I've been toying around with this idea for what feels like forever, at least since the Rebirth books got launched over at DC, and I finally got time to really sit down and work it out. I'm really excited for this fic and hope it's decent enough for some of you out there!
Disclaimer: Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, and associated characters are the creative property of DC Comics.
Some Times (Time and Time Again)
Chapter One: Blue Beetle
Life without an assistant, as it turns out, is shockingly compressed on time.
Jaime doesn't need much help on his progress as the Blue Beetle, but so long as he is the Blue Beetle, Ted has no interest in slacking on the kid's training. Assistant or no assistant.
With his laptop balancing precariously on his knee, and himself balancing precariously on the sloping hood of the Beetle, Ted is attempting to keep track of company stocks, a slack chat with members of his board, an incoming tech report from some computer analyst he hired out of Jaime's high school last week, and not waste too much of his bagel in the process.
Despite the distractions, however, Ted's real concentration is still on Jaime's blaster as it destroys thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours of equipment in the simulation fight.
It's what Ted built it for, but still…
"Seriously, Mister Kord, I have to go meet my mom in, like, fifteen minutes," Jaime shouts out over the sounds of debris dinging against the lab's metal floors. He's not even looking in Ted's direction as he wastes another AI dummy that is gunning for him.
Feeling himself sliding a bit, Ted kicks back against the Beetle some to get back on his perch, his computer bobbing with the jarring, bagel bits flying. He wonders if an assistant would have helped with the bagel parts. And then he plays back the memory of Jaime's highly pitched complaints.
"Hey, hey! How many times do I have to tell you, it's not Mister Kord, kid, it's Ted," he argues on the important part.
Jaime's suit unites his hand blasters into a single canon and blasts through more expensive equipment. He then looks over his shoulder and squints his large, buggy yellow eyes at Ted. "Maybe you should stop calling me kid then, Ted! Also, you're missing the part where I'm warning you about a very angry Missus Reyes."
Ted answers an email by holding the remains of his bagel between his teeth. Then he tilts his head back and swallows what he can, choking a bit, and accidentally sending a string of keyboard smashes to his company's board of executives in response to a question about why so much money is being poured into Extraneous Funding. Bits of extraneous funded superhero training material flies toward Ted and the Beetle and if Ted didn't know any better, he'd think Jaime was aiming in spite.
"Watch it, Jaime! I just buffed out the last dent in the Bug," Ted warns, using his not-free-but-freer hand to rub the glistening hood to his side.
There's a keening noise coming from the scarab on Jaime's back that is only matched in annoyance by the groaning that Jaime's doing on top of it. "Mister Kord!"
"Ted!"
"Ted! My mom! Ten minutes!"
Stock prices do dip, there's another email update from this needy El Paso kid-slash-computer-genius, the board is up in arms at the insufficient response, Ted feels his stomach churning either in response to the million nasty things happening or to his bagel. And it all culminates in a tremor through his lower spine.
Despite or because of everything happening, Ted slips more from his spot, his body shifting and sliding right off the nose of the Bug. He, and all of his things, hit the floor in a clatter that manages to get Jaime to turn away from his training simulation entirely.
"Whoa! Ted, are you okay?" he asks just before getting hit by a blaster from behind.
"See! Never let your guard down!" Ted manages to yell before rolling over onto his back and laying in his mess of a lab and mess of a life. "Not even for your great and mighty mentor."
He continues to lie on the floor, noting mentally that it's surprisingly comfortable given that everything exploding in the lab eventually ends up there. It's only when his vision is obscured by Jaime — no longer in his suit — staring down at him that he centers himself at least enough to be responsible for the teenager that he's totally responsible for.
"Are you okay, Mister Kord?" Jaime asks, brows knitted in a little bit more genuine concern than what he usually offers Ted.
"I thought about it," Ted answers with a harrowing breath. He releases the breath and melts into the floor a bit more. "And no. But who, at thirty-six, can truthfully say yes to that question."
Jaime looks at him like he has three heads.
"Talk to me again in twenty years and we'll laugh about it," Ted promises him. "Get out of here, I don't need a scary-angry Missus Reyes and you deserve a break. What'd'ya say?"
"Okay cool," Jaime says, immediately walking away.
"You cold offer to help me up!" Ted yells after him.
"Do you want up?" Jaime asks from the doorway.
Ted stares at the ceiling and considers it. "Get out of here kid, I need to find a new assistant."
"See you later, Mister Kord," Jaime calls, closing the door behind himself and the last laugh.
"Kids," Ted huffs to himself. "I need an assistant my age. No. Ten years younger. So I can watch the hope and youthful naivety die. That should sustain me. Think like a corporate CEO. Socioipathy. Hating kittens and… breathable oxygen or something."
There's a long silence in the lab, just Ted with himself and his thoughts. And when those turn scary he finally manages to get himself up, gather his things, and to start working on the next project.
Finding his new personal assistant.
There has been a stack of portfolios on his desk for a while, now, a few days at least. And he should be going through them for review but he hasn't.
They all look the same on paper. Even the one written in German.
There isn't enough time, and he's only getting shorter on time the longer he goes without a personal assistant who is literally a speedster.
Time's a funny thing that way.
Ted finds ways to waste more time without fully committing to any project or any responsibility in a way that matters before giving up in defeat and burying his head into the paperwork on his desk. There aren't as many pings from his computers and he could probably rewire some of the broken lab equipment sooner than later, but he's not really doing anything by the time his bagel fullness has subsided into the ache of needing a lunch break.
Which, on a normal day, is when Ted can finally get a hold of everything and pick a direction. He doesn't really get the opportunity, though.
His head is still on the desk when an unfamiliar, radiant light picks up somewhere in the center of the lab, sending out a subtle heat that dies down with the light itself.
It hasn't been that long since lizard people attacked so it doesn't automatically raise Ted's hackles the way it probably should, but it does at least get him to look up from his desk and see that the light was from some sort of transportation used to enter his lab.
And the one who used the transportation was none other than his best-friend-then-gone, and oddly out of touch, for years.
Booster Gold stares at him from the center of the room, his goggles resting up on his hairline rather than on his nose, letting Ted see the way Booster's eyebrows ruffle together. They then raise in almost shock as he continues staring Ted's way.
Ted blinks a few times. "Mikey?"
There's a deep breath from Booster before he even blinks. Then he shakes his head, as if trying to parse reality, before finally looking at Ted again. "Beetle!" he blurts out, like it's something he hasn't gotten to shout in years.
Which, who knows, maybe he hasn't.
"Did you just teleport into my office-slash-laboratory?" Ted tries to figure out.
"Of course I did!" Booster shouts again, laughing forcefully. He almost seems hoarse already.
"That's… weird. Since when could you teleport?" Ted continues to question. "Also why? And. Uh. Hello. Been a while."
"It has been. It's been… way too long," Booster continues, seeming breathless. "Wow. Okay. Cool."
He seems so incredibly happy and relieved and just all these other emotions that Booster doesn't wear comfortably.
And Ted, well, he's growing impatient the more the confusion lingers.
"Yeah, it's like the last time I saw you was in a car commercial," Ted says flatly.
"Ha, yeah," Booster replies without any weight to it.
"Probably because it was," Ted leans in.
That, at least, seems to bring down the thousand watt smile to something closer to a nine hundred. "Oh."
The air becomes stale unbelievably quickly.
"Yeah," is all Ted can manage to say.
Booster continues to stare at him, some of the disbelief finally fading into mild concern. Which, Ted kind of hates because only Booster could make him feel like the bad guy for pointing out the truth.
Well, maybe other people, like a well paid assistant someday in the near future.
"Did we leave off on bad terms?" Booster asks, obviously fishing.
"I don't know," Ted answers honestly. "Did we?"
With that, Booster's brows furrow again and he tilts his chin down, running his hand through the back of his hair nervously. "Hell, I don't know. I.. There's been a lot, y'know. Just. A lot. And… I didn't know I could… if you…"
There is something to Booster's words and actions that feels disconnected. He's holding back a lot, which is weird. Because it's Booster.
But the sentiment, well, Ted knows it all too well.
"Yeah, I get it. Me, too," Ted huffs. "I guess… I mean. There's not a whole lot to hang out about when, well, I'm retired and you're… not? I guess. I don't know where you even live anymore."
"I can't… really retire from the current gig," Booster announces, again with that veiled subject. But he's quick to change topic. "And there's every reason to hang out with you. In fact, I'm glad you're retired. Fuck, man, you better be retired and…" He stops himself short, pinches the bridge between his eyes, and then comes back to focus. "I came to ask if you… if you wanna get some drinks?"
"You teleported into my office-slash-laboratory to ask if we could get drinks before noon on a Tuesday?" Ted asks incredulously.
Booster blinks, looks around the mess of a lab, and then looks at Ted again. "Uh. Yeah?"
Ted considers it only for a second before sighing and coming to his feet. "Okay, fine, you've convinced me."
"Wow, that took… no work whatsoever," Booster says in vacant surprise.
"It's been a hell of a morning and I want to figure out what's different with you," Ted announces. "I mean, again, last time I saw you was a car commercial—"
"Did I look good in it?" Booster asks almost mindlessly, his gaze a thousand yards past Ted at the time.
"No, the whole thing was on your bad side. You know. Where your chin looks bad," Ted responds sarcastically, looking Booster over. "Seriously, what's up?"
"Just drinks," Booster promises, holding up his hands.
Ted squints at him. "Drinks and… mole people? Time eating octopus? A heist for J'onn's Chocos?"
"Do you really think so little of me?" Booster asks, actually looking at Ted again. He seems… strangely earnest about it all. In a raw, painful kind of way.
Ted leans back, worried. "Uh. Did someone die?"
"No," Booster laughs. Only, it's not just a laugh, it's an uproarious joyful kind of noise from the back of Booster's throat. "Isn't that the greatest thing you've ever heard? Isn't that the best news I've ever given you? No one's… Everyone's… Wow. I sound like I've lost my mind."
Booster walks past Ted and all but collapses into Ted's desk chair, crumbling like a fallen tower, until his head has fallen between his knees.
Ted is stunned. And worried. Mostly stunned.
"Jesus, Michael," Ted manages to get out as he approaches his friend. He looks around his desk, grabbing for the menus he knows are somewhere among the rubbish. "We'll just order and have something delivered here for lunch. How's that sound?"
"Yeah, yeah," Booster continues hoarsely. "That sounds… Yeah, that's an amazing idea, Teddy."
At the sound of his old nickname, Ted has to pause looking through low sodium options and instead really looks at his friend. He's pale and has bags under his eyes. There's a certain unkempt nature to his hair and it's sticking up behind his ears like it hasn't been trimmed in a while. He's clean shaven, but there's the dusting of five o'clock shadow on his left cheek from an uneven shave.
It's the worst Michael has looked to his knowledge. At least short of any life-or-death situations.
"What aren't you telling me?" Ted not so much as asks as he demands.
"A lot," Booster answers.
That's not good enough and it explains nothing. And normally Ted wouldn't think twice about saying as much. But for the moment, in that uniquely personal and miserably resigned way, Ted gives a gentler "Okay" instead.
When the air grows stale again, Ted tries a different approach.
"Is there anything you can tell me?"
Booster smiles just enough that his dimples make themselves known. "You'll never have any idea how happy I am to see you again, Ted."
Despite his confusion and concern, Ted can't help the no-doubt dorky smile that comes to his face. "Right back at you," he says, and it's so truthful it hangs heavy in his voice. He offers up, in a mousy way, his fist. "Blue and Gold?"
There's a brittle honesty to the expression of relief and appreciation in Booster's face as he takes his own fist and bumps his knuckles against Ted's. "Blue and Gold," he says back almost reverently.
For a moment, Ted wonders how this is going to end, if it will be too soon or too long. He's just strangely concerned and glad all at once that it exists at all.
So, of course, predictably, it ends too soon.
There's a flash in the center of the laboratory, just like before, only this time both Ted and Michael are looking in its direction before it's even over.
Booster manages to voice his surprise before Ted even has the chance.
"Skeets?" Booster's voice strains.
"Michael, you're needed for…" Skeets' synthesized voice hesitates, if such a thing is possible for an AI, and the shiny robotic body shifts into Ted's direction for a moment. "Hello, Blue Beetle."
"Hey, I have a secret identity," Ted jokes, waving to his Blue Beetle themed tee and the Bug.
Skeets, ever the comedic one, does not even acknowledge the detectable sarcasm in Ted's voice before turning back to Booster. "Sir, you have an… appointment. With Rani."
Ted can't help his eyebrow raising and he looks toward Booster for clarification. He's never heard the name Rani before, at least that he can think of. And he definitely hasn't heard the name in connection to Booster.
But there is immediate recognition in Booster's eyes. His body tenses up and he seems immediately more put together than he has appeared since teleporting right back into Ted's life. He doesn't even seem to realize that Ted is looking directly at him.
"Is she okay? I mean, does it have to be right now or…" Booster trails off, looking to Ted.
"I have been sent after you, Michael," Skeets deadpans.
"Can't you reschedule?" Ted asks, a little put off by all of this rather sudden and unexpected developments.
"It's not that kind of date," Booster says, getting to his feet and then flinching at his own words. "It's… not a date at all it's…" He seems uncomfortable in his own skin for a moment, scratching at his chin. "You…uh… I guess we should catch up. Soon. Like, really soon. You don't know Rani? Really? Damn. I mean…"
"No," Ted says flatly, crossing his arms as he sits back on his desk. "I guess we should catch up soon. Like over a lunch or something."
"Okay, great," Booster says, walking forward.
"I'd say pop in any time, but that seems to be the assumption—" Ted begins to snark, but he's cut off almost immediately by the tight embrace of Booster. It's so tight it nearly knocks the air out of him.
Booster's been working out since they last got into shenanigans together, it feels like he's cutting off Ted's circulation almost just through the hug. It's warm, though, and it feels like the sort of emotional explosion that Ted would expect after years. Without the random teleportations and promises of lunch left thus far unfulfilled.
After a moment of the hug, Ted is finally able to gather himself enough to hug back, too, patting Booster's shoulder as he does so.
"I miss you, too, buddy," Ted says.
"It won't be long, I'll… I can promise that," Booster says, finally letting go, holding Ted's shoulders at arms length. "There's just… some really hard stuff to explain going on right now."
"I'll hold you to that," Ted jokes as Booster lets him go. "It's… uh. Well it's good to see you again. And will be again. Soon. Ish? Right?"
"Definitely," Booster promises, getting close to where Skeets is in the center of the lab. "I'm… It's great to see you again, Ted."
"Uh, yeah," Ted responds, waving just as the flash of light from before happens again, disappearing along with his best friend and his best friend's robot from the future.
He remains where he is, leaned back on his desk, and tilts his head to the side.
"So how do I explain any of this in my log today," he wonders out loud. After a long moment, he shrugs and runs a hand through his hair. "Blue and Gold Nonsense it is then."