Fred sighed as he adjusted his cummerbund. Really wish Mom didn't have me dress up for this.
He never was a fan of dressing up in suits, if Fred was honest, he'd prefer to wear a nice dress instead.
But his mom would kill him if he got any tea on any dresses, so suit it is!
"Master Frederick." Heathcliff entered the room. "The madam wanted me to fetch you, the guest of honor has arrived."
"Orso Knox?" He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure. Will be right over." The sound of wobbling feet made him look down, his trusty companion Mini-Max scrambled to his feet.
"I am prepared to attend the teatime of biscuits and… tea!" The small robot exclaimed.
The comic fan frowned. "Er, Mini-Max? Mom told me that you weren't allowed to attend."
Mini-Max blinked. "Why not?"
"You have a tendency to spill stuff." Fred winced. "And sides, you wouldn't have fun don't eat."
"That is correct, I am a robot. I do not consume biscuits or tea." Mini-Max placed a hand to his head. "Very well! I shall spend my time training for the next battle! Evil never rests, and neither shall Mini-Max!" He then bounced away to another corner of Fred's room to practice.
"Make sure he doesn't get the strong batteries." Fred told Heathcliff. If Baymax in a "sugar-high mode" gave Hiro a headache? The already hyperactive Mini-Max in such a state would be even worse.
"Of course, Master Frederick." Heathcliff nodded. "May you enjoy your tea and biscuits."
"Thanks, Heathcliff." They exchanged a fist-bump and on his way there, he mentally prepared what would be an awkward conversation.
By the time he got to the kitchen, his mom was already pouring Orso Knox a cup of tea. "Ah, Frederick! Glad you can join us!" Mrs. Frederickson smiled. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything important, sweetie."
"It's fine mine." Fred reassured her, then addressed the man in the room. "Nice to see you again Mr. Knox." Last time he had seen the socialite in person, it was during that trip to Sycorax he'd rather forget.
"It's a pleasure to see you too, Frederick." Knox kindly smiled. "You appear to be in good health."
"Yep!"
"Frederick had some head lice a few days ago." His mom told Knox. "Hopefully they're all gone by now."
"Moooom!" He pouted. "Don't embarrass me in front of your friend!"
Knox muffled a chuckle. "I won't spread that info, I'm not like some of the gossipers at social gatherings." His voice then lowered into a whisper. "Binky hasn't been giving you any trouble, has she?"
"The usual stuff, frankly Binky seems to hate I don't put Frederick in a box." Mrs. Frederickson sighed. "I hope you don't mind us talking about that dear."
"It's cool." Fred shrugged. "I'd rather talk about that than other stuff, y'know?" He then facepalmed. Had to bring up the monster thing, way to be subtle.
"Agreed." Knox took a deep sip of his tea. "It's been hard to move on from that ordeal." He started rubbing the side of his arm. "I'm merely thrilled to put it behind me."
"I'm glad that Liv was able to cure you." Fred noticed how the socillate winced when his mom mentioned the CEO. "I actually invested a little myself in her company."
"I hope you didn't invest too much." Knox frowned.
Mrs. Frederickson shook her head. "No, just the usual amount you'd donate to a company doing medical research." She stirred her tea. "Do you like the ginseng, Orso?"
"I do." He smiled, happy to change the subject. "And I am enjoying the strawberry jam to go with the biscuits."
"Same!" They looked at Fred, who sheepishly smiled. "Sorry."
"You're fine dear." Mrs. Frederickson reassured him.
He tuned out the rest of the conversation when Knox and his mom started to talk about rich people things and business stuff. "I'll make sure to tell Derick you're doing well next time I give him a call." He tuned back in when his mom mentioned Dad.
"Noted." Knox hummed. "I find it impressive you two are able to maintain a strong long-distance relationship."
"Well, it takes a lot of trust." She told him. "And we both try our best to spend time with our boy when there's room in our busy schedules." Fred felt his mom give him a comforting pat on the shoulder.
"Thanks, Mom." He chuckled. "I'm not too upset whenever you or Dad are away, I've been chatting with him a lot recently on video, to make up for lost time." And bond over superhero experiences. "And I can take care of myself when you're gone."
"Hmm, I'm not sure about that." She placed a hand to her chin.
"Hey!" Fred crossed his arms. "But you're right. If it weren't for Heathcliff I think I'd go stir-crazy."
"You could always invite the Rosemary girl you hang with to come over."
"True."
"Rosemary?" Knox raised an eyebrow. "Do you mean Sarah's daughter?"
"Yep!" Fred nodded. "I hope she's doing okay, poor gal had a rough week."
The socialite nodded. "Indeed, last time I spoke to Sarah she was extremely distressed about her daughter's mental health."
"It is a valid fear." Mrs. Frederickson pointed out. "Is your mental health alright?"
"I'd rather not say much, but I've been doing fairly decent at trying to move on." He told her. "Let's not bring this up today."
"My apologies." She bowed her head. "Do you want me to pour you another cup?"
"That would be lovely."
The rest of the teatime went with more business conversation, only memorable thing was Knox asking Fred how old he was now, and the latter replied he was going to turn twenty-two in about a month. Eventually the socialite and his mom finished their meal and Knox thanked Mrs. Frederickson for her hospitality before leaving.
Fred was just glad he could take off his sweaty cummerbund when he got back to his room, but then his phone beeped.
He gasped as it was from the superhero group chat, and scrambled to meet up with the others.
Superhero Squad group chat:
Speed Queen: Meet up at SFIT
Speed Queen: New villain alert
Chem Girl: Is it another mutant
Captain Cutie: No
Ariel: Oh thank god
Ariel: After the Mayoi and the werewolf I am so done with monsters
Chop Chop: Same
Chop Chop: If there's another supernatural monster based off of folklore I'm leaving and never coming back
Flame Jumper: Aww don't be like that!
Chem Girl: Well he does have a valid reason, I mean what if the next monster is a vampire?
Captain Cutie: DON'T TEMPT FATE
Ariel: ^^^
Flame Jumper: That would be Katie cat's worst nightmare
Speed Queen: This chatroom is my worst nightmare
Flame Jumper: Hey D :
Captain Cutie: I don't blame her.
Chem Girl: Gogo did the supervillian injure you : (
Speed Queen: My self-esteem
Chem Girl: awww poor bby 3
Speed Queen: 3
Chop Chop: True love in a nutshell
By the time Fred got to SFIT, he saw Hiro on his printer working on a rocket fist, and the others were hunched over the computer screen.
"You're late." Gogo greeted him.
"I was in the middle of something." He replied. "What's going on?" She pointed to the screen, where a blur was knocking Hiro and Baymax on the ground, realizing it was footage they took of the villain they encountered, he clamped his mouth.
"Time for Supersonic Sue's famous 'Electric Elbow'!" The blur launched at the two with electricity sparking around it, until Gogo hit the blur with a disk and it landed beside them. "Whoa!" Through the dust of the crash, he saw the blur was an old lady with roller derby gear on.
"Isn't electricity High Voltage's shtick?" Fred commented, then got shushed by Wasabi and Honey Lemon.
"Not now, Freddie." The chemist shushed him.
"Hey, Grandma!" on-screen, Gogo grabbed the disk that flew back to her. "Why don't you pick on someone your own speed?"
The old lady, Sue, smirked as she leapt over the two still on the ground and faced Gogo. "How adorable, skater tot!" The two skated at each other but at the last second…
Gogo was the one to jump out of the way. "Deviskated!" Sue laughed.
The engineer looked shocked. "Whoa. No one's ever out-skated me before."
Sue then tried skating away, Baymax and Hiro finally got up from the ground and landed in front of her. "Power jam!" She sped past them and they all gasped as one of Baymax's hands were missing.
"She stole my rocket fist." Baymax blinked.
"Namas-" Honey Lemon then paused the video, turning to Hiro.
"She got away with Baymax's rocket fist?"
Hiro had finished making a new one at his printer. "Yeah. I had to rush this. Hope it's ready." He shoved the rocket fist into Baymax's hand, the fingers fell off. "It's not quite ready."
"Ouch." Fred winced in sympathy. "Why not just use the ultra armor?"
"She could steal that rocket fist too!" Hiro exclaimed.
"Nah, not a whole lot of villains go around stealing hands. Toes are believable… but not hands."
"Freddie why?" Honey Lemon groaned at the mental image.
He chuckled. "Sorry!"
Wasabi whistled at the footage. "Wow, that lady can skate. Even better than-" He froze seeing Gogo glare at him. "Me?"
The chemist broke up the tension. "Do we have a file on this new villain?"
"I bet her origin story starts with some tragic event, which scars her deeply, and still haunts her to this very day." Fred theorized. "I'll start an in-depth psychological profile."
It was something he tended to do for all the villains they faced, though it was more like the files his dad kept on villains, their backstories, weaknesses, ways to get them to stop being villains, etc…
"Or maybe we should just ask your dad." Speaking of the devil, Hiro was the one to bring him up.
"He's more of a punch first, psychological profiles later type of guy."
"He might know Supersonic Sue." Wasabi chimed in.
On the computer, Honey Lemon brought up a photo of Boss Awesome. "They do both have kind of a '70's retro vibe happening."
"Hmm." Fred compared the scribble he did of Sue to the picture of his dad. "Yeah, I see here. You have a point." He pulled out his phone to call his dad.
It went to voicemail. "You've reached the Boss Awesome hotline. Leave a message. I'm out roping."
"Must be at the family ranch. I'll try him again after vittles."
"Fred." Gogo spoke up. "How does your dad have a superhero hotline?"
"Magic." He gestured. "I dunno, do you want one set up?"
"Maybe." It would be useful in case of emergencies.
"In the meantime, I have a very exciting event to go to!" Fred pulled out a slip of paper. "Whoo-hoo!"
"The dry cleaners?" Honey Lemon asked him.
He took a double look at the paper. "Whoops. That's the wrong ticket." He dug into his pockets until pulling out another paper.
Wasabi squinted as he read it. "Noodle Burger cordially invites you to a sneak tasting of our newest creation, the Noodle Bigger Burger."
"It's like a regular Noodle Burger, but bigger!"
"How did you get an invite?" Wasabi frowned.
"Probably because I'm a titanium member." Fred shrugged it off. "Oh, I can just imagine how it tastes, probably double the enjoyment of a regular Noodle Burger!"
"Save me one?" Hiro asked, he was still trying to put the incomplete rocket fist back together.
Fred flashed him a thumbs up. "Noted!"
When the group dispersed from the lab, Honey Lemon saw that her girlfriend was still in a mood by lunch. "Gogo?" She gently tapped her on the shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Meh." She shrugged.
"Are you still bitter about losing to Sue?" An angry grumble gave her the answer. "Hey… there's no shame in losing to someone who's got similar abilities to yours, I felt down when we lost to Globby, and you always cheered me up, remember?"
"Yeah."
"And remember how we'd cheer Wasabi up after a loss from Momakase? It's okay to feel down, just know that the others and I are here for you." She flashed Gogo a smile, and kissed her cheek. "I'm always all ears."
'Thanks Honey." Gogo smiled, kissing her back. "You always know how to cheer me up."
"Well, it's my job." They both giggled, spending the rest of lunch enjoying their meals and looking at each other's calming and loving eyes.
Ferns and Nerds group chat:
Sara Ferns: So, I've decided to boot up another Pokemon game
Wasabi: Please not a nuzlocke
Sara Ferns: It's not a nuzlocke
Honey Lemon: Phew
Sara Ferns: It's a WEDlocke
Wasabi: Nooooooo!
TheLittleMermaid: A what?
Sienna Kline: Nuzlocke but with different rules, look it up
Gogo: Sara what's with you and killing Pokemon in-games
Sara Ferns: IT'S FOR THE CHALLENGE
Mikan Ferns: And I'm the sadistic one
Hiro Hamada: You are
TheLittleMermaid: Ooooooh
Wasabi: Guys plz
Wasabi: No murder in chat
Mikan Ferns: I'm not gonna murder Hiro!
Mikan Ferns: Do y'all think so little of me?
Hiro Hamada: Yes
Gogo: Yes
Honey Lemon: ...yes?
Mikan Ferns: Wow
Mikan Ferns: Betrayed by all of you. I'm going to the supervillain life. Maybe I'll actually get friends there.
Rachel Rosemary: I can't tell if you're joking or not
Sara Ferns: Mika just threw her phone on the couch
Sara Ferns: And slowly sunk to the floor in despair
Sara Ferns: Congrats you broke her
"Uh, yeah, a hey, hey." Fred was singing the jingle as he walked into the joint. "I'd do anything for a Bigger Noodle Burger!" His taste buds were ready for the surprise of their life. "Cuz Bigger Noodle Burgers are really swell, y-" He froze, sniffing the air.
A disgusting greasy smell hit his nostrils as he looked down. "Mole!"
His arch-nemesis faced him. "Frederickson." Richardson growled, they got into a staring contest until a fly buzzed on Fred's eye, making him look away and try to swat it off.
"Get out, get out, get out, get out, get out!" The small boy laughed at his dismay.
"Ah, weak. I could win a staring contest with my eyes closed."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Fred argued, then looked around. "Wait. Are we the only ones here?"
He walked up to the booth a waitress roped. He expected at least four or five people, maybe even Sara. She did work here… and I bet they'd have employees test new food items too.
Richardson was unbothered. "I wouldn't wish the experience of dining with you on my worst enemy." He said. "Which is you. So I'm a little confused about how to feel."
"Look, Mole. What do you say we call a truce?" He changed the subject. "Y'know, so we can enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime experience?"
Richardson nodded. "As soon as the tasting is over, it's back to all-out war."
"Count on it." They took their seats as the rope closed, though even at a truce, they still tried to out-do each other in terms of setting up from the meal. The only thing preventing them from going to insults was the smell of freshly cooked Noodle Burgers headed their way.
Fred and Richardson gasped as the waitress brought two Bigger Noodle Burgers that were bursting with ingredients and condiments. They focused on their meal as both boys took big bites of the burger.
"Mm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm." Richardson mumbled. "I'm getting a smack of hickory. And, uh, mm, what's that?"
"Truffle oil." Fred told him.
The small boy was impressed. "A super-taster! Nice."
"I give it two thumbs up!" But their tasty meal was soon to be disturbed.
"Ew, ew!" Richardson dropped the burger. "Cilantro!"
"Cilantro?" Fred shivered. "There's cilantro in this?" He chewed some of the food in his mouth and tasted the dirty herb. "Aah! Uck, uck!" Both of them wiped their mouths on their napkins, gagging in disgust. "Well, that was, uh…"
"Upsetting." Richardson gagged.
Fred turned to him. "I did not know you were a cilantro hater, too."
"It is my number one…"
"Herbal enemy!" They said at the same time. Fred paused. "Well, I guess we have some-"
"Things in common." Both of them also said at the same time. Richardson's eyes widened, the comic fan shrunk back.
"This is getting weird."
AN: And we're back to canon eps
-Had to write a bit with Orso Knox and Fred's mom hanging since he's a family friend of the Fredericksons n.n
-Also I hc that Fred's dad is nicknamed "Derick" since there's two Freds in the fam
This AN'll be a little short today since I'm kind of tired
QOTW: What holiday do you celebrate in December?