This sequence was originally intended to fit into a longer story, but I could never get the rest of it to materialize. So... one-shot randomness FTW!

G.I. Joes and Chemistry Sets

"I bet you had one of those giant chemistry sets as a kid."

His attention splintered, Hood blinked twice and finally glanced up at Rachel, still easily pouring the half-empty bottle of lemonade into the litre-sized water bottle held between his knees. Although the three of them had drained the water from the bottle a few hours ago, Hood was currently busy refilling it with a mixture of Tropicana lemonade, ginger ale, and orange soda.

The fact that he was managing to pour it without spilling while looking at Rachel and sitting in a moving car was even more impressive than she'd expected.

"I did," he answered after a moment's thought, turning his attention back to the mixture he was creating. "My mother got it for me when I was six and she got tired of me blowing up her baking soda."

Eyes on the road, Rachel gave a short bark of laughter, unable to help picturing a six-year old Hood with wide eyes and wild hair, covered in exploded baking soda. "That book of science experiments you gave your nephew, right?"

"That was what inspired me to blow up her baking soda in the first place."

Hearing a muffled snicker from the back seat of the car, Rachel cut her eyes to the rearview mirror, meeting Felix's amused gaze. "And you had... what, G.I. Joes, Felix?"

"G.I. Joes, yeah, and X-Men comics. Lot of 'em. I always wanted to grow up to be Wolverine."

"Hmm." Smiling, Hood began dividing the mixture of sodas back into the original bottles, not spilling a drop. "Wolverine is good... but I always wanted to have Storm's powers, actually."

"Storm? Why Storm?"

"Well, if you ignore the amazing weather control abilities..." Hood paused, handing the bottle he'd just filled back to Felix, "...the fact that she can fly. Who doesn't want to fly?"

"Good point." Felix took a swig of the mix and gave an appreciative grin. "This is good, Doc, thanks."

"Hood special," came the distracted reply, the good doctor already involved with filling another bottle.

"Hey, what about you, Agent Young? What did you have growing up?"

Rachel kept her eyes firmly on the road to hide her grin. "I had an Easy-Bake oven," she answered, and couldn't help smirking when Felix guffawed and Hood spilled their drinks.

End