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dinahqueen for betaing.
Title: The Inventor 03
Fandom: DCU
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1710
Characters: Booster, Jaime, Michelle, late appearance by Rip
Summary: Eras don’t end, they merely change. There are very few people Booster can’t fool. Michelle is one of them.
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
“So,” Michelle said lightly, sticking her head into the room, “most people would be taking advantage of the hot man that’s sleeping in their bed.”
Booster’s stomach flopped uncomfortably in response. Just as it did when Ted had laid claim to it (Jaime had originally offered to let Ted sleep on the spare cot while he took up to couch until he realized the couch would probably be more comfortable anyway) saying Booster wouldn’t mind giving it up for his best buddy. Booster had agreed without so much as a pout before pointing out the kitchen, bathroom and his room. He told Jaime to take the (indeed far more comfortable) couch since the teen would be flying back to El Paso the next day and then promptly excused himself to do some security checks on the monitors. Or rather, hid until Ted fell asleep.
Arms wrapped around his shoulders, Michelle’s chin propped on top Booster’s head. “It’s alright to be weirded out by this. At least he already knows he’s supposed to be dead so I’m sure he’ll understand this little phase of yours.”
Booster winced. “Shel-“
“I forgave you for not telling me and you forgave me for running off, remember?” She placed a placating kiss against his temple. “Doesn’t mean it’s off limits for appropriate parallels.”
“You think I’m being stupid about this, don’t you?”
“I think you just got a very big and very emotional shock. You were distant and uncertain for, like, a week when I came back and I was dead for a lot longer than Teddy was.”
Booster twisted in his seat to look at Michelle, dislodging her from her pillow that was his hair. “He’s doing okay, right?”
She laughed lightly. “From the way he was practically crying over the freshly-baked frozen lasagna, I think he’s going to be just fine. Skeets is watching over him like you asked. I’m actually surprised how fast he conked out. Either his cot is more uncomfortable than ours or he hasn’t been getting a lot of sleep.”
“That’s Ted for you. Especially when he was in his lab,” a small smile crept unnoticed over Booster’s lips. “He’d forget everything if someone didn’t remind him. He’d forget to breath if it wasn’t involuntary.”
“Well, I’m glad he’s back. I never got a chance to meet him before.” Michelle rested her cheek on Booster’s head once more. “I have years of interrogating to catch up on.”
“Interrogating?”
“I always interrogate all your sweethearts. It’s my duty as your sister, after all.”
Michelle nearly bit her tongue at the abruptness in which Booster jerked away to stare at her.
“What?” She frowned at him. “You think I wouldn’t notice with the way you always lit up every time you talked about him? Please. At least he’s better than some of the other people you dated.”
“Alright, alright- I’m attracted to him, but would you keep it down?”
An eyebrow went up and the frown deepened. “What’s with you?”
“You remember I told you the people of this time period get uppity over stupid things? Ted is a product of the time.”
“He doesn’t know, does he?”
“No,” Booster hissed, “and I’m not about to tell him or anyone we know in the near or possibly even distant future, thank you very much. I don’t need him flipping out over it.”
She gaped. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you? Mikey, I think you’ve become a product of this time.”
“I have not! I just don’t want him thinking I’m a freak, alright?”
“Are you even listening to yourself?” Michelle put her hands on her hips, giving her brother the patented ‘I am very disappointed in this stupidity you insist on partaking in’ look their mother had passed on to her and not Booster. “Mikey...”
“No. No, Shel- don’t even start.”
“I know you have to follow some of this period’s behavioral restrictions-“
“Don’t try to get all sociological on me. I always did better in those classes than you.”
“-but that doesn’t mean you have to buy into their bigotry! You used to have the biggest crush on a cybernetic alien in high school and you’re suddenly worried about being in love with a man?”
“Look- what’s the social norm in our home time isn’t going to be the same as current time and we can’t simply ignore what’s taboo in another culture just because it doesn’t fit our own-“
“Michael Jon Carter,” color was rising in Michelle’s cheeks and her nose wrinkled in the way that said she was about ready to hit him, “cultural expectations are a generalization and people are not monolithic groups. Just because the time period is weird about sexual identity doesn’t mean the individual person isn’t okay with it. And if Ted isn’t one of those people that can deal with the gender issue, then I definitely want to know about it because there’s no way I’m letting him break your heart with his prejudice!”
Booster’s jaw worked silently for a moment, not really knowing how to respond to that. All he managed to get out was a plaintive, “Shel...”
“Would you be any different for me?”
“...no.”
“Then it’s settled.” She flicked a finger at her brother’s shoulder. “You’ll tell him and he’ll either be ecstatic and you two can be all lovey-dovey until I want to strangle you both, he won’t be attracted back but he’ll still be okay with it so you can still be friends even though it’ll hurt like all hell, or he’ll be a prick about it and we’ll kick him out and be over with it.”
“I just got him back, Shel,” he grinned weakly, “don’t I get to enjoy that before I potentially drive him off?”
She smiled back, ruffling at Booster’s hair. “Fine. You have to get over your weirdness first, anyway.”
That only reminded Booster that Ted was asleep in his bed again. Ted who Booster had been slowly falling in love with since they first met. Ted who was everything Booster could ever admire in a person and seemed to care just as much for Booster. Ted who everyone had thought was killed two years ago. Ted who Booster no longer knew what to say to anymore and he was sleeping in Booster’s blanket and snuggling into Booster’s pillow. Grife, Booster didn’t know if he wanted to bury himself in the sheets that were sure to smell like Ted or just burn them.
“Are you okay?”
Booster’s head snapped up from where he had buried it in his hands. Jaime was hanging out in the doorway, looking concerned. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” was the first thing out of Booster’s mouth.
“It’s barely 9 o’clock. I can manage.” Looking from Booster to Michelle for permission, Jaime stepped further inside. “Is anything wrong?”
“How much did you hear?”
“Plenty? And not just because I was standing around where I could overhear you talking.” Jaime shoved his hands in his pockets, looking not entirely certain about what he was going to say next but saying it anyway. “Are you worried about how Ted will react or about everyone else?”
Drumming his fingers together, Booster hesitated before saying, “Both? What about you? Would it bother you if... if Ted...”
“Liked men?” Jaime shrugged. “It’s not like I have a right to tell him who he can be attracted to or not. Besides, I’ve seen some victims of gay bashing being rushed through my mom’s hospital. Seeing regular, innocent people that bloodied just because of who they love- I just can’t wrap my brain around how someone can hate someone they don’t know that much. I think everyone needs all the happiness they can get, you know?”
“See?” Michelle prodded at Booster’s shoulder. “You’re getting yourself worked up over nothing.”
“Thanks,” Booster told them both, the uncomfortable knot within easing somewhat. “Knowing that actually helps a lot.” He didn’t know why it was bothering him so much. Maybe Michelle was right- he was getting too caught up in the time’s hang ups.
“So do you think you’ll be able to talk to Ted tomorrow, or do you still want us running interference?” Jaime asked.
“I think I’ll be okay,” Booster ignored the way his fingers trembled. “I’m sure I’ll be okay. But... if you guys could just... keep close? Just in case?”
“I’ll be leaving tomorrow afternoon, but I can play buffer until then.”
“And it’s not like I’ll be going anywhere anyway, so I guess I can do you a favor.” Michelle gave her brother a little hip check. “You’re just going to owe me your eternal soul.”
“Didn’t I give that to you when we were eight?”
“I want a refurbished one.”
The trio looked up as the time sphere’s platform flared bright then coalesced into the time sphere itself. Rip Hunter stepped out, looking wrung out and exhausted with dark eyes. The three looked at him in concern. “Are you okay? Is everything alright?”
He looked right back at them- at Booster and it seemed to take him a moment to recognize him. Rip shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. He muttered under his breath something that sounded like a curse. “It’s fine,” he told them, “just needed to talk to someone and sort things out. Where’s Ted and Skeets?”
“Ted’s sleeping in Mikey’s room,” Michelle told him. “Skeets is making sure he goes nowhere.”
“Good. A little sleep sounds good right now anyway.”
“You need to take care of yourself, Rip.” The man froze in his tracks, looking startled as Booster continued, “You’re the one that knows all about the time stuff. We’re just following your lead.”
Rip continued to just stare at Booster and some odd look seemed to lurk in the back of his eyes. He rubbed a hand over his face and resumed walking out. “Right. I-I’ll do that. Night.”
A chorus of ‘good night’s followed him. Then, a beat after Rip left, Michelle said, “Sometimes he’s a very odd man.”
“Yeah...” the other two agreed. Jaime suddenly clapped his hands together and said brightly, “So Syfy is going to be playing Shark Attack 3 in about ten minutes.”
“Oooo- Shel, grab the drinks. I’ll make the popcorn!”
dinahqueen for betaing.Title: The Inventor 03
Fandom: DCU
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1710
Characters: Booster, Jaime, Michelle, late appearance by Rip
Summary: Eras don’t end, they merely change. There are very few people Booster can’t fool. Michelle is one of them.
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
“So,” Michelle said lightly, sticking her head into the room, “most people would be taking advantage of the hot man that’s sleeping in their bed.”
Booster’s stomach flopped uncomfortably in response. Just as it did when Ted had laid claim to it (Jaime had originally offered to let Ted sleep on the spare cot while he took up to couch until he realized the couch would probably be more comfortable anyway) saying Booster wouldn’t mind giving it up for his best buddy. Booster had agreed without so much as a pout before pointing out the kitchen, bathroom and his room. He told Jaime to take the (indeed far more comfortable) couch since the teen would be flying back to El Paso the next day and then promptly excused himself to do some security checks on the monitors. Or rather, hid until Ted fell asleep.
Arms wrapped around his shoulders, Michelle’s chin propped on top Booster’s head. “It’s alright to be weirded out by this. At least he already knows he’s supposed to be dead so I’m sure he’ll understand this little phase of yours.”
Booster winced. “Shel-“
“I forgave you for not telling me and you forgave me for running off, remember?” She placed a placating kiss against his temple. “Doesn’t mean it’s off limits for appropriate parallels.”
“You think I’m being stupid about this, don’t you?”
“I think you just got a very big and very emotional shock. You were distant and uncertain for, like, a week when I came back and I was dead for a lot longer than Teddy was.”
Booster twisted in his seat to look at Michelle, dislodging her from her pillow that was his hair. “He’s doing okay, right?”
She laughed lightly. “From the way he was practically crying over the freshly-baked frozen lasagna, I think he’s going to be just fine. Skeets is watching over him like you asked. I’m actually surprised how fast he conked out. Either his cot is more uncomfortable than ours or he hasn’t been getting a lot of sleep.”
“That’s Ted for you. Especially when he was in his lab,” a small smile crept unnoticed over Booster’s lips. “He’d forget everything if someone didn’t remind him. He’d forget to breath if it wasn’t involuntary.”
“Well, I’m glad he’s back. I never got a chance to meet him before.” Michelle rested her cheek on Booster’s head once more. “I have years of interrogating to catch up on.”
“Interrogating?”
“I always interrogate all your sweethearts. It’s my duty as your sister, after all.”
Michelle nearly bit her tongue at the abruptness in which Booster jerked away to stare at her.
“What?” She frowned at him. “You think I wouldn’t notice with the way you always lit up every time you talked about him? Please. At least he’s better than some of the other people you dated.”
“Alright, alright- I’m attracted to him, but would you keep it down?”
An eyebrow went up and the frown deepened. “What’s with you?”
“You remember I told you the people of this time period get uppity over stupid things? Ted is a product of the time.”
“He doesn’t know, does he?”
“No,” Booster hissed, “and I’m not about to tell him or anyone we know in the near or possibly even distant future, thank you very much. I don’t need him flipping out over it.”
She gaped. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you? Mikey, I think you’ve become a product of this time.”
“I have not! I just don’t want him thinking I’m a freak, alright?”
“Are you even listening to yourself?” Michelle put her hands on her hips, giving her brother the patented ‘I am very disappointed in this stupidity you insist on partaking in’ look their mother had passed on to her and not Booster. “Mikey...”
“No. No, Shel- don’t even start.”
“I know you have to follow some of this period’s behavioral restrictions-“
“Don’t try to get all sociological on me. I always did better in those classes than you.”
“-but that doesn’t mean you have to buy into their bigotry! You used to have the biggest crush on a cybernetic alien in high school and you’re suddenly worried about being in love with a man?”
“Look- what’s the social norm in our home time isn’t going to be the same as current time and we can’t simply ignore what’s taboo in another culture just because it doesn’t fit our own-“
“Michael Jon Carter,” color was rising in Michelle’s cheeks and her nose wrinkled in the way that said she was about ready to hit him, “cultural expectations are a generalization and people are not monolithic groups. Just because the time period is weird about sexual identity doesn’t mean the individual person isn’t okay with it. And if Ted isn’t one of those people that can deal with the gender issue, then I definitely want to know about it because there’s no way I’m letting him break your heart with his prejudice!”
Booster’s jaw worked silently for a moment, not really knowing how to respond to that. All he managed to get out was a plaintive, “Shel...”
“Would you be any different for me?”
“...no.”
“Then it’s settled.” She flicked a finger at her brother’s shoulder. “You’ll tell him and he’ll either be ecstatic and you two can be all lovey-dovey until I want to strangle you both, he won’t be attracted back but he’ll still be okay with it so you can still be friends even though it’ll hurt like all hell, or he’ll be a prick about it and we’ll kick him out and be over with it.”
“I just got him back, Shel,” he grinned weakly, “don’t I get to enjoy that before I potentially drive him off?”
She smiled back, ruffling at Booster’s hair. “Fine. You have to get over your weirdness first, anyway.”
That only reminded Booster that Ted was asleep in his bed again. Ted who Booster had been slowly falling in love with since they first met. Ted who was everything Booster could ever admire in a person and seemed to care just as much for Booster. Ted who everyone had thought was killed two years ago. Ted who Booster no longer knew what to say to anymore and he was sleeping in Booster’s blanket and snuggling into Booster’s pillow. Grife, Booster didn’t know if he wanted to bury himself in the sheets that were sure to smell like Ted or just burn them.
“Are you okay?”
Booster’s head snapped up from where he had buried it in his hands. Jaime was hanging out in the doorway, looking concerned. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” was the first thing out of Booster’s mouth.
“It’s barely 9 o’clock. I can manage.” Looking from Booster to Michelle for permission, Jaime stepped further inside. “Is anything wrong?”
“How much did you hear?”
“Plenty? And not just because I was standing around where I could overhear you talking.” Jaime shoved his hands in his pockets, looking not entirely certain about what he was going to say next but saying it anyway. “Are you worried about how Ted will react or about everyone else?”
Drumming his fingers together, Booster hesitated before saying, “Both? What about you? Would it bother you if... if Ted...”
“Liked men?” Jaime shrugged. “It’s not like I have a right to tell him who he can be attracted to or not. Besides, I’ve seen some victims of gay bashing being rushed through my mom’s hospital. Seeing regular, innocent people that bloodied just because of who they love- I just can’t wrap my brain around how someone can hate someone they don’t know that much. I think everyone needs all the happiness they can get, you know?”
“See?” Michelle prodded at Booster’s shoulder. “You’re getting yourself worked up over nothing.”
“Thanks,” Booster told them both, the uncomfortable knot within easing somewhat. “Knowing that actually helps a lot.” He didn’t know why it was bothering him so much. Maybe Michelle was right- he was getting too caught up in the time’s hang ups.
“So do you think you’ll be able to talk to Ted tomorrow, or do you still want us running interference?” Jaime asked.
“I think I’ll be okay,” Booster ignored the way his fingers trembled. “I’m sure I’ll be okay. But... if you guys could just... keep close? Just in case?”
“I’ll be leaving tomorrow afternoon, but I can play buffer until then.”
“And it’s not like I’ll be going anywhere anyway, so I guess I can do you a favor.” Michelle gave her brother a little hip check. “You’re just going to owe me your eternal soul.”
“Didn’t I give that to you when we were eight?”
“I want a refurbished one.”
The trio looked up as the time sphere’s platform flared bright then coalesced into the time sphere itself. Rip Hunter stepped out, looking wrung out and exhausted with dark eyes. The three looked at him in concern. “Are you okay? Is everything alright?”
He looked right back at them- at Booster and it seemed to take him a moment to recognize him. Rip shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. He muttered under his breath something that sounded like a curse. “It’s fine,” he told them, “just needed to talk to someone and sort things out. Where’s Ted and Skeets?”
“Ted’s sleeping in Mikey’s room,” Michelle told him. “Skeets is making sure he goes nowhere.”
“Good. A little sleep sounds good right now anyway.”
“You need to take care of yourself, Rip.” The man froze in his tracks, looking startled as Booster continued, “You’re the one that knows all about the time stuff. We’re just following your lead.”
Rip continued to just stare at Booster and some odd look seemed to lurk in the back of his eyes. He rubbed a hand over his face and resumed walking out. “Right. I-I’ll do that. Night.”
A chorus of ‘good night’s followed him. Then, a beat after Rip left, Michelle said, “Sometimes he’s a very odd man.”
“Yeah...” the other two agreed. Jaime suddenly clapped his hands together and said brightly, “So Syfy is going to be playing Shark Attack 3 in about ten minutes.”
“Oooo- Shel, grab the drinks. I’ll make the popcorn!”
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Date: 2010-03-23 06:13 am (UTC)