capitalh | SUPER BARBECUE SUPER BARBECUE SUPER BARBECUE [open as heck]

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SUPER BARBECUE SUPER BARBECUE SUPER BARBECUE [open as heck]

Who: SUPER HEROES!!!!!
Where: Ernest E. Debs Regional Park!
When: Sunday!
What: SUPER BARBECUE
Warnings: Superheroes...

It's a pleasant evening at Ernest E. Debs Regional Park, just a couple miles from downtown LA, which can be seen through the haze. Late March means spring is just arriving in LA and the trees are just starting to bud. Unfortunately, the grass is still kind of dead and dry.

The barbecue and picnic area isn't too busy, though the park does have the usual assortment of joggers, dog walkers, and cyclists. There are some balloons tied to picnic tables, and strung between two trees is a very homemade "SUPER BBQ" banner, courtesy of Hulkling and Starbreaker. There's still glitter glue on Milly's apartment floor. There's another posterboard with the rules written on it in big bold sharpie letters nearby, just in case anyone forgets:

Don't be a jerk!!!
Keep your weapons holstered please.
Do not trash the park!
ABSOLUTELY NO FIGHTING
Anyone caught fighting will be asked to leave!
Really don't be a jerk!

[OKAY GUYS!!! mingle! have fun! maybe some THINGS WILL HAPPEN, whoooo knows!]

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Well, Finnick is here. He's not particularly thrilled about it, but he does have to spend at least a little time socializing with people who aren't sixteen or he'll break something, so here he is in his brand new hero suit. It's a very tasteful looking thing - complete with golden scale armour that serves to protect and look good. It still feels a little silly, but it's not too bad now that he's with other costumed heroes.

That was another motivation for showing up to this thing. He's only just beginning to grasp this entire culture of superheroes and he figures throwing himself into the middle of the whole ordeal will help him adjust.

So he'll be milling about, inconspicuously observing and striking up conversations whenever he feels comfortable enough to do so. Pretending he belongs, looking a lot more happy to be here than he actually is, the whole song and dance.

With some cursing and plenty of help, Teddy has finally gotten fires going in several of the barbecue pits. There are burgers and hot dogs and soy burgers starting to sizzle, which means it's finally an actual barbecue instead of a bunch of adults in spandex in a park. Teddy looks up from flipper duty to see who else has arrived since he last checked, and-- holy crap that guy is attractive. Really attractive. So attractive Teddy doesn't even notice the burger he's just flipped directly into the fire.

He doesn't recognize the man, though. Maybe he's new in town? Teddy makes it his business to know about all the heroes in LA worth knowing, which means this guy is either small time or new to the scene. Maybe he should introduce himself.

Pawning his spatula and grilling duties off on a hapless bystander, Teddy snags two cans of soda from a drinks cooler and heads towards the New Guy.

"Hey. You want a drink?"

Finnick does a good job of appearing unfazed, though it's a completely new thing for him to be approached by someone who looks like this - all green skin and broad as hell - but he fits right in with the others and if he doesn't belong in this world he's doing a good job of masking it.

And he's offering him a drink, so he can't be all bad. Finnick smiles at him, all effortlessly friendly and likable. "Sure. Thanks."

"Here, catch." He tosses the soda to the Ridiculously Attractive New Guy gently, so it won't get shaken up too much. Teddy wouldn't usually really approach a cute guy like this, but he has to know who he is. Besides, he's completely out of his league anyway.

"I'm Hulkling." He holds out a large very green hand for shaking.

Finnick catches the can and looks at it briefly to determine what it is - not that he recognizes any brands just yet. This one looks familiar though, so he thinks he knows what it'll taste like.

But before he does that, he takes the young man's hand and shakes it confidently despite its largeness and greenness, still offering his friendly smile. "Finnick."

He had thought about a codename. It didn't seem necessary, given that Katniss was running around calling herself the Mockingjay. Anonymity was a lost cause.

Finnick. Weird codename, and definitely nothing Teddy has heard before.

"Cool. Are you new in town? Just, I don't think we've met before." Said with a casual shrug. It's fine if Teddy implies he's a little better connected than he is, right? Besides, it's not even really that much of a lie. He's technically sort of a CONDOR demi-agent now, for Skrull-related activities. Kind of. Which means he's sort of met some people who work for CONDOR. Like, once. That's a connection.

Finnick smiles wryly as he looks down at the soda he's just opened. It's always going to sound funny in his head, the ridiculous chain of events that brought him here. It's tempting to tell people where he's from just to see if they'd believe him, but it's not worth the potential of having to talk about the war and the Games and the people he still wishes he hadn't left.

"Yeah, I just got here," he says, looking back up with a smirk. "I guess I'm pretty new to the whole" - he gestures - "scene."

Teddy sort of raises his soda in a mock toast.

"Welcome to LA, then. It's crazy, but you get used to it eventually."

It was kind of disconcerting how normal kidnappings and alien invasions had become, actually. Usually Teddy tried not to think about that.

"Maybe we could patrol together sometime, I could help show you around." The words are out of his mouth before Teddy can really stop himself, and even he is surprised. Crap. Maybe Finnick will politely decline.

Finnick doesn't blink, but he does tilt his head a little as he looks at Teddy, trying to evaluate his intentions. He's developed an ability to tell when people want to be around him and to what degree, but there's a significant difference between the way Capitol people express themselves and the way everyone else does, so he's not totally sure.

After a moment and a thoughtful smile, he says, "Sure. I need to acclimatize myself. That is, if you don't mind."

Shit. Teddy grins, ever polite. "Yeah, totally. I work a lot of afternoons and evenings so my patrol schedule is kind of irregular, but I can drop you a message on the watch or something next time I head out."

As a Kree/Skrull hybrid, Teddy probably could swallow his own foot if he tried hard enough. What he really wants now though is for the ground to swallow him up, or maybe for a giant bird to swoop down and carry him off. Why does his mouth have to say stupid things?

Edited 2014-06-05 23:14 (UTC)

Finnick's not entirely sure how he wants this to go. He should have some allies, but he doesn't have to go about it like this. He's not even totally sure that Hulkling is attracted to him, though he'll figure it out soon enough, and at that point he'll be up front. For now, he needs friends. He needs people who don't hate to be around him. So this is going to happen.

"Yeah, alright," he says, nodding and giving Teddy a grin. "But it'll have to be soon, or I'll die of boredom."

Oh, god. There was something about his smile that kind of made Teddy want to do anything Finnick asked him to, but kind of in a way that reminded him a little bit of his ex best friend Greg.

"Yeah, sometime before next weekend, okay? I gotta get out there, I've been kind of out of the country for a while, so I'm pretty eager to get back in the zone."

Finnick hums some vague assent, putting the prospect of all this out of his mind for now. He wants to take this opportunity to learn more, not to stew on the possibility that yet another person wants him.

"Out of the country?" he says, all conversational.

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It's probably fortunate that Ben happens to be Heatblast anyway when he spots Finnick from a few yards away, because his immediate response is to point at him and shout "Hey, it's you!"

He half-jogs over to him, barely remembering to pull down his body temperature enough not to scorch the grass or anything. "I didn't know you were a superhero! Why didn't you mention that last time?"

Finnick's expression goes a little serious when he hears someone recognize him, but it fades into minor annoyance when Heatblast approaches him. He doesn't particularly want to explain the whole situation, so it's time for some glossing over.

He sighs. "You didn't ask," he says

He opens his mouth to argue, then realizes he actually has no response to that. Drat.

He changes the subject instead, though it takes him a moment to remember what they actually talked about. "So, uh... you find who you were looking for?"

Well, that was incredibly easy. Finnick expected a longer line of questioning, but he's relieved when Heatblast drops it so quickly.

Now, to dodge specific questions about Katniss and why he was looking for her. "I did," he says. "Thank you for the help, by the way."

"No problem!" He seems to puff up a bit(literally, in a way; he gives off a momentary burst of warm air). "Stuff like that isn't really my thing, but I'll help when I can! Usually more into punching out bad guys, though."

Finnick supposes he should be thankful that Heatblast doesn't want to know anything about him. Without any enthusiasm, he says, "yeah, me too."

He cocks his head to the side, placing his hands on his hips. "You... don't sound too happy about it, though."

He straightens up and moves as if to slap Finnick on the back - fortunately he thinks better of it and pulls his hand back. "C'mon, get excited! We're at a barbecue! Talking about punching bad guys!" As far as Ben is concerned, it doesn't get much better than this.

He smirks.

"I don't really do excited," he says.

"Well, jeez, try 'glad to be here', then. You look like you got kidnapped or something and brought here against your will."

Ben will never understand people who can't get excited about barbecues.

Well, Ben's not far off. Not that he was forced to the barbecue against his will, but this whole situation is far from his own design. He drops the smile because he's getting bored of this, but his tone is still light.

"Are you always this aggressive about making sure everyone's having a good time?"

The change of expression doesn't seem to faze Ben, if he even notices. "Well, I mean, I kinda consider it part of my job! Besides, nobody likes a party pooper." He gives Finnick a very faintly disapproving look.

Finnick takes a steadying breath and looks around. "Just... leave me alone, alright?"

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