Billy's Story
“What are we going to do?” Peter whispered to Billy after the practice had ended.
Billy had been thinking about that exact question for the last hour. His anxiety levels were getting high. He was taking deep breaths to maintain his cool, but his mind was racing. He had to tell his parents because there were papers to sign. He couldn’t have them sign them though because turning in paperwork signed by The Vision wasn’t something that was going to slide by without notice. He knew he definitely could NOT let Tommy find out about it.
“Maybe we won’t even win. Maybe we’re just buying trouble from a problem that isn’t a real issue.” Peter said after noticing Billy was getting stressed. “It's the grand prize at nationals. We’re good, but that’s still a huge chance. We might come in second or something and then it won’t even matter.”
Peter wanted to believe that was the truth, but at the same time, he knew how much winning Nationals meant to his teammates and his school. The only thing he could rationalize in his head was that they would practice and they would compete and they’ll cross that field trip bridge when they get there. He kept telling himself it was no big deal but the little voice in the back of his head was telling him otherwise.
They won.
Soon they were sitting in the practice room after school as Mr. Harrington was excitedly passing out permission slips and NDA forms. Everyone was buzzing with excitement. Well, everyone except Billy and Peter.
“Remember, we have one week to get these forms returned. If they aren’t turned in by next Wednesday, you won’t be able to go on the trip next Friday. These are the rules made by Stark Industries, so there will be no exceptions.” Mr. Harrington said loudly over the students excitedly talking about what they think will be shown on the trip.
Harrington handed the papers to the table that Peter and Billy were sitting at and after looking at them for a minute Peter put his head down on the desk with a groan. MJ laughed and pat him on the back.
“You’re gonna be fine, kid.” She said.
“What’s wrong, Parker? Not excited to visit the place of your supposed internship? Why might that be?” Flash said with a smirk.
Billy hadn’t said anything. He was just sitting there looking at the papers. He wasn’t even reading them. He was just staring and thinking. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. Billy hadn’t even told his parents about the trip. He definitely hadn’t told Tommy about the trip. He tried not to be superstitious, but with his powers he sometimes worried if he said something bad out loud he would accidentally will it into existence. Turns out it didn’t matter. They’re going on a field trip to their own home anyway.
It hadn’t been very long since Billy and Tommy had been reunited and been able to find their parents again. Only two years ago he had broken his brother out of a mutant juvie. Tommy had only said a couple of things about his time there, but Billy knew it had been really bad.
After they were magically separated from their parents at age 10, when the hex disappeared, they had gone to a weird void. They were scared and confused. They kept yelling for their parents, but no one came to help. After what felt like years of being trapped Billy was so overwhelmed he had to do something and so he started chanting, “I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home.” After a moment a bright blue light burst from his body and he felt his body heat up. He closed his eyes as tight as he could and just kept thinking about going home. The next thing Billy felt was something wet.
He opened his eyes and found himself laying in a park in his pajamas. It was raining. He slowly stood up and looked around. He didn’t recognize anything around him but the most concerning part was the fact that he couldn’t see Tommy. He started running around the park yelling for him. Billy was wet and he had no shoes. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He wasn’t even sure where he was. He had done the only thing he could do which was to sit on a bench and cry.
Billy had been found by some people in the park and taken to the police station. He kept asking if they had found his brother, but no one had seen him. After that it had only been about a week before he was taken in by his “new family” the Kaplans. They were nice people. They helped him embrace his Jewish heritage and had been pretty good parents overall. They didn’t know he was a mutant though. He was afraid to tell them.
Everyday he thought about Tommy and his parents. He missed them so much. Sometimes he would ask his foster parents if anyone had found any traces of Tommy, but the answer was always the same. There was no Tommy Maximoff found. Billy had a deep guilt that grew in his gut that maybe, just maybe, he had left his brother in that void. Maybe if he had said “we” instead of “I” they both would have made it out. It ate at him for years.
After living with the Kaplans for 4 years he had secretly joined the Young Avengers and when they were 14 Billy and Tommy had been reunited. He hadn’t even known that it was Tommy when they had gone to break him out. He had merely thought it was another mutant that could help them fight. It wasn’t until they burst open the door that Billy had seen his twin. Tommy had looked up at him and within milliseconds his arms were wrapped around Billy. Cassie and Kate looked at them confused, but they had more important things to do, like escaping.
Tommy looked a lot like he did 4 years ago. The main difference is that he was sporting grey, almost white, hair just like their uncle Pietro.
Billy wasn’t sure if his parents would let Tommy live with them. He knew that he wasn’t about to let him go back to that mutant torture prison. After being reunited the boys had become nearly inseparable. In the end it took minimal effort to convince the Kaplans to take in Tommy as well. They knew how much it meant to Billy to be with his brother.
After being reunited they decided to start looking for their parents. Both of them had tried to look for them separately during their years apart, but they came up with nothing.
It had only taken a few months before they had found them. Billy will never forget the feeling he had when Wanda had opened the door. The look on her face was one of shock and overwhelming love. She had reached out to touch them, probably to see if they were real. It took only a few seconds before she pulled them into a hug.
Now they had all moved into Stark Tower and the four of them had been living there for about a year and a half. Billy and Peter had become friends pretty fast. They both had moved into the tower at about the same time. Billy didn’t have a very big friend group. Mostly he just spent his time with Peter and his friends, or Teddy and the other Young Avengers. Tommy, on the other hand, was much more sociable. He was pretty popular and had lots of friends. It seemed like everyone in the school knew him, but he kept his close circle small.
Billy had joined the decathlon team to try and make some more friends and to help him get out of his comfort zone but now, Billy’s worlds were colliding. His human academic decathlon teammates were now going to be walking around his home full of superheroes.
“Do you think Tony set this up on purpose?” Peter asked in a hushed voice.
Billy snapped back to reality. “I mean it was the prize for whoever won the match, so probably not. Anyone could have won. He may not even know what’s happening.” He said, still looking at the papers.
He had to tell his parents.