Here it is, the sequel to my other Young Avengers fanfic, "Something to Stare At", because several people suggested that I do so. So, if you haven't read that one, run along now. I'll wait here.

……

…done now? Spiffy! On to the show. This one is Teddy-centric now.

Warnings: boyxboy (considering TeddyxBilly is canon, how could I not exploit the awesomeness?) and some language

Disclaimer: I, as a starving artist (ok, maybe not starving, but I have spent all my money on art supplies), do not own anything. Not even a Young Avengers comic book. It's sad really.

By the way, how I see it, in the Marvel universe, DC comics are still just comics (to explain the Batman references… they're just huge fanboys).

Enjoy~!

Just Between You and Me

Teddy Altman could not believe his luck.

Not too long before, he wasn't the type of person to think that luck even existed. To him, it was more about the strength of the person and their actions― one-hundred percent man-powered karma. Well, he must have done something very right, by that logic. How else could he explain the events that lead him to meet and then start dating the utterly adorable Billy Kaplan, if it wasn't good luck or karma?

Said adorable teenager was currently scowling, however. Not that it made him look any less cute.

"I can't believe this!" the dark-haired boy ranted, "I just can't believe this could happen!"

Teddy chuckled a bit as he watched his boyfriend pace back and forth. "Billy, getting a 'B' on a history presentation isn't the end of the world."

"Yes it is!" Billy gesticulated wildly, "I'm usually great at history! Can we sue for discrimination?"

"Billy, it's a presentation grade," Teddy assured him, "Not a judgement of who you are. Maybe you were just nervous, and it showed?"

"Well… it would have been a lot easier if your stupid friends hadn't been laughing at me from the back of the room," he admitted begrudgingly. Teddy's eyebrows wrinkled together.

"Guys like that aren't my friends," he corrected. "Now come on, I think you're wearing a hole in your floor with all your pacing."

Billy sighed. "I can just blame it on my brothers, then, if my mom asks," he stated, making Teddy laugh (perhaps unintentionally). The smaller teen heaved another sigh and flopped back onto the couch beside his boyfriend. "They're just all so stupid about it," he grumbled, referring to the other kids at school, as he buried his face in the soft t-shirt over Teddy's broad chest.

"Yeah," Teddy agreed, repositioning himself and his boyfriend so they were both laying down, with Billy still resting on top, "I had a group of girls ask me earlier today if we've ever role-played as Batman and Robin when we're 'alone together'."

Billy's ears turned bright pink, and he kept his face hidden in Teddy's shirt. "You didn't say anything, did you?" he asked into the fabric, his voice muffled.

"No, don't worry, I didn't tell them anything about the time that you―"

"Oh my god…." Billy moaned, bolting upright and revealing― as Teddy had guessed it would be― a very fuchsia-tinted face. "That was one time."

"Yes, only once," Teddy reminded him, "Because you said I was too convincing as Robin."

"It was creepy," the witch-boy pouted, making his shape-shifting boyfriend smile, "You didn't even use your powers."

Teddy laughed loudly at that, and, after a moment or two, Billy joined him, finally relaxing a bit.

"Look," the blonde told his boyfriend, "The other kids might be idiots about things like this, but, well… just between you and me, I like it that way." Billy looked like he was about to protest, so Teddy held up a hand to stop him. "I mean, I don't like how stupid they are, but it really does give more time for you and me to focus on each other, without worrying what I look like to other people. There's no more pretending."

Billy smiled sweetly, casting his gaze down bashfully.

"Speaking of pretending…" Teddy began lightly. Billy's eyes snapped up to his face again.

"No! No way, Teddy Altman!" he protested. "I'm not being Batman again, no matter how many times you tell me how good I am with a batarang!"

"Aw, come on…" Teddy fake pouted. The two of them broke into giggles and ended up rolling off the couch onto the floor, where they stayed together for quite some time.

School had kind of sucked lately, but that was to be expected. There was all the rumors flying now about Teddy, but the shapeshifter could ignore those. And there were the girls who came up to tell him how cute he and Billy were together, always when there were a lot of people around to add to the awkwardness, but at least they meant well. And, of course, there was the way he'd been all but shunned by most of the other members of the football team. All this on top of how much school usually sucked.

But, he had a bit of respite (an SAT word that his boyfriend had taught him) from it all. And that came in the form of Billy, his little diamond in the rough. The magically-powered boy always found a way to brighten Teddy's day, even through something as simple as a secret smile between classes or the way their hands brushed together lightly when they walked beside each other. There were, of course, still those who gave them disgusted glances and spited girls who looked at Teddy sadly, but, with Billy by his side, it didn't seem to matter.

Because the jocks had taken to ignoring him― even outright turning their faces away when he'd tried to bring Billy over to his usual table at lunch― Teddy had moved his eating location to the outcast table, where Billy had spent all his lunches at the school so far. At first, the others who sat there (three nerdy-looking freshmen, a couple of goths, and a handful of loners) had been wary of the muscular blond. But by the end of the week, he had joined in with the freshman for their discussion about their favorite superheroes (Teddy carefully chose Northstar rather than his true answer of Wiccan, to avoid suspicion) and the debate over what would happen if the Star Trek universe met the Star Wars one. Naturally, this brought Billy into the conversation as well. He even partook in a few staring contests with the goths and gotten a few of the loners to say a couple words.

That day, however, was a Friday during football season, which meant― as it nearly always did― that there would be a game that night. And, therefore, the football players were wearing their jerseys to school. When Teddy entered the cafeteria, with Billy naturally at his side, a hush fell over the students again. It was as if they'd forgotten he was on the football team. Or as if they'd forgotten that one of their star players was gay. Even the so-called misfit table was quiet when they sat down, looking over the red and white jersey with an odd look of fear in their eyes.

Billy leaned against him slightly to comfort him (it worked of course). They tried to refrain from sucking face in public, specifically to avoid situations like the one they were in now, but that sure would have comforted him even more.

They lost.

Teddy could not believe that they lost.

It wasn't as though the team had never lost before. They'd lost plenty of times. But never since Teddy had joined the team had they been dealt such a crushing defeat. Final score: 47-6. The only touchdown they had been able to score was due to pure dumb luck and a sudden injury on the other team in the final minutes of the game.

For the entire weekend afterwards, Teddy had been in a bad mood. Come Monday, that hadn't changed. His teammates shared this sentiment, in a way that they had not shared the ball on the field. And that was almost definitely the reason the team had lost the game; they had lost their cohesion.

Come Monday, it was quite obvious whom the other students blamed. Teddy was on the receiving end of more glares than had even been usual since he had come out of the closet and dragged Billy with him. And it wasn't too hard to figure out who had encouraged such things.

Some of his teammates (mostly second strings, unfortunately) had been surprisingly cool about the entire ordeal; however, the majority hadn't. Those of them who had been fake-coughing things like "faggot" and "cocksucker" when he was conveniently in earshot now sported smug smiles. Yeah, he knew exactly what they were trying to do. Enough tormenting and people turning against him and Teddy would be forced to quit the team, right? Too bad Teddy didn't have any intention of doing so. He did, on the other hand, plan to confront the guys about why they would sacrifice the team's success for something as silly as this.

The perfect opportunity came that day after school had just let out. He met Billy at his locker, as he'd taken to doing over the past week, and the two of them made their way through the crowded hallways towards the exit. It was like being pushed along by a herd of cattle, with everyone trying to get out the doors at the same time to be able to breathe something other than the oppressive air that always hung over public institutions. As they waited for the mob to clear a bit, Teddy spotted several of his teammates leaning against the wall near the doors (congesting the hall further like plaque in an artery). Brett looked up at him and sneered; Teddy hurried Billy along to avoid anything the beefed-up quarterback would want to comment in their direction. But he didn't count on Brett and the others following them.

They were halfway down the stairs outside of a door on the side of the school when it happened. Billy was in the middle of a wild story about something that had happened in math that day and Teddy had looked away for a second, nearly doubled over in laughter. In that one moment that he stopped paying attention to his boyfriend, a hand reached out and pushed. Teddy looked back only in time to see Billy tumble down the last few steps, his books and papers flying everywhere.

"Billy!" the tall blond yelled far too late, running to the fallen boy's side and crouching down. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice filled with concern. He received only a hiss of pain in response.

"Whoops, looks like he lost his balance," said a familiar boisterous voice from behind them. "I guess that's what you get when you prance around all day like a fairy." In his immediate concern, Teddy had almost forgotten to see what had made Billy fall in the first place.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Brett?" Teddy exclaimed, turning to look up the steps at his arrogant teammate. The sudden commotion (not to mention the wide scattering of all of Billy's papers) had drawn the attention of the kids who were waiting for rides or hanging around with their friends. A bit of a hush fell over the students.

"I could ask you the same thing, Altman," Brett replied simply, descending the few steps down to ground level, where Teddy had just risen to his feet again and was glaring at the other teen. "Seriously. You let this little freak turn you into a fag like him."

Teddy's eyebrows rose. "You think Billy turned me gay?" He didn't wait for a response. "That's ridiculous." But from the murmuring of the other students now creating a circle around them, that's exactly what many of them thought.

"No, what's ridiculous, Altman, is how you've abandoned the team."

"Abandoned you? You're the ones who refused to follow the plays that Coach told you to by not passing me the ball."

The smirk was back on Brett's face. "Well, maybe we're all just worrying about covering our asses. Who knows what could happen if we bend over around you?"

The other players who had accompanied Brett outside, as well as many of the surrounding kids, broke out in laughter. Teddy could feel the rage bubbling up inside him at the horrible things Brett was saying and, more importantly, at what he'd done to Billy. The shapeshifter clenched his fists tightly, but he knew he couldn't allow himself to hit the irritating quarterback, no matter how gratifying it would be― he knew his own strength and what one of his hits could do.

"Looks like he wants to fight you, B," said one girl near the front of the crowd. Teddy didn't remember her name, just that she was one of the many that Brett had bragged about fooling around with. He'd always hated hearing about the guy's conquests…

Brett laughed again, his sneer growing. "Yeah? And what's a faggot going to do in a fight? Beat me up?" More laughter from the peanut gallery. Teddy simply glared more, trying to rein his anger back (it sure was a good thing he only took on the appearance of the Hulk, and not the behavior). "Go ahead," the jock taunted, mockingly encouraging, "Hit me." He pointed to his cheek, which he leaned forward to expose more. "Hit me right here."

Teddy took a deep, cleansing breath and said, "I'm not going to hit you, Brett."

"I will," another voice cut in. In a flash, the owner of the voice was in front of the surprised football player, his fist connecting solidly with the out-jutting cheek. The punch knocked its recipient to the ground. And no one was more surprised than Teddy to see that Billy was the one standing there, giving a don't-fuck-with-me look down his nose at Brett and shaking his hand out as one would after hitting something hard.

"Wow," Teddy summed up the events beautifully. "You okay, Billy?"

"Yeah; I've had worse," the dark-haired boy replied, recalling the bumps and bruises he'd received as Wiccan as he turned to smile broadly at his boyfriend. "He just surprised me the first time, that's all." He set about collecting all the papers that had scattered when he fell; the surrounding students gave him a wide berth as he did so, their eyes equally as wide. Teddy helped him by gathering his books into a neat pile, which Billy gladly accepted when handed to him.

"You know, it's almost easy to forget you're a superhero sometimes," Teddy whispered, "But after all that training, you can really pack a punch."

"Yeah," Billy agreed, also in a whisper, "I can't say I feel sorry for him, though." Then he called back towards the quarterback― who was still sitting on the ground, stunned and rubbing his sore cheek― in much louder than a whisper, "That'll teach him to mess with faggots." With that, he grabbed Teddy's hand, intertwining their fingers, and pulled the much larger boy through the opening that the crowd created for them. Laughing, Teddy gave a friendly wave back towards his football teammates.

Billy didn't ease his fast marching until they were far out of sight, several blocks and a few turns away; they'd reached Central Park. By that point, he'd calmed down a bit.

"You know," Teddy commented in a light, flirty tone as they walked beneath the blazing trees, "That was kind of hot." He threw his arm around the shorter boy's shoulders; said boy looked up at him with a slightly pouty expression. "What?" Teddy said after a moment. "It was. You knocked down a guy twice your size. I enjoyed that."

Billy's pouting lips twitched for a moment, then spread into a smile. "Just between you and me," he confessed, "So did I."

Yay! It only took a few months, but I finally finished this. I hope you enjoyed it!

Reviews are very much welcome and encouraged.

[Edit 1/13/10: There is now even a sequel to this story. Check it out if you liked this!]