Archive of Our Own

„Nate, wait up!“ Billy hated running, but his best friend was walking pretty far ahead of him. With thick chemistry and biology books tucked under his arms, the teenager sprinted to Nate’s side. They wouldn’t be late for class anyway, but Nate always came too early for everything.
Something Billy’s twin brother, recently adopted by the Kaplan family after his lengthy stint in juvi, really hated about Nate. Actually, the two of them didn’t really get along. Tommy was everything Nate was not and vice versa. Sometimes, Billy felt like he was stuck with two bitchy cheerleaders in a war with each other. He’d solved his problems by spending time with Tommy at home and time with Nate at school.
School, which was sadly deprived of available, attractive gay men. Billy would have liked a minute of silence for all his pointless hoping every time a new student joined. Today was the first day after the Christmas holidays, so it was still cold and wintery, but again, there had been chatter of a new student joining their year.
“Did you knock wood and cross your fingers for me? I really need the luck today.”

Nate had waited for his best friend and grinned lightly when he heard his question. “Yeah, of course. This time it’s gonna be a blond, muscular, broad-shouldered, hot, gay guy, Billy, just like you want him to be.”

That wasn’t going to happen anyway. There had been a hot blond guy a year ago and Billy had crushed slightly on him – until he had made out with their maths teacher, a blonde young woman and Billy had caught them.

Nate had been friends with Billy for a long time now. They had met each other in first grade at highschool when Billy had needed help with something in maths and physics. They had discovered they were a pretty good team – Nate had a thing for science whereas Billy was good in languages and sociology-related subjects such as history and philosophy.

With the time though, the slightly older Nathaniel had begun to like Billy more than he had wanted to at first.
Their sleepovers became more difficult every time as they grew up. And it certainly didn’t help when Billy hit puberty and began fawning over guys. Other guys.

The younger boy didn’t seem to be lucky, which kind of… calmed Nate down. It gave him time, a lot of time to convince Billy that his perfect boyfriend was right next to him, and had been for a long time.

And then, when Nate had almost thought he had convinced Billy just right, the Kaplans had re-adopted Tommy.

Thomas, Speed, most annoying creature on this planet, whatever.

Thomas was Billy’s twin, had been since birth, but after he had used his… powers on his old highschool and almost killed his brother with it, the Kaplans had not been able to keep him from his punishment in form of three years Juvie.
He always claimed to hate his brother, but he was incredibly possessive about him, too. Nate couldn’t stand him and the feeling was mutual. Whenever Nate was at the Kaplans’, Tommy did his best to disturb them.
Billy gave a small whine, he knew Nate was mocking him, but he wasn’t particularly mad at his best friend. How could he be? Billy got ridiculously excited every time someone new joined school and he should have been used to disappointment by now. Nate would be there for him of course, once he hit the low after the disappointing truth.
“Come on, he doesn’t even have to blond, as long as he’s you know, gorgeous.”
They rounded another corner and could already see a little crowd in front of the school. Billy looked around for a familiar mop of white hair.
“Tommy better not be late again today…”

“Tch. Me and late. I’m never late. School simply starts earlier sometimes.”

Nate tried his best to not roll his eyes. Thomas. And his ridiculous portrayal of his special powers every time.
“Actually, I’ve been here for a while. Did you see the new guy already? He’s kinda cool.”

If Tommy found someone ‘kinda cool’, the guy must either be a criminal or a calm, but self-confident, gorgeous young man.

*

Teddy actually hated the crowd that was forming around him. Everyone stared at him as if he was a rare type of animal in a zoo. Or a baby tiger or something.

But he managed to keep the smile on his face and stay calm.
The white-haired guy that had spoken to him earlier had disappeared already, Teddy was happy to see he wasn’t the only one with special powers.
Not that he planned on showing off... Being a shapeshifter made people mistrust him right before they even knew him, he had experienced that on the last school.

Billy ignored the bickering between Tommy and Nate, weaving his way through the crowd. He didn’t like to use his powers in the open, since he had a hard time controlling them. And the last thing Billy wanted to do was to hurt people.
By the time he finally got to see the new guy, Tommy and Nate were already in a fully fledged argument about nothing in particular. And oh wow, what a view. Said ‘cool’ new guy was blond, gorgeous, muscular and incredibly sexy. Just by standing there and looking a little confused and annoyed, he blew Billy’s poor mind. He felt his mouth go dry. Oh no. This wasn’t fair. This guy was going to be another one he would stare at all year and probably crush on, then catch him making out with some female teacher and then consume tons of ice-cream to mend his broken heart.
Billy wanted to know his name, but he couldn’t just go waltz up there and introduce himself, so he waited until someone called the new guy’s name or something. Except the crowd was already dispersing, so Billy was the only one still standing and staring at Teddy.

Teddy relaxed a little when the crowd disappeared. He shouldered his backpack and took a few steps towards Billy, with the arguing Tommy and Nate behind him.
Blue eyes landed on the slim, dark-haired boy that was staring at him. Well, Teddy was used to people staring at him.
“Hi”, he offered with a soft smile, “I’m Teddy… Uh… Excuse the stupid question but, uh, are… the two of you”, he pointed at Tommy, then back at Billy, “twins?”

Nate was one second away from simply punching Tommy (except he wouldn’t catch him, the damn mutant was too fast), so he didn’t notice how Billy reacted to the newbie.
“Hrmghh.” Billy was pretty incapable of speaking, so it was lucky his twin had noticed his reaction too. Tommy was beside his brother in an instant, an arm slung around his shoulder and a cheeky grin on his face as he answered Teddy.
“Yeah, we’re twins. This is Billy, my slightly lame brother who is incapable of speaking to boys he finds-“
“Tommy!” Billy hissed and elbowed his brother, a blush creeping over his face. Most boys did not like to know that he was in fact gay and incapable of speaking to ones he found attractive. And his stupid brother loved to ride him into awkward situations.
“He’s probably in all of your classes. If you need someone to do your homework, he’s your guy.”

Teddy’s blue eyes wandered from Billy to Tommy, and back to Billy. They rested a while on him, but the blond boy was apparently very aware of how uncomfortable he was making him feel and so he quickly looked away.

The twins were… rather cute, he found. But hell, he would never admit that, especially not in front of them.
“Nice to meet you, Billy. I can do my homework on my own, don’t worry, but it’s good to know who to ask if I fail at something.”
He sent the dark-haired twin a little awkward smile, then looked back at Tommy.

“What about you and your classes? Care to compare timetables?! Would be nice to actually know people.”

Teddy searched through his bag, then produced a crumpled little piece of paper and handed it over to Tommy.

Nate had, by now, caught up with the situation and stepped next to Billy. “Come on, Billy, let’s go. Class is starting soon.”

Billy gave a little squeaky breath-sigh in return, then pointed to the crumpled timetable. “We all have class together.”
“Yeah, we do!” Tommy grinned pointedly at Nate, then glanced to Billy, who was still looking at Teddy as if he had just walked on water and healed a blind man.
Once they got into the room, Tommy directed Teddy firmly into the seat next to Billy. The look on Nate’s face was more than enough proof that this was the best thing to piss off Billy’s ‘best’ friend. Who had been wanting into his pants for more than half a year. Tommy despised Nate, just for that. Ever since he had spent time with his twin, Tommy felt protective of his idiotic dark-haired brother.
“Uhm, we’re starting on chapter three,” Billy muttered quietly, turning the pages of Teddy’s book, trying hard not to look at his beautiful hands or his beautiful face.

“Thanks”, Teddy muttered and reached for the book to turn over the page. His hand met Billy’s and the younger pulled his hand away as if he had burnt him, “Sorry.. Uh, we could, erhm, share a book. Actually, we could share all books, if you want to. So neither of us has to always bring all of them. If you’re okay with that?!”

Nate slid into the seat next to Billy and seemed incredibly pissed off. Especially about the fact this blond idiot had just offered his best friend to share books!
Nate was the one to share books with Billy!

Tommy sat down next to Teddy who in fact felt a little awkward next to the incredibly awkward Billy.
When Billy turned to talk to Nate, Teddy muttered in Tommy’s direction, “You sure he’s okay with me sitting next to him? He’s so awkward about it… I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable, you know..”
“Are you kidding? You’re making his year, just by sitting this close. I don’t know if you noticed, but my brother is a flaming gay and he probably wants to lick your face.”
Tommy had no concept of things he should keep to himself. He was lucky his brother had not heard, since he was too busy assuring Nate that they would keep working together in class. Billy didn’t know why Nate was suddenly so worried about it anyway.

Nate didn’t want to be a complete asshole, but he was pissy alright. This was just not fair! First day of school and Billy was seated next to his newly acquired crush!
This was going to be the worst year ever.

“Oh… Okay.”
Teddy seemed perfectly fine with the topic, and in fact he was. How could he not, being into guys himself…
But he was far away from thinking about… dating Billy or anything. He had had some horrible experiences with ‘friends’ and he certainly did not want to go through that again, thank you very much.
This was why he was paying a lot of attention of who to befriend and who not. Tommy and Billy seemed alright, but then again, his old ‘friends’ had seemed alright at first, too…
*
Billy, Tommy and Teddy seemed to become friends pretty quickly. Though the speedster spent a lot more time with the blonde, since Nate worked every angle he could to keep Billy from spending time with his newly acquired crush. And really, Billy had it bad. His head was full of Teddy, Teddy, Teddy, and he spoke of the blond every time he didn’t hang around with him. That meant he talked about Teddy when he and Nate studied together, or got comic books or went to eat pizza or see a movie.
And yet he still made no move towards the friendly boy whatsoever. He knew Teddy had no problem with gay people, but he never made an indication that he himself was interested. Actually, Teddy and Billy were never alone. Nate wouldn’t leave Billy alone with the blond and Tommy would try to block Nate off by arguing with him.
“And he’s coming over to study with me Thursday, so I gotta cancel pizza night, Nate.”

Nathaniel crossed his arms. “Billy, honestly, what the fuck?! Your crush in all honours and everything, but canceling pizza night is… I’m your best friend!”
He didn’t really want to throw a tantrum right now, but enough was enough – Billy was always canceling everything because of Teddy!

“You don’t even know him!”, Nate growled.
They were alone, on their way back home, with no one around and Nathaniel felt as if he was raging more and more with every second.
“He doesn’t even notice you! You don’t have a chance, I mean, look at him! If he’s interested in anyone, it’s your twin!”
Billy looked at him with huge brown eyes, as if he was going to cry any second.

“Billy…”
Nate wrapped his arms around him and pulled the younger boy close, “Sorry… I just.. I don’t want you to get hurt again, okay? You’re… you’re my best friend, I gotta… pay attention, right?”
His hands slid over his best friend’s sides. Gods, Billy was so slim and gorgeous, and oh how he would love to run his hands over his naked body, to have him look only at him with that dazed, happy facial expression he had when looking at Teddy.

Billy was staring at him with a strange expression. Nate stared back, then leaned in slowly.
The younger boy didn’t back up and so, Nathaniel’s lips landed finally on Billy’s, in a shy, soft kiss.
This wasn’t what he wanted. Billy knew Nate didn’t like Teddy and he despised being ditched for the blond and exactly that was why he didn’t immediately push Nate away. His best friend was kissing him. It was horribly awkward. The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt him, because Nate had always been beside him, always supporting him and helping him through every boy-induced crisis…
When Nate tried to push his tongue into Billy’s mouth though, the dark-haired twin backed away.
“Not that kind of attention, Nate. He’s not interested in Tommy, they’re just friends. Just like we are. Just friends.”

“Billy..”

The older boy swallowed harshly. “Y-yeah… Sorry. It’s just.. Ah, forget it, okay? Just forget about it, it’s… Sorry, Billy, gotta go. Enjoy studying with him.”

And with that, Nate quickly ran off, leaving Billy standing there.

*

“What’s up with you, idiot brother?”
Tommy stuck his head into Billy’s room, without knocking of course. “You’ve not even come to eat something, usually you’re eating like a horse..”

He always noticed first when something was up with his twin. Actually, he had known it since Billy had wordlessly entered the house and went upstairs to be in his room.
“Go away, I do not eat like a large land mammal.” Billy shuffled away from the unwelcome light source and pulled the blanket tighter around himself. He’d completely forgotten that dinner was already on the table and that he was expected to join his family. The thing with Nate had seriously steeped him into a dark mood. Why would his best friend kiss him? Why would Nate be jealous of Teddy? Why had he never noticed a damn thing? He loved Nate, but only as a friend. He would never consider him possible boyfriend material.
Tommy rolled his eyes.
„Are you seriously sending me away? You know I’m not stupid.”

The speedster entered the dark room and closed the door behind him before he sat down next to his brother on the bed.
“Now tell me, what’s up? I’m your twin, we should share things that bother us, right?”

Usually, he would never be that supportive, but apparently, something really bad had happened.
“Come on, tell me. I’m not waiting here the whole night for you to spill your problem, this is your only chance. Tell me who to beat up, and I’ll leave immediately.”
“You’re not beating up anybody,” though the notion was sweet, even if a trifle too violent. Billy leaned his head against his twin’s shoulder and sighed, deciding that Tommy would be the best person to tell his problems too, even if he wouldn’t really understand it.

“Something happened, with Nate. He’s been so jealous of Teddy lately, and I never knew why. I thought he was just afraid of losing me as a friend, but what he did today...he kissed me, Tommy. I know I can’t exactly be picky when it comes to potential boyfriends, but Nate is my friend. I don’t like him like that...”
Tommy was silent for a second.

“He did what?” The speedster sounded aggressive now, he was literally vibrating next to Billy, “The little fucker, I’m gonna… Gah!”
His arms wrapped tightly around his brother, “I told you he wanted into your pants, William, he’s always got eyes only for you… And he never had the balls to admit it!”

Tommy pulled his brother closer. “Don’t sulk. I’m gonna make him suffer for this. No one kisses my brother without his and my permission. Don’t worry, Teddy has a flatrate already.”

He grinned, always trying to cheer up his brother.
Billy gave a wet little snuffle of laughter, burying his face in his brother’s neck. Tommy was violent and loud, but also kind of sweet. Like right now, he felt justifiably outraged because someone had dared to kiss his twin brother. There was hope for the speedster yet. Maybe one day, he’d find someone who actually deserved his sweet concern.
“He’s my friend, Tommy, you don’t have to do anything. I can sort it out with him myself...but...I’d feel better if you could...not leave me alone with him tomorrow. I asked Teddy to come over and study and I think Nate really disapproves.”
“Of course. You shall not be left alone, brother.”

Tommy nodded slightly to himself and seemed utterly pleased with the fact he was actually allowed to keep Nate from being too close to his twin.
“And if you need me to… you know, make him pay, I’d love to do that. Just sayin’, so you know.”

He leaned back on Billy’s bed. Silence occurred for a while, then Tommy muttered, “Wanna watch a movie together?”

It was rare he asked Billy to do something with him, but if he did, he always meant it.
“What kind of movie? Not another witch-hunting one though, those are really creepy and kind of boring,” Billy was easily persuaded to spend time with his loudmouthed twin, since, you know, he adored him. They had not had each other for long, but somehow, Billy and Tommy had grown closer than any sibling could wish for.
“What about dinner? Can I persuade you to excuse me or do I have to magic myself some up later?”

“Not necessary, idiot. I’m gonna get you some, just wait up. Mom’ll be happy to hear you are actually alive.”

The speedster simply disappeared, only to appear three minutes later again, with a plate full of spinach, potatoes and some fried fish filet. “Mom was happy. Eat and be content”, he said as he handed over the table. “What about Blair Witch project?”
Tommy grinned. He had a thing for watching stuff related to witches, ever since he had found out his brother had found a liking to occult religions like Wicca and similar beliefs.

He disappeared again, only to come back with his blanket and his pillow.
“I’m gonna sleep over here. You don’t want me to be leaving you? Here you go, I’m here.”
“You don’t have to overdo it Tommy,” Billy grumbled, tucking into his dinner. Rebecca Kaplan was truly a wonderful cook, as well as a fantastic mother. Even if he was suicidally depressed, Billy would not have been able to resist eating her food.
Once his twin was settled, he shuffled closer as the movie started. He didn’t actually get freaked out by scary movies, but Tommy’s passion for them lead him to pretending he did, so he could get a free snuggle from his surly twin.
“So what am I going to do about Nate? I thought my friendzoning him was pretty clear, but what do I do if he asks me out?”

“Say no and tell him to fuck off, seriously. He’s an asshole that only wants into your pants. And probably into your ass, the fucking pretend-to-be-hetero.”

Tommy’s arm wrapped around his twin’s shoulder protectively.
“Look, Billy, it’s not like I don’t approve of you having a boyfriend or even only a friend. But Nate... He’s a twit, I hate him.”

They watched the movie in silence and soon enough, Billy was fully cuddled against his twin brother.
Tommy’s chin was resting on his brother’s dark mop of hair and he revelled in the feeling of Billy’s chest rising and falling with his breathing against his chest.
Suddenly, it knocked and Billy almost fell off the bed in shock.
Thomas nearly squeaked.

“Mom!”, they said in unison.

“Just wanted to wish you a good night... Billy, whatever it is, be happy you got a brother like this...”
Rebecca smiled and closed the door, then opened it again,” Don’t go to bed too late, we’re going family shopping tomorrow.”

Thomas rolled his eyes, “Yah yah, whatever.”
His plan was perfect. He had invited Teddy to come with them tomorrow, as a little surprise for his brother.
“Night mom,” Billy muttered sleepily. Watching a movie with Tommy had calmed him down and reassured him that rejecting Nate would not be the end of his happy days. Sure, he didn’t exactly enjoy family shopping outings, but at least he didn’t have to get up early for school. He could avoid Nate all weekend.
“You know, she’s right. I am happy to have a brother like you...”

“You should be. I’m amazing. I should be allowed to kiss you for that. Screw Nate, screw Teddy, you should have a crush on me.”

There was awkward silence, then Tommy grinned broadly and said, “Dang, I’m not gay. sorry to disappoint you.”

“Dork. Why would I have a crush on you? You’re my brother and disgustingly straight,” Billy shoved at the speedster lightly, before letting himself fall back and hit the cushions of his bed. Tommy was staying anyway, so it didn’t matter whether he was upright or laying down. He pondered his twin’s words. What would he do if he actually had a crush on his brother? Besides the incest factor, which he was pretty sure Tommy didn’t mind whatsoever, since neither of them would ever get pregnant or something like that.
“What if you were gay? Just as a hypothetical question. Who would you go for? Teddy? You two seem to be best buds already...”

“Mmhhm, if I answered that question.. that would be pretty gay wouldn’t it?”
Tommy’s green eyes wandered over his brother. He’d go for Billy, but he couldn’t tell him that?
“Who would you like to see me with?”, he asked with a smug grin, then pressed a finger on his brother’s lips and leaned over him.
“Shh, listen to the deal before you complain. You tell me who you’d like to see me with, you know, since you are gay and everything… You should know how you like your porn, right?“
The speedster’s grin widened even more, “And then I’ll tell you.. Whom I’d probably go for if I – and in the non-existent fact – I was gay.”
“Alright, I’ll take that deal,” Billy talked around his twin’s finger, not at all discomforted by his proximity. They were very close after all.
“Hm, let’s see...I’d like to see you...topped. Before you start ranting to defend your masculinity, you wouldn’t be a submissive bottom, which is what would make it exciting for your top. You need someone...who can be your polar opposite, but also not too laid back to not do crazy stuff you enjoy. Actually, if you didn’t hate each other so much, I’d say Nate. If, you know, you ever got past whatever you two don’t like about each other.”
Billy grinned broadly, expecting a tirade of how unlikely that scenario would be. But actually, impulsive yet responsible Nate would be quite a match for Tommy’s rebellious attitude of doing whatever he wanted.

Tommy’s face fell.
“NATE? Come on, Billy, don’t be an asshole! That’s... that’s gross, god, no, ew... He’s.. oh god, he’d probably be into me just because I look like you.”

The speedster seemed displeased, incredibly so. “Billy, that’s mean. I’d.. I’d actually be okay with everyone else, but Nate...”

He seemed to sulk a little, “I’m not gonna tell you who I’d choose. Nate is just... Fuck, ew. Gross.”
“Okay okay, I knew you’d be offended, but there’s no need to be a little girl about it!” Billy laughed and curled onto his side around his brother. He lightly poked Tommy in the ribs, trying to get back on his brother’s good side. Not an easy task, one might add.
“Being completely unselfish, I could see you with Teddy too. Even if it would cast me into a black abyss. He’s so easy going and patient and wonderful, he’d probably put up with you and still smile. You know, that gorgeous little smile of his that says ‘you’re super annoying, but I think you’re adorable’ smile...”
Tommy rolled his eyes. “You and your gay-o-vision. He’s not looking at me like that. You’ve got a huge crush on him, Billy, that’s all.”
But Teddy actually sounded better than Nate.

“Well, since you’ve redeemed yourself - I’m gonna keep my promise, brother dearest.”

And according to his preferred nickname ‘Speed’, Tommy quickly changed their positions and was now on top of his brother, pressing his twin into the sheets.
Billy looked at him with those huge brown eyes like that.

“Let’s see... If I was... like you, I’d...”
Tommy’s voice was a mere whisper by now, “I’d crush on you so hard. Literally hard, if you know what I mean. Yeah, I admit it, it’s a little... narcissistic, but yeah.”
“Are you serious? That’s kind of flattering, in a very you way,” Billy couldn’t help notice their suggestive positions and swallowed, hard. As big as his crush on Teddy was, he knew he didn’t have a chance. Teddy treated him kindly, but as a friend and he could tell by looking at those beautiful blue eyes that the gentle blond did not have any further interest in him. He shouldn’t be as hurt as he was by that. And he definitely shouldn’t feel so strongly urged to let Tommy of all people ease the pain for him. Tommy was his brother, for god’s sake.
But then again, his twin had made no subtle hint to being possibly attracted to Billy.
“Would you date me, or would we just have a sexy relationship of convinience?”

“You’re my twin”, Thomas answered, wearing a smug grin again, “I’d only have sex with you of course. We’re brothers. I’d help you to find yourself a nice boyfriend, but during the.. searching time I’d help you... uh, ease your tension.”

Green eyes lingered on brown ones and silence occurred for a while.
“If I was gay that is.”

he was still positioned on top of Billy and noticed how awkward his brother was feeling. And he wouldn’t be Tommy if he wouldn’t use exactly this situation to make his twin feel even more awkward.

His hand ‘accidentally’ run down his brother’s side on its search for the remote control while the other one landed on Billy’s chest.
“Uh, Tommy? Are you just intent on making me uncomfortable, or do you have a legitimate reason to tenderly feel me up?” Billy usually had trouble being so frank with attractive men, but Tommy was his twin and had done plenty of stupid, weirdly intimate stuff with him. He wouldn’t put it past the speedster to actually make out with him just to mess with Billy’s head. Qualities he hated and loved about Tommy, mark one. He had to honestly restrain himself from touching his twin. His ‘gay’ senses were definitely overloading. He just wanted to feel a firm, male body pressed tightly against him in a way he’d never experienced. In all the ways he’d dreamed about Teddy’s body feeling against his own. His heart ached as he thought of the blond. He’d promised himself he’d never fall so hard for an unreachable guy, but here he was, right back in that boat.

“No, actually, I wanna make you feel comfortable. Close your eyes. Pretend I’m Teddy. You obviously need this.”
And Billy was right. Tommy actually planned on making out with his twin, but not to mess with his head but to make him feel at ease and to maybe relieve some tension.
And Tommy wouldn’t be Tommy if he didn’t take the opportunity to make Billy feel awkward.

“Close your eyes, William. Pretend I’m Teddy. What would you like me to do, hu?”
“Tommy, it doesn’t work, you don’t sound like him or look like him or anything at all,” but, obedient as he was, Billy closed his eyes and pictured the beautiful blond of his daydreams. He gave a sigh. Tommy wasn’t going to give in on his little venture and he was right, Billy did sort of need this. After three minutes of awkward yet expectant silence, the dark-haired teen sighed once more and began speaking, even though this was extremely embarrassing.
“...Teddy? Could you...maybe touch me? I’ve been wanting you to do that since I first saw you...You have such amazing hands...”

“Yeah, sure..”, Tommy said quietly as his hands travelled lower, fingers wandering over his waistband, then they slipped underneath the dark-haired twin’s shirt and pushed the fabric upwards, revealing Billy’s belly.

Tommy surpressed his little grin, it was dark anyway, but Billy would stop at once if he noticed that his brother was making fun of him.
Instead, he whispered quietly and in his best kind of Teddy-impression, “Billy, gods... I’ve... uhm, I’ve been wanting to.. to do this, to touch you, god...”

The speedster’s skilled fingers quickly got Billy’s shirt off of him.
“You’re gorgeous, Billy”, Tommy whispered, “I’m so incredibly gay for you, Billy...”
alright, he needed to make a little fun, otherwise this would get too awkward, especially if he considered the way Billy’s cheeks had darkened and his nipples were incredibly hard...
“You’re ruining the illusion, idiot,” Billy whispered, but the flush on his cheeks remained. Yes, he was enjoying this. The touch of male hands on his body seemed to be just what he had been waiting for his entire life, because now he was responding to it no matter who was behind it.
“Could you maybe kiss me? Teddy?”

Tommy leaned in, “Sure, Billy.”

Feeling Billy’s rather quick breath on his chin was strangely arousing, also the way he was clinging to him, the way he bent his head back and arched his back a little to eagerly meet Tommy’s lips.

When their lips met, the kiss was shy and slow at first, but soon enough it became sloppier, wet and Tommy felt his brother’s desperate hands on him, under his shirt, on his waist, on his ass, pressing him down and tightly against Billy’s hips.
And, shit, this was really going... somewhere, and Tommy rapidly lost sight of where it was going to end...
Billy was incredibly aroused right now, Tommy didn’t even need to feel the hardness beneath the light fabric of his pyjamas to notice that. he could see it in his brother’s expression, could feel it in the way the dark-haired twin frantically touched him.

“Billy...”

That had been a moan and Tommy completely lost sight of what he was doing here. Billy wanted him and he wanted Billy right now.
And the heat of the moment was, famously, a poor judge of character. Billy knew this was wrong, that this wasn’t whom he was imagining, this wasn’t whom he should be doing this, but he wanted so badly right now, to be touched and to touch, to feel a hot body pressed to his own, as lost in the moment as he himself was. Tommy wasn’t pulling back or stopping, so this wasn’t Billy’s fault. This was happening and it seemed beyond their control. This was rapidly evolving into more than a little teasing. Billy’s fingers pressed into Tommy’s firm cheeks again and he rotated his hips beneath his twins. The friction made him moan, unabashedly, he let the physical wave of pleasure be known. Tommy was definitely fulfilling his little goal of releasing Billy’s lingering tension.
“Tee...”

At this rate, they would both come into their pants. This was ridiculous, embarrassing dry-humping, and they were both doing it and probably looking incredibly stupid doing so...
But hell, it felt good.

Tommy rolled his hips to rub himself against his brother. Billy was so hard right now, he could feel it... Not that things looked any better in his own pants.
He took off his shirt as well, and both of them gasped when the speedster pressed his brother down with his full body.
This was bad, this was wrong, but oh so good.
They really should stop, but neither twin seemed to think of that possibility right now. This was all about the pleasure they both felt, the pleasure they both gave to the other, the hot and hard now. Billy ground hard against his twin, his face pressed into Tommy’s shoulder, his eyes tightly shut as he gasped and tried to muffle his groans. Bad enough they were doing this, they didn’t need their mother walking in on this twin-rut-fest.
It didn’t take long before the dark-haired teen came into his pants with a shrieky little groan that should have been embarrassing, but with the situation, he just couldn’t care about that.

The way Billy clung to him, the way his fingernails dug into Tommy’s naked back... He couldn’t help but like the pain, like the way Billy’s quick breath was hot against his chest, like the pressure of his brother’s crotch against his own...

Tommy gave a little yelp and a gasp as he released himself - into his pants.
They were silent, even after they had regained their breath, until Tommy finally managed to say,
“I’m... I’m not gay. I just wanted to help you and got a little carried away, okay? That’s all. Never - never - speak about this to anyone.”
Billy mutely shook his head. Who the hell would he tell anyway?! Who would want to know what he and his twin did in the privacy of his bedroom? Well, social services, probably, but Billy didn’t want to lose Tommy, ever, so nope, he wasn’t going to tell anyone. Even if it had felt incredible. He was still out of breath.
“Uhm...I’m gonna shower, Tommy...thank you.”

Tommy was silent for a minute, then got up. “I’m coming with you...”

They entered the bathroom in silence and the speedster locked the door behind them.
They also got into the shower wordlessly, but Tommy had always had a faible for washing his brother’s hair.

The shower wasn’t huge, they were standing close to each other and when Billy turned around, Tommy was almost pressed against his back.

“Like that?”, he muttered when Billy gave a little pleased groan. He wanted to spoil his brother a little, show him... that even if Nate was angry and Teddy didn’t care about him... Tommy would be there for him.
*
Getting up as usual and going out with the family the next morning seemed terribly awkward for a daily task. Breakfast was sort of silent and Billy was almost happy to be stuck in the car with their younger brothers and parents. It was so weird, to just pretend nothing happened, but at the same time, to remember so vividly how good Tommy had felt against his body, how good it had felt to feel like they were having some sort of sex, how fucking gorgeous his twin really was especially when he wanted to please Billy...
So that was why Billy completely didn’t notice that the car stopped at another house, not at the mall and a certain blond appeared.

“Stop daydreaming, billy and come here...”, Tommy hissed and almost pulled his twin to sit on his lap, as Teddy opened the door.

“Hi everyone”, he greeted with a soft, shy smile. “Hi Teddy!”, the younger twins replied in unison, they really loved Teddy for some weird reason.
“Hey dickface”, Tommy greeted with a grin only to get scolded by his mother.

“Thomas! Words like that not in front of your brothers... And hi Teddy, just get in, we’re a little crowded today, but I guess we can need your help today. We’re gonna buy new beds for the twins. The younger twins and a closet for Billy.”

“Hi Mrs. K, yeah, okay, Tommy told me already, that’s why I’m here for.”
Teddy was always polite and soemtimes, Rebecca seemed to love him more than her own sons.
Billy gave a little squeak when Teddy got into the car and then a snort at his mother’s words.
“Do I really need another closet to come out of?”
His family was well aware of his preference for men and very comfortable with it. It was almost enough reason for Billy to stand his mother’s psychiatric analysis of everyone they knew and his father’s annoying habit of burning coffee in the morning.
“Hi Teddy,” he offered tentatively and with the sass turned down to zero.

“Hi Billy, sorry... for being huge.”
He grinned a little awkwardly and tried to make himself as small as possible.
The Kaplans’ car wasn’t that small, but they had four children plus Teddy right now and so it was pretty crowded.

Billy was squeezed between his twin and Teddy and Tommy made no secret out of his need for a lot of space just so his brother was pressed against the blond.
“I’m sorry, my brother seems to have grown to size XXL overnight,” Billy grumbled, feeling his body pressed tightly to Teddy’s. Nonononono, this was so not the moment to be thinking of Teddy naked, or Teddy during PE, or Teddy in general. Their arms, legs and sides were touching and Billy was sure he felt like a furnace right now. His heart was pounding in his throat.
“So, uh, Tommy invited you along huh? I’m glad you two get on so well, Tommy’s not good with being nice to people.”

“Oh, he’s quite nice to me, don’t worry.”

Teddy smiled lightly. Billy’s body pressed against him was ridiculously warm. He smelled nice as well. Not too soapy, nor sweaty.. it was a mixture of his very own scent and some nice shower gel - as if he had showered last night or something...

“I’m nice to you cause you’re new. As long as you’re not new anymore, i’ll hate you”, Tommy proclaimed with a grin.
Teddy snorted, “Yeah, sure. Will hate you as well, then.”
“Isn’t it enough that you hate Nate, Tommy? Don’t lose the only friend you have!” Billy snapped out of his Teddy-induced stupor long enough to quip at his brother. In a way, Tommy, was just as lonely as Billy in the friend department. People couldn’t easily deal with Tommy’s brusque honesty and behaviour. It was hard to have friends when you were so determined to prove you didn’t care about anybody.
Billy almost regretted saying it though, because he always thought Tommy deserved so much more attention and affection than he was getting. Actually, he’d gotten some frontline affection last night. The dark-haired teen turned a deep red as he remembered rutting against Tommy’s hips with desperate longing for the boy now sitting next to him.
Oh god, Teddy. How could anyone be so perfect? If it wasn’t creepy and completely indecent, Billy would lick the blond’s face.

Teddy tried to look as normal as possible as he observed Billy from the corner of his eyes.
The boy had a deep blush on his face and seemed incredibly embarrassed.
He knew Billy had a crush on him, Tommy had told him but it was obvious anyway. Yet, Teddy made no move.
Billy was his friend’s twin and Tommy was incredibly protective of Billy. He always watched when Teddy interacted with his brother and the last thing the blond boy wanted was to make Tommy angry by flirting with his brother too much.

Then again, he didn’t even know Billy. Teddy knew he was a geek, a nice one though with a heart for animals and comic book characters. Billy loved to live in his own world and somehow, Teddy felt... very connected to him although they were so different.
Silently, Teddy admired the younger, dark-haired boy. Billy never stood back or hid himself, even if completely being himself brought him more problems than it solved.

Tommy was bickering with Billy by now; while the white-haired twin was trying to push Billy against Teddy, Billy leaned back with all his weight, only to get scolded by Rebecca. The other Kaplan twins seemed extremely happy when their mother told their older brothers they were behaving like babies.

When the volume in the car was almost eardrum-destroyingly high, Rebecca called, “We’re there guys!”
“Finally!” Billy was first out of the car door and almost got run over by someone parking in very quickly. He narrowly slid onto the sidewalk in front of the other car’s fender. The owner of the parking vehicle immediately started shouting at the teen who just brushed him off with a mumbled apology. It wasn’t as if the car ride had been incredibly uncomfortable due to the fact he had been crushed against Teddy’s side and had the blond lifted an arm, he most likely would not have been able to resist cuddling into him. God the world wasn’t fair. His crush on Teddy was worse than any he’d ever experienced and the blond was so obviously not interested in him it hurt.
Rebecca got out of the car and first yelled at the other driver, then at her son who just hung his head and apologized again. Once everyone else had piled out of the car, they were ‘split’ into groups. Tommy, Billy and Teddy were allowed to go off on their own whilst the younger twins were to stay with their parents.
“So...we’re teenagers at a mall. What do we do?”

Teddy looked around. He had never been here before, Tommy and Billy seemed to know where everything was though.
He pushed his hands into his pockets and shrugged lightly.
“What about we go and get your closet?”

“Teddy, that’s incredibly boring. You’re incredibly boring”, Tommy stated, “Do you always do what adults tell you to do?”

Teddy grinned shyly and shrugged, “I’m your guest...”

Tommy punched his shoulder lightly, “You big idiot. You’re our guest and that’s why we’re going to have fun, right, Billy? What about we...”
The white-haired teen seemed to have the idea of his life. He grinned smugly, then grabbed Billy’s arm. “Come on, Teddy.”

He pulled them both through the shopping mall so quickly the two didn’t even have time to look around. Teddy just sent Billy a helpless little grin and Billy rolled his eyes at him.

“There we are. Billy, look at this, I bet you’d like something like that...”
They were in a goddamn sex shop and Tommy was pointing at probably the biggest fake dick they had here with the goddamn biggest grin he could manage.
If the blush in the car had been bad, it was nothing compared to the pure, putrid red Billy turned now. How the hell had Tommy even managed to drag them in here without either of them noticing?! And what did he even want in here?! Well, the answer lay on hand; to embarrass the fuck out of Billy, obviously.
“Tommy! What even! You’re impossible!” And with that, Billy stalked off down a row of dildos and buttplugs, steam practically shooting from his ears. He never went into these places personally, he just looked up stuff like this online. Where no one could see him.
And Tommy had done this IN FRONT of Teddy, which made everything even worse. Billy swore never to speak to his twin again.
I hate you, I’m cutting you out of my will, you’re not my bro anymore! came to Tommy’s phone seconds later.

Teddy didn’t seem embarrassed at all.
Actually, he was, but he knew how to hide it. He just pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and looked around, frowning lightly at Tommy as he showed him the text.

“I’m gonna talk to him...”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “You’re too good for this world, seriously. Just let him sulk, hell, he’s sixteen, gay and can’t even deal with a boring sex shop!”

Teddy sighed, “Just wait here..”
Billy had looked pretty embarrassed, actually, embarrassed enough to seem hurt by his brother’s stupid idea.

*

Teddy wasn’t intending to flirt with Billy, but he knew icecream always helped Tommy’s twin. That was why he went to buy some for him before he went to search for him.

He found him standing next to one of the escalators, hands in his pockets, looking dark and staring at his feet.

“Hey... You okay?”
Teddy paused, then offered the ice cream. “I’m sure Tommy meant it to be funny. Don’t be embarrassed, it’s fine... We’ve all been in a shop like that, and we’ve all ordered stuff from online, uh, erotic stores, right?”

Oh dear god, why was this boy so perfect? Billy accepted the ice-cream wordlessly, though he kept his gaze to the floor. Tommy’s little prank was going to sit in his bones for days, weeks even, where he’d lose sleep because he rolled around in the agony of humiliation thanks to his obnoxious twin.
“He’s stupid. He’s always picking on me with shit like that and I’m sick of it. It’s not like I, I dunno, show him pictures of STD infections to make a point about his loose sexual morale,” okay, a bad comparison and Billy would throw up at the sight of female genitalia, but nevertheless, an argument.
“I’m sorry for sulking like a little kid. I’m...I’m happy you came along, you know.”
A light, feather-light touch of flirting. Billy wouldn’t allow more than that, his heart was already pounding in his throat.

Teddy smiled softly, one of his hands came up to rub the back of his head awkwardly. He usually didn’t notice when people flirted with him, but in Billy’s case he knew what the younger wanted from him and was hyper-aware of his attempts.

“Yeah, no problem...”, he muttered quietly, “But don’t be so affected by Tommy’s weird jokes. He’s just... lonely.”

They were silent for a minute and staring at everything else and everywhere else than at each other.
“Wanna go... uhm, wanna go somewhere? Tommy’s busy with his fake dicks and all...”
Teddy managed a grin. He was nervous right now, he was practically asking Billy for a date.
And that was exactly how it sounded to Billy too, who’s response was something close to hyperventilation. Was this happening? Or was Teddy just being his adorable, kind self?
“We, uh could go to the comic bookstore. I really want some new issues and they come in today...”
A date at a comic book store? Brilliant plan to end up a lonely old catperson, Billy Kaplan.
“I’ll buy you a coffee or something,” he added as if it was an appropriate excuse to bore people on dates.

“Don’t like coffee”, Teddy said quickly with an apologizing smile, “But comics sound good.”

He had read comics sporadically, now and then, like everyone else. He had played Pokémon like everyone else, had collected Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and was able to play Magic. Just like everyone else.
But Teddy Altman had never even once thought about what his own hobby was, what he really loved to do, had never dared to be anything else than normal.

Right now, when Billy led him to the comic book store and entered it as if it was the most normal thing in the world, teddy felt as if he was opening a whole new chapter in his life.
Teddy liked this place. And he could very well imagine coming here more often...
Billy was kind of immediately encapsulated in his comic world, seeking out the tables that contained the newest volumes and sticking his nose into one within seconds. After half a minute of eager reading, he remembered his guest. Not date, that was too hopeful. This was beautiful Teddy, about to be inducted into the weird Billy world.
“Uhm, so, do you have any childhood favourites you might want to revisit? Spider-man, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four or the X-Men maybe? Or do you want be totally badass and pick something completely at random? What kind of stories and characters do you like?”
Billy had never spoken to Teddy this much before, his eyes were glowing with enthusiasm.

“Uhm...” Teddy seemed to be a little overflowed with information, he needed a minute to actually grasp his environment. Then, his blue eyes landed on Billy, “I’ve always liked the Avengers... But it’s ages ago since I’ve read about them; is there uh, anything you recommend for, mh, let’s say re-entering the story?”

it was actually really nice to talk to Billy other than only hearing him argue with his brother or watch him be silent and as invisible as possible.
And Teddy absolutely loved the way his eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.
Billy continued to sparkle as he brought Teddy volumes and volumes of comic books and began explaining the multiple universes, the storylines, character changes, artist changes and individual spinoffs. Teddy didn’t have to say a single word, because for once, the dark-haired teen was doing ALL the talking. Not Tommy, not Nate, but Billy. He felt so comfortable in the comic book store. This was his world, these were his friends whose stories he followed with avid passion. And now Teddy was showing interest, he found that he couldn’t shut up.
“And that’s why you always need to read Captain America and Iron Man in tandem, because the two of them are practically attached at the hip,” Billy was kind of shoving Teddy gently towards a bright counter that showed very odd bubbles inside of a cup.
“Have you tried Bubbletea? It’s this japanese thing, a drink, it’s pretty good, although I keep telling them it doesn’t really belong in a western comic ensemble.”

Teddy had played sponge for the past twenty minutes and sucked up all the information Billy had given him.
He had found out that the guys Billy had told him about were actually really interesting, and he definitely wanted to know more. Which was why he would definitely go to the comic book store around the block when he got home.

“Uh, no, haven’t tried it... But I’d like to, looks funny.”

Billy insisted on paying for him and soon enough the two boys were sitting in the middle of the shopping mall close to a fountain on a bench, drinking Bubble Tea and reading the comics Billy had bought.

“This stuff is really awesome...”, Teddy muttered and waved his half-empty drink, “And there’s a comic book store around the corner where I live, I’m gonna go there tomorrow.”
“And another convert is born,” Billy grinned behind his straw and for a minute, just plain beamed at Teddy. He knew he had plenty of reasons to already like the blond, but he was just making it easier and easier. Billy wanted to ask Teddy so badly if he even liked guys, or if he was straight or asexual or whatever. Maybe nice guys like him had really weird kinks. Maybe Billy just wasn’t Teddy’s type.
Flat out asking was definitely impossible, so Billy went for the second best option.
“I’d like to...hang out with you again, if you want. I mean, I can tell you more about any comic books...Tommy likes to call me a nerd, but I know for a fact he reads Ghost Rider, The Punisher and Deadpool. He’s also not seeing anyone, in case he hasn’t told you.”
There it was, a risky enquiry to Teddy’s sexuality. Billy pretended to stay cool, but he held his breath.

The fact that Billy had actually told him about the fact Tommy wasn’t seeing anyone made Teddy frown very lightly and suck a little bit too much of bubble tea into his mouth.
He swallowed harshly.

“I... uh, he told me he had a girlfriend... But I didn’t believe it anyway.” Teddy smiled lightly and masterfully hid his embarrassment as he asked nonchalantly, “What about you though, do you have a boyfriend?”
The held breath came out as a cough and Billy suddenly found his bubbles completely fascinating amongst the ice-cubes.
“Uh, no, of course not. See, the comic book nerdiness and general awkwardness aren’t really attractive to any gay guys I meet. They’re all about parties and dancing and drinking and stuff, all of which I don’t particularly like. Nor am I terribly fashionable or sassy like a queen.”

Teddy’s eyes were focused on the advertisement on the ceiling, but he wasn’t really looking...
“I think you’re... I think you’re uhm.. you’re fine the way you are.”

He paused.
“But that’s judgement from a gay guy who’s not so much into parties...”
In fact, Teddy went to parties, but only because people invited him and only because everyone went on parties..
“Can you just...hold on,” Billy had to replay that short sentence in mind. There was no way he could have heard that right. Okay, one, Teddy thought he was fine the way he was. Two, did he describe himself as gay? Billy’s heart seemed to have stopped and started pounding like a sledgehammer within split seconds.
“Can you just rewind to that part where I think you said you were gay?”

Okay, this was his chance to take everything back.
But Billy was staring at him with so much hope right now and he had spoken the truth and nothing but. To Teddy, it was painfully obvious he was gay. He had never had a girlfriend even though the girls from there class were almost queueing...

“You thought I was straight? Yeah, that’s uh... years of training, I guess. I’m always thinking it’s painfully obvious I’m into guys.”
“Not at all,” Billy tried to look away from Teddy, he tried to be less creepy and obvious. But oh my god, this was so unfair. So this gorgeous guy was not only gorgeous but also gay. If only Billy wasn’t...himself. It was so obvious Teddy wasn’t into his type at all, it was enough to make you wanna cry.
“Kudos to you, the gaydar didn’t go off at all. So, are you seeing someone, single through conviction, a slut or just plain too gor....too occupied at the moment?”

“I’m uh... just single. Haven’t found the right one.”

Asking Billy now if he wanted to go on a date would be a little too stupid in a situation like that, right?
“Had a boyfriend once, but didn’t uh.. it didn’t erhm... wasn’t.. sorry, that’s probably not really interesting you, right?”

Teddy leaned back a little and sucked more bubbles into his mouth. He eyed Billy from the corner of his eyes.
“What about you, did you... uh, ehrm... okay, that’s a little awkward, but did you get lucky already? I’m.. cause I didn’t, really, you know? I’d like to talk to someone who... knows..”
“Sorry, I’m still a unicorn,” Billy gave a little awkward laugh to ease the tension. Teddy didn’t seem any kind of interested in talking about dates or anything. He seemed heartbroken and damaged and Billy found himself filled with the urge to wrap himself around the blond and soothe all of his ills and bad experiences.
“I’ve never had a real boyfriend, so I can only talk about my daydreams, but you probably wanna talk about broken hearts, right? You sound heartbroken.”
And I’m about to be.

Teddy looked at him in surprise for a while, then grabbed Billy’s hand and squeezed it lightly. “No, it’s fine. I don’t wanna talk about broken hearts, I guess it’s better to look forward, hm?”

The guy had been an asshole anyway. He had been Teddy’s first real crush and by the time he had told him about two years later, Greg had started to not only use him and his abilities as a friend, but also as a lover. A secret one, one might add.
It had gotten so bad that teddy’s mom had decided to take her son off of the school.

“Don’t worry... But that’s the reason I’m not really looking for anyone.”
How was that supposed to make him feel any better? Teddy was still unattainable for Billy and now, it was even worse, since going after a guy with deep wounds like that was doubly difficult if not impossible. Billy gave a sigh and treasured the moment Teddy held his hand, even if it was ever so brief.
“Do you think you ever will be?”
Because hey, he could still hope if Teddy was confident he’d be willing to look in the future. Billy knew he was on the edge of crushing and falling in love and it seemed to get worse every day, no matter how dire the situation looked.

Teddy looked at him and seemed sad for a moment.
Then he snorted and his lips stretched into a grin.
“Me not being actively looking for someone doesn’t mean I don’t want anyone. I was just.. hinting on the fact I’m a bit awkward concerning relationships, I think.”

Especially when it came to the physical part of more than just kissing...

But Billy didn’t need to know that. It wasn’t as if they were dating or anything.
It wasn’t as if he needed to know that.
But Billy seemed honestly worried about him... Those big brown eyes were watching him with concern and Teddy couldn’t help himself but find it utterly sweet.

“I don’t get why you don’t have a boyfriend though, you’re completely sweet and you do look good.”
This guy was impossible. Did he not see how completely unfair it was of him to pay Billy compliments on one had and reject him silently on the other?
“Well, actually, I think I might have...had a chance of having one, but I messed up, bad,” he didn’t know why exactly he was discussing his Nate problem with his crush, but it felt good to be able to tell someone.
“You know Nate, right? He’s sort of been my best friend for years. Well...something happened with him last night and...well I think he actually wants to be my boyfriend. But I...just can’t be attracted to him. He’s totally not my type, he’s my best friend and I just...wouldn’t fall for him, no matter how sweet or right he treated me. I know this is messed up, right? All I’ve wanted in five years was to have a boyfriend, I get one handed to me on a silver platter but I just can’t date him. It would feel so wrong...”
But instead of being bored, or thinking about what Billy had said, Teddy jumped up and grabbed both of Billy’s shoulders looking incredibly... angry.

“What did he do to you?”

He wouldn’t let that happen to him. “Billy! Tell me at once and I swear I’ll...”
Teddy didn’t even notice his arms were spiking up and his cheeks went slightly green.
“T-Teddy?!” Billy’s eyes had gone huge and round, because spikes and green colour were definitely not part of Teddy’s normal exterior. He would know, he stared at the blond nearly all day every day.
“Teddy your arms, your skin!” he whispered, before remembering what had set off this change in his companion. “And don’t worry, he just tried to kiss me.”

Teddy relaxed at once and noticed the spikes on his arm. He quickly let them disappear and looked around to check if anyone had seen him.
“Sorry”, he muttered, lowering his head, “I’m.. uh...”
He pulled a sharpie out of his pocket, and reached for Billy’s arm, writing a number on the skin.
“This is my number. Call me, if he does anything to you you don’t want. I’m.. Let’s just say I know what I’m talking about when I say you don’t want anything you don’t really want to happen to you in that kind of.. eh, area.”

He watched his arms.
“I’m... About this... it’s...”
Teddy sighed. Alright, here he was with his weird abilities. And he just hoped Billy could be trusted. He leaned forward.
“I’m a shapeshifter.”
“Really? That’s so freakin’ cool,” Billy was whispering too, though he couldn’t keep the excitement from his voice. A normal person might have freaked out, but Billy lived with Thomas Shepherd/Kaplan.
“My brother’s a speedster. He can run to Canada and back within ten minutes...but a shapeshifter, that’s awesome!”

“Yeah, he showed me..”
Teddy didn’t seem to be too happy. In fact he seemed quite... uncomfortable.
“Don’t... just don’t tell anyone, okay?”

He sighed. “About... about Nate... Don’t... just.. just tell him you wanna be friends with him, nothing more. He has to accept it. Tell me if he doesn’t. I’m gonna help you.”

They were silent for a minute.
“Wanna look for your closet now?”
“I really don’t.” Billy sighed but stood up, feeling more downtrodden and defeated than ever. The conversation had had so much potential and then something had spooked Teddy and now, Billy was further than ever from discovering whether he had a chance or not.
He bit his lip, then tugged on Teddy’s arm.
“If I told you, that hypothetically, I would want my boyfriend to be exactly like you, do you think my standards are too high to be realistic?”

Teddy turned around and looked at him.
He was speechless for a moment, then smiled shyly. There was even a little blush on his cheeks as he leaned forward and down to Billy as he said quietly, “Hypothetically speaking, if you were intending to ask me for a date with this, I would - hypothetically - say yes and ask you where you wanna go?!”
Billy gawked at him for a full five minutes, then he smiled, very subtly, but definitely happily. Oh. So it really was that easy. And hello, was he daydreaming again?! Teddy started frowning when Billy said nothing, so the dark-haired teen jumped into action.
“Well we’ve already been to the comic book store, by my choice, so our hypothetical date would be up to you. I’m particularly fond of pizza and junk food in general, just to throw it out into the hypothetical space we’re occupying.”

“Hmm, hypothetically, if were still speaking about a date... I’d say we go for a movie and then, in this uhm, hypothetical case of watching a movie together, I’d pay for your pizza.”

Teddy knew they were both being awkward now, but he noticed he loved being awkward with his friend’s twin. “Hypothetically, I’d.. uhm; I’d be proud to go on a date with you.”
“Hypothetically, uhm, I would absolutely love it if you could give me a chance to date you.”
Billy knew there was nothing hypothetical here, they were about to embark on a date and if he didn’t feel so giddy with excitement, he might have passed out.
“Next Thursday, when you’re over to study? After we’re done?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Teddy smiled happily, though he was a little confused. Hadn’t he just been telling himself to try not to flirt with Billy and here he was making sure to date him?
Oh god. What was this boy doing with him?

*

“What the hell, Billy?”
Thomas flopped himself onto his twin’s bed.
Billy was currently dressing into his pyjamas. “You act as if you could hug the world, what the fuck happened? Did Teddy give you head?”
Billy didn’t even scold Tommy for his crude wording, instead he just smiled at his twin as if even he could not possibly ruin the stellar mood he was in. And truly, he couldn’t. He pulled up his silken pyjamas and grinned as he fell backwards onto his bed.
“No, you pleb, but he did agree to go on a date with me, so all in all, the world is fantastic. I even forgive you.”

Tommy rolled his eyes, then punched Billy’s shoulder. “Don’t fuck him too hard, I still need him. In school. As friend. Unimportant things like that.”
The speedster seemed to sulk a little.
“What if you... two get together? What about meee?”
Thomas acted as if he was a little boy, but everyone who knew him, including Billy, knew there was truth to it.

Before Billy could say anything to that though, Tommy quickly added, “You know, I’m pretty convinced Teddy’d take it up the ass just easily. He’s a total bottom.”
Any response Billy might have given fell from his mouth at that statement and he guffawed instead. Not that the notion was ridiculous, it was the way Tommy had delivered it, as if it was a personal offence to him if Teddy wanted to be fucked or do the fucking.
“You know, Tommy, you can sleep easy, I don’t think there’s going to be any fucking any time soon. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t want him to be my boyfriend, because I totally do and if he goes out with me steadily, I might just explode.”

“Nate’s gonna be pissed”, Thomas informed him, “Would be best to not tell him.”

*

And so, Billy didn’t tell him.
Soon enough it was Thursday.

Tommy was rolling around on the couch, fighting with his younger brothers for the playstation controller. One of them was crying already, so much until Rebecca stuck her head out of the kitchen and growled at them to be silent.

Billy usually was part of the scene, but he was in his room right now, getting ready for his date.
Teddy would soon be there to study and then for the date...

His cellphone rang. Nate.

“Hi, uh.. Billy? I need your help.. Look, about the thing we are supposed to write in Literature...”
he started an endless monologue.
Billy glanced at the clock. Technically, he had five minutes until Teddy showed up. Sure, he could just stick to his story, he had told Nate he was ditching him to study with Teddy...but to rub it in his face was a little more mean than he could possibly be.
“It’s not really a good time, Nate. I’m kinda busy.”

Nate fell silent, “Oh. Him. I understand. You’re busy .. studying. Have fun.”
He hung up and stared at his phone, feeling incredibly angry and ditched right now. Sure, Billy had told him that before, but it hurt even more now that the thing was actually real.

Teddy cleared his throat and then rang the doorbell.
In the living room hell broke loose. Usually, Tommy and the twins physically hurt each other for being the first at the door, but this time they stopped in the door when Billy sprinted through the corridor.
Their brother running was a rare occasion.
Billy slid right up to the door and opened it with much gusto, beaming brightly at Teddy with his heart pounding in his ears. Nevermind the studying, they were going on a DATE!
“Hey, you.”
Tommy and the twins alongside Mr and Mrs Kaplan were standing in the respective adjacent rooms, all fully aware of Billy’s enormous crush on this boy.
Teddy was a little put off by the whole Kaplan family watching him enter the house.
Then he looked at Billy and smiled brightly, “Hi, you. And hi Mr and Mrs K, hi Tommy, hi to the twins as well...”

He grinned a little. Billy was still standing there, staring at him.
Which he was only doing because he could barely believe that this gorgeous creature was in his house, to see him. After staring dumbly for a second or ten, he lead the blond upstairs and shooed his family away. Nosy buggers, of course they were all curious about the potential love affair with the well-liked new kid at school.
“So, I have to tell you, I was so nervous I’ve kind of already done all the work, but I can explain it to you if you like so we can pretend this has some educational value instead of me setting up an incredibly awkward date with you.” Billy had begun babbling as he lead Teddy into his room.

Teddy chuckled. “Uh.. well, then, yeah... Just show me the thing...”
They had to do a presentation together next week and Billy had apparently already finished the Power Point Presentation.

*

It took them about half an hour to speak all the things through.

“Okay.. Wanna.. wanna go now?” They had not been awkward for the past minutes but right now, the awkwardness came back.
“Uh, yeah, let’s go. I’m good like this, pizza first? Again, I was too nervous to eat.”
Billy didn’t wait for any disagreement, so he took Teddy along to his favourite pizza place. And that was really saying something when you lived in New York. The Kaplans all waved them goodbye and wished them fun. It was as if Teddy was taking Billy to be his bride instead of for dinner and a movie.
The way wasn’t very long by train and Billy and Teddy managed to strike up a non-awkward conversation by the time they squeezed themselves into a booth and ordered their respective favourite pizzas.
“So...just to reassure myself; I didn’t pressure you somehow into this date, right?”

Teddy snorted, “No, not at all. Actually, I wanted to ask you that as well so I guess, no, neither of us pressured the other into anything. It’s cool...”

He couldn’t help looking at Billy a little. His date looked ridiculously good this evening; Billy wore some tight black jeans with his characteristic rainbow belt and a shirt, that wasn’t very tight, but rather short and almost so loose it slipped over his shoulder.
If he stretched or moved just the right way, Teddy could catch a glimpse of the firm skin on Billy’s slim body.

“You... uh, you look good. Really good. Just thought you should know that..”
“Look who’s talking,” Billy gave Teddy another charming smile as he tried not to look like a loved up idiot. Tried and failed, because he really, really liked Teddy and this was in fact their first date and he might just have a minor heart attack about that later.
“The pizza’s really good here and you’re gonna like the movie. Tell me if I’m being too bossy or direct or something, I’m usually really not outgoing but I guess that shows you how much I’ve been wanting to go on a date with you. I still can’t believe you’re gay too...”

Teddy grinned, just a tad smugly.
“You probably won’t believe it until I prove it to you, huh?”

Billy looked at him, stared at him and Teddy felt a little hot shudder run down his back as the younger’s eyes fell on his lips and lingered there.

Teddy had never thought he was that much into appearance, but Billy looked downright hot tonight. And it was giving him all the nice feelings in all the right places...

“I’m gonna prove it to you...”
“Are you? I can’t wait,” Billy was really pulling out all the stops, giving Teddy the eyes he knew worked well as he swirled his straw around his glass and watched the blond. Beautiful Teddy, here on a date with him....Billy was NOT gonna waste this opportunity.
“Can I ask another hypothetical question?”

“Sure, go on... Ask away.”
Teddy swallowed, even though his mouth felt dry. Oh god, Billy’s eyes... He had the bedroom eyes in him alright.
“Alright. If I was to say you are incredibly attractive and I’d really like to kiss you, which date would you recommend? Third, fourth, never?”
Billy had no idea where his self-confidence was coming from, he certainly wasn’t used to it and he hadn’t taken any pills to remedy his usual, shy date behaviour either. This was just bubbling out of him in the presence of Teddy and he wasn’t sure if he liked or loathed it.

Instead of a proper answer, Teddy shifted over the bench they were sitting on (luckily it was forming a half circle around the table itself) until he was sitting next to Billy.
“Actually, I’d say first. If - hypothetically speaking - you wanted to kiss me.”

Teddy turned his head to look a Billy and subconsciously gave him the most attractive bedroom eyes he was able to come up with.
Billy’s heart was back where it belonged, but air seemed scarce to his lungs. Instead, he leaned closer to Teddy and watched his eyes for even a shadow of doubt.
“I think, hypothetically, I’m going to shut up and try, anyway.” Just mere inches away from the lips he dreamed of...

Teddy felt incredibly thrilled, the back of his neck was tingling as if it was pins-and-needle-ing, then he leaned in and caught Billy’s lips in a shy kiss.

*

Originally he had been wanting to go to get himself Asian food somewhere.
Originally he had planned to not think about Billy and his crush tonight anymore.
Originally he had never calculated with witnessing this.

But as he walked past the pizza place Billy and he usually celebrated their ‘pizza night’, he decided he would get himself a pizza, even if he had to think about Billy.
And as he entered the little restaurant, ordered his pizza and accidentally looked to the side, he was confronted with his best friend actually kissing his crush.

Oh.
So that was how straight Teddy was. That was how small Billy’s chance was.

Nate felt his stomach clench and he gritted his teeth. Billy had canceled their pizza night, for this.
In Billy’s eyes, totally worth it. The kiss was shy and soft but not without want and that was what mattered most to him. He felt butterflies surge up through his stomach as he pushed a little further forward, not yet parting his lips, but readjusting himself so he could breathe softly against Teddy’s mouth. Oh god, he tasted so good. So wonderful that all Billy wanted to do was to curl up in his lap and stay there forever.
“Wow,” he whispered, “that is a swarm now, thanks to you.”

Teddy’s grin widened into a full blown smile. “I think they’re infectious”, he whispered, “I think I’ve got them now..”
His eyes though suddenly focused on a point behind Billy.
He frowned lightly.
Someone had jsut left the restaurant, slamming the door behind him.

Then, Billy was more interesting again and Teddy grabbed his hand. “Can I kiss you next time? Cause I’d like to do that again.”
“Any time. You have my permission to kiss me whenever you feel you need to. It will be fully appreciated on both sides,” Billy couldn’t help but grin at Teddy. This was going to be a wonderful night and this boy...This one, he was right. He was practically made for the teen, a break from all the shit happening to him.
*
Going to school had never been so eagerly anticipated as the next morning. Billy practically skipped out of the house, of course way ahead of his white-haired brother. He met Nate as usual, greeting him with a cheerful wave.
Nathaniel didn’t wave. He seemed kind of sick, with dark rings under his eyes.
As if he had not slept at all.

“Mornin’”, he muttered.

Billy’s happiness was disgusting, honestly. nate would have preferred Tommy to appear right away and start fighting with him.
It made his mood darken immediately.

“I didn’t finish the thing for Literature, I had absolutely no idea...”

Yeah, guilt-tripping Billy was definitely feeling good right now. He needed it...
“Oh,” and yes, the guilt-tripping took immediate effect as Billy’s grin fell and he looked concerned instead, “Well, it’s not due until tomorrow, so I could help you with it tonight, if you’d like. I’m sorry, it got kind of late last night,” the smile was creeping back because Billy was thinking of the best night of his life so far, Teddy had kissed him, he’d kissed Teddy, they’d both smiled and laughed stupidly and agreed to a second date...
“We could skype?”

Nate seemed not really pleased. “My mum’s not home tonight - would you mind coming over? You could bring your stuff, I don’t think Skype’ll be enough. I mean i read the stuff five times yesterday and didn’t get it, I think I’m more of a visual guy...”

Okay, that sounded weird but it was like that.

“Ow, shut up, that’s disgusting. No one wants to know about your sexual preferences.”

Tommy wrapped his arm around his brother’s shoulders and pulled him away.

“Okay, see you tonight, Billy!”, Nate called after Billy.

*
Billy was in high spirits as he wandered down Nate’s street. It was unbelievably quiet for this time of night and the young man whistled as he walked. Tomorrow night he would go to the comic book store around Teddy’s corner and check out where the blond lived.
“Hey Nate, it’s me!”
“Hi Billy”, Nate greeted calmly, opened the door and closed it behind his friend. When Billy didn’t look, he locked it and took the key.

“Cleaned my room”, Nate grinned lightly, usually it was filled with various electronic devices and eletric circuits.

He led his friend into his room and closed the door behind them too, a thing he had never done before. Usually, they were alone here anyway and Nate’s door was always open for the cat.

Nate waited until Billy had settled into the place on his bed he usually sat on, then he sat down behind him.
It irritated and confused the younger boy, he could sense that and it excited him strangely to know he was causing this kind of feeling in Billy...
Billy figured his friend was trying to get back at him for ditching pizza night by being a little sulky, a little weird and definitely begrudging. Maybe Nate had guessed that Billy had done something with Teddy, because the teen was so happy he couldn’t hide it.
“So, we better start from the beginning, I hope this won’t take all night,”

“Is there something you have planned for tonight?”
Nate was now leaning over his shoulder, seconds from grabbing his friend’s sides and pressing him into the bed. Fuck Literature, he had managed to do that on his own.
The only thing he wanted right now was Billy.
And knowing he could have him if he wanted to... It excited him to no ends.

Billy had already begun talking about school stuff, but Nathaniel didn’t even listen. The only thing he could think about was Billy, Billy beneath him, staring at him with lust-cloudy eyes, Billy naked, Billy moaning, Billy arching his back into his touch...

This was really turning him on right now and when Billy accidentally touched his arm, he couldn’t help himself.

Quickly, he had caught the younger boy’s arms and forced them over Billy’s head as he suddenly pressed him back into the bed.
Before Billy could say anything, Nate was on top of him and kissing him, wildly.

“N-Na-rthjnmlgf!!” Billy was trying his best not to scream, but this felt definitely way over the line. The questioning kiss from a week ago had been enough. He’d said all he could to Nate about that. So why the hell was this happening!?
Billy managed to wedge his knee between them to keep Nate’s body at bay and his lips sealed tightly so Nate wouldn’t be able to taste his mouth.

Nate pressed himself against his friend, then noticed Billy wasn’t doing anything - but that didn’t stop him at all.
“Fuck, Billy”, he breathed against the younger’s tightly sealed lips, “Come on, this will be really nice.. You will like it, I promise.”

The older managed to bind Billy’s hands over his head to the headboard of the bed. after all, Nate worked out and Billy didn’t...

Nathaniel knew this was wrong, he knew he was destroying everything right now. Billy looked panicked, but it thrilled him.

He managed to sit down on Billy’s legs, then his hands pushed up his shirt, revealing the pristine, smooth skin that covered his lean, slightly toned body.

Nate knew he was hard, this whole situation was turning him on like hell.

“Oh god, Billy...”
“Get off of me! What the fuck Nate! Stop it!” Billy struggled against the bindings, but evidently Nate had been prepared for this. What the hell! What kind of sicko had his best friend turned into?! If this was a joke, it had gone way too far.
The slim teenager could only hope his previously best friend would come to his senses and realize Billy did NOT want any of this.

Okay, he had not known he was a fan of bondage, but apparently he was.
Billy was teasing him, he was sure of him. He wanted him, deep down he wanted him, he had always wanted him, Nate could see it in his eyes.
And he would give BIlly what he wanted.

He leaned over him, “I’m gonna make your first time perfect, Billy, I promise. You’ve earned it. You’re perfect... I’ve thought about this.. dreamt about it for so long...”

Nate took off his shirt, revealing a well-toned body, then got up. “Just wait here, I’m gonna get some stuff we might need.”
He wandered off as if he had all time in the world.
Billy was going to need therapy, he already knew that as he lay there on the bed, helplessly tied to the posts with his shirt bunched up over his nipples. He barely bit back tears. This was so fucked up and wrong! What the hell had gotten into Nate?! He wasn’t going to be helping with Lit, he was going to get raped. No matter how well Nate would care to prepare him, Billy did not want this, he didn’t want Nate and he definitely didn’t want sex.
“Someone help me...please, oh god, someone help me,” he whispered as he twisted his hips to get his phone to fall onto the mattress, maybe he could foot-dial 911.
At least life gave him this little advantage because his phone did fall out and if he hiked up his knees, he could toe the display. He didn’t know who he was calling and it didn’t matter, anyone could help right now.
When someone answered the phone, Billy had to contain himself to be quiet.
“Please, help me, whoever picked up, please I need...I need help!”

Teddy had been in bed already, gaming on his Ps2 when his cellphone rang. ‘BIlly’ it said on the display.
With a little grin and his heartbeat speeding up, he answered the call.

His face fell though as he heard Billy’s panicked voice. “Billy? What’s going on? Where the fuck are you?”
“Teddy?” Billy whispered, a lump already in his throat and his eyes thick with tears, “Teddy I’m...I’m at Nate’s house, he....he tied me up and- shit, he’s coming back. Please get me help Teddy, I don’t know what he’s gonna do, he’s acting completely fucking crazy!”

Teddy felt something in his chest turn ice-cold. Then, he did the only thing that was logical - he hung up. It might not help to calm down billy, but it helped to stop Nate from being suspicious of anything.

He had promised to help Billy and he would do exactly that.

*

Nate had taken off Billy’s jeans by now, leaving him in only his shorts. “Seriously, Billy... I know you’ll like it, just trust me... We’re friends, right? And we can be so much more... We will be so much more.”
“I don’t want this Nate, stop it, you’re fucking crazy, what did you take you dumb bastard?!” Billy didn’t have much strength left in him after his lengthy struggle with the physically superior Nate, but he would never lower himself to pretending to like this. He looked away from his pale, spread thighs and tried to picture himself somewhere else, anywhere else, anything that wasn’t this horrible abyss.

“Shhh, calm down, baby”, Nate purred, hands wandering up the younger’s sides. Then he leaned over him, kissing his chest, licking over Billy’s chest. “You’re perfect”, he whispered, “You can’t imagine how much I’ve wanted this all along.. How often I thought about this when jerking off...”

His fingers slid under the waistband of Billy’s shorts. “You need this, I know it, Billy... Just stay still or it’s going to hurt...”

Something cracked downstairs. A loud noise that made nate look up and frown deeply. Heavy steps could be heard on the stairs.
By now, Nathaniel had gotten up and was about to close the door again when it flew open and something green and big and angry stood in the door, its hands wrapped around Nathaniel’s throat.

“Youuuu...!!”

Teddy had never been this angry before.
He spread his wings, destroying a lot of Nate’s interior but he couldn’t care less.
Nate stared at him with his eyes wide and his hands on the hand around his neck.
He couldn’t even speak.

Teddy was one step a way from killing Nate, but instead he simply broke his leg and let him fall to the floor.
Then he went to bend over Billy on the bed. His hands, even though big and green, managed to get him rid off the ties.
“You okay?”, he asked quietly, then wrapped his arms around him, took him up into his arms and left the room over the balcony - not without kicking NAte as he left though.

Teddy took off into the nightsky.
Billy couldn’t help himself, he had to let the frustration, helplessness and fear out and sobbed into Teddy’s chest not even getting a word of gratitude for the rescue out. He’d almost been raped. By his best friend, whom he had trusted and known so long.
It took a very long time for Billy to calm down. The nightair was cold around them, but Teddy was warm and safe and just right there.
“Teddy,” he croaked out quietly, “Teddy, why did he...why would he...”

“Cause he’s a fucking sicko!”
Teddy growled, he was still incredibly angry, “Gods, shit, it’s... I’m sorry I couldn’t come quicker, I flew as fast as I could.. Sorry.”
He cradled Billy closer.
“You want me to bring you home? We should call the police...”
Billy shook his head against Teddy’s chest, “No, not police...and not my home. Not like this. If my mother saw she would freak the fuck out...Teddy, thank you...for coming at all.”
It’s not like anybody else had ever come to save Billy from something this gruesome, because getting beaten up for being gay was nowhere near this level. Nothing Billy had ever experienced had made him feel so helpless and horrible and stupid at the same time.
“I’m sorry...can I stay...with you, just tonight? Please, I can’t go home.”

“Of course, yeah...”
Teddy was actually quite happy about this, he had assumed Billy wanted to see his family as soon as possible.
Soon enough he landed on his balcony and transformed back, Billy still in his arms. He carried him into the room and placed him onto the bed.
Billy had never been here.
“You... uh.. you wanna have something to sleep in from me? Some shorts and a shirt? Oh, and if you wanna take a shower... I’ll show you where the bathroom is, my mum’s not home, everything#s good. We just have to think of an excuse for your family.”
“Call Tommy, tell him...tell him I’m staying over at yours and need a cover...I’d like a shower,” Billy was quiet and timid by now, as expected by someone traumatized by such an event. Once Teddy gave him clothes and a towel and showed him to the bathroom he quietly thanked him and shut the door. As soon as he’d turned the water on, he sank to the floor, gripping his knees. He couldn’t get Nate and his sick behaviour out of his head. What had gotten into him? What would possess anyone to do something so awful?!
Tommy picked up on the first ring.
“Ey, yo Altman, sup?”

“Uh, hi... erhm, Billy told me to call you, he’s stayin’ over at my place, we’re... watching a movie, my mum’s out. He just came from.. nate’s, I met him and invited him, yeah. Just so your parents know where he is...”

gods this was horribly awkward. But Teddy knew if he told Tommy, he would be here in about two seconds. Or he would go to finally kill Nate.

When he finished the call and had waited another twenty minutes he went over to the still closed bathroom door and knocked.
“billy? You okay?”
“No,” Billy whimpered into the spray of water, assuming Teddy couldn’t hear him. He felt so unbelievably dirty, so used even though Nate had not gotten around to his promised ‘first time’.
“I’ll be out in a minute...” he called towards the door as he continued to soap himself slowly, like he had done for the past five minutes, soaping, washing, soaping, washing...nothing seemed to give him the feeling of being clean.
“I’ll wait here”, Teddy said.
He had never dealt with things like that, he didn’t really know what was best for Billy right now. He just had the feeling he shouldn’t leave him alone.
And he really waited in front of the door until Billy finally came out.
Teddy didn’t know if he wanted closeness from him, Teddy actually didn’t know anything about what Billy wanted right now. He just hoped the younger boy was intelligent enough to take what he needed most right now.

“You wanna drink something?”, Teddy offered a little helplessly.
Billy was dressed in the clothes Teddy had given him, but they were quite loose on his slender frame. He looked a lot better without the tear-stains, but therere were red bruises around his wrists, bitemarks on his neck and unseen stomach and he still felt dirty. Teddy had saved him though, Teddy was good, Teddy was safe.
“Hot cocoa or something...I’m sorry, this is not how I wanted our first night together turning out,” he muttered, voice rough from the crying and screaming he had done to stop Nate.

“Don’t be...”
Teddy smiled lightly. His arms twitched, but he stopped the notion to pull Billy into a hug. The poor young man looked as if he needed some closeness badly, but since Teddy knew he had just been in a situation too close to his... rapist, he wasn’t really sure if the impression of Billy needing a hug was just his own view.

“Wanna come with me into the kitchen? Or do you want to go to bed? We can sit in the living room, like i said, my mom’s not here, she’s not coming back until tomorrow afternoon. We can do everything you want, just tell me. You want me to cook something? Get you something?”

Teddy was incredibly concerned to make Billy feel comfortable and safe.
Billy wanted to be more grateful to the incredible young man who had not only rescued him, but took such sweet care of him too.
“I’d just like to sit and watch TV or something...Teddy?” He swallowed and shuffled towards the living room, but stopped to ‘wait’ on the boy who lived here, “can you just...sit with me? You...feel safe to me.”

Teddy nodded quickly, “Yeah, sure, of course...”
He couldn’t help but feel honoured. “Wanna come with me into the kitchen though since I have to.. make your drink..”

He smiled shyly and led his guest into the kitchen.
“You can sit down here... I’m sorry, it’s a bit messy.”

Teddy pointed at the counter; the kitchen table and the chairs were filled with various documents apparently of Teddy’s mother, and some comics - apparently they didn’t belong to Teddy’s mother but to the boy himself.

The young man opened the fridge and took milk out of it. “Make yourself at home...”
“It looks better than my house. With four sons, I almost feel bad for my parents. Almost.”
Billy seemed to be calming down enough to be himself again, which was a good sign considering the nature of his traumatic event. He sat down on the counter, keeping close enough to Teddy to feel his reassuring presence and could watch him, but not close enough to be in his way.
“You didn’t call the police, right? I don’t want...him to be arrested.”

Teddy nodded lightly. He should be, he totally should be. They should call the police and Nate should get arrested and put into jail and got his tiny ass fucked until he knew why he should never even think about Billy that way again.

But he knew why the younger boy didn’t want him to call the police, he himself had not wanted to inform the police about that thing with Greg...

“Nope, I only called Tommy and told him you’re staying here, I--”

The phone rang, “Sorry”, Teddy excused himself and answered, “Altman; Theodore speaking...?”
When answering the phone, Teddy never used his nickname even though he really disliked his real name.

“Yeah... Yeah, Mrs. K, he’s here.... Yeah, hm.. no, no, we just... met when he was on his way home and I invited him, it’s totally my fault..”
Teddy exchanged a glance with his guest, “Yeah, he’s sitting right here...”

He handed the phone over.

“Billy?”
Rebecca’s voice was hushed, but she was damn serious, “Billy, are you prepared for this? You have condoms with you, right? Don’t.. Just don’t do it without lube, okay?”
Normally, Billy would have blushed and told his mom that he was old enough and she didn’t need to have the talk with him yet again. But under the current circumstances, he paled significantly. The thought of sex, no matter with whom, turned his stomach and rekindled that cold panic in his heart.
“M-Mom. we’re not gonna...do that, we’ve only...been on one date and trust me, I’m not gonna have sex with anybody tonight.”

Rebecca frowned deeply and shooed the rest of the family that had been luring in the kitchen, trying to hear what Billy replied out of the room and closed the door.

“... William... What happened? Did Teddy do something to you? Should I come and fetch you?”

Teddy couldn’t help himself, when Billy’s face turned pale, he grabbed his hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
“No! Of course not, Teddy would never...” Billy wound his fingers between Teddy’s and sent him a small smile, eyes dimly shining with absolute faith and trust. Teddy was pretty much all he felt he had at the moment and he was more than enough. Kind, beautiful and Billy’s knight in shining armour. Shining green armour and wings.
“I’m okay mom, I wanna stay the night with him, I promise I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon. Has...anyone else called besides Ted earlier?”
He fidgeted, wondering if Nate was a) still alive b) still a psycho c) feeling any kind of regret or concern for Billy’s well-being.

“Yeah, Nathaniel called a while ago and asked if you’re home... He sounded weird, did you two have a fight or something?”

Teddy smiled lightly at Billy, he felt a little overwhelmed with all this trust and faith the younger was putting into him.
But he knew for sure he had to catch Billy now that he was falling and he definitely had to be there for him now.
“Uhm...something like that. What did...Nathaniel want, Mom? Did he just ask if I was home like he wanted to come over or..?” Billy’s Adam’s apple bopped up and down as he forced himself to speak his former best friend’s name and he gripped Teddy’s hand. It was fine, Nate was not going to get him, he wasn’t even going to see him, Teddy was right here and he would protect Billy, from anything and everything bad.
It felt nice to have your personal shapeshifter-green-monster-super-almost-boyfriend right there beside you.

Rebecca frowned. She heard the urgency in her son’s voice and answered the question, even though it was rather weird. Something was up and she had to decide now whether she left her son to it or if she asked him until he spilled his problem.

“No, no, he didn’t sound as if he wanted to come over... He sounded as if he wanted to speak to you, but I told him you weren’t home yet... Billy, if you two had a fight, you need to give him a chance... I’m gonna give him Teddy’s number, okay?”
“Mom, there’s no need to do that, seriously I don’t want to talk to him or see him or ever hear his voice again!” Billy was shrieking into the phone now, sounding partly hysterical, but only because he saw his safe haven, his little Teddy-based world, threatened by the possibility of Nate calling here, Nate finding the address, Nate breaking whatever good Billy had in his life.
“... Billy, what happened? Seriously... I want you to tell me.” Rebecca swallowed. “I promise to not do anything you don’t want, I just want you to talk to me. I want to know what happened and what made you hide at Teddy’s and dislike Nate so much?”

Now she was seriously worried. She had only seen/heard her son that upset when he had been four years old and had to go to the doctor that later had been imprisoned for child abuse.
“I don’t want to talk about it, Mom. I’m staying with Teddy and I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye.” He hung up before Rebecca could get a word out, a lump thick in his throat as he tried to speak. Instead, no tone came out of his mouth and he just gave Teddy a disheartened look.
“I wish my mother wasn’t a psychologist...she won’t leave me alone about this...”

Teddy sighed, “You want me to.. call her and tell her everything? I mean.. at this rate she’s gonna show up here and ask you in person. And maybe even bring the little bastard. And if she does, I won’t guarantee for anything.”

Billy let his head hang low and Teddy pulled him into a hug. To his surprise, Billy suddenly clung to him, like a little sticky note or a monkey, with his arms and legs wrapped around him.

“I’m here”, Teddy murmured, “We’re gonna sleep in one room and I’m gonna stay awake all night if you want to.”

But Billy didn’t let go. Teddy smiled lightly and wrapped one strong arm around his friend, and grabbed the mug of hot chocolate with the other.
Carrying Billy to the couch in the living room was easy for someone who was super-strong.
Once deposited on the couch, Billy still didn’t let go of Teddy. Why should he? Everything he felt he needed was converged into this person for his convenience, so he saw absolutely no reason to distance himself at all from Teddy.
“It’s not so much my mom I’m worried about...It’s Tommy. He’s gonna find out the truth and then, he will actually try to kill him...”

Teddy swallowed lightly. “I’m sorry, but I think... yeah.. he’s gonna. He’s just that kind of guy. And it’s not gonna be nice considering the fact he can destabilize atomic matter...”

Tommy had actually shown him and imagining the way this would work on people...

“What do you wanna do? You want me to talk to him?”
“I want you to stay right here with me until I figure out what to do. If I say I just got into a fight with Nate, they would try to patch it up. I know my mom, she thinks he’s sweet and she thinks I need him as my friend.” a bitter little chuckle followed that sentence. Oh if Rebecca only knew. She’d call the cops and get Nate arrested, assuming Tommy wouldn’t destabilize his atomic matter first.
“I hate that fucking jerk, but I don’t want him to die because of me. I could say we got into a fist fight, but no one would believe that with these bruises...” Billy looked down at his thighs and blanched.

Teddy’s arms wrapped around Billy protectively and he pulled him into his lap.
“I’m gonna speak to Tommy, okay? I’m gonna tell him and I’m gonna tell him to not.. do anything stupid. Nate doesn’t deserve it. That bastard... What about school? We need a plan for school on Monday.. You definitely can’t stay at home. You need to go face him.”

He paused and looked at Billy, “I’m gonna fetch you from home, okay? I’m gonna.. You just tell your parents we’re... we’re a couple now, okay? So it’s not weird if I fetch you on Monday and go with you to school. And I swear I’ll rip his dick off when he dares to come too close to you.”
This was so not how Billy had envisioned his official ‘becoming a couple with Theodore Altman’ night to go and he wasn’t even sure if he was just eternally grateful to the blond or if he could feel the sting of light disappointment that they weren’t a real couple. Nate had probably ruined that chance too. Teddy felt the need to protect him and preserve his self-worth, but that was probably because he had seen how worthless Nate had made Billy.
He was damaged goods now, of course Teddy was being careful and nice.
“Okay...god I’m so lucky you exist.”

Teddy on the other hand was quite sure Billy was damaged right now, so much so he had even lost his interest in him.

“It’s... it’s fine, you, you need someone right? I’m glad I can help you.”
He smiled softly, then handed over the remote control. “Wanna watch something?”

*

When Billy came home the next afternoon, Rebecca tried to talk to him, but Billy had locked the door.
Tommy came home from his usual saturday afternoon job and when he found his parents discussing Billy’s well-being, the older twin went up to knock on Billy’s door.

Teddy had been skyping with Billy and heard Tommy knocking, “You should probably go and open the door. He’ll blow it up or something.. Just call me later if you want to, okay? I’m gonna play Highlanders”
“I’ll call you when I’m done talking to him, Tee. Enjoy your fluffy companions.” Billy hung up his headset and opened the door, just a crack. He had no doubt his twin would want to barge in anyway, regardless of Billy’s wish for privacy.
“Hey Tommy...you’re back early.”

And Billy was right. Tommy didn’t even wait for his brother to open the door, he just vibrated through it.

And he didn’t look pleased. The older twin had crossed his arms and stared at Billy.
“Tell me. What happened. At once. No lies.”

Tommy’s green eyes were narrowed. Again, he was behaving as if he was years older than his twin; Thomas had always felt as the oldest of all three of his ‘little’ brothers.
And he was damn protective of them.
“Nothing,” Billy was definitely not ever going to be in the mood to answer Tommy’s question honestly, because he had absolutely no desire to even recount the horrible experience.
“Nate and I had a fight, I stayed at Teddy’s, nothing more.”

“.. you’re lying.”
Tommy’s eyes narrowed even more.

“Do you think I’m stupid?”
The older twin’s hands grabbed his brother’s shoulders and he shook him lightly. “Billy! I’ve seen you and Nate fight and you’ve never been like this after a fight! You usually rage about him and hate him into the stratosphere! And then he shows up and apologizes and is all sweet and you forgive him! You’re afraid of him, I can see that! What happened? Billy, I’m your fucking twin, you gotta tell me!”
Billy felt trapped, Tommy’s anger seemed to fill the room and even though he knew his intentions were good and protective, he couldn’t help shrinking back from his twin. He groped for a hand that wasn’t there, wished for a strong body to hide himself against and for Teddy’s voice to soothe him, that everything was okay.
“He....no, I can’t tell you Tommy, you’ll go out and hurt him and even if I hate Nathaniel, I wouldn’t want him to die or you to go back to prison!”

Tommy gave a weird noise, then stepped forward and pulled Billy into his arms, pressing him tightly against him.
“I don’t wanna go back to prison either, Billy. I wanna stay here with you. I need to stay here with you to protect you, so..”, he gritted his teeth, “I’m... I’m not gonna run off and do something stupid. But you have to tell me now. It must be something horrible when you fear for that to happen..”
It wasn’t Teddy’s body or his scent, but Tommy inspired just as much confidence in Billy and so the dark-haired twin wrapped his arms around Tommy and spoke, though he was muffled by the speedster’s shoulder somewhat.
“He...he tied me up and attacked me, Tommy. He...wanted t-to have...sex with me, but I didn’t, I would never, he was my friend and just...I got lucky and reached Teddy and he came and saved me...”

Tommy didn’t say anything for a while, his grip on Billy just tightened in silence.
Soon enough he was vibrating lightly.

“He... he tried to...”, Tommy was forcing himself to stay calm here, “He tried to fucking rape you? The goddamn son of a bitch, he tried to... to...”
The speedster bit the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood.
“Billy! Just... just say something and I swear I’m gonna go and make sure he will never come close to you again...”
“You sound like Teddy,” Billy muttered, still holding on to his twin tightly, but now to prevent him from leaving and doing exactly the stupid thing he was afraid Tommy would do.
“You can’t tell anybody and you can only hurt him if he comes within ten feet of me. Please, Tommy, I don’t want to lose you again.”

Tommy sighed, the carefully let go off Billy. In comparison to Teddy, he had tears in his eyes, apparently tears of rage...
“I hate him... I’ve always known he was no good, but that... Fuck, billy.. I’m... oh shit, Teddy came to save you? I shall always love his ass for that.”
He pulled his brother with him and sat down on the bed.
“Did Teddy take good care of you?”
“Yeah he did...Teddy took me home and let me shower and change clothes and then he just sat with me on the couch...Just...he was there for me. I’ve had this ridiculous crush on him for ages, but I’ve never felt so happy to know so someone...I mean...even though what happened with Nate was...horrible and I wish I could forget it, I still can’t help feeling good about staying at Teddy’s...”
The fact that Nate had never actually gotten around to the actual rape helped a whole lot to let Billy recover from this. His life had to go on and Teddy was definitely the best thing in it.

Tommy rolled his eyes, but he still smiled softly and rubbed his head against Billy’s. “You and your ridiculous crush on him.. But I’m happy he helped you. However he did that. How did he do that anyway?”

Teddy wasn’t really concentrated on maneuvering Spyro through the different levels. He had to think about Billy, Billy cuddling into him, Billy sleeping in his bed, Billy sitting on the counter and drinking the hot chocolate he had made him, Billy holding his hand.

It felt as if they had their own little world, a world where only the two of them knew everything about each other.
“He...” wait, Tommy had shown his ability to Teddy already, the blond had told him so after the first time Billy had seen him shapeshift. But he didn’t actually know if Tommy knew about Teddy’s abilities. The blond had been very private about that fact and Billy very understanding. Was it okay to mention it now? Then again, Tommy had abilities too and would only cut into his own flesh if he somehow reported Teddy.
“He’s a shapeshifter, you know that right? He can get all green and Hulk-ish and grow wings...And well, he came in like that, beat the shit out of Nate and flew away with me. If it wasn’t such a horrible truth, it would be somewhat romantic...”

Tommy’s eyebrows wandered up. “He told me he’s a shapeshifter, but I didn’t know he could transform into anything else than other people...”
He shook his head. “Anyway, you have my blessings. Marry Teddy if you want to, he’s definitely one of the good guys.”

Tommy’s hands were around Billy and his fingers were stroking his brother’s arms softly. “How do you feel now?”, he wanted to know, voice rather quiet, “Do you still feel... dirty?”
Billy didn’t answer right away, wishing Tommy had stuck to the subject of him marrying Teddy because he could definitely see how that would work out. Fantastically.
But now he had to think about Nate and his touches again and shuddered.
“I don’t think I’ll ever feel...not dirty again. The look in his eyes, Tommy...it scared me so fucking much. He didn’t care about me, he wanted and took without...I was like a piece of meat to him.”

Tommy gave a little growl. “Billy... You’re not dirty. You’re not! He didn’t.. he touched you, yeah, but luckily, he didn’t.. he didn’t manage... god, the fucking sicko!”
He got up, with his brother in front of him and led him into the little bathroom that connected their rooms and belonged to the older twins.

When they stood in front of the mirror, Tommy’s fingers carefully opened his twin’s shirt to reveal his pale skin.
“You’re not dirty”, he repeated, “You’re not. Look. You’re gorgeous, clean and perfect, okay?”
Billy wasn’t looking at the mirror. He knew which bruises showed up where on his slim torso, he knew the disgust he felt when looking at himself and seeing the results of his pathetic helplessness. If only he was like his brother, or his tentative boyfriend. If he had some manner of defending himself, no one would be able to hurt him like this. To hurt him like Nate had.
Nate. A person he had trusted and loved as part of his family, a person he’d gone to get comics with, laugh at sappy teenage couples with, eaten pizza and watched movies until they couldn’t see straight anymore...
Nate had betrayed all of that and Billy somehow couldn’t help blaming himself. If he had noticed how Nate felt, if he had maybe gone on just one date with him and let him know that no, they could never be a couple, maybe the boy would have understood and this atrocity would never have taken place.
But Billy had never noticed and now he’d lost his best friend and any kind of respect he might have had for Nate as a person in his own right.
“I’m not...Tommy, stop it. I shouldn’t even get to have a brother like you or a...crush like Teddy. I don’t deserve it...I made him do this.”
Tommy had finished opening the shirt and when Billy’s hands came up to pull it back together to cover himself, he simply pulled it over his shoulder revealing the light bruises Nate had left on his neck.

“Oh shut up, Billy. That’s not true. It’s entirely the asshole’s fault, not yours at all. Even if you had dared him to do it, even if you had danced around naked in front of his eyes, it would still be his fault. Don’t you blame yourself. And about this…”

He pointed at the bruises and looked at the mirror, at his brother there.
Then he grabbed Billy’s shoulders with both hands, not forcefully, but hard enough to keep him steady and leaned forward to suck one of the bruises between his lips.
He continued to do that with all the little areas of skin that looked like Nate’s work.
“They’re mine now”, he declared silently.
“Tommy...” Billy whispered when his twin let go of him and admired his work. Now the bruises had been turned into hickeys. By his twin. And as wrong as that should feel, it actually helped. Tommy was telling Billy that no, he was not disgusting and used up, broken and sullied by what Nate had done. Billy was still young and relatively innocent, he was still desirable and as much of a person as Tommy.
“...thank you,” he continued, fingers drifting over his skin as if he had never encountered himself before.

“You’re very welcome”, Tommy muttered, fingers sliding over the soft skin on Billy’s lower belly, tracing along the waistband of his shorts sticking out right over his jeans.

He kissed his brother’s neck softly. “Can I do anything for you, Billy? I feel like I need to do something, as your older brother and everything..”
Billy couldn’t help marvelling at the fact he could still enjoy his brother’s soft, caressing touch without feeling any kind of discomfort at the notion. Tommy was wonderful, in his own right.
“You’ve already done more than I could ask for. But...could you answer me this? It’s...trivial, at most, but I wanna know what you think...Teddy feels about me now. He’s so protective and sweet...but maybe he just pities me. He told me to tell mom that he’s my boyfriend now and that’s why I stayed over...but that’s just a cover-up. Do you think he really wants to be with me? At all?”

Tommy sighed and closed the buttons on his brother’s shirt again.
“It’s... He’s difficult.”

He led Billy back into the younger’s room and sat him down on the bed, then wandered around the room.
“I don’t know much about it, so don’t ask me, but he has mentioned.. hm, he had a boyfriend once, so he’s definitely into guys. But apparently, said boyfriend was an asshole and did something that probably scarred him deeply. It’s not that he mistrusts you, it’s only.. He is afraid of something happening between you two as soon as you get together. You have to be careful with him in that area. Teddy might seem easy going and okay with a lot of things, but actually... He’s a great actor.”
“Wow. You know him really well by now, huh?” Billy straightened non-existent wrinkles out of his shirt and sighed as he regarded himself one last time in the mirror. Maybe his being emotionally scarred and traumatised made him sort of a friend in suffering that Teddy felt the need to protect. Tommy’s information only made him more unsure.
"I don't know, Billy", Tommy answered, “Well, I don’t know him very well. I don’t even know if what I just told you is right.. But he likes you, he told me as much. If you want me to, I’m gonna.. uh, find things out. What he thinks about you and everthing.”

Usually, Tommy would never offer something like that but right now, he would do everything for his brother to feel better.

The speedster sat down next to his brother and actually smiled at him with a clear ‘I want you to be okay again’ smile.
“Good. I know this probably sounds...I don’t know, ridiculous or something, but I really...Teddy did something for me, he did so much for me. I don’t want to lose him, as much as I don’t want to lose you. Just promise me again you will not commit murder.”
Billy already feared going to school on monday. He didn’t think he could act as if nothing had happened, because so much had. And Nate was dead to him as a friend. He just didn’t want to see his brother suffer for it, or Teddy.

*

Early on Monday morning, Teddy arrived on the Kaplans‘ doorsteps.
When Tommy opened the door, the young blond stared at him, then asked, “Is Billy okay?”
When the younger twin showed up behind his brother, Teddy pulled him into a tight hug. They had skyped the whole Sunday long and somehow, he had been eager to see his ‘boyfriend’ again.
“Good morning, Bee”, he whispered, carefully pressing the younger against himself. Billy smelled incredibly good.
Billy pushed aside the notion that Teddy was only doing this so he could give Billy reassurance aside and enjoyed the warm comfort of the blond’s strong body pressed to his. What he wouldn’t give to truly have this boy to himself, honestly and because he wanted it too...
“Morning Tee. I kinda missed you,” he mumbled, ignoring Tommy who was in fact making gagging noises.
Teddy smiled lightly, „Missed you too“, he muttered. The whole Kaplan family was staring at them and Teddy somehow felt the need to kiss his ‘boyfriend’, to prove something.

He obliged, carefully kissing the younger’s cheek. “You smell nice”, Teddy whispered to Billy’s ear before he pulled back.

“Uh, you ready?”
Teddy pointedly took Billy’s hand as they left the house, with the rest of the Kaplans waving them goodbye.

When they were around the corner, Teddy grabbed Tommy’s shoulder, “Keep calm when he shows up, okay? We’re here to protect Billy, nothing else. We’re not here to avenge.”
Tommy seemed about to argue, everything about him was tense and ready to snap Nate’s neck. But he remembered what Billy had said, whom Billy didn’t want to lose, who shouldn’t be in jail again.
“I wish you’d let me drag his ass to the police, Billy. He deserves to be locked up, the fucking pig.”

Billy sighed, hand in hand with Teddy, wishing it wasn’t just for show as an excuse.
“Tommy, please. Just be there for me like you promised and watch him...”

Teddy kept holding Billy’s hand, almost until they got to school. He decided to let go off it though before they entered the schoolyard, simply because he did not want to provoke anything, should Nate see them.

What he didn’t think about at all was the fact that exactly this reaction might show Billy he really only wanted this for show and didn’t like to risk other people’s view of him if they saw him holding hands with the school’s official gay.

But Nate didn’t show up.
Tommy and Teddy flanked Billy as if they were some weird kind of bodyguard ensemble, Tommy even snarled at someone who was in their way as they entered the classroom and sat down right and left from their protegee.

“He’s not here”, Teddy stated quietly, exchanging glances with Tommy.

Nate usually was the first one in class so Teddy had, when they had been on their way to the classroom, grabbed Billy’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly. If necessary, Tommy would blow shit up and Teddy would go all green and huge and super-strong.

But no Nate in sight. Nate never came too late.

The class filled up with people and Billy tensed up more with each second that passed but when the bell rang and the teacher began their history lesson, there was still no Nate in sight.

*

During the first big break, nothing happened either.
The three of them sat on one of the rocky formations on the schoolyard and enjoyed their breakfast.
Teddy’s mom always made a huge effort for her son’s breakfast, he always had little meatballs and various fruits and vegetables and a ton of delicious sandwiches.
It was Sarah’s makeup apparently for the little time she had for her son.

The blond boy leaned back a little and watched Billy search through his bag.
Apparently, he had forgotten to take his lunchbox (Tommy was already munching on his and apparently not even thinking about sharing with his brother), so Teddy offered his own,

“Have some. I can’t eat them all on my own anyway.”

That wasn’t true, Teddy always ate all of it and heaped a huge portion on his plate during lunch break where they ate in the caféteria.
Billy was still too nervous to eat normally, but he did look a little starry-eyed at Teddy’s food. Clearly, Sarah Altman was an amazing mother. He tucked into an egg and cress sandwich and made a pretty happy face about it too.
“You’re too good to me, do you know that?”
This sweetness did nothing to reassure Billy about Teddy’s intentions for him though, since the boy clearly didn’t want to be anything but an absolute sweetheart.

Teddy smiled brightly, somehow, that compliment made him feel warm and happy.
In general, just looking at Billy somehow made him happy..
He had enjoyed the night between Saturday and Sunday where they had skyped for half an eternity since Billy couldn’t sleep.
The younger boy had been the one to fall asleep with his headset on and Teddy had listened to him murmur and make cute little sniffing sounds in his sleep for almost half an hour before he had hung up.

The break ended soon enough and they were faced with two hours in the science lab where Tommy usually got even the easiest things to explode.
NAte still wasn’t there and so the three of them were a little helpless, but in the end Teddy managed to get everything done in time while Billy helped his brother to clean up.

The lesson helped though to let them forget about Nate for the moment and so, Teddy excused himself to the toilet and Tommy.. well, he simply was gone and flirting with some girls in the caféteria. Which essentially left Billy alone.

Which would not have been a problem, if it wasn’t for a certain someone waiting for exactly that moment.

“Billy...? Can I talk to you?” Nate’s hand landed on the younger boy’s shoulder as he pressed him forward to lead him away a little.
“Billy, please, listen to me... I’m sorry, okay? I.. I shouldn’t have done that, but you know, I... I’m... I’m in love with you!”
Billy had only moved for Nate because he was rendered mute by sudden, overwhelming panic and nausea. He’d paled about fifty shades whiter as he stared at Nate, shrinking away from his touch and immediately feeling dirty again.
“You don’t have the right to say that to me, asshole,” his voice was quiet, but at least he had managed to find it, “you don’t even...don’t even come near me, don’t touch me or talk to me! We’re through Nathaniel, I don’t ever want to have anything to do with you again!”

“Billy...”
Nathaniel swallowed harshly, he sounded as if he was about to cry.
“I’m sorry, look, I only wan---”

“Get away from him, asshole.”

That was Teddy. He was practially bristling with rage, looked almost three feet taller which was really impressive now (he had not been exactly small beforehand anyway) and stared at Nate with a really frightening kind of aggression.

Nate took one step back.
Teddy usually wasn’t a person to start a fight, but right now he looked as if he would beat Nate into a pulp if he did nt leave at once.

“Further.”

Teddy didn’t sound friendly. His voice was a deep, aggressive growl as he squeezed his body between Billy and the immediate threat that was Nate.

Then, Teddy leaned forward. His teeth grew into fangs as he did so and his blue eyes turned a deep red with slitted pupils.
“You have three seconds to leave and never come back. And if you don’t change the school, Tommy might find fun in destabilizing your atomic matter before I get to rip out your limps, so run, you sick bastard.”
Billy couldn’t even see Nate from his position behind Teddy’s protective form and he was glad for it. Nate had done something horrible to him, but he still couldn’t help the pity he felt. Because Teddy’s threat was absolutely true and Nate knew that too.
Billy’s hand groped for Teddy’s.

Nate had backed up, but he risked to look at Billy once again.
“I’m so sorry”, he whispered and it was quite obvious he was tearing up before he turned around and ran down the corridor.

When he was nowhere to be seen, Teddy turned around and pulled Billy into a tight embrace.
It was almost clear he was probably as upset as Billy was, he wasn’t shaking, but Teddy felt as if Billy could very well feel his heart beating fast.

“You okay?”, he whispered as he let go a little so he could see the smaller boy’s face. Billy nodded slightly and Teddy raised a hand to cup his cheek with.
When Billy’s hand came up to touch exactly this hand lightly and when he looked up to meet Teddy’s gaze, the blond boy couldn’t do anything else but lean in closer.

They had kissed before, so why not now where Billy seemed to be in need for some caretaking and love and safety which Teddy was oh so willing to give him.
Right before their lips met though, Teddy was strangely aroused by his friend’s warm breath on his lips, Tommy showed up.

“Yo, homos! That’s not part of the job as bodyguard, Ted, just sayin’..!”
Billy wanted to throw a chair at Tommy’s head, but at the same time, he felt sort of glad his twin had shown up. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to kiss Teddy, but....the thing with Nate still obviously bothered him. He’d been dirtied and even though Nate didn’t ‘complete’ the rape, Billy was still unworthy of Teddy’s affection. Not to mention the blond was clearly pitying him and corresponding in a comforting way, since he seemed to feel obligated to take care of Billy.
He didn’t want that. He wanted Teddy to want him the way he wanted Teddy. But that seemed impossible now.
“Tommy...Nate...was here.”

Teddy was a little put off by Billy backing up slightly from him. Only now he had noticed how uncomfortable he had made him feel just now and quickly took a few steps back.

What an idiot he was! What a stupid idiot!
Had he seriously believed Billy would like to be kissed right after being confronted with his almost-rapist?

He swallowed harshly and was glad Tommy was there as well. “It’s fine, Tommy, no harm to be done, I scared him away... And by the look in his eyes, he’s not coming back so soon...”
Teddy didn’t look at Billy though. He felt ashamed out of a sudden.

“I’m.. I’m gonna go get myself something to drink”, and before anyone could want to accompany him, he added, “Laters.”
And dashed off.

Tommy growled deeply. “Where is he? What did he do?”
“Apparently, either halfway to Mexico or changing school. Teddy told him he’d rip him a new one and you’d probably kill him...I kind of feel like a really out of place gay princess here.” Billy sighed and stroked a few strands of black hair out of his face, wistfully staring after Teddy.
“You haven’t had a chance to talk to him about me, have you?”

“You should totally write your story down and send it to Disney. Then you’re gonna be the first gay Disney fairy tale prince! Awesome”, Tommy seemed incredibly bored by the idea, “Nope, didn’t talk to him. What do you want me to say anyway?”
“I don’t know! Just...I still want him to be my boyfriend, but I don’t think he’s gonna understand. I think he thinks he needs to take care of me and protect me and everything, and he’s totally allowed to do that, but I don’t want him to be nice and pretend to be my boyfriend out of pity. I’m not broken, or fragile.”
An odd statement coming from a small, slender young man who was very clearly in need of hugs and cuddles and cups of hot cocoa.

Tommy actually started picking his nose to underline his incredible boredom. “There you go. Tell him exactly that and you’ll be fine and you’ll behave like an adult.”
The speedster nodded. “Speak to him yourself. You’ll be fine. Work things out and all. How can you want him to be your boyfriend if you don’t even have the balls to talk to him about stuff like that.”
“You suck Tommy,” Billy rolled his eyes. His twin had this really annoying way of crushing his hopes and tying him to reality in one fell swoop. Amazing, really.
“I’m going back to class.”
He slung his bag over his shoulder and trudged back to the classroom, even though they still had most of their lunch break to go. He just needed to be alone for a while and think about what to do with Teddy.

*

Four months had passed now.
Nathaniel had never showed up again and Billy’s parents never asked again after their son had paled at the mention of that name, gotten up from dinner table and went to throw up in the bathroom.

Teddy though was almost a part of the Kaplans’ household already. Rebecca sometimes called him to bring stuff from the supermarket on his way to Billy, and at some point she had simply called him to help her with the shopping.
They had accepted them as their son-in-law and somehow, neither Teddy nor Billy had ever bothered to tell them it had been a fake.

It had been a fake at the beginning, yeah, but somehow, they ended up going to the comic book shop together, seeing movies, having pizza nights and they gamed full weekends long.
They stuck together like superglue and if they were apart for whatever reason, they were usually on Skype, holding a conversation there for entire days if necessary.

Today though something was different. It was the twins’ birthday (the little twins) and Teddy of course had been pulled into the preparations.
After the little family party at home though, the Kaplans had forced Tommy (who on the other hand wouldn’t be present at the family party and help out with baking cakes and everything beforehand) to go with them in the evening and drive to Disneyworld which was part of the twins’ presents.

They would be completely alone in the evening and somehow, Teddy couldn’t help but be extremely nervous.

“You want me to help you, Bee?”, he wanted to know, watching his ‘boyfriend’ climb on the table and decorate the lamps in the living room with balloons and other stuff.
Rebecca was in the kitchen, sending Teddy around to fetch things and put plates and everything on the table.
He really loved when Teddy called him Bee. It sounded sweet and adoring out of his mouth and yeah, when he was in his bedroom with the headset on, he let himself wriggle on the bed and smile like an idiot just at the sound of Teddy’s voice calling his nickname.
Currently he was stretching up and up and up, but the ceiling always seemed five inches beyond his fingertips.
“You could actually, give me a hand, I can’t reach this,” he lowered his voice so his mom wouldn’t hear, “and I can’t grow five inches.”

Teddy turned around to check if Rebecca was watching, but she was currently busy with taking the cake out of the oven. One of the cakes, to be precise.
Teddy and Billy were still busy making their cake which was to be baked next and would be decorated with a lot of sweets and cream later on.
Right now though, Rebecca had shooed them out of the kitchen and told them to get the living room ready.

The shape-shifter took his boyfriend’s ankles and lifted him up as if it was the easiest task in the world.
“There you go, tiny human”, Teddy muttered with a grin when Billy yelped.
From down here, he had a nice view of Billy’s perfect little ass covered by one of those ridiculously tight black jeans he only wore to special occasions.
“Oh, thank you, charming green alien prince!” Billy crooned quietly and chuckled as he fastened the balloons and other decorations to the ceiling. After just two minutes, he was done and waved a hand.
“Get me down, getting dizzy in allll this thin air!”
Teddy checked once again if Rebecca didn’t see them, then he stepped back, let go off Billy’s feet and caught the young man safely in his arms.
Of course Billy’s mom had heard her son’s yelp though and shook her head as she found Billy in Teddy’s arms, trying to headbutt the older boy, both of them were laughing.

“Hey you two lovebirds, you should be decorating the table, not flirt...! Teddy come on, help me with the cake please and Billy you go and fetch some more plates. Oh, and some cushions, your grandmother will want to sit comfortably...”
*
The party was in full swing. As customary for young kids and birthdays, the twins were hyped on sugar and talking so fast they even gave Tommy a run for his money. The adults were conversing with glasses of wine, Billy’s grandparents dozing off on the couch together. Billy had had a little sip of red wine and half a bottle of beer, so he wasn’t anywhere near drunk, just feeling very confident.
And unfortunately very horny. He’d been very...non-touchy with himself and others since the Nate incident. Granted, he wasn’t a groper before, but ever since that night, he didn’t even jerk off anymore. And that was bound to be brewing something unhealthy.
He found himself searching for Teddy and once he got to the blond, he was more than horny. Ridiculously attractive, Teddy was just standing there, practically radiating like a little sexy sun.
Billy touched his arm softly, looking at his ‘boyfriend’ with the most potent bedroom eyes he could manage.
“Hey...do you wanna...maybe go upstairs?”

Teddy felt a hot shudder run down his back as he saw the gaze Billy sent him. God, how could a single person be so incredibly attractive?

He wondered for a brief moment if he was dreaming, this couldn’t be happening, Billy could not just have asked him to go upstairs with that kind of look..
But Billy had already grabbed his hand and was leading him up the stairs.

The upper level of the Kaplans’ half of the house was empty, thanks to the party downstairs.
Teddy felt his heartbeat speed up when Billy pulled him impatiently towards his room.
He wants to show you something, he doesn’t wanna stay downstairs with all the people, Teddy tried to convince himself, he does not want to make out with you...
Oh yes he did. Billy barely got the door closed before he got up on his tiptoes and pressed a relatively mild, but for their standards more passionate than average kiss to Teddy’s lips. He wanted him so badly, it almost scared him. The thought of sex would usually put a horrible feeling in his stomach, but not with Teddy. Teddy was kind and sweet and gentle and perfect, with Teddy it wasn’t the disgusting, whorish lust that Nate had displayed.

And Teddy, being seventeen years old and utterly crushing on this boy right in front of him, couldn’t really hold himself back and say no right now.
He had hoped for this opportunity, had silently begged for Billy to get over the Nate thing some day and had jerked off to the fantasy of Billy doing exactly what he was doing right now.

So he reciprocated the kiss, almost a little too wild and passionate. He had the sense though to lock the door behind him, before he pulled Billy’s body closer and pressed the slender young man against his own more muscular form.
“Oh god Teddy,” Billy whispered against his lips, clinging tighter to the blond’s firm body and drawing himself up so he had easier access. They had tried to kiss before, but all attempts had sort of failed, either he drew back or Teddy was afraid of scaring him...
But apparently, they both really wanted to do it anyway, which would be why they were wildly making out by now.
“Tee I want this, don’t go away tonight, okay?” Billy muttered against hot lips, heart pounding in his ears.

Teddy felt unable to speak, unable to think coherently even; Billy and his incredibly, but probably not really deliberately lewd way of telling him he wanted sex was reducing his brain to a mere puddle of goo and send all his senses straight into his crotch.
Which was why there was now hard evidence for his feelings pressing against his friend’s lower belly the way Billy leaned against him.
“... the hell I’m doing, I’m gonna stay as long as you want”, he brought out, staring at Billy. His hand came up to grab the back of the younger boy’s head, “Gods, Billy... you’re so freaking hot....”
“Really?” Billy laughed with disbelief, he figured Teddy still didn’t really find him attractive, but the boner pressed to his stomach was really evidence of quite the opposite.
“You’re really hot yourself...can...Tee, can we stop pretending? I want you to be my real boyfriend, I want you to kiss me and touch me, hold my hand, have my first time, take me on dates and everything.”

Teddy stared at him and couldn’t quite believe it.
Billy was asking him to.... really go out. To be boyfriends. And he had thought.. well, he had thought Billy wasn’t really fond of them ever going further the way he sometimes pulled back and didn’t speak when they kissed...

He found he was almost torturing Billy by now who was desperately waiting for an answer apparently.

“Yes, yeah.. Hell, yes, Bee, I want to. I wanna be your boyfriend. And about the kissing thing...”
Teddy pulled him back against himself and into another kiss, his hands wandered on Billy’s hips and pressed their bodies together.
Billy couldn’t believe it had been so easy. Were they both just the stupidest guys on the planet? Because clearly, Teddy wanted him too. Billy felt so happy he could have easily skipped to the hills and done a Julie Andrews movie, but he decided the kissing happening right here was much better than singing about his feelings. He could do that later, if need be.
His hands slid over Teddy’s shoulders, marvelling slightly as he went, though he knew this body from staring pretty much all day every day, it felt thousands of times better to touch it.
“Alright, you’re my boyfriend and I don’t want you to think I’m easy, but please, Teddy, let me touch you. Without...clothes.”

Teddy swallowed, then nodded slightly.
He seemed nervous out of a sudden, as if he couldn’t decide if to be positively excited or upset in a negative way.
Nevertheless, he led his boyfriend to sit down on Billy’s bed before he took off his shirt.
Usually, teddy was never one to be ashamed of himself, he showered with the guys after PE and had no problem if he forgot his towel. Billy though was completely different there...

But right now, teddy could very well udnerstand what his boyfriend must go through every time he had to shower with others.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to show himself to Billy, but it was the fact Billy wanted to touch him. Billy was to be trusted, right? Billy would never do anything he didn’t want him to do... And it was highly unlikeable he wanted to go THERE...

Teddy had taken off his shirt by now and almost jumped when Billy suddenly was busy with his pants.
Billy wasn’t exactly ripping the clothes off of Teddy, but he did seem pretty eager to get this started. His clever fingers were already inside of the waistband and feeling Teddy’s hot, smooth skin. Billy shivered. This was going to be it. They were going to undress and touch and kiss and have sex. He’d never been so nervous aside from holding presentations, and he’d never been this kind of good nervous before either.
“You’re beautiful, Tee...”

“B-bee... you.. you sure you wa-wanna do this?”
Teddy seemed to be nervous to no ends, “I’m... Thanks..”, he whispered, but quickly pulled back as soon as Billy had stripped him off his pants. Before the younger could say anything though, teddy made short process with Billy’s clothes and pushed him back on the bed with only his shorts on.

“You are beautiful. I’m just your average, blond, broadshouldered guy.”
“Your average, gorgeous blond broad-shouldered, firmly muscled, adorable, kind, caring and protective sweetheart guy, yeah,” Billy wasn’t feeling any embarrassment or shame in front of Teddy, which felt amazing in itself. He let the other undress him and push him to the bed and nothing felt force.
This felt like a dream, it couldn’t get better.
“Please...touch me Tee...”

“As you wish..”
Teddy’s voice was low and sexy and wanting and he seemed to have lost his nervous notion completely.
Which was due to the fact he was actually on top of Billy and in control of things and this way he actually really enjoyed it.

The blond lowered his head to kiss Billy’s lips passionately, but shortly again, before he kissed his way down his throat onto his chest.
He could feel his byofriend’s breath hitch as his lips found a nipple and sucked it in, teasing the little, quickly hardening knub lightly with his tongue.
His hands wandered down Billy’s sides and he could feel the younger’s dick prominently against his stomach.
Billy liked this. And the fact that he liked it so much made Teddy enjoy it even more.
Of course he liked it, this was what he had daydreamed of for months before the incident with Nate and lately, it had crept back into his dreams. Teddy was being careful and passionate, he treated Billy with respect and desire and the combination was making the young man lose his mind. He closed his eyes, took deep breaths, opened his eyes again and just watched Teddy in awe.

Teddy did not seemed to notice the dark, lust-clouded eyes on him until he reached the waistband of Billy’s boxers. Then, he actually looked up and met his eyes with a soft gaze.
“Close your eyes”, he whispered very lovingly, “I’m gonna make you feel good, Bee.”

His hands slipped beneath the waistband and pulled the thin fabric off of his boyfriend’s slim hips.
He had done this before, he had practised back then and that was actually the only thing that was useful from his little.... encounter with Greg back then.

Teddy was practised in giving blowjobs alright.
He wrapped one hand around Billy’s dick, then licked over the tip and took it between his lips, all very passionately and with a facial expression as if this was the greatest thing to do in the world.

“Gods, Billy”, he brought out, “You’re huge.”
Billy had fallen pretty silent when Teddy actually occupied himself down there. He could honestly say he had never experienced that before. But Teddy’s comment made him giggle, a sound that was jarringly unerotic, at least to his ears as he opened his eyes and glanced down at his boyfriend.
“Seriously? I’ve seen you in the shower, Tee, you’re much bigger. Trust me you don’t have to flatter me to get...well I’m not wearing pants anymore but you get the idea.”
"Shapeshifter...", Teddy commented with a grin before he dedicated himself again to his boyfriend's pleasure.
Sucking Billy off actually was really turning him on right now and he could not help himself but let his hand slide into his own shorts and jerk himself a little.
he did not really care about his boyfriend's nervous giggling, but he was kind of excited to hear him moan for the first time...
In his daydreams and jerk-off fantasies, Billy's moans were always incredibly erotic and a huge turn on for Teddy.
"You're beautiful, Bee. You're perfect", he muttered and licked his lips, "Don't be afraid to be loud, I'm quite excited for it actually."
Teddy’s wordchoice had been a little...weird for a moment for Billy. Those were the kind of things Nate had said to him too during his...lusty encounter. But Teddy wasn’t rushing and for one, Billy wasn’t tied up and ACTUALLY aroused with this boy, so he figured they were all good to go.
After the continued, extremely wonderful blowjob that had him panting and actually on the edge of orgasm, he pawed at Teddy’s shoulders.
“N-ngh, I don’t wanna be done so soon, let me touch you...”
Teddy was quite surprised when Billy mentioned his wish and frowned a little. okay, that was kinda new to him.
But not bad, if Billy was up for that, why not? A little touching did not mean Billy way going to stick his dick into him without preparation, right?
Still, Teddy was incredibly nervous and it was quite obvious too.
Even if he was still visibly aroused, he was stiff and tense as they changed positions and Billy leaned over him.
"Be ca-careful, o-okay?"
Teddy's blue eyes were full of uneasiness and almost something akin to fear. He liked Billy, he trusted him; but this reminded him so much of that time...
Billy's hands were gentle though and soft and nowhere near the greedy, possessing grabbing Greg had done.
Billy was aroused and tipsy, but not blind. He recognized that fear in Teddy’s gaze and it made him cautious. Clearly, his boyfriend had a troubling past and a very bad experience with someone. So Billy ran his hands gently over Teddy, ridding him of his clothing very slowly. He circled his fingertips over his boyfriend’s chest and stomach, then leaned down to place very gentle, loving kisses on the skin.
“I won’t ever hurt you, Tee. I...I think I’m...I like you very, very much. And...I know,” another soft kiss, this time on the collarbone, “I know what it’s like to have experienced something horrible...but we’re still okay, Tee,” the kisses were trailing down over his abs to his hipbone now, “and we can be together, trust each other...Trust me, Teddy.”
"Sorry", Teddy muttered, his cheeks were reddening quickly as he covered his eyes with his arm, "I'm ruining everything... But you're right, I... I should trust you. You’re so trustworthy, Billy, I.. I feel so bad for this. For being so afraid.”

The blond swallowed lightly and looked down his body where his beautiful boyfriend was still busy kissing his hipbones.
“Billy...”, he whispered and grabbed his hand, pulling it lightly. “Please... I wanna kiss you.”

And accepting as he was, Billy leaned over him, softly pressing their naked bodies together what made both of them gasp.
They were kissing soon enough, Billy let himself turn around and as soon as he was on top of his boyfriend again, Teddy felt safe and confident again.

Soon enough they were both moaning into each other’s shoulder as their hips moved against each other.
Their little premature rutting season was soon interrupted by someone banging on the door.

“Billy! Come downstairs please, your grandparents want to leave, say goodbye!!”
That was Rebecca and Rebecca allowed no resistance when it concerned family.
“MOM!!!!”
Billy had been unconsciously spreading his legs so Teddy could rest between them and his dick was pressed against his boyfriend’s. His legs wrapped around his boyfriend’s waist, Billy blushed a deep red and held his breath. He knew his mother, and he knew she’d be knocking up a storm in a minute or try to break through the door. He gave Teddy a mournful look.
“I’ll be there in a minute!”
“Okay, one minute. And bring Teddy, too.”

Teddy sat up quickly and bit his lower lip, “Shit.”
But he grinned slightly and rubbed the back of his head.

Both boys got up and the only thing that helped against their raging boners was a very quick cold shower in the bathroom, of course without making their hair wet so no one would notice.
When they left Billy’s room though, the blond wrapped an arm around his waist and whispered to his ear, “We’re gonna continue later, when we’re alone...”
Billy shuddered at that and couldn’t help his smile. He pressed his face into Teddy’s shoulder for a brief moment.
“Is that a promise?”

“Promise”, Teddy whispered and grabbed Billy’s waist, kissing his neck softly, “Can’t wait to be alone again with you..”

*

The guests had left by now and the living room looked like a battle field. The twins were happily asleep on the couch before Teddy and Billy carried them carefully outside into the car.

That of course all had been Rebecca’s plan, it should be a surprise for the twins to wake up in Disneyworld in the morning.
Tommy who had just appeared on time seemed pissed already by the sight of having to go on a family trip.
But he too noticed the vibes between Billy and Teddy and only frowned at them.

When everything was packed into the car, Rebecca was the last to leave the house. She leaned over to hug her son, then Teddy and whispered something into his ear and stuck her hand into the bag on the front of his hoodie.

Then she waved them goodbye and left.

Teddy snorted when the door closed behind them and pulled a whole bunch of condoms out of the pouch on his hoodie.
“Your mom’s a sweetheart, really..”
“Oh god,” Billy groaned and slapped his hand to his forehead, but he was smiling too. It was practically his mom’s seal of approval of the two of them having sex. Which, they were definitely going to do tonight. Oh yes, Billy Kaplan was going to lose his virginity to the hottest boy he had ever met. Also the one he was definitely in love with.
“Well, since we have parental permission, would you care to take this to the bedroom, Mister Altman?”

“Oh, so conservative, Mister Kaplan, huh?”
Teddy grinned lightly, but he swept his boyfriend off of his feet and lifted him up, carrying him like a bride up the stairs and into Billy’s room.

When they were on the bed again, Teddy pulled Billy into a lengthy kiss while both of them were pulling on clothes and trying to wriggle out of the fabric covering their bodies.

It didn’t take long until they were back to their original aroused state, moving their hips against each other a little.
Teddy leaned himself on his arms though and looked at his boyfriend.
“Are... we... do you... do you really wanna... wanna have sex with me, Billy? The whole thing?”
“Y-Yeah, I do. The WHOLE thing, I want all of you Teddy. I’ve wanted you for so long, it feels like a dream we’re doing this at all!” Billy was panting and trying to speak and smile, which ended up as a pretty cute yet horny facial expression. Their bodies were slightly damp with sweat and shivering, but it felt good. All of this felt good.
Billy reached down and squeezed Teddy’s dick lightly, then he bit his lip and gave him bedroom eyes again.
“Since you’re a shapeshifter, I got an idea. It’s my first time, so, uhm, go easy on me. At the beginning...but then you could...you know...fill me...”

Teddy’s breath hitched at those words. Gods, those words out of Billy’s mouth... They sounded even more lewd when he said them like that.

“So you.. uh, basically want me to, uh, shrink it and then.. erhm, let it grow again? Would, uh, it be fine without prep then?”

Teddy looked around, “Where do you have your lube anyway?”
“I’m just gonna pretend not to have heard that my boyfriend can shrink his dick to the size of a finger, lube’s in the drawer beside the bed, under the bed, under the pillow, at the foot of the bed. Wherever you can reach fastest because I don’t think I’m gonna last long.” Billy seemed to babble on as he was clearly excited, but he didn’t sound nervous at all.
“Oh, yeah, the one at the foot of the bed, I remember. I found that one by accident at some point.” Teddy grinned lightly, “And yeah, I got some under the pillow as well, so... I’m gonna go for that one.”
He too used babbling to cover up the time in which he pulled out the lube, squeezed some on his hand and covered his dick with it.

“And about the dick-shrinking... You must know I can not only shrink it.”

The shapeshifter grabbed Billy’s thighs and pulled him closer, positioning himself a little. “are you sure, Bee?”, he whispered, eyeing his boyfriend with concern in his blue eyes.
“Please, Tee, I’ve been wanting to do this with you ever since I saw you and you smiled at me. I trust you, you won’t hurt me, I know you care, etc etc, can we please please have sex now?” Billy wriggled closer, feeling a little vulnerable with his legs spread open, but he was damn sure about this.

Teddy stared at him and seemed to hesitate for a moment, until he finally smiled lightly.
“Okay”, he whispered and pushed Billy’s leg back a little.

“I’m gonna... do it now, relax, Bee..”

It was weird at first, how easily he slipped into his boyfriend. “It’s weird”, Teddy brought out, “It’s weird when my dick is tiny like that...”
He had to chuckle, “You okay?”
Billy seemed pretty okay. And Teddy shapeshifted a little.
It was incredible how Billy’s expression changed, how he could see how much Billy actually enjoyed to slowly be stretched like this.
“Do you... like this, Bee?”, Teddy wanted to know still.
Billy’s mouth turned into this delightful ‘o’ shape and his breath hitched as Teddy shifted again. Oh yes he was enjoying this alright. Without the initial painful penetration, this was...fucking amazing. After Teddy had gone up two more sizes, Billy’s fingers began digging into his shoulders.
“How about we try a little movement now, Tee? I think I’m good, this...this feels amazing.”
Teddy was almost panting by now as well, the more his dick grew the more sensitive it became.

But he obliged and slowly began to rock his hips, moving in and out of his boyfriend slowly.
“S-shit... Billy...”, Teddy brought out, “You’re freakin’ tight...”
“Tee, don’t...you can dirty talk next time, but ah, I’ve been waiting for years for this,” Billy wasn’t really ad-versed to dirty talk, no, not at all, but he wanted this to be beautiful and romantic and sappy and being told that his ass was tight was, well, hot, but also kind of shallow.
“You feel good too Tee, haaah, there, there was good!”
But Billy really WAS freaking tight, and Teddy couldn’t even feel bad for saying it, simply because it was so true.

“S-sorry...” Teddy couldn’t even blush, he just concentrated on moving, because - oh shit - he felt as if he was going to come any second. Especially with Billy moaning and writhing underneath him like that.
“Billy, you’re... you’re gorgeous”, Teddy muttered trying to find the spot again that Billy had loved so much.
His dark-haired boyfriend was a little busy gripping his shoulders and wrapping his legs around Teddy’s waist, so he didn’t exactly reply. They went on at the same pace for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes.
“Tee...a little bigger is okay...” Billy whispered as he licked and nibbled at Teddy’s ear.

Again, Teddy obliged. Both of them groaned as he grew and Teddy felt his boyfriend’s legs tremble slightly while his eyes lost focus for a second.
Which looked pretty hot, just for the record.

“Good?”, Teddy wanted to know and made another experimental thrust, “Feels so good, Bee... This is amazing... I’ve... hah, I’ve been wanting to do that for so long now...”
“You dumb, hah, jerk, why didn’t you, oh god, ever tell me?!” Billy was trying hard to speak coherently, but the waves of pleasure and new sensation were taking his breath and braincells away. Fingers leaving dark red marks on Teddy’s skin, Billy threw his head back and gave a very loud groan that bordered on a howl.
“T-Teee!”

Teddy held Billy in his arms by now and when his boyfriend arched his back and pressed his lithe body against him once again, audibly enjoying him inside him, he couldn’t really hold himself back.

“B-bee... sh-shit, I’m... I’m gonna come...”, he forced himself to say, “BIlly, plea-please, t-tell me... tell me what to.. to do so you... can too...”
“OH god, just, touch ah SHIT TEDDY!!” Billy had pretty much forced Teddy’s hand onto his dick and now he was definitely writhing with pleasure because he just hit his first ‘real’ orgasm with another person. He numbly felt Teddy join him in his pleasure, but he couldn’t hear what he said or even tell if this was all real.
It was only after Teddy had drawn himself out and taken Billy into his arms for a short cuddle before they washed up that he realized he’d just had sex. With Teddy. Who was definitely his dream boyfriend.

They were both laying in Billy’s bed by now and Teddy had taken his boyfriend into his arm. Both of them were wearing shorts by now, Teddy didn’t like sleeping naked and neither did Billy. But it was nice to feel so much of the other against themselves as they were simply laying there, not speaking for a while.

Then Teddy began to quietly sing ‘I just had sex’ and they both started giggling stupidly.
Billy couldn’t help the warm sappy feelings seeping through him as he grinned and cuddled into Teddy’s side, relishing the touch of their skin and the warmth of their bodies so close.
“I think I love you, Tee.”
OH shiit. That was definitely not supposed to come out so early. Sure, Billy had known for months, but Teddy had been so entirely hesitant with even the touching and definitely the feelings for each other...
Teddy was silent for a few seconds, then wrapped both arms around his boyfriend and pulled him closer.

And buried his face in the younger boy’s neck.
“That’s…. Billy…” Teddy smiled into the soft skin of his boyfriend’s neck, “I’m.. yeah, I think I love you too. You make me happy, Bee, you… I wanna be with you. I wanna hold you and kiss you and be with you forever…”
“Are you serious? How do you even exist, Tee?” Billy cuddled his boyfriend closer, wrapping his arms around his chest and happily humming as he closed his eyes to enjoy the fact that this right here was wonderful and perfect. He’d had fantastic sex. He had a hot boyfriend whom he was in love with and who actually liked him...loved him back.
“Tee? You don’t need to tell me now, but I want you to know...whatever...bad things have happened to you, you can talk to me. I’m here for you as much as you always are for me, okay?”

Teddy nodded lightly. “Thanks”, he whispered after a while, “That.. that sounds so nice, Billy.”
The shapeshifter cradled his boyfriend even closer. “You’re the best.”

*

This evening/night, they had sex for another three times; while playing Diablo III (the game music helplessly tootled in the background), while watching a movie (an exorcism movie, Teddy seemed to get turned on by those...) and in the shower afterwards.

They were still asleep when the telephone rang around three.
Billy scrambled out of the bed, after he had successfully disentangled his limbs from Teddy and tumbled towards the phone in the hallway.

When he answered, there was a lot of sniffing to be heard and then, “Billy, I’m sorry... Please, don’t hang up, I really need to talk to you!”
Nate. And the fact alone he was daring to call after the little speech Teddy had given him was proof enough for his desperation.
Billy was still sleep-drunken and happy from all the wonderful sex, so he didn’t feel the usual wave of nausea when hearing Nate’s voice. Instead, he positioned himself so he could spy through the open door and look at his gorgeous, sleeping boyfriend. Teddy was probably snoring and drooling, but that only made him more perfect. With Teddy firmly in his sights, Billy felt a whole lot braver in dealing with Nate.
“What is there to talk about, Nathaniel? You tried to rape me, no matter how many times you apologize, I won’t forgive you for that.”

There was silence at first, apparently Nathaniel had not calculated with Billy actually answering him and talking to him.
“It’s... it’s just, I.. I wanted you to know I’m very, very sorry and I should never have done that. I.. was wrong, I thought you wanted it as well, wanted me the whole time... And then there was Teddy and suddenly you weren’t interested in me and all.. I know what I did is... unforgivable..”

Another pause.
“Billy... just... just I’m sorry. I’ll.. I’m gonna go to another school, you’ll never see me again. I’m gonna delete your number and all. Just uh... stay the way you are. Well.. f-farewell then.”
“Nate, wait,” Billy answered quickly and quietly, he didn’t want to wake Teddy up by any means, but he probably wouldn’t get another chance to talk to his previous best friend.
“How do you feel about me now? I need to know. Because I don’t think you’re in love with me, not at all.”

There was a long silence, but the little rustling sounds from Nate’s side showed that the call was still active.

“I’m... hell, that’s... uh, that’s...” a little helpless snort, “You’ll hate me even more, but it can’t get worse now anyway right?”
Nate bit his lower lip.
“No, I’m not in love with you. To my defense, I really thought I was. Don’t get me wrong, you’re perfect and sweet and all, but.. uh... it’s... erhm, I have a thing for your twin.”
“That’s what I thought,” Billy answered, eyes still on Teddy and his mood still mellow thanks to him. He didn’t say anything for a moment, but apparently Nate was holding on for an explanation rather than just accepting facts and hanging up the phone.
“See, you two always seemed to hate each other...but I remember you trying so hard to get Tommy to like you, without him noticing...I knew you wanted to be Tommy’s friend, I knew you wanted more from him. I just never thought you’d be so stupid as to project that onto me. The twin you thought you could have instead of the one you wanted.”

Nate swallowed harshly. “Sorry”, he brought out, then fell silent again.
Then there was a slow intake of breath and Nathaniel muttered, “I hope you’re gonna be happy with Teddy, Billy.”
It sounded honest and there was serious regret in his tone.
Then he hung up.
“I am.” Billy replied into the dead receiver, then he put the phone back in its stand and walked to his room. He stood and watched Teddy sleep peacefully for a few moments, then he slipped himself back under the cover, under Teddy’s arm and cuddled into his side.
“I love you, we’re gonna be together for...a long, loooong time...” he promised the sleeping blond.

*

“Yeah, whatever...”
Teddy hung up and stared at the dead receiver, biting his lower lip.

It had been almost one and a half year now since he had gotten together with Billy, but recently, things had been incredibly tense between them.
And Teddy was the only one who knew why he was behaving so strangely, but he couldn’t tell him now, right?
He couldn’t tell his boyfriend he had to move to another city soon enough and that they couldn’t see each other anymore...

But on the other hand, all the little fights about nothing in particular, the hanging up on each other and the not talking was incredibly exhausting.
And Billy had the right to know.
After all, he would move in four days.

Teddy leaned back on his bed and mused if he should fly over to Billy’s and apologize.

*

“What’s up?”
Tommy frowned at his twin as he walked into his room and saw him brooding somewhere on the corner on his beanbag.

“You look like shiiiit.”
Billy clung to his Hulk plushie, the one he always chose when he was upset with something to do with Teddy, but he didn’t say anything to his twin. Instead, he just shuffled to sit facing the other way with his arms wrapped around the plushie and a frown on his face.
“S’nothin....boyfriend stuff.”

Tommy rolled his eyes and appeared a second later next to his twin followed by a little whoosh.
He ruffled his brother’s hair.

The speedster was never good with helping his brother with things like that.

“You want me to distract you a little? What about you, hrm... take a bath with your gay relaxing soap thingy and then we’re watching a movie together?”
TOmmy leaned down and pulled his brother into a soft kiss. “Come on, cheer up, Billy. It’s gonna get better. Teddy’s only a little tense at the moment.”
“A little tense? He hangs up on me all the time, cancels our plans and forgets dates! I have the feeling he just doesn’t want this anymore...” Billy chewed at his lip, then clung to his twin. The thought of losing Teddy was too painful. For him, Teddy had become such an amazingly important part of his life, it was difficult to even breathe when thinking about the blond leaving him.
“I don’t want him to break up with me, but no matter what I do, I think he’s bored of me.”

Tommy sighed. „You know I’m not good at talking him out of this… But I’m good at distracting, so let me do at least that, hm?“
Tommy pulled his brother to his feet.
“Come on Billy…”
The younger twin didn’t move. The speedster on the other hand sighed and began to take Billy’s clothing off, of course not without touching him ‘accidentally’.
His brother seemed to be hypersensitive to that.
Tommy leaned over his shoulder and whispered to his ear. “When was the last time you had sex, Billy?”
The ‘younger’ twin gave a mournful little sigh and rubbed his forehead. “At least two weeks...Teddy’s been so tired lately, he doesn’t even want to cuddle. But then again, he’s probably been thinking of how to break up with me so I guess sex wasn’t on his mind.”
It hurt to think of Teddy leaving him. He hadn’t done anything wrong, he’d tried so hard to be perfect for the blond, to be a trusting, trustworthy, loving, sweet, kind and sexy boyfriend. It had all gone so well for 12 months and then, for the last 5, things had settled a little. But the last 4 weeks? Teddy was distancing himself and Billy silently accepted it.
Tommy wasn’t really interested in talking to his brother, but he certainly had an idea how to help him.
The speedster leaned forward and kissed Billy’s shoulder, hands wandering down his sides until he reached his hips and pulled him back, pressing his brother’s ass against his crotch.
“Could help you with the, hm, physical part of your relationship...”, he purred, moving his hips slowly against his brother.
“We haven’t done this for a while... Kinda missed it.”
“Tommy...” Billy wanted to sound a lot less like he enjoyed it, but his brother fit very perfectly to his ass...it would be a shame to waste such a kind offer, right?
“Only a little though...remember how we did it the first time? I’d like to do that again, Tommy...” Billy turned around and wrapped his arms around his twin’s neck, drawing him close for a filthy little kiss. This was not cheating. No, not at all. This was how he and Tommy liked to be close, it had nothing to do with being in love at all.

“As you wish.”
Tommy pushed his brother back to lay down on the bed and leaned over him, kissing him with definitely want.
„You wanna come in your panties, Billy?”
Tommy chuckled, but he couldn’t deny he liked it already, the way their bodies fit to each other, the way Billy’s eyes darkened with lust as they slowly began to move their hips together.
“That’s good”, the speedster whispered into his brother’s neck, “Yes, Billy…”
“Oh god, Tommy, this still feels good!” Billy had a faceful of white hair and he nuzzled down into it as he concentrated on rolling his hips up, enjoying the friction and heat. Tommy was his dearly beloved brother and this between them...it was something they both needed. It wasn’t love in the way it was between Teddy and Billy, it was a close bond with certain, physical pleasures were a given, though Billy had been a little more withdrawn than the speedster obviously liked. But since Teddy was being so short with him these days, Billy craved the company of his twin.
And Tommy apparently reciprocated those feelings the way he made an effort out of dryhumping his brother.
“Of course it feels good.. Would feel better though if those were gone...”
He pulled on his brother’s clothes and eyed him for a while.
Billy stared at him as if he was considering if he really wanted to and if his brother spoke the truth, then he pushed at Tommy’s chest and the speedster said up and pulled his shirt off his body before he freed himself off his pants.

When Billy was naked as well, the white-haired young man pushed him down again and continued their wild little rut.
This time, both of them gasped when their dicks were pressed against each other, skin meeting skin and the whole thing got heated up pretty quickly.

What the two of them had forgotten though was the open balcony door. What they didn’t notice was the flapping of huge wings and the little thump with which a certain winged shapeshifter landed on his boyfriend’s balcony.

Teddy raised his hand to knock at the window, but completely forgot about it as soon as he saw the... scene happening on the bed.

That wasn’t true, was it?

“Billy?”, he asked, eyes wide in disbelief.
Billy’s mind was hazed with lust and want for his brother, but his ears strained to hear the sound of Teddy’s voice. It was always in his head, but right now he was sure he had heard it in the real world. His hands at Tommy’s shoulders, he forced him to stop so he could look around. His gaze was met by a disbelieving blue one and Billy’s world came crashing down around him.
“T-Teddy...”

Teddy stared. Billy stared. Tommy turned his head around and had at least the decency to stop and sit up a little.
“I uh... guess I’m gonna disappear now. Bye.”
And with another Whoosh! the speedster was gone, leaving his twin alone with his boyfriend.

“What... what...”
Alright, think coherently, speak coherently, Teddy forced himself. He couldn’t believe it, but he had to.
“Alright, no... Nononono, I know what you two were doing”, he said, shaking his head lightly.
“It’s... it’s fine. I’m gonna leave now. I guess...”, he swallowed and had to look away since he couldn’t keep himself from tearing up anymore, “That’s it, huh? We’ve talked about this and this is it. You... you..”
He swallowed again.
“Why am I still here?”, the shapeshifter asked and transformed back into his winged form.
“Teddy! Teddy wait, please let me explain, you don’t understand!” Billy had gotten up and pulled on his shorts hastily, sprinting to his balcony to try and reason with his boyfriend or to at least make him understand that this was not what it looked like. He wasn’t leaving Teddy for Tommy, he didn’t love Tommy that way and hell, he wanted to be with Teddy forever.
When Billy reached for his arm and clung to it, Teddy yanked it harshly out of his grip.
Then he turned around, an expression of utter hurt and disappointment in his eyes.
“Oh, I think I understand very well. You cheated on me. With your brother. What the fuck are you even thinking?”
“It’s not like that, Teddy, please, you don’t get it, just calm down and come in, let me explain it to you!” Billy’s eyes were filling with tears, Teddy had never, ever been so angry at him. Was this really where their relationship had to end? Was Teddy breaking up...no, was Teddy dumping him?
“I don’t love him, not the way I love you, it’s just this thing, please don’t go!”

“JUST THIS THING? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?? YOU HAD SEX WITH YOUR BROTHER AND YOU SAY IT’S JUST A THING?”

Teddy had never been so angry and hurt in his life. Seeing Billy cry made everything worse though and Teddy wasn’t really able to hold back his own tears.
He backed up against the balcony’s railing, he wouldn’t come in.

“If it was just a thing, you would have told me. This is not the first time you do this, right?” Billy didn#t even have to say something, it was clear by the way Billy looked guilty.

“I came here to say sorry. I came here to... to tell you why I’ve been so strange”, he trailed off and shook his head.
When his now ex-boyfriend said nothing, he continued, “I’m leaving, Billy. My mom has a job in LA and we’re moving. In four days, but I guess that doesn’t matter now anyway...”
“W-What?!” Billy choked out, eyes already blurry with tears and his every nerve searing with guilt and pain. Teddy would be gone, gone to where Billy couldn’t spend the rest of his life trying to explain and apologize and to try and get him back. The dark-haired young man shifted forward, hands outstretched, reaching for Teddy, not wishing to lose him.
“You...you can’t leave me, Teddy, I need you, I love you, please, don’t do this, don’t dump me.”

Teddy turned his head away, he couldn’t look at him.
He would forgive him if he looked at him now, he knew it.
And he couldn’t forgive him, not now. If they made up now and everything was well, the parting in four days would be even worse.

“I.. can do that very well. I.. You know I love you too... But this... this is horrible. But maybe it’s better for both of us, right? Maybe it should be this way so we can both forget about this. Though I doubt I’ll ever be able to forget you.”

Teddy climbed onto the railing and spread his wings.
Then he looked back at Billy and swallowed harshly. His blue eyes were filled with tears. “Farewell.”
“No, Teddy don’t go, I can’t...please!” Billy already knew his pleas would go unrequited, but he couldn’t help uttering them, dashing forward to grasp at Teddy’s leg. This was all a terrible nightmare and he wished he could wake up, but no relief seemed to come.
“I don’t want to never see you again, Tee!!”
The shapeshifter took off, shaking his leg free, sending Billy to land on his ass on the balcony.
“TEDDY!!!”
*
“Five minutes, Mr Altman”

Teddy stared at the old cellphone in his hand, fingers ghosting over the keys as he watched the number and the name on the display.

Bee ♥, it said in Comic Sans.

He didn’t even know why he still had this old thing and kept it to himself.
…
Okay, well. He knew why. Because he couldn’t forget William Kaplan, even if he was famous now, even if he had somehow managed to land there where most people wished to be - on the red carpet as one of the US’ most beloved actors.

Teddy looked out of the windowfront that was part of the backstage area of the studio he was in and let his blue eyes wander over NY’s skyline.
He was back here, but was Billy still around?

“Time for your interview, Mr Altman”, one of the people around him said. He nodded, smiled lightly and got up, straightening his clothes after he had let the cellphone slide into his pocket.
“Yeah, sure.”
Yes, William Kaplan was still around. At 21, he was a linguistics student at the NYU, putting himself through with mostly his own money. He’d managed to move into a crappy little apartment just above a comic book store, which he also worked in quite happily. It wasn’t frequented much, but it somehow survived just fine. Billy didn’t even want to know what his boss did to keep this place running, but he was often left in charge and far beyond his usual shift. Since he lived above the shop, he often had to close up and open in the morning, take deliveries and clean. He did it happily though, because one, he saved a buttload on commuting and two, free comic books.
Billy had changed a lot since highschool. When Teddy left, he had his worst phase ever, as Tommy liked to describe it. Tommy was currently doing time in jail, for fun and connections apparently. Billy had begun to expect the unexpected lengthy visits from his twin and he honestly didn’t mind housing Tommy for weeks.
Right now, he was slouched in his worn out beanbag in front of the TV though, having a day off and already finished his project for class.
Teddy entered the brightly lit studio and the audience of course cheered, some people even squealed and lots of them had brought banners with his name on it and everything.

He waved, completely comfortable with the cameras on him and that he was on national TV, smiled brightly which generated even more squealing and sat next to the interviewer.
“Hi”, he greeted him, another wave of cheering and squealing followed his first word.

Teddy was wearing a rather tight shirt and a vest over it together with a pair of perfectly fitting jeans.
“Theo, nice of you to join me here tonight!” The interviewer flashed him a smile with way too many teeth and shuffled a few pointer cards in his hands.
“So, I gotta say, I loved your last movie, Lost in Toronto,” he went on to babble about the rom com Teddy had starred in alongside some beautiful young starlet. After several minutes about the movie and some banter back and forth, the interviewer got down to business.
“So, your first romantic comedy has gotten many female hearts throbbing, so here are a few popular questions from our largely female audience. Are you seeing someone at the moment, if yes please reveal her lucky name.”

Teddy chuckled lightly and smiled into the camera, then shook his head.
“No, I’m not seeing anyone at the moment, sorry to disappoint.”

The cellphone in his pocket was strangely warm through the fabric of his clothing. The last one he had been seeing was Billy and that had been five years ago, almost.
Billy, who had been anticipating this interview, felt his heart ache as it always did when he saw Teddy. Of course he’d gone to see every movie he was in, he even had the few commercials his blond ex had done saved to his computer.
Teddy looked amazing. He’d let himself grow taller and a little broader. His blond hair shone like gold and his eyes...oh god...
The young man took a deep breath. He was already tivo’ing this interview anyway.
“Well, then there’s hope for all you ladies out there yet. Why don’t you tell us a little more about yourself? Since Lost in Toronto was all about finding your long lost first love, how about a story of your own, Theo?”

Teddy chuckled once again and leaned back a little. He had never revealed his sexuality officially before, but he had also never denied any rumours around him.
But this, this was his chance.
His fingers quickly slid into his pocket and wrapped around the old cellphone.

“Me myself... My first love...”, he trailed off a little and leaned back.

“I had to change schools when I was about 16. Found a few guys there I liked right from the start and the whole thing was pretty okay from then on... Until we had a little, uhm, incident... and..”

Teddy felt as if the whole world was hanging on his lips right now.

“My first.. uhm, partner was a beautiful, very kind, sexy but very real young man named William and he was and probably still is a very perfect boyfriend to some lucky guy out there.”
He couldn’t help the little sad smile as he turned to the camera and said, “So if you’re out there, Billy, I’d like to talk to you, would like to know if you’re still... fine.”
Billy had been scooting closer and closer to the TV. Not only was Teddy coming out as gay to the universe but...he...mentioned him. His heart was pounding in his throat and his fingers grabbed the remote tightly. Oh Teddy...even after all these years, he was still so kind, so sweet...and still wanted to...
What did he mean, to find out if he was still fine? Still alive, still around, probably...that idiot. How the hell was he supposed to contact him? He didn’t exactly announce his number...
The interviewer was the first to recover.
“Ah...alright, well, that was a surprise! So, you’re gay! You’re certainly stepping into Neil Patrick Harrison’s footsteps there, Theo! You out there Billy? You’ve got a star waiting on your call!”

Teddy smiled.
“Yeah, would be great.”
He pulled out the cellphone and waved it. “Still have the phone, if you still have my number...”

It was probably a shock for his female fans to hear that, but Teddy had always been true to himself (strange as a shapeshifter though) and this was part of his personality after all as well.
Billy was close to passing out in front of his TV. He frantically dug around in a box of electronics where his old phone, battered but still functional, resided. He flipped it open and searched the contacts.
‘Tee <3’
He wanted to press call, wanted to see Teddy’s face right there when that display lit up with his name. But what would he say? How would Teddy respond to him? Would he...want to resume their friendship, or maybe finally talk about what happened with Tommy?
What if it was just about Tommy? What if Teddy wanted to ask him why he had cheated on him with his twin brother on national TV?
Billy stared and stared, finger poised over the button. When he slipped and pressed call, he swore, flipped it shut, then turned it off and threw the phone back into the box. He needed a drink.

Teddy had put the phone away by now and continued the interview.

*
One hour later he was on his way back home, in the back of his limousine and he pulled out the old phone again, just to check if...

One missed call.

Teddy felt his chest constrict and his heart beat in his throat.
His finger hit the button and Billy’s number popped up.

“Bee...”, he brought out, then hit ‘Call’ without thinking about it any further and pressed the phone to his ear.
“Please answer... Come on...”
“The person you have called is unavailable.”
But his plea would go unheard, because Billy had long since packed the phone into the box and the box beneath his bed, gotten himself a beer and was sulking in front of some sitcom, his mind far away. Why would Teddy want him to call? To catch up? To find out if he was still into incest? When his head couldn’t come up with a decent answer, Billy stooped himself into silly fantasies. One was of Teddy asking him to star in a gay rom com where they played the lead couple, dramatically getting together at the end of the movie and engaging into some sort of artsy sex...
He didn’t think Teddy would ever call back or try.

“Fuck”, Teddy cursed and almost threw the phone away. It was pretty obvious, Billy had either lost the phone or had packed it away, probably together with all the other stuff that reminded him of Teddy.
He just wanted to know if Billy was alright. He had felt so bad back then during the first years in LA. To be honest, he still felt bad for doing this to his beloved.
He had used this incident between Tommy and Billy as an excuse to break up with Billy to make it easier for both of them.
He was the one who had to say sorry now.
But he would not get that chance, because Billy had no idea how he thought about the incident. To him, Teddy had broken up with him because he cheated. It didn’t matter to the blond why or even how Billy felt for his twin. He had been betrayed and Billy was no longer available to be loved unconditionally.
Well, Billy would spare them both an awkward meeting and catching up. He’d leave that phone turned off until Teddy left town or got into some magazines for being seen with some Hollywood Hottie.
*

Three weeks later, Teddy was working once again. His job never gave him regular weekends on the couch, no, this time, he had to be present for a panel on New York’s Comic Con since he was going to play the one of the lead roles.

The cast of the movie was going to be revealed in front of the fans present and in front of the cameras of course.
He wasn’t even nervous anymore - usually.
But this time...
He remembered coming to NYCC with Billy, he remembered watching the panels and the talking about what they would ask their favourite authors and artists.
Of course, Billy would never miss NYCC. He’d been here every year, even when thoroughly depressed over breaking up with Teddy. There was no such thing as not going where he belonged.
Also, it helped to know there would be a reveal of a certain movie cast which he’d been dying to find out for months.
So here he was, squeezed into a darkened hall with hundreds of other enthusiasts, eyes fixed on the stage. Billy had managed to grab a seat near to the front. Close enough to see which lucky actor would be portraying one of his favourite characters of all time.
The stage darkened and something moved.
The actors took their places and were revealed one after another.

The main role of course was presented at the very end.
Teddy was only slightly nervous and only, if he thought about the chance of Billy sitting somewhere here.

His role, the character of the comic book, was displayed on the screen behind him, before the lights went on and the audience began cheering. Teddy smiled and waved, his blue eyes searching the rows for a certain face.
Billy was among the screaming girls. What? Teddy wouldn’t see him against the darkness anyway and he doubted his voice would carry over hundreds around him.
Suddenly though, he got a certain sense of falling. He’d entered his name to be up on stage with the cast and even to get a cameo as a background person in the upcoming movie.
Of which, the main role would now be played by his ex. Oh shit. He just hoped he didn’t get lucky.
The interviewer/person in charge of the panel got out a drum filled with paper scraps.
“And now, we’re gonna draw one lucky winner to come up here and win five screen minutes in the new movie! Theo, if you’d be so kind as to pick a piece of paper?”
„Of course…“
Teddy grinned and reached into the box with paper pieces in it.
He reached around, then fished for one of the pieces and pulled it out, unfolding it.
William Kaplan.
He couldn’t believe it. He had to read the name again and again. Only then he noticed that everyone was waiting for him.
Billy. He was so incredibly sure that fate was sending him a little gift here.
Don’t flip now. Just keep cool.
He was sure the press would explode if they got wind of this Billy actually being his Billy so he had to be calm and professional.
But hell, he would not let him go afterwards.
“Uh, William Kaplan?”
Billy was considering a heart attack right about now. This couldn’t be happening, there had been hundreds of names in there and Teddy had to go and pick out HIS?! Did he have like, super senses and had detected Billy’s smell on the paper or something?
“Do we have a William Kaplan in the house?” The guy at the front shouted and smiled.
Billy’s legs were shaking as he stood up and moved forward slowly. This...could he even do this? The stage seemed miles away and Teddy was on it.
Before he knew it, there was a spotlight on him, guiding his way. It felt like a dream, the voices around him drowned out. Don’t look at Teddy, watch your feet, don’t fall flat on your face...
Teddy stared at Billy as if he was seeing a ghost.
There he was.
The old Iron Man hoodie around his shoulders, a Cap shirt underneath it and loose jeans, Billy had not really changed.
He had gotten older though, but had not stopped being incredibly attractive to Teddy.
He felt his mouth go dry and his knees turn to jelly when Billy finally entered the stage and they grabbed each other's hands and shook them lightly.
"Hi William", he said with a soft smile.
His heart was beating in his throat.
"Nice to meet you.."
Oh god, he was so lame.
He wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around Billy, to hug him tightly and to tell him just how sorry he was and how happy he was here now...
“Hi...Teddy.” though the other had greeted him as if he were a stranger, Billy could do no such thing. Why should he? He didn’t even want to hide the fact he’d been the Billy that Teddy had called for on national television.
“It’s been a long time.” He uttered, before quickly letting go of Teddy’s hand.His palms were already growing warm and there was no need to let Teddy know how quickly he prompted a physical response in Billy. There were good reasons for Billy owning every single movie in which Theo Altman starred or even appeared. Billy would be ashamed to admit he jerked off to any romantic scenes or shower scenes involving the blond on screen.
“William Kaplan, congratulations, you’ve got yourself five minutes in-” Billy didn’t even hear the announcer anymore. After he’d been given his prize invitation to the filming, he was supposed to sit with the cast. But he couldn’t. The empty chair was next to Teddy. He couldn’t be that close.
“Would you like to say a few words?”
Billy’s hand shook as he received the microphone.
“Uhm...hi...my name is William Kaplan, but I prefer Billy,” he glanced towards Teddy’s feet, “I’m...really excited to be part of this, I’ve been a fan of this comic forever. And I’m a personal fan of Theodore Altman of course. But I’ve never been more dazzled by him than when he asked me to call him on national television.”
The crowd dropped absolutely silent.
“I gotta go. Thanks again!”
And with that, Billy literally bolted off the stage and out of the side exit door.
Teddy had swallowed as he heard his old nickname. he couldn't reply anything personal though because he in contrary to Billy was wielding a microphone and everyone would hear what he said.
Oh gods, this was never going to work out well, this was going to end in a desaster...
And when Billy actually mentioned he was the Billy Teddy had mentioned on TV and then dashed off, Teddy excused himself quickly, took the microphone off and ran after his ex-boyfriend.
"Billy!"
He caught him right after he had left through the exit door, grabbed his arm and whirled him around into a tight hug.
"Billy..", he whispered, "Billy..."
It was so good, so heart-repairingly good to hold him like this again. Seriously, Teddy had always thought the wound, the hole, that Billy had left in his heart had healed, but only now he knew it had never been gone. It might have stopped hurting chronically, but only now he noticed it was healing. Simply from Billy's smell, Billy's closeness, Billy's... slender body pressed to his own. Hell, had he dreamed of this... Jerked off to it, thought about it, daydreamed about it.. about Billy, about how life would ahve been if they had not broken up...
"I need to talk to you, please...! Gods, fuck, I sound like fucking Nate... Sorry... Billy, sorry!"
Billy thought he was going to get away, to not have to deal with the deadly tear in his soul that just seeing Teddy in person would do to him. But apparently, it would not be so. He’d been spun into a firm chest and assaulted with Teddy’s wonderful scent. He felt on the edge of tears, just because he’d missed this man so fucking much. A few minutes passed by, with Billy pressed into Teddy’s chest and the blond muttering apologies. For what, Billy didn’t know. After all, he’d been the one at fault all these years.
“Tee...” he whispered, before slipping from the tight embrace threatening his air supply.
“Let go, you’re kinda hurting me. I...I won’t run...just let go.”
"Sorry!", Teddy apologized for that as well and let him go. He blinked quickly, after all Billy shouldn't see how goddamn close he was to tears by now.They were silent for a minute and just stared at each other. Then, Teddy's arms twitched as if he wanted to grab his ex-boyfriend again, but he didn't.
"You... you look good, Bee", he muttered, "It's.... it's so good to see you again, god, I... do you.. do you wanna wait until I'm done with this thing? And maybe... maybe go for a drink? I need to speak to you."
“...sure...Yeah, let’s do that.” Billy wouldn’t meet Teddy’s gaze as they agreed upon a place and time. He already knew he wouldn’t be there. Seeing Teddy right now hurt too much. What good would it do to catch up with him? What good would it do to remind him of what he had lost? He already knew he’d never love someone as he loved Teddy again. He’d even tried dating a few times, but always ended it prematurely.
“You look good too, by the way. I’ve seen all your movies. You’re an amazing actor, Tee.”
"Thanks.."
Teddy was too nervous, too happy, too everything to notice Billy was already planning on not being there.
"So I'm... I'm gonna go outside again and we'll meet later, okay?"
Billy nodded and Teddy thought one second about hugging him again, but Billy had already pushed his hands into his pockets and backed up. So he only nodded.
"S-see you later, Billy. I'll be there."
He smiled.
“Later.” Billy offered him a shy smile, but he felt himself shiver. It really would be better to disappoint Teddy now instead of letting himself fall back into the pointless abyss of hoping his love would return to him.
Which was why, when Teddy got out of the panel and to the arranged meeting point, there was nothing there but a small post-it note.
Sorry. I can’t do this. -B
Teddy actually only found the note after a full two hours of waiting.
he read it, two times, three times and still did not understand the meaning. Did not want to understand the meaning.
What did he mean with he could not do this?
He produced the old cellphone out of his pocket and tried to call Billy, but once again, the younger didn't answer.
"Fuck it..."
Teddy bit his lower lip.
It had been a long time since he had been in such a dark mood. It had started raining by now and instead of calling his chauffeur, he decided to take the train.
No one would recognize him anyway, not with a face like that...
Billy didn't want him anymore. He should have seen it from the way he had reacted when they had met on the panel...
On the contrary, Billy wanted him very much. Too much, in fact. He was utterly miserable, staring at his reflection in the bathroom of his flat. The endless What If’s ghosted around his head, but he did not dare to hope that Teddy had been wanting to get back together. Why should he? He was a star now and stars did not go out with regular people like himself. He probably just wanted to fix things between them.
And on the second contrary of the evening, Teddy did get recognized. By a stray reporter who couldn’t believe his luck actually.
“Mr...Altman? Theo Altman! I’m from the Daily Bugle, do you have a few minutes? I’d like to get the scoop from Comic Con and your surprising reunion with William Kaplan!”
Teddy was in no mood for interviews, but then again he was always too friendly to say no, especially if it wasn't a whole herd of reporters, but only a single one who seemed actually quite excited.
"Yeah, sure", he said, nodding lightly, "I'm a bit tired, that's all. Carry on."
He shoved his hands into his pockets and waited for the questioning to begin.
“Well, your reunion was short-lived, right? Are you getting back together? How long were you together? How do you stand on gay marriage in the USA?” The reporter wasted no time and held the recording device eagerly to Teddy’s face. This would make a fantastic interview and was bound to give him a payrise.
"Yeah, I was happy to see him again, at least I know he's still alright and everything. I think marriage in general should be open to any couple who is mutually in love. Billy and I were together for almost two years, my longest relationship until now."
Teddy was bored already. "I'm sorry, I need to go now..."
Speaking about Billy hurt and right now he wanted nothing more than to go home and brood in the whirlpool all evening.
“Wait!” The reporter was desperate for more, but Teddy had already gotten off the train.
Coincidentally, in Billy’s new neighbourhood.
Since it wasn’t that late, the comic book store was still open and Billy had agreed to take the evening shift and close up later. It would get his mind off of things, right? With a coffee and a comic, he sat behind the counter, a sign up on the table to announce to any would-be customers that today Marvel comics were half price in honour of comic con. A couple of teenage boys were sitting on the sofa, slurping sodas and debating quietly.
In the subway station, Teddy noticed a little sign telling him there was a comic book shop around the corner.
He still read comics, even though he was 22 by now and most of his acting colleagues (even though they were starring in comic movies as well) had stopped or never even begun reading them.

Comics always took his mind off of things, so why not?
No one would know him here anyway and the announcement of the movie cast had only been today, so no, no one would know him.
He entered the little store and immediately began looking around without paying much attention to the other people present.
If he didn't pay attention, maybe they would ignore him as well...
Since the only people present were those teenagers and Billy, no one paid Teddy any mind. Billy was engrossed in his comic anyway and the teenage boys obviously didn’t see any of the movies Teddy had been in. The door jangled though, so he got a short glance from the teens. Not the clerk though, which really was terribly inattentive of Billy.
Lucky for him, no one robbed a comic book store that maybe made 20 bucks all together in a day.
“We’re open one more hour, just to let you know.” he called out to whoever the new customer was. Hopefully not another bum looking for a place to warm up or something.
That voice.
Fuck.
Teddy didn't know if he should cry or be happy. Of course, now, he could not get his mind off of Billy since he was right HERE, obviously working in this comic book store.
This job though was so predestined for Billy, it made him smile lightly.
Teddy took one of the comics and pretended to read as he came closer to the counter to a spot where he could watch the young dark-haired employee.
Billy's face was relaxed and he looked content.
Teddy noticed he still had this little frown on his face while reading and sometimes, he still moved his lips to read some of the words.
After 45 minutes of observin Billy, Teddy finally decided to but a few issues of Iron Man and Captain America he had not read and put them on the counter.
Billy only saw the comic books, he never looked up to his customer as he perceived their comic field of interest.
“Good choice, Marvel’s half price today. Can never have enough Cap and Iron Man in your shelves. Is that all?” he rang the books up in the till, then looked up. And nearly fainted.
“Teddy?” He literally squeaked, heart in throat.
"Thought I'd never see you again. For the second time. I just got off the subway around here; it seems fate somehow wants us to meet.."
He smiled lightly.
"But now that I'm here.. I'm gonna ask you straight away for another meeting. Please, Billy, I just wanna... wanna talk to you. About everything. I.. could... I never forgot you..."

Teddy had taken Billy's hand and one of the boys, Billy's other customers, "Ewwww"'d.
“Alright I already know you lot aren’t buying anything, so get out, shop’s closed!” Billy called to the teenagers. He pulled Teddy along so he could lock the door and lower the metal sheet-gate. He apparently wanted to be completely alone with Teddy.
“Look...Tee...about earlier...I’m sorry, I freaked out. I didn’t know why you wanted to see me and it just hurts, you know? All these years and I can’t forget about how I fucked up with you, how I lost the best thing that has ever happened in my life...I guess you’d say I’m still hung up on you.”
Billy sighed as he sat down on the newly vacated sofa. The comic book store was almost an extension of his flat upstairs anyway.
"... It's... it's fine..."
Teddy swallowed and carefully sat down on the sofa as if he thought he was destroying something if he sat down too quickly.
"I'm just... I... wanted to say sorry. It's.. the whole thing, I ... I used that.. thing.. the thing with Tommy. I used it, used it because I thought we'd both be better off if we broke up before I left. I should never... I should have never done that, I'm sorry. I should ahve listened to you. This whole time, I've always wanted to know... why you did that."
Teddy swallowed. They were sitting pretty far away from each other.
“Because he’s my twin brother,” Billy began, but then realized that incest was probably not a reason to stand on its own.
“He’s...Tommy and I have not always been together, but we’re closer than anyone I know. He needs me, I need him, we give each other support, love...anything. It’s not a bond I chose, Teddy, it’s a bond I need. But it is nothing more. Think of it as twisted family love shared by special twins. We’re both...lonely people. Tommy, because he can never seem to say or do the right thing, me, because I’m damn awkward. And he gives me the same I give him; someone to share everything with and to trust...and yeah...if need be, satisfy some tension. I’m sorry you ever felt as if it was cheating, because it really wasn’t. I love...I loved you with all my heart and soul Teddy. Even if you had moved to the fucking moon, I would have found a way to make it work. I wanted to marry you and grow old together, I wanted to wake up next to you every morning and fall asleep in your arms every night...You threw me away Teddy. You threw all of that away and for what? Did you think it would be better for us if we suffered apart and lonely?!” Billy was gripping the sofa, barely keeping the tears from his eyes.
Teddy bit his lower lip.
"Don't make it sound like that!", he growled, "I... I just wanted.., I just thought it would be better for both of us!! I knew we would have suffered so much if we could not see each other, I thought you... I thought you could be happy without me."
He lowered his head.
"I'm.. I know, I should... I should have never done this, I'm.."
There were no fitting words for this.
"Billy..."
Teddy took his arms and pulled him closer. "I'd... like to ask you to go out with me. I'd like the two of us to agree on ... restarting everything. To give it another chance."
“That’s not enough, Teddy,” Billy whispered, meeting Teddy’s sincere blue gaze, “I can forgive you, god, I can forgive you so easily, but what if you need to leave again? You’re a superstar, a celebrity and I’m just a college student who works in a comic book store. I still love you Teddy, I love you so much it hurts...but I don’t know if I can let you throw me away again.”
"I'm not gonna do that, Billy.."
Teddy sounded hurt, as if he was truly shocked by having Billy even thinking about something like that.
But he was right. To Billy, it probably had been as if he was throwing him away..
"Okay, let... let me prove you just how much I want this, okay?"
Teddy grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back a little while the other arm wrapped around him and pulled his lower body closer as if it was the easiest thing in the world.
He brought their lips together in a passionate kiss, pressed their bodies together as he pushed Billy backwards completely, his bodyweight fixing the younger man onto the couch.
Kissing Billy felt like heaven, it once again gave him the right warmth in all the right places.
Teddy was a good kisser, even though he was being rather rough right now. He knew his way to get into Billy's mouth though, his tongue running over the tip of Billy's.
Before the younger could return it though, he pulled back, whispering against his lips, "We're gonna be together, Bee. I won't leave you ever again, promise."
Billy was quite breathless after that kiss, but he smiled up at Teddy, a real, genuine smile, because this was definitely what he wanted.
“You promise, huh? Okay then, Theodore Altman, would...do you want to...will you marry me?”
Absolute silence answered him and Billy blushed a deep red, “Sorry, not now, I meant like...later. Way later. I just need to be sure I can tie you to me that will satisfy my selfish and possessive need for you.”
Again there was silence. The blond swallowed, then shook his head lightly. "I... Sure. Yeah... Yes, I want to. I wanna be your husband at some point, William Kaplan."
He grinned lightly.
"But only if you allow me to invite you to dinner in a romantic place and get an engagement ring for you. Cause obviously you're the bride."
Teddy leaned down and kissed him again, "Missed you so much..."
“I missed you too...Oh god, I missed you so much.” Billy snuggled into Teddy, gulping in deep breaths of Teddy’s scent. This was where he belonged, right there beside the man he had loved so many years. How could they ever have existed without one another? Billy wound himself closer, covering Teddy’s lips again with a desperate bid to equal the love and desire he felt right now.
“We will never be apart again...but we have to...start afresh. Dating, first sex, the whole deal.”

TBC