DC Comics pre-reboot Roy Harper on reboot Roy Harper

[mrbigshotarrow]

First of all, madame mun, you need to get a better title for this. Everyone is gonna see that and think it's me getting it on with some crazy alternate version of myself.

Hell. No. Don't even go there. I am not screwing someone who's technically me. I get enough of that after Lian's been put to bed. Speaking of! I know you kind of hate the icons you gave me. Not that I understand why you have something against this pretty face, but hey, we can't all be this good looking. But you're looking at those DCnU pages, and checking out those icons...

Look. I get it. Some new icons would be nice. But what's the policy on all that? Do I stay DCU Roy Harper if you use some of those DCnU Roy Harper icons?

I think that's a question all of us might want an answer to. Public opinion and shit. Chop chop, let's get this ball rollin'! Also looking for some place me and my girl can plant some roots, so, Lian, baby, you see this? Let me know!

Comments

[middle_amazon]

"Really?" She moves a hand through her hair. A warning to the mun. Donna saw "Rise of Arsenal" over her shoulder and noticed something of a personal nature in the comic the mun hadn't. Roy knows the "Donna is mad at him, but reigning it in," look.

"So on that standby list, I rank higher than your hands. Fantastic." Oh, she wants to ask, but - at the same time - she does know if she wants the truth.

[mrbigshotarrow]

[He makes a sad face. Donna, why are you so mad? He doesn't want you to be mad.]

Way way higher. Way higher. Like, top three better.

[middle_amazon]

She deflates at the pouty face. She can't resist its power. "Yeah, top three." She crosses her arms, because reaching out for him would be bad, and if he touches her, she's knows she'll do something weak. "That clears things right up. Thanks." The words argue. The tone is more like defeat.

"I miss you," she says more to the floor than him.

[mrbigshotarrow]

[He wants to reach out to her. He wants to just... take her in his arms, and let it be like the old times. The tone makes him pause; he's not used to her in defeat. Sometimes, rarely, but not usually.]

I miss you, too. [He clears his throat.] And, um... Lian misses you, too. Wants to know why her aunt isn't around as much.

[middle_amazon]

She's not going forward or back.

"Because her aunt has seen a so-called real world where she became a coward." She holds up a hand, indicating he shouldn't argue. "And I don't know how long she was one." Her eyes screw shut. "She deserves better."

[mrbigshotarrow]

He-- [He cuts off on her raised hand, frowning.]

Hey. Come on. I agree, she deserves better. She deserves a normal life, and a better dad, and a normal family. But she's stuck with us. Which I think she likes.

[middle_amazon]

At that, she finally reaches out and touches him on his arm. "She has a hero for a father. One who loves her and gives her what we both never really had - a childhood. Stop doing that to yourself."

[mrbigshotarrow]

She's got a dangerous life. I love her, but I worry. What happens the day I'm not there anymore? I heard about what happens in the future. No wonder I went crazy.

[middle_amazon]

She pales and looks away for a moment - but just a moment. "I saw." And you still think I'm not a coward? She should keep her distance. Who knows what he remembers them being like? Maybe they never even were. Instead, she finds her courage - too little, too late. He will be enveloped in a hug, if he lets her.

"You will always be there for her. Whether or not she's there for you." She tells him this with the conviction of one who knows this sad answer for herself.

[mrbigshotarrow]

[Sighing, he buried his face in her hair.]

I miss ya, Don. I don't care what kind of bull they put us all through, I still miss you. Lian misses her Aunt Donna. I know I said it before, but I mean it. It's not the same without everyone else.

[middle_amazon]

"I miss you, too. And Lian."

"And I'm sorry I never gave us a chance. All three of us. Not as much of one as I should have."

[mrbigshotarrow]

S'okay. Really. We're all kinds of fu-- messed up. That's what being heroes means. Normal just isn't in our agenda.

[middle_amazon]

"No, it's not okay!" She wants to scream. She wants to hold on to him with all her strength, but she holds back on both.

"This isn't about heroing! This is you. This is me." She cups his face so he doesn't look away. "This is about wanting to go somewhere - anywhere - with you and Lian. This is me tired of constantly watching you across crowded rooms hoping you'll turn your eyes towards me, even when, Gods help me, one or both of us is with someone else."

This is me wanting what I felt you couldn't ever offer...Why I deluded myself into thinking you'd ever be uncomplicated affair.

She steps back and turns, because she can't manage to say this directly to him. "This isn't about Arsenal and Troia. This is about Donna and Roy and it goes all the way back to Speedy and Wonder Girl." Her head bows. "I don't want to be just top three anymore. I thought I did. I thought it would be enough -" She stops. He may have run off. She closes her eyes and listens for breathing and footsteps.

[mrbigshotarrow]

[It felt like a kick to the head. All kinds of sudden, like the burst of s light bulb up over his head, like in the cartoons. He got it.

Taking a step forward, he wrapped his arms around her from behind, his chest up against her back. He wasn't going to let go. He never would.]

Why didn't you say so?

[middle_amazon]

She leans back into him, but her head is still bowed and she's still tense. "Remember Switzerland? When we were told Cheshire was going to attack a peace conference, but we were set up?" In so many ways. That's when they all discovered there was Lian out there in the world. Her head raises as she looks into the memory. "Everything was going to hell, and then...you. You came and made a team. We blew it, but...It was so you. Not the blowing it part. The being there part.

When I had that space lycanthropy, you stayed in the hospital with me more than my own damn husband. When I had nothing at all except a Darkstar suit to my name, you offered me back into the Titans. And now...this. The 'maybes' are less horrible than the thought of never having you at all - or, worse, losing you and Lian both."

[mrbigshotarrow]

Ya gotta stop living in the past, Don. Remember when you had us going camping in a monsoon? You told me we... you know. That I was a bad parent, and we were gonna break up eventually, and I needed to keep Lian's feelings in mind.

You were right. [shrugs.] But I'm keepin' her feelings in mind. All the time. It's all of our feelings. We're a family. We are. It's not just a team, it's a family, and there's a lot of maybes out there... but we can do it.

[middle_amazon]

"Roy," she admits. "You were making bad calls at that time, but -" She swallows hard. "It was the anniversary of the car going off the road." The one with Terry and her children. "I was in pain and a coward and -" She laughs bitterly at herself through a pair of tears she wipes away one-handed. "You were there."

"The past is important to me, sweetheart. I don't nearly have enough of it." She looks away. "And if we follow this universe to the end of the road, there's no future for the three of us either. Just one for you that..." She searches for the words. "Is distasteful."

The steel is back in her voice. "So this is where we make our own stop."

[mrbigshotarrow]

At one of those places, right? The ones that are... in space, or Canada, or a castle. Something crazy like that. Where the three of us can be together.

[middle_amazon]

"Does it matter so long as Lian has a future?"

She steps out of his arms, takes his hand and grips it tightly. For this part, she has to face him.

"This might be the three of us together somewhere in a new world for good. You realize what that means, right? No going back. Not just with our world. I mean Lian and the two of us together, probably for good."

She stiffens. "And for this to work, I think I need to cede control of how we define the pair of us over to you. The last time, you let me and...I did and said a lot of things I regret."

[mrbigshotarrow]

I don't care where I go so long as Lian has a future. I'd give up my life to save her. I'd give up the world to save her.

[He cleared his throat.] Donna. It doesn't matter where we are. I'm still gonna love you. It doesn't matter what we define us as. I don't care if we're together, or if we're just friends. I still love you.

[middle_amazon]

"I would, too. No hesitation." She shakes her head. "Somewhere along the way, as much as tried to divorce myself from the impulse -" She bites her lip. "I didn't want her die because she moved into my heart. Don't ask for sense on that one."

To the second part, she look frustrated. "Damn it," she huffs to the sky before returning her attention back to him.

She pulls him close - very close. Blue eyes meet his, and she looks nervous for just a moment. It's a look he hasn't seen on her in nearly a decade - it's open, trusting, even hopeful.

The kiss is partially like something half-remembered only different. This wasn't like before when they were officially dating. This is Donna not measuring herself out to him in neat, controllable spoonfuls. This is more like when they were teenagers furtively kissing one another when no one was around. Only this time, she moves with the confidence - actual, solid confidence - and experience.

"You'll always be my friend. Anything else? I trust you."

[mrbigshotarrow]

[He didn't have to ask her to make sense of it. He understood. Someone getting into your heart, even when there was nothing to keep them together. It's why his feelings for Cheshire were so complex, even before she became the mother of his child.

It was difficult. It was their life. But the kiss was something he remembered. Something safe and happy and warm in his mind. The kiss is much more brief then he wished it to be.]

So. If I said there was a castle waiting for us, would you trust me?

[middle_amazon]

"Yes." She swallows and moves a hand through his hair. "Titans Together."

"I love you." She actually relaxes as she lets go of that. "Once more, Roy Harper, I am crazy about you. Before someone rummages through my head again to take things out, you should know I have been longer than I wanted to admit to myself."

[mrbigshotarrow]

[That makes him grin, and he picks her up by the waist, twirling the both of them around.]

Trust me. The feeling is pretty damn mutual. I've loved you since I first set sight on the back of your head.

[middle_amazon]

"It took me a bit longer." Her eyes soften. "I had to turn around."

"Let's go home. Really home. For good."

My reserve is in. Can you and the Lian mun email me so we can get on the same footing with the app? grayarcadian@gmail.com