A/N: I barrowed this idea from Tumblr user superpoweredrunaways.
"La'gaan? Is that you?"
The voice was strikingly familiar, and turning La'gaan was able to connect it with a face. It was Virgil, one of the runaways the Reach had taken prisoner along with himself. The other teen looked well and happy, which lifted La'gaan's spirit.
"Hiya chum!" he beamed at Virgil, who had sprinted up to meet him. He found himself shaking hands with the fellow teen, who beamed back. "It's great to see you, safe and all."
"I saw you from the window of that pizzaria," Virgil explain, pointing behind him. La'gaan looked behind him to see three of the other Reach survivors heading their way. "Do you want to come join us?"
La'gaan had just come out for a walk to stretch his nearly healed leg and get away from...well everything really. The "wherehome" was not the happiest place at the moment, to say the least. "I'd love too," he placed his grin back on his face, for it had left him as soon as he thought of his team's current standings. "Just...no anchovies, right?"
Virgil took that as the joke it was meant to be, laughing in that free way La'gaan hadn't heard in awhile. By this time the others had made their way to them, but were standing back a bit, not wanting to barge in.
Virgil turned to them and explained, "La'gaan is going to join us for pizza."
"Fin-tastic, right?" La'gaan asked, smile tempered slightly.
The boys chuckled, actually amused with his joke, while the girl just smiled curiously. La'gaan fell easily into step with the group. "Tye, Eduardo, and Asami," he said, pointing to each in turn. He had always been good at recalling names.
"Sí," Eduardo confirmed with a smile, Tye nodding.
Asami pointed to herself and repeated, "Asami," then added, "Sam."
"I think she is telling you to call her Sam," Tye said, placing a hand instinctively on her elbow. La'gaan noted that Asami did not seem to mind this contact, in fact she smiled at it.
"Okay, Sam," he gave a little bow of his head to her as they entered the pizzeria, a small bell tinkling to announce the entrance. The place was mostly empty, a family and two couples spread out about the tables. The one they sat at was the largest, in the center of a window looking out to the city street.
"Should we call you Lagoon Boy?" Eduardo asked in a whisper as they found seats. Tye managed to sit next to Asami in the booth seat, La'gaan noted with amusement. He sat next to Eduardo, Virgil snagging a chair from an empty table to sit at the head.
"Probably," La'gaan looked up to see the other costumers eye him slightly, before turning away. One of the kids pointed excitedly, their mother hushing them and commented on how it rude to stare. "I am getting some fishy looks."
This was again met with snickers, much to La'gaan's pleasure. No one usually acknowledged his puns or jokes, let alone laughed at them.
"So Lagoon Boy, what's new with you?" Tye asked, sipping the soda that they had left on the table when they went out to greet him.
They all must have seen his smile falter again, but no one commented when he pushed it back on, saying, "Oh, same old, same old. What I really want to know about is, what's new with you guys? Last time I saw you, we had just been rescued from the Reach!"
They all gave him worried looks, not believing his brush off, but letting it slide. Eduardo launched into the tale of STAR labs, talking a bit about his father and the tests they went through. Virgil and Tye added in bits and pieces, Asami sometimes making a comment that no one would understand.
She finally interrupted with "Sumimasen!" which caused to the boys to jump slightly and look around. This made her chuckle and add, "Pizza!" in a heavily accented voice.
"Oh, is that all this time," Eduardo grumbled to himself.
"Thank you," Tye said to the waiter, who set down the large pizza, five plates, and an other cup for La'gaan. They all smiled at him, and waited till he retreated back out of earshot before continuing any conversation.
"We finally decided we couldn't take it anymore, so we ran away again," Virgil finished, scooping up a piece of pizza, covered in bacon and peppers. "Though for me, it really was the first time, as the Reach made a mistake when they grabbed me."
"We are now all living in this kicking apartment here in the city," Eduardo added, snagging two pieces for his plate. "Lex Luther pays for it and all our food and stuff. He wants us to be his personal band of super heroes."
La'gaan paused, pizza halfway to his mouth. "Lex is back news guys," he said worriedly. "You should know that, he is partners with the Reach."
"Lex!" Asami picked out, and then made a face to express her displeasure.
"We are being careful," Tye assured. "He is paying us, in addition to the housing and food."
"My parents know where I am," Virgil added, gulping some soda.
"As does mi padre," Eduardo snatched some napkins to pass around.
"It's a really great set up, actually," Tye said, smiling at La'gaan around his pizza. "You could join us!"
La'gaan was silent for a moment, as despite himself, he seriously considered the offer. Seeing this team happy, hopeful, it was too tempting not to. But he caught himself, he could not abandon his own team, let alone his Anglefish, no matter what hardships they were currently going through.
So he shook his head, giving them a lopsided grin to show he appreciated the offer anyway.
"Well, feel free to visit us anytime, amigo," Eduardo said, nudging him with his shoulder.
"And if you ever change your mind, there will always be a place for you here," Virgil insisted with a smile.
The rest smiled at him as well, even Asami, who picked up what was going on. She gave him a double thumbs up, fingers greasy from the pizza.
"Thanks chums," was all La'gaan could say, relaxing as he dug into his pizza and the conversation turned to other things.
