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Teddy groans as he picks himself up off the snowy ground. "Wiccan?" He blinks and squints against the bright glare of the snow. "Billy?" A groan from behind him makes him sigh with relief as he gathers his boyfriend close. "Billy, what happened? Where's the rest of the team?"
"I think I messed up the spell," Billy mumbles with a shiver, curling in close. "Did we get to LA or...?"
"I'm pretty sure this isn't Los Angeles." Teddy chuckles quietly. "I don't think California knows how to do snow like this." Billy's lips twitch up around a chattering smile and they sit silently for a long moment. "Hey, you think you could make use some weather appropriate clothing?"
"Chicago." Billy looks around them in disbelief as the snow drifts down and people hustle through the streets, bundled and staring dead ahead. "I managed to mess up that spell enough to take us to Chicago. That doesn't even sound like LA." Billy shrugs, plucking at his coat with a wry grin. "I really don't think you're being serious enough about this, Theodore Altman."
"Full name? Really?" Teddy rolls his eyes. "Besides, I don't think it's just that we're in Chicago. I think it might be a time travel thing too." Billy slaps a hand to his forehead with a groan.
"Another time travel thing? Didn't we already have our big time traveling, potentially changing everything and accidentally destroying the world adventure?" He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "We are so dead. We're going to be stuck here without money because I'm not sure how to get us home and we're going to freeze to death in the cold." He glares at the ground and kicks moodily at the accumulating snow. "To add insult to injury, we're going to be buried and not found until spring."
"Let's just find somewhere to stay warm for a little while, alright?" Teddy takes him by the shoulders and guides Billy into the nearest doorway that looks like it might be a cafe. They both freeze up when they walk in and it seems to be a bar. "Maybe if we just act like we belong," he mutters, making subtle changes to his face and standing straighter to look older. Next to him, Billy takes a breath and straightens out his clothes as they walk up to the bar. A tall man almost completely covered in tattoos smiles at them as they sit, pushing his rolled shirt sleeves higher.
"What can I get you?" he asks almost lazily as he wipes at the wood bar top. Billy and Teddy share a look, neither knowing what they should order. The bartender just laughs. "How about I mix you two something special, on the house?"
Billy nods with a smile and the bartender walks away, probably to get whatever bottles he needs to mix with. "You know, this might not turn out so bad," he comments happily, turning to Teddy.
"See? Everything's going to work out just fine and we'll figure out a way back home." Teddy hums a little to himself and gently taps out the beat of the song the man at the piano played. "We might have to find some help though. Maybe we can..." He cuts off as the bartender's shadow falls over them, a glass plunked down in front of each of them.
"If you're looking for a certain favor, I think I can help you out a bit." The bartender smiles and Billy and Teddy share an uncertain look. "You boys can trust me. Just stick around until closing and we'll see what we can do about setting up a meeting."
"This is maybe a really bad idea." Billy chews nervously at his lower lip, looking from the rapidly emptying bar to where the bartender, Travis they learned as the evening wore on, casually chats up a pretty brunette and blonde pair. He hasn't even glanced them in at least twenty minutes. "I'm pretty sure Travis forgot that we're waiting."
"He didn't forget," a voice says behind them and they both jump, turning to find a man with over-styled hair grinning back at them. "So you're the two Travie's been treating." He gestures for them to follow him to a secluded table in a corner far from the few remaining patrons. "I hear you need a favor?"
"Uhhhh, yeah," Teddy stammers, scratching nervously at the back of his neck. "It's sort of complicated, you see." They only get a raised eyebrow telling them to go on. "We're sort of from the future and we need to get back to, ummm, about ninety years from now?"
The guy sitting across from them grins widely. "I think I know someone who can help you with that. I'm Pete Wentz, I know all sorts in this town. But if I'm going to scratch your backs, you'll need to scratch mine." The grin morphs into a soft smile as he looks over their shoulders to the piano player bundling himself up across the room.
"I think this is going to be harder than it looks," Billy says as he drops onto the bed with a sigh the following night. "It turns out Pete's actually an up-and-coming gangster here and Patrick isn't exactly fond of him."
"It can't possibly be as bad as you're making it sound," Teddy says, rubbing a hand over his back. Billy sighs and relaxes into the touch. "You're sort of making it sound like--"
"He said, and I quote, 'I'd rather jump into Lake Michigan than spend any more time than I need to with that ass'." Billy flumps back onto the bed with a huff. "At least this is a nice hotel. I think we're going to be here for a while. How did things go with Pete?"
"You know how Iron Lad and Vision can be with Cassie?" Teddy lays on his stomach next to him and Billy nods. "Well, it's like that with emo poetry instead of chess and musing." They both groan. "He has an entire book of scribblings dedicated to the guy. At least we know he's seriously in love."
"In love or obsessed to the point of some horror movie plot," Billy deadpans and they both snort, eventually going quiet again. "Hey, Teddy?" He hums in reply, blinking tiredly up at the ceiling. "If I'd been that, would you chase me like this?"
Teddy's quiet for a long moment, just staring up. "I think I'd try to be a little more subtle. And I wouldn't ask the two guys from the future that blew into my speakeasy for help getting you."
"Yeah," Billy grins and tangles their fingers together by his head. "We just had a future villain unintentionally hook us up. Maybe we're not all that different."
"This might be impossible," Teddy sighs the next day, dropping into a chair at a table far from most of the meager early evening crowd in Pete's bar. "Don't get me wrong, Pete's a good guy with good intentions but..." He trails off with another sigh. "He might be the creepiest human being I've ever met. Did you know he followed Patrick home once?" Billy's eyebrows shoot up and he gestures for him to go on. "He says it was after a raid and because he wanted to make sure the cops didn't catch up with Patrick. Something about him being too pretty to last long in prison?" Billy snorts into his water.
"Patrick mentioned that. It wasn't after a raid though." Teddy just sighs and rests his head on his folded over arms. "Well, not a raid here. There was one a block over though. I guess it's still a sort of legitimate worry." Billy combs his fingers lightly through Teddy's hair and he visibly relaxes under the touch. "I think he might have found it a little endearing though. He blushed when I said it was."
Teddy grins up at him. "You think that's endearing? Really? I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever need to woo you from someone." Billy just rolls his eyes. "But that means there's a chance, right? They might realize how much they like each other?" They look up as the door leading from back alley they'd stumbled through the first time opens to let in Patrick in a gust of cold air and snow. He stomps past the door to Pete's office where he's peeking out and heads straight to the musicians' pit without a glance.
"It might take us a little work," Billy says with a wince. "I think I might have an idea though."
"No." Patrick glares at Billy across the table of the little diner booth hard enough that he flinches. "I don't understand why everyone's so dead set on getting us together. We hate each other."
"He doesn't hate you," Billy says with a sigh. "He's actually pretty stupid for you. Why do you think he followed you home after that raid?"
"Protecting his investment," Patrick huffs, waving a hand. "How should I know?" He crosses his arms and glares across the room at a glass display of desserts. Billy's surprised when they don't start to melt. "I hate him enough for the both of us. He's a liar, a crook, and in bed with the mafia. He cheats and steals and there's nothing at all redeeming about him."
"But he takes in people who need help, doesn't he?" Billy says, grasping for something. Patrick's face goes red and a little splotchy. He's not so sure that he isn't hiding some powers in there somewhere. Maybe it's his voice, like a tiny Banshee or something.
"He... he does it for his own ends. He's not actually trying to help." Patrick hunches over his now-cold coffee and Billy thinks maybe they're getting somewhere finally. "He can't be. He's got a logical reason for surrounding himself with misfits and outcasts." Patrick's glaring at him again and, yeah, it feels a bit like it's burning. "Why do you care, anyway? Did he pay you to talk him up like this?"
"Seriously?" Billy sighs, shoving his hands into his hair in frustration. "How judgmental can you possibly be? No, Pete... Okay, technically, I guess he's offering us help in return for helping him but--"
"I knew it! That bastard doesn't have a single redeeming quality." Patrick knocks back the rest of his coffee with a grimace and Billy knows he has to act fast.
"Iwanthimtosee," he mutters under his breath and Patrick narrows his eyes at him. "IwanthimtoseeIwanthimtoseeIwanthimtoseeIwanthimtosee..."
"What are you..." Patrick trails off and his mouth morphs into a fond smile. "You know, maybe you're right. Pete's not so bad. He's kind of obnoxious but he's still..." He gets up, tossing change on the table before he pulls on his coat. "I need to head back to the club."
Billy smiles smugly and follows suit. He has to stop Patrick from walking into the traffic and makes him wait until the road's clear but he just smiles softly as they cross. The smile slips away and he stands in the doorway, staring in.
"You," Patrick whispers harshly and Billy's grin slips away as Patrick turns quickly, landing a right hook squarely on his jaw. "I don't know what you did," he hisses with a finger pointed squarely in Billy's face, "and I don't know how you did it, but you have no right. None." Teddy and Pete come running out a split second later.
"What happened to Billy?" Teddy looks from the split lip leaking blood onto Billy's chin to Patrick's reddened, angry face and back. "Oh, I think I understand," he sighs. "Patrick, I think you were on your way to talk to Pete. You should still do that."
"If you think for one second--"
"What did he actually say?" Teddy interrupts, looking Patrick in his flashing mostly blue eyes.
He scowls. "He said 'I want him to see' but I don't see how that--"
"Then he didn't convince you to do anything." Teddy smiles and Billy's pretty sure the sun even breaks through the heavy clouds to spotlight him. He's sort of got the best boyfriend in the world. "You love him as much as I love Billy. You just didn't have a convenient future villain for the relationship catalyst." He shrugs and Patrick's eyebrows knit in confusion.
"What? What does that even mean?"
Pete grins and grabs Patrick's hand, dragging him inside. "I'll explain it all one day, Lunchbox." Patrick mutters something and he laughs, smiling back at where Teddy is helping Billy pick himself up off the ground. "I'll send a message out to a guy I know who should be able to help. Thanks. Really."
Billy dusts the snow off his pants. "I've never been so glad for a lack of pollution in my life," he mutters. "I'd be covered in dirt back at home." Teddy just rolls his eyes and punches him good-naturedly. "Hey, watch the strength. What was that for?"
"For sort of being a jerk," he says as he leads the way back to their hotel room. "At least it worked."
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Billy frowns at the man with the wild hair and beard. He pulls down his glasses a little and glances blankly up from his book for a moment before going back to it, making a few more marks to the chalk circle on the floor. "Okay, fine, geez."
Teddy chuckles and pulls him back into a hug. "Worse comes to worse," he whispers in his ear as Billy relaxes back into his chest, "we have to find another Pete and Patrick to get together. And this time, someone won't try using a spell to do it."
"So where were you two?" Kate asks when they finally trudge up to her table in Starbucks, drinks in hand. She raises an eyebrow at the wool coat and fedora Teddy still insists on wearing. "You look like a detective in an old movie."
"It was sort of a time travel thing," Billy says takes a sip of his latte. She makes a quiet 'ah' noise, smirking at them over her cup. "Yeah, I know we're not getting out of it that easily. So I messed up that teleportation spell..."