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Teddy has gotten some tall, leafy plants in pots to place near the edge of the roof to give them some privacy from the windows across the street. Currently, he's on one of the lounge chairs angled to face the sunset and has a bottle of beer in hand from the cooler next to him. "Why don't you come over here?" he suggests, patting a leg.
There was… some chaos just outside, the day before. Something weird: some gunfire. But there was also a brand new grill set up there, and Billy has decided to learn how to grill. They can't go out all the time. At the moment, he has a plate of hamburgers, that he wanders over to set on the grill to begin sizzling. But while that's going on, he heads over to settle himself on Teddy's leg as offered, though he seems a little bit troubled.
The leg was just a starting point and Teddy pulls Billy back against him, wrapping one arm around him. "Okay, so what's bothering you? You're being quiet. You're never quiet which means something's not right. Did something happen?"
"There was a transdimensional dream monster that caused people to go a little crazy and weird." Billy waves that away a bit, as if 'just another thursday' and that's not the problem at all. "The K-Twins were here, we engaged. Itw as right there, but I don't think it was coming for us — it was just luck. Anyways. Met this other guy, has pretty wings. And when the police came he wanted to go 'explain' what happened to these beat-cops so that they wouldn't blame MutantKind for the weirdness. I wouldn't let him, so he called me a bully."
Teddy just nods at the mention of a transdimensional dream monster. It was a Thursday after all. And dimensional issues have become more common than most. "I tried pretty wings once. But they never really looked right." he notes as he thinks about what Billy said. "Why didn't you want him to?" he asks after a minutes. "And when you say you wouldn't let him, what do you mean? You told him not to or you used your magic on him?"
"For lots of reasons." Billy says, shaking his head, "For one it was just stupid. They wouldn't have believed him— these are corrupt, beat-level cops. Some mutant comes and says: mutants didn't do it! It'd accomplish absolutely nothing positive— he wouldn't convince anyone who wanted to think mutants did it anything— and very likely could have gotten him in trouble— and worse, drew attention to us. This happened all right outside our apartment an the last thing I want is people looking too close at what went on. Finally, its none of their business. This was a magical affair. Its for Dad or Mom or someone like that to deal with, not cops. Its really not good to have mundane authority figures very aware of magic. 'Burn the witch' comes to mind." He then shrugs, "I tugged us all into the Mirror to give time to convince him it was a bad idea before he got off to go throw himself at the coppers mercy."
Teddy drinks his beer as he listens and once the recitation is done, nods. "You're right. They wouldn't believe him and might even try to arrest him. Where's he from that he doesn't know this? And yeah, we don't want attention drawn to us here. SO don't listen to him. You're not a bully."
Settling against Teddy for a long moment, he sighs, "I don't at all like being called a bully." Since he got bullied a lot as a kid. "I don't know, he says he's from a place where the cops aren't bought and paid for by the mob. I've never heard of such a magical place. Here." He leans over to kiss Teddy on the chin, then is up and over to the grill to flip the burgers, "Cheese or no cheese?"
"I don't know that the mob owns them. But it also doesn't matter; they'll probably blame the obvious mutant for whatever happened just because that's what they do. Cheese, of course." Finishing his beer, Teddy swaps the empty for a full one and pulls the cap off. "So it was just coincidence that it happened here? It wasn't hunting you or attracted to the magic or dimensional holes you've been opening?"
"The beat-level cops are notoriously corrupt." Billy gives a shrug of his shoulders, and goes back over to settle on Teddy's lap again after its done, "No, I'm positive it wasn't attracted to me. It didn't even really notice I existed, and I don't think an interdimensional thing could see me through the wards. Coincidence." He pauses, "I'm pretty positive: its magic was drawn to sleeping people. It manifested their dreams— nightmares— as a conduit into this world."
"Okay." Billy's the expert on magic and dimensions so Teddy just takes his word for it. "Good. I wouldn't want to stop going out to eat. You sent it back where it belongs? And what happened with the winged guy? Flew away once you came back?"
"After I pulled us out of the mirror, he flew off. We… vaguely made up. He's uh, Icarus. I didn't catch his real name but I didn't share my real name either. I don't want to be Wiccan and Billy on this roof at the same time. Defeats the purpose of a secret identity."
Teddy nods his agreement. "Yeah. Besides, we don't know anything about him. We shouldn't be so quick to assume everyone we meet is going to be a friend just because they seem okay after an hour. I was just thinking about that with Kellan and Kaleb and Vic. It's too late with them but we shouldn't rush to let others know who and what we are."
"I'm generally a pretty good judge of character. I don't really mind powered people knowing I'm powered: but knowing that Billy Kaplan is part of a superhero team… my concern isn't these people, but that eventually.." Billy shrugs, "Eventually we'll have enemies. People we stop who want to get back at us. If they know Billy is Wiccan, then they'll be able to find my little brothers."
"Bad guys can pretend to be good guys." Teddy points out. "And some might be good at it. You're right though; they could learn who your parents are. And my mom. And everyone else's family if they watch us all long enough. That's pretty much why I didn't want SHIELD knowing my name and learning who my mom is."
"And if you wait until you are absolutely certain about someone you will never trust anyone." Billy says with a shrug, then hops up and heads over to the grill, dropping the cheese on it and closing it to let it cook. Meanwhile, he begins making up his bun with the condiments he likes, "Come make your burger." He nods, "The thing is, I get why you didn't want them knowing your name, but again… too careful means you can't accomplish anything. They'd never have really hired us without knowing who we are."
"Which is why I told them." Teddy agrees, standing up and heading over to the grill. "I'm just saying we should be a little more cautious and see what happens." Grabbing a couple buns, he puts just some ketchup on them. Then after a moment, fixes a third. "So no one was hurt by the dream thing?"
Its a good thing Billy made six burgers: but for his toppings, he has the works. Pickles, ketchup, mayo, mustard, onions, lettuce, tomato, and hot sauce. Pulling open the grill, he nods his head to Teddy as he pulls the burgers off and onto a plate, then plops one on his bun. "Well, how do we be more cautious? If we don't try people out how will we ever know if they're a good guy or not, or a good fit, or useful?" Then he shakes his head, "Not seriously. Well. Not that I saw. I was a bit distracted before and after."
Teddy puts the burgers on the buns and tops them with some onion and tomato before going to sit at the patio table. "I don't know. Maybe just not bring them here till we know them better. Meet elsewhere. Make sure we don't use our last names. That kind of thing. It protects them too since they should be as unsure about us. We could all be supervillains for all they know."
Hm. Billy heads over to sit next to Teddy, and of course sits as absolutely close as he possibly can, but first he scarfs in some food, "WEll, there's two things. This is our apartment. I don't want to feel we can't invite friends over. But maybe I don't tell people about the Planners or my codename for awhile after meeting them. I have been eager to get a team back together. Maybe over-eager."
"We can definitely invite friends over and do just what we have been with them." Teddy agrees. "I'm only talking about new people we meet. Really, I'm just saying I agree with what you did with the winged guy by not telling him too much."
"Well, I did that because I first met him on my Wiccan guise." Billy muses, and takes some time to munch a huge bite out of his hamburger. Its cruchy and juicy: just vaguely on the less done side, but not dangerously so, but of course it depends on opinion. "At what point is it okay to invite someone home?"
Teddy shrugs at the question. "I don't know. It'll depend on who it is and what we think about him. I don't think it's something we can plan out and set a timetable to." He just wolfing down his burgers and washing them down with beer. And since he prefers his meat rare, he's quite happy with how they're cooked.
"Is this something we should talk about on a case by case basis?" wonders Billy with a muse, finishing off his first burger in record time: well, record Billy time. Where Billy stores the food is a magical mystery: Teddy already has a special power for storing and hiding mass, so his appetite is less of a surprise to the dude-witch.
"Probably." Sounds right to Teddy, anyway. "These are good." he notes, taking another bite of burger. "So was it just you and this winged guy? What happened?"
Billy shakes his head, "No… there was this kinda scary old woman who I don't know, the winged guy— Icarus— and this guy who Dad knows. Lamont Cranston. I don't know anything about him except he can mostly turn invisible. We fought spiders together— the spiders got seriously pissed off at invisibility. Then the K-twins." At the compliment though he grins, "Grilling is the only kinda of cooking I can kinda know how to do cuz you just season and put meat on and…stuff. Dad grilled. Mom cooked."
Billy called Vic and invited him over: he was told its safe to just come in, and head upstairs. In preparation for having a visitor he popped over to Italy and got several flavors of gelato. They're all in a cooler on the roof, now, which is filled with dry ice on the bottom so that it stays very, very cool. Not that he's told Teddy about dessert yet: its a surprise. The smell of grilled hamburgers fills the air. Billy is chowing down on one at the moment, telling Teddy about the recent adventure.
Vic arrives with baklava from Saganaki. It's the least he can do. "Hey guys," he says as he comes up. "My boss is closing the restaurant for a week, so I've got some time off. Good for patrolling, yeah?" He sets the baklava down and comes over to inspect the grilling with interest.
Teddy just assumed the second cooler was more beer than Billy brought but he's still got ones left in the first one so the second sits untouched. He's got half a burger - his second - in hand and a third at bat on his plate. "I was thinking about how we could make the apartment bigger. I think we should get that wardrobe I mentioned once and you make that bigger. Lots bigger. Well, eventually. You need to experiment first, of course and just make it a little bigger to start with. But it has doors we can close if the landlord visits and he's not going to want to look at our clothes. And it's portable. We can pick it up and move it. Unless making it bigger makes it weight a ton." About to take another bite, he pauses and adds "Umm. If it weighs a ton, it might make the floor collapse. But so could making a room bigger, right?" Looking over when the door opens, he lifts a hand. "Hiya Vic. Have a burger."
There's a bunch of cheeseburger patties, and every possible condiment known to man laid out. Billy muses and says, "I think you're thinking too much about…physics. Adding a room to the apartment is like… changing the geometry of spacetime, … at which point what you'd think of as normal rules of physics work. That said I don't think it could be portable: I think if you moved the wardrobe you might lose access to the extra space, at least until its moved back. I think. I'm still thinking about it. Like. If I make a room beyond the wardrobe, that doesn't mean the room is *in* the wardrobe. It depends. Like. I've thought of two ways to do this. One, I really do change the shape of spacetime— create what is essentially a closed bubble of space and attach an opening to a certain place. Two, I make a permanent wormhole to a room that is in fact underground somewhere else." He flashes a grin over to Vic, blinks at the baklava, and laughs, "I had dessert already prepared." And with that he waves a hand, and the second cooler floats over and sets down next to the table, opening, "There's pistachio, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, lemon, banana, and peach gelato from Florence, Italy." He looks smug. Look what he did. He did good, right?
"The more the merrier," Vic says with a grin. The discussion of altering spacetime goes right over his pretty head, but his smile doesn't dim one iota for it. "I think I'll have a burger first, but Pistachio, I've got my eye on you." Hmm. "Maybe I'll have some while I'm having a burger." He starts to assemble a cheeseburger, stacking it high with condiments. "So I heard something really weird happened, Billy. Are you okay?" To Teddy, he says, "Did you hear about it? Something about dream-things." Once he's situated with a cheeseburger, pistachio gelato, and baklava, he digs in. It's not that he can actually unhinge his jaw or anything, but it's truly impressive how he can get the Dagwood burger in his mouth like that.
"I thought you said a permanent wormhole could be dangerous. And that Stephen would frown at you." But there's more important matters suddenly. "Gelato? And baklava? Cool. I thought we'd need to go out for dessert." Vic gets a nod at the question. "Yeah, Billy told me about it earlier. Everyone's okay." Teddy assures him.
"You are so totally my brother." Billy laughs softly, "Pistachio is my favorite of them all." He hesitates, then he shrugs, "There was an interdimensional monster trying to invade our world through peoples dreams. It was just Thursday." he says blandly, as if this was nothing at all. "It never even really noticed me, I just flew around and electrocuted a woman who was falling asleep, while Kellan split off and chased the civilians away." He sighs, "Real trouble came after when the winged dude freaked out about wanting to tell the cops everything." He then glances at Teddy and grins, "Its not that I know its dangerous, but I don't know if it is. I still haven't talked to Stephen about it. But if he says permanent wormholes are fine as long as they're contained, then that's really the easiest way to add to the apartment. Man, I'd totally have a pool and a jacuzzi room and …" He starts fantasizing about his infinite apartment.
Vic swallows down his huge bite of burger and nods to Teddy. "Thank goodness for that." Billy gets a bashful smile. "Blood is blood, even when technically it isn't." He sets to work on the pistachio gelato before it melts. Mmm. "Jay? He seems all right. He's just new to all this. I can relate. He just needs a mentor." He eyes Billy as he starts fantasizing about his apartment. "I'd a tennis court. I'd like to think I'd be the kind of guy who'd play tennis."
"And a training room and gym." Teddy adds onto the list. "We can show them what SHIELD has taught us; they need to know it just as much as we do." And then Vic gets a curious look. "You know the winged guy? Where's he from that he doesn't know the cops will always blame the mutant for whatever happens? They'd probably have arrested him or at least taken him in."
"Oh, is that his name? I didn't know. He just introduced himself as Icarus. I can understand being new to things, what I don't like is not listening to those who aren't new to it. I've been doing this for like negative decades." Time travel is so weird. Billy pauses on his hamburger, and scoops himself some pistachio into a bowl, an dnoms it. "A tennis court is a great idea. I have no idea how to play tennis, but why not learn? Maybe a bowling alley." He eyes Teddy a bit, "Dude, secret agent fail. Vic's not read-in on that whole thing." He laughs softly, but then he is nodding to Teddy in agreement of his last point.
"He might be throwing up defenses," Vic says. "If he's feeling talked down to or forced, even if no one's doing that. It's scary being new." Never mind that he seems just fine, himself. Who wouldn't be fine without a burger, gelato, and baklava? "A bowling alley would be awesome. His brow furrows as he looks between Teddy and Billy. "Maybe I'll talk to him about the cops. Old-Vic knew all about them."
Teddy frowns and glances at Vic. "Oh, shit. I forgot. I can't keep track of who knows and who doesn't. Just pretend you didn't hear that, Vic. Then we won't have to kill you." Having wolfed down his third burger, he sits back. "There's beer in the other cooler if you want one."