Party Prep
Disclaimer: This is a purely fan-made piece that is using the world and characters from Ngozi Ukazu's Check Please!, and is made entirely for enjoyment. No financial gain has been made in the making of this piece. All other situations and plot developments are mine.
Summary: Whiskey helps Tango as he finished getting things ready to celebrate Superhero Day.
Author's Note: Yay, superheroes! Just something short and fun for Superhero Day. Enjoy! Possible out-of-characterness and un-beta'd
Constructive criticism and comments are always welcomed
Published: 28 April 2022
Rating: K+
"Hey, Whiskey!" Tango threw out his arms, the bags that were on them swinging so much they nearly destabilised him. "What'd'ya think? Isn't it great? How do I look?"
"…You look like a novelty store exploded and you were caught up in the blast," Whiskey finally said, eyes starting to hurt from all the bright and clashing colours.
Tango beamed. "I do, don't I." He made it sound like that was exactly the look he was going for. Then again, it very well could be a deliberate life choice; this honestly would not be the strangest thing Tango had done.
Whiskey jerked his chin in the direction of the bags. "What's that," he wanted to know.
"I got things for everyone! Wanna get first pick?" Tango shook his arms until they all fell down to cluster around his wrists and held them out excitedly. "Well, almost first pick. You can't have the Static Shock shirt or the Nightwing socks 'cuz Ford said if I gave those away, she'd skin me. And the Captain America hoodie is gonna go to Dex! And I'm thinking I might take the Flash socks for myself. But the rest is fair game!"
"Got anything Winter Soldier themed?" Whiskey asked as he took some of the bags.
"Umm…" Tango pursed his lips. "Maybe? I'm pretty sure…" He plopped down next to Whiskey on their couch and started pawing through a bag.
Deciding to follow his friend's example (but with a bit more decorum), Whiskey picked a bag and put down the rest. He carefully sorted through it; this one held mostly socks and sweatbands and other niche small items. Nothing Winter Soldier related there, but Whiskey did set aside a pair of Batman socks for future consideration.
"Ah-HA!" Tango exclaimed about two bags later. He yanked out a bunch of material and shook it out. A hoodie unrolled; it had one arm printed with metal plates and a gaiter attachment with the Winter Soldier's mask on it, if one was inclined to go for that look.
He gave it another little shake. "Ta-dah! One Winter Soldier hoodie, coming right up!" He proudly held it out.
"…Thanks," said Whiskey and—because Tango was looking at him expectantly—he pulled it on. It was about two sizes too big and his hands nearly vanished in the sleeves, but it was surprisingly comfortable after he snapped off the tags.
Tango beamed. "Wanna help me pass out the rest and decorate for the party?"
Whiskey shrugged a little. "Sure." He didn't have much going on, so he might as well. Plus, Tango had mentioned holding a few things back for Dex, which meant they'd be seeing Dex. Whiskey hadn't seen the upperclassman in a while, because Dex had some massive coding or programming project, and barely left his computer to even eat. He missed hanging out with Dex, so this might work out pretty nice.
"'Swawesome!" Tango swept everything back into the bags and grabbed about half of them. He bounced to his feet. "C'mon!"
Tango's good mood was contagious, and while Whiskey did not join in as Tango cheerfully sang the sixties' Batman theme song, he did hum along.
He followed Tango into the Haus kitchen at a lower key pace. For once, the place didn't smell like fruit and crust; instead, smelled like sugar and chocolate and nuts.
Dex glanced up from the cookie sheet he was emptying. "Hey."
"Hi, Dex!" Tango grinned. "I brought you your Captain America hoodie! And I got you some matching socks! Isn't that cool? How are the cookies going? Can I have one yet? Do you need any help?"
"Yes, fine, no, not at the moment, thanks," Dex answered, returning to the cookies. "But if you don't mind waiting, I can show you the ones I made earlier. And you and Whiskey can have one of those."
"Okay!" Tango settled down at the kitchen table and started rummaging around in his bags, presumably to get the items he had promised Dex.
Whiskey put his bags on the table, but didn't sit. He lingered. "So," he finally said. "I see Tango's roped you into baking for his superhero party."
One of Dex's shoulders lifted slightly as he carefully sprinkled some shaved chocolate on the top of the cooling bat-shaped cookies. "Yeah. But he drives a hard bargain, so, you know."
"Made you an offer you couldn't refuse?"
"Yeah, something like that." The corner of Dex's mouth quirked up.
"I'm good at that," Tango chimed in, glancing over from where he was spreading everything out neatly on the table.
"You are," Whiskey acknowledged. "Now promise us you'll only use that power for good, not evil."
Tango laughed. "How will you know? I could be using it on you both right now, and now you're both in so deep, you'll never be able to escape!"
Whiskey sighed loudly and looked up at Dex. "We're too late," he said mournfully. "He's already crossed over."
"I'll bet we can get him to see the errors of his ways. Redemption arcs are big right now." Dex gently nudged Whiskey out of way with his hip so he could wash the cookie sheet.
"True."
"Ou, what kind of redemption arc would I get?" Tango rocked on his toes excitedly. "Do I get a gradual one, or a flashpoint? What do I do to atone? Do I get to save everyone at a crucial point?"
"Hi, guys!" Chowder chirped, sticking his head in. "Wow, it smells good in here!" He came in. "Oh, wow, is that all the stuff for tonight?" He asked, pointing at the full table.
"Yup! Do you want to pick out yours now?" Tango beamed.
"Can I? 'Swawesome!" Chowder made a beeline for the Aquaman shirt. He pulled it without even bothering to take off the one he was wearing. "Thanks! Can't wait for tonight!" He bounded out of the room.
"Here, see how you like these." Dex opened an old ice cream bucket and held it out to Tango. "You and Whiskey can have one to tide you over."
"Oh wow!" Tango breathed. "These are so 'swawesome, Dex! They must have taken you forever to do!"
Dex's shoulder lifted again. "Eh, it wasn't too much." Despite his words, his ears had turned pink and he looked pleased with Tango's response.
Curious, Whiskey came over and peered over Tango's shoulder, and he had to agree. The sugar cookies looked great, and each one was decorated with a different superhero identifier. Whiskey picked out Captain America's shield, the Flash's symbol, the X-men logo, the Incredibles' insignia, and Red Robin's badge, to name a few. It was pretty impressive how many there were, and how much variety there was.
Tango picked a S.H.I. . cookie, and Whiskey settled on a B.P.R.D. one, figuring he'd keep on the theme of fictional government agencies. Tango practically inhaled his, but Whiskey took a few moments to savour it; Dex made good cookies.
"These are amazing!" Tango reached for another one, but Dex firmly shut the lid on the bucket.
"They're for your party," the redhead said sternly.
"Yeah." Despite his agreement, Tango still looked longingly at the repurposed bucket. After a moment, he seemed to get a hold of himself and he clapped his hands together before rubbing them together. "Right! Dex, you seem to have it all under control in here, so we're gonna go and get decorating! If you need us, just give a holler, okay?"
"Okay. Good luck," Dex added, because any venture in cleaning and decorating in the Haus was a crapshoot at best.
Tango grabbed a bag he hadn't started emptying yet and bounced out to the living room. Whiskey followed him, but paused at the door, lingering a little. "Sure you don't need anything?"
Dex flashed him a rare, small smile. "Yeah, I'm sure. You'd be more in the way than you'd be helping me at this point." He hesitated, but then continued, shifting his weight uncomfortably. "But some help with the dishes later would be nice."
Whiskey couldn't tell if Dex's awkwardness came from suggesting that he might actually need help or from the idea that he might be asking too much, so he made sure to keep his response even more downplayed than usual. "Okay. Call me when you're at that point."
Dex jerked his chin down. "All right."
"Okay."
"Okay."
Whiskey waited a second more, to see if Dex was going to say anything else, but then the timer went off, and Dex immediately busied himself with the newest batch of cookies, so Whiskey slowly went to the living room.
Tango beamed. "Ready for this?"
"Yeah."
"'Swawesome!" And then he was off, Whiskey listening and trailing more sedately behind.
"You've put a lot of thought into all of this," Whiskey observed some time later as he helped arrange the movies so they not only blocked some of the dingier parts of the walls, but also provided some decorations.
"Do you think it's going to be enough? Or!" A new thought seemed to occur to Tango. "Do you think it's too much? Is this all too overboard? Do I need to scale things back? Am I going to—"
"Tango, it's fine. You're not making a mistake. You putting a lot of thought…it wasn't meant as a criticism. Everyone I've talked to is excited to come."
"Oh." Tango blinked. Then he smiled sunnily at Whiskey. "Thanks! But your help has been great! I don't think I'd get everything done in time without your help."
"I make a good minion. Maybe next year, you can upgrade me to sidekick."
Tango laughed. "But if I do that, I'll have to promote Dex! And he's doing awesome where he is! How would that help me then?"
"You could work alone and get everything done that way," Whiskey said, holding Batman cut-out in front of his face. "Just like Batman does."
"No, no, no! You gotta do it right!" Tango cleared his throat and tried to growl. "Just like Batman does."
"Just like Batman does."
"Not quite. Just like Batman does."
"I'm Batman and I work alone."
Tango gasped, and then burst into peals of laughter, clapping. "That was great! Oh man, you could win the Batman Impersonation Contest tonight if you do that again!"
Whiskey bowed. "Thank you. Where do you want this hung?"
"There." Tango pointed. He skipped a little over to his bag and started to pull out a pennant banner. "This is going to be such a cool party!"
Whiskey thought of all the shirts and socks and novelty items on the kitchen table, all the cookies Dex was baking, the different games and activities Tango had planned, the different prizes for each event, and all the work Tango was putting in. "Yeah," he said. "It is."
x Fin x
