Wet Hot American Summer

Around two, rain begins to patter on the windows, when Caleb hears the front door open and Evan stomps in slamming the door behind him, shoes squeaking wetly. “Why the fuck did it have to rain on the one day I left my umbrella here?!? Just my luck, soaked to the bone in my good work clothes.”

Caleb gets up and comes down to the second floor and grabs two towels from the hall closet and throws them down to the landing. “Leave all the wet shit there at the door and use those to dry off. I'll grab your laundry bag in a sec.” Heading over to Evan’s bathroom, he grabs the mesh bag hanging from the back of the door and walks down to the first floor landing to an interesting sight.

Evan, having already peeled off his wet socks and shoes, stands back up and shucks off his coat jacket before unbuttoning his shirt. Never one to stand on ceremony('dudes don't have anything up top most other dudes care to see, amiright?'), he throws the shirt on the sopping pile and reaches for one of the towels.

Rubbing himself dry, he looks up and sees Caleb standing there motionless, holding the mesh bag with a mixture of confusion and consternation. “What? It ain't like you’ve never seen my chest, dude.”

Caleb composes himself enough to utter, “Sure, but you've never had pecs and visible abs before, when did that happen? You sure as shit haven't been to the gym unless it's been in the dead of night.”

Looking down, Evan finally notices the swelling in his chest and the muscle tone. “Huh, guess it's all that clean living and that Rejuvenax stuff you injected me with. Maybe I AM turning into Steve Roger’s little brother. Wanna see me flex my pecs like Terry?” Without waiting for a reply, Evan drops the towel, strikes a Strongman pose and tries to start flexing his pecs, but they seem more like a…firm jiggle than pure muscle.

‘Weird.’ Caleb ponders that for a moment and clears his throat uncomfortably while handing him the other towel. “Recombinex. Do you mind? Some of us didn't get their best parts out of a bottle. Anyway, how was the in-service?”

Slumping slightly Evan drapes the first towel over his shoulders. Pulling his wet slacks off, he uses the second towel to dry his legs.

“Boring as shit, I'm gonna have even less time to do labs and teach the kids anything actually interesting because we now have a bullet point checklist longer than my arm. At least the lunch was good, had it over at La Pasta Beneficios, got Chicken Carbonara and an Antipasto salad. Agatha, Joe and I got to spend most of it bitching, but they had some great ideas on how to work testing points into our actual Fun Labs. Unfortunately, the damn rain started as soon as we left the restaurant.”

Caleb turns around and walks over to the fridge, grabbing a soda from the bin. “Sweet Baby Jesus, you had TWO entrees for lunch? After that big ass breakfast? Surprised you ain't exploded from the Carb load.”

Evan strips his boxers and wraps the second towel around his waist. “Relax, they were just lunch entrees, like half-size, two-thirds at most. You try sitting through four hours of inane bullshit and not get hungry. Also, we got comp’ed by the district… so fuck ‘em. Hey, grab me one outta there.”

Caleb cracks the can and sets it on the counter before diving back down. “Not sure I should, it might be your Wafer-Thin Mint to set everything off. Listen, I got one more work ticket then I'm gonna work on painting my ‘Battlesword: Grim Space’ dudes ‘til the session timer is up. Holler if you wanna order dinner, I ain't cooking for your Kirby-ass until this *condition* settles down.”

Caleb stands up and hands Evan a soda before taking a sip of his own.

“Wow, Grim Space, haven't played that in a hot minute, you gonna work on Space King’s Gauntlets or Thousand Sages? My Plague Bringers have been collecting dust since the Actual Plague started four years ago.”

“Probably my Gauntlets, and you know what I found…the more you engage with the hobby, the more you want to. It's like a weird feedback loop. Well, at least for me.”

Evan starts walking up the stairs to his room, but adds, “Yeah, I guess so. I should get them sprayed when the weather is better.” Evan turns and glares pointedly at the now heavy storm lashing at the front windows. “Anyway, I'm going to change and then I'll grab the wet clothes to put in the laundry and get the dishes from breakfast. Thanks again.”

“No problem. Hopefully this shit weather clears up before tomorrow night, getting soaked at the club is supposed to be a metaphor.”

“Hah.”

Walking up the stairs he hears Evan's bedroom door shut, and continues back up to his room to his own ‘inane bullshit’.