April 28, 2014:
Hulking, planning to go on patrol, is interrupted when Billy Kaplan accidentally triggers a fire alarm.
Metropolis University
A mixture of ivy-covered halls, more modern buildings, a really nice sports facility, and student housing sited in one of the older parts of Metropolis, quiet and residential, but with nearby off-campus housing, bohemian cafes and bookstores, even a number of fraternity houses. This is Metropolis University.
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
A Dark Hold
Apocalypse: Only the Strong
Blood versus Family
Bones Of The City
Breaking the Universe
Cyberdata War: First Strike
Dangerous Esterikos Wonderous Mystikos
Dark Gods & Times
De Oppresso Liber
Demon Lord of New York
Diaz de Muertos
Don't Tell Thanos The Babysitter's Dead
Empire of Tears
Escape from Sakaar
From the Ashes
Gateway to the Stars
Genosha: Rebirth
God Of The Dead
Hacker, Sass-Mastah, Engineer, Spy
Himmel und Hölle in Bewegung Setzen
Mood Music: None.
Fade In…
Metropolis University, ten at night, and the perfect weather for a bit of on-patrol. While it's an uncannily clean city, there is still crime, especially near campus. So one Theodore Altman, wannabe hero, has made his way to the top of the dorms in preparation for heading out. He stands in the moonlight, trying to decide what his hero costume should be. He already knows "Big Green" but … despite the allure of tight, torn cloth, the Hulk's purple pants just do not meet the stylistic requirements of a modern super HERO.
It's a good thing that it's a pleasant night because all of a sudden, the fire alarm goes off in the dorm. Students begin streaming from the doors down below, clearing rooms and hallways. There is at least one requisite student in a towel and still dripping from the shower. It's too far to hear, but no doubt there is muttering about interrupting snacks, studying, or other extracurricular activities.
Even as students stream out of the ground floor, another bursts out of the doorway leading to the roof. It seems that he's been up here before as he also knows how to access the roof. The dark-haired teen steps carefully over to the edge to peer over at everyone waiting outside the dorm before stepping, he hopes, out of their view again. That's when he catches sight of another and gives a shriek and a jump, "Holy crap, you scared the Hell out of me!"
OHsh… Teddy very quickly makes sure his skin is not green. And that he's wearing … uh, sweatpants. Yeah.
"Fire alarm? Really? Is this a test or is someone trying to get kicked out?"
He realizes who the newcomer is. Hot kid from dorm meeting yesterday.
"You're Bill, right? Ted Altman." He looks at Billy and smiles. "Uh, we probably shouldn't be up here, right? I mean, won't the RAs be looking for us outside?
It's the blonde jock! Billy's eyes widen and he opens his mouth and then closes it before finding his words. "I…uhm. It's Billy. 'Bill' just sort of sounds like some old accountant in a stuffy office somewhere with sweatstains on his armpits." He blinks as he just rambled on and forces himself to look away from the other kid standing right there. "Uhm. Well. I…think I sort of set off the alarm."
"Oh yeah?" Teddy grins and says sotto voce "so hot he sets off the alarms," but then realizes he's using his outside voice.
"I go by Teddy , because Ted sounds like a bartender or a garage mechanic," he says. "So how do you 'sort of' set off an alarm? I mean, yeah, Rich in 201 set off the smoke detector with his bong, but the alarms are old-fashioned."
Surely he didn't hear what he thought he heard! Billy glances askance at Teddy before he lifts a hand to rub at the back of his neck, "Uhm. Candles." Lots of them. "Is that what happened? I was wondering what set that off since, I mean, I didn't smell cigarette smoke." His smile begins to return and he points between the two of them, "Bill and Ted."
He waits only a moment before offering, "Be Excellent Unto Each Other…" and does the air guitar riff.
Did an electric guitar just play?
"We are … Wyld Stallyns!" Teddy says, doing the same air guitar riff… but without the electric guitar sound effect.
"No, seriously, how did I not think of that? We're clearly destined to be best friends forever, travel through time and space, hopefully not in a telephone booth, and … Wait. How many candles does it take to set off room sprinklers?"
Teddy shakes his head, imagining it. "It would be a very bad thing if you got in trouble for this. Why did you have that many candles lit?"
"How else are we going to time travel if not by telephone booth? But a blue one…that's bigger on the inside." Billy's grin remains as he's not being tossed off the roof for being 'weird'. The smile turns a little sheepish as he answers the question, "Around twenty…and I'm sort of hoping I don't get in trouble. I put the candles out…" and made them disappear, but that doesn't need to be stated. "It was an…experiment."
"Experiment? OK. I'll have to take that class some day, but more to the point, it's not a phone booth, it's a Police Box." Teddy says mock-solemnly.
"But none of the Doctor's regenerations have properly appreciated their male companions, I mean, he turned down Captain Jack. How do you turn down Captain Jack?"
Teddy grins back at Billy. Clearly the good Captain is sufficient to turn the heads of even the most stereotyped blond jock boy.
"Right! Police Box! Ugh, I'm such a bad geek, aren't I?" Billy smacks at his forehead, "I never really watched it all that much, but that's John Barrowman, right? You know he's an amazing Broadway singer? I…" wait a minute. What was that?
"But…you're a -Jock-!" comes out of his mouth before he can really stop it. Not that there was any preface to the statement.
"Yes." That's one answer to all three questions and the exclamation. Economy of words! Teddy looks at Billy, head tilted slightly.
"I hope you're not going to hold that against me, I mean, I went to a lot of work to get where I am now. I'd hate to think it was going to scare away people I like."
It's like his world just spun around strangely. Billy takes a step back, but remains far from the edge still, and looks Teddy up and down. "But…Jocks don't talk about turning down Captain Jack." Because that's how it was in his world previously. "I mean, I don't hold it against you, you look great! I mean," his cheeks start to turn pink, "Your work is great, I mean…uhm. I'm not scared."
"God, I hope not," Teddy says. "That would be exactly the wrong sort of response from what I'm hoping for."
He does a little overall flex thing just to tease. "No, seriously, I'm into guys, always have been. I just don't make a big deal out of it. For now anyway."
"You're hoping for?" Billy repeats before he shakes his head, "I'm sorry. I'm just not sure my ears are working right." He taps at an ear before admiring the flex. "Nice…" and then looking back at the other. Now he's sure his ears aren't working right. "Why…would anyone need to make a big deal about it? Maybe thirty years ago, but now? Now, it's…I mean, maybe if you're somewhere like Nebraska or something where they're going to lynch you, but here? In a big city like Metropolis?" Although that's probably not what he meant by all of that.
"Me too. I mean, I don't know if I always have been…I guess I have, but I didn't think about it all that much. I had….uhm. Other things to deal with for a while."
Teddy nods. "Been there, got the commemorative smashed coin medallion." He shrugs, and continues, "Even in Metropolis, there's haters. But we're better than that, right? Anyway. Now that I've explained to you why I am not just safe, but available for friendship, we should go on to more immediately important things. Like, Kirk or Picard?"
Billy Kaplan shrugs, "People can hate, but it's not going to change anything and I just don't care. They can't change my mind and they don't matter to me." It didn't take him too long to realize that if he embraced these things, others just fall into place. The mention of friendship brings about a grin and the mention of more important things has an eyebrow quirked. The question, however, earns a sparkle in his eyes, "Well, Picard's awesome, but Chris Pine as Kirk…"
Teddy nods solemnly. "Exactly, they completely broke that paradigm with the movie. Also, blowing up Vulcan? Shades of Superman, am I right? He should totally sue for origin poaching. Anyway, with the movie, it's now Kirk v. Spock. Because Zachary Quinto. So, which Khan do you prefer, the one with the chest and abs made of rich corinthian leather, or the one with two point three seconds of fanservice in the movie?"
"I…haven't seen 'Into Darkness' yet. I've been meaning to, but things were just going on and…I haven't gotten to see it. I don't really get Cumberbatch though. Sure, the voice is amazing and I'm sure he's an excellent actor, but I don't know. Riccardo Montalban is just so iconic…" Billy just talks but then tilts his head to look up at the taller teen, "You really don't mind that I'm talking about this? Most people end up just looking at me funny…unless they're the people in the Sci Fi and Fantasy club…"
"I believe I steered the conversation onto this topic, so yeah, I'm OK with it. I can also talk about comics, a little about musicals though I may have to turn in my card for not knowing them very well, and video games. Although I don't love first person shooters. And surprisingly, many jocks watch sci-fi, or fantasy."
Teddy carefully schools his body language, 'stop with the predatory I want to eat you up stance,' and then freezes. There's a sound. He looks at the door to the roof. He crosses over to it, quickly, and holds it closed, gripping the door handle. After a moment, there's a muttering voice from the other side, one of the RA's.
"Door's stuck again. Well, that means nobody is on the roof."
"Are you for real?" just sort of slips out as Teddy lists off conversation topics. "I mean, I thought all Jock just played sports, ate, and picked on smaller guys…and dated cheerleaders." Billy does begin to step closer but then pauses as Teddy freezes. His eyes widen as he hears voices on the other end but then looks at Teddy's hand as he holds the door closed. "Thanks," is whispered very softly.
Teddy nods, and waits a few moments for the sound of footsteps on the stairs to recede. The alarm bell in the distance shuts off, and people start straggling back into the dorm.
"If you doubt I'm real, go ahead and touch, I won't bite." Or at least, not until later in the relationship. Teddy looks over at Billy. "Playing sports, you got me there. Eating, also one of my favorites. Picking on smaller guys? Not so much. Picking UP smaller guys, sometimes. And dating cheerleaders. Uhm. Twice. First, Jimmy Fawkes, one of the football cheerleaders, asked me on a date, but he was horrified when I showed up wearing a Godzilla tee shirt. Second time, Amanda and Grayce, they needed an escort to the prom, so I took them, because the PTA was all 'girls must be escorted by boys' … so I bearded for them."
He lets go of the door handle, hoping he hasn't crushed it.
Billy Kaplan does actually step close enough to reach out and touch the other…in the bicep. A finger just sort of pokes at it a couple of times before he pulls it back. "Didn't go to my prom…I was the kid who got picked on a lot by the jocks." There's a moment of observation before he breaks out in a grin, "Well, I'm glad to know that some jocks aren't as shallow as they seem. I mean…-you- never seemed shallow…" he quickly tries to backpedal, "Not that I even really know you, but…"
Teddy giggles at the poke. Giggles. Incidentally, said bicep is not steel-hard, more like dense rubber.
"OK, I never thought you'd really do that," he says. "I'm sorry and I apologize on behalf of the entire Neanderthal race for the foolish and totally misguided behavior of those in your athletic department, and can only say in their defense that they must have had an especially ignorant coach."
Billy Kaplan shrugs, "I don't know…I didn't know the coaches well. I kind of skipped PE as much as I could and pass the class." Mostly to get away from the jocks. He grins back up at Hulkling, "You shouldn't go around daring someone if you don't expect them to actually take it. Although, I guess it wasn't really a dare. More of an invitation. Well, same thing goes for that." There's another considering look at the other, "I don't think you're a Neanderthal."
"You don't? Did I forget the brow ridge and the nose again?" Teddy grins, thinking of the 'Big Green' shape he assumes for On Patrol. Definitely has Neanderthal traits.
"I have the pale skin and blond hair, those are supposed to come from the Neanderthals. Anyway, we should come in the front door. If they did the room sweep, they're going to be looking for students who weren't in their rooms. But how to get down from here?" He looks at the bricks, the wall in the one darkish corner where he's scaled down before.
"I can climb down that. Then we can go around to the front. You can hang on my neck if you trust me. Or do you have fifty feet of good rope? I forgot my adventurer pack."
"Yeah, did you leave them in your room?" Speaking of, the thought just hits him. "What were -you- doing on the roof?" Billy knows why -he- was there, but Teddy was there first…before the alarms. "Actually, I think that the blonde hair is from Cro Magnon. The Neanderthals were darker…like me. Not that I'm saying I'm anything like a Neanderthal…" right?
They have to get down? Oh, right! "Why can't we just sneak back through the door and down to our rooms? I doubt they're standing guard there and I doubt that they've confined people to their rooms. I mean, could you imagine? Trying to get this many college kids to stay shut in their rooms?"
"BUSTED! Uh, I come up here to look over the campus like an eagle-eyed superhero, scanning for crimes to stop. Really." Oddly, this is true. Utterly unbelievable, but true. However, Teddy realizes that his other ploy just now has failed.
"OK, yeah, we could just go down the stairs. But then I wouldn't get to climb down the building with you on my back."
Billy Kaplan doesn't look terribly impressed by the explanation…no doubt because he doesn't believe it. Because who else would do that…besides him? The mention of the other ploy, though, gets a smirk, "Because no one would notice two guys climbing down the dorm. Why don't we save that for the second date?"
With that, he leans over to open the door and hop down the stairs towards his floor and his room.