The Magic Is New

                                "You're smiling way too much about this."

           Asriel cringed, the strange really had seen him, so much for not getting caught.  ”Huh? Um yeah I guess—” he opened his palms, muttered a soft word, and produced a small flame. “For record, it’s not me using my mind or being immune to it,” he added as an after thought. “And you’re acting like you see this everyday.”

                              "Cool." He muttered, smiling slowly. He knew he'd felt it, magic. Someone else using magic. Someone not trying to violently blow him up. That was new. "I do-- sort of. Not that, specifically. But what you do. I can do it too."

                                 "Alright... Alright fine. But I swear Loki... if this is a trick, I'm reality warping you into the belly of a whale."

                                The blond wasn’t sure how much the stranger had seen. He had been distracted, due to him practicing, probably not the best idea as it proved to be right now. “Ah— no you didn’t, you must be tired, seeing things, you know?” He’s so smooth, but not really.

                                "Yeah, no, I mean, I am tired. But I'm always tired, so, whatever. But look, no, I saw you. You made fire, with your mind. I think. Or you're immune to fire. Or something like that-- and you're being defensive." Billy smiled at him, softly, trying to be encouraging. "Can you do it again?"

                              "Yeah, sure. If that's what you want to call it. I'm not stupid, Loki."

      And now look where we are.

                                    Well do you want to help me or are you going to ask questions?

Crap——

                                  It didn't even register for a moment-- which, as a superhero he should be watching out for more evil stuff like boys with hands on fire-- that someone was doing something amiss until it was pointed out to him. "Um... yes I did."

                              "Oh, I'm paying? I thought this was you taking me out so I wouldn't be sad and miserable. Not breaking my bank." He laughed, looking up at the stars. Different stars. Somehow they always looked different. Even when it was the same constellations in the sky, they always seemed to be different.                                 "Yeah, that's good. Because you know, Loki wouldn't know what to do without you around. And I'm sure Kate's heart would be broken. She'd be sobbing for weeks. And Noh-varr? Well he's probably dye his hair black and listen to nothing but the funeral march." Billy smiled at her, his body still feeling weighed down with emotion and stress and doubt, but smile not so forced anymore. He never would have thought America would be one for comfort.                               "Come on, where is this place?"

      And you didn’t think asking for my help would be the better idea?

                               The goal was to avoid... well... questions.

morethanlightning started following you

                          "And you're going to teach me? You think I'd just trust you unconditionally?"

                                     "Too good to be true?" He knew the feeling. Alien Price boyfriend who could look like anything and just happened to be a dreamboat gay who was also attracted to Billy out of all the men he could get without really trying should he want them. Too good to be true for the awkward kid who spend half his life getting picked on and shoved around and lying to his parents about where the bruises came from this week. Alien Price boyfriend who didn't want him anymore because he was fucking something up without even noticing.                                   "You're always welcome with us, America. Even if you do want to leave-- you can come back to us any time. We'll always have a place for you. You know that, right?" Billy had to put some spring in his step to catch up to her, but he did, and he nudged her lightly with his shoulder. "That's a promise. And I don't break promises."                                 Except for maybe using magic to make his dream guy love him. That opened up a whole can of worms for things he might have changed about reality. "We love you."

          “I didn’t hear a please.” America replied, but curled her fingers around his hand and tugged him forward. “But I guess I can make that happen.” Kicking through dimensions took practice and precision, both of which America had never really nailed down, but she let her power flow through anyways, keeping a hold on Billy’s hand as she stomped down, the sound of the dimensions shattering still bothering her like it always did. (Was the divide between worlds and time really that thin? So thin it sounded like ice cracking off a window pane? Is that what happened to her mothers?)           ”I’ve never been here with a friend before.” America admitted as she landed lightly on her toes on a slightly different planet. “This is New Earth, we actually time traveled a little bit. This place doesn’t exist for a long time.”

                             He smiled, almost real this time, easily falling into the whirlwind that was America. Billy never really understood it, but she was special-- beyond being a buttkicking space princess from who knows where with Moms who might actually be able to tear the Earth's core in half and the ability to kick right through space-time-- America was endeared to him from the start.                             "Please." Billy followed her down the rabbit hole, hit with the rush of new air that didn't quite smell like home-- but almost. Just like every time they went through dimensions. "You never really talk about your friends-- other than me and Kate, and Noh-Varr, and... Teddy." God-- even saying his name was hard. "Anyway-- You don't talk about your travels much at all. You have all of the multi-verse, you have to have a few amazing stories."

                                 "Yeah? I could do a New New York. One without my bo- Without Teddy attached to every place somehow." The streetcorner across from the gaming store, the coffee shop three blocks from his house, Central Park fireworks, the school parking lot where Teddy insisted on being despite the fact that they went to different schools-- but he wanted to walk home together. This New York was filled with Teddy in ways beyond comprehension. "Take me somewhere magical, America."                                  So maybe his brain could catch up with reality.