Fic: 20 Random Facts about Bart Allen
Title: 20 Random Facts about Bart Allen
Author: Milleniumrex
Fandom: DCU
Characters: Bart Allen, Rose Wilson, Tim Drake, Conner Kent, others.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: 20 random facts about...ahh, you get the picture!
Disclaimer: DC owns all the characters, and would likely hit me if they found out about this.
Author's notes: Written for quirky_circe's DC Random Fics Fest. A little canon mixed with a lot of my own fanon and a heck of a lot more fun than DC has going on right now.
20 Random Facts about Bart Allen
1. For a long time, Bart thought that the broom closet at the Young Justice lair must have some deep, mysterious, and incredibly fascinating secret in it. I mean, why else would Cassie and Kon be sneaking off to it all the time? And then Kon started showing Tim whatever was in there. And then Greta and Cissie started hanging around in there. But as much as he searched, he could never find out what was in there that they were so interested in. Bart kind of misses how innocent he was back then.
2. Max Mercury was stern, cranky, and had very little patience for Bart's antics. But more so than Jay or Wally, he never doubted that Bart could be a great hero. He believed in Bart, and Bart hasn't stopped believing in him. That's why every second that Bart's in the speed force, he'll search for Max. He's got to be somewhere, and one day Bart knows he'll bring his father home.
3. Bart's first crush was Cissie King-Jones. He found himself drawn to her fun-loving spirit. But it was Kon-El who really showed Bart what sexual attraction was, with his cocky smirk and perfectly tousled hair. Bart knew he could never compete with what Kon had with Tim. It wasn't until he met Rose Wilson again that Bart really allowed himself to fall hard.
4. No matter what the adults told him, that it was going to be better, Bart knew when Young Justice broke up that a part of their innocence died with it. None of them were ever as happy as when they were Young, Just Us.
5. Bart liked the newfound respect and attention that came with being Kid Flash. Suddenly, he wasn't the goofy kid that everyone laughed at, he was a real hero. Wally and Jay were definitely behind him more. But there was always that nagging feeling that he was playing dress-up, that he was hiding who he really was.
6. Bart doesn't hate people. It's really not his style. He doesn't hate Harm, or Bedlam, or any of the Young Justice villains who put them through a trial by fire. He doesn't hate Inertia, he pities the twisted clone for what he became. But upon hearing what Deathstroke did to his friend Rose, drugging her and poisoning her mind, leading to her mutilating herself in a deranged display of loyalty, Bart knew what hate felt like for the first time. One day, Bart's going to give a little bit of that pain back to Slade. And then, just for good measure, he'll take out his knee.
7. When it came time, fighting that horrible doppelganger of Superboy, to give his all and journey into the unknown, to contain him in the speed force, Bart wasn't scared. For Bart, the risk of death was just another adventure. Barry and Max were waiting there, beyond the unknown. So Bart did what he always did: ran full-speed ahead.
8. When Bart came back, after those days that were really years, and found that Conner hadn't survived the Crisis, another small part of his soul died. Being older, being the Flash, seemed like yet another role he was play-acting at, sleepwalking through fighting evil. Bart wondered when being a hero stopped being fun.
9. Bart was always really good at reading people, and it was painfully clear that Cassie and Tim were on a fast path to self-destruction. Neither of them realized it, and they wouldn't have listened anyway. So Bart just shut them out, and pretended he had outgrown his friends. It was the only way he could keep on running.
10. Bart dialed Rose's number almost every night. One of the only good things about coming back was finding how she had turned her life around, how she had rejected her father's programming and made the decision to be a hero. He wanted to tell her how happy he was for her, how he never stopped believing that she could save herself....that he never stopped loving her. But every time, old goofy Bart came back, and he stood there tongue-tied for a minute and then hung up.
11. When the end came, powerless, fighting Inertia and the Rogues, Bart wasn't scared. His life had taken so many strange turns, into crazy adventures he never imagined. Maybe this would be another one. As he slipped away, he could swear he saw Conner, standing there, smirking at him and saying "So soon? Lame."
Bart died with a faint grin on his lips. Conner always did make him laugh.
12. Being plucked out of time and space in the lightning rod, and being carted off to save the 30th century from Imperiex was like coming home. His time with the Legion reminded Bart of exactly who he used to be. The Legion was just kids who wanted to make the universe a better place, fighting against any evil that came and never leaving a man behind. Just like Bart knows he will always be part of Young Justice, Bart will always be a Legionnaire in his heart.
13. When Brainiac 5 told Bart he could be de-aged back to 17, Bart had to think long and hard about it. For all of three seconds. With a spare Impulse costume fitting him perfectly again, and his Legion flight ring tucked in his pocket, Bart was done saving the future. Now it was time to fix his past.
14. Bart isn't surprised that he showed up in the present day five minutes after Conner had returned from the underworld and shoved a sword through Darkseid's chest, ending the Final Crisis. Conner was the great hero. Bart was the best friend, the guy who breaks the tension. And tumbling out of a time wormhole onto the guy who just returned from the dead himself will certainly do that.
15. When Bart found out what Wally had done to Inertia, he punched Wally in the gut at super-speed exactly 77 times. He then made Wally undo it. Bart visits Inertia at Belle Reve once a week, to try to get inside his head, and see if there's anything there, anything he can reach. Much as he hates to admit it, Thad's his brother. And Bart doesn't give up on family, no matter how hard it gets.
16. The biggest adjustment for Bart upon rejoining the Titans was keeping track of all the couples. Tim and Kon, Cassie and Kara, Jaime and Eddie. You die for a few months, and the world gets all couply.
17. It took Bart all of three days to convince Rose that she could finally let someone in. The longest three days of his life. And this includes the time Max decided to tutor him in Algebra.
18. Bart thinks Iris and Jai are immature, hyperactive, and incredibly annoying.
He loves this, and has already begun educating them on the best ways to drive Batman insane. Mentorship is fun.
19. Secretly, Bart ran back over to the old YJ cave, spruced it up a little, cleaned out Slobo's trash, and left the door unlocked.
Someday, other young heroes who need a place to hide from their mentors, chill, and just be kids, are going to need a place to hang out. And when they find the old cave, they'll see that the next generation of DCU heroes were once just like them. Awkward kids, just looking for a place to belong.
20. Bart's seen the future, the Speed Force, the depths of space, and Batman's secret closet in the Batcave. But the one sight he'll treasure above them all is the first Christmas after his second life began. Walking into Titans Tower with Rose, and seeing Cassie with Kara, Kon with Tim, Cass with Steph, and Greta with Cissie, Bart realized that sometimes, the universe makes things work out exactly how they should.
At this point, he pushed heavy thoughts away, and challenged Kon to an Eggnog drinking contest. Saving the world could wait a bit.
Author: Milleniumrex
Fandom: DCU
Characters: Bart Allen, Rose Wilson, Tim Drake, Conner Kent, others.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: 20 random facts about...ahh, you get the picture!
Disclaimer: DC owns all the characters, and would likely hit me if they found out about this.
Author's notes: Written for quirky_circe's DC Random Fics Fest. A little canon mixed with a lot of my own fanon and a heck of a lot more fun than DC has going on right now.
20 Random Facts about Bart Allen
1. For a long time, Bart thought that the broom closet at the Young Justice lair must have some deep, mysterious, and incredibly fascinating secret in it. I mean, why else would Cassie and Kon be sneaking off to it all the time? And then Kon started showing Tim whatever was in there. And then Greta and Cissie started hanging around in there. But as much as he searched, he could never find out what was in there that they were so interested in. Bart kind of misses how innocent he was back then.
2. Max Mercury was stern, cranky, and had very little patience for Bart's antics. But more so than Jay or Wally, he never doubted that Bart could be a great hero. He believed in Bart, and Bart hasn't stopped believing in him. That's why every second that Bart's in the speed force, he'll search for Max. He's got to be somewhere, and one day Bart knows he'll bring his father home.
3. Bart's first crush was Cissie King-Jones. He found himself drawn to her fun-loving spirit. But it was Kon-El who really showed Bart what sexual attraction was, with his cocky smirk and perfectly tousled hair. Bart knew he could never compete with what Kon had with Tim. It wasn't until he met Rose Wilson again that Bart really allowed himself to fall hard.
4. No matter what the adults told him, that it was going to be better, Bart knew when Young Justice broke up that a part of their innocence died with it. None of them were ever as happy as when they were Young, Just Us.
5. Bart liked the newfound respect and attention that came with being Kid Flash. Suddenly, he wasn't the goofy kid that everyone laughed at, he was a real hero. Wally and Jay were definitely behind him more. But there was always that nagging feeling that he was playing dress-up, that he was hiding who he really was.
6. Bart doesn't hate people. It's really not his style. He doesn't hate Harm, or Bedlam, or any of the Young Justice villains who put them through a trial by fire. He doesn't hate Inertia, he pities the twisted clone for what he became. But upon hearing what Deathstroke did to his friend Rose, drugging her and poisoning her mind, leading to her mutilating herself in a deranged display of loyalty, Bart knew what hate felt like for the first time. One day, Bart's going to give a little bit of that pain back to Slade. And then, just for good measure, he'll take out his knee.
7. When it came time, fighting that horrible doppelganger of Superboy, to give his all and journey into the unknown, to contain him in the speed force, Bart wasn't scared. For Bart, the risk of death was just another adventure. Barry and Max were waiting there, beyond the unknown. So Bart did what he always did: ran full-speed ahead.
8. When Bart came back, after those days that were really years, and found that Conner hadn't survived the Crisis, another small part of his soul died. Being older, being the Flash, seemed like yet another role he was play-acting at, sleepwalking through fighting evil. Bart wondered when being a hero stopped being fun.
9. Bart was always really good at reading people, and it was painfully clear that Cassie and Tim were on a fast path to self-destruction. Neither of them realized it, and they wouldn't have listened anyway. So Bart just shut them out, and pretended he had outgrown his friends. It was the only way he could keep on running.
10. Bart dialed Rose's number almost every night. One of the only good things about coming back was finding how she had turned her life around, how she had rejected her father's programming and made the decision to be a hero. He wanted to tell her how happy he was for her, how he never stopped believing that she could save herself....that he never stopped loving her. But every time, old goofy Bart came back, and he stood there tongue-tied for a minute and then hung up.
11. When the end came, powerless, fighting Inertia and the Rogues, Bart wasn't scared. His life had taken so many strange turns, into crazy adventures he never imagined. Maybe this would be another one. As he slipped away, he could swear he saw Conner, standing there, smirking at him and saying "So soon? Lame."
Bart died with a faint grin on his lips. Conner always did make him laugh.
12. Being plucked out of time and space in the lightning rod, and being carted off to save the 30th century from Imperiex was like coming home. His time with the Legion reminded Bart of exactly who he used to be. The Legion was just kids who wanted to make the universe a better place, fighting against any evil that came and never leaving a man behind. Just like Bart knows he will always be part of Young Justice, Bart will always be a Legionnaire in his heart.
13. When Brainiac 5 told Bart he could be de-aged back to 17, Bart had to think long and hard about it. For all of three seconds. With a spare Impulse costume fitting him perfectly again, and his Legion flight ring tucked in his pocket, Bart was done saving the future. Now it was time to fix his past.
14. Bart isn't surprised that he showed up in the present day five minutes after Conner had returned from the underworld and shoved a sword through Darkseid's chest, ending the Final Crisis. Conner was the great hero. Bart was the best friend, the guy who breaks the tension. And tumbling out of a time wormhole onto the guy who just returned from the dead himself will certainly do that.
15. When Bart found out what Wally had done to Inertia, he punched Wally in the gut at super-speed exactly 77 times. He then made Wally undo it. Bart visits Inertia at Belle Reve once a week, to try to get inside his head, and see if there's anything there, anything he can reach. Much as he hates to admit it, Thad's his brother. And Bart doesn't give up on family, no matter how hard it gets.
16. The biggest adjustment for Bart upon rejoining the Titans was keeping track of all the couples. Tim and Kon, Cassie and Kara, Jaime and Eddie. You die for a few months, and the world gets all couply.
17. It took Bart all of three days to convince Rose that she could finally let someone in. The longest three days of his life. And this includes the time Max decided to tutor him in Algebra.
18. Bart thinks Iris and Jai are immature, hyperactive, and incredibly annoying.
He loves this, and has already begun educating them on the best ways to drive Batman insane. Mentorship is fun.
19. Secretly, Bart ran back over to the old YJ cave, spruced it up a little, cleaned out Slobo's trash, and left the door unlocked.
Someday, other young heroes who need a place to hide from their mentors, chill, and just be kids, are going to need a place to hang out. And when they find the old cave, they'll see that the next generation of DCU heroes were once just like them. Awkward kids, just looking for a place to belong.
20. Bart's seen the future, the Speed Force, the depths of space, and Batman's secret closet in the Batcave. But the one sight he'll treasure above them all is the first Christmas after his second life began. Walking into Titans Tower with Rose, and seeing Cassie with Kara, Kon with Tim, Cass with Steph, and Greta with Cissie, Bart realized that sometimes, the universe makes things work out exactly how they should.
At this point, he pushed heavy thoughts away, and challenged Kon to an Eggnog drinking contest. Saving the world could wait a bit.