Chapter Text
The break room at the NSA facility was nothing to write home about; it was small, and largely undecorated. Its grey walls were far from inspired, and the floorboards creaked every time someone opened the door. The coffee machine never worked on the first try, and the microwave took double the amount of time to properly heat food. Despite this, Simon J. Paladino, always found himself sat on the less than comfortable dining chairs first thing every morning.
Today had been no different. It was quiet in the break room, not unusual for an early morning shift. Most Supers had either gone home after their night shift, or already started their morning patrol. He glanced at the paper in front of him, holding it loosely in one hand, his untouched cup of coffee held in the other. The paper's front page boasted of Mr Incredible’s latest save, detailing how he had single-handedly saved twenty people from a bridge collapse. No casualties, and only minor injuries. He truly did live up to his name.
Simon had always thought Mr Incredible to be, well, incredible. He appreciated the man more than most people he'd met. Granted, it was hard not to appreciate the guy who had changed your life. Becoming a Superhero was the best thing that Simon had ever done. It gave him purpose, and allowed him to see his powers as a gift, rather than the burden he'd always felt they were.
Simon did not, however, hold such reverence for all of his co-workers. It was 07:34, and Simon was sat in the break room, organising yesterday's reports, when the door opened and closed behind him.
"You are late." he admonished, without turning around.
Gamma Jack had been one of the first supers Gazerbeam had met, and it became clear he and Mr Incredible enjoyed working together. He quickly found himself working with the young super somewhat frequently. This was mostly because their powers, and skillset, had proved to be quite compatible. What hadn't always proved compatible, though, was their personalities. While Gamma Jack's brilliance was undeniable, evidenced in his phenomenal displays of power, his demeanour often left little to be desired.
"Oh Gazer, you're lucky I came in at all." Gamma Jack replied, sounding slightly worse for wear. He rubbed at his forehead with his hand, his eyes looked tired, and his voice sounded hoarse.
"You're hungover?" Simon said, hardly in question as he allowed annoyance to creep into his tone.
Gamma Jack, for his part, just grunted.
"Are you even old enough to drink?" Simon asked. It was difficult for him to see the Super as anything but "too young", when he often acted so recklessly, like a child who doesn't understand the value of his toys.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Jack rebutted, rolling his eyes.
Simon gritted his teeth.
It was foolish, he knew it was foolish, that this complex about his identity rarely bared any significance. And yet, any reminder about the fact he knew next-to-nothing about the man in front of him, not even his name, always managed to scratch at his carefully curated stoicism . After all, Simon J. Paladino had been the one to first meet Gamma Jack, not Gazerbeam.
"Pull yourself together, Jack." Gazerbeam said, pushing his cup of untouched coffee towards the other super, before walking out. After-all, he had a patrol to get to.