Chilly Boulder, Thursday Afternoon

[selfhelphero]

Billy and Topher had originally made plans to go out for an ice cream date over the weekend, but that idea had been hampered by the whole pony thing. So, of course, the day they rescheduled for was the day the island was invaded by goats. Of course.

"Tell me this wasn't our fault?" Billy said, once they were safely inside. He didn't really think it was their fault, but he had to admit, they were getting kind of a strange track record here.

[For the other awkward geek!]

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[dollpocalypse]

"I've decided it's that girl with the baby's fault," Topher decided, intending to be reassuring. "She was sympathizing with them earlier."

Topher thought Rilla was insane.

[selfhelphero]

"That sounds like a good enough reason to me," Billy said with a nod. "At least we're safe in here?" Probably.

[dollpocalypse]

"Probably," Topher decided, not-so-discreetly dragging a chair over to stand in the way of the door, just in case. "Maybe, like, ice cream is their secret weakness or something?"

Hopeful, but probably wrong.

"So! Ice cream. I could. Like. Get us some?"

[selfhelphero]

"That'd be a good idea," Billy said, staying close to Topher just in case. "What kind do you like?"

[dollpocalypse]

Yes, good, because Topher had already been beaten up by one goat today. He did not wish to make a repeat performance, and for some reason Billy seemed like the perfect shield against goat attacks.

"Rocky road's pretty good," he said, only glancing over at the door once to see if there was any chance of imminent goat-attacks. "You?"

[selfhelphero]

"I like plain old chocolate. I'm kind of boring, I guess," Billy said with a laugh.

When he caught Topher glancing at the door, he smiled. "Don't worry, I'll keep you safe, I swear."

[dollpocalypse]

"Okaaaaay," Topher said, drawing the word out teasingly. "But if they end up somehow being more dangerous than those Doombots or Tony's giant virus thing, you'd better step it up."

[selfhelphero]

"You just want to see me in all the spandex," Billy teased back. "Don't think I'm not starting to understand how your mind works."

[dollpocalypse]

"Heroic and smart," Topher said dramatically, as though he was just realizing this. "But you forgot the part where I'd probably get to fly with you again. That's also a factor."

[selfhelphero]

Billy grinned as he remembered the flying. "Ah, you liked that part? Some of my friends have gotten a little freaked out at being so high up."

[dollpocalypse]

"Are you kidding?" Oh, and now he was flailing a little. Look at what you'd done, Billy. "It was the coolest moment of my whole life. And one time I got to fly on this puppy dragon thing, but seriously, your disk thing? Way cooler. Actually I was telling Victor the cyborg about it the other day because... I don't remember why, actually, but I was and he knows you and oh by the way he says you're cool." Aaaand breathe. "But yeah! It was amazing. And, uh, possibly the, like, second-best part of that date. Actually."

[selfhelphero]

There was a lot there to process, so Billy tried to focus on one thing at a time. "We can do the flying thing again sometime, if you want," he offered. "It's not hard, and it's fun, especially if you enjoy it." And getting to be close to Topher wouldn't be so bad either. "And I'm glad Victor thinks I'm cool, but I don't know him. I mean, I do, from my classes, but...that's it, I think. My world is getting smaller, apparently."

[dollpocalypse]

"Like half the people here seem like they're from either your world or Ben's," Topher agreed. "But like, none of them are like the versions you know, right? So that's probably weird for you. And stuff."

[selfhelphero]

"It's totally weird, especially when they know me and I don't know them. But if he thinks I'm cool, then it's okay," Billy said with a grin.

[dollpocalypse]

"Kind of the opposite of how it is with you and Tony, then," Topher pointed out. "But it's still cool. I mean, I probably wouldn't know if anyone here was from my universe, you know? But with people from your world, you're all all high-profile and stuff and recognize each other."

[selfhelphero]

"We're not that high-profile. I mean, Tony is, but not me. We can't even get people to agree that we should be out there helping," Billy said, slightly pouting. Ice cream would definitely help.

[dollpocalypse]

"Is that why they wouldn't let you deal with the Doombots?" Topher said, a little more intrigued now. "What's with that, anyway? I mean, why not?"

...

"Actually, tell me in a second," he added, and hastily put in the order for their ice cream. Because yes, ice cream was good for encouraging sharing.

[selfhelphero]

Billy smiled softly as Topher ordered. It was kind of nice to have someone potentially supportive around. "It's not too long of a story, I promise."

[dollpocalypse]

"Long would've been okay too," Topher said with a grin, since... Billy. Storytime. Didn't take a genius to figure out the appeal here. Though even if it did, there was Topher. "Okay. Hit me."

[selfhelphero]

Billy sighed, looking down at his hands and feeling kind of embarrassed. "Basically, Cap and Iron Man - and all the adults, really - think it's too dangerous for us to be out there. We're not trained, we're only somewhat organized, and we kind of have a history of causing some structural damage when trying to help, but I fully maintain that that is a problem across the board for superheroes, and if we hadn't gotten in over our heads, we never would have ended up with Kate on our team," he said. "But, like, our parents don't know, and so they have this whole 'You're kids, you're not ready,' thing going."

[dollpocalypse]

Topher blinked.

"That's stupid," he decided.

Superheroes were a good thing for a society to have. Obviously. Why was that even a question?

[selfhelphero]

Billy grinned and ducked his head to try to hide how happy that response made him. "I know, right! It's not like we're a bunch of wannabes or something. We've all got abilities..well, most of us...and we know what we're doing. We just want to help and there aren't that many people around to do it anymore and it's not like there are fewer bad guys!"

Someone might have been working himself up into a rant here.

[dollpocalypse]

"Yeah!" Topher agreed, somewhat startling the ice cream guy as he passed them their respective orders. "I mean. Yeah. Just because they're awesome and badass they get to boss you around? That's not fair. Can't you guys just... do it anyway?"

Beat.

"Okay, maybe not that."

It was Cap and Iron Man. Kind of spoke for itself.

[selfhelphero]

"Actually...well, yeah, we do it anyway," Billy said sheepishly. "Sometimes, everyone's too busy to notice us, and sometimes--there's a lot of bad stuff going on at home. Regular folks don't notice it but--what's left of the Avengers needs our help, and I think they're just uncomfortable letting us help when we're supposed to be, like, having fun and not worrying about the fate of the world. Like how the teachers here always tell us not to fight the stuff that comes to the island, but in the end, they always let us do it anyway."

[dollpocalypse]

"Like, as if you wouldn't be worrying about the fate of the world anyway if you weren't superheroing," Topher chimed in. "I mean, you can't exactly just go around and play video games if there's an invasion of evil stuff, or the multiverse is disappearing or something. Them not letting you do it just makes you guys more likely to get hurt when you do."

He gave a dramatic little huff. "People need to think more."