Welcome to Gaia! ::

Juno stepped off of the dinky fishing boat that he'd managed to persuade to drop him at the mysterious island. The mysterious island he'd spent a good chunk of his teen life at, the place he near-grew-up in.

Sidekick Academy.

He took in a big breath of the island's smell and exhaled with an equally large sigh. He wasn't sure how he felt about being back, but one thing was for sure... It would be just as exciting as when he'd been there as a kid, maybe even more so. When he sent his letter to the Captain on offering his mentor services, he didn't expect a response so quickly. And now here he was.

And he knew exactly where the first place he was headed. He wasn't sure if the Captain had told all the other mentoring heroes who were currently at SA about him coming back to help out, but he hoped he hadn't. He wanted his return to be a surprise, especially for someone in particular. And where this particular someone was exactly where Juno was headed. With shades on and sleek sports bag comfortably across his shoulder, he was ready to find his friend. Hopefully too much hadn't changed while he'd been away.

Juno trudged along through the academy's grounds until he found the correct building he was looking for. From his observation, he could tell there were just as many students as when he was there. So many new faces that he would be getting to know soon enough. Assuming kids wanted to take his class.

Once he was inside the building, Juno skipped along until he made it to the pantry. Peering in, he saw a most familiar back facing him rummaging through the shelves and fridge.

And without a second's warning, Juno jumped into the frame of the doorway with both hands out in ready shooting position and went wild shooting exactly around the shape of Hack's body, hitting the wall with small dart shots.
"BangBangBangBangBangBang." As each hand shot, one after the other.

"HANDS UP PANTRY THIEF. Drop. That. Sandwich." Juno said loudly, not really shouting volume but loud enough to startle a person. There was a grin as wide as mile on his face.

Juno could only just barely hold his laughter in at Hack's terrible shriek. It was not exactly the response he expected. The least his old friend could do was recognize his voice, but alas. He bit his lip to keep himself in order. He always told Hack that he ought to take up a little training for times like these, if... They got infiltrated or whatever and whoever was after them went straight for the tech people... However odd and unlikely it seems. You never know. They could try kidnapping him to force him to do hacking/program-y things for evil.

Okay, so now he was just trying to find a scenario in which a little hand-to-hand combat would come in... Handy.

But Juno could no longer hold onto his laughter when Hack made the attempt to save the bread and ketchup bottle while hiding under the table. He doubled over from laughing so hard until all he could do was lay on his back on the floor laughing. "Seriously dude--you might want to--work on that scream. Girls won't find that attractive." He managed to say in spurts between laughter.

When he finally managed to calm his hysterical laughing, Juno rolled over onto his stomach to look his friend in the face. They hadn't seen each other for near-three years it seemed like. He propped himself up on his elbows. "Hey there. How's it going?" He said, grinning from ear to ear.

"... I- you- what-?"

Was all his BFF could manage to sputter out. Boy, perhaps disappearing for three years into Tasea was not the best idea. He tried to remember why exactly he'd decided to go home for such an extended period of time not long after he'd managed to attain his hero title. Plus adding on to the fact that he'd pretty much stopped contact with his closest friends who remained at SA. Things were fuzzy back then, so he would have to contemplate that at a later time.

And then there it was, the bear hug. Causing Juno to gasp a little. Was that a sniffle he just heard from his friend? He snerked. Hack was such a dork sometimes.

Oh, but now he was shoved back only to face the death glare of his tech BFF.

"I really missed you, but THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?! I was hungry!"

Juno snerked again. Of course he was angry about the food. The piglet.
"Well thanks, I missed you too!" He said patting Hack strongly on the shoulder a few times.
"Calm yourself bud. Here, I'll make you your sandwich again." He laughed and stuck his tongue out, taking the bread Hack managed to save and lifting himself off the ground. "And you're always hungry. What difference is now and half an hour ago."

Juno was smirking as he began grabbing food things from the fridge, tossing them onto the counter. He intended on making himself a sandwich as well of course.
"So how's life at SA been treating you? Get into any awful trouble lately?" He looked back at his friend with a raised eyebrow. Maybe he would have some interesting stories to share, after all. It's been three years. The bugger was bound to have some hilarious tales to tell.

"Well there was that one time I blew up a lab, but it was an accident, and you can't really call it awful if its an accident right?"

Juno snorted. "Nah, pretty sure you can still call it awful." He put lettuce on their sandwiches.

"Sides, Kitty-- I mean, Damien was there to do the cleaning up so no real harm was done..."

Juno stopped for a moment. Damien. He wondered how he was doing, though they weren't particularly close they did happen to have a bit of history together. They were playful with each other, at least to Juno they were. It was probably not exactly the same to Damien though. He was so serious.

"Haha, I bet he wasn't too thrilled. You're so lazy Hack." Juno smiled as he slapped on the top piece of bread to both their sandwiches. Of course he was amused that his friendly rival had to clean up some no-doubt giant mess Hack had made.

"What about you? Had any fun while you were away? I saw you on the news a couple of times!"

Juno handed his friend a nice new fat sandwich. He still wasn't very used to when people mentioned they'd seen him on the tele, but he mostly only heard that from his family. And... Ex-girlfriend while they were together.
"Well. I almost died a few months ago." He said nonchalantly, and then took a bite out of his deliciously stacked sandwich. "I got some pretty horrendous scars. Wanna see 'em?" He said with his face lighting up with thrill.

"Speaking of scars, what's that on your nose?" Juno pointed with his sandwich at it. He was skeptical. Hack wasn't the fighting type, how'd he manage to get a scar on his face?

"Hey I was ready to clean up after myself okay! Its just... Kitty said I'd make a bigger mess, and then Flo banned me from giving classes anymore..."

Juno chuckled. "Uh huh."
Flo? Hm.
"Wait, is Flo that black haired scientist lady? She's pretty. And I thought Captain or Phoenix were in charge of teachers for classes?"

"You nearly what and got what?!"

Juno blinked as flecks of bread flew at him.

"Don't you dare die on me or I'll... Wait what scars, oh gosh that'd be kinda cool if it didn't sound painful."

"You really think I'd die?" Juno laughed. "And it wasn't too bad..." That was an understatement of course, when he thought too much about his left scar he could still feel its painful encounter with the thorn whip cutting into his flesh. He rubbed his left shoulder with his free hand. "My sisters patched me up just fine I think." He said with a smile, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"Oh this! Uh... long story short, there was a really mean cat in Flo's lab so its Flo's fault,"

"I'm going to guess you and this Flo lady don't get along well, huh?" Juno teased at his friend. "Care to introduce me? I think I'd get along swimmingly with her." He snorted. He did so love teasing his friends. "And really, a cat scratch Hack? You can do better than that I think."

"Its no big deal, probably can't compare to your, um, near death experience. Which you ARE gonna tell me about right?"

Juno shrugged. "I was just really careless one time with Blue Rose. She's really cackle-y, you know? And you'd never think it, but she sure does talk a lot." He sniffled a bit and took another bite out of his sandwich. "Molly says I should be less flashy." He laughed it off.

"Bro, she's pretty, sort of, I guess, but totally not your type, trust me."

Juno chuckled at this. "You sure you know what my type is?" He teased. Taking another bite from his sandwich. Boy, was Hack really getting through his sandwich.

"Dude what-- are you-- c'mon surely you got a girlfriend already right?"

Juno shrugged. "I did... But it didn't end well." He laughed, waving his hand to wave aside that topic. "And what about you? No pretty lady catching your eye yet?"

"Hey it was a really fierce cat alright..."
"The things that woman keeps in her lab....."

"Mmm. So I see you and this Flo go way back huh?" Juno nodded with a smirk on his face, pretending to be completely enraptured by Hack's tale of the ferocious cat.

"Really? But she always looks so... silent, ya know? Oh MOLLY god how long has it been since I last saw her..."

"Nah, yeah. She's an egotistical chatterbox..." Juno drifted off at this comment, recalling his own behavior put shame all over him. "You should come visit with me some time. I'm sure Molly misses your idiocy." Juno nudged his friend with his elbow and wiggled his eyebrows. "I'm sure Sherry will be genuinely glad to see you though."

His sisters were really the only ones that managed to put up with Hack, the rest of his family were a bit confused by him. Especially his brothers, they already had a Juno. They didn't need a Hack too. His parents were generally indifferent, though mom was friendlier for sure. Or maybe his dad was just like that with everyone new.

"Well I think she's right, you need to wear less bling when fighting villains man, what if they get in the way and stuff?"

Juno sighed. "And what? Should I ask you to design a new hero outfit for me?" He laughed, joking of course. "I just can't do spandex man."

((TOTALLY OKAY WITH ME. 8D /thumbs up ;; Should they go somewhere...? Chill at Hack's place or something?))

"No... I guess not, but I'm sure Flo isn't,"

Juno laughed at this, but let his friend have his final statement and left things settled there. Of course he wasn't going to listen though. He took another bite out of his sandwich and watched as Hack ruminated on the last bit of his sandwich. Something was clicking inside there, for sure.

He just wasn't sure what. Hack had never been too keen on discussing his feelings. It was a tough conversation to tackle.

"Nah."

Nah, he says. Juno eyed his friend suspiciously but continued to chew his sandwich.

"I met her before the school opened. I think you were still in Tasea then. But uh, let's not go there..."

"Whatever you say." He said with a bow of his head and arm. "And stop eyeing my sandwich, you know I'm not giving it to you." Juno took another large bite from his sandwich to taunt Hack with an evil grin.

"Dude, spandex is convenient, you should try it some time, and with a figure like yours I'm pretty sure the girls will be all over you."

"Nah, I had my fill on pretty girls for now." Juno laughed. He was a model after all, he was surrounded by pretty girls all the time. Albeit very skinny girls, too skinny in fact. "Maybe I should introduce you to some model friends? Hook you up Hack. You need some lovins." Juno teased with a light punch to his arm.

"Hey, let's blow this place. Don't you live near SA somewhere?" Juno realized even though he'd just arrived back at SA, he still wanted a little extra space away to absorb the fact he'd come back. Plus Hack was sure not to be living anywhere too far away, considering how lazy he was.

((lol. Totally fine with me Mori. 8D ))