Wish you were Sober || Boat Boys

1: Superheros

"We hope you have a spectacular day!" Working at a kids diner was not the way Etho had planned his late twenties to go. He expected to be going places, to have a stable job, to have a partner. Yet he only checked one of those boxes—he travelled sometimes when he was transformed.

The last customers walked out, leaving Etho to clean up the mess the kids most definitely left behind. Working at a knock-off Chuck E. Cheese came with its few perks, one of them was that he got a lot of time to think while there wasn't any kid whining about the fact they couldn't win the larger prizes.

He daydreamed away as he wiped the tables with a wet rag. His thoughts drifted around. Etho checked his watch as he finished wiping the tables, 7:30pm. He should be out on patrol in 30 minutes—he has to close up shop quickly. It was a tight schedule he had.

"Etho! Guess what? I found a 20 on the ground!" Etho turned to face his coworker behind him, the excited blonde was ecstatic. Jimmy was younger than Etho by quite a bit, he was 23. He took this up as his day-job, Jimmy makes content and posts it online to hopefully get enough attention so he doesn't have to work here.

"How lucky is that? Not just coins—a bill!" Jimmy held it up with pride as he was practically dancing. "Some poor parent must've dropped it, oh well. Finders keepers." Etho shrugged, smiling. Jimmy nodded, "I've already cleaned up the play areas. We can close now." Jimmy shoved the bill into his jean pockets, taking off the black company apron they wore during shifts.

Etho followed him out, taking his backpack from beneath the counter and swinging his employee keys around. "Bye Etho!" Jimmy walked off to the nearest East-West bus-stop.

Etho checked on the time: 7:47. Instead of walking to a bus-stop, the male jogged to the opposite side of the building. There was a small alleyway between Prince's Party Plaza and a corner store. Etho swung his employee keys into his backpack, hiding it in his usual spot beyond the dumpsters and between two pipes.

He tapped his watch three times, waiting for a familiar feeling to envelop his body. Hero transformations were underwhelming in real life—all superhero movies had cool sequences, suits, catch-phrases, complex machinery, etc. His 'hero suit' was literally just a full-body suit (minus his head), a mask, and his watch that acted as a teleportation device. Simple.

He was to be at headquarters in 10 minutes. Might as well be early. Etho ran out the way he came in, opting to climb on roofs to get to the building faster. Patrol was the highlight of his day, something about running on roofs was oddly therapeutic. He liked it a lot.

He spotted the hero headquarters, how could he not? Above all the vandalism at the base of the building, it was extravagant. Etho never got the appeal but apparently everyone else did, with the red tinted windows—it looked a lot like the building Ryder had in Paw Patrol now that he thought about it.

Etho snickered as he jumped down to the ground level. There was bound to be people waiting, they knew heros' patrol times by now. "Good evening, Agent Ender! How do you feel about the last attack on the Metropolitan Museum last Saturday?" Etho just politely waved, not bothering to say hi.

He's been doing this for almost 15 years now, and with what's he's learned—don't talk to reporters unless you're ready to be held up for up to an hour. He used his thumbprint to unlock the front door, walking in. Etho was immediately hit with a wave of AC at the doorway.

The inside of the heros' headquarters was very baring, it looked like an abandoned hospital. It wasn't rundown, but it was incredibly empty. He made his way to the elevator, waiting for it to reach the first floor of the building. "Oh—hi Hotguy." Etho smiled at the archer.

Hotguy was arguably the most popular of the heros, walking down the streets of Manhattan would indicate that much, with the dozens of stores carrying Hotguy merch. Etho befriended him when he first joined the group. As a friend, he was funny and pretty down-to-earth once you got to know him.