mjnight06

[mjnight06]

The warm lighting as Luke holds Percy at sword point because Percy trusts Luke. Luke would never hurt him.

Then Luke later betraying Percy in the very same woods and hurting him with the same sword as the lighting shifts to this ominous dark purple

i could write an essay on how the writers use lighting as a method of storytelling

[mjnight06]

luke using annabeth’s fear of spiders to explain how the gods view demigods, some being their own children, was fucked up on so many levels.

and the worst part is luke isn’t even wrong

the gods need them to break the rules for them because they can’t, but being able to break the rules make them dangerous, unpredictable, and they now have to be made disposable.

[mjnight06]

[mjnight06]

The scenes of Luke training Percy were so expertly written. He wasn’t just training Percy, he was actively recruiting Percy. He fuels Percy’s anger and mistrust of the gods. He didn’t even need to alter how Percy saw the gods because he could already see the resentment Percy had of his dad, mirroring his own. He was absolutely sure he had Percy on his side but he didn’t account for one thing, Percy’s fatal flaw. Percy’s loyalty to his family and friends supersedes all else. Luke can’t betray Annabeth, almost kill him, Grover and Annabeth, put his mother in a dangerous position, and then expect him to be on his side. That is where he fails.

[mjnight06]

First Kisses are Overrated

Chapter 2/2

Chapter 2: Because You’re You

Mika groaned, sitting up slowly, holding her head.

“Where am I?” She struggled to get her bearings.

The young girl was alone in a small room, walls barely two meters apart, and the ceiling only a few feet above her head. The room was completely bare and seemed to have no door. There was the sound of water running somewhere nearby.

“How did I get here?” She muttered, trying to remember what had happened, as she slowly rose to her feet.

Water splashed as she stood, bringing her attention to the thin layer of water covering the floor, barely an inch deep.

She wasn't in uniform.

Whatever had happened for her to end up trapped in this room, it had happened to Mika, not to Shoutout. Which meant her team probably didn't even know anything was up.

She checked her pockets, searching frantically for her phone only to come up empty. She didn't have it. Why didn't she have her phone? Did someone take it from her, before locking her in this strange room? Where were they now? Where was that running water coming from?

The running water.

Mika looked back at the floor, and just as she feared, the water had risen a few more inches from where it had been when she woke. A spike of panic rushed through her veins. The water was rising. Quickly.

She opened her mouth and tried to scream, hoping to see the wall crumble, but nothing happened. No concentrated sound waves. Only a dull yell. She tried again. Nothing still.

She had lost her superpower.

“Okay,” she exhaled. “Breathe, Mika. Just breathe. You're fine.”

The water was up to her mid-calves now.

Her breathing quickened. Maybe if she could find where the water was coming from, she'd be able to shut it off.

She slowly traced the edges of the walls, trying to find a hole, or a pipe, or something that the water could be coming from, but there was nothing. Water didn't just appear out of nowhere. The floor was cement, so it couldn't have been coming from there.

The water was nearing her waist now, seeming to rise quicker every second she looked away from it.

“Hello?” A voice called. Mila couldn't pinpoint where it came from.

“Hello? Someone help me!” She cried back, spinning in circles.

“Is there someone in there? I heard screaming?” Why did that voice sound so familiar? It was coming from the wall she'd woken up next to.

She rushed over and pounded her fist against the wall, silently praying that whoever it was would hear her. “I'm in here!” She yelled.

A few moments of silence passed, and Mika started to panic again. Had they not heard her? Did they leave? Was she alone again?

But then the wall slid down like a door, letting water go rushing out of the room, and exposing a young man she knew quite well.

“Brainstorm, thank god!” She leapt into the other hero’s arms, nearly knocking him over.

“Woah,” he jumped, but caught her, nonetheless. “Are you okay, Meeks?” He asked, checking her over for injuries.

“I'm fine now, thanks to you, Bose.”

His eyes softened, “I'll always save you, Mika.” His tone was serious.

Mika felt her heart flutter, and her face heat up. Where had that come from?

The boy smiled at her gently, before tugging her forward in a proper embrace. “I'm so glad you're okay. I couldn't bear if anything happened to you. You mean the world to me.”

Mika was sure he'd be able to feel her heartbeat at this point. Why was he saying all this? Had he really been that worried about her? Or was it something else entirely?

He pulled back slightly, just enough to look at her. “Also,” he muttered, his eyes flicking down from hers for the quickest moment.

Mika sucked in a breath. Was he going to?

Mika gasped, shooting up.

She was in her bedroom. It had all been a dream. A dream about Bose.

“Shit,” she groaned, flopping back onto her pillow. “Shit, shit, shit,” she muttered, pushing her face into the sheets to try and cool off, her heart still racing.

“What do I do,” she whispered. “Chapa!”

Mika sat up again, fumbling for her phone. She cringed when the screen lit up, burning her eyes, and searched for the other heroin’s number.

The phone trilled three times before Chapa picked up.

“You better have a good reason for waking me up,” Chapa failed at sounding intimidating with how raspy her voice was.

“I think I have a crush on Bose!” Mika blurted out, only to smack her hand over her mouth, praying no one else in the house had heard her.

She waited, listening for stirring in her twin’s room. Nothing.

“Okay, and?” Chapa’s voice made her jump.

“And? What do you mean and?”

Chapa sighed on the other end of the line. “Are you seriously only just figuring this out?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you seriously only just figuring this out?”

“Figuring what out?”

“That you have a crush on Bose. Duh.”

Mika’s face heated up again. “What do you mean by that?”

“Girl, me and Miles have known you two idiots have liked each other for years now.”

“We have not!” Mika defended hotly.

There was no way Chapa knew she liked Bose before she even liked him. That was ridiculous. Chapa couldn't see into the future (Miles could, but Mika seriously doubted that his sister’s romantic life would qualify as the kind of emergency that his visions normally showed him).

But what did she mean by ‘knew they liked each other? Did she think that Bose…?

Mika shoved her face into her pillow and screamed.

Chapa just laughed at her misery.

“Okay, cool. Good talk. Can I go back to sleep now?”

Mika rushed up, fumbling for her phone. “No, you can't go back to sleep!”  She whisper-shouted. “I'm having a crisis here!”

“What's there to freak out about? That boy has been smitten with you for years.”

“He has not,” Mika grumbled, putting her palm to her cheeks. God, she was so warm.

“Just because you were too dense to see it.” She could hear the other girl’s shrug.

“How did you know I liked him before I did?” She went back to a safer topic.

“You call him honey, honey.”

“That could be completely platonic!” Mika’s whisper-shouting was starting to get way less whisper.

“Well, is it?”

“Hmm?”

“Is it platonic?”

“Shut up.”

Chapa laughed. “Okay, well hope that helped. Have fun with your crisis, I'm going back to sleep.

“Wait no you can't just-” hang up.

Mike threw her phone onto the bed, cringing slightly when it bounced off and hit the floor, before collapsing back onto her pillow.

Stupid Jeff. Stupid stuck in a room. Stupid sweet Bose offering to kiss her. Stupid stupid heart for catching feelings.

What was she gonna do now?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Hello, Earth to Mika?”

The girl jumped, looking up just as a chip flew in her direction, causing it to smack into her eye.

“Ow!” She cried, sitting up straight. “What the heck was that for?”

Bose winced, “I am so sorry. I really didn't expect you to look up just then.”

Mika glared at the other teen. “You literally said my name,” she protested. “Of course I'd look up.”

“Meeks,” the girl flushed at the nickname, which was so stupid, because he literally always called her that. God, crushes were the worst. “I've been trying to get your attention for like five minutes.”

“Yeah, dude,” Mika heard the smirk in Chapa’s voice. “What were you thinking about so intensely?”

“Nothing. Everything's normal. I don't know. We're all normal here. Nothing.” Mika wished she was anywhere else.

“Are you sure you’re-”

“BYE!” She cut Bose off, leaping from her seat with a deafening screech before dashing out of the room.

“What is wrong with me?” She whispered, placing both hands on her cheeks. She'd never been so embarrassed in her life.

Mika dodged and weaved, darting between the busy lunchtime halls until she finally made it outside. She really needed some fresh air, and to clear her head.

“Mika!”

She spun around.

Amazing. Perfect, wonderful, super. Just the person she’d been trying to avoid.

“Are you okay?” Bose jogged up to her. “You ran out of there pretty quick. Are you feeling sick?” He lifted a hand and placed it against her forehead, making her flinch. “Wow, you’re really hot.”

Mika leapt away from the other teen, face flaming. “I’m fine. Sorry. Headache,” she muttered lamely, looking anywhere but at him.

“That sucks, I’m sorry. Maybe you should go home? Skip work today?”

“I’m sure it’s nothing, don’t worry about me,” Mika took a deep breath and started to cool down. Why did he always have to be so kind and thoughtful? It made her feel horrible for trying to avoid him. This wasn’t fair. Especially to him. “Actually, I’m not fine. Can we talk?” She finally made eye contact.

Bose tilted his head, his gaze cautious, “yeah of course. What’s up?”

Mika shook her head, “not here. Can we go somewhere?”

“Yeah, totally.”

God, this was why she liked him so much. Even though he was so obviously confused and a little worried, he so easily went along with whatever she needed. He was such an amazing friend. She could only hope they wouldn't lose that, after the rejection.

“Where do you wanna go?”

The man’s nest was an idea, but in the middle of the day, Ray or Schwoz would almost definitely be lurking around eves-dropping. SWAG itself was still closed, so the lower levels were out of the question, too.

“Wanna go to Hip Hop Purée?” Bose suggested after she didn't answer.

“Yeah, sure. I could eat.”

“Probably because you skipped lunch,” he couldn't resist teasing.

“Oh, not you too,” she elbow-shoved him as they started walking, a little bit of normalcy returning to the pair.

As they walked, Bose shot Chapa and Miles a quick text, just saying Mika wasn't feeling well so he was taking her home, which was technically true. He was sure after they got their lunch, he'd wind up walking her home.

“What does this mean,” he leant over, showing Mika a text he'd received from Chapa;

Oh, she’s sick alright. Starts with an L

Mika groaned, shaking her head, “god, I hate her, sometimes.”

She didn't elaborate further. Bose just shrugged it off and pocketed his phone.

Despite claiming she could eat, Mika wound up just pushing food around her plate, once they were seated and their lunch had arrived.

“Are you sure you're okay, Meeks?” Bose scrunched up his nose.

Mika gave him a tired smile. She'd miss his overbearing protectiveness when things went south. “Yeah, just nervous.”

“About whatever it is you wanted to talk about?”

“Yeah, that.”

“You know you can tell me anything,” he reached across the table and picked her hand up, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“One Banana Fofana for the happy couple,” a waitress interrupted.

Bose and Mika jumped, the former quickly letting go of the latter’s hand.

“Uh, we're not a couple,” he clarified quickly, as he accepted the smoothie. Which had two straws. God, how humiliating.

“Uh-huh, sure kid,” she rolled her eyes, before leaving the teens in peace.

“Want some?” Bose offered the smoothie to her first. He hadn't taken the second straw out, yet.

She just shook her head.

“Whatever this is must really be freaking you out,” he put the smoothie down. “Are you ready to talk yet, or do you just want to hang out for a bit?”

“Can we just hang out?” She asked meekly.

As much as Mika wanted to get this over with, and remove this horrible pit in her stomach, she wasn't ready for how much was going to change after she admitted her crush on him.

She had no doubt he'd be nice about it, of course he would be, he was Bose. But she wasn't delusional enough to think that things wouldn't change.

There would be no more midnight phone calls, staying up talking until one of them fell asleep, and even then, not hanging up; getting to be the first voice each heard in the morning. No more watching Dog Bachelor alone in her room every Sunday. No more shared looks, and private jokes. She wasn't ready to lose all of that. To lose him.

Bose did his best to be an entertaining (platonic) lunch date. He rambled on about how annoying this guy in his third-period class, the only class they didn't share, was. Told stories about his latest success in his chess practice. Anything to keep the mood light.

Just as Mika started to feel like herself again, smiling and laughing at her best friend’s crazy antics-

“Mika? Bose? What are you two doing here?” The pair looked up at their boss, who stood over them, arms crossed, eyebrow raised. “Shouldn't you kids be in school?

Mika licked her lips, her eyes darting to Bose. Her brain was failing her miserably.

“We were just getting lunch off campus,” the other young hero lied easily. “Speaking of, we really should be getting back. Right, Mika?” He sent her an encouraging smile.

“Yeah, totally. Bye, Ray,” she tacked on lamely.

“Were you two on a date or something?”

Oh god. Why.

The universe must hate her, Mike surmised. How was it possible for every situation to be more embarrassing than the last? What were the odds of that even happening?

Not to mention, every time she let her delusions run wild, and pretended they were having a moment, something came along to shatter it.

“Bye Ray,” Bose repeated, standing up and grabbing Mika’s hand to pull her along.

Don't dwell on the fact that he didn't shut Ray down. Don't dwell on it. It didn't mean anything. He was just trying to help them escape quicker.

And so, they ended up in her bedroom. Not the smartest plan, considering how nosy her mother had been of late, but it wasn't like they had a whole lot of options left.

“Are you sure you want to close the door? What if your mum sees us?” Bose’s eyes shone with mischief.

“This'll be quick.”

Bose blinked, clearly taken aback by her abrasive response. “Oh?”

“I like you.”

Mika waited. And waited. She could see the second his brain processed what she'd said. For once, she couldn't read his reaction.

“I- like you too?” It was a question.

“No, like I have a crush on you,” Mika ducked her head, but still maintained eye contact, getting less brave the longer he looked at her like that.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Was this because of-”

“Probably. But I think it started before then, too.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Bose’s foot began to tap. Which progressed to his full leg bouncing.

“Why?”

“Hmm?”

“Why do you like me?”

Mike tilted her head to the side. He wasn't looking at her anymore, instead, he picked at his nails.

“Because you’re you.”

He glanced up at her for a moment but looked straight down again after.

“Bose, you're awesome,” Mika scooted forward. “You're the nicest person I've ever met. You care so much about the people around you, and you always try to make them happy. How could I not like you?”

Mika didn't even have it in her to be embarrassed, all her focus on making sure her best friend of how awesome he was. Especially if he couldn't see it in himself.

“Do you really mean all that?” Bose was finally looking at her now.

“Of course I do,” Mika shifted forward again.

She was trying so hard not to get her hopes up, but the way he was looking at her, maybe, just maybe…

Bose’s eyes darted down for a moment.

Mika’s heart rate spiked.

“I think it goes without saying how amazing I think you are,” he muttered, laying his hand on top of hers on the lounge between them.

“Of course I do. You're Mika. I've always thought you were amazing.”

Mika’s hopes were way passed up. She felt like she was flying. She'd been right about nothing being the same after they had their talk, she just hadn't expected this.

“How long is always?” She leant forward some more.

“Do you remember the prank war?”

Mika huffed out a laugh. “There's no way you've liked me since then.”

“Please,” he rolled his eyes in a way that Mika could only describe as fondly. “You should have heard how much shit Chapa gave me after I ignored the -war just to hang out with you.”

Mika flushed. So, Chapa hadn't been kidding. She really had known the inevitable all along.

Bose smiled at her in the gentlest way as she pushed forward to close the gap-

“Mika Eureka Macklin!” Angela burst through the door.

The two teens leapt apart. Again.

“What have I told you about this door being closed when he-” Angela paused to glare at Bose- “is here?”

“Mum!” Mika shouted, mortified.

To her absolute horror, Bose chucked.

“Sorry, Mrs Macklin. Promise it won't happen again. Right, Meeks?”

Mika buried her head in her hands. Why did the universe hate her so much?

Angela nodded, clearly satisfied. “Thank you, Bose. At least one of you respects the rules.” She left the door open on her way out.

“I am so sorry about her,” Mika muttered, not moving her hands.

“Hey, I feel like we should be used to it at this point, right?” Bose gently pried one hand, then the other, away from her face.

“But she ruined the moment,” Mika complained, letting her hands be moved.

“Good thing we make our own moments, then. Right?” Bose leant in again.

“That didn't make any sense,” Mike smiled at him, moving forward still anyway.

Finally. She could stop worrying about how her first kiss would go.

First kisses are overrated anyway. It's everything after that, that's important.

[mjnight06]

First Kisses are Overrated

Chapter 1/2

Chapter 1: Testing a Friendship

“Stupid Jeff,” Shoutout complained, running in the direction she thought she’d heard the criminal last.

“I don’t know about you,” Brainstorm kept pace beside her, “but I’d rather be chasing Jeff than Drex.”

The heroin rolled her eyes, “yes, but if it weren’t for Jeff, we’d all be out hunting Drex.” Shoutout slowed to a stop, the other teen matching her. “Instead, we have to waste our energy hunting down the stupidest criminal in Swellview in this ridiculous warehouse,” she gestured at the dozens of hallways and steel roller doors spanning every direction, “while the rest of our team could be out there getting hurt.”

“They’ll be fine, Meeks,” Brainstorm patted her shoulder.

“It’s Shoutout,” she pursed her lips, brushing his hand away. “How many times have we said-”

“No real names when wearing the masks, yeah yeah,” Bose rolled his eyes with a lazy smirk.

“Come on, we should start opening doors. Even Jeff isn’t stupid enough to just hang out in the hallways.”

The pair went to work opening each shutter around them, waiting for the sensor lights to activate, doing a quick survey, and moving on to the next.

“This is gonna take forever,” Bose bemoaned, as he closed his fourth container. “There has gotta be a better way to do this.”

“If you have any brilliant ideas, I’m all ears,” Mika huffed, moving on.

“Wait, did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Mika tilted her head and listened.

A rustle.

Mika held her finger to Bose’s lips, warning him to stay quiet. No need to alert the runaway, if they had found him.

Once she was sure the boy wouldn’t speak, she let him go, nodding her head towards the still open door she had thought she’d checked a few moments prior.

The two heroes in training crept into the storage container, a large, full unit. Mika had only checked this room a few minutes prior, but she supposed Jeff could have been hiding under or behind something. The sensor light was still on, which she did find admittedly odd.

The pair was less than a few feet away from the door when the roller creaked. The teens spun, catching a flash of Jeff standing in the doorway before the steel door slammed shut, trapping them.

“Hey!” Mika cried, rushing forward and making a dive to try and pull the shutter up before the stupid criminal had the chance to lock it. “Help me lift this,” she called to Bose, who had yet to move.

The pair tugged at the bottom of the shutter but struggled to fit their hands under the steel, the doors not being made to open from the inside.

What a stupid design, Mika thought. Why would something ever be made to lock from the outside?

Her eyes widened. Oh no. The lock.

She tugged harder, scraping her hands against the concrete, but to no avail. Even if she could lift it, Jeff would have definitely secured the padlock by now. They were stuck.

“Woah, are your hands okay, Shoutout?” Bose asked, lightly touching one of Mika’s hands to inspect the damage she’d done. At least he'd had the foresight to use her hero name. Who knew if Jeff was still standing on the other side, listening, or not?

“I’m fine,” she mumbled, not meeting his eyes, a little embarrassed about her now bleeding hands. She supposed she went a little overboard.

Mika rose from the floor and faced the door front on. “Stand back,” she warned the other hero.

Once Bose backed up safely behind her, Shoutout opened her mouth and screamed. Only to watch the concentrated soundwaves absorb harmlessly into the steel.

“Shit,” she cursed. A second attempt headed the same result. What kind of storage unit used pure steel for their doors? She’d been confident they would be mixed with all sorts of metals that she would be able to crumble, but pure steel?

Mika sat back with a huff. Done in by stupid Jeff of all people. She couldn’t wait to tell Ray and deal with all the unsufferable gloating.

“Should we call Captain Man?” Bose voiced her thoughts.

“I guess there’s no point delaying the inevitable mockery.” He tilted his head “Sure, honey. Give him a call.”

Brainstorm fished his phone out of his blue-tipped, pant pockets. “Oh, oh.”

“Oh, oh? What oh?” Shoutout leaned over to look at the device. “Oh, oh,” she repeated, seeing the problem in the form of the four grey bars with a line through them in the top corner.

Pulling out her own phone confirmed the same thing. They were in a dead zone. No service meant no rescue call.

Mika tried not to panic, as she opened her call log and tried anyway. It didn’t even ring.

“The call cannot be completed as dialled,” the automated voice spoke.

“Have you tried?” She asked the other teen.

“No luck. Try the Swellview police? SOS calls should still go through.”

Mika dialled the number, a creeping dread crawling up her throat. The SPD weren’t the best people to have to rely on in an emergency, she knew that first-hand. Even before things with her aunt got messy, with the revealed identities and betrayal, she’d never want to count on the woman or her colleagues when it really mattered. Hell, even before she had superpowers the police wouldn't be in her top 5 of whom to call when in danger.

“You’ve reached the Swellview Police Department, how can I help you?”

“Yes, hello? This is Shoutout of Dangerforce, I’m calling because-”

She was cut off by the man on the other line laughing. “Dangerforce wouldn’t be calling us, hun. God, kids these days and their ridiculous pranks,” he chuckled.

“No, wait! This is really-” dial tone. The SPD had just hung up on her.

“Did… they just hang up on you?” Bose asked, reading her eye-twitch. “Hold on, let me try.”

Mika took a deep breath, then a second, and a third. How was it possible that the very people that citizens were supposed to rely on for help were so useless and uncooperative? She knew that Captain Man and Kid Danger’s presence over the years had made them slack, but this was ridiculous.

“Hello, this is Brainstorm,” Bose spoke as soon as his call was picked up, “please don’t hang up! Shoutout and I are trapped in the storage unit on East 34th, and really need help!”

Mika couldn’t hear the other half of the conversation, but she assumed the other teen’s eyeroll didn’t mean anything good.

“I understand why you might not believe me, but I swear-” he stopped, listening. “Don’t you think if we could call Captain Man, we would be? No, no, no, wait!”

Mika faced the wall and screamed again, only partially to see if it would do any damage this time.

“What do we do now? Sit here and wait, and hope someone finds us?” Bose tucked his phone away.

Mika pursed her lips, “best case scenario, Captain Man realises something is up and comes to check on us,” she leant against the wall close to the door, sliding down into a sitting position with her knees up. “Worst case, we're here till the cleaners come through, whenever that might be.”

Mike figured it best to stay near the door and listen for footsteps, so they could at least call for help, should some random citizen be wandering around a storage facility at- she tapped her phone screen- ten at night.

“So, what do we do while we wait?” Bose joined her on the floor, spreading his legs out. “We could play questions! Get to know each other better!”

Mika rolled her eyes, “Bose, we’ve known each other for three years, I think we know each other well enough.”

“Well, I’m bored. So, unless you want me to sit here poking you,” he demonstrated, digging his finger into her side, forcing a giggle and for the heroin to squirm away, “you’ll play.”

“Okay, okay,” she laughed, pushing his hand away. “What’s your first question?”

“Why do I have to go first?”

“You’re the one who suggested we play!”

“Yeah, but maybe that’s because I want you to ask about me!”

Mika laughed again, rolling her eyes fondly. “Ask your questions, Brainstorm, before I decide I don’t want to play anymore.

“Okay, fine,” he put a finger to his chin, in the classic exaggerated thinking pose. “I know! If you could choose any superpower, besides your screaming obviously, what would you want?”

“Ooh, good one, hmm.” Mika had to be honest, she’d not put much thought into it as of recent. Obviously, when she was a kid, watching Kid Danger and Captain Man on the news, she always imagined what she would want, but no serious consideration had ever gone into it. And since she’d discovered her own power, she could never imagine having anything else.

“Come on, Meeks, it’s not a hard question,” Bose taunted her.

“Hey! I’m thinking, jeez!” She shoved his shoulder with a huff.

Mika had to admit, she was glad it was Bose she was stuck here with. Miles would have been freaking out (assuming he was unable to simply teleport them out), and Chapa would beat her fists to a pulp trying to break out and then sulk in silence when it didn’t work. At least Bose was trying to keep the situation light. He knew as well as she did, they couldn’t do anything to speed up their inevitable rescue.

“I think shapeshifting would be the most useful,” she finally concluded.

“Well?” Bose raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m sure you’ve got a ten-page thesis on why it’s the best power. Let’s hear it. The short version at least.”

She hated how right he was about her. “Think about it, any situation you get yourself stuck-” she gestured around them, “-in, there’s something you could turn into that would fix it. Like if one of us could turn into a whale and take the roof off. Done.”

He nodded, “you know what, that makes sense.”

“Exactly. You know that saying about the jack of all trades?”

“You know I don’t but carry on.”

She laughed. “The popular saying is ‘Jack of all trades, master of none,’ implying that being kind of good at a lot of things is useless because you’re not amazing at any of them. In original English, the full saying was actually ‘Jake of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.’ Society cut the latter half off and a lot of people forgot what the saying originally stood for.”

Bose nodded slowly, “I think I get it. Like having a bit of strength, a bit of speed, a bit of swimming and all that is better than only having one power.”

“Exactly! Need to be strong, a t-rex isn’t as strong as someone like Thunderman but could still be crazily useful in the short term.”

“Okay, but that’s what you’d find most useful, not the one you want the most. Ignore the logic for a second, pretend you’re not a crime-fighter, what’s something you always wished you could do?”

“That,” she tapped him on the nose, “is a whole other question, and I believe it’s my turn.”

Bose chuckled, shaking his head before waving for her to go on.

“Where’s the place you want to visit most in the world?”

Bose hummed, thinking. “To be honest, I’m happy in Swellview. I like it here,” he held Mika’s eye for a second too long before clearing his throat. “Besides, mum and I have moved a few times, and been on vacation a bunch. Swellview is home now.”

“Awwe!” Mika had to resist singing the genuine moments theme. That was such a sweet answer and something that was just so very Bose.

“Okay, same question as before. Power you’d want more than anything else,” Bose repeated his previous ask.

“I don’t know. I feel like talking to animals would be really fun?” Mika tried not to give it too much thought, as he wanted. “I’ve always wondered what my dog would say to me if we could understand each other.”

“Probably, ‘Oh Mika, your friend Bose is so cool! He gives the best pats!’” Bose grumbled in a low voice.

Mika laughed, “why did you make her sound like that?”

“Wait, Sergeant Snuggles is a she?”

Mika broke down, clutching her stomach. Leave it to Bose to completely miss the obvious.

“Okay, okay, be quiet,” he grumbled, shoving her, but his eyes shone with amusement. “Next question, come on.”

The game continued, the pair going back and forth on whatever random topics came to mind, with (usually Mike) going off on tangents when they were passionate about a particular subject.

“What’s something you’ve always wanted to do, but are too scared to try?” She didn’t know where the question came from, but now she wanted to know.

Bose always seemed so carefree, never really thinking too hard about whatever was in front of him, just rushing in headlong. He was less thick-headed than Chapa, but still far less cautious than herself or her brother, so she couldn’t help but wonder what actually scared him.

Bose blinked, clearly not expecting the deeper question. Everything asked so far had been fairly light.

“I dunno,” his eyes darted around the room.

Mika tilted her head, waving her hand in encouragement for him to continue.

“I guess, stand up to my stepdad?” He eventually muttered, picking at his shoelace.

Mika’s eyes softened. She knew what a bad relationship her friend had with the Vice-Mayor, with the older man making it clear how much he detested him. Mika still would likely never forgive him for insulting Bose to his face (well, Brainstorm’s face, but still. Bose had to hear it), back when Danger Force was hired to protect him from his own selfish schemes.

“I get that. Standing up to authority is really hard,” Mika sympathised, resting her hand on his shoulder. “Things are still weird with Aunt Didi. I just can’t look at her anymore without thinking about how she betrayed me. Us.”

Bose nodded. “Yeah. My mum came around after we saved her and the other mums, but she still hasn’t told my stepdad.”

Mika blinked. That was news to her, she had no idea her friend was still having to hide half of who he was at home. No wonder he spent so much time at her house or in the man’s nest.

“I’m sorry, that must be hard,” she rubbed his arm again.

She felt the moment his walls went back up, as he lightly shrugged her off. “It’s fine, I’m used to it. Okay, next question. What’s the worst prank you’ve ever pulled.”

Mika let him get away with the abrupt change in both topic and tone. Understanding that he didn’t want to get into his daddy issues while stuck in a room with no escape. Speaking of, she tapped her phone screen. They’d already been in here for almost two hours now.

A few more rounds passed of light and breezy questions, before, “why haven’t you asked any guys at school out, yet?”

Mika started. That was the last thing she’d expected Bose of all people to be asking her about. He always seemed so put off by the talk about her romantic life. Chapa would ask questions and grill her, while Bose and Miles would roll their eyes and tune the two out.

“You mean Micah? Or Jordan? Or Tyler? Or-”

“Yeah, yeah, whoever,” he cut her off with an eyeroll. “Whichever boy of the week you’re obsessed with. You’ve never asked any of them out.”

It wasn’t a question, it was an observation, she noticed.

Mika pursed her lips, unsure of exactly how vulnerable she wanted to be here. Talking to Chapa was easy. She judged Mika sometimes sure, but when it came down to it, the other girl was just as clueless as she was. Bose, meanwhile, had been on over a thousand dates last year. He had way more experience than her in matters of the heart.

“I don’t know,” she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “It just always doesn’t feel right. I don’t have much… experience with this stuff.”

Bose was quiet for a minute, just observing her. “Have you ever been on a date before?”

Mika buried her head in her knees and groaned. “Shut up,” she mumbled.

“I’m not making fun of you, I swear!” She heard him shift, likely raising his hands in defence.

“I’m just not comfortable talking to guys like that.”

Bose barely heard the muffled words past her knees, as she kept her face buried. “You talk to me all the time, what’s different?”

Mika thought about it. Bose was always different. She knew he’d never see her in a romantic light, so she wasn’t worried about looking cool or impressing him. He’d seen her in some of her most embarrassing and uncool moments.

“It just is. I don’t have to impress you.”

“Meeks, you’re awesome. You’d impress anyone just by being you.”

Mika turned her head to the side. He was already looking at her. His eyes were intense, like he truly believed what he was saying, and was trying to convince her of her own worth.

“I just feel like-” she stopped, trying to find the words to articulate what she wanted to say. “There’s just so much pressure about first romances, the first date, the perfect first kiss. Like the movies build it up to this huge thing. I wish I could just skip all that, completely.”

Bose bobbled his head in agreement. “I get what you mean. By the pressure and all that. You just gotta get out of your own head and go for it.”

“Who was your first kiss?” Mika asked before she could stop herself.

She knew that the one thousand dates didn’t wind up going anywhere, what with it being so many short interactions, with his alter-ego no-less, but it was clear that Bose had already had his first real relationship. Whether it was before she met him, or he just didn’t talk about it, she didn’t know.

“Vivian Helen, in the seventh grade,” he rattled off immediately.

So, two years ago, Mika did the math in her head. The early days of Danger Force.

She couldn’t imagine trying to juggle a relationship on top of getting superpowers and joining a team of people he barely knew. Absently, she wondered if that was why they broke up, assuming they ever officially dated.

“Was it serious?” She couldn’t help but want to know. It was kind of nice to have someone else to talk about all this stuff to.

“I mean, as serious as it can be when you’re twelve,” he laughed, pushing his hair back, a nervous habit. “I don’t think either of us ever thought we’d get married or anything. I guess that took a lot of the pressure off.”

Mika supposed that made sense. She just didn’t understand how someone could see someone they found attractive and just waltz up to them, with no prepping and no practice.

“If you want,” she looked back at Bose as he spoke, “we could… I mean I could help you… After all, we’ve already pretended…” He trailed off over and over, clearly struggling with the words.

Mika tilted her head to the side, giving him a quizzical look. Then she got it. Her eyes widened; her back snapping taught. Was he offering what she thought he was offering?

“Bose, what are you saying?” She must have been misreading things. Surely. There was no way he was actually saying-

“We could kiss.”

That.

“For like practice or something!” He rushed out, shifting uncomfortably, his eyes looking everywhere but at her. “You know, no pressure, no commitment...” he trailed off. “Never mind, it was stupid. Forget I said anything.”

“Hey, woah, it’s okay!” She tried to reassure him. “That wasn’t a no. I guess I’m just… thinking.” She also couldn’t bear if this made things awkward between them.

As it was, she felt bad about the whole pretend kissing thing to protect their identity (not that it worked). Her mum still wouldn’t let Mika close the door when Bose came over to watch Dog Bachelor every Sunday, even after she’d explained the lie to her.

She'd always make it so awkward with her glares and wild gestures, bursting into the room at random intervals, as if trying to “catch” them doing supposed they weren't supposed to be doing. Ha. As if that'd ever happen.

“What if it makes things weird between us?” She eventually voiced her biggest concern. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she let this happen, and it ruined their bond.

Her friendship with Bose had always been different, deeper, than with the other members of their team. Miles was her brother, but they were just so different. And Chapa was her confidant, but it still wasn't the same. Bose was her support system. She went to him for almost everything. She relied on him, told him her secrets. He was always there. She couldn't lose that. Not over something as silly as a kiss.

Bose shrugged, “it’s not like we’re going anywhere. Things can’t possibly get weird if we’re stuck together.”

Mika’s eyes darted around the room, unsure of where to look. Eye contact felt weird. “You mean like here? Right now?”

She wasn’t sure how much she agreed with his sentiment. Wouldn’t it just mean trapping them in the awkwardness if it did get weird? Taking away any chance at escape? Although, she supposed they wouldn't be able to run away, and would have to talk about it, if it did get weird.

Mika felt trapped. Part of her wanted to shrug it off, say something witty and pretend the conversation had never happened, but she had a feeling that would leave them in just as awkward of a spot- if not more so- than if they went through with it.

“Okay.”

Bose’s head shot up, “okay?”

“Okay. Let's do it,” she took a breath. “Let's kiss.”

“Okay, cool.”

For both of their sakes, she was going to pretend she didn't hear his voice crack.

Neither teen moved, clearly unsure of how to proceed, for a few thick moments. Eventually, Bose swallowed, shuffling to face her fully.

“We don't have to do this, you know?” His eyes darted between hers and the floor, as he struggled to hold eye contact.

“I want to,” her response was quick. Too quick. Mika felt her face heat up. “I mean, I want to get it over with,” she amended, which sounded bad for a different reason. “Not that this is like a chore, just in the sense that-”

Bose let out a breathy laugh, “it's cool, Meeks. I get it.”

“Cool.”

“Cool.”

Mika turned her shoulders and leant forward. “Well?”

“Well?”

She rolled her eyes, “you're the experienced one here. Isn't that the whole point of this?”

“Oh. Right,” Bose coughed.

“Well?”

“Right,” Bose shifted forward further.

Mika spoke a big game, trying to hide how nervous she really was, especially now that she could feel his breath on her face.

Bose’s eyes darted between hers and her lips, which made her even more nervous as he leant forward. Only a few more inches.

Mika let herself get caught up in the moment. It was finally happening. Her first real kiss… and it was with Bose of all people.

She didn't want to admit how that seemed to make the moment even more special. She'd unpack that later. Or never. Never worked too.

He was taking too long, she decided.

Just as she leant in the last few centimetres, the wall next to them produced an odd noise, before crumbling.

The two startled teens leapt away from both each other and the now gaping hole in the wall they'd just been leaning against. And faced their boss.

“There you kids are! How long does it take to track down Jeff?” The adult man huffed, looking around the room. “Where is he anyway?”

Mike blinked, trying to clear her head. “Uh, he’s not here,” she admittedly lamely. “He kind of got away.”

“WHAT?”

“It's not our fault!” She jumped on the defence immediately, happy to take the distraction from what almost just happened. And sadly, didn't happen. “He locked us in when we came to investigate!” She stubbornly refused to look at her still-silent teammate.

“Locked you in? What do you mean he locked you in? How do you let the stupidest criminal in Swellview lock you anywhere?”

Mika's face burned. What a horrible end to a horrible night.

Well, a mostly horrible night.

She finally peaked at Bose from the corner of her eye.

He was already looking at her.

“ANYWAY,” she burst, making both guys jump, “where’s the rest of the team? How did fighting Drex go?”

Captain Man rolled his eyes, reading right through the misdirect, but letting her get away with it. “We'll debrief on both missions,” he paused to glare at the two teens, “tomorrow morning. AWOL and Volt are both in bed. Like you kids should be. It's after three in the morning, I've been looking for you guys for hours.”

Mika blinked. Three am? That wasn't possible. She'd just checked the time like twenty minutes ago, and it had only been midnight. She pulled out her phone, the light blinking at her. 3:16am. they'd spent over 5 hours locked in this room together.

“How did you find us?” She jumped when Bose finally spoke, looking away when he raised an eyebrow at her jumpiness.

“Don't worry about that,” Captain Man brushed it off.

Mika looked past him, at the fresh hole in the wall. And the next one. And the next one. Instead of opening doors and searching, their boss had apparently decided it was a better idea to break a hole into every room in the corridor. And who knew how many corridors he’d gone through before he got to theirs? Oh, god. They were going to owe the mayor’s office so many apology letters… which she would almost definitely have to write.

“Let’s just get you two back home.”

The teens didn't say anything or look at each other for the whole trip.

If Captain Man noticed, past his humming of the Drake and Josh theme song, he didn't comment.