randomality (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
randomality) wrote2009-11-18 10:46 pm
randomality) wrote2009-11-18 10:46 pm
Entry tags:
Reset!: Blackout - Chapter Two
Summary: Cut off from the Speed Force, Impulse and Inertia cope with mundane life trapped with each other in Manchester. What is behind the outage and will they be able to restore the source of their powers? Sequel to Reset! AU.
Disclaimer: DC owns the DCU. Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo.
Reset!: Blackout - Chapter Two: Rainy Day
The days passed by surprisingly quickly for Bart and it was Friday before he knew it. Homework went from a nuisance to a major timesink. He found himself spending more of his free lunch time working on it with Carol and the rest of the gang, at her insistence. When the weather permitted, they worked outside on the picnic tables under the trees.
"You gotta pay the toll!"
Bart turned towards a set of doors leading into the school, where a group of three older boys were blocking the path of a younger and smaller boy. With a set jaw and a sigh, Bart remembered encountering the toll from when he was new to Manchester. He hadn't seen much of the toll since then, but then again, it did lead to a fight involving the entire student body.
Carol looked up from her notebook, wondering what had grabbed Bart's attention. Seeing the blockade, she groaned. "Oh, not that again. I thought they stopped that."
Pushing up from the rickety wooden bench, Bart strode towards the boys. Carol dropped her notebook and rushed to his side. "Bart! What are you doing?!" she hissed in a whisper, "You don't have your speed!"
"I know that," he replied, "But that kid needs help." He shrugged and continued onward.
The toll boys spotted Bart approaching them. "Allen!" one of them called out, "What do you want?"
"I want you all to stop taking tolls," Bart answered, "Let that kid go through free."
The smaller boy stared up at Bart with wide eyes, while the older boys glared down at him with contempt. "Yeah, and what are you gonna do about it?" the lead boy spat.
Carol piped up from behind Bart. "Extortion is a form of harassment, genius. Under school policy, you could get suspended for it."
The lead boy curled his lip back in a sneering grin. "So, you all are gonna tattle to the teachers, is that it? Weak." As he spoke, the smaller boy tried to sneak past the blockade, but was shoved down.
Carol darted forward and helped the smaller boy to his feet. "You jerks!" she snapped at them, "You all think you're tough, but you push little kids down! That's what I call weak!"
"Hey, Allen," the lead boy drawled, "You better shut your bitch up before I do it for you."
The solid crack of Bart's knuckles connecting with the lead boy's face echoed off of the brick face of the school. Carol's jaw dropped as chaos erupted in front of her and Bart disappeared behind a wall of backs and swinging arms. One by one, the taller boys went down, until only Bart was left standing.
"That's all you all got?" he asked with genuine incredulity, "You guys are sloppy and slow!" At least they were in comparison to his spars with Thaddeus.
The smaller boy darted out of Carol's grip and waved to Bart. "Thanks!" He swung the door open and slipped into the school, free of charge.
Carol pulled Bart away from the defeated boys. "Bart! You're bleeding!" She shoved Bart towards Preston and Mike, who were standing nearby. "Get him cleaned up before class!"
Preston grabbed Bart's backpack along with his own, as he and Mike whisked Bart away to a bathroom. Bart's bruised and scraped knuckles stung under the running water. His left eye was already swelling shut and his nose was bleeding. "Huh, I guess they did get a few good hits in," Bart mused as he tended to his injuries, "I couldn't block or dodge all of them at once at the beginning."
Preston handed a few paper towels to Bart. "Do you still have all your teeth?"
"Yeah, I think so." He prodded his lower lip with his tongue, feeling out the swollen part. "This feels weird. Like there's a rock in there."
Mike cast an anxious glance towards the door. "Man, you could get in trouble for that fight. Why'd you hit 'em first?"
"They threatened Carol," Bart answered, "That made them bad guys even more."
"It was awesome," Preston grinned, "You took out three upperclassmen! Boom, boom, boom, like that! Once I saw what was happening, I didn't have enough time to get my camera."
Mike shook his head in disbelief at Preston. "That's because I dragged you with me! When your friend is in trouble, you don't stand back and film it! You go help him!"
"Bart had it covered," Preston defended.
"Yeah!" chimed Bart, "It's not like I've never been in a fight before."
Mike crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "That thing where you got the whole school to fight on the football field doesn't count."
"I guess decking that one guy who yanked a chair out from under you doesn't count either," Preston added, "We broke that one up before it turned into a real fight."
Bart checked the blood-spotted paper towel he held to his nose to see if the bleeding had stopped. All of his other fights had been while wearing the Impulse costume and he couldn't tell his friends about those. "Yeah, I guess so." It looked like the bleeding had eased up. "I spar with my brother every night. Does that count? He kinda needs it."
The bell summoning the students to class rang through the hallway outside. Preston handed Bart's backpack to him. "Good luck trying to explain your face without getting in trouble," he said with a cringe, "I don't think the "I fell" excuse is going to work."
Mike gestured to Bart's injuries. "You could say you got hit in the face with a basketball or something."
Bart slung the bag over his shoulder and pushed the bathroom door open. Maybe he could just go home? No, Thad was there and he didn't want to listen to his evil twin berate him about getting bloodied in a fight. Head drooped, he darted into class, hoping that the teacher wouldn't notice him. A thick curtain of chestnut hair fell over his face and he kept his head down throughout the class, taking the most thorough notes ever in his short school career. Every so often, he felt out the swollen part of his lower lip with his tongue, wondering when it would feel normal again.
The last bell of the day brought relief and Bart wove through the herds in the hallways. Eddie was the first to spot him. "Heard you beat up Jimmy and his jerks," he grinned, "Not bad." His single functioning eye widened when he saw Bart's shiner. "Whoa! He actually hit you good!"
"Yeah, so?" He was not in the mood for talking with the notorious delinquent, friend of a friend or not. Bart pushed the exit door open and stepped out into the schoolyard.
Preston caught up to them and cast an ugly glare towards the boy with the eyepatch. "Hey, are you trying to pick a fight with Bart, too?"
Eddie scowled at him. "No, wuss-wad. Do I look stupid?"
"Do you want me to answer?" Preston shot back.
Mike and Carol joined the group and Eddie retreated. Bart kept walking home, hoping to add some distance from the hostility that had built up behind him. All he wanted was to raid the refrigerator and play some videogames. He could still hear the brisk conversation past the thuds of many footfalls. Now that the words flowed quickly, it was hard not to follow what they were saying.
"Eddie's not that bad," Bart added to the dialogue. "He doesn't hang out with a lot of good people, but he's not that bad. Rolly thinks he's okay."
"Rolly doesn't exactly have the best judge of character," Preston pointed out, "He lets people push him around and talk him into things. Eddie just takes advantage of him."
They soon came up to Helen's house and Bart split from his friends. Carol called after him, "I'll see you tonight!"
Bart waved at her as he strode down the sidewalk to the front door. Dox was eagerly waiting for him just steps inside. Dropping his backpack and jacket on the floor, he knelt down to rub behind the terrier's ears. Looking up, he noticed a considerable lack of evil twin in the house. Oversized feet paced down the hall and a quick glance into the bedrooms revealed nothing. The kitchen was likewise vacant. Stepping into the garage, he finally spotted his brother. "Thad? You working on the timepod again?"
Thaddeus did not look up from the alien circuit cluster he had pulled from the white sphere. "No, moron, I'm playing with a tesseract puzzle." His voice dripped with condescending sarcasm. "What else would I be doing?"
Bart held up his palms and turned away. "Oookay. Forget I asked." Somebody was in a crabby mood again and that somebody was not going to get a sandwich.
When Bart put his crumb-sprinkled plate in the dishwasher, he heard the door to the garage swing open and click shut. Thad's quiet steps barely registered to him and it wasn't until the surly blonde was leaning on the counter that Bart took notice. "What?"
Thad crossed his arms and leveled an even, analytical stare at his brother. "Isn't this "dating" activity a matter of courtship?" he asked in Interlac.
Bart wasn't sure what Thad meant by that. Matching Thad's Interlac, he answered, "I don't know."
"You think that Carol may be a suitable mate?" A pale eyebrow arched. "Are you sure that her genetics are optimally compatible?"
With a grin that sat somewhere between amused and disturbed, Bart answered, "I'm just going out with her. It's not like I'm going to marry her. Grife, Thad, you're weird."
"So, if it's just a matter of companionship, then that would explain why Helen is dating Mr. Singer." Thaddeus nodded to himself in growing comprehension. "She doesn't like being alone."
"She's going to be going out tonight, too," Bart reminded, "You'll have to make your own dinner."
A little while later, Bart finished washing his face in the bathroom. Looking up from the sink, he saw his brother's reflection on the mirror. "You need to go?" Bart asked, still speaking Interlac.
"So, you are attracted to Carol because of the companionship she provides." It was more of a statement than a question.
"Yeah, I guess." Bart shrugged, not sure of where this conversation was going. "She's my best friend! I like hanging out with her and doing stuff with her and having adventures with her. I'm happy when I'm with her and I love her." He raised an eyebrow inquiringly. "What's with the interrogation?"
"Nothing, just curious."
"Uh huh, sure." Bart treated Thad to a lopsided grin. "You're thinking about something, aren't you? And you can't tell me that it's because you're trying to learn about this time period, because I know better. You posed as me for plenty long enough to know how things go around here." Suddenly, his grin turned sly and he bounced out of the bathroom, chanting in singsong, "Thad's got a girlfriend! Thad's got a girlfriend!"
Offended, he sharply rebuked, "I do not!"
"Suuure," Bart teased, "I was wondering what you did when no one was home."
"I do not! I rarely ever leave this house! How could I possibly have a relationship with anyone?"
"I dunno. Internet, maybe?" Catching the momentary widening of his brother's eyes, Bart's grinned widened to near manic levels. "I was right!" A quick, bubbling laugh ripped through the air as he danced around the room. "I was right! Thad's got an internet girlfriend!"
Thad's faced reddened with anger and the edge of his voice lowered into a growl. "I do not! Shut up!"
Bart stopped cavorting and planted his hands on his hips. "Grife, Thad. Lighten up. It's okay if it helps you to not be lonely."
"I'm not lonely!"
"You talk to yourself in the garage and in the shower. You talk to Dox all the time. You get lonely just like anyone else does."
"I do not talk in the shower!"
"Yeah, you do." Bart started for the door. Switching back to English, he told Thad, "We can argue about this later. I gotta go meet with Carol."
Bart grabbed his jacket and darted outside, letting his long strides carry him along the familiar path to Carol's house. The dark overcast sky threatened rain and it started to sprinkle when he knocked on her door. Carol shrugged on her jacket and picked up an umbrella before shouting back to her brother, "I'll be back later!"
Bobby's voice carried from the kitchen, "Don't stay out too late!"
Carol rolled her eyes and pushed her glasses up higher onto her nose. "We'd better hurry before it pours on us."
Bart's shoulders slumped and he sighed. "I can't do that."
"My sort of hurry, Bart," she reminded, "You can do that."
Yellow eyes stared at her for a moment as he tried to decide if she was serious, and then Bart took her hand and started off at a run. Even at her fastest sprint, Carol struggled to keep up with him. Finally, she called out for him to stop so she could catch her breath. "Maybe not that much of a hurry," she panted. After her regained her breath and began walking along the street again, she remarked, "You're not even breathing hard at all after that!"
"I wasn't running that fast."
"Oh, Bart. Even without your powers, you could probably give the track team a run for their money."
"Really?"
"Really, especially considering that you're a junk food and videogame addict." She reached out and rubbed her thumbs under the purple bruise around Bart's eye. "That still doesn't look good. It'll take a few days for that to heal."
"A few days?!" Bart cringed, "It'll take that long?" A fat raindrop splashed down on his nose. Glaring up at the sky, he frowned, "Aw, grife. Now we're gonna get wet."
Carol smiled and opened her umbrella. "No, we won't." She stood close to Bart and held it over both their heads. "See? One of these would never hold up for a speedster, but for us slow folks, it works just fine."
With an arm around each other's waists, they walked along the street, as the drum of rainfall against the umbrella grew faster and louder. Bart paused to stare at the curtain of water falling around them. "Wow, the rain looks so different now." He grinned to Carol, "Kinda hypnotizing."
It took far longer than Bart expected to walk to the movie theater, but he also discovered that he didn't mind it. All the while, he was close to Carol and they chatted along the way under her umbrella. The rain eased from a downpour to a steady shower, making it easier to hear each other. The choice for films at the small theater was not stellar, so they picked whatever was running that seemed the most interesting. Bart paid with the money Helen had given him for the event. With a big bucket of popcorn between them, they settled into a sparsely populated theater and sat back for the show.
Halfway through the movie, Carol looked around at how few people sat in the theater. All were sitting in rows in front of them. Pulling the empty popcorn bucket aside, she leaned over to Bart and gave him a kiss in the dark. He grinned, realizing what she was up to and liking it. The last time they did anything like this, it was under far different conditions. But this wasn't the closet in the thirty-first century and Carol wasn't about to be taken away from him. There were no tears or bittersweet kisses. Eventually, one of the other theatergoers turned around and barked, "Dammit, kids! Keep it down back there! Some of us paid to actually watch this movie!" Luckily, it was too dark for anyone to see them blush and cringe.
After the credits rolled, they stepped out into the rain again and walked to a chain restaurant. It made the cut, since it wasn't fast food, but it allowed minors in. It was far busier than the theater tonight and full of the murmurs of many conversations. Bart used up the rest of his money on dinner, but walked out of the restaurant sated.
Halfway to Carol's house, Bart blew a breath into the air and watched the steam billow and dissipate. "Y'know, nothing happened tonight."
"Nothing happened?" Obviously, Bart was going by a different set of definitions than she was. "What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing bad happened," he clarified, "No aliens, no monsters, no supervillains, no ninjas... There should have been at least ninjas."
"Welcome to the normal world, Bart," Carol teased, "Where not every good thing is spoiled by something outrageous like that."
After Carol finally disappeared behind her front door, Bart glanced up at the dark, rainy sky. "Huh, gonna get wet." With that, he sprinted back home. Inside the living room, he found Thad sprawled out on the couch, reading a book with Dox sleeping on his legs. Only a slight tilt of the head was Thad's acknowledgement that Bart had returned.
"Hey, Thad! Guess what?" Bart started enthusiastically.
Thad's answer was terse. "I don't want to hear it. Go away."
Bart frowned at that for a moment. His annoyance evaporated when he grabbed his phone. "Hey, Kon! Guess what?"
Disclaimer: DC owns the DCU. Impulse created by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo.
Reset!: Blackout - Chapter Two: Rainy Day
The days passed by surprisingly quickly for Bart and it was Friday before he knew it. Homework went from a nuisance to a major timesink. He found himself spending more of his free lunch time working on it with Carol and the rest of the gang, at her insistence. When the weather permitted, they worked outside on the picnic tables under the trees.
"You gotta pay the toll!"
Bart turned towards a set of doors leading into the school, where a group of three older boys were blocking the path of a younger and smaller boy. With a set jaw and a sigh, Bart remembered encountering the toll from when he was new to Manchester. He hadn't seen much of the toll since then, but then again, it did lead to a fight involving the entire student body.
Carol looked up from her notebook, wondering what had grabbed Bart's attention. Seeing the blockade, she groaned. "Oh, not that again. I thought they stopped that."
Pushing up from the rickety wooden bench, Bart strode towards the boys. Carol dropped her notebook and rushed to his side. "Bart! What are you doing?!" she hissed in a whisper, "You don't have your speed!"
"I know that," he replied, "But that kid needs help." He shrugged and continued onward.
The toll boys spotted Bart approaching them. "Allen!" one of them called out, "What do you want?"
"I want you all to stop taking tolls," Bart answered, "Let that kid go through free."
The smaller boy stared up at Bart with wide eyes, while the older boys glared down at him with contempt. "Yeah, and what are you gonna do about it?" the lead boy spat.
Carol piped up from behind Bart. "Extortion is a form of harassment, genius. Under school policy, you could get suspended for it."
The lead boy curled his lip back in a sneering grin. "So, you all are gonna tattle to the teachers, is that it? Weak." As he spoke, the smaller boy tried to sneak past the blockade, but was shoved down.
Carol darted forward and helped the smaller boy to his feet. "You jerks!" she snapped at them, "You all think you're tough, but you push little kids down! That's what I call weak!"
"Hey, Allen," the lead boy drawled, "You better shut your bitch up before I do it for you."
The solid crack of Bart's knuckles connecting with the lead boy's face echoed off of the brick face of the school. Carol's jaw dropped as chaos erupted in front of her and Bart disappeared behind a wall of backs and swinging arms. One by one, the taller boys went down, until only Bart was left standing.
"That's all you all got?" he asked with genuine incredulity, "You guys are sloppy and slow!" At least they were in comparison to his spars with Thaddeus.
The smaller boy darted out of Carol's grip and waved to Bart. "Thanks!" He swung the door open and slipped into the school, free of charge.
Carol pulled Bart away from the defeated boys. "Bart! You're bleeding!" She shoved Bart towards Preston and Mike, who were standing nearby. "Get him cleaned up before class!"
Preston grabbed Bart's backpack along with his own, as he and Mike whisked Bart away to a bathroom. Bart's bruised and scraped knuckles stung under the running water. His left eye was already swelling shut and his nose was bleeding. "Huh, I guess they did get a few good hits in," Bart mused as he tended to his injuries, "I couldn't block or dodge all of them at once at the beginning."
Preston handed a few paper towels to Bart. "Do you still have all your teeth?"
"Yeah, I think so." He prodded his lower lip with his tongue, feeling out the swollen part. "This feels weird. Like there's a rock in there."
Mike cast an anxious glance towards the door. "Man, you could get in trouble for that fight. Why'd you hit 'em first?"
"They threatened Carol," Bart answered, "That made them bad guys even more."
"It was awesome," Preston grinned, "You took out three upperclassmen! Boom, boom, boom, like that! Once I saw what was happening, I didn't have enough time to get my camera."
Mike shook his head in disbelief at Preston. "That's because I dragged you with me! When your friend is in trouble, you don't stand back and film it! You go help him!"
"Bart had it covered," Preston defended.
"Yeah!" chimed Bart, "It's not like I've never been in a fight before."
Mike crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "That thing where you got the whole school to fight on the football field doesn't count."
"I guess decking that one guy who yanked a chair out from under you doesn't count either," Preston added, "We broke that one up before it turned into a real fight."
Bart checked the blood-spotted paper towel he held to his nose to see if the bleeding had stopped. All of his other fights had been while wearing the Impulse costume and he couldn't tell his friends about those. "Yeah, I guess so." It looked like the bleeding had eased up. "I spar with my brother every night. Does that count? He kinda needs it."
The bell summoning the students to class rang through the hallway outside. Preston handed Bart's backpack to him. "Good luck trying to explain your face without getting in trouble," he said with a cringe, "I don't think the "I fell" excuse is going to work."
Mike gestured to Bart's injuries. "You could say you got hit in the face with a basketball or something."
Bart slung the bag over his shoulder and pushed the bathroom door open. Maybe he could just go home? No, Thad was there and he didn't want to listen to his evil twin berate him about getting bloodied in a fight. Head drooped, he darted into class, hoping that the teacher wouldn't notice him. A thick curtain of chestnut hair fell over his face and he kept his head down throughout the class, taking the most thorough notes ever in his short school career. Every so often, he felt out the swollen part of his lower lip with his tongue, wondering when it would feel normal again.
The last bell of the day brought relief and Bart wove through the herds in the hallways. Eddie was the first to spot him. "Heard you beat up Jimmy and his jerks," he grinned, "Not bad." His single functioning eye widened when he saw Bart's shiner. "Whoa! He actually hit you good!"
"Yeah, so?" He was not in the mood for talking with the notorious delinquent, friend of a friend or not. Bart pushed the exit door open and stepped out into the schoolyard.
Preston caught up to them and cast an ugly glare towards the boy with the eyepatch. "Hey, are you trying to pick a fight with Bart, too?"
Eddie scowled at him. "No, wuss-wad. Do I look stupid?"
"Do you want me to answer?" Preston shot back.
Mike and Carol joined the group and Eddie retreated. Bart kept walking home, hoping to add some distance from the hostility that had built up behind him. All he wanted was to raid the refrigerator and play some videogames. He could still hear the brisk conversation past the thuds of many footfalls. Now that the words flowed quickly, it was hard not to follow what they were saying.
"Eddie's not that bad," Bart added to the dialogue. "He doesn't hang out with a lot of good people, but he's not that bad. Rolly thinks he's okay."
"Rolly doesn't exactly have the best judge of character," Preston pointed out, "He lets people push him around and talk him into things. Eddie just takes advantage of him."
They soon came up to Helen's house and Bart split from his friends. Carol called after him, "I'll see you tonight!"
Bart waved at her as he strode down the sidewalk to the front door. Dox was eagerly waiting for him just steps inside. Dropping his backpack and jacket on the floor, he knelt down to rub behind the terrier's ears. Looking up, he noticed a considerable lack of evil twin in the house. Oversized feet paced down the hall and a quick glance into the bedrooms revealed nothing. The kitchen was likewise vacant. Stepping into the garage, he finally spotted his brother. "Thad? You working on the timepod again?"
Thaddeus did not look up from the alien circuit cluster he had pulled from the white sphere. "No, moron, I'm playing with a tesseract puzzle." His voice dripped with condescending sarcasm. "What else would I be doing?"
Bart held up his palms and turned away. "Oookay. Forget I asked." Somebody was in a crabby mood again and that somebody was not going to get a sandwich.
When Bart put his crumb-sprinkled plate in the dishwasher, he heard the door to the garage swing open and click shut. Thad's quiet steps barely registered to him and it wasn't until the surly blonde was leaning on the counter that Bart took notice. "What?"
Thad crossed his arms and leveled an even, analytical stare at his brother. "Isn't this "dating" activity a matter of courtship?" he asked in Interlac.
Bart wasn't sure what Thad meant by that. Matching Thad's Interlac, he answered, "I don't know."
"You think that Carol may be a suitable mate?" A pale eyebrow arched. "Are you sure that her genetics are optimally compatible?"
With a grin that sat somewhere between amused and disturbed, Bart answered, "I'm just going out with her. It's not like I'm going to marry her. Grife, Thad, you're weird."
"So, if it's just a matter of companionship, then that would explain why Helen is dating Mr. Singer." Thaddeus nodded to himself in growing comprehension. "She doesn't like being alone."
"She's going to be going out tonight, too," Bart reminded, "You'll have to make your own dinner."
A little while later, Bart finished washing his face in the bathroom. Looking up from the sink, he saw his brother's reflection on the mirror. "You need to go?" Bart asked, still speaking Interlac.
"So, you are attracted to Carol because of the companionship she provides." It was more of a statement than a question.
"Yeah, I guess." Bart shrugged, not sure of where this conversation was going. "She's my best friend! I like hanging out with her and doing stuff with her and having adventures with her. I'm happy when I'm with her and I love her." He raised an eyebrow inquiringly. "What's with the interrogation?"
"Nothing, just curious."
"Uh huh, sure." Bart treated Thad to a lopsided grin. "You're thinking about something, aren't you? And you can't tell me that it's because you're trying to learn about this time period, because I know better. You posed as me for plenty long enough to know how things go around here." Suddenly, his grin turned sly and he bounced out of the bathroom, chanting in singsong, "Thad's got a girlfriend! Thad's got a girlfriend!"
Offended, he sharply rebuked, "I do not!"
"Suuure," Bart teased, "I was wondering what you did when no one was home."
"I do not! I rarely ever leave this house! How could I possibly have a relationship with anyone?"
"I dunno. Internet, maybe?" Catching the momentary widening of his brother's eyes, Bart's grinned widened to near manic levels. "I was right!" A quick, bubbling laugh ripped through the air as he danced around the room. "I was right! Thad's got an internet girlfriend!"
Thad's faced reddened with anger and the edge of his voice lowered into a growl. "I do not! Shut up!"
Bart stopped cavorting and planted his hands on his hips. "Grife, Thad. Lighten up. It's okay if it helps you to not be lonely."
"I'm not lonely!"
"You talk to yourself in the garage and in the shower. You talk to Dox all the time. You get lonely just like anyone else does."
"I do not talk in the shower!"
"Yeah, you do." Bart started for the door. Switching back to English, he told Thad, "We can argue about this later. I gotta go meet with Carol."
Bart grabbed his jacket and darted outside, letting his long strides carry him along the familiar path to Carol's house. The dark overcast sky threatened rain and it started to sprinkle when he knocked on her door. Carol shrugged on her jacket and picked up an umbrella before shouting back to her brother, "I'll be back later!"
Bobby's voice carried from the kitchen, "Don't stay out too late!"
Carol rolled her eyes and pushed her glasses up higher onto her nose. "We'd better hurry before it pours on us."
Bart's shoulders slumped and he sighed. "I can't do that."
"My sort of hurry, Bart," she reminded, "You can do that."
Yellow eyes stared at her for a moment as he tried to decide if she was serious, and then Bart took her hand and started off at a run. Even at her fastest sprint, Carol struggled to keep up with him. Finally, she called out for him to stop so she could catch her breath. "Maybe not that much of a hurry," she panted. After her regained her breath and began walking along the street again, she remarked, "You're not even breathing hard at all after that!"
"I wasn't running that fast."
"Oh, Bart. Even without your powers, you could probably give the track team a run for their money."
"Really?"
"Really, especially considering that you're a junk food and videogame addict." She reached out and rubbed her thumbs under the purple bruise around Bart's eye. "That still doesn't look good. It'll take a few days for that to heal."
"A few days?!" Bart cringed, "It'll take that long?" A fat raindrop splashed down on his nose. Glaring up at the sky, he frowned, "Aw, grife. Now we're gonna get wet."
Carol smiled and opened her umbrella. "No, we won't." She stood close to Bart and held it over both their heads. "See? One of these would never hold up for a speedster, but for us slow folks, it works just fine."
With an arm around each other's waists, they walked along the street, as the drum of rainfall against the umbrella grew faster and louder. Bart paused to stare at the curtain of water falling around them. "Wow, the rain looks so different now." He grinned to Carol, "Kinda hypnotizing."
It took far longer than Bart expected to walk to the movie theater, but he also discovered that he didn't mind it. All the while, he was close to Carol and they chatted along the way under her umbrella. The rain eased from a downpour to a steady shower, making it easier to hear each other. The choice for films at the small theater was not stellar, so they picked whatever was running that seemed the most interesting. Bart paid with the money Helen had given him for the event. With a big bucket of popcorn between them, they settled into a sparsely populated theater and sat back for the show.
Halfway through the movie, Carol looked around at how few people sat in the theater. All were sitting in rows in front of them. Pulling the empty popcorn bucket aside, she leaned over to Bart and gave him a kiss in the dark. He grinned, realizing what she was up to and liking it. The last time they did anything like this, it was under far different conditions. But this wasn't the closet in the thirty-first century and Carol wasn't about to be taken away from him. There were no tears or bittersweet kisses. Eventually, one of the other theatergoers turned around and barked, "Dammit, kids! Keep it down back there! Some of us paid to actually watch this movie!" Luckily, it was too dark for anyone to see them blush and cringe.
After the credits rolled, they stepped out into the rain again and walked to a chain restaurant. It made the cut, since it wasn't fast food, but it allowed minors in. It was far busier than the theater tonight and full of the murmurs of many conversations. Bart used up the rest of his money on dinner, but walked out of the restaurant sated.
Halfway to Carol's house, Bart blew a breath into the air and watched the steam billow and dissipate. "Y'know, nothing happened tonight."
"Nothing happened?" Obviously, Bart was going by a different set of definitions than she was. "What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing bad happened," he clarified, "No aliens, no monsters, no supervillains, no ninjas... There should have been at least ninjas."
"Welcome to the normal world, Bart," Carol teased, "Where not every good thing is spoiled by something outrageous like that."
After Carol finally disappeared behind her front door, Bart glanced up at the dark, rainy sky. "Huh, gonna get wet." With that, he sprinted back home. Inside the living room, he found Thad sprawled out on the couch, reading a book with Dox sleeping on his legs. Only a slight tilt of the head was Thad's acknowledgement that Bart had returned.
"Hey, Thad! Guess what?" Bart started enthusiastically.
Thad's answer was terse. "I don't want to hear it. Go away."
Bart frowned at that for a moment. His annoyance evaporated when he grabbed his phone. "Hey, Kon! Guess what?"
no subject
Offended, he sharply rebuked, "I do not!"
"Suuure," Bart teased, "I was wondering what you did when no one was home."
"I do not! I rarely ever leave this house! How could I possibly have a relationship with anyone?"
"I dunno. Internet, maybe?" Catching the momentary widening of his brother's eyes, Bart's grinned widened to near manic levels. "I was right!" A quick, bubbling laugh ripped through the air as he danced around the room. "I was right! Thad's got an internet girlfriend!"
Thad's faced reddened with anger and the edge of his voice lowered into a growl. "I do not! Shut up!"
Oh god, that's exactly how I imagine them.
I do hope your current fic on FF.net is just on temporary hiatus and not actually dead, because your characterisations for Bart and Thad are, put simply, EPIC WIN.
And that is why I love them so.