Toy Soldiers: Four Color (PG, 1/4)
Summary: "It will be simple, it will not be long."
Notes: Comic books are printed in four basic colors: blue (cyan), red (magenta), yellow, and black. This has led at least one RPG that I've heard of to refer to the old-fashioned, straightforward super-heros -- the kind that appear in the comic books I read when I was a kid -- as 'four-colors.' That combined with a visit to a comic book store with a friend to produce this. Summary is from Adrienne Rich's 'Final Notation.' Dark -- as dark as I ever get. The last section is post-canon, and not AU.
1. BLUE
"You like Superman?"
Billy froze, halfway to sitting down on the couch again. Usually the guys who came to pick up Mom ignored him, and he ignored them, and everything worked out fine. "Uh, yeah, I guess." He sat down the rest of the way and looked up at the guy, who was looking at -- oh, the TV. Okay, fine, if the guy wanted to play Happy Families because of a movie that Billy landed on by accident, channel surfing, it was no skin off Billy's teeth.
"I used to buy those comic books when I was your age," the guy said. Not in that shitty, condescending way grown-ups talked sometimes, but serious. He was still watching the TV. "God, haven't read them in years." He tore his eyes away from the TV and looked down at Billy for the first time. "Do you read comic books?"
"Sometimes." Not usually Superman, though Billy wasn't stupid enough to say so. The invulnerability was cool, and so was being able to fly, but who ran around in bright blue tights? Batman was way cooler.
"I'll have to bring over my old comics so you can read them, then. They're just sitting in my back room."
Billy hesitated a second, watching the guy. Didn't look like he was lying about the offer, but that didn't mean shit, any more than his dad's promises did. But just in case, Billy said, "Thanks," and shook the guy's hand.
He never saw him again.
-on to part 2-
Notes: Comic books are printed in four basic colors: blue (cyan), red (magenta), yellow, and black. This has led at least one RPG that I've heard of to refer to the old-fashioned, straightforward super-heros -- the kind that appear in the comic books I read when I was a kid -- as 'four-colors.' That combined with a visit to a comic book store with a friend to produce this. Summary is from Adrienne Rich's 'Final Notation.' Dark -- as dark as I ever get. The last section is post-canon, and not AU.
1. BLUE
"You like Superman?"
Billy froze, halfway to sitting down on the couch again. Usually the guys who came to pick up Mom ignored him, and he ignored them, and everything worked out fine. "Uh, yeah, I guess." He sat down the rest of the way and looked up at the guy, who was looking at -- oh, the TV. Okay, fine, if the guy wanted to play Happy Families because of a movie that Billy landed on by accident, channel surfing, it was no skin off Billy's teeth.
"I used to buy those comic books when I was your age," the guy said. Not in that shitty, condescending way grown-ups talked sometimes, but serious. He was still watching the TV. "God, haven't read them in years." He tore his eyes away from the TV and looked down at Billy for the first time. "Do you read comic books?"
"Sometimes." Not usually Superman, though Billy wasn't stupid enough to say so. The invulnerability was cool, and so was being able to fly, but who ran around in bright blue tights? Batman was way cooler.
"I'll have to bring over my old comics so you can read them, then. They're just sitting in my back room."
Billy hesitated a second, watching the guy. Didn't look like he was lying about the offer, but that didn't mean shit, any more than his dad's promises did. But just in case, Billy said, "Thanks," and shook the guy's hand.
He never saw him again.
-on to part 2-