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“Listen,” Green Lantern said, staring at the camera with a flat expression, “No matter what anyone says, I do not – I repeat, NOT – take Flash’s yogurt cups.”
When Zoe was given the opportunity to be one of the camera men tasked with filming a day in the life of the Justice League, she had been ecstatic. It wasn’t every day that the Justice League opened their headquarters to civilians, let alone reporters. With this on her resume, Zoe could get a job just about everywhere.
But what was supposed to be a documentary – you know, stay off to the side, film the heroes doing what they usually do on a regular Tuesday – somehow turned into this.
“Are you recreating The Office?” Zoe asked, flabbergasted.
Green Lantern shh-ed her quickly, flapping his hand around with a scowl. “You’re ruining it.” He said, though he didn’t sound mad. If anything, there was amusement in his voice. “And this is way more interesting than whatever you were going to film, trust me.”
After Lantern was finished with his little monologue about yogurt and willpower, Zoe went back to her place at the front of the cafeteria almost mechanically. She was slightly annoyed at the hero for interrupting her job, but it made him feel strangely…human. The heroes always felt so untouchable. Half of them weren’t even human.
It's a shame that’ll be cut, Zoe thought to herself. It wouldn’t hurt to show that their protectors were people too.
“What the hell.” Thomas muttered.
In front of him, Flash grinned cheerfully. “You got that on camera, right?”
“Yeah,” Thomas said.
Flash clapped his hands, clearly enjoying himself. Just seconds ago, Thomas had been filming the work Hawkwoman and Martian Manhunter were doing getting disrupted by glitter erupting from an envelope the latter opened. Flash had appeared in the blink of an eye, pointing and laughing, and then disappeared when Hawkwoman reached for her weapon.
“Stay with me, Tom-man. Is it okay if I call you that? Just stay with me,” Flash continued, clearly not waiting for Thomas’ input. “I’ll give you some gold.”
Thomas hadn’t been interested in filming the superheroes’ daily lives while they were essentially at work. It was surprisingly a lot of boring tasks like paperwork and monitor duty. At least, he was not as interested as his colleagues were. He knew that the JL wasn’t going to show what they actually did, and what meetings they did sit in on were just the stuff they announced to the public anyways. Thomas wasn’t there to film anything important.
“Fuck yeah, man.” Thomas said. “You need me to do anything?”
“I’m going to enjoy this.” Flash said to the camera. By his side, Green Lantern nodded knowingly. “You have great ideas.”
“I know.” Green Lantern said, smug. “Wanna rope other people in on it?”
“Uh, duh.” Flash replied.
The two proceeded to grin and laugh at each other.
“How’d you get here?” Thomas asked Zoe.
Zoe rolled her eyes. “Don’t ask.”
They followed the two heroes around for most of their shift, taping their practical jokes on the other super-heroes present. They managed to pull a few other heroes in on some of their jokes, like Green Arrow and Shazam.
“I didn’t know heroes did stuff like this.” Thomas said.
“All adults have fun!” Shazam said, “And I’m an adult.”
“Okay.” Thomas replied, a little flabbergasted.
“Did you record that?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, um, well that’s fine. Because I’m an adult!”
“Um, okay.”
“Do you guys do this regularly?” Zoe asked, ignoring them.
“Well, not when Spooky is around.” Green Lantern groused. He was floating by her side, apparently not one to walk. His green energy was nearly blinding so close.
“Spooky?” Thomas asked.
“Oh, uh, um.” Flash said. Green Lantern also kept his mouth shut and started to float down the hallway.
“We aren’t supposed to talk about him with you guys.” Shazam said helpfully with a smile. “He hates being on camera!”
With that, he followed after the other two heroes, leaving Zoe and Thomas hurrying after them.
Now, let it be said that the public didn’t know all of the Justice League members. After a while, it got to be such a large group that it felt nearly impossible to know every single person. Everyone knew the basics, of course. Wonder Woman, Superman, Flash. You know, the original members – the flashier members. Wonder Woman was seen doing things like heroism and politics to working at shelters and making sizeable donations to people who needed it. Superman could be seen walking elderly across the street one day and saving the city the next. There was a duality to the heroes that did more work than just heroism, something that just made them memorable.
Zoe nearly died inside a little when Wonder Woman came up to her and politely requested if she could borrow her and her camera. She set them up in a corner and tried to contain her joy at being so close to her personal hero.
“It is with great pride that I stole the Flash’s yogurt.” Wonder Woman said to the camera. Her smile was wide and nothing like the political ones she gave when she wasn’t being filmed outside of heroism.
Zoe gaped at her after the words sunk in.
“He has these specific yogurts created for him at a lab to have more calories.” She continued, oblivious or not caring about Zoe’s shock. “He steals everyone’s food, but the second you steal his, it is as though you had tried to break into the Underworld!”
She gave a proud laugh. Then, she raised said yogurt cups into view of the camera. They were strawberry flavor.
“Am I doing this right?” She looked over to the side.
Zoe had enough braincells to swivel the camera over to Green Lantern, who gave Wonder Woman a thumbs up.
Across the room, Flash yelled, “Who took my yogurts!”
The next day, it was relatively calm. Zoe alternated between filming monitor duty and a spar against a few different heroes. Throughout the day, she felt almost as though something was watching her. She kept looking around her to find the source but found nothing. When she took her lunch break and reconvened with Thomas, he looked thoroughly exhausted.
“I feel like I’m being followed.” He bemoaned.
“You too?” Zoe asked around a mouth-full of a burger. The Justice League had a well-stocked kitchen, but they also had a full cafeteria that served anything you could think of. She was going to miss her space-burgers when this job was over. “I’ve been feeling like that all day.”
Thomas shivered and looked around. “Do you think it’s that spooky character Green Lantern mentioned?”
Zoe rolled her eyes but didn’t have the heart to deny it. There were so many heroes with so many different abilities, who knew what this Spooky guy was like. She dabbed her fries in some ketchup and placed them under her burger bun.
Across the room, she watched Superman walk towards the line. He talked and laughed with a few heroes along the way. He hadn’t been present at the Watch Tower the day before and seeing him so close for the first time was incredible. He was as bright as he was seen on the news, with his messy curly hair and his charming smile.
“Oh. My. God.” Thomas whispered at her. “It’s Superman.”
“You’re drooling.” Zoe said. Thomas threw a chip at her.
Not too long after Superman’s arrival, Zoe found herself sitting right next to the man. Thomas was staring with wide eyes, no longer eating his gourmet sandwich.
“How are you enjoying the Watchtower?” Superman asked.
“O-oh, it’s super nice!” Thomas sputtered.
Superman smiled at him brightly. Thomas turned bright red.
“I heard some heroes have interrupted with your documentary.” Superman said, frowning slightly. “I am really sorry about that.”
“It’s not a problem.” Zoe said. She couldn’t really blame her friend for being so star-struck. Superman was a legend.
Superman smiled at her in response and twirled spaghetti around his fork. It felt surreal to watch him eat his pasta and even drop some, saying “oh darn it” every time.
“Supes!” Green Arrow said, sliding up to the man. “Where were they serving the spaghetti?”
“Oh, I think I got the last of it.” Superman said thoughtfully.
“Man, I’ve been wanting it so bad!” Green Arrow said and proceeded to sulk off.
Superman got up and chased after the guy. Zoe exchanged looks with Thomas.
Later, after she was back on duty, Superman pulled her aside to mournfully say to the camera: “I didn’t know he wanted it. I’m just the worst.”
“Please don’t film me.” Thomas jumped and turned around to see a man just slightly shorter than him standing behind him. He had a mask over his face and dark hair that fell to his chin. His costume was red and black with gold forming an X over his chest, and a cape on his shoulders. “I will be doing maintenance.”
“Uh, okay.” Thomas said. “I’m sorry.”
The man didn’t reply and proceeded to kick open a vent right by Thomas. Thomas moved over a few feet and kept his camera strictly pointed at the group of heroes he was filming. After a while, it was easy to forget that there was a strange hero doing technical work on the spaceship right behind him.
“Hey!”
Thomas looked to the side to see Superboy waving cheerfully.
“Uh, hi.” Thomas said.
“How’s the filming going?” Superboy asked casually. He leaned against the wall next to Thomas, his shades falling down his nose just enough to see his blue eyes. It was strange, just how much he looked like Superman.
“It’s doing good,” Thomas said. Despite the many heroes he’s talked to this job, it didn’t feel any less weird. “How, um, are you?”
“Oh, I’m doing good.” Superboy said cheerily.
“I didn’t know you were part of the JL.” Thomas said thoughtfully.
“I’m not.” Superboy grinned at him, “I come by now and then. A lot of heroes are part of the “JL Emergency List” which is kind of like a “help we’re getting fucked up” thing instead of a “come to this meeting” thing, you know? But most of us have access to the Watchtower. Especially if you're like me and connected with someone else that is a real member.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Yeah, well, anyways.” Superboy leaned over him comically, “RR! I didn’t even see you there!”
“Superboy, you came over here because you knew I was here.” the man behind Thomas said.
“No, I didn’t!” Superboy protested but quickly floated over to the man with a wide grin. “What are you doing after this?”
“Patrol.”
“And theeeeennn?”
“Probably paperwork.”
“Want to go to dinner with me?”
“Ugh, not if Imp’s going to be there. He eats too much and I always have to pay.”
“No, R, just like, yknow, the two of us.”
Thomas awkwardly stood there as a gap of silence followed. He looked out of the corner of his eye to see Superboy slowly turning bright red.
“I mean, like, uh.” Superboy stammered, “As friends?”
“No.” RR said. He looked away from his vent of wires to look at Superboy. Superboy gulped. “It’s a date. Pick me up at 8.”
“Okay!” Superboy said. RR quickly closed up his vent and walked away, blending seamlessly into shadows. Thomas didn’t even know there were shadows on the spaceship. “Oh my god, did you see that!” Superboy got in front of the camera, grinning wide. “He said yes! Oh my god, I hope it goes great and we kiss and he wants to be my boyfriend!”
Before Thomas could reply, Superboy floated off, yelling for Superman.
“I am so glad this is over.” Zoe said.
Thomas nodded his agreement. The heroes were much more hectic than they had originally thought.
“Do you think they’ll even keep half of it?” Thomas asked.
“Nope.” Zoe replied. She inspected her camera and Thomas figured she had a point. The heroes probably wouldn’t be shown in their true light. It was too human for people who were untouchable.
“This was fun, though.” Thomas said. Fun and exhausting.
Zoe smiled, “Yeah, it was.”
“Hey,” Thomas and Zoe turned around to find the Flash. “Do you have time for one more?”
The two exchanged looks and grinned.
“Okay, so.” Flash said. “I know we agreed to do fun stuff while Spooks was away, but why is everyone taking my yogurt!”