Ficlets: Listening In; Sweet Music | DCU | Various Pairings & Ratings
Title: Listening In
Fandom: DCU/Superman Returns/Batman Begins
Characters/Pairing: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne, Jason White
Rating: G
Word Count: 288
Prompt: For starsandsea - Clark/Bruce - Music
Summary: Bruce can't help listening in on Jason's private recital for Clark.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own everything. I own nothing. Darnit.
Author's Note: Takes place some time after "The Greatest Gift I Can Give You". Happy belated birthday, Star! :D
Listening In
Bruce couldn't help listening in as Clark sat with Jason at the piano in the study. The little boy was already very good, playing for his father the few pieces he'd chosen for his last recital. Of course, Clark had listened in on the recital itself the week before, even though he'd been in the midst of a rescue at the time, but it was clear to Bruce how much he enjoyed hearing it all again, just from his easy laughter when Jason played “Kookaburra”. Fatherly pride shone in Clark's voice when he praised his son for an expert performance afterward, and Bruce couldn't repress a small smile, remembering just how badly Clark had yearned to have his son back in his life.
“You can come in, Mister Bruce, and listen if you want.” The little boy's voice startled him out of his reverie, and he shook his head, remembering just what Clark had told him about Jason's already developing abilities.
Grinning as he suppressed a blush at being caught, Bruce opened the door and came into the study. “What gave me away?” he smirked.
Jason and Clark both rolled their eyes and started laughing, and when Bruce took a spot on the sofa to take in the rest of the performance, the little boy started his next piece. The clear notes filled the air with sweet music, and Bruce found himself feeling a little fatherly pride, after all. Watching Clark's grin at his son as Jason played through the toughest part of the piece, small fingers reaching wide to hit all the notes, the Bat fell just a little bit more in love with his Kryptonian, a little bit more in love with his family.
* * * * *
Title: Sweet Music
Fandom: DCU
Characters/Pairing: Pied Piper/Trickster (Hartley Rathaway/James Jesse)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,036
Prompt: For jen_in_japan - Piper/Trickster with a happy twist
Summary: Just when Hartley wants to throw in the towel, things get better.
Disclaimer: Nope, I *still* don't own it.
Author's Note: The beginning of this came out *way* angsty. Sorry! But it's happy by the end, I promise. :) Happy belated birthday, Jen! :D
Sweet Music
After all was said and done, and the dead returned to the world at the end of the Crisis, Hartley found himself alone. James hadn't returned as the others had, and all Piper could do was try to find a way to move on with his life, pick up what was left of himself and keep going.
Wasn't as easy as he'd hoped it would be, though.
Night after night he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and wishing, wanting, waiting for some sort of relief to come, for some cosmic fluke to bring James back after all. Day after day, he trudged though the motions, finding work with the FBI, as James once had, keeping himself afloat, spending his off time with his rats and his music and his gadgets.
And it was all empty.
Nothing made any of it easier.
Three months after the Crisis was over, Hartley was a ghost of himself, too quiet to be noticed, too thin to be healthy. He just wanted everything to be over, wanted to be with James again. And wouldn't it figure, that the one day that he thought, Today, today I'll do it, was the day he spotted a familiar figure striding down the sidewalk towards him as he emerged from the FBI building in Washington, headed home to either have dinner and sleep, or slit his wrists and be done with it.
Drawing up short, he ran a lean hand through his red hair, shaking his head to make the hallucination go away. He's gone. It's over. I'm done. I'm coming, James, he thought frantically, knowing that the specter of death could take on the appearance of a loved one.
But the hands on his shoulders and the blinding grin felt too real to be a specter. The voice that emerged from that perfect mouth was too melodious to be a memory, and it made him ache in such a sweet, painful way. Hartley swallowed hard, looking into eyes that he knew couldn't be real, but were too hypnotizing to be anything but.
“Hartley?” James' voice seemed to sing to him. “Hartley, you're scaring me. Snap out of it. I'm here. I'm home!”
His breaths coming short and fast, Piper felt the world start to spin around him, swaying and falling away. As darkness overtook his vision, he felt warm arms encircle him, and breath tickle his ear. “Whoa, I've got you. Hold on, it's all right, I'll take ya' home.”
* * * * *
Waking up to a semi-darkened room, Hartley blinked heavily and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. How did he get home? The last thing he remembered was...
James.
No, it can't be! he cried to himself, thinking how cruel a joke it had been, to see the one person he wanted most in the world to come back to him, and when fat tears began to slip down his cheeks he screamed with his frustration.
A shadow filled the doorway to his bedroom. “Hart? Hey, hey, it's all right!”
Piper started at the voice that sounded like the sweetest music he'd ever heard, and forced himself still, even as a sob escaped him, the thought that maybe it wasn't a joke after all sending a spike of terror and hope down his spine. It can't be...
The figure in the doorway flipped on the light switch, and Hartley choked on another sob, his guts twisting with relief, shock, and all the grief he'd been holding onto for the past three months. “J - James?” he managed, his eyes wide as he fisted the sheets around him.
James was already stepping into the room to sit on the bed, and swept Hartley up into his arms. “Hey, shhh.. Sorry it took me so damn long. Turns out I was at the bottom of the list, as far as resurrections go. And I had to learn a damn big lesson before they'd let me come back to you.”
Hartley clutched the other man as hard as he could, still not believing it, not quite hearing him or understanding at all. “James,” he said again, through fresh tears, adrenaline coursing through him. “God, James...”
“It's all right, I've got you. I'm home, Hartley. I'm here.”
When Piper got himself together enough to pull back from the embrace and look at his friend, his eyes went immediately to James' forehead, fingers reaching up to sweep back blonde hair that had grown out some, and trace the smooth skin where a bullet hole had once been.
“Not even a scar,” James grinned. “They do good work on the other side, apparently.”
Hartley could only nod, mesmerized, taking in every feature, every detail.
“You could say something, you know. Or do I have to pull out the rubber chicken and my yo-yo?” His eyebrows wagged up and down a few times.
“I - I missed you. God, so much,” Hartley finally choked, his chest almost heaving with the effort not to cry again even as he wanted to laugh at the lame joke. God, he had his James back!
“Hey, missed you, too,” James smirked. Leaning forward, he pressed a chaste kiss to Hartley's lips, cupping his chin with his fingers.
Piper started again, the warmth of the lips pressed to his searing through him and wakening things within him that he hadn't felt in a very long time.
The other man laughed brightly. “I did say I had a lesson to learn before I could come home. And that lesson was that I am an ass-hole, and am apparently completely in love with you. The Powers That Be had to smack it into me a few times before I got the message.”
Piper's body began to sing with the revelation as his eyes widened and jaw dropped open, and before he could stop himself, he was kissing James with everything he had, pressing their bodies together and feeling the heat of his love for what was truly the first time.
Against all odds, James had come back to him after all, body and soul and with the sweetest music of all, and Hartley was never going to let him go again.
* * * * *
Fandom: DCU/Superman Returns/Batman Begins
Characters/Pairing: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne, Jason White
Rating: G
Word Count: 288
Prompt: For starsandsea - Clark/Bruce - Music
Summary: Bruce can't help listening in on Jason's private recital for Clark.
Disclaimer: DC and WB own everything. I own nothing. Darnit.
Author's Note: Takes place some time after "The Greatest Gift I Can Give You". Happy belated birthday, Star! :D
Listening In
Bruce couldn't help listening in as Clark sat with Jason at the piano in the study. The little boy was already very good, playing for his father the few pieces he'd chosen for his last recital. Of course, Clark had listened in on the recital itself the week before, even though he'd been in the midst of a rescue at the time, but it was clear to Bruce how much he enjoyed hearing it all again, just from his easy laughter when Jason played “Kookaburra”. Fatherly pride shone in Clark's voice when he praised his son for an expert performance afterward, and Bruce couldn't repress a small smile, remembering just how badly Clark had yearned to have his son back in his life.
“You can come in, Mister Bruce, and listen if you want.” The little boy's voice startled him out of his reverie, and he shook his head, remembering just what Clark had told him about Jason's already developing abilities.
Grinning as he suppressed a blush at being caught, Bruce opened the door and came into the study. “What gave me away?” he smirked.
Jason and Clark both rolled their eyes and started laughing, and when Bruce took a spot on the sofa to take in the rest of the performance, the little boy started his next piece. The clear notes filled the air with sweet music, and Bruce found himself feeling a little fatherly pride, after all. Watching Clark's grin at his son as Jason played through the toughest part of the piece, small fingers reaching wide to hit all the notes, the Bat fell just a little bit more in love with his Kryptonian, a little bit more in love with his family.
* * * * *
Title: Sweet Music
Fandom: DCU
Characters/Pairing: Pied Piper/Trickster (Hartley Rathaway/James Jesse)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,036
Prompt: For jen_in_japan - Piper/Trickster with a happy twist
Summary: Just when Hartley wants to throw in the towel, things get better.
Disclaimer: Nope, I *still* don't own it.
Author's Note: The beginning of this came out *way* angsty. Sorry! But it's happy by the end, I promise. :) Happy belated birthday, Jen! :D
Sweet Music
After all was said and done, and the dead returned to the world at the end of the Crisis, Hartley found himself alone. James hadn't returned as the others had, and all Piper could do was try to find a way to move on with his life, pick up what was left of himself and keep going.
Wasn't as easy as he'd hoped it would be, though.
Night after night he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and wishing, wanting, waiting for some sort of relief to come, for some cosmic fluke to bring James back after all. Day after day, he trudged though the motions, finding work with the FBI, as James once had, keeping himself afloat, spending his off time with his rats and his music and his gadgets.
And it was all empty.
Nothing made any of it easier.
Three months after the Crisis was over, Hartley was a ghost of himself, too quiet to be noticed, too thin to be healthy. He just wanted everything to be over, wanted to be with James again. And wouldn't it figure, that the one day that he thought, Today, today I'll do it, was the day he spotted a familiar figure striding down the sidewalk towards him as he emerged from the FBI building in Washington, headed home to either have dinner and sleep, or slit his wrists and be done with it.
Drawing up short, he ran a lean hand through his red hair, shaking his head to make the hallucination go away. He's gone. It's over. I'm done. I'm coming, James, he thought frantically, knowing that the specter of death could take on the appearance of a loved one.
But the hands on his shoulders and the blinding grin felt too real to be a specter. The voice that emerged from that perfect mouth was too melodious to be a memory, and it made him ache in such a sweet, painful way. Hartley swallowed hard, looking into eyes that he knew couldn't be real, but were too hypnotizing to be anything but.
“Hartley?” James' voice seemed to sing to him. “Hartley, you're scaring me. Snap out of it. I'm here. I'm home!”
His breaths coming short and fast, Piper felt the world start to spin around him, swaying and falling away. As darkness overtook his vision, he felt warm arms encircle him, and breath tickle his ear. “Whoa, I've got you. Hold on, it's all right, I'll take ya' home.”
* * * * *
Waking up to a semi-darkened room, Hartley blinked heavily and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. How did he get home? The last thing he remembered was...
James.
No, it can't be! he cried to himself, thinking how cruel a joke it had been, to see the one person he wanted most in the world to come back to him, and when fat tears began to slip down his cheeks he screamed with his frustration.
A shadow filled the doorway to his bedroom. “Hart? Hey, hey, it's all right!”
Piper started at the voice that sounded like the sweetest music he'd ever heard, and forced himself still, even as a sob escaped him, the thought that maybe it wasn't a joke after all sending a spike of terror and hope down his spine. It can't be...
The figure in the doorway flipped on the light switch, and Hartley choked on another sob, his guts twisting with relief, shock, and all the grief he'd been holding onto for the past three months. “J - James?” he managed, his eyes wide as he fisted the sheets around him.
James was already stepping into the room to sit on the bed, and swept Hartley up into his arms. “Hey, shhh.. Sorry it took me so damn long. Turns out I was at the bottom of the list, as far as resurrections go. And I had to learn a damn big lesson before they'd let me come back to you.”
Hartley clutched the other man as hard as he could, still not believing it, not quite hearing him or understanding at all. “James,” he said again, through fresh tears, adrenaline coursing through him. “God, James...”
“It's all right, I've got you. I'm home, Hartley. I'm here.”
When Piper got himself together enough to pull back from the embrace and look at his friend, his eyes went immediately to James' forehead, fingers reaching up to sweep back blonde hair that had grown out some, and trace the smooth skin where a bullet hole had once been.
“Not even a scar,” James grinned. “They do good work on the other side, apparently.”
Hartley could only nod, mesmerized, taking in every feature, every detail.
“You could say something, you know. Or do I have to pull out the rubber chicken and my yo-yo?” His eyebrows wagged up and down a few times.
“I - I missed you. God, so much,” Hartley finally choked, his chest almost heaving with the effort not to cry again even as he wanted to laugh at the lame joke. God, he had his James back!
“Hey, missed you, too,” James smirked. Leaning forward, he pressed a chaste kiss to Hartley's lips, cupping his chin with his fingers.
Piper started again, the warmth of the lips pressed to his searing through him and wakening things within him that he hadn't felt in a very long time.
The other man laughed brightly. “I did say I had a lesson to learn before I could come home. And that lesson was that I am an ass-hole, and am apparently completely in love with you. The Powers That Be had to smack it into me a few times before I got the message.”
Piper's body began to sing with the revelation as his eyes widened and jaw dropped open, and before he could stop himself, he was kissing James with everything he had, pressing their bodies together and feeling the heat of his love for what was truly the first time.
Against all odds, James had come back to him after all, body and soul and with the sweetest music of all, and Hartley was never going to let him go again.
* * * * *