Chapter 1: Beginning Transmission
Garfield Logan could have been a normal man.
He was quick-witted. He got along with others. There was nothing about him that suggested his current occupation with his boyfriend. He should have been normal.
Except for his green skin. It marked him as a villain like the infamous Wicked Witch of the West before him. Despite his intelligence and kindness, no smile could ease people away from how green he was.
It was hard for him to go outside; people were just pathetic. They were suspicious and paltry here in Jump. They treated him like a villain before he even did anything. To them, he was a monster, without uttering even a word.
Except for his boyfriend, he held nothing but hate for those people. Perhaps long ago, he might have been disturbed at what he and his boyfriend did now. Using his parents' background as a geneticist to aid his boyfriend in crime was not the dream of a Garfield as a child.
Regardless, Drury Walker, better known as Killer Moth, accepted him in all of his greenness. He had learned over the years to love his new life. They struggled to make ends meet and settle Drury's internal demons, but they lived a full life nonetheless.
"Babe, I'm sorry about what happened tonight."
Garfield had just finished making eggplant parmesan for his boyfriend despite that he knew Drury was no match for the Titans. The meal was not celebratory; it was comfort for a broken man.
They could survive on selling their biogenetics experiments or stealing, but neither could survive a battle with the obnoxious Titans. Their lives were marked with struggles and losses, united by years of attraction.
"It's fine." Drury whispered, sitting down at the supper table. He had just taken off his moth costume, but Garfield could see several bruises even in the dim light. It could be taken care of later; the villain wasn't bleeding. Minor scrapes were frequent in the business of crime.
"I caught it on the news. They've been quick about reporting it lately." Garfield mused, cutting a slice of the parmesan for each of them. Finally, he sat down, to eat and coax some happiness and food into Drury.
Drury took several gulps of the food, quickly relishing the flavor. He was tired and beaten up enough to enjoy anything. Garfield could have served the lint from the underside of the couch and he would have liked it. At least Garfield knew how to cook a small comfort for Drury.
"Who gave you those bruises?" He tried again looking over his boyfriend's body, observing them as if they were a map of connecting purple and blue shades.
"Cyborg...and Starfire. Robin uses more of his toys than actual fighting."
Garfield still didn't know why Drury loved hand-to-hand combat. It must have seemed honorable to Killer Moth. Garfield would never have fought that way; his puny limbs would be quickly bludgeoned. Despite having some enhanced senses from his powers, he was nowhere near the level that Drury had taken his body with biogenetics. Killer Moth couldn't turn into an animal, but he held the strength of an entire herd.
"I'm sorry for not being there with you."
"I didn't need you, Gar. You stole us this bountiful supper and our rent money for the month. I'm just a man with a bruised ego."
Before he had entered into a relationship with Drury, Garfield had been no stranger to stealing. After his parents Mark and Marie had died, he had taken to petty theft until winding his way into Jump. It was strange looking back on his past, but the green man was glad he hadn't been accepted into the Doom Patrol.
It might even have led him into joining the Titans.
"I'll help you fight them. Next time. We're set for a while. Mammoth is also offering us a deal for some basic genetic enhancements."
Silence passed between the two as they continued to eat. Drury was just too exhausted and Garfield was too worried about him.
"We could re-watch your segment with the Titans on the news if you want."
"Fine. I just don't want to see their leader Control Freak gloat over beating me."
Garfield turned on the TV, moving his chair to sit closer to his boyfriend. They both knew how obnoxious the redhead would be.
The reporter spoke, "Earlier this evening, the villain Killer Moth was fought and unsuccessfully apprehended by the Titans. His current whereabouts are unknown."
The camera turned towards the Titans before focusing on Control Freak's greasy face. "As the leader of the Titans, I take responsibility in our failure tonight. Luckily, Killer Moth is a D-list villain that even kindergarten kids needn't be afraid of."
Cyborg's laughing could be heard in the background.
"But how did he escape?" The reporter tried feigning a serious professionalism.
"Most of his moth army was destroyed, but a few enough were left alive that flew him to safety." Control Freak spoke again, his voice sounding too much like a nerd among real heroes to ever be a true leader. His fellow Titans and all of Jump seemed to accept him despite just how wrong he seemed in his position.
"Do you know where he could have flown too?"
"No, but like I said, he's a loser villain. Next time, we might just snap his wings." The redhead grinned on the TV, infuriating Drury as he watched.
"I'm not even good enough for them to look for us." The older man sighed.
"That's not true." Garfield reassured. "We just need to plan better for next time. I will fight with you. My shapeshifting powers have only gotten stronger with your work."
Before meeting the villain, Garfield's powers had been messy at best. There was no one to train him: he hadn't met a similar villain nor had he been accepted by the Doom Patrol as a kid. Only with Drury's work had his powers been increased and he was given a focus to maintain animal forms for longer periods of time.
"Maybe. We do need to watch out for Control Freak. I can evade and get some hits on Cyborg...and even dodge what Raven and Starfire can throw at me...but Control Freak doesn't make sense to me."
"I've never fought him. It's not like he has the body to do flips like Robin." Garfield just smirked.
"I don't really know what his powers are. In a physical fight, I could easily take him. But for some reason, when I try to launch an attack, something always goes wrong. My wings will malfunction or one of the other Titans will get a hit on me that I didn't see coming."
"That's why we need to plan. Ever since Control Freak came here and formed the Titans, no one has beaten them. Not even the best of us has."
They didn't want to mention the spectacular failure of Slade trying to fight the Titans. It was too shameful to discuss.
"Babe, I'm just glad you're here safe tonight." Drury's voice slightly shook as he pressed his lips against Garfield's.
Neither was ever meant to be a hero. Garfield, in his greenness, and Drury, for his inhuman obsession with the moths.
As such, his first transformation before the man had been a moth. Garfield knew Drury, down to the core of his cocoon. He would do anything to help his boyfriend seek revenge on the Titans.
Garfield sat in the form of a fly, perched on a wall above the kitchen in the Titans' Tower. A fly was an easier transformation; larger ones like dinosaurs required greater concentration.
The green man didn't care that he wasn't earning keep today. He had already stolen and burglarized enough for him and Drury to live for several months. Garfield had the time now to stalk the heroes. He expected some shocking revelation to be found, but the Titans were fairly normal people.
Raven, the witch, was a typical goth loner. Although she frequently read ancient tomes on magic, Garfield preferred to imagine her writing away in a diary about the angst of her life.
Cyborg had been too boring to watch. He might have been the comic relief of the group, but hours of watching him repair cars and other tech drained the green man of his patience.
Starfire was currently cooking below him, but even as a fly, Garfield still found the smell of whatever she was making fowl. It took an amazing level of control not to revert back into a human and throw up over that stench.
Control Freak waddled into the room, eyeing Starfire. Perhaps they were dating. It wouldn't have made any sense why except that Control Freak was the leader of the group. It's not like he even had a personality.
"Starfire! Stop this cooking before my girlfriend gets here."
Garfield had been wrong. Control Freak had a girlfriend who wasn't the alien, but that still shocked the green man. He wondered if some deluded fangirl had been roped into dating him. Control Freak was just the type to use the perks of fame and exploit some poor girl.
"I'm sorry. I'll clean up before Kitten comes."
Garfield wondered if Kitten was a petname, but considering who he was watching, it was probably Control Freak's girlfriend's actual name. Only someone as gross as the redhead would date some Hello Kitty-obsessed fangirl.
The green man could almost picture the image of that girl, too blinded by kittens and the fame of the Titans to notice that Control Freak was not cute like the images she loved. Control Freak was the hairball choked out by a cat; he was not cute. His personality was cocky, almost villain-like.
"Starfire." Control Freak whined. "Get out now!"
Starfire washed her hands, walking away almost mechanically. Her usual cute, goofy alien personality had dissolved into a robot-like subservience to Control Freak's command. The redhead didn't even say goodbye to his teammate. The entire interaction was weird, but Garfield didn't know what to make of it.
Eventually, Kitten, the blonde girlfriend of the Titans' leader arrived, but Garfield was too tired to watch further. He would come back tomorrow, or try finding out who Kitten was, but for tonight, he just wanted to enjoy the warm embrace of his boyfriend.
Drury would be home waiting for him. In the night, after a day of genetics and crime, they were able to put aside the villainy and simply be a couple together. Before they went to bed, they would just simply talk and cuddle.
It was a strong, almost sappy love between the two. Despite that, it had a poetry and maturity that was nothing like the Titans he had observed. Control Freak was a manipulative, seedy hero who could never understand that type of love.
Not even the flashes of cameras or the adoration of girls like Kitten could ever fulfill the redhead. Garfield might be a lowly criminal with his boyfriend, but his life was fulfilled. He had found love in all its beauty with the man behind Killer Moth.
AN: While writing the last chapters of "We Need a War" (my Beast Boy/Red-X fanfic), I became inspired to write this. Garfield still doesn't call himself Beast Boy (yet).