OUR ORIGIN STORY BEGINS...

Settling into a small cafe, he grabbed himself a table and sat down with a pastry and cup of coffee before beginning to read whatever book he had thrown into his bag before leaving. Glancing up at the sound of the door opening, he couldn’t help but notice a tag standing out against the front of the new patron’s top. He didn’t think much of it but upon looking again, he could clearly see that something was amiss. He stood up, walking over to them and clearing his throat before beginning to speak. “Hi, I’m sorry to bother you… but I think your shirt is inside out?”

ₒ°❂ — FRED raised his eyebrows as the younger boy approached him, seconds after he entered the cafe. it was something that kind of took fred by surprise. he knew he was cool, but he had never seen someone so eager to talk to him. “ hey, man, ” he responded quickly with a smile on his face, as the other called out the fact that his shirt was inside out. a breathy laugh escaped fred’s lips. when did he ever not struggle with subtlety ? “ i gotta say, you have a really good eye ! you’re the first one that noticed, like, all afternoon, ” fred said in the most nonchalant manner. or perhaps, he was just the only one that cared enough to point it out and prevent fred from looking like an even bigger fool than he already was, in case he wasn’t aware. “ i’m wearing my shirt like this on purpose, though. you see, i was at work just an hour ago and i got this huge salsa stain on my shirt after i changed out of my uniform. had no clean clothes with me. i turned it inside out because it i thought it’d be less obvious that way. ” he shrugged and glanced down at his outfit. “ or maybe i just wanted to make a bold fashion statement, or something. no one’s gotta know. ” fred added, putting his finger in front of his mouth, making a ‘shh’-sound. he really got attached to certain pieces of clothing, and this simple, plain blue shirt was no exception. he could easily buy fifteen similar ones, of much better quality even, but it would never be able to fully replace the old shirts to him. no matter how many stains, holes or rips it had.

@mcsterfredrick

ₒ°❂ — AFTER getting what seemed like a dozen text notifications on his phone ( which was quite unusual for the rather unpopular guy ), fred put his videogame on pause and threw his console next to him on his king-size couch. checking his phone, fred found out iris had texted him multiple times, asking him for help, without a lot of detail as to what was going on. maybe she needed help with assembling furniture. then again, iris liked to be as independent as possible, and she wouldn’t be so dramatic about it. unless... damn, he really hoped nothing collapsed on her in the process of moving. ‘stay where you are, fred’s coming to the rescue,’ fred quickly responded as he stood up, taking his jacket. walking towards iris’ new place, fred’s heart sunk at the thought of her not being her usual beaming self. in the short time fred had known her, he had grown to love her contagiously radiating energy. fred knew all too well that having an all-round positive attitude in life couldn’t hold back every struggle. as he stood in front of her brand new dorm for the first time, fred knocked softly. the door wasn’t closed, so he let himself in. instead of finding a crime scene or an accident in the room, fred found iris, seeming perfectly fine, physically, at least. sighing softly, he walked towards iris and sat down on the side of her bed. “ came as soon as i could, ” he spoke calmly, observing the younger girl. maybe it wasn’t hard to figure out the emergency after all. “ you’re feeling overwhelmed, aren’t you ? ”

ₒ°❂ — A chuckle escaped fred’s mouth as he happened to run into taron during the summer festival. “ a booth ? me ? i don’t know, man. some of my comic books are so valuable, i can’t risk little kids -- heck, or even adults -- spilling ice cream on them, you know ? besides, i’m working extra hours at the bueno nacho this week because with the great weather and the festivities, we get like thrice the costumers we usually get, so i wouldn’t have the time anyway, ” fred rambled on with excuses, before realizing that wasn’t so nice of him -- taron was just giving a friendly suggestion anyway. and as he thought about it, having an own booth could be a lot of fun, especially considering there was a lot of freedom on what to do with it. “ i’m -- i’m sorry. maybe you’re right, it could be a nice idea. i simply hadn’t thought of doing it, but maybe i can start making plans for next year so my first booth will be even more spectacular and totally representing of who i am ! ” fred corrected himself with a confident nod. his confidence quickly disappeared when taron mentioned a speed-painting contest. “ oh, no no no. i could never. what if they’re painting something i’m not familiar with ? i might be good at figures and people, but suck at landscape-thingies. i’d totally embarrass myself. ”

@mcsterfredrick

ₒ°❂ — USUALLY fred would hear something from honey at least once a day. whether it was through text, their groupchat or through instagram messages, fred had no trouble keeping up with what honey was up to. this week had been quite different, though. honey had been more silent than usual. without drawing a conclusion on what was wrong, fred decided to pay a surprise visit to honey’s apartment. it was always better to see her with his own eyes. carrying a his old backpack with some microwave popcorn bags, a selection of dvds ( some horror, some superhero-themed ) and a couple sketches he wanted to show her in it, fred stood in front of honey’s door. after knocking, honey opened the door and welcomed him in the most enthusiastic honey-way, which immediately got followed by his own laughter filling the room. fred really didn’t know any other person who was always that excited to see him. the fact that he mattered so much to her never failed to make him feel good about himself, especially because she was one of the people that mattered most to him. after dropping his backpack, fred stepped closer and threw his arms around honey’s waist in an embrace, lifting her ever so slightly. “ HL ! what are you up to ? i was hoping i could hang with you for a bit, you’re not expecting anyone else, right ? ” she didn’t look like she was planning to go out tonight, which he was happy about.

ₒ°❂ — FOR someone who claimed to dislike parties, fred sure had been showing up to a lot of them lately. he had his fair reasons though, and in his defense, he loathed a special kind of party. the ones where you get suffocated by dozens of stuck-up people. the ones with a dress-code ( especially tuxes were a big no ), and with a certain code of behavior. the ones where you had to sit down at a table and you couldn’t leave before dessert. the ones his parents still dragged him along to sometimes to this day. ah, his parents and their lifestyle of luxury. it was a bratty thing to say, because in general he had everything he wanted because of them, and still they were the cause of 95% of his problems. on days he wanted to forget about all of it, he was happy to have lots of connections in sunnyside’s college scene. because even though he wasn’t a student himself, college parties were exactly what fred could use when he needed to wind down. he knew how to fit in this crowd. an empty glass in his hand and feeling close to his own chill self again, fred walked towards the bar for a refill. seconds later, he felt a hand on his shoulder. after turning around and realizing who had greeted him, he felt most of his chill disappear again. it was roxanne, her voice sounding sweeter as honey. “ ro, hey ! it’s been a while ! ” fred let out, shooting her a slightly nervous smile. how long had it been since they met at a similar party like this and hit it off ? one thing was sure, that had been one of the only occasions fred had used his limited decent picking-up-girls skills, and they pretty much had been hidden away ever since. his last efforts in the romance department had been rather unsuccesful, much to the enjoyment of his friends ( fred’s misery and loneliness when it came to love had kind of become a running joke ). when roxanne smiled back, he felt a shiver going through his body. fred had always been amazed by how effortlessly charismatic she was -- especially with a drink in hand. “ crazy, right ? i just felt like going out tonight, but nothing too big... that’s how i ended up here. and now you’re here too ! ” he reacted. they had run into each other a few times since their break up years ago, sunnyside was small after all, but this just all seemed a little bit familiar. looking at her in the darkness of the room made him feel a little dizzy in his head -- he wasn’t even thinking about which words he was supposed to use anymore. “ i think you... you look amazing tonight. you’re making me look like a fool, as usual. good to see nothing has changed. ”

It was three in the morning and Ron and Fred were just about done cleaning Bueno Nacho. Usually there wouldn’t even be two people working, but with finals just finishing and the end of the school year, they’d had a rise in customers late at night - lots of party-kids (read drunks) that it was just easier to have two people working. Especially in order to clean the bathrooms. God - what a life! “Dude, I feel like we reached a new level in friendship. If we could survive that, then - I mean, you might as well call us the next Avengers or something - “ He was exhausted, but still wanted some food. He was barely able to take a break and at this point - Ron could absolutely say that he was tired of Bueno Nacho. Even the smell was making him mildly nauseous. “Wanna go to the bar or something to get some late night snacks?”

ₒ°❂ — FINALLY putting the mop away after he finished cleaning the bathroom floor, fred heaved a sigh of relief when he realized their work was about to be done. together with ron, cleaning up the bueno nacho after closing time always was significantly quicker than trying to do it alone. not working alone didn’t make him want to quit as much, because fred genuinely thought ron was a great dude -- he was honored to be his co-worker, even. without ron stoppable, the bueno nacho would’ve never been the success it was. “ i know right ? that was some top notch team work right there ! also, i love that idea. can you already picture us ? the new cap and iron man, ready to take over the world, one fast food restaurant at a time ? ” fred chuckled, as an image of him and ron as superheroes popped up in his head. he had to make sure to sketch it later so he could give it to ron for his birthday, or something. “ yeah, for sure -- it’s time to get out of here. chill out a little. change of scene, ” fred agreed, as he took his jacket and beanie, the beanie he wore at any weather. going to the bar seemed way more fun than sleeping.