Predictability

This fic answered a challenge on the old m7challenge site to have one of the 7 have a secret hobby or secret pasttime the others didn't know about

Buck scooped up the last handful of dirty clothes and gave them a hard fling into JD's room just as a knock sounded on the front door. "Perfect." He grinned, congratulating himself on his quick clean up. "Just in time."

"Brought drinks," Chris greeted, shoving a case of beer into Buck's arms as soon as he'd opened the door.

"And snacks." Vin plopped a grocery bag on top of the case and followed Larabee into the apartment, ignoring Wilmington's staggering. "You cleaned." He observed as Buck dumped his load onto the dining room table.

"Yeah, well…had to. I promised Ezra," Buck said. "Can you get that?" He pointed to the door where someone else was knocking.

Vin let Josiah and Nathan in. "Movie and more snacks," he announced.

"What'd you bring?" Chris asked as Josiah set the movie on top of the television.

"Director's cut, Bladerunner," Nathan answered before Sanchez could. "Love that movie."

Chris nodded, getting comfortable in the armchair he'd appropriated. "It's a good one."

Another knock and Josiah let Ezra in, taking the proffered sushi and imported beer into the kitchen. "Buck, where can I put this? It needs to be refrigerated."

"Just toss out the pizza box. If it ain't empty, it should be," Buck shouted back, opening a bag of pretzels.

"I don't even want to know," Ezra muttered, shaking his head.

"Hey, at least I cleaned up otherwise," Buck pointed out, tossing a pretzel at the Southerner and passing a beer to Vin.

Ezra blocked the projectile. "That remains to be seen."

"Where's JD?" Josiah asked, emerging from the kitchen with a beer for Ezra and himself in one hand and a plate of sushi in the other.

Buck handed another bottle to Vin, who tossed it on to Larabee and then grabbed one for himself and Nathan and headed to the couch. "Over at a friend's place. That or out with Casey."

"Had plans huh?" Vin asked, watching Nathan get the movie started.

"Yeah, but he'll be here later, said he'd pick up a second movie on the way home."

A collective groan went up around the room. "What?" Buck grinned. "You don't want to see Bad Girls again?"

"Bet you it'll be Tombstone this time," Nathan offered.

"What do you think, Ezra? Gonna take Nathan's bet?" Chris asked mischievously.

"Good Lord, no. Besides he'll bring them both."

The movie was close to over by the time JD somewhat sheepishly tried to sneak into the crowded apartment.

"Hey, Kid!" Vin almost shouted, startling the group as Dunne eased the door closed behind him.

"Hey, Guys." JD half waved.

"What in the world happened to you?" Buck asked as JD started towards his room.

JD froze. "What do you mean?"

"You're filthy." Buck pointed out, motioning at the younger man. Grease streaked Dunne's shirt, jeans, arms and face as well as a generous amount of dirt.

JD shrugged. "Just working on stuff at Chad's." He explained, not taking offense at Wilmington's questioning.

"Your bike?" Vin asked.

JD nodded absently. "I really need a shower. I'll be right back. Save me one of those." He pointed to the last two packages of Hostess cupcakes on the coffee table.

"Did you remember to pick up more movies?" Buck asked.

"Oh yeah." Dunne spun around and went back to where he'd abandoned his backpack just inside the door. "Here. Didn't know what you wanted so I grabbed a few." He tossed the bag to Josiah who was closest and disappeared into his room.

As soon as JD was out of earshot everyone focused on Josiah.

"Well?" Chris asked, spurring the older man to look into the bag.

Josiah peeked into the bag and started to laugh softly, shaking his head. "One thing about John Dunne…he's predictable." He reached in and pulled out the first DVD- Bad Girls. The second- Tombstone. "Anyone care to guess the third?" Josiah glanced around the room expectantly.

There was a brief moment of quiet save for the ongoing movie they were half ignoring as they contemplated the question, and then as if on cue, Vin, Chris and Buck spoke at once. "Monty Python, Holy Grail."

"Bingo." Sanchez waved the familiar, battered dvd case at them and balled up the bag, one handedly tossing it at Vin who batted the thing into Buck's head.

Buck ignored the assault, focused instead on the end of Bladerunner. "Damn that's a good movie," He stated emphatically when the credits began to roll.

"Sure is." Chris stood, stretched and headed for the beer. "Anyone want another?"

"Here."

"Yeah."

"Sure." Echoed behind him.

Nathan reached for the remote. "What do you guys want to watch next?" he asked hitting stop and then rewind. The screen switched instantly from movie credits to a chaotic scene of metal, noise and sparks.

"What the hell is that?" Buck asked, sitting up straighter as he watched a square metal machine slide under a circular one and suddenly flip it. "You see that?"

Flames burst from the cement flooring and the circular machine struggled to roll out of reach.

"Battlebots," Vin stated evenly.

"Battlebots?" Ezra questioned.

Josiah snapped his fingers at the screen as he swallowed a mouthful of popcorn. "I've heard of this," he managed finally. "Guys make their robots and fight them. Kind of a techno-geek meets WWF concept. The arena is rigged with booby traps too."

"You're kidding." Ezra glanced back to the television in time to see the square robot slam the circular one into a set of steel spikes lining the wall. "Guess not."

The circular bot managed to spin off the spikes, shoving the square one back onto an outlined hazard square--that immediately popped up, flinging the bot across the arena. The crowd's reaction matched the one in the living room; the movies momentarily forgotten.

"Oh he is down. Stuck on it's back." Chris handed out the requested beers and sank into his chair again, this time leaning forward to catch the action.

"There's the countdown." Vin pointed as the announcers came on.

"Deathtoll? What kind of a name is that?" Buck groused when the referee announced the winner.

"Shh, I want to hear who's next." Nathan shushed any further comments.

"Coming up after a short break, crowd favorite 'Outlaw' will take on 'Destructo'." A bleach blond, mustached expert explained. The picture jumped to a shot of a huge bot, the main body of which consisted of a giant vertical disk.

"Awesome." Vin chuckled. "Hand me those cupcakes."

"I can't believe I've never seen this before." Buck sat back against the base of the couch. "Pretty cool."

"An interesting concept," Ezra agreed.

Nathan shook his head. "You're just trying to figure out how to bet on the matches!" He laughed with the others at Ezra's mock indignation.

The commercial ended and the bleached blond was back. "Our next battle is between two powerful bots. 'Destructo' carries 240 pounds behind its primary weapon— a battering ram, but can it hold up against 'Outlaw's' giant rotary bludgeoning device? Let's talk to the designers." The picture cut to two men standing behind the safety glass, remote control in hand. They dressed in matching construction worker's outfits, the word Destructo emblazoned on the upper left chest. "Matt Carson and Drew Baxter, do you think your bot can hold up today?"

The duo puffed up defensively. "Oh yeah," one answered. "We're bigger, heavier and stronger. We'll destroy 'Outlaw'."

"In the green corner, " The announcer cut back in. "Team Outlaw is unintimidated by Destructo's mass. Chad Mitchell. John Daniels, do you have a reply?" The camera focused on the team, both in solid black t-shirts. The blond spoke but all eyes in the small apartment were riveted to his dark haired partner.

"They're bigger, sure, but we're fast. Nothing to worry about."

The camera switched to the other, smaller man, zooming in on his face and wide hazel eyes. "Never underestimate a smaller opponite," he commented, flashing the camera a charming and mischievous grin.

"Oh. My. God." Nathan stared at the screen.

"That's." Buck looked at JD's closed door and back to the TV.

"Your roommate," Josiah helped.

"Our teammate," Ezra offered.

"JD!" Buck spit out finally.

"You didn't know about this?" Chris asked, calmly taking a swig of beer.

Buck was on his feet. "Hell no! This is… is…is…"

"Pretty cool," Vin filled in dipping his head to signal the fight was about to begin. "Wonder if he can get us tickets?"

"Damn straight." Buck sat back down on the arm of the couch to watch.

When JD emerged from his room about thirty seconds later he stopped and stared at his friends as collectively they roared, "YES!" Buck jumped to his feet, blocking the TV but he knew they'd never reacted to the end of Bladerunner like that before. When they quieted, he moved closer. "What are you watching?" he asked curiously.

Suddenly he found himself the focus of six intense stares. They didn't look angry, and yet… "What?" he asked, looking from Buck to Josiah to Chris. "What?" He checked his fly just in case but no, he was good. "What?" he asked again with paranoid frustration. "Why the hell are you all looking at me like that?"

Buck shifted to the side, letting JD see what they were watching. He froze, horrified as his robot pinned 'Destructo' against the edge of the arena, the circular disk spinning so fast, the four steel teeth on the edge weren't visible. He felt a sudden empathy for 'Destructo' as he watched parts of the bot fly in a myriad of directions. Outlaw was the clear winner. The group was torn between looking at JD behind them and JD on screen as he and Chad were interviewed again. This time Chad did all the talking. Watching himself on TV, JD stood perfectly still, paling, blushing and then paling again.

"So…" Buck spoke finally as Nathan muted the TV. "This is what you do at Chad's?"

"Um…yeah." JD was surprised his voice worked. "Just for fun you know. It's a great stress reliever." He tried to smile, then frowned, slightly panicked. "It's okay, isn't Chris? I never used my real name at any competitions, just John Daniels. I…"

"It's fine," Chris tried to tell him.

" I didn't think it'd ever get enough publicity to cause problems and Chad does most of the talking so I can stay in the background as…"

"JD!" Chris held up a hand, cutting Dunne off abruptly. "It's okay. Relax, cool machine."

The blush was back.

Vin tossed JD the cupcake he'd claimed before heading to the shower, breaking the younger man's tense stance. "When was that?" He gestured to the TV.

JD grabbed a beer from the table and joined the others, grabbing a spot on the floor between Josiah's chair and the couch. "Last month, the weekend I went to Vegas."

"You weren't with Casey?" Buck asked with surprise.

"She was there. Did you see the huge 'Outlaw' sign?" He pointed just as the camera scanned the cheering audience a final time.

Vin laughed at the bouncing sign as Nathan asked, "How long have you been doing this?"

"Not quite a year. It's Chad's thing mainly; he has more time for it all. I just designed it and work on it with him from time to time. That's the first competition I went to."

"When's the next one?" Chris asked.

JD closed his eyes, trying to remember. "I think there's one coming up the second week of April, in Vegas again." He opened his eyes and met his friend's gaze. "Why?"

"Why else?" Larabee tossed back.

"We want to go with you, Kid." Vin shook his head at Chris.

"Really?" JD looked around the room again, settling his doubtful gaze on Ezra.

"Really, Mr. Dunne," Ezra responded.

"Cool. I'll see if Chad can get you tickets." JD seemed to relax as another episode of the show came on. Eventually his hunger drove him to the table scrounging for more food. He looked up when Buck draped an arm across the back of his shoulders.

"You okay?" Wilmington asked quietly.

"Yeah. Sure." JD grabbed an unopened bag of Doritos.

"Mind telling me why you thought you had to hide this?" Buck snatched a second bag that Dunne was reaching for.

JD moved out his grasp and was quiet for a minute before he shrugged. "I don't know." He glanced at the others, still shocked that they were enjoying the show. "I guess I half thought you guys would think it's just dumb, geeky. Thought maybe you'd think it was stupid…that I'm stupid for liking it." He hurried on before Buck could comment. "And half…I just wanted something of my own. I know we're an awesome team and everything, I guess I just wanted to prove that I was good on my own. Yeah there's Chad but honestly, the designs are all mine. He just puts them together."

Buck smiled and grabbed JD by the shoulder, turning him so they faced each other. "First off—nothing you do is stupid. Okay, so your jokes maybe, but seriously…you are not stupid." He shook his friend lightly. "And as for the whole geeky thing, never. Never. Be ashamed of using your intelligence."

JD smiled faintly as Buck went on. "Secondly, I understand having something of your own, but I want you to know, understand and be sure of this…You—on your own—bring brains, talent and skill to this team that no one else can. Without you…this team wouldn't be awesome. You understand what I'm saying?" He waited for an answer.

"Yeah, I think so."

Buck nodded, grinned and patted the side of Dunne's face twice. "Good. Damn good designing there by the way, damn good."

Josiah glanced over his shoulder checking on Buck and JD. "Well," he said just loud enough for the others to hear him. "I guess I have to rethink my statement about JD's predictability, don't I?"

"Care to wager on that?" Ezra questioned softly.

"What you still think that boy's predictable? Sure, I'll bet you." Sanchez nodded.

Ezra raised an eyebrow questioningly and cleared his throat. "JD?" He called out winking at Chris and Vin as he held the Monty Python DVD case so that Dunne could see it but Josiah and Nathan couldn't.

"Yeah, Ez?"

"What…is your favorite color?"

JD smiled. "Blue…no, red AAHHHHH!" He exclaimed as the room filled with laughter.