Knowing
Two fics in two days, plus an excellent bike ride has put me in a wonderful mood.
Wrote a new fic, this time about Piper and Trickster but they only make an appearance at the very end.
There are some racist tones and questionable tones of homophobia, and they are purposefully there. I don't want to write characters, particularly characters such as the Rogues, as being politically correct or magically not at all racist. Logistically speaking, they were a bunch of American born men who stole and destroyed things in the early to late eighties (and some for far beyond that). While I don't think that the culture of Rogues and other such villains is saturated with racism, homophobia and sexism, I also do think it was hard being a minority during that time period. Similarily, I don't think that Mick Rory, like most people who have priveledge in their lives, really understand or see their own racist behavior, particularly when society justifies it for them.
So basically, if you're going to flame me for having some racist comments in my fics, please note that they were put there with purpose, to highlight not only the culture that these men belong to but also the time period that they lived through.
/defensiveness
Title: Knowing
Description: Axel can't quite understand how Piper was allowed to be gay through his years as a Rogue. Mick and Mark sort him out.
Characters: Piper, Trickster, Axel, Heat Wave, Weather Wizard, mentions of Fury
Rating: pg
The kid, dumb ass kid, just wasn't getting it.
“But so how did he tell you he was gay? Did you guys have to call a meeting or something?”
“Kid this wasn't the goddamn Teen Titans. This was the eighties and we were grown men. You basically just knew who was a queer and who wasn't. And if ya didn't know about a bloke, then ya didn't know. We wasn't really up for talking about our personal lives in between jobs.”
Mick shifts his shoulders and re settles himself on the poker chair. He's gained weight in the last eight years, and it feels comfortable on him.
Owen pensively stares at his beer, drinking in the information. He doesn't ask questions anymore, but any fool could see how well he listened.
Axel scowls and plays with his yo yo. Mick simply waits him out. In his old age, he's gained not only patience but a knowledge on Tricksters, the whole lot of them. They didn't keep still for long, and were pretty easy to wait out.
“No offence pops, but you old farts don't seem to have the keenest gaydar on this side of the coast.”
Mick simply shrugs again, shuffles the cards and dealt them again.
“It was a different time back then kid. There wasn't none of this bullshit support on television back then, or this “coming out” bullshit that all the kids seemed to be doing. We knew about Piper because he let it be known about himself. Never had to have a conversation about it. Hell,” Here Mick turns to Owen, who's eyes flicker up briefly, “Even yer dad knew and didn't care. Only gave him a hard time when he was ornery. Being gay back then meant a whole lot else of what it means now. Lot less talk about marriage rights, white picket fences and actors spouting bullshit about who's queer in their family. Back then” Mick here wags a finger at Axel, “if a man was a gay that meant strictly what he did in the bedroom and who he did it with. You kept yer head down if you saw a pick up truck with bats and yer head up whenever you stepped into whatever street it was polite for you to be on.”
Axel snorted and picked up his hand,
“But he was out back then, wasn't he? And people knew about it. How come Len decided to wave the rainbow flag and keep Piper on the team?”
Mick sighs, realizing that this kid, clever as he is with explosions, just didn't get it. Kids rarely did.
“It was the eighties kid. Lots of Nancy boys back then. That and Piper was gold. Smart kid who liked to blow things up and had a big chip on his shoulder towards the world. He was quiet enough to do look out, and his gimmick wasn't anything to sneeze at. What the fuck did we care if he liked to fool around with guys? Between us, we had two alcoholics on our team, one colour blind dumb ass, and an immigrant, which let me tell you kid, James probably got it worse than Piper. Least Piper was 'merican. Not a lot of friendly faces for an alien looking to fence stolen American goods.”
Owen chuckled.
“So it was alright to destroy, steal and sell things on the black market, so long as you were born American?”
Mick shrugged.
“Back then, if ya weren't white, ya weren't right. James had a heavier accent back then too, you can't hear it as well now.”
Owen raised an eyebrow,
“Len had more of an issue letting Trickster on than Piper?”
Mick shrugged,
“He was the captain. Though really. Piper was 19 when he joined, just three months before James came on. James was.... fuck, he musta been 16, maybe 17. So while Piper was a grown ass man who took orders well and didn't take more than his cut, the good Captain had to size up with Italian born thief who'd stab you in the leg if he thought he could get a laugh outta it.
There was a sudden gust of wind that shook all the windows all of a sudden, and a quick tumble of limbs on the balcony outside of the kitchen let him know who their guest was. Mick shook his head and got up to let their guest in. Mark, a few years younger than Mick, was still creeping closer to forty, and seemed to be having trouble sticking his landings in recent years.
Mark greeted Owen, Axel and Mick breathlessly, then made a beeline to grab a drink of water. In the last recent year, there had been an uneasy truce between all of them, and James' newly relocated office dorm in Central seemed to be the ultimate grey area for them. They tended to treat it as a communal area to crash when drunk, play poker or to grab a quick snack and catch up. Mick still wasn't sure if James wanted to keep tabs on them and this was easier, or if he genuinely missed the old days. Even so, this get up suited them for now.
“'Ey Mark, level something for us.” Mick turned in his chair to look at his old friend, “Piper being a queer. How'd you find out?”
Mark looked mildly surprised at the question. Age was treating him well, and the few grey hairs made him look distinguished. “Piper? We all just kind of knew didn't we? Just was a thing you knew back then.” Mark leaned against the kitchen counter and looked up at the ceiling, brow furrowed, “I think I knew when he mentioned that he wasn't on speaking terms with his parents, and that he had been kicked out or something. Oh, and he was a feminist. Still is I suppose, but he had all those lesbian friends, remember?” Mark shrugged, “I don't recall a time when Piper said the words right out, but he knew we knew and there were no more problems than any of us. When he started doing the Bonnie and Clyde thing with Fury things got a little more open I suppose, but I don't think anyone was surprised.”
Owen examined his hand. Complete crap cards. Scowling he looked up,
“Bonnie and Clyde thing?”
Mick and Mark exchanged a look which Axel looked at intently. Finally Mick spoke,
“Bout a few years into being a Rogue, Piper started fooling around with this young buck who really wanted to be in the crew. Didn't really have much of a gimmick so Len never let him on the crews. Don't know how they really started, but Piper and Fury were an item long enough for Len to tell him to take a hike. Piper owed too much to the Captain to go flying across the country.”
Axel blinked,
“Piper owed money to Len? Like for what, gambling?”
Mark shook his head, brow furrowing.
“Not money. We gave Piper a name and enough street cred that he didn't get his brains knocked into the pavement when the fag bashers went driving up and down his neighbourhood. Len always had a safe house ready for us to go to, beer, food and no matter how shitty, there was always some kind of doctor to look you over. We always broke each other out of prison, no matter how stupid you had been. It's the kind of debt that you can't really pay back, but can't run away from.”
This seemed to mostly blow over Axel's head but sunk into Owen who went back to pensively drinking his beer.
After a moment of silence, Axel blurted out,
“So there was never really any problem then. A gay Rogue?”
Mark and Mick exchanged another look,
“Nah. Wasn't till the mid nineties or so when Piper went clean that we really started ripping into him anyways.”
Axel searched his face,
“And no? No one really cares if he's gay? Even with all the jokes?”
“They're just jokes kid,” Mark frowned, looking at him. “We've known Piper for longer than you've been walking kid. You'll understand when you're pushing forty.”
Axel grumbled, unwilling to even think about getting old.
Owen looked up from his bottle briefly enough to ask,
“And James then? Was that something everyone just knew and just never talked about, never acknowledged, never made jokes about?”
Mark outright laughs while Mick chuckles, they both share a look and grin. Mick laughs and deals again,
“Well we sure as fuck knew before he knew.” He grins at Axel, “the thing about being on a team kid, is that you gotta know them better than they know who they are.” Mark cracks open a beer for himself and Mick, passing it to him wordlessly. Mick takes a long swallow and wipes his mouth clean, grinning.
“Sometimes you just know.”
****
Not quite across town, but in an apartment that at least grants them a bit of privacy, Piper lifts his head up from the couch. He had been quite comfortable previously, and had been half dozing, and half reading. Sighing, he took off his reading glasses - damn eyes were going - and called over to the man who was currently doing wondrous things in the kitchen.
“I've had the oddest notion that we're the topic of gossip.”
James laughs, and stirs more rosemary into the sauce.
“You're always the topic of gossip, you villainous Rogue.”
Piper grins, pushes himself from the couch and pads into the kitchen. Rats in the corner squeak their hellos. Wrapping his arms around James, Piper places his chin on top James' shoulder.
“How did you know I was craving pasta?”
James turns his head away from the bubbling sauce pans briefly enough to kiss Piper's cheeks.
“Sometimes you just know.”
Wrote a new fic, this time about Piper and Trickster but they only make an appearance at the very end.
There are some racist tones and questionable tones of homophobia, and they are purposefully there. I don't want to write characters, particularly characters such as the Rogues, as being politically correct or magically not at all racist. Logistically speaking, they were a bunch of American born men who stole and destroyed things in the early to late eighties (and some for far beyond that). While I don't think that the culture of Rogues and other such villains is saturated with racism, homophobia and sexism, I also do think it was hard being a minority during that time period. Similarily, I don't think that Mick Rory, like most people who have priveledge in their lives, really understand or see their own racist behavior, particularly when society justifies it for them.
So basically, if you're going to flame me for having some racist comments in my fics, please note that they were put there with purpose, to highlight not only the culture that these men belong to but also the time period that they lived through.
/defensiveness
Title: Knowing
Description: Axel can't quite understand how Piper was allowed to be gay through his years as a Rogue. Mick and Mark sort him out.
Characters: Piper, Trickster, Axel, Heat Wave, Weather Wizard, mentions of Fury
Rating: pg
The kid, dumb ass kid, just wasn't getting it.
“But so how did he tell you he was gay? Did you guys have to call a meeting or something?”
“Kid this wasn't the goddamn Teen Titans. This was the eighties and we were grown men. You basically just knew who was a queer and who wasn't. And if ya didn't know about a bloke, then ya didn't know. We wasn't really up for talking about our personal lives in between jobs.”
Mick shifts his shoulders and re settles himself on the poker chair. He's gained weight in the last eight years, and it feels comfortable on him.
Owen pensively stares at his beer, drinking in the information. He doesn't ask questions anymore, but any fool could see how well he listened.
Axel scowls and plays with his yo yo. Mick simply waits him out. In his old age, he's gained not only patience but a knowledge on Tricksters, the whole lot of them. They didn't keep still for long, and were pretty easy to wait out.
“No offence pops, but you old farts don't seem to have the keenest gaydar on this side of the coast.”
Mick simply shrugs again, shuffles the cards and dealt them again.
“It was a different time back then kid. There wasn't none of this bullshit support on television back then, or this “coming out” bullshit that all the kids seemed to be doing. We knew about Piper because he let it be known about himself. Never had to have a conversation about it. Hell,” Here Mick turns to Owen, who's eyes flicker up briefly, “Even yer dad knew and didn't care. Only gave him a hard time when he was ornery. Being gay back then meant a whole lot else of what it means now. Lot less talk about marriage rights, white picket fences and actors spouting bullshit about who's queer in their family. Back then” Mick here wags a finger at Axel, “if a man was a gay that meant strictly what he did in the bedroom and who he did it with. You kept yer head down if you saw a pick up truck with bats and yer head up whenever you stepped into whatever street it was polite for you to be on.”
Axel snorted and picked up his hand,
“But he was out back then, wasn't he? And people knew about it. How come Len decided to wave the rainbow flag and keep Piper on the team?”
Mick sighs, realizing that this kid, clever as he is with explosions, just didn't get it. Kids rarely did.
“It was the eighties kid. Lots of Nancy boys back then. That and Piper was gold. Smart kid who liked to blow things up and had a big chip on his shoulder towards the world. He was quiet enough to do look out, and his gimmick wasn't anything to sneeze at. What the fuck did we care if he liked to fool around with guys? Between us, we had two alcoholics on our team, one colour blind dumb ass, and an immigrant, which let me tell you kid, James probably got it worse than Piper. Least Piper was 'merican. Not a lot of friendly faces for an alien looking to fence stolen American goods.”
Owen chuckled.
“So it was alright to destroy, steal and sell things on the black market, so long as you were born American?”
Mick shrugged.
“Back then, if ya weren't white, ya weren't right. James had a heavier accent back then too, you can't hear it as well now.”
Owen raised an eyebrow,
“Len had more of an issue letting Trickster on than Piper?”
Mick shrugged,
“He was the captain. Though really. Piper was 19 when he joined, just three months before James came on. James was.... fuck, he musta been 16, maybe 17. So while Piper was a grown ass man who took orders well and didn't take more than his cut, the good Captain had to size up with Italian born thief who'd stab you in the leg if he thought he could get a laugh outta it.
There was a sudden gust of wind that shook all the windows all of a sudden, and a quick tumble of limbs on the balcony outside of the kitchen let him know who their guest was. Mick shook his head and got up to let their guest in. Mark, a few years younger than Mick, was still creeping closer to forty, and seemed to be having trouble sticking his landings in recent years.
Mark greeted Owen, Axel and Mick breathlessly, then made a beeline to grab a drink of water. In the last recent year, there had been an uneasy truce between all of them, and James' newly relocated office dorm in Central seemed to be the ultimate grey area for them. They tended to treat it as a communal area to crash when drunk, play poker or to grab a quick snack and catch up. Mick still wasn't sure if James wanted to keep tabs on them and this was easier, or if he genuinely missed the old days. Even so, this get up suited them for now.
“'Ey Mark, level something for us.” Mick turned in his chair to look at his old friend, “Piper being a queer. How'd you find out?”
Mark looked mildly surprised at the question. Age was treating him well, and the few grey hairs made him look distinguished. “Piper? We all just kind of knew didn't we? Just was a thing you knew back then.” Mark leaned against the kitchen counter and looked up at the ceiling, brow furrowed, “I think I knew when he mentioned that he wasn't on speaking terms with his parents, and that he had been kicked out or something. Oh, and he was a feminist. Still is I suppose, but he had all those lesbian friends, remember?” Mark shrugged, “I don't recall a time when Piper said the words right out, but he knew we knew and there were no more problems than any of us. When he started doing the Bonnie and Clyde thing with Fury things got a little more open I suppose, but I don't think anyone was surprised.”
Owen examined his hand. Complete crap cards. Scowling he looked up,
“Bonnie and Clyde thing?”
Mick and Mark exchanged a look which Axel looked at intently. Finally Mick spoke,
“Bout a few years into being a Rogue, Piper started fooling around with this young buck who really wanted to be in the crew. Didn't really have much of a gimmick so Len never let him on the crews. Don't know how they really started, but Piper and Fury were an item long enough for Len to tell him to take a hike. Piper owed too much to the Captain to go flying across the country.”
Axel blinked,
“Piper owed money to Len? Like for what, gambling?”
Mark shook his head, brow furrowing.
“Not money. We gave Piper a name and enough street cred that he didn't get his brains knocked into the pavement when the fag bashers went driving up and down his neighbourhood. Len always had a safe house ready for us to go to, beer, food and no matter how shitty, there was always some kind of doctor to look you over. We always broke each other out of prison, no matter how stupid you had been. It's the kind of debt that you can't really pay back, but can't run away from.”
This seemed to mostly blow over Axel's head but sunk into Owen who went back to pensively drinking his beer.
After a moment of silence, Axel blurted out,
“So there was never really any problem then. A gay Rogue?”
Mark and Mick exchanged another look,
“Nah. Wasn't till the mid nineties or so when Piper went clean that we really started ripping into him anyways.”
Axel searched his face,
“And no? No one really cares if he's gay? Even with all the jokes?”
“They're just jokes kid,” Mark frowned, looking at him. “We've known Piper for longer than you've been walking kid. You'll understand when you're pushing forty.”
Axel grumbled, unwilling to even think about getting old.
Owen looked up from his bottle briefly enough to ask,
“And James then? Was that something everyone just knew and just never talked about, never acknowledged, never made jokes about?”
Mark outright laughs while Mick chuckles, they both share a look and grin. Mick laughs and deals again,
“Well we sure as fuck knew before he knew.” He grins at Axel, “the thing about being on a team kid, is that you gotta know them better than they know who they are.” Mark cracks open a beer for himself and Mick, passing it to him wordlessly. Mick takes a long swallow and wipes his mouth clean, grinning.
“Sometimes you just know.”
****
Not quite across town, but in an apartment that at least grants them a bit of privacy, Piper lifts his head up from the couch. He had been quite comfortable previously, and had been half dozing, and half reading. Sighing, he took off his reading glasses - damn eyes were going - and called over to the man who was currently doing wondrous things in the kitchen.
“I've had the oddest notion that we're the topic of gossip.”
James laughs, and stirs more rosemary into the sauce.
“You're always the topic of gossip, you villainous Rogue.”
Piper grins, pushes himself from the couch and pads into the kitchen. Rats in the corner squeak their hellos. Wrapping his arms around James, Piper places his chin on top James' shoulder.
“How did you know I was craving pasta?”
James turns his head away from the bubbling sauce pans briefly enough to kiss Piper's cheeks.
“Sometimes you just know.”