Bart stared at the picture. He felt numb as he stared at the smiling, innocent faces. They don't even know what's coming. And because of me they never will.
He felt a tear run down his cheek, but wiped it away. He forced himself to continue staring at the picture. He wanted to burn the image in his mind. Jinx's long pink hair, which she always complained about but never cut (She always needed to make everything an event). Kiran's smile, which lit up a room even better than her powers (They used to joke that she was 'our shining beacon of hope'). Jenni's bright green eyes, almost identical to his own (The gold middle in his ruined it. He always ruined it). The scar across Cissie's face, which she always wore proudly (Bart's always hidden his scars, too scared of what others think.) Miguel's-
Oh god. Miguel.
A new wave of tears ran his face. He covered his mouth with his hand, desperately trying to contain his sobs. He shoved his face in his pillow, hoping to muffle any noises he made. He glanced up at his clock.
3:00 am blinked back him. He groaned.
This is gonna be a long night.
Bart spent most of the night staring at the picture and trying not to cry. By morning, his eyes were red and puffy, and he felt slow and sluggish.
"Jay! Bart!" Joan called upstairs. "If you want breakfast, then you'd better hurry!"
Bart trudged down the stairs. He grabbed two plates cupboard. (Joan always grabbed hers last. She claimed that since she was serving and needed less food, it only made sense. Bart, on the other hand, who had grown up learning to scavenge and hoard food for himself and the people he cared about, disagreed.)
He walked over to the stove and held out Joan's plate (She always used the blue plate with orange flowers for breakfast.) Joan get him a stern look.
"You don't have to get me food." She said, while scooping eggs onto the first plate. "I can get my own afterwards." She reminded him while filling up Bart's plate.
"Force of habit." Bart murmured as grabbed some bacon and silverware for each plate. Joan rolled her eyes and smiled at him. The smile quickly morphed into a look of concern.
"Are you alright?" She asked softly. Bart froze for half a second before speeding over to the table.
"Yeah! I'm doing great!" He exclaimed, a bit too quickly and loudly to be believable. Jay looked up from his breakfast and shot Bart a look of confusion before turning to Joan with an identical look. Joan opened her mouth, as she was about to say something, but closed it barely a second later. Bart flashed them both a too big smile and dug into his food to avoid conversation. The meal passed by awkwardly, Joan and Jay both attempting to talk to Bart and Bart vehemently avoiding eye contact. Eventually, Bart made it through his mountain of food, and he started to leave.
"Bart, wait." He paused, wanting to leave, but respecting Joan too much to walk out on her immediately. "Me and Jay might not be related to you, but we do care about you like family. So, if you want to talk to us, we're here."
"I know. And if there's something important, I will tell you," He lied. "But, this is…" Awful, horrible, traumatizing, the worst day of my life. "…Stupid. It's not a big deal."
"You're a teenager," Jay joked. "You're allowed to upset over stupid stuff." Bart smiled for a moment before pointing at the door.
"I gotta go. Superhero-y-Team-business-stuff." He sped upstairs and grabbed his phone and keys. "Y'know the drill."
"Say hi to them for us!" Joan called out the door.
"'Kay!" Bart ran to the nearest zeta tube and headed up to the Watchtower. The Watchtower was divided into two parts, one for the League and one for the Team. The League's section was much bigger, it housed most of the labs, training, and meeting rooms, since the League was much bigger and needed more space. But the League section was emptier and more formal, at least according to Zatanna and Raquel. The Team section had more bedrooms, living, and relaxing areas with one main meeting area and one training area. Both groups shared the library, kitchen, mess hall, and computer system. Both sections each had their own locker rooms and storage areas. He headed towards the main TV room in the Team section, waving to various heroes as he passed them. He walked in and saw Garfield sitting upside down on the couch. "Hey!" He greeted.
"Hi." Gar responded dejectedly. Bart raised an eyebrow.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just-, "He paused and looked around. "I need advice."
"Can't you just ask M'gann?"
"She's what I need advice about."
"Well, what about the original team?"
"They'll just tell her." He huffed. "Or she'll go through their heads and see it."
"I thought she wasn't doing that anymore." Bart asked.
"Normally, yeah. But sometimes she still does it without realizing it."
"What about me?" Gar looked at him in confusion. "I won't tell her, and since she doesn't want to see any spoilers, she never goes through my head."
"I don't know." Gar sided-eyed him. "It's not like you have an older sister."
"Well, not a sister. But I do have an older half-brother."
"Really?"
"Yeah! So, tell me!" Bart urged.
"I don't know. It depends."
"On what?" Bart asked, starting to get intrigued. Gar sat up and checked the room again.
"What do you know about..." Gar paused. Bart leaned in and nodded. "…Dating?"
"You're dating someone?" Bart whisper-yelled. "Wait, I thought you said you needed advice on M'gann?"
"I do. See, there's this girl in Happy Harbor that I know. We used to hang out in the park a lot before the cave blew up. Anyway, after the whole invasion thing ended and things calmed down, she kinda asked me a on date, or well it was kind of a date. She asked me to a movie, and she doesn't really watch movies, so I told her that we could go to her favorite café thing afterwards and we held hands and she kissed my cheek, so it was kind of a date, or at the very at least, it wasn't just two friends hanging out. And she started warming up to me more afterwards and we've held hand hands a lot more so- "
"Gar!" Bart exclaimed. He stopped. "You're rambling."
"Right. Sorry. So, me and this girl are dating, or kind of dating, at least. I know I have to introduce her to J'onn and M'gann eventually. And J'onn will probably really like her, since they're really similar personality wise. But, M'gann might be more difficult." Gar sighed. "She still sees me as her innocent little brother and I'm worried she might freak out over me dating which might freak out the girl. And I don't want to hide it from her, because that might hurt her trust in me and her feelings. What do I do?"
"Wow. That is a problem. Um, okay, maybe you should talk to J'onn first. See if he can help her adjust to the idea of you dating theoretically. And later once she starts to be okay with it, then you could introduce them."
"Yeah, that sounds smart." Gar got a nervous look on his face. "Um, and how would you tell them that the girl is… magic?"
"Magic like she's amazing or magic like Zatanna and Doctor Fate?"
"Well, she is amazing, but I meant more like Zatanna."
"Okay." Bart thought for a moment. "I'd wait until she actually meets them. Then she can tell them herself."
"Noted." Gar seemed a bit calmer than when Bart walked in. "You're really good at this. Did you have like a girlfriend or something?"
"Uh, "Bart rubbed the back of his head. "Not a girlfriend, no. But I did kind of date this guy- "
"A guy!?"
"Is there a problem with that!?" Bart sneered as he stood up from the couch. He balled his fists and stood up straight, trying to make himself look scary. Gar held up his hands.
"No! No! I'm just surprised! I swear!" Gar exclaimed. Robin and Virgil walked in right that moment.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Robin yelled as he got in between them. "What's going on here?"
"Nothing." Bart growled.
"But- "Robin tried to ask.
"It's. Nothing." He barked angrily. Robin gave him a weird look. Bart stomped out of the room. He stormed off to an empty room. He thinks it was supposed to be used for storage, but they didn't have enough stuff to fill it. He crawled into a corner and brought his knees to his chin. Way to go Bart! He thought. Robin is going to tell Kaldur and M'gann that you almost beat up Garfield, then they'll hate you and kick you off the Team and then Garfield will tell everyone that you're gay, and you'll never be able to face them ever again. God, how could you screw up so badly! Nathaniel warned how people felt about gay people in the past, but you had to go and blow it. Bart tensed as he heard the door open.
"Bart? You in here?" Virgil called to the dark room. Bart held perfectly still, hoping he wouldn't notice. Virgil sighed. "Come on, man. I know you're in here." Bart waited for a second. Virgil sighed again, before walking into the room and flicking on the lights. Bart glared at him. Virgil walked over and sat down. "What's up?"
"Nothing."
"We both know that's a lie." Bart huffed.
"I told Garfield something about myself, something that most people don't like, and he freaked out and I panicked because sometimes people freak out and hurt me for it, but then you walked in and saw it andRobinisgonnatellKaldurandM'gannandthey'regonnagetmadandkickmeofftheTeamandGarisgonnatelleverybody- "
"Okay, calm down!" Virgil stopped him. "One, they're not going to kick you off the Team. You didn't actually hit him. And even if you did, they'd probably just suspend you for a week, at most. Two, you didn't hear it because you stormed off, but Gar was telling us that it was his fault and he freaked you out. And three, if you think that Gar would tell everyone you're gay, then you really don't know him."
"HE TOLD YOU!"
"Nah, I figured it out."
"What?" Bart started to panic. If Virgil could figure it out, then other people might be able to-
"Dude, calm down. Something about yourself most people don't like, people freak out and hurt you. Those were same things my friend Richie worried about when he came out." Virgil reassured him. Bart started to calm down a bit.
"Your friend?"
"Yeah, not all of us freak out." Virgil joked. "I don't know what you've heard about us 'retro' people, but not all of us hate gay people." He stood up. "And if anyone does give you shit about it, the rest of us will deal with them." He started towards the door when Batgirl came over the intercom.
"Blue Beetle, Miss Martian, Robin, Static, Wonder Girl, Beast Boy, and Kid Flash to the meeting area. Show up fully in gear."
"Time to go." Virgil turned back to Bart. "Ready?"
Bart nodded and stood up. Time to be a hero.