Chapter Text
The glow of the laptop screen was the only light illuminating the face of the young witch Billy Maximoff, sitting on his bed and mindlessly scrolling on reddit. Near his feet a white rabbit ran in circles, chewing on a fake leaf. Normally the boy would stop it, but right now he barely noticed. There were tears in his eyes, not falling, just sitting there, and that seemed to have become the norm for him these days.
A normal 16 year old should never go through the things Billy had gone through in the past few days, let alone throughout his whole life. But could he even call himself a 16 year old? Isn’t he technically 13 anyway? Or even younger? Agatha had told him about the rapid aging he and Tommy had done, but he struggled to wrap his mind around it.
Agatha. Sometimes, most of the time, he wished he’d never sought her out. Never tried to figure out any of this, who he was, what his powers meant, anything. They say ignorance is bliss, and now more than ever Billy understood why. The price he’d paid for finding out who he was and trying to get his brother back was too high.
Sharon, Alice, Lilia. The names played on a loop in his brain, the lives he was responsible for. The lives his MIND had taken. Agatha had tried to comfort him about it, in her own horrible way, reassuring him that Alice wasn’t his fault and Lilia chose it, that if it weren’t for him they would’ve all been dead on day 1 anyway. But it didn’t help. It didn’t make the feeling in his stomach stop, didn’t make the tears go away.
And there was another name on the list. William Kaplan. The boy whose life he’d hijacked. The boy whose funeral should’ve happened. His parents should’ve mourned him. Instead now an abomination walks around the earth in their son’s body. That’s what Rio had called him. An abomination. Maybe that’s all he was.
One of the tears comes free and Billy closes the laptop screen, hugging his knees to his chest. This has become a nightly routine this past week, sitting here and hating himself for everything that’s happened. For his own existence. And so far it’s been fine, he’s had his pity party and then buried it down, rolled over and gone to sleep. But tonight it just felt like too much. He might be all powerful, the son of the scarlet witch, but right now he just wanted to be a normal kid.
Of course, there was nothing normal about his life, and his almost cry session was interrupted by a fucking ghost.
“You know rabbits aren’t supposed to eat plastic, right?”
Ugh. Agatha. He didn’t know what she did when she wasn’t here, probably tortured some senior citizens for fun and moved their shit around making them think they’re crazy. Regardless he wished she had something to entertain herself right now.
“Senõr Scratchy needs a strict diet of hay and only the finest vegetables.” There’s a beat, and Agatha locks eyes with Billy. “You know it’s like, 4 AM right? What are you doing?”
Billy rolled his eyes, trying pathetically to blink away the tears so she wouldn’t see them, thanking the cover of darkness. “Wow, didn’t know ghosts could tell time,” he answered sarcastically.
Unfortunately for him, Agatha wasn’t stupid and she’d noticed, and ignored his attempt to deflect. “Well it looks to me like you’re having a good old fashioned Maximoff pity party! And I didn’t even get an invite, how rude of you.”
Her tone is joking, but he doesn’t appreciate her making fun of his feelings. He pointedly turns away from her, facing towards the wall. “Can you just leave,” he mumbles in response.
Agatha isn’t used to this kind of response - normally the kid bites back with sass of his own. But she’s an asshole, and can’t resist picking on him a little more. “I’m just saying if you’re gonna have a party you should at least invite one person. Not even your boyfriend? Come on! Lame party.”
Billy shouldn’t have done it, he really shouldn’t. He’s lucky his, no William’s, parents didn’t wake up. But he’s so tired, and she’s pushing his buttons on purpose. “FUCK OFF!! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!”
Agatha is taken aback by this outburst, and she sits there in silence for a minute. She’s not dumb, she knows what this is about, it’s always the same things. But it’s been a very very long time since she dealt with a child, and she’s never had a teenager. Let alone one with so much baggage on his shoulders. She’s not really sure how to approach this. She’s not exactly the most comforting person, and she knows it, it’s just not her strength. But as she watches Billy’s back and sees his shoulder’s start to tremble, she knows she can’t just do nothing. Reaching out, she focuses, making her hand turn corporeal (a neat trick she’s learned because she’s just so amazing) and gently lays her hand on his shoulder.
“Billy.” Her voice is soft and gentle, drawing on instincts she thought were long gone. “They weren’t your fault.”
That gets his attention, and he turns to face her, tears openly streaming down his cheeks now, not having the energy to even try and hide them.
“They were my fault! They were! My mind is evil, my powers are evil. All i’ve done is hurt people. I killed them, I took this boy’s body, his parents don’t even know their son is dead, and you’re dead now too, and you’re a ghost, and that’s my fault too, and I’m just an abomination like Rio said, and I shouldn’t even be alive, and I took ANOTHER body for my brother and - “
Billy trails off, openly sobbing and gasping for air, unable to stop the stream of tears. It’s all too much, far too much for someone this young, and this is the first major breakdown he’s had over it. This has been building up for a while, it’s too much to stop now.
“Okay, okay..” Agatha speaks soothingly, floating over to sit next to him on his bed. “You’re okay, it’s okay.” Without thinking she goes to wrap her arm around him, pulling him close. And it works for some reason. Strange. She doesn’t question it.
The boy openly sobs into her shoulder, unable to stop. She sits there somewhat awkwardly, letting him cry it out and feel what he needs to as she holds him in a sort of half hug. He’s not Nicky, she knows that, but maybe that doesn’t matter. Maybe he can just be Billy, and that can be enough.
“It’s okay, Billy.”
His tears are slowed now, but he doesn’t answer her. She looks down and realizes that he’s cried himself out and fallen asleep, totally exhausted. The sight tugs at her dead heart, and she decides maybe she won’t tease him relentlessly for this tomorrow. Maybe just this once she’ll let it go.
Just this once though.