fandomhigh | Summer Games, Wednesday Morning

Today the park was set up with the normal bleachers for observers, and also thoughtfully provided cheap plastic rain ponchos for people who wished to observe without being in the blast zone. There didn't seem to be a single adult manning any of the food stations, which could explain the choices: heavy on super spicy junk food and no salad to be seen anywhere.

The most noticeable difference from last week, though, was probably the weedy teenager with the, frankly, hilarious haircut wielding the megaphone today. He had a little ponytail and a braid looping down over his right ear. It was a lot of look. "Right!" he yelled. "So I woke up today with this set of instructions next to my bed: apparently I'm in charge of doing paintball today, which sounds surprisgly not-stupid for a school event! We're going to be in two teams, so listen for your name since I don't recognize...most of them."

He shrugged that off. Must be another weird Fandom amnesia day or something. And paintball was way more important than giant gaps in his memory, right? "Okay, this is Team Red: you wear the ugly red jumpsuits over there--" he pointed helpfully, "--and your paintball guns and don't forget your eye protection and blah blah don't poke your eyes out, etc. Team members are: Ahsoka, Verity, Kaidan, Miguel, Paris, Aloy, Vanessa, Peter, Jaylah, Peridot, Tip. Alec, Amaya, Steve, Cara, Seivarden, Tony, Sabine, Jason, Summer, and Theron."

He waited for those team members to get moving. "Okay. Team Blue is: Aphra, Astrid, Rosa, Jaina, Kanan, Eliot, Beaker, Liam, Hannibal, Manfred, Hera, Kathy, Sidon, Magnus, Uma, Cristina, Breq, Bobby, Wade, Reno, and me." He consulted his paper again, then made a face. "Okay, we were supposed to just stay in the park, but that sounds incredibly boring, so I'm going to give us five minutes to make a quick plan with our team and then say that the entire island is fair game for as long as it takes one team to take out the other team."

Complete anniliation. Surely that boded well for his future life choices! "Last man, woman, or--" his eyes drifted to Beaker, confused, "--other...standing wins for their team and gets to take home the--" he squinted at the paper again. "Terrifying fish thing?"

On cue, the fish flew into his hand. Over the past week, it had been modified again: now to smell like pumpkin spice, put off small fireworks and holographic projections of flowers with smiley faces as it flew, and telepathically project "The Song That Never Ends" into the minds of anyone too close to it.

Anakin hated this thing on sight.

"For the first time in my life, I'm considering losing," he said, staring at the fish. "Anyway! Teams, get together and plan! You have five minutes and...go!"

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"My best friend calls me a punk," Steve offered with a grin. "Don't think he knows about the piercings, though..."

"You got the attitude down pat," Tony agreed, tugging on the front of Steve's shirt.

"Thank you?" Steve replied, a little confused.

"Totally a compliment," Tony assured him. "You know. The whole giving the world the middle finger for wanting you to conform thing."

"The world's not big on conforming around me anyway," Steve said.

"Fuck 'em," Tony said, ducking down to kiss him quickly. Like maybe all his bluster was just that and he was super anxious about this whole boyfriend thing.

Because that was indeed the case.

Steve turned beet red and bit his lower lip shyly when he pulled back, but he looked very please. "Wow. We can just do that here?"

"Anyone says something and you can punch them." Now that was a fight that Tony would throw himself into with gusto.

"Oh, I'll definitely punch 'em," Steve muttered. "Probably just jealous I landed the best lookin' fella around."

"Yeah?" Tony asked, a little shyly, scuffing his foot on the ground. "You're pretty cute yourself."

And reminded Tony of someone. It was super weird.

"No one has ever told me that," Steve admitted, turning red again.

"Really?" Tony asked, making a face. "People are stupid."

He was an expert on that one.

"Well, my ma, but that doesn't count," Steve said.

"Moms are like that," Tony agreed. "But take it from me. I'm an expert."

On cute people?

"An expert on what?" Steve asked, grinning.

"You know. Cute people." Yeah, that was so him.

Steve blushed. "You are not."

His charm was actually working for a change! And Rhodey had vouched for the guy, so he was pretty sure this wasn't a trick.

"Totally am! Might be my next degree."

"Next degree?!" Steve said. "You have one already?"

His boyfriend was so smart.

"Yeah," Tony said, preening a little. A lot, really. "Working on a few more."

"Oooh," Steve said admiringly. "I'm still tryin' to finish high school."

"That's good," Tony said. "I mean, everyone else at school is in normal grades."

"But you're too smart for 'em," Steve said proudly.

"Most people just call me an insufferable know-it-all," Tony said, totally preening again with at that.

"You're not insufferable," Steve said loyally.

Re: Team Red, Assemble!

imafuturist - 2018-06-09 19:58 (UTC) - Expand

heroic_jawline - 2018-06-09 20:18 (UTC) - Expand