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Summary: Cody comes back to YA HQ with apologies.
Date: April 11, 2009
Owning Mistakes
Rating: PG
NYC - Seaside Warehouse
This warehouse is like any other. It's cold, somewhat damp, there are boxes stacked up about the place and a second floor that only wraps around the inner edge of the building, made to look over the floor below. Only there is something odd about this place, as those boxes and rooms hold the property of the Young Avengers. Training ground and living quarters for the young team.
It's a quiet evening here at Young Avengers Headquarters. With a day's patrol done and only one small skirmish with A.I.M. agents, it's rest time for the team. Now that dinner's done, Teddy Altman is in the main room of the base. Dressed in jeans and a tank top, he's apparently lost in thought as he works on the picture he's been painting for the last few days. A recent encounter with one of his father's old enemies has had him in a quiet mood so there's not much noise tonight other than paint and brush on canvas.
On the other hand, in the kitchen, Billy is cooking. He's cooking in an extremely kosher manner, due to the current season. He's making sure to keep things ready, in case his parents want to visit or something of that nature. Unfortunately, this means the other YA have to deal with it or eat elsewhere.
The door to the warehouse opens and in walks Cody in a T-shirt, jeans and sneakers all his own. A backpack thrown over his shoulder. His stomach lets out a soft grumble at the familiar scent of Billy's cooking. He clears his throat and tries to settle the butterflies in his stomach as he rounds the corner into view. "Hey…" He offers nervously.
The shapeshifting teen seems quite focused on the painting as the door opens. Apparently he's not expecting anyone to really be showing up. He doesn't even look up until Cody speaks. Blinking a few times, Teddy stares. "Cody?" he asks, almost as if he's just not sure.
"Did someone come in?" Billy calls out, not leaving his baking. Today, it's a chicken. Just a nice herbed baked chicken with a rice stuffing. He's got his hands full at the moment, peeking into the oven and trying to lift it out manually. Despite his adept skill with magic, some things are just best done by hand.
Cody stands there for a few moments. He doesn't look like he's been well. The ocassional scrape and bruise here and there…he's been busy with the heroing and not making off very well with it. He sees Teddy and idly averts his gaze, his eyes starting to fill with tears, his voice wavering as he tries to fight off the urge to start crying. "Hey…." He offers quietly.
Teddy just stares for a few more moments, jaw working but no sound coming out. The hybrid sets his brush down and stands. Shifting a few flecks of paint off, he looks at the other teen in the room. "Yeah, Babe. It's…" a pause. "It's Cody," he says, cringing very slightly. The shapeshifter'd not expected to see Cody again so he's certainly surprised. "Hey."
The pan slips, but the food is safe. However, it does make a loud noise from the kitchen. "Oh." Billy says simply as he doesn't come out just yet. After all, the food needs to be finished completely first.
Cody grunts a little and stands there. "I…wanted to talk to yall." he says softly, wiping at red eyes. "I'm sorry bout all the shit….We didn't end right, and It was my fault, and my life's been shit since I left yall." he moves around so that he can be seen in the kitchen. "Yall were my team, and I was stupid and threatened and got angry and it weren't no excuse…." He looks down. "I let yall down…."
Teddy winces again at the pan-noise. He thinks for a second before picking up his paint-project and moving it out of the room. The shapeshifter's back in time to hear what Cody has to say. "Oh man…" he sighs. Looking towards the kitchen, he stays quiet. The shapeshifter seems to feel the apology should go towards Billy more than himself.
Billy's hearing is better than Teddy gives him credit for. Especially when working in a quiet kitchen. "It's alright. We all do things we're not proud of sometimes." He says, coming in. He holds a hand out in the air, with that gesture a sword appears in his hand. "Like things like this." He says with a shrug. "It's alright. Just try starting over. Hi. I'm Billy."
Cody lets out a soft struggling noise before he surges forward to try and wrap his arms around Billy to pull him into a hug. "I'm so sorry man." He offers in a near sob. "I didn't mean any of it."
Teddy looks away as he remembers a lot of what he's not proud of, including a few things he admonished Cody for. Shaking it off, the hybrid frowns as the sword appears. He's not all that fond of it even if it does 'look cool'. He also makes a mental note that he and Billy have to take a trip up to Westchester sometime to follow a sword-related lead. A slight smile plays at the corners of his mouth at the attempted hug and he crosses his arms over his chest.
The soulsword vanishes on the hug as Billy snaps out of an internal reverie. Perhaps a mental argument or something. "It's alright. Really." Billy says with a nod. "If I hadn't left after that, I wouldn't have learned more about myself. Things happen. We live. We grow." He says, at least putting one arm around the other teenager as he looks up at Teddy.
Cody hugs Billy tight and reaches out for a second to try and snag Teddy into the hug as well. Group hug. "I wanna come back." he offers after a moment. "I'm no good on my own…I need a team. And I need to train…." He offers softly.
Teddy starts to walk over as Billy looks up at him. Before he can say what comes to mind, Teddy gets yanked into the hug. He pats Cody's back awkwardly a few times and slips an arm around Billy. "You've still been heroing?" he asks, not expecting that.
"Well, that's what we're here for. To train to BE the next leaders. In an open environment." Billy says with a nod, shrugging. "You're more than welcome to come back to training with us, but as for the team thing, we have to wait and see. It's up to the WHOLE team. We've… grown a bit since you were here last. Teddy, Tommy, me, Silent Image, Patriot, Vision…"
Cody gives a nod of his head. "Yeah…I accept the opportunity, but I really need to be a part of a team. I don't solo very well…" he offers with a grunt. Looking between the pair. "What have yall been up to? I sort of got trounced in the invasion….spent the next few weeks healing wounds and pride…"
Teddy nods, squeezing Billy slightly. "Same old, same old…" he trails off. "Fought evil duplicates, fixed the base…nothing much new."
"Fighting. Helping save the world. Took the sword away from the other me." Billy says with a light shrug. He looks over Cody and places a hand towards him. "Refresh." A single word, rather than his repeating chant that he used to use consistently. With that, a wave of healing energies flows over the boy.
Cody gives a nod. "Yeah. I met mine….he kicked the shit out of me." he admits. "While I was off being a douchebag, he was in negaverse learning how to be a badass." He comments quietly before he removes his bag and puts it on the floor and moves to drop onto one of the couches, yet before he does so he is magically touched and cuts heal up and bruises disappear. He plops down on the couch and looks between the two of you. "Handy stuff, magic…"
Teddy winces, glad on some levels he never had to meet his alternate self or an alternate Mar-Vell but also saddened by it. Keeping his arm around Billy's shoulders, Teddy smiles. "Yeah, magic's a pretty cool thing alright," he says, watching the healing.
Of course, they know why there was no TEddy, after what the other Billy mentioned at one point. Billy leans against Teddy. "The chicken should be ready in just a few minutes, it's just resting now. I can put the pie in while we eat."
Cody quirks a brow at the mention of food and sits up a bit. "Yall are invitin' me for some food?" He asks, stomach grumbling loudly. "Schools down for Easter…thought I might be on Ramen all weekend." He jokes. "It's really good to see yall again…I can't tell you how much I regret some of the shit I said…"
Teddy chuckles a little. "Well, we're happy to share the food. We have a lot of it. Even more now that Patriot's back," he remarks. A super soldier, a shapeshifter, and a speedster all in the same building…the food bills are pretty high. "We all have regrets, Cody…" he trails off.
"We'll even give you a bed to sleep in." Billy says with a chuckle, shrugging. "All you had to do was come talk to us. We all misunderstand things, after all. That's part of life. We're teenagers." He laughs.
Gives a nod a bit. "Yeah, I miss sleepin' here…" he offers with a grunt. "Was more of a home than I've had since my dad sent me off to school…." He stretches a little and toes off his shoes. "Anything I can do to help things along?" He asks, indicating the kitchen.
"Hey, I'm almost eighteen…in half a year…" Teddy trails off, laughing a bit. "I'll clean up my room for ya. You can use that, I'll bunk with Billy," he says, reaching down to give Billy's backside a subtle little pat. As the kitchen comes up, the shapeshifter looks down at the spellcaster.
"I'm almost there, too, love." Billy laughs, nuzzling against Teddy happily. "You're more than welcome to dinner and a bed. Anything else, we'll figure it out as it goes. "Is there anything you had in mind? I mean, dinner's just about done, really. Just letting the chicken cool a bit to seal in the juices."
Cody chuckles a little bit as he rests back on the couch. "All I want is you guys in my life again, as a team. The invasion happened and I realized I left you guys hangin' yall were my team and I walked out on you…wasn't right. I just want things to be the way they were…" he nods to Teddy and offers a soft, "Thanks man." He then stretches a little and yawns. "What happens at 18? Yall gonna move up to the big leagues?"
Teddy shakes his head. "No, we just get a year older and get to do all the stuff normal eightteen year-olds do," he chuckles. "And don't worry about it."
"And all those things we do anyway." Billy says, biting his lip and rubbing himself against Teddy with a chuckle. "I'm not ready for the big leagues. Maybe after college, then I'll join up. But for now, I'm still in high school. Got another year of that, THEN I'll worry about it."
Teddy strethes as Billy heads in to finish cooking. "Alright, I'll show ya to the room," he says, gesturing for Cody to follow as he heads for the stairs.
Cody makes a soft grunting noise as he moves forward to grab his bag and his shoes, and then moves towards the stairs to follow after Teddy.
"Not too much has changed," Teddy remarks as they go. "Just updated security and more people to worry about running into," he adds. "Vision and Patriot are back. Patriot's our leader and one of the original Young Avengers like me and Billy. And Vision…well, you'll know him when you see him."
Cody gives a nod of his head. "He's been on the news with the big avengers…Red face, green and yellow costume…." He offers, making a note of it as he follows. "Patriots the leader then?" He asks curiously. "Yall got plans for later?"
Teddy shakes his head. "Different Vision," he says, voice a bit hushed. "Our Vision is the second one. He's his own person," the shapeshifter nods, heading for his own bedroom door. "For later tonight? Not much. I was gonna work on my painting until Billy wanted to go to bed."
Cody gives a nod of his head. "Oh…Okay." he comments as he follows, looking into the bed room. "I here there is a guy over in Hell's kitchen. I'm thinking of going to get a new costume later tonight…."
Teddy walks into the room, pulling open his closet. "Costume shop?" he asks. "Might look into it sometime myself. Not that I need a new costume but it still might be good to check in on and make sure it's not a front for something," he remarks, taking out some fresh sheets and pillows seeing that hisbed is bare. He'd been doing laundry.
Cody tosses his bag down and drops his shoes at the lip of the bed and foots them under with his socked feet. He then looks back at you and offers a small, "Thanks again man. I can't tell you how much I missed you guys."
Teddy walks over to the bed and starts to put the sheets on. "You can't? Why's that?" he ask with a teasing smile.
Cody moves and helps you put the sheets on. "Because I don't have the words. Like I said man, I tried the solo thing…Without a team, I'm not much of a hero….but I've got a temper…and I don't know why, but I get really mad sometimes…and I blow up…and it's not anyones fault…cept mine."
Teddy frowns a moment. "Maybe an anger management class or two?" he suggests. "I've got some books on meditation down in storage you could take a look at too…"
Cody gives a nod. "Yeah…" He offers softly, making it a point to remember that come tommorrow. "I'll take a look at them…."
