(no subject)

[suyari]

Title: Liberatus
Author: Phoenix Angel Suyari
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Billy/Teddy (mentioned), Billy/Tommy & Wanda/Pietro (if you squint)
Summary: Tommy and Pietro have the talk.
Archive: Just ask.
Disclaimer: Despite my deepest wishes, neither the Young Avengers nor the Avengers belong to me, and so I can only borrow them.
Warning: Minor (if you squint) mentions of Twincest. Slight spoilers for Children's Crusade & Civil War.



Tommy was two countries away before he realized uncle Pete wasn't responding to his jeering. Turning to look he found the other speedster gone. He knew he hadn't passed him - he wasn't that fast - which meant Tommy had to double back.

When he did find him, the man was sitting on some rocks on the mountainside. Casually looking out across the landscape as if he had all the time in the world. It made Tommy fidget. They had very similar powers. The world always moving at a crawl. He couldn't imagine how uncle Pete could bear to sit there.

"Uncle Pete!" he said, appearing in front of him. "I thought we were racing!"

"In a moment, Thomas."

Tommy flopped down beside him with a huff, disliking the pause. He didn't like being called 'Thomas' either. But this family he'd inherited seemed distinctly incapable of nicknames. Sometimes Tommy wasn't sure if they used his full name because they didn't like to be reminded that he and Billy had been taken - however oddly it had occurred - torn from their family. Sometimes he wondered if it was because they didn't want to acknowledge him as someone who had a different history than their own. One that did not include them at all. But most of the time he realized they were just all terribly old fashioned. Raised in Europe, the lot of them. With manners and everything.

He kicked his feet idly, stirring up a light gust that swept grass sideways and set the leaves dancing in the air.

Uncle Pete looked at him. At first from the corner of his eyes and then fully, turning to him so they faced one another. "Thomas, there's something I'd like to speak to you about."

"Can't we talk about it while we're running?" he asked with a sigh.

"No. This discussion will require your full attention."

"Can we talk about it faster then? So we can get back to running?"

Uncle Pete laughed, head tilting sideways slightly. "You remind me of myself when I was your age. Always somewhere to go, something important to do. A whole world to see and so much power to test the boundaries of."

"If you know, then why are you making me sit here?"

"Because, Thomas, sometimes even we need to slow down. Appreciate the pace the world sets."

Tommy groaned and dropped back into the grass. "But it's so boring!"

Uncle Pete smiled slightly, the corner of his mouth quirking upwards. "I've noticed you don't have a problem keeping William's pace."

"That's different," Tommy replied, waving one hand dismissively.

"How is it different?"

"I don't know! It's Billy. He just...does something. Time moves differently around him. I think it's his magic."

"It isn't his magic, Thomas."

"It has to be, uncle Pete. He can do whatever he wants with his powers." Uncle Pete nodded. "So what's a little time distortion?"

"It's true, like his mother, William has few boundaries. Fewer, with less distraction. But, his powers aren't the reason time seems different to you when you're around him."

Tommy rolled onto his side, propping his head against his hand.

"It is...something unique to our kind."

"Mutants?"

"Twins."

"But uncle Pete, Billy and I-" His mouth snapped shut - practically obediently - as uncle Pete held up a quelling finger.

"Regardless of the circumstances of your lives to date, Thomas, you and William are twins. That much is undeniable. Would you argue the point?"

Tommy shook his head.

Uncle Pete sighed. "At the speed we go, nephew, there is precious little to anchor us to this..." His hand waved about in an encompassing gesture. "Realm. The people, the places, even the food are not enough to tie us to it. But we need something to fulfill this purpose, or we would never slow, and we'd never live. So, as nature gave us the means by which to live our lives, so too did she provide a means by which to keep us grounded."

Tommy sat up, interested.

"For you it is William, for myself, it is Wanda."

The younger speedster snorted. "That's ridiculous, uncle Pete."

"Is it?" He shifted slightly but did not otherwise move. Which was a feat, because Tommy felt like his very insides were squirming all over. "When William is near you, how do you feel?"

Tommy got up and began to pace.

"Thomas. Close your eyes and think of him."

"I don't-"

"Indulge me. For a moment."

"Fine," he huffed, closing his eyes. Billy's image wasn't difficult at all to conjure. Springing to life almost immediately. Perhaps even before his eyes were fully closed. His dark hair and soft eyes, the smile that was almost always plastered on his face, the way he managed to move so nimbly, even when bogged down with a heavy school bag. Tommy knew the lines of his body; took comfort in knowing. He imagined Billy was with them. Windswept and out of breath, but having the time of his life. His hug would be so warm that Tommy would feel it sink into his chest, heating him up like pouring boiling water over a frozen patch. Washing away all the coldness until steam rose and coiled unhindered into the sky. Freed.

Uncle Pete gave a knowing hum and Tommy's eyes opened slowly, disappointment on his face when he realized Billy was not in fact with them. It was only a split second - he was used to schooling his features - but for uncle Pete, time was relative, and he'd seen for longer than Tommy cared to appreciate.

"It's called love," uncle Pete explained, getting up.

"Love," Tommy echoed, voice dripping with disdain.

"A love unlike any other," his uncle continued, as if Tommy's protest hadn't been voiced. "You don't even realize it, moving as quickly as you do. But if you take the time to look at it, plainly and without excuse, you'll find that not only do you love William, you love him so greatly that it consumes every part of you." Uncle Pete circled him agonizingly slowly. "He's everywhere. In your every thought, your every movement. He is the direction you are always heading, and the reason behind everything you do."

"Maybe it works that way for you, uncle Pete. But Billy and I barely know one another."

"I beg to differ. Thomas, if I asked you questions about your brother, how often would you supply the correct answer?"

"Always. But that's nothing special, I know everything."

Uncle Pete smiled. "I know it feels that way now, but it isn't true. The only place it is true is here." He prodded Tommy's chest, directly above his heart. "About William."

Tommy turned away. "I think you're giving him way too much credit, uncle Pete. Billy's not that special."

"Don't lie, nephew. Not to me, and most especially not to yourself. You have been through enough by now to know what is or is not true. Your worries, your nightmares, your motivations, and your dreams, they are all one in the same."

"So what, we're brothers. This shit happens all the time."

"I saw the look on your face when I stole him from before your eyes." Tommy squirmed. "I know the speeds we reached in your effort to take him back."

"I knew you wouldn't hurt him."

"Perhaps."

"I just wanted to race you."

"Even so. It was not jealousy or injured feelings - as you claimed - that drove you. In that instant when I grabbed him and made off with him, there was only one feeling in your heart. A sharp, aching, all encompassing fright. You did not know what would happen and you were behind me before you had even realized you'd moved. All that mattered to you in that moment was that William had been taken, and you'd be damned if that wasn't immediately rectified."

Tommy looked away, unable to take his Uncle's knowing stare.

"You forget nephew, I was there. I have been present many times. You are as I. In the heat of battle, your very soul is with your brother. You watch him, protect him, and go out of your way to ensure he is unharmed, even without his knowing. Because it isn't important that he knows, just that he lives. That he breaths ever more; that he exists."

The younger speedster wrung his hands.

"And I have seen how he looks at you." Tommy's head bounced up, eyes wide and...hopeful. Uncle Pete dropped a hand to his arm, squeezing in support. "He was not afraid when I took him. He knew you would come for him. He was so happy when you arrived."

"Billy's just...like that," he defended, voice not quite as steady as he'd have liked.

"He isn't. He is like his mother. He knows. He believes. It is the core of his power, and he puts all of that faith, all of that strength, the boundless measure of his ability in you."

Tommy's blink was frustratingly slow.

"Oh yes, Thomas," uncle Pete continued. "He loves you just as much. My sister once remade the entire world, so we would not be separated. William would do likewise for you."

He snorted. "He'd do it for Teddy."

"There is a possibility. When they love, they do love ever so strongly. But, he would not remake the world should Teddy ask."

"You don't know their relationship."

"He would not."

"Teddy wouldn't ask."

"But if you did, William would do it."

"Billy isn't stupid. He would never do it."

"It has nothing to do with stupidity, nephew. Intelligence takes a back seat to emotion, especially in ones as powerful as our twins. If something were to happen to you, Thomas, mark my words, William would tear the world in two just to get you back."

Tommy shifted, uncomfortable.

"And there is nothing wrong with that. Yes, you should do your best to see that it does not happen, for his sake. But, do not for one moment think that William would not." He gripped Tommy's arms and released them. "You have to protect him, Thomas. There are many within our universe who would see him come to harm. Or worse, enslaved. He is his mother's son. He is an ultimate weapon."

"BILLY IS NOT A WEAPON!" he shouted, enraged.

"No. No, he isn't. But that is all he will ever be to anyone with a taste for power." He rocked back on his heels. "Or did you not have to save him twice already from such a fate?"

Tommy exhaled through his nose in an attempt to calm the boiling rage.

"It is all right to love him, Thomas. You should love him. Never put demands upon that love. Never subscribe limitations. No one will understand, but you must leave them to their own conditions. For William is yours, and you are his. Everything else will come in turn, but that will always remain."

He patted Tommy's shoulder and jerked his thumb over his own. "What do you say we make a pit stop and then head home?"

Tommy stretched his legs, feeling the tension leak down them.

"I know this charming bakery that serves the best pastries. We can make a day of it."

"Will we bring them or will they come to us?"

Uncle Pete smiled. "I suppose we'll have to ask them."

Tommy pulled out his cell phone with a sigh and pushed a button. "Billy will never forgive me if we family trip down memory lane without him."

"Then it's for the best."

"Aren't you going to call mom?"

"She'll come."

"When does that come in?"

Uncle Pete laughed and ruffled his hair. "Years down the line. And several tragedies."

"I think Billy and I will stick to cell phones."