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Billy and Topher had originally made plans to go out for an ice cream date over the weekend, but that idea had been hampered by the whole pony thing.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!]

Comments

[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."

[selfhelphero]

Billy couldn't hide the devoted look he was giving Topher. "I wish more people thought like you do," he said. "We haven't gotten hurt yet. We're as careful as you can be when fighting crazy villains."

[dollpocalypse]

"So obviously you know what you're doing," Topher decided. "I mean. Okay, so -- I think this is okay to say? -- Peter, you know Peter? He basically spent the past, like, forever writing articles under a different name that made people in his home universe decide not to go to war. And they were really good and everything and he saved a whole bunch of people, but he couldn't do it under his real name 'cause he's a kid and no one would take him seriously anymore. And it's so stupid. I mean, once you prove yourself it shouldn't matter how old you are. We have enough superheroes and potential superheroes and geniuses and... champion essay-writers here that that should just be obvious."

[selfhelphero]

"Exactly! It's totally unfair," Billy agreed. "It sounds like what Peter was doing was really cool. I wish people would trust us, you know?"

[dollpocalypse]

"Yeah," Topher said with a nod. "Sorry. You know. That they don't."

[selfhelphero]

"It's not as upsetting when people I care about support me," Billy said, smiling at Topher over his ice cream.

[dollpocalypse]

"People you-- oh, you mean me." Most astute genius ever, obviously. "Yeah, no, I... definitely do that. Support you. I mean. Yeah."

Thank you for that important clarification, Topher.

"The careful part is important, though," he added. "So. No... getting hurt or anything."

It was really getting to be kind of weird, the amount of times he'd had to had this talk with his friends.

[selfhelphero]

"I won't get hurt, I promise. I've got magic and flying and no one can get to me if I don't want them to." Before he could think too much and stop himself, he leaned over to try to give Topher a peck on the cheek. For supporting him, of course!

[dollpocalypse]

That tiny noise Topher made? Totally not an unhappy one. Just in case anyone was wondering.

It was accompanied by a tiny bit of (also not unhappy) arm-flailing, so Billy probably got the idea.

[selfhelphero]

"You make me want to do that a lot. Just to see what kind of noises you might make," Billy said quietly. "All in the name of science and such."

[dollpocalypse]

Topher grinned. "It's hard to be quiet about it," he protested, but not with much force behind it. "Um." Okay, okay, he could do this-- "Here, you try."

And Billy was getting a slightly awkward, quick little cheek-kiss of his own. Wasn't he lucky?

[selfhelphero]

Considering how close the noise Billy made was to a squeal, yes, he was very lucky. "Okay, yeah, it is kind of hard to be quiet."

[dollpocalypse]

"See!?" Good god, boys. You were such giant nerds. "I don't get how people do that all the time. There's, like, a -- recovery period." Beat. "That was not the term I should've gone with."

[selfhelphero]

Billy snickered softly, biting his lip to keep from being too loud about it. "I know what you meant. Maybe it gets less tingly over time? If you do it a lot?"

[dollpocalypse]

"That makes sense," Topher conceded. "...especially because somehow I can't picture Ben and Ender making those noises all the time."

And they were definitely doing the other thing. He listened to radio.

"We could. You know. Test it more," he said, fiddling a little with his hands because flirting was hard, okay. "For science."