Mullet-verse fanfic
Title: Picnics and Fireworks
Author: silver_apples
Rating: G
Word count: 1951
Disclaimer: Ted and Booster belong to DC Comics and are used without permission. Junior and the Mullet-verse belong to doctorv and are used with permission (I've never actually had permission to write a fanfic before. It's a rather surreal feeling).
Author notes: A rather belated Fourth of July fic. Because Junior should have fireworks.
Many thanks to doctorv for inventing the Mullet-verse and letting me play in it.
Ted surveyed the field, walked forward a few feet, looked around again, and finally spread out the blanket. Booster couldn’t see what made this spot any better than the rest of the field, but was happy not to have to lug the cooler any further.
Junior set the bucket of chicken down in the center of the blanket and plopped down next to it, looking around curiously as Booster sat down next to him and Ted bustled around, straightening the blanket, passing out drinks from the cooler, double checking his tote bag to make sure he’d brought everything, and generally fussing more than necessary.
“Can we eat now?” Junior asked, and Ted nodded.
The three of them tore into the chicken, Junior prattling about a movie he’d seen earlier involving an underwater research station and telepathic giant electric eels intent on world domination. Once the chicken was gone, Ted pulled out the watermelon slices from the cooler.
Booster didn’t know what was so important about the watermelon. He’d suggested cookies, which would have been far easier to deal with and less messy, but Ted had insisted on watermelon. He wouldn’t buy any of the cartons of pre-cut, bite-sized pieces either. Booster had managed to talk him into buying a quarter of a watermelon instead of the large whole one Ted had first chosen, but Ted refused to get seedless.
“Junior has his whole life to eat cubed, seedless watermelon,” Ted had said, sneering at the carton in Booster’s hand. “This is his first picnic, we’re doing it right.” After a pause, he added, “But we can get cookies too.”
So now Ted was leading the three of them over to a nearby pond. He solemnly handed Booster and Junior their slices, watching Junior’s face while the teenager sniffed the red fruit suspiciously.
“Like this,” Ted said, and took a huge bite from his slice. He chewed and sucked, swallowed, then neatly spit three seeds out across the water.
“Cool!” Junior slurped at his watermelon and spat out the seeds, but they barely got past his shoes.
“Pathetic,” Booster said, and took a bite from his slice. He didn’t get quite as much distance as Ted had, but he blamed that on the fact he’d grown up in the future, where no one ate seeded watermelon off the rind. He started to explain, but Ted and Junior shushed him and he gave up in favor of teaching his son how to spit properly.
Once the watermelon was gone (Ted was still champion seed-spitter, but Junior had improved immensely, and Booster had managed to make one seed skip three times, which he insisted he’d done on purpose. Ted and Junior didn‘t believe him, but admitted it had been cool anyway), the three trooped back to the blanket where they wiped off the watermelon juice and Ted made them all put on bug spray.
“What’s this for?” Junior had asked as Ted sprayed a fine mist over the boy’s bare arms.
“Keeps the bugs off.”
“But I like Bug!”
Ted sighed. “Not Bug. Mosquitoes. Blood-sucking, disease ridden pests.” He knelt and sprayed Junior’s legs.
“It smells funny.”
“Bug bites itch for days. West Nile Virus, malaria, and yellow fever can make you sick for months if they don’t kill you. You’ll smell funny for a few hours. It’s worth it.”
“Also less chance of me being cloned in several million years,” Junior added. Ted resolved to get Junior some textbooks before Hollywood ruined any hope of the boy having any grasp of science.
Ted turned to Booster, who backed away. “Future blood. Completely unappetizing to all blood-sucking, disease ridden pests.” Booster put his hands behind his back so Ted couldn’t spray his arms.
“Don’t be such a baby,” Ted said, grabbing one arm and tugging. “Besides, how do you know these bugs have the same taste buds as your future insects?”
“I hate the way that smells,” Booster whined, pulling away. Junior suddenly tackled him from behind, leaping on Booster’s back and wrapping his arms around the blond’s neck.
“Get ‘im, Dad!” he shouted. Booster suddenly bent forward, twisting one shoulder up, and Junior lost his grip, falling to the ground. Ted was ready, though, and grabbed Booster’s wrist, spraying one arm. Booster broke free and bolted, Junior and Ted giving chase. The three ran around for a few minutes, playing a mix of tag, wrestle, sparring, and gymnastics. Other families watched, a few children joining in the chase. Finally Booster was pinned and sprayed, and the three went back to the blanket, Ted covering his own skin with the bug repellant.
Junior bounced on his toes, looking around. It was dusk now, and people had started to light sparklers. Seeing the mixture of curiosity and envy on Junior’s face as he watched a mother help her son trace his name in the air with one, Ted rummaged though the tote bag and came up with a box of sparklers.
“Here,” he said, offering one to Junior. Junior looked puzzled as he took the stick, turning it over in his hands. Booster and Ted each took one, and Booster pulled out a lighter. He lit Junior’s first, smiling at Junior’s grin. Junior happily waved the sparkler through the air, watching the sparks and afterimage. When it burned down, Ted directed him over to the trashcan filled with water set up for that purpose, where other people were tossing their burned out sparklers. Junior stood over there for a minute, watching other people wave their sparklers and listening to the hiss of used ones being tossed into the water. Then he hurried back to the blanket, grabbing the remaining sparklers and holding them in his fist while looking for the lighter.
“No!” Booster said, prying the sparklers from Junior’s hand.
“What?”
“You can’t light them all at once.”
Junior rolled his eyes. “I know that. The flame’s not big enough. But the others should catch once I light the first few.”
“It’s not safe.”
“But it’ll be cool!”
Ted and Booster exchanged glances, realizing (not for the first time), that the combination of both of their genes with the usual thought process of a teenage boy was a recipe for disaster.
“You might get us kicked out,” Ted finally said. “And we haven’t even gotten to the really cool part of the evening.” Seeing Junior’s doubtful look, Ted hurried on, “It’ll be even better than a fistful of sparklers. I promise.”
“Alright.” Junior didn’t look convinced, but he meekly accepted the single sparkler Booster handed him and lit it, studying it thoughtfully. “What‘s it made of?”
“Probably a mix of aluminum and potassium nitrate. Some other ingredients too, but those are the most important.”
“Where can we get potassium nitrate?”
“There’s some right here,” Booster answered, handing over another sparkler. “And no, you can’t take one home for experiments.” He glared at Ted. “He gets this from your side.”
“I didn’t even ask!” Junior defended himself.
“You didn’t have to. Don’t play with fire.” Realizing this was rather contradictory under the circumstances, he added “without adult supervision.”
The three of them burned the rest of the sparklers as the sky slowly darkened. Once the sparklers were gone, they sat back down, talking and munching on cookies. Seeing Junior eying a man selling glowing necklaces, Booster handed Junior a fistful of money.
“Thanks Dad!” He hurried off, Ted and Booster half watching while Ted talked about his job and teased Booster about being a house husband. It was almost full dark now. They could see a collection of shadowy figures lit by multi-colored lights worn around their necks and arms, but they couldn’t tell which was Junior.
“Looks like he’s making friends,” Ted said as the group of figures laughed, one playfully shoving another.
“He’s good at that,” Booster said. “He’ll be popular at school.”
After a few minutes one of the shadows left the group and came back to the blanket. He had a green necklace on his head like a tiara, blue and yellow ones around his neck, another green wrapped several times around one wrist, and a purple on the other. Once he reached the blanket he pulled off the ones he had around his neck, dropping the yellow over Booster’s head and the blue over Ted’s.
“They’re your colors,” he explained unnecessarily.
“Thanks,” Booster said. “I don’t suppose I have any change?”
Junior shook his head. “You gave me enough for four and a half, but the man selling them gave me a discount.” He beamed.
“Buy four, get one half free. Quite a bargain,” Ted agreed, managing to keep the sarcasm mostly out of his voice. “And thanks.” This part was sincere. He adjusted his necklace. “I’ve always liked these.”
Junior grinned. Behind them someone called his name, and Ted waved his hand vaguely. “Go. Make friends. Don’t worry about your old dads, left all alone, abandoned.”
“Thanks!” Junior grabbed a cookie and ran back to his new friends.
Booster sighed, playing with his necklace. “A discount. Ted, you’re a reasonably good businessman, right?”
Ted shrugged. “I guess.”
“And so am I. But when we get together…” Booster grimaced.
“Yeah. Disaster and debt. So?”
“So, something about us cancels out each of our business sense. And if Junior inherited both of our business senses--”
Ted’s eyes widened in horror. “We are never allowing him to choose stocks.”
A whine of a small rocket taking off interrupted the conversation, and a second later there was a loud crack and the sky was lit up by a burst of green and silver. People clapped and started hurrying back to their chosen spots, while a few parents comforted the children who had been scared by the sudden noise.
Junior reappeared, sitting down next to Ted who scooted over to make space, putting him closer to Booster. Booster took advantage of this to entwine his fingers with Ted.
“That was cooler than a bunch of sparklers,” Junior admitted.
Ted grinned. “That was the warning shot. They’ll give us a few minutes to get settled, and then the real show starts.”
“There’s more?”
“Much more,” Ted promised.
A few minutes later a second rocket went up, this one all red. Six more followed in rapid succession.
“Oh, wow,” Junior breathed, and Ted grinned. He draped one arm around his son’s shoulders, giving him a quick squeeze. Junior leaned against him in response, staring at the sky as more fireworks exploded.
“Do they work the same as the sparklers?” he asked during a lull.
“These are a bit more complex,” Ted answered. “For one thing, they require some form of propulsion. And there‘s a greater variety of chemicals and elements used to get the different colors.” Booster cleared his throat. “And you are too young to make your own fireworks,” Ted said firmly. After a few more fireworks had gone up, Ted leaned over to whisper to Junior. “There are smaller, ground based ones that are fancier than sparklers. They’ll be on sale tomorrow. I’ll pick some up after work and we can dissect them when Booster’s not looking.”
Junior looked away from the sky for the first time since the second firework went up and grinned, almost bouncing. “And then light them?”
Ted grinned back. “Of course.”
On his other side, Booster sighed, not being able to hear the other two’s conversation, but having a pretty good idea what they were planning. Ted squeezed his hand and Booster scooted closer, so his arm pressed lightly against Ted’s. Ted laid his head on Booster’s shoulder, watching the fireworks above them and listening to Junior’s soft exclamations of delight.
He could get used to this family thing.
Author: silver_apples
Rating: G
Word count: 1951
Disclaimer: Ted and Booster belong to DC Comics and are used without permission. Junior and the Mullet-verse belong to doctorv and are used with permission (I've never actually had permission to write a fanfic before. It's a rather surreal feeling).
Author notes: A rather belated Fourth of July fic. Because Junior should have fireworks.
Many thanks to doctorv for inventing the Mullet-verse and letting me play in it.
Ted surveyed the field, walked forward a few feet, looked around again, and finally spread out the blanket. Booster couldn’t see what made this spot any better than the rest of the field, but was happy not to have to lug the cooler any further.
Junior set the bucket of chicken down in the center of the blanket and plopped down next to it, looking around curiously as Booster sat down next to him and Ted bustled around, straightening the blanket, passing out drinks from the cooler, double checking his tote bag to make sure he’d brought everything, and generally fussing more than necessary.
“Can we eat now?” Junior asked, and Ted nodded.
The three of them tore into the chicken, Junior prattling about a movie he’d seen earlier involving an underwater research station and telepathic giant electric eels intent on world domination. Once the chicken was gone, Ted pulled out the watermelon slices from the cooler.
Booster didn’t know what was so important about the watermelon. He’d suggested cookies, which would have been far easier to deal with and less messy, but Ted had insisted on watermelon. He wouldn’t buy any of the cartons of pre-cut, bite-sized pieces either. Booster had managed to talk him into buying a quarter of a watermelon instead of the large whole one Ted had first chosen, but Ted refused to get seedless.
“Junior has his whole life to eat cubed, seedless watermelon,” Ted had said, sneering at the carton in Booster’s hand. “This is his first picnic, we’re doing it right.” After a pause, he added, “But we can get cookies too.”
So now Ted was leading the three of them over to a nearby pond. He solemnly handed Booster and Junior their slices, watching Junior’s face while the teenager sniffed the red fruit suspiciously.
“Like this,” Ted said, and took a huge bite from his slice. He chewed and sucked, swallowed, then neatly spit three seeds out across the water.
“Cool!” Junior slurped at his watermelon and spat out the seeds, but they barely got past his shoes.
“Pathetic,” Booster said, and took a bite from his slice. He didn’t get quite as much distance as Ted had, but he blamed that on the fact he’d grown up in the future, where no one ate seeded watermelon off the rind. He started to explain, but Ted and Junior shushed him and he gave up in favor of teaching his son how to spit properly.
Once the watermelon was gone (Ted was still champion seed-spitter, but Junior had improved immensely, and Booster had managed to make one seed skip three times, which he insisted he’d done on purpose. Ted and Junior didn‘t believe him, but admitted it had been cool anyway), the three trooped back to the blanket where they wiped off the watermelon juice and Ted made them all put on bug spray.
“What’s this for?” Junior had asked as Ted sprayed a fine mist over the boy’s bare arms.
“Keeps the bugs off.”
“But I like Bug!”
Ted sighed. “Not Bug. Mosquitoes. Blood-sucking, disease ridden pests.” He knelt and sprayed Junior’s legs.
“It smells funny.”
“Bug bites itch for days. West Nile Virus, malaria, and yellow fever can make you sick for months if they don’t kill you. You’ll smell funny for a few hours. It’s worth it.”
“Also less chance of me being cloned in several million years,” Junior added. Ted resolved to get Junior some textbooks before Hollywood ruined any hope of the boy having any grasp of science.
Ted turned to Booster, who backed away. “Future blood. Completely unappetizing to all blood-sucking, disease ridden pests.” Booster put his hands behind his back so Ted couldn’t spray his arms.
“Don’t be such a baby,” Ted said, grabbing one arm and tugging. “Besides, how do you know these bugs have the same taste buds as your future insects?”
“I hate the way that smells,” Booster whined, pulling away. Junior suddenly tackled him from behind, leaping on Booster’s back and wrapping his arms around the blond’s neck.
“Get ‘im, Dad!” he shouted. Booster suddenly bent forward, twisting one shoulder up, and Junior lost his grip, falling to the ground. Ted was ready, though, and grabbed Booster’s wrist, spraying one arm. Booster broke free and bolted, Junior and Ted giving chase. The three ran around for a few minutes, playing a mix of tag, wrestle, sparring, and gymnastics. Other families watched, a few children joining in the chase. Finally Booster was pinned and sprayed, and the three went back to the blanket, Ted covering his own skin with the bug repellant.
Junior bounced on his toes, looking around. It was dusk now, and people had started to light sparklers. Seeing the mixture of curiosity and envy on Junior’s face as he watched a mother help her son trace his name in the air with one, Ted rummaged though the tote bag and came up with a box of sparklers.
“Here,” he said, offering one to Junior. Junior looked puzzled as he took the stick, turning it over in his hands. Booster and Ted each took one, and Booster pulled out a lighter. He lit Junior’s first, smiling at Junior’s grin. Junior happily waved the sparkler through the air, watching the sparks and afterimage. When it burned down, Ted directed him over to the trashcan filled with water set up for that purpose, where other people were tossing their burned out sparklers. Junior stood over there for a minute, watching other people wave their sparklers and listening to the hiss of used ones being tossed into the water. Then he hurried back to the blanket, grabbing the remaining sparklers and holding them in his fist while looking for the lighter.
“No!” Booster said, prying the sparklers from Junior’s hand.
“What?”
“You can’t light them all at once.”
Junior rolled his eyes. “I know that. The flame’s not big enough. But the others should catch once I light the first few.”
“It’s not safe.”
“But it’ll be cool!”
Ted and Booster exchanged glances, realizing (not for the first time), that the combination of both of their genes with the usual thought process of a teenage boy was a recipe for disaster.
“You might get us kicked out,” Ted finally said. “And we haven’t even gotten to the really cool part of the evening.” Seeing Junior’s doubtful look, Ted hurried on, “It’ll be even better than a fistful of sparklers. I promise.”
“Alright.” Junior didn’t look convinced, but he meekly accepted the single sparkler Booster handed him and lit it, studying it thoughtfully. “What‘s it made of?”
“Probably a mix of aluminum and potassium nitrate. Some other ingredients too, but those are the most important.”
“Where can we get potassium nitrate?”
“There’s some right here,” Booster answered, handing over another sparkler. “And no, you can’t take one home for experiments.” He glared at Ted. “He gets this from your side.”
“I didn’t even ask!” Junior defended himself.
“You didn’t have to. Don’t play with fire.” Realizing this was rather contradictory under the circumstances, he added “without adult supervision.”
The three of them burned the rest of the sparklers as the sky slowly darkened. Once the sparklers were gone, they sat back down, talking and munching on cookies. Seeing Junior eying a man selling glowing necklaces, Booster handed Junior a fistful of money.
“Thanks Dad!” He hurried off, Ted and Booster half watching while Ted talked about his job and teased Booster about being a house husband. It was almost full dark now. They could see a collection of shadowy figures lit by multi-colored lights worn around their necks and arms, but they couldn’t tell which was Junior.
“Looks like he’s making friends,” Ted said as the group of figures laughed, one playfully shoving another.
“He’s good at that,” Booster said. “He’ll be popular at school.”
After a few minutes one of the shadows left the group and came back to the blanket. He had a green necklace on his head like a tiara, blue and yellow ones around his neck, another green wrapped several times around one wrist, and a purple on the other. Once he reached the blanket he pulled off the ones he had around his neck, dropping the yellow over Booster’s head and the blue over Ted’s.
“They’re your colors,” he explained unnecessarily.
“Thanks,” Booster said. “I don’t suppose I have any change?”
Junior shook his head. “You gave me enough for four and a half, but the man selling them gave me a discount.” He beamed.
“Buy four, get one half free. Quite a bargain,” Ted agreed, managing to keep the sarcasm mostly out of his voice. “And thanks.” This part was sincere. He adjusted his necklace. “I’ve always liked these.”
Junior grinned. Behind them someone called his name, and Ted waved his hand vaguely. “Go. Make friends. Don’t worry about your old dads, left all alone, abandoned.”
“Thanks!” Junior grabbed a cookie and ran back to his new friends.
Booster sighed, playing with his necklace. “A discount. Ted, you’re a reasonably good businessman, right?”
Ted shrugged. “I guess.”
“And so am I. But when we get together…” Booster grimaced.
“Yeah. Disaster and debt. So?”
“So, something about us cancels out each of our business sense. And if Junior inherited both of our business senses--”
Ted’s eyes widened in horror. “We are never allowing him to choose stocks.”
A whine of a small rocket taking off interrupted the conversation, and a second later there was a loud crack and the sky was lit up by a burst of green and silver. People clapped and started hurrying back to their chosen spots, while a few parents comforted the children who had been scared by the sudden noise.
Junior reappeared, sitting down next to Ted who scooted over to make space, putting him closer to Booster. Booster took advantage of this to entwine his fingers with Ted.
“That was cooler than a bunch of sparklers,” Junior admitted.
Ted grinned. “That was the warning shot. They’ll give us a few minutes to get settled, and then the real show starts.”
“There’s more?”
“Much more,” Ted promised.
A few minutes later a second rocket went up, this one all red. Six more followed in rapid succession.
“Oh, wow,” Junior breathed, and Ted grinned. He draped one arm around his son’s shoulders, giving him a quick squeeze. Junior leaned against him in response, staring at the sky as more fireworks exploded.
“Do they work the same as the sparklers?” he asked during a lull.
“These are a bit more complex,” Ted answered. “For one thing, they require some form of propulsion. And there‘s a greater variety of chemicals and elements used to get the different colors.” Booster cleared his throat. “And you are too young to make your own fireworks,” Ted said firmly. After a few more fireworks had gone up, Ted leaned over to whisper to Junior. “There are smaller, ground based ones that are fancier than sparklers. They’ll be on sale tomorrow. I’ll pick some up after work and we can dissect them when Booster’s not looking.”
Junior looked away from the sky for the first time since the second firework went up and grinned, almost bouncing. “And then light them?”
Ted grinned back. “Of course.”
On his other side, Booster sighed, not being able to hear the other two’s conversation, but having a pretty good idea what they were planning. Ted squeezed his hand and Booster scooted closer, so his arm pressed lightly against Ted’s. Ted laid his head on Booster’s shoulder, watching the fireworks above them and listening to Junior’s soft exclamations of delight.
He could get used to this family thing.