video | a finer world, part 2

[solarcharged]

[ Does this guy ever broadcast to the network from ground level?? APPARENTLY NOT because here's Apollo with yet another video message from somewhere dizzyingly high, this time sat on top of a brightly lit neon encrusted building in the heart of Jeopardy. Over his shoulder the sun sets over the desert in a picture perfect background landscape of bright pinks and oranges, but Apollo looks pensive despite the dreamy setting. He's been keeping an eye out for the so-called ghosts, you see, and maybe remembering a few ghosts of his own in the process. ]

An old friend once told me that saving the world is no good if we leave it the way we found it. She said 'saving the day shouldn't be the same as preserving the status quo'. Because what's the point in saving the world if you make no effort to change it? To make it better than it was?

That's why I joined her team, back home. I wanted to save the world and change it for the better. None of us could have done it alone but as a group... [ He trails off, turning a little wistful. ] As a group we were formidable.

But I know most of the teams currently operating here - [ you know who you are ] - are all pretty much Registered-only affairs. And that's fine if you're the Registering type...

[ Apollo's expression turns grim. Or as grim as you can look when surrounded by neon pink signage. ]

Personally? I've got no intention of swearing my loyalty to the government just because they want tame superheroes. But I still want to make a difference and if being a so-called vigilante is what it takes, then... I guess we'll see what happens next.

So consider this an open call. Is there anyone else out there who's Unsettled and wants to do their bit to save the world?

[ And yeah, maybe change it a little bit too. He hopes you're happy, Jenny Sparks. ]

Comments

[solarcharged]

I don't need to win, I just need to feel like I'm putting up a valiant fight...

[ He surveys the tablet for his next shot - it's a trickier one, one that Apollo realises is going to take some fancy angles off the edge of the table. He frowns, mulling over his next move despite the fact he has a sneaking suspicion Midnighter probably knows exactly what angle he needs to take. ]

Is there anything in the pool rule book about phoning a friend?

[heliophilic]

[M looks over the table and does indeed see the best shot to take.]

Wait, now you want help? Sheesh, I'm getting whiplash.

[solarcharged]

[ Apollo shakes his head with a suppressed sigh, hiding the smile on his lips with a look of reproach. ]

Don't make me ask.

[heliophilic]

[Fine, fine...]

But only because you didn't ask so nicely.

[M comes back to the table and gives it a once over, then, without thinking, leans up behind the older man, his body pressed up against his as he dictates Apollo's form using his own body.

This is bad, he can't help but think over and over again as he does nothing to stop it.]

[solarcharged]

[ Well, this is definitely happening.

Apollo holds his breath as M sidles closer against him - a stupidly human reaction, considering Apollo doesn't technically need to breath. But he holds his breath all the same, enjoying the heat and weight of the body at his back, letting Midnighter move him as he sees fit. Shifting his weight from foot to foot, pliant and obedient.

Except... except he turns a little, to smile over his shoulder at the man against his back as he lets Midnighter move him into just the right angle. ]

Like that?

[heliophilic]

[M shudders as Apollo turns around, and he finally takes a step back.]

Try it and see.

[solarcharged]

[ 'Try it and see.' Those words could mean so many things considering how much there is in the air between them. And Apollo knows he could turn around properly - he could face Midnighter and say to hell with all this pretence, as if they're not both skirting around something dangerous and intoxicating. For a moment he lets his mind run riot; his thoughts veer somewhere dark and pornographic as he imagines what he would do to Midnighter if he turned around and gave in to that heated urge to close the distance and pull the other man in to his arms.

But instead he focuses on the table in front of him, and on the cue in his hands. Suddenly Apollo doesn't give a single flying fuck about pool, but he makes a game attempt at playing the shot that Midnighter has so physically lined him up to take.

He misses. Which is unsurprising, given the fact that his hands are trembling. ]

[heliophilic]

[Apollo's hands are shaking. The thought rolls over and over in M's head as he watches, the small gesture blown up with the help of his computer brain. The implants are running at a million thoughts a second, despite M trying desperately to tune it all out. Even if he didn't want the computer offline when dealing with people... he didn't like the results that they were spitting out.

He's a man missing a lot of crucial information when it comes to relationships of any kind and without that information, the computer leaps to some illogical conclusions. In this case, M can't help but feel he's pushed their... whatever this is too far, and made Apollo uncomfortable.

Part of him wants to remain innocent, to say that he hadn't meant anything by his last move, that he was just trying to help Apollo with a particularly tricky shot. But he knows he'd be lying, and he hates that part of himself even more.

He takes several more steps back, balls one hand into a fist in an attempt to ground himself, and forces a calm, joking tone.]

You only get one phone a friend.

[solarcharged]

[ In complete contract to all the projections that M's implants are spitting out, Apollo finds himself dry-mouthed and giddy at that fleeting moment of bodily contact. God, how sickeningly lonely does a man have to be to find the brief press of a a warm body (not just any warm body) against his back to be so desperately distracted by it? Apollo turns, ducking his head with an expression of resigned amusement. He genuinely could not give less of a shit about pool right now, but still - he makes an effort to keep up the pretense. ]

Then I guess that makes it your move, doesn't it?

[ Not that he moves aside. Apollo stands resolute by the table, before lifting his gaze to watch M expectantly. ]

[heliophilic]

[He eyes the pool table, ostensibly looking for his next shot, all the while wondering just why Apollo isn't moving out of the way. Wouldn't he want to cut the game short after M made a fool of himself in the heat of the moment like that?

Wouldn't he at least want to make sure it didn't happen again?

What if, whispers a little voice, the voice that's been sending him careening headfirst down this slippery slope to begin with, he didn't hate it?

It would certainly put things more into perspective, but... the man is married. No matter what happened between him and the other guy, there's no way in hell M is getting between them too.

He slips around Apollo and decides to mask his true feelings by making a trick shot behind his back from the other end of the table.]

Guess it did.

[solarcharged]

[ Midnighter sidesteps around him to head up to the far side of the table and Apollo watches him as he passes, arms crossing slowly. The trick shot is stylishly executed, he'll give him that. He laughs gently, amused by the idea that maybe M is showing off just a little bit. ]

Where did you pick that up from? [ He means the trick shot. ] You've been watching too much BlueTube.

[heliophilic]

[M shrugs, his gaze not quite reaching Apollo's. He's... fuck, he's nervous. Around the other man. About what he might do to said other man.]

A man's allowed to have a few tricks up his sleeve.

[solarcharged]

[ He'd have to be blind not to pick up that faint edge of nervousness in M, the way he can't quite look him in the eye. Apollo glances away, his arms still crossed as he leans against the table, pretending he hadn't noticed. ]

True, [ He concedes quietly. ] Although I'm not sure I've got any tricks myself...

[ He spreads his hands with a blossoming smile. ]

What you see is what you get.

[heliophilic]

I find that extremely hard to believe.

[solarcharged]

[ He shrugs innocently. ]

That's the problem with spandex. Not enough room in my sleeves.

[heliophilic]

It... certainly doesn't leave much to the imagination.

At least Andrew's was a little less... [lewd. see through. salacious. indecent.] flimsy.

[solarcharged]

[ Apollo lifts his eyebrows in an expression of mock outrage. ]

Excuse me? No, I've seen pictures. He had skin showing, [ He gestures at his arms. ] That's way worse.

[heliophilic]

What are you, amish? You're both invulnerable and it's his arms.

[And what fine arms they are.]

[solarcharged]

[ Apollo shrugs and crosses his arms over his chest stubbornly. ]

I'm just saying, his was more revealing.

[ You can't drag him for his costume when Andrew's was worse, M!! ]

[heliophilic]

His doesn't have a bad case of moose knuckle, so by default his is less revealing.

[solarcharged]

[ Apollo stares incredulously because did M really just say that??? ]

I'm sorry, moose what?

[ He knows what it means. He's just daring M to say it again. ]

[heliophilic]

[Yeah, that's as close to this conversation as he feels comfortable getting.]

You heard me.

[solarcharged]

[ Apollo gives him a Look. With a capital L. ]

Wish I hadn't.

[ He emphatically gestures at the table in front of them. ]

Your shot again, mister foot-in-mouth.

[ And he waits patiently until M is just about to make his next shot, before muttering just loud enough to be audible: ]

You could just not look, you know...

[heliophilic]

[As Apollo seems to be well aware, it doesn't take much to catch him by surprise, and yet the long-haired man absolutely manages it, as this time M genuinely misses by a mile, Apollo's words and the meaning that comes with it hitting him with far more force than it should.

If this were anyone else, he'd just play them off as teasing banter. But this isn't anyone else.]

One day I should knee that neon sign on your costume. It'll be worth the broken kneecap.

[solarcharged]

[ Despite everything, Apollo can't help but laugh out loud at that. ]

Ouch. For you, I mean.

[ He hefts his pool cue and waits for M to step away for the table so that he can line up his next shot. Perhaps joking seems to be the way to fight through this strange undercurrent of awkwardness? Cracking dumb jokes seems to be a lot easier than uncomfortably wondering if they've both said the wrong thing. ]

Right. I'm going to take my next shot. If you could avoid scrutinizing any other parts of my anatomy while I do so I'd really appreciate it, thanks.