Duo of Awesomeness (private)

Finn was at the beach at nine o'clock that night, Reddy to Rock and Roll with his new partner in crime, Aaron. No, wait. Alec. No. Alex! Yeah, Alex, that's who it was. He was wearing a pair of orange swimming trunks and sandals, with his hair fixed a little now. He had the white strings hanging off that he was messing with. He rolled his shoulders, knowing it was almost game time. The popular kids were out and about, playing volleyball, socializing over fire and smores, that kinda thing. Finn put his sunglasses on, because he knew only cool guys wore sunglasses at night.

Alex walked out onto the beach in a pair of orange Camp swim trunks, flip flops, and a white t-shirt. With the color combination, he felt like a traffic cone, or a piece of candy corn, or an orange creamsicle pop. He may not have liked the white and orange, but what else was he going to wear up top? His Camp t-shirt? Then he'd just look like a skinny pumpkin, or a really stretched out orange.

Well, Alex thought to himself, at least the weather's warm. And warm it was. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, so the moon shone brightly. Moon shadows stretched across the coarse pale-yellow sand. The sound of waves softly crashing on the shore was beginning to ease Alex's muscles, the nervous tension of meeting Finn on the beach was slowly beginning to melt away. 

Almost as if on queue Alex looked up and saw Finn just a couple of yards away from him. Finn was lazing about on a towel, not too far from small groups of teenagers talking, playing music, and just having a good time.

He's probably scoping out the scene. I'll go say hi. Alex made his way over to Finn. Hey, he said, how's it go– he stopped short at the sight of Finn's shades. Uh... what's with the glasses?

Finn pulled down the glasses to the brim of his nose. "It makes me look cool, and it lets me to look around without people seeing me looking around. It's like a James Bond or life hack type of thing." He pushed the sunglasses back up. "Alex, Alex, Alex, first thing's first. I say we go to the kids playing volleyball and make our way to the campfire later. We need to show off some kids in a good old mano-on-mano first. Or whatever volleyball is. Are you any good at it?" Finn asked, and continued without letting him answer, "I've been practicing a while. I'm practically a pro at it. I could be in the Olympics for it." He got up, doing some air boxing while waiting. Finn ran his hand through his hair, making sure it looked good.

Uh... sure. "Life Hacks" or whatever, Alex shrugged his shoulders. Alex didn't really want to argue with Finn, considering that he was older by almost 4 years. 

The guy is almost an adult, Alex thought to himself, I'm pretty sure if anything he was saying was fake, I would be able to tell... right? Alex was now unsure. He felt he should ask Finn about the glasses.

You know, Alex started, there aren't many guys who would actually admit to wearing sunglasses at night. It doesn't seem that practical... What, with the limited field of sight. It's almost like working with a blindfold. I mean, unless your godly blood granted you with magical "see in the dark" powers... But hey, to each his own...

"It's a risk I'm taking for the greater good of losing my virg-" he stopped when two girls walked by. He threw off the sunglasses, to watch them go by. "Screw that. C'mon, let's go play some volleyball." Finn grabbed Alex by the arm and took him over to the full volleyball court. The people playing stared at them. Finn cleared his voice and said with some good old manly confidence, "we want in."

"Doesn't there have to be a age limit for this, like you can't play before you grow your first pubic hair," one guy commented with a laugh, causing the others to laugh.

"I'm 17 actually, here I'll show you my-"

"I mean the kid, dipshit," the guy quickly said.

"Oh, right. Alex is a chill kid. He can actually speak fluent Mandarin Chinese. Watch this," Finn said with a smile, hitting him on the chest lightly. The others watched.

Alex froze. Mandarin Chinese? He thought to himself. What kind of bald-faced lie... He scanned the crowd of teenagers before him. The most he knew in any foreign language was Hindi, as his grandmother would speak to him in her native tongue. Gladly, most of them looked white, and probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between Hindi and Mandarin. Well, it's better than nothing...


Alex cleared his throat and said Susandhya! Mera naam eleks hai, which not-quite-perfectly translates to "Good evening! My name is Alex." None of the kids piped up to call him out for speaking in the "wrong" language, so it looked like they were in the clear.

"What did he say? I watch enough anime to know that wasn't friendly," The guy who called Finn dipshit said. Alex shot a nervous look out of the corner of his eye towards Finn, stifling a laugh.


Bro, Alex whispered to Finn, anime is Japanese. Can this guy get not one Asian culture right?

"I'm more surprised he watches anime, to be honest. Usually these beach guys don't do that kinda stuff," Finn whispered back. He cleared his throat. "OKay, guys, guys, I proved we're cool, let's play some v-ball, hit that Spotify, and let's get going!" he said while pumping his fists.

"Bro, seriously, GTFO," another guy spoke up.

Finn looked at the girls standing behind them. "You're just mad because I'm going to steal your girls from right under you!" he declared, pointing his finger.

"Wording, dude. Wording," one girl said and they laughed.

Finn looked at Alex. "OKay I've had enough, did you bring the switchblades?"

Swi-Switchblades? Alex asked in a whisper. He looked around at the crowd in front of him. The lead beach bro started glaring down at Finn and him. Alex saw him look over his shoulder and give a nod to another beach bro. The second beach bro had a man-bun and a half sleeve tattoo decorated with images of weapons and soldiers fighting. On his shoulder was the head of a boar, making it clear to Alex that man-bun was a son of Ares.

Uh... Finn, you never said anything about switchblades... Alex muttered. Man-bun then looked across the volleyball net and nodded to another beach bro. This one was scrawny with pale skin, sunken eyes, and a short, neon green mohawk. Alex watched as dark whisps emerged from his hands as he cracked his knuckles. 

Finn, Alex said, I think we're outnumbered. Unless you've got some fight in you, we better run...

"Dude, I got this, but I just assumed you would bring switchblades in case this got messy. Watch this, it's a fear-inducing move," he whispered to the younger boy. Finn looked across at the beach bros ready to make a move. He walked slowly towards them, and cleared his throat. He put his hands at his side, and the beach bros looked ready to strike.

Finn suddenly started doing the backpack kid dance. "Fortnite! Fortnite! What's the point of building forts, you're going night night! John Wick coming with the V bucks!" he started singing while doing his dance.

The beach bros looked around at each other, obviously very confused. The girls started laughing.

Alex blinked at Finn, mouth agape in pure bewilderment. I... what? The lead beach bro looked at the other two.

"You guys know what the f*ck is going on?" He asked. The other two shrugged. 

"Lay off, Brett," one of the girls said through her laughter. "These two aren't any harm, they're just joking around!"

Yeah, Alex said, just listen to her... uh, Brett... Alex leaned over to Finn and muttered I don't know what you're doing... but it's working. How much longer are you going to do this?

"A long long f*cking time, until these guys decide to let us be," Finn whispered back. "Press L cuz you're going to the lobby! 150 damage in your underwear! Fortnite, Fortnite!"

One girl walked over to Alex. "So, he's your friend, huh?"

Alex looked at the girl. Her eyes had a hint of judgment in them, making Alex feel like the "right" answer in this situation would be to reject Finn and head over with the girl.

But why would I say a guy like Finn wasn't my friend? He thought to himself. Sure, Finn went from a certified badass to a total dork within 24 hours, but Alex was definitely one to joke around the exact same way Finn was doing right at that moment. Meme references and all, Alex found Finn's sense of humor identical to his own. And now, with the beach bros looking more confused and less aggressive, he decided to answer her question.

Yeah, he's my friend. In fact, he's one of the coolest guys I know. Alex then started doing the bloc boy/shoot along to Finn's singing. Fortnite! Fortnite! Alex muttered something under his breath that sounded like something, something, something, Fortnite!

"He's a total dork, but it's kind of hilarious," the girl commented, and walked away from Alex.

One of the beach bros put up his hands. "If you shut the hell up, we'll let you play volleyball with us."

Finn stopped. "All we asked for! Let's get playing!" he exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air.

"OKay, you two get the team of the girls," one guy said, nodding at them.

Finn turned to Alex. "Do you see how great this'll be? Me and you, winning over the ladies!"

I don't even know how you did it, but it worked, Alex laughed. The two of them got to one side of the volleyball court and stood with one of the Man-Bun Beach Bro. On the other side was Mohawk, Lead Bro, and a buff girl with a pixie cut Alex hadn't seen before. He would've known if he saw her as she looked like she could fold Alex into a pretzel without breaking a sweat.

Man-Bun looked behind him and tossed the ball to Alex. "You serve, kid," he said. Now closer, Alex could see Man-Bun's hair was made up of dreadlocks that were tied in an updo. He had a short, well-trimmed beard with an elaborate design on the cheeks. If Alex had to guess, this guy was a son of Aphrodite, because no normal guy would spend that much time on his beard.

Alright... Alex quickly walked over to the far corner of the makeshift court and faced the opposing side. He tossed the ball up, reared his fist back, and smacked the ball over the net as he yelled Service... I think?

Finn smiled at Alex when he served. "Hell yea it is!" he said, pumped, with the other campers looking confused. Finn hit the ball over the net when it came back his way, but then one guy, Mohawk, spiked the ball directly at him. He jumped back, as the ball smushed into the sand below. "Sorry," he apologized to the rest of the team, as the team on the other side got ready.

Alex watched the ball embed itself into the sand right in front of Finn and thought something about that spike didn't feel right. He saw the eyes of Mohawk and noticed the intensity in them. It was like the kid was staring daggers into Finn, and the shine of the light across his face didn't do much to ease the tense feeling in Alex's gut. 

Maybe he's just intense about volleyball... Alex thought to himself. He then saw Mohawk crack his knuckles without breaking eye contact with Finn. Or, maybe, he wants to spike Finn's face into the ground. He had to think of a way to let Finn know without alerting the whole other team.

Hey, uh... watch the dude on the net. He's got a mean spike! Alex said in a forced friendly tone.

Finn looked at Alex, and nodded at him. "Bro, the booger meister wants to destroy my face!" he said, audible enough that the other team could hear. He was trying to edge on them, trying to make them so angry they could beat him up. Not enough that they'd actually follow through with it, of course. "C'mon, bro, that all you got, bro?"

The game continued, and the mohawk guy spiked it again at him. Finn shrieked a bit, and dodged it. It was going right towards Alex.

Booger Meister? Because his hair is green? Alex watched the game continue, and again, Mohawk spiked the ball into the sand between Finn's feet. Alex realized this guy wasn't going to slow down and his aim was getting better. Alex had to think fast.
"Uh... Rotate!" Alex said. Lead Bro stepped to the net. 
"Woah, kid! Since when do you call the shots?" Lead Bro asked.
"Since, uh, there's a rule in beach volleyball that says every two points, the teams rotate positions... So, technically, I'm not–"
"I'm going to give you five seconds to shut your face!" Mohawk said.
"Oh, uh..." Alex shot a look of worry to Finn, raising an eyebrow as if to say 'Finn, help!'