Stark Industries, Monday

[endsthegame]

There was a good portion of the population of the island who wouldn't be pleased with the current changes, and Ender couldn't blame them. Many of them had come here looking for a respite, a place to be themselves - or had let Fandom become that for them. He could only hope the school board knew what it was doing, and this farce would soon be over.

As for Ender, though, he'd spent his formative years in the military. A new uniform was nothing, ugly as it may have been. If anything, it was downright familiar to have a specific thing to put on every morning again, and at least it fit.

Though he had had to be reminded about the socks.

So he came in to work with little more to think about than his usual chores, and Ben's frame of mind after they'd found out about Tahiri. He opened up the store, brought up a few projects from the back to work programming on, and generally settled in for a slow day.

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[momslilassassin]

Ben came in with the usual coffee and lunch, his tie already loosened around his neck.

"Greetings fellow student," he said with a little grin.

[endsthegame]

Ender sighed at him. "I'm pretty sure that should be knotted all the way up," he said. "My old instructors would be angry at you for abusing uniform."

He reached down to tug on his sock again.

[momslilassassin]

"I finished my class," Ben said blithely. "I should be allowed to unwind a little bit." He glanced down at what Ender was doing and chuckled. "The socks are bugging you, huh?"

[endsthegame]

"They keep crawling back down my leg," Ender complained. "Battle School had the right idea. No one needs socks."

Even he was allowed to be a little ridiculous every now and again.

[momslilassassin]

"You could try holding them up with rubber bands," Ben offered.

Because that wouldn't look stupid at all!

[endsthegame]

"I'd make fun of that idea if I wasn't sure that's something you would do."

[momslilassassin]

"I'm not the one having sock issues," Ben replied. He took a sip from his mug. "Drink your coffee."

[endsthegame]

"Yes, sir," Ender said, adding an exaggerated drawl to his voice. He took the cup and sipped from it, giving Ben a long-suffering look.

[momslilassassin]

Ben made a face at Ender, then another, more shocked one, as wings popped out between his shoulders. "Sithspit."

[endsthegame]

Ender stared at him.

"And here I was just going to say, 'They'll probably make you sing Yankee Doodle next'," he said.

That was terrible, Ender.

[momslilassassin]

"Why do I have wings?!"

[endsthegame]

Any response Ender might have had was interrupted as the exact same thing happened to him.

His poor uniform.

"Oh for the love of god--"

[momslilassassin]

"You have wings too."

The steel-trap mind of Ben Skywalker, folks.

[endsthegame]

A single thought danced past Ender's mind.

His hand shot up towards his mouth.

The muffled sound that followed sounded an awful lot like a laugh.

[momslilassassin]

"I have a bad feeling about this," Ben said, giving Ender a look. "Spill it."

[endsthegame]

"Imagine if this is happening across the island right now," Ender said, lowering his hands. "All those poor uniforms. And that obnoxious Colbert character-- I bet he'd spawn bald eagle wings, but he wouldn't even need them. The air in his head would suffice."

He had a horrible brain.

[momslilassassin]

Ben snorted and tried to give his wings an experimental flap. "I'd love to see him explaining to the donors that nope, he isn't flying right now."

[endsthegame]

"We're all part of an island-wide theater production," Ender said. "The wings? All animatronics."

They felt weird.

[momslilassassin]

"Any other day and I'd demand we go flying to try these out," Ben lamented.

[endsthegame]

"That sounds like a recipe for broken bones," said Ender, the spoilsport. "We're too heavy."

[momslilassassin]

Ben stuck his tongue out. "You're no fun," he teased.

[endsthegame]

"Sorry for wanting to save you from spending the next few weeks in a hospital bed," Ender said.

[momslilassassin]

"It wouldn't be weeks."

Because that was the part to argue about, Ben.

[endsthegame]

"You can't depend on there being bacta everywhere, Skywalker," Ender said, sounding amused in spite of himself.

[momslilassassin]

"That's why I learned healing trances," Ben said with a grin.