( sca ) getting closer
Title: getting closer
Fandom: DC Comics + High School Musical fusion AU
Universe: Sharpay's Crossover Adventure
Relationships: Peyton Leverett / Maxine Hunkel
Summary: When Maxine needs a fake boyfriend to pursue a supervillain, Peyton's the first to volunteer. He doesn't think anything odd about his enthusiasm. A hero needs him, after all!
Notes: This is a belated Christmas present for![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
camalyng, based off idle conversations about fake dating and how it might go down for our favorite couple. No idea where this falls in our RP timeline. TBH, it's probably an alternate universe of an alternate universe.
Also, I apologize if my characterization of a bunch of JSA characters are off, but also it has been literal decades since I've read these comics, so we are getting my memory of them plus whatever headcanons we've gathered for this lovely retirement home of heroes over the years!! ♥ with that, I hope y'all enjoy.
Usually, the Justice Society of America tried to avoid using civilians in their line of work. Their heroes knew the danger beforehand, after all. Random, ordinary people paid little attention to the men behind the green curtains, let alone the darkness behind the blinding stage lights. People wanted a show, wrapped neatly in a bow by the end of Act 2. They devoured easy to digest narratives with clear heroes and villains, and as a mere actor on the stage, who was Maxine Hunkel to break that narrative?
Then the Flash had called half of the team for an emergency meeting, and her already-blurry boundaries seemed to dissipate into the atmosphere. Given the rather unwieldy size of the JSA, she was used to smaller, more clandestine meetings with four or five people. Not, say, ten to fifteen cramped in a small conference room.
She recognized Wildcat, Stargirl, and Captain Marvel, of course, and a smattering of older heroes like Jesse Quick and Hourman. The rest, however, were acquaintances at best. They were, however, all much younger compared to the Flash, Green Lantern, and the original Wildcat.
"-Cyclone, per chance, are you dating anyone?" Flash's voice jolted Maxine back to reality.
"I'm sorry?" Maxine blinked, shaking the extra fluid from her ears in vain hopes she had misheard his question. "What were you asking me, Uncle Jay?"
Jay's expression softened. "Are you seeing anyone, Maxine? Anyone that you could call a romantic partner?"
Wait, was he really asking this in broad daylight (or well, the cramped conference room)? Where several heroes, including Tommy freaking Bronson, could hear the anguish of her being single? Where she felt entirely obligated to make up a boyfriend from Canada to spare her the awkwardness?
"Oh, um, of course! Of course I'm seeing a guy," she sputtered, much to Courtney's and Tom's confusion in the corner. "He's– he's just shy! That's why we've never taken pictures, or you know, gone out in public or any of those awesome milestones and–"
"I'm going to cut you off right there and explain," Tom coughed, staring at Maxine with tremendous worry and confusion. "So remember the fight I helped with last night? Where the Ladybugs made the mistake of attacking Pops and Aunt Zinda at that dive bar?"
Maxine nodded. "Yeah, and they kicked their butts by the time you got there."
Tom coughed again. "Yeah, well– I'm glad I went, 'cause they helped us figure out the pattern behind their most recent attacks."
"How so?" Stargirl piped up, giving Cyclone a sympathetic look. "'Cause they attacked Billy three weeks ago at the radio station, and then they almost got Aunt Joan at H-Mart last month..."
"Their goal isn't us, Stargirl. It's our partners," Tom interrupted with a sigh, folding his arms. "Last night was the first time one of us was there to fight back, but they're trying to get the jump on us. Like uh, that time they fought Shar at her rehearsal a couple weeks ago."
Jesse Quick frowned, leaning on the wall for support. "Okay, but if the Ladybugs attacked Billy Batson, of all people, they really didn't know–"
Captain Marvel and Stargirl flinched, right as Captain Marvel cleared his throat with an unusually loud cough. (Wow, must be something bad going around. Perhaps Maxine should hurry up and get her flu shot early this year.)
"They're trying to attack innocent, normal civilian partners," Captain Marvel insisted, with irritation in his voice as he folded his arms and stared into the distance. "Dirty tactics, even for supervillains."
"I agree, which leads us to ask again, Maxine," Jay said, summoning the wisdom of several decades of heroism as he looked back at his young trainee, "We only want to know because this time, we might be able to beat the Ladybugs at their own game... what's your boyfriend's name?"
Peyton felt a chill down his spine as he peered up from his camera. Odd, considering that it was 75 degrees outside. The makeshift film set wasn't even that hot, either. Yet he got the distinct sense that something was wrong. Maybe one of the PAs finally walked off set like she had been threatening all week, or maybe one of the lead actors actually got food poisoning from the gas station sushi craft services kept buying because it was stupid cheap...
"Earth to our director," Cissie King-Jones, lead actress and occasional stunt coordinator, called from behind as she stared at the multi-camera set-up. "What's got you so distracted?"
"Something doesn't feel right," Peyton admitted, folding his arms and staring at the screen.
The actors' last takes had been perfect. The lighting was perfect. The location was perfect. On the surface, everything was smooth sailing. Peyton even had a job lined up after this final student film, thanks to Cissie's Hollywood connections. Heck, her pleasant yet strong presence lightened not only his burdens but also the entire crew's.
With such a stellar cast and crew, the rest of the shoot should've been a breeze. Yet Peyton's instincts never served him wrong. He dodged more than a few punches while filming the JSA for his capstone film last semester, and now? Now, he was going to dodge something even larger; he could feel it deep in his bones.
"You say that every time something runs behind, and so far, the show keeps moving forward," Cissie assured him with Hollywood-earned confidence as she took a swig from her water bottle. "Chalk it up to anxiety."
Right on cue, a gust of wind blew past the set, nearly rocking the cameras and the outside decorations to their very core. Peyton shivered, rubbing his arms in a desperate attempt to warm his arms up. God, he should've packed more jackets in his duffel. His scriptwriter had warned him about the cold on these sets, and what did he do? Laugh in her face because he's a good Midwestern boy, and New York seasons were (supposedly) nothing in comparison
"Peyton?" A familiar melodic voice called from the center of the overlapping winds. "Hey, do you have a minute?"
Peyton swallowed, staring into the eye of the storm. "Cyclone?"
"Cyclone? Like the JSA hero Cyclone?" Cissie stood straighter, staring into the eye of the storm as if she were trouble. "Oh, hell no. I'm not dealing with this today."
Ignoring his lead actress's outburst and subsequent exit stage right, Peyton took another step forward. "I'm here. What do you need?"
"Um, you're not going to believe this, but I kind of need your help and ohmygodicantdoitiknewicouldn't..." She even squeaked the same way as Maxine, right when Maxine got flustered and nervous. "No, nevermind! I'm going to ask it! It'll be easier if you come closer."
The crew ooh'ed like a terrible background track as Peyton was ushered right into the eye of the storm. He grappled for support, wrapping his arms around Cyclone's thin, bony shoulders for dear life. Now, while he was no stranger to tornadoes or twisters, he was a stranger to them calming down while he was in the middle of the storm.
The air even seemed to warm up with Cyclone's gentle laugh as she peered at him through her thick, curly hair. "Hey, stranger."
"Hey," he replied with equal amusement, because frankly, he was a stranger. "What do you need my help with?"
"Well, um..." she coughed, burying her head in his shoulder. "Would you um... would you go on a date with me? Cyclone me? And um, maybe post it to your Facebook wall and make it loud and public?"
Absolutely none of this sounded like something Cyclone would do herself, which meant: this had to be a trap. A bonafide scheme meant to entangle some supervillain of the week, and Cyclone wanted to ask him! Of all people on this universe!
Peyton couldn't help grinning as he gave her a solemn nod. "Absolutely. Just say the word, Cyclone. I'm ready to be a hero."
So Cyclone left him with vague instructions, a brick phone that must've been created in 1992, and wavy hair that rivaled an 80's pop star. Somehow, none of this convinced Sharpay or Tom about his upcoming 'dangerous' mission.
"So you're saying Cyclone visited your set in the middle of a shoot," Sharpay began with a slow, disbelieving voice -
"Then proceeded to ask you out on a date?" Tom asked, already reaching for the antiacids. "In the eye of a storm?"
Peyton nodded, helping himself to more rice and chicken. "Yeah! That's exactly how it went down."
Sharpay and Tom exchanged nervous looks, as if they were about to tell him of their impending divorce. (Which wouldn't happen, because they were rock-solid and one of the strongest couples Peyton had seen in his entire life. The vibes were just there, which was. Not great.)
"Look, she's... she's not the most outspoken heroine, but surely you're dating someone else," Tom suggested, looking to Sharpay for support.
Sharpay nodded enthusiastically. "Like, um, I don't know, our sweet Maxine?"
"Huh?" Peyton blinked back surprise, staring at them both. "Wait, you're serious?"
The nervous looks intensified as Tom chewed on two calcium carbonate tablets.
"So you're not dating Maxine," Tom said after a moment, his gaze already falling on his liquor cabinet. "You're dating Cyclone. Because the JSA needs you to date a superhero and make it public news on social media."
"Now you get it." Peyton reached over and gripped Tom's free hand. "I've always wanted to help out. This is like what, child's play compared to, I don't know, punching a Nazi."
Sharpay stifled a laugh right as Tom shot her a swift, merciless glare. Sometimes, Peyton swore, those two were on a completely different wavelength from the rest of the world.
After what felt like an eternity, Tom sighed, rising up to grab a bottle of gin. "I guess, but just... just don't break Maxine's heart in the process, okay?"
Honestly, Peyton couldn't see how he could possibly break their friend's heart. Maxine lived in Cambridge most of the time, only dropping by NYC for rare weekends when she could take the cheap Chinatown bus. Besides, Maxine didn't seem to like superheroes! She didn't seem to hate them either, like Tom; she was fairly neutral in their polarized household.
Besides, Maxine didn't even have Facebook, did she? Or if she did, she forgot her password one too many times, so she was locked out of her account? Either way, she wouldn't even see the required posts. His family wouldn't get it, nor would most of his work colleagues, but hey. A small price to pay for helping save the world.
"I won't," Peyton promised, the words sounding fake the minute they left his lips. "Or at least, I'll try not to."
Somehow, his words did little to dissuade Tom from pouring another glass of alcohol.
Fandom: DC Comics + High School Musical fusion AU
Universe: Sharpay's Crossover Adventure
Relationships: Peyton Leverett / Maxine Hunkel
Summary: When Maxine needs a fake boyfriend to pursue a supervillain, Peyton's the first to volunteer. He doesn't think anything odd about his enthusiasm. A hero needs him, after all!
Notes: This is a belated Christmas present for
camalyng, based off idle conversations about fake dating and how it might go down for our favorite couple. No idea where this falls in our RP timeline. TBH, it's probably an alternate universe of an alternate universe. Also, I apologize if my characterization of a bunch of JSA characters are off, but also it has been literal decades since I've read these comics, so we are getting my memory of them plus whatever headcanons we've gathered for this lovely retirement home of heroes over the years!! ♥ with that, I hope y'all enjoy.
Usually, the Justice Society of America tried to avoid using civilians in their line of work. Their heroes knew the danger beforehand, after all. Random, ordinary people paid little attention to the men behind the green curtains, let alone the darkness behind the blinding stage lights. People wanted a show, wrapped neatly in a bow by the end of Act 2. They devoured easy to digest narratives with clear heroes and villains, and as a mere actor on the stage, who was Maxine Hunkel to break that narrative?
Then the Flash had called half of the team for an emergency meeting, and her already-blurry boundaries seemed to dissipate into the atmosphere. Given the rather unwieldy size of the JSA, she was used to smaller, more clandestine meetings with four or five people. Not, say, ten to fifteen cramped in a small conference room.
She recognized Wildcat, Stargirl, and Captain Marvel, of course, and a smattering of older heroes like Jesse Quick and Hourman. The rest, however, were acquaintances at best. They were, however, all much younger compared to the Flash, Green Lantern, and the original Wildcat.
"-Cyclone, per chance, are you dating anyone?" Flash's voice jolted Maxine back to reality.
"I'm sorry?" Maxine blinked, shaking the extra fluid from her ears in vain hopes she had misheard his question. "What were you asking me, Uncle Jay?"
Jay's expression softened. "Are you seeing anyone, Maxine? Anyone that you could call a romantic partner?"
Wait, was he really asking this in broad daylight (or well, the cramped conference room)? Where several heroes, including Tommy freaking Bronson, could hear the anguish of her being single? Where she felt entirely obligated to make up a boyfriend from Canada to spare her the awkwardness?
"Oh, um, of course! Of course I'm seeing a guy," she sputtered, much to Courtney's and Tom's confusion in the corner. "He's– he's just shy! That's why we've never taken pictures, or you know, gone out in public or any of those awesome milestones and–"
"I'm going to cut you off right there and explain," Tom coughed, staring at Maxine with tremendous worry and confusion. "So remember the fight I helped with last night? Where the Ladybugs made the mistake of attacking Pops and Aunt Zinda at that dive bar?"
Maxine nodded. "Yeah, and they kicked their butts by the time you got there."
Tom coughed again. "Yeah, well– I'm glad I went, 'cause they helped us figure out the pattern behind their most recent attacks."
"How so?" Stargirl piped up, giving Cyclone a sympathetic look. "'Cause they attacked Billy three weeks ago at the radio station, and then they almost got Aunt Joan at H-Mart last month..."
"Their goal isn't us, Stargirl. It's our partners," Tom interrupted with a sigh, folding his arms. "Last night was the first time one of us was there to fight back, but they're trying to get the jump on us. Like uh, that time they fought Shar at her rehearsal a couple weeks ago."
Jesse Quick frowned, leaning on the wall for support. "Okay, but if the Ladybugs attacked Billy Batson, of all people, they really didn't know–"
Captain Marvel and Stargirl flinched, right as Captain Marvel cleared his throat with an unusually loud cough. (Wow, must be something bad going around. Perhaps Maxine should hurry up and get her flu shot early this year.)
"They're trying to attack innocent, normal civilian partners," Captain Marvel insisted, with irritation in his voice as he folded his arms and stared into the distance. "Dirty tactics, even for supervillains."
"I agree, which leads us to ask again, Maxine," Jay said, summoning the wisdom of several decades of heroism as he looked back at his young trainee, "We only want to know because this time, we might be able to beat the Ladybugs at their own game... what's your boyfriend's name?"
Peyton felt a chill down his spine as he peered up from his camera. Odd, considering that it was 75 degrees outside. The makeshift film set wasn't even that hot, either. Yet he got the distinct sense that something was wrong. Maybe one of the PAs finally walked off set like she had been threatening all week, or maybe one of the lead actors actually got food poisoning from the gas station sushi craft services kept buying because it was stupid cheap...
"Earth to our director," Cissie King-Jones, lead actress and occasional stunt coordinator, called from behind as she stared at the multi-camera set-up. "What's got you so distracted?"
"Something doesn't feel right," Peyton admitted, folding his arms and staring at the screen.
The actors' last takes had been perfect. The lighting was perfect. The location was perfect. On the surface, everything was smooth sailing. Peyton even had a job lined up after this final student film, thanks to Cissie's Hollywood connections. Heck, her pleasant yet strong presence lightened not only his burdens but also the entire crew's.
With such a stellar cast and crew, the rest of the shoot should've been a breeze. Yet Peyton's instincts never served him wrong. He dodged more than a few punches while filming the JSA for his capstone film last semester, and now? Now, he was going to dodge something even larger; he could feel it deep in his bones.
"You say that every time something runs behind, and so far, the show keeps moving forward," Cissie assured him with Hollywood-earned confidence as she took a swig from her water bottle. "Chalk it up to anxiety."
Right on cue, a gust of wind blew past the set, nearly rocking the cameras and the outside decorations to their very core. Peyton shivered, rubbing his arms in a desperate attempt to warm his arms up. God, he should've packed more jackets in his duffel. His scriptwriter had warned him about the cold on these sets, and what did he do? Laugh in her face because he's a good Midwestern boy, and New York seasons were (supposedly) nothing in comparison
"Peyton?" A familiar melodic voice called from the center of the overlapping winds. "Hey, do you have a minute?"
Peyton swallowed, staring into the eye of the storm. "Cyclone?"
"Cyclone? Like the JSA hero Cyclone?" Cissie stood straighter, staring into the eye of the storm as if she were trouble. "Oh, hell no. I'm not dealing with this today."
Ignoring his lead actress's outburst and subsequent exit stage right, Peyton took another step forward. "I'm here. What do you need?"
"Um, you're not going to believe this, but I kind of need your help and ohmygodicantdoitiknewicouldn't..." She even squeaked the same way as Maxine, right when Maxine got flustered and nervous. "No, nevermind! I'm going to ask it! It'll be easier if you come closer."
The crew ooh'ed like a terrible background track as Peyton was ushered right into the eye of the storm. He grappled for support, wrapping his arms around Cyclone's thin, bony shoulders for dear life. Now, while he was no stranger to tornadoes or twisters, he was a stranger to them calming down while he was in the middle of the storm.
The air even seemed to warm up with Cyclone's gentle laugh as she peered at him through her thick, curly hair. "Hey, stranger."
"Hey," he replied with equal amusement, because frankly, he was a stranger. "What do you need my help with?"
"Well, um..." she coughed, burying her head in his shoulder. "Would you um... would you go on a date with me? Cyclone me? And um, maybe post it to your Facebook wall and make it loud and public?"
Absolutely none of this sounded like something Cyclone would do herself, which meant: this had to be a trap. A bonafide scheme meant to entangle some supervillain of the week, and Cyclone wanted to ask him! Of all people on this universe!
Peyton couldn't help grinning as he gave her a solemn nod. "Absolutely. Just say the word, Cyclone. I'm ready to be a hero."
So Cyclone left him with vague instructions, a brick phone that must've been created in 1992, and wavy hair that rivaled an 80's pop star. Somehow, none of this convinced Sharpay or Tom about his upcoming 'dangerous' mission.
"So you're saying Cyclone visited your set in the middle of a shoot," Sharpay began with a slow, disbelieving voice -
"Then proceeded to ask you out on a date?" Tom asked, already reaching for the antiacids. "In the eye of a storm?"
Peyton nodded, helping himself to more rice and chicken. "Yeah! That's exactly how it went down."
Sharpay and Tom exchanged nervous looks, as if they were about to tell him of their impending divorce. (Which wouldn't happen, because they were rock-solid and one of the strongest couples Peyton had seen in his entire life. The vibes were just there, which was. Not great.)
"Look, she's... she's not the most outspoken heroine, but surely you're dating someone else," Tom suggested, looking to Sharpay for support.
Sharpay nodded enthusiastically. "Like, um, I don't know, our sweet Maxine?"
"Huh?" Peyton blinked back surprise, staring at them both. "Wait, you're serious?"
The nervous looks intensified as Tom chewed on two calcium carbonate tablets.
"So you're not dating Maxine," Tom said after a moment, his gaze already falling on his liquor cabinet. "You're dating Cyclone. Because the JSA needs you to date a superhero and make it public news on social media."
"Now you get it." Peyton reached over and gripped Tom's free hand. "I've always wanted to help out. This is like what, child's play compared to, I don't know, punching a Nazi."
Sharpay stifled a laugh right as Tom shot her a swift, merciless glare. Sometimes, Peyton swore, those two were on a completely different wavelength from the rest of the world.
After what felt like an eternity, Tom sighed, rising up to grab a bottle of gin. "I guess, but just... just don't break Maxine's heart in the process, okay?"
Honestly, Peyton couldn't see how he could possibly break their friend's heart. Maxine lived in Cambridge most of the time, only dropping by NYC for rare weekends when she could take the cheap Chinatown bus. Besides, Maxine didn't seem to like superheroes! She didn't seem to hate them either, like Tom; she was fairly neutral in their polarized household.
Besides, Maxine didn't even have Facebook, did she? Or if she did, she forgot her password one too many times, so she was locked out of her account? Either way, she wouldn't even see the required posts. His family wouldn't get it, nor would most of his work colleagues, but hey. A small price to pay for helping save the world.
"I won't," Peyton promised, the words sounding fake the minute they left his lips. "Or at least, I'll try not to."
Somehow, his words did little to dissuade Tom from pouring another glass of alcohol.