Mistaken Identity (closed)

[JD Paerson]

Classes were done. Tests were done. Assignments were done. And JD had only one thing on his mind: free time! He had exactly three weeks doing basically nothing except possibly some power training, and that wasn't really a chore. With all the free time that he had, he decided it was time for him to catch up on some old reruns and eat large amounts of junk food.

The television in the suite he shared had been comandeered already by one of the other residents, so he grabbed up his popcorn bowl and some microwave bags of buttery, fluffy goodness and high-tailed it to the lounge.

Since he wasn't looking for anything specific on the television, he was willing to just plop down and enjoy whatever was on. First he cooked up a few bags of popcorn and emptied them into his bowl, then he settled down on the couch. He was in an exceptionally good mood, and it would probably take a lot to make him feel upset.

There was a hockey game on, and while he wasn't exactly rooting for either of the teams, JD was still enjoying the game and really getting involved when he had the odd sensation that someone was watching him. As soon as the commercial came on, he turned to look around the room and see if there was anyone staring at him.

Since he was still on an emotional high, he decided he wasn't going to just growl at anyone who came his way. Instead, he was still smiling as he looked around, a handful of popcorn on the way to his mouth.

[Evan Brackett]

With summer fast approaching and school starting to wind down, even a studious student like Evan, who was usually on top of his work and more worried about grades than procrastinating, had the growing need for freedom. With classes coming to an end, the homework load was greatly softened anyway, and all he had left to worry about were the last couple of finals. That and his new part-time job, but that was only a concern a few days a week. This was not one of those days.

The student lounge had quickly become his preferred place to be, because while it was in no way private, it was better than being paranoid of Mia's spy cams staring at him all the time.

There was also his new found obsession for pinball, which he insisted on playing anytime he had the chance. The game had been in the lounge since long before he started attending the school, but he didn't seem to mind. It was one of the few electronic ones Evan played, as he never owned a game system of his own or even had computer games, but that didn't mean he didn't get fully engrossed in the game while the ball was in play. He failed to notice everything else as his eyes darted across the playing field.

Even with Levi there, it was the first thing the phaser went to when he entered the lounge. The ball was inevitably lost, and Evan quickly fell out of the zone as the game transitioned to Player 2's turn (it only seemed right to set it to two player while his friend was there with him). "You're up, Lev." He stepped to the side of the machine and looked over at his friend, only to see him staring starry eyed at some stranger that was watching t.v. on the other side of the room. "Levi? Hey, Levi. It's your turn," Van continued to nag the boy, even going so far as to poke him. "What are you staring at?"

[Levi Xu]

The only thing that Levi didn't like about his dorm assignment was sharing it with Mia. He found her abraisive at best, but most of the time it was her nosy spying that bothered him. He had reasons to keep the secrets that he did. Why couldn't she be more like Evan?

Come to think of it, why couldn't everyone be more like Evan? He was a good friend, but when Levi said he didn't want to talk about something, he'd just let it drop. He didn't force anything, and he didn't need to talk all the time, like Sam.

So Levi didn't mind at all when they ended up in the student lounge again, and he was watching Evan play pinball. Again. It wasn't the most enthralling activity, but he wasn't going to say anything. When they were hanging out together, Levi felt normal.

...Holy crap, was that Superman?

The fifteen-year-old's eyes widened when he saw the guy watching hockey. He'd seen him around Hammel before, but it was always in passing. His power had never kicked in like this. He was Superman. Superman was at Hammel.

Of course, this level of awesome was only compounded by the fact that he was in the student lounge with his best friend, Spider-Man. (Not that he ever acknowledged that. After their discussion, Levi had let the whole thing drop, even though Evan had never followed through on his promise to show him his spider powers.) Yeah, despite the whole rather-being-at-the-compound thing, Hammel was pretty awesome sometimes.

He didn't even notice that he was staring until Evan prodded him. "What? Oh.... Van, do you know who that is?" He kept his voice low, trying to remember if Superman had super-hearing or not.

[JD Paerson]

There they were, over by the pinball machine. Two guys that JD had seen wandering around. The Asian guy was new, he thought, though he couldn't swear on it. It wasn't like he paid much attention to who was where or did what. But it was the whispering and continued staring that made him wonder a bit.

He tried inconspicuously to wipe his face to make sure he didn't have anything there. Then he ran his fingers through his hair to see if someone had put something on his head. After a quick glance of his shirt, he had reassured himself that there was nothing about his appearance that was truly abnormal. The game on the television was over, so he stood (with his popcorn) and walked over to the two guys to see if there was anything wrong.

"Hey there. Would you guys like some popcorn?" Then he glanced over at the pinball game. "You working on setting a new record here? I think the guy who currently holds the record might be upset if you break his score." Personally, JD couldn't see the appeal of pinball. It was just standing and staring at a game for a while. There was nothing really to it.

"I"m JD, by the way," he said, holding out his hand. "Sorry if we've met before and I just forgot. My memory is not so great."

[Evan Brackett]

Evan raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Um. No," he whispered back in his usual confused tone. "Why? Is he famous or something?" Levi was certainly acting like the guy was famous, even though Evan was sure he had never heard or seen anything about him. Then again, the phaser wasn't exactly a pop culture expert. He didn't even read the school's own rumor blog.

When he noticed that the guy had noticed them staring, Evan rubbed the back of his neck nervously and looked away. "Crap, I think he knows we're talking about him," he said through the side of his mouth. Sure enough, the stranger came over just a moment later. And offered them popcorn?

"Hm?" he feigned innocence, "Oh, hello." Evan looked at the bowl of popcorn, then followed the stranger's gaze to look at the pinball machine. Popping a few pieces in his mouth, he shrugged. "I just like to play. Don't mean to, um, upset anybody." He didn't even know what the high-score was, let alone who held it. For all he knew, it was himself. Or maybe it was this guy, and that was why he had come over. So Evan asked, "Are you the record holder?"

He shook the boy's hand and smiled. "Van. No, I don't think we've met," he said, looking over at Levi with uncertainty. "Not formally, at least." It wasn't like he could remember ever meeting JD either, but he still felt guilty for not knowing him like Levi seemed too.

[Levi Xu]

"Dude...he's Superman." Levi couldn't keep the awe out of his voice. Sure, he was best friends with Spider-Man, and he'd met all sorts of vampires, aliens, and the like since his power had manifested, but Superman was still something to be excited over. Particularly since this made him the only person in the room who wasn't a superhero. Did Evan not know he wasn't the only superhero at Hammel? Was there some sort of secret society of them? Would he even tell him about it? (Ever since their conversation, Levi had tried to drop hints about wanting to know more about Van's secret identity. Apparently, he wasn't very good at it, since the older boy had been less than forthcoming.)

Evan's comment snapped him out of it, though. Right. Even Superman probably didn't like being stared at. Levi blushed a little, then a bit more when Superman--not Clark Kent, he wasn't wearing glasses--walked over, offered them popcorn, and introduced himself. "Uh, hi. I'm Levi." He didn't take any popcorn, and just kept grinning like an idiot. "It's really cool to meet you. Really, really cool."

Somewhere in the back of his head, he knew that he hadn't reacted the same way when he'd met Van--was it really so long ago?--last fall. It's just a little harder to be starstruck when a superhero trips over your dog's leash.

[JD Paerson]

"Me? Nah, I don't hold records in anything. But you aren't telling me you haven't seen the guy here. Big guy, big overcoat, glares at everything? No? Well, I'd tell you his name, but I don't know it. Looks like you're not in much danger of beating him anyway." JD glanced at the score, then back at the two guys.

"Hey Levi, Van. I guess I just thought we might have met before." He was slightly weirded out by Levi's stare and his comment.

"Um. I don't know what you've heard about me, but half of it's not true. Probably. In fact, more than half. Most of my friends are a bunch of liars. So if they told you I did something cool, or something stupid, or whatever...you might not want to trust it. Just saying." There. That would hopefully stop any stupid rumors from continuing to circle. Though if they had heard something bad about him, that meant others would have as well. JD would have some rumor-chasing to do.

"Are you guys done with your schoolwork? I just got finished. Only one more year, then I'm out of this place. Thank goodness my power's not anything too strange, just kind of straight-forward. It's easier to train that way, since you know what you're dealing with."

[Evan Brackett]

Evan stared at his friend in silence, confusion still plastered on his face. He just didn't get it. "Wh-what?" he finally chuckled, deciding it was a bit humorous. There had to be an explanation, like a joke or nickname or something like that. "What are you talking about? Do you mean he was Superman in...like a school play or something? Is there even a Superman play?" Okay, maybe that was a stupid suggestion, but he knew he heard about the Spider-man musical. There could very well be a Superman one too.

He wasn't entirely sure how to react to JD's response, not being frequently exposed to heavy sarcasm. In the end, he just settled for a simple, "I see."

And the way Levi was acting--it had to be a joke, right? Something he wasn't in on--was bothering him. The way JD seemed to be made uncomfortable by it bothered him too. Van just kept quite as the guy tried to cover his bases, glancing at Levi. Maybe he had picked this up from Sam? His personal experiences led him to believe Sam wasn't the kindest individual at the school, nor the most intelligent. Definitely the type to spread rumors.

"Oh, oh yeah. Me too! Just one more year until freedom," he said with a weak smile, unsure of himself. Academically he was ready to graduate, but power training was holding him back. It would take nothing short of a miracle for him to graduate on time.

[Levi Xu]

Levi was too busy thinking Don't stare at Superman. Don't stare at Superman. Don't stare... to realize that he was staring at JD. This was So. Cool. "No, I mean seriously." Okay, so Van didn't know there were other superheroes there. That meant Superman probably didn't know that Evan was Spider-Man either. This would have to be rectified eventually, but he wasn't going to out his best friend.

The teenager nodded slightly at JD's explanation of his friends exaggerations. Hell, he was friends with Sammy, he totally understood that. But if he was denying everything... "So, you're not actually faster than a speeding bullet?" He was still a young Superman though. Maybe he'd get to it eventually.

"Yeah, I'm done with classes too, but I've got another few years here." Particularly because they were making him repeat freshman year entirely. He'd been out of school for over a year, and had never been a particularly good student even before that. Now he had four academic years to go, not to mention they had to figure out how his power worked before he could really start training. Recently, his trainer had suggested the theory that his so-called delusions (They weren't delusions, because they weren't all wrong.) were not a side-effect, but the actual power. That made a bit of sense, but all the training they'd tried wasn't helping any.

His mental shields were impenetrable, though.

[JD Paerson]

JD raised his eyebrow as he looked at Levi. Faster than a speeding bullet? So either Robbie or Zac had gotten to them. And now the Superman joke was going around the school. Har har.

"Only as fast as a luxury car, actually. Thanks for asking. Look, I don't know where you heard it from, but the Superman stuff is really getting old. So if you could just pass it around that I don't like being called that by everyone, that would be great." He frowned, his previously good humor slowly fading. He didn't need nicknames, he didn't need people wanting to talk to him, and he certainly didn't need any sort of hero worship, which was what this was looking like it might turn into.

"The name doesn't even make sense," he said, still on a bit of a rant. "Just because I've got super-speed doesn't mean--all right, maybe I shouldn't have called Zac 'Beast Boy' but that doesn't mean that he needs to go around blabbing his mouth everywhere, right?" Finally he sighed and decided that these guys didn't really deserve his anger. They'd heard something and probably didn't realize what exactly they were doing, so it wasn't right to get on their case. He forced himself to change topics.

"I really hope your classes go well," he said, continuing the talk about school work. "I'm planning to graduate from here and go to college and probably get a degree in some science field, though I haven't picked anything for sure. I would be really upset if I still had to stay here a few years. I've been at Hammel long enough. This place is just depressing."

[Evan Brackett]

"Levi," he hissed under his breath, elbowing his friend. Maybe Levi hadn't caught on, but Evan could tell that JD didn't like whatever it was people were saying about him being Superman, even before he said it himself. Van gave the youngest boy a disapproving look before smiling apologetically at JD. "I'm sorry. I'll keep that in mind, and tell off anyone else I hear talking about it." He used the term 'tell off' loosely, not really one to speak rudely, but he would try nonetheless.

Continuing on the Superman discussion would have been bad taste, and the phaser readily ran with the subject change. "Likewise. I don't really know what I'm going to do, though. I'll probably just go undeclared at the community college, cover the basics where it's more affordable, you know?" He purposely didn't mention that he was probably going to be stuck at Hammel after high school anyway, until he got his phasing under control. There was definitely still time for him to figure college-related things out.

"After that is still up in the air," he rattled on," Although, I suppose I'll probably end up going for art in the end. Or something related, like graphic design...or architecture." Evan was still unsure of himself, but drawing and design did rank up there in things he considered a viable pursuit. He maintained high grades across the board, but he wasn't actually passionate about any particular academic. The other option was basketball, but he wasn't a prodigy or even the best player on the team. It was just an extracurricular.

[Levi Xu]

"Yeah, okay..." Levi nodded a bit, but scowled and elbowed Evan right back. What was up with him? So what if Superman's abilities were exaggerated a bit, he was still another superhero. Another superhero who was trying to keep a low profile. Out of everyone on the school, Evan should have known that Levi was the perfect person to keep that particular secret. "I won't say anything, either." Probably not the answer JD was hoping for, but that was as good as he was going to get from the younger boy. Sorry.

Also, it would be ridiculous to call Zac Beast Boy. Zac may be cool, but he was no superhero.

Levi just leaned back against the pinball machine and listened to the older two boys talk about college. It was a little disheartening to think of Evan leaving him Hammel at the end of the year, particularly when he had forever more to go. Yeah, Sam was going to be around still--he couldn't be let out without risking the public health--but he was going to miss his best friend.

And really, the teenager had no clue what he was going to do after Hammel. At one point, he'd wanted to be a doctor like his dad. But he already knew he didn't want to go to school for another whole decade. And with him no longer with M.S.A.D., what good would a law degree do him?

[JD Paerson]

"Architecture, huh? That would be cool, I guess. I dunno, I never really got into all that art stuff or drawing. Not my style. And I don't know what I would do with an art degree or anything. Don't they all become teachers or something?" He frowned.

Glancing back at the television, he saw another game on. This time it was basketball, actually a team that he followed, scoring a basket. He cheered and threw a hand in the air, accidentally shedding popcorn around. "Whoops, sorry. Hey, look, sorry to have bothered you. I was mostly just wondering what you guys were doing over here. But thanks for understanding about that nickname. It's just stupid, and makes all sorts of dumb expectations and stuff. So, anyway. I guess I'll get out of your hair now."

The other guy, Levi, had gone really quiet. Which didn't seem that unusual from the way these two guys were standing there. JD gathered that there was something more between them, but he wasn't sure what. He also didn't particularly care. He'd solved the mystery as to why they'd been staring, now he'd leave them alone.

He headed back toward the television and plopped down again, soon losing himself in the game. If it felt like he'd left the other discussion abruptly, well, that's what happened when he got bored. And most people were smart enough not to keep bothering him.

[OOC: I guess that about wraps this up. Thanks for the thread!]