coveted magics, 10
More than a little apprehensive, Billy sat next to Daisy and her laptop in Daisy and Wanda’s apartment and stared at the displays on the screen. There was a display of his official government identity on her laptop, and staring at it helped Billy to focus amidst the swirling thoughts that were coming up left right and centre. Peter and Wanda were both sitting at the table too, all of them gathered to discuss the creation of Billy’s new government identity that would allow him to go to school here in Boston.
It was a difficult situation for him because he knew he was going to have to choose a new surname, and he knew what he wanted to do – which was scary, because he didn’t want to disappoint Wanda. As the two of them had agreed, they’d had a couple of meals together now, and she was really nice. In all honesty he didn’t really view her as a mother yet, and he wasn’t sure if he would or not. That felt weird, considering how to her, he was her son.
And then there was the fear about Peter reacting badly to what Billy wanted, but by now Billy knew that was just his anxiety talking. So, Billy stared at the screen and waited to be called on, only vaguely listening to what Daisy was saying.
“-will mean that there is literally nothing the Kaplans can do to try and take back custody, because legally speaking there won’t be a single record that says you’re their kid. How does that sound?” Daisy asked.
Billy hummed. “Sure, yeah.”
Peter reached over to give Billy’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Did you catch that, Billy? We all want to make sure you’re the one in control here, so if you don’t want to go ahead with it we can find another way to make this work.”
“Huh?” Billy managed, and then shook his head to ground himself back into reality. Slowly, Daisy’s words processed in his brain and he gave it some thought. “Fuck the Kaplans! This sounds amazing.”
Daisy chuckled, and very quickly typed out a line of code on her laptop before hitting enter. “Aaaand done. As of now, Billy Kaplan officially no longer exists. So, next up is to create your new identity. For that, you’ll need a new name – and you get to choose for yourself. Unfortunately giving you the Maximoff surname on paper isn’t really an option, what with Wanda’s fugitive status – we’d be getting way too many questions and the DODC would probably try raid us.”
“I understand,” Wanda said sadly, sending a knife of guilt into Billy’s gut. “I only want the best for Billy, and… well, I must admit that I’m pretty sure I know what you want to do here, Billy. I’ve seen the bond developing between you and Peter, so… go ahead.”
Billy looked up at her, surprised. He was starting to realise just how perceptive Wanda was, and berated himself for underestimating how understanding she was too. “…how?”
Wanda smiled. “A mother knows.”
“Right,” Billy responded, putting on a smile that was less forced than he expected. Maybe it was because he was starting to warm up to her, or maybe it was because of the relief that came with her approval. “Um… Peter, would it be okay if… can I be a Parker? I… I don’t know if this is inappropriate or anything but you’re- well, you’re kind of like the big brother I never knew I wanted. I’d, um, I’d really like to go by Billy Parker, if that’s okay.”
Peter’s jaw dropped, and for several seconds he didn’t say anything. Billy went through a motion of absolute panic for the lack of response, because he didn’t want to mess everything up and have Peter distance himself. He meant every word of what he’d said – the way Peter was taking care of him and supporting him was beyond awesome, and… well, this was probably going to be a logistically easier option too. That way Peter could act as his legal guardian and the shared name would make things less suspicious. Billy was glad to have that reasoning in his mind, knowing full well it was an excuse to bypass the awkwardness and anxiety of what he was asking for.
“I’d be honoured,” Peter blurted, and then awkwardly scratched at the back of his head. “To be honest, I kind of feel the same. Like, I just think of you as my little brother now, and I didn’t want to be too forward about it because you’ve been here for like a week and I have no idea how to do this and I didn’t want to be presumptuous or anything like that. It’ll probably also make it easier for me to step in as your legal guardian on paper, too.”
“That’s what I was thinking!” Billy exclaimed, the excitement of his new big brother’s acceptance exploding within him. This past week had been ridiculously overwhelming, but he’d landed on a new life that was way better than what he’d anticipated after running away from home in Chicago. Everything was coming together now, and life looked like it was going to be good.
“You’d better watch out or I’ll have to adopt you too, Peter,” Wanda joked.
Peter laughed. “You know I’d be completely okay with that, right? You’re family too, Wanda. Who’s to say I haven’t already adopted you as part of my family? Because I have, by the way.”
Wanda let out a happy sigh. “You’re too much, Peter. So, tell me about this school you have in mind for your brother?”
“Well, it’s called Coles Academic High School, and it’s reasonably sciencey but also more broadly focused than just that, unlike the school I went to back in New York. I spoke to Rabbi Isaacs and he said he can help with enrolment, and-”
Billy listened to his big brother’s voice with contentment, and watched with joy as Daisy built his new identity as Billy Parker and literally hacked it into several government databases. In barely just a week, life had become amazing.
Peter stood outside the front entrance of Coles High with Billy, feeling a rush of nervous excitement for his little brother. It had taken only a couple of days to set up this school tour day with the help of Rabbi Isaacs, who had been both amused and proud to hear of how Peter had adopted this kid in need. And now, he was a big brother slash parent bringing his kid brother for his first day at school. It was a lot for his emotions.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t stay to join you for the tour,” Peter apologised remorsefully, because he’d really wanted to at least offer that to Billy and give him the choice of whether to go alone or with Peter there by his side. “I can’t really get out of my classes today, since the lab work is going to be assessed and I kind of need to be there for the whole thing. But I’ll be here at the end of the school day to pick you up, and we can talk about how it went. Sound good?”
“Uhuh,” Billy answered excitedly. “Seriously, don’t worry about it! I’ll be fine on my own. I read the email too, I know what to expect. Someone will show me around for the first period, and then I’ll sit in on some classes that won’t necessarily be my classes if I get enrolled here.”
“Okay,” Peter said, and let out a heavy, nervous sigh. “I kind of want to offer you a hug goodbye, but I know you’re at that age where you want to seem cool around your potential new peers and everything, so-”
Billy interrupted by throwing himself at Peter. “Screw that! I want to be unapologetically myself here, I’m so done pretending to be someone that I think people will like. I’ll see you later!”
After a quick but fierce hug, Peter bid his brother goodbye and left him at the school gates, hoping that everything went well for him today. He’d originally wanted to try and organise for Kamala, Bruno and Teddy to take Billy under their wing today, but everything happened way too fast to set that up. Well, Peter could make sure Billy got introduced to all of them soon enough.
After being let out from a mediocre history class for lunch break, Billy quickly split off from the crowd of students. As much as he knew it was probably a better idea to try and stick with some of the kids he’d talked with in class, he kind of just wanted some space to wander the school on his own and think – which was exactly what he did.
Some of the classes he’d sat in were more or less engaging than others; they weren’t anything special, but it felt so much nicer than his old school. Here, there wasn’t any vibe of the school crushing its students with pressure to always be at the absolute top of their game. Plus, the campus was nice and Peter said he knew some cool people here that Billy would get to meet sooner or later. Even though he had a couple classes after lunch in which to be potentially dealbreakingly disappointed, Billy liked it here.
With a peanut butter sandwich in hand, Billy quietly wandered the halls of the school until he made it outside, and began walking around the perimeter of the school, making sure to stay on the official school grounds. He was hoping to find a quieter area to sit on his own and read some manga, and then go back to class when the break was over. Next up was supposed to be a maths class, which he knew would be fun.
Reflecting on his day so far, Billy decided that the English class he’d been to was his favourite. The teacher was really cool, and encouraged students to look at texts from a perspective of interest, rather than writing dry formal essays and reports. That was a huge change from the so called ‘leadership’ school, that had a dry as hell whitewashed curriculum and expected students to write formulaic essays at every single opportunity.
Billy couldn’t say he’d really clicked with any of his potential new classmates yet, but in fairness he hadn’t tried. As excited as he was, this was all very overwhelming and he was doing his best. Plus, Harley had given him advice to not worry too much on the tour day about socialising unless he really wanted to.
Finally, Billy found a quiet side of the school where nobody else was hanging out, so he went to sit down at an unpopulated bench and read. Just as he was opening up the latest issue of One Piece – which was somehow still going – he heard shouting.
A door burst open, and a tall, burly looking brown-haired guy stormed outside. He was being followed by a guy who looked around Billy’s age, with blonde hair and a lean, muscular build. He had these freckles across his face that, even from a distance, stood out in a rather stunningly attractive way.
“Ugh, just leave me ALONE,” the brunette guy yelled, throwing his hands up in the air.
The blonde guy chased after him, looking angry. “Oh hell no! You think you can run your homophobic mouth around this school without consequences? Think again, buddy!”
And then the blonde guy full on decked the apparent homophobe in the face, sending him toppling to the ground.
Oh shit, that was hot, Billy couldn’t help but think.
Teddy: peter h e l p
Teddy: i know this is short notice but can we train today? Like… right after school?
Peter: Is something wrong?
Teddy: YES
Teddy: I made a *fool* of myself at school today
Teddy: the world is ending i need a workout pleaseeee
Peter: must be serious lol
Peter: I can probably give you an hour, but then I have some family stuff
Peter: I’m sure they won’t mind but check with your parents first ok?
Teddy: yeah ofc
Teddy: they said yes
Peter: I’ll see you at the playground about half an hour after school finishes. Sound good?
Teddy: tysmmmmm
Peter pocketed his phone and walked the last block of the way to Coles. In all his nerves to hear about how Billy’s day had been, he managed to completely fail to consider that he could have probably met Teddy there and travelled to the Playground together with Billy in tow. Instead, he decided to take Billy home and then go straight from home to the Playground. Maybe he’d see if Harry had a spare moment to portal him to save some time.
When he arrived, Billy was standing off to the side of the school car park at the exact location they’d agreed to meet. He looked… dazed. Hoping that nothing bad had happened, Peter quickened his pace. “Hey Billy!”
Billy looked up. “Oh, hi. Good day at college?”
“Yeah, it wasn’t too bad,” Peter answered. “How about you?”
Billy… stared. “Uh… good.”
Peter frowned. “Do you need a bit of time to decompress before we debrief?”
“Yes please,” Billy nodded somewhat fervently.
“Sure thing,” Peter responded, letting out a small sigh of relief. It didn’t seem like things were too bad. “Actually, I have to run off for about an hour once we get home. How about we chat once I’m back?”
So, after dropping Billy off at home, Peter made a very quick journey to the Playground with Harry’s help, finding that Teddy had beaten him there and was slamming the crap out of a fortunately very sturdy punching bag.
“Woah, that bad, huh?” Peter exclaimed as he stepped out of Harry’s portal.
In response, Teddy groaned and gave the punching bag some much needed reprieve. “Peter, you wouldn’t believe the day I had.”
Peter chuckled. “Have you done any other warmups yet?” When Teddy nodded, Peter beckoned him closer. “Okay, let’s do some sparring and then you can tell me about your crisis. Sound good?”
“Sounds great,” Teddy agreed with a surprising amount of urgency.
So ensued a solid fifteen minute round of sparring in which Teddy held back his strength a little less than usual. It was definitely a good thing that Peter was beyond strong and skilled enough to handle it. After he’d deemed that Teddy had worked off enough of this energy, Peter flipped him onto the ground and then offered him a hand up.
“C’mon, let’s go grab some water from the kitchen and chat,” Peter suggested.
Teddy grabbed his hand, and followed Peter into the Playground’s kitchen room off to the side. “Peter, I fucked up.”
“At a wild guess,” Peter started, “did you punch another homophobe but not hold back enough?”
“Yes!” Teddy exclaimed. “Well, not exactly. I did punch a homophobe, but like. Okay.” Teddy paused, and then took a few deep breaths. “I think there was this new kid checking out the school today? I don’t know, but I’m sure I’ve never seen him before.”
Oh, Peter thought to himself, and did his absolute best to school his features and prioritise listening to Teddy instead of jumping to conclusions.
“And yeah, I punched a homophobe. That guy Brett had it coming, and this isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with him. It’s like he just doesn’t learn. But anyway, the problem is the new kid,” Teddy rambled. Peter doubted that Billy would have picked a fight with Teddy, so he wasn’t exactly sure where Teddy was going with this. “This guy is absolutely gorgeous. Like I only saw him from the distance, but like. He’s so exactly my type. I don’t even know if he’s into guys, but like. He saw me punch Brett and then just… turned and walked the other way. So, of course, I’ve fucked up and made an awful impression on this new kid!”
Yeah, nope, Peter could not hold back his laughter. He didn’t mean to laugh, and he felt a little bad for laughing at Teddy’s woes, but… this definitely wasn’t as big of an issue as Teddy thought it was. He quickly weighed up his options, wondering if he should just tell Teddy about Billy and put this whole thing to rest. Except… Peter felt like he should probably talk to Billy about it first.
Instead, Peter decided to focus on general advice-giving. “Look, Teddy, think of it this way. Anyone who forms an entire unchangeable negative judgement about you from a first impression like that isn’t worth pursuing romantically. Who knows, maybe the new kid thought it was cool? I mean, you have a reputation there and the queer kids appreciate that you’re willing to take the disciplinary fall to make sure the school is safer for the rest of them. Surely this new kid will find out about that in more detail and not think so badly of you, yeah?”
Teddy’s head thunked down on the kitchen island. “I know you’re probably right, but… I don’t know, I just- he was so cute. I know I don’t know anything else about him, but I’ve been wanting to start putting myself out there for a relationship for a bit now and this could be my chance.”
“Hey, maybe it will!” Peter tried to cheer him on. Now he was extremely eager to get home and hear Billy’s side of the story – but Teddy still had Peter’s time for another half hour of training, and it was only fair that Peter stay focused on the task at hand. “Back to sparring?”
“Back to sparring,” Teddy agreed, now looking a fair bit less tense.
Oh, this is going to be fun, Peter thought.
“Okay Peter, keep calm,” Peter told himself as he walked through the front door of his apartment. He made his way through to the shared space to find Billy playing some Harvestella on the switch. Billy turned to face Peter, and instead of looking dazed, he looked pent up.
“Peter I saw a guy punch a homophobe and it was so hot,” Billy blurted out all at once, his face flushing an impressive shade of pink.
Just like that, Peter cracked up even more than when Teddy had told him his side of the same story. “Sorry! Oh, I’m sorry! I just… you know what? Tell me more.”
Billy raised a single eyebrow, but obliged all the same. “Okay, so… it was lunch break, and I was trying to find somewhere quiet to read. I found a spot, and then these two guys burst out a side door of the school, and this really hot guy yelled something about the other one being a homophobe and then straight up punched him.”
Peter hummed, and quickly decided how to handle this. “That’d be Teddy. The rabbi’s kid I mentioned to you.”
“What,” Billy deadpanned. “I mean, what??”
Peter nodded, and grinned. “Yep, that sounds exactly like Teddy. Blonde, about my height with freckles?”
Slowly, Billy nodded. “…yeah?”
“Yep, that’s Teddy,” Peter chuckled. In his mind, his Aunt May’s voice was yelling ‘shidduch’ at him right now. “Full disclosure – you know how I had to run off for an hour? Teddy was having a crisis about that same exact thing and needed emotional support.”
Billy stared at him, and Peter watched as a huge number of emotions moved on and off of his face. He sighed a couple times as he processed what Peter had just told him, and then buried his face in his hands. “I walked away. He probably thinks I hate him!”
“I mean, yes,” Peter confirmed. “He is worried about that. I might be kind of betraying his trust a little here but because I know this is all going to work out really well, I should tell you that he’s worried because he doesn’t want you to hate him.”
“Huh?” Billy unburied his face, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. “Does that mean…”
“Oh yeah,” Peter cheered encouragingly. “He’s absolutely into you, just from seeing you that one time.”
“I want to go to Coles!” Billy then declared with all the certainty in the world.
Peter laughed some more, and then held up a fist for Billy to bump. “Let’s make it happen. Teddy is a fantastic guy, and I am in full support of this.”
Billy grinned and fistbumped Peter. He then paused, and the excitement melted away from his face. “Do you… do you think he’ll like me when he gets to know me?”
“First of all, you’re extremely likeable,” Peter said encouragingly. “And secondly? I can’t say for sure, but what I can say is that I think your odds are pretty good. Now, you know I promised you I’d never force you into Jewish life, but if you come with to the Kabbalat Shabbat service tomorrow night, Teddy will definitely be there and you could shoot your shot – or at least just spend some time getting to know him. You don’t have to, and you’ll see him anyway at school once you’re properly enrolled, but wanna come with?”
“Yes!” Billy exclaimed, and Peter’s heart swelled up with fondness. When he was figuring out his own queer identity at Billy’s age, May and Ben had both been such big supports for him, and it meant so much that he could now pay it forward and make space for Billy to have the very best young queer experiences.
The rhythmic beating of mallets on metal was something Riri had found calming for as long as she could remember. She knew why – it was because her father had taught her mechanical work at a young age, and it had been her safe place ever since. Once she had a plan in mind, Riri could just zone out and focus only on the sounds made by her work, clearing her mind and allowing for the best relaxation she could ever get. If she wanted to think, Riri went flying. If she wanted to stop thinking, she came to her workshop.
Right now, Riri didn’t want to think about the storm she could feel coming. She didn’t know where the threat was coming from – whether it would be Damage Control eventually coming back for seconds, or some other unknown threat. She just knew that there would be something.
So, Riri worked. She hammered away at the materials that would form the outer shell of the newest upgrades to her suit, wanting to make it more protective even if she might never reach the level of quality that the Vibranium suit back in Wakanda had. There were two things Riri knew she needed to do. She needed to relax, and she needed to prepare. So that was what she did.