Work Text:
“Shake it off, shake it off shake it off oh oh oooh,” Teddy sang under his breath as he flew his way up to the highest shelf. He wasn’t sure who had designed the library so that it was almost impossible for anyone who couldn’t fly to reach the highest shelves, but it wasn’t his job to complain. It was his job to reshelf the books and to not make too much noise. His quiet humming didn’t usually cause problems, but when he reached a crescendo in the song and tried to spin during his descent, his wing clipped the shelf he had been working on. It fell, starting a domino reaction.
His response time was still good; he stretched his arms as quickly as he could and managed to contain the damage to the first two shelves. It didn’t seem like anyone had been hurt, and it seemed like nobody had even noticed the crash. Then Teddy heard the giggle coming from behind him, and turned around in dread.
He was floored when he saw that source of the laughter was the cutest boy he had ever seen. He was smaller than Teddy, with dark hair and a contagious smile. He was in a galaxy print shirt, and had a stack of comic books floating next to him on what looked like blue clouds. But then Teddy noticed that he also had his phone out, and seemed to have videotaped the whole incident.
Normally, Teddy wouldn’t really mind having a video of himself on the Internet. Powers hadn’t always been seen as normal, but they had definitely become accepted in the last few years. There were radical groups, but judging by the fact that this boy had floating comics, he also probably had some kind of powers. Ellen had even made a habit of inviting viral video stars with powers onto her show, and privately Teddy had always thought it would be cool to be on her show. But, considering he had just made a massive mistake at his job, he would rather not end up the Internet sensation of the moment right now.
“Hi,” Teddy said to the guy. Very original, he thought to himself.
“Hey,” said the other boy. “Nice catch.” He was still laughing, and Teddy thought he caught his eyes looking him up and down.
Teddy couldn’t help but laugh along with the other boy, even though he was facing the possibility of joblessness. “Thanks. Hey, what are the chances I could convince you not to tell anyone about this? Oh, hey, I’m Teddy, by the way.”
“Oh yeah, I’m Billy. Teddy, that was quality video material. We could meet Ellen with this! That would be great!”
“I mean, that would be great but I also want to keep my job. Any chance we can come to an agreement?” Teddy’s face was starting to cramp up, because he still hadn’t been able to stop smiling.
“Hmm. I don’t know,” Billy’s face was still smiling, but it looked to Teddy like his face may have started to hurt as well. His eyes flicked down to Teddy’s lips and he blurted out, “How about we make a deal? Lets go get ice cream after your shift and we’ll try to meet Ellen another time.”
Somehow, Teddy’s smile grew wider. He guessed that was a benefit of being able to shape shift. “That sounds like the perfect deal. My shift ends at 5, meet me outside the front doors?”
Billy’s relaxed demeanor had returned. “Sure. Um, can I help you put these books up?”
“Nah, it’s my job, I don’t want to make you go out of your way—“
Billy had set his comic pile down and now had the fallen books levitating in a cloud of energy. The smile had left his face, and he looked quite tense. His eyes were shut, and his hands were also swathed in blue energy. The books appeared to be sorting themselves under Billy’s direction, and were returning to their proper places. A moment later, the cloud dissipated and Billy’s comics began to float again.
“See you at 5. Try not to make any more potential viral videos until then.” Billy’s smile returned, a little bit shyer than he had been before.
“Of course not, I’d hate to meet Ellen without you.”
Billy left then, but until the end of Teddy’s shift he felt like he was walking in one of his magic blue clouds.
Five years later, Teddy looked over at Billy in the dim backstage lights and squeezed his hand.
“Ready, babe?” he asked.
“Are you kidding? I’ve been ready for this since I met you.” he responded, starting to levitate a little bit to so he could kiss Teddy.
“Here they are, the super powered couple whose engagement video has stolen America’s hearts, Billy Kaplan and Teddy Altman!” Said Ellen from onstage. A stage manager hurried the two onstage, and they smiled and waved, hand in hand, and were thrilled to get the opportunity to talk about their lives together in front of America.