Title: Hope for him yet
Fandom: Young Avengers
Characters: Billy, Teddy
Summary: In which Billy rages at the internet - again, and Teddy gets to cheer him up
Word Count: 576

There were very many reasons as to why staying up late and surfing the internet was a bad idea as far as one Billy Kaplan was concerned. For starters, it was a school night. Second, being a Young Avenger meant he needed all the rest he could get as the world just might depend on his level of coherency. And then there was simply the matter that Billy tended to disagree vehemently with most of the things he read online. That night in particular it went beyond what he was accostumed to usually, and he found that simply raging and ranting about it - online or to his semi-interested boyfriend - just wasn't enough. It went too far, struck too many nerves, and left the poor boy beyond anger or even frustration, instead at the mercy of despair and a gnawing sense of emptiness.

Realizing after a moment that the strangely-soothing stream of complaints and battle-cries came to an end, Teddy looked up from his handheld console. He paused and left it on the bed before walking up to Billy's desk where the other seemed to be going through one of his neurotic fits, lips pursed into a thin line and both hands buried in his hair. A quick look at the monitor revealed the source of this emotional crisis and Teddy sighed as he turned off the screen.

"I thought we agreed you'd stay away from that forum…?" The blond said with a shake of his head and reached to pry Billy's hair from between his fingers. He smiled lightly when it worked better than expected and Billy moved to hug him around the waist. Teddy concluded that was a much better use of those hands.
Billy pressed his cheek against his stomach then and Teddy let his hands trail through the mess of black strands in a soothing manner.

"Say-" Billy said then in a manner that made Teddy think he wasn't going to answer his question. He was right.
"Do you think they'll accept me?"

"Depends. Who're they?"

Billy turned his head to look up at Teddy before explaining.
"Your Skrull relatives. You know, when we get married and move to the home-world to restart the empire."

Teddy's eyes shut tightly as he let out an involuntary chuckle.

"Billy-"

"Or Kree relatives, I'm not toopicky…"

"You don't want to live on this planet anymore?" Teddy snickered fondly and trailed a finger at first over Billy's temple before he poked a cheek.

"I don't want to live on this planet anymore." The mage confirmed before he was pulled up to his feet.

"I'll tell you what, then." Teddy hummed with an air of self importance. "How about I consider it, and in the meanwhile-" He began by cupping Billy's cheeks before he pushed his hands back, fingers trailing through his hair again other than his thumbs which rested against his earlobes.
"We'll put all those anxious energies to good use, hm?"

The look in Teddy's eyes made Billy's knees go weak and he held on a bit more tightly.
"What about game night?" He heard himself ask then and managed a half-hearted look at the abandoned console.

"What aboutgame night?" Teddy purred back quite dangerously before he pulled Billy towards the bed.

A small impatient whimper was all Billy managed to let out before he was pinned down to the mattress and made to forget all about silly trolls and their shenanigans.