Button Mashing (Virgil)

Participants: M'gann M'orzz // Virgil Hawkins
Open/Closed: Closed
Location(s): Virgil Hawkin's room, Titans' Tower
Time of Day: Mid-afternoon
Weather: Warm and sunny
Summary: M'gann is introduced to a new computer game by fellow Titan, Virgil.

M'gann sat on the end of Virgil's bed, holding the game he'd suggested they play up to her face, eyes narowed as she inspected the pictures that covered the back of the case. They were gaudy and cartoonish, depicting cute, lovable characters destroying each other with various implements, from giant boxing gloves on springs to sticks of alien dynamite. Words like 'BAM' and 'KABOOM' were highlighted in bold colours, and what space wasn't filled by images seemed to be taken up by reviews; ratings that suggested it was the best and latest in a long and exciting series.

The Martian had discovered quite a love for computer games – introduced to her during her time at the Titans' Tower. At first, she'd found many overly violent and hadn't seen the appeal; why would anyone want to hurt one of their friends for fun? However, over time, her team mates had explained what made them so popular: how they helped release pent up aggression, fostered competitive spirit and provided a way to unwind and relax.

She'd grudgingly been convinced to try a range of titles, and had subsequently found they were not as bad as she'd first thought. M'gann's first love was open world adventures, and she had spent hours roaming fantastical worlds and helping people better their lives by completeing a multitude of quests. She'd saved Camelotia (three times, actually), rescued princes and princess and faced tough moral choices (though always tried to find a 'win-win' situation, and was quite put out when such an option wasn't available.) They were games she could play alone, where she didn't have to work against her friends.

However, through constant pressure, she was eventually convinced to take part in versus modes of classic 'beat em ups.' Suffice to say that she surprised a number of people with how good she was – extendable elastic thumbs gave her a distinct advantage. M'gann had, however, yet to master the element of 'smack talk' that the others enjoyed, tending to apologise after decimating her opponent.

“Can we work together in this one?” she finally asked, not finding the answer to her query on the case itself, and looked over at the teenager sat a short distance from her, red brows raised. She certainly hoped so – though supposed beating Virgil at one of his games again might prove to be some fun: he always seemed to enjoy it when she did.

Jaime Reyes and Eddie Bloomberg were probably two of the funnest teammates Virgil had had the chance to work with. Mostly because all three weren't the coolest kids ever, and all shared a love of video games. Whenever Virgil got to be a part of the Teen Titans, he was always sure to bring over a bounty of games for him and his teammates to play; Eddie and Jaime being the most receptive to playing. They weren't always around for them however, and some of the other team members were less than enthused by the prospect. Bart couldn't stay focused for more than 3 seconds, Rose despised the games, Tim never had time, and Virgil didn't really get a chance to talk to any others about it. There was another however, one whom Virgil, Eddie, and Jaime had been able to get quite enamored with games; M'Gann M'Orzz aka Miss Martian.

It had taken some time, but M'Gann took to games very quickly and easily put a lot of those who had been playing them for years to shame with what she could do with them. Virgil did feel a tad guilty about having showed her quest-completing games, as he had heard she had sunk a whole lot of hours into one in particular. He probably should have warned her how engrossing they could become.

As he finished hooking up the TV and the system, Static adjusted his ICON IS MY SUPERMAN[/b] t-shirt that had gotten all wrinkled while he was working away. He stretched back before leaning forward once more, this time to let his dreads down. Grabbing a handful, Virgil did a quick ponytail to make sure his dreads wouldn't get in his way while he played some games. The young hero grabbed a moon chair from the other side of the room and sat down in it, reaching over and handing M'Gann a controller. "Yay, there's one on one and two on two fight modes. There's also a highscore mode. We just keep beating up the baddies until time runs out, up to four people can do that. Winner is whoever beat up the most people. We can do that if you want, I'd rather not lose to you in a 1v1 fight again"

M'gann took the controller that was thrust at her and dropped the game case onto the bed next to her. Then, she shuffled back a little, wiggling her fingers around the controller's strange shape in order to 'loosen up' – not that she needed to, her malleable form didn't suffer the same issues that human musculature and bones did. However, it was a habit she'd picked up watching others, and showed that she was ready to compete. As she took her position, Virgil explained the various game modes open to them.

The list was surprisingly extensive, and he opted to guide her choice toward a 'highscore' mode, which wouldn't see them facing off against each other one on one. Instead, they would be confronted by endless waves of enemies, and whoever beat up the most 'won' the game. M'gann tilted her head a little. It sounded very akin to their work as Titans, having faced off against innumerable threats on more than one occasion, but she declined to mention it. Games weren't real. They were for fun. Any likeness to reality was generally only meant by accident or to heighten enjoyment.

Or so people said.

“So, rather than lose in a one against one battle, you would like to lose by beating up less pixelated people than me?” The quip sounded far too good-natured to be of any offence, and the Martian smiled uncomfortably, unsure if what she'd said had crossed an invisible emotional line: usually she added an instant apology after any put down or rebuttal Virgil or Eddie had encouraged her to voice, but they often demanded she didn't straight after doing so.

As such – she let an awkward silence exist for a moment, fighting the urge to say 'Sorry!' and instead attempted to look confident in her trash talking. Just to look at her face suggested she wasn't.

Virgil Hawkins

As he got comfortable in the chair, Virgil rolled his head, loosening up. Following this, the young man from Dakota cracked his knuckles before button mashing his controller to make sure every button was responsive and none of them stuck. Eddie and Jaimie were notorious for eating junk food while playing games and had often gotten crumbs into his controllers. Even if they weren't around, Virgil still needed to check his gear.

Virgil gave a little laugh and gently bumped against M'gann. "I just wanna have fun. If the fun happens cause we beat everyone up together, or if it comes because you beat me up, I'm good" There was a brief pause as Virgil's mind went through the words he had said. "In game. To clarify, I mean it's fun if you beat me up in game" There was no doubt in Virgil's mind that M'gann would never beat him up outside of the video games, she was a very good friend after all. Not just that though, she was just too nice. Sure she had some crazy powers and was nearly Icon levels of powerful, but she really wouldn't even hurt a fly unless she needed to.

"Gettin' a chance to hang out with you and catch up is really what this is about, the game is secondary if I'm being honest M'gann" Cycling through the menu, Virgil began adjusting some of the games settings. Colour contrast, sound settings, his button configurations. As he did so, his eyes shifted to his side to the alien in the room, a smile coming to his face. "We haven't seen each other much since we were both on the team last, so I'm just happy to get a chance to be around a good friend like you" With an assuring nod, Virgil selected the endless wave game mode and got to the character selection screen.

"Speaking of not hanging out lots, uh...sorry we never hung out outside of the Titans stuff. I got swamped when I went back to Dakota, I didn't have much time for anything between school and hero work"

M’gann watched carefully as Virgil prepared for their gaming session like it was some sort of sporting event. She fought the urge to wince as he cracked his knuckles – a sound the Martian detested - and stopped herself from telling him to be careful: she’d seen him prepare in a similar fashion on numerous occasions and knew the action didn’t cause anywhere near as much pain as the sound suggested. After a neck roll and a button mash – one which M’gann copied, ensuring her controller was working too – Virgil smiled and bumped against her, leaning over and nudging her with his shoulder.

‘I just wanna have fun.’ M’gann inclined her head to smile at her teammate. In similar situations, if she had said something of that nature to Eddie or Jamie, she was certain they would only have intensified their trash talk – tell her she was afraid of losing, or that she could have fun when she’d been destroyed, or some similar adage. It was not in the Martian’s nature, even though she was learning the art of put downs, to react in such a manner. Instead, she simply nudged Virgil back. “Perhaps we could play the game differently?” She paused, formulating her idea. “We could add our scores together, and then challenge Eddie and Jason to see if they could outscore us?”

The dreadlocked teen went on to set up their ‘endless wave’, cycling through game modes and adjusting settings as he went, almost a little distractedly, spending as much time looking at and talking to the green alien at his side as he was focusing on the video game. His apologies for not having seen the Martian as much as he’d have liked, and his suggestion he enjoyed being around her, caused a slight darkening of her cheeks, and her stomach felt a little strange – as if winged beasts were flapping about inside it.

M’gann did her best to ignore it.

“I enjoy spending time with you too…” she replied honestly. “Now you’re back from Dakota, maybe we can ‘hang out’ more?” She looked at him with hopeful, large, red eyes. “There is a good gelato restaurant Jamie keeps mentioning… we could eat dessert there one day?” M’gann didn’t wish to assume Virgil had that time on his hands – some of the prior obstacles he faced still existed – but she was certain there was nothing wrong with asking.

Virgil Hawkins

Had Virgil known about M'gann's distaste for the knuckle cracking, he'd have laid off of it. Really though, it was just such a routine for him that he almost never realized he was actually doing it. Much like the button mashing, it was just something he did, it was so ingrained in his mind that it seemingly just happened.

Swaying back from her returned nudged, Virgil thought on the green heroes words. His smile stayed on his face as he gave her a nod. "I like that idea. That way we both win, and Eddie and Jaime defiantly wont be able to be our combined score" It was a good though to have; Eddie and Jaime working hard to beat his and M'gann's score only to continuously fail. Virgil liked that prospect a lot.

As he continued to cycle through the game modes, he had noticed the Martian's reaction to his statement. Even if he had, he probably wouldn't have made much note of it. As cute as M'gann was, and as much as she was a really good friend, he doubted there was anything there besides a good friend. Not that Virgil wouldn't potentially want a date or something with M'gann. Again, she was cute, friendly, a joy to be around, just pure positive energy. She was, in Virgil's mind at least, too good to be true As such, she was someone who wouldn't think twice about him in the sense of a date or anything of the sort. Or, well, maybe she would. M'gann was super nice, maybe she'd give him a pity date. But that wasn't something Virgil wanted, that'd feel weird.

Snap out of it Virgil As the thoughts came to mind about M'gann, Virgil's mind began to swat at him. He wasn't here to fluster himself over potential feelings for a teammate; they were here to hang out and catch up. And they were thoughts he attempted to shunt away as he got comfortable on his seat and listened once more to her. "Oh I'd like that" he replied, before hearing her comment about gelato. He thought for a second if he'd ever even had gelato before, it was just fancy ice cream right? "I'm game for gelato, it's a date" The words just came out of his mouth, and as they did, his mouth shut instantly and curled into one of pensive thought. "I mean, like, a date in the sense I agree. Not in the sense of like it's a date-date. That's not what I meant. Not saying I wouldn't want to go on a date with y-...y'know what I'm going to stop talking" Virgil paused in his rambling, feeling a change of tint come to his face. Taking a deep breath, he rubbed his cheeks and attempted to just focus just on the TV ahead of them.

"So, right. The game. Game is a go. All ready, let's do this"

A date.

A shy smile flitted across M’gann’s face, and her cheeks shifted to an even darker shade of green. If TV had taught her anything, a date was when two people – who felt that they perhaps liked each other as more than just friends – went out together to test said feelings; like dipping a toe into a swimming pool before diving in. She had not necessarily been asking Virgil on such an outing, but his misunderstanding of her intentions did not embarrass or chafe. Rather the opposite, the winged-beasts in her stomach grew only more agitated, making her naturally shift a little closer to him – the Martian acting entirely on instinct.

"I mean, like, a date in the sense I agree. Not in the sense of like it's a date-date. That's not what I meant. Not saying I wouldn't want to go on a date with y-...y'know what I'm going to stop talking"

Whatever small parasites had been squirming within M’gann’s digestive tract, they quickly fell still, as if finding a way to rapidly exit her body. She blinked twice, then quickly focused on her controller, raising a hand to absently brush some hair behind her ear. TV had also taught her that dates were often topics of hilarity in comedy or misery in romances, simply because of the misunderstandings they caused - a misunderstanding like the very brief one shared between the two Teen Titans but moments before.

She had forgotten the offhanded phrase - ‘It’s a date!’ - could also be used between friends and family members just agreeing on a time to meet one-another – quite literally picking a date from their calendars. She chewed her lip for a moment, seemingly spending a long few moments examining the multi-coloured buttons her fingers rested on.

"So, right. The game. Game is a go. All ready, let's do this"

Re-affixing her gaze on the TV, M’gann looked up with a smile, as if the date conversation was a little more than a distant memory, putting it out of her mind and instead focussing on ensuring they set the highest score possible. She moved her character left, then right, and noted key parts of the heads-up display – notably her character’s health, shown with hearts, and the blue bar below that represented ‘energy.’ “Please try not to let your cartoon avatar die in the first onslaught, Virgil. We need to save our extra hearts for later in the game.” An obvious strategy picked up from a second of analysing the game screen – but M’gann just wanted to re-focus the topic of conversation, moving it away from the territory it had been in previously.

It would , perhaps, make it easier to ignore the slight sinking feeling that remained in her gut after the insectoid creatures had stopped flapping their wings.

Virgil Hawkins

Virgil wasn't one hundred percent the best at picking up social queues. While he did have a fair few friends back home, a lot of them were people he had known almost his whole life. He knew how everyone acted and all their little ticks and quirks. It was easy to tell when he, or someone else, had something wrong or out of place. True he had known M'gann for awhile now, but he hadn't known her as long as others. But even then, he could feel as if his words had been misspoken. He couldn't quite place his finger on it though.

The teenage boys' mind raced through countless possibilities of what could have transpired to lead to this feeling. He began to over analyze all the parts of their conversation since they met up today, but soon her words broke his thought. His eyes darted to his controller, then to her, then to the screen. "Right, right" He paused again, before glancing once more from the screen to her. "Uh, before we start, I'm just gonna refill my water bottle"

Having excused himself, Virgil turned into his bathroom and turned on the tap. He starred at himself in the mirror for a moment before splashing water on his face, and then filling up his water bottle. He glanced at the mirror again for a second, splashed some more water on his face, then looked at himself again. "Ohh" His voice was quiet and drowned out by the water he then turned off. Drying off his face and grabbing his drink, he went back out to the room and took his seat again.

"I should clarify that I wouldn't mind a date with you. I just didn't want to assume you meant it as a date in case that's not what you meant. But if you want to make it a date, like a date-date, I'd be down for that" There were small clues that his wording had probably been taken in one way, and his quick correction may have caused some whiplash. Hopefully he could rectify it all. M'gann was a good friend of his, but she was also very pretty and smart. He'd be lucky to get a date with her.

He kept the game paused briefly, letting his words settle for a second. "If you wanna though, I'd suggest we don't tell the team. They'd probably stalk us and watch from the distance the whole time and just be huge snoops about it all" With more of his words coming out, Virgil started the first round of the game. It was an easy enough round, they'd hopefully get a chance to talk while playing.

Before either of their cartoon avatars had been able to throw a punch at their pixelated enemies, Virgil paused the game and dashed for the bathroom in order to fill up his water bottle. M’gann blinked, surprised at the suddenness of his exit, but nodded her understanding. Moments later, his bathroom door closed, locked, and the sound of rushing water could be heard through the dividing wall. Seconds passed and the Martian just sat, looking at the space he’d vacated, before fighting the brief urge to reach out to him telepathically. She had, long ago, made promises to herself and her team mates that she wouldn’t read their thoughts without first asking, and it was one she had kept – this was to be no different.

Even though Virgil seemed troubled and more awkward than he often did, it was not her place to pry. He would tell her what he was thinking if and when he was ready, and she would understand if he never was.

When he returned, a good few minutes after leaving and with a full water bottle, he dropped back down at her side. M’gann offered him a warm smile. About to un-pause the game, she was halted when he rather unexpectedly attempted to clarify his position on the aforementioned ‘date.’ He used the word a lot, and in a very long-winded way, suggested that he would, actually, like to go on one, if that is also what she wanted.

It took a moment for her to process his meaning, but when she finally did, she beamed. The winged stomach-insects returned, multiplying in their thousands, and she couldn’t help but lean across and gently place her lips to his cheek. It was the briefest of pecks, but one she hoped gave him her answer. Just in case it hadn’t, she quickly added, “I’d like that…very much.”

The game went live shortly after, with Virgil cautioning against telling other members of the team. Apparently, he feared they may follow them, attempting to spy on the pair. Quite why, M’gann didn’t truly understand, she doubted their outing would be of much interest to their fellow Titans. However, upon further consideration, many TV shows and teen movies saw nosy friends getting far more interested in dates than the people actually on them, lending credibility to Virgil’s concern.

“Maybe we should go on a few successful dates before we tell our friends…” she agreed, trailing off, realising that she had just suggested that one outing become many.

Virgil Hawkins

Virgil was a very smart young man. His intelligence did not mean he was very clever. The teen often found himself over explaining situations when he felt he needed to clarify things. While he could probably easily get from Point A to Point B, he often felt the need to explain the process. As such, he often said more than he needed to, or ramble when it wasn't required. This was definitely one of those moments.

Luckily for the teen from Dakota, M'gann allowed him to ramble off and listened to his words. He had very little experience asking out anyone, and having made a bit of a fool of himself earlier, it came as a bit of a surprise when she responded favourably. Heck, even more favourably than he'd have every expected. He felt the briefest of brief pecks to his cheek and he felt his face flush completely. His hand clammed up as well and he accidentally hit the 'Return To Main Menu' part of the pause screen. While it really was the smallest of bits of affection, it still caught Virgil completely off guard.

Attempting to pull up a hoodie to cover his face, Virgil remembered he was in just a regular tshirt. He quickly coughed to clear his throat, all in a failed attempt to hid the blush covering his face. "I, uh...I'd like that" Virgil kept his gaze away from M'gann for a moment, still attempting to hide his face as he spoke. Realizing how fruitless of an endeavor that was, as the two were side-by-side, Virgil glanced back at her with a big smile over his face. "I had been meaning to ask you out for awhile, to be honest. Just uh, never really knew how to do so. Was afraid you'd say no. Like, I know no is just a two letter word, but it's still somehow a very scary word to hear"