blue & gold
title: We Thought We Lost You (a set of ficlets)
with: Booster Gold/Blue Beetle
rated: PG
disclaim: Booster and Beetle belong to DC; I only own a lot of comic books
note: contains spoilers for The OMAC Project, 52, and through Booster Gold #0
1. "The Gymnast, High Above the Ground" - The Decemberists
The gymnast, high above the ground,
Limbers up and falls, tender, down.
Ever since history shifted, since Superman and Wonder Woman and Batman fell off the face of the universe, Booster’s felt caught in a perpetual state of freefall.
Skeets gives him a job. He shows up and smiles for the cameras, for the crowd, for the sponsors. Flying on autopilot. He’s good at flying on autopilot. He’s not thinking, not letting himself think.
But maybe he’s wrong. Maybe it all started when Ted died, and it just got worse when history betrayed them all. He’s been trying to ignore it, this hollow, upside-down feeling. If he keeps busy, if he tricks people into loving him, then he doesn’t have to think about it.
2. "Reckoner" - Radiohead
You can't take it with you
Booster gets a sort of sick pleasure out of fighting himself as Supernova.
Michael is perfectly aware that Booster Gold is a joke, thank you. It’s something he’s fought against for most of his life, and if it wasn’t painfully obvious before he screwed himself over as Supernova, then it certainly is after.
After it’s all over, after Mister Mind is gone and the Fifty-Two are safe, Booster finds a quiet building to sit on top of and brood. He’s not particularly good at the brooding thing, but he needs to figure out what comes next. He’s not particularly good at the deep philosophical thoughts thing either, but here he is, watching the sky shade towards pink and purple, thinking about heroism.
Thinking, inevitably, about Ted.
It’s cold up here; there’s a chill on the wind. Maybe he should stop fighting for himself.
3. "Into the Fire" - Bruce Springsteen
May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love bring us love
The thing is, Michael has too many regrets. He doesn’t want more.
He should’ve been there by Ted’s side.
4. "All that I'm Good For" - Hem
I got shadows snapping at my tail
Who say I'm no damn good
But that's just halfway true
All that I'm good for is you
It’s like Six Degrees of Ted Kord.
Any subject Booster thinks of will bring him back to Ted in six steps or less.
Eating on the couch. Breadcrumbs. Pigeons. Flying. Cruising in the Bug with Ted.
Retro furniture. Door-to-door salesmen. Pests. Ted and that stupid, overly-complicated mousetrap he made that time.
It’s getting ridiculous. Try again.
Nice tits. The cute redhead who works at the cd store on sixth street. The bakery next door. Cookies. He and Ted stealing J’onn’s chocos.
Missing Ted is kind of like having an arm ripped off.
5. "I Feel It All" - Feist
I know more than I knew before
It was when Booster was gathering all those objects of power for Rip.
It’s night on some South Pacific island. The sky is clear, still, full of stars, and he wishes Ted were there to see it.
Michael closes his eyes. He hurts, but it’s also like a weight being lifted from his chest. He loves Ted. He has for a long time. He can’t believe he didn’t realize it sooner.
6. "Adventures in Solitude" - The New Pornographers
We thought we lost you
They get Ted back. They get Ted back, and they crash into the twenty-fifth century.
Booster has a bit of a delayed reaction. He wanders off into the warehouse. The other Beetles are around the corner, checking out the time sphere, but Ted has followed him. Booster’s hands start shaking, and he wants to puke. Across town, he’s destroying his life.
Ted notices and gives Booster what can only be called the bug eye.
Booster starts laughing and can’t stop, and his stomach hurts, and he can’t breathe, and Ted is there. Ted is close enough and real enough to touch.
And all Michael can think is that he still has to fix things.
7. "In Our Bedroom After the War" - Stars
We won, or we think we did
This is what Booster wants: Blue and Gold, the secret and unstoppable saviors of the multiverse. He doesn’t need to be famous anymore. The idea knocks the breath from him. It would be enough to hang out with Ted
This is what Michael wants: to make some bubble outside of time where they can be safe forever.
8. "I Called You Back" - Bonnie "Prince" Billy
And I called you back
So Booster screwed up yet again, but they fixed it somehow.
He’s numb and bone-tired, and with all the jumping through time, he can’t remember when he last slept. Ted is looking at him strangely again, and Michael has no idea what’s showing on his face because he can’t fake it with Ted. He’s never been able to fake it with Ted.
((tbc))
with: Booster Gold/Blue Beetle
rated: PG
disclaim: Booster and Beetle belong to DC; I only own a lot of comic books
note: contains spoilers for The OMAC Project, 52, and through Booster Gold #0
1. "The Gymnast, High Above the Ground" - The Decemberists
The gymnast, high above the ground,
Limbers up and falls, tender, down.
Ever since history shifted, since Superman and Wonder Woman and Batman fell off the face of the universe, Booster’s felt caught in a perpetual state of freefall.
Skeets gives him a job. He shows up and smiles for the cameras, for the crowd, for the sponsors. Flying on autopilot. He’s good at flying on autopilot. He’s not thinking, not letting himself think.
But maybe he’s wrong. Maybe it all started when Ted died, and it just got worse when history betrayed them all. He’s been trying to ignore it, this hollow, upside-down feeling. If he keeps busy, if he tricks people into loving him, then he doesn’t have to think about it.
2. "Reckoner" - Radiohead
You can't take it with you
Booster gets a sort of sick pleasure out of fighting himself as Supernova.
Michael is perfectly aware that Booster Gold is a joke, thank you. It’s something he’s fought against for most of his life, and if it wasn’t painfully obvious before he screwed himself over as Supernova, then it certainly is after.
After it’s all over, after Mister Mind is gone and the Fifty-Two are safe, Booster finds a quiet building to sit on top of and brood. He’s not particularly good at the brooding thing, but he needs to figure out what comes next. He’s not particularly good at the deep philosophical thoughts thing either, but here he is, watching the sky shade towards pink and purple, thinking about heroism.
Thinking, inevitably, about Ted.
It’s cold up here; there’s a chill on the wind. Maybe he should stop fighting for himself.
3. "Into the Fire" - Bruce Springsteen
May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love bring us love
The thing is, Michael has too many regrets. He doesn’t want more.
He should’ve been there by Ted’s side.
4. "All that I'm Good For" - Hem
I got shadows snapping at my tail
Who say I'm no damn good
But that's just halfway true
All that I'm good for is you
It’s like Six Degrees of Ted Kord.
Any subject Booster thinks of will bring him back to Ted in six steps or less.
Eating on the couch. Breadcrumbs. Pigeons. Flying. Cruising in the Bug with Ted.
Retro furniture. Door-to-door salesmen. Pests. Ted and that stupid, overly-complicated mousetrap he made that time.
It’s getting ridiculous. Try again.
Nice tits. The cute redhead who works at the cd store on sixth street. The bakery next door. Cookies. He and Ted stealing J’onn’s chocos.
Missing Ted is kind of like having an arm ripped off.
5. "I Feel It All" - Feist
I know more than I knew before
It was when Booster was gathering all those objects of power for Rip.
It’s night on some South Pacific island. The sky is clear, still, full of stars, and he wishes Ted were there to see it.
Michael closes his eyes. He hurts, but it’s also like a weight being lifted from his chest. He loves Ted. He has for a long time. He can’t believe he didn’t realize it sooner.
6. "Adventures in Solitude" - The New Pornographers
We thought we lost you
They get Ted back. They get Ted back, and they crash into the twenty-fifth century.
Booster has a bit of a delayed reaction. He wanders off into the warehouse. The other Beetles are around the corner, checking out the time sphere, but Ted has followed him. Booster’s hands start shaking, and he wants to puke. Across town, he’s destroying his life.
Ted notices and gives Booster what can only be called the bug eye.
Booster starts laughing and can’t stop, and his stomach hurts, and he can’t breathe, and Ted is there. Ted is close enough and real enough to touch.
And all Michael can think is that he still has to fix things.
7. "In Our Bedroom After the War" - Stars
We won, or we think we did
This is what Booster wants: Blue and Gold, the secret and unstoppable saviors of the multiverse. He doesn’t need to be famous anymore. The idea knocks the breath from him. It would be enough to hang out with Ted
This is what Michael wants: to make some bubble outside of time where they can be safe forever.
8. "I Called You Back" - Bonnie "Prince" Billy
And I called you back
So Booster screwed up yet again, but they fixed it somehow.
He’s numb and bone-tired, and with all the jumping through time, he can’t remember when he last slept. Ted is looking at him strangely again, and Michael has no idea what’s showing on his face because he can’t fake it with Ted. He’s never been able to fake it with Ted.
((tbc))