[SCA - AU] Better than Cyclone

[sunrises]

Title: Better than Cyclone
Fandom: DC Comics + Digimon crossover (with mentions of High School Musical)
Universe: Sharpay's Tom's Crossover Adventure
Relationship: Tom+Maxine+Jason (platonic), Jason/Isabel (mentioned)
Summary: Jason, Tom, and Maxine bond over lunch at the Russo Sub Station, as Jason reflects on just how crazy his life's been (and then some) these past few months.

Some days, Jason hated his best friend's success. While he was intensely proud of Tom, privacy had become a foreign concept. Paparazzi parked outside their favorite hangouts; Tom's love life had become the subject of one too many ONTD posts (and US Weekly article); and not even Jason's Facebook had become safe from the dens of greedy fangirls and famewhores.

He supposed he should've been resigned to his fate, yet some small bit of Jason just wanted his friend all to himself. Even when they ate at the Russo Sub Station, people would stare at them before hesitantly wandering over and asking if his best friend was really the Tom Bronson of Calico Beat. Tom would always smile, nod, and autograph anything those teenyboppers asked (with a few exceptions). Jason couldn't blame Tom too much for his polite behavior; Tom worked hard to achieve his current status, and his fans were mostly - mostly! - sane.

At the same time, it had made Jason's life a living nightmare. They couldn't even have a few minutes to themselves? Tom wasn't even on tour; he still had half an album to write. Plus Jason was pursuing a law degree on top of his obligations to the Digital World (and his partner Impmon). Impmon didn't mind, yet Jason always felt guilty about leaving his other best friend behind as he went about his day. Thankfully, the Sub Station's owner was also a Digidestined, so Impmon could have lunch with Wizardmon (the owner's partner) without suspicion or complaints from Justin's kid sister. Seriously, that girl whined more often than Mimi ever had!

Mimi. Her name opened a floodgate of repressed guilt - and the memories associated with them. Mimi Tachikawa, Bruce Wayne's adopted daughter, had tragically passed away in a car crash five years ago; theoretically, he should be "over it." They hadn't even been dating! They'd just been friends. Still, he continued to proudly wear his green crest of Sincerity since she'd complimented him on it once, and he often managed to think about her at the most inopportune of moments.

Tom didn't seem to have that problem. Sure, Tom had a song dedicated to her, "Mimi's Lullaby," and had told Teen Vogue the real story behind it, but they hadn't openly talked about her except on her death day. Their lives had kept moving forward, and they both knew that the past would cling to them too much if they kept dwelling on it.

Willing himself to eat, Jason glumly stared down at his French fries. "So when was Maxine joining us?"

"Her class got out five minutes ago, so she'll be here in half an hour." Tom shrugged. So far, no fans had bothered him. There must've been a world crisis or something; Jason half-expected the streets to swarm with impatient fangirls the second they'd walked in the door.

Tom took one look at his best friend and laughed loudly. "Dude, no one's bugged me because there's a JSA thing outside. My fangirls're too busy swooning over Cyclone."

The blond guy who could control the wind, right? Jason didn't pay the JSA much attention, not like Maxine did. She had memorized their stats and had been this close to running their official website before the Flash had gotten suspicious. In retrospect, it had been a smart move; Maxine had gotten swamped with schoolwork and costume commissions two weeks after her rejection notice.

Jason shrugged. "Better Cyclone than you." Or maybe that was just his possessive streak kicking in.

"I guess." Tom sipped on his Coke before he studied Jason intently, as if he were probing deep into his best friend's soul. It felt almost a little too scary to be natural. "What's really up? I know you hate my fans, but it's not about them, is it?"

Yes and no. The fans sucked, but he'd been in a grumpy mood all day, and Jason couldn't blame Tom's crazy fans for even a moment.

"Not really," Jason admitted, resting his elbows on the table. "I was just thinking... it's Mimi's death day next week, and we haven't even talked about what we're going to do."

"I thought we were just going to do the usual?" Tom raised an eyebrow. "Send the Waynes some flowers, buy the local orphanage some teddy bears in her honor, and eat it up at some sushi place." There was an unspoken sentence, the kind that wanted to ask if Jason was really okay. Jason didn't need to look at Tom to know the hidden meaning there.

"Can we do something beyond the usual?"

He'd already talked to Isabel about it, and while she was helpful (she hadn't been the Digidestined of Reliability for nothing), she didn't know Mimi. Not well enough to help Jason move past her. Which stung, considering she could do other things to distract him - and yet, their intense make-out sessions hadn't been enough. Not this time.

Tom blinked back surprise. "Like what?"

The door burst open at that moment to let Maxine through. Honestly, she looked like a mess: her curly red hair had been tied into a loose ponytail, her face and jeans were smeared with dirt, and even her green fleece jacket had leaves stuck to her sleeves. Concerned, Tom rose to his feet and brushed the dust off her. "What happened?"

Maxine shrugged sheepishly. "I tripped."

"Doesn't look like you had a nice fall," Jason absentmindedly quipped before cringing at himself. He awkwardly smiled at her. "Sorry, force of habit."

She giggled. "It's okay, I'm used to it." Ouch. Jason shouldn't have been surprised; his brand of humor was something that usually grew on people.

Glancing at the back of the sub shop, she pulled up a chair and asked, "Is your friend back there?"

Jason chuckled softly. That word always had a double meaning in the store, and yet it always amused him that she only knew the superficial one. "Yeah, he is. But seriously, what happened?"

"Cyclone happened." Maxine sighed, blowing her bangs out of her hair. "Well, some guy tried to rob a bookstore - stupid, right? - and Cyclone was all 'WHOOSH, I'LL STOP YOU BAD GUY!' and I was like 'wrong place at the wrong time!!' and when he sent that gust of wind, I tripped and then he saved me after tying up the bad guy and said he was sorry for it but I couldn't see his face and he sounded really familiar and gosh I really need to eat I'm starving---"

"Slow down." Tom promptly handed her a menu. "I think I caught maybe only every fifth word."

"Better than me," Jason shook his head. "All I heard was that she's starving. Justin said the Asian salad'll be your best bet today."

She blushed, glancing over at Jason from behind her menu. "He did?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah. Juliet's the one making it today, and she's pretty good at them, so give it a try and let us know how it tastes."

For some reason, Maxine always acted funny around him. Tom once likened it to a lovesick puppy, but Jason wasn't so sure. Maxine was a smart kid, and sure, she seemed like she'd make a cute girlfriend, but she was also underage. Jason didn't feel quite right hitting on a college freshman, especially one that could've been Tom's sister in another life.

"Okay!" She beamed, waving Justin over with her menu. Once Justin had taken her order and left, she tilted her head to the side. "Wait, does that mean you guys didn't hear about how Cyclone saved me?"

Jason tried not to laugh. "He did? Really?" Her obsession with this boy was almost as ludicrous as the idea of Maxine crushing on him. "What does this make... his fifth time in two months?"

Maxine wasn't exactly a danger-prone kid, so this Cyclone guy had to have some crush on her in return. Jason wasn't a love expert (by any stretch of the imagination); for all he knew, he could be horrendously wrong. From what little he knew about capes, he could surmise that either she was pursuing Cyclone like mad - which she could be! - or he was closer to her than she thought.

"I guess." Maxine hid her face behind her sweater sleeves. Jason could still see her red face, which almost matched the color of her hair. "He was still really sweet! I tried to text Peyton about it, but 'he had a thing.'"

Tom smiled at Jason knowingly. "That's a bummer. Was Pinkstar there?"

"Yeah, actually - how'd you know?"

Tom shrugged. "They're teammates. If Cyclone's somewhere, it's only logical that Pinkstar follows him."

If Jason didn't stop Tom, his best friend would go on some crazy mathematical rant about how 'if A precedes B, then A before B' and honestly, Jason wasn't here for that either. Tom's math skills were almost as scary as the fangirls. Almost being the keyword.

"Yeah, yeah," Jason snorted. "Did you finally get to see his costume up close?"

"I got to feel it!" Maxine squealed. "It wasn't actually spandex, which is so weird since most capes admit to this kevlar-spandex blend that's good for speed and compressing their body mass, but I think he used fleece and satin! Satin on the outside, but it was a fleece lining and it looked so warm and comfortable and--"

"--and you think you might be able to make something like it?" Jason asked, in hopes that he might deflect the motormouth for a few more seconds.

"I hope so! It didn't look too difficult. I actually felt kind of bad, since it looked like he might've made it himself... and he probably isn't much of a seamstress. Seamster? What's the masculine word anyways?"

"Like I know," Tom snorted. "I'm glad you finally got what you wanted." Even if it sounded kind of creepy to both of them.

The second Justin brought Maxine's lunch, Jason held out his glass and let Justin refill it with some more Coke. There really were some benefits to having a restaurant owner as a fellow Digidestined!

"Imp's okay back there, right?" He whispered in Justin's ear.

Justin nodded emphatically. "Yeah. Wizard--" He smiled sheepishly at Tom and Maxine. "Just come meet me after lunch's over." Figures that Justin'd still be nervous, even after Jason admitted to spilling the beans to his best friends. Maxine might still be out of the loop - Jason couldn't remember - but he wouldn't mind telling her eventually.

She seemed like the kind of kid who deserved to know that Jason moonlighted as a Chosen One, destined to save the world from evil digital monsters. (Even in his head, that sounded dumb.)

Tom shook his head the second Justin was out of sight. "He still thinks we don't know?"

"Don't know what?"

Jason smiled, somewhat smugly, before he ruffled Maxine's hair. "You'll see."

He meant it this time too: as dumb as his secret was, his best friend deserved to know - even if she didn't exactly have the best taste in boys.