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Stark Industries | Saturday

And once again on Parents' Weekend, Topher had no visitors, and he was happy about it. Seriously. Who needed their family where they lived? That was like... kindergarten. He'd matured beyond that, thank you.

So, for reasons that were not at all related to the parents he didn't especially want to hang out with, Topher was spending his work shift... working. On the code for Broca II, the robot wonder dog. The whole process was a bit loud, because for the most part he was programming barking sounds, so he wouldn't be surprised if people could hear it from outside. But that was completely unintentional. It wasn't that he wanted people to come by and ask what he was doing. Of course not.

It was just that the barking sounds might be getting louder as people passed by. Because of coincidence. And that was all.

Really.

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Billy was slightly disappointed... okay, let's be honest, he was super disappointed that no one was visiting him this weekend, but he wasn't in such a funk that the noises coming out of Stark Industries didn't catch his attention and make him go inside. "Topher! Are you okay?" he called out as he came in.

Oh, hey, a Billy! "Shut up, Broca," Topher said absently, hitting a series of keys to mute the barking. "Billy! Hi. Yes. I am just... scienceing. A robot dog. Nothing alarming."

"Are you trying to make him a guard dog? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that noise level would scare any creep away," Billy said with a smirk.

"Oooh, I didn't even think of that," Topher said thoughtfully. "That'd be cool. Though possibly redundant given how annoyingly safe my life is."

"Annoyingly safe?" Billy asked. "You want something more exciting?" If he looked a little skeptical, he couldn't help it.

"Duh," Topher said. "Why, is there an invasion outside or something?" he asked hopefully, peering over the desk toward the window.

If Topher looked carefully, he might notice a blur going past the window, and then a second blur in the other direction, before the door to the shop opened. "You know, for a guy who lives on an island, you are not easy to track down," Tommy said, smirking at Billy.

What... wha...

"I was right," Topher said after a moment, turning back to Billy. "You do look weird blond."

Billy heard Topher, but he was way more focused on his twin. "Tommy? What are you doing here?"

"What do you think I'm doing here? I got the invitation you sent," Tommy said. "I figured it was a sign you weren't gonna stop bugging me any time soon, and you said you go to school with a lot of hot girls, so here I am."

That just made Billy grin even more. "I didn't send you an invitation, the school did - and I don't mean I told the school to send it to you," he said quickly when Tommy opened his mouth. "I thought it was going to go to my parents, but I guess the school knows better."

"Yeah, okay, whatever," Tommy said, rolling his eyes and trying not to look weirded out by that. "Who are you?" he asked Topher.

Topher had been pretty content to watch the twins go back and forth without interjecting any snark for once, but if Tommy was going to call on him...

"I would be Topher," he introduced himself, more than a little bit awkwardly. "I'm, uh. I mean. Billy and I date?"

"Awww, you're the boyfriend?" Tommy teased, although the smile he gave Topher was small, but genuine. "It's nice to meet you, I guess. Did Billy tell you about me? My ears have had this strange burning feeling lately."

"Oh, yeah, I heard the whole thing about the being twins from this witch lady who no one really likes," Topher confirmed. "And also how you're apparently super-crazy-fast, which if you ask me is the lamer power of the two, but it does allow for sneak entrances like your thing just now. So that's pretty cool."

"And he can blow stuff up too!" Billy said defensively. "'Cause he can move so fast he can shake molecules so he can like, level buildings and make people implode." Which, you know, wasn't a nice thing, but it was super useful in certain situations where one might not particularly like ones' enemies.

"You don't need to stick up for me. I know I'm awesome," Tommy said, managing a grin. It was weird to have people talking about him like he was cool, especially when said people had his face.

No, he still wasn't used to it either.

"And we're not the Scarlet Witch's twins, no matter what Billy might think. I don't know to explain this," he said, motioning between them, "but that just makes no sense."

"Magneto agrees with me though," Billy said, with a grin that matched Tommy's because twins, whether Tommy wanted it or not.

Okay, that was enough to get Tommy to stare for a moment. "What do you mean, he agrees with you? How do you know?"

"He's a teacher here. He's not the same one we know because... I could try to explain the whole 'different versions of the same universe' thing to you but it'd just make your head hurt, so just know he's from our future, potentially. And he said it's true," Billy said, studying Tommy to try to see if he was getting through to him. "He's not really in the business of lying to people to make them feel better, you know? Would it really be so bad if it was true?"

Tommy thought about that for a moment. He really didn't like it when people were right about stuff who weren't him, and Billy didn't count, twin or not. "It's just weird," he finally said, "and the Scarlet Witch and Magneto aren't exactly the best people to be related to, you have to admit. Don't you already have a nice, whole family? Why do you want this so bad?"

"I don't see this whole thing as replacing my family. I see it as adding to it," Billy said. "I used to think about what it would be like to have a twin, and I'm willing to bet you did too, whether you want to admit it or not. No matter what we are to the rest of our family tree, I think you and I could make a good pair."

Yes, Tommy had thought about what it would be like to have a twin, and no, he wasn't going to admit that to Billy, and ugh this would be so much easier if Billy wasn't the nicest geek on the planet and was a dick like everyone else Tommy had ever had to call family. "I--maybe," he said, taking a quick glance toward the door. "This was a nice chat and all, but there's food in the park so I'm gonna--it was nice to meet you Topher, but--yeah," he said, before wooshing back out the door.

Never let it be said that Tommy didn't know how to make a quick exit before things could get too uncomfortable.

Okay, that was... weird, and Topher cycled through about four different responses to it in his head before he ultimately settled on, "Okay. That's the most counterintuitive response to being told you're related to someone really famous and powerful ever."

Seriously, Tommy. Check yourself.

"Are you okay?"

"I... I think so?" Billy said. "That conversation could have gone better, but he still came all the way here, right? That means a lot. And I really can sort of see where he's coming from."

"Yeah, but also not," Topher pointed out. "Who doesn't want to be related to awesome people?"

"Well, they're awesome people who are kind of dangerous and feared," Billy explained. "Although, I still don't think the Scarlet Witch did all the terrible things people say she did. It'd be a lot easier to find her if I had Tommy with me. And yeah, I look weird as a blonde, right?"

Shhh, his brain had needed time to catch up.

"You really do," Topher agreed emphatically. "But... still. I mean. Even a supervillain mom is still a pretty kick-ass origin story."

Billy smiled softly and leaned over to give Topher a kiss on the cheek. "I'm glad you think so, even though she's not a supervillain, I swear. And I'm glad you got to meet Tommy, even though it was a surprise."

Aww, a kiss! Today was getting better already.

...Not that Topher had had anything to be grumpy about to begin with. Ahem.

"Yeah, me too," he said. "He's pretty, uh, weird, but at least he's nice and not gonna do that brother thing where he beats you up or something. 'Cause I guess that's a thing that happens. Sometimes."

"I might not be able to outrun him, but my powers are still better." See, it was okay to say that now that Tommy wasn't here to have his ego bruised.

"So much better," Topher agreed emphatically, because really. "You could do a spell for super-speed, anyway."

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Stark Industries | Saturday

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