wasafreak | Chess [Opening Move]

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Chess [Opening Move]

Teddy feels like something out of a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel. The townhouse is huge and the fireplaces keep it warm, and the kitchen's stocked and there's tea and aperitifs and so many books. The fact that they're entertaining, sort of, is pleasing in a silly domestic way. The fact that Teddy is wearing riding boots, rather fitted black trousers, and an overly romanticized white blouse while they entertain is silly in a pleasing historical way. All in all, it's not a bad time.

He sets down a bottle of cassis and a carafe of water before taking his own seat again.

"So it was like... the big bad wolf?"

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"....Thanks, guys," Chase sighed, leaning forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees and scrubbing a hand through his hair. If anything, Chase looked like the most rakish of extras off the set of Newsies.

"Anyway, it was just like an hour of weirdness, it's not even bothering me."

An hour of weirdness in their lives is enough to leave lasting life-long trauma, but Billy knows well enough not to pry.

"Wait, so did you get covered in freaky wolf smoke monster body parts?"

"And if so, and you're not even bothered," Teddy says, almost dryly, "then what is bothering you?"

Chase grimaced a little and sat back, kicking his heel up on the heavy wooden table that took up the space between the chairs.

"First off, yes I did, thanks for helping me relive that particular memory, Manwitch, thanks." He didn't notice the small, baffled look Hulking shot his boyfriend at the use of the nickname.

"....." he sighed, leaning forward and scrubbing a hand through his hair.

"It." He stifled a sigh.

"Something happened with this... girl."

Billy shoots Teddy a look that's half eye roll, half promise of later explanations about the nickname. Chase grabs that attention back at the mention of a girl, however, as the idea of him actually admitting he has girl problems is so novel it actually surprises Billy.

Even the kings of dating advice had problems sometimes. "Something?"

Teddy has to wonder if most of the island's drama, other than traumatic and violent island-generated events, isn't relationship related.

After a certain amount of time around, what else is there?

Still, as well as Teddy doesn't know Chase, he's gotten enough of a feeling about the other boy to know that this isn't a usual thing for him. His posture alone says that much.

"Who is it?"

Chase crossed his arms, looking distinctly unhappy.

"I kissed Jessica Drew because she asked me to. And starting the next time I saw her, she acted like nothing had happened, like it..." His jaw worked a little, and he shook his head.

Whatever pretty girl's name Billy imagined would come out of Chase's mouth, it hadn't been Jessica. And he isn't sure if he's insulting her or Chase by being surprised anything would spring up between them.

"Jessica? Seriously?"

Teddy's pretty sure that Chase would actually do well as cougar bait, although he's less sure if Spider-Woman counts as a cougar. She older, at least. Sitting very upright, he looks from Chase back to Billy with slightly wide eyes. Again.

"Um," he says.

"She's a girl here, from a universe with the Avengers and whatever, if not our universe, and she's..." Chase sank back down again, slouching and covering his face with one hand.

"Really young."

Not Spider-Woman, Billy mouths at Teddy.

"Yeeeeeah, she is. But...she asked you to kiss her?"

Teddy nods fractionally at Billy, then leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"How young is young? Just so I have an accurate idea of how creepy this is."

"Sixteen," Chase said, "and yes. Yeah, she- Not like, gave me a signal that made up and took, she just flat out was like..."

He rested his hand against the heel of his hand, eyes going distant.

"She did the ear tuck and I was going to and then my inner pedo alarm went off and didn't and she called me out. She called me out, man. And I was like, are you sure, and she was like, are you an idiot, and I...."

Chase sighed, and dug the knuckle of his thumb against his lower lip.

"I kissed her. For like, a while. And it was.... great."

"Weeeell, it's not like she can blame you for taking advantage of her?" Billy tries, unsure what to say, and he looks over to Teddy for help. "You like her, right?"

He's not sure if that's the brightest possible silver lining they could find, but at least it's something.

"Was it that kind of a talk leading up to it? An I-Like-You talk? Or was it an I'm-Curious-About-Making-Out-With-You kind of talk."

Chase looked up, suddenly perturbed.

"Holy shit, are those different things? Yes, I like her," he admitted, sounding not very happy about it.

"I have liked her. For a while. And now we don't speak, unless we absolutely have to in class. I just give her as wide a berth as possible, I mean what the hell else am I supposed to do?"

"Uh...hunt her down and talk to her," Billy says, as if it's as simple as that. He hasn't had much in the way of difficulty in any relationship (all two of them), always finding some way to talk about things if entirely necessary. "Or something. You can't keep pretending it never happened if you like her, Chase. Do something about it."

Teddy points at Billy.

"Everything he said."

"You guys suck," Chase groused.

"No. Are you insane? Is that how things work in gay world? Because in Older Guy Straight world that is definitely not even kind of how shit works. This isn't a romantic comedy or some period romance where I ride up in my top hat and say something cool and she just throws out the whole 'ignoring shit went down' routine. She's ignoring anything happened for a reason, and all the evidence suggest that reason is she thought it was a stupid fucking idea." He sulked for a few seconds, although it was mostly a front to cover up how much it genuinely hurt.

"Which it was, by the way," he added.

Billy rolls his eyes, stopping just short of throwing his hands in the air. "I'm not saying you talk to her and it all gets better, I'm just saying that trying to talk to her is the adult thing to do, since you're so freaking old and all."

"Although you could talk to her and it could all get better," Teddy points out levelly, holding one hand briefly up in place of shrugging.

"The real point is, you won't know, unless you do it. If nothing else, you deserve to know why she acted that way. Why she kissed you and then pulled away. I mean, maybe it's just me, but I'd want to know."

Chase looked over at Teddy. He didn't know the guy real well, had mostly seen him fight, and he usually seemed about as level headed, but, well, angrier. And significantly more green.

"...yeah," he said quietly, dropping his hand and nodding absently.

"Yeah, I want to know. But it wasn't like, it was awkward and she pushed through it. It was like nothing happened. And no one else got amnesia from that weekend. So." He shook his head again.

"I dunno. I mean you guys are right, I just... I dunno."

Billy gives the top of Chase's head a sympathetic look before turning his gaze on Teddy. There'd been some awkwardness at the very start of their relationship, sure, but he'd never had to deal with the agony of kissing someone and then having it completely ignored.

"I could ask her for you," he suggests, his tone light and meant to get a dig in at Chase to cheer him up. "Give her a note that asks her to circle yes or no."

I do knock, because it's not like I don't know that Billy has a boyfriend and all. I'm not about to just go barging in.

But I do then stick my head around the door, because it's also not like the Green Arrow Estates (Victorian Edition) don't have several rooms, and if they're up to Stuff in the entranceway we'll all learn a valuable lesson.

"Hiho," I say. "Everyone decent?"

Everyone is, indeed, decent. Billy, Teddy, and... Chase. Because that's not going to be as inexplicably awkward as Chase has been the last while. Great.

"Hey, Jess," Teddy says, looking up and smiling, and then immediately looks at Billy continuing, much more quietly, "sssica Drew. Right. Got it."

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