't think that qualifies as a 'just'. I mean, what you can do is pretty cool no matter where it comes from." Stepping into the diner, he looks around then points to the booth all the way in the back. As he heads toward it, he unwraps the scarf and stuffs it into a pocket before taking it off and tossing it onoto the bench before sliding in.
*
Slipping in across from Teddy, the dark haired young man gives a wry shrug and a grin, "Well, the 'just' was more… like, I don't know how it works. It just does. I don't have any sort of control over whatever it is that made me able to do those things. One day I was on the roof, fell, and missed the ground. Hey, look, flight. But… I think I used to know more. Understand how things worked more, I mean." He frowns a bit, rubbing a hand through his hair to scratch at the back of his head, "I've got like partial amnesia or something similar from uh, something traumatic that happened. Have we ever met before?" He lifts up the menu and eyes it.
*
Teddy looks more closely at Billy as he thinks about the question. Then he shakes his head. "Don't think so. Not unless you went to my high school and we just didn't talk." Which is possible since they didn't run in the same circles from the sound of it. "So, what? You got hit on the head or something?"
*
"I'm probably going to have a burger and fries. And… chocolate milkshake." Billy muses, then sets the menu down, then shakes his head, "Oh, if you went to my high school you'd know me. ALL the sports types know me. In the sort of opposite anti-popular sorta way. And I know all of them, in a sorta self-defense sorta way." He cracks a grin and then hesitates at the last question, "That's… complicated. Something big happened on Halloween and something went very, very wrong." He pauses, "I mean besides that whole … hole into hell thing, that happened."
*
"That sounds good to me. Except mine'll be strawberry." Teddy looks sympathetic about Billy's high school experience and his hand twitches as if he's about to reach over and pat his arm but it stays where it is. "Yeah, that was a bad day. Not surprising lots of things happened. Maybe they'll come back on their own in time."
*
Billy hesitates, and then shakes his head, "I don't think so. The world changed. I wasn't here before then, my life wasn't here at all. Now I am. It's like.. my life — Tommy's too — got stitched into the world, added after the fact, and now we're here. I have memories of my life here, and memories of my life there, only the memories of here sorta overwrote half of my memories of there." He pauses, "That probably doesn't make any sense at all, does it?" He looks sheepish, but adds, "I wonder if they'd make a half-chocolate half-strawberry." thoughtfully.
*
"Not at all." Teddy agrees. He's never been good at sewing and how can someone be sewn into a world? That kind of thing is way over his head and outside his experience. "That doesn't sound good at all. Why not just get one of each?" Setting his own menu down, he sits back and watches Billy. "So who's this guy you've been talking about? Steve."
*
"He's… kind of my biological father." Billy is very hesitant about this, "Well, we think. He has the dimples." See? Dimples! "And Wanda— my biological mother— is pretty sure she and he are tight and staying that way. I mean, they're like…" How to explain this without sounding like a complete loon? "Tommy and I were adopted." Pause, "By separate families. The situation is a bit complicated and we actually don't know what led to it. I recently found Wanda and Stephen and we figured out they're basically our parents. Oh, and Tommy and I figured out we're brothers. We thought we were just friends."
*
"You could use each other to shave and you didn't figure out you're twins?" Teddy asks, sound both dubious and surprised. "If I ran into someone who looked exactly like me, the first thing I'd do is go talk to my mom about what she had never told me." Seeing their menus on the table, a waitreess comes over and takes their order.
*
Billy shakes his head slowly, "I'm Jewish, I know my parents— I have saw baby pictures from the hospital. I know his parents— they're not Jewish, and Frank's an ass. Our parents… I have…" He looks up to the waitress and makes his order, asking for an extra glass in addition to the milkshake, then when she departs he continues with a grin, "Besides, look at his hair. Its distracting. And he's not like me at all. I don't know. We just figured we were dopplegangers. Supposedly everyone has one. I… we… have no idea why we were given up for adoption or why our parents never told us we were adopted. And Tommy's parents aren't the kind of people who are generous and likely to adopt a kid out of kindness."
*
Teddy shrugs a shoulder. "Seems like the simpler explanation should come first. Adopted or some mythical doppelganger thing that I've never seen anything about that says it's actually real. I can see why you wouldn't want to think you were though. Did you let them know you knew?"
*
"I don't really think that's a simpler explanation— twins, given up for adoption and placed in separate families? And Frank adopting a kid? Its implausible. A coincidence of fate seems simpler to me." counters Billy with a shrug, and then he hesitates, "I didn't, because… I'm nearly positive they won't remember adopting me. As far as they know now, I am their son. That's what I meant by my life being stitched into the world. I might remember some of where I come from, but my parents don't seem to remember anything but their life here."
*
"Maybe you're from an alternate world." Teddy suggests. "Like the book by Andre Norton, The Crossroads of Time where there's a whole bunch of different Earths and they go from one to another. Maybe you switched places with the Billy that was born here and now he's in your version wondering why things feel different. Maybe you came through that Hellmouth somehow."
*
Nodding slowly, Billy can't help but grin, "Close. But its not a different world— but a different *time*. We're from the future. Wanda, our bio-mom I mentioned? She's like 24. I'm 18. But we're sure she's our bio-mom. Less certain about Stephen, but only a little less. Like I said, its all sorts of complicated and weird. Our lives— including our families— got pulled back in time and integrated into 1963. My parents… they think they've always been here. But they didn't. In the future-life, my mom is a Doctor too— a psychiatrist, to be specific. Here, she's a nurse." He nods his head slowly, "We do think the — hellmouth — had something to do with it. Now… we're stuck."
*
Teddy really looks dubious now. "Coming from the future doesn't seem likely." As opposed to coming from an alternate Earth. "Do you know what kind of problems it would cause if you traveled back in time? You could wipe yourself out of existence and then you wouldn't be able to come back in time to wipe yourself out of existence so you would and then you couldn't and paradox. The universe blows up or something. But whichever it is, I'm sorry to hear it." Assuming Billy didn't just get hit on the head or escape from an institution or something.
*
"Except I know that for a fact. I know.. things. I know one day they'll make computers so small you can hold one on your lap and carry it with you. I know the President was going to be assassinated. Unfortunately, my memories are scrambled so knowing these facts aren't *useful*. Besides, I'm pretty sure that by travelling back in time we created an alternate timeline so paradox can't really happen. So in effect it is a different world, we just… made this one by copying the existing one, and got ourselves stuck in it." Billy is such a nerd, but he's ready enough sci-fi to think this idea is valid. But he shrugs, leaning back and grinning, "But, I'm here now. And I can't think of any possible way to get back, so… but 1963 kinda blows goats. Everyone is a racist and sexist and homophobe " Not that this word likely means anything yet " not to mention hell, the Cold War and nuclear war on the horizon?"
*
"Hey, it's gotten better!" Teddy's quick to defend his home even if he has major problems with it. And it has gotten better. McCarthyism wasn't all that long ago. "What's a homophobe? I've never heard of that one." He's ready to leave the topic of timelines alone since 1) they're unprovable and 2) Billy can just outnerd him with ease.
*
Billy hesitates, and glances away, waving a hand a bit, "Uhh, oh, err." Look, food arrives! Just in the knick of time to avoid a dangerous subject. He flashes a dimpled grin to the waitress, nodding his head, "Thanks." And he promptly goes for a fry and munches on it, "And yeah, its better now then say, you know, the Civil War and slavery and all of that. And we're not in a giant world war— that's a plus, right? But still. I mean it could be worse, I'm getting used to it, but freak me I miss Doritos something fierce." Pause, "They're going to be chips. Tommy and I are still in mourning over the loss of them."
*
Chips? "We have chips." Teddy assures Billy then thanks the waitress with a smile as he picks up his burger. "Have you ever had Fritos? They're very good. Salty." He takes a big bite and chews a moment before remembering. "What's a homophobe?"
*
"There's chips and then there will be Cool Ranch Doritos. I like fritos fine, I like salty fine, but doritos are something magical. You'll see. I can't remember exactly when, but you'll see." Then damnit, Teddy remembers. Nonchalant, like it has nothing to do with him, Billy says very quietly, "Someone who is afraid of or hate uh, you know— alternate lifestyles. Like, homosexuals, that sort of thing" He waves a hand idly, cuz like, hey, this has nothing to do with Billy except that he comes from a more enlightened time or something. And he takes a big bite of hamburger so he can avoid talking more.
*
No fair! You can't just spring that kind of thing on Teddy without any warning. At the mention of the magic word - homosexuals - he swallows wrong and starts coughing violently, hacking up a piece of hamburger back onto his plate as he reaches for his napkin.
*
Err, that's sort of gross. But, Teddy seems to survive, so after a moment of concern, when the choking hazard is expelled, Billy thinks on how to address this. He decides on the simple, direct approach of ignoring the embarassing thing. So, he chews his hamburger, and grabs his shake and sucks some through a straw. Teddy did not just gag on some hamburger and spit it out after. Nope.
*
Teddy wipes his mouth then takes a drink of his shake and clears his throat. After a moment of not knowing what to say, he takes another bite from his burger, glancing away to look over the rest of the diner.
*
The awkward moment becomes poignant, time stretching from moments into seeming infinity. Billy starts running scenarios through his head: just mentioning Those People has rendered Teddy clearly so deeply offended and bothered that he can't speak! How should he go about fixing that? He pulls up a blank. "It sure is cold." he says, lamely.
*
Teddy's gaze snaps back to Billy. "Yeah, it is. Very cold." Umm. "Saw Tommy the other day. He was in the park flirting with some girl and showing off again. Someday he's going to show off to the wrong one and end up in lots of trouble."
*
"Naw." Billy shakes his head slowly, waving a hand and munching on a french fry, "He flirts with every skirt that exists, and he can run from here to Paris in like ten seconds so its not like its even possible for anyone to trouble him. Someone pulls out a gun and he'd be bored waiting for the bullet to reach him before he reached out and turned its trajectory sideways. Really, its amazing Tommy is willing to put in the time waiting for a girl to speak to successfully flirt — just shows how committed he is to the cause."
*
"Who says it would be a normal person using a gun?" Teddy asks, shrugging. "He might be fast but there might be others as fast you just don't know about. And from what you said, you could stop him. And where there's one way, there are other ways. NO one is unbeatable. Just saying."
*
Billy shrugs, shaking his head at the same time, "Uncle Pietro might be as fast— we haven't had them race yet— but there's just not that many people who can deal with someone who moves at supersonic speeds. And me?" Billy grins, "I could if I surprised him restrain him." He grins wider, and reaches a hand towards Teddy— and suddenly a band of pure force wraps around Teddy: gentle yet firm, he can't move an inch unless he can overcome something able to lift a couple tons. But it lasts only a few moments then vanishes, "But that's just because the thought-grabbing is something he can't see. Though I'd only get it done once before he'd start reacting to the gesture. Otherwise, nothing I can do could get near to him. Speed is fast. Besides." He shakes his head slowly, "If someone messed too hard with Tommy, they'd have to answer to Stephen. I can't even fathom his limits. I'm not entirely sure what a Sorcerer Supreme is, but its apparently some kind of job that comes with some serious oomph. Then there's Wanda, who is a little bit scary— and has the Mom Voice down pat."
*
He doesn't even mention the obvious: that Billy would turn them into a newt if anyone messed with his brother. The Obvious doesn't need saying.
*
Teddy curiously tests the force holding him but then it's gone and he nods at the display. "You make my point for me. He can be taken. He can be hurt. He can be killed. And whether or not someone powerful is there to avenge him, he'd still be dead. I don't want to see him - either of you - hurt. It's not smart to do things in public where everyone can see."
*
"What, flirt with girls? Man, you might as well tell water not to be wet. That's simply Tommy. And the only people who can possibly hurt them— and its still a vanishingly small number of that— are themselves special." Billy's confidence in Tommy is fairly absolute. "It's like worrying about a nuclear war. It might happen, but its so unlikely that you can't really change your day to day life to account for it." He finishes off his fries, and eyes his half-eaten burger, seeming to be fairly finished. Except for the milkshake. "There's careful and then there's letting implausible maybes keep you from doing what you want with your life."
*
"Unlikely like having a portal to Hell open in the park? Like having Norse gods and giants in the city?" There's lots of special lately and those things were even more unlikely than a nuclear war yet they happened. Still, Teddy just shrugs and drops it, finishing his burger. "So umm. Where you think you came from, people are cool with… those things you mentioned? Negros and women and other things?"
*
"I mean nothing is perfect, especially in the South." Billy says with a little shrug, nursing his milkshake, and suddenly gasping and holding a hand to his head and going mmmmm mmmmm mmmmmmmmm, and when the brain freeze passes, he breathes a bit heavily, and takes a decidedly smaller sip of milkshake, "Women work all the time, some men stay home to take care of the baby, and there's black CEO's and politicians and actors, and hugely popular black artists and athletes and actors. The… other things, well, its not perfect. I got be — my friend got beaten up in high school for it, but that's rarer every year, and its a federal crime to commit a crime against someone because of other things. In Cities, they're all pretty accepted. Now, in the South, in rural areas, it varies a lot. Its not going to be perfect, but it does get better."
*
Teddy shoots Billy a glance. Did he just…? Not going to ask. "That's good. People should be judged by who they are and what they do, not what they are. There's nothing wrong in being different. It's probably a lot like it is here now. There's places here in the city where anyone is welcome. Or so I've heard."
*
The expression Billy gives Teddy is frankly disbelieving, "Where? Everywhere I've been and everywhere my now-memories remembers has every inch of this world judgemental and completely unwelcoming to everyone. Sometimes I just…" He lifts a hand and looks at his hand, his eyes hardening: its hard to see, but there's a subtle rippling around his hand, a shimmering, not unlike the wavering of heat above a fire. He isn't doing anything, its not really a spell, but for a moment he taps into that core power of his and thinks: makeabetterworld, makeabetterworld, makeabetterworld. What would happen if he said those thoughts? He hasn't thought to try it yet. He hasn't really thought to rewrite the whole world, yet. But his hand falls and the strangeness vanishes. "It's kind of depressing. My mom… she's a nurse. That's a perfectly respectable job, you know? But she's supposed to be a doctor, a respected psychiatrist with a successful practice of her own and who teaches at the NYU School of Medicine. But in 1963? Because of what went wrong? Fitting her into now means she's a nurse."
*
Teddy shrugs. "The city has everything." He doesn't need to know exactly where something is to know that it's out there. There's an underground scene for most anyone. "I have heard of this one place. It's even nearby." Glancing around, he leans forward and lowers his voice. "I hear it's owned by the mob and they let anyone in so long as they can pay. It's kind of expensive."
*
Leaning forward himself, Billy looks… curious. He shrugs a bit, "I'm not rich or anything but Dad does well and until I finish college he has me on an allowance— he says I need to focus on school, though he doesn't know about my extra-curricular activities, you know, heroing around town. My parents think I'm a completely normal Reform Jew, and I do math and science and don't at all fly and-or teleport and-or shoot lightnign at giant monster bugs from time to time. But, the allowance is generous. What … kinda place is it?"
*
Teddy sits back again. "A club, I think. It's called the Black Cat. I've never been in it so I don't know if the rumours are true or not. It's supposed to be fancy. Kind of like those speakeasies from when Prohibition was on."
*
Blinking, Billy squints, "What would you even wear?! I have no idea what life was like in the Prohibition! I'm barely dealing with what life is like in the now. Fancy? Does that mean… suits?" And then as discussion bends towards the crazy, social, and fashion, they finish their meal and then head off to watch nerdy science fiction.