Catch You When You Fall - Young Avengers

Characters: Hulkling, Asgardian, Patriot, Iron Lad
Time-Frame: Pre-Series
Summary: Asgardian needs flight training, bad. Iron Lad's the one who catches him when he falls. Hulkling isn't too pleased with this arrangement. And Patriot just wants them to go on patrol already.
Word-Count: 1041

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His eyes were trained on the airborne figure, taking in the bursts of electricity that shot out of its limbs and the unsteady way in which it floated. Every muscle in his body was tense, his whole being - on edge. His throat ran dry when the figure ascended slowly, higher, and higher, and-

"Hey, I- I think I got-"

The electricity went out. The area around him went dark. A moment longer he floated, but then-

"Or maybe-"

He was falling.

He dashed, body sprinting into movement before he could even will it to do so. Thoughts ran around in his mind in a chaotic turbulence, of prayers and calculations and please, please, please!

"I've got you, Asgardian!"  The somewhat metallic voice declared.
On the ground, Hulkling skid to a halt, a pant leaving him as he watched Iron Lad hold Asgardian tightly in his arms. The young mutant growled something most likely profane and frustrated, and pulled his forehead protector down over his eyes in an attempt to cover his shame.

"That was not cool."

"Gotta agree with him there." Patriot huffed, which made Hulkling glance at him once over his shoulder.
"I mean, Thor never had such problems with Mjolnir, right? Ha ha."

The teen Hulk-wannabe spared an obligatory snort before turning his eyes upwards, where he found Asgardian still held by Iron Lad with the two talking too weakly for the two on the ground to hear.
Iron Lad seemed to alternate between berating and trying to be encouraging, while Asgardian shifted between smiling almost nonchalantly and looking ready to bury himself in a hole in the ground.
And Hulkling? He reacted in the one way expected out of a young man seeing his boyfriend held in another guy's arms -
He was jealous.

–

Billy once again came this close to ending his short life prematurely. Teddy figured he really should be grateful to Nate for saving the guy, but he was just too sure Nate always held Billy a bit too tightly and for far too long for Teddy to be able to do that with a clear conscience.

"Hey, maybe I'll grow wings." Teddy suggested that time, during a break from practice. His suggestion was received at first with blank stares before his three companions exchanged glances.

"That would be awesome and useful-" Billy started, only to be frowned at by Eli.
Even with the Patriot mask on, they knew he was frowning - Eli was exceptionally good at that.

"And very not Hulk-like." The statement was added with an angry look at Nate, who seemed to have his own reasons for disliking the idea.

"I'm not inherently against this, but Patriot's right, Hulkling. And besides-"
The next part was preluded by a glance in Asgardian's direction.
"Unless we build a safety net, I can only catch one of you at a time."

Both boyfriends seemed equally disgruntled by this conclusion, and surrounding implications about any potential lack of skill on their part.

"Well, now that that's settled-" Eli concluded and walked out of their designated 'break area'.
Nate followed suit.

"Asgardian? Let's continue."

"Be right there, Iron Lad." Billy sighed and looked at Teddy. He was mostly looking for support, only to find Teddy to be too deep in thought to even look back.
Not quite sure what brought this about, and not seeing the need to be that upset over what was just said, Billy opted instead to try a different approach.

"Hey." He called out, earning himself Teddy's attention.
The changeling blinked at the rather excited grin Billy was offering him.

"You know what we can do when we can both fly properly?"

The vote of confidence, along with the use of 'when' rather than 'if' was already reassuring, but what got Teddy to smile back despite himself was the way in which Billy was holding his staff and looking so excited he might've just burst.
The shorter of the two leaned a bit forward then, and spoke loudly enough so that only Teddy would hear.

"Airborne dates!"

Teddy blinked at the suggestion at first, but smiled widely the next moment.

"Ok, that does sound awesome."

"Doesn't it?!" Billy snickered, only to be caught a bit off guard by Teddy's slight smirk.

"How's that for motivation?"

"That's-"

"Asgardian!" Nate called, sounding a bit more impatient than usual. "Can we please take this seriously?!"

"Yeah, you two can flirt later." Eli pitched in, which started another banter between him and Nate about how this wasn't taking it seriously.
It at least left the couple to their own devices for a while longer. They exchanged mildly amused looks before Billy lightly hit Teddy's arm.

"Flirt with you later, then." He promised with a wink that was bashful despite his best attempts at playfulness, and slung his staff over his shoulders.

It wasn't much, and Billy did end up falling several more times that night, but it was enough to get Teddy through the rest of that training session.

–

"You're sure I'm not too heavy?" Hulkling asked, eyes set on the cars driving underneath them. He knew the question was redundant in light of how steady Asgardian's flying was, but still felt the need to ask.
He felt the hand holding onto his shirt tighten its grip, and as though to drive that point closer to home, they ascended.

"Hulkling, you're fine." Asgardian berated, seeming more concerned with the task of not flying into any street lights than the extra weight his boyfriend put on due to his transformation.
"And I think I'm finally getting the hang of this flying thing."

It was hard to explain how Teddy felt at that statement. Of course, it meant his chances of ending up as a pancake on the sidewalk were lower, that was a given. But it also meant Billy didn't need Nate to be his safety net anymore, didn't need him to catch the would-be spellcaster. It meant Nate had a lot less excuses to be that close to Billy anymore, and even though he was well aware of how petty and childish it was, Teddy couldn't help but be relieved beyond words.

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that."