The Perk, Tuesday Afternoon

[selfhelphero]

Billy had survived his fighting class today without receiving any kind of injury, and that was all the reason he needed to head to the Perk. The weather was nice, and all the pumpkin-flavored things were on display, so Billy was sitting at one of the tables outside with a pumpkin coffee and a pumpkin muffin. It was kind of one of the best times of year ever.

[Open! On SP until this afternoon.]

Comments

[genesishero]

Evan had a little smile on his face as he wandered through the town after classes, a book in hand, only occasionally actually glancing up to see where he was going. Early autumn was perfect for this sort of thing. Not too hot, not too cold, and there wasn't enough wind being kicked up to ruffle the pages while he was trying to read.

But it was the smell that got him to put down his book and look Billy's way.

"Is that pumpkin?"

It smelled really, really good, okay?

[selfhelphero]

Oh good, Billy wasn't the only one who appreciated the best flavor of autumn. "It is!" he said brightly, breaking a piece of his muffin off. "Do you want to try some? It's pretty good, I think they just made them today."

[genesishero]

"Oh, yes, please and thank you!" Evan accepted the piece of muffin with a bright smile, and then popped it into his mouth, reaching for a seat, because, oh, wow. That was good. "It's almost like my ma makes back home," he decided. "And you're right, this had to have been baked today."

He was looking toward the window, now, contemplating going in to see if they had maybe a half-dozen more and one of those coffees, too.

[selfhelphero]

"You should go get one. They won't have them forever." Maybe it was mean to be so tempting, but Billy figured it wasn't doing any harm.

[genesishero]

He shouldn't he shouldn't he shouldn't, not in the middle of a polite conversation and all, but...

Evan squirmed in his seat for a moment.

"I'll be back in a second!"

That he cleared the distance between the seat he'd taken and the front door with a single step was one of those feats that really needed to be seen to be believed, and couldn't have been achieved without some help from his powers. But he was back a few moments later, a box of muffins in one hand and a pumpkin coffee in the other, blushing a little.

"... Sorry about that. The muffin really was good."

[selfhelphero]

Billy laughed and sat back in his chair a little. "That was fast. The barista must like you," he said. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who knows to appreciate this stuff while it's around."

[genesishero]

"The best stuff is always seasonal," Evan replied, plunking himself down in the seat he'd grabbed before and opening his box of muffins. There were six there. They'd... maybe last him a couple of days. Maybe. "I think I scared the barista, though, barging in there like I was afraid they were going to sell out and never get more in again or something."

It had been a very important muffin run.

[selfhelphero]

"Hey, they might have sold out! Everyone else might have realized how amazing they are too," Billy said in solidarity. "Are you going to eat all of those in one sitting?" Hey, they were guys, it was possible, right?

[genesishero]

"I was going to try to kind of make them last, but I'm a growing kid with a really high metabolism, so the odds of that are..." Evan waved a hand in a so-so gesture. "These probably won't last past supper. My parents would be so disappointed."

And yet he had a feeling they'd understand why it was mandatory for him to spoil his supper with these things.

[selfhelphero]

"I never thought I'd be an advocate of 'What your parents don't know can't hurt them,' but this place has changed my viewpoint on that," Billy said with a laugh.

[genesishero]

"See? And now I'm all vindicated," Evan replied with a silly little grin. "You're... Billy, right? We're both in Magneto's class?"

[selfhelphero]

"Yeah. And you're Evan? I should probably know everyone in the class as the appointed TA, huh?" Billy said, with a hint of embarrassment.

[genesishero]

"Evan, right," came the reply, with a little shrug to go with it. "And I wouldn't worry too much about not knowing everybody's name yet. Our class is huge. I've never been in a class that big... pretty much ever. So a couple of weeks to figure it all out seems fair, I think."

[nottrivial]

Alec had just come from a class that had doubled as a workout, so instead of his normal afternoon workout, he came here. It really was a very strange twist in his normal routine.

"Hello."

[selfhelphero]

"Hey," Billy said, giving Alec a smile. "How's it going?

[nottrivial]

"Pretty well," he said, giving Billy an awkward little smile back as he headed for the counter. "Busy day. But better than the weekend so far. How about you?"

[selfhelphero]

"Much, much better than I was this weekend," Billy said. "It's not that I mind being a girl, but... it's just weird, you know?"

[nottrivial]

"It is," Alec agreed. "It's still weird to adjust to the fact that this happens so regularly. Everyone's so nonchalant."

[selfhelphero]

"Compared to some other things, it's not quite as weird?" Billy said, looking uncertain because he knew how that sounded. "At least we were all still people. And all still ourselves."

[nottrivial]

"So I keep telling myself," Alec agreed, sighing as he accepted his coffee from the barista. "I'm Alec, by the way. And apparently too new to be used to all this, still."

[selfhelphero]

"I'm Billy. It's nice to meet you," he said. "Don't worry, the new will wear off right around the time you turn into an animal. Or someone else. That one was especially weird." He gave Alec an amused look. "Is there anything weird where you're from, or is this all new and crazy?"

[nottrivial]

Alec glanced down at his hands before answering. "Some of both?" he offered. "Most of it is still new, but we've got... demons and vampires and things. So I've got a bit of a head start, comparatively speaking." Or so he kept telling himself every time Fandom managed to shake him up. "How about yours?"

[selfhelphero]

"We don't have vampires or anything, but we've got superheroes and people with powers. So, some of both too, I guess. Vampires not just being something from stories is kind of new for me," Billy said.

[nottrivial]

"Same with superheroes, for me," Alec said, then took a sip of his coffee. "We have people with powers. Just not so much people who wear capes and spandex and fight crime, or... whatever superheroes have to do."

You could tell how much actual superhero knowledge Alec had. Which was to say, none.

"Honestly, I probably would have guessed those were the least likely types of worlds to actually be real."

[selfhelphero]

"I would have guessed your kind of world," Billy said with a laugh. "I guess that's a benefit of being here, you learn to accept lots and lots of new things."