Archive of Our Own ^beta

He sat on the giant rock formation above the swimming hole. 

They had brought him out here, they wanted to bury the hatchet they said. 

Wanted to make up for the past and start being friends. 

He told them he couldn’t swim, but they said that would be okay. 

So here he sat. 

The voices from down below called to him, he rose up to his knees, waving down at the kids below. 

And then he is air born. 

He falls so fast that he barely realizes what happened when he hit the water. 

Until he tries to surface. 

Someone is holding him down, they won’t let him up, he can’t breathe! 

His heart pounds in his ears so loudly. 

Beat…Beat…Beat…Beat

Silence. 

The kids, afraid of what they did, run away. 

So they don’t see the boy breaking through the surface of the water gasping.  

They miss the way he claws his way to the shore, drags himself up, and flops onto his back. 

There are no witnesses to him panting and choking before rolling over and puking the water that is in his lungs into the grass. 

Once he finishes, he starts to shiver before he passes out. 

Agatha sat on the bed watching Billy as he paced back and forth. 

“If you keep doing that, you’re going to wear a hole in the carpet.” 

“It doesn’t make sense, I could feel him, and then it’s like the signal just cut off.” 

Agatha said nothing as Billy made another turn. 

“I wanted to be there when he woke up, I remember being so scared and confused.” 

“You know you’re going about this the wrong way.” 

Billy stopped and frowned at her. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, you’re thinking like a Witch, which usually works fine. But this time around, you need to think like the Teen you are.” 

“Think like a Teen? Wha-” Billy’s eyes widened as Agatha’s words hit him. 

Teenagers like tech. 

“Oh my God!” 

He leapt over Agatha and grabbed his laptop, almost knocking it onto the floor. 

“Son of a bitch.” 

He slammed the lid open and pulled up Google. 

He quickly typed in the words ‘Teenager injured in near drowning’. 

The standard AI response came up first, saying to call 911 for emergencies. 

Next were the YouTube videos of news reports, one of which caught his eye. 

‘Teenager in Coma in Wellesley, Massachusetts’ 

“What the hell?” Billy muttered as he clicked the video. 

The peppy reporter stood in front of a hospital, with a slight smile on her face. 

“I’m standing outside of Newton-Wellesley Hospital where 16 year old Thomas Shepherd is currently in a coma after a near drowning accident. It is alleged that there were 5 other individuals involved, and that they were all members of the Wellesley Hills Neighborhood. We have reached out to the parents of those 5 individuals, as well as Thomas’s parents but there are currently no comments.” 

Billy slammed the laptop shut, got to his feet, and started shoving things into his backpack. 

Agatha stared a moment before she said, “I’ll go warm up the car.” 

The trip from New Jersey to Massachusetts was only 5 hours, but it felt so much longer to Billy due to his nerves. 

Agatha was strangely quiet next to him, which made him even more nervous. 

When they were about an hour and a half away, Billy cleared his throat. 

“So what are our odds of running into Rio again?” 

Agatha snorted softly. “Probably next to none. She will be gunning for you kiddo, but not now. She has a thing about not messing up reunions.” 

Billy nodded and puffed out a breath. 

“Do you think I should go in full Superhero mode?” 

She stayed silent, which made Billy’s heart drop. 

“Agatha…” 

“Shh, I’m thinking.” 

Billy growled under his breath and pressed his foot down on the gas. 

They were a few blocks away from the hospital when Agatha finally spoke. 

“Go in as Billy, but when you get to Tommy’s room, let the Superhero roll out. It might help him out a bit.” 

Billy nodded as he pulled into the hospital parking lot. 

“We should really talk about that by the way.” 

“Talk about what?” 

“A Superhero name, you can’t be called Teen, that’s stupid.” 

Billy looked at Agatha in disbelief. 

“You want to talk about this now?” He squawked. 

“I’m just saying!”

“Oh my God don’t.” Billy snapped as he got out of the car and slammed the door.

He marched into the hospital and up to the Admissions desk. The Nurse looked up and smiled. 

“May I help you?” 

“Yeah hi. Um, I’m here to see a patient, Thomas Shepherd.” 

“Are you family? He is in the ICU so you can only see him if you’re family.” 

“Yeah, I’m his…brother. His twin brother.” 

She smiled and pulled out a card. 

“Nice to see that someone is coming to visit him.”  

Billy frowned. 

“No one has come to visit, not even his parents?” 

He flushed at his slip, but the Nurse just shook her head as she wrote something on the card before handing it over to Billy. 

“Pin that to your shirt. And nope, not a single person.” 

She typed something into her computer. 

“Take the elevators to the 5th floor. The Duty Nurse will direct you to which room.” 

“Thanks. Oh, is there a place to buy flowers?” 

The Nurse smiled and pointed toward the gift shop across from them. 

“There.” 

He smiled. “Thank you.” 

As he walked across the hall, he shook his head a little. 

Like recognized Like sometimes, maybe Agatha had been right when she said within any three-mile radius, there will be a collection of witchy people. 

Once he had flowers, (and a candy bar in hand), Billy walked to the elevator. 

He pressed the button and bounced on his feet impatiently. 

Then a crash had him turning his head to see a Nurse stumbling toward him. 

“Oh please excuse me, I need to get on the elevator too.” 

Billy stared at her for a moment. 

“Um what floor?” 

“Oh…whatever floor you’re going to.” 

He blinked and then hissed out. 

“Agatha? What are you doing?” 

The Nurse Agatha smirked at him. 

“Were you really going to leave me in the car like some dog?” 

“I think as a ghost you wouldn’t mind.” 

She just shrugged. “Well, maybe I wanted to see what it feels like to possess a body.” 

Billy rolled his eyes heavenward and prayed for patience. 

“Okay fine, but I see Tommy first. Clear?” 

“Fine.” 

The doors opened and they both got on. 

Agatha was a little stumbly on her feet, but she managed to get on without falling. 

“How do you feel by the way?” Billy asked as the elevator started to go up. 

“Taller. How are you feeling?” 

“Okay. I really hope this helps.” 

The elevator door slid open, the Agatha-possessed-Nurse stumbled out, and promptly fell on the floor. 

The Duty Nurse leapt up and helped the Agatha-possessed-Nurse to her feet. 

“Claire!  Are you alright? What happened?” 

She blinked her eyes. “Oh uh fine, just got a little dizzy. This Teen..ager wants to see Tommy Shepherd.” 

The Duty Nurse smiled. 

“Oh of course, he is in room 520. Do you want me to walk you down?” 

“Yes, yes please.” 

“Well then Claire can you man the desk?” 

She smirked. “Of course I can.” 

Billy didn’t like the look on the Agatha-possessed-Nurse’s face, but fell into step with the Duty Nurse. 

“The Nurse downstairs said that no one has come to see him.” 

“That would be correct.” 

“How is he?” 

“Stable. In here.” 

The Duty Nurse opened the door and Billy stepped into his brother’s room. 

He wasn’t expecting to recognize his Twin. 

Not that he fully knew this person, but there was a spark. 

Like recognizing Like again. 

Billy set the flowers in the vase, fluffed them a little, and moved around the bed. 

As he did, he let his Blue Magic appear over him before he plopped into the chair next to the bed. 

“Hey. Been a bit big brother.” 

Tommy said nothing, as Billy expected. 

“I got you something.” He pulled the candy bar out of his pocket and slid it under Tommy’s limp hand. 

“When you wake up, you’ll be very grateful for that. You eat like a beast when you're super charged.” 

Billy sighed again and then leaned forward to take Tommy’s hand in his. 

Blue sparks crackled between their joined hands. 

“I wish you would wake up. You would probably think I looked so cool. I bet you look cool when you’re in costume too.:” 

“Agatha my mentor…well I guess she’s my mentor, she kinda ghost too. But anyway, she said I need a better name than what I have. She calls me Teen because that’s what I am, she couldn’t hear my name before because Lilia, this other witch I knew, put a sigil on me to protect me. Well, me, and the kid whose body I took over, William Kaplan.”

Billy wasn’t sure how long he sat there, telling Tommy everything about himself, the Road, Agatha, his life. 

He was sure he would have to repeat it when Tommy officially woke up, but it was nice to at least get some of it out into the world. 

The Nurse came periodically to check on Tommy and adjust the tubes and wires, but beyond that, they were left alone. 

Billy leaned back in the chair and sighed softly. 

“I’m going to take a nap, let me know when you wake up.” He muttered as his eyes slipped closed. 

Tommy was drowning. 

No, he wasn’t drowning. 

He was suffocating! 

He needed to breathe, he needed to sit up, he needed…

Billy. 

Where was Billy? Billy wouldn’t let him suffocate like this. 

“Tommy?”

His body stilled; his heart slowed. 

His eyes fluttered open, he could see a ceiling. It wasn’t the ceiling to his and Billy’s room though. 

It was white and sterile. 

He also wasn’t suffocating; he had something down his throat. 

“Tommy?” 

A face appeared above his. 

It looked different, but he knew it was Billy. 

He had black curls framing his worried face, blue eyes crinkled with concern. 

And strangely, a blue crown.

But it was Billy. 

He felt fingers curl around his. 

“Tommy, you’re in the hospital. Apparently, you almost drowned. But you’re gonna be okay.” 

Tommy nodded and closed his eyes, fighting tears. When he swallowed them back, he used his free hand to gesture at his throat. 

“You have a breathing tube down your throat to help you breathe. You were in really bad shape when you came in. Do you want me to get a nurse?” 

Tommy shook his head forcefully. 

Billy’s hand curled tighter. “Just rest. I’m here now, I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

Tommy just breathed.