Chapter Text
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"You want to know my suggestion?" Asked the level headed voice of Cub, manager of the well known hero duo, Hotguy and Cuteguy.
Said heroes stood in front of the manager in his spacious office, in one of the top floors of the hero headquarters in Hermitopia.
Cuteguy, known privately to his closer friends and coworkers as Grian, stood in a somewhat defensive stance as if he knew what was coming.
"Go outside and talk to people." Cub stated lightly with a shrug.
Grian's expression morphed briefly into disgust as he stared at Cub. While tame sounding on the surface, the suggestion sent a wave of exasperated dread through him. Grian had to fight himself to avoid rolling his eyes.
"Ooh!" Scar exclaimed beside him. The hero, dressed in his full Hotguy outfit minus the sunglasses, placed his palms on the desk that Cub sat at and leaned forwards in interest; clearly more enthusiastic about interactions with the public.
Grian took the moment to look over to Scar, slightly amused at their opposing reactions.
It was evident from the start that Scar enjoyed his interactions with the public of Hermitopia far more than Grian did.
Sure, there were always the occasional fun interviews and podcasts that they were invited to. And replying to people with their hero personas on social media always got funny reactions. But it was one thing to come out with planned, rehearsed, and edited publicity stunts, and quite another to simply present themselves live in front of hundreds, thousands of real eyes. All with real opinions, and real voices.
Scar on the other hand, seemed far more adjusted to the live lifestyle. When in public after battles with mob hordes or even villains of all types, he could easily don the Hotguy persona that every citizen seemed to know; and that most seemed to love.
Scar was, after all, a solo hero for quite a while before Grian became Cuteguy. Without Cub, Grian, or any of the other heroes or staff members at the headquarters, Scar had to learn how to develop and manage his Hotguy persona all on his own.
"I mean, we could just-" Scar began again enthusiastically, as he mimicked a booming noise, he made a motion with his hands. "We could land superhero style right on the street, and people will start snapping pictures left and right!"
Grian's annoyance at the prospect of speaking with strangers was slowly wearing off in favour of amusement as he smiled up at the taller hero beside him.
"And-and y'know," Scar continued, "we could offer fistbumps, do a bit of flexing, get some babies to laugh," the hero continued to list off happily.
Grian raised a finger at his last statement with a slightly bewildered expression, before it morphed back into a smile at his friend's antics. "Only babies?" He asked. "We'd just go out to make some random babies laugh and call it a day?"
"Well, okay-" Scar started to explain, before Cub chose to jump back into the conversation from behind his desk.
With his own amused smile, Cub nodded. "That all sounds great, Scar, make as many babies laugh as you can."
Grian snickered a little, as Scar gave his own mirthful eye roll, and Cub continued.
"The point is," Cub began, "I think a little bit of public interaction would be beneficial to both of your hero personas, as well as the entire hero headquarters."
The manager continued to explain. "Our goal here is to help the citizens feel more at ease in our presence, so that in times of emergency, public cooperation might make evacs and rescues easier."
Both of the heroes stood at the other side of Cub's desk nodded along.
"Right." Cub nodded as well, and he stood from his office chair to better meet the heroes' gazes.
As if beginning a mission briefing, Cub briefly met Scar's eyes, and then glanced over to Grian's. "The key here is to be unscheduled. Meet the public as they come naturally. We want our heroes to appear more human, more approachable." He explained.
Grian knew that the majority of the heroes seemed anything but human, often quite literally; which was the case with himself and his wings. And sure, he could understand wanting the public to feel more secure around such a powerful, seemingly untouchable crew.
Scar seemed to share this thought, as he looked quite excited. It was, of course, rare that they got an order to - essentially, go hang out and do nothing but pose and revel in the public's attention.
Cub nodded once again, seemingly satisfied with his briefing. "Go out there, have fun, but mind public safety." He summarized.
Scar confirmed this with his own nod, and he wagged a finger at Cub with his own thought. "It would be a good idea to keep moving, I think, so that we don't get swarmed." The taller hero pointed out.
"Mm, yes." Cub agreed enthusiastically, and Grian nodded as well. Being swarmed would definitely complicate the idea of seeming *less intimidating*.
With one final confirmation between the three of them, Grian and Scar moved to make their way to the door of Cub's office. Well, this was happening now, it seemed.
"Good luck, you two!" The manager called back to them. "I'll be in contact via your communicators, don't hesitate to give me a shout!"
"Thanks Cub!" Scar called back.
"Bye!" Grian waved.
The hero duo began to make their way to the elevators in preparation to head off into the eyes of the public for the day.
Right, so, they just needed to talk to people! Pose for some pictures, make some people laugh...? Probably get heckled a bit...
Grian would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little bit nervous. Really, what was there to be nervous about? They had done much, much riskier and more dangerous tasks than this. Hell, they had even done press conferences and on-the-spot interviews with the public before!
In reality, there were always some nerves to be expected when interacting on-the-go with the public. It was just in the nature of the citizens to be curious about their famed heroes, and nobody could really blame them.
Grian and Scar had to expect the unexpected; and the thought of unknown future scenarios was enough to make even the strongest hero apprehensive.
Still, the duo shared a confident look as they stepped into the elevator.
Scar pressed the button that indicated the very top floor of the tower, and he snagged his teal and orange Hotguy sunglasses out of his pocket to place them securely on his face. He checked over his mech leg braces, adjusted his bow strapped to his back, and briefly checked his quiver attached to his leg armour.
In turn, Grian took the moment in the elevator to don his Cuteguy mask, as he adjusted his own bow, and checked his daggers.
"Ready for some fun?" Scar asked Grian with a wicked smile as the elevator reached the top.
Grian shook off his metaphorical nerves, and he let out a brief, maniacal giggle. "This is going to be so chaotic, dude!" He cheered back.
The elevator made a slight "ding!" As they reached their destination, and the doors opened smoothly to reveal the roof of the hero headquarters.
Where Scar and Grian first stepped into the elevator on Cub's floor of the building, now, out stepped Hotguy and Cuteguy.
It was midday in early summer. There was only a slight breeze, and no clouds to be seen in the sky. Many citizens would be out and about, coming to and from work, enjoying the weather. All in all, quite a pleasant day to be doing something that - Grian still held a small amount of dread for.
Although, no one could yet see them up so high - they had to get down to the crowded sidewalks somehow.
Grian closed his eyes and took one deep breath in, revelling in the quiet of the city above the rooftops. Scar moved to stand next to him at the edge of the building. For a moment, neither moved, and all was quiet.
Grian opened his eyes and squared his shoulders. Beside him, Scar readied the glider attachment of his suit.
What better way for two well known superheroes to make their entrance, than by landing from the sky?
A moment later, Grian's smirk returned.
"Last one down has to re-string all of the broken bows!" Grian called out, and he took off without so much as a warning; with a grand swoop of his wings.
Behind him, Grian heard a shout from Scar. He briefly glanced behind himself to see the other hero taking off as well, his competitive gaze set on the horizon.
The two heroes glided for a moment, before they spotted a familiar street across from the central park of Hermitopia. It was populated, but not overly dense. This would do for their first location; the heroes shared a glance in silent agreement.
Grian pulled his wings in close to go into a nosedive, and Scar moved to do the same with his glider.
At the last second, Grian flared out his wings to ensure a graceful landing. There were a few startled cries from the surrounding citizens as he softly met the ground.
Grian turned just in time to witness Scar land much harder a few feet behind him. Intentional or not, Scar settled in a classic *superhero landing* pose, before he straightened up with a winning smile at the shocked onlookers.
Grian knew, with amusement, that the landing was most likely intentional, but that it did also hurt to land so roughly. Ah well, the cost of flair, he supposed. Scar's armour and braces did their job, fortunately.
They'd probably end up re-stringing their pile of broken bows together at some point, anyways.
As both heroes met in the middle to face the growing crowd before them, there was a minute of shocked silence.
Many, many eyes were staring at Hotguy and Cuteguy, who looked around awkwardly at the sudden influx of attention. Slowly, silently, a few phone cameras went up to either record, or take pictures.
After a moment, Scar seemed to remember himself. He shook his head slightly with a warm smile. "Well hello there, Hermitopia citizens!" The hero opened warmly, with a showman's wave.
Nobody responded, besides a few more phone cameras emerging from the crowd.
"Hey there." Grian waved to their audience from beside Scar, with a slightly mischievous smile at the plethora of shocked faces.
After another awkward moment of silence, someone in the crowd finally spoke up. "Are we in danger?" They asked. Several heads turned to them, and a few of the shocked faces turned to muted alarm.
Another voice added on before either hero could respond. "Are there mobs coming? Should we run?" They asked nervously.
"Oh! No, no no!" Scar exclaimed before any other voices could rise. "We're just- um, patrolling! No need to worry!" The hero enunciated with a calming gesture with his hand.
Grian, amused, finally chose to jump in. "It's a nice day." He explained casually. "We just wanted to say our hello's, that's all!" He ended with a cheeky thumbs up towards the group of citizens.
Scar scratched the back of his neck with a light chuckle at the state of their mission so far. No press conference was ever quite this awkward, for one.
But slowly, upon realizing there was no danger, the crowd seemed to rile up in enthusiasm.
"Hotguy, over here!" One person called. The hero duo distantly wondered if a reporter had somehow already made their way over.
"Cuteguy! I love your wings!" Came another shout from the crowd.
Grian chuckled and did a little spin on his heel to flare out his wings at this, and Scar watched on fondly as the crowd's enthusiasm amped up.
What was once an awkward entrance quickly became a more familiar, chaotic hero meet and greet, of sorts. Grian and Scar stood together amongst the middle of the growing crowd and posed for pictures with several citizens, answered questions, and had brief conversations with many.
It was suddenly very busy, and even louder. The crowd clamoured, and held on to every word the heroes uttered as best as they could, amongst the mess of voices and city noises.
Some initial members of the crowd seemed to walk off, perhaps having business to attend to after ensuring that they weren't in immediate danger with the sudden presence of two extremely popular heroes. But this was nothing compared to how quickly the crowd was growing. Clearly, news spread fast of their presence.
Amongst all of the voices growing in volume, posing for countless pictures and answering questions where he could, Grian took note of the size of the crowd. He remembered their mission, and he realized that it was definitely time that they moved on.
He saw no immediate exit with the public surrounding the heroes, and Scar seemed to be wrapped up in a conversation with a teen and their mother.
Well, they didn't want to cause too big of a disruption, and the crowd was now nearly blocking traffic with the attention they were receiving. So, Grian thought fast, and pulled out his communicator. He turned on the screen, and gently elbowed Scar in the side to get his counterpart's attention.
Grian didn't actually intend to contact anyone on the communicator quite yet, lest they lose control of this crowd. But none of the citizens needed to know this.
Scar glanced down at Grian, and to the blank home screen of the communicator in his hand. Grian raised his eyebrows at his hero partner, and after a moment and a glance around, the taller hero got the hint and cleared his throat with a grand clap of his hands.
Grian stood a little taller with Scar as he addressed the now large crowd before them. Scar was always the best at public speaking; and he naturally had the required showmanship that came with hero business.
"Thank you, everyone!" Scar announced grandly, holding everyone's attention. "We truly appreciate all of the love and support."
"Unfortunately, Cutie and I will have to get a move on now. Hero duty always calls, my friends!" Scar finished with a dramatic pose.
Grian nodded exaggeratedly with his own pose, although he could not mask the slightly mocking smile his expression held.
Scar turned to Grian with an exaggerated wink, which Grian returned with an offered fistbump to the taller hero.
Almost inhumanly fast, the two heroes took off back into the sky. Grian with a powerful swoop of his wings, and Scar with a perfectly timed firework rocket explosion under his glider.
Grian briefly heard the crowd exclaim as they launched, and then they were back into the blissful quiet of the sky.
Both heroes took a moment to breathe after the chaos below, as they glided close together with the breeze over the city.
Grian heard Scar sigh off to the side. Grian looked over and gave him a light, questioning look.
Scar looked up from where he glided slightly below Grian, and he let out another sigh with a slight shake of his head, although he held a light smile.
"That was not how I thought that was going to go." Scar stated simply, sounding a bit tired.
Grian clicked his tongue. "Yep, that was *pretty* chaotic" The avian agreed.
"But I mean," Grian began again after a moment in thought, "we talked to people, posed for pictures, what more could we have done?" He asked.
Scar looked down to the city below in thought. "I don't know." He shrugged lightly with his head. "I guess I just thought we'd get to like, talk to people more one-on-one, get to know them a tiny bit, you know?"
"Mm, yeah. I get that." Grian nodded towards his friend.
The two continued to glide around the city a moment longer. They could go back to the tower and call it a day, Grian knew. They technically did accomplish what they set out to do. But it certainly didn't feel very satisfying.
If they were going to interact with the public, to seem more human, more approachable, a giant crowd in the middle of the street wasn't exactly the best way to go about it.
Gliding lower now, Grian re-focused in on where they were. As it turned out, they didn't actually go far; for the most part the two heroes stayed circling around the central part of the city.
Below them was one of the farther corners of central park. More of a wooded area with several ancient, tall trees shading the paths below.
A beloved walking path for a calm stroll, and definitely less populated than the main paths of the park.
"Down there?" Grian asked simply, regaining Scar's attention.
Scar looked down to where Grian was indicating. "Yeah!" The taller hero agreed lightly, now much calmer as he smiled warmly.
The two heroes once again made for a landing.
Grian landed smoothly near the centre of the wooded path. A moment later, a violent rustle of leaves sounded out from above him, followed by a somewhat high pitched Scar scream.
Grian glanced upwards to see Scar reopening his glider at the top of a tree. Scar dived down to try for a second, successful attempt at landing on the ground relatively smoothly.
And covered in leaves.
Grian let out a full fledged laugh at his best friend. He walked up to pluck a single leaf sticking out from the very top of his head, still chuckling all the while.
Scar, clearly amused himself, pretended to act defiantly as he crossed his arms with a thinly disguised smile. Still, he ducked down to allow the removal of said leaf from his hair.
Finally settled, the two heroes took in their surroundings.
Perhaps they shouldn't have been surprised to see a young adult on their bike, leaning with one foot on the ground to witness the heroes *graceful* landing with a perplexed expression. They held their phone camera up to record the entire scene.
"Oh, come on." Grian heard Scar mutter through clenched teeth under his breath.
This only served to send Grian into another laugh, allowing Scar to step forward as he recovered.
Scar let out a single chuckle. "Hello." He greeted simply, and he gestured politely, if not a little embarrassed towards the recording person on their bike.
The civilian seemed to snap out of their shock a little. "Hi...? Hotguy?" They greeted back, still perplexed.
Grian, now somewhat recovered as well, walked up to join Scar.
The civilian, apparently having seen enough, chose then to pocket their phone, and get back to riding their bike with one more polite, perplexed wave as they passed by.
"J-ah, oh, ok! Bye, have a good time!" Scar stumbled in his words as the person left, and he sent a hasty wave back to them.
"Wow, dude." Grian chuckled once more, looking up to Scar with mirth in his eyes.
"Stop it!" Scar joined in on the laughter, shaking his head in amused frustration. "It was just a tree."
"Mhm." Grian teased, before he refocused on a cart a little way down the thankfully otherwise empty path.
Grian perked up upon approaching closer, immediately gesturing over to the colourful cart off to the side of the path. "Ice cream?" He simply asked the taller Hero.
Scar gasped upon the suggestion, and without hesitation the two heroes dashed over to browse the flavours; publicity mission briefly forgotten.
But hey, after all, two heroes strolling in a park eating ice cream? How much more human could they get?
The worker at the ice cream stall shook off a brief shock upon seeing the two famous heroes as his latest customers, and Grian and Scar made their selections.
Now happily with their chosen ice creams, the two heroes continued walking the sparsely populated path of the park.
This was, for one, much calmer than their situation before. A few people would pass occasionally as they walked casually, so both heroes justified this time as still on topic for their current mission. Technicalities for the win.
This was also something that they'd do pretty regularly in their civilian personas. So to be Hotguy and Cuteguy, instead of Scar and Grian in this moment, felt both natural and strange at the same time.
As they enjoyed their summer treats, there was the occasional passer by. The heroes happily stopped for photos and a quick chat; many surprised and excited upon meeting the heroes so casually.
One of the civilians passing by paused as she took in the scene before her.
"Oi!" The woman exclaimed harshly from the other side of the path, gathering Grian's and Scar's attention. "You heroes just having a day off? Eating ice cream while people are getting mugged?"
Scar and Grian paused, and shared a look between each other.
This, of course, was expected. Being heroes for as long as they'd been, especially Scar, there were always the negative comments. Some held valid points with constructive criticism, and others were just uninformed and harsh.
There was no publicity after all, without negativity at some point.
Cub had reassured them many times. Any hero could take a break when needed or wanted; there were plenty of heroes in the headquarters who had the city covered. This was public knowledge, as Cub had ensured as well.
Cub had also told them to ignore any needlessly negative comments. Don't respond, and focus on the good.
So naturally, as they walked by, Grian uttered a barely audible "yup!" In response.
The woman who had heckled the hero duo just stared on as they walked past her, and Scar had to look down towards the ground in order to contain his snicker at Grian's quiet response.
A few more photos and some "hello's" here and there, and their ice creams were long finished. They were chatting happily, coming up on a more populated area of the park, when Scar seemed to notice something, and veered off to the far side of the path.
Grian's gaze followed his friend, and found him to be approaching an old lady sat alone on a bench by a small pond near the end of the wooded area of the park.
Intrigued, Grian walked over to join.
As he got closer, Scar had already begun to talk to the old lady.
"Hello there!" Grian heard his counterpart begin with. "I'm sorry, if you want to be alone I'll leave right away. But um," Scar paused, and took a breath. "Well, this is a very pretty view." The taller hero gestured out towards the pond.
The lady, thankfully, seemed delighted. "This is my favorite spot, dear. I'm glad someone else noticed it." She responded warmly, and patted the spots on the bench next to her, indicating for the heroes to sit.
Scar sat directly next to the lady in the middle of the bench, and Grian set himself down on the other side of him.
"I'm ah- Hotguy," Scar began to properly introduce his superhero persona with a polite hand to his chest. "And this is my sidekick Cuteguy." Scar gestured to Grian on his other side.
"I am a full fledged hero, I'll have you know." Grian commented at the *sidekick* detail.
Scar just gave him a smug smile, and the lady's expression only warmed further. "I'm Carolyn." She responded kindly.
"It's nice to meet you Carolyn." Scar responded happily, before he leaned over to Grian. "And, you're still my sidekick." He murmured teasingly.
Grian just huffed a laugh and shook his head, staring out into the pond with unfocused eyes.
Scar started up a casual conversation with Carolyn as they relaxed by the pond, and Grian took the moment to reflect on how the mission had gone so far.
Intentional interactions with the public was the name of the game today. Be friendly neighbourhood heroes, meet people, and show off some personality.
Well, they didn't really get to do much of that in the large crowd on their first attempt on the street earlier.
And now, in the park, they only had brief interactions with a few people passing by. Again, it was progress, but only a small amount at that.
Grian couldn't help his darkly amused smile. Maybe Carolyn was the only civilian they were going to make a real connection with today.
And truly, was there much of a point to this mission anyways? Make some connections with the public. In times of crisis, would any of this actually help?
Grian thought, as he stared out into the rippling pond, that the whole afternoon was wasted.
They could have been training, or actually patrolling, or working on one of their bigger cases.
Well, at least the stroll in the park with Scar and the ice cream was nice.
Grian breathed for a moment. He continued to watch the ripples in the pond reflect shimmering sparkles of sunlight.
The breeze was still present, lightly ruffling his feathers in a pleasant, cooling way. The trees moved along with it, and there was a constant, soft rustling as the leaves moved in the wind.
The sun on their faces was warm, but not hot. The tree directly above them provided windows of shade with its large branches, and Grian had the brief instinct to fly up and lazily perch on one of the larger branches near the trunk of the tree.
Okay, this was pretty nice too. On the bench next to Scar and Carolyn as the hero and the old lady chatted idly.
In a much more peaceful state of mind, Grian tuned back into Scar's and Carolyn's conversation. It seemed that at some point they had gotten onto talking about Carolyn's life.
Carolyn was describing the years of fun she had with her best friend. Grian didn't catch the name, but they were already far into the conversation, and he wasn't about to interrupt.
Instead, Grian listened intently as he focused on Scar's and Carolyn's faces beside him.
"We're lucky to have each other." Carolyn continued, and Scar smiled gently as he nodded along. "I'm actually waiting here because we're going to dinner in a while." "...And me, I'm always the early bird." She added, with a chuckle.
Scar let out a laugh as well at this, and turned to look at Grian with a mirthful smirk. "Sounds kind of like someone I know." He stated with a squint towards Grian.
Grian snickered along with the two, and gestured to one of his wings. "I mean, maybe in a literal sense." He shrugged with a smile.
"Hey, Grian," Scar began again, "Did you hear that Carolyn and her best friend once destroyed one of their college roommate's Redstone machines?" The taller hero giggled as he made the comparison clear to Grian.
Grian laughed in amazement. "Oh no way!" He exclaimed as he looked across Scar to Carolyn.
Neither hero seemed to notice Scar’s slip up of Grian’s civilian name. And if Carolyn had noticed, there was no indication.
The lady had thrown her head back in a hearty laugh at the memory, which only made Grian and Scar crack up more.
"Dude, Sc- Hotguy and I have so many friends that are Redstone wizards!" Grian began to explain happily, "and we've- uh, destroyed more than a few machines ourselves, that's for sure." The avian's voice raised in pitch as he admitted
Carolyn only laughed more at this. "Troublemakers, all of us!" She tutted.
After another moment of laughter, Carolyn signed with a smile. "I never expected to have any similarities with heroes like you two, of all people." She stated with wonder in her voice.
Scar gestured with a nonchalant shrug as he smiled towards Grian, and then to Carolyn. "We're just some dudes, at the end of the day." He states with a huff of laughter.
Carolyn met Scar's, and Grian's gazes through their respective superhero face wear. She sighed happily, and sat up slightly.
"Well," She started, "It was lovely to meet both of you, truly." She said genuinely as she moved to stand. "I better be off to meet my friend for dinner now, I think."
Grian and Scar stood with her, and Carolyn offered her hand to both of them to shake heartily.
"If you ever need help with anything," Scar began to speak in a lower, more serious tone, "please call us. We're never too busy."
Carolyn looked grateful. "I'll remember that, thank you dears." She responded.
"Have a good dinner!" Grian waved as they started to part ways.
Scar waved back as well, as Carolyn made her way out of the park, and the two heroes were once again alone in the late afternoon breeze.
They decided to walk a bit longer down towards the more central path of the park, talking idly about Scar's conversation with Carolyn all the while. As it turned out, the similarities between civilian best friends and hero best friends weren't that different after all.
"Hotguy! Cuteguy!" A younger voice yelled out from across a field off of the path they were on.
Their heads immediately snapped up at the prospect of someone in distress; but both heroes were relieved to see a group of friends playing frisbee waving to them instead.
Scar waved back happily, but Grian had a better idea brewing.
It seemed that the group had a similar idea, judging by the fact that they were persistently beckoning the two heroes over.
Now this was more Grian's speed of public interaction. He hastily grabbed Scar's arm, and made their way over to the group. Not that Scar fought for long; having quickly realized and become excited for the possibility of a game as well.
The group cheered as the heroes approached, and both Grian and Scar smiled at their excitement.
Noticeably, there were once again several phone cameras recording the interaction.
Once they were finally face to face with the group of frisbee players, there was a moment of clamour as more photos were taken, and several of the members greeted them excitedly.
Eventually, one of the frisbee players at the front stepped forward with a shy smile and spoke up above the noise of the group to gather attention. The rest quieted down after a moment, this player seemingly a team leader of some sort.
There was some nervous giggling before they spoke again. "Hotguy, Cuteguy. Hi." The giggling returned as they turned to their friends behind them.
"Hello there!" Came from Scar
"Hi!" Grian greeted.
"Um, we, uh-" The team leader stammered a little, "We were just wondering, i-if you have time," they trailed off, seemingly quite nervous to speak to the heroes.
Grian and Scar shared an amused look between them.
"Can we play frisbee?" Scar finally looked back over to request towards the group and the team leader.
"Yes!" The team leader laughed, with a few others responding behind them enthusiastically as well. "Please yes!"
Another, seemingly more confident player stepped forwards beside the team leader with a smirk. "All of us, against you two!" They challenged with a point.
Scar gasped excitedly beside Grian, and Grian looked over to him with a laugh as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
"Oh, you're on!" Grian challenged back after a firm nod to Scar.
The group cheered, and some began to move back into practiced formation.
"Alright!" The team leader cheered as well. "End zones are marked on either side," they pointed. "How about first to fifteen wins?"
The heroes nodded. "Sounds good!" Scar responded back to them.
Grian and Scar weren't professional frisbee players by any means, but they were, of course, superheroes. It was fair to assume that they were at least somewhat evenly matched against the entire group, which apparently was a sentiment that was shared by the increased number of spectators on the side of the field. Some with cameras to document the impromptu sporting event.
As they prepared for the game to begin, there was plenty of cheering and chanting for both teams.
And when the frisbee flew, the game was on.
Right away, the group of young players seemed to have the clear advantage with numbers.
The frisbee flew almost seamlessly through multiple passes into the heroes' side of the field, and Grian and Scar had to quickly take up defence.
Scar jumped into the line of sight of the current frisbee holder as they looked for the best opening to pass to someone.
Being the tall hero, he was quite the distraction, and the frisbee holder had to pivot and lean around to try and find someone to pass to.
Finally making their shot, Grian took the opportunity to dive in with a little bit of propulsion from his wings. (It was two against ten, sue him.) Grian caught the frisbee out of the air and landed near the mid-field.
He quickly spotted Scar making a dash for the farther end of the opposing side's field, and he knew they needed to move fast.
"Hotguy!" Grian called out as he prepared to throw the frisbee.
Scar turned just as he reached the back of the field, and several opposing team members rushed over to try and block the pass.
They were too late though, as Grian set his target, and he sent the frisbee flying high into the air with all of his strength; straight into the hands of Scar.
Several spectators and frisbee team members let out amazed shouts and cheers at the perfect long pass.
Grian wasted no time, with a bit more help from his wings, he dashed over to the far end zone near Scar.
Without a moment of hesitation, Scar tossed the frisbee to Grian with inhuman accuracy without even looking. He met his match perfectly, and Grian caught the frisbee in the end zone to gain the hero team the first point of the game.
Wild cheers erupted from the spectators, and the two heroes ran together to celebrate with a strong high five.
As they met, Grian took note of how happy, even relaxed Scar looked - especially for being out in public in his hero persona for so long.
Grian wouldn't be surprised to hear that he himself looked very much the same.
The field was reset, and the game continued on.
The frisbee team ended up scoring several times over as well, and the heroes met up closely with them until the game was fourteen-fourteen even. The last point would determine the winner.
The spectators watched on, many recording and streaming the impromptu event live for the world to see.
Scar held the frisbee once again, close to their home end zone on the field. He pivoted around to search for Grian amongst the crowd, and he found his sidekick hastily making his way backwards, focused on Scar as he prepared to pass the frisbee.
Scar smirked as the opposing team members jumped and crowded around him in an attempt to block Scar's throw. Several were giggling, and there was constant cheering coming from the spectators on the sidelines.
With a spin to show off, Hotguy finally tossed the frisbee with a needless amount of strength, much higher above any of their heads and over to Grian's direction.
Grian focused on the disc spinning rapidly towards him. He took a few steps back as he observed the sheer velocity of it.
And he knocked right into a frisbee team member playing defensive behind him.
Grian nearly tripped, and he rapidly turned around to make sure the civilian behind him was alright.
In his distraction, the frisbee landed on the grass just a few meters before the end zone.
An opposing team member quickly snatched it up, and as Grian recovered from his stumble, he made eye contact with Scar from across the field.
He could see Scar's chuckling expression from the distance of the field; with a competitive determination that Grian knew he matched.
Back to defence, then.
As if they had communicated silently, Scar and Grian moved almost in sync to cover as much of the playing area as possible as the opposing team passed the frisbee along.
The team, however, was skilled in keeping the frisbee in their hands.
The yelling and cheering of the crowd increased as the frisbee team neared the heroes end zone.
The two heroes gave their best effort in blocking and trying to intercept the frisbee once again. Scar was dashing around the edge of the group trying to find an opening, and Grian set himself right in the middle to try and act as a cover for the frisbee holder as it moved along.
Despite their efforts, the crowd went wild as the frisbee team made one final short pass into the end zone, winning the game.
Scar and Grian couldn't be too upset at the loss. It was clear that both heroes had a genuinely fun time, as they glanced happily at each other for a moment. That, and the fact that the frisbee team was much more practiced in this specific sport, after all.
Besides, losing a recreational sporting game *did* align with their mission of the day; to appear more human - not that it was intentional.
The entire group made their way back to the middle of the field, and soon, Scar and Grian were once again in the middle of a crowd as more spectators made their way onto the field in celebration.
Yet, there was a general sense of cheer with this crowd. Many still had phones out recording and taking photos, but each crowd member could be singled out when they spoke, as they discussed excitedly about the game and their big win.
Both heroes dished out high fives to the winning team, and they were able to congratulate them properly for a game well played.
"Have either of you played frisbee before?" Came a friendly voice from the team.
Grian thought for a moment. "I can't say that I have." He confirmed with a shrug and a smile. He looked up to Scar in question too.
Scar seemed to think for a moment as well, before he responded. "I mean," he began with a mischievous smile, "I used to like to pretend I had a superhero's shield when I was a kid." He shrugged lightly.
This earned a few giggles from the crowd.
"You are both welcome to join our team any day, dudes." Another team member nodded towards the heroes.
"Hey," Scar pointed back to them kindly, "we would always be up to another round if we aren't busy, what'd you think, Cuteguy?" The taller hero smirked at his sidekick, who nodded enthusiastically.
"That was honestly more fun than I thought it would be." Grian agreed. "It's not often we get to use our full strength and speed outside of training."
A few members of the crowd seemed fascinated at this fact, and the overall presence of the heroes talking so casually.
They answered a few more questions, took some photos with spectators and team members alike, and offered plenty more high fives and fistbumps.
Somewhere along the clamour, one of the team members suggested a group photo with the heroes. And before they knew it, all of the frisbee team had lined up with Scar and Grian in the centre, with a bunch of spectators in front of them ready to take the photos.
Hotguy and Cuteguy posed, and there were many laughs amongst the crowd as plenty of photos were snapped.
Grian sighed happily as the group dispersed a little after the photo. While he was dreading it at first, this had somehow turned into a pretty fun day overall. Almost like a day off, but just in their hero personas, and with a lot more attention than they would get as civilians.
In a way, it was actually kind of freeing, Grian thought. There was no need for them to hide any of their strengthened abilities, and their identities were securely hidden behind their hero outfits and masks. They could enjoy the day as Cuteguy and Hotguy, but also as Grian and Scar underneath.
The avian looked over to his taller hero counterpart, and found him kneeled down a few feet away to gleefully shake hands with a young toddler as their parent stood behind, amused.
Only a second later, and Scar seemed to lose his balance in the kneel; and he plopped down rather ungracefully, fully onto the ground.
The toddler's face lit up with a high pitched giggle, and she mimicked Hotguy's action with a plop down onto the ground of her own.
Scar fully laughed, and he gently clapped his hands together a few times in a successful effort to get the baby to mimic him again.
Grian couldn't help his laugh as he approached closer.
The parent requested a quick photo with the baby and hero, and they were soon off. Scar stood up to full height hastily and met Grian's gaze with a goofy smile.
"Made a baby laugh." Scar stated proudly as he made a finger gun towards Grian. "Day officially successful."
Grian let out yet another snicker and gave Scar a few fond pats on the shoulder.
Around them, there were still countless civilians of all kinds. They did a few more photos and greetings here and there, when suddenly, a chirp sounded from both of the heroes’ communicators.
In sync, Grian and Scar pulled out their communicators, and they shared a wordless look.
A new mission briefing. They were to meet back up with Cub at the tower ASAP.
With one last look to Grian, Scar once again took charge and raised his voice to address the crowd.
"It's been fun, everyone! Thank you so much for hanging out with us today." He began with an enthusiastic wave.
"Unfortunately, hero duty calls." Grian added on, projecting his own voice.
"We must be off!" Scar gestured grandly, and Grian had to hold in a scoff at the dramatics of his friend.
Several more people came closer to wave the heroes off fondly, with many voices ringing out their farewells.
"Thanks, guys!" Grian waved to the onlooking group.
Scar sent out a salute to the crowd. "Farewell!" He smiled, and both heroes looked at each other with a firm nod.
Without another word, they launched up into the sky in sync, in an impossibly swift movement.
As they settled into a glide back to the tower, Scar sighed happily from beside Grian.
"That was so much fun, dude!" The taller hero exclaimed.
"Yep, I'd say that’s a successful mission!" Grian confirmed cheerfully.
__
As Hotguy and Cuteguy were briefed on their next mission, several news outlets and social media timelines were flooded with new photos and videos of the two famous heroes laughing and having fun with each other, and other civilians.
The entire frisbee game was recorded in full, and made its way onto trending tabs within minutes. Sporting channels and analysis crews studied the heroes' inexperienced, yet strong moves; and fitness junkies all over the world expressed their awe at witnessing the heroes’ full strength in such a casual setting.
Among the flood of content from the heroes’ day out, was a rather amusing video of the confident, charismatic superhero known as Hotguy, crash landing into a tree. Cuteguy could be seen removing a leaf from the hero’s hair, laughing all the while.
Some more dedicated fans of the heroes set new profile pictures of Hotguy and Cuteguy smiling gleefully together. Fan pages rejoiced as they were fed a plethora of new content.
A photo was printed and framed that night, of a joyful looking Hotguy sat on the grass with a happy toddler on his lap. If this toddler were to grow up idolizing the hero after this, well, who could say.
At a quiet restaurant near the centre of the city, an old lady named Carolyn sat with her best friend of many years. They gleefully recounted the stories of their lives, and how surprisingly similar they were to two certain heroes.
All in all, quite a successful publicity mission indeed.
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