Fic: 20 Random Facts about Booster Gold
Title: 20 Random Facts about Booster Gold
Author: boredom_doodles
Rating: PG
Characters: Booster Gold, various others
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 985
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em.
Author's Note(s): Written for the DC Random Facts Fest. wonderfish helped.
---
1. Mikey's daddy didn't just leave; Mommy kicked him out. There were a lot of reasons why, the gambling being the biggest, but not deciding factor. They had fights, but they stayed together, until one night, Daddy got drunk and gave Mikey a black eye. That was the final straw.
2. The first time Mikey met his maternal grandmother was shortly after his daddy left. He couldn't understand most of what she talked about with Mommy, but he got enough to know that she didn't like Daddy at all and that Mommy didn't like her. It wasn't until much later that he figured out that she was rich and had disowned Ma for marrying Dad.
3. When Mommy had work (and Mommy had work a lot), Mikey and Shel got sent down the hall to Mr. Clark's apartment. Wayne Clark was a very eccentric historian (his cupboards were well-stocked with tea and chocolate sandwich cookies and not much else), but he was good-natured and willing to watch the twins for free, so his faults were easy to forgive. Wayne always had plenty of stories to tell about superheroes, and Mike never got tired of listening to them.
4. Sometimes, when Wayne was busy, Mom would take Mike and Shel to Uncle Rajiv's place instead. Uncle Rajiv grew and sold plants of all sorts, and, while Shel liked it well enough, Mike was always terribly bored with it all. He complained to Wayne about it once, so Wayne told him stories about Poison Ivy. Paranoia wasn’t much of an improvement over boredom.
5. Mike had to write about what he wanted to be when he grew up for school, so he wrote about Superman. He didn't get any credit for it, though, since the teacher didn't consider Superman to be a valid career choice.
6. Shel had decided she wanted to be a pilot, so she managed to get her hands on a biography of the guy who had single-handedly reinvented flight. Mike got bored and read it once. All he really got from it was that dying in a fire was a really crappy way to go.
7. Every year, Uncle Rajiv gave Mike and Shel a Christmas tree for their birthday and Christmas combined. Christmas trees were rare and expensive, so they were the only people they knew with one. Mike liked that.
8. When Wayne moved away, Mike begged him not to go. Wayne sighed and put his hand on Mike's shoulder and did his best to explain that sometimes people just need to move on in their lives, even if they don't want to.
9. Mike's high school mascot was a Robin. The bird officially, of course, but nobody ever really paid attention to that. Booster always enjoyed trouncing other teams more when they made sidekick jokes.
10. Booster had always hated rats, but his girlfriend insisted on going to see that horror movie about wharf rats, so he went. He didn’t get a good night's sleep for a solid week after that.
11. The second time Booster met his maternal grandmother was when his ma started to get sick, to beg her for money. She refused to listen to him.
12. Booster has read Sun Tzu's Art of War. His football coach had recommended it after his performance had started to falter, figuring that all Booster needed was some resolidification in the strategy department. The diagnosis had been wrong, of course, but the advice proved invaluable.
13. Booster prayed to Wonder Woman, or, to be accurate, Diana, once. Snake Eyes, his bookie, was a worshiper of the Olympian gods and had arranged for Booster to meet him at a temple. While he was waiting, Booster admired the statue of Diana, (she being the only god in the pantheon he had more than a passing familiarity with) feeling increasingly guilty until he finally ended up asking her for help by the time Snake Eyes arrived. In retrospect, asking a goddess of truth for help had been incredibly stupid of him.
14. When it turned out that the textbook he needed for the Superhero History class at Metropolis U was written by Wayne Clark, Booster got in contact with him to see if he could weasel his way into a free copy. Wayne delivered it in person and they spent the whole day talking over tea. It was the last kindness anyone would pay Booster in the 25th century. He didn’t steal the time machine for another 4 months.
15. Booster had difficulty convincing himself that he wasn’t dreaming when he first met Batman. He had even more difficulty convincing himself when Batman welcomed him into the Justice League.
16. J'onn often visited the Conglomerate building to have tea with Gypsy, but he stopped by Booster's office once to let him know that he was always welcome to come back to the League if that's what he wanted. But then he put his hand on Booster’s shoulder and made it clear that he thought it was best that Booster move on.
17. When Booster died, he wanted to stay that way. He appreciated that Ted cared enough to keep him alive, he really did, but that didn't stop him from hating him a little for it.
18. Booster loves Metropolis because it looks just enough like home to make him stop feeling homesick for a while. He hates Gotham because it feels exactly like home, even if it doesn’t look it, and that makes him feel even more homesick than usual.
19. In the 25th century, it's considered passé to keep mourning someone after the funeral is over. That's why Booster never talks about Michelle. It's not that he wants to forget her (and even if he did, he never could), but if he started talking about her, he'd never be able to stop.
20. Booster never told Ted a word of this.
Author: boredom_doodles
Rating: PG
Characters: Booster Gold, various others
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 985
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em.
Author's Note(s): Written for the DC Random Facts Fest. wonderfish helped.
---
1. Mikey's daddy didn't just leave; Mommy kicked him out. There were a lot of reasons why, the gambling being the biggest, but not deciding factor. They had fights, but they stayed together, until one night, Daddy got drunk and gave Mikey a black eye. That was the final straw.
2. The first time Mikey met his maternal grandmother was shortly after his daddy left. He couldn't understand most of what she talked about with Mommy, but he got enough to know that she didn't like Daddy at all and that Mommy didn't like her. It wasn't until much later that he figured out that she was rich and had disowned Ma for marrying Dad.
3. When Mommy had work (and Mommy had work a lot), Mikey and Shel got sent down the hall to Mr. Clark's apartment. Wayne Clark was a very eccentric historian (his cupboards were well-stocked with tea and chocolate sandwich cookies and not much else), but he was good-natured and willing to watch the twins for free, so his faults were easy to forgive. Wayne always had plenty of stories to tell about superheroes, and Mike never got tired of listening to them.
4. Sometimes, when Wayne was busy, Mom would take Mike and Shel to Uncle Rajiv's place instead. Uncle Rajiv grew and sold plants of all sorts, and, while Shel liked it well enough, Mike was always terribly bored with it all. He complained to Wayne about it once, so Wayne told him stories about Poison Ivy. Paranoia wasn’t much of an improvement over boredom.
5. Mike had to write about what he wanted to be when he grew up for school, so he wrote about Superman. He didn't get any credit for it, though, since the teacher didn't consider Superman to be a valid career choice.
6. Shel had decided she wanted to be a pilot, so she managed to get her hands on a biography of the guy who had single-handedly reinvented flight. Mike got bored and read it once. All he really got from it was that dying in a fire was a really crappy way to go.
7. Every year, Uncle Rajiv gave Mike and Shel a Christmas tree for their birthday and Christmas combined. Christmas trees were rare and expensive, so they were the only people they knew with one. Mike liked that.
8. When Wayne moved away, Mike begged him not to go. Wayne sighed and put his hand on Mike's shoulder and did his best to explain that sometimes people just need to move on in their lives, even if they don't want to.
9. Mike's high school mascot was a Robin. The bird officially, of course, but nobody ever really paid attention to that. Booster always enjoyed trouncing other teams more when they made sidekick jokes.
10. Booster had always hated rats, but his girlfriend insisted on going to see that horror movie about wharf rats, so he went. He didn’t get a good night's sleep for a solid week after that.
11. The second time Booster met his maternal grandmother was when his ma started to get sick, to beg her for money. She refused to listen to him.
12. Booster has read Sun Tzu's Art of War. His football coach had recommended it after his performance had started to falter, figuring that all Booster needed was some resolidification in the strategy department. The diagnosis had been wrong, of course, but the advice proved invaluable.
13. Booster prayed to Wonder Woman, or, to be accurate, Diana, once. Snake Eyes, his bookie, was a worshiper of the Olympian gods and had arranged for Booster to meet him at a temple. While he was waiting, Booster admired the statue of Diana, (she being the only god in the pantheon he had more than a passing familiarity with) feeling increasingly guilty until he finally ended up asking her for help by the time Snake Eyes arrived. In retrospect, asking a goddess of truth for help had been incredibly stupid of him.
14. When it turned out that the textbook he needed for the Superhero History class at Metropolis U was written by Wayne Clark, Booster got in contact with him to see if he could weasel his way into a free copy. Wayne delivered it in person and they spent the whole day talking over tea. It was the last kindness anyone would pay Booster in the 25th century. He didn’t steal the time machine for another 4 months.
15. Booster had difficulty convincing himself that he wasn’t dreaming when he first met Batman. He had even more difficulty convincing himself when Batman welcomed him into the Justice League.
16. J'onn often visited the Conglomerate building to have tea with Gypsy, but he stopped by Booster's office once to let him know that he was always welcome to come back to the League if that's what he wanted. But then he put his hand on Booster’s shoulder and made it clear that he thought it was best that Booster move on.
17. When Booster died, he wanted to stay that way. He appreciated that Ted cared enough to keep him alive, he really did, but that didn't stop him from hating him a little for it.
18. Booster loves Metropolis because it looks just enough like home to make him stop feeling homesick for a while. He hates Gotham because it feels exactly like home, even if it doesn’t look it, and that makes him feel even more homesick than usual.
19. In the 25th century, it's considered passé to keep mourning someone after the funeral is over. That's why Booster never talks about Michelle. It's not that he wants to forget her (and even if he did, he never could), but if he started talking about her, he'd never be able to stop.
20. Booster never told Ted a word of this.