Work Text:
It was an unofficial-official movie night at the Sharp Tank, as decreed by the younger members of the group, so about half of the team were gathered in one of the many rooms designated for relaxation.
Instead of a TV, the far wall of the room was blank, and a projector hung from the ceiling. A starry background glowed on the grey wall, the solar system slowly spinning as they settled. Sterling had prepared popcorn, and several large buckets were handed around as everyone relaxed onto beanbags, plush chairs or fluffy cushions. The kids were laying on a large mattress, covered in blankets and pillows. Benny and Champagne were sharing one of the largest beanbags, the plush seat practically swallowing them whole. Tayrun and Kayla were curled up on a similarly sized bag on the other side of the room, talking quietly. Every now, one of them would press a kiss to the other’s forehead or cheek. As Champagne had whispered to Benny, it was disgustingly adorable. Benny had laughed and kissed his neck.
Alexis walked in just as the kids picked the movie, some weird animated thing called “Gnomeo and Juliet”. She’d brought with her some actual food, pizza, to be exact, and as the room darkened and the movie started, she offered it round. Once everyone had grabbed some, the boxes were placed on a table and Alexis relaxed next to Sterling and the kids. The film was ridiculous, and the room was filled with laughter and quiet chatter throughout the showing. The atmosphere was relaxed and happy, and Benny found his eyes drifting shut, his head resting on Champagne’s chest and mind soothed by his boyfriend’s heartbeat. His eyes snapped back open as the room was filled with groans.
“Oh come on!” Jake grumbled as the screen flickered off. Ana whined and curled into Sterling’s side, having fallen asleep only to be woken by Jake’s yelling.
“Oh, sorry Ana.” The boy winced.
“Relax everyone, give me a minute.” The room was filled with a soft orange glow as Sterling stood and lit his hand ablaze. He carefully walked over to the lightswitch and flicked it. Nothing happened.
“The lights are out. Probably the storm.” Alexis noted. As the room fell silent again, those with better hearing could make out the soft wailing of wind outside the building.
“I’ll go check on the backup lights, you lot stay put. It’s too dark to safely move about, if I can’t get the lights back on, I’ll get torches for us all, ‘kay?” Sterling’s suggestion was met with a low rumble of affirmation from the room, and soon the light disappeared round a corner, leaving the room in dark again. It wasn’t so bad, despite being pitch black aside from some watchlights, as everyone just stayed where they were. That was until Jake tried to stand and tripped, legs tangled in blankets causing him to fall into the mound of bedding beside him.
“Uh, a little help here?” He called, wriggling in a vain attempt to free himself.
“Hang on, kid.” Benny responded, untangling himself from Champagne and letting a soft glow run through his veins. In response to the heat, his blood vessels rose to his skin and dilated, releasing heat and light into the room.
“Benny- what- are you okay?” Alexis asked, eyes wide in shock.
“Hm, yeah, why?” Benny frowned at her, reaching to efficiently untangle Jake. He too was just staring at Benny, mouth agape.
“Why didn’t you tell us you had powers, Mr Sharp?” Ana blurted out, eyes wide and curious.
“You didn’t tell them?” Tayrun asked, head raised from the beanbag, Kayla sprawled asleep across him.
“I forgot.” Benny shrugged sheepishly.
“Freakin’ clown.” Champagne huffed, a fond smile tugging at his lips.
“I’m serious! It slipped my mind! But uh, yeah, I… have powers?” There was a moment of silence, and Benny was suddenly scared that he was about to be ostracised.
“What can you do?!”
“How long have you had powers?!”
“How are you glowing?!”
“Can you show us what you can do?!”
Benny blinked at the excitable speed at which the kids shot questions at him, and just let out a surprised laugh. Alexis grinned, then said to the kids,
“Slow down you two, at this rate Benny won’t be able to answer any of your questions.” Ana blushed brilliantly, her mouth shutting with an audible clop. Jake just pressed further.
“Well?”
“Jeez, I didn’t expect you kids to be this excited… I can do a bunch of stuff, but most of it’s pretty boring. I can manipulate my temperature, glow like this, heat can’t hurt me but if it’s too cold I get all foggy, I have some advanced healing and strength, and I can superheat my blood. I’ve had powers pretty much my whole life. I honestly don’t know how my glowing works, it’s a mystery to me too. And yeah, I could show you what I can do, but not right now. Right now, we gotta wait for Sterling to come back.”
“Why’re you waiting for… me.” Sterling trailed off as he stepped through the doorway, several torches stacked in his arms.
“What did I miss?”
- - - - - - -
Once everyone there was caught up, the group moved to the kitchen. From what Sterling could discern, the power was out due to somewhere important being struck by lightning. The backup generators were working, but the projector wasn’t connected to it, and it was better to preserve energy and keep as much off as possible. To keep spirits up, though, they migrated towards hot chocolate. They’d stopped in the cat room to pick up Mint, Choc and Chip, all of whom were anxious but more than happy to cuddle. Ana, Jake, Kayla and Tayrun played with the cats while Alexis prepared the ingredients for everyone’s orders and Benny and Sterling sat in the middle of the room heating pots. Champagne had grabbed a packet of lollipops from one of the many cupboards and unwrapped two, one for each of the living heaters. Benny, instead of removing a hand like he easily could have, elected to just grab the offered apple flavoured lollipop with his mouth. Sterling took his more normally, with a polite ‘thank you’. While Sterling’s diet accounted for his increased metabolism and daily usage of his powers, Benny still wasn’t used to how his powers burned through his energy, so the top up of blood glucose made sure he didn’t pass out.
Alexis started filling the pots, pouring milk and placing broken chocolate into each pot, one milk chocolate, the other dark. An assortment of toppings were smashed, broken or spilled on a chopping board, awaiting their final destination in a hot drink. Alexis left the boys to watch over the mixing of the hot and chocolate, and instead rose to make whipped cream. She poured an unhealthy amount of sugar, cream and vanilla into a bowl and tucked it in one arm, grabbed a whisk with the other and started beating the mixture. Her enhanced strength and stamina made it so that her hand-whipping was almost as efficient as an electric mixer, and she was able to finish whipping before the chocolate was done. Once it was ready, eight mugs were placed on the bench and three quarters of the way with the liquid. Then, the toppings were added.
Due to helping prepare, Benny and Sterling were offered theirs first.
Sterling had a classic combination, whipped cream, marshmallows and a melting stick of chocolate in a milky brown pool of greatness.
Benny had dark chocolate, whipped cream, and smashed hazelnuts. Champagne had questioned his choice once they’d sat down, his own dark chocolate drink with whipped cream and broken candy canes cooling in his hands. Benny had just winked at him, and responded,
“What can I say, I’m a fan of nuts.”
Thankfully, Champagne hadn’t taken a sip of his drink yet, otherwise he may have choked, or Benny may have ended up covered in hot milk. Even still, Champagne’s face flushed a brilliant crimson, and he was very grateful for the orange tint of the lights hiding some of his blush.
Jake had chosen the same as Sterling, but instead of letting the bar of chocolate melt into his drink, he just ate it.
Ana wasn’t sure what she wanted and so waited for everyone else to get their drinks, then picked which she thought looked best. She liked the look of the classic one, but ended up going with Alexis’ toppings.
Alexis, after everyone had gotten theirs, had topped her dark chocolate with a small dollop of whipped cream, a swirl of honey and a dusting of dried chilli flakes. She’d given Ana less spice at first, unsure of the girl’s tolerance, but after tasting the fish had ended up returning and putting more in herself anyway.
Tayrun kept his simple, just the dark chocolate drink.
To contrast, Kayla had heaped hers with toppings, so there was almost equal topping to drink. On top of the milk chocolate below, she had a mound of whipped cream with broken cookies spread through in layers, then added mini marshmallows and chunks of chocolate. The couple ended up trying each other’s anyway, both quietly wondering how the other could handle their drink.
Quiet chatter filled the silence of the room, the space illuminated by Benny’s soft glow, Sterling’s own flames unnecessary. As the mugs began to empty, the sound of louder voices floated from outside. Alexis placed her mug on the counter then opened the door, sticking her head out. From within the room, the others could now clearly hear the voices of three of their friends.
“Hey Alexis!” Mara’s bright voice called.
“Hey you three, we’re in here. Lights are out, we’re on backup.” Alexis replied, moving out of the doorway to allow Astra, Kate and Mara to enter. In response to Benny’s glow, all three reacted differently. Astra did a double take, then seemed to mentally shrug and dropped down next to Kayla and Tayrun, scooping Mint into her arms and cooing at the cat. Kate barely blinked, following Astra to the ground. Mara looked between Benny and the rest of the room, confusion evident on her face, before she walked over to the pot of still-warm dark chocolate, poured herself a mug and topped it with cream and ginger. She joined Benny and Champagne in the middle of the room, took a sip of her drink, then said,
“Sooo, this is new.” Benny smirked.
“Not really, just never used it around you all.” Mara nodded, taking another mouthful of her drink. She didn’t push further, and Benny didn’t offer anything else. There would be time later to discuss it. For now, they watch their friends, relaxing and laughing in the dark of a blackout.
Ana and Jake had finished their drinks, Jake discarding his mug on the ground to follow the cats. Ana had put both their mugs in the sink before scooting over to where Jake sat beside Kate. Kate herself had both Choc and Chip cuddling up to her, and was gently petting them, a look of soft wonder shining on her face almost as bright as Benny’s glow. Kayla finished her drink and curled up on Tayrun’s shoulder, eyes drooping. Tayrun wrapped his arm around her and gently leaned them back against the wall, his own eyes closing. Alexis sat beside Sterling and they spoke quietly, too quiet to be heard, but loud enough that the rhythm of their voices filled the silence. Astra joined them after a few minutes, cautious at first but slid in like a perfectly fitting puzzle piece. Benny, Champagne and Mara just observed, Mara shifting to lay her head on Benny’s leg, Benny relaxing against Champagne’s chest. Champagne slowly began carding his hand through Benny’s hair, resting against a cupboard, eyes half-closed. Benny’s thumb rubbed circles into Mara’s back, massaging knots out, relaxing the younger woman until her breathing evened out.
None of them were awake when an amorphous-limbed figure dragged blankets from the lounge, covering the sleeping group before quietly returning to their own room.