[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/wlJE09z.png[/img]

[i]Introducing: [color=f77ee9]Daniel Helmsley[/color] & [color=89cff0]Michael Stroud[/color][/i][/center]


[right][color=red][b]CW: Marijuana usage[/b][/color]

[sub]Location: The Boys’s home → The Club Fair/The Gym at the Towers → The Club Fair
Mentions: [color=598073]Krista Müller[/color], [color=00bfff]William Blake[/color], East of Eden, [color=8B6969]Evelyn Harding[/color]
Interactions: [color=00bfff]William Blake[/color] [@smarty0114][/sub][/right]

[indent][indent][color=#f77ee9]“Dude, yeah, I can hear you. The music’s not that fuckin’ loud!”[/color]

Danny lied blatantly into the phone as he spoke to his older brother. The [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my6bfA14vMQ]music[/url] blaring from the Bluetooth speaker on the counter while he cooked his breakfast of champions made it almost impossible for Danny to hear anything, but it wasn’t like he really cared. This wasn’t the first phone call from back home that he’d ignored, and he had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last. The subject this time was whether or not Daniel Helmsley would be returning home for the holidays. Danny Boy planned to pull out every move in the book to make sure he got out of this. Whatever it takes.

[color=#f77ee9]“I can’t come home for the holidays, bro. I gotta watch the boys. Can you imagine what they’d get up to if I wasn’t watching them like a hawk dude?” [/color]It was only partially a lie; if Danny dipped for a few days, then the heavy burden of being the group’s leader would fall on Damon’s shoulders. Though, if Danny knew Damon — which he did — Damon would abhor the idea of babysitting James and Ryu, and Danny couldn’t see Will stepping in to handle things. He just couldn’t [i]go[/i]. [color=#f77ee9]“What? Yeah, I know you don’t get it. How!? Because you have no friends, motherfucker.” [/color]Danny scoffed into the phone.

[color=#f77ee9]“Don’t give her the phone man. Come on, dude. Because I’m not going to change my mind just because my mom bitches at me! I don’t wanna go home! Fuck. I’m a grown ass man, let me do what I damn well please. They got a thing for where you’re headed man. It’s called no contact.” [/color]Danny snapped, as he reached up into the freezer to grab a bag of dino nuggets, which he tore open with his mouth. He dumped them onto a plate, and slammed it into the microwave before he punched the two minute button. [color=#f77ee9]“...yes I’m listening to Rage. Yes I know I go to school with East of Eden. I don’t like their fucking music! That’s why I’m not listening to them. Because Evelyn Harding’s music doesn’t have a message - this track has a message. Evelyn Harding fucking wishes. Wait, dude, come on.”[/color]

As the song came to a close, Danny could hear the sounds of the phone being passed around and he tried to steady himself. [color=#f77ee9]“Hi, mama. No, I’m good.” [/color]Danny said, before he slowly moved the phone away from his ear and sat it down on the counter. He knew his mom was going to talk a thousand miles a minute whether or not he could hear her and he needed both hands anyway. The microwave went off, and he popped it open to pull out his dino nuggets. He’d wanted bacon, but couldn’t find any in the fridge. There was never a shortage of frozen food though; not in the boys’s dormitory. [color=#f77ee9]“Ow! Fuck that’s hot.”[/color]

[color=#f77ee9]“I’m fine, I’m fine!” [/color]He quickly picked his phone back up, knowing his mother was going to be freaking out over him yelping in pain. He should have had the foresight to turn his hand metal before he grabbed the plate out of the microwave, but his mind was clouded. [color=#f77ee9]“Yes. Like I said, the fire was only a good thing for me. I think I called it a paradigm shift, didn’t I? That’s poetry, ma. Look, I can’t go unless the boys can come. They’re not gonna want to come to our house for the holiday! …ALRIGHT I’LL ASK THEM. Look, mama I gotta go. I got a busy day.” [/color]With that, Danny finally found the freedom to hang up.

He saw he had a message on his phone, but he had more important stuff to do. Danny opened the fridge and pulled out the ranch. He spun around and covered his dino nuggets in it. Satisfied with the meal that he had made for himself, he reached behind his ear and pulled out the joint he’d been hiding there since he got a phone call.

He held it in his lips and lit it with the Zippo lighter he always carried around, and inhaled deeply. After he pulled it out he let the smoke leave his mouth and a content smile crept across his lips. He grabbed his food and sat down on the couch, only managing to eat a couple of the mess of microwaved dino nuggets and ranch he’d made before he remembered he had a message to check on his phone.

[color=#f77ee9]“Oh for fuck’s sake!” [/color]He groaned as he stared down at the phone and the message on it. 

[quote]From Bishop:
[b]Ur late.[/b][/quote]

First off, he [i]was[/i] late, there was no denying that. But Danny hardly thought he needed to physically be [i]there[/i] for the club fair! He didn’t understand what he was supposed to do, shill for the club? It was a fucking frisbee golf club, no one else was going to join it! That was the beauty of the whole thing. Even so, if Bishop was on his ass all day over this then he’d hate every second of it. It was with a heavy heart that Danny quickly scarfed down his nuggets, and jumped to his feet.

[quote][b]To Bishop:

[color=#f77ee9]Dude, I had to get my early morning work out in. Gotta stay in top tip evil stoppin’ shape. I’ll be there. Sec[/color][/b][/quote]

With that message sent, Danny only had to make it from the dorm to the fair, and once he made it to the fair, to his booth. Danny made his way to the bathroom and popped open the medicine cabinet to grab eye drops and tilted his head back to put a few drops in each eye. He blinked a few times, then slammed it shut and stared into his eyes that were still very obviously bloodshot and nodded. [color=#f77ee9]“...good enough.”[/color]

Danny almost made it to his booth before he suddenly started to get self-conscious. Danny liked to get stoned, but Danny did not like to be in public while stoned — one of the many side effects of smoking weed was paranoia, and it hit him hard as he rolled up onto the club fair. To him, it seemed like all eyes were on him as he did something as simple as walk among his classmates.

He barely made it halfway to his booth before he had to ask someone, anyone, if he looked as high as he fucking felt. He passed by a blonde student, and gripped him by the shoulders, spinning him to look him in the eyes. [color=#f77ee9]“Yo, do I look high to you?” [/color]He demanded, and the boy simply stared at him, before sputtering out.

[color=#89cff0]“..wh-what?”[/color]

[i]Earlier[/i]

Michael Stroud more or less remembered high school fondly. He’d had a group of friends, Scouts, and work to keep him busy. He lived with his parents, and he was exposed to a lot of the heroing business, the career he was coming to feel more and more like he was made for. One week in, and he wasn’t so sure about college. He’d imagined it going… differently in his head, but maybe he’d just watched too many movies. There were way more actual classes in real life, and a whole lot less prank wars and groups of ne’er-do-wells who ended up becoming friends with the nerds.

Between that and the fact that Michael couldn’t get over the thought that great things were expected of him just because of his lineage (adopted lineage even!), and it was kind of exhausting to be here. He was having trouble making friends because of the simple assumption that everyone knew who he was.

At least he liked his RA (seriously, how could someone be so nice and pretty at the same time?), and William was being nice and helping him adjust. Even so, Michael was finding one big problem with finding friends and making his way through his university years: Anxiety, with a capital A. That was why he’d had trouble sleeping that evening, which brought him to where he was now.

It was really one of his father’s suggestions that working out was a better use of his time than floating in the air above the Bechtel Tower, and Michael was doing his best to take that advice with him to Crystal Peak. He found himself in the gym of the Towers he stayed in. It was early enough in the morning that no one else was there, and Michael always found something genuinely comforting about exercising in solitude. Maybe it was all in his head, but even when he worked out with his father and other members of the Coalition on occasion, he’d felt like they were staring when he ran on the treadmill or when he deadlifted the bar. Had they thought he wasn’t trying because he wasn’t using his powers?

As time passed, and more people flooded in for their morning workouts, Michael was beginning to have a quiet realization. Keeping a comfortable pace on the treadmill, he looked around at the others and a smile crept across his lips as he thought to himself… no one cared. No one cared that he was running on the treadmill instead of flying in a wind tunnel, or bench pressing a car. In a way, it was freeing.

A few minutes later, and he was walking out of the shower with a newfound energy to tackle the day. If he could just go about his business, then maybe he could figure out the friends thing. The very least he could, he thought, was to attend the club fair, and maybe join a club or two. There had to be a couple for the things he liked, it was a massive school. Maybe a baking club… he knew there was a music club, Krista had tried to sell him on joining it, but Michael had no talent whatsoever when it came to music, and aside from that the idea of joining a club dominated by East of Eden didn’t really appeal to him. The frontwoman was frankly terrifying. On his way to the fair, Michael had the bright idea of looking for Will and joining a club or two he suggested. There had to be a few that Will was a part of, right?

He was practically bouncing with excitement as he made his way to the club fair, but that faded almost as quickly as it had come. Before he could even fully grasp what was happening, he felt a pair of hands grab him on the shoulder, and he found himself face to face with a man that looked more like a crazed hobo than a college student, demanding a question that seemed all too simple: [color=#f77ee9]“Yo, do I look high to you?”[/color]

All Michael could do was respond in a confused, almost distressed voice. [color=#89cff0]“...wh-what?”[/color]

Danny Boy frowned as he stared down at the young man and shook his head. [color=#f77ee9]“Shit, you’re no help.” [/color]He released the kid, and looked up at the sky with a heavy sigh. If Bishop caught him stoned while on official business like this? He’d never be free from the endless bitching. He watched as the obviously exceptionally fresh freshman lifted a hand and pointed at something. [color=#f77ee9]“What?” [/color]No response, Danny rolled his bloodshot eyes. [color=#f77ee9]“What is it, Lassie? Is someone stuck in a well?”[/color]

Michael was confused to say the least. Lassie? Who the hell even was that? Still, he wanted to help and he just reached up to behind the other guy’s ear, and then pulled his fingers back, holding a joint that had only been smoked a bit. [color=#89cff0]“Here.” [/color]He said, and the other guy’s eyes squinted a bit.

[color=#f77ee9]“Fuck. I forgot about that fuckin’ thing, good call… bro. What’s your name?” [/color]Despite the joint being held out to him, Danny didn’t make an attempt to take it back. Instead, he held out a hand and shook his head. [color=#f77ee9]“No way, little man. The way you look? You need that more than I do. I’m Danny by the way. Hey, do you like frisbee golf?”[/color]

Michael had no idea what to do with the joint he was now holding, and so he awkwardly held it at his side. He certainly wasn’t going to smoke the thing. It was drugs! He was holding drugs, if his mother could see him now… He had to take a deep breath to steady himself, and finally managed to sputter out. [color=#89cff0]“Huh? I’m Michael. Hey, I’m looking for Will… uh, Will Blake. Do you know where he is? I’ve never played frisbee golf…”[/color]

[color=#f77ee9]“Never… never once!? What the fuck? Fuckin’ new generation is draggin’ us down. Walk and talk, Mikey boy —” [/color]

[color=#89cff0]“[sub]Please don’t call me that.[/sub]”[/color]

[color=#f77ee9]“Well I sure as shit ain’t sayin’ Michael every time like I walked out of That 70’s Show.” [/color]As requested though, they walked and talked. [color=#f77ee9]“Right, so. What do you do? What’s your super schtick? Everybody’s got a gimmick, y’know?”[/color]

[color=#89cff0]“Uh, I can fly, and -”[/color]

[color=#f77ee9]“What!? You’re a flyer?! Now I been thinkin’ I could really use a flyer… I got a group, y’know, future Super Hero Team. Got a fast guy, got me — I’m a metal guy, an electric guy, and a big ol’ fuckin’ monstrosity of a demon Damon dog. Dude, you should play frisbee golf with us! You might like me and the rest of the Boys. Plus, I mean, if you can fly…”[/color]

[color=#89cff0]“...do you know where I can find Will?”[/color]

Michael knew there was a hint of desperation in his voice, but this guy seemed a bit… wild. He had to admit, Danny seemed to have an infectious way of talking. Michael would have been lying if he said he didn’t want to hear more about the ‘boys,’ or whatever Danny was talking about, but he felt like he needed Will around while he did it, just in case Danny tried something insane. Like handing him a joint he wanted nothing to do with.

[color=#f77ee9]“No, but I will sound the horn. Smile.” [/color]Before Michael could even protest, Danny had pulled his phone out and snapped a photo of him - joint in hand, which he quickly sent in a text to William Blake, his greatest frenemy.

[quote][b]To: [color=#00bfff]Billiam[/color]
[color=#f77ee9]this urs?[/color][/b][/quote]

Danny left a pause before he sent his next message, long enough for Will to check it, though not quite long enough for him to get a response in.

[quote][b]To: [color=#00bfff]Billiam[/color]
[color=#f77ee9]mine now[/color]
[color=#f77ee9]need a flyer neway.[/color][/b][/quote][/indent][/indent]