Disclaimer: I do not own these characters nor am I making money off of this. I'm writing purely for fun.

Spoilers and a few lines taken from: Omac Project, the first and second Booster Gold series, JLA Death of Superman, CTIC, and 52.

Genx: Thanks!

Wolymbm: Thanks, I felt it needed some fic given how much the Booster Gold/Batman relationship has changed. I think Bruce had to have thought about Ted and Booster during his trip to rediscover himself. He's far more accepting of Booster than he was in Omac Project and has been helping Jaime Reyes behind the scenes. Booster is trying hard to be the best hero he can be and you have to love him for that. I try but it's becoming harder to get back to stories lately.

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All his life Michael Jon Carter had a desire to be a part of something. In high school and college he referred to it as "making the cut." Football gave him everything he needed and Michael never had to worry about not fitting in or being talented enough to be picked for the team. Well, not that much. It never stopped the nervousness.

When he had screwed up in his time and decided to start over in the past Michael told himself he could handle it. With Skeets, being an unknown hero with no links to his misdeeds Booster Gold could make a new life for himself. A better life. Okay, he didn't know anyone here. Didn't allow anyone, even Trixie and Dirk to get closer than arms length, that didn't mean that he wasn't happy. Really.

As Booster Gold he had fought the bad guys, made a nice sum of money and had the fame he wanted. It wasn't quite enough to quiet the nagging thought that he hadn't earned it. The voice that sounded more and more like that sanctimonious jerk, Superman. He had brief encounters with others in the community who never seemed to be as quick to judge him. Though they hadn't really noticed him either. Except for when the Titans had requested assistance, when he had met HIM.

Michael still didn't know how he had managed not to jump out of his skin at the sight of the other man. The home town legend in the flesh, Batman. There had been many stories about him filled with glorious details, insane bad guys, and a few made up to scare children about Bats' own mental state. Nothing in this time period was like he had expected so Booster wasn't sure what to think about the dark knight. Superman was supposed to be a boy scout that believed in second chances and he had assumed Batman would have been more distrustful of him. Was it his imagination getting the better of him or was Batman looking at him a little too much? Did he see through him more than guy with x-ray vision did?

Booster was more than relieved when that was over with soon forgetting his unease with the latest deal Dirk had landed him. Joining the newest Justice League had quickly become his greatest ambition. So he hadn't questioned it much when Maxwell Lord had offered him a place in it. Oh he had his doubts about the man who sneaked into his home but he would bother with that after he met the league.

It hadn't gone like he planned though, Booster Gold wasn't going to make the cut. That was plain to see. Max had lied about his connections and Batman wasn't going to stand for it. Instead of waiting for the inevitable rejection he made the choice to walk out while giving them a heads up on Maxs' plotting. Unlike what many would have later believed he never planned on gaining membership by fighting the Royal Flush gang. The group had almost killed the reporters with their explosion after all.

If he knew he had an audience Booster would have tried to have made a better show. Instead he stood there absently wiping the blood from his mouth knowing that he didn't look that heroic. He certainly didn't feel very heroic. Like his first meeting with the man of steel the heroes stood above him, judging him. Then Batman did something no one had done since he had been caught shaving points--he gave Booster a genuine smile of approval. The only real acceptance anyone in the cape set had given him.

That had been a great day, one of the few when he ever honest to god felt like he belonged and was valued. Everyone was real nice to him, giving words of praise he hadn't felt like he deserved for a long time. It was more than a little overwhelming and for the most part he liked to stay out of everyones' way until he got the hang of things. From what he saw no one really got along.

It was also hard to tell where he stood with Batman. At least Superman had made himself clear. The caped crusader would snap things out like J'onn being the only member he didn't have to nursemaid or say that Max made them take members they hadn't wanted. Then he would turn around to claim that he believed Booster hadn't known about Maxs' plans nor the Royal Flush gang being part of it. The man was impossible to understand much less please.

Michelles' death had hit Booster harder than he let on. The mask was fully in place even at the funeral, only the man who had helped him take down Ace, Beetle--Ted--actually offered any words of comfort. The others must have realized how much he had screwed up. The fake Booster Gold attacking Superman had been a welcome distraction. If Booster was overly petty towards his rival he wasn't too worried about it. Maybe he was asking for trouble by stealing Lexs' girl in a strictly "up yours" fashion for his part in the ploy. He couldn't say he cared much though. When the woman, who's name he hadn't bothered to ask for, had to go freshen up after abruptly leaving the party it was no big deal.

Booster didn't care one way if they went through with their night together, his point was made. Sitting at the bar staring blankly at the wall as he pretended to pay attention to whatever old television program was on he barely noticed a man take the seat next to him.

"Not much of a Cheers fan I take it?"

Booster frowned not understanding the question. He spared a blank glance at the man looking at him expectantly, one who he was surprised to see bothering with him at all.

"What makes you think that?" Hopeful that if he kept his answers bland enough the intruder would take a hint and leave him alone.

"Most actually look at the screen." Booster rolled his eyes not feeling like keeping up the act enough to pretend he gave a damn what this guy was telling him. There was an awkward pause where neither spoke yet the laugh track on the tv filled the silence with a false lighthearted atmosphere.

"To be frank you look like you should take it easy." The darker man remarked almost gently.

"Gee, aren't you the world's greatest detective." The words had come unbidden from his mouth before he had a chance to think it through. Blue eyes darker than his own narrowed briefly, like always seeing right through him. For the first time Booster met the searching gaze evenly proud that he was too annoyed to waver.

"People tend to do rash things when their grieving." The man commented in a much deeper tone as he rose from his seat. Booster said nothing in return not even bothering to watch Bruce Wayne get up to leave.

The words of advice went unheeded leading to Boosters' own rash choice, the Manhunter trouble. He regretted how he handled it even if he wasn't certain if he did the wrong thing. Batman barely spoke to him afterward, mostly walking past him without a word when they were together. Even at meetings Booster found that he couldn't quite sit around him without fidgeting. It could have gotten worse if Ted hadn't been there for him.

Ted and him were inseparable, partners, best buds, the kind of friendship that Booster had never thought he would have. That he would never deserve. No one ever stuck with him when things got bad. (Which they always did.) No one ever believed in him that much. While nothing else had worked out for him at least he had a good friend to share it with. They stood by each other when no one else would. A fact that was repeatedly beaten into Booster over the years. Like when they had faced Doomsday. Most would remember that day for what they had believed was the loss of Superman. He was the only one who saw it as almost losing Beetle too. As if the guilt that he bared for not being enough to save Superman wasn't enough.

"--my experience has taught me that lady death is the most impartial of judges."

Batman was supposed to understand and he just didn't get it.

"That has nothing to do with it! If we'd been there--"

"We would probably be dead as well. Doomsday had already vanquished you. Superman knew the odds and knew the game might end this way. When someone close to you dies, all you can do is use that death--as a force for good."

Though what Batman had said hadn't done anything to make Booster feel better he would remember it years later when it applied to someone closer to him.

It hadn't changed once Ted recovered, not really, Blue and Gold seemed to sink further in everyones' view. Beetle didn't seem to get how everyone saw them, not like he did. He had tried to explain it to him long before, when they had their short falling out when he had quit the league. Beetle never got it.

"WayneTech is tied into this somehow."

"You're going to bother HIM? Ted, I know Kord is in trouble but how many times have we been the boys who cried wolf?"

No one took them seriously, not when they had so many failures both on and off the field. Whether they actually "cried wolf" wasn't important, they were seen that way. Blue and Gold were nothing but jokes to them. And if one thing hadn't been hammered into his head along the years it was that Batman of all people didn't view them like he did the others. They weren't close like Superman, and Wonder Woman. Weren't respected like Mister Miracle and Captain Marvel. They were talked down to, they were spoken to with exasperated voices and weary expressions. Though the league by it's self wasn't in the best of shape either.

"And with the league as they are now. No matter what they say they don't respect us. We're second stringers."

That was how he knew later that he had to go back to help Ted himself. The others wouldn't waste more time than they could spare on anything for either one of them. On the trip back to his house Ted told him all about his frustrations and the lack of help he received. How everyone had walked away muttering about having better things to do. Promises of looking into it that they both knew would never come to anything. Of Batman ignoring Teds' pleas for help. Booster couldn't help glancing at the pictures of the JLI line up and wondering how the hell it came to this.

Apparently just because they had made the team hadn't meant that they had made the cut. At times Booster wondered whether he imagined things having been different. Maybe they hadn't been a part of something special, maybe Batman had never smiled at him, or the team hadn't really cared for each other like he recalled. Like a family.

A team meant something to Booster, it meant looking out for the others and taking the hits meant for them. He had thought that it would be over if he had taken Teds' seat by the computer. The nightmare kept going on with endless, pointless searches with both Wonder Woman and then Guy. It was something to know that Guy at least had cared enough to take him along. While he appreciated Dianas' efforts Booster couldn't help feeling bitter.

"But Guy's right...you were never part of our League."

Because there was line between them that few spoke of. The A-listers couldn't understand what this meant, not when the "lesser" members could never be treated as equals. They might have been many things but they NEVER abandoned each other. Any other time Booster was sure Guy would have loved to see him glare at the mere mention of Batmans' name. Now he couldn't even offer a smirk. Out of all of them it was Batmans' behavior that got to Booster the most. His almost causal announcement that the Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, his best friend--was dead. That he had been in the right about making his paranoid spy satellite, dismissing Ted about that very thing which had lead to his death.

He wasn't the same man he had been when they first met, neither of them were. Why should he be afraid of Bruce, a man who when you got down to it wasn't the hero Booster always thought him to be? It was ironic when he pondered it, so much wasted effort to impress a man he had thought to be one of the standards for what a superhero should be. Yet Booster couldn't find anything really funny about that at the moment.

Superman of course protected Batman not bothering to correct Boosters' statement about the dark knight never admitting he was wrong. They all knew he--Booster Gold--was right, which of course they would never acknowledge. Didn't matter that Beetle was dead because poor Batman lost a few moments of his memory.

A trip back home gave him a chance to cool down. It didn't erase the pain at all, still he could be the mature one for once. Batman never would make the first step and this was bigger than the both of them. Together they would shut down Brother Eye. Dimly he's aware of Batman making what he guesses is supposed to be a joke about dealing with kids. He doesn't focus on it, just the kid taking up the mantle of his dead friend. The one that ends up fading before his eyes too.

The anger comes back full force when the trio leave but he does what he does best: Booster pretends. He pretends that he doesn't care, projecting the image everyone assumes is the real him. What does he care if they believe it's true? No one that knows the real him is around anyway. Even Bea who comes demanding he get his head out of his ass. That's really ironic coming from her, which like before he can hardly find funny. It's alright for her to act however the hell she wants over Ice yet Booster can't about Beetle? She never was there for him when it happened, not like she should have been and NOW she's suddenly is playing the superior card? Whatever.

Skeets is his one concern, yeah the history he holds helps, it not what's important though. When Booster steps down into Rips' lab he knows, just knows that nothing in his life will ever be the same again. It feels like it did when he threw that last game, like when first saw the Time Sphere. Like Destiny. Like before he doesn't give it much time to think over once his plans for the future are made.

The next months are busy protecting Supermans' city and gathering the materials that Rip needs. Breaking into the different headquarters is certainly a trip down memory lane. Nothing quite measures up to going to Wayne Manor into the Batcave though. It's like being five years old again going through the mock set ups the museums created to display the heroes history for all of Gotham. Batman wouldn't kick him out and he has all the time he needs to explore it own his own. To take it all in.

A chill goes down his spine at the Jason Todd Robin display. The stories about him--about THAT fight with the Joker--are the stuff of legends. When he was a kid once Booster had dressed up, cheaply, as Robin. He had claimed it was as Jason Todd yet opted for pants. Unlike Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, Jason Todd had grown up poor too.

He tries not to notice how nothing reflects their time in the league together. Not unless you count the broken goggles he finds in the lab. It's harder to pretend that he doesn't care but then again the new mask helps.

Much later on there's a lot to explain that he knows he can never speak freely about since he promised Rip he wouldn't. And the whole "fate of everything" bit too. Boosters' proud though that he doesn't crack under the less than warm reception he's getting from the new league. It can be fixed, he knows he can prove that he has what it takes again even with everyone (except Superman of all people) glaring at him. It's not like he couldn't bring up THEIR mistakes in return. Like how he knows Vixen killed someone, Hals' fear-bug-thingy, the mindwiping, etc. Their records aren't as spotless as they like everyone to believe but this is about him acting mature. Responsible. He can do that.

"Booster helped us take down Brother Eye, Hal. He stepped up when no one expected him to."

Having Bruce speak up for him shocks Michael more than Superman. In the past Superman has at least had a little heart-to-heart with him calling Booster a hero. The way Bruce says this makes Booster think that the "no one" in question is Batman who never thought he'd assist the mission in question because of how they last parted. The blond almost smiles at the thought of someone seeing that he has changed when Bats mentions "for Blue Beetle." It's not clear to him whether Bats thinks he only helped for Ted or their going to give him a chance in his friends' memory.

Ignoring Rips' advice seems like the only answer to Booster, he wants to finally have the respect he's never really gotten. The respect he feels he's earned. There will be no profiting so what's the harm in that? It's almost like being back when he joined the first time, he passed the test and most of those gathered are beaming at him. Yet what should be the greatest moment in recent history quickly turns sour. Rips' warning comes back to him when he stares at Hal Jordon then back at the changed certificate. A defining moment where a man has to choose between turning his back on what's right to achieve a dream or make the hard choice to do what's needed. He surprises himself with how easy it is to ease back into the fake grin without missing a beat when he feels sick at heart.

That should have been the end of it, almost was until a glove hand enclosed on his shoulder.

"Michael? What are you doing?"

Michael, as if Bruce actually knew and gave a damn about him.

"Living down to expectations." Because who the hell really thought Booster Gold could be a first stringer? "See ya, Bruce."