Adam Strange is teaching Alanna to read English with Lewis Carol books.
This was inspired by a headcanon (#311) on youngjusticeheadcanons on Tumblr.
I was feeling sad one morning, and I was inspired to write some mix between a sad and fluff fic.
Adam missed her. He missed her smile. He missed her laugh, but most of all, he missed talking to her.
A few months ago Adam would have never thought that charades were a skill that he would have wanted the most. Now, he wishes that he played the game more often when he was a child, not that there was anyone who wanted to play the game with him though. When Adam was younger, he was constantly rejected by his classmates and was labeled as "that science nerd". When he grew up and went to college, Adam thought he'd fit right in. After all, everyone else at the college was a science freak too. But to Adam's displeasure, he still never made many friends. There were some points in his life where he thought he was able to say he had a friend, but in the end they were only using him to get by in their classes or make an ex-boyfriend jealous. Getting transported to another planet was the best thing to ever happen to Adam. Of course, he was terrified, but the more Adam thought about it, the more he started to like it on Ran. The colors on Ran were beautiful. The sky streaked with pink and purple. Animals that Adam had never seen before soar through the sky and infested the grounds. And plants of all different species were growing everywhere. It was like a little scientist's dream, which it was until he met Alanna.
Meeting Alanna was a dream to Adam; don't get him wrong, but when he first saw her he fell hard. Adam never had any emotion like this before in his life. Sure, he had the occasional crush in 7th grade, but that was nothing compared to Alanna. Adam found her besides a tree, or what he presumes is a tree, carrying a journal of some sort with several different plants sticking out of it. She was standing on her tips of her feet, trying to reach a purple and yellow flower, on the tree, that was slightly too high for her grasp. Adam's natural instincts kick in as he walked forward to help the girl.
Alanna jumped backwards when she saw a mysterious hand reach above her head. She shouted something in Rannian as she turned around to see who the arm's owner was. She turned to see the face of Adam Strange. She looked up at him, knowing that he does not belong. Alanna circled him a few times as Adam stood still, afraid to move in fear of what the foreigner could do to him. Alanna stopped to look at his face. She took off one glove on her right hand to gently touch his cheek. His face was soft she thought and getting very warm. She noticed that the stranger in front of her was turning a light shade of red. Alanna panicked, thinking that she hurt him somehow. Adam noticed the change of expression on her face.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. Did I do something wrong? Am I stepping on one of your plants?" Adam rambled on, while checking the soles of his shoes for plant leaves.
If possible, Alanna's eyes grew wider. He was from Earth. She has never seen an Earthing before. They look nothing like in her books. Alanna said more sentences in Ranian, but they were mostly questions for herself.
The pair hung around each other for a while. They talked or attempted to talk to one another. The two came back to the same spot the next day. The meetings began to go from a few days to a few weeks together. Alanna had tried to teach Adam some Ranian words when she found out, in a long conversation in charades, that Adam got to Ran by via zeta tubes and wanted Adam to explain this to her father.
When Adam met Alanna's father, he couldn't thank Alanna enough. He learned so much about zeta tech that Adam didn't even know was possible. Of course, Adam was not an expert on the Ranian language, so there were some confusion like why her father mentioned something about a thief, but Alanna's lessons were very helpful. Adam decided he want to return the favor.
Alanna was always interested in the "Earthing" language. She always wanted to learn more about it, but she decided trying to make Adam learn Ranian was more important than her own selfish needs. She told Adam this once. It never left his mind.
One morning, by the very tree they met by, Alanna came across several books scattered in front of the tree and an Adam Strange casually sitting next to them. Adam gestured his hands towards the books. Alanna walked closer to him before sitting across from him and the books. Adam smiled. He grabbed a copy of one of Lewis Carol's book, Adams favorite author. He patted the spot on the ground next to him. Alanna shifted over to Adam and leaned in closer to see the book.
"Alice through the looking glass," Adam said softly. He showed Alanna the cover of the book. "See? This is Alice and behind her is the looking glass, or mirror, nowadays it's called a mirror. Back then they weren't and- and now I'm rambling, great."
Alanna chuckled. She may not understand him, but seeing Adam flustered was a very cute sight to Alanna. They read the book extremely slow. However, neither of them minded. It would just be the two of them. It was the highlight of their day. Alanna slowly learned small words in English, like adventure, books, strange (when Alanna learned that one she couldn't help but laugh at Adams' last name), plants, moon, stars, love. They had a good system of slowly learning English too. But that all changed when he was transported back.
Adam had no idea how long he'd been on Ran, but it was long enough that he started to miss it. It happen when Alanna's father, Sardath asked Adam to help fix and improve some old zeta platforms, and just like the way he came to Ran it was his exit off Ran.
Adam told everyone in STAR labs about his adventure to Ran and was told to report to the Justice League. When Adam explained, all he heard in response was that he would be returning to Alanna, and Ran, with three other superheroes. Adam was ecstatic. He didn't care that others were come with him. He was coming back, even if it might just be a short trip. He was coming back to her.
It's been a week since Adam spoke to Alanna. Only this time, she and her father were speaking English, full sentences in English. Thanks to the martian girl, and some explanation he didn't really understand, he and Alanna could finally understand each other. They were both grateful. The two spoke to one another any chance they had, on the train, in private, and those last few minutes they had together on Ran. Adam was going to miss this much communication between him and Alanna. But, Adam thought, that's what learning is for. Adam would bring more Lewis Carol books with him next time. They would sit by the tree every day and it would leave Adam the option of saying, he finally had a friend, who he fell head over heels for.
Adam didn't know at the time that he wasn't going to see her again.
Putting up the zeta shield was hard on Adam once he realize what that meant for him. Adam regrets what he did back then sometimes, but other times he thinks it's for the better. He did prevent further alien transportation after all. Adam sighed, Earth is more important than a crush, he thought as he sent the zeta shield into operation.
Alanna waited and waited by that tree, but he didn't come back. It was not until her father had told her that Adam Strange had put up a zeta shied to stop transportation between off worlds, that she lost hope. Alanna still sat by that tree though. Adam left his books on Ran. Alice through the looking glass, she read. When she looks back to that day she knew she doubted Adam was ever coming back. Now, she never knew why she did ever. But, by the time he sees her again, she finished the book.
A short, little one-shot, I just really wanted to write some Alanna/Adam. Review and/or favorite, you can check out other stuff by me and whatnot.