Fifth Floor Common Room, Wednesday Evening

[exspeedydotcom]

After a trip to the grocery store, Roy was ready to actually fend for himself for once, and what better to make on a chilly January day than some nice, spicy comfort food? That was right. Roy was making chili. From Oliver Queen's recipe. One teaspoon cayenne, three tablespoons chili powder, and a healthy dose of Tabasco sauce. God help the unwary.

While it simmered away on the stove, he sat down and grabbed the remote to see what was on TV. This was shaping up to be a good night, really. Chili, TV, and the entertainment value of rookies experiencing chili that tasted like fire for the first time. Yeah, he had no complaints.

And for the record: Yes, he did have functioning taste buds. His sanity...well, that was more questionable.

((Open!))

Comments

[weldedtomyspine]

"Of course. Or," he smirked, "your brain is cooked from too much chili."

[exspeedydotcom]

"It'll take more than this to cook my brain," Roy scoffed. "I've been eating this stuff for years."

[weldedtomyspine]

"So maybe it's already cooked," Jaime grinned.

[exspeedydotcom]

"If it is, I doubt it's the chili that cooked it," Roy said casually. "Can't speak for my tongue, though."

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime ate some more chili and nodded. "This is good stuff... maybe it could use some cheese, though..."

[exspeedydotcom]

"There's cheese and crackers on the counter," Roy said, waving one hand toward them. "Help yourself. There's milk, too. I figured if I didn't stock up on that stuff no one would ever forgive me."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Smart man," Jaime grinned.

"So how are you settling in?"

[exspeedydotcom]

"So far so good?" Roy said. "I'm takin' it one day at a time, y'know?"

[weldedtomyspine]

"Any highlights?"

[exspeedydotcom]

Dinah Lance and Bruce Wayne? No, he couldn't say that. "Did you know King Arthur goes to school here?"

[weldedtomyspine]

"Yeah," Jaime grinned. "Crazy, huh?"

[exspeedydotcom]

"Yeah," Roy agreed. Not as crazy as Bruce Wayne going to school here, but such was the massive unfairness of being one of the few people who would get why that was crazy. Alas.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to drop a line, would it? Even if most people here had apparently never even heard of Gotham City. "Also, Bruce Wayne seems to be a lot less of a flake as a teenager," he said, watching Jaime carefully for his reaction.

[weldedtomyspine]

"Seriously?" Jaime asked. He hadn't run into the kid yet. "Billionaire playboy? That Bruce Wayne?"

Not that he knew why that would matter. Jaime was too scared of Batman to think of him being a regular human.

[exspeedydotcom]

Darn it. "Yeah, he's around here somewhere. Not here, here." Darn it. Roy kind of wanted to see his reaction to the chili. "But I ran into him at the airport waiting for the shuttle. It was kind of my first clue this place was going to be weird."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Oh, yeah. I mean... he's like... old and stuff where I'm from."

Though, for that matter, Roy was older where Jaime was from, too.

[exspeedydotcom]

"Yeah, me too," Roy said. Although he meant 'twenty-something' but he was seventeen. That was old. "At least you know who he is, man, a lot of people don't and it makes me feel weird."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Tell me about it!" Jaime rolled his eyes. "I mean, the guy's famous! Like, Batman or Superman or something. Who hasn't heard of him?"

[exspeedydotcom]

Roy would just choke a little on his chili at the irony here. "I know, he's like, in ever tabloid ever, right?"

[weldedtomyspine]

"I've certainly never heard of one he's not in. Though... is he ever in anything but the tabloids?" Jaime rolled his eyes in amusement. Bruce Wayne: such a waste of oxygen.

Though... there was that one time Jaime had called him to bribe him into buying that hotel... He'd seemed kind of serious on the phone. Not like in the magazines at all.

[exspeedydotcom]

"I think he makes the business pages every now and then," Roy said thoughtfully.

[weldedtomyspine]

"I guess if you're that rich you kinda have to, huh?"

[exspeedydotcom]

"Unless you're one of those creepy recluse types."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Creepy isn't something I think anyone ever accuses that man of being."

[exspeedydotcom]

Ahahahaha.

Ahahahahahahahahaha.

"I don't know, he seems kinda empty-headed, some people might find that creepy."

[weldedtomyspine]

"What? That someone so rich can be so... frivolous? That seems pretty normal to me."