The night starts here

[lilac-scented.livejournal.com]

WHO: Teddy "Hulkling" Altman (skrullactually ) and Kate "Hawkeye" Bishop (lilac_scented )
WHERE: Random rooftop #274
WHEN: Friday Feb. 27th
WARNINGS: teen angst? not even
SUMMARY: Kate and Ted unwind after patrol.
FORMAT: quickpara



Once they'd stopped running, jumping, roundhouse kicking and/or smashing things, it got a lot colder. Kate crossed her arms and huddled into her uniform (what little of it there was that she could huddle into, principally her scarf) and inched closer to her patrol buddy. Luckily for her, Teddy emitted more heat than Cancun during Spring Break, and so she didn't completely lose sensation in her toes. Their patrol was over, they'd rounded up a few small-time miscreants and helped keep the peace; it had been a good day. But Kate didn't feel like returning just yet, she liked space, and air, and there was a sad lack of both back in their flat. As a bonus, the sweeping panorama over midtown they got from here was nice.

"You know," she admitted, rubbing her arms, "that was a fun run. I don't there's anything else I'd rather be doing than this, right now."

Comments

[skrullactually.livejournal.com]

"You would say that," Teddy muttered in response, trying very hard to look moody; he only managed, however, to get so far as mildly disgruntled (and only barely just), so instead Teddy did his best to lower his brow over his eyes in order to appear at least a slightly dubious. Leading with his shoulder, he leaned heavily sideways into Kate, making their shoulders and elbows and forearms bump in a way Teddy hoped would help Kate stay marginally warm. "It's a Friday night, Katie," and with his free arm, Teddy gestured out onto the city. "Friday night and out of all the things we could be doing, we're doing this." He gave her a sideways glance, flashing a wink to show that he was joking, but regardless continued to complain anyway. It gave them something to do while Kate enjoyed the view. "Don't get me wrong, the company's nice and all..." Teddy grinned.

[lilac-scented.livejournal.com]

She let him gently bump into her, waiting for a few seconds before leaning back against his comforting weight. "The criminals go out on Friday night, too," she reminded him with a smirk, "but hey, how 'bout I reschedule Speed into your spot, and let you deal with the resulting bitchfest, huh?" She winked right back, nudging him playfully with her elbow.

[skrullactually.livejournal.com]

At the mention of Tommy's name, Teddy scrunched up his face and inhaled a wincing breath. "Oooo, ouch," he said before his face brightened again. "Do that and I'm gonna file a complaint to get your benevolent dictatorship license revoked."

It was, admittedly, nice to sit there with Kate for a quiet moment. Not having to worry about work or money or whether or not he'd have to go back to school and what that would mean for paying for their place and keeping Rocket fed and all that. After a quiet moment, Teddy made a thoughtful sound and then turned his face towards Kate and then asked a question he hadn't asked her in what seemed like a very long while. "So, fearless leader," he said, trying to make the question light, "how you holding up?"

[lilac-scented.livejournal.com]

"Even if I bribe you with a house in a fiscal paradise and a ministerial position?" she shot back, smirking.

The question didn't entirely take her aback, but she wasn't expecting it, either. It was an innocent question, but it made all sorts of thoughts press together. "As well as I could be, considering the circumstances," she replied immediately, then paused. "At this point, I'm just happy that the team is back together. When I got here, it was...bad. You left, Vision defected, it was just me, Speed and Wiccan for a long while." She didn't want sympathy from him, just to illustrate the difference in situation. "That said, now that we're all here, with god knows how many other heroes--I can't help but wonder who's holding up the fort back home, you know? And our parents, and--"

Feeling like her mouth was going to go off without her, she stopped, pressing her lips together in thought. A gentle, foggy breath came out as she stared out at the cityscape. "What about you?" She turned her face towards him, popping her glasses on top of her head. "What's been up? Is Billy adjusting?"

[skrullactually.livejournal.com]

Teddy knew that there was room there somewhere for another quip -- just a tiny little snark to lighten the mood, even though he would have to scrunch it up awkwardly and stick it in sideways in order to make it fit properly into the conversation. Instead, though, he left it and nodded his head lightly while Kate spoke. It had been a while since they've talked -- properly talked -- and between trying to reorient Billy and himself, keeping his head down from the likes of Hodge and the other haters, dealing with the big looming question 'are we even Young Avengers anymore?', Teddy had lost sight of so many other things. Things like this. When Teddy finally spoke, his voice was quiet and thoughtfully distant at first before slowly warming to a low, even tone.

"Yeah," he said and then turned to look at her, some of her hair brushing his arm in the wind, "I'm glad too. I know stuff was bad before, but," he shook is head, "being at home, like, all on my own? Without you guys there? Was just...just so much worse." Pressing his lips together Teddy managed a grim smile. "So honestly I'll take all the crap this place has got to offer over the alternative."

He went quiet again and then, gave another lean sideways, pressing his hands underneath his thighs so he was half-sitting on them. "Bill's...Bill's okay. You know him. Thinking about everything all the time. Thinking about all the stuff he can't remember, thinking about whether or not he wants to remember in the first place, then thinking about what it means to not want to think about it..." Teddy frowned and then gave a small useless shrug, though when he spoke his voice had a hint of fondness under the exasperation. "Same old Bill."

[lilac-scented.livejournal.com]

It had been a kind of oblique, obscure thing she didn't want to think about too much before--if we're here, who's there?--but now that she knew that they were just up and gone, the guilt of it twisted her gut. She imagined her father, drowning himself in work and high society, and her sister, downing antidepressants like breath mints without her to check on them. She clenched her fists tightly, before twining her fingers lightly to help keep the sadness in. "Is it bad, at home? Without a bunch of X-men, and Spider-man..." she trailed off. She figured she really shouldn't want to know, because knowing how bad it was and knowing just as certainly that she couldn't do a thing about it would kill her--but she had to. Hawkeye didn't put her hands over her ears and sing to keep the bad things at bay.

"At least it's comforting he's not doing anything too out of character," she pointed out. "The Y.A. version 2.0 must not be easy for him to deal with. Cassie's dating his brother, Eli's practically never around, Vision's not here anymore--how're the peace talks going, by the way?"