witches + aliens || deanoru/wickling one-shots (slow updates)

p a r t y a t t h e e n d o f t h e w o r l d

A/N: Based on that one party from the end of the Young Avengers comics. I'm pretty sure at least Karolina was there in the background somewhere in the illustrations?? I like to picture them all hanging in this setting.

Billy Kaplan is a powerful witch just as dangerous as his infamous mother— a mother who granted he barely knows. Nature versus nurture.

But right now Billy is just a boy sitting in a sticky booth at a raucous party, one hand twiddling with his boyfriend's and the other absentmindedly magicking a straw end over end in the air.

"You're dripping, Billy," deadpans his twin brother Tommy— another family member he's only recently met.

Billy draws himself out of his thoughtless bliss and realizes the mess of drops falling from the straw. Rather than halt his mess-making, he poignantly shoots the straw into Tommy's shock-white hair, earning an exclamation.

"You couldn't super speed your way out of that one?" Billy questions.

"Low threat," Tommy assures, then disappears in a glance, zooming out onto the dance floor. He returns a second later to take a bite of whatever he came over to try to eat in the first place, then is gone.

Teddy Altman readjusts his dusty blond hair from the shockwaves Tommy sends. He laughs gently as he sees Billy's hair in disarray as well. Tenderly, he tucks the stray pieces aside. Billy looks up at him adoringly, earning a light kiss.

The two stare out at the dance floor, watching Tommy zip about dancing with every mildly attractive guy or girl under the sun as always. He zooms past two intimately swaying girls, spinning them both around by the hands like medieval maidens.

"Woah!" the willowy blonde giggles while the brooding goth girl beside her snaps, "HEY."

"Tommy, I guarantee those two are not swinging your way!" Billy shouts at the untraceable blur. This earns him a sharp look from the goth. "Where's the lie, Sister Grimm?"

Nico Minoru gives a very slight smile at the teasing and her old alias. Karolina Dean, her official girlfriend as of very late, spins her back into her arms, lighting up in her sherbet array of color in the process. 

"Us token gay couples of our groups have to look out for each other!" the blonde calls. "Isn't that right, Wickling!"

"Are we one unit now?" Billy retorts.

"You haven't stopped touching each other all night, so yes," quips a passing Kate Bishop, the alleged only straight Young Avenger. Tommy appears again, rocking her off her feet and catching her in a low dip before leading her back into the depths of the many dancing young heroes.

Karolina drags Nico over to Billy and Teddy's booth. She's still pulsing to the hyperpop beat with her glowing rainbow skin, the brilliant fruit of her supernatural genes and something she used to hide— now she can scarcely bear to not be lit up.

"Mind if we sit?" Karolina questions, not waiting for an answer.

"Sure thing, Rainbow Dash." Tommy is back, now slamming in beside Teddy.

Karolina examines her glowing fingers. "Rainbow Dash is a queer icon."

"Exactly," Tommy agrees. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a stranger to go home with." He gives Teddy a rapid kiss on the cheek, hugs Billy around the shoulder and promptly licks his forehead, and disappears within a second.

Billy rubs his brother's saliva from his skin, grimacing and muttering, "God, will he ever be civilized?"

"Probably not," Teddy assured. "But that's why we love him."

"What's it like having a brother?" Karolina asks. "Only child blues."

"They lick," Billy states.

"Must be weird not knowing you have a twin," Nico wonders. "I think I'd hate it if there was the living personification of ADHD suddenly zipping around wearing my face."

"It is strange," Billy agrees. "Props of having an all-powerful sorceress for a mother."

"Hey, ditto!" Nico chirps.

"I think the Scarlet Witch might outweigh Nico's Mom Minoru."

"Hey." Nico stretches her back. "She'll be rolling in her grave at that."

"Nico!" Karolina hushes.

"Is a terrible sarcastic sense of humor a requirement for being a witch?" Teddy wonders teasingly.

"Yes," Billy assures, tousling Teddy's hair. "Speaking of, Nico we ought to compare notes sometime."

"On terrible humor or on magic?"

"Both," Teddy and Karolina assure simultaneously as Billy hums.

"You practice Wicca, right?" Billy questions.

"Uh-oh, witch talk," Karolina sighs. As opposed to shoving past Nico, she rises up from the booth, hovering above the group briefly. "Come on, Hulkling, let's dance."

Karolina flutters around the dance floor like an LSD hallucination. She is Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds after all. Teddy follows tentatively, laughing. In a moment, he's morphing into his otherworldly self as well, rough green armored skin coating him, impressive bat-like wings sprouting from his back. They make an astonishing pair, dancing through the sky amongst a few other fliers at the party.

"So, Teddy. How are things with Billy?"

"Great," Teddy assures.

Karolina spins around him, beckoning elaboration.

"I mean, he's broody, you know. And there was this episode about how he might've... magicked me."

"Magicked you?"

Teddy takes her hand and puts a hand on her waist, waltzing her half-heartedly.

"Yeah. Made me love him. Or maybe even made me. I don't think I'll ever be fully over it."

Karolina pauses, stalling them in air. They drop all hands from each other, growing serious.

"You seem real to me," she assures. "And so does your love."

"I think I know that. I know I do. It still manages to haunt me... I love him."

They land back on the floor and glance in the direction of their counterparts. 

Karolina gives a kind laugh and assures, "Look at the way he looks at you." She refers simultaneously to Nico as to Billy. "Like you're the realest thing in the world to him."