Another experiment
I'm gonna try another fic. This time, it's my first foray into the comic continuity, even if it's slightly A/U. It's set in the future, centering around the daughters of Dick Grayson and Roy Harper . . . respectively. I like reading Dick/Roy, but I don't ship it. However, as you will see, I do ship their daughters, Mar'i Grayson and Lian Harper. By the way, Mar'i isn't an OC; she originates in the canon of Kingdom Come, a possible future of the DCU depicted in a 1996 limited series of that title. You want to know more? Comment and I'll tell you.
Title: Daughters
Fandom: Teen Titans (comic book)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Mar'i Grayson/Lian Harper
Spoilers: It's a slight A/U, so there really aren't any
“No fair!” young Lian Harper pouted. “You cheated!”
“I did not cheat!” young Mar’i Grayson retorted. “I’m supposed to hide and you’re supposed to seek!”
Lian glared childishly at Mar’i, lime green eyes meeting pupil-less emerald orbs. Mar’i returned the glare, something cold and hard settling into her eyes. Lian stared back into those eyes, refusing to back down despite the fact that her knees were starting to tremble.
“Who the hell taught her to glare like that?” Roy Harper, Lian’s father, asked. “Was it you, Dick?”
“Why would I want to see Bruce’s expression on Mar’i’s face?” Dick Grayson, Mar’i’s father asked.
“Well, your girl cheated,” Roy said.
Dick turned sharply and gazed hard at Roy. “Don’t accuse Mar’i of cheating. She followed the rules. She was hiding.”
“Hiding in the air!” Roy amended. “Don’t say that’s not cheating! Lian can’t jump that high!”
“It’s a game of Hide and Seek,” Dick insisted. “The goal is to not let yourself be caught.”
“She still cheated,” Roy persisted. “Hiding in the air qualifies as cheating when you know your opponent will never be able to get to you.”
“Well, she was still found,” Dick said.
Meanwhile, Mar’i hugged Lian. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I promise I won’t fly anymore if you don’t want me to.”
Lian smiled. “You can still fly. Just don’t do it when we’re playing, ok?”
“Ok,” Mar’i answered cheerfully.
“Pinky swear?” Lian asked, holding out her little finger.
“Pinky swear,” Mar’i replied, wrapping her little finger around Lian’s. “You hide now!”
Lian ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, Mar’i covering her eyes and counting to fifty. “48 . . . 49 . . . 50!” Mar’i shouted. “Ready or not, I’m coming!”
With that declaration, the half-Tamaranean began looking around the backyard for Lian.
“They’re so cute together, aren’t they?” Dick mused.
“Heh,” Roy answered. “You think they’ll ever be as good friends as you and I have been?”
“Probably,” Dick replied.
Minutes later, Dick and Roy heard Lian shout, “You found me, Mar’i!”
“Found you, found you!” Mar’i chirped. “Took me a minute longer this time! You’re getting better!”
“Thank you!” Lian answered merrily.
“We can play like this forever, can’t we?” Mar’i asked.
“Yeah, we can!” Lian replied emphatically. “And our daddies will let us because we’re sisters like they’re brothers!”
Ten years later . . .
Dick Grayson and Roy Harper, despite having left super-heroics to their daughters, were still the best of friends and still took the time to stay in touch. Most of that was spent reminiscing about their younger years and updating each other on how their respective daughters were doing. The latter was particularly easy, considering how much time Mar’i and Lian spent together.
Today was an entirely different matter. Dick was not in a particularly good mood, as Roy could see when the other man arrived at his doorstep.
“Dick, what’s wrong?” Roy asked.
“Let me in,” Dick replied. “We have to talk.”
“Sure,” Roy said and let Dick inside the house, the dark-haired Wayne heir shutting the door behind him. “What’s wrong, man?”
“Nothing,” Dick replied sarcastically. “Just that I saw something I really didn’t need or want to see.”
“So what made you want to bleach your eyes?” Roy asked half-jokingly.
“I got back home from running Wayne Enterprises last night,” Dick replied. “I went upstairs to check up on Mar’i and I found the door ajar. I looked inside and saw Mar’i and Lian on her bed together . . . doing more than just kissing.”
“You can stop now,” Roy said. “I get the picture. The question becomes, ‘What’s the problem?’”
“The problem?” Dick echoed. “I’ll tell you the problem: She was having sex with someone in my house!”
“You have sex in your house all the time,” Roy answered coolly.
“She’s not even 17 yet,” Dick said.
“Last I heard, the age of consent in this state was 16,” Roy said.
“You don’t seem very shocked,” Dick observed.
“I’ve known for a while,” Roy admitted.
“You have! And you didn’t tell me?” Dick asked.
“I didn’t know they were having sex,” Roy amended. “But I’ve known for a while that they have feelings for each other.” He paused at Dick’s surprised expression before going on. “They’re perfect for each other if you think about it, like you and I were. They balance each other out, like you and I do. I don’t see the problem.”
“Lucky you,” Dick grumbled.
“I get your problem,” Roy said. “Mar’i didn’t tell you she and Lian were that deeply involved with each other.”
“When Mar’i was born, I swore that I’d never let our relationship turn out like the one I had with Bruce,” Dick said. “I swore that no matter what, I’d do my best to make sure she knew she could come to me about anything.”
“You’re forgetting one thing,” Roy said. “You’re talking about a normal relationship between a boy and a girl. In this case, you have a relationship between a girl and a girl . . . and there are still a lot of people against that kind of thing. Maybe she was just scared you wouldn’t understand.”
“Maybe,” Dick conceded. “Still looks pretty bad on me.”
Roy clapped a hand on Dick’s shoulder. “It’s nothing, man. She’s a teenager. Teenagers keep things from their parents all the time. I’m sure even you didn’t tell Bruce everything about your social life.”
“He’d have stopped me from hanging out with you if he knew some of the trouble we got into,” Dick remarked with a chuckle.
“You see my point,” Roy said.
The next day, Dick paid a visit to Titans Tower, where he was greeted by Garth and Dolphin’s son Cerdian, garbed in his usual navy and black attire. “Mr. Grayson,” he greeted. “What brings you here?”
“Hey, Cerdian,” Dick answered. “I’d like to see Mar’i and Lian.”
“Sure,” Cerdian said. “But they’re in the combat simulation room, so you might have to wait a while.”
“That’s all right,” Dick said. “I don’t mind.”
Cerdian ushered Dick into the living room of Titans Tower, where he saw Kid Flash, Wally West’s daughter; Ibn al Xu’ffasch, Bruce Wayne’s son; and Zatara II, the son of Zatanna. Kid Flash was dressed in her usual leather jacket over a yellow-and-red skintight running suit in the vein of her father’s outfit during his teen years. Ibn al Xu’ffasch wore a skintight suit that was equal parts white and black, the two colors divided by an angled line that gave the costume a vaguely diamond-like almost-symmetry, black gloves, white boots, and black domino mask completing the ensemble. Zatara II wore a male stage magician’s outfit, which was good as far as everyone was concerned because the sight of a man in fishnets would be too frightening for even his fellow heroes to endure.
“So . . .” Dick started. “How are things here?”
“Pretty good,” Kid Flash replied. She held out a bag of chips. “Hungry?”
“Not really,” Dick answered. “Thanks, anyway.”
“Ok,” Kid Flash said. “More for me.”
“You want to know about Mar’i and Lian’s relationship,” Ibn deduced. “They work seamlessly together, their every motion on the battlefield perfectly synchronized. They hardly even have to speak to know what to do. They have led us to victory on many an occasion.” He smirked in amusement before going on. “And they don’t make out all over the Tower. At least, I haven’t seen them do such a thing.”
“I get it,” Dick said. “I should really stop worrying, right?”
“In a word, yes,” Ibn confirmed, the amused expression remaining on his face.
“I’ll go see them now,” Dick said, rising to his feet. “Nice seeing you.”
“Nice seeing you, Mr. Grayson,” Zatara II spoke.
Dick went down to the combat simulation room, watching from the monitor room above as Mar’i and Lian battled a small squadron of robotic drones. Mar’i soared above the drones as they fired at her, seamlessly avoiding their laser blasts. She fired a purple starbolt at Lian, who sprang out of the way like a cat as the drone that had been behind her exploded into pieces. Lian nocked an arrow and fired it at a drone that had been about to take a shot at Mar’i, the arrowhead piercing its armor and detonating, taking the drone apart. The two girls fired together, taking down two more drones and leaving only one left. Mar’i struck from above and Lian struck from the ground . . . and now there were no drones left.
Dick turned on the microphone and spoke. “Pretty good teamwork there, you two.”
“Hey, Dad,” Mar’i greeted.
“Hi, Uncle Dick,” Lian greeted more impishly.
“Mind if I talk to you two alone for a moment?” Dick asked.
“No problem,” Lian replied.
Later, Dick, Mar’i, and Lian were in the living room together, the other four Titans having cleared out for their own separate pursuits. “Caught us, huh?” Mar’i remarked.
“Yeah,” Dick replied. “First, what possessed you two to have sex in my house?”
“We didn’t go there with the intention of having sex,” Mar’i said. “It just happened. I mean, we were just making out and the next thing we knew, clothes were flying off.”
“I can live with that,” Dick conceded. “Second and more importantly, why didn’t you feel like you could tell me?”
“I hardly understood it myself,” Mar’i replied. “I mean, I was so used to seeing Lian as just a friend that when I started to feel more for her, it scared me a bit. It didn’t help that Lian has such a talent with double entendres and suggestive positions.”
Lian smirked wickedly. “You know you loved every second of it.”
“Lian!” Mar’i cried, annoyed.
“She’s such a stick in the mud sometimes,” Lian observed with a smile. “Must have gotten it from you, because I’m pretty sure her mother’s more open than she is.”
“I hope you’re not implying that you’d ditch me for my mom,” Mar’i threatened.
“And risk your wrath?” Lian added. “Hell, no.”
“You know, you two remind me of me and Roy when we were your age,” Dick commented.
“You mean you two . . .” Mar’i started to say, but Dick quickly interrupted.
“Not quite like that, but we were pretty close.” He paused before going on. “I’m not mad with either of you. You obviously love each other a lot, so I give you my blessing to go on. However . . .” He stared Lian down. “They’ll never find you if you make Mar’i cry.”
Lian fought down a shiver. Dick might have been a much friendlier guy than his mentor and adoptive father, but in times like this, he was as much a scary bastard as Bruce. “You won’t have to worry about that,” she said, “because I’d rather die than see Mar’i miserable.”
“Good,” Dick said, breaking the tension with a smile.
A week later, Dick and Roy were hanging out together again. “Got it out of your system?” Roy asked.
“Yeah,” Dick replied. “They’re good for each other. She may be as incorrigible as you -”
“And she may be as duty-obsessed as you -” Roy continued.
“But they’re great for each other,” Dick finished. “Did they tell you?”
“Yeah,” Roy replied, “though I told them I’d known the whole time and figured I’d just wait till they were ready to admit it to me themselves.”
Dick grinned at him. “Makes you think of good times, doesn’t it?”
“We still have good times, man,” Roy said, looking outside with Dick to watch their daughters come home to them.
Title: Daughters
Fandom: Teen Titans (comic book)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Mar'i Grayson/Lian Harper
Spoilers: It's a slight A/U, so there really aren't any
“No fair!” young Lian Harper pouted. “You cheated!”
“I did not cheat!” young Mar’i Grayson retorted. “I’m supposed to hide and you’re supposed to seek!”
Lian glared childishly at Mar’i, lime green eyes meeting pupil-less emerald orbs. Mar’i returned the glare, something cold and hard settling into her eyes. Lian stared back into those eyes, refusing to back down despite the fact that her knees were starting to tremble.
“Who the hell taught her to glare like that?” Roy Harper, Lian’s father, asked. “Was it you, Dick?”
“Why would I want to see Bruce’s expression on Mar’i’s face?” Dick Grayson, Mar’i’s father asked.
“Well, your girl cheated,” Roy said.
Dick turned sharply and gazed hard at Roy. “Don’t accuse Mar’i of cheating. She followed the rules. She was hiding.”
“Hiding in the air!” Roy amended. “Don’t say that’s not cheating! Lian can’t jump that high!”
“It’s a game of Hide and Seek,” Dick insisted. “The goal is to not let yourself be caught.”
“She still cheated,” Roy persisted. “Hiding in the air qualifies as cheating when you know your opponent will never be able to get to you.”
“Well, she was still found,” Dick said.
Meanwhile, Mar’i hugged Lian. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I promise I won’t fly anymore if you don’t want me to.”
Lian smiled. “You can still fly. Just don’t do it when we’re playing, ok?”
“Ok,” Mar’i answered cheerfully.
“Pinky swear?” Lian asked, holding out her little finger.
“Pinky swear,” Mar’i replied, wrapping her little finger around Lian’s. “You hide now!”
Lian ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, Mar’i covering her eyes and counting to fifty. “48 . . . 49 . . . 50!” Mar’i shouted. “Ready or not, I’m coming!”
With that declaration, the half-Tamaranean began looking around the backyard for Lian.
“They’re so cute together, aren’t they?” Dick mused.
“Heh,” Roy answered. “You think they’ll ever be as good friends as you and I have been?”
“Probably,” Dick replied.
Minutes later, Dick and Roy heard Lian shout, “You found me, Mar’i!”
“Found you, found you!” Mar’i chirped. “Took me a minute longer this time! You’re getting better!”
“Thank you!” Lian answered merrily.
“We can play like this forever, can’t we?” Mar’i asked.
“Yeah, we can!” Lian replied emphatically. “And our daddies will let us because we’re sisters like they’re brothers!”
Ten years later . . .
Dick Grayson and Roy Harper, despite having left super-heroics to their daughters, were still the best of friends and still took the time to stay in touch. Most of that was spent reminiscing about their younger years and updating each other on how their respective daughters were doing. The latter was particularly easy, considering how much time Mar’i and Lian spent together.
Today was an entirely different matter. Dick was not in a particularly good mood, as Roy could see when the other man arrived at his doorstep.
“Dick, what’s wrong?” Roy asked.
“Let me in,” Dick replied. “We have to talk.”
“Sure,” Roy said and let Dick inside the house, the dark-haired Wayne heir shutting the door behind him. “What’s wrong, man?”
“Nothing,” Dick replied sarcastically. “Just that I saw something I really didn’t need or want to see.”
“So what made you want to bleach your eyes?” Roy asked half-jokingly.
“I got back home from running Wayne Enterprises last night,” Dick replied. “I went upstairs to check up on Mar’i and I found the door ajar. I looked inside and saw Mar’i and Lian on her bed together . . . doing more than just kissing.”
“You can stop now,” Roy said. “I get the picture. The question becomes, ‘What’s the problem?’”
“The problem?” Dick echoed. “I’ll tell you the problem: She was having sex with someone in my house!”
“You have sex in your house all the time,” Roy answered coolly.
“She’s not even 17 yet,” Dick said.
“Last I heard, the age of consent in this state was 16,” Roy said.
“You don’t seem very shocked,” Dick observed.
“I’ve known for a while,” Roy admitted.
“You have! And you didn’t tell me?” Dick asked.
“I didn’t know they were having sex,” Roy amended. “But I’ve known for a while that they have feelings for each other.” He paused at Dick’s surprised expression before going on. “They’re perfect for each other if you think about it, like you and I were. They balance each other out, like you and I do. I don’t see the problem.”
“Lucky you,” Dick grumbled.
“I get your problem,” Roy said. “Mar’i didn’t tell you she and Lian were that deeply involved with each other.”
“When Mar’i was born, I swore that I’d never let our relationship turn out like the one I had with Bruce,” Dick said. “I swore that no matter what, I’d do my best to make sure she knew she could come to me about anything.”
“You’re forgetting one thing,” Roy said. “You’re talking about a normal relationship between a boy and a girl. In this case, you have a relationship between a girl and a girl . . . and there are still a lot of people against that kind of thing. Maybe she was just scared you wouldn’t understand.”
“Maybe,” Dick conceded. “Still looks pretty bad on me.”
Roy clapped a hand on Dick’s shoulder. “It’s nothing, man. She’s a teenager. Teenagers keep things from their parents all the time. I’m sure even you didn’t tell Bruce everything about your social life.”
“He’d have stopped me from hanging out with you if he knew some of the trouble we got into,” Dick remarked with a chuckle.
“You see my point,” Roy said.
The next day, Dick paid a visit to Titans Tower, where he was greeted by Garth and Dolphin’s son Cerdian, garbed in his usual navy and black attire. “Mr. Grayson,” he greeted. “What brings you here?”
“Hey, Cerdian,” Dick answered. “I’d like to see Mar’i and Lian.”
“Sure,” Cerdian said. “But they’re in the combat simulation room, so you might have to wait a while.”
“That’s all right,” Dick said. “I don’t mind.”
Cerdian ushered Dick into the living room of Titans Tower, where he saw Kid Flash, Wally West’s daughter; Ibn al Xu’ffasch, Bruce Wayne’s son; and Zatara II, the son of Zatanna. Kid Flash was dressed in her usual leather jacket over a yellow-and-red skintight running suit in the vein of her father’s outfit during his teen years. Ibn al Xu’ffasch wore a skintight suit that was equal parts white and black, the two colors divided by an angled line that gave the costume a vaguely diamond-like almost-symmetry, black gloves, white boots, and black domino mask completing the ensemble. Zatara II wore a male stage magician’s outfit, which was good as far as everyone was concerned because the sight of a man in fishnets would be too frightening for even his fellow heroes to endure.
“So . . .” Dick started. “How are things here?”
“Pretty good,” Kid Flash replied. She held out a bag of chips. “Hungry?”
“Not really,” Dick answered. “Thanks, anyway.”
“Ok,” Kid Flash said. “More for me.”
“You want to know about Mar’i and Lian’s relationship,” Ibn deduced. “They work seamlessly together, their every motion on the battlefield perfectly synchronized. They hardly even have to speak to know what to do. They have led us to victory on many an occasion.” He smirked in amusement before going on. “And they don’t make out all over the Tower. At least, I haven’t seen them do such a thing.”
“I get it,” Dick said. “I should really stop worrying, right?”
“In a word, yes,” Ibn confirmed, the amused expression remaining on his face.
“I’ll go see them now,” Dick said, rising to his feet. “Nice seeing you.”
“Nice seeing you, Mr. Grayson,” Zatara II spoke.
Dick went down to the combat simulation room, watching from the monitor room above as Mar’i and Lian battled a small squadron of robotic drones. Mar’i soared above the drones as they fired at her, seamlessly avoiding their laser blasts. She fired a purple starbolt at Lian, who sprang out of the way like a cat as the drone that had been behind her exploded into pieces. Lian nocked an arrow and fired it at a drone that had been about to take a shot at Mar’i, the arrowhead piercing its armor and detonating, taking the drone apart. The two girls fired together, taking down two more drones and leaving only one left. Mar’i struck from above and Lian struck from the ground . . . and now there were no drones left.
Dick turned on the microphone and spoke. “Pretty good teamwork there, you two.”
“Hey, Dad,” Mar’i greeted.
“Hi, Uncle Dick,” Lian greeted more impishly.
“Mind if I talk to you two alone for a moment?” Dick asked.
“No problem,” Lian replied.
Later, Dick, Mar’i, and Lian were in the living room together, the other four Titans having cleared out for their own separate pursuits. “Caught us, huh?” Mar’i remarked.
“Yeah,” Dick replied. “First, what possessed you two to have sex in my house?”
“We didn’t go there with the intention of having sex,” Mar’i said. “It just happened. I mean, we were just making out and the next thing we knew, clothes were flying off.”
“I can live with that,” Dick conceded. “Second and more importantly, why didn’t you feel like you could tell me?”
“I hardly understood it myself,” Mar’i replied. “I mean, I was so used to seeing Lian as just a friend that when I started to feel more for her, it scared me a bit. It didn’t help that Lian has such a talent with double entendres and suggestive positions.”
Lian smirked wickedly. “You know you loved every second of it.”
“Lian!” Mar’i cried, annoyed.
“She’s such a stick in the mud sometimes,” Lian observed with a smile. “Must have gotten it from you, because I’m pretty sure her mother’s more open than she is.”
“I hope you’re not implying that you’d ditch me for my mom,” Mar’i threatened.
“And risk your wrath?” Lian added. “Hell, no.”
“You know, you two remind me of me and Roy when we were your age,” Dick commented.
“You mean you two . . .” Mar’i started to say, but Dick quickly interrupted.
“Not quite like that, but we were pretty close.” He paused before going on. “I’m not mad with either of you. You obviously love each other a lot, so I give you my blessing to go on. However . . .” He stared Lian down. “They’ll never find you if you make Mar’i cry.”
Lian fought down a shiver. Dick might have been a much friendlier guy than his mentor and adoptive father, but in times like this, he was as much a scary bastard as Bruce. “You won’t have to worry about that,” she said, “because I’d rather die than see Mar’i miserable.”
“Good,” Dick said, breaking the tension with a smile.
A week later, Dick and Roy were hanging out together again. “Got it out of your system?” Roy asked.
“Yeah,” Dick replied. “They’re good for each other. She may be as incorrigible as you -”
“And she may be as duty-obsessed as you -” Roy continued.
“But they’re great for each other,” Dick finished. “Did they tell you?”
“Yeah,” Roy replied, “though I told them I’d known the whole time and figured I’d just wait till they were ready to admit it to me themselves.”
Dick grinned at him. “Makes you think of good times, doesn’t it?”
“We still have good times, man,” Roy said, looking outside with Dick to watch their daughters come home to them.