Log -- Teddy Altman || Billy Kaplan ‣ WHO: Teddy Altman || Billy Kaplan ‣ WHAT: Teddy starts to dream which comes hand in hand with green skin and he does not handle it well ‣ WHEN: September 6th, 2020 ‣ WHERE: Billy's apartment ‣ RATING | WARNINGS: Low || None ‣ STATUS: Complete || Log
Remember tonight... for it is the beginning of always.
Teddy Altman & Billy Kaplan
Dreaming was at this point inevitable. Or at least it seemed that way for anybody who had access to the network. Teddy had access therefore it was an inevitable conclusion. Only he hadn’t expected it to happen so soon and for it to be quite so life changing.
By life changing he meant the fact that when he awoke with a start, breath caught in the back of his throat, panic rooted someplace between chest and stomach and had stumbled into the bathroom he had been confronted with his reflection.
His reflection that was taller, bigger, wider, and very green with more piercings in his ears than he thought possible. Immediately he had given a rather unmanly scream and promptly slammed his fist into the mirror in a move that should have split his skin open across his knuckles, but it didn’t. Hard to when it looked like his knuckles had a form of plating over them, and all Teddy remembered before he very promptly passed out was a quiet uttered, “fuck.”
Teddy was not sure how long he’d been lying unconscious on the floor of his bathroom but it was long enough that all his roommates had left for the day which was honestly the best thing. There was no way he could explain what was going on and more to the point why he was so… green. Eventually he’d gotten off the floor and bundled himself up in the biggest oversized clothes he could find, doing everything in his power to hide how he looked as he needed to make it to Billy’s without drawing too much attention.
What he wouldn’t give to be a teleporter right now.
In hindsight, he probably should have called or texted first, but it was too late. He was here. Standing outside of Billy’s door, hand poised to knock, but hesitating.
Billy, who seemed to have developed somewhat of a sixth sense for whenever Teddy was even breathing near him, didn’t actually make Teddy wait too long before just crossing over to the door to his apartment and yanking it open. On the other side of the door stood a hoodie-clad, taller-than-he-remembered-but-also-a-familiar-kind-of-tall Teddy with one green hand hovering in the air above where his door had been. In the light from the inside of his apartment he could see what looked like a slight tinge of green to the jaw he could see underneath the hood and realised with a start that Teddy had started dreaming.
Okay well that was good, right? Was that good? He had no idea. He thought maybe it was. But also now Teddy had his powers and that meant that he’d be dreaming about the-
“Shoulda put on pants,” is what Billy offered by way of greeting, standing in his doorway with an oversized t-shirt and his boxers on with bare feet and messy hair. “C’mon in, T,” he managed, voice rough with that haven’t-spoken-to-anyone roughness that came with first thing in the morning. “You need coffee? You probably need coffee. I need coffee.”
Reactively and on reflex Teddy shoved his very obviously green hand into the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt and waited until he was invited in before ducking beneath the door. What even was that??
“It’s not like you were expecting company,” he said from beneath the layers. “But, yeah, coffee. Thanks.”
Possibly something stronger, but he was pretty sure drinking this early in the morning might class him as on his way to alcoholism and no thank you.
“You can take off the hoodie you know,” Billy said around a yawn, “it’s too warm in here for you to wear that much for too long and you don’t wanna sweat your way through every hoodie you own. That’s no fun for anyone. And I’m pretty sure rewriting the rules of reality to unsweat your hoodies is against some kind of magical code.” Not that he seemed to pay that much attention to the magical rules right now.
He scrubbed his hand through his hair and flicked on the coffee pot, looking back at Teddy properly now. “What brings you to my humble abode?” As though he hadn’t noticed the green hand. He had. But hey, he could fly and shoot lighting from his fingers and Teddy was a Kree/Skrull princeling. The world was weird.
Teddy hovered, hesitated again, and then finally gave in. He reached up to push the hood off his head and smoothed his claw-like fingers through the still blond strands of hair before he shrugged out of his first outer layer followed by the second and third. Eventually there he stood in all his green glory?
“So this happened this morning.”
He’d also broken his bathroom mirror, but he wasn’t going to mention that.
“So you started dreaming?” Billy asked, not looking in the least surprised or perturbed by the way Teddy was taller and greener than he had been the last time they met. If anything, it felt… good. Did that make sense? Probably not. Not much did before coffee.
He smiled a little. “Suits you.”
“Yup.” Short, simple, to the point. Not much else to say. It seemed that dreams were a mixed bunch and some people got really good things and others got really bad things.
Teddy? Well, he got a growth spurt, piercings, green skin and claws for hands. It took some getting used to.
“You think?” He asked, lifting a hand to rub at his hair, self-consciously.
“I think so,” Billy said without losing that smile. The coffee was brewing, so he moved forward and stood in front of Teddy, looking up at him more than he normally did. “Not many people can carry off such a look but you look great.”
He hummed, reaching up and curling his fingers around Teddy’s wrist, taking the hand out of his hair. “Piercings look good too.”
Teddy felt a flush of warmth across both cheeks as apparently even though he was green he was still able to blush. That was good to know, worth noting.
“I definitely don’t hate the piercings but my coach is going to lose his shit.”
He blew out a breath and then tipped his head to look at Billy. “Am I always… green?”
There was the tiniest part of Billy that thought he was walking into a trap, that no matter how he answered it would come back and bite him in the ass because if he was honest he’d have to explain how he knew and if he lied then Teddy would catch him out when he dreamed more. Unfortunately, he wasn’t caffeinated enough for anything as complicated as proper lies so as he moved away to go and make the coffee for them - the fridge opening up and the milk floating out at his command - Billy shrugged his shoulders.
“Not always, but I think it’s more comfortable for you?”
“More comfortable?” Teddy pressed, curious. What did that mean?
He watched the milk as it floated through the air before he just turned, cursing a second later as he knocked something off the nearby table due to his size, and flailed. What he didn’t account for was his new strength so even when he grabbed the thing he’d knocked off rather than keeping it safe it broke, shattered, and Teddy looked up both mournfully and regretfully.
“I really, really hope that wasn’t important.”
“Mm,” Billy hummed, jumping when something behind him crashed and he turned his head to look at Teddy who was sadly looking at the vase that he’d broken. “Don’t worry about it, I can fix it.”
He smiled, setting up their coffees. “Is your hand okay?”
“Fine,” Teddy said with a glance at his hand. “Pretty sure I did more damage than the vase.”
He attempted to shove his hands into his pockets but realized they were too big, too… claw-y. Instead he decided to edge away from anything else fragile and give things a wide berth until he figured out how big he was.
“Hopefully I won’t break the cup.”
“Even if you do, I can fix it,” Billy said with a wave of his hand. He brought the cup over to Teddy and then realised just how self conscious he was about his hands. He chewed the inside of his lower lip and placed the cup down.
He took a breath, reaching out and taking Teddy’s hands in his own, completely unafraid. “Hey, T, it’s okay. It’ll- It’s okay.”
“Woah, woah,” Teddy said sharply as he attempted to pull away from Billy’s touch as he was understandably concerned that he might hurt him, unintentionally, but by then it was too late. Billy already had a hold of both his hands and Teddy blinked, taken aback by how he wasn’t actually doing any damage to Billy.
Billy’s fingers squeezed the breadth of Teddy’s hands, then caught his fingers and squeezed those too. “See? Cups and vases and doorknobs don’t matter, they can be fixed. But look, you’re holding my hands and you’re not hurting me. This is weird, and it’s scary, and I get that because when my powers first started to manifest I blew up the toaster and flipped the breaker in this apartment but it- This is your power.” One of them, anyway. “And I know you won’t hurt me.”
Teddy looked at where Billy was holding his hands and lifted his eyebrows when the claws seemed to retract and regular - albeit green - fingers seemed to replace them. Huh?
“You sound really certain of that.”
He caught his lower lip between his teeth. “My bathroom mirror will definitely need replacing.”
“How much did you dream?” Billy asked, instead of commenting on his certainty. He turned away, squeezing Teddy’s fingers once more before he moved away and went to pick up their coffee, handing Teddy’s over to him.
Sipping his own, he let out a small sound of pleasure. Coffee. His one true friend. He scratched a hand through his hair and looked up at Teddy with a soft smile. “I’m glad you came over.”
Teddy took the offered cup, gingerly and carefully. “It was sort of surreal how a lot of the dream was sort of my life here. I mean back home that is.” He purposefully ignored the sound Billy had just made after taking his first sip of coffee and focused instead on how the heat of the mug wasn’t even permeating the skin on his palms. How thick was his skin now?
“I mean, dream!me has a mom, which I don’t here. But she has the same name as my aunt who raised me after my parents-” He cleared his throat and sipped at his coffee. “There was also a Greg in my dreams, but he was more asshole than jackass like my ex-boyfriend was towards the end. Using me for my shape-shifting abilities, I guess? I mean, I was able to make myself look like other people, so I figure that’s shape-shifting.”
“But things went south rapidly when I wouldn’t let him loot the ruins of the Avengers mansion. Oh, I also play basketball in the dreams and not Lacrosse.”
Billy’s brain did a double-take at the mention of an ex-boyfriend and he just rubbed the back of his neck, thinking about what he knew about Teddy from the dreams. Maybe he hadn’t dreamed about them yet, being found by the smartest kid in the future to build a team to save the world.
“Yeah, shapeshifting. So you don’t have to look like this if you don’t want to. You can look like anyone you wanted.”
“That’s insane.” And it was or it was to Teddy. “I’m still trying to get my head around it.” He rubbed his fingers through his hair and squeezed the back of his neck.
He looked into the depths of the dark liquid which filled his cup for a long quiet moment before he looked up at Billy. “Thanks for uh, being so cool about this. I mean I know you have the advantage of having dreamt already, but I still appreciate it.”
“You didn’t freak out either time I just teleported into your room, T,” Billy said softly with a lift of his shoulder. “The least I can do is be cool when you turn up needing someone to talk to.”
He hesitated for a moment before he reached out again, resting his hand on Teddy’s forearm. “You control it, focus on what you want to look like and how it feels to look that way, and your body should respond.”
Teddy’s eyes flicked up to regard Billy and his hand moved to cover Billy’s, squeezing it for a moment, as he focused on what the other was telling him.
He could do this, right?
Deciding that it might be easier with his eyes shut he did just that, closed them, and focused. He recalled the color of his skin, the way his shoulders were smaller, his height wasn’t so tall, and how his clothes fit him.
A moment later one eye peeked open, squinting. “Did it work?”
Billy was beaming at Teddy as he settled back into the skin that he had gotten to know him in the real world in. The piercings had stayed and his hair was a little longer but he was back to himself and he nodded his head. “Yeah, it did.”
He took another sip of his coffee. “But you might have to focus a little more on what you look like now so you don’t shift into the greener form.”
Teddy exhaled a breath and mock wiped away non-existent sweat across his forehead.”Okay, uh, yeah, that makes sense. You mind if I-” He gestured towards the bathroom.
Once Billy nodded, Teddy headed into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked the same but also different. The piercings were still there, his hair was longer, but his skin was a normal “human” shade, and he wasn’t quite as big, but still, bigger.
“Huh.” He blinked, wondering if he should be concerned at how much he liked this new look?
Billy trailed after Teddy and leaned his shoulder against the frame of his bathroom door, resting his head against the wood and hands still curled around the coffee cup in his hands. His lips were curled up in a small smile.
“Better?” He asked, “you just need to remember to focus on how you want to look, so you don’t slip.”
“Yeah,” he admitted with a soft laugh as he leaned forward to take an even closer look, head tipping for him to take a look at the piercings. There were so many, but damn, they looked good. Really good.
He was committing as much of this look as he could to memory, so he could maintain and not slip. It sounded like a lot of work but important work.
“I like this look.”
“It definitely suits you,” Billy said with a little smile, eyes alternating between looking at Teddy and then his reflection. He looked the same, but different, and definitely more like the Teddy from his dreams. It made his chest tighten uncomfortably.
He sipped his coffee. “Feeling any better?”
Teddy turned his head to look at Billy and gave him a soft warm smile that crinkled his eyes in the corner. “Yeah, I am, thanks.” He gave his reflection one last look before he approached Billy in the doorway and nudged his foot with his gently.
“Mostly thanks to you.”
Billy chuckled, nudging Teddy’s foot right back. “I didn’t do anything, T, just answered the door.”
“Yeah, you answered the door,” Teddy pointed out as he nudged Billy’s foot again. “You could have ignored it. Could have just left me to deal with this on my own.”
Billy looked honestly puzzled, then his eyebrow lifted and his lips tilted up into a teasing smile. “Wow, T, how much of a jerk do you think I am?”
“Wha?” Teddy asked, brow furrowing in confusion. It took him a further second before he realized what Billy was saying, and he reached over to give him a light shove. “Shut up.”
Billy laughed and gave Teddy a bright grin, stumbling back a little at the shove (not because it was hard but because he was being a little dramatic). “You don’t want me to shut up, not really.”
Teddy rolled his eyes as he rested back against his side of the door. “Okay, you might be right about that.” He looked at Billy, felt his gaze lingering, and ducked out to return to his forgotten cup of coffee.
With the cup now held with normal sized fingers the cup felt less fragile and Teddy could actually focus on enjoying the hot drink.
“So, I’m guessing I woke you up?”
Billy’s cheeks were flushed. “No, well- I, not technically. I was awake, just lying in bed considering the merits of trying to rewind time for another few hours or just sleeping the morning away.”
Sometimes days were hard. Today had been looking like it was one of those days where his bed wouldn’t let him out, where his limbs were all too heavy to function properly. Teddy turning up at his door had made some serotonin-deficient synapses spark to life.
“It is early, isn’t it?” Teddy grimaced faintly. “I didn’t even notice the time when I freaked out.” He’d just woken up from that dream, seen his reflection, and promptly flailed. Not his finest moment.
He gestured. “If you want I can leave and let you get back to that decision-making process.”
“No, you-” Billy reached out almost on instinct, but was too far away to actually take hold of Teddy’s arm which was a good thing. Instead, he gripped at his cup and shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t look at Teddy as he said, quietly, “if I go back to bed I’m not coming out again for the rest of the day. So, if you don’t have anywhere to be you could- you could stay. For a bit? If you wanted?”
Teddy frowned a little at that admission from Billy. It sounded awfully specific, but then he didn’t know Billy well enough to know if what he was thinking was actually a thing, or he was just reading too much into things.
“I’d like that,” he said with a genuine smile. “We could hang out in here, maybe watch some movies?”
“Yeah,” Billy said with a little smile, tired at the edges but still there and still genuine. “If you have the time, I’d like that.”
“Nowhere else I have to be.” Or want to be… though that bit went unsaid. Little too much, little too heavy, and he was enjoying this friendship with Billy.